4x on TEDx: The Power Hidden in Lost Leaders and Sharing Your Unique Gift with Bobby Umar

Welcome to Make More Marbles. My name is Brad Hart and we're here to interview the game changers, the future makers, the co collaborators and creators who are here to collaborate with one another towards a better future for all of us. Enjoy the show. We've got a great guest coming up for you right now. Welcome to Make More Marbles. My name is Bret Hart and I'm here today with Bobby Umar. Bobby, say hi to the people at home. What's going on, brother?

Hello, everybody. Excited to be here. Can't wait to share some insights. You're stoked. That's good. You're ramping me up.

Down in California, we get stoked on things. It's a beautiful day here in sunny San Diego. Where are you calling in from? Bobby, tell the people at home where you're from.

I'm from Toronto, Canada. Home of the Raptors, home of the Blue Jays. Depending whether you like baseball or basketball.

We don't have a football team.

What's up with that?

San Diego Chargers.

That's sad. It's okay. We don't have one either, so it's okay.

But you guys have beautiful sports like hockey and beautiful women and poutine and all the great things that happen up in Toronto.

Poutine, for sure.

Well, Bobby, you're a motivational speaker. You're an inspirational speaker because motivations like showering, you need to do it daily because it wears off. But you really inspire people to take action in their lives to create a better vision, a better, you know, leadership, focus, service, all that great stuff. How did you become who you are today? Let's get a little bit into that hero's journey about what's going on with you.

Sure. I think the main start was I was one of those people that I call a lost leader. I was kind of lost on my path. I didn't really know what I wanted to do. So, you know, my dad said go into engineering because I like math and physics. So I did mechanical engineering and then I worked as a mechanical engine design engineer for aerospace. And, you know, I wasn't that into it. I mean, you know, I preferred to do stuff on the side and at lunchtime I wouldn't talk about, you know, technical things. And then while I was working there, I was bored, so I started my own musical theater company. So I started producing and directing musicals, which is a lot of fun. And I grew that business from two people to 150 people four years. And I was like, you know, this is a lot of fun. But I didn't Think it, you know, paid well. So I was like, you know what? How can I do something different? So when I left engineering, I was like, let me do something else. So I went into. I did my MBA and went to brand marketing, and I worked for craft. I worked for Dove's campaign for Real Beauty. Brand marketing was a lot of fun, too, but again, I just didn't feel the right fit. And so after three different careers of, you know, performing arts and brand marketing, engineering, I even did stint in, like, teaching. I was like, you know, what do I. What do I want to do? Like, I'm just. I'm frustrated. You know, I didn't fit anywhere. And so I dove into my personal brand and kind of figured it all out. And then the journey took me to the fact that, you know, I love people. I love persuading, influencing. I love presenting and performing. I love nurturing, and I like diversity. And so I was like, you know what? I think I should start speaking career. And over the years, people have said, bobby, you know, you're pretty good at talking to people, connecting an emotional level, and you're relating it back to the business. Have you ever thought about starting a, you know, speaking career? And I was like. And the first three times, like, nah, you know, I'm trying to argue.

I don't got time for speaking.

No, I was like, you know, I'm trying to be a better engineer. I'm trying to be a better brand marketer. I'm trying to build my corporate profile. And finally, the fourth time, I was like, yeah, you know what? I have been thinking about this. And so in 2006, 2007, that's when I launched my company, Rhea island, and my speaking thing. And, you know, ever since before that, I never worked anywhere in any career longer than four years. And here I am 11 years later, doing what I love and feeling the impact. And so it's been. It's been. It's been a great journey.

I love it, Bobby. And you've actually done four TEDx talks now, is that right?

Yeah, that's right. That's beautiful.

When are we gonna get you on the main stage, man? We gotta get you up there.

Yeah, I know. You know, they gotta get me out down to California. But, you know, it's. That's always the big dream of being able to do that. Most of the people that have done successful ted, ted, tedx talks, like Brenny Brown and Simon Sinek, I mean, they basically did a TEDx talk that was accepted by TED and then went viral, right with crazy hits and millions of views. And then they invite. Gotten invited to the TED stage. But, yeah, I'm pumping it up. Honestly, it's harder for motivational speakers to get on there.

Is that right? Yeah, it's not like a scientific lean. They kind of like that science part of it.

They prefer either someone has. Either someone who's like, some sort of research, or someone has done something really similar special, like I went to the moon or I climbed Mount Everest or something like that. Something.

Not a big deal, going to the moon.

Leadership motivational speakers were everywhere. Right. So.

Well, and then you get into the weeds with it because, like, you know, motivation, yes. Inspiration, yes. But what about, like, peak performance or strategy? You know, all the things that really are the takeaways that. Yeah, yeah, you got to package it in an inspirational message, and that's important. But here are the practical, tactical things you can actually do to better your life. And I feel like that's more what you focus on.

Yeah, but the other thing in mind, too, is that most of the talks, they're looking for a unique idea or unique slant. Right. So if the idea is, you know, if I. If I want to do a TEDx talk on personal branding, they would say no, because everyone's talking about that. They want, you know, networking, authentic connection. Everyone's talked about those. Leadership development. Everyone's talking about it. So you have to have a unique slant. Like. So, for example, my latest TEDx Talk pitch that I sent to another event was the History of Hugs. Why? Because no one's talking about that. That'd be an interesting conversation.

I love that. And I actually have a friend here who runs hugwear. She calls it the Hug asana. She's a big yogi and into that. And they have, like, pockets in the back, so you have to, like, really get up in there. It's like having a kangaroo pouch on the back. So when you hug somebody, you really gotta, like, work at it.

It's fun. I like it. I like it.

And they glow in the dark. And then on the wrist, they have hug life.

Oh, when did they enter Canada? Come on, bring them up here. We're cold up here.

Seriously, we got to get it going, Jess.

Freezing.

Telling you, if you listen to this, this is what you're doing in the world. You know, I have a couple puns for that. I have. The hug life didn't choose me. I chose the hug life. I'm a hug dealer. The first one's free. Next one will cost you. Yeah, we can make that happen. The Huggie instead of the snuggie. That could be a thing. There you go. Billion dollar idea.

Done. Go.

All right, so what is a TED Talk that you wish existed, I guess is really quite, you know, a good question. Like, what is the thing that you really wish people would just tackle and get out there? And who would you nominate to take on that topic?

Whoa, that's a deep question. You know, I've seen a lot of TED Talks and I've seen a lot of content out there. I mean, you know, it's like Shakespeare. Every single story has been told, every single great idea has been told. So for me, I think it's more about what are the stuff that people generally don't talk about. And I probably, I'd probably go towards something really deep and personal. Like, well, I'm gonna be really personal with you. Okay. Like body, body image. You know, I'm a big guy and my entire life I've struggled with my, you know, my body and feeling good about it, even as a kid. And I have kids now too, and I look at them and I want them to just, you know, and sometimes as a parent, I, I've experienced it all my life and I have kids now and yet I still feel I don't know exactly what I'm doing in terms of how do I really. Because every kid's different. There's no formula. Right. So for me, like some sort of TED talk idea where they just talk about what can we do better to accept our bodies the way we are and feel beautiful no matter what? You know, My four year old daughter, she came home one day, she's four at the time, she's seven next week, but she's four. And she saw a package of the Clairol hair makeup, you know, like hair dye. I just outed my wife, but it's hair dye. And she's like, oh, I wish I was beautiful as her. I'm like, sweetheart, you're the most beautiful girl in the world. What are you talking about? Like, everyone's beautiful. Like, it kills me that at 4, you know, she's getting this outside stimuli that's making her feel like she's not beautiful. Yeah. If I could get some sort of idea or TED Talk to just, you know, like I'm talking about is great, but what are the ideas to like help us transform this, this issue we have with our, with ourselves and our bodies and our self esteem. Yeah, I'd love to see that.

And then I wonder who would be the best person to go after that? Like, who's who in the world do you feel like loves themselves to like the nth degree where they could maybe share some of their practical tactical strategies to where they got there and their hero's journey. That would make a great TED Talk.

I think that's a good question. I mean, a lot of people who struggle with body image and, you know, they lose weight and they gain weight, they can talk more to it. You know, it's funny, there's one person that I've always thought was really attractive and, you know, she's not just the typical, you know, model person, but she's an athlete. But I think she's really beautiful and think she's confident. Serena Williams. I think that she's strong and she's vibrant and, you know, like, I'm sure she gets a lot of that kind of stuff. Someone like her would be a really good person to talk about how to do that because a lot of women struggle with this and they focus on not being beautiful, but being strong. Being strong and having endurance and having strength and power and flexibility and things like that. But she would be someone I would love to see talk about it. And of course, my favorite person to do TED talks in general is Brenni Brown. I just love her work on vulnerability, shame and things like that. I'm sure because she's research based, she could probably do a really good job of talking about this type of thing in terms of, you know, what are specific tools we can use for body image. And there's probably a lot of strong parenting advocates out there who, you know, are talking about this because, I mean, you know, do you get a parenting advocate or do you get a body image advocate? I'm not really sure what's the best way to go.

Yeah, and this is something I think about a lot is like, how do you. Yes, we understand that there's a lot of negative messaging that's influencing everybody all the time. Like, I've almost stopped watching the news or concerned very little bits of it because they only tell you about the one thing that's going wrong at all times. And there's always something to find that's going wrong. They don't tell the stories of the 99.9% of people who weren't raped, murdered, stabbed, shot, blown up, almost nuked, whatever, last night. It's always what's going to kill you next at 11. So I started thinking from a messaging standpoint, how do we, A, start to bring more positive messaging into the world and then B, what are some of the frameworks and tools that you've used as a motivational speaker to maybe, you know, help people along who, like, I want to spread a positive message. Here are the pieces I need to know in order to do that effectively. Whether it be a framework, whether it be like a this, then that type of script, or is it like kind of a how do you craft a story that really resonates with people? What are the pieces and tools you wish that everybody had to do that?

Well, I think a lot of people don't take the time to really understand their why and their target. So, I mean, as Simon said, I talked about the why statement, but really it's about targeting, right? So understand your target and. And understand your brand. So your target is the people that you serve. Your brand is the promise you deliver to the people that you serve. And your why really is understanding that pain point that you're talking about. So, for example, from my personal standpoint, you know, my focus, my why statement is there are. There are lost, stuck, or unfulfilled leaders out there. Everywhere I go, I meet people who feel lost in their business, stuck in their careers, unfulfilled in their relationships. And so all my content, all my work and my events and speaking coaching is all designed specifically to address that. And so people don't take the time, one, to dive into their personal brand, understand their values or skills or traits or interests or passions, and align it with something meaningful. Number two, they don't really think about their why in terms of the pain point that people feel and the bliss point you want to take them to. And the third thing is the target. You know, who is this target? What do they look like? How do they feel, and how can we best address them? And if you can actually, you know, understand those three different things, you can actually put together a really strong case for your business or for your career, for your entrepreneurship, whatever journey it is to do that. I mean, when I work with any client, those are the first three things I think about. And then the fourth thing I'll do is really structure around challenges, like, what's holding you back? What's holding you back from achieving what you want to do? Because every single one of us has fear. Every single one of us has doubts. Every single one of us, you know, follows the path of success defined by other people. So if you can get past that stuff and really get to the gut check of all those challenges, we can start processing those things, those emotions in a better way and then move forward. And to me, those are. Those are four things I would. I would start with any person, whether it's my friend or even my mom or a business.

I love it. And that's a really great framework for going from A to B to C to D and also giving people the tools that they're going to need to overcome those challenges. Like you said, I think that's gonna be the biggest pieces because, okay, you got all this plan together, but, you know, plans don't survive first contact with the enemy. Every time you, you know, you plan, God laughs a little bit, Chuckles to himself, because life never turns out that way. But it's ultimately those obstacles that become the way forward.

Yeah, absolutely.

In rising to meet those challenges that you have the tools to then have the thing that you ultimately want it. I really believe that life gives you the exact challenges that you need to shape into the person who gets the things that they want, need, and desire effortlessly. If you're willing to take that call to action, how has that kind of shaped your life in your own way? Like, can you kind of frame the hero's journey of you becoming this leader that helps unfulfilled, unsatisfied leaders really step into that person, that passion, that purpose that they crave. What has been your journey with it so far? And then maybe could you share an example of somebody who's gone through your program as well and what they've accomplished?

Well, I think for me, I use the lost, stuck or unfulfilled piece as a tool for me to take not only other people from good to great, but also take myself from good to great. And so when I look at. When I define success, and for me, success is defined as creating fulfillment and happiness in all areas of my life. So people, family, health, all that kind of stuff. So for me, for my business, I look at where I'm finding fulfillment and where I'm finding joy, and then where do I want to improve? But in areas where it helps me personally is. We talked about the health thing. I'm trying to be better as a health person. In the last three years, I've lost £40, and I'm.

Congratulations.

Thank you. Thank you. And I'm working hard on this journey. This is my biggest journey of my life, to be healthier and fit and build that mindset. And so for that, that's the area where I struggle. And whenever I do struggle, I go back to my vision. I have a vision of where I want to be. I have this vision of actually me on the top of Machu Picchu with my wife and my two kids. Who are now grown up. They're like 20 and 22, and I'm like, in my 60s, and I look awesome and slim and slender, full of white hair. The sun beating on my face and I feel the wind in my hair. And I'm at the top of the Machu Picchu. I'm looking down, I'm like, wow. I feel fit, I feel alive. And I look at that. That vision really makes you feel about okay, you know what? I need to keep eating better and working out and things like that. So I find that really, really motivating, that vision. And the second thing I do is I go to my support network because they're always there for me to, like, you know, give me. Give me insights and things like that. So that's something I look forward to. Now, how does that work with other people? Well, you know, a perfect example, a woman I met actually at my first conference, I led. So I run this conference called dypd, Discover your personal brand. It's the North America's biggest conference dedicated to personal branding of all types. And she actually came to every single one of my conferences and including the first one. And I met her the first one, and we went for coffee, and next thing I knew, I was like, you know what? And I said, what's your why? What's your why statement? Like, what's you know? And then basically worked on honing her why statement, her vision or mission, and said, look, what is your brand? It's all over the place. You were a daycare worker and now you've sold that. Now you're like a love coach, but you also want to do Airbnb. How do you align this? And it's funny, I actually just met her today, earlier today. You know, we've been friends over five years, and, yeah, her brand has emerged to, like. It's so amazing because she's actually taken the love coaching, has now turned into breakup coaching, and she's taken the Airbnb and turned it into this brand called Mikasa, basically for couples who break up, who need a space. And so what she does is now she's the breakup recovery specialist that gives coaching, and she offers them a place to potentially stay when they need to get away from their. Their, you know, their person they're separated from. And that's a fantastic alignment of emerging. Emerging of her brand, which I love. And, you know, the other thing over here.

Sorry, you take all these disparate things and you somehow weave them together with a common thread. I think that's really beautiful.

Yeah, yeah. And then the other thing that really helped her, and I've been bugging her for first few years, was like, you know, you need to get up there, just put the content out there, like, talk about what you're like. People, you know, sometimes the hardest thing people do is just start. But, you know, I just said, and she's so articulate and so great on camera. Like, just put a video out there. And she didn't do it for two years. Finally she did, what do you know, hundreds of views. Next thing you know, Bobby, I got four clients. Yeah. Like, that's how it works. It's out there. You're so articulate. You're so fantastic. So to me now, like, you know, she's getting tons of clients. Clients. And now she's planning for the merging of these brands. And I'm very excited to see that she's able to take her why statement and her plan and her targeting and really focus on a niche that actually is serving a great purpose.

Yeah. And I mean, 50% of relationships are ending up breaking up. So, I mean, there's definitely a need for.

Sure.

The weight thing is really interesting to me too, because I've had my own struggles. When I was in high school, I was actually close to £200. And I just weighed myself this morning. I'm as light as I've been in my adult life. I'm 162 pounds and I run every day and I barely eat, but I feel more energized than I've ever felt in my life. Also.

That's great.

It's this kind of interesting thing where, like, the less I focus on it and the more I just do the things I know work and I eat ice cream. I do all the stuff. Like I eat tons of calories. It's just like, the more I focus on the thing that I know is it's right for my body. It just works. It takes care of itself.

But the truth is, we all know, like. Like no one. I mean, everyone knows you should exercise and eat well. We just don't. Right. I mean, we all know that if you want to grow a business, you have to do the work and you gotta hustle and you gotta network and you gotta have a valid platform. Everyone knows these things. It's our mindset that, you know, throws us off. We, you know, we. For me personally, you know, I might, you know, like, Halloween just happened. The kids at Treat, there they all are. Oh, my God, let me grab. Let me grab some. Or, you know, or the belief the doubt that gets in the way of what we're trying to do. So I appreciate that. I mean, you know, I think for me that my biggest struggle is just building a consistent mindset so that I don't like, lose, lose track. Because you want to get to the point where, yeah, you know what, you can eat McDonald's, you can go to have some ice cream, it doesn't matter.

As long as it's at the right time. As long as you work within your hormonal cycles. That was the key that I learned. Like, I just had to do it right. I had to fast certain times of the day. And then I had to start with like good fats and like the basics, get all my supplements and all that stuff. And then at the end of the day, I can eat like a pig if I really want to, right? On a Sunday, I can go and just go hog wild if I really want to. And the funny thing is I want to less and less because I feel like crap afterwards. So I've almost like now trained myself to like, oh, I didn't want to eat that way. It's a weird thing. It took a while to get there.

I had the exact same thing, you know, I had a, I had a long series of really good results and really good eating. But my rule was when I go to my mom's, I eat whatever I want because my mom is like the best cook in the world. All this Indian curries and naan bread, Ooh, love it. And so I get there and honestly I pigged out like I can't even move. But I love. And again. And I don't feel sick because like it's my mom's cooking. And so, but. And what happens is the next day I gained maybe a two pounds, but because I'm consistent, it's gone within two, three days and doesn't matter. And that's like once a month. And so what? Not a big deal.

So self correcting systems, right? It's like everybody has the room. Like the second you tell your brain that you can't do something, whether it be in food or exercise or whatever, like the second you say, no, this is off limits. It's like the first step towards self sabotage because you're just building up that desire, gets stronger and stronger and eventually just. You're gonna go overboard.

Yeah. And it's one of the reasons why I actually started a hashtag and a movement called FitMyLife. And the idea is that, you know, not only do I struggle to get fit in my life, But I think we all struggle to make everything fit in our lives. And so what I do now is I talk about that in terms of, you know, how do we make these? You need to create something that's sustainable long term. It can't just be like, that's why diets don't work. That's why, you know, like, you know, another relative of mine lost 150 pounds with the Bernstein diet and then gained 100 pounds after back. Like it wasn't sustainable. You got to create something that will fit in your life and be sustainable and build a lifestyle that you can feel good about and not have to, you know, feel miserable that you're giving up stuff.

But then again, it starts with your why. Right. If you don't have that why, it's really clear. Like for me, it's my team. Right, right. You know, if I, if I'm not 100%, it reflects immediately and, and absolutely.

Better you is a better everybody else.

Right, right, exactly.

Mentally, socially, skills wise, you name it. Building a better you will make everything better in your life.

But you know what? I've never seen that motivate anybody beyond, you know, greatness is to have a why that's all about themselves. Right. If your why is I got to make, you know, a whole bunch of money, for me, you might make like 75 grand a year. If it's you and your family, it's like 150, 200. If it's your family, community, tribe, etc. Maybe 500k. But if your vision encompasses millions and billions of people, it's going to also encompass millions and billions of dollars. And I think that's kind of like this success principle, the fitness principle, the health principle, like you really need a why that's bigger than you would. You agree with that?

Yeah, I mean, I think that the why that I've created for myself is a global thing. So, you know, I apply my why lost, stuck or unfulfilled people to everything. So my friends, my children, they're lost leaders. My wife is a lost leader. My friends are lost, my parents. And then, but it's, but I'm thinking global because I'm trying to help the world with my why. My why. Because everywhere I, like, seriously people, everywhere I go, I spoke in India, I spoke in Dubai, I spoke in England, they're lost, stuck, unfulfilled people there. And every time I talk about that, it resonates with them and they like my content and they want to know more about what they can do. Because when you're speaking on stage, you want to connect on that emotional level with people and also be vulnerable. So I even share the fact that, hey, I'm lost, stuck, unfulfilled with my health, and here's what I'm doing to get better, and you can do the same thing for yourself. So, yeah, like, you know, my goal and my vision is really to take it, take it global. Absolutely. And that's why even DYPD my personal brand conference, you know, even though we started in Canada, you know, we're thinking global because I think people all around the world can relate to personal branding. They want to be authentic, they want to tell their own story, they want to own their path. They want to go from good to great. And that's why personal branding matters so much to them.

That's huge, Bobby. And I think you really hit on another piece which is helping people to understand how they can have an impact in other people's lives. Gets them out of their own stuff long enough to really make a difference, and then ultimately it solves their problems too, because that's what they want in the first place, was to connect with people, was to serve, was to make more money, whatever it was that they wanted. It really doesn't come from the self analysis. Right. That's just mental masturbation at the end of the day. It comes from getting out of yourself. So if you were to go back and kind of give yourself some advice when you're starting your speaking career, what would it be like to get somebody to where you're at today as quickly and with as few painful bumps along the way? Like, what would be the advice you'd give them?

Great question. Number one, get a coach. So that's something I didn't do. I mean, a business coach. A business coach to help you focus on all those things. Your target, your brand, your why, your strategy moving forward. Get a coach to help you figure that stuff out. In the early days, I didn't do that. I found more success in the later half of my business in the first half, because I wasn't even doing that. And I think that was a huge mistake. And you're like, oh, but it costs money. But you know what? Like, again, like, yeah, guess what?

So does screwing up for 10 years.

Absolutely.

A lot more money or it costs you the money you couldn't make. It's the university you're not knowing. You're writing a check to a university.

That you don't know. The way, the way to think about this and the way I think about this Is like you could invest $0 in a coach and let's say you make 40,000 the first year business. But if you invest even 10,000 in a coach and it's going to make you less than 100,000 your first year business, is that worth something? Totally.

It's 50 grand to your bottom line. You didn't know existence.

So people don't think about that because, you know, a coach will provide accountability. I mean, you gotta have the right one. They have to be really smart, know.

Their stuff and have a track record and be similar.

Accountability, focus, strategy, all that kind of stuff would be huge. So for me, that'd be the first thing. And you know, they probably would have made me work harder because in the beginning I didn't work as hard, honestly, like, I did it. And because I was so free of the corporate world, like, oh boy, I could do whatever I want and oh.

No, I can do whatever I want.

No, I know. So like, I wasn't as focused the first couple years. So for me, that coach thing would have been huge, I think. And then I think the second thing would have been better for me, would have been really focused on a specific niche. You know, I was really broad. I was brought like, I was like, okay, I'm a coach and a speaker and I'll talk about anything. And that wasn't good. You know, like partner focus on the one, two or the three main things that you're all about. So now for me, it's all about connection, network and relationship building. And then from that there's a little triangle of social media and personal branding which link into the authentic connection piece. So that's what I'm all about. I'm all about that connection piece.

I love that, Bobby. So if somebody comes to you and they say, I want to start a personal brand, you have the four step framework that you talked about all the way through to challenges, your why all that great stuff. What are some of the other pieces? Like you connect them to other resources within the community. How do you get them on their first stage? Does it start with a blog? Is it with a podcast? What are some of the things they can do to just get started right now?

Okay, so let's assume that they've, you know, they've figured out their target and their why. That's what you're saying, right? So what do we do now to build that personal brand? Honestly, it's content. Get something out there. So I don't care if it's a blog post, I don't care. It's a paragraph or a tweet or a video, but I prefer video. Video is the future. It's actually the future today. But get some content. Just put it out there and just, you know, like. And seriously, and this is for all your viewers. If anyone here is listening to this right now. If you want to put together a blog post or a video on LinkedIn today and you tag me, I will then like and comment on it and I'll now automatically share with my 14,000 followers. Is that worth something to you? Just do it. Because it's win, win, man. Seriously, people like. So I would say that's the first thing you do. You really get that content out there because the content also serves as getting feedback from your network. Because once you put the content out, the tribe will follow. The tribe will follow what you're talking about. So to me, you're getting feedback and you're sharing your expertise and what you're passionate about. To me, that is the first step you want to do to get out there and get that brand going. Then once it's going out there and you're starting feedback from people, now you start to hone your LinkedIn profile and your Facebook profile and your YouTube page and wherever different channels. I mean, you know, some people choose hundreds of channels, some people choose three. But whatever, you know, you have to choose what channels and methods you're going to get your message out there to people. I use a lot. Like I use like, you know, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, like I use a lot. But some people use one or two or three. But I think you have to use at least one to three to start and you have to figure out that channel and then learn all you can about how that channel works. Hopefully your coach will help you on that as well. But learn only kind of how that channel works and then use best practices to get that message out there. And then the third thing you do is if you want to be a speaker and you want to get speak on stage, whether it's TEDx Talk or your own talks, honestly, like, you know, I have a speaker mastermind group that I, that I run. And one of the first things I tell them is, look, I want you to pick up the phone today, call your high school and call your college and say, listen, I like to come and speak to people. Is there an avenue for it? Because most schools will love to have established professionals come back and speak to their kids or their youth. So that's the first thing you do to start speaking and then just put it out there. Hey, I'm looking to speak at conferences and opportunities, and if you put it out there and you have a strong brand, people will approach you.

I like that, Bobby. Just get into it, right? Just start speaking, right? It doesn't matter if it's for 2 people or 20 people or 200 people. Get out there and start speaking. I love that. All right. And you're also a very prolific tweeter. Now let's kind of go meta a little bit. Like, what do you see the platforms shifting to? You're on a lot of platforms, you know, like, for example, make more marbles. I'm mostly on Facebook. Facebook could come and pull me out and say no any day. Which I don't expect that to happen. But every time something weird goes on where they won't let me post a comment or a post that I want to make, you know, I wonder. So, you know, we're starting to branch out into LinkedIn and we're looking at, like, Pinterest and some other things that might, you know, know, be a little bit counterintuitive, but might make a lot of sense in the long term. What are some of the content platforms you're looking at? What do you wish existed, and where do you see this all going?

It's interesting because, you know, I'm a. I've been a big social media advocate since it came on. I've took on. I was an early adopter of Facebook and LinkedIn. I've tried everything and then eventually let them go. Like, I let go of vine, which, you know, obviously tanked. And then I let go of Pinterest and I let go of other ones. What's interesting is it's all about authentic connection and engagement. It's all about accessibility. I want to access you. I want to be in the moment, in the now, and be there with you when things are happening. So Facebook has Facebook Live, and now Instagram has the stories, so does Snapchat. Twitter now has Twitter Live and Periscope. LinkedIn hasn't done that, but they're getting there. So that, to me, is going to be a trend. It's going to be live access to personal, professional and social events going on around the world. I think that's going to be a big trend you're going to see. The second thing is about relationship building, authentic connection. Like, they're going to want to know a bit about you. They're going to want you to know a bit about them and taking the time to really understand one another and connecting, whether it's what we're doing here on this chat or whether we're doing it online. Some of the things I'm working on now, you know, LinkedIn has. So Facebook is good, but Facebook is transitioning to the pay only model where you know, if you're a business and you want to get traction, you know, used to be 8% of your posts from your Facebook business page would be shown to your audience. Then it went down to 1 to 2%. Now it's almost zero because they want you to buy ads Facebook and that's why Facebook is, you know, a big money maker. Facebook and Instagram to me have been amazing because they've been evolving and adapting and growing better than anybody else. You know, Instagram has taken Snapchat and taken themselves to the next level and Facebook has taken all the other platforms and added things to the next level. Like you know, Skype has video chat. Yeah. So does Facebook. Right. You know there's, there's, there's life, there's Periscope. Their Periscope had the live thing, meerkat, but the Facebook added Facebook Live. They took over. So like Facebook is awesome at that.

And I think Facebook Watch too is I think against YouTube play.

Yeah. Or here's another good example. Facebook has like if I message you on Facebook and I say let's meet at 2:30, it'll say put a calendar, an automatic calendar on Facebook like LinkedIn, like where the hell are you? You should have been doing that. Right. If. Because LinkedIn is, LinkedIn has bail has screwed up on the calendar piece and the group piece. The best business groups that I'm part of are on Facebook, not on LinkedIn. And so LinkedIn has some ways to go. That said, I've been investing a lot of time and energy on LinkedIn because in the last I would say six to 10 months they have really ramped up their stuff. So for example they've added native video which is great. So I do a daily video every morning at 9am they are now pushing more out the algorithm towards text based content on status updates. It used to be more about the articles but now it's not. Now it's like what's my status update in my personal profile? And the other thing they've done is kind of cool, is like, you know when you get, when you get messages on your phone and they actually have artificial intelligence that tells you, it gives you response based on the text above. And they're actually quite clever and creative and unique as opposed to just thumbs up and thanks so that's changed. So I'm seeing some great traction there. I've been getting better traction there than I have on almost anything else I've done. I will like my best LinkedIn status update got 90,000 views.

Wow.

3, 300 likes, 300 comments. It was insane. I never get that even on Facebook.

So it's always a function of competitive competition too.

Right.

Because there's so many people trying to own Facebook and it's so difficult to do so, and they have the most users that LinkedIn might be kind of more of a blue ocean.

Yeah. So I think LinkedIn has a lot of opportunity for those who want to be, because they're bringing native video now. So if you want to start doing videos, that's great. Facebook, I mean, again, Facebook is. When I talk to you, Facebook's a must. I mean, name me anything aside from email that has 65% household penetration, 85% reach. 85% of all people can be reached through Facebook. That's ridiculous. Especially in North America. That's huge. Nothing's even close. Except for email. But 100% of us have email. But we all suffer for email exhaustion. So I'm curious where email's going, because now I do a lot of work through work management tools like Slack and people are kind of getting off of email. That's going to be an interesting trend for me. I think email is here for a while, but it's going to change in terms of what it's for. It might be just a way of sending messages to subscribers and email marketing things. But when it comes to actually doing work, I think people are going to transition to Slack or Trello when it comes to social interaction and engagement and authentic connection, whether it's personal, professional. I think it's going to be Facebook and LinkedIn. I think that's the way to go. And I mean, I'm a Twitter guy and I love Twitter, but like, come on, Twitter.

Yeah, Twitter's hurting right now.

I mean, the only reason, I mean, Twitter, Twitter, for the first time in their history, had a decline in users and the user base, that's that. That's a huge problem. So, I mean, they had 327 million, 327 million users. Great. And the only reason they're actually still alive is because of Donald Trump. Because, you know, normally they would actually, you know, cut him off, but, you know, he's the one keeping them alive and generating interest. But they have to find a way to get more users. One of the things they just started doing is having 280 characters versus to 140, I'm actually in favor of that. I think it's a good idea because with 280, you can have more thoughtful conversations. You can have probably people sharing more thoughtful arguments. They can even share more creative pieces like a poem or a song or something that they care about. So I think that's a good step in getting more users. But they also have to deal with all the spam and trolls on there. And they got to figure that out because they still have things that they own. Twitter still owns accessibility. I can't message Lady Gaga, Barack Obama on Facebook or LinkedIn, but on Twitter I say, hey, what's up? And I feel like I have access to them. People love that. It's also very responsive. So when there's an earthquake or a good thing happened in the world or a bad thing happened in the world, or someone scores a goal in the World cup, right away someone's tweeting it with a video, a picture or a textbook. So Twitter has that super responsiveness as well. Although Facebook's catching up. So Twitter to me is there, but. And right now it has a few advantages, but I really, really hope they do a better job of it because right now there's lots of competition out there. But for me, that's where my focus energy is. I would say Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are my big three. I do engage a bit on Instagram and I was snapping, I stopped. Bold thing. I just stopped because the thing Instagram pretty much has all the same things that Snapchat has. And Snapchat is not really my target audience and I can't see my audience is. And that just to me sucks.

Right? Yeah, it's gotta be that two way dialogue. Okay, so now thinking five, ten years in the future, maybe less at this point, what do you think VR and AR is gonna do to social media and how is it gonna change? Right, because we're just talking about owning the attention channels. And you said that the key drivers are authentic communication and connection. I mean there's nothing more authentic than either being like one on one live with somebody, or maybe even a virtual space with somebody that's not right there in front of you. And then being able to interact as if you were there in real life, I think that's really where it's going. And then ultimately buying experiences will be dictated by that and abilities to interact with virtual environments will be dictated by that. And all the things that come out of that. I just see this like next phase is looking even more crazy. Like I see websites being dead in the next two, three years completely. Like it's gonna be virtual or it's gonna be relevant.

Yeah, it's really fascinating what's happening. And you know, people are using AI to create very customized, personalized, authentic connection with people. So the medium which they're gonna do it, you know, Facebook messaging is stronger than email marketing now and video is gonna be stronger, is stronger than anything out there. So there's gonna be this whole play on leveraging a video which with AR&VR, sorry AI and VR to really start connecting with people. I think there's gonna be, you're gonna probably gonna see situations where people will access someone like myself or yourself via video. But not all the time. Cause it's impossible for us to be 24 7, but it'll be something like, you know what, through AR, through AI and VR, you can connect with Brad or Bobby on this date at 2:00 clock Friday. And then I'm there and I'm answering questions and I'm engaging people. As opposed to, let's say 15 years ago where you'd have like a teleconference online or here when you have a webinar, things like that. I think there's going to be major, major currency with video access, live, interactive, with thought leaders everywhere.

Yeah. And I think there's also another huge opportunity. I'm just thinking out loud right now but like I always think like, how could I replicate myself or how could I have conversations with people that, you know, I've had the same like cryptocurrency and blockchain. So open the Pandora's box. Thousands upon thousands of people reached out to me about cryptocurrency and blockchain and I'm like, alright, cool. So I made a little cheat sheet and sent everybody the cheat sheet. And that's good. But then like they have other questions. Right. They want to continue down the rabbit hole. And I just, I kind of like, no, you know, I just set a boundary there. I would love to have like an AI that I could train to give people an experience that was like having a conversation with me where there's a big fat disclaimer on it that this is not me and not advice, you know, investment advice and all that good stuff. But then additionally allow people to have more a conversation and scale that like that's a huge piece. Right. Well, I started thinking about ways that it could be and that's interesting because.

You could take, you could take all the content you've ever written all the videos you ever done and use and.

Then just smartly direct people towards the thing that they need most. Yeah, there's a billion dollar idea and I got a million of them. I don't know how to make that real, but I would love to have a conversation with people who are building better systems to serve more people. Really, that's what I'm here to do. Better conversations, serving more people, bringing in the resources, the people, the connections, the systems that make that a reality so that we all can enjoy more time.

Yeah, no, that's great. And I think that's that time is going to be such an important value that we place, I mean, we all place on it now. But I also see a big transition in the workplace because I think that most people are not going to want to do the corporate hierarchical structure, the nine to five thing. It's changing so much. And so part of my message too is to help people empower themselves, to use the knowledge economy, to use technology, to use authentic connection to, you know, create a brand for themselves and a business for themselves where they don't have to, you know, do that whole nine to five, I'm going to call it the slave drive, you know, structure for the rest of your lives. Because no one, no one joins a company saying, you know what, I can't wait to be 50 years here for the next 50 years. No one, no one thinks that. They think they should be thinking less. 2, 5, 10 years and then get out and do your own thing.

Right. And just have that platform and those skills to actually build something of merit. And that would actually work. Because it's not easy to run a company.

Yes.

And I think that's on purpose in a lot of ways. Like it's really difficult to be an entrepreneur and be successful. And it's like the gauntlet, right? I call it the gladiator syndrome. Like 99% of businesses will be out of business in 15 years. 99%, yeah.

That's a lot.

And even businesses that have around for a hundred years are going under.

Yeah, yeah, well, and again, I think that's why. But a lot, there's gonna be a lot more of us out there that are helping these people do this. I mean, you know, 20 years ago there's less of us out there, but now there's way more. And I meet so many young people, millennials and Gen Z, who are totally not thinking long term with the corporate structure they want. And they're learning way more than we ever did when we were kids. They're learning far more. I've met some of the most brilliant 19 and 20 year olds in the past couple years. It blows my mind. So I hope my kids can be like that too. But yeah, it's actually quite amazing. So. And you know, there's a lot of others who are not thinking of these things at all because they're growing up in a structure that doesn't push that. They push the whole.

It's the Internet, Bobby. Anybody can learn anything they want to learn from whoever they want to learn it from. If that person's putting out content, they can find it.

Absolutely. Why?

I think net neutrality is probably the biggest existential threat to this current awakening of consciousness that we're having. Right. And I just want to give another plug for that. Guys, if you don't understand net neutrality, you understand that the pipelines by which we receive information and what attention we cultivate can be bought and sold, and that that is very heavily being regulated right now as we speak. Like, get involved in that conversation. Because net neutrality, guys, you don't know what you got until it's gone. Until the Internet that you knew or thought you knew is gone.

Powerful words, man. I love it.

So, you know, if you want to keep this going, this, this beautiful conscious train that we got going of Everybody growing and 19 year olds being able to tap into the wisdom of the ages and become so effective. I know 19 year olds that make a million dollars a year. It's insane. Yeah, it's incredible. And good for them, you know, and they're serving people at a high level and they're just having conversations that I get blown away by every time, and the people that have mentored them, like, it's just so beautiful to see. And it fills me such a sense of pride to be able to mentor people that are coming up in the world and don't quite get how it works yet, but they're eager and they're hungry and they don't have a lot of bad habits and we can just help them grow very quickly. And I know you feel the same way. So, Bobby, just to kind of wrap this up, what are some of the things that you would really love to see in the world and how can we help you find those? Like, what are the connections, the opportunities, the resources, the people, the systems that we can connect you to to move your mission forward faster in the world?

Oh, man. Okay. Wow, that's fabulous. You know, I. One of the things I'm looking to do is dypb, so discover your personal brand Personal branding is something really everyone cares about. I really want to take this and make it a little more global. So trying to take the message of personal branding and owning who you are and putting together a fantastic event that inspires millions and expanding beyond Canada, that's something that would really. I would love that because, you know, I'd love to be able to, you know, provide tools to help people, whether they're in school or whether they're starting a career or whether they're starting a entrepreneurship job to dive into the personal brand, figure out what it is, and then. And then align it to what they're doing. And then once they've aligned it, then have the tools in a toolbox per se to help them get to the next level. And to me, that would be something really value add for me. I would love to see that. I'd love to see. I'd love to inspire more conversations around. And again, I know this is not really corporate, but like more conversations about vulnerability and failure and health and body image and things that we all struggle with our whole lives. Whether I'm with my parenting friends, whether I'm with my entrepreneur friends, whether I'm with my family, we don't talk about those deep, deep, dark things that are really holding us back. How do we create a platform and engagement where people can talk about it openly with no fear of judgment and just learn, learn, learn and get support, support, support, Love, love, love. I mean, that would be an amazing thing to see. So those are some of the things that I think about, and I think the last thing I'm going to say is there's a lot of people out there that I think feel really alone. They feel alone in their house, they feel alone in their job, they feel alone behind a computer. If there's anything that we can do to create systems and train them to find more impact with where they're at and get to a good place and take that good place and go to great. That would be an amazing thing. I think there's a lot of people out there who are stuck like that, and I know some of them personally and I want to help them. But the challenge is they're not going to help. They have to help themselves.

And two to tango.

What's that?

Tuta Tango Gotta, you know, lead a horse of water. Can't make them drink that whole thing.

We have to find a way to get that message into them so they internalize it and they actually start acting and starting.

Yeah, everybody has free will, right? That's the end of the day. That's what I had to learn the hard way. My dad passed away and, you know, you didn't want to be saved, didn't want to be saved, didn't want my help, didn't want anybody's help, wanted to die. And he did what he wanted.

Yeah.

And when you understand that, like, you can let it go. It's like, hey, you know, you did everything you could. It's not your job to save everybody. But the ones you can save, that's the ones that matter.

Absolutely. And, you know, for me, for me, my story, legacy, and impact starts with my two kids. They're the greatest leadership journey of my life. And then myself in terms of better myself. And then once I better myself, I can better my kids, I can better my teams. I can better the world. That's what I focus on.

I love it. Bobby, how can people get in touch with you? Where can they find you online?

Sure, I'm everywhere, but typically you can find me on Twitter at Rayhan Bobby. You can also go to my website, Rayalan.com and you can also find me on LinkedIn and Facebook. Again, I'm pretty much everywhere, but using. Using the Rayhan Bobby.

Can you just spell that, too?

R A, E, H, A, N, B, O, B, B, Y. That's my main handle on everything. So just look for me that way.

Awesome. Thank you so much for being on the show, Bobby. And on behalf of all the marble makers out there, we really appreciate you being here.

Thank you, Brad. A real pleasure. And you are a dynamo. I love it. Great, great talk.

Thanks so much for listening to the Make More Marbles podcast. For more tips, hacks and strategies to create an amazing, abundant life in your health, wealth, and relationships, whatever that means to you, head on over to makemoremarbles.com, check out our cool explainer video about what we're about, and join our community of entrepreneurial game changers. We want to help you level up your life in every possible way. And don't forget to subscribe to us on itunes, Stitcher, or Google Play, wherever you listen to your podcast. And please do leave a review. Thank you so much and we'll see you on the next podcast.