Podcast appearances and mentions of jim rowan

Jim Rowan is a Principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP and the Head of the Artificial Intelligence Practice, where he leads the firm's AI strategy across client services, alliances, innovation, and internal transformation. During this conversation, Jim shares his thoughts on the current and future state of Artificial Intelligence in the enterprise. He shares insights from Deloitte's State of Generative AI report, including where organizations are seeing real ROI, why AI agents are generating so much interest, and what leaders should consider as they adopt these emerging technologies. Finally, Jim also reflects on the role of talent in the age of AI, how enterprises can build responsible strategies, the importance of using this time to scenario plan for the future and why the future of work will likely involve teams of humans and agents collaborating side by side.LinksState of Gen AI Report: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/consulting/articles/state-of-generative-ai-in-enterprise.html Jim's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-rowan1/Carnegie Mellon Study: The Impact of Gen AI on Critical thinking https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/uploads/prod/2025/01/lee_2025_ai_critical_thinking_survey.pdf

Jim Rowan goes inside the epicenter of AI innovation with Kevin Laughridge, lead partner for Deloitte's Google alliance, to learn how recent advancements are accelerating the information-insight-action pipeline to unlock enterprise ROI.

Na początku kwietnia 2025 r. doszło do dosyć niespodziewanej zmiany na fotelu prezesa Volvo Cars. Zaskakujący jest nie tylko sam fakt zmiany ale i nazwisko następcy.

Den amerikanske presidentens liberation day blev en kalldusch för resten av världen. Nu väntas en tid med tullkaos. Ett av de många bolag som hamnar i kläm är den tidigare svenska nationalklenoden och småspararfavoriten Volvo Cars. Lyssna på alla avsnitt i Sveriges Radio Play. Kraftigt höjda importtullarDonald Trump vässar sina handelsvapen och chockhöjer tullarna. Upptrappningen av handelskonflikten kommer i ett redan stökigt läge för den gamla svenska nationalklenoden Volvo Cars, som sparkat vd:n Jim Rowan och som tampas med vikande försäljning och gnissel mellan svenska ägare och den kinesiska storägaren Geely.Geely och Li ShufuOrganisationen Aktiespararna kritiserar ordföranden Li Shufu för hans dåliga närvaro på möten. Men på årsstämman i veckan dök han upp med ett leende. Det gjorde även den nygamla vd:n Håkan Samuelsson. Inom en snar framtid väntas han presentera en ”turn around”-plan för bolaget – något som kan påverka jobben i bland annat Göteborg.Börsen dyker och oron växerPå finansmarknaderna är oron stor efter Trumps nya tullutspel, och både Stockholmsbörsen och de amerikanska börserna har rasat kraftigt. Planen är att införa de nya tullarna väldigt snart. Men i praktiken kan det dröja på grund av alla praktiska problem, säger Mikael Wickelgren, fordonsforskare och docent vid Högskolan i Skövde.Radikala rådgivareBakom Trumps ekonomiska teorier står Stephen Miran, som är ordförande i presidentens ekonomiskpolitiska råd. Han har en rad kontroversiella idéer. Som att använda tullar för att tvinga andra länders centralbanker att sälja dollar. Det oroar Robert Bergvist, senior ekonom på SEB, som liknar det med att ge sig på ”själva hjärtat i den finansiella marknaden”.Programledare och producent:Hanna MalmodinMedverkande och röster i programmet:Victor Jensen, reporter EkonomiekotMikael Wickelgren, docent i företagsekonomi vid Högskolan i SkövdeRobert Bergqvist, senior ekonom på SEBHampus Engellau, aktieanalytiker HandelsbankenHåkan Samuelsson, vd Volvo CarsDonald Trump, president USAStephen Miran, ordförande i Trumps ekonomiskpolitiska rådMark Carney, premiärminister KanadaBert Ferm, aktieägare Volvo Carsekonomiekotextra@sverigesradio.se

Tokyobörsen fyra procent. Terminerna på Wall Street lyser rött och även på hemmaplan väntas börsen backa vid öppning. På Stockholmsbörsen ska vi återigen välkomna Håkan Samuelsson som vd för Volvo cars, efter att bolaget sparkat Jim Rowan i helgen.

De topman van Volvo, Jim Rowan, stapt op. Hij wordt vervangen door een oude bekende bij het automerk.

De topman van Volvo, Jim Rowan, stapt op. Hij wordt vervangen door een oude bekende bij het automerk. Rowan was drie jaar de baas bij Volvo. Hij werd geconfronteerd met softwareproblemen, waardoor de EX90 veel later op de markt kwam. Ook het beursdebuut van Volvo eind 2021, vlak voor zijn aanstelling, is nooit echt een succes geworden. Die beursgang werd ingezet door Håkan Samuelsson. Hij keert terug als CEO voor een periode van twee jaar, meldt Volvo in een persbericht. Verder in de auto-update: Donald Trump maakt zich totaal geen zorgen over stijgende autoprijzen in Amerika. Het Tesla-protest in Tilburg duurde kort en trok slechts tientallen demonstranten. En volgens topadviseur Helmut Marko maakt Yuki Tsunoda het seizoen af bij Red Bull.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Strong leadership is tested in challenging times. With shifting policies, financial strain, and increasing accountability, school business officials must make critical decisions that impact their districts, staff, and students. But how can SBOs maintain composure, ethics, and strategic clarity when facing these pressures?In Part 1 of our two-part series on Strengthening School Leadership, Jim Rowan, Executive Director of ASBO International joins us to discuss how SBOs can lead effectively through financial uncertainty, political shifts, and difficult decision-making scenarios.Key Topics Covered:✅ How to lead with confidence and composure during times of change✅ The role of ethics in school business decision-making✅ Strategies for maintaining trust and transparency with stakeholders✅ How SBOs can advocate for their districts despite financial and policy challenges✅ Practical leadership tools to help navigate uncertainty with clarityPart 2 will focus on budget strategies and financial decision-making with Jonathan Travers from Education Resource Strategies (ERS)—helping SBOs optimize resources, navigate budget shortfalls, and build financial sustainability.Contact School Business Insider: Check us out on social media: LinkedIn Twitter (X) Website: https://asbointl.org/SBI Email: podcast@asbointl.org Make sure to like, subscribe and share for more great insider episodes!Disclaimer:The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker's own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the Association of School Business Officials International. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only. The "ASBO International" name and all forms and abbreviations are the property of its owner and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service. The presence of any advertising does not endorse, or imply endorsement of, any products or services by ASBO International.ASBO International is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization and does not participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for elective public office. The sharing of news or information concerning public policy issues or political campaigns and candidates are not, and should not be construed as, endorsements by ASBO Internatio...

In this episode of School Business Insider, we reconnect with Jim Rowan, Executive Director of ASBO International, to reflect on his first year in the role. Jim was our very first guest, sharing his vision for ASBO International in 2024, and now he's back to recap the highlights, successes, and lessons learned over the past year.Jim discusses the progress made on key initiatives like the Vision 35 Task Force, strengthening affiliate relationships, and enhancing membership engagement. He also shares how ASBO is preparing for 2025, focusing on governance, operational efficiencies, and supporting the next generation of school business officials. Whether you're an ASBO member or a school business leader, this episode is packed with insights into leadership, growth, and the future of the profession.Contact School Business Insider: Check us out on social media: LinkedIn Twitter (X) Website: https://asbointl.org/SBI Email: podcast@asbointl.org Make sure to like, subscribe and share for more great insider episodes!Disclaimer:The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker's own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the Association of School Business Officials International. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only. The "ASBO International" name and all forms and abbreviations are the property of its owner and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service. The presence of any advertising does not endorse, or imply endorsement of, any products or services by ASBO International.ASBO International is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization and does not participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for elective public office. The sharing of news or information concerning public policy issues or political campaigns and candidates are not, and should not be construed as, endorsements by ASBO Internatio...

Tis the season to reflect on an action-packed year in AI! Tune in to the latest episode of Bringing Data and AI to Life as hosts Amy Horowitz, VP for Solution Sales for Data Integration and Data Governance and Nick Dobbins, Field CTO at Informatica, look back on the good and the bad from the world of AI in 2024. From trust in AI and the importance of data quality, to the transformative power of data governance - insights from our past conversations with the industry's top voices await you.

Explore the intricate world of AI ecosystems with Deloitte's Head of Applied AI, Jim Rowan. Tune in as Jim takes you behind the scenes of Deloitte's inaugural AI Ecosystem Summit, where leaders and alliance partners come together to discuss market changes and the evolution of the AI value chain.

Are you a woman in recruitment dreaming of launching your own business but feeling hesitant about taking the first step?   The recruitment landscape is rich with opportunities, but the path to starting and growing your own business can seem daunting, especially for women. In this episode of The Elite Recruiter Podcast, host Benjamin Mena interviews Helen Plumridge, founder of Hyper Consulting, to unpack the unique challenges and vast opportunities for women in the recruitment industry. Despite women making up half of the recruiting workforce, only 20% of recruitment businesses are started by women. Whether you're grappling with imposter syndrome, financial planning, or balancing family and work responsibilities, Helen provides expert insights and actionable advice to help you navigate these issues and set the foundation for a thriving business. Comprehensive Business and Personal Development: Helen Plumridge underscores the importance of developing both your business acumen and personal skills. Drawing inspiration from Jim Rowan, she highlights the need to understand critical aspects like accounting, systems, processes, and compliance to shift from a recruiter mindset to a business owner mindset.Strategic and Practical Advice for New Entrepreneurs: Gain practical strategies that include leveraging your existing network, focusing on specific niches, and creating compelling marketing decks. Helen emphasizes starting small, managing early distractions, and committing at least six months to a year to assess the viability of your new career path.Building Confidence and Overcoming Barriers: Learn how to build confidence through continuous learning, peer support, and fighting imposter syndrome. Helen discusses the importance of financial preparedness, efficient time management, and strategic growth, offering encouragement specifically to women who might be hesitant about the risks involved.   Tune in to this enlightening episode now and get equipped with the strategies, mindset, and inspiration you need to start your own successful recruitment business, paving the way for your best year yet in 2024! Want to check out Finish The Year Strong Summit Replays? - https://finish-the-year-strong.heysummit.com/ Signup for future emails from The Elite Recruiter Podcast: https://eliterecruiterpodcast.beehiiv.com/subscribe   YouTube: https://youtu.be/FCDzro8ZtSA Helen Plumridge: Linkedin:           https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenplumridge1/ Insta:                  https://www.instagram.com/helensplum/ Youtube:           https://www.youtube.com/@HelenPlumridge 18 revenue enhancing hacks to simplify your business and give you more free time   With your Host Benjamin Mena with Select Source Solutions: http://www.selectsourcesolutions.com/  Benjamin Mena LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminmena/  Benjamin Mena Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benlmena/

Amy Horowitz, host and VP of Data Governance and Data Integration Solution Sales at Informatica is joined by the esteemed Jim Rowan, Principal and Head of AI Practice at Deloitte US on this week's episode of Bringing Data and AI to Life. Jim came on to share some insights on the evolving landscape of AI adoption and the challenges organizations face as they integrate AI into their operations. Particularly, he emphasizes the importance of aligning AI initiatives with business strategies and discusses the necessity of robust data management practices. Jim also highlights key use cases where AI has driven innovation and efficiency, offering practical advice for organizations at various stages in their AI journey. Listen in now to explore how AI can transform businesses and to find out the critical steps needed to succeed.

U.S. employment data sends mixed signals as global equities tread water ahead of a crucial nonfarm jobs report. Markets are split between a 25 and 50 basis point cut at the Fed's next meeting - Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz tells CNBC that he is voting bigger. OPEC-plus producers delay plans to ramp up oil production by at least two months, as crude prices slump to their lowest level this year. Elsewhere, President Macron appoints veteran conservative Michel Barnier as France's new Prime Minister after a nearly 60-day stalemate. Volvo CEO Jim Rowan tells CNBC that the EV transition is taking longer than expected, as the carmaker scraps plans to go fully electric by 2030.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of School Business Insider, we're giving you an exclusive preview of the 2024 ASBO International Conference and Expo, set to take place in Nashville, Tennessee, from September 18th to 20th. Join us as we speak with Jim Rowan, Executive Director of ASBO International, Cristin Watson, Director of Education, and Lorie Grooms, Director of Events, who share the immense effort and planning that goes into organizing this marquee event.We discuss the must-attend sessions, keynote speakers, and new features that attendees can look forward to this year. Our guests also highlight the importance of the conference for professional development, networking, and staying ahead in the world of school business management. Whether you're a returning attendee or considering attending for the first time, this episode is packed with insights and tips to help you make the most of your experience in Nashville.Contact School Business Insider: Check us out on social media: LinkedIn Twitter (X) Website: https://asbointl.org/SBI Email: podcast@asbointl.org Make sure to like, subscribe and share for more great insider episodes!Disclaimer:The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker's own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the Association of School Business Officials International. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only. The "ASBO International" name and all forms and abbreviations are the property of its owner and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service. The presence of any advertising does not endorse, or imply endorsement of, any products or services by ASBO International.ASBO International is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization and does not participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for elective public office. The sharing of news or information concerning public policy issues or political campaigns and candidates are not, and should not be construed as, endorsements by ASBO Internatio...

When it comes to technology and transformation, the automotive industry is at the forefront of change. Government regulations, changing consumer demands, new technology and climate change have forced auto manufacturers to evolve their approach. In today's episode of Redefiners, Clarke and Hoda talk with Jim Rowan, President and CEO of Volvo Cars, about his career “shift” from consumer electronics to the automotive industry. Jim talks about Volvo's ambitious goal of going fully electric by 2030, the intersection of design, collaboration and innovation, leading through disruption, and the power of curiosity and hard work to accelerate learning and solve big problems. We'll also hear from Tristan Jervis, a Managing Director in our London office, who will outline what it takes to cultivate a tech-first culture—and how it can boost your organization's resilience to face what's next. If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like these Redefiners episodes: The Necessity of Change with President and CEO of Wells Fargo Charlie Scharf In the Fast Lane: A Conversation with FIA CEO Natalie Robyn Leadership Lounge: How to nail your first year as CEO Leadership Reimagined: Transformation Tips from Jim Hagemann Snabe 

Volvo Cars has an ambitious goal of going all electric by 2030. But, according to CEO Jim Rowan, the EV push won't be linear. Major population centers are way ahead of rural communities, both in the U.S. and globally when it comes to things like charging infrastructure, critical for the move away from gas-powered cars. Rowan became CEO of Volvo Cars in 2022 after a long career in tech, including stints as the CEO of Dyson and COO of Blackberry. He says Volvo's market position as a premium brand gives it a distinct advantage in a crowded field. On this episode of Leadership Next, Alan and Michal talk to Rowan about innovation in automotive, China's EV-manufacturing infrastructure, and Volvo's 70-year history bringing Scandinavian design sensibility to the U.S. car market. Leadership Next is powered by Deloitte.

In this episode, we are joined by Volvo CEO Jim Rowan to discuss how AI and autonomy are transforming Volvo's business (3:28), the fragmented regulatory environment around autonomous driving (17:00), navigating the increasingly tense U.S.-China relationship (23:10), its implications for the EV industry (33:14), and upcoming policy changes to look out for (52:00).

Ian speaks with Sky's Economics and Data Editor, Ed Conway, about the The Bank of England saying inflation could ease to its 2% target within a few months - despite it keeping interest rates on hold again at 5.25%. Swedish carmaker Volvo said today it will stop providing funding to its electric vehicle start-up Polestar - we discuss this with Jim Rowan, Chief Executive of Volvo Cars.And, Andy Briggs, Chief Executive of Phoenix Group - the UK's biggest long term savings and retirement business, talks to Ian about it hitting their 2025 target for new business cash generation two years early.

Welcome to the very first episode of School Business Insider, ASBO International's official podcast. I am so excited to have you as an insider and to learn about the great things going on around the world with school business.On this episode, Jim Rowan, the new executive director of ASBO International, discusses his career journey and his vision for the organization. He emphasizes the importance of listening to members and creating value for them. Jim also highlights the need to balance professional development opportunities with state associations and the potential for partnerships with other organizations. He plans to create a Vision 35 Task Force to shape the future of ASBO International. Overall, Jim is excited to engage with members and work towards the success of the organization.Read ASBO International's Official Press Release Introducing Jim Rowan:ASBO International Welcomes New Executive DirectorContact School Business Insider: Check us out on social media: LinkedIn Twitter (X) Website: https://asbointl.org/SBI Email: podcast@asbointl.org Make sure to like, subscribe and share for more great insider episodes!Disclaimer:The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker's own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the Association of School Business Officials International. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only. The "ASBO International" name and all forms and abbreviations are the property of its owner and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service. The presence of any advertising does not endorse, or imply endorsement of, any products or services by ASBO International.ASBO International is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization and does not participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for elective public office. The sharing of news or information concerning public policy issues or political campaigns and candidates are not, and should not be construed as, endorsements by ASBO Internatio...

Today, I'm talking to Jim Rowan, the CEO of Volvo Cars. Now, Jim's only been at Volvo for a short time. He took over in 2022 after a decades-long career in the consumer electronics industry. Before Volvo, his two longest stints were at BlackBerry, whose QNX software is used in tons of cars, and then at Dyson, which once tried and failed to make an electric car. Jim and I talked a lot about how that unique experience has influenced how he thinks about the transformational changes happening in the world of cars. For Volvo, the stakes are high. The company has pledged to be all-electric by the end of the decade, and Jim is also making some very different bets on software and revenue than the rest of the car industry. Jim's view is that automakers are undergoing three major shifts all at once: electrification, autonomy, and direct-to-consumer sales. With Volvo, Jim is trying to steer the ship through these changes and come out an EV-only carmaker on the other end. Links: Volvo plans to sell only electric cars by 2030 Volvo's EX90 is a powerful computer that also happens to be an impeccably designed EV Can Polestar design a new kind of car company? The EV transition trips over its own cord Volvo's upcoming EVs join the Tesla Supercharger bandwagon Future Volvo cars to run on Volvo operating system Audi and Volvo will use Android as the operating system in upcoming cars Volvo's first EV will run native Android The rest of the auto industry still loves CarPlay and Android Auto The future of cars is a subscription nightmare Everybody hates GM's decision to kill Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for its EVs Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23722862 Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Today's episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt. It was edited by Callie Wright.  The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, I talk with Jim Rowan, a Principal at Deloitte and a leader in the firm's Strategy and Analytics practice. Jim discusses how AI is transforming the world of business analytics, enabling better decision-making across various industries, including life sciences, healthcare, and telecommunications. We delve into the power of data-driven analytical and AI solutions, and Jim's expertise in helping organizations embrace digital transformations in their finance functions. Investor in AI Box: https://republic.com/ai-box Generative AI Dossier Facebook Community: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/739308654562189 Follow me on X: ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/jaeden_ai⁠⁠

I'll tell you I'm talking about. When I first started sharing my professional journey, I focused on people who were interested in screenwriting. But over the years, my audience has expanded to include all sorts of creative types: actors, artists, novelists, playwrights, performers, and more. With that said, I'm rebranding my podcast. I'll still talk about screenwriting, but I'll interview a wider variety of people living their own creative lives. I hope they'll inspire you to do the same.Show NotesFree Writing Webinar - https://michaeljamin.com/op/webinar-registration/Michael's Online Screenwriting Course - https://michaeljamin.com/courseFree Screenwriting Lesson - https://michaeljamin.com/freeJoin My Watchlist - https://michaeljamin.com/watchlistAutogenerated TranscriptMichael Jamin:But also it's like when you put energy into something legit energy, not like thinking or dreaming, but when you actually do the work, thingsPhil Hudson:Have a way ofMichael Jamin:Manifesting like, oh, there's opportunities have a way of appearing becausePhil Hudson:You've put work into it.Michael Jamin:Like these variousPhil Hudson:Press opportunitiesMichael Jamin:That I've done and other things that have sprung out because of that. That's just from doing the energyPhil Hudson:Of posting on social mediaMichael Jamin:And just sharing as much knowledge as I can.Phil Hudson:You're listening to, what the Hell is Michael Jamin talkingMichael Jamin:About?Phil Hudson:I'll tell you what I'm talkingMichael Jamin:About. I'm talking about creativity, I'm talking aboutPhil Hudson:Writing, and I'm talking about reinventing yourselfMichael Jamin:Through the arts. Hey everyone, it's Michael Jamin and I'm new. I'm all new right now because I've done a rebrand on the podcast. It was called, obviously Screenwriters Need to Hear this. And then Phil and I were talking and we kind of wanted to open up the conversations a little bit so it's not just about screenwriting and so it's more about, I was really getting to talking about people doing all sorts of creative things. I just think it's inspiring. We'll still talk about screenwriting of course, but I wanted to open up the conversation to more people who are doing things that hopefully inspire all of us to just live more creative lives. And Phil don't get upset. Phil is still here, still is not going away. He's very much involved in all this, but the title of course of the new show is What the Hell is Michael Jamin talking about? And will be answering that question. What the hell am I talking about? Go ahead.Phil Hudson:I think the focus in our conversations were really about creativity because you're a bit more than just a screener. When we started this, it was with a specific purpose. We should also point out this is episode 1 0 4, which is two years of doing podcast,Michael Jamin:So it wasPhil Hudson:A good time to take a step back. Reassess. Things have shifted a lot in the industry. Things have shifted a lot for you personally. What you've done over the last few years is pretty phenomenal in terms of growing a following, becoming a bit of a celebrity, becoming a bit of an expert in a lot of news, which we'll talk about. So yeah, it's just a shift to I think, speaking a little bit more to who Michael Jamin is beyond just being a writer and a showrunner, but being a true creative.Michael Jamin:And I should mention, so Phil speaks with authority because he runs a digital marketing agency called Rook, SS e o. So this is, he knows what he's talking, he knows the space Well, but without further ado, I guess this episode we were just going to talk a little bit more about how far the changes we've made, what we've seen in the past two years and hopefully maybe what we're moving towards.Phil Hudson:Yeah, I thought it would be fitting, Michael, just to kind of talk about some statistics around what the success of the podcast, the success of your work as doing your own personal marketing. And I want to remind everybody that the whole point of this was so that you could market your book. So you're taking and eating your own advice, and I think it's very important for people to know, if I think of Michael Jainism, what are some of the things, your catchphrases and the things you say? Some of those are don't wait, put it out there. Put yourself out there. Right.Michael Jamin:Stop asking for permission is what I say.Phil Hudson:Stop asking for permission.Michael Jamin:Yeah,Phil Hudson:There are a bunch of those that could be really good slogans for hats, whichMichael Jamin:YouPhil Hudson:ShouldMichael Jamin:Consider. A lot of this really, and I guess maybe it's fitting that just that I am the first interview of what the new brand is because a lot of this is about reinventing yourself. This whole journey that I've been is about reinventing myself. I was a sitcom writer. That's what I was until I started going online and making a podcast and posting every day and now I'm something else.Phil Hudson:Yeah, it's definitely morphed. So let's talk a bit about that. Right. So we're 104 episodes into the podcast. That's big. I think the statistic I saw a week ago is that the average podcast has six episodes, which meansMichael Jamin:Most people It's a lot of work. Yeah,Phil Hudson:It is. It's a lot of money too. I don't think people recognize that you're investing in editors, you'veMichael Jamin:GotPhil Hudson:People doing graphic design. There's a lot of it. There's the hosting of the site. I mean, every time you do a webinar, a site crashes and I have to freak outMichael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:Run in and make sure we're back up. And yeah, it's a whole thing. So there's a lot that goes into this, but it's 104 episodes on lots of different topics, all centered around creativity, largely around Hollywood and screenwriting. But I personally, as I've gone through and produced and helped edit some of the episodes, it's very clear to me that you get a lot of joy from having these creative conversations.Michael Jamin:Yeah. That's what interests me the most. Yeah, andPhil Hudson:It's not so much about like, Hey, you're a screenwriter. It's like, hey, you are a creative personMichael Jamin:Who'sPhil Hudson:Putting themselves out there and trying to make something happen,Michael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:Your audience speaks to this as well. So in the digital marketing space, when we think about this, we think about an avatar and an avatar or a persona. It's your ideal customer. It's the person you're going after. And anytime you're doing marketing, it's a mistake. Or if it's folly, to not do that, you want to understand who you're targeting. And it was very clear two years ago, well, I'm a writer, I'm a TV writer. Let's talk about what I know, which is screenwriting to people who are screenwriters. And I pointed out you should do that because there's a lot of BSS out there.Michael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:What is your take on that two years into this? What is your take on BSS advice and advice in general? Maybe through the lens of the questions you get asked,Michael Jamin:What is my take on it? I feel like you're prompting me to say something. What are you getting at Fell? I don'tPhil Hudson:Know. I'm not trying to lead the witness. I just want to know what is your take on the marketplace for screenwriters having been immersed on the public, but then you're getting all these questions from people. You did a bunch of live q and as for a year, just talking to people and your following, and there's a series of 10 or 15 questions everybody's asking,Michael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:It's all pointed towards sell your stuff. You know what those are. So I'm just wondering for you as a showrunner who kind of stepped into the world of what's being taught by the gurus andMichael Jamin:By thePhil Hudson:Experts, what are you seeing in the marketplace for screenwriters?Michael Jamin:One thing I said during the last webinar we did, we do free webinar every three weeks, and I said something that I think a lot of people were astounded by. I said, screenwriting is simple. It's not easy, but it's simple. And I think a lot of people are trying to sell you the complicated version so that you buy more from I'm the only one who can explain it to you and therefore you need me. And I don't know in the writer's room, that's just not how we approach writing simple. I also think there's a lot of bad advice out there, I think. So just be careful. Be careful who you're taking advice from. I don't know, it's a little heartbreaking. Someone posted today, actually, I did a post and someone left a comment saying, everything this guy says me is true because he did coverage in a coverage service. HePhil Hudson:Goes, yeah,Michael Jamin:People use pay me for coverage. I didn't know anything and I'm telling people what to do. This is a gig this guy picked up. It didn't seem like a lot of people I know, not a lot of people, but I've heard stories of people who've done coverage for a temp job for a month or two and then left because they left feeling a little bit gross about themselves. Why are you paying me? I don't know what I'm talking about. And so they left.Phil Hudson:Okay, so this is the world that, so I guess I might've been leading the witness a little bit because my point is, this is the world I understood because prior to meeting you and having the stars align, and we met years ago, and without me knowing who you are, and everybody knows the story by now of how we know each other and became friends, I was very much in that world and I was looking around trying to find that type of feedback and information, and you really shined the light on this for me. That man, there's a lot of people out here pretending like they know what they're talking about.Michael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:I think you've done a valuable service in these first 100 and 304 episodes of peeling back the curtain, explaining how the process works, educating people. So I just wanted to reiterate, there's a lot of value in what you've done, and that doesn't mean that you're not going to continue to provide value to your listeners who are screenwriters. I think you're just shifting into really none of it all, which is be a creative and do creative things because there's value in the act, not because you're trying to sell a pilot.Michael Jamin:Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah. I said something else that people kind of resonated with. Maybe it's worth repeating, and I'll probably say again in my webinars, I say do more of them, but I interviewed, I directed Brian Cranston many years ago on a show called Glen Martin. He was a guest star. It was an animated show, and I directed, it was silly. He played a fun role and was then afterwards I thanked him. We paid him probably 800 bucks. He wasn't doing it for the money. And I thanked him that was scale. And he said, oh, no, no, thank you. And I'm like, thank me. Whatcha talking about you're Brian Cranson. At the time he was doing breaking bed, and he said, it's just nice to have a pallet cleanser. As great as Breaking Bad was in probably my favorite show of all time.It was so dark that he was living with these negative emotions, anger, fear, jealousy, rage, all that stuff to be in the character. And when you are in that, your mind doesn't know a difference When you're playing this character 12, 14 hours a day in film and you're acting angry and vengeful and all that, whatever those emotions he had to play, your brain doesn't know the difference that whole day. You've been angry and vengeful, and then when you go home, how do you get it out of you? I mean, how do you just experienced all that all day? And it just really made me think about what it's like to be an actor to actually live in that. So he was thanking me because the script that we did was so light and fun. He was like, oh, it's like a, it was fun. It was fun.Palette, cleanser, which he needed. And then it just got me thinking a lot about just creativity as a whole. And then when people write, when they write their scripts, novels, whatever it is, regardless of whether you sell it or not, you are enjoying that burst of creativity and you're playing out all the characters in your head and your mind doesn't know the difference between you pretending to jump out of a plane and you writing about jumping out of a plane. You're trying to get it all on paper. You're really trying to live it in your heart. And so that I feel Carries with you when you write, regardless of whether you sell it something is a bonus, great, you got money for it. But if you don't sell it, you still get that. You still get that rush, that bonus. And so there's no reason not to write, don't think of it as the pot of gold is in the journey. It's not at the end of the rainbow.Phil Hudson:Yeah. Let's talk about some of the statistics of the podcast, and I love that. I want to circle back on that topic of the journey, the joys in the journey, not the destination, which I'm sure I'm slaughtering that saying just some things, right? So 104 episodes of the podcast, over 200,000 downloads of the podcast, people from I don't know how many continents, but just basing it off of the last webinar we did this last Saturday. I counted probably 13 countries on about four continents, right? That's a trip. Italy, you've got Europe, you've got people in Asia, Australia, south America, you got Central America, you've got America, you'veMichael Jamin:GotPhil Hudson:Canada. I mean, you've got people, it's a global reach at this point, and you're kind of that figurehead to put that out.Michael Jamin:There's so strange.Phil Hudson:Yeah. So hundreds of thousands of downloads on the podcast, which is incredible and that may not seem like a lot, but for the industry and for your niche,Michael Jamin:ThisPhil Hudson:Is really good. These are great numbers for that. We've pulled some stats, and you might know this a little bit better. At one point you were in the top three podcasts on screenwriting, is that right?Michael Jamin:Yeah, I was bouncing around andPhil Hudson:We fluctuated between 5, 6, 7, 10. Anybody who wants to help support go leave a review, a written review on iTunes, that does help a ton. But yeah, so major reach, major opportunity. When you started this, I wanted to ask, do you remember how many Instagram followers you had when we sat down in your garage and I talked about here's what you need to do to be able to grow your following and do this. DoMichael Jamin:You remember how many? I don't remember.Phil Hudson:No, because it wasn't something you're paying attention to. I didn't know. But how many Instagram followers do you have now? It was less, would you say less than a thousand? Probably.Michael Jamin:Probably close to 160,000 now, I think. Yeah,Phil Hudson:Yeah, 160,000.Michael Jamin:HowPhil Hudson:Many days have you missed posting on socialMichael Jamin:Media? Since we started this two yearsPhil Hudson:Ago,Michael Jamin:I promised myself that I was going to post every day. So I post, I would say on average six days a week. So sometimes I take a day off.Phil Hudson:So for anybody looking to grow a following, again, Michael's telling you to do this. He's telling you to bring something to the table and you did this and it's brutal. It's not like a 32nd recording.Michael Jamin:IPhil Hudson:Mean, you communicated to me at one point you're spending 20, 30 minutes on this every single day to get one video out because you're doing multiple takesMichael Jamin:And you'rePhil Hudson:Trying to condense it. You're thinking about it outside of that 30 minutes. You're then doing the technical, and I don't post this for you, you do this, you post it, right? Because you want it to feel authentic. So there's work involved. But again, you're eating your own medicine,Michael Jamin:You'rePhil Hudson:Doing what you tell people to do. You're putting yourself out there in two years down the road, you basically nothing to 160,000 followers onMichael Jamin:Instagram. TikTok,Phil Hudson:Let's hear it.Michael Jamin:Well, TikTok is, I think it's something like 444,000. But that's the thing. It's like I made a promise for myself. It wasn't too ambitious. I didn't say I was going to post five times a day. I was like once a day,Phil Hudson:And I think I was advocating for two to four, which is what the experts would tell you to do. And you said, that's not sustainable for me.Michael Jamin:No way.Phil Hudson:Especially for someone who doesn't want to be in the limelight, which is you very much were like, I don't want to be this person. I'm happy being a writer, but you have this project you want, which is your bookMichael Jamin:You want. I also think it waters down a little bit the message if you're constantly, I'd rather do quality than quantity. But yeah, all of it. I want to say Phil, everything that I, all the advice that I give people about becoming a screenwriter or whatever, becoming whatever it is you want to be a creator is either advice that I have done or I am currently doing.Phil Hudson:So there's no hypocrisy here, which is a really key thing, really key takeaway that people can learn from you beyond the followers. Let's talk about that's led to definitely, and we saw this happening beforehand. You'd post a video about why aren't there cats and TV shows? And Yahoo would pick it up, and then all of the riders on Tacoma FD would just give you crap for it. You popped up on their Yahoo page. But beyond that, and with your status and the work you put in, all of a sudden you become a trustworthy expert in your field because you have a following and you're noticed. It's not that your knowledge are on the subject or your capacity as a writer has changed.Michael Jamin:You'rePhil Hudson:The same capable person and now all of a sudden there's a lot of interest in writing and Hollywood, and you're the guy to go to because you have a following and you're known, right? So this is this secondary effect of I want to get my work out there, so I need followers so that I can have an audience to engage with and potentially prove to people that there's a demand for what I have to put out. And that turned into being covered on Deadline. The Hollywood Reporter, the New York Times variety, and you're in deadline like 17 times, by the way.Michael Jamin:Yeah,Phil Hudson:Right.Michael Jamin:You'rePhil Hudson:In some local newspapers, Newburyport News, you were with the A R PMichael Jamin:CPhil Hudson:Tv. Yeah, the seasoned writers of the world, Portland TV had you on for three segments on one of their shows.Michael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:I think that started a little bit before Good Day Sacramento, multiple times in Yahoo N, our c nl, which is New Zealand, is that right? Nls New Zealand, I think. Yeah. Or the Netherlands. Yeah, Scripps News, the Guardian Newsweek, the Washington Posts News Junkie, right. Newsweek a couple times. And this last weekend you were on C N N.Michael Jamin:Yeah, it's nuts. They just reach out to me, I'm like, sure, I'll do it. Would not have predicted any of this was going to happen two years ago. No.Phil Hudson:So you're not doing this for the fame, you're not doing any of this because you feel like you're going to get something out of it from your writing career. You're doing it because your publisher says, Hey, we don't care how many emails you have on your wife's business list or anything like that, or how many people are interested in your writing?Michael Jamin:WhichPhil Hudson:By the way, prior to even four years ago, 10,000 emails was enough to get a book deal. And now, I mean, I've seen that number of times from people now, it's like, yeah, you need followers putting you on the spot here. So I apologize, but I recall you telling me that you had specific feedback from some of these agents, like, man, Michael Jamin can write, I want to be his friend. Do you remember some of that? Do you want to talk a little bit about what some of those rejection letters were? Oh,Michael Jamin:Yeah. I don't know if I have in front of me, but basically it was, oh, actually I do. ThisPhil Hudson:Is not planned, by the way. Michael didn't know I was going to bring any of this up. The whole premise here is I was going to interview Michael and talk about this stuff.Michael Jamin:Yeah, I got letters from when I was first putting my book out there from publishers. Oh, we love this book. The guy doesn't have a following. They wrote to my agent, do you have anybody who writes like this? Who does have a following? I mean, it was that crazy. They said, platform drives acquisition. I said, what does that mean? You need to have a following. I said, well, what about the strength of the writing? Everyone loved the writing. What about the strength of the writing? Oh, no, no, no. It's about what can we sell? I was like, damn. And that really was a stab in the heart,Phil Hudson:And I think for the average creative branching out with just writers, but the average creative one, rejection, litter, and it's like, well, I guess that's not in it. I guess mom was right. I guess dad was right. I guess Billy's dad was, right. It's hard to be a writer. I should give up. And you hear about these people who submit over and over and over again until they finally break through.Michael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:You took that and said, I don't want to do this thing. I don't want to be a public figure, but I have this creative work that I know people need to read. And it's a personal work that you did on your own. No one paid you to do it. You wrote forMichael Jamin:Free.Phil Hudson:And then IMichael Jamin:Remember, which turn, go ahead. Go ahead.Phil Hudson:I was going to say, then I remember I get a text from you and you're like, Phil, any chance you can come over, I want to talk to you about some marketing stuff. I come over, come to your garage. I break your chair. Let's see thatMichael Jamin:It had already broken. It's already broken, but okay,Phil Hudson:Had to replace a chair. And he asked me, what do I need to do? And I just laid out everything I knew, and then we started putting the wheels into motion. That was roughly 25 months ago,Michael Jamin:CouplePhil Hudson:Months ago.Michael Jamin:And it's one of those things like, I didn't want to do it so tough. How badly do you want it? How badly do you want it? And there can be a downside to having whatever you want to call this level of fame. It's internet famous, not famous, but you are putting yourself out there for haters, for trolls, for wackos, all sorts of weirdos. I mean, you wouldn't believe how, I mean, do I have to tell you? There are people on the internet are crazy. So there was that, but I was like, well, this is what it takes now. So it actually made me matter. When the publishers told me this, I was furious. How dare you tell me what I can't do? You don't get to tell me what I can't do. Only I get to do that. And so that just lit a fire under my ass. And then when IPhil Hudson:Read this book,Michael Jamin:Oh my God, it actually changed me. It's kind of a weird,Phil Hudson:I don't really want to plug the bookMichael Jamin:Very, you can tellPhil Hudson:Me I'mMichael Jamin:InterestedPhil Hudson:In this, but you can tell me. I'llMichael Jamin:Tell you. It was a very new agey book. And so a lot of the advice was, some of the advice I thought was really good, and some of it was like, I don't know. I think you, you're going out on a limb with this one. But it was one of those things, you take what you want and you leave the rest. And what convinced me was this one passage where he said, you've already gotten what you wanted. It just hasn't happened yet. And I was like, that's it. That's it. I already have it. It just hasn't happened yet. And then I was like, alright, what do I need to do to make it happen?Phil Hudson:That's it. Yeah. You remember you reading me that exact quote several times throughout this whole process? Yeah. IMichael Jamin:Love that quote. I always tell people on my podcast, whatever here, or I say it on the webinar, I was like, this is what you need to do. If you're willing to do it, then you need a skill. We don't know your level of skill and then you need a little bit of luck, of course. But here's what you can do to increase your odds. Are you willing to do it? And most people aren't so fine.Phil Hudson:Well, that's my point about the podcast, right? The average podcast is six episodes,Michael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:It's because the consistency, the lack of immediate gratification, the, oh, I only got three people to listen to my sixth episode and I put a thousand dollars to get four episodesMichael Jamin:Made, orPhil Hudson:Whatever it is, that's enough to turn people off. But this is kind of your whole point is, okay, move on. And there's nothing wrong with learning that you're not fit for something. There's something wrong with, there's nothing wrong with saying, Hey, I understand that something I want to do. Maybe doing it the Hollywood way is not the right way for me.Michael Jamin:SoPhil Hudson:Instead, I'm going to go back to just doing it on my own and I'm going to make short films and I'm going to support my local film community. And there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with recognizing, Hey, I've got family obligations, so I'm not going to be able to move to New York and try to get my art in a gallery. So I'll just paint on the weekends and I'll just take that hour to myself every day to just put in the work on my craft. And you never know what can come from that. But the point is, it's about sticking with what it is. And that's, I think your message that I've heard. I don't know that I want to say that it's evolved. I don't know it's ever evolved. I think it's always been your message, which is if you want to make it happen, you got to make it happen. But the act of doing is enough, right?Michael Jamin:As youPhil Hudson:Said, the goal, the pot of gold, that the rainbow is not the pot of gold.Michael Jamin:It's thePhil Hudson:Experiences along the way, finding the pot of gold that are the pot of gold.Michael Jamin:But also, it's like when you put energy into something legit energy, not like thinking or dreaming, but when you actually do the work, things have a way of manifesting like, oh, this opportunities have a way of appearing because you've put work into it. Like these various press opportunities that I've done and other things that have sprung out because of that. It's like that's just from doing the energy of posting on social media and just sharing as much knowledge as I canPhil Hudson:With zero expectation of getting back. You're planting seeds that hopefully will produce fruit when your book is available and people can buy it on Audible and buy a paperback or a hardcover. And at this point too, so still, you've made the decision not to go with a traditional publisher, even though at this point you have hundreds of thousands of followers.Michael Jamin:Hey, it's Michael Jamin. If you like my content, and I know you do because you're listening to me, I will email it to you for free. Just join my watch list. Every Friday I send out my top three videos of the week. These are for writers, actors, creative types, people like you can unsubscribe whenever you want. I'm not going to spam you, and the price is free. You got no excuse to join. Go to michaeljamin.com and now back to what the hell is Michael Jamin talking about?Phil Hudson:When you'd ask people, how many followers do I need? They couldn't tell you, tell you. They just knew you needed followers, but they didn't know what the number was.Michael Jamin:And then I got resentful, okay, now that I have these followers, why am I cutting you in? Tell me exactly why I'm cutting you in. What exactly do you do? Nothing. They get me in Barnes and Noble, that's it. But people don't buy books at Barnes and Noble. They buy it online. Why am I cutting you in? It made me mad. It made me legit in the beginning. I was like, I need you. And I was like, I don't need you. What do I need you for?Phil Hudson:How freeing is that feeling?Michael Jamin:It's wonderful. I just got my copy back from I, my copy editor, read the whole thing and whatever, looking for typos and stuff like that. And he loved it. This is a professional. He's like, how do I share? I want to give this to my friends. I was like, oh, thank you. But one of it's like, why am I cutting? It's just like this is the year, it's 2023. It's like, you don't need to ask for permission from these people. The publishing is, the side of the business is very similar to Hollywood in the sense that what do we need these people for? You don't need Hollywood if you want to do, you don't. You just don't. You can do it yourself.Phil Hudson:On that note, I went to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu today, and it was a smaller class, middle of the day. There were literally two other people besides me. They're both instructors. It was paying for a private, which was awesome. And in some downtime, I was talking to one of the guys, he's like, yeah, I quit doing Juujitsu for five years. And I was like, oh, why'd you stop? And he's like, well, a couple of years ago, I lost everything I was doing, worked in, I'm an actor and I worked in the industry. And then that started a conversation, and then he started telling me about all the stuff he's doing now. And he's like, we just decided to do it ourselves. We're making short films. We're putting it out there. We're winning tons of awards on this festival circuits. And he's been in Netflix shows, he's been in things. He has an I M D V page, so he's not just some guy. He has talent and skill, and he's even going out and put it in. And I was like, dude, good for you.Michael Jamin:Yeah. But when you look at the people who break, the people who are break in today, they're all doing what I'm doing. They're people, for the most part, they're not begging for work. They're making work for themselves, and they're making a name for themselves. And so they're building equity in their own name as opposed to knocking on doors and begging.Phil Hudson:Yeah, I, we've touched on this in a past podcast, but I've heard an agent refer to it as Plus writer plus. What is the plus you're bringing to the table? So maybe it's a following, maybe it's ip. Maybe you wrote a book that's a Amazon bestseller. Maybe it's you worked at the Onion and you're coming in with some clout because you had that experience, right? Maybe you were brought on the Harvard Lampoon, whatever it is, there's a plus and a following is a plus, but that's the value add. It's not enough. And you've told me this before, and I've quoted it often, and I think about it when I write, and this was, man, this was like 7, 6, 7 years ago.Michael Jamin:YouPhil Hudson:Read something I wrote in film school, and it was a speck of a Mr. Robot. And you said, Phil, it's obvious you're a competent writer, and this is really good. But that's the problem. It's not great. And so it's not enough to be good. You have to be great, but you also need something else. And you have to be willing to put that out there and get that work done. To me, I've been very hesitant to grow following because of the public nature of that and some of those things. And you tell me some of the things you have to deal with in your dms and people saying things, anti-Semitic things, all kinds. It's crazy, horrible things.Michael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:You still stick it out and you do it. But yeah, the plus for me might be my skillset and technology. It might be my ability to run social media pro campaigns to the point where searchlights and this formerly Fox Searchlight, but searchlights people when they meet me are like, man, I need to fill in every project we have. And that's just the hustle and the grind. And you all have that. You listening to this have,Michael Jamin:That's exactly right. And Phil, this is what I was going to say as well, is everyone listening to this? Take inventory of what you have. For you, Phil, it's your vast knowledge of digital marketing, but for other people, they have other skills. So take advantage of what you have and then incorporate that towards building your brand or whoever youPhil Hudson:Are. Yeah, we might have talked, go ahead.Michael Jamin:Well, if you're a truck driver and you're like, what do I got? I drive a long distance truck, dude, you got a lot. Because you have, I dunno, whatever, 10 hours on the road where you're with nothing but your thoughts, turn off the radio. Not a lot of jobs like that where you can actually think and do your job at the same time. Think about something else. And so, yeah, you could write your screenplay, take notes into a recorder, and then when you stop the car later or the truck later, type it up a little bit and make notes. But that's a huge asset you have, which is you have time. You actually have time where you can think and concentrate on something while you do your job. That's a hugePhil Hudson:Asset. It's a blue sky time. Blue sky time is hard. It's the space and the stillness that is hard to generate in a chaotic life with family and obligations and work. So if you can find it, and reiterating one of the most powerful notes you've given me, which is, do you listen to audio books or podcasts in the car? And I said, yeah. And you said, don't,Michael Jamin:Don't, don't listen to me either. I turned it off your story. ThinkPhil Hudson:About your, yeah, write yourMichael Jamin:Story. WhatPhil Hudson:Is the problem? I'm trying to solve a huge breakthrough for me in my ability to spend time. I was so busy packing my day with so many obligations,Michael Jamin:But then I wasPhil Hudson:Spending hours in LA traffic doing runs for the show,Michael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:It's like, oh, here's the space.Michael Jamin:So it'sPhil Hudson:A great note, but everyone has that note. And going back to something you said earlier, luck is not, you talked about everyone needs a little bit of luck, but that definition, and I think I shared this in episode three, luck is where opportunity meets preparation.Michael Jamin:Yeah, yeah'sPhil Hudson:The preparation. It's the time spent. It's the other adage, when's the best time to grow a tree 20 years ago,Michael Jamin:When'sPhil Hudson:The second best time? Right now,Michael Jamin:YouPhil Hudson:Don't have a tree, so get out and build a tree. Grow your tree, right?Michael Jamin:Yeah.Phil Hudson:So yeah, man, kudos to you for putting in the work and the effort. And I'm close enough as your friend, I've been able to see this and see your growth and your push to be able to do this. And I'll also say that even as someone that I considered to be competent, functional adults who's very successful, I've noticed your resilience increased quite a bit overMichael Jamin:My resilience.Phil Hudson:And that's not saying that you were some pushover or anything. I'm not suggesting that in the slightest, but I've just noticed that your ability to just take the bumps and the bruises of all of the BSS you're dealing with, it's just made you, I think, a little more focused and clear on what you want out of it. And that's why you have this reaction, this is my interpretation to me, why you're having this reaction to the publishers now. It's like, why am I giving you any of this? You didn't fight the fight. I fought the fight. I've been here. I've been in here day in and day out, so screw you. And that's a level of resiliency and confidence. I think that I'm not saying you didn't have that, justMichael Jamin:It took a lot for me to get there. It changes things. It took a lot for me to get there, but it was like maybe on the second book, maybe I'll do with them or not, I don't know. But I also know they haven't earned my book. And I've also heard too many stories from friends of mine who have had books traditionally published where the marketing department drops the ball and they promise one thing and then they're awol, and then that's it. Because at that point, you don't have the margin to do any more marketing on your own, so it's dead. And so it was never about the money for me, but I became a little angry as I was building this up. I was like, well, why am I cutting you in? It doesn't make sense to me. What do you bring to the table? Nothing other than Barnes and Noble, which I don't really care about. It's like, okay, sure. If it was 1982, I might worry about that. Yeah.Phil Hudson:This is, I think clicking for me. You're familiar with David Goggins, the former Navy Seal?Michael Jamin:I don't think so.Phil Hudson:He wrote a book called You Can't Hurt Me.Michael Jamin:And hePhil Hudson:Talks about how he was just abused as a kid by his father.Michael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:Then what that taught him to do was to be able to just separate his pain. And it created a lot of mental toughness to the point that he was in the us. He was in the Air Force, tried out for Air Force Special Operations. He became a Navy Seal. He went through three hell weeks because he kept getting rolled back for injuries. He had a point where he had fractured legs and he would duct tape them so that they weren't hurt when he was doing runs. I mean, he ran a hundred miler in one day with no preparation to the point that his kidneys were failing. And he just does ultra marathons nonstop. He's just kind of this figure. He's become a bit of a meme with the same younger people, but I've known about him for a few years, and he talks about his book and he's like, I got offered $300,000 from a publisher from my book,Michael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:I just thought, you haven't been through what I've been through. It is basically what you're saying. It's like, you haven't earned this the way I have. Is my life worth $300,000? And he said, no. So he took all of his savings, which was about 300,000, and he self-published his own book, New York Times bestseller. Did the hardbacks, did the whole thing.Michael Jamin:Why didn't it take him 300,000 to make a book? It shouldn't have taken fraction of that.Phil Hudson:He did all of the publishing himself. So he didn't publish through a self-publisher like Amazon. He didn't even want to partner with Amazon, so he became his own publisher.Michael Jamin:SoPhil Hudson:He literally printed up hundreds of thousands of copies, and then he leveraged all of his relationships with the Rogans and all these people with these platforms because of the life and the experience that he had, and multiple time bestsellers, millions of copies, sold books,Michael Jamin:TwoPhil Hudson:Books, and he's a millionaire because of that effort. So it's that same resilience mindset I think that I'm hearing from you. And that's probably why I made that connectionMichael Jamin:Just like, screw people. I'll do it myself. I don't need you. That's how I feel. Whatever, I'll do it myself. Yeah.Phil Hudson:That's awesome. Before we talk about the new podcast, I just wanted to see, are there any takeaways for you over the last year? Are there anything that really stood out moments or conversations we've had with you, with other people, us on the podcast or with other students in your course?Michael Jamin:If you listen to some of those other episodes where I'm interviewing people, you'll hear various versions of the same story that I tell their own, which is kind of like, screw it. I'll just do it my own. It is just people. The reason why people are, I interview, I guess, successful people, and the reason why they're successful is because they haven't quit yet. That's it. They just didn't get around to quitting. And so I think that's what it is. Until you quit, you're just a success. That hasn't happened yet. It just hasn't happened yet,Phil Hudson:Which is why you don't quit.Michael Jamin:Yeah.Phil Hudson:Anything else stand out to you?Michael Jamin:I don't know. Can you think of something?Phil Hudson:The one lingering thought that I have is I think that people, you set a really good example for people on your social media about how to handle naysayersMichael Jamin:BecausePhil Hudson:You get a lot of negativity, and you talked about this, you could go after them. You're a professional comedyMichael Jamin:Writer. Yeah.Phil Hudson:They don't stand a chance. And I have witnessed just the witty quickness, the decimation of a soul in a writer's room, all in love,Michael Jamin:ButPhil Hudson:The capability of a professional comedy writer to just tear someone down. And it's almost like with great power comes great responsibility. ThatMichael Jamin:ClichePhil Hudson:From Spider-Man, it's like you opt to take the high road, which is,Michael Jamin:And I'm always torn by that. Sometimes I'm like, I can easily take you down. And sometimes I do. If it's warranted, if they come out with me a certain amount of energy, then I can match the energy. But I'm torn. I also feel like, well, it's not enough that I, on one hand, I tell people I'm a comedy writer, but unless I show it every once in a while, people are, how are they going to believe me?Phil Hudson:And soMichael Jamin:It's a line that I dance. I dance, it is like I don't want to be mean, but I also,Phil Hudson:It's not negative energy. It's not done with maliciousness. It's done playfully. But I think it just, you stand up for yourself when it's appropriate.Michael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:Again, that speaks to some of that resiliency that again, you could decimate 'em,Michael Jamin:You retrain yourself. I'm totally pulling punches, believe me when I'm pulling, because sometimes I've got a bunch of clips I haven't posted yet. I write them. I'll spend a half hour on 'em, and then I'll sit on it. I don't feel, and then I look at the next day, I go, oh, I can't put that on. It's funny, but it's just too mean. That'sPhil Hudson:The adage of when you're at work and you want to send that email, don't sendMichael Jamin:It.Phil Hudson:Write it out. Don'tMichael Jamin:Send it. GetPhil Hudson:It out of your system. Move on.Michael Jamin:Right. I took a guy apart the other day, I just haven't shared it, so screw it. That guy,Phil Hudson:You don't even share those with me.Michael Jamin:Yeah. But also I also do, and I made a post about this. It was like, how do I want to show up every day? How do I want to be seen? And I don't want be the mean guy. I don't want to be a bully. So I'm allowed to think my negative thoughts. I don't always have to share them.Phil Hudson:Yeah, yeah. No, and that's a valuable lesson for people in a world where, as I've often said, you remove the opportunity to get punched in the face for anything you say or do, and all of a sudden people start speaking up a little bit more than they probably should. And I'm not advocating for violence,Michael Jamin:ButPhil Hudson:Even a verbal punch to the face can often be enough. AndMichael Jamin:It'sPhil Hudson:Pretty easy in our society to just sit behind your keyboardMichael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:Zero consequences for what you say and do. I call this out? I call this out in our webinars while you're talking, Cynthia, your wife is doing a great job of just getting questions, and I'm just kind of checking the chat to see what people are talking about. And man, there's some trolls rolling into your webinar too.Michael Jamin:Thank you. I never see them. Do you block 'em? What do you do?Phil Hudson:No, no. People take care. They take care of it. And we can talk about another experience we had where someone went after me on a podcast too, nepotism, do you remember that? Called me out for nepotismMichael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:All that.Michael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:Yeah, your listeners had my back and they went after 'em. And it is just a very stark difference between the community you've cultivated of people who are just respectful, sincere creatives looking to break in and chase their dreams and all the people who say they want to do it and are not putting in theMichael Jamin:Work and the nepotism on your part, to be clear, I suppose that was when you were in and out of foster care as a child. Is that when you experienced all the nepotism?Phil Hudson:Yeah, it might've been that. It might've been when I was in the group homes. It could have been when I lived in my aunt and uncle's house and I couldn't do sports because I had to workMichael Jamin:EffectivelyPhil Hudson:Full-time in high school. Could have been any of those times. Could have beenMichael Jamin:Of those times. Yeah.Phil Hudson:But your point to that was you knew one person tangentially through some girl when you moved here, there wasn't even an nepotism for you. And I knew you, and yeah, I've been blessed to have that opportunity, but we've seen enough people come and go, you have to earn it. Right?Michael Jamin:It's so funny when I tell that story. When I moved to Hollywood, I knew no one in Hollywood, but a girl I was friendly with in high school, she was a year younger than me. I found out that her brother was living in Hollywood and was trying to do what I did, which is bright sitcom writer. And so I called himPhil Hudson:Up, and thenMichael Jamin:We wound up becoming roommates. But then when I tell that story, people go, oh, so you did know someone. It was like, I knew some guy.Phil Hudson:He wasMichael Jamin:Just as unsuccessfulPhil Hudson:AsMichael Jamin:Me, and wePhil Hudson:BecameMichael Jamin:Roommates. He was just a couple years older than me. So I guess that's how I knew someone.Phil Hudson:But that highlights this thing. I was going to say, and it's just a quote that stuck with me for years. I think it comes from Jim Rowan, which is there's two ways to have the tallest building. One is to build the tallest building,Michael Jamin:WhichPhil Hudson:You have done the other ways to tear everyone else's building down.Michael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:So if you're afraid to pursue your craft, sometimes tearing everyone else down is a bit easier than facing the empty page or the blank canvas. It'sMichael Jamin:A lot easier. It's a lot easier.Phil Hudson:And the high road, whichMichael Jamin:You'vePhil Hudson:Been an example forMichael Jamin:AnPhil Hudson:Exemplar, is just put your head down, do the work, provide value,Michael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:Then the benefits will come eventually.Michael Jamin:And I really hope this episode doesn't seem like we're just patting me on the back. I hope it serves be to get you guys to do what I'm doing in your own way for whatever you want to do.Phil Hudson:And Michael saying that, because Michael didn't know what I was going to talk about or bring up here, this is me bringing this up because these are the things that I've observed as your friend, as a co-host on the podcast, but also just as someone who's just trying to do the same thing that everybody who listens to your podcast is tryingMichael Jamin:To do,Phil Hudson:Which is break in and chase their dreams.Michael Jamin:Yeah, I'm exactly like you guys. Only, I'm doing it for writing. That's all for publishing,Phil Hudson:Which speaks to the transition to the podcast, which is the title of the podcast. What the hell is Michael? WhatMichael Jamin:The hell is Michael Jamin talking about?Phil Hudson:Yeah. What the hell is Michael Jamin talking about? At this point, you can see the cover has changed, so it's going to be the same feed. You don't need to go resubscribe. None of the old episodes are rebranding. They'll still be live and available the way they were. But it's just a shift into talking about creative things. And I think you got some cool stuff to kind of display. I guess people might've already heard the intro.Michael Jamin:Oh, we could do that. WePhil Hudson:Put on this episode. But you want to talk more about that, the podcast and impetus for the change and why we were here?Michael Jamin:Yeah. Well, there was that. The new music is by my friend Anthony Rizzo, who did all the music. He was the composer on Marin. It wasn't my friend. Then. I just met him on Marin. And then he also did the music for my book, a paper orchestra, which would be dropping hopefully this winter and keep pushing itPhil Hudson:Back. Yeah, we haven't talked about that. You've put in a ton of energy and effort into recording the audio book and making it your live events, which I wanted to point out part of this transition, and you've always talked about how when you're in a writer's room, you end up acting out the parts, like when you're doing Hank on King of the Hill, you do Hank's voice and you kind of mimic him. You're doing Bobby, you do it. So you've always been a performer, but I don't know if you've been a performer in the sense that you are with a paper orchestra whereMichael Jamin:It'sPhil Hudson:A stage show and you're there and you're being vulnerable and emotional, and you're making it a thing, and you're practicing and you're working with talented coaches like your wife, Cynthia, who is a very talentedMichael Jamin:Actress,Phil Hudson:And Jill Sch, who is a legendary actress, and you're investing in all this coaching to put on a presentation or performance for people. And I have not heard audio book, but what I understand is it's going to be very similar experience to come into a live show.Michael Jamin:I think so. And it'll be a little more intimate than a live show in your ear because it's an audio book. I'm much closer to your brain, and I want to talk to morePhil Hudson:CreatorsMichael Jamin:Like this. But what I'm personally inspired by right now, and that maybe it'll change in five years, but I'm inspired by people who tell and perform their own stories. To me, there's something, so you're an actor. You have to be a writer and a performer at the same time, as opposed to doing something like creating something. That's fine. But when you're telling your own story, it's like, man, you're really putting yourself out there. And I think when I see people do it, I'm like, all right, that's interesting. Maybe I'll change in five years. So I mean, standups do that, but they don't do it. They're going for the laugh usually. They're not usually going deeper than that, which is fine that when you go into a comedy club, that's what you expect. So that's kind of what I've been exploring and being motivated by.Phil Hudson:That's another Michael Jainism that stood out to me. I wrote it down when you were talking earlier, go there. You have to be willing to go there. And we talked about people who are not willing to go there. And we've heard people, other writers say, I'm not willing to go there. And you've called it out privately to me, did you hear that person? Did you hear what they said? And you have to be willing to go there. For a long time, I wasn't. And through your help, I've been able to do that. But yeah, you're talking to people who go there.Michael Jamin:Yeah, that's the job. If you don't want the job, find another job. It'sPhil Hudson:Emotional vulnerabilityMichael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:Being willing to put yourself out there and not just on a social media perspective, but truly emotionally vulnerable in your stories and what you've called mining your life for stories and putting that out there.Michael Jamin:Yeah. Yeah. To me, that's the exciting stuff. And I didn't invent this, so it's just when I see others do it, I'm like, wow, why I should be doing that too.Phil Hudson:So obviously I'm not necessarily a co-host of this anymore. I'm still helping produce the thing. We're still making sure that that'sMichael Jamin:How hear a lot the technicalPhil Hudson:Side. I'll still be popping in on podcast episode.Michael Jamin:We'll still be talking about screenwriting, I'm sure.Phil Hudson:And I had this cool experience, and I don't think we've talked about this when I was on touring with the broken lizard guys doing their social media, just sitting there talking to them and seeing this rabid fan base of people who just love them from this thing that they created. When they did it, they put themselves out there.Michael Jamin:AndPhil Hudson:It really lit that our tour spirit I had back in 2000 8 0 9, when I was really dedicating myself to screenwriting. And I have actually been working on a feature that I would like to star in and direct and do that whole thing on the indie level. Just now you talking, just an exercise. What aboutMichael Jamin:As a short first, why not doing it as a shortPhil Hudson:Could definitely do that. Yeah. Why?Michael Jamin:ToPhil Hudson:Me, there's a feature in there for sure that I want to write and just get out of me, but definitely worth doing a short, yeah,Michael Jamin:Go watch as we talk about this. Go watch on Vimeo, I think Thunder Road, that scene we talk about, go watch the church, the Churching. That was a feature, but that scene stands on its own. If you just saw that scene, you would've thought, oh, it's a short, I thought it was a short, I thought it was a great short, I didn't realize it was part of a bigger, so do something like that. And then when people see that and they're blown away, you'll say, oh, well, there's more to come. Just I need you to donate $5,000. And then they pay for the rest.Phil Hudson:Yeah. Yeah. That's great advice. Great advice. So yeah. So anyway, this beautiful shift in the tide of creativity and your shift, and that rubs off. What can we expect from the podcast in terms of guests you're interviewing? What does that look like for you?Michael Jamin:I reach out, I got to continue to do more. I'm doing another one tomorrow. I'll be reaching out. These guys really inspired me. So there's a movie that I saw on Netflix many years ago, I dunno, maybe five years ago from these guys called The Minimalists. So I reached out to one of them. He's going to be on the Tomorrow, and they're fascinating. It is.Phil Hudson:Joshua Fields Millburn, andMichael Jamin:He's the one coming on, and he's gracious enough to come on, and I'm sure he's going to think we're going to talk about the message. And the message is very important. The message is how you can live, how you can have more in your life with less how you don't need to buy this, how you'll be happier if you get rid of that, and great message. But he's in for a surprise because we'll talk about that. But I really want to talk about how he created himself, how he, okay, then how did you sell a show on Netflix? Okay, now what is it like to be this person? Because he wasn't, he was just some guy who's middle management before he did this, and now he's the guy who has this message. Even though the message has already been said before by other people, he still put a different spin on it to me. And I find that inspiring, that somebody who invented himself, what does that feel like? What are the insecurities that come with that? What is this new fame ish thing that he has? How does that feel? How does he continue to push himself? I don't know. I'm looking forward to the interview. I'm curious to hear, and I bet you he hasn't spoken about that.Phil Hudson:That's awesome.Michael Jamin:I did an interview, I dunno if it, no, it hasn't aired yet. The guy I follow, a prop master that I follow on TikTok named Scott and Scott Reeder, and he's great.Phil Hudson:Great. I follow him too.Michael Jamin:He's great. He just talks about all the props and how he makes these props, and we spoke a little bit about that, but we were more talking about how he invented himself now. And halfway through the interview, he says to me, this is the best interview anyone's ever done, because I didn't really care about the boring stuff. I want to know how he invented himself. What all of us, I think are trying to do right now. That's part of Before we Die, we, that's, who else can we be before we die?Phil Hudson:Yeah, that's profound, man. I'm excited. I've loved listening to the interviews you've already done on Screenwriters. Need to hear this. I'm looking forward to those.Michael Jamin:It'sPhil Hudson:Good stuff, man. I'm just really pumped for this new stage. And again, I do think it just speaks a little bit more to who you've become because not that you've outgrown yourself as a writer, it's just you've evolved a bit as a person into being a bit more than that. And I hesitate to even say that too, because I know this is who you are. This is who you have been.Michael Jamin:But this is what writers too, I think it's like, all right, what else can we explore here? That's part of the fun. That's the fun part being, being a writer is that you get car, right? You get carte blanche to try new things because maybe I can write about this worst case scenario. I can make a story from it.Phil Hudson:I was about to say, that's advice you've given me multiple times, which is it's a write-off. You can go take aMichael Jamin:Basket weaving class,Phil Hudson:Right? Go take aMichael Jamin:Dance class. Why?Phil Hudson:It's an experience. Go take an acting class. And I remember you did a workshop in Acting for Life and it was a comedy workshop and you were kind enough to invite me to attend that. And I was already studying with Cynthia and Jill at the time there. And yeah, I remember you just putting out that same thing. It's great. You're studying acting, it's going to make you a better writer.Michael Jamin:And you'vePhil Hudson:Given that advice on the podcast too. So it's really fascinating to me. And I'm just kind of realizing this in this moment, man, I thought I was getting all this great free advice that was particular to Phil Hudson and now you're justMichael Jamin:Giving it toPhil Hudson:Everybody, man.Michael Jamin:Everyone. I hope so. I'd like to try to do, we'll see if I can make that happen where I go to, that's something I'm going to try to make happen where I can tour to different cities, put on a show, and then the next day maybe a writing seminar afterwards in that city so I can to help offset some of my costs. And then we could just talk about writing that day. We have a little writing workshop or something, so maybe I'll try to do that.Phil Hudson:God, that's awesome. It's the first I've heard of that. That sounds like a great,Michael Jamin:Yeah, it's just so many things that have to happen before that. I got so much on my plate right now. I can't even think about that. But we were talking about that. Wouldn't that be interesting?Phil Hudson:It's a great idea. Well, I imagine Cynthia will be with you.Michael Jamin:Yeah, yeah,Phil Hudson:Yeah. And that's awesome. Now you're getting someone who's been on Seinfeld and the friends and just allMichael Jamin:ThesePhil Hudson:Great, I mean very talented, very, and I will say not only talented, but very perceptive,Michael Jamin:Right? Oh yeah.Phil Hudson:And I think I've shared this on here too, but there was this moment where I just couldn't get there. I just couldn't get there. And Jill's just saying, what are you feeling? And IMichael Jamin:Was like, I don't know.Phil Hudson:And she turns to the class and she's like, what is everyone? What's he feeling? Everyone's like, he's mad. And I didn't even realize I was mad. And then the next class, I'm struggling in this scene. And then Jill's like, what are you struggling with? What's going on? I was like, I don't know. And then Cynthia's like, is it the intimacy? Is he having trouble with the intimacy of the scene? And I was like, holy shit. Yeah. I think that's what it is. I am not willing to go here. And I had to work through all that stuff. So she's just so perceptive and so kind. You can't even be not mad. She's calling you out because it's done with so much love and compassion. It's a beautiful thing.Michael Jamin:We've had these moments, by the way, when she directs me from my audio book where the outtakes are not pretty, the outtakes are me yelling.Phil Hudson:ButMichael Jamin:It's funny, one of thePhil Hudson:Stories in my bookMichael Jamin:Is called The House on Witherspoon Street where I'm a kid in college. They're all true stories. And it builds to me giving an on-air interview to this woman who's this eccentric woman who had a talk show. She was lovely, but she's larger than life and it's in the book. And then my editor said yesterday, he goes,Phil Hudson:Do youMichael Jamin:Happen to have that interview? And I was like, well, actually, I think I do. And I found the cassette from 30 years ago. And so we'll put it in the bonus section of the book where now you can hear me, you can hear me as a 19 year old or whatever it was. Has that scene unfolded? That's likePhil Hudson:Steve LE's break dancingMichael Jamin:Commercial, but it's stranger than that because you'll know now what I was thinking in my headPhil Hudson:While That's awesome.Michael Jamin:While it was going on. That's aPhil Hudson:Great point.Michael Jamin:Yeah, it's a fun little thing.Phil Hudson:It's cool stuff, man. I love it. I'm pumped. It's a good shift for you. I think it's a good shift for your audience. I think it opens it up a little bit. Hope it's a little bit more accessible to your audience. Your audience is far more than just writers. It'sMichael Jamin:Great. I don't want to just, when it called screenwriters, you hear this. Well, does that mean I don't want to be a screenwriter? Well, okay, but do you want to do anything creative? Yeah, sure I do. I want to write a poem. Okay, good. Now listen, you can, thePhil Hudson:Other thing is how does this apply to novel writing? How does this apply to playwriting? And we have a testimonial video from a guy who does financial writing, and he took your course and he's like, it made my financial writing better.Michael Jamin:He'sPhil Hudson:Able to tell a better story aboutMichael Jamin:Finances in a finance journal. And stories are what gets people hooked. Whatever you want to sell, sell it with a story. People are interested in hearing a story veryPhil Hudson:Often. That's you,Michael Jamin:Right?Phil Hudson:It's you in the room, it's you idea, it's yourMichael Jamin:Acting,Phil Hudson:It's yourMichael Jamin:Art.Phil Hudson:All of that is story.Michael Jamin:By the way, I hope to do some more public speaking. So if anyone has a,Phil Hudson:It works at a corporationMichael Jamin:And you want me to do public speaking, we have a number of talks,Phil Hudson:Keynotes. We can talk about that, Michael. I do a lot of that with some clients.Michael Jamin:Oh really? Oh good. We'll talk about that. KeynotePhil Hudson:Marketing. Yeah. Well, good stuff. Anything you want to add? I mean, we had talked, I think, a little bit about potentially putting the music on. I think everybody's already heard the music on. We've heard some of it. It'sMichael Jamin:Funky. Do youPhil Hudson:Want to play it? It's aMichael Jamin:Funky, let's play some of it. Okay,Phil Hu

Negotiation is one of the skills developed by all savvy property investors. Over the years I've noticed that some people are very good at getting terrific deals. Most others simply get what the other party is willing to give. What's the difference? The first group knows how to negotiate. In today's episode, I sit down with Jackson Milan, an expert in the art of negotiation in a conversation for his podcast. We discuss the vital role negotiation plays in various aspects of life and how mastering it can significantly enhance your life's quality. Drawing on my five decades of business and investment experience, we delve into the importance of effective communication, establishing rapport, and ethically influencing others. We also discuss the impact of timing on sales and investments, and how understanding market conditions can shape negotiation outcomes. Lastly, we reflect on valuable insights I've gained from my mentor, Jim Rowan, about life's predictable patterns of change, and the power of attitude and choices. Tune in to learn about negotiation strategies that can give you an upper hand and hear our perspective on the property market. Navigating Negotiation Strategies for a Better Life with Jackson Milan Life is one big bargaining event, and if you become a very good negotiator it makes a difference in the quality of your life If you are a poor negotiator, you'll spend a fortune. If you are a good negotiator, you'll save a fortune. If you are a great negotiator, you'll make a fortune. But as I started to write my latest book on negotiation, I realized that to be successful in life today you need to be more than just a good negotiator. In this podcast episode, you'll hear me being interviewed by Jackson Milan, a veteran investor with five decades of experience, on the art of negotiation. We'll discuss its role in amplifying quality of life and the profound impact of negotiation skills on various aspects of life, especially in the realms of business and investments. ●       The cornerstones of Michael's success in life and business ●       How access to information has changed over the years ●       Importance of negotiation skills in life and business ●       Who really needs to develop negotiation skills ●       An alternative to the “meet-in-the-middle” approach ●       Understanding the power of negotiation and influence so as not to be taken advantage of o   How culture plays into that ●       The things that can give you more power in  a negotiation o   If you're not in a hurry, you've got the upper hand o   The more information you have, the more power you have o   Having alternative options gives you more power ●       Valuable rules to understand in negotiation o   Everything is negotiable o   Know what you want before going in – plan your negotiations o   Don't get emotionally invested ●       Whether a quick sale is a good sale ●       Getting the best asset as opposed to the cheapest asset ●       The story of Michael's first investment property ●       The importance of delayed gratification, education, and having a good team around you as you plan for the future. Links and Resources: Michael Yardney Jackson Millan - The Wealth Mentor – Aureus Financial Jackson Millan's Podcast Get the team at Metropole to help build your personal Strategic Property Plan Click here and have a chat with us Get a bundle of eBooks and reports = www.PodcastBonus.com.au Some of our favorite quotes from the show: “Life is one big bargaining event, whether you become a good negotiator or not. And if you do, it actually does make a difference to the quality of your life.” – Michael Yardney “Because in negotiation, I guess, like in life, if you don't have a plan of your own, you're going to be part of somebody else's plan.” – Michael Yardney “It's hard to make money out of real estate in the short term, but it's a fantastic way of growing assets over the long term.” – Michael Yardney PLEASE LEAVE US A REVIEW Reviews are hugely important to me because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes - it's your way of passing the message forward to others and saying thank you to me. Here's how    

År 2019 står Säpos spanare utanför en restaurang i centrala Stockholm och följer två män. När ett vitt kuvert fyllt med pengar lämnas över gör sig Säpo reda att ingripa. Nya avsnitt från P3 Dokumentär hittar du först i Sveriges Radio Play. De misstänker att ingenjören ”Alexander” precis har sålt hemlig information till en rysk underrättelseofficer.I flera år har Säpo haft span på en känd underättelseofficer från Ryssland. Jevgenij Umerenko är här som diplomat, men hans jobb är att värva spioner i Sverige. Målet han siktar in sig på är en medelålders man från Borås. ”Alexander” jobbar som ingenjör på fordonsföretaget Scania och Säpo misstänker att han säljer hemlig information som kan skada Sverige.För första gången på nästan 20 år kan en svensk åtalas för spioneri.Medverkande:Mats Ljungqvist, åklagare Riksenheten för säkerhetsmål.Daniel Stenling, chef kontraspionage Säpo.Lisa, spanare på Säpo."Gustaf", gruppchef kontraspionage Säpo.Erik, fd doktorandkollega och vän.Jenny Hellström, reporter Sveriges Radio.Christian Levin, vd Scania.Jim Rowan, vd Volvo Cars.Av: Hanna Malmodin.Producent: Hanna Frelin.Inläsningar är gjorda av: Ahmet Yaraman och Jonas Fredén.Producerad: 2023.

Welcome to the Master Mind, Body, and Spirit podcast with host Matt Belair, where we delve deep into personal development and spirituality.In our latest episode "John Henry Parker: Be the Dawn in the Darkness," we explore the power of mindset and perspective in overcoming adversity and finding peace. Our guest, author and behavioral analyst, John Henry Parker, shares his expertise and experience from his time working with Tony Robbins and Jim Rowan. With practical tips and inspiring stories, this episode offers valuable insights into transforming your life with simplicity and intention. Whether you're a veteran, a personal development enthusiast, or simply looking for inspiration, this podcast episode is for you. Join us on a journey of self-awareness and growth today!Help us fight censorship! Get immediate access to exclusive and censorship free content by donation or free by becoming a member here

This is the final episode of the For Fathers series. As I prepared, interviewed, edit and posted the episodes in this series, I was aware of the difficult reality that not every home or every child has a godly father . Some homes have no father at all. Others have a father present who, rather than upholding godly values, actively seeks to tear down the good that is or could be present. To speak to that father gap and to the moms living in those homes is a daunting goal.  This episode speaks to those mamas who are pursuing God for their families without the support or the presence of the father. You were not forgotten in this series. You were thought of, prayed for, and loved. I hope something in this podcast episode will speak to your heart, and remind you of God's heart for you.   Learn more about me at https://www.lyssastoyko.com/ Want to say hello? Follow me on Facebook and Insta @lyssastoyko Email me at momstaketen@gmail.com Help other mamas find encouragement through Moms Take Ten by rating and reviewing this show. Thanks!

Get ready for an inspirational episode of The Traded Life as host Greg Michelman welcomes special guest William Branum, a veteran of the US Navy SEALs, international speaker, and the owner of Naked Warrior Recovery CBD. In this riveting interview, Branum shares his journey from the military to entrepreneurship, discussing how he and his team started a CBD company after experiencing its benefits firsthand. He also offers advice on building a strong "boat crew" and developing the right mindset to achieve success. With fascinating insights on a wide range of topics from emotional baggage to Navy SEAL training, this episode is a must-listen for anyone aspiring to reach their full potential. Tune in now and discover how to take the right chances to elevate your life.Timestamps[00:00:05] Guest William Brandon's journey from Navy SEALs to CBD owner [00:03:19] Meeting the Chief of Naval Operations and Life After Military [00:06:31] From CBD Company to Podcast Guest [00:09:26] From Military to Business Success[00:12:24] Gender Differences in Coping Mechanisms and Inner Circles [00:15:32] The Importance of Surrounding Yourself with High-Performing Individuals [00:18:19] Choosing Your Boat Crew [00:21:28] Embracing Awesomeness and Avoiding Mediocrity [00:24:50] Choosing the Right Kind of Hard [00:27:41] Transitioning from Free to Paid Coaching [00:31:07] Overcoming Fear and Building a Foundation in Entrepreneurship [00:34:08] Building Momentum Through Giving [00:37:19] The Power of Building Business Relationships [00:40:06] Building Meaningful Relationships by Doing the Work [00:42:57] Removing emotional armor and finding quality CBD [00:46:17] Navy SEALs and the Importance of Vulnerability [00:49:01] No Transcript ProvidedBest Quotes[00:01:37] Wayne Gretzky once said you miss 100% of the shots that you don't take. If you don't ask, the answer is no a 100% of the time [00:04:25] So, again, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. The answer is no. 100% of the times that you don't ask [Unknown] Many people struggle with life transitions, and CBD was a modality that helped turn down the noise in my head to help me have more positive self-talk [00:13:04] The transition from the military to civilian life is the hardest military mission I've ever been on. I'm still on that mission todayAll Quotes[00:09:59] It's pretty wild. Gotta become full circle a little bit and feel really good now after going all the mental barriers that I imagine you had to go through, you know, coming out of there [00:03:01] That school that you went to for 4 months makes you too critical to the navy to allow you to go try [00:10:50] Guy struggle mentally, and it's hard because you have that brotherhood, especially when you're overseas and you're you're creating these connections with people, and then you come out here and everybody's just, like, living in their own world, and you're like, holy shit [00:06:44] Marketing is very difficult for a CBD company if you don't have a brick and mortar on a super busy street, and it's a very saturated market[00:09:26] Becoming a leader, becoming all the things, being able to speak to people and become exactly what you've become today wouldn't have been if you didn't do the one thing that you actually wanted to do and push forward in doing [00:04:25] So, again, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. The answer is no. 100% of the times that you don't ask [00:01:37] Wayne Gretzky once said you miss 100% of the shots that you don't take. If you don't ask, the answer is no a 100% of the time [00:08:25] All the things I said I would never do are all the things that I am doing today, and it was kind of a weird way that it got me here [00:04:14] Check. You'll be in the class after your PRD, which is a planned rotational date. 6 weeks later, I'm off to California to start my life as a navy seal [00:13:04] The transition from the military to civilian life is the hardest military mission I've ever been on. I'm still on that mission today [00:08:37] Doing a bunch of podcasts, people asking me really hard questions to figure out who I am and what do I actually offer this world helped me to discover my coaching business and speaking career [Unknown] Many people struggle with life transitions, and CBD was a modality that helped turn down the noise in my head to help me have more positive self-talk [00:01:04] I don't wanna say I was blown away, but I guess that's one of those things we always talk about in this world is, like, Just gotta ask. Right? [Unknown] I didn't have a big community around me, even on the veteran side of it, because everyone has their own sort of thing that they're doing [00:03:53] I joined the navy to become a navy seal. I think I deserve a chance to go. My detailer won't let me go. but I think I deserve a chance to go [00:04:01] He stops, he turns to my commanding officer, and he says, is he a good guy? And my commanding officer said, yeah. He was the sailor of the quarter, this quarter, which is like employee of the month because I did a good job sweeping or whatever [00:13:18] I'm very deliberate with the people that I have really in my inner circle. I want people that are gonna hold me accountable [00:13:58] I think it was Jim Rowan who said that you're the sum of the five people that you surround yourself with. And so it's I I can't tell you how absolutely true it is [00:08:57] But you know what's funny is that all the things you didn't think you were gonna do where all how you transition into that was doing the one thing that you really wanted to do that you pushed hard to do [00:00:28] I believe all my guests are specialBlog PostArticle 1: “Trading a Life of Service for a Life of Purpose with William Branum” In this episode, Greg Michelman interviews William Branum, a 26-year veteran of the Navy SEALs. Branum is an international speaker and the owner of Naked Warrior Recovery CBD. The two discuss how Branum traded his life of service for a life of purpose. Branum's quote, “If you don't ask, the answer is not a 100% of the time,” highlights the importance of taking risks to achieve your dreams. As a young man, Branum joined the Navy to become a SEAL, but found himself on a ship in Japan. He faced a devastating setback when his detailer denied his request to attend SEAL training. However, Branum did not give up on his dream. He persisted and eventually achieved his goal. Three tips from the episode for trading a life of service for a life of purpose: 1. Never give up on your dreams. 2. Take calculated risks to achieve your goals. 3. Define your purpose in life and pursue it relentlessly. This episode is a must-listen for anyone who wants to leverage their unique skills and experiences to create a more fulfilling life. Tune in now to learn more about trading a life of service for a life of purpose Article 2: “Finding Purpose through Naked Warrior Recovery CBD with William Branum” In this episode, Greg Michelman talks to William Branum, the owner of Naked Warrior Recovery CBD. The two discuss the importance of taking care of your mind and body to live a fulfilling life. Branum's quote, “I always believe that our thoughts create our actions,” underscores the importance of cultivating a positive mindset. He found that, as a SEAL, he was in the best physical shape of his life but still struggled with anxiety and depression. It was only when he started using CBD that he found relief. Three tips from the episode for achieving a more fulfilling life: 1. Prioritize self-care, including physical and mental health. 2. Consider non-traditional methods for managing anxiety and depression, such as CBD. 3. Cultivate a positive mindset by focusing on the good in life and setting achievable goals. This episode is a must-listen for anyone who wants to achieve a healthier and more fulfilling life. Tune in now to learn more about using CBD for recovery and how to prioritize your mental and physical health.Social Post1. Ready to trade your life for the one you were born for?

The Bank of Canada surprises markets by hiking rates, becoming the second global central bank to take a hawkish turn ahead of next week's Fed meeting. U.S. Treasury Secretary tells CNBC exclusively that strong American employment will not prevent inflation from being reined in back to target. Crypto exchange Coinbase's CEO Brian Armstrong slams the SEC for moving to ring-fence the sector, saying that the case against his company should not be compared with procedures against Binance. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is in Washington on a two-day trip where he is to meet with President Biden, seeking to play down trade tensions between the two countries. Volvo unveils its electric EX30 premium SUV as it plans for half of its products to be fully electric by 2030. We hear from CEO Jim Rowan who says that last year's supply chain concerns are finally dissipating. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today's episode is part of our In Conversation series and features Jim Rowan, CEO of Volvo Cars. Volvo has long been a pioneer in the automotive industry, setting standards for safety and technological advancement. Jim chats with Zero100's Head of Communications, Catherine Parry about his career learnings so far, Volvo's commitment to EVs, and the importance of technology and leadership in the pursuit of sustainability.SHOW NOTES: Jim Rowan | Volvo Cars Zero100 Forum AI and Machine Learning through Digital Twins DfX Is the Key to Circular Supply Chains in Automotive and Aerospace ERP vs MRP: Key Differences and Features Volvo Car Global CEO: Electric vehicles are the future – you best get ready Choking on Scope 3 GHG: Tech Vendors to The Rescue on Carbon Management Stress Test Your Digital Roadmap for Resilience and Recovery

Thursday is here! And it's a good thing because we're on the home stretch of the month of April as we talk about GM going all in without Apple…still. We also talk about Volvo's plans to continue being, well, Volvo. We'll also review WalletHub's latest list of the best and worst airlines.In what is shaping up to be either a stroke of technical and user interface genius, or a colossal apology in the making, GM is doubling down on its commitment to ax Apple CarPlay in its new EVs as part of a larger automaker battle for infotainment control and revenue, following in the footsteps of Tesla and Rivian, who won't include CarPlay in their vehicles. Consumers don't seem excited or trusting and in some cases are already leaving the brand. In 2015 CEO Mary Barra said, "Partnering with Apple and Google to offer CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility across the widest range of models in the industry is a great example of how Chevrolet continues to democratize technology that's important to our customers."Leveraging Android Automotive, GM will pay to license Google Maps and Google Assistant for its new infotainment center, which will be free to drivers for eight years.Other automakers like Honda and Polestar are making it clear that CarPlay is a part of their futureIn an EV environment of price (and Carplay) dropping, Volvo is playing its own Swedish-made, China-owned game. While competitors engage in price wars, Volvo Cars remains confident in its strong demand and sees no reason to slash prices, as its operating earnings outperform estimates.Volvo Cars maintains its outlook and reports healthy demand, with unit sales up 10% in the first quarter.CEO Jim Rowan states that as long as demand remains high, there is no reason to reduce prices for the automaker.Rowan also mentions that lithium prices, a significant cost factor for EVs, have started to decline, with more sources becoming available worldwide.A recent study by WalletHub has ranked Southwest as the worst airline in the US, while Delta Airlines claims the top spot for the second year in a row. The ranking analyzed the 11 biggest US airlines based on 14 metrics across four categories, including safety, comfort, and cost.10. Frontier Airlines, 9. American Airlines, 8. Envoy Airlines, 7. JetBlue Airways, 6. Hawaiian Airlines, 5. Alaska Airlines, 4. United Airlines, 3. Skywest Airlines, 2. Spirit Airlines, and 1. Delta Airlines.Southwest was ranked the worst airline for the second year in a row due to a combination of factors such as poor on-time performance, customer complaints, lost baggage, and limited in-flight amenities. Delta Airlines held top spot for the second consecutive year because of its exceptional on-time performance, low rates of customer complaints, high safety standards, and overall commitment to providing a comfortable and satisfying travel experience.Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/ JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/ Read our most recent email at: https://www.asotu.com/media/push-back-email ASOTU Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/automotivestateoftheunion

Have you been contemplating joining your first Mastermind and worried if the investment will be worth it?In this episode of The Mentee Podcast, Natalee Champlin joins us to share her Mastermind journey and how it has helped her uplevel herself and her business. She also shares the value of surrounding yourself with intentional and affluent people. Want to know how you can improve your life and business with Mastermind? Tune in to the episode to learn all about it!Here are some power takeaways from today's conversation:Investing in Mastermind is one way of being intentional with who you surround yourself. Develop an abundant and affluent mindset. Whatever energy you possess is what you project and attract.Sometimes, a leap of faith makes the difference. Episode Highlights:[02:02] Natalee's First Mastermind EventNatalee joined her first Mastermind in 2018. She remembers stressing out over the $5,000 sign up fee, until she gained insight that joining will help her gain clarity and build relationships with other intentional people. Five years later, Natalee now invests $30,000 a year in Mastermind. [05:36] My First Mastermind EventI have been an entrepreneur for 15 years before joining my first Mastermind. Like Natalee, I also struggled with the $5,000 because I was still rebuilding my house from a flood without insurance. What made me go all in was Jim Rowan's quote that "We are the average of the five people we spend the most time with.” Investing in the Mastermind is how I surround myself and build relationships with intentional people.[07:31] Scarcity vs. Abundance MindsetIn making business decisions, you can be someone who decides from a place of abundance and affluence or someone who bases decisions on price. Choose to surround yourself with affluent people until you become one. Remember, whatever energy you possess is what you project and attract. [09:52] Taking Leaps of FaithFinding the $5,000 to sign up for your first Mastermind can be a challenge. But the key is to be resourceful and make the money possible. Commit and believe in your heart that you are on a trajectory bigger than where you are now. Remember that every time you seek transformation, it can feel like being in a triangle that is getting smaller and darker. But, when you take a leap of faith, the triangle inverts and you will be at the top with opportunity, abundance, and expansion.Notable Quotes from the Episode:[03:09] “Being open and vulnerable is what allows you to build real relationships with people.”[09:27] “Whatever energy you possess is what you project and therefore attract.”[10:30] “It's about you making this internal commitment of, ‘I already know in my heart of hearts, that I am on a trajectory that is bigger than where I'm at now.'”Resources Mentioned:Connect with Wyatt Graves: LinkedIn | Website The Mentee Podcast: Website | Apple | SpotifyConnect with Natalee Champlin:

When hump day rolls around and it drops us in the middle of the month, we have to talk about some controversy, naturally. Leading off this morning are Volvo's plans for a direct to consumer model, followed by Hyundai and Kia battling TikTok and the release of the consumer pricing index.Volvo's European plans for direct to consumer sales has US dealers prepping for defensive measures with the automaker.Volvo's new CEO, Jim Rowan, argued the disconnect between the OEM and consumer in pre- and post- sale environments goes against his experience in the consumer electronics industry.“Dealer associations in at least two states — Virginia and California — sent Volvo letters warning that the strategy might violate the automaker's dealer agreements or state laws meant to prevent automakers from competing with their franchises.”Plans are to use the UK as a proving ground and learning environment for the brandFollowing the TikTok trend of stolen Kia and Hyundai vehicles, the automaker is set to provide a software update to mitigate the risk to owners.Way back on Nov. 23, we talked about how a St. Louis dealership was installing $200 bluetooth repeaters to prevent theft.Hyundai's free software patch will be available on 1M out of the 4M affected vehicles, and include an anti-theft sticker to deter attack, a longer alarm, and the need for a physical key to start the vehicle.“Hyundai is committed to ensuring the quality and integrity of our products through continuous improvement and is pleased to provide affected customers with an additional theft deterrent through this software upgrade,” said Randy Parker, CEO, Hyundai Motor America. “We have prioritized the upgrade's availability for owners and lessees of our highest selling vehicles and those most targeted by thieves in order for dealers to service them first.”Hyundai expects to have a fix for the other 3M vulnerable vehicles in June.The consumer price index was released yesterday, showing slowing inflation, and markets stayed stable despite growth in major index categories like food and energy.The average of all items was up 6.4%, with eggs taking the top spot up over 70% YOY.Vehicles took an 11.6% dip, which we know in the industry, which is a line item attached to only a small subset of the population, in contrast to the other items.Worth noting is the fact that common household items are the largest factors to consider in the impact of inflation on consumers in lower income brackets.“It's clear that the Federal Reserve has more to do in order to continue to slow down inflation,” said Eugenio Aleman, chief economist at Raymond James.Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/ JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/ Read our most recent email at: https://www.asotu.com/media/push-back-email Share your positive dealer stories: https://www.asotu.com/positivity ASOTU Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/automotivestateoftheunion

In this episode, Mandy Turner is joined by James Wong and Mike Costello, with Jack Quick dialling in to discuss the latest in automotive news and what's happening at CarExpert's offices around Australia. In car news: The Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray hybrid has been revealed The Polestar 2 is going rear-wheel drive for 2024 8500 electric HiLuxes and LandCruisers will be produced in a $1b mining deal Used car prices continue to fall, according to a new study James Wong talks about his launch drive of the all-new BMW 7 Series and i7, as well as his recent stint in the Range Rover Evoque P300e plug-in hybrid. Mike Costello also talks about his chat with global Volvo Car chief, Jim Rowan. Where to find the CarExpert Podcast You can find the CarExpert Podcast on your favourite podcast platform. If in doubt, simply click on the RSS feed below, or follow the links to the Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts applications to subscribe. CarExpert Podcast RSS Feed CarExpert Podcast on Apple Podcasts CarExpert Podcast on Google Podcasts CarExpert Podcast on Spotify CarExpert Podcast on Podbean  

Jim Rowan, the CEO of Volvo, joins Scott to discuss the state of play in the global automobile market including the rise of electric vehicles, disruptions to the traditional automakers, and the winners and losers in the space.  Scott opens with his thoughts on Facebook threatening to remove news from its US platform as well as a poor branding decision by Warner Bros Discovery.  Algebra of Happiness: reach out to someone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Över en natt slopades klimatbonusen till elbilar. Fler länder väntas göra som Sverige och stoppa miljardrullningen till elbilar. Samtidigt förbjuder EU all nyförsäljning av fossildrivna bilar om tolv år. Är det piskan istället för morot som ska få branschen att ställa om? Programledare: Claes Aronsson Röster och medverkande i programmet Romina Pourmokhtari, klimat och miljöminister (L) Richard Wisemark, bilhandlare, Skaraborg Mats Ola Larsson. projektledare IVL Svenska miljöinstitutet Victor Jensen, reporter, Ekot Isak Öhrlund, handläggare Klimatklivet, Naturvårdsverket Jim Rowan, vd Volvo Cars Producent: Olof WijnbladhTekniker: Hanna Melander ekonomiekotextra@sverigesradio.s

This week Rebecca Chaplin, James Batchelor and Jon Reay talk about the top news stories from the first week back in 2022. Find out more by clicking below: Ford poaches VW Group veteran Martin Sander to lead electric car roll-out Hyundai achieves largest ever UK market share in challenging 2021 Aston Martin EBITDA profit to take £15m hit because of Valkyrie delays – and it could mean curtains for CEO Stellantis and Amazon partner for next-generation digital cockpit for EVs Ford knocked off top spot in best-sellers chart for first time in 50 years, as Vauxhall triumphs and Tesla shocks Sony ramps up intent to enter automotive arena with unveiling of second vehicle concept One per cent rise in new car registrations in 2021 was ‘not what we hoped for', says SMMT Volvo appoints former Dyson chief Jim Rowan as new CEO and president Agency model could see sharp increase in online sales for manufacturers, new research finds --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/car-dealer-magazine/message

Paul Casey: We're making left onto a two-way highway is like approaching a change situation. So I've got a vision. Consider the timing, possess the means and the team to make the change and look both ways before accelerating, Speaker 2: Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington. It's the Tri-Cities influencer podcast. Welcome to the TCI podcast. We're local leadership and self-leadership expert Paul Casey interviews, local CEOs, entrepreneurs, and non-profit executives to hear how they lead themselves and their teams. So we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience. Here's your host, Paul Casey of growing forward services, coating and equipping individuals and teams to spark breakthrough success. Paul Casey: It's a great day to grow forward. Thanks for joining me for today's episode with Edison. Valerio Edison is a state farm agent here in the Tri-Cities specifically Pascoe. And I asked him for something quirky about himself and actually I sort of knew what he was going to say because we golf together and he likes to use the phrase nice and easy whenever I try to hit the ball too hard, but Edison, tell us a little bit about that phrase and I think it probably goes beyond just go, huh? Edison Valerio: Totally. Paul. Hey, thank you so much, Mr. Casey, for giving me the opportunity to be on your podcast. And this is Edison with state farm, like a good neighbor and a nice and easy as something that is really simple, but that's how I try to live my life. Nice and easy and the same way that we apply that at the golf course when we try and we were trying to push something and we have something in mind and it would try to push it too hard sometime it doesn't go our way, right? When we try to hit the ball, but there's nice and easy Paul is something that is really simple, but at the same time is taking life nice and easy and be nice to yourself when other people that's, that's also have a positive impact. So I applied to my personal and in the golf course. Paul Casey: Okay, nice. Well, I'll tell it to my golf game. So there you go. Well, we'll dive in after checking in with our Tri-City Influencer sponsor, take back your weekends and let Senske services be your green team. Senske services is a locally owned and operated company founded in 1947. That has been working with families for nearly 75 years to help create and maintain environments that are great places to live, work and play. They're a family business built on family values and Senske dedicated to delivering quality and providing exceptional customer service. Senske offers a variety of services, including full service, lawn care, pest control, tree care, and Christmas decor. You may have seen their holiday light show at the corporate office. It is a must see every year services are backed by the Senske promise, which means the job will be done right. Or they come back out to learn more about the services Senske provides and the offers available to you visit Senske dot com. Paul Casey: Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri-Cities. Well welcome Edison. I was privileged to meet you when I was about three or four years ago, I think I was recruiting for a mid-Columbia Score, which helps entrepreneurs launch small businesses here in the Tri Cities. And you you're a key volunteer on that team and thank you again for that. And, and then it was on the golf course as well, where we've had a good, good time. And I think you're usually playing, UB40 on the golf course cart, which has always encouraging. Edison Valerio: Yes, yes. And then it goes back to a nice that easily. You had to always include a bit of music. You know, some of us, they do meditation before they go into the golf courses because as we know that the game is a mental game as well. So they let a bit of you before, you know, really, you know, relax relaxes. Yeah. Paul Casey: Yes. I love it. Well, so are a tracing. Any influencers can get to know you tell us about your work there at state farm and what do you spend 80% of your day doing these days? Edison Valerio: Yeah, I know that's the, you know, I've been really, really blessed to have this opportunity to be my own, my own business owner, to have my own business at the beginning of these this year, which is we're still through the pandemic and I stay, I stay farm independent business owner. We have an office and I have three team members. Two of them are licensed. Someone is going through the process. And so, you know, my background to Paul, I, I used to manage banks for 15 years. I've been in this community for 20 trying to create a positive impact with the people that we touch with while we have so that we can make a difference. And in this world in general, but I spent the, so that's my, you know, my main key for my office, my base is, is to make sure that we have a qualified individuals, talented individuals, but also we, that, that they well-trained so that when our customers call, they can have the best, worst service possible because we are about, we might again, risks of everyday lives so that people can recover from the unexpected when something happened to them, they can recover so that they have dreams so they can, they can realize their dreams. Edison Valerio: And so I spent a lot of time coaching a lot of time, making sure that the basis is born in with our, my expectation, but it was also reaching out, doing some marketing, being in my community, volunteering my time and such as going to mainly now here in Detroit, in the passcode, excuse me, on the schools of volunteer my time about to Pasco high now on spending time on new horizons, which is they have kids, challenging kids, oh, with early pregnancy and things of that nature. So we go there as a big partner and, and talk to them, but mainly, you know, focusing on the financing part of it, because that's what that's my expertise is. So that's where to spend the majority of my time. Paul Casey: Gotcha. Why do you love what you do? Cause you, you made a shift from the banking industry to the insurance industry. So I'm assuming there was a pole there for you. Why do you love what you do? Edison Valerio: Yeah. And you know, every single day when we wake up and we look about what do we have, that we can make a difference. So in the financial industry with the knowledge that I had was about, you know, helping people with a checking the same amount with Mons and, and talk them within how to have a better, better score, better five quiz scores. But here with insurance is, and we are in financial services and insurance as well, but they insurance portion of this is about managing risk. How do we manage the rest of everyday lives? So that, because it wouldn't on minus the Rez and something happened, we can lose it all in one second. So it's so fascinating to come to work and talking with people and asking those, those proper questions so that we can discover what they need so that we can protect assets, but also we can protect them and we can protect their family by making sure that they have the right products so that if they have an accident, once again, they have the right coverages because if not, then they open themselves to any lawsuits or medical beers or they don't able to pay. Edison Valerio: And it's really like, just like last week, Paul, I had a customer that is Spanish-speaking. And the first thing, I mean, she had a little bit of leak of water and her and her house, but she just came here because she works all day, may Lee and they, an amount of foster company, she works all night and that you sleep all day, but she took the time and she didn't, she didn't call the plumber or anyone. She just came here for, you know, for us to help her. So when are in faces of devastation and desperation, they thinking about us, right? So how, what an opportunity we have to help those individuals and to have anyone to think of us in that time, when they have a station desperation so that we can help them so that they, they, they can continue to live in the regular life because everything can change more secretarial. So that's the, that's the beauty of what I do, what I do call and every single ledgers come into work. And, and it just, my vocation is my vacation. You're saying joy. I can be here for, you know, eight hours, 10 hours, 11 hours on any calls that I gave for any course summers at any given time. And we have our 24 course, 25 hours of course, summer services that they can also assess if, if I, you know, if I can, but fascinating to be in that position. Paul Casey: Yes. Yeah. It sounds like you've nailed your why now you do what you do. I love that. Tell us a little bit about, you want to hire a, you want a team around you. That's highly qualified people. Who else do you reach out to as an entrepreneur to help you be successful? Who do you surround yourself with? Edison Valerio: Yeah, that's a really good question because we, you know, we never stop learning. We have to continue to learn and we have to be in attentions as to what, what, what's the systems that we need and want it to continue growing because we're not whole, we're not a hundred percent. We always need a percentage. Our buckets are needed according to the projects. Right. So, you know, perhaps, you know, I reach out to you, you really gave you really influence influential and team leadership and team spirits. And just as a personal growth, you have a great book. And I read a lot of look from John, John Maxwell and, and motivational books. And also in the mornings, I, you know, I have my three things that I do in the morning, which is one of the thing is my spiritual, which is [inaudible] listen to your stints. And then Alyssa to my motivational is going to more diversity. And then, then I do my exercise, but you know, reaching out, you know, me once again as asked me, reaching out to what's playing me hall and then in a community, having that have a, your center of influence by, you know, people from my BNI, people like you and, and other leaders in the community that had been influential. I know you have any questions, you know, you can always call them different business owners, you know, such as you know, I have one Mike Miller from mood security, a fan of mine and yeah. Paul Casey: Yeah. Good, good people. Cause it does take a community. I like how you mentioned BNI at first . If people don't know what BNI is, what is, would you explain that to our listeners? Edison Valerio: Yeah. I know they BNI is, is a business network that is going to expand your personal knowledge, personal professional, but also it's a great marketing source. And what he does say is that anything that you have sort of model people that can refer your business. And in case when the, the customer comes into their businesses and asking for, or inquiring them, their businesses, they can also say, oh yeah, but then we have so-and-so. And so that can help you, perhaps in my case with your insurance not only, you come in to buy a home, but also have someone that can help you. So it's a referral base. You build relationship within your team and trust. And also they say centers of influence that instead of you promoting your business, you have 20 other people perhaps also promoting your business, Paul Casey: Good stuff. We all need that we all need the, the fellow promoters, the refers, especially in entrepreneurism, because there's such a word of mouth advertising that as critical to build your reputation as someone who can help and add value. I love that. Let me go to something you mentioned earlier, you said you've got a great morning routine, three things that you do in the morning. You said you nurture your, your spiritual wellness. You talked about like motivational and exercise, go a little bit deeper. Because I'm sure that is probably a way that you avoid burnout and negativity. Edison Valerio: Oh, absolutely. You know, we, you know, we love what we do and of course, as an employer and you know, we love the, are, you know, alive. So anything else, but we also need to remember Paul, that that is a lot of negativity up there, right? So this is just the world. I mean, our world is even in the morning, you know, I don't, I don't, I don't listen to, I don't start my day listening to news. I haven't watched the news for many years. I read that news. I read it because I choose what I wanted to read. So once again, going back into being intentional, we need that your positive. And just like, can we take our environments in the morning? So you need your environments in the morning or for you to go through that day really strong. So that anything that comes your way, you able to overcome it. Edison Valerio: Yes. So for me, those are the three things that I've found that I keeps me really strong. And as I go through the day, because throughout the day you're going to have, you might have a customer that, that might take it on you, you know, Mohammed courseware, that's how to by date. And so how do you overcome those challenges? How do you help those individuals? Right? If you not, if you're not suited mentally, physically, and you know, it's, it's, it can definitely overwhelm you and they ended up fourth and you don't love what you do a thing for those, that nature, but going deep into those three rituals and you know, you don't have to do her every day, but the same way that perhaps one of us, you know, you do Joe gum, meditation, whatever it is, you do need to spend time for yourself. Edison Valerio: Yeah. And that's the time that I take for myself early in the morning, so that, you know, before the family, anybody works up, you already too, like you are, you're ready to go for the day and you're ready to take on that day. So it's not, I mentioned it to you, Paul, you know, just take just an hour within that hour. You know, you break it down, you break it up to different sections, but in the same time that I'm working out and that's what I'm listening to, my spiritual breakfast, and it's really simple. It's like, I go to YouTube and so many different, you know, your stands or any other spiritual preachers up there, they just, you know, sexual it's up 20 minutes, a 25, no more than that. And then the more, more diversity, more diversity, it's the same where you have 20, 25 and then goes in so deep into, you know, new, our purpose in life, but not giving up, becoming a varsity. Edison Valerio: And we'll you down? How do you, how do you lift yourself up? And those other things, all that, you know, people, you know, they see does. And perhaps they see me that, you know, this happy guy that happy Caribbean guy that goes around smiling all the time within a, with an island vibe. But as it is, you know, it's not easy. You have to, it's not just this mile that you, you know, trying to reflect, but it is, you know, how you chooses to have out a smile by the things that you intentionally consume mentally. Cause we had to be mentors, mentors, strength, and we have to mental mentally strong. And so that's, that's how I lead my life. I mean, that's how I lead in the morning. Now, Paul Casey: Once you intentionally consume and otherwise he just got the default consume, which is often a lot negative stuff, a lot of drama that you could allow it to cling to you. And instead you got to pull that stuff off and choose what you consume to set yourself up for a good day. Love that good stuff. Well, Hey, let's take a quick break. Before I asked Edison how he plans his day, how does he get things done? Let's reach out to our sponsors. Are you dreaming of a lush weed free lawn? Have you heard what your neighbors are saying about their Sinsky lawn, a lush weed-free lawn in, within your reach? Don't just take it from us. Listen to what people in our community are saying about Sinsky services. Lavando Elle of Kennewick said I've been a customer for several years and I can depend on Sinsky to take good care of my lawn. Paul Casey: I always get a call before each treatment and a detailed report. After Mildred w of Kennewick said, the workers are always willing to satisfy the customers. And that says a lot. Thank you for everything. Key services is a locally owned and operated company that has been in the business of lawn and tree care for nearly 75 years. This means nobody knows green lawns. Like Senske let Senske help you achieve the lawn of your dreams by visiting sinskey.com today, to learn more so Edison, how do you get things done? How do you organize yourself? Every, every entrepreneur has to have a way because you're your own boss and it's very easy to procrastinate when there's no hard deadline. Edison Valerio: No, that's, that's the, that is a really good question. We, because I'm not going to go into details, Paul, because I are, you know, my, the business that I do and even banking, I mean, it has a lot of processes and this latter routine. So even when we, even when you would get up in the morning, you know, you have to have that routine. So everything is starts with our routine. And so just to make a daily to do list, and that starts the night before. Yeah. And even, even so some of us, we like we planners. So we, we plan on Sunday for the week and, and sometimes you can plan for the whole month, but you can, it's tentative, right? Because you use a lot of verbal second, half and political through weekly, you planned for the week and Sunday. That's what I do. Edison Valerio: Take your time. You make sure that your schedules and you knew you review your schedule so that you can have a really quick snapshot, snap view and, and, and your mind as to how that work is going to go. But you, so you made your daily to-do list in the morning or the night before you follow through you do the hottest, you do the hardest task first, and then you clear off your desk, but let's go back into my, into my, to clarify. And then I'm going to go to, I have four more items that I want to emphasize, but like what we do in an insurance world requires everything requires attention because we're dealing with, with people we're dealing with customers risk, we money in the race. So that was something happened that can be, they can be protected. So if somebody calls and said, Hey, a Edison, I just replaced my 2012 Toyota Highlander for a 20, 20 Camaro door. Edison Valerio: Things I cannot, we cannot procrastinate it and do it later because if something happened during that time, of course we can, we can back, you know, we can make it effect at any time by those things has to be done sooner than later, immediately on that date, we cannot leave without getting those tasks done because we have, we have people moving and those moving in generalists' vehicles, anything can happen. Any accident can happen in a given day. So those tasks needs to be done. But in general, though, I'm going to just, you know, we mentioned about, okay, well, get things done through the, during the Workday. And once again, make a daily task, do the hardest tasks. First clear off your desk, sit up a system, set up you process. Because if you don't have a system in place, then you're going to be posed so many different ways, such as if you have a systems that everybody knows in the office that you're going to take an hour. Edison Valerio: The first hour from eight to nine is going to be for you to prioritize your tasks. And they know that, okay, within eight to nine, we're going to take voicemail. We're going to take messages because you know, perhaps Edison is working on his routine for the day and then focus on one thing. First CSI. You know, we, as I assume, I mean, we would like to multitask, but just focus on one thing first at a time, get that things other time done so that you can go into another task. Don't jump around because you don't want to have different open tasks and the day nothing gets done. You want to get one thing first, get it done, moving to the next one. Edison Valerio: And, and the last one is, you know, it's in the office. It's okay to say, no, I know I cannot do this. Always know, you know, I would like for you to search it or guest announcers or figured it out. And it's okay to say no, because you cannot take all the task. It's going to come as a business owners, you need to delegate, right. And you need to your team for them to find those answers and then have them challenge them. Having to find those answer. I share those with you. Like the iron and the burns. Like even, yeah, the first of course I made the first one or two months, you're spending a lot of time coaching with them and you do your coaching sections, but then they, you enable them to search and find those answers. And then they, the one who ended up teaching you and which they not as a whole, the offers gets, instead of one person gets, you know, three or four brain educating each other by having, by having this open concept, right. People share with the IDs numbers practices. Yep. And so that's, those are the things that I organize my day, Paul on Paul Casey: Those are really good. I love the, I, they call it the eat that frog principle of doing that, those difficult tasks first and avoid. It's easy to cross off a lot of little things first, cause they're easy or more fun or just convenient, but we get that big thing done. We get that monkey off our back and we're able to then start a snowball of productivity for the rest of the day. And also, like I said, you know, clear your desk, right? If, if we're all looking at her desk right now, we're just like, oh, you know, it looks like a bomb hit. It, it, it, that clutter just sort of yells at us and it actually hurts our productivity because we get this, this it's, it's a feeling of overwhelm it's in the back of our heads. Probably not right in front of us, but there's something about a clean area with a nice and tidy to-do lists that allows you to set the stage for being productive. So you've got some really great habits there that the time manager and me just smiles. Well, last year you made your, you made a career change and during the COVID year. And so you had to, you had to make a decision to switch careers. Can you tell our listeners who might be on the verge of like, Hmm, I might want to do something different. Maybe it's they have a day job and they want to pursue their dream job. Maybe it's just switching positions, maybe it's going for a promotion. What counsel would you give someone who is really thinking about doing something different than they are now? Edison Valerio: You know, it's we all Paul, we, we are a scare. Well, we get scare of the unknown. Yeah. And so, you know, be being in banking for many years and even so I, I became an approve candidate for state farm 10 years ago, but I was so comfortable with online skein money in banks. At that time, I was finding you bank of America that I didn't want to jump. Right. Because you feel comfortable with the little of income that you receive and to jumping into a commission, a hundred percent commission, right? So you just, you have a fear of the unknown, but what I can tell them, the listeners up there is that [inaudible] what you visualized is going to be while you're going to realize the time that you executed your plan. So your objective, you know, and of course, before you jump into your ticket, take an interest in investigating your, what exactly you're trying to do, you know, have that adapt adaptability or your mindset, you mindset. And you mind sets that stability sometimes come a lot of times going with a gravity too. Right. Edison Valerio: But whenever you feel the, you know, the fear, you know, trying to, to feel grateful instead as, and share with other ones and they feel that where they can keeps you the ins and out, do you research read once again, I mentioned, if we, the session I'm really good on that, Paul, because when you visualize at one point, it's going to be, it's going to come in fruition and put things in perspective who thinks in perspective and you can't, you can be anything that you wanted to be in life. The only limitations are in our minds, in our head. We can't, yes. We're going to have a lot of adversity, but I send times we can, we can become once again, anything because the situation does, doesn't dictate who we are. You know, as I mentioned it to you, Paul, that I am a, I am a kid and man's young from the bronze, the bronze on New York, the city that they, they, the streets of New York, my mother single mother, that she couldn't, she couldn't have me in a tough neighborhood because she was working in a nursing home. Edison Valerio: And so I grew up in the, in the island. We, you know, from the Dominican Republic and I live in Puerto Rico as well. And then, but to me, you know, it was, and I came here to what I wanted college when I was 18. I just, I didn't my first time in Washington state. But you know, it was a private school part of my religion Seventh-day Adventists. And I knew that I was, that's what I wanted to be. I started as electrical engineer, but at some time it was tough because you had to learn so many different things that you don't know, but you had to uncomfortable before you go, you get comfortable. You, you had to then visualize that other anal, the tonal. This is what I, I see myself. So in any businesses up there or anyone that is the ones to take, make that change, don't think that you're going to have a plan B, don't go with a plan B, you have to go with a plan, a, you had to jump and don't think that you're going to come back to what you were doing, because otherwise you're not going to seq at a hundred and twenty oh two twelve. Edison Valerio: We want to G we want it to be a fun and hide high fat and high heat, two 12. So that nothing stopped you. Right? So that's the type of mentality. And, and we had to be mentally strong. That is easy. Absolutely not. That is difficult. Absolutely. That that is possible. Yes. Yes. It's possible. Yes, we can do a, yes. We can meet any things. And some, sometimes, you know, we have, Paul would come to work and a lot of people, they have so much, so much talent and they come to work because they just feel that that, that they are that's, that's as good as they go. They are. And, and they have this, this, this pipeline, amazing goals and plans, but then they would put in, in plays. And then somebody said, I think that was the Jean rom. You rom said Les brown. Yeah. Les brown. He said, he said, motivational speaker. He, that he says that Les says that they, the plays that has the most talented or the most dreams are a and the cemetery because everybody texts it to the tomb because too late, too late. So why not to realize and put your plants in place now where we can, instead of taking a seven feet on the ground, and if you fail, you fail, but at least you try. Paul Casey: That's good stuff. And I love how you said, you realize what you visualize. Right? And so you've got to keep that goal or that dream, or that next career for that next job position firmly ensconced in your mind. And then, like you said, another author says, burn the boats, right? The Cortez principle of, you know, you can't leave yourself the chicken exit. Like, well, if this doesn't work, then I've got my plan B, but no, I've, I've got to pursue this a hundred percent. If it doesn't work out, it's going to be okay. You know, I can always fall back on my old career or something else, but you don't go in with that. I'm going to bail when things get tough, I'm going to put it wholeheartedly. And yeah, you mentioned some good people there, Les brown listeners, anything unless brownie, what you want to listen to that Jim Rowan, R O H N a. He's got fantastic stuff. You've mentioned Joel, Olsteen for encouragement and you some really good stuff to fill your brain with. Hey, so Edison, finally, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone who wants to keep growing or gaining more influence in their community or in their workplace? Edison Valerio: You know what, one of the thing in order to keep, to keep growing and we need to realize is number one, you know, we're talking about the pursuit of happiness and sometimes, you know, the pursuit of happiness, we as human being, we, we want to, you know, we have these, this facade of happiness, are you doing little things that are not aligned with your purpose. So find you purpose, which is going to find your happiness, and then yet that's going to be contagious. And so with that, whatever you walk, you know, you're going to be walking with your cheek and the shoulder about who you are humble behind, they happiness. That's going to tell you who you are, but also that is going to rebel you purpose in life. And your purpose in life can be different ways. It's not. And I'm talking about just making money, because that is comes. That is the spiritual, that's the result of doing what you love to do. A hand, but the purpose of, you know, perhaps going and talking with others, working with us, non-profit organizations, going to the salvation army or the food bank, whatever it is, find your purpose first and names. That's going to keep you going. And, and by finding your purpose, I know you why then you're going to find your happiness. Paul Casey: Well, that is so good. Yeah. I've listened to another podcast where the speaker says the opposite of depression is let's see, I'm trying to think of, she said, but the opposite of depression is a lack of purpose. It's actually apathy. It's not knowing at your core. And so when you have that purpose, you have, you have that internal drive that motivation and that happiness follows after that. I think I slaughtered the quote, but you, your point is well taken that you've got to have that core purpose in order to lead to joy, which is going to vault you forward in an everyday and get you up every morning. Well, Hey, how can our listeners best connect with you? Edison Valerio: Yes, they can't follow my webpage on Facebook. Edison, Villarreal is state farm, and also on Instagram, as well as some malaria state farm. We're located here in passcode, 34 7 was court street wide next to Sally's. And also on this north, everybody, you know, on this north is, is a restaurant has been, the staff establishment has been here for 70 plus years. And, and of course you can give us a call at (509) 492-4446. And we'd more than happy to talk to you about your insurance needs. But you know, if you need me to go and talk to anyone about sharing my experience to any high schools, which I love to do talking to our youth, you know, please feel more than working to, to do so and give us a call. Yeah. And it was great. Paul, thank you for giving me the opportunity. Paul Casey: Yes. Well thank you for all you do. And the nonprofits you've been associated with the chamber of commerce, and like you said, just your willingness to speak to youth or share your story. You make the Tri-Cities a great place. And so keep leading. Well, my friend, Edison Valerio: Thank you. Thank you. Paul Casey: Let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource to recommend all you have to do for, to get my tool on how to be a terrific team leader is you open a text message to 72,000 that's 7 2 0 0 0, and type the two words team lead, put a space in between that team lead to 72,000. I'll send you a one pager on 11 inspirational actions to do with your team. Well, we'll have to give that as a free gift to you. So you can be a more terrific team leader than you are right now. Again, this is Paul Casey, and I want to thank my guests, Edison. Valario from state farm for being here today on the Tri-City influencer podcast. We also want to thank our TCI sponsor and invite you to support them. We appreciate you making this possible so that we can collaborate to help inspire leaders in our community. Finally, one more leadership tidbit for the road to help you make a difference in your circle of influence it's by Robin Sharma. And it goes along with what Edison talked about of the getting out of the comfort zone. Robin says, the more time you spend in your discomfort zone, the more your comfort zone actually expands until next time kgs keep growing forward. Speaker 2: Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desire for salts. If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with him@growingforwardatpaulcasey.org for a consultation that can help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward. Paul would also like to help you restore your sanity to your crazy schedule and getting your priorities done every day by offering you is free control my calendar checklist, go to WW dot, take back my calendar.com for that productivity tool or open a text message 2 7 2 0 0 0, and type the word grown. Speaker 4: The Tri-Cities influencer podcast was recorded at fuse SPC by bill Wagner of safe strategies.

Our guest today, Tony Grebmeier is a serial entrepreneur, whose current ventures include co-founding ShipOffers, which has been on the Inc. 5,000 list 7 times!  He has also created the Be Fulfilled Brand. On the show today, Tony will be talking about how to find true fulfillment and understand real success. Learn More Earn More Business Growth Podcast Host: Brian Webb Guest: Tony Grebmeier Episode 37: How To Find True Fulfillment & Understand Real Success __________________________________ SUBSCRIBE Apple  |  Google Play |  Spotify  |  Pandora |  Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Stitcher  ________________________________ PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE John Maxwell John Acuff Jim Rohn ________________________________ RESOURCES & HELPFUL LINKS Whatbox Digital Be Fulfilled Journal Tony Grebmeier Website Shipoffers September Book Promo Building A Storybrand - Donald Miller The 10X Rule - Grant Cardone Dare To Lead - Brene Brown The Common Path To Uncommon Success - John Lee Dumas Never Lose A Customer Again - Joey Coleman Atomic Habits - James Clear Never Split The Difference Again - Chris Voss Leadershift - John Maxwell Expert Secrets - Russell Brunson Beyond A Million - Jim Dew ________________________________ TRANSCRIPT  Brian Webb: Well, Tony, it's great to have you on the show today. You and I got to talk a week or two or three ago about talking about being fulfilled and what that looks like. And so, it's just great to have you on the show today. Tony Grebmeier: Thanks for the opportunity to be here. This is a great topic. A lot of people don't dive into finding fulfillment in their life. And so, I'm glad you asked me to come along for the journey. Brian Webb: Yeah, it's going to be fun. Before we jump into that, though, I'd love to hear you give the CliffsNotes version of your story about how you started ShipOffers and what obstacles you've overcome to get from where you were when you began to where you are today. I'd just love the audience to hear a little bit of your story if you're willing to share that today. Tony Grebmeier: Yeah, I appreciate it. Funny thing on my way to the radio station when I used to be a DJ one day. A buddy asked me, "Would you be interested in going to Vegas and talking about maybe a new business opportunity?" And I'm like, "Yeah. I'm going to starving like 20 some year old and I would love to make more money, sure." And one thing led to another that I started figuring out how to build and design websites. And 24 years ago, I really got into the internet and started figuring out how to control and drive traffic, build websites, sell some stuff. And we just kept working and working. And I've been a part of a couple of dot coms, some successful, some not. And I just learned a lot that I wanted to be my own boss. I didn't want to show up and report to anybody. Tony Grebmeier: So, I guess on October 20th, 2000, I said, "Screw the old job." and I decided to go out and venture on my own. One buddy came along for the ride and we started what was the beginning of EyeFive. And EyeFive later turned into ShipOffers. And so, started selling products out of my garage, shipped out of my garage for a short period of time, got to the point where we realized we needed an office. And then, in March, of 2001, we got our formal office and that was in Van Nuys, California. We've been going strong for 20 plus years, offering products in the health and wellness space for online marketers, direct response, and primarily help people do the stuff that isn't so sexy, which fulfills those products. And we now have just a boatload of clients all around the world. We also provide a lot of just, I'd say, off-label consulting services to help you scale your business and find the things that aren't working and help you to tweak them, introduce you to great people, and really just help you to grow your business Brian Webb: And along the way the Inc. 5,000 list, seven times, not too bad. Tony Grebmeier: No, not too bad. And one of those things, when you look back at the Inc. 5,000, I remember when we initially threw our name into the hat, we were like, "Are we really going to show up? There's a, there's a lot of people who supply their name to that." And it's been neat to see year after year growth. And along our journey, we didn't make it one year. And I call that when you figure out what you need to make adjustments in your business, certain things need to take a back seat. So, I was a little disappointed when we didn't make it seven years in a row, but I had a good friend who spoke to me. He's like, "Hey, look, man, you focused on growing your business. You made some adjustments and some powerful changes. Now, look what you've been able to do." And then, it came as a gift this year to making it for a seventh time out of basically the last eight years. So, I was excited. Brian Webb: Amazing. You've probably seen it. It's all over the web, but this graphic shows two different journeys. One is just this perfectly straight line from a lower point to a higher point, illustrating what we want success to look like. And then, it shows another graphic where the line goes up, and then it plummets down and comes back up again, then it plummets down. But the overall trajectory is up, but that's really more realistically what life and success are typically really like. Tony Grebmeier: Yeah. Entrepreneurship, that's what I fall into is not a straight line, it's a squiggly. It goes all over the place. And I've learned that if you look at a really tall mountain, it never goes straight. It's got to bend, has some switchbacks, and takes you on the side of it and then up some. And that's the journey that I've been on. I've never said, "I'm going to start on the top." I said, "I want to start down below because I want to learn how to get my way to that cliff." but nobody stays on the pinnacle of success for long. Somebody is always trying to pull you. So, I've learned to become a Sherpa on my journey up and down success mountain, help others. Brian Webb: Yeah. I've heard that, I forget who said it but said that what success is a leased space. It is not a place we purchase. It's a space that we lease temporarily and try to hold on to it, basically. Tony Grebmeier: Yeah. No, I love it. And one of the interesting parts about being my own boss is that along the journey, I have built a wealth of friends. People often say, "Tony, do you have a lot of friends?" "No." I say, "I have a lot of good friends." and these are people who will help me see my blind spots. And so, a couple of weeks ago I was sitting down with a colleague. We were just chatting about life and business. And some of the things that I face now in my journey are a lot different than when I began my journey, and we were just talking about our blind spots and how you and I can't see them, but others can. Brian Webb: Wow. So true Tony Grebmeier: And that when you make a mistake, it's a mistake one time. After that, it's a choice. So, the things that I was constantly making mistakes on became choices. And then, when I realized that I had power and control over my choices, I could begin to change. Tony Robbins talks about it. Jim Rowan talks about it. For things to change, for things to get better, you've got to get better. So, that journey up and down success mountain is a lot sexier and a lot more fun today than it ever has been in the past. Brian Webb: I was once talking to a buddy of mine, and by the way, another friend of mine that I would say helps me to see my blind spots. And he asked me this question one time. He said, "Brian, what is your definition of success?" And now, in this particular context, it was financial. Now, you and I both know that success expands way beyond money. You and I probably both know a lot of people who have lots of money, but I wouldn't say that they're really succeeding in life. But anyway, he says, "What's your definition of success financially?" And I just didn't have an answer right off the cuff. And then he said, "Because if your only definition is more," he said, "then success is basically always going to elude you because no matter where you arrive to financially, there's always more to go get." What are your thoughts on that? Tony Grebmeier: Oh, it's a preface of what my podcast has been for almost four years. What's your definition of success? It's the question I've asked probably over 500 different entrepreneurs and people who've come on the show. Success is simple. The most common answer I've received is freedom, time freedom to be able to do what you want with whoever you want when you want. You've probably heard that in many different variables, but the thing that's best for me is the ability for me to spend time with my family. That's success because there was a time, some of the people who are listening may know my story and some don't, that I wanted to take my own life. I sat and contemplated that whole thought for many, many hours and attempted to commit suicide. And I received a phone call from a friend who says, "Hey, I'm coming over." Tony Grebmeier: And I'm like, "All right. Let me go put all my stuff away." and he came in and he gave me a big hug and his name's John [Montazeri 00:07:16]. And he said, "You know, Tony, your life has meaning and purpose, but what you're doing right now doesn't." And we sat down for about 45 minutes and had a really in-depth conversation. He proceeded to leave and I said, "Oh, my gosh. Now, what am I going to do?" Tony Grebmeier: And a few hours later, a different buddy called and came over, who happened to be a pastor of the church that I attended. And he helped me to see some stuff that I couldn't see for myself. He painted a vision, "Tony, you have an ability and a gift. I see you on stages speaking, sharing your story, your message with lots of people, but impacting lives all around you." And that really became the vision that I hold for success is being able to have a really passionate and open, honest conversation with another human being, helping them today to make a decision to do something about what they've been given as an opportunity in life. So, relationships is success for me. Brian Webb: Yeah. Because of my previous life, a lot of people might not even know this, certainly not the podcast audience, but before I was in business, 18 years ago, I was actually in full-time ministry. And so, as a result of that, part of what you do is, I've been to many, many, many more than I'd like to have been, to many funerals. And without a doubt, inevitably, every single time someone's on their death bed, there's never the regret of, "I wish I would have worked harder." There's never the regret of, "I wish I would have made more money." It's always, "I wish I would have spent more time with those that I loved." Tony Grebmeier: The interesting part. There's a former basketball player on his bed right now fighting COVID in the hospital. And he put a message out to the world, basically saying, "If I've done you wrong, I apologize." And I don't want to go through life with resentment or regret. I want to go through life knowing that I gave 100%, I did the best I could and along the way, I cleaned up my messes so that I could live free. Because part of success is freedom, and so, how do you get to do that? Part of the gift that I've been given and the ability to do is I meet with men five days a week to talk about where they're at in their journey. And I give it 100% because it's easy to give away because I receive so much in return. Tony Grebmeier: And so, relationships, my buddy, Nick always talks about relationships are the rocket ships that take you places. I'm like, "No. Relationships are the currency that helps you to really create anything that you want." And the way you show up in a relationship, the increase of the value of your currency goes up. So, you can be cheap in a relationship, be a taker and you're being, in my book, a cheap coin that won't buy you anything and. And my buddy Nick's calling me, by the way, that's called life and fate right there. How also, your currency grows is by what you bring to the table. Tony Grebmeier: My buddy, Jim Gnome, always talks about, "What are you bringing to the table of life today?" because most of us are just takers. We show up at a buffet, and you're like, "Man, there's no more pancakes." I'm like, I'm raising my hand, stomping my feet. "I paid good money to be in this buffet line. Why are there any pancakes?" And Jim really helped me to see, "Why don't you be of service today and go cook in the kitchen? Why don't you go show up and serve instead of take?" And so, a good question that I posted a couple of weeks back on my community is like, "What are you bringing to the table today?" Brian Webb: I want to share this with you because I want to get your perspective on this. And this isn't just some placard on the wall, it really is my personal mission statement. And here's what it is, is my mission, personally, Brian Webb is to have an indelible and profoundly positive impact on as many people's lives as possible and to always give more than I ever take. I'm just curious. That, for me, is where I tend to pursue fulfillment. Being a servant, having a servant's heart, servant leadership. Brian Webb: You were talking about blind spots. I've even told employees on more than one occasion that I said, "If you ever see me handle a situation in a way that I could have done it better," I said, "not only is it okay for you to come and tell me," I said, "I welcome you to come and tell me." No, I said, "Please do it in private and do it with love," but I said, "I don't want to be the person who has all my blind spots that go unnoticed for my whole life. I want to always be on that improvement journey." How do you think most people that may not have that mission statement, they may not even have awareness around this thing that we're talking about today, how do you think most people find their fulfillment? Tony Grebmeier: Oh my gosh. That's a really interesting question. And I could go in either direction. I'll tell you this. You've probably heard this somewhere in your journey too, Brian. You either are living your dream or you're living somebody else's. And so, if you're not living 100% your dream, it's all right, don't worry about it. Once you take the right pill, the new trailer for the Matrix 4 is coming out, the red pill or the blue pill. But once you realize that you have a choice, that's a blind spot. People often don't think that they have a choice. I'm like, "You get to create the life that you are living." And I want to break it down an extra level because I want to get to the core of the human, not just the gut. I think the gut's great, but I want to get a little lower than the gut today, just a little lower than that. Tony Grebmeier: What I think that most people are on their journey, and I was sitting talking to a gentleman this morning about it, where we get let down by the people in our lives. And so, we exert more energy and we try harder. And then, we feel that people stepped on the toes and they've hurt us and they brought frustration to our lives and we began to get resentments. And then, we're not living to the truest and the form of who we are. I learned probably about 10 years ago or so after finally getting sober, I've been sober coming up on 13 years. I was pretty addicted to a lot of things and I didn't understand how to find joy and happiness in my life. Tony Grebmeier: I didn't know what I didn't know. And then, someone broke it down for me really, really easy. When I wake up in the morning, I've got options. I can think good or bad, the moment I wake up. The moment I wake up, I can think, "Oh, my gosh, I have all this bad stuff going on in my life today." And I'm instantly over there. But if I'm super grateful and in the presence, for me, it's God. God gave me an opportunity to wake up, open my eyes and get out of bed and is guiding, I believe, 100% of my life in all directions that I go and helps me to see that it's my responsibility to show up today as a good human being. I've been given a gift. I've been given an opportunity because I didn't kill myself. Tony Grebmeier: So now, I experience life at a high level. I feel like in the movie with Bradley Cooper, Limitless. I believe I've been able to swallow the opportunity pill of a lifetime and start living out my dreams. In the last three weeks, I've taken my entire calendar, did it about three years ago and I believe all of us need to become good at archeology. We all need to dig up our past to look at it because we can learn from it. We can see what's maybe holding us back because if we don't, I promise you, your past will show up in the future. It'll knock on your door and say, "Hey, Brian. Hi. I missed you. I'm back. Did you miss me?" And it's like, "What the heck are you talking about?" Your past will always show up in your future unless you understand your past and learn from it and make adjustments. Brian Webb: Just to add to that, I think you'll probably want to steal this and it's not mine. Andy Stanley, who pastors, I think it's the second-largest church in America at north point up in the north Atlanta area. And he once was quoted as saying, "Your present will at some point affect your past, which will then affect the present and your future." Tony Grebmeier: Yeah. Most of us are all trying to figure out what to do today. Very few have it figured out. You live and die by whatever your Smartwatch or your phone or your calendar or the hidden agenda that somebody else has for you is basically putting in your way. And I think COVID, for myself, and I know a lot of people have been affected good and bad by it. I'm just saying, COVID helped me to learn about me in a completely unique way because I have always needed to be around a lot of people, not to feel good, but to feel like I was adding value to the world. Tony Grebmeier: And so, during COVID and lockdown and our business went to, basically remote other than our warehouse for shipping products and services out for people, I launched this thing called networking remote, and I interviewed three individuals at the time in a Zoom and we had a panel and we asked a lot of questions and what are you doing? How are you doing it? And it was a really interesting thing to recently go back and look at those 10 plus episodes and really start seeing, once people regained confidence, how things began to change in their life. Tony Grebmeier: At first, there was a bunch of uncertainty. Then, "Well, I don't know, this thing's going to be over next month. This can't go on forever." And then, another individual I talked to said, "Any pandemic that we've ever experienced in the last 100 or so years, actually has a two to a four-year cycle." This is a pandemic, and we're seeing the legs of it play out. And so, I'm not here to say, do this or do that, I'm just saying, I learned so much as an individual about myself, that ultimately helped me to prepare what now is my new goal, which is to get everything off my table, everything off my plate, everything off my calendar, everything off so I can be 100% free to make choices again without feeling like I'm letting somebody down when they ask me. Brian Webb: That's amazing. And yet, for so many people, I would imagine listening, it's so counterintuitive. But I can absolutely see the wisdom in what you're talking about. Not too long ago, I think I even referred to this in a previous episode, I saw where Johnny Acuff was interviewing John Maxwell. John Acuff has written several New York Times bestselling books. Of course, we all know who John Maxwell is. And he says, "What is it that gets you up in the morning?" He's talking to John Maxwell. And he said, "Is it discipline?" And Maxwell's response, he says, "No, it really isn't discipline." He said, "It's anticipation." He said, "I just anticipate, what will I get to do that will have an amazing impact in somebody's life today?" When it comes to finding fulfillment and even defining success and then pursuing that definition of success, what are two or three things that you think holds people back, Tony? Tony Grebmeier: Number one, for me, it's always been the same, fear. And there's a couple of fun definitions you can find online, if you just say what's the definition of fear? F everything and run, for a lot of people, or false evidence appearing real. But fear, I would put at the very top. I think the second thing is, is they don't believe that it's possible. And you could counter, you could categorize that as fear, but they just don't see themselves as that possibility. Brian Webb: They're not convinced. Tony Grebmeier: Nope. No. I was sitting with an individual this morning and we were going through some processes and he was sharing, he feels like people have wronged him. And I said, "Do you believe you're a good person?" He says, 100%," I said, What are nine other values that you see for yourself? Write them down." I said, "You have a choice in this moment to operate from that or what you believe, which is false evidence appearing real in your mind as to why these things are happening." Tony Grebmeier: We're doing some step work now around making amends. And making amends is something that holds all of us back. We don't believe that they should hear us apologize or say we're sorry, or that we made a mistake. They hurt me, so I would put resentment also holds us back because we're just afraid. And it's okay to be afraid. I just watched the Halloween Kills trailer right before this. I wanted to see the new John Carpenter preview. And I don't want to watch a scary movie at nine o'clock at night, but I can watch it at 8:30 in the morning. I know better when to watch a scary movie. I can watch a trailer at 8:30 and be okay. So, knowing that, I've trained my brain to do things completely different. Brian Webb: A couple of things came to mind while you were talking. One, I'm going to ask this question, even though I really know your answer, but I just want to give you a chance to speak into it. I feel like gratitude is the antidote or the penicillin to depression, to a bad attitude, to having a bad day. I've been taught that by so many of my mentors. And whenever I am coaching someone, I try to pass that along. And I tell people that depression of feelings, I heard it said that feelings are just visitors, so even if you are having a bad day, just realize that that doesn't mean that you have to have a bad day all day. That feeling is just a visitor in your life. I'm guessing you agree with all that though, am I right, or am I wrong? Tony Grebmeier: An attitude of gratitude will take you places that you've never gone before. And most humans that I have done work with, and I've been really grateful to have the opportunity to sit with well over 1,000 men and sit and really uncover gratitude. Gratitude is the only way to really live your life. And the interesting part is that what's going wrong in your life, and then gratitude can't live on the same page in the same space. Brian Webb: That's very, very true. I've also heard it said that fear and faith have one thing in common, they both believe in a future that does not yet exist. Tony Grebmeier: What is faith, if you really want to talk about it? If you were going to go down that road for a moment is, for me, I have a quote and I can put it and share it in the notes for you, but it's taking a step that you can see exists already, but just being willing to take a step no matter what. Most humans and I use most a lot when I describe people that I'm talking about in a general practical way. Most of us want to do better. Jim Rowan has a great quote, paraphrase a little bit, there's only seven or eight miserable people in this world, they just seem to move around a lot. Brian Webb: I have heard him say that many times. Tony Grebmeier: So, if we know that to be true, then when you're having a conversation with your partner or life partner or a child today, and they're having a bad day, that doesn't mean that they're a bad person. We all have bad days. You were just talking about it. A lot of it means that something else is going on and are you the friend that'll get below and get into the gut and really show up today and hold space for that person, just to maybe talk about what's going on in their life? Everything in my life comes back to the same part of this conversation, finding fulfillment. Gratitude is about finding fulfillment. Living your most authentic and true life is finding fulfillment. Showing up in such a way that you allow others to, I don't know, talk about what's going on. Tony Grebmeier: I just don't have time to be around people who don't want to do something about what's going on. I make that clear when I sit down with an individual, I'm like, "Look if we're going to work on life and transformation, doing stuff that's meaningful and purposeful in my life and yours, then are you willing to take certain steps? Are you willing?" I once told I've told several individuals because I did it myself. "I put on a pink tutu and stood on a street corner before. Are you willing to put on a pink tutu and push a peanut across the street today? And if your answer is no, than I'm most likely can't work with you, because if you don't have the willingness to go all out, then you're going to hold back from going all in." Brian Webb: We've talked a lot about Jim Rowan today, which apparently has been a mentor in both of our lives. And I remember one time I heard him talking about, he said, "Imagine if someone were to hop on your back," he says, "how far do you think you could carry that person?" And he said, "Maybe a little while, maybe a few feet, maybe even a quarter of a mile if you're really strong," he says, "but what if we put two people on your back?" He says, "You're probably not going to move forward at all." But, obviously, the point that he was making was, you can only help someone by walking beside them. You can't carry them because it's just not sustainable. You can't really help them if they're not willing to truly help themselves. Tony Grebmeier: Yeah. I'm not better or less than, than anybody. And anybody listening right now, you should think about that too. You're not better or less than anybody. You're doing the best you can with what you've been given. And I have a little weird way of saying it, but I says, "You're doing exactly what you've said you wanted to be doing until you decide you don't want to do anymore. And then, you'll make a decision to change." Jim has been masterful at helping to unpack a lot of stuff. But yeah, I stopped carrying people up success mountain and became their Sherpa and walk beside them. I may be a couple of steps ahead of you because I'm six foot six. However, my goal is to be there with you, help you because I'm going to need help along my journey as well. Tony Grebmeier: I'm willing to ask for help today. That's something I wasn't able to do 13 years ago. I wasn't able to ask for help. Today, I raise my hand and say, "Hey, look, I'm stuck. This is what I'm dealing with." I recently bought a ranch and live on 35 acres. I didn't know how to drive a tractor. I didn't know how to put a cistern. I didn't know how to put casons. I didn't know how to do any of this, culverts in the ground. And then, I'm Googling how to do this, how to do that. And I'm learning every single day. And every single day I make mistakes, but I'm willing to keep making mistakes. And that's why that Japanese proverb, Brian, is so powerful, fall seven, get up. Tony Grebmeier: Are you willing to get up today, even though you had a bad day yesterday? Yeah, get up. This is the time of your life, now. This is the best time. I've heard this too, now stands for no opportunity wasted. Now is the best time of your life. So, no matter if you're listening to this on a Friday afternoon, on a Tuesday morning, wherever your life is, know that if you want it to get better, it will. But if you want it to stay the same, it'll stay the same. That's why we have choices and we have to be really open-minded to what choices are we making in our life. Tony Grebmeier: Everything we do is impacting it in some way and impacting the reality around us, and also causing energy to shift in relationships and also the attraction of all the stuff that's coming in and out of your life. If you think about, "I'm going to get pulled over." Well, guess what? Eventually, you're going to get pulled over. It's just the law of life. If you think about like, "I want my life to get better." and you focus on things getting better, it'll get better. So, you do have a choice, and gratitude plays a huge role in all of that. Brian Webb: There's a verse in the Bible that says that it rains on the just and the unjust. Something I've tried to impart to my kids and my kids are all grown, but I always told them that life is a series of setbacks. And I said, "So when you just understand that setbacks are normal. When you understand that they're going to come to you and everyone else around you. It doesn't mean that you're going to love the setback when you have to deal with it, it just means you're not shocked by it. You're not going to behave as though somehow you're cursed or here we go again, woe is me. You just recognize we all go through it. It rains on all of us." So, I got to tell you, I love every guest I've ever had on the podcast before. This is my favorite interview, so far, Tony. So, kudos to you. Let me ask you this. For the people in our audience who might want to know more about you or find you online, where's the best place for them to find you? Tony Grebmeier: Yeah. Thanks for the compliment. I appreciate that. Let me back for one second, I heard it. A setback is just a setup for a comeback. You can check me out. Tonygrebmeier.com. It's a long German name, but you try to put it in the Google, it'll correct it and get you to the right page. You can learn about ShipOffers from there. The stuff that I've put out into the world, the free courses that I have. Tony Grebmeier: My heart is about giving and if I can serve in any way, if there's something I said today you want clarity on or you want to talk a little bit more, send me a message. I'd love to have a conversation. God presented it today as an opportunity and if I live that out 100%, then a complete stranger could become my best friend, like Brian, you and I got connected from a mutual friend, amber Spears. Conversations led to an interview, interview leads to opportunities. You don't need anything from me. I don't need anything from you, but an opportunity for us to become friends can begin. And that's the gift that all of us have to offer the world to make it a better place. Brian Webb: So true. Well, thanks for being here, Tony. You have been an amazing guest. I know the audience is going to love what you had to say today. Tony Grebmeier: Thank you so much for the opportunity to be here. ________________________________ FIND & FOLLOW WHATBOX DIGITAL Website | Linkedin | Facebook | Instagram ________________________________ CONNECT WITH BRIAN WEBB Linkedin | Facebook | Instagram Email: brianw@whatboxdigital.com  Clubhouse: @brianwebb __________________________________ CONNECT WITH TONY GREBMEIER Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Tony Grebmeier Website | Email__________________________________

Tiffany Phillips is a CPA in the greater Houston metroplex, but she is not your average CPA. On average, Tiffany saves her clients over $97,000 in their first year alone in tax savings. Tiffany is going to share five advanced tax strategies that could give you $100,000 plus to invest back into your business without touching your profits. Learn More Earn More Business Growth Podcast Host: Brian Webb Guest: Tiffany Phillips Episode 33: Five Advanced Tax Strategies That Could Give You $100k+ To Invest Back Into Your Business Without Touching Your Profits __________________________________ SUBSCRIBE Apple  |  Google Play |  Spotify  |  Pandora |  Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Stitcher  ________________________________ RESOURCES & HELPFUL LINKS Whatbox Digital Tiffany Phillips Website ________________________________ TRANSCRIPT  Brian Webb: Hey, everyone. Welcome to the show today. It's fun week after week to bring you content that helps you to make more money, save more money, grow your business smarter, grow your business faster. Today's going to be no exception. My guest today is Tiffany Phillips. Tiffany is a CPA that serves here in the greater Houston metroplex, but she is not your average CPA, certainly not in my experience. On average, Tiffany saves her clients, on average, over $97,000 in their first year alone in tax savings. And she's my guest, your guest today on the podcast to share five advanced tax strategies that most people don't know and in my personal experience, most CPAs do not bring to their clients. So, imagine if you could save nearly $100,000 and you could have that capital to reinvest back into your business, into growth without dipping into your own profit. Wouldn't that be amazing? So, let's jump into my interview today with Tiffany Phillips. She's going to save you a lot of money this year and in the years to come. I'm excited to have you on the podcast today. I know that you are going to share five advanced tax strategies that can really save people a lot of money. And I had shared even in the introduction today that imagine if the typical business owner, the typical small business owner was handed a check for a $100,000 or $150,000, or for that matter 20, 30, 50, $70,000 that they could reinvest back into their business for growth without dipping into their profits, that would be an amazing thing, right? Tiffany Phillips: Yeah. It's pretty amazing not having to send that money off to the IRS and having more control over what you're able to do with that for sure. Brian Webb: Yeah. And to do that ethically and legally, of course. Tiffany Phillips: Of course. Brian Webb: Yeah, absolutely. And so, you're going to share five advanced tax strategies today. The first one I'm excited for you to talk about because most people don't know this. Well, actually I think all five of these most people don't know. But let's start by talking about hiring the children, El Ninos. Talk about that tax savings strategy, I'm curious. Tiffany Phillips: Yeah. Oftentimes as business owners, we're looking for ways to kind of shift money, get them out of our higher tax brackets into either lower tax brackets or just eliminate the tax altogether. When it comes to paying the kids it's pretty cool because you're able to actually pay them for work that they may already be doing, or maybe they're not. Maybe you have a social media campaign that you need help and your 16-year old just happens to be killer at IG- Brian Webb: Okay. Tiffany Phillips: ... Instagram or YouTube videos, just something, right? Or maybe you need your dentist and you're looking for some new photography for your website or your pamphlets and your kids are your models. And so, there's all sorts of ways that that back can happen, and what ends up happening from a technical or tax perspective is those kids have to be paid in a separate entity to avoid paying payroll taxes. That's really payroll taxes. And then a lower tax bracket are really the ways that you're getting reduced tax expense. Through a family management LLC, you're actually able to pay a management fee from your regular business, your escort, your partnership, whatever that looks like over to this family management LLC. And when you pay that management fee over, you're able to pay W-2 wages to your children. Now, if you pay them less than the standard deduction, which has 12,550 for 2021, if you pay them that amount or less, they don't have any income tax on those wages. Brian Webb: Right. Tiffany Phillips: So, essentially what you have saved is 15.3% in payroll taxes, and then whatever your tax bracket is. So, if you're at the highest tax bracket, 37%. So, 37% plus 15.3%, that's huge savings- Brian Webb: It is. Tiffany Phillips: ... on that $12,500. You can take it a step further in also they can take an IRA contribution and go ahead and start saving for their own retirement in the future and you would get that tax-free as well, which is another $6,000 back. The thing that you have to be really careful of when you're using really any of these strategies, but I'm going to say, especially this one is it really needs to be for work that they are performing. Don't just cut your kid's check and then not doing anything. Then it needs to be something that is documented. So, you do you want to, it doesn't have to be perfect, but some notes on what they did, the hours that they worked, whatever, and then make sure that it is fair wages. So, you can't pay your 12-year-old, $100 an hour if you wouldn't pay someone else $100 an hour for that same work. But if you can do all of those things, then you could save those taxes on $18,500 of your income every year, and then use that money, put it in a separate bank account that is in their name. You would be custodian of it, but it's in their name, and use that for other funds. Then it turns things like private school tuition into tax-free dollars. It turns things like their tournament, baseball team that they're on, the other uniforms, and all the expenses that go into that, those are now tax-free dollars. Their dance lessons are now tax-free dollars. So, it really creates significant savings and can make a huge difference. Brian Webb: I have two grown sons and a beautiful, beautiful daughter who's getting married in November. And when I think of the amount of money that I could have saved over those years, my only question is where have you been all my life, Miss Lisa? Tiffany Phillips: Right? Yeah. Well, and one thing to mention too that I didn't is the age like the age category to be able to save the payroll taxes. And for this strategy, starts at age seven. So, anything below age seven, they're not going to view that is wages that they earned. I mean, I don't know very many four-year-olds that could really do quality work. And then at age 18. So yeah, for those 11 years, it's huge. And then even beyond that, as long as it's below that standard deduction threshold, that's huge savings. Brian Webb: Awesome. So, let's go to advanced tax strategy number two, home administrative office, talk to us about that. Tiffany Phillips: Yeah. So, this one is a little bit more straightforward, but I meet very few people who know they can do this. So, essentially what it is, is if you have a business location outside of your home, maybe you have a retail storefront or a restaurant, or just another office that your employees meet at a manufacturing facility, whatever that looks like, if you have another location but you also have a home office, if you establish the business address with like the IRS as your home versus that other location outside of your home, what they do is they call that a home administrative office. And then your community miles between your two offices are now deductible. So, before you couldn't draw it off that mileage while driving from your home to, let's just say your restaurant that you own, but now if your home is your administrative office, all of a sudden that mileage is totally deductible because you're driving between two offices and that's it, it's simple. Especially in Houston, like we are, that could be considerable mileage that rack set and every little bit helps. Brian Webb: Oh, absolutely. Okay. So, and that by the way is different than for someone who offices in their home, the solar-preneur, for example, and claiming the space of their office. This is an addition to that, right? Tiffany Phillips: Yes. This is an addition to that. So, this is not the home office, as far as taking a percentage of your utilities, your internet, things like that, which that 100% is a viable deduction as well. This is on top of that. Brian Webb: Okay. So, advanced tax strategy number three, late S election. Talk to us about that. Tiffany Phillips: Yeah. So, when it comes to the way that let's say LLCs are, we'll use LLCs as an example, the way that they are taxed, you have a couple of options. You can be taxed as a partnership. You can be taxed as an S-corp or it can be taxed on your personal return, what they call a single-member LLC on your Schedule C of your personal tax return. Now, the issue with the partnership and being taxed on your personal tax return is that you have a considerable amount of self-employment tax that gets paid on that. So, 15.3% of the profits. With an S-corp, one of the reasons why most people like S-corps is they're typically not every time, but typically there is a considerable amount of tax savings by using S-corps because you get a reduction of self-employment taxes that are paid. Brian Webb: Right. Tiffany Phillips: Now, sometimes people, life happens and people get behind on doing tax returns. It just doesn't get done the way that it should and by the deadline. And so, I'll have people come in, our new clients will come in and they haven't filed a tax return in a couple of years. And maybe to have an LLC that's been really profitable. Maybe that LLC has been making, let's just say a $100,000 of profit in those each of those two years. Brian Webb: Right. Tiffany Phillips: Well, the way that they currently just as a regular LLC are structured, they're going to end up paying 15.3% tax on top of their federal tax or income tax. And so, that's 15,300 for both of those years in self-employment tax. If we go back and there's a particular way you do it, there's a form that you have to fill out and you have to cite some particular IRS revenue procedures, and basically beg for forgiveness and say, "Hey, we're sorry. We believe that we fall in line and should have gotten an S election in this time. The only reason we didn't do it is because we didn't do the paperwork." That's kind of what the IRS says, "Well, if you meet all these requirements and the only thing that you didn't do was paperwork and you've checked off all these other boxes, then we'll forgive you. We'll pardon your sin and you'll save that $15,500 for each year." So, you end up saving over 30 grand, just literally by filling out some forms, getting it to the IRS, and then accepting it. And so, it can really be a big deal, especially for someone who is a little behind. Typically for someone who is behind, they are faced with a bigger tax bill, which typically is part of the reason why they have another taxes. They don't want the bill. And so, to be able to find nuances in their life late S election can be huge for reducing that for them. And basically what the IRS says is that as long as it's within three years, a little over three years, actually from when the S election was due, then they'll accept it. Brian Webb: Let's talk about captive insurance. Talk about how that can be used to also mitigate tax liability. Tiffany Phillips: So I would say of our strategies today, this is probably the most advanced. Captive insurance is exactly what it sounds, it's insurance. The difference with captive insurance is you have more control over it. So, rather than going to a third party and getting like a general liability policy or some other policy through an insurance provider, you're actually working with this captive insurance company to figure out what insurance you need. And then you are utilizing another entity to get tax savings. So, what does that look like? Brian Webb: Yeah. Tiffany Phillips: Let's just, I need brand protection, or I need, maybe I don't want to have a third-party health insurance provider. I want to be self-insured and have health insurance for my employees, that is a self-insurance policy. Brian Webb: Okay. Tiffany Phillips: Or you can go in, I mean, really any number of ways. One of the big ones is the business interaction that was faced last year and really over much of the past year and a half related to COVID, a lot of policies, in fact, I would dare say very few, if any policies paid for the interruption because of some verbiage that they have in those policies that had, you had a captive insurance policy that was tied back to business interruption, you were golden and they would payout for that. Brian Webb: Wow. Tiffany Phillips: Hurricanes, it's another one. We had a hurricane here in Houston a few years ago that was pretty bad. And the other one for business interruption, where if you went to your insurance company and said, "Hey, my business has been interrupted. I should get paid on my policy." They said, no, unless you were directly impacted. If you had water in your business and you were shut down because of that water, then they might pay but otherwise, if you were just, you were dry, but you couldn't get anywhere because you were landlocked or whatever your business was shut down, they didn't care. And so, there's a lot of different applications for this. And basically what happens is your main business, whatever that is Joe Smith LLC, that business would pay that entrance fee over to a C-Corp. And in that C corporation and a third party is one that helps manage it. It's set up for insurance. So, it is a special type of entity. You can't just start a C-corp and do this. It's very specific in a way that it has to be done. And then they manage those funds. And then if you have a claim, then they handle it and whatnot. And the biggest thing I would say is you have to have a couple of intentions behind it. You have to have the desire for insurance. So, it really has to be that you want an insurance policy for this, and you have to want to reduce your taxes. So, if you're only going in this to reduce your taxes and you don't care about insurance, not the plan for you. Vice versa, if you're only looking for the insurance and not really looking for a tax reduction, not for you because the IRS is pretty particular on this one on how it must be done to meet their qualifications and meet the rules. And eventually what happens is for any of the money that is not paid out, you're able to pull the money from that entity [inaudible 00:14:24] pay that point you pay capital gains tax instead of your normal income tax rates. So, again if you are in the top tax bracket, 37%, and pull out the funds from the C-corp at capital gains rates, 20%, you end up saving 17% on the money. Brian Webb: Wow. So, we've talked about captive insurance, late S election, home administrative office, hiring our kiddos, right? One more for the sake of time, talk about employee retention credit and how we can save money on taxes with that. Tiffany Phillips: Yeah. So, the employee retention credit is a little piece of goals that they put into the CARES Act, which was one of the bills passed related to COVID. I believe it was one of the first two that they did. And they basically said, "Hey, if you are a company that's had economic hardship due to COVID, whether it's a full or partial shutdown or reduction and revenue, then we will give you a refundable tax credit." Brian Webb: Okay. Tiffany Phillips: So, you have to be a business that has a 100 employees or less. So, that's one of the rules and you can't double-dip. So, if you got PPP funds, you can't use the same because it's tied to qualified wages. You can't use the same wages that were used for PPP. Now, you can use the employee retention credit. If you've got PPP, you just have to be really careful about making sure that you're divvying it up properly. But essentially what happens is for they're looking to see what kind of a reduction in wages that you have. So, for 2020, if your wages for any quarter or 50% or more, less than 2019, then you qualify. For 2021, if that reduction of revenue was 20% less than the same quarter for 2019, so it's more favorable in 2021, you qualify. For example, I'll just do a really quick example here. If you have $10,000 of qualified wages for an employee, that's the max per employee per quarter. And they basically go, they take half of that. So, it's 50% of the qualified wages which gives you 5,000. It's basically that amount times the tax rate of 6.2%, which is the social security part of payroll taxes and you would end up saving that money. That would be a refund to you. You have to send in the right form, you would amend basically your payroll tax forms to get that money back, and then once the IRS processes, then you get a refund. I've seen some clients get a few $1,000. I've seen other clients get $30,000 refunded to them. So, it can be a sizeable refund. They're getting ready to end this particular credit. But if you haven't taken advantage of it, you can go back and amend previous payroll tax quarters to get that money for you. So, that timeframe doesn't lap anytime soon, but they're about to close the window of the available quarters that can be used. Brian Webb: Wow. So, while you've shared five really good advanced tax strategies today, we had to limit the time obviously, because this is a podcast. It's not like a docuseries of course, but I would imagine you have dozens of others that you help your clients with too, right? Tiffany Phillips: Absolutely. I mean, really what we do is when a client comes in, we do what we call a strategy session and go through and get a feel for that client, their business, the details of their life. What do they have going on? I mean, there's a lot of stuff that goes into everyone's specific situation. And then we determined, can we help you? If I'm honest, very few people can't be helped with tax planning. I mean, if you own a business and you're making money and you're paying tax, then there are savings to be had. And so, we go through and we look and look at a myriad of different savings strategies and then create a tax plan that's specific for them. But there's dozens, hundreds, I mean, there really are quite a few different strategies that can be helped, and then we just put that plan together and chip away those taxes. Brian Webb: One of my mentors, Jim Rowan once said, "What we do not know will hurt us." And when I think about some of what you've shared today, even just in the context of a single year, the huge amount of value and savings that you could bring to your clients. But when you think about the people who have gone years and decades, imagine what that number would add up to over 20 years if someone went 20 years without knowing what you've, a piece of what you've shared today, let alone everything else that you share with your clients. So, for those in our audience who want to know more about you, engage with you, find you online, what's the best place for them to do that? Tiffany Phillips: Yeah, the best place to go is our website. So, www.tiffanyphillipscpa.com. You can actually click on the very main page there. There's a button and you can schedule on our calendar right away to get the availability and then we can actually go through that strategy session with you and see if it's a fit to work with you. And to your point, yeah, it's shocking and sickening oftentimes when people come in and realize how much they've overpaid over the years. Brian Webb: Tiffany, when I think of all that you've shared today, I can't even imagine how many people are going to benefit from this and potentially the thousands or tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, or maybe even millions of dollars that you could be saving the audience in the years to come. So, thanks for being a great guest today. It was great to have you on the show today. Tiffany Phillips: Yeah. Thanks for having me. ________________________________ FIND & FOLLOW WHATBOX DIGITAL Website | Linkedin | Facebook | Instagram ________________________________ CONNECT WITH BRIAN WEBB Linkedin | Facebook | Instagram Email: brianw@whatboxdigital.com  Clubhouse: @brianwebb __________________________________ CONNECT WITH TIFFANY PHILLIPS Linkedin | Facebook | Tiffany Phillips Website | Email __________________________________

Learn More Earn More Business Growth Podcast Host: Brian Webb Episode 5: BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: Listen to Brian explain the new podcast name and vision. _____________________________________________ SUBSCRIBE Apple  |  Google Play |  Spotify  |  Pandora |  Amazon Music _____________________________________________ TRANSCRIPT Brian Webb: Hey there everyone. Welcome to the Learn More, Earn More Business Growth Podcast. I'm your host, Brian Webb. This podcast is your premier place to learn the frameworks, secrets, and growth hacks to grow and scale your business and revenue faster. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or a thriving business owner, this podcast is designed to produce just for you so you can learn from the best industry experts in the world. I'll bring you exclusive interviews with authors, thought leaders, and successful business titans who share their stories and business journeys so we can draw insights and learn from their successes and struggles together. As you're working on growing your business and pursuing your dreams, I'll be here to help you make better decisions and avoid costly pitfalls and expensive mistakes along the way. And we'll have some fun in the process. So let's go ahead and jump into today's episode. Hey everyone. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening depending on what time of day you're listening to this particular episode. Welcome to the artist formerly known as the Do Marketing Better Podcast. If you've been following along, if you're one of our loyal listeners, we have a little bit of explaining to do. So as you know, this podcast was originally called The Do Marketing Better Podcast, which made sense at the time, because we're sponsored by [What Box Digital 00:01:18], which is a leading digital marketing agency here in the greater Houston metroplex. And we love to talk all things, marketing sales, business growth, anything that helps you to grow and increase your revenue. So do marketing better is something that we do as an agency and we're going to continue to do this by the way. But we realized that when we named the podcast, The Do Marketing Better Podcast, it was a little bit limiting. So we gather as a group internally, as the team and we decided we need to pivot. We need to change. We need to alter our path. We're still going to be very marketing, heavy in what we teach and what we talk about here, but we've changed the name to The Learn More Earn, More Business Growth Podcast. One, that actually gives us a lot more room to discuss a lot more topics that can be highly helpful and relevant to actually growing a business and even if you're not a business owner. For people who are out there who want to just increase their revenue, diversify their income streams, we can talk about anything and everything relevant to that. So that's why we changed the name to The Learn More, Earn More because we believe that the more you learn, the more you will earn. Jim Rowan once said one of my mentors, I never met him, unfortunately, but Jim Rowan once said, "What you do not know will hurt you." And at 51 years of age, I can absolutely testify to that truth. So that's what we're here to do. To help you to know more so that you can earn more. We'll be covering topics like, and as you can imagine, marketing, of course, lots and lots of marketing. In fact, you're going to hear segments coming out called Do Marketing Better Segments. So we're going to actually have sometimes solo episodes that specifically talk about marketing, or it might be an add-on segment to an existing interview that talked about something other than marketing. But we're going to cover topics like sales, finance, marketing, of course, HR and organizational culture, leadership, recruiting and retaining talent, raising capital, operations, tech, all of it. So let me tell you why this podcast really exists. We have three reasons that really, I should say the three pillars of our mission. First, we're here to help you make better decisions. We want to arm you with tools we use, frameworks, systems, insights, anything and everything that will help you to make wiser decisions. We want to help you be more knowledgeable and wiser in just how you make your decision. So in recruiting and developing yourself as a leader, in how to create a healthy and productive organizational culture, how to run your organization more efficiently, how to find the right technology, the right tech, and the right tools to make you more and more efficient as you continue to grow your business and pursue your dreams. So one, we want to help you make better decisions. Two, we want to help you by default, make fewer mistakes. As I said earlier, what you don't know will hurt you. And so many of us as entrepreneurs, we had an idea, we started a business and we're learning as we go. That is almost everyone that I've ever worked with and ever known. In fact, it's been amazing to me, how many clients I've worked with that have been immensely successful. But a lot of times that success was a derivative of one specific skill set they had. For example, they can just sell, sell, sell. I've seen people grow their businesses to eight figures and they seemingly lack so many skills that if you met them, you would wonder how they've achieved that success. But they have grown in a specific skill set, like knowing how to sell. For some people, it's knowing how to cultivate the right relationships. For some people, it's coming up with that brilliant idea that can make a huge impact in the world. But we're all learning as we go and we're all trying to avoid those mistakes. So one, we want to help you make better decisions, wiser decisions. Two, by default, again, we want to help you make fewer mistakes. And three, we want to consistently, ongoing, share new and creative ways to grow your business, just to increase your income, whether or not you're a business owner. And believe me, as a marketer who's been doing this for 20 plus years, that landscape is constantly changing. And so we want to be a resource, your go-to so that you have a one-stop reliable place to go to find out what's new, what's hot. We're going to bring you, authors, we're going to bring you, business titans, we're going to bring you, thought leaders. We are working actively on a list of people that we want to bring you that's just going to give you the insights that you need to do those things we spoke about, which is to make better and wiser decisions and have fewer regrets and grow your business as you make that impact on the world and as you're pursuing your dreams. So if you're a business owner who just wants to grow your business faster, if you are an aspiring entrepreneur, you haven't taken that step, but you want to, you want to learn, you want to grow, you want to know how to take that next step. And even if you're a leader within your organization, you want to know how to recruit better, run your department more efficiently, make bigger gains for the company that you work for. I'm telling you now you're in the right place. That's it. We used to be The Do Marketing Better Podcast. We'll keep talking about marketing. We are now called The Learn More, Earn More Business Growth Podcast. I sincerely hope you'll stick around. There's so many great things to come. We plan to drop episodes typically on Monday mornings, but we also will be having bonus episodes and segments that might be launching other days of the week. And we'll be doing giveaways from time to time. More on that soon. So thank you for giving us the most precious commodity that you have, which is your time. We take that very seriously. That's very important to us. And so we promise to be the best steward we possibly can by being as valuable as we possibly can each and every time you show up and listen to our podcast. So thank you for being here. That's an explanation of where we've been, what's been going on and I can't wait to see you guys grow and share your stories. Let's go and grow together. I will see you very soon. Thanks for joining me today and listening to this episode of The Learn, More, Earn More Business Growth Podcast. We can be found on all the major platforms like Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, and even Amazon Music. I genuinely hope you enjoyed today's episode. And if you did, I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to the show and leave us a rating and an honest review. I'd love to connect with you on Instagram. You can find me at @BrianWebb and the show sponsor What Box Digital can be found at, as you might guess, @WhatBoxDigital. You can also find me in What Box Digital on Facebook and LinkedIn, with the links in the show notes. This will allow you to stay up to date and never miss out on exciting new announcements, events, special offers, and opportunities. And you'll be in the know when we drop a new episode of The Learn More, Earn More Business Growth Podcast. And if you'd like to send me a DM on Instagram to say hello, or share your thoughts on how we can make this podcast even better for you, I'd love to hear from you. Again, thanks for listening. Let's go and grow together. I'll see you on the next episode. _____________________________________________ FIND & FOLLOW WHATBOX DIGITAL Website | Linkedin | Facebook | Instagram _____________________________________________ CONNECT WITH BRIAN WEBB Email | Linkedin | Facebook | Instagram Clubhouse: @brianwebb _____________________________________________ DESCRIPTION The Learn More Earn More Business Growth Podcast is sponsored by Whatbox Digital, a marketing and consulting agency in the Greater Houston Metroplex. This podcast is your premier place to learn the frameworks, secrets, and growth hacks to grow and scale your business and revenue faster. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or a thriving business owner, this podcast is designed and produced JUST for you, so you can learn from the best industry experts in the world. You can listen to exclusive interviews with authors, thought-leaders, and successful business titans who share their stories and business journeys so we can draw insights and learn from their successes and struggles together. As you're working on growing your business and pursuing your dreams, we'll be here to help you make better decisions and avoid costly pitfalls and expensive mistakes along the way. And... we'll have some fun in the process.

Want to be a fly on the wall as I talk to Tony today!? Hit me up on IG! @russellbrunson Text Me! 208-231-3797 Join my newsletter at marketingsecrets.com And don’t forget to check out takethechallenge.com ---Transcript--- Russell Brunson: Hey, what's up, everybody? This is Russell Brunson. Welcome back to The Marketing Secrets Podcast. Oh, do I have a treat for you today. This week I had a chance to interview Tony Robbins, because a couple of reasons, number one, we are doing the Own Your Future Challenge that's coming up. Depending when you're listening to this, it's probably happening right now. And you can actually go sign up for that for free at takethechallenge.com. In fact, I would recommend pausing this, go sign up just so you've got it. But takethechallenge.com, a challenge about how to own your future and how to do a bunch of really cool things. And so, because the challenge is happening, and Tony and Dean are doing this with a whole bunch of other amazing people, I had a really rare opportunity to interview Tony. They said, "Hey, do you want to interview Tony for your podcast and your YouTube channel, all these things?" And of course, my answer was, "Yes." But I told him, I was like, "I don't really want to do an interview like everybody else is doing an interview. I want to do the interview based on things that I'm actually working on right now." So right now, as some of you know, I'm writing a book. My first personal development book ever. That's all I'm telling you. But a lot of what is in there, things I learned from Tony, and just principles and things I've learned from him a decade and a half ago that shifted my future and changed my destiny. And so, I said, "I want to ask you some questions that are a little different than everybody else." And he said, "Sure." I had a chance to ask him a whole bunch of really cool questions. I had a chance to ask him the difference between the science of achievement and the art of fulfillment. How can people go achieve everything, but be miserable? How can people have nothing, but they're happy? How do these things work together? These are ying and the yang, how do they work together? And I was able to ask him directly. So I asked him about the six human needs, which is one of my favorite topics of all time I think and had the biggest impact on me from Tony, and then how he gets from growth to contribution. And, oh... Anyway, it was amazing. It was so much fun. So, you guys are lucky because you're going to have a chance to listen to it right now. So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you the link in, go to takethechallenge.com, go sign up for the free challenge that way you'll have a chance to hear from Dean, from Tony, from me, from Jenna, from Sheldon, from Jamie Kern Lima, from Brendan Bouchard, from a whole bunch of just amazing people. It is a completely free challenge, so go sign up for it at takethechallenge.com and then come back and listen to my interview with Tony, and hope you enjoy it, it's going to be a lot of fun. And with that said we can cue the theme song. When I come back, you have a chance to hear my interview with Tony Robbins, about all the cool things I wanted to ask him. Oh, how cool is that? All right. We'll see you guys here in a minute. What's up, everybody. This is Russell Brunson. I'm here today with the one and only Tony Robbins. And we're going to be talking about a whole bunch of really cool things right now. There's a challenge coming up right out in the next... actually, it's happening right now as this is being recorded, and a lot of you guys watching, called the Own Your Future Challenge. And we'll talk more about that here in a minute, but before we do, I have this really unique and exciting opportunity to ask Tony a couple of questions. And so, I hope you guys enjoy some of the questions like I'm going to be enjoying this because he's someone I've been studying and learning from now for, man, probably 20-something years, had a chance to know you now for probably 13, 14 years, which is really, really cool. And it's not often I get to ask you questions. So, now I got you for 20 or 30 minutes. I'm excited to do that. So, how are you feeling today, Tony? Tony Robbins: I'm feeling awesome, buddy. Russell: Well, obviously the challenge we're going to be talking about more towards the end is about owning your future. This is this thing that we're trying to go towards. And especially right now, after all of the season we've all been through, where there's so much chaos and change and everything. Now it's like, okay, let's get background and let's look towards the future. But I wanted to kind of start off probably differently than some people have asked you, just because I'm in the middle of working on a book right now. And in the book, I'm trying to figure out this thing that I heard originally from you. You talked about this concept of the science of achievement versus the art of fulfillment. And this is something in my life, especially as I'm trying to own my future, and try to go this direction, I've found multiple times where I've achieved something in my life, and then expecting to be super fulfilled and excited, and having almost the opposite effect happen. I'd love to hear some of your thoughts about just those two, the yin yang between achievement and fulfillment and maybe why they're not exactly the same, and how we can have more success feeling fulfilled when we do have success. Tony: Well, I was trying years ago, I was trying to figure out, how do you really define an extraordinary life? Not just success. Success for most people, I think means getting what they want. I think fulfillment is giving what you're made for. And I think that the challenge for most people is, as we're growing up and we're developing our skill and our ability to start to master our own world, there's at least in Western culture, there's a huge push for us all to be achievers. And most of us have been so rewarded for that. I'm here on your podcast because of it. You're doing podcasts because of it. We both have managed to pull that off. But as you've discovered, as you're now, what, 41 did you say? Russell: Yup, 41. Tony: You're 41 years old. There's a stage of your life where you start to wake up and go, "It's not enough to just be successful. It's not enough to just be financially free." You know, I know that sounds crazy to someone who's not there yet, but you don't have to wait until you're financially free to have a sense of fulfillment. So, what I propose to people is that life requires two master skills. Skill number one is the science of achievement, which means the ability to take whatever you envision and make it real. Turn the invisible into the visible. To me, that's a spiritual process. But how do I go from, I have this idea, to living that idea or delivering that idea to millions of people around the world? To me, that's science. And the reason I say that is science is because it's duplicatable. If I want to make more money, I can go, as I did, interview 100 of the smartest financial people in the world and find out exactly what they did. And they all did different things, but there are certain universal patterns that I did in MONEY Master the Game, and Unshakeable, and so forth. And when you understand them, if you sow the same seeds, you reap the same rewards. So, in the financial world, it's a science. That's achievement. If you're looking at your health, it's a certain amount of science, meaning we're all biochemically unique, right Russell? But everybody has certain fundamentals, and if you violate them, you're going to have dis-ease or low energy. If you align with them, you're going to have an abundance of vitality, energy, and strength. So, that's science. But fulfillment is an art. That's why I said, there's two skills. The science of achievement, which you can duplicate and learn, and I've taught for decades, and you have as well, you did an extraordinary job of it. But then, the art of fulfillment. And the reason I call it the art is because it isn't a science, because it's different for every single person. That's why most people miss out it. First they miss out on it because they're so focused on achievement, and they think that's going to fulfill them. But I ask your audience, even yourself, think of something. You and I have talked about this before. Think of something you've achieved that you worked your tail off to achieve and then you achieved it, and then your brain said, "Is this all there is?" Or worse, how about something you achieve and you really were happy about it, but how long did you stay happy? You made this incredible achievement, took you years to get to. Were you happy for the next five years because of it? Russell: No. Tony: The next year? The next six months? The next three months? The next two weeks? Russell: The next morning you wake up? Tony: Most people are somewhere between three hours and three weeks maximum before they go right back to where they were because the brain adjusts. It adjusts because we're not made to sit around and just be fulfilled. We're made to grow. And so, the great part of achievement is it causes you to strive for growth. The problem is, people just keeping the hamster on the wheel, trying to achieve more, and they aren't making sure along the way they're fulfilled. So, I believe these are both critically important. If you ask me honestly which one's more important, it's fulfillment because success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure. I mean, I interviewed 50 self-made billionaires, the smartest financial investors in the history of the world for MONEY Master the Game. I did it over two and a half years, and about maybe 12, 13 of them are really good friends now. And I can tell you, out of that group of 50, and this is zero judgment, maybe four of them are happy people. Now, you go, "Oh, see? Money makes you unhappy." No, money just magnifies who you are. If you're mean, you have more to be mean with. If you're giving, you have more to give with. It doesn't change anything. But these people, they're not bad people. They're brilliant people, but they're so brilliant in one area and they miss the fulfillment side. To see one of these men arguing with his wife and kid, because they bought some jewelry that I think was around $2,500 and the guy is a multi, multi billionaire. He couldn't spend all his money in all these years, and yet he's got conflict in his own family because of his mindset. There are some people, for example Paul Tudor was with me the other day and he was talking about a neighbor of his, I won't mention a name, but the guy's in a $40 million home, he goes over with his young son, this was a few years ago Paul did this, and the guy has his own grass tennis court. And Paul said, "I've never seen that." Paul's a billionaire, one of the smartest financial people in the world. And bottom line, he goes, "Your son opened one of the can of balls." The son I think was like five or six or seven at the time. And the guy went crazy. "Get all those balls. When you open them up, they lose their pressure. That's $298." And Paul's like, "Bad boy. Okay, I'll give you the $3." So, some people, it doesn't matter how much they achieve. They're not experiencing the fulfillment. And it's more people than you would think. That's just an extreme example to get people's attention. So, my whole thing is, the art of fulfillment is finding what lights you up. And it's different for everybody. Now, if you can find a way to achieve and be fulfilled, that's pretty awesome. But most people get so caught up in achievement, they miss that other side. You think about the guys, the first Apollo astronauts that walked on the moon. I mean, you got to think about these guys. Imagine you're with 100,000 people competing to be an astronaut walking on the moon. And then it's down to 10,000, and then it's 1,000, and then it's 100. And then you're up in the space capsule with this rocket structure in back, and no one knows for sure who's going to make it, and you make it to the moon. You walk on the moon, you come back, you make it safely. There's a ticker-tape parade for you in New York City. You shake the president's hand. Now what do you do for the rest of your life for adventure? Russell: You can't match that. Tony: You're 34 years old or 35, I can't remember what they were, but I think it was 34, 35 years old. I got to interview three of them later on in life. Almost all of them ended up with drug and alcohol problems. And they talked about it quite openly, because they forgot to find adventure in a smile. So, they've got this one big achievement. And how long does that last? It's historic, but the emotion of it is not the same as the years go by because we're made to keep growing. What makes you fulfilled is growth. Do you want to know what makes you happy? It's called progress. Progress equals happiness. If you're making progress, even if you're not there yet, you're going to be lit up. Your weight isn't where you want it to be. But sure enough, you decide to start on a process and you're starting to feel better physically. You lose a few inches and you feel some energy and momentum, you're lit up. You're the ideal weight and you just stay there, no progress, doesn't feel very alive. So, we have to find a way to make progress. And it's different for everybody. Some people find it in music. Some people find it by serving in a non-profit. Some people find it with their kids. But you got to find what lights you up. And again, it's different for everyone. Russell: I'm curious, people who started going through this, the Own the Future Challenge, they're going to be given a very scientific, here's the steps to have success in one area of something. What would be the biggest thing for them, or just one thing they could anchor themselves as they're going through that, to make sure that they're not missing the fulfillment during this journey they're going through? Tony: I think it's helpful to think of this in sequences, because it's hard to be able to write and do everything. You know, if you're doing really great in your business, often you're not taking care of your body. Or if you're doing good in your business and your body, often your relationship doesn't get enough time. Or your relationship's doing great, you don't spend enough time with your kids. If your kids are doing great, often some of your finances aren't straight. So, it's the nature of the human being to focus on what they're good at and miss the others. But you know, I love studying different philosophies. Philosophy, or even religion, if you step out of it, what is religion designed to be? And there are many great religions around the world. I'm personally a Christian. That's what I believe, but I don't tell people what to believe. But whatever you believe, it's designed to guide you to create a greater quality of life. And regardless of what I may subscribe to, I like to learn from every philosophy because we're all human. I go to India usually about twice, well, about once every two years I take a group of people there and we go to a place called Varanasi. It's one of the oldest cities in the world. It's like 3,800 years old. And what's striking about this location is, the people come there because they believe in their religion, in the Hindu religion, if you die in Varanasi, you go to heaven. You don't come back. Their idea of hell is coming back and reliving everything, right? Rebirth. And so, they have this experience, when somebody dies there, they believe that they don't come back and they're so happy to die in Varanasi. They’ll crawl there, people are dying there. I tried to save a lady. I was actually helping a lady who was being helped by the Mother Teresa group, and she was angry because she wanted to die. What do you people do, messing with me? And then they carry the bodies there and they burn the bodies. They've been burning bodies 24 hours a day. There's wood stacked about five story high, and then those ashes of the person are put in the Ganges. And no one cries, because they see the body burning as, the teacher is gone and now the spirit is free. So, I tell you that because you don't have to subscribe to something to say, "Wow, that's fascinating, no pain in death and you have this total trust in the universe or God or whatever term you want to use for it." But they also have what they believe are the four aims of life. And they think about them in a sequence. And I think it's sometimes useful for people. So, if you want to jot them down, the first one in the sequence is called Artha, A-R-T-H-A. It's one of the first aims of life. And what it really is, is security and prosperity. And so, if you don't have security and prosperity, it's really hard to enjoy the central parts of life for any extended way. It's really hard to feel your sense of purpose when you're worried about whether you can feed your family. It's really hard to feel that highest spiritual sense. It doesn't mean you can't. It just means it's harder. And so, the Indian culture understands that. And instead of saying, "This is bad or not spiritual," they say, "Finding your prosperity, your security, finding the way to do useful work that you feel good about, that you know is helpful, but also gets you to an economic place where you're prosperous is one of the first aims of life." And then, when you get that automatically the other dimensions start to open up. Now, you don't have to wait, but it's useful to remember, that is where we start. That's where I started, it's where we all start. How do I make sure my family's taken care of? We didn't have enough money for food when I was a kid. So, this was an obsession for me at an early age. I want to do so well, we don't have to worry about that stuff. But it's not non-spiritual. It's about saying "This is part of life that is anchoring in the science of achievement." Think of it that way, right? But then the next level is called Kama, K-A-M-A. And that's pleasure. And it's like, okay, now that you have security and prosperity as a base, and it's strong, you don't have to wait till then, the next thing you start developing is enjoying more of life. Pleasure is the driving force of life. You've got to find what gives you pleasure. And I don't just mean sensuality. I mean, it can be art, it can be music, it can be serving. It's all the different textures of life, because without pleasure, life's pretty dead. So, instead of going, "Oh my God, what am I going to do?" It's like, "Okay, let me go to this challenge and figure out how to get my security and prosperity down. Let me think of a new vehicle. Let me figure out how to get money chasing me instead of me chasing money." That's really what this challenge starts out with. And then the Kama side is like, "How much can I enjoy along the way while I'm learning? How much can I enjoy learning? Just the experience. How much can I enjoy building this business from the very beginning or taking a business there to the next level?" That's part of what Kama is, is finding the pleasure in the expansion and the appreciation of life. And then, the third level is what you and I have probably most focused on, would be Dharma. Dharma is like, "Okay, I've got so much security and prosperity and I know what gives me pleasure in life. And I've found useful work." It's like, "Okay, what's my higher purpose? What is that deeper purpose for me at this stage in my life?" And a lot of people overvalue this because they've tried to make it something huge. You know, for me, my purpose is... I used to have these long mission statements. "The principle of life is to be the most passionate, playful, outrageous, enjoyable, generous giving example of God's grace, as I serve millions of people over the..." Now it's like, "How can I help?" You know? Because that's really what it is. When I'm serving, I feel alive. So, the number one question I've got is, how can I help? Whenever someone's coming, that's the question. It's a burning question and it's a beautiful question because it brings joy and love to me and to them because most people are happy to have some help from somebody who sincerely cares. And it's not like I have all the answers. It's just, I have a lot of them because I've made it 61 years and I've traveled to 150 countries around the world and dealt with tens of millions of people. So, I'm fortunate because I’m not going to be an idiot, I should have ways to be able to help. So, it's like finding what is it? What is that way of life that is true for you at this stage? You've got enough security and prosperity and of pleasure. What's it all about? And then, ultimately it leads to what they call Moksha. And M-O-K... Moksha. M-O-K-S-H-A, I believe is how they spell it. And that's your unity with God. Now, does that say you're not unified with God at the beginning? Of course not. It's just like, there's a point where that really becomes the priority in somebody's life. And in their view, yes, you work on all four of them, but you are going to in the beginning, put more focus on securing your life and getting so you're not chasing money, money's chasing you and you have freedom for your family, right? You're going to, in the beginning, you'll be more focused on hopefully enjoying the pleasures of learning and growing and expanding and building something so you don't miss out. And then, you certainly want to figure out what your purpose is, but again, most people are trying to make it so big so they'll feel significant, when really it's just what lights you up. And if you do all those things, it leads to a greater connection to the universe, God, whatever you want to call it. So, even though I'm not Indian, and I'm Christian, I still think that general philosophy is a helpful way to look at your life, and also keeps you from beating yourself up. Because a lot of us are pretty hard, including you, Russell, I know you really well, on ourselves. We expect ourselves to do everything perfect, every moment, every time. And life is a journey of growing. I always tell people, "What makes you successful? Good judgment. Making good decisions. What does good judgment come from? Experience. Where does experience come from? Often, bad judgment." That's how you learn, right? Russell: The circle. Tony: What I've tried to do in my life, was take the bad judgments and the good judgments and say, "Let me compress decades into days and share with you so you don't have to learn by trial and error, show you the shortcuts to those things." And that's what I've done with all of my events and books and challenges, and everything else that we do. Russell: Oh, so cool. Okay. The next question I going to ask you about, because the first UPW I came to was in Toronto. I'm really bad at years, but probably 12, 14 years ago, something like that. And at the time, I had had some level of success, but there were a lot of times in my life where I felt like I was doing this personal development, trying to grow and I was trying to contribute. I was going through growth and contribution, but sometimes I felt like I had my foot on the gas at one moment and my foot on the brake at the other time, and I'm spinning around, and I'm just like, "Why am I not moving?" I was so frustrated. And one of the tools that you give at UPW, that was for me, probably the first big aha I got from you, and I've had so many since then, but it was the one that was the paradigm shift where I was like, "Okay, the student's now ready to listen to everything you're saying." And that's when you start talking about the six human needs. And I looked at it because I was looking at growth and contribution, which are the needs of the spirit. And these are the things I was focusing on, like how do I grow myself? How do I contribute? But I kept falling back because of the needs of the body or needs of the personality, those four needs. And because I didn't have those things in order, or were out of whack or they would be for a little while organized and I could go over here, but then something would happen. I'd slip back into them. And those kept me from progressing until I learned how to manage those things and get in a spot where my needs were being met. Then I could go and focus on growth and contribution. And I think in this challenge, people are going to be inspired to start doing growth and contribution, but I don't want them to be like I was, where I had the foot on the gas going forward the foot on the brake. I would love if you could talk to us a little bit about the four needs of the body and how we can take care of those, to make sure that we're able to actually go and focus on growth and contribution. Tony: Well, it kind of ties in a little bit with what I was just sharing, I've just got to get it to another angle, but you're very astute in this area. So, for people that don't know, early in my life, early, I don't know, maybe 10, 15 years into my career, I've been doing it 44 years, I remember I traveled to more than 100 countries and I'd started seeing the same patterns. Obviously, when you go to Asia, there's different values. People value the group more than the individual. Saving face is critical in Asia. It's very different in America, right? So, I noticed those differences, but what I noticed no matter where I went, was you saw the same problems, the same arguments, the same problems in relationships, the same issues with people's bodies, same financial issues. And I began to realize, while we do get conditioned, our goals, our dreams, our desires may come from some of our conditioning and our life experience, but there are certain inherent needs that all human beings have. And I came up with six, not from a book, just from seeing people and then playing with it back and forth until I could see that I could cover everything that human beings really do. And so, the bottom line is, I found that certainty was the basic, fundamental human need of all human beings. The need to be certain you could avoid pain, and that you could have ideally some pleasure or comfort. Think of it as certainty/comfort. We all want that because without certainty and comfort, we have pain, we have continuous pain. You got damage, continuous damage equals bad. So, it's actually survival instinct. The difference though, is I started, as I went through these six needs, I started seeing everybody has them. But as I will describe them to you really fast, there is a difference. And the difference is how you value them. For some people, certainty as the number one thing in life. If you change anything, they get upset. If you move things on their desk, they freak out. You change the time, they freak out. That's an example of certainty. Some people get their certainty by doing the same thing every day. Some people get certainty by trusting God's going to guide them. Some people get certainty because they've screwed up so much in the past and they still came out finding a way, and their brain goes, "I know I'll find a way, but I don't know what it is." Some people get certainty by smoking a cigarette because they're all stressed out and they take a breath, when they breathe in, it makes them comfortable and certain, right? Even though they're killing themselves. Some people get certainty by eating food for comfort. So, everybody has the need. The only two differences in human beings are, what's the order of importance for you that's going to completely change your direction in life? If you're certainty driven, you're going to be moving this direction away from the challenge. If you're uncertainty driven, meaning it's higher value for you, you're going to be going straight at it. And direction determines ultimate destination or destiny. So, once I know your direction, I know where you're going. I know what challenges you're going to face, I know what opportunities you’re going to have. Okay? So, the difference is, different orders and different rules. Some people, I got to do the same thing to be certain. Other people, I've just got to trust in God and I'm certain. Right? Very different. Some people work out to be certain. They get that strength in their body, they're ready to rock and roll again. We restored their certainty or their comfort. Some people eat to do it. Some of these ways you do are neutral. They don't affect you either way. They're just okay. Some actually have a negative impact, like smoking a cigarette. Some have a positive impact, like let's say trusting in God perhaps, if you believe in that, or working out certainly does. All right? So, the second human need though, outside of certainty is uncertainty, just so your audience knows. Uncertainty, variety, we all need surprise. I ask people at events, "Who here loves surprises?" Everybody raises their hand and says, "I." I say, "Bullshit. You like the surprises you want, right? The surprises you don't want, you call problems." But we need some variety, we need surprise to feel alive. Too much variety, people freak out. Too much certainty, people are bored out of their mind. So, are you in the lukewarm middle? No. You got to learn how to use both. Third human need, the need for significance, the need to feel unique, special, important. Everybody has it, including the people saying, "I don't want to be significant." What they're really saying is, "I don't want to be judged. I don't want anybody to be upset with me if I'm significant." Right? But some people get significance by working harder than anybody else. Some people do it by studying the Bible or Bhagavad Gita or whatever. Some people get that certainty by way of how they dress or their tattoos, or some people do it by money. Some people do it by being more generous. There's a million ways you can be significant or important to people or to feel needed. We all have the need. The only question is, how do you need it, and is it number one, two, three, four, five, changes how you're going to end up in one. Fourth, the need for love and connection. Everyone wants love and connection. Everyone needs it, whether they want it or not. Most people settle for connection because love is just too scary. And then, those first four needs, as you know, are the needs of the personality. We all need certainty to survive. We all need variety to feel alive. We all need some feeling of significance. And we all need some feeling of love. When a person feels completely insignificant to anyone, and unloved, that's when they start thinking about checking out. That's when someone will consider suicide, where there's no compelling future for them. So, these needs are critical, but almost everybody meets them. Somebody meets the needs by smoking and then tearing other people down. You can feel important by making other people less important. If I move you down, I have the illusion I'm moving up. It doesn't really work long-term but it works for the moment. Sugar feels good for the moment, long-term it doesn't feel good. So, you can meet your needs in positive ways, neutral or negative, but everyone finds a way to meet their needs to some extent. But the ultimate needs that you described were five and six. You got to grow to feel alive. We grow or we die. Like I just said, progress equals happiness, right? And we grow so we have something to give, because if we contribute in a meaningful way, we feel more alive. So, a lot of people jump on and go, "I want to grow and give, grow and give." Which is, there's zero wrong with that. I think it's fantastic. But like the example I gave you from India, your certainty is often tied to your access to food and shelter, and a quality of life, and maybe a certain amount of income to provide for your family. Right? So, yes, you do need to honor those, but everyone's different. Some people value love as the number one thing and they move in this direction. Some people value significance, and they go in a different direction, because the more you demand significance, the less love you usually get. Right? Because people have been pushed off by it. If somebody wants totally certain, they go in one direction. If they want variety, they go in a different direction. Again, direction determines your ultimate destination or destiny. So, when I know which one are your top two, I know how your life is going to turn out. And then I ask questions to find out, what does it take for you to feel significant? Do you have to make a billion dollars or pray to God and feel the connection? Walk out and go for a run by the ocean and feel the universe with you. Everyone has different ways. Once I know what you want and how you go about getting it, I know your opportunities, I know your challenges, and I know how to coach you. So, your question though, was... to be specific, I had to give that context so everyone knows what we're talking about, is, okay, I want to grow and contribute because those are the spiritual needs. Those are the ones most people miss. That's what makes you most fulfilled. But I still got to do these other four things and they're really easy to do. So, I think of it as saying, "Find your vehicle, find what's going to give you that economic security and idea, and economic independence. Again, when you're not chasing money, money might be start chasing you. That's an important part. You have to work your off and refine it. Science of achievement. Along the way, make sure you find the variety, the pleasure of the uniqueness of everything you're doing, and stopping and bringing it in. Every morning I do a process where I think of three things I'm most grateful for and I experience them fully, and then I think of a blessing and send the blessing to all my family and friends. And then I think of what I'm going to accomplish next. And that sets up plenty of that variety and certainty. Significance. You know, the most significant thing to me is love. But it's like, what am I doing that matters? Let me do some things that matter today. Love. What can I do that's kind? The fastest way to love is to give love, right? Fastest way to kindness is give kindness in a world where the world is pretty divided now, but it's still pretty magical when somebody does it authentically. So, it's not hard to meet the first four needs. Growing and contributing. That's where you're going to feel the most fulfilled. So, when people go through these challenges, what I always try to do is, I don't just give them the skill, I give them the emotion to follow through because otherwise you can know what to do and not do what you know anyway. So, that's kind of the way I try to balance it. Again, science of achievement and art of fulfillment, and just be aware of them both and focusing on both instead of just one. Russell: Yeah. Oh, I love that. I think for me, it was interesting because I noticed that when I was struggling to contribute or grow, it was because something was out of whack. I wasn't getting my love and connection or I wasn't feeling significant or something wasn't in place. And when I got to the point where I could figure out, okay, here's ways to make sure that I'm feeling these needs in a positive way, not a negative way, then it takes that pressure off. And I was like, "Now I can go grow. Now I can contribute. Now I can do things." I've noticed even nowadays, if it gets out of whack again, it's like I got to make sure all these things are spinning and I can go back and I can show up at a level that I can't when these things aren't running the right way. Tony: Yeah, that makes total sense. Russell: Yeah. Cool. My next question, this is going to kind of transition a little more to the challenge now. Obviously, a lot of people who are in your world and my world, they're coming because the growth, right? They're learning and they're learning, and they're growing, and that part's so much fun for all of us. The growth part is addicting. And I think that's why people love reading books and going through courses and all sorts of stuff. But I know for me, the real growth didn't come from me in this growth phase where I was learning stuff, it's as I started contributing and started helping other people. For me it was, I was starting my business, I was teaching other people. And that's when I first started to really connect with that contribution and that part of it. I know that that's one of the big things that this challenge is about, is getting people from a growth phase to, now how do you contribute? How do you take this knowledge and these ideas and the things that you're developing and learning, and how do you use them to serve other people? And I'd love for you to talk just a little about that transition, of how we transition from a growth mindset to, here's how I can contribute with these gifts that we've been given. Tony: I think the challenge is called Own Your Future Challenge, that we're doing. And it's myself and Dean and an army of just great friends of ours who are smart. The focus here is execution. It's not just about more learning and growing in this one. It's like showing you, you've got some knowledge. Someone you care about, bless you, has knowledge and you can take that knowledge and bring it to people in a world, even when it's shut down. I mean, my business, I've got 80 companies plus now, but my core mission with my business is Robbins Research, where I did my events and I've done my events. I mean, they literally, they made what I did illegal because the size of it. I'd do minimum, it'd be 10,000, most of them 15, 12,000 people, somewhere in that range. And all of a sudden, they made it illegal in every country in the world that I wanted to go to. Australia, London, Italy, France, everywhere, America, all over the place. And so, I had to figure out what to do. But I've got to tell you, I'm reaching more people now, and I'm doing it in a different way. You know? So, the tools to be able to reach people all over the earth, I mean, four billion people are on the internet now and we're going to see another two billion join over the next five or 10 years. Almost 50% more people are going to join the internet. The size of the marketplace of people you can serve is unbelievable. But you have to be able to get the skills and you got to get yourself to execute. A lot of people, as you said, get addicted to just the learning experience, which is the aha moments, like, "Oh my God, I understand that. That makes sense. Oh, I can change the world with that." But you know, I was very lucky, Jim Rowan was my original teacher, the personal development speaker. Some of your listeners probably know his name. He's been passed away for some time, but he used to always say, "Tony, don't let your learning lead to knowledge and become a fool." He said, "Let your learning lead to action." And he'd tell you to become wealthy. And to him, wealthy wasn't just money. It was like an extraordinary life. It was living life on your terms. It was life that was full of joy and happiness and fulfillment and meaning and economic freedom. And I think that's what we're really looking to do with people in this challenge, is show them the tools to execute. Yes, you can have the excitement of learning all this stuff and there's no charge for the fricking thing. It's these challenges, my last one I'm going to do this year. I did two this year. But I wanted to do it with my friends because I wanted people to have a vehicle. A lot of people don't have that first Artha. They don't have a vehicle for prosperity and security. And they're looking at a world where the world's changed, it's upside down and it's not going to go back to exactly how it was. Some things will return, obviously. But a lot of them aren't. And so, your job is to figure out, "What am I going to do now?" And so, where are you going to figure that out? So, we decided to bring the best people we know together to show you and show you how to use technology to do things in minutes. When I started out in this business, I mean, it took months to pull off. But literally the technology can do things for you today, as we all know. And so, I'm very excited about we're going to be able to offer people. But in a few days, they're not just going to have more knowledge and excitement, they're going to have perhaps a business or at least the beginnings of a business. And maybe even be online starting that out all in the few days of the challenge. So, that's the difference I think we're really focused on here, is making sure that... I always tell people, knowledge is not power. Knowledge is potential power. Execution beats and trumps knowledge every day of the week. That's our goal, is to get people to really each day, make some small actions, so by the end of the challenge, they're really in a place of having their business, or if they had a business, taking it to another level. Russell: Yeah. Well, I'm excited for the challenge. I'm going to be flying out to Phoenix and hanging out with you and Dean and everybody for one of the days. Tony: Looking forward to that. Russell: And I'm actually bringing my twin boys. My twin boys are 15 years old and I'm trying to show them how to control their future. So, they're going to come and sit there and experience it. And then, we're actually going to go out afterwards with some friends and we're going to go and feed the homeless and spend some time, and just showing them some really cool experiences after the challenge. So, I'm excited for it because I'll be participating in it as a student, and also as a one of the teachers as well. Tony: I just want to say something about you too, Russell, to your audience. You know, a lot of people virtual saying, "I'm going to go feed somebody," but you do this all the time, just like I do. It's not like something you do and then tell people you're doing it. You're just really doing it. And I love that you share it. Same reason I used to never share what I did in this area. But then I start realizing it inspires people to consider something new. And we're not doing it because we're just such good people. We're doing it because it's so fulfilling to do something for someone you don't even know. It's people don't understand what that does to you, to just do what's right. It doesn't have to be 24 hours a day. And especially doing it with your kids so they get addicted to it at an early age. I really honor you for that. Russell: Oh, thanks. I'm excited. It's going to be a fun experience. It's going to be a new experience for them. I think it's going to be awesome. Well, for those who are listening, if you're watching the video, there will probably be a link down below. But if you're listening, the sign up link to go sign up for the challenge, if you go to takethechallenge.com, that's where you can go sign up for the challenge through our link. And we've got a bunch of really cool bonuses and stuff for everybody who gets involved and hangs out. But that's where everything will be at, at takethechallenge.com. And if you do that, you have a chance to hang out with Tony and me and Dean and Jenna. And I don't even know. You have some amazing speakers that are part of this, people that only Tony could bring into the world, nobody else would say yes to be part of this. He's got some amazing people who he has a chance to come and hang out with and participate and learn how to start your own business. How to start going from this, from a growth mindset to contribution. "How do I create a business that serves other people?" I think I never understood that was what business was really about until honestly, probably the last seven or eight years since I started running ClickFunnels, and I seen, when you create a business and you help other people, that contribution, you see how people's lives are changed. I'm not talking about my own. I'm talking about people who've used ClickFunnels. You know, one of my favorite success stories inside of our ClickFunnels community is a couple named Brandon and Kaelin Poulin. And they were young, 22, 23-year-old couple when they came into our world, and she's really good at losing weight. And she took her knowledge and her experience, and now they've helped over a million women to lose weight. Tony: Wow. Russell: They've built a huge company that's 70, 80 employees now. And they're changing the lives of so many people and it's one person, one person taking their knowledge, turning it into something they can contribute. And it literally, the ripple effect of that is huge. You look at a million women, that's amazing, but those women have families and kids and communities they serve. And that ripple effects keeps going out. And that's just one person. And so, you never know where it's going to turn until you take that knowledge and turn it to something amazing. Tony: You think about where we are today, because of technology you can do that so fast. Try doing that 20 years ago. Trust me, it was a very different process. So, the possibility of that kind of impact is there. So, it all comes down to having an orientation that realizes that the only way to get wealthy is do more for other people than anybody else is doing, and do it consistently. And of course, if you add that much value, you'll have value that's added to you as well. But learning how to do that quickly, efficiently, step-by-step, that's what this challenge course is about. So, we look forward to seeing you guys there. Russell: That's awesome. Well, thank you, Tony. Thank you everybody. Again, go to takethechallenge.com, get signed up and we'll see you guys live here in a couple of days. So, thanks Tony. I appreciate you. Tony: Thank you, buddy.

You've probably heard the quote by Jim Rowan that says, “we become most like the five people we spend the most time with”. If that is true, then it's important that we are intentional with choosing those five people, right?  Absolutely. But you still might be wondering, why? Well, because as much as we'd like to think we are, we aren't super human or robots. We are imperfectly susceptible to bouts of doubt and self sabotage. It's normal and entrepreneurship, especially online entrepreneurship can be super lonely and isolating. We need those people around us that we can learn from, grow with, receive support from, and also those that will  hold us accountable.  In this episode I'm sharing with you how to build your success circle to level up your business. Ready? Okay, let's get started.  Show Links: Chris Hogan Book a free Breakthrough Call Join the Unstoppable Action-Taking Entrepreneur Community   Show Takeaways:  The five things you need when you're building a business and creating the life of your dreams The four people we need  in our corner to create a successful business  Tips to find your people The first step you can take to create your own success circle 

If you're struggling with difficult times, as most of us are; this is one tool I learned from Tony that's been helping me a ton. Hit me up on IG! @russellbrunson Text Me! 208-231-3797 Join my newsletter at marketingsecrets.com ---Transcript--- What's up, everybody. This is Russell Brunson. Welcome back to The Marketing Secrets podcast. Today, I want to go a little Tony Robbins on you if you're okay with that. We've been dealing with some hard things and something I learned from Tony about, man, eight or nine years ago has helped me and I want to share with you guys as well. All right. So I'm not going to go to specifics, but I think everybody, especially in the last year, has gone through hard things, challenges, things that are frustrating. Things don't make sense. Things make you angry, things that make you sad. And it's hard. Anyway, I think for the most part, most of the stuff I talk about is the fun stuff and the exciting things. And I think that maybe the positives and the negatives of social media and all the things we do is that usually we share a highlight reel, which hopefully inspires people and things like that. But there's also the other side we don't talk about as often, but it's there. And we've had a lot of, I think like everybody, a lot of ups and downs, especially over the last 12 months or so, but we recently had one that's been the toughest by far. Again, I'm not going to talk about the details at all, but as my family, I've been kind of navigating this and going through it. The one thing that keeps coming back to me is it's interesting. It's this thing that I learned from Tony Robbins very first time I went to UPW. So I didn't know how long ago it was. It was over 10, maybe 12, probably 12 years ago. Dang. Anyway, so that the time I was at UPW was actually, it was right after Jim Rowan had just passed away, which was interesting. And Jim Rowan was Tony Robbins' first mentor and he passed away and the event was like three days later. And so we're at this event and of course, Tony starts talking about his mentor who just passed away. And he talks about how obviously how sad it was for them. And then he started talking about this concept and he expounded on it at other events I went to. He talked about the meaning that we attach to things. And it was interesting because so many of us experienced the same things, right. But the meaning that we attach to things is how we end up feeling and how we cope with things. Right? And so, for example, he said, when Jim Rowan first passed away, his first year, the first initial news and your mind automatically attaches a meaning to it, right? Here's the news, boom, here's the meaning and the whatever meaning is attached to it, that's how you feel about situations. He said, by default, the meaning he got was like, "Oh my gosh, my mentor died. This is so sad. Like I wish I could have talked to him. I wish..." And all these things. Right. And this was meaning is that this thing is so sad and so hard. And it's because of it, it was hard. He's like, for the first couple of days, I struggled, I was really struggling, but he's like, as I stopped and I was able to sit back, I started noticing like, what was the meaning that I put to this? Like the, his death and like the meeting was man, I wasn't ready for him to go. You know, it was too early. all these things like, that was the meeting that my, that my brain by default attaches. And because I was able to step away and become conscious of meaning that attached. I was able to think about well, what meaning would I like to attach to this event? I can change the meaning. And so he sat back and he said, "I'm going to change the meaning." And instead of saying, "This is such a horrible thing. I'm like going to change the meaning. It means like, man, I'm so grateful for the time I had with him. I'm so grateful things I learned from him, such an amazing man." And he lived such a great life, like how amazing it was. And so he shifted the meeting. "When I shifted the meaning, like the feeling was different. And I went from being sad to being like, man, this is such a, I was so grateful for this person." And again this is just a tiny little shift, but so powerful. And as I've been experiencing dealing with things over the last little while, I've been trying to be more conscious of what things in my brain... What's the meaning that my brain attaches by default when an experience happens. And typically when it's a sad or a tragic or a hard experience, your brain defaults to like the worst thing, right. Boom, with slapping that label on, slapping that meaning. And if you can learn ow, to step back from the initial, what your brain quickly labels something on, you can shift things, right? Like for example, someone walks up to you and they slap you in the face. Like the meeting is going to attach like this person just slapped me. I'm going to slap them back and boom. And all of a sudden, like the scuffle happens, right. But if this is a slap in the face, you stop, you like, what's the meaning? Why did they do that? What's the purpose of being like, "Oh my gosh, the person slapped me because they thought that... Whatever." And it's like, you come back. No, no, wait, let me explain and you can diffuse the situation. You can change it by shifting the meaning that you're attaching to it. And something that Tony talked about later, it was a date with destiny, he talked about becoming a master meaning maker. So what's the meaning you're going to attach, like making the meaning. And so you start dissociating yourself from like the thing that your brain immediately attaches and saying, "Okay, experience happens. It's stopping." What's the meaning that you choose to apply to this situation, this event that just happened. Right? And now you apply different meaning. And it's like, "Oh." And I know for me, like man, especially social media and all social media triggers all of us, right. Where you see something, you see somebody post something and all the triggers start happening and you start firing your brain. You want to like, duh, unleash your wrath upon them in the comments. And what I've been trying to do really quickly is stop and looking and saying, "Okay, I'm going to assume that this person has really good intentions when they're posting. I may not agree with it but I do agree that most people do things out of good intentions, even if I feel they're misguided or whatever, but they have good intentions." Right? I believe politically, people on the left and the right and in the middle and all sorts of all that they say, everyone's acting out of good intentions. They're all doing what they think is right. Even though I think some people are completely wrong, it doesn't matter. They think I'm completely wrong. Right. And so it's like when they post something, I have the meaning of like, "Oh, they're evil, they're bad." Like that's the initial default that has come back saying, "Wait, wait." Instead, what if I attach the meaning that person has the good intentions. And I may not agree with them, but they're doing the best based on what they think is right. Right. And then we see, it's like how people parent, how people vote, how people, all these things. And it's tough because we want to fight. We want to be right. What I've been trying to do a step back and not default comment, not default fight back, but instead come back, say, okay, the meaning attached to that person's comment, it's not that they're dumb or they're wrong or they're whatever. It's just like, that person thinks that they're doing what's best for them. They have good intentions. I love them for the fact that they're doing their best based on the knowledge they have. And it's hard. I'm going to tell you, it's hard. I'm sure all you guys struggle with that. But for me, it's what I'm trying to do for a lot of reasons. One is it's keeping my sanity on somethings. Number two, it's helping me to be happier through these hard times. Right. Something tragic and horrible happens, it's okay, there's different meanings we can attach to this. It's not fair. It's why did it have to happen? Why did we... All these things or can make man what's the blessing, what's the shift? What's the thing we can change. And so I know it's not an easy thing. This is not something that's going to be like, Oh cool. I'll just start applying different meetings by default. But I do promise you that in most situations, our brains will slap the worst possible meaning on every situation. And if we can look at that and stop and pause and become conscious of it and step back and say, "Okay, I'm going to choose a different meaning. This is the meaning I'm going to attach instead." Is that this person confused, they slapped me because they didn't know who I was. They thought I was the wrong person, or they didn't understand the situation. Let me step back instead of punching them back and escalating this thing into a blood bath, which is actually fun. I'm all for fighting, but... I'm just kidding. Instead is come back and say, "Well, okay, they attached the wrong me. That's why they did this thing. Let me try to help them understand." I didn't, and coming back, we have an argument, I wasn't trying to be rude. This is the meaning that I attach to this and this is the reason, and this is why. Anyway, I hope that helps. I'll share this with my mom this last week. So obviously there's this whole, in the COVID situation, there's all these things, the vaccines. And my mom and I have very differing opinions on the vaccine and what you should do and what you should not do. And I'm not going to get political or talk like ... It's up to everybody individually, do your own research and figure out what's right for you. Right. But my mom and I definitely have different opinions on it. And she's very strong at one side, I'm very strong in the other side. And so we had this conversation and, in a spot where I wanted to get defensive and I wanted to try to point out my point of view and, try to prove through all my facts and all the logic and reasoning I have. I'm sure she wanted to do the same thing. When she told me and I was able to understand, she's doing this based on what she thinks is best for her and her best intentions. And I have to let her. I have to respect that. That's her decisions. It's not my decisions. And if I want her to love and respect my decisions, I need to respect hers. And so it was able to turn something that had probably a conversation that would have turned heated, frustrated, and probably burned some bridges for awhile into something where it's like, "Look, I love you and respect you, and I'm going to let you do what you feel is best. I'm going to do what I feel is best. And we can still love each other, respect each other." And the meaning is not like, "Oh, this person's dumb or they're wrong." Or they're whatever you want it by default want to attach to the situation, which makes me want to come fight and, and argue and all sorts of stuff. It shifted back to like, no, instead of that, the meaning is going to attach that this is what they feel is best for them. And I love them and I want them... And maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. Maybe I'm not wrong. I don't think I'm wrong, but it's their opinion. It's what they think is best for them. And so I'm going to love them and respect them for that and support them and just pray for them. And that's kind of it. So, anyway, I know this is a little different podcast episode, but I just wanted to give you guys that tool because something that's been helping me a lot, especially the last week or so. And yeah, it's just so as we're navigating these difficult times, any tools we can use help and learning about meaning and how to create your own, becoming a master of creating your own meanings, I learned from Tony a decade ago now, something that I'm using more and more, and it's been super helpful for me. So I hope that helps. Remember that your brain is going to slap a meaning on it. By default, it's going to be the worst possible one that's going to cause you to want to fight or flight or whatever that thing is. It's like your job to consciously stop and pick the meaning, pick the meaning that serves you the most, not the one that's going to cause the most turmoil in your life. And when you shift the meaning, it's just shifts the energy, it shifts the focus, and it can change your destiny. So hope it helps you guys. I appreciate you all. Thanks for listening. If you haven't studied everything Tony's ever put out, please do it. It'll make you better. It'll make you happier. It'll make life so much more full. I promise you, it has been for me. I'm grateful for him and his teachings. And that said appreciate you guys and good luck learning how to attach your own meanings to things. Thanks again. We'll talk soon. Hey, this is Russell again and earlier today I recorded the podcast about meaning and I just been thinking a lot about that over the last little bit. And just wanted to jump back in real quick and just add a couple more thoughts just for those who may not, maybe it didn't connect with yet because I wasn't very good at giving examples. I'm thinking more about, like some examples. I think about meaning in my life that I attach. For example, when my kids do something on my attach, like, "Oh, like I'm a bad dad because of that." Or my kids are lazy or all these different things we may attach, and a lot of times we beat ourselves up or beat other people up because we're attaching these meanings to different experiences and things that are happening. When instead of saying again, "Oh, I'm a bad dad." It's like, Oh, my kids are just, they have a lot of energy or I need to, how do I better explain this to them so they understand that importance of it or whatever that thing might be. Right. It's just shifting that, that meaning away from a lot of times the blame on us or blame on other people or opinions or judgments on other people to have more love and respect and understanding that everybody's kind of trying their best. And so I just want to kind of add that in there. I was thinking also I shared the conversation a little bit with my mom and I. And it's interesting because on her side, she's sharing me her thoughts and she's so emotional because she's scared for me because of my decisions. And I'm very scared for her because of her decisions. And so we have the same underlining fear for each other. Yet, we have the opposite beliefs on the topic. And so it's tough. And it's hard when both people are trying to do the right thing. Right. And so coming back and when the meaning becomes like hey this person really loves me and they really care, and this is their choices and that's what they feel is right. And I have to respect them. And I love them for that. I'm just like, I'm hoping that they will do the same thing for me. It's just shifting those meanings. So anyway, I just want to kind of add that in there for anybody who's trying to make it more real for themselves and think about it. Think about the times in your life, when you feel guilty, I'm a bad mom, I'm a bad dad. I'm a bad boss. I'm a bad employee. I'm a bad worker. I'm, all the guilt that we take on ourselves because we all do it and shifting that meaning, it's something different. So anyway, there's my addendum to the end of the podcast. I hope that helps shed a little bit more light. Anyway. Thanks for listening. Appreciate you all and we'll talk soon.

Exactly What To Say - Building Your Public Speaking Business James Taylor interviews Phil M. Jones and they talk about exactly what to say to build your public speaking business. In today's episode Phil M. Jones talks about Building Your Public Speaking Business. What we cover: Building the base of your public speaking business The 6/6/6 rule The one phrase you need to sell yourself as a public speaker Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl067-exactly-what-to-say-building-your-public-speaking-business/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there's James Taylor. I'm delighted today to be joined by Phil M. Jones. Phil Jones has made it his life's work to demystify the sales process reframe what it means to sell, and help his audience to learn new skills and power, confidence, overcome fears, and instantaneously impact bottom line results. Author of six international best selling books and the youngest ever winner of coveted British excellence in sales and marketing award. Phil is currently one of the most in demand speakers and advisors to companies worldwide. It's my great pleasure to have Phil join us today. So welcome Phil. Phil M. Jones Great to be here. James. Thanks for inviting me on. James Taylor So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now. Phil M. Jones Oh, what's going on in my world? Like always, my world is chaotic and busy in an organized mess of travel quandaries and, and client demands and different types of audiences in different ways. So I'm forever putting my hat on saying what group of people is it that I'm serving today? So I've just just come off the run of of six weeks worth of an abundance of different types of events across the world in different ways. So what's happening for me right now, today Here's the first day I get to breathe in a little while. So I'm kind of excited about that. James Taylor Now, I'd love to know your journey into speaking because I was looking very early on in your life. You've also had a very strong, entrepreneurial, bent to what you do as well, I think I saw that you by the age of 15, you're actually earning more than your teachers school, because you hear out some friends now. So tell us that that journey from from budding entrepreneur at school into what you do today is really known as a keynote, keynote speaker and author and trainer. Phil M. Jones Yeah, I mean, I started in business from a very young age. So I wanted to make some extra money to better get some of the things that my parents decided they didn't want to buy for me. So I started a little cleaning business at the age of 14, like we realized there by the age of 15. I was kind of not going to school as often as I should. And I remember getting invited in by my school teachers questioning my attendance. And I responded to those guys with the questions like how much money are you making, and they refused to tell me at the time but I was making more money. than most of my school teachers by my 15th birthday. And I continued like on an entrepreneurial journey through my teens still built studies around my businesses. So I still took school pretty seriously. But I viewed them as quizzes and puzzles that was a was a fun thing for me is that I had to kind of get these these puzzles dealt with in the most efficient period of time. And at the age of 18, I had a dilemma, big university opportunity in front of me to go to one of the best schools back in the UK. I didn't want to go and I became the youngest ever sales manager for business called Debenhams department stores that you'll know from the UK. And I guess even from my early kind of corporate days, I had a speaking inspired background even though I didn't know that's what it was at the time. So I did a lot of store openings, a lot of trainings towards store openings in those retail world. So I guess my first gigs was me at 18 years of age stop stood at the top of escalators in a new department store environment, addressing an audience full of employees, getting them inspired about what we're going to go on and achieve over the next six weeks and then keeping that updated. So that got me very, very comfortable. But also going through that environment of being a very aspirational employee in a leadership role is we'd have a lot of leadership conferences, we'd have a lot of guest speakers coming together to talk to our audiences and I thought one day I'd love to be able to do that. Now I continue through a number of a number of kind of things with my career where I became a store manager sales training consultant for DFS furniture group, went from there to become head of retail at Birmingham City Football Club. And from there to do the same at Leicester City Football Club with Mila Mandarin, then I built a big property business, property business was were quite a lot of our clients through seminars. So again, that always had me stood in front of rooms full of people and in fact, every one of my entrepreneurial career choices or corporate lead career choices always have me speaking to a roomful of people. My property, business and a bump in 2008 I'm sure some people might look to be able to have some memory towards that too. And we had a great business on a Monday. By Friday, we had a product we couldn't give away. So wondering what I was going to do next, I was being invited by business networking groups to say, can you come and help some of these local business owners? through some of these recessionary times by delivering back some sales skills, I was at quite a strong voice in those small business environments, of offering advice and guidance. And I was delivering those education slots for free didn't think about it being a speaking career. And then I thought, well, there were just so many people in this world are good at a thing, but don't know how to acquire customers or grow that business so they can get to really be good at the thing. So I wrote a one day sales training course. And I started to invite people from that small business environment to my one day program. And that was, yeah, back into 2008. So almost 10 years ago, and six people became 12 people became 20 people became 30 people became Can you come deliver this to my team became me then speaking externally to sell places on my workshops. So I'd speak at larger events for without fee to be able to drive people towards my workshop that then became a coaching business, then became a consulting business. Then I wrote my first book in 2012. And then I went on the road internationally delivering more of what we would now call speeches. But my business here today is I deliver somewhere in the region of 100 paid presentations a year takes me all around the world, written six best selling books. And I do anything from a from a 12 minute keynote up to a three day program with audiences and then have somewhere like 30 different revenue streams in my business around that to the that have now become remarkably fun, but it's been a it's been a beautifully organic journey driven by ambition, aspiration, and a simple belief that if somebody else can do it, can somebody else be me? James Taylor Well, I've always looked at what a great journey well, fascinating journey through all those everything. Obviously, sales is Been that has been the kind of golden thread that's kind of gone through a lot of that as well. And I'm wondering, like, as you were kind of going, you mentioned, almost 10 different types of presenting. So there was the more kind of workshop training style, then there was more platform selling style, where you're giving a talk for free in order to get people to come to your workshop or consulting. And then there's more keynote speaking. So which I can know you for for today, who are your mentors, because they're all slightly different flavors. And and they require slightly different skills I would imagine. Phil M. Jones Yeah, it is hard to define specific mentors if I if I'm to look, early days, I was always hugely inspired by Guy new call Peter Lee and Peter Lee was somebody I collaborated with and work with and was taught by when I was part of a management training program back in, in the furniture days, maybe 1520 years ago, and he was the first guy who bought the Dale Carnegie programs to the UK. So I got to study Dale Carnegie's work quite in depth for that and I loved the way that Peter would engage Ah, and would facilitate within an audience and had both the gravitas of a powerful speaker, but also had the charm of, you know, the guy in the pub that would be able to have a conversation. And quite often when you say these audience didn't matter how many people were in it, you felt like he was talking just to you. So I love that. There's also a guy in the UK called Richard Denny. Richard Denny is kind of like the godfather of professional speaking when it comes to UK background. And I remember being in a conference that Richard delivered and I may have been 17 years of age at the time, and I thought that guy's cool. And I got to know Richard quite well through the years and got to learn a little from him. And then on the marketing side of the business, and we might link into this shortly is is a guy called Peter Thompson. So Peter Thompson is somebody who's been around a long, long time. When we then look towards role models outside of of those three, there's two other categories I would consider. One is is the people that have mentored me from a distance, so I might not have had personal conversation with them but I've studied and and and then model their behavior. So that could be as much as as a Jim Rowan. And but it could also be the fact that I'd stick myself in the audience as often as I possibly can about the people performing to say, what would I like about that? What worked well? Where can I get some role modeling from other people's efforts, and then also stand up comedians. So I've got like an abundance of stand up comedians, because I think in the world of professional speaking, stand up comedy is about as tough as it gets. So to look towards that, to to push the envelope was huge. And then the flip side of all of this role model stuff is all the negative role models. James Taylor So you basically look at them and say, This is not why I want to become not the kind of Correct, Phil M. Jones correct and I think this is important to look towards those groups of people as it is towards those that you have aspiration towards. Because there are hundreds of ways you can build a business as a professional speaker hundreds, and it's very easy, particularly in today's marketplace where information is so easily and readily available. That what you do is that you think you have to be all things to all people that you that you think, well, if somebody else is successful, I need to be more like that. And we end up then seeing copycat speakers. And the trouble with that is you can't be what you're not. It's like an impossibility. You can take influence from other people. But if you're trying to be what you're not, then what happens is one that you get found out or you feel bad, because you don't feel like you're being you and what it is you're doing, but you've built a reputation for being something you're not and you can't break out of that shell. So a level of authenticity is important, but you need to discover that through looking at what it is that other people do. I'll take a piece of that. I'll try it on for a while. And I view it like, like, if you went out shopping for a day, you might have an idea of what you would like but until you put something on, and you take it for a walk or you look at yourself back in the mirror with it. You don't decide whether it's something you like or not. So, people early on in their career, I think they should they should just soak themselves up. In the world, and learn it, learn the different business models. And the business models are as important as the as the presentations themselves. Because without a business model that supports your ability to get to speak regularly, then the game gets over real quick. James Taylor What do you use? I mean, on this summit, we've got there was a thing I was a little bit concerned about when I'm interviewing so many different speakers and they have such different role, different business models and what they're doing. Yeah, was that for the for the someone that's watching this, just now they can feel a bit discombobulated, and they can feel that, oh, that's what I want to do. Any advice that you would give in terms of helping the speaker that's watching this, or the aspiring speaker that's watching this, to have some kind of compass to kind of help them guide themselves so they can know? Those things are not, you know, they're interesting, but I don't necessarily want to want to do Phil M. Jones in order to be able to successfully speak you need a number of audiences and then clients that would pay to put you in front of those audiences. What often people don't do is put themselves in one singular box. When it comes to winning business, you can't aim at just one thing any one period of time because what you need is you need some business that will feed your family on Friday. You need some business that can sustain you to be able to live for a year and then you need something to be able to chase. I'm a big believer that the in the world of sales, you cannot manage any more than 18 prospects at any one period of time. And having trained over 2 million people, I've still found that same thing to be true 18 prospects is the most that you could ever have. So if you can get yourself laser focused on 18 prospects, you can become what I call devilishly productive. And the reason I call it devilishly productive is because we split that magic a team into groups of six, six and six. My advice would be at any given period of time when you're looking at what kind of speaking business you want to build is give yourself three different categories of types of events or types of things that you might want to do. So say for example, it might be where the low hanging fruit is at that bottom end. Is this is what I have within arm's reach right now this is where I have some wind at my back. This might be the industry that you've grown out of this might be the geographic location of where you based it might be something you deliver online because you've already built an audience, low hanging fruit, which was when with easy reach that you can get a yes to relatively quickly put some money on the table for Friday. For me at the early stage of my business, that was my one day sales workshop. always working six prospects towards my one day sales workshop. What did I really want to do? Well, when I first started, I wanted corporate training events that could give me 40 5060 people in the room, pay me a handsome fee to be able to deliver a half day or a full day workshop. What that would then be is a slightly longer pipeline but always be working six prospects there. And then my dream gigs at that point in time when I was first starting was i'd love the keynote the main stage, the 45 minute keynote the 60 minute the 90 minute the big fee, everybody like loves you. You love them. You sell a load of books every Things beautiful then you disappear again for the next day. So always be working six prospects in those camps. What then happened though was is as your career progresses, is what was then my low hanging fruit now becomes something we don't do anymore things then start to be able to shift through that moment. So always what you're looking for is to say, what is going to feed my family right now? What is going to give me some sustenance to mean that I can have peace of mind and reassurance and then what am I shooting at big time. So we're playing three different business models that potentially feed each other at the same time. And then try those three on if you then find something that doesn't work, switch one out, play with something else but three target markets, three different types of businesses progressive step two business model, and you'll find what you love. This is the most the best job in the world and the worst job in the world. If you're not with your people, if you're not serving audiences that serve you back, if you are putting yourself into a situation Where your travel schedule is overwhelming your life, then it takes over your ability to better enjoy what you do on the platform. James Taylor So wondering that terms as you as you have been building that, and now where you are in your own career, thinking about the kind of the sustainability. So moving out of the, I just need to get speaking gigs, where it was workshops, public workshops, corporate, you're now at a stage in your career, where you're making different types of decisions. And wondering the weather. Let's think like the recurring type of models start to come into that. So going up and keynotes is amazing. But it's like a little bit like being the kind of rock star going to a gig and you're doing those shows, and that's great, or being that comedian going doing that live tour. But when you're not on the road, there's maybe nothing happening. So how do you start to think about like building in sustainability and things that those revenue streams that could be coming in when you don't necessarily have to be on the road? Phil M. Jones Yeah, and I think that's what you're always looking at in that middle group of six people that you're working with. different things for different people. And if I gave a child a cupcake, what is the only part of the cupcake but they would like to eat James Taylor that nice cherry sitting on the top there. Phil M. Jones They want the cherry on the top of the frosting and sprinkles but they don't want the cake itself. They want all the stuff that's on top of the cake. Now most speakers are the same. What they want is they want the cherry they want the frosting, they want the sprinkles on all the good stuff. Trouble is you can't live on that sweet tooth piece alone, we needed some substitutes. So I encourage anybody looking to build a speaking business to go build the base of the cupcake first. The way I look to do that is firstly understand what your what your livelihood personal expenses are, whether it's 3000 a month, 5000 a month, 10,000 a month, 15,000 a month, whatever it might be, build a sustainable business model in that place that says my bills are covered, I can live my life. from that position. You can have a down sell and upsell from that position. So for me right now my author business sustains my life. I make it recurring revenue based revenue from my books and the work we've done to mean that I can pay for everything we have in our life. And it doesn't leave me a comfy comfy life. But I don't have to worry about paying a single bill based on the author business that we built. Historically, that used to be a coaching business. Historically, that used to be a retained number of training events like a 20 gig contract with one client that the paid me out. And it's also been recurring revenues off online coaching programs too. But I've always had something in that space that says, I've got something working here that pays for everything, and I focus on that but it's not sexy. What that means though, is then when I get a hifi speaking gig come in. It feels like it should feel it feels like Rockstar money because it's on top of what I need if I had to take that Rockstar money and then use it to pay my bills this month. I don't feel like the rock star should feel like it feels a little incongruent with that rock star. So it's worth building the base to give you the feeling of saying that the good stuff is the good stuff. Now the down sell there also could then be the good stuff. So then means you could start to look at it and say well when I do these workshops or these training events, what can I do to get extras? I was at an event yesterday in Rochester, New York, it was a small group full of people it was like 35 people. My down sell for fun was that we did a book for everybody in the room. Like 35 $15 now I don't care and the fact that I get big six figure fees and things on occasions for contracts, I still love walking out with 500 bucks extra on the back of an event. I still love it. It's like a buzz. But we can then look at say how do we commercial be commercial? As we build a business but getting your speaking business right means that you should try on different models but always be working three always work the base of the cupcake then you enjoy the sprinkles love that love James Taylor that analogy. And what's your cause your background, you have such a strong background in the sales piece. I wonder what advice you would give To the speakers out there when it comes to, I mean, actually, I see sales. But one of the things I've noticed about you is actually how brilliant your branding is. And so that's kind of going but I didn't, I class can, like marketing moving into sales in this kind of place in between. But I can look at your book, I can look at your website from standing at a distance. And I know it's you. Right? And because there's a look at some feel it pulled, some people may not appeal to others, but I'm guessing for your target audiences. It's this the thing that connects and it's very it's kind of a classy kind of thing. Does it have a black background with orange writing, it's kind of feels like New York Times there's a there's a substitute like a substantive there. So I'm interested to know a little bit the branding piece of what you do, how much you kind of thinking about that for what you do, but also how the the any advice you would give to speak as in terms of the sales especially as they starting to just be speaking more and they're getting more and more band coming in and how to do those inquiries? Phil M. Jones Well, let's do the two things is is to develop the piece of the brand. It takes forever of trial and error like like you. I mean in this game 10 years right now we are on website iteration number 23. We, you know, I rewrite my copy. I have a recurring piece in my schedule every six weeks or a story look at things seasonal needs to tweak what needs to change and if your career is doing this, your BIOS out a day every three months. Right and so things need to continue to look to change. What you do want to look at though in terms of setting your stall out is the biggest thing that a potential buyer is thinking when they're looking towards booking somebody it's not Will you be brilliant? It's Will you not suck if this risk mitigation, correct is is what they're looking at is to saying you know, if I'm putting my reputation on the line, is my reputation potentially going to be tarnished by this not is my reputation going be amplified by this. So what they want is anything that can give them some confidence that you've done this before and people like them have had a pleasant experience in the past. This means getting real authentic testimonials. This means getting great photography. One of the reasons that my branding materials look so good is that we've been photographing and recording every event since I first started and I've been putting my own people in to be able to do that most of the time. video content is key. So don't think you have to have all of these things in the first instance But no, it's your quest to get them and continually be on the quest of being able to make it better. And model off somebody if you need to write is find somebody that you quite like this stuff and you draw influence from it and say how do I make my stuff at the same but the brand is key and build it out on everything you know, business card, email signature, your thank you cards that then follow up towards other people. If you're running your own events, what do your banners look like in the room? What are the pens look like that your your delegates Using what are the pads look like that they're working on? We see we control that entire process. And I have done since my very first workshop to create an experience that says, This guy looks like he's done this 100 times before even my first workshop, we look like a giant organization. But what did I spend? I spent a few hundred pounds on making you look like we've done that before. That's the goal of most of your branding. James Taylor And then when it goes like when I think about something like Debenhams, for example, they've always been very good at that the aim of a certain type of customer My wife is probably like the type of customer and and everything you go in has a certain kind of feel as a certain quote, you know, certain kind of quality. You can see it trends and it has obviously changed over the years. You can see it being replicated in their print their TV as they're online, you can stand a distance you can go into the store, there's all those little triggers that you get to see that it relates to that brand. Phil M. Jones Now when it comes to the sales piece, there's two things that I want everybody to think about is First things first, there are two questions that you need to know the answers to before you Entering into this world of professional speaking. And I think many people forget this because what they want to do is want to be a speaker, they can speak on anything to anybody about like almost any subject. That's where they think often. Two questions that people should know the answers to ahead of time is number one, who are the people that they serve. And the narrower that position is, the easier is to start going out hunting and looking for opportunities. And the second lowest questions is which problems do you solve for them? I'll share this super quick with an analogy is if you are looking to open a tin of beans, what would you be looking for to better help you on that quest? You know, not a Swiss Army knife. Yeah. I might. I might do a few in a pretty desperate thing. You take a Swiss Army knife. Yeah. But first thought is I want to open a tin of beans. I need a tin opener on open a can of beans. I want to count out right. That's what you're looking for. And the same thing is true when it comes to people looking for a speaker. So if you're a leadership speaker, well, there's 1000 leadership speakers in the world. If you're a leadership speaker that helps independent retailers and you're an independent retailer, it now becomes easy for me to pick you if you are a you know an innovation speaker, but you're an innovation speaker for the accountancy profession they can't see professional looking and so you get me what an audience is looking for to get the show me that you know me type vibe. So the more that you can say these are my people, the easier it becomes to find business and I know that's kind of counterintuitive, but when you're aiming everybody you're not the right fit for them and they're not the right fit for you. When you say I'm aiming here, we can find a perfect match a little bit easier. James Taylor Can you mention those those two the six six and six years so can would you advise the someone who's maybe just getting started to fitting say people that are already up and running with the speaking of those those those three buckets? would you advise that maybe it's the same same kind of problem that they're solving, but maybe do you choose different audiences or should you go that's that's maybe the way to do it. Phil M. Jones Yeah, yeah, the the problem that you solve is is, is really kind of straightforward. And the problem is, for example, the problem that I solve for my audiences, and I help them make more of their conversations count. But that's what I do for people. And I help them understand how the importance of the right words at the right time can drive the right kind of actions. Now, as my reputation is growing, that means that the breadth of audience can start to get wider because I get bookings, because I'm Phil Jones, not because of the problem that I solved. But it's taken 10 years to get to that point in time. I started saying I helped small independent business owners that didn't understand the sales process to understand how they could sell more effectively to try to have a recession. So that was the problem that I helped solve. That was a group of people, small, independent business owners that were looking to trade our recession. Well, I'm a small independent business owner, I'm looking to trade our recession, this guy could probably help but positioned myself as a sales trainer that think they didn't need it. sales training was what I delivered. But the people I helped in the program myself are two completely different things and see I changed the conversation. James Taylor Yeah. As my friend said, recently, you had something you have to hide the broccoli in the cake. So, so that I'm interested as you were kind of going your own journey, because I think this is one that maybe maybe platform speakers can struggle with when they can start to move out into the corporate world. So you were even that small business owner. It's It feels like more of a b2c type of relationship because they don't have the credit card. Phil M. Jones their money. James Taylor Yeah. How do you when you started moving, so you develop that market? And as you started moving into the more the corporate world, which is more of a b2b relationship, so it's in on invoice, let's say, and yeah, how did you did you? What did you have to change to make that make that move? Phil M. Jones The biggest commonality is more apparent than the differences. The commonality is, is you're in the people business. What starts to happen though, is that Firstly, you realize you're spending other people's money so instead of them investing money with you to mean that they might be able to send the kids on vacation this year. You're they're spending money with you to help And get that promotion. So so what happens is the motivation in the individual that's responsible for making the purchase changes, that's the only thing that changes, you're still helping people. The other difference is, you've got to be aware that the procurement process is sometimes different that you're going to wait 90 days on invoice or that you have to then have more rigid procedures in your place when it comes to having things like your insurances, your contracts, your just your procedures in place to say that I'm going to play your game when it comes to getting paid in terms of doing the work, what doesn't change that much, just how you pay gets James. James Taylor So you talking about this moving into the sales piece, as those speakers once they can identify, you know, who do they serve? What problems they're solving for people as well. Where does it need to go? Where does it need to go next on that Phil M. Jones we're going to find yourself in conversations with people and what we must firstly understand is what selling really is and selling is earning the right to make a recommendation. What selling isn't is is isn't embellishing a product or service with features or benefits hoping something's going to stick. The mistake here is what people do is that they were looking for is we're looking to get validation that the problem that we believe that they have is a problem that is true to them, and then find credibility towards the fact that we might be the people to fix it. Take for example, a typical inbound inquiry for speaker, typically inbound inquiry for speaker. Isn't the phone ringing. It's a web contact form or an email coming in. And that email typically asked the same two questions. Number one is are you available number two is what you see. That's the typical kind of doesn't matter how it's flowered out. That's the typical inquiry that comes in. We're going to know the answers to those questions. And Firstly, we don't actually know the need to know the answers to those questions. Because who's the person who's in control of every conversation? James Taylor It should be you as the as the because you don't have almost no have enough information at that point? Phil M. Jones Yeah, the person who's in control of every conversation is the person who's asking the questions. So what happens is when you get questions asked of you, if you want to gain control of that conversation, it isn't an answer that you need. What it is that you need is a question. Yeah. So the answer to the question isn't an answer at all is the question to the question. That's what we should be looking to better think about. Okay. So inquiry comes in and says, Are you available? What's your fee? What the typical response is, is yes, hell yes. I'm definitely available and what's your budget? That's what many people come back with, which is the worst thing we could do. Something every speaker needs to know for certain is their fee. What is your fee? Now I don't care what that number is. But you need to know that you have a thing or not, you're prepared to accept whatever you can get. What is it you place a value of your time in now you might get paid different numbers to that fee, but you've got to know at every given period of time, what your fears. I also don't want you necessarily to disclose this at this point in time inquiry. He comes in, what I would like to do is to respond to that inquiry using a different means of communication to the one in which the inquiry came in. So if the inquiry comes in via an email, my first response would be via telephone, I'd be calling them myself, because I want to be seen as demonstrably different to every other person that they have put a an application out towards. So I would respond, my words would be something along the lines of it's just a quick call. Why would I say it's just a quick call, because I don't want to get into the meat of the discussion right now. Thank you so much for your inquiry coming in. I've checked my schedule. And as I can see, right now, I do have some availability on that date. I'm happy to be able to place it on hold for you. But answer me this Just tell me what is it about me in my work that makes you think that I might be the right fit for this kind of event? James Taylor So I responded with a question what do they now do that providing more information to you as well and you're getting more nuance? Phil M. Jones Yeah, and I'm getting the whole backstory more often than not, they do my job for me. James Taylor So they start to almost tell you the things and you're sitting there, able to able to speak that but actually to speak This is what any good salesperson is doing. It kind of goes back to Dale Carnegie's, seek first to understand then be understood, Phil M. Jones same difference. And what we're doing is we're getting, we're getting some backstory on it. So I think it's remarkably important that we ask those kinds of questions of people. We can then go on to ask kind of ongoing questions. We can ask things like, so what's your experience of working with a paid professional speaker? James Taylor That's an interesting one, because that's, that's. And that's a very interesting one, because you're basically pulling it you mentioned earlier, they're just speaker's negative role models as well. So you're in their head, you're getting all the things that they really really dislike about working with speakers, Phil M. Jones I'm getting the whole thing but also just like the new ones, and I'm one of the world's leading experts when it comes to writing intelligent questions to avoid objections. It's like the thing that i doing any of my consulting work and I love it for fun. But that question there is what's your experience of working with pay professional speakers does a few things. Number one, it positions you as a paid professional speaker Yeah. The other thing is is you find out where you've been out with things in the past so they say things like well last year we booked someone so and we've had this person in the past etc, etc, etc. They want to have a conversation with you about money so you say well what have you paid your previous speakers? Now I get some form of benchmark if they choose to be able to tell me I haven't said what's your budget I've said What did you pay your previous speakers? What I can now say is I can say things while you're looking for this your speaker to be better or worse. They could say things well, hopefully better you could say well, would it be fair to say that you want it better than you've had before that it would make sense that you might need to pay a little more James Taylor you're having a very very different conversation there and and, and obviously, it was important that you switched modalities got switched mediums in terms of going from someone on email to going on the phone. I wonder about that question or that part there. Where you know, we hear more and more, maybe less on the CEOs but maybe on the on the event planners, maybe younger, they might you know, phone is not such a Big things. How do they feel when they get that call from you? Phil M. Jones More often than not, they feel great. I mean, I had one yesterday, right? So yesterday inquiry comes in via referral for a multi gig event across the US. Join email goes in, somebody might want to consider for the event is Phil Jones, response comes back. Thank you for the introduction. Phil, can you let us know some times that we might need to get together to have a conversation? What do I do? I pick up the phone. So I don't respond saying hey, sometimes meet my meet my assistant, Bonnie, I'll get something set up for you, etc. I respond with a phone call. Hey, Leah, it's Phil whenever an email dialog right now. I got 45 minutes before I go on stage in a second. And I thought I'd try and catch you right now without clogging up some future time. She says Well, that's great. Thanks for jumping on this. I wish more speakers would do this. Where am I in this negotiation. Now, James Taylor you're in a very strong position because you're set yourself apart once again, from all the other speakers that probably would just done an email response. Or unfortunately, we hear a lot of speakers that don't even respond as well. So you're, you're instantly at that top of that, that that line now, Phil M. Jones and I want the listeners in to understand something really important right now is there's nothing that I'm sharing today that will work with all of the people all the time. So it's not like oh, feel free to call and I try to call them and they didn't pick up or they didn't like it. That's a load of rubbish. It's this is stuff that works with more of the people more of the time, should you choose to apply it. So it's not for everybody. But what would happen if I didn't get to connect on that phone call? Well, I might shoot a quick email, I might do it deliberately from my phone. So it says sent from my iPhone on the bottom as opposed to with my six email signature. My response might be, hey, received your inquiry, just try to reach on the phone. Just so you know, I'm free between four and six this evening. And I'm going to be traveling to the airport on my way back from a gig it might be a great time for us to be able to connect, shoot me know if we can make that time work. So I'm moving out of that. Corporate piece and out of that scheduled formality rigidness and moving it towards a more friendly conversation and showing that I'm in on this too. And that they're going to have a conversation with the person as opposed to be pushed through the process. James Taylor And on that call, sometimes, if that email has come initially from let's say, not the final decision maker, let's say it's come from the persons organizing the conference. So you're calling back the person that has organized the conference, not as a decision maker, how are you? Are you are you trying to get onto that, get that decision maker then on the call after that, so that you can do that or you just happy to go with just the the person who is contacting you initially? Phil M. Jones Well, what you generally find in the speaking world is the decision maker is the person who's going to sign off on it, but that decision maker takes 95% of the influence over that decision from the person that you're speaking to. Okay, so, you know, they might not be signing off the purchase order or the check, etc. The event planner or the initial inquiry person is somebody who actually carries a huge amount of influence in that The minute I try to disregard the level of influence of that first person has and go over their head, I actually lose their support. So what I want to do is I want to train this person to have an effective conversation internally to mean that I'm the only choice. James Taylor So how do you do that? And when you're having one of the things that you want to ensure this person understands, and all that they're going to when they have that conversation with with their boss, then they can ensure that they're helping you in doing your job? Phil M. Jones Well, the things that I want to understand from them is not what they need to understand about me is I want to get them to have the confidence that I understand what they need. So what I'm looking at is, those series of questions again, is tell me what's your experience of working with a paid professional speaker in the past? So how many people you've got coming to the event? Is this the first time that you've done an event of this nature? What is the theme or the outcome that you're looking for? Tell me if somebody was also what could they deliver in this session for you right now that would mean that you would go away feeling them and Be proud of you choice. No, I'm asking series of questions that they get this other person to say, I understand your problem as well, if not better than you do. So there's no Let me tell you how freaking awesome I am. What there is, is let me discover and understand what it is you're looking for and see if that see if these fit is right. Now sometimes I go through this round of discovery with the client, and I'm like, I don't think I'm the right guy. Sounds to me, what you're looking for is somebody that's more like this. Would this be fair? Well, yeah, that's kind of what I'm looking for. All right, somebody you need to speak to is, yeah, would you welcome an introduction to somebody like that? Because I think they might be able to deliver your brief slightly better than I can. James Taylor So it's almost like what you're doing there is instead of going, this is me, I'm brilliant. Here's the problem. here's, here's, here's how I solve your problem. Here's how I deliver the solution. And then finally, you this your problem. You have basically flipped around the other side, you're focusing on one Your challenges, what's your problem? Finding out from then? Like, how has the waste of solute, solve that problem? Maybe not just the keynote, maybe there's other things that you can also be doing in terms of training and other stuff. And then finally, you're coming to yourself. Phil M. Jones It's got it's kind of flipped. And very rarely do I need to tell somebody about my ability to be able to train and deliver from the stage because they already knew that that's why they reached out to me in the first place. Yeah, that's we think about the way the world is right now. It's rare that somebody jumps into a conversation or reaches out to somebody or finds themselves considering a conversation with you, without them, having a look across your website, checking out your LinkedIn profile, watching a video or two. They understand that you've got something about you. What they're looking for is, is Do you understand the problem that we have? And do you feel that you've got the ability within your toolkit to go out and be able to do over deliver in this environment? Is that something you feel confident about? And I've learned to walk away from more opportunities recently. Then Then try and force myself into something that isn't right. And the busier you get, you start to learn so I probably have room in my schedule for around 50 keynotes a year that limitation is fun because it means what I could do is I could be on stage in the wrong gig delivering the wrong message to the wrong audience. And okay Am I got paid and they might have been like a solid performance or I could have took that same day that same moment and made a real difference with people that really have a need and a requirement for the problem I solve and I could have had a blast, the day would have passed regardless so James Taylor one of the things that helps you do that is kind of going back to what we spoke at right at the start is your belt that base so that you can you're having those conversations from a position of of confidence of strength and feeling you can you can walk away You don't have to be taking this if you're not the race speaker, they don't say I'm already speaking you may suggest someone else for example, but your if you didn't have that base, it might feel you might feel okay, just Yes. Phil M. Jones You have to Yeah, and I've been there too in the past but and that's what taught me the importance of the bass. So I you know, every year I want to start every year saying my bills are covered. And and you know, I do 20 gigs a year with the same client year in year out, that isn't my dream work. It isn't like me doing the thing that I love. I just quite like it. Like I quite like it. I'm really good at it and it delivers a result. It isn't me living my dream. But it is me getting a regular recurring revenue coming in every month teaching teaching, teaching teaching, which allows me the freedom to go find the things that make my heart sing to make those decisions. James Taylor So when when you when we don't have too much time this because I'm conscious of your time just now as well. And when we start to you get on the gig itself and you get there to the to the place other other things that you're looking to do, when you're actually there to ensure that you really over deliver on outside of just that the keynote, there are other things that you're enjoying that you want to try and do there, Phil M. Jones there's a few things that I do is number one is I always like to get to my venue the day before the event. Like it's not always possible. And I want to see the room before I close my eyes. sounds stupid. But if I've seen the space that I'm going to work in, then what I've got is I've got some familiarity to how I'm going to use that room, how I'm going to work that room, what potential constraints could exist to me, I want to get there early, I want to shake the hands of the AV crew. I also do something that almost no speakers do. But I think for me is absolutely essential. And every time I do it, I get further positive reinforcement. That's the right thing to do. It doesn't matter what time I'm speaking, whatever that audience have heard that day. Ahead of my speech is imperative to me. So if I'm on at 4pm, I'm in that room from 9am fly on the wall at the back listening to everything was delivered before me. Because my job is to serve that audience not to deliver my speech. The mistake could happen is that if I deliver something out of context, but don't tie it back to something That was said by somebody else earlier, don't link those examples. I could be in conflict when in fact, so I'm actually saying the same thing from a slightly different angle. Yeah. And that is disservice to my audience. So I do that without fail ahead of time. I also plan how I'm going to utilize the stage. What am I doing in terms of props, I come on and off the stage, you know that I kind of actively work in audio. That James Taylor was one of the things I really enjoyed about your I mean, there's last thing I enjoyed about hearing you and seeing you speak before but one of the things that I thought made a really big impact in the room was that you were you were moving around, you were having that and it feel much more interactive. And you you were going and spending time with an individual person in the room having that conversation. The whole room was then transfixed on you having that that conversation with that person. Phil M. Jones Yeah, so that requires prep, too. So what I might need to do is I might need to find the types of personalities in that room that if I'm going to pick on somebody individually, how do I get the right Love energy or vibe? Or do I see somebody as a as a strong influencer, particularly in a smaller room that I think will if I can sway that person and get engagement from them then I'll change the energy in the whole room. How am I going to map if I'm going to work through a set of tables or down some some rows and alleys etc? Where is my safe places to walk? Have I tested the microphone towards any potential feedback spots with speaker systems etc? What am I doing to be other than get back onto the stage because that could be Crikey embarrassing, like I jump off the stage, realizes no steps, and I've got to get back on elegantly in some way. And I I live in this fear of rip in the back of my trousers or pants, and that being the thing that I get remembered for so I I try and mitigate any any kind of risks there. And what I'm looking at is a really simple principle is that I always want to control my controllables there's so much stuff that you're at sea with so much stuff that you rely on your experience you rely on being able to be in the moment. And the more that you control your controllables in your performance, the more you can actually find freedom and enjoyment in the delivery of your performance. Because what you've done is you've anchored down everything you possibly could do to allow you to be able to bring your true brilliance in the moment. James Taylor So on that control your controllables wasn't your speaker bag, what is in that bag that you carry with you to all of your speaking engagements that you'd never, never leave home without, Phil M. Jones um, I have three slide clickers. Because I'm always fearful of one guy and wrong. Replacement batteries. I have two versions of every adapter that I could possibly ever need. If I need my slides to go on. I have photographs of my passport in case I ever lose it. I have multiple thumb drives with presentation decks on them as well as the things that I've sent across. I carry throat coat tea. I carry entertain the secret to be able to lubricate my throat sometimes if I'm struggling a little bit on the road I carry airborne or Baraka, you know like the vitamin things in order to be able to take care of my health when I travel what else is in my bag and extra extra charges I got this great little charger In fact I was gonna show it to you where it's like a portable pack that has multiple USBs in it as well and replaces the need to be able to put an outlet in the wall. So anything I can that I'm kind of gadget like, like mad it can save me save me time. In fact, I got this little thing as well I bought the other day this is kind of super cool. So this is like an outlet and then it's multiple USBs and things so if I want to work on a plane, instead of having like something plugged in somewhere I can plug this little thing in that doesn't fall out that then allows me to better plug multiple things in on my desk when I'm traveling and compression socks to make sure that I don't like lots of stuff to be able to make sure I'm still healthy on the road. Yeah, more Other than delivering the performance, thank you cards. And then I have a bag full of thank you cards, because there's always people I meet on the road. And I want to say thank you to. And I carry stamps for both of us in the UK with me at all given times to if I want to mail something to somebody. James Taylor And what about apps? Is there any particular apps, online tools, online resources, you find really useful for yourself as a speaker, Phil M. Jones I guess probably the biggest resource for me as a speaker outside of all the ones that you're going to hear from everybody else is I use an app called I talk. And I talk is a voice recording app that directly syncs up with Dropbox. And sometimes if I'm working on a new bit, or I'm playing with the idea of a new opening, or perhaps even that I want to take a recording of my own speech, then sometimes what I do is I I run I talk recording in my in my pocket, or I talk into ahead of time, and then what I've got is it is an audio file of my speech. Some of the things I can then do with that is if I deliver something that I really liked, but I didn't know what he was I've got the audio track to better go back to I'll then push that through rev calm. Yeah. And rev.com is a transcription service. There's lots of others out there. And I'll rip out the the transcription word dot play with that, dial it up. Now sometimes I'll get blog articles from there. Sometimes it's just for my own reference. And you'll know what it's like as a speaker. Sometimes you do something in the moment, and it's brilliant. But you can't remember what you did. James Taylor Yeah, yeah. Or there may be as a camera sitting up up there, fixed up to the back of the room. And the audio is lousy, because you don't have anything near you to be able to pick that up. Phil M. Jones Yeah. So so so the ability to be able to do that. And equally, you know, I'm often just dropping ideas into a talk for me just and I might have my headphones on while I'm walking through an airport and it's recording in the background. And I'm, I'm talking to myself about, you know, planning in a new opening. I do a lot of customized openings events, particularly given that I've listened to the whole session in the morning on the closing keynote. I'll read Work my opening, in order to be able to bring contrast or something has happened towards the rest of the event. And it kills because they realize this isn't a canned presentation yet, even though so much of it is structured, the ability for me to be able to create a level of tailoring in is is something that event organizers really enjoy. James Taylor What that book is there one particular book, you would recommend not one of your own books as Yeah, I've got your book. And it's I'm actually starting to go through your book just now. And I would say of this summit, if there was a one book that was recommended more than any other book, it's actually been your book this year. speakers, which is a great testament to you. So that's exactly exactly what to say Phil M. Jones or exactly how to sell James Taylor exactly what to say. Yeah, exactly what to say. So if it was one book, we're gonna have links to your book here as well. If there's one other book you would recommend to speakers or aspiring speakers, what would that book be? Phil M. Jones I think there's a book that everybody should read. And it's a book called the coaching habit by Michael bungay stanier. Yeah. And it's a really short and easy read. It's meant with the purpose of helping busy managers, so Have more effective coaching, coaching conversations. But the brilliance in that book is just about having more effective meaningful conversations there is there is links towards sales language in that that it was never intended to be. But often what we're looking to do with our clients is to coach them into doing what it is that we would like to be able to do or to coach them into seeing that we're the right choice not to tell them and Michael's book there, I think it opens up, maybe the ability to look at something that you've previously seen as something you might deliver to your clients, but learn to how you can use it to have more effective conversations to get more of what you want. That would be maybe a random but useful recommendation. This James Taylor is a great book. I had Michael on the on the podcast A while ago. And actually, if anyone is thinking about releasing a book and be as an author, his description of how he launched that book is fascinating because he didn't go the traditional route, especially in the marketing so it's worth just checking out but we'll put a link in here but guys a great book. So a final question. For you, let's imagine you woke up tomorrow morning. And you have to start from scratch. So you have all the skills, all the tools that you've acquired over the years. But no one knows you, you know, no one, what would you do? How would you restart Phil M. Jones a self hosted event that that fixes the problem I know that exists within my locality. And, and I would charge for that event. So I take the skill that I'm good at, I find groups of people who can make quick decisions. And I'd go back to where I very first started. And when it comes to being able to host a live event, then what you do is you take the problem that exists. So let me talk you through the exact language pattern here. So I wrote a sales training workshop that helps independent business owners to get a train out of a recession. I'd ask a series of questions to people like me, and I'd network like crazy to better filters. First question would be How's business? Everybody says business, you know, yeah, that's good. So So I follow up with another question. It's not really a question. I just phrased it as a question. The question I'd ask is the word really And I said, Well, you know, what things could you know, things could always be better? I'd say, Well, what kind of things are you doing right now in order to be either improve or grow your business? And you know, they'd say, No, no law. I'd say how open minded would you be to running through a program and spending a day together for us to better learn some new skills you could put into practice that might help you improve your business from where it is right now? Let's say Yeah, sounds good. That say, well, when is it? I'd say, What do you free the 24th of April? that say, Well, I'm not so sure yet. I'd say what are you free on all? This? Oh, no, I could probably be free. I'd say great. Well, I'm running a one day workshop. And these are the details. Let me get your pencil in and out, go out and have those conversations. And the thing that everybody needs to remember is that questions, create conversations, conversations, build relationships, relationships, create opportunities and opportunities lead to sales. Everybody goes looking for sales, what we should be looking to do. Where can we ask questions of the type of people that we'd like to help? So the same thing that happens here, right is that say, for example, that you know who it is that you want to serve back to the point that we made earlier on? How can you get into a position where you're asking questions of those people? Because those questions were great conversations will build relationships as relationships, great opportunities and opportunities will lead to sales. could be as simple as a workshop could be as simple as something like what you're doing here where you're interviewing experts, that you could start asking questions of the experts that you'd like to be able to serve. And chances are, then that will result in you having some conversations, building some relationships, create some opportunities, and making some sales James Taylor asking better questions. I love that. I love that idea. And where should people go if they want to learn more about you? We've spoken about some of the books here as well, where's the best place? Where's your central hub for all that? Phil M. Jones I'm PhilJones.com is my website. That's the site that you talked about earlier on. And from there, you can find all of my social channels you can link out to any of the other stuff that we do and and I love to hear people when they put things into action, so come find me on LinkedIn or Twitter or my Facebook page, any of those things. Tell me what you'd like. Tell me what you put into practice. Tell me what's worked. And I'll answer your questions. If your questions relate to something you've tried, and you want to learn how to do it better. If you're asking questions about something you haven't had to go out yet, have it go in at first, then I'll give you some time. James Taylor Awesome. Well, first of all, a pleasure speaking to you again, I love the work that you do. I think you do. You're doing some amazing, amazing, cool things just now. I look forward to getting a chance to hear you again on stage really soon and catching up. So thanks so much for coming on today. Phil M. Jones You're welcome, James. Thanks, everybody for listening. Real pleasure. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more Website: www.philmjones.com More of Phil M. Jones Learn More About SpeakersU #speakerslife #speakersU

Host:Welcome to another edition of Engineering Influence, a podcast by the American Council of Engineering Companies. Today. I'm very pleased to welcome back to the program. Michael Cooper. He is the managing principal of HED out of Southfield, Michigan. He is also a new member of ExCom. You might remember our last conversation when the new ExCom members came down for orientation and we had them on the show, and he mentioned that he was very active and engaged on leadership development and coaching business leaders to really maximize their effectiveness and grow as leaders. And that's something that we want to talk about today. So, Michael, thank you so much for coming back on the program.Mike Cooper:Well, thank you Jeff. Appreciate it.Host:So how did, how did you get involved with, with leadership as, as kind of a thought leadership kind of project for yourself? I know that you speak at conferences, you do podcasts and you talk about these things. How did, how did that really become a passion of yours?Mike Cooper:So, you know, I think it started because it paralleled my professional development, right? So I started out in, in the industry in the design community as a mechanical engineer working on projects and designing systems. And from there I went a little bit into project management where I had a chance to not just design projects, but we teams that were designing projects. And from there more participation in business development as I became a little bit more expert into projects, managing them project delivery, that became a natural extension. And then onto leadership of office and people and such. And so I, over the time, you know, I came to realize that I'm leading people, leading organizations. It's really its own skillset. It is, it is separate from, you know, engineering and sort of the technical world that I was educated in and I grew up in you know, if you look back at the industry 25, 30 or more years, it was not uncommon for, you know, the, the most talented engineer, architect, technical professional to become the manager to become the leader of the organization. I think that may be less common today as organizations are realizing that the business side of what we do separate from the design and the creative side requires professionals with a unique skill set to lead organizations and strategic plan and lead people. So it's something that I was involved with as I developed professionally. Something I realized was an important part of running our business and something that I found that I really enjoyed separate from the technical challenges, leadership comes with its own set of challenges.Host:That's correct.Mike Cooper:That I did, I enjoyed those as well. And so I think my career moved me in this direction and as you said, my interests and passion continued that and I was fortunate to get the opportunities to practice in this part of the industry.Host:And over the course of your career, I mean, do you think there's a watershed moment where things kind of shifted? Like you said you had at in times you know, in past the most talented engineer, the one who is the best of problem solving and maybe on time performance for project delivery rising up the ranks and becoming the manager and then find themselves managing people more than they are projects. Was there a watershed moment in your mind where that kind of shifted away from just, you know, that focus to looking at executives who also had the soft skills of people management of developing their teams? You know and kind of where we are today?Mike Cooper:Well, you know, I feel like if I, if I look back in the 80s, when we really started to hear more broadly about total quality management, about greater efficiency, I think that was the point in which you know, not in select pockets, but where broader industries and across countries, continents, professions. We started to see a greater push for efficiency and quality and process. And I think organizations started to look at their own processes the way, not just what they're doing but the way in which they do them and the way in which their people are trained in the way in which their people interact with one another and take on tasks. And that to me is where we really started to separate the, you know, the say the, the engineering or their creative design side stuff from the process and the leadership and the organizational stuff.Mike Cooper:And I to me that's where I started to see that discussion happening. You know,, in a wider swath of people. And then I think it's just continued from there. And then global competition, Jeff might be the other thing that has has really driven this, I think all industries have felt in the past two or three decades more competition coming from more places. And so the drive to utilize new technology the drive to be more efficient and to be able to pass on the benefits of that efficiency to and customers has further driven us to be to try to be more effective in our, in our businesses and tried to have more sophisticated marketing systems and finance systems and technology systems and all of those things. I think you've just led us to a focus on leadership and management in addition to the focus on the core business, which in my cases is design, architecture, engineering.Host:And I, that really just is a great segue into a really, one of the first points that we kind of discussed in advance of this show you know, outlining about six different points that kind of guide a conversation on leadership and that's purpose and strategic focus. And I think you touched upon that in your last answer, but, and essentially that, that focus in on - with the increased competition internationally with really an industry which is, which is evolving with increases in innovations in technology. The demands for both on the public side and the private side for a different kind of engineering work to be done. A greater focus on sustainability, resiliency LEED, all those things. How purpose and strategic focus is critically important in today's marketplace. How has the industry kind of coalesced around those two points?Mike Cooper:Well, I think there's two places where that becomes critical. I think the first place is because the next generation of talented professionals, the one that are the ones that are entering the field today, they, I think are more purpose-driven than generations past. You know, and, and so I think they're looking for that. And so I think on one hand, organizations are needing to be able to define that as, as part of a mechanism to recruit and retain top talent. But I think further to that, and touching on something you said earlier about change and the rate of change, I think the, the, the evolution of technology of systems and such has, has never been faster. The rate of change is accelerating very quickly. And so we often find ourselves day to day dealing with what appears to be constant change and that makes the need and the ability to define a clear purpose for the organization. So much more important because we can get lost in the day to day. And it's one of those things, you know, separating the urgent from important. We've got to remember that there needs to be a clear purpose, a clear direction out there so that the organization and everybody in it knows where the finish line is they know what road we're on. And they can, and they can follow that path.Mike Cooper:It's also the thing I think that inspires us to do great work. You know, when we coalesce, as you say, around a common person, a purpose, a common set of ideals a direction, that's what enables everybody in the organization to say, okay, I know where we're going. I know what I have to do to help us get there. You know, let's go. And we find we all end up pulling in the same direction. We find that we accomplish more. But the lack of that purpose, you find people spending their days very busy, but, but then at the end of the day wondering what it is that was accomplished that day. And I think we've all had days where we feel that way.Host:Absolutely. And it's, and it's really important to keep that strategic goal moving forward. So everyone sees the bigger picture and doesn't get lost in the day to day work, which may be unrelated to something, but you're working towards a larger purpose. And, and keeping that in everyone's mind is a challenge, but is critically important to keep things moving ahead. And you mentioned, you know, having everybody kind of coalesce around that idea that, that one purpose, the strategic goal. Once you get to that point and everyone's kind of bought in, what's your philosophy on setting those teams up of how do you select talent? How do you balance teams and kind of set them up to achieve their objective and motivate them along the way?Mike Cooper:So so when I, when I look at teams, I generally look at them through two lenses. The first is talent, and then the second is chemistry. There's, there's so you start out with the idea of talent and there's a quote by Jim Rowan that says you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And that to me is a reminder that when you surround yourself with great people, you yourself become better simply by being around them. And, and I'm a, I'm a believer of that. So I think you start out with the idea that I'm going to, I'm going to recruit the most talented people, the smartest people, the most strategic people that I can and begin there and then really have to focus on chemistry. I'm providing them tools, resources, and opportunities for that team to spend time together, get to know one another and grow together.Mike Cooper:You know, I'm always reminded in the world of sports usually all-star teams struggle against championship teams. You could argue that they have more talent, but they can, they never seem to be able to win. And that's because championship teams, while they don't necessarily have the best individual players, they've coalesced and they've become a team and they've gotten to know one another the way that they play, how they can complement one another. So they've sort of mastered that one plus one equals three philosophy. And that's where I think we want our teams to be. We want to put teams together, let them get to know one another so they can anticipate their moves, what they need and how they operate so we can truly complement one another. And then as leaders, I think we have to make time for the team.Mike Cooper:We've got to spend time with them. We've got to help them and support them. You know, there's, there's a saying that we've all heard right? When all is said and done, more gets said than done. And I think as a leader, it's really important that we focus on doing things, supporting things in a tangible way, and helping them to get better. It can't just be talk. There are times where we've got to roll up our sleeves and, and, and, and do some things. And, and as leaders we've got a great opportunity to lead by example and help teams come together and be successful.Host:The point used the analogy to the sports teams is really good. I think the idea between an all-star team and a championship team you know, the, I guess the flip side of that is when you have an all-star team, you have a lot of competing personalities and they're very good at what they do and they want to make sure their voices are heard and that they're leading. You have a bunch of people who are leaders and they're very, very high level performers versus a championship team where you might have some standouts, but overall the team together pushes forward to get the championship. And that's a question of culture. How do you deal with I guess the, the different kind of voices that you can have in the room, you know, and how do you set a culture that really puts that strategic goal, purpose and mission ahead of individual accomplishment? Not to say that individual accomplishment is bad because you know, that's what leads to group success. But how do you put the team before the individual personality?Mike Cooper:Yeah you know, the, they say, and I, and I believe this also people join firms, but they quit their managers. And I'm a, I'm a believer of that and I think that's true for our clients as well. I think that they hire firms, but if they gravitate away, it's the team and the leaders of the team that they're moving away from. So you know, I sort of begin all of this with the idea it's all about people. And particularly when we're talking about engineering, design, service, a service profession. It's about people and, and we need to make them are our top priority. If somebody says, you know, you know, Mike, what's the most important thing to I would tell them, don't listen to what I say. Pay attention to how I spend my time.Mike Cooper:Time is the most valuable commodity for all of us. And if you want to know what's important to me, simply look at what I choose to spend my time on that that will tell you everything you need to know. And for me by focus is on the people making time for them. You know, making sure that we are celebrating our successes and making sure that we're celebrating our failures and we're learning from them and we're understanding that when we don't succeed, it's often the path to greater success. Making sure that we're giving back to our community and we're, you know, and we're free to try to make the world a better place. It can't only be about what is on my desk. We, we in our world, we are working on projects that help our communities and help our societies. They make people's lives better every day. And I think it's important that we understand that. And that we embrace that and we foster that.Mike Cooper:We need to mentor one another. We know we don't have enough people entering our profession. We know that we need more people. And that's one of the great challenges that we all have. And so let's mentor people and let's help bring people into the profession and let's help develop them. And so I think it really starts with this idea that you've got to focus on your people. You've got to make them your top priority, not because somebody tells you to, because you, we have to know that in a service business, everything happens because of people. People do everything. And so you know, whether we're talking about our markets and understanding our clients and doing the research to know the trends, those things are critically important.Mike Cooper:But then when we do those things, at the end of the day, we're going to ask our people to put those things in motion and use all of those tools to serve our clients and help our communities. And and I, and I think you know, you sort of start there. The other thing with respect to culture that might be worth mentioning is the importance of sort of an inspirational message to motivate hard work. You know, we talked about focus and purpose and creating a rallying point for the organization. It also often is what motivates us to leapfrog and to make great jumps. And there's nothing, you know, that's more powerful for a culture than a rallying point that gets people super excited and super fired up to do something. Back in 1962, when John F. Kennedy talked about going to the moon, you know, we choose not to go to the moon. You know, not because it's easy, but because it's hard. You know, in 1962 we had no business talking about going to the moon with confidence. We were not winning the space race. I, a lot of people felt that Russia would get there first. They were more advanced than us, but that was the rallying cry. And that was, was one of the things that galvanized the country. It got us working towards a common purpose and inspired us and though we weren't positioned in 62 to get there, we got there in 69 and we got there first. And, and I don't know that that would've happened without JFK first putting that stake in the ground. As unlikely as it seemed at the time. You know, all, all big things start as small things. All great initiative started as small as a small ideas.Mike Cooper:The last thing I'll mention on the subject I have in my office an all company photo of Microsoft from 1978. It's one of my favorite photographs because it's got 11 people in it and it was taken in a garage. And most people can't picture Microsoft Corporation being a startup. Microsoft Corporation was a startup and not that long ago. All big things begin as small little nuggets. And I think when we build a culture and we look to inspire ourselves, we've got to think big and remember that we can think big even when it doesn't look like we can get there. Nelson Mandela said it always seems impossible until it's done. I think a, another way people say that is, you know, when you're going through hell, keep going. You know, keep pushing, keep pushing, you'll get there. And, and, you know, a big part of culture is a reminder that we've got to put our stake in the ground and get fired up and work towards it because we can do much more than we think we can do when we, when we begin working.Host:Yeah, absolutely. And, and that kind of you know, it's, it's interesting because I think there's always in organizations, there's always a drive or a desire by a number of people to try to, you know, shoot higher to try new things. And they might not have the immediate tools to do that or they might not have the confidence because they've never been in a position to do that or they're a little bit, you know, afraid of the blow back for maybe trying something different or suggesting something. That really comes with just like you said, professional development for a firm of varying size. I mean, if you're a large firm, you can easily invest in, you know, expansive leadership development and coaching and things of that nature. But how important do you think it is for firms of all sizes, quite honestly, to have some sort of structured professional development program internally or even retaining the services of a coach or some executive out there who can help groom talent.Mike Cooper:You know, I think it's critically important. You know, and so everybody can gain from seeing how other people do things, from seeing how other industries and professions do things, the other perspectives that are out there. You know, we can't grow if we aren't learning, if we're not being educated, if we aren't being exposed to new things, different things. And so you know, not certainly smaller organizations may have less resources than very large ones, but they have resources to to do this. And there isn't a right way or a wrong way. But helping our people continue to learn is what is what fosters their growth. And so you know, pairing people up in apprenticeship kind of a model. It's an old school thing, but it's incredibly effective. If a young person is paired up with somebody who's more experienced in the field and they're working together on a project, but they're taking some time to spend talking about what we're doing and why we're doing it and how we're doing it.Mike Cooper:And a little bit of the background. You know, it always, it surprises me, but it shouldn't, how fast somebody newer to the profession can grow when we take the time to help them. The folks that come into our profession are really smart. They're really smart, they're really committed, they're hardworking. If we put in a little bit of time to help them they can grow very quickly. And then I think you mentioned something which is, you know, let's take advantage of some of the opportunities that are, that are out there where we don't have to do it all ourselves. So, you know, ACEC as an organization provides lots of opportunities for growth. Some of them in the form of webinars which are inexpensive and very easy to engage in. Others are in the form of more structured classes, which are a little bit more of a commitment, time and money, but you probably get a little bit more out of that. You know, that way. But there are organizations out there and places where we can find, you know, whether it's an executive coach like you said, or an organization that has educational programs where we don't have to figure this out or invent something, we can simply leverage the tools that are already out there that were created by somebody else and we can put them to use for us.Mike Cooper:And I think in some cases we, we learn from, you know, other industries and other professions and other organizations who show us new ways of doing things. We always take the biggest leap in our organization when we, when we're able to learn something, something that our profession isn't doing and we're able to adapt it and we're able to leapfrog a lot of what's happening and get into a new place be able to offer a different kind of a value proposition, maybe one that's unexpected and that's new.Mike Cooper:But then our clients who are really clamoring for and just didn't see being offered anywhere else. That opportunity comes from professional development. And in particular getting exposed to, to things happening outside of your organization. A long way around saying it's absolutely critical and there's no, there's no point in time where you reach a level where you don't, you don't need to continue to grow. You don't need to continue to learn. I think it'd be a sad day to wake up one day, you know, and say, you know what? I've plateaued. This is as good as it gets for me. You know, I come to work every day, you know, looking for those opportunities to learn something new, to do something new, experience something different to grow to, you know, I'd like to think that tomorrow I can be more effective, be better than I am today. I believe that's true, but only if I'm still learning.Host:Yeah, absolutely. I think that that's kind of ties up almost all the stuff that you said because if you have a strategic goal and a mission and you're able to foster a culture that pretty much enrolls everyone into that that mission. And you create, like I said, the culture that allows people to think maybe outside the box or look at opportunities that might not be readily present. And again, this also goes with the whole idea of an engaged workforce and a diverse workforce with different perspectives and different backgrounds who may be able to see things other people don't. You're able to look at new opportunities in the marketplace and like you said, offer things to clients or open up new client sectors that you never thought you had, which is the key to growth.Mike Cooper:Absolutely. And it is - a lot of these things tie together cause you know, you talk about some of these things in the context of you know, of culture and a learning organization. It's, it's, it's part of culture. The, the other, the other thing that learning does, I think is it's, it sets a foundation that says it is okay to experiment. It is okay to explore. It's okay to fail. In, in, in design and engineering we know that the first solution we come up with is very, is rarely the one that actually gets built. The one that actually is constructed. There's an editor of process that goes along. We get better, we get stronger.Mike Cooper:And one of the favorite stories that I heard when I was in school was the story of WD 40. Right? We all know what WD-40 is. The name WD-40 stands for water displacement formula number 40, the inventor so strongly about the 39 attempts that came before that that he named the product to celebrate that. His story was there was no way to go from one to 40, you know formula number one taught him something that he used to develop number two, which taught him something he used to develop number three, and so on and so on. And you get to 40. There's no way to go from one to two to 40. It was a scientific process, a process of discovery. He realized that one through 39 weren't failures. They were steps right on the way to success. And a learning organization I think frees up people to explore and to look for new ways. Understanding that if, if this one way, if this thing doesn't work out, that's not a failure, we'll learn something from it, we'll come back stronger and we'll get there. But that, that trial and error mentality often gets us some of the products to rely on every day.Host:Yeah, absolutely. I'd say it's always interesting to look at what we actually use every day and realize that the end product wasn't actually the goal of the company or organization actually doing something that's just a byproduct of it. It's, I think a it wasn't oh, I forget what I remember in the, in the early, you know, early 20th century when, you know, the rubber manufacturers and, and the, and the, and the petroleum manufacturers. And I think some of the things that we use, I was some nylon derivative, I think was a complete mistake. And, and that's, you know, something that, that, that we know today and I forget exactly what it is, but it's, it's interesting to look at that kind of history. So really, I, you know, coming in and looking at all of these different ways to organize and develop you know a firm - when you, when you acquire talent, how critical is that onboarding stage and how important is it to start laying the groundwork for this kind of more inclusive and open a workplace that, you know, puts an emphasis on, on culture, on mission? How critical is it in that first 90 day period to really get someone into that system?Mike Cooper:Yeah, it's, it's sorta like the story of the first impression where you, you know, you've got one chance to make that first impression. And in a lot of ways that sets the tone for the relationship moving forward. It's really, really important. We talk a lot these days about the difference between engagement and employment. And so if, if you want people to be engaged, if you want them to really feel like they're a part of something bigger and act that way, then it starts with the recruitment. Just as you said, we, you know, you to you want to get them engaged in the organization, even through the interview process. You want people to feel like this is a place where they could find a home where they could be a part of and would give them a real satisfying, rewarding kind of an experience.Mike Cooper:And boy, when you're in, when you're in a 50 year low in unemployment I don't know that I can emphasize enough the importance of recruiting new talents and pulling out all the stops. It has never been harder to find people because we are so over employed, right? As a country. And so you know, we want to begin on day one. In fact, even, I'm looking at interns differently. If you can bring interns into the organization and maybe not just for summer, but maybe they work year round part-time and they work full time in the summer, but we're, we're building a connection. And we're building a relationship. So that when they, when an intern is ready to begin looking for a full time job, they don't really have to look. They already have a home. They already understand. And that's something that our organization does. And I know a lot of organizations are looking at.Mike Cooper:You know, bring people on, making that first impression. Jeff, as you said we want our staff to stay. We want them to recruit their friends and people that they know perhaps to come to our organization. And the way to do that is to really get them engaged. You know, you've got to, you know, we're asking people to work hard in return. We've got to communicate with them and we have to share information. If you want somebody to feel a part of the organization, they have to know what we do, why we do it, how we do it. There's very few things out there that that for me are, you know, out of bounds that we don't share.Mike Cooper:You know, we don't share, I wouldn't share health history of, of our, of our employees. I wouldn't share compensation or salary information. I certainly wouldn't share information that I'm contractually prohibited to share. But, but beyond that we should be open and honest. We should be authentic and make sure people feel like owners, they feel like they're a part of this thing because that's when they're going to buy in and they're going to rally around our purpose and they're going to do the work that needs to get done to help the organization succeed. Sort of goes back to what we talked about earlier. People do everything in an organization, so the more engaged they can become, the more a part of the organization, the stronger the emotional connection is. That's going to translate directly to the work.Host:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's a lot of really good food for thought. For leaders, organizations and, and kind of how to approach just people and people management. And just getting everyone together on the same page, bought in on the same mission and, and just following through to success.Mike Cooper:And Jeff it's more fun.Mike Cooper:People that we ask people to work really hard when you're part of a winning team and you, you know, you like the people around you and you and you, you're working well, a cohesive unit, then those are the people who wake up in the morning and look forward to going to work.Host:YeahMike Cooper:Absolutely. And that's a part of this too. We work really hard, you know, there's gotta be a part of this that we really enjoy.Host:Yeah. And when you have that sense of ownership that that organizational success becomes individual success because you are part of that process and if you're part of that team, yeah. That, that, that really makes it personal. And it's beyond the, the numbers of course, you know, benefits and all that. And of course, salary, everyone you know, is working not just because it's personally beneficial and enriching, but also because, you know, you have to pay the bills. But that other intangible quality, that you're accomplishing something and that you're moving the ball forward and you're doing something greater than just, you know, on its face it could just, you know, be a a design task, could be an administrative task to be anything like that. But and I think the other, the other story right, is, is for NASA, you know, when, when they brought people down to Kennedy and they were talking to everyone about, you know, the space program and you know, a guy, a janitor was, was, you know, you know, sweeping the floor and, you know, the, the government people said, you know, what do you do here? And the janitor said, I'm, I'm putting somebody on the moon. Because he wasn't, that was, that was the overriding purpose of their existence there all the way down to the person who is sweeping the floors, they're all part of the same team that's going to put a man on the moon. So I mean, if you can get that into an organization that just leads to success.Mike Cooper:That's a great, it's a great story. You know, I, I sometimes I look at the organization like a jigsaw puzzle in that there's lots of pieces and if one piece is missing, it's not complete. And it doesn't matter which piece it is. And I think it echoes your story really well. We all are and we need every one of us to get where we want to go. That's a, it's a great story and I, and you hope that all of your people will, will feel that way, that we've done what we need to do so that the people who are part of the organization really feel that way. That that's, we're all, we're all here for that single purpose. That's great.Host:Absolutely. Well, Michael, thank you very much for, for taking the time today. There's a lot more to go into and I want to come have you back on the show because there are other aspects to this which we need to cover because I think the next time we should talk about how that new generation of engineers coming out of universities, the way they view work, the way they view their purpose. Like you said, it's moved into more of a purpose driven field. And how firms are kind of changing to meet that because it's not just a goal of people management. And then you get into the other issues that are equally important for clients to look at, which is, you know, CSR programs and things like that, which you know, potential clients are looking at more than just delivery. They're also looking at the type of organization that they're contracting with to do work for them. And that's a whole different, different conversation to have, which we should have pretty soon.Mike Cooper:Well, I would love to come back. I would look forward to that. There's an awful lot to talk about and all of it is really important. The next generation are not just going to be, you know, our employees. They're going to be leaders of our firms. They're going to be our clients. They're going to be leaders in government and in community. And so understanding, you know, their sensibilities and where they're coming from and leveraging that is going to is help all of us get to a better place. Got to start the conversation. Oh, that's great.Host:Yeah. Well, Michael, again, Michael Cooper, he's managing principal of HPD out of Southfield, Michigan. And he is a new vice chair on our executive committee at ACEC and look forward to seeing you, of course, at our conference coming up in in April. And hope to have you on sooner than that. Thank you again for being on.Mike Cooper:You're welcome. Thank you, Jeff. Have a great day.Host:You too. 

So! I know you want more success. You want more money, more freedom, maybe better fitness or health. Maybe you want better relationships. Here’s the thing, you CAN have anything you want, you just have to know HOW to achieve a level of success that fulfills you. That’s why I’m talking with you today about how to find the fastest way to achieve success. Listen, anyone that's achieved anything that big in their lives or in their business will tell you it’s really just a few basic aspects that you have to master. Anyone who we admire who has achieved anything would tell you it’s three things. Yeah, It took three things. You may have heard Jim Rowan say that success leaves clues. There are three aspects to achieving success and I'm going to break them down for you. Get ready to for some truth bombs that will change everything for you. ___________________________ I'm always happy to bring you information each week to fuel your entrepreneurial soul. Stop by next week for another great episode. Sharon Lee, Life Coach & Business Growth Expert | Messaging, Mindset & Sales Expert "Let your mind help you breakthrough to success." Grab your free consultation call with me to learn how we can work together to create the transformation in your life or business. Click Here. >>> Free Consultation Call http://www.fearlesspursuits.com/ _____________________________ Let's connect! Instagram: @FearlessPursuits Facebook: Fearless Pursuits Review & Listen on iTunes

Ready to Positioning Your Business to Profit? Go to-->>> http://positioningtoprofit.com/Patty: Hey there. Patty Domínguez. Happy Friday. Episode 18 on a real talk episode I just wanted to drop some words of wisdom.Yeah. I'm so wise.For some the information that I've just been coming across when it comes to the clients that I work with and so I always think these Real Talk episodes are good and they just kind of come to me as topics come up in conversations that I have. And one of them was around the who am I conversation with who am I to do that. You know I've never done that before or very intimidated by so and so because they seem like they have their act together and I don't really I'm not at that level yet so I'm a little intimidated there.These are conversations that come up and I'm sure at one point in time you may have felt the same I know I have felt the same even the the fact that I'm doing a podcast I would have never thought I could do a podcast say maybe 10 years ago.And what I have found is that there is such authenticity to our real stories the real experiences that we go through as human beings and our experiences that really create a point of fascination. I love Jim Rowan and he is a business philosopher. Now remember one thing that I heard from him was that interested people want to know if it works and fascinated people want to know how it works. So the thing that makes an idea a person a topic a subject a book fascinating is when somebody wants it when they stop in their tracks and they say well that's interesting.How do you how does that work. Tell me more. They've created a point of engagement with you and what's really fascinating to me is that for so long I would hide the things that made me what I believe is flawed. I would hide out because I was so ashamed of them because I was so not the same as everybody else around me. And this is what I mean is that I think about for yourself what is it that makes you fascinating. What is it that people are interested and really fascinated to say well wait a minute.But tell me more about that. Think about those times those stories that you can share. Because here's the deal people are casually interested in maybe what it is that you do if they're casually interested. There's really limited value of exchange. But if people are fascinated by you there's the. Open Door in which you can create a real connection.And that's a very powerful thing. So at that point they want to know more about you. They know what they want to know why you do what you do how you do what you do what is it that makes you take you know so that it requires a certain amount of disclosure on your part to share more about those things that maybe have had held you back in the past or maybe a mystery about your behavior or a process or the way that you think or the curiosity which you operate.So for me the whole box or the mysterious things about my behavior is it has to do a lot with the background and I've noticed that when I share more about my background and certain clients maybe we have these conversations and how I grew up or certain things that in the past day I was so ashamed about just come from coming from a situation where I was physically abused as a kid and I stuttered so bad.So bad growing up that I couldn't even say my name which is really crazy. And I used to hide situations I used to hide and speak in situations people told me that that I would be doing a podcast where I would be doing public speaking presentations. I would say there is no way and the thing is I diffused the things that held me back when I started putting it out there and just saying.Guess what. If you hear me on this call or if you hear me in this presentation or if I stutter I'm a podcast it is OK. It's not contagious. And as long as the message gets through I'm good with that. And what happened is it just diffused the thing and the ugly of the fear that I felt of what used to hold me back. And now.It makes it an interesting point of conversation. And guess what people don't give a shit or they really don't. So the disclosure of what holds you back and is a real thing.It's really authentic and you do it in a way where it's creating just a peek under the tent of what makes you tick and you're using it in a way that you can engage in a greater level and so that is that's just one example of people are fascinated when they hear that I used to have a really bad stutter and I was I really that's really interesting. And by way of that by the way of me admitting that it just creates a poignant connection and it's a point where people remember.So what is? Just ask yourself what is it that makes you vested in the things that you've been hiding. And it can be the ugly warts the truths. You'd be surprised things I've heard that come to mind where people started to remember. I happened to see one of the. OK this is a very unhealthy it's an unhealthy admission I have but I like real hassle Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. That is my brainless TV that I catch every week. When the season is on and just started it and one of the and they don't watch the whole franchiseI just watch that particular one I don't know why. Because I don't know. I just love it anyway. One of the characters or the people on the show. Her daughter had admitted to having you know having had an eating disorder and it was really vulnerable of her to put it. On social media. And she said that when she talked about how she had an eating disorder she just got this massive flood of people contacting her wanting to know how did she do.What is she doing to contain that or to overcome that. Or what what kind of advice is she seeking and what she found as a result of that is that it's given her a greater point of connection with people and she's like this is really interesting. Is this a topic that I can dive more into so that that was really fascinating it just comes up again and again the things that happen to us as setbacks the traumas all of that is what makes us who we are. And when you're vulnerable enough to share that I believe that is what creates a point of fascination.So I just wanted to share that with you because what I have found is that the more that I'm authentic and unapologetic the more that I connect and my goal is connections at scale and I want you to be fascinating too so I've just been coming at this realization that this fascination.It comes at a price you know because that personal narrative.Some people are went to connect with it and some people are not. But at the core when you stop and people are like wait that's really interesting. Tell me more about it. It is twofold. To me it's a win-win I get to connect at a greater level. And the other side of my win is that I diffuse all the things that I used to be so ashamed about.So I invite you to really take a good look at your personal narrative and share it. Share vulnerably because you just are probably a lot more fascinating and give yourself credit for. I hope you have a great one. And thank you so much for catching Her Legacy Podcast.

Neal Sperling is the Founder and CEO of a global business strategic advisory service that has advised start-ups, mid-cap companies, non-profits, to very high net worth individuals. Neal has strategized and helped his clients solve often extremely complex and difficult business challenges, and then connected them to individuals who have changed their lives for the better, and has even helped them to fulfill their unique life's purpose; hence, he's been called a "World Class Problem Solver" and a “World Class Connector.” At last count, Neal has connected with over 50 billionaires, the President of the United States, U.S. Vice-President, various heads of state, prime ministers, a five star military general, governors, mayors, Academy Award-winning actors, directors, producers and 15 Nobel Laureates (inclusive of 9 Nobel Peace Prize Winners.) Recently, Neal developed a series of masterminds to reveal a number of relatively simple techniques that can help anyone to think more abundantly, more efficiently, and more successfully to become super competitive . "Supercreativity" aims to teach anyone how to break down, understand, and replicate the thinking processes, pathways, and approaches consistently used by history's most innovative, successful thinkers – from DaVinci, Edison, Einstein, Tesla, Buckminster Fuller, Steve Jobs to Elon Musk. The variety of approaches to innovation and problem-solving Neal has made it his business to research, study, and replicate can help those facing common challenges in their everyday business, professional, and even personal lives to more efficiently identify and resolve problems, uplevel their thinking skills and abilities, achieve greater confidence, and ultimately leapfrog ahead of virtually any competitor by looking at most any future challenge faced through the above "expanded eyes of genius." Hi, it's Colin Sprake here and I'm super excited because today we have a very special guest on MYM Your Business: The Brutal Truth, with myself Colin Sprake. Our guest today is Neal Sperling. We're going to take you on a journey today and really dig deep into being more successful and getting answers that you're looking for. Neal's been one of those people that I got to meet only really recently. In fact, he was on my stage at one of my big events here in Vancouver called Business Excellence, and the one thing that really impressed me about Neal is his heart and his soul and his dedication to other people's success. The way he's done things -- I mean he spoke to me once on the phone recently about trust and he has a great, amazing information and knowledge and just awesome at what he does. Neal, maybe you want to give us a little bit more of an intro to who you are, so our listeners today can understand where you come from, what you do in just a short abbreviated version of who you are and your brilliance that you bring to this podcast today. Well thank you Colin, it's very, very flattering. I really appreciate it, and it's a great chance to be here and share information with everybody out there. I guess I'm primarily known as a world class connector, and a world class problem solver. The world class connector brand was actually given to me by Robert Allan. I had a chance meeting with him and it led to a meeting in his living room. After he looked at my card and met me for three hours, he said, "You know, you're not a business development and marketing consultant," and I said, "I'm not?" He said, "No, I think you're much more than that, you're a world class connector." I actually had to go home and look up what that meant because what I'd been doing is essentially something I've been doing all my life, which seeing the connections, puzzle pieces, people and how things fit together and in the most optimal sense, so eventually I've taken that and built that into a career. I think I'm able to help people navigate and see things more clearly from that perspective of how their own puzzle pieces and their own lives to fit in the most optimal sense. Wow! That's awesome, and you know Neal, one of the big things for me which just fascinates me is absolutely how you are that true connector and how you've even cared to meet with so many amazing people as well. Maybe you could give our listeners today's some real insights into what does it truly mean to connect. Big people talk about this being a connector. If we want people to get the concepts, the understanding of what it truly means to connect with somebody, maybe you can give us, one, two, or three amazing tips on how to be a really good connector, but a genuine, heart sense of connector. Not connecting because you hear from Neal today on how to really connect, but because you've gotten you do it from a real heart sense of place. Can you give maybe one, two, three tips on how to be fantastic at connecting? Yes, sure. I think it starts with being aware, and the more aware you are, the more successful you can be. Having that awareness really extends to several areas. First of, a lot of people when they hear about connecting it's kind of a fancy concept for them, and they immediately equate it with networking, or they'll equate it with communicating. No, actually it's different than that. Communicating is one facet of connecting. You can communicate but not necessarily connect. You can network with people, but not necessarily communicate or connect. I think connecting takes it to a deeper level, and the connections really starts for me with being an active listener, with being very aware of other people, taking the owner self, my own agenda and focusing more in on the other person's agenda and trying to figure out not what they really want, but what they actually need. That becomes a place of authenticity when you meet them on that ground. By having a sense of what they could really use, it is almost like you're getting beyond the superficiality in a very quick way to get to the core truths of who they are. They sense very often, I find, when you do that it's taking a little risk because you meet someone early on and they don't know where you are coming from or what your agenda is, but they instantly sense intuitively that you're authentic and you really want to help them, and it's almost like giving them tough love or tough truth. Consequently when you establish a rapport on that basis and early on, it builds a sense of trust and I think in accelerated way, that allows you to accelerate the connection and the relationship. That sounds awesome; for me it's so fascinating. I'm going to dig a little deeper into this because I've always believed that you can be authentic in your connection or you should be authentic in all of your connections, but for me, I'm a big fan of getting rid of the word authentic. I say often you get, you can get a person who's authentically inauthentic, which is a con artist. I love the two words, realness and vulnerability, because I think that's really key that when you really connect with someone, you just be real with them and be vulnerable. Be open to maybe some suggestion, maybe some criticism, some feedback on different things. What would you say to that around the two keywords of realness and vulnerability? Yes, I think that's absolutely true. I think the reason I use authentic is because it goes through a deeper level for me and how I look at it in that, when I'm looking to be authentic, I'm expecting other people to come back at me and meet me in the same way. To be authentic, or have authentic connection, you first have to authenticate the people. When I look to people, put people in my own private network, I often say to friends that I have or close friends I share, that I have friends and then I have authentic friends, but the authentic friends have been authenticated. I really do believe on this friendship level it's an important concept to understand, whether you're in business or dealing with people outside of business, that you want to have people engaging with you at this level, where it builds and establishes the trust. I don't think that happens without you first kind of verifying each other, whether some people do it subliminally or I do it through various rules that I've developed as some of which I shared on your stage. Absolutely. So the key thing for me and I suppose that's really, if you take it right into a business sense is, true authentic connections or realness and vulnerability, you go to that deeper level with people, and that's when people begin to know that they can trust you and then start to refer you out to their friends, their authentic connections, and what have you. I love this because for me that's how you grow your business really. Most business is not really what you know, but often who you know and how authentic your relationships are with those people. What would you say to that? Absolutely, and I find that very often when I meet people, they find it refreshing that they sense that I don't have hidden agendas. I'm really trying to get to the core truth of what they need, and hoping that when they see that and they're part of the minority people who have that enlightened ability to understand reciprocity, that they will reciprocate, and so I will always take the first action in that respect. I talked about Newton's third law, which is all about for every action there's an equal opposite reaction. What I add to that is that you really can't expect to receive an action until you first take one, so I'm always willing to be vulnerable and be real by basically taking that first action and then see how people show up. It leads to that other chain of roles that I shared with you, which is basically that it's all about consistency. As over time as you see how people are consistently showing up responding to those actions that you initially take, provided they're acting in reciprocity and they're real and they're vulnerable and they're basically sharing their real needs with you, I think you can build a strong foundation of trust off of that basic platform. Yes. I once read the book by Robert Cialdini, The Power of Persuasion. The challenging part is, to me it's really authentic reciprocity or real reciprocity where you're doing things from a place of, "I'm doing this to help this person," serve the person that I'm with, not doing because I expect something in return. That for me is what I find so challenging in this world we live in right now. Everyone says, "Well, the universe whatever you superior being is, when you give you'll get 10 fold in return," but if you expect that all the time, you actually don't get 10 fold in return. Most of you get nothing, so what fascinates me with the power of reciprocity is how many people I think abuse reciprocity because they, or use it in a manipulative way, which I disagree with completely in business. It should all be about serving people first, and the reciprocity comes anyways. Yes, you want to add anything to that? Actually I totally agree with it, but the key is how to decipher who you're dealing with. If you're dealing with somebody who is a manipulator and they're clever, and they use that to establish their own aims and agenda, or they have that service mentality. When I meet people, I try to meet them at a place, again, first identifying their needs to see how I can be helpful, I don't have expectations, and generally when I'm in that frame of mind, I do find that the universe steps in and responds or rewards me and sometimes in amazingly unexpected ways. In terms of authenticating whether people are master manipulators or whether they're really showing up from a place of true service, again, I just counsel people to take it slow and observe carefully and see how they consistently show up. As I said when I was doing my talk with you folks, one of the ways is just to look at not only what people say and what they do, but also look at what they don't say and what they don't do because all those things give pieces of information to you to then sort, mix together and see the consistency and how they are operating with others. Yes, absolutely, Neal, and I think that's the interesting part here because, what we're talking about here today can be used in any part of your life. I think so many people don't, there are so many watching what people, you know do in their relationships. Their relationships with their child, with their business partner, with their life partner, customers what a view, that so many are focusing on what the person's doing as opposed to how you can also you learn a lot about the person, like you said Neal, of what the stuff they don't do is also very eye opening. Maybe they don't do the follow up, maybe there's no follow through, maybe they say certain things and don't do it. They say one thing and do something else. For our listeners out there, I want you to really think about this in all your relationships because really getting that true connection to me is one of the most important things we can have in our lives. I look at the relationship I have with my wife, it's a deep connection, but we give unconditionally to each other. There's no I'm giving with an expectation in return. I give and it comes in abundance in return and I think that's for all the relationships we have in our lives, for all our listeners out there. So, Neal, I'm going to get to ask you another nice, deep question on this, and really if there was one piece of advice, of course you're known as the global connector and Robert Kiyosaki or Robert Allan said in towards giving you that term, I would like you to maybe give our listeners maybe a key nugget of -- what would you consider the number one thing to being successful is? What would you, if you were to say, "Colin, the number one thing in my life that I've learned maybe in the last five years, 10 years" -- or maybe you've done it all your life -- what would you consider that number one thing to be, that's got you to the success of where you are today? Well, I think it's really two keywords, discipline and consistency. You have to be disciplined in your habits, you have to be disciplined in your judgment, you have to be disciplined in your character and disciplined in your temperament. By doing that, you put structure around, for as I shared again at your conference, four important qualities that make up for success. Provided that's all done consistently and packaged up in that way, you become dependable in people's eyes. If you become dependable, you become trustworthy and you develop that speed of trust. Consequently, when you have that with people, it's worth more than anything in the bank because they'll always come to you and they won't have their guard up. Whether it's just to ask a question or they need a favor or they want to do something nice for you in return, there's no guardedness about that and you create this great ability to receive. Well, you know that's fascinating for me, and if you said, and I love that. Consistency, I just don't know how many people out there, they just don't listen. They want to get results in their lives, but they do things for one or two weeks or maybe one or two months and then they fall off and they don't continue with those items. I mean their consistency to me is one of the most important things. To all our listeners out there, please make sure that you're understanding this, that you've got to be consistent in all your actions. You've got to consistently get out of bed, do things every day towards the results that you want. If you fall off track and you let consistency even one or two days, where you just fall off track completely, you've got to get back on track and get that consistency back. My consistency goal for you means you never fall off track, that you actually stay on track and do whatever you need to do to get to where you want to be. Neal, in terms of something that you've maybe learned yourself in the last five years, let's say because you've given me your key nugget on already being dependable and consistent in everything you do. What about in the last five years for you, what is one of the key things you've learned that you go, "I wish every other business owner knew this," or, "I wish they would get this, because if I knew it 25 years ago, I'd be in a different place completely, maybe financially, maybe success wise," whatever, it is for you. What would that one nugget of advice be that you've learned in the last five years, and maybe who was that advice from that you would say as being, well could have been a game changer for you 20 or 30 years ago? Well, I think it's a jumping up point, the law of attraction is real, but it comes at a price. For me it's not just something that you think about, it's a mantra or it's an abstraction that you channel it, it's really about the discipline and consistency and how you show up and how that attracts light. In my TED Talk, I spoke about this and it was interesting. I identified the idea that when you show up you're not only showing things overly, but in a sense subliminally. If people are sensing you have good character, good judgment, good temperament, good habits, those that also have those tenets within them and practice them, which are increasingly rare as you combine them, will recognize that in you as they continue a conversation. Those that do those things at as increasingly higher level of discipline and consistency will recognize you and want to be in your orbit. That is the law of attraction. The more that you practice these precepts and the more you do them consistently and increasingly service oriented ways, people who are also at that level of consciousness and awareness will recognize that in you, and you will start attracting amazing people at that level in your orbit. When you are doing business with people of the exact same like mindedness, that truly is that kind of master mind mentality that was discussed 100 years ago, and it's really refreshing to have enlightened people surrounding you to do business with. Yes. You know that's what fascinates me is how many people -- Jim Rowan said it best -- you're the product of the five people you hang out the most with in terms of any area of your life, and that fascinates me how many people want to take their connections to a higher level, they want to be more disciplined, have more consistency in their life, but they don't seem to get what it takes to get to that next level. Especially the law of attraction where you stand back and you welcome in what needs, you welcome in these people into your world. When you play at that level, you attract more people at that level and you play in complete integrity. It’s amazing that the kind of integrity people that you actually welcome into your world as well. I mean the law of attraction for me came only into my life maybe 15 years ago. What I'm trying to say came in my life about this every day because it didn't come in, it's always been in my life. The misery I had in certain parts of my life is what I was truly attracting into my life, so I realize that now, now I also realize, you know what, how powerful this tool is to really helping you get ahead. Every thought we have, every single thing we say is really putting out what we really want in our life, so you have to be really conscious of what we're thinking and what we're saying and really getting into that next level, so. It's a form of social engineering and it's really engineering yourself. If you want to be the CEO of your own life, which is how I look at myself as an entrepreneur, every morning I wake up I have a checklist of things that I want to do. I don't always get completely through it, and I actually sometimes may take myself outside and have a talk with myself for not accomplishing my complete agenda, but I also give myself a break because I know I did my very best. I'm an overachiever, I set high goals and standards for myself in everything I do, including all the things that I need to get through the day. The real point here is that, you have the ability every morning you wake up to decide who you're going to be and how you can be the best you can be. The way to do that I believe is really to set achievable goals for yourself, but the kind of standards also that you want to attract. By shedding other types of habits and deficiencies and we all have them and continuing to perfect yourself, you become a perfectible organism that attracts the same in other people. For example, I can look back on my life and say that I've had the privilege of getting to know amazing people, academy award-winning actors, billionaires, Nobel Prize winners. They didn't know who I was, they didn't necessarily know my resume, they didn't necessarily know my accomplishments, but they were attracted to these facets and particularly my values. I remember when I was in my earlier political fundraising days, I was invited to the homes of preliminaries and power brokers, but none of that was important in terms of what they did for a living. It was all sharing a common passion, a common philosophy, a common values and it was like this very level playing field discussions one on one, where nobody was really interested in those other affectations. They really just want to know about the core of who you are, whether they liked you and could relate to you, and I think really that is a lot of the secret. Yes, you know what I think, I absolutely agree with you on that, because it fascinates me. I'm a big fan of values, core values because that's what really attracts us to people or often repels us from people, depending on what their values are. We’ve got together and we've done work together now, because we have similar values. If we didn't have similar values, you would either think I'm a jerk and you don't want to work with me, or what a view, I'd either repel you, attract you and vice versa. I'm such a big believer in values, and I wish more people would understand that values are what drive us, and values are what really create for me in many ways, really good part of your connection too is having the right people around you with the right values. I really hope our listeners out there are really thinking this through and taking some detailed notes because what are your values? What's important to you? What's core to you as a human being? I think that for me, you just hit the nail on the head around, we really need to get in touch with our values. I think sometimes people in partnerships, business partnerships, life partnerships, sometimes split apart because their values in some way or form change. When you don't have the same values between you, the chance of really staying together or having a really true deep relationship I think disappears. What are your thoughts on that? Well, exactly and interestingly enough I could amplify on that one. When I gave my TED Talk, one of the points that I made that I think really resonated with people is that, common interest bring people together. So often we're focused on more of those superficial qualities or the common interest that we have strictly with merchants and acquisitions in companies, they're not really looking at corporate culture. They're looking at the synergies between the products they make and the customers they service, but they're not looking at the underlying, underpinnings. For me as I said, common interests may bring people together, but it's common values, common perspective and common personalities that keep people together. Yes, absolutely. You know Neal, as we get into this today, it's been my privilege to be on this call with you and it's to go through really understanding more about who you are. You are an extremely wise and smart man, and what's one, another piece of wisdom that you would want to share with our listeners that you would consider to be, maybe not just around success. To me success is a globe, like a really broad term of success in any area of your life, but what would be the one thing that you would say, "You know what, here's something, a golden nugget that I'd love to share with your listeners to really have them get that next level in their life whatever they're looking for." What would be that golden nugget that is just something that is so wow for you to help our listeners to get to that next level themselves? Well, I think the core of my success at least with connecting with people is I trace back -- I spoke about it on stage to your audience -- to my mom. I always marvel that the idea that even though she was a secretary and she worked a difficult job, that she attracted people. She actually worked at a film studio, that she attracted people who were not just on her level. She had experiences where she would work for one day for her producer and years later, after years have passed she got sick, she had cancer, it was a rare cancer. She suffered and she passed away. It was interesting to me that the chiefs of the studio, legendary producers she worked for, for one day, famed actors, all insisted that they have a service for her at the studio, she was treated like a head of state. The reason was, that she instantly befriended people and everyone knew that she was real, and that she cared. The secret that I learned as I reflected on and after she passed away, which has influenced my life is that she looked at everybody as an opportunity. Not an opportunity for herself, but an opportunity to do work like in a garden, where she realized that many people who she saw, most everyone else saw them as bitter or angry or difficult people, she saw as wounded. She saw that somewhere in their childhood something happened and that wounded-ness was being carried through the rest of their lives like a bear that had a stick in their paw and no one could see that. All they see is the angry bear. It was her almost mission to get to know people, the most difficult cantankerous people she insisted on sitting next to in her secretarial pool, who didn't have any friends. She would meet them where they stood and just try to accept them and try to accept that wounded-ness and find what the root was, and people of course who are wounded are looking for someone to talk to, and the next thing you know, it was like she was plucking the weeds out of a garden and allowing the rest of the garden to flourish. Then she transformed people and she had that transformative effect with whoever she worked with. The point that I wanted to get to was that, at the end of her life, she never had an enemy. I don't know about you Colin, but I rarely have ever met anyone like that, just because she happened to be my mum was special, but it had a tremendous impact on me that someone could be that pure and put their own agenda aside. If anything if they had an agenda, it was just basically to do some healing work with other people without any expectation and to attract that kind of resident response. I think people could apply some of those lessons in their own life, in their business life and their personal life to enhance their ability to achieve connectedness and succeed and the relationships, which ultimately is what this is about. Absolutely. What a great story, thank you for that and what a special person your mom must have been. I would have loved to have met her and what a view as well, because you that fascinates me Neal. I was in Moscow maybe 15 years ago and I was standing out there waiting for a train. The gentleman next to me who used to work for us in Moscow said to me, "Colin, you know what, all human beings are greedy. It's just the level of greed that differs from one to the other." I actually pondered that and I still ponder that still to this day because I don't necessarily believe it's greed. It sounded like your mom was a person of zero greed, was just someone that was beautiful, giving, caring, and wanted to make a change on this planet and a change on that person's life that she sat with and directly impacted them in some way or form. Wow, how awesome. Well, yes. Gandhi said it best, “Be the change you want to see in the world,” and we all have that opportunity. I don't even know if she ever read Gandhi, but she epitomized those values in that perspective and her personality was one of basically just wanting to be a better gardener, and she did that. She sure did. Wow, she sure did man, and what a pleasure to grow up in that environment. I wish many people were able to grow up in that similar environment, because wow, many of us, I think there's many lessons out there that have lots of weeds in their gardens growing, "I wish I could actually meet Neal's mom so she could pluck the weeds out of my garden." She never judged other people, and she realized she couldn't do that because she hadn't walked in their shoes. I think it's really important because people show up and we get these superficial impressions of each other and very often it goes back to that protective sense that we had going back to the days when we were out there with these wild beasts and you don't know what you're dealing with. One of the interesting things that I got about that -- that I didn't get to talk about in my stage discussion with the audience -- is that, I had an experience and I think it directly relates to this. I always try to learn something from wherever I'm at and whatever facet of learning I can do to add to myself and then share back. I happen to be at a nonprofit that was working to protect endangered wildlife and that led to that slide that I did with you folks about branding and preserving the orangutan, the endangered orangutan. Here's what is interesting, most people kind of pass that over. I thought it's fascinating that the organizations devoted to saving these orangutans in the wild is the second largest rainforest in the world, they brought a point forward to me that I never forgot. Orangutan have 97% of human DNA. They are 97% like us, but the thing that we distinguish when we look at them goes back to that same quality that we needed to preserve ourselves in the wild, we look at the differences and we look at how different the orangutan is from us even though they're 97% like us. If you take that to the next level when we're looking at people in business, we look at people in politics, we look at people who are different races, different creeds, we're always first seizing upon the differences. Wouldn't it be a much more wonderful and special world that we could live in if we started to first try to look at the similarities and we have that common ground to work from? We are headed for a terrible time as I'm reading the newspapers right now in the world and in a tremendous war that could escalate simply because everyone is doubling down and focusing on the differences between us. It's the same principle that we can apply in business to attract greater numbers of like minded people and a movement will be sparked by a person of one. I do believe and one of the things I'm looking forward to as one of my goals, is to create a greater movement of awareness for everyone to start looking more at the similarities than the differences. Imagine the conflicts that could be reduced, the number of court cases that could be eliminated that are clogging up our legal system, that people just start off from a place of that. Wow! I absolutely agree with you on that. For me it's, I say that the world is, we've lost three amazing words in this world in so many ways and form, and those three words are, respect, responsibility and commitment. If we all took responsibility for our actions we wouldn't have half the lawsuits that are happening out there or pray most of them if we all respected each other and each others' property and truly respected them or committed, I even sound silly just saying this, committed to our commitments, life would be different. While that is just great advice for people out there to really start to really look at, what are the similarities you have with other people, not looking at the differences you have. Everyone's busy focusing on, I think it's all the time back to the way that Neal, so people say, "Well there's 60% chance of rain today in the weather forecast." No, there's actually 40% chance of sunshine with no rain. That is exactly the point, it gets back to, how do you see the world? Are you an optimist? Are you a pessimist? There are so many people who live in fear and scarcity and that drives their decisions in business, so they want to get the last crumb, they want to out negotiate you, they want to out maneuver you and everyone is on their guard and in agendas, like attracts like, Newton's third law. If you take the reverse thought process, and try to see how we can create a situation where it's not about me first, but about we first, and how we can work together to resolve a problem and that's basically what this is. I told you, I'm a person who enjoys puzzles, and it's really about solving puzzles, solving challenges, solving problems, but you can't do that from this even subconscious adversarial mindset. You really have to start thinking not about scarcity but abundance, and thinking about how the universe, the world we operate in, the businesses that we practice are not closed systems. They can be opened up and it's like I often share with people, if you're looking about the pie and how to divide up the pie, why are you limiting yourself to that one view point? What if you were to invest and work together in a bakery that could bake lots of pies, right? Or you can enlarge the pie, you can bake a bigger pie, you just expand the oven, I mean et cetera, et cetera. It's a metaphorical approach, but it really is about that. It's, limits to growth will limit our ability to grow and our ability to succeed, but if you take off the ceiling off the limits and start thinking abundantly and more creatively, which is what was at the heart and soul of my talk, then I really believe it's an opportunity and a journey for everyone to improve and enjoy their time well while they are here. Well, Neal, I know we're getting close to the end here. For me, that's why I think everyone should be looking at life and for our listeners out there, raised on to look at, how do you wake up in the morning? What do you think about when you wake up in the morning? Are you optimistic? Are you pessimistic? Do you wake up in the morning knowing that you have certain disciplines? Are you going to get consistency up in your life? Or are you waking up and just doing things that will never serve you to a higher place of where you truly want to be? I want people to really think about that. Neal, I really, really appreciate you being live with me, because number one, I care for you dearly, I love who you are, I love the teachings and the brilliance of who you are. If people want to learn more about you, where could they find more information about you Neal and what you do? Thank you, that's very kind. My website is www.worldclassconnections.com and I'm considering to add to my library I'm out there now on YouTube having done some interviews and looking forward to doing more speaking et cetera. Fantastic Neal. Neal I really appreciate your time, it's been my privilege to actually do this interview with you. I trust that listeners got a ton of value. Most important thing, and you'll hear this in the extra listeners, is make sure you take action, even one or two nuggets that you get from today, make sure you implement it, because remember knowledge is not power, knowledge is only potential power. Implementation is where the power is, so thank you so much for being on with us, thank you for listening. Make sure you're listening next week as well, and if you haven't, make sure you go back to the previous podcast, listen to the earlier episodes. Neal thank you so much for being on, thank you for your time and thank you for blessing us with your brilliance. It's been an honor and a privilege and I wanted to say, I am so impressed with you and I look forward to many happy years of getting to know you even better. Thank you so much and I look forward to connecting deeper with you as well. Thank you so much Neal. Thank you, thank you very much. Ways to contact Neal: Website: worldclassconnections.com

Interview with Les Brown Hugh: Hi, this is Hugh Ballou again, and this is a very special episode of The Nonprofit Exchange. I have over here my good friend, Les Brown. And Les is going to share with you this movement that he has initiated. Over here, my new friend Tamara Hartley. Les? Les: Yes? Hugh: We have been capturing ideas on the storyboards about this project that you have got in mind. Tell people what this project is. Les: It's a project that is designed to make a greater impact on people on the general population and helping people to develop the tools, mindset, skillset, and collaborative, achievement-driven relationships that will allow them to create the greatest version of themselves. This is the era that the late Peter Drucker calls the Era of the 3 C's: accelerated Change, overwhelming Complexity, and then Competition. With all the changes taking place with technology—according to the Department of Labor, over 20,000 people are losing their jobs every day, and 50% of the jobs that now exist can be done by robots—when we look at the advance of artificial intelligence and cheap labor abroad, people literally are now in an entrepreneur's era, and they have to begin to expand their skillset so they will be able to handle what is required to be in this global economy where accelerated change is taking place. Hugh: It is so true. You see it happening every day. Les: Yes. Hugh: Every day, there is massive changes. You have a special passion for those people who are incarcerated and continue to be incarcerated. Talk about that. Les: We incarcerate more people in America than anyplace else in the world. We are making people bitter rather than better. I believe that we have to develop a higher level of consciousness on how we deal with people that have made some bad choices. My goal is, to people that are incarcerated, if prisons will allow me, to have my programs in the prison that will change their mindset, teach them how to become an effective communicator, how to develop positive, collaborative, achievement-driven, supportive relationships, how to earn money online as entrepreneurs, and how to dress like a prospect rather than a suspect. Hugh: A prospect rather than a suspect. Les: Yes, because the truth is, when people get a criminal background, they are not going to get any jobs. If they do, those jobs won't pay much money. These individuals are not going to starve to death. They are going to find a way to feed themselves. As a result, that is why the recidivism rate is over 80%. If you had a factory that was producing products, and 80% of the products came back defective, you wouldn't continue to use that process. There has been a slight change in how we are dealing with people that have made some bad choices in our society. Rather than throwing money at caging them, they are now looking at the possibility of helping them to learn how to read because over 76% of them are functional illiterates, giving them the skillset and giving them some support to help them to be reintegrated into society. If you go to jail, you can't stay in public housing. If you apply for a job, you have to put down that you have a criminal background. Most employers will say, “We'll call you. Don't call us.” They are penalized throughout their lives, even after they have paid their debt to society. That's not fair. My mother was once incarcerated. She sold home brew and moonshine and wrote numbers when she could no longer work at the M&M cafeteria. That was a tough time. I became a man at ten years old as a result of that. Seven children in a house that no longer had the guardian, the person who took care of us. She adopted seven of us. She said that she made a commitment when she did that that we would never go to bed hungry, and we did not. We would always have a roof over our head, and we did have that. That was a gaff in our lives that was very painful and challenging. There are a lot of good people who made some bad choices, and I believe the world consists of the caught and the uncaught. I have made some bad decisions in my life. I did some stupid things when I was younger. Thank God I didn't get caught. I believe that God was looking out for me because when I go to the bathroom, I leave the door open a crack. I do it all the time. What did Retta say? If you can't do the time, don't commit the crime. Hugh: Les Brown, you have this magical ability to put concepts into powerful words and to communicate it to people. I have been in groups that have just been so excited. I know that people write you and people speak to you about how you have inspired them. Something you said, and the content you gave them, gave them substance to get them out of where they were. It's a mind shift, isn't it? Les: No question. To put it in another context, you are expanding their vision of themselves. When people are going through a tough time, they have a tendency to expand and exaggerate the circumstances they are going through. When I speak, my goal is to expand your vision of yourself, to begin to see that there is greatness in you, that you are greater than your circumstances. You are better than anything you are going through now or in the future. You have to affirm to yourself. I have dealt with cancer on a regular basis for 21 years. My affirmation is: “This will not get the best of me.” I have to say this to myself, “I refuse to allow this to live in my life. I am stronger than this.” We have to, I believe, program ourselves and talk to ourselves to get through the stuff we are dealing with because things are going to happen to us. Forrest Gump is right, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get.” Greater is He that is in us and the He that is in the world as a presence. There is a power that we all have within ourselves that we have not been trained how to access so that we can rise above what we are going through and live our lives from the inside out rather than living our lives from the outside in. You have to discipline yourself not to get caught up and buy into what I call the weapons of mass distractions. There are so many things that will distract you and tell you that you can't handle this or deal with this. You have to harness your will. You have to say to yourself, “I am going to get through this.” When life has been kicking my butt, no matter how bad it is, I have an affirmation, “I am going to make it.” When I say that, I think about my mother because she went through some tough times, raising seven children that she didn't give birth to. She had a third grade education, was a domestic worker, and had arthritis. She would say, “Arthur is bothering me.” I would ask her, “Mama, who is Arthur? You are always talking about Arthur.” She said, “Don't worry. If you live long enough, you'll find out.” I have Arthur in my right butt. In my behind. You know what I mean? On the right side. I was at a church service, and this lady was a healer. So I decided to get in line. She asked, “Can I help you?” I said, “Well, just touch me at the top of my head, and the healing power will go through my whole body.” She said, “I want direct impact.” I said, “Well, I have prostate cancer, and I have arthritis in my right butt.” She said, “Touching means the same.” She was not going to touch me in the groin. Hugh: Oh my. Les: This is real, I'm telling you. She gave me some prayer cards, which I still have in my underwear right now. I was going back and forth on the stage. I saw people laughing and looking past me. This was in Detroit. I asked, “What are you laughing at?” These prayer cards that I had paid $3 for had slipped out of my pants, and I had a line of prayer cards going across the stage. I said, “You all can laugh if you want.” I picked them up and put them right in my underwear. 21 years of kicking cancer's butt. Hugh: Your whole life is changing the paradigm because of your determination and your vision for yourself. Les: Yes. Hugh: We are in Cleveland, Ohio. We spent a chunk of yesterday letting you download your vision. This is a foundation that you are starting, but it's bigger than that. It's more like a movement. You are talking about 80% return to prison. That is a crisis. Les: Yes. Hugh: And you're doing something about it. This is an official notice. We haven't named it, but you are launching the Les Brown Foundation that provides support. You are going to invite people to participate in this movement with you. We are in this room in Ohio, and we have had some really powerful conversations. This is a huge vision, Les. I have worked with charities for 31 years. This is the top of the heap. This is powerful. Why am I here, and why is Tamara here? Les: The two of you have a skillset that I don't have. You are very knowledgeable and experienced in this area of how to set up a nonprofit, along with Sherita Herring. Part of what I want to do, two people that I know who have integrity and experience and the skillset and other relationships that I don't have, and that can teach me. I have asked for help, not because I am weak, but because I want to remain strong. Ask for help, but don't stop until you get it. I could have gone on to set up a nonprofit; a lot of people do that. But I wanted to do it in the right way. I wanted to have a system and a level of transparency. When people contribute to the work that we are going to be doing, they will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the money is going where we said it will go. I believe that when you are going to do something of this magnitude, you need people in your corner that can help you do that, that know things that you don't know, and can set it up the right way so you can accelerate your level of success. You and Tamara are two individuals I strongly believe in. I met you at CEO Space. When we look at putting something together that will outlast you—to me, greatness is living your life in such a way that the things that you create, as one Russian author said, will not be undone or destroyed after you're gone. We are only here for a limited amount of time. I had a plan of doing an event with Wayne Dyer, and we talked about doing a PBS Special. We put it off for several months. He finally called me and said, “I am coming to Orlando. Let's get together and do this PBS special.” Two days later, he had a massive heart attack. We have to seize the moment. I am 72. I look much younger because I don't believe in gray hair. There is no shade in my gait. I travel around with mascara in my pocket. If any gray hair comes out, I will touch it up in a heartbeat. The only three gray hairs that show up are in my eyelashes because I haven't figured out how to do that yet. But I'm thinking about working on getting me some Mary Kay and hooking this stuff up. My goal now is about leaving a legacy. What will be different because I came this way? I have been thinking about that as a 21-year cancer conqueror, because of God's grace and mercy. My goal is to live a life that they could say, This guy, because of his passion and his commitment to help transform people's lives, like somebody transformed his life, he made an impact. There are people as a result of going through his training or hearing him speak that they were never the same as a result of being in his presence. I want to make my life mean something. Most people after they die, about two or three weeks later, because their lives were so inconsequential, they just worked a job, paid the bills, and took care of the family. One day, they were out of here. I don't want it like that. I remember talking to my daughter on the telephone, and she said, “Dad, I am here in traffic, and there is a policeman on a motorcycle in the middle of the road. He is obviously stopping traffic for a funeral procession to come by.” I said, “Okay.” She said, “I think I'm going to be here a minute.” All of a sudden, she said, “Whoa, wow.” I said, “What's wrong?” She said, “Nothing's wrong. A hearse just went through. Only one car was behind it. When I die, Dad, I want, because of how I live my life, there to be a long procession of cars and people coming out to celebrate my life, that I was here in the difference I made for them.” I said, “I understand that.” That is what I want. When I go, people will come out to celebrate my life because I did some good stuff. As evil prevails, a lot of good men and women do nothing. There is a lot of good that all of us can do. But one of the things that I think about often, a lady that flew over from Australia for me to train her in speaking, I asked her, “Why did you select me? There are a lot of people all over the world.” She said, “I saw you on YouTube speaking in the Georgia Dome, and you speak from your heart. Therefore, I want to learn how to speak from the heart as well.” I said, “I can teach you how to do that.” Then I stopped and said, “What is your why? What is the reason you want to discover your power voice?” She said, “When I saw Dylann Roof, a young white kid who went to an African-American church and killed nine black people, “I felt there should be another person on his side standing before the judge. He was not born with that level of hatred in him. Somebody was in his ear. Somebody twisted his mind.” Then she paused and said, “I believe the world is as it is not because a few people are violent. I believe the world is as it is because too many people are silent.” When she said that, that really grabbed me. That gave me goose bumps. I want my voice and the voices of the people I train to be a chorus to create a different kind of mindset on the planet. I believe that can be done in our lifetime. Hugh: What we are here to set up is a way for people not only to be at your celebration for your life, but to continue the celebration. In Africa, there is a saying, “When a man dies, they burn his library.” We are not burning your library. We are building it up. Les: In fact, put them in my casket with me. I tell my kids, “When I die, don't let them do anything with me until you come down to the morgue to identify my body. To make sure that I'm gone, put a microphone in my hand. If I don't sit up and say, ‘You're gonna be hungry,' you can say that Dad's gone.” “How do you know he's gone? Did you check his pulse?” “No, we put a microphone in his hand and his mouth was still closed.” Hugh: Oh man. You have touched the lives of so many people in person. Like you said, your YouTube and Facebook and videos that are online, people view them. When I say Les Brown to people, they are like, “Oh yeah, I saw that video.” That is one way to live on. But what I have discovered, I have known you for a number of years, and you mentioned CEO Space. I have had to follow you twice on stage. Les: You called me your opening act. Hugh: That's right. You gave me a high five. I knew you'd either love it or hate it. Les: I thought you were quick on your feet. I saw another speaker, this former mayor of Detroit, Colman Young. He had to speak to a group of cosmetologists, all of these females. As he was coming up on the platform, he tripped and fell. Everybody gasped. When he got himself together and came up to the microphone, he said, “Obviously I have fallen for you.” I said, “You go, boy.” That was awesome. Hugh: In this last day, my appreciation for Les Brown has grown deeper, not only for your ability to recall tons of profound quotes that are relevant to what we are talking about, but also the depth of your knowledge, perception, and experience. You know what you're talking about, and you have paid the price. I knew that. Now I really know that. I always believed it. I know because I had to follow you that you made me a better me. The first time you talked and left, and I had to come speak an hour or so later, I was getting dressed, and I was trembling. You had this group going, man. They cooled off and came back and were like, “Who is Hugh Ballou?” I looked in the mirror and I said to myself, “You're going to go out there, and you're going to be Hugh Ballou.” I had the inspiration from me from that session. Because you triggered something in me, and I gave myself permission to be me. You talked about that earlier. I can really understand, when you say helping people to access that greatness within them, which you talk about in a number of ways, I am paraphrasing my hearing it—I want to say to people I have known you for a while, I have known your content. I have a whole deeper level of appreciation. What this movement is about, you are creating a foundation to be able to provide resources for those people that are trapped. 80% return to prison, I heard you say. Les: Yes. Hugh: And we are talking about doing a teen program because they get into a cycle that is going to lead them there. There is the training to help people break the cycle, but you are also helping people not get in the cycle. You have some outstanding programs. Les: I want you to pause. We decide the number of prisons that we are going to build based upon the failure rate of African-American students in the third grade. Based upon that. I say if we can track failure, we can also track success. Rather than tracking people to find out what number of kids are going to drop out in the third grade, and that will tell us the number of prisons based on those numbers we extract to build, we can decide we are going to do an intervention here, and we will give them the tools that they need to transform their mindset; teach them how to become effective communicators; teach them how to develop collaborative, achievement-driven, supportive relationships; teach them how to use the Internet; to be taught or learn how to use money online and become entrepreneurs; and teach them how to dress like a prospect rather than a suspect. I was looking at television, and they had these police arrests live. They arrested this guy whose pants were below his butt. They said, “Pull those pants up.” There is a comedian years ago on television. He had a bag over his head. If you hear a guy with a bag over his head, that would be me right through the shopping mall with a big belt and popping these butts with these pants hanging so low. I don't even have to say to pull your pants up because they will pull them up after that. That will be me. That is a level of insanity to be in that. My goal is to eradicate the age to addiction and incarceration death syndrome. The sagging started in the prisons. I had to speak in a prison a few months ago. I used to challenge young men to come on stage, and I would pay them $1,000 if they could do more pushups than me. At the time, I did 142 pushups consecutively. I went into this prison, and I asked these young guys who came into the room. They had the pants sagging. I said, “Hey, I'm an old man. Why do you wear the pants the way you do? What do you call that?” They said, “Sagging.” I said, “Sagging?” They said, “Yeah.” “How do you spell that?” “S-a-g-g-i-n.” I said, “Wow, saggin'.” If you can determine what a man will think, you will never have to concern yourself with what he will do. If you can make a man feel inferior and never have to compel him to seek an inferior status, for he will seek it himself, and if he can make a man feel justly an outcast, never have to order him to go to the back door, he will go without being told. If there is no door his very nature will demand one. I said, “Spell it again.” “S-a-g-g-i-n.” I said, “Good. Flip it. Spell it backwards.” They paused for a moment and said, “Whoa.” I said, “Yeah. That's how you're dressing. Yeah. That is your vision of yourself. Yeah. You think that's cool? Yeah.” Let me tell you something. When I left there, there was no saggin'. They pulled their pants up. I never had to tell them. I believe that people are as they are because if we knew better, we would do better. We have created a culture that is an entertainment-driven culture. The average immigrant who comes to the United States has a four times' greater chance of creating wealth, buying a home, and having their own business. Why? Even though they can't speak the language and don't know the culture, when they hit the ground, they are hungry. They came here to achieve. Immigrants have an achievement-driven mindset. We as Americans are spoiled. We are spoiled. Are we perfect? No. But there are things we have that we take for granted. I have traveled to over 40 countries. When I am coming through security, I say, “God bless America.” I am so glad to get back home. We are blessed. We live on the greatest country on the planet. My goal is to help people overcome the psychic disrepair that this culture has created in many cases, to help them to discover the truth of who they are that will empower them to make choices that will free them from living a small life, from infecting people with their mediocrity and begin to affect people with their greatness. Hugh: Powerful. Part of why I came and Tamara came was the brilliance that we see when you are influencing people on stage and in person. I heard you coaching people on the phone yesterday. It's like they are the only person in the world. You give them such focus, love, and attention. I can't imagine why they wouldn't want to go on and be successful. You have a real, genuine interest in people. You actually care about- Everybody I've seen you with, you really care about them. You have a huge segment, and to be able to create sustainability, the Les Brown influence is the catalyst. What you're creating is programs, mentoring, accountability, a whole system to help people stay on a track. Les: Yes. T.D. Jake said something I agree with. He said, “There is no success without successors.” We learn, we earn, and you pass it on. I am in this stage now to pass on the things that I have learned. I was on a plane, and they had to have an emergency landing. I became ill on the plane. I remember being on the floor after they pulled me out of my chair, and I was going in and out of consciousness. I remember saying to myself, “God, don't let me die now around these strangers with the knowledge that I have to transform kids' lives. Please give me some more time to do the work that I feel You have given me to do.” When we landed in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the emergency crew came on the plane with all of their instruments, they wanted to put a paddle on my chest and the guy said, “Hey, wait a minute. You, mister. I know you. You are that man who help people deliver their dreams. I got this job because of you.” He put the oxygen mask on me. “Be gentle with him as you take him up. He's got people's lives he must change. He can't go now.” I mean, the tears begin to fall from my eyes. What are the chances? They say coincidence is God's way of being anonymous. God was affirming to me that my work is not done, I have touched more people than I will ever know. He was talking to me as I was going out. He said, “How is Gladys doing?” I tell you, this has been an exciting journey. I have grown. People have blessed me in so many ways. I am here because there were people who believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. I teach that sometimes you have to believe in somebody's belief in you until your belief kicks in. Hugh: Yes, sir. My wife has a saying that somebody believed in her when I was nothing but potential, and I can say that, too. Les: Yes. Nothing but potential. Hugh: Tamara is here. You picked up the phone, called us, and said, “Let's get together.” So we came. You are a man of influence. Leaders are a lot of things, but number one, leaders are influencers. You influence us as well as the rest. Tamara has a real high-level consulting career. She is leaving that to come and help put this together and make sure it is done right. Why did you say yes to being a part of this- I'm going to call it a movement, is that all right? Why, Tamara, did you say yes to this? Tamara: When we talk about Les Brown in my house, you should hear what me and my husband say. My husband is so supportive of me going with Les Brown, helping him with his vision. He says, “You're not just doing this for Les Brown; you're doing it for the world.” He has influence over the world. That is extremely important. I get excited about his vision, the things he wants to do. I am a mother of four. I understand the mindset and how important it is to change people's mindsets, particularly in children. With my own children, I teach them who they really are. Sometimes it works against me. I have a 13-year-old son, and I promise you when he was about nine years old, my girls had gone out and he stayed home. I asked them, “Why don't you take your brother with you?” They said that he is staying home today to work on his back flip. I said, “His back flip?” “Yeah, he is down in the basement working on his back flip.” I say, “He can't do a back flip?” I go downstairs and ask him, “Son, what are you doing?” He said, “Don't worry. I am not doing the back flips yet. I am working on it in my mind.” I said, “What?” He said, “You said if I put my mind to it, I can do anything.” You know what? You're right. Let's both of us put our minds on lessons before back flipping in the basement. Having four children and seeing their growth and actually inputting the things I put into them, I know how important it is to work on mindset. When Les talks about the mindset of children and incarcerated persons, I wholeheartedly believe in that, and I want to help flesh out his vision. You have a visionary, you have a details person, we work well together. Hugh: As part of my series, I interviewed Cal Turner. Cal Turner went to his executive team at Dollar General and said, “My dad founded this company. I got this job because of my genes, not because of my skill. But I have the vision. You got the skill. We're going public.” They went public, and it was very successful. They sold it later, and everybody received a lot of rewards for that. They all stepped up because he let them step up because he was the influencer and the visionary. He said to me, “Hugh, leadership is about defining your gaps and finding really good people to fill them.” That is part of my leadership education program now. Cal has influenced me. He is older than us, just a little bit, but he is still out there sharing his wisdom. It's not about you asking for help. It's about you being a good leader, saying, “Here is my expertise.” What she just pointed out, you have the vision, you have the goods, and she has the details. I am pleased to be a part of this project. I am a NASCAR fan. They go faster when they draft together. Les: Absolutely. One of the things that leaders also do is they are perpetually engaged in the process of a talent hunt, looking for people who have talent, skills, resources, access, and credibility that you don't have. We can't do the things we want to do by ourselves. One goose can fly 75% further in formation with other geese that it could never fly by itself. Part of my training is I teach people to practice the principle of OQP, only quality people. Dr. Dennis said, “If you are the smartest one in your group, you need to get a new group.” I have seen Tamara. I know about her leadership skills, her integrity, her commitment, and she is a person who can get things done. She has propensity for detail. That is opposite of me. I am not a details person. My skill is in speaking and training people how to speak, but she knows how to put systems in to place, and complemented with your skills and knowledge, we will be able to build something that will outlive us. It will be part of the future we cannot see. That is why I am excited about this new chapter in my life, building something that will outlast me and will be here long after I'm gone, that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren—I have three great-grandsons. My goal is to build something that will continuously transform people's lives. My children share this vision as well and work with me. I am excited about what we can produce working with you and Tamara and also with the skillset and mindset of Sherita Herring. I believe what we are putting together is going to be an incredible movement that people can see, believe in, sink their teeth into, that they want to support. We are going to train young people. My goal is to help young people develop a different kind of mindset, to reduce the bullying and suicide rates. Suicide among young people has increased over 300%. According to the Center for Disease out of Atlanta, over 3,000 people committed suicide last year in this country. More people died from suicide than traffic accidents. In the land of opportunity, where people try to outswim sharks to get here or outrun jeeps barefooted to get here, I believe that is the result of lack of hope. When there is hope in the future, that gives you power in the present. When you combine hope, methods, and collaborative achievement-driven supportive relationships, that when people take some hits, and we are all going to have some hits. We will help people to weather those storms. We will help people to have the wherewithal to weather those hits, and they will come from so many places. One doctor looked at me and said three words no one ever wants to hear, “You have cancer,” those three most feared words in seven languages. I asked, “Can you get me a second opinion?” He said, “Yes, and you are ugly, too.” Hugh: We did some drilling down on the sustainability, the continuity of this. We are going to invite people to be part of this tribe, to take on the programs. But you are going to train trainers to train other trainers. As far as the youth go, they are going to have peer-to-peer training. We are going to build a cadre of student leaders who will speak in a very different way to their peers. I think your pleasure is to start with those who are incarcerated because it is such a crisis and jails are full. Les: They are. When you look at the jails, the juvenile detention centers, the prisons at both the state and federal level, the numbers are staggering. When we look at the things we can do to give them the support and the tools they need, and the mindset that you are worth something- If you are in a prison, you are not even recognized by your name but your number. The system as it is is designed to destroy a person's sense of self. They treat them like animals. They get out and act like animals. We can do better than that. We are the United States of America. When we look at young people today, and their behavior… I was on a bus to the airport. They have those shuttles. A lady got on with her mother, and her mother is a senior citizen. She was holding a small baby, and the mother was like eight months pregnant. You know those shuttles. They are rocky and not sturdy. If you are a pregnant woman, I got up and offered her my seat. She gladly sat down. There is a young guy sitting there. I said, “Brother, do you mind giving this lady your seat?” I was talking about the grandmother holding the baby. He said, “Hey, I paid my money just like she did,” and he wouldn't get up. I just said, “Wow.” I felt bad for him. I said to myself, “When I see these young guys with pants below their butt or they are disrespectful and have no sense of decency, I get angry with myself. I need to multiply my self through other people so that someone else can get in their ear other than what they are listening to every day that does not give them a vision of themselves in the future and keeps them in a very limited mindset.” It's all about mindset. He thinks, and so as he continues to think, so he remains. We spend no money on the county level, city level, state level on transforming mindsets. Not anything. That is where everything begins. We know that. They did a study on some top achievers around the world, over 3,000. They wanted to know what the common denominator was among them that caused them to reach their goals. They discovered that 85% of them reached their goals because of their attitude, 15% because of their aptitude. The training that we are going to provide is to train a trainer so that this is not surrounding and driven by a personality, but by systems and people who have a vision for our kids in the future, living in a global economy and operating at a higher level of consciousness where they can live a life of contribution as opposed to a life of liabilities. Hugh: James Allen said—you triggered a quote—in his book A Man Thinketh, “People want to change their circumstances and are unwilling to change themselves. They therefore remain bound.” Les: Yes, bound and stuck. That is where all the transformation takes place, in the mind. He also said something: You can't destroy negative thoughts. They are like weeds. You can overpower them for a period of time, but once you stop doing the things that you do to get the clutter and the negative things out of your mind, then those negative thoughts come back with a vengeance and are stronger. When I had a talk show, King World paid me $5 million. I became so busy and caught up and preparing to be on television and going through the training to be before the camera that I stopped my ritual of reading 30-40 pages every day. I stopped my ritual of listening to Earl Nightingale and Jim Rowan and Zig Ziglar and Tony Robbins and other speakers every day because I was so busy preparing for television. Those negative thoughts came back. I forgot who I was. I was disconnected from my power. I just was not myself until after the program was cancelled. I took a hit. Things happened during that particular time, and I was not prepared to handle them. My best friend died. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and passed. I went through a divorce when I was married to Gladys. At that time, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. All of these things happened within 3-4 months. Had I been in my ritual, I would have been knocked down, but I would have been knocked out that I popped. One thing I encourage people to do is maintenance work to maintain that level of consciousness so that when things happen to you, you can handle it. We have the ability to handle it. Dr. Howard Thurman, who was a mentor to Martin Luther King Jr and Mahatma Gandhi, he wrote Deep is the Hunger and The Voice of the Genuine, “There is something in each and every one of us that waits and listens for the voice of the genuine in ourselves. It will be perhaps the only guide we ever have or hear. If we cannot hear it all of our life, our days will be spent on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.” When you live your life from the inside out, you are literally saying, “Nobody, no circumstances, no situation will pull the strings of my mindset, my attitude, and how I feel about who I am and how I show up in life.” A profound thinker. Hugh: Part of the track that you are laying down is that nurture that helps people not only continue learning, but also to stay on the track. You talked about four programs that you have now and have more in mind. What is the background on why you developed those? What are the circumstances around them? They are powerful programs. EDITED AND PULLED (46:15) Les: I was a state legislator in Columbus, Ohio. I was elected to three terms. I became chairman of the Human Resource committee and the Education committee. I was a very controversial disc jockey, educating people on the things that maintain our detriment in the ‘80s, doing editorials, legislating against police brutality and the deadly use of force. When I was in the legislature, a guy named Clarence King—who had worked with Werner Erhard to create an organization called est—one of the great icons of the South development, he came and sat in the legislature to watch me. He had heard about me being an effective communicator, and he had gotten a contract under the Carter Administration called PIC, Private Industry Council, to train people on welfare, how to transition from welfare to working and being self-sufficient. But he could not get them to be open to that. He saw me and asked me, “Would you come down and talk to them so that you can get them in the mindset to be open to what I could provide for them? If they can do that, I can train them and transform their lives from the inside out, but I can't get them to listen.” I came down and observed. He hired me as a consultant. My job was to come in first and train them. When I spoke at graduation, I went in a room three times, and I didn't realize it was the same group of people. They were so transformed in how they were dressed, how clean-shaven they were. They looked like businesspeople. My God, I wanted to learn how to do that. When you speak, you only have 30 minutes to an hour, but I wanted to do more than just speak and leave. These people started doing the same thing they did before I came there. I wanted to be able to create an experience that people will be preeminently transformed for and have the tools and coaches in place to review, repeat, and reinforce the principles that change their mindset. So I became a student of this, me and my mentor Mike Williams who wrote the book called The Road to Your Best Stuff. I started studying and reading everybody that put anything out there dealing with the mind. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive thinking. Zig Ziglar, See You at the Top. Winston Churchill, The Truth is Incontrovertible. Alice Metack, AT the end there it is. The New Psycho-Cibernetics. The Secret of the Ages, Robert Collier. Earl Nightingale, The Strangest Secret in the World. I read these books. I listened to these recordings, and I decided I was going to master this. What I discovered from all these guys I studied, they had the complexion of connection. I had the complexion of rejection. So I could do all the things they told me to do, but I still wasn't going to get that promotion. So I said, Wait a minute. I had to go back to the drawing board. How did Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman- “Pray as if everything depends upon God, but work as if everything depends upon you.” I needed to know, What do you do if you are in a system that is stacked against you? How are you going to make it against all odds? I remember John H. Johnson in his book Succeeding Against the Odds said, “There is no defense against excellence that meets a pressing public need. When you have the complexion of rejection, you have to hold yourself to a higher standard, and you have to be committed to make it happen no matter what.” You told me an incredibly inspiring story that drives my life. In 1961, John F. Kennedy asked Wernher von Braun, “What will it take for us to beat the Russians to the moon?” He said five words, and he decided to call a news conference just on those five words. He decided to risk the embarrassment of the United States of America by proclaiming to the world that we are going to the moon in ten years. We did it in eight years. Those five words were, “The will to do it.” I believe that if you are faced with being laid off; if you are going through a divorce; if you have been diagnosed with a terminal illness; if we want to reduce the teenage pregnancy rate, the dropout rate, the recidivism rate, we must incorporate those five words, the will to do it. Everything I believe comes out of that. You are going to have some resistance. You will encounter some obstacles or setbacks, but if you have a will—where there is a will, there is a way. Jesus said, “Whoseever will, let him come.” If you have that mindset, there is an energy, there is a release of power and a presence in you that will allow you to overcome what appears to be insurmountable odds and do things that you don't even know you can do right now. I've seen some things, and I've been around. I've seen a thing or two. So I know these principles work. They work with me. They work with my children; I use them as guinea pigs. And it's exciting and fun. In this stage of my life, there are people who are listening right now who can hear me in their ears, but there are a few who can hear me in their heart. Because we all have an energy signature, there are certain people when you speak, they will hear you in their heart. If they heard Tamara or me, they will only hear us in their ears because of your energy signature, something about you. I believe that as we begin to duplicate ourselves and train people and get more voices and troops on the ground giving a message of hope and peace, and create a new conversation to create a different vision of how people see themselves and show up in life, that as we begin to increase those numbers, we will decrease the level of violence and mediocrity. We will decrease the things in our society that are maintaining our detriment. As we look at the words of Elsie Robinson, “Things happen around you and things happen to you, but the only things that really count are the things that happen in you.” When people are stirred up and ignited to become a force for God, to be an instrument, to operate out of a thinking that “the least that you do unto these my brethren, you do it also unto me,” and that you have, as Horace Mann said, “We should be ashamed to die until we have made some major contribution to humankind.” Operating out of that sense of oneness that drove Mrs. Rosa Parks to step up for herself and refuse to get up and give a white person her seat and was incarcerated, there was something in her that said, “I ought to do this on this particular day” and was a defining moment in history. We all have defining moments in our lives. Denzel Washington was in a movie and said, “There are things in life that happen, and it appears like slow motion. There is before this, and there is after this. After this, nothing will ever be the same again.” When I think about Mr. Lou I. Washington, I was in his class my junior year in school. He taught me to work out a problem on the board, and I said, “I'm not one of your students. I'm here to see MacArthur Stevens.” He said, “Doesn't matter. Do what I'm telling you anyhow.” I said, “I can't, sir.” The other kids started laughing. He said, “You see, he has a twin brother, Wesley. He's smart. He's the dumb twin.” I said, “I am, sir.” He came from behind his desk as they erupted in laughter. I was standing there, tears in my eyes with humiliation. He said, “Don't ever say that again. Someone's opinion of you does not have to become your reality.” That was a transforming moment in my life. Even though I've never known my birth parents, this guy became like my spiritual father. I told Tamara, “I need to meet your mama because you look so much like me.” But he taught me how to tell time. I wanted to be like him. I watched him. He was an eloquent speaker. He was a speech and drama teacher. He influenced me. My goal is- I have a lot of spiritual sons and daughters out there who have adopted me and I have adopted them. I adopted Mr. Washington. I remember eulogizing him and being at the celebration of his life. I watched his sons from an angle. When I spoke, they looked up at me, and none of his children spoke. We called him the great communicator. I realized something as I watched them: Even though he was their father, I knew a part of him that they never knew. I saw something in him that they never saw. That to me is one of the mysteries of life. How is it that people can be raised in a certain circumstance and end up dramatically different? Mr. Washington had thousands of kids, but he only had one Les Brown. So my goal before leaving the planet is: There are some other Les Browns out there who will do what I've done and will go even further, who will do more. They should do greater things. In this stage of my life, I am looking for people who are hungry to do the greater work. Hugh: Tamara and I have agreed to be the arms and legs for this movement. You are the influencer. You have created magical content, and we are going to put it in a form that is accessible for more people. We are going to help you put together a plan so that people know how they can support this. There are a lot of ways for people to support it. One way is to join your tribe. There are lots of ways we are going to roll out in time. We are going to roll this out gradually. The first stage is to get some funding in. We have a link. Is it the Les Brown Foundation? Tamara: Yes, it's lesbrownfoundation.com and lesbrownfoundation.org. We have both. Hugh: Yes. We will have it set up to revert to a page so people can vote with dollars. They want to be a part of seeing this come to reality. The dollars are like putting gas in the car. It will make this run. There is no limit to the influence this movement can have and the impact it is going to have on our country. Just think of all those people who could be productive, who could get out of that cycle. We have done a whole lot of work in a short period of time. You are very clear. We were able to capture this vision and put some tactics around it and create a strategy that other people can understand. Is there a piece of this we haven't touched on that you think we need to share with people? Tamara: Just listening to his vision and getting people excited about what we're doing is super important. I relaly think we have done a good job of rolling it out. Visit the website, see how you can support it. I think we have done a great job telling it today. Les: I encourage people to go to the mindset and invest in this movement we are creating. It's helping me to seal my deal with God. I remember saying, “God, if You help me get up off this floor,” when they have an emergency landing on a plane, they only do it if you are dead or dying. So I had a colonoscopy, and I got on a plane three days later and had internal bleeding I didn't know I had. I remember when they said, “Is there a doctor on board?” and I had passed out in my chair and they laid me on the floor. They said that the guy came and checked my pulse and I had blood on the floor under me. His hands were soaked with blood from the internal bleeding that was coming out. He said, “We need to make an emergency landing.” They said, “It will only take us two and a half hours more to Detroit.” He said, “If you're going to do that, then just strap him on the seat in the back and call the morgue and have them waiting. He won't make it there.” That is when they made that emergency landing, and this guy who was a part of the emergency team said, “Hey, I know you, mister. You're that man who helps people live their dreams. I got this job because of you.” But I promised God. I said, “If You help me get through this, I'm going to go back to where I started.” I started out training youth and training in prisons. Marysville Penitentiary and Ohio Penitentiary. Jails and prisons across the country. I said, “I promise I will do Your will.” This allows me to seal that deed. I'm still here. I made a deal with God. I gave Him my word. “If You help me overcome this, I will be used by You to make this world a better place until I take my last breath.” That's what I want to do: make people feel good, laugh, know that I am not playing with a full deck, and make a difference, make a mark. We are very blessed to be in this country and to be a blessing to others. Naomi Brown, God took me out of my biological mother's womb and placed me in the arms of my adopted mother. I am here because of two women. One gave me life, and the other one gave me love. So I am grateful to both of them. I feel that I was chosen for this. There is a time I couldn't admit that. but I have had too many things, signs I have seen, that I know that a hand has been on my life. My steps have been ordered. Things I was encouraged to do and to learn. I don't know where that came from. But I believe it's a calling. Sometimes it takes you some time to recognize it. It's a humbling experience, to feel that you have been chosen for something. So I am humbled because of that. Hugh: Les Brown. Les: Yes? Hugh: Thank you for saying yes to this. Les: Thank you and Tamara for saying yes to me and helping me do this. I appreciate you very much, more than you know. that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it. Hugh: Thank y'all for being here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jim Rowan talks about his journey from Demolay to Grand Lodge and the influence of his father, grandfather and uncles. Recorded January 17th, 2016