Ep.171- "Scale Your Business" with Michael Dallas Peterson

This is the You Winning Life Podcast, your number one source for mastering a positive existence. Each episode we'll be interviewing exceptional people, giving you empowering insights and guiding you to extraordinary outcomes. Learn from specialists in the worlds of integrative and natural wellness, spirituality, psychology, and entrepreneurship so you too can be winning life. Now here's your host, licensed marriage and family therapist, certified neuro-emotional technique practitioner, winner and certified entrepreneur coach Jason Wasser.

Hey y'all, welcome back to another You Winning Life podcast. As always, we would love to hear from you. If you are one of our awesome listeners out there, we would love to connect with you. So please hit us up on Instagram, Jason Wasser LMFT, or on You Winning Life on either one of those, uh, accounts on Instagram. And we'd love to know who you are, where you are, and as as well as what topics in the future you would love for us to talk more about, what type of people you'd like to see, and what areas of life that we can connect with and bring to you, the listener, so we can start creating more of an awesome conversation and taking it to the next level as we're getting close to episode 200, which is gonna happen within the next year. And also let me know if you'd be interested in perhaps doing a retreat. I'm thinking about doing that for people in the community to get all like-minded people together for a nice weekend somewhere, hopefully in nature, and to help tackle some things that would make sense to you. So if any of these things interest you, one, just to say hello, and two, if you'd like to see an actual in-person event, let me know. Really would like to connect with you, especially since we have listeners all over the world, which is super amazing. So without further ado, today's guest is Michael, Mike Dallas Peterson. He is an entrepreneur, father, husband, and he's based in the British Columbia area. He's highly sought-after automation and systems specialist, helping online entrepreneurs scale their offers and their business with world-class systems, automation, and delegation. He now teaches working professionals on how to do the same. So today we're gonna talk about what an integrator business is, what it takes mindset-wise to make a business click, how to actually get results. So, right, even though you may or may not have a business while listening to this, but a lot of the practical application of how to move your life forward, how to take action steps, is going to be part of this conversation. So looking forward to hearing your thoughts and comments on this. As always, if you haven't yet subscribed to the podcast, please do so on your platform of choice. And also know that we do have YouTube videos of every single episode that we do. And we'd love for you to subscribe and follow us and leave some comments over there. So, Mike, thank you so much for joining us today. And there we go. All right. So we're going to get this started because, you know, Michael and I just had a really awesome pre— pregame conversation. And as I promised you, we're going to get into the conversation about how to make things work both in your personal life as well as your professional life. And first of all, again, welcome to the show. I'm really excited to have this conversation with you.

Yeah, thank you. Thank you for having me. It's gonna be fun.

So one of the things we were just talking about, which I didn't, you know, think we were going to get into, but I'm glad we did, um, is one, I just want you to introduce who you are, what you do, um, you know, this concept of what an integrator is. But I really would like to start off the conversation with where you're coming from and why this is so passionate and important to you to be doing what you're doing now.

Sounds good. Yeah. So Michael Dallas Peterson, live in southern British Columbia, Canada. Moved from the Great White North, if you will, closer to the Yukon than that, you know, about 3 or 4 years ago. Father, 2 beautiful children, wife, and a couple pups, dogs. And that's a little bit about, a little bit about who I am. Integrator. It's, I would say to be like a remote integrator, it's a fairly new coined term. I don't think that in terms of like, you know, the online world and things like that, it's like a new position where we don't really classify ourselves as like marketers or things like that because we do pretty much everything. And so an integrator for, in a nutshell, we just hook up and glue the internet together with different softwares. We bridge the gap and we make things talk. And so on one side you'll have a CRM, on the other side you want an autoresponder, or on one side you have a book calendar, and then the other side you want it to go into CRM and then an autoresponder. And so we, we, that's a very small example. So we'll do that, we'll hook up your ads, we'll build your websites, we'll do your funnels, we'll get you, you know, virtual assistants from the Philippines to help, you know, with support, maybe whatever you might need there. We're basically that one-stop shop that'll help your business grow without having to spend enormous amounts of money on retainers on these marketing agencies and all these other things that just offer one solution, which is paid, paid ads, paid ads, paid ads. And I started there and sold a lot of people on that and made a lot of people money. But after a while I was like, hey, I got to help them out with the real problem, which is like their marketing and their sales systems are not together. These agencies can come in and build stuff, but then after they can't afford the retainer, they don't want to do it. All the systems and all that leave with them. Right? And so I like to help out the business owners right from the ground up. And, uh, and we, we basically try to accomplish everything instead of just little small things, right?

So, love that. So talk to me about where, where you started. I know before you were doing this, you were working in, in corporate, um, at some version, right? And I don't want to call it Corporate America because you're not in America, but that mindset. Um, but I want to take it even, even further back, right? We were talking a little bit about family and, and a little bit of where both of our stories, uh, started. And, um, what I didn't tell you about my family background is, uh, when my grandfather came to America, a little bit later he started a furniture store in Scranton, Pennsylvania. And so that store still exists, but it's now here in South Florida. My brother and sister, uh, run it and have taken over and expanded and grown it. So we have this third-generation, uh, furniture business, but we also have third-generation family dynamics and family themes that, you know, are still being played out and sometimes help the business, sometimes hinder the business, help the family, hinder the family. Um, so I know you were sharing a little bit about where you're coming from, um, some of those dynamics, some of the, the family history, family, culture, um, that you had to kind of take a look at and, and then help you to grow into a, the person you are now. So let's get a little bit into that.

Yeah, well, um, I think we'll start like, uh, like the preteen side of things because that's where, that's where like my life, um, I think it really started to like shape up. I mean, yeah, for, for the worst at the beginning, and then obviously, you know, now it's, it's tremendously better. But back in, back in, uh, when was it, 2000 Oh goodness, 12, 2011, actually no, 2001. My goodness, I'm way off. You're off a decade. Like, holy crow, how old the hell am I? So anyways, let's just go back to when I was like 12, 13 years old. And my family for the most part is just like a large, large group of just alcoholics. And not just like your traditional, like, I drink a beer every day kind of whatever. No, pretty much getting shit-faced daily in a consistent stupor of discombobulation, if you will. And so my whole family, before I even met my grandfather, he died because of abuse and alcohol abuse and all that kind of stuff. And then growing up, As a, you know, preteen, I was just, you know, accustomed to like getting, you know, like, oh, my dad wants me to go grab a beer, grab a beer. Can you open it? Cool. Hey, you might as well just sip. I'm like, okay, sure. And I didn't know anything different, right? Like, I was just like, I didn't know anything, right? And so like, same thing. There was like, you know, my dad would have, you know, they call them Mickeys. I don't know if they call them Mickeys in America, but, you know, the smaller, smaller sized alcohol, you know, swiggers or whatever you want. So he would go into the fridge and, you know, he would find it funny that I would take a swig and I would be like, ah, coughing and all that kind of stuff. They would find it hilarious, right?

Yeah.

And so I didn't think anything different. That was like how I grew up. That was normal, right? And so after a while, I was like getting into the whole addiction thing because it's, you know, it was in, yeah, obviously in my family. And my father would, um, basically get me to clean the house, um, for a 26-ounce, uh, you know, uh, bottle of, of booze or even a Mickey of booze. And I take that out and I was like, you know, the popular kid because they would always have the, the booze and I would always have the alcohol and and all that kind of stuff. So we, you know, I was this just bad, bad kid and, uh, always getting in trouble and always drinking, always having house parties and, you know, shooting out lights, throwing things in microwaves you shouldn't have, destroying things, and just being that kid, you know, like that young teenager. So yeah, I think that's, uh, you know, that's where I started off, like almost, you know, high school, getting into high school kind of, kind of thing. That's, um, Yeah, that's right. First, that's where it first started, I suppose. Yeah.

When did you notice that you had this sense of like, all right, there's something bigger, something better, something healthier out there for you?

Yeah. Yeah, that took a while. So I got all the way till about 2000. When did I graduate? I graduated a year late because I failed a grade. I think 2015. So 2015 is when I, uh, 2014 into 2015, I got expelled from school. Um, and I was selling, I was selling, you know, cocaine and stuff out of the school, and I had, you know, tons of drugs. And, and, uh, I had, I had basically gotten caught, and I was not having it. So I was running away from the teachers inside the school, and the teacher ended up grabbing me, and I punched them, and it was not a good situation. So I ended up getting expelled for that, and they found stuff in my locker, and Anyway, so it was court ordered that I had to go to military school and this was like, you know, 2015, grade 9, failed it. And so I got sent away to Canada. I think one of Canada's only private boarding military-themed school. And it's like a boot camp in a sense, but it's actually you go full on to high school, right? So I went there in 2015 and I went there for 4 years in a row. It was subsidized by the government because I was just this bad kid and stuff like that. And my parents just were like, you know, Goodbye. My dad didn't really agree with it. My mom was like, no, you're gone. And so it was then that I was completely sober, always eating very good. I was learning and enjoying learning. I had tons of discipline, tons of structure. You couldn't even enter the classroom without having to come to attention and salute and ask for permission to enter. You use substitution. Like you said, frick. They'd give you cod liver oil before you'd have to eat lunch or you'd have to run 5 kilometers. And I don't know what that is in miles, like 3 miles or 2.5 miles. Something like that. So it was this thing. There was ultimate respect. There was absolutely no way you couldn't respect your teachers. There was no way you couldn't do any of that. And we lived in a barrack-style, open cubicle barrack-style places. So everything was in the open. Nothing was locked. Everyone could see anything you had. The only thing personally you're allowed is a few pictures. That was it. Everything else was given to you. You weren't allowed anything else. So it was then that I was rising up through the ranks. I was like, okay, well, I'm going to do something else. They call it a house. So you had a Every barracks had a few houses and every barracks had multiple platoons. And then there was a barracks person in charge. So they called them house ICs, house in charge. And so I was a house IC and then became a platoon IC and then I became a barracks IC. And then I ended up becoming like one of the head cadets, which is like one of the top 4 positions or whatever. And so I graduated actually my second year, which is unheard of. I became the platoon IC, which is like, or sorry, not the platoon IC, Parade Sergeant Major, basically. So anyways, I became that and then I became, the next year I became Parade Sergeant Major the whole year, my year 3, and then year 4 became the head cadet, which is like head of the entire school. But throughout that entire, those entire 4 years, I mean, I did, I did crazy stuff. I went to like Fort Bragg. I went to Oak Ridge Military Academy. I went to the Bataan Death March in White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. We went, we played, you know, military games with the US Airborne. We did, I jumped Got on planes with them. I did all this kind of stuff and it was unreal. It was unreal. So out of high school, which is my high school, I didn't have anything after that. So I ended up having to go back straight into my father's house. And so everything that I just learned and everything that I was doing, everything that was amazing and all this discipline that I had, lost it instantly. Got out. And, uh, um, basically moved in with my father. Um, and, you know, he's still— he was still drinking significantly, right? So I think, uh, it was— it was around— that was 2009 when I graduated, and by 2011 I was full-fledged alcoholic, functioning, still working. And I was, uh, working at a tire shop, and, uh, I was like one of the at OTR, guys, which is like, I did a huge, like, 12-foot-tall mining tires, like huge. And so I was the only guy in the north that could do like these big, huge 777 2749 tires. Like, they're massive. I was the only one that was trained to do them. We were the only ones with like a high-end truck strong enough to do it. So I would, I was working 15 to 19-hour days for this mine that was just starting up in our area. And so it was, it was called Mount Milligan Mine. And Yeah. So I was just there 15 hours a day, 6 days a week mostly. And it was just crazy. And I was just like, I would be bringing water bottles of wine with me in the truck and I was like functioning like drunk doing these tires. Like, it's crazy now that I think back to it. I'm like, how I didn't die or how I didn't drop stuff or how I like, yeah, I mean, I'm lifting up this like not 100-ton truck. I forget what tonnage they were. Triple 7s weren't weren't like the biggest of the big. They were definitely like pretty small, but compared to those big huge ones. But I mean, I've got this jack the size of a— half the size of a car that I'm like putting underneath this giant machine, and then I'm swinging in this like jack stand, like off— anyways, crazy stuff. And lifting it up just about a half an inch off the ground to take this tire off the ground, you know what I mean?

Like, right, anything, any little miss calculation, and that's— it's fatal.

Yeah, well, the one mistake I did make is I brought, um, and I've actually never really told anyone this, but I made a mistake one time, and, uh, it was on 777, and before you jack them, you're supposed to dump the, the box just in case there's anything in it. And so that's one of the SOPs that you're supposed to do. And so I would— I ever— I had done it like 30 or 40 times, no issues. And, um, you're not supposed to park near the truck when you do that. You're supposed to park away, get in make sure everything's good, do a walk around, go to lock it out, get it prepared to lock out, turn it on, dump the bucket, put the bucket back down, then lock out the vehicle. So I was doing that, but I parked the truck right beside it, and my helper that time was just standing there beside the truck. I went to dump it and there was like a, like a swimming pool full of water in the back of it, and I dumped all that water like right there, soaked him, swept him underneath the truck, everything. Just, it was crazy. So anyways, that was, uh, But, you know, yeah, I would just say it was a bad time in my life. But when did it start? Yeah, was that— I was— yeah, this is so like after all of that kind of happened and then I was so far gone that I ended up, you know, getting hospitalized and I had like pre-stage like liver failure and I was like in the hospital Yeah, I'm near in comatose. They were surprised I was still alive. So it was then and there was this only one doctor and I don't know why, but they gave me this drug called Antabuse. I don't know the proper name of it, but it's called Antabuse. I think that's like the mainstream name or whatever. Basically, it makes you significantly sick if you even touch a little bit of alcohol. And so I just— he was the only one. He just prescribed that to me. I'd been to the doctors like 100 times before that and no one ever, you know, and he just prescribed that to me. I literally I literally, yeah, still got them right here. Even this far out, I still keep a prescription just right beside me. It's dicelofram. Dicelofram. Keep it right here all the time. If I ever even, like, not that I ever do, but it's just, it's always like, it's always in that mindset.

Yeah.

Yeah. So I just keep it and I never, I don't take it anymore. But it was then that I was dying. My girlfriend, wife now at the time or whatever, she was a girl, my girlfriend. Was about to take my dog. My house was about to get sold from under me from my mom. Like, everything was like just like going downhill, you know? And so I just took that pill and never drank again.

So that was it. It was an immediate cold turkey.

Just done.

What do you remember? Do you remember any of the thoughts in your mind at that moment? Like what you were saying to yourself? What? Right, worst case scenario.

It was the voices that were talking to me, man, because like when I came off and I said I quit cold turkey, I had the— I've, uh, if anyone's ever experienced like true, true like addiction and coming down, and most people don't know this, but like alcohol, you can still hear voices, you can still— it was, it was unreal. Like I couldn't take a shower with the, the light and fan on because I, uh, at the time my my light was a fan and light at the same time. So I'd open the door and put a flashlight inside and shower in the dark because the fan sounded like there was people singing in my attic. Um, and I had a bat outside my bed because I kept on hearing people making plans down in the basement, things like— it was, it was, it was the oddest thing ever. And I went to drinking 2 pots of coffee instead. So I would drink 2 pots of coffee a day and just like trying to get something that felt good for me. Um, and I was just eating pounds and pounds of ice cream, getting rid of— like trying to get that sugar back into me that my body was craving. And so yeah, that was that. And then I basically, after that, I went back to work, man. I just couldn't sit in the house anymore. I was like, just, I have to go back. And I ended up going back. The boss at the time was a huge fan of me because I could run everything. And I was like this guy that could change these tires and wasn't scared, nothing. Went back into it. And then I rose all the way to branch manager of that entire that entire store. He ended up having to leave, go south. I was like, I'll take over. I ran that whole store. We did about $5 million a year, ran it for a few years. I had, like, at times I had 20 employees. You know, I had like 2 service trucks, 1 high-ab forklift, everything. Like, it was— I had a full stage, had a full-on Red Seal, you know, journeyman mechanic. Yeah, it was—

So this idea of leadership, like, the one thing I'm hearing about you from what you're telling me with this story is when you were at your best, leadership qualities come out.

Yeah, right. Yeah.

And, and as you were growing up, you had no opportunity to, to really exercise that. But when you were in the military program, when you were, uh, in— when you had people invest in you, when you had people see the potential in you, it sounds like your leadership traits came out. The more structure, the more guidance, the more people believed in you. When, when we talk about mentors, especially like in the business world, but, but even more so like But previous to being a therapist, I was a youth director, camp director. I used to do informal education, right? One of the things that I'm really proud of is there's so many of those now adults that I'm still in touch with. And I don't necessarily see myself as a mentor, but I know going through what I went through as a kid, the people that I'm still in touch with that were those people— my camp counselors, youth directors— I'm still in touch with today, almost 30 years later, right? When you see someone believe in someone, like, where would you— for you, like, where would you rate that as far as the level of impact and influence on you of helping you get to where you were now? And you may not even look at it from that perspective before, I don't know.

Yeah, I, I, uh, in terms of like me helping out other people, other people helping out me, other people helping you out, right?

So the people when you got to that program and they gave you the structure, right? And in other words, you're coming into this program like you may think like as a kid, right? And I see like with wilderness programs and, and all these other things, right? It's very like, "All right, well, let's see if you're gonna make it." But obviously those people are there because they do believe something about what's inside on someone's potential. But to be a teenager, to be someone who has never had someone really advocate for them, fight for them versus fight against them, it's so hard to change that mindset about like, "There's an adult who cares about me. There's people who actually see things that I would never— even my own family doesn't see in me." That idea.

Yeah, I think the cool thing about the military school was like, it was a very big like love-hate, like everyone there had huge hearts, but at one minute they're screaming at the top of their lungs, spit flying out of their mouth. Um, and you're in the push-up position and you are like shaking because you've been there for 40 minutes and everyone around you is like just, some people are crying, some people are whining, some people are whatever, like you're just like, um, and then the next minute they're like, okay, thank you very much. Like, um, "Here we go, everyone's going to get extra, you know, 30 minutes of kit time so you can prepare for tomorrow's inspection," things like that. You know, at that time, you know, 30 minutes of extra kit time to get prepared for the next day was like, it was like dessert for us because we didn't want to get ripped apart and chewed out the next morning. So, but there was a lot of people at the school. Again, I was like, I still am to this day, one of those people that you just, I don't think there's like a mixture of whether people like, like me or hate me. I think it's one or the other for me, right? Like, there's people that really like me, there's like people that just like, no, I don't like this kid. Um, and I just don't have a ton of the in-between. So like, at the school, there was a lot of people that just truly liked me. They liked my leadership, they liked all this, and they believed in me. I had gym teachers, like, we would do challenges all the time, like, and I would like smoke people. Like, it was like the funnest thing ever where we would just like, you know, medicine ball challenges and trying to do push-ups and stuff like that. And like, you know, balancing on top of these while doing, you know, push-ups and all that. It was just like So fun. And then, you know, you've got these other people that just truly make your life harder. And I think it was such a good dynamic though, because like it just taught me to be extremely careful, but at the same time, like, just, just be true the whole time. There's no lying, there's no stretching through, there's no, there's no, you're just always that person, this person that you want to be, you're always this person. And because like you would get caught if you weren't. And so That's why I think I even still to this day, I think I like the fact that there's a lot of people out there that just like, not they can't stand me, but that just like, you know, make my life harder than it has to be. But it's just good because it just keeps me on track in my opinion, you know, like I have, I'm always not. Yeah, I'm always just true, true to like what I, what I want to do. Like, and that's why I'm so blunt, why I'm so like, I swear a lot and why I'm like, I'm just like, I am who I am, you know what I mean? I'm not fucking anyone else. Like, it's just me. And like, you know, like Someone comes in like, hey, do you want to do this? I'm like, I don't fucking like that shit. No, I don't want to do that. No, thank you. Have a nice day. You know what I mean? They're like, oh, wow. Like, that was— I'm like, I just— but I'm just like, I'm just honest, right? And so I think it's—

well, I think that's a practical thing for both. You know, I'm about to give a workshop in a few weeks to a group of young professionals, and I was kind of debating, you know, what to call the topic. And it's my favorite— one of my favorite topics is, um, if you go back to earlier episodes, but like, you know, the audience who's listening to the show knows that I talk about this often, is core values. And, um, my coach talked about the doorman principle of who you let into your room, right? Who you let into your life is— that could turn out to be the quality. So, you know, it's very difficult for people to say no upfront versus like not wanting to be— I don't want to be a bad person, I don't want to be a dick, I don't want to piss anybody off. And then you let them in and they cause chaos, and then you have to kick them out, right? So this idea of like, you know, uh, my coach Rick calls it like how to make your life a magic carpet ride. Well, first you have to know who you're willing to let get on the carpet with you, right? Because you can't fly anywhere when it's weighed down by a bunch of toxic crap. But the idea of like for me as therapists, and I discuss this with people all the time in my industry, is knowing who you absolutely don't see and who you absolutely won't let into your practice versus like, well, I'm in a helping position, I'm in a helping profession, do I have space in my practice? Do I need that extra income? Right? But that starts getting into a level of like, well, am I the person who's best suited to do that? And do I— will I enjoy this process? So I very much respect what you're saying, where like, this is a hell no or a hell yes for me. And yeah, to not be apologetic, but like to be like, listen, I'm like, the way I say it is, it's completely out of my wheelhouse. I'm sure I can do some good for you, but neither of us will completely benefit from it. And I want both of us to go to our head, you know, to go to, to go to our pillows with our head put down saying like, this is absolutely the best investment for my time, effort, and energy. And I won't be able to do that for you. So I love what you're saying there.

I use that pillow analogy all the time too. Like, at the end of the day, like, I go, am I, am I going to put my head on the pillow and stay awake, or am I going to fall asleep? And I, I love that because It's me. And I find that like, there's a difference between being rude and mean and all this kind of stuff and then just being truthful. And like, I find that like, people are sometimes like, wow, that's refreshing. Like, wow, thank you for that. Thank you. Like, and it's just like, if people are offended by the fact that I'm just being truthful about me not wanting to do something and not wanting to work with them or what they just showed me, like I have tons of students still coming up to me and they're like, here's my idea, da da. I'm like, it's dog shit. Like, we've gotta go back to the drawing board. Let's do this. And they're like, But, you know, a month later, they're like, oh my God, I'm so happy I didn't do that. I saw that, you know what I mean? Like, it's just like, and like, it's so true.

Because I see it, I see it so often. Like, I'm talking to a therapist friend of mine about their like niche. And I'm like, but why? But why you? Like, why? Like, what makes you the expert at that compared to everybody else? Like, who out there is already advertising that and being an expert of that? I'm like, why would they pick you? And I'm not trying to be rude about it, right? It's just like, well, I'm interested in Well, interested in it and being an expert in it and why people are going to pay you to be an expert is different than like, well, I really like doing this. Okay, that's great. But that's a hobby, not a pro, you know, then you're a hobbyist in your profession about that. And I love how, you know, that idea of, again, why are you particularly and specifically the best person to solve that problem is very different than, well, I enjoy seeing that particular type of issue or, or work like working with that challenge. That's great. But I don't want to— I don't, I don't know if anybody's going to pay me to be the guinea pig. Like in that regard.

I also like having pizza on Friday nights as well, you know what I mean? Like, it's— yeah, it's— yeah, sorry, I'm just, uh—

no, right, exactly. That's the way you'll playfully say to them, like, okay, but, but that's great. But like, so, so like when you're deciding, like, so this is perfect because, you know, you were working this, you were doing really, really well in this leadership position, and you decided to go into becoming your own boss, to going into the entrepreneurial route. And, and I always like talking about this, and a lot of people never heard about this, and I didn't even hear about this, You know, and so my story is even as a therapist with a practice, I never saw myself as a business owner. I saw myself as a therapist with a private practice. And that's when I stumbled upon this, this business program that I was involved with and where it was really amazing and core value-based. And, and the idea of an entrepreneur versus an entrepreneur— an entrepreneur is what you were doing. You were helping grow by bringing in leadership and SOPs, standard operating practices and procedures, you know, mentorship and guidance and helping the business grow. And you were benefiting because of that. And a lot of people don't realize One, they don't ask— let me, let me say it differently— they don't ask if they can take more of that opportunity within the business or company that they're doing. Do you want more input, company? Do you want more input, boss, owner of the business? Can I help you do this? Versus just being a trickle-down economics. So one, we can talk about that, um, from your perspective. And two, when you don't feel like you're able to have influence, when you know you can solve this at a greater level. And I'm discussing this with one of my clients who works for a very, uh, really cool industry who's a specialist. And I'm like, when— what do you need to do to learn what you need to learn while you're still at this job and making six figures so you can jump ship and on the side start consulting for other people in ancillary industries that won't be a conflict of interest for your contract? But you can also probably get paid equivalently on one job as a consultant versus doing this full-time for making that same amount of money for an industry, right? I mean, I want to hear your input on, on those two things and where that left you.

Yeah, it's funny that you, um, you said the entrepreneur thing because I, I am an entrepreneur who is a hired entrepreneur, you know what I mean? Like, that's what I do. I'm like literally an entrepreneur from multiple companies. That's what— but, um, you know what I mean? So like, I don't like— as a remote integrator, I was never like the guy that like— I, I don't like the customer service side of things. I don't like the content side of things. I don't like the— I don't mind the face face talking kind of stuff like that. But like, like, if I could, I would just like to be with my people building and, and making things happen. So, um, I think, um, you know, when I was, when I was getting, when I was getting going and when I was first starting off, um, and I guess before, like, go to before that, I suppose, is like I was, I was making $120,000 a year at a place called Cal Tire, um, and they call it corporate because I was in management and I was up at the top. But, you know, I was still slinging tires faster than other, you know, fucker out there. Um, uh, and that was my business too, is like, if you can't— if you, you want to stand up the counter like me, because everyone's like, there's this counter and shop dynamic, you fucking lazy counter people. It's like, oh yeah, oh yeah, you want to come up here for tires? And I would put them up on the counter for a day and I wouldn't even help them, you know what I mean? Like, no, you want to, you want to. And then they get to the end and they're like holding their head at the end of the day, they're like, no, no, I'm gonna go to tires. Um, but you know, in my company, like, if you couldn't do every tire, you're not getting on the counter. I don't give a shit who you are or where you came from or what other tire shop or who your dad is. I don't give a flying rat's you know what. And so that's basically how I ran it. But I was management, $120,000 a year bonus, profit sharing. Like I had a company vehicle. I mean, you were good, but you were good. Yeah, yeah, everything was great. And then it was just my mental health at that time was like, okay, so I'm not putting myself into a stupor of like just feeling good all the time, drunk. I have all this ADHD energy diagnosed as a child, diagnosed as an adult. I'm like 100%, there's no doubt. But I have all this extra stuff and I'm like, I don't know what to do with it. And this is when I started going like, well, I don't like the customer servicing. I kept on getting yelled at. Or one of my favorite things is, and this is going to be probably funny, but maybe not. But in Canada we have this season called winter.

I don't know if you know about it, but here in Florida we have the opposite. We have summer.

Yeah. So we have this thing called winter where there's snow and it pretty much comes at the same time every fucking year.

Okay.

It doesn't really— some days it comes on this day.

So it's not a surprise, right?

Generally, generally it's around this time, you know. And we have every year we have these people, they're like, oh my God, it's winter. I got to put my winter tires on. And you're like, no way. Really? Now? They're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Can I get them on today? I'm like, well, you should have fucking booked 3 weeks ago. Like, I'm booked all fucking month.

Like, there's no way.

They're like, well, my wife's pregnant, I gotta get to Prince George to do that. I'm like, how long has she been pregnant for, man? Right, right. You just figured that out? Or like, what's going on?

Like, one of my greatest— one of my greatest quotes, I don't know who I heard this from, but it's so perfect to what you're saying. Your cry, your lack of planning doesn't constitute a crisis for me. And I don't know who said that, but I think it's so apropos.

Yep. And so it was all of that, like, it was always consistently, and just I just get tired of that. You know what I mean? Because it's just like, how many times do I have to explain myself? And then we have these huge logging companies that are doing hundreds of thousands of dollars with us every year, if not more. And they're coming out, "You lost our tires," or, "You lost this," and, "This tire's garbage." I'm like, "Go through the warranty process. Did you guys check your secan? Here's the waybill when we delivered it. What have you fucking done? Get out of my face. Stop yelling at me." You know what I mean? And eventually I was just cut and dry. This is where I got my bluntness and where I built into this You know, like, no, get out of my face kind of mentality. Because I was just like, I'm done with that. And so I just like, I watched this guy and his name was Brandon and I still contribute everything to this guy even though he's not even doing it anymore. I surpassed him. He's working a 9 to 5 now and he's no longer doing it. But I watched this guy and he was like this waterfall and he's talking about this opportunity and this guru affiliate marketing dream lifestyle kind of stuff. I'm going to do this. You know what I mean? So I couldn't get out of my head, couldn't get it out of my head. And I, 2 weeks later after joining up with this guy, affiliate marketing, I fucking went in and quit.

Wow.

No notice. Wow. Nothing. Just mental health down.

All in.

Couldn't handle it.

Right.

I just, I was like, I'm just like the whole drinking thing. I was like, I can't, I physically can't take anymore. My wife was like, I came home and the day before I quit, I came home and she's like, I'm scared when you come home. And like, what? What? I'm like, I'm not going to never hit her. I've never done that.

Right.

She's like, I just don't know how to talk to you or what mood you're going to be in or what's going on. I'm scared. And I'm like, my kid was just born, Elliot, my first one. And, you know, I'm like, that hit me. Like, I broke down. Like, it was like crying. And like, it was, it was like I couldn't— like, it was the perfect thing she could have said to me because it was just like, it hit me. And I was like, man, all right. I went in the next day, quit. I was like, I'm done, guy. See you after like 2 weeks. No, here's my phone. Bye. I damn near walked home with the car because I just kept the company vehicle. I was like, I just couldn't handle it anymore. And so that's where entrepreneurship started. And I failed my way for years, didn't make anything. I had to go back to work. So I ended up doing affiliate marketing and branding, all this kind of stuff. I went down to Vegas. I did all these events and I was like, I just realized guys, I was like, I'm not this, I'm not this guru, I'm not this content guy, and I don't want to stand in front of a camera like, oh hey, you can do this, you know what I mean? Like, I just like, it was so disingenuous. Like, I just hated that life of just like, I'm not living this, why am I saying this, you know? And like, that's the problem with I think the multi-level marketing, affiliate marketing, a lot of that kind of stuff in terms of like living this lifestyle that you're not, um, because it's just so—

people are seeing through that. I mean, those who see through that can see through that, and I still see it. And I know, I mean, I know people who are involved in so many different things, and but then when you go to a lot of these entrepreneur business conferences, you'll see a lot of that. And I think the word that you kept, you know, this, this genuineness, you can see, right, people who really are bringing a genuine— like, if someone's like, hey, like, I actually use this before I even sold it, right? I was using it and it did change my life, and this is why I got on it, versus like, there was an opportunity for me to make money, or two very different perspectives. Versus— and now reverse engineering their entire story around why they need to come up with a good story in order to sell that product. Two very different things. And I think that's where I think people see, you know, why I wanted to talk so much about your story is the genuineness of why someone partners with someone. People don't necessarily just want the product, they want the relationship. And when they see like someone like you or someone like me who like, you know, like I told you, like, I don't, you know, I don't hold back on people. There's no secret about like the fact that I'm a marriage and family therapist, and I got divorced in 2010 to any of my clients. And no one's left me once they find that out. It's— I think people realize the humanity of like, they want the connection, they want the realness, they want the authenticity. They don't just want to be sold. And I think that old sales marketing, you know, used car salesman thing is dying at, at some level. There are people still buy into that shtick, and you see that in certain circles. And I'm sure you always— we can name, we can name a few people on social media who are very, very, very good at that. Um, but you see who aligns with that, and you don't want them to be your customers or your clients. And who doesn't?

Yeah. And that's why, like, with what I teach too, because I have, I have two different businesses— oh, three. So I have, I have a business where I'm an integrator for companies, right? It's called Social Aim Solutions. I have a company, um, which is just a CRM that has a lot of stuff that I sell my clients into. So I kind of double dip a little bit.

It's ethical, but understandable, right? That's what it should be.

Um, and then my third company is my academy, and I teach people how to do remote integrating because I don't want to be a $10 million a year business. I I don't even want to be a million dollar a year business. I really don't. Like, I've done the $900,000 years, you know what I mean? I've almost broke that 7-figure mark before, and I'm like, ah, I was— I don't like it. I don't. And you know me, like, from the story, you already know me. Like, if I'm like— if I'm not into it, I'm fucking cold turkey out to do something else kind of thing. So, um, you know, I think, um, I think like it was— it was this affiliate marketing. I don't regret it at all because the reason why the affiliate marketing and all that kind of stuff was I could set everything up and get everything running and get everything absolutely smooth sailing up until the point where it's like, I gotta get on camera, I gotta try and talk to people about something that doesn't make sense to me. So I was like, oh man, like, I wish I could just set things up for people rather than actually doing this stuff, right? And so I had to go back to work. My second kid was just about to be born, Atticus, and I had taken an entire year off. And here in Canada, they call it employment insurance. So I was able to take it and Never taken it before, so it was nice, you know, paid into it all for like, you know, so many years. And finally I was like, you know, I'm taking it. Okay. So I had to go back to work. And so this big, huge entrepreneur in town where I used to live was like, hey, starting up another tire shop. Let's go into competition against Cal Tire. I was like, okay, sure. I'm not going back to them. Right. So I'll start it up. So I started a brand new tire shop from scratch.

Nothing.

There was no hoist, there was nothing, right? There was like, so I had to get the hoist, I had to get the tire equipment, I had to get all the tools, I had to get the employees, I had to write the books, I had to get the software. I had to fucking build everything from the ground up for this place. I love it. From scratch. I did it in 2 months. And I grew that business in its first year to almost $250,000, like in the first, like 4 months. So like we, and that included the setup. Like I took that business, the logging business, all that. I went out to my old contacts. I had a bit of a Rolodex still, like, you know that. Hey, Hey, blah, blah, blah. How's it going? How's the service? And I didn't do it in spite of where I was working, but at the same time, I just was like, there's just this lack of other— there's only one tire shop in town. People have to go 2 hours to get to another tire shop if they're busy. So it was just extras that was coming to us and that was so much more. And that business is still running to this day right now. But it was then I was like that. It was like the epiphany. I was doing this marketing agency and I was making this marketing agency. I did like $80K a month on this marketing agency while I was working working for this tire shop because I couldn't afford in a marketing agency with the profit margins and the ads and all that to keep my wife home with kids and for me not to work. So I kept my wife home with the kids and all that kind of stuff while I was still working, while I was still building. There's a picture of me online, you can find it somewhere if you type in the Integrator Academy, and it's me in a jacket in a non-insulated shed, tire shed, with a laptop on a set of tires and I'm working and someone snapped a picture of me. And it's, everyone's like, oh, I'm like, can't, you know, you set it up. And I was like, that picture is genuine. I was like, no, I was literally on a phone call, like a Zoom call with people. But anyways, it was then, it was in that moment that I was like, I gotta pivot entirely cold turkey. Let's fucking stop. Like I gotta get out. And I was like, I'm good at setting shit up. So I went back to my Rolodex of like the affiliate marketing, the multi-level marketing and the marketing agencies. And I was like, Let me set shit up. Let me just set your shit up. Why don't you pay me? You pay me and I'll set your shit up. They're like, yeah, absolutely. How much? I was like, I don't know, $1,500 a month. They're like, okay, done. I was like, yeah, $1,500 a month US for me at that time in my life was like, wow, that's like, that's an extra $2,000, $2,100 Canadian every month coming in now. Oh my God, like this is crazy. And so I ended up growing that $30K a month in like a month. And I was helping people with virtual assistants and I was doing all this kind of stuff. And I got to about $30K a month and I had stopped the— and this is like $30K a month profit, not $80K a month, $60K to $80K a month marketing you see with ad spend and all that. I was like, I made $30 grand, I pretty much take home $30 grand. You know what I mean? There's a few wages and softwares and all that. And So I quit again. Amazing. Quit again. Didn't leave them high and dry though. I gave them a month notice. They let me go after 2 weeks because I had trained up a guy to take my spot. And like I said, it's still running. You go to McKenzie, there's a Tire Craft there and a Cal Tire. And they're still both functioning.

Yeah.

Yeah. Like the world moves on without me, which is great. I'm happy for that because I'm—

Well, that's the whole point of integration, right? And then this goes back to what we were talking about, this idea of simplicity, probability, and leverage, right? The simplicity is These are the core values of my Coach Rick, where is this going to make my life easier? Is this going to make my business easier? Probability is what are the, what are the things that I'm putting in play that's going to make this outcome highly probable? And leverage is I'm not an expert at this. Who do I need to bring in? Who do I need to leverage this out to? Who do I need to farm this out to? And I think I want people to really understand because when I was first reading all this stuff about you before, you know, when we scheduled it, I was okay, what the heck is an integrator? And really, from my perspective now, it's you are the leverage. You help people create leverage and you help people farm out, right? And, and in other words, this is kind of like what case management would be in the therapy world, where you have the person, if they're leaving an inpatient facility, they sit down at the end. Okay, I'm going to help you organize your, uh, outpatient therapy. We're going to help you arrange your medical appointments. We're going to help you get your, to your psychiatrist. We're going to help you get your, uh, with your nutritionist, right? In a way, you're not just facilitating the things for the business, but you're also like, okay, well, maybe we can do this for you, and we have someone in-house who can help help you, right? All those different things. So in a way, it does make— the way the system works here is that, like you said, you have your marketing agency and you have to pay them a fortune. Of that is maybe some percentage of that is ad spend, and maybe they get some revenue off that and whatever it is. And there's different ways of doing that. You're reverse engineering the way of looking at this, of, of no, no, no, no, we're going to still be out of house course, but we're going to be invested in your company, but we're going to make it actually financially— want you, right, make it make sense for you to do that. And that's why I think people get stuck in marketing especially, is that no one can promise if you spend $1,000 a month with us, you're gonna get $2,000 back, so therefore it's going to be worth it for you to continue spending $1,000 a month with us.

You know what I can guarantee though? Yeah, you know what I love about that, what you just said, is that you're 100% right. You cannot I put $100 in and get fucking $200 out. Like, you can't, you can't just predict that. If you've run the ads before, sure, you can kind of like go, hey, you know, Zach, you know, help me out with some Facebook ads, bro, you know what I mean? Like, sure. But what I really like about that is like, is that where I help out is like, I go, well, I know that this company can, number one, function, make money, employ people, and have— and it has been for how long already without the ads, without this, without that, right? I can— we already are going to establish that, right? So what is the number one thing that's going to increase their output and their revenue and all that? It's them getting more time, them getting more time back. And so my first grocery list with everyone— I call them grocery lists— we have this vent session where I say, just fucking dump it on me. What, what, what makes you not want to get up in the morning, right? This is when I first onboard a client, that's what we do. We just like vent, complain, complain, bitch at me, let's go. And I don't like—

I don't know. And those are all problems to be challenges to be solved, which is great.

Yeah. And then we just, we basically just automate. Uh, so we do this thing, it's called— there's a book, I forget what book it is. It's We Eliminate, We Automate, and Then We Delegate, right? So we, we literally get— we eliminate what the fuck's not necessary. What are you doing that just— why, why are you doing this? You know what I mean? Like, why, right?

And I would take it to my— to the therapist that I'm working with, like, as coaching them in their business, would Like, what are the type of clients personality-wise or case reason why they're showing up that you absolutely look at your schedule every week and you're like, oh God, they're all right, I have to see them at 3 o'clock today, right?

Yeah.

Then anything about that should be gone, started right, terminate them as soon as possible, refer them out, don't take that type of situation. What questions aren't you asking to make sure that you need to ask to make sure that type of person doesn't show back up on your caseload?

Yeah, so eliminate, eliminate. Whatever we cannot eliminate, we try and automate, right? We just try and buy that extra time. And whatever we can't automate, we delegate. And so it's, it's— and then, and then I have, I have, I have people that fire me within the first month, 2 months, uh, because they're like, I need to get back into work, I can't, I'm not working anymore. Like, right, so you fucking hired me to do, man. Like, what?

Yeah, well, let's pause there for a second because I think that's so important. And, and this is what I'm seeing as my journey has evolved where the thing that we were taught to be an expert at the most is the thing that we have to leverage out to bring people under us. That when we talk about whether it's financial freedom or time freedom, whatever the things that are these loftier ideas, right? Our entire society has been built on train to work, you do that, maybe you move a few different positions and a few different angles that you didn't even think that you would get into, but you're still at the beginning of the day what you train to do will be at some level what you're doing until you retire. And it's, uh, incremental steps throughout life. What I've learned over the last couple years, and what I think that you're really, um, positioning yourself on, especially by what you just said, is your job is to get yourself fired so that you can have it be replaced by someone who believes in what you believe in, who has that same values. They're never going to be you. They don't have to have the Colonel's secret recipe. Recipe, and they're never going to be as good as you think you are at what you're doing. But people still want efficiency, and they still want someone who is gonna be passionate, but they also want someone who like knows how to solve the problem at a bare minimum. Competencies are also important. And, and I think this mindset that we have in, in our cultures is it has to be us. And to— and that's where I come in when I'm working with a lot of people, is how do you build that mindset where you're going to help more people, if you have a team under you with the same mission and the same values of what you're trying to do for yourself, than that one person per hour, or that one business per hour, or that one team per hour. And you'll help more, you'll impact more. And that's an ego-based switch that needs to be— not necessarily a bad ego, but that's just societal, right, switching.

Yeah.

And it's, it's, it's, it's probably one of the hardest things that you have to teach. And it's one of the things that, like, uh, it's, it's— I would find, like, I'm a very logical person, um, and it's the probably the number one thing that just always, like, never makes sense. They're like, I don't know, I don't know why, but this is the way that I want it. And you're like, well, this is what's going to happen if you don't. I know, but I don't care. I want this. You're right. But, but the last month— but I don't care. You're like, yeah.

And I think that's right. So, so when we— when— and I see this as such a stopgap with every profession, right? Because again, it's like the identity of who you are is so wrapped up with— I see it a lot in the educational field. It's a lot of the helping professions, right? But I think also industry, if you— even if you're working as an entrepreneur for another industry, those industries aren't necessarily there for you to decide how you can make your job easier and delegate out even more. That will actually save the company a lot of money, time, effort, energy in the end as well. And that managing up paradigm is frustrating because you can't have that upward influence. And I think this is where a lot of companies— as also, if you are listening to this and you own a company and you're not asking those under you in different positions. What do you see that can make our company run more efficiently, both practically and as far as financials? I think we're missing out a tremendous, tremendous opportunity on that. But it also applies to families, right? If you're not allowing your family to run this way, like, hey, like, why are we always doing it this way? Why are we always going on vacation here? Why are we using this car insurance company? What are we— oh, that's a pain in the butt to switch. Well, there's a lot of time.

There's that old, um, there's that old story, and it was like this, this girl that asked her mom why they cut the roast in half put it in the pan? And she's like, I don't know, go ask your grandma. The daughter goes and asks the grandma, like, why do we have to roast and have to put in the pan? She's like, I don't know, that's your great-grandma. And go ask great-grandma. Great-grandma's like, well, back in my day, the pan was too small. Yeah, it's like, but, but, but now we got a big pan, so why aren't we putting the whole damn roast in there, you know?

And so it's always been done.

It's just the way it is. It is what it is. I hate that, you know, it is what it is. But it's so true because as soon as you get that and you go back that far, however it happens and you get that, they're like, oh, okay, that makes sense. And a lot of times when I say, hey, I get fired, generally it's just like they're like, this isn't working. I have to da da da da da. And then a month later they're like, okay, I get it now. And my favorite saying of all time, and this comes with a big story. I don't think we have time, but I was mining. I'll dumb it down or shorten it. I used to have a gold claim. And I was mining one time, and, uh, I was trying to find gold, and I was mildly successful. And I, uh, my dogs were like on the other side of the, the creek where I was panning. Uh, my quad was like almost near the forest line, and I was on the river, on the creek or whatever. And my gun, my shotgun was there. And, uh, I heard something behind me, turn around, there's this random dude standing there. And I'm in the middle of nowhere. I'm in the middle of nowhere. Where, like, you couldn't even—

yeah, you like—

your bat's crazy. Yeah, just— I'm like, I'm dead, I'm dead. And it was like this short, long— it was just— anyways, um, he just points up like 600 feet up the hill, and then he goes, gold isn't where you think it is, it's where you find it. And I turn around and look up there. I heard some more movement, and he's into the bush, gone. What? It was the oddest situation ever. But anyways, that saying, what you were just talking about, gold isn't where you think it is, is where you find it. I still use it in everything I do now, because it's just like, just because you think gold is supposed to be on the inside shoulder, you know, a foot down, and it doesn't mean it's going to be there. I went up to 600 feet up this fucking hill, and it was the night sky of shining glittery flower gold sitting in my pan. I was the happiest man of all time. But like, this old-timer, I found out later he was Trapper Jack, he ended up killing himself. Anyway, it was crazy in this cabin. It was a big story in the news. It I met him randomly in the middle of my claim.

Anyways, and it was easier for him to tell someone else how to, right? In other words, that information he gave you, this is again that mindset thing, that the wisdom, right? He knew the answer that could have maybe if he got this right, did this himself, got help, got mental, got medical care, got whatever he would. But it was just like, go up there, you can do it, right? And I think a lot of people are this idea of like, if I help someone else, maybe it'll come back in return, versus if you help yourself, you'll help yourself. Yeah, right. And we miss that. And I, and I think that's like a really good pause for, for our conversation, because this idea of integration is like, you've proven that you've been able to do it for yourself by bringing more simplicity to your life, especially with the journey you've taken, I think. And this is something that I really want, like, everybody who is listening to this is struggling with something, whether it's personal, whether it's professional, whether it's emotional, spiritual, whatever. And if we're not taking that action step to just do that one thing differently for ourselves, no matter amount of work that we're going to do for someone else or for something else, no one else is going to say, oh, I noticed you're doing this for me, what can I do for you? Like, that's very, very rare. And I think this idea of like integration— we were talking before, uh, we started that, you know, I've been, I've been doing microdose psilocybin. And the thing— when talking about integration, that's the word I've been using— is that it's allowed me to put things with simplicity into two categories. One is stop paying attention to this. It will solve itself. No more focusing on that. It's done. It'll handle itself. And the other thing is, okay, here are the things you absolutely need more clarity on and why you need to leverage this out and you need to take action on this instead of wasting your time focusing on these other things. Here's what you need to do. And I think last number of weeks, I've taken very clear action steps on some things for my own health that I never would have even thought to do and decisively done as fast. Because I like doing the research on it and then doing more research on it and then doing more research on it. And then I'm like, yes. Right, right, right, right. And then it never becomes— it becomes that paralyzed will of like, is this truly the right thing? Is there a better thing? Is there a better person to talk to? As opposed to let me just aside and, and, and make the decision and then go into the, like, what my entrepreneur friends is hire fast, fire fast, right? It's okay, but I got to take that risk.

And, and so far, hire fast, fire faster. Yeah, right.

I would fire faster. Okay, even like that.

I like that.

So it's a whole other level, right? So, yeah, but so far it's turned out to work really well with me that I'm like, okay, so I've jumped on this, I'm doing, you know, some different things that I'm noticing. And I think we need to be finding those people, the leverageable dream team. And I always talk about that when I talk about, like, in my marketing, if you go on my psychology G2 profile, it says my job is to have you fire me as soon as possible, which means that you're going to be happy with the outcome. And majority of my referrals come from people who've worked with me before, meaning like, right, they refer people who've worked with me, or they'll come back 5 years later for a new thing, which is fantastic. And to the idea of who is the dream team, and I think that's kind of what you're, what you're really helping people accomplish is it's not going to be you, and you have to change your mindset. Who are the people that are going to be that will help you get get there that are experts in that area, that you can spend more time doing what you love, what you're trained to do, what you're passionate about doing, and maybe even find more freedom in it, which you're gonna have to hold— you're gonna have to deal with mentally and getting your mindset behind that of what would more freedom look like for you and your time, effort, and energy.

And I really want— I have tons of family that get mad at me. Well, because they come to— like, I have family here now, um, and it wasn't this time, but they, they'll come to my house, they'll come for vacation or whatever, and then they're like, do you ever work? Do you ever do this? And then, then, and then, nah, blah, blah, blah. How are you? Well, again, like, they just don't understand.

How is that legit or ethical or moral? Yeah, right, right. And I think that's the thing, if I really need to.

If, if not, like, I just— I— other, other than that, like, I don't have some big stuff going on. Like, I can take you out on the boat and I can finish everything up on this if I need to. My phone, you know, I don't have— I don't have— they're like, oh, you're always— you're on your phone on the boat. I'm like, well, would you rather me do it here? Do you want to go back to the house where I can sit on a computer and you can sit on my couch waiting for me again? You know what I mean?

Like, what do you—

what do People don't get it.

I know, and it's such a wall. And I feel like when you see the light bulb go on, and I love it when I'm doing any type of intervention with my clients, whether it's like it's always been right in front of them, that belief, that assumption, that expectation that they carry is so frustrating for them because they're still playing into those rules. But that's that old Einstein, right? The definition of insanity, it's like doing that same thing over and over again. You can't solve the problem from the place in which it was created, which is really Einstein. But And once they see it differently, it's not that the action step has to be different, but the belief system has to be different. Because if their belief isn't different, the action items, the action steps still come from the same root. And I really want to congratulate you on like helping people get there. One, for yourself alone. I mean, I think it's just magical what you've shared with me and shared with us. Just what you've come from, what you've accomplished, what you're going to continue to accomplish, I think is just fascinating. And I stand in awe of anybody alone who's come from a story in a family of intergenerational theme of trauma. Trauma and addiction to create a life of health is one of the most difficult undertakings to do. So I, I really do stand in awe. And two, to help other people create a life more of simplicity is, is incredible. So where can they find you? Where can they track you down if someone, you know, is hearing this and like, okay, like we just touched the surface on integration and all the different ways it can be, but where can they find more about what that means, what that looks like? If someone's even interested in doing one of your academy programs, where would they go?

Yeah. So yeah, there's 3 places. So if you need help with integrations and solving some systems in your business, socialaimsolutions.com is my company that I've had since a long time now. And second company is the, theintegratoracademy.com. And that is where you can watch a video and book a call with me to talk about whether you want to start your own solution-oriented integrator business. And then third is if you're just not sure what the hell you want to do, just find me on Facebook. And there's a couple of fake profiles out there, so I can send you the proper link, but it's just Michael Dallas Peterson SEN. And you'll notice my profile compared to other people's is a lot different. It's a lot more legit looking. So yeah, there are a couple of fake fakes out there. But yeah, that's where you can find me. And generally, if just Facebook Messenger, just do a message request or try and follow me and send me something so at least it pings up on on my side. And then, uh, and then, yeah, beautiful.

And if anybody's listening and they get stuck somewhere, um, just reach out to me if you can't track them down for the right way, and I'll, I'll get you directly in touch with, with Michael. So guys, as always, if there's any value that you got from this show— I know there was a bunch of different topics, but if you want to reach out about mental health stuff, about addiction resources, um, about entrepreneur stuff, right, obviously, uh, there's tons of stuff that I can point you in the direction from. You know, Michael, I'm sure there's some things about, uh, you know, that people might be going through and they're like, hey, I can really relate to your story.

I'll talk to anyone through what I went through.

So there you go.

If they need it, I'm here. I, uh, I found a solution that really worked for me. And so, um, if anyone needs it, it's— I'm here for you.

Beautiful. So like always, right, chat, uh, if you haven't yet subscribed to the show, it's on all major podcast platforms, You Winning Life. We also have YouTube videos of every single episode that goes up around the time of the, of the audio. Um, and again, like I said in the introduction, if, uh, you know, just let us know who you are, let us know who's listening to this, let us know what you'd like to hear more about, what type of guests you'd like us to get on, and experts in their areas like Michael is in his, because I'm sure this is the first time many of you have heard about this particular industry of integration and integrators. And like always, thank you so much for, one, Michael, for hanging out with us, and two, listeners, really thank you for all the time you're giving us. And we know because I see the download numbers going up week by week by week, and we're getting closer to episode 200. So thanks again.

Thank you so much for having me. It was definitely a treat. I enjoyed I enjoyed it.

Thanks so much.

Thanks for listening to the You Winning Life podcast. If you are ready to minimize your personal and professional struggles and maximize your potential, we would love it if you subscribed so you don't miss an episode. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook @JasonWasserLMFT.