Bluefishing: The Art of Making Things Happen and Making Your Dreams A Reality with Steve Sims - I Love Marketing #309

Today on I Love Marketing Blue fishing, the art of making things happen and making your dreams a reality. With Steve Sims. It's the fascinating adventures of the real life wizard of Oz and stories of singing on stage with the rock band Journey, a private dinner at the foot of Michelangelo's David while being serenaded by Andrea Bocelli, breakfast with Oprah Winfrey and more. Steve is the visionary founder of Blue Fish, the world's first luxury concierge that delivers the highest level of personalized travel, training, transportation and cutting edge entertainment services to corporate executives, celebrities, professional athletes and other discerning individuals. If you would like access to the full presentation, the show notes and the special resources for this episode, please visit ilovemarketing.com 309 that's ilovemarketing.com 309 I'm Dean.

Jackson, he's Joe Polish and this is.

Is the I Love marketing podcast.

Hey everybody, it's Dean Jackson and Joe.

Polish and we have one of the most bizarre, weird, interesting people as a guest. Yeah, yeah, no, he is, he's actually, he's a great guy. He's a super cool guy and he's funny as hell and his name is Steve Sims. And for those of you that don't know him, if I had to give the, the little bio blurb here, let me just. It's. Steve Stims is the visionary founder of Bluefish, the world's first luxury concierge company that delivers the highest personalized travel, transportation and cutting edge entertainment services to corporate executives, celebrities, professional athletes and other discerning individuals interested in living life to the fullest. He is awesome. He's very active with all of our genius network members who utilize Steve for all kinds of stuff from, you know, crazy travel and exotic locations to race cars and boats and jumping out of airplanes to, you know, one of our genius network members wanted to sing with Journey. So Steve arranged that. You can learn about him at steve steved sims.com s t e v e d sims s I m s.com and he's got a new book called Bluefishing the Art of Making things Happen. So we're going to talk to Steve about making things happen. And Dean, how would you, how would.

You set up, how would I describe Steve Simms? You know what I always think about? What I think about Steve is there was this show, I think it was called what's my Line? Or it was something where people would come in or to tell the truth, I think that's what it was. Where people would have to say what they did. There were three people lined up, and one of them is this accomplished person or in certain line of work, if you sat three people in a line, and Steve is being described as the guy who makes all this stuff that you just talked about happened, and he had to convince people that he was actually that guy. He's not the guy you would pick out of the lineup to say he looks like. The description of what he does, you'd never guess that in a million years. And that's what makes him so interesting. I mean, it's. It's fascinating. So I'm excited.

Yeah, he's got a weird accent, too, like he's from Japan or some.

But.

So, Steve, welcome to.

Welcome to the show. Go ahead and say something so people can at least see what you sound like. And they could. They could do a search.

I appreciate. I appreciate the insults and the innuendos. Thank you very much, gentlemen. Much appreciated.

You know, it's so funny. He has his eyebrows pierced. He's vetted. He's been like an MMA fighter, or at least, I don't know if it's MMA or however the hell you describe it, but he gets in the rings and he fights and he races motocross and does all kinds of crazy shit, but he, you know, hell, I just went to the Emmys, you know, a few days ago, because Steve got the tickets in a box area, which I. I even, you know, while people down in the. Like, the. The lame seats that would be kind of down up front and everything, they couldn't pull out. They couldn't pull out their phone and snap pictures. That was up in this boxing. Facebook Live in it and stuff.

So it's so awesome. I mean, just to think about anything that can happen, you know, I was. I did an event with Frank Kern, and Steve got us tickets to go watch a taping of the Voice and with an assigned guitar from Adam Levine, then Maroon 5. And I've been on a private tour of the MGM studios with the Steve Sims Tour, which I always love.

The way I tell them what the Steve Sims Tour is.

The Steve Sims Tour is we walk through the studio like we own the place. We open all the doors until they tell us to stop. That's the one.

Nine times out of 10, when you're doing it with a big smile and you're. You're built like us. Nobody actually says no. And remember, if you remember, Dean, we actually found. In the back car park, we found the Batmobile. Do you remember? Yes, exactly.

I do remember. Yeah.

Just sat there so amazing.

Great. So great.

So.

So in all seriousness, I mean, you've heard us talk about. So for anyone who may not know all the amazing things you do, how do you describe what the hell you do, Steve?

Well, Forbes. Forbes probably did it best. They called me the real life wizard of Oz. But as you say, I own a concierge fir that does everything from travel tickets access. But what really bluefish has become very well known for and famous for is doing the incredible bucket list access that you just scratch your head and go, how did he do that? And it's things like getting a guy married in the Vatican, sending someone down to see the Titanic white carpet access into Elton John. So Elton John's Oscar party as a personal guest, getting great seats in Victoria's Secret show, taking over an entire museum just to sit a table of six at the feet of Michelangelo's David and then have Andrea Bocelli come in and serenade you. So it's those kind of holy damn. How do you do those kind of things? That's what we do.

Wow. Wow.

So, okay, so anything you can imagine and afford, right?

That's it.

And a Ford. Yeah, that's the key bit.

And the only thing that's preventing people from experiencing any of these things is what, knowing you and money. I guess.

Yeah, it's usually the first one because nine. I would say that not one of those conversations or those events that I ever arranged for anyone. The conversation is never first about money. It's first about, well, why do you want to do it? What's it going to do to you? How does that help them? And so it's a real interview process just to make sure that this does symbolize a big bucket list item. So there's a lot of steps to go through before you even get down to, okay, it's going to cost X. Right, Right.

Okay. So your new book is called Blue Fishing the Art of Making Things Happen. So, I mean, you know, how do you, Steve, like, make these things happen?

Well, I'm glad to say that my lack of intelligence as a bricklayer from London meant that I didn't have the monkey on my back where I worried or overanalyzed or was too frightened of stuff. When someone used to say to me, oh, I want to go and do that, because I was so ignorant to that lifestyle and that world of luxury, I wasn't too frightened to go, well, I'll walk up and ask them. And I could never understand why someone wouldn't do that. Now, as the years have gone on I've learned other ways of getting people's attention, getting them to buy into the passion project I'm doing, how to communicate with them, how to contact them, me. And you've shared a lot of that with the old video texts and the letters. But there's so many more ways to communicate, to build up this thing called a relationship of which you two guys excel at, and that there's still no app on the iTunes for that. I focus on building relationships as my greatest investment. And I've tried to put this into a bunch of chapters in a book and I think we've done pretty well with it.

Yeah. So awesome.

You know, Deed, how would you describe his book? Because unlike me, you've actually read the entire thing.

Yeah, I have now.

You know the thing.

Well, it's nice when a guy sends you. I have an advance uncorrected proof that's not for sale. That's what I'm holding in my hand. That's the kind of special access that you and I have to a guy like Stevenson. What I love.

You know, you met Steve through me because that's where pretty much everyone.

Absolutely.

I love it. I think the greatest thing about this is turning that bluefish into a verb. Blue Fishing. So you're talking about. It's a playbook. It's an action book for how to actually get stuff done. And I think that we could almost spend the. Our time just picking things from the blue Fishing playbook, which you put at the back of the book, which I think is going to be an amazing. An amazing thing. There's 45 things here that you have. Have summarized and number one of them is that you throw away the that could never be me mentality and instead ask why couldn't it? And that's. I think that's fascinating. Like most people faced with the. The idea of even just the thought of having dinner at the feet of David and then. And you know what? Throw in Andrea Bocelli too there for that. Nobody would think that that could even happen, that they would try and even do that. But you're, you know, you're a kind of guy. That is a possibility. Right.

I met Michelle at a. Here in Phoenix and went backstage because Steve arranged it.

Yeah.

And I don't listen.

Amazing.

That sort of music, that. That much I did that night. It was amazing. But, you know. Yeah. So Steve can absolutely make things.

So Steve, I mean, what sort of.

I mean, we'll talk. We're going to talk about you, but also for other humans, what is needed like what sort of mindset, what sort of attitude? What, what is the. I mean, let's just say mindset, for lack of a better word, maybe that's the best word. Maybe you would use another way. I mean, you live a pretty sort of adventurous life and you help other people to experience that.

So how.

What does someone need to, how do they need to be set up in order to squeeze more juice out of this thing we have called life?

Don't overcook it. I find a lot of people, they overthink it and they say it way before they've even bloody tried it. You know, we all know those people that have analyzed the crap out of something and thought up 30 different reasons why it can't work before they focus on the one reason it can. And because I never, as I said, had that, that foresight of intelligence to, to overanalyze something. And you guys both know I, I have trouble even spelling. In an email, I would look at something and I would say, well, look, okay, you want to get married in the Vatican? All right, well, first of all, we've got to find someone that's Catholic. You know, I would literally bring it down to as raw a level as that and take one step further first. Okay, would probably help if we knew someone in Italy who do we know in Italy, and would just take these tiny little baby steps to get me closer and closer and closer. And I couldn't see the objection. Now, we've been doing this for about 20 odd years. Once you've got a few of those things behind you, and we all know this with entrepreneurs, once you've fallen over and you've got up stronger, the next time you fall over at that speed, it doesn't even phase you because you've done it so many times, you're good for it. So as we've now done so many things like lunch with Mark Burnett, breakfast with Oprah Winfrey, getting married, all these kind of things, someone says to you, hey, I'd like to do this. You go, yeah, that sounds great. I'll try it. And you've already got people that you can reach out to and call that will help you get a couple of steps closer. But I've never focused on the no, I've always focused on the why not, right?

And isn't it interesting that no matter what you think of as you're describing that no matter what you think of, there's somebody that, and I mean one person that has the ability to make that happen. And it's really almost like the detective work of finding out and getting access to who that person is and then presenting it in a way that. That makes sense.

Yeah, there's. There's always one person. There's always that one person that can either say no or yes. And it makes life easy. And getting to that person, however, you have to seduce all of the others on the way to that one person. Because those little powers are usually the people that get in the way of stopping you, get into the big power.

That's so funny, isn't it?

I mean, we did terminology. The little powers are the things that stop you in the way of getting to the big powers.

Yeah, you can have that. You can keep that yours.

We just did an interview with. With Shep Gordon, Supermensch, and it was a fantastic conversation, but he basically had that, you know, similar attitude, but. And he talked about all. It's. The people are the. Are the thing. Very, very fascinating.

Well, you know, hear that interview you guys did? It was fantastic. No, thank you.

Yeah, he's awesome.

Let me ask you about. About powerful people because I, you know, I've been saying this when I've been giving speeches, also when I'm asked to talk about genius networking, you know, just like you said, blue fishing, you know, in order to build a genius network, which, you know, I would describe as a. A group of people that have unique skills and get them to collaborate with each other so that everyone gets value out of it. It gets what they want, and they help each other. And by helping each other, they can get whatever they want done.

Done.

And so I believe everybody is well served to create a genius network and that any problem in the world can be solved with the right genius network. And in order to have a genius network, you have to be a genius networker and you have to do genius networking in the same way that you, Dean, was describing, you know, blue fishing as a. As a verb, where you're. You're taking actions. And so a lot of my world is just connecting people and introducing them to each other or creating an environment where they can come and meet each other in the same way that you. Your whole world is about creating really unique experiences for people to fulfill their bucket list, enhance their life, have more fun, have more joy, you know, bond, you know, scare the shit out of themselves. I mean, whatever the hell it is that they. They want to do. And within the mix of all this, you know, you have to interact with a lot of people. You yourself have to be a very unique connector and be able to get doors open in Order to get done what you need to get done. And I have always experienced you as having a very good sense of knowing, you know, when you're being obnoxious and arrogant and push, you know, pushing people around versus just being cordial and being a good human being. And one of the things that I have been talking about is like, who becomes my personal friend versus acquaintances. And a lot of people that I know because there's many people I know that I would never want to go to dinner with and there's dinner with that I wouldn't want to, you know, leave alone with, you know, a girlfriend. So, you know, and then there's people that I trust with my life, you know, that I think are the most amazing human beings on the planet. So my criteria of who ultimately becomes a well respected inner circle relationship is how are people that are more powerful treat people that are less powerful than that? Because I believe you should be nice to everybody. And when you get high, you know, I cannot stand people that have high status, lots of money, lots of power, lots of fame, and they're just rude as shit to, you know, people that are not at that level. And in your world, you have to deal with egomaniacs, you have to deal with all this sort of stuff. So I'd love to get your perspective on just simple human collaboration and interacting with people. I mean, how does one like, what, you know, what's the Steve Sibs version of how to win friends and influence people?

Hi, big question there, but easier answer. I have never met anyone more important or more powerful than me. Now, that could be taken very arrogantly, but what I do is I never Google anyone. I chat with them on their level, a normal person's level. So whether it's not, I'm chatting with a king, a royal family member, a financier, a super agent, a really successful businessman, when I go to them, I'm like, he's not the head of a Fortune 500 company. He's Joe and I'm Steve. And so I literally will go there and you've met me, and all you guys have known me, and therefore I've got the perfect face for podcasts. But you will Both agree, I'm 235 pound of ugly, bald, pierced biker, and I will go along in a black T shirt and jeans, and you've been there. No matter whether I'm dealing with Elton John or I'm down in the Mojave spaceport, I'm turning up in black T shirt and jeans. And nine times out of ten On a motorcycle. I'm very transparent that this is who I am. And by being confident in my skin and being confident that, hey, I'm at my level, and I'm here to talk to you at a normal person's level. People don't have any challenges from me. They're not trying to flex. They're not trying to show off. They're not trying to make it that they're more important than me. It's just two guys or a guy and a girl having a chat about doing something. And so I try to get rid of those platforms and pedestals. And I've seen this. I've seen people walk into meetings, and they've gone, oh, I'm gonna meet him. It's him. Oh, look, he's there. And they go in there, and they literally cower to make sure that they're slightly shorter than them. They go, oh, it's a pleasure to meet you. And you see them bow their head. They can never, therefore, get into a relationship with that person because for a start, they've got to climb back up that pedestal to get even level. You walk up to a guy, eyeball to eyeball, and go, John, Steve, absolute pleasure to meet you. What are we going to do? This. Magical.

That's a good opening line.

That's.

That's awesome. I love it.

Is that straight out of the playbook?

Yeah.

Oh, no, no, of course, of course. Hell, I even warn people about you sometimes, and they. They.

They still.

They still tend to. They still tend to love you. And it's kind of funny when you just preface this guy, but now, yeah, I mean, you. You do what you do. And the reason I asked the question is that, you know, everyone has the way that they represent and present themselves, and at the end of the day, you're either effective or you are not effective. I mean, a lot of people that would try to, you know, adopt a Steve Sims Persona, that's really not you.

It's just not gonna.

They're not gonna pull it off. But you're. You're.

You.

And you have gotten, you know, you know, how to leverage you. And so part of this is to take the lessons from you and transfer that to other people, which I believe is the purpose of you writing a book about this, because, hell, I mean, we.

Absolutely, yeah.

You were never teaching people, I think, even through Genius Network might have been. I mean. Well, I don't want to take credit for things like, where was the first time you actually gave, like, a presentation? I mean, was that at Genius Network? Or was that somewhere else?

So all of my. All of my speeches, and I've done a lot of speeches, and I did a lot of media, and they were always on luxury. And the things that we had done, they were never, ever, ever, how do you do it? There was always, like, morning TV would be like, oh, Mr. Sims is the official concierge of the Grammys. Tell us about the event this year. And so I was kind of protected by this shield that they never got to know my secrets or ways. It wasn't until I started hanging around with you and I started seeing it and going, well, hang on a minute. I know how to do that. And you did used to bring me up. I remember in the Marriott, New York City, you used to make a point of just, like, bringing me up. I think basically just to humiliate me in front of people. But you also put me on the spot and just ask me a question. I'll be like, well, I can't. I can't do this. And so there's no doubt whatsoever. And I definitely have to hang my hat on the fact that I would not be doing what I'm doing today with this book had I not been in the surroundings I've been in with the 25k for so long.

Wow, that's awesome.

No, but I'm super.

Thank you. And I'm super glad that you actually have done this, because the truth is, you just have a whole bunch of methodologies and know how and ways of getting what you want done in life and how to make things happen that you're able to transfer to other people so that they can, you know, apply it to their own. Their own life and have more experiences?

So what. What. What is. What. So what.

What is your hope that the outcome is from your book for people that read it?

Did we lose Steve?

I think.

I think we might have lost Steve. I think that I heard a little.

I heard.

No, I heard a beep. I think he got disconnected. So all of our listeners just hang tight.

Talk about him while he's talking about him while he's gone. Joe, this would be a. Yeah, Honestly, these at the back of the book, there are 45 items.

Yeah, yeah.

So we just decided to keep going without any editing and just to continue to talk about you, because I. The last question I asked. And then hold yourself for a minute, Dean. I'll just, like, get Steve up to speed. And to all of our listeners, See, we love doing stuff like this so you can see the real world of podcasting. This is what Happens. Steve is probably talking to us on some sort of Iron man outfit. And he was flying outside of like, boat range.

Yeah, I love flying. That's what he was.

Right. No, but what I was. My last question to you, Steve was like, what. What do you hope is the outcome for people that read your book? And then you somehow disappeared. And then Dean said, let's just talk about Steven. So I'll let de finish what he was going to say and then we'll come. We'll come right back to you. Our guest.

Okay.

I was sharing with Joe because I don't think he's had seen it.

The.

The. I am fascinated by the blue fishing playbook at the end. And I completely see it being something like the. The Kekich credos, like a pocket version of it. Because every one of these items is. You can have a whole discussion or meditation or thinking about it, just looking at. At one of them at random and you know, and talking about it so.

Well, yeah, you know, I got it right here. I mean, it's not that I didn't. I have the book. I just.

No, no.

Yeah, read it because it's like D with deed. Just like Steve was saying. Like, he doesn't Google anyone. I was like it up. We're going to interview him and I'm not going to read his damn book. We're just going to talk about it.

So.

No, I just haven't had a chance. There's a password for every. Well, let me read number four. There's a password for every door. You just have to listen for it. Go ahead. Number 16. What's number 16?

Well, number 16 was. It's not about your IQ. It's about your. I can.

Yeah, Yeah, I Love that. Number 22. Don't waste your time counting likes. You'll never be able to pay your bar tab with Facebook likes. That's awesome. You know what?

Shit.

This alone, you're right. I'm sitting here kind of scanning this list while simultaneously pretending I'm paying attention to talking to both of you guys. And let's see. Number 37. If you can wrap passion and persistence together, you're invincible. Number 38. There's a thin line between patience and complacence. Patience can be a cop out, huh? Wow, this is great. Number 33. If communication isn't personal, it's not communication. No, you're absolutely right. I think what we need to do now, Steve, is there needs to be memes. Here's what I would say for all of our. I love marketing Listeners get a copy of Steve's book, Blue Fishing the Art of Making Things Happen. And then share with us on I Love Marketing or wherever on Facebook. I don't care. Share this episode, then whatever you like the best out of this list, which is the Blue Fishing Playbook, then post it. And if you'd like to make some. We should have a crazy meme contest. There you go. Where they could take each one of these, you know, and just. They could add a picture or art or whatever to it. Like number 45, be as selfish as you have to be. You have a right to recharge yourself. Take it and defend it. That's the only way you'll be able to harness your own energy to make things happen. Now, Steve, like, were you bright enough to write this shit? Or did you have. I mean, you. Did you sit down and write all these.

Do you know, here's the weird thing. At the moment, I'm talking to you from my garage. And I talked to you from my garage because I've got hardwood.

Carriage in a garage, or what's a garage?

Oh, so I thought we were. I forgot we were talking to you guys. I'm in a garage. Okay? So I'm. I'm here with. I'm here with the bikes and stuff. And when we started doing this bike. That's not the bike. When we started doing this book, the deal was that a ghost writer would call me at 4:00 clock three times a week, and I would just sit in the garage and just fix one of the bikes or something. And so every day or every few days, I would just put the headset on and just chat with the guy. And he would come back to me and send me five of these things. I'm going, oh, that's freaking hilarious. I really like that. He'd be like, well, at 2 minutes, 30 seconds, that's what you said. Really? So it's amazing the intelligence you have when you're not listening to yourself. And I would just. Just chat away for like four months. And so the rest of the book has got something in it called punctuation. So you therefore know. I didn't write that. That was ghost written with me because it has full stops and these things called commas, which for anyone that's got an email from me, knows I don't use. But the bullet points and all of those, they are word for word for word me. And it was, it was quite entertaining to actually see the kind of things you've come out. And I always. And you've Done this before. In fact, you taught me it. Yeah. If you're going to give a good quote, give credit to the guy that gave you the quote. If you can remember it. Now, 99% of my stuff, it's been my dad, it's been you guys, it's been Mastermind, it's been a whole bunch of people. And you can get the strangest of quotes from the strangest of people. And I will often go out and say, oh, I heard this, Brian Kurt said this. Oh, I heard this, Dean Jackson said this. And I will give the credit to the quote that it came from.

Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry, Dean, go ahead.

No, I was going to say that, Steve.

And you do that. And I do that.

Joe.

It's so funny that it's so rare to have a realization that giving somebody attribution for something that they've said does not make you any less. It doesn't make you don't look better for passing it off as something you said. You know, it's not. There's something I wish people, more people would understand that, you know, that it's. It's okay to give credit to people for, for what they say. It doesn't make it look like you're any less intelligent.

You know, it actually if you can.

Tell who is like really the most arrogant and narcissistic and full of themselves or these self help people that their memes and their social media things are all quotes from themselves and there's very little attribution to other people as if they somehow freaking invented this. And as a matter of fact.

Like a perfect.

Okay, let me just finish it because it's, it's, it's. It's. Thank you by the way. I appreciate it. I usually I'm not this polite with Dean, but I'll try to be today. So the, the thing is, not only is it not make you look lesser than I think it actually makes you look better. And that's one aspect. The other aspect, it's just the right thing to do. I mean it's just the right thing to do from. I mean why would, why wouldn't you do that? So sorry. Dean, please.

No, I was either tell a tale, but let's just.

I think that's enough.

That's a good thing.

Okay, let me get. I got some. I got some crazy questions for Steven. Sure you do too, Dean.

Okay.

Because I actually have them written down here. So if someone has a dream that they want to make a reality, which I can't imagine anyone would listen to me and Dean on our podcast that doesn't have, like, a bigger future dream, what advice would you give to them?

Don't overthink it. Don't overanalyze it. Look at the shortest step to take it one step closer to actually making it happen. Okay. And jokingly a joke. Joking aside. Completely joking aside. And it wasn't. Wasn't said for shits and giggles when I said to you the other week about the other. The other minute, when I said about, okay, we've got this client that wants to get married in the Vatican.

What do we do?

Well, we find someone Catholic first. That was literally the first thing I did. And then I thought, well, let me find someone who's Catholic in Italy. And that was the second thing I did. And so I really take the smallest step possible. I've got a. As you know, I collect motorcycles. There was a motorcycle that for many years was out of my price range. I couldn't afford it, so I went out and I bought the key fob that that motorcycle came with.

Ah.

Because I was now one step. And that key fob actually sat on my wall for about four years until I got the bike.

Wow.

I was one step closer just by literally spending about 399 and buying the key fob for it.

Huh.

I'm sitting there trying to think to myself, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Steve with a key fob in his garage. No, it's like that. That's a really great point. I mean, it's a great visual. So are you a big believer? Because you're. You're the most opposite of fufu. Sort of human that I know, Steve. So what is your thoughts about, like, visiony, like a vision board or any sort of thing that would be a representation? Because you're. I mean, you very much are an aspirational guy, but you're an aspirational guy that isn't like in the clouds. I mean, you're really like, let's make shit happen. I mean, even what you just said, what's the smallest step that we can do that it is already going to get us there. So when it comes to dreams.

How.

Much of do you recommend that people, you know, future project themselves into something by, you know, like that representation that. That first little step? I mean, how do you. How do you think about the mental exercises of envisioning what you want to have happen in your life and then making it happen?

Well, I've just realized my latest. I've just thought up my latest Instagram post. And it's going to be, fuck vision boards. I absolute. I despise. And of course, everyone's got their own mantra, they've got their own methodology, they've got their own way of doing it. And you've often said this, when you go to a conference, not everyone's going to talk to you. You only need one person to talk to you during that event. And I'm on about the speakers. So, you know, you could be a lot more open to what's being said. And you will get these people to go up there and suddenly start holding their fingers and namaste and everybody. And that, to me, is, you know, time to get the whiskey. But when the vision board conversation comes up, this is another turn off for me. Now, I know a lot of people, it helps. But when I wanted that motorcycle, the first problem I have with vision boards is there's too many items on there. You can't hit 20 people in a bar fight. You can only hit one. So focus on the thing that you want and get a little step closer to that and then take a step towards something and then maybe a step to something else. And maybe you're covering three of your passions. But I really believe vision boards. And it's like the. The whiteboard thing where. Where good ideas go to die. I think that was your boy Dan that said that, wasn't it? Possibly. I think it was. Dan Sullivan got up there one day and said, vision boards, where great ideas go to die because people put them up there and then do nothing about them because they're on the board. For me, I see something and I go, okay. And then something else would come up and I'll be like, well, I don't want to look at that because I'm looking at this. I'll go and buy a key fob. I'll go and buy a book on it so I could educate myself to it. Oh, I'm gonna. I'm gonna go and look at what that looks like. I will literally start the I can rather than the I think I can. And so I do believe if you see something you like, the smallest, shortest step, even to go as far as to just have it as your screensaver. But a vision board is too many people in a bar fight.

Wow.

And by the way, how many damn bar fights have you been in?

You've seen how ugly I am.

You've been. I mean, have you had, like, multiple concussions or. I mean, like, to what degree? Because, I mean, you are a fighter. I mean.

Yeah. Do you know the funny thing is I've never broke my nose and I've never been knocked out. It's kind of. Although I'm sure that's going to happen next time.

But just a Floyd Mayweather of bar fights. That's great.

You know, you grow up and you learn. You learn different lessons from different places. Well, what the hell happened to you.

That you ended up becoming a fighter? What causes many people to become fighters? I know, there's many different reasons.

Well, it was weird. It's kind of been a. When I was a young lad, I was very big. So I was born big as everyone else was growing up. I was, I kind of basically came out about, you know, 5 foot 11. And so I was always a big lad. And I always had the little cocky fella that was trying to kill. I get his stripes, always pick on me. And because I was never an aggressive person, never have been, I would always get a couple of smacks in the head and not want to do anything and basically get me ass kicked. And so I actually started doing kickboxing because I wanted to beat the crap out of these people. And then discovered. And again, you can relate this to business. The better you got at fighting, the less you actually fought. And so that was really good for me. And then I started working on the door because I just wanted to test it. I had this talent. Apparently I'm supposed to be okay. So I started working on the door and just learned how to control the situation. Nine times out of 10, you walk up to a guy and you look at him really carefully and you go, look, this is going to hurt one of us. And my odds are not on me. And you just look at them like that and you're sober and they're not, and they come out, okay, fellow, I'll calm down. Or another good one is you go up and you slap a guy. You literally bitch slap him. Don't punch him, just slap him enough to embarrass him and go, that was open handed. How do you want to play it? And they just kind of go, whoa, okay then. And it was just those kind of things. And then as my life got on and I stopped doing all of that, and then I got into my 30s, I thought to myself, I want to do something which takes me out of the office, concierge, working, branding, marketing, I want to just get. So I decided to try this MMA thing and I just used to train out at Legends with some of the greatest people. Legends is in Los Angeles and just used to train and work out There all the time. And most of the time got my ass kicked by a 20 year old or, you know, even lower, even younger than that. But it was just good fun to try something in an arena that you didn't know much about.

Wow.

Wow.

Now, now do you still, what, what do you do today in your saying all of this in a way that, where it's applicable for other people's life lessons, which I appreciate because yeah, there are, there's a lot that can be derived from that. What do you do today that pulls you out of your comfort zone and keeps you constantly. And maybe you don't. I mean, I'm not, I'm not. I have no earthy idea if there's other sort of things that you're trying to do. I'm just curious if, as to what are activities that you do that always keep you in a state of, you know, living an exciting life.

Well, I'm a great believer in stepping out, I believe because as entrepreneurs we finish work when the work's done, not when the day's done. So we can end up going into periods where we're just going and going and going. And you end up laying in bed and you go, oh crap, I didn't do that. And you get up and you start making notes. It's five o' clock in the morning. Then you think kids are up in a minute, no point in going to bed. So we do that. So I do believe that there's a time and with this book launch that we're doing now, I actually every Friday for the past three weeks and I'm going to do it for the next three weeks when the book comes out on the 17th. Every Friday I go to a different racetrack with a different motorcycle and I see if I can beat my lap record. And so when you're on, there's some people that can go and meditate. And I hear, and I know Joe, you've spoken about it and I've heard from Neil Strauss and a lot of other people that talk about meditation and Tim Ferriss and that I can't meditate. I sit down and within nanoseconds, my head is just exploding with stuff. And the first one is, why is your fat ass sat on this mat? Get up and do something. Yeah. If I'm in a boxing ring or if I'm on a motorcycle doing 150 with my knee down going around Laguna Seca, I don't have the place in my head for any other thoughts to be coming at me. So when I get off that bike, I'm completely clear. And then this beautiful thing happens. All of my world's, shall we say, problems, issues, things I've got to do. My to do list, they line up in priority and it's a great way of clearing your mind, actually doing something to regenerate.

Yeah, interesting.

That's fantastic. You know what I mean? I think however someone can access that place of which I would always put in getting into a flow state. I mean some people do it through swimming, hiking, meditation, yoga, extreme sports, you know, business activities, but it's, it is getting yourself into connecting with something that brings you joy, that brings you excitement, that brings you acceleration, that brings you peace of mind, you know, whatever it is that you are pursuing. And a lot of this is brain chemistry. I mean I've had, I've had my brain scanned six different times by my genius network member Daniel Amen. And he, you know, I mean I remember the first time he scanned my brain in 2010, I was up there with Dan Sullivan and he made this comment based on how my brain lit up when during the active phase where they have you doing difficult mental things and then they scan your brain and then they have you meditate and be very calm and then they scan your brain so they can see how, what is going on in your brain when you're at peace and versus when you're active. And he made this comedy, he goes, if you're not busy, you're not a happy guy. Based on. And so a lot of things with people's brain chemistry with, you know, dopamine and various stuff is, you know, kind of where they're at. So different people find different ways to, you know, to, to excite or, you know, repress certain parts of their brain. And I'm doing a piss poor job of explaining it because I'm not a doctor, but there's, you know, it's, it's that sort of shit that's going on. So that's pretty cool. Well then let me ask you another question that night. So what do you do when you hit obstacles or objections on the way to making things happen? Because you, you know, you go back to that, let's find a Catholic person and Italy. I mean certainly you're a guy that has to go through a lot of no's and a lot of obstacles in order to make something a reality. And everyone listening to this, you know, they would all, oh, I want to be a millionaire. Oh, I want to do this. So I want to do that. But there's this thing Called people and money and resources and gatekeepers and all of this other shit that are keeping me from getting to where I want to go. So how does Steve Simmons, what's your approach with obstacles?

I've never heard a no in my life. And that, that sounds very flamboyant, but I'll explain. Years ago, when I was a bricklayer and I was trying to get out of the construction industry, I managed to get a job as, like everyone could, as a door to door insurance salesman. And I had to go into this office and they would give us these leads and they would say, phone those leads tonight and get an appointment. And then they would give you this sheet. And the sheet would be the name of who you called, the phone number, what the objection was. You had your objection cards when the appointment set, all of this stuff. Now when you pick up the phone and you first of all write down Dean Jackson, you write down the phone number and then you pick it up and Dean goes, I'm having dinner, piss off. There's not really much more to complete on that Excel spreadsheet. And the first time I did it, I noticed something about the end of the day, the end of the night, should I say, because these were all nighttime things. I was that aggravating guy that phoned you when you were trying to eat. You would look down this sheet. You'd made about 40 phone calls. You got through to maybe about 28 of them. You got told to go die by about 26 of them. And you got two yeses.

Yeah.

Now that ratio was 98% negativity. And I couldn't understand why I was focusing on the negativity. So the following day, and this happened very quickly, maybe it was two or three days within that week. I was only there for about three months or something, but I flipped the sheet over and what I did was every time I got to someone that I liked and had a conversation with, I'd make a note of that. So when I handed in my sheets at the end of the night, I would find that I would have three or four names, appointments, nothing else. And they would say to me, your sheets not complete. And I would say to them, it's complete with what's necessary.

Right?

And the funny thing was, here was the daft thing. And I actually do write about this in the book, and I've always been a great believer in this. Only have people in your network that you like that you're happy to communicate with, whether it's your accountant, your printer, your mates, your mentors. Only have people in that network that you like, because anyone that you don't like, you will have stress and strain in communicating with them, and it will zap your energy. And then what happens is the next person you talk to, you inadvertently will carry over some of that negativity. And then that person will be going, well, what's wrong with this guy? He doesn't sound. No, I don't. I'm not interested. And then what happens to the third or four? By the time you get to the fifth call, you might as well go and tell yourself to go die before they do. And that still matters now. So when I speak to people and I say to them, hey, I'd like to do something, and they go, no, no, we're not. We don't do that. No, no, no. Okay, I've caught you a bad time. I'll call back, right? And I will hang up and then I will call back and hopefully get someone different.

I just had an interesting insight, Steve, because, you know, when we talk about. We take these two things. We take your. Your telephone sales and getting to desensitize yourself to that kind of rejection just in volume that you can tune that out and focus on and get encouraged by the positive. I had that same experience as a real estate agent making 100 cold calls a day and getting all the same things, calling people at dinner. And you, you don't have the same kind of ratios now, when you take that and then you add what your experience is as somebody manning the door and confronting people with the very real threat of physical violence that they might hit you and you've been hit now you've just, like, on the scale of human, like, of the fears kind of thing, the fear of rejection, or they might say something to me, or they might punch me in the face when you've dialed it all the way to 11, where the thing is that there's a real chance that they are going to punch you in the face. There's probably not a chance that when you call somebody to find out about having a wedding at the Vatican that they're going to punch you in the face. So it's already a lesser experience than you've already conditioned yourself to be acceptable. You know, interesting.

That's 100% accurate.

I think if some people have not pushed themselves to those experiences, that the tippy top of their rejection threshold is somebody saying no to them or somebody talking to them in an unpleasant tone. If that's their sensitivity calibration that they're gonna be. That's Gonna be a problem, you know.

No, this is.

This is a very good, interesting conversation. And I'd like to. With the context of.

Because, Steve, we.

We both know people. You know, I can think of a guy in LA that all of us know who goes out and makes a lot of connections with a lot of people, but he drives people away. You know, I mean, I have this in the Magic report, in the Magic Rapport formula. One of the steps is, you know, be the type of person that other people always answer the phone for. And so, in the way that I describe it is whenever someone calls you on your phone, there's some people, you immediately send them the voicemail. And there's other people that you get a sense of excitement because you just want to talk to them because they're giving. You know, some people are a fountain and other people are a drain. And so, I mean, I'm sure in your life you've probably pissed off a lot of people going down the path. My experience of you has never. I mean, you know how. You know the line of being persistent versus being an asshole. And there's a lot of people that are just bulldozers. I mean, they're just assholes and they don't have any. They're not cordial. They're. They don't know. You know, there's a lot of guys that will read books on how to pick up women and they'll talk to, like, my buddy Evan Pagan, who, you know, wrote a book on, you know, be cocky and funny. And some people, they. They're not cocky and funny. They're just assholes. And there's other people that they know. They know how. And of course, you know this, Steve, because you and Evan are best friends. So, you know, like, I'd love to get sort of. How do. What's the barometer? I mean, how do you know when you're pushing too much or how to balance it? How to dance.

One of the biggest fascinations I had as a kid, and I'm sorry to answer this with a. With a story, but I remember going to a bar and looking, and I remember first going up into the London bars, and I would try and go to a fancy bar because, funny enough, fancy bars had fancy women. So it was a very simplistic thing for me. And I would see the way the barman reacted in a split second to a guy in a suit, a guy in a T shirt, a girl that was looking for it tonight, a girl that couldn't afford her drinks. I was trying to get this Guy would make contact and within a nanosecond know how to approach that. And it was like. It was like being in the Matrix at the age of 18 and seeing this. And I just was in. I was in awe. And I remember sitting there and having my drink and all my boys were kind of like trying to get on the pull and stuff. And I was just fascinated with this dance of character this had. And it's always amazed me. And even now, I will go into a bar somewhere in the world and I will watch bartenders. Now, me and you, Dean, we had it tough because of the phone call thing, okay? But we had a good. We had a good five or good five seconds to maybe try and warm it up a little bit. Barman have to walk up to that person and they have to be faster. They are instantaneous. I have often tried to emulate that deep gut reaction of, hang on, how's the body language? How's the eye contact? Am I pissing them off? I can walk up to someone and go, hey, you fat bastard, how you doing? And just read, have I gone too far? And just be able to cut. And there's some people. And I'll go up to someone and, you know, just say something. And someone actually, oh, my God, how's he saying that? But, you know, if you do it in the right mannerism, I'm not suggesting you walk out there and call someone a fat bastard, but if you do something in the right manner, from the right place, with the right humor, smirk, you can actually get away with a lot. And being on the door as well, I think that also taught me that element of where I could go up to someone. Now I'm the doorman. I'm there to scare you. I'm the one in the suit that's badly fitting, so if it gets ripped, it doesn't matter. I'm that guy that is in front of you that you have no doubt whatsoever is ready to roll around on the floor with you. So I've already got that. So when I go over there, I can go over and I can go, hey, lads, you're a bit loud tonight. Keep it quiet. I don't want to come over here again, you know, help me out. And you do something like that. And they're like, yeah, all right, mate, yeah. And you, you basically treat them with a bit of respect. And I would always be the guy. I very, very rarely, I think maybe twice in maybe like 10 or 12 years or something like that. I've on and off of the door, got into a fight. I remember slapping people a few times because that always defused it because that was humiliating. And I'd say, look, you know, put your skirt down and get out. And you just say something like that to someone and they would kind of be, hi, fellow. And you just got to know where that gauge was. And so now when you're talking to someone and you can feel them suddenly squirm, you can go back in and go, did I say something to offend or did I go too far? Did I, you know, and actually approach the question? And that's where I think it helps, because you said right at the beginning, I'm me. And the good thing about it is that. And this really speaks volumes to you guys, there's no other Dean Jackson in the planet because Dean's not tried to be anyone other than Dean. And that's the same with you, Joe. And so when you're as transparent as that, no one has to second guess. And so it's very easy that they're already comfortable with you. And you can be you and you can joke because you're not trying to put on any airs and graces. And I think that's important thing. Be comfortable in your own skin because no one else has got one that fits.

That is, that is great. Well, let me ask you about, about rejection in general. Look, we've totally covered a lot of this too. I'm just sitting there thinking about what are the things that hold people back? And I imagine you have set things up for people to find in many cases for people that they're already in love with or they're going to propose marriage or they want to do something with their, you know, their husband, wife, their girlfriend, their partner, their, you know, their, their, their mate. Have you set up a lot of things where people actually meet the love of their life or they end up, you know, I mean, to what degree have you been accidentally or on purpose, a matchmaker?

Well, I've never been a matchmaker. I can absolutely be sure that that's never happened. But there have been a whole variety of events where. There's been events that, that I've done where the guy's bought someone and his girlfriend's bought someone, and then the best mate has ended up, you know, running off with the other one. There's been some scenarios of that where he's actually gone to marriage. And so inadvertently I have actually ended up with those kind of situations. But most of my clients like to do things, funny enough, where there's not too many other People around them. So they will go as a couple or they will go as two couples experience. You know, they'll go to the Louvre gallery after it's shot, and there'd just be two of them. Or the dinner with that we did in Florence, there was only six of them. Or the marriage, there was only 12 of them. So.

Right.

A lot of, you know, you've been to some of the biggest events I've done, which was Elton John's Oscar party. Right. And so, you know, that's. That is probably. That is probably the largest event we do each year with Elton. That has a lot of people in it. But most of the other stuff, it's where it's two people want to go to a champagne farm or they want to go to a vineyard up in Napa that no one's allowed into. So it's usually a fewer people. So we don't get that ability for the matchmaking. Yeah.

You know, it's really funny. So I went to the Elton John Oscar party, and I took a picture with. Oh, God, why is his name slipping me the lead singer of the Foo Fighters? Why the hell are. David.

Yeah. Dave Grohl.

So I. I take. I take a picture with. With him, and then. No, no, no, here's what it was. I went to the Paul McCartney Lifetime Achievement Dinner, and so Richard Branson is there. Yeah. And you set that up. That was one of the very first experiences that you set up for me like that. And then, you know, I mean, there's a ton of celebrities there, and you sent me next to a table with Hugh Hefner, and I always thought this was really funny. You know, Hugh was. He got up. He's so up in age that at that time, you know, he has two, you know, blonde playmates with him. Both of them are on their cell phones, like, the entire time not paid any attention to Hugh. I actually felt bad for him. And so Dave Grohl, you know, take a picture with. With him. And, you know, I was there with my girlfriend at the time, who I'm still dear friends with, you know, or I won't bring it in, because certain things you just don't want to you on. I love marketing. I'm pretty.

I, I.

There's a fine line between secrecy.

We know. We know.

Yeah. So anyway, so I take a picture with. With David in a group of us, and then. Then I go to the. The Elton John Oscar party, and sure enough, in line getting in there, I'm, you know, right next to Dave Grod. So I Start talking with him. I go, hey, you're gonna find this pretty funny. And, you know, I pull up the picture from, I don't know, maybe two months earlier on my, on my phone, and he's like, holy shit. It's like that picture. And I'm like, yeah, what's the commonality here? Steve Sims.

That's funny, Ralph.

I mean, it's, you know, it's got, it was, it was really sort of itchy. So going back to so for rejection. Someone's listening to this. They, there's someone they want to ask out on a date, let's use that. Or there's some thing they want to pursue, they want to get a job, but there, there's a fear in them. What else that you've not already said, could you possibly advise or say that helps someone just knock down that wall of fear or whatever it is that is keeping people from pursuing something?

Well, when you're in that mental state, you're already looking for an excuse for everything to go wrong. No one ever looks for an excuse for things to go right. So the two things that you've got to look for in your head is first of all, understand that you can't half jump in the water. So you've got to commit. So you've got to understand, first of all, this is full on commitment and it may not work. I may go up to that girl or that guy and say, hey, I want to, you know, let's go out, let's hang. Something like that. There is a probability, whatever percent it is, that you're going to get a no. Now, Neil Strauss would ask, tell you to seed it and strike up. But the bottom line of it is at the end of the day, there's a probability it's going to go one way or the other. There's a guarantee it's going to go one way or the other. But this is what I always do and this is why I was always comfortable, whether it be racing, fighting, or even business. What is my absolute downside? Now if it's to go up to that person and for them to go no, do I still get to pay my mortgage? Do I still get to enjoy a good bar? All of those things. So you've got to find work out. First of all, what is my downside? And if your downside is just her saying no, then okay, that's not going to hurt me. So really I shouldn't be frightened. And nine times out of ten when people go up and you guys are great at it, so a Funny conversation to have. But most people build up so much fear that they end up walking up to a person so stiff and terrified. No wonder the other person's terrified. So you walk up to someone and say, did I sleep with you last week? You know, just something completely off the cuff or, you know, something. Is your sister called Susan? No. Wrong person. Okay. That's your name if you go in with humor. Because let's be honest, while girls do like our stunning good looks, they also love to smile. So if you can get them to see that you are a humorous, confident person, those two attributes will get you. Just get you anywhere. So look for your downside. Look for your. Look for the worst possible thing you can have happen to you and go, well, that doesn't hurt. That's not gonna bleed, and I'm not gonna need the hospital for that. So why the hell am I scared of that? And then.

Exactly. Yeah.

2. Commitment. You can't half jump in the water, so get yourself prepared, chill out, get a shot of whiskey in you and walk up and go, we slept together last week. I forgot your name.

That's funny. That doesn't apply to anyone that's an alcoholic in the audience here. So that's. Get yourself a shot of, like, chamomile tea or something. No, that. That's. That's fantastic.

That's. That's.

That's really good advice. And I was really saying that for deed's benefit, because deed.

Yeah, really. Thank you.

I'm taking notes. It's very therapeutic for me. What I tried to do at I Love Market is I try to light up guests that really could break through the DEED to help him with his limited beliefs and that sort of thing. So. That's true. So it's a weird way to get therapy done, but it. It works. It works. And everybody else gets to benefit from listening to it. So, Dean, I'm going to keep going with questions for Steve, unless you want to ask him anything.

Oh, this is great. I like the way this is going.

Okay, so what do you think of the belief system is of someone who dreams very big versus those people that may be scared or unsure about dreaming big? I mean, you've covered some of this, but I'd like to. I'd like to go a little bit because I tend to think of you as an expander of possibilities. So I'm trying to hit you with all kinds of nuanced questions here.

Yeah, I'm amazed at how many people dilute their dreams when, you know, and I hate to go Back to the alcohol bit. So let's say when they're relaxed, when someone's relaxed and they're in a chill state and they're comfortable in their surroundings, they will spout on about how they want to do this and meet this person and go there and do that. And they will give you all that information. They will give you all of that information. The cold heart, light of day, when they actually have the opportunity to do it by meeting someone like me, they pull back, they dilute. You can have someone that says, oh, yeah, I want to jump up to the stage, I want to do. And then when they come to me, they'll be like, oh, yeah, it'd be really nice if I could meet them, you know, maybe shake their hands, you know, get a photograph. So it's diluted. Because I can ask you how tall you are, I can ask you how. How much you weigh, how much money you've got in your bank account, what your religion is, all of those things. While maybe some of them are fluid, they're all a matter of fact. How much you weigh today is this answer. How much money do you have? Is this answer. But asking into your core, what really motivates you, what you really desire, what your real dream is, that's getting too close. And people don't like being vulnerable. So I do urge people, stop delaying what you want by basically getting in the way of your own dreams and desires. Never dilute them, never second fiddle them. If you want to go and play with Sting, I want to go and play with Sting. It's not a bad thing to clearly stand up and say, this is what I want to do. And here's the scary bit. When you're willing to admit to yourself what you really, really want and vocalize it, you'd be amazed how many steps that actually gets you closer to it actually happening.

So you're a big fan of vocalizing things and putting it out there.

I will go.

It's not a vision board, Joe.

Yeah, I'm not a vision board.

Just don't put it on a vision board.

Yeah, I def. Or if you do put it on a vision board, just put one picture on it. Because that's now. That's now a focus board, not a vision board.

I gotcha.

So if you. If you've got something in your goal, then just tell your mate, tell your best friend, email yourself, you know, whatever. But just, you know, Facebook social, just go, shit, I gotta lose some weight. Hey, I'm gonna start losing weight. Just anything like that, that Vocalizes it and gets it out. Because sometimes what we hear in our head is different to when we say it. When you say it, you've got that shorter step forward to actually making it happen.

So true. Like it?

I like it. That's great.

So seeing you do this, Joe, I'm not. While I am a hugely intelligent person of which no one's believing, I've seen you do that a lot of times in ingenious Network where you've, you've gone, oh, so you're going to do this? And you've challenged the person and they're like a deer in headlights. And I go, yeah, I'm going to do it. And it's not surprising when they come back to the Genius Network three months ago that they actually did try it because they vocalized they were going to try in an environment of friends and they're comfortable and they tried it because the worst downside was it didn't kill them and it didn't make them lose their house.

Yep.

No, exactly. Exactly.

Great perspective.

Yeah. Thank you.

Oh, well.

So this is a little bit of a self serving question here, but I'm curious, like, how has Genius Network helped you in your life and business? Like, what have you gotten out of it? Like, what's the value of that sort of stuff for you?

None, really. It's been a complete waste of my time. For the first two years of my life. It was a waste of time. And I've told anybody and everybody that would listen to this. The first time I came along to you and we'd already met because of Richard Branson and doing the Journey, and we'd already met because of these other things, so we'd already formed a friendship. But the first time I went to the meeting with all of these important, powerful people, I made a mistake of looking at them as important, powerful people. I expected it to be a field of dreams moment. I expected that I turned up and I would be naturally better just by going back. And I would go back quite often deflated because I hadn't connected with anyone and I hadn't learned the answer to this. And they were all talking about flowcharts and affiliate programs. I wasn't learning anything. And that's because it wasn't until probably just after a year that I went, hang on a minute, I'm not going to learn. I'm going to be taught. And it's a different perspective in my, in my head if I'm going there to engage. And as I said earlier, jump both feet in the water. And go, hey, I need to do this. And it wasn't until the first time that I did that that all of a sudden, the floodgates came at me from some most amazing people. And then I. And I've actually said this at U of M before, I suddenly realized for the first time, I wasn't in a room of superior, brilliant people. I was in a room full of failures that had not allowed the failure to dictate who they were, but had actually grown from it. And that was the most powerful thing for me. Any failure I had, whether it be servers crashing, payment processing, legal contracts international, any of these things, someone in your room had tried it, failed it, and found a way that it worked and cut me through all of that quagmire crap. So once I suddenly realized that I was in a room full of people that had failed and grown, I was able to go, would that. Okay, now I've got. And I remember going in there once, and I had a problem with something, and I forget what it was, but it was about doing an event. And I think I was doing an invite for an event, email newsletters or something like that. And it was Richard. Richard Vague. Vagry. Was it? Vagary.

Vagary, yeah.

This guy's a powerhouse. And he looks at me. This strong older man looks at me and goes, come here, I'll help you with that. Our industries couldn't be any further apart. Me and him couldn't be any further apart, but he had such a perspective on it. Brian Kurtz, Kevin Thompson, Kevin Donahue, Dean Jackson, Dean Graziosi. I can't. I can't stop mentioning the names of people that have nothing in common with me, whether as me as a person or as an industry that have had such an impact on my life. It's a class of a players that are sharing.

Wow.

Thank you.

Can argue with any of that Joe's.

Crap, but the rest of the group.

Exactly. This is gonna. This is gonna be my new sales letter right there.

I've told so many people that I've said to. Are you in the. In the network? And I've gone, don't waste it, because if this fails, it's because you failed. And I've told him exactly that story. How I wasted the first year and a half because I wasn't engaged. I was there to be basically entertained and lectured to without receiving. But now I go along like a sponge, and I come. I come out of that event every single time. My head is buzzing with action notes, and it's just I get so by the end of day one, I'm kind of like, shit, I've got to go and do this. And I get so aggravated. And a brilliant person by the name of Mr. Joe Polish said to me, it's aggravated oysters that make pearls. And I love that. That was, that was Joe Boy there. And I remember that. And that stuck with me. I've always loved that one.

Yeah, yeah, I got that from Dan Sullivan. It's. Yeah, irritated oysters make pearls and it's like, it's true. And a lot of people, they don't see the value of the things that irk you. And a lot of times like the messes of your life in the shit that's not working is the seeds and the raw material needed. You know, like Dan Sullivan has on the bottom of, of the. Oh boy. What the opportunity. Why am I a strategy circle? At the bottom of the strategy circle, which is a tool, it says all of those things that seem to oppose your goals are actually the raw material needed for a achieving them. There's tremendous amount of power in the ingredients of irritation and aggravation and annoyance and shit that isn't working. And that's what allows you to break through. So no, thank you, Steve, I really appreciate that.

I got another question for Steve though. I'm wondering right now, Steve, what's the equivalent of that key fob for you right now? What's the thing that you're focused on right now? What's up for you?

It's. Wow, Dean, you going for the kill, don't you? It's this book. It was about six months, not six months ago, it was probably about eight months ago when we finished the second version, the version that made sense. And I suddenly realized like, you know, but maybe not all the listeners know. When you get retained to do a book, you get paid a retainer. So you get a lump sum of money. And the beautiful thing about that retainer, you ain't got to pay it back. So if the book fails, you've already made your money. But then something comes over you during that writing process that you don't have a liability or a debt to the publisher because this is what they do. You have a liability and a debt to the reader. The person that doesn't know who you are, that's walking through the airport, goes past the bookshop, sees this weird looking book, picks it up and spends two to three hours of their life. 2499 on a hardback version. If you're not giving them anything now, there's a problem. And so when we suddenly got that, everything else I've done and all the big names that I've mentioned to you, I've been successful at. But now I've got a book here, I want it to change people's perspectives. I want someone to pick it up and go, well, hang on a minute. Email is not the only way to communicate. Building up a network. And you mentioned the gentleman in LA that you know, we both know very, very well is not just grabbing someone's business card and having a Rolodex of 4 million people, it's having a relationship with 4. So I want people to change. I want some old school values utilizing new technology to build those relationships. Because believe it or not, tweets, Instagram, all of this stuff is doing everything possible to dilute the relationship we have with people.

Yeah.

So my book is my focus at the moment. It's, it's my key fob. Actually. Here's a funny thing, talking about the key fob. I love touchy feely things like the key fob. I had to have that key fob. When the book came out, the you've got the gallery copy. I actually said to him, what's it going to feel like? And they were like, well, I said, when I get that book off the shelf for start, the first thing I dictated, it's got to be a hardback. I love hardback. There's something prestigious about a hardback. So they argued and they went, all right, it's hardback. So I got my hardback and I went, I also need a fabricy cover. So what they did was they knocked up a copy of this book in this blue fabric cover. Now they actually covered somebody else's book just to show me the size and feel of it. And I, I still have it here. So that's my key fob on my desk. The inside of the book is not the same, but I can touch and feel it. And when I'm talking to someone about the book, I'll actually have the book in my hand. So I'm feeling it. I get that experience.

I saw a video with you holding that one. So now there's a little secret, right?

It's beautiful. And these things come out. I think it's like about two weeks time, but that's been on my desk for probably about two months and I absolutely adore it. So my, my key fob, my focus, my focus board is all on this book. Changing some one person.

That's awesome.

Wow, that's good.

Well, you know let's, let's talk about, since we're on.

I love marketing. You know, there's, we have to do marketing of, of books. Like anything else, anything that you want to get out there, you have to, you know, let people know about it. And let's first describe, you know, who is this book for, who is it not for and what do you ultimately hope people get out of it?

Well, I think I've told, I think I've already answered the last one first. I want people to realize that I'm a bricklayer from London that now has the Pope on speed dial. If I can do it, what's your. So that's, that's the first thing you know, get out of the way yourself and start doing it rather than thinking you can't. Who is going to. Are the dreamers, the wants, the people that can't understand why they can't have it, can't understand why they can't make it. This is the book to get those people to change that perspective. It's for the entrepreneurs, it's for the wantrepreneurs, it's for the business owners, it's for the college students, it's for anyone out there that asks the question why not? And that's who it's for. So there's no age because we all know, we all know 70 year old entrepreneurs and we all know 16 year old entrepreneurs. So there's no age on this group. It's written to be completely transparent and street smart and all with credible action ideas and all got little antidotes of how I used it to do xyz. So that's who it's for and that's what I hope they get out of it. What would you rather question?

Well, that's pretty good. In the marketing of this, you have a whole thing that you're doing. Like you have some pretty cool gifts that you're giving people if they buy copies of the book. And so I'd like you to talk about what are the gifts that you're giving out and why, you know, how's that your marketing campaign. So describe your marketing campaign and describe how you are, you know, bribing people to do it. And when I say bribing, you know, you are incentivizing people to do stuff. And I also want to mention, like I've done on previous episodes, that me and Dean do interviews with people that we like. We are, these are not affiliate things. If you. No one buys Steve's book. It doesn't have anything to do with Me or Dean, we recommend people and books and marketing things and tools that we think will be helpful to people, not because we're getting paid for it as an affiliate. There's none of that stuff going on here. So you have a, you know, a really cool campaign that you set up about this. Which people, if they like what Steve is saying, they'll probably get a hell of a lot out of your book. And if they just want to see how some marketing is being done, they'll get a hell of a lot out of looking at what you're doing and how you're doing it. So kind of, kind of describe how you're promoting this.

Sure. So the first thing I did was reach out to my network and my circle. Don't go for the A players, don't go for the Z players, just go for the players. So anybody that you know, that you feel either is working in your sandbox, around your sandbox, does book marketing, does marketing, does podcast. So first of all, look internally before you start looking externally for your marketing and then quite simply look at other campaigns. Now I saw a campaign by Lewis Howells the other day and it was showing me those. And so I, I contacted Lewis and I was like, what's the thought process behind this? He was like, well, you know, this will get me books, bulk sales. If you buy this amount, I'll speak at your event, but I won't charge you. If you buy this, you get a consultation. Now, Lewis is a speaker and he's a very well known speaker and he's doing well. I'm not as big a speaker as that guy is, so I'm not quite sure if anyone out there would go, well, I'll buy this amount of books and he'll waive his speaking gig. When they're thinking, well, I don't know if I want him to speak, I haven't read his book. So I went with the tools that I had. So I put on there that if you bought a certain amount of books, I would give you a 30 minute consultation and we would talk about anything you want. I would give you, just like Richard did with my problem, I would give you an innocent third party perspective of how to handle that problem. That's one thing. The other things I put on there was, if you buy a book, I'll throw you into a raffle to come and sit with me at the American Music Awards in the same box that you sat at the Emmys. So I could maybe even sit them on the Joe Polish seat. So maybe that's a new, new addition to the offer. Another one's in there. Better than having the popo. Let's make that a nickel.

Let's make that an exclusive for I love marketing listeners.

That is an exclusively I love. Another one is that I'll buy you lunch and whiskey in Los Angeles and we can again chat over anything you want. There's one on there that you buy a lump of books and I'll actually take you to sit with me at my table at the Elton John, Sir Elton John Oscar party with all the celebrities that go to that. There's another one on there that I'll sign books even if you just buy a regular copy and pre order it before the 17th. I've got a whole bunch of videos that I did with Simon Schuster that they will grant you access to those videos.

How many books you have to buy to get into the Elton John after party bubble bath?

I don't know. But let me phone up, let me phone up out and go, hey, I'll buy the bubble. You, you supply the bath.

Well, leave out the bubble bath part. Just how many books do they have to buy just to go to that thing with you?

I don't know. Actually I try to walk away from a computer when I'm talking to people. So you'll have to go to steved Sims.com and look it up yourself.

That is a very clever sort of thing to act like. He doesn't know. I mean he probably doesn't know. He's Steve. He's been knocked at the head too many times because he's never been knocked out. His brain is a little like, you know, the memory is not.

No, no, but so that.

Okay, so that's pretty cool. That's good. So you're, you're. So where should someone go to order the book right now? Just Steve D. Sims.com versus like Amazon because they can get all the they.

Can get on steved sims.com if they're pre ordering it, then they've got all those options of the, the pre sell offers. You can go to Amazon, you can go online and go blue fishing. We're on Barnes and Noble, we're on Kindle where there's even downloadable. I actually they interviewed me. I can't believe this. They interviewed me to do the audio version of the book and wow. I'll tell you the funny story about that. They sent me three people that read like half a chapter and there were eight people. They picked three and they sent them to me and they went, hey, what is. Which One's your favorite. And all of them were basically American people trying to put on a British accent. Now I've got an old English bulldog as one of my four dogs. And I turned around to my agent and I said, you know, my old English bulldogs left testicle could do a better job than these. However, if I had to pick number seven, and they came back to me and they went, if your old English bulldogs left testicles not available, would you consider interviewing for it? So I actually. So I actually did, and big shock, horse surprise, I got the contract. So you can actually download the audible.

Version.

With me speaking it. Yeah.

Oh, my God, that's fantastic. That's fantastic. So number 42 of your playbook says some day doesn't mean anything. Never plan for someday today is what matters. So, Dean, anything else you would like to ask Steve, and then I'll hit him with the final question.

Well, I think, wow, that's a lot of. That's a lot of pressure. Now I'm going to suggest for people, that's what I'm going to do is this. I'd like to make that recommendation that we see how we can make some of those little Kekich credo booklets for the Bluefishing playbook. Because I would like to have it in my. In my pocket here. So that maybe be a request here. Because I look at these and, you know, as I was reading through them, it is. It's so thought provoking, you know, when you just think. Just pick one at random and read it and sit with it and meditate on it and think about it, and every one of them is. Is phenomenal thought process like that. So that would be my request.

Okay, great.

I like that. And Steve, so my question for you is, what did we not ask you? What could we have asked you anything that we didn't talk about that you would like to talk about right now?

Wow. Openly. No. You know, you guys are incredible. You've done this so many times that you do a fantastic podcast. I already know you. So I've just spent an hour chatting with friends. My wife's walked into the garage a couple of times trying to work out who I'm talking to and then walked away mystified. So, no, I. It's just been chilling and hanging out with two amazingly cool dudes that hand on heart, have never sold out and have just been amazing every time you've spoken to anybody. Clearly, this will be the bed pop. Best podcast ever. But still, I think you guys are awesome. No, thank you.

Thank you. And it's our pleasure to to share this with our audience. And I actually am going to read the book. I have it right here. I just spent a time thing and I wanted to make sure that we were able to get an interview in with you because I just recently got the book in the mail. The you know the pre release copy, as Dean was saying, it says right here advance uncorrected proofs not for sale. Which means this will be worth a lot of money on EB eBay at some point. But yeah, I will read it and I do recommend to all of our listeners go to steved Sims.com watch his video. Steve is truly a funny guy, a cool guy and he definitely beats to his own drum. And if you want to beat on drums that you've never beaten to before, he's the guy to check it out. And also his company is the Bluefish. You have to be a member. It's very exclusive. Start with his book. You'll get a whole good perspective of who Steve is and what he does. And if you come to a future Genius Network event, you may perhaps meet him in person. And Steve is based in Los Angeles but he, he can make things happen all over the world and that's what Blue fishing is all about.

And even in space.

Even in space. Even outside this book.

So on behalf of myself and Dean, Steve, always a pleasure.

Thank you.

And to all of our listeners, give us your comments on this. And since these book just came out, I know he would really appreciate as he just said, this is his big thing right now. Share this interview with as many people as you can if you found it funny and inspirational and useful to share it. And yeah, that's, that's all I have to say. So thank you Steve.

Thank you very much. I appreciate it guys.

Thanks for listening to this episode of I Love Marketing. If you'd like to learn more about the Genius Network annual event, please visit geniusnetworkevents.com that's geniusnetworkevents dot com if you would like access to the full interview, the show notes and the special resources for this episode, please visit ilovemarketing.com 309 that's ilovemarketing.com 309 19.