Who Is Brad Costanzo (Really)?

Welcome to Bacon Wrapped Business with Brad Costanzo. Sizzling hot business advice guaranteed to make you fat profits. Every week, our chefs will serve you proven recipes for ramping up your revenue. Now, here's your host, Brad Costanzo.

Hey, there. Welcome back to Bacon Wrap Business. I'm Brad, and here on the screen with me, you may recognize, is a previous guest of mine, Dr. Laurie Emery. Hi, Dr. Emory. How are you doing?

Hi, Brad. I'm doing great.

Cool. So got something interesting to share with you all, my viewers and listeners today. So after the original episode where I interviewed Dr. Emery about what she does to help provide life and business transformation coaching for other entrepreneurs and professionals, etcetera, I liked everything she had so much. We reconnected, we just started talking, and I hired her to say, look.

I'm always trying to work on myself. I'm always trying to make myself better. And I know I've got some blockages in my life that are limiting me from achieving what I want, my true potential. So we decided to work together. And I think it's been about a month or two, I want to say, give or take, that we've been working together. And she had an awesome idea. She said, brad, let's flip the tables on your podcast today. Let me interview you and maybe do this in lieu of a coaching session, and let me see if we can pull out some of your story and some of the more poignant points, both the ups and the downs. And she said, the one thing is, you got to be really genuine and authentic and vulnerable here. And. And if you've listened to some of my past episodes, I've, you know, from working with her, that's one of the things I'm trying to do is just be more vulnerable to you, the audience, but also to myself. And I know that sometimes in the past, I've glazed over some of the. Some of the challenges that I've had and looked at them at mountains as speed bumps, and I've also looked at some of my big wins as not so big. So that's one of the things that I'm trying to do, is tap in more to myself.

So that I can connect with you as a listener much better, but also myself. So without any further ado, let's flip the table, let's wrap Brad up in bacon.

And then see where this goes. Dr. Emery, thanks for joining me again.

Absolutely. I feel so humbled that you're handing it over to me right now that I get to be you.

Should I be scared?

No. Well, it's up to You.

Exactly.

You know, when I made this suggestion, I was thinking about coming onto this call today, and I thought, and this is true for me as I've gotten to know you, and I've been blessed to be around you in some of your business situations and got to watch you in the boardroom. And I've heard a lot from others who know you on your reputation, and I thought, wow, I wonder if Brad realizes that people really want to know him. People like you and respect you. And when I watch a lot of your podcasts with other people, you're such a commitment to giving to all of us entrepreneurs. I listen to how you ask questions because you want to make sure that there's a lot of value for us and you want. And I remember asking you, when it came up that day for me to say, well, let me interview you is I thought, I don't know if Brad really knows, like, who he is for everyone else, and that everyone else would really love to know you on a deeper level, like, who's the man behind the business? And I know you're known as the connector out there in your social circle, which I do have some questions for you about that.

So I just decided, let's put it on. Let's put it on camera for people and let's just get started and we'll see where it goes and let people get to know who you are and what really makes you tick and, you know, what makes your heart go pitter patter and.

Fill up and what are some of the pains that you have experienced and fears, just like all the rest of us. So I guess let's get started there. And let me ask, you.

Talk a lot about marketing and branding.

And I thought, well, that would be a great place to start, is like, who's Brad Gestanto and what's your brand?

I can't hear you. Your audio is gone.

Okay, I'm back. Sorry about that.

Okay, there we go.

So this has been a hard one for me because this is one of the things that I've actually been challenged with, which is one of the very first things, like, who is your brand? Who's your people? Who's your tribe? And, you know, I'll start off with, you know, who am I? I'm a really grateful guy who's having an amazing life. You know, writing his own rules is kind of how I try to look at it from a global life perspective. I think outside the box. And I believe that life is short, but it can be truly amazing. My brand is, though, something I'm working on. Like, I've been told that I have a golden Rolodex and amazing connections, that I seem to know everybody. And you know what's kind of funny about that is I look at all the people I don't know and I'm like, well, I don't know them. I can't be that amazing. But. And I find that that's a habit. It's just discounting my successes. And I do. I know a lot of people. I am a very proactive relationship builder.

It's something that I do. I like to think that I'm not just this consummate networker who's going for a quantity of relationships, but I'm really trying to know people. And the other aspect is that without sounding arrogant about this, I kind of like to think of myself as a bit of a Renaissance man only because I have ever since I was a kid. I love. I collect skills, knowledge and ideas constantly. So if there's something I want to learn, I don't hesitate to go out and take lessons for it or learn this or hire a coach or just learn things. Whether it's like learning how to play guitar, learning how to dance, learning how to play another musical instrument, learning how to do marketing. I just love the experience of collecting skills and being very versatile. So I've also been told that I'm kind of a Wikipedia with instant recall of especially marketing knowledge. And, you know, one of my business partners, Kent, tells me, he's like, I can ask you something and, you know, you'll say, oh, well, two years ago I read a book with this information in it and here's how it would apply to you. But I think I've boiled it down and I've used this in introductions from myself before, which is that I'm a dot connecting entrepreneur and I connect the dots both with people, with ideas and information. And I think that is maybe the brand that works for me the most, that feels the most authentic.

And why do you think I'm going to word this in a little bit of a different way than what you said? So if it doesn't land for you, you can change it?

Yeah, please do.

But. But as you know me from our month or two months together, I usually do it for a reason. Right. So why do you think creating connection is important to you in your life?

Well, you know, I was an only child, so raised it as only child. If I didn't create connections with my friends, I was just hanging out with mom and dad, and that was one of the ways that I just, you know, thrown into the world is create connection. So in many ways, and I do believe this, my closest friends, I do feel as though they're my family. So some people are like, oh, you know, my brother and my sister, that's my closest bond with another peer. And mine is not at all because I don't have that, it's with my friends. So I had to get really good at making friends and understanding socially how to do that. But then also.

I believe that I know that people are born with certain predilections. We, you know, some people are more social than others, some people are more analytical, some people are more outgoing or introverted. I do happen to be just naturally more outgoing than people. And because I'm good at connecting.

I've created a lot of opportunities that I probably shouldn't have had under normal circumstances. Like I've just, I've made little good authentic connections and they've led to flying on a private jet or, you know, having, you know, meetings with amazing people that at times I felt like, man, I don't deserve this, like, what did I do? But. And it's taken me a while to kind of own that value, but I think that's, I've seen the, I've seen the benefits of making authentic connections and making people like and respect you.

That's great. And so what would you say has been some of the hardest lessons that you've had?

So.

You know, some of the hardest lessons. As a child I had a. I had a pretty darn good life, you know, loving parents.

I can't think back to many childhood super hard lessons that, you know, really, really resonate with me as an adult. However, I've had a couple big lessons, which was.

There were a couple times where I didn't really. I didn't know what I still wanted. I didn't believe in myself. And I had built up some really good savings in the six figure range. And I took a gamble. One of them was in the stock market. And I just put every single thing I had. This was back in the go go, late 1999 and 2000. And I bet on margin and I just built up this pretty big net worth, starting with not much and then lost it all from some stupid, I knew better mistakes. And I was a financial advisor, a professional financial advisor at the time. And here I thought, well, I don't have to. I don't like doing this stuff, this work things for the birds. I'm just gonna basically gamble in the stock market and When I did, I lost everything and I went down to scratch. Actually, I was in debt after that. And then another hard lesson that I had to learn was that after I immediately, within a few years, made it back and then some, I did the same shit and I lost it all again, once more with a stupid investment and I was back down to scratch. So twice in my life I have had six figures in cash in the bank account. And because I decided I don't want to work so hard, I've heard that rich people invest their money and other people, their money works for them. I'm going to do that. And I got slapped down. Curiously though, every time that I took the money that I had and I invested it in either my education, my own business, things that I could control seems to work out. So that's been one big lesson as an entrepreneur, as an adult, as somebody who has to kind of manage their money is that.

Bet on yourself things that you can control and don't expect other things that you can't control to do all the work for you.

Got it. What are you most passionate about?

Most passionate about. You know.

Once more.

So once more.

This has been. This has been one of those things in my life that I've actually struggled with. And I. I am.

What do I want to say? I am envious of people who have this, who have this passion to them, like, oh my God, this is what I like the most. But I think that the things that I like the most that I'm most passionate about is.

Experiencing new things with new people, connecting these experiences, deep conversations, brainstorming with others, and sharing the human experience with others. So I can't say that I'm most passionate about a topic. I could say I'm passionate about marketing because I just, I love it.

And that just seems like the cop out. I'm passionate about marketing and business, but the things that really bring me the most joy, the things that I like the most are new ideas and new people and consistently feeding myself a diet of both ideas that inspire me and people that inspire me.

Got it. So I've been blessed to learn quite a few things about you in the last few months. And I know you're getting married soon.

Yes.

Most of your inner circle knows. Is there anything that you are afraid of as you enter into marriage?

You know, there's not much that I'm afraid of. It's been.

So the folks who know me know that I've been with my fiance now, although she has only been my fiance for about eight months, for Eight and a half years, going on nine years. So I didn't just jump into a relationship and jump into marriage. And it's been, it's been an amazing relationship. We've had ups and downs like everybody, but I feel as though, you know, we've lived together for the past five years and I feel as though we work really, really well together. We have a great partnership. Not just love and romantic love, but friendship and, and respect for each other. So.

I'll say because I've waited and because I'm sure I wouldn't say that I have any fear around that to be, you know, to be real honest.

Do you have a philosophy about what you think makes relationship work?

You know, I think the thing that makes a relationship work is obviously you have to have a mutual respect for each other, but it's really developing an empathy for who they are, how they think, and what has created those thought patterns. I've done a lot of work around this. You know, this. I've studied neuro linguistic programming, which is a lot of people who don't really understand it, just think it's a form of persuading other people to do things. That's like the tip of the iceberg that people see. But really it's caused me to have to go back into the way I operate, understand what caused me to operate the way I do, but then also to be able to look at others in the same way and go, okay, we're all just slightly different computers with different programmers in there. And for me, that's created an empathy to where if Kenya is reacting a certain way, I don't necessarily take it personal. I try to put myself in her shoes and really think, okay, am I being a dick? Is, is this really me? And if it is, I'll full on raise my hand and say it. But when you do that and when you're able to step into their shoes for even just a moment, I think it diffuses arguments before they occur and it makes things just a lot easier. Plus, I think it creates that respect if it's not there in the beginning.

Got it. And you know, that just reminded me of a conversation you and I had in the beginning of our work together where I was getting to know you and we were talking about.

Creating where do you want to go from here and what's your vision for your life? And if you could, what we call future pacing dream into 5 years, 10 years, what has to happen for you to have a life of no regret?

So what has to happen from here and this is where you and I. Your work has been amazing for me in getting this. This clarity block. But I have to. In order for me to go from where I am now to where I want to be, which is living a life of no regrets, I have to get really clear on what is most important to me and what I really need to be fulfilled. Because there's a lot of things out there I look at, you know, will this fulfill me? Will that fulfill me? I kind of think so. I don't know. And it's just not really a tangible thing. It's never. I've never dug deep enough to know what that is. You know, like I. I bought a $160,000 Audi R8 sports car a year and a half ago. I like it, but does it bring me fulfillment? Not in any way, shape or form. Does it make me happy? It's fun to drive, but do I live in my dream city, you know, with a beautiful, wonderful fiance? Yeah. But I always realize that there is. The things that bring me the most fulfillment.

Are a little bit intangible. So I'm trying to get a little bit more dialed in on that. Once I do that, I have to take action on those. And this was a big thing for me. It has been for years, and it's still stuck in there is. I have to stop playing entrepreneur and really put my knowledge to use by organizing all the resources I have, inspiring others, leading a team, stepping into a leadership position, and going after life really like there's nothing to lose. Those are the things that I have to do. It's a little bit intangible. I could tell you all the things I have to do from a business tactical standpoint, etc. But, you know, continue to build my brand, continue to get out there, understand my offer, but really what it comes down to doing is stopping that feeling that I'm just playing entrepreneur and not being one as much as I need to.

So when we had talked about that, can I bring up some of the things that we spoke of that you shared with me that day? Because I think.

They'Re really some of the juicy stuff about you that I thought was fun to learn about you. You had said that you're confident in who you are.

And you love creating value for others and being in service to others. And you explained to me that.

As we're starting to develop this, and I know that you keep. You want to keep playing with some of this, but one of the things that you have in your dream is that you wanted to be a Keynote speaker. And I asked you why and you said one of the, one of the things you said that I thought was certainly in alignment with your values of serving others is you said that it's a way for you to impact others.

Can you still hear me?

Can you hear me?

Yeah, your volume just went out for a second.

Yeah, that's true.

Inspiring people has come up several times in your discussions with me and, and your love of learning.

Yeah.

Like if. If I were to guess what one of your answers was going to be about. What you're passionate about is you just seem to. You never stop learning.

It's funny. That's where when I'm stressed or anxious, I'll pick up a book or.

Or a info product or an audio or something and I'll just. Or a video and I'll dive through it and I'll just learn. That brings me peace is learning new things.

So. Yeah, that's part of it.

Is it also sometimes an escape for you? It is, yeah.

Yep.

I guess it's better than smoking or doing drugs or drinking. Yeah, right, Exactly. It's healthier. Okay. And so what. What would you say?

Or maybe let me say do it this way. Who would you say have been your biggest teachers?

So, my biggest teachers, so obviously, without sounding cliche, my family, they, you know, they are. They are amazing people and they've taught me a lot. They gave me an amazing foundation where I wouldn't be where I'm at without them. My closest friends, as I mentioned, they all have great qualities that I've drawn on in different situations. Like I kind of think of myself as a chameleon sometimes. Like, I think, okay, what would Nate do in this situation? What would so and so. And I try to try to draw out the best qualities of my closest friends in business. It's been kind of a mix. Some of the people didn't know they were teaching me. Some of them are dead because they wrote great books and they're no longer with us like Napoleon Hill.

And other folks in the world of marketing. My first teacher was.

Well, I'll give a little bit of credit here. This will be fun because I'll share this with them with Neuro Linguistic Programming. I studied with Susan Stageman in Dallas for a year and a half. She was amazing. Wouldn't be where I'm at without her.

Kevin Wilkie gave me my first information product on.

How to do Internet marketing. Tim Ferriss inspired the heck out of me with his book Four Hour Workweek. I give him credit all the time because he's the one who set this kind of wheel where I'm at now. The past, I don't know, seven years in motion. Some of the other people that I read every single thing they put out and I try to learn from as much as possible. You know, folks like Jay Abraham, Steven Pressfield, great authority, A current business partner of mine was a mentor. Bob Serling, Frank Kern, Mitch Axelrod has been an amazing mentor of mine. My close friend Sean Stevenson is one of the most inspiring people I know. Close friend, I look up to him. He's taught me quite a bit about what it really means to be an amazing person. And current client, friend, business partner of mine, Ken Clothier. So I've worked with Kent for the past two years. Maybe we've known each other for maybe two and a half years. And he's really taught me quite a lot about everything, about being a good man, family man, friend, business leader. And I've been fortunate to make money with him, from him and also learn an amazing amount of with Kent. So those are some of my biggest teachers. To list them all would be here forever.

And what do you think people learn from you?

You know, that's another, that's another one I've struggled with because who you are.

So I like to think of myself as a big time optimist who thinks outside the box. And I've had some of my friends who are not in the, you know, in the world of entrepreneurship, they're in traditional jobs, which is fine, but they've told me that they really admire the fact that I don't do any like that I just create opportunities or I create money. Like you're always doing something different, weird, something I would never even imagined is capable. And I like to think that I'm cracking open people's minds of what's possible. I mean, my very first business, I created a online course of me doing, you know, bar magic tricks in my living room and made a six figure business out of that and sold that business. I mean my, and I was in my mid-30s when I did this and I was marketing to people typically in their 20s. And I think I blew all my friends away going, wait a minute, weren't you this like professional financial services guy? And all this other stuff, I can't even believe that's possible. So I like to think that one of the things I do is I, I show people what's possible, not what's probable. And I have to, you know, I always try to continue to remind myself to look in the mirror and teach myself that the other things have to do with like, a lot of my clients come to me because I always have a.

An insightful, an insightful response to their business problem and a solution that isn't necessarily in the box. As I said, I can, I can recall strategies that have not necessarily worked for me, but have worked for somebody that I was sitting in a mastermind with three years ago. And he said this and I just kind of filed it away in the hey, maybe this will workspace and I'll, you know, I can pull those out and help people dial that in. But it's also been a, it's been a sticking point for me in trying to.

Pigeonhole myself Right. In a good way, is trying to find that specialty. Like, why do you come to Brad? Do you come to Brad for learning how to do Facebook advertising? To learn how to write copy, to learn how to sell a business, to do whatever. And I don't feel as though I have that one specialty except where I feel like I have the ability to kind of see around corners, to solve problems by connecting the dots, whether those are, you know, people dots or information dots. And that may have been a really long winded answer to that.

But okay, you know where my brain just went. You said, there's not much I'm scared of. And I was just, I was just. I'm not sure why this popped up, but I was remembering on one of our first calls where you and I have a lot of the same skills. We just use them in different arenas. Right. And so because probably important people know that you'll turn the tables and coach me to my stuff as much so I can be successful. So. But I remember cutting through this stuff and being around the corner, so to speak, and saying, okay, Brad, here's your next stretch that I want you to consider. And I told you what it was and immediately all your fears and all you were like, no, not that we haven't spoken about it again.

Wait, was that the Vipassana meditation? Well, so what's funny? It's not that I'm totally scared of that.

Well, you tell them what it is because you've done it.

Yeah. So when we were talking, I spoke to you about, you know, really wanting to have you break through what stops you. And we call that finding stretches in life that kind of bring up, you know, the fears and the anxiety quickly. And so on that call, I did just that. And I said, brad, I think the next thing you should do do is the ten day silent retreat. It's The Vispasana retreat. And you have to know just for your. For your audience to know. For those of you who don't know, you're not just in silence. You are not to look at, interact with anyone else for 10 days. You're with you and you. And you're out of your life. There's no writing, reading, phones, electronics, nothing for 10 days. And so now you tell them you're.

Yeah, so. So, first of all, yeah, I mean, that. That is. It is scary. I will say that. And it's even funnier because my buddy Rob has told me many stories when we've been out. I live in Southern California, so talks about meditation retreats. That is. That's tip of the tongue for everybody out here. And so Rob. Rob did this. And Rob is like, I couldn't. I had nightmares for a year. I didn't sleep right. He goes, it messed me up. I was. You know, he just went into some of the hallucinations, the deep, dark hallucinations he had, and he's like, yeah, that was crazy. Holy crap. So it was funny. And I think we had been talking about it, like, a week prior to you bringing that up, so it was really fresh in my mind. Somebody else going, oh, hell no. But, well.

And what I love about what, you know, when we talked about it, what you brought up when you said, you know, I'm not really afraid of much, is that we say that. And I think a lot of us say that. I've said it my whole life. There are very few things I'm afraid of. But I do think there's a natural fear of knowing ourselves, of what we're gonna find out. Right. Like, you go to Vicosno, what if your mind does what Rob's mind does, and it's as crazy as his mind?

Right, Right. Well. And, you know, I've done. I've done a decent amount of work. I've sat with several entheogenic and psychedelic medicines that really. In a very sacred, you know, place where it's not, you know, partying, but.

Things that have opened me up to my psyche. Some of them beautiful, some of them dark and scary and whatnot. So I'm. I'm pretty comfortable in exploring some of those areas. But at the same time, yeah, it still kind of freaks me out all the time. And.

The one thing, though, like, yeah, 10 days. Whoa. That. That. It is scary. It's. It is one of those things that a million things come up, like, oh, my damn. But.

Not saying I won't do it, but, yeah, that. That came up. I got it as a. Yeah.

And if I don't know how many of your listeners watched your interview with. With Sean Stevenson, I thought. And I. What I. You know, I loved how vulnerable that interview was, and Sean's so great about. And your connection together was just. It was beautiful to watch, but he was so great about turning the tables on you on that interview. And I thought, oh, my gosh, he's doing with Sean what he does with me when we get vulnerable, start dancing around it, right?

Oh, yeah.

And our work together, it's about getting those muscles strong, of literally finding what's in your blind spot and learning to go, wow. If I'm afraid or I'm nervous, that's exactly where I should go. So that leads me to the next question. Again, I'm very aware that I ask you these questions and you're going to answer me from what you can see today. And I'm sure in five years, we could ask you these same questions, have different answers. So for people who don't know you as intimately as people like Sean and Lo and some of your inner circle.

What do you struggle with the most? And, I mean, that place that we all have, we don't necessarily sometimes even talk about it. We're so used to walking around with it. But, like, when you lay your head on the pillow at night, you're like, man, I'm. I'm really tired of dealing with this inside myself.

So I'd say that. That. That lack of. That lack of clarity of feeling like this is the easiest thing in the world when people say, what do you want? And I go, I don't know. I really don't know. And it's like I feel almost like copying out, or I'm being lazy and thinking about it, but at the same time, it doesn't come to me because I know that it's not. I don't. Yes, I want material things, but that's not what I want down, you know, deep. That clarity.

Oftentimes creates problems. But then I also. The thing I struggle with is how I get paralysis by analysis. I overthink things like crazy, and it oftentimes prevent me from doing it. And then I get really mad at myself because I look back and I go, I know this. I have everything I need to put this into place. Why did I not do it? And maybe a year, two years down the road, and I see other people who aren't not nearly as. And whatever that was, as myself, and they just got out there and took action. And I say this as a guy who also does take action. I don't do this constantly, but I also don't take the action enough and I get completely paralyzed. And I think that also what happens that I do, and this really bugs me and annoys me, is that oftentimes I quit when things get rough. But as opposed to just quitting, I change horses. So. And I know this demonstrates a lack of commitment on my part from the get go. Like, I think, hey, this is a shiny new object. I'm gonna go start to pursue that. And I get the ball rolling and then I realize, oh crap, this is not as easy as it as I thought it would be as it sounds. So I like, oh, here's another shiny. I'm just gonna get on this horse because now this horse is nice to me and I get to ride it up to a gallop. And it's not all crazy, but I've done that. And what happens is I start, you know, I'll climb one ladder and I'll get only so high and then I'll go climb the other ladder and I'll go climb the other ladder and I just realize I keep on hitting that glass ceiling of myself without just committing and breaking through when the, when the times are rough. And I also. What keeps me up at night.

Is wondering why.

I feel like I have every opportunity to make an enormous splash in this world. And I don't feel as though I've done it. And I don't necessarily know that I'm on the path to doing that. It frustrates and scares the hell out of me because that is one of the things that is important to me is I've been given and I've co created an amazing life.

To a point, amazing by many people, standing standards, and I'm grateful for it. But it's not amazing by my standard. I mean, you said this to me in the past where, Brad, your 30% looks like somebody else's hundred percent. I'm like, yeah, but to me it doesn't look like 100%. And I'm fortunate enough to have been successful enough to where I don't have day to day money issues. I don't have those other worries. So, you know, this is. Yeah, I don't expect sympathy from anybody for, oh, look how hard he's got it. He's struggling with this stuff. But I think a lot of people do struggle with that. And I put my head down on the pillow at night and going, you're not, you're not living A life that you would be really proud of. You're living a life that you'd be comfortable in. And that's not a life that I want because that's not the life that inspires me when I see others people have it. And that. That doesn't inspire me thinking about just, you know, living in the comfort zone.

So, you know, I love that you brought that up because, as you know, you're guiding me to create my first webinar and take my career on a whole new path. And one of the things that I'm really passionate about is how. How much we in our culture accept our own either bare minimum or just good enough or what I call mediocrity. Right. I call it the biggest disease on the planet. And I think the difficult thing. And you brought it up so beautifully. And I hope all of your fan base really takes a look at what you just shared, because it gives them permission to go here. I think it's more challenging for those of us who are successful by a thermometer of the population. I think it's more challenging sometimes for us to. Can I curse on your show?

Do it. Drop it.

Okay. It's harder for us not to buy our own bullshit because we've dressed it up so beautifully with. By any measures of success, right. We've created degrees and businesses and money and what have you. And so we've created this kind of comfortable cushion where it's more difficult. And I honor you for your courage. Say, like, I've got all this money in the bank. I've got all these great people around me. I do all these great things. And here's the truth, because that's the hard place to go, is to say, am I really operating at my fullest potential, given what I'm capable of? And going to the places that would scare me to go. Not compared to anybody else, other than compared to what I'm capable of.

Right?

Right. So it reminds me of a conversation we had. And I'm just going to go where I go. Cause I know you can edit out anything you don't want on this video. And it was a really amazing conversation as you've been allowing me to push you to this dream place. And, you know, the where would scare myself. And you talked about creating a.

Mastermind all your own that has a certain level of entrepreneurs in it and certain types of minds in it. And we explored the list of, you know, okay, who would be the big guys on that list and what would be the dream? And I started throwing in certain People like, oh, there was one or two that I brought up. You went, oh, no, no, no. That one's way out of my reach. And I go. And, you know me, whenever you do something, I'm like, hey, let's go there, right?

Yeah.

And that was a fun day because you were really. You were really out of the box to the point that you at least allowed yourself to be scared for a moment or not. To me, when you're dreaming big, your fear comes up and all your unworthiness and not enough stuff comes up.

Yeah.

And so I thought that was awesome that you went there. And then the. The other thing you brought up that day was you would like to make a difference in the arena of education. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Yeah. So it's been a weird. This is. This has been a weird fascination of mine. Maybe not so weird. So I don't have children yet. I would like to have a child someday. Yep.

Are you gonna make him be an only child also?

Yep.

No other? Nope.

Nope. Only one.

And both of us feel like that, so that's kind of cool.

But the. So I don't have a child. There's not a lot of children in my family. So I've not really been around the educational system so much, except that I've analyzed, like, because I love learning, and I like to think about the way that I learn. And I started learning so much more when I was out of college, and I could learn with whatever I was curious about. And I've noticed the changes that have occurred in my lifetime from what is possible to learn on your own now in different ways that were not even possible then. So I think we've come to a time where.

I think the. And I don't want to go into this in too much depth, but I believe that in the most parts, the educational system is broken. I think that. I also don't think that my ideas of education are suitable for everybody because I think there are a lot of just people who are destined for mediocrity, and they will be like that forever. I don't believe that everybody has the, you know, that everybody is gonna have this, you know, amazing, you know, life. There is gonna be average people. That's why, you know, average is a mean. But for people who want to take their life in their own hands and who want to utilize the opportunities that are there and solve bigger problems in this world, I believe that the educational system is broken, college is broken, the financial system there is broken, and that there are ways that people can.

Write their own rules and not which I'm. I have a big problem with authority. I like to write my own rules.

And I've learned so much more on my own than I ever could with somebody just teaching at me.

I get inspired by reading stories in the book Abundance by Peter Diamandis about the self organized learning environments that started over in India and then go on. And I will find myself going down the rabbit hole of reading, reading about how the educational system is kind of messed up. But at the same time, as messed up as that is, the alternative education system is now as good as it's ever been. And I see that is what really empowers people who want to empower themselves. And like, I don't have a child yet, but when I do, I have already been given a lot of thought to what is like one of the coolest ways that I can alternatively educate this person. And I don't want to use the word homeschool because that might not be it, but create opportunities for them in ways that are totally, you know, to the beat of a different drummer.

And where does this passion start? You know what I love about you, I got to tell you this is if I ask you a direct question and I make you think about it, right? Often you'll, there's where you'll minimize it. You go, I don't know, I don't really have a good answer. Like your judgment probably gets in the way of you answering. But if we're just rapping about something, that's true for you, like all your passionate stuff starts coming out and it's really neat because you speak into it more naturally. So.

I hope your viewers appreciate that about you. So where did this passion about the education system come from? Was it about what you struggled with, with your own learning?

It might be, I don't know, there's no root, there's no root of it. Like I've actually thought about, like why, why do I really care about this so much? Yeah. And I think it's because. So I remember when I heard this term the autodidact. You know what have you heard of that? Autodidact. So A, U, T, O, D, I, D, A C, whatever is somebody who auto is like on themselves, like themselves. And didact is to learn. And I think it's like a Latin thing. But it's somebody who learns on their own, who takes the initiative to learn, to seek out information and knowledge. And in the world of information marketing, which I've spent a decent amount of time in I feel as though the people who buy home study courses, the people who buy books, the people who buy nonfiction, how to stuff, are autodidacts. They realize that there are answers out there that people.

Are providing and they're like, okay, the answer's out there. I'm going to learn it, I'm going to read it. Whether they take action or not, they start, that's a totally different story. But anybody who purchases home study courses, anybody who listens to nonfiction, business related podcasts, are trying to learn and take their education in their own hands because there's a lot of other distractions out there. There's a trillion dollar industry in entertainment. Of all of the things you could do, I mean, you could be listening to comedy or music or whatever, but if you spend your time listening to podcasts, for instance, hey, you are, you are learning on your own. So that I'm like that I am an autodidact. I love taking those opportunities. And I remember thinking about school and how boring school was for me. And it's not necessarily because I was that smart. I just didn't like it. Like, I was not a straight A student. I was A. I was probably a B, you know, B student. And many times I would sit there the night before a test and I would create the perfect cheat sheet and I would want to cheat. Not necessarily because I thought I had to, but because it was more of a challenge to cheat than to do this other stuff.

Get around, to get around the system.

Right? Yeah. I love Buckingham.

Do it your way.

Yeah, very much. And what I would find out is after I, like, I'd have the cheat sheet stuck in my shoe or somewhere else and I'd realize that just by creating the cheat sheet, I didn't need the cheat sheet. Right. Because I learned it because I spent so much time learning in my own way.

Right. And then I'd always. I also got really frustrated at certain things. Like I'm not interested in.

Oh, I don't know, I don't remember what it was like chemistry, I'm not interested in chemistry. Why do I have to take like three chemistry classes and do all this other stuff? Why are we suppressing people in order to make them more robust, well rounded, you know, like, I've never thought of this metaphor before, but you know, the whole, well, make somebody a well rounded individual, send them to all these different prerequisites in college and all this other stuff. Well, when you take the edges off of people, you take off the parts that sometimes that edge is what punctures through and allows them to. To make a real dent in the world. If everybody else is just a round, shiny ball, then, you know, they're. No. Nobody has any edge to them. So I really think it's important to take somebody's natural predilections because we all have them, and accentuate those. And.

I don't know, it's just one of those things because I like learning how to learn comes up. And I think what I want to put my child through, that system that just spits people out like I would spit out, although I turned out well, I think, like, what if it was different? I don't know. But I'm willing to experiment on my unborn child.

I say that now, but don't we all. Don't we all experiment on our children? Yeah. And so, you know, I was thinking as you were talking about your interview with Vinny the other day that you sent me, and I thought when you said you'd create the cheat sheet to get around the system and, you know, to do it your way. And I thought, well, is that why you became an entrepreneur? You and Vinny talked about how we get to jump to the front of the line?

Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I'm that guy. I am absolutely that guy. When you're in. When you're in line, not in line for on the road, there's like two or three lanes, and then there's the exit ramp road, and there's a really long line for the exit ramp. I will go over there. I am that butthole who gets up there and just waits for somebody to let me in because I know they will let me in in, and I don't have to wait. I'm not causing that. And then obviously, if everybody did that, the system would implode. It wouldn't work. But guess what? Not everybody does that. And that's what I was saying earlier. The average person. There will always be a mean in society. You will never get rid of complete poverty. You will never get rid of mediocrity. But you can take the people who want to and give them the opportunity to climb out of it. So I'm the same way. It's like, look, I am going to. I'm not harming anybody per se, by going up there and jumping to the front of that little line. And I'm not harming any. And I could probably talk about this for a while, but I also have the belief, like in school these days, everything should be an open Internet test for the most part, after you understand the basics but we are suppressing our ability to stand on the shoulders of giants by making us start at the bottom again. It's like, okay, you have to understand all your multiplication tables. You have to understand all this stuff. We will never be without one of these in our pockets again. We will never have that. So stop solving.

The same problems that we were solving 100 years ago.

The system is antiquated. I mean, sure, you said it to me a hundred times in developing myself as an entrepreneur. And look, I think those of us who are entrepreneurs love it because it gives us freedom to be who we are. I think you. Did you send me the article on the Ferrari brain and the tricycle brake?

No, but I think I've read.

I think I sent it to you then. One or the other. I thought, yeah, yeah, as an entrepreneur, I think every one of us should read it because it gives us permission to be who we are and like, really pull out, like, appreciate. I think our brains do work differently out of the box, what have you.

And what I think you're talking about, which I appreciate so much because it's one of my soapboxes, I get on. Besides, the mediocrity thing is teach our kids to be critical thinkers, problem solvers, not to be good followers. And everybody sit the same way and everybody learns the same way. And you know, I say that to my kids every day. Like, let's think through it. What are all the possible solutions given what the outcome you want to have and then how do you want to go find that? And I love what you've taught me along the way, which is don't reinvent the wheel. You and Dan Martell talk about it all the time. All the other, like, go find someone who's done it. And you guys call it repurposing.

Borrowing brilliance.

Borrowing brilliance. And then. And then put it into your own stuff, by the way.

However, I don't always practice what I preach there, as in many things. I am a tinkerer. Vinnie also talked about this. I am a tinkerer. I will take a proven process and try to. And try to add my own spin on it just because I want to add my spin on that. If you get me a process to follow, I want to claw my eyeballs out. Like, I am not a process driven person. I can potentially create processes, but I hate nothing more than following something step by step by step, because I can. My brain's always like, but you could do this. And what if you totally did something different here? That may not work, but it satisfies my ability to tinker. And I tell my clients, you included, don't do that. Just, you know, don't reinvent the damn wheel.

Yeah. You keeping me on the one thing makes me crazy. Like, I keep wanting to go over here, and I got this idea over there, create this one thing, and I'm like, jesus, want to pull my hair out?

Right, Right. And I need it. Yeah. And I need people to say that to me, because I'm telling. Whenever I tell you that stuff, it's me telling me that stuff and trying to remind myself, like, yeah, you know this stuff, idiot.

Like, yeah. No, I have people on. I always not only be the dumbest person on my team, but have everybody on my team is opposite of me. And I have a question for you about this part, because I relate to you in this way where I think us visionaries and entrepreneurs have all these great floating balloon ideas all the time. And, you know, our brains never stop. So I have people on my team that just ground me and keep my feet on the ground. You know, I've learned to create my own system of. Until this person tells me I have the go button. You know, I've learned to be a little better about that. But. But how do you tell the difference for yourself between.

Visionary, excited, the kind of energy that goes on? I don't really have to explain it to you because you're an entrepreneur like me, and those who relate to this will get it without much of an explanation. But how do you tell the difference between all that constant energy that us bright entrepreneurs have in our brain versus being add? When I say add, I mean that really, like, gets in your way of being successful.

I battle it like crazy. I mean, it is a constant battle because I. I have. I am add. You know, it's.

And do you call it your superpower, like Dan and that with a guy who interviewed him? I forgot his name, but I do.

I do it. Yeah. Because, I mean, it's. It's a superpower, and it comes with a lot of catches. Right. But.

That energy. Yeah. So I know myself enough to know that I will focus insanely hard in short bursts of time, and you will sit me down, especially if it's a creative project or whatever. And I will sit down, and I will be a laser in there. You cannot peel me away from whether it's the computer, whatever I'm doing, but when you do pull me away, maybe, like the next day, I'll be right back at it, and I'll be boom, boom, boom. In these short bursts. But over a longer period of time, it will immediately, like, I've just used all the gas in the tank for that thing that I'm focusing on. That's why I'm not a good manager. I am not somebody who manages processes very well because of that same thing. I need the novelty. I need the.

Like, adrenaline junkie.

I'm an adrenaline junkie, absolutely. And I'm really good in creative bursts. But then my brain, it's like, it won't go back to certain places after I've done these creative bursts. That's been a big problem for me.

But do you compensate or do you not worry about compensating? You just move on?

I don't know if I effectively compensate, to be honest.

That part might be broken. But I try to take on. I try to be cognizant of that and not take on too many tasks or projects that are going to require that. And from the get go, because I know now my patterns and how I will work, I try to set myself up for, okay, who else can I bring on once this thing gets rolling? And who else can I have to help create this to, you know, to help pick up where I. Where I leave off, clean up my mess?

Would you say that's one of the biggest things you had to learn to overcome to be.

Yeah. Yeah. And it's one of the biggest problems, why it's hard for me to get clear or commit to one one career path is because I like novelties so much. I like so many new things. And just the idea of being with in one business for a while makes me go, ooh, yuck.

Yeah. No, I relate. Even as you're having me develop this, you know, I'm working on the one product of transform your business and you're having me create this, this webinar. So I'm gonna. I'm gonna confess right now that. So behind the scenes, I've got six products, right? And behind the scenes, I'm doing like, all this other stuff because I'm like, okay, well, while we're focused on that, I have all these other great things that I've developed and, like, feel strange to just dabble in that one thing. And I've. I've had several careers just because I can't. As I grow and evolve, I can't sit that long. But like, every five seconds. Years, I think.

Careers, right.

They're all related, of course. So have you. What's the longest you've done the one thing? Or have you ever done one thing?

No. Well, the longest is maybe a couple. Maybe a couple years. I take that back. I did have a. Nah, can't even say that because even when I. When I stopped being a financial advisor in the end of 2001, I moved over at Prudential where I was working. And for about the next six years, I was kind of an analyst consulting role. So it was really, really easy. It was a great, cushy job. Like, it was the epitome of comfort zone. Like you've never seen comfort zone job. And I had absolutely no daily supervision, so I could do whatever I wanted. I worked in an office with two people who were my exact equals in the company. And our boss was in New York, and we were all like, this is like the, the fox is not guarding the hen house. And we just, we'd watch TV during the day, we get our job done. But it was just like, this is the greatest thing in the world. And I was making good money, so I could not leave it. It was total handcuffs. But at the same time, I was never fulfilled. They were really fulfilled doing whatever they did. But I started like, I started doing real estate investing. Then I started doing. I picked up another, like, independent sales position. So I'd leave during the, during the middle of the day. Once we, you know, we had cell phones, I'm like, hey, I'll do my work there, but I'll leave in the middle of the day and go sell other. Other stuff to try to give myself a leg up. So I was never just doing one thing. And then when I got laid off from that job at Pru, I had, I had income already there, so I already always had a backup plan. So it's really hard for me not to be doing multiple things at once. And I like that about me and I hate it at the same time.

This mainly applies in business for you because you've been in your relationship now how long?

Yeah, like not almost nine years. And you been good and we've never broken up. It's never, you know, it's. It's a normal, healthy relationship. I did not have a problem committing there, so. Which is good.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Right. So at least it's not in everywhere in my life.

Yeah. Do you notice out in, in life when your ADD kicks in, do you notice that you're distracted when you're amongst people?

Yeah. Yeah. This, this starts happening like, like all of us.

It's funny, you know, I had my, my first in person experience with you other than the interview was in the boardroom and. And so you Know, I'm curious about people. And so I told. I tell you this a million times. I was watching you at the side of the. At the side of you were standing there while Kent was talking, and I thought, I wonder what Brad's thinking right now, because I could tell your brain was, like, moving, and I didn't know you were ADD at the time. And so. And sometimes on our calls, I can tell where you are for the day based on, like, kind of what you're. What you look like or how. What I hear in your voice. So what kind of things, like, frustrate you the most or. And I don't mean about you, but, like, about life.

Oh, what kind of things frustrate me?

Not about me, about life. Let me think. You know, nothing really.

Nothing really comes to mind. I don't really get that frustrated about life. I get frustrated when technology doesn't work like I want it to. I get frustrated when.

What I get frustrated with the most is when I do have momentum on something and there's a block and I have to wait for somebody or something to happen. I mean, it could be a slow computer. Right. But because my brain is moving a million miles a minute, and I'm like, go, go, go, go, go, go. And it's like, I need that momentum because I operate very well at a very fast pace that if something stops me, that's the most frustrating thing for me is that losing momentum. I'm dealing with something right now, or I'm waiting for somebody to approve some stuff, and it's like, it's stopped my momentum. So when you stop my momentum, my attention starts to drift elsewhere, and that's never good for Brad.

We lose. Yeah.

Yeah. So that. Yeah, so that's frustrating.

And so we talked about people who've inspired you and taught you, and you and Sean talked about a story, and I think it might have been when he asked you about one of the biggest pains in your life, and he told the story about the situation with your dad.

Yeah.

You had moved, and he didn't think you had made a good decision. And you talk a lot about the great relationship you've created with him today.

So is that story that he didn't ask it this way. I was going to say, what's the saddest thing that's ever happened?

You know, if you look at the word sad. So I've lost people, like, to death. Not. I've been really fortunate that I've never lost anybody who was, like, so extremely close. It felt like they got ripped out for my life, like, too early, you know, My grandfather passed away. I got three grandparents still. My grandfather passed away years ago. He was in his 90s. So, as I said, it was sad to lose him because I loved him very much, but it wasn't like it was ripped away. So it was. I've had sad moments, but the saddest thing I've went through probably was that when the. The term sad came up, because it was a time where I. I was really happy doing cool things, and I was proud of myself. And then at the time, my dad didn't approve, and he, you know, and he. And his disapproval became like. I almost. It felt like disgust, like, I can't believe you're doing that. I'm not even going to talk to you for a while. And I just. I got nothing to say. It was. It was as if I had done something 10 times worse. I didn't even think I was doing anything bad. It was just like, hey, I get it. But I would kind of expect you to be like, hey, this is okay. You're doing what you're doing. I still believe in you, but I think you're screwing up, but I still love you. That's. That's kind of what I would have wanted to hear, but I didn't get that.

And I think a lot of people can relate to that feeling of having somebody that they really love not believing them or not giving them the support they wanted at the time that they most needed it. At the same time, it took me a little while to do this. It was harder to do it at the time, but I got really good once more empathy and putting myself in somebody else's shoes and understanding that everybody's, you know, behavior has a positive intention for them. Them. So his positive intention for him was, I want to protect my son from the mistakes that, you know, that he could make and that the world will screw him up. And all this work that I've done, he may be getting.

Is he not listening to me? And I could see it was probably very frustrating for him and, you know, the resources that he had at the time where I'm just gonna shut off before I say something, because maybe he was worried. Maybe he did want to tell me some stuff and scream at me and yell at me and give me his point of view, but maybe he was worried that that would do more damage than just being silent. Right? So I don't know. We haven't actually had that conversation, but maybe it was. And if it is, that's cool. I Forgive him. I forgave him years ago and he's one of my absolute best friends now, so that's been repaired. But it was a, it was a moment where I was like, wow, I was a damn good kid. And. And.

You'Re just gonna like, ignore me now because I didn't do what you wanted me to. And you've known me for 22 years. I've never done exactly what you wanted. So.

Anyway, you know when you'll get the rest of that lesson is when you have your son totally. And he. And then you're on the receiving end of that, and then you'll have an experience. You'll go, oh, this was it.

Exactly. And I kind of put myself there. Like, what would I do if this was my son and he was doing this stuff? Like, I get it. So I can't fault. I don't fault people necessarily for the reaction.

And that's such a cool thing that, you know, we talked about this. There's a fine line between making sure that we own the feelings that we had at the time. Right. You know, one of my careers was the mental health profession. And then I've since left that because I so believe in empowerment, coaching for people to really move their life forward and not be a victim to their past. So I love that you, you talk about it that way because I do think that it's so important that we grow ourselves up and not only own what we felt then, but reframe into, okay, now that I'm an adult and I can put myself in my parents shoes, you know, what's going on for them, because. And you don't have this yet, but I think you have enough empathy to get what I'm saying. I know after having three kids that you're just this human being trying to raise these kids and you're doing the best you can and it's challenging when your stuff comes up in your parenting. So I'm sure it's cool for your dad that you can talk, you can speak that way and develop a friendship. And that's the work is not being a victim to anything as much as possible.

Yeah, exactly.

So given that as an entrepreneur, what do you think you have to learn? These are my words. So if they don't fit for you, I believe to be a good entrepreneur. Barbara Cochran talked about be good at dealing with failure. That's her thing. It's one of her things that she talked about a lot, which I love. I absolutely love it. And some of you guys at the board, when we're talking about. I don't remember who said it was just get your first failure out of the way, you can learn to tolerate it and then just move on. So those are examples. What do you think you have had to learn to tolerate to be a successful entrepreneur? And. Or what do you think entrepreneurs in general, we call it the entrepreneurial mindset. Right. What do you think for you, what are the most critical pieces?

Well, yeah, the dealing with failure. Luckily, I failed at multiple things and I've even failed to the point, as I said, where it put me down to zero. I've luckily, like, I even think my lucky stars that I haven't failed to the point where it actually put me hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, where I raised a whole bunch of money or did something like that and all I did was cost me money and took me to zero as opposed to, you know, the other. I have a lot of respect for people who've dug themselves out, but getting comfortable with that, getting comfortable with letting go. Vinny actually talked. I don't know if we brought this up on our last podcast, but he said this in the past and I really like it. He goes, you got to get comfortable with somebody, with handing the reins over to somebody who is 70% as good as you. So that's really hard to do because, you know, you're good, you've got all this stuff going, and this is your baby, you birthed it, and now you have to hand it over. Ideally, if you ever want freedom to somebody who's going to manage it, and they're only going to be 70%, if you're lucky, as good as you, as dedicated as you, who cares as much as you. And that's one of the reasons they won't be as good as you is because they don't care as much. But in order to do that.

That'S a hard thing to let go. That's really hard for me to outsource. It's hard for me to hire and delegate and do that kind of stuff. Especially it's hard for me If I'm not 100% clear on where we're going, if it's gonna work, the exact actions to get there, because I'm kind of figuring it out on my own and I have to sometimes zoom out and just go, now what am I really doing this for? And what, you know, what this is, where stop playing entrepreneur comes in, is I need to act like one and really organize the vision and the leadership. You know, my leadership around what's gonna Happen and see to it. So I think that's really critical because I think most of the people that. I don't wanna say that most of the people I know, a lot of the people I know, and a lot of people I see who are, quote, Internet marketers, are really just one man. You know, they're just Internet salespeople. And there's a big difference. I'm just Internet salesperson. I'm creating crap so. So I can sell it to people online. And I've figured out the tactics. That's not a true entrepreneur. And I did that for years. And this is one of the areas I've tried to break out of is like, no, I don't just want to be.

Just an Internet salesman. I actually want to build something.

Like, you know, substantial.

Yeah. I love that you bring that up because you and Vinny talked about. So we open up this framework to create something. Right. And then what I think Vinny called backing ourselves into being the person who does every job. And I remember back when I had first met Rich and we were doing some work together, and he put the chart on the board in front of the students we were working with. And it was every road led back to you. Right? You're the manager, you're the secretary. You're everything. And that was when I realized at that time, I was running a different business. And I was like, wow, I own a job. I don't. I'm not an entrepreneur. I own a job. It was a really sad day. I'm stressed, and no wonder. I hate this.

Yeah, it's true. It's a really hard one to deal with, but it's a transition that has to be made, and it's what I'm trying to make right now in my own business.

Yeah. And it's what I said to my family when I kind of turned everything upside down. You can't unring a bell.

Right.

You can't not see it. And I thought, I just. I just can't run the business this way anymore. I'm going to take a leap and jump. And it was one of the scariest things for me. But.

So what do you, given what you're saying, you have had to learn to tolerate and what you want to create? Is that what's next for you? Building this big.

Yeah.

Something.

Yeah.

So is it just a matter of mapping out what the definition details are of what that is?

Yeah, it really is. I've got certain businesses that I'm in, working in or on at the moment. So sometimes there's loose ends I have to tie up. Other times there's things I have to decide am I moving forward with this or not. There's new ventures that I'm in the middle of potentially doing, and it's kind of trying to get my brain around. All right, which ones? Like, I may have to eject some stuff that I really want to eject, but I may have to in order to, you know, get what I really need. And the.

That's. I think that's really kind of what's next. I mean, the thing that I love the most, like in my boardroom, Mastermind, which, if you guys are interested, you can go to the boardroommastermind.com and take a look at it and see if know, you can apply.

But I could tell you just if I could give you a little plug there, because.

It was really amazing to be in that room and to be amongst the minds that were in there. And everyone was just such a giver. I mean, I still keep in touch with some of the guys that were in there.

That's great.

Just good people, successful people, and in such a short time have, you know, everyone giving like that to everybody else's business. It was amazing.

Yeah, it's a. It's an environment I like to create, and I'm good at it. And it does bring together my skills of connection, authentic connection, but also my ability to solve a lot of problems based on my knowledge. So I don't just come with, like, I don't just come to the party with a hammer. And I think that's like, you know, maybe that's my brand. I don't just because, you know, they say the man who's only got a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Like, I don't just have a hammer. I. A lot of stuff. I may not be the best with the tools, but I got all the tools. So the.

That is, you know, creating a more experiential environment for entrepreneurs to connect, share ideas, share thoughts, solve problems. And. Which creates opportunity for me as well, is one of the big directions that, you know that I wish to go as well as sharing my knowledge, the specialized knowledge that I do have with others to inspire them to kind of break out of their own either comfort zone or their own ideas of what's possible for them. And, you know, if the stuff that I say resonates with them, invite them to follow me, which is what I do on this podcast. Follow me. Maybe I can shed some light on what works and what doesn't.

Gotcha. And so as we start to wrap up today and close this. I know we both have a. Have some time commitments. I'm curious that. Well, let's do a fun one. What's one of the craziest? One of the craziest. I want to say dumb, but you called some of your financial downfalls dumb, so I'm worried that you'll talk about that. But one of the craziest things you've ever done in your life.

And you're glad you did it.

So one person's crazy is not necessarily another one, but I'll say some of the most daring things that I've done.

Well. Okay. So when I moved to Orlando after college, I grew up in St. Louis, went to college in Illinois, and right after college, I didn't have a job. And I drove down to visit a buddy of mine in Orlando who worked for Disney, graduated a year before me. And I didn't go home for nine months. Like, I packed my bags for a week and I told my parents, hey, guys, I've been home for a week. I'm gonna go down and visit a buddy. And I called my mom like five days later and I said, hey, I just got a job at Disney. I'm making $5.95 an hour with a graduating, you know, I graduated cum laude with a degree in finance and economics. And that's where obviously my dad was like, wtf?

But I didn't go home for nine months. I slept on the floor for a while and I just said, screw it, I'm going to do it. And I did it. And it was one of the best decisions I ever made. But people are like, how'd you just do that? Like, you didn't have anything going on. You just did it. I was like, yeah, I did it. So it was crazy, but it was one of the best leaps I've ever taken. And then at the same time, when I moved to Dallas, I had a great two and a half year run in Orlando and I had great friends. And at the time I was doing okay. I wasn't still making minimum wage, but was doing better. And then I got a wild hair and I was like, I want to move to Dallas. I've got a friend who lives there. I've never been, but I think I'm gonna move. So I moved, like, within a few months. And then, you know, taking those big leaps have been good. The other two other crazy things that I've done, which was I started reading a book about real estate investing when I was back at that, at my Regular job. And it was literally. I'd heard about people making money with real estate. I googled real estate investing. I think I found. I found this guy named. I think it was Dave. I don't remember his last name. I bought his course. I got like a quarter of the way through it, and I learned what foreclosure means. Then I heard somebody that I knew talking about, she knew somebody who was in foreclosure.

And I was like, cool. I'm now an expert in this. I've read 38 pages of this book. What's his number? She's like, well, he. My husband's something like, he's like, he knew my. My father in law or whatever, and he's 85 years old. I was like, I don't care. Give me his number. She goes, he lives in Switzerland and he's got a really thick accent. And I was like, I don't care. Give me his number. She goes, he owns four houses. Like, they're all in foreclosure. I was like, I don't care. Give me his number. So I got his number and I was using my cell phone at the time, and I was doing. Because I was doing it this at work and that, like 2000, two or three. So I called the guy up and I just started chatting with him and using my best I'm a serious real estate investor voice. And I got. I got the addresses of the places he owned, and I went to the courthouse and I see. Saw how much he owed on them. And then I did a little bit of research to see how much they're worth. They ended up being worth, like he owed like 40 or 50,000 on them. They were each worth like a hundred, 120,000. So now I had already lost all my money in the bank in the stock market, and I was probably 10 to $15,000 in debt at the moment on credit cards. And I called my dad and I put an offer on these, on three houses to buy them at once. And I called my dad up to say, hey, Dad, I just made an offer on three houses that got accepted. I didn't want the fourth. And I have no idea how I'm going to get the loans. Like, I didn't even know. Like, now I know a million other ways to get these things. I was like, I'm gonna apply for traditional financing and I need down payments assistance, and can I borrow like $30,000? Like, I needed a $10,000 down payment for each one. And he did. He gave those to me, and.

I bought Them. And then my dad. This was one of the greatest healing experiences that I'd had is because this was a few years later, but my dad came down to Dallas and we rehabbed the houses together, hired, like, two contractors, and that was it. We did it all ourselves. And that was amazing in three weeks. And then I sold the houses, made about $100,000, $120,000 back. So I was like, yo, I'm back. And then the most recent crazy thing I did about a year and a half ago is I bought $160,000 automobile, my Audi R8, which I love. But the reason I bought it was a little bit crazy because although I can afford it, I would never buy that car just for.

Just for giggles. Like, it's. It's not going to get me another girl. I've already got a girl, right. So is it going to get me paid as a professional? Maybe. But I was talking to a buddy of mine, and he. He said that he owns some exotic cars up in la and he happened to supplement the payments on him by renting them out on consignment through a rental agency. And he was basically paying for the cars. And I was like, that's amazing. I gotta look into this. So I called up the local exotic car rental agency, and I said, hey, what do you. I'm a. I'm thinking about. I'm a car collector. And I'm not. I'm thinking about buying a new car or two. What do you guys really need right now? What's in demand on your lot? And he goes, oh, we need a Lamborghini. We need an Audi R8. It's. And I said, great. So if I. If I buy this, do you have a consignment program? And they said, yes, we'll pay you 50% of what we'll rent it out for. So great. What do you think you could rent it out for? And they said, thousand a day. So I did the math and I was like, cool. I was just fishing. I didn't even know I was gonna do it at the time. I was just like, hey, he gave me a good idea. I'm just gonna go hunt this rabbit and see what the company says. And the next thing I know, like, I was kind of just, like, screwing around. And I was looking and I found a great price on this R8, and I bought it. Like, I. Literally within a month of having this conversation, I bought a really expensive car. And on the hopes, like, I could have afforded it without doing this, but it would be stupid. I Can use the money for a million other things and. But I did this really just because I wanted to hack or cheat the exotic car owner market. Because now when I, you know, I actually get more fun out of telling people that I literally don't pay for my car. My car pays for itself. And I've got like a five day rental coming up here in a couple weeks that'll pay for two months of my auto payment. My car payment, right. So I have more fun because I broke the rules. The rules are you're supposed to work hard and save and, you know, make all this money and then spend it wisely on your car only when you can afford it. And I'm like, hell no. Like, I own this car. Nanny, nanny, boo boo, and I don't pay for it. So that was crazy though, like, because literally, if there was no. If there was no demand for it, if this didn't work out as well as it could have, I would have been sitting there with an expensive car that I didn't really, really need and I'd be like, this sucks. But it turns out to be so a year and a half in. So far, so good. As I said, I have not dipped into my savings account for a single car payment. And I drive my dream car.

So that's great. That's fun.

That's the first time I've told this story publicly, by the way.

So that's a great story.

Yeah, I like to let everybody. So anybody watching this far into the episode now knows my car, right? But you now know something about me that others do. So others think that I'm just worth a billion dollars and I drive the supercar that Tony Stark drove in Ironman, but in fact, I just used some of my own business acumen to take a. Take a leap, do something a little bit crazy. And it could have absolutely fallen apart.

I respected you before, but I think your respect meter just went way up. That's smart. That's just smart. I love it. I love it. So how do you measure success?

That's been really hard for me because it's hard for me to measure it by monetary.

It's not about stuff.

It's not about stuff I do well. To me, success is do I have enough money coming in relatively easy, like relatively automated, passively, I would say, to take care of my monthly expenses and my monthly nut. And if I do.

Am I working on something that I'm fully engaged in that has the ability to not only produce wealth but also produce fulfillment and enjoyment and actually enjoy doing it. And do I live in a place, Am I surrounded with. In a place I love, with people I love, doing things I love and being happy about the accomplishments I'm making. That's, I think, how I define success.

So he's underneath what you just said, a deep level of fulfillment.

Yeah. Yeah.

Well, I look forward to our journey to seeing what you create from here because it's always fun learning more about you. Thank you for letting me take over your show today and interview you.

By all means.

And it's been. It's been great. So I look forward to.

It has been great. And it wasn't nearly as.

Wasn't hard, was it?

No, it wasn't hard. It was fun. And just to address anybody who has stuck with us for this whole time, thank you for joining me and allowing me to have the tables flipped on me with Dr. Emery. And a couple quick things, so don't tune out yet. A Dr. Emery is amazing, as you can see. Like the questions she asks. These are softballs compared to what we do and the exercises she has me do. But she's finally been able to crack open my brain and my thoughts on a lot of things that have been really hard for me and I've struggled with for 41 years. So if there's any part of you that is stuck or struggling or feels as though you're not living up to your potential or you've got a bunch of shit in your life that is running you and you don't feel like you're running your life, I encourage you to go to buildyourlifebydesign.com or if you have another way you'd like people to get a hold of you, feel free to say that or actually email me. This is even better. Email me@askbradakenratbusiness.com and tell me, Brad, Dr. Emery is the bomb.com and I want to, I want to explore if any of her programs, whether it's the in person coaching, the group coaching, the online programs that she has, she has a lot of resources are right for you. And I will make that introduction personally to you and potentially see if you guys can work together. She's been amazing for me. I think you can kind of see the way we interact and the way that the things go. So you'd be doing yourself a great service to seek out her guidance if you're ready. She's not right for everybody. You actually have to be brave enough to be willing to face your own shit. Right? The other thing I want you to do so now you know a lot about me and what kind of makes me tick. And I've been a little bit more open than I have ever before. On one of the last episodes that I did with Lo Silva, you may have heard me announce this, but I want to know more about you. It's very common for marketers, entrepreneurs, et cetera, who are building their newsletters to ask you to subscribe to a newsletter. And I want to change that up a little bit because I had this idea of it. I am a connector and I have a lot of, I have a lot of needs as an entrepreneur as well. But I talk to people all the time who have these other needs and I thought, well, instead of just asking you to subscribe to my newsletter, why don't I ask you to tell me a little bit something about you? So if you go to baconratbusiness.com whoare you I'm going to give you the opportunity to fill out about a five question.

Survey. And that survey will not only tell me who you are, what you do for a living, do you work with clients? I ask you, what are you great at? What kind of people are you looking to meet? Because I want to build a database. I want to increase my golden Rolodex of people like yourself. Because when Dr. Emery is on and I say, hey, Dr. Emory, who are you looking to meet? What to nut you're trying to crack? And she says, I really need a good.

Copywriter, graphic designer, etc. Well, I, yes, I know a lot of these people, but there's, there's a lot of gaps of people that I don't know and not everybody's right. I'm trying to build my Rolodex so this is a way you can actually get more business for yourself. In return, I'll also allow you to subscribe to my handy dandy newsletter, Bacon Wrapped Business, where I share a lot of things that I don't share on the podcast and there's a lot of benefits to being on it. Plus you won't miss an episode. But I will read every single one of these and if the situation is right, if you're right, I am more than happy to either reach out to you and hire you myself or potentially introduce you to one of my guests, friends, etc. So it's a great opportunity for you. If you go to baconratbusiness.com whoare you. In the meantime, I appreciate your time on this. If you're not subscribing on YouTube or iTunes, click that little subscribe button so you don't miss an episode and leave me a review. I love reviews. They help the show, you know, climb up the rankings and that's how we grow. But more importantly than that, if you don't leave a review, if you don't do this, share this with your friends, talk about this show, tell them it's your favorite show, share it on social media, tag me in it, let me know you're doing it, reach out, ask me questions and maybe there's a chance we can work together. I do work with clients. The only way you'll know is to send me your biggest challenge and what I might be able to help you with to ask bradakenratbusiness.com Till next time, Dr. Emery, thank you very much for flipping the tables on me and wrapping me up in bacon.

My pleasure.

Alrighty. Have a great day. Thanks, guys.

Take care. You too.