Ep 66 Who Is In Your Social Circle? w Kasey Compton | Mike Up In Your Business Podcast #MUIYB

No, I'm talking to nobody. I'm talking to you, of course.

I did. I washed my hair. I put some makeup on.

When's the last time you drank a bourbon? Like, I want to understand, like, how serious you are about it.

Listen, I just want to tell you, I thought about you the other night because I was out with one of my friends. She came to New Albany, Indiana from Missouri. It was great because we got together and we are getting ready to do some Fix This Next stuff. So we went to this local bar called The Earl. I told the bartender, I said, I want to try bourbon I have never tried before. He is like, OK, what kind do you like? I said, well, you know, I sort of like a rye, but I want it neat. So just surprise me. He brought down this bottle of Old Forester. I can't remember exactly what, which kind it was. But he said, here are 2 options. This one is for the girls and this one is for the real men. So, I was like, well, of course I want the one for the real men.

Yeah, and I want the one for the girls.

Mike wants the one for the girls. But I drank it and it was amazing. If you like bananas or pancakes, it tastes like pancakes with bananas on top.

Oh, my gosh.

It was the best bourbon. It was so good, so good. I was like, Mike would actually like this because it's just girly enough.

I, um, yeah, I've had now a few bourbons neat, um, and it was really totally inspired by you.

Oh, I hope, because your glass full of ice cubes with bourbon, you can't do that. That's illegal.

That's illegal.

Can't do that.

Yeah, well, I'm from the north. It's legit up here. But, you know, in the puritanical arena, uh, yeah, I know it's not— it's not legit. But you really persuaded me. Now, honestly, I maybe have a bourbon— well, I was on break, I was doing a lot more, but now maybe once a week, once or two weeks. How often do you honestly—

yeah, I don't drink it that much.

Yeah, that's why I assumed—

no, you, you can't do that stuff every day. It's just like, it's like a treat, you know, like a nice little It's like a treat. Yeah, yeah.

Because the next morning when I wake up, uh, I'm hungover. And I don't care if I don't even feel the effects when I'm drinking it. Next day, it's like I slept like shit.

You're so foggy. Yeah, you get a headache. That's bourbon. It's what it does to me too.

So how many— you owned a hair salon, or you still do?

I do. I can see it right there.

I didn't—

what? Yeah.

So you own a hair salon. I gotta look at this now. Real estate. These, these are things I didn't know. A real estate company. Yeah, the healthcare group practice I knew. Consulting firm. So you, you own 4 active businesses right now?

Well, sort of, yes, sort of. Probably more like 5. We have another one that's launching on February 14th, but, but you've never asked, so you would have no reason to know.

Well, because you're not a blabbermouth like me. I just talk.

Don't you—

you did— you withheld critical information here. So, so let's go through the list of businesses you have. You got hair salon. What, what do you do at the hair salon and how many people work there? Are you involved in that business?

No, no, no, I'm not. It's really more like, like a real estate, you know, so I rent space. I bought a property that had a hair— had a hair salon on it, but it was pretty crappy, so I just renovated the whole thing and set up all new booths, did all that, and then just rent the space to the, the stylist. But we added a component that you can't really get anywhere else is since I already have a consulting company, we do all of their social media content for the people that rent the booth. We do all of their marketing stuff for them. We help promote their businesses. So we kind of help in both, in both ways there.

Okay, so you're making money on rent. I guess they share maybe in some of the revenue generate.

Yeah.

And you also charge them for their marketing. So you're a one-stop shop.

Yeah, it's just all built in. It's all built into the, into the rent.

Yeah, mental, mental health group practice that is substantial. Give me some of the details on this business.

Yeah, so we have about, I think we have around 80 employees right now. We're getting ready to gear up I think we have, we're trying to hire about 42 more in the first half of the year. So we'll have over 100, probably more like 125. And we provide services in 19 counties throughout the state of Kentucky. Yeah. And we have 9 physical locations and we're getting ready to add some more. So it's been a, that one, that one has been a whirlwind. That one's been fun.

Uh, so you got all these businesses and, um, what's your function in each of these companies?

Um, yeah, so I'm most involved in the consulting business, obviously, you know, that, that's the one that I spend most of my time in. Um, the mental health practice, I designed that to run without me, so I, I really do nothing in that one whatsoever. I'm just kind of here for moral support and let's come up with some creative ideas that's going to set us apart from some of the other places in the state. And so that's what I do there. Hair salon, I'll do anything. Real estate company, I don't do anything. It's all pretty self-sufficient and that's how I like it.

You've achieved what I think so, so many people want and so few ever even, even have a taste of, which is to own a business but not have the business depend upon them whatsoever. So what I'm hearing is with your mental healthcare group that's now going to surpass 100+ employees, that if you don't show up for a few months, a few years, I don't know, a few years, does it just keep on creating cash and serving the community?

It does. I mean, I literally do nothing. I do nothing. But, you know, I'm involved because I love it. I refer to it in a lot of ways as my laboratory. You know, I get to, I get to test new ideas in it. I get to try out new systems, I get to automate new processes in there and see if it works before I take it out to anyone else and say, hey, do this. 'Cause I'm not gonna tell someone to do something that I haven't done or that I know that I don't, that I'm not confident that's gonna help them in some substantial way. So it serves that purpose very well. We get to help people and so it's just kind of a win-win and I've always been one of these people, even as a mom, I don't want my kids to need me. And I want them to want me, but I don't want them, I don't want them to need me. And I get a lot of satisfaction whenever people can be independent. And when I can see my employees come up with their own ideas and solve their own problems and see how excited they get. And why should I get in the way of that? You know, they don't need me. They just, they choose me. They choose to be here. And that's kind of the relationship I have with them. It's, um, I have a lot of respect for them.

I can imagine. But do they have respect for you? Do they feel that you've abandoned them? You know, you take all the money, they do all the work.

They're like, go home.

They're telling you to go home?

Yeah. No, I mean, I think that I don't have to show up to the actual building to work every day. I do because I like that kind of connection with my team.

Yeah.

And I think it's just, I think if you ask any of them, they would say that we have a good, healthy relationship and they respect me and they know that they need me for the big things and they don't need me for the everyday things. And that they have the ability to make decisions and, and fulfill their own, you know, inner purpose on their own without me telling them how and when and why all the time.

How old are you now?

I'm 37. No, no, I'm 36. I'm 36. I'll be 37 in 10 years. Yeah.

That's a future point. You're 30. You're 36. Have you— be honest with me— have you achieved, when you were younger, in your 20s or teens, I mean, haven't you checked off every single box on the dream list? Like, almost.

As of July 19th, yes.

What happened July 19th?

Nothing yet. July 19th of this year.

The upcoming— what was the release of the book?

Yeah.

And you got the author checked off. Okay, so here's— I was funny, I was just talking with, uh, a few weeks ago I talked with the guy— well, actually, when this broadcasts it'll be a few months back, but a guy named Jeff Walker. He's a big internet marketer and, um, I asked him a question like, oh, have you achieved all your dreams? He's like, I've checked them all off. And I go, how'd that feel that day you put the final check in? He's like, it was pretty shitty day. I'm like, that makes no sense to me. He's like, there's this question that comes about, is this all there is? I mean, are you starting to experience that? You're 36 and you've done it all.

No, no, I wouldn't say that. I don't, I don't feel like that checklist is finite, you know. To me, it's just, it's always changing, it's always growing. And I just have a different level of confidence now than I used to have. And And I think that maybe that's why the author thing was at the bottom of my checklist is because now it doesn't have to stop. You know, now it can go to talk about something else, you know, another thing about business that I'm passionate about. And it wasn't until recently actually with the help of AJ that, and Laura, um, that I was, it like I had this epiphany about myself as an author. I always knew I wanted to write, but What was I going to sound like and what was I going to write about? And, you know, was I going to be the bro dude, the Jersey boy, frat boy, business guru guy?

There's already one that exists. I'm sorry.

Who would want to do that?

Yeah, no, sounds like a real tool. Probably drinks girly drinks too.

He does. But so, you know, that kind of came to be. And then now I have this whole other level of just like I'm itching so bad to just get started at this. I can't even tell you. It's unreal how I feel about this next, whatever you want to call it, journey, or— Yeah.

Oh yeah. I can only envision, I can only imagine how successful you're going to be as an author, devoting yourself to this because you have this relentless energy. But I want to first rewind. I want to go back to single mom, no businesses, You know, just down. When was that period of your life? How long ago was that? And how do you turn it around like you did?

That was in my early 20s. I mean, okay, doesn't really feel like that long ago now.

That's not— that's like, that's 10, 15 years ago.

Yeah, probably about 11, 12.

Okay, that isn't long ago.

No.

And so What was going on then?

You know, I was in a bad relationship and I think that that's, that is the reason that a lot of shitty stuff happens to us in life is we just get, we position ourselves around people that we don't need to be around. And, um, that was kind of me at that point. It wasn't really that the people were bad people. They were just not good people for me. And, um, I was broke. I was dependent on financially on a relationship. I didn't like how that felt. It was a person, so you can imagine how that would feel. You know, like, yeah, I need $20. I got to eat lunch today. That kind of thing. It was terrible.

That person almost used that as like a way to keep you Yeah, for sure.

And so I didn't really have a lot of— I knew that I had the potential to do whatever I wanted to do, but I just knew the steps that I was going to have to take to get there were going to be awful. You know, I was really going to have to just get in the thick of it. And as crazy as it sounds, I can't remember what it's called. I'm sure you know, but I was sitting in church one day and I was literally at my breaking point. I was like, something's got to change. I've had it. Like, I give up. I've tried everything. It's not working. I'm just sucking at life. And the pastor was talking about the 5, you know, the 5 people that you— you're the culmination of the 5 people that are immediately around you.

Yes.

And I was thinking on my fingers, like, who I'm around, and I thought, oh, I'm screwed. I've got to find new people. Yeah. And, and, and I live in a really small town in the middle of nowhere, so I had to start thinking outside of my bubble and just believing that there was a world out there that I hadn't tapped into yet. And just started joining online communities and meeting people and supporting one another, people that were doing the things that I wanted to do. Reading books because that was all I could afford. I was so broke. I had to file bankruptcy. I couldn't even, like, I couldn't even pay somebody to teach me something. I was just buying books. I was going to the library. I was reading books and I was just trying to immerse myself in a world that I really didn't even know at that point.

You were— what kind of books, like self-help?

No, it was all business. I remember Cashflow Quadrant, Rich Dad Poor Dad. The first books I ever read and I was like, I'm doing it. Yeah, I'm doing this. I'm not gonna I'm not going to be at anyone else's mercy anymore. If I'm going to suck at life, it's because I'm going to suck at life, not because I'm an employee somewhere or somebody else has control over me that I can't help.

Okay. So what about these relationships, the 5 people around you? You had to make at some point a decision to remove those relationships and initiate new ones beyond books, beyond online. How do you get out of How do you get out of these historical relationships that are not serving you?

I just got out. You know, like, I mean, I just did. I stopped hanging out with the— I stopped going with them to eat and stopped going out on the weekends and stopped doing all those things. And I started going to church and I just tried to find people in my community that were some, some people that I could look up to. And that's actually how I met my husband is, is by doing that. And, and he's really been so supportive. He was big on just, you can do whatever you want. I believe you, you just like, you can do it. And he had no idea what I was trying to do. But he was like, you can do this, you've got this, you need to stay at work longer, go ahead, it's okay, I'll take care of everything. So that was, that was a big turning point.

So it sounds like you start inserting yourself in a new community, books, online, you actually start getting out physically, and the people are there, uh, because that's the community you're inserting yourself in. And then you start building relationships. You meet your husband this way. Um, when did you start the first business? Like, when did you go out all out in the first business?

So my— I went— I'd always tinkered in businesses but never really just said, all right, I'm doing this. And I started my first business after my my middle child, her name's Lennon, she's 6 now. I had a very high-risk pregnancy with her. It was really scary. I had to be put on flat, like absolutely flat bed rest at 20 weeks with her. Yeah. And he, so I was an employee at that time and I lost my job because I couldn't work and telehealth wasn't really a thing then. And It was bad. And my husband, you know, he has a high school diploma. Like, he didn't— he doesn't have a degree. He didn't have a big fancy job. He worked at— he had to get a job at a call center selling credit cards, of all things. And then he would leave the job at the credit— or the credit card place to go work at an Italian restaurant and serve pizza for tips to help just keep us going.

And this is 6 years ago, 7 years ago.

Yeah. I mean, we lost everything. I mean, everything. We had nothing. And I had a, you know, like I almost told this story in the book and I just didn't because I think it's going to be its own thing. But, you know, I had nothing. The only thing I did have was time and had a lot of time to think and a lot of time to plan. And so for 4 or 5 months there, that's just what I did. And then after I had the baby, went back to work, got settled a little bit and said, all right, I'm doing it. And I went from that first year, um, starting that first business, which wasn't even a full year. I think we grossed like $334,000. Next year it was like $1.2 million and then $3 million. And then we just kept, I mean, just kept going and going and going. And here we are.

What's your businesses today? The collective revenue?

Um, last time I checked, we were at about $6.5 million in revenue this year. But I would say we're pretty close.

My God. So yeah, so that's 6— within 6 years to have that trajectory, it's unbelievable. You then decide to become an author. You know, you and I connected and you're writing Fix This Next. I know you're actually already working on more books. You have this— this has always been in you, this relentless drive. I thought I had drive. Like, you go blowing by me as I'm sipping on my girly drink and the little umbrella goes flying out. Have you always had this drive?

When I have clarity, when I have clarity on where I'm going, yes, you, you won't stop me. Um, it's just I find myself, I'll, I'll slow down when I'm not really clear on the vision of where I'm going.

Okay.

Yeah, so no, I mean, I think that I've always had this personality. I'm not— I think I've told you before, I'm not a half-asser. So if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it, and I'm gonna go all out doing it. But sometimes it takes me a little longer to figure out what it is I'm gonna do.

So when you have clarity on what you're gonna do, what are the parameters? Is it, is it the, the actual technical plan of the business? Is it a vision of how it'll be a service to others? Like, what's the driving things you have in place for you to have this racing forward drive?

Yeah, so now it's, it's really just about— it's just about fulfilling a higher level of purpose, really. Because I don't know, I always hate it when people say it's not about the money, because you do— I do believe profitability has to be number one in anything that you're doing, or else don't do it. Um, but at this point in my life, I'm doing things, one, that I want to do for whatever reason, you know, if I want to do it, um, two, if I can help others. And, um, I'm just ready to kind of, I'm just ready to help. I'm just ready to do something in this world and just help people. And I think that, um, what if, what if I wouldn't have got out of that 5? People? What if I wouldn't have had the confidence, or actually I didn't even have the confidence, what if I didn't just do it? And where would I be? And how many other people feel like that? And how many other people are just waiting till they feel like the time is right or till they have all of the plan in place before they start? And what are we missing out on as a result of that? Because people aren't confident enough to just move forward and and put their ideas out in this world.

Casey, do you, do you see the him and hers out there that are stuck with that wrong 5?

Yeah.

And are these— the word's not salvageable, but can you save them, or they have to save themselves before you can serve them? How's that work?

That's a good question. I mean, I think a lot of it is definitely wrapped up in your mindset, and so that's something we should all have people in our lives, whether it's therapy or life coach or whatever you want to do to help challenge you. But for me, I think the best way to figure it out, even if you have an idea and you're just not sure, is just to do it. And whenever I was thinking about confidence and when I was laying there in the bed on bed rest all day long by myself, I didn't believe in myself. Like, I mean, I kind of did. Like I thought, yeah, I can do this. But I had no proof that I could do it. I'd never done it before. And so I just had to do it. And I just had to tell myself that I'm going to figure it out. And really a business is just a bunch of problem solving and just, let's just problem solve. We're going to figure it out. It's going to be okay. We're going to make it work. And really after that, that's kind of how I run all businesses now. I'm not afraid of it, but if I'm trying to decide whether or not I'm going to do it, I first look on the profitability. Is this profitable? How much effort am I going to have to put into this? And, um, what am I going to get out of it? And then what kind of difference is it going to make?

I love that. Can you do it without proof? Can you commit to doing that proof? Because the proof comes after, obviously it finds you.

It, you know, it's like that confidence thing. You can't wait till you feel confident to go. You just have to go. And then the confidence catches up to you.

So tell me about Fix This Next for healthcare providers. What is your intention? With this book?

So when I started to write this book, it will— this is the first book I've ever written, first derivative book I've ever—

first but definitely not the last.

Definitely not the last. It was so fun to write, but as I sat down trying to figure out an outline for the thing, you know, I didn't want to just copy yours. Not that, you know, there would be anything that— but I knew that healthcare providers were looking at this a little differently than than the average person. And so when I started thinking about what Fix This Next means for this industry, I just kept coming back to time. That's the one thing we can never get enough of. It's the one thing we're always battling. It's the one thing we just can't seem to satisfy the need for. And as business owners, we say all of the time, I don't have time. I don't have time for that. I wish I could do this. I can't. I don't have time. I don't have time And for me, the Fix This Next system helps people get their time back. Because think of how many, how many times we take a to-do list, you know, and we're like writing it all down, we're trying to figure out, oh gosh, I got all this stuff to do. And we get it all done every single day. And then tomorrow we just get a whole nother list. It never ends. It never goes away. And it's just a battle that people fight on how to know what to do and when to do it. And so that's what I did with this is I wanted to give people their time back. And, and how I was going to do that was teaching them how to identify the core, the core needs in their practice and how to make that into a diagnosis and treat it just like they would a patient.

Why did you write for healthcare providers? You could have done it for, you know, hair salons, and for business consultancies. Done for bourbon drinkers. Why healthcare providers?

Two reasons. So healthcare providers, I honestly, I believe that especially therapists are the best suited to be entrepreneurs as anybody could be, because so much of running and operating and troubleshooting a business is just like treating a patient. And we think that they're two separate things. And so we think that we have to have an MBA to be a successful healthcare practice owner when it's really not true. We think we have to learn two skill sets, but we don't. We diagnose patients just like we should diagnose our business. We, we, there's so many parallels. So that's, that's the first and main reason. But the second reason is because, um, healthcare providers are just, they try so hard. They are the ones out here in all of these Facebook groups and all these communities asking like, how should I do this? Or how should I structure this? Or how should I implement Profit First? Or, you know, they are so, they're, I call them content hoarders. They love content. They love to read. They love just self-development and I mean, they're just such a good audience to be able to teach this to.

I assume that's the nature of their professional upbringing, that you get as much education as possible, but there's always new discovery, always new learning, so you're constantly learning. And I also assume that, you know, kind of like they call it the cobbler's kids, you know, the cobbler can make shoes for everyone else, but when it comes to their own children, it's the last one to focus on. I presume is a similar scenario. They can, they can dole out all this knowledge and support other people, but they don't support themselves. And I also believe because they're starting the process, they're doing the process themselves, the one-on-one, it's hard to move from doing to operating and then ultimately owning like you have. Is there a kind of a mind shift that needs to happen to get you out of that business from the doing aspect?

Yeah, yeah. So, so many times people— I'm speaking of therapists, you know, I'm like, you're running this business like a therapist, you know, you need You need to run this business like a business owner.

Yes.

There are times you got to take that hat off and you got to look at it as profitability here. Like that is what, that is the goal we are trying to shoot for profitability. And I think that it's hard. And the battle that I have fought over the last couple of years with healthcare providers is getting them to see it that way. But I'll tell you how I finally got it to click was, you know, they all want to say that the goal of their business is to help people. Well, it's not. It's profit. It's to make money. But the purpose of their business is to help people. And you cannot achieve that purpose without first achieving that goal. And so there is a whole chapter about that in the book and how you structure that and how you frame that out mentally. And I think once you can latch onto that, it doesn't feel so yucky. You know, like, we're, we're helping people here. We shouldn't be making money off of people's trouble. And that is, that's the block.

I can totally see that. Yeah. It's greed. You're taking advantage of others. So is there a practical step to get out of that mindset to actually convince myself that profit is more than a necessity? It's a good thing?

Yeah, I mean, there's a, there's an awesome quote, and I can't remember what it is right now. But it, you know, it's basically talking about profitability. The difference between running a business with or without profitability makes you either a business or a charity. You know what I'm talking about. But I think what happens is if they can't make that shift just on their own and to see that the goal has to be profitability in order to serve a higher purpose, they're going to figure it out the hard way because they're, they're not going to be able to pay their bills. They're going to be struggling. They're going to be working their hineys off and they're still not going to be making a dent in any of that to-do list. Or they're going to be just flying through that to-do list every single day and they're still going to be broke. And then they start to see it and then they're like, oh man, I'm tired. I'm neglecting my family. I've missed kindergarten graduation. My kids forgot what I look like. I have gray hair and wrinkles now and I'm broke. And so they'll get it. They'll get it eventually. I think it's just trying to save people from that nasty process. Yeah.

But then that, I'm wondering if it's almost necessary. And I wonder if that nasty process though may come too late. I mean, for you, it happened in your early 20s and you're laying flat in the bed. Uh, you had that moment at church, you had some defining moments that you took action upon. Cause I think it was, it sounds like it was so traumatic. You know, for the therapist who's sitting there, it's like, oh gosh, I'm just exhausted every day. But this is— I can't pay my bills. Like, they're kind of in that purgatory.

Yeah.

Is there a way if you're in that state to get through it, or do you have to hit the wall to finally wake up?

You have to hit the wall. I think, I think you have to get involved with something with other people that are also either trying to get there or have gotten there. You've got to be able— you cannot run this kind of business in isolation. It doesn't work and it shouldn't because there are so many ways to get help out there. And even if you're struggling financially and you can't afford to pay for help, there's so many free resources online and communities for people that really just need extra support or need somebody to bounce questions off of. Like, should I have independent contractors or should I hire employees? You know, just things like that are super easy to get answer. And I think people just have to feel secure enough to say, hey, I need a little support.

I wonder if a wake-up call too is projecting the future. I mean, that's what you said, shared you were doing. Like, what if I stayed in this relationship with this circle of 5? Where am I going to end up? And it sounds like you're like, oh shit, this is not good. I wonder if therapists, any business owner can do the same thing, is that if I continue this path Instead of waiting for 2 more years and I hit the wall, if I continue this path, I know in 2 years I'm gonna hit the wall. I wonder if that— do you think that's visceral enough for them to say, I will change?

For some people, I do.

Yeah, for some.

Some people, they're just gonna have— they're just gonna have to hit, you know, they just, you know, they just gotta hit themselves in the head over and over and over before they realize that there is a better way. And that, you know, I have a friend that I was joking with her the other day. I was like, Tara, you just keep hitting your head against the wall over and over and over. When are you going to say, man, this hurts. I'm going to stop this.

Yeah.

So yeah, I think some people, for the majority of people, I don't think they need to go through that process. I mean, if you have a bookkeeper or a CPA or an accountant, ask them, say, hey, look at these numbers. If, if, if I don't change anything, what's this going to look like next year? Give me a projection. What can I expect to see?

Yeah, it kind of equates it to smokers. I equate it to smokers. The most assured way to stop smoking is to actually die from smoking. You'll never smoke again that day. The second way is to have a heart attack, some traumatic event that wakes you up. And the third way is to look at all the pictures of the blackened lungs to know the path you're on. And sadly, for some, we choose to die. Others, the heart attack. I think more and more look at the trajectory that they're on and make that change.

Yeah.

Tell me, hey, tell me about the— on that dark note, tell me about your future books. What are you going to be writing next?

Okay, so the next book that I want to write will be— I developed this program called Systemizer School, and it's basically the way that we scaled this business, consulting business, every business. And it's similar in a lot of ways to your Clockwork. Like, I mean, it's the same idea. The process looks a lot different. So I'm really excited to do that. We've ran that now. We've had two beta programs of two groups of 30 go through this program. So I'm just collecting a bunch of data right now. Actually, I think you're going to be on a Q&A for that one in a couple days.

Oh cool.

Yeah. So that one's a big one I'm really excited about. And then I do want to write another one called The Laundry Basket Baby. And it's, it's that bedrest story where we were so broke and had to come home and our baby slept in a laundry basket at the side of the bed because that's all we had.

Wow.

And it, you know, just how to, how to, how to formulate a business from literally nothing. I mean, I had to borrow $600 to start my now multi-million dollar practice. I didn't even have it. All I needed was $600 and I didn't have it.

Oh my God, it's unbelievable. Particularly service-based businesses, how little money is required to start one up as long as you have the effort and drive. Um, did I hook you up with my agent? I can't remember. Speaking agent yet?

Have you?

Yeah. No, no, I gotta hook you up. Okay, it's actually my, my sister, my actual biological sister. She left the corporate world, this is now 4 or 5 years ago, to become a speaking agent. I was her first client, but that was her first entrepreneurial endeavor. She represents, I think, like 30 or 40 speakers. So if you want, she may be of value to you.

Hook me up.

Yeah, I'll hook you up. I'll hook you up. I'll tell you, every person I've introduced you to, I, you know, I get feedback from. I'm not like, you know, spying on you. It's always the same. She's the best fucking student, Mike. Like, I wish you were that good. She's got so much drive, Mike. I wish you were that good. I almost don't want to introduce you because, um, I do because I'm so impressed by you and you're doing such good things for our planet and our world and I love you. Um, conversely, you— I like to be the best student in the class. I want to be the valedictorian and you're not kidding. No, you're winning. AJ's like, oh my God. I wish you could just perform like Casey does, just so you know.

Well, I appreciate that. And, and I try really hard and I pride myself really hard on being a good student because, you know, those opportunities are valuable to me. And why would I want to waste those? I'm going to learn every single thing I can from AJ. I'm going to learn every single thing I can from the little marketing magician and, um, every single other person that you introduced me to, because that's how I become better.

Yeah.

Yeah. You're—

well, you're doing an extraordinary job of it, and you're getting the word out, and you're serving so many people. I can't wait to see where you are 10 years from now. It's funny, a lot of people say, oh, in 10 years you're gonna be a massive success. Like, you are a massive success, like, by all definitions. All definitions. I can't wait to see the monumental shift you're causing, or you're going to bring about on this planet. So thank you for what you're doing.

Well, thank you. I mean, I really— honest to God, I don't know that I would be exactly where I am right now if it weren't for you, because your book, Profit First, I mean, it changed everything for me. Thanks, I guess I owe you.

Okay, well, share 10% of all your profits going forward. That's all I said. All right, my friend, one of these days we'll actually drink bourbon face to face once, you know, the COVID pandemic's over. But in the meantime, thank you so much for joining me today.

Thank you.