42: The Kid With No Chance Who Built A World Class Podcast // The Story of Justin Schenck

I would beat myself up for being angry or sad. And then I would beat up the people that I loved. I would be a jerk. I would tear them apart. I would take my frustration on myself, out on them. You know, if somebody were to take life like that in the slums of Africa or in the middle of communist Russia or China or wherever, you can do a little bit every single day and move the needle and at the end of your life you go, I've done something great for myself and the people around me.

Welcome to From Rock Bottom to Rockin It. I'm your host, Eric Eric Gilbert Williams, and this is the podcast where we explore personal stories of people who hit absolute rock bottom, then got back up, wiped off the dust, kicked failure to the curb, and now they're rocking it like you'd never believe if you didn't hear it. Live Right here we cover subjects in business, sports, and life in general. If you like this podcast, please share it. These interviews are intended to inspire, to motivate, to give hope and vision. So please share this episode with someone who needs it. Use your Instagram Account, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn. Hand signals. Trained pigeon sent smoke signals up in the air. Use Morse code, whatever you like. Just share the love and share this episode. Also, email me anytime. Podcastricilbertwilliams.com Send me questions you would like to have asked of future guests and I will incorporate them. Or just send me some suggestions on how to run a better podcast. Or just say hello, I'd love to hear from you. That's podcasterrickgilbertwilliams.com I know you're gonna love today's interview, so let's get started with us here today on From Rock Bottom to Rockin it is Justin Shank, an incredible person with an incredible story of overcoming Rock Bottom to Rockin it that I'm really excited to share with you guys here today. Now, sometimes as I introduce the guest, I summarize, like at a high level, some of the key discussion points. But this time I feel just sort of intuitive that we should dive right in. And you're going to see in just a few moments why this is such a powerful story. I've been looking forward to this conversation all week. I haven't recorded one of these episodes in way too long. Justin, you inspire people all across the globe with your story and you help people live a better life. I'm so glad to have you here right now today on the show, and I really appreciate and respect the courage that you have to share your story. So Justin, without further ado, welcome to From Rock Bottom to Rockin It. How you doing, man?

Good, man. Eric. I look forward to the conversation, man. And we're going to have a ton of fun and hopefully go deep and serve your audience the best way we can.

Yeah. And when I'm looking online at some of the stuff that you have and the information about you, there's a couple connection points, if I understand correctly, way back when, basically before you were 19 year old, one of the things you said was that you felt like your past was defining you and you said you're talking about coming from a rough spot or whatever and obviously you're going to share that. But then you found a mentor when you were 19 and it kind of changed everything. Is that kind of the right interpretation?

Yeah, I think that was the beginning of the change. Right. I think people want this miraculous story of one moment happened and everything changed and all of a sudden the gates opened up and I had all this success. But that was the beginning of the change for me internally and it became a journey. But if I were to go back a little bit further, you mentioned kind of the rough spot and the rough upbringing. I jokingly say if there was a senior superlative in high school for least likely to succeed, it would have been me. I found myself with a 1.7 GPA. My mom was in the middle of a 20 year opioid addiction and my dad was in jail. And when you look at that entire story, you look at the statistics of what they say that will happen in your life is if your parents an addict, you have a 50% chance of being an addict, and if your parents in jail, 50% chance of ending up in jail. And if you do the math, I'm 100% screwed, right? There's no hope in my life. And, and honestly, I didn't know where I was going to go in my life because society said, no hope for you, kid. And at 19 years old. Which brings us back to that moment. My mentor. At the time, I was in a direct sales job and my mentor handed me a book which was called who Moved My Cheese? And it opened up my eyes to the idea that, look, things can happen around me, things can change, bad things can happen, but what matters is how I react to that change or those bad things. And that was my aha moment in my life to say, okay, I'm going to take control of this and I'm going to build the life that I want. Now obviously we'll get into it, but it took me A while to do that, and that was really just a bunch of ups and downs and obstacles, just like everybody else in the world. But I was fortunate enough that I stayed persistent and consistent. And now I'm able to do what I do now full time, which is the podcast, live events and speaking, and I feel really blessed every single day. But I'd love to dive in deep wherever you want, man.

Yeah, that really strikes a chord with me. And we're just getting to know each other here a bit too. But when I was younger, 15, 16, I left home. I was into drugs a lot and got arrested a couple times, and it was a lot of trouble. And then when I was 18, so one year apart from you, I found my first mentor who helped me get involved in a direct sales job. And I went hardcore direct sales, and he gave me a copy of Humajis.

That's crazy.

Yeah, this is legit connection stuff. I had a feeling there was something going on here today coming into the call, and it's just been reaffirmed. Literally. That's what happened in my story. So you're speaking my language here. Different details, of course. One thing that's really current right now, that it's almost off topic, but it's not, I'm curious, the settlement that came through recently for that opioids class action lawsuit. And there was a gentleman on the show here a couple months ago, and he was an opiate addict for, I think, 15 years. He lost everything and then he had to rebuild his life and he's very lucky to be alive. And so I have a bit of an awareness of what kind of impact that can have on people. But I have no personal experience. And I guess to put context, when I was arrested a few times for marijuana charges, and then all of a sudden marijuana became legal, I had a big emotional thing to go through here because this was 15 years of trauma I had to work through. I'm just wondering your thoughts on this whole class action lawsuit and the settlement, if you don't mind.

Yeah, man. So it's interesting you bring this up because I've gotten more, for lack of a better term, I've been speaking up a little bit more against certain things. Opioids have been something that I've looked into and paid attention to and understood. And more than anything, Big pharma, right. With what's happening in the world, with the jabs, as they like to say, or the vaccines and all the things in between, you know, it's hard to be trusted. Cool. You can pay out all the money you want. But until the most addictive drug on the planet's taken off the market, then nothing's actually solved. Right. Like the fact that the FDA approved something like OxyContin for 11 year olds. And now keep in mind, like you mentioned, you know, you were arrested multiple times for marijuana, which is not even the same impact as an opioid or whatever, but 11 year olds can take what is the most addictive drug on the planet. And it's killing, including my mother, unfortunately, took my mom's life, but it's killing countless people every single day. And yet it's still out there. And so great. I'm glad. People who got caught in the spin of opioids, they're getting some sort of payout or wherever that money goes. I have no clue, to be honest with you, where it actually goes, depending on what you believe in. But until that drug is removed, until these big pharmas are shut down, until these big pharmas are regulated at least in a much better way, there's really no winning.

Right.

Because as long as those drugs are out on the streets, we're always going to have that issue. And look, these addiction issues with opioids goes way further than just, hey, the doctor writes the prescription. You know, these people are going into illegal drugs that you can find on the street that are killing them with one dose. And you know, my mom was somebody who. This is actually something I've never shared on a podcast, but my mom was a Dr. Hopper, right. So she'd go to the next doc, go to the next doc, go to the next doc, and she'd have three bottles of 90 plus pills in them. And it's like, whoa, this is just a crazy, crazy thing. But it's all money driven. And the fact that these big pharma companies can pay out that type of dollar and still exist, we have a massive, massive issue on our hand that needs to really be taken down from the top down.

Yeah, I had kidney stones earlier this year, which really sucked, and they prescribed me opioids. And this was right after having chatted with this gentleman who had the addiction. And he was. That's how it started for him. It started at the doctors. And no matter how much my pain got, I just wouldn't take it. I'm just terrified to touch it at all. Yeah. So hopefully it's a step in the direction of eliminating this type of experience for anyone else. I really hope that that's the truth of it and that's the direction and trajectory. So yeah, just a very current event. Had to get your thoughts on that one because the world's changing right really fast with marijuana globally on a lot of fronts. So going back to your. I guess if I was to phrase it, I would ask you if you could just share your story from wherever you feel like might be the right place to start. I know you got some fantastic stuff on the go here and there was a road to get there. So I'm curious.

Yeah, man. So it's interesting. I talk about that 19 year old moment when I got the same book that you got, which is still blowing my mind.

Everyone listening right now. You got to stop and buy that book, right? Ping me if you want, I'll send you a link or something. Anyone that's listening right now, just send me a quick message. I'll send you the link. It's fantastic. You've got it. It's a must.

Yeah, dude. And it's a super easy read. And I think if somebody handed me some thick, hard to read book when I was 19, I wouldn't have even read it. The fact that it was easy to read and easy to consume was the greatest introduction to this world. And then what I realized was I became a machine for absorbing this information. Back then it was just books. And then it evolved into podcasts and YouTube and all these other things. And I became a sponge for knowledge and a great, great, great desire to become an entrepreneur. And so from the age of about 21, I launched my first company to the age of 30. I had three failed businesses during that time while I still worked in the corporate world and I did well in the corporate world. But I always had this dream of becoming an entrepreneur. And at 30 years old, my mom ended up losing her battle to opioids. And it was in that moment that I started to wake up. I started to realize that I was chasing what society told me I should chase, right? Society says go make the millions of dollars, go have the car, the house, the girl slash guy, whatever, and go chase that dream that I told you is the dream. And there was a lot of soul searching that began in that moment where I was like, this isn't right, this isn't what life is all about. And so that was really my rock bottom moment.

Right?

You talk about your show name the rock bottom moment. And the wrap bottom moment was when my mom lost her battle to opioids and I went on a three month bender and got blackout drunk six nights a week. And I was escaping pain and I was escaping reality and I realized that in some way, shape or form, I numbed pain or reality my whole entire life. And that was my aha moment of like, wow, I need to get out of this, right? And so I'm actually currently writing a book, and I was just yesterday writing part of a chapter where I talk about your rock bottom moment and I talk about your rock bottom moment is when you choose it to be right. My rock bottom moment could have been the 1.7 GPA when the school counselor had to convince the principal to pass me or they knew I would have dropped out of school and not gone into my senior year of high school. My rock bottom moment could have been at 19 years old, trying to find a place to live, living off of Mac and cheese and hamburgers because that's all I could afford. Or hot dogs, I should say. My rock bottom moment could have been the first field business or the second field business or the third field business. We make that choice because in life there's always ups and downs and things that are going to knock you down. But you need to make the decision to say, this is when I choose to stop playing the victim. This is when I choose to stop allowing these moments to control the next three, five, ten years of my life. And so when my mom passed away, that was my moment. And I really came to the realization that my mom didn't die because of her addiction. My mom died because she hated herself. And that was my realization that I never even learned self love. I feel like self love isn't taught, and I don't know if it can be taught, but it can certainly be observed. And I grew up in a household where there was no self love. And so I never learned how to love myself. And I went on a journey to discover what does that mean? And so when I launched the podcast, which originally was supposed to be about entrepreneurship and how to be a better entrepreneur because I failed three times at this point, it became about self love. It became about overcoming adversity. It became about beating those limiting beliefs that we carry around for no reason. And that's really what took off with the podcast and everything else in between was when I decided this is my rock bottom moment. And this is my realization that life is happening for me and not to me.

How do you define self love? It's a word that's used a lot. And so there's a specific reason I'm asking. By the way, when I was 19 and I found my first mentor. Read the book. It almost sounds like I'm borrowing your own Words here. But I latched on to the concept of personal development. I went to every seminar I could possibly find, and back then it was cassette tapes. And I would listen front and back nonstop to every cassette tape I could possibly find. Think and grow rich stuff, Robert Kiyosaki stuff, anything motivating, anything self help related. And I got so into it that my first company ended up being event production, doing personal development stuff. I was helping coordinate speakers and they were my events with people that I had met at all these different seminars. I was almost a seminar junkie. Basically. The word self love is used in so many books and on so many presentations and speeches and talks. And I'm really curious to understand because I get the impression you've really given this a lot of thought. What would be your definition of self love in this context?

Yeah, and I like the fact that you asked what would be your definition? Because I think everybody has slightly a different idea or understanding of what self love is. But self love to me personally is being okay with or being accepting of yourself exactly how you are at any given moment. Right. I had this great lesson in my life that I was going through some hard times and I was really pissed off about what was happening. And I had this coach and mentor and you know, we were chatting and she's like, well, how are you feeling right now? And I go, I'm really angry. And her response is, you're allowed to be angry. You just can't be an asshole. And I realized that was the first, it was great, right? Like, it was the first time in my life though, that somebody ever gave me permission to be anything but happy. And I had this like awakening moment of like, oh, wait, it's okay to be angry, it's okay to be sad, it's okay to be, you know, down in the dumps. It's okay to be happy, it's okay to be joyful, it's okay to be ecstatic about things. But I was never given permission until that moment. And that for me was really the awakening of like that self love. Because what would happen is I would beat myself up for being angry or sad, and then I would beat up the people that I loved. I would be a jerk. I would, I would tear them apart. I would take my frustration on myself out on them. And I realized that it's okay to be frustrated with yourself. You can't start, you just can't start attacking everybody else. And I think that's at least the beginning of that journey to self love. To understand that there's ebbs and flows to understand that there's going to be moments where you're going to beat yourself up a little bit, but deep down, you're always going to love yourself for who you are in that moment. Right? There's. I'm a really big believer, and I don't know if you asked this question, I'm sorry if you do, but people always say, if you leave the world with one phrase or if you had a billboard that said something motivational, what would it be? You know? And I always say, you are enough. You are exactly who you are supposed to be at this very moment. And to realize that life is this great journey and there is no destination. There is no destination. We can have goals, and I encourage everybody to have massive goals because without growth, right, we are dying. But that's not going to give you the fulfillment you want in your life. That's not going to give you the happiness that you want in your life. I can tell you that from my own experiences and I can tell you that from the 400 plus conversations I've had on my podcast, that those goals are nothing but direction. The fulfillment comes from within. So to understand that you are enough in this very moment and exactly where you're supposed to be, I think is the true definition of self love.

One of my early mentors said to me when we were talking about the concept of self love, he said to me, you know, Eric, if you treated other people the way that you treat yourself, you'd probably be in jail. Right? And then he just, he stopped speaking to let me absorb it. This was a long time ago and I've kept that in mind ever since. And the concept he was leaning towards was to be kind to ourselves and to be forgiving, which ultimately leads essentially to the concept of self love. I've never asked this before or really thought about it, but what would you say is the opposite of self love? What are we moving away from? Right.

Yeah, I think it's more of a self worth issue. We can say that we hate ourselves, we beat ourselves up, but I think as a high achiever, I mean, you're a high achiever, Eric. I think high achievers do beat themselves up, but they know that they can pick themselves back up. I think the self worth, I think the opposite of self love is having lack of self worth because you're going to go through the human nature of beating yourself up, but you don't know how to pick yourself back up. I think the common answer would have been, oh, well, it's Hating yourself or whatever. But I think it's deeper than that. I think self love is deeper than just saying, oh, you're good looking, dude. Oh, wow, you got this figured out, right? It's way more than that. It's deeper. So I would say the opposite of self love, in my opinion would be the lack of self worth and the understanding that you're able to or deserving of picking yourself back up and having the dream life that you want.

Yeah, I'd agree. And I'm thinking about this right now as well. And the word coming to mind is worth less. And when I was, for me at least, and anyone listening may or may not resonate, but when I was little, some of the peer pressure to me was overwhelming. I couldn't deal with it. Fail a test, teacher scolding me, go home, parents want more. I feel like I failed on both fronts. Can't get the guts to ask a girl out and then finally do. It's a huge projection. People are laughing, Kids suck at sports. On and on and on. There's this non stop cycle of this, no, no, Eric, you're worthless. You know, and it's a subliminal and it's quiet and it's subtle and it builds and it creates a narrative. And it's hard then to find the courage to put myself out there again. To put yourself out there again, to take that big leap of faith and say, you know what? I think I can do this. I want to do this and I deserve giving it a shot. I owe it to myself to give it a shot because I am worth something. I'm worth the effort. And I'm just kind of speaking my mind here as we're talking because I never really explored the opposite of self love before. So worthless is the one. And people that are listening to the show right now obviously have very different experiences and understanding of some of these contexts. So if anything resonates like this, you guys can always just ping me anytime and we can start a chat, join the Facebook group or whatever it happens to be. Justin. So you said that your rock bottom moment was something you decided was your rock bottom moment. And for me, I call it the standing spot, which is the concept I'm talking about in my book, where it's a fork in the road. Technically, you could have not chosen for that to be your rock bottom and it could have continued going. And so now we're talking about the concept of choice versus circumstance. And you're in the spot where all life, technically, objectively speaking, could be said that it's not working and the future is, you're either going to end up in jail or addicted and who knows where, dead, basically. And the choices that you made overcame the circumstances that you were in at the moment. And a lot of people I talk to have a sense that circumstance is more powerful than choice. And I get into big debates about this subject, and everyone always throws at me the circumstance of being the poor person in Africa, in the slums, and no matter how strong their choice might be, their circumstance is too strong and it's a tough one to overcome. I believe choice is more powerful than circumstance, and perhaps all opportunities aren't equal, but the choice to give up and the choice to crumble versus the choice to thrive within the environment that we have. I'm curious on your perspective. What's more powerful, choice or circumstance, and.

Why 100% choice, right? To go back to that example of the child in the slums of Africa who doesn't have opportunity around him, well, that's based off of our outer perspective of what success is or what happiness is, Right? So his choice could be to do the harder thing, to get more food for his family every single day that makes them happy. His choice could be to do something that moves the needle a little bit for him every single day. One thing I talk about very, very often, which is a big focal point of my book, is society says we need to be a certain way or we need to do a certain thing. Well, I think that's complete bullshit, pardon my French. I think it's the second time I've cursed now, and I usually don't curse that many times on podcast interviews.

But fuck it, it's a raw show.

There we go.

Perfect.

And so when I look at those things, we get so caught up in the idea that society says you need to be a certain way. And I think that's kind of the scary part. But the thing is, we have to get that out of our own mindset. We need to move away from the idea that society says we need to be this way. Right? It's easy to say, well, of course circumstance says that the poor kid in the African slums isn't going to become the CEO in New York City. I'm sure there's a story that that has happened because you can make anything happen. That's the reality. But maybe that's not what he wants. That's just what you want for him or her. So I think we need to remove ourselves from what is success or what is the thing that claims that you're happy or you've made it or you whatever. And if we can take that definition away, then sky is the limit. Look, I believe in growth. Growing 1% every single day. And that, to me, is my success. To live the life that I want every single day and grow 1% every single day is my definition of success in some way, shape, or form. And if somebody were to take life like that in the slums of Africa or in the middle of communist Russia or China or wherever, yeah, you can do a little bit every single day and move the needle. And at the end of your life, you go, I've done something great for myself and the people around me. And the unfortunate part is, if we tie our worth or our success to these goals, we're never going to be satisfied. I really believe in the idea that goals are important. Look, if you want to go make a million dollars, please go do it. I encourage it.

It's great.

But I promise you, when you go make the million, you're immediately going to go, how do I make 10? Right? There's no actual fulfillment in that. And the reason you do that is because society says, okay, now more. Okay, now, more. Okay, now, more. And so we have to really flip the narrative on circumstance versus choice, because, yeah, choice is the more important part, but the circumstance, whether good or bad, is up to them, right? There's people that, you know, I know through some friends. I have a great friend named Justin Ren who works with the pygmy people in the Congo. And he goes, they're the happiest people on the planet, and they're constantly ravished with disease and murder and all these things, but they're the happiest people on the planet. And so I think we need to rethink the idea that our circumstances the definition of success. But, yeah, choice is the difference, Right? Society said, I shouldn't do the thing that I'm doing now, but I made the right choices, and now I'm doing the thing that I wanted to do, not what society wanted me to do. I know that was the longest answer to that question, but I think that's just the reality is that we have to reframe the idea of what is success.

It's very powerful now. It wasn't long winded at all. Appreciate it. So if we go back and start switching tones now, actually, before we jump in, I kind of got to ask, for me, I'll warm up the subject with this. For me, my biological father and I never really got along. He was not in jail. But was on welfare forever and basically put the onus on my parents, to my mom, I mean, to say, to get us through everything. He never paid child support and all this stuff. So very, very difficult to bridge that gap. And it never really got bridged, so we never made amends. And I'm just wondering, how about you and your dad?

Yeah, dude, I'm glad you asked that. I actually. There was seven and a half years of my life that I didn't talk to my father, not because of the jail thing, but because he was an asshole. He didn't realize what the effect that his choices had on myself and my sisters. And so I made a hard choice one day, actually, when I was 18 years old, to not talk to him. I didn't know how long that was going to last, but it ended up lasting seven and a half years. And he ended up reaching out and said, I'm really sorry for the pain that I caused you. Unprompted, unwarranted. He went and did his own thing, and I went and did my own thing. And we both grew as individuals. We both needed to grow as individuals during that time. Since we've reconnected, we're very, very close. I was the best man at his wedding a number of years ago, and I'm really, really proud of that relationship. But him and I had a conversation probably about two and a half years ago now, and we were talking about that time where we didn't see each other for seven and a half years. And he goes, you know, Justin, I'm really. I really wish that I had that seven and a half years with you, but I'm glad that it happened. He goes, because you broke generational trauma that parents controlled the children into adulthood. With lack of a better term, it wasn't abuse, but abuse in a way, right? And so I was able to break that generational trauma that was carried on from generation to generation. My dad experienced, my grandmother experiences, et cetera, and then they turn around and do it without knowing. And so one of the hardest decisions I ever made was to say, I don't want to talk to you. But it was also one of the best decisions I ever made because of how strong our bond is. Actually, it's Wednesday today as we record this. He's coming up on Friday and spending the weekend with me, my girlfriend and her kids. And so excited about that. We're doing some fall pumpkin picking and all that stuff, but just really, really blessed, really, really blessed to have the relationship we have now.

Another fascinating parallel here. So you were 18, I think you said, I was 21. And had a chat with my dad and said to him, you know, I can't speak to you anymore. And he said, well, why not? I said, well, you know, I know that you say that you want the best for me. And he said that all the time. I think he really believed it. But what's best for me is to just not have any connection with you anymore. I have to move on. And this is not helping at all in me being the best version of myself. This is a big subject. Anyone listening to this right now. It's a question that I think is healthy to ask continuously, ongoing. Is there people and are there people close in our inner circle who maybe are not helping us become the best versions of ourselves and to be more frank about it, that are blatantly holding you back to have the guts to move on and let them go to, for lack of a better word, release them. And I want to say cut them out. Because that sounds like force and that sounds like resisting and putting the energy in the wrong spot. It's not about pushing someone away. It's about respecting ourselves, in my opinion. And when we come to this place of pure self respect, and this is who I am, and I actually am worth something and I want to move forward. And this person over here, wherever that is, or these group of people, whatever it is, are preventing me from getting there. I have to let them go, not push them away. I have to let them go. And this is one of those moments where choice and circumstance hit a crossroad. We can let things continue in the way that they were, or we can take the choice to move forward. How did you find the clarity to make that choice?

I wish that I could tell you that it was clear as you were when you were 21. It was more, actually. And part of that whole me needing to grow too, it was out of anger to say, I no longer want you in my life. Now, with that being said, the evolution of Justin has become so, so different, right? I talk about the four pillars of life now, which is business, wellness, spirituality, and relationship. Well, that relationship one's very, very important. And that's all relationships. That's you and your parents, that's you and your children, that's you and your loved ones, that's you and your business partners, your friends, and the understanding of making sure that these relationships are empowering to you. And I've realized having this conversation many, many times with some people that I've worked with and even just friends to that whole idea of like, oh, I'm afraid to cut somebody out, or what happens if these people leave? It's a lot easier than you think. Because if you're focused on you first, the people who aren't truly there to support you, who are truly there to bring you down. Now, I want to clarify that, right. You said your father really believed that he wanted the best for you, right? But it wasn't the best for you that you wanted. It was the best for you that he wanted. And so, yeah, there's good intention there, but sometimes the good intention is serving themselves and not somebody else. And so the best way to get rid of those people is to focus on yourself first. Every single day. You have to love yourself first. You have to take care of yourself first. You have to do all these things for you first because you can't pour from an empty cup. And the second that you truly make that clear decision, your energy changes. And when your energy changes, those people will find a way out of your life. It will no longer be you having to have that hard conversation. Those people will melt away. Now, obviously, the relationship with your parents is a little bit different. Nine times out of 10, you're going to have to have that conversation. But sometimes we can just set boundaries. And setting those boundaries is enough to make sure as long as those boundaries don't infringe on the fact that you're taking care of yourself first, then you can still have at least an arm's length peaceful conversation or relationship with your parent. But with friends and those easier to choose ones, they're going to fall away a lot quicker than you think. You just have to make sure you take care of yourself first.

Love it. Thanks for that. So now you've made the choice to move forward and do positive things and you're past the rock bottom, you're not going back, it's not going any lower, you're making different choices. What did that first year look like? What did you do and what sort of happened in that first year?

Yeah, man. So, I mean, the first year for me was a self discovery. I actually like to say the first two years of my podcast, every single question that I asked was for me. And this was really my journey of like, what does happiness really mean? What does it mean to just enjoy life? And so the first two years of the podcast was very much that. So my mom passed away in November 2015, and I launched the podcast March of 26. 2015. Yeah, 2016. So a number of months after she passed away, we launched not Very long. But that was the journey for me of like discovering now. Remember I told you that three month window of me being blackout drunk and doing all these things and then finally launched the podcast. I need to, I needed to really figure out what, what was this all about? And so the first two years was really self discovery. It was what am I meant to be? Who am I meant to be? What am I supposed to do? How do I love myself? How do I do all these things? And I really, because of the podcast, I've had some of the greatest mentors in my life and have become friends with some of the most successful people in the world. And so those people have really helped guide me and start building the business, the relationships. I have all these things. And so first two years was healing and figuring it out. And then after that, it's really been about building business, building a stronger relationship, understanding where do I lack so I can give more, Right? So I'm in a phenomenal relationship right now. I live with my girlfriend and her two kids and this relationship wouldn't have existed if I didn't do those two years of work. I still would have been toxic. I still would have been all those things right now. I do want to clarify something. You said you chose your rock bottom. Everything is on the up and up now. That's not true either. What I mean by we choose our rock bottom is we decide that these moments of hard times isn't going to define us for the next X amount of months, years, whatever. I mean, Covid for everybody has been tough for business, it's been tough for whatever. And it's about going, okay, why is this happening for me? And you shift and you kind of go from there. And so, you know, obviously I launched the podcast shortly after my mom passed away, a couple months after she passed away. And then actually, here's something really, really crazy you want to talk about. Parallels. So she passed away November of 2015. And two years to the actual day, two years later, Inc magazine listed me as a top eight podcast every entrepreneur should follow. And I woke up that morning and everything in my life changed. My social media following grew. My podcast went from doing decent for a podcast to, oh, whoa, hold on a second. My podcast became ranked 140th in the world at all shows. And I was like, this is crazy. And from there it became about, okay, I've done the work, I'm being rewarded for the work that I've done internally and externally. And after that, the narrative changed to how do I serve my audience? How do I serve these people who tune into the show every single day and continue to do that? I continue to do that now. Right. And I've gone on to become a speaker. I speak all over the country on both Overcoming Limiting Beliefs and podcasts. I do talk on podcasting from time to time still. And I've also gone on to build my own live events where I bring in celebrity speakers. Talk about another parallel. It's something you've done in the past, bring in celebrity speakers. And we have people from all over the country and Canada come to my events. And it's just such a blessing to be able to say that rock bottom moment was a catalyst for so much greatness in the world. It's like this weird internal thing of like, my mom passing away has changed the lives of countless people all over the world. And to understand that that's what was happening for me and for the world. And so, you know, I feel really, really blessed to go through the pain that I went through because I'm able to now inspire so many people.

Eric here. I hope you're enjoying the episode today. This is a passion project that I put together. I really wanted to do this. I really want to help people out there. I had so many people reach out to me when I was younger and when I was having a to time and struggling. I've written a book about it. You can check it out on my website. Please do. But most importantly, reach out to me. Give me some feedback. What could I do better with this podcast? What am I doing that I should stop? What am I not doing that I should do? Tell me your experience. Give me some tips and suggestions. I really want to design this to suit your needs. And all you got to do is send me an email. It's ericericgilbertwilliams.com or use the contact me button that you'll find on my website. Just send me an email. We'll have a phone call or we'll chat online. Doesn't really matter. I would love to hear from you and figure out how to make this show even better with your help. So please reach out and don't be shy. That's so powerful. And it's like this. There's also a choice on perspective is what I think you're implying as well. Something that happened is almost obviously, sometimes they're clearly good or bad. And then as time goes on, though, we get to almost redefine how to interpret and redefine how to remember and redefine how to. How to move forward. And carry the good into something that expands. And so podcasting for you was this. This was your thing. This is the thing that seems like it really changed, for lack of a better word, changed your life, where you changed your life through podcasting by using it as a vehicle. Is that accurate to say?

Yeah, 100%. Right? Like I say to everybody that I work with, I go, what's your vehicle? Right. We all have a story, we all have a message. We all have a purpose. Sometimes it's to impact millions of lives. Sometimes it's to impact your own life. But then I always say, what is your vehicle? And, you know, when I bought a microphone five and a half years ago for $60 on Amazon, that was my vehicle, right? Like, that was the opportunity to change everything in my life. Sometimes it's something else, right? Sometimes it's coaching, Sometimes it's a YouTube channel, sometimes it's speaking, sometimes it's a book. But what's your vehicle in order to get your message heard by whoever needs to hear it, whether that's yourself or the world?

So let's hear about your show, man. Tell me about the show. Tell everyone listening here, because maybe some people listening are not familiar with your show. What's it all about?

Yeah, man. So obviously it's the Growth now movement. So we talk about growth and what I call the four pillars of your life, which is business, spirituality, relationships, and wellness. And so I get to interview and sit down with some of the top people in the world. I think I mentioned them before I hit record, but it's Ed Mylett and Trent Shelton and Andy Frisella and just amazing human beings. Gabby Bernstein, who just announced she was pregnant. So we were texting a little bit earlier about that, which was crazy. But, you know, it's really about people who are looking to create the life that they desire, not that the world desires for them. And so anybody listening to this right now who's like, you know what? I just want to improve on what I'm doing now, or I need to make a total shift in my life. That's what the Growth now movement's all about, is to understand how do we do that and how do we empower ourselves to do it for the greater good of the world and for ourselves. And so that's really the show, man. Like I said, I've been blessed to have some accolades along with it, and I throw in a couple solo episodes every now and again. People seem to like that, which I still like. That's crazy. They'd rather hear from me than some of the people I get to have on the show, but I'll take it. And I always like to say, look, wherever you're listening to this show, go search for the Growth now movement and come along on this journey with me. Because although I've done so much growing already, growing never stops. I'm going to be growing till the day I die. And so come along on the journey with me and have some fun and maybe even come to a live event and hang out, because that's really where it is all about. It's all about community for me.

Live events with COVID what sort of happened for you?

It's a great question.

Or what's happening for you?

What could have been another rock bottom moment? Right? So I was planning an event for May of 2020, which didn't happen because the world shut down in March. And so now that event is finally happening. I've done a couple of virtual events which were fine. There was some great connection that happened. Some great community was able to grow from it, but it's not the passion, right? I don't want to do things virtually. That's my life is virtual zoom and podcast interviews. And so the live event is finally happening May of 2022, in a town called Lititz, Pennsylvania. I rented out an entire campus of this place called Rock Lidditz, where people like Taylor Swift and what's his name, not Elton John, the other one, Billy Joel was just there. They all actually practice for their worldwide tours here. And so there's a hotel right on campus, amazing amenities, a couple restaurants and breweries. And I rented out the whole thing for a weekend in May to really bring together people and empower them in those four pillars. And one thing I really believe in is the fact that the fact that I bought this microphone so long ago, it's a different mic now, of course. But the fact that I bought a microphone so long ago and I've been able to connect with some of the world's top leaders has changed my life. And so the Growth now movement, the premise of it, the roots of the Growth now movement Live or Growth Now Summit Live, is the fact that I can give those tools to somebody else, those opportunities to connect with some of the top people. So my speakers don't just come and then disappear. They come and they hang out the whole entire weekend. We have an after party and a VIP party where the speakers will be, and you get to actually rub elbows with them and, you know, pick their brain and maybe even make a friendship, who knows? But really, really blessed to be able to put something like that on. And can't wait to do it again in May, man. So we'll see what happens in the world. But as of right now, May 20th to 22nd, 2022. So we'll see.

I just knocked on my wooden desk here. I hope it happens for you because it's such a crazy time, right? And how many of these events have you done so far?

So we actually only did one and 2020 was supposed to be the second one. So if you think about it, I mean, we were two years into the podcast journey when I announced the first one. Maybe maybe three years, two and a half years into the podcast journey when I announced the first one, and now everything obviously from there. But we went on to do two virtual events. We've spun them into a couple of small people trainings and stuff like that during COVID as well. Or small group trainings. Not small people, they're all big people, but small group trainings. But the events themselves. We've done one live one, two virtual ones, and then about to do a second live one.

To everyone listening, the website is growthnowmovement.com and you can check out the podcast and the live events. I'm on the website right now, actually. It's a nice website, by the way. Yeah, you guys can check it out.

The event website's a little bit different. It's actually growthnow summit.com and you can check out the speaker line up there and everything. And we still have more speakers to announce. I slowly leaked them out. But we already have announced, like Nick Santon Estasso, who is an incredible motivational speaker and a dear friend of mine who actually speaks on Tony Robbins stage. He's one of the few people that Tony allows to speak on his stage regularly. And he just happens to be a dear friend of mine. And so he's part of that. And we've got some really, really cool people that I'm announcing here in the coming months or so. Hopefully we'll have the full lineup announced by the end of January, but we'll see how social media reacts to algorithms and all that stuff. So it's all a game, you know how it goes. But amazing people coming and announcing soon.

You know, just as we close up here, I'd love to ask you a question that I ask a lot of people on the show. If we had a time machine and we could go back to, you know, let's say five years or six years, and we could go back and see yourself and talk to yourself for, like, a minute, and you're looking at yourself in your old rock bottom moment and learning and knowing now what you know and understanding where you were at back then. If you had 60 seconds to talk to yourself in your old rock bottom moment, what would you say to yourself? It could be advice. It could be anything. Whatever it is.

Yeah, I really love this question. And obviously the whole. I understand that I've gone through everything that I've gone through for a reason. And so it's very simple what I would say to myself six years, seven years ago, I would look at myself and say, it's all going to be worth it. And I think that's enough to say it's all going to be worth it. Because things are always going to be tough. We're always going to go through things like, I'm going to experience other moments in my life that will potentially try and shatter me. But to understand that when we understand what our purpose is and we understand that we are living in our passion, the end of the day, it's always going to be worth it. And so that's all I would say to myself, is this is all going to be worth it.

That's powerful. And I hope everyone listening remembers those words. Remember these words. If you're in your rockwater moment right now, it is going to be worth it. And you do have a choice. And tomorrow can be different, and it will be with your choices. So I really appreciate your time here. Justin, tell me, is there anything on your mind that you want to sort of get off your Chevy? We're just sitting here talking, and I accidentally sort of take charge. I guess that's what I'm supposed to do. But what's on your mind? What are you up to today? What's a life in Justin today?

Today, actually, you're the only call on my calendar, which is phenomenal. I'm a big believer.

Well, wait, let me rephrase it. You cleared your entire calendar because you knew that you were talking to me today, Is that right? That's it.

I was like, I need to open up a calendar. I gotta prepare properly. I gotta.

Oh, you made my day, man. Made my day.

So, you know, there was some client work that I had to get done this morning, but honestly, I work to live. I don't live to work. And so there's a lot of this idea that entrepreneurs need to, quote, unquote, hustle. We need to work our tail off and we need to do this. But that's just kind of an empty pit that you're just digging for yourself. And so a regular day for me is I get up. So I told you, I really believe in filling your cup first. So I have daily habits, not a routine, but daily habits that I make sure I fill my cup. And one of them is I take a three mile walk every single day, every single morning. That's done. That's a non negotiable for me. The second non negotiable is I reach out to somebody I care about and let them know I'm thinking about them. Today there were two of them. And just let them know I'm thinking about them. And I do that because it empowers me to know that I can be there for somebody in some way, shape or form. The third thing is I learn something new every single day. So whether it's listening to a podcast, reading a book, try and keep the brain fresh. So I plan to live a long time, and the brain's the most important part at that point. And then the fourth thing is I do some sort of visualization practice every single day. And that is my visualizations are pretty deep. And I tie those visualizations to an emotion. What I find is if you can do that on a deep, meditative level, the action becomes easy, right? Like you can have massive goals and massive dreams, but when you tie it to an emotion, it's a lot less scary to step forward into it. So my day includes those four things every single day. But other than that, every single day is different, right? Whether it's doing my own podcast interviews or being a guest on shows, or working with clients or dealing with sponsorship people for my events or whatever the case may be, that is what my day is. It's always different, which I love, but I can't be the sit behind the desk and do the same thing every single day kind of guy. But I will say this, those four things are my non negotiables. They fill my cup. They also, by the way, if you did the math, they also touch all four of the pillars in some way, shape or form to make sure I'm constantly pouring into them. But other than that, I'm pretty flexible, man. I love the fact that I can just go do what I want, when I want, and I try and keep it that way. So hopefully I'm not tied to the desk all day, every day.

And you said you're writing a book. How's that coming along?

Dude, it's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. It's coming along. Though, you know, I've been getting a lot of good writing done lately, but this has been years in the making. I mean, I've had two publishing companies wanting me to write a book for years. And so finally it's happening because finally I've realized what I'm writing about. And actually in a couple of weeks here I'm going. I rented a hotel room and I'm going away just for a night to sit and just write for 12 hours straight. I really believe in changing your environment can really help you. That was actually an amazing gift for my birthday for my girlfriend to go do that. And so whether it was for me to get out of her hair or for me to actually write the book, I don't know. But I'm doing that. And so I'm hoping if in a perfect world, Eric, the book will be out by my event in May. That's In a perfect world. We'll see how the next couple months go to really get it nailed down and then begin the editing process. But it's been the hardest, most enlightening thing I've ever done. It's really opened my eyes to a lot of the progress that I've made in my own personal life and for other people. I think that's the thing. And I think you can kind of probably say the same thing. Like when you're in a High Achiever and you're doing some crazy things, sometimes you don't stop and acknowledge it. And the book is allowing me to kind of reflect a little bit on how far I have come. And I think the end of the day is if the book never comes out, which it will, but if the book never comes out, at least I've been able to take a moment to reflect on what I've done so far.

We're going to put a link to your events and your podcast on the show notes of this episode. And I hope you let me know when your book does get released. And I'll do a little shout out too, to everyone who's listening once that happens, so that you guys know about it as well.

Oh, thanks, man.

Yeah, and thanks for having the time in your schedule to come out here and chat with me and again for having the courage to tell your story. I really appreciate it. And to everyone who's listening right now, I hope you guys have a Rockin it day. We're gonna talk to you again next month with another episode on. From Rock Bottom to Rockin It. Keep on Rockin it, guys. We'll talk to you later. Bye for now. And that's it. My friends, for this episode, we will see you next time. Please send me an email, say hello, give me some feedback, let me know what you think. Give me some tips and suggestions. I'd love to hear from you. Also, please share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Instagram, doesn't matter. Just get it out there. I really appreciate it. And we'll see you next time on from rock Bottom to rocking it. Have a rocking it.