John Abbott ​​​​​​​Death of the Ego

Welcome to Exit the Matrix Stories of Success with your host Jane Slack-Smith, where we celebrate the incredible journeys of individuals who've transcended their limitations and achieved extraordinary success.

Hello and welcome to Exit the Matrix Stories of Success, and my name is Jane Slack-Smith, your host on this journey to those sliding door moments. And today I have a very special guest with us. John Abbott. Now, John is a visionary in transformation. He's an adventurer, and it's all about impact for John. Now, for the past 13 years, John has been living his dream in Bali, blending purpose and adventure into a life dedicated to global transformation. And as the co-founder of Inspiral, he's worked with the world's leading transformational leaders, people like Tony Robbins, Marisa Peer, Peter Sage, the list goes on. And here, look, He's helped them maximize their impact through his initiative, The Giving Model. And John's passion for empowering others shines through all of his initiatives, from his upcoming launch of the groundbreaking Impact Incubator program that trains coaches, trainers, and facilitators in the world of transformation, to setting up their retreats and training and coaching and certification programs, and also championing sustainability and helping Balinese businesses actually create their own impact. For purpose and profit. But like all of my guests, there came a sliding door moment for John, and I can't wait to dive into this because when I said to him, John, what are we going to call this podcast? He said, let's call it Death of the Ego. So John, welcome.

Thank you, Jane. Thank you for the introduction. Wow, I'm hugely honored to be here and chatting to you. We've had so many conversations over the years and there's been such an alignment of, you know, where we kind of are in our lives and, you know, the woo-woo-ness of us as parents and the craziness of our kids. Yeah, the conversation we had recently, it's, yeah, it's great to have this conversation. And, you know, we, we, we know how significant these stories are and you know, whenever I can have an opportunity to share this, you know, there's not— there's lots of different stories in my life which were those sliding door moments for sure. And, and I, and I share many of them. But, you know, there's, there's those ones which are like the time that changes everything. And, and, and I feel that people, when listening to stories, I know that I, when I listen to stories of such such significant, such, such a ridiculously crazy, like, shift in reality or change in, in, in direction. It always inspires me to see how they navigated that. And it can be a very, very dark and lonely road. And I've gone down a few of those paths a few times in my life. And, uh, it's lovely to hear that other people have gone through it and have come through the other end. It, it kind of gives us some, a level of hope. Yeah.

And it's interesting you say that because when I first explored this, and it's now just been a year, so I've had like 26 episodes of, of listening to people's stories since I started this podcast, is that the Matrix, be it real or be based on a societal expectation or a personal expectation. It's, it's strong. Like the bars that imprison us are there for a reason and usually they're from an experience or from a way that we believe things should be. And they're so strong to break through. It can be that darkness that people have to go through before they get to the light. But it's interesting, just having spoken to so many people, you know, some people it's a book that changed their lives. And other people have fallen off a 200-foot cliff, you know, and other people have had a shamanic experience. And, you know, it's the purpose of this podcast is to share those stories. So someone's there listening, and not everything is going to be relatable to them, but they might just go, geez, you know what, what are the moments that I'm missing that I walk past? And, and that's what I'd love to get to with you, because now you've worked with some of the most extraordinary transformational leaders on this planet that haven't just affected thousands but millions of people. And you were caught up in that world and that lifestyle. But I detected that there was a bit of an exit the matrix that came during that period, and I'd love to explore that with you and have you share that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I, it's really, I'll start by saying that it's really difficult and almost at a level of impossibility to see it when you're in it. And in hindsight, you know, everything is 20/20. Um, but when you're in it, there's, there's always I really trust in the universal guidance systems. And the one that I've learned is the feather, whisper, brick, Mack truck moments. And if you don't miss the feather, right, then you hear this feather and the whispers in your ear. The universe will go, well, you didn't hear that. Let me, let me speak louder. And then they give you a brick. And if you've had a brick hit you in the head or It's, it's painful. And if you still don't get that, then you end up in traction, laying in bed in the hospital going, what the hell just happened? And for me, I've had probably 3 of those in my life. And, and I still, I think this one is the most significant one, even though it didn't end up in traction, because the one prior to that actually was in traction. I had broken ribs. Punctured lung, broken collarbones, and I literally, I was hit by the Mack truck and I was in traction. And that was about, about 5 years prior, right? And I got some of those lessons. This, this one was another level of the deepening of that lesson. And yeah, as you were saying, I was, I was, I was in a transition of life. So I, I'd kind of come across meditation. I'd found myself a coach, NLP coach, really wonderful friend of mine, Rick Schnabel, who you know. And we were, you know, we were kind of exploring different things. And then he introduced me to this amazing speaker guy named Paul Dunn, who was coming to do a seminar in Melbourne. And I was like, never been to a seminar. What's that like? These things were like just news, new. So we'd go listen to Paul, and then Paul did this amazing introductory speech or whatever else. And then he introduced this guy named Roger Hamilton to the stage, and he spoke about all of these things about, you know, entrepreneurship and giving back and making a difference in the world. And in 2006, this was revolutionary. I was like, I can make the difference. I thought it was governments and corporations. They were the only ones that could. They were the ones with the power. I was just a tiny little entrepreneur. Well, not that tiny. I actually had quite a big business in my world. I had 50 staff in Australia and we had an internet web development company in 3 cities in Australia. And so, I was busy and I was doing the work and doing business. And then I listened to this guy and he talks about, you know, giving back and, you know, how we can create more together. And I was like, wow, this is amazing. So I just went straight into that. And then he talks about this thing called the Wealth Dynamics. And it's all about your understanding where your power is. And as an entrepreneur, what things should you be doing and what things should you not be doing? And therefore, what are the teams that you can build around you? And I was like, wow, this is— I've never thought of that. You know, I just hired people because of their skills. I didn't think about personality. Australia. So I could just open this whole world in 2006. And before I knew it, within like 6 or so months, I became the Western Australia promoter for this guy, Roger Hamilton. Where did that come from? I have no idea. But somehow it was actually Rick's fault. He dropped the link. And I love him for it. So we started doing that. And then I started really getting into all this because then I was promoting it and I was speaking and I was standing on stage and introducing and I was actually running, you know, my own seminars and webinars on this over the next 2 or 3 years. At the same time, because that, you know, I started to really get into that, that energetic, things started to show up in my life differently and all sorts of amazing opportunities and property started showing up and investment and, and the ego just got so excited. It was like, look at me, look at me, I'm going to be so important and so significant and like, whoa. And, and I, and you know, I've got the car and I've got the house, you know, multimillion dollar house that sits in Applecross and, you know, multiple cars and this and that. And it's like, and I thought like this was, this was me. The status was made it.

You made it, John.

Yes, exactly. Daddy, look at me now. This is what we do. Yeah, that was my significant thing to go, Dad, look, I've done it. I've made it. Because what was my dad's thing for me for many, many, many, many years when I look back was, why don't you go get a real job, John? And that was my need to prove myself to my father. And that's what I was chasing in hindsight, looking at all that and understanding it now. That's what I was chasing. That acknowledgement that I was good enough, you know, for my— in my father's eyes. And when they eat— when you're chasing something like that, the ego is in such control, and then you kind of get lost and you start making mistakes. And then 2007, 2008, 2009 happened, and this beautiful global financial crisis came in, and I was in that place of total overleveraged. Yeah, with multiple properties, 18 properties and $3.5 million of debt. And it all just came crumbling down. All of the different things I was doing, suddenly people were not buying because, as you remember, the global financial crisis, everybody just pulled back their spending because like you didn't know if you're going to have a job tomorrow, let alone if the business was gonna go, it's like all of the things I was doing just started caving in and I found myself with a few $100,000 worth of monthly cash flow requirement without that income. And that is unsustainable very fast as a—

That burn rate is quite high, isn't it?

It's huge. So suddenly all these things start shutting down. And suddenly the significance and the status and what will people think of me, that all of that, all of that stuff. And I try to hold on as long as I could to all of the different businesses because I thought if I just hold on long enough, maybe it will turn around. Yeah, it didn't turn around and it was collapsing. And I had a mentor at the time, I, you know, that who had been introduced to me, a guy named Roy McDonald. Of one life. And Roy was really beautiful. He was, he was, he was calling me literally every single week. And I remember, I remember this one call. So it was, it was such a huge change in, in what I was doing and how I was holding on. And he said to me, John, if you don't let all this go now, today, I will no longer mentor you. Your wife will leave you, your, your business partners will take you to court. And like, he just rattled all this stuff off and I was like, okay, okay. And like, at the same time, my whole body is like shaking and I'm, I feel like I'm, there's no air. And like, literally, like, he just, he had, he made such a beautiful stand for me in making those statements. And I made a decision right there to let the businesses go. And, you know, shut down the, the conference center that I had, you know, closed down the, the, the real estate marketing company I had and let this— let the staff go. That was the biggest, that was the biggest, you know, overhead. Let the staff go, call up the banks, can't make these payments, you know, call up the, the credit card, you know, providers because I also tapped into credit cards to try and pay Like, you just, just do shit. It's just stuff because you're so caught up in that, that, that system that's got you there to leverage all of these bank, bank, um, uh, loans to do that. And then, you know, because you, because you've got, you know, good, good, a good loan rate and what else, then they give you bigger and bigger credit card facilities I had a few hundred, I think I had $300 grand in credit card I could tap into. So I did because I needed it at that time.

They gave it to you, right?

No problem.

No questions asked.

Until I missed payments. And then it was almost a daily thing, like just on the calls, like because now they were calling me, you know, can you make that payment? And it became really, really a very big challenge. But what happened was when, when that moment happened with Roy and he called me on that, I had to literally just let go and just surrender to the fact that this is, this is, this is happening. It's happened and I have no more control.

Yeah.

And if I try to hold on and I try and control it any further, I was just going to be absolutely annihilated. So thank goodness that was because I probably would have held on longer and I'd probably have gotten myself into a position where there was no way out. But, you know, at that point I actually was able to work it out. And it took me a full year to get myself out of that position. And that's another story for another day. But that's— that whole process allowed me to just stop all of the things I was doing and just also see the craziness in some of the decisions I was making. In the pursuit of success, status, validation. Validation. Exactly. And it was humbling. I remember being extraordinarily humbled by this and humbling through being crushed. The ego is just crushed in all of that. And then having to sell everything and move out of the big house and sell the cars and put their properties on the market and then just go, go and just be in this mode of it has to all go. And the interesting thing was that in my, in my mind already I'd had these, these little whispers or these feathers already kind of nudging me, saying, what you're doing is unsustainable. What you're doing is unsustainable. Slow down, take a breath, you know, kind of pull it all together, you know, take stock. Like, I've been getting those nudges for about 6 months prior to the GFC. Yeah, I was like, no, you know, the ego was just like, no, it's gonna be fine. Like, you'll be able to ride through anything. And, you know, everything was so good. Like, literally, you could, you could back a bid on a property on the weekend, buy it at $400 grand, put it on the, on the market a week later at $450 and get it. And it was sold like that. Like, literally you could do that stuff in 2007. It was crazy in Western Australia. And I was just too— I was just— it was just such a— there's a greed in the ego that just wants more and more and more and more. And it, it puts us— yeah, it, it puts you in a position where literally you are so Um, you, you are very vulnerable to it, isn't it? Vulnerable and exposed. That I was. And the momentum, you could— yeah, exactly. It pulls you that in a way that literally you can't hold on. It feels like you're on a roller coaster, loving it because it's like roller coaster and I'm winning and I'm winning and I'm winning, but you can't— like, life is not that way.

You know what it sounds like to me, and I haven't heard it, it hasn't landed for me like this before, but that experience, maybe for the 6 months prior to, to this, you know, Mack truck, um, is a battle between the intuition and the ego.

Yes.

Your intuition's there tapping you on the shoulder, right? Tapping on. And you hear about people who, you know, there are, and usually in, in our it's like a big financial crisis or something, and they've just got this little hit that says, sell everything and put it into gold. And then all of a sudden there's 9/11 or something, you know, and you hear about people who follow this knowing or this intuition. And, you know, it's, it's difficult when your ego is so linked to the validation of the most influential person growing up, your father. And it's like, Dad, look what I've done. And there's, there's almost that momentum of, well, now I can do better. Like, you know, if he's told me I'm pretty good and I've taken him on the holiday of his lifetime because I could afford it, what's next? And it, it, it keeps going. And it, and it's also interesting, I've spoken to a lot of people who've, um, the person who they look to for the permission or the validation has passed. Yes. And they're still craving, but there's absolutely no one who can ever give them that validation. And they, so they can't stop and they don't know that they're looking for it.

Or they replace the person, they replace their father with another significant person in their life, which I did after that as well. When my father died, I, I, that I started using other people like as the father figures or the ones that I seek validation from. And, and that, and if you don't see that, that can become an ongoing thing for sure. Yeah.

So it sounds to me like this, this sliding door moment, which was this this devastating financial collapse, not just financially, but all the status symbols as well. You know, your companies, your home, your cars, everything is gone. You know, at that time, what, what was going through your mind? What was there, a light at all, or is it just self-preservation was going on? Were you hiding it? Was there shame, embarrassment? What, what were you experiencing?

Everything. I would find myself literally laying in the corner in fetus position, just crying, going, you know, why me? Poor me. Like, what have I done to deserve this? All of the victim conversation and then all of the shame, like literally all the people that I let down, like letting all the staff go. That was, that actually felt like the hardest thing to do, to let people who had been working with me for years, letting them know that they don't have a job anymore. I can't pay them and you're gonna have to go fend for yourself and doing the best I could to pay another salary and to, um, and then And then also the self-preservation side, which is— which was actually, I only really saw that once I'd kind of said stop. And then to see the actual entire amount of destruction around me and go, oh crap, how do I— how do I fix this? How do I rebuild from this place? Which is you know, $3.5 million of debt. How do I get out of this hole? Like, what is it like? No comprehension in that moment of what to do and how to do that.

And I mean, obviously you did, there was a Phoenix refi, but you would've once again had to battle what are people, are people gonna give me money again? Can I start a business? What valid, what, what credentials do I have if I have been through this? Do you want to take me through that and how that progressed to where you are now?

Well, I took the alternative route in this conversation. And again, Roy was— Roy McDonald was actually a part of this conversation, and I actually learned so much from him over the next Over the next 10, I think 10 or, 10 or so months, I actually went and worked with him. So I left Perth where I was living and I went over to the Gold Coast where his office was, and I literally lived and breathed everything he was teaching. And at that stage, the biggest work he was doing because of GFC and how many people were losing their homes and people who had huge amounts of debt, credit card, you know, of course, home loans and stuff like that. He was helping them essentially relieve that debt and relieve themselves from the strain and the pressures because people, as you may remember, people would, you know, checking out.

I had a mortgage broker business during that time. So yeah, I definitely got to see that.

Yeah. It was, it was tough. So Roy was— Roy, and so is he— he's an absolute genius on how to shift the energy and, and the weight of that with structures and, and systems and smarts. I went even further than that, and I started learning sovereignty and understanding this whole thing around being a sovereign being. And then I started learning, as we did later on, we started learning about where the bank had originated its money, how actually there was no origination of it, it was just a multiplication of money that they had made 10 times. You know, they have a dollar, they can actually loan 10 dollars. Like, all this stuff became, became part of my understanding. And I In 10 months, I learned so much around how the world works and how the money systems work. And I was able to, to really find, you know, the ones that worked with me the best to be able to essentially negotiate my, my loans. And if anyone's watching and you've got big loans with the bank, you can negotiate 90% off whatever you owe them today. That's available. And they may not, they may not want to give that to you in the first month or the second month, but you, you know, you can over time and distance, actually they will accept that because to be honest, it's, they only loaned you 10% of what their original origination of money is. So they actually will go there. And in some cases you can just cut it right out.

It sounds a little difficult to understand if you're not in this world, but essentially if the banks have $1 million worth of lending in— sorry, have $1 million worth of deposits that people have put deposits in, they have the opportunity to resell that money. And it's not just a multiple of 10, it was much higher. And only recently has it come down to like below 30 for some of the big banks. But they had that multiple effect that they were lending money that didn't exist based on the fact that they were an entity that could lend. So understanding that gave you that leverage to be able to negotiate out. Now a quick word from our sponsor, Your Success Club. Your Success Club is a group of vibrant abundance seekers. If you subscribe to exitthematrix.io, we are going to drop you into the club room, which has lots of goodies, resources and a free gift just for subscribing. Now back to the podcast.

Yeah, I talk to people about multiples of 10 because that's believable. You understand what's really going on and it's all just, it's just, you know, we just create money electronically. Like it's just, you know, so, so that's the actual truth. And certainly if you go to the US government or the, you know, the, which is all corporate structures or whatever else, and you start to go down that rabbit hole, you actually really understand what's going on. and they just are printing money from nothing. So, so yeah, I, I was able to kind of—

Sovereignty though, this is you taking agency of your own life and seeing the Matrix.

Yes, exactly. And, and this was, this was part of the, the process of suddenly seeing the Matrix, because suddenly I felt like Neo. I could see what was happening behind the program.

Yeah.

Program which is all about go, go get a good education, you know, get a loan for your university, pay your loan off, go get a job, pay your taxes, get a loan, get a car, get a loan, get a house, get married, you know, 2 kids, you know, wife gets a job, like, It's such a program that you see everywhere when you're living in it that it becomes the norm. It becomes the, the natural way because it's so indoctrinated in everything that we see on television, in the shows, in the, the doc— you know, in, in the news. Whoever watches those anyway these days, but it's still there, like, and it's still in the newspapers, like, it's all being it's all incredibly well coordinated.

You know, I used to work in mine sites as a mining engineer and I used to go to these, you know, great big drag lines and I'd jump in this when I was just a new engineer and I'd get up on these drag lines and I'd be speaking to the operators and, you know, they'd be talking about interest rates and, you know, world economy and all of these things and I'm like, how these guys, you know, they're tradies in there, they're so well educated. And then I'd go and jump on a dozer and chat to the dozer operator, and he's talking about the same stuff. And, and I was, you know, ringing my parents going, these people, they're amazing. Oh yeah, I'm astounded. And then one day I turned up between the hours that John Laws was speaking, and Lawsy was there feeding everyone the information, and everyone got the right, the same information. I'm like, how does everyone in this town, they're so educated on da da da, but they're educated on what they were being fed. And it wasn't until I was just like, wait a second, I just heard that other guy say the same thing. And then I heard Lawzie say it. I'm like, everyone's just regurgitating what, what has been fed to them. And when you've only got one radio station in a mine site, everyone's only listening to the one thing. You know, this is 30 years ago. And, and I had an awareness there that, that I've now seen the algorithms of the feeds that we get on social media. It's like, isn't this amazing? I keep getting, getting this all good information. I'm going down this path, but someone's leading me. And, uh, and, and seeing that is, um, there, there's a duality to it, isn't it? There's a presence of God. I'm glad I can see it. And it's like, how do I rescue others from it? And then it's like, but if I tell other people, they're not going to believe me.

Yeah, yeah. It's the interesting thing around the sovereignty side for me is seeing how deep this rabbit hole goes You know, like, literally you feel like Alice in, you know, diving down and just like, it's such a deep hole and you can get also caught up inside of that side of things. But just understanding the layers that this is built on and like, you can scratch this layer here and then there's another one and another one and another one that controls all of those ones anyway. And being able to see the layers, it kind of feels like you actually feel like Neo. You like, literally you feel like You've seen the program that makes the reality of that. And then you go, okay, so if I see that, then what is it that, given that that is what rolling out and controlling or programming most of the planet, how can I show up in this without leaving it? I don't want— for me, it wasn't about I want to leave the system and leave the matrix. It was like, how can I have one foot in the matrix and, you know, use and play with the tools that, that's there, but then the other foot in kind of like, I don't know how to call it, but like a conscious kind of view of it, like just an understanding of it, being able to go, okay, I'm living in this, in this third, this third person view of what's happening here. So kind of being able to just see it and then make different choices and different decisions which are not influenced by that. And one of those decisions was to leave Australia. And the part of that was because I could see that if I stayed just living in the suburbs and getting in my car in the morning and then going to the office, and I, I could— it was just— I just got caught up in it every single day. And then I got enrolled in it, and then because I was trying to do that. I was trying to kind of exit. And every time I just, I just found myself, it's a habit and it's such a strong habit and everything is holding you in to go back into that habit. So I actually decided that I, I need to literally change environments. Something that I learned from, from one of my mentors is that if you want to change your state or change the way you are, change the environment that you're in. And, you know, it's the example was like if you go into a library, your natural way is to speak softly and whisper because the environment is, is the environment encourages that. So can you change? Can I change an environment that did not have a matrix system that I could recognize or that would draw me back in? And I went, well, okay, let me leave Australia. As I was making that decision, I got an invitation to leave Australia. Thank you. Yes, surprise. Exactly. So I got an invitation and I was like, yes, I'm coming. And I went to go live in a resort for 2 and a half years to help them build the resort and whatever else. And, and that was in Bali. That was in Bali. Yeah. And, and, and I remember through the process of going where I was to actually leaving, I had to get rid of everything. I had to literally go down to nothing. I had to like all the small things I had left. I had, you know, I had a vehicle left. I had, you know, a property left. I had lots and lots of furniture and stuff like that because I had multiple properties and I put them all in the garage. So I did have garage sales and and sell all that. And literally I let everything go over like probably a month and a half, 6 weeks. I went through the process of literally having garage sales and selling this and selling that and putting it onto the different selling sites. And just it went and it went and it went. And I remember getting, I remember this moment and I'm standing at the airport and I've just checked in and I'm like, literally I went away from the check-in desk and I like turned and I had this wave of like— and I feel it straight away— like, like tearing up and like this incredible feeling of liberation in my body. And I knew from in this moment that I owed nobody any more money. I had no rent to pay. I had no, no loans to pay back this month. I was free.

Wow.

First time in my life in as long as I could remember. And it was such an overwhelming sense of— it was like the breath out. It was like, ah, it was the most extraordinary feeling to feel that after having so much pressure that I didn't realize I had because I was the frog in the microwave, slow boiled, slowly but surely. And those stress levels and all that build up and build up and build up and you don't realize they're there until you do. Yeah, you do. When it's all gone and suddenly your body just, like, literally my nervous system, I think, just went Yeah. And it was just the most extraordinary thing. And I remember thinking to myself in that moment, I'll never be in debt again. If this is the difference in how I feel.

And it's interesting, it sounds like a death. And that's what mortgage means. The Latin word morte, right?

Yeah. Ouch.

There you go. So that's what you're living, you know, it's, it's, if I fast forward, you know, this working with one of these, you know, imagine it was Roger, one of, you know, these transformational kind of people, and then going on and working with these other transformational leaders and multiplying their magnitude to millions through your genius and what you did, was, was that orchestrated to helping others, like helping others go through that transformation, that that period themselves, or was it, you know, circumstance? Was it orchestrated or, or, you know, circumstance?

Well, two parts of the environment that, that I was seeking was, number one, I wanted to go to a place where I did not have a network on the ground. So I had to therefore find more creative ways of being able to connect in with network online. So like that was part of my, my, my thought process of how do I get out of the matrix? Don't put yourself in an environment that puts you back into any of the systems and the processes that you were doing before. Yeah, take away all that stuff where I used to go, like literally on a daily basis I was in my car, you know, cafes and offices and just doing deals and doing conversations. And I said to myself, I've got it. Like that part of it is a part of that part of it that drags me into the matrix. I need to to exit that one. The second part was put me, put me in an environment where I do not understand the language, so none of the programming can come through. And I was, you know, I was like everyone else, you know, we really threw yourself into it, didn't you? Yeah, you turn the TV on or you look at ads on the road and you look at different stuff where you hear the easier people's radios The programming is always on. Yeah. And it's constantly programming us. And that's what Bali gave to me. It gave me an environment where I did not have a TV, which was perfect. I haven't had a television in now 14 years and I don't understand the language. Even now, I don't understand the language well enough to be able to read their advertising banners and listen to their ads. And I go on Spotify, I get Indonesian ads on Spotify and, and YouTube and stuff like that. I've turned those off now, but like, that's what, that's what used to come in, and I didn't understand them. So I was like, yeah, whatever that is. So you, the programming wasn't working for on me, and, uh, and, and I, I had to work out a different way. So what, what happened was I started to find ways of how do I continue what I was doing, which was the only thing that was left over that was working when I shut down, there were 6 businesses and I shut down 5 of them. And the only one that was really still working was the part where I was marketing and inviting people into experiencing different personal development, you know, entrepreneurship, you know, all these types of programs that I was going through as well. That was, that was the part that I was still getting flow through and that actually generated income for me and it continued. So I took that essentially. I took that to Bali with me. And then I started running that online and I got myself an online sales team. And then the model of the Giving Model essentially showed up in this, in this moment, which was a way— I believe that the universe is always handing us opportunities. Yeah, we can decide to take that opportunity and run with it. Some of it, sometimes the universe gives it to you specifically for you to be the one who runs with it on the planet. And if you don't take it, it'll just pass it to someone else. I believe that. Absolutely.

I believe the universe is conspiring for our success and we just miss the stories. Like every now and then we just miss the message.

Yes, exactly. Or we go, oh, this is my IP, this is my thing. And then somebody else doesn't go, you stole my thing. And like, people don't realize that they did. They just didn't take it forward in the way that universe, you know, was saying available to them. They didn't, they didn't take it. So then somebody else would, because it just gets passed on until somebody runs with it. But the universe wants to evolve us. Now, humanity is in constant evolution with or without you or me. So if I was not on this planet, all the things that I'm involved in moving forward would be done by somebody else. Maybe even better than this. So, so I truly believe that if it's, if it's given to you, if it feels like this is something you want to run with, run with it. And the Givvy model is one of those things that was given to me. It happened to be on a program called Green, Green Super Camp, which we spoke about just recently, sending our kids on. And it was the first program we ran with Green Super Camp. And just very quickly, the model came as one of these gifts where we were 2 weeks out. The program we were running was in July. We had a few, few more places we had to sell to break even and we were out of ideas. Our marketing was not working. There was no more, no more kind of like responses from emails and SMS we were sending out. And we'd been doing it for 3 months and we had 30-odd kids already enrolled in it and we literally needed a few more to just break even. We just like, that was the aim, break even the first one. And then we can build the other ones that we like that would then give us all of the intelligence and the testimonials and all that type of thing. So we could use that for future. So the GIVI model came in a conversation and I'm not gonna go into what the GIVI model is, but essentially it came through, I ran it out in 24 hours and we made, you know, 5 sales within 48 hours. Yeah, for, for that, for that program. And, you know, one of the people actually got to come and actually bring their child for free and all that type of thing to the program. And it was absolutely amazing. And it was the start of this model that has now become the Giving Model that really allows us to utilize competitions and scholarship funding and funding mechanisms and grants and all those types of things to help more people access extraordinary programs, certification programs, access coaching, you know, technologies and all sorts of, you know, these amazing human—

I think I might have to put the Giving Model into my group coaching. We'll have to talk more.

Sure. So that's become— that became a model through the process of leaving the matrix. Yeah, I needed, because, you know, universe is always, so, you know, as you're saying, conspiring to help us to, to evolve and to, to have an extraordinary life.

It, it's interesting, you know, you mentioned, um, this, the, you know, Paul Dunn, right at the beginning of this conversation. I was chatting to him on Friday. So Paul from B1G1.

Yep.

I was talking to him about this and, And he was talking about his wife, Masami, and he said she was recently on stage. And he said, I was in the audience and I was fascinated in what she was saying. She always talks about the power of small. And I've got this video of him. And I said, it was just a private conversation and it was recorded. And I was like, can I share this? Because to me it was just like true love. And he's like, I'm standing there and I'm watching her. And she's like, the power of small. Is the power of all. And he's like, 'It hit me!' And this, like, he was just so mesmerized by his wife. But what you're talking about is that, is that power of small, you know, those small things, small givings, just a small twist to where you are can actually, you know, create something for humanity and something much bigger. And, you know, gave the opportunity to someone who would not have been exposed to, you know, the incredible learning of that super camp to be able to have a different orientation in their life and create the intergenerational change that that will bring. Amazing.

And of course, then, you know, you talk about all the extraordinary people we've got to work with. There was no way I would, I would be able to represent those brands that you mentioned earlier unless I had something that was so incredibly unique and more so something that really allowed them to extend or expand their impact on the planet. And the interesting thing I learned and I met, I met Sir Richard Branson a couple of times in my life and actually, I actually marketed for him and actually ran an event for him and got to actually meet him in person one-on-one and have conversation with him. And the most extraordinary thing I learned about him was you talk like you talk impact or contribution or give back or any sort of level of, of making a difference on the planet. And he is all in. Like, he's— I think he— I think I feel that each, each time I interacted with him, he had this extraordinary ability to be so freaking present. But when I spoke to him about the impact stuff that we were doing, he, he was not only just present, but he was asking really great questions for me to go, oh, okay, how do I— okay, I can, I can change that, I can shift that. And, and I realized that the people at that level of the game who have been playing a beautiful game of integrity and, you know, Branson's got his flaws, let's be clear, we all do. But there's, you know, he will show up for an event and he'll be there for the whole day and charge nothing for his time if he knows that the money that he's helping to generate goes to a great cause. Anything else, you can pay, you know, $1 million an hour or whatever it is for his time and you can book him in 2 years' time because he's that booked out. But he'll show up for these events, which he did for that one that I was doing. Absolutely, you know, everything we generate all goes to the cause and heals all them. So I knew that there was something there that really, and I felt it in me that I wanted to be finding ways of creating deeper and more impactful moments and impacting more people's lives. And I'm not, you know, in the kind of profile of things. I'm not somebody who creates something from new. I'm somebody who's great in the promotion, promotion of these great things. I always knew that I'd be promoting other people's things and other people's technologies. Well, I don't always know. I kind of learned that, you know, through Wealth Dynamics. So the giving model for me was how do I use this technology to help other people to, to maximize the impact that they're making in the world. And part of that is how do we reach the people who have extraordinary, like, passion and purpose and on an extraordinary mission on this planet? These are the— I call them the Mother Teresas of the, of the planet. These people who will just— they just, they dedicate their life to this mission, to like, literally feels like they sacrifice, but they're not sacrificing because they get so much in return. Like, that's, you know, if they have dreams, they're sacrificing because it's not financial. That's right. But they will show up every single day and they'll jump out of bed and they will be in service to humanity. How do we find those people? And let's, can we give those people the tools from these extraordinary mentors like the Tony Robbins and the Peter Sages and the Brandon Bays and, you know, and so forth? Can we give them these tools so that they could actually do even a better job with what they're trying to achieve. And the Giving Model allows us to do that. And we do it through the process of application. And we're looking for that. The way that we ask the questions is to find out what's the impact, what's the drive, what's the mission, what's their drive and their passion behind this. And when we find those people, we qualify them for, you know, a full scholarship of funding and then different various levels of scholarship funding based on, you know, whatever criteria, the multiple different criteria. And what we've been able to do is add in the best case so far that I've measured for one of our clients, we added an addition to their income and their flow of leads into their program. We added an additional 69% in revenue, which was 100— it was about 130% in more people because of the different funding levels that we were able to apply. And, and, you know, every month we're at least giving at least $15,000 worth of full program scholarships away at that time. And that was last year, last year, No, the year before. Sorry, it's 2025. The year before, 69% additional revenue, like more than double their revenue we added to their business and so many more people to their programs who were in third world countries, in places you have never heard of, and people who were pastors and, you know, community leaders of these tiny little villages and like like literally some of the calls that our team was having, we couldn't hear the people on the other side. We had to phone them back or like it was a kind of like SMSing them now because like you couldn't hear them. And then we were able to give them these, this technology and they were able to, you know, use this in, in what they're doing. And it's just mind-blowing. And that, and that's why we get into, into, into the, into these huge accounts is because they all want to make that difference. Yeah, they have profitable businesses. Their mechanism is already profitable. It's already leveraged. So what, what, what do they care if they add another 50, 100, 200, 1000 more people into their programs? Because it's like a university. It's one classroom. It's no, no difference if you have 100 people in that classroom or 1000.

It, it doesn't, it doesn't diminish it by making it more available because they're getting better case studies from the people who are dedicated and thankful and putting their learning into place and coming out the other side and actually living the intention of that transformation that the course or certification or whatever it is, you know, was promising to deliver. So they're getting the good news stories. And for people who are listening here going, I want some of that, John has very, very generously offered to give the first 4 modules of the Impact Incubator to listeners. And all you have to do is go to www.exitthecomfortzone.com. Thematrix.io/s/john, and we will link you up to the first 4 modules of that. Because, you know, this is just a way that John's giving back straight away to the listeners of the podcast. And we know that there's people out there who may be in a matrix of financial struggle, or maybe conditions they put on themselves, are saying, I wish I could do something, and I have a calling and a purpose and a joy that I want to bring to the world and make impact on humanity, but I just don't have the resources, tools, or whatever I need. Here it is. There is no excuse for you to exit the matrix and jump on to, to the Impact Incubator. Now, John, I could talk to you forever, and I am going to just finally ask you one question that I ask everyone, and that is just for some fun, share something that's cool, different, unusual that people may not know about you.

So this is embarrassing and I've actually, I've never shared this publicly. So this is edgy, but why not? So I'm practicing being, putting myself in positions of vulnerability and and levels of uncomfort. I call it the— can we have uncomfortable conversations that lead to a level of healing? So, so when I was a kid, I lived on a farm in, in South Africa, in an area called Zululand. And this is where the Zulu warriors are from, these powerful warriors of Africa. And as a kid, I used to buzz around the farm and, you know, be very curious about everything. And I was very curious about little bugs and little crawlies and whatever else. My mom used to tell me, and I can't remember this, like, it's maybe I've shut it out of my memory. My mother used to tell me that her biggest fear when putting my pants in the wash was putting her hand in the pocket and seeing what came out. And a bigger fear was not to see what creepy crawly came out, but if a creepy crawly was in one piece or if it was maybe in half. Whatever put it in half, I'll leave that to your imagination. But I was very curious.

You had a taste for the bugs is what I'm detecting rather than— some type of pulling legs off animals.

As a baby, you always, as a child, you test drive everything. So that is an embarrassing story.

John eats bugs.

I think that it created an immune system that was so powerful that therefore I didn't, you know, everybody else would get sick and whatever else, and I just kind of like flow through life with, uh, with I think an immune system that is, uh, like a cockroach.

Human Spider-Man. Well, John, it has just been an absolute gift, uh, having you talk on, uh, Exit the Matrix and share that, that story. And I really appreciate you going there to probably one of the toughest times in your life, but obviously a transformational time where you got to see the transparency and reveal what goes on behind the world of finance and structures and choose a different life and even take the biggest step of exiting the matrix of an entire country and going somewhere where you didn't speak the language and gave away all worldly goods to, to really start afresh. So thank you so very much for that. And I, I really encourage you to go to ExitTheMatrix.io /s/john to grab those first 4 modules of Impact Incubator and really look at how you can, you know, exit the matrix yourself and, and go for what your heart desires in really creating the world that you'd like to live in and for your future generations as well. And as always, I would like to encourage you to go to exitthematrix.io, subscribe, and we've got a free gift gift there for you when you do. And also go and, you know, give some love to the podcast. Go over to YouTube, subscribe, head over to Apple, give us a review, because we're going to hack the algorithm and get this out to more people, because we want everyone to have that awareness around the sliding door moments that we're always walking by. But as always, thank you so much, John. Appreciate you being here and sharing your genius.

Thank you, Jane. I love, love, love your commitment to sharing these stories, and I'm so honored to have been able share this with everyone and thank you for the work that you do.

Thanks, John. And as always, here's to your success. Bye for now. Bye-bye, Finlandify! Bye-bye, Finlandify! Bye-bye, Finlandify! Bye-bye, Finland!

Thank you for listening to Exit the Matrix Stories of Success. Make sure you subscribe to future episodes at www.exitthematrix.io. Until next time, here's to your success!