How To Think With Dan Henry

In this video, I talk with the legendary Alex Hormozi, the co-founder of Acquisition.com which brings in $100 million per year. We cover the key pratfalls of the entrepreneurial mind, including how to shift out of these mindsets, and even tactics that can drastically help your business go to the next level. This interview is full of tactics that you can implement TODAY like shifting your focus, playing to your strengths, and by knowing what "effort" actually means. An insanely informative interview, plus you get great work out tips as a bonus. ►Where to follow Alex Hormozi: Acquisition.com: www.acquisition.com Instagram: @hormozi Facebook: facebook.com/HormoziAlex Twitter: twitter.com/AlexHormozi Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderhormozi

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 >>> Get Daily Success Mentoring By Becoming A Member At How To Think<<<------Are you considering starting a podcast? Maybe you’ve been putting it off because of your busy schedule… Maybe you’re unsure of the next steps to take… The idea of starting your podcast may feel overwhelming, and you might be wondering just how much a podcast could benefit you and your business… Your podcast can be the ultimate networking and sales tool for your business when you learn this simple but effective strategy that will allow you to grow your business and attract more clients even without a large following. If you have been putting off starting your podcast, this is for you! In this episode, I talk with Sebastian Rusk about how he learned to use his podcast as the ultimate networking and sales tool! Sebastian shares his unique podcasting strategy that will allow you to learn how to use your podcast to create solid relationships, expand your business network, grow your business by attracting clients through your podcast, and so much more!  In this episode, Sebastian and I cover:How To Create Revenue With A Small PodcastHow To Build Your Business Through Your PodcastWhy Networking Can Create OpportunityWho Should Be Interviewed On Your PodcastHow To Gain Clients Through Your PodcastWhy Your Podcast Is The Ultimate Sales And Networking ToolWhat Is The Biggest Lesson You Can Learn From Gary V If you got value from what you heard here, please be sure to subscribe and rate this podcast! Bonus points for you if you write a review! ;)  — SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW — Subscribe to Dan’s YouTube ChannelFollow Dan on FacebookFollow Dan on InstagramFollow Dan on TwitterClick Here To Get Daily Success Mentoring By Becoming A Member At How To Think — TRANSCRIPT — Dan Henry: (00:00)Hey, everybody, Dan Henry here. And in today's episode of the, How To Think podcast, we sat down with Sebastian Rusk, who is the founder of the Podcast Launch Lab, and also his podcast, the Beyond The Story podcast and this interview, it went for over two hours and it was really awesome because not only did Sebastian share a very unique podcasting strategy that allows you to really grow a business network. It's like the ultimate networking tool, even if you aren't an influencer, and even if you don't have a lot of people listening to your podcasts, very unique, you gotta hear this. But he also told some amazing stories like how he was able to land a gig speaking and seeing an insanely big event and conference when they didn't even know who he was. And as well as how he was able to spend an hour with Gary V what he learned from that hour, sitting down with Gary V and how he was able to actually reach out and get ahold of Gary V and just a lot of other amazing golden nuggets on how to network, how to get in front of people and just everything in between.Dan Henry: (01:12)You're really going to love it. And don't forget if you'd like to check out our app, How To Think, which gives you your daily dose of wisdom and helps you with your mindset. You go to HowToThink.Com and check that out. Without further ado, let's get into the episode.Dan Henry: (01:32)Sebastian, thanks for coming on, man.Sebastian Rusk: (01:33)Always a pleasure, Dan, great to be here. IDan Henry: (01:36)I expected you to wear a bow tie.Sebastian Rusk: (01:38)The bow tie's been retired.Dan Henry: (01:40)I thought you loved bowties?Sebastian Rusk: (01:41)The bow tie has been retired.Dan Henry: (01:43)I thought that was your thing?Sebastian Rusk: (01:43)It's grossly uncomfortable to rock constantly. And I, a lot of my speaking engagements or MC stuff, people ask for it to be included in my agreement. That's that's how much of a thing it's become. And I gotta tell 'em that I've resorted to the Mark Zuckerberg, route of dressing every day. It's one less thing I want to think of.Dan Henry: (02:02)But, your voice is, it's like dark chocolate. Has anyone ever told you that, like I'm jealous of your voice?Sebastian Rusk: (02:10)I've been told I have a great face for radio.Dan Henry: (02:16)Phenomenal, and you're a standup comedian. I forgot about that.Sebastian Rusk: (02:19)I did you know, I don't think I told you, I have not been doing it when I think, oh, I just started doing it last time I had you on the show a couple months back. But dude, I wrestled with that for like five years. I'm like, I've been writing material. I can get on stage in front of 10,000 people and rock. I mean, I did traffic and conversions for like four years for how many people, no problem, like, that's my playground. Ask me to get in front of 50 people in a bar on a Tuesday at night at 10 o'clock and tell 'em jokes, terrified.Dan Henry: (02:47)Really?Sebastian Rusk: (02:48)So I started hitting up local comics cuz the Miami comedy scene pretty pretty it's it's a growing scene and I hit up one of the comics and I said do you do this full time?Sebastian Rusk: (02:57)She goes, no, I'm a speech therapist. That's my big girl job. And I said, how'd you start doing this? She goes, I went to an improv class and then my group of graduating people from the class we all put some skin in the game and said, let's go to an open mic. And if you go, you don't have to pay, but if you don't go, you have to pay. So we all went and I was hooked immediately and I said, great. I mean, you're funny. You're obviously doing a great job of it. And she goes, I go, how long ago is that? She about a year and a half ago. I go, let me ask you a question. Here's where I'm at. I'm terrified had her on the podcast. So we had a conversation about this and I said, I'm terrified about this. And she goes, let me explain something to you.Sebastian Rusk: (03:28)The fear is never going away, but every time I get up there and I do a set and I push through the fear, it completely invigorates me with life and I'm ready to go do it again. And then the next time I get up, I'm equally terrified again. And I said, interesting. She said, it's an art and it's a matter of what you want to do. So finally I finally mustered up enough guts through her encouragement and I just thought, I'm gonna go do it. So I hit up my buddy, Manny, who started Miami comedy. He had added me on Facebook and I got him on the podcast and I'm telling him all this and he's dude, what, what do you mean scared of com? Like I I've been following you for a couple years. I mean, I've seen your stuff. Like you're a natural when it comes to comedy, I'm sure.Sebastian Rusk: (04:07)Why don't you just come out to the mic and, and come out to a mic and give it a shot. So I did that and it was terrifying and it, there was a networking event going on at the bar where the show was going on and those people did not care that there was an event going on. So it was really noisy. So I say the right of passage normally in comedy is getting laughs in Miami. It's getting people to shut up long enough so you can make them laugh. So I finally went back I'm really blessed to have some really funny friends that are, that are terrified of comedy would never do it, but they wanna live vicariously through me. So we just do some incredible writing sessions through phone calls, like calling a buddy, but he's really funny.Sebastian Rusk: (04:48)And you're like, let's unpack this for a minute and start to navigate through. So wrote my first set. And I thought I was doing an open mic and I showed up. He's like, no, you're in the showcase. You're third up. I'm like, what? So he kind of hooked me up a little bit and yeah, from so far so good. But and then I got in my head a little bit in November, I did a show and he came up to me after and he said I was with two really, really good comics that got up and just crushed 10 minutes of Crowdwork like nothing, 10 minutes is an eternity in the comedy world. And he said to me you need tighten up the punchlines a little bit. And I go, what does that mean? Which joke he goes, I don't know.Sebastian Rusk: (05:25)You'll figure it out. But rule of thumb is six to eight laughs per minute. And I'm like, I'm sorry, come again. And he's like six to eight laughs per minute. So did you record your set? I go, yeah, he goes, cool, go home, listen to it. Every time you hear a laugh, make a little check mark on a piece of paper and that's how you're gonna wanna. Cause it was tough for me to segue from storyteller, speaker, podcaster to just, you know, joke after joke, after joke plus crowd work. How you guys doing? Yeah, you guys married. Are you related? How's what's going on here, you know, to be able to navigate through that and then hang tough, you know, know heckler's the whole nine, so.Dan Henry: (05:58)Wow man. That's so scientific six to eight laughs per minute. And to be able to like go in and break it down like that. I, wow. That's I feel like comedy, you know, we watch these great comics and they're a lot more scientific than we think. We probably have this idea. They just get on stage and they just like that, but they work on it, you know, like anything else.Sebastian Rusk: (06:15)Abolutely. And it's open mic, it's part of the craft. I mean, you'll still have, you know, the best of the best going and hitting, you know, The Laugh Factory or somewhere in, you know, the large, especially in New York and LA will go and work out, you know, material and see, you know, what works and what doesn't. I mean, even social audio, I do a room every Friday. That's got 75,000 people in the group. That's called Hot On The Mic, on Clubhouse. So every Friday at 3:05 there's 300 people in a room that you can go in and really work out material. Now you better hope people unmute and laugh. Otherwise you're cause I opened up last night.Dan Henry: (06:47)Oh that must be so awkward to not get a laugh.Sebastian Rusk: (06:50)Oh my goodness. Oh, I did. I jumped in. I'm like, oh, here we are again, comedy on Clubhouse, very comparable to talking to yourself.Dan Henry: (06:56)Wow.Sebastian Rusk: (06:57)Like almost identical to that. So, but people can, you know, they tip you and stuff like that. So it's a different again, a hobby. What, what can I, I said, okay, so what are we doing with comedy Sebastian? Is there a, is there a result other than an egos stroke? And I said, yeah, there is, I'm gonna take whatever I'm learning with standup, which is on the fly, which is quick, which is easy when it's not expected and I'm gonna bring it back to the stage and I'm gonna bring it back to the podcasting mic, and you know, which does help that process. It helps these kind of conversations. So still terrifying.Dan Henry: (07:30)Well, hey, I think everything worth doing that is rewarding is terrifying. I mean, if it's not terrifying, it's probably not very rewarding. So and that's what, you know, that's one of the reasons I wanted to bring you on here today because you have a very unique sort of unorthodox strategy that, or podcast strategy. And I wouldn't even call it a podcast strategy. I would almost call it a getting client strategy. It just happens to be with a podcast. You know, David Shands?Sebastian Rusk: (08:00)I don't.Dan Henry: (08:01)So he has a huge podcast. I was on it like a month or two ago and or a couple months ago, and then we had him on here and he's just got like a huge following. I think the podcast is social, oh yeah, Social Proof Podcast. And then he has like this whole, you know, he has like membership site and all this stuff.Dan Henry: (08:21)And he had a, we brought him on and you know, his model is to basically, you know, sell ads. Like it's a more traditional model, like sell ads. He mentions his membership site. And then what he does is when people come on the podcast, if they have a product, he will basically get an affiliate link or like a referral link. And they'll talk about their product. He'll mention to go check out the product. And then if somebody buys, he gets it cut. So that's like his three ways to monetize the podcast. But your way, I find fascinating because you know, when you have a traditional way to monetize a podcast and it's more like ads and things like that, you have to have a large audience.Sebastian Rusk: (09:06)Huge.Dan Henry: (09:07)Huge, right. But you've found out a way to start a podcast that is small or just not that huge, doesn't have to be huge and get a lot of revenue from it. And so I'd love to talk about that. And you, you help podcasters not only start their podcast, you have a podcast agency, which I think is awesome, but it's a very specific strategy. Can you go into what that strategy is and why it's a lot different than why somebody would even start a podcast for the most part?Sebastian Rusk: (09:40)I think a lot of people are confused on why they should start a podcast in the first place. A lot of people that come to me say, I, I wanna start a podcast and people are starting to educate themselves and understand that, Hey, maybe there are some strategies, a lot of people, I wanna get my story out. I wanna share value. I wanna, whatever the case may be. And I always invite them to consider what's possible with being able to structure a strategy that allows you to do everything you want to do. Talk about everything, you know, about your area of expertise, providing value to the world, getting clear on your, why, all that stuff. But then what does it look like to get very granular with the conversations that you're having and identifying people that can buy something from you eventually, you're not leading with that, but that is the end result.Sebastian Rusk: (10:25)How can I, so for example, if I'm a sales trainer and I start a podcast and I want to find new clients. Well I'm going to invite every prospect, that's on my hit list on the podcast. So I can tell their story, have a conversation with them and ask 'em what their biggest challenges are with sales, very common topic. Once I've been able to pour, once you're able to pour into that person's life through that conversation, by the time it's done, it was like, Hey Dan, you, you mentioned something specific about sales on there. And I would love to have another conversation with you. If that's something I can do, I would absolutely love your help with that. Let's for sure. Can we get 'em on the calendar for next week? Okay, great. And that happens a lot. So I end every conversation with, so when you start a podcast and I think I may have done that the first time I had you on the show too.Sebastian Rusk: (11:08)And you were like, actually it's in the works. And most people say I wanna start a podcast or I've already got one, or I don't wanna do it. Those are really the only three I on there. And if they want to do it and they're active on social, they understand the value of bringing somebody in to expedite that process that can help 'em put together a strategy, like being able to monetize it through the guests that they're having. It makes it just that much easier. But yeah, it's I've lived it for 12 years. Being an inconsistent podcast until 2016, starting in the show, stopping the show, recording an episode whenever I needed to meet somebody, but I've been able to build my brand in relationships with people in my industry, because I've been able to invite 'em on the podcast.Dan Henry: (11:54)Can I re-articulate that to you and see if I got it right? So basically what you're saying is most people start a podcast so that they can talk and the listeners listen to the podcast. And then buy your stuff, what you're saying is it's more backwards. It's you start a podcast, you still have listeners, but you're bringing people on who have the potential to buy from you. And by doing the show with them, that is your sales tool. Not that you expect every single person you bring on your podcast to buy something from you, but a large enough of a chunk of them do to give you a sustainable business. Would you say that is like the strategy?Sebastian Rusk: (12:32)Absolutely.Dan Henry: (12:33)Now you mentioned something a minute ago and I just wanna clarify, are you helping them live on the show or are you just using the show as rapport and then setting up a time to help them later and that ends up being your sales pitch?Sebastian Rusk: (12:45)Yeah. We're just doing rapport. It's all about them. You're not gonna, you're more inclined to have an opportunity created out of that conversation if you make it all about them. And you're serving them through means of just getting to know them, just through a very casual conversation like we're having right now and then at the end saying, Hey, Dan, I really appreciate your time. And I probably said that to you. Hey, listen, I appreciate your time. Thanks for being on the show. If there's anything I can do to serve you in the podcasting space, that's my game. It's my life's work. It's all that I do every day, so if you need help in that area, let me know. I absolutely 100% do, how do we set up a call? SoDan Henry: (13:20)I see, I see. So, so you're not actually cuz the one component there that I wanted to identify was are you giving them advice on the actual show?Sebastian Rusk: (13:29)No.Dan Henry: (13:30)Okay. Cause that could, I mean, I guess it could be done.Sebastian Rusk: (13:34)It'd be too salesy.Dan Henry: (13:35)Well, you don't wanna, I wouldn't think you'd wanna bring someone on your show and then like teach them or dictate to them or whatever. You'd want to talk about them.Sebastian Rusk: (13:45)Sure.Dan Henry: (13:45)And let them shine.Sebastian Rusk: (13:47)Correct.Dan Henry: (13:47)Okay. That's that's the distinction. Cause I know a lot of people likeSebastian Rusk: (13:50)A podcast about podcasting, I've thought about that and they do exist out there. It's just not something I get excited about. I'm like, let's get, I love conversations and storytelling. It can happen, which happens to be in the form of a podcast.Dan Henry: (14:03)So it's funny that you mentioned this because I had this weird strategy and it wasn't even something that I created. It just happened naturally. And I was like, huh, that worked. So in our consulting business, we would have, you know, we have multiple tiers where we charge this much and then for more help there a mastermind, we charge this much and you know, and a lot of people would buy our core program and they'd have success with it. So I used to do student or client interviews where I'd hop on and I'd do an interview with them and I'd let 'em share their story and their wins. And then of course we'd use that recording in marketing and ads and things like that. But I would always at the, after the end well I chit chat a little bit at the beginning, but after the end of the show or the just, it wasn't a show, it was just an interview that we used.Dan Henry: (14:51)But after that, I would just chat with them for 15 or 20 minutes. And I'm not kidding you. They would buy, let's say they bought a $10,000 package from us or a $10,000 program. They would get results with it, come on. And then I'd chat with them. I would say maybe 70% of the time, just chatting with them and giving them some one-on-one time and giving them some help. They would upgrade to my $55,000 package, my $55,000 program just from having a little one-on-one time with me. And then they go, well, that's really, you know, they saw how much just having that more personal, you know, time would help. And then I even had somebody upgrade a a hundred thousand dollars package and it just shows that personal connection, you know, and they go, well, Hey, you know, can you help me more?Dan Henry: (15:42)Like, do you have, like, what, like, could we talk about this more? And then you just get in the conversation, next thing you know, they're signing up for whatever personal coaching or an event or a mastermind some sort of higher package or whatever it is. Right. So I noticed that I never made like a consistent, it was just something I randomly did. And then I stopped doing the interviews and I had some staff do 'em, but you know, it, it seems like if I would've made that like a real thing that could have produced a lot of extra revenue.Sebastian Rusk: (16:10)Well, yeah. People want access and they want face time and they also want value. And also, and then they're like, well, if I got this for this, just this conversation, like what else is available?Dan Henry: (16:20)So that's what I would that, and that's something that I would repeat back to them. Sometimes they would say, wow, this was, and I would wait. I would see if they said anything, you know, if they said, wow, this was amazing. I said, well, if that 15 minutes did that much, imagine if you got to talk to me every, whatever month or X or this or whatever it was. And they would be like, yeah. Then they would sign up. I'm semi-retired now. So I don't do that anymore. I just like to do my little.Sebastian Rusk: (16:45)Semi-retired. I love that.Dan Henry: (16:46)I, yeah. I stopped selling currently I stop selling our my mastermind because I'm trying to focus on my new company, the app. And to me, that's like a potential billion dollar play. And I gotta really focus on that.Dan Henry: (17:00)And I, you know, I've done the events and I've done the meetings and all that for years. I'd love to say that this is my end doing it. I still have my personal coaching, but I feel like as with anything you say, well, I'm done, you take a break for a year or two, and then you get the itch. But you never know. I, one thing I never try to do is decide what I'm gonna do, because me now, you now, is a completely different person than you in two years, three years, five years. It's like literally a different human being. So why sit there and try to like...Sebastian Rusk: (17:32)Predict the future.Dan Henry: (17:33)Right? You can't, you know, cuz it's not the same person. So I just let, let it happen.Sebastian Rusk: (17:39)Your post a couple weeks ago has still had me thinking to this day. SoDan Henry: (17:42)Oh the, yeah.Sebastian Rusk: (17:43)Yeah. That was, I mean that had my wheels spinning because I'm on the complete opposite side. Right? I'm on the, I'm on the come up, if you will. Right. I'm still trying to get to whatever that mountain is. Right. Of the, of impact that's been my mission. But that was definitely some food for thought. Cuz there was so long I was like, I just want to be rich. And somebody asked me one day, like why? And I couldn't answer that question. And then it's taken as long as it's taken for me to become who I need to be. But also considering, you know, just this deep desire to want, to impact people in whatever capacity, back of an Uber, on an airplane, in business, on a stage, in a book, whatever it might be, being able to share my unique gift with them, whatever they're able to extract as the gift and leave them different. I mean, and I think that that is that that's gotta be some of the recipe to a life fulfilled. You know what I mean? Because yeah, I definitely don't wanna get to a fact, well, I did it. Now what? You know?Dan Henry: (18:42)Well, I think for me the biggest one of the biggest lessons I learned in life was the value of the word, No. You know, when you tried to be rich, you try to build wealth, right? Why do you wanna build wealth? You probably want to build wealth so that you can do something, right? You have a, some sort of hobby. Nobody just wants to be rich. I mean, if you do great, but it's usually because you don't wanna work or you don't wanna work for somebody else because you'd rather be doing X. Whether that's playing guitar, whether that's going snowboarding or writing an album or doing art or whatever, there's something you want to do that wealth affords you the time to do. But when you start building wealth, like decent wealth, not like, you know, I'm talking about like multiple millions, you know?Dan Henry: (19:26)You realize that what you have to do to get there. It changes you and the time it takes and then the responsibility, you know. Imagine that you don't have any employees. And you're like, I want to do this amazing thing. I want to be rich. And then you actually become rich. And you realize that along the way, you had to give jobs to these people to help you do that. And now you have a responsibility to them. They have families to feed. They have, and now you're like, oh, I want to go skiing for two months. It's like, but you can't cuz you have to steer the ship. And so you have this like journey where you realize that, and this is not in every situation. I mean, if you win the lottery or you come out, whatever, I mean...Sebastian Rusk: (20:06)That doesn't end well though. Have you seen that show? It doesn't end well.Dan Henry: (20:09)I have not seen that show.Sebastian Rusk: (20:12)Yeah. It's disaster. They end up losing it cuz that, I mean, that's the case in point of how really life works though,Dan Henry: (20:16)But it's funny how life works because it's a hero's journey. Like you, like you ever notice how the protagonist sets off for a goal. They go through a journey, they experience this thing. And then that experience changes them. And the end of the hero's journey is the transformation where they don't want that thing anymore. Or they want, they went through this life lesson that realized they want something else and it changed their perspective. So that's what happens a lot is you become successful for a reason, but then in order to get successful, that reason changes. And then you sometimes can get lost. Or for some people, they figure it out. Or for some people, they just pick something else. Or for some people, the very few, they actually still get that thing, you know, but out, you know, out of a hundred people that build wealth, 99 or a hundred are not gonna all what they want.Dan Henry: (21:07)They're gonna go through a journey that creates a completely different life than they expected. And sometimes that's hard to deal with. Sometimes it's harder to deal with than when you are on the come up when you can't pay your bills. You know, I remember when I could barely pay my electric and how many problems I had. I had like a few, I had eat, shelter, electric. Now I have everybody else's eat, shelter, electric. I have legal, I have this, I have that. I have like, and, you know, if you think about it, it's like they say more money, more problems. That is like super, super, super true. And if you're trying to build wealth to avoid problems, you probably shouldn't build wealth.Sebastian Rusk: (21:46)Yeah. That's great advice, that really is great advice. And I've interviewed, I've had friends and people that have, you know, and it's the common denominator was like, Sebastian, it is not about the money. It's about the journey of life of getting to where it is that you want to go. Cuz once you get there, then it is 100% now what. You know, and I look at guys like Gary V, very practical guy got more money than he'll ever be able to spend ever. But a very, very...Dan Henry: (22:17)Until he buys the Jets. He hasn't bought the Jets yet. Not quite enough money.Sebastian Rusk: (22:21)Well, my question is, Gary, are they, are the Jets for sale?Dan Henry: (22:24)Right? Like doSebastian Rusk: (22:26)Well, he's gonna go in with some ridiculous over, over balling offer that, you know, there's, I'm confident it's gonna happen. He's too deeply passionate about it. But outside of that, it's not like flashy this and flashy that he's a family guy, like practical. But like has completely mastered like the money, success game type of deal and still all in. I think.Dan Henry: (22:50)But he couldn't get a sponsorship from Gillette.Sebastian Rusk: (22:54)What's that?Dan Henry: (22:55)He definitely couldn't get a sponsorship from Gillette.Sebastian Rusk: (22:57)Is that cause he doesn't shave.Dan Henry: (23:01)No, he doesn't. See, I need to take comedy lessons from you.Sebastian Rusk: (23:05)He doesn't really. I thought that's where we were going. I was like, Gillette. I'm like, no, that's where the Patriots, he hates the Patriots. I'm like that. I wasn't sure which direction we were going there. But I, it always leaves me curious on like, why a guy, he does practice what he preaches. He is who he says that he is. And I've been blessed to experience the human side of him and see that aspect. A very, very in tune, a very, very present, a very humble individual, which people are like, there's nowhere, that's it. And that is dude. He is like right there, man. Most of the time. If you're getting mobbed on the side of a stage, you're probably not gonna get that, you know, that much attention there. But...Dan Henry: (23:45)He seems like the type of guy that you would think would be kind of a jerk in person, but then when you meet him, he's like the nicest guy. Like...Sebastian Rusk: (23:54)You get nice across. Yeah. You get nice. Yeah. You get nice across the board. I started tracking him down in the wine, Wine Library days. Somebody tipped me off to him in 2010, like this guy's on YouTube. He talks about wine. You gotta look 'em up. I was so broke. I couldn't afford the audio book. And my friend...Dan Henry: (24:08)Could you imagine that? To go from talking about wine on YouTube...Sebastian Rusk: (24:11)No. Could you imagine being a stock boy in your dad's liquor store that was doing 3 million a year and going in there and being a stock boy and becoming a manager. And then be like, I'm gonna go sell wine on the internet when everyone told you that you're crazy, and are gonna take the marketing budget instead of the news paper, we're gonna put it into internet ads and turn it into an $80 million business, you know, in a seven year period, which was just nuts. And then he just left it to his dad and him and his brother AJ went and rented a conference room and in an existing startup in New York. And that's where Vayner Media began with their first like three employees and him and AJ were two of them. So literally bill that thing from cause a lot of was like, oh, you sold the liquor.Sebastian Rusk: (24:48)You know, you had the, you know, your dad's business and nobody handed him anything. He calls it, the immigrants advantage, right? Because he came to this country as an immigrant, didn't speak English and lived in a studio apartment with five people. And then to be able to turn it in to, I mean, what else could it be for other than impact? Legacy? He's big on legacy too. I mean, he's definitely leaving that behind, but could you imagine you had thousand employees now for Vayner Media? Could you, wow. It's just, I had his chief heart officer on a couple months back and her only job is to care for the employees. She's like staff care officer. I'm there to get to know employees and just care for them and their needs and their life and everything.Dan Henry: (25:34)Is that like a final form HR person? Like.Sebastian Rusk: (25:38)I think so.Dan Henry: (25:39)Just ultra...Sebastian Rusk: (25:40)Chief, CHO. Chief Heart Officer,Dan Henry: (25:42)Chief Heart Officer.Sebastian Rusk: (25:43)Been on his a team since 2016 started as a rep.Dan Henry: (25:50)And like clearly, like, you know, some corporations might laugh at that, but like it clearly works for them. You know, it's like, it's progressive. It's a very new type of way to approach things. You know, most of the time corporations they're like, you know, whatever.Sebastian Rusk: (26:03)That's a changin though. I mean, we look at the way that life has evolved 100%. In fact, my sister just took a job, went to work for her best friend that she went to college with and they own a large agency in five different locations based outta New York. And she originally started as like head of HR and immediately was moved to like that same space of like, you're here to like, just care for the overall umbrella with a compliment to HR. But nobody's excited to go meet with HR.Dan Henry: (26:33)Right, right. You, you know, what's funny about Vayner Media. This was like a couple years ago. I thought, you know, I was all like, ah, I'm successful. I should hire Vayner Media. I had this like little moment of egotistical, like, and I'm thinking that I can afford them and like, oh, I should check it out. You know? So I go on their website and the strategy's great by the way, because he goes out there and creates this huge social media following. Then he has these big companies that hire 'em for social media marketing. But I'm thinking, you know, it's gonna be somethin like 10 grand a month or something, you know? And then I go and I fill out, it's like 120 grand a month. I'm like, all right, I'm out.Sebastian Rusk: (27:09)Well, he's started, he didn't wanna just get into the agency world. He wanted to disrupt the agency world. As you know, and that is, you talk about high ticket. Like there's a line around the door again. Well, they've completely disrupted the agency world as you know it. I mean, they dominate the space with you see what they did with Budweiser and with Dwayne Wade's retirement and like all these Super Bowl. And like, they are like the premier go-to agency when it comes to large brands and budgets, but mainly they broke the mold saying, Hey, your traditional way of banner ads and newsletter sponsorships are gone. You need to be dumping money into Facebook ads and to Instagram, into TikTok and Snapchat, et cetera. SoDan Henry: (27:51)Isn't that amazing that he has social media content out there, at least his initial content. Now it seems a little more refined and more...Sebastian Rusk: (28:00)Now it's V friends.Dan Henry: (28:01)Yeah. Yeah. Which I own one. Yeah.I got in on that. I had to get in on that. But the fact that, especially in the beginning, his content was like really geared towards like 18 year old males that played video games all day and wouldn't get outta bed. And he's attracting these, they're not buying anything from him, maybe his book, but he's attracting these major companies. And I was just, my mind was blown by that. You know, I was just, it was just incredible. How, cuz what is that old saying? Like you, you put out stuff that attracts your ideal customer, but that's not what happened there. I mean his, the content he put out was not for people at Coca-Cola or something, but he just demonstrated such skill and such, you know, tenacity in that world. And he did so good with it that he got the attention of these companies. Even though at first, I don't think that content was it wasn't made for them.Sebastian Rusk: (29:00)No, not at all. Oh, he had to do a lot of selling early on. It was not, you know, he went to Pepsi Cola and Campbell Soup and Kleenex were some of his first, the New Jersey hockey team. They were one of the first, but he went out and actually did the actual pitching and selling the dream of, I know that 25% of your budget goes here now, I'm gonna need 15% of it to go to social media. And so to really change that conversation, and then he would get a client to get a result, get a client, get a result. And that's how that reputation was built. His personal brand is just something that helps support that whole process and him as an actual personality and an author and him as Gary, but I'll never forget one of the first things he ever taught me 10 years ago was that, and that's why I decided to start my personal brand and say, I wanna speak.Sebastian Rusk: (29:46)I wanna be on stage, I'll write books. I think it's my responsibility for people that can't hire me or aren't a fit I can provide value to those people. And he said, you know, Sebastian, your personal brand in perpetuity is your reputation. And it will always be your reputation. We're archiving our lives and it's the new scrapbook and photo books for our kids and for generations to come for them to look back and to be able to turn on YouTube and say, you know, this is your grand. My daughter will be able to say, this is your grandfather. This is my dad. You know, he used to wear bow ties. Can you believe that? Versus, you know, look at the old, you know, Polaroids in a photo album. So him teaching that aspect and then living it, I think has been, cuz he is his legacy, legacy, legacy. What are we leaving behind? And what footprints are we leaving behind through the impact that we're making? I think he's just found that real niche with, with personal branding, you know, and with his content, his teams are up to 25. Now that's just team Gary. That's just that's...Dan Henry: (30:45)And do you find it fascinating that his personal brand, I mean, think about it this way, right? He attracts these huge corporations and I'm sure they look at what he's done with his personal brand. They take that into account. They take that into account as a...Sebastian Rusk: (31:00)Well, they look at it and go he's got, I mean, his following is, is significant in and of itself. It's probably exceeding well over 10 million combined with just Facebook and Instagram and Twitter alone, so.Dan Henry: (31:11)But if you think about it, what is, I just had a conversation today with a consultant who we were talking about approaching the B2B space and selling to corporations. And she's like, you know, Dan, you know, you're gonna have to wear a suit and you're gonna have to not use...Sebastian Rusk: (31:26)Alright, scratch that.Dan Henry: (31:28)Yeah. Well, I mean, if it's a product that I'm not like personally a part of then whatever, you know, but she was just saying like, you know, you can't use profanity, you can't do this. And it is, that is a normal thing in the corporate world.Sebastian Rusk: (31:40)He changed all that.Dan Henry: (31:41)And that's the thing he's sitting there up in an F-bomb every two seconds and fricking these huge companies were hiring him. And that blew my mind.Sebastian Rusk: (31:48)It was a big challenge though. And it still is to this day, but he's to a point where his fee's up to like 250 for per keynote now. So he's extremely selective. Yeah. PerDan Henry: (31:59)250 to rain F-bombs.Sebastian Rusk: (32:03)Like, like, like you wouldn't believe. And what's even crazier is that he left his agency that he was with like his first, when, when he was with CSS, who books, everybody in LA, Oprah, if you're anybody and you're speaking and doing speaking engagements, you're with CSS. And he was with them for a long time. And when he had first started, like, they didn't know what do with them. Cause you got like Oprah, Obama, you got like, and then you got Gary. And they're like, we really didn't know what to do with him. And I was able to I was able to get his old speaking agent on the podcast. Who's now his partner for Vayner Speakers. And they started Vayner Speakers for the same idea. Gary's like, Hey, I wanna disrupt the speaking industry as we know it, like this whole agency thing.Sebastian Rusk: (32:43)And this whole, like there's a better way. And his time, his agents time was done there and his contract was up. So they started Vayner Speakers to essentially manage Gary's, you know, speaking business as you know it. But that's been the F-bombs have been little bit of a challenge for it, but I would venture to believe that this day and age he's like,Dan Henry: (33:03)He's like, whatever...Sebastian Rusk: (33:04)It's 250 and I'm gonna say whatever I want. Cool. Like, that's just the way it is. I can't, like I can't...Dan Henry: (33:11)Talk about a dream job. Talk about a dream jobSebastian Rusk: (33:12)No slides, no prepping, no nothing. I mean, the guy just, he just gets up and just spits andDan Henry: (33:17)Believe it or not. I about Brandon, what you say about when's the last time I did a, a speech for somebody where I had slides, it's gotta be at least three or four years, right?Brandon: (33:30)Yeah. I would say three.Dan Henry: (33:32)Yeah. So I, there was a point where I completely gave up slides.Sebastian Rusk: (33:35)Such a pain, they're such a hassle.Dan Henry: (33:37)And I just went with either nothing or whiteboard. And I remember I started going to these events and speaking, and they'd be like, where's your slides? We need your slides. Oh my God. We need your slides. And I'm like, I don't have any slides. And like, well, what are you gonna talk about? I'm like, I don't know, like, I'll get up there and figure it out. Right? And then there was other times where I would be not just speaking, but I'd be selling from stage, you know?Dan Henry: (33:59)And I remember one time I went to this event, it was a smaller event, but they had the organization, the main person was selling a package. Right. And I came on at the end to basically come in and say to all the people that didn't buy, give some content and be like, here's why you should buy this. And I didn't know anything about the product probably. I mean, I knew the product was good cause I knew the person, but I didn't know, like the specific, you know, deliverables of it at all. And I literally in the middle of my speech was like, and what else do they get? And I had no prep. And all I did was I went in and I started like talking to people and hearing what they thought, what they wanted to hear.Dan Henry: (34:45)And I just made it up off the top of my head and I sold four X, 400% more in that little made up speech than they had sold before I got there. And I started thinking about this, right. And I started thinking about guys like Gary V. And I started thinking about a lot of people that just fly off the top of their head. And I thought, what if the secret to being a great speaker is, or even a great salesperson or whatever, orator is not that you come up with this amazing speech it's that you build assets in your library, that allow you at any point to grab from those as assets as you need them and just deploy them. And that's when it completely changed how I thought about speaking and ever, I mean, since then I've done a million dollars from stage, like I think a couple times. And I've had days where I've done like 500, 800 and it was just, I literally bullet point it out and I just talk. And I just use the assets and I think that can apply to YouTube videos. It can apply to...Sebastian Rusk: (35:48)Comedy.Dan Henry: (35:49)Comedy. See, there you go. Yeah.Sebastian Rusk: (35:51)Yeah. It really does.Dan Henry: (35:52)Podcast, you know? So it's just an incredible howSebastian Rusk: (35:55)It's, it's communicating in what genre are you communicating in? But being able to have exactly how much can you bank up here as far as information? Usually there's not a conversation that there's not an answer that I don't have when it comes to the podcasting game. Except for how do I make a million bucks on my podcast? I think just keep podcasting.Dan Henry: (36:15)Do you get that a lot? Do you get people that ask you that a lot?Sebastian Rusk: (36:17)Yeah, well people reach out and they're like, I have a podcast, but it's not growing. Can you help me explode my podcast? I'm like, can we talk about what exploding means? I don't. I mean, is, are we talking about grenades here or are we talking...Dan Henry: (36:26)And it's about the per, like, why are you starting a podcast? You're either starting it what to get famous, to make money, to get clients? And that's why I love your sort of strategy is it's almost as if you don't need a huge fan base for your podcast, other than an enough to make someone...Sebastian Rusk: (36:43)You need your fan base.Dan Henry: (36:44)Right. Right. But you're getting, so let me ask you a question. So when you sign, when you help people with a podcast and you do this like sort of reverse strategy where you're interviewing people, and then you're connecting with them, you're building out your network. And whether that turns into a sale for you, or that just turns out into some sort of deal that leads to business, that is like your ultimate networking tool. How is this, how is this working for? I know it's working extremely well for you, but how's it working for other people?Sebastian Rusk: (37:11)I try to teach it as much as possible when it's a fit. Sometimes it's like, listen, we just want to have a content component. And a, like for example, we launched a show last year for a employee benefits company in Louisville, Kentucky. And they said, we have no desire in monetizing this show at all. All we want to do is we are the premier provider for employee benefits to every manufacturer in Kentucky. And there's a lot of cool stuff being manufactured in Kentucky. I'm like, it's not bourbon? He's like, no, it's not just bourbon and thoroughbreds. There's a lot of cool stuff. So we want to have a podcast, having conversations with our clients, telling the stories of the stuff they create right here in Kentucky in our own backyard, it's called Built In The Bluegrass. So their strategy is just to massage their clients, existing clients, and also become the go-to source for the manufacturer's association.Sebastian Rusk: (38:01)That they're a big part of. And they're seen as the go-to source for employee benefits. This greases the deal even more. And then by default, more business comes in, but that's not their strategy. They could care less about sales. They're just doing it as a formality. And also as a piece of content, that's a great strategy too. And they've got a very, very successful business doing it. So monitizing a podcast isn't that big of a deal. But if you're a solopreneur, you're an entrepreneur. You're just getting your business started. You're writing a book, you're launching whatever you're launching. You should be starting a podcast to launch whatever that may be. Well, why would I do that Sebastian? Well, number one, you're able to educate people about what you're about to do, educate, motivate, differentiate about your product, your launch, your book, whatever it might be.Sebastian Rusk: (38:43)Number one, number two, the people that you need to bring with you along the way you're having conversations with by default, because it's a podcast. That's what the, that's what the format's designed to be able to do. So I think it, a lot of different components work together. As far as that strategy is concerned, but I try to teach it as much as possible. If you were just getting started, Dan, I'd say, Dan, start a podcast and start interviewing people about their biggest challenges for creating a course or getting new clients and solve their problems online. And if they really liked what you had to say on the interview, say, Hey, I'd love to hop on and have another conversation with you. And you'll find that you ever be able to convert a lot of those people into paying clients or like your buddy's strategy, or like you were on the show a couple weeks ago. That's a great strategy too.Dan Henry: (39:23)So you're saying that so again, that, that goes back to my question from before. You're saying that when they come on the show, you're not helping them. You're letting them shine. You're letting them help, but they have a problem that you can solve. So let me get, can I put you on the spot?Sebastian Rusk: (39:42)Absolutely.Dan Henry: (39:43)All right. Let's say you're a graphic designer and you want more graphic design clients, or you're a web design. You want more web design clients, you start a podcast and you bring guests on and you want to, you want a certain amount of those guests, hopefully to either establish a networking connection with, or hire you for graphic design, web design work. Walk me through that. Like literally like a movie, walk me through that.Sebastian Rusk: (40:04)So I just had a digital, actually what would be closest to that is had a digital agency just signed up with us last week. And he it's a new agency. He's like my main focus right now is clients. I said, of course. So what would it look like and what do you primarily focus on SEO, PPC local local online marketing for businesses. I said, great. What would it look like for you to make a hit list of 50 of your ideal prospect, your ideal clients, and schedule them for the podcast and tell their story, talk about their business, make it about them, and then have a part of that convers say, what are some of the biggest challenges you've found with being able to market your business locally, specifically online with SEO and PPC and things of that nature.Sebastian Rusk: (40:45)And he goes, I never even th and I really think that he ended up signing up and joining us because I was able to have that conversation with him and open up another area. In fact, we were mastermind when we had this conversation and we were in a breakout session and we were going around the room, talking about goals for 2022. And he stood up. He goes, my number one goal for 2022 is starting a podcast and they go, great. What are you starting a podcast for? He goes, cause I wanna have conversations with business owners where I can tell their story, get to know them, build rapport, solve their problems and convert 'em into agency clients. And everyone kind of looked around in the room and that was a conversation we had had to, and he's very laid back guy, polar opposite of my personality. So for him to stand up and like belt that out over like a lunch conversation from that, I knew that that's a strategy that definitely more people need to be taking serious. And I need to be talking even more about. I've been living it and then by default starting to teach it. But I definitely have not been like leading with it as far as marketing, why you'd wanna work with us.Dan Henry: (41:44)So yeah, so that's the thing, man. I mean, when we talked before this and you kind of explained your model, you know, I understand that, that you help people start a podcast, but when you said that, I was like, now that is an interesting strategy. I would make that everything I would make that it, that would be it. Like, I wouldn't even do anything else like that right there is, it's an amazing strategy. And it reminded me back when I did those success interviews, I'm like, that could be like a scalable strategy.Sebastian Rusk: (42:10)And it works anywhere. If you're, if you sell cars, start interviewing local businesses in the area where you sell cars and providing value for those businesses and getting to know those people, guess what those business owners do, they drive cars. And the next time they need a car, who are they gonna call? They're gonna remember Sebastian calling and having a conversation and get 'em on that really cool podcast. I ain't never been on a podcast before. A lot of people never even experienced something like this.Dan Henry: (42:32)So you just gave me an amazing idea, right? What if you were a realtor and you sold high end real estate and you started a podcast and the podcast was about, I don't know, country club living. And you bring people on who live at high end country club houses, or they live on golf courses. Cause you know, generally homes on golf courses cost more or yacht club living or living on the water. Like in Florida, you can't find a house that's on the water, at least right now that's under a million dollars unless you live in on a creek, you know? And so, and so imagine if you started a, if you were a realtor and you started a podcast called living on the water and you just reach out to people who live on the water and you, we have this podcast called living on the water, we want you to come on and we want you to share what it's like to live on the water and the challenges and this and that. Because other people who don't live on the water, maybe they want to consider it. And they listen to this podcast. And next thing you know, you have a connection with them and the next time they want to sell their house or buy another house, who are they gonna call? Is that how you would do it?Sebastian Rusk: (43:35)That's exactly how it's done. That's exactly how it's been, because it's about the core of its relationship building and it's rapport building and it's, there's a likability factor there too. People like you and I've got a personality that I've been told that people like, they resonate with me. I'm not for everybody, but a majority of people I have conversations with I'm able to resonate.Dan Henry: (43:54)I think you're raspy, comedian, I used to smoke for a while, but I quit voice.Sebastian Rusk: (43:59)I'm glad that I did. I did. I wasDan Henry: (44:01)Just enough to give you that light rasp.Sebastian Rusk: (44:04)Actually, I don't know. Yeah. It may, it may have been, it may very well have been.Dan Henry: (44:08)Oh, was I on point with that?Sebastian Rusk: (44:09)Yeah, it was. I'm glad. Well, before I was, I quit smoking cigarettes a long, long time ago when it was when everyone was quitting, you know, smoking was not cool anymore, but now I look at it. I'm like, I could not imagine being a smoker now with...Dan Henry: (44:22)I don't even think that's I, well, I mean it's cause I live in St. Pete. It's a very healthy city. I haven't seen somebody smoke in ages. I didn't even...Sebastian Rusk: (44:29)Well, if you do, you're like...Dan Henry: (44:30)Yeah, you're this. You're like, yeah, this horrible person, which I mean,Sebastian Rusk: (44:35)People still smoke?Dan Henry: (44:37)Yeah. It's like, do they still make you?Sebastian Rusk: (44:38)Proven, you know, surgeon general right on the side of the pack, like proven, like there's plenty of shit that can kill you. Like this is...Dan Henry: (44:44)I have not, I have not seen a smoke. I have not met or interacted with a smoker in so long. And I was just wondering if it just is outta style, you know?Sebastian Rusk: (44:51)I think it, I think they really, when I lived in California for 10 years and that out there was, you know, they're trying to change the world out there, but that was very extreme. Like nobody smoked, you can't smoke on the beaches. You can't smoke within 20 feet of a building.Dan Henry: (45:04)Think more people smoke marijuana now than they do cigarettes.Sebastian Rusk: (45:07)Well, I think, yeah. I think so. I mean, that's a conversation too. It was like, well, I mean, is it better? Is one thing better than the other? Well, I guess,Dan Henry: (45:14)Well, I think if you smoked weed at the same interval and frequency of a cigarette, you wouldn't be able to move. So it's probably.Sebastian Rusk: (45:22)Well, Snoop Dogg makes it happen. You know, Snoop Doggs' able to function.Dan Henry: (45:24)That's him.Sebastian Rusk: (45:25)Tommy Chong's going strong.Dan Henry: (45:26)That's a completely different thing.Sebastian Rusk: (45:28)Tommy Chong just posted something on Twitter the other day. It might have been Instagram. And he is like, you guys wanted to know what I did with all that money I made on the NFT. And he made a couch out of big, huge bags of weed.Dan Henry: (45:39)His investment advisors probably havin a heart attack.Sebastian Rusk: (45:43)Yeah he's still going. Yeah, exactly. He's still going at it.Dan Henry: (45:47)Did you pay taxes on it first?Sebastian Rusk: (45:49)Right? Oh, wow. Yeah, that's a whole, that's a whole nother crazy thing.Dan Henry: (45:52)So was I on point on the whole, like realtor, start of the podcast and all that? Wow. That's an amazing strategy.Sebastian Rusk: (45:59)I mean, that could be anything, you know, you're an MMA fighter? Start interviewing fight promoters that you wanna build relationships with and talk about how they created their fight promotion business.Dan Henry: (46:08)You hear that, Brandon? Did you, did you, did you catch that?Sebastian Rusk: (46:10)That was for you, Brandon.Brandon: (46:11)Yeah, I caught it. Thank you. Thank you.Dan Henry: (46:12)That's good, man. That's crazy good. Wow. There's so many applications to this, like, oh man, like, I'm just thinking like you could be an actress and this would work. You could be an insurance person and this could work. You could be a speaker and this, oh my gosh. A speaker.Sebastian Rusk: (46:30)That's exactly what I do for, I mean, a majority, if I want to get a gigg or I'm looking to get an event or I want to get on that stage somehow some way, let's get you on the podcast talk about the event. Hey, do you need more speakers? Do you need an MC? Nobody wants to do that job. And I can assure you I'm the best in the game. Really? I never even thought about that. I'm normally the MC do you enjoy that work? No, you don't. It's miserable. First guy there last one to leave. Terrible. I got more energy than the Energizer bunny. I'd love to have, have a conversation about what's possible. I don't do a lot of MC work anymore. Cause it's way too much work.Dan Henry: (46:57)I was literally just about to ask you if you wanted to MC my next event that I probably will never have, but if I do have it...Sebastian Rusk: (47:05)Well, listen, it's friends call, stuff happens. Absolutely. There's there's a few occasions.Dan Henry: (47:10)You have that like...Sebastian Rusk: (47:11)Dude, it's the most natural. It's the, it is the most natural thing I've ever been able to experience. And I start, I spent a lot of time going, Hey, look at me over here because I figured right after I met Gary, I was hooked on speaking. I'm like, I gotta do more of this. I absolutely love it. I've got similar energy to this guy and nobody wants to pay speakers and it's extremely saturated, but I thought, Hmm. I was at an event in Tampa. In 2013 it was a social media event. And I was there just as a blogger, just some there to create content. And this is before the influencer wave even existed. It was event called Social Fresh, still happens actually. And my buddy Jason Keith started, it's been a great, great model. He brings in large brands, Jet Blue, Hershey Chocolate of their social team as the speakers and then social media managers and agencies and marketing teams come attend the event and they learn about what big strategies and what Jet Blue's doing behind the scenes with social and how it works.Sebastian Rusk: (48:09)So great model. And he asked me for feedback about the event. And I said, the event was great, but by the first, by lunch, on the first day, I wanted to punch myself in the face due to the lack of energy. There just was no music. There was no, social media people aren't like the most exciting people. Like you've gotta, people come to an event for an exper and they also want to leave with that lasting impression. And he's like, so what is your suggestion? And I had not done any MC work short of like Ronald McDonald foundation auction and like Chamber of Commerce stuff. But I saw it and I felt it and I knew it and I'm like, well, I wear bow ties and I've got more energy than the Energizer bunny. Why don't you let me MC and he's a complete introvert.Sebastian Rusk: (48:51)So he was kind of like looking at me, like had 10 heads and boogers for a couple minutes. And then he called me back a few months later and he said you know what, we're gonna give you a shot at our San Diego event. Can't pay you. I said, not a problem. Just put me up and get me there and, and feed me, just make sure it doesn't cost me any money, but that allowed me to kick open doors. I met Mari Smith and Mike Stelsner was Social Media Examiner and, Brian Solis and all these guys that were, you know, significant people in the digital space early on when no one knew who they were, but I'm like, I've been watching and looking up to them. So I was able to build rapport with them based on connecting with them in the green room, because I was the MC that was cool.Sebastian Rusk: (49:30)And then eventually, I got paid a little bit there and then they changed the model and they were like, we're gonna go with a guy, girl combo and more of a host versus an MC. And that was totally cool. It wrote its course. But I was constantly seeking out new events and I'm scrolling through. I was looking on Twitter everywhere there's an event going on, I was sending out an email. Subject line, MC with a bow tie to rock your stage? Hey, what's happening, Dan? My name's Sebastian Rusk. I rock bow ties in stages, I see you got an upcoming event coming up. I'd absolutely love to be there. I bring an interesting component to your event that leaves the lasting impression for your attendees. I keep the event on time. I cut time. I add time.Sebastian Rusk: (50:07)I entertain sometimes I'm funny and I'd love to see if there's an opportunity there. So I was doing this prospecting constantly. But I found that if you don't know me, it's tough to get booked. Even though you've watched my reel and you've said, well, the guy's got chops, he can obviously do it. One day I'm on Twitter and I see an ad for an event called Traffic And Conversions Summit. It's it's 2015 and I'm like digital marketer. I never heard of them before, but let's follow them and I'll send them a quick tweet. Well, then Twitter recommends that you follow other people that are associated and they're like, well, you should follow a guy named Ryan Dice. And I was like, okay, cool, CEO and founder, we'll start at the top, work our way down sales 101 baby. So I hit Ryan up, no clue who Ryan is.Sebastian Rusk: (50:46)And, and I go, Hey, do you need somebody to rock your stage for Traffic And Conversions? And he replies right back and goes, actually we do your timing. Couldn't be better. I'm gonna DM you my number, let's hop on a call in the morning. And I'm like, okay, cool. So he called me on the way to taking his kids to the school the next morning. And he said, you know, Traffic And Conversions is growing. It's the largest marketing event out there. I nothing about digital marketer at all, other than, you know, digital marketing. I know there's a world out there. And he said, I am, I've been, I'm the face of the brand and of the event, but we're growing. It used to be one stage. Now it's two stages, three stages. Like I'm running all over the place.Sebastian Rusk: (51:22)We brought an MC in last year. He was terrible. I really don't want to do the MC part more. I want to do what I do best, which is get in, share my knowledge and that's it like [inaudible] So he goes, yeah, let let's do it. How much is it? He goes, how much is this gonna cost me? I had been building rapport and we had one mutual friend that I had met at Social Fresh. So return on the investment on that relationship there. And he said you know, if good enough for Tim good enough for me. And I said excellent. He goes, so what's this gonna cost me? And I thought, oh, this is game time. So I said...Dan Henry: (51:57)Didn't think about that did you?Sebastian Rusk: (51:58)I said, I'd booked here and there. It was like 1500 bucks there, a thousand bucks there.Sebastian Rusk: (52:01)I go with complete certainty and confidence, I go, it's 2,500 bucks a day, plus travel and expenses, and he goes, okay, cool. Send over your invoice. We'll get you paid in the morning. Get you looped in with the team, get everything situated and get you on production calls. I really, really appreciate you reaching out, dude. You are a total, this is, you saved the day. And I hung up the phone. I called my buddy. I was like, yeah, I just talked to this Ryan Dice guy. What do you mean you just talked to this Ryan Dice guy? Like, yeah, he called me, he was taking his kids to school and he booked me to MC he has this event, Traffic And Conversions, and my buddies a marketer. And he's like, wait a second, dude. He's like, what rock have you been living underneath?Sebastian Rusk: (52:33)Like, this is like the first of all, nobody gets on that stage. Like, how did you pull that off? I'm like, it might be the bow tie. So that really, that really helped me. You know, I learned a lot about the world of people that don't need you, like, they need an MC, but they don't need Sebastian Rusk. And I, there was a lot of lessons to be learned through that process and a lot of you know, and I've always been the, you know, hyper, you know, type of where it's been like, okay, let's, let's bring it. But I learned a lot there. And the biggest takeaway that I had, I did that show for four years. And the biggest takeaway that I had a was that these guys don't need me. They don't, they got 2 million bucks plus into the show.Sebastian Rusk: (53:15)Every time they go and do it, they make, God knows how much being able to, they don't need Sebastian and his bow tie, it's an added benefit, but my thought process going into it was like, I have made it ladies and gentlemen, I am the one that's on the stage. And I, that was not the case. I had a couple talking tos through that process. I came out one day and put my slide on with like a QR code to like connect with me on all my socials. And they were like, what did you just do? Like first day of the event, I'm like, I'm Sebastian Rusk, follow me. So that, that didn't go over too, you know, too well initially. I learned a lot through that process. I was still able to deliver the job as they grew. They added more stages, more MCs, and I kind of got lost in the mix. I'm a main stage guy, maybe ego. I don't know what it is, but if it,Dan Henry: (54:04)But the fact that you learned, like the fact that you, you got there and that taught you a sales and networking tactic and probably expanded your mind to where you could use that to, to do a lot more. I mean, you sound great. I bet when they heard your chocolate goodness of your voice, they were like, well, I gotta have this guy.Sebastian Rusk: (54:22)Well, there's three partners. There's, you know, or four partners. There's Ryan, there's Richard, Perry and Roland Fraser. So there was a lot of people toDan Henry: (54:31)How many people were at that event when you spoke?Sebastian Rusk: (54:34)The first year was 5,000. By the time I was done 10. Wow. And now they've moved to the convention center and they've since sold the event off. Ryan and Roland are still involved with it, digital worker, still very much involved with it, but there's another outfit that now owns it. And it's still a large event. In fact, I was back last year. Their, VIP sponsor is an agency that I've been in conversation with. And they're like, didn't you MC this gig for four years? Like, can we bring you with us for the week to make introductions? And I'm like, is this real life? So I was back at TAC, not MC-ing, making the same amount of money to introduce people to my friends. I was like, this is this real life? So but a lot of life learning through that whole process. And.Dan Henry: (55:19)I have never been.Sebastian Rusk: (55:19)A lot of great connections. Yeah. It's it's great. It, I think is really like the go-to source in, you know, as far as like, you know, I've been to like, you know, the ClickFunnel type events, and it seems like a whole different world.Dan Henry: (55:31)I'm used to that and where it's like real energized and fun. And there's just these, it's just like, almost like you're a kid. You know, and then I, some of the other events I've been told that they're very corporate and they're, and I'm just like, ah, I don't want to go.Sebastian Rusk: (55:47)These are just the thing about it is, is like you can get to the sessions every day, as long as you can stay out of the parties. Like the...Dan Henry: (55:54)Oh, they have parties over there?Sebastian Rusk: (55:55)I mean, it's just parties. I mean, well, it's traditional, it's, it's really tradition to have the Dave Gonzales does the internet marketing party the night before.Dan Henry: (56:02)I spoke at, I spoke at one of his. He's good dude. He'sSebastian Rusk: (56:05)He's a good dude. He's a good, dude. And these are all people I was able to buid relationships, I didn't know who these people were. Like, I had no idea.Dan Henry: (56:09)They have that in California, right? Or San Diego?Sebastian Rusk: (56:12)Yeah. San Diego.Dan Henry: (56:13)Yeah. That's just a long flight.Sebastian Rusk: (56:15)It is. It is. I mean, again, you would wait and if you're there to build relationships, hang out. If you're speaking or whatever it might be, then...Dan Henry: (56:23)I don't think they'd have me speak there. I'm a little too rough around the edges, especially now that they sold it to whoever they sold it to.Sebastian Rusk: (56:29)Yeah. I don't know. I don't know who and I don't even, I, gosh, I haven't talked to those guys, and Roland Fraser's probably the only one I'm still in contact with. I Perry Belcher every now and then.Dan Henry: (56:38)Man, I love Perry. I talk to Perry all the time and he just cracks me up, man.Sebastian Rusk: (56:41)Yeah. He's a hoot man.Dan Henry: (56:43)Has he ever told you any of his old stories?Sebastian Rusk: (56:45)Yeah, we have had a few late drinking nights during TAC.Dan Henry: (56:49)I can't, I wouldn't feel right about repeating virtually any of them.Sebastian Rusk: (56:52)Yeah. no, don't.Dan Henry: (56:53)They're just wild, you know, they're completely wild. But yeah. So, so let me, let me ask you, this strategy that you have for getting people, clients through the podcast, networking and I love howSebastian Rusk: (57:12)I've been strict with that strategy now. So for example, like, I'll give you an example. Victoria Kennedy, her team hits me up constantly with her clients. One of them podcasts, one PA and I reply back, do they have a podcast? Are they active on social? Do they have a following of at least 10,000? And do they have, is there an many remote interests in certain podcasts?Dan Henry: (57:29)What are the requirements like? When would you not interview somebody?Sebastian Rusk: (57:33)Well, never. I, if it's a fit and I wanna have a conversation, I wanna meet them. We're gonna have the conversation. Every, I just have to...Dan Henry: (57:37)But I'm saying, if you wanna meet them, what's the requirements to, if you want meet them?Sebastian Rusk: (57:41)Then they don't have a podcast.Dan Henry: (57:43)They don't have a podcast.Because your offer, your agency, it helps them create, and manage a podcast.Sebastian Rusk: (57:51)Now, secondary, if they do have a podcast, but they're not happy with their production company, the ongoing production, I may be able to get 'em I don't really market that as a podcast production service cuz it's lower ticket.Dan Henry: (58:04)Your bread and butter is getting them to start with.Sebastian Rusk: (58:07)Correct. And then the ongoing, sometimes there is a fact where if you call me and you were like, Hey, my podcast, people flew the coop and I need somebody who knows what they're doing. And we also do micro content as part of the production. So you get a produced episode and then you get a micro video, similar to what you do with the show here or an audiogram delivered as part of that as well as access to me on an ongoing basis. So it's kind of a unique deal. So I will offer that to some guests. If they already have a podcast, if you need any help with micro content, you wanna be you, you want to be in my sandbox and get all these things accomplished that you're already doing. Plus a few other ones, you know, let me know. But usually it's, they don't have a podcast. They have an interest in starting one, they're down to be on the podcast and they're active on social. So active somewhere online you've, whatever your platform is.Dan Henry: (58:51)They have a decent audience, maybe not a huge audience, but a decent audience, which shows you that they they've been doing something for a while. I imagine they have a product. Okay. And they don't have a podcast, but they could be open to it. And so the, before I have a brain fart here and forget what I was saying, these are very good. These are very good requirements. So, I'm just processing it. So cuz it's great. So when you do that, like you ever heard of the whole Wolf Of Wall Street, sell me this pen line. You know when Jordan Belford says, sell me this pen, you know the answer to that, right? It's how long have you been in the market for a pen? Because if they say, I don't want a pen, then you move on to the next person.Dan Henry: (59:34)I'll tell you, I'll tell you a quick story. So I used to work for Direct TV and we would go to the Tampa Bay Home Show and we'd go to these convention centers and they'd rent a booth and we would, me and three or four other reps would stand at this booth and people would walk by and our goal was to talk to them and get them to sign up for Direct TV.Sebastian Rusk: (59:55)I'm visualizing you at a trade show at a booth selling Direct TV.Dan Henry: (59:59)It was like in, this was me in my early twenties. So I stand there and I've always been a fan of poker where the first hour, you don't really play any hands. You just observe what everyone's doing. And so I'm sitting there and I'm watching these reps and we got like, it was something like a hundred dollars per sale or something like that.Dan Henry: (01:00:18)And so, or no, it was $50 per sale was $50 per sale. So the reps would talk to these people and they would talk to 'em for an hour trying to convince them to sign up. And sometimes they would, sometimes they wouldn't. So I'm thinking to myself, okay, there's eight hours in a day. You're gonna take an hour for lunch. You're probably gonna take another hour for fidling around. So that's six hours. That means if you take an hour to talk to each customer, even if you have a perfect closing ratio, right. You're only gonna make six sales, but likely you're gonna make three. Which means the most you're gonna make today is $150. And I'm like, why am I here on a Saturday working for this company to make $150. So I'm like, there's gotta be a better way to do this. So as I'm watching, I I start noticing and things.Dan Henry: (01:01:03)So I, and my, my manager was getting really angry with me. He's like, when are you gonna talk to somebody? You know? And so I'm like, all right, I better start talking to em. So I had this crazy idea and I didn't know if it was gonna work. So I stand out in the aisle and I have a piece of paper in my hand, which is the signup sheet. And as people were walking by, cause I'm thinking this company has a lot of branding. They have a lot of information out there. Right. And so they're walking down and I just started saying, Hey, did you forget to sign up for Direct TV? Hey, did you forget to sign up for Direct TV? And what happened was most of the time people would say, what are you? What, no, what are you talking? And I, okay, bye.Dan Henry: (01:01:36)Like, bye. You know? But then every 5, 6, 8, 15 people, which only took a couple of minutes to go through somebody would say, how did you know that I was supposed to sign up last week? And then the kids and then da, da, da. I said, I got paperwork right here. We'll just finish it up. And they go, okay. And they signed up and then next, did you forget to sign up for Direct TV? Did you forget to sign? What, what are you talking about? And oh yeah, I had an appointment, but I canceled it because this happened. And my wife's been on me to do it. Cuz there was like 10,000 people there. I'm thinking out of 10,000 people...Sebastian Rusk: (01:02:11)How many people forgot to sign up for Direct TV.Dan Henry: (01:02:14)Right. And so I sold like 20 people that day and all I did, I didn't sell anyone. All I did was have people fill out the paperwork. Paperwork only took five minutes. So I'm like cranking 'em out. And the other reps are looking over like what are you? What is happening an my manager was like, what is going on here? And I ended up breaking the record for the most deals at that time sold at a trade show. They took me to Atlanta, Georgia. I got to meet the vice president of DirecTV at this whole thing. They flew me out there. And I, it was just this dumb idea I had. You know? And it reminded me when I saw the movie Wolf Of Wall Street, it reminded me about sell this pen. The truth that if the person doesn't have a need for your product, you should waste zero time trying to convince them to buy your product.Dan Henry: (01:03:05)You move on to somebody that needs your product. End of story. And it just seeing that, like, I'd love to say I saw the movie and then I implemented it, but it was like backwards. But it just, it I've always stuck with like, if you don't have the problem, don't waste time marketing to, or networking or approaching that person. And so that's why I asked, you know, with you and this strategy, like you go out and you find people that have this problem. So that's, that's my next question. How do you find people that have an audience and need a podcast? Like how do you go out and find that?Sebastian Rusk: (01:03:38)They're all over the place. If you just go on LinkedIn, you go on what LinkedIn, you go on Instagram, you go on TikTok. I've, I've converted people from TikTok. I've been able to say, Hey, listen, I love your content. You're totally crushing it. They normally have, you know, they're a social media influencer that has actually built a brand. They're a coach. They do something within that space. And it's always a, Hey, so when you starting a podcast? Same thing as when start a podcast. Yeah. When you start. So when you start a podcast,Dan Henry: (01:04:02)When did you forget to sign up for DirecTV?Sebastian Rusk: (01:04:04)Yeah. Did you forget to start a podcast? Right? Did you actually, I didn't like it's on the list.Dan Henry: (01:04:09)When is that podcast of yours launching?Sebastian Rusk: (01:04:10)Right! Well, we've got plans. It's just, it's just, I have so much going on and I understand there's so much going on, but guess what? There's not gonna be less going on next week. And the only thing I'm not making more of time. Right. So the best time you start podcast yesterday.Dan Henry: (01:04:23)And you, you have basically a done for you agency where you, with the exception of doing the actual content, correct? You do everything else. Correct.Sebastian Rusk: (01:04:28)So all you gotta do is what I tell you to do. And then get the episodes recorded all the, all of the work and then upload it once it's done somebody on your team and we teach how to make sure that whole process, you know, gets handled. But the I, our ideal avatar you will for, for using marketing terminology is someone that is wants to start a podcast, understands the value of hiring an expert to expedite the process that has a proven system to get 'em to the finish line. And, and doesn't bat an eye at an investment of it. And just knows that an investment with this person is going to get me that much faster or to where I wanna be versus trying to figure, cause you can start a podcast on your own. I mean, read my book, go to my YouTube channel and do exactly what it says.Sebastian Rusk: (01:05:09)And you can start a podcast this weekend, if you really, if you really wanted to, most people don't want to go through what I've outlined is about 13 different steps in the podcast launch process of logistics. But my real gift is, are my crazy ideas and being able to come in and go, so what about this? And I really didn't think about it and stretching people a little bit and being able to get 'em out of their own comfort zone. Cause some people put the blinders on. They're like, this is what, you know, it's like the same thing with offers. This is what my offer is and that, well, what about this? I mean, what's possible looking at it from, and walking people through that process, but also helping 'em create, you know, the brand, the cover art. I mean a lot of stuff comes to life through that process. The cover art, the logo for the podcast is the hardest part of the process. That takes us the most time. That's the back and forth. But at the same time, I also say, there's a point in time. We're gonna need to make decisions. We're not gonna play this design game forever. We can get creative, but we can also sit here until kingdom come talking about changing that little thing to that little thing.Dan Henry: (01:06:12)What's been your biggest, like sticking point in growing this agency and growing this all offer?Sebastian Rusk: (01:06:18)I think the fact that podcasting is over two decades old and it's just now gaining popularity. It gained a little bit of steam back in 2008 when the serial podcast came out, that True Crime podcast. And then the case ended up getting overturned because of the podcast and that guy got outta prison and that it gained a little bit of steam. If you're a true crime guy.Dan Henry: (01:06:37)I have not watched that. I don't even know that story.Sebastian Rusk: (01:06:40)Yeah. It's called Serial, like serial killer. And it came out in 2008 and the entire podcast launched and unpacked the story of a serial killer's case and turned come to find out that the guy really didn't actually do it and ended up overturning the case or something like that. Something drastic happened as a product of it.Dan Henry: (01:06:55)That's like the that show on Netflix that came out the Tiger King. Like he like the dude on there was like...Sebastian Rusk: (01:07:02)Wasn't that around here somewhere?Dan Henry: (01:07:03)Yeah. Dude is 30 minutes away.Sebastian Rusk: (01:07:04)I thought so.Dan Henry: (01:07:05)It's literally right here!Sebastian Rusk: (01:07:06)Like Venice, right?Dan Henry: (01:07:06)Yeah. Like I forget, but I mean, I'm watching this show and everybody's like, this is insane. I'm like, dude, this is where I live. People are like this everywhere. Like this is normal. Like I see these people at Walmart at 11 PM Every time. I mean, I haven't been to Walmart 11 PM in a while.Sebastian Rusk: (01:07:22)I was about to ask you what the, what the hell you're doing at Walmart at 11Dan Henry: (01:07:24)Back in the day I would be at Walmart at 11:00 PM and literally like, everybody was a tiger king. I mean, that's normal. And, and so...Sebastian Rusk: (01:07:31)In pajamas.Dan Henry: (01:07:32)Oh yeah. Oh dude, Florida, Florida and pajamas. Like everybody goes out in pajamas. I don't understand, you know, but the fact that things from that show caused him to go to prison. Like if you're on a documentary, why would you sit there and talk about your plans to kill someone? Like what I mean, I, oh, wait a minute, Florida.Sebastian Rusk: (01:07:58)Correct. We can blame Florida.Dan Henry: (01:08:00)I'm a Florida native. So I can say that. I'm allowed to, I got the card, I got the card. Anybody else you can't say that.Sebastian Rusk: (01:08:07)You got the Florida cred to be able to doit. Yeah. You know, I, I always say that, you know, stupid should hurt, bad. Could you imagine if it did? I mean, the world would be a little bit more of an interesting place, I think. ButDan Henry: (01:08:19)So, so, so in terms, so that's like the general though, industry outlook, but like for you specifically, what's been your, what's been the hardest thing for you to get more clients, to get twice as many clients for this as you do now?Sebastian Rusk: (01:08:32)I think it's, I think it's as with anything that podcasting isn't new, but with, with people understanding the reason behind it, like when I walk a car dealership through, or car or somebody who sells cars, a sales manager, why do we wanna start a podcast for his personal brand or whatever it might be. He had never heard of that idea before, until we had that actual conversation. I listened to podcast. I like sports podcast. I've heard of podcast. I never thought I'd be utilizing it for, for what I'm doing. And I think as people start to see what other people start doing with podcasts, their wheels start to spin. And you know, the downside of that, there's a lot of, I wanna start a motivational and entrepreneur podcast.Dan Henry: (01:09:14)You gotta work backwards. Right? So, so, so what I'm hearing is that you, or what it sounds like you're saying is that the sicking point is explaining to people how it can help them and sort of removing that idea that they may already have implanted in their head.Sebastian Rusk: (01:09:32)Correct. Or they don't have an idea. I said, would I just,Dan Henry: (01:09:35)hey don't see how having a podcast could. Cause you know, you think, oh, start a podcast. You're think, oh, a bunch of people gotta listen to it. I can have thousands and thousands of downloads.Sebastian Rusk: (01:09:41)Yeah. What if nobody listens? That's the number one. What if nobody listens? I said, what if you never start recording? And we can do this all day of what ifs, but like what, here's what I invite people to consider for a minute and try this on for size. What does it look like to put the blinders on for the next 16 to 24 months, head down and just go all in with your podcast and make it the number one piece of content that you create for your brand. In fact, my most recent talk is titled how starting a podcast can solve all of your social media content problems. And I firmly believe that start a podcast. You got a video component, you got an audio component. The audio component can be chopped up into audiograms. The video component can be chopped up into micro content.Sebastian Rusk: (01:10:22)You've got graphic assets. We're talking like a minimum seven to 10 pieces of content per episode. Well, what does that do? It promotes the podcast. It helps you create more content. You're able to achieve your goals of being able to at least get content out there. That's the number one majority of brands have. We just don't have time. Or we just had, you know, I had my cousin doing it for a while and he went off to college. There there's a various amounts of reasons. Why brands are not going all in with content and I firmly, but there's plenty of brands that, that do get it have followed Gary's blueprint of being able to create content and multiple pieces of content on a daily bases, be consistent with that content and then count all your chickens. After a significant amount of time, we've been doing this for a year and a half. We've been doing this for 24 months. And that's what I tell everybody. Put the blinders on, give yourself 18 to 24 months podcasting before you give yourself permission to throw the towel in. Cuz I know for a fact...Dan Henry: (01:11:16)Well, you know how people are these days? Sure. 18 to 24 months. But let me ask you a question. If you do this, I mean, how quickly can you, how quickly on average do people gain a client from starting this process?Sebastian Rusk: (01:11:29)It depends. I never give 'em those numbers cause I'd be lying to 'em but I say I well,Dan Henry: (01:11:34)In your experience and what you've seen, have you ever seen somebody in the first say five episodes, land a client?Sebastian Rusk: (01:11:40)Absolutely. If you're, if you're, if you're going into this thing saying I'm interviewing people that I, that are my prospects that are in my demographic, that probably need what I have to offer. I mean, it's a numbers game that, that the numbers of eventually start to.Dan Henry: (01:11:54)What per, so let me ask you this out of all the people that come to you for that specific reason, meaning they agree with your premise. They are saying to themselves, I agree with what Sebastian said. I need to start a podcast. So that X, Y, Z, they agree with that premise. Do they find success a lot faster than the people that come, that don't agree with that premise or they come to you for a different reason to have their podcast?Sebastian Rusk: (01:12:21)I think that's, yeah, because there's a couple different reasons. Some people want to step into that content that host that I've never done this before.Dan Henry: (01:12:30)But the ones that come for that reason that follow that line of logic. They get results way faster than the others.Sebastian Rusk: (01:12:36)100%, because they're intentional with saying the conversations that we're having the interview, my interview strategy is to get to know somebody build a relationship and rapport. And if I provide value through that conversation, and there's an opportunity to say, Hey, you mentioned during our conversation X, Y, and Z, that's, that's our, that's our mojo. That's exactly what we do. Let's have a conversation about it. They're more inclined to, to, to wanna do it. AndDan Henry: (01:13:01)What percentage of your clients only care about that premise?Sebastian Rusk: (01:13:06)I say it's 50, 50.Dan Henry: (01:13:08)So half your clients care about a premise that always gets them results. And the other half care about a premiseSebastian Rusk: (01:13:14)Of just being in the content game and the relationship.Dan Henry: (01:13:17)It doesn't necessarily get them immediate results?Sebastian Rusk: (01:13:19)No, because even if they're not, even if they say I wanna start a podcast to just create content and to build relationships that that has a monetary aspect too. Cause eventually those relationships can be turned into something monetary.Dan Henry: (01:13:32)But what I'm saying is the other half more consistently sees an immediate result. Sure. Because they've gone all in on your, your ideology around this.Sebastian Rusk: (01:13:43)Yes. And it can also blow up too. I mean, you can have something where it, you got something that just explodes and then you're able to get into a podcast network and monetize it. And the whole traditional route too, which I, I'm not a fan of that.Dan Henry: (01:13:55)Imagine if you only worked with people that agreed with that premise and wanted to do it that way and that way only.Sebastian Rusk: (01:14:02)I I'm getting I'm tightening the reins more and more around that. I, I do wanna make sure people are clear that we're not gonna just start it for whatever reason you think you should go and start it. There's going to be a shared common. You have to sell me on why you wanna start a podcast. I'm not here just because you have a budget and you can afford to hire me. That does nothing for me at all, knowing that you share a vision and that I share your vision, cuz if I can get excited about it, a lot of people probably can probably get it about it is my thought process. Cause there's a lot of dumb ideas out there. I, I say, I say constantly to on a daily basis that I talk more people out of starting a podcast than I do starting a podcast.Dan Henry: (01:14:40)So I I'll give you an example, cuz this has reminded me of something I went through. So, you know, I charge currently I hate saying what I charge cuz then by the time somebody hears it, maybe..Sebastian Rusk: (01:14:51)Are you bragging Dan?Dan Henry: (01:14:53)No. Well it's just, it changes, you know? So like people, like I heard you say on this show one time, da, da, da, but I charge a six figure price for one on one consulting currently. Right. And I'm very picky about who I work with for one very specific reason. It's because I don't wanna work with anybody that won't get that back super fast. Cuz you know, dude, I used to deliver pizza, charging somebody a hundred thousand dollars. The first time I did it, I was like, you know, like this is a lot of money, you know? And I really wanted to deliver like I really like, can you imagine that I don't know what the most you've ever charged is, but imagine charging somebody six figures.Dan Henry: (01:15:29)Like I don't worry you the, I don't worry about if they're gonna buy, I worry about what happens when they buy. You know, because now you really gotta deliver and I didn't come out of the gate with a, with a six figure offer. And so what I thought about was all right, let me look back on my career and let me like really analyze what has worked and what good decisions and bad decisions I make. The last thing I ever want to do is charge somebody that much money and they don't get a result. They don't get it back. So I thought about it. I was like, everybody that has ever come to me that has sold something cheap. Right? They sold something like a thousand books, 500 bucks, a couple grand, and they've got a ton of results, but never as quickly as somebody who I've convinced to charge 10, 20, 50,000, right? Like higher ticket prices. Because for them, you know, imagine if I charged you a hundred grand and I teach you how to land $50,000 clients, how many do you have to land to completely get your investment back? Two. Right? So for me that's super easy. I'm like, oh my God, I only gotta get 'em two clients. And then everything after that's gravy. But if you say to me, help me sell this $500 product. I'm like, man, I mean, I gotta dude like...Sebastian Rusk: (01:16:45)How many units gotta move? Right.Dan Henry: (01:16:46)I mean you just gotta move. And not that I've, I mean, I've helped people do that, but it's like this much work compared to finding clients that pay a lot more, this much work. And I really know how to do that. So I made a decision. I will never, I never would take on that level of client that didn't agree with the premise. They didn't agree. I should be charging high ticket. I should be charging a lot of money and finding people who are willing to pay a lot of money to solve their problem, cuz I'm just setting myself up for a headache. And so I never took on anybody that, you know, that did not agree with that premise. And as a result, I've never had somebody not get their investment back super quick. And it wasn't the fact that I'm really good at what I do.Dan Henry: (01:17:32)I mean, I'd like to think that I am, but it was more about the strategy and the decision making of only working with clients that fit into a mold that are great for you. Great for them. You know, they're gonna get an amazing result and you know it's gonna be smooth sailing. It's when you compromise that you cause your self problems in my opinion. Sure. Because I have compromised in my career and every time I have compromised, it's been a nightmare. But when I say this is the way we do it, this is our premise. This is our strategy. You either agree with it or you don't. And if you don't great, good luck to you. But, if you do, this is how we're gonna do it moving forward. And we're not accepting anybody else. That's when things have really worked out.Sebastian Rusk: (01:18:14)And that, you know, I, I try to, it's, it's a slippery slope between those two conversations because I don't want people to get obsessed with going, I'm making this investment so that I can get this back because of podcasting. Cuz people can go down that rabbit hole too. The versus focusing on the work at hand, let's build this thing. Let's create the relationships let's get consistent and really, really good at this. And then start swinging for the fences and figuring out how we can fill in the gaps.Dan Henry: (01:18:43)Well maybe they don't make sale, but maybe they get a connection that leads to some sort of...Sebastian Rusk: (01:18:47)That is that in and of itself is, is even, I would say is even more rewarding. It's been in my experience for people to say, can you believe I was able to get so and so on the show, this is incredible. Like this is great. And if I asked them, is that better than closing a deal? They would probably say yes. And for me that's a win cuz I like the other side of the fence too, which is, I can't believe I closed a client so quick. Excellent. You know?Dan Henry: (01:19:12)So you like make podcasting the ultimate networking and sales tool.Sebastian Rusk: (01:19:17)Is the new, it is your new business card. It is your new networking event. It's your new conference. It is your new ability to get out there and connect with people. What we were born to do as part of the human experiences, connect and build relationships with people. We're now living in a space where those relationships can now be scaled into building a business, a brand, contributing to the bottom line and up starting a podcast, creating content, following your passion about what your thing is and having conversations around it can in turn, grow your business and change your life. I 100% believe that. And it, it, when I say your life, there's a huge component of personal development. I mean, I spend a majority of time pulling the, talking the kitty out of the tree, as far as being in their own head, I'm gonna sound like crap. I'm gonna look like crap. What if nobody listens? What if, what if nobody buys, what if going down this whole, you know, instead of just staying focused on what's important.Dan Henry: (01:20:10)How many times have you seen a football team they're doing terrible. And then at the halftime, the coach or the quarterback does a speech and then they come back. It's not like they learn any new football skills in that 20 minutes. You know, they just got motivated. And so I think that, you know, it's important and for you to motivate your clients and, help them with their head space. Because without that, without learning how to think about things, you're not gonna be able to execute things. Not that I'm dropping my show name.Sebastian Rusk: (01:20:40)Like I say, I see what you did there. Itis. I talk about it. I say that a lot, that may be the title of the next book podcast is a lot life, a lot like life, because it really is. I go through a lot of my similar conversations about life in some of these coaching sessions and about, you know, things, just life in general. I don't know a lot about I know a little bit about you know, a little bit and that's been my experience thus far just with life. But as far as becoming who I need to be as a human being, becoming fully accountable for my life, I don't blame anybody for anything that happened it's all my fault. I always say that constantly too. Remember, it's all your fault and it always is. AndDan Henry: (01:21:21)Have you ever read the book Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willick and Leif Babin. Oh dude, you'd love that book. Okay. It's all about basically saying everything's your fault and, and taking ownership of everything, even if it isn't your fault. And I know that sounds crazy. But that's like, it's like the ultimate leadership skill, you know, but you should read the book because in a vacuum, what I just said is probably could be misconstrued a thousand different ways.Sebastian Rusk: (01:21:45)You know, it's a matter life is a majority of life is showing up 100%, right? Getting in the car, driving three and a half hours for podcast and just showing up, right. Not with, with the one intention. I had one intention of coming here today to have a conversation and to get to know you better because we've been building a relationship over the past couple of years and you've done some incredible stuff with your career so far. And I can learn a ton from that. And hopefully you get something from me too. But the idea is to just constantly invest into relationships and like the example that I gave of this most recent show that I'm hosting, which I never, in a million years thought I would be getting paid to host a show. That's like a large media outlet calling me going, do you wanna be our podcast host, will pay to do it. And I can. And I do this zero planning. I mean, I look at a bio, I look at a link, I look at a name and let's dive in how complicated could it possibly, but it's my get me being able to leverage my gift for that. But those are all relationships of, I look back when that initial introduction was made and I'll never forget Gary going. I'm so glad you guys met. You guys totally need to connect. And I'm like, why?Dan Henry: (01:22:50)And how did you meet Gary V?Sebastian Rusk: (01:22:52)I hunted him down like the DA looking for child support. He was...Dan Henry: (01:23:01)Oh my gosh. That's great.Sebastian Rusk: (01:23:03)These were early days. So this is a great story.Dan Henry: (01:23:05)You're gonna make me wanna hire you for a, for like a private party comedy if you're not careful.Sebastian Rusk: (01:23:09)Yeah. I'm gonna be, I saw the picture from the Halloween party. I can do the, I can do the whole yeah. Is there a stage around?Dan Henry: (01:23:16)I mean, I can have a stage brought in or whatever you want brought in.Sebastian Rusk: (01:23:21)Absolutely. Private parties bought mitzvah. I'm I'm totally kidding. So it was 2012. His first book came out in 2010. I think Crush It came out. Second book was Thank You, Economy. Well, I found out about him right in the very beginning. I was trying to figure out my life.Sebastian Rusk: (01:23:38)I had lost everything I had no money, had a bus pass. I had a skateboard and I was, that was about it. I read crush. It antennas went up. He gives us an email address out everywhere, always has still does. And I emailed him, but I quickly learned a good hack, which is number one, if somebody you want to get in front of is going to be in your town offer to pick him up at the airport, take him to the hotel, be their transportation, find out, you know, to, and from the airport. That's, that's one hack. I didn't do that with Gary, but the other one was get to know their, their team. So at the time he had a very, very small team. It was him, his brother, AJ. And he had a guy by the name of Phil Toronto was his assistant.Sebastian Rusk: (01:24:13)So I started to follow Phil on Twitter. And I quickly found out that Gary's next book. He was doing a book tour and one of those book tour stops was going to be in Miami. So I hit Phil up and I had Phil's email address. I think I guessed it. I was like, well, it's Gary at Vayner Media. It's probably Phil Vayner Media. So I emailed Phil and I, I did, I, I talked to him back and forth. And he is like his PA like his assistant at the time he runs Gary's hedge investment fund now of like, I it's like 65 million. They having that fund now. And he's like the head of it, wild story. But at the time was a, his assistant. And I started to build some rapport with him and I had sent an email and I said, Hey, Gary's gonna be in literally in my neighborhood.Sebastian Rusk: (01:24:54)For the Thank You Economy, Miami book stop, can we do an interview? And I didn't hear back. And I heard back like a week later and I'm thinking it's gonna be like flip cam in the hallway type deal. And he calls back and he said, yeah, we can it meet Gary there at six, the book signings at seven. I said, not a problem. So a day after that, I'm like, well, I have to figure out I need to go get like a flip cam, like tripod, like this wasn't like iPhone 4k days. This was, you know, we were just getting outta flip phones. And the day before that I had a video production company call me and they go, Hey, Sebastian, my company was called Bocial buzz TV. And I was running around town in a bow tie and social buzz, this and yada, yada yada.Sebastian Rusk: (01:25:33)And they said, we've been seeing some of your events and content. We like your stuff. We'd love to work with you. And I was like, great, what are you doing Tuesday night? And they're like, actually, we're available. And I said, good I have a book signing for a guy by the name of Gary Vaynerchuck? They're like who? And I'm like, it doesn't matter. It at Books And Books in Coral Gables. He goes, oh, we just did Russell Simmons book signing there last month. And I was like, as luck would have it. Well, I'll see you guys Tuesday night. And I'll never forget. Gary just walks up the street by himself. And nobody really knows who he is. There's some social media people there, but it's not like mob scene at all. And he walks up. He's like, what's up, man? It's so good to meet you dude.Sebastian Rusk: (01:26:09)And we go into, it's a pretty sizable, you know, old school bookstore, but we went into the side where the book signing wasn't and we set up, like they had full set up cameras, lights, microphone was the worst interview I've ever done. It was terrible back then. Terrible. And I was just so like energetic and it was, it was too much, but we, we got it done, but I was able to spend an hour with Gary while we're setting up and we're doing an interview and like the whole nine and was able to ask questions. And I said, you know, we I've done 10 videos so far this year for Social Buzz. He's like 10, like I did a hundred rid by like the end of like the first month, like get to work, like that's terrible. And so I got the clip still from back in the day.Dan Henry: (01:26:49)That guy blood is made of cocaine.Sebastian Rusk: (01:26:53)It was it was, it was a crazy experience, but that's how I, that's how I that's the first time that I did meet him. And then after that as I started to do MC work I would be the MC for the event and he's the keynote speaker. So we'd see each other. And oddly enough, there was like a time that every event that I would see him in the green room, he was the keynote. I was the MC and he was on his way to Miami. So crazy. It happened at Traffic and Conversions one year too. And that was, that was a crazy experience too cause I walked in the green room and he was sitting with Dice. Like that's part of the deal. Like that's part of the keynote is like, yeah, hang with the partners.Sebastian Rusk: (01:27:25)You hang with the sponsors. Like that's part of like this whole thing. Like I get up and walk in the green room and like he tells Dice, hold on a second, like gets over, greets me, gives me a hug. And they're like, who? That's our MC like I know they think I'm just like the hired MC guy, you know, but which I was.Dan Henry: (01:27:40)Did that make up for the QR code?Sebastian Rusk: (01:27:43)No, that probably I, that contributed to maybe, you know, my, what would end up being my fate with, with digital marketer, which was, you know, the, we grew out of each other all good. Still a great relationship there. But I, that was another lesson too. I was like, ah, I don't know if I should have done. Like, I still, the video's great. Like we did like a, we were in the elevator and I was asking him about like his notifications.Sebastian Rusk: (01:28:09)I'm like, how do you handle your phone? He goes, I turn, 'em all off. He's like, look at my Snapchat, 35,000 views, like per snap at the time that he was going and doing. But it was really cool to run into him. And that was when, like, even my family was like, oh, I, I didn't, I knew you had interviewed him, but I didn like, you know, him know him cuz we got done. And I said, Hey, good to see you. And he, he like tapped me on the shoulder. He goes really good to see you too brother. And so my, even my, I think my sister texted me. She's like, so you like know him, know him, and this is right. This was 2016 I think. So people were starting to, he was becoming more and more popular. I mean the guy's a phenomenon now, like a total celebrity and inaccessible.Sebastian Rusk: (01:28:46)Like it's tough to, I haven't seen him in a few years now nor even talked to him. It's tough to, to there's so many people get out. He's become the go-to source for social media for like the world. So we're talking rappers, athletes. I mean the stories that he shared of like people just hitting him up and being like, what should I do with my brand is just crazy. It's like, he's had, he's like I have rappers. And like people Jay-Z, like what? So it's, it's cool. Who's, who's become as a personality, but also for the world, like it really like that go. I want to become that for the podcasting world because I see what podcasting has done for my life. I see the impact that it has on business and I see the impact that it has on life and then the ability to turn it into a business. And then I'm able to leverage my personal brand that I've been working so diligently on for the past 10 years of just that on-air personality. I used to say, I would be the, like the Ryan Seacrest of the branding and business type of world where celebrity endorsements and things of that nature. No, you got Sebastian Rus talking about your brand, your product, hosting your podcast, whatever it may be. And that's now starting to take...Dan Henry: (01:29:52)Maybe you can be the Sebastian Rusk.Sebastian Rusk: (01:29:54)Oh, that's. Well, I stopped saying I exactly in the very beginning I used to go, I'm gonna be the next Ryan Seacrest. And somebody said, Hey, why don't you become the next Sebastian Rusk and I never ever said the next Ryan Seacrest ever again.Dan Henry: (01:30:05)So I'm gonna ask you one more question and then we'll, we'll let people know where they can check out your podcast and all that jazz. What is the biggest lesson you learned from spending an hour hanging out with Gary V?Sebastian Rusk: (01:30:19)Make time for people and stay humble.Dan Henry: (01:30:23)Yeah. So in an hour with Gary VSebastian Rusk: (01:30:26)I've seen him turn down, security, get completely mobbed, inundated selfies. He did an event in 2018. That was the last time I saw him. That's when I met Jordan with Grit Daily, when I just inked that deal to host their show in 2018. But I'll never forget that there was the no media at the event. He did it at Dolphin Stadium and cause he's partners with Steve Ross. Cause I was like, you're a Jets fan. Why are we at Dolphin Stadium? But Steve Ross who owns the dolphins, his business partner was one of the original investors in Vayner Media way early on when Gary was trying to figure out what his next move was. So he had access to this. So he rented it out and did an event called Agent 2021. I connected with him and he connected me with his event girl.Sebastian Rusk: (01:31:05)And I, he said, Hey, he I've known Sebastian a long time. He's a good friend of mine. He wants to come cover the event. If you guys are bringing media in, there was like no media. There, there were a few people tech companies and news outlets, but I walked in and it was just him and his event girl. So we got, got an opportunity to catch up again, same experience, humble, present, making time. How's everything. How's Kayla, how's your daughter. How, how are your kids doing? They're growing up this whole, like this, this, this real. And we walked all the way down to the field cuz he opened it up with his keynote and we had this conversation and caught up for 10, 15 minutes and it was just him and I, and I didn't even put two and two together and asked, who's introducing you and we go up.Sebastian Rusk: (01:31:44)And he's like, Hey man, I'll he goes, I'm gonna go do my thing. I'll catch you upstairs this afternoon. I'm like, all right, cool. And I walk out and we're on the football field. That's where the stage was. And I hear the AV guy go, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage, the CEO and founder of Vayner Media, Gary Vander, Chuck. And I'm like, Ugh, what a missed opportunity. So I'm roaming around at taking, you know, I've never seen so many videographers in my entire life at this event. Like you've created monsters, Gary and I'm walking by and just getting like a quick clip. And I don't know if he caught like my, I cut his attention or what, whatever was when he was on stage. But his, his premise was for all of you agents, real estate agents, insurance agents, you guys are not doing enough.Sebastian Rusk: (01:32:26)When it comes to the content game, you can be doing way more for guys like Sebastian and points me out in the middle of the event on here. When I say he got done with his talk and I got mobbed was crazy, bro. But wow, I learned that it's his humility. He's not too proud to do anything. And people completely misread that. And he makes, he told me that early on Sebastian, doesn't matter where this road takes you and where you end up going and how big and famous and rich you get. I don't care. I don't give three rips, dude. You always make time for people always and remain, present, actually care about them. And if you can't do that, then you need to really rethink this thing. And I think that's what a lot of creators and influencers and you know, I think people are tired of the guru and tired of the influencer because what we've experienced over the past 10 years of you don't really know who's what or what's what, but what happens when you get to meet the person behind the Instagram account and in real life and have that experience, are they leaving you different?Sebastian Rusk: (01:33:23)Did you have an experience because of that? And I know that's a long winded answer, but remaining humble and, and making time for people is so important with discretion. Of course, you know, you can't, you know, you've only so many hours in, in a day that you can be and you can't be everything to everybody.Dan Henry: (01:33:38)But in an hour with Gary V you could have talked about anything you could have talked about...Sebastian Rusk: (01:33:44)The interview was about social media mainly, but you're talking about my experience that I took from him. It's always present and it's always like there. And just man, I remember you from, yeah, I'll never forget him responding back to the Agent 2021 and looping me in with his team. He goes, I known this guy a long time, take good care of him. I, and I thought, wow, Gary V telling his team, he's known little Sebastian Rusk a long time to take good care of.Sebastian Rusk: (01:34:08)And they did. They took impeccable care and oddly enough, his, his sister was there that day. His mother was there. I met the whole Vayner clan oddly enough, which was which was really cool. But that's probably my biggest takeaway. And then, you know, the association did yield a lot of business. I mean, that being able to, I still have the picture to this day on my Facebook cover as being able to edify myself of, and I don't do it to brag. I do it because this is a product of carefully cultivated relationships. And for showing up, I've never asked Gary for a thing, ever, other than can I interview you? Can I make it all about you? Can I talk about you et cetera. And I've tried to like, get, you know, there's no calling in favors or anything.Sebastian Rusk: (01:34:49)He has a rule. I just, I don't share anything. I don't, I don't do any favors cuz I'd have to do it for everybody. Mm. And I thought, Hmm, that's another one I'll put in my, another feather in my cap that I'll keep close, which is you can't be everything to everybody, but you can definitely serve people and you can over deliver in any capacity. And I try to do that. I try to pour into people in any capacity, sometimes it turns into business. Sometimes it, you know, I wear these shirts everywhere. So people are like podcasts suck. I love podcasts. What's your podcast all about the new ones have a QR code. So if I'm on an airplane or somewhereDan Henry: (01:35:22)You love QR codes, don't you?Sebastian Rusk: (01:35:24)Well, yeah, because, Oh yeah. Yeah. Because ladies and gentlemen, very, very funny comedian coming up, internet marketer, extraordanair comedian Dan no. Well they scan, it goes right to my right to my calendar, right to a sales page. Get, 'em get, dare I say, get 'em in the, get 'em in the sequence of getting in touch with you. There we go. We didn't, we didn't use the F word.Dan Henry: (01:35:43)It's, you know, it's, it's interesting that you mentioned the humility and the make time for people because, you know, I, I grew up in my career in the whole like direct response, internet marketing, influencer guru thing, and, and all these gurus, they, while they teach you like how to be this person, and one of the things I remember that I always kind of, and I've done it and it sucks. And I hate myself when I have done it. But you know, the thing I've always struggled with was one of the pillars of being a guru or of selling access is that you have to limit your access. Right. Because if you limit your access, it becomes more valuable. And if you just give everybody access, it becomes less value. And they they've taught that for decades. And, you know, when I learned that I kind of understood it, but at this same time, it sort of it went against kind of like what I, what I believe, because you know, when I'm at events and stuff like that, I like to talk to everybody.Dan Henry: (01:36:48)And I like to respond to people on social media. And I know that a lot of amazing influencers that are coming out now, they say it respond to everybody. I remember seeing Trent Shelton live and he said, you know, take an hour a day and go on your social media and just respond to people. And just you, not your team say hi, you know, and I remember hearing that and I remember hearing things like what you're talking about with Gary V and, you know, just one day I started responding more to people and I got outta my head of that whole like, oh, you need to remove access to yourself and restrict access. And this makes you more valuable. And, you know, the thing was, it didn't hurt my business. It didn't make me any less,Sebastian Rusk: (01:37:29)Maybe even helped it.Dan Henry: (01:37:30)I, yeah, there was multiple times where just me responding to somebody like, you know, I just really appreciate you responding personally.Dan Henry: (01:37:37)I, and what I use, I send voice messages. Cause you know, if you respond, you say, Hey, thanks, man. Yeah. I think I sent you a voice message on Instagram. Sure. But if you just respond with a text, people are like, oh, that's probably his team. I've had people say that, oh, this is probably, this is probably your assistant or something. And I'm like, nah, it's me dude. And they're like, no, it's not. And I'm like, I send a picture, you know? And then I thought one day, like what if I responded with voice? And so I just started responding and saying, Hey, you know, let you know, thank you so much, da, da, da, da. But I learned something about that. If you send somebody a voice message, they send voice messages back and then you gotta listen to 'em. Right, right.Dan Henry: (01:38:11)And then they send generally send you like 10. And so what I do, so what, well, here's what I learned when I send a voice message. I'll say, Hey, listen, I don't get on here much. And I definitely don't listen to like voice messages cuz you know, everything's just so crazy. But I wanted to take a minute to send you a voice message and let you know that I really appreciate it. Da, da, da. And I send that over. Yeah. So I set that expectation that know I pop in here and there and not dude, I don't have anywhere near the social following that, that some of these guys have, but even still with the small amount that I do, itSebastian Rusk: (01:38:43)Makes a huge, huge difference.Dan Henry: (01:38:44)Yeah. Yeah. And so I started adopting that and I, I think it works better than this traditional like restrict access to yourself.Sebastian Rusk: (01:38:51)Well, nobody, I just like I, to my point earlier, I think we're all sick of the guru, right. And of the, of the influencer and trying to figure it, you know, it all out. I think that we're moving into this creator economy where it's extremely powerful and it's gonna be extremely powerful for individuals and for people starting businesses and following their dreams and doing their thing or whatever it may be. But at the same time, you know, that's my concern with this whole, that averse thing. It's like, do we need less human, like less interaction, like less real life. I, I don't know that that is the solution. I think a good combination of the two, that's a completely different episode, butDan Henry: (01:39:28)An episode where we talk about how the intentionally made life suck so bad in order to sell an alternative,Sebastian Rusk: (01:39:34)We're not buying JPEGs of apes for quarter mill.Dan Henry: (01:39:38)Yeah. I'm guilty of that.Sebastian Rusk: (01:39:40)Do you own an ape?Dan Henry: (01:39:41)No, but I got it in Neo Tokyo. I got into, I own a punk.Sebastian Rusk: (01:39:44)You did tell me about that.Dan Henry: (01:39:45)Yeah, I, I did. I think I spent 250.Sebastian Rusk: (01:39:48)You were my motivation to start an NFT collection. So I am officially, haven't announced it yet. And we'll talk about it later. It's top secret. But I'm trying to figure out, you know, what utility, in what purpose.Dan Henry: (01:39:59)That's the hardest part. The hardest part is to figure out what your utility is. Alex Becker did great. Dude, I got in on that, thatSebastian Rusk: (01:40:05)Guy's like, I mean, I, I can't even keep up.Dan Henry: (01:40:07)Like I get like 16 bites a day and they just stack and, and they were up to $260 per bite at one point. You know, now, right now everything's down. CuzSebastian Rusk: (01:40:16)He just launched his second phase two or like right. I started following him right after.Dan Henry: (01:40:19)Yeah. It's like, and he, everything with the game. And like I started, when I, when I first started thinking about it, I was like, oh, it'll just be like, I have the art done for mine, but I'm, I'm taking my time on the utility. But you know, I thought about it and I was like, where's this all going? It's going in games. People love games. So I thought about developing, you know, a game and all that, but I'm, I'm staying focused. That's the thing, man, this, this new stuff out here, it can really distract you because we can sit here all day long and talk about like NFTs and this, and I'm an investor. I've believe it or not. I had, I want do a YouTube video on this. I but do you know, I sold my yacht to buy NFTs.Sebastian Rusk: (01:41:01)Well, it was, I, it wasn't public information, but you did tell me about it.Dan Henry: (01:41:03)Yeah. So what, so I did, I mentioned on your podcast.Sebastian Rusk: (01:41:07)Oh, but you told me it was a royal pain in the is the main reason that you sold it. But it was a great investment opportunity too.Dan Henry: (01:41:13)I'll just real quick. Okay. I'll just real quick. Tell this story. So I bought the yacht, it was 2 million. I learned that you could create a business out of it by making it a yacht charter business. And if it's a business, there's all these tax benefits. And essentially you could kind of get the yacht for free if you structure the deal. Right. But then of course there's the maintenance, you know, and the crew and the crew. Right. And when we did it, it worked out, I was more than breaking even. And I started doing these consulting gigs on the boat, I was charging 20 grand a day to just hang out with me on the yacht. And I give you business advice. We were booking two to three of them a week. And so my yacht crew was like, dude, you paying for everything. Like we're making a profit. This is nuts. You know? And I'm like, you know, it's just a different way to do it. Right. Well then COVID hit, the pandemic hit and all of a sudden everything changed. And all of a sudden this yacht that was doing well, that I like thought I, I was all like, yeah, I made, I made, everybody says a boat is a hole in the water. You throw of money. I figured out how to make it profit. And then life is just like, guess what dude, pandemic.Sebastian Rusk: (01:42:19)I thought you bought it because of the pandemic.Dan Henry: (01:42:21)It was right before the pandemic. But we had booked stuff out and all that. And well, I didn't, well, see, you didn't know it was gonna be that bad then. Right. Right. You like, oh, there's this thing. But you didn't know it was gonna be what it is.Sebastian Rusk: (01:42:32)I think you told me the first time you were on my show, you're like, we're almost done with this. We're almost out of it. Like they were doing a, yeah. They were doing a parade in in downtown Korea or something. Remember that the first time you did the show.Dan Henry: (01:42:41)Right, right. Yeah. And so I didn't think so when we bought it, like, or I thought that would be over in a couple months and a lot of people did cuz we bought it right before that. And so and when I say we, I say that because I, I literally created a company to buy the yacht.Sebastian Rusk: (01:42:59)Myself, my yacht broker. Yeah.Dan Henry: (01:43:01)My, you know, but I, they say we is more polite to say, but sure. The point is, is that when I did that, this horrible thing happened in the world and what was working no longer worked. And now it was a hole in the money was a hole in the water that you throw money into. Right. Because at that point I couldn't book out the charters. I couldn't book out. And then there was all this stuff and things became more complicated in the yacht world. And so the expenses went up and materials. Nobody wanted to work. Right. Nobody wanted work. And so now I'm like, man, this thing is like, now it, now it really is a drain on me. So I saw all I invested in multiple NFTs that started paying me a ton of money and you know, I'm thinking, okay, hold on a second. Real Estate's crazy. Right now it's super expensive. Materials are super expensive. The yacht thing is, is killing me. So I was like, you know what, I'll sell my yacht and I'll buy, I'll use the money that I put into my yacht to buy NFTs. I sell the yacht. I invest in multiple NFTs. And just one of them made me everything. It like completely covered all my losses and just got me whole on the whole shenanigan, all the shenanigans, everythingSebastian Rusk: (01:44:14)On this episode of below deck St. Pete dude, Dan gets richer.Dan Henry: (01:44:20)That show, I watched that show before I bought the boat and I was like, this is complete Hollywood, whatever. Yeah. And then afterSebastian Rusk: (01:44:27)Captain Lee's a dick though. He totally is. Yeah.Dan Henry: (01:44:30)But it's true. Like it's not that dramaticized sure it really isn't. And I learned that a year after owning the boat, I was like, I, wellSebastian Rusk: (01:44:37)Think about what you're, you know, people that, you know, free spirits, don't like being in any one place at one time, you know, we're on the water, it's gotta, you know, you're, you probably have some sort of demographic..Dan Henry: (01:44:48)Oh, theres so much alcohol involved in an industry where you have this enormous expensive piece of equipment that is floating in salt water. And it's like, right. Super nerve wracking when you're the owner. And you're just like, ah, you know, but that's, that's my story.Sebastian Rusk: (01:45:03)Did you get to enjoy it though? Did you go on any trips or didn't take it down to The Bahamas or something?Dan Henry: (01:45:06)Yeah. I took it on multiple trips, but you know what, here's the beautiful part. I can rent a yacht that I don't have to worry about maintenance that I don't have to worry about it breaking, go enjoy myself. And by the time I get back, the fricking NFT that I invested in it'll pay for it. And hopefully that remains the case. And I don't sound like an year from now.Sebastian Rusk: (01:45:26)I think it worked in this, this scenario,Dan Henry: (01:45:29)But I mean, the point I was trying to make here is that the world moves so quickly and you can go from what is working to what isn't working like that. And you have to be able to shift with a decision. Right. And, and people thought people thought I was crazy for spending that much money on a yacht. And I I'm assuming people were gonna think I'm even crazier for selling that and then investing in pictures of, you know, apes and, you know, but it paid off. Right. And so that's, I just wanted to share that because I just thought it was a crazy story of how it's so important to be able to pivot when you need to pivot.Sebastian Rusk: (01:46:11)Yeah. 100%. It's a decision though. You know, you can, we, we, we all have that unique gift every single day to make that decision of, you know, I'm not happy. Cool. That's, that's probably a product of, of you've decided not to be happy. So making that decision and taking massive action, not always easy to take action, you know, mental health and depression are a real thing. Unfortunately they, part of life, it's tough to get motivated sometimes. And I embrace that, but eventually, no, one's gonna come knock on your door and get you outta bed and say, today's the day we're gonna make decisions. Okay. We gotta snap out of it. That's a, it's an evolving process.Dan Henry: (01:46:42)I'm not gonna lie. It, things take, take balls in this life. And I remember when I bought my first house that I was like, so nervous. I remember writing my first IRS check. So nervous. I remember buying that boat so nervous. I remember dude, the first time I spent a quarter of a million dollars on a picture of a fricking dude with like a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and like a nose ring and pixelated, you know, it's a crypto punk. I was like, what am I doing right now? This is insane. You know, and I'm, I'm about to press the button. And I'm like, I'm about to spend a quarter million dollars on a pixelated picture of this like punk dude or whatever, you know? And it was just amazing to me, like the fact that I was able to press the button and people do that every day. And the world is just changing so fast. It's insane. It really is. I wanna know where, so the name of your, your podcast is theSebastian Rusk: (01:47:41)Is Beyond The Story. Yeah. That's my main podcast. We started, speaking of NFTs, just started an NFT podcast on Twitter. I gotta deal with Twitter on contract with them to host to Twitter space a couple of times a week. There it's their version of clubhouse. So I launched NFT Sucks if you don't understand them. So I interview creators and projects and it's somewhat self-serving in addition to achieving the, the goal of, of, of the deal I have with Twitter. But the main podcast, my, my bridge builder relationship builder is, is Beyond The Story, BeyondTheStoryPodcast.Com and the agency's Podcast Launch Lab. So PodcastLaunchLab.Com and yeah. Helping folks make their podcasting dreams a reality, or at least talking them out of it. One, one way or another. So,Dan Henry: (01:48:24)Well, I think anybody that listened to this episode, I think if they're interested to check you out, they're going to, because I'm, I'm impressed by just that unique strategy that you have created around podcast, you know, and, and the fact that you have a product and a service to help back that up and make it a reality forSebastian Rusk: (01:48:42)People. Absolutely. I'm podcast launch guy on Instagram, it's the best, best place to find me. So if you have questions, I, I just like you, I respond to almost everybody to the best of my ability. I'm here to serve. I'm here to, to help you better understand what you don't know that you don't know about the world of podcasting really what's possible there. So hit me up and we'll have a conversation and you, you may very well be sharing your, oh my gosh. I can't believe a podcast did this for my life story. So, and that's what I'm in this game for. Thanks. I really appreciate your time, dude.Dan Henry: (01:49:11)Yes. Thank you so much. Awesome

>>> Get Daily Success Mentoring By Becoming A Member At How To Think<<< ------Are you struggling to grow your business? From tackling day-to-day operations, handling employees, and overcoming unexpected or unforeseen issues… It can be difficult to find the time to work on your business instead of working in it! You may already know entrepreneurship can be challenging, especially if you're striving to grow your business alone.  If you have been struggling to grow your business, this is for you! In this episode, I talk with Andrew Stickel about the mindset and skill required to build and scale a successful business. He shares his insight into investing in yourself and your business through coaches and mentors, and he shares the mindset that has allowed him to grow his business to a massive 6-figure company that is projected to do 24 million this year!  In this episode, Andrew and I are going to cover:How To Approach Done For You ServicesWhat No One Tells You About Coaching ClientsHow Selling High Ticket Is EasierWhat Can Happen When You Accept An Unexpected OpportunityHow To Go From 300K to 3 MillionWhat Is The Biggest Challenge With EmployeesHow To Deal With Piracy and Competition If you got value from what you heard here, please be sure to subscribe and rate this podcast! Bonus points for you if you write a review! ;)  — SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW — Subscribe to Dan’s YouTube ChannelFollow Dan on FacebookFollow Dan on InstagramFollow Dan on TwitterClick Here To Get Daily Success Mentoring By Becoming A Member At How To Think — TRANSCRIPT — Dan Henry: (00:00)In this episode of the, How To Think podcast. We had Andy Stickel on, who is the founder of Social Fire Starter. He does marketing for lawyers and he was able to go from a 1 million a year business to a 4 million a year business to now a million dollars a month and projected 24 million this year. And we sat for about two hours and we talked about a lot of things. We talked about growing businesses. We talked about mindset. We talked about managing and dealing with employees and just everything in between as well as how he got started. And we told a lot of awesome stories about growing and leveling up. And I really think that you're going to enjoy this sit down interview. So with that said, let's jump right in.Dan Henry: (00:57)Andy Stickel.Andrew Stickel: (00:58)How's it going, man, been a while.Dan Henry: (01:00)And it has been a while. Yeah. Yeah. I'm really excited you came on because you were my client for like years.Andrew Stickel: (01:09)I take, I take pride in being your number one client.Dan Henry: (01:11)You are like, you are, You are. So, it's really cool because I recall like when we started working together, you know, you were very ground floor and now you're just, you're just absolutely crushing it. I mean, you did, I know that you did. What did you do last year with your, cause you have a software. You have a coaching company, you have it done for you agency, and last year was good, but this year's like ridiculous. Like what'd you do last year?Andrew Stickel: (01:40)Yeah, so we did, we did 4 million last year. When I started with you. We were at about a million, I think. And that was 2000... When was Ad Con? It was Ad Con.Dan Henry: (01:49)Oh that's ancient history.Andrew Stickel: (01:49)I hired you a, you know. Okay. So you know, the whole story about how I saw, I knew who Dan Henry was, and I was like, this guy's a douch bag. Like I don't. And then, so, and then I bought, and then I went to Ad Con cuz I live in Lakeland, which is, I don't know, like an hour from here. And I'm the type of person. And this is one of the secrets of my success, is that I understand that I can learn something from everybody and Ad Con was gonna be there. And I was like, all right, it's cool. I think you were doing like a Black Friday deal or something on Ad Con. So I got, I got a ticket for it. And I went to Ad Con and I was watching you. And I was like, this guy actually does just know what he's talking about. Like, it's pretty clear this guy actually knows a thing or two here.Dan Henry: (02:27)So, you know, what's funny about that is I talked to Tai Lopez once. And he said that when he was starting out, cuz he's very different now, just like I'm very different nowAndrew Stickel: (02:37)When he was starting out, he was like Peer 1 and like,Dan Henry: (02:40)Yeah, like ridiculous what he is doing now.Andrew Stickel: (02:42)So smart. Yeah.Dan Henry: (02:42)So when he started out with what he was doing, he said that he knew his market, his market was like 18 to 25 year old males. And that basically, if he was to act all smart, they would get turned off. So he kind of had to act, I mean,Andrew Stickel: (02:57)He played dumb.Dan Henry: (02:58)He played dumb. He kind of acted like a douch because he was, I hate to sell this, but he was selling to douches. So, that was his strategy. And I always thought like, wow, to put your ego aside, and be able to do that. And do it because you know, that that's what, how you're attacking your market. And you know, you're smarter, you know, you're more, you know you can articulate yourself in a more intelligent way, but you suppress that cuz you know your market. I think that like that's a lot of discipline there. And so, but like I think anybody, you kind of get sick of that market, you grow out of it. And when I started realizing that I could attract, you know, better people, not that there's anything wrong with being, I mean, I was male in 18 to 25 at one point. But you know, when you I didn't want to work with people that just wanted like Lamborghinis and stuff. You know, I wanted to work with people who wanted to create great products. And so I changed my whole thing a bit and, just like he did and a lot of people do so. But yeah, yeah. I was, I've heard that a lot. LikeAndrew Stickel: (04:02)Yeah. I mean, I just didn't yeah. I mean, you know what, you know, it's like, you know, and you even talked about this even more recently on your social media about you don't know somebody, you really just don't know somebody from basically their onscreen persona. Whether they're an actor or athlete or an entrepreneur or whatever, you know, so, but I went to Ad Con and I was like, oh, this guy really actually knows what he's talking about. And I'm the type of person where like, if I wanna learn something, you know, there's that Tony Robbins quote, where if you want to be successful, find somebody who's already done exactly what you wanna do and just copy what they've done. Right. So, or maybe hire them and tell them whatever it was.Dan Henry: (04:38)It's copy them. I, and then I say, Dan Henry says, if you really want to be good at it, just pay whatever they want.Andrew Stickel: (04:43)Yeah. So I don't know what the actual quote is. I think the quote is copied. I don't, I don't like, I don't like the, I don't like the copy in there because you get in, like, I think a lot of people think that like funnel hacking is literally just copying and I've, I know you've had that. I've had that happen where it's copying,Dan Henry: (04:57)That's what it turned into.Andrew Stickel: (04:58)That's what it turned into. But I don't think that was ever the intention. I think it was basically look and see.You know, it's like, and I still funnel hack. I'll look and see like, you know, this market is like, somebody's doing this cool thing in this market. That's neat. I'm not gonna steal or copy word for word. I'm not gonna steal their landing page, but I'll take that idea. And I'm like, okay, that's really cool. How can I apply that to what I'm trying to do? And it just, you know, it's like that book, Steal Like An Artist, you know what I mean?Dan Henry: (05:24)That's sort of like, if you ever go to the gym, and you see people doing like flies and instead of doing them properly, they're like this. You know, that's the equivalent to properly, like that's what I see in the online business industry is everybody's pretty much like, no, no, I'm do, I'm marketing and it's like, no, you're just making crappy products. And stealing other people's stuff. And you just, you kind of suck. So,Andrew Stickel: (05:48)And what I found is that typically, typically when you're just copying, when you're not actually doing the work, then you end up, you don't have any more moves. You know what I mean? Like so,Dan Henry: (05:59)Right. Exactly. you, dude, that's exactly right.Andrew Stickel: (06:01)That's what happens to me all the time. People steal my stuff, people steal your, I'm sure people steal your stuff all the time you know.Dan Henry: (06:06)Yeah. I'm definitely, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, I guess it's flattering at this point. But let's, so you did 4 million in last year, but you're on track to do what 24 million this year?Andrew Stickel: (06:19)So we're gonna, yeah. Well, we'll do, I mean, barring a yeah, we're gonna do 24 million this year, you know? Now that's few things have happened. I mean, you know, my company's being acquired. I now own a piece of a bigger company, but, yeah. We're on pace to do 24 million by the end of this year. Yeah, that's gone from doing a million a year to out doing 2 million a month. You know.Dan Henry: (06:40)We spoke before this started, you said the, if you were to separate that out, you got software, coaching and you got, done for you. The majority of that is done for you?Andrew Stickel: (06:51)Yeah. The majority. Well, the majority, I would say 60% is done for you. I'd say 30% is gonna be coaching and then 10% is going to be software. But we're, you know,Dan Henry: (07:03)What do you charge for your software?Andrew Stickel: (07:04)So the software right now, we're making some transitions because what we were doing is we were charging $3,000 a year. And basically I was just like, I learned really marketing from you. So what I did was I was doing, I did, ad, webinar, phone call, right. So, we were selling it at $3000. Well, we started at thousand and we started, 20 then went to 2,500. Then we went to 3000. Eventually, my plan was to get it up to 10,000 a year and we're still gonna get to that point. But what we're trying to do right now is we're actually gonna probably drop the price to like $249 a month right now, and just get on a reoccurring revenue model.Andrew Stickel: (07:37)Cause we wanna get as many users as possible. And it's easier. What we found is when we're doing it at $249 for the market that we're in, we're able to sell it a lot more at $249 than 3K up front, you know, so.Dan Henry: (07:49)$249 per month?Andrew Stickel: (07:50)$249 per month. Yeah. Which is basically the same thing. It's still $3,000 a year. It's just a monthly revenue model. But what we're trying to do and you know, we're trying to make it that we're looking at how can we make our clients stickier. Cuz that's the biggest problem with monthly recurring revenues, how do you keep the clients? You know, so we have contracts and everything, but what we're really trying to do is we're trying to figure out what kind of software can we do so that, you know, we can provide lots of software for them that they really use so that they're not going to want to leave. And that's the software that we have is like, it's like revolutionary in terms of getting reviews for law firms, because it's, that's what we do. We figure out the problem is that lawyers can't get reviews on.Dan Henry: (08:29)You should probably mention who you market.Andrew Stickel: (08:32)Yeah. I mentioned for, I've work for lawyers. Yeah.Dan Henry: (08:33)You do marketing for lawyers. Yeah. So, that, so for like for my app, How To Think, you know, I think about it and I'm like, you know, I think Calm, the app Calm did like 200 million last year.Andrew Stickel: (08:47)Oh, did it really?Dan Henry: (08:47)It's ridiculous.Andrew Stickel: (08:47)What is Calm? I don't even know what that is.Dan Henry: (08:49)So it's like an app you download and they have, and it just has like meditations and stuff. And there's other apps like it. Ours is a little bit more like your daily dose of wisdom where, and we're still on the ground floor of it building it up. We, we actually had, we launched it and we got over a thousand members and we did really, really well. And then the Amazon servers crashed and it corrupted cuz like with apps and stuff, a lot of 'em, most of 'em are based on the Amazon, like S3 and Amazon servers.Andrew Stickel: (09:23)Yeah. AWS, all that.Dan Henry: (09:24)AWS. And so, there was this, this massive crash. It was like literally like a, a dooms day event and it just thousands of companies or logistics departments, apps, it just crushed them. It like fried them, you know?Andrew Stickel: (09:39)Interesting.Dan Henry: (09:39)Like, think about like, the Terminator, what's a Sky Net, you know, just right? And so of course we're like a small company. We don't have like 20 developers sitting in a room, you know, with star wars on, you know, know coding and being plugged in. So it just, it hit us like crazy. So we had to, we had to like rebuild the whole app from the ground up, which is what we're doing now. And we're redoing it a little bit, but the reason I mentioned that is because like the app game, the software game is hard. Like I had a software before and that was hard because it had to connect to all these other softwares, and if they change something, then you gotta change something in yours.Dan Henry: (10:22)You know? And so it's a very tough game. But if you think about it, there's a lot of apps out there that do like a hundred million, 200 million a year. So to me I'm thinking like, man, if my app can just do 10 million a year, that would be amazing. But our angle is like a daily dose of wisdom. So you, you get, maybe there's a quote or there's a piece of wisdom from anyone all the way from Aristotle to Steve Jobs that in history have talked about something, maybe something from books and every day there's a five minute audio that sort of dives into that explains it and how to apply it to your life. And you get that five minute audio every day. And it just helps you with your mindset, helps you become more successful. We have a ton of, like the people love it, but we did have to put it on a separate app temporarily while we fixed this one. It's been, I'm not gonna lie. It's been a nightmare. I'm sure you've dealt with software stuff. But we're, we're looking to when we relaunch it, looking to be a lot better. So yeah.Andrew Stickel: (11:14)It's different. It's so different. Like, and you know, I know you got into physical products, I've gotten into physical products. It's different because like, like you and I are used to having an idea, getting a whiteboard out, drawing, like turning, going on Facebook live and then selling it and then there's money. And then like fulfilling. It is just going on to like teaching a course. Right. That's like the easiest thing, but then with software now, okay. I can sell this thing. I can do the sales, I can get all the sales, but now I'm dependent on all these other people and all these other companies and all this technology to actually make it work. And, you know, and, fulfillment or, e-com is even worse,Dan Henry: (11:54)Dude. E-com is terrible.Andrew Stickel: (11:55)It's it's terrible. Yeah. We're dealing with that right now.Dan Henry: (11:57)Like we, we had, that's been, oh, that, so we developed this planner that, you know, and people love the planner. The product's great. But like, when we first had it, we had like 10,000 copies, they got stuck on a ship in California because there was something about China and the U.S having whatever their issues are. And it was stuck there and it was stuck there for like a month and a half. And I was just like, this is insane. Like, and we're like, Brandon was like calling all these logistics companies and just having to do all this crazy stuff. And Brandon, how much of a nightmare was dealing with that?Brandon: (12:37)Never put me in charge of a physical product company ever again.Dan Henry: (12:42)Yeah. He said never put him in front of, in charge of a physical product company again. Dude. It it's horrible.Andrew Stickel: (12:47)It's terrible. Yeah.Dan Henry: (12:48)Yeah. So that's why, like I always say, when you teach, when you do consulting, or when you do information products, or you do events, or you do like a mastermind, I mean, that money can be used to cuz it's it's easy money. Right. Like, I mean, million make millions of dollars at like 80% margins or even more sometimes. And even if you're terrible at it, it's still like 50% margins if you suck. And then you can take that and you can put it into investments, you can put it into real estate or cryptocurrency or building a real company as I put it. You know, so it's an interesting, it's an interesting thing for sure. But I want, you know, what I'd like to pick your brain on a little bit here is the done for you. So you do what at least, did you say you were at 2 million a month?Andrew Stickel: (13:40)We are at, well, let's see we're at 13 million right now, so that's a little more than a million a month right now.Dan Henry: (13:44)Okay. So you're at atleast 600 grand,Andrew Stickel: (13:47)13 million a year. Yeah. So we're yeah. We're yeah.Dan Henry: (13:49)You're at over 600 grand a month in done for you services?Andrew Stickel: (13:51)Yeah. So we do a lot of bundling, right? Like we have found part of the coaching that we do, like, what we found is that leads... So, we work with lawyers. Right. And we found that a lot of times lawyers think that leads are their problem. Same thing with a lot of business, they think that leads is the problem. Right.Dan Henry: (14:10)They're the problem.Andrew Stickel: (14:11)Yeah. Well, but, but, so, okay, here's a great example. We had a client, we got 'em 300 lead leads in a single month and he got zero cases out of it because he didn't have his intake system handled. He didn't have a, he's not good at sales, you know, like there's all these different things that we can bring them the lead. Right. But if they don't have their business and their infrastructure set up behind that, then they're not gonna get cases.Andrew Stickel: (14:31)And at the end of the day, they're still gonna look at it like it's our fault, right? Because, oh, I paid you all this money and I didn't get any, I didn't get any cases. Right. So I read a long time ago, I read the book, Extreme Ownership, one of the it's I think it's essential reading for just anyone in life. And it's basically like, you know, I can complain that the clients are not actually doing their part or I can figure out a way to fix it. You know? So one of the things we do is now every client that we have gets an answering service, that, that is included in the cost of their monthly fee. And now somebody answers the phone. So at least their calls aren't going to voicemail. Right. But then we start doing coaching...Dan Henry: (15:08)Do you recall years ago when everybody was complaining about that, and I...Andrew Stickel: (15:13)Answering service?Dan Henry: (15:14)No, no. They were complaining about clients not calling. So they would run whatever, some, you know, paid media yeah. For, for clients. And they say, well, they don't answer the phone. And I was like, why don't you just charge 'em more money, and hire a VA to answer the phone. Everybody's like, no, that won't work.Andrew Stickel: (15:30)So we knew that. And actually, but here's, he did, but here's the thing, is that not only that, but we also include it as part of the offer. We're like, not only that, but you get an answering service. So now you can fire your answering service that you pay $300 a month for, and you can do that. So it makes our offer better. Right. But we were realizing that they still don't know how to do sales. They still don't know how to run their business. So that's when we started saying, okay, so what we're gonna start doing is not on only are we gonna do all this stuff for you? But what we're gonna do is we're also gonna teach you how to run the business. We're gonna teach you the marketing principle. We're gonna teach you the business strategies, teach you all that type of stuff.Andrew Stickel: (16:00)And at the end of the day, it it's good because it allows us to increase what we sell. Cuz now we can charge them for that. But really it actually makes the done for you service more sticky, cuz they're actually getting results. Because like I said, I mean, if you get 300 leads and you don't, don't get like we've done our part objectively, we've done our part by getting 'em in 300 leads. They're still mad because they didn't get any clients out of it. And ultimately they still blame us because, personal responsibility, and we can have a whole other conversation about that.Dan Henry: (16:28)Yeah. Or lack there of. Yeah, yeah. Well, so I actually had a, I saw a comment, in our client group recently where, and you know, keep in mind, we teach people how to, you know, get clients so, they were saying, you know, I just, I just, I don't, I just, I don't wanna do sales calls. I don't wanna hire people. And I'm like, well then why are you here? Yeah. Like what do you mean? It's like a fireman saying, I don't wanna go into a burning building. It's like, well, I get that. But then why are you a fireman? You know? And, and it's it's, it would be when people try to teach people how to start businesses, they, they don't mention this stuff, right. Like, guess what? Your clients are gonna have expectations that are just insane.Dan Henry: (17:17)They're gonna be like, I want you to help me grow my law firm. I want you to help me grow my coaching business. I want you to help me grow my salon, but I don't wanna do any work. I don't wanna be a business owner. I don't wanna act like or behave like a business owner. I just want magic to happen and whatever. And it's just not realistic and nobody talks about that. They just say, oh yeah, get clients and da, da, da. And so you, you know, taking that responsibility to do that is huge because most other companies are not gonna do that. Most other people in your position, they're not gonna do that. They're just gonna bitch and moan about their clients and don't get me wrong.Andrew Stickel: (17:50)I still, man. I still bitch about my clients. But at the end of the day, I still do something about it. You know?Dan Henry: (17:55)Exactly right. Exactly. It doesn't make you feel better to go, "You realize you're insane. Right. You're just insane." But, so what do you do for the lawyers? Like, tell me exactly like you, so lawyer wants more cases, so you get them leads, and then you help book those leads to what come into the office?Andrew Stickel: (18:13)No, we don't actually do. So what we do is we, we're kind of a full service, so you can't just hire us just to do a website, right. Or just to do blogging or just do SEO when you hire us. Basically what happens is we take over all of your internet marketing. So we handle their, we completely build them a new website. We rewrite all the content. We do all the search engine optimization. We do their Google business and Google my business profile or Google. They change the name all the time. I don't know what it's called now, but basically when someone searches personal injury lawyer, we make it so that they show up. Right. Then we also do their pay perclick advertising. We do their Facebook advertising and we do remarketing and retargeting and all stuff. And then we also do coaching.Andrew Stickel: (18:51)So I do, I have a weekly coaching call that I do every Wednesday where I'm teaching, you know, I'm teaching the marketing side of it. And then my partner does a call on Thursday. He does basically the business strategy, you know, how to hire, how to handle, you know, all that type of stuff, you know? So it's the full package. But at the end of the day, that's what we're, we're essentially making their phone. Now, how many employees do you have? Uh, we're 35 right now. 35 W2 plus we've got probably another 40 overseas.Dan Henry: (19:17)I'm not okay. I'm not, I'm just, I'm not gonna, I can hear Brandon. I that makes me just makes my skin crawl, 32 employees. Oh, I just cause you know, man, it's hard to manage employees. It's a hard thing. You know, I, personally went so deep into like selling information and teaching people that, you know, cuz I've had the million dollar month and sometimes they're hard to maintain you know, because you do go up and down. You definitely go up and down. Yeah. but you know, I've always maintained a handful of staff. I'm completely removed from the business and it's I think it's, but here's the caveat, right? Because here's the thing like I do have a lot of people that ask me that to say, Dan, how do you produce that much revenue?Dan Henry: (20:08)You're basically not involved. You have a handful of employees, and everybody else, cuz this is what I see. I see a lot of people out there doing other things. Like they're they got like a boiler room where they're like calling leads, you know they'll and they'll make these massive marketing systems where they're selling tons of different products. And then they're calling everybody to make pretty much the same revenue where we're just like, now we just sell one thing, one coaching program. Here you go. Boom. And you just watch a video and if you wanna book a call, you book simple. Right. But at the same time, there's a caveat to that because your company is sellable you know, your company is acquirable. When you're the personal brand, even if you're not involved, even if you're not doing the coaching anymore and you have a team, it's difficult to sell that company.You know, if you own an e-com company, we, I mean,Andrew Stickel: (20:59)Nobody knows who the owner is.Dan Henry: (21:02)Nobody knows who the owner is and when you sell it, you get this insane multiple, right? Or supplement company you get this insane multiple. So that's why I've always viewed a coaching company as like, Hey, I'm gonna make a bunch of cash. I'm not gonna be able to sell it, but my life's gonna be super simple and I'm gonna be able to invest that into something else. That's how I've always lived it. But what you're doing, I think, I think it's awesome that you're doing this much revenue from done for you because dude, if you ever wanted to sell that, you can sell done for you. I mean that's like,Andrew Stickel: (21:29)Yeah. And that's, and that's why we're, that's why we pivoted. Cause this isn't how I've always done it. I started as the, basically the flat fee, you know, we're gonna do this coaching program. It's $25,000, just wire us the money. And then we do the work and we do the coaching, but we never have anything else to sell them. And then I started looking at it, like you said, I was at this point where we got so big, I mean, you know, look 4 million, isn't that big in the grand scheme of some businesses. But for me at the size I was at it, wasn't worth it for me to continue pushing harder, to get to 5 million or 6 million because of the added, like I was having to do so much work and actually running the business rather than doing the stuff that I wanna do, which is the marketing and the creative stuff and the offers and presentations and everything. And I was finding that all day long, I was doing the CEO stuff.Dan Henry: (22:17)You still wanna do that though?Andrew Stickel: (22:18)Yeah. I love doing that.Dan Henry: (22:19)See, I don't wanna do anything. I just wanna sit in my condo and read philosophy books andAndrew Stickel: (22:24)I mean, I like, you know what it is though? I like reading, I like marketing and then I'll read something and I'm like, oh man. That's like I've been, you know, cuz I've been getting into Dan Kennedy stuff, like Dan Kennedy and J Abraham stuff. Like crazy lately.Dan Henry: (22:37)I thought about doing the day with him, where you go out.Andrew Stickel: (22:40)Is he still doing that?Dan Henry: (22:41)He is. And I think I'm gonna do it.Andrew Stickel: (22:44)Is he doing, I didn't know he was doing that.Dan Henry: (22:45)Yeah, he's doing it. I think it's like 18 grand. And you spend like six hours.Andrew Stickel: (22:49)18 grand?Dan Henry: (22:50)Yeah. I don't care.Andrew Stickel: (22:50)I mean, no I'm saying that's nothing.Dan Henry: (22:52)Oh I know. Yeah, no.Andrew Stickel: (22:53)I would do that in a second.Dan Henry: (22:54)Yeah. It's like 18 grand and you spend like six hours with him.Andrew Stickel: (22:58)Damn, dude. I didn't even know that.Dan Henry: (22:58)And he probably just tells you how stupid you are.Andrew Stickel: (23:00)Probably. Yeah.Dan Henry: (23:01)But that's fine. We need that. Like, so then someAndrew Stickel: (23:04)I don't know what we were talking about. I'm blown away. Cause I'm gonna do that. Yeah.Dan Henry: (23:07)Yeah. I was actually hanging out with Jason Capital in Puerto Rico. We were at the gym and he was telling me about, he did the castle day with Dan Pena or whatever. AndAndrew Stickel: (23:18)He just yells at you in a castle. Is that what it is?Dan Henry: (23:20)Well, I don't, you know who Dan Pena is, right? Like you see his stuff and you're like, this guy's insane. Right. and he's just like so insulting and all that. But like everybody that I know that's gone and done, whatever the day is with him, they come back and they make like a billion dollars or something like, and I'm like, all right, something's going on at that castle?Andrew Stickel: (23:41)There's something to be said about going somewhere and having somebody, having an outside fresh set of eyes look at your stuff. Like, look, I, you and I like you remember the pivotal point in my business is when you had me switch from low ticket to high ticket. You remember what happened?Dan Henry: (23:56)You were the first person that I actually, cuz that that's like a big thing. Like people don't charge enough. And I was trying to like, cuz I started charging more and it was working out really well. And I was trying to take all the clients, you included, and I was like, you guys need to raise your prices. You were one of the first that actually listened to me.Andrew Stickel: (24:16)Yeah. But, but see that's the thing is that if you notice there's a theme here is that I always listen to you.Dan Henry: (24:21)I know you did. Here's the funny part. Right? Here's the, and I'm not, this is gonna make me sound so pretentious but you literally did every single thing I ever said and you grew the fastest of anyone. You know? And then like people started going, oh, maybe there's a thing there. And don't get me wrong. People have paid me a lot of money and I'm not saying I know everything. I'm not saying I'm always right, cause I'm not, but I've been doing this so long and I've heard so many, I've been on so many coaching calls cuz I, I know I removed myself from the business, but I was more involved for longer than most people. You know, most of people that have those similar businesses that are up there, you know, they get out way sooner. And I didn't, I stayed in for a while.Dan Henry: (25:03)So I just had that opportunity to speak with so many people so many times that I was just like, I haven't heard anything new in a long time. Like you give me a problem. And then I teach my staff. I'm like, all right. If somebody gives you this problem, this is what you tell 'em because it's not that their unique. People think that. They think, oh I have this unique problem and I need unique help. No, you don't. You don't have a unique problems. No, you don't. It's the same problem that a thousand other people have. And you're making the same mistake that a thousand other people have and that's that, and that's just the reality of it. And that's, that's not my opinion. That's just what I've seen because we've have thousands and thousands and thousands of clients and you, you know, well, even,Andrew Stickel: (25:40)Even deeper than that though, I mean like marketing is marketing. Like have you ever read, A Customer Is Born, oh wait, A Customer Is Born Every Second, it's by Joe Vitale. But it's about, PT Barnham have you ever read that book?Dan Henry: (25:52)No, but now it's on my list.Andrew Stickel: (25:52)It's amazing and what's cool about that. Cuz PT Barnham lived like, I don't know. He ran that museum back in like the 1840s. Right. And what it is is the entire book is talking about the factors that led to his success. They call them like the rings of, it was like rings of greatness or something. I can't remember what it was called. It's the same crap that we do today. It's exactly the same. You know what I mean? The only difference is is that it's like the strategy versus the tactic.Andrew Stickel: (26:17)The strategy is exactly the same, you know, give more value show what the benefit is to them. I mean, it's all the same, you know? And the difference is, is that now we use Facebook ads and Instagram and back then he used like the news paper in like the town crier or whatever it is, you know what I mean? Like, but using scarcity, using urgency, using like he had that thing where it was like the mermaid. Have you ever heard about the mermaid that he had on display at his museum? He had this like Ripley's, Believe It Or Not museum. That's how actually how he got so rich and it was just all curiosity. That's all it was, was just triggering curiosity in people. And that's the same crap we do today, you know? So that's the thing is that not even have you seen it thousands, thousands of times, but it hasn't changed for 200 years, you know? Like marketing is marketing, you know? And, can't remember where I was going with that. I had something else to say about that, but go ahead.Dan Henry: (27:05)Well, let me ask a question. So you went, so a million dollars a year, then you get to 4 million a year. And then, you're at 13 now, but you, because million a month but you mentioned earlier that you expected 24. So what, where are we, how are we getting from 13 to 24?Andrew Stickel: (27:23)Well, okay. So basically what happened in that period where we went from 4 million to, you know, we, I'm actually, my current company is merging with another company. So my company does, did 4 million last year. This other company we're merging with did 4.8 million last year. So last year I also joined Myron Golden's mastermind, who you're also in, Myron's awesome. And Myron teaches how to have a million dollar day and how to make money from live events. Right. So I did a live event in, when was it? It was May and we made $1,041,000 on that live event. It was. And by live, I mean,Dan Henry: (28:01)You beat me by 11,000.Andrew Stickel: (28:02)Yeah, I know.Dan Henry: (28:02)But I did. What did I do? $1,034,000?Andrew Stickel: (28:07)The student becomes, the student becomes the teacher.Dan Henry: (28:09)It was, I didn't have to sell done for you.Andrew Stickel: (28:11)That's true. That's true. Yeah, that's a good point. But, so then what happened was, and the, my partner now, we've been working together for a year now cuz he's also in the legal industry and he has like complementary services to me. So like I do websites, SEO, Facebook ads. He does Pay Per Click advertising on Google. So it's, we're not competing with that. And then also I teach more of the marketing strategies and like creativity stuff and he teaches more like how to handle how to hire people, how to acquire other law firms. Like all it's like left brain, right brain type of stuff. You know what I mean? Where I'm bringing the creative side and he's bringing more of the structure and all that type of stuff and actually the logistics and everything.Andrew Stickel: (28:49)So it's a really good team. So we've been friends for a while. We worked together, we've had a lot of success together, like, and it was all on a handshake deal. Right, so, but we've been trying to figure out how do we work together? And I had this problem where I just didn't wanna be the CEO anymore. Cause my company was getting to the point, which I think you would experienced also at some point where it was getting so big that I had to be the CEO more than I could be the marketing person and I couldn't be creative. Right. I couldn't do what I actually wanted to do and I couldn't do what I was actually good at. So what happened was we teamed up and we decided, okay, we're gonna merge our companies. We finally figured out, came together on the terms and all that stuff. We did one of event in November. And on that event we did, we made over $2 million in annual reoccurring revenue. And then we did another event in December. We had Jordan Belfort on there. I know you're on his podcast. We had Damon John from Shark Tank on there and we did over 2 million and added reoccurring revenue. So we basically added another company worth of revenue just from these two events. So our plan this year,Dan Henry: (29:49)When you say 2 million in recurring revenue, you mean yearly or monthly?Andrew Stickel: (29:53)Yearly. Yeah. Annual. Yeah. Yeah. So when you look at what our companies were doing, it was 4 million plus 4.8. So that's 8.8. Plus we added another 4 million, you know, or yeah. Plus another 2 million, another 2 million.Dan Henry: (30:05)And what was the service? Just your normal agency stuff.Andrew Stickel: (30:06)Yeah. It is done for you website, SEO pay per click, Facebook ads, plus his coaching and my coaching. So it's a $72,000 a year service that we, that we're selling. Which is, and you know what's funny is it's easier to sell. The one thing I've learned, every time you raise the price, the easier it gets to sell. It's crazy.Dan Henry: (30:27)Dude, do you know how insanely difficult it is for people to wrap their brain around that?Andrew Stickel: (30:30)Yeah, it's nuts. And the margin for error is so much less.Dan Henry: (30:35)It is, you know, because you're taking, that's the thing is people say, oh, well, I can't figure out how my stuff can be worth that much or whatever. It's like, but think about this, right? If you just sold somebody a video, if you got somebody a video and you said, do this thing. But if you said, Hey, we'll do it for you. Or, Hey, we'll walk you through it or, Hey, you can talk to us once or twice or three times a week or whatever. Now it, it's not that you're necessarily changing what you sell, but you're changing the probability that they'll be successful. And I always say, you know, if you took 10 of your clients, your ideal clients and they're on a beach and they come across a genie lamp and they rub the genie lamp, the genie pops out and the genie is a capitalist. And he's like, listen, I'm only giving away one wish today, and I'm only giving it to one of you and I'm gonna start a bidding war. Right. Everybody bids on the most, they would pay to get that wish. What, and that wish is the solution that your company solves. What would the highest bid be? People always come up with the number that's far more.Andrew Stickel: (31:40)That's a really good analogy, I like that.Dan Henry: (31:42)Thank you. That's far more than what they charge. Now you say, so number one, that shows you that they're not charging enough because if you don't believe in yourself and if, and like, how can you expect your customer to think you're worth this, if you don't think you're worth it, right? But at the same time, what is the difference? The difference is certainty. The genie is a genie, so you're, they can solve your problem. Yeah. So think about this. The more certain a client is that you can solve their problem. The more they're willing to pay, you don't have to add a bunch of crazy stuff, or you don't have to like, do more. You just have to change things to where they're more certain that they'll get the result and they'll pay more.Andrew Stickel: (32:23)Exactly. It's like, I have this analogy and I don't know where I heard this from, but it's like, so you take a stack of $10,000, right. A hundred dollars bills in a stack of $10,000, and you put it inside of a paper bag and you say to someone, how much would you pay for this bag? Right. And they'd be like, I don't know. You know, and then you take it out and you put it in a Ziploc bag. Say, how much would you pay for this bag? You know what I mean? It's, it's, it's the same thing. It's allowing them to see the actual value. Like what Myron says that, wealth create, wealth is the wealth is the result of value, value, clearly conveyed. You know what I mean? When you actually can show how much your stuff is worth, you know?Andrew Stickel: (32:58)And that's a big part of it. I think another really big thing that helps guys like you and I is that we actually give so much away for free that we, you know, it's definitely easier when you do the work and you actually create content and you, I, my favorite quote from Frank Kern is prove you can help people by actually helping them, you know, just create all that good will. And then you become part of the offer. You say, oh yeah, not only that, but you get to talk to me three times a week or not three times a week. It'd be insane. You get to talk to me, you know, once a week or once a month or whatever it is. And that makes that offer so much more valuable also, you know, it's just, and that's something, I think that's something that's, that's so valuable that people miss is that everybody has a camera in their pocket and just upload videos to YouTube.Andrew Stickel: (33:42)And that makes your offer 10 times more valuable. And it also makes you able to charge more and not even think about it. You know, it's just, there's so many, there's so many little nuances to it. But back to the price, you know, I've tried selling stuff at $6 at $49 at $1,997, at $24.95. And every single time I raise the price, it's easier to sell and you get better buyers at that price. That's the that's really actually, even if it was the same difficulty to sell, I'll take the buyers that pay a higher price anyway, cuz you know, it's just so much easier you did that. Raise Your Prices Challenge. And you know, it's so much easier to sell high ticket than it is to sell low ticket, you know?Dan Henry: (34:24)Yeah. And, and it is harder to convince somebody that they can raise their prices than for them to actually raise them and actually get, again, it is, I mean, and everybody thinks that, oh nope, I'm special. That won't work for me. I have a client, it's my favorite client to mention, his name is Vaughn. He charges, I believe it's $6,000 for his offer and he's, you know, super happy. I mean, he told me one time, he's like, I just sit around and drink Hennessy and smoke cigars and I make tons of money and they, you know, this is insane. He used to charge like, I think like $47 or something. You know what he sells? How to play authentic gospel piano. And he charges $6,000. Right. And, and the thing is, is like, if you said to me like I'm a guitar player, right. Now you can sit here all day long and create limiting beliefs and say, well, you musicians are broke, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. They're broke because they spend money on music. Okay.Andrew Stickel: (35:24)They're broke, but they got a Mesa Boogie Amplifier and yeah. A $3,000 Less Paul.Dan Henry: (35:29)Exactly. Now if I sat down and I said to myself, I want to be like an amazing guitar player. I wanna be able to play guitar like Joe Satriani or whatever. Right. And you said, okay, you're gonna pay $9 a month for this app. And you're gonna log into this app and it's gonna teach you to play guitar, or you're gonna pay three or four or even $5,000 for this program here. And this program that you're gonna go through, that you're gonna to people, whatever, this has actually produced this many people or that have done this or like, and I was certain that I would get to become in a certain amount of time, that high level guitar player, even if that didn't make me any money, even if I just knew that any point I could pick up a guitar and be like a God yeah. On guitar, I would rather pay the 5,000 and know I'd get the result than pay the $9 for something that I don't have any idea if I'm gonna get the result. And I'll probably never log into anyway.Andrew Stickel: (36:27)Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Have you, have you read Alex Hormozis new book? Oh, it's so good. But he's got a formula in there that breaks down the value of an offer better than anything I've ever heard before. So, it's okay. So basically you have to picture an equation. So it's dream outcome times the pro or the, the prob probably yeah. Probability of achievement, right. Divided by time, delay, time, the effort and sacrifice that actually that you need to achieve it and that's value. Right. So I don't know if that's, I dunno if that's clear or not, how I just explained that it might be kind of confusing.Dan Henry: (37:02)I remember it in the book, I gotta go back andAndrew Stickel: (37:04)It's basically this four factors that determine what you can charge it's what is the dream outcome? So first of all, is it a, like, if you're doing dating, right. Are you trying to find someone their soulmate or are you just trying to get 'em a date? Right. And then the prob the, the likelihood of actually achieving the dream outcome. So do you have five? You know, you say, I'm gonna find you, your soulmate, you're gonna get married. You're gonna have all these kids. You're gonna be so happy. And not only that I've got all the social proof where I've done this 5,000 times for people,Dan Henry: (37:31)Or imagine if you said, like, let's just say you got, you're working with guys that, that wanna that they really, really suck at talking with of it. Like they, they just melt down, right. or whatever. And you say, all right, let's say it costs 10. Let's say it costs $10,000. But you're gonna come to an event. Maybe there's an event once every six months or once every three months, or maybe it's just one event, right? Like, like, you'll say maybe you get a course, you get some coaching, whatever. Or even if it's just a three day event or a five day event, I mean, you could charge 10 grand, three to five day event. It doesn't have to be a course, you know, and you go there and you learn all this stuff and they take you out to restaurants, the bars.Dan Henry: (38:06)And they work with you. Right. And they say, all right, you're gonna go up and talk to that girl. And then you, and they work, dude, you're gonna get, you're gonna come outta that experience literally a thousand times more likely to be able to talk to women and, and whatever. Then if you bought a course for a thousand dollars or 500 bucks and went through the videos, like, so the thing is, is like, how do you increase the likelihood that they're gonna succeed and to bring it back to done for you? Because that's, I mean, if you're doing it for 'em that's. Yeah. That's like, so, so let me ask you this, when you, when you work with a, a lawyer, right. Cause I, I wanna pick your brain on some best practices for done for you, since we're not just talking about coaching what's the average client pay you per year?Andrew Stickel: (38:54)So it used to be $42,000. Now we've gotten up to $72,000. All right.Dan Henry: (38:59)So $72,000Andrew Stickel: (39:01)Company wide, our average monthly, our average client pays us $3,100 a month average.Dan Henry: (39:05)Okay. So $3,100 a month. Right? So for something that's what are some of the things you've learned? Cause my biggest thing with done for you is that there's you could say, oh, well you're gonna pay me X and I'm gonna do this job and that's it. Right? Well what a lot of people forget is there's a lot of other stuff that goes into that. Like is the client happy, communicating with the client? The client not getting you the materials that you need to actually fulfill. There's all these like little logistic things that pop in that make it so much more difficult than just, oh, I'm gonna sell you this thing. Right. Whereas with coaching or information based products, none of that exists they log in, they attend the coaching calls. They watch the videos.Andrew Stickel: (39:49)It's on them. It's that's that's it's the thing. Yeah.Dan Henry: (39:50)Right. So what are some things that you've learned from creating a, not just a successful done for you and how to sell it, but like how to actually manage that so that you're not pulling your hair out?Andrew Stickel: (40:07)Well, the most important thing to remember is that they're paying you for a result. They're not paying you. And I have to, you know, I have to talk to my staff about this and my staff is fantastic. Right. But this was something that, you know, it, it really took a little while to get this through, through to them, is that they're not paying us to build them a website. They're not paying us to do their SEO or run pay per click ads or anything. That's not what they're paying us for. They're paying us to bring them clients they're paying us so that they will get clients right at the end of the day. So we can do a great job. We can build the best web upside out there and we can do the best SEO and all that type of stuff. But they're still not getting clients for some reason.Andrew Stickel: (40:42)Then ultimately they're going to blame us and we're gonna get fired. Right. So the biggest thing that I've learned is that the more ownership that you can take over the entire process from a to Z of them getting clients, you know, so we can bring them the lead, right? Like up to, up to us getting, getting them the lead, you know, we deliver the lead to them either. You know, we make it so that someone finds them in Google and then picks up the phone and calls them. But then after that it was cut off. It was basically like, well, okay, you're on your own. And hopefully you get clients, you know? So what we figured out is that one of the most important things is figuring out how do we take matters into our own own hands where it's kind of like after the lead calls, how can we make sure it's getting handled?Andrew Stickel: (41:24)So that's why we give them like free sales training. So I've done a ton of sales training. A lot of stuff I learned from you actually, and I apply it to law firms. So I give them sales training. We give them access to our funding resources. We tell them even the correct way to use PayPal funding or PayPal. What's called PayPal credit. You know, we teach 'em different things about that. So they can actually, so that if clients don't say they don't have money, now we can solve that problem. We can help them make it more likely they're gonna get a client. So the biggest thing that I've learned is every single step that you can take out of the client's hands, makes it more likely that you're going to retain the client. Because the reality is that when you're looking at valuation of a business, if you have a lot of done for your clients, but your churn rate is massive.Andrew Stickel: (42:05)Like every year you lose all your clients, then your company's not worth anything. Where it's worth money is where you keep clients year after year after year. Right? And the only way you're gonna keep clients is if you're actually getting them results. So our average client sticks with us for 3.9 years. And that includes people that have not been with us for 3.9 years. Right? So we've got clients like the very first client that ever hired us. He hired us in 2012, he's still a client, you know, so that's almost 10 years. So you know, our clients stick with us because we really focus on understanding that they need to get the result. And then what I've realized is that the more work that we put, the more we work, we can take off of them and put on us that's when they get the better results.Andrew Stickel: (42:47)So I've also done, done with you programs. And that was, that was a, a coaching program that I did for a long time. And what it as was we sold them the coaching program. And initially it's actually the thing that you helped me raise the price on. I did it for $5,000 and they got a weekly coaching call with me. And then they also got access to the course. But the biggest objection we always had in our sales call is this sounds great. I just don't wanna set it all up. It sounds it's a lot of work to set up. So I was like, okay, well we'll charge 'em an extra 10 grand, we'll charge $15,000. And then we eventually went to 25,000. And we'll just set it up for them. Right. But the problem was what happened was they looked at it as a done for you program.Andrew Stickel: (43:26)They didn't look at it as they done with you. So what they stopped doing is they stopped coming in the coaching calls. They stopped going through the course, and then we turned it over to them and it's like, we built them this Lamborgini, but they don't know how to drive a car. You know what I mean? So, and then they're mad at us and then, you know, they're mad at us and they're leaving us bad feedback because they didn't get the result. Right. So once again, that's what I'm saying. When you have so many, when you can do everything, you can to take it out of their hands and put it on your shoulders. That's when you get the better results, because look at the end of the day and we got some fantastic results, but at the end of the day, there's a human nature where people want to put in the least amount of effort possible.Andrew Stickel: (44:03)Not everyone, some people do, right. And they also wanna blame everyone but themselves. So it's like going to the gym and hiring a personal trainer and eating like crap and only attending a quarter of your workouts and being mad at the personal trainer that you don't have a six pack. It's, it's insane to me anyway, but some people don't see it that way. You know? So that's the biggest thing that I've learned is that if you're doing a done for you service, the, the most valuable thing you can do is keep the clients renewing year after year after year. And the only way you can do that is to remember that they only hired you for one thing, that's to get a result, right? They didn't hire for your website or whatever. So the way that you're more likely to get a result is the more that you take on the more ownership that you take, even if it's not your problem, you know what I mean?Andrew Stickel: (44:47)Even it's like, oh, the client's just letting their calls go to voicemail. Or, client's not getting me approval on the website, or they're not getting me the assets that I need or whatever. Like, you've gotta figure out a way, like you hire a VA to call them every single day and say, Hey, you got those pictures, Hey, you got that video. You're, you know, like, like make sure it happens, cuz at the end of the day, it's gonna hurt the client, but it's also gonna hurt you cuz they're gonna fire you. You know? And that's the biggest thing with done for you is it's keeping the clients and keeping 'em happy.Dan Henry: (45:11)I remember back way early when I used to teach agency owners and I always used to say, don't even ask your clients to get you pictures, just go on their Facebook profiles and pages and just grab 'em. Screw it. Exactly.Andrew Stickel: (45:25)You know, exactly. Just do it yourself, you know? And you'll be happier also cuz you won't be pulling your hair out, you know? Yeah.Dan Henry: (45:30)So, so the, the, the overall like idea I heard from that is that if you make, if you identify a result, let me see if I can download this into one thing. If you can find people that are reachable, meaning you can mark, you can find them, right. You can identify them and you can, you can find them. And they own a business that has a higher. And so when a lawyer gets a case, it's probably worth a lot of money when a.Andrew Stickel: (45:56)Yeah. Millions sometimes. you know?Dan Henry: (45:58)Right, exactly. So they can get a high result. Like when you get them a client it's worth a lot. And you can take over pretty much the entire aspect, because if you take over the entire process of them getting clients or of whatever the process is, then you have ultimate control and you don't have to deal with a lot of the logistics of working with them because that's the hardest thing to do is they they're hiring you cuz they don't know what they're doing. so if you have to work with them, you're working with someone that doesn't know what they're doing. It's never a good experience. So if you do all of it, you don't have to deal with that. Is that sort of the overall yeah. Kind of idea?Andrew Stickel: (46:33)Absolutely. And also you don't have to deal with egos and stuff because like, so we will not like, like when, like when a client comes in, if they say, oh no, I wanna keep my website and I want my it guy to manage my website. We say, that's cool, but we're not the company for you because inevitably stick to your, stick to your guns. Exactly. Yeah, because we, I, I know ultimately we are not going it the best result because sometimes there's things that we need to do and we need to, you know, there's just, we need control so that we can do the things that we need to do. Right. I understand like websites, you know, we do WordPress and everything and there's PHP, but every website is, is if you go through different websites, it's different language, they're written different ways.Andrew Stickel: (47:10)They have different, you know, designers in the backend and everything. So what we need to do is we know that we use, we know how we know like the builders that we use and all that type of stuff. So we just, we have very, very strict things because I understand that every single time we've made this exception, it's burnt us because, and what ends up happening is we don't get the result for the client. So I would rather not take a client's money than take a client's money, knowing that we're basically starting with our hand tied behind our back, you know? And um, the other thing that, that drives me crazy, this might be a controversial opinion, but whenever we work with a marketing manager, from, from a law firm it's and especially one that has like a master's in advertising or,Dan Henry: (47:55)You know how, you know how I know that you don't know how to do advertising.Andrew Stickel: (47:58)Huh?Dan Henry: (47:58)If you have a master's in advertising.Andrew Stickel: (48:00)Yeah, exactly. I'm like, you know, cause cause yeah, cause they're like, oh, you gotta focus on branding and all that type of stuff. I'm like, no, just do what I'm saying. Like, I mean like it's like I, and, and I don't have, I mean, I have a, I have a degree in criminal justice, right. So I don't have a marketing degree, but I've spent more than a college worth education. I've spent more than what I, I spent on my college education, working with people like you and like my, and with Myron and like, you know, just all these people who have actually done things in the real world and understand marketing.Dan Henry: (48:30)Cause college is not the real world. No, it's not college is this theoretical metaverse of ideas that don't work. Exactly. I mean, unless you're like a lawyer or a doctor that aside when it comes to actual business or things like that, I would say that, you know, college would be the place you would go if you really wanted to be bad at it. You know, because the world has moved on. You gotta think in college and I'll hammer on this for a second. How long does it take to update concepts and to, it takes decades and then it has to get approved. And by the time it's been updated, it's already changed. The world has evolved actual marketers, actual salespeople, actual business owners, actual entrepreneurs. They're evolving the game at a pace that is 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 times what college can keep up with, you know, and the other thing is I hate to say this, but what does a college professor make like 50 grand a year? 80 grand a year?Andrew Stickel: (49:27)Maybe a hundred. If it's a good, if it's a prestigious school, maybe 120Dan Henry: (49:32)Okay. So you're gonna take business advice from somebody that makes 120 grand a year.Andrew Stickel: (49:37)Exactly. Well, number one, don't take advice from broke people.Dan Henry: (49:41)Right. Don't take advice. College professors and your parents. Okay. Top two. You know.Andrew Stickel: (49:47)Let me ask you this. What are you gonna tell your son about college? If he, if he says, I wanna go to college? What, cuz people ask me this all the time. And I've got my own opinion on this, but what are you gonna tell him?Dan Henry: (49:57)So I'm gonna tell him the same thing. I would tell anybody, what is your goal? What, what is the output? What is the end result? If you say to me, if he says to me, well, I want to save people's lives by being a brain surgeon, I'll be like, all right, what college you wanna go to? I'll write a check. But if he says, I want to be an entrepreneur, or if he says, I, whatever, if he says, I wanna be an entrepreneur, I'll say son, listen, the last place youAndrew Stickel: (50:20)Take that money and start a business.Dan Henry: (50:22)The last place you need to be is college. Right. Cause here's the other thing. And I don't wanna say this. I do wanna say this, but I don't wanna say this, but college or just at least the American educational system has turned into really an indoctrination process to turn, to spread these radical ideas and turn people into turn society into something that it really shouldn't be. You know, like some of the stuff, not all the stuff, but some of the stuff they teach in college and just in school is so radical. It's so insane. And it's getting more insane that I just don't want my kid to be a part of it. You know, like my kid does not need that type of toxic stuff. Like there again, I'm not saying everything, but dude, I've seen some stuff that is just absolutely insane.Dan Henry: (51:11)What they're teaching. And the thing is, you know, the world moves on from, from traditional education. You know, it has, I mean, look, look at all the people who have created programs and, and the things for, for people that teaches 'em how to do something, because they've actually done it. They didn't learn. My father said he, my father was in broadcasting for 30 years. He's won like seven Adi awards. He's helped break, The Alman brothers records. He, you know, he's, he's really like, has a lot of accolades in broadcasting and I'll never forget what he said to me. He said, when I got outta college, he went to school for broadcasting. He said, when I got outta college and I started working in broadcasting, I learned one thing. And that is it. I didn't learn anything in college. Right. Everything I learned about broadcasting, I learned in broadcasting and I said, well, did you learn anything like that helped you? He's like, not really.Andrew Stickel: (52:06)Well, you know, it's funny. So I graduated cause that was originally gonna be a lawyer. And it's completely coincidental that I actually work with lawyers right now. Like one thing has nothing to, I mean, gimme a lawyer, you gotta go to college. Yeah. It was gonna be a lawyer. But, so what's funny is that I graduated from law school or no graduated law. I graduated from UCF and I my first job, what do you think my first job was?Dan Henry: (52:25)You?Andrew Stickel: (52:25)Yeah.Dan Henry: (52:25)Ah,Andrew Stickel: (52:27)Immediately outtacollege for the first like eight months.Dan Henry: (52:31)Wow. Okay. Now, now I feel like pressured to get this right.Andrew Stickel: (52:34)Alright. I'll just tell you.Dan Henry: (52:35)You were, you were a, you were a Salesperson.Andrew Stickel: (52:40)I was a line cook cuz I couldn't find a job.Dan Henry: (52:44)See, I was gonna go for that. But I thought that was too obvious.Andrew Stickel: (52:44)I know. I couldn't find a job. And you know how I found a job is that it's funny cuz like, even back then, I didn't realize what I, I was, I was, I've been a go getter my entire life. One day I got sick of it. So I was trying to find a job at a law firm. So I printed out a stack of resumes and I got in my car and I put on a freaking suit and tie and everything. And I went into every single law firm. I was like, Hey, I'm trying to find a job. Here's my resume. Here's my, and that's how I got a job. You know what I mean? And mean that's something that very few people would even do, but that's how I got my first job working at a private law firm.Andrew Stickel: (53:16)And you know, I worked, I worked at the us attorney's office. I worked at the private law firm. I got fired from every job that I had because I'm a terrible employee, but that also taught me that I didn't want to go to law school. And that's actually a very, very valuable lesson that I'm gonna tell my kids is that, look, if you wanna be a doctor, if you wanna be a lawyer, if you wanna be like an accountant or something or like a CPA, you have to have, you have to have the degree. Right. But go work in the field that you think you're gonna go into instead of, you know, investing $250,000, uh, you know, getting, coming out in debt, coming out in debt 250 K or whatever it is. And, probably not even enjoying what you're doing, you know, and the thing is is that nowadays, like I do not need a degree for anything that I do right now. I spend a lot of money on coaches and everything like that. But I'm actually learning from people that are actually doing the things, you know, butDan Henry: (54:05)Let's think about that. Like you got in my mastermind years agoAndrew Stickel: (54:10)When it was, this is when itDan Henry: (54:11)It was only like 30 grand or something.Andrew Stickel: (54:13)It was 30 grand. And not only that, so per year, yeah. The 30 grand was, was whatever. But the best part is it was in your living room with, it was like the original one was, it was Gina Arnie Giske, and like JR Rivas and it was the, like the four of us that was it. And like, I mean that, those were the good old days where like you would just basically like yell at us until our, you were basically gave us the, the Dan Kennedy treatment where, you know, we go home with our tails behind, between our legs and then go and make a million dollars, you know.Dan Henry: (54:45)So, you know, what's funny is, is that always worked.You know, and,Andrew Stickel: (54:49)Oh, it's fantastic. I would, if you offered something like that again, like that's, it was, it was awesome. Those are, those are my favorite.Dan Henry: (54:55)I thought about doing this. Remember when I used to shoot people with the Nerf guns and stuff like if you had a stupid idea during the event. I, you know, and then I got all because the whole world changed. Everybody got all sensitive, everybody got all like, oh my God. Yeah, dude. Like it got so sensitive that like religions started changing their views on things that for thousands of years they didn't change it. I was like, you guys are that scared? You know, and I just, that's why I don't, I don't know I'm out. Like I don't need, I don't need is crap no more like, you know, but, if I ever do it again, man, I probably would just be super blunt. Cause I can't world is just too sensitive these days.Andrew Stickel: (55:40)Yeah. But you know what the thing is is that at the end of the day we got results, you know what I mean? Like that's, that's the thing is that like, I think that what you miss out, when, when, when you're censoring things, like when you're censoring yourself, then you can't say what you really think. And sometimes you just need to say, stop being an idiot and do this thing. You know, where instead you have to say, well, that's a really good idea, but maybe, and maybe that's not you anyway. But like, No, but I'm saying, but if you're censoring yourself or if you're even changing the approach, like, I, I don't know. I mean, it's like...Dan Henry: (56:09)Do you remember the time, do you remember the time? I forget who it was, but they had this really good, like their business was doing great, everything was great. Andthey said, Hey Dan, I'm thinking about doing something else instead. I'm like, why, what, what are you talking about? And they're like, well, and they gave me this idea and it was this horrible, horrible idea. I was like, here's what I'd like you to do. I'd like you to take that idea. I'd like you to take it out back. No, no. But I said, I'd like you to take it out back and I'd like you to ask it, like, what's its favorite meal. Like what, what is it like to what it favorite meal? And then I want you to prepare meal. I want to do a really good job, you know, really making, I want you to serve that meal to this idea.Dan Henry: (56:47)Let them enjoy it. And then I want you to shoot it in the head. Okay. Execute it right there in your backyard. And, and the guy was like , but I was like, I tell you this, not to shock. I do tell it to you to shock you. Because I would rather, you leave you're and, and need like trauma therapy, then go and do that idea. And then your mortgage company calls you and says, we have to possess your house cuz you did this stupid idea and you're broke. Yeah. You know, to me that's, you know, so I,Andrew Stickel: (57:18)I think at that point that's when you're actually being a coach and like, it's not always telling everybody what they want to hear.Dan Henry: (57:23)Oh, not anymore. Not anymore. You gotta sugarcoat everything. Everything's all. All, you know, vanilla.Andrew Stickel: (57:28)Well, you know, what's funny is that I got that. I mean, I don't know that I ever got that. I don't know. I don't know that I ever came up with ideas that bad. Cuz I stayed. I stayed pretty focused.Dan Henry: (57:36)But no, you didn't come up that, but you did. You stayed focused. Yeah. You didn't get, never had to really yell at you.Andrew Stickel: (57:41)I definitely came well, no, no, no. I definitely got distracted. My problem was I would get distracted with stupid things that I shouldn't be doing. You know what I mean? Like yeah. I mean, well,Dan Henry: (57:49)Oh hey, how did the one thing go that? Can we talk about that?Andrew Stickel: (57:52)The pills?Dan Henry: (57:53)Yeah.Andrew Stickel: (57:53)What are you talking about, oh yeah, no, that's great. We sold. Yeah.Dan Henry: (57:56)The, so you, hold on, dude. So you had, you started this company for wasn't it like hemorrhoids pills?Andrew Stickel: (58:04)So a buddy of mine called me and he's like, I've been friends with the guy for like 15 years. He's like, there's something you don't know about me. I've had hemorrhoids for the last 15 years and I finally got over 'em I'm like, okay, congratulations, mazel tov. You know? And he's like, he's like, the way I did is I invented a cure for hemorrhoids and I was like, what? So I, he's like, he's like, I wanna, I want you to help me sell them. So I started doing some research and I started realize. I, I did some research and I saw that there's nothing out there that cures hemorrhoids. And the market, like, like 70% of people in their lifetime will get hemorrhoids 50% over the age of 50 have them like women who've had abs have them like it's nuts. Right? Wow. So I was like, this is an insane market.Dan Henry: (58:49)Never had a hemorrhoid, it doesn't sound pleasantAndrew Stickel: (58:51)Luckily I haven't either. But it's funny because we actually have some celebrities that have ordered our stuff. I can't say who it is, but like we look at, I look at the thing I'm like interesting that's who has hemorrhoids.Dan Henry: (59:01)Oh my gosh, dude.Andrew Stickel: (59:03)But, yeah, I can't say who it is, but so he contacts me and he's like, you know, do you wanna help me sell these things? And I was like, and I started looking at it and I was like, this is like an insane opportunity. Like I have to jump on this. So, I was like, before we do this, and here's the funny part, is that everything that you taught me about marketing, and this goes back to the PT Barnum thing, everything you taught me about marketing is literally the exact same strategy that we're using to market hemorrhoid pills. Right. Everything I learned about coaching, I applied to the business and it works, you know, I mean like there's, I mean, there's some nuances that are different. Like, you know, like we have to deal with shipping and fulfillment and all that type of stuff,Dan Henry: (59:44)You still doing that?Andrew Stickel: (59:44)Yeah. Yeah.Dan Henry: (59:45)How's it going?Andrew Stickel: (59:45)We did, $300,000 in sales last year and we just got distribution. Hopefully fingers crossed. We're gonna get into Publix soon. Like we were already, we're already in contact with Publix. We're in GNC.Dan Henry: (59:57)I'm just gonna, I'm gonna save you here. And just say that you're not claiming that those pills cure hemorrhoids, cuz I, you probably can't say that.Andrew Stickel: (01:00:05)Yeah. I'm not claiming that.Dan Henry: (01:00:05)We're just chatting that you had a phone call where someone said that.Andrew Stickel: (01:00:08)I had a phone call.Dan Henry: (01:00:10)A dream.Andrew Stickel: (01:00:11)Had a dream where he basically, he had hemorrhoids, he took this concoction. He no longer has hemorrhoids So let's put it that way.Dan Henry: (01:00:20)Right. And I know, I know they work, but you know how, God forbid the government let you actually create something that works. They like things that don't work.Andrew Stickel: (01:00:26)Well, here's the thing, it's four ingredients. It's 100% natural. You know, so it's, I mean, it's literally just like, like two of the ingredients are from the, an extract from, orange peels, you know? And like, so it's 100% natural and it's insane because like the people that are taking it, like I've my biggest thing that I've been doing is I've been getting video testimon from people. So I'm actually interviewing people and talking specifically about their hemorrhoids andDan Henry: (01:00:51)Must be, Hey, would you like to come on and talk about how you got rid of your ass burn?Andrew Stickel: (01:00:55)You know, what's crazy though, is that people are like, we talk in marketing, find the pain point, right? Like people in pain, these people are literally in pain. Like you hear some of these people, like, I can't, I couldn't walk my dogs. I couldn't sit down. I couldn't do, I couldn't work out in the yard or anything like that. You know? And like, like the best success story that we have actually, no, we've so many success stories. One lady she's she's like, I've had, I've had him since my son was born. And like, I've been in extreme pain since my son was born. I'm like, how old was your son? He's 34. He, she took him four days completely gone.Dan Henry: (01:01:26)So, you know, I kind of hate you right now because you realize how many emails and comments we're gonna get asking about these pills and where to buy them.Andrew Stickel: (01:01:35)Oh yeah. Lots of, lots of friends.Dan Henry: (01:01:37)Yeah. Yeah. Like, yeah. Yeah. My, uh, mom.Andrew Stickel: (01:01:39)Yeah. My buddy has them. Yeah. But yeah, it's funny. Whenever I tell people about it, they're always like, it's well, you, I learned lots of my friends have hemorrhoids and I also learned that lots of them have friends who have hemorrhoids, who, maybe so. But, it's actually, it's cool because, I mean, there's a massive opportunity. I mean, you can imagine like, like what, something like this could sell once we actually...Dan Henry: (01:02:02)Do you do dunny ads, please tell me you do funny ads.Andrew Stickel: (01:02:04)Yeah. You've seen our ads. Yeah. Our ads are funny. Yeah.Dan Henry: (01:02:05)Yeah. You sent me a couple early on.Andrew Stickel: (01:02:06)Well, my buddy he's a standup comedian. So we used to theDan Henry: (01:02:10)One, the one that made the pills?Andrew Stickel: (01:02:11)Yeah, yeah, yeah.Dan Henry: (01:02:12)Oh, nice.Andrew Stickel: (01:02:12)Yeah. Yeah. So he has no problem being on camera. He's like the face of hemorrhoids. Right. So that's like, yeah. So we have like all these like funny videos and everything and, he's creating, you know, all kinds of influencer content and all that type of stuff, all about how to get rid of hemorrhoids, what to eat, what exercise to do all that type of stuff, you know? And, you know, it's the type of thing where we can make a lot of money on it, but it's actually cool. Cause we're actually like literally helping people. Like it's, it's crazy. It's crazy this, the stories I'm hearing from people about how they, they were just debilitated and they get rid of these things and now they're li they have their life back, you know? So it's cool.Dan Henry: (01:02:45)Have you got any like, has anybody, like, cuz I, one thing I know about the supplement industry is that as soon as, or really even any drug industry, as soon as you have something that works, everybody, especially the government wants to take that away from you. And stop you from selling it so they can sell something that doesn't work current situation of the world. But, and so, you know, because they want the big pharmaceutical companies who create stuff that, you know,Andrew Stickel: (01:03:13)We, we haven't. Is there any wood around here?Dan Henry: (01:03:16)Some water right here. Oh yeah. Here, take this one.Andrew Stickel: (01:03:18)I'm just not, no. I said wood I'm knocking on wood right now.Dan Henry: (01:03:21)Oh, wood. We're knocking that wood. I think this is wood.Andrew Stickel: (01:03:22)I'm not extremely superstitious, but I also am superstitious enough to know that I don't wanna not knock on wood. So luckily we haven't had any issues yet. We did hire a, we hired a pharmaceutical law firm to review all of our claims and do all that type of stuff. And that was an absolute nightmare. And you know, all this stuff, but IDan Henry: (01:03:41)They're like, you can't say anything at all that's good.Andrew Stickel: (01:03:44)Well, you know. Yeah, exactly. So they're gonna, you know, they're gonna go to the extreme caution side. Right, So we can't make any, I mean, the product is called Hem Healer. Right. And they're like, you can't have healer in the name. Like, so we were like, well, we kinda already have healer in the name. And we've got, we've got 25,000 bottles, so you're not gonna get us on that one, you know, but, you know, but we have all the FDA statements and all that type of stuff, and it's a supplement, you know? So like supplements are kind of their own, their own thing, you know?Dan Henry: (01:04:08)How hard was that to like, put that all together and, you know, make it and produce it?Andrew Stickel: (01:04:12)Well, so we actually, the first batch we made literally in my partner's kitchen and because I was like, look,Dan Henry: (01:04:19)This sounds like some Breaking BadAndrew Stickel: (01:04:22)Kinda. Yeah. He's in Los Angeles. He he's living in skid row. You know,Dan Henry: (01:04:25)What is it? Heming...Andrew Stickel: (01:04:26)It's called Hem Healer.Dan Henry: (01:04:28)No, no, no. The guy from Breaking Bad, the bald guy. What was his name?Andrew Stickel: (01:04:31)Oh, Hemingway.Dan Henry: (01:04:32)Hemingway.Andrew Stickel: (01:04:32)Yeah.Dan Henry: (01:04:33)Yeah. Was it Hemingway?Andrew Stickel: (01:04:34)No, no. What was it?Dan Henry: (01:04:35)I don't know.Andrew Stickel: (01:04:36)Was it, he, it was, uh, he Walter Walter White, but it wasDan Henry: (01:04:40)No, no, but yeah, Walter White was his real name.Andrew Stickel: (01:04:42)Henderson. What was it? It wasn't Henderson. It was what was it? It's gonna drive me crazy now.Dan Henry: (01:04:45)The drug dealer's name was what?Andrew Stickel: (01:04:48)It was. Um, oh, I know it. I'm drawin a blank. The show was so good.Dan Henry: (01:04:54)This is where Brandon should like Google it.Andrew Stickel: (01:04:57)Yeah, Google it. Cause it's gonna, it's gonna drive me crazy. No, it's not Hemingway though. Yeah. It's like, this is gonna kill me. Yeah, no. But basically like, cause here's the thing like I wanted, we needed,Dan Henry: (01:05:07)What is it?Brandon: (01:05:09)Heisenberg.Andrew Stickel: (01:05:10)Heisenberg. That's itDan Henry: (01:05:12)Heisenberg. Yeah. Yeah. There's probably so many people watching this and listening to this right now. Like yelling at the...Dan Henry: (01:05:15)It's Heisenberg, you idiots!Andrew Stickel: (01:05:16)Yeah. So, well, no, but like, you know, it's like every, like it is, it is like everything we're doing, like what's the minimum viable product here. Like, cuz I mean, before I start investing and all this stuff, I wanna see if it actually works. Right. So he put together, he ordered all the ingredients he put together. You can buy like a thing that makes pills for you. And we, we, we put it together and we went on Craigslist and eBay and just started selling bottles for $10. And the reason that we did it for $10 is because we didn't wanna just give 'em away. Cause we knew people wouldn't take 'em seriously if we just gave 'em away. You know what I mean? So basically we went there and we started selling 'em for 10 bucks and it was basically like 10 bucks. And, but the deals, you have to give us a testimony if it works. And one by one we started getting testimonials like crazy. So then I had the confidence, like.Dan Henry: (01:06:02)How you gonna add zero to that?Andrew Stickel: (01:06:03)What do you mean?Dan Henry: (01:06:04)You made 300 grand last year with how you gonna add, how are you gonna make 3 million?Andrew Stickel: (01:06:06)So we're adding in a lot more avenues. Like so actually a big part of it is testimonials. So I mean, you know, businesses are built on social proof. That's how my entire business was. So I'm literal really just interviewing people and getting video testimonials. We've got it on Amazon now, which is a whole thing. We've got it on walmart.com.Dan Henry: (01:06:25)Don't get me started about Amazon. Oh my God.Andrew Stickel: (01:06:27)They're withholding lots and lots of money from us right now becauseDan Henry: (01:06:32)Dude, Amazon, every time I try to do business with Amazon in any way, shape or form, even in their servers. Okay. It doesn't matter if I'm selling something on Amazon planners. If I'm, if I'm doing an app that requires it, they always seem to screw me. Like it's just...Andrew Stickel: (01:06:48)Our return rate on Amazon's 50% less than the industry average. And they're still withholding just like, I mean a massive amount of sales from us and then even tell us they're gonna do it. You so like, so, soDan Henry: (01:07:00)Is most of your money from Amazon or is from patrion?Andrew Stickel: (01:07:03)No. We've got a funnel. So we, no, it's all paid. So we do a lot of paid traffic. We do Amazon ads. We're starting a lot of influencer stuff though. So we're actually, we're about to launch a TikTok campaign. So we're doing TikTok stuff. We're gonna start doing TikTok ads. We've got, I mean we're, we're just advertising everywhere. There's no one, there's no one doing it. That's the thing likeDan Henry: (01:07:23)I could just see you holding up like some grapes, you know? Yeah and being like, listen, you know,Andrew Stickel: (01:07:31)Well, you know, you know what it is, it's that the only other, okay, so you have two options, right? You can get some preparation agent, you can stick your finger out and you can go and spread and then you shove it up your or you can take two pills. What do you, what would you like to do? I mean, that's the application sells itself, you know? Yeah.Dan Henry: (01:07:48)That should be an ad.Andrew Stickel: (01:07:51)Yeah, exactly. And we did do that. I think you saw that one where it's like, here's the old way. We didn't one ad. It was like, here's the old way to take, hemorrhoid medicine and like, you know, the other difference is, is that,Dan Henry: (01:08:05)I wonder how many people with hemorrhoids right now are like this isn't funny.Andrew Stickel: (01:08:08)Like it's not, well, look, I never, I'm, I'm fortunate enough that I've never had itDan Henry: (01:08:13)Right. Me too. So now I feel like an, cuz we're like talking about this and well, but here's theAndrew Stickel: (01:08:18)I've experience that ive talked to enough people to know how much it sucks. So if somebody has, yeah, right there. Yeah.Dan Henry: (01:08:24)I thought my, myAndrew Stickel: (01:08:25)Back. Yeah, no it's it is chair. These chairs actually kind of hurt my lower back. Also.Dan Henry: (01:08:29)It's the same chairs that Joe Rogan uses. Oh, is it really? Yeah. For his podcast guess. Oh interesting. Yeah, they dude, they're like a thousand dollars a piece. That's ridiculous. Oh really? But it keeps your back straight but like, I think at first you gotta get used to it. So for me it's fine. But for, I guess the guests you have to get, every guest has to get used to it a bit, but you can sit in it like 17 different ways or something like that. One of those shares. Yeah. So, you know, but it's it's, I don't know. It's kind ofAndrew Stickel: (01:08:57)Cool, but yeah, but, I don't even remember what we were talking about hem pills. Yeah. But, but I mean, the reality is is that, you know, it's something where people are in literal pain and actually helps, you know, and it's um, it's the type of thing I know it's gonna do. Well, we're just at the PA we're at the, we're at the growing phase right now. And I think this year's gonna be a huge year for us just because last year we did that and we really didn't have a lot of social proof. You know, we had, you know, some takes time. Exactly. It just takes time because how many people, you know, I mean, we sold, I think we have 2,500 customers right now. And it's like, how many of them are willing to get on camera or even leave a review talking about it? Cause it's embarrassing. You know what I mean? Nobody talks about it. That's you know, it's,Dan Henry: (01:09:35)It is very, it's hard cuz it's yeah, that would, I'm trying to think of all the issues or diseases or whatever you could have and that's gotta be top three. Well,Andrew Stickel: (01:09:43)The reality it's embarrassing, but 70% of people are gonna have it in their lifetime. 50% of peopleDan Henry: (01:09:48)Now, 50, 70%. That's a lot. Well, okay. But here'sAndrew Stickel: (01:09:51)The thing is that stopDan Henry: (01:09:52)Talking about,Andrew Stickel: (01:09:53)I'll tell you what I've learned about it. It's all about your diet, right? Well, it's not all, but a lot of it is controlled by your diet. So you drink, do you drink a gallon of water a day still? Uh, yeah. Sometimes gallon in ham, like, like the instructions are when you're taking hem healer, you're supposed to, you know, you need to eat very well. Stop eating, sugar, stop eating, processed food, eat lots of, you know, vegetables and like, you know, broccoli and stuff with like lots of fiber take walks, um, drink lots of like that alone will help a lot. Just, just even if you don't take Hem, Healer is what it does. Is it reduces inflammation. Cause that's all a, he is, and this is a great, I'm sure your listeners are loving the hemorrhoid talk on this podcast, but that's all it is. It's inflamed, but blood vessel. So if you clean up your diet and you reduce inflammation, then it goes away. It's just, that's just what it is. Right. So, um, you're probably not gonna get it. If you eat clean and youDan Henry: (01:10:44)Drink glass of water. So clean, I do the apple cider vinegar in the morning. Yeah. I drink so funny with the, I, I just, uh, had to do a sample. They give you a jug, you have to pee a jug for a day. Mm-hmm to test your hormones. You know? Cause like I work out, I'm just trying to get my hormones tested. And apparently you're like the jugs, like this big Uhhuh and you're only supposed to fill it up like that much. I did not. It people, dude, I filled the whole thing up. I didn't have anymore room. Cause I drink so muchAndrew Stickel: (01:11:12)Water, bring an extra one of these alsoDan Henry: (01:11:13)I take it to the facility or whatever. And the guy's like, you weren't supposed to fill the whole thing up. This is for one day. I'm like, yeah, that's three quarters of a day. He's like, what do you mean? I'm like, that's three quarters of a day. Like I drink a gallon, gallon and a half water a day. And he is like, you, you peed this much in a day. I'm like, I peed this to like eight until four o'clock in that afternoon. Like, and the guy was just, and, and I was, he's like, I'm just shocked. And I'm like, I'm in shocked at how little water you drink. You know,Andrew Stickel: (01:11:41)Let me ask you a question. Do you, so, okay. Cause I drink about a gallon of water a day also. And are you like up peeing? Every, every 20 minutes. Like I am like, it's, that's the worst partDan Henry: (01:11:50)About it. So for me kind of, yeah, but for me, I drink ha at least half a gallon is in my workout. Okay. So like when I'm at the gym and I'm drinking, mm-hmm, the, cause I take the gallon with me. Half of it goes in my workout or if I do jujitsu, at least half of it mm-hmm is there, so what happens is you're sweating, so you actually expel a very large portion. I only him a couple times at the gym. Mm-hmm because I'm sweating that out. IAndrew Stickel: (01:12:17)Think a couple times at the gym is a lot though.Dan Henry: (01:12:19)Well, I'm there for like two hours. Oh yeah, yeah. Okay. Or, and I, and I'm at jujitsu for hour and a half, two hours. Okay. Total. Yeah. Stretching and all that. Um,Andrew Stickel: (01:12:27)So that's over a period of several hours. Okay.Dan Henry: (01:12:29)Yeah. But, but you sweat most of it out. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, no, I, yes. I, well,Andrew Stickel: (01:12:33)So, okay. So what's interesting. I haven't tried this yet, but I'm, I'm interested to try it. So I have, I have a freaking coach for everything in my life. I have a nutrition coach. Right. And basically every morning I have a guy. So every day, whenever I eat, I log it all in this app. And then at eight o'clock in the morning, this guy calls me and he's like, so,  let's talk about this French fries yesterday, you know? And this is like, that's awesome. This is the accountability that I have. And actually, I dunno if you've not, I've lost about probably 40 pounds since the last time you saw me, you do, you look great. And yeah. And it's, it's because of that accountability, cuz I hire coaches for every aspect in my life. Right. But one of the things he said is that he's like, if you drink all that water, do get a sea salt grinder and do a twist of sea salt in your water and you won't have to, you won't have to go as often.Dan Henry: (01:13:14)I've heard something about that, but I'm not sure I wanna, I dunno. I was trying, I don't mind peeing butAndrew Stickel: (01:13:19)For me it's annoying. Cause I'm always in like in meetings and everything and I gotta go and go,Dan Henry: (01:13:23)Yeah, I don't really do meetings. Yeah. I do Voxer. I'm just like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.Andrew Stickel: (01:13:27)And then I let my I'm working on getting outta the meetings, but it hasn't hasn't happened yet.Dan Henry: (01:13:30)Yeah. I'm a, I'm a Voxer dude. So I can actually be peeing and vox. There you go.Andrew Stickel: (01:13:34)You know, I think I've seen you do that. I actually in the bathroom.Dan Henry: (01:13:37)You know, you know, one thing that annoys me though, you mentioned that, like you said, you said you had a coach that comes up. Oh, let's talk about these French fries. The thing that gets me is that people, friends, whatever, you know, I hate the oh one, one will be fine. One will be fine. No it won't. No it won't. Yeah. Okay. Because it's, it's the whole mindset of, oh, just one will be fine cuz oh, if just one is fine today, then it's fine tomorrow then it's fine the next day. And if you have a goal, like if you're not trying to lose weight, if you're not trying to get in shape or not even losing weight, just any other aspect of life. If you're not trying to win a, let's say you're a fighter and you're trying to, or you're you're training for a tournament jujitsu or whatever it is like the thing is is that like the people that get the reward are the people that ne they're the people that don't buy into the one is just for and they have the discipline, you know, I always get annoyed by people that do that. They try to make you feel bad for sticking to your goals. Yeah. And it's like, you shouldn't make me feel bad for sticking my goals because what you're really doing is projecting the fact that you don't have anyAndrew Stickel: (01:14:46)Discipline. Yeah. You want me to join you in eating these French fries where, youDan Henry: (01:14:50)Know, because you suck, can you want me to suck to well, and so no discipline,Andrew Stickel: (01:14:54)And I don't know. I don't know how you are. Like, I'm not. So like I use like, I've done like the keto diet. I've done all these like restric, like, like these insane diets where it's basically like everything's cut out and they never work. So what actually is working for me now is that I do indulge every once in a while, but I don't do it most of the time. You know what I mean? So like, it's like I would, 95% of my meals are good, but like, it's, like you said, just one. I can't have just, if there's a plate of French fries, I can't have just one. I either have to have none or I have to have half the plate. You know what I mean? Like, well that might beDan Henry: (01:15:22)A limiting belief, but for me, I just count the calories. That's the thing, like everybody of these stupid diets, like I remember like, and I've known this for a while, but I remember Alex Hermozi did a video on it. He's like, if, if you get, if you hit your protein and you get X amount of calories, that's it. Like, I remember he was roasting like every diet out there, cuz at the end of the day, if you expend this many calories yeah. And you take in this many calories, calories in calories on that's, it, it doesn't matter what diet you're on. And every, I, I know I'm gonna get heat for this cause every, oh, well, no dude, like it doesn't matter. Like you count the calories at where they need to be. You lose weight or you gain weight.Dan Henry: (01:16:01)End of story. Yeah. That's it right? Like, I mean, and that's what I've heard everybody. I mean, you've seen Alex the dude's huge. And he was, he was talking about, um, being at these, these entrepreneurial events where all these entrepreneurs, like I'm on keto and I'm on this and I'm on that and they're all like, they all have dad bods. Right? They're all like, they all look like crap. Yeah. But this dude is like just enormous and ripped and he's eating Twizzlers and stuff. And they're like, what are you doing? He's like, I just count my calories. I can eat Twizzlers today. Cuz it's within my calories. Y'all do your stupid stuff. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And the guys jacked. So I just, I think it's funny how people, overcomplicate things in order to avoid the hard to anyone account calories. Yeah. Well then you know what, maybe you don't deserve to lose weight.Andrew Stickel: (01:16:45)Sorry. You know, I think that it's also about sustainability. At least for me it is the sustainability is that like, you know, like every it's like it's like marketing, everything works if you do it, if right. It's just how, how sustainable is it? So,Dan Henry: (01:16:57)But see that's the thing is it's not that hard. Like I have somebody that, so whenAndrew Stickel: (01:17:01)Well, sustaining like keto is hard, like, cause that's well that'sDan Henry: (01:17:04)Cuz that's ridiculous. But I mean, I meanAndrew Stickel: (01:17:06)I, so I did, I lost all this weight and then I got sick of bacon, you know? It's like, what, how do you get sick? It's like, if you're sick of bacon, then there's a problem.Dan Henry: (01:17:12)You know, I'm saying like understanding how many calories is not hard. Like yeah. So what I do is I have meals prepped, right? So I'll have whatever, six ounces of chicken, a cup of rice and, and, and a cup of vegetables. And I'll have that four times, or I'll have that three times a day and two shakes. Mm I, the same thing every day. Yeah. I grab the meal, I put it in the fridge, boom, whatever, if I go out to dinner, then I just, on that one day, I, you know, I kinda look at it. I look at the menu in my head and I calculate in my head. It just doesn't have to be super close, but it's not really that hard.Andrew Stickel: (01:17:43)No. And after a while you just start getting a feel for what's, how many calories are in certain things and you can kind of estimate, you know.Dan Henry: (01:17:50)Right, right. But you're still, you're still counting, you know, you're still doing it. And it's just, it's not that hard. People talk about sustainability say, well, this isn't sustainable because it's so hard. No, you you're saying it's hard and therefore you're making it hard. It's not that hard. And that goes with anything. Yeah. You know? Well,Andrew Stickel: (01:18:04)I don't, I don't even count calories. I just it's basically for me, it's just all about understanding. What's uh, what's. It's just standing like, like, like making good choices about what I'mDan Henry: (01:18:12)Eating. Yeah. Well, you probably are hit, but that's what I'm saying. I'm getting,Andrew Stickel: (01:18:15)I'm getting the same effect. You're getting the same effect. I'm just not, I'm not having to count it. Yeah.Dan Henry: (01:18:18)But you're probably within the range that if you did count it, it'd be, oh, I'm youAndrew Stickel: (01:18:22)To be, have a salad, have a salad. Like, like I had, I had a burger for lunch today. But instead of French fries, I had a side salad with it, you know, it's like sacrifices like that and all adds up and yeah. You know, I mean, I'm not, I'm not as, I'm not where I wanna be yet, but I mean I'm down 40 pounds. Well,Dan Henry: (01:18:36)I do, I do the counting of the calories and all that. Cause I'm I lift weights and I'm, I'm trying to like bulk. And, and so for that, it's, it's crucial. I mean, if you're just trying to lose weight and that's it, and you're not trying to like, do like performance stuff. Then I would say that it's less crucial. But like you say, you you're having the burgers and then you're having a salad. You know, I don't know why we're talking about weight loss.Andrew Stickel: (01:18:53)Hemmorhoids and then weight loss.Dan Henry: (01:18:54)Hemmorhoids and then weight loss, you know? But, let me ask you about this. What, what's the biggest thing that you hate about, dealing with employees,Andrew Stickel: (01:19:02)Drama, drama, drama. That that's the, that's the biggest thing I hate because I'm a very nondramatic person.Dan Henry: (01:19:08)Like you have drama with employees?Andrew Stickel: (01:19:09)I get some employees. I mean, look, when you've got 20 employees, personalities are gonna clash. You know what I mean?Dan Henry: (01:19:16)I must be like super fortunate.Andrew Stickel: (01:19:18)It's not okay. It's not, I don't have a ton of drama. It's not like, it's not like my life is overrun with drama with employees. There's just a little bit of it. But that little bit of it, I hate drama so much. That's what I hate about. That's what I hate about dealing with employees the most. But, it's, you know, it's not the end of the world. We, we've got it worked out. But the other thing that I don't like about employee or not that I don't like about employees. Well, it's a challenge challenge. It's a challenge. It's yeah. It's the wrong word. Is I try to hire managers, not employees. Right. And what I mean by that is I tell people, I want you to come to me with a solution, not a problem. Right. And I want you to be able to work autonomously because I don't, I'm like the anti micromanager. Like I don't care when you work. I don't care what, I don't care how you do it. I just want you to just do the thing you're supposed to do. I'm like Bill Belichick, do your job and we don't have to even talk. You know what I mean?Dan Henry: (01:20:13)So I'm the opposite of you.Andrew Stickel: (01:20:14)Oh really?Dan Henry: (01:20:14)Yeah. So I, my employees generally don't have any drama. I can't remember the last timeAndrew Stickel: (01:20:20)And again, if, if any of my employees are listening to this, it's not a lot of drama. It's just, if there's any drama, do it a podcast,Dan Henry: (01:20:27)But I mean, I don't ever, I don't remember like my employees ever having an issue with each other and I'm fortunate for that, but I also have way less employees than you that said, I do tend to micromanage because I consider what we do as an art. I mean, you might as well, but like, I consider it an art almost like pay painting and so it, and I'm, I'm a musician. I went to school for music. Yeah. Like I, I get a little bit passionate about what we do and that it's done correctly, not so much from a business perspective, but from an artistic perspective, which is probably a flaw. Yeah. And that's why when I hired my general manager, I was like, listen, I'm just gonna scream and at you, and then you translate it something nice for them.Dan Henry: (01:21:10)You know, it's a joke kind of, but you know, because like, I really am passionate that we do things correctly. We do things well, because I've never really looked at it. I have enough money. Right. Like I don't need I'm financially to the point where I just, I don't even money doesn't even, I don't care. You know, I'm not trying to put people on Mars. I'm not trying to make 50 million a year. I just wanna like live my life and be chill, you know, very Florida vibe, you know, I'm sure you can understand that. You know, I mean, I was born here, so like, I I'm like, yeah, I'm good. You know, I got I'm good. You know? But that said the, the aspect of it, of doing it well and making it really good and, and the same thing with clients as well, you know, if a client comes to me and says, well, this isn't working and I look at what they did.Dan Henry: (01:22:01)And I'm like, well, it's cuz you're not putting any friggin effort into it. You're not, or I don't wanna do sales calls. Well then why are you here? Yeah. Well, she'll just add said that I could, I could sign up all these clients without doing sales calls. It's like, dude. Like why, why are you here? Why are you here? Yeah. Why do you own a business? You know, you don't wanna hire people. You don't wanna do sales calls. You don't wanna, what can you do?What can you do? You know, like, go be an artist and travel, and paint in the Sahara desert or something. I don't know.Andrew Stickel: (01:22:33)Like you, you know, my favorite quote that you ever said, and this is you probably didn't remember this. My favorite. No, I never remember my quote you said being a successful entrepreneur is about not being a whiny little bitch.Dan Henry: (01:22:46)That sounds like something I would say.Andrew Stickel: (01:22:47)But it's true. That's what it is. It's doing it. Doing the crap you don't wanna do. Yeah. To beDan Henry: (01:22:52)Fair though. We, we are all, I still, whine. And so I'm not saying that I'mAndrew Stickel: (01:22:57)I complain, but then I do it. You know what I mean? Like that, I think that's, I think that's the difference. So yeah. I'm gonna complain about this and then I'll just do it. You know what I mean? So like, but the other thing, like sales calls, for example, I used to hate sales calls. I used to like dread sales calls,Dan Henry: (01:23:09)So then hire somebody there's the solution, you know?Andrew Stickel: (01:23:12)Or, get better at sales calls because like, right, look, if you're getting on sales calls and you're closing $5,000 and $5,000 or 10,000, you're not gonna dislike them. You love it. It's like, oh, I can't wait to. And that's, and, and not only that, it's like it's mindset too. You know, that's, if there's one thing I've learned about sales, is that the most important part about being a good salesperson is believing that they're gonna buy, you know, like, and, and that's why like, I'm so good at sales, like, and I've said this, you know, if you get me on the phone with 10 people, eight of 'em are gonna buy. Right. And the reason why is cuz I've got this unha belief that when I get on the phone, this person is going to give me their credit card. At the end of this, it doesn't matter how much, it doesn't matter what, I don't even look at their application.Andrew Stickel: (01:23:53)I don't care what their application says. I know that I can help them. And I know that they, I know that it's gonna happen. You know? And like, I, I talk to my wife, I'm like, instead of saying, Hey, I gotta, I gotta do a sales call ID. Be like, yeah, I got let, I gotta collect some money real quick, you know? And that's that's but, but it's, it's true. And I close like 80% of my sales calls on, I mean, you know, $42,000 a year contract and I do one call close and I close like 80% of it. Right. And the reason why part of it is the celebrity effect maybe. But the other part is I have this unshakable belief that I it's gonna happen. Right. You know, and I love sales calls cause it'sDan Henry: (01:24:27)Fun. Cause I'm good at it. The other thing is like, you also know that you don't need them. Yeah, exactly. So you don't close the call. Yeah. Who cares? And a sale, sometimes sales reps are like, I need to make this sale. Yeah. And that vibe transfers. Um, and, and, and when you, when you don't need to make the sale, that's when you make the sale. Yeah, exactly. You know? Yeah. Cause they can feel that you don't need them. They need you. Yeah. And um, but like it's, it's sort of like golf, right? I, I I've been asked to go golfing with like a ton of clients and to people. And I, I always say no, because I suck at golf mm-hmm so like, I don't like to golf because I suck at golf. Yeah, exactly. And, and so it's like, now, if I dedicated myself to getting better at golf, I would probably love to go golfing.Dan Henry: (01:25:12)Yeah, exactly. You know, so it's like, if you are a business owner, there are certain things that you gotta do to grow that business. Otherwise don't be a business. You don't have to be a business owner. Nobody's ask nobody is asking you to be a business owner. Right. Nobody is telling you to do that. You are electing to do that. So if you decide to, to declare yourself one, then you do the things that business owners do. That means hiring people. That means sales. You know, that means, and if you get good at it, you willAndrew Stickel: (01:25:40)Love it. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, nobody's coming to save you, you know, it'sDan Henry: (01:25:44)And nobody cares. Yeah. Nobody cares at all. Yeah. Nobody cares. Oh God. If I could just tell, I see so many people, so many people, well, I just wanna make passive income. Well, guess what? Then be an investor. So doesAndrew Stickel: (01:25:54)Everybody, yeah. I just wanna make all this money and not do any work. Well, you know, I would love that. If you can figure out how to do that, then I will pay you lots of money, but so far, right. Everyone that's promised that is the I've never seen it actuallyDan Henry: (01:26:05)Work out. This is the biggest thing about passive income that people don't realize passive income is not for business owners. Passive income is not for entrepreneurs. If you expect to make passive income from a business, then you are living in a fairytale world. Passive income is for investors. That is the entire point of investing. Mm-hmm you invest money. You get a much less return. Right. If I invest a hundred thousand dollars into a business, I'm gonna like 10 X that. But if I invest a hundred thousand dollars into real estate, I'm gonna get like 15 or 10%. Yeah. Or, if the star aligned 20%, why am I getting less? It's because I'm willing to cuz it's passive. Right? If I invest into a fund or stock and I make 6% I don't have to run that company. Yeah.Andrew Stickel: (01:26:51)The stock is you don't do anything. You sit on the beach and they make you money. JustDan Henry: (01:26:55)Not a much, but that's why you're getting 6% instead of 600%. Yeah, exactly. They're getting 600%. Cause they're running the business. You get six or 10 or whatever, because you don't do anything. So if you want passive income, be an investor and stop lying to yourself. Stop lying to the rest of the world. Stop proclaiming yourself an entrepreneur and go be an investor.Oh, but wait a minute. You don't have any money. Yeah. Well maybe then if you do wanna get some, you should be in a business owner and you should act like one.Andrew Stickel: (01:27:27)Well, you know what? The best investors also have business experience too. You know what I mean? Cause they understand they can identify a bus. They can identify those key aspects that a business needs to be successful. And you can't get that without running a bus. I, I knew a guy who went to college and majored in entrepreneurship, that it is the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. Like take that a hundred thousand dollars that is dumb, open a business. You'll get the equivalent of like 10 MBAs, you know? Like why would you doDan Henry: (01:27:55)That? You know that that is dumb because, and entrepreneurship is such a thing that it cannot, it can be taught. It cannot be taught in. It has to be taught by entrepreneurs. Right. You can't create this academic world, because what is an entrepreneur? It's somebody and let me jam on this for a second with you, right? Because you, I I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Why does so many entrepreneurs newers also tear down and destroy what they've created? And why do entrepreneurs need people like managers to be the buffer it's because when you decide that you are going to completely and utterly remove the safety net, like a circus performer, that's doing something super dangerous and they're, and they just take down the net. You gotta be crazy to do that.Dan Henry: (01:28:52)You're literally saying I have absolutely no recourse. I have no safety net. If I make a bad decision, that's all gone. This is my entire financial safety and my employee's financial safety. Yeah. If I make good or bad decisions, I'm taking in a massive amount of risk, massive amount of risk. And in order to do that, you have to be nuts and you have to be crazy. And the same type of crazy that that would take on that much risk is also on the other side of that coin, the same type of crazy that would tear it all down. You know, and that's why entrepreneurs are emotional. And they are sometimes self sabotaging because that the 180 degree, other side of that type of crazy is a destroyer. It creators are also destroyers. That's why it's very important as an entrepreneur, I think, to bring people in that aren't crazy to help buffer your crazy that's employees. Well,Andrew Stickel: (01:29:51)You know what else the other, the other challenge is is we get bored, you know?Dan Henry: (01:29:55)Yeah. Well, and that's part of being crazy, you know? I mean, it's, the other thing is thing that gets me is these people who say, they make too much money. Right.Andrew Stickel: (01:30:06)You know, entrepreneurs make too much moneyDan Henry: (01:30:09)Mean or C well, not maybe, maybe CEOs is a different thing, but likeAndrew Stickel: (01:30:13)Tax the rich type thing. Like, wellDan Henry: (01:30:15)That plus just like I've seen stuff where they say, you know, you should pay your employees more. Right, right, or whatever, or you should overpay your employees. The thing is, is that a good entrepreneur realizes that storms come. So if you overpay your employees and you delete, or you sacrifice your reserves. What happens when a major storm comes like?Andrew Stickel: (01:30:39)Then you have to fire everybody.Dan Henry: (01:30:39)You gotta fire everybody now lose their jobs. Yeah. Right. The thing is you don't, you don't underpay people. But if you, if you grossly overpay people, then you're not making a smart business decision. Because if a storm comes now, everybody loses their job. Yeah. And so people don't realize that. Why does the entrepreneur, why does the business owner make the most well it's cuz they it's not that they do in the most work.Dan Henry: (01:31:01)Well, that's the other thing, right? Steve Jobs, like, I've heard this argument about Steve Jobs. Oh, well, Steve Jobs didn't build any computers. He had all of his people to, he never made a computer in his life. Why did he make so much money? Da, da, or you know, Facebook and da da, he, the thing is, is that it's not that they make the most money because they did the most work it's cuz they took on the most risk. Risk is everything. Oh yeah. You take on that much risk. You deserve the greatest reward. Yeah. Risk is everything. It takes a lot of balls to take on that much risk, you know? Not just financially, but like to save face to yeah. Your reputation, all that. Yeah.Andrew Stickel: (01:31:39)Yeah. We, we did. So we, we do that event, in December we made over $2 million. We been $150,000 up front to do that. That's more than most people make in a year. Yeah. And you know, like we had to, we had Jordan Belford on there. We had to pay him, we had Damon John on there. We had to pay him, we had to run Facebook ads. We had to do, you know, all this stuff without any guarantee whatsoever that we were gonna make a single penny on the back. You know what I mean? And $150,000.Dan Henry: (01:32:04)I mean that's, but you'll get somebody on Facebook who sees you say that and say, oh, well, you know,Andrew Stickel: (01:32:09)Oh, you made 2 million should have bonus. You know what I mean? And we take care of our employees too, cuz like, you know, I don't remember where I heard the, the equation of basically what, because there's the whole argument of $15 an hour, $20 an hour and you know, paying fast food workers and all that type of stuff and really like what it comes down to it's how good are you? How areDan Henry: (01:32:25)$20 an hour?Andrew Stickel: (01:32:26)I think it's $15 an hour is what I hearingDan Henry: (01:32:29)As 15, which is,Andrew Stickel: (01:32:30)Yeah. 20 Chick-fil-A might pay more. I don't know. But so it's how good are you at your job and how hard is it to replace you? You know what I mean? Like, and that's, and the thing is that the people that work for me, I have accidentally hired amazing people that is very difficult to replace them and you know, and they get paid very well. You know, like the highest person in my, the highest paid person in my company started as an unpaid intern. And he worked his way up and worked so way up more his way up. And he's been with us, he's been with me for nine years now. And he makes a lot of money, you know, and the reason why is because he's great at his job, and it's very hard to replace him, you know? Yeah. There you go. And that's what it is, you know, and that's, that's what it comes down to. It's like, I don't know. So makeDan Henry: (01:33:13)Yourself, make yourself less rep you wanna raise, you wanna make more money, make yourself less replaceable,Andrew Stickel: (01:33:19)Make, make yourself possible to replace, right. Yeah. And that's the thing, I mean, like, I mean, and that that's, that's what it really comes down to. Like, I don't know anyone in the pandemic that is obviously very, very good at what they do has a lot of value that was out of work. You know what I mean? And that doesn't mean that I'm saying, I don't know anyone I'm saying the people that I know that are really, really good at what they do. Every single one of them had plenty of work the entire time, and they made more money during the pandemic. And it was because of the fact that like, you know, it tightened up. So now there's more demand for really, really, really people. Yeah. Ours did too. We had a record year. Last year in 2020 was a record year for us. 2021 was a record year for us. 20, 22 is gonna be a record year for us, you know? And it's just because we provide a result and we provide value to people. You know,Dan Henry: (01:34:00)Let me still me switch little gears here. So I hate to hammer on this done for you thing because I'm fascinated by, uh, the fact that you've got this to such a level of scale and you're selling these packages and all that. What would you cuz there's probably people listening to this that, oh man. You know, cuz look, everything has, I believe every, if you do something well, it's gonna work out. Right. Whether it's coaching, whether it's e-commerce, whether it's, events, whether it's done for you, if you do it well and you dedicate yourself to it. Yeah. But since you do so well with it. I like, I wanna ask some questions. What are some other markets? Cuz I've always told people what done for you. You gotta find a client who's easy to find. And like I said this earlier, when they get a client or when they get a result, it's worth a lot. You know? So that like for instance, like I remember back in the day I said like stop doing marketing for ice cream shops. Yeah. Because when they get a client, they make $2.Andrew Stickel: (01:34:59)Yeah. Don't sell to broke people. Right. Right.Dan Henry: (01:35:00)Well, but, but I mean, Hagen Das isn't broke, but you know what I mean? Like, likeAndrew Stickel: (01:35:06)You want, it's easy to get a win it's it's easyDan Henry: (01:35:09)To get a win. Exactly. What, besides the lawyers what other markets out there, maybe ones that people aren't thinking of would you think would be good for, for easy wins for done for you?Andrew Stickel: (01:35:20)It's tough. I mean like, I, I think financial services is always good. Mortgage comp mortgage. Yeah. Mortgage brokers, things like that. Real estate. Yeah. Yeah. Real estate. I think, cosmetic surgeons. Oh yeah. Cosmetic surgeons. You know, see, I know there's a guy I think is Andrew argue who does a lot with CPAs? I think, see, I don't know if that would be a good one or not. I don't, I haven't researched that market, but you just gotta think like, who are the people that, that, that make a lot, who are the people that have a very high, average transaction value. Right. Cause that's what it comes down. Like I want, I want to have the opportunity that if I get one client, they can pay for me for the entire year and like a personal injury attorney. Like I've had personal injury attorneys that get a 20 that get a case from us that turns into 25 million, you know, like they've paid for us for the rest of their career, you know, , youDan Henry: (01:36:10)Know what idea? I I've always, or not always, I recently started thinking about it is, clients who have big lists who if they just knew how to better sell to them. Yeah. They would make way more money. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Because like what, what's one of the hardest things about, uh, client acquisition. It's it's like, well you gotta go out and market and you gotta find clients. Right. What if there was somebody that already had them? Yeah. Yeah. And you really have to marketAndrew Stickel: (01:36:34)To them. So that's actually, our next move is we're going to be finding influencers. Like I, I, there's a, there's a, a particular guy. He's a, a fitness guy. He's got 150,000 subscribers on YouTube. He's got like 300,000 followers on Instagram. Um, similar numbers on Facebook makes 10 grand a month. I was like, I was like, dude, oh my gosh. So I don't, I don't have, have, I don't have the, the, I don't have the bandwidth to do it now, but I wanna find people like that. I wanna take equity in their company and, and, and just blow it up because I mean, it's like, they just, they know how to getDan Henry: (01:37:10)Audience them to create like programs and products and they might not,Andrew Stickel: (01:37:13)Well, I I'll find people that are motivated. Like I actually talk to this guy he's motivated, you know, he's like, just tell me what to do. I don't know what to do. You know what, so people like that, as long as they're on board, I'll I'll do that. I'll teach 'em what to do. And I mean, cuz look, look, I've only got 6,000 subscribers on YouTube. And like my email list is only like 27,000 people. Like my, my numbers are not that big because I'm in a really, I'm in a niche, you know what I mean? But like, if it's someone like a, like a fitness person who can literally get everyone, you know, it's just, it makes it it's, it's like it's, it's stupid numbers. And if I take what I know and I apply to those numbers, even if I get half the conversion rate that I get, we'll make 10 times as much money, you know? So I think that that's something I'm eventually gonna do. I don't have the, I don't have the bandwidth to do it now, but it's, that's probably gonna be something we're gonna start moving into soon. Hmm.Dan Henry: (01:38:01)That's cool. Yeah. I, what about, um, now I'm just like brainstorming, but like what about, what about purchasing them? Like think, think about this. Like, let's say there was like a, a brand and it wasn't like a personal brand but it was just a brand and they did not monetize at all. Yeah. Or maybe like you said, they're making like a measly 10 grand a month. And so what you do is instead of, um, the equity thing, you just buy, you just buy 'em right. Or, or maybe they're not making anything. Yeah. You know, you buy 'em and then you go in and you create a product and you, you sell it or could maybe even some sort of affiliate thing or something, you know? I don't know. I often thought about stuff like that. I thinkAndrew Stickel: (01:38:45)It's interesting. I think you still want them involved though. Cuz like, I mean like instead of this fitness guy, for example, I'm not, I'm not gonna be a fitness model. I'm not, nobody's gonna buy fitness stuff for me, you know what I mean? Um, and also I don't, I don't wanna do the 10,000 hours to learning at all. You know, I'd rather, I've done the homework with the marketing.Dan Henry: (01:39:01)See, this is what you're talking about. Board entrepreneurs. Yeah, exactly. We just, by sitting here thinking about things like, like, you know, and youAndrew Stickel: (01:39:07)Kind of are buying like, so I wouldn't do, I would not do a deal like that unless I had equity. So at that point I am buying, I am buying it with, with my sweat equity, I guess. Yeah. You know, but um, I thought,Dan Henry: (01:39:20)You know what I thought about doing, I thought about, uh, going to somebody and cause like every time I do an event or I speak, I just sell like crazy. Like, I mean, we just do crazy numbers, but I thought about like doing something where I would help, you know, put on an event for somebody and sell and then get a cut or whatever. But then I was like, I don't wanna do any of that.Andrew Stickel: (01:39:46)Well that's like, the pre-pitch and the repitch stuff. Have you done any of that?Dan Henry: (01:39:49)I've done pitching and pre and I've made some money doing it, but like I I'm doing so well with our company and my passive stuff with like cryptocurrency and I do have some real estate stuff that at this point I just, um, like I said, I just like to drink really good coffee and drink and, and read philosophy, put books in my penthouse and just not do anything. Yeah. Like I've worked so hardAndrew Stickel: (01:40:11)For so long take quality of life at the end of the day, the most important thing is like, what do you? But I always, IDan Henry: (01:40:15)Always get in my head. Yeah. I always get the ideas cuz I'm like, I know I could do it and it would be awesome and it'd make a lot of money, but then I'm like, oh wait a minute. I don't really need,Andrew Stickel: (01:40:24)Could you ever actually, could you like, I mean, let's say you let's say you could sell your business. Right. You're you're right now somebody just gave you like an insane amount of money. Could you actually retire and not do anything? Or do you have one of those brains where like, you'd sit there for a couple weeks and then you'd be like, I got this idea. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna doDan Henry: (01:40:41)This. Ah, man, that would, yeah. I mean, if, if probably, yeah, I wouldn't be able, I would have to build something or because I'm a creator. So I think if I was gonna do that, I'd have to, if I was like, cuz if you gave me a disgusting amount of money, like I'm already financially secure, but let's say you made me even more financially secure and you gave me like,Andrew Stickel: (01:41:04)Somebody gave you amount of money that you can't turn it down. Like it'd be stupid for you to turn it down. Yeah.Dan Henry: (01:41:08)Then you mean like an amount that even if I made whole horrible decisions, like Mike Tyson decisions, well, I don't know. I don't know.Andrew Stickel: (01:41:15)See, I don't know what your number is, but I mean like, you know, if somebody gave you a like, so get clients.com, that's your main business, right? Yeah. If they gave you a number that would actually make you sell it. I mean, not, I mean, not, not a billion dollars obviously, but like I don't know. That'd be great. Yeah. Yeah. No, but a number that you'd be like, okay, yeah, I'll sell for that. You know, like a reasonable number that, that actually, that you'd actually, and then you're done. I mean, I have to imagine you're pretty much probably set. Um, but could you just sit around and do nothing and just read all day? Or would you get bored? I know. I, I couldn't doDan Henry: (01:41:44)It. I I'd probably get bored. So I'd have to take on something that would fill that, that maybe wasn't business. Yeah. Like maybe it was philanthropy um, which the funny thing about philanthropy is like, you know, I've always had this thing where if you do it, you probably shouldn't talk about it. So like we're doing some stuff right now. And again, I don't like to talk about it, but, and I actually have my staff working on it. It's like kind of a cool idea. And if it works out and it works, I'll talk about it because it's sort of like something that a lot of entrepreneurs could do and it would help kids and it's an idea I have. And I'll, if it works out, I'll, I'll do something with it. But, um, it would probably be like philanthropy based or art based or, or something that is not necessarily money because, you know, I don't, if you don't need that.Dan Henry: (01:42:38)Yeah. But I guess you're right. I guess I would have to, I guess I would get bored but I might take a year and just do all the things I've ever wanted to do. I probably write an album I'd probably, um, cuz it's funny. I was in a band when I was younger and we like had whole album and we were gonna release it and we were like 95% done and then my business took off and so you just left I was like, yeah, I just left and I was making millions of dollars and I was like, well, why do I need an album? And, and, but it's always like been like, man, I should, uh, yeah, I should go back and, and make something like that. You know? Um, but I, I mean, I don't know, I'm kind of at that point now.Dan Henry: (01:43:20)But I see your point. You, you, you, if you are a creator, right? Like it's sort of like if you were a musician or a cook or something, maybe like let's say you were a chef, right and you sold your restaurant and you made $10 million. Cause it was the most private restaurant. Are you gonna stop cooking? Mm. You know what I mean? Like yeah. Are like, if you are a musician and you had a hit record and you made all this money, like, are you gonna stop making music? Even if you didn't release any music youAndrew Stickel: (01:43:48)Yeah. Right. Just doing it for yourself. Yeah.Dan Henry: (01:43:50)Yeah. So that's a great question. I think, I, I think like anybody you'd have to be in the position because the other thing is you don't know who you're gonna be in 10 years or five years or 20 years, or even a year. You could be a completely different person that is literally not even remotely close to the person used to be. So maybe the person you used to be would do something like that. Yeah. But maybe that new person would do something else so it's, I kind of try not to think about it and I like to just let it happen because, um, you can talk all day long about what you would do,Andrew Stickel: (01:44:23)But when, so you're actually in that position, it's hardDan Henry: (01:44:25)To, uh, yeah. When you're in that position, then you find out what you end up doing. Yeah. So you, wow. We got all deep.Andrew Stickel: (01:44:34)Yeah. That's interesting. I know, I can't say like I I'll have a day, even a day where I'm like, we're like my wife and I will be like, all right. We're just gonna like Dex. The new Dexter came out. We're like, we're gonna, we'reDan Henry: (01:44:43)Gonna, I'm binge watching the old one. Okay. Trying to make it through the whole thing. Yeah. And then, um, and then watch the new one. So, soAndrew Stickel: (01:44:50)We're like four episodes behind. So like last week, um, we were just like, yeah, we're just gonna take the day. And we're just gonna sit here and watch, watch Dexter all day. We made it through like one episode and we like, neither of us can sit still. Like, I can't just sit down and watch T.VDan Henry: (01:45:03)Oh, that's what I would do. You know what I mean? I'd make movies. Yeah. Yeah. I've always wanted to make like, but,Andrew Stickel: (01:45:10)But you have to have a project is my point, right? You have to have some sort of project that you're working on, you know? Right.Dan Henry: (01:45:15)So, um, we tangent, um, soAndrew Stickel: (01:45:19)Back to done for your servicesDan Henry: (01:45:20)And he, so, so, so, so you're saying that you're saying that, um, uh, in done for you, the biggest thing, just to, just to sort of like, come back to that, the biggest thing is, do have control of the entire, let me ask you, how do you convince a done for you client to let you have that much control where you have, you, you do their entire process. And you're taking over such a large amount of it from a to Z that like, how do you convince them that, that to do that?Andrew Stickel: (01:45:56)I don't know how we did it in the beginning to be totally honest with you because like, and I really don't. I mean, now it's easy because we could say, well, look, you're a criminal defense attorney. Here's 27 other criminal defense attorneys that we've worked with. Here's the results that we've gotten. Here's videos of them talking about the results that we've gotten. So at some point you're gonna have to trust us, you know? So we've got the track record. I mean, like,Dan Henry: (01:46:17)I love that pitch at some point you're gonna have to trust us. Yeah. I mean like,Andrew Stickel: (01:46:20)Well, you're gonna have to trust somebody unless you're gonna do it yourself. You know? So you might as well trust the person that's actually that can show you that they have the results, you know? Right. Um, on top of that, I create so much content. I've got 1200 YouTube videos at this point, teaching lawyers, geez, how to, who market their businesses. You know what I mean? So it's like 1200. You, you it's all trust. I mean, that's the biggest thing is that, and it it's, it's all, it's all Goodwill, you know? So when we first started doing it, I wasn't involved with sales. Like the first, like when I started my business, I, my partner, um, who actually I bought her out last April or last may. Um, and she's retired now. Um, but she was the salesperson cuz she used to be national sales director at this really big, uh, lawyer marketing company.Andrew Stickel: (01:47:04)And I just wanted to do the marketing. I wanna be the guy behind the scenes, just like building the websites, and you know, doing the social media and everything. And um, she was the one that went out and got a bunch of a bunch of clients. And uh, because she worked in the legal industry cuz she worked for, uh, this, this huge marketing company for, for lawyers. She was able, she had re relationships and she was able to bring us our first lawyer and then second lawyer. And then our, and then we had four. Then we had, then we had 12 and all of a sudden, oh I guess we do marketing for lawyers. You know, we didn't even plan to niche down and we didn't plan to niche into lawyers. It was completely coincidental just because of the fact that these are the contacts that she had.Andrew Stickel: (01:47:40)So because they knew her, she, she could say, trust me, this is what we're doing. Right. So there was the trust there. Then we started getting results. Then we started getting testimonials and then there was trust there, but I don't know how I would do it if I had to start it over because I think what I'd have to do is I'd have to work with somebody probably for free and get 'em some sort of result because like the thing that I love that sounds familiar exactly well, but what's the other option. I mean here's the actually no, no, no. That's not true. What I would do is I would start creating content and just do it. I would just be creating video after video, after video, after video, I'd do the lead magnet. I get my funnel. But, but you would have that content.Andrew Stickel: (01:48:17)You have to build the trust. You already did it trust. Right. That content wouldn't exist. That's true. That's true. That content wouldn't exist. I was saying if I, if, if I lost it all today and I had to start today, it's, it's, it's really difficult because it's, but here's the cool thing. When people copy me and people will try to rip me off, I don't even do anything about it anymore. I used to send cease desist letters. Yeah. Like they stole all my stuff, but I'm like, they, I know how much it costs to get a client. And I know that for most people, there's no way they can sustain that. And there's no way they can even like consider that. You know? I mean, because I know that the bar is so high to, to a law firm to hire you that if all you're doing is copying me and you don't have any other moves cuz you don't know how to do it yourself then like I'm just gonna let you spend all your money and run an esteem until you go, you know, go do something else.Andrew Stickel: (01:49:03)You know, I had a guy that literally, he actually was a video editor, Vermont and I, it is a crazy story. I hired him. He was in Bosnia. Right. And I, I, I hired him. He's like he was 18 years old. I hired him to do some video editing for me. He was really, really good. But he started watching all my stuff. So then he's like, Hey listen, I want to move to the United States. Cuz I guess he was being like persecuted or something. I don't know what it was. But he wanted to come to the United States. He's like, he's like, if you give me like $2,500 to get my plane ticket over here, um, you know, pay me in advance, then I'll do your video editing for you and I'll give you the credit and everything. So he'd done a lot of work for me.Andrew Stickel: (01:49:40)So I gave him the 2,500 bucks. He moved over and he did the videos and he, you know, worked off all the money and everything. And then one day somebody starts sending me videos. They're like, Hey look at this, this guy he's got like, he looks exactly like you. And like, I, AB'd And our scripts are literally exactly the same even to the point where I said at this point, I think I had been doing marketing for lawyers for six years. I'm like, yeah, I've been, I've been helping lawyers for six years grow their law firm. He changed that he of change. How long he's been doing. You said I've been doing it for six years. He would've been 12 years old when he is marketing law firms. You know what I mean? Like, wow. So I, and, and sure enough, like, I mean, I called him out on it and you know, it was this huge betrayal cuz I, I helped him out. So, but you know, I mean he was, he was done after a couple weeks cuz he didn't have any money cuz he didn't. SoDan Henry: (01:50:25)That's the thing is, is when people copy you. Yeah. You gotta realize that the reason they're copying you is because they have absolutely no grit. Right? Exactly. They have no hustle and they have no discipline. Yeah. And so they have to just say, I'm gonna, I'm gonna copy somebody else and copy their business and just do exactly what they're doing because I don't have the stuff right. I, I don't have it here. And if they don't have it here, like you said, it'll be two weeks or a month or a couple months and they'll be out. So by the time you could even send, uh, do do anything about it. They're already failed. And that's the thing is focus on you. Right? Exactly. Focus on you because if somebody else is, you know, winners focus on winning losers, focus on winners. So yeah.Andrew Stickel: (01:51:13)That's true. Yeah. That's a good point. Yeah. I mean that's the thing is that it's like, you know that they're doing it because they can't figure out how to do it on their own and you know, and look nothing about this is easy like that. That's that's and, and, but honestly that's what I love about it. I love the fact that it's so difficult because yeah, cause I'm willing to do the work that most people aren't willing to do, you know, don't you get andDan Henry: (01:51:33)Cause I get it in my business, I'm sure you do. People will come to you and they say, teach me how to make a bunch of money, teach me how to have this amazing result. But then when you start, you realize that a lot of those people, they don't want to, to do it. They don't want to be good. They just want to have it handed to them. Yeah. And so it's, it's sort of like, you know, the filter, the protection that you have as a, as an entrepreneur or business owner is that it's hard so if you're willing to do the hard thing, you automatically filter out your competition. Yeah. People aren't willing to do the hard thing. So to me it's like a good thing. It's like, if it's hard, I don't wanna do things. That's easy. Cause then everybody can do it. I wanna do things that's hard. So I do things hard then I don't have a lot of people hanging around trying to do the same thing. Exactly. Right. And if you don't have that mindset, then you shouldn't be there. Right. Like you don't deserve toAndrew Stickel: (01:52:26)Be a business. Everybody wants to be Michael Jordan, but nobody wants to spend 12 hours a day in the gym, you know? Yeah. They don't want, they don't wanna practice basketball. E exactly. You know, and it's just like, I mean like, look, I I'm up at 5:00 AM every day, you know, I'm reading, I'm, I'm exercising and there isn't, I'm exercising one for my body, but also it's it's for my mind, you know, being active and everything. And I do things that I don't want to do. And because of, I mean like the other thing is that I fail. I wouldn't say I failed. I don't think I've ever failed at anything because the way that I look at I've gotten different results than I expected. You know what I mean? Like failure is failure is the data for success. Exactly. Well, I, I look at failure if I didn't learn something from my mistake, you know what I mean?Andrew Stickel: (01:53:05)Like, or if I didn't get something like, so I started my first business I ever had. I was 19. Right. I didn't make a hundred thousand dollars a year until I was 30. So 11 years was basically me trying different things and learning different things. And like I used to have this website called digital fire starter. And what we did was we would interview like athletes and celebrities and, and bands and things like that in like fish outta water. Like, so, you know, the band's seven dust. Right. I love so we, we took them miniature golfing. Right. And we filmed the whole thing. We did an interview with them. Um, the band, uh, kill switching G you know, those guys. Yes. We took them to, now you're talking my, we took them to stuff. What mean? We took them to, uh, Gator land in Orlando and like wrestled alligators with them.Andrew Stickel: (01:53:44)Why, wait, how did you, I, I wanna wrestle alligators with seven dust, but how did this happen? Okay. So, all right. So I started a constant promotions business. Uh, so I got fired. Okay. So graduated from law school or, sorry, graduated from college 2006, uh, worked at the, the restaurant. And then I worked at a private firm and then I got fired from the private firm and I was like, I need to be an entrepreneur. I don't want to go to law school. I don't wanna do this. I am a terrible employee. I need to start my own business. So my grandmother loaned me $20,000. Um, and I got into concert promoting and I actually got into Christian concert promoting, which is funny, cuz I was raised Jewish. Right. So I'm this Jewish guy and I'm, and I, I got hooked up with long, long story short of how I got or long story of how I got into Christian concerts.Andrew Stickel: (01:54:31)But we used to do, um, concerts with the band, uh, skillet. Do you know who they are? Yeah, I know skillet. Yeah. So we did skillet a thousand foot crutch. Yep. Um, you know, so we, we did a lot of, uh, a lot of, any, anything from small clubs to like we did arena shows. Um, and then, and we were pretty successful. I don't know, we, I didn't make a ton of money at it, but we, we, we made a little bit of money, um, and then live nation and Ticketmaster merged. And what that meant was that most of the buildings that we were doing concerts in were owned by live nation, which meant that now Ticketmaster, it was all, it was all exclusive with Ticketmaster and Ticketmaster and live nation were basically competing and putting a lot of the smaller promoters out of business.Andrew Stickel: (01:55:07)So I was working with this other guy and we started a marketing company. Um, and well, no, actually before that, what happened was, so I got out of that, but I knew how to contact all of these celebrities and athletes. It's just, you call the manager, you know what I mean? Um, and I was living in Orlando and I knew that lots of bands would come down to Orlando or the be in Tampa cuz house of blues was Orlando, um, where they'd be in Tampa. So I was like, you know, I've gotten access to all these people. How can I, what can I do with this? Cause it was, I was dream 100, 100 in people before I realized that I was cuz my idea was that if I create a website and let's say I get seven dust on there and I do an interview with them and then it's an inter interesting interview and we tell seven dust to market it to their fans, then seven dust.Andrew Stickel: (01:55:53)Then we're gonna get lots of traffic from people who like seven dust and we're gonna get all these, all this, uh, all this publicity. Right. And why did seven dust agree to go golfing with you? Or what of, uh, miniature golf, miniature golf? Um, well, so basically I'm, I'm, I'm a really good BSer right. So the first one was the hardest one because we didn't have, because like I remember it was, uh, authority zero. Do you remember authority? Zero. Yeah. So authority zero head PE. Yep. And, and a tray authority, zero head PE and a tray. And I had all three of 'em on the, on the line. I mean like, you know, I was talking to all 'em and I was basically playing them off one another. I was like, well, I think we're gonna, you know, we're taking author zero to Ripley's believe it or not.Andrew Stickel: (01:56:30)So I think we can squeeze head PE. I think we can take you up and hide air balloons probably like on Tuesday if we're not busy working with a tray you on that day. So I was basically just totally BSing. Right. And somehow they all got booked, so, so, oh man. So we took, we took a tray U or sorry. So we did a boxing match with a tray U where the lead singer of a tray, cuz he's into like, uh, uh, MMA and like, uh, Mo Thai and stuff like that. Um, uh, and, and uh, my friend Ian, actually the same, the, my partner in the heh business, cuz he's a Santa comedian. This is how I met him because I needed a host for the show. So he was into boxing also. So they went and we, we did a boxing match between him and the leasing of a tray.Andrew Stickel: (01:57:10)Um, we took seven dusts up in hot air balloons in Orlando, we took, um, or not seven dust. We took head PE up in hot air balloons in Orlando. We did, we took Ripley's believe it or not to the, uh, to the new museum. And then once we had that, then we went to all the other booking agents, all the other people, all the other publicists. And we're like, Hey, listen, we've already worked with head PE, we've already worked with a tray, U we've already worked with author zero. I'm pretty sure we've got all these people. You know what I mean? And it just snowballed from there. And we ended up doing like 80 or 90 interviews. And the thing that you realize, like there's a quote that I heard from mark ho uh, the bass player from blink one, two he's like being on tour is all finding something better to do because it's not like the days of Motley crew where they're just sitting around doing Coke and like, you know, and hookers all day.Andrew Stickel: (01:57:52)Right. They're bored. So they're sitting at, they're sitting at Gator land or sorry, they're sitting at house of blues, just sitting there trying to find something to do. I get the tour managers, contact information, Hey, you guys wanna go do indoor skydiving or you guys wanna go, uh, you know, go rest still some alligators with us or you know, like do all this cool stuff. And they're like, yeah, we're what else do we have to do? So we're basically giving them and how did you, who were you like, how did you present yourself? I was just this, I was the owner of digital fire starter. So I mean that's, did they even ask what that was or what your purpose was? I mean, it was like, we're building a what? Oh, we also we had this. So like, are these, we had a letter of intent drugged out that they, yeah, we had a letter of intent from PBS where basically I had this letter of intent.Andrew Stickel: (01:58:33)Like I knew the guy who ran, who, who was the station manager at the PBS station in Daytona beach. Right. So I was like, uh, I was like, I wanna put this show together. Can you, um, can you give us a letter that you're interested in putting the show in the air? So then I, so basically what I'd say, I was like, it's gonna be on PBS, which was a total BS. And not only that, but also we've also worked with all these other bands and then, um, and then we put together like a sizzle reel and like, yeah. I mean, we had some big names on there, so, and it was, you do with the interviews. They're all on YouTube right now, but I didn't do anything with it, so I didn't get on PBS. I didn't do anything with it. No, no, no.Andrew Stickel: (01:59:06)But, um, it's the type of thing where it's like, if I would've known, then what I know now about marketing, like this would've been the biggest show ever. This was like before Twitter was really big and behind before, like, you know, all the Instagram reality still on YouTube. Yeah. They're still on, it's called digital fire starter. You can see dude. We did like, uh, so like let me think, like sublime, right sublime with Rome. Um, we took them actually. They were in St. Pete. We did a lot of stuff in St. Pete, um, because of uh, Janice landing. Yeah. So, um, yeah, sublime, we took them and went like skite shooting with, uh, sublime and uh, and you interviewed 'em while you were doing it. Yeah. Yeah. We, I, yeah. So we talked to 'em we do interviews while we're skit shooting. What did you get out of that?Andrew Stickel: (01:59:42)I, okay, so you had to pay for all this stuff. Well, I gave equity in the company to the camera guy and to the director. You know what I mean? So basically you said to pay for the skite shooting and the indoor skydiving? No, no, no. I didn't pay for any of that because I went to the company. I was like, Hey, listen. Um, okay. Here's a perfect example. Right? Oh, so I go to, I go to, okay, so three doors down, you know, three doors down is right of, so they were in Orlando. He asking me if I know all myself bands on, because, cause I was most people I don't, I don't know. So we call them and um, and I'm like, Hey listen. And three doors down was an A-list A-list act at this point. Right. So they were performing at, at universal.Andrew Stickel: (02:00:18)So I'm like, I call 'em up. I'm I'm like, Hey, uh, we're working with met life. We wanna take you guys up in the MetLife blimp cuz the MetLife BLI happened to be in, uh, in Orlando. Cuz there was like the honor Arnold Palmer. So then you go to Matt life, then go to met three doors, like, Hey three doors down really wants to go open the blimp. Are you, you know? And like, and everybody's like, yeah, that sounds awesome. So then we set this guy, his name's Steven and he borrowed his mom's minivan and he's like, I mean he, this 20 year old kid, he borrows his mom's minivan. He goes to Orlando, he goes, picks up three doors down in his mom's minivan. We bring him to the MetLife blimp and then we, um, film the entire thing, you know like, so we did, I mean we did, we like worked with saliva.Andrew Stickel: (02:00:56)We worked with, um, as lay dying, we worked with, um, so many people, uh, hinder, um, like gosh, and we, and we would do some funny stuff, all fans that I just like, yeah, you gotta check it out. It's we did some really stuff. I, I am, I'm gonna go watch it. Were you interviewing him? Uh, no, no, I wasn't. I'm I'm in some of, but I I'm in the newfound glory interview, we took, um, we took newfound glory to at Disney. There used to be this racetrack called Richard Petty's racing experience. Uh, and basically you could drive NASCAR, you cars. So we went to, uh, we took, uh, newfound glory there. You know what I mean? So like, so yeah, we did some cool stuff. And that actually to answer your question actually might have been my question. If I was to sell my business, I would probably do that again because I've never had more fun. Well, not now,Dan Henry: (02:01:38)Now that you've just admitted. like I saw your interview.Andrew Stickel: (02:01:45)We're gonna have to censor this part of the interview. No, but I mean that, that that's, that was like the most fun I've ever had doing anything. I just didn't know how to make any money at it back then. Cuz I didn't know. Like I said, if I knew then what I know now, like it would've been, it would've been all over it. Would've been sold to Netflix or would've been sold Hulu or something like that, you know, so, oh man. But, um, that's a crazyDan Henry: (02:02:05)That digital fireAndrew Stickel: (02:02:06)Starter a crazy story. Oh, oh. Back to my story though. So that was the business. I started, it didn't work, but I learned how to do video editing. I learned how to, I learned how to do cameras. Uh, I know how to, how to, you know, use a camera. I learned DSI. I learned ISO is and what you know, uh, aperture is and all that stuff on the cameras. And then I took that knowledge in my current business and I started charging $5,000 for a video shoot for a lawyer. You know what I mean? So it's like that business didn't succeed, but I learned how to, I learned how to get around gatekeepers. I learned how to do video editing, you know what I mean? Like so much stuff. So it's like I didn't make any, any, so I didn't fail. I just didn't get the outcome that I was expecting. You know what I mean? And that's how I look at. That's how I look at my entire life is I've never failed in anything. I just, I just didn't get the right the same outcome that I was expecting to get. But I walked away with knowledge. I walked away with a hell of a good time, you know? And uh, so, so that's how it's been with everything that I've done, you know,Dan Henry: (02:02:57)Don't, isn't it crazy how, the way in which you frame, how you see that experience and the world and failure and success is the very reason why life has worked out for you and you've built a multimillion dollar company. Yeah. And it, you know, a lot of times people get caught up in the tactics and they don't realize that the lens in which you see the world really dictates how your world will evolve and sometimes you just have to change your lens. Yeah.Andrew Stickel: (02:03:30)It's like, it's like, uh, rich dad poor out. Um, what's the quote, poor people say, I can't afford that. Rich people say, how can I can't afford afford it? Yeah. And it's not just for buying things. It's, you know, poor people say, oh, head PE would never get in a hot air balloon with me. And then I say, well, wait a second. How can I convince them to, to do this? And then how can I, not only that, how can I get the hot air balloon company to do it for me for free and actually make a special trip just for us? Well, that's,Dan Henry: (02:03:57)That's the thing with like, you know, I sell sales reps this or, or people that are, you know, if, if a client gets on the phone right. And they say, well, what if it doesn't work, you know, cause we have that. Well, what if it doesn't work? Yeah. Well it's like, well that question is why it won't work. You need to be asking yourself, how can I makeAndrew Stickel: (02:04:15)It work? Yeah. How awesome is it gonna be when it does work? Right. You know?Dan Henry: (02:04:18)And, and, and if you can't get over that, there's no, the there's nobody in this world that can help you. Yeah. You know, dude, it's been awesome, man. Yeah. It's been fun. This hasAndrew Stickel: (02:04:27)Been great. I think, I don't know what we talked about for two hours, but it's been a lot of fun. Yeah.Dan Henry: (02:04:30)Well I think, I think there was a lot of nuggets in there about, um, just how to think about things, how to approach things. Yeah. And you know, I think it's great. Like all these stories that wrapped up into, you know, how you did what you did, and also your approach and your approach to done for you and taking the whole, you know, the whole process on so that you don't get caught up in just half the process or a quarter of the process. Yeah. That's some awesome stuff. So yeah, dude, thank you so much for coming on, bro. Thanks for coming you man.Andrew Stickel: (02:05:03)Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.Dan Henry: (02:05:04)Absolutely.

what it takes to create an amazing podcast that will attract a loyal audience, how to avoid making the most common mistakes most new podcasters make, and he'll share how to monetize your podcast without getting overwhelmed with the details!>>> Get Daily Success Mentoring By Becoming A Member At How To Think<<<------Are you dreaming of starting your podcast? Podcasts have become an increasingly popular way to share your knowledge and really connect with your audience… But, it might feel overwhelming as you think of where and how to start! You might be wondering what your podcast should be about, what kind of tech you’ll need, and how to publish your podcast?  You might be wondering how to monetize and create an income from your podcast… If you’ve been looking for the answers to those questions, this is for you! In this episode, I talk with David Shands, founder of The Social Proof Podcast. David shares his insight into what it takes to create an amazing podcast that will attract a loyal audience and allow you to monetize your podcast without getting overwhelmed with the details, and shares how to avoid making the most common mistakes most new podcasters make! In this episode, I am going to cover:How You Can Promote Your Offer Through Your PodcastWhat Are The Three Most Common Podcasting MistakesHow Loyal Listenership Provides Unseen ValueHow To Use This Growth Hack To Get More ListenersHow To Use This Trick To Getting A Well Known Guest On Your ShowWhy Success Is Based On AbilityAnd… So Much More!If you got value from what you heard here, please be sure to subscribe and rate this podcast! Bonus points for you if you write a review! ;)  — SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW — Subscribe to Dan’s YouTube ChannelFollow Dan on FacebookFollow Dan on InstagramFollow Dan on TwitterClick Here To Get Daily Success Mentoring By Becoming A Member At How To Think — TRANSCRIPT —  Dan Henry: (00:00)Everyone welcome to the How To Think podcast with your host, Dan Henry. And today we have an amazing guest on, his name's David Shands, and he is the founder of Sleep Is For Suckers, The Social Proof Podcast, and the MorningMeetup.Com. He has a seven-figure podcast, meaning he generates, seven-figures, over a million dollars from his podcast. And during this show I really dug in and, you know, really expanded on the mistakes that podcasters make, and really how to think about starting a podcast beyond just the little piddly tactics and really dived into the strategy and the mindset behind a successful show. And I really think you're gonna love this episode. Also this show is sponsored by HowToThink.Com, where you can get daily success mentoring, keep your mindset on track and grow your thinking so that you can grow your success. Let's go ahead and jump into the interview.Dan Henry: (01:07)So, so I was on your podcast. And it was amazing by the way. And I love, first of all, it's a very, very popular podcast. And we spoke after I was on your show and it was just crazy how, you know, most of the time when you ask people, like how do you start an awesome podcast? Like, how do you grow your podcast? They have this like blueprint and plan that seems so like, you know, template-y and cookie-cutter strategy, but you were just like, the advice you gave me was just insane. You were just like, I just make it really good. And, you know, and I was like, we gotta talk about this. So I'm gonna press you a little bit on it, you know? So gimme some stats, man, on this podcast, Social Proof Podcast. How big is it?David Shands: (01:56)So we are the number. We, kind of, it, it changes every day, but hovering between six and 12 top entrepreneurship podcasts in the country. We are, you know, somewhere between 30 and 50 top business podcasts in the country as well. And yeah, I think we have an amazing impact, so we don't have the, maybe the biggest podcast in the world, but it's very, very effective because anybody that comes on the response that they get is incredible. Right? Because, you know, I just, I have a genuine curiosity for you know, for people in their stories and it's been financially rewarding. So I don't know how we're measuring like bigness.Dan Henry: (02:45)Well, I mean, I know it's super popular because when I was on it, my whole social, everything blew up. I saw you on, I saw you on Social Proof Podcast, you know, and I don't normally get that much of a response, but I know you've built quite a business out of it. I don't know like how you wanna define how big your business has grown because of the podcast.David Shands: (03:04)It's a seven-figure podcast.Dan Henry: (03:05)So it's a seven-figure, but now how many people can actually say that they make seven-figures, over a million dollars from their podcast. That's insane.David Shands: (03:13)Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty cool, man. It's pretty cool. What's really cool is I'm not like a natural salesperson. So I don't know if I would have been able to make seven-figures from having a product and putting it in a funnel and running ads to it. And you know, things of that nature. Now we do, we do, you know, some of that with our, The Morning Meetup, we run ads to it, things of that nature, but it's all driven by the podcast. But what's cool is I, I don't have to sell a product. I just have to sell my personality and sell the questions that I ask, but, but not even to regular people. I just, like YouTube is going to be a five-figure check every single month. And it just keeps growing, but I don't have to sell anything. I just gotta get to talk to Dan. And then people like it and they put ads in the YouTube and the audience, they don't have to pay anything. They don't have to buy anything unless they buy something from you or, you know, they buy, you know, the Morning Meetup or whatever. But I don't have to like hard sell anybody on anything.Dan Henry: (04:09)What do you, what is your main source of revenue from the podcast?David Shands: (04:12)It's a blend man. So the audio side is, you know, a five-figures. Youtube...Dan Henry: (04:18)What do you mean by audio side?David Shands: (04:20)So, you know, you have, so a podcast is an audio experience. So when people listen to it on Apple or Spotify, we upload it to a hosting platform. And that hosting platform sends it to Apple, Spotify, Google, iTunes, all that kind of stuff. And companies put ads in the audio, but it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the YouTube, which is the visual side.Dan Henry: (04:44)So you're just talking about the money you make from, you're not talking about like actually referring people to products, products, you sell products, maybe your guest sell you're talking about just the ad revenue from them listening and those platforms hosting ads while they're listening to your show.David Shands: (05:01)Well, I'm just running through like all of the different income strategies.Dan Henry: (05:06)Right. Okay.David Shands: (05:07)So, yeah, so we got, you know, audio is gonna be five-figures a month. Video, YouTube is gonna be five-figures a month. The ads that go into the videos is another five-figures every single month. The affiliates, like, so if I do an interview with you, you do something amazing and you have something to offer, we'll put the link in the bio and there's a revenue split there also...Dan Henry: (05:33)Is that the main source of revenue?David Shands: (05:35)The affiliates?Dan Henry: (05:36)Yes.David Shands: (05:39)The biggest single, yes.Dan Henry: (05:42)Okay.David Shands: (05:43)Yeah.Dan Henry: (05:43)Got it.David Shands: (05:43)But if you're calculating all of the other stuff, like I have the Morning Meetup, it's $79 a month, but it's heavily pushed by the podcast. So that's another stream.Dan Henry: (05:54)So would you say that rivals the affiliate, the affiliated income and just, just again to...David Shands: (05:59)Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.Dan Henry: (06:00)Okay. So, even without the ads, even without your guests having an offer and them giving you a cut, if somebody checks out their stuff, even without all that, the fact that you have this popular podcasting.David Shands: (06:12)It'd still be a million. Yeah.Dan Henry: (06:13)Yeah. You still, so still still seven-figures. So what is the Morning Meetup?David Shands: (06:16)So the Morning Meetup is the only organization that gathers every single day to teach, train and coach entrepreneurs. Specifically beginning entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs that are trying to get, you know, to that quarter million. And they just really need that community. Or we've, we have multi-millionaires that are joining the Morning Meetup. So essentially, I have a theme for the month and we literally have like five, 600 people that join every single day, Monday through Friday, but we'll have a theme for a month. And every call throughout the week supports a theme for the month. So this month is, the theme is nothing can stop you, but today's call, I talked about nothing can stop you with a question mark. Because there are some things that can stop you and we gotta talk about those things that can stop you, or they'll keep stopping you.David Shands: (07:03)So they come on and we have a message for the day, and there's a huge community. They stay on the call way after I'm gone. We have a book club. So last year I didn't read any books. You know, even as a coach, you tell people, that you need to read books. Now, I thumbed through a book or something like that. But last year, I didn't read any books, but in the Morning Meetup, because we have a book load, we read 14 cover to cover. So what happens is we'll have, let's say a chapter no more than really 10 pages.Dan Henry: (07:30)So you don't need to read books.David Shands: (07:31)I love books.Dan Henry: (07:33)But, you don't need to cause you got that meetup, right? Because you, are you saying that you're sharing?David Shands: (07:37)No, we'll check this out. Here's the thing. So we'll have, we'll have a book for the month, like this month, last month we read Limitless, this month, we're reading Never Split The Difference.Dan Henry: (07:47)Oh, Chris Voss.David Shands: (07:47)Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Amazing book. So we'll take a chapter in the morning, 10 pages. We'll say, this is the reading assignment for today. And we'll read it that day. Then the next morning from 7:45 to about 8:10, we'll discuss that particular chapter that we read. And that's how we walk through 14 books chapter by chapter.Dan Henry: (08:06)Are you on every meetup?David Shands: (08:07)Yeah.Dan Henry: (08:08)Oh, man.David Shands: (08:08)Unless I'm traveling or something, which is rare.Dan Henry: (08:10)So, so this is kind of like, it's a little bit similar to what we do at How To Think, you know, cause we have the app and we drip out, we, take a piece of wisdom from, you know, say a mentor throughout history. It could be anybody from Mark Twain to you know, Steve Jobs, what have you. And we take that piece of wisdom and we expand on it and how to actually practically apply it to your life life rather than just, you know, Hey, that's a cool quote. You know? And then I, and then I also share a lot of lessons from, you know, my life going from, you know, working as a pizza boy for seven years and then building a eight-figure business and all that. And you know, just life lessons on, on how to think at a higher level so you can achieve more. And you know, we drip all that out. So, it's kind of like somewhat in the ballpark of a similar offer, but we drip it out and everybody starts from the same point. I just, I can't get up that early sometimes.David Shands: (09:14)We're on there live, but like you come on.Dan Henry: (09:16)That's awesome, man.David Shands: (09:16)And I'm gonna invite you on one day that you can get up at 7:45.Dan Henry: (09:19)Yeah. I'll, I'll get up that day.David Shands: (09:20)Eight o'clock and yeah. You'll, you'll, you'll see. There's 500 people live little boxes on zoom. Wow. It's it's the most engaging.Dan Henry: (09:28)Is that how many members you have or is that how many people attend?David Shands: (09:31)No, that's how many people show up show up.Dan Henry: (09:33)Wow. You are way, way more.David Shands: (09:35)So we have like showing up 500 every day.Dan Henry: (09:38)That's awesome.David Shands: (09:38)But they're like doing meetups around the country where they're just getting together inner city and that I am not the biggest, I don't think I'm the biggest reason people join or why people are having a success. It's just the community. Like where else you gonna find that every day that you can getDan Henry: (09:54)Yeah. That's, that's an amazing offer. So, you do the podcast, you have an offer like that. And let me ask you this. Cause one thing I've been I'm gonna be a little selfish on this podcast and ask you some stuff cause I want this podcast to be amazing. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the guests and the conversation I totally forget to promote our How To Think app, you know, to, I forget about it, you know? So, how do you when you have a podcast and you don't wanna take the attention away from the guest, you don't wanna make it all about you. You want great content, but you still obviously want people to listen to your podcast and then buy your offer because it's, I imagine your podcast is one, is a way to promote your offer. And, especially because it's such a great offer, how do you approach every podcast directing people to that offer?David Shands: (10:42)Well, my purpose for the podcast, isn't direct people to the offer. Like with when we talked, it wasn't like an ad breakup. Let me tell you about my offer. It's I want to genuinely get people to enjoy this podcast. And my philosophy is if people can fall in love with you, then they'll fall in love with my next guest. And they'll fall in love with my next guest. They'll continue to watch the episode. And eventually they'll take me up on my offer, but I don't care if you take my offer or Dan's offer, I'm make some money from it. But so I'm just, I'm just focused on, let's just have a good show. That's to my number one, focus.Dan Henry: (11:18)Can I play devil's advocate here?David Shands: (11:20)Of course.Dan Henry: (11:21)Okay. So while I think that is an amazing way to look at it and it's all, it's the way I end up doing it a lot, cuz I just kind of get into that and I'm like, I even forget about it. And I'm like, let's have a great show, you know. At the end of the day, you know, if somebody doesn't know that you have an offer, they can't buy. So what do you do to bring, to bring awareness to that offer? You know, how do you do it? I mean, if people listen to your podcast, right, there's gotta be some way for them to know where to go or what to do to check out the Morning Meetup. So how do you approach that?David Shands: (11:52)So at the end of the episode, I'll always say this episode sponsored by TheMorningMeetup.Com. I'll talk about it, but it's like a afterthought. I mean, I'll put little ads in the middle of the episode. So if I don't, if someone didn't buy an ad, they didn't buy a ads slot in that particular episode, then I'll put my own patrion or my own podcasting course or whatever. It'll be a small ad in the, in the beginning. But when I'm interviewing you, I'm literally only trying to create the best interview because I know that if remember I told you I'm not a salesperson like that. So I know if you continue to like my interviews and it feels like there's no agenda on my part, you'll keep watching my interviews, which means I'm gonna keep building an audience. And if I keep building an audience, YouTube will pay me. The corporations that put ads in my audio will pay me. If I have a big enough audience, you'll pay me. You'll say, Hey Dave, how much is to put an ad in your podcast? You got all these views, you got all this engagement. So I'm not thinking.Dan Henry: (12:51)So it describe to me cuz I'm the, not a podcast expert. I know that it looks like it. Cuz you came in here and yeah, this is beautiful. You saw this studio.David Shands: (12:58)I'm trying not to look at the screen. It's just,Dan Henry: (13:01)You know,but I'm just, I'm the truth is I went to school for like audio and video. So like that's why this looks so cool and sounds good. I would not consider myself a podcast expert, you know? So describe to me when you say an ad at the beginning, what does that mean? Does that mean at the beginning before the actual interview starts, you're like, Hey, we're about to get into this thing with this person. But remember this is sponsored by kinda like Joe Rogan does at the beginning of his podcast where he'll do this like thing about whatever and then he jumps into it. Is that what you mean by ad?David Shands: (13:33)Yes. So you might come to me and say, Hey Dave, I wanna put an ad in your episode, right? And I'll say, okay, gimme the script. What do you want me to say? And he'll say, well drive people to GetClients.Com. These are the buttons that you wanna hit. I'll come on and say, Hey, we're about to start the episode, but I gotta tell you about amazing offer with GetClients.Com featuring my boy, Dan Henry. He does this, this and this. A, B and C. All right. So check it out. We're gonna get into the episode and then we start out.Dan Henry: (13:57)Do you, do you get a lot of revenue from just those type of ads?David Shands: (14:02)Five-figures.Dan Henry: (14:03)Okay, cool. So wow. So I, I, I do have some questions for you about the podcast.David Shands: (14:10)Let's do it. Let's go. This is my favorite subject, right?Dan Henry: (14:12)I got some specific questions and then I got some other more general mindset question. Cause I know you love to talk about mindset. You love it. Cause we that's what we jammed on, on your show. Okay. So we can do this rapid fire if you want. I really wanna, I want to get the sound bites. So, alright. So the first question I have is what are three, because you have a very successful podcast from a monetary standpoint, right? And, I think that it's important to note that there's a difference between popularity and having, you know, financial success and you have both. So I would consider you, you know, way up there on that level. So my question to you is what are three mistakes that most podcasters make?David Shands: (14:57)Number one would be not starting. Number two, not being consistent. So it's just, it's hard to be consistent in anything or they'll go for a while, and then stop and take a break, whatever that means. And then they'll come back. It kills your momentum. It's a huge, if you're gonna start a podcast, start it and just be dedicated to for the next 15 years of podcasting in your life. Just let that be your, the thing that you don't stop. And probably number three is they don't ask anybody for money. They just think you just come on and do a show. Ask some people to sponsor.Dan Henry: (15:40)So, so what do you, would you say, ask people to sponsor you mean, you know, ask the guest, Hey, do you have an offer? Let's let's let's work out a split and promote your offer. Do you mean, you know,David Shands: (15:49)Well that once, but all right. So Dan, I have a podcast and you have an offer, right? Yes. I have an audience. How much would you pay to get in front of an audience? So let's just say every podcast has value. I don't care if it's one listener or a hundred listeners. Let's just say that every podcast episode that I get is gonna get a thousand down loads. Which isn't much right. A thousand downloads.Dan Henry: (16:15)Right. But it's a thousand.David Shands: (16:16)It's something. How much would you pay me to put your offer in front of those thousand people?Dan Henry: (16:25)I guess it depends on what offer I was promoting. I don't know the going rates.David Shands: (16:31)No, just for you.Dan Henry: (16:32)A thousand downloads. Oh, I know. One hundred dollars.David Shands: (16:35)A hundred bucks. Cool. Okay. Let me ask you this. Let's say I have an offer and I mean, I have a, I have a podcast and I'm getting a hundred downloads. We're gonna put your offer in front of a hundred people. How much would you pay me?Dan Henry: (16:48)Well, I guess by that math $10.David Shands: (16:51)10 bucks. So if you have a, a very beginning stage podcast where you can get a hundred bucks and maybe I can negotiate 15, right? Because if you think about it, how much is you offer 10,000? What if a hundred people, they don't take it the first week. They don't take it the second week, third week, nothing. The fourth week we got 400 people. You paid $40. You would pay me, you would pay me $20. Yeah. I mean, you, you, you would pay me $50 bucks. I can move up a little bit. You would pay me $60 bucks to get your amazing offer in front of a bunch of people. You would probably take a chance on spending up to $10,000. If you're gonna, like, just for the next two years at that rate, just put me in front of your audience. I believe that you're gonna promote your own podcast. And hopefully it'll grow from, from 100 to 150. The I'm just gonna paint the picture. But even outside of those numbers, give me the $10. That's $40 a month takes care of something, phone bill, something, every podcast has value.Dan Henry: (17:51)And then you keep going. You keep growing. And that 40 turns into 400 turns into maybe 4,000, you know? So,David Shands: (17:57)And with, yeah, I've got some students, bro. They've gotten they've gotten 2000, 3000, $4,000, 5,000 sponsorships or before even started because they're just painting a picture for people.Dan Henry: (18:09)So you, you have a, you said your students, I know you have The Morning Meetup, but you,David Shands: (18:14)I have a mentorship. Yeah.Dan Henry: (18:15)And is that around podcasting?David Shands: (18:18)Yeah. Yeah. Only. Yeah. Only podcasting.Dan Henry: (18:19)So that, so this is a course specifically for what we're talking about for starting growing and monetizing a podcast.David Shands: (18:26)So I have a course. Yes. But my...Dan Henry: (18:28)Don't be shy. It's okay.David Shands: (18:30)See, that's what I'm saying.Dan Henry: (18:31)Maybe we'll get a link and do a split.David Shands: (18:33)Absolutely. Absolutely. But yeah, my mastermind is like a, kind of a higher ticket program. It's 35,000 for the year. And we get together, we have a call every single Monday and then I'm on a call every other Thursday. And I have a course and we do destination events, things of that nature.Dan Henry: (18:47)So let me ask you this then, because I'm look gonna at it from both ways. The podcast starting way, where you make money from, you know, having people pay you, but then I'm also looking at it from an advertiser perspective. You know, so like for instance I'm thinking about this, right? Like, you know, everybody, these days, the crunch is on for like social media ads. You know, they get more expensive. So imagine if you took that money and instead of spending, like, let's say you were gonna spend $10,000 this month on say like Facebook or YouTube ads. And instead you took that $10,000 and you spread it across all these different podcasts that are in your niche or in your industry. You know, how do you think that return would compare?David Shands: (19:29)Way bigger.Dan Henry: (19:29)Really?David Shands: (19:29)What?Dan Henry: (19:30)Really?David Shands: (19:31)Absolutely.Dan Henry: (19:32)All right. Can I give you some numbers so that we can like make this real?David Shands: (19:35)Yeah. Talk to me.Dan Henry: (19:35)All right. So for instance it depends on what it is, but the best, one of the best campaigns I ever ran and this is cuz I did a live event, so this is kind of cheating, but just I'm giving you the best case scenario. We spent, it was like 15 grand. We did $45,000 in sales for the live event. We did $850,000 on the event, but that's like best, you know, and that's we do that Myron stuff, you know, but in a normal sense, you know we had a campaign, we just ran, we spent $20,000 on and we got about $90,000 back. So putting that out there as like, and that's, we're good at it. You know, we're very good at it. Most people don't get that return. We're good at it. Okay. So I don't wanna, you know, but how do you still think that that's comparable?David Shands: (20:22)Yeah, yeah, yeah.Dan Henry: (20:24)Really?David Shands: (20:24)Not to get into my, my guy's numbers, but, soDan Henry: (20:29)But you got my, got my brain like working now.David Shands: (20:33)So he, my friend he'll, he sponsors 30 of my episodes at a time. So he did 30. He said, let me just get 30 episodes. He pays for every, every episode. Times 30. And then he came back after his 30 was over and he did it again. Which means what?Dan Henry: (20:47)It means he's making money. Now are you, I'm imagine it's on him, but he's probably using some sort of tracking link or something to track.David Shands: (20:53)Yeah. I'm sure he, I'm sure he is tracking. I didn't ask him, Hey, how much are you making? But I know it's something if, cause if not...Dan Henry: (21:00)You might make a sale after this podcast.David Shands: (21:03)You got a little bit of money, so. But you gotta think about this though. So when you see ads, if it catches your eye, then you know, you'll buy. But I have a loyal listener, loyal listenership. Like people listen to the whole thing, like the hour, hour and a half podcast. And they listen to every single week. And they me like, it's somebody that like really, really, my listeners trust me. So when I say, Hey, this person's legit. It automatically gives them validation. So if you can get next to, or in front of someone who has a loyal listenership, like you'd pay Will Smith, whatever for him to say, Hey, y'all, y'all should message my man, Dan Henry, you got the Get Clients. Your business is gonna explode. Not just cuz he's Will Smith, but people trust him. Now you might have these people who have big followings where their audience look at them as an entertainer. And then the return might not be as good because I don't necessarily trust you. I like you, you make me laugh. But I, when I say, Hey, check out Dan Henry. They're like, who? Give me some more jokes.Dan Henry: (22:14)Now, now do you think that cuz a lot of people, you know, a lot of people in the consulting and the coaching space, they have high ticket offers, multi thousand dollars offers. So it only takes one sale and you know. But what about people who have lower ticket offers, think like small membership sites or e-commerce, you know, clothing, whatever. Do you think, do you think it still is profitable to advertise on podcasts?David Shands: (22:41)Absolutely.Dan Henry: (22:42)All right. You got me. Now I gotta look into this cause I've never done that. I've literally never done that. I've never advertised on podcast. That's okay. All right. So let me ask you this. We talked about the mistakes, but let me ask you this. If you had to choose one growth hack, what is, and when I mean growth hack, I mean getting more listeners what is your number one growth hack to getting more listeners for your podcast?David Shands: (23:08)My number one growth hack is probably going to be letting your audience know that this is what you do for real. So not you don't just... So you, your main business model might be getting clients. And we do a podcast as kind of like an ancillary marketing thing that gets people into your program. But if you are going to say to your audience, Hey guys, I am all in on podcasting. I truly, truly believe podcasting. And you are, you are letting them know this is the industry that you're in. You're taking this serious. This is the only thing that you're doing. It will grow. So I made that announcement like it was almost a year ago. I said, listen, y'all this is it. I'm not, I'm not focused on anything else. I am a podcaster, address me as such. We got it in my bio podcaster. Like I always talk about podcasting I'm into this industry, I'm in this game.Dan Henry: (24:03)And why do you think that specifically, that definition, that way to portray yourself to your audience, how does that connect to growth?David Shands: (24:12)Because people want to work with people who like are all in. So if you have a plumber, say the plumber comes by and you have a real issue and he's giving you a quote. And by the time he leaves, he says, Hey, Dan, I also do graphic design. I do web, I build websites and everything.Dan Henry: (24:28)Yeah. You're like, nah.David Shands: (24:30)Yeah, yeah. But, he might be really good.Dan Henry: (24:32)What I'm asking is they would already have to be listening to your podcast for them to know that. So what I'm saying is how does that translate to people who don't know you, who've never listened to your podcast now, all of a sudden, starting to listen to your podcast, to even be aware of that.David Shands: (24:47)Because if the people that are listening, like really feel that this is what you do, they're gonna tell other people and share it. I don't think like I'm not, I haven't done like billboards or anything like that. It grows because I have a good show. I study the craft. I'm always talking about podcasting. So there's people that follow me that, probably never listen to my podcast, but eventually they will, it eventually gets in front of 'em. Right. But outside of that, the way that it grows is you having a really good show and people saying, Hey, you need to listen to this. It's the shares. It's the word of mouth.Dan Henry: (25:18)So, what, it's you connecting with your audience in a way that makes them really want to share? And word of mouth and cuz I mean let's face it. Word of mouth is the oldest form of promotion and it's still.David Shands: (25:32)It still works.Dan Henry: (25:33)You know? I mean, if you think about it, it's kind of how stocks and, and crypto and all these market people, they ape into things. They tell people, oh, you gotta get into this coin. You know, it's the same thing. So do you do other, are things like ask your guests to email their lists or tell their people about the show? Do you do anything like that?David Shands: (25:53)Uh uh.Dan Henry: (25:55)You don't.David Shands: (25:56)Never done it.Dan Henry: (25:57)Yeah. I believe you. Because I had to ask you for the link to the show, which I still, Brandon, we gotta email that out. We, we gotta get the link to the show that I did on his show and email it out. It cuz it was probably the best show I've ever done.David Shands: (26:09)You know what I do though? So one, the guest is gonna feel like it's all about them. Like I'm not in between trying to like compete with you for bars to show my audience.Dan Henry: (26:21)You're like that dude that has a 4.1 GPA in school, but is always like a sleep and like all never does his homework. That's you and, and the teacher hates you cause you said a horrible example for the rest of the class, but you're crushin.David Shands: (26:39)No, but you gotta think, so think about this. Right. And, and it's really, it'll be smart when you think about it. That you felt good leaving because you felt like the interview was all about you. I'm not competing with you for popularity on the show, which I've been on shows where I'm gonna say something. And then the person interviewing me will piggyback on every point. Right. And I'm like, well, I don't need to be here. You, you got this. You're good. So I'm gonna make it all about you, but I'm also gonna take clips from it of something that you said that was amazing. And post it on my Instagram to promote you again. And then you're gonna DM me, like, yo send me that video.Dan Henry: (27:17)So you know what, that's actually true because what did I do? I was hitting you up like, Hey, what's the link? What's the link to my show, to my episode. What, what, you know? And then I shared it, alright. Yeah. That's good. Wow. That, you know, and it's amazing how some people they're like, oh, I gotta set up this templated email to send out to my guests to say, here's your, you know, I gotta have a VA remind them to share it. No, but you're like, I just make it really good. I make it so good that the guest can't help, but share it. Even if I didn't send 'em the link, they're gonna find it. They're gonna ask for it. And then that's true because when I went on, I've been on a lot of podcasts. I've done a lot of interviews and it's a lot of times it's either, like you said, the host will sort of chime in way too much.Dan Henry: (28:02)Or the, they will ask really like just generic questions that you've been asked a thousand times. Or they will, you know, not make you feel like it's all about you. And they won't pull the most. They won't pull, like, that's the thing I noticed when I was on your show. You pulled things out of me that most people, they don't pull. They just accept whatever I say. And you're like, no, no, no, no, no. There's some gold in there. And you like open my mouth, crawled inside and start digging through, you know? And I really appreciated that. And I think that's why that's probably one of the best, if not the best interviews I've ever did. So.David Shands: (28:40)That's amazing. Thank you.Dan Henry: (28:41)Yeah. And that's why I was like, when you were like, I was like, what's your strategy for this? And the at you're like, ah, whatever, you know, I'm like what the, you know?David Shands: (28:49)I'm having a ball with this thing. I just love it, I love, I love getting to know people's stories.Dan Henry: (28:53)That that's killer man. That's killer. Okay. So if you could go back in time, when you first started your podcast, what changes would you make out of the gate?David Shands: (29:05)I would've had a name for my podcast first.Dan Henry: (29:08)You didn't have a name?David Shands: (29:09)Yo, first 11 episodes there was no name, bro. Go on my YouTube or go on.Dan Henry: (29:15)Wow. You talk, talk about an action taker. You're like, ah, I'll give the name later.David Shands: (29:18)Yo, my intro was, Hey, welcome to the podcast. I don't have a name just yet, but this person's amazing. And I think like episode 11 or 12, I came up with a name for the podcast. So I mean, I'd probably you know, again had a name. I've probably had a direction kind of, I just did it. Just the, the only, I didn't have a, I didn't do the podcast for podcasting sake. I did a podcast because I was trying to promote an event. So if you were one of the speakers at the event, I'd say, Hey, let me come interview you. I'm going to interview you. Talk about your story and highlight you as an expert. Because if someone watching it sees the interview, they'll buy a ticket to come see you at the event. That was my whole strategy. So that's why I didn't need a name for the podcast. At that point, it was just interviewing the people that were gonna be at the conference. And it worked, you know, people started coming out, but, and then I just stopped after the conference was over. And then I picked it back up when I had another conference coming up and I stopped using that strategy. And eventually it just clicked like, alright now let's get serious cause people like this thing.Dan Henry: (30:29)And did you do, do you think that once you got serious about it, you made more of the right decisions or would there have been more things, you know, cause I imagine you've been doing this for a while. How many years you've been doing this?David Shands: (30:40)Three years.Dan Henry: (30:41)Three years.David Shands: (30:42)Three years. Two year, 2019.Dan Henry: (30:45)So is this two years from the time you got serious?David Shands: (30:48)No, I've been serious since mid, late 2020.(30:55)So like.(30:57)A little over a year, year and a half.Dan Henry: (30:57)So, okay. So, so, so let's take it from the point you got serious from point you got serious to now what changes would, if you could go back in time to that point, what changes would you make?David Shands: (31:12)I like, I don't think I would make any changes other than the change that I made. Obviously you start out with some audio. Audios, terrible and you're like, oh, I need another solution for this. And you come up with a better microphone. And Hey, these cameras, they're not as good as they should be. Cuz my camera, the camera I had, it would stop every 30 minutes. So I'd have to...Dan Henry: (31:32)Yeah. DSLR .David Shands: (31:33)Bro. Imagine you got like three cameras and like this beautiful studio,Dan Henry: (31:37)Four.David Shands: (31:38)Four cameras. Let me not disrespect your studio. I had one camera. We're sitting like this. I'm gonna hit, I had a Canon 70. You hit the record, you gotta come sit down. And then we say, okay, you ready? Welcome to the podcast, right? We'll start talking. But I put an alarm on my phone for 28 minutes because I knew it's gonna go off in 30. So when I see it going to 28, sometimes you'll hear the little thing and I wait for you to finish your point and I say, hold on.Dan Henry: (32:08)So you would low tech...David Shands: (32:09)And then I gotta get up, start it over, sit back down and then do it again.Dan Henry: (32:13)So you would low tech. That you would, if you could have you'd you'd upgraded the tech a little bit to make it a Better experience?David Shands: (32:19)Well, I wouldn't because like that's how you grow, you know what I mean? Like I I'd needed the experience of that.Dan Henry: (32:26)I'm gonna press you a little bit, any promotional or content type changes you would've made?David Shands: (32:32)I would've started affiliates a lot sooner.Dan Henry: (32:35)Okay. So, so, okay. It's a lot sooner. All right. So I've not done that. Yeah. I've not. I, well, I have done it in the past, but I rebranded this show. You know, it was like the Dan Henry show and I stopped for a while. And then I was like, cuz I was just rambling, you know. I just got on and rambled and so I...David Shands: (32:52)You're a pretty good rambler though.Dan Henry: (32:53)Well, you know, but I just, I wanted, so I wanted to get free coaching, you know.David Shands: (32:59)Yeah, for sure. Smart man.Dan Henry: (33:02)I wanted to have awesome people sit down and ask, cause you know, I hear podcasts a lot and they'll ask these very generic questions and people answer 'em and I always listening to it going. Yeah, yeah. No, no, no, no. But wait a minute. You know? And I'm like, and I always thought of that and I was like, all right, well I need to start a show where I do that. I don't, I don't take the cookie-cutter answer. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. How do you do this? You know, so yeah. So that's kind of why I changed the format, but okay, cool. So, so you, you would've done it, you would've monetized it a lot sooner.David Shands: (33:35)Yeah. A hundred percent.Dan Henry: (33:36)And affiliates. Okay. And how do you you, you just ask the guests, you just say, Hey, listen, you have an offer. It makes money. Cause we, we didn't discuss that at first. You were like, Hey, let's be on the show. And you would just say like, Hey, you have an offer, let's get a link. Let's send em to that offer and work out a split. You just keep it pretty, some direct sort of, you don't have like an SOP for this or anything, you just keep it casual?David Shands: (34:01)Maybe I should. Here's the thing. Maybe I probably should do all the stuff that I probably should be doing. But I'm growing every day. I'm learning something that I should do every day. Like we started sending out contracts to all the guests, like for releases of, you know, their content so nothing can happen later. But, that wasn't in the beginning. So I could say, I wish I had the best cameras. I wish I had best mics. I wish I had contracts, but you just, there's a bunch of things that I'm doing wrong right now.Dan Henry: (34:30)Do you find it funny that when people have podcasting courses or advice, they always focus on those things, those nuts and bolts and you sort of like took action, and you made it more about the actual quality of the end result. Like the, like, what was that? Cuz that's what I noticed. Our episode, you were just like the questions you were asking and everything. It was, it was all about that. And you know, everything else be damned, you know? Like we're in this hotel, your boy's stand there with the cameras and there's people walking by and they're like in the gettin in the elevators and stuff. And it's like, whatever, you know? And you're like, all that be damned, here we go. You know? And I just, I love that attitude because it just shows you that most people they focus on, oh, I gotta get to the contract and I gotta do this and I gotta have this and I gotta have a website. And you just like whatever. And boom. And it just shows you how taking and focusing on the meat of it. Yeah. Is cuz I think for a lot of people and I could be wrong, it's really safe to focus on things that aren't the meat cuz the hardest thing is the meat. You know, the hardest thing is to be a good host to, and this is in any business, you know? I mean it's, it's...David Shands: (35:39)The only, the only way you could be a good host is you gotta do a thousand interviews. So I told my group in Miami that one, I can only tell you my experience, but you're not really, really gonna learn podcasting until you do like 50 episodes. Like there's nothing that I can teach you on this whiteboard that you, that you can, that's really gonna help you become the most successful person. Now you, I, my objective is to get you to like be focused and just keep doing episodes consistently because you'll learn the game. You'll learn your audience. You'll learn what you need to be doing. But I can't, it's like trying to teach you how to swim on a whiteboard. You gotta get in the water and then learn the mistakes. I can't, I don't know all the mistakes that you're gonna do. So we got some people in the group where yo, I just had my first it was crazy, but, he said, man, I just had my first episode where I record the whole episode, but it wasn't recording. And we celebrate that. Congratulations. Welcome to the game.Dan Henry: (36:37)Yeah, yeah. I went to school for audio engineering and man, that is the, that like for people that work on computers, like the blue screen of death, you know? That's, the non, the, you did all this stuff. Like you had the, like in the studio, you have like the best take ever and then you didn't, you weren't recording it. Wasn't recording, you know? Or there was something unplugged and its blank, yeah, get it.David Shands: (36:59)That's why you think about most of the most, most artists like musicians, their best album is their first one for the most part.Dan Henry: (37:09)Why do you think that is?David Shands: (37:10)Because they don't know all the stuff that they're supposed to be doing. It's just raw energy and raw, and people love that.Dan Henry: (37:17)Yeah. Then it gets tainted. It's tainted by the industry that you should do this. You should do that. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense.David Shands: (37:24)Their first one, because they're just young and fresh and they're doing all the stuff they're not supposed to be doing or like speakers. They, they come on stage and they just kill it. And then, you know, people love, they love that, but then they take Toastmaster and then they take their edge away a little bit and they stop saying "um" and they stop leaning and they just, they're more structured and polished and people don't necessarily relate to that because they're not thinking about the pure passion of doing it. They're thinking about doing it right.Dan Henry: (37:52)Right. Do now, do you think that the ultimate form of being at the highest level is when you can and think about and execute doing it right. While not losing your edge and while still having that passion show through?David Shands: (38:05)Yeah. Or you do like, you do it a few thousand times and it just becomes second nature that you're doing it right. You're still just doing it. You're just doing it. But eventually, so I I'm just doing it. I'm doing it, I'm doing it. And I still like do my podcasting, but now I have like a structure cuz I just noticed, all right, I'm gonna highlight the person as a guest up front. Let's find out how big their business is, how much money they're making and then let's go all the way back to their story so that this, I can relate to the person that's watching to say, yes, this person's successful, but they used to be in your shoes and we're gonna find the journey. And then eventually we'll find out, you know, what they did and they'll start some teaching in there somewhere at some point. But I didn't learn that structure up front. If I tried to do that in the beginning, I would've failed because I'm thinking about the structure but, once you got that unconscious competence.Dan Henry: (38:58)Dude, that's heavy. That that's really heavy. A lot of people don't think about that. I mean, I go, I look back on my career. We've our primary way that we, I mean over at GetClients.Com, I have, you know, HowToThink.Com, GetClients.Com, I always have to discern which one I'm talking about, but at GetClients.Com, which is my first eight-figure business, hopefully not the last you know, we generated over 25 million primarily with one method. And that is a video which most people call a webinar, like basically a sales presentation that just plays on automatic, but has like value. It's like, it's like educational. And then it's like, Hey, you want us to help you do this? You know? And so there's so many templates for those type of sales presentations and I've done, you know, I've done many of them.Dan Henry: (39:52)I've done hundreds. And if I look back on my career and I look back on the most, the highest performing presentations, the ones that generated the most money, they were the ones where I just picked up a marker. And I just went for it. You know, and the ones that, oh, let me follow this script and all that. And don't get me wrong. You have to educate yourself on what those elements are that make people belive, and that influence people and ways to educate. But instead of trying to neatly put all those together, just having them present in your mind, because you you've been working on it, you've been doing them. And then just letting it come out in a raw performance that has been the thing that has really, really done the most. And you know, it, it's hard to convince people that, cause I just need the script. I just need the template. It's like, no, you need growth. You need you need to learn how to grow into this skill. But people, a lot of people don't want that.David Shands: (40:46)Yeah. I would say probably 95% of all viral videos aren't highly produced. It's just somebody did something.Dan Henry: (40:55)Somebody did it.David Shands: (40:55)And the world loved it.Dan Henry: (40:58)Yeah. Like Michael Jackson, we hung the baby off the, he just did it. That was like a cell phone. I'm just kidding. Yeah. Sorry. Okay. I dunno why that popped in my head, but the first image that went in. All right. So I have one more podcast question, and then I'm gonna ask you some questions a little bit deeper. So we'll do it a little more rapid fire so we we get it all in, but real quick, what is your number one trick for getting a bigger name on your show and would that trick, or that tactic apply to someone who has a new show?David Shands: (41:46)Either asking them, you know, just ask a bunch of people, or you could pay 'em or a referral. You find somebody who knows the person you ask them to get on the show. Now it does help because I have a bigger audience. So it's a little easier to get somebody to...Dan Henry: (42:06)Cause that's what they look for.David Shands: (42:07)Yeah, for sure. But I mean, it could work just, you never know you say you create a relationship with someone and you just ask them to do it. So, but watch this, let's say somebody like you're a big name. You're...Dan Henry: (42:23)I don't about that. I like to consider myself somewhat high, mediumDavid Shands: (42:29)I guess I would consider myself there. Right. But, well, I mean, you're like more people know you than they know me.Dan Henry: (42:35)I guess it depends on who you're talking about, but, well, I appreciate it.David Shands: (42:39)Well, let's say you weren't a content creator necessarily, or you never really got a chance to tell your story, but you're just, you're just popular. Right? And someone comes to you and says, yeah, I want to interview you, but let me show you this style of content that of people are creating. It's a style where maybe somebody's, you know, kind of like interviewing the person and the person can just like, just give their bars. And I'm just gonna ask you a bunch of questions and you could take some of the content and use it for your social media. The whole thing will be about you, not about me, but I'm gonna ask you a bunch of bunch of questions and you can kind of display your expertise and you know, we'll send people to your link. You might take it if you're not, if you don't have this set up of podcasting and you see all these clips on social media of people podcasting, it doesn't matter about the name it's about, you just want to. It's like me coming up to you with a red camera, like, yo let's create some content. I'll do it for free. Like, yo let's do it. It's you're just letting them create some content. It just happens to be on your podcast.Dan Henry: (43:35)Would you say that, cause this is where my mind's going. Right? Like, for instance, I don't think this show right now, like most of my, you say I'm a big name that all came from me, buying media, you know, paid ads, social media. I don't, you know, this show still is relatively in its infancy stages. So I, you, in the world of podcasting, you're a much bigger name, name the mine. So I'm not saying this, this show is like, you know, it doesn't have the traction your show has. But you know what's one thing I thought was, you know, I do have this nice studio. So if I were to make a highlight reel of a bunch of clips and stuff, it like, it like, even if this was the first episode, it looks pretty darn legit.Dan Henry: (44:15)So, like you send that to somebody. Maybe I could send that and be like, Hey, look, this is the show. And you know, that would be a good way to be like, Hey, we're serious, you know? But hopefully this show grows and I don't, I no longer have to like, be like, Hey, it's legit. I promise. Cuz you know, if they don't know my name, you know? But okay, cool. Cool. So let me ask you let, let's switch tracks here a little bit and I'm gonna ask you some different questions here. So can you share cuz you know, I believe that the game is 90% mental, almost every game, business, basketball, you know, golf, whatever. Can you share one mindset principle that has created you know, an immense impact in your personal or professional life?David Shands: (45:10)Probably that I do understand that like the things that I acquire, my external success won't grow past my ability to accomplish them and my ability is gonna be based on my skillset. So, or kind of just the way I think. I've reached a level of success where I'm at, you know, successful to me, based on the way I think. And I know that I have to get around higher thinking people to get there. So I've never made eight-figures. Right? But it's only because of the way I see things, and the way I think you see things and think differently. So there's some things that I need to know. I need to learn from you because you've done its so I just understand that my mindset is flawed and my objective is to fix that, to find out as much as I can about highly successful people ask as many questions as possible, challenge my own belief systems and continue to grow. So that would be my I just know that I don't know it all, and some people you'll see them make their first six figures and you can't tell 'em anything.Dan Henry: (46:19)Oh yeah. They're, yeah. Yeah. They're yeah. I, yeah, I know those people. I see 'em online everywhere. They're in the comment section, they write the really long comments to your three word comment.David Shands: (46:34)Absolutely. Yeah, for sure. Just knowing that I don't, there's so much more to know. AndDan Henry: (46:38)So it's exposure, it's exposing yourself to new constant new ideas and not tightening up your mind and closing it off to, to what you have found safe in your knowledge that what you know is, cuz you know, it's scary, it's scary to expose yourself to new ideas cuz then you have to admit that maybe you didn't have it all figured out. Or maybe somebody that you respected who taught you something was wrong and you really respected them. And the idea that there's a better way just scares you. And so you close it off. So you don't have to experience that. But when you expose yourself to new awareness, it just constantly levels you up. And one thing I'll say just to tack onto that is many times people are afraid to admit they were wrong or they didn't have it figured out. And if you think about it, think about science, right? Like we say, oh, well there's this many planets in the solar system or this or that. And then we develop technology and we learn more about the universe and oh no, that's a moon. And you know, or, well, no, this didn't actually happen. It's this way. Or you know, well string theory or whatever, you know, it's not actually a whatever. And so to deny that would be to deny progress.David Shands: (47:49)Dang that's good.Dan Henry: (47:49)You know what I'm saying? And so like the very concept of closing yourself off from new information for the sake of your own mental safety, is the very act of denying yourself progress.David Shands: (48:04)Yeah. And I don't believe that anybody is self made. Like there's no self-made millionaires. Like I can point to a dozen people that helped me along this journey. You know what I mean?Dan Henry: (48:16)You find me a millionaire that lived in a bubble, their whole life. That's self made.David Shands: (48:20)Exactly. Exactly. Nobody's self-made and those that believe it is gonna be really, really hard for them to grow. Oh, can't teach yourself to be more successful. I don't care. I don't care who you are. You may have like went and got the book, but the book was written by somebody who's teaching you right now. So you're not nobody's self-made nobody comes up there with all the great ideas. You might be a you know, you might be an engineer or something like that, but you have a conversation with the guy who's selling you certain cameras and you know something about a camera, but they're helping you helping guide you. Or your assistant might be showing you something about yourself and that might be the thing that helps you double your income. The thing that she showed you about yourself, say, Hey, I don't like the way you said that to me. And you talk to some other people crazy in this office too. And that gets you to go back in the lab and start to analyze yourself. You start to grow as a better leader, and then you grow your company and you say to yourself, well, I'm, self-made, you're crazy. So I there's so many people we need to learn from. Thats how to approach life.Dan Henry: (49:22)So speaking of that what's a huge lesson you learned from one of your mentors that made a profound impact on your life and business?David Shands: (49:33)It's easier to make a lot of money and a little bit of time than it is to make a little bit of money in a long period of time. First person ever told me that was Markwell Russell. Yeah. And it just changed my whole mindset. I'm like, he's like, yo, how, you know, when you worked a job, you made $30,000 a year. And I'm like, yeah, that's right. He said, that was hard wasn't it? He said, it's easier to make $30,000 in a month than it is to make $30,000 a year. I'm like, yo, no way. He said, well, for the 30,000 working at your job, you had to work the whole year. He said, yo, what if, how hard would you have to work to find 30 people to buy a thousand dollar product that is really, really worth $4,000. I'm like, that'd be a no brainer.David Shands: (50:13)Well, let's figure out what we can put together for $4,000. Let's say that process takes two months to just come up with and craft something that's worth $4,000 and you sell it for $1,000 and then you gotta find the 30 people in a month. It's easier to do that than it is to make $30,000 in a year. I said, yo, then, then somebody came along and said, yo, it's easier to make a hundred thousand dollars in a day than it is to make a hundred thousand dollars in a year. And then they start introducing this concept of a million dollars in a day. I'm like, yo, this is crazy. What's what's even wilder is, I implement the things that they teach me. Shouts out Myron and and Neo always shout on Neo cuz he's, he's made a major impact in my life.Dan Henry: (51:01)We just interviewed him yesterday.David Shands: (51:03)Oh, he's the goat.Dan Henry: (51:03)Yeah, he's good. I always love his, his, his vibrant suits.David Shands: (51:09)Right, right. Yeah. We had this we're trying to make this like one, I seen him make a million dollars from one pitch twice. Just it was art when I was looking at it. I said, yo, this guy's dope. And he helped me believe that, you know, that, that thing is possible. So this one offer long story short. We, I made about $800,000 in one pitch and I'm like, yo, this is, at first, I'm excited. So I called Neo and I'm like, yo, I got, it was like 30 something people for a $25,000 offer. And I'm like, man, I'm gonna be able to help a lot of people cause they invested in me and I'm excited. And he's like, well, what went wrong? I said, what do you mean? What went wrong? Why didn't you make the million? I'm like Neo, I did come on bro. Like what's what's going on here? And he helped, like he's helping me to stretch myself. Yo, there's so much more and he's pushing and he's pushing and he's pushing. And I have like a bunch of people that are like just pushing and pushing and pushing. But I didn't even, I didn't think that that kind of stuff is possible.Dan Henry: (52:19)Yeah. It, it blows your mind, especially when you see somebody else do it.David Shands: (52:23)Yo, you're talking about making 25 million in a year. I'm still trying to see it for myself and how that happens. But the fact that,Dan Henry: (52:30)Well, that was that wasn't a year. That was a couple years. But it still,David Shands: (52:34)Well, I mean, shoot.Dan Henry: (52:34)I delivered pizza for seven years. I'm taking it, you know? So you wanna hear a funny story about the, about a million dollar day? So I did an event and I sold a 30, yeah, $30,000 offer. There was there was 34 people that bought, but see, I had said that I would only take on 30 and if I got my math right here if I got my math right here, if you take 30 and you times it by 30000.Thats 900,000. But see, I had 34 people put down a deposit to buy. Right. And so I had said that I was only gonna take on 30. So I called my buddy Myron and I said, man, I, you know, I told him the situation and you know, with 34, that's $1,020,000.Dan Henry: (53:28)So I said, you know, I really wanted the million dollar day, but I said, I would take only 30 people. So, you know, I guess I'll have to do it next time. And he's like, what? He's like, dude, he's like, here's what you do right now, go into your student group or whatever it is. And just make a post and say, Hey would any of you care if we took on an extra four people in this offer?David Shands: (53:51)That is brilliant.Dan Henry: (53:51)I know. And I was like, I didn't even think of that. And so I went in there and I was like, would you guys mind if I took just four extra people so I can have a million dollar day? And everybody was like, it's all good. Right. And then I took it and had a million dollar day. And I was, I was like, that was the simplest most I was literally about to, and not that, you know, 900, whatever it was still a great day.Dan Henry: (54:14)But just to have that under my belt to say, I made a million bucks in a day, you know, I just wanted to have that. Yeah. You know, and I was like a little bit like, man, I should have said, I would take on 35 and he's like, no, no, no, no, no, just do this. And so that's a lesson that, you know he's, you know, he's got a lot more years on us, you know? It's just, it's just a lesson right there. You know that you need to expand your awareness and you need to realize that you don't know it all.David Shands: (54:43)You got to, you got to, so a little bit of success kills people, man, cuz you get arrogant and you think you're like, you think you're you start calling yourself the goat.Dan Henry: (54:51)Yeah. Yeah. If you have to call yourself the goat, you're not the goat. You're not the goat, you know? So let's do this. This was a great, great interview. Did do a good job? Cause now I feel like I'm under the microscope. You're yeah,David Shands: (55:02)Yeah, yeah. That's good bro. You're good.Dan Henry: (55:03)All right. All right. Well I got, I the goat here, so, you know. I'm sitting here throwing passes and Tom Brady's eating a sandwich watching me, you know? So.David Shands: (55:15)This is really good bro.Dan Henry: (55:16)But alright. So where can people find more about you?David Shands: (55:21)TheMorningMeetup.Com, awesome place to find me. Also Instagram, @sleepis4suckers with the number four S L E E P I S 4 S U C K E R S. And a The Social Proof Podcast, man.Dan Henry: (55:34)All right. Awesome.David Shands: (55:34)Please check out The Social Proof Podcast.Dan Henry: (55:35)And I would love to promote your, I love your, you know, take on podcasting. I'd love to promote your program we'll put on program or mastermind or both to, to my audience. So we'll put a link in the show notes and all that jazz. So that way, if they want to figure out more about that and if they wanna get involved, they can check out that link. So awesome, man.David Shands: (55:59)Absolutely. I would love nothing better than to and we'll give your audience a discount or something like that andDan Henry: (56:04)Okay. Sweet. Well, good then that's the, well then that's the link you want to click. So that you get that discount. We'll work that link out. Okay, cool. And then this is the part where I say that this show's sponsored by?David Shands: (56:15)Yes. Yes.Dan Henry: (56:16)Okay. So this show's sponsored by itself. No, this show it's sponsored by me. I know it's sponsored by HowToThink.Com, where you can get daily success mentoring as well as weekly business mentoring all on an app on your phone, dripped out each and every day. Little, five minute audios to keep you on track for your success and your mindset. Everybody has five minutes a day. So you go to HowToThink.Com. Check that out.David Shands: (56:42)Beautiful. Perfect.Dan Henry: (56:42)Alright, alright, alright. Alright, hey, man, thank you for coming on so much. I really appreciate it.David Shands: (56:46)Yes, sir. Pleasure.Dan Henry: (56:47)Thank you 

>>> Get Daily Success Mentoring By Becoming A Member At How To Think<<<------ Do you believe you can achieve anything you set your mind to? You might believe that your circumstances or your environment are the reason you can't achieve your goals and dreams. If you knew the first step to achieve those goals, was to simply believe it was possible for you! If you could follow in the footsteps of someone who had already achieved those goals and replicate their steps and their processes... Would you take that first step and believe that you could accomplish that goal? If you struggle to believe you can achieve your goals and dreams because of your environment or your circumstances, this is for you! In this episode, I talk with Nehemiah Davis about how he overcame the odds stacked against him when he grew up in challenging circumstances. Nehemiah shares how changing his mindset allowed him to go on to create an eight-figure company and accomplish his many goals in spite of his challenging start in life, and shares how his first step to success was simply believing that he could achieve anything! In this episode, Nehemiah and  I cover:Where The Seed Of Change Was PlantedWhy There's Another Way To Create SuccessWhat The Two Layers Of Financial Literacy AreHow To Have Success With Event Space RentalsWhat Is True SuccessWhat Happens When You Give BackHow Investing Creates And Sustains WealthWhat One Piece Of Advice Can Change Your PerspectiveAnd… So Much More! If you got value from what you heard here, please be sure to subscribe and rate this podcast! Bonus points for you if you write a review! ;)  — SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW — Subscribe to Dan’s YouTube ChannelFollow Dan on FacebookFollow Dan on InstagramFollow Dan on TwitterClick Here To Get Daily Success Mentoring By Becoming A Member At How To Think — TRANSCRIPT —  Dan Henry: (00:05)Hey everyone, welcome to How To Think today. We have Nehemiah Davis on, who is the founder of the Circle Of Greatness. He's the author of, Step Into Greatness. The recipient of the Steve Harvey's, Good Neighbor Award author of three books. And you were actually on the Steve Harvey show where you proposed to your wife and you are the proud owner of an eight-figure company, even coming from modest, if we can say childhood you know, you didn't really have advantages. You didn't have any of that. And you still were able to come in. In fact, you know, from what I'm reading here, you had kind of a challenging life. I mean, your father was in prison for 30 years. Died in prison. You were kicked out of a couple private schools. Yeah. I mean, this is not a, it's not like you had like a good start. And so I appreciate you coming on the show today.Nehemiah Davis: (01:01)Happy to be here, brother.Dan Henry: (01:02)To share with us like how you, as you put it before we started, you created something out of nothing.Nehemiah Davis: (01:07)Literally.Dan Henry: (01:08)Thanks for coming on, man.Nehemiah Davis: (01:08)Oh, happy to be here, bro. Yeah.Dan Henry: (01:11)Awesome. So, so tell me about this. You, your father was in prison for what, 30 years?Nehemiah Davis: (01:16)30. My entire, since I was two, he committed murder. Well, allegedly, he said he didn't do it, but that's what they put 'em in life, life in prison for that.Dan Henry: (01:24)Wow. Wow. And, and so growing up, I imagine that was not the healthiest, most supportive environment. You're you're raised by your mother.Nehemiah Davis: (01:33)Yeah. I was raised by my mom and grandma, but they did such a good job at raising me meaning based on what they know and what they had. They did a phenomenal job. I never felt like I missed the father because they just did a great job. Like showing me different things. Now, again, they couldn't teach me about finances. They couldn't teach me about how to own businesses. They didn't teach me anything about those things, but just giving me the proper upbringing, my mom trying her best. Yes. But for the black household, we used to being fatherless households. It's not really, it's not nothing new. We're used to, you know, I don't wanna say dysfunction cuz every family isn't dysfunction. But a lot of times we didn't grow up with father. A huge amount of households are fatherless. Right. Especially my, in all my friends. So.Dan Henry: (02:20)And, and did you grow up you grew up in Philadelphia?Nehemiah Davis: (02:22)Yeah. Yeah. West Philadelphia born and raised.Dan Henry: (02:24)Born raise. Yeah. I know the song. So was this did you grow up in like a like lower middle class? Poor?Nehemiah Davis: (02:32)I grew up in the hood, like, so I grew up literally in the hood. Drug infested neighborhood, outside, they prostitutes around a corner selling drugs. My inspiration was to be a drug dealer because when I used to go on the courts play ball, I just watched them hustle Coke all day. I'm like, man, they had cars, they had money. They got all the, you know, I thought success was clothes. You know, clothes, jewelry, cars, cuz that's what I saw. And I thought that was my life until my mom got married. She moved to a different, better neighborhood in west Philadelphia, which was a more affluent neighborhood. And at that time, so funny affluent, that house was $65,000. That, that was how much the house was.Dan Henry: (03:12)You're the Fresh Prince.Nehemiah Davis: (03:13)Yeah. Fresh Prince. So I'm living large, but where it really changed my life did a three, well, 180, I always talk about 360, mean you turn into the same spot. But I moved went to a private school where it was only 30 African Americans out of a thousand people. And I used to see everybody go to school. They were driving to school, their parents own hospitals, they own all type of stuff. So my favorite quote, "Once your mind expands into a new concept, or idea it's hard to go back to it's original way thinking." So I saw these rich kids. I'm like, who said that? Oliver Wendell Holmes. So I saw these...Dan Henry: (03:47)Okay. That's a great quote.Nehemiah Davis: (03:47)Yeah. I love that quote. I saw these rich kids and like, yo, I can have that lifestyle. Although I was still being the knucklehead in that moment in ninth grade, a seed was planted that I could actually become more. That was the first year of my life where I was like, wait, it's a different, it's a total different world than the one I've been living in up to this point.Dan Henry: (04:09)Wow. So now you, you were working at a airport private airport at one point. And I...Nehemiah Davis: (04:15)My last job.Dan Henry: (04:16)So you, that's your last job?Nehemiah Davis: (04:17)My very last job. My 10th job.Dan Henry: (04:19)So you saw like the private planes and the millionaires and probably even the billionaires coming in and out. How did that affect you?Nehemiah Davis: (04:26)Bro, that was phase two. I had two turning points. Number one, being able to go to that school and number two, working at the private airport. Mind you, I had nine jobs that I got fired from. That was my 10th and final job. Every single day I would see millionaires and billionaires every day. I've been on Trump's plane. I got on this dudes plane, he got a 200 passenger plane converted to like a house. It's like a 737. Get on the plane, pilot, take your shoes off. Walking around white carpet, everywhere. Gold, everywhere. Gold sinks, gold toilets. Like this is a aircraft, TVs. I've been on the owner or the Cowboys plane. Bill Gates got off a plane, Oprah. I've seen it all. And I was like, I was the poop boy. I would go on the planes and remove the mess off of the planes. Like that was my job. But what it did was it showed me like, Nehemiah, you now could be a millionaire. You now could fly a private, like I didn't know that world exists. You and I talk sometimes about private jets and stuff, like.Dan Henry: (05:23)Yeah, yeah. You fly private a lot now.Nehemiah Davis: (05:24)I fly private all the time. Not all the time, but occasionally. So the funny thing is I told my boss, bro, I'm going to fly in this job when I get fired. I mean, I'm going to fly in this job someday. Took me nine years to do it, but eventually, I started flying out of that place that I got fired from all the time. But it started with that idea. I had a seed planted and I've just been a full time entrepreneur the last 14 years. I just find a way to make it work every time.Dan Henry: (05:52)Dude. That's awesome. That's so, so let me ask you this. Like there may be somebody listening to this right now who, you know, maybe they're not, maybe they don't live in the, in the slums, right? Maybe, maybe they're not. Or maybe they do, but maybe they're like middle class, lower middle class. They're, but they're just not happy with where they're at wherever they are in the spectrum. They're just not happy with where they're at and thought of, you know, flying on a private jet, I mean, I've, you know, we've talked before. You're always, I mean, you say you don't fly on private a lot, but dude, every time I talk to you're like I'm on a jet, you know? And so like the thought of building a business or getting to the point where you could just do stuff like that. I mean, you got, you got what? Like you got a blue Lamborghini, right?Nehemiah Davis: (06:36)I got, I got a couple. I got a Lamborghini truck and a car black, both black.Dan Henry: (06:42)I got over the Lamborghini thing personally.Nehemiah Davis: (06:44)I know you did. You had it years ago.Dan Henry: (06:46)I know. I was like, this is,Nehemiah Davis: (06:47)I enjoy cars.Dan Henry: (06:48)But, whatever. But, but the point is, the point is that to go from where you were, where you literally had prostitutes dealing drugs outside of your door to flying private, whenever you want with your wife and your kid, like what would you tell somebody who is sitting here right now hearing this who is in that position? Or maybe they're just like lower middle class or whatever. And they work at fricking McDonald's or whatever it is. What would you tell that person about believing that that is possible?Nehemiah Davis: (07:18)First, I'm gonna tell 'em there's another way, like the thing is you need to find somebody that went before you. When I saw you get a 10X award, I'm like, I can get one. I seen somebody that you also didn't come from. You didn't come from, I don't believe you came from riches. I don't know.Dan Henry: (07:34)No, I, I mean lower, lower, lower middle class.Nehemiah Davis: (07:37)Right. But you self made likeDan Henry: (07:39)Delivered pizza for seven years, man. Like that wasn't like a high school thing. That was seven years of my life. That was a chunk.Nehemiah Davis: (07:46)Right. And I'm sure you probably saw something that made a change. So for me, I'm telling people go online, find somebody. Google successful from my city. Like find somebody who's in that was once in your predicament. And if you see that they can do it now, you know, you know, you know, it's possible. I know it sounds a little cliche, but for me I find somebody who did what I did before and I find out how they did it. And I go see if I could replicate it or create some sort of way to do the exact same thing. So I would say, stay encouraged. Your, your, I always tell people your current situation, not your final destination, where you are, is not where you'll always be. You gotta make up in your mind that success should be your only option. You gotta find another way to do it outside of what you've been doing.Nehemiah Davis: (08:30)Cause what you've been doing have gotten you thus far. So start exploring other options. Investing, you know, crypto, we sitting here talking about, you know, crypto game. It's just so many new ways to make money. My biggest thing, Dan, I always ask I'm like, what if I would've gotten into crypto five years? Like start finding out what is that next thing? And I don't know what that is right now. I know we in the NFT space, we in the crypto gaming, but find out what that thing is and learn as much as you can and apply that information. And you can put yourself in a better position in a year or two.Dan Henry: (09:02)So if I'm hearing this right, I, and I was gonna repeat it back to you. I'd say that the first step is to actually believe it's possible. And maybe you do that by finding somebody maybe even geographically near you or, or just near you in terms of where you're at in the journey, who actually did make it so that you actually have the belief it can happen. Cuz if you don't have the belief that it can happen, you're not gonna go out and learn the things you need to do. You're not gonna go out and spend hours researching, reading books, you listening to whatever podcast you're not gonna do that. Like, you're gonna go out and you're gonna have fun, you're gonna hang out with your friends. You're gonna go play whatever. Like for me, when I was younger I played a lot of pool.Dan Henry: (09:40)So I'd go out for hours and I'd play pool just because that was taking up my time. But I could have been reading books. I could have been doing all that. And then when, eventually when I realized it was actually possible and it was a real thing that was, that was reachable that's what motivated me to go out and actually read the books and actually that, and then, you know, if you were to ask me when I was on my seventh year of delivering pizza, when I was, you know, putting up clocking in and I smelled like grease.Nehemiah Davis: (10:06)I didn't know it was seven years, like I kind of thought that was just a part of...Dan Henry: (10:11)Nah, dude. That was like my career dude.Nehemiah Davis: (10:13)That's crazy.Dan Henry: (10:13)I was like, one day I'll be like a manager of this store.Nehemiah Davis: (10:15)What, what did you see? That was like, what was that thing for you?Dan Henry: (10:21)I, you know, you would think that I'd be able to come up with some sound bite. That, oh, it was this moment, but it was honestly a collection of moments. Throughout my life, that one day they all came glued together at once. I remember one time. So, so when I actually got outta pizza, I started doing my own thing. I was actually a Carney for a while. I would travel with carnivals and I would do like airbrush tattoos for kids. And I had Cotton Candy and all this. And I, one time was at this family's I got hired to do a private birthday party at this very wealthy family's home. And I'm, I'm sitting there and I'm setting up my little cart with the airbrush tattoos and all my stencils for the kids, you know, because they want the different tattoos and I'm looking around and this was a child's birthday party.Dan Henry: (11:09)When I grew up, if you had a child's birthday party for like a 10 year old, maybe, maybe you hired a clown. But you know, some parents brought over some dishes that was it. They had literally this catering and entertainment company come in and set up all this stuff. They had like servants coming in and out. It was like insane. You know? And I was like, this is just a kid's birthday party. Like what are y'all doing? It's not like we didn't, he didn't graduate Harvard and be the first man in on the fricking Mars and stuff, you know? So I'm sitting there and I'm watching this and one of the the parents come up to me and they're like, Hey, do you have everything you need? And all this. And I'm looking around at all these nice things. And I'm like, yeah, no, I really do.Dan Henry: (11:53)I said, you know, you have a great home and this is a, I've never, and this was the first time I'd ever, you gotta understand. This is the first time I've ever been in a rich person's home ever.Nehemiah Davis: (12:01)It expanded your mind.Dan Henry: (12:02)Yeah. Yeah. Like, so like up until that point, I only seen it on TV. Oh, there's rich people. It was almost like this thing. Like you see space, you see the moon. And you're like, I know that the exist cause I see it on TV, I can see it outside, but I never been on the moon. And if you actually stood on the moon, you'd be like, holy crap. There really is a moon here. Like I feel like this is like, like a new level of awareness, you know? So when I, when that first time I was in a rich person's home, it made me think like this, that was like the first step.Dan Henry: (12:32)It made me think like, this is possible for somebody it's not just something I see in the movies. And so I just got really inspired and I looked at their bookshelf and I noticed that their bookshelf had a bunch of books. And as I did other parties, and as I like got into other situations, I noticed like all the same books. I just noticed patterns. They, people that were wealthy and successful, they talked a certain way. They asked certain questions. They lived a certain and I just started...Nehemiah Davis: (13:01)What's one of the books you remember on the shelves?Dan Henry: (13:03)There was books like, you know, Made In America by Sam Walton,Nehemiah Davis: (13:07)Walton, yeah. That's my favorite. Not my favorite, but a top one.Dan Henry: (13:10)There was that one, there was you know, Principles by Ray Dalio. There was just, and at the time I honestly would just look at the cover. And I'd recognize, yeah, I'd recognize the cover. And I just thought to myself, well, if there's a pattern to success and I'm seeing the pattern, maybe I don't fully understand the pattern, but if I go figure it out and I can get into that pattern, maybe I can be more successful. So that was, that was the first step for me to just try. Cause most people just don't even try. They're like, oh, you know, rich people. But if you actually try, you know, if you you'd be surprised, if you can pick up a book and learn more in one book by that millionaire, billionaire that you would in your entire high school, or sometimes even college education. And that's, that's a hard thing to say, cuz we're what we like to defend the education system in America. But in reality it kind of sucks. I mean, it doesn't teach you to be rich because if everybody was dude, if everybody was rich, the economy would collapse. So why would our system of education teach you to be rich? Why would it teach you to be successful? It wouldn't, it teaches you to fall in line.Nehemiah Davis: (14:20)Yeah. Crazy.Nehemiah Davis: (14:21)You know, it's so funny. I was having a conversation with somebody other I'm like there's two layers of financial literacy. You got the one layer of learning about credit learning about now it's a whole nother layer. You gotta learn about crypto NFTs, crypto. It's like a whole nother. It is like soon as you get that, it's time to learn. Like now I'm learning the hour, a day on crypto NFTs. I'm trying to study cuz I don't want to get left. And that's what happens is we get left cuz we're never told in schools, the entire lifespan of schools, we still don't know how to buy a house. We don't know what the five factors of a credit score. It don't make financial.Dan Henry: (14:56)Don't even know how to change, to fill up your air pressure tire. Like, you know? I mean they don't teach you nothing. They don't teach you how to balance your checkbook. They don't teach you what a PNL is.Nehemiah Davis: (15:05)We know Christopher Columbus though. We know we know a lot of things.Dan Henry: (15:08)Yeah, yeah. Yeah. They teach you things and they're like, they teach you the story book. I mean the whole Christopher Columbus thing, like we could go on about that and like nobody mentions, you know, the fact that there were a lot of people here before them, you know, but.Nehemiah Davis: (15:25)Story book stuff,Dan Henry: (15:25)Story book stuff, you know, feel good. It's like, that's like Dr. Suess. You know, and again, if you think about it, it's, you're in marketing, I'm in marketing, it's all marketing. I mean, if you create a culture where you make parents feel bad for not challenging the education system, then they feel bad. Then they send their kids to school and they create these little mindless drones that just sort of go with whatever the people who are influencing the educat system deemed. Right. Did I tell you about there's this place in St. Pete called the, the Library?Nehemiah Davis: (15:59)No.Dan Henry: (15:59)So they have these books that were printed in like 1905 and stuff like not reprints, like original prints. If you pick up those books and you read them and you read the same stories about history, civil war, the Wall Street crash, like all the things throughout history and you read those original books, you will find that the language, the tone and what actually happened is very, very different than what people say. And what people tell you today, because they want you to get angry about things that never happened or really weren't the way they were. And again, it's marketing, like, you know, the whole thing is meant to get you in the system. And when you're an entrepreneur, you're the type of person, like I believe a successful mindset is the most rebellious mindset. You know what I mean? Like you cannot be successful without being a rebel because if you conform, you are falling in line with the masses and the masses are not, are not built for success.Nehemiah Davis: (17:03)Yeah. You know, Walt Disney, his quote is observe what the masses do and do the opposite.Dan Henry: (17:09)Yeah. I mean, here you go. You know, I mean, that's so that's why for me, I thought like, what if we just took all the people who were the best mentors in the world. And we started studying their actual advice and put their actual advice into practice. And that's how I started trying to like live my life. Like, well, these people already figured out. So instead of just reading the quotes by these people, let me like dive into this and really think about it and really apply it. That's like, that's one of the reasons I started how to think, like, imagine like if you had all those mentors, but you could like break down what they meant by that and how to apply it. And that's, again, one of the reasons we started that app, but you know, I just, I think that a lot of people have to get their mind right before they get their checkbook right.Nehemiah Davis: (17:58)But here's the thing, you know, the problem though, Dan, we talk about mindset and the world we in and it's fluff. Like soon as you start talking about mind, get to the topic, I'm like, let me ask you a question, if you started that business and you've been stopping and starting, you think that's a mindset problem or a skillset problem? It's a mindset problem. So we never build a foundation right, it doesn't matter what business you start. You're never gonna be successful cuz you don't even have a determined mind. You don't even have a committed mind. So like I love the topic of mindset, but it's not sexy or cool, but this is, a huge amount of success is your mind, it's your mentality on making your mind up on, I'm gonna make this thing work.Dan Henry: (18:39)Well, you know, I think the easiest way to find out if somebody needs mindset work, is if they say they don't need mindset work. That means you need the most of anyone. I mean, think about all the greats. Think of about Tom Brady. Yeah. Like, who who's the greatest football, football quarterback, right?Nehemiah Davis: (18:53)Tom Brady,Dan Henry: (18:54)Probably Tom Brady. At this point there's no argument, you know? Who's the greatest golfer?Nehemiah Davis: (18:58)Tiger Woods.Dan Henry: (18:58)Okay. Who's the greatest basketball player?Nehemiah Davis: (19:01)They will argue between MJ and LeBron.Dan Henry: (19:03)Okay. Who's the, the the greatest female entrepreneur?Nehemiah Davis: (19:08)I don't know that.Dan Henry: (19:09)Probably OprahNehemiah Davis: (19:10)Yeah. She's sharp.Dan Henry: (19:11)But we can go on and on with this. Go look up every single time someone asks any of those people, what the secret to success is, they all say the same thing. They all say one phrase, literally word for word, they say the game is 90% mental. Right? Basketball's 90% mental. Golf, 90% mental. So when you say, oh, mindset's BS, let's just get to the topic. You're basically saying that you're taking all the people that have achieved the most in this world. At the top of every game, you take all the games you put 'em together in this arena, Hey, football business, this, and you're saying all the top people, the greatest of all time at every single solitary game all says the same and you know, better. That's it's it's crap. You know.Nehemiah Davis: (19:55)That's facts.Dan Henry: (19:56)So let me ask you this. Let's talk a little bit about cuz we, we talked about that you have an eight-figure business. And you know, you teach people how to start a business, in the thing that you are an expert in. And that is this, this, and I wanna hear more about this, this events based rental thing. Like let's dive into this, like, so, and we've talked about this before. Let me see if I have the gist right. All right? So you go and you rent a, like a retail space, right, or some sort of like commercial space. And instead of putting a business in there, I mean, you are putting a business in there, but instead of like putting your own business in there, you make it look nice and you create an event space. And then you have people rent it out for events, weddings, maybe book signings,Nehemiah Davis: (20:42)Book signings, seminars, workshops, repasses the list goes. Anything you can think of event wise, you do at your location.Dan Henry: (20:50)So a lot of people have taken the approach to real estate to up their game by instead of saying, let me buy this property and rent it out to at a year lease. They've upped it to let me buy this property and rent it out nightly on like Airbnb or something and go from this much revenue, this much profit to this much with the same property. Meaning you can, you can pay cuz you know the market's going up. And they always say like the person in, in our world, in business, they say the person who can pay the most for a customer wins. So it's almost like the person that can pay the most for a property wins. Because they're upping the game on how they make money from it. Would you say this is sort of similar, but in the world of commercial where you're, you're renting a space. And instead of putting an ice cream shop in there and making a little bit of money, you're doing an event and you're making a lot more money, would you say it's it's similar?Nehemiah Davis: (21:42)Yeah, I would say it's similar. And it's just, I mean, think about the ice cream shop. Well, you probably can make good money, but you need heavy staff. You're working there 12, 13 hours a day. How we do, we do the find, fund, automate. So when you find your space, your very next thing of course is marketing. Get it all set up. And we do something called a MVP process, which is Minimal Vehicle Product. You literally need a open space. Like just a we in your studio. You don't need anything else in here to have event space, you got a kitchenet, we got music, that's all you need. Right. And literally you're renting this location right here out for four hours for $700. You're going to do that on Friday. You're going do that twice on Saturday and you're going to do it twice on Sunday, right?Nehemiah Davis: (22:29)So the 7, 14, 20 that's 3,500 in the weekend, you do that over four weeks. What's that 30, thats $14,000 that you could potentially make on something that costs you three to 4,000 a month. All in that's paying your one employee. That's paying your one VA. Versus just hypothetically say you run an ice cream shop. You may make 15, 20,000 in a month, but at 20% margin. So you may walk away with a couple thousand verse five to $10,000 extra. So the idea is that you run this over and over again. One of my strategies that I teach my students is we get a church in there on Sundays that take our dead space. So churches right now, they don't want, they don't wanna just go open up a huge church. They one, don't have the capital. It just don't make financial sense right now, especially for them to use their location for Wednesday Bible study and the Sunday event.Nehemiah Davis: (23:22)So what they're doing is they're looking to go in spaces and just rent. So what we do, we charge churches a thousand to $1,500 just to use our space on Sundays. What are you doing Sunday morning from nine to 12 anyway, sleeping. You're not doing anything. So we are charging churches our dead time. So you're getting a thousand dollars from them. So they're paying 30 to 50% of your overhead. And then we had one other event, which is a small business event where we get 10 different, small business owners in there, like a popup shop. They all put a table in there with their merchandise on it. They all pay a hundred to 150. So you're making a thousand to 1500 once a month from them. And now you have two events that pay your entire overhead and everybody else getting your location, using the lockbox, they set up their own event and they break their own event down. And it is almost automated outside of you having the cleaning business, having the cleaner, then it is some people still like, I really wanna be hands on, but we just let go of the hands on approach.Dan Henry: (24:21)So do you mind if I like kind of like dive into this a little bit, maybe even try to poke some holes and you tell me. You know, cuz I really wanna understand it. You know, I'm a curious guy. So let's just say, I'm gonna give you scenario, right? Let's say I go and I rent a space here in downtown St. Petersburg. Or let's say I buy a commercial building. Because one thing I want to note is let's say, let's say you're already doing well and you need the tax deduction. You need that, that depreciation real estate. You can buy a piece of real estate, get that depreciation again, not tax advice, but I've heard people do this. But you get the depreciation and you know, instead of just owning it and renting it to a, a cuz like for instance, as an investor, my thing is if I buy a property and I want the passive income and I want the depreciation for tax purposes, I don't want another business.Dan Henry: (25:16)Right. So like I've had I've looked for some properties before where I find a hotel and they're like, oh, this hotel. I'm like, yeah, but I don't wanna manage a hotel. I don't want another business. So my question to you is, and I imagine people who don't even need a tax deduction, they just, they want passive income. They still have this question. How is this different than running a business? I know it's running a business, but how do you approach this in a way where cuz like where it's as passive as possible because I imagine that you still have to market it. You still have somebody meet them there. You still have somebody collect payment, make sure it's cleaned up. Like there's some things, it's obviously way less than owning an actual business where you sell a product,way less. I get that. But at what, like where are we at in the passive approach here and what makes it as passive as possible?Nehemiah Davis: (26:06)Yeah. It's funny. My buddy Paci says, what'd he say? The road to passive is not passive. So you do have to do some work in the front end. So I'm telling people like when you get started, you're gonna work that business for three to four months yourself. But what we do, we have one virtual assistant. They do the advertising, they can run ads on Google. They do all the bookings. They do all the contracts. They take all the phone calls, somebody in Philippines, they take all the phone calls. They do everything.Dan Henry: (26:36)Can I ask you a hard question? Probably a question that's gonna make me unpopular in this, in this world that we have now where everybody's hypersensitive about everything. Let's, I'm just gonna be real with you. I've hired VAs before in the Philippines and whatnot. And sometimes for certain jobs they work out. But a lot of times they don't and it's simply because, and I don't care. I don't care to offend anybody. They just don't speak the language nor the culture. I remember one time I had a VA who was doing some bookkeeping work and they asked, you know, what is this Starbucks charge? What is that? They didn't know what Starbucks was. So like, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Dude, if I lived in another country, if I were to go to like Turkey or something and I saw some stuff I had no idea what it was.Dan Henry: (27:20)I'm not expected to know what it is. So my, you on this, not to like derail your explanation, but like, like I'm gonna ask the hard question. Like how do you trust someone who doesn't know our culture, meaning American, you know, event, like, cuz it's an event space, right? Like there's certain type of events that we have here that maybe other, other cultures aren't used to, or it's different. Somebody who English is not a first language. They don't really know our culture as well as we do. And they're dealing with people who and you know, Americans. We, like to, we like people that speak English. We like, and not because we're, maybe some people are prejudice, but more, just the ease of doing business. You know, and understanding. And so like how do you, how do you manage that? Where they don't mess up your business? Because if you think about it, if you call two different companies and one company is, has somebody who cannot communicate as well as the other and the other one's like, Hey, how you doing? Hey, you know, how is, well, what a Buccs game? You know? Like how do you manage the difference between that? Where that doesn't become an issue with your business, where it still is executed and there's still, the customer still feels valued. Like you didn't just sub somebody out, you know?Nehemiah Davis: (28:32)So one of the things is one. You want to get somebody and again, your, your assistant don't gotta be from Philippines. You can use stateside. You could use Costa Rica.Dan Henry: (28:40)Yeah. Is it really just finding a good one? Like that's...Nehemiah Davis: (28:44)I was gonna say one, you need to get, 'em a SOP. They need to have a SOP.Dan Henry: (28:47)Standard operating procedure.Nehemiah Davis: (28:48)They need to do some trainings. They need to be listening to your calls and then practicing on their calls. And ideally you also wanna find somebody that got good English. So I don't hire a virtual assistant. Like one of my main virtual assistant I'm talking about, she gets paid bro. $3,000 a month like she's my, my people.Dan Henry: (29:07)Yeah. Cause most people, when they think of VAs, they think of like $5 an hour, $3 an hour.Nehemiah Davis: (29:11)Oh, for sure. Yeah. That, that's what it really is. You know? But you're still paying them fair because based on for them to eat for a month, one of my team members said it's like $50. They just get a bag of rice or something. But mine, she just bought a car bro. Added to her house. She's making 40,000 a year.Dan Henry: (29:29)So what do you pay these VAs?Nehemiah Davis: (29:30)So generally...Dan Henry: (29:32)Per hour, like, is it like a five, $6 number?Nehemiah Davis: (29:35)Yeah. Yeah. SoDan Henry: (29:35)Really? Okay.Nehemiah Davis: (29:36)It depend, I mean, it goes from, you go online jobs to that PA it goes from $2 an hour to $20. It depends on their skillset and what they want. ButDan Henry: (29:45)I'm saying for a good one that can communicate, they can speak good English,Nehemiah Davis: (29:48)Like, like $5 an hour. I mean, it could, it is. People do it for less.Dan Henry: (29:54)Geez. You can't even get somebody to flip burgers for $5 an hour.Nehemiah Davis: (29:57)But, but you know why, here's the thing about the reason why personally like VA and I hope, I hope I can't get in trouble for saying this, but I'm just saying the reason why youDan Henry: (30:08)Don't even worry about it, people are gonna be offended. They're gonna find a way to be offended. Just say what you gotta say.Nehemiah Davis: (30:12)But, the reason why I have a team of VAs and Philippines, I got a team in America. I got a, you know, we equal opportunity employer, right? Yeah. But bro, they work diligent. They don't make excuses. Like they just do work, bro. Like I, my team, bro, I could tell you my main VA who gets three grand a month and the last five years working with me I've I can count on one hand how many excuses she gave me. And how many times she called out in the last five years, bro. She just find a way. In America, the excuses, they got options.Dan Henry: (30:48)That's the thing though. That's a hard pill for American workers to swallow. Because if you think about like, I've done that too. I've worked I've I've especially like it's software developers. Like a Ukrainian software developer. If they mess something up, they'll fix it and they won't charge you. An American will be like, oh well, you know, I gotta go here. I'm gonna have to charge you to fix it. But you know, I'm watching the football game. Like, I mean, that's the reality of it. You know?Nehemiah Davis: (31:16)That's why really enjoy the team that have that. Cuz they don't make excuses bro. And they willing to of figure now at any employee that you, you know, that no matter what, when you bring on, they need training, so you train them up over that month or two, but they take full responsibility. Like I barely talk to my VA who runs the event space stuff. Like she handles it, I got a manager talks to them and I'm out.Dan Henry: (31:39)Now I want, we need to preface this saying, this is like it on both ends. This is the majority of cases or, like the lion share. Not, not everybody cuz you know, you're gonna, I have to.Nehemiah Davis: (31:50)But you, you'll find bad ones too.Dan Henry: (31:52)Yeah. I mean I have people that work for me, both I've I've hired VAs that were terrible and I've hired people here regular Americans that were the best people ever. You know, but we do live in, we're starting to live in more of a global world now where, you know, it's, you know, you're getting a lot more people from the entire world working together, which I think is a great thing. You know, I'm just pointing out like if I was an entrepreneur which I am, but I'm saying if I was listening to this an entrepreneur, even though I might be too scared to say it, people are all like, you know, butt hurt about everything these days, that's still what I'd be thinking. So I'd like, I just wanted to ask that to make sure that I covered those people who were too scared to actually ask it.Nehemiah Davis: (32:34)Yeah. No, no. I think man, and here's the other cool thing. When you are providing work for people outside you finding, helping them feed their family.Dan Henry: (32:44)Yeah. That's true.Nehemiah Davis: (32:45)It's another good life. And you're, you're what, what we get, I wanna make clear. Sometimes you're paying a fair wage based on their economy as well. So if you are giving some, I know VAs that get $2 an hour, I don't pay any back, but I know some that get $8 an hour.Dan Henry: (33:00)Like I've paid some at $20 an hour.Nehemiah Davis: (33:02)That's what I'm saying. So they're eating well for their economy when their living costs may be a thousand dollars a month for everything. And if they're making four or 5,000Dan Henry: (33:12)And they, and in many cases, not all cases, but they work harder. Okay. Well I don't wanna keep jamming on that. So, you get the VA, but, but I understand that for basic marketing, understand that for talking to people. Taking phone calls I get that. But there's there's who, who somebody's gotta meet them there. Somebody's gotta clean the place.Nehemiah Davis: (33:27)Yeah. So, so one initially when you're starting, that's you. Meaning you, that is you cuz you gotta know how this business is ran, but ideally you get a manager or event person in place for anywhere from $10 to $20 an hour. And this one individual they're going to, ideally, I tell people to find somebody anywhere from 18 to 21. Just getting outta school, could work part-time, someone who looking to make extra money on weekends.Dan Henry: (33:54)Maybe they don't have to take care of a household.Nehemiah Davis: (33:56)Don't gotta take care of a household. But you know, paying a 'em upwards to 20, $25, you know, you know, you can make something happen with that. You know, I'm not telling you, you getting rich, but.Dan Henry: (34:07)So, you got a VA, a VA, you got a person that meets them there that actually handlesNehemiah Davis: (34:11)That one person you could get them to do multiple things. So that one person acts as the manager or a person who's running it. They're meeting the clients there. That same person also doing onsite contracts with a person they're doing open houses. So what we do the same individual who work our open houses also works our events. So open houses are just say Tuesday and Thursdays from six to eight, you are just there. You can come through, check out the location versus me. Dan, can you meet me at the spot right now for your appointment? And then you don't show up. Mm we do Tuesday and Thursdays. You can come here and meet us. We're there from 6:00 to 8:00 PM.Dan Henry: (34:46)Why don't you just hire somebody to, if they're gonna be there eight hours a day, like a full-time. Why don't you just have them do everything, why do you need a VA?Nehemiah Davis: (34:53)That's what I'm saying, but they're not there eight hours a day. They're like 15 hours a week because they're oh, okay. We're not don't you're generally not doing a lot Monday through Friday. Oh, I see. It's really a weekend gig essentially. So Tuesdays and Thursdays are open house. You still can have events on Thursday, but Friday that same individual may be setting. That same individual they're helping break down an event. They're like the transition person. And for the next event, they're cleaning up. They're they're sweeping, they're mopping and they're getting it right.Dan Henry: (35:26)What level do you have to actually like, is it like, is it's more self serve or like what level do you have to get involved?Nehemiah Davis: (35:33)Bro, it's self-serve bro. Cause in our contracts, what it used to be, I was setting you up. I was breaking you down. The contract says you set up the event tables are in that closet. Chairs are in this closet. You gotta return in based on the contract, you must return the venue back the same way we gave to you. So guess what the employee gotta do and just go do a light sweep and a mop wipe off walls, restock the bathroom, 30 to 45 minute transition. Next event. Do that same thing again. Once or twice a month, have a cleaning company, come do a clean, a deep clean for a few hundred bucks. But you are basically doing that yourself. So it's really a three person team or two max. So you got your VA, you got that onsite person. And if they had a manager, my mom is in Philly. So she happens to be the manager, but we have other people that work the location.Dan Henry: (36:24)So, so let me just ask this. I'm just, I'm running through, you know, I'm an entrepreneur, so I'm running through all the possible scenarios in my head. So let me just, let me ask this. So you probably aren't doing things like weddings.Nehemiah Davis: (36:40)Yeah. I'm not doing weddings. No, we can do weddings.Dan Henry: (36:43)These are like niche sort of...Nehemiah Davis: (36:45)Niche. Baby showers in and out. Book signings, in and out. Seminars, in and out. Popup shops, in and out. If you're doing a wedding, remember they have an event planner. You could do this two ways where you can provide all of that. I just do the, I do the hands off way. I don't, we not your event planner. We notDan Henry: (37:02)Do you stick with one specific? Cuz I would imagine that you would stick with one like almost assembly line type of event so that everything is the same because you may need different supplies or tables or what not for different types of events. So do you like, okay, so when you pick a space, you might say, this space is for X meaning book signings, or this space is for seminars and you just like, so like let's say it's for seminars. You could provide a very basic PA leave it set up.Nehemiah Davis: (37:29)That's it. That's what you provide anyway, I teach you that. So you get a surround sound system. You get a projector, your MVP package includes surround sound system, a projector, a mic, right? A TV, hang on a wall, your chairs, that's it. Same setup. We set the 50 chairs up. You can go ahead and look at the screen. The person could talk up front. Baby shower, we line two tables down the center, last supper style. But ideally they set it up however they want because that's in the contract. So we don't even got, we used to do that ourself. We removed ourself, you set it up yourself, you break it down yourself. I want to do less work and make more money.Dan Henry: (38:09)Got it. So, this is, this is great stuff. So, for instance, for me, like, let's say I moved out of my rental here in, cause I'm in downtown, we're in the nicest building in down. And let's say I bought a place that I could do the same setup, but it was like also like a seminar room and I rented it out and I used it when I needed to use it. Like, I don't know if like it would be, I probably wouldn't get involved in something like, oh, come record your podcast or whatever. That's too. That's too much of a business. But like, you know, let's say it was just seminar. Right? how important, cause I'm in the thick of downtown. Right. If I were to buy something here, dude, it would be insanely expensive, rental even. I mean, this is, this small teeny space here is like six grand a month. Wow. Yeah. I mean I'm in downtown, you know.Nehemiah Davis: (38:58)But I recommend you go downtown.Dan Henry: (38:59)Right. But that's what I'm asking, like how important is location in this? And, and does it matter with the type of events you're doing? I imagine it wouldn't matter with like baby showers. But for seminars, like I would think it would have to be near Airports.Nehemiah Davis: (39:13)Seminars are, well, we're running micro event spaces. I'm not telling you to go get..Dan Henry: (39:20)Oh, I like that micro event spaces.Nehemiah Davis: (39:21)Yeah. You're not going to get the Wyndham. We looking for locations that are thousand to 3000 square feet that could put 50 to a hundred people in there. Cause that's on average how many people, we not doing a ClickFunnels conference. You need, you know, you need. We talking about a million dollar production. We talking about event a similar, a small like we run our mastermind, super small niche, 50 people in a room, set up tables and chairs, mic, run it. Like, it's more, it is more simple. If you any other way, now you talking about a production, you talking about...Dan Henry: (39:54)What's the most profitable type event that you could run with this method if you had to choose?Nehemiah Davis: (39:59)I mean, I like, I mean our number one event is a baby shower. So that's like our number. Yeah. People, well, one, you know, people having babies left and right. So that's our number one event.Dan Henry: (40:09)And now is that now, let me, I'm just gonna I'm on a fire em at you. So, so I would imagine that the baby shower thing is volume you. Cause I can't imagine dude, you can go to it's cheap to have a baby shower, right? Like my sister had a baby shower. She did it at a community center. It costs almost nothing. So like my question to you is for something like that, what are they paying for that? And is that a volume play?Nehemiah Davis: (40:32)Yeah. So for a baby shower there for my size is all based on your space. Base is 700 to a thousand. That's how much we rent the location.Dan Henry: (40:40)For baby shower?Nehemiah Davis: (40:41)Yeah. Seven...Dan Henry: (40:42)Per day?Nehemiah Davis: (40:42)Yeah. One, no six hours, four hour event, time, hour set up hour breakdown.Dan Henry: (40:46)Got it. Okay.Nehemiah Davis: (40:47)So that's base. That's what we're getting paid. My strategy is to do one event on Friday two on Saturday, two on Sunday. So we are running it like a machine. Twelve to four is one event. We got another event, seven to eleven.Dan Henry: (40:58)So that's 20 events a month?Nehemiah Davis: (41:00)20 events a month.Dan Henry: (41:01)And that's a thousand dollars per baby shower?Nehemiah Davis: (41:02)Thousand dollars. 700 to, and that's that's if you run it, like I'm running it. We ain't talking about what if you are providing all the decorations for them, but now that's when we go into a business.Dan Henry: (41:13)Yeah. Got it.Nehemiah Davis: (41:14)I don't want to go in the, I want to just give you my location. You go set it up, you break it down and I'm just making money and you're using the space.Dan Henry: (41:23)I'm gonna bust out my calculator.Nehemiah Davis: (41:24)Yeah. You good.Dan Henry: (41:25)So if you were to doNehemiah Davis: (41:25)Dans really might, he might go do this.Dan Henry: (41:28)Well, you know me, man. But see, I gotta have..Nehemiah Davis: (41:31)How about you stay focused?Dan Henry: (41:31)Brandon is in the back right now going no. He's like, don't do it. Are you sweating back there? Brandon?Brandon: (41:41)No, this is actually interesting for like a, I I was wondering like for a gym space, you know?Dan Henry: (41:46)Uh oh, now, I don't have anybody to discourage me now. Now we got problems.Nehemiah Davis: (41:50)Yeah.Dan Henry: (41:50)Alright. So, hold on. So, let's say I get this space, right? Cause my thing is, I don't even, I'm gonna be honest with you for me personally, for most people listening, they probably care about the income for me. I'm just like, I need to buy something. I need depreciation and I don't want it to cost me money and if it can be lucrative. Great. So that's where my mind's at.Nehemiah Davis: (42:06)So I recommend for you bro, I would be doing a commercial building. All right. Triplex, commercial downstairs, or a 10 unit. I know you had a big unit, like a 10 unit or you had something I saw you put on the internet a couple years ago, but got commercial downstairs. Instead of you renting the commercial downstairs out to another entity, you run the event space play.Dan Henry: (42:28)See, I thought about.Nehemiah Davis: (42:29)That's what I would do.Dan Henry: (42:30)I, maybe this would be stupid, but cuz I love where I live. I love downtown. I was thinking like, what if like, like you ever seen these warehouses, they're and they're in warehouse districts. But they can get converted to like all kinds of stuff.Nehemiah Davis: (42:44)20, 30 different suites essentially. Yeah. You can do that too.Dan Henry: (42:47)So if you, but just let's stick with the baby shower thing, right. Let's say that you had 20 events that you could run, but let's say you're at 70% success rate, meaning 70% booking rate. So times that by 0.7 that's 14 events. Let's just say $700 per baby shower to be super conservative. Time is 700 that's $9,800 a month. Let's what do you think staff costs would be? And I'd be I'm obviously gonna be more cause I'm like 700 per when it's probably be more, you know?,Nehemiah Davis: (43:20)Let's just say staff costs cuz we run micro events, micro events. We are looking at, you could do one staff per event. So just call it, call it $200 a day, 250 a day. Just call it 250 a day and that's running two events.Dan Henry: (43:40)So that's 3,500. So where, where was I?Nehemiah Davis: (43:44)So that's 250 times 14.Dan Henry: (43:46)So 9,800 minus 3,500. So now we're at 6,300 profit.Nehemiah Davis: (43:51)You still got the, your over your rent.Dan Henry: (43:53)Yeah. Right.Nehemiah Davis: (43:54)So when you said 3,500, that was 250 times?.Dan Henry: (43:57)14.Nehemiah Davis: (43:58)Okay. And I, we, those numbers are a lot higher. Like I don't pay 250 in a day.Dan Henry: (44:02)Right. And I also time I'm just being conservative. I also time, I also said every event was 700, not a thousand. So like I'm, I'm lowballing like crazy.Nehemiah Davis: (44:11)It's 700 based on where I am at. If I'm paying 6,000 for this space, the event starting at a thousand dollars.Dan Henry: (44:17)Right. Right. Well that's what I'm saying. So like, so now we left with 6,300. What do you think the rent would be on that place?Nehemiah Davis: (44:23)The rent on thatDan Henry: (44:24)Where you're getting $700 per baby shower.Nehemiah Davis: (44:26)Oh the rent and the overhead. So just so you know, the, just the same bills you pay for your house that's for your event space, you're paying gas, electric water, wifi, and a million dollar insurance policy. So, so let's just say, say like call it 2,500. Okay. Call it three grand.Dan Henry: (44:40)So minus 3000. So basically that's 30. So, so you go, you rent a space and that's, this is worst case scenario based on your numbers, 70% booking rate, which is that low. Do you normally get?Nehemiah Davis: (44:53)No, thats fair.Dan Henry: (44:54)That's fair? Okay, so 14 events a month, the lowest possible, which a lot of people will buy the thousand and you're still making $3,300 a month completely passive. And you're not really doing much and that's just a space. Like, so if you were to, I mean, if you were to do five of those, right. That's like 16 grand a month. And again, this is probably a lot more.Nehemiah Davis: (45:18)Or, or you just, you almost could just double what you're doing in that one space. You're just working a little harder, but.Dan Henry: (45:24)Okay. So like I, so basically like that was the $6,300 is like or sorry, $3,300 a month was literally the worst case scenario. Like if everything went wrongNehemiah Davis: (45:34)Yeah. And that's passive that's and then you still got your second floor paying your third floor, your fourth, you just making extra or you could just rent your downstairs to somebody else for 2000 and do nothing. But I believe you could get that number higher than the 3,300.Dan Henry: (45:50)Yeah. That was just, yeah, because if, if you were to actually go with a good month, you know, where you got a thousand, I mean now that that 1400 number times, 1000 sorry, 14 times 1000 is 14,000. You know, that's...Nehemiah Davis: (46:07)Minus your three grand, minus six grand, basically.Dan Henry: (46:09)Yeah. So now we're at 8,000 a month, you know? So like the difference between you getting a full rent and you getting that's a, you know yeah. So, so my question to you is, and you teach people...Nehemiah Davis: (46:19)And everybody who's event based, bro, they're not markers. So they're not even, they're not like we don't even push heavy Google ads and like we can. Like people not even pushing ads.Dan Henry: (46:28)So we, we just saw the difference between 700 and a thousand and all this stuff. I mean, what do you think is the best way to optimize that? To make it as high as possible? Meaning like is baby showers the best way? Or is it seminars or like what do you think the optimal way to get the most out of that would be?Nehemiah Davis: (46:50)I mean, to get the most is you're going to just do, add-ons like, Hey, you need extra hour. You're gonna charge for that. Hey, you need chair rentals. You're gonna charge for that. You need, so we're going.Dan Henry: (47:00)So this one thing could, so this one thing could go fromNehemiah Davis: (47:03)That's just them getting their room from you, bro. That's it and the chairs.Dan Henry: (47:06)So, so we did so that $3,300 a month profit that we just talked about. That's like unrealistically conservative. If you start doing the add, Don's an optimization. Now we're talking about 10 grand a month for just oneNehemiah Davis: (47:18)Location. But I don't think I can't dispose the exact client in anything. Cuz they said we signed a contract, but I got one person. That's one company using a space on our dead hour, Monday through Friday, they're giving us 11 grand a month, bro. Wow. What that's and they set everything up. They break everything down, theirself, all of that. And we still use it on the weekends for our events. So I'm saying what if on our, and this is our smaller space. What if during the weekend we do another 2,500 that's 10 grand a month extra plus there 10 that's 20 my overhead on that space, call it four, with the staff. And I'm I live in Atlanta. That space is in Philly. I haven't been, I don't even go to my spaces.Dan Henry: (48:03)What do you think the is? What do you think the biggest challenge to marketing is? Or is this, I mean, I imagine...Nehemiah Davis: (48:08)For you, it is no to,Dan Henry: (48:09)Well, not for me. I mean, I'm for the normal average person.Nehemiah Davis: (48:10)I mean, it's not even the challenge. It's just get some Google ads up, get some good reviews. The thing about having event space oftentimes is they're a lot of self marketing and repeat customers and a lot of word of mouth marketing with these things. So when people come back and use the space, cuz somebody will referred them.Dan Henry: (48:30)Yeah. I mean, I've seen stuff like this, not this specifically, but I've seen like, I mean post on Craigslist or Facebook and it blows up.Nehemiah Davis: (48:38)Yeah. We still recommend Craigslist. Facebook.Dan Henry: (48:40)Yeah. We ain't even talking about paid ads. I mean,Nehemiah Davis: (48:42)I don't Craigslist, Facebook marketplace, all these different booking sites, Pair space. Gigster you could go put your some 30 spaces right now and they'll rent it for you.Dan Henry: (48:52)So, this is like you and I know this because I've been through this, I've been through similar types of, you know, businesses and whatnot. And cuz I, I did like the events with the airbrush dude. I mean, this is like almost, you could run this as a zero marketing cost business because I never had paid ads when I did the birthday parties, dude, I just put on like all these sites you're talking about, people would just reach out to me. I didn't do no paid ads.Nehemiah Davis: (49:15)You know, bro, this is a good business for somebody looking to generate five to $15,000 a month profit, and get outta their job. They could be free from a job that you hate. Like they're bro. When I, this is my first money I made when I started this where I'm like, wait, you tell me, I just made $700. I didn't have to work. I just went, opened the door for 'em and this before this, when I used to set up your tables and chairs and help you out with trays like this when I was more, but I'm like wait, 700 bucks, bro. I walk in, set you up, break it down. I'm outta here in four hours. I get 700 and mind you, you leave during the time they're in there you go. Do whatever you're doing. I just come back at $700. It, it blew my mind. That's what made me just fall in love with pat making my money work for me. So I don't have to work for it. I'm like over with,Dan Henry: (50:10)Do you think, and this is a I'm I have to be selfish for just 15 seconds, because I'm gonna ask this for me. Like I'm trying to ask questions as well for our listeners, but I'm gonna be selfish for 15 seconds. Let's say I set up like some baller, just I'm talking about like ginormous video wall type of like crazy. Baller, ridiculous podcast set up. Like makes Grant Cardones look like, you know, the, the slums, like just, just, I go, I spend like a hundred grand just making it like pow. Right? Do you think, and then I like say, Hey, you know, you can come in and do your podcast. I feel like that sounds good in theory, but I just don't know if there's gonna be enough people that would actually pay that to make that a real thing. That's like,Nehemiah Davis: (50:57)They'll pay like you're about to interview with David Shands he just, he's opening a podcast studio with seven different sections in the building. Where does he live though? He's in Atlanta with me.Dan Henry: (51:07)Atlanta. Okay. See, I don't know about,Nehemiah Davis: (51:08)I don't know about St Pete, but you know, he's going to have a ton of people in there using podcasts.Dan Henry: (51:12)That's my ego talking like, Ooh, I like a big you, not that I can't afford it now. I just, I can't I'm like, do I spend a hundred grand on a huge video wall? Or do I put it in, you know, like crypto and I'm like crypto, you know? So, so I'm kind of like, but I feel like right decision as an entrepreneur and not, not make it a hobby is, is do something very repeatable. Like people have babies all the time. People can't stop bumping uglies. So they're gonna make babies and they need baby showers. I mean that, that happens more than weddings, you know? For sure.Nehemiah Davis: (51:44)For sure happen more than weddings. Yeah. Yeah.Dan Henry: (51:46)Yeah. I mean yeah. So like, I feel like that's the, is there any other,Nehemiah Davis: (51:51)That's just one event, bro. We talk, you talk, we I'm just telling you our main event booked. Book signing, seminars, people die unfortunately every day, youre having a repass a week, which are a it's just space available in 48 hours. I and they, you had no other options. Yes. So you,Dan Henry: (52:09)So, what other type of events besides baby showers are like really like, like creme de la creme?Nehemiah Davis: (52:14)So reasses are another popular.Dan Henry: (52:15)What's a repass?Nehemiah Davis: (52:16)That's when someone die and basically they need to use your venue to have like the ceremony. They also need to use the venue to have where they like, like a wake. I don't know if you call it a wake.Dan Henry: (52:28)They usually do that at funeral homes?Nehemiah Davis: (52:31)A lot of funeral homes don't have a space. Oh. So what they do when the funeral home, when the funeral is done, what they do is it, it is almost, it's called a repass, but it's like a after party. Like once the funeral is done, we go to the grave site. We all come meet and eat. They all go do at some event space. Right. So that's baby showers, book, sign and seminars.Dan Henry: (52:55)I feel stupid for not knowing what that is.Nehemiah Davis: (52:57)You know, graduation parties bridal, bridal showers, just it, bro. We love having events. People just event, especially after cold. When you got to come out again, like people just don't want to be in the house.Dan Henry: (53:11)So, you could stick to one. So like if you have a baby shower, right. A lot of times a not all the time, but a lot of times a wedding shower follows that. Gender reveal party,Nehemiah Davis: (53:21)Gender reveal. And after they had a baby shower. Guess where they had the kids first year birthday party at.Dan Henry: (53:26)Okay. So, so kids, birthday parties, baby showers, gender reveal parties, andNehemiah Davis: (53:32)Re passes, book signings, seminars, popup art shows.Dan Henry: (53:37)But you could do all this in the same space?Nehemiah Davis: (53:39)Yeah. Why? Because we make sure one of the, the requirements I teach my students is make sure it's an open space. So right here we could come in here right now we could set up a book signing. You could set up a baby shower here for 20 people. You could set up a seminar for 20 people. You could set up a sip and shop.Dan Henry: (54:00)I'll get a different space. I kind of like my, I don't want anybody in my studio.Nehemiah Davis: (54:06)Yeah, no, no. I'm just, I'm using this for example, because it's a open space, blank canvas. You could do what you want.Dan Henry: (54:13)Got you. Gotcha. Okay. This is good stuff man. Like see I'm a serial entrepreneur. So for me, when I hear this stuff, like you would think you'd be like, Dan what are you talking about? You're doing so well, why would you wanna do it? But I just, I'm like, oh my God, you know, I gotta stay focused. Like I always tell people that.Nehemiah Davis: (54:29)There's still not. Like I said, if you don't want an extra 10 to 20 grand a month, I think it's worth doing it.Dan Henry: (54:34)Yeah. Well, I don't even want, I mean, I just want a, personally, I just want a piece of real estate that's to just, but the depreciation without it's worth it being worried about, you know, so, but that's cool,Nehemiah Davis: (54:44)All you need to do is hire one employee, a cousin, somebody who wanna take ownership of something you don't gotta give 'em owner, but give them a little bit of percentage of everything that they get on top of and you run it. They got give them that sense of this is yours. I'm gonna give you,Dan Henry: (55:01)I know a couple people who would actually love to do this type of business. They would probably really, really love it. It, you know, but this is cool, man. This is cool. So I don't wanna bang on that all day, but.Nehemiah Davis: (55:11)We banged on it, bro.Dan Henry: (55:12)Yeah, we did. We did, man. That's like a whole,Nehemiah Davis: (55:14)We never even talk about that.Dan Henry: (55:15)No. Well I think, you know, I wanna provide value and, and I like that. I ask questions to poke holes, you know, because I know that people think about it. Yeah. And they don't wanna ask the questions. So but I'll leave a link where we canNehemiah Davis: (55:28)Yeah. We'll get you a link.Dan Henry: (55:29)For people. Cause I imagine you have like a, you.Nehemiah Davis: (55:31)We got a whole course and program for people. Yeah. And then maybe you have a video or webinar or something explains it a little bit more. Yeah. Cool. So we'll leave that in the description and all that. So let me ask you this, you know, what is what do you, you define as success and what do you think is a misrepresentation of what most people define as success?Nehemiah Davis: (55:56)Mm that's a good question. What do I define as success? I mean, most people define success a. I wanna say making money, man. Like when you don't make money, that is success. But for me success now, I think success is different from us success. My biggest thing of success for me is freedom. Being able to do what you want when you want, how you want. Hey bro, I could do the podcast tomorrow. I'll be in Tampa. I'm not, I don't have any restrictions.Dan Henry: (56:25)So did you fly private here?Nehemiah Davis: (56:26)No, I flew commercial.Dan Henry: (56:28)It's gonna try to get you.Nehemiah Davis: (56:29)I flew commercial. Actually. I got my mastermind in Puerto Rico. We flyin private, down there. Of course. But success to me is being able to spend time with my family. Like my mom is don't have to work. My wife don't have to work. My kids are in a good space. So I think for me, success is defined as freedom and mobility. Shout up my brother, Doug. That's what he says. And just being able to do what you want when you want. That's it's kind of cliche, but that's my definition. But I think success, the most people is just trying to make this certain amount of money. And as you know, when you start making the money, you realize like, it's you still got that empty void of like, what's next? Like I made the money. What can I do now? But it's like,Dan Henry: (57:16)Yeah, I will. I will tell you that, that I think you're, I think, you know, human beings are programmed from the very beginning of our exist and to survive.You know, like it started out with, I need to kill the bear or the whatever, and I need to bring the food into the cave. And it evolved, and I need to make money. I need to be financially free. I need passive income, yada yada yada. And I think what happens is, this is my take, and I'd love to hear your opinion on this. A lot of people argue over what means they argue over the definition. You know, if you say the definition is to be financially free, you'll have everybody and their brother coming outta the woodwork saying, no, that's not the definition. The definition is being at peace or whatever.Dan Henry: (57:56)Like they'll give you a conflicting definition because maybe money is not important to them. Right. And that's, that's fine. That's great. But what I think the definition of success is it is an ever evolving personal definition because when you, I agree, like when I was young, all I cared about was being able to not have to work for someone else. I mean, I must have delivered thousands of pizzas to people who didn't treat me very well. I mean, some people did, but didn't appreciate me. Like my, I was paying my bills based on other people's generosity. Cuz you don't make jack as a pizza delivery boy, you make it, you make on tips. And so like I just...Nehemiah Davis: (58:41)What's the highest tip you ever got?Dan Henry: (58:43)I there's this guy named Crazy Mike that you'd go to his place and he had all these monkeys and you'd go past the monkeys and he would always answer the door completely naked with a bottle of like, you know, rum or whiskey in his hand. And he called him Crazy Mike and he would give you like a hundred dollars tip and then he'd give you, like, he'd give you crazy stuff. He'd give you like a bottle of alcohol or a bag of weed or something, you know, like, and a hundred dollars. Good for like one little pizza. And we called him Crazy Mike. So that's probably the biggest tip I got. My, you know, you get weird stuff as a pizza guy, man. Like I've been flashed. I've had people try to invite me in for weird stuff.Dan Henry: (59:26)I mean I've had, dude I've had people give me food. I've had people give me Bibles and all kinds of stuff, you know? And I'm like, I just need, I can't give a Bible to my mortgage or not my mortgage. I didn't have a mortgage, but my, I can't give a Bible to the company. You know? So, anyway, the point is that I, my definition of success until the point when I was like about 30 was become financially independent and take care of my family buy, you know? And I did, I bought my mom a house. I bought my dad a house. I mean, I did like I, not only did I get the things that made me happy in term, I'm not gonna say make me happy, but not only did I get financially secured for myself where no matter what I could go wherever.Dan Henry: (01:00:08)I wanted wherever I wanted. However I wanted, I had a nice place. Nice cars, nice doctor from my son. All that, like I just bought my mom new, like a new dental procedure that for her mouth, like just any of that stuff taken care of.Nehemiah Davis: (01:00:22)It feels good don't it?Dan Henry: (01:00:23)It does. It feels great. Buy my dad a house, buy my mom, all that stuff. But then you, once you've achieved that and you're like 30, 35. You're like, okay, I got the, the entire second half of my life to go. And unless you want to build the next Apple, the next Facebook, which I don't want to do, you start to maybe your definition of success changes. Maybe it becomes a more personal journey. Maybe it becomes a more inner journey. Maybe you want to be more of a philanthropist.Dan Henry: (01:00:48)Maybe you want to impact more, but in a different way. So I think that when everybody says, what is the definition of success? I believe they're wrong in one definition. I believe that definition changes. And that definition evolves as you, you go through life and it's a very personal thing. But ultimately it comes to being at peace. Yeah. You know, if your life is in turmoil because you can't pay your bills or whatever. You know, stress it's a feeling of peace and that can be financial and it can be personal. But at the end of the day, it's a feeling.Nehemiah Davis: (01:01:21)I think the goal of a lot it's money until you, until you get it. Like, I just wanted money until I got I'm like crap, I got it. What's next? So I'm kind of where you at. I'm like soon, I think I got a couple more years of going hard though, but then I want to see what's next.Dan Henry: (01:01:39)Yeah. I'm just chilling now doing this podcast.Nehemiah Davis: (01:01:41)That's what I'm saying you chillin.Dan Henry: (01:01:42)I've been doing so you, you make the money with the event based stuff, but then you started doing what I've been doing for years and creating consulting and education business. You did very well with that. You know, and that's my other company, you know, GetClients.Com, that's what we teach there. And you know, so that's, you know, like that's my thing, my passion, I love teaching people how to educate. I love teaching people how to get clients for, you know, their way to impact and then for How To Think. I love teaching people how to think at a different level and just bringing other great thinkers together to, you know, expand people's minds.Dan Henry: (01:02:22)So that they can achieve more. So my stuff's like kind of turned into a passion right now, but again, that's why I say the, the definition of success evolves, you know? So let me ask you this. What, what is one challenge that, like this whole road, right? Going from living in the hood, as you put it all the way to having an eight-figure business, making millions of dollars, Lamborghinis, jets, all this stuff, you know. I mean, and I know, I don't want anybody to get it twisted. You have a very, very, just incredible program for children. Right, you have a charity, which do you want to just like in a minute, expand on that. You know, but you have, you do give, you have as great and as pronounced as the jets and the cars are, so is your philanthropy,Nehemiah Davis: (01:03:12)Bro. It's funny. You said my, I started with giving. When I, when I started my first business, 14 years ago was a fruit truck, bro. I was working my butt off seven to seven, not including yeah. Seven to seven sometimes earlier. And my mom was like, son, you making money. I was making $50 a day at best five, $10 profit a day, if that. At that you making money, we need to give back. I'm like what you mean? She said, we need to feed the homeless. We went and fed the homeless one Monday. I gave her $50 to go feed the homeless. I didn't go, came back done. I'm like, no way I went next week. I'm like, wow. We really gave all these sandwiches and food. I did that for the next seven years in my life or seven to eight. Every Monday, we were probably missed two, three Mondays in seven, eight years.Nehemiah Davis: (01:04:03)And we start adding all these other things to back to school events for kids, Christmas events for kids Cutting homeless people hair, like skiing for kids like I'm from the hood. Most inner city kids never been skiing. I take them skiing every year for the last right now for the last 10, 12 years, I take a group group of a hundred, 200 kids, skiing fully paid for that's cool. I've been doing those things for years. The only reason why I got on the Steve Harvey show won a hoodie award, the neighborhood award, because I was up against other people who gave back. I just, they looked at me as the one who gave back the most. So I built my brand really over these years, all of these interviews, everything ever got, it was because of the giving back piece. Never really the entrepreneur piece. It just happened to, oh, you you're an entrepreneur too, but I've been giving back kind of forever because my mom ingrained that you need to get back. You need to make a difference. Last few years, I haven't had my foot on the gas with giving back publicly. Like we're giving back every month to different charities, different things. But I'm about to get back to the world, actually seeing it so they know I'm doing it but.Dan Henry: (01:05:07)Do you ever feel like, cuz like I do some stuff, but I never like try to mention it. I get this weird feeling like as soon as I mention it, it devalues it because it, yeah, it, oh, you know, it makes your brand look good because you're charitable and maybe more people will, you know, like you or buy from you because you're charitable. And I sometimes feel like I don't mention the things that I do because I don't want it to taint it. You know? I don't know if you feel the same.Nehemiah Davis: (01:05:34)Yeah. So for me the last couple years I stopped sharing things. I just get back to so much stuff, but lately we kind of share, you share for two reasons and maybe this could change your perspective. One, it inspires others to do it. No matter what we do, as you know, you always, the one has somebody who got an opinion, whether good, no matter what you do, that's true. It's always gonna be somebody who dislike like it. For whatever reason, there's always gonna be someone who like it. So when we're giving back, we sharing it with others cause we want you to go do that. When we went, we went and shut down a grocery store spent 20, 30,000 on groceries as a group, we did that we didn't even have a cameraman that day, a cameraman happened to come last minute, capture that and went on CNN, went crazy.Nehemiah Davis: (01:06:17)But guess what? The next week, the next month, we saw 20, 30 people do that. It was a ripple impact that a lot of people did it. So I feel like when me giving back for the last 14 years, all these annual events in Philly, I watched 10 people start doing it 20. I can't do the whole Philly. Meek Mill's about to give $500,000 worth of toys back to the community. I'm not the person who helped him do that, but he might have saw it somewhere or he got the money and like, yo, I need to do that. So his act is now going to get someone else to do it. Now I'm like, yo, I need to go back to Philly this year to do it. Cuz I see Meek doing it.Dan Henry: (01:06:55)You almost feel like it's like you could issue a challenge to other entrepreneurs, you know? Cause we, we were gonna I had this idea, we had this idea that we were gonna like rent out a movie theater for the new Spiderman movie. And I was gonna bring like the company and all this, but then I was, but see you can't rent them out. But even close to the time they come out, they just won't let you cause it's, it's such a big movie and it's so I knew that like virtually everyone at my company was gonna go see it before then. And I was like, well, you know, but then I got a message from somebody. And they, I normally dude, I get like so many messages, you know, but I happen to see this one and they were talking about they have this organization it's local and it's where kids are they're in foster care.Dan Henry: (01:07:40)But they're like in a, I don't know the details exactly. I gotta reread the message, but basically they're like past a certain point of foster care where they're not with a family, they're like sort of taken care of, but they're not with an actual family. They're like in a, more of a group setting or something and they just don't get a lot of opportunity to do anything normal, you know? And so I thought about it and I was like, well how cool would it be if, instead of me renting out the movie theater for, you know, my company or for my friends. I rent it out and bring like, I mean, what, I mean, I don't know how many people a movie theater can hold. I imagine like a hundred, you know, but bring them all to like all, to see the Spiderman movie.Dan Henry: (01:08:23)Cause they're not gonna get an opportunity to see that anyway.Nehemiah Davis: (01:08:24)When it come out, it's about to come out or?Dan Henry: (01:08:26)Yeah. So they, they wanna do it in January. So it's about to come out. So it gives time to cool down. Cause they won't even rent the movie theater out until, you know, but like bring 'em all in there and filling the whole theater up. I just thought that would be cool to allow them to achieve or to experience some sense of normal. Like you should not be a kid 10, 11, 12 years old and not be able to go see fricking Spiderman. I mean, what kind of like, you know what I mean? Like, like that's just, I mean, I get that and don't get me wrong. Like we did some stuff over in Africa where like there's water wells and for, do you know for like three grand you can...Nehemiah Davis: (01:09:06)Do a well. I'm the one in February.Dan Henry: (01:09:07)Yeah. We put my son's name on it. Like you can literally bring like 5,000 people water for like two or three grand. It's insane. And so I understand that there's ways to give back for a more practical, like water, food, but there's, there's kids even still who, who have that they're in systems and they have that, but they don't get to experience something that we might take for granted. Like when's the last time you didn't go see the new Marvel movie. When's the last time you didn't go see the new, whatever movie?Nehemiah Davis: (01:09:33)We take a lot for granted.Dan Henry: (01:09:34)Yeah, we do.Nehemiah Davis: (01:09:34)Bro. I get up and I just be like, thank, thank God. Like cuz walking, bro, talking, like these things is we already millionaires even if you don't have the money, if you wake up with your health, like your strength, like that's, I'll be trying to be cog, cog, whatever that word is. I'll be trying to,Dan Henry: (01:09:53)Cognisant. Yeah. It's hard for me to say too.Nehemiah Davis: (01:09:55)Some words I can't say that's one of the ones I struggle, but I just be trying to be mindful of how blessed we really are outside of, you know?Dan Henry: (01:10:02)Yeah. No, absolutely. It's it's you don't think about, and you also don't think about how what's something to you, which could be a normal dinner that you might go to could be something so impactful to somebody else. You know, like could just be insanely, it's almost like, you know, people who are struggling, but they smoke cigarettes. They don't realize that if they stop smoking cigarettes at $10 a day, they could pay for this other thing that they really need and that they really would change their life. They don't think about that.Nehemiah Davis: (01:10:35)$300 a month.Dan Henry: (01:10:36)$300 a month, you know.Nehemiah Davis: (01:10:37)$3600 a year.Dan Henry: (01:10:38)Yeah.Nehemiah Davis: (01:10:39)It of course that can change your life.Dan Henry: (01:10:40)Plus all the saved money and health issues and all that. But what I'm saying is, is like we take for granted, what is this big to us, but could be this big to someone else. You know, and I know me personally, I think that it's important to always strive to get better at that and be more aware of that. And so I understand your point is I guess for me the thought of sharing, devalues it and taints it. Because I just, I don't, I want to feel comfortable with the fact that I'm doing it for the right reasons, but now I'm putting my comfort over the actual end result, which would be, even if I just inspired or any of us inspired one person to do something similar at the end of the day, more people would get help. So I'm you put that in perspective for me.Nehemiah Davis: (01:11:34)Other Marketers might be like, wow, I saw Dan do that. I gotta do that for my community.Dan Henry: (01:11:38)Yeah.Nehemiah Davis: (01:11:40)Bro, you just said, whenyou talked about the movie thing. I'm literally like, I need to do that. In my mind I was sitting here doing numbers. Like what theater can I, should I do this in Philly? Or should I do it in Atlanta, but I wouldn't have thought to do that if you just didnt say that in that very moment.Dan Henry: (01:11:54)That's a great point. That's why I love having these conversations.Nehemiah Davis: (01:11:56)There's still people that are gonna say, Dan, why would you do, no matter what we do somebody gonna say something. So now I don't care. I'm gonna go do what I gotta do.Dan Henry: (01:12:06)Oh, no I like that. That's well, that's why I like to have these conversations teaching people how to think man. Yeah. That's good. So let me ask you this. What, what's one challenge as an entrepreneur, a successful eight-figure entrepreneur that you are, what's one challenge that you experienced that you did not expect when you started?Nehemiah Davis: (01:12:25)One challenge I experienced that I did not expect. One of the challenges that I'm experiencing now is just investing the money that you make. Like it's you accumulating it now I gotta find a better way to grow it. Like I gotta grow it faster. Right? So that's the challenge that I never thought I would've had a problem of once you make the money, how do you make more of it or not more of it, but one of my goals is how do I get passive income, that equal active income. So that's something, you know, Myron talks about like how do we make our passive equal our active. So I don't know if that's a challenge, but I'm just trying to find a way to just keep getting better. I want to, I don't want to have to go out to work if I don't want to. I want to know that enough passive income is coming in to that a substantial ammount is coming in to make sure I'm good forever.Dan Henry: (01:13:16)Can I give you my sort of take on that? So I have this buddy, Eric, I had him on the show, Eric Toz. Right. And he...Nehemiah Davis: (01:13:24)I know Eric Toz.Dan Henry: (01:13:26)You know, Eric, do you? Yeah, he wasNehemiah Davis: (01:13:27)No, we was at an event together. So was he at Inner Circle or something?Dan Henry: (01:13:31)Dude, we're all in. Yeah. Whatever, you know, we're all in all the things. He owns, he owns a company that and I've been to his factory here. He owns a company that does customized jewelry and they're gonna do like a hundred million dollars this year. Or they did like 66 million, a hundred million dollars next year. The company's worth like hundreds of millions of dollars. Right. But he doesn't take like, for me, like I'm, I'm in a different field consulting. So like my company, I could probably never sell it for hundreds of millions of dollars or even close to that personal cause it's a personal brand. But every month, the insane amount of cash I get is just disgusting. Right? Yeah. So with him he takes a much more modest salary. He lives a much more modest life.Dan Henry: (01:14:20)Not by choice, just because, well, by choice, but just because he just doesn't that's it doesn't pay to build up a manufacturing kind of like in the short term, but when he sells that company, if he ever does, he's gonna make me look like a pauper. Like he's gonna be like, he's outta here. You know? And he's such a great guy, cuz like I, we were talking about this the other night I had him over watching the fights and he was just like, yeah, I wonder what my next thing I'm gonna build is? I'm like, bro, I'd be gone. Like what are you talking about? $200 million, 300 million, hundred, 50 million, 20 million. You know, I not saying that's what he would make, but I'm, I was just, I'm guessing, you know, I'm, I'm guessing that if he sold a company like that or if anybody sold a company like that, they'd probably make hundreds of millions of dollars in my opinion, you know, I've never asked him.Dan Henry: (01:15:03)But my point is that, you know, he's doing what I consider to be extremely noble delay. And I know a lot of people that have companies like him, it's delayed gratification. You know? And when he, you know, when he cashes out, if he ever does or anybody that has a company like that, they're gonna make a lot more than people like me, but I have a different approach. So my here's my approach. And cuz we're in, we're in similar spaces, right? We're personal brands. We sell high end, you know, consulting and we sell education and stuff like that. And you know, here, here's my view on that. And this has always been my thing because I have a high cashflow business. And again, this is why I own, this is why we teach people to do this at GetClients.Com is because I like to teach people how to make that, because not many people are to spend 3, 4, 5 years grinding it out to then get a 20, 30, $50 million.Dan Henry: (01:15:56)Like they need help now, you know? So that's one of the reasons why my heart is close to that. But anyway, we make a ton of cash flow every month from selling consulting, from selling, you know, education and coaching and all that. And I take that money and I invest it immediately. Right. So, I mean, there was a point where every month I was loading up six figures a month into investments. So to me, I'd like to think I'm doing the same thing, but in a different way, because imagine for a moment, like I got into crypto back when was like 18 grand. Ether was like $350. So imagine for a moment. Yeah. I get it. You don't have a company that you can really sell for a crazy multiple, but imagine you dump you, you have a company that makes you a ton of money in the short term.Dan Henry: (01:16:46)You take most of that money cuz if you make a hundred grand a month in, let's just say you make a hundred grand a month in actual profit. You gonna spend a hundred grand a month? What are you gonna do with that? You know, you gonna leave it in the bank every day. The dollar goes down to value.Nehemiah Davis: (01:17:04)Don't remind me.Dan Henry: (01:17:05)Okay. So imagine if you took that money and said, you just kept dollar cost averaging, tucking it into something like crypto. Right? Now I'm not giving investment advice here, but then in a year or two years or three years where that money would be extremely devalued because of inflation and just the printing of the dollar. Now that's even 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 X more than you had. You know, now you start building this crazy investment portfolio.Dan Henry: (01:17:32)Or even if it was real estate, whatever, you know? That's been my approach because I just personally, for me, I'm not, I'm not that type of person that's gonna delay gratification. Not because I, I need gratification now. But because I just don't like the stress of owning a big machine that you could work 4, 5, 6 years at. And then let's just say something happens. And all of a sudden, your multimillion dollar exit that you had planned because of anything. You know, regulation, pandemics, whatever, all of a sudden, boom, it's gone. You know? And that's what I think about.Nehemiah Davis: (01:18:11)One of the things that helped change my mindset was two things. One of my man Rashad said, yo, one of the things is getting the money. But the other, the other thing that most people don't do is invest the money. And you and I were at Eddie V's one time. And when you said, how, yo bro, you like, yo, I got X amount to my name.Dan Henry: (01:18:28)Yeah, keep it to X. Oh, I remember what I told you.Nehemiah Davis: (01:18:31)But I'm saying it was a number that I'm like, yo, this dude's making so much money. What do you mean? But it's basically you like, yo, I invest all of my money. And at that time I'm loading money in the bank and I'm like this dude is...Dan Henry: (01:18:42)Yeah, so to put it in perspective, cuz I I'll share this. So we were sitting there talking cuz we were at a mastermind for speaking. And we were talking like I was getting an award for a million dollar day when I did a speaking event, I made a million bucks in a day. So like the context of the conversation. And I think you asked like how much you just randomly asked me, like how much money do you keep in the bank? And I was like 60 grand, you know.Nehemiah Davis: (01:19:04)Yeah. I was like, yo, I'm like that messed me up though. I'm like, I'm storing all of this money. Now, let me context y'all. I'm storing some money in the bank, whatever the number is.Dan Henry: (01:19:17)Yeah. whatever it is. Yeah.Nehemiah Davis: (01:19:19)But, still to, I'm not investing enough of my money. That's why I'm I told you, I do this. Like I'm trying to invest all of the money now. I don't want nothing in savings.Dan Henry: (01:19:27)Well, just keep in mind though, you know, from one entrepreneur and another investor that at the end of the day I don't invest all of it. Okay. And I diversify like crazy. But the thing about it is, is that, you know, for me you have to accept risk, right. Because there's a ton of risk with any investment. I've lost a million dollars in an investment. But it also made a lot more than that.Nehemiah Davis: (01:19:54)Wow. You lost a mill in one investment?Dan Henry: (01:19:56)Two, two. $700 in one and $300 and another.Nehemiah Davis: (01:20:00)Wow. Tell me what that was later. So I don't do it.Dan Henry: (01:20:02)It was just a deal where there was some back alley BS and it was like a very unique, rare situation. And then the other one, I had hired some options, traders, professional options, traders, and they just did a bad job and you know, and so I found my stride in crypto and in certain ways of investing. And I follow a lot of guys. Like, I follow Alex Becker, guys like that. And I just, I also have a macro view on it. Like I know dude, I mean, people talk about NFTs, right? And most people, when they talk about NFTs, they miss the point. They think it's pictures. Has nothing to do with pictures. Has nothing. People are saying stuff like, well I could just right click and save the picture.Dan Henry: (01:20:46)Like you say that you have zero idea. What NFTs are. You don't even know. Like the thing is NFTs eventually will be the thing that allows you to go to a baseball game, that allows you to go to an event, that allows you to have access to, imagine there was one thing that would allow you access to anything in life. That's where NFTs are going. It's all in the blockchain. You know what I mean? Because there's too much room room for error in other ways of doing things like the blockchain doesn't lie. If you own the contract, if it's in your wallet, if it's on your whatever, that's it, there's no customer error. There's no O argument over that. It is what it is and that's, what's great about it. And so that's where the world's gonna go. And so I know that, and I also know that like there's certain coins and like, yeah, you can gamble your money on like small cap coins and like gaming crypto.Dan Henry: (01:21:37)And you'll probably win, you know, but there's other safe investments that, you know, that, that those like Ethereum dude, like there's no way that in a year or two years, Ethereum is not gonna be higher than it is now. I mean, maybe, maybe, but just researching everything and knowing where the world is going, especially after the pandemic. And how markets react to things like just what's happening in the world. It all points. And then the whole metaverse thing. I mean, dude, even if the metaverse wasn't gonna be a thing, the fact that Facebook said, Hey, we're, we're throwing our hat in now it's gonna be a thing, no matter what, you know? So it's just one of those things where yes, there's risk. But to me, I almost think it's far riskyer investing in a company, then it is investing in, in some of this stuff.Dan Henry: (01:22:28)So the other thing, my view on it is that never invest money that if...Nehemiah Davis: (01:22:34)You can't afford the lose,Dan Henry: (01:22:34)Right. But more but more importantly, that's why I combine a cash flow, positive business with investments. Because right now, if I lost every investment I had, I wait one month and I'm still richer than 99% of the people on the planet, you know? Like that's, and I'm not saying that from like a brag, man. I'm just saying like anybody, like, even if you just had a really profitable, I don't know, ice cream shop or restaurant and maybe had a chain, whatever, whatever the business is, if you are financially stable, the rule is this only invest most of your money cuz you that's what you said to me. You said you invest most of your money. Here's my equation for that only invest most of your money. If you have a cash flow business that is so good that you only have to wait one month to be good again. That's the equation. If that's not true, don't invest the lion share of your money. That's it. That's that's you can't lose doing that. INehemiah Davis: (01:23:31)Agree. And it's funny. I, when I'm in Becker's mastermind and he was just like, like, yo, what do you just give up your cash flow business? No, you keep that to build your software. But you, you keep that thing, that machine working while you're building that other thing.Dan Henry: (01:23:45)Yeah. And, and it's a safety net cause if you make a dumb move and you lose a bunch of money or the markets go to crap, you get it back, you get it. You just, I mean, from a basic survival standpoint, you're good with one or two months on your business. You know, but dude, it's so hard to lose everything with investments. If you diversify. You know, you got some crypto, I mean, you, you could just invest in crypto and have so much diversity inside of that world. There's a ton, but it, you know, crypto, real estates, real estate.Nehemiah Davis: (01:24:17)Stocks.Dan Henry: (01:24:17)You know? Yeah.Nehemiah Davis: (01:24:18)You like stocks or no?Dan Henry: (01:24:19)I used to man. I just, I know I, one thing I'll say is it's good to primarily invest in things that you know. I just know crypto a lot better than I know stocks. Like you start talking about all these things with stocks and I know a little bit, but you start talking about it with crypto and I just, I know it better and I'm more comfortable with it cuz I'm more in the I'm. Yeah. I'm not sitting there in, in stock trading forums all day long talking about this stuff, but I am in discords and things like that. So it's just more what, you know. But anyway, so anyway, past that ramble let me ask you what's a piece of advice, a harsh, no holds barred, not holding back, no zero empathy, real raw piece of advice you would give to a young entrepreneur or anybody trying to be successful, that's trying to make it. What, what would that advice be?Nehemiah Davis: (01:25:19)Commit first, figure out the rest later start and stay started. I'm tired of so many entrepreneurs, just always got all these excuses of why it won't work, make it work. Like I don't have a option. I don't have a retreat button. I'm mentally unemployable. When I set my mind on the target, I'm gonna do whatever it takes to go get it. And once they adopt that, start working like you going to die tomorrow. And when you, when you act as if you don't got a lot of time, you start more moving at a different rate. If just say we are in December, right, when this is when we're filimg this, I'm not sure it's airing, but just say your time is up on 12/31. You gonna be moving differently. You're about to spend time with your family. You're about to set up businesses. You're about to just work on leaving some sort of legacy. You gotta act like every single day, like tomorrow is your end. And I believe if entrepreneurs took that mindset every single day, they going be maxing out and doing whatever they gotta take to become successful.Dan Henry: (01:26:16)What do you think the, what do you think the biggest excuse that people make about not being able to be successful? What do you think the biggest excuse is when people aren't successful and what would you tell 'em?Nehemiah Davis: (01:26:31)I mean, most of the biggest excuse is, people don't believe in me. That's the biggest one. I think people's environment and their belief system. You gotta beef up your belief system an your enviornment. You gotta put yourself in the environment of people or books or core something that can change your, your viewpoint. And you just gotta believe in yourself. Like I got superior belief in myself that I'm going to make it work. I don't know the level that I'm gonna make it work, but I know I'm gonna be successful cuz I'm not giving myself an option. I tell people all the time, most people are like actors, they move to LA and they be like, yo, I'm about to pursue acting. But if it don't work out, the moment that you say, but if it don't work, you telling yourself, you don't even believe in yourself. So you gotta find a way to adopt superior belief in yourself and don't retreat till you hit the target burn the ships.Dan Henry: (01:27:21)Yeah. That's that's awesome. Can I ask you, can I see a touchy question?Nehemiah Davis: (01:27:25)Yeah. Yep.Dan Henry: (01:27:26)All right. So you obviously have a large, cause I've seen your following. I've seen your Instagram, you have a large following in the black community. I mean that's where you, you know, like you said earlier, you came from a fatherless home, like that whole thing. So let me ask you this, and I'm not gonna weigh in on this. I just wanna hear your answer. When you hear, cuz I've been at seminars, I've been at masterminds and I've heard this a lot and I don't know how to feel about it, so I'm asking you. When somebody, when a up and coming entrepreneur in the black community says, how would you give me that advice differently? Like how would you give that same advice that you just gave to all of us? How would you give that differently to people of color? How do you react to that? And how do you feel about that?Nehemiah Davis: (01:28:14)Is a black person asking me that question or?Dan Henry: (01:28:17)Yeah. So like let's say you're in a room, right. And cuz this happened, I was at a mastermind. I was at Myron's mastermind and he's teaching the whole group, you know, we got all different types of people and they're black, white, Spanish, Indian, everybody. Right. And a woman raised her hand, a black woman and said, and he just got done teaching this whole thing and talking about mindset and this, the whole motivational thing. Right. And she said, Hey, that's great. But how would you restate that? And how would you adjust that advice for people of color?Nehemiah Davis: (01:28:55)Right. So I mean, I think me being in that mastermind, I think how Myron, what Myron says it is.Dan Henry: (01:29:04)Well, I just mean in any situation. Cause I hear that a lot. Not just there. Just, I hear that same question everywhere.Nehemiah Davis: (01:29:13)I'm trying to articulate an answer for it because sometimes I don't look that deep and I feel like a lot of the principles that people say are universal. You just gotta adjust them to who you're talking to.Dan Henry: (01:29:27)Do you think the advice would change?Nehemiah Davis: (01:29:32)Yeah. Depend. Yeah. It would. It would change depending on what the, if it's talking to a young, urban kid in the hood about making the right decisions, being successful in their survival, as they gotta rob and kill, cuz I mean gotta rob and gotta do certain things. You gonna talk to them different than if your upbringing was you never knew about crime. So I think personal development situation, I feel like that is for everybody. But when you're asking specific questions that may have to deal with our culture, I feel like you may have to ask it.Dan Henry: (01:30:11)Well, of course, of course I'm more talking about like if somebody says something like you know, okay, this wasn't, this was at a separate right. I think this was at a, like a online summit I heard. And I don't really have an opinion on this. I'm I'm just curious. You know, they said if anybody has ever done it, you can do it too. Meaning like if you wanna build a business in X, Y, Z, if you want to become a best selling author. You know, like you may think that can't do it, but if anybody has ever done it, that means it's possible. And that means you can do it too. And somebody said, well, would you say that? Say like, how would you rephrase that for people of color?Nehemiah Davis: (01:30:54)No, I think that's the same. I would, you said it the right way. I think we're, we're all equals to me. I don't care what color your skin is. None of that matters to me. We're all. So I think how that was said, I think that it's fine. It's just, it takes it back to belief. You gotta, if you can do it, I can do it. It doesn't matter. We all the same people like.Dan Henry: (01:31:16)But, do you, do you think that like, just being real here you go back a hundred years. I don't think you'd give that same answer cause like you can't.Nehemiah Davis: (01:31:23)Yeah. I mean, we were at a different disadvantage a hundred years ago too. So a hundred years ago is slightly different from today. I'm just a guy where I'm at now where there's no excuses, we gotta find a way to make it work.Dan Henry: (01:31:37)Do you think that's important to relay? Like do, do you think that's cuz every community I think has different challenges, you know, like, I mean, I recall back when nine 11 happened, you know, dude, like I had friends that were from the middle east and all of a sudden everybody hated them. Like, and it was just like a whole different world for them. Like the, they woke up to a different, different attitude.You know? And so I think, you know, these things happen where you just can't control culture and just how people react. You can only control how you react. You deal with it, you know? But I mean, would you like, cuz I think a lot of people are listening to this. Who's just a, you know, various cultures and whatnot. But I mean, do you have any specific advice that you would say is paramount, paramount for your community?Dan Henry: (01:32:41)Because like I, you know, I don't, I can't possibly know what it's like to be in any community other than mine. Any community, you know. I can give generalities, but I don't know what that's like. So do you have like a specific cause where you came from, you know, where you came from. Do you have anything think that you would tell somebody that was in your exact position? They're in the slums. There's a prostitute outside of their house selling drugs. Like they're trying to recruit you into a gang. Like that's pretty rough situation. Like specific advice.Nehemiah Davis: (01:33:16)I'm gonna tell whoever that, Hey, stay strong on like, you know, understand that your again, your current situation, not your final destination, whatever goal it is that you want, whether you wanna be a businessman, you wanna be an athlete, whatever it is that you can get it done, but you gotta stay focused. You can't let distractions in. You gotta find a way to get in a better environment. Even most people can't just leave their home and be in a better home. Right. Or in a better school, but find some sort of person or someone who went before you and did it and find out how they did it. So my answer will remain the same there as just find the, you gotta find a way we are. We are people who find a way. Like you gotta, the biggest thing though is for me, I don't think I would be here today.Nehemiah Davis: (01:34:06)If I didn't go to that school. And if I didn't see no private jets, I personally don't believe cuz you gotta see it. So most of 'em don't even know, know Mo most of us said don't even know other things just outside of our environment. So if, if I could do anything, I'm always trying to like my mentee, Trey made millions of dollars. He's just on Shark Tank. He's 15. When I'm talking to people with parents or kids, yo go look at this kid, go look at CEO Trey on Instagram. Because I know if they see him 15, just on shark tank made 3 million in this business. Did all of these things. They now got an I oh, I can do it. So I try to tell people, find example fast. And when you find one stick with that, because now it shows you, you can do it. I believe I could be a billionaire. Cuz there is other billionaire.Dan Henry: (01:35:00)You have to see it. You have taste it.Nehemiah Davis: (01:35:02)I believe you have to that. That's the number one thing for me.Dan Henry: (01:35:05)That's what happened to me when I was at that family's house. Like I never, never been to it. Like I tasted it. And when you tasted me, you gotta have more. But at the same time, look, I'm not saying, dude, I had, when I do a delivered pizza, right. I, yeah, I was in a bad situation. Like I could barely pay my rent, blah, blah, blah. But like I had a place, I had a job. I could wake up every day and to some degree have cash in my pocket by just driving around. I had a lot compared to a lot of people. I can never know what it's like to grow up where I, you know, like, they're like, Hey, you know, you're living in the worst possible situation you could possibly live in. And if you just do this thing that you're not supposed to do that could put you in prison, you'll make a little bit of money and having that temptation. I have no idea,Nehemiah Davis: (01:35:49)Bro. It's tough. What that's like. I mean, it's honestly it's I didn't have it so bad to that point where I can't give all the advice, cuz I haven't been there, but I know, you know, there's people who had to rob to eat and they made it out. But you know, thank God. So I, some things, even me, black and not, I can't speak to certain things cuz I didn't, I was never poor. My mom made sure I ate. I never didn't go out without a meal. I didn't have to bath in cold water. Like several of us are like poor. Yeah.Dan Henry: (01:36:21)There's so many levels of rich and there's so many levels of poor. Like I thought I was poor, but then you describe your situation, but then you just described a situation, worse.Nehemiah Davis: (01:36:29)It gets worse. And I really can't speak to that. Cuz I had, I don't really speak to things that I haven't really went through. Like I could show you how to make a million dollars online, 2 million, cuz I've done it right. Multiple times you can show. But I can't really speak to some of the situations educated enough cuz I didn't go through it. I went through a level of, I was never poor. I was never messed up. I just went through some stuff. I didn't have a father. I certain things.Dan Henry: (01:36:55)But you had a place to live.Nehemiah Davis: (01:36:56)Oh yeah I was good. But some kids don't have that.Dan Henry: (01:36:58)May be a nice place to live, but it was a place to live. Most people don't have a lot people.Nehemiah Davis: (01:37:02)It was nice. It was nice based on what I knew, then you get me. So if you live in the hood and a row home where it's not, you know, New York have row homes, brownstone, but I'm saying if that's all you know, is it's normal. So we gotta find a way to create new normals, everybody needs to do that. Everybody. What is your new normal? My new normal is traveling. My new normal is spending time with my family like, but it is the biggest thing is going in the community and showing people that it exists.Dan Henry: (01:37:31)How did it feel to propose your wife on the fricking Harvy show?Nehemiah Davis: (01:37:34)It was dope bro. She was so surprised man. She was,Dan Henry: (01:37:37)This was on the Steve Harvey Show?Nehemiah Davis: (01:37:38)Yeah, she was so surprised and happy bro. It was dope. But that came from me giving back to the community. I asked my friend, can she get me on there? She said, yep. And she plugged that right up bro. And I met her. She said she found me online from giving back. So she said, you never know, shout out Patrice Washington, you never know got the power to bless you. And she put me right on there. I'm like, wow.Dan Henry: (01:38:00)You know, it's funny. I saw that in your bio and I've always, I love Steve Harvey. Love Steve Harvey. I always had this. Cause I don't think he does the Steve Harvey show anymore. He only does radio. Yeah. I always had this dream of being on the Steve Harvey show. I don't know why specifically that show.Nehemiah Davis: (01:38:15)It's not too late. You got other shows.Dan Henry: (01:38:17)Yeah. I know but when I saw that you were on it and then you got to propose to your wife, I was just like, that must be the coolest feeling ever. You know? And then dude, we always like, you know, what's funny is we always talk about stuff, about you getting on jets and all this stuff and, and cuz I don't even do that, but I don't like to fly. So, you know but you always talking about your wife. You know, you always like have pictures of your wife getting on the plane. Yeah. And like just how has, I don't know her background. I don't know. Where she came from.Nehemiah Davis: (01:38:49)I met her in my last job. She made more money than me when I met her.Dan Henry: (01:38:52)Really? What was her job?Nehemiah Davis: (01:38:54)She was customer service at the private airport.Dan Henry: (01:38:57)Oh, at the, oh, okay. So still not didn't come from like a wealthy background.Nehemiah Davis: (01:39:01)Oh, she came from worse than me. I mean, raise herself. You know like her situation was, dude, she was with beating on her like all the time. Like she came from way worse, like a different level of worse than me.Dan Henry: (01:39:16)Can you just, we're almost out of time, but can you, can you just answer this question for me? Yeah. So your wife, she came from, you know, even worse poverty than you did. And I want to know what it was like the look on her face and how it made you feel the first time you were able to take her on a private jet.Nehemiah Davis: (01:39:40)Bro, made me feel good. Cuz she, I wanna say, I don't know this is accurate, but she was still working at that job. So we went to the airport while she was off that day. But I was able to take her to the job that fired me and shout out to my mentor Mark. He, he put me on my first private jet. He let me drive my dream car then, which was Bentley from his office out to the private jet we just got on. And it was just, it was surreal. It was like that moment that I've been waiting for for nine years finally came true. But again, once you, Myron says the quicker you get to your life, the long you get to enjoy it. Once I touch that jet, I've been on 50 of 'em. It's like, yeah, you gotta find a way to get expose yourself as quickly as you can, because once you get there, it's going to just,Dan Henry: (01:40:30)I just, I just really wanted to ask that question, you know, felt what was the reaction of your wife when you took her?Nehemiah Davis: (01:40:36)She was smiling ear to ear. I got the video and everything was crazy, bro. It, it was a good timeDan Henry: (01:40:42)Dude. That's that's that's incredible. That's incredible. Awesome. Alright. So where can people check you out more and go follow?Nehemiah Davis: (01:40:51)Yeah. So you guys could check me out Instagram @NeoDaviso, N E O D A V I S O. That is my main place that I hang out on. You also can just check me out We got GreatnessMastermind.Com. That's if you want to learn from me at a higher level. We're able to help you grow and scale your digital marketing business. And that's pretty much it follow me online and I would love to be able to add value and help you in any way that I can. Shoot me a DM.Dan Henry: (01:41:21)Cool, awesome.Nehemiah Davis: (01:41:22)Just write Dan HenryDan Henry: (01:41:23)I got, I gotta put you on the spot. So for our, How To Think users or How To Think members. You know, they get the daily success mentoring when they're a member, they get the business mentoring, but we also have some courses, some audio courses on our app that they can go through. And I would love if you have time just a mini course or something I would love to get you to come on and maybe submit a, just a simple audio course on your event stuff or so, or whatever you wanna cover. So that our users can can take that course.Nehemiah Davis: (01:41:59)Say, say no more it's audio or video?Dan Henry: (01:42:02)All audio. I keep it super simple.Nehemiah Davis: (01:42:02)Oh, that's dope. Audio course.Dan Henry: (01:42:04)Yeah. Yeah. It's just that it's so for anybody listening if, if you loved what Neo had to say, and you'd like to learn you can go to HowToThink.Com sign up as a member. And I think we're gonna be getting an audio course from him on that.Nehemiah Davis: (01:42:18)You will 100%. I got you.Dan Henry: (01:42:20)Yeah. Right, man. That's that's incredible, dude. Thank you so much for coming on was fantastic.Nehemiah Davis: (01:42:24)It pretty dope, bro. Thank you.Dan Henry: (01:42:25)Well, maybe we'll do it again next time you're in town, you know, we might get like some couple people and do like a round table round that would be sweet, so alright. Awesome man.  

>>> Get Daily Success Mentoring By Becoming A Member At How To Think<<<------Do you believe health is wealth?You might have heard that phrase before, but have you ever paused to consider how your health or lack thereof impacts your dreams, goals, and ambitions...Imagine what it would feel like to have the mental and physical energy you need to tackle your daily goals and responsibilities without the need for a midday nap or another Red Bull…Amazing, right?Now imagine what it would feel like to watch those goals and dreams slip through your fingers after years of hard work, all because your health is declining from years of grinding it out without proper rest and nutrition.One truth remains…You can pay for your health now, or you can pay for it later, but choosing to pay for it later will be far more costly than you think.If you’re someone who struggles with diet and fitness in your day-to-day routine, this is for you! In this episode, I talk with Will Myers about some of the most common mistakes and misconceptions about health and fitness. Will shares his insight into just how simple it can be to include a healthy diet and fitness routine into your already busy schedule without taking too much of your time!In this episode, Will and I cover:How To Avoid Splitting Your Circle Of FocusWhat Goes Into The Mindset Of BodybuildingWhat Common Diet Misconceptions Could Be Affecting Your Weight Loss Why Meals and Meal Timing Are KeyWhat Is The Biggest Weight Loss Mistake You Can MakeWhy You've Got To Be ResourcefulHow To Make Your Mindset Shift To Make It HappenHow It's Possible To Have It AllAnd… So Much More!If you got value from what you heard here, please be sure to subscribe and rate this podcast! Bonus points for you if you write a review! ;)  — SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW — Subscribe to Dan’s YouTube ChannelFollow Dan on FacebookFollow Dan on InstagramFollow Dan on TwitterClick Here To Get Daily Success Mentoring By Becoming A Member At How To Think — TRANSCRIPT — Dan Henry: (00:00)Hey, everyone. Welcome to the How To Think podcast, where we interview people who have done amazing things in life. And we sit down and talk to them and figure out how they did them, and what kind of mindset and paradigm shifts they made upstairs to really make that change and how they think. And today, we have an amazing guest. His name is Will Myers. He's a professional trainer, he's a bodybuilder and nutritionist. And the guy is absolutely amazing. He is actually my personal trainer that I met about six months ago. And we created this arrangement where I would help him with his business and he would train me. And in my time with him, I've experienced just insane gains in my personal health weight loss, building muscle. And I just wanted to invite him on the show to talk about it.Dan Henry: (00:54)And so over this I think it's a couple-hour interview, we talk about building muscle. We talk about losing weight, especially if you are a busy entrepreneur, we talk a lot about misconceptions and really some awesome tactics. Again, especially if you're busy and you're focused on, you know, trying to build a business or accomplish a goal, but you still want to be in shape and you still want to further your health goals. This is an absolute must-watch. And as always, if you're interested in getting daily success mentoring, you can go to HowToThink.Com and sign up to get daily mentoring with that said, let's hop right into the interview and get this party started.Dan Henry: (01:45)What's up, Will, how you doing man?William Myers: (01:48)My man. Doing good. Real good.Dan Henry: (01:49)So I had to bring you on because you know, a lot of times I bring people on the show who have like large social followings or what have you. And but that doesn't always mean they have the best information andWilliam Myers: (02:02)That's true.Dan Henry: (02:02)Yeah. And I've been working with you now for how long, how long have we been working out together? Six months?William Myers: (02:10)I think. Yeah. We're crossing into that six months.Dan Henry: (02:11)Yeah. So, so I'm gonna, actually, if you look at the picture this is what got me and I'll, I'll let you tell the story of how we met in a moment, but you, you are a high-level, high-level, personal trainer, bodybuilder and your transformation from basically a skinny guy that I always tell you, you look like that, that dude at the beginning of Ironman One. That skinny dude in the cave. You know, but that transformation from that to the picture on the right is just absolutely insane. And how long did that take?William Myers: (02:51)That was about three years.Dan Henry: (02:52)Three years.William Myers: (02:53)Yeah.Dan Henry: (02:53)And that was completely clean. No gear, no steroids.William Myers: (02:56)Absolutely. Yeah. All natural.Dan Henry: (02:58)Wow.William Myers: (02:58)Food and hard work, man.Dan Henry: (02:59)And I know, I know a lot of people are not gonna believe that because they just don't. They always associate it with that, but I've been working out with you for six months and we've been, you know, talking and I've like, I just know because I've, you know, I've, we talk about it and we meet people that are on and off and.William Myers: (03:18)Right. The difference is crazy.Dan Henry: (03:20)Yeah. The, yeah, because you, you see that, that immediate over vascularity and, and all that, you know? You did it naturally with food, and now that I've worked out with you and, your nutrition and, what you've helped me do, I can totally see how you did that in three years. It's funny because I had personally, you know, being an entrepreneur is tough when it comes to working out.Dan Henry: (03:44)Because not only do you have limited time, but you're sitting a lot and you have fires to put out constantly and you, sometimes you just have to like go and deal with something, you know? But I had struggled to lose weight for a long time. And then I, sort of, you know, figured some things out. I bought some programs and I was able to lose weight and I was able to actually lose a lot of weight and get pretty skinny. But I was skinny. I was,William Myers: (04:10)I remember that photo.Dan Henry: (04:11)Yeah. I was like super skinny. And I was getting like, I was getting comments on like Instagram and stuff, like oh, you need some muscle and da, da, da, da. You know? And I was never able to do both to like gain muscle and maintain more of a lean lean look.Dan Henry: (04:26)And since I've been working out with you, I've just, I mean, Brandon, go to go to the wide shot. Let me, see the like, look at that. I, my arms have never been that big. I'm just gonna, they're not as big as Wills over here, but I've definitely put on some. Grab that bobblehead real quick. You made a,William Myers: (04:42)Oh boy,Dan Henry: (04:42)You made a comment. So this right here, this is hilarious.William Myers: (04:45)Y'all gonna love this.Dan Henry: (04:46)This right here. Somebody sent this to me as a gift. And it's a bobblehead of me. And you'll notice that my head is pretty large. And I'm pretty skinny. And this was actually built to scale at the time of me being sent this.William Myers: (05:06)It's a perfect before shot, man. It's perfect.Dan Henry: (05:09)And but now, but as you said, I need a new one now, right?William Myers: (05:12)Yeah. You can hold a bunch of those awards now.Dan Henry: (05:14)That's funny.William Myers: (05:15)Little guy. Should we put 'em back on the stand or is he gonna hang out with us?Dan Henry: (05:18)Yeah. We're gonna hang out right here. Yeah. We got little, little bobble. Okay.William Myers: (05:21)That's right, that's your past man. That's good. Yeah.Dan Henry: (05:23)So I wanted to bring you on, because I wanted to talk about cuz your approach to not just nutrition, but, but lifting weights and all that is very, very different than anything I've seen. And I've been trying to study everything. And I know that nutrition and working out is like a very polarizing topic. You post any advice whatsoever about it and you'll have 50 different people with 51 different opinions, you know, just going ham on the comment saying that's wrong, this is wrong. And generally all those people are that make those comments are, they look like they've been hanging out at Krispy Kreme for a little bit too long. So I don't, I don't know how muchWilliam Myers: (05:59)Or they don't have any pictures up.Dan Henry: (06:01)Or they don't ave any pictures up. Right, right. So what we're gonna do today is I'd like to get into some of this and really talk about cuz you know, the whole like burning out certain muscles before you do other muscle groups, the meal timing, like this is game changing stuff. I actually eat more calories now and I've been leaner and more muscle mass than I ever have eating more. And it's just, it's incredible, like the change there. But before we get into that, tell I'd love for you to share the story of how we actually met and what transpired there.William Myers: (06:36)Right. Right. From the jump from the beginning.Dan Henry: (06:38)Yeah. From the beginning.William Myers: (06:39)Yeah man. My surprise. I mean the story is, it's a true story and everything, you know, as crazy as it is seeing you and being surprised with everything. But I used to be a massage therapist and I was on an app that kind of sends you out to different people. So people can basically order a session and you just show up. And so this was something I was doing when I first came down here, down into the new Florida area, building my business, working with personal training, working in gyms,Dan Henry: (07:02)You came from Maryland, right?William Myers: (07:03)Yes. In Maryland. Yep. Had a whole practice up there. Had to close everything down of course, like many people did, and I just took that as an opportunity to move on. But this app was great because no matter where I was, I could log in and it would, you know, tell people I'm available.William Myers: (07:17)So I received a, a notification for a session. So I got on the road and it actually was on the complete other side of basically Tampa, Florida. You're on the opposite side, over there in St. Pete. So I was going over to the whole other side and you know, my whole goal was get there, get the session done and roll out. Originally, I wouldn't be doing it, but I had a client that canceled. So if anybody was a business owner, that's out there, you know, like if something cancels, you wanna try to refill that spot instead of just taking the night off. So for me it was like, okay, so what can I do? So I get on the car, get in the car, get on the road, get to this session. I'm probably about 45 minutes into the drive. Maybe about 20 minutes left.William Myers: (07:54)And the app just automatically switches and changes. And it says, now I need you to go to St. Pete, there's a new offer and you don't have to go to this one that's here in wherever it was Riverview or something. I don't know. So I texted you through the app. Obviously I had no idea who I was talking to and I was just like, Hey man, I'm gonna be there at whatever time it was. And I just got right on the road and made the full trip back across town.Dan Henry: (08:15)Oh man.William Myers: (08:16)Went over the big bridge, got into St. Pete. I was like, look, this is what I'm doing tonight. I'm a committed person. If I say, I'm gonna do it. You know, especially when it comes to my business, I'm gonna make it happen.Dan Henry: (08:24)Yeah. I think I had ordered it that night. I don't, I don't remember. I think I might have been like sore from Jujitsu or something like,William Myers: (08:30)Yeah. Something about your neck and it was real tight. Well, at this point, I didn't know. I had no idea what I was kind of walking into. Right. And so I get out there in this area and I've also in my past done, some Uber driving. So I had actually dropped someone off near your area. And I remember getting past the gates and remember thinking like, this is a massive place. And the dude I was dropping off was so drunk. So I didn't have a conversation with him or anything like that who knew I would end up back in the neighborhood. So I pull up to the, to the gate, they asked for my information, they got me on the list. They opened up this gate. He's like keep driving. So you find another gate. So I'm like, okay, so this is the gated of the gated. So, you know, like, what am I about to walk into? And I've worked with a lot of celebrities in the past and stuff too. So I was kind of excited almost like, okay, who's this gonna be? And I remember pulling into your driveway, cool lights in the ground, little lights in the cement, something I hadn't seen before. And I was just like, all right, this is real deal stuff. Huge fountain in the front, two garages, all this cool stuff.Dan Henry: (09:24)And little did you know it would be an internet nerd.William Myers: (09:27)No idea. I'm actor or something. I'm knocking on the door, thinking who is this about to be? This is about to be crazy. And then you, and then all of a sudden door opens up, I see this head, this little figure, pop out and, and asked me to come on in. And so I'm just thinking to myself, okay, this has gotta be like a spring break or renting the house for the weekend.Dan Henry: (09:46)Like an Airbnb or something.William Myers: (09:47)Airbnb. Yeah. Cause that stuff's getting cool nowadays. So I was like, okay, this has gotta be a whole bunch. I saw a bunch of shoes on the ground. So I was like, this has gotta be a party or something like that. And then you take off, I go ahead and set up and, and the place is beautiful. You remember, of course the pool table was down there. Beautiful view.Dan Henry: (10:02)When I sold that place, I gave them the pool table. I got a new one, by the way. Did you see it?William Myers: (10:07)Of course, man, I follow you.Dan Henry: (10:08)You gotta come by. You gotta come by and we gotta shoot.William Myers: (10:09)Oh yeah. The top looks incredible.Dan Henry: (10:12)Yeah. It's got that Simonis blue cloth, it's a Diamond ProAm, those are like, those are the same tables you see on like ESPN when they do tournaments and stuff. They're, they're super awesome. I love them. Yeah.William Myers: (10:23)Real deal.Dan Henry: (10:24)Yeah. So you gotta come over, but yeah,William Myers: (10:26)For sure.Dan Henry: (10:26)But yeah. So you walk in,William Myers: (10:28)Walk in. Yep. See all this fancy stuff everywhere and you take off and so the whole time, I'm just, I'm literally, I don't think in any way that you own it, you know, in any way.Dan Henry: (10:36)I got that a lot.William Myers: (10:37)Yeah. I was just like, all right, well, this is gonna be cool. We're just gonna be chilling. You know, like the whole, I met a celebrity feeling is kind of gone at that point cuz I'm just like, you know, they're just Airbnb. So we get talking and at some point in time you like make a mention of selling the place. So immediately all those thoughts came back. I was like, okay, so now, so wait, so you own this, who is this guy? What is this? What is this and that? And then you were like you speak on stage, and you work on the internet and stuff like that.Dan Henry: (11:03)Yeah, I remember, I remember you perked up and you started asking me questions when I happened to mention that.William Myers: (11:09)Well, yeah. I had to find out who you were. You know, I was like, wait a second. What is this? And the thing is, I didn't wanna like take away from your session. I was like, let me go ahead and help this person out. But at the same time, who is this person? You know what I mean? And it's kind of like a situation, you know, you may meet someone that isn't a higher profession or something, someone that you're looking up to. And you're just like, I would love to ask this person questions and this and that. But at the same time, that's not why I'm here. You know, I don't wanna seem pushy and all this and that.Dan Henry: (11:34)You know, what's funny in that neighborhood, most of the people that lived in there, they weren't celebrities. They were doctors. I swear to God, every one of my neighbors, when I lived, there was some sort of doctor or they owned. There was actually a billionaire that lived there. He owned a, he had a portfolio of something crazy, like 900 primary care practices. He wasn't a doctor. He just owned. Yeah. He had just built up to like 900 locations for primary. And he sold that for, he sold the whole portfolio of those primary care practices for a billion dollars. It was like 980 million or something like that. And he was old as dirt. Like the guy, every time I met him or saw him at like a function at the clubhouse or something, I thought he was gonna disintegrate in front of me, but he was a super nice guy.Dan Henry: (12:25)And when I met him, I remember asking, trying to ask him some questions and stuff, because I felt the same way as you like this, dude's like a billionaire. Like, he looks at everybody probably, you know, just like, you know, whether you are a millionaire or you're broke, you're like the same, you know. Not even. It's not even in the ballpark. So I remember trying to ask him some questions, but yeah, believe it or not, there was like hardly any celebrities in there. And I would absolutely not consider myself a celebrity. This is quasi internet celebrity. Like not real. Like, you know, vegan celebrity, you know, the like not real dairy, you know? ButWilliam Myers: (13:03)I still had an idea something though. Cause I knew when you said on stage and YouTube and internet, I just was thinking, it's like, well, this is where everything is headed. So I know that there's an opportunity. You probably have some of incredible engagement or something, you know, or you're out here figuring out something else, how to make the money.Dan Henry: (13:20)I usually just tell people I'm a drug dealer and I just watch them squirmWilliam Myers: (13:23)It was, it was either that or something. I was like, whatever you're doing is working.Dan Henry: (13:26)I say either drug dealer or porn star, but the porn star one doesn't work because I don't think they make that much money.William Myers: (13:32)No, bro. It's way different. Way different.Dan Henry: (13:34)Oh, you know something about that.William Myers: (13:37)Man, I wouldn't share it if I did.Dan Henry: (13:39)I would Google you. But then I was like, wait a minute. I don't want to, I don't wanna see that.William Myers: (13:43)Right. Right. Dude. I don't even know as far as I know, ain't nothing up there, man.Dan Henry: (13:48)As far as you know? Well, that's not, that's not good. Anyway, go ahead.William Myers: (13:54)I mean, it, it was really just, it was cool. Just kind of getting to see kind of how, just hear you talk, you know, you were sharing and the thing is you didn't really kind of go into sales or anything like that. It wasn't a, it was just kind of sharing who you were. We talked about your Jujitsu, we talked about some of your training as well. We talked about your flexibility. Just kind of in reality, the normal stuff that I talk about. You know, and I think you had mentioned or asked or something. I think you were just like dude, there's no way you're like you're too good to be working on a massage app or something like that.Dan Henry: (14:26)Yeah, that's true. Because when I've ordered, like I have a like memberships, some massage places where you go every month, but I also, if I'm in a pinch, no pun intended, you know, I will order it off one of those apps. And you know, generally you get somebody and whether it's the app or you go to one of those like massage, corporate massage places, it's okay. It's like, you know, eh but it's, it's like one step above like a, you know, Asian massage parlor, you know?William Myers: (15:01)Right.Dan Henry: (15:03)Not that I would know anything about that.William Myers: (15:04)Right. Now he's flipped the table onto you, right.Dan Henry: (15:07)I just read that on Reddit, you know, but so they they're generally not that good. And you were like really good. Like you were like, it, it wasn't even like a massage. It was like some sort of like sports therapy, you know? And that's why I had to ask cuz I was like, there's no way like what's going on here, you know? But yeah, you, you were, you don't do massage anymore, but absolutely the best ever. Like it, you have this way of like just correcting things, you know. It's like better than chiropractor getting going to a chiropractor. It's ridiculous. But anyway so, so yeah, I did ask you, I asked you why the hell you were on that app.William Myers: (15:50)Yeah. And, and that it kind of, I think that's what kind of started that conversation heading that way, because I kind of shared how, what I was doing in Maryland had multiple practices up there, personal training, massage, doing a bunch of rehab work as well, nutrition work too. And how I had to just kind of move everything and figure out what I was gonna do once we had all the shutdowns. And then when I came down to Florida, the goal was how can I network with as many people as possible. So I joined on the apps, a couple different apps for personal trainers and for massage therapists. I joined into, I think I had eight gym memberships, and every day I would go to a different gym and just talk to people while I was working out. So in my mind it made it seem like I was a regular at every single place. And so it just, within a couple months I knew so many people just from simple networking.Dan Henry: (16:36)Yeah. You, I remember you telling me that you would go to gyms, work out, make friends with people. Next thing you know, you had all these personal training clients, you weren't really pitching that you were just walking in there and they were like, Hey man, look, how do you get jacked, you know?William Myers: (16:47)Yeah. Not one pitch.Dan Henry: (16:49)Yeah. It was brilliant marketing.William Myers: (16:51)Thank you, man. Thank you. And, and where we're training now, you know, I have toned it down big time, but still I can't even help just to have simple conversations, you know? Cause I'm just so used to it. It's like I kind of have a system on like couple days worth of speaking to somebody. I know we'll be buddy, buddy. You know, I'm never trying to rush anything or anything like that. But if I find someone who has like that shield up, but they give a little bit of a sign that they might be open to talking or like, you know, whatever. If I see anything, then they're gonna get a couple head nods, couple what's up for a couple days, you know? And then eventually it's just gonna be, Hey, what's up, man? What are you hitting today?Dan Henry: (17:26)And that's a good networking lesson, especially if you're like, if you're listening to this in your personal trainer, that's a good networking lesson.William Myers: (17:33)Absolutely.Dan Henry: (17:33)I know when we work out I try to not talk to anybody like you, you're the social butterfly and I'm just like, I don't talk to anybody. But so, you, yeah, we started talking about, we were doing the massage and we started talking about all that and I was commenting on how good you were. And I, this is my thing, man. When I, when I like, it's like, let's be honest. Most people suck at what they do. Let's just be, let's just call out the elephant in the room. They suck at what they do. So when I come across somebody who is really good at what they do and they're working some job that, to me is like, cuz I know so many people who have made a lot of money, even millions who are not that talented, you know, the age of the internet and all that.Dan Henry: (18:17)It's, it's not that difficult to become a millionaire these days. So when I meet somebody who's not, and they're like 10 times more talented than a lot of people I know that are I get this weird sort of like, I don't know, like it kind of pisses me off, you know? And I have to like tell that person like, dude, you know, you could be doing a lot better. I feel like it's my duty to do that. So I mentioned that to you and I think that's how the whole thing started.William Myers: (18:43)Yeah, no, it, it was wild when you mentioned it, you were like, I help people you just kind of, kind of gave me a little bit on how you help people crate their courses and basically monetize their knowledgeDan Henry: (18:53)Online business and all that.William Myers: (18:53)Yeah. And, and it's like, it's crazy because when they shut us down, up in Maryland on a Friday, I had my business online on a Monday on that Monday, the next day or the next couple days. So, you know, I went online. I was looking like, so what are people doing to get their, on what programs are people using? I did all the research and the good thing, the, the best part about it is I had people that wanted to do it right away. Like I had a huge group of people that were just like, we don't wanna stop. Like, is there anything that you can do to put together for us? So there was the need. So I needed to create something to fill that. And so put together, my programs started teaching on zoom and such and like just trying to figure it all out, figuring out camera, figuring out audio, all that stuff. It just took a while. And like, as we've talked about many times.Dan Henry: (19:41)Yeah. I mean it's pain, the pain in the, getting all this stuff to work, you know?William Myers: (19:42)I mean, but I'm telling, like I said, this is amazing. Like you guys did a great job, but also at the same time, I've never seen anything like it, like I'm like,  it sounds credible. It's justDan Henry: (19:52)It took us a while to build it.William Myers: (19:53)It's great motivation.Dan Henry: (19:54)Yeah. It's, I do have a little bit of an advantage. I went to school for audio engineering, so that helps. But you know, it's all Google, Google, LA, LA,William Myers: (20:04)Oh, that's the thing. I looked up videos and such. And when you had said that, it just, I was like, okay, like all the events that got me here tonight happened for a reason because I had spent the last year and a half recording all my classes, writing them all down in spreadsheets, figuring out my progressions and just and doing it because I was naturally doing it anyway. So I just figured I'll eventually use this material because going online gave me an idea. I had a client who was always talking about, you gotta figure out how to scale yourself. And for a while I had no idea even what that really meant. And so I thought to myself, like, how am I gonna scale individual one-on-one hour by hour coaching. I only have 24 hours in a day. And so, and I should be sleeping.William Myers: (20:47)Right. And so, especially for recovery, right. Generally. So I had to figure out something else. So I knew eventually I was this whole massive collection I had of all these group workouts, at home stuff, all this different stuff I was doing, I had it all. So I had to figure out how do I package it? You know, how do I create videos that people can follow? How do I create a very easy system for people to just click and watch, click and watch or, or whatever. So I hadn't really thought deep into this. When I first came to Florida, my mind was thinking business, business. I gotta fill up my schedule. So I realized, I didn't realize it quickly, but I eventually I was setting up the same thing I had in Maryland, which I actually wasn't necessarily that happy for. You know, I was very busy. I had great income, but I had no personal life. And I was also traveling from gym to gym, session to session, therapist, going to people's home. I was doing so much. I was all over the place. The challenge with that is no free time, no social life, you know, struggling with just trying to enjoy myself. So when I eventually did leave, my goal was I need to find a way so I can enjoy the time when I'm not working.Dan Henry: (21:58)Right. Because what's the point of doing it, if you, if you can't ever enjoy your time? And I think that's when I mentioned to you I mentioned to you that you should read my book. I don't think I, if I remember, I don't think I had one laying around. And didn't you end up going and buying it after that session?William Myers: (22:16)Yeah. Literally I pulled out, I went out the last gate and I sat there and I was, cause I had already had it on my phone. I looked it up when you like, when I was putting stuff away. And so I just went ahead and ordered it and then it had the little, get the audio book as well. And I just happened and to click that too, just cause I was just thinking about it. So I started playing it on the way home. It was probably about 30 minute drive.Dan Henry: (22:34)Oh, wow. Man, you went right into it.William Myers: (22:36)Yeah. Cause I, it was like, I mean,Dan Henry: (22:37)I didn't even know that.William Myers: (22:38)I had the proof right in front of me.Dan Henry: (22:39)Oh yeah. You walked the yeah, the houseWilliam Myers: (22:43)I was like, all right. Let's see what he's about. And it was, it was like, it was exactly what I needed to read because it was like that next step, you know, of like, I don't know what it was that told me to record all this stuff and get all this stuff down in the first place. But that next message from wherever, the universe, came from that book and it just was like, all right. So lemme go ahead and read this here. See if this makes sense for me, because we're already, he's already speaking, you know, online, he's already figured out how to brand himself, how to market and network himself, which is something I'm looking to do. I can network myself incredibly in person, but figuring out how to do it through a computer was a whole different ballgame.Dan Henry: (23:24)Yeah. It's a totally different, totally different world. You almost have to kind of create a character that you play online, you know? It's funny. Cuz sometimes when I meet people in, actually every time I meet people in person, they go wow, you first, they go, you're way taller than I thought. And then they say you're you're like a really nice guy. Like I never didn't think you would be that nice. And I, I always say to myself, like, God am I that much of a dick online, online.William Myers: (23:49)It's good to hear it every now and then.Dan Henry: (23:50)I just don't like to type. So I always say things very short and very, it's like a lot of like hyperbole because I'm just like, I don't have time to like add in the things to sound nice. Here's the answer, you know? But so you waited to get the book. You did the audio book and then didn't you didn't you immediately like take some action. I didn't talk to you for like what a month or two?William Myers: (24:14)Yeah, it was about a month. It was about a month, month and a half. And because I had read your book, I was thinking to myself, maybe this guy's waiting for me to come through with some great sales tactic to get his attention. Cause I was like, what is, why is dude not answering? You know? But you were moving, you had all that stuff going on.Dan Henry: (24:26)Yeah. I was moving at the time. You should see my phone. I have like 250 missed text messagesWilliam Myers: (24:33)That's per hour. I get, I know. Right. So, so I, you know, I understood. And, and the thing was like, when I do connect back with this guy, cause I knew I eventually would. Cause I had also looked at because I was hooked after listening to that and going through the story. So I started looking up some other people in the field and what they were doing in fitness. And so started following a couple of them getting a couple ideas. And I realized like, okay, this is the scaling that people are talking about. This is how I can do it. I don't need to sit and do one on one with people. I need to create a program that they can now follow on their own. And then actually use me for individual coaching calls or like we've done voxer and stuff like that, learning all that. But the biggest thing I got from the book was going to high-ticket and I had already made a high-ticket switch earlier on in my career. When I left a lot of the gyms I was working, when I went to online, I started charging basically charging the same, but since I wasn't having to pay out the gym, I was, I gave myself a little raise. So it gave me a little bit of time. I didn't have to stress as much to find new clients.Dan Henry: (25:34)Isn't that amazing how when you have your own business, you can give yourself a raise. It's like, it's like the biggest, likeWilliam Myers: (25:39)I've always, always said that, man always said that. Yeah. And, and so side note, it's been six years now. I've been working for myself and I've always thought that if I was ever tight, it was just like, okay, let's hustle a little bit more and let's go ahead and get that raise. Yeah. You know, I knew I could do it myself.Dan Henry: (25:55)So, you didn't you implement that, you started a program. I didn't even talk to you for like a month, month and a half. And then when I reconnected with you you had already had your program like up and running. Right. And you were doing pretty well with it, right?William Myers: (26:08)Yeah. Yeah. I took the people I was already working with and just basically all that information I had, I turned it into a course and it was, it included everything. And since a lot of these people were already working with me as I was doing the classes and such, I was letting them know I was, I was building the excitement like, Hey, I'm working on this new course. You're all gonna have access to it. It's a portal you can click into on demand videos, 24/7. I was just like building it up every single class. And as soon as I rolled it out, you know, and the crazy, I actually rolled it out a week early because I got into some financial stress and I was talking to my brother. And I was like, dude, man, like I I'm trying to get this course. I gotta do this.William Myers: (26:46)I gotta pay this. You know, I went through a lot of dental stuff. So like, if anyone's been through dental pain, you want to take care of that as fast as possible. So I went ahead and, and went with the high ticket and I was like, you know what, it's not a hundred percent ready, but there was something in that book about selling the course before you finish it. And so I was like, let me just give it a shot. And so I wrote up an email, sent the message out, and eight people bought right away and then five more people bought after that.Dan Henry: (27:14)So how much did you make altogether?William Myers: (27:16)It totaled $8,000.Dan Henry: (27:18)So, you left my house and read the book I connected with you like a month, month and a half later, and you'd made eight grand that's awesome. That, and you know what, that's some serious action taking and you know what, when you told me that, that's, that's when I knew that you were like, you were, you were very different than most people. You were somebody that takes a lot of action and that's very rare. And then we, you know, we connected, we made this agreement that I would sort of help you out, and you'd train me and we'd barter like that. And since then, we've, we've adjusted. We've created, had you create sort of a different program. That's more high touch a little bit more expensive, but you, you work very closely with people and that program has done really well.Dan Henry: (28:02)You're getting a lot of results for your people. Like you're getting crazy results and you, you know, you create nutrition plan for them, all costs, you know all that stuff. So it's that, that's awesome. So let's dive into some stuff about like nutrition and and working out. One of the things that I noticed for right away when we started working out together was that let's say I was working on I don't know, like back, right. You had me do a bunch of bicep work to just exhaust the biceps so that they could not help when I was doing back. And I thought that was like really interesting because it makes sense, right? Like if you're doing back and your another muscle, like your biceps are helping well, then you're not really fully getting the back workout in. So if you, you know, you kill those muscles and then you work that out, you know, can you go into that a little bit and explain how that all works?William Myers: (29:02)Yeah, absolutely. It's all breaking down compound lifts. So when we work out, we think about compound movements and then isolated movements, of course, a compound movement would be like back. And anytime that you're pulling something, you're using your lats and you're using your biceps some more muscles in your back, the rhomboids and the post delts. So all of those muscles are working together, which means that circle of focus is gonna be split all over the place between those muscles. However, if you're noticing that, okay, when I do pull day, I'm noticing that I'm not getting as much full engagement in my back. So there could be a situation with that neural pathway, neural pathways are the brain muscle connection. And so if that connection is not 100% and worked on all the time, obviously your brain's gonna kind of be doing multiple things at the same time. So what we do is we isolate those muscles that are overworking and many times in a pull action, depending on people's form, depending on how well they can control their shoulders. A lot of times the biceps and shoulders will be doing more work than the lats themselves will be doing.Dan Henry: (30:04)Could this be a reason why some people may work out, maybe they do a lot of back work and their back never grows, or really any other type of workout. You, you know, you do a lot of whatever work and that muscle just, you're not just, you're just not gaining, gaining any muscle there, even though you do all the time. Is that kind of, one of the reasons why that would happen?William Myers: (30:24)It gets towards it. You know, it's, I think the two main reasons are form, you know, making sure that you're engaging the proper muscles and then that neuromuscular connection, that whole mind muscle thing. And it's, it's really true is like, if, you know, if you're just kind of going through the motions and not really focusing on the muscle, you're not gonna get as good of a benefit as if your mind, your brain was really there for each bicep curl. And that importance is just the same. When doing a simple lat pull down or a simple squat, a good example, let's say, you know that you, you sit a whole lot. When you do those squats, you're gonna be kind of when you do that squat, you're gonna mimic the form of when you're sitting in that chair, cuz certain muscle are gonna be tight. Certain muscles are gonna be weak for most of us that sit our hip flexes get really tight because they're shortened up.William Myers: (31:08)And then we're sitting on these glutes. So they become cushions. And the problem with that is you need the glutes to work in a squat and you need those hip flexes to in a way, pull you down into the squat. So if those are two areas, like the hip flexors don't have their length that they need and the glutes don't have their strength, neither of them can truly work in that squat, which means the only other muscle that's gonna do all the work is those quadriceps. So whenever you hear someone say a quadricep dominant squat, it means the quads are doing more work. And so in that case, I would need to make sure that the quads are exhausted and I would then need to make sure that the glutes are activated and that the hip flexors are stretched out.Dan Henry: (31:47)So this is why we do like a lot of quad work before we do squats?William Myers: (31:52)In your situation, right. Exactly. We always activate the glutes with the resistance band work and it's never meant to be a lot. It's really just meant to get that mind, muscle connection going. Cause once you stimulate that, then you have a better chance of having that strong path when you're in the actual squat.Dan Henry: (32:08)So if you, if you've done a lot of squats and you still don't have a nice ass, it could beWilliam Myers: (32:14)Because you working in squads too much, right? Yeah. They should be balanced, you know, but there are quad dominant squats, and there are glute dominant squats and hamstring. When your hamstrings are too tight, that's gonna affect your squat as well. So if we're just talking about squat, you can think about every other move in the gym that has to do with multiple muscles. Any compound movement is likely gonna have some sort of imbalance, whether it be from the front of the body, to the back of the body or the right to the left. A lot of times you think, oh my right arm is stronger than my left or something like that.Dan Henry: (32:47)Yeah. I noticed that when we do leg extensions, you never ever have me do two, actually explain this real quick. This is something a lot of people don't know. I heard you talking to a guy in the gym the other day, why you never, ever, ever should do dual leg leg extensions. You always do in one legged. Can you explain why that is?William Myers: (33:07)Absolutely. So the never, ever only comes in play to the machines where the attachment is only on one side old school back in the day. If anyone can think of a leg extension, you're sitting in a chair and you put the bar under on top of your shins and you're kicking those legs out back in the day, the attachment used to be right in the center. So when you were doing it, it was like a cable that went underneath of your seat, basically. So you were guaranteed to be hitting both the same. However, with these new machines, it's like a pad, it's one bar and it's only attached on the right side, the side closest to all the weights and such. Over time that side will stay fixed. And this other side will slightly go forward because there's nothing really holding it there, no matter how strong that metal is, you have people hitting that thing every day, eventually something's gonna happen. And so what happens is the side that's closest to the attachment is gonna work harder. And the side that is slightly angled out is not gonna work as hard. And it's a very small thing. You probably really can't feel it unless you really have that mind muscle connection.Dan Henry: (34:08)And I remember you met this guy. We were working out and he was like, why is my left quad bigger than my right quad? Why is...William Myers: (34:16)Yeah, he had his right was way bigger. And he had better activation with mind to the right side. Cause I was teaching him how to pose and he could do everything he needed. He could get the muscles to pop on only the right side. But the left side was just, it almost looked like he hadn't even been working it. And the crazy thing after we did a little bit for that day, by the end of the day, he actually was starting to activate certain muscles in there. So it's, again, it proved to me real quick is like mind, muscle connection can be grown in minutes if you know what you're doing, but yeah, his situation, he was like, I always do them both legs at the same time, you know? And I was like, if you just go out there and hold both and just look at them, there's a good chance that the side that's not fixed is gonna be slightly angled.William Myers: (34:58)And it wasn't. And it really was when I saw a machine, some random place I went to and it was a dramatic difference. Like it was a real big angle and ever since then I've used it. And you know, brand new machines are probably not gonna deal with it as much, but I really like the idea of isolating one leg at a time. Not only were we making sure that both legs are getting a taste of that weight themselves, but that mind muscle connection, you know, in body building, we have to be, if some, if my coach says to me, alright, you're not flexing your left quad. I need to know how to keep everything else flexed, but then somehow send a message to that left quad to flex.Dan Henry: (35:34)So the thing we should take away from this is when you're doing a leg workout on, like, let's say just you know, quad or, I would imagine the same thing applies to a hamstring curl machine. Is always do it with one leg because you know, obviously lower the weight, one leg and then switch to the other, cuz now you're getting the full workout on that leg. And when you, and it's balanced and when you do with both, you're having an imbalance. One is working harder than the other always. And over time you'll develop, you know, a different looking set of muscles and a different size set of muscles on one side and you'll have this imbalance in your legs. Wow. See, that seems, that's some crazy stuff that people don't think about. They don't like, and these machines, they probably get imbalance after what, a few weeks.William Myers: (36:26)Exactly, you know, you just smashing 'em all the time. Yeah. You're right.Dan Henry: (36:28)That's, that's nuts, man. Like, like nobody thinks about that, right? Like there's little small reality things that nobody thinks about. And they're like, why is this? You know, they'll go and they'll try to solve it with all these different types of exercises. And it just comes down to something so, so simple as well, the machines are imbalanced. Cause that's just how they are and you just do it one leg and you'd be fine, you know? So that's cuz I, I've never been able to get my legs to grow, but since we've been doing this stuff with you, like my legs have grown and they're starting to fill out. And they're, they're starting to not look like chicken legs. You know, and that's a huge thing is like sometimes people will say, you know, they'll see somebody, who's got a decent upper body and they have these skinny legs and they'll say, oh he's got chicken legs, but they are working out their legs. They just, maybe they don't know the best possible way to do it. And since we've been doing it, especially those, those things that you do where you do the half or the quarter, the quarter squats at the bottom, the quarters, or like when we do leg press, right. You'll have me do a little teeny tiny movements at the bottom little, teeny tiny movements at the top and then the full length. Right. And that's brutal like that's right. That ends up being super brutal. But it's, it's made by legs grow like crazyWilliam Myers: (37:44)Tapping into the whole thing, you know, it's it's I like to think about origins and insertions. Every muscle has an origin and it also then inserts somewhere two different places where it attaches to bone. And normally they're two different bones because when that muscle contracts, it brings those bones closer together. So rather than just work in the middle, the belly of the muscle, my goal is to work the belly of the muscle, but then also work the fibers that get us closer to that origin. And then also the fibers that get us closer to that insertion. So we're treating the whole muscle and this is why I speak to everyone on flexibility because when you're not stretching your muscle, doesn't get to its optimal length. So you may be able to pump up a muscle and build a muscle. But if it's not at its optimal length and it's not at its most, be the best free range of motion in no way, are you really gonna be able to train it to its maximum. So that's why we speak on the multiple different types of flexibility. But there, you know, back in the day, many bodybuilders didn't stretch, but there also were the pros that hit the stage and they did. And so we, and for some reason it didn't just carry on through life. I think it's just because people are busy, you know, we want to get in, get a workout out and go, but we don't think about what tight muscles can eventually do.Dan Henry: (38:57)Well, the workouts that we do, I don't think you could get through them without stretching. I mean, there's just no way. And, and not even stretching, but the foam rolling like that, like how much is one of those foam rollers? What, 10, 20 buck?William Myers: (39:09)Nowadays. Yeah. Nothing. They're 10 bucks.Dan Henry: (39:11)Yeah. There's like 10 bucks and nobody uses them, you know? But rolling just just 10 minutes of rolling. I mean, I know of them because we use them a lot in Jujitsu and, and that's a common thing in Jujitsu, but if you don't do like wrestling or Jujitsu, you don't, you don't really see them a lot and you don't see, 'em use a lot and they're incredible for recovery because you just basically sit on them and you roll back and forth and it just works your muscle out. And it's amazing for recoveries. And that's like, just that right there is something that a lot of people just don't do. And they say, well, it's sort of like business, you know, be well, I'm working on my business, but it's not growing. And then you look at their business and it's like shit.Dan Henry: (39:50)Like they, they don't. I remember one time I met this person at a conference. I told this story on another episode, but I met this person at a conference and they said I had this Lang, they have a language company where they teach like Italian and all this. And they were complaining that they tried everything, keyword, everything and they couldn't get it to grow. Right? And I said, well, what about, you know, he's like, there's just not that much money in it. And I'm like, what about like Rosetta Stone and Hooked On Phonics? And he is like, oh, those companies are terrible because this and that. And mine's better. I'm like, well, if yours is better, how come you're not doing better? You know? And he's like, well, you know, excuse, excuse. And I said, well let me ask you a question who owns Hooked On Phonics?Dan Henry: (40:32)Who founded it? Oh, I don't know. So wait, your number one competitor, you don't even know who founded the company? You don't even know the origin story of how they got started and you've tried everything to grow your business? Bullisht. You haven't even researched your competitors at all. That's like phase one, like you can't tell me that you've tried. So a lot of times when people say, well, I've tried everything working out. No you haven't. Like no, you have not. Lies, complete lies. You know? So, so a lot of times people get discouraged, I think, with working out. Cause they cuz they feel like they've tried everything, but in reality feeling, feeling in reality, they don't, they don't generally exist in the same space, you know? So, and I learned that a lot when I started working out with you because there was just like so much. And how did you, how did you fricking learn all this? Like to go from skinny, you know, caveman over here to, to like jacked bodybuilder in three years, how did you and all these things, you know about the machines and the exhausting, the muscle, like how did you learn all that? Like where did that come from?William Myers: (41:37)Right. Well, my first part of the career was not about me. It was not about building my muscle. So I spent all my time learning this stuff, how to do it for other people. So I started out in fitness and there was a physical therapy space in the gym I was working at. So I started an internship there and just started soaking up the information from them. And that's everything I was learning. I was realizing was like, wow, so many people are spending time building, but how many people really understand the recovery? And so when I started doing that internship, they were, they would have me on like a wheeling chair and I would wheel myself between four or five people all the time, you know, working with at the same time. And I realize, and as I was working with these people, I would ask them the questions of what they're doing to fix their shoulder or fix their knee or whatever.William Myers: (42:20)And it was always responses only talking about the joint at question, it wasn't, they weren't in any way thinking about anything else. And so I was like, okay, so what are you doing for your cardiovascular? How are you helping get those nutrients through your body by boosting your circulation? Or are you doing anything for that? Or what about your flexibility in your shoulders? Cause you know, I know you're talking about your lower back, but have you thought about what's going on in your neck and it's, it was more of a holistic approach and that's just something I noticed that we didn't really tap into because we were we were stuck to a list that was covered by insurance, right? And I was looking at these people as all whole item. And so the rehab turned into massage therapy, which then of course, so many people were coming in.William Myers: (43:00)I was working with trainers and I would send my clients to them two months later, they'd come back and I would still feel or see the imbalance. And so I would then reach out to the trainer, be like, Hey, you know, just wanna check in, you know, you know, remember the goal was to do this, this and this. And every time I did it, it was, it felt like I was criticizing people because they always came back with a defensive response. And I was like, I'm not, my goal is not to make you feel like you don't know what you're doing. You know, my goal is to try to figure out how we both can help this person. And so after having multiple situations where it was just frustrating and people thinking, I was trying take clients and, and this, and hit them with slander or something like that,Dan Henry: (43:39)Scarcity mindset.William Myers: (43:40)Yeah. So I just was like, you know what, I'm just gonna do it myself. And so the gym I had was actually hosting a certification. And so I took that certification and then probably about three months later, took another one. But then I started working for that one because when, and I, it was a weekend certification and I was just offering all sorts of information while they were, they were like, raise your hand, have you got this? And I just was doing so much. So at the end of the class, the teacher came up to me and he was like, Hey man, you know, if you're interested in teaching something like this, we're looking for instructors. And so this program flew me all over the country to teach these certifications. And it was a, a basic personal training cert. But what it gave me was the opportunity to speak to 40 to 50 people at a time, every time.William Myers: (44:24)And what happened there was, I got questions. I mean, some people were brand new in the industry. Some people had been in the industry for 40 years and just needed to recertify. So that's why they were there. So I started having back and forth with all different types of people of the industry. And so I started being able to practice the information I was studying as well, hearing what they were studying, hearing from old school body builders, what worked and what doesn't work now and hearing from new school body builders, what works in now, would've never worked back then and just started kind of putting it all together. And then with the power of online, I was able to take tons of certifications. And especially when, you know, things were getting tough financially and I needed to be able to figure out, okay, what is something that I can add to my service now to make it better for my clients. So that's where I was just compounding certifications. And originally I thought it was like, we gotta go to college to get all this stuff. And I, you know, I went, I think I had three semesters in college and somebody was like, just go to this trade school and learn, it was like a, it was like the ligaments of the knee or something like that was the first thing.Dan Henry: (45:28)So you just went, you went deep on all this stuff. You went deep on and you had access to people old and new from the body building industry. You just, you just went deeper than most people go basically?William Myers: (45:39)Soaked it all up. Oh, wow. So I always figured I could, you know, there's tons of people in the industry just like there's tons of internet marketers, you know, I was like, so how am I gonna stand out? You know, everyone was afraid of, you know, the thing I was hearing because my certifi was a two day cert and people were getting certified. The main objection I was hearing from people was, well, I don't want a trainer that was certified in two days. And so I would say to them, well, I wouldn't either, you know, but you gotta do your homework to make sure that the person has their information and these people coming out of this industry or start coming out of the certification. Some of them were on two days of training, not all of them. Cause remember a lot of the people were coming in to recertify, but some of them were brand spanking new.William Myers: (46:20)And I was talking to some of them and they had online followings. Like you were talking about 50,000 people following a hundred thousand people following them. And they can't even answer some of the most basic fundamental questions I was asking in that course. So I thought to myself was like, okay. So our industry is about to be flooded with these people that just haven't taken the responsibility to learn everything. So I was like, so how and I used to speak this in my classes while I was teaching myself, you know, I was like, if I'm gonna stay on top, I have to be on top of my knowledge because the more people that come in what's gonna happen to our industry is people are gonna start losing faith in personal trainers. Cause they're gonna start to realize like they used to know a lot, but now they're just getting certified online in three hours.William Myers: (47:01)They don't know much at all. So it starts to really hit that credibility. When, when in reality personal trainers and people who are into health are the ones that can really save a lot of people from having to go down that path of surgeries and medications and a life of hospitalization just by simply making some proper decisions now. So I started to realize, I was like, we can really impact people, but at the same time we could hurt our credibility big time. So for me, it was like, rather than thinking about the credibility of everyone, I just need to make sure that I'm the absolute best that I can be. So the questions that come about, I have an answer right away. And if I don't have the answer, I have the resource to get the answer. So my thought was, you know, welcome all these people into the industry, but the less that they take, the less time they take to practice and get knowledgeable and understand the system, the less that they do, the better it's gonna make me look, cuz in no way, am I gonna stop. You know, it's kind of like when the student's like telling the teacher, I'm gonna catch you. And the teacher's like, well, good luck cuz I'm not stopping by the time you get to where I'm at, I'm gonna be even further up. So keep on climbing.Dan Henry: (48:09)It's a super strong mindset as well to have around that. Let me ask you what, what so I understand how this all transpired as a trainer as getting knowledge, but what, what inspired you to go like when you were skinny like that, what inspired you to try to put on that much muscle and become a body builder?William Myers: (48:29)Well, I was challenged to do a show, a buddy of mine, a good friend of mine did a show and I was at the gym we both worked at, I was a trainer. I was a massage therapist and I was leading the whole entire one of the companies actually in sales. So you know, this guy that I was hanging out with, he was like kind of coming up underneath me. The goal was to just kind of, I was sharing as much as I could with him. We were hanging out all the time, but it was really just like a student. And he went, I went to his show with him. I did a lot of his, a lot of bodybuilders. I used to do their therapy for those shows. So I would do sessions, massage sessions beforehand, backstage, and then afterwards all different types of sessions, but to help them perform better.William Myers: (49:08)And the one before stage was actually to help make things look better. And so I went to show of course, and right as we got, after we got outta the stage, he was like, I challenge you to do this. The next shows in four months. Four months. And I was looking at the people on stage and I was like, and so in my mind I'm thinking, I mean, four, four months, I think I, at one point I was like, you, I might be able to win my class, you know, the novice class. And then I remember sitting there watching the rest of the show and looking at these people that were up on stage, but I'd already said, all right, I'll do it. I'm not scared. No worries. No, you just automatically say yeah, sure, no problem. Not even thinking about it. And I remember going home and thinking like, okay, well I said, I'm gonna do it.William Myers: (49:48)You know, this is technically my student and real good friend at the time, it was just like, why not? He's gonna do one as well. So I decided just to jump on and just started training and really for me, what it was was, you know, I knew how to train. I knew how to keep my body healthy, make sure my joints were strong, but I didn't quite understand the mass part putting on mass. So I started really studying body building, basically how everything is metabolized. And once I started understanding calories and fuel and how the metabolism works, it just made sense for me. I was like, oh, okay. So cuz I do so much movement. I have a really high metabolism. So that means I'm gonna have to eat a ton of food. So for me the biggest challenge, it wasn't the training cuz I've already said it wasn't any of that stuff.William Myers: (50:33)It was figuring out the food for me, you know, constantly running around teaching classes, doing massage, doing one-on-one trainings and working out myself and doing my cardio. I remember for the first, for probably those four months, I slept like three to four hours a night, which I would never recommend for anyone trying to build muscle. Cuz you really need the recovery. At that point in time though, I was so focused on getting it all done that I didn't even care. I had blinders on. You know, I was just like, okay. I was working in all day and I couldn't get to the workout until 10 and I have to get up at 5:30, but my workout's gonna be sometimes an hour and a half long. So many times I'd be getting home 11:30 to 12 and then you gotta cool down. So I was getting to sleep between that 1, 2, 2:30 in the morning and having to get right back up.William Myers: (51:24)You know, so I don't even really remember two my much about those four months. It was just like, I gotta get on this stage. And I remember about a month out, I went to a friend at a nutrition shop and I told him I was doing the show and he was like, well let me see your ab's. So I pulled up, showed to my ab's, he was like, bro, you're not even close. You got four weeks. What are you doing? Like there's no way. And I was like, like I wasn't gonna quit. But I was like, okay. So what do I gotta do? So he's like, you have to go on probably the strictest diet anyone has had to do. You have to cut this. You have to go from 15% down to under five in the next four weeks. And I was like, all right. So what I have to do? So he gave me the most basic cookie cutter thing. He was like, look at this point, it just to be the extreme of the extreme in order for you to do it, you're gonna lose muscle by cutting this fast. But you know, you'll at least look like you were supposed to be there. Like you planned the show was that weekend. Nowadays many people go on to the stage and you're wondering what they're even doing there.Dan Henry: (52:24)Yeah. Well let me ask you this, cuz there's a lot of arguments and debates that go into diet. And I think, you know, people say, oh, you, you can eat carbs. You can't eat carbs. You can do this. You can do that. You can't do this. You know? And I think that what people forget is that you have to have the context in what you're talking about. If somebody is 50 pounds overweight and they need to lose 20 pounds, 30, 40 pounds, that's a much different situation than you want to get ripped. You know, it's a different thing. And I always say, cuz you know, I know I know some professional fighters and, and professional like Jujitsu players and stuff and people that have to cut weight. And it's funny because those people that I know when they cut weight, they do all things that everybody, all the chunky people say don't work.Dan Henry: (53:14)You know what I mean? Like the whole like, like when you gave me my diet, I was like, man, this is all the stuff people say doesn't work. But when I did it, it worked super fast. I mean, you remember that when we did that four week cut, I mean, it just fell off me. And I always think if you got a lot of weight to lose, right. Or maybe not even if you just have a whole lot, but imagine if you just even scratch the surface on what people do that are professionals, you know, the results you would get would be, would be amazing. I remember the first time I cut weight for a Jujitsu competition, Brandon actually helped me do it. And he gave me a diet that was, you know, somewhat similar to yours and the whole water cut thing and all that.Dan Henry: (53:59)And that was brutal. But you know, all the people that say, oh, you know, you can do this and you can do that and eat all the fat you want and all the carbs you want. I'm like, okay, well then why aren't you ripped? You know like, like, I mean it's a simple thing, you know? And so can you, can you talk about like some of the misconceptions when it comes to diet and also touch on your, the aspect of meal timing? Because when you introduce me to, you know, some people say, oh, you don't have to eat five, six times a day or, oh, you can eat one meal a day and all this and that. And I understand that if you have less calories than you take in and all that, you lose weight. But when you're really trying to get the most out of everything, save the muscle, build muscle while at the same time leaning out. Or if you're trying to preserve muscle and lose weight, can you go into some of the biggest misconceptions with that, and also why meal timing is so important?William Myers: (54:53)Right. Yeah, absolutely. I think the biggest misconception is that when you're trying to lose weight is to stop eating and to limit the amount of food that you're eating. Because yes, there's a difference between surplus and deficit, surplus, meaning you're eating an extra amount of calories and you should be having deficit meaning less. However, a lot of people, when they think alright, I'm gonna get into a situation, I'm gonna lose a bunch of weight. They think, okay, I'm just not gonna eat all morning. I'm gonna do some type of intermittent something. And then there, the thing is, if you do follow something like that, you have to understand why. And if there's not a good reason why, then there's no reason that you should be doing it. So if you're in a place where you're like, okay, I wanna lose a lot of weight, I'm gonna stop eating the question then is, why? So many people will then say, well, because I'm overeating and I'm not eating good stuff.William Myers: (55:40)And, and that's why the weight is there. And so the challenge is understanding the difference between fat and lean muscle. So lean muscle has a ton of nutrients. We eat protein to build muscle, right? So if we don't give our body that protein we're actually made up of really good protein. So our body's just gonna go ahead and metabolize that. So if we're in a position where we're not filling ourself up and fueling ourself to the air requirements, to be able to save lean muscle mass, then we're gonna lose it. And so the challenge is if you're then trying to lose fat, fat is not just gonna disappear right away. Fat is there's nothing in it. So your body's gonna store it. And so many times we talk about starvation mode. If the body doesn't have the food that it needs, it's gonna store the things it doesn't need and take from what it does. So in our bodies, that's take from the muscle and store the fat.Dan Henry: (56:30)Does it burn muscle before it burns fat, the body?William Myers: (56:32)It's gonna go right after the muscle. Yep. And so the reason is cuz it's, it's got nutrients in it's so good. It's like, what can we use the fat for now? A lot of people will say, well, then put yourself into a state where you're only burning fat as energy and fat is a fuel source. However, if there's any other type of glycogen in the system, your body's gonna go it's natural and use the glycogen or carb or sugar as it's fuel. So that's why people kind of get the, these new diets mixed up because there's an exsorbent amount of fat, a lot of fat, but there isn't necessarily the knowledge on understanding where all the carbs are. Many times carbohydrates can be coming in sauces and such, which will then put you in a position where you're not only fueling yourself off of fats. Now, of course, these ideas can be wide range for a lot of different people's metabolisms plus a lot of different goals. But one of the main things we have to do is at least fuel our system to a point where we can maintain our lean muscle mass.Dan Henry: (57:27)Right cause if you're losing weight and on the scale, it says you've lost 10 or 15 pounds, but in reality, you've lost most of that in muscle. And so you weigh less, but you still look just as fat. And in fact, you may even look worse. You might look like a skeleton that somebody slapped some skin on. That's just hanging all over the place, you know, because you, you have effectively, you know, you have lean muscle and you have fat and now all you're doing is taking away the lean muscle. So that the majority what's more on you is fat. So, yea, you may weigh less, but you actually look worse. You know, from people starving themselves. And that makes a ton of sense. You know, even when I was like, in my mid twenties, when I tried to lose weight, I would try to like starve myself and I would end up basically like losing weight, but I still looked like crap. And I was like, what is going on here? So that, that definitely that definitely explains that. Do you, do you think that or can you, can you touch on meal timing? You know, like, like why is it so important to eat at certain times? And what does that really do for you?William Myers: (58:38)Right. So the first thing is getting in food every two to three hours. And the reason we do that, I like to think of a, trying to start a camp fire. Right? If you, if I was to give you all of this fuel, all this wood for you to be able to keep yourself warm all night, would you put all of the wood on the fire right away to get a massive fire, which could burn you? It would be probably pretty hot. Or would you do a little bit of wood at a time? Every couple hours? Remember the goal is to stay warm all night, not necessarily get this massive bonfire.Dan Henry: (59:08)Yeah. I mean, I would do it. I would do it every couple hours. And as well, if you just put all the wood on there, the, fire would initially be like, exactly, hardly any fire at all. It would be like, just embers. And it would take a while for that to get hot. Whereas if you put a little bit on, it would get hot, pretty much right away.William Myers: (59:26)Right. It's a good example of couple holidays coming up where people stuff themselves as much as possible. And then everybody wants to lay down and go to sleep afterwards. And it's like, you gotta think a lot of the energy that your body spends to be a person and be outward is now being spent breaking down that food. So if it's too much food going in energy has to be spent breaking it down. Now you could go into absorption rates and how long it takes to break things down and all that stuff. But let's just use that simple analogy thinking about, okay, we need to perform all day long. If I have a massive meal in the beginning of the day, it is likely that I'm gonna be spending a lot of time breaking that food down. But then at a certain point in time, blood sugar's gonna drop.William Myers: (01:00:10)Food's gonna be gone. And the body's gonna crash. And many times the answer to that crash is an energy drink, sugar, coffee, something like that. However, what those do is they mess with the message to the brain saying, not saying that you're not tired. It's just telling your brain that it's not tired. Right? And I love, and I can't remember where I heard that, but I like to use that as much as possible because it's very, it's, it's so true. You know, I like to think like, okay, if my body is exhausted, something happened in the nutrition somewhere throughout the day. Maybe I didn't get my breakfast in properly, or maybe I had too many carbohydrates and fats in meals that I'm used to just having protein and fibers in. So my body's having to break more stuff down. So the goal of getting food in, in the beginning of the day of course, is to give you some energy, but then also get your nutrients in.William Myers: (01:01:02)Then as we make our way closer to the workout, we wanna start thinking about what's gonna fuel us through the workout. So right now we happen to be using glycogen and carbs as our primary fuel source. So the meals in a way build up to that, and then directly after that workout, we need to get some nutrients in as well. So a quick side note on that, I think the two best times to get food in, right when you wake up after basically being fasted all night, and then right after you work out after basically using whatever food that you have. So once food starts going in, you gotta think, okay, it may take about 45, 30, 45 minutes to break down. Then I have that food, which may last an hour to two. But if you're trying to build muscle, you system is constantly burning. So at a certain point in time, if the fuel's not put in, the engine's gonna crash and, and we're not like a car, you know, you run outta fuel, the car stops, or, you know, for us, when we run outta fuel, we keep going, the brain keeps us awake, cuz we're like, I gotta finish this project.William Myers: (01:02:01)I gotta make this call. So something has to fuel the system. That's where the body starts metabolizing itself. And we look at, and we don't even realize it. Sometimes you ever like be really hungry and then 30 minutes later, you're just not hungry anymore.Dan Henry: (01:02:15)Yeah. That's happened before. Not, not recently cuz of all the...William Myers: (01:02:18)Cause what you're doing.Dan Henry: (01:02:19)Yeah. But, but yeah it has happened in the past.William Myers: (01:02:22)And now, and that's, that's a good example cuz now your body is like, we don't have time to miss a meal. You know, like you're constantly training. You're out here doing Jujitsu and you're out here training. So you're asking your muscles to get stronger literally every day. So if there isn't fuel going into make that stronger than at some point in time, everything's gonna break down. And it happens in a couple different ways in weight lifting where you either get too tired to move on or you start hurting joints because the muscles are injured. So if you're fueling yourself on a daily basis at the same time on a regular basis, your system starts to understand when fuel goes in, when fuel is used, how to use it. And then also how to recover, which is why when you have those cheat days and cheat meals and stuff like that, you feel different.William Myers: (01:03:09)You know, like you're loaded and full of food. If you do it properly, the next workout you'll feel like freaking Superman, but going and taking in that food, it's, it's a shock to the system, especially if you've really been dieting. So it's just important to make sure that whatever's going in is being done on a regular basis. That's why a lot of people will think like body building is boring and you barely get to eat anything at all. And it's like, no, no, you get to choose what you like. You can have great meals, but you're gonna have that every day. You know, for a while, you know?Dan Henry: (01:03:40)Well, let me ask you this for somebody who's not necessarily trying to be a bodybuilder. Maybe they're just trying to lose weight or they're trying to get in shape and look good. And they're not, you know, they're not trying to get on stage or anything. Especially like entrepreneurs and people who are busy. The two things that really help me, and I know, I can already see the comments for this one. But there's two things that help me that you showed me. Number one was you know, carb timing, meaning basically the last, so if I let's say I eat five times a day, right? The first three meals would have carbs and the last two meals would have no carbs. Meaning like, I don't mean like carbs that you would find in vegetables I'm talking about like rice or, or something like that.Dan Henry: (01:04:28)So basically my last two meals of the day have zero starchy carbs, no rice, no bread, nothing like that. It is literally just lean protein and vegetables. When I started doing that, it was like, you know, I can already hear all the people like, no, you can eat carbs in. Well, great. But when I started doing that, it was like a light switch. I mean literally like a light switch started falling off me. That, and then fasted cardio, which I know there's so many people out there that don't believe in it. And that say that it doesn't work. All I know is when I started doing fasted cardio meaning getting up in the morning, doing cardio right before your first meal and then eating it, it just worked really well. Can you explain for those people out there who don't believe in that? Both the fasted cardio and the no carbs at night. And I know we do carbs sometimes if like legs day this is the next morning, I understand there's some exceptions, but for the most part, no carbs at night and fasted cardio. Why, why does that work?William Myers: (01:05:35)Right, right. So the first one with the carbs and carb, we call it carb cycling. And the idea is to start to learn why and how your body uses fuel. So if you're at a point where you're taking in too much, then in that situation, your body's not gonna be able to use it in a way. So once you learn how and what your body needs for a workout, then we start using those numbers. So the challenge is if you start taking in carbohydrates and their excess, that we don't even need, then all of a sudden we have to deal with a surplus situation. Surplus is good. If you're looking to fully bulk out and really build muscle. However, the challenge is what most people are looking for is to build muscle and lean out at the same time. So in order to do that, it can't be all on one side, all full, crazy diet, nor can it also be all full, crazy bulk. You know, most bodybuilders will tell you, yeah, throw those carbs in, in the evening. So you're resting, sleeping on 'em so that you can use 'em in the workout the next day, which is why you mention, like, if we happen to be hitting legs or a big muscle group in the morning, the challenge with that is most professional body builders have a bulk season and have a cut season.Dan Henry: (01:06:45)But what about the normal average, like everyday schmo who just wants to look decent and you know, basically isn't afraid of getting naked. What, what about that guy?William Myers: (01:06:54)That's where it comes in. Because since this is like a year round thing, we want to try to find something that's gonna work on a daily basis, something that's also sustainable. And so what that is, is not looking at putting yourself in some crazy surplus. What's sustainable is learning what your body needs for fuel to be able to produce in the actions you want it to produce in. So we're trying to understand is okay, if we're gonna do a certain workout, it uses certain muscles. We're gonna need this amount of fuel. If we're gonna do a big, big workout that needs big muscles, we're gonna need more fuel. And then, when you work out changes as well. So if you're working out in the evenings, you can work your way up and fuel to that workout. If you're working out early in the mornings, you're basically working out after eight hours of being and fasted.William Myers: (01:07:40)So there's gonna be minimal fuel in the system. So we have to make sure that if it is gonna be an early workout, we need to prepare the system before you go to bed. Or if it's gonna be an evening workout, there's no need to put a ton of surplus in before you go to bed, carbohydrates, do one of the main things that causes that size in the mirror and that's just water retention. So if you're putting in a bunch of carbohydrates before you go to bed, likely it's gonna sit and cause some water retention, cuz you're not gonna be burning as much fuel when you're asleep.Dan Henry: (01:08:10)Yeah. I noticed that when we did the, when we did that carb sort of fast where we had, it was even a little bit more extreme than no carbs the last two meals. It was more like half the carbs as normal, the first two meals and the rest were no carbs. When I did that, I noticed that like all the water just got we all the water left and almost, I don't wanna say instantly cuz that not, I don't wanna say, but within like a week, within a week, all of a sudden it looked like my whole body started shrink wrapping. And all the muscles that were there. And, and it wasn't so much, a lot of it was water weight obviously, but they all just started popping, you know? And it's amazing how different you can look between that. So like if you were doing a photo shoot or something like that, or you wanted to look good for a certain thing, you could literally just do that.Dan Henry: (01:09:03)And you would look, you know, three to four months worth of better in like a week simply by draining all that water and sort of revealing what muscles you have by getting rid of the carbs for a certain amount of time. I thought that was, that was incredible, you know? And I noticed that like a lot of it is the timing of what you're doing. Like for instance, like let's say I do Jujitsu at seven 30 in the evening, very intense cardio. Right. I'm done at, you know, nine. So now it's like nine o'clock at night. That's late. I would normally never have carbs at nine o'clock at night. But because I just did such an intense session, I now can have carbs and they get sucked right up by my body. And it was, and it's like, it's okay.Dan Henry: (01:09:54)So I think it's important. No, at least based on what you've taught me is that it's not necessarily about meal timing. I mean, it is, but it's like knowing what's happening at those times because it simply saying, oh, you can't eat carbs at night is like a blanket statement. It's more about what you're doing, what you're going to do the next day, what you've done that day. And when you time that, and I find it fun. It, it like for me knowing what I get to eat and don't get to eat based on my activity and based on what I'm doing, it's kind of cool because it's like, all right, if I wanna go out to dinner, like for instance, when we do leg day on Friday. So I like to always schedule a nice hefty dinner on Friday because that's like the one day where you can really, you know, suck up all those carbs, like pretty much all day.Dan Henry: (01:10:42)And so I get that one day a week where I get to have a big meal at night and that sort of satisfies me. So to me, and this is just like a mindset thing for me, right. Instead of having a cheat day where you eat a bunch of crap and then you feel bad and then you're potentially risking yourself getting off of your diet. Instead, why not just do it like that, where you have a very hard workout on a certain day, very large compound movements, very large muscles like your legs. And you plan to have that cheat meal after that workout or later on in the day after that workout that way, you're literally taking your cheat meal and you're integrating it into your training and into your whole plan so that you're actually staying on track. It's not even really a cheat meal, but it is.William Myers: (01:11:32)That's what I was gonna say. Where it ends up becoming a regular meal, a proper fuel source, you know, like you're getting ready to take a cross country trip and you fill up the tank. It's really nothing different, but it's, if you're just driving to St. Pete, why would you then fill up the tank? You know, in that analogy. You know, it's like, we can't, if we, like, if you fill up your gas tank in your car, it's gonna out and go onto the floor. You know, when you fill out extra with your meals, it fills out around the stomach or around the arms or wherever people don't wanna hold fat. It doesn't just spill out. So it definitely has to be used. And that's gonna be a combination of when you're eating and why you're eating. So when you just mentioned about how you did Jujitsu for all that time, of course there has to be some type of fuel going in.William Myers: (01:12:16)Cause if you then go to bed, your system is amped and your system is gonna be recovering and burning and moving and going, eating muscle while you sleep. And right. So when you wake up, so that you're recovered. But the only way that that can happen is by taking that lean muscle. And so even if you were to get just a protein and fiber meal in, right? It's you gotta think about, what's still burning all night long. And if our goal is to build muscle, we need to make sure at no point in time, you're in a depleted state, you know, like we should only be depleting when we're really getting ready to go on stage. Otherwise it's nothing but a carb cycle, a high carb day or a low carb day,Dan Henry: (01:12:54)But these same rules still apply to a normal schmo looking to lose weight, right?William Myers: (01:12:58)Right, right.Dan Henry: (01:12:59)It's just, it's just, you don't have to go quite as extreme as somebody getting on stage, like, you know working out five days a week for two or three hours and eating. I mean, but, even if you just followed that same line of logic, cuz that's what I've seen from your clients. Right? Maybe they're not trying to get on stage, but you still essentially use the same line of logic with them. And the transformations are so fricking rapid. It's insane. And I've always believed in that. Like I don't, this is what I don't get. Why do people try to lose weight by looking at these fad diets? It's like Atkins diet and this diet and keto and all this, this marketing.Dan Henry: (01:13:42)Okay. When you can just go, okay, who's consistently losing weight and, and shredding up the fastest? Professional fighters and body builders. End of story. No argument needed the body builders and professional fighters can lose weight and shred up consistently over and over, over again. It's kind of like if you, if there were two, if there was like 10 airlines, right. And you know, eight of them crashed a plane every other day. And then two of the airlines had like hardly any crashes and they were super consistent. Which airline would you go with? You know? Right. And, and you see what I'm saying? So, so yeah, maybe, but you, but you'd still go with that same airline, whether you were taking a 12 hour flight or you were taking a thirty minute flight. And the thing is, is that to me, looking at people like bodybuilders and looking at people like professional fighters, which the diets and, and how they work that are actually very similar, shocking you know, looking at somebody who is consistent, why not, maybe you don't go as extreme as that, but if you're just a normal person like trying to lose weight, why not model that and learn from those people and stick with something that is consistent and that works.Dan Henry: (01:14:57)Yeah. You don't have to go as hardcore as them, unless that's something you want to do. But why do all these BS diets you see at 2:00 AM on the home shopping network or whatever, or that you see, you know, glamorized in ads and in TV and on stupid doctor shows and just go after the people that consistently hit weight, that they need to hit every single time. You know, that's what I've always thought about. I don't, I don't like to, I like to model success. I don't like to mess, mess with things. You know,William Myers: (01:15:30)It sounds like comfort and need is really what I've had. Everyone that pulls up those diets and says, well, why can't I do this and this and this. And it's because they cater to what the person really wants to still be able to do. But when it comes to wrestlers and fighters and bodybuilders, comfort and ease is not even on the table, like we don't, who cares. You know, it's not about how, if it's comfortable or if it's easy, it's no, it's simple. There's a difference between easy and simple. It's simple. One plus one equals two. You do this, you get the result. If you try to come up with new stuff and try to experiment, there's a good chance that you won't get the result. And the challenge with a lot of people with these when they bring all these other diets to me is there's like, oh, well, this one says that, you know, I can have my Cinnabon, you know, daily, as long as I do it at this certain time,Dan Henry: (01:16:18)Cinnabon daily, that's hilarious.William Myers: (01:16:19)I just used it because someone just brought it to me.Dan Henry: (01:16:22)Wow.William Myers: (01:16:22)And my point was like,Dan Henry: (01:16:24)I would ask like, why, like to me, I would say to that person, why are you even here? Like, if you want to have a Cinnabon daily, why are you even trying to lose? Like, why is that something that you want to do? Because to me, you know, you either, I mean, you shouldn't be able to eat a Cinnabon daily and lose weight. That just like you shouldn't be able to be lazy and make a million dollars. Just like you shouldn't be able to have a hit record and not be able to sing or play an instrument or write music, that I know happens. But you know, you know what I'm saying? Like these are things that are not supposed to happen. So if you wanna lose weight now, I'm not, now let's say you've lost weight and you're shredded could you have some Cinnabons here and there?Dan Henry: (01:17:05)I mean, I've seen you, I've seen you eat chocolate and stuff because you've done the work ahead of time to get to the point where yeah. You can have some of that stuff and still be fine. Maybe you have 10 abs showing instead of 12, you know, but what I'm saying is is that if you are already in a surplus and you're already overweight and you're not happy with yourself and you wanna lose weight and you wanna be in better shape now is not the time to try to try to fit in Cinnabons, you know? Do that after you've hit your goal. It's a mindset, you know, it's this it's entitlement. It's like, well, I wanna have, I wanna have hot and cold, you know? No, there's, there's no winter on fricking, you know Venus.Dan Henry: (01:17:46)Maybe there is, I probably just talked outta my ass when I said, I'm pretty sure that it's pretty hot.William Myers: (01:17:50)I was wondering where you headed. I was like...Dan Henry: (01:17:51)It's pretty hot on Venus. I'm pretty sure. But you know what I'm saying? Like, do you agree with that? Like, like if you go, cause like when I work with entrepreneurs,William Myers: (01:18:00)That's what I was gonna relate it to.Dan Henry: (01:18:03)This is what it is, Dan. I have this company have this business I started, or maybe they haven't started a business. Right? Maybe they're they're, they're wanting to start a business. Well, I only wanna be able, here's the biggest question I get that drives me nuts. Well, how many hours a day do I need to put into this? What do you mean how many hours? So what are your, I said, what are your expectations?Dan Henry: (01:18:23)How much money do you want to make? Well, I wanna make a million dollars. You wanna make a million dollars? And your first question is how much time do you want to put in? Can I do it in an hour a day? I only have an hour a day. Oh, you want a million dollars, but you wanna do it in an hour a day? Like what kind of fucked up world are you living in? Like what? You don't deserve a million dollars. With that attitude, that mindset you don't deserve it. And the key to, to making a million dollars, the key to becoming in shape, the key to whatever your goal is, is not to have it. It's to become the person that can make it happen. In other words, it's not to make it, it's not to do it. It's to deserve it, because people who deserve things, they get those things.William Myers: (01:19:05)They get 'em, right.Dan Henry: (01:19:06)And if you, people who say, I want to eat a Cinnabon every day, people who say I only wanna work on my business an hour, a day, you don't deserve it. That's why you don't have it. So instead of working on getting it work on becoming the person that deserves it. To me, that's the ultimate like paradigm shift in your mind that you gotta make to actually get those things. And I look, I'm not trying to do a holier than that thing because there's times in my career, even recently where I'll slow down, right. And I will introduce bad habits and I'll have to look back at, I'll have to look at myself and say, wait a minute, you want these things, but you're not willing to X, Y, Z. And I have to check myself on that. Even at a, I'm not saying at a high-level, there's guys like fricking Jeff Bezos and stuff.Dan Henry: (01:19:52)Those guys are like max level. I'm like, but point is, you know, from where I came delivering pizza for seven years, I'm at a pretty high level in comparison. And even at that level, even at that difference, I still have to catch myself and go, what are you doing, man? Like, like you expect to do this, that, and the other thing and not do this and that. And I have to recheck myself. It's like a constant mindset maintenance to recheck if your expectations meet your dedication. Cause if they don't, you don't deserve it and of story work on deserving it. So let me ask you this. What do you think is the biggest mistake and let's leave, like people who are trying to get on stage and body build out of it because that's like a whole different thing, but like your average person, especially, and I'll, I'm gonna keep going back to this.Dan Henry: (01:20:41)Cause I think a lot of people that watch this show, they're some sort of entrepreneur and if they're not, they're at least some sort of busy, you know, not that, I mean, most people are busy, but entrepreneurs or people working on something, you know, you have people working and then you have people working on something. And usually people working on something are also working and working on something. So they're extra busy. And then if you add kids in, it's like a whole new level. So you know, what do you think is the number one biggest overall mistake that people make when it comes to losing weight and getting in shape?William Myers: (01:21:16)I think that the biggest thing is just not learning the proper path and not taking the time to learn. So when I think about these entrepreneurs and people that are really busy, most of them have a coach of some sort, because their goal is to be success. They don't wanna waste time. And so I think that someone who's listening to this can really relate to not wanting to waste time. There isn't any time to waste. And so a lot of times just trying to go about the weight loss process without any type of guidance and just something you see online is gonna do that. It wastes a ton of time. And so the confidence that they can do it on them by themselves is just barely, even there may get confident from one of those two o'clock in the morning commercials that pops on, but what is that gonna do when the next day comes around? All the fires come up, that you gotta put out and there's just no thought. It's like what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to do it? So I think the biggest thing is people just not taking the time to learn the appropriate path,Dan Henry: (01:22:16)But they'll hire a coach for business or something else, you know, but they won't hire a coach for their health. And they, you know, health is wealth. Like if you're not, I'll tell you right now, my ability to be healthy has had a major impact on my bank account, you know? Major, major, major impact. And a lot of people don't realize that, like, if you don't feel good all day, you're not gonna be able to concentrate and perform at a high level in your business or whatever it is you're doing. And so you're gonna produce a lower quality of work and decisions and all that. If you're in shape and you feel good all day. And since I, since we've been working out, I felt great. Like even here's the funny thing, even on days when I did something happened, I only got like three or four hours of sleep, which thankfully isn't often.Dan Henry: (01:23:02)But when it does happen, I still feel really good. Like better than days before when I got a full night's sleep. Now, obviously if I did that several days in a row, that would suck. But if it happens just one day, you know, and every other day is pretty decent sleep. I still feel great. And before, or if I would've had three or four hours sleep, one night, I'd be trashed all day and the whole day, like whatever I did that day, you know, and even when I got sleep, the quality of food and just being overweight, it just, it's not the same, like everything. Not just how you feel so that, you know, you get up and you do things and you feel motivated cuz when you're in shape and also when you're seeing gains and you're seeing yourself lose weight, you get motivated.Dan Henry: (01:23:52)And that motivation actually trickles over into other categories and aspects of your life. And for me, like when I see somebody and I wanna get so much heat for this comment. When I see somebody, look, I gotta go with truth here. You know, when I see somebody who comes to me and they say, Dan, you know, I'm struggling in my business. I'm really struggling, right? Sometimes I'll look 'em up on social and I'll see things like them drinking all night, constant pictures of them drinking all night. Or I'll see that they're overweight. And when I see somebody who is trying to be a business owner and they're trying to succeed at that, but I also see that they're overweight and I also see that they don't eat good. And I also see that they drink too much alcohol.Dan Henry: (01:24:48)The thing I think of is, well, you do some things like you do everything. So if you don't take care of your body, what makes you think you're gonna take care of your business? You know, like, I mean, I'm not saying there aren't business people that are outta shape and overweight, but I mean, look at Donald Trump. I get it. He's overweight, but did you know, he's never had a drink in his entire life. He's never smoked a cigarette in his entire life. Did you know that? Yeah. That's a little known fact about him a lot of people don't know. He has never had a sip of alcohol, at least not. I mean, at least that I know of that, you know, he has said this multiple times. But he had a brother that was like a really nice guy. And he, his entire life was ruined by alcohol and cigarettes.Dan Henry: (01:25:33)Mainly alcohol, but he told his young, you know, his younger brother Donald Trump, he said that, you know, never drink, never smoke because it ruined my life. And I guess that just stuck with him, you know, like when you're young, certain moments like that stick with you. And he has never drank or had a cigarette. And the man, you know, way before the whole presidency thing, you know, the man, you know, did a lot of things that you would consider successful. Whether you like him or hate him, it's irrelevant. You know, you gotta respect the grind. And he's never had, but, he'll have a Coke. Like every, you know, he had a button in the oval office...William Myers: (01:26:16)To bring him fresh Coke?Dan Henry: (01:26:16)To bring him a fresh Coke. He would press the button and bring him Coke, you know? So, but I mean...William Myers: (01:26:21)You could have that for protein shakes, a big chicken or something.Dan Henry: (01:26:24)Yeah. Or actually that's a good point you gave to me, I wanna go into some of the tips you've given me that have really helped change. But I just wanted to really nail on that point. That for the most part if you are trying to build your business, cause you also gotta remember a lot of these guys that are, that are overweight, that have big businesses. They're over overweight a lot of times because they've already made it and like, Hey, why not enjoy life now? And whatever. Like, I don't wanna be that person. Like I always wanna be in shape, you know? But, you do some things like you do everything and that's the same reason you're outta shape. The same reason you can't find time to go to the gym.Dan Henry: (01:27:01)The same reason you have to have that Cinnabon every day is probably also the same reason why you're broke and your business isn't working. Same reason. It's all up here, you know, but that said, I want to go into some things that really helped me that you, that you gave me. And one of 'em and we've talked about this multiple times. One of them was the book bag trick. So let me, let me kind of set the stage for this. So I'm a busy entrepreneur getting up in the morning and doing cardio can be very challenging especially when there's just not a lot of time in the day. So when I get up in the morning, there are several things that happen. I have to like deal with a lot of things. I have to answer questions for my team so that they have answers so they can do stuff for the rest of the day.Dan Henry: (01:27:50)I don't really do a lot of work, but I have to like me sitting down here and doing this podcast interview is probably the most work that I do or shooting those stupid video ads that I do. But, but in terms of actual work, I don't really do much. I mostly just give answers, create ideas, talk to my team. And so I have to be able to do that. If I get up and I work out and I, then I take a shower and then all this stuff, and it's like heading towards the afternoon and I haven't given those answers. It's, it's difficult, you know, it's, it's not good. So what I, what you told me one time is like, okay, well, do you like to walk? I said, yeah, I love to walk. I love to do what I call a morning knowledge walk where I and that's how I got exercise before I would walk.Dan Henry: (01:28:32)And I put my AirPods in and I would either how I would normally do is I would answer my team. I'd answer 'em over Voxer or slack. And then I would listen to an audio book cuz I gotta get my audio books in every day. Well, what you showed me was take a book back, put a bunch of books in it, make it really heavy and do the same walk. And let me tell you, when you strap a book bag on full of like 40 pounds of books or 50 pounds of books and you take that same 30 minute, 45, hour long walk, man, you are sweating like that is, that is a workout. And so I started doing that and literally was able to do all the things I normally, you know, listen to audio books, do handle small issues with my team, communicate with them and do all of that while walking with that book bag.Dan Henry: (01:29:20)And when I got back, there was my cardio. Obviously it's not quite as good as a StairMaster or doing Jujitsu or something like that, but it's way, way better than not doing anything. And that was like a huge hack. And so if you're an entrepreneur, this is a huge thing. Grab a book bag, put those books in it and walk and handle your business. And you can't tell, and here's a daddy hack. So I actually took that to the next level. When I have my son on weekends, I can't work out cause he's three, you know what I mean? Like gotta have, and this is, this is another problem. People with kids, people with kids challenge, guess what? People have kids, we're human beings. There's 6 billion of us on the planet. And most of us have kids. You are not special because you have kids figure it out.Dan Henry: (01:30:09)Okay? Yeah. Because if you love your kids, you won't let yourself get outta shape and not be able to spend time with them or you wanna be around for them. And so what I do is when I have my kid, I still get my cardio in. I take 'em my shoulders. So he's like 40 pounds, right. That's like 40 pounds. So put 'em on my shoulders. I walk from my condo all the way downtown to the pier, which is a good 30 minute walk. I let him play at the park. Then I walk all the way back. So that's like an hour of a walk, the 40 pounds on my shoulders. And he loves it cuz he's up in the air. He's like super high. He can see everything, you know, people are waving at him while he goes by.Dan Henry: (01:30:52)He's loving it. He's like, you know, grabbing onto my head and stuff. Or like I'll sometimes like I'll grab like a bottle of water or a snack for him. And I'll like lift it up and stuff. Yeah. He's having a good time. I getting my cardio in for sure. Like figure it out. And that's the thing is, the thing that makes you successful, whether it's health, whether it's business, whatever it's being resourceful. Being resourceful. And a lot of people, you know, I hate to say this, but if you are not resourceful, if you can't be resourceful for something simple, like getting some workouts in and figuring it out, you're not gonna be resourceful when you have a major problem in your business. And so people say, well, I wanna work on my business. I don't, you know, I'll deal with the health stuff later that right there is why your business is failing. You know?William Myers: (01:31:43)Right. It's definitely being translated into other things. Procrastination, you know? And it makes me think of two people. I've worked with one who has probably spent the last two and a half years immobile because he had a stroke and this is somebody I worked with on a regular basis. And I always talked to him, was like, man, you're not getting enough sleep. You're doing way too much stressful a job and you're not eating right. And when he would eat certain things, he would get gout, but he would, it was just a thing. He was just like, yeah, my, my gouts flaring up cuz I had whatever the night before. So it was like just a not, not caring at all. And in no way, would you ever wanna wish a stroke on anyone, but at a certain point in time, the body just gives up whether it's stress related, exhaustion related, many different things that can onset a stroke.William Myers: (01:32:31)And this was a high level pharmacist and a very big time community leader working in the community all the time. And I meet with him a, on a weekly basis now via online. And I just keep that relationship going because he's an incredible person. But now, years of building to become a pharmacist and building his business, make all that the goal was to make a ton of money. So much money has been spent on hospital bills. He's had to sell his car. He's telling me now he's trying to figure out how to sell his house, all this stuff, years of not sleeping and just putting in the work. And it's all disappearing, you know, and a different story of a guy who I was able to work with and help him lose over a hundred pounds. He, when we started, he was like, I really want to get this new job. But I went to go look at the office, did the interview. And everybody in there is in shape. And he was like, I don't know that they're gonna discriminate against me. But if they, what, if they were to look at me and say, if he can't figure out his health, how is he gonna figure out the responsibilities to work in this department?Dan Henry: (01:33:34)See, and that, you know, that's the thing man is, is sometimes, you know, that's a tough thing, because again, it goes back to how you do some things is how you do everything. And so like, let, let's just roll with that for a second. Let's say you don't get that job cuz you're overweight, right. Or at least that's obviously that's,William Myers: (01:33:55)Gonna be in his mind. Yep.Dan Henry: (01:33:57)And, and it's technically discrimination. It is. But what was, you know, it doesn't matter where we're at historically or what kind of liberal or conservative agenda you want to throw at it. At the end of the day, subconsciously, regardless of whether you watch one news channel or the other. Regardless of what side of the political spectrum you're on, let's get real honest here. You know, is it okay to discriminate against somebody because they're overweight or this? No, it's not. But on a subconscious level, if you're in a high stress environment or job where you have to really be on your a game and you're outta shape, subconsciously, even if people don't know it, they may judge you not even knowing it. Not even, not even like really realizing it. They, they may not even know why. Like I don't, I don't think that person can handle it.Dan Henry: (01:34:49)Right. And they may not even know why they're saying that, but on a deep level, and it's not just being overweight, maybe you're maybe you're an alcoholic. Maybe you're a, maybe you're whatever. Right. Maybe you're a, like a Daredevil or something. And they're like, oh, this person could die. And you know, you know what I mean? Like whatever it is, people will make such subconscious judgment. And if you take the whole like thing out of it, of, oh, is it right or wrong? You know, it doesn't matter. Like it matters. But for you, like at the end of the day, if you have enough reasons to get in shape, if you have enough reasons, you know, like you gotta see your kids, you and I'm not talking about being a little bit overweight. I'm talking about like being to the point where, you know, like your heart does not care about what's politically correct. You know what I mean?Dan Henry: (01:35:42)Like your heart is not gonna go, you know what? I'm not gonna have a heart attack today because that would be body shaming. It's not gonna do that. It's just gonna have a heart attack. And that's it. And I'm not trying to like throw shade at anybody. Who's overweight. Cuz there's people who are overweight, who can't control the like they have thyroid issues or whatever. But if it is within your control and it's because you just haven't taken care of yourself and there's people that love you, there's people that your children, your sister, your brother, your parents, people you've inspired, friends. If you're not gonna do it for you, at least do it for the people that care about you. You know what I mean? Like people forget about that. You know? Cuz if you don't pay, if you don't pay for your health now, oh, you know, healthy foods expensive.Dan Henry: (01:36:26)Oh the gym. Whatever. If you don't pay for your health now you'll end up paying for it later.William Myers: (01:36:30)Absolutely. It'll be more expensive.Dan Henry: (01:36:33)Yeah. Yeah. It would be way more.William Myers: (01:36:35)And it could change your whole life.Dan Henry: (01:36:36)It could change your life. And this is harsh, man. This is probably like, whatever, whatever you wanna call it, like a trigger would probably trigger some people, but I've been overweight. I've been like, I mean, I haven't been a hundred pounds overweight, but I've been a solid, you know, I would say 170, 40, 45 pounds overweight. I've been 45 pounds heavier than I am now. I think my heaviest, I was like 208. You remember a picture, right? Actually Brandon, you should show that picture when you get a chance. It's like the, the, one of me when I was like at my worst and then me, me now the transformation is just fricking stupid, you know?Dan Henry: (01:37:14)But ultimately dude, I did not feel good then, you know, I did not feel good at all. Like I couldn't, I mean, I couldn't go hiking. I was like, it was bad. You know, like if I want to go hiking with like a girlfriend or something, couldn't do it. Just couldn't do it. You know, it's not about, it's not about people oftentimes I think they focus too much on the aesthetics and they don't think about like the health, right? Like maybe, maybe somebody's not, maybe it's not about how you look or if you're sexually attractive, maybe it's more about the fact that you're gonna have a heart attack and you're not gonna be here for your loved ones. You know? And obviously we're talking about people who have a massive weight problem, but I think these same, would you agree that these same rules apply Whether you're massively overweight or whether you're just trying to shred up?William Myers: (01:38:02)Yeah, absolutely.Dan Henry: (01:38:03)It's more like the degree in which you, which you use 'em yeah.William Myers: (01:38:07)Agree. Yeah. I think it's like upgrading, you know, the processing system, you know, like refreshing things and getting a better, a better system to move more efficiently. And like you said, with motivation and confidence, if you're out here confident getting goals and crushing goals. And maybe not even crushing, but just working towards the goal that is going to build a type of confidence, especially if you're doing something you've never done before, because why would you have never, if you haven't done it before, there's a reason it never happens. So something stimulated this excitement, maybe it was a coach, maybe it was a new job, maybe was social media, something, and people can use it as a fuel. But then also at the same time, like you said, they can get stuck into that aesthetic circle that, that round where you're just going round and round and just really not accomplishing anything when it comes to mental focus. Because there's many people who can get the body that they deserve, but they still don't have like mentally, they're still really depressed as if they were still the same before.William Myers: (01:39:03)So it's trying to think of, you know, yes, we're changing the body, but what is that really doing for the mind? And so I like to think of, you know, that whole mindset versus identity and understanding that this is who you are now just trying to change your mindset to think like, oh, I'm, I'm gonna start living healthy. It's like, no, we're, we're literally changing every fabric. So it's not, if I make this decision, I might be successful. It's no I'm doing this right now so I will be successful. It's coming to the understanding that there's a reason that we're doing this. And I agree with you. I don't go into the whole body shaming and go into that and messing with people. But it's more about understanding what's going on on the inside of the body. If you're in a situation where the heart is about to have an attack.Dan Henry: (01:39:48)I'm not talking about being slightly curvy or something. You know, like that's not, you know, I'm talking about when you're in bad health shape, like when you got serious problems and it's not something that is outside of your control, it's just bad eating habits. And you're in a position where it's not just like, oh, I'm a little bit hefty. And you know, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about when it's like a major health issue and your doctor's looking at you, like what the? You know? That's what I'm talking about. Because there, I mean, look at, look at guys like Tyson Fury, that dude is not by any stretch of the imagination having aesthetically pleasing body, but he's like, he's in the conversation for goat. You know, you can't deny that like greatest heavyweight. I mean, I'm not saying he is, I'm not, but he's in the conversation.Dan Henry: (01:40:39)You know, he's never, Brandon, he's Tyson Fury's never been beaten. Right?Brandon: (01:40:43)I'm not,Dan Henry: (01:40:45)I'm pretty sure he's completely undefeated.Brandon: (01:40:47)I'm not familiar with his record.Dan Henry: (01:40:49)And he, and he beat Dante Wilder three times in a row. Like, and the guy looks like he just got off of the couch, you know? So like I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about when you're in bad, bad shape, you know? There's so many degrees, you know? But the other thing is like, maybe you are slightly overweight. Okay, great. But if you want, like, if you're okay with that fine, but if you're not okay with that and you want to look better, you gotta treat it the same way as if you wanna make more money. Like you gotta put in the work you gotta put in the dedication. What do you think like for you when you were skinny and you gained massive amounts of muscle, crazy amounts of muscle in a relatively short amount of time, what was the biggest mindset shift in your head that allowed you to do that?William Myers: (01:41:39)It had to have been belief after seeing a little bit of results. You know, I was already a business owner, so I already had 100% faith that I could do things for myself. If I wanted it, I'd just go out and, and go get, go after it. I think that when I started noticing when I started seeing the gains, of course, but then also not experiencing any injuries, not experiencing any massive bulks where I wasn't still able to see myself, you know, where I was seeing the development. For me, it showed me, I was just like, okay, so this, this can be done. There can be a such thing as building muscle and keeping lean at the same time while also still building my business and the fact that I was able to be successful in both worlds. And when I went to my first show, it wasn't about winning the show.William Myers: (01:42:26)It was about going through the experience. I have a military father and so anything that's discipline related, I just fall right into. I really enjoy it be because I was raised following systems in a way, you know, I was like, you do this, this and this, you will get this. And so it's, that's why when I had the book, I was like, this is simple 30 day thing. All right. You know, like it just went along with the way I'm used to learning. And I saw just a lot of results and also I was still coaching. So when I learning these new techniques, of course, I started sharing them with the people that could use them properly. And I started seeing results there as well. So I started thinking, okay, there's gotta be a magic between how I'm eating, how I'm training, how I'm recovering and also how I'm sleeping. So I started to realize like, okay, if I really put effort into this, this is gonna be successful. And then it to it boosted my business too, because I saw the success and growth and the thing is to do that show. It took me away from my business because I got so focused and I, and I had to really, I had to remember, it was four weeks I had to get down and ready. So,Dan Henry: (01:43:30)Yeah, but you're talking about doing like a show, a body building show, not, not just getting in shape like this is like, right. That's why it took you a it from your business. Do you, do you think that you can have a business? Like, do you think you can have a business and get in really good shape without sacrificing the dedication and the focus you put on your business?William Myers: (01:43:51)Absolutely. And that was why, where I was going is to think of, I was trying to do that in four weeks. It was just like, like, it was a drastic, drastic change.Dan Henry: (01:44:01)Yeah. That's extreme.William Myers: (01:44:03)And there's really, and it's not sustainable. And there was really, only reason was because I was challenged to get on the stage. However, like for yourself, with your training. And now how I train myself, I'm training with the goal of, there's no show coming up in four to six weeks. My show right now is building my business. And so for me, with this new version of my business building online, I need to spend a lot of time networking with people and getting in these groups and doing all this stuff. I need to really baby this business to make sure that it grows. And so initially the first thing I did cause before I used to work out five, six days, seven days a week, sometimes, and there was gains, but I had to eat to be able to work out that much.William Myers: (01:44:47)So when I started training with you I started thinking to myself was like, you know, well, let me put myself onto just a three day a week program. Let me make sure that I'm really training well, let me make sure that I'm getting in my nutrients. Let me make sure I'm getting my rest, but I can still focus everything on my business and believe it or not, I had better gains and strength and just seeing my body metabolize food better on the three days. And here and there I'll do, of course I do cardio on a regular basis. I stretch on the other days as well. But I'm not taking a ton of time away from my business. And so it has literally changed my whole way of thinking in, whereas it's not about a show. It's not like, how can I get in the best shape possible it's how can I build myself to be able to support my business that way I can be sharp.William Myers: (01:45:34)And that for me, doesn't mean being 5% in body fat, you know, what keeps me sharp and keeps me going is successful workouts. And getting into that and leaving the gym feeling like I worked myself out, got a good workout. Didn't take a ton of time, was able to of course, share and network and communicate and have that social aspect of things. But the biggest thing is, is it's not taking a ton of time. And so I think that what a lot of people can use from that is that you don't have to live in the gym to get the results. Are the extreme group, the bodybuilders and fighters and the ones we were talking about, are they? Yes. But at the same time, there's that goal of to get to a certain point in a very short amount of time. Now, if you're thinking, okay, I wanna sustain, we're talking about a lifestyle change.William Myers: (01:46:22)We're talking about something that is going to last for more than just a couple months, or like a lot of us who will go on stage. As soon as we get done with that competition, we're eating up and people will call it bulk, right? But just to kind of fill back up, but that's not sustainable. And so the goal here is to find something that you can do on a daily basis or more like a weekly basis. Not saying that you're hitting heavy, hard weights every single day, but your nutrition is on point. You're making sure that you're getting your meals in. You're making sure that you're getting your sleep in all those little things to make sure that the next day is the most productive that it can be, whether it be your workout or whether it be that big sales presentation. So I find myself trying to work with people and trying to figure out like, so what is the schedule that has to happen for work?William Myers: (01:47:12)What does it have to be? Where, where is it? And then we try to look at like, where can we fit in the little things. Some people really have minimal time, no time at all. So in order for me to work with that person and their transformation, it's gonna be much more diet related because this is gonna be something they don't have an extra hour or two or three to be able to do their cardio, be able to get their training in also stretch as well. So I have to look at that whole week's schedule and be like, okay, this is gonna be your flexibility moment for the week. We're gonna really dial down on specific stretches, whatever, whatever. Then as we move into other body parts and other parts of the week, it's like, okay, so today where we talk about, you need to have a higher carbohydrate day because we're gonna spend some time working the legs.William Myers: (01:47:54)Right. But if they're in a situation where they can't work out that day, we look at the, a little bit of time that they have, we look at where the nutrition is right now and we make the adjustments based on that. And the first thing that I try to do with people is to get them eating, right? Because just by eating right and boosting your metabolism yourself, you can start to see changes, not only feeling different, but also looking different too. And that's just off of food. So many times, that's the first place I start because these people are gonna eat. You know? So now it's just a matter of what they're gonna eat. And a lot of times busy entrepreneurs are not eating enough. So then it's like, okay. So let's look at the amount of calories we need for the day. Where do we break it up?William Myers: (01:48:35)How do we break it up? And how do you have to get it in? So some meals I have you, you know, of course getting your food in, but other days where it's busy, you have to take a shake. And that's where, so that's one like little example of how you can help with time. You know, something that's already broken down, goes in with water and can be digested very quickly. Now, again, we always, I'll put in here, cuz I'm saying that that's a supplement, real food is always gonna be better. But when it comes to teaching someone how to understand what their body needs, calorie wise, I need to get them the calories in the first place. So if I can teach someone like they're gonna be like, wow, I, you know, I had a certain amount of calories this day and they're really feeling better. It's like, okay, that's the feeling we're after now let's break down this meal plan so that we can get other options in here, the right time of day, the right type of food so that you can have that feeling. And many times that feeling that they can then broadcast out into their business. I'm like, okay, so let's use that in the gym. You know, and it many times we just have to figure out where the time is, you know?Dan Henry: (01:49:39)Right, right. Let me ask you one more question, one more short question, and then we'll, we'll end for this for this episode we'll, I'll ask you where more where people can find out more about it and you know, to be honest you have an amazing program where you work with people online to do everything you're talking about to, to get their, their diet and their nutrition and their workout down. And the people in your program they're getting crazy results. So I definitely wanna plug that a little bit for you, but let me ask you one more question. You agree that I think what is it like 3,200 calories equals a pound of body fat, something like that? Like if you, if you burn, oh, if you're burning. Yeah. So in other words where I'm going with this is how do you have the what do you, from a mindset perspective, from a mental game perspective, what do you do to fend off those urges to overeat?Dan Henry: (01:50:36)And, and I think what happens a lot of times, it's not even necessarily in the meals you eat, it's the snacking. And people think, well, I'm just gonna have a handful of this or this or that. But in reality, you know, if you think about it, if you trying to lose a pound of body fat per week and you take, I think it's, I think it's 3,200 calories and you divide that by seven that's only 450 calories. So if you have a few handfuls of this and that, and that handful is like a hundred, hundred 50 calories, well, you may wipe out your caloric deficit, just in a few handfuls of things and just screw all that up. You know? I don't know if you agree with that or not, but I know that when I like really got focused on eating my actual meal plan and not grabbing this and grabbing that, I worry about it a little bit less if we're like trying to bulk or whatever, but if I'm actually trying to lose weight and, and trim up, I get real focused on not doing that.Dan Henry: (01:51:38)And that makes a huge difference. I notice it like, within a few days, I start to notice it. And when I do snack and I do grow, oh, this just is that, oh, this won't hurt you. I hate that. Well, just one won't hurt you. I don't know. It's always hurt me. You know, like never one. Yeah. Because yeah, exactly. And how, like, what would you tell somebody from like a mindset perspective of how to really get over the, not just overeating, but like the random snacking that actually really adds up and deters from their weight loss goal.William Myers: (01:52:13)Right. A lot of times people will think about it after the fact, and it'll be a guilt, you know, or they'll be upset with themselves. And the challenge with that is, you know, we can't have any of that type of energy going around. So I think it's, it's looking at it from before everything goes in and understanding, what's the goal? What are we working towards? And what is that really gonna do for you? It's literally gonna be a temporary relief. And the challenge with that is if you put the whole day's effort in, if you've put weeks worth of effort in, what is the point of setting yourself back, you know? When it comes down to certain snacks, when it comes down to certain carbs, if you have felt what it's like to experience your body, getting leaner, getting sharper, getting more of what you're looking for, starting to understand that some of these things can kind of just set you back, just even the little snacks like you did that little math right there.William Myers: (01:53:02)It's very quickly to go from one chip to 10. Right. And so the challenge with that is understanding, okay, so what is the result gonna be? If I end up doing this, it's gonna be a short term enjoyment, short, temporary gain, but then it's gonna set you back on your actual goals. You know, if you're in, like you said, a bulk position, then you absolutely can, you know, you can kind of play around with, if you're in a position where you're really trying to change your system, if you're really trying to cut down, if you're really trying to act, if you have a good enough reason for your goal, it should also be a reason on why to not cheat on your goal. You know, if that's gonna limit, if that's gonna slow down your process to be able to get to the goal, we need to be able to kind of be around some type of mentorship or coaching to be able to help you understand, Hey, this is gonna slow things down. You know, I remember we've talked multiple times about little things that you were snacking on or that you may have been introduced. And so all I break down with those is what it actually does for the system. Is it causing water retention? Is there too much salt so it's causing inflammation, you know, what is it really giving you? If you're hungry, why are you not eating another meal?Dan Henry: (01:54:09)Right. Right. Like, it'd be better to just eat, eat another solid meal that you should. And I noticed that when I really started focusing on not doing that, and I saw the results, it was a thousand times easier to stick to it because you're like, wait a minute. If I actually stick to this for even a week. And I see that result now, it's like, wait a minute. All I have to do is not randomly snack, stick to this meal plan. And I'm actually gonna fricking massively change the way I look. Then it becomes like 10,000 times easier. And, you know, I just don't think people give themselves enough of a chance to see that result so that they can get that motivation. It's the same thing in business. When I didn't make any money, it was a lot harder to get motivated.Dan Henry: (01:54:53)But when I made that first dollar, you know, when I made that first dollar, it became infinitely easier to put in the work because you're like, wow, this works. And then it just snowballed. And next thing you know, I've got like a very, very successful business and it was, it really just came down to that first result and seeing that first thing and getting motivated from that. But you gotta give yourself time to at least see the result initially. You know, and the, the tips you've given me on snacking, the deli meat hack, amazing. That has worked really well. Like, if you're if you're hungry instead of snacking on like nuts or something bad, or like, oh, it's organic or, oh, it's vegan. It must be fine. Vegan food is way worse for you than most food because it's, they pack extra calories in there to make it fricking taste better because it, you know, vegan food without all the extra stuff they put in, it tastes like ass. You know, tastes like plant based ass, but it still tastes like ass, you know?Dan Henry: (01:55:58)And so it going and getting a pack of deli meat. And when I'm hungry, simply snacking on the the deli Turkey, cuz it's like super low calorie. It's high protein that has worked really well. Like I snack on that and I'm good. You know, or snacking on vegetables or something, but it's obviously the turkeys better. I get the spicy like Turkey and it's just, it's awesome. So dude this,William Myers: (01:56:24)And that's the big thing with, with the snacking is understanding what is the snack doing for you.. Like that protein, that Turkey, that you're eating protein is a building block for muscle. So yeah, it's, it's giving you that oral fixation of eating, but you're actually packing you're promoting what the actual goal is, which is to build muscle. But if we're just doing fiber, right, we're just getting a bunch of extra water in, which is good, but it's not doing anything for your muscle. If your body's telling you, it's hungry, it's hungry for a reason, especially if you're training like you are. And so then the challenge is like, well then what do carbohydrates do? You know, if we're snacking on chips and nuts and stuff like that, rice cakes and such like that without the purpose of using the carbs, there's just gonna retain water. What you're gonna see in the mirror when you don't wanna see it in the mirror. Right.Dan Henry: (01:57:09)Right. So let me ask you this. Where can people find out more about you and follow you and see some of your stuff Instagram orWilliam Myers: (01:57:20)Yeah, absolutely building the Instagram profile. That's @myersimpact. That's M Y E R S I M P A C TDan Henry: (01:57:26)@myersimpact. And then what I'm gonna do is you have a pretty cool I dunno, it's like 15, 20 minutes, little video training that you have that kind of goes over like a summary of this stuff. And I think it's like 15, 20 minutes long and it's really good information. And of course, if somebody was interested in working with you or potentially seeing what that looks like they can they can schedule to speak with you after watching that, but. I'm gonna leave a link to that in the show notes so that people can check that out as well. And it's an awesome video and I think it'll, it'll help a lot of people. And I do recommend you know, anybody listening, I definitely recommend will because he's, especially if you're a busy entrepreneur for sure, because that's exactly what I am.Dan Henry: (01:58:11)And I've finally been able to get some consistent gains and it's just, it's, it's really changed the game for me. So I appreciate that from you a lot. So anything I can do to put your name out there and spread the word is you know, it's important to me to do that because I think that, like I said, at the beginning of this, there's so many people out there that are so incredibly talented and so much better at what they do than a lot of the people out there that are, that have a name that have created something. And I just like to see the people who have really dedicated themselves to being good at what they do, get more attention and build a business out of that. So I highly recommend anybody listening that you check out Will's stuff because it is it's fricking awesome. So dude, thank you so much for coming on. We'll have to do this again sometime.William Myers: (01:59:00)Thank you.Dan Henry: (01:59:01)You know, thanks man. Awesome.William Myers: (01:59:02)I appreciate it, man.Dan Henry: (01:59:03)All right, man. 

>>> Get Daily Success Mentoring By Becoming A Member At How To Think<<<------What would your life look like if you could control your thoughts and emotions? Few learn to manage their thoughts and emotions in a way that allows them to be genuinely in control… The truth is if you can’t control your emotions, you can’t manage money, a business, or a team. Maybe you’ve found yourself regretting decisions you made based on your emotion… Would you agree you’d be able to make better decisions if you were able to think logically rather than getting caught up in emotional decision-making? If you find your emotions control you more than you’re controlling your emotions, this is for you! In this episode, I interview John Whiting and discuss how learning how the mind works taught him to change the way he thinks. John shares what he learned about controlling emotions and how you can apply these same principles in your life! In this episode, I am going to cover:Why You Must Think Outside Of Your EmotionHow Expectation Makes You DrunkWhy You Should Focus On Playing A Bigger GameWhy You Need To Get Clear On Your DestinationYou Must Become The Person That Deserves SuccessAnd… So much more! If you got value from what you heard here, please be sure to subscribe and rate this podcast! Bonus points for you if you write a review! ;)  — SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW — Subscribe to Dan’s YouTube ChannelFollow Dan on FacebookFollow Dan on InstagramFollow Dan on TwitterClick Here To Get Daily Success Mentoring By Becoming A Member At How To Think — TRANSCRIPT —Dan Henry: (00:00)Hey, everyone. Welcome to How To Think the show where we take a look at people who have overcome the odds and done amazing things with their life. And we explore how they think so that we can learn how to be more successful ourselves. Today, we have John Whiting on the show. John went from at the lowest possible point in his life where he was literally contemplating suicide to completely changing how he thought, the entire way he viewed how the mind works. And as a result, created a million-dollar business and multiple actually million-dollar businesses. And literally just completely turned his life around. And it was so impactful for him that he began teaching other people, this sort of different way to look at the mind. And it's very deeply rooted in controlling your emotions and using them as a tool rather than allowing them to prevent you from getting what you want in life. And so that's what we're going to explore. And of course, as always, if you would like to get daily success, mentoring, go to HowToThink.Com and sign up. It's an amazing app where you will get a daily success audio each and every day to keep you on track and show you how to work towards a more successful you. So with that said, let's get into the interview. Dan Henry: (01:34)What's up, John? John Whiting: (01:35)What's up, dude? Dan Henry: (01:36)Bulletproof Entrepreneur. How you doing, man? John Whiting: (01:38)Good brother. How are you doing? Dan Henry: (01:39)Pretty good long drive over here. Right? Incredibly long drive. John Whiting: (01:43)All 30 minutes of it, baby. Dan Henry: (01:45)Well, that was easy. So I'm, I'm so happy to have you on the show because we've been doing business together for some time and I just wanted to get you on here because we've had some pretty crazy conversations...John Whiting: (01:57)Understatement. Dan Henry: (01:59)Outside of a microphone and to a degree I'd like to get some of those conversations on a microphone. Not all though. But so listen, I, you know, I wanna start with sort of like where, where you came from because you, you know, you have this company, a Bulletproof Entrepreneur, and it's a successful company. You teach entrepreneurs how to improve their mindset and the way they think and their mental game, which I'm all about that. You know, we do that, How To Think. Yours is very, very specific though. And I like it because it's very, it's and correct me if I'm wrong, but it's very based, or at least it's somewhat based, in stoicism, correct? John Whiting: (02:42)Yeah. A lot of the same principles. Dan Henry: (02:44)So just real quick for, for those that may not know what that is. Can you just quickly define what stoic is and why, especially an entrepreneur may want to consider looking into that. John Whiting: (02:58)So ultimately non reactive, right? So as entrepreneurs, we get bullets shot at us constantly, right? Not to be too punny a Bulletproof Entrepreneur, but ultimately, you know, how you respond or react to those bullets coming at you determines what happens, right? So the less reactive you are to external forces, whatever it may be, the more, the better decisions you're gonna make, just like Warren Buffet says, if you can't manage your emotions, you can't manage money. You can't manage a business, you can't manage a team so on and so forth. So the less reactive that we are and the more calm, cool, collected, logical and methodical that we are pretty much, that's why Warren has a hundred mil, hundred-billion dollar net worth. So it's worked for me as well so, Dan Henry: (03:42)So, in essence, are you saying basically to not be emotional? John Whiting: (03:46)It's a tool, emotions are a tool, right? So it's either you can be caused over your emotions or effect to your emotions. So emotions, I'm not saying, throw them out. What I'm saying is you, there's a time and a place to demonstrate certain behavior, your certain emotions, and many times the things that get us in the biggest trouble is when we reactively do something that we then look back and say, Hmm, probably shouldn't have done that. Right. And so the more causative that we can be over that usually the better decisions, therefore, the better actions are for the better results. Dan Henry: (04:18)So like stoicism would then be the art of being able to make a decision and essentially letting only logic rule, how you make that decision and not let emotion get into it. Is that, is that sort of like a simple definition? John Whiting: (04:35)Yeah. Incredibly fair. Yeah. Incredibly fair. Dan Henry: (04:37)Okay. So what would be your response to people who, cuz I can, I can already hear this, right. I can, I already see the peanut gallery drawing out their picket signs and holding 'em up and saying, well, we're not robots. We're not, you know, yeah. Human beings are emotional. And I, I believe that you have to understand the context that goes with it because you know, if you're saying, oh, you're raising children or you are, you know, in a relationship. Yeah. If you completely strip emotions out, probably not gonna go there. There's probably gonna be some negative, negative fallout to that because you, you aren't a robot. But when we're talking about a business, we're talking about growing a business, it's a different context. So what would your response to be those that would push back on the idea of stripping out the emotion to make good decisions? Dan Henry: (05:28)Yeah. I would say if it's working for you keep doing it. Dan Henry: (05:32)Oh, come on. You don't have to be that nice. John Whiting: (05:34)Well, so and so like just full disclosure, every time that I talk to anybody, I'm like, everything that I'm all about is a suggestion that has worked for me, has worked for my clients, and it's led to a great part of my success in what I've done so far. But it might conflict with beliefs that you have, if that's okay, great. Like my intention is not to completely change your entire fundamental belief system. If you're not liking where you are and you are extremely emotionally volatile and you're arguing with me about it and you don't have the results that you want. I might invite you to look at it a different way, but I'm not saying this is how it is. This is what's totally 100% absolutely true for everybody. I'm just saying what's true for you is true. So if what you're doing is working, I'm not trying to convince you. Dan Henry: (06:25)What do you think the people that might listen to this and say, oh, you know, you gotta, you can't strip out all the emotion. I wonder how many of those people it is working for them? You know, they, they are successful because I mean, if, if you think about it, there are definitely some people that are successful, who you might consider emotional, like Donald Trump or something. Though, the jury is out on whether or not that is intentional and, and calculated, or that's literally a reactive sort of thing. Because I think a lot of people may look at, you know, they, they may look at somebody like that or somebody in the news that is emotional. That is, that is, and they might think, oh, well, you know, it works for them. They're fine. But in reality, maybe they're doing that on purpose. John Whiting: (07:16)Well, yeah, exactly. So like I said, emotions are tools, right? So they're tools in your tool shed that are meant to be used. So either they're using you or you are using them. So you can't, for example sell anybody on anything if you have no emotion, you can't do it. So what you have to do is strategically use that emotion. So for example, somebody calls, comes to a call with you and they're like, man, this is really tough. You're not just going to be like, okay, buy my stuff. Like, that's not gonna work. Right. So you're gonna be like, Hey man, I understand I've been where you're at. You know, it's tough. Dan Henry: (07:52)Well, you're talking like selling though. You're talking about marketing, selling. John Whiting: (07:54)Regardless, it's still an emotion that you're using as a tool, right? Dan Henry: (07:57)Well, I'm talking more about like making a decision in your business, something that's off camera, off of the public eye, you know, because you're right. Like you, you, if you are, you're out there and you're just like a robot like this, nobody's gonna relate to you. Because human beings are emotional creatures and if they can't sense that you do have an emotional side to you that they can relate to and resonate with, no. John Whiting: (08:20)Of course. Dan Henry: (08:20)But what I'm saying is outside of all of that, you know, just in the deep, dark core of, yeah. You wake up in the morning and you say, am I gonna go this direction? Or am I gonna go this direction? Am I gonna do this or am I gonna do that? Those decisions? Do you, do you feel that emotion completely is a detriment or do you feel that it, it just, it's more of a degree. John Whiting: (08:47)I think it's worth taking into consideration, but the way you've take it into consideration, you have to be kind of exterior to it in order to, to practically take it into consideration. You teach this incredibly well, when you essentially... We good on language on? Dan Henry: (09:03)Yeah. You can say whatever you want. So you're talking about the Second mind? John Whiting: (09:06)No, no, no. What I, no, no, no. So you're like, don't come to a coaching call and tell me, I feel like my sales are down. I feel like this. I feel like that. What are the numbers, right? I can only help you if I understand this is why you gotta make data on decision, or you may make decisions on data not emotion. It's because how many times have you? And I both like, felt like going awry. And then we look at actually going and you're like, oh, we're actually doing pretty good. Dan Henry: (09:33)Yeah. It's yeah. It's crazy. Cause people do people, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs do this. They'll get out there and they'll say something like, well, and I've had people say this to me a million times. I feel like this isn't working. John Whiting: (09:47)Right. Dan Henry: (09:48)And it's like, well, I don't care how you feel. I care about the facts. Cuz the facts don't care about your feelings, facts are facts. And I know we live in a world now where facts are subjective. But the bottom line is that if something isn't working, you're going to be able to know if you actually check. Cause I can't tell you the amount of time somebody says, well, this is the problem or this is what's going on. I'm like, well let me look at it. And then I look at it. Dan Henry: (10:15)I'm like, what the fuck are you talking about? That has nothing to do with what you just said. Right here. And so I agree that I, that emotions can be a, you know, a detriment. And just to give you a practical example, look at social media influencers. Right? So here's the funny thing is I can make a post on my social media and it'll get like 12 comments or whatever, you know, cuz I'm not like a huge, I don't think either one of us are huge social media people, we're entrepreneurs. And somebody will be like, oh, you can't possibly make a bunch of money. Cuz you got 12 comments. And it's like, okay, but my ads and, and all this stuff, when I look at it, we, we did like a million dollars this month. So it's or whatever, you know? Dan Henry: (11:02)So it's like, like I know, like I know Anthony Morrison, he, he doesn't do, the guy the guy does crazy numbers, insane numbers, multi, multi, multi eight figures. And he's not that active on social. Like if you did not, if you weren't on his email list or you weren't a part of his actual closed sort of door tribe of, of, you know, hundreds of thousands of people, you wouldn't really know who guys like that are compared to somebody who gets out there and post a stupid picture of their food, or their sneakers, or a Lamborghini they don't own, or some new age rap music that even rappers don't know what it is. You know? Like, I mean, it's, it's a, it's a huge thing. And when we get emotional about attention, oh, I want attention. I want people to know who I am. Well great. But that doesn't necessarily translate into dollars. John Whiting: (11:55)No, totally, absolutely. And that's why, you know, ultimately it's kind of, I like the analogy of like, this is literally how pilots fly planes. Right? Would you get in a plane with a pilot who says you know, I, I think, I, I feel like this is gonna go, okay, right? I feel pretty good about this. But he has no dashboards or dials or data on anything. He's just like, I feel pretty good about this. Dan Henry: (12:20)Like he's got black tape over all of the instruments on the plane. John Whiting: (12:23)Let's assume it's a plane that doesn't exist. That, that, that whole thing doesn't exist. You're just like, ah, I feel pretty good about this, right? Like, no, you wouldn't get in the plane. Why. Dan Henry: (12:31)I would get off the plane immediately. John Whiting: (12:32)Right, exactly. Dan Henry: (12:32)I've gotta take a pee, not in this plane. And then I would not come back John Whiting: (12:37)Right, exactly. Right. And so ultimately, especially in business specifically, like you can't attract a team if they don't know, like using that plane analogy, the team won't get on the plane if you don't know your own numbers and you're not able to show your team, Hey, here's what happens when you do these particular things, using the systems that we have in this company that are proven to work. If you don't have that to show them their confidence is very low and they're going to feel uncomfortable and not really, probably even know why. Right. And so ultimately the more when that's why you have to have data on everything in your business is because that's how you need to make decisions as you, you were the, one of the first people that like, I really heard go aggressively on like, don't tell me how you feel anymore. I just wanna know what your numbers are. Dan Henry: (13:29)Well, well look, I'm gonna be honest with you. Right. Here's what happens in the consulting space. People will sign up to get business advice, but what they really need is therapy. John Whiting: (13:41)Yeah. Dan Henry: (13:42)You know what I mean? Like, and I'm not, and I'm, I'm not kidding. Like they'll sign up. Because when I first got started teaching people business, I did not, I did not even realize that I had to be a therapist or a mindset coach. You know, I didn't even realize that. And you do, if you teach anything, you have to be to some degree, a mindset coach, because people will come in and you could be like, here is what you do. Click here, click there, do this, do that, say this, say that. And if they do it, it will work. Right. But they don't because they're like, but, and then insert all of these emotional things. Dan Henry: (14:17)And you're like, wait a minute. I signed up. It's like, if you were a firefighter and you signed up to be a firefighter and then they're like, Hey, can you go arrest that guy? Well, I'm a firefighter. I'm not a cop. But see the thing about it is, is that in, and Perry Belcher, brilliant guy, said this to me one time and I'm sure he said this to a lot of people. But he says like, if you don't solve the customer's complete problem, you're leaving a lot of money on the table. So if you wanna be successful, even in, not even in a coaching business, but in, in a, in any business, right? Like could be a gym, like think about this. Gyms, some of the best gyms, they inspire people to lose weight in their marketing and in their messaging. If you just walk into a like, but if you think about it, the business model is, Hey, here's a box. Dan Henry: (15:08)Here's a key, here's a bunch of gym equipment. Give me 20 bucks a month. And there you go. But it's not, you actually have to inspire people. And a lot of people don't realize that. And so you can either get frustrated with that or, or you can, you can tackle it. But have you noticed that, like if you were to do a percentage of tactical versus mental. So tactical, meaning say this on the phone and close a sale or, you know, do this thing in a stock market to make whatever, you know, versus the mental aspect of it where it's like, okay, here's how you manage your emotions around that. If you were to give that like a 70/30, 50/50, 60/40, where would you, where would you land that?John Whiting: (15:52)I mean, ultimately I think an 80/20 is fair. I think it's fair. Ultimately even the, the tactic and tactics and the strategies are fueled by a decision making process that is through some sort of an emotional lens filter in and of itself. So you could argue that the whole thing is a hundred percent. Mainly because your perception drives how you would even come up with or interpret tactics in the first place. Right? So you could argue that it's a hundred percent, but I would say to be fair and practical, like, yes, you need the, how tos and they need to be accurate. However, you and I both know that building a business really isn't that hard. You share your message with a lot of people, find out what they want, go out and get it and give it to 'em and you package it up in a way that you can pass it off to somebody else to delegate to. And you repeat that over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Dan Henry: (16:47)Yeah. I mean, that's, John Whiting: (16:49)There's your tactics right there. It's honestly, Hey, what do you need? Like you just said, like, you, you, the problems that are left unsolved or whatever it is that you just said or you're leaving opportunity on the table and it's just, you know, I forget who's quote it is, but you know, you help enough people get what they want, you get what you want. And what's funny is the questions that you and I both get is just like, and I even, I ask you for things on your perception. You're like, I don't know, go ask your target market. I'm like, oh yeah. So like a lot of the time, like we have to be reminded it, like most of our job is reminding people of things that they already know. Dan Henry: (17:23)Oh, you need to say that one again for those in the bleachers. I mean, that's, that's absolutely true. I mean, be I have literally paid for coaching myself, or masterminds where I will hear something that I already knew that I already acknowledge I should be doing, but because I heard it again and maybe I just heard it in a slightly different way, or maybe it was just the fact that I got on a plane, spent tens of thousands of dollars to go out there, sat my ass down instead of watching a stupid YouTube video and actually was there fully present and heard it again that I finally did it. And then boom, it turns into million dollars. John Whiting: (18:00)Perfect example. So the other day, I'll leave his name off, but there's a new client that I just signed up that does a hundred million a year. Okay. And in our conversation with each other, he, we were having conversations similar to this and probably went down some rabbit holes. But ultimately he's just like, I said something similar. I'm just like, honestly, dude, like my job's really simple. All I do is remind people what they already know, who they, they really are, what they're actually capable of and just like get 'em back on track. He's like, that's exactly what I need. He's like, I'm so glad you said that. He's like, that's exactly like, I'm like, oh, okay, great. Like, awesome. Like it's just, it's business is so much simpler than people try to make it and you know. Dan Henry: (18:46)That's why, that's why they overcomplicate it. It's the emotion, the emotion drive the over complication. I mean, I cannot tell you how many times I've had somebody come up to me. Maybe even they just saw me in the street or something and they're like, ask this question and I'm like, dude, I've never even thought about that. I mean, you've actually asked me questions... John Whiting: (19:05)You've said that to me. Dan Henry: (19:06)Yeah. And I was like, I've never even remotely thought about that, I just do this. And, and, and you know, and you're, and I, and I've asked people that, and I've heard that same thing and I believe it's, it's it's anything from fear, could be anger, could be self confidence issues could be ego that cause you to do things that lead to an overcomplication. You know, I, I mean, I would say that when I started teaching people business tactics, I was not including, like mindset, or mental game stuff. And quickly I realized I'm like, man, these people really need therapy really bad. Like these, like I just thought they would just do the thing and go get results. I didn't know I had to basically like, you know, heal their mental trauma or whatever, you know? And, and so then I, I, I had to, you know, I had two choices. Dan Henry: (19:59)I could either not do that and be a mediocre player in the game, or I could learn how to, to do that and, and study and experiment. And then eventually I started putting, mind, like literally the first things, the first modules in any programs I put out were all mindset. And all of a sudden, like crazy, the loyalty, the brand loyalty went up, the results went up, everything went up. And also those were like the parts people remember. Cause people, you know, people may not remember tactics, but they remember how you make 'em feel. And that was one of the reasons I started How To Think, because I was like, wait a minute. I was like, why don't I just make an entire company based off of this? And because it look and I will, and you, you can push back on this if you want. But I firmly believe that if you take two people and one person has a shit mindset and they're they're, they have a crappy attitude, but they have the most effective tactic on the planet. And then you take somebody else who has a, a, a growth mindset and they have confidence, and they have willpower and they have all those. They have the mental game on point and you give them a subpar tactic they will still crush the other guy every single time. John Whiting: (21:23)No question. Yeah. Why would I push back on that? I thought you were gonna, I thought you were gonna lob me up a hard one, you know, that's why would I push back on that one? No. Dan Henry: (21:34)You know just trying to get some, some viral clips for the show, but I mean, that, that's the thing is, you know, that's why, that's why I started How To Think. And I'm sure that's why you started Bulletproof Entrepreneur. John Whiting: (21:49)Absolutely. Dan Henry: (21:50)Because you realize it doesn't matter what business they're in or what they're trying to do if they don't have the mental game, I mean, I've told you, I've told you my little analogy on this multiple times, you know, Tom Brady says the game of football, 90% mental. You know, Michael Jordan game of basketball, 90% metal. Tiger Woods, game golf, 90% metal. What makes you think business is any different? Yeah. And, and we were talking about this before we started recording, but take Tom Brady as an example. We'll use a different analogy than what we used prior, John Whiting: (22:22)Probably wise. Probably wise. Would get a viral clip out of it though. Dan Henry: (22:24)Yeah. So well, maybe. John Whiting: (22:30)Circle back. Dan Henry: (22:31)Yeah. So, so Tom, I'll never forget this. Tom Brady said that the guys that are in the NFL that are gifted with like huge muscles and they're naturally athletic, they often are, are, they don't reach the top often because they, they have so much given to, but they don't know how to develop heart. And he says, when it comes post-season time, when it comes time to win championships, muscles, don't win championships, muscles don't win rings, heart wins rings. Look at Tom Brady. He is not physically like, you know, he, he is not that jacked. He is not a, a overly athletic. You, you see him in the street, you, you would never think he was an athlete yet. He's the greatest quarterback of all time. And it just goes to show you that that is the mental game. The heart is the mental game. So no matter what you do, if you can develop that you can crush and the number one person that needs it the most is the person that says "oh, mindset is bullshit". How, how often have you seen that as something that's like really held people back their resistance to improving their mental game? John Whiting: (23:44)I would say as a general, it's the number one thing, right? It just goes back to the, you know, 80/20 or a hundred percent. Like, it's literally the one thing, like, you've heard me say my, my drunk sober analogy. Right. So for those of you who haven't heard this, why would you, unless you follow me are already. But you know, do you make better decisions drunk or sober? We'll just go through it. Dan Henry: (24:05)Well, I would say sober. John Whiting: (24:06)Sober, right? How about when you're afraid, or nervous, or anxious, or really frustrated, do you make better decisions in that state or when you're calm? Dan Henry: (24:15)When you're calm, for sure.John Whiting: (24:16)Calm. Right? So when you're in one of these frustrated, very emotionally volatile, or even like super excited, like overly excited states, you tend to make decisions that's kind of like being mentally drunk, right? Dan Henry: (24:29)Absolutely. Yeah. John Whiting: (24:30)So ultimately when you're talking about, you know, I can, if I gave you the best, how-to strategies and tactics in the world, but you're blacked out drunk, will you be able to do anything with it? Dan Henry: (24:41)No, no. John Whiting: (24:42)No. Right. So what happens is, and this is what... Dan Henry: (24:46)You might puke, but. John Whiting: (24:47)You might puke, right? But ultimately at the end of the day, like what everybody else is trying to do is like, most people are walking around in some degree of mental drunkenness. And what happens is, is they're going to evaluate solutions, solve problems, look at tactics and strategies wandering around after shots of fear, guilt, doubt, frustration, anger, resentment. And they're just, you're taking shots as soon as you wake up. Let's say you sleep in too long and you feel, oh, my energy's low now. Now you're feeling wa wa wa. John Whiting: (25:22)Right as soon as your eyes open, you're like, oh shit, today's gonna suck or whatever. Take a shot of self-doubt and then a shot of guilt that you slept into long. And then you're wondering, like, you just keep doing this throughout the day, and you're wondering why you lose focus, why you can't do anything. Like, it's just literally the same thing. And so ultimately that's why we take entrepreneurs through a process to essentially sober up their mind so that they don't experience that. Or if they do, instead of you and I, have you ever met somebody who sat in a problem? Like, let's say they got dumped and they sat in it for way too long. Dan Henry: (25:56)Oh yeah. John Whiting: (25:57)Right. Dan Henry: (25:57)Oh yeah. I live in Florida. That's like everyone. John Whiting: (26:00)Exactly. Right. So one of my favorite definitions of wisdom is the speed at which you're able to see both sides of an event and neutralize it and transcend it. So if you let's say you get dumped and you sit in it for eight years or 80 years, sometimes that's not the most wise way of operation. Dan Henry: (26:20)Absolutely. John Whiting: (26:21)Right. So if you're able to, and there's like, I'm not saying, take emotion out of it. Like if your dog dies and you're just like, oh good, like that's a bit sociopathic. I'm not saying go there. I'm just saying there's an appropriate amount of time, just as a reasonable, you know, processing of an emotion. Whereas most people, they got rejected in something that they even forgot years and years ago. And now today, that's why they're afraid to ask their target market, their audience, "Hey, well, how is it that I can help you?" So they hide behind a consultant and go, "Hey, consultant, what should I say so I never experience rejection?" And our challenge is, is there's no answer to that question. We're not the one, I can't give you the answer to that question. It's literally impossible for me to tell you what to go say to your target market, which is why every time I bring an idea to you, you're like, I don't know, dude. Go test it. I'm like, yeah, that's a good point. Dan Henry: (27:16)Well, see, I always say, I can't tell you the answer. I can just tell you the process that will get you the answer. Cause I don't know the answer. I've never known the answer. John Whiting: (27:22)But, what will keep somebody from executing on that is a fear of getting rejected, a frustration. It could even be something real unrelated. Like they're frustrated with their aunt because their aunt's being an asshole during the holidays. Like it could be, you know, it could be literally anything that causes what I'll, I'll I'll name, mental drunkenness. Right? And so now it won't matter how good the advice is, how determined you are. You'll find a way to fuck it up essentially. And what happens is, you go do whatever meditations, affirmations, journaling, whatever. Let's say you're hammered drunk. And I say, all right, we're gonna meditate, do affirmations and journal. You're gonna be like scribing drunk, and I don't know this isn't working. And then you get distracted and go do something else. And then be like, "I don't know, I tried that shit. It doesn't work. None of that stuff works". And you loop it into this big generalities bucket because you're not getting specific on anything. And you say none of that worked. I tried it all. You've seen that. How many people have you talked to said, yeah, I tried everything and it didn't work, and they've tried two fucking things? Dan Henry: (28:25)Well, virtually everyone. Virtually everyone. I mean, you, you cannot begin. I mean, I've been on thousands of coaching calls. I've spoken at tons of events. Like it's ridiculous how, like I'll give you a perfect example, right? Like let's say somebody says well, you know actually I've literally had people try something and, and they say, oh, I've tried it, it doesn't work. And I say, well, how many times did you try it? And they'll literally say once. And I'll be like, so your expectation is that you try to do something that you never have done before and just because you have got some guidance, all of a sudden, you are supposed to fully and completely execute it on the very first try? The problem that you have is not anything technical or tactical. It is your emotions telling you to set that insane expectation. That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. And that's probably also holding you back in multiple categories of your life, literally permeating your life like a virus. John Whiting: (29:44)And here's the thing. They already knew that that's what they're really upset about. And when you remind them of that, it reminds them that they already knew that, but they're not demonstrating it. So ultimately, for example, if you're drunk and I'm like, Hey, Dan, don't be drunk. That's my advice. Right. It won't matter how. Hey, Dan, let's sober up now. Like, have you ever tried to tell a drunk person, like, all right, sober up now, like get your shit together. And they, they can't do it. Is it their fault? Eh, I mean, yeah, they got themselves drunk, but ultimately, like we're saying in so many words, like, wait, you're an idiot for not, you know, if you're not seeing this logic here, Dan Henry: (30:29)It's like, you're trying to reason with a drunk person, John Whiting: (30:31)Correct. You can't reason with a drunk person. So what's the solution. Is it reason harder? Dan Henry: (30:36)An IV. John Whiting: (30:38)An IV. Dan Henry: (30:39)See, that's what you do. John Whiting: (30:40)Exactly. Dan Henry: (30:41)Your stuff is the, the IV. John Whiting: (30:43)Correct. Dan Henry: (30:44)It's it's the thing that gets them. John Whiting: (30:46)I like that. I'm gonna use that analogy. Dan Henry: (30:47)Yeah, you should. Yeah. You know, I'm the IV you're drunk and I'm the IV, you know? John Whiting: (30:52)Use a different voice tone, but yeah. Dan Henry: (30:54)I mean, you could say you're the mental cocaine, cuz that'll, that'll wake you right up, but I probably wouldn't do that. John Whiting: (30:59)That's a, we'll circle back to that one. Dan Henry: (31:01)Yeah. That's yeah, that's, that's probably an audience mismatch, but the, the point is, is that, and, and I wanna, I wanna be clear, a lot of people associate mindset work, and this is important. They associate it only with things like confidence and fear. And those are, yes, those are very, very common, but there are other cancers out there, for instance, I've personally have not had in a while. You know, maybe early on in my career, a lot of fear, you know, like I, I lately the past four years of my life has generally been, you know, me taking more risk, then I probably should not less. And I think that may come because they, they may come from such abundance that, you know, when you're a, when, when you're pretty much poor your whole life and you deliver pizza for seven years, which is like a huge, and I'm still pissed off that I let that be that big of a chunk of my life. Dan Henry: (32:01)And then you have like tens of millions dollars. You get to a point where you're in such a state of abundance that, or at least I do where I might take risks that are, that could pay off this big. But a seasoned investor would probably be like, you know, you know, no. But it's worked out, like when I did the music video for Book and Close, you know, I had a few people tell me, they were like, you're gonna get all kinds of hate for this. People are gonna say, you're objectifying women. And I'm like, it's a parody from a movie. You idiots. Like, you know, like what, like who's gonna do that. Yeah. And then I was like, wait a minute, idiots will do that. And I don't want idiots to buy my stuff anyway. So then I was like, all right, it's fine. Dan Henry: (32:49)And then it blew up and we did $850,000 off of that ad on like something like 15 or $17,000 in, in advertising cost. It was ridiculous. You know? But what does hold me back personally, is things like anger, frustration. And I know it. Like, and I think a lot of entrepreneurs, especially those that have employees can appreciate this, or at least acknowledge, they, they see it in their life, but you have an employee, or maybe it's not even an employee, maybe somebody you've hired like outsourced and they do a bad job or at least not to your standards. But the thing is, is if they were to do it to your standards, they probably wouldn't be working for you. They would have their own thing. And some people don't want that. They don't want that life. It's a life, but to have to expect, cuz you're, you're pushing yourself to this insane degree, right? Dan Henry: (33:51)Like you're pushing yourself harder as an entrepreneur, you're pushing yourself harder than most people are willing to push themselves. So when you put that expectation onto an employee, you're basically saying, Hey, I'm a lunatic. I'm gonna push myself to this crazy degree that 99% of the population is not willing to do. I expect you, the employee part of that 99, to be lunatic with me. And they're looking at you, like you're a lunatic, you know? And then you're like, why can't you do this right. And it's like, because you're expecting them to be a lunatic because you're a lunatic. Right. And they don't wanna be a lunatic. If they were gonna be a lunatic, they'd probably go off and start their own business and be a lunatic. You know? So I think that's important that it's not just people who aren't afraid who do have confidence, but there's other things that can fuck you up as well in your business. John Whiting: (34:43)Oh yeah, totally. And for on that point specifically, like one of the things that okay. And I've used this analogy, I'll, I'll soften it slightly, but when we were at your penthouse a couple months ago or whatever, when you asked me about this, do you remember the analogy that I shared with you about the kid in the grocery store? Dan Henry: (35:06)We, we were, we okay. We were, we were eating some plants, but you'll have to remind me John Whiting: (35:12)So and, and this can go in the mental just I'll, I'll use the drunk analogy just to keep it congruent. So imagine everybody that it is on this planet for the most part to some degree is drunk, right? We're going around expecting them to be sober and they're not, and it's frustrating. Right? So ultimately we're going around saying you should be sober as I am. Now that also can come from a different kind of your own mental drunkenness. And now you've got two drunk people just arguing about nonsense. Dan Henry: (35:46)Because your expectations is making you drunk. John Whiting: (35:47)Right. And their expectation of you is that it's not gonna be that hard. And you're just like, you know, going back and forth with like two drunk idiots arguing on the front lawn and, you know, middle of Florida, right? But ultimately, you know, if you, if, if you at least understand logically that's like half the game of like, okay, I like what you just said, that, that argument that you just made, like definitely a prerequisite to working with people in general. Like, especially if you're a high-performer, like you just have a, like, there are some people that have more horsepower than others. And so you're driving around in, you know, the La Ferrari and wondering why the Camry is going slow. Well, it's not that it it's cuz it's a Camry. Dan Henry: (36:29)Right. John Whiting: (36:29)You know what I mean? Like, so you're expecting like, come on Camry, go. It's just like, well you hired a Camry and you're expecting to be a Ferrari, like that's on you. You know what I mean? Right. Dan Henry: (36:41)So, it comes about to ownership. John Whiting: (36:43)Oh, everything does, right. And so like the most empowering position you could possibly ever come from is I caused it all, literally everything, including all the things you're going like, wait a minute. Not that though. Yeah that too. Dan Henry: (36:56)But so what you're saying is even if you were to be able to make a logical argument, that it in fact was not your fault, bypassing that and taking ownership of it anyway, really is the secret to crazy amounts of success? John Whiting: (37:10)Correct. Dan Henry: (37:11)Yeah. I would agree with that. John Whiting: (37:12)100% Dan Henry: (37:12)I would agree with that. Have you read Extreme Ownership? John Whiting: (37:14)Yeah. Dan Henry: (37:15)Yeah. I think that's a great book. Lot of, lot of war stories, you know, I feel like that should be a movie. But so let me ask you this, you, you built a million dollar business when you did not come from, you know, like you didn't come from Harvard Business School or anything like that and, Dan Henry: (37:36)Two. Two seven figure Dan Henry: (37:36)Two seven figure businesses. Well, we came, we can't leave out the, that's one thing about entrepreneurs. John Whiting: (37:41)I don't have tens of millions of dollars yet, but you know, Dan Henry: (37:43)That's all right. I understand. Because like, when somebody like, so my dad, we have this, I have this running joke. My dad always says, he'll be like, ah, you know, I'm so proud that my son became a millionaire. I'd be like multimillionaire. You know, like don't leave out the multi baby. But, so, so let's go back to, you know, and I, we had this conversation again, off camera. And I know that there are certain aspects about this you don't want to share. So with whatever you want to fill in take me back, way back to when, you've, the journey that allowed you to discover this. And because I mean to sit there and come up, like what you're saying makes sense, right? What you're saying makes sense. John Whiting: (38:31)It's about time I said something that made sense. Dan Henry: (38:33)It clearly works. It has worked for you. It has worked for people you've worked with, clients that you've worked with. It works. But now that we know that it works, how did you even figure this out? Like, how did you, how, what happened that you even like, I mean, I know that what, what you teach, isn't just like being stoic. It's way, way, that's just like a, sort of like a sprinkle, but how did you come up with this? How did you learn this? John Whiting: (39:01)Yeah. And so it's not that I don't want to share certain aspects of it, it's that the individuals that have helped me along the way are preferred to remain anonymous and private and so on. So it's just out of, out of respect ultimately so. Brevity, I'm working on brevity here. So ultimately I started my entrepreneurial journey in 2011 after essentially I'll say failing as a pro-golfer to keep it simple and straight. Had put my whole life into golf. Dan Henry: (39:33)How do you, hold on let's let's, let's break this into chunks. How do you fail as a Pro Golfer? John Whiting: (39:37)So Pro Golf, here's the best analogy I got. Imagine the only way to actually make a living as an entrepreneur is you have to be on the Forbes list. If you're not on the Forbes list, you're basically broke and homeless as an entrepreneur. That's essentially how professional golf is. If you're not one of the elite, it's literally elite or nothing. And so there's probably about 25, probably about 20, 25,000 golfers on the planet that you could probably just plop into a PGA tour event of usually the fields are about 150, 160 guys, and they would have a shot at at least making the cut, if not winning the thing, there's only 125 spots on the PGA tour. Dan Henry: (40:20)So basically what you're saying is, and let me correct me if I'm wrong. If you're not on the PGA tour, you're shit? John Whiting: (40:26)You're basically not making a living. Dan Henry: (40:29)And as, as a pro golfer? John Whiting: (40:30)As a pro golfer. Dan Henry: (40:31)And if, I mean, I don't know how many golfers there are in the world, let alone pro golfers. But I would imagine there's tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands John Whiting: (40:41)That that could potentially play at that level talent wise, 20 to 25,000 globally. Dan Henry: (40:48)Okay. And out of that, 20 to 25,000, only 125 can make a living. John Whiting: (40:56)There's 125 on the PGA tour. There's about the same amount on the European tour. And then there's a couple, smaller tours that each have the same, but there's literally under 500 golfers that are making a really good living playing golf professionally. So those numbers are not the most favorable. Like, literally it's not like as an entrepreneur, like you can suck and be irrelevant and make millions of dollars relative to like Elon Musk. You know what I mean? So comparatively speaking entrepreneurship is a cakewalk compared to making these a, Dan Henry: (41:32)I mean, look at us, nobody knows who the hell we are and we make millions of dollars by the way, LA Croix. If you're looking for sponsor. Clinky clinky. John Whiting: (41:39)Yeah, how lame. So I I essentially, I had gotten to what I consider like the best that I'd ever gotten in my life and was still nowhere close. And I was just like shooting great numbers. And for those of you who understand golf, there was the last tournament that I ever played in. I shot six under par and missed the cut after two days. Now golf tournaments are four days. You play the first two, they make a cut from like 160 guys down to about 50 guys. If you miss the cut, you get zero checks. Okay. Dan Henry: (42:15)Geez. Brutal. John Whiting: (42:16)So, yeah. And so shooting six under, I was like, I played, well this week. Dan Henry: (42:21)It's not like baseball where you can get paid a million dollars to sell. John Whiting: (42:24)Oh there's no salaries. There's no salaries. Dan Henry: (42:26)Oh yeah, that's right. You don't get. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's true. John Whiting: (42:29)You have to basically raise money from investors to back you in this incredibly. Dan Henry: (42:37)It's basically gambling. John Whiting: (42:38)It's, exactly. So Dan Henry: (42:39)Like pool it's like, it's like being a professional pool player, but most of them make it off gambling not the tournaments. John Whiting: (42:44)Like the tours that I played on was basically organized gambling, cuz there's no like TV sponsors and. So you have a whole bunch of guys that are each paying $1500 or $2,000 to play in the event, you have 160 guys paid $2,000. This would be a larger event that I would play in. And this was, that would be like the best of the best under the PGA tour, essentially to keep it simple for all you guys that wanna nitpick my like Korn Ferry tour and all this other shit. That's not what I'm going for here. I'm trying to keep it for entrepreneurs who don't know shit about golf. Dan Henry: (43:14)Well, people, people that nitpick are too busy nitpicking, not doing big shit, so. John Whiting: (43:18)But ultimately like you pay, you pay two grand for an entry fee. So does everybody else. The purse is $320,000, 160 guys. After the first two days, they cut to the top, sometimes 50 to 70, depending on how they structured the tournament. So if you, the cut you've donated $2,000 to the pot and you've had to cover your own travel expenses, everything else. And by the way, you're playing for a living. So you are probably not doing something else. And if you are doing something else, you don't have enough time to hone your game, as well as the guys who have enough money backing them. And so you miss the cut. You've traveled that week, thousands of dollars, you've paid $2,000 just anywhere from a thousand, 2000, depending on the size of the event. But then, you know, winner gets probably let's say if that particular tournament might get 50 grand, second place, 25, third place, 12, fourth, place 10. It goes down very quickly. So let's say you're you make the cut and you finish 50th and you make a check of $950. Dan Henry: (44:21)But you spent three grand to get there. John Whiting: (44:23)And two grand to enter. Dan Henry: (44:24)Oh my gosh. So, you quickly realized this was not a long term. John Whiting: (44:28)I survived two and a half years and I got to the point to where, you know, and I dropped outta college to do it. My family wasn't super keen on that. And they were just basically like, whatever, go do your thing. But we're not gonna support you at all. You need to be in college and do the thing that we need you to do. And I'm like, fuck that. So I drop out and. Dan Henry: (44:49)Spoken like a true entrepreneur. John Whiting: (44:51)Yeah. And so I had kind of like, I went two and a half years without talking to my family. I was just like, if you don't wanna support my dream, like what kind support is that like, fuck you. It's where I was at the time. And so I was kind of like off on my own doing this thing and I was gonna make it. And I had burned every bridge, I'd burned all my boats. I had burned everything to the ground pretty much. And it just got to a point where I kind of had this realization. I had gone through, you know, all of the resources that I had. Missed this one cut after playing the best that I thought. And I was pretty much hitting the darkest point that I had ever gotten to. Like I had just put everything into it. And I was just like, I don't, I don't know what my options are. Like I either miraculously get better tomorrow. Or I go get a job, which I'm just like, like, you know me, like picture me going and get a job. Like it's just not gonna happen. And I'm like, well, what then? Like, and then, so at the time I was just, I was really seriously considering checking out and it got, Dan Henry: (45:59)What do you mean checking out? John Whiting: (46:01)Offing myself. Dan Henry: (46:03)That's heavy. John Whiting: (46:04)Yeah. And it was just where I was at the time. And, and the only, like when I say go get a job, I don't mean like go into corporate America and maybe make six figures. I was like, I don't know. I don't have a degree. I don't have any qualifications. This is how I was thinking at the time my resourcefulness was in my mental drunkenness was at an all time high and I was just like, I don't know, go work at Subway. And I'm just like that. I'd rather kill myself than work at subway. Dan Henry: (46:33)So, basically you were like, you took, give me liberty or give me death to a whole new level. John Whiting: (46:37)Oh yeah. And and at the time I had like, I didn't know shit about shit about shit. Aside from the fact that I just like, I don't know what I was just sitting there. Like, I don't know what to do. And that's what essentially. And I had a, one of my sponsors and slash mentors, if you wanna call it that at the time, I presented him with my quandary and I said, so I have see it as I have three options and they all suck, like, what do you, what do I do, man? And he is like, well, I don't know what's best for you only, you know, what's best for you and whatever you decide to do, I'll fully support. And I'm like, okay. And at the time, like when I tell the story, people were like, he said what? He supported that? I'm just like, at the time, like, based on how our relationship was and where I was, I was just like, yeah, that makes sense. Like, what are you gonna tell me to do? I don't know. Dan Henry: (47:25)It reminds me of that commercial. Have you seen it where the girls like, you know, I just, nothing makes me happy and I'm so depressed. And so I asked my dad what to do, or my dad told me and he goes, just smile more. And she's like, and it's like, want real advice or something, you know? John Whiting: (47:42)Solid. Yeah. So anyway, I took that and I was like, well, that was kinda like the nail in the coffin with that particular relationship, I saw that like, he has no idea what to tell me. I don't have any idea what to tell me. And so either, Dan Henry: (47:57)I mean, to be fair, that's a pretty heavy, heavy thing. John Whiting: (48:00)I know, yeah. Yeah, nobody said this one, this one was light. Dan Henry: (48:03)Yeah. Somebody asked me that. I would, I'm, I don't know, man. I wouldn't want to touch that one with a 10 foot pole, unless I like really knew the person. You know? John Whiting: (48:14)Yeah. I mean, and so, you know, in retrospect that's honestly the, some of the most, probably the most important words that have been spoken to me in this lifetime. Just because it's what caused me to like, all right, I gotta figure this out. Dan Henry: (48:33)Unless he said that to you on purpose, you ever thought about that? Almost like reverse psychology? John Whiting: (48:40)He didn't. Dan Henry: (48:41)Okay. Well, it sounds like you're pretty confident on that. John Whiting: (48:44)I'm pretty confident that he didn't. Yeah based on the, the, that followed there after and so on, but regardless. So that's what caused me to start like searching for like, well, instead of lit, instead of going and killing myself, I was like, well, before we do that, let's just see if there's another way of doing things. And I started just Googling, like how to fix my life, you know? Like, and that's what led me to just, that was the beginning of, I'll say my personal development journey, but I, that I, and I jumped in with both feet on just like literally everything that you've probably ever heard of personal development wise. I've not only dabbled in it. I've drank the Kool-Aid, mixed it with other Kool-Aid. Bathed in that Kool-Aid and brushed my teeth with it. Like I was all in. Dan Henry: (49:34)Injected it. Put an IV of that in there. Yeah. So you did, you did all the events, all the seminars, you went to all of the, the group outings. John Whiting: (49:44)Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And you know, the saying of, you know, you gotta go find a mentor and work for them and learn from them and it's gonna be your fastest way to, you know, accelerate your success and whatever. So boy did I. So at different events that I would go to I'd deliberately go like, who is the, like the richest dude that I could go work for and whatever. And I just like networked around. Long story short over the following six years, literally six different states, six different companies, six different opportunities, if you want to call it that. And bottom line went into all these like, Ooh, this is gonna be great. I'm gonna learn how to do everything perfectly. Cuz I got in with this dude. And I very quickly realized in all of those that they had no idea what they were doing. And that pissed me off cuz I was like, damn it. I moved across the country. Like I literally lived in, moved to six different states because of who I met. I'm like, whatever, I'll do, whatever it takes. Dan Henry: (50:44)How many times did you have to hug people that didn't know and jump up and down and clap? John Whiting: (50:48)Too many. Too many. Dan Henry: (50:50)That didn't help you? John Whiting: (50:51)Unfortunately, no. Dan Henry: (50:52)Oh my gosh, really? John Whiting: (50:54)I played full out. And so I, after six years of like, okay, I'm a persistent. Like I, at some point I feel like I'm doing all the things that these books are saying to do, but I've still like, I literally didn't make more than honestly, probably like $18,000 in a year doing this. Dan Henry: (51:15)Dude, I know, I know school teachers that make more than that. John Whiting: (51:18)No shit. You can sense the frustration that I was feeling at the time, right? And so I'm just like, I'm literally I've read all the books. Like I, I literally read a couple hundred books, went to every seminar, like I just. Dan Henry: (51:30)Personal development books? John Whiting: (51:31)Yeah. And just like was doing the affirmations, doing the meditating. And doing the routines, and the wake up at 4:00 AM, and the green drink and the, like you name it. Like I, everything that I could get my hands on. And I'm just like, there's still something like, it's clearly something's wrong. Like I shouldn't like I'm I consider myself a relatively intelligent individual, I even did back then. And I'm just like, I still suck. Like why am I still sucking? So I got introduced in this series of introductions in these networking little pods that I got in. I got introduced to a guy, who introduced me to a guy, who introduced me to a guy who, just picture Yoda in the swamp in Star Wars, right? Off grid. Dan Henry: (52:14)Super short and green. John Whiting: (52:15)Super short and green. Right? Exactly. 8,000 years old, whatever. Dan Henry: (52:20)Kind of has a attitude, but in a comedic type of way. John Whiting: (52:26)So I get introduced this dude and I basically tell him the story that I'm telling you. And he is like, Hmm, I understand. I might share something with you that might be helpful. So he essentially shares with me an entirely different model of how the mind works and essentially how to unfuck it. And I'm like, if there's a way to unfuck it, like, if there's anybody is the poster child of needs unfucking, it's me cuz now not only did I have like this shit that I was carrying, but now it's kind of like, I use this example. I had a mental alcohol addiction we'll call it, right? Not an actual alcohol addiction, but I was, you know, pretty down. Dan Henry: (53:06)It sounds like you were more than, more than fucked. You were like double fucked. John Whiting: (53:09)I was double fucked. Yeah, we'll get you whiteboard out. You can draw it for us. Dan Henry: (53:16)That's a little Easter egg for anyone who's following for a length of time. John Whiting: (53:21)No pun intended on the length of time. So essentially I was pretty down, mentally drunk to the max. And so what I started understanding is all of this, you know, oh, I gotta be positive. Wanna be more positive, gotta be, do the positive thing. Think positive, be positive, talk positive, blah, blah, blah. And so it's essentially when you're actually, have you ever tried to talk yourself out of being drunk when you're wasted? Just be like, all right, hold it together. You got this, just you're sober. We're sober now it's gonna be okay. You know, like have you ever been that drunk? Dan Henry: (53:56)Yeah. John Whiting: (53:57)Or seen anybody that drunk? Dan Henry: (53:59)Yeah. Well I've own two bars. So yes multiple times, which is one of the leading causes of why I switch to marijuana. John Whiting: (54:06)Perfect. [Inaudible] first kids. So I essentially it's the feeling that I was experiencing is it's kind of like, I know I'm drunk, but here I am. The advice that I'm being given is if you tell yourself you're not drunk for long enough and hard enough with enough emotion, you will be sober. I did that for six years and I was still drunk and now I was a lying drunk. And I'm I felt it like, and especially like you go to some of these events that are very uppity you see people that are just like, you ever met the person that's like, oh, hi isn't it amazing. Aren't you fantastic? Things are wonderful. Oh, I'm so grateful. Like it just, Dan Henry: (54:50)Yeah, I kind, I kind of wanna like watch that person trip and fall into like a bed of spikes and then film it in slow motion and watch it over again. Yeah. That, not my favorite person. John Whiting: (55:02)And later he'll tell you how he really feels. Dan Henry: (55:04)I just like, that's just too intense for me like. John Whiting: (55:08)Well, so, you know, so the, so it essentially, I was just, I was feeling like, I, I knew I couldn't go there. I'm just like, I don't, that, I can't like that doesn't make sense to me. That seemed, that feels fucked up. So, but what I started to see is like all of the traditional stuff is like trying to a balance out an alcohol addiction with a cocaine addiction and kind of hopefully find a medium, a mid balance. And I'm like, well, that doesn't seem that sustainable. And most of these people don't actually authentically seem not only happy, but like real. Dan Henry: (55:44)Yeah. I, I, no, see that's the thing is I've been, I've been to a lot of these events, right? And, and I'm gonna say this, and I know I'm gonna get a lot of heat for this. John Whiting: (55:50)Let's go. Viral clip coming up. Dan Henry: (55:52)So here's the thing I have never, and I have been at the table. I'm fortunate enough cuz you know, when, when you make millions of dollars and you make waves, you get to sit at the table with other people that make waves. It's just like a thing, they're just like, oh, come on over. But if you haven't done that, they're like, who are you? But when you've done it, you just get access. And I've sat at the table, literally dinner tables with dozens of eight and even nine figure entrepreneurs, and just thought leaders and people who just have done awesome things. And I've never once, ever once heard a single person say the secret to my success was daily affirmations. Or, or pumping myself up. I've never, ever heard that. Most of the time actually all the time, it is mindset. It is mental game related, but it's not in the way that you would think. It's not in the, uuuuggghhhh Dan Henry: (56:48)You know, like superficial BS, you know hypee stuff. It's more, it's stuff you don't hear. You know, it's stuff that you, you don't see on TV, you don't see at events and it's, it's just this whole like writing down what you're grateful for. Like I don't need to write down what I'm grateful for. I know it because I have a brain that fires neurons from one side to the other. And I, and I understand you write something down, you retain it. It sinks in and all that. But I just, these to me, these seems like parlor tricks to me. They seem like like exercises and activities and parlor tricks. Because how many people do that? I write down my daily affirmations every day. Okay. Well what, what has that done for you? Like deep down, ask yourself. And you know what? It probably has helped a lot of people, but if you have huge dreams and you wanna accomplish big things, yeah that may help, but that's not gonna be the thing that actually moves the needle. And actually makes it happen. It may help. It may give you comfort, but it's not gonna be the trigger. John Whiting: (57:53)Well, and it's, it's, it's in, here's the thing. It's like I'm, if you write down, I'm sober and I'm so happy and grateful now that I'm sober while you're taking shots of whiskey over here, that's what's happening. Dan Henry: (58:06)Mental whiskey. John Whiting: (58:06)Mental, well let's, Dan Henry: (58:08)Well, either one, John Whiting: (58:09)Either one. Either one's fucked. So ultimately what, what changed the game for me is when I was introduced to a, a different concept of essentially how the mind works and this in, it was shared much differently, but he's like, Hey, you're mentally drunk. We gotta sober that up. I'm like, I feel mentally drunk. Like how do I do it? So he ultimately took me through a series of essentially frameworks and processes to understand not only what was actually happening, but also how to essentially, I'll just say, neutralize to better and just like, get rid of the mental drunkenness. Kind of like as if you were going to like a drug rehab program, they go through and they sober your body up of the toxins and you sober up, like there's no other way around it. John Whiting: (59:00)You gotta go through the to sober up. So I essentially worked with, I, I moved yet again. And I'm like, whatever it takes, dude, like, and he's a, he's a, essentially he works with like, I think five or six multi-multimillionaires and actually a couple billionaires. And he's kind of like, I'll just say like, they're private Yoda, he's off grid. He doesn't even like, he uses a different name than his actual real name for a number of different reasons. That's a different story. And so I'm just like, dude, like what would I have to do to like work with you? Like, I feel like what you're sharing with me is the first thing in my entire life that has ever made any sense. And if I don't do whatever I have to, to like do what it is that you just shared with me, like, I don't know that I'm gonna make it basically. John Whiting: (59:51)And so we worked out an arrangement and I that's when I kind of started a forey into a digital marketing type world and was a part of one of these other, the, the last of the six people that I moved to work for was still kind of dabbling around there doing my best to add as much value as I possibly can. And, and, you know, ultimately my income kind of started changing slightly. But after I worked with this guy for four days, a week, six hours a day for two years, pretty much with no breaks. And the best thing I ever did in my life. I'm the only person that I know that would even come close to actually being insane enough to do that. Dan Henry: (01:00:36)And you, are you talking about, just to be clear, are you talking about the guy that you met that shared this thing with you?John Whiting: (01:00:40)Correct.Dan Henry: (01:00:41)Okay. Got it.John Whiting: (01:00:41)Yes. Yeah. And I basically did whatever I had to, to exchange with him to work with me essentially. And as you know, as with anything good that you've learned, you're just like, I want more, I want more, I want more, I wanna understand this more. I wanna master this. I wanna understand this more. This is like the it. And so coming out of that is when I, I kind of just, when I start kind of was wrapping up my time with him in person we're still in touch. But wrapping up my time with him in person is when I started, I'm like, all right, this one company that I'm working with, like it's not gonna work out long term. And just like everybody and their dog in 2015 and 16, but Tai Lopez is SMMA thing.John Whiting: (01:01:24)And I'm like, all right, I could see myself doing that agency thing. And so I like religiously, like started going through that and I'm like, I think I could do something. And so I literally, long story short, eight within the next 18 months built a multiple seven-figure eight agency. We had 400 monthly recurring clients. We had a team of 24 and one of those clients said Hey, I really like what you're doing. And we're actually looking to add an agency to our portfolio. Would you be interested in selling? And I said, yes, I think I would. And so in fall of 2000 we made a deal. I was excited that took about eight months off. And I said, you know, what do I, what do I want to do now? I don't want to. And I had sold.John Whiting: (01:02:15)I had just like you, you know, I had taught, you know, how we generate leads and how to close 'em and all the howtos, howtos, howtos, howtos. And I sold like 3000 programs on my lead gen program. And, but I was just like, platforms change every five minutes. I'm like, I don't care enough to keep up with the LinkedIn algorithm anymore. I just don't wanna spend my time on that. That's just not what I wanna do. And so I was like, you know, what would I let, what would I do if I had a billion dollars? I'm like, I've never shared what it is that I went through.Dan Henry: (01:02:48)Now, when you say, what would you do if you had a billion dollars, you mean, what would you do if you didn't need money? And you did it because it was what you wanted to do, what you wanted to share.John Whiting: (01:02:58)That's right. You that's right. And so I was like, you know, I've never shared what I went through. The challenges, what I went through was all intensive, one on one, very not scalable. And so I, I was like, but, you know, I, I think I'm a smart enough guy. I know enough about, you know, marketing and programs and sales at this point to probably get something to a point to where it could be scalable and still as it, maybe not totally as effective as I went through, but still incredibly impactful. And I took about three months and just sat outside by my pool and just kind of like messed around with concepts and ideas. And basically six months later, I launched a beta of what was called Bulletproof Entrepreneur. And I basically almost had not a whole lot built, but I knew what I was gonna build.John Whiting: (01:03:53)And I was pretty sure it was gonna be pretty banger. And that was 14 months ago. Long story short, we've taken 210 entrepreneurs now through this process where we essentially, it's a removal process of essentially sobering up the mind. So you can do the shit that you know you should be doing. And when I, when I speak, I say, how many of you guys know you have the next level within you? And you're just trying to get it out. Everybody's hand goes up exactly. You don't need to step into a new version of yourself or invent yourself. You're already it.Dan Henry: (01:04:24)You just gotta unlock it.John Whiting: (01:04:25)You just gotta sober your ass up. And so I we've taken 210, something like that, entrepreneurs through this process. And we track all of our statistics. It's very, very trackable, measurable, practical. We don't tell you to sit there and breathe and visualize and all that. And if that works for you, by the way, keep doing it. I have nothing against it. I'm all for it if it works for you, do it. But we track every single statistic in the entire thing. And long story short there's, we track a number of different things, but the two that really stick out the most is on average average of 47% decrease in fear and 82% increase in focus and an average of a 78% increase in revenue just by getting rid of mental shit, just by sobering up the mind. And we haven't had one single refund request, one single support ticket, one single charge back. We haven't had any of that in 14 months. And we've done about one and a half million in sales in the first 14 months. Last couple months have been over 200 a month, so we're trending. And the, so we'reDan Henry: (01:05:35)Yeah. Your last month was awesome.John Whiting: (01:05:38)Yeah.We did two, I think just about 260.Dan Henry: (01:05:42)So, so let's, let's, let's recap this, right? So let me give a recap and you tell me if I'm on point here. So you were mentally just messed up. You had a lot of negative emotions. You considered killing yourself. Like you were in a bad mental spot. You tried all the personal development programs out there, and none of them worked and they all felt very superficial and like putting a bandaid on. You then met this, met this guy who I might have missed where you met him or how you met him.John Whiting: (01:06:19)It was just, we'll just say through networking, through networking. Yeah. Okay. I, I was just sharing, you know, with some guy by trials and tribulations, he was like, you need to meet this dude.Dan Henry: (01:06:28)Oh. So this was like a referral, got it. Okay. So you met, so you met this guy and I know more about what you're than what you're sharing now. So I'll just recap what you say it, but you know, you, you met this guy, he, he shared a different perspective with you on how the mind works. You were so captivated with it that you do whatever you could to actually work with this person for an extended period of time, very closely. And you dedicated your life that sec, of your section of your life to it. Then when you were done, you went off and you much did the same stuff you did before, but now you did it at an incredibly higher and more effective rate. You made more money than you ever had. And then you sold, you sold the company.Dan Henry: (01:07:13)So now you had even more money and you realized that you wanted to do something that more impactful. That really meant a lot to you. So you wrapped up sort of what you had learned in this experience with this, with this person, and you turned it into an educational or, or consulting program. And you've made now, like last month, you've done over $260,000 with, at that program. And you have incredible results. You have incredible, you know, student case studies and all that jazz. And it all really came from just a different perspective on how you think.John Whiting: (01:07:57)Correct.Dan Henry: (01:07:57)Now isn't that in credible that no huge change in tactics or strategy, but just the clearing of the mind and, and the improvement of the mental game, not the strategy game, not the tactical game. But those are important, you know, but the improvement of the mental game led you to just radically changing your life and just turning everything around.John Whiting: (01:08:25)Accurate.Dan Henry: (01:08:25)Yeah. That's an incredible story. I'd love to dive more into, you know, the guru that you met or whatever you want to call 'em. But I know that there's aspects of that,John Whiting: (01:08:36)There's aspects of it, but I'm not, I'm not it's not that I don't wanna share. It's just that he's asked me specifically for reasons that those reasons why he asked me that I'd rather not share. But yeah.Dan Henry: (01:08:51)So do, and, and what was, let me just, cause I can hear in my head, I can hear people with their little objections. I've seen it firsthand. So like, I, I don't have any objections to this. I've seen I've, you know, and, and I've gone through your stuff and it's freaking amazing, but what, besides just the fact that when this person explained this to you, and it made sense. Besides that, what about that person made you feel like this was it, this, this is the real, real way to think about things?John Whiting: (01:09:25)You know, it's kind of like you drinking in that LA Croix. Why does it make sense to just take it with your right hand and drink it?Dan Henry: (01:09:34)Cause I don't wanna hit the microphone over here.John Whiting: (01:09:36)Okay. Why does it make sense to use either of your hands and just drink it the way you did? Why not go like this?Dan Henry: (01:09:43)Well, cuz that would look silly. Probably cuz I'm right hand dominant and this is the most efficient way to, to drink it.John Whiting: (01:09:50)Just cuz it would look silly or is that the best way to get that Le Croix?Dan Henry: (01:09:55)Well, yeah I don't wanna. Yeah. If I try to lean over and drink it outta my mouth, I'll spill it all over the table.John Whiting: (01:09:59)Right. Right, exactly. So when you just, this just makes sense.Dan Henry: (01:10:05)Right.John Whiting: (01:10:05)Why does it make sense?Dan Henry: (01:10:08)Cause it's obvious.John Whiting: (01:10:10)There you go.Dan Henry: (01:10:11)Okay. So you didn't, you didn't take, you didn't take any, so it made sense to you. But was there anything else that, that gave you sort of like that made you feel like what you were hearing was credible? Or was it just such pure unadulterated logic that it didn't matter?John Whiting: (01:10:31)If I tried to argue with you about your LaCroix drinking strategy, right, would you, if I said, Hey, how do you know that strategy is credible? What would you say?Dan Henry: (01:10:44)I'd say well, if I tried to do it any other way, you know, I can't think of another way and I, that I could do it, which wouldn't create a mess. Yeah. That's good. That's good. But the point is that it worked. The point is that, that, and, and I know a little bit more about the story of where it came from, but I get it.John Whiting: (01:11:06)Truth resonates. Truth resonates with people. Okay. And that's why back to our earlier conversation about like our job is to remind you of what you already know. You already know the truth, right? Every problem that anybody's ever brought to you, regardless if it was a mental problem, strategy, problem, tactic, problem, who cares. They already know the solution. What they're doing is they're, you can either play big games or small games. Most people in general, not just entrepreneurs, but most people play very small games. Small, for example, a small game being homeless guy, trying to find cheeseburger in trash can and repeat that game twice a day for the rest of his life. That's a very small game. Elon Musk is trying to put people on Mars. Jeff Bezos is trying to deliver packages via drone on demand, big game.Dan Henry: (01:12:03)Right.John Whiting: (01:12:03)So if you, the bigger the game that you play, the less bothersome the small games become. So you are either defining your big game or where you're playing somebody else's small game. So if you define your own big game, all of the like Elon Musk, doesn't have to worry about where he is getting food. Not because he's a master at solving a food problem. It's because he's focused on much bigger things. And he's playing a bigger game. All of the small games become irrelevant and already taken care of. They're not worth toiling over. So everybody who and the homeless guy listening to this, probably not listening to this, he knows this. Everybody that is listening to this knows that to be a fact,Dan Henry: (01:12:51)I don't know, man, have you seen homeless people these days? They all have cell phones. They all have like,John Whiting: (01:12:56)Okay, good. So I hope you watched this learn how to think it's $7 a month for the love of God, scrape it together. Okay. So ultimately truth resonates with people and when you speak truth, everybody goes, yeah, that makes sense. So the more truth that you, as they say it, truth will set you free. The only thing that will you up is a lie. And so that's where like, like every relationship quarrel and any relationship, whether it's professional or intimate, doesn't really matter. Everybody knows that in order to make a relationship go well, is you be understanding, kind, considerate, communicate well, communicate often and help the other person meet their needs and allow them freedom to help, you know, like exchange.Dan Henry: (01:13:42)Yeah. Like just, but execution is, is, is way hard, harder than just acknowledgement.John Whiting: (01:13:47)So the problem isn't that people don't know what to do, but they, they basically come to you for example, for how to advice or me for how to, or anybody for how to advice, they already know how for the most part, the problem is they have this thing in their mind that is causing this drunk perception where they play this game of I'm going to play victim and play this little small game of, I can't figure it out. It's a small game.Dan Henry: (01:14:14)It is a game. And it's a game I see played constantly.John Whiting: (01:14:17)Correct.Dan Henry: (01:14:17)It's so hard. It's well it's I don't have time. The I don't have time thing gets me. Oh, I have kids. Congratulations. So does everybody else? Yeah. That does not make you unique, special in any way. It means that you're a human that, that bumps uglies and appropriates. That's not a thing that is, you know, like you, you don't get an excuse for that, you know? And I'm a parent, you know, I, I mean, I, I, I don't have five kids or anything. I'm sure that would be much more challenging, but I know millionaires that have five kids. And they still figure it out. And that's the thing is people oftentimes forget about the reward. Well, I don't have time to do this thing. That would make me millions of dollars.Dan Henry: (01:14:54)Well, that's why. People that deserve to create bestselling books, become famous actors, make millions of dollars. They are the people that found the time. It is not normal to be a millionaire. It is not, there's this massive, maybe you agree or disagree with this, but there's this massive, massive level of entitlement permeating the world. Especially the entrepreneur world where I cannot tell you the amount of time someone has come to me and said, well, I wanna make this a million dollar business, but I have some requests. I don't wanna work more than this time. I don't wanna do this. I, you know, I, I, I can't do this cuz I'm an introvert. I don't like being on camera. It's like, well, what can you do? You know like, cuz it ain't gonna be making a million dollars. You know, the people that deserve to make a million dollars are the people that do it anyway. The people that find the time, the people that take the excuses and just get rid of them and do it anyway. And that's why you deserve those things. If everybody deserved that well then it wouldn't be worth much.John Whiting: (01:16:00)Yep. So there's two, let me fill in two blanks there that ties that into a fully complete everything. How's that for a free preframe. Yeah. So ultimately when you say...Dan Henry: (01:16:11)Clearly anyone, kids can become a millionaire, even us illiterate assholes.John Whiting: (01:16:17)I swear I've made a sentence before. So ultimately you, you said something very interesting. You said they forget the reward. It's not that they've forgotten the reward. There's two parts to this. There's getting rid of your shit. Now you use this as you've heard me use the Ferrari example. So you're already awesome. Let's say you're already a Ferrari. Right? And per our previous mental drunk example, let's assume that like you have this Ferrari that, you know, Hey, you know, you got the next level in you. Yeah, I do. I'm just trying to get it out. I already know I'm a Ferrari. I could do this. All right, cool. What's keeping you from doing it cuz you're watching your Ferrari bobble down the highway at 35 miles an hour is because we got a bunch of engine gunk. There was a rat that built a nest in the engine, put regular gas in it, whatever.John Whiting: (01:17:01)There's nothing wrong with the Ferrari itself. We gotta get rid of the. Okay. And the Ferrari just becomes a Ferrari. What everybody else is trying to do is say, Hey, my Ferrari is going 35 down the highway and babbling, how do I get a turbo charger to make it go faster? And it's like, you don't need a turbo charger. You gotta get rid of the engine gunk.Dan Henry: (01:17:20)And you gotta put the right gas in.John Whiting: (01:17:21)And you gotta put the right gas in it. Okay. But now that that's, that's half of the puzzle cuz the Ferrari's not that fun with no place to drive it. Is it?Dan Henry: (01:17:29)No, not at all.John Whiting: (01:17:30)Exactly.Dan Henry: (01:17:30)I've had a Lamborghini and I've tried to drive it down here and that's why I sold it. There's nowhere to drive it.John Whiting: (01:17:35)So we gotta give it a destination. But if I asked you to pull out your iPhone and put in someplace nice, would it be able to navigate?Dan Henry: (01:17:42)No. You'd have to put in an exact location.John Whiting: (01:17:44)Exact location. Even if you put in Los Angeles, it's going to navigate to, it's gonna choose a coordinate, an exact latitude and longitude somewhere in LA that it's going to navigate too. So it has to be a specific location, but that's not all cuz I could just say, well, that's great. Here's a specific location. Dan it's 123 Main Street at the gas station in Bum Fuck, Iowa. That's specific. You want to go there? No, right? So it has to be a specific destination that you have a reason for wanting to go there. So there's that part. So we gotta define where we want to go and why we want to go there specifically to make it a compelling destination. So that's when I say build your or create your big game. That's what I'm talking about. So you're either creating a big game for yourself or you're going to be reactively playing somebody else's small game.John Whiting: (01:18:37)So once you get your Ferrari cleaned up, you're not gonna play your big game or get to your big destination without a clean Ferrari. We gotta have that. But we also have to have a very specific destination, a very specific reason why we want to go to that destination. And now all of a sudden, when you plug that destination to your iPhone, it reverse engineers, all the turn by turn directions and you can pull outta your driveway and enjoy the drive. Right? So ultimately it's not that they've forgotten the reward it's they haven't gotten clear. They say, I wanna build a million dollar business. What does that mean? You wanna do exactly precisely $1 million in gross cash collected, net cash collected, is it gross revenue? Is it like what is a million dollar? That's very vague destination.Dan Henry: (01:19:16)Well, well, and that that's an incredibly good point because most people don't define what that is.John Whiting: (01:19:21)Which is why most people can't navigate.Dan Henry: (01:19:25)But in, in general, what I'm, what, what I, what I meant to say was they forget, whatever reward is, they forget how rare it is and how it is not something that is deserved to everyone and how it is. Let's just, let's just call it becoming independent. Let's make it general. Let's call it becoming independently, over abundantly wealthy. Or maybe it's not even money. Maybe it's fame. Maybe it's a sports, you know, winning a sports thing, whatever it is. Right? The, you know, the sacrifice like the reason why those things are so amazing to have and why so few people have them is because so few people are willing to do the things required to get them. And that's why they're special. If it was easy to get them, they wouldn't be special. And honestly nobody would want them. So this expectation that whether it be an entrepreneur or anything that you come in and you say, well, I want this reward. I want this incredibly rare thing. But I'm not willing to do the rare things to get it and is nuts.John Whiting: (01:20:35)Yep. And there's a, so that was, remember I said, there's two parts to this. This is the second. So there's a difference between want and intention. There's a difference between want and intention want by definition means I don't have it. Right? So if I put out, I don't have it, I'm going to get back, I don't have it. Think of it about it this way. You've own two bars. I'm sure you've seen a lot of guys go into bars and really want to pick up chicks.Dan Henry: (01:21:03)Yeah. Yeah. Very regularly.John Whiting: (01:21:04)Very regularly. Are they successful for the most part? The guys who really are the really nice guys who come over and just be like, you know, just say the awkward, stupid shit cuz they want it so bad and they don't want to fuck it up?Dan Henry: (01:21:15)This 1:45 AM. 15 minutes before closing it's slightly higher.John Whiting: (01:21:21)Right. As soon as the lights go up, everybody scrambles for the worst thing they can find. But, but ultimatly, in general, the guy who wants it, it moves away from him. Right?Dan Henry: (01:21:33)Right.John Whiting: (01:21:33)Just like if you really want to close a client, Right?Dan Henry: (01:21:37)Oh yeah. Because if, as soon as, and you're in a sales situation, as soon, as soon as somebody feels like you need them. Well, if they feel that you need them, then they're not going to buy because nobody wants to be a part of something where they're needed. They wanna be a part of something where it's almost like exclusive to get into.John Whiting: (01:21:56)Right. So there's a difference between want and intention. Most 99.9% of entrepreneurs want to be successful. 1% of entrepreneurs intend to be success. And here's how, you know, the people who intend to be successful do the things. Period.Dan Henry: (01:22:16)Absolutely. Well, you know, I it's it's I always say, and I heard this originally from my, my good friend Myron. I love this, this analogy is that human beings, right? We want to have things. We wanna have success. We wanna have a nice car. We're gonna have a nice house. We wanna have a successful business, but we are not called human havings we're called human beings. And in order to have those things, you must become the person that can make them happen, become the person that deserves them. And most people just want to have things they're not willing to become the person that can make them happen. And that is the biggest like, like once you have, that was, that was, see, that was my problem. When I, I, when I delivered pizza for seven years, I would just sit there like an asshole and be like, I wanna have a million dollars man.Dan Henry: (01:23:11)Like yeah. Like it'd be freaking great. Yeah. And I never ever actually sat down and got honest with myself and said, well, hold on a second. You know, I get up in the morning. I watch stupid cartoons. This is actually funny, cuz this is what I do now. But you know, I get up, I watch, I watch dumb cartoons, like a total stoner idiot. I go and I don't work out. I eat crap food. I go to work. I come home, I drink, I get drunk. I wake up the next morning feeling terrible. I don't read books. I don't do any of those things. Right? And then I started thinking about what people who were successful, what habits they had, what kind of people they were. And I remember when I was just starting to like kind of get into being mildly, like tiny successful, I'm talking like making like 500 bucks without a boss kind of thing.Dan Henry: (01:24:11)I was actually doing I don't know if you even know this or not, but I was doing airbrush tattoos. Do you know what those are? Yeah. And so I get this, this, I buy this cart, I invest all my money. And this was when my mindset was starting to like, you know, invest in yourself. I invested a few grand into this cart that you, you know, it had like stencils and a rolling cart. You could do airbrush tattoos. And that was a wild time in my life cuz I did everything from children's birthday parties to going down to Ybor City and body painting, naked women. So they could dance on a bar with a river or that ran through the bar. It was actually quite disgusting when you really thought about it. But like I would not wanna drink.John Whiting: (01:24:51)So it was at least more entertaining than the kid's birthday.Dan Henry: (01:24:53)Yeah. It just, I just didn't think that it would meet health code. It was just, you know, but so, so I remember I went, I got hired one time to go to this wealthy families, private like birthday party. And I recall that they like, this was just like a birthday party and they hired like caterers and they had people come in and make like L E D light. Like it was like this, some crap you'd see a Disney world, you know?John Whiting: (01:25:23)And, but they didn't have strippers there.Dan Henry: (01:25:25)No, there were no strippers.John Whiting: (01:25:27)Just wanna make sure.Dan Henry: (01:25:27)No, this was a different gig.John Whiting: (01:25:29)Okay.Dan Henry: (01:25:30)Hey man, I had to eat, you know.John Whiting: (01:25:31)I'm just trying to keep up.Dan Henry: (01:25:32)Yeah. So, so so, and they weren't strippers, they were just women that liked to dance naked with body paint.John Whiting: (01:25:40)But they didn't have any of those at the kids birthday?Dan Henry: (01:25:42)No. No, they did not. Not that I saw. I mean maybe they were off duty. I don't know. But but so, so I'm sitting there, right? And I'm looking around, I'm looking at these nice cars. I'm looking at these nice houses and I'm thinking they probably dropped 50 grand on this birthday party for their kid. And it just blew my fricking mind. Right? And I remember I started paying attention. I started paying attention to the way these people walked, the way they talked. I started looking at their house. I started looking at everything around me and I began to notice things that were very different than how I lived my life and how the people in my circle lived their lives. I noticed that there were books, right. There were very specific books. And I remember how, when I would do other parties for wealthy families, I'd see the same fricking books.Dan Henry: (01:26:30)I'd see the same behaviors. I'd see the same things. I'd, I'd see very similar things. And I began to like understand that it's not, that people become successful. It's that people become a different person and that person deserves to be successful. And that's when I started like making changes in the way that I decided to live my life. Instead of watching cartoons, I'd listen to an audio book. Instead of going out and getting drunk, I'd stay up and read blogs and read books. And, and I just started becoming a different person. And when I became a different person, that's when different things started to happen. And a lot of people don't really realize this. They wanna stay the same person, but they wanna have things that somebody else deserves. And this is a hard thing to swallow. But at that point in my life, I did not deserve to have anything that I have now.Dan Henry: (01:27:24)I did not deserve to have nice watches, nice cars, a penthouse. I didn't deserve any of that. It was only when I decided to become the person. And, and here's an easy way you can do this, right? Think of a version of yourself five years from now, 10 years from now, that is successful. That has all the things you want. And then get honest with yourself and ask yourself. Am I that person now, how does that person behave? What does that person do differently than what I do now? And if you're honest with yourself, you should see a stark difference between the two people. And then all you really have to do is start becoming that person that you've put in your mind. But you gotta understand, you have to study people who are successful. You have to understand how they think, what they do, what their behaviors are. And that's the biggest, hard, horse size pill pill that you have to swallow is that it's not about having things. It's about becoming somebody that deserves those things.John Whiting: (01:28:23)What I would well said, I'm gonna put a spin on it though. That at least here's just in, in my box of at least the frameworks that I teach and whatnot, I would argue that that future uber mega awesome, perfect, successful version of yourself is actually the real you.Dan Henry: (01:28:40)Oh, I would agree with that.John Whiting: (01:28:41)And so instead...Dan Henry: (01:28:42)It's your highest potential.John Whiting: (01:28:43)Right. But I, what I'm saying is, is instead becoming, I've noticed with people and I noticed with myself of like step into this new version of yourself. Well, that's like I have to become a different person? That's hard being more of myself. That's easier. So that's like ultimately the sober version of yourself, essentially, for the drunk sober analogy, all you're explaining is, well, for most of my life, I was mentally drunk and I've just gradually sobered up becoming my more, just authentic, genuine the real me.Dan Henry: (01:29:17)Well, I mean, that's like an alcoholic that has been an alcoholic for a decade and then they become sober. You could argue that they became a different person or you could argue that they became the person they were the whole time. That's just semantics.John Whiting: (01:29:31)It is semantics. Just the idea is.Dan Henry: (01:29:33)Yeah. The idea yours sounds a lot better though, because it doesn't sound so scary.John Whiting: (01:29:37)Well, here's the, and here's the reason is because the, the real, like there, the additive is the alcohol. Right? So naturally the real natural, you doesn't have alcohol in you. Right?Dan Henry: (01:29:51)You're not emotionally driven.John Whiting: (01:29:54)So, but just per your, per your alcoholic example, right. When you're saying, well, it's just semantics. It might be just semantics, but ultimately what's the real, genuine, authentic version? Well, you didn't start out coming out of the womb, sipping on some Jack Daniels. Right? So there was this external additive that added something that wasn't you.Dan Henry: (01:30:17)So like you're, you're basically saying like your environment, trauma, things that, that...John Whiting: (01:30:22)That's what causes you to essentially have this mental drunkenness. That's not the real you as much as I'm sure the stories as the alcoholic would say, I'm an alcoholic, I'm an alcoholic. Well, he might identify as that. It might be real to him, but the real truth is deep down he knows that that's a lie. Because he didn't start out that he come out of the womb and alcoholic. And so what happens is, is all of these other, I'll say traditional therapies and ideas and ideologies. This is where I kind of, I just have fundamental disagreements is where ultimately they're like, oh, alcoholism is genetic.Dan Henry: (01:30:57)No. Who said that?John Whiting: (01:30:59)Well, that's a, anything that they want to say, like as a behavior.Dan Henry: (01:31:02)So, if all of a sudden they outlawed alcohol and no more alcohol could ever be sold and didn't exist.John Whiting: (01:31:08)I know I'm not saying it's a valid argument. I'm saying I'm shittin on it.Dan Henry: (01:31:12)I mean, that's just dumb.John Whiting: (01:31:13)I know. Well, so my point is, is though is many people believe, things like that, that put them in a bucket of a preconceived, they literally are creating the small game. Deciding create the game of I'm an alcoholic because of these external reasons that I have no control over. They're the only one creating that game. And the real thing that's actually bothering them in their lives is they know they're lying. That's the ultimate upset that anybody actually has is, you know, that you're not taking responsibility, not acknowledging the truth and you're lying to yourself. That's the only upset that anybody actually really ever has is they know the thing that they're complaining about is complete and utter bullshit. And all they have to do is take responsibility for it and fix it. But they just they're instead of creating a big game, they're deciding to play a small game and stay in their little box.John Whiting: (01:32:03)And then what they do is they hire consultants like you and I, and they come in and they ask us, Hey, how do I get out of this and remind them of the truth. And then they get pissed off at us because we remind them of the truth and say, I can't cuz of these reasons. And they just stay in this perpetual little small game closed loop. Mainly because, well it's because of the two reasons is they have all this shit, they got the gunk in their engine and they have no idea where their actual destination is. And so of course, you're just gonna bobble around on this planet, a scattered mess. So you have to have those two things.Dan Henry: (01:32:38)So what, how you, how do you feel about the concept of, cuz I I've researched this and I've seen, I've done a lot of, you know, late night, deep down the rabbit hole, podcast and blog and YouTube journeys. And he, this is a concept, I forget the doctor, whoever it is. Oh no, it was Jordan Peterson. It was actually Jordan Peterson that said this. Yeah. Now that I remember that. Yeah. So he said that basically you have thousands of years of human evolution. Okay? And in this thousands of years of human evolution have multiple problems that have been solved. You have struggles that have been overcome. You have all kinds of stuff that has happened. And that this is imprinted like in our minds and in our brains throughout human history. Right? And so as people are born, the potential and the ability to problem solve and be basically an amazing person, right?Dan Henry: (01:33:48)It's it's, it's deep, deeply locked in everyone's brain. Basically saying that everyone through the simple process of human evolution has a very, very high potential, but we don't access it. And when you push yourself to certain limits or past limits, when you push yourself further than, you know, than you're comfortable and you get to points where you are not comfortable and you push yourself hard, harder, harder, harder, it unlocks these like the neurons, you know, fire and they form new neural pathways in your brain, sort of like working a muscle. And when you do, like, if you stay in your comfort zone, these new neural pathways do not form. But if you push yourself beyond your comfort zone zone, these neural pathways form and they access this evolutionary data that allows you to be a higher version of yourself. Basically be smarter, be more confident, be, have better critical thinking, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.Dan Henry: (01:34:53)And the reason why most people do not ever access this higher version of themselves is because they don't push themselves. And I will tell you that when I heard that it made a lot of sense to me because of the simple fact that when I was younger, I would consider myself kind of a dumbass. Literally I'm not even joking. Like, you know how like kids will grow up and they'll be kind of nerdy and you'll know that they're gonna be smart. And then later on they become millionaires. I was not that kid. I was the one that was like that dude's never gonna achieve anything. He's an idiot. And I just got to this point where I was continuously pushing myself to new limits and I literally feel like I got smarter. I literally feel like if I met myself when I was younger, oh my gosh, I would, I'd be like this, kid's an idiot. He's never gonna make it. You know, I would love to know your, your take on that. If you, if you feel that's accurate.John Whiting: (01:35:51)I would, again, what's true for somebody is true for that person. Right? So for you, it's a workable model. It's a workable thought process. It's a work, it's a thing that helped you. So it's absolutely valid because of that. That's how you know That's how, you know if something is true, if something is workable for you is if you actually see the actual physical universe, tangible result as a result of that thought process.Dan Henry: (01:36:19)Right. But I mean, from a practical level, right? What I mean, cuz this is, this is a very practical thing, you know? Neural pathways forming and, andJohn Whiting: (01:36:32)Well, so here's the, here's the thing. So which one do I wanna start with? So there are numerous cases y'all can Google this, of people that have partial brains, no brains in their skull that are fully conscious, fine, healthy people. And when you look at that and you talk about neuroscience and all this stuff, there's a reason why neuro there, I, I believe there's two, there's two universes. There's a physical universe and then there's a spiritual universe. You, when we talk about the real deep down, you, that's the, you know, the all powerful being, when I say how many you guys know, you have the next level in you, me, the real, the you that that identifies with it is the real you you're playing this physical universe game. That includes bodies and things that you navigate to create an effect and see growth and success and so on.John Whiting: (01:37:30)And so ultimately what happens is, is all, all these neuroscientists, the genius PhD, awesome. 20 year neuro scientist people are studying the physical universe to explain spiritual universe phenomena. They can't do it. So when they're studying, what is the nature of consciousness, this big mystery it's because you're studying the physical universe to explain the spiritual universe and you won't find, you won't find spiritual universe answers by studying a physical universe thing like a brain. A brain is the effect. You are the cause. So there's the argument that and this is actually testable. There's the argument that, okay cortisol fires, that causes you to feel stress, right? You've heard that. Well actually it's the, the mental image pictures that based on how the mind works, remind you of previous things that have caused you to go, oh, that's a bad thing we need to avoid that then trigger the cortisol.John Whiting: (01:38:30)The cortisol is a reaction to a spiritual universe phenomena. It's not the other way around. So what happens is, is that's why there's, they literally just keep trying to figure out how consciousness works and it's this big fat mystery to the actual neuroscience, physical universe, science community in everything that you've ever watched as a documentary on consciousness and brains and that by the end of it, they all end with, but it's still a mystery and there's still tons of questions that we have yet to un, you know, uncover. The reason is you're not gonna learn more about basketball by studying football. So you keep studying football to the, and drill into the each little of the football and figure out how the laces are made. And you're trying to answer basketball questions. And so they're studying the physical universe to explain the spiritual universe. And that's why they can't come to a conclusion is because they're studying essentially the wrong thing. And so it's kind of like blaming the car for the driver being drunk.Dan Henry: (01:39:39)That makes a lot of sense.John Whiting: (01:39:40)Right? So if the car crashes and the car's fine, the driver's drunk, so you can study the car all, you want to explain erratic driving, but it's the driver. So all of these things, these preconceived.Dan Henry: (01:39:56)Well, I'm sure in some cases you'll have a car that had some sort of issue,John Whiting: (01:39:59)Well, no shit. I'm saying...Dan Henry: (01:40:01)You know, people are gonna do that. They're gonna be like, well, wait a minute, I have a hormonal imbalance, da, da, da. And that does happen. You will have cars that have a faulty thing, wheel falls off.John Whiting: (01:40:10)But also it's also been proven that anything that is in the physical body is also then remedyable by intention. Like that's very proven that, you know, the guy like Joe Dispensa perfect example, super famous guy, but even he, he, he flops back and forth. He argues that, you know, and I'm not like, totally don't slam me in the comments. I'm not like a huge Joe Dispensa disciple. But my point is, is a lot of people are holding conflicting beliefs and they'll, they'll be saying, well if you, you know, visualize and intend for something, you can heal the body. But at the same time, they'll be saying, well, cortisol just fires and it fucks you up. Which one is it? It's the chicken and the egg, which is the cause and which is the effect. Right? So my point is assuming the car is fine, you can't explain a crashed car from a drunk driver by continually studying the car. You will come up with the conclusion of, and it's still a mystery to why all these cars are crashing. You know, like it, you can't.Dan Henry: (01:41:21)Always that disclaimer. Always, always.John Whiting: (01:41:23)So ultimately, you know, even let's just say it is true. Are you more empowered or less empowered by saying, I have this external force that I have no, no control over?Dan Henry: (01:41:34)Well, I will say that, you know, it, it's not something I consciously did. I didn't know that that was whether it's true or not. That was, I wasn't thinking like, Ooh, I gotta push myself so then I form new neural pathways. But when I heard it, I thought, you know, like you said, if it makes sense, it makes sense. And, and when I heard it, I was like, well, how else could you explain the fact that I literally feel like I got smarter? I literally feel like I, you know, is thatJohn Whiting: (01:42:02)Intention.Dan Henry: (01:42:04)Well, sure but at the same time, like if you were to put it on a practical, scientific biological level I've never heard an explanation that would fit. That would make sense besides that one, that one made the most sense to me. And I'm completely open to hearing another explanation at a later time that maybe makes more sense. But the idea that, you know, we have done things throughout history and those, that DNA or whatever is in us. And it's also nice to think about because if, if you really think about it, it means that virtually everybody is capable of being something amazing. And if they just can push their themselves to get out of their comfort, comfort zone, they can begin unlocking the things inside their mind that allow them to do that. Now whether that's true or not on a practical level,John Whiting: (01:42:55)No accurate. You're also, you're also blending mind and brain.Dan Henry: (01:42:58)So tell me real quick, what is the difference between mind and brain?John Whiting: (01:43:05)All right. So before I answer this question, disclaimer, what's true for you is true. The reason that I'm about to answer it the way I'm about to answer it is because it fits within the framework. That basically encompasses the work that I went through that's helped me, that's helped my clients, but if you disagree with it, you can flame me in the comments. I honestly don't care. My job is not to convince you of something that you,Dan Henry: (01:43:31)You really have this like politically correct answer set downJohn Whiting: (01:43:35)Well, the reason is is because like I'm not, I'm not here declaring like literally everybody's job is to define what's true for them that works for them. And many people forget that. And so, you know, if a truth that you hold to be true is working for you, please keep it. Even if it disagrees with what I, whatever I say, right? Because that's, my job is to empower you, to have your own self confidence and believe in, in your own truths. And so if I'm sitting here telling you, no, you're wrong, that's not empowering you. I want you to make your own assessment of what's true for you regardless. And many people forget that and they just start throwing stones at each other and forgetting that the whole point is to like, we've been talking about this whole time is empower yourself to take control of your own shit and ultimately live life on your terms and be self-empowered.Dan Henry: (01:44:29)Yeah. And I think, I think also it's important to understand that when you give advice and you teach things, right? Yes. If what, like we can sit here all day long and say, this works better than that. And yada, yada, yada. But what you're saying is true, what works for you, but there's 6 billion, there's more 6 billion people on the planet. So what we can do is we can take a look and this changes and this gets updated, but we can look at what is working for the majority of people. What is consistently repeating that works and doesn't work. Like I can, like, I can safely say to you that waking up every morning and saying, you know I'm gonna have a good day will probably help. But it's not gonna help as much as if you did further work. You know what I mean? And that's that maybe that's not true in all 6 billion cases. But it's probably true in the majority, the vast majority. You know, and I think that content, that context is important. So continue the difference between mind and brain.John Whiting: (01:45:33)Right. So let me give you an example in right now in your mind's eye, make a picture of a dog in the middle of that to actually close your eyes. Make a picture of the, a dog in the middle of this table. Okay. Now, point to the picture. All right. Open your eyes. Are you pointing to your brain?Dan Henry: (01:45:52)No.John Whiting: (01:45:53)Right. So what's the difference between mind and brain? Mind is a mental image picture or collection of mental image pictures from past present and projected into visualized future. Okay. A brain is the, essentially like the mind is like the driver of the car, the brain is the car. Okay. So the brain is the mechanical thing that makes this body fire off and do the things that brings the mind, pictures into fruition. Somebody decided to create a beverage called LaCroix and make this all design and all this.John Whiting: (01:46:29)But they came up with it. Their brain didn't come up with it. Their creative imaging in their mind came up with it. And they, that fired off the mechanism in the brain that caused the hand to move to boot up the computer to do the Photoshop of the design and so on. So it's, again, it's a, it's a backwards perception that in from what's true for me, I, it makes more sense to me that that's the case. Especially when you start to look at, and there's a series on Netflix, that I think it's called Surviving Death. I don't know, Brandon, if you can verify that, just to make sure I don't point people in the wrong, but it's a very interesting, it's a very interesting series because what it goes into is essentially you know, past lifes and near death experiences and very interesting accounts, the most interesting and most practical being.John Whiting: (01:47:21)And I'm sure you've heard the stories of the kid who like, you know, he's born and he remembers who he was last lifetime. He was a guy, and this is part of, one of these episodes. He literally remembers who he was in the last lifetime as a co-pilot in what I think it was World War II. Remembered his partner's name went and like met the family. And like, he's like four years old, knows everything about the planes, everything, can recall it all. Now, if that was only in his brain, then he would literally, that would be physically impossible. So there's this mind that has mental image pictures with information.Dan Henry: (01:47:57)This makes so much, so much sense. Like, I mean, it's, and it's a simple way to...John Whiting: (01:48:02)You see what I'm saying, back to we're coming for a full circle here. You're like, how did you know, man? What was it toDan Henry: (01:48:07)Well, I'm like I'm well, because, you know, I think like science, right? At the end of the day, when you state something as a fact and you present your logic to it, it may make a ton of sense, but that doesn't mean that new information down the line can't come into play. You know, like figuring different stuff out about the solar system where planet X is. And so I, I mean, I, you know, who knows in a thousand years, probably less, our, maybe our consciousness will be downloaded into some metaverse and that's where we're living. And we're, we're all in pods and all this crap we're talking about right now means dick, you know, but you never know. But, for what I've seen and I want ask you, we're almost outta time, but I wanna ask you one more thing that I, if you could just share in like two minutes or less, because when you, when you talk about this, I love it. And I've, I've seen this help a lot of people, or at least this concept. The positive negative, the, the the basically, do you think that being too positive all the time is actually bad for you?John Whiting: (01:49:18)Absolutely. And in fact, it's equal if not even, well, it's equally as harmful as being too negative all the time. And the reason is how many stories have you and I both seen where the guy put his life savings, AMC, or Reddit, or Doge coin and lost his life savings? So way too optimistic about that, right? So when I talked about mentally drunk, this is mentally coked up. Right? And so ultimately the truth is balanced. So there's two principles. There's a principle of polarity that states that essentially everything has polls. Okay. Everything is two sides of the same coin. There's equal positive in every negative. There's equal good in every bad. Rich in every poor and so on and so forth. It's just a perspective. Okay. So as, as our boy Einstein said, it's all relative, which is true.John Whiting: (01:50:07)So there's no absolute polar truth of one thing is good, or one thing is bad, or one thing is positive, or one thing is negative. Second law is law of conservation of energy. Means it states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only be transformed or transferred from one form to another. So that means that you can't destroy negative to get positive. There's actually equal positive in every negative and equal negative in every positive. It literally, you can't destroy energy. It can only be transformed or transferred. So that being the case, there's literally equal sides to absolutely everything, there's equal hot in every cold. The example that I use is would you say 130 degrees? If we walked outside right now, it's 130, would you say it's hot out? Yeah, right? But if you and I stepped foot on Venus, it's 864 degrees Fahrenheit relatively it's eight and a half times hotter.John Whiting: (01:50:59)Now, how do we classify? Do we just classify both of them in the exact same hot bucket?Dan Henry: (01:51:04)No. No, because if you were on Venus and it was only 130 degrees,John Whiting: (01:51:08)You'd need a coat.Dan Henry: (01:51:09)You, you, well, or you could at least survive, you know, like you would not survive if on a normal day.John Whiting: (01:51:14)Right. And so my point is, is then you say, so now from that perspective, you're saying that Venus is hot and earth is now relatively cold?Dan Henry: (01:51:22)Yeah. That makes sense.John Whiting: (01:51:23)That makes sense. So now the, okay now Venus is hot. Earth is cold, but the sun is 9,941 degrees Fahrenheit. Well, what do I gotta do with Venus? I gotta like move it here. And then I, now the sun is hot. Venus is mild. Earth is freezing at 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Now all of a sudden, there's no such thing as hot and cold.John Whiting: (01:51:42)It's just a thing called temperature. Just like everything in life. There's no such thing as a good event or a bad event. It's just an event. Just depends on how you wanna look at it. And ultimately, once you like these laws, flame me in the comments, if you want, cuz it's pretty much impossible to refute these. There's no such thing.Dan Henry: (01:51:59)People will try.John Whiting: (01:52:01)Go for it. Then we'll get engagement on the video and we'll get more views. So ultimately there's no such thing as good or bad. There's no such thing. No matter catastrophic, these universal principles are true. Even like...Dan Henry: (01:52:13)There's no such thing as good or bad?John Whiting: (01:52:15)Correct. It's all just, just like, there's no such thing as hot or cold. It's all depending on how you wanna look at it, there's equal good in every bad. For example, you, if you want to take like the Holocaust, you'd say that was bad, right?Dan Henry: (01:52:27)Yeah. Generally. Yes.John Whiting: (01:52:28)Right. But how about, how about all of the millions of people that have had inspiring stories, have learned lessons that have then caused their second and third generations to now live differently and never have something potentially like that ever happen again for the rest of humanity?Dan Henry: (01:52:45)Yeah. I mean, I would say that is like a salvage job of a, like, like there's, that's finding good in an incredibly bad situation.John Whiting: (01:52:55)Right. But is it untrue?Dan Henry: (01:52:56)Well, no, it's not untrue.John Whiting: (01:52:57)Exactly. So my point is, yeah, we've salvaged it. And what everybody watching this is trying to salvage their lives and truth is there's equal good in every bad. There's equal positive in every negative, there's equal hot in every cold. And to the degree that you resist, that concept is the degree that you're trapped with lies. Cuz remember we, we talked about the truth is what sets you free. The lies are what you off and caused you to go wait a minute. Like that's what causes fucked up shit. So to the degree that you acknowledge universal truths is the degree that you're free to operate free, to choose a perspective. That's how you can have empathy in sales and understand the other person's perspective and see their point of view without lashing out, needing to punch 'em in the mouth about it. Right? So to the degree that I can, you can agree to disagree or I can just ah, see your side without needing to cause a complete scene. Dan Henry: (01:53:50)Well, and, and I think it's important that, you know discussions be had and logic and, and facts and all these things that are pretty finite be able to be discussed without emotions wrecking the very foundation of reality. Because you know, we, we can have conversations. We can like one thing, I'll, since you mentioned the Holocaust, which is always like the worst thing to mention. But I remember one time I was reading a book that was talking about you know, it was called The 16 Word Sales Letter and was talking about basically copywriting. And there was a section in the book, I didn't write the book, you know, but there was a section in the book that, that taught a very specific type of, of speech sort of tactic. And it said that throughout history, a lot of different leaders and, and dictators and all kinds of different people would use this tactic. Dan Henry: (01:54:50)And one example that it gave was Hitler in the Holocaust and it showed how he used that, that speech tactic. And then it said like, you know, basically what it said was if it a guy who was like four foot seven, get up there and use this speech tactic and inspire an entire country of otherwise rational people to do this incredibly terrible thing imagine how powerful it could be if you used it for something good or this or that. And I just thought it was interesting. So I, I take a picture of it that sentence and I post it on my, on my Instagram and I was just like, you know, kind, kind of an abrasive point, but you know, what do you guys think? You know? And I mean the vast majority of people agreed, but, but there were so many people who got so upset at the very mention of Hitler or the very mention of the Holocaust that they didn't even actually read it. Yep. They didn't even actually try to comprehend it. They just immediately got triggered. Oh. And would not even take their brain and put it in gear to actually even have a discussion. They just went, oh, I'm offended. You know? And to me, I remember when that happened, I remember I thought of you. And I was like, these people literally just opened up Instagram, took a look at that post immediately took a shot, took another one and then started babbling. John Whiting: (01:56:16)Yeah. They chugged a bottle of Popov right there. Dan Henry: (01:56:19)Right. Just at the sheer mention of it. And the thing is, is this the thing, this is why I don't agree with this whole being offended and, by just the mention of certain subjects is cuz they're touchy is because yeah, I get it. They're touchy. But imagine for a moment that you wanted to prevent a terrible atrocity from happening again. You wanted to be able to spot, spot, recognize and understand a person or an event that could happen that has already happened in history. What would you have to do in order to effectively understand that? You would have to study it. Right? You'd have, you'd have to study it. You'd have to like actually look at what's happened in the past as terrible as it may be. And you'd have to study. John Whiting: (01:57:04)Objectively. Dan Henry: (01:57:05)Objectively. But if immediately you just think that things bad and I hate it so much. So I'm just not going to even look at it. Well now guess what you've done? Now, that thing can happen again cuz you weren't paying attention and it does happen. History repeats itself. And I, I understand that it's terribly uncomfortable to look at things in history and things that have happened that are, that are uncomfortable, that are terrible. It doesn't make us feel good. But, if you really hate that thing, that much to me, the most logical way to look at it is, well, I might hate it, but I need to get past my emotions and at least understand, put, put my brain in gear to understand it so that I can recognize it so that maybe I can do my small part to prevent it from happening it again. Or at least I can see it happening and get the hell out of there. You know, and people don't think like that. They just see it, they get emotional. And that type of thinking again, what works for you is what works for you. But I haven't seen it work for very many people when it comes to achieving things in their lives. John Whiting: (01:58:11)But for you and I both know that the only way to get somebody to see the light, IE, close somebody on a deal or get somebody convinced of a new idea is to make it their own idea. And the way you do that, isn't by enforcing it. It's by inviting it and Hey, if they see it, they see it. If it's not, if they don't, they don't. And you, we can't care whether they do or not. Which is why I'm just like, I'm not trying to convince anybody of a thing. I'm just here to share what's worked for me. And if you like it, great. If you wanna shit on it. Great. I honestly don't really care. Dan Henry: (01:58:41)Yeah. Absolutely. Well, I mean, that's what I've done my whole career. I've said look here, here's what helped me. Here it is. If, if you want to do it, I, I view it this way. You're either gonna love it. You're gonna put it in a practice and it's probably gonna work for you. Or you're gonna hate it, you're gonna talk trash and you're just gonna bring it more attention to what I'm sharing so that people who don't disagree with it can see it more. So either way, thank you. Thank you for your, for your cooperation. You know, but I do agree that you cannot save people. You can only lead them. And some people, I think everyone's worth saving, but not, but you gotta save yourself. John Whiting: (01:59:20)The only way to influence anybody is to be the example. Dan Henry: (01:59:25)Yeah, absolutely. John Whiting: (01:59:26)It's the only way to lead anybody. It's the only way you can recruit anybody. It's the only way that you can sell anybody on anything is you have to be the example. And what most people are doing is they're being hypocrites. They're not, they're do as I say, not as I do. And what my, I have this analogy of my, this leadership analogy of imagine like this huge, like cruise ship tie up rope thing. It's like this big around weighs like a thousand pounds, like a thousand feet long. And it's got this big knot at the end of it. You slap it over your shoulder. This will be the last thing I promise. You slap it over your shoulder.  Dan Henry: (02:00:00)I'm having so much fun talking to you. It's it's we're this is like the longest show we've done. John Whiting: (02:00:04)Oh, I know as fact I did a podcast the other day and it was the same thing. We're gonna go 45 minutes. We did an hour 45 and they're like, I didn't know we went that long. But so anyway, here's my leadership philosophy and has, has worked for me and everybody I teach it to. You have to decide on where that specific destination is. And then you don't fall outta your chair. And you throw this rope over your shoulder and you just start pulling towards that destination. It's gonna be really heavy. It's gonna be really tough. Don't worry about it. You just keep pulling, you just keep pulling. There's gonna be some people they come along and say, Hey man, you're an idiot for pulling that rope. This guy over here is he's pulling a rope. Why don't you just jump on his? He'll pull you, you can be a lazy bastard. John Whiting: (02:00:44)Okay. That's fine. I'm just gonna pull my rope, pull my rope, pull my rope. There's gonna be some people that come along and actively pull against you. Don't matter. You just pull your rope, pull your rope, pull your rope. There's gonna be some people that come along and be like, Hey, where you going? You tell 'em where you're going. You know what can I help you pull? Yeah, that'd be great. Keep pulling, keep pulling, keep pulling you. Can't you can't worry if they go away and stop pulling, you just keep pulling. There's gonna be some people that hop on and be free loaders and get a free ride. Don't worry. You just keep pulling. You just keep pulling. You just keep pulling. And ultimately that's why you have to have a specific destination and why you're going there, cuz there's gonna be, there's gonna be people that last and keep pulling with you. There're gonna be people that pull against you. John Whiting: (02:01:26)I don't care about any of them. I'm just keep pulling and Hey, if the people wanna pull with me, I'm gonna do my best to make the journey as enjoyable as possible. My job is just to keep pulling. And if I look at it that way just consistently day in and day out, I'm ultimately gonna be going in the direction of my own causation, playing the game of my design and doing the best that I can to help the people that wanna be, that wanna pull with me and be pulled. And hopefully I inspire some to create their own rope and the pull they, their own rope. You see? So ultimately, perfect example of this is Forrest Gump. Guy just starts running for no reason whatsoever. People, you've seen Forrest Gump. People, the hundreds of people just start running across the country with him back and forth for no reason. John Whiting: (02:02:14)They're like, totally makes sense, dude. Like that's leadership, you just be the example. And if you be the example for long enough, people will just start like going along with you. And so you have to be congruent. And that's why that's honestly why Forrest Gump was honestly a great leader. Even though he didn't really know it. He just consistently just kept going in the direction that he decided to go in. And he, you know, in that movies specifically just created a lot of change and inspiration. So ultimately you're not gonna convince, a mind convinced against its will is of the same opinion still. So if you try to convince people of shit is a waste of your time. Just go be the living example of what you're trying to embody the message that you're trying to spread. Just be, like you said to be, you're not human havings. John Whiting: (02:02:58)You're human beings. Just go be it and just keep being it. And don't second don't second guess yourself. And if you just continue to consistently keep being the best version of yourself, to the best of your ability, you will gain momentum and people will want to follow that and be a part of what it is that you're doing. And you can't be afraid of going years and years with nobody else will on to pull the rope with you. You just keep pulling. And that's ultimately what creates momentum. But yeah, trying to convince people, you can't convince people of anything, but you can, if you have results and you're going in a direction and people are like, that actually works. Maybe I should do it. Not because of something you said to them, because of what they see. Dan Henry: (02:03:41)It's good stuff. It's good stuff, John. I appreciate you coming on the show, man. This was fun. This was super fun. John Whiting: (02:03:46)It's always fun. Dan Henry: (02:03:47)So I'll leave some links in the show notes for, you know, checking you out and all that. What's your favorite social media that you're active on? Dan Henry: (02:03:55)Instagram. So Bulletproof.John. Dan Henry: (02:03:58)And also for those of those people listening that want to hear more out of you, we do have a masterclass from you on the, How To Think app. You actually, you have one of the most popular master classes on our app. And it is how to Bulletproof your mind. So if, if anyone out there is listening is a How To Think user, you can go on, you can find John's course on there and you can snag it up and listen to it. And of course, if you're not a How To Think member go to HowToThink.Com and sign up to get daily mindset and success mentoring as well as we do have our weekly business mentoring option as well. And you can find John's program on there as well as you know, the programs, the, the higher end coaching that you sell and all that, we'll leave links to all that in the description. But definitely, definitely at the very minimum, listen the audio course that you have on the, How To Think app. It is amazing. So thank you again for coming on, John. John Whiting: (02:05:01)Thanks brother. Appreciate you.   

>>> Get Daily Success Mentoring By Becoming A Member At How To Think<<< ------Do you believe you can change your destiny by changing how you think? Imagine what it would feel like to know you can change the outcome of your life and business by simply changing the way you think... When you understand that your thoughts control your actions... You can begin to see how you can alter the course you're on. If you have been looking searching for a way to change your course in life or business, this is for you! In this episode, I interview Eli Wilde and discuss how he changed his thinking and changed his destiny. Through adversity, Eli built an amazing life and business for himself. He shares his insight into business, relationships, success, and how you can apply these same principles in your life! In this episode, Eli and I cover:How to cultivate imagination and leadershipHow fear can make you play small in lifeWhy balance and positivity are key to successWhy your goals and values must be in alignmentWhat single thing you should avoid in salesWhat three things you can do to improve influenceAnd... so much more! If you got value from what you heard here, please be sure to subscribe and rate this podcast! Bonus points for you if you write a review! ;)  — SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW — Subscribe to Dan’s YouTube ChannelFollow Dan on FacebookFollow Dan on InstagramFollow Dan on TwitterClick Here To Get Daily Success Mentoring By Becoming A Member At How To ThinkClick Here To Join Eli Wildes Elite Level Influence Facebook Group — TRANSCRIPT — Dan Henry (00:00:00): Hey, everyone. Welcome to the How To Think podcast. My name is Dan Henry and I'm your host. And this is the show where we take a look at extraordinary people. We sit down with them and we analyze how they think to learn how to become more successful. Today, we have Eli Wilde on, who used to live in a very bad part of town with his mother growing up in poverty and ended up getting a job with the Tony Robbins Corporation and becoming one of their top speakers at that organization. And then from there built an amazing life and business for himself. We sat down for two hours and talked about all kinds of things, business, relationships, success, and everything in between. And I really believe you're going to enjoy this episode. And as always, if you would like to get more outta life and you would like to be more successful, you can go to HowToThink.com and sign up for our daily success mentoring. You can download the app and begin your journey now to becoming more successful with that said, let's hop into the episode and get started.  Dan Henry (00:01:16): Hey, everybody. Welcome to How To Think the show, where we take amazing people who have achieved something incredible in life. And we deep dive into what makes their brain tick and understand what makes people successful upstairs. So today we have an amazing guest on Mr. Eli Wilde. How you doing brother?  Eli Wilde (00:01:38): I'm doing great, man. Nice to see you again.  Dan Henry (00:01:40): I've been waiting to get you on here forever.  Eli Wilde (00:01:42): Yeah.  Dan Henry (00:01:43): So real quick intro for those that may not have heard of you, you, first of all, you're one of the most effective and just completely proficient speakers and communicators I've ever met in my fricking life.  Eli Wilde (00:02:02): Thank you.  Dan Henry (00:02:02): I mean it's just insane how articulate you are and how, how influential your words can be. And that makes a lot of sense, because you were the number one salesperson for Tony Robbins. You; it was like 3,300 seminars you did for him?  Eli Wilde (00:02:18): 3,400 while working for him, but I did a lot during that same time outside of his, his organization.  Dan Henry (00:02:26): Wow, so like thousands and thousands of talks you've done?  Eli Wilde (00:02:27): Yeah. Yeah.  Dan Henry (00:02:28): Wow. That's amazing. So we're gonna get into that, but I have a question that I want to ask you first, before we jump in. All right. I'm sitting here with almost Superman. You were almost Superman. Could you tell us more about that?  Eli Wilde (00:02:42): Yeah. And that's, that's what kind of started my a journey. And you know, I mentioned like a fam I won't mention her name, but I got to connect with a lot of famous people when I first got to Los Angeles. I, I grew up small town in Maryland, went to school, moved to Colorado. And this girl that I had been dating in Maryland had moved to California, Los Angeles, and we lost contact and we broke up and she wasn't talking to me, which is whatever. And I end up going out, I'm in Los Angeles and I go out to a party. And this guy, this homosexual man is coming up to me, hitting on me. And he's very clear that he's hitting on me. And I'm like, oh, I'll have the girlfriend drink the girlfriend's. He's like, why'd you move to LA?  Eli Wilde (00:03:19): I'm like the girlfriend girl. So I bring up the word girlfriend like a hundred times and he's like, kind of not getting it. And he is like, oh, where from? I was like, from DC. He goes, oh, me too. And he is like, where'd your girlfriend go to school? I was like, American, me too. Everything was like me too. I'm like, all right, dude. And he goes, what was her name? And I said her name, and you should have seen his eyes. He's like, oh my God, they were best friends. So this is 2002.  Dan Henry (00:03:40): Now you're talking to him, right?  Eli Wilde (00:03:41): So we're connected. And he's like, that was my best friend in college. Can you please connect us? So I connect them. And the three of us become like best friends and his name's Paul Nelson. And he was working for Mosaic. They managed like Jim Carey, a lot of big team talent. One of his main guys back then was Tom Welling, who was Superman on the TV show, Smallville. When the Superman Returns movie came out in 2004 his guy got turned down for it and because we had become so close, he said, Eli, have you thought about acting? I think you'd be great for this. And they screen-tested me, script, all that stuff. And it turns out, you know, obviously, I needed some stuff to work on. And for most people listening, you probably heard yourself for the first I'm on like a voicemail and you hear your own voice.  Eli Wilde (00:04:23): And you're like, oh my God, I sound terrible. And you're reading scripts. And when you're doing it on camera class, like if you're insecure, you can see it in the eyes. And if somebody says something to you and you don't know your line, there's just all this insecurity across your face and it, and when they do it on screen test the camera's on your face like this, like it's zeroed in. So you can read every insecurity and emotion on your face. And they were, you know, kind of breaking me down. They're like, yeah, you need to work on this, this and this. And here's what that's coming from. And I was like, this is fascinating. But it also was really uncomfortable. And I eventually kind of found it and fell in love with it. But during that time I had had a job selling dental products and it got to a point during all these kind of screen tests where Paul said, you're gonna have, you know, kind of have to quit your job and take this full on now. And I wasn't ready to make the leap. And so I quit showing up for auditions, classes, everything for the training. And he called me like a thousand times, they were like, you're making the biggest mistake, but I felt like I was being responsible and playing safe. And years later, the movie came out and it wasn't very good. And I thought it was like, wow, that could have been me. And maybe it wouldn't have  Dan Henry (00:05:24): You're talking about with Brandon Ruth, right?  Eli Wilde (00:05:26): Yeah.  Dan Henry (00:05:27): It, it was, it was alright.  Eli Wilde (00:05:30): It's like, It's not, it wasn't very memorable. They did one, you know, they didn't do multiple for a reason.  Dan Henry (00:05:34): I was actually a lot happier with him than I was with who they chose for Lois Lane. I was like, I don't get this Lois Lane. It didn't make sense.  Eli Wilde (00:05:42): I don't even remember. It wasn't a very, it had Kevin Spacey. It was like, it could have been great.  Dan Henry (00:05:45): He was good.  Eli Wilde (00:05:45): He's always good.  Dan Henry (00:05:46): He's amazing.  Eli Wilde (00:05:47): He's amazing. So you know, fast forward I get outta debt. I'm still working at this dental job. I'm not very happy. I have money for the first time. I'm miserable. And I just, this question was like, when that movie came out, why didn't I go for it? Why do some people who don't have a lot of talent become very successful? And some people that have lots of talent and I'd meet all these great looking people in Los Angeles, very talented, but they're 35 and waiting my table or their, you know, or they have all this talent where their drugs all the time. And I really got obsessed with how do people become who they become? And so I was curious. I was like, well, obviously I'm not, I don't believe in myself enough to go for it. I'm lacking self-esteem and self-confidence. And so I started reading all these books on it, and a lot of it was principle-based and some therapeutic gestalt, I was listening to self-hypnosis every night, kinda like I'm, I'm confident, I'm powerful doing all these affirmations. And it didn't really work. And I found something called NLP. Neurolinguistic programming. And I was talking about it with this man at, I was working at Trader Joe's, this awesome guy. And, he's like, well, you should check out Tony Robbins. And I was like, who's Tony Robbins? And so I got the book and slowly became obsessed with that body of work and didn't wanna let it go. And so I harassed Tony's company until they gave a job.  Dan Henry (00:06:55): Wow. Well, that's one way to get in. Geez. That's amazing. That's an amazing story. And you know, what's funny, I'm watching you right now and I'm looking at your face and you kind of do have a Superman vibe and look at the camera, look at the freaking camera. He's got the curl. Look, Brandon show, put, look, look at it He's got the curl. Look at that.  Eli Wilde (00:07:14): I woke up like this.  Dan Henry (00:07:15): That was not even intentional was it? Yeah, we definitely need to get the camera more front facing on him. I just realized like, everything's a side profile. But here, I'm gonna sit this way so people can see us both a little bit better. There we go. There you go. So, so, so, all right, so you, you didn't wanna, and what was like, what was deep, deep, deep down the, the biggest reason that you think why you didn't really want to pursue that and, and that didn't call to you?  Eli Wilde (00:07:42): Well, at the time it did, but I was scared. And if I had to do all over again, a lot of times, I think I would like to be like, to have been an actor, but if I could choose between that and being super famous and what I'm doing now, I definitely would choose this. But I loved the looking at scripts, writing out the backstory, like, how does this person think? You know, no, kind of like, but I was really thinking like, as you create a character, like if this person had five brothers or if they had two sisters and I, there was this TV show that as a child, I was obsessed with. I don't know if you've ever seen it called Quantum Leap.  Dan Henry (00:08:15): Oh, dude. Yes. Are you kidding me with Scott Baula?  Eli Wilde (00:08:18): Yeah.  Dan Henry (00:08:18): Oh yeah. Quantum Leap was the, oh, it was amazing.  Eli Wilde (00:08:21): It would come after my bedtime. I had sneak downstairs and I'd watch this. And we had like a really, I had really kind of challenging childhood, a lot of abuse in a lot of ways. Sexual abuse, like uncomfortable, weird kid. I was voted the quietest kid in high school. So I was really awkward, really weird. Later on in high school, I kind of grew out of some things, but I remember just hating my life, hating my situation, hating myself, hated everything about how I looked, how I sounded. I just had all this fear and anxiety and stress in my life. And I felt so uncomfortable in my own skin. And so I would sneak downstairs and I would watch that show. And it was so real for me. I remember watching it and I'd watch how this person would come and you would become a new person.  Eli Wilde (00:09:01): And I remember going to bed at night for years, and as I'd wake up in the morning. So the, so for, so the, you know, the show Sam would wake up as another person in another reality. He might be like a boxer in the middle of a ring or this black woman who was raped or this thing. And he's like there to right some wrong. And he'd wake up, you know, after the first five minutes of the show, he'd be in this experience and he'd go over to a mirror and he'd see his new face as this other person. And I would wake up in the morning for years. And this is when I really feel like I began to, cultivate my mindset and my imagination because I would lay there I'd feel myself wake up, but I would imagine myself as a different person at a different time. Maybe I had brothers or sisters, or I was seven-foot tall, or I was like a midget or like, how would people perceive me?  Eli Wilde (00:09:45): What would my mindset be? And I'd lay there. And I'd kind of daydream for 20 minutes before I start my day. And it was so real for me when I walked, you know, walked over to the mirror in my bedroom, I open my eyes and I looked at the mirror and I was always surprised to see my own face, cuz it was so real for me, those circumstances. And you know, and Einstein says that imagination is more important than intelligence. And I feel like with my challenging back hood, my challenging childhood, like having these stories and living into these imaginary circumstances that became am real for me is a lot of what leadership is. You have a vision of something that doesn't exist. Like Steve Jobs, they call these people visionaries, cuz they see something so clearly that nobody else can see. And if you can see yourself as that or your situation or people or see the good in people, even when they're being mean, you can, you can see through their mask and you can look in the mirror and see behind your own mask.  Eli Wilde (00:10:36): And I just became fascinated with people in characters, in these shows. And I find that in my real life, everybody's a character everybody's playing a part, everybody's playing a role and we've all got this amazing potential inside of us. But sometimes we have patterns of thought, feeling, behavior that become habitual, that lock us into an identity that maybe we picked up from our parents or from a circumstance and it's no longer serving us. And so how do we play a new role? And so I'm always just fascinated with people how they become who they've become. And I think that's one been one of my superpowers in selling is I'm genuinely curious about people, you know? And I know that even if somebody who's like having a bad day, it's, it's like if somebody's mean that's not who they are, that's who they've become and who they've become has been learned.  Eli Wilde (00:11:20): And they've learned a process of thinking often to protect themselves or their time or something or their ego. And it can lock somebody in, take them in a path where they're no longer fulfilled or they feel like they're really evolving. And I think that's just part of the human condition. And so I'm just always curious about how do we reverse engineer hear that to find the genesis of where this person created a belief about themselves or people of the world that created their model of the world, how they interact with people, everything from their posture to their eye contact, to how they get pleasure or, you know, experience pain. What's really driving some human being. And after a certain amount of time you realize that we're all kind of the same. We're all screwed up. We're all insecure. We're all crazy. And you know, and so I can't feel superior to anybody and I can't feel that anybody superior to me. And I can just connect with this person as a friend, even though they don't wanna be my friend. And so I can just be genuine in that cuz we're all screwed up.  Dan Henry (00:12:12): Well, I'll be your friend Eli.  Eli Wilde (00:12:14): Thank you. I appreciate it man. We are friends.  Dan Henry (00:12:17): So, so yes, yes we are. That's and I love bringing my friends on this show because it's, you know, so much more comfortable sometimes when I, when I really know somebody. And you know, we've talked about this a lot with your journey and you've, I mean, the amount of, if you were to say in dollars, like the amount of cuz you would go out, you would sell like UPWs and stuff for Tony and I mean, plus you did other things, the sheer amount of, of dollars that you've closed from stage is in the millions. Right? What I want to know from you is how did you go from somebody who got an audition to be Superman, and you honestly, you had a shot and you let fear rule your, your ability to pursue that. But then I can't imagine you weren't scared when it came to getting a job with Tony, how did you sort of make that shift where you, the, the fear stopped you from taking action with the Superman role but it didn't stop you from taking action or what did you change to prevent it from stopping you from taking action with getting a job with Tony?  Eli Wilde (00:13:27): You know, it's, it's interesting. Cause I actually learned a lot from the Tony Robbins event and I was really kind of in a funk. I didn't go for the acting thing. And I ended up quitting my job maybe as this dental person. Cause I was really frustrated, just not very happy. And I decided to travel for a bit. I went to Australia, came back and I just became obsessed with everything cuz I was like, and I think we all reach a point where we realize like we've got a standard that's been breached within ourselves and we're tolerating something. And we get to that threshold of a pain, like pain and some people in their relationship. They're like, all right, this has been annoying. And then they're like one day I've had it, I've quit. I'm done. Like I'm over this. And I think that one of the things that these books and these programs and Tony personally inspired in me is to raise my standard as to what I was tolerating within myself.  Eli Wilde (00:14:11): And so I was like, this fear, this nagging this conversation and about myself, about people it's making me play life so small. I think, you know, and for some people it's, it's time, they realize they're, they're getting older. This time is not finite. Like I'm tolerating this about myself and they decide to make a change. Most people don't, it just becomes their pattern, becomes their, the direction their life moves in, and that direction, takes them to a destination and therefore their destiny. And so we gotta really look at the direction that we're going with our diet, our communication with ourselves and others, and really look at how do I make some changes and condition myself to show up more powerfully. And for me that time off work was really great. And I learned a lot about myself, but I started reading all these books and then I got this Tony book and it talked about the emotions, not just the principles.  Eli Wilde (00:15:00): And so it really spoke to me and I saw like, you know, a month later I was walking by this frozen yogurt place I liked. And all this magazine said Learning Annex. It's kinda like Success Resources today, huge seminar company. They're based outta California. They pretty much went out of business cuz it was really poorly run. But it was Tony Robbin speaking, Susie Orman, Donald Trump, a few other people like some famous athletes, Magic Johnson. And it was 97 bucks. And that was still like a lot for me to spend on something I was getting right. I got Tony's book for 90, for 86 cents off eBay or something, plus $4 shipping. Like I just like, I didn't spend money on anything. I was really frugal. And so spending 97 bucks, I was like, okay, I'm gonna do it.  Eli Wilde (00:15:45): It was the most I'd ever spent on anything, self-development period. Like I never spent more than $10 on a book. And I go to this thing and it's kind of cheesy, you know, no money down real estate guy get rich, quick guy, Donald Trump, you know, who is, you know, he was the main thing. But then Tony comes out, hes supposed to speak for two and a half hours, speaks for four. And he is like...  Dan Henry (00:16:04): As, as Tony does.  Eli Wilde (00:16:05): Yeah. And he's like, if you've got anything out of these F'n four hours change, you know, spend four days of me I'll change your, your f’ing life or I give your f’ing money back, step the F up, like go back to the room. I'm just like, he was so certain. And I was, I, you know, I was in the cheap seats and Tony's like 6'7 but he looked about like a dot from so far away. There was about like 30,000 people in the room, but I felt him and I jumping up and down, all the rah-rah stuff that people hate, I was loving it. But I was really locked into a box and I hadn't been like, you know, connecting with people and I think happens to a lot of people. Some people hate it. You're hugging people and you know, hugging strangers and all this. Like this is why  Dan Henry (00:16:38): Yeah, I'm not, I love Tony, but I'm not a fan of that part. I'm just, I'm gonna be transparent.  Eli Wilde (00:16:43): I was loving it though. And at the end, he said go to the back. And it was 900 bucks for a UPW ticket, but it was 800 bucks if you signed up that today, that day. And I usually don't even tell this part of the story. But when I went back there, I saw the salespeople, a bunch of people talking about success. They were hard closing people. They were guys wearing $80 suits wearing $30 shoes, talking about success, and trying to hard close people at this little booth. And I went over there and I, I couldn't sign up, but it was a two-day event. I couldn't sleep that night. Tony said things that just stuck in my mind. And so I signed up the next day and it was one of the hardest things I ever did, but I knew it was like, if I don't do this thing, I am gonna regret it.  Eli Wilde (00:17:19): And he said some things and I was like, I'm just, I'm just gonna do this thing. And so I went to the event, obviously. I, so many things I could tell you so many stories about what happened for me at that event. Things that I learned, things that I distinctions I got from my life, you know, I decided I didn't wanna let it go. So very long story short, I got some names. I called the company over 200 times in a period of less than two weeks. And I eventually get an interview. I drive down there and I'm all like in state, doing incantations the whole way. I'm like screaming in my car. Like I'm just like fired up and I get down there and they, they kind of take the entire staff and they put them there to watch you.  Eli Wilde (00:17:57): So they gave me a 28-page script when I went, when I went down, says, come back in two weeks. Don't F this up. And it was this guy, Lester Favish and the guy Gene McNaughton was the VP of sales. Amazing guy. They said, come back in two weeks, don't mess this up. And when you came back in, I delivered this script and they have people they're kind of messing with you a little bit, looking at their phone, whatever, being bored, to see how it's gonna affect your confidence. But I was like, I was ready. Also I had some acting experience too.  Dan Henry (00:18:23): You did acting confidence.  Eli Wilde (00:18:25): Yeah. I was like, like I looked at this thing and I'm like, I'm gonna own this. You know, it's, it's interesting. I never forget that day being at Tony's company and Tony's so amazing. And I just, I thought if I was part of this world, I'd be drinking green juice all day. Like everybody's talking about affirmations and changing the world, but I went to his company, people outside smoking cigarettes, you know, people were overweight. People were clearly broke and you know, it just, he was very removed from the company. Then he since stepped back in and it's, it's a different environment now, they, they cut a lot of fat. But I was like a little bit disappointed and I was like, I'm gonna take it upon myself to make sure that I raised the standard for this, this company. And there's so much, I'll cut out just, just for brevity's sake. I, when I saw Tony at that first event, UPW I was so blown away by what he said. And he talked about that book Think and Grow Rich.  Eli Wilde (00:19:15): We're talking about thinking, talk about a book to help people with their thinking. That one was a phenomenal book for me, but I realized I hadn't really applied a lot of the principles. And so, on the first day we took a lunch break and I go outside and I'm eating my two cans of Tongol tuna with packets of mayonnaise and mustard cause I was broke, you know, used all my money for this seminar and I'm eating this tuna and inside my backpack was that book Think and Grow Rich, that he had talked about what it had done for him at a very young age. And I open up the book and I reading the first story. It's a story on desire. And it's about Edward C. Barnes, a man living in railway cars in Orange, New Jersey living is a bum, hears about this man who's changing the world with his mind, a guy named Thomas Edison.  Eli Wilde (00:19:57): And so he makes a pact with himself that he's gonna be partners with the great Thomas Edison. And he works and works and works, and there's a whole story there. If you guys wanna read it, it's definitely worth it. And he becomes this partner and I was reminded of that story. I'm sitting there. And I read that story as I'm sitting there on that first lunch break. And I thought to myself, I've been living like a bum. I think of Tony Robbins as this guy who's changing the world with his mind. And I wrote down on my workbook that day, I'm gonna be partners with Tony Robbins. Fast forward a few weeks, I'm working there. Fast forward, maybe eight months, if you asked anybody in the company, who's the best speaker; everybody said, me. I was, I was really good. And I did very well.  Eli Wilde (00:20:30): And so, Tony's son Jairek who used to live here, he's in Puerto Rico now, wanted to join the company, be a speaker. And so Tony said, you need to work your way up. Just like me. Like I did with Jim Ron, do these meetings. It's very tough. It's not easy, but you learn these skills and who you surround yourself with is who you become. So, you need to be around somebody who's always hungry. So, you need to live with a top sales guy who happened to be me. Next thing I know before I know it. I'm living with Tony's son and Jairek was so nice to me. If his father gave him advice, he would let me listen to like these audio clips that his father would tell him, do this, don't do that. Here's how you think. And it was like this is his most sage wisdom and Jairek would let me listen.  Eli Wilde (00:21:08): And some of it would just like bring a tear to my eye and inspire me. And I, if Tony said jump, I said, how high? I applied the next day. And you know, fast forward a year into me working there, Tony wasn't gonna do live events anymore. So, this is 2007, 2008 before the economy like really collapsed. He was segueing of live events. So, we did, we were selling something, called Digital Delivery. We called it TNT Tony not there. So essentially you pay a couple thousand bucks to go to a movie theater and they give you audio programs and coaching and all that. But you go to a movie theater and you're sitting there watching a movie. A movie of Tony and there's coaches and stuff like that. And they facilitate these like hundred person, 200 person events. So it's more hands on, more intimate, but TNT, Tony not there.  Eli Wilde (00:21:52): And so cuz he was segueing out. So that was the future of the company. So he brings us all in, I'm living with Jairek and there's about 30 sales people there. And Tony's doing a full-on two-day training of the future of the company and what it looks like, how we're getting paid, the structure, the standards, everything, he lays it all out. And he's like midsentence as he's writing some things on the board and he turns around and he looks right at me right in the eyes. And he says, I want you to know something very important right now, if you're in this room, you are my partner. And he looks at me right in the eyes, as he says it. And I go home that night and I take out my, my workbook from UPW. It was one year later to the day that I wrote down, I will be partners with Tony Robbins.  Eli Wilde (00:22:32): I was like, holy moly. How cool is that? And so, you know, I was just really all about it and I just lived and breathed all of it. And I figured there's so many mentors out there, but if you're gonna follow somebody, I was like, this is my dude. And I'm like, I'm all about this guy. And so, I, I didn't really read lot of other stuff for the better part of a decade. Like, you know, we talked some about some of his programs. I know that stuff like that. I mean, I just listened to Tony every single day for years. And then I did seminars based on his principal. I averaged two seminars a day for a decade. And so just a lot of reps and I figured like you're supposed to kind of outgrow your mentors, but a lot of the audios that people hear and, and even UPW he created that at 22 years old.  Eli Wilde (00:23:12): And so when I got to know more, there was so much more content and you're supposed to kind of outgrow your mentors, but I mean, this guy's working 15, 16-hour days on stage and then does a whole nother work day off stage, like seven days a week. He's, he's a savage. And so he's really raised the standard for me in every year in my life. And he's, he's become like a second father. It was cool at the Funnel Hacking Live, you know, he's, he's there and...  Dan Henry (00:23:35): Yeah, I saw him come up to you and shake your hand, give you a hug. That was, that was cool.  Eli Wilde (00:23:39): Cause he only acknowledged Russell Brunson and maybe one other person cuz he is in his flow. And I saw him make eye contact with me from the stage and he's like in his flow and he's got like a moment and he comes over and hugs me and you know, in front of everybody, it's just, it was really cool.  Eli Wilde (00:23:51): Cause I've not talked to him for about a year. I still, you know, little bit of text, but we've not like really interacted much. But his brother-in-law part of the reason I'm connected with Tony is because as I live with Jairek, his brother-in-law Scott joined the company and now pretty much runs the company and the three of us were doing stuff all together. Scott's one of my best friends and Scott completely changed my life. My relationship with Tony is only possible because of Scott, because Scott liked me so much and talked to Tony about me and talked to his sister Tony's wife about me. So, Scott Humphrey is, is everybody bit as much of a friend and mentor to me as Tony is. So, Scott really changed my life. So, but the point of that is, you know, it takes a team.  Eli Wilde (00:24:28): And there was a lot of people that supported me in the Tony world that allowed me to get on some of those big stages and make the money. And I I'm super competitive. Anybody that knows me really well, like I love people, but I'm like, I'm always, I always wanna win. And I'll tell them exactly what I'm doing to beat them. But I'm like, I'm still gonna beat you. And I think that's, I think that's good. I, I love that Jim Rohn quote he, I forget what book it's in. It's like one of these audiobooks that he has. He says, we actually learn more like I want you to learn and we actually learn more by losing than by winning. And so, I am willing to give you that opportunity. And so he is always like, I'm, I'm gonna win because he, because he knew the law of averages and he knows that it's just a matter of time. Jim Rohn is pretty savage himself.  Dan Henry (00:25:12): Let me ask you a question because this is something I, I would really like to know from you. Cuz you're one of the most pleasant and positive people I know. And I don't know if you've always been that way, but I I'm glad you said no, because it gives other people like me hope. But I, the moment I knew Tony was the real deal was actually, and I always knew he was the real deal, but the real moment was when I was at FHL at that conference. And I saw the guy's cell phone goes off. It went off because I had heard from some people that, you know, had been around him or been around the organization that years ago, if you were in his organization and he was doing a live show and somebody messed up, right.  Dan Henry (00:25:57): He would get like really, really angry. And I never knew if it was true or not, you know, cuz you know, people, people say shit. Like you don't know if they're lying or whatever and he would get really angry. And I, I understood that as somebody who's an entrepreneur and you know, you want your product to be amazing. You want the people involved to get the best possible experience. And so, you can really take it personally when your, your staff or your team don't perform. You, you like, you get all these things in your head, like they don't care, and this and that and, and, and you, you can freak out. And I was listening to an audiotape. I bought some of his audio tapes and I heard him say I heard him say that like literally admit that on the tape that he used to be really bad about that.  Dan Henry (00:26:41): And then he said like one day he woke up and realized that it was incongruent with his message because he's like, wait a minute. I'm teaching all these people how to be balanced and how to be understanding and how to, you know, be how to influence people. But then I'm like really not doing that with my staff. And so that was his, you know, that was his moment meant to change and, and work on himself in that aspect. And then when I was at this last conference and I saw him, there was a guy right next to him. I don't know if you remember this or not, but there was a guy right next to him in his walkie-talkie went off.  Eli Wilde (00:27:13): Yeah. Right behind him.  Dan Henry (00:27:14): Yeah, he did. He didn't have it muted. Yeah. And I remember thinking, well, here we go. I wonder if he's gonna like blow up at him or whatever. And but no, he turned around to him and he like made a joke about it. He like made it a part of the show and he made it, he made it fun. And I was like, wow. I was like that. And it just, you know, cuz let, let me, let me be real. I'm gonna be real with you. If you ever gone online, cause social media these days, it can be super toxic. Right? Especially if you're an influencer, you do one thing wrong. You say one thing, you have one bad day and everybody just completely crucifies you because they hold you to this insane standard that they don't hold normal people to. And they don't hold themselves to because you're supposed to be an influencer, you're or you're trying to be an influencer.  Dan Henry (00:27:57): Right? And so, you know, to you have all these people out there that will say you shouldn't do, and they'll give you this, this rap sheet, this list of things you shouldn't do. But then they go and they do all of them. Yeah. And, and, and everybody knows what I'm talking about. Right? Like they a hundred percent do, so to see somebody as big as him actually make that change. It, it gives hope because I have never met a single entrepreneur that never got frustrated, had a bad day, made millions of dollars and still one day felt like they hadn't accomplished anything. And that it was all by luck, got pissed off and yelled at their staff. And if anybody, and even if they tell you that they haven't, they're full of shit, their liars. And so my question to you is, you are so balanced, so positive. You have such an amazing disposition. Were you, did you always have that or was that something that, that took massive development and how did that journey go?  Eli Wilde (00:28:59): Definitely. I mean, as I said, voted like the quietest kid in school they put me in classes in middle in elementary school, basically with mentally handicapped kids because I was so, like I probably would've been labeled autistic by today's standards. I was like, like I just couldn't function. I couldn't communicate. And even, even as I got to, like in school, I, I had a big gap, my teeth right here. And so I was really the insecure about my mouth. So I mumbled a lot. I didn't wanna open my mouth. It was very hard to get me to communicate just there was just so much fear in me. So, it's been a constant process, but it's been relationships, it's been working on it, like literally working on myself so much. And you know, for me, one of the things that's, that's driven me and this is,I think something common in very successful people.  Eli Wilde (00:29:45): There's a lot of like repressed anger. And I think Tony at a young age had it Elon Musk. There are certain people, I think what drives them to work so hard is this, this anger is this drive it's like, you know, something's not right. There's like a fuel there. And really like very successful people that work 15, 16, 18, 20 hours a day. There's really, usually only one emotion that, that can keep that kind of energy. It's like a rage that just pushes them. And even they've proven there's a, there's a tightness in the body that produces more ATP. So anger is a, is a fuel, you know, but it can also burn you out. So it can, you know, you can use it or it can use you. And for me, there was a lot of, lot of anger. I've been in like, you know, probably time by the time I was in college, probably been in like a hundred like decent fist fights, like, you know, pretty bad ones. And I would just like, I'd snap all the time. And I took Ritalin for a long time. I was like, I was a mess and a lot of things changed in my life. I don't know if you know, like my story of my mom and kind of what we went through and then how things changed for us?  Dan Henry (00:30:44): I do, I was actually gonna ask you that cause I did look up a bit of that and it was a, it was, it was a rough, it was a rough story to read. You know, I'd love you to explain the first 10 years of your life, because I think a lot of people watching this or listening to this right now may think, wow, this, this guy's amazing. And he, you know, he was able to do all these things. And, and get over his fears and, and, you know, call 200, like who would call 200 times and, and not give up after four, you know, four or five calls? And so I think a lot of people may, may think that people like you are born like that. And I just, I don't believe that's true. I believe they're made. And so I would love for you to describe the first 10 years of your life, because I, I think a lot of people would be shocked to, to see where you came from and then how far you've come. And I think it would inspire them.  Eli Wilde (00:31:34): Well, I'll just, I'll break it down like this. We had just really challenging upbringing. I was born when I was two, my dad got put in a wheelchair from a car accident and we just had, we really struggled. A lot of challenges in the home. My mom just took me, we left when I was probably about five or six, moved all around a lot. She worked at places like McDonald's and so we were not super-wealthy people at all. And she ended up getting a job as a country club. I think when I was around like middle school and I was wearing, I remember after school, I would often she picked me up and I was kind of just hanging out, until she got off work at the country club. And I was wearing the hand-me-down clothes of the wealthy, wealthy kids.  Eli Wilde (00:32:10): So they kind of made fun of me and all of that. But, you know, by the time I got into high school, I started growing out of it a little bit. And I had friends for the first time in my life. Probably my sophomore year of high school is when I started playing football. It was the first time I ever had friends. And I would be, had been really lonely before that finally felt connected. Finally had a sense of meaning, but that year also, my mom had had her worst financial year. We, you know, we lived on like nothing and my, so my friends, they all had more money than us and they knew it and they kind of helped me out if we went to eat somewhere after they'd usually like, buy me the burger or something like that. I just had really great people who are like some of them, like they were like also the, the cool kids, you know? And I'm like kind of hanging out with the cool kids and, you know, and athletes and things like that.  Eli Wilde (00:32:49): And girls are notice gonna be the first time. And I come home this one night, my mom has a talk with me and we're pretty much down to like our last dollars, and she's like, you're gonna have to move with your father. I don't know what I'm gonna do and is kind of a slumber tone. And the, the next day I didn't tell anybody about it, but I, I felt like really, even more fear, more instability in my life. And I just made feeling stress. And I wanted to talk to my best friend about his name, Dave Scarano. And I was telling about what was, you know, specifically what was going on. But I was like, man, I guess I, you know, wanted to reframe my mind as positive. I was like, man, if, if you could drive any car in the world, what would it be?  Eli Wilde (00:33:25): We're just talking about our Dreams were like a Camaro, like a 1992 Camaro, like our dream car. If you could date any girl, what would it be? You know, it's just like talking about our dreams. And my mom comes home from work that night and this woman has been so challenged by life. So beat down, just robbed of all self-confidence and just really just, emotionally distraught almost every night. Like you just put through the wrong, the ringer. Just so just so emotionally exhausted and frustrated and angry and, and, you know, with her own challenges. She comes home this one night as I'm talking to Dave on the phone and she's beaming. She walks upstairs and she's just got this whole radiance about her, the way she, her shoulders, her eye contact her voice so connected. And she looks at me and she goes, Eli, when you get off the phone, I need to talk to you about something.  Eli Wilde (00:34:13): And she smiles and she turns, and she walks out the room. And David's on the phone, he's like, what could it be? What could it be? I was like, I don't know. And maybe it's this, that it was just we bickered back and forth for about two minutes, like, like 13-year-old girls. Like, could it be this or that? And I said, I gotta go downstairs. And I go downstairs. And our living room, dining room and kitchen are pretty much all one room, cuz that's when you're living in a not very nice place, everything is kind of just together like that. And you know, not like a loft, not meant to be that way, you know, by the limited design choices. And my mom's sitting there at our little dining room table and she tells me to sit down and I remember she put her hand on my knee and she just got very emotional and she started talking about her dreams and her challenges and everything that she had hoped for me in her life and all of her dreams.  Eli Wilde (00:34:59): And you know, she's like, and this happened in the had happened and, she's like rambling at this point. And part of me is thinking like, wow, this woman has finally gone in insane. Like, man, I'm gonna have to lock this woman up. I'm like, I don't know what I'm gonna do.  Dan Henry (00:35:12): How old were you at this point?  Eli Wilde (00:35:14): I was right before I turned 16.  Dan Henry (00:35:17): Okay.  Eli Wilde (00:35:18): Yeah. And she, she looks at me right then in my eyes and she goes, my prayers have been answered and it's all because of you. All because you're meant for so, so much more. It's like, what are you talking about? She goes, I just won 7 million in the lottery. You're gonna go to school. I'm gonna go to school. Like, we're gonna do this. And I'm like, what? You know, it's like, so it's such a magical moment. And you know, we hugged and we're crying and, and all these things. And, you know, the other part of it is she gave away most of the money. And so we weren't like,  Dan Henry (00:35:49): Hold, hold up. Back up, back up, back up, back up. So let me get this straight. Let's really back. You're telling me that you grew up in this incredibly challenging environment. You know, your father you were what? Two when he got in a wheelchair?  Eli Wilde (00:36:08): Yep. Yeah.  Dan Henry (00:36:08): Yeah. Two. I mean an incredibly challenging environment, not rich at all. Pretty much a one, one-room house.  Eli Wilde (00:36:17): We had if you went upstairs. We each had our own bedrooms, all that stuff.  Dan Henry (00:36:20): Okay. Well that's yeah, but I mean, you didn't have like a big house or anything. You weren't, you weren't balling and your mom wins the lottery. Not, not like a 1.2 million, like 7 million that's a lot.  Eli Wilde (00:36:33): For us it was like, I mean, might as well have been a billion, and it's like everything.  Dan Henry (00:36:36): But I noticed something. The first thing that she said was, I'm gonna go to school and you're. Not, I'm gonna buy a Rolls Royce. It was, I'm gonna go to school and you're gonna go to school. And then she gave most of the money away?  Eli Wilde (00:36:47): Yep. Yeah.  Dan Henry (00:36:48): Wow. Who'd she give it away to?  Eli Wilde (00:36:50): She used to play a lottery with a lot of friends. And so she still felt obligated to give them money, which was not a smart move. Some of them questionable characters and some of them. And so I think she was even kind of manipulated into that looking back.  Dan Henry (00:37:05): But I mean, even, even to just know where her heart was, like, what kind of...  Eli Wilde (00:37:08): That was the first thing I said to her. I was like, you sure? She's like, well, at least I'll go to heaven. You know.  Dan Henry (00:37:15): You don't sound too excited about it. I'm like, what at sweet woman. And you're like, ehh, yeah.  Eli Wilde (00:37:20): You know, it's like some people I think are givers by default and it's, it's her character. She is that way. But also I think, and you and I have talked about this too. You have all these demands being placed upon you and you gotta take care of yourself. It's like a cheesy analogy. People say, when you have like, when the, you're on the plane and you know, they talk about the air mask going down, you put it on yourself first before your child.  Dan Henry (00:37:42): Right.  Eli Wilde (00:37:43): But mom's definitely somebody who's kind of would martyr herself and do things for others more than herself. She's always been that way. And she's very sweet. She's very sweet. But that's, that's something I learned early. Cause I was that way. I'm a, I'm a chronic people pleaser, do too much. But then I find that when I'd do it, I'd resent those people.  Eli Wilde (00:38:01): I'm angry at those people. I'm frustrated at those people and I'm like, wow, that's trying to be like, who am I actually giving to them for? Am I doing it to buy into this story, like, well, I'm a good person. Or like, how do I even make, make sure, like, we have some clear boundaries in our relationship for each other, you know? It's like, so how do I be responsible for that in a way that's framed in their best interest all the time? How do I deal with this conflict where they have a desire and I do, and maybe I've not been clear. And so I'm always thinking through that, cuz for years I, I do all these things just like she did. And, but I found like I'd get really angry and I'd ruin relationships because of it. And so yeah.  Dan Henry (00:38:37): That's heavy, man. Yeah. That's heavy.  Eli Wilde (00:38:39): Yeah. I, I was almost down a rabbit hole,  Dan Henry (00:38:41): No, no, no. It was good. Yeah.  Eli Wilde (00:38:42): You asked me about like, have I always been this way? I feel like I've made every mistake from like, not even knowing how to talk, having to speak and all of that. Cause I, the first thing I did want though, like for myself, I mentioned, I had this big gap in my teeth and I mumbled so much. So the first thing I wanted financially, I wanted braces. So my senior year of high school, I get braces and I've got braces, like all my pictures and all that stuff. I'm smiling, you know, like, like this, you know, just like I'm always closed mouth. And after I got the braces off, I had pretty nice teeth. I drink way too much coffee now. And I'm not taking care of them.  Dan Henry (00:39:13): Right. Yeah. Me too.  Eli Wilde (00:39:13): And all that stuff. So, or like brown now, but you know, and I just, I'm not, I don't care that much, even though you should care about your teeth.  Dan Henry (00:39:21): I'm gonna, I'm gonna, yeah. I, so, you know, it's funny cuz it's, it's, it's amazing how some people have certain categorical things that they struggle with and other people, it just comes naturally to them. Like I've, I've sort of in a way, had a natural, it's weird. I, I struggle with it sometimes, but I've in a way had always had a easier time, not caring what people think about certain things. Like I have two chips in my teeth and I've got 'em from just, you know, forgetting to put my mouth guard in in jujitsu, just stupid, stupid stuff. And I've, I've got 'em fixed before, but the thing fell out and I just don't like the alternatives of, you know, they have, they have to like grind your teeth down.  Eli Wilde (00:40:10): Yeah. I got chip here and they were like, they have to like grind it down to a nub and put a veneer on there and just like,  Dan Henry (00:40:15): Yeah, yeah, I've got, I've gotten like I've had so many people on like social media, like Dan, please fix your teeth. And I know that they're either they're completely unaware of their rudeness or they're, they're just doing it on purpose.  Eli Wilde (00:40:30): Yeah.  Dan Henry (00:40:30): I almost respect the people that do it on purpose more.  Eli Wilde (00:40:33): Yeah.  Dan Henry (00:40:33): Cuz at least they're doing it with intention and the other ones are doing it of ignorance, but it's never really bothered me, you know? But it, it, I just find it amazing how like that will come naturally to me where I eh whatever, I don't care what they think. But then like something else, like being able to control my frustration over something not getting done right or something is much more challenging. You know? And then other people might be completely and utterly patient with everyone, but then they're crippled by things like imposter syndrome and just what, what people think about them. You know, I just find that fascinating how some of us can really have superpowers in one area, and kryptonite in another. No pun intended.  Eli Wilde (00:41:18): That's, but that's the nature of human beings and we've all got that somewhere. Could be in our relationship with our kids or this person or that, or like we've all got something and that's what makes us human. That's what, that's what makes a superhero human. And that's, that's how we relate to the character. The perfect superhero, nobody wants to watch that movie because they're not relatable. And that's, you know, we're all flawed, which is, you know, which is good and bad and you should have a desire to always better yourself. But you know, it's, I'm always curious, like what drives people.  Dan Henry (00:41:43): And do you think that fork, that core fundamental belief that basically in a nutshell, we're all messed up, is the first thing you have to like realize in order to get through to someone? Because you know, I've realized, especially after just deep, deep studying on leadership and talking to you as well as listen to some Tony stuff, is that when you try to like influence someone and you try to like, or even just connect with someone, if you come in from a place of judgment, it's very difficult to influence them because when someone feels judged and the other thing is like some, I would say some people, it doesn't bother them as much. Like I personally have been able to take advice from people when I feel judged, if I have a very, very, very high amount of respect for them.  Dan Henry (00:42:34): If I don't have a very high amount of respect for them, then no. But you know, I find it fascinating how it really, it really is a predetermined factor on how you can get through to somebody is, is coming. And it's also a skill to not come off as judgmental because sometimes you don't think you're coming off as judgmental, but you really are at least to them. And I think that's a, an art. And how would you say that that really plays not just influence, but even sales. Yeah. You know, I mean, many times have you heard a salesperson just completely like ruin their chances of making a sale because they start judging the person on the phone or they start judging the person they're trying to sell to and basically trying to have an intellectual argument with them rather than trying to get through to them.  Eli Wilde (00:43:22): Yeah. There's about nine months into somebody selling career is usually when they'll hit a slump and, in the book, Spin Selling, they talk about this, Rackman is the guy's last name. It says that people, after they get really good, they'll often hit a massive slump. And it it's usually because they've taken so many of a certain call that they do completely understand the prospect's problems. But because of that, they start making assumptions and their assumptions are actually correct. They're like, oh yeah, it sounds like, hold up, you got this, this and this. So they understand the problem. But the prospect needs to understand that you understand. So, Steven Covey says first seek to understand then to under be understood. But the other part of that is they have to actually understand that you understand. So as we're seeking to understand, like, yeah, yeah, I understand.  Eli Wilde (00:44:04): And we're all wanting to save time. And when I see somebody who's stressed out, especially somebody successful, who's got a lot of stress. What, what driving all stress is fear. And it could fear like this person's thinking a long time, you're literally stealing from my life, my time with my kids and all that pressure builds up. Like I've got all these things and I can't listen to you gibber jabber. Like let's get to it. And sometimes we get short. And so sometimes we need to find creative ways to bypass that where somebody says, okay, well, you know, just humor me for, for one moment. And if I can be humorous and maybe say something a little bit like this and ask for permission, I can begin to bypass a lot of that if the person feels cared for and you know? I'll never forget.  Eli Wilde (00:44:45): I was, cause I've done the same presentation for Tony about 3,400 times. And I'd probably done this thing like 15 or hundred, two thousand is a lot. And you know, it's, I was doing this, this presentation. It was a, in a, like a banquet hall with a bunch of round tables, which is the worst. Because if you've got a seminar, everybody should be kind of looking at you like square tables. Round tables, that means half the audience has,  Dan Henry (00:45:05): Has their back to you. Yeah.  Eli Wilde (00:45:06): And so, I'm doing this thing, I got my whiteboard, I'm talking, I'm in my flow and I'm, you know, I'm, I'm doing the thing and I'm, you know, it's pumping everybody up and I got this energy and everything. And some people just, you know, weren't really engaged with me at all. Which would make me like, now I've learned ways to, I can get everybody to, to tune in. I can change my tonality or I'll say, I'll do these prime.  Dan Henry (00:45:25): Can you give us an example?  Eli Wilde (00:45:26): If there's one thing that you guys get it is this. Here's a million-dollar tip. Guys, what is it? It's a million-dollar tip. You better freaking pay attention to this. So it's like people, whatever, or and we just did this at a seminar. I did a seminar with Chase Hughes, who's a brilliant top negotiator, FBI, you know, military guy, like amazing. Watching people's blink rates and seeing like this someone becomes more suggestible. This, this part of their eye will search to relax. And their breathing rate will change. And sometimes I can just change my tonality. I'm talking in a, like not a monotone, but kind of like the OB One Kenobi, the Sage wisdom type thing, which is really nice to listen to.  Eli Wilde (00:46:06): And then sometimes I can tap into a warrior or the lover where I slow things down. And I did all this search where I would ask people, at what point in my presentation, did you really think you were gonna buy? And it was never the close. They were like, man, it was in the middle when you slowed down, you looked at me and you said that. And I was like, wow, there's these magic moments in sales, and information doesn't change your life experiences do. And if I can provide an experience, a connection with somebody on a deep level where they feel heard and seen, and I can do that. And the words don't even matter that much, but they'll feel an energy. They'll feel this charisma they'll feel this, this care, this concern, this certainty, this belief communicated to them very clear. And I could talk about Disney World.  Eli Wilde (00:46:45): I could talk about Fiji water. I could talk about anything like this, but it becomes dynamic. And when you listen to somebody like a Bill Clinton, like a lot of his stories, he's talking about like opening a jar or yeah, there was this thing. And you know, and it's just, you're captivated listening to this man. And he is talking about nothing. You're like, he's just so warm. And you know, and I talked to you about this, there's the belief. So always thinking like when somebody has amazing results, what are the actions that drove it? So what are they doing? Okay. But what are the decisions they committed to, to drive the actions? What are the thoughts and feelings? So two people can make the same decision, take the same action, still get different results. So what are the thoughts and feelings, the emotion, the energy that's driving their actions?  Eli Wilde (00:47:24): And so everything we do or don't do we do for desire to gain pleasure, avoid pain. So is this pleasurable? Is this painful? Well that's depending upon a belief system, what do I believe? What does this mean? You know, and I love that book, Man Search for Meaning. Human beings are meaning making machines. So nothing has any meaning except for the meaning that we give it. And so if somebody's being challenging, do I make it mean they're being rude to me? If somebody's being challenging in my seminar, does it, does it make it mean like about myself? Am I boring? Am I stupid? Do they not like me? These are disempowering meanings. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't invest my energy in it. I can always reframe, well, this just means I need to change some things. This means I get to have some fun. This means something in the moment that I can play with.  Eli Wilde (00:48:04): So I've established the belief system about people, myself, the life, the moment that empowers me to keep on going and figure some things out. And I get playful and curious in that moment. And I use my imagination and I unpack it. And because I've got this belief, this feeling of certainty, and this is another Tonyism when two people meet the person's more certain will influence the other person. And I know why I'm there. I did an event couple years ago with Jordan Belfort and people were like, are you, and it was like thousands, you know, maybe 1100 people. And people were like, are you, are you scared? And I was like, and I thought for a moment, I was so prepared. I was like, they were like, are you scared? I thought for a second, I was like, oh no. I said, if anybody's scared, they should be scared.  Eli Wilde (00:48:44): I'm the only one in the freaking room that knows what's gonna be talked about. I'm the only one in the entire room that knows what's gonna happen. They, if anybody should be uncertain, it's them. And I remember like legitimately thinking that, and I was excited, I was like really excited. And it was one of the first times I was on stage with a, with a big name like that. And I wanted, you know, also me being very competitive. I wanted to really own that, that audience than I did. And people came up to were like, man, I much rather, and Jordan's amazing. But next to me and him, it was like, he didn't stand a chance. And I was like, wow, here's, here's where I get. But for him also, I was engaged. It was, he'd done it like a thousand times. And for me, I'm like hungry and, and going at.  Eli Wilde (00:49:21): So I've got more to prove at the same time. So I was more prepared. But you know, it's just, it's just that drive in the moment that belief about what it is. And as I was alluding to it's this belief about people in the moment, this empowering model of the world that I've worked on and created and conditioned, and definitely messed up on. And so I've reviewed my own performance many times to say, okay, you know, what, what created that, that tension in the moment? And listening to my own calls, other people's calls cuz we can't just be woo with this, like getting to the science and I shared with you the, the Triad of Tony?  Dan Henry (00:49:52): Yeah, yeah, you did. Yes. Focus, language and...  Eli Wilde (00:49:55): Focus, language and meaning and then physiology.  Dan Henry (00:49:59): Right. That's right.  Eli Wilde (00:50:00): And so that's why in sales, like even my own presentation or whatever, I could hear somebody else's call and they get an objection or they, and I could tell they usually missed some key moment earlier on where they didn't probe deep enough which created the uncertainty on it.  Eli Wilde (00:50:14): So I'm like, that's where you missed the call. But also people were like, well, how do I deal with that objection at the end? And I could say, here's how I would do it. Here's what I would say. Here's something I might say and I'd teach somebody the exact words and they'd use the same words and they wouldn't be able to turn it around in a situation where I could with the same words. So I was like, maybe it's not the words. Maybe it's this energy. And if I give somebody the same words, they use my words. But because of the meaning they attached to that person, themselves, or whatever they, the meaning and their focus going self-conscious, disempowering, meaning they use the words, but there's a slight tension in their throat. Or you know, this, this, this, this tenseness and they say the same words, but with fear and frustration and hesitation in their voice and the person doesn't respond to the words, they respond to the energy, the emotion, the energy in motion.  Eli Wilde (00:51:06): So their responding energetically to your state. And so to be in a state, so I think of myself, you know, if you look at like a Tony or Michael Jordan or any peak performer, like they're in this, this state of like; it's like.  Dan Henry (00:51:19): Like psyched up?  Eli Wilde (00:51:21): It's, you know, I wouldn't say it's like, there's a calm. It's like this they're present, fully present, but also anticipating anything. So the analogy we always give, if you were driving like a Bugatti 200 miles an hour, if you're driving like a million dollar car and you're going 200 miles an hour, you have to be, you can't be looking at your phone. You're like fully present, but also not just in the moment you have to anticipate things that could go wrong and you're excited. Like what if a dog comes out, I'm going like you're fully engaged.  Eli Wilde (00:51:50): And so there's this presence. And when you watch  Bill Clinton speak, he's so present. He's so, so there. And the two things I always say to people is when you're communicating with somebody, one on one could be with your mom or whatever. And my mom frustrates me a lot of times. She's rambling about stuff and I'm like, you know, and so I, I, you know, will feel myself get frustrated too, but I was like, how can I be more present right now? If I do something I, you know, I'm clear in my schedule when I do go at that time. But I wanna, my outcome is to make her feel heard and seen, not just there for my own needs. And so you know, some of these principles have really helped me expand my vision. Like what is this trying to teach me?  Eli Wilde (00:52:27): How can I be more of this despite of this? How do I actually enjoy the process? And  I've worked, I was talking to my mom on the way here. So there's always that, but the two things that I'd said to you on one of our calls that I think is the belief. So there's the results come from actions and decisions, thoughts, feelings, but there's a belief system that drives all of that. And so when Bill Clinton speaks, his belief is what I'm saying is the most important thing in the world. And you, you listening, you are the most important person that could be hearing this. And so this is a sincerity, there's a warmth, there's a presence. And I believe this, you know, and this is a Jim Rohnism that you should live your life as a public figure. And I know that even if I'm harsh to somebody, a thousand other people might see me being harsh and that might turn somebody off or somebody could see how I handled that.  Eli Wilde (00:53:19): And this is why I got into a lot of other seminar rooms that other people didn't, somebody came and saw a talk or Tony had, had heard, seen, heard about me going into a company where one of his friends worked there and somebody challenged me or somebody was a jerk to me or somebody there was like some. And they saw how I dealt with the situation and the energy. And so got back to Tony, got back to a lot of other people. They're like, man, this guy, he did this thing. He, he really showed up and he didn't, he could have been made somebody feel like really small, but he didn't. And so there's a belief about these people, belief about learning a belief about how I can be. And as Jim Rohn said, live your life like a public figure, somebody's watching. And it might be a kid.  Eli Wilde (00:53:57): It might be somebody. And then they learn from me because I am maybe for many of them, the first motivational speaker they've ever seen. And I'm a representation of a brand called Tony Robbins. And I love this man. I love self-development. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. Like what it has done for me, all these books, all this information, but one bad experience for somebody where they see me acting like a jerk. They're like now the first person, like most of us can think of our first time we made love. Or first time we drove a car, like the first novel experience stays with you. The first cut is the deepest as the song goes. And so, right. The first experience you have, I might taint somebody's experience of self-development and they might never go to that seminar.  Eli Wilde (00:54:32): They might never read that book. And there's so many books out there today. Like your book's great. But I read a lot of books where it's just like, it's just like somebody, somebody told them they should write a book. And they're like, oh, I'm doing this for my marketing and you, and now I'm like, this is a really shitty book. People have been telling me for years to write a book. So I'm actually writing one now. Cause I like now, I've got something where I know I can write a really special book, but I don't wanna write a, a book in a weekend and you know, have somebody record me. And then, you know, it's like, I wanna write a book. You know, it's like, I want this to be part of my legacy. And so I'll take the time. You know, anything that is value, takes time, energy, and attention. Like you have a two and a $200 dollar suit or a $2,000 suit, time, energy intention, and not might not look the same, but you can feel there's something different about this, even though it's the same material, there's something there. And if we put time, energy, and attention to our communication with ourselves and others, with ourselves in journaling and meditation and thought. Reviewing our own thoughts, time, energy, and attention, to our thoughts about other people and ourselves in the world, and really treat that with care. It becomes quality communication and the quality of our life comes down to the quality of our communication. And so to be a quality person, I think it's about quality communication. So I think it's super important.  Dan Henry (00:55:39): Wow. That was fricking amazing. Wow. Thanks man. Thanks. I mean, if you think about it, all major wars came really came down to a miscommunication. Most marriages that fall apart come down to communication or miscommunication. So saying that communication is the most important thing. I mean, I can't, I don't think you can dispute that, you know?  Eli Wilde (00:55:59): Everything's communication.  Dan Henry (00:56:00): Cause it all flows from there, you know? So let me ask, let's do some rapid-fire questions.  Eli Wilde (00:56:06): I did. I did wanna share this one thing. And so, and I know I'd shared this with you when we talked, one of the things that really anchored me. So I, you know, very long story short, I came back to work for Tony's company. I, I did get into acting. After a few years of Tony's company, I left, I decided to get back into acting and I followed this one man's career, Greg Plitt, who was like a fitness model guy. And we were born around the same, like three, four, four days apart. And you know, a little bit of friends, but I kind of modeled his career and I ended up booking this, this job that put like a billboard of me in times square. And you know, I was acting a bit and all these amazing things happened. But then I got really sick.  Eli Wilde (00:56:40): Tony helped me out. I came back to work for his company. And you know, in that time I was booking all these acting gigs. I, I did have the confidence in the communication. I felt like I could book anything. And when I came back to Tony's company, though, we had this, like this three-hour kind of intervention and he edified me so hard said, I was like, what the company's all about? He's like, if you wanna know what our company stands for, it's this FN man right here, Eli stand up, everybody look at this, man, what are the qualities of this man? Everybody's like, he's authentic. He's this, he's that, he just bombarded me. And he gave me a standard to live up to. He held me to a higher standard. And so just like we talk about with the seven steps of creating lasting change, he conditioned me and he made it ecologically sound where my environment supported this new identity.  Dan Henry (00:57:17): So you had to be that way.  Eli Wilde (00:57:18): I had to be that way. And he, and he put me in a position of leadership where other people were depending on me to be that way.  Dan Henry (00:57:23): Was that leverage?  Eli Wilde (00:57:24): Of course, that's leverage. Yeah. And he, he did it based on my needs for significance. So he's using he's, you know, he is a pretty smart guy. You know, it's not his first rodeo. And I, I realized what he had done. But in that conversation, in this interaction, because you had asked about the judgment and not being able to influence them if they, they feel judged, in that dialogue, in that conversation, he said something to all of us, not just to me, but he said this and I recorded what he said. And I know I mentioned this to you, but I recorded what he said.  Eli Wilde (00:57:53): I transcribed it. It was like a 90-second thing. And it was so powerful for me as to what it means to influence, what it means to sell, what it means to connect with somebody deeply enough where they, they trust me enough to make a personal recommendation with their livelihood and their life. Like, that's a big freaking deal. I wanna be prepared for that. But he said, this, this one thing, and I thought it was so powerful. I wrote it down and I read this, this one thing that he said to me out loud before all my presentations for years. And this is part of the reason I stood out because I had an anchor just like you, you minded. Sometimes you need, maybe you get a tattoo or like a whistle or like a trinket to remind you of something of how you wanna be or remind it's like a symbol of something for you.  Eli Wilde (00:58:33): And he said, this one thing was so powerful. So I wrote it down and I said it before all my talks. And this one thing that I said I know has made me extras of millions of dollars and helped thousands of people because of this one statement about influence. Would you all like to hear what this is?  Dan Henry (00:58:48): I would, I would like to freaking hear it. Yeah. Hit me with it.  Eli Wilde (00:58:51): This is what he said. He said to influence someone, you must not only understand them. He says, in order to influence somebody, you must connect to this person. You must not only understand them intellectually. You must understand and appreciate. You must connect to their needs, their wants, their desires, their fears. You gotta step into their world without buying into their story. That's the unique balance to buy into somebody's, to, to buy into somebody's world, to step into their world and appreciate, but not buy into their limitations.  Eli Wilde (00:59:21): They've already done that to themselves. The added value you offer representing me and our partnership with these potential clients and customers is that we don't buy into their limitations. I don't buy into the limitation of how f’ing long they can go without food, how late they can stay up how hard they can clap or what they can feel. And because I don't buy into those limitations and because they feel that I care, I can influence them. And I was like, that is it right there to step into somebody's world and appreciate have empathy, but not buy into their limitation. It says; they must feel that we understand them and appreciate them. Not understand and judge them, you can't influence somebody if they feel judged by you. And so to understand and appreciate them. And also, there's kind of the spiritual realm is this realm is, this is like, if something's triggering us, like the world is a mirror like we're, maybe we see something inadequate, inadequate in a person.  Eli Wilde (01:00:10): And we're frustrated cuz maybe it's something with ourselves we've not dealt with or made peace with. And so I'm looking at this person like, like why is, why is this person keep on showing up this one annoying person and that body and that person's body and that person's body like all these annoying, why am I like, why am I experiencing this? And this is also a common, you know, not, you know, it's kind of a Tonyism, but it's like the quality of your life comes down to these, the quality of your emotional states. You could be a billionaire and be, billionaires have killed themself in the last few years.  Dan Henry (01:00:39): Yeah.  Eli Wilde (01:00:39): And so it's like, we think..  Dan Henry (01:00:41): It's hard man. I think it's hard for everybody. People only think it's hard for people when they're on their way up, but it's hard when you get there too.  Eli Wilde (01:00:49): And I think, you know, we there's this classic self-development phrase, Be Do Have, in order for you to have something, which is your goals. What do you have to do? Your habits and rituals. Your habits and rituals, what you do daily or what support your goals? Like if you have a fitness goal, what are your diet, exercise, sleep habits that support your goal, support your wealth, your relationship, your, your health, your finances. Their habits and rituals. But two people can have the same habits and the same goals get very different results, right? Because it's all in the context of who you be and who you are is composed upon your values. What do you value? A lot of people say they want success, but they actually value comfort. So they don't value. Cuz they, you pay attention to it.  Eli Wilde (01:01:27): You nurture it. Like this is part of yourself, your values and most people's values are in conflict, out of alignment. So they're kind of two steps forward, you know, three steps back and they're living in limbo. And so people gotta get really clear about what's driving them, what's the target. And so something like money, for example. Money is a value or success. Money is a means to an end. So some people think they're gonna get money. Well, that's not, that's not an end. It's a means to an end, you use money for something. Money cannot be the target. And some people make fame, the target or money, the target, that's not, it's a means to an end. And so some people, when I ask them what they want, like they're not even clear. They don't even know what a goal is. And when I do goal sitting with people, I'm like, Hey, what are your goals? Their like, oh, I wanna go to the gym more.  Eli Wilde (01:02:07): I'm like, that's not a goal. That's a habit. Like, well, you know, what's a goal? You know, I say a goal, like imagine like this game of life say that there's a soccer field or a basketball field. And you just, you know, you're not keeping score. You don't have targets. You don't have competition. You don't have any of that. Like if you're watching, say a soccer game or a basketball game without a goal, you just have a bunch of people running around in the court, doing nothing with no clear goal, nobody's gonna pay you money for that. Nobody's gonna pay money to people who can't consistently hit goals, put it into hoop, put it in the net. So what's the goal you're shooting for? And I always tell this, this story about Michael Jordan being coached by Tony Robbins. And there's this, this kind of funny moment where Tony asked Michael like, like how many points do you wanna average?  Eli Wilde (01:02:49): How many games? And Michael's like, well, as many as possible. And Tony says, well, if I gave you this basketball, could you put in the hoop? He's like, yeah, sure. Okay. Why? Because it's right there and this is my thing. So I, okay. Well, if I put a blindfold on you and spun you around in a circle, then could you put in hoop? He says, of course not. Why? Because I wouldn't be able to see what I'm shooting for. So like what are you shooting for specifically? Like what is the vision for your life that you're shooting for and what you're gonna put time, energy and attention into that. It's a means to an end, but a lot of people have set up the game of life to have this moving target. They're changing their goal all the time. They're not clear about why they want it.  Eli Wilde (01:03:22): You know, there's no clear purpose to push them through all the challenging times. So you need a vision bigger than yourself. You need a hunger more than anybody else. And then you use the strategies. Most people are just collecting strategies that they're collect. It's like shelf development instead of self-development. They've got all these ideas. They can regurgitate and get, make it to a free lead magnet on Facebook or this or strategy strategies and people just downloading free webinars and PDFs and collecting information, studying, studying, studying but not training. Training means you do something over and over again, over and over again, over and over again, you can do it in your sleep. Sales, business, communication, it just becomes part of who you are like intertwined into your identity. And most people are just collecting data. And Stephen Pressfield says this, most people, instead of going deep, they're like, like a mud puddle, an inch deep and two miles wide. Or like there's no depth,  Dan Henry (01:04:09): But how do you decide where to go deep? How do you decide on that goal?  Eli Wilde (01:04:13): You commit to one path for a long time. And that's why when I found Tony, I was like, I'm all in. Like, this is, this is gonna be my path. And I, and at 27 years old, I was like, I've got to threshold. Like this is gonna be my life. And I saw people, even in my own family, I saw other people that were my friends, 35, 45. And I'm like, is that gonna be my life? I'm, I'm moving in that direction quickly. And a lot of people thought I had a lot of potential, but they're like, yeah, you're just kind of scattered. And I was very scattered and I was like, I'm just gonna force self. And you know, just stay in this one path for a long time.  Eli Wilde (01:04:44): And it's hard, it's hard. And you're gonna have doubts. Maybe I shouldn't do this or I should do that. Or maybe I should doing this. And people jump around. Some people, even that are entrepreneurs, they change their offer every few months. Or they got this other bell whistle. E-Com, crypto funnel building expert jam. I'm like, what a mess? What a, what a mess. You know, it's like, you're a mess. You know, it is that because their, their, their end is to be famous or to have money. So they've not taken enough time, energy, attention with themselves to find out what they even want. And you know, that's the deeper work and it seems meaningless at first. Well, how is that making me money? It's not, but it's, it's kind of everything. It's what drives all of your behavior. It's the, you know, you got this beautiful car, but a, you know, a shitty engine, you know, and you got this beautiful Ferrari, but there's, there's no gas in the tank. There's no, you know, everything is rusty on the inside. It's, it's, they've taken a, you know, a beautiful shell of like a, you know, a car, but they put it in like a Nissan Centra, you know, body, you know, and they just put the shell on top, you know, like one of these kit cars, it looks nice. And then when you open it up and it's time to perform it breaks down. And so, we gotta focus on what's on the inside.  Dan Henry (01:05:54): Dude, you should have tried out for like a Quintin Tarantino movie and did, because I could see you with this 15 minute monologue in like a Tarantino film, cuz you're just so you just, you just flow so smooth. You don't, you don't even say um. Like, you just go. That's amazing. That's amazing, dude. That was there's so much there. I want to unpack, like I was taking mental notes of some of the stuff you said. I  wanna go into a few of those things, especially when it comes to like sales and there's a few things you mentioned that I think would be very valuable for people to hear, especially if anybody listening is trying to sell anything. Let me ask you a question. Brandon, are we, I see you've been killing that lit of water there. Everybody asks if there's a bathroom break on this show and  Eli Wilde (01:06:42): I went right before I came here, I ate a nice cafe. Right up the street, Mickey's.  Dan Henry (01:06:46): Oh, Mickey's is great. It's right. Yes. Right? Yeah. That's fantastic. It's fantastic. I gotta see if I can get Brandon to maybe put like  a we'll be back screen up or something so we can take like a two-minute bathroom break. I don't know if that's possible, especially if I throw it at him on, on the, on the fly, but.  Brandon (01:07:03): I could make sure it's on the next show, but.  Dan Henry (01:07:05): So, so here let's do this. I wanna, I wanna jump into some of the stuff that you said, but like rapid fire, like soundbite stuff, because I think it would be valuable to really have some of the stuff out there. Because you know, a lot of people teach sales, but like, you seem to go way, way, way in the back, nether regions of the brain and the mind where it really matters. You know, like anybody can sit there and say, oh, when, when, when someone says this, say that. But why are you saying that? You know, so one thing I noticed that you said was appreciate without buying into their, to their BS basically. Yeah. And so, like one example, if you're on a sales call and or in any kind of sales situation, and somebody says, well, I don't have time, right?  Dan Henry (01:07:52): Like, are you saying you can appreciate how they feel about that without buying into the facts that they actually don't have time. Cause let's face facts, virtually every person that ever said, I don't have time on a sales call, it's been a limiting belief. You know, I mean, we, if we really want something and when I say a sales call, I'm talking about, if it's something they really want, they need, and it will really enrich their lives. I'm not talking about a car or something. But you know, the idea that, you know, losing weight or whatever it is, I don't have time achieving your dreams I don't have time. Working on your business, working on yourself, I don't have time. Things that you really want you make time for. Are you saying that you want to appreciate how they feel and what's driving them to feel that way without buying into that actual literal excuse?  Eli Wilde (01:08:42): Yeah. It's so there's a few different types of belief, or I guess you could say objections, so a smoke screen, like a condition response. It just, what they always say, which is that one allotment for, for time, cuz they've obviously taken time to book the call.  Dan Henry (01:08:55): Right. And so it's you have time to get the phone. So  Eli Wilde (01:08:57): Yeah. So in that circumstance, usually I'll just brush right past it or I might work on it and reframe the belief, but you know, it's either you know, it could be logistical. Like that would be a logistical. If we took it for face value, it's logistical. I logistically don't have time. This is my schedule. And so we could work well, you know, if I could show owe you a way that you could do this and that and move things around, like, is it, is it logistical or I need more time to think about it is logistical, but 80, 90% of the time when people say any objection, it is uncertainty based. And so the definition of a belief is a feeling of certainty. And so if somebody says an objection, what they're saying is I feel uncertain in you. I feel uncertain in myself.  Eli Wilde (01:09:34): I feel uncertain in your process. It's just them saying, I'm not certain in what you said. And 99% of the time when somebody gets in an objection, it's because we didn't address that ahead of time. And we didn't hear. So how I, how I, how I handle it personally, I teach a lot and we give people basic frameworks that can handle probably 70% of those objections based on and things they do upfront. And some things inside of the close that are very tactical. And I can, I can demonstrate some of those, but the way that I ultimately do it. And when I'm dealing with somebody on a really advanced level, I can hear some of that, some of their insecurities and their doubts. And even if somebody says they want to buy this program for more money, I know that's a means to an end.  Eli Wilde (01:10:15): So I'm really understanding what is actually driving. And I'm generally curious,  Dan Henry (01:10:18): What are they gonna do with the money?  Eli Wilde (01:10:20): You know, or it's just like, why is that, why is that important to you now? You know? Okay. And what, what might that do for you do you think? Okay, just to help me understand when you said this, is it more this? Or would you say it's more that, okay. Well, why though? And I'm a bit skeptical in my tone, which as, okay. Why, why? Or I'm like, and that's part of the reason I think you've been so successful, there's like a natural skepticism kind of like, don't give me the BS type, type thing. And it makes people like, all right, this is a no BS kind of guy, you know? And so that's, that's the thing. So it sends a message out subconsciously and you do protect your time and you are worth your time. And you're like, look like I generally, this isn't a sales technique. Like, Hey, I, I don't got time to deal with. You're like, I literally don't have time make a decision, like right now. And that's kind of in the subtext of your tonality, which can serve you, you know? In certain ways, you know, some other ways, maybe not if we do it everywhere, but you know,  Dan Henry (01:11:05): Well, I've had that happen on, on calls where I'll be like, you know, I'll say like, you know, let's say you were to become successful. Let's say you were to make all this money, what have you. You know, what would you do with it? What what's, you don't just wanna stare at the money and, and stare, have it stare back at you. You wanna do something cuz I, I like to understand, are they doing it because they're, mother's sick and they, they wanna pay for treatment. Are they doing it because they want a new house because they've been living in a small one for years? And, and, and then, okay, yeah, I want a bigger house. Well, what's driving you to want a bigger house? Well, it could be a lot of things. It could be a new baby. It could be the fact that maybe they've been promising their wife, a larger house for years and they haven't pulled through.  Dan Henry (01:11:43): And so it really isn't even the house, it's a conflict in their marriage. Like it goes so much deeper than I wanna make money. And I think when you truly understand that you can connect with some on a sales call or in a sales situation a lot better because to me, you mentioned belief, right? You mentioned you have to have a belief. My belief, when I get on a call is that my product is the best in the world. And if this person were to be exposed to that product and, and use that product, it would enrich their life more than anything that they've ever done. So it is my duty to conduct myself in the most efficient way and get through to that person so that they buy, because I would be doing them far more of a disservice to not sell them this than to let them off the call.  Dan Henry (01:12:30): And part of that is me spending years, perfecting my product and making sure it's amazing. And that's any product that I make. I, I try to make it, I, my rule is this. If, if I cannot, when I'm done with a product, when I'm done with a, a coaching program, anything, right? Right down to a physical planner, whatever it is, it, I have to be able to say to myself, it is more painful to let this person go without this product than it is to take their money and sell them this product. It has to be that good. And in my mind, that's what I'm thinking when I'm on a call. And you know, I mean, I believe that, that, that underlying principle and that underlying belief has to be there. And if it's not there, then go out there and make, make that happen, make your product. You know, you can't just commit to being good at sales and have a product. You have to commit to both.  Eli Wilde (01:13:22): That gives you the certainty. And also, that is the most basic principle ever, but people have a desire to go towards pleasure and away from pain. And if somebody says no to your product, it's cuz they associate more pain to buying than not buying. If somebody says, yes, they associate pleasure to buying than to not buying it. So sometimes we think like what's the fancy objection handle. And it's like what they're saying? Like sometimes if they, if they don't call you back and it was on the schedule, well, somewhere they associated more pain to talking to you than not talking to you. You know, it's more pleasurable for them to do whatever. And so like, we just gotta understand what's driving this person. What does that mean? And we can do some things with language and questions to change their associations. Where or somebody like you know, I'm kind of thinking about this.  Eli Wilde (01:14:01): Okay, well, hold on. I, I'm not even sure that that this would be good for you, but I, I have to ask what's gonna happen for you if, if nothing changes? I mean, do you, do you want that? Or, or do you actually want to start doing something else? Well, I guess I want to start doing something. Well, hold on. Why though? Well, I guess I'd be outta this and this and this. And how long have you wanted that? All right. I mean, tell me like, why now? Why, why not continue to put this off? Cuz you can put this off indefinitely there's but there's gonna be a day where it becomes harder and or in what I see in are patterns now it's like a habit. And if you don't do something to change this way of thinking, if you don't do something that changes about this now and reinforce that habit for another 2, 3, 5 years, you don't think it'll, do you think it'll be easier to change in the future or do you think it actually be harder to change?  Eli Wilde (01:14:47): Okay. So what we're talking about here, John, Dick, Tom, Harry, you know what we're talking about here are consistent routines and habitual ways of running your business that can make you very, very successful. And in business that we can teach you those. There are patterns, there are things that you can do to become very, very successful, but there are also patterns that make people stuck. There are patterns that lead people to have a very challenging life. I see some of those patterns in you and I'd like to help you break them right now. If you'll let me.  Dan Henry (01:15:19): Dude, that's awesome.  Eli Wilde (01:15:21): So I've said something like that, hundreds of times. So I, what I'm doing is we've talked about, oh, there's this, you know, money, funnels. I said, well, there's patterns. So, I'm anchoring it to it's a pattern, a system.  Eli Wilde (01:15:31): And so, so as a, as a business owner, not operator it's about creating systems and another word for systems or kind of habits are these patterns. These patterns, and really making sure like successful business has a different pattern, unsuccessful business, different pattern, successful person, thought patterns, there's patterns. And so, what we're here to talk about is some of your patterns. And so in my Tony talk, I anchored everything to our success comes down to our patterns and I say, audience, what is another word for patterns? They're our habits. What is a habit? Something you do over and over again, something you do over and over again. And so I'd get 'em and I'd say, who here has good habits put 'em up? You know? And some people would raise their hand. I'd say, you know, we all have good habits who you are as good habits, put 'em up and then say some of you didn't raise your hand.  Eli Wilde (01:16:16): Some of you have a habit of being pretty hard on yourself. Some of you have a habit of not giving yourself any credit. Who brushed your teeth this morning, raise your hand. Actually, you would've lied about that. So I can't even ask you, but let me ask you this honest question, please be honest. Who has some bad habits put 'em up nice and high. Two hands, go up. Thank you for your honesty. We've all got some habit or some pattern that we like to improve. Doesn't matter if you're a billionaire. Why do billionaires get coached by Tony? Because they, we all realize somewhere deep down that no matter where you're at, you all have a next level. All of us do. That's what makes us feel like we're alive. If a plant's not growing, what is it doing? It's dying. And right now, I'm not saying that you're dying physically, even though we are, you know, we're not gonna be here, but maybe it's in your health, your relationship, maybe it's in your business.  Eli Wilde (01:16:58): Maybe you realize there's a next level and maybe you were not growing. But you think about the first time you kissed somebody or drove a car, there was an aliveness inside of you. And I'm sure you've got some of that, but it would it be okay if I shared with you a process, how you can get even more out of that right now today, if you're up for it, say aye. And so I'm getting buy in over and over again. And I'm getting people to realize there's a gap between where they are, where they wanna be. There's something stopping them. We're gonna change it today. And I say, look, even if you're already very successful, can you agree there's a next level? And maybe you can think about the first time you kissed somebody or drove a car. There was an aliveness inside of you, a feeling of growth and progress.  Eli Wilde (01:17:30): And I'm sure you have some of that, but would it be okay, with your permission, if I share it with you a process on how you can get even more of that in your life, are you up for it? Are you sure? And so I'm, I'm framing people constantly. And you know, we, I just did this seminar over the weekend with Chase and I was talking to my buddy Marcel on the way here. Amazing. He's 23 years old, amazing hypnotist. A lot of it's in your confidence, in your pre-frame. And your confidence, and so confidence, people don't a lot of people don't really know what confidence is. They think what's, you know, this car, this house, this thing. Confidence comes down to and, and you know, Chases definition, and really the real definition it's been bastardized, but confidence comes from a feeling of safety.  Eli Wilde (01:18:11): Like I feel safe in this conversation. And so when I can hear in somebody's tonality, somebody objects, their, their tonality changes, they get stressed in all this stuff. They, they make it mean something, but it's like, Hey it's okay. And so there's a certainty. There's a warmth that puts some like Bill Clinton. It's like, ah, it's okay. It he's the, these elements of charisma there's gratitude in the moment appreciation there's a care for their appearance. There's a tonality, a warmth and an enjoyment, you know, that makes somebody really interesting to connect with. And when you can put somebody's nervous system at ease, they actually have different, you know, emotions like, and thought it's going to their brain. But a lot of times that resistance comes cuz somebody doesn't feel safe. And you know, one of the things that I'll do with some of my, my clients, I, I hypnotize them now and I'll get them to think of times in their life.  Eli Wilde (01:19:02): They felt really safe. Maybe it was, you know, being hugged by their grandfather, you know being in this place where they felt totally safe, you feel totally confident, which are embedded commands. By the way you think about a time you feel totally safe. You feel totally connected just like that time before you begin to feel those feelings right now and you amplify them. Like, what would it be like? And so their mind starts to go there if they feel safe with me. And I think whether I'm hypnotizing somebody or leading somebody or selling somebody, I've gotta make them feel safe with me, you know, but also a bit of uncertainty. So you know, kind of in this matrix that that Chase teaches really well is, is about authority and about novelty. And so if I can make somebody more suggestible, more compliant with my tone and they see that I'm an authority, not by me over posturing, listen to me, but they can see I'm their nervous system.  Eli Wilde (01:19:55): So we all have our conscious mind, like everybody's listening to right now has my, their conscious mind, but your mammalian brain and your reptilian brain responds to the animal. And if you're resistant to me and you're challenging me and you're doing all these things, but I'm still, it's like, you're a, you know, like a, a six-inch little, you know, animal like a squirrel. And I'm like a 600-pound gorilla. And it's just like, I'm unaffected. And it's like this, this calmness. And it's like, it's okay. Like totally fine resolve. I can, I, I can genuinely, this isn't a sales thing, but I can like genuinely appreciate where that's coming from. Totally fine. And not anything, is it, is it just nerves? Not a big deal. And so there's also something we do that we've been teaching this year. So a lot of, lot of these scripts and everything are question-based sales. And, and the, you know, intelligence agencies teach that in order to get sensitive information outta somebody, the worst way to get sensitive information outta somebody is by asking questions cause they'll put up a wall often. And so we have a way of eliciting sensitive information without asking questions and it makes people open up  Dan Henry (01:21:09): Well that, now that right there, that sounds like something. I was actually gonna ask you, I got four questions I want to ask you.  Eli Wilde (01:21:14): Yeah. And you said rapid firing.  Dan Henry (01:21:16): Yeah. But now I gotta have to have five because that was, I want to know the, without questions methods. I'm gonna write that down without questions method. So here I got four questions I want to ask you. And I wanna like I said, just rapid-fire, because I would love to have, I, I would just love to know your perspective on these things. So, the first one is what is the worst thing you think someone can say on a sales call?  Eli Wilde (01:21:52): Worst thing?  Dan Henry (01:21:53): Like beyond, beyond, all. Right? What is, what is the one thing that you should never say on a sales call or, or the thing that you think salespeople or people selling say too often that they really, really shouldn't.   Eli Wilde (01:22:08): You know, I, I, I hate the whole like 20 minutes of rapport, you know, that dogs and cats and all that, just that fluff, like let's get to it. But also right in the beginning of the sales call, there's also an agenda-setting. And I think the way that some people do it, like this kind of big dick swinging like, Hey, here's how the call's gonna go. I'm gonna tell you this. And you know, we got this many minutes, but I'm very busy. So this posturing of being superior, this, this posturing and the way that most salespeople open up the call. And so again, you can ask all the questions, but there's a very good chance that people will give you surface answers. And so the way that a lot of people communicate it just based on their tonality. And so again, there's people, there's what people say, but in NLP.  Eli Wilde (01:22:51): They talk about this and it it's been argued a lot, but communication is about 7% words, 38% tonality. And then 55% body language and body language is also regulating your nervous system, feeling calm. And it sends a message to your nervous system. So if I'm like, like all tense and hyped up on 28 red bulls, and I'm like, you're gonna get tight and you're, and if we're connected and you're gonna, and you're gonna have different thoughts and feelings, and you're gonna feel uncertain about me, which is gonna produce certain thoughts about my program. And so we're creating a lot of this based on not just what people say, but how they're being. And I love that quote. My, probably my favorite quote ever, if, if, I mean, definitely top 10 Ralph Waldo Emerson, he says who you are speaks so loudly people can't even hear what you say.  Eli Wilde (01:23:31): And you know, when I work for Tony that a doesn't have the same script, same word, same product, same price, point, same city, same, everything, same, same everything. Why were my sales three to five times higher with the same word, same price, same everything? And some people say, well, it's a script and all of that, yes, you do need to have a script. And that's like, that's like training wheels. And to be connected to somebody, you can't be self-conscious, conscious for what you're saying. And so what people do on the call, they become self-conscious, there's everything's energy, as I said. But in this communication as dance of communication that I'm transferring, I believe you can't give that what you don't possess. I can't give you a dollar if I don't have one, but what I wanna give you in this conversation is clarity and certainty.  Eli Wilde (01:24:07): And so I communicate with clarity and certainty and I can't give it to you unless I have it. And I can't have it if my energy's being dropped by self-judgment fatigue. Should I say it like this? Persona fatigue, I'm trying to be like somebody else. Or decision fatigue, should I say it like, oh, and then there's like this mumbling, kind of stuttering. I don't know where I'm going attitude. And also, sometimes people I do naturally talk pretty quick. And I like that because I'm also used to speaking on stage and I've gotta get people's attention. And I'm also ramping them up. Sometimes my engine, like my, my energy and my communication and all that, and I'll drive somebody and then I'll slow it down a little bit. And that movement makes things very dynamic. It's the reptilian part of the brain.  Dan Henry (01:24:43): So it's like, you cannot give that what you don't possess.  Eli Wilde (01:24:48): And so I think beyond the words, cuz you can take any script and they're all, I mean these days the self-development coaching industry has become so evolved. All the scripts are pretty good. But you know, I can take the worst script and do better than some people with the best script. Right? And so it's not so much that it's genuine curiosity concern. And so the one thing I think people do is they make judgements about who this person is, where the person will begin to shut down and not give you the sensitive information. And also, you know, I, I've got so many friends in sales and we, we, you know, the best ones out there, we all share scripts. And you know, I I'm like, what is, what is, what are the SOPs that this client's doing? And here's some stuff that I've learned.  Eli Wilde (01:25:26): And so the best sales people out there are like my best friends. And so, I'd seen all the scripts and all of it in the questions and some of it's very good, but a lot of it, we teach some of the same things. So it becomes the same questions. And if we're selling, like for me, I always sold sales people. And so, if I did fuel felt found or any of that stuff, they already, they've already heard that. A tactic shown as a tactic blown. And so if you're doing what everybody else does and you're selling other entrepreneurs and they've already heard that, they're gonna put you in a box. They start, you have a script, but they have an internal script. Like when you walk into a dental office, there's a certain smell. Like you're like, okay, I've, I've been here before. And the moment you start sounding like everybody else at the beginning of a sales call, they put you in a box as just another salesperson.  Eli Wilde (01:26:07): So what do they do? That sucks. They're being like everybody else. Okay. How do I need to not be like everybody else you be yourself? You know? Yeah. It's like, like, but that's easier said than done. It was, you know, big challenge for me my whole life. And even when I worked for Tony, I wanted to be like at Tony and I'm, you know, I'm like chest out. I'm like, you know, I'm talking all like this and you know, and I saw jar really struggle cuz he wanted to be like his father so much. I, you know, I wanted to be like Tony. I mean, everybody that's in self-developing. You gotta be, you be, you gotta be you. And once I figure that out the sales changed for the better.  Dan Henry (01:26:38): You made a point about the script and it's funny cuz we were talking about acting earlier. Yeah. And I always say, you know, I say to both people that we train, whether it's sales, salespeople, I say you know, if I give you, if I give a hundred actors a script and those a hundred actors have the same exact script and they go in the audition for that role. How many actors get the role? One just one. One. Why? Yeah, because that one actor did it better. So don't tell me that all you need is a script. Don't tell me that if you have the script, you'll be fine because you actually have to execute on that script. And I love what you're saying about, you know, if you are not confident in what you're doing and, and you're like, oh, and you're in your brain, you're like, what should I say?  Dan Henry (01:27:24): Should I say it this way? You're gonna, you're gonna come out like that. And if you sound like that, you don't sound confident in yourself, then your customer's not gonna feel confident in you because you don't even feel confident in yourself. So, it goes so much deeper than just reading, reading a script and it, it, it, you have to really become the person that actually feels that way actually is confident. So, I love, I love, I love what you said about that. Let me, let me ask you another question rolling right into this. So that, so I asked you what was the worst thing you can do on, on a sales call? And I think to sum that up, it was, you know, based basically try too hard and get in your own head so that you can't execute and, and just think it's a script. But if you had three things, like just very short three things to give somebody in terms of three things they can do on any sales call or in any sales situation, even selling from stage, any, any sort of influential persuasion, setting, three core things that if they do it right now, they are going to do better tomorrow than they did today. What would those three things be?  Eli Wilde (01:28:35): One is your belief system. And so realize that people do things to avoid pain playing game pleasure. And so I have a strong belief system about what it means for them. They like, if they do what I'm gonna say, it means a lot of pain for if, if you don't do it, it's gonna pain for you. If you do it, it's gonna be pleasure for you. And when I communicate, I frame everything that I'm saying in their best interest, like, Hey, you might wanna write this down so that you can remember it in order to really master this, to be able to spend more time with your kids, what would that mean to you? So, so that in order to, to be able to means to you. And so I'm framing it over and over again. So, hey, you might want to consider buying into this program so that you have more time to be able to spend with your kids, which will allow you to do whatever you want.  Eli Wilde (01:29:17): What would it mean to you to be able to have that, that is what you want, isn't it. And so I'm framing things back in there, in there listening, and this would be a number two. So, there's a belief that drives all of that. And my belief that I work on just like, I wouldn't, you know, like you shower before you go to work, hopefully, everybody's working at home now. So you don't, you don't have to, but like, just like I'm preparing for the day. I'm like, I, I did that talk with Jordan, Beford Nile soul him. And you know, and he's, he's so good. But I had such a strong belief system about what I said in so much certainty. And it's like certainty. It's like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger that it gets. And I knew that when I stepped there, it's like ready to perform.  Eli Wilde (01:29:53): Like I've visualized, I've got clear targets. And so, and it's that, that great book Think and Grow Rich definiteness of purpose. I know why I'm there. And life supports that which supports life. If I do it for me to be self-actualized, self-confident self-respecting, most people can't even do that. But when you show up for your family or you show up for your clients, more of you shows up. And so I show up with an expanded vision of self that is also like I'm connected to this person. Like, you know, and I, I give you with an example and I know this isn't short, but when you like, say you do things only for, and maybe you go to work or not, there's no real consequences. If your bills are paid, but then maybe you have a kid and you don't need to show up work usually, but now you gotta support the kid and you don't want to go to work, but you don't just show up for you.  Eli Wilde (01:30:33): You show up for your family, you show up for your family. And when you show up for somebody outside of you, more of you shows up, there's an expanded version of you. When you show up for your family, when you show up for your company, more of you shows up. For me, I love self-development. I love sales. And I think there's a lot of programs and a lot of people out there, but I don't want to just bastardize them. I want to teach them. I, if I see somebody teaching sales really, I'll pull them aside. I'm like, I will teach you for free. You can use some of my stuff, cuz I would take a stand for the industry. I love this industry. Life supports that, what supports life. And so see, some people have seen me, you know, and I'll badmouth people a little bit, which is one of my things.  Eli Wilde (01:31:07): I'm not doing that anymore, but I have in the past and I'm like, that's not who I wanna be. That's not in alignment with my character. So when you look at like a Gandhi or a Mother Teresa, or Nelson Mandela, they supported humanity with their words and life supported them. And so when you think about these people who have become legendary, they transcend time and space with their words because of the meaning of what it means to communicate this. So we can communicate on a higher level and often people buy into the frame because it's, there's a higher amount of energy there and purpose and conviction. If you can really draw from that, you'll be supported in that vision. If it's real for you.  Dan Henry (01:31:40): Was that two or three? That was two. That was two. Do you have a, a third one? Two, two is deep. So yeah.  Eli Wilde (01:31:47): So yeah. So these are things that, that I would do to prepare or on the call to be effective best practices.  Dan Henry (01:31:54): Yeah. Any kind of persuasion situation  Eli Wilde (01:31:56): Any kind of persuasion situation. So it's, you know, thinking in terms of the person's best interest. Selling consequences heaven if you do, hell if you don't. But also, when I alluded to it in the third one, it's definite it's the person having a clear target. So the three things that I focus on  Dan Henry (01:32:13): Is it helping them realize what the target is?  Eli Wilde (01:32:16): Well, here's, here's the, here's the secret for me. So as, as I alluded to earlier like you need to be focused, definite purpose, definiteness of purpose. You need to be focused on a clear outcome or result. So I'm clear in that, however, in a sales call, if my target is to get a sale, you feel that I'm trying to get a sale. If my target is just to sell you, I come off with commission breath. So I got really curious in my preparation for all of my events. I thought what drives people's actions, all actions are proceeded by thoughts and feelings. So I wrote down, I got really clear what exactly they want you thinking about you yourself, the future, the company, the environment about me, what are the thoughts and feelings that this person needs to have that will compel them to action? And if I can see in the middle of the conversation is not going that way. I say, well, hold on Dan, here's something you might wanna think about. I'm gonna tell you what to think about or, you know, I, I, I can appreciate what you're saying. And really, you know, listen to me. I, I can tell you're very smart. So I might, so if I interrupt them, I'll compliment them and they'll go internal. They're like, yeah. And I'm curious,  Dan Henry (01:33:18): You, you showed me that thing at, when we were having cigars. That thing where you say, listen, Dan, and you, you, the great  Eli Wilde (01:33:25): Thing about you is,  Dan Henry (01:33:26): You know, so you command the conversation. So I it's a pattern interrupt, but then immediately you give a compliment. So it's like for a second, you're like this guy's a, oh wait, no, he is not, he's complimenting me. Yeah.  Eli Wilde (01:33:37): Listen, I mean, the great thing about you is you're you've done this and this and I, and I really admire. And I think in some ways we're like, I mean, you're definitely further ahead than me. And I think all of us in the community, all of us out here are really wanting something more. And so I have to ask, I mean, if you were to think about, you know, so it's, you know, we're the same. And then I still, if I, if I notice also if I'm there with somebody live, I can notice and their, their facial expressions and or if they're like this, I'll, you know, I might even change my PO I'll change my, my posture. I might SHG my shoulders a little bit. Like, I don't know. So I go in fear cuz if you're like all superior and I'm severe right back then it's this I'll say well, and I don't, I don't know. But you know, it seems like, and, and I have to know and you know, I'll do some things based on what I see in your eye contact and how you're responding to what I'm saying.  Dan Henry (01:34:25): So to make this like a tactical thing, a tactical thing. Yeah. I, I would imagine you're on a sales call you're or you're in a sales situation and the prospect is just getting off the beaten path, right? They're they're trying to control the Congress or they're just, they're just lost in their own words. And so you say, you know, listen, Bob, I really appreciate so, so you, you take back the control of the conversation, but then you immediately give a compliment that shows how much you appreciate. And then you give them an alternative way to think about what aver is. They're rambling about  Eli Wilde (01:35:03): Yeah. That's, that's kind of a syntax one. I'm just doing that to show you that there's this three-posture superior, equal and inferior, and I'm using all of 'em all the time, you know? Right.  Dan Henry (01:35:11): Superior would be you're an authority figure over equal your, a peer and inferior would be like, bill, there, all  Eli Wilde (01:35:19): These, these young, high-ticket sales guys that get some Dan lock script or something, or like whoever's could be minds, script or whatever. They're 22 years old and they're talking to a 40-year-old business owner about their success. Listen, here's how this goes. I've got this script. I'm gonna ask you some questions. They're being their posturing over superior and the other person. So the other person's gonna have to admit they're theory. Well, what's the challenge. Why do you think, and it's not gonna land. Like if you know, I was 27 as a speaker, I'm talking to seminar rooms with 60-year-old men who were millionaires. They're like, get the freak outta your free take. And when I postured like that, then, then they start challenging me. And then I learned after a while, how to challenge them back and win and beat them down, but they still didn't buy. So I had asked what's my outcome to make people feel wrong and like, because I'm a professional speaker and I can do that. And I've learned all these linguistic tools. My outcome is to connect with them and get these people to feel safe enough to take advice  Dan Henry (01:36:06): From me on that, that takes discipline. That takes discipline. And yeah, you know, I'll tell you a funny story. I was on a call. So we hired we hired somebody at, at my other company and, they, they were like a sales manager for, a big influencer. Somebody that real, I'm not gonna mention the name, cuz I don't, I don't like throw shade at anybody, but they, you know, I was interested in their product just cuz they had mentioned it and I was like, oh that's an, and it was, you know, a decent pro I think it was like for five grand or something. It was a decent, like a coaching program just for one specific thing in business. And I get on a call with the, the sales rep and I, I knew the new sales manager for that company.  Dan Henry (01:36:53): And so I get on a call with the sales rep and immediately he's like, Hey, you know wanna let you know that I've been following you for some time when I saw your name come across my desk. I was excited, you know, because I I've just been following you for a long time and da, da, da. Right. And I could kind of sense this sort of like kind of BS. I was like, oh, I ask you for something. Yeah. I, well I was like, well, so he was like, oh, you know, I've been following yourself for like, I'm like how long, you know, I was asking, I was like, how long, you know, what, what, what, what, what, what have you seen from me that you liked? And he couldn't come up with an answer. Yeah. Right. So like number one, I think it's important to understand that if you're gonna pull something like that out, especially if you're on a call with somebody who's known or, or maybe you said that you've done some research on them, you actually have, you can't just say it.  Dan Henry (01:37:43): You sure do. You actually have to do it. You know what I mean? Like you can't get on a call and say, oh, I looked up your company and it sounds, it's amazing. And they're like, oh cool. What do you like about it? And then you have no idea what their company is, you know? Yeah. And then like you said, he starts to say that, well, what are your struggles and stuff? And like, wow, I'm not like, dude, just, you know, you gotta know who you're talking to. That's why, I remember one time at our highest-level consulting is a hundred thousand dollars at another company. And, and so I let, let one of my reps mention or listen to my sales call and immediately it's like, wait a minute, you didn't do all the things you told us to do.  Dan Henry (01:38:25): Yeah. And it's like, well, I was selling a hundred thousand dollars offer to somebody else. Who'd made millions of dollars doing what they do. Like they, not somebody who's, it's, it's a totally different context, you know? So I did do the same things, but I didn't, you know, I knew their awareness. I knew their awareness of those questions. And I, I think that is why I think the script mentality is so toxic to people who try to sell because they literally think it is about the script. And that's why you will see like a director, a director will say, I mean, I've watched Quentin Tarantino interviews and you know, Quentin Tarantino, he, you dude, you, you gotta follow exactly what he says, right? He, he is not the biggest ad lib. Like he's like do it this way, but I've even seen interviews where he's let an amazing actor go off and they just went off on a complete impromptu and he kept it because it was magic and it was magic.  Dan Henry (01:39:23): Not because that actor read a script and there was magic in the script. It's because the actor read the script and understood the character. And in that moment knew that what he, because he's a good actor, what he would do in that moment would be magic based on his understanding of the character, not a script. And I think a lot of salespeople just do or entrepreneurs who sell their own products, just do not get that. And they want the easy way. They just wanna read off a script and by read framing that their mindset around that they can achieve a higher level of sales. In my opinion,  Eli Wilde (01:40:02): Yeah. A hundred percent. That's like, what does this person want? What is preventing them from getting it? They, and they, that they feel, you know, and so that's, that's typically, you know, what I'm looking for is, and what's driving their behavior now. And so something's off in their process or their procedure, or they're not clear. So there's just something there. Right. But also, it's of a belief that it's, that it's possible for them, you know? And so I, you know, I believe that they can do it, but I believe that somebody's got patterns of thought, feeling under emotion that maybe, you know, have them in conflict or not clear, or they're scattered or something's off. So it's like, you know, I don't know who said it first, but they say that like 90% of business problems are actually personal problems. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And so it's, and I, I relate a lot of that to chunk down again, to communication problems internally or with themselves about what they actually want and why they want it. And so I,  Dan Henry (01:40:52): I wanna switch there. I wanna switch to a communication problem. And by the way, just to wrap that story up, I did not buy from that guy. I called up the sales manager and I said, dude, you got it. Your hands. Well, these guys are terrible. And then I just said, I didn't even wanna talk that guy. Can you just tell me quickly, tell me what the offer was? And he like told me and I was like, all right, I'll buy it. Can you take my, can you take my car? And I ended up buying cuz he understood. He's like, I don't wanna hear any of this crap. Just tell me what it is. Here's how it can help you done. But okay, so, so communication, right? So, I think a lot of communication is, is your state, right? If you like, for instance, when you came up to me today, like I'll give you a perfect example.  Dan Henry (01:41:28): Something I struggle with a lot. And I think that a lot of people struggle with, especially entrepreneurs cuz whole much is put on us so much can be put on our plate. You know, if I have a bad day, it's very difficult sometimes for me to get in a good state, how you doing? You know, and you seem to all, I, I, I can't imagine you never had a bad day, you know, I'm for sure. But every time I see you, you're always like, Hey Dan, you come in here. You're like, hey, you're just so, and I, our mutual friend Myron is the same way. The guy comes in here. I had a bad day. Right. I had a really, really bad day, financial stuff. You know, stock, all that, all that crap. And he comes in and he's super positive.  Eli Wilde (01:42:13): And, and you know, I say to him, I said, Myron, did you, did you just like win the lottery or something? Not that he needs it, but you know, but I said, what happened? Like you're just so, and, and I don't, I don't even think he was that positive that day. I think I was just in such a negative state that I noticed how positive he was. He's positive like that every day. Yes. But I said, I said, you know what, what's going on? Like, you win the law or something like, why are you so positive? And he is no, actually two days ago my dad died. And I was like, because I'm just thinking about this. Yeah. I'm noticing how positive he is. His dad just died. This a tough one and he's still positive. And I'm over here worried about since stuff that doesn't even remotely compare to that.  Eli Wilde (01:42:57): And, you know, I asked him that I'm like, how are you staying so positive? And he's like, well, he had a very logical explanation for it. He said, well, you know, if my dad knew that I didn't celebrate his life and I let it affect me that much, he would be disappointed in me and I don't wanna disappoint my dad. And I was like, ah, you know, I mean, so I gotta ask you how do you always, like, what is the secret to maintaining such a pleasant, positive, refreshing, and warm and welcoming state? Cause you always are in it. What, what is your secret to that? You know, I, I was, we are so teaching this tomorrow of the weekend was an amazing weekend. It was great. And when I do experience in those, those challenging moments, I often think like, well, how do I, how do I NAB this?  Eli Wilde (01:43:45): NA how, what, what could I notice, appreciate or believe about this person this moment? You know, there's always something there that I could notice, appreciate or believe about this that can empower me, but also, you know, even being here. So I, when I started this off, I think a lot of people in their life, they drift and I love Napoleon hill outrunning, the devil thinking of rich, they talk about the drifter. And I think these people that are drifters, they don't have clarity of purpose definiteness in their purpose. And so they don't feel like their actions mean anything. And so it's very easy for those weeds to kind of like just to fill your brain. If you're not, don't have directed thoughts in mind and energy. And so even we, right before we started this, I said, what's the outcome? What do you wanna get outta this?  Eli Wilde (01:44:24): And so I have a way to direct my mind cuz I know that if I, my mind isn't directed on something, I get up. There's like all this in my phone and problems that and all of that. But you know, it's like, and you've heard this before. It's such a cheesy kind of one-liner, but what we focus on expands, what we focus on, we tend to manifest or get more of. And so I need to control my focus. And so the way that I do that is typically with some kind of empowering question, what do I really want? Like, and even for myself, when I do these seminars like some might gotta, might be a jerk. And then after a while I would like one to, to myself. And so I'd find all these ways to emotionally destroy somebody and make them feel like.  Eli Wilde (01:44:56): And then I was like, is that my outcome to make you feel bad? No, my outcome is to get a sale. So what's the path, what's my real target here. And then it was like, is my path to even get a sale? It's like, not really know. I was like, is that what I want? And so I, I became, and I told you this whole time, I became the top salesperson for Tony with the same script on all of it. And so I had a higher purpose, a higher vision for what I wanted in those moments. And so more life supported me in those moments, cuz my vision was pure about what I actually wanted for these people. And I was in a really challenging spot and I got into self-development. Tony was like, they say like your first lover, you was the one you really meet Tony for me.  Eli Wilde (01:45:31): Some other people like landmark a forum or some there's some other great seminars. But Tony was like my first everything, my first love of self-development. He was like my gateway drug, you know, he just like opened me up to all this other stuff about communication and myself and my self-discovery. And for me it was like, wow, this is amazing. And I thought about, so one of the things I would think about before my seminars, cause I know if I was there for me, you know, I'm gonna be self-conscious of making everything about me. What's puts up a wall between me and the person. And so, I can't make it about me or even about you. I'm gonna make it about a bigger vision. Like what is, what does this mean to the world? Like how do I guide this conversation to something that's empowering for everybody?  Eli Wilde (01:46:09): And sometimes some people hear it, some people not, but that's, that's my, and I perfect in it sometimes, you know, I have my desires and needs and things like that and I'm human. But I try my best for that. And I've got a clear target and an outcome that I'm seeking. And so as we all hit speed bumps and it's such a cheesy analogy, but you've heard this before that if a plane takes off from say New York to Tampa, it's off track like 97% of the time trail wins and you know, and turbulence and all that. But because it's no's outcome, it moves around the turbulence. And I think sometimes we hit some turbulence and we lose sight of our vision. We lose sight of our outcome in this conversation. So with my mom, I'm like, am I trying to make her feel bad?  Eli Wilde (01:46:45): No. When I'm in these salespeople like, you know, do I wanna make them feel bad? No. Do I wanna get a sale? Yeah. But the sales a means to a higher end. And so I'm connected to the end and part of my superpower in selling Tony, like I loved me some Tony Robbins, but ultimately, I had an experience, had an experience and my mission wasn't be the top salesperson. My mission wasn't to get sales. I wasn't to get money. I wanted all that. I, but ultimately, I wanted this other person's life to be better. And I wanted to share them with an experience that I had. And I knew they had fear and resistance. I was like, Hey, me too. I had the same things, but I went for it. And if I hadn't had that experience, if I didn't go for it, you know, I think I would not be here, but because I did it, I'm experiencing all this.  Eli Wilde (01:47:27): And I want you to have that too. I wanna make, I, I wanna make the world a better place by exposing people to these principles. And so that's, that's my superpower. So I have a mission bigger than myself. I have a mission bigger than the moment. And so when I get that resistance and if people challenge me in the moment, I, I love this, this quote. And I know you wanna ask a question, but I wanna share this one quote from Wayne Dyer, cuz this really hit it for me. And he says, if you take an orange and you squeeze it, what comes out? Orange juice. Why? Because the only thing can come out is what's on the inside. Now what happens when life, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your mom, what happens when life squeezes you? What comes out? Fear, anxiety, stress. It can't come out unless it's on the inside.  Eli Wilde (01:48:10): Mm. And so whose responsibility is it to control what's happening inside of you? It's yours. And so we have a responsibility before every conversation before every seminar, before every podcast, whatever it is to fill ourselves up with gratitude or belief or certainty or a vision that makes the world better. And I think that if people do that consistently, again, that's like a muscle that if you do it over, never again, the stronger it gets and people buy into your frame. And if it's a positive frame, people want to do things for you. And a great example is have you read the book, the book, the autobiography of a, of a Yogi? Amazing book. It's the book that Steve Jobs gave away the most and you know,  Dan Henry (01:48:49): Oh wow, well now I need to read it. No, I feel for not reading it.   Eli Wilde (01:48:52): Kinda spiritual, kinda out there book, but he's the guy that brought is responsible for bringing yoga to the west. And he came here and within maybe 25 years or something like that, or 30 years, I forget exactly how long he was here. If you've been to the spiritual yoga retreat center, whatever it's called in San Diego, it is hundreds of yards of oceanfront property, like in Carlsbad. I mean, it's just gorgeous was given to, he met some guy and was like, had this presence in this warmth and this sincerity. And he says, I'm gonna do this. And a billionaire gave him all this land, ocean, front property. He created over 220 of those spiritual centers on the nicest part of the nicest city. There's one right on the ocean in Malibu. It's like acres and acres and acres. The people that are the wealthiest people in the world met this man once and were willing to give him tens of millions of dollars of property after having one conversation, cuz he had a, a vision bigger than himself.  Eli Wilde (01:49:42): And these people with means gave him whatever he wanted, gave him all the land, gave him all, you know, left often when they passed away, left the majority of their income to this man's fund. And none of it went to him and he spent the rest of his years right there on the beach in Carlsbad. Yeah. And I've been there to that spiritual retreat center, but one man with a conversation, warm, genuine concern. And you know, we speak about grinding and hustling and people make a hundred sales calls and you know, one person can enter into a city and look across, be kind and warm and sincere and look at somebody in the eye and say, Hey, how are you and smile at somebody? And that could be the CEO and do more in a moment with one smile, one genuine in connection than they could have.  Eli Wilde (01:50:28): 10 years of grinding could open more doors. And you know, I appreciate this person I'm talking to in this moment, but I also appreciate the person that's inside of them that they could become. And so I'm speaking to that person and I see one of the things that I do is the biggest gift for all my clients. I visualize what's possible for them. And I speak to them. I hold them to that standard as this best version of themself. I'm like, here's what I see here is here's what you can ultimately do in your life. And I hold them to that standard. Will people always, will they let me down? Will people not follow suit? Yeah, that's okay. We all make mistakes. But one of the best things I can do for them is to hold that vision with them and hold them to that standard.  Dan Henry (01:51:02): So would you say then maintaining that positive state, even when you're having a bad day and being pleasant all the time, it's, if I'm understanding you correctly, it comes down to understanding that your, your vision or your, your purpose is bigger than just yourself. And if you were to go and interact with somebody and just because you experience a bad day, that one day, if you let that affect your state and you let that, let that affect your interaction with other people and you let that taint your experience that day it's, it's like you're focusing on yourself and you're ignoring the bigger vision. And really, it ultimately comes down to it. Not being about you. It's about what's beyond you. And that remind you to stay in that positive state. You say that's like a summary.  Eli Wilde (01:51:51): Yeah. It's, you know, it can become almost like a meditative process in that and the practical application of the self and, and all of that is this is my favorite explanation I've ever heard it's that the mind wants to be happy. And you've got this, you know, really old brain that's seeking out dings on your phone and approval and you know, novelty and, and all this, your mind wants to be happy. It's like this, like a, like a rat in a cage, literally like the mind can be that way unless we control it. The mind wants to be happy. Your heart wants to be fulfilled, but your soul is here to evolve and your soul does not give a darn about what makes you happy or fulfilled. You're here to experience challenges. You're here to grow through them. And as you grow through those C and share with people, what you learned along your challenges, then you contribute beyond yourself and you have a life of meaning.  Eli Wilde (01:52:37): Like these are the gifts. And it's harder to realize in the moment, but like, you know, in, in this, if you read a book about this person or watch a movie, this person had this, you know, fairytale life. And they woke up one day and everything was perfect. Next day was perfect. It was perfect. And they just had this perfect life that is called a really story. Nobody, nobody cares about that story. And even if the person's living that life, they will do something to screw up their life just so they can experience some conflict. And that's what some people do. And so we've gotta have this vision that's bigger than ourselves. And then we have those, those turbulent times you know, realize that we're all the same and we're growing and we make mistakes and all that. And I think that, you know what they say, what you focus on expands. And some people aren't even here in the present, they're focused on, on their, their past failures and we all have them, right. But they're bringing that same energy into their present. They're infecting their present with their past. Or they're not even here, they're missing out on their life. And their life situation is just, they're just rerunning. You know, same relationship, same problem. Year after year after year. And people say, most people it's like, they, you know, they, they live the same year, like 30 years in a row, you know?  Dan Henry (01:53:41): And they let that, they let that dictate the 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 34th year. And eventually, you have to stop the cycle. Let, let me ask you one question to end, I wanna throw you off. I'll throw you off base here. All right. We've been talking about sales and all this stuff. Let me, let me ask you a question because I think a lot of things in life is a sale. Even if it's not a sale, like a sales call, like everything's a negotiation. I remember hearing Chris VO say that, you know, the, the famous FBI negotiator, Chris VO, he said that like everything in life is a negotiation. Every interaction you have, almost everything you do when it boils down to it. It's an, it's a negotiation. Yeah. So let me ask you a question. How would you take, and, and just some, some, if you're a salesperson, you can probably understand this.  Dan Henry (01:54:28): You have a better shot at understanding this, this stuff on a deeper level. But if you were to really simplify this, really break it down into some bullet points, simplified explanations on this for those listening. If you are in a cuz we talked about relationships a lot or a little bit, I wanna tell much more than that. If you're in a relationship with somebody and let's just say that you have very difficult communication, or maybe you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend that is difficult to talk to, right? Or at least your perception is their difficult to talk to. And maybe they're always angry or maybe even your you're the angry one, or you're both angry. How, what is the best way to use some of these communication skills to make the sale of getting along with your significant, other  Eli Wilde (01:55:19): As that is a hard one to ask with the answer, the one-liner, I  Dan Henry (01:55:22): Didn't say it was gonna be easy. I  Eli Wilde (01:55:24): Tell you this though. We, we spent some time this weekend talking to me, my buddy told out that book The Way Of The Superior Man, have you read that book? The data? Oh my God,  Dan Henry (01:55:33): You got it. The Way Of The Superior Man. Yeah. There's  Eli Wilde (01:55:36): Write that down. You know, there's these three levels of man that he talks about one is this, you know, this bad boy kind of alpha guy and that guy, you can't control him. He's very sexy. Even a man. He's like, he's the tough guy in the movie and he's, can't be controlled. He's wild. And women even fantasized about him. Men even fantasized being like that. So like unattached and you know, he's kind of wild. And he says, F you and I'll do whatever I want. He's like the rebel without a cause type of guy he's mysterious and all that. He's the James Bond-ish character. We just, we fantasize about that. And that's a first level, man. That's a low level, man. Cause he only cares about his own needs. A more conscious man is level two, man, where he is like, what do you think?  Eli Wilde (01:56:12): And he's like genuinely concerned and maybe in a relationship with a woman, he says, well, you know, what do you wanna do? What do, why don't, you know, let's hear your thoughts. And he is a more conscious man, but a woman will never be attracted to a man like that long term because he can't make a decision and he can never own her. And the third level, man, he much like the first level, man. He's a bad who knows what he wants and he makes decisions, but he'll be decisive. And he'll tell you what to do, not to control you, but he'll take care of this. He'll make a decision. So you don't have to. It's like, I've got this. There's this feeling of like contain me it and control. And so women or even resistant clients, which are in their feminine kind of energy all over the place.  Eli Wilde (01:56:50): What they're looking for is containment and control. There's a really amazing video on containment between females and male, like what women want. And some women would argue if they see the video, they'll actually agree. It's a woman. T Swan is her name. She's like a YouTube celebrity talking about how women want containment. And this relates to sales too. And people will challenge you. They'll challenge your boundaries to see if you are this level, man. And so you might not say this verbally, but as you're being challenged, you're like, shut them up. I got you. I love you. I own you like, yeah. Dan Henry (01:57:22): Your, and you don't mean own as in property, you'd say own as and own the moment or own the  Eli Wilde (01:57:27): Situation. It's like, like we own each other. Like if, if you're hurting, I'm hurting, right. Like I'm concerned.  Dan Henry (01:57:33): Yeah. Be careful. It's 2021 was you with the terminology  Eli Wilde (01:57:37): Own. I have responsibility for your feelings. Right?  Dan Henry (01:57:40): I that's what you mean by own? Yeah. Gotcha. Like  Eli Wilde (01:57:43): I up. Like, I, I own it. You're upset. I'm here. I'm solid. Right? Like I have ownership over that. Not in a controlling way, but also, and here's the analogy I always give as it relates to this masculine, feminine dance. Have you ever been to San Francisco? No. Oh, it's an amazing city. Beautiful.  Dan Henry (01:57:59): I was in, a California airport once. Yeah, and, and that was it that, yeah, that's, that's, that's my experience. Eli Wilde (01:58:08): You've seen a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge. And there's the Alcatraz in the middle, this, this Harbor. And typically, there's, there's the Pacific Ocean. There's the Golden Gate Bridge. There's San Francisco here. There's Marin County over here. And there's this, this bay where boats come in, the fog comes in the tides up, ties down. If you've been in San Francisco, for those of you listening, it can be 50 degrees. And then it's 80 degrees. And then it drops down to 40 degrees all on the same day. It's like this, it's like this pocket of energy surrounded by these mountains. It's beautiful. It's chaotic. It's crazy. It's all over the place. And it's unpredictable much like a woman's emotions. Tide goes in and out. There's like just chaos in your company and this conversation and a stressed-out human being there's chaos. And when we see that chaos, we often want to control.  Eli Wilde (01:58:52): But if we control that energy much like making a lake stagnant, it feels dead. The woman feels controlled and dead. And then there's a lot of other challenges. She, she buys into it. She doesn't feel alive and she'll react and she'll wanna do things, but you know, or just challenge you too much, whatever it is. But the, the San Francisco Harbor sees that energy as connected to energy. But as it comes in with the ups and downs and all the craziness, it is firmly grounded and rooted. Immovable deep, deeply rooted in the earth. And if you can be that says, Hey, doesn't matter if you're crazy today, doesn't matter. This, that like, I'm here to weather the storm and I'm, immovable, I'm here for you. This is a place that you can come in and feel safe, but also not controlled. I'm never gonna control. You can leave it any time  Dan Henry (01:59:36): I've read about this. It's called the test. It is a test.   Eli Wilde (01:59:39): People are doing that to us all the time. So your reactive client, all that. That's why it's like, that's why it's so important to ask. This seems like such a cheesy question, but what can I learn from this? What am I here to experience, what's driving this behavior? What, how do I speak behind the mask? And we've all got masks. We've all got insecurities. We've all got fear. And somebody's in that moment, they have fear. And so on my way of communicating, I'm trying to put them at ease because I know they're just scared. Like when somebody's acting like that relationship business, that alpha client, Hey, you're listening to me. They're saying I'm scared. I'm scared shitless. And I want you to make me feel okay. And I say, Hey, I hear I'm here for you. And if they're going off on a tangent, I'll label it, maybe a pattern, redirect, what are you really hoping to accomplish? So we can meet some mutual direction or target of what they're wanting. And sometimes I can't support them. Like, look, I can't support you in that. Is that what you ultimately want? So I, you know, I'm clear about my own boundaries. So all of my communication.  Dan Henry (02:00:39): So basically somebody in the interaction, relationship sales with whatever, somebody in the interaction has to be stable, stable in their emotions have to be grounded. If both, if you let the other person knock you off of your balance, and then it just goes back and forth, becomes chaos, one, you,  Eli Wilde (02:00:56)This, you  Dan Henry (02:00:57): Know, this thing one person has to basically mean you're not bothered. Cause that that's what I read about. Like the test was like basically really. They want to give you and see if you can handle it and not get all, not get all you know, imbalanced. And, but heard about it essentially to really break it down to, to, you know, what it is. If you can show that you don't let it bother you. That's like the ultimate form of I guess you could say respect. It's the other ultimate form to gain respect, to show that you're not bothered by  Eli Wilde (02:01:28): In a relationship also that drama will come and the person saying, ultimately, I want your attention. And I wanna feel that I'm important to you. More important, that other thing can you make my needs very important. Can you make me feel seen, heard, and appreciated in this moment? And sometimes that will happen as you legitimately do have other things going on. And so sometimes just, you know, saying, look, you know, like, because you're so important to me, that's why I'm doing this so that I could, would it be okay? And just a hug or like a, you know, a squeeze, a way to that person's nervous system where they feel calm and we transfer it. And the not to go in too many tangents, but a, like a child, if it hears a thunderstorm and gets scared, the child will run and maybe hug the mother or hug the father.  Eli Wilde (02:02:13): And that energy, that stress will go from the child to the parent and calm down the nervousness, him, the child, if the child does it and okay. And hugs the parent and the parent has more stress than the child. The stress will go into the child. The child will never regulate its nervous system and the child become, become be autistic or something like that. And so having a daily practice meditation, breathwork whatever, a way to calm yourself down, get the state to be comfortable, to feel body lead, to be in your, in your own body. Whether I'm speaking on stage or, you know, here, I wanna be aware of my body connected to my body. That's where your emotions are produced. And when you're in your head, you're dead. And so how do I be connected to myself and present? And they'll be, I communicate with my being not just with this, this mouthpiece.  Dan Henry (02:02:58): Wow. Wow. That's, that's awesome. That's awesome, man. So, and I, and I love the fact that you said, I think, I don't know if anybody missed this or not, but it's, and I don't want people to miss this, that just giving a hug sometimes and grounding that person. And because in a sense, a hug can be a pattern interrupt and just give, giving them a like, Hey, give a hug. And I've seen that I can see it change. And, and it's, it's easier said than done. Cuz sometimes you let what they say, anger, you. And then you're like, I don't wanna give this person a hug and it, it but I mean, somebody has to try to master their emotions and become the highest version of their self if they want to be able to live in a world and succeed in a world where not everyone is trying to do the same thing. Makes sense. Well said, man, thank you so much for coming on. This has been like brother, a whirlwind of awesomeness. I mean it's fun this just  Eli Wilde (02:03:51): Time flew by.  Dan Henry (02:03:52): Yeah. Well, yeah, when we do these, it, sometimes they do fly by my, well, my bladder is knocking on my door, but that's,  dude, it's awesome. I'd love to have you back on some time and, and, and talk again. And I think there are just so many nuggets. You've probably given me more nuggets than anybody. I mean, there are like at least a hundred things in this conversation that I think can be expanded upon really change people's lives. So I, appreciate you coming on here and sharing your experience you know, coming up from your childhood getting the job with Tony and all that stuff that you went through with that. I think it's an incredible story. And I think a lot of people have learned a lot from it and I think I think everybody should go and, and hug their girlfriends and boyfriends.  Dan Henry (02:04:41): Right. Or parents or parents. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you, brother. All right, guys. Thank you so much for listening. Don't forget to subscribe. And if you are looking for daily success mentoring on how to succeed, in life at whatever you do, you can go to HowToThink.Com and sign up and get a daily success mentoring, audio delivered right to your phone on our app. And again, don't forget to subscribe and please go follow Eli while where, where can they check out, check out your stuff.  Eli Wilde (02:05:12): We have a Facebook group and that's pretty much where I direct people.  Dan Henry (02:05:16): Okay. It's the name of it?  Eli Wilde (02:05:18): Elite Level influence. We, it's a working name. E L I Elite Level Influence E Eli. All right. It's pretty cheesy.  Dan Henry (02:05:24): But just to Facebook, we'll get some links and put 'em in the show notes. Well, that would be, that would be amazing. All right, man. Thank you so much for coming on. All right. Thank you. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.