Meet Justus Logan

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Justus Logan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Justus below.

Justus , thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

January 2020 – As I woke up that morning and looked around, I had fallen asleep in my little red Ford Focus after work, I had been too exhausted to make it inside the house. I checked the clock, it was 04:12 AM and I had to be back at work in about 2 hours. With my uniform still on and my foot on the brake, I was shocked, “that was a first” I told myself. I had fallen asleep in my car many times, which was happening more frequently now, but I had always managed to put the car in the park before my exhaustion took over. I could have easily let off the brake while sleeping and hit the house or crashed into the neighbor’s yard. I hated that I was so tired and that I would head to work once again without adequate rest and not be able to give my 100%. On top of that, I was becoming more and more disillusioned that all my efforts and hard work had left me more fatigued with no real gain to show for it. And this time, to the point of endangering myself or others physically. I was falling asleep in my car regularly after work, in front of the house, in the parking lot of the grocery store, the post office, and even the gas station. “JUSTUS,” I told myself out loud, “THIS ISN’T GOOD” as I hit my hand on the steering wheel and tried to wake myself up more.
The weekend that followed, I took the time to intentionally reflect on the pattern in my life that had evolved, trying to calculate adjustments. I knew I needed to make drastic changes. I had been let go from a dream job right before COVID hit and was now working three jobs including a late-night shift just to maintain where I was at. I asked myself, “How do people get ahead? How do they just work to live just to work more?”.
There had to be answers, yet how am I to know what the right questions are to ask? This led me to think of a phrase that my mother had told me the day before she passed away, “Never give up and always think outside the box”. This sparked one of the first questions I would ask myself – “How do I think outside the box if I’m in the box?”. “Get outside the box.” Such a simple and obvious answer but deep thought into this answer was what I needed to begin to change my mindset. Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. I had to change what I was doing. This isn’t to be confused with consistency in the right things which builds momentum towards your goals. Now I knew I needed to define the box that I was in to know how to get out. This came easy, the box was anything that wasn’t helping me accomplish my goals, drive my passion, and fulfill my purpose. I had stayed in the box because I hadn’t defined what those things were or set achievable goals to begin moving towards them. I once heard a quote that said, “It’s hard not living the life you want, and it’s hard getting the life that you want, so choose your pain”. It’s painful both ways, so why not choose the pain that comes with achieving? I was always told to be grateful for what I had and where I was at, and while this is true, I think many use this as an excuse not to grow. Thankfulness and gratitude are key, but you have an obligation to continually grow and develop. I didn’t want to waste my time any longer, and I have come to learn it is more valuable than money. I’m no longer willing to trade the two for things that aren’t meaningful to me. I also knew I didn’t want to waste my potential and fall short of what I knew was possible. I felt like if I did, I would be the only one to blame. Rocky said, “it’s not about how hard you can hit, but about how hard you can get hit and keep on going”. Don’t watch out for the world, tell the world to watch out for you, that’s the confidence and attitude you must have to go to greater depths in life.
I wrote all this down and started to read it daily, building my confidence and opening my mind to the creativity that birthed new ideas to escape the box. As I pondered on this over the next couple of days, a motivating memory from my childhood came to mind. I was raised in a family that loved the outdoors, and as spring was approaching, we were eager to get outdoors once again. One day my parents brought us kids for a drive in the mountains. After an adventurous day, and as the evening approached, we headed home. It had started to rain, and the dirt roads became very soft, and soon the truck was stuck. After many hours of trying to get it free, my father’s efforts seemed exhausted. We had no cell service to call for help, and he wasn’t going to leave us alone to walk the many miles back in the dark for help. We knew we would be spending the night in the truck. We were thankful to have each other’s company to stay warm. I remember wondering if there was even a way out, but as it turns out my dad had a plan the whole time. He would allow the ground to freeze, and by doing so, then he would be able to drive right out of the mud on hard ground. The idea seemed genius to me, talk about thinking outside the box. It was simple for my dad, as it wasn’t his first ‘rodeo’ as we would call it in the county. This memory taught me many valuable lessons; where in my life could I let the ground freeze and escape undercover from that which was holding me back? This was ‘thinking outside the box’.
It has taken me almost 4 years from that night falling asleep in my Ford Focus to build the team I have always wanted to tackle endeavors with. I have had countless lonely seasons, but they were crucial as it left me with the absence of distractions to be able to look at myself in the mirror and finally face what I didn’t like about myself. To sharpen my skills, strengthen my discipline, and be confident in who I was. It didn’t take long before I started taking calculated and massive action. Let me be clear, this did not eliminate risk in the decisions I made. To me, there was a risk in letting life take me wherever it would, and there was a risk in taking responsibility and action towards where I wanted to go. I didn’t blindly make decisions, I put together a well-executed plan which required me to move and surround myself with new people and opportunities. This was part of getting out of the box.
I wasn’t looking for just another job, I was willing to take risks to achieve new heights. This mindset would lead me to find the wife of my dreams a year and a half later, have two kids, purchase a successful company, build a second company from the ground up, and buy our first multi-million-dollar property before I turned the age of 23. We were also able to give financially that year just as much as I had made in working the previous year.
These last three years also brought many challenges, and opportunities to grow; the loss of my wife’s father only months after our wedding, our son being born early and in the NICU for 22 days, rebuilding my company from the ground up a second time, and overcoming a bankruptcy case by selling everything we had to reverse it due to unforeseen financial challenges, losing just over a half a million dollars. All this has been a part of the journey and the lessons I must learn that have forged the dedication and resilience necessary for greatness. This has also reinforced what I define as true fulfillment, happiness, and success. You see, “where man’s treasure is, there his heart will be also”. What has been my pride and joy, and my true treasure, is my family – my passionate and beautiful hard-working wife, my two amazingly smart bilingual kids, and the Logan legacy where we carry on the principles to never give up and put God first.
The fulfillment of all this can’t be bought with money; the relationships built, the favor of distinguished men and women who have taken valuable time to counsel us, and the memories created with our siblings, parents, extended family, and friends along the way. I’ve also gained great value from a selective group of men and women I’ve had the honor to serve alongside as a volunteer firefighter for the past several years. These individuals have taught me sacrifice, dedication, loyalty, discipline, and service in excellence through their integrity. We have responded to many late-night structure fires, vehicle accidents, rescues, and much more together, and I cherish the experiences and the camaraderie built. I honor my parents for the ethics they raised me with and the values they instilled in me including taking us across the world to serve in another country for a year. These words don’t do justice to the priceless lessons I’ve learned during my time here in the United States and Israel. Nor does it do justice to the honor, value, and respect I have for the people in my life and our family legacy to persevere and rise to a higher standard.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

My name is Justus Logan and I am the CEO of Elite Well Water Locating. It is our honor to serve you with excellence and integrity. EWWL specializes in locating water for residential, agricultural, and commercial wells. I became the CEO of EWWL about 5 years ago, and my goal has been to develop the company and make it global. We are looking to combine the services of drilling water, locating water, developing wells, servicing the installations of pump systems, and providing filtration systems. This will exclusively make us a one-stop location for water well services and eliminate the need for contracting each of these elements in the developing process. We are also growing into the oil and gas industry to provide locating services and eliminate the guessing work in fossil fuel explorations. This company provides exceptional employment for highly driven individuals to enjoy a key role in the mission of taking this latest and greatest Technology to the world. They will be a part of a team that will help revolutionize the industry in the likes it has never seen before. This year alone we have tripled in growth and have expanded our service footprint by double. We are already in the process of taking this company to 4 other countries with the model we have put together. As much as our team has focused on the development of this company, we have introduced some new avenues we would like to combine and present to the world. Our mission is to never stop.
Outside of Elite Well Water Locating, our team is developing plans to have a presence in the mortuary industry, the cattle industry, and the sustainable agricultural industry. We also plan to provide support and resources to some nonprofit missions that are bringing life and sustainability across the globe.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

It is unrealistic to state that there are three most important Qualities, Skills, or Areas of Knowledge that one must follow or apply. While there are the Ten Commandments on a sovereign level or numerous universal principles that work hand in hand providing an effect on the universe whether you apply them or not, I do have a couple of qualities and skills that have distinctively affected my life; Honor, Integrity, and Service to others has purposefully been three qualities I operate by and enjoy being around those who have them. Many more could be added, however. Three skills I believe are important to a purposeful life include; The ability to take calculated risks (yes this is a skill in my eyes), the ability to learn aggressively and apply what you learn, and the ability to assign your time with focus and consistency and allow success to be a byproduct.
You may not have the currency of money in the amounts you desire, but you have the currency of time in all the amounts you will ever have. The value of that currency is based on what you trade and invest it for during your life. You can make it very valuable or worth nothing. ” Time management is the difference between spending and investing” – Justus D. Logan

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

The number one obstacle and challenge I face is my mindset. This is a challenge every day, and many times, every moment. The struggles to believe big enough and not let fear infiltrate my thoughts. The wrestle of not knowing if something is worth it and if it will pay off. The battle of not feeling I’m capable enough and that there is probably someone out there more able than me. The way I overcome this challenge is through sowing in myself. If you sow a seed, you will gain a harvest if you nurture that seed. The same is true with your mind. If I want to overcome thoughts of doubt and fear, I must intentionally sow seeds in my mind of confidence, resilience, hope, and courage. Then, you must nurture those seeds, you can’t just plant them and walk away. Every day you must water them, i.e. nurture the seeds of your mind to strengthen them. You can do this by writing your vision and goals down daily to keep them fresh in your thoughts, or by surrounding yourself with the right people, listening to the right podcasts, or reading the right books. You have to feed those seeds. “You have two wolves inside you, the one you feed the most is the one to win”. Your mind is the same way, what are you thinking about, what seeds are you feeding and what are you thinking about? Focus goes where energy flows. So what you focus on will master you. Being intentional to take thoughts captive, or fuel your mind with that which will encourage what it is you want to achieve. Your mindset is key because you will attract matching energy. So I am very intentional daily to strengthen my mind and set aside the time to focus on this. As you build strength and momentum with this, you won’t need to struggle to do it anymore, it will come as a byproduct of the new culture you have created for yourself. Your mindset and the actions you are not taking are the biggest obstacle that separates where you at now from where you want to be.

Many people struggle with being motivated, but if you’re passionate about something, then you won’t struggle with being motivated enough about it…Unless you allow your mind to doubt your ability, you let fear overwhelm you, and your focus turns to all the excuses and reasons that limit your mind from taking the necessary action and making the necessary change.

Contact Info:

• Website: shadowlegacyranch.com & elitewellwaterlocating.com
• Instagram: @ justusdlogan
• Facebook: Justus D. Logan & Elite Well Water Locating
• Youtube: Elite Well Water Locating

Image Credits

Joyful Legacies Photography
Micstudios613 & kosha613