Bridging the Gap from Stupid to Celebrity Power Broker With Steve Sims

This episode is brought to you by KPMG Risk Services. KPMG believes that when you've earned the trust of all your stakeholders, that's when your business has a solid platform to grow. That's the trusted imperative. KPMG Risk Services develop and put in place dynamic risk strategies designed to help your business earn that all important trust. Go to reit KPMG US to learn more. You are going to have the good fortune to hear the intelligence, to hear the stories, and to hear how to survive the pandemic with Blue Fishing. Author, speaker and coach Mr. Steve Sims. What is the roadmap to defeat self sabotage, negative thinking and learned helplessness in these unprecedented times? You must get connected, get growing, get certain and get attitude. The Get Attitude Podcast. We have an unbelievable guest today that we're going to queue up and let you learn about. Please remember to subscribe, rate and review. Please remember to share this with your friends on social media. Today we are with the one and only author of Blue Fishing. He is a speaker, he is a coach. He has an incredibly cool community called Sims distillery.com we want all of you to go check him out at his website. Let's first pull up a real cool little video about my guest, Mr. Steve Sims.

In a world where a bricklayer from London taught himself every skill he needed to put the Vatican on his speed dial, send clients to visit the Titanic and others to a list Oscar parties. Well, if this guy can do it, you have no excuse. This strange man has captured the attention of media giants TV and has been a speaker at a variety of networks, groups and associations, as well as speaking at the Pentagon and Harvard twice. As the old adage goes, it's all about who you know. And now you know, Steve. Entrepreneurialism is a curiosity that can't be satisfied. That's why you're here. But Sims has the roadmap to help you skip all the stop signs. And as proof I'm not Morgan Freeman. That would be a waste of a smart entrepreneur's budget. And Steve is a tight assed wanker. Steve Sims.

And welcome to the number one wanker on the Get Attitude podcast. Steve Sims. It's great to have you today. How's it going my friend?

It's going well, thank you. How you doing man? Thanks for having me.

That is a fantastic intro. And boy, the Blue Fishing book hit I know a couple years ago and man, did it take you some unbelievable places. I'm just curious. I'd love to hear the story about the Pentagon. Did you call the Pentagon or did they call you?

They called me. It was weird. Just to give you a little bit of a context, for 25 plus years, I was probably the most connected man that you'd never heard of. I knew billionaires, my clients were billionaires all over the planet that owned things like islands and countries. When the book came out, when they asked me to do the book, I did it to annoy my kids. I thought to myself, it'd be really funny to say to my kids, your dad's an author, because they know I can't spell for shit, right? So when we did the book, we actually didn't even put a website up. In fact, you just put that video up there. And I've got to explain about that video that's on my front page. But we didn't do anything. I literally launched my book in a bar in Hollywood. No fanfare, no press, no pr. And a friend of mine actually videoed us basically getting more and more and more drunk. And then she sent me the video and I posted it on the front page of the website, but I didn't think it would take me anywhere. It's now been translated in Thai, Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, it's been Polish, it's now being done in Russian, and it's just launched me all over the place. So if you're thinking of writing a book, be careful. But this video is funny because at the beginning of the video, everyone's really polite and I'm really articulate. And then as the video gone goes on, everyone's just getting shit faced and they start swearing. I wanted to release the video that really showed who I was.

That's. I just. There's Greg Reed. Greg was on the Get Attitude podcast. He's a friend and a guest of the podcast. So that's hilarious. Now, I know Greg did not get shit faced at the launch because he just celebrated 33 years.

Yeah. Yeah. No, he didn't. And he's. Now, we all know about Greg. He's a solid guy, doesn't drink. But there was a. There's a lot of other alcoholics that carry on throughout the night. But the point is, I didn't expect the book to take off. I didn't expect to have Harvard and the Pentagon calling me. And when I spoke at the Pentagon, it was to speak in front of three star generals talking about entrepreneurialism and what they should identify as their future when they left the military. So it was a very, very strange place to actually go and speak at.

I was going to say that tough ass Audience did you get laughs? And what was. Do you remember your one or two main points to those guys?

Well, my points were that they were screwed because they were leaving a world where they had worked on time to specifics, they had to. They had to solve a situation or people died. They were going into the civilian world where if people turn up within 15 minutes of whatever time is that on time, they don't follow through, they don't have any repercussions if things go wrong. So the military people are far more articulate and accurate with whatever they do than the civilian world. And most civilians are lazy. So I said, you're going to have to kind of, like, dumb it down a bit or own your space. And I think they like that.

That's good.

They invited me back again, so I think they must have done.

Oh, that's fantastic. Well, I hope that you get to come back and I hope that you get back on stage. I know I have several podcast guests that have heard you speak. They love the energy you bring, but most of all, the humor and just the reality and the realness that you bring to stage. And I want to thank you for bringing your realness to this podcast. Back to the book, what is like, you know, I want everybody that's listening to this to buy your book. Tell us why you should buy the book. What are the things they're going to uncover? How does the book help us bridge the gap from who we are to who we want to become?

So, working with billionaires, I've sent them down to the Titanic. I've closed down museums, I've had them singing on stage with rock stars and walking the white carpet with Sir Elton John. When I was first approached to write the book, it was on naming all the famous and powerful people in the planet that I had created these amazing experiences for. Ah. I knew if I did that, I would be dead before my cocktail. So I declined. And then I did a speech and they heard it and they went, hang on a minute. How does a bricklayer from London that was kicked out of school at the age of 15 suddenly start working with Elon Musk and the Pope? So it became that kind of book. The kind of, hey, if you're worried about being able to do anything, look at me. You're already out of excuses. So I wanted to teach people how to stop overthinking and start overdoing. How to go for stupid, how to stop going for the impossible. I've never liked that term, go for the stupid. Go for stuff that's so ridiculous. People laugh at you just before they applaud. So we wrote the book with that kind of aha. Revelation to go, look, stop overthinking shit and get going. And I'll be honest with you. The book's going to piss you off. You're going to read the book and go, well, hang on a minute. That's so simple. Why aren't I doing it? But the trouble is, people are too smart today. They want to start a business and they go, oh, I need a $40,000 website and a $60,000 CRM. You need a solution. You need to market the solution on your own Facebook page. See if you can help one person, if you can help three people, you've got a business. So people overthink things, they over fear and they hesitate and they get into paralysis.

And so what, did you purposely go after billionaires or did they stumble in a bar and you started getting hammered with them? I mean, who was the first billionaire you hooked up with? And then how did that referral source continue?

Well, it was. It was a multimillionaire. Wasn't my first client. Wasn't a billionaire. And the answer is yes, I went after rich people. And the reason I went after rich people was quite easy because I knew how bad it was to be poor, because I was poor. Therefore, why would I want me as a client when I couldn't afford shit, Right? Yeah, if I had a rich client. Rich clients can afford things. So everything I did, I always marked it up. People have a product and then they talk to people of their own pay grade. I've never understood that. Go for people where. This is one thing, if anyone's listening to this, don't invent a product or service. And the next thing, invent a payment plan. You never want anyone on a payment plan. Go for people where payment plans are not a consideration. So I just straightaway started marketing to multimillionaires and billionaires. And, you know, the funny thing is, when you market to those people, they call, they call, they also pay. But when they are happy with you, guess who they hang around with? So all of a sudden you've got 10 millionaires, all of a sudden you've got 20 because all their mates are millionaires. So it just seemed to make sense to me.

And what were you selling to them? Did you have a product? Did you have a service? What were you selling?

So I. Right at the beginning stage, I said to you that I was poor. I was a biker from East London. I knew what it was like to Be a broke ass biker, because that was me. I used the concierge service only as an excuse to get in front of its people, to think and see how they acted, how they talked, how they reacted. Two people. So it was a Trojan horse for me to get in front of rich people. I had to give them what they wanted. And I noticed that most of them wanted parties, so I started throwing parties. Then I started getting them into other people's parties. And then I started working for people like the New York Fashion Week, the Grammys, Sorel and John Formula one. And basically my solution to rich people. And I used to say this. I used to walk up to rich people in a, in a, in a cocktail party, and I would say to them, how boring are your cocktail stories?

Right?

And they would be like, excuse me? And I said, look, I can make them the story of any party. Would that be of interest to you? And I would just go in there, and that was my initial pitch. How boring are your cocktail stories? And then I would say, what are you trying to. So then I would just try and pull this off. And the daft thing is, the more things I pulled off, the more things I was able to pull off.

Yes, yes. So you were a pimp of the cocktail story. 100% glorified story pimp. I love it, man. I love it. And so somebody then said at one point, all right, Steve, do it. Hell yes. Go ahead and make this unbelievable thing come true. And then you went, oh, shit, I got to make this happen. Tell me that story.

Yeah, it's never stopped. I think the power that I have that a lot of people don't have is I'm stupid. I'm stupid and I'm ignorant while everyone else is out there going, oh, my God, I could never do that. And, oh, my God, how does he get Elon Musk? And how do you get. I just go. I just go forward when I try to make it happen. So getting the, getting the go ahead to go and get something for someone, that's one thing. Pulling it off, that's where all of your hesitation needs to be parked. You've got nothing to lose. If you don't pull it off, you're still going to be as poor as you were. And they don't pay you downside.

Right. You didn't have them give you a retainer up front. You delivered, they paid. Or did you say half now and half later?

In the early stages, I would take a deposit.

Yeah.

And then as I got into it, I got smart and I Made them pay up front for everything. Or at minimum, I would have them pay up. So I would literally speak to someone and go, hey, you want to do this with Elton John? You want to do this with Bocelli? You want to do this, you know, in Florence? You want to do this in Rome? Great. It's going to be around about, you know, 2.3 million. I'll take $750,000 now, and then I'll bill you increments as we get closer.

I love it.

And I was that blunt. And guess what?

It worked.

They pay. Yeah.

Hell yes. They want their experience. You know, I've had people say to me, people, especially Americans, Americans have no idea how attracted they are to celebrity. Right? And they will pay anything to hang with celebrities, be with celebrities. Could you give me your most fulfilling story? Where. Where whoever it was, I don't know. I don't think there's probably. You can probably. I'd love you to tell us the names. It makes a story better. But where? You sat back and you said, I'll be damn. I did it. Like, what's that story? Give it to us.

I got it for you. I got it for you.

I love it.

And it will identify also why? You should ask why three times. It's in my book. Always ask why three times. Never give a client what they ask for. Give them what they lust and desire. Tip of the day. Write that down.

Got it.

So I get a phone call one day, and I've been working with Elton John for about eight years, doing his Oscar party here in la. And I get a guy phone up one day, and the team put him through to me because he sounded a bit funny. And I said to him, hey, how can I help you? And he said, yeah, I want to meet Sir Elton John. So I went, okay, okay. Why do you want to do that? And he said, well, the true story, he says, oh, the guy's an icon. He's one of the last living legends. He's going to die soon, and I want to get a photograph of him. That was what he said, all right. And I was like, that's a bit weird. But I went, okay, great. Let me see what I could do, and I'll call you back. I didn't take his phone number down. I didn't say his name, his email. I didn't want anything to do with that. It was just a weird request. And then about a month later, we're now about a month away from the Oscar party, someone phones into my office with the same request. Exact same request. I want to meet Surreal and John at his party next month. And one of the team put him through to me. And she went, do you remember that guy that phoned up? And I went, yeah. And she said, I don't know if this is his mate, but it's the exact same request. And I went, put it through to me, I'll get rid of it. So the guard comes through to me, different voice, same request. I said, what do you want to do? He said, I want to get a photograph of sir and John. Okay, that sounds great. Why? And he went, well, well. And he changed his tone, his tone of voice changed. Always look out for that tone of voice change. And he went, well, he's an icon, he's a legend. And he reels off the kind of knee jerk reaction because people are often embarrassed to tell you why they really want something.

Sure.

And he went, oh, he's an icon, he's a legend. You know, he's one of the great, great fan of his. And there's things. And it was that little bit at the end, there's things. And I remember that specifically. And I said to him, right, what things? And I lowered my voice, okay. And there's a great book by Chris Voss, never split the difference. And it says, talk, get into your midnight DJ voice. So you match that excitement and then you just drop it down a notch and see if they mirror you. And so I said to him, what things? And he told me this story. He goes quiet and then he says, when I was a kid, my dad used to take me to school, used to take me to school, used to pick me up from school there back all the way up into high school, never my mum. It was my dad's thing. When I was a little kid, the car that he used to take me in had a cassette record, a cassette player in it. And the cassette was jammed. It played, but we could never reject the damn thing. And it was Elton John's Greatest Hits. And my dad would sing all the way there on all the way back. And the pair of us, we would sing our lungs out. And I would come to the car and we'd jump in and we'd push play. I would sing Elton John all the way back until we got to me mum that was waiting for me. And he then got a new car, and this new car had a CD player and he bought Elton John's Greatest Hits. And we would sing all the way to school and all the way back from school. And this went through all the way into High school. And in high school, I was so embarrassed getting out of the car with Elton John blaring. Or I'd quickly jump in the car and slam the door so no one could hear Elton John playing and my dad singing his loudest to the tunes. And I would stare out the window with contempt that he was still singing Elton John all the way home. But he never missed a beat. On the way to school, on the way back, singing both ways every time. He said, now my dad's been dead about 20 years. I'm driving the kids to school. I'm going for a meeting. I'm out on vacation with my wife. I'll be in a car. And Elton John will come on the radio for those next three minutes. My dad is sat in the passenger's chair next to me singing his lungs out. I want to meet Sir Elton John and say thank you for bringing my dad back to me for random three minutes every now and then. Wow. I was on the phone and I had tears in my eyes.

It's beautiful.

And I communicated with the Elton John camp. I brought him over to the party and made the introduction. You saw him lean in, he made the conversation. You couldn't hear what he was telling Sir Elton John because of the party.

Sure.

But when you suddenly saw both sets of eyes welled up, you know what point of the story that got to. They hugged it out. They got the picture. And that's why I do what I do.

Oh, that's wonderful. And then what did. Is it okay if I ask what did that cost him?

Oh, I made a donation. He made it? Well, he paid me for the connection, and he made a donation to the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

That's good. So the story was good enough that you went ahead and low feed him, I'm guessing, right?

Like, you got to stand by your bars. I still charge what I charge.

I love it. That's so cool. When you think about the word attitude, what. What is your definition of attitud?

I would say that it's probably a standard. Okay. Your attitude is the standard. You want to be accepted for and you want to live. So why adjust it? Why settle? My attitude is that I will do what's required for me and for you. So I would say attitude and the word standard are very intertwined.

And who was your original attitude coach? Who created that standard in your mind? Who made Steve Sims who he is? Maybe not today, but maybe as you were coming up, as you were broke and were there two different. This was my attitude coach when I was broke. And this was my attitude coach. Now that I've bridged the gap that everybody that's listening to this podcast has tried to do, well, I'm not done.

So the bottom line of it is, you know, I've got an attitude coach. Every five minutes, you know, I look to see how I could be. A friend of mine once said to me, the definition of hell is to meet the man you could have been.

Yes.

So while I sit here in Los Angeles with a ton of motorcycles, very, very happy floating around the planet, coaching, speaking, writing, I'm not done. But the first person that created a shift in my mentality was actually my granddad. And I was on the same building site as him.

Wow.

And he's 80 something years old. I'm on the building site and I'm like 15 or 16. And I thought to myself, my dad's here, my cousins are here, my uncle's here, my granddad's here, and he's in his 80s. Is this my life? Is this it? And I remember going up to my granddad and going, granddad, did you expect to be doing this when you're this old? Now, bearing in mind he was an Irish lad, about seven foot tall, big lump of a man. And that was the kind of question that should have got met with a smack in my nose. But instead, he blew into his tee during tea break time and said these words, and I remember them vividly. He said, son, if you don't quit today, you'll be me tomorrow. And I was like, whoa, whoa, I'm done. And I quit, literally. As I left the tea hut and then went into a ton of jobs that I was ill qualified for, I got fired a load of times. I got in the wrong position. But I realized, first of all, fear wasn't there to hold me back. Fear was to propel me, to stop me being my granddad. Now, I love my granddad, and he never got to see how I turned out.

Yes.

Maybe he's up there just getting an old Fashioned ready for me for when I come up or down, down there, wherever I go. But I think I look to fear to propel me going forward. I don't want to avoid taking a chance for the fear that I missed out on an opportunity. So I don't get scared about things. I get scared about standing still.

Yeah, I get it. And I'm guessing back then, you know, divorce wasn't around. Was grandma ever around? And what did. What did you learn from grandma?

So grand. Sure. God, now you. You've Stirred up a dark pot there. So grandma was always very supportive. It was that kind of generation where the shit really hit the fan was my mum. Oh. You see, I come from an Irish family. My dad was okay about me spreading my wings to see where I could go and where I could be because we came from generations of bricklayers. So my dad was fine about, okay, you go. And Steve, you go for it, son. Give it all you want. My mum, literally that night when my dad said, oh, by the way, Steve's quit, he'd be leaving Friday. My mom literally that night turned around. She went, you think you're better than us, don't you?

Oh.

And I went, no, you got it wrong. I think I'm better than this. For me, you know, I think I can do more. My mum never ever accepted it. And I remember coming back, I was working for this little car company called Ferrari.

Yeah.

And I came back to England. I was actually living at the time in Hong Kong. I came back to England, they lent me a Ferrari, I drove over to my parents house, I told my entire parents what I did for a living now and how, you know, I'd made it and life was good. And I helped him out with a couple of things. My dad went off to get a couple of beers from the garage and my mum quickly came running into the room and she went, you can tell me now, are you selling drugs? Oh. I had told her everything I was doing and she couldn't believe it, but she could if I had told her I was doing something illegal. So sadly, you can't change everyone's mind. Even when it's your family, you can't choose your family. And sometimes they're not always there to support you. And I have to be sad to say that my mum was not there to support me.

Yes. And the story of success, the story of bridging the gaps, is oftentimes the people who burden us, who handcuff us and who put chains on us are the ones that say they love us the most, that probably do love us the most, but have their own limited thought pattern because their attitude coaches were probably shitty. My guess is she may have had an. Maybe her folks had had issues. How about grandparents on your mother's side? Did you ever get to meet them? And were they Irish?

Well, they were all Irish and they. This is from a Bear in mind. We're talking about generations that went through the war.

Sure.

So that goal in life was to survive.

Yes.

And a lot of those people settled. And bearing in mind I Grew up in the 80s and the 80s and 90s when if you were an entrepreneur, it meant that you couldn't get a real job. In fact, I remember getting into trouble at school, you know, big surprise, and going to the headmaster's office and the headmaster that it was when they used to throw the cane across the palm of your hand and I had to put my hand out and the headmaster gave me three lashes. So he hit me once. Hurt like a bitch. And then before he hit me the second time, he said to me, sims, you're nothing more than a hustler. And then he hit me two more times. The funny thing is, I thought to myself at the time, thank you. Why is that a bad thing? Now, if someone walked into your business now and said, you need to employ me, I'll be the best hustler you've ever met.

Yes.

That's all you need to know. You're employing them. Okay. But back then it was a bad thing being an entrepreneur, being a hustler. You were no rock star, you were no icon. Now all your resume has to see is, I'm a hustler and I'm a self starter, self thinker. I'm an entrepreneur and you've got every job you want.

I think that's the title of your next book, the Hustler. I love it. Not a pimp of cocktail stories. The Hustler of cocktail stories. Right, Tell me about the attitude of the Irish to give us a little heartfelt lesson of the people of Ireland.

Yeah, I think the Irish are basically like any continent that went through any kind of depression. You know, we're very well known for the Irish being very proud of your roots. And we've obviously gone through poverty. And I lived in a very, very rough area of East London. As I say, we didn't have any money, but we were always cheerful. We were always pranking each other. We were cheeky little chappies. And I think that's what kind of kept our spirits up. You know, you can go into an Irish pub and know nobody and two things are going to happen. You're going to get your lights punched out because you said something stupid to the wrong person. Or within the next hour you would have suddenly just grown your family by 30 other people in the pub.

That's beautiful.

It's a love or fight kind of thing. There's really no fence for the Irish. They love you or they're beating you up, you know, that seems to be the kind of thing and it'd be great and I've been in pubs before and I've been punched up and then I've gone back in the following night and we're all hugging it out, you know, so the Irish are a funny, strong, resilient group of people and I'm quite proud to actually have come from that bloodstock.

That is. That's such a beautiful story. We have a good share of Irish people here. We have some extremely good Irish pubs. When you come to Indianapolis, you're going to need to let me take you to some of them. The now, do you have any siblings?

No, I don't, I don't, I absolutely don't. But I have three kids, so I've started my own, my own branch. But no, I don't have any siblings.

Very good. And then how old are the kids?

So I got 23, 21 and. Sorry, 22. 23, 22 and 15.

Good. So you're almost done? You're almost done?

Yeah. As I jokingly say, I got three kids. Depending on what day of the week, I'll tell you which two I like.

Right, exactly. Or which one likes you. Yeah, because it's never two.

No, he's never two. Never three. Occasionally one.

Steve, what do you think the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make in their quest for greatness and their quest to bridge the gap? And what do you, what do you see as the biggest mistake? Maybe that the younger generation, the 20 year old, you got three 20 year olds. Like, do you look at them and go, jesus, don't make this mistake. Talk to us about that and the way to correct them.

Well, my kids have actually started working with me in my events. I do events called Speakeasy, so I believe you are part of the room that you are in so that luckily they get to mingle with good people. So that mentality's changed over the years and I'm pleased to see it. But you mentioned my next book and it's not finished yet, so you can't get it. So I'm not pitching it, but it's actually called Gopher Stupid. I love it because I've noticed that today too many people are scared shitless of this thing, the phone and how they come across on Instagram. Do they look pretty enough? Am I smart enough? Will my video get enough likes? You know, am I getting enough friends? Who gives a shit? Okay.

Right.

I remember doing an event with Elon Musk, and Elon Musk said, they will always laugh at you before they applaud. Now, I've always gone for stupid things. If you've got a dream of making $100,000 go for $250,000. You may well not hit it, but you'll hit 150. Yes. So it made no sense in me for people to go what they think is achievable. Go for stuff that's so frickin ridiculous that you will have people laughing at you. That laughter will propel you to actually achieve it. And all the people laughing at you will then either despise you because you showed that they were inadequate to be able to achieve it, or they will applaud you because now you've achieved what you set out to do. So people today, they overthink. They put too much value on what other people thinking. Value what you can achieve, what you can do. And as I say, just go for stupid and be ready to be laughed at.

I love it. Our book is based on the 10 attitude boosters. Attitude booster number two have a big goal which you just said. The ABCs of attitude. The letter W. For wholeheartedness. Wherever you are, be there. I call it the nose and phone disease. How many people have the nose and phone disease? And I take pictures when I go out to dinner of parents who ignore their kids who are looking at their phone and I put it up when I keynote and people go oh shit. So boy, being wholehearted and get rid of the nose and phone disease. Steve Sims, man, you are freaking awesome. I literally have taken notes I wrote go for stupid when you said it first. So I can't wait for you to put out that book. We're going to make a little bit of money real quick and then we're going to come back with knowledge through the decades with the great Steve Sims.

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And welcome back to the Gap. We are here with the great Steve Sims. He is the author of Blue the Art of Making Things Happen. He is. He sells experiences and he has clients who are billionaires. People like Elon Musk, Sir Richard Branson. I saw the picture of Sir Richard Branson. You do you like, know him? Did you guys have lunch? So how did that relationship happen?

I've worked for Virgin Unite. I've worked for his mom, and I got to work with him a few times in on his Neckar island eventually. In fact, I'm working with was supposed to be working with him last year during COVID and we bumped over into 2021 now. So I'm just there when. When required to make something happen.

Yeah, I love it. Okay, well, we want to do the knowledge through the decades exercise with you. And the what we do is we have you go through the decades of your life and tell us what the attitude lesson you learned is. Most people can't remember when they were born, but what is the attitude lesson of birth, of childbirth? Whether you remember being born or maybe your children, what's the attitude lesson?

I remember being poor and growing up in my earlier years, and I'll be able to adapt this later on in your next generation question. But I actually grew up a little bit resentful of being poor. So I was a confused, resentful, moody little kid, I believe, until I started growing up a little bit more. And as I say, we'll come to the reason of that in the next generation.

Very good. So I asked the attitude lesson of childbirth that might have been what our next one is. Do you remember being 10? Do you remember being in third or fourth grade? And what lesson did you learn during those times? Maybe it was a teacher, maybe it was a coach. I don't know if you were an athlete or not. Probably a rugby guy. You certainly remind me of a rugby guy. But the attitude lesson when you were a kid, when you were 10.

Yeah, you mentioned rugby. It's funny because I was a big lad. I was put on the rugby team, but I could never play. I had no idea where it was going. I was pretty crap. But I was big. So they just used to throw the ball over to me and I would just run and scare the other kids off. My young years were very much again, confusing and frictional because they would tell me to settle and get a job and then stay with that job for the next 60 years and then get a pension and retire. So it was all about settling. So I do remember. I've never thought about it until that question comes up, but my younger years at school were very much about being taught to settle and be happy.

Unbelievable. Well, that's why I asked the question, right, Jeffrey Gittamer, if you know Jeffrey or not, he said, glenn, if you can ever ask a question, this is for all our gappers out there where people go. Nobody's ever asked me that before. That's a damn good question. And it seems like to me, Steve, that there was something inside of you, something inside your gut that said, this is not the way I'm supposed to be. When they were teaching that to you, could you feel that stir inside of you? Even as a kid, you talked about being resentful. It seems obvious that whatever you were being fed, you weren't buying.

Yeah. A friend of mine, Joe Polish, says to me that it's aggravated oysters that make pearls. And I was just aggravated. And as I say, it was being misconstrued because of my size. And in the life that I was, it was being construed that I was a very angry young man. But I was just distracted and distorted and confused, and it just didn't make sense to me. And of course, I didn't have Instagram to tell me how inadequate my life was or any kind of things called the Internet to be able to research others. It was just a feeling in my gut that I just felt wanted to erupt, and I didn't know why it was there.

I love it. And I think the lesson to our listeners is no matter what kind of bullshit you're being fed by other people, if it doesn't feel right, it's probably not you. It's probably not right. Let's go to when you were 20. Now, you and I both did not graduate from college, and we were both renegades and hustlers. Do you remember being 20? What was the attitude lesson of turning 20 or 21? Are you able to drink beer when you're 20 in Ireland, or were you in Ireland?

The drinking age in Ireland is six. So, yeah, we're absolutely fine. We're pros by the time we're 21. I love it. I'm glad you bring up the 20s, because in my earlier years, I was resentful of having to work on my dad's building sites on the weekends and after school, and I was resentful of how poor we were. It was in my 20s that I had realized the work ethic that I had been given, the commitment and loyalty I had been given and I was never hungry, I was never cold, I was never not clean. I never had shoes that were, that weren't looking after me. I didn't realize. And so it taught me value where true value was. I was always tucked in a bed each night. I was always told I was loved. So it wasn't until I was in my 20s that I realized how lucky my education had been. And if I had to just grind for an extra couple of hours, hey, been doing it all my life. I've been taught, I've been trained and I've been educated. So I actually in my twenties started to go from resentful to a bit kind of cocky because I knew how empowered I was because while all the other kids were out there trying to look for a freebie or a hack or giveaway, I was a bit empowered. So I knew that I had, I had this sus. It was like playing football with a five year old, you know. So I was starting to get a little bit cocky and still didn't know where it was going, but I was starting to get a bit cocky and arrogant.

That's beautiful. That sounds like a person of perseverance, right? I mean somebody that is dominated adversity and has persevered. And a bit of gratitude, obviously. A bit of gratitude. So I don't know if you remember your 30th birthday, but I'm sure. When did you come to America? How old were you?

So I came here in 2000, so that was 21 years ago. So I was, God, what was it, 39, something like that?

Yeah. Okay, well, so you're still in Ireland, you're still in Ireland at 30. Do you remember your 30th birthday and what's your attitude lesson at 30?

Actually I was in London. We moved into London when I was in my teens, when I was really young. So I'd actually got a job and was starting to do what I was doing. Now we like the parties and the events. So on my 30th birthday my wife, because I met her when she was 16 and I was 17, she's been there all the way. She actually rented a helicopter because there had been this mansion restaurant that we'd always wanted to go to. We were living in Hong Kong, we came back to England, she rented a helicopter and flew me to this restaurant. We landed edit the restaurant and then helicopter back. It was the most over the top opulent birthday I ever had and we were disappointed. The funny thing was we, you kind of have all of these or when I've made it, when I'm rich, when I'm famous, when I go. And then you get it and you go, is this it? Yeah. And I remember we had that. And in the evening, we just cuddled up and watched tv. So the happiest part about my birthday was two things. One, being able to sit on the sofa with someone that's got my back and that I love, and two, having my eyes opened to the fact that that shit doesn't help me at all. So it was a very, very educational birthday.

Well. And it sounds like you were a customer of your own sale, in a way. Your 30th birthday. What's your beautiful. What's your beautiful wife's name?

Claire.

The lovely Claire. I married my grade school sweetheart, so there's. Boy, no drama. One gal. And it's wonderful. Well, give Claire our best. And I'm sure. Do they call her St. Clair like they call my wife?

Actually, funny enough, I actually bought her for a birthday present a few years ago, and it still aggravates her. I bought her a title, so she is actually legally registered as Lady Claire Sims.

I love it.

She hates it.

Now, are you guys Catholic?

Yes.

All right. So am I. Very good. That's always good. Good to know. And that's why you obviously dialed up the Pope right Now, did you ever get an audience with the Pope or did you ever communicate with the Pope?

About four times.

Which one? John Paul?

No, Pope Francis.

Pope Francis. Oh, you've been with Pope. You've communicated with Pope Francis four times.

I've been in the room, stood next to him, chatting with him four times.

I'll be dog gone, that is. And did he say anything? And obviously enlightening or what? What? What? I've interviewed. I interviewed Dr. Chuck Dietzen, who was with Mother Teresa for three weeks. Right. And, you know, obviously there's a story to tell. What? What's the story? That just. I mean, I know you got many, but what's the story? I mean, what's the attitude lesson from the Pope when you were in the.

So most of my conversation with him were very short because we were getting ready for an event, so it was always kind of back room or in the corridor, that kind of thing. But I remember having a conversation with him about Harley Davidson's.

Are you kidding?

He saw me and he said, you ride a Harley Davidson? And I said, yeah, I do. Now, apparently in Italy, they had given him a Harley Davidson, and he signed it and then auctioned it off. And apparently he raised A lot of money, but they said he was never allowed to ride it. So his standing joke was, they wouldn't let me ride it. So that was one of my funny little stories from the big man himself.

Oh, that's beautiful. I love our religion, no matter how many people hate it. I think it's awesome. All right, let's go to 40 years old. 40, you're here in America. I'm sure things were happening for you. What was the attitude lesson at 40?

Funny enough, you say about 40. I started to get a little bit doubtful at the beginning of 40. And here's the weird thing. I had been successful for about the past 15 years. In my early 40s, I started doubting what I looked like. Now, if anyone ever sees me, black T shirt, jeans, riding a motorcycle, nine's out of ten, got a whiskey in my hand. That's me. That's as deep as it gets. In my early 40s, I thought, oh, I better start looking a bit more serious. I literally took out my earrings. You can't make it out now, but I got piercings and all that. I took out all my earrings, started wearing suits, started buying expensive watches, and it was all for your pleasure.

Sure.

And I didn't know why I did it, but I was compelled because I had all this self doubt in me and I suddenly realized I wasn't showing up, this facade of me was showing up, and it made me very, very, very depressed. So I actually backpedaled from that, put everything in the wardrobe. And I like wearing a suit, but I'm not going to wear the suit for you. I'm going to wear it because I want to wear the suit. And I went back to wearing the black T shirt and jeans. And quite simply, that made me very happy. I realized in my early 40s, you've got a lot of energy in you, but don't spare a millimeter of it on being somebody that you're not. That was my big lesson in my 40s.

Gappers, we have people that are driving in cars, that are walking on beaches, that are walking on trails, that just heard that message. Actually, all your messages on knowledge through the decade have been so poignant and something for people to take. And I think what you've given us today is a great roadmap to bridge the gap from who you are to who you want to be. Now we're down to the last one 55 years ago. Tell me what you did on your 50th birthday. What was the attitude lesson at 50?

I have never understood the idiots out there that go, hey, on my 50th birthday, I'm gonna jump out of an airplane or I'm gonna race a car or I'm gonna do this. That's the shit you should be doing now, right? So on my 50th, I decided I was gonna have an intermission. And what I did was I made a barbecued steak, poured an old fashioned, had dinner in the garden with my family.

Nice.

And we all chatted about what we had done, what we had learned, what we had experienced. I knew from a very young age that's what I was going to do for my 50th. This is the time that you go and you reflect. All right, so how did the first half go? You know, did I step it up? Did I push myself? Did I fail? Did I strive? Did I refine myself? That's what your 50th is a for. It's your intermission. It's your pause to make sure you're on track to who you want to be remembered to be.

I love it. I love it. Well, I tell you what, I think you've poured it all out for us today. Steve Sims, any. You've just been wonderful. This is great. I mean, you're just fantastic. If there's anybody you know that needs to go through knowledge, through the decades, any of your clients that wants to come on, please refer them to the Get Attitude podcast. I really can't wait to meet you in person. If you get to Indy, please look me up. I'd like to, I guess, just close real quick. There are people out there that are losing jobs, that have lost jobs, that are broke, that are going, what the hell am I doing? We're in the middle of a pandemic. If you had to start all over again as a broke man, as somebody that, you know what the pandemic affected and wiped you out, what advice do you have for those people to begin the comeback?

For a start, get rid of Netflix, Amazon prime, and many of those TV stations. Turn the news off and start communicating with people. There's far too many ways that we can communicate in groups now, even this podcast. Listen to podcasts, hear people's stories, and learn your strength in Unicorn from that. But focus on your growth, not what's on Netflix.

I love it. I love it. And so gappers. That is the great Steve Sims. He has given you his heart, his soul. He's giving you unbelievable stories, and he's giving you the answers on how to bridge the gap from who you are to who you want to be. Steve Simms, thank you so much. It was my pleasure to learn from you and we will see you all gappers on the next Get Attitude podcast. This podcast is a part of the C Suite Radio Network. For more top business podcasts, visit c-sweetradio.com.