The Most Powerful Leverage in the World

Business Brain, episode 538 for Casual Friday, April 5, Walk to Work Day 2024. Greetings, folks, and welcome to Business Brain, the show where we take a few ideas, concepts, thoughts, we dissect them, we analyze them, we use them to tune our business brains so that every time we get together is valuable time together. A sponsor for this episode is Shannon's upcoming Escaping employment book@capingemployment.com. he'll tell you more about that in the episode here. For now, here in Durham, New Hampshire, I'm Dave Hamilton.

I jumped in and stepped on Dave. It's only 10 years. I'm still working on this stuff. I'm still out here in Lafayette, California. I'm Shannon Jean, and Happy Casual Friday.

Happy Casual Friday. I figured this would be a good day to talk about Cheech and Chong.

Oh, you can't get any more casual than that, dude.

You know, it sounds. That is their image, isn't it?

Yes, I understand, but they are businessmen. Yes, correct.

I. I saw. While I was at south by Southwest, I saw the. The world premiere of Cheech and Chong's last movie.

Oh, yep.

They were there. They did a Q and A after the film. They showed up in this big, like, Cadillac that was smoking and had.

Of course.

Right, yeah, right. All the things. And the movie is a documentary about them and their career and their relationship and all of that stuff. Right. So it's really. It was an interesting thing. They, you know, they. The way they started out was actually. They were. Tommy Chong was a musician, and I've actually met his daughter's daughter, winds up in New Hampshire. She's come to see some of the shows, the theater shows that I've done. But he. And he realized that, you know, touring. And I'm oversimplifying it here, but, you know, touring with a band was a lot more of a logistical headache than it was touring as a comedy duo, because as a comedy duo, you only need two people, and that's it. And so there were more of them. They really started as kind of a clone of another comedy troupe, and there were more of them. And one by one, people sort of left, and then there were two. And so they started just doing their thing, but they weren't doing the style of comedy that we know them for, until one night when they had written some weed jokes. Jokes about cannabis and all of that stuff. And they told them, and they got huge laughs. And they said in the movie, they're like, you know, we're comedians. Most comedians at that time. And I Think also at this time it was, it's not, I don't want to say most comedians, but it's not uncommon like it is amongst musicians to find people smoking cannabis. Like, if you're going to be a musician and hang out with musicians, whether you choose to or not, you, you just know that you're going to be around. It's going to be. Yeah, it's going to be there. And the same is true in, in comedy, in the comedy world, according to them and others, but certainly according to them. But they said, you know, we weren't smoking any more weed than anybody else was. We just were telling jokes about it. But also interesting. We weren't high on stage and nobody else was either. He's like, you know, we would go do our job and then afterwards. Yeah, that's when we would enjoy it. Characters they played, but they, they really, they found this just became their niche. And obviously like then they said we never had any idea that it was going to grow into this thing that it, I mean, this is, you know, beyond anyone's wildest dreams that these, this comedy duo that started talking about weed would become this brand. Right.

And it really saw an ad for the teaching Chong gummies.

Yeah.

Up on online.

I love that. I like CBD a lot. It actually, actually I wound up having it prescribed for me years ago, the Cheech and Chong CBD gummies, which they don't make anymore. But maybe after they hear this episode, they will. They don't make the pure CBD gummies anymore. They had these CBD nano gummies that I loved those. They were some of the best formulated CBD gummies that I ever found interesting. Yeah. But they stopped making them, I guess because they weren't selling. And so now they sell the ones that are like a blend of CBD and THC and all the other stuff. But yeah, it was really interesting and the movie has some great business lessons because they made some bad decisions, as often happens early in a career where, where it is, at least back in those days, you couldn't really self promote and, and make it like you can now. Not that, not that that's easy, but it's certainly more possible now because you can be your own distribution now. Yeah.

You'd be a creator.

Yeah. Like we are here. You know, like back then they, especially when they did their first movie, it wasn't even their idea to do the movie and they didn't get very much from the movie at all, even though the movie was earning millions, you know, and so there's There's. There's good business lessons in this movie.

In fact, is it going to be streaming somewhere?

I would imagine so. I don't. Yeah, yeah. I'm looking to see who. If anybody, picked it up yet. I don't see any distribution partners listed on the south by Southwest page for it, but that doesn't mean anything at this point, especially a month later. They're Cheech and Chong. There's no doubt in my mind that they already had distribution for this movie before they started producing it. Yeah. So, yeah, keep an eye out. It's called Cheech and Chong's Last Movie, but really fascinating story. And I would call this a business story movie more than anything else. I mean, if you're a fan of Cheech and Chong because of their work, you will find interesting moments or whatever, I would presume. But, like, it's a story about two guys that created a business together, you know, that's awesome. Against all odds, kind of.

Yeah.

Yeah. Which is, you know, a typical story, but it's good stuff. But it was. It was good. It was really. And I. The part that blew me away was the, you know, the weed thing was just almost an accident. Almost really cool, you know, And I.

Love the alter ego thing. Right. Yes. Oh, we're playing characters. We don't walk around with our smoke coming out of our car.

Right. They do when they're in the public eye.

Yeah, you got it.

Exactly.

That's cool. Yeah, I love it.

That was cool.

I love it.

Yeah. Yeah. You want to tell us about escaping employment again?

Yeah. Let me talk about this. My upcoming book, Escaping Employment. It's basically the story of my life, but broken down into lessons, things that I've learned based from not working for anybody ever. And, you know, we always joke around the show here that we are patently unemployable. Yeah, that's certainly true in my case. But I. I break it down into just lessons that I learned along the way. You know, great successes that I've had and also terrific failures that I've had that have taught me a lot. This will be my fourth book, and the. The concept is just to show you how it can be done and at different stages. If you're just getting started, like out of school, you don't want to work for anybody. There's. I talk about that a lot. Or if you're an aspirational corporate person that wants to go out and start a business, I talk about, you know, all different ways to do it and things that work for me. If you go to escapingemployment.com, you can get on the wait list for the book and you also get a free chapter when you enter your email address. And I'd love to get your feedback and we'll keep you posted on how it goes. It's going to get published this year.

Amazing. Escapingemployment.com folks go there now. Sign up on Shannon's wait list and you'll. You'll get extra stuff along the way. Follow the journey.

You got it.

You mentioned a different kind of leverage to me, Shannon.

Yeah, I. I love the concept of.

Leverage, you know, of course.

And when you talk to people, it's really important in business. And there's so many different types of leverage. And like, people think of the common ones, like, oh, I leverage with real estate and, you know, as I build up equity, I leverage it somewhere else, or I leverage debt. I borrowed a bunch of money, got an SBA loan and that. Leverage, leverage. But I think that the greatest leverage in the world is right at your fingertips and it doesn't cost you a dime. And I'm a perfect example of how I've used it to leverage. Not a great skill set, especially when I first started. Not an expert at anything. And not that, I mean, I'm a hard worker, but. Yeah, you know, I mean, I'd like to cut corners and not really kill myself. And there, I think. So what I'm going to talk about, this thesis is that the most potent form of leveraging, it's made up of three things.

Okay.

It's made up of optimism, Having that positive attitude all the time.

Persistent optimism.

Yeah. Just. You can't stop it.

Okay.

Being able to smile often, even in the face of adversity, that quick smile, it just, It's a big deal. And I'll tell you why. And then maybe the most important part of this three, this trifecta here is having the ability to lift other people up and help them.

Yes, right.

That. Those three things. And I broke this down on a post on X. You can just, you can find me. Just search for Shannon Jean or we'll put it in the show notes, too. And so the first one is pretty. It's. It seems so basic, you know, is your attitude and being an optimist. And I will tell you that I know it's. It comes very natural to me and I'm just used to it after all these years.

Yeah.

And. And it's hard sometimes. It takes effort and you got to work at it. But when you're the positive person in any relationship, whether it's your business, a group, a peer group, whatever it is.

People want to be around. Well, a. People want to be around you, but if you're the negative person, people want a distance from you.

Correct.

Yeah.

When you're positive and you can have that framework, of course things go wrong, but you can also. I mean, we were just talking on the Wednesday show about the things I learned losing a million bucks.

Yeah, right.

Well, that's. But I make that into a positive.

Story now because that's just my persistent optimism.

Correct.

Yes.

It brings you better friends, better employees, better customers, better suppliers. It just attracts a. Naturally. Attracts a. For lack of a better phrase, higher caliber. Yeah, higher caliber. I was going to say higher quality, but, you know, it's kind of subjective, but. And you can learn it.

You know, this is a teachable, learnable skill. It really just takes one decision that you're gonna do this and, and commit to it. And, yeah, you know, you'll, you'll miss it sometimes. But, I mean, even. It's because I'm the same way. Like, it. I, I, as you were going through these number first. Yeah, I do that. Okay. Smile on the face of diversity. Oh, my gosh. Like, that's who I've been through. I had to learn how to. Not all the way through, but I had to learn that, like, as a teenager, really. And then the ability and I would say, and willingness to lift other people up that I only really learned in the last, I'll say, 10 years. And boy, howdy. Oh, man, has it been huge. It's huge. Right? And I've always, I, I've always wanted to help people like that. And I think that was enough of this to keep me, you know, moderately successful. Right. That, you know. Right. My willingness, my interest, my eagerness in helping people fix things. Right. You know, do things, whatever. Like, you've got a problem, I'm going to help you with it. But that's not the same as lifting other people up. And as soon as I started to lift other people up, it was like.

Oh, it comes back to you.

It's exponential.

It is, it is. And so, like, this is learnable, but it's also, like Dave said, you do have to be active with it. It needs to be front of mind.

Yes. You're gonna do this. Yeah, yeah.

And that's if you, you may have to write down notes like, you know, Dave and I use these quartet things that go in between our keyboard and our monitor, and it's like a Piece of glass and you write notes on it.

I love quartet pad.

So do I. Yeah. I often write, you know, positive messages to myself. One of the most powerful ways to become an optimist or to trick your brain to think more optimistic is to replace a couple of words. Replace the word have with get. So instead of I have to go here, you get to go. Instead of I have to get up at 6am or 5am to catch a flight. It's like I get to get up at 5am man, it's beautiful in the morning. Yep, the sun's coming up, whatever it is. So it. And you know, I can say it sounds easy, but try it for a while. Replace have to with get to and.

Just think like this. I like these brain hacks. Replace.

It works. Write it down. Put it on a piece of paper.

With get to too. It's interesting because on, on Friday I was in la. I was flying back that afternoon last Friday for from Podcast Movement. And we always record Matt Geek Gab. Our sort of standing time slot is Friday at 9am Eastern time. And I looked at my calendar and I'm like, you know, I am going to be available at 9:00am Eastern Time on Friday and I'm also flying back that day, but I'm not flying back. Like my flight wasn't until 1 o'.

Clock.

I'm like, well, we're going to be done with the show. My flight wasn't until 4pm Eastern. So I started reframing this day in my head. It was like, okay, well I'm going to end the day on Eastern time because I'm going to be home, so why not just start my day on Eastern time Now? I didn't end the prior day on Eastern time, so I got about four hours of sleep, mind you, before we did the show. I have video evidence that I did the show. I have no real memory of doing the show, but that's okay. It's fine. My other, my co host, I did a lot of prep and my co host carried, shouldered the load and so great. Yeah. But I was like, once I like at first looking at this, you know, two weeks out, it was like, oh man, that's going to hurt. And. But as I once I would think the same thing, but once I said, no, this makes sense, let's just do it. Once I got into that frame and really even once I got to California and I set up my podcasting set up there and I'm excited about this new app that I'm using to mix things. Sound desk for the Mac. It's amazing. I got excited. I'm like, oh, we get to record the show remotely. I have this cool setup that I really like all of those things. And I did. I woke up and I was kind of bleary eyed and like, whoa. All right. This is harder than I thought. But we're doing it, so here we are. But. But other than the, you know, kind of obvious issues, I was positive. Even with the obvious issues, I was like, I'm going to make this work. Like, I got a story to tell and I get to do this.

Yep.

Yeah.

Language is a real important part of this.

I agree.

Reframing language. And I'll give you a good example. Years ago, if you like the artist Beck, which I like a lot, you've told this song.

I love this story.

He has a song that's called Loser. And in that song there are three words. The first word I'm not going to say because I can't let myself think this way. It's something a loser. And, you know, the. It has the word I am as part of that phrase. And I don't think that way. So when I sing that song, I replace the word. You know, I. I'm your.

Yep.

I always think I sing that song. You're a loser, baby. Not I can't think the other way. It just, it. It's a. You know, my inner judge has been so fine tuned over, you know, 30 years of thinking this way that I just replace the words. Another powerful word that I use all the time is yet.

Yes. Oh. Adding yet to the end of a negative thought. Or I don't know how to do that.

I don't know how to do that yet. Because I'm going to learn how to do it. Or, you know, I'm not good at that.

Yes.

Yet you will get better. So these are tricks, but these words are really powerful. You may have to say them to yourself thousands of times. Oh, sure. But eventually it just becomes natural.

It becomes automatic.

Automatic.

Like any other habit.

Like any other habit. And it starts picking up people around you and you're hanging out with more positive people because you have more in common with them. Because you speak a similar language. Yes, you smile more, which is very basic, but you really should do it because everybody is attracted to a big smile.

There's like endorphins that get released when you smile. Like it's a physical hack. Yeah.

And so this last piece of this massive leverage that I've used my whole life is lifting up other people. You want to be the positive one in the group. Especially when someone's telling you something they're dreaming about, like, I really want this, or I'm going to try this new thing. I'm going to start a business. You want to be the one that's like, that's incredible. I love hearing that. How can I help you if you go to.

Costs nothing to cheer someone else on. And it pays dividends.

Most people don't do it.

That's why it pays dividends. It also costs nothing to say please and thank you, and yet I would say that pays even more dividends than raising other people up.

You got it.

It's crazy. Yep.

Yeah. So these three things. And, you know, I'm. I'm the walking example of how. Because I did not have much. I start, you know, we started with nothing.

Yeah.

Built things up over time, built relationships. My whole built, you know, success and building wealth has all been about people's relationship with me.

All of it. Yes.

And these three things, helping them be smiling all the time, you know, quick with a laugh, being an optimist, that it overcomes so many obstacles and, well.

At least it doesn't change what's possible versus what's not possible. What it does is it allows you to experience whether or not something is actually possible.

Well, I'm a believer. I firmly believe that reality is flexible.

Well, that's it.

And so that's what it does, is you're kind of pushing and you're also.

Well, I think reality is flexible in the negative. There are things that you can. Like there is the finite result of the best outcome is always there. But if you convince yourself that the best outcome for you is 20 notches down from that, then you are correct. You have molded your reality. Yeah, right.

That old phrase, whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right. Right, Exactly.

Now, you know, if I say I know that if I, you know, jump off of my deck, I'm going to land on the moon. Like, I'm pretty sure there's a physical reality that prevents that from coming to fruition. Right. Yeah, But. But, you know, beyond accepting that there are certain limitations of the world, find out what they are. Don't just assume, push and push.

Widen your.

Yeah.

You know, like, you know, they say to. If you want to be stable, you got to kind of. You got to widen your stance. Well, to a tr. To be lucky, you need to have like a big net and. And catch more things wide and stuff comes towards you. These three things are one of the ways that you make that net wider. Because if somebody's thinking about an opportunity they want to give to someone, and the choice is between some curmudgeon, grumpy curmudgeon, negative, and Shannon, who's happy, optimistic, super helpful. How can I help? Is my mantra. I know where it's coming. It's coming to me.

Listen here.

I've done it over and over and over.

Here's a thing. And I think perhaps by osmosis. This is how I learned to, you know, help lift other people up, is by hanging out with you. We talk every week. And I know that the curmudgeons, they're not my competition for the world's resources, because the resources, if it's me versus the curmudgeons, the resources come to me. It's just how it is. I win every time. Not every time, but, you know, 80% of the time, more than I need to.

Yeah.

You are my competition in the world. Well, right. Because you're the same way. The good things come to you. Now, this isn't an accident, but I want the good things to come to me. So I gotta. I gotta outdo you and you gotta outdo me. Like where?

You know, and the pie is plenty big.

It's plenty bigger niche.

Yes. I had a great call today with a guy that's in the hotel business that he was talking the same language about doing this and upgrading, helping out people, this. And I could just see it. And I was like, man, you are. You are on your way to the moon. You're going to be so successful because those traits that, you know, they're attractive. Yeah. And that's not to mitigate that. There are bad days and there are bad things that happen to all.

You still got to do the work.

You have to do the work. And sometimes you have to have that alter ego that shifts into. You know, when I lost a million dollars, I still had to go to work the next day and motivate my employees and. And find new suppliers and attract customers.

And if that more than the day before.

Yeah, more than before. So if. And if that weight that was pushing down on me, I mean, I can remember, you know, we used to throw these huge Halloween parties. And I found out about this. This problem, we'll call it the day. We were having this huge party, of course, and that night, I was like, in my head, and I had all these people, we used to fight hundreds and hundreds suppliers, customers would come to this massive party. And I was walking around there going, how do I you know, I gotta have a great time. I gotta make sure my guests all have a great time and. And I learned a lot about compartmentalizing.

Yeah, I bet you did. Yeah, yeah.

Out of the. Out of necessity. So.

Yeah.

But I would love to hear how you've used this. Or, you know, if you think I'm. I'm oversimplifying it, which of course, I probably.

Of course you are. Yes.

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