How To Debut at #2 on iTunes With Escape The Rat Race Host Christian Rodwell

And we are underway. Welcome to Make More Marbles. My name is Brad Hart. I am thrilled, I am overjoyed. I am excited to have Christian Rodwell on the show today. Hello, Christian, how are you?

Hey everyone, how are you doing?

What's, what's up? What's happening, everybody? All right, let me tell you about seven reasons why I love Christian. I'm gonna gush for a minute. So Christian is a community organizer. He's also a devotee of Wealth Dynamics and Roger Hamilton. He's living in the UK and Portugal and going back and forth and doing all kinds of cool stuff. He's got the number two rated podcast to be right. Tim Ferriss, the 800 pound gorilla of business podcasting. That was about four reasons, but we'll skip to and we'll learn about them throughout the show. Christian, thank you so much for being here. I am so stoked to have you.

Hey, you're more than welcome, Brad. It's an absolute pleasure to be on the Make More Marbles podcast, which is.

A relatively new thing. So thanks for taking a chance on us and I'm really excited to follow in your footsteps. Hopefully I can, you know, maybe. I think we're all going to bump up against the glass ceiling, which is embarrassed.

But I'm looking forward to the big podcast party, wherever that's going to be held.

You know, Portugal's the place, man. I was just out there in Lisbon, living there for a month last year and during that time Portugal won the Euro cup and it went insane for three days. People were driving around with flags out their window and honking the horn and all this. I thought they were going to burn the down, seriously.

I know. And Ronaldo is now on every single TV advert, you know, promoting everything from razors to TVs to cell phones, the whole lot. Oh yeah.

You think he's going to be okay for the rest of his life or what?

Yeah, I reckon so.

Right on. Well, hey, let's start out with something fun. What are you excited about most right now, Christian?

Well, you know, I'm just excited about actually being here in Lisbon. I mean, I just moved out here about six weeks ago from London so that I've grown up in the uk. I did live in Australia for a year, you know, a while back, but predominantly I've been working in London. I've been working in the dance music industry for the last 16 years. And you know, we'll probably come on to the story. But yeah, I transitioned out of that and got to a point about kind of three, four months ago when myself and my girlfriend were like, hey, we're actually able to go and just work remotely and go to Lisbon and, you know, just get some sunshine, lovely food and just go and explore some new places. So we thought, well, let's do it. You know, we haven't really got anything holding us back, so let's go and do it. So I'm just loving life at the moment, and being in this amazing historic city and just everything that's going on at the moment is just so exciting. I'm just really loving all the people I'm connecting with all the time. And of course, it's summertime, so it's happy vibes.

You know, I feel this at a deep level because I lived there for a little while and, you know, I just remember the city being like San Francisco with all the beautiful painted buildings and the coastline.

Yeah.

And then on top of that, it was a third of the price. So, like, you couldn't beat it. Even with the euro exchange rate, you were making out like a bandit. People were so friendly and so welcoming. The fish always fresh. Everybody was just amazing there. I really enjoyed it. What has been the number one thing lifestyle wise for you, switching from the UK to Portugal?

Well, we've built in beach time, so every Thursday afternoon we're down a beach. So, you know, I structure my week around the different energies. You know, I know we'll probably talk about wealth dynamics and all of that, but I actually structure my week. So, you know, I have like Mondays, my creative day, Tuesdays, we call it a blaze day. So today is where I'm just speaking to people. I'm really active, I'm on the phone constantly and connecting in with people. Wednesdays is when I'm tempo. I'm just checking in, I'm doing my mentoring things. And then Thursday morning is my steal. So that's when I'm doing all my numbers, my accounts, and I really don't enjoy that job too much. So my reward is as soon as that's done, we're off down the beach on a Thursday afternoon. And that's something that was never going to happen back in London, you know.

You know, I love that so much because I think a lot of people take wealth dynamics and they say, all right, well, I'm this or that. And then they think, oh, I have to close off to all these other things. We all have these energies, right. It's a percentage function. It's really just you're answering a bunch of questions, so don't pigeons Hole yourself.

But.

But really, if you can split up your time and like you said, reward yourself for the things you hate, you're in a really good place to just crush it all week long and never feel stagnant. Like, I have a huge need for variety. I need to satiate that all the time. I don't know if you feel the same way. So doing the same thing over and over again, whether I love it or not, is never going to work. So it's really great that you've already learned that. So you got Monday's creative, you got Tuesday, which I'm glad that fell in because Tuesday, Thursday, you got Wednesday's tempo. Kind of following up customer service, making sure everybody's okay. I love you have to, have to, have to do things that don't scale, guys. Like, seriously, if you're gonna have a business, you're gonna be the front of it. You got to make sure that your team is doing things that don't scale. Checking it with people when they don't expect it, making sure you over deliver at every opportunity. And just the little things like that really care. You know, I'm reading a great book by Lady Gaga about how she turned her following into these little monsters, these super fans, by focusing on the 1% and making sure that they have the best experience possible with whatever she does. Right. And you have 33 million fans on Twitter, like, what are you going to do for all of them? But you can really hyper focus on that 1%.

Yeah, yeah, you got it. Exactly.

I love it. So, Christian, what would you tell the people at home who aren't familiar with kind of scheduling their week or they want to kind of change it up and try a new routine? What have been the one to two things that have been really just pivotal for you to make that switch and increase your productivity?

I think just really understanding that there is different strengths that we all have, and some of the jobs that we don't like are very easy to just push to the side and they mount up and they don't get done. And if we have to do lists, these are the kind of things that just keep getting pushed to the next day, the next day, the next week, the next month. But if you've got some time really scheduled into your week and you know that, okay, I need to get those things done. And when they're done, you know, I just feel good. You know, it kind of relieves the pressure about it. And when they kind of have a place, I've just found that it's just it's just made things so much easier for me. And yeah, the things that I didn't like doing, I just accept now, you know. Okay, cool. So I've got a half a day or I've got a couple of hours. I'm just going to smash through it and work on the things that I really don't want to do first. And then it only gets easier after that.

Right, right, right. And then you get to reward yourself by going to the beach, which is even get more leverage on that because we're always talking about wealth being a function of value times leverage. Right. And yes, you were doing your steel stuff. You can never really outsource all of that. But what are some of the things that maybe we could challenge you to outsource next? And what would you approach that?

Yeah, I mean, the obvious thing that comes to mind is obviously building your team. So I'm fortunate that I've actually now, you know, I've got a va. She's absolutely amazing, based over in the Philippines and actually, you know, gave her a token to take the wealth dynamics before actually engaging with her. So I knew exactly what she enjoyed doing and what her strengths were. And she's a lord. And for anyone that's not familiar with the terminology, a lord is really someone who loves the details and is someone who's really into the numbers, into optimizing and spreadsheets. And that's perfect because she really complements, you know, my side of things, which is more outgoing, connecting with people and deal making, which is my profile. So I'd say leveraging other people as well and trading off skills. So taking a little bit of the things they don't like and offering to help them with that. And then vice versa, they can help you with some of the things that maybe you don't really want to have to deal with.

I really like that it allows you to understand that as an entrepreneur, this myth of the solopreneur needs to die. Nothing of import or great merit has been done alone. And you guys need to be able to live in your strengths and really flow because otherwise you're going to be hustling 247 and burning yourself out. And honestly, you're not going to be doing as good a job as somebody who's in flow, who loves what they're doing, could do effortlessly. So by matching up with people who complement your strengths, you can do exceptionally well. So thank you for that reminder, Christian. And you're right on that cusp. I can tell you're always timing people, timing People, timing, people.

Hey, don't get me wrong. I'm still, you know, I'm still a long way from perfecting this, and I still spend a hell of a lot of time doing tasks which, you know, you can get to the end of the day and think, what have I actually achieved today? So I definitely still have those days, you know, Absolutely.

So. All right, question for you. How, as a deal maker, would you structure it so that people who don't have a lot of resources yet, or maybe aren't thinking about how they could be resourceful can go and connect those resources, opportunities, people, and systems together so that they can get the leverage to add more value to more people?

Yeah, I mean, I guess it comes naturally as a deal maker. That's, you know, almost, you know, the name kind of explains that role. And when I look back to my younger years when I was a teenager, I naturally, before I had any idea of kind of these profiles and what they meant, I was always the one that was connecting people together to go out clubbing, you know, so if there was a good event or party going on, I was naturally the one who was saying, hey, you know, this is like the cool thing that's happening on Friday night. Let's go, and getting all different groups of people together. So when I took the profile test and, you know, it came out as a deal maker, it just totally rang true. I was like, yeah, okay, that does come natural to me. So to answer your question, for someone to kind of leverage their skills, you have to get clear in yourself first and foremost. You know, you have to really get clear in where you can provide value. You know, as an entrepreneur, number one thing is always the value that you can provide. You know, if you can help enough other people get what they want. And you can do that in many different ways. So, you know, someone who, if you give them a blank piece of paper and tell them to come up with an idea, they just will sit there for an hour and they'll be like, oh, just don't know what to do. Someone else will just be like, we could do this, we could do that. What about this? What about that? And then someone else is just really comfortable with going out and talking to people, whereas someone else, on the flip side really doesn't want to go and talk to anybody. So I think it's just spending a little bit of time just actually, you know, educating someone that it's okay and that you can be successful in any way that you. Any kind of area you fall into and that you shouldn't try and be something you're not. You should follow your flow. Which is the whole message that, of course, Roger James Hamilton, you know, leads the whole Entrepreneurs Institute community with, is that just get comfortable doing what you're great at, follow your flow and find others to support you. And that's when you create this real strong charging river. And that's when you're unstoppable. Yeah.

And it's incredible what you can accomplish by being in your flow and living there. And I see this all the time. Like, you have these great community building skills, you know, and I've met very few people in my life. I think Mike Sherbakov is another one, you know, that people wouldn't know about. Like, that are kind of like just average guys doing an average thing or trying to be great or building their brand that aren't already like, you know, top of the top of the top. Because I find it's hard for people to really relate to that. Like, if you're talking about, oh, Tim Ferriss is a deal maker, while he's, you know, top creme de la creme, it's harder to relate to a guy like Tim. But even Tim started out somewhere, right? We're all kind of on the rise and doing our things differently for different reasons and different missions, different ethos. It's all a little bit different, but the same thing applies. Like, we need to learn how to make deals. We need to learn how to organize people and lead people. And that starts with self leadership. Like, you talked about loving yourself and knowing who you are and what you're great at. So I just want to kind of make this tangible for people. What are some of the things that through community building, you've been able to accomplish? And we'll use this as a transition into the podcast because I know a lot of people listening here at home want to know, how did you become the number two podcast on iTunes?

Yeah, well, I mean, that was simply a matter of leverage of the guests that I invited. So I actually, I looked online to really educate myself in how do you launch a podcast? And the podcast only came when it felt right. You know, you kind of, if you're in this entrepreneurial marketing world, you know, the steps which people lay out, you know, like, okay, do a podcast, write a book, you know, and you can get overwhelmed quite easily by thinking, okay, I've got to do all this stuff. So I just take it when it comes, when it feels right. And the podcasting for me felt like something that I would enjoy doing. And it's actually really turned into a bit of a guilty pleasure because I'm just like hand picking, hand picking people I'd love to have a conversation with. And it's unbelievable. The people that I've been able to actually reach out to. Some of the guests I've had recently, you know, I was fortunate to have Roger Hamilton recently. Dr. John Demartini, I've just recorded this week, and I'll give you the exclusive on this because I haven't announced this to anybody, but it's the ex CEO of Nightingale, Conan, which guy called Gary Chappell. And the guy is just an absolute legend. The conversation when he was talking, I was just like, oh, my God, this is fantasy. You know, some of the people he's worked with are the absolute greats, like Robert Kirsa, Dennis Waitley, Deepak Chopra, Jim Rohn, the absolute founders. And he's now actually working with Napoleon Hill Foundation. And for anyone who really loves personal development, I still believe that probably 90% of the content out there today all comes back to one book, and that is Think and Grow Rich. I think it just lays it down and the fundamentals don't change. You know, Jim Rohn always has a great saying like, you know, don't trust someone who tries to sell you a new antique. Fundamentals don't change. So that book, Think and Grow Rich, I believe it was 1928, 1926, around that time when that was published. And I just feel that obviously there's many, many amazing entrepreneurs out there now who are sharing great messages, who are building amazing tribes. But essentially, if you boil it down, the fundamentals are what was laid down by Napoleon Hill. So, yeah, the podcast has enabled me to connect with these people and just say, hey, would you like a conversation? Of course, now it's attracting good guests. We're just getting more and more exposure. And initially, when I kicked off the podcast, I looked online and I actually read an article from Ryan Dice, Digital Marketer, and they said, get yourself four episodes and record those four episodes and launch them at the same time. And if you have people who've got a big following who are your guests on that podcast, then you can leverage, obviously that. And so I had about 1.5 million social followers across those four episodes. And so when, of course, we launched it and I asked the guests to promote it, there was a big impact. And that's what shot the Escape the Rat Race podcast into number two, right behind Tim Ferriss on business category on itunes.

So a couple key points to take away here Guys is like, don't be afraid to reach out to people. Because you know what? At the end of the day, if you're a nice guy and you're well enough connected, and it's not like you're a newbie, you have some value or connection to provide, they're probably more than willing to have a conversation issue. I've been blown away by the people who have just been willing to jump on for an hour with me. I mean, the CEO of Virgin Galactic jumped on for a call.

I know, that's so cool.

I was like. I'm like, this person has no business, you know, whatsoever taking his time and using it on me. But I'm just grateful that he was. He saw the value in it, you know, and really showed up and was present for the entire call. And I was like, wow, this guy is fricking awesome. And it gave me that fuel. Because at first, even if you've been networking for 10 years like I have, and bumping elbows with all these guys, you just don't know if they're going to tell you to screw off. You just don't know. Right? But that's always a fear. You're like, you always have this imposter syndrome. Am I good enough? Is it going to work? Blah, blah, blah. But those are our two biggest fears. Like, you're afraid you're not going to be good enough, or you're afraid that people are going to leave you alone, or you're not going to belong, whatever it is.

Right?

You won't get love. That's really, at the end of the day, what it is. You won't be loved. It's just true. Guys, we live in an abundant world. There's plenty of people just like you who want to do things just because. And all you have to do is really reach out and ask in the right way. And by doing so, you can open up opportunities that seem ridiculous to most people. And you've done it, and I've been doing it, and I'm about to launch my podcast, and we'll chat more about that as a sidebar. But, guys, you know, you can't just jump into it day one and be like, I'm gonna get the best in the world. But if you. If you really start moving in a direction, people want to support you.

Yeah, I just want to add to that as well, Brad. You know, like, I consider myself, you know, not as much now. I'm only kind of, I guess, coming out. Not in a gay way, but coming out now. I used to Be pretty shy, you know, so it's not like I'm some real outgoing person, you know, And I would never would have considered this, you know, like just a few years ago. And it's amazing. Talk about this a lot when I interview my guests. But the importance of just taking that first step, and you've just said that, you know, like, the fear can hold so many people back. And I guess that's a real big thing with escape. The rat race is I'm encouraging and inspiring people just to take that first step. Do you want to be in the same position you're in now in 5 years time, in 10 years time, in 20 years time? Do you really want that? Well, the only way that's going to change is by changing something now. Take some small step, because that small step will give you the encouragement, motivation. It will kind of not chip away at that fear. And if you keep pushing yourself and that comfort zone, then you can push a bit more and a bit more and a bit more. And it's just so important. It really is. I was like that a few years ago and I've just chipped away, chipped away, chipped away. And amazing things are now starting to happen.

Yeah, that's why I love recording. I know you do the same thing. You're always making content, you're always doing things, and it gives you like a frame of reference because you don't remember every moment. But if you go back and you look at these frame of references, you can see how far you've expanded and grown. And then the things which become possible in your mind or you can imagine being possible, they expand and expand and more and more things fall inside your comfort zone. But it starts right here. Like, you start with a very small comfort zone in life and everybody needs to work to expand it.

Right.

Because no magic can happen inside your comfort zone. Only magic can happen outside your comfort zone. So, yeah, it's very inspiring and I'm always very grateful for our time together and thank you for having me on the show again.

That was great.

So, all right, let's switch gears a little bit because I think people, they kind of get the idea. The podcast, the community organizer, it's certainly within your strengths, but I think anybody could really do this. Nowadays, if you're willing to really add value to your audience, you have a clear message, you have a clear thing. You're trying to hit a target, if you will, that people will support you. Life supports that which supports life, really, you know, if it's valuable and specific and Considerate people will jump in on it. So let's kind of transition to your vision. What do you see? You know, 1, 3, 5, 10 years out for your brand, for your life, and what can we do? You know, connecting resources, opportunities, people and systems together to support that?

Yeah, no. Cool. So the vision is a real big thing. And I always tie in as well a little bit with goal setting. And if you read any personal development, it always begins with your vision. If you don't have a clear idea of where you're heading, how are you ever going to know how to get there and also when you've got there? And I've really struggled with this in the past. I've really tried so many different methods for goal setting and setting out a vision. And I've realized that some people are very good at looking into the future and getting that clear idea. Others are just very much more in the moment. They kind of live almost day by day. And I think I'm a bit more of that person. So I have an internal drive which I don't know where it comes from, but it's driving me to be the best that I can be. To now share everything that I have learned over a long stretch of time, 10 years or so. The journey I've been on of really believing that it is possible, whatever you put your mind to, it is possible. There's nothing that can stop you other than yourself. And I'm just pulling people along with me who want to come on that ride. Now, I believe that a lot of personal development stems out of America. If you look at the great names we've mentioned previously and even right now, today, Gary Vaynerchuk's and Lewis Howes, Tai Lopez, those big names, big followings, they're all from the US and you don't see that so much in the uk. And I don't aspire to be that level. I don't aspire to be a superstar. But I really kind of want to. I really kind of, I guess want to fly the flag a little bit for everyone in the uk, because everyone who comes to a skate the rat race, when you ask them, what's the book that kind of changed your life that really got you into this? Almost always the answer is Rich Dad, Poor Dad. That's closely followed by the 4 Hour Workweek by Tim and it's closely followed by Think and Grow Rich. So there's a huge following, there's a huge interest in personal development and that kind of thing in the uk, But I don't see Much of a movement here. And so I guess my vision is really just to. Just to be a place where people who are on that vibe can connect, can come together, can share, can help one another. And I don't just want to keep that uk. We're obviously now spreading internationally, but I'm just creating a tribe and I don't have a very, very clear, specific end goal of where I want to take this. I'm living very much kind of year by year, six months by six months, and doing it that way, and it's kind of working. And you know what? I'm not going to stress out over having that vision. I've tried a long time to really pinpoint where do I want things to be in five years. And, you know, it just doesn't come easy for me. And so, yeah, I'm just taking it as it comes. Yeah.

And I really like what you said because I think I struggle with this too. And I ask this question to people a lot because I think I'm looking for guidance here. Right. It's like I have an intention of what I'd like my life to be, but I also know a few things. I know it could end today. Right. I've lost so many wonderful people that are, you know, a lot younger than me that just, you know, their time was up. So I want to. I want to live the crap out of every single day that I possibly can. So that's one piece and then the next piece is like, I have an intention where I'd like it to go. I have a vision in mind. You have a desire, right. This cause set in motion. But I don't know if it's that specific or that it needs to be, I wouldn't want to know how it ends.

Right.

But if you can intend and then see what shows up, like you're putting out and you're bringing in, you have the opportunity as a deal maker, as this person who understands people and timing, to connect the right dots at the right time based on what you perceive to be the best and highest use of your time. So I really love that, and I think that that helps people get unstuck too, is like, don't necessarily have a huge vision. I mean, maybe you do, maybe you don't. Maybe that's your strength, maybe it isn't. But understand that you can have an intention and keep following and flowing with it.

Yeah, I think that's it. Yeah. Yeah. I think, you know, if you can do, really get clear on the vision. I do train. I do really Encourage people to get clear on that. And I think you can. You can certainly close your eyes and you can think, okay, well, if money was no object, what would my life look like? You know, how many hours or days a week would I be working? Where would I be living? Who would be around me? You know, what would life look like? I think you can get kind of an idea about that. But how you get to that, then that's obviously, you know, where the mentoring, coaching, and building a team and all of that, that's where that really has its place, is to help you kind of work backwards, I guess.

Yeah. And honestly, you know, you should be hiring mentors. You should be joining masterminds, because how are you supposed to get the experience and the guiding hands you need unless you have people who have been there before? The mentorship apprentice model has existed since the dawn of time. It will continue to exist because humans are wired to learn and grow and then contribute and lead others towards the similar result that they want.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly.

So, Christian, you know, you seem to have the dream life that you want.

Right.

And it's not bad or wrong or different than anybody else. It's just what you want. Right. What would you recommend anybody do that wants to live life as a creator of circumstance and not just a victim of circumstance? What would be their first step? Like, I'm tired, I'm fed up, I'm in enough pain, and I see enough pleasure down the road. I want to make a change. What do I do first?

Yeah, so that's been a question that actually has been posed to me recently since I've moved from London and to Lisbon. And it's a step that many people want to take. You know, a lot of people want to be able to work from wherever they choose, choose the hours, not have to be in an office at a certain time of day, have an hour dedicated for lunch, and then just told how much they're going to earn at the end of the month. So many people just don't want that strict regime any longer. And the entrepreneur movement, we know, is so strong now, and it's just getting stronger and stronger. So the question I've been posed is, how did I actually make that reality? How did I actually say, okay, I'm at a position now where we can go and move to Lisbon. We can choose the amount of hours we work, and, you know, we can go to the beach on a Thursday afternoon. And so I had to have a real think, actually, and go, well, what are the key things that I've done over the last couple of years, which have allowed me to do this now I've actually boiled it down into five real key steps. And the first one is certainly get clear on your values. Get clear on what it is you stand for. Get clear on what really excites you and what you really would love to do. If, as I said, if money was no object and you could get up every day and work on your passion, what would that be? And I think when we're so busy tied up in our jobs, we get just completely, you know, it's very easy to get completely involved in the company and everybody else's issues and not to have that free time to think about what do we really want out of life. So that is definitely step one. I think step two is get clear on what you're great and get clear on what gets you into flow. And that's where Wealth Dynamics comes in really useful. And there's many, you know, there's many other test strengths finders, Myers Briggs, I know, which you often refer to as. Well, it doesn't really matter which tool, you know, but just get clear on are you a creative person? Are you really enjoy doing the numbers? You know, are you really great at customer service and just checking in with people and grounded? So that's the second step. The third step I identified was the finances. You know, some people are just hemorrhaging money in their personal finances. How can you try and build a business when you can't even look after yourself first? So you know simple things about just keeping like a personal financial statement, just having a look, making sure you're not having still got like direct debits and standing orders coming out of your account for things you signed up for years ago, you can easily find, you know, a couple of hundred bucks sometimes. And you can then reinvest that into personal education, maybe a mentor, maybe doing some courses and learning about something you're really interested in. So that would be step three. Step four is the fear. And this is a biggie. So we know that the little voice in our heads often holds us back so much and tells us, you know, we can't do this. You're not good enough. What's going to happen when you haven't got that secure paycheck coming in? All these things that just hold us back, which are in our own heads. So really dealing with that and kind of unwiring ourselves. And then the fifth step that I identified was focus. So when you're clear about those other four steps and you've really got a handle on those. Then you should have a pretty clear idea about what opportunities or businesses are really suited to you, which you should be focusing on. And more importantly, the ones you should be saying no to. Because I've seen that people often go to seminars, go to courses, sign up for books, you know, this and that and that. And they're going round and round, round in circles, never getting anywhere, getting overwhelmed, wasting a lot of their time and investing a lot of money. And I guess that's my mission when I talk about this. That is my mission is to really help people. Because I was in that. I was in that same place. You know, I've been there, I've done things which I look back and I why did I do that? I really wish I hadn't. I can shortcut that. I know that I can. You can. There's so many of us that can help people accelerate their journey. Those that are switched on, those that have maybe read Rich Dad, Poor dad for the first time. If we can get to them, we can say, you know what, we can really help you get there quickly. And so that's what enthuses me. And that's why I'm building at Escape the Rat Race. So that would be my advice, would be to look at those five steps and you know, if anyone wants to connect and ask me any questions about that. But those are the steps that I've seen myself over the last couple of years that actually when I've taken action on those things, has made the biggest difference.

I love that and thank you for the very detailed and thought out response. I can tell you've thought a lot about that. And you know, I mirror a lot of that same fire. You know, like Mark Zuckerberg had a great quote. He says the only risk is taking no risk at all. Right. It's like letting life kind of just happen to you as opposed to going out there and forging a path. Because you can win or you learn, right? You don't really fail at the end of the day unless you frame it that way. Like it's not the end until you're dead. And even that we don't know, right? So, you know, I just love that. And getting clear on your values as the first step really creates your reality. Right? If you're looking at reality and you don't like what you see, well, you got to kind of go back a few steps and say, okay, what am I valuing? Which is what I'm believing, which is what I'm thinking, saying, acting and the habits I'm creating, which are creating my reality. Right? You can't just go back and say, oh, well, you know, this one thought or this one thing, it's like, what are you really valuing? You don't love what you're getting, then you got to start valuing something different. So I really love that. And that's where it starts. I just appreciate how deeply you think about things, Christian, and how generous you are with your time and explaining them. And I know that you will make your vision true. Because, you know, this. You know, these cultural differences that we all have, for example, they need to start to melt away. And we need to start to understand that we're all in this human thing together. Right? We're all in this global economy. You know, our actions really do affect one another. The separation is what's the illusion? And we need to be able to come from a place where we all help each other get better. Because really, entrepreneurship isn't like some club that nobody can belong to. It's the way of the future. Right? Entrepreneurs create more than they consume, and they create before they consume. And that's all it is.

That's it.

If you can do that. The world would change overnight if everybody just did that. Instead of showing up and saying, where's my paycheck? And I want to. And entitlement and all this stuff. And I just want to kind of live this low vibration existence. The world would shift rapidly. Would you not agree? Yeah. So I don't know how you feel, but I see so much vitriol and hatred and nonsense in the news today, which I tend to ignore most of the. Just because honestly, it doesn't have any bearing or effect on my life. It's just political power playing back and forth. And what the real question is is when are we gonna wake up and realize we're all in this together?

Yeah. Yeah, I totally agree. Yeah. The news, the media, we know it's there to sell papers, and I have no time for just focusing on that. You know, I want to focus on what I can change, what I can do, what I love, and that's it. You know, I sometimes feel a bit out of the game because people talk to me about, like, the new. Like, I don't really know what's going on. You know, I'm just kind of focused on what I want to know.

Well, and if you focus your, you know, your emotional state is really three things. You know, we can hammer this all day. But Tony Robbins thought, you know, it's your physical Change of physiology. It's your focus and what you're saying to yourself. And your focus is a key piece nowadays, especially because we're being bombarded with messages and texts and tweets and this and that. You know, all this stuff all the time that's just vying for our attention to sell more things, to click more, to drive more traffic more eyeballs, whatever. And you have to be really, like, hyper focused. And I never really got it, like when Tim used to talk about it, when. Because that was one of the books I read to start, like the four Hour Work Week. I read it seven times before I even met him, you know, and like, it's really true. You have to kind of be like this miser of attention.

Yeah.

What you focus on. So, like, you know, kind of riffing on that. What would be like three things that people could focus on? You know, because focus is the number, is the number five value that you espouse.

Yeah.

That above all else, if you focus on these and to the detriment of all others, you could live this kind of, you know, not monastic and no variety whatsoever, but it would be certain that you'd be trending towards success.

Yeah, yeah. So just when you were talking there, Brad, there's a quote, actually, which a woman who I interviewed on one of the podcasts, Jackie Tomes, she said, distraction is the enemy of success. And I just love that. That's really stuck with me, that. Because it really is. And, you know, we've probably all heard the focus standing for follow one course until successful. I think Robert Kiyosaki, you coined that one, or you certainly used that one in terms of my tips. Well, I think you only are distracted and only don't focus when you haven't quite found the thing for you. And that's a difficult one. In fact, it's probably one of the main things I see with my community members is that they're searching and they really want to focus on something, but they just don't seem to find the thing that connects that works for them. And maybe this is the issue. Maybe it's. And again, this makes me think of like an analogy that Keith Cunningham shared once, which I think sums it up really well, is that imagine you're in a shopping queue and you're lining up, you're getting closer and closer to the cashier, to checking out, and then you remember that you've forgotten something, and so you run off to one of the aisles and you go and grab that thing that you forgot. You come back to the queue and you're at the back of the queue again and then you wait and you wait and you get a bit closer, closer, closer to the front and then you remember something else that you've forgotten and you run off and you go and grab that again and you come back and you're back at a queue again. And I just see this happening so often and it's with opportunities, with courses, with, you know, people thinking that property is going to be the route to wealth and then it doesn't happen quick enough, you know, because they don't stick with it or because something else gets in the way. And so they say, oh, property doesn't work. And they then go and look at forex trading and devote a few months into that and then that doesn't generate results quick enough. And so they run off and look for the next thing, which maybe is an E commerce opportunity. And I just see so many people going through this cycle and I can understand why people do this. And in terms of focusing, I think the biggest thing is a mentor. You know, in that circumstance, I think the biggest thing is having a mentor who is either going to reign you in or just grab hold of you and say, just keep on doing what you're doing. Don't run off and try anything else. If you just keep on, you're going to see the results. But unfortunately, too many people run off before results come. So I would say a mentor is probably the key thing. Second thing I think is just being organized is just getting up every morning and spending, you know, however long it needs to be. Ten minutes, half an hour, just really getting clear on what your goals and outcomes are for that day. Just jotting it down. And I always like writing stuff down. Obviously we've got our mobiles and all sorts of apps now, but I think nothing beats just writing it down on a piece of paper and just having that with you, whether it's folded in your pocket, whether it's like a notebook on your desk, but just crossing that stuff off, but making sure that the stuff you're putting down on that notepad really is the most important stuff for that day, really is going to move you towards your goals for the day, for the week, for the month, for the year. And Jim Rohn, who's one of my favorite, you know, I call him my earliest mentor. Listen to Jim to death. You know, he was the first personal development person I was ever exposed to. But Jim talks about that planning, you know, talks about planning your week, planning your month and reviewing it. And I'VE actually put together something called the Escape Planner, which is something that I make available to my members, and I'm sure I can make it available to your listeners as well, Brad. And that's just a planner that I use and works really well for me. And it starts you off in the morning, focusing you on the important things for the day, and then it ends in the evening, which I think is almost more important by actually reflecting on your day because we're so busy and we can get home late at night and just go to bed. And if we've had a productive busy day, we can just sleep, and then the next morning we're just thinking about the day ahead. We haven't had time to really lock in those ideas, those conversations. And so just taking five minutes before you go to bed, just reflecting on your day, what are you really grateful for? Who have you really helped today? Who's really helped you? And the biggest question is, what was the biggest idea that I had today that if I implemented immediately, would have the biggest impact? And when you think about that, it's amazing. Some of the gems that you pull out, and as long as you write those down, you can then go back to those at the end of the week, at the end of the month, and they're there, you know, and you can implement and take action on those.

That's wonderful, Christian. Especially that last piece with the questions. I mean, the quality of your questions is the quality of your life. If you were just to ask yourself that one question and then make that a part of your, you know, weekly, monthly, daily, whatever, you know, action, steps moving forward, that would be incredible. Like, we just had really wonderful guest Cameron Herold on Thursday who talked about if you could get three things done that are really high leverage and momentum and moving the ball down the field every day, 250 days of work a year, 750 things a year. That's more than most people will get done in 10 years. In reality, like, you know, if they really aren't focused and they don't have a plan. So, like, just being able to capture these ideas that come up because inspiration is there, right? The spirit is everywhere. Right? It's all coming in at all times. We all have desires, we all have inspiration. But if we, if we close ourselves off to that, if we don't capture that when it comes, if we never implement it, well, like, life is giving you everything you want and need, but maybe we're not stepping into that. Maybe we're distracted. Maybe we're not paying attention.

Yeah, so sorry, just one, one very quick little thing to add to that, Brad, is I think actually maybe comes from Mark Joyner simpleology, you know, which, which has been going for a long time and kind of dipped in and out of that. But I think one thing I took from that, there's kind of three things I think has the three Ds like do it, dump it, delegate it. That's a real handy thing to follow. So if you've got a bunch of ideas, if you've got a to do list, just go for it and say, I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it. Now I'm either going to dump it, cross it off and just forget about it, or I'm going to delegate it and I'm going to action someone else to actually take care of that. So that's one cool thing. The other thing is a dream catcher, which is when we have these amazing ideas throughout the day which can very easily lead us off in a direction of distraction away from the priority task for that day. Yeah. So whatever it may be, whether it's a book, whether it's, whatever app you use on your phone, I've used Trello, I use Evernote, whatever it is that you use, just have a category, have a folder, call it Dreamcatcher. And so when you have a great idea, just stick it in there under Dream catcher and just forget about it and then come back to it, as I say, at the end of the week, end of the month, and then do your 3Ds and say, okay, actually was it a great idea? If so, let's do something about it. Or do we get rid of it or do we hand it to someone else? So yeah, just. Sorry, a little extra there that just.

This is the thing, Christian, is that all of, or any of these could be useful for the people listening at home and they may or may not fit into their particular strength strengths. But guys, pick a system, work the system. That's all I'm saying. Like pick, you know, one of these things because, you know, people like you made a great point earlier about how they go down a road and they never get to the destination or they keep switching and going back to grab that thing, which I'm guilty of in the supermarket, by the way. Everybody hates me on the supermarket line because I always forget at least one thing. But, you know, the old maxim rings true. You know, wherever you go in life, there you are. You know, if you go into this industry and that industry and this industry and this industry and you're trying to do all these different things. Are you moving around the world and you're just not quite finding your fit? Well, the key denominator in all those circumstances is you. So nothing changes until you do. Yeah, I just love that reminder. And then it's finally just the last quote that really came and rang true. I think it was.

Oh, God.

Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, like, Mark Twain said one time that there's two important dates in your life. The day that you were born and the day that you find out why. Don't stop digging until you find out why.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

So, Christian, you know, people listening at home, they kind of want to understand also who it is that they're speaking with. Right. They want to, you know, more so than just giving of your value and your time. And we all know that, you know, the successes that you've had garner a lot of respect and a lot of admiration. But we really want to also get to understand who you are as a person. Right. People will love you for your respect you for your success, but also love you for your failures. So what are some of the trials and tribulations? Can you give us a little bit of a snapshot of your hero's journey thus far and help us ground these two like a real man who has gone through some stuff?

Yeah, absolutely. So I touched on it at the beginning that actually my background is in the music industry. So when I was, I guess, kind of 17, 18 at college and in the UK you kind of do something called GCSEs and then you do your A levels, and then after that it's time to go to university. And so I was just finishing or just about to take my A levels. So I guess I was coming up to 18 or around about that age, and I didn't want to go and spend another four years studying. I just want to go to university and do something for four years or whatever that I just really wasn't that passionate about. So the one thing that was really, really, you know, floating my boat at that time was dance music, clubbing, DJing. And I bought my Technics turntables, I was buying vinyl, and there was just a really good club scene going on in London. This was like 1998. And so, you know, I was like, okay, well, this is the direction I want to go. And so I started calling up the record labels which I was buying my music from, and just asking them, you know, is there anything I can do to come in and, you know, package mate, like Package records and send them out for you, answer the phones, anything like that. And a couple of them said, yeah, sure, come in, you know, spend an afternoon. So I was kind of like taking my afternoons off college and heading up to London, working for a couple of record labels. And, you know, I was sending records out to some of my idols at that time. People like Carl Cox, Paul Oakman, Fold, you know, Pete Tong, these real kind of great club DJs. And for me, that was just like a dream come true. And, you know, I still encourage people now who are looking to almost break free of the 9 to 5 lifestyle, almost to follow those same steps. It's like, who do you admire? Who are your role models? Who's out there doing what you want to do? And then as we've said earlier, it's amazing what things can happen when you actually just go and connect, when you actually just ask, can I help? It's as simple as that. These people are busy. It doesn't really matter what stage you're at, what industry people who are successful, you know, if you approach them the right way, they'll respect that and they'll see if you're hungry. And I think they'll look to see if you've got a passion and if you've got passion and you're genuinely coming from a good place, I think they'll say, okay, you know, here's a little like tester, here's something that we'll just give to you. And if you do a good job and you're a nice person and you don't pick pissed them off, then that can lead to something else. And so that was naturally how I just started off back then. And that led to actually a really successful career in the dance music industry. We had lots of fun, lots of traveling, lots of parties. And that then got to a point after 16 years, which was in 2014, where I'd lost my passion for that. I didn't really enjoy turning up to the office any longer. And from the outside, the traveling looked great, the parties look great. My friends were like, you've got the best job in the world. But from the inside, it was just a job. You know, I was earning about the same money every month. I was doing the same kind of things, and I just didn't want to do that anymore. So I really got to that cross points in my life where I was Crossroads was like, you know, this is all I've done. What do I do next? You know, what can I do? And that's when I went on that journey of self discovery, of really pouring myself into personal development, which I'd always been a fan of, but really looking, okay, well, what are the options out there? And when you go to the Internet, we all know you're just bombarded with, you can be a millionaire doing this, you can earn $10,000 in a week doing this. And you're just like, oh my God, like, who do I trust? Where do I turn? What do I do? And so I went through the pitfalls. I invested in some mentors, which I've put my trust in. I actually chose property as my path. So when I left my job, I actually thought, okay, property is the way I want to go. If you look at the rich list, 90% of people have built their wealth on property, so that's a good direction to go. And I invested, as I say, in a mentor and I hoped that he was going to help me really understand that world and build the business building a property sourcing company. And things didn't work out as I expected. And So I invested 12 months of my time and a lot of money and energy into that. And at the end of that 12 months realized that, you know what, property isn't actually my passion either. And so as hard as it was, I had to decide, okay, am I just going to like keep pushing on to keep my pride and because I told everyone in, you know, all my friends that I'm going to make this big change and this is what I want to do and, and you know, I just had to say, okay, it's not working and I'm just going to draw a line in the sand. Now fortunately, in the background, I had also set up a monthly meetup event. And I called that Escape the rat race. And I thought, you know, if just a few like minded people come together, we can have a coffee, share some ideas, then that'll be cool, I'll be happy with that. And so I expected like four or five people to turn up to that first event. And 40 people turned up that first night. Yeah, it was really amazing. There was such a nice bunch there. And I thought, okay, this is pretty cool, so let's do another one next month. And so I scheduled another one. Another 40 people came, some of them brought her friends. And I just kept doing that every month. And by the third month, actually I was inviting like world class speakers who were sharing the stage with Tony Robbins and things like that, you know, just because they were liking what I was doing. And so I think that boils down again when you do Something that genuinely is your passion, whatever that is, it shines through and you attract people. No matter what you love, there's going to be other people out there in the world who love that too. And so no matter how niche you think it is, it's probably better we know that the more niche you get, actually, the better it is because it's less crowded and you have almost that stronger following. And so, yeah, there were definitely pitfalls. It's been a roller coaster ride the last couple of years, I won't lie. Times when finance has been real tough and I've woken up in the morning just really just questioned, what the hell's going on, what am I doing? And that's just part of the journey, I genuinely believe now after speaking to so many successful people, that is just part of the journey. And you've got to be a certain kind of character, I think, to ride through those rough patches. And it comes back again. If you've got a mentor, they're going to pull you through, they're going to help you with that.

Yeah. And that goes back to our point initially is like, stop doing it alone. Right. There's so many people out there that, if you just ask, would be willing to help. And you can hire people too. Like, if you have a specific person in mind, there's no shame in taking some money, investing in that relationship, because ultimately people pay attention to what they pay for. Right. And if you're going to hire somebody as a client, they're going to make sure, because now their reputation's on the line, that you get everything you need. And as long as you're willing to show up and do the work, then you're going to be successful. That's it. Showing up.

Right.

It's inevitable. But life's going to test you each time and say, hey, you know, are you really this person now? Are you really this person that doesn't give up in the face of adversity because life's giving you the challenges that you need to grow into that person so that what you need, want and desire showing up effortlessly?

Yeah, exactly, exactly. If it was so easy, everyone would be doing it. Right. Exactly.

And I don't know if it's easy or not. Like, don't wish life to be easy, wish for yourself to be better.

That's exactly right.

Life ain't changing. You know, you can argue with reality what you want, as long as you're willing to be wrong 100% of the time. Right.

Level up. Yeah. I should just add as well, you Know, I talked about their first mentor with the property. That didn't work out, you know, but. But you can't focus on the bad things there. You've got to look at. Okay, well, it didn't work out the way I expected, but actually, the connections that I made in those 12 months, the things that I learned are invaluable. And so whilst it didn't take me to the destination or in the direction that I expected it to, after 12 months, so many other positive things came as byproducts, and that has now definitely supported me in the direction I am going to.

Absolutely. And I just want to take a quick moment to thank the community for jumping in. This has been actually one of the best attended Facebook lives that we've done. I've done a lot of these podcasts live.

Oh, we have some people on. Do we?

Yeah. Tony, we have Gustavo jumped on Ryan, Chris, Matt, Mary. I just want to give you guys all a quick shout out. Alana, Jonathan. Dave. Dylan. Jeremy. Tyler. Brendan. Greg. Nicholas. Andrew. Again. Clint. Jessica. Andrew. Elias.

Shaq. Brad.

Jonas, Marcus. Becker. You guys are awesome. Thank you, Joshua. Thank you, everybody, for showing up. If you have any questions, we're gonna just take a minute right now to answer some of the questions that people are having. I know it's a work day. I know people are busy, but it's really great that you guys all came out to show our support and to learn from Christian. And these are just. This is like the time, like, you ever just know when you're in flow and you're just like, this is the thing I'm born to do right now at this stage of my life. And I'm just so grateful. I never, ever, ever stopped being grateful for this opportunity to have people like you on the show and to provide, you know, insights and wisdom and kind of dig a little deeper and pull on these threads that pull out these amazing gems that then we could share with the world, because we are changing the world. Every single minute, every single day, we're shifting something. Even if it's just a vibration. Right. Even if you just. Little ripple.

Yeah, yeah. You know, and straight back at you, Brad. You know, because I appreciate so much the opportunity to be able to share this with your friends and your community as well. It's a real honor. You know, I love everything that you do, and I'm just so excited for the future and what it holds, you know, it's just. It really is. Every day is just exciting.

Yeah. It's a beautiful thing. So you mentioned you had A gift for the audience as well. The Escape Plan. Where can people find that?

Sure. So the Escape Planner, it's actually kind of a little bit of a private gift for my members, so I have to think about how I can quickly make this available. So it's going to be through my website, essentially, which is ETRR Online. And, you know, certainly if you go on the website, you're going to have the opportunity to do a couple of things. One is to join the Escape the Rat Race private Facebook group. So we've got about 850 members in there, and that's our little private community where obviously we're supporting one another, sharing ideas, helping each other along. We've also got links to the podcast there. So if you go to ETRR online podcast, you can check out all the episodes and, you know, hopefully subscribe and enjoy that as well. With regards to the Escape Planner, I think the best thing is if you just scroll down to the bottom of the website page, you'll see an opportunity just to enter your name and email. Just join our list and I'm going to make sure that anyone who joins the list following this is going to get a copy of the Escape Planner.

Thank you very much, Christian. And then if people have any connections, resources, opportunities, people or systems that they'd like to forward your way, because this is the Make More Marbles podcast, after all. We're all looking to make more for everybody. How can they get in touch with you?

Yeah, just drop me an email. So it's Chris C H R I S @etrr online. Or you can go to Facebook, ChristianRodwell, and just add me as a friend and then drop me a message there.

Right on. Any parting thoughts for the audience? We're going to have to wrap this up here in a minute. I have very tight interviews lined up, but I'd love to hear any kind of parting thoughts or anything you want to dig into for the last few minutes.

Well, you know, I think we've. We've really covered a lot today. So a lot of the things that I'm so passionate about, I think have come out today. I think it all begins with just getting really clear and comfortable in yourself first. You know, we get wrapped up with everything going on around us. And one of the quotes from Dr. John Demartini when I interviewed him recently, I forget the exact quote, but it was to do with, if you are not sure about yourself internally, then you'll just be affected by everyone externally and their thoughts and what they think is right. And so be really clear in yourself first. And that's my message. You know, just, we've all got a genius inside us. Just get clear on what yours is and don't be shy to share that with others.

Beautiful, Christian. They can find you@etrr.I online or on itunes. Stitcher, whatever your poison is, you can check out Escape the Rad Race. It is an amazing podcast. I am very blessed and grateful to have been on an episode. So check that one out, too. We had a great time.

Yeah. Episode eight. Yep.

Episode eight. There you go. Christian, thank you again for being a part of the community. Thank you so much for taking your time to jump on today. And I know it's a little bit later in Lisbon, so.

Hey, don't worry. I've got a beer. I'm already.

All right, get out there and party. Work is done for the day. Enjoy, everybody. Escape the rat race. And if you're new to make more marbles, please do subscribe. I appreciate you for listening. Take care.

Thanks so much for your time today, Brad. Thanks, everyone, for listening. I hope you got some value from that.

Yes, sir.

All right.

And we are.