Sammy "Shoebox Moses" Taggett: Secrets to Transforming Dreams into Reality

From a shoebox in the Philippines to DJing for Richard Branson on Necker island, our guest today probably has one of the best origin stories that I've ever heard. And also frightening at times. Funny. It's wild. So I brought in Sammy Shoebox Moses Taggett onto the show today to talk about how his he started life abandoned. And it's wild. I'm not going to give it away now, but he's turned it into this globetrotting DJ philanthropist. He's helping celebrities and big movers and shakers basically launch brands with podcasts and beyond. And he breaks down his whole story and his path of unlocking these things along the way. And a lot of it's rooted in thinking much bigger than you've ever thought before. And he breaks down how he does that and how he grounds himself in the whole process, but also how the connection with people around him and the way he does it unlocks these opportunities that he could never have dreamed of. And it's all things that all of us can do in our own flavor. So Sammy breaks it all down and I think you're going to have a fun time. So let's go hang out with Sammy Shoebox Moses Tag.

It takes a lot to grow your business. I'm talking about attracting an audience lead, scoring with your new leads and customers, and also just managing all of the channels that you. You gotta manage. A lot of managing. So a lot of long days, late nights, weekends, hopefully not too many of those. There's a better way, and that's what breeze. It's made by HubSpot. It's a new collection of AI tools. It's even easier for people like us marketers to attract an audience, increase leads, and score those customers really quickly. It means you're going to have a lot more time back and a lot to celebrate. So visit HubSpot.com marketers to learn more. Hey, before you get into the episode, I urge you to hit pause and go check out the AI Digital mind. It's like a digital twin of this podcast and a whole bunch of other content I've released. Go to hustleandflowchart.com AI Joe that's hustleandflowchart.com AI Joe. You can literally chat with this podcast with me and my guests in text, audio and video for free. And if you want one of these made for yourself, if you're Interested, go to hustleandflowchart.com interest and we make these things out. So enjoy. Let's get to the episode. All Right, we're rolling. You're here finally. How are you today, my friend? Sammy?

So it's been way, way, way, way, way, way, way too long.

Way, way. Yeah, it is, it has, but we're making it happen. We hung out the other week. It's been too far. And few between there too. You know, we have so many friends in common and, and they've all.

And I would say we also have a lot of common interests and common skill sets and common parenthood. There is a lot of, A lot of parallels that we run, my friend.

Absolutely. It's true. And yeah, like we were just talking about, like, okay, the, the bond I think both of us light up about are people. Right. It's like connecting specifically with people and, and making magic happen, whatever that looks like, you know, and we, we probably, we approach it a little differently, but we both have the music side, both got the podcast going, just creating cool stuff, being an entrepreneur, creator in general, and so much more. So. Dude. Yeah. I mean, everything. Every time I see you, I look at your website, I talk to people, you got a big old smile on your face, right? Vibes all the way around. That's everything you project.

Thanks, man.

Yeah, that way, though.

Oh, yeah. 24 7. I'm never, I'm never off, ever. I never am off, I think. And the reason why is because I have a two year old and you're always patient and you're always happy when you have a toddler.

Always.

Right, Right. I think I would say it's about 70, 30, though. I am usually pretty upbeat and pretty happy about things, you know, and I don't know if your listeners ever have the experience of really knowing where their true beginnings are and what happens when you kind of find your origin story. And for me, with this whole shoebox Moses origin story and, and how that started for me, it's definitely given me a lot of leverage to be forever grateful and to be in the space of deep gratitude every day. And that is something that I think is most profound for me because if ever a day turns to total crap, I look back at where I could literally be and I'm instantly snapped out of it. My worst day is somebody's dream, like a thousand times better than their situation.

Yeah. Do you really actually go back to that? Like, when you're stuck in a rut, that's like, that's the thing that gets you.

Yeah, I, I visit that when I need to. When I need to really access a deep reservoir of, of just motivation or gratitude or patience, I will for sure do that. And it does. I mean, I'll be honest. I mean, I don't do it all every time because it's a. It's a deep. It's a deep well to go into if I need to do it. But it's pretty easy to just look back and be like, yo, you could be there. Or I could be in la. We could be in LA in the fires, or we could.

Absolutely.

You know, there's. There's a. There's thousands of things that you can always look to be thankful for. But for me, just that humble beginning and to where I'm at, having a beautiful wife and a kid and, you know, there's San Diego, there's. It is weird to think that we have anything to be pissed off or bummed or upset or angry about, but it definitely happens, and it's nice to have that leverage, you know?

Absolutely, man. We. We. It's easy to just get used to whatever environment we're in, you know, it doesn't matter if it's, quote, unquote, not great or whatever or awesome, whatever. It's. It's humbling yourselves along the way. I think it's cool to, you know, go back to the beginnings, because, I mean, I'll just. I'll just, you know, for a while, I'll just talk about, like, the cool shit you've done, at least of what I've known. I mean, like, you partied with so many awesome people. Meaning, like, you are the party. You brought the party. Being the DJ of some of the biggest events around, what people like Richard Branson, even, and tons of different celebrities and just doing cool stuff and also working with them through podcasting, evolve, podcasting, that you have the whole agency around, so it's like, yeah, you're super deeply connected, but obviously, if you're open to it, that origin story that you hinted to, like, oh, yeah, tell me about it, man. Because most people probably don't know. They're like, what?

I guess I didn't even. Yeah, so that story is this beautiful, humble beginning story for listeners that. That don't know me, which is probably most people, actually. I was so blessed to have been a newborn in the Philippines and thrown away in a shoebox in a dumpster. And I say so blessed as the origin of that is absolutely awful. Let's be honest. That's a terrible thing and a terrible way to start, but I was found by two police officers who then brought me to a hospital, and I made my way from there into an orphanage where I was then adopted by a family in the United States. So as terrible as that beginning, that initial beginning was, it was the best thing that could have happened to me. So that, that's where the shoe box comes from. Fast forward through this myriad of pod, like the companies and the, the performances. I. I got to a spot in my life where I was like, I want to give back. I really feel like I've reached a couple different pinnacles in my life. I got to do the. I was. My biggest, my first biggest goal was to play Red Rocks. And I played Red Rocks a couple times. Got to open for Kid Cudi and Empire the sun.

At. At Red Rocks, the most iconic venue for me. Right. I saw Pearl Jam play there and I was like, I'm gonna play there one day. And you know, fast forward 10 years. I ended up doing big vision and mission was like, okay, I'm gonna play for the most purpose driven entrepreneurs on the planet. So I end up playing for Mindvalley and Vishen becomes one of my like, closest friends. And then I meet Yannick Silver. Yannick then takes me to Necker island multiple times to play for Richard Branson and his entrepreneurial group. And that is where this Moses thing came in. So, right. I know this whole shoebox thing and I had the vision to go back and just kind of help my, my people. And what was interesting is I went back on this mission trip and I find the story out right before I'm about to leave. And so I'm kind of shaken to the core.

Like your story you're talking about?

Yeah, my origin story. I find this out. So here's what happened. Like, my parents had a whole notebook. Like, you know how parents keep your pictures and all these things. My mom was like, hey, before you leave for the Philippines, I know you're gonna go. Because I was going on this mission trip to deliver water filters to.

Tacoban city which had been ravaged by a her typhoon.

Yeah.

So I'm on my way. I'm leaving in like the next day. And my mom goes, you need to look through your paperwork to make sure that you have as much information before you go to the Philippines. Look for your orphanage, maybe see your biological mom this and that. So she tells me, she tells me, looks at my paperwork and Joe, I. I opened up my notebook and I look through this stuff and I'm reading this paperwork and it says, abandoned in shoebox left. You know, left mother left for infant side. And it just hit me at that time that I was thrown away and a shoe Box. I had had that knowledge. I'd been sitting on it for my entire life, but never looked at it until the day I was about to leave for the Philippines for the very first time.

So was that something that you had the choice to look at beforehand?

100%, yeah.

Okay.

And I never did. Right. Like, God never had it on me to be like, look at this. Until I was about to go. And so I get that news. I go to the Philippines. We have this insane. This insane journey. We deliver over a hundred water filters on the mission side of that trip. And then we go to the orphanage, and they're like, yeah, you're one of our shoebox babies. It's so good to see you. Oh, my gosh, you made it. And I'm like, oh, my God. Fast forward. I'm, like, shaking to the core. I see hundreds of kids that are in the orphanage. That could have been me, you know, that. That would have been my start. So my whole world is shaken. Right. As I get back after I've seen this part of what my life could have been. The week later, I'm sitting on Necker island with Yannick, and they're like, what is wrong with you right now? You're usually crazy and partying, like, what. What's going on? Yeah. And so I'm just kind of processing everything, and I tell them that I had found out that I was left in a shoebox, and this is what was going on with me. I don't know what to do with this. I want to go back and help those kids, though. I just saw hundreds of kids in the orphanage. I need to go back.

Yeah.

And they go, well, you've always been our little shoebox Moses, so go help them out. So don't. Don't think anything of it. We're gonna support you. Whatever you need. Right. And so Shoebox Moses kind of came from that whole journey. Yeah.

It was given to you.

Given to me. Right. And then now it's. It's just part of. It's part of what keeps me centered on my mission, keeps me centered on what I'm doing. And it's. It's really interesting, too, as young kids or, you know, students that I'll bring in for performance. They love that name because it keeps them, like, connected to me, but it also. It's a fun story for them to share and. And. And for them helps them stay grateful for what they've got, too, because they.

Back to connection. Right. Like, you're connecting your humble roots. It's like, yeah, but I've done all this cool stuff, but, like, there's still the human in this crazy story that you didn't know until just a handful of years ago or whatever it was. Yeah, man, that's. That's crazy. I mean, it's not crazy because it's, it's life, right? Like everybody. And I guess that's the thing that you, you start talking with people and you're like, everybody's got a story. Something that probably they haven't uncovered or don't talk about or maybe don't use as a nice, like, pull yourself out of the rut if you ever get there, like.

Right.

Cool. In a way, you know?

Yeah, no, totally. And I think it's. It's good for you to revisit that. You know, they always say your mess is your message. I think Gabrielle Bernstein used to say that. But it's really true the way that, I mean, you know, you've got the hustle and flowchart. This is just a. A heroic journey of people making monumental f ups and coming out the other side and figuring out what they did to make it work. And I love that about your show because you're sharing iconic stories and you have some legendary people on there. So I was like, you really want me on there? I'm like, yes, I'll totally be on there.

And you are a legend.

Oh, thanks, man. Yeah, so, yeah, it's. It's stories, man. Stories and connection are the deepest thing that if you are not figuring out consistently how you tell a better story or how you connect with people better, then you shouldn't start a business. You shouldn't try branding. You should. If you're not into learning how to tell stories and becoming the most prolific connector, in my opinion, then it's going to be a hard journey for you to be a successful entrepreneur.

I would agree with that, man. And, you know, knowing your own story, I'd say is a big piece of that because I've done deep dives into myself and you know, did this whole like tens of thousands of word write up and all that. Almost basically a novel, autobiography. It's good for everybody. It's painful though.

Yeah, but not public, but for my own eyes for now at least. But like, you've chosen to. There's so many ways to connect. But like, so you have obviously telling the story and entertaining people through DJing, you know, music. I mean, you're incredible musician. I've seen you what traffic and conversion. You did that I think at least a handful of times.

But, oh, it's like seven times.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. A bunch of times. But I just remember one very clearly. You were just like, everyone's surrounded and you're in, like, the middle of the room. Guitar rock. I mean, you're not just DJing, you're like, guitar all. I'm like, who the hell is this maniac?

It was hilarious. It was great.

That was one of my very first trafficking conversions when they had me on the guitar.

Nice.

And then Ryan was like, we just saw you dj, and I think we were in Mexico or something, or Dominican Republic. And he goes, I did not know you did that. We need energy at the event. Yeah, we think you should be on stage. It was. It was Ryan and Richard Lindler, and Richard's like, we should put that dude on stage, man. This is gonna keep our. This will keep our people coming back for more.

I'm, like, hanging in the hallways coming back here.

Yeah, exactly.

That's right, man. So, I mean, what took you? Yeah, I guess ways of connection. Because I know you're. We're. We're both about connection and, you know, sharing with the real. Obviously, being curious, I think, is a big one. But, like, I don't know, Like, I guess you and people, like, what. What made that thing feel like. Like the connection thing? Because that opened up so many doors, like, DJing and podcasting. I don't know. Like, how did that all happen?

Oh, man. Okay, so this is crazy. You're into the big AI space, right? You. You understand this. And this is going to answer your question in a very weird way, But I asked ChatGPT the other day, and if you've never asked Chat GPT this one question, you are crazy. This is, like, the most important question you could ask ChatGPT. And I asked Chat. I go, hey, I've been asking you questions about how to improve my life, my business, and my wealth, health, and happiness for the last two years. Knowing this much about me, what are my biggest blind spots and what's going to stop me or slow me down from being the best version of myself? And I said, do not hold back. And it literally pumped out three sentences. It says, your fear of abandonment from that first childhood wound is going to rear its ugly head in every step you take, especially the more successful you get, which is inverse to the way you think it would be. But if you do not address that main wound about being abandoned, left in a shoebox for dead, you will not get to where you need to be, because you will always worry about what other people think and I was like, are you.

That's.

I was like, what. What are you talking about? And it was so on the money. So when you ask, why am I so adamant about connecting? The first thing that it is, it was my fear of abandonment and how to stay relevant and never be alone and left. So it came from that. That tip of the spear was, do not let these people leave thinking that you are useless to them. And it's so interesting because that is what made me want to stay so deeply connected with people and so deeply entrenched in and having fun and bringing excitement and bringing music and having people transform their experiences. I was like, oh, if I can do all that and I can make it the best for them, and then they will never leave me. And then that transcended out of that, because I did address that wound. I got past all that, and then I realized to make a living and to make a substantial impact and help transform people's lives, that you have to understand deep connection. And what I learned a couple different times was people will never remember what you say. They'll. They'll rarely remember what you do, but they will always remember how you made them feel. So I was like, oh, my God, yes, I love that. And I love leaving people feeling better than they did before they met me. So I love that part of it. And then the other thing I learned on the heels of that was, you will make so much more money, be able to provide for your family and leave a legacy if you can help them get from where they are and where they want to be and help them with that transition. And if you can, mirror or not mirror, but if you can merge all those things together, if you can icky guy your life, so to speak, you will become so valuable. You'll be the most valuable person in the room. And that was always. That was always this. This tenet. And I'm like, oh, that's why you connect and that's why you learn.

That's it. And that's. It's the way you make people feel that. That lasting effect. That's the thing that's like, years later, people still be talking about you and they have about you. And I've experienced similar. But it's like, yeah, you talk about the story. Go back to marketing. It's like, what's the best form of marketing? It's referrals. It's word of mouth. It's people saying that you're. You're the shit. Like, doors open. Amy can come right in. There's no question you know, and it's.

So true, because we have a multimillion dollar company across all the things that we're doing, and we have never once in our entire lives marketed anything other than these last little masterminds that we're marketing a little bit. We just like, put a little small ad. We're not even paying for the ads. We just post it as a real. And that's the only marketing I've ever done. Everyone's always been like, hey, I got your name. I saw you play. You're insane. Can you please, please be part of our event? And I'm like, that is crazy. Like, to me, that is nuts. And, yes, I'll be part of here.

That. Absolutely. Well, I'm looking at. I mean, like, it's working because. Oh, no, I just saw this is. You got to update your tour schedule, brother.

Oh, yeah.

I would say I'm like, you're going to Antarctica pretty soon and all this, so. But you've done Antarctica.

I already did that one. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That. That tour schedule is a year and a half old, so we'll have to update that. Well, I think what happened, too, is like, our. Our va. She's like, you have so many dates on the books for next year. I was like, oh, just take the calendar thing down. And then she forgot.

Sorry to call you out like that, but I was more impressed than it. I was like, oh, you say.

I.

Know it says I'm going to Antarctica, but there's like, a picture of me in Antarctica.

I'm like, that's what I was like. It looks like that could be it.

Well, if you go to shoeboxmosis.com, you'll know what we're talking about.

And now, because we had that conversation, there'll be an updated schedule.

You are welcome, brother. But yeah, like, well. And there's something else I saw from you. I think it was on your website poking around, but, like, little something stuck out to me, which is go big. Like, there's no reason to think small or play small or be small, whatever it is. But, like, the more you shoot for, you know, just whatever big is, or the biggest stage, red rocks. Like, it does something different. It changes you. It changes just everything. Talk about that. I'm super curious about that. Like, going deeper.

Yeah, There's a book out there, too, that I love, that I just read. 10x is better than 2x. Have you heard of that one?

I haven't got it so good.

So it really summarizes exactly the thinking, right? 10x is better than 2x. And the. The way that I look at that is, is as a dj, right? There's one thing that I used to do all the time when, when I was getting my chops in because my DJ career started in a really interesting way. We could talk about that in a little bit. But what happened is I ended up in the middle of playing for these huge events. I had to get better at my craft because I luckily fell into this position where I was just playing on big stages very quickly. And that's also happened in my podcast company too. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, that is a pattern. I end up getting on big stages, playing for big people, doing big things really fast, and then I have to kind of work backwards and build the skill sets up a little bit to be like, okay, I can do this.

I'm gonna pause this really fast to go shout out another podcast that I think you should peek at yourself. It's called I Digress. It's hosted by Troy Sandage, and it's also brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals like you. And what I love about this podcast is that he keeps it short and snappy. It's absolute, actionable, and to the point. It's under 30 minutes. I digress actually helps you eliminate a bunch of complexities and complications, confusion when it comes to your business. Your marketing gives you a bunch of frameworks and strategies to help you scale and actually be sustainable with whatever success means to you. So go check it out yourself. I urge you to go listen to I Digress. Wherever you get your podcasts, I'm going to do a quick shout out one more time for the thing I talked about. The thing, top of the episode, which is the AI version of me and of this podcast and my YouTube videos and all these things. It all lives within this AI platform. I used Deli AI to create it and I want you to use mine. It's totally free. Go to hustleandflowchart.com AI Joe that's hustleandflowchart.com AI Joe. Test this thing out. It's crazy. You could type with it, talk with it, you can even use video. And you can look up anything from this podcast. You can ask a question about your business life, any scenario. It kind of learns about you with the information you give it. It's rad. You will love it. And also, there's a lot of people who are asking, how do I get one of these? How do I build it? Out. The cool thing is my team and I have been building a ton of these every single day. I've used the platform Delphi AI for two years. I'm actually one of their advisors because I was one of their first users and just gave them a ton of feedback. I love it, but we build these things. So if you want to use it for lead generation, for, you know, you have all this content as an expert, author, coach, type person, we can put that into this digital brain and make it interactive. You could use it for customer service, internal training for your team, for your organization. Lots of uses. If you would like one of these, I can pass over an exclusive deal. There's no one else that's, that's offering this out there. I work closely with Delphi as one of their partners, agency partners, to build this out. So hit me up. Type hustleinflowchart.com interest into whatever browser. Again, that's hustleandflowchart.com interest. And hit me up. Let's build this thing together. All right, back to the episode.

But what happened for me is I was playing these huge shows and I would stumble through them. But then I was like, I got to get better at this right away. So I started doing a lot of weddings and I'd play weddings, then I play bar mitzvahs and I play these other things. And to DJ one of those events, you have to carry your own gear. You have to plug everything in. You have to be there super early. You have to get all your music ready. You have to make sure that the bride, the groom, all, all the people in the family have the music that they want. Then you have to be so on time and they have to have all these microphones set up. You have to have wireless mics, you have to have lights. You have to have so much shit put together for a 1,000 or $2,000 gig.

Wow.

And I'm like, oh my God. Inverse of that. When I played on the main stage at Red Rocks, or when I go to Traffic and Conversion, or when I go to Necker island, or if I play for JJ Virgin or Mindvalley, I walk up with a USB stick and, or a computer and there is a stage, there is lights, there is a baked in audience. There is people that are so excited to see me. And at that space that I play, there is no competition, right? Like I am the person that they are coming to. I haven't lifted a cord, I haven't packed anything. I haven't done any of the stuff that I had to do when I wanted to grow. And what I noticed, even in the performance space prior to having another company, all of the people that I used to perform with, all the DJs, that majority, maybe 90 of them, yeah. Are all in the same space and they're like, oh yeah, I want to have like a, I want to have like a ten thousand dollar month or I want to have like a, a gig where I'm playing for like 500 or a thousand people. And they have just thought incrementally bigger. And I was always like, yo, think as big as you can. Like, I was thinking about doing a sphere gig like they have in Vegas. I was thinking about that five years ago. It's like, how do we make an immersive experience where I'm playing underwater and then they have lasers and they have air and then they made the sphere. And I was like, oh my God, thank you, God. I've been thinking like that I will play there, I will play there. Right? And so I think with, with thinking big, the magic of thinking big like that is it changes everything that you conceptualize to get to the next level because you think completely different. You don't think about, hey, how do I get 50 more people here? You think about like, oh, if I'm going to do that, how do I get, how do I get security for, for, for 5,000 people or 10,000 people? Okay, if we're going to have 10,000 people, oh, this is what we can do for them. This is how big the stage is. You think completely different. And the same thing with like podcasting and our types of companies, right?

Yeah.

With the evolve podcasting company, we work with the biggest people in the, in the space and personal development.

So like something shows, right?

Like, yeah, we've launched over 100 shows for sure.

Yeah. I got a news.

Yeah, well, we were just counting. We thought we had 50, but now we were like. And it's so funny because some of the shows we started five years ago and we forgot and then they just have gone on and started doing their own thing because we, we believe that we teach you as much as you need to grow. And then if we're not in partnership with you, then we want to give you enough to do it on your own because our whole model is a little bit different. But what I noticed is that even in that space, if you're thinking so much bigger, then you're thinking about how many products that you can sell, how to reverse engineer your, what you're thinking out of the show. You're not thinking about growing the audience. You're thinking about how do you monetize the right people? What's the Ascension model that you're taking people on? And then when we bring in 10,000 people for this, are they all going to the right place? Is it all. Does it all make sense? Are we using Delphi to communicate with them? Is this like, do we have the right Ascension model for thousands of people rather than 100? That's what we think about.

Yeah. Forces you to solve problems that you never knew were even, like, existed beforehand. Yeah, totally. You're just kind of in your little box. And I'm sure. I mean, we've all done it. Yeah. This 10x in the book, I have it pulled up here. I will be buying this right afterwards. But that's. It applies to everything. You know, it's. Yeah, it applies just your personal life. It's like, hey, you know, you could be living in that. I have a lot of family from east coast South Carolina. They haven't really left South Carolina in their city. It's like. But when you start to think bigger and think of just, like, locations, and the world is big and small, but it's also huge and awesome, and you gotta. It's just like, do something that. That changes perspective. I think that's the thing.

Well, and I think you even helped Mike curate some of this too. Like, we're talking about Mike Koenig. But you helped curate the idea of thinking, like the billion dollar moonshot question. Right. You are if there's any time in life right now to think bigger than you've ever thought. And then if you don't know how to think big, to ask a chat agent or GPT, how would I think 10x bigger than this?

Yeah.

How would I make this system 10x more efficient? How would I make 50x more with what I've got? And this is the. This is the time. If you're listening to this and you are not asking yourself, how do I make my life 100 times more efficient with grace and ease and happiness. How do you help me do that? Knowing what you know about me? How will I make my life better? And most of the time, it will spin that chessboard that you're doing life on around and say, you're focusing on the wrong shit. You're not focusing on your family and your health if you focus on your health. Like, I had to do that. I had to pivot the health. Like, the health thing kicked my ass in the beginning of this year because I did a I did some cleansing and the cleanse brought up all sorts of crazy stuff. And I noticed, like, I was not focusing on family time and health. I was like, I'm in a studio working non stop. And now we just did like this mastermind up at the Ritz Carlton up in. In Dana Point. But we were talking to people, having a good time with our family. I go, this is what we need to be doing. We don't need to be like, I love doing this, but just. The next podcast you see me on will be my. My mobile studio that just deploys. You pick it up and then I'm. Then you're interviewing me over a cliffside. That's what we're building. Much better. And so, yeah, totally. So, yeah, it's called the Go Box Studio. It's amazing. Nice plug right there, right? The Go Box Studio for mobile studios.

You're okay, you're.

You're one in your one stop solution for mobile studios. Go Box Studios.

Go Box Studios. I like it, man. Where is it? I want going to? All right, when it's ready.

Oh, it's ready. It's going. It's on. It's. It's a product.

Yeah. Oh, you know what? I got it. Yes. I just pulled it up. I'm like, wait a minute. That actually sounds more. Oh, yeah, that looks beautiful. Okay. Need to get myself a Go Box.

They're so sick. Yeah. If you want to put. If you're interested in a Go Box studio, just go to goboxstudio.com and tell them that Sammy and Joe sent you and they will hook you up with a fat 10% discount.

This thing is sick. Yeah, I'm getting distracted. I gotta close that browser, that window.

Dude. Yeah. Like, so going big. I'm curious, like, and I want to get to that DJ story, how you fell into that whole thing.

Oh, God, that story's so funny. Yes.

Okay, maybe I should just start there because, like, obviously you didn't always think this way. Right? The thinking big. I mean, was there, like, obviously the switch. Maybe that was all the. What? You tell me.

Okay, so the switch. The switch. I'll tell you about the switch. Then we can revisit how I got started. Because the switch started when I went to my very first event that was hosted by Mindvalley and Vision. That switch, it was a paradigm shift because I got to. I got invited to go to a fest as a singer and I got to the place where the event was at. But even to get there, I had had to pawn a guitar. My Car was wrecked. It was a blizzard in Denver. I had to get a ride to the airport. There were no Ubers, really, at this time. So I had to, like, pay my friend to take me out there. And I got dropped off. I had maybe $90 to my name. I got to the place in Maui. That's where this was. And Maui is not cheap. So just to get to the hotel, I went through another $30, and I'm like, oh, my God, I'm not gonna have any money when I get there. And I had a couple credit cards with, like, a very small balance on them.

Yeah.

I get to the front of the Grand Wailea. If you've been there, it's been. Yeah, a beautiful hotel. And it was even more miraculous and beautiful. This is like 12, 13 years ago, right? I was like, oh, my God, what is this? And I'm like, how much is it to stay here a night? And they go, it's 600. And I go, I do not have that. I didn't know if I was paying for my room or whatever. I knew that even if I gave them my credit card, like that 500 credit card limit, I'm like, dude, I'm not gonna be able to have the. The incidentals on there, you know? I was. So anyway, the event planner just happened to be there. Her name's Alex Katoni. She goes, oh, hey, you're Sammy. Oh, my God. I thought you were gonna be a girl. I didn't know who was coming. This is great.

And, like, funny story, we ended up dating for a year and a half after that. Anyways, but Alex is cool. She's amazing. But side note, the funny thing that happened with that is I got introduced. I. I get into the hotel, I get to this event, but I just start meeting these people that had just started in Internet marketing. They hear just at the forefront of this. And they had monthly reoccurring revenue of 500,000. Like 600,000, 200,000. 50, even five grand a month, you know, just happening for them. And it set me on that trajectory of, holy shit, if I do this, like, they've done it, I can have these results. And so that's what was crazy. That was the shift. So I started thinking differently and bigger. At that point, I was like, oh, okay, so you have a house here, you have a house there, you have a house here. What's the mechanism? What do you do?

Yeah.

And then, how can I do that for myself? So I came home immediately after that, built my first Internet product. It zeroed out I didn't sell anything, but I built probably four or five of those. I had a swimming one that I built for a guy. I had a DJ course. We've had a guitar teaching course. I've had a few different ones that we've done, you know, and so I just saw that that was the magic of thinking big, and that's when that happened. But that all came about in that one experience. But what happened then is I had all this amazing stuff going on, and I just. I hadn't quite mastered it. I hadn't become a DJ at that point or anything like that. And so how I became a dj. This is crazy. Hold on to your ass on this one. Right?

I'm ready.

So I.

There was a time just prior to all of this, I had just move back. Like, I had this. This whole thing. I was still in the process of figuring out my life at that point. But believe it or not, it was even worse. Five years prior to that, I was like, dude, I am a disaster waiting to happen. So I had gone to Texas. I moved in with this girl. That relationship imploded. I moved back to Denver, and the only place I could find to live in Denver was my friend's basement. He was a little entrepreneur. He wanted to do all these things. So he's like, you can just live in the basement and help me with my T shirt company, blah, blah, blah. So we sit there, and one of our favorite things to do at night was to smoke bong rips and think of T shirt ideas. Well, when you sit down. Yeah, dude. The greatest way to think of things, right? Think of them and forget them. Yeah. So we're doing this. This is our nightly routine. So we're smoking. We get super stoned. This is in Denver, by the way. Again.

Yep.

We're like, let's go get some dinner now. We're hungry. So we leave. And I had left a candle in his basement burning, and we leave to go get food after our T shirt inception ideas. And of course, what happens? The candle burns all the way down and burns his house down.

Oh, shit.

And it was in my room. So now I've burned my buddy's house down. I come back to this smoldering house, and there's. The windows are blasted out. There's a couch through the front of the house that the cops or the fire fire department had to break in and put the fire out. And I have nothing. And I start calling all my friends. I have my cell phone. That's it. And I'm like, I Need to find a different job immediately. Does anyone have anything for me? And my buddy Patrick at the time goes, hey, I'm going on tour. He was a guitar player. You can have my gig at Diamond Cabaret, which is a strip club in downtown Denver. I work upstairs, and you can take my gig. And I was like, sweet that it was a bartending gig or something. I get there the first night, Joe, and this is all happening. This happens in, like, 48 hours. I get there and they hand me a duffel bag. The duffel bag is full. I go, what is this? Am I in the bar? And they're like, no, no. Here's your duffel bag. Has napkins, cigarettes, and gum. I'm like, oh, my God, am I in the bathroom? They're like, yeah, you're the bathroom guy. So I end up this. Two days later, I'm in the bathroom at a nightclub above a strip club. Yeah. I'm like, this is the worst place I could possibly be. What have I done with my life, right? Just burned my buddy's house down. Had a failed relationship. I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm back in Denver now. I don't even have a place to say. I literally burned it all down. And I remember looking in the mirror, and I was like, this is not going to define you. It can't get much worse than this. And as I say that, there is literally a guy, a security guy in the back just taking a dump behind me. And I'm like, oh, my God, it's going to get a little bit worse than this. Never mind. That's all happening. Yeah. He's just like, yeah. He's like, who are you talking to? I'm like, shut up. Yeah, I know.

Having a moment.

And as this is going on, all of a sudden I hear this, like, pounding dope music. It's like. I'm like, what in the. And I come out of the door, and the DJs are, like, 25ft from the door, and the booth is there. And I was like, oh, my God, what are they doing? That's so sick. I haven't really seen DJs up close. I know some from Fort Collins, but I was like, oh, I know that. I love this. This is sick. And I go back in the bathroom. I'm like, dude, I am going to get out of here. I'm gonna get from here to that DJ booth. I don't know how, but I'm gonna do it. So as the night progresses, this is, like, still within this 7248 hour window, right? It's. I'm making huge money as the bathroom attendant. Like I was making like 50 bucks every 20 minutes. People are like, dude, thank you for the tips. Like I was helping guys with their hair. I was like, yo, this, you look terrible. Just doing my thing. Just being exuberant. Yeah. And I start noticing the pattern that these DJs have, which is hot chicks and shots. And so I'm looking at my bowl of tip money. I'm like, oh, I got this. So I start going up and buying shots for these guys and introducing them to the chicks. Because I'm in the bathroom, so I'm always meeting people.

Yep.

So I'm like, hey, here is, this is Ginny. Here's your Washington apple. What does that button do? Like, oh, this is that. I'm like, cool. How do you pick your music? Oh, why would you pick it that way? Oh, cool. Here's a shot. This is a girl. Here's a shot. So I start trading, I started trading shots and women for knowledge on the decks. And so I do this and I'm like, ah, I figured out my way out of here. So fast forward, it was probably a month or so that I did this trade, right. I would just give them shots.

And this is at the time when Napster and, and you could do BitTorrents and kind of find really cool music. I remember that. I figured out and I was always a techie, you know, I figured out I had like Pirate Bay, I think it was. Oh, I remember I had so much sick music that I had found all these remixes of dope music that I downloaded and, and always had with me. And so it was a Friday night. Our guy that was in, in the booth, I'll leave his name out of this just because it's fair. He gets hammered. I'm like, oh my God. And I hear it from the bathroom. He's just train wrecking. He's a mess. And so I'm like, oh my God, this is my moment. I jump out of there and I put my music on and I just, I do full send and just do a 20 minute set and just bring the roof down on this house on this, on this strip club. Well, there's a nightclub above the strip club.

Above it. Yeah, yeah.

Which is a great combo, by the way, for, for anyone that wants to start a really terrible business. But this place is going places, going nuts. And the promoters are like, Sammy, he's a bathroom guy. What is happening? I'm like, oh yeah, dude, I've been working on this. They're like, you should not be in the bathroom. You gotta play more.

You're better.

They're. They're like, you're insane. You're such. And I'm also an entertainer. Like, my whole life has been entertainment. So I end up blowing the lid off this. Those promoters are like. And even the last promoter, I'm one of the promoters, actually just had me open for Snoop Dogg, like, two weeks ago. So I'm still connected with.

Yeah. And you're doing it again, I think soon, too.

Yeah, doing it again. And so it's just. It's just so funny. That's what happened. That's how I became a DJ. But again, I just jumped straight into party DJing at a nightclub, one of the biggest ones in Denver at the time. And that's how I started. I just got my break there, and then they introduced me to another guy named Kevin Larson, and Kevin Larson had a huge New Year's party. And he's like. He's like, you want to play for me? You can totally play for me. And. And the rest is history. But there's some funny stories about that too. But, yeah, so many stories, Joe. So many stories. But that's how I became a dj. And that trans transferred into playing from Mind Valley and then playing in stadiums and that stuff.

Snoop and all and who knows what else, man.

Yeah.

Do you see your DJing as like, is that the glue with, like, who you are, people and all that? Because you obviously, you got the podcast production agency. You're helping people scale some really cool stuff that way.

I don't see that as the glue, to be totally honest. Connecting is my glue. Like, however that is, whether it's dinner or things like that. I would say performance, though, in that space has definitely pushed me front and center in a lot of circles. But, yeah, I don't know. I would. I would be reluctant to say that's the main piece of it. It has been in the. In the years past, but as this company scaled and grown, the. It's really cool because we have such good mentors in this space. I think of, like, Ryan Dice specifically, and Richard Lindler and even. Yeah. And even, like, Perry Belcher and a lot of these other folks. You know, they. They've all known me as a dj, but then they. You know, when I see them now, they're like, hey, how's podcasting going? What else? What's new in that space? And I'm like, holy smokes, I'm moving. I'm moving. Laterally in. In these places. So that. And I've been speaking on stage now about AI and AI consulting and. And those things, because as I was a DJ, man, I guess you're right, the DJing thing is a pretty big piece of it, because as I was DJing, I was sitting next to these guys as they're doing their keynotes, as they're doing their stuff. So I had to, like, soundtrack those guys perfectly. Right? Like, I play very specific music for Ryan. I play very specific music for Dave Asprey, I play very specific music for jj, so that when they make their keynotes on what's new in the industry, what's changing the world in their space, that they have the perfect soundtrack for it. So it made me sit sideline to the biggest things that were happening in AI, in podcasting, in marketing, in traffic and conversion. And now with Go High level, I played GoHighlevel's event, and the same thing happened there. I was like, oh, God, this is. You're rolling out 230 updates on go High Level. That's amazing.

So, yeah.

Yeah, I think, yeah, it's connection. Plus that entertainment or whatever that thing is that keeps the connection going, you know, like, so that's the mechanism, but the heart seems like the connection. And, you know, that's something we both share. And I think it's. It's cool, man. And I love your stories because, like, everybody has a lesson they can extract from there and relate it to themselves if you want to. Of course. I just thought it was a blast going down the history lane with you, man. And I think there's something, too. It's like you've opened doors. There's that book called the Third Door, I think.

Oh, I haven't heard of that.

Yeah. And I've only heard it from our buddy Brad Costanza. But it's like, you know, there's the obvious ways in. You can, you know, earn your way in or pay your way in. Hopefully I'm not totally butchering this. Or there's that third door. It's like, oh, I know someone, or I'm in the bathroom. And I just, like. I figured out this tricky way to give some value to someone, hook them up. But now I'm like, I'm in, you know, and that's how you got. So it's cool, man. Yeah. And that's kind of. You just found your own way. And I think that happens in life when you're open to opportunities and things around you. So thanks for sharing, brother. That's Cool.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Let's wrap it up and tell us, like, because you got. You got a lot of stuff going on, obviously, the podcast side of things. Evolved Podcasting, Right Dot com.

Yep.

That'll get you to all the good stuff.

Yeah.

Evolve Podcasting is where you can find us for all things podcasting. How to monetize and scale your show, and then how to start a show and make sure that it comes out of the gates ready to monetize. That's where you can find all that information. And then shoebox moses.com is where all my. My immediate performance things are and who I'm aligned with there. Those are the best places to find me. And then obviously, I'm on all the social media platforms, like, literally all of them, so. Shoebox. Yeah, if you go to Shoebox Moses and just type that in, it populates all the good stuff, bro.

All the good stuff. Yeah, go. Go find. Find some cool music Sammy's doing and just get some good vibes. Appreciate you, brother. This is gonna be fun. Let's do the next one on the beach. All right. On the cliffs, either way. And totally. We'll be doing the next one that way, so.

Appreciate you, brother Joe, thanks for having me, bro. Love you, man. Talk to you soon. All right.

Sam.