256: Transform Yourself Into A Millionaire with Michelle Plucinsky and James Curran - #GrowYourLife
Michelle Plucinsky, a glass artist and online entertainer, and James Curran, a funnel expert, talk about overcoming fears to build businesses. They discuss why taking action despite fear matters more than waiting until you feel ready, and how coaching and community support accelerate growth.
Hey, everyone, thanks for listening to the Grow youw Life podcast. My name is Jeremiah Krakowski, and for those of you who I haven't met yet, this podcast is all about how to grow in your business. Whether you are a coach, mentor, trainer, you got content online that you're trying to monetize. We help you build recurring revenue so that you don't have to operate in fight or flight and you don't have to struggle, but you can actually live a life that you love that makes you just feel alive every single day. Now, today I got a very special treat for you. I got two people that I'm going to pull up here. One is a lady that I've worked with for a little while. Her name is Michelle Placinski. I. I mess her name up all the time. I think I messed it up even right there. I'm gonna. I'm gonna bring her up as well as James Curran, and I'm going to talk about what they do, and we're going to talk together. So, Michelle and James, how are y' all doing today? Welcome up again.
Michelle, you said it just fine, please.
Okay, cool. Awesome. So, Michelle, tell us a little bit, just like real quick, what you do and how. How you help people and. And just what. What lights. What lights you on fire?
Okay, so I am classically trained as a glass artist. So I am an artist. I'd say I am more craftsman than fine art. I produce functional glassware for your home, but it's very decorative and beautiful as well. Very much a joy to have. And we teach classes. We also started an online show. So I service a community by bringing them entertainment through the arts. And it's super fun and engaging. Because of the platforms that we work on, people can type in questions. So we're like, hey, you can put yourself on tv, but talk to the TV and ask us questions. Because our medium is so unique and individual that there are so many things they want to know about. They just. Just don't know what to ask until they watch a couple times.
Very cool. That's awesome. And what's your. What's your, I guess, website, too, where people might be able to, like, find.
You or glass, as in window glass. Glass academy.com.
Glassacademy.Com. All right, awesome. Glassacademy.com. let me pull this up here real quick. And James kind of dovetails right into that is how have you worked with Michelle and. And then what do you do? I know from. From my perspective, you're like the. The go to guru of the gurus when it comes to funnels with your linchpin funnel company. And I, I've seen all this, like, the stuff that you've been doing with Russell Brunson and Dan Kennedy, and it's like, oh, my God, it's amazing. Tell us a little bit about, like, what's going on in your world right now, as well as how you've worked with Michelle and how you love helping people.
Yeah, thanks for having me, brother. It's been, it's been great to, to see you online as well and interact and to actually to meet you in person.
Y.
My. My sort of epiphany story in, in. In the 60 second stretch is I was a. A software developer for over 20 years. My wife was a coach with Tony Robbins for about four years. She wanted to go on her own. I said, I've got you. I'll make you a website. I made her a WordPress site. It sucked. It didn't sell anything. Knew nothing about marketing and sales and had to get good fast. So went through a couple different venues. Just ended up with in Russell Brunson's world and really appreciated the clarity with which he spoke.
Yeah.
Got into his world by being in his training program and mastermind and. And just from that point was all in. So every event that I could go to, every thing I could buy, just 100% in full investment, which got me to Funnel Hacking Live 2022. And Michelle was at Funnel Hacking Live 2022. And afterwards she was in the Facebook group for that event saying, like, I'm all in. I'm gonna do this. Who's gonna help me? I will.
Nice.
I had had, like, no other customers except for my wife prior to that.
Oh, that's. That's awesome. Okay. I love that part. I didn't know and I think that that is so cool that, like, that we're here together. So.
Yeah, absolutely. I. I've delivered a lot of value and a lot of results on the web as a web developer. So I'm, I'm fully confident in all the technical aspects of anything that I do. And the marketing stuff I had been doing for about a year with my wife together and was like, definitely leveling up in the area. But I'm like, I had an epiphany at fhl like, oh, I can do this for other people. And then, you know, God, universe, whomever put Michelle in front of me and I said, I will help you. And we've done full funnels ever since then and experimented along the way and had a Lot of fun.
Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. So let me. I just want to kind of pull up here. One of the, like, the. The most recent funnel that you. That you and Michelle worked on. Where do I find that online? Because I don't think that's@glassacademy.com. where's. Where's that one? Do you have a link to it, Michelle, or where.
Yeah, we could do our membership one if you gave me a second.
Yeah, just a landing page or something just to kind of see what that looks like.
Yeah. So this is. So Russell talks about continuity. So let's see. All right, give that a go.
Awesome. Let me. Yeah, let me pull this up and then I'll kind of bring.
And I did some funnels together, and they were for products, so we. We have some big shows throughout the year. So we did some product funnels. And he's like, you know, I really kind of want to go to the coaching space. And then he talked about continuity. I mean, James pulled all these in. He did it.
This is so cool. Yeah, I love this. There was a TV show I was watching with my wife that, like, on this topic, and I was just, like, drawn into it as well. I've always thought it's such an interesting niche and market. This is awesome. So Michelle, you and I, we. We've been working together for the last, I think, year, year and a half as far as in my coaching group in the client growth accelerator program. And then you. You knew. You. You knew me through my mom before then, right?
Yeah, I was in your mom's business program.
Okay, cool. Awesome. And so, like, what were some of the main things I think that you learned through this whole process in the last two years? Like, if you could summarize the last two years of, like, okay, Michelle prior to 2022. Right. And then. And then Michelle after 2022. What were some of those, like, you know, like. Like one or two things that really stand out to you?
Yeah, I would say so. I did some coaching in 2020 for two years, and she was someone under Russell Brunson. But what I didn't like was she had a cookie cutter approach, and I wasn't feeling it. I wasn't ready. And so your course, to me is amazing because it gives me, like, the tech link that I need where you offer suggestions like how to work AI, how to do these different things. I have it all in my head now. It's. James is like, pulling it out of me. But I have the confidence in your program to have the security Net, I need, like, I've talked to you. Hey, Restream shut down and we went to Switcher. How do I do this? You know, I don't pause or hesitate to have coaches or mentors in what I want to learn. So I'm growing a YouTube. Our YouTube channel is where I really want to grow because I think we offer our best with entertainment. I mean, if I can break up your day and have you watch something fun and goofy that's not political or any heavy subject matter and get you to chill out, it's amazing.
Yeah.
And so now we have a worldwide following versus just our business. So I went from making widgets to kind of entertaining, which I absolutely love.
Which is really cool, because my business, I am pivoting, adding more entertainers and things like that. And I'm like, I can see the horizon over even the next five years of that coming into how to monetize entertainment in my business beyond just coaches, just beyond just education, but rather like. And the way I love education is education that is captivating, that is exciting, that is fun, that we love to engage with. And that's what I try to do here with this podcast. James, let me ask you this, since you. Because you mentioned 2022 sounds like a real milestone moment for all three of us. For me, I launched my coaching program, the accelerator program that I have, in 2022. And it was a big transition moment for me where I had taken a client from basically zero up to over $10 million a year. And I was working almost full time with him. My wife was running his company. His name was Rick Pino. And then I was like, okay, I need to pivot into creating my own coaching program. I've been in the industry for over 19 years. Okay, I need to finally, like, monetize all this stuff that's up here and do something. That's how I met Michelle. You had this thing funnel hacking live. You had been doing the web development. You had your wife as the. As the coach, which is also interesting. I always did all the web for a lot of my clients up until 2019, when I actually said, you know what? I'm not doing web anymore. I said, I'm not going to like, literally be the web guy anymore. I'm going to stop doing that because that's not my. I can do it, but it's not my strong suit. My strong suit is actually communication, ideas, and storytelling. And so because of. Because of that, I want to hear from you, James, kind of what that journey where it's taken you in the last two years here we're coming up on. It was probably what, two years since then? Four years.
Yeah.
About.
About a year and a half.
Yeah. But yeah, I love that time pocket too. 18 months for me. A lot can happen and yet it's so quick.
It goes by quickly for sure. There have been a lot of unlocks for me personally. One is just the value of investment in self.
Yes.
I spend $30,000 a year to be in the coaching program that I'm in.
Yeah.
Let me tell you, the previous version of me would crap his pants if you knew that that was going to be a reality.
Right.
I was super just scared, like scarcity oriented with, with money. It's been this huge level up to be able to, to. Well, I mean I had a very concrete, tangible moment where I was in Russell's world. I had the books.
Yeah.
Which I bought individually. I didn't buy the box set because I was too cheap.
Secrets. I tell everybody, like they need to read that if they're in my world, you know. I think it's one of my favorites.
It's a must for sure. And the others, you got to at least know about them.
Yeah, exactly.
But. So there was like this, this online event where they called it the two comma Club Live or something. And it was basically like some new stuff with some older FHL videos. It was this virtual event that was there to sell the 2 comma club coaching program.
Right.
And I didn't know that because I was still new to this though. I'm like this three days. Okay.
It's 200 bucks, right? Yeah. But now you're like, oh, it's so obvious now.
It's a different game. But, but I was, I was there at the, at the crossroads where it's like, okay, I see that those people know what they're doing. I can figure this out by myself. I am a, I'm a smart dude. Just like straight up, I am. I can figure out a lot of stuff.
Right.
How long will it take me? How much suffering, how much more will my savings account have to be drained in order for me to figure it the frick out and actually make something happen. Right. So instead of just like going the slow burn, I went all in, did the fast burn and that. Going all in, figuring it out, finding out what I'm freaking made of, breaking down and like attempting to go back to safety. Like I really had thoughts like going back to my previous jobs and being like, can, can I do some contracting work with you? But then didn't you, like, oh, yeah, all of that, dude, like, everything. Yeah, it's been a total, like, spiritual journey ever since then. And now I'm at the place where, you know, I'm increasing the value that I provide and looking serve higher, higher value clients at a higher level with bigger scopes. So I have a new, like, growth opportunity in front of me, which. But, like, I'm cool with it. I'm not freaking out.
Like, I was so cool and you're not. I can tell you're not pulled in by, like, the money. And like, it's like, oh, there's all this money that I need to make. And that's one of the things I love to surround myself with, is people that are. Here's the thing, I'm very money motivated when it comes to, like, okay, is this a. Is there's gonna be a return on my investment? Is it worth my time? Right? But, like, you couldn't pay me enough to do things I don't want to do. And I think that, like, having that. That opinion and I've, like, I've sat there and done like a thought experiment, like, okay, how much money would you need to pay me to do something that I refuse to do? And it starts going into the multiple billions and I'm just like, yeah, nobody's gonna pay me that anyway, so. So it's like, it's like knowing that you're at that place of abundance and then taking action on the things that maybe you've been fearful of or the, the familiar behaviors that we're used to doing. There's a lady. I literally just started her book recently. She was the head of culture at Tick Tock, and she was a consultant for Facebook. Her name is Mikel, not Michelle. Mikel Oshman. And I started reading her book. What would you do if you weren't afraid? Now, I've only gotten about halfway through it, but what I loved about it was the first intro spoke to my soul so much because she was like, I spent years in therapy, and this is all the lessons that they couldn't help me with because I solved a lot of the stuff. But the pro and. And eventually, four chapters in, she's like, you just have to do it. Scared you do. You just have to do the stuff that you're terrified of, even when you're scared to do it. And you got to, like, learn how to get tools to regulate the emotions so that you're not stopped by the fear as far as it goes. And I'll just tell you a Lot of people who listen to this podcast, they know my story, my background, things like that. I've just had crippling fear at every level of my business. The reason why I tell people this, the reason why I've been In the industry 21 years, lot of success, but not for myself as much until the last two years, because I was always helping other people because I was too afraid and didn't think I was worthy of my own success. I always. I, like, I helped Multiple people make 10, 20 million dollars a year. And. And. And yet I never really took those strategies and applied them for myself. The most money I ever made was a quarter million dollars a year. Now, I could consistently make a quarter million dollars a year and in my sleep, but it was like I was terrified to do the stuff, to go beyond that as far as that goes. And so what are some of the lessons that. Michelle, I want to ask you this, that you have found when it comes to doing the stuff, when you're afraid to do it, or maybe it's not even fear. Sometimes fear manifests in very different words. Fear can manifest as wisdom. Sometimes the word. I find some people, they're like, well, it's wise to not do this. And I'm like, nope, you're actually afraid is what it is. You're not actually wise. You're using wisdom as a crutch for your fear. Because it looks really good and noble to say, oh, it's wisdom for me to go back to the old clients. Right. Because in some people's minds, financially, that would be wise. But. But we're choosing to live a different life. We're choosing to live a life that is different than what most people are willing to live. And so in. In our world, it's not wise to go backwards to where we've come from. Right. And so, Michelle, what are some of those lessons that maybe you've learned about taking action and. As well as the accountability with that?
So taking action, same. I'm going to. I wrote down your comment. Go back to safety. And it's like, oh, my God, you did it. Like, your thoughts were so quick. I was like, eight years into our business, and I'm like, I can't do this anymore. Like, this is too stressful.
Yeah.
I'm an artist, you know. So first off, you come out of the gate with starving artists on your head. I worked at a historical museum, the Henry Ford, which is like this famous museum in Michigan.
Oh, my gosh, my childhood memories there.
I know Jeremiah's from Michigan.
One of My favorite places in the world was there.
I mean, Henry Ford, whatever people say about him, he was beyond his years. I mean, it's fascinating. He would take buildings and transport them. And when I worked there, you could go up in the library and look at any book. So I mean, I wanted to be a history major. What do you do with that? And so I moved out of the house at 17, went to college, worked a full time job, was humping it and then was just like, at what point do you settle in? So I look at my gifts and talents. I loved history, so I got a job there. There was an opening in the glass shop. And so this is that.
Were you there in the 90s? Yeah, my family was there at watching the glass shop in the 90s at Henry Ford. My mom and I. Yeah, I left in all of that. So we probably crossed paths a few times.
That's so funny. I mean, it's an amazing place and if you look where you're inspired, you know, what were the chances? There was an opening. I started it. There were six of us. I, I was the one who really understood the medium. Maybe I'm good at this, you know, full time job eventually, all the things you want in security. How many glassblowers do you guys know, like to get a full time job in a museum as a glassblower with full benefits. You do that. And then what did I do? I went self employed. Right. So my husband was an entrepreneur. I was having babies, I homeschooled the kids. I would work at night when they went to sleep. Like we built this business and throughout it, I intuitively had to say over and over, where is my strength and trust my process and trust me. And that will ebb and flow and dip throughout your life. And you know, we landed now at this place where I met James at funnel hacking. And I realized this is bigger than what I can do and I need to bring people in. I mean, that's so out of my comfort zone. I love talking to people, but at heart I'm an introvert. I need to sit down and do the work. I write the copy, I, I can drive the ship, but I don't want to manage a huge team. So it's like, how do you find this balance of your intrinsic talents and then work with people to bring them out?
That's awesome. Let me ask you this, Michelle. In the last two years, what are some of the things like again prior to 2022 and then like today, lessons of things that you're like, okay, I didn't realize I had this fear, worry, or block. I guess we'd call it blocks even. Right. Things that were blocking you from where you're at today. That could be even like one lesson that you could pass on to people that are listening to this podcast. Because I think that's really going to be some of the value that we can provide to them.
I got the best one because I just learned this yesterday. It was talking about beliefs and it was saying, like, when you have a belief, this pen will write my full notebook. Like, it can write that it's got that much ink. Like, you look at your beliefs. Is that true? Yeah, I could probably write a whole notebook. Could it write 10 notebooks? Probably not. So you look at your beliefs as they come up and you see if they're real. Now Russell just is doing the same where he's posting every day and he's putting these challenges. He has a book club, he has all these things. And I'm blending all those conversations together. Being around, like minded people, I like, totally resonate with what he's saying. And one of them was a money challenge. And you had to write down your husband's beliefs, your spouse's beliefs, your money beliefs as a child. And once you wrote that down, it took it to another level and I recognized. I'm like, oh, my God. Like, I took that belief on because I wasn't an entrepreneur, but my husband was. So the belief is anyone you do business with is like a crook or like, they're gonna steal money from you or like, you gotta. He had very hard beliefs that were not my own. And so the really cool thing from 2020 is my guiding the company I choose. And James is a great example. I choose to work from a place of love. Like, I want to give value and serve. James, how can I help you? Like, I comment on his Facebook page. I make sure I'm active in his community. I try to boost him up so that people know he exists.
Yeah.
And I think those are the things. Those are the beliefs and the challenges that we can look at them. Just because I believed in yesterday, today's a new day and I can change that belief with my own thought process.
That's awesome. What about you, James, as far as just like blocks that maybe in the last two years, three years that have, like, been moved for you, like mountains and stuff, I feel like we always, we don't know there's a mountain there and then it's like, oh, this is it. And then you move it and it's like there's the gold mine because you moved it. And there's a gold mine underneath the mountain that you didn't know was there. What, what were those for you?
Well, through this process of needing to add more value to the world, I have had a continual process of removing actions and behaviors and thoughts that inhibit progress.
Yes. Very good.
I used to play a lot of video games. Don't anymore. Yeah, I used to watch a lot of movies. I don't anymore. Yeah, I used to drink a beer or two on most nights. Yeah, I don't anymore. I used to do so I, so and that's like the preamble. So all of those things were minor escapes from my own lack of belief, my own negative assessment of status and, and deservability. And I had one that was still remaining, which was work. I would often have a trigger or an experience that would just be like, okay, I need to just, if I go work right now, I will be perceived by my family and elders around me as valuable, which gave me a stability and certainty.
Yeah.
Yeah. So the major one that I am, I've had the like revelation and am slowly fixing by bringing on contractors and bringing on other ways to delegate and outsource and remove myself from the kind of like day to day doing.
Yeah.
So that I can serve and grow the company, but also so that I don't have that as another hiding place.
Oh yeah, that's good. I love that. I love that. I think that's really good. Like where are the places that we go to hide and escape? And I teach this often for people that to really come out in your fullest self. I, I, There's a book that I love about the value of play and that can look different for everybody. And what it is, is it's like it's unstructured time where you just sort of let your childlike essence come through and you're not focused on okay, I gotta grind and work and do this and do all this. So like what's, what's so interesting is, is that looks different for everybody. I'm finding it looks way different for me like than 99 of the business owners that I'm, that I meet. But it uniquely works for me, which is really cool. And one of the number one lessons that I always point to as. It's funny, I was telling my mom one day I need to write a book called Rich Mom, Poor dad because I had a broke minded dad who worked in corporate America. He adopted me and honestly was not a role model. A man that I can look up to somebody that. And he and my mom divorced nine years ago. I saw him two years ago. It was. I shook his hand. And that was like the only interaction we had was that because his. He. He operates in this just victim mentality constantly, as far as that goes. And. And I know why that is. I. I've really made peace with where that comes from, because it's the only thing that he knows how to do. And then my mom built these businesses that were millions and millions and millions of dollars, and she had all these lessons that she imparted into me. One of them was always this is that she could grind it out like anybody else, like nobody's business. And I remember seeing her working 90 to 100 hours a week when I was 12, 13 years old. What was interesting was I respected that a lot in her. My younger brothers weren't too. They were. They were more needy, needing her more as a mom. But I respected that hustle in her at that age. And I was like, oh, wow, wait, that's what it takes to provide for a family working 90 to 100 hours a week. And that was ingrained in me until a couple years ago. And now, like, today, I only work maybe 10 to 15 hours a week in my business, and I'm working to even pull back more to where we're only working. I'm only working five to ten hours a week in my business as far as that goes. And then the rest of the time, what am I doing with that? Whatever the heck I want to do. That could. That could look like hanging out with my wife and son. That also could look like watching a movie, playing video games, if that's what I want to do in that moment, to spur on creativity. And that's one of the things I teach people, too, is you can use entertainment as a tool to activate creative parts of your brain and then kind of flow into that. So it's not an escape, but it's like a flip where it's like. It's more of a creative outlet. From there, though, my mom always taught me was this lesson, shrink everything down to the lowest common denominator of where you're not working or grinding, and you can get the same amount done with as few working hours as possible. And. And I joke of it as, like, some people would see that as laziness, because the way that she would do it is literally, she would do this. And what would she do it the rest of the time? She would watch Netflix the rest of the time? My mom would do this. She would just sit there and watch Netflix and, and it actually got to the point where her body forced her on bed rest. She almost died. She had 14 autoimmune diseases. She was on bed rest. And she literally worked herself out of this chrysalis of dying, my mother did, and rebirthing herself into a brand new person. Michelle has seen that whole process, as far as that goes, and becoming like the grandmother that she was born to be, becoming the mother that, like, I always knew she could be as a kid. Like, I always saw her potential as a mom as a kid and had these rosy colored glasses. But like in the last two, three years, she's really stepped into that. And the lessons for me were always, I, I always saw that happen when she would pull back and work less, when she would not chase the money, where she would not chase the. What is it? It's really, it's, it's the addictive dopamine hit that happens from achievement, from doing something, from accomplishing something, from feeling like I'm enough and finding our worthiness in what we do as far as that goes. And, and, and I'll tell you, I'm in the process right now of finding that for myself. You know, I feel like, James, like, I'd love to even just like learn more of that from you as far as that goes. And Michelle, just how, how you've been able to have confidence to take action in things that you didn't know what the outcome was. For me, I'm, I'm the biggest hypocrite in this one, by the way, because I preach a message of taking action all the time. And I'm finally like, admitting to the fact of my own hypocrisy in this because quite frankly, I, I, I think it's important to do so. I preach a message of going after your dreams, not worrying about what the outcome is. And yet most of my actions I take every day are calculated. I have certainty in I know what the outcome is. And very rarely do I take an action that I don't think I know what it's going to be until recently where I'm like, you know what? Like, God, I need you to show me what the next step is, because I don't know what it is. I don't know what the next thing to do is.
Love this. That's why we're talking right now. Let me see. Okay. I do a coach, and right before our call, it's a horrible drawing and a nervous, A horrible drawing. But here's me, the Human not knowing. Oh, my God. James, speak at hfl. All right, here's me, the human. I want to do these things. I want to speak at hfl. My higher source, whether that's God or whatever it is, cannot. Can direct me. I'm a human. I don't know. I am on this earth experiencing living life. But if I trust and allow. Here's to my coach. Allow. No joke. Like, if I allow the process to happen and unfold and I don't push it. If I just trust, where do I get that knowing from? You guys play video games, but you'll never catch me on one. But I like to be in the. In the dirt. So my. I volunteer in a flower farm. I just changed up my whole front yard so I can get my hands in the dirt. And then now I'm documenting that process so I can show others. Like, I don't know how to do this. I. I have no idea. But I'm just going to start. And like, James, you post every day, all right? That's what I learned last year at Funnel hacking. Post every day. So now I'm, like, out there with my Instagram. Jeremiah, I asked you what selfie stick to buy. I'm like, how do I do this? And I mean, honestly, you guys, like, if I can do it, I'm not like, 20. I didn't grow up with this crap. Like, this is so out of my wheelhouse. But I'm like, okay, I have value and it's not doing any good in my brain. I need to share this value. How do I get this out there? And I'm relying on you guys and being vulnerable here, being like, help. Like, if I need help. And you just gotta start. I mean, you just gotta figure it out and walk the path. This brings me joy. I'm going here. I want to eat a cookie. This brings me joy. That is, like, where it.
I love that. For me, I've found that, like, gardening is a great way to. It's a great outlet as far as that goes for you and for. I know my mom loves gardening and stuff like that. It's funny. Been studying a lot of the top video games right now on the mobile app store are farming and gardening games. So it's almost like this idea of, like, people want to grow something that whether it's virtual or it's in the real world, we have this, like, consciousness in the world where we want to grow something, whether it be families, communities are. And oftentimes it's not growing ourself. But how can we impact those around us?
You know, when. If you look at, like, millennials, I don't know what the right term is, but some of them aren't having children, but they have a shitload of plants. And why do they.
Right, and dogs and cats and all. Exactly. It's the same spirit, I would say. An energy. It's the same energy, exactly.
I mean, a new leaf is unfurling, and you're just like, oh, my God, look at this beauty. Like, you had nothing to do with it. You just allowed it to happen. And you got to explain, experience it. And I think when we see that, it helps us understand. I'm blossoming too. Today. I'm a new leaf. I can go forward with this. It's okay.
That's awesome. James, I got a question for you. This might be out of left field, but I think you can answer it beautifully for everybody. What are some of your ways that you have found? And I'm asking you this because a lot of people that I have met who are from their web development, they're traditionally a software developer world. They don't know how to tap into that intuition and hearing that inner voice. And it's almost like I've tried to explain it, and they're like, nope, it's not for me. It doesn't even exist in my world. And I'm like, I get that. But, like, I know people that have been able to do that. What are some strategies for you to be able to hear that inner voice for you?
Okay, well, the, the truth is that I was that guy. I didn't think I had an inner voice. Well, the, the, the real answer is, I don't know if you guys are familiar with the term complex post traumatic stress disorder. Cpt.
Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
Cool.
I never liked you.
So, like, a lot of, A lot of, like, suppression of, of voice and a lot of, like, whatever the thing is, is wrong. So I kind of, like, sought others and would seek to get approval from others. A lot of, like, external validation on a lot of that stuff. That was my world for a long time, super vulnerably. Like, I had a moment with my wife where we were not good at all. And, like, we were kind of on the edge. And I just got to the point where, like, I cannot do this anymore. And, and prior to this, I, if you would ask me, I'd say I was an atheist, no spiritual connection. And I just said, like, God, I give up. Like, I can't do this anymore. I, I, you, Like, I have to, I have to whatever you say. And that's when everything switched for me. That's when I started just going with it. That's when I started just like, exposing my, like, instead of this, I was doing this and wherever. Wherever it takes me, wherever it leads me. And I'm doing that now. So I had. I don't have any strategies, I don't have any tips and tricks. I don't have any. Anything other than, you know, for me, what worked was just keep going, being as. And I, I value how driven I was. I value like the, the consistency and the persistence and the ability to. To take something. Like I was dragging so much freaking weight throughout the entire span. Right. That's. That's laudable. Right? And dropping all that so I can go faster and go higher. Yeah, it's just a brilliant, brilliant.
The surrender.
Yeah.
Aspect is a big part of it.
And you guys gotta do some AI generated. I wanted to do a picture of baggage and dropping that. Right. We need that, like, on our Facebook pages. Dropping that baggage and just allowing it to come through.
Yeah. Letting go. And that's something that I, that I really. I. I teach often, but I find people don't. Don't resonate with. It's funny, my spiritual background. I grew up in this super crazy, hyper controlling, cultic Christian church that quite frankly, I should not believe in God because they were insane and like, just like abusive nuts. People that, like, are deeply concerning, that I, like, grew up around. I'd say that I was raised by wolves because these were just like devouring people, exploiting people for money, using religion, all of that. And now here I am, like, teaching, coaching, and all this from this crazy background that I grew up in. And yet I still believe in God, but it's not like the way that I grew up in. I literally had to unlearn everything that I knew about God, which was like, not even true. It was this, like, it was this fabrication that they invented in church to be able to control people. And I was just like, okay, like, that's not actually how God really is. And then learning how to come in touch with my inner self and then that connection to the divine. The connection and the way I say it is like the universe, God, all of that together are interconnected. So much so that it's like I find sometimes when we separate the two, oh, it's the universe or God? I'm like, it's both, you know, and so for me, it's just like, what am I feeling in this moment when I'm the most Calm when I'm the most, peaceful when I'm not vibrating and feeling anxious. And that take. That takes a while to get there. I think for a lot of people, it's not an overnight thing. For me, it was learning to love myself the way that the people that I looked up to loved me. And it was like the people that made me feel the most safe. There was a. There was a man that I. I had worked for him and his wife for years, Danny and Hans Johnson. But he had a masculine presence that I just respected so much. And it was like, how would I hug myself if I was the energy that I always felt from him of protection and safety and wrapping myself in my own protection and safety, as far as that goes. And that, like, unlocks something in me where I felt like my personality had been held dormant and captive in a prison. Prison for, like, 15 years. And a lot of people don't know this about my story. I don't talk about it that lightly. But I was. I was facing seriously life in prison for. For a while. I. I had made a mistake on social media. I had said something that you should never post on social media that I didn't know violated the Patriot Act. I didn't know that you can't post even joking a threat against a president. I didn't know that. I thought it was, like, free speech. And they're like, nope, it's not. We're gonna arrest you. And by the way, you're facing life in prison for this. And I was like, crap. I was like. I was drunk one night, and, like, that was my whole. That was my whole legal defense. I was drunk, wasted out of my mind. And they were like, okay. They investigated and they found out. They're like, jeremiah is, like, a very good, upstanding person. And. But I was like, okay, I'm actually thankful that we have a system that investigated this and took this seriously, too, as far as that goes. But I was terrified. And then that fear, all of that, that was 15 years ago, locked me up into this. Like, I was so afraid to make any mistakes with what I say. And then the skill set that came out of that was sales, copywriting, and being able to communicate on podcasts and to be able to communicate with. With content and to teach people. But I was so afraid to say the wrong thing at the wrong moment in time. I mean, there are. There are people who I've lost business with when they found out my past 15 years ago and the mistake that I made. And there's, like, I literally can't associate with you. Like, I, I literally. They're like, I need you to delete that recording that we just did because my name can't be next to you because of the connections that I found out. They were like doing stuff with the government and all that. Now one of my closest friends, he. It does stuff with presidents and politicians all the time and he's like, not concerned about it. So I'm like, it just some people are part of your tribe and others are not. And not everybody's supposed to go with you long term into things. And I think that's one of the things is learning to let go. That's where I'm trying to like, land this plane. Is learning to let go of what we thought, how things should be in our lives. Right. We have this vision of like, oh, it should be this way. It should be this way for, you know, for me. I should be wealthier than I am today. And I could sit there and beat myself up for hours and hours and hours and upset that I don't have more zeros in my bank account today.
Yeah. But I'm going to interrupt you because you are extremely wealthy.
Exactly.
You know what I mean? We need, need to stop looking at, well, I know dollars in the bank. I know great health, a vibrant community. You are extremely wealthy.
Exactly. And the time freedom that I have too, literally, I don't do anything that I don't want to do. At any moment in time. I can say that like, I just choose what I do every moment in time. My mom was adding it up. She was like, if she knew what she knew today when she started in business, her net worth would be between 250 and $500 million. But it's not because she gave it all away to these churches. She gave it all away to all these, these people. And she never invested a dime of it until like two years ago. My mom never invested.
That was. If she didn't do that, she wouldn't be where she is now.
I know.
Trust that the past.
And so where I'm saying is, is that I'm, I'm landing this to. We got to let go of the should dos.
Yeah.
And the past stories of, gosh, I made this mistake 15 years ago. I made this mistake 10 years ago. I made this mistake two years ago. I wanna, I wanna, I want to say this. I'm. I'm almost getting like a word for some people right now. You might have joined a coaching program two years ago with a coach that led you down a path that lost you a ton of money. And now you're hearing this right now and you're like, okay, if I had found James two years ago, I would be a millionaire today. If I had met Michelle, I would be a completely different person than I am today two years ago. But instead, I followed this path and we end up feeling this guilt and this shame and this worry, and we're just like, I wish things were different. Can I tell you this just for those that are listening? What if everything led you up to this moment in time right now, for the purpose to launch you to where you were supposed to go and learning to let go of that baggage. You know, when we, when we look at a rocket ship, I love elon Musk and SpaceX, but if you look at the stages of a rocket ship, they have to let go of the booster rockets. That's what. There's all these rockets that are. And what ends up landing on the moon. It's this little tiny thing at the very top, top of the rocket. And, and like 90% of all of the stuff that they build to even get it out there just disappears and falls back. And nobody is concerned about it, but they spent all of this time building up to that moment in time. And. And it's funny, it's such a picture. We use the word launch when it comes to marketing, when it comes to entertainment. You know, we're going to do a movie launch, a movie premiere, we're going to launch a video game, we're going to launch our stream, we're going launch our funnel, we're going to launch our course, we're going to launch our coaching program, all of these different things. And what's interesting is all of the stuff that you kind of do in the process. If you look back at the last 10, 20 years of your life, when it starts to fall away and you got that little piece right there, that's where you end up landing on the moon or Mars. And you build a base there. And that's what then takes you to the next level, which might take you to another dimension like Alpha Centauri or another. Okay, that's where I get all nerdy out and stuff like that. As I start, like, thinking in these directions of, like, becoming a multiplanetary species and all of this, I literally find parallels in the desire of humanity to land on other planets, to what we have to do as humans in our transformation process. It's so interesting as far as this goes, letting go of the heavy baggage that propelled us to where we were Meant to be. What if that baggage was the propellant that you needed?
I'd like to add something because I feel like you can have access to that sort of realization without having to have, like, a major catastrophe or something. One of the lessons that we learned from Tony Robbins is to. In any moment, in any catastrophe, like, it could be literally, like, you know, a close family member dying.
Yeah.
How. How is this the best thing that could have happened to me?
How is the. Wait, say that again.
How is this the best thing that could have happened?
How is this the best thing? 100.
Yeah, you can. You can take any moment and. And find the good in it. Find. It's. It's like, you know, we. There's so much power and so much leverage in questions because it does take us out of our negative kind of default mode and kind of switches it and has us look for the. The positive, the bright.
So it's like, how.
How is it the best thing possible to have happen to me?
Yes, you.
That is always accessible to you every moment of every single day.
Just, like, meditate on that question for, like. Like, for me, like, I just want to go lay in my swimming pool now and just think about, like, how has everything that's happened to me up to this moment in time been the best moment possible for me? How is listening to this podcast for you as a listener been the best moment possible for the last 46 minutes? And think about that. And then can we accelerate that? What's a way to accelerate that? Learning from other people's mistakes. Coaching, mentoring, working with people that have walked a journey, that have been to hell and back, that have actually then been to heaven and back, I think is what we can say as well, because for me, it's like, I've been to hell and back, and then I've been to heaven and back, and I've kind of figured out, okay, what's in both dimensions, and then we bring that together into the beautiful experiences that we get to provide for people, whatever our story is that we tell people. And I think that storytelling really is the vehicle that shapes people's lives, that helps thinking. It's a way that we can pass on to people our experiences without them having to experience it. Because you can listen to a story that somebody tells in five to 10 minutes, and they can take you on a journey, and then you feel like you felt what they experienced, but you also learned the same lessons that they experienced. And that's something that I share with everybody when it comes to writing sales copy, when it comes to doing a webinar when it comes to pitching a product is you have to mirror the story of your prospect back to them in a way that they feel like you understand so deeply what they've experienced. That trust is built like that. That's how you can build trust in five to 10 minutes with people in a VSL. How do you build trust in 60 seconds on a Facebook ad? By learning how to tell better stories and then learning how to articulate and communicate that way. Now that. Now that's a process that. That's what I love to mentor people on. That's what we work with you through in my coaching program. That's. That's. That. I would say that's the number one thing that lights me on fire is storytelling more than anything else. That's why I love video games. That's why I even have a book right here. I'm. I'm reading. It's a Netflix special right now. I recommend everybody check out the Three Body Problem. It's such a powerful story. I'm reading it right now. It's. It's. It's actually. It's a. It's a parable of we got to look at for AI and technology and where everything's headed as far as that goes. So, James, thank you for being here. I just appreciate you and I just want to honor you and just say thank you for your presence on this podcast episode.
Grateful to be here. Thank you for the invitation.
Is there any kind of final words that you want to share with anybody that's on here just to kind of wrap this up?
What's wrong is always available, but what's right is always available as well.
Oh, that's good. You get to choose. It's It.
And again, the previous version of me would have fought you at that notion that I. I can't. I. There is no choice here. This is just happening.
Yeah, yeah, it's true. It's.
But there's always a choice and the ability to create a gap between the. The sort of stimulus and the response and to choose.
It's.
That is the definition of mental health to me.
That's so good. I love that. I'm gonna. I'm gonna, like, meditate on that after this call. Like what you just said. That's awesome. Michelle, what about you? Any final. Any final thoughts?
Yeah, I liked what you said, what if? Because that's a big thing. I play with what if. And I'm going to add to James's what if. This was happening for me. Right. What if roadblocks came up because it's not the way you need to go. What if this was an opportunity to pivot? What if this was showing me a new path? What if I allow it to open? So I like, what if.
That's awesome, James. Where. What's your contact info? Website. I just want to put it on the screen here.
Just go to lynchpinfunnels.com it's kind of like funnels.com.
Yep.
Find me on Facebook. James Curran.
Yes. Let me see. Linchpin funnels.com People might not know how to spell Linchpin lynch pin. Funnels.com Let me see if this pulls up here. I like to like, there we go. I do stuff that I don't know how it works half the time, and I just try to test it out. So I love. That's like. It's one of my, like, favorite things to do is just try to break stuff really quick. So There you go. Funnels.com. it's on the recording. That's where everybody can. Can check that out. If I go here, 2LynchpinFunnels.com. There's your face right there. I'm going to pull it up on the screen here. Home of.
I like the coffee cup, James. It's like, sit and have a coffee with me.
Yeah, right.
Yeah.
There we go. So there's your. There's your site right there. There's you. I love that photo. And so join the Linchpin Funnel Hackers Collective. Is this where you want them to jump in?
Yeah, that's a free group. There's a freelance pin funnel right there. Depending on what time, you know, when this, when this airs. We. We're doing challenges, a lot of challenge right now. There's one that's gonna happen next week, but if we missed that one, then.
We can probably do another month. But yeah, and I've been watching, like, the ones that you. That you create and all of that, they're perfectly aligned with, like, what I. What I teach people in here and what I do. I mean, most of what I teach, you'll find it like a lot of the Dan Kennedy stuff, a lot of the Russell Brunson, Alex Hermosi, all that kind of kind of stuff. But I love the Mifke funnel, too. Having a. A free gift that you give along with that. Can you explain a little bit on, like, how that works, just briefly and then how people like what you can do with people to kind of make that come together?
Absolutely. So mifky stands for most incredible free gift Ever. It's essentially a bribe. Then Kennedy will often call it a widget. It's just some sort of package of stuff that is really cool. One term we also use in the industry is it's useful but incomplete. So it's some kind of bribe, some kind of cool thing. Something that's highly desirable that you can only get if you join a membership or start a continuity thing.
So, yeah, I love to include my best course.
Yeah.
But that. I know that they're going to need more support with.
Yeah, yeah. One thing that. So we did a mifky phone for Michelle. And one of the things that's really cool about that is, you know, she's a glass artist that creates original glass pieces. So you literally, like, she puts this stuff in this offer. It's not going in her shop, it's not going in her store. You can only do the thing. So that's really enticing. And. And another way to think about it is it's something that takes you from. At a scale from seven to ten. If you're at a seven, the Miffy takes you to a ten.
Okay, cool. Awesome. That's amazing. Yeah, that's. That's. That's kind of how I. I picked it up as well when I watched some different trainings on that. And so I. I love that. We did that for years, a lot of stuff with my mom. And then I realized I had, like, completely moved away from doing that in my business. And I was like, duh. Why am I not doing this? You know? So that's amazing. If you want somebody that can help you build this together so you don't have to do the work. Tech stuff's not your thing. Go check out lynchpin funnels.com with James here. He's your guy. He will take care of you. I know that for a fact. So. All right, everybody, thank you for being here. Thank you, both of y'. All. And grow your life, everybody. We'll talk soon. By the way, if this episode has helped you at all, share it with somebody. Don't keep it to yourself. And we'll see you on the next episode. We'll talk soon.
Bye.
It.