SSP 109: Adam Roa: Leaning into Greatness

Hello, welcome back. Jordan Kallenge here. Stay Shifters podcast. Pumped to have you with me. I'm back at 100% energy, as you can tell, because a couple of weeks ago I came down with the COVID or the flu or the virus, whatever you want to call it, knocked me back for a few days, but I found it to be a tremendous opportunity to go inward and really recharge and upgrade myself. I feel like whenever you get sick, it's your body going through an upgrade. And if you hold that belief system, what you get out of being sick is completely different to a belief of like, ah, like I'm, you know, I'm sick or I'm not. Well, yeah, it was actually beautiful. So I enjoyed getting Covid. I enjoyed being back in full health. This podcast was recorded a week before that. So I've actually been so, so excited to share this with you because the guest that we have on today is someone who I really admire, actually. I've really been inspired by his journey and I listen to his podcast quite a lot. His name is Adam Rower and Adam is a magician. He's a creative magician. He is a spoken word poet. He is an influencer online. He's actually also a really powerful coach. And in this conversation today or in this podcast today, you're gonna hear a little bit about Adam's journey and how he got to this place where he's built a million dollar coaching business that's a big achievement, and how he's able to maintain a level of energy that allows him to perform at the level he does while also traveling and living nomadically and connecting and collaborating with some of the wealthiest and most influential people on the planet right now in this space, in this personal. So I was super pumped to dive into this with him and I had a lot of questions and a lot of curiosity around how Adam lives his life. So really honored that I get to share this with you. And if you got some benefit from the episode today, feel free to reach out to me on Instagram 8shifters, send me a DM, tell me what you thought of the episode, share it with a friend, and obviously give Adam a follow as well, because his content is amazing. So without further ado, enjoy this podcast with Adam. Adam Roa.

Welcome to the State Shifters Podcast, a show dedicated to helping you discover your true potential through connecting the mind, body and soul.

Adam Rower, welcome to the State Shifters podcast, my friend. Super excited to have you on here. How are you this evening?

I'm doing really well, bro. Thank you for having me. Jordan I appreciate it.

It's all good, man. Like I said, I've just been, you know, really energized by connecting with you because you have been someone who I've been following for a while. I listen to your podcast and I'm always getting like, just like nuggets of wisdom from, from the content you put out. So I've been looking forward to being able to pick your brain and bring some questions to you to share with my community what an amazing soul that you are and things that you're up to in the world. So why don't you just give a quick little background about what you're up to right now and what's happening in your life.

Yeah, well, first of all, thank you so much. In the world of digital presence, it's. You can forget that I'll speak it for myself. I can forget that every, like every view, every listener is a person. And to have someone like yourself who's making big impact on the planet, to know that I'm able to help influence that in some way, shape or form is really cool. So thank you for sharing that with me. And for people who aren't familiar, my name is Adam Roa. I am a full time creative and I express that in a lot of different mediums. Most primarily known for my spoken word poetry and my thought leadership, I guess. I have two different podcasts, the Deep Dive with Adam Roa. And I have a podcast that I co host with Taylor Simpson called you'd're too much. And I have an online community for personal development called the Create Community and also a high level mastermind community for entrepreneurs that I'm a partner in called Leaders. Create Leaders. And yeah, I've been a coach most, most of my income actually I would say for the last decade has come through high end, one on one coaching. And yeah, I have just a presence. I love to explore the edges of my own consciousness and bring back what I can, the gold nuggets. And then share them as artistically, creatively and directly as I can.

Yeah, yeah, I feel that, man. And I guess for people listening that the overlap here was while I was living In Toronto from 2017 to 2019, your name came up a few times and then there was this, there was a video that I think was. There was a speech that you did, a spoken word poetry that you delivered and I think Goldcast shared it and it went viral and yeah, you kind of blew up very quickly. Am I right in terms of your exposure online? Yeah.

Well, it's interesting if you did When I was. I was an actor in Los Angeles for a while, and there was this saying that this director said to me, which has always stuck, which he said, every overnight success takes seven years. And so I've been releasing content for free on the Internet. Started with Facebook since 2013, so nine years now that I've been putting out content. And in 2018, I had one of my poems go viral, and to the tune of it's been viewed 200 million times on Facebook and it got viewed 40 million times in the first 48 hours. So from an outside perspective, yes, it went 48 hours. All of a sudden it was like, there's a. A viral sensation of this poem that was happening and my social media was taking off. And yet I look at it through the lens of, you know, it's been nine years of releasing content, and I was releasing content for five years before that ever went viral. In fact, when I was in your city of Perth, I toured my spoken word poetry show through Australia when I had, like, 3,000 Instagram followers. And so even though my poetry went viral, I was already touring my spoken word poetry on my own dime. No one was bringing me out. No one was sponsoring. It was just something that I wanted to do. And I want to make sure that I highlight this because I didn't wait for virality. I didn't wait to have a following to start doing what I wanted to do. I was already doing it. I was already committed to a path. And then along the way, I had a kind of milestone moment.

Yeah. Which. Which is almost like the energetic preparation had already happened for you to allow that big audience to come through. And you'd already done the prep work. It's, like, cool now. Now I'm at a place where I can continue to provide value to this larger audience because you're already providing value to the audience you had previously. So, like, what. Was there something big that shifted after that for you? Like, when? Like, how many new followers or how many new. How big of an audience did it shift for you? And then did new opportunities start to open up straight away from that, or was it a bit of a time?

Yes. Well, it's funny. It's funny, Jordan, because I have a couple. There's two different sides to this one. I mean, my Facebook page, for example, went from 8,000 followers to 108,000 followers in, like, two months, and my Instagram went from 5,000 followers to 20,000 followers in the span of a couple weeks. Like, was a pretty rapid growth in terms of social media and I was very unprepared to handle the influx of that from a kind of strategic entrepreneurial standpoint. Had I had for example a book of poetry, had I had for example a course, had I had an online community, like all of these things that I start to have now, had I had that, when I get a hundred thousand new followers who are like, who is this dude? This is amazing, that translates into capturing them into my entrepreneurial world of let me get their emails and let me make, move them from fans to customers and all of that sort of stuff. I was very ill prepared for that. I didn't understand how to do that. And in a lot of ways what I've learned and focused on has been in response to, wow, I could have handled that way better in terms of setting myself up for a long term kind of business strategy. But I think that, you know, I wasn't doing it from this, the viewpoint of how do I make this the best business? That hasn't been how I've looked at most of what I've done in my life. And in the periods of time where I have focused on how do I make this the best business ever? I found that it starts to drain me. I lose my spunk, I lose my energy. It's not the thing that drives me. And so for myself, I've had to learn how to balance the world of my creative artist and my entrepreneur. And I think that that's a struggle that a lot of artists face today. And I think that the opposite is also true for a lot of really successful business people. I coach them one on one. A lot of them, they're, they're highly successful in business and they're trying to figure out how to be more creatively fulfilled. And so there is this balance between these two worlds that is, is a struggle in many ways on both sides.

Yeah, I'm so glad you brought that up because that was, that was something I was going to ask you because, yeah, I've noticed that for myself like now that I've found this love for creating content, this love for sharing and capturing and impacting people. But then if you neglect the business aspect, then you realize that you're missing an opportunity, you're missing an opportunity to scale your level of impact. But then too much of the business takes you away from the fun element of you doing the thing that you really enjoy doing the most, which is creativity. So I guess when you are coaching someone who is in that place, do you suggest that they have or find outlets for expressing their creativity or does the creativity become the foundation pillar and the business is built around that. Or do you advise people get to a level of income that allows them to then, you know, support them in their creative expression? Like what, what, how do you then navigate that? Because if fun is the creativity, but you need money to be able to, I guess sustain you being in your creative expression full time, how do you support someone in finding that balance?

Well, the first part of that is understanding what you actually need. Then there's what you actually want. There's the very big difference and most people don't understand the difference. So what do you actually need? I personally need probably a one bedroom, like a nice one bedroom apartment would be enough. And a simple car. I haven't owned a car in years, so I know like I don't need a crazy car. So just like a simple car to get around and the ability to buy organic food, high quality food. But I don't really need to go out. I like to cook. Like figuring out what I need to live a life that I'm actually happy with. When I figure that out, most people, by the way, highly overshoot what they actually need. For me, I could probably like my need, probably about 5k a month would be like a need I could cover. I could live and cover and be satisfied with my life at 5k a month. So getting to that point of need is a priority. Once you've gotten to that point though, I think the biggest priority is how to sustain your happiness. When I'm making 5k a month, yeah, I want to make 10 times that. I want to be making a hundred times that. I want to be making 500k months, absolutely. But it's not worth it to be making 500k months unhappily than to be making 5k months, really stoked on life. Because what those people who do make 500k months and are unhappy are spending their money on is trying to find happiness. That's, that's what they're spending that money on. And the thing is, if they built that entire business around something that doesn't make them happy, they're trapped in a loop, a loop of unhappiness. And so when you figure out what that need is, and by the way, that need might mean that you're working a job that you're going to move out of, but you get to first get yourself to a point where you're hitting your needs. I don't ascribe to this idea of, wow, you could be this just amazing artist working on art, but now you're like panhandling and begging on the sidewalk and wondering how you're going to buy your next meal. I don't subscribe to that. Drive Uber, go and work at a restaurant, go and take a corporate job. Do what you need to do to get your needs met. And once your needs are met, be asking the question, how do I sustain happiness in my life? If you don't have your needs met and you're just doing the thing that makes you happy, you're playing the guitar everywhere, whatever, but you literally don't know where you're going to feed yourself or how you're going to pay your rent. You are in a constant state of fight or flight, which that in and of itself is going to contract you energetically to the point where you're not able to think outside the box creatively to how you could design a life that you actually want to live in the long term. And so there's this balance that we get to walk. And figuring out your need first and foremost is the starting place, in my opinion. And then once you have that need met, starting to ask those questions, okay, what is actually my need from a happiness standpoint? What gets to be a part of my life? I know I need to be playing music, I know I need to be writing poetry. I know I need to be sharing what I'm learning. I know I need to be traveling. I know I need whatever that is for you, you get to figure that out. Once those base level, primary financial needs are met, and where people get screwed up is they generally think, ah, I need like $10,000 a month to really have my needs met. And then they're trying to figure out how to make a six figure income and before they're ever even thinking about how to be happy. And the truth is, most people do not need a six figure income in order to start asking the question how to be happy.

Beautiful. Yeah, it's bang on and it's almost like, which is why I say this to a lot of people. There's a time in my life for about four years ago, I was living in Toronto and had fucking barely any money. I was making minimum wage in Canada, which is terrible. I think it's like $14 now. Living in Toronto, pretty much broke, not having a lot of money, but realizing I'm very happy because I was doing the work that I loved and I realized that happiness was coming through my creativity. But now it was just time to level up the income and expand that. And I think sometimes being broke shows you it Shows you if you can find happiness, but not a lot. It shows you that when you do get a lot, you know, it's just going to expand that impact. It's going to expand that level of joy that you've already connected with in your life, which is a totally internal thing.

Money is an amplifier. Yeah, amplifier. If you are unhappy, your money will amplify that unhappiness. If you are unhealthy, your money will give you more opportunities to expand your unhealthy habits that. That led to you being overweight and unhealthy. Anyway. It's very, very rare to see someone who is un. Unhappy, unhealthy, has bad habits, who gets a bunch of money that all of a sudden changes all of that. That's generally not how it works. So what we get to start with is looking at those things. Why am I unhappy? Why am I unhealthy? How can I shift those? And the thing is, when you realize that, wow, I would like to be buying better quality food. I'd like to be able to shop organic, okay, I need more money for that. That creates an energy that will call in more abundance in order for you to do that, because there's an expansive reason that you are going to funnel those resources into.

What I love about you, Adam, that makes you unique in the level that you're playing at is you've stepped into a level of expansion where you're making a lot of money while also creating, being a creator, being an artist. And we see, and we've both observed a lot of artists who struggle to make a lot of money because they're too, what you could say, in their feminine energy, too focused on the flow aspect of their creativity and not focused on the masculine element, which is, how do I actually, you know, systematize and structure a business to make money out of my art? What do you feel has made you unique? Anything able to do that and get you to where you are right now, where you've made a million dollars. Right?

Well, the first thing is recognizing that my art is an expression of my consciousness. And what people are actually paying for is my consciousness. The reason you have me on this podcast right now is not because of my poetry. It's. It's because of the consciousness that went into the poetry. It's the consciousness that goes into the podcast. And when artists are. Are have a consciousness that they really feel is worthy of being spread. And. And this is. This is a tricky one, because I'm sensitive to the idea of all human beings having value and all human beings like having an innate worthiness. But what really shifts is when there's an artist who recognizes that they truly embody a, a space of love and they truly stand for the elevation of consciousness on this planet. And they are using their art as a medium to impact people in a positive way. When that is is there, then I think artists, when they truly know that in themselves, have an opportunity to recognize that it's their consciousness that they can monetize, not just their art. And the moment that you do that, it opens up so much more potential for how you can be paid, because it's no longer, wow, I have to sell my paintings in order to earn a living. I have to be hired as a poet in order to earn a living. I can say I can put this consciousness into poetry. I can also put it into a podcast. I can also put it into one on one coaching. I can also put it into a mastermind. I can also put it into advising other companies. I do all of those things. And as a result of that, I have various streams of revenue that are all tied to the consciousness, not just the art.

And that opens up a deeper question or topic, which is how do you deepen your consciousness in a way to be able to provide the level of value that justifies what you're getting paid? I know what you get up to. I know the many plant medicine journeys you've been on, the deep dives into your own soul to pull out all the things that are getting in the way of you being that pure expression. But I guess there's still two elements of that, right? It's purifying the consciousness, but then being able to have the ability to take action and act on what, what divinity or inspiration is coming, coming through. Would you be able to answer the first part of that, which is, how does someone get to a place in their consciousness where they've accessed a level of depth that justifies this level of value from society?

Well, I think, I think there's a, there's a flaw in the question. There's no, there's no justifying a level of value. The level of value is determined by the person willing to pay it. Look at NFTs right now, like people are willing to pay 10 million, 15 million for a JPEG that someone probably created in very little amount of time. Yeah, with cyberpunks and different things like that. Right. The value is determined by the willingness of someone to pay for it. That's it. That, that literally is it. And so there's, there's no needing to justify it in, in any way, shape or form. However, what I, what I will say is that most people won't be able to get paid for, for something that they don't feel worthy of. So I've been paid a million dollars for a one on one coaching contract for a year. Most people just trip out at that very notion. They get like, what? That's crazy. Someone paid you a million dollars to coach them for a year. Like, that's insane. Blah, blah, blah, blah. And they get hung up on kind of like the flashy metric of a million dollars. What they don't think about is what did it take to get to a point where I could sit across from someone and say it's a million dollars to work with me with a straight face and not feel like I was a fraud, an imposter, that I was like cheating them, robbing them to actually feel like I could deliver a million dollars in value over the course of the next year. Or what did that take? And that is something that is an internal journey that people get to go on, whether it's coaching or whether it's, it's a product. Say you want to launch a clothing line. How do you justify charging $40 for a T shirt or $100 for a T shirt? The T shirt I'm wearing right now is, is from a company that I think the sales price on it is like $120. Why am I willing to pay that? Okay, sustainable fabrics, I know the, I know how it's being done. Sustainable dyes, all of these things. There's a give back aspect. These things are important to me and therefore I'm willing to pay more. By the way, they're still making a ton of money. It doesn't cost them that much to make the shirt, but I'm willing to pay for that because I refuse to go and shop at H and M and these places that are some of the biggest polluters of our planet and of clean water and of like slave labor, basically, where they're paying people such shitty wages in terrible working conditions in order for those clothing, that clothing to be created. How does this all tie together? The justification of what someone charges for that for their product, for their services is entirely based on their own ability to own it. The actual value justification is simply based on is someone else out there that says, yep, I see the value in this and I'm willing to pay that. That's it.

Yeah. So, and just quickly tell me quickly what was, what was the process or was there Something big that shifted inside of you that allowed you to own. Yeah, I'm worth a million dollars. That's how much it costs. A lot of you.

Well, there's my own internal process, and there's sort of the general process of understanding what good coaching actually is. And maybe this will be valuable for you because I know you're in a coaching certification program.

Yeah.

So from a personal standpoint, I had. I have my podcast, the Deep Dive with Adam Rowe, and I've had that for years. And I had a woman named Marcy Locke on my podcast, and she was known for being the million dollar mentor who was paid a million dollars for coaching. And I had her on my podcast and I said, okay, I've been introduced to you as the million dollar mentor, and I need to know how you actually said it's a million dollars to work with me. I could feel, and I say this on the podcast, you can go back and listen to this episode. I can feel that I can't hold that. There's a part of me that actually feels like if I tried to say that to someone, I'm a complete fraud. And as soon as we got done with that podcast interview and she left, I realized that bothered me. It really bothered me to think that I knew there were people that literally were sitting across from me that were visiting my home that were able to charge a million dollars and feel like they could own that, and I couldn't. Why did I feel like I couldn't own a million dollars? And that started me on a journey of the next year of actually saying, I want to shift, that I want to be able to sit across from someone and actually own the fact that it is a million dollars to work with me. And not only is it a million dollars, I'll deliver more than a million dollars in value. And it was about. I would say it was probably even less than a year later that I was paid a million dollars.

Wow.

So it shows you the actual power of the mind. And by the way, at that time, I think I was charging somewhere between 7 and $15,000. Not for. Well, let me. Let me scale. Because that was for three or four months. So let me scale that out. So I was charging somewhere between 20 and. And $40,000 a year for coaching at the time. So the jump from 20 to $40,000 a year to a million was a pretty big one. But over the course of the next year, I was able to increase my prices and then eventually charge a million dollars. So it was a process. It was a process of examining my limiting beliefs. It was a process of examining the depths that I was willing to go. And there's a of events that I went through that were very spiritual in nature. Ultimately, I was in an ayahuasca ceremony and I was told that it was now a million dollars to work with me. And I was told that it would happen by the end of the week, and it did. So there's a whole spiritual esoteric component to this that I won't go into. But what I will bring this back to, and the part that I was saying that might be really valuable to you is an understanding generally of what, what good coaching is and great coaching and then million dollar coaching. Good coaching is simply the ability for someone to spot patterns that you are not able to see. That is it. That is good coaching. If you have a coach that can see patterns in your life that you can't see, that's good coaching. Great coaching is the ability for someone who has the ability to spot patterns and then has tools that they can give you when they spot those patterns to help you in those patterns that they've been able to see. That's great coaching. Million dollar coaching is deep pattern recognition. Someone who can spot patterns and by the way, think about who is even capable of paying a million dollars, right? These are people who are highly successful, very intelligent, et cetera, et cetera. So someone who can spot patterns for that level and caliber of person that that person can't see, has the tools that can support that person, and then three has the ability to have that person to deliver the coaching in a way where that person discovers the pattern for themselves. This is a major distinction because when you're a good coach, you can spot the pattern and you can tell them the pattern. When you're a great coach, you can spot the pattern, tell them the pattern, and give them a tool. Excellent coaching is someone who can spot the pattern and figure out how the client's mind works in a way where asking the right questions leads that client to discover the pattern for themselves. Because the only way that that client will actually shift truly is when they have an experience of the pattern and that discovering it for themselves can oftentimes be a strong enough experience to help them shift it. But if they're just being told the pattern, then what is now happening is they're just taking you at your word. They're like, oh, okay, that makes sense. And it's all up here. And so that distinction might seem simple and nuanced, but it's a very big difference. Between good coaching, great coaching, and excellent coaching, and the level of client that you're working with becomes more and more difficult. You have someone who's never taken a personal development class or listened to a podcast like this before in their life. The patterns that they can spot are very simple. They're not able to spot like, the patterns of how this is related. Their fear of intimacy is related to the fact that their mom and dad got divorced. They can't see that. Whereas someone who's been in the work for years, who is a multi, multi millionaire and very successful, is able to spot crazy patterns in their own life. To have a coach that can spot something they can't spot, that's just a different level. And so that gives you an idea of how you can start to elevate your value as a coach.

Man, that's beautiful. Wow. Yeah. I know a lot of coaches listen to this podcast as well. So everyone just like, let that land for a moment. Like, especially as you were sharing, I was reflect thinking about all the times that I've told clients patterns or I've told clients, oh, no, you're like, this is. Can't you see? It's because of this. And it's instantly shifted now how I'm thinking about going into coaching sessions with people and it's more just like creating the space so that they can see or understand. Also embody a shift in a way of being to allow them to turn something that goes from thinking to knowing. And that is. That is a powerful shift in someone's energy that would open up so much more value in their life. In other areas. I can totally see why someone would have paid a million dollars for that if they're playing at that level already. Right, bro? You mentioned something earlier, just with some of the guests you've had on your podcast, some of the people that you've worked with. And it's very clear to me that one of your gifts is connecting people. One of your gifts is just your ability to connect with a network of friends and community who are playing at a big level in life. You're in proximity to a lot of awesome creators, business owners, entrepreneurs. Tell me a little bit more about what you've learned since being in proximity to some. Some people that I really follow and look up to as well, like Sherbene Jafra from Symbiotica, Gerard Adams from Leaders Create leaders. These are all people, like, top of their game, impacting and doing epic things, as are you. But tell me what you've learned from being around these people. And are there patterns that these, these high performers embody?

That's a really great question. Yeah, I'm very, very blessed to be surrounded by, by high, high performing individuals, very successful individuals. I was actually thinking about this recently where I went, the level of wealth specifically that I've been around in the last 60 days. Like people, people who are approaching, you know, being their net worth, being a billionaire and people who have multiple eight figure companies and these. I was, Sheen is amazing because he was driving me around in his McLaren, actually. I'm driving around in this, this ridiculous car and, and all of these things. And what I feel is to be true because my question around that, right, I'm not in a place where I.

Feel.

Like I am matching them in business, right? They hear these people who have companies that are eight, nine figure companies and they have portfolios of this stuff. And I personally, I don't run a nine figure business and so I don't even run an eight figure business. So what is it that has me in the room? What has me being invited to stay in their homes? What has me being invited to collaborate on projects or partner in business? Why are they actually wanting to be in my sphere as well? And that's a really powerful question because the, that is the answer to your question, which is each of these people have a clear understanding of what's gotten them into the room by understanding what it is that the most inspiring people, you know, the most incredible humans, you know, what is it that they look to you to want more of? I'm not in those rooms because they respect me as a businessman even though I'm, I'm a, I'm a good businessman. I'm in those rooms because of my creativity and how I express. That's why I'm in those rooms. They want, they want it. They are like, bro, like, how do you come up with this stuff? And, and where, like, how do you like, you express in a way that just really hits the heart. And like, that's what's getting me into these rooms. That's what's creating these friendships. And if I'm spending all of my time focused on how do I be the best businessman I possibly can? I'm shooting myself in the foot because that's not the reason why my network is expanding. That's not the reason why I have the opportunities that I do. So similarly, anyone listening to this really be in the inquiry of what is it that the most inspiring people, you know, look to you for? And when you can start to identify that double down on that, triple down on that. That is the thing that will unlock so many more opportunities. You don't need business people to look at you and be like, wow, you're such a great businessman because they're great business people. That's awesome. Let them be great business people. If you're an artist, if you're a coach, if really what your genius is is being the best coach that you can possibly be, double, triple down on being that coach, and trust that that greatness finds greatness. But if you're trying to be something where you're good at the expense of where you're great, goodness will find you, not greatness.

Well said. Well said, man. Resonate. And yesterday I was listening to Big Sean and Jay Shetty's podcast. I don't know if you listen to that recently. I think it was a new one they did around two, and I found. I just. I felt. I get so inspired by Jay Shetty's story because you just look at this man in. In who he's hanging out with now, who he's interviewing. We're talking like, the top celebrities, the biggest rappers, the biggest actors, Will Smith. And this man, through his level of consciousness, through the impact that he was having on his content, has now got him to a level where he's hanging out with celebrities and spending time with them as friends. And to me, it was just like that interview was like such a. Another great example of two guys at a level of consciousness talking about, you know, what they've learned from each other.

You know, yeah, I want to listen to it now. And I've had the opportunity to, you know, have tea with Jay in New York. And the. The thing that I'll share that a lot of people don't know about Jay Shetty is Jay had a marketing company like. Like Jay. Jay also knows the business of marketing very, very, very, very well. And Jay, at the time that we had t, he had three different companies, one of them a marketing agency. And all three of the companies he had CEOs in. He wasn't the CEO of any of them. And he just knew his role. And this is what I'm talking about. He knew where his genius was, and he had enough experience to understand how to hire the right people and put them in the right places. Like, he did understand that. But the idea that Jay Shetty was this monk in a cave that had no idea of digital marketing and then came out and just suddenly just started sharing videos and that was. It is disingenuous and misleading to people. And Recognizing you get to understand your medium, you get to understand business, or you get to hire the people who do, or you get to partner with the people who do. This is not just follow your dharma and just live your thing and whatever that is a piece to it. But I have yet to meet someone who has ignored an entire facet of what makes a successful business and have them actually become successful in business. By the way, this doesn't mean that they have to learn business. The answer might be finding a business partner who understands business, but somewhere in the ecosystem it gets to be respected. And I think a lot of artists and creatives often disrespect the, the, the aspects of business that are necessary to create a, an empire the way that Jay Shetty has.

Yes, 100%, if that's your goal, you know, and not everyone has that goal, but the people who listen to this podcast, me included, that that is one of my goals. I want to impact as many people as I can. I want to make as much money as I can. So that is such an important element of that. From what you just shared, bro, I am respectful of your time. I've got a few other questions that I want to ask you. One being what's something that you have shifted recently in your life that's unlocked new levels of energy?

I have two, two things that pop into mind. I was going to say the first is just, just actually coming into right relationship with my sexual energy. To be honest, I, I've shared on my podcast my spiritual sexual shamanic experience. I have a two part episode where I did a tantra retreat with ista, the International School of Temple Arts. And it's, it's like, it's jokingly referred to as sex camp by my facilitator. And literally in that there's a lot of nudity, there's, there's at night, there's the opportunity for like group sex capades. Like, it is an intense experience. And I've been in the study of tantra and sexual healing and a lot of that for many years, but I've never gone to something like that. And through that experience and other experiences, I've come into right relationship with my sexual energy as someone who was molested at a young age, as someone who was cheated on in my early relationships, as someone who spent the ages of 23 to 33 in one monogamous relationship relationship. And then once that breakup happened, I was like a 40 year old virgin and I had no idea what to do and what was going on. I to learn how to cultivate and come into right relationship with the sexual energy has been so key because our sexual energy is our life force energy. It's our creative energy. It's the energy that attracts and magnetizes and creates abundance opportunities so much and to heal that aspect of, of myself has unlocked so much potential for what I've been able to call in so much happiness, so much enjoyment, so much pleasure, so much of, of my power. And that I would say has probably been the biggest unlocking and shift and one of the biggest ways in which people limit themselves on this planet because they are afraid to explore that area of their life. They're afraid to, to be in the healing required to get into right relationship with their own sexual energy and all of the societal conditioning around taboos and, and other nonsense that has shaped so many of us.

I'm, I'm interested, I'm very intrigued because that retreat sounds, that journey sounds like really uncomfortable and it sounds like the, that's where a lot of growth happened to you. Because there was some discomfort around exploring that. If you don't mind me getting a little bit more specific around like what was the discomfort like? Was it actually being in group sex sessions or was it something more specific that you're being invited to explore within yourself that created like oh fuck, I haven't, haven't been there before or I.

Yeah, I mean at, at. On the simplest level because so for people who are interested in really diving into to a lot of what was going on there, literally I did a two part podcast series. One I recorded the morning I was going to it. So I share my intentions and all these things and then I literally record another one a couple days after ending it. So that, that will be. And each of those is like 20 minutes. So it is a deeper conversation. But what I'll share is that as someone, you know, molested at the age of five, I created a belief system that sexual energy was dangerous. It was, it would cause pain. It. It was dangerous to be the object of someone's sexual desire. And as a result of that, I really shut down my sexual energy and I had an avoidance of sexual energy in general that was really unhealthy and caught and from a wounding. And so to shift that into the perspective I now have, which is that sexual energy when wielded with consciousness can be incredibly healing, incredibly powerful and expansive. That now is the biggest shift that has allowed me to see it. And the truth is we all have been created from sexual energy and so it literally is inherent in us. So to be in resistance or to have a taboo where we're uncomfortable around the energy that is what created us is inherently fundamentally at the root, going to impact every area of our lives big time.

So now do you have certain practices or a certain connection with your male sexual energy that you're harnessing? Harnessing and like cultivating daily? Has something shifted in the way you operate daily because of that?

Well, I mean, I first started studying tantra, like, 2015, so seven years ago, and doing some sexual healing work around that same time. So I've had practices and started this. This work I've been doing for a lot, a long time, specifically since the retreat. The biggest shift, because of how, like, involved it was with other people. Previously, my tantra work had been in relationship. I'd gone with my girlfriend to work with tantra instructors. And so it was in this very specific container. To come to the ISTA retreat was more of this group dynamic of, wow, this woman had just said that she wants to connect with me tonight in something. How does that make me feel, what I do? And so having that. And by the way, I went into this experience five months celibate. So I was like, really? Just what's going on? And. But what I would say is that what has shifted is my willingness to exchange sexual energy and not sex. I mean, my willingness to walk through the world and be more flirtatious. The two weeks ago, I was at a restaurant and I was waiting for my food order, and this woman walks in and she was beautiful, and she sat down and I literally just got my food. I went up to her and I said, hey, what is your name? And she said her name. And I said, I just wanted to let you know you were really beautiful. And she said, oh. She was, like, super, like, flustered. And she said, thank you so much. And I said, yeah, have a nice day. And I walked away. I didn't say my name. I didn't try to get her number. I didn't try to ask her out. It was just that. And that's an example of. Of my willingness to just be in the realm of sexual energy and engagement that wasn't there really previously. And that's been a huge shift.

Big time, Big time. And this is something I've noticed with myself, and I'm sure you could probably relate to this as well as men, you know, the practice of being very specific or selective when we choose to direct our male sexual energy and more specifically in sex, to conserve or to hold onto that male sexual energy, not thinking we need to ejaculate every time we have sex has been a big shift for me in being able to cultivate more life force energy in my body. And then when it comes to channeling that into other areas like creativity, I know for myself, if I've held onto that energy for say two or three or four weeks, I've got way more availability. When my meditations and my breath work, there's just more energy circulating inside of me compared to if I'm having sex regularly and letting go of my seed. Is that something you can relate to? Is that something that you've noticed in your life, particularly around creativity? If you are, you know, remaining, you know, celibate for a few weeks or a few months. Did you notice issue?

Yeah, it really depends. So what you're talking about with semen retention is, is about keeping your, your sexual energy instead of like having it output and then the process of needing to kind of like regenerate it.

Yeah.

And.

The.

What'S important to understand is that sexual energy and creative energy are this. They spring from the same source, which is just life force energy. When you have life force energy coursing through your system and you point it in the direction of sexuality, it becomes sexual energy. When you point it in the direction of creativity, it becomes creative energy, but it springs from the same source. And that means there's a limited, there's, there's an unlimited amount, but there's only so much we can capacity at any given time. For example, when you're extremely tired and you haven't slept, you're going to be not, you're going to have less life force energy in you. You're going to feel less creative and you're going to feel less sexual. Like there's just less, less life force. And so the process of becoming more creative or becoming more sexual is actually the process of cultivating more life force energy in you. And you can do that through getting turned on by life. That could come from a woman that's, that brings this turn on into your life. And so sometimes having. That's where the concept of the muse is there. Like a woman who doesn't even have to be sexual. The traditional idea of a muse is not a woman that you're having sex with. It's just some a woman who brings this life force in, this turn on to your life that you then use to catalyze all this creativity. That's the idea of the muse. And so finding things that turn you on. And it doesn't have to be the opposite sex it can be things like good music, a good glass of wine, a good meal. Whatever it is that that actually turns you on for life can be is something that you get to cultivate in whatever way that is for you.

Amazing. Yeah, man, I love it. Before I let you go, hit me with some of your favorites. What are your ways of cultivating life force energy? What are your favorite practices? What are the things that are just like non negotiables for you every day that you will commit to?

I get into my body every day. I generally exercise. I find a way to exercise. I regularly dance, I stretch. So there's a lot of getting into my body. And then creativity is a huge piece to it. I want to be journaling, writing poetry. And then ultimately I get inspired, I get turned on by other creativity.

So.

I'll watch YouTube videos, I'll watch documentaries, I will go to open mics. Like I want to explore, expose myself to other creativity because again, that creativity is an expression of life force energy. So if I'm receiving the life force energy of other human beings, that is going to fill me up in, in certain ways. And so all of those are ways in which I amplify my own life force energy and as a result of that, have more that I can pour into the things that I want to pour into.

Yeah, big time. And then, then does your creative process become something that you plan in advance or is it something that's very much in flow when you feel a piece of inspiration come through, you pull out a journal or pull out a camera or something to plan a little bit more?

It's a both. And right now I'm currently working on my first book of poetry. And it is something that I've committed that every day I will put energy into this and in time into this. So there's that aspect of structure. And I don't write poetry every day. I don't, I don't. I write poetry based off of inspiration and when I feel it in me needing to be expressed. So it's just a.

Both. Yeah, gotcha. I feel you. And there's some again, what I, what I really love. There's one podcast you did, I might have been with Gerard Abdi, where you, you spoke about. When you're creative, every single day, you're happier. And it's something that I've genuinely found in my life, Adam, that I, that I share with a lot of the people that I work with and the people that I coach who are trying to move more into expressing their creativity through mediums. On social media like TikTok, for example, I made a commitment to myself that I was going to create something every single day on TikTok. And over the last year I've done that. And what I noticed was I'm way happier when I'm sharing and putting something out to the world and I'm accessing that part of my self expression. And it doesn't have to be through video or social media. Could be through dance, or it could be through journaling or whatever it is. But I've certainly found that happiness and creativity definitely go hand in hand. And I think the key, and I'm sure you can attest to this as well, is not being attached to the result. Like not needing a result from your creativity and just enjoying that process. Is that something that you feel like you've been able to master or are there still parts of you that are like, ah, fuck, hey now I really want to get a lot of views on this video. Do you still have that urge to want to get a result from it?

You know, it's. It's an inevitable part of being human. I think we want to be liked, we want to, we want to be accepted. So I don't think there's anything wrong with. Man, I hope people like this thing. However, defining the success of something based off of how many views or likes or how much money or any of that, that's a slippery slope. I mean, think about my career in a way. 200 million views on a poem. If I've measured everything I ever did against that thing, which is one of the top. It's literally one of the top. Like, I think it's one of the top things. Three motivational videos of all time on Facebook. There's an article written about it. If, if I was paid a million dollars for coaching, if I now only ever chart like it's a million and one for the next person. Like that's. It's measuring things based on those external metrics. Are, are, are. It's. It's a dangerous game to be playing. And for me, the biggest thing that those huge, huge milestones have done for me is they've just removed that pressure. I know how ridiculous it is to try and think that every poem I'm going to release out on the Internet needs to do more than 200 million views. I know how ridiculous it is to think that every client that I work with, one on one now needs to pay me a million dollars. Like there's so much to that. That's so ridiculous because those numbers are so outrageous that it's kind of freed me up, to be honest with you. It's freed me up to just. Yeah, it's just all a game, like, what. What is the most fun? What can I be most proud of? And then from there it's like, okay, let's. Let's just love the. Out of my life.

Big time. Big time, man. I've really enjoyed having this conversation with you. I've been really looking forward to this. And you're bouncing around in different places around the world, and your lifestyle is something that, you know, probably a lot of people look to and go, damn, I want to. I want to be able to do that. And me included. Like, there's parts of my bundle which I want to do that soon, travel around. But I'm sure there's a side to that that's difficult and challenging as well. Right? I guess you probably don't have a grounded routine in one place because you're moving around so much. Like, have you noticed? Is that. Is there, like a difficulty. Difficulty to the constant traveling? And have you been able to navigate that? Like, I'm sure you're enjoying it, but is there a difficulty of being productive and efficient if you're moving around a lot?

Yeah, it's. It's a. It is a big challenge because things that you want to do get easier with routine. It is. It is easier to eat healthy when you have a fridge stocked with the groceries from the grocery store that you have. It is easier to stay healthy when you have the like, okay, I can wake up at this time. I'm in this time zone. I can go to the gym or I have my thing. Like, all of those things are easier to do. And I have been fully nomadic, like, incredibly nomadic for four years now, and the longest I've stayed anywhere is three months. And that was one time. And the rest of it has been probably closer to about two weeks to a month, sometimes as little as. I was in Costa Rica for six weeks recently, and I think I stayed in eight different places in those six weeks. And so there's a lot of travel, and it makes some of what I want to do very, very difficult. I find that creativity for me is actually easier when I'm grounded, which is why I'm doing three weeks in this one spot to really get some progress made on my book. But the truth is that I haven't found the clear knowing of where home is. And because I don't know where home is, I'm not stopping the movement around the globe just Because I'm wanting to stop. Because I'm also not moving around the globe just because I want to move. I'm moving around the globe based off of this person here is saying, yo, let's collaborate on this. Come out and visit me. Oh, my group program. At the end of this month, I'm heading down to Peru because I'm bringing my group program down there to sit medicine in the jungle. Like that's a reason to go to Peru. And I'm going to be there for two weeks and then I'm going to go up to California because I'm filming some content that I'm directing for a friend of mine. And then I don't know where I go after that, but I'm being called. And the way that I describe it is spirit gets no resistance from me when it's a really clear, hey, here's this opportunity. Go to Egypt. Okay, sure. Like, I can go to Egypt. I have nothing on the calendar. Let's go. But I am actively saying I'm ready to settle. The next chapter of my life will be grounding. I'm going to buy a home and I'm going to meet a beautiful woman that I want to make babies with and we're going to start a family. I don't know where that is. I don't know when that is. But until it's very clear, I will continue to be a vessel for spirit and I will continue to, to offer my travel and my, my life up to what spirit wants me to do.

Yeah, beautiful. And it's inspiring to, to witness someone having the courage to follow that. So, yeah, bro, I love it. And tell me, man, where can people connect with you online? What, what's, you know, what, what's coming up like the Create community? Where do you want to direct people? They want more of you.

Yeah, I have, I have a lot of online real estate. I would say that, you know, if you want to continue to follow me, I'm at Adam Roa on Instagram, I'm on Facebook. I have two podcasts, the Deep Dive with Adam Roa and you'd're too much. Both of them are available everywhere. I have an online personal development community called the create community. It's thecreatecommunity.com and I have a high level mastermind for entrepreneurs that are wanting to scale their business while living a fulfilled life. We do live events and we have weekly calls and that's through leaders, Create leaders. So all of these are places that you can get more of. What I'm up to what I'm doing. And, yeah, thank you for having me on the podcast, bro. It's been a great, great conversation. I'm glad we got a chance to do it. I know I've been traveling, and it's been difficult to. To nail down.

We made it happen. And, yeah, guys, I highly invite everyone to check out Adam's stuff online. The spoken world poet you just shared on Instagram, by the way, was. Was phenomenal and highly suggest just people get an experience of, like, you. You and your genius. It's. It's fucking powerful. So please, keep sharing your work, man. Keep doing what you're doing. And thank you so much for coming onto the show today.

Yeah, thank you.