129. Ben’s Reflections, Goals, and Wisdom from an Epic 2023

Creating that path for yourself. You don't have to follow in someone else's footsteps. If I walk the paths of others, I'll get the same destination as everyone else. If I want to achieve results few have created, I need to create my own path. I don't need a billion dollars to be happy and free. 2 million in investable liquid assets and 250,000 a year gets me there. Welcome back to another episode of the Ben and Bergs Podcast. I'm Ben, your favorite high school dropout and founder of Collective Shift. Alongside me as Bergs favorite MBA and CEO of Collective Shift. Join us as we bring you world class crypto research and strategies to help you dominate this crypto bull market. As well as behind the scenes view of us scaling a fully remote subscription research business in Australia. Bergs and I back from our little break. Little. What do you call it? No siesta is an afternoon break. What's a little Anyway, hiatus. We're both absolutely cooked. 2023 was a massive year for us personally and in the business. We had our best year ever. But really, like, I know about you burgs. I was man, like I was just, you know, actually I know you were too though.

That's why we both were just talking off air that we both took two weeks off and the first week we couldn't even calm down to relax. It took over a week to actually get into the holiday.

Isn't that fascinating? Like just how the body, you know, for me was like searching for the feeling that I've had for probably seven years, which is like anxiety, stress, like and, and even when you're on holiday for the first time, we've actually been able to take like a proper break. Your body's just searching for that feeling. It's like finding stuff to be anxious about.

Yeah. You wake up and it's like what. It shocks you and you're like, what do you need to do? What do you have to do? Business. What about that thing? Oh, you better get up and you better do it because you want to achieve this thing. And it took ages to go away. And after that I was just. Because we went on a beach holiday just relaxing and that made the sleeps were incredible. I woke up, there's nothing to do. But then that anxiety didn't kick in where it like gets your ass up and moving. It's just like, you can just chill, bro. Just like read your book or roll over, go back to bed.

And so if I say the hardest decision you've got on holidays were like, what are you gonna have for dinner? And it's just like bro, how wild is it?

Like we knew what we're gonna do. We're gonna wake up, go to the beach and it's like what do we want to cook up for dinner? That's the hardest decision. And what bottle of wine would I like?

And for like years you just like well not years but like for the all year round you're just looking at your calendar knowing exactly what you know, what call you're gonna have, who you're gonna talk to and now it's just like who?

Yeah, who do I have to prep for? What deal am I going to put through? You know, what are my numbers looking like? Which employee do I have to talk to? Yeah, oh mate.

But I found for me and we're going to talk about today. So every year Bergs and I have a personal review process that we go through. This is the second year that we've done it and I mean I've been doing fantasy fantasy stories for a long time but this is like a full blown review that we started last year that would have been now two years ago that we actually first started to. Yeah so I love this process. It's a great way to like logically review your year. I actually go through my calendar week by week and I did this on my holiday to review like everything I did.

And how did you feel when you did a look back and went through your calendar and saw all that stuff?

So it was so fascinating mate. I saw a big, big change in how I live my Life. The first six months of 2023 to the second half. Massive difference. So what I did and what I do is I go through week by week and I start out just in my journal. I write down just notes, highlights, highlights, low lights, things that happens. It just reminds me I'm like oh I went to Thailand, oh I went to the US I forgot about that. Like, like I write down all of these things that like that happened throughout the year and I and I sit on that for a few days and then I come back and do my reflection and one of the most interesting things was like for me 2023 felt like a transition year for me. Like I feel as I transitioned who I was from the first half of 2023 to the second half and I'm not sure if I haven't spoken to you about this too much Burgs I'm not sure if you sort of recognize anything but like the first half of 2023 for me was, was chaos and that was reflected in my calendar. It was shit everywhere. It was constant. It was overbooked. It was doing a million different things. I was traveling around. I was. Work was like. I had multiple different priorities. I was. My energy in myself was volatile. I was partying, I was drinking. I was working way too much. I was just like, all over the shop. And then the second half of the year, my calendar was more balanced. It was more focused. I was more calm in myself. I. I felt I was prioritizing the things I need to prioritize. I was prioritizing my health. I wasn't as volatile. I stopped really drinking. I don't really drink too much anymore, stopped going out. So it kind of correlated. When I met this girl I've been seeing, potentially, she's calm me down a little bit. But overall, I really found, like, this last year was a transition year for me. I found a. Really have taken us a huge step forward in my personal life. And the business results, I think, reflected that as well. So that was. Yeah, that was one of the biggest themes that I just recognized just off the bat.

That's awesome. That's awesome to hear, man. And, you know, you might say it's a girl, but that's about the time you made me coo, mate. And everything smoothly after that, mate.

So you went to coo. Okay.

And I came in and I looked at your calendar, and I'm pretty sure I looked at you blank in the face and just said, you paint up. Let's sort this out.

That's right, man. It was. There was two different people in my life. You know, the personal side and then. And then a few meetings with you going, mate, what is going on in my life? You're like, mate, what the.

Like, bro, no wonder you stress.

This is crazy.

And no, but you. I definitely noticed that change in you where you were very.

Very volatile, doing a lot, doing too much, and.

Quite scattered and not focused. Just when you try to do too much and you stretch really thin, and that's not good for your physical health or mental health. And then you took your training quite seriously as well, and you started to get into that. You were training quite regularly. You gave up a lot of booze, and I think you really found yourself, man. And you're a lot. You still get after it, but you're a lot calmer and more focused.

It's been a fascinating change, man. Like, you know, I've previously been really driven by ego and.

Like, competitiveness and this, like, red energy. Like, I get fired up and I Think about my competitors. I mean, I'm gonna defeat you. Let's go. And now I don't really have that. Like, I'm more, like.

It seems like a more. How would you even describe it? Like, a more balanced karma energy, which is kind of, like, hard because I usually have relied on my, like, let's get up and go, you know, energy to drive me to go and just win every day. And now I get up and I'm like, hey, what's going on?

You're right. It's like a more sustainable source of energy, right? Like, you won't burn out from it. I was just watching the tennis, and Novak Djokovic was talking about this, and he said for him, like, if there's an emotional thing that happens on the court where he's angry or is pissed off or something happens, it's about acknowledging that, but then getting back to your previous calm state as quickly as possible. And the more you can stay in that calm state where you know what's going on and you can just execute, the more chance you have of winning.

Dude, I love that Djokovic is a fucking killer. And, like, these athletes, like, they. They are the. The. They're in the 0.001%, right? These guys are, like, that, the top performers of the world. And I think, you know, someone like Djokovic is one, like, gazillion grand slams. Like, how do you stay motivated? You know what I mean? Like, how do you keep that drive? And I think that doesn't come from this volatile energy of going super hard for three weeks, and then, you know, for a week, I'd be. I'd be cooked. I'd be like, burks. I'm dead, man. Like, I can't. Like, I'm sick, You know?

Like, yeah, it's unsustainable because you use everything in the tank. And, yeah, you can get. You can accelerate, but then what damage do you do along the way? And then how far is the recovery? It's kind of almost like the tortoise in the hare. Like that story where the tortoise runs really far, the hair runs really fast, falls asleep, and then the tortoise just moses on by 100%, man.

And I think that's why we see so many people chop and change their focuses so quickly. And one of the things I learned about business is you've got to have patience, determination, and you've got to have that consistency to win over a long, long period of time. And, like, we've been coming up to three and a Half years now with this business, you know, plus the business before that. I'm coming up seven years, you know, working on a crypto education research business. Like, you know, results don't really come until like kind of now, you know.

It'S like the seven to ten year mark. And that was reiterated to me over and over again on my holiday where it's consistency over intensity. Yeah, you do need those intense periods, but not all the time. It's more about showing up every single day and executing. Even if it's not your best day or your best workout or whatever it may be, it's about building that habit and doing it consistently.

Yeah, I love that. And one of the biggest things you brought into the business, and you're right, like the. I think the biggest change that we had last year for me anyway was like, strategically, I feel as though we. We spent a lot more time on our plan, our prioritization, saying no, figuring out what was working, doing more of that. And I want to do that even more this year where I feel as though in the previous or the first half of 2023, it was like, we don't know what's working. We need to do more. We need to keep trying new things. Let's. Let's just keep doing everything. And that was more driven out of potentially fear rather than confidence in our. The things we were doing. And I feel as though we've got a much more, you know, better idea of what we need to be, what we need to be working on.

Yeah. And there could have been like 50 things we're going to work on. We chose maybe 10. And it was one of those kind of approaches where you need to try the different channels and different things to see what's working. And when you start to get success, you put it in there because you don't know what works and what doesn't. But then doing that as well takes a lot of energy and you've only got a certain amount of money, a certain amount of Runway, and you're trying to get it done so you can keep the business sustainable, you can keep everyone employed. It's. It's a lot of pressure and a lot of effort.

So anyway, yeah, this is the process I go through. As I said, I start out with just look at my calendar, remind me of everything I do. Write that down. And then there's 12 questions that we answer. 13, sorry, highlights, lowlights of the year. Who are the new people that came into your life that improved your life? Who are the people that moved out of your Life and why? How have I changed as a person? What are the lessons learned? So what are those lessons you learned from that year? What wisdom do you take into this year? So what are the things that, you know that's made you wiser, that you've matured, that you know you can take those theories or those lessons into 2024? What things that you definitely need to change in 2024. And I like this because people have like New Year's resolutions and like, let's go to the gym more and all this other shit. I, I like to think about more, you know, more rounded, deeper than that. And just like one of the things is just like, I just need to fucking change. Like I'm not doing again in this year. My favorite, what is life to look like in 2024? What is my fantasy story? So you take yourself into a future state, like sort of that just sort of visualization of where you want to be in December 2024, and write out what life looks like. I love that. It's my favorite thing because you reflect back in the year time. You're like, oh, shit, I was close. Or, you know, whatever happened then. What is your reward? What are the. What. How are you going to reward yourself if you achieve that fantasy story?

And these are two of my favorite as well. Where do you get your energy from? And I love this because you sort of think about like, what are the things that I do that I get pumped up about?

Yeah, yeah.

And then on the flip side, what are the things that make me miserable? What are the things that I do that in your life, you're like this, like, I don't want to do anymore. And because I look back at what made me miserable at the end of last year, no, end of 2022, and I really made an effort to change those in 2023. And I feel as though if you can keep, if you can keep withdrawing and reducing the things that make you miserable and keep doing the things you get energy from, your life can continue to just, you know, compound and you start to get, you know, better and better each day. And, you know, you sort of increase that happiness level.

It's continual improvement. And there's two sides to that equation. It's not just doing the things that make you happy, it's also reducing the things that make you unhappy or draining your energy.

Exactly. Like you can, you know, you can keep playing golf all you like to increase the things that make you happy, but if you fucking hate your job 9 to 5, like, you know, well, that's exactly right.

So people do this a lot where they're like, they'll go on this bomb holiday and go to the States or Antarctica or wherever you want to go, and then you come back and you hate your job or you hate the way your body looks or something else. And it's like, tackle those things. Like, that holiday is only a small piece of what you're actually doing, and you're just avoiding the real issue.

Yeah, exactly. Well, I really felt like, for me, I'm not sure about the length that you felt bugs for the holiday, but two weeks to me was like, I think it was the perfect length. Like, one week's probably too short. Three weeks for me was nearly too long. I was getting a bit antsy. But two weeks, I was like, by the end of it, I was fired up, ready to get back to work. I was like, let's go. Yeah, reset, you know, ready to fire in.

It doesn't take long, does it, to kind of relax. And all the things that have been, you know, kind of ideating in the back of your brain, they come to the forefront. You're like, whoa, that solves that problem. We could do this. And you're like, you're like, almost ready to come back when you've got four or five of them because you want.

To start on them. Yeah, you need to start working. And the last thing was just, you know, goals for 2024. So, yeah, look, just. I'll touch on a couple of things for me in each of these sections. So 2023 highlights. Biggest one, biggest couple were, like, the Oz crypto conference speech I gave, like, in front of those 4, 500 people. That was epic. Know that was the biggest crowd I'd spoken to. Hitting the numbers that we did in December. Like, having our best month ever in the last month of the year was a good way to finish the year.

And.

Yeah, probably that personal transition piece as well. Like, just that better energy and balance, focusing on my physical mental health, meeting the girl I've been seeing. That's been awesome. And then also just my social growth. Like, just super stoked about the effort I put in last year about growing. You know, the podcast and Twitter and launching my YouTube channel and getting three or four videos over 300,000 views on Instagram. And, like, there's just been some cool stuff that's happened that that's been, like, a good reward for what feels like a long time. But it hasn't really been a long time, like, grinding away on social, so that's been cool.

That's a, that's a lot of stuff, man. And you've even worked on your golf game, mate. You're still not that great, but you've.

Worked on it significantly, mate. Took a video when I was over in, in Vietnam of a golf course and just, just asked Twitter how much, how my stroke was and just got absolutely ringing in the comments, so.

You can't do that, mate. You'll get torn apart.

So anyway, that was my highlights, low lights, I think, you know, recovering from my operation. That just sucked. That was the shitters. Like two weeks. I remember that. Just like when you can't do anything, man, like, one of the things I was probably most scared of now is like being physically unable to do the things you want to do. Like, whether that's from being ill, being too old, getting, you know, some sort of like, disease or something. Like, that's like, fuck, man, that. That's shit scary.

So this is a reality, right? And this will happen to you sooner than you think. Like, you know, it'll be something like your back will go or your knees will go, or you'll get some kind of virus. But it's an interesting thing where you get those. I've even had some like, old people diseases like pneumonia and stuff. Like young people just don't get that, right? Yeah, and a few other ones. And you're like, holy crap. Like, is this going to be my life? And I used to fear it, but then you kind of celebrate it because you realize that's going to happen to you anyway. You can't really avoid it. And then how do you. How does that impact your life now and the things that you do? Because you can do anything you want in your life. You just need to choose the different times of your life when you actually do it.

Yeah, yeah. He kind of. It kind of puts things in, in things in perspective. And even when I was in van, like seeing, you know, we were doing the night markets and like there was some really super old ladies, like, selling these lanterns down in Hoan where you go down the river. It's so sad. Like, these, these ladies were 80, 90 years old, like, trying to sell these like candles that were like, I don't know, like a couple of dollars to like pay for food. And like these ladies, like, it's so sad and just going down. And I was like, just, you know, I was just basically handing money out to these ladies. And yeah, I read one lady, I wasn't much like 200,000 dong, so like 15 bucks or something. And she, she Was so I didn't want to can. I was like, just take this money. And she was so thankful. We saw her from the restaurant. She was like, she took the money and then she like she started praying with it and she kissed it and like, you know, like $15 for a 90 year old lady and this like probably changed her per day, a week, whatever was able to pay for food. Like that's sad, man. Like, that's so sad.

In a lot of countries there's no retirement. You just work to sustain yourself. And people that, yeah, a lot of people do live kind of hand to mouth where you get money, that's enough food for the day, you buy your food and then you do it all again tomorrow. And they start to think like they don't have savings or bank accounts if they're sick, they don't eat for that day. You know, you rely on other people, people. It's like, yeah, you start to realize how good you've got it, eh.

100%. 100%. So yes, that was, that was one of the low lights I think. And also just a couple of just events that happened in, in 2023, like so socially where I sort of realized that like, you know, that wasn't me anymore. Like there was like through this transition phase, like doing these, you know, social activities or the friends I used to hang out with, there's just like, we don't really have that much in common anymore. And like what you, what you're doing is not what I want to do. And then the idea of like them, like having this opinion that like, oh, you've changed, like, you know, you're not who you used to be. It's like, yeah, it's not who I used to be. Like you're still the same guy. Like if you don't like me, who I am now, like, maybe we should be friends.

Isn't it tough? We. I've still got some mates that are still doing the same things they did when they were 18, just like going out drinking. They're excited about a new pub that opens. Yeah, that's pretty much it. And it's hard because like it always pops in mind with Snoop Dogg. Like he was the one that was talking about it and he's like, look, if you're here and you're here with your friends and then you elevate, either you have to come down or your friends have to come up.

Yeah.

And it's tough because, you know, they've been your mates for ages. They're probably your high school Buddies. And you still want to hang out with them, but just not in the capacity that you used to. Like, I just don't want to do those things anymore.

And.

And I want to talk about these things and do these things. Yeah, it's tough.

Hey, it's a different world. And I feel as though, like, that was one of the things that. I'll speak on my wisdom in a second. But, yeah, just like, you know, creating that path for yourself. Like, you don't have to follow in someone else's footsteps.

Yeah.

And actually, let's. Let's do. Let's do my wisdom now, because I think.

Yeah, here we go. So what wisdom do you take into 2024? Balanced energy.

Balanced and enduring energy creates balance and enduring results. Volatile emotions and energy will create volatile and unbalanced results. Focused leverage and prioritization will outperform erratic, overworked chaos. Every day, more time thinking and planning allows the time doing the result to perform better. If I walk the paths of others, I'll get the same destination as everyone else. If I want to achieve results few have created, I need to create my own path. I don't need a billion dollars to be happy and free. 2 million in investable liquid assets and 250,000 a year gets me there. And that was like, my. My wisdom. And I think, like, that I took into this year. And if I ask myself.

I didn't even have these thoughts, like, 12 months ago. Like, I wasn't talking this way. I wasn't thinking this way. And I feel as though 2023. 2023, really? Like.

I don't know. I think I just grew in so many different ways of thinking about life. You know what I mean, mate?

First of all, you have to tweet that out. That's amazing. I like the part about focus, leverage. And it's so interesting where I'm thinking back now a few years ago to where we talk about what we want in the business, what we out of it. You're like, yeah, I want a massive exit. I want to be billionaire. I want to be on the front page of Knows what. Like, there's all this sort of nonsense. And I'm. And we've actually. We had a facilitator come in, and we're like, no, what do we really want? And I'm like, don't worry about the numbers. Like, what do you want your life to look like? And you kind of went through it, and you're like, this is what I actually want. I value freedom. I want to be able to do this, I value people. We even put numbers on it. And the numbers are just so reasonable. Yeah, Literally, they're so reasonable. And I'm glad that. Well, first of all, that you were able to articulate it in that way, because that's amazing. You should literally just print that out, put it on your wall and look at it every day as part of your vision board.

Yeah.

But then just how calm and reasonable you are with those goals, and it'll still achieve everything that you want to hold.

Mindset shift. You know, like, feel as though, like, in the past, I've chased, like, the Forbes 30 under 30, or, like, the. The raise, the $10 million Series A. And it's like I've started to realize, like, no one gives a fuck about that. Like, no one cares. People forget. Doesn't get you anything. Get your little certificate, pat on the back or bend your awesome. And then three days later, everyone's forgotten. They're back to their own lives again.

Like, see, this is a key thing, because all those things you mentioned are a status game. They do not matter. They're fleeting. And it's a zero sum game. Right. Whereas the ones you're playing now are a wealth game. Right? It's growth, it's positive sum, and it's something just for you that people won't even know about. You don't have to signal to anyone, but it allows you to achieve the goals in your life.

Yeah. Such a different. And this year. But if I went back and looked at what I did last year, like, completely different. So anyway, that was.

This is interesting because if you literally print that out, everything that you do this year should align with that.

Yeah. 100%. 100%. So anyway, that was that new people.

Yeah. The girl I've been seeing, it's. It's fascinating. Right? So, like, and I've written a few, like, words around each one.

I'm just impressed that you got someone to date you, mate. Honestly.

And I've got no idea.

No idea. And she's, like, unbelievable. Like, she.

She's. She sounds really awesome, mate. You told me a few things here and there. She sounds way too good for you, mate.

I'm way out of my league in so many different, you know, areas, but she's, like the opposite of me. Like, she's, like, calm, she's balanced, you know, she doesn't really use social media as usual. Doesn't really use her phone. Like, she's just fun. Deuce went on a trip together. She does everything slowly, you know, like, it's just like the opposite of me. And, you know, the energy really, you know, it sort of connects really well. But I think that's been a one big part of my life where I've really slowed down, like, being with her. I'm like, whoa, everything's in slow motion. What's going on here? It's really low.

I had the exact same thing with my Mrs. Where I'm like, why are you doing it so slow? Just get it done. Go here, here. That's the critical path. It's just like, why? Like, where's the fire? I'm like, you're wasting your life. You can get more done. You can optimize everything.

She's like, why?

So true.

And then, you know Harry, you know Harry, Harry's. Harry's been on the pod, you know, he and I are now living together in Melbourne, which has been awesome. Super fun. Great to have a good mate that's in business as well. We're like the same age. A lot of relatability, like, a lot of the stuff that he does. Like, we're both like ADHD and just like, both funny. So it's also been happy in my life last year having my new ea, just that organization, efficiency, productivity, Louis been great. And then having Jordy, my PT just helped me being accountable, healthy fit, having my. My plans together, having someone to message about my. My gym stuff has been. Have been awesome. So, yeah, some really good additions.

That's awesome also. Yeah, that was a big one. We didn't talk about earlier where I kind of joked like, you made me coo, but you got a really good ea and that would change your life significantly as well.

A lot of different areas may, whether it be like personal relationship, you obviously in coo, like admin, assistants, my own home, a pt. Like, there's been a lot of things, if I think about it, that lined up like, oh, I've got a great ea. Oh, I've got a great coo. Oh, I've got a great partner. Oh, I've got a great pt. Oh, I've got a good mate. Whoa. I wonder what's going to happen now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was really good. Who moved out of my life? Look, a lot of my high school friends, honestly, like, I wouldn't say moved out of my life, but I just don't speak to them as much anymore. I still see them when I go back to Tassie, which is great, great to catch up with them. But yeah, I'm just.

Yeah, this idea of like, just paving my own Path like it, you know, just not on the same journey as a lot of them, which, you know, it just is what it is. That's life. And then just a couple other mates that were just sort of causing a bit of stress, volatility, not really the right energy. You're not really aligning ethically or morally with like what they're doing in their life. And I kind of found that hard at first because I was the first time this year, last year that I recognized my, wow, that's not, that's not me. That's not who I want to be. That's not, I don't agree with what they're doing.

That doesn't align with who I, who I want to be in life. And like, if I think about where I want to be, does this person match up with that future self? No. So it's just not gonna, it's not gonna play out like that anymore. So, yeah, that was kind of, that was an interesting. I've never had those thoughts until last year. And yeah, sort of became clear.

It's so important, isn't it? Like, people talk about information diets and what you look at on the Internet, people you listen to and how that affects your thoughts. And it's the same with friends and the things that you hear. And you see this in organizations all the time where you start to get certain cultural language and group think and oh, you can't do that, or the policy doesn't allow this or we can't like, you know, and you start to think in a certain way and you hear it over and over again and it shapes your individual thoughts as well. And we don't really extend that or think that our friends or acquaintances do that, but they do even sometimes your parents where they're like, you can't do that, you shouldn't be doing it. You need a safe job. And that affects your own patterns and what you can achieve in life, whether you recognize it or not.

I think that's like, and that's like having that recognization I haven't had before. And I feel as though you've got this, you've got really good self awareness, but having that ability to know where or where you don't belong from a physical environment who, who's around you. Like, I feel as though this year I've become more aware of like just environments that just. I don't want to be around anymore. This is not, this is not the energy that I want to, you know.

That I want to live in. If that makes Sense. These are not people I want to hang around. This is not who I want to be influenced by.

Yeah, and this is the thing, like, and this. This would change every single year. But you need to discover who you are and what you want to achieve. And once you kind of know that, then all the other decisions in your life will be easy. Whereas people don't necessarily know that they're hunting for it, and they'll put themselves in situations or jobs or relationships where it's not really.

Positive for them and taking the direction they want to go.

Yeah, so true. Okay, let's finish this off. How have I changed? Yeah, I've just become better at managing my anxiety and stress. I recognize it better being able to rewire a lot of those areas of anxiety from previous relationships and business situations to just better manage those. And though I'm still working on this, I've become just more mentally fit and mentally mature. And I feel as I've really gone through a transition phase of living on other people's terms, doing what they want to do to a more calm, balanced person, living the path and paving myself for what I want to do, not what others want me to do, if that makes sense.

That's awesome. That's really good, man. And, bro, you keep saying transition, and I keep thinking gender transition, and you've got. You've got this dodgy beard on, and.

I'm like, oh.

Getting a haircut tonight, mate. This is filthy, this thing.

Oh, mate, that's. That's really awesome, like, not living on other people's terms. And I think we did a lot of work on this, and you've done a lot of work personally as well. But even in the business, like, you went to a course last year through eo, and it was about living the life you want and using your business as a vehicle to facilitate that. And I think that was quite transformational for you as well.

Yeah, totally, man. And it was a tough. It was a tough thing because I would always, like, embody myself off what other people do. But then I realized this year, I'm like, fuck. Well, I actually don't know anyone that is doing what I'm doing, you know, like, so maybe I just need to figure it out on my own, not have to align with what other people are doing. And then that's absolutely like. And other people obviously do that as well. But, like, I found that really difficult to sort of comprehend at first, you know, like, this idea of, like, am I doing the right thing? Like, you know, like, is this the life that I should be living. You know, I went through this, like, little mini crisis.

Exactly. And I like what you said right at the start about following someone else's path. And the best you're going to be is an exact copy of them. That's great. When you're starting out something new or something you haven't done before, modeling behaviors and modeling on someone else is great because you'll accelerate and you'll achieve that, but at some point, you need to walk your own path or overtake them. And then that's the kind of scary part where you. Like, is this, right? Like, again, it needs to come back to, like, your values and where you want to go, your morals, what you want to achieve and how you live your life day to day.

Yeah.

But it's. It's scary as well, because it's not been done before. You're not sure where it's going to go, and you're not sure if it's quite right.

Yeah, it's like that velocity, right. Like, once you got velocity, takeoff, and the flywheel gets going. And now it's like, now you're in the air. It's like, now, where we going?

Yeah. And you start looking down.

Oh, they're not.

Where are the parachutes?

Yeah. Lessons I learned.

Hang on, hang on, hang on. Out of all the things you did last year, you didn't mention when you faced your fears and when you went to New Zealand. That was huge.

Yeah. No, so I've got that here.

Oh, that's coming up. All right.

No, no, I had that in highlights. Oh, yeah. I mean, I just skipped over. Yeah. New Zealand. There's the bungee jumping. Skydiving, you know, did snowboarding. Yeah, man, that was.

You were literally, like, shaking. You didn't want to talk about it. You didn't want to do it. It was the worst thing that could happen to you.

It was. Yeah. It's kind of hard to go back and, like, sit in that. That fear, because I remember just being absolutely scared shitless, and now I'm like, yeah.

You know, and it's not even, like a nice bungee jump where you go up the steps and then you jump down. It's like, no, you've got to get a cable car to the middle of this little thing that's hanging on with, like, cables in a massive canyon. And it's the longest bungee jump in the southern hemisphere.

There's only a few months ago, too, like, when I think about it. But there, man, like. Like that.

And then you went. And then you Went skydiving after that. Just.

Yeah, like I asked. What. I mean, whatever.

Amazing lessons I learned. Agencies are.

All agencies.

Just throw them all under the bus, mate.

All of them. Sorry, Eric.

Rip.

You have to come in.

That's true. Like we've even asked external consultants. Can you recommend an agency? They're like, nah, no, they'll recommend individual people for a task. But an agency, all in all. And we say agencies, we talk about things like, you know, marketing or copywriting, whatever. It may be.

Hard work, man. You have to become an expert before you can outsource. That's a big one for me. I've tried to outsource things before. Knowing what I was doing to begin with. Doesn't work because you don't know how to oversee them. You don't know what is good results, you don't know how to give feedback, you don't know if they're doing a good job. And now I've learned it. Trying to become as much of an expert at that thing as I can. First and then outsource.

That's right. So when you outsource you lose quality and control. But if you know what you're doing and you know what good looks like, you've got a much better chance. Whereas if you start off with agencies, they'll say, oh, here's this, here's that, here's that. And you think it's fantastic. Six months later you paid them a bomb worth of money and then you've got crappy results. You're like, oh. And then they don't care. They'll just get rid of you and find someone else, man.

So true.

Yeah.

You agree with this one? I reckon. B2B. So business to business partnerships is hard and you can waste so much time.

Agree man. And this is. They have long. It's hard because the contract sizes are bigger and they go for longer. But the lead time can be a year to get that contract over. And like, bro, like it's okay. Dealing with small business, dealing with big businesses, going through the hierarchy, going through legal procurement. Oh my God.

So and, and at the end of it could just work out to just not work. Like it's just, it's just so much work. So trying to bring those results forward. Some other lessons. Having a proficient EA allows you to work on the most income generating activities more constantly. Social content and engaged audience is the secret to long term success. Yep. Social media content is hard and takes a lot of time and learning. Saying no is under underrated. Brand and trust is everything.

Yeah.

An Hour with your core team can equal 10 hours on your own.

Most people are full of shit. Yep. I can pave my own path. I don't have to work someone else's. Yep. Sales are the blood of any business.

You don't need a big team to achieve big success.

Price equals value. The higher the price, the higher the perceived value. Yeah, I get energy spending time.

Let me know that says time anytime. Learning from new people.

And that were like. That were my biggest lessons.

That's awesome, man. What about your battery charges and drainers?

Yeah, battery charges. So.

What do I get my energy from? Selling platinum memberships.

Let's go.

Staying fit in the gym, Running, but not killing myself. Working collaboratively. Collaboratively to solve problems with my team. It's like when you and I just get into a room and just fucking smash.

Selling bulk memberships, growing my following and engaging with them. So not just having a following, being. But being able to go on stage and, like, talking to them and. And, like, that's. That's really cool.

It's special, isn't it, Being able to engage with people face to face? Especially in that. Yeah. When you're on stage, you see the people in the carpet talk to you afterwards and you can see the change in their lives.

I think that's like, the thing about the status game is like, oh, yeah, let's get to 10k followers. Or, oh, you know, versus, oh, let's speak in front of 500 people and have 150 people come on and talk to you afterwards. Like, I know which one I want.

Exactly.

Yeah. No meetings in the morning. Yeah. Having a consistent schedule, which has been like, you know, having a place here, having a gym. Like, being able to just do regular things, not just like, living in hotels has been like. I don't realize how much mental energy that took for me.

Like, last year, you didn't even know where you were. And you're like, you're constantly rocking up to some random place with a random Airbnb that you can't find, that you can't get into. You got to work out how the sink works, how the aircon works, how the room works, how the lifts work.

That was free for 18 months. Like, when I think about. I'm like, you know. You know?

Yeah, it's like, people think, like, it's cool, but, mate. Yeah, putting your. Putting your Netflix on the tv, working out the WI fi, working out when things allowed, like, how that. How even the blinds work, the electrics. What's nearby that you can actually go and see. Where's your gym? Where's your food? Where's the nearest coals? How do, how do I get from here to where I need to be? It's like, oh, bro.

Yeah, man.

I could just see the.

Pain on your face.

Just think about, like, what was I doing?

Do you remember, like, when you rocked up at like, was it 2am or something? You're just like roaming the streets trying to find a place because you couldn't get into your Airbnb.

Airbnb didn't leave the Kia. So I was going to sleep in the Southern Cross Maccas in Melbourne at 3am in the morning. Like, nowhere is open. Fucking disastrous. Learning the podcast, doing in person sessions and, and traveling. I love that awesome energy drain. Eating, drinking alcohol, not working out, doing too many platinum one on ones. Like they're heavy sessions. The one on ones, yeah, great value. But like, it's, it's a lot.

And overpacking my schedule, like just doing too much and not enough learning time, like that just killed me.

So, yeah, that's it. And the last thing in Fantasy story. So this is where I want to be.

Oh, you got wisdom. Oh, sorry. What are the things definitely going to change in 2024.

My time will be harder to come by for others. I'm not going to be saying yes to everyone that wants a coffee. I get that many messages if they want to catch up and have a call on a quick zoom and this and then the other. Like, I'm just going to be saying no more. That's one of my things. I'll be saying no a lot more. I'll be doing what I want to do, not what others want me to do. Less hotel living in Melbourne or my own place.

Less no sugar soft drink consumption. I had too many Coke Zeros, bro.

Every time I see you, you've always got a Coke Zero. Like, no matter what's happening, like, literally, I'll be talking to you, I'll turn my back and you've just got a Coke Zero. How did you even get that?

I drink way too much, so we're going to try and cut back on that.

Your bone density must be like zero from drinking all that, mate. Just like leeching away at your bones.

Yeah, cut back on that more sustainable training routine. I was just killing myself last year like I was doing.

You made me do that stupid workout we went with Jordy and it's like each set is 45 reps of arms and then you gotta do that three times. Then we did it like another three times. My arms hurt for two weeks, mate. That was just ridiculous. And then you're going and training legs. So you do a heavy leg session and then you go for a 10k run and you're like, oh, I feel like. I'm like, yeah, bro.

I wonder why.

Jordy us up that day.

He did, man, he did. And he was just like real calm, had a smile and it says, yeah, I just do this, mate.

I'm like, bro, I'm like, I'm dead.

I've had like 14 seconds sleep and I'm doing this.

I've got a recovery score of 0.03 and I'm doing it.

It's telling me to go to hospital and you're making me do this, mate.

Oh, that's funny. Gonna play more golf. Less worrying about likes and engagement on social media. Like, it's just becoming less important now. I just want to focus on results more focus on my learning and development time, more quality content and better distribution strategy for social media. Now fantasy story, last thing.

Hang on before you get to that, man. What we should do and we didn't do last year is we should do like quarterly check ins.

We should do a quality check.

Yeah. So we can actually go back because like I write in my journal but I hardly ever go back and I've only started doing that recently. And doing that reflection is so valuable, like living that properly examined life. So each quarter we should see how we're going and then if our behaviors aren't where they should be, put things in place so we can achieve those goals by the end of the year.

Love a mate. Little quality review.

Okay, so we are doing approximately X amount of revenue per month, clearing x profit per month.

We haven't added to our core team too much, but our staff and ourselves are paid really well. I'm working primarily on content and our platinum service. We're growing at a really good rate and have done a great job retaining our existing members. I have my own place in Victoria and I'm preparing to put.

A place together for my mom and dad.

I have two cars, Teslas actually I got two Teslas and have a great. I have a great home, office and recording studio. I'm earning about X dollars per year and X dividends to invest in property and I've got my portfolio share value of X dollars. I'm really saving the multiple I in my wealth. We've had some positive conversations about acquisitions but haven't had the right deal yet as a. We haven't had the right terms. Our media brand focus has brought us most of our sales and we are swarmed at local crypto events showcasing the value we deliver and the lives we've changed. I also continue to travel in the Melbourne cold months and I've enjoyed the free life of money, time and freedom of life.

That's awesome. So I've got two questions for you. One is, why did you put a limitation on the acquisition saying the terms weren't right? If it's your fantasy story.

Yeah, it's for fantasy story. I feel as though it's more of a logical.

It's more of a logical thought of, like.

It'S either a logical thought or a way to remind myself that, like, I want to have the right terms, you know, like.

Yeah, I agree, but and, and also if you. Because what you're actually doing is you're setting a mental limitation that you will not.

Yeah, true. Yeah, very true. Like, yeah. Another way to reframe was like, yeah, we'll. We're acquired by the end of the year.

Yeah, we're acquired on the right terms. Yeah, but it has to be the right terms kind of thing. It's addressing and because I've. I've. The stuff I've been listening to recently was around neuro linguistic programming and then if you start to do that, then that's what you're going to focus on. Like, it'll never be the right terms because it's 2024. I have to wait till 2025. Whether you realize it or not, it's these weird little things, right? And then why two Teslas.

One ass and you want two Teslas?

I mean, thinking, maybe it's not two Teslas, maybe it's like one Tesla and other car. But like, I think, I think at this some point this year, and it comes with a house. So, like, the house is going to come first and then like the idea of the cars is like, you know, a level of wealth and, and stability that I've got property, I've got shares, I've got everything together. So now I can, you know, it's more of like, I can just get two cars. Because you've got everything else sorted.

You look like a cyber truck kind of guy for me, mate.

Mate, I love a cyber truck.

That is the only car I would probably upgrade from.

Yeah, you're not upgrading the Commie, mate.

Oh, man. V8 banger. No way.

No, I really like that. I actually like the performance black Teslas, but they don't sell them in Australia. You know, the ones with like the looks like the Formula one steering wheel.

Yeah, yeah, I know the ones.

Yeah. But. But I like, this year, like, I'd love to get a place down the coast, like towards Mornington, and being able to have like a Tesla that just like autopilot drives me into, into work would just be like.

While you're on.

Your laptop, tapping away. So that place, is that going to be an investment property is going to be somewhere where you live?

Yeah. So I've gone back and forth on this. Like, rent in Melbourne is super expensive. So it's like, you know, for a nice place down towards Mornington, like, you're probably looking, man, anywhere between like 6 and 800 bucks a week for half decent place. So it's either going to be that or, yeah, I'll buy. I'll buy a place. This year, you know, I'm starting to lean more towards buying a place because I'm like, well, I'm going to pump 800 bucks a week into.

A place, you know, you don't want to be doing that for too long because then.

How far away is Mornington from the cbd?

About an hour, hour and a bit. Oh, really?

So you want to live that far out?

I'm not sure if I want to go. I think I'm doing like an Airbnb trial at some point, like down there for a couple of weeks and just see what it's like. It might be far away.

So this is something that people don't do, like when they, the. When they buy a house, they just go in and buy it and it's like, no, go and live in that area for a month. See what it's like. See if you like it as close to the things, if it is what you thought it would be. Even the size of house. Like, sometimes people like, I want a massive house. You go and live in one, you're like, this is crap. I have to clean so much. I don't use 90% of the rooms. And it's the same with a car. Rent the car before you buy. People go out and buy a Lambo and realize I can't drive it anywhere. It doesn't fit in the garage.

You know, definitely. I'll troll that first. But, yeah. Anyway, I guess at some point this.

Year that's a really good goals. Good goals. Big goals. I like it.

Yeah. Yeah, man. And then I've got, like, I've written out all my 20, 24 goals, like, which we'll go through another time, but yeah, man. So that's, that's my reflection. So a big Big year. Like a great, really positive year for me. I think 2023, like, it was good for me, good for the business. It's just a lot of good shit happened. Like, we just came a long way. I think we've really got things dialed in.

It's definitely a transformational year, man. And you should go back and look at this episode a year ago and see how you were talking then. Yeah, true, actually compared to this one. And just you could, you can literally, you're documenting the change that you've had in just one year.

That's a good idea.

I'll shoot. Yeah. And you'll probably listen to that guy and just be like, what an idiot. Like, when you listen back, do you find that when you listen back to yourself from six months a year ago, you're like, this guy's an idiot. And that really shows that how much you've grown, man.

I remember when we did the first episode, Look Back roast. Oh, my goodness, mate.

Jesus Christ. I look back on that guy and I'm like, what a potato. Like, it is so bad. Just like the, the things I've talked about, the way I'm acting. It's.

Yeah.

Completely different, isn't it?

Right, thanks everyone for tuning in. Berg's gonna do his very soon. He's still tapping away at the Reflections. Thank you so much, everyone, for. For tuning in. We love coming to you each and every week with the Bennett Burke's podcast. We have no plans of slowing down Bergs. We're up to 21, 000 total downloads, man. 21, 000 downloads? That's unbelievable, mate.

I literally thought it would be like my mum and someone else listening. Turns out my mum doesn't even listen to it.

She started and she's like, no.

Yeah. She's like, nah, bullshit. And we're at 21 000. It's amazing, man. Thank you everyone for listening. We really appreciate it. We're coming back bigger and better this year and just can't wait to deliver more, mate.

Yeah, thanks, everyone. If you like any of our episodes, if you love this episode, we'd love for you to, you know, follow us on Spotify. Follow us on the Apple podcast app so you can see the new podcasts pop up. You might like these ones. You might like our crypto ones. If you follow us, they'll show up in your feed. You pick which ones you like or if you're on YouTube, hit the subscribe button. We'd love for you to follow us along on the journey. We're going to help you navigate this crypto bull market. Got a big year ahead in2024. Thank you so much for tuning in and we'll see you on the next episode.

Thanks, Javiers.