INSPIRATIONAL MAN Born Without Legs Or Arms SHARES How To OVERCOME HOPELESSNESS | Nick Vujicic

Sometimes our dreams don't come true, but to understand with the right attitude, Hey, whatever's meant to be, I'm gonna reach my full potential.

Welcome everyone to the School of Greatness podcast. We have one of the top motivational speakers in the world, Nick Vujicic in the house. I'm gonna pound it, brother. What's up?

Good to see you, man.

Love you. Super pumped, love you too, man. I'm excited to be here, Louis. Dude, I think I saw a video of yours probably like seven, eight years ago online of you speaking at some small school or something where you're just.

Kind of like flapping your foot.

Maybe you're playing guitar or you're drums. Drums. And kicking a tennis ball.

Yes. Yeah.

And I was just like, man, this guy's got such a positive attitude and such a kind soul. And then at the end of the video, you're hugging like a thousand kids. And I was just like, I can't wait till one day to hug this man. So when you came in, I was like, oh, my man, bring it in. Very excited. You've been taking the world by storm with your message of positivity, of living without limits. And for those who are watching or listening that maybe have never seen your story, Give us a brief recap of how you were born and really how you became this way. I guess how you're born, what happens, and how you got into this world.

Well, first of all, it's so awesome to be here. Thank you, Louis, so much for having me. And hello, everyone watching. It's an honor. First of all, my accent's a little watered down from Australia. That's where I was born. And my parents, they loved me. They encouraged me. They believed in me. They told me every day that I'm beautiful the way that I am. When I asked them, what happened? Why was I born this way? They said, well, we don't know why, but there's a greater purpose. And I love your title, the School of Greatness, because that's what it's all about, leveraging your full potential in not saying and wishing and hoping, I wish I was given more to do more, but doing your best with what you have. Those are the people who master full potential in their life. And I'm never going to be a motivational speaker to say, Everything's possible. Just dream and it's going to come true. Not just hard work, but your full potential. Sometimes our dreams don't come true, but to understand with the right attitude, Hey, whatever's meant to be, I'm gonna reach my full potential. And that's what it's all about. And I didn't know why I was born this way. I didn't believe I would actually become independent, married now with four kids, traveling around the world to talk about hope was really Fantasy. I actually felt like at one stage I had no hope for myself, no purpose.

How old were you when you had that?

Yeah, age six, seven, eight were the bigger questions that I asked myself, saying, why am I here? Why did this happen to me? And I went to school and, you know, kids would come up and they would tease me and I'd try to flip it around, you know, on a humorous level and say, you know, they asked me what happened, I'd just say cigarettes. And, you know, just the oldie but a goodie. Yeah, I'll go right. And, you know, I love pulling pranks, you know, today and doing crazy things like getting my friends to put me in the overhead compartment of airplanes and dress me up as a pilot.

That's amazing.

Yeah, it's been fun. Travel now 74 countries and the universal truth of asking yourself, why am I here? What's my purpose? What's my value? What's my identity? Am I defined by what other people tell me? Am I defined by my previous failures and what I can or cannot do? And so that whole understanding of who you really are and the self-awareness that we all need to have and embracing who you are, embracing that you are unique, that there's not another you. And that's why my parents always said, Nick, there's not another you. Do your best. Keep going. Don't give up.

Now, usually Serbian parents aren't as positive from my understanding. There's more of a mentality that's more of like pessimistic than optimistic in Serbia. I don't want to be judgmental, but that's kind of the, the thoughts that I've heard from my Serbian friends.

No, it's true. So we have a mutual friend, Nalbantoglu.

Exactly. You know, so how did your parents actually instill this in you? Were they always positive or when you were born they were like, we have to switch this on so that he doesn't go down a dark place?

Well, the way that I just told you how they encouraged me aren't the words that they actually use every day. It was more like, we love you, but hey, you know, basically, We can't change what we can't change. We can't tell you why this has happened, but it's up to you. You don't know what you can achieve until you try it. Because I have a little appendage on my left side of my body, and it's enabled me with two toes to do, first of all, it's my mobility. I can walk, I can swim, I can golf and fish and move and drive my wheelchair.

It's amazing.

I've had no limits. I've even done skydiving.

Funny, my girlfriend wants to do it this year, and I'm like, I just have no desire. I can see the video of you doing it, but I just have no desire. But I feel like I should probably do, I think because I have no.

Desire, maybe I should do it.

I don't know, that's up to you.

Okay, good. But I'm glad you're not pushing me to do it. I'm not pushing you, man. Not seriously, hey look, my palms were sweating, my knees were shaking when I did it.

But I'll tell you, it was a thrill of a lifetime. I'll never do it after having now kids though. Now we have four children and it's just, it's not worth it. It's not worth it. I went in a, the Blue Angels. Do you know the Blue Angels?

I do.

Fighter jet. That's awesome. For me, that was the most terrifying thing to go in a jet with 5G or 6G, whatever we did, and to do the loops and everything, because I get very dizzy quickly. And I get seasick. I get like, when I go upside down, I get nauseous. So for me, this was a big risk to take. It's massive. And for three days, I was pretty much sleeping, recovering from this. So I'm just like, I just don't have, I feel like I've done scary stuff.

It's all good.

Yeah, jumping out of a plane, I'm like, I don't want to be out for three more days.

It's the same thing with bungee jumping. I'm just like, I don't know. I never do bungee jumping and I wouldn't do anything just because someone told me to do it a long time ago.

But for me, what I was taught.

By my parents, Siri got you. It's all good. But for me, my parents always said, Nick, we don't know what you can achieve until you try it. And so they didn't know what I could do until I was given a keyboard and now I can type. 53 words in a normal computer.

With like one toe.

That's it.

53 words.

Yes, a minute.

That's crazy.

And so no one knew what Nick could do unless Nick was ready to try something but embrace failure as his classroom. And that was the attitude. First of all, my parents said, Nick, you need to become a millionaire to survive. You're going to need caregivers. Mom and dad can't help you. You need to start a business in accounting and financial planning, get employees, they're gonna be your hands and feet. And I was six years old when they told me that. Wow. And so that was the- you-'re like, but I don't wanna be an accountant.

I'm like, that's boring. Or be a soccer player.

I wanna be a soccer player. But that was the understanding. I'm never gonna be a professional footballer. I'm never gonna be a tennis player. I needed to though find my full potential. And I'm so glad that it started from ground zero, where I actually started vacuuming the floor of our home with my shoulder and chin. for $2 a week. Wow. And it taught me goal setting. It taught me being thankful for what I had. And my parents, the Serbian way, they don't give their children everything they want when they want how they want it.

You cry, you complain, they're like, you're not getting nothing.

Nothing, nothing. And it's interesting now look at the Millennials. If they are given everything they want, how they want it, when they want it, when are they ever first thankful for what they have? And second of all, are we really preparing them for what the world is? Does the world really give you everything you want when you want it, how you want it? That's not preparing them. So my parents said, Look, we are here for you. Go and do your best and get ready to fail. That's basically at six.

Wow.

What the upbringing was.

It's interesting because I probably around six, seven, eight, I was asking, it's probably every kid's asking, why am I here? what's my purpose or why am I here? What is this place? And I remember I would get in trouble. I was horrible in school. Horrible. Always in the bottom of my class. The reason I created the School of Greatness is because I created the thing I wish I would have had and.

The way I could learn something when.

I was a kid. It's awesome. And I remember I would go into the principal's office often because I'd get in trouble and I would just tell them I wish I were dead all the time over and over again, getting into the principal's office. Was there ever a time when you just said, I wish I were dead. I wish I wasn't here? And did you get picked on a lot in school? Or were they kind of like understanding of what was going on and friendly with you in school?

And by the way, congratulations on your documentary.

Thank you.

Because that's one of my inspirational, aspirational dreams that I one day want to harp on that. That's my passion to reach now young kids about bullying because of me being affected by it. And so everyone has a story and I think everyone deserves a documentary, but congrats to you and your team to do it because it's gonna inspire and change people's lives. Thank you, man. Fist bump, dude. That's awesome.

Appreciate it.

But that's the point. It's like everyone feels at times that we're our biggest bully because we will always have someone saying something negative, but it's when we walk away, do we believe it? Do we let those voices echo in our mind when no one's watching? and that's when I realized I'm either my biggest encourager or my biggest discourager. And that's where attitude comes in. You know, you have people in your life where they'll keep on beating you down, but if you keep on coming back up, they won't keep you down. And so for me, that was the fight that I had to have within myself. And I one day looked myself in the mirror after a big bullying day at school in Australia, and I looked myself in the eyes and said, There's got to be one good thing that I've got going and just hold on to that. That no matter what happened and no matter what anyone else said that day that I could hold on to deep inner strength to say, no, but you know what? I know I couldn't play that sports activity, but I was watching and waiting for the first person to be eliminated out of that game. So then I could come over there by their side and look them in the eye and say, good job, better luck next time. how you doing? And all of a sudden I couldn't participate and I was kind of the alien but here I am transforming that obstacle into an opportunity and holding onto that and holding onto a physical aspect. Sure we understand that body is a body. We have a spirit, we have a soul, we have a mind and those are the three biggest elements of really who we are as a being. But I did look myself in the mirror and said, Nick, your eyes are pretty good looking and no one can ever tell you're different. And so when I look at people we know that the saying is the eyes of the windows to your soul. And so when someone looks at me in the eye subconsciously it's them affirming my value. And it's the attitude of looking you straight in the eye and saying, I acknowledge you, I see you, I'm listening to you and I'm speaking to your soul and you're looking into mine. All of a sudden everything else goes blurry and now you look at them and smile and say, you know what, better luck next time. Well they're telling me what they're going through, All of a sudden, I have depression, I have bullying, but if I can look and reframe my attitude to saying this, if I don't get a miracle, I can still be one. Now all of a sudden, that attitude redefines impossible. And so it's not a victimization, it's the attitude of understanding, here I am, this is who I am, this is what I have. I'm going to be thankful for what I have. and I'm gonna do my best to make a difference in this world. Yeah.

You know, it's interesting because sometimes the bullying is actually not that bad compared to how much we bully ourselves, like you said. Someone might say something for what? 10, 20 seconds at school or a comment online, but then we hold onto it and we repeat it. We repeat it on ourselves. You suck, you're no good, you're not smart, you're not beautiful. We repeat it over and over.

Right.

For days, weeks, years. From what one person said for a few moments. And we attach it to like that bullying. I did this for a long time. Kids would bully and then I would hold on to it and repeat it for years. It's crazy, right?

Yeah, there are 48 year old adults who were still trapped by what their father said when they were nine years old. And we feel like, okay, I've moved on, but deep, deep down, have we actually released those chains? And so it's unchaining those bounds, it's unchaining those fears. It's unchaining those that mentality that really holds you back from actually being happy.

How do we unchain them?

How do we unchain them?

If we've had it for a day, we hold on to it or a decade, how do we let go of the bullying or the negativity?

One of the greatest tools that psychologists use is actually writing a letter either to yourself or writing a letter to that person telling them what they did to you, how it made you feel, and how you forgive them.

I've done this many times. I've done so many different rituals and letter writing and burning the letter and burying it. It's so powerful.

It's been helpful for me too.

Huge.

And no matter how courageous we seem or immune to depression, we all go through ups and downs. We all sometimes need to just take a step back and say, okay, wait a second, what am I actually still chained to that I'm not even aware of?

Is there anything you're still chained to?

There was a recent unchaining. I would have to say 18 months ago.

What was that?

Someone hurt me really bad.

Someone close to you or more of like a business relationship?

It wasn't a business relationship. I quickly forgive business relationships, actually, 'cause money comes and goes. We all know that.

I need to learn that lesson, brother. I need to hang out with you, man. Sorry, you finished the story first.

Go ahead.

I mean, for me, it's been, for the last seven years, I've really learned how to let go quicker. Because I held on for stuff forever. I was sexually abused when I was five, and so I held on to this feeling of like, anytime, I was always a loving God, but anyone triggered me with the feeling of abuse, it was like I wanted to destroy them.

Yeah, no, absolutely.

Until I started to really start to heal within the last seven years, and practice it over and over. But in business relationships, because I was poor at one time, I was like, if anyone ever messes with my money, you know, they're gonna get it. But so I've had to learn a lot quicker to let go of that stuff and just be like, okay, money comes and goes. Relax, listen to Nick, you know?

You know, the greatest lesson is just losing all your money twice and then coming back.

Is that what you're talking about?

That's exactly what I'm talking about. No way, really? Yeah. How did it happen? At age 19, I was in the stock market. I was in real estate as a teenager. I learned how to day trade. And I did that as a college student. And then I went all in on a bubble that burst in 19. No, in 2001, 2002.

Yeah.

That's when I lost 40 grand.

And that was everything for me.

That was everything for me. Now, before I lost that, I gave away 30k to orphans in South Africa because that was my Goal. So, okay. Going, I don't want to miss the other question though.

So, let's How do you unchain the bullying or the hurt? So you've said 18 months ago there was a situation.

Okay.

Someone hurt you.

Right. Maybe we should leave that. Let's, let's, we've got so much to talk about.

I know, right?

Okay, so, so because my parents grew up poor.

Yes.

They taught me to give money back to the poor. My parents were in refugee camps. They met in Australia. They fled Yugoslavia in the 1960s. My grandfathers were both jailed and tortured for their faith. So coming back from such a humble beginning and then seeing my dad work his butt off three different jobs, plus my mom working, hustling all the way through while we grew up, we basically grew up in my grandparents' home because they were just trying to do everything they could. And so we got to a stage where they're like, hey, you gotta hustle, become a millionaire, all that kind of stuff. My dad taught me, learn financial literacy. That's how I got into it. And then I lost my money the first time at age 19.

And you're probably thinking, why I just learned financial literacy, but maybe I'm not that smart after all.

But I took that failure as my classroom, I was always getting ready for a no. I was always ready for a falling of an attempted, an attempt that became a failure because that's how I learned how to become successful. That's how I realized I don't know what's possible until, so I don't know what's impossible until I know what's possible. That was the mentality. So when I lost the money the first time, I got back up. I lost money.

The second time, what was this?

January 2011. I had a cash flow crisis. So you know business. 85% of businesses fail in three years.

In three years. So wait, 10 years later, you lost how much? All of it?

Yeah, I lost, yeah.

You weren't married at this time?

No.

Oh, that's good. Right.

But I did meet my wife and now I'm like, bad timing.

Oh man.

So someone stole 50 grand from me. Yeah. And then I had a cash flow crisis. And so the other parts of business is the failure because of success. And you weren't ready for success. Of course. Okay. So all that to say, I know that money comes and goes. And you can always pick up your shoes. Bread and butter, if not bread and butter, go bread and water. And then go back to it. And you just keep on going. You're the only person who's going to stop you from trying again. Period. Doesn't matter. And you look back and say, Now I know what I know. I will never come back here again. And we're not gonna take the money with us.

Exactly. So it's like, you lose it, you're not gonna have it if you're dead. That's it.

Either way.

That's it.

That's it. It stays here. Right. But I'm driven now, now that I'm married, four kids, and I want to make a difference in this world, leave a legacy. Nick ain't giving up. He'll never give up.

He'll never slow down either. I ain't retiring. What's the purpose of that? What is that? We gotta make an impact in the world.

Exactly.

Too many people that need to be served.

I heard the saying that the jet runs fastest on the end of the jetway. So with all your contacts, with all your wisdom, with all your knowledge and understanding, you actually are most productive in your last 10 years, believe it or not, with less work. And so, I'm ramp, I'm only, we're at the same age.

Same age. You're 37 years older.

December, March. You're a little taller.

Exactly.

But in all of understanding, we're moving forward from failure to failure. So it's not failure. I don't like the word failure or success as much as valleys. Valleys and mountains. After every mountain peak, there's another valley. You keep on going from success to success. But when it comes to going through the ups and downs of life, you do sometimes have a monkey on your back of unforgiveness. of something in the past that you, yeah, all that. So I had, so tell me this. So here it is. And the amazing thing about happiness, Louis, two things. Are the people who can unchain themselves of the past are the most happiest. And those people who actually intentionally practice an attitude of gratitude. I've met billionaires, I've met 21 presidents, prime ministers, vice presidents. I've spoken in front of 10 governments. I've been on the internet, 2 billion people know me from the internet, being on TV to 730 million people for 90 minutes of my time. Like just a whole keynote to 700 million people, that's 10% of the world. And now we're focusing on America, but when I've done all that, looking back, I realized until 18 months ago that I've been carrying something that someone did to me in 2007. And I actually wrote about it in one of my books. But no one really reads my books. They're gonna see me more on the podcast than they will with you. But in my second book, I talk about how I fell in love with a girl in America back as a teenager. We were both teenagers and her dad was a mentor of mine and encouraged me. But when he found out that we had feelings for each other, he didn't think that I was good enough. Suitable, if I can just put a verbal, you know, kind of just umbrella, not for my daughter kind of thing.

And so you're 17.

I was 19. 19. And she was also a teenager and we walked away, but I was waiting for her for a very long time. And unfortunately, when I could finally let her go in my heart and my mind, this was four and a half years of waiting. No dating, waiting, silently waiting for her to- no contact. No contact. Finally, we saw each other again, and it was like the first time I could actually think of her, look at her, and talk to her after all those years and feel like, okay, I can actually look at her just like any other human being and not have butterflies. Finally, I could let go. And then guess what happened? What? She fell in love. With you or someone else?

No, with me.

No way. So like when we first met, sparks.

Were in the air.

Remember this 18 months ago? I could go, wait, no, no, no, no, no, no. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Ages ago, this is like, 2002. Yeah. We first fell in love.

Four and a half years.

She said, I'm not ready for a serious relationship. I said, I'll wait for you four and a half years. I waited. I'll wait for you. No time frame. Finally saw her after four and a half years. She had sparks just like we had when we first met. And she's like, I actually might be stopping the biggest blessing in my life by not moving forward with you. Her dad still refused. And her whole family said, basically it's either Nick or the family.

Shut up.

And that was so hard for her. and it was so hard for me. And we'd never really had closure on that. And I never really forgave her family until two years ago. And it wasn't like I got to talk to her whole family. One family member reached out, and we had a conversation, and it helped me to like, wait a second, here I am, I'm married, I love my wife with all my heart, I love my kids with all my heart, you'll never forget your first love for sure. No one ever forgets it. But to actually be missing a part of my heart or thinking at all in some aspect, way, shape or form of that rejection, it was me. Whether or not people say sorry to you is not the point. Whether people understand that they've done wrong to you or not is not as much as the point of you actually saying, Whether they say sorry or not, it doesn't make it easier even sometimes because you can still hold unforgiveness. Again, it's the attitude of understanding I need to let go of things that I need to let go for me. Because if I harbor unforgiveness, I already have no arms and no legs. Why add another disability?

Exactly.

Right? And so I feel like we all go through that and it's all got to do with attitude. Who am I? What have people done to me? Said to me? Just like that. It's all bullying. But what do you still subconsciously believe that you still haven't addressed?

How do we get people... I mean, there's a lot of people watching, listening, or saying, yeah, that sounds.

Easier said than done.

How do I truly let go of hurt, pain, resentment? And I love... There's a quote that you said, Fear is the greatest disability of all. It is. And I think probably a negative attitude is probably one of the greatest disabilities of all, too. I don't know if I'm gonna speak for you, but if you don't believe in yourself and you have this negative attitude constantly, you're disabling yourself for all the good and all the love and all the joy in your life. So how do we, you said writing a letter is one strategy.

It's one strategy.

What's another, I mean it took you what, 10, 12 years to let go?

Right, so going back to any depression or letting go, so first of all when I was a kid, going back to bullying and stuff, ages 8 to 12, I was depressed. I attempted suicide at age 10, believing that I had no future, believing that I had no hope, believing that people's opinions on me defined my future, failure defined my future. I was just in this very unhealthy spiral. So there are three things to get out of depression. Number one, what I ritually do is I'm a spiritual man. And so apart from prayer and believing that God gives me faith and purpose and help, I actually ritually write out the things that I'm still thankful for. And intentionally every day, being thankful for what I have and not just the things that I have, but I'm actually writing a book actually on attitude right now. And one of the things I wish that we all did more is stopping and going back to the last thing that could have happened even worse.

Yes.

And being thankful.

So that it didn't happen worse. And I know that sounds, I didn't lose my foot. I can speak, I can see everything.

Okay, so watch this. My dad died of cancer. Okay, 2017. I'm thankful he didn't die in a car crash, that I could still say goodbye. I'm thankful that my whole family was in California when he got diagnosed with cancer. Can you imagine if half of us were in Australia and half of us were in America?

They're all here.

We were all here. Amazing. Really, I'm not saying that's a cop-out or it could always be worse. And then what do we say about the orphans and the people who were human trafficked? Well, I've seen human trafficked people go through a rehab, find their spirit and their faith and their value once again to the point that not only are they mentally healed, but watch this. They get a job, save up money, and they go with a buck, talk about forgiveness and letting go and transforming into a miracle to let other people let go of their chains. They save up money, they go with a bucket, a white towel, water, and they save up 700 bucks cash in India. I've been there. They go back to the pimps and madams where they were once being abused by, they were kidnapped by them, and they said, I've come here to wash your feet.

Shut up.

No.

Shut up, they do not.

No. I've interviewed these guys.

Oh my gosh.

They go back with a bucket of water and a white towel and said, and I want to show you the symbolism of my forgiveness. My soul has been restored. I am a brand new person. And I know what you did to me was so bad. And I don't know why you've chosen this path. You've got money, you've got power, but your soul is lost and you haven't found happiness. And I've come here today to tell you, that I held unforgiveness until I found the forgiveness for myself of the things I've done wrong. So I've seen, so I'll get to the three points of getting out of depression, but I've seen from brokenness to triumphant victoriousness, victory, where this sex slave forgives that person, washes their feet, hands them money and says, Give me that 10-year-old.

Oh my gosh. So he buys them from them. Wow.

That 10 year old girl is told by the 19 year old, you're my sister and that will never happen to you ever again. Oh my gosh. They go through rehab, they find a job, they save up money, then together they come. But they don't.

Dude, this is crazy.

If that's not redemption, Louis, I don't know what is. So do I believe in redemption? Absolutely. Wow. So if you really believe in redemption for even the failures of your own self and the redemption of broken pieces being turned into something beautiful, then we must be able to forgive ourselves. We must be able to forgive others because in the end we only harbor that negativity. So moving forward, the three things to get out of depression, number one is still be thankful for what you have and be thankful for what could have gone worse. Right? That didn't happen. Number two, talk to someone. I feel like this is key.

I feel like, for men, most men never express how we feel.

No.

I wrote a whole book about, it's called the Mask of Masculinity. It's about opening up and being more vulnerable as a man, because for 25 years I held on to shame and resentment. And right when I started to talk about it, it was when I started to set myself free. So, sorry to interrupt, but talking to someone, one person, can transform your life.

And I think especially when you become a visionary and you become successful, you actually realize the value of having friends, real friends, who can be like a men's group around you, who can encourage you and you just share life together. What's going on, man? Well, this week, I have a men's group once a week and we do life together because we need each other. And so talking to somebody, being transparent with them and getting that encouragement. And thirdly, actually helping someone in need where you cannot ascertain, nor even is it in your mindset of waiting for them to look you and say thank you.

Where's being in service? Giving.

Yeah. And that instigates purpose-ness. Many people are depressed because they don't know what to live for. They haven't found something yet to die for. When you have found something to die for and live for, when you know why you do what you that's when purpose gives you the strength to override all limitations and fear. Purposeness was key for me. And that's what I wanted to tell you as a teenager, that no matter what hell I went through, I tricked my attitude into a positive mindset. How did I do that? I focused just like that look myself in the eyes and said, I'm holding onto the eyes. Hold on to a goal. My goal was to give money to orphans. So I put a picture of an orphan on my mirror. Wow. Who's smiling at me. I didn't know who that orphan was. And I knew no matter what I was going to go through that day, that I'm a day closer to making a difference in someone else's life. And the reason, Louis, why I became a speaker was because a janitor, you're going to love this, It was the janitor at my high school who looked at me and said, One day you're going to be a speaker. And I said, you,'re crazy. He was the first person to encourage me to start speaking to students at my school, which led me to a public school speech where in front of 300 sophomore students, I was just sharing my heart and one girl was weeping. Half the girls were crying, but one girl was weeping. And she interrupted my speech. She put up her hand in the air and she said, I'm so sorry, but can I come up there and give you a hug?

This is the video I saw.

Yeah. And she came up and she hugged me. She said, no one's ever told me that they love me. No one's ever told me that I'm beautiful the way that I am. And that's when I knew I was born to be a speaker. And I realized, wow, here I was at 10 years old trying to commit suicide. because I had no hope. Now finding hope and helping other people find hope for their own life, it's the greatest drug I've ever found in my life.

It's amazing, right?

It is. And that's why we're here in America establishing a whole new platform in corporate America. Because it's not just the teenagers who lack self-belief it's not just the teenagers who bully themselves. It's not just the teenagers. who have problems dreaming bigger. And when they see a man without arms and legs on stage saying, what's your excuse? Wait, wait, wait. What attitude do you have? Why? Wait, let's adjust that and let's see the trajectory of where you really could go. If this is what I've done without arms and legs, what can you do?

It's amazing, man. It's amazing. What, you know, one of the things that came up for me is someone said this. I can't remember who, but. you know, holding on to resentment or being angry at someone is like drinking poison and expecting them to die. To die, right?

Something like that.

I'm getting the wrong. No, no, no.

You're right.

Something like that. You're right. So the more we hold on to this resentment or even just. I feel like the more we hold on to depression, anger, resentment and negative attitude, it's like we're expecting someone else to be hurt by this attitude or this resentment, but we're just hurting ourselves. and that person continues to abuse us over and over again the more resentment we have. So we only can set ourselves free when we start to forgive.

There's other proactive things, and I love that. There's other proactive things that I'm actually writing about in my upcoming book in the next couple of years that will come out in attitude. But I've learned something about me that I've never learned before just recently, which is being proactive and actually realizing and being aware of those triggers being found when I go into a room in my mind. How do we get to that place? Is it when we're tired? Is it after we've had a drink of alcohol? Is it when we're missing something? Is it when we fail?

When we didn't sleep well.

Didn't sleep well. Is it a music? Is it a song? Is it a mood? And trying to be fully... Now, I'm not getting so scientifically, But no joke, I actually found the triggers that took me to that room.

What were they?

I started cutting it out. So believe it or not, this is the first time I'm ever sharing this on public.

This is what happens in school of greatness.

I love you, man.

I love you too, man.

So no one knows this, but I've got now chronic back pain. So I have really, intense pain that kicks in about five or six p.m. every day, no matter what I do. Just to sit up straight. You can see that I'm not sitting up straight. It takes a bit for me to just sit up straight. And so with that, I, you know, in the Serbian culture, you can ask anyone, we grew up seeing my parents have a glass of wine a day.

Every day.

And that's it. That's just normal. That's it. And so we were surrounded by that. And so what I found myself doing was going towards that but also taking the edge off the pain off my back. And when I did that, especially when I'm traveling, that's when your mind kind of like, hey, I can now relax and sometimes it's so easy being away from the wife, being away from kids that some of those other issues come up and you start going into that room, then you start playing some songs that you're reminiscing and then you go, It's just a trigger effect. And what I realized was, I never want to be dependent on something at all. Because when you do a substance on any way, shape or form, it's not like I had a problem with alcohol as much as I actually challenged myself. I took two months not drinking anything, was fine. Then did another three months, no problem. But knowing that that's going to eventually end, I'm like, I wonder if that itself is enough. So I'm transparently telling you, November 16th, 2019, I made a commitment to myself that other, other than special occasions to have one drink. So my birthday, my family's birthdays, my anniversary, Valentine's. Yeah, those eight, nine days of the year, my twins are born in the same day, so I can't do it, but. I'm off alcohol, really, man. Completely, completely.

Congrats, man.

Thanks, thanks. And that- that's big. To me, was big. It was big. Well, here's the thing.

I mean, you probably have a lot of pressure, especially in the space that you're in to, you know, you're speaking about positive mindset. You speak a lot, do a lot of motivational speeches and corporations, but you also do a lot in the faith-based Christian community. Yep. And you probably have a lot of pressure to show up a certain way every single day. and sometimes if you're feeling pain, I mean, it's like you got pain, you got stress, you got all sorts of stuff you're dealing with.

Right. So. And I promise I never took a shot before I went on stage.

That's never happened.

But he's on the record. But no joke.

You know what? You know what's perfect, man? We're all human beings. No joke.

And i've never been drunk in my life.

I've never been drunk.

Come on.

I've never been. I've never taken drugs. I've I've had a couple of shots of alcohol here and there, but I've never been drunk. And I remember saying to myself, I have other vices, don't worry, I'm not perfect. I have sugar or candy cakes, it's all of it. But I remember saying to myself, when I mess up in life, I don't want it to be because I'm on a substance and making an excuse. I want to be able to say, yeah, I was an idiot, I made a mistake, I screwed up, it's my fault, and I'm the one to blame. not this thing where I was on this influence. But I think it's cool. So why have you never told anyone about this? Why is this the first time publicly? Were you feeling shameful by it?

Were you feeling... No, it's almost like I haven't written a book for five years and they say, so what have you been learning? I'm like, well, let me tell you some stuff. But what was beautiful about that, it's actually making the most of life. Two other stories I want to bring into this on the alcohol thing, because then you understand the full context of things. My kids, I used to jump on the trampoline. My oldest now is seven, so when he was two, we used to jump on the trampoline. I used to run around. My back got worse in the last seven years. I can't do as much. But then after I have a shot of whiskey or scotch, which is what I really enjoy. Enjoyed a glass of wine. I don't feel like it. And he looked at me as a young kid, I think he was only four or five years old, and he knows that daddy He was smart kid. Smart kid. He knew what jet lag was at age five. And he said, oh, Daddy, I know why you don't play with us. Cause you're jet lagged, right? But I hadn't been in a flight for three weeks. And I'm like, Man, if I didn't take that shot, I would have had the energy to remember that. And that was like, I'm missing out. My son's missing out. I'm gonna be the best me that I can be. I don't want to take medication for my pain until I really need to.

Yeah, maybe some natural herbs or a CBD something.

But my wife as well, after I have a glass of wine, like I'm a little bit more relaxed, right? And when she makes me laugh or when something funny happens, it's not like I go giddy, like, I'm not like that. But I wonder when, I was wondering subconsciously, does she think I'm actually Smiling or laughing at what she just said more now because I just had a drink.

Right, right.

But I'm like, no, that's got nothing to do with influence. So I want even every word and interacting moment that I have with my wife and I'm a little different, Louis. You know that I've lived on the road. Yeah. And you know that I'm a person that I'm thankful when I'm home. I don't want to be 30,000 feet in the air anymore. Yeah, that's why you inspire me by the way with this model. But no joke, I want to make the most of every day and three months ago I lost one of my great friends in a car accident and he was married to a girl called Bernadette. Check this out for a story. You think I have an issue? You think We have, just like a story of just pain and friends. So we were friends, and I'm writing this in our book, I haven't asked for permission, but I'm sure they'll give us permission. Two couples that I've known, a couple in Ohio.

That's where I'm from.

Okay. In Akron area, a couple in Ohio, and a couple in California. The husband in the couple of California came down with leukemia. And the wife of the couple in Ohio, she had bowel cancer, colon cancer. They both died around age 39, and these couples knew each other, were all friends, and they bonded as couples going through the same thing, chemotherapy and all that kind of deal. So the husband, who now was wife died and the wife whose husband died, they got married. No way. Now this couple in California had a child at one year old. That's when the husband died here. They had no children. He came to California, they got married, they had a child. And at 10 months old, that child, he died in a car accident. So imagine this woman in California who loses her first husband to cancer, and then five and has a child, and then five years later loses her second husband in a car accident at 39 years old.

Lost her husband, not the son.

Yeah. The husband. Husband. Wow. So now she's left with two children from two different fathers within five years. And I look at this woman and I was able to speak at his memorial service, but I look at her and I wouldn't share her name, but, and I'm like, wow. And she looks at me and she says, I don't know what good is going to come from this, but you look at her and she looks at me in the eyes and you just see she's never going to give up. And she knows that someday, sometime, somehow, maybe she's going to be able to inspire one other person to not give up. and I feel like that's the human spirit that we must understand the crux of every cloud or funk or curveball or depression or whatever you want to call it. It comes back to who am I and why am I here? Your value is not determined on your past. Your future is up to you today. You loving yourself, embracing yourself, not judging yourself, being able to forgive, but being the best you can be proactively, being self-aware. Don't let you yourself get in the way of you. It's not to say that everything's possible, it's not to say that everything's smooth. No, we all go through ups and downs, but I needed to get out of my own way to reach my full potential and then take one day at a time When you can't think of thriving and you can only think of surviving, that's a reality. You've been through that, I've been through that. The strongest of motivational speakers have been through those seasons, and that's okay. Don't beat yourself up. Take one day at a time and go one step at a time, and eventually you will come out of that valley and come on the other side of that and say, wow, I'm glad I'm where I am because people look at me, one last thing, Louis. People say, wow, Nick's strong. He's courageous. He's a man of endurance. They can ask me, Nick, do you think you're a man of strength and courage and endurance? I said, yeah. They can say, well, why? I said, Because I know what I've been through. We've been through what we've been through to become who we are today, to conquer the next barrier. And so we've got to keep on going, we've got to keep on going. And I just hope that people see the smile on my face is authentic and the peace and strength that I have in my eyes, never to pretend that I've got it all together. No one has it all together.

That's true, man.

But if we can get ahead of that curve, we can get rid of those negativity aspects and move out of that room and shut that room down. Fire excuses. It's like, here I am, that's where I want to go. how can I help myself focus on that next goal? Keep on going. Knowing that your value and your happiness has nothing to do with money or fame. But being happy, content, and embracing every day, I could die today, Louis. Happy to. I know where I'm going. I couldn't care less. When I die, I'll die at the right time. I don't think about death as much as I think about life. and I'll live it to the fullest.

Man, I want to ask you a few more questions because this is powerful for me. The first one is self-doubt. I'm a big believer that self-doubt is the killer of dreams.

That's great.

And the more we doubt ourselves, the less joyful we're gonna be, the less happy we're gonna be. You said something about money and fame. you know, putting those things as our value is not going to make us happy if we value those things for our happiness. How do we overcome self-doubt? If everything is telling us we're not good, we're stupid, we don't have the skills, we don't have the value, no one cares about us, our parents left us, this person cheated, this person stole this... Whatever. How do we build self belief when there's so much self-doubt?

Yeah. It's a great question. So I always encourage people to first define what their goal is and where they want to go. What they must understand.

You sound like an athlete.

Do I?

This is all I talk about. I learned all these lessons from sports. And it's like everything starts with the goal for the season.

That's great.

I look at life as seasons, because in a sport, you have usually three months in a season. And then there's the post season, then there's an off season, then there's a preseason. It's kind of like the fours and stuff like that.

That's good.

But everything you need to have is a goal.

So I'm sorry, I'm sorry to not be able to help you, but I'm glad you're speaking my language. Great, great. I'm glad. So my book's not gonna help you. But it's true. That's exactly what it's all about. So first defining who you are, where you want to go, but also seeing your dream and your goal not as something but actually as a baby. And you're parenting and you're nursing and you're nurturing that dream. Now, no one says that their parents were perfect. That's true. So we're never a perfect steward of our dream. And when we look at our dream, we kind of try think of it as, well, which season am I in of this dream and how do I treat it? Take baby steps first. The best way to build self-confidence, which is the opposite of self-doubt, is to set small goals, do what you can now, and start building on that confidence. You can't build confidence without a track record.

That's true.

And you can't wave a magic wand and then all of a sudden your dreams come true. It's taking one... What's the first step? You know, and if the baby falls down trying to walk, you don't, you pick it. Okay, let's try again.

There's an amazing meme online that says something like, you know, when a baby falls a thousand times when it's trying to walk, it doesn't say to itself, maybe this isn't for me.

Yeah, I love that. I love that.

Oh, I fell down, let me get back up. Yeah. It's not like, well, maybe I shouldn't walk. Yeah, I failed.

Yeah.

No, you need to fail over and over again.

Right, right. And that's part of the process. Thomas Edison said, I didn't fail 9,999 times. Now I know 9,999 ways in how not to make a light bulb. And to have an emotional, psychological-- It's a framing of it. It's a framing of it, attachment. It's a framing of your dream and goal to almost be you're birthing a baby. You're not birthing a baby, but you're nurturing a baby so that thing can become giant and run and strong. And so you're going to help it. You're going to help, almost like you're putting yourself in the baby shoes. Okay, what's my first step? And so that's it. So taking, if you want to become a speaker, go to a seminar, read a book about speaking, go to Toastmasters. Start somewhere. So many people say, I ask them, what's your dream? I guess one day I want to. And I'm like, Really? Like, have you ever written your dream out? I'm like, hey, wait a second. So how much money do you want to make a year? And they tell me, I'm like, so is that before or after tax in California?

I'm on 54% tax, man. I don't understand, man.

It's a difference. It is. It's like, okay, and you want to get married, and how many kids do you want, and you want them to go to college? So wait, how much money do you really need to have in the bank to actually get a five to six percent interest bearing mutual, you know? You know, it's like, sure. Well, oh, I said, yeah, do you know anything about compound interest? No. Do you know anything about, how much are you saving? None. How many credit cards you got?

Three. That was me 15 years ago.

Do you really believe in your dream? Have you ever really been honest with your dream? And I'll never forget, my life changed reading a book called Money Secrets of the Rich by John R. Burleigh. His book changed my life. and I went to his boot camp in Scottsdale, Arizona, and we did this thing where we had this breakthrough exercise, right? And my dream was to become a speaker. This is 2002. Wow. Okay. This is where my mom, my mom, what do you mean you're gonna be a speaker? She said, do you know what speaker? I said, no. Do you know? Even this is Australia. There was no Aussie motivational speakers. Is that. If there's a motivational speaking Australian 2002, they were American.

Yeah, right, the American who came over here.

Exactly. No one was making money. It was an industry that was not even heard of. Dead. Maybe Tony Robbins came over one time.

That's it, right?

That kind of thing. My mom said, what do you mean you're gonna speak? She said, what are you gonna speak about? I said, I don't know. She said, Do you have any invitations? I said, no. She said, How are you gonna get the invitations? I said, I don't know. She says, All these things, really good questions, but I said, I don't care. When I knew my goal, I didn't care how many times I had to fail because I defined that goal for me. I went through a breakthrough event, really cool exercise that most breakthrough events do. On one side of the piece of wood, you put your goal. On the other side, you put your fears that you've got to break through. So these people, they punch this piece of wood and they crack it, right? And I didn't walk in hot coals because my peers were going fire, but I headbutted this thing, right? And it defined me. Really, that was the defining exercise.

So you're breaking the side of your fears and the goals on the other side.

Yeah, my fear was... You're facing your.

Fear, you head but your fear, and then you have to break through.

And I realized like there's a lot more to my story with my parents, but my parents were so scared about my decision to become a speaker that they said, you, must do your accounting and financial plan degree. for a plan B, which is great advice, which I'm thankful for. But I had to break through the fear, what if my parents never talked to me again? And that was extreme. But that was in my head. I didn't want to disappoint my parents. They did everything they could for me. Why now disappoint them? Is this my stupid, you know, crazy little fantasy, or is this what Nick's gonna do? And that was the moment, like Nick's gonna do it. Wow. With or without my family.

With or without them. Even if they're not there for me, I'm doing this 'cause it was a.

Part of your dream.

Exactly. And I think we need to be guided by our dreams. We need to be driven by our dreams.

Yeah. Because if it's staying in there, we don't pursue it, then what? Right. And I'm not saying, now look, I wasn't married, I wasn't engaged. Right, right.

Now that you're married, if you're married, that's a different thing.

Well, with or without my wife, I'm gonna... That's gotta be the thing. You gotta learn to communicate to renegotiate your dream to you know, figure out what's the best way to do it. Right. And seasons and commitments and them to believe in you.

And what's the trigger point to success?

When do you give it up? When do you not give it up? Exactly. That's a whole different book. That's a really good book to write, actually.

You should write that book.

I should write that book.

You mentioned your wife a few different times throughout this.

Yeah.

When did you know your wife was going to be your wife? What's the biggest lesson she's taught you? And what is it you love about her the most after all these years?

Gosh, I love those questions. So we met in April 2010 in Dallas.

Okay.

We had sparks and fireworks in the air. I couldn't feel my legs.

Almost tenure meeting.

Meeting, right? Right.

Can you figure that out? Yes.

Yeah. And you got that. Yeah. And then there was a complication. She had a boyfriend at the time.

It was a big complication.

And there's more to the complication. But we were not in touch for six months. And then we met up and the chemistry was huge. and we started developing a friendship and then went into dating. And three months into dating, that's when I lost all my money the second time. Oh, wow.

So she was there for you and you had nothing. That's when you know, okay, this girl is amazing.

So. Wow. I had more money than the average 19. Who? Which 19 year old gives away 30K cash, then loses 40K, then comes back with the money and then goes back into real estate. So my mom's like, Just make sure your wife as a teenager, make sure your wife never marries you for your money. Right. And the question was like, but how would you ever really know?

Now you know.

That's impossible.

You gotta get rid of it.

So, 12 weeks after our dating, I lost it all.

What'd she say?

So, first of all, Nick was not Nick.

You're in crazy mode, you're in survival mode, you're and I'm panicking.

Panicking.

Running around without legs on them.

Yeah. Louis, I woke up 30 days straight with panic attacks. Oh, man. I was not myself.

I'm not myself.

Heart palpitations, all that stuff.

It was terrible.

Your legs were trembling. Yeah, sweating all the time. I'm on the floor. I can't. I don't even know what to eat. I don't know what to eat. Losing weight. It was bad. I've never been so low in my life. Sure. When I was depressed with you know, some other things in my life, but this was really, and the worst timing of all, like, I'm supposed to be at best now to develop a friendship who could be my wife. And I finally told her what happened. She said, don't worry, babe, I'm not going anywhere. Wow. I said, babe, I lost all my money. She says, don't worry.

Look straight.

Don't worry. Well, how long did it take you to tell her? It took me two weeks to actually.

She knew something was wrong.

So what do you. Are you just like, everything's fine? She was in Texas. I was in California. Covington. I said, Look, I'm not myself. She said, I'm coming over. So she said her friends home and we talked during the day and I finally was with her and it took me three days face to face before I could really tell her anything. She said, so what happened? I said, I lost all my money. I said, Four things happened within three weeks. Cash flow crisis, then someone took the money. I just took on more than I could chew. And I said, I lost all my money. She said, Don't worry, I'll get a nursing job and support the both of us.

She did not.

In a split second, she looked me straight and I'm like, man, I wanna marry you.

You said that?

No, I'm thinking.

Wait a few months.

So that was the day.

Okay.

That was it. Then six months later, she was in Dallas and I was in California and we had a text going on. And it was the first uncomfortable moment where like, we were not on the same page with something. And she was going into the shower and she just said out loud, I just want someone to fight for me. And what it was was there was an issue of just an uphill climb of what we had to together do together. And it was uncomfortable. and I felt on my heart, I'm just gonna pick up the phone. Pick up the phone. She picked it up while she was in the shower. She turned off the shower. I said, Babe, I just want to give you a call today. I'm gonna fight for you. Word for word, verbatim. And that's when she knew I was her husband. Three months later, I popped the question. I got the ring in a cream puff with a tray of cream puffs. I got her to feed me the cream puff, and I finished the cream puff in my mouth without choking on the ring. I went down on her finger, and she thought I was getting kinky. And then I pulled back and with the ring on her finger, and six months later we got married. So that's when I knew that she was gonna be the one.

What was the biggest lesson she's taught you in the last how many years you've been?

Eight now.

Eight years.

We just did our eighth anniversary celebration. Okay. The biggest thing she's taught me she.

Is.

Quicker to love people, quicker to forgive people than me. She has a huge heart. Her heart's bigger than Texas. Wow. And she's not afraid to dream. She's actually probably the most intelligent woman I've ever met in my life. I just look at her after she said something, I'm like, she's so wise. I'm like, man, that would have taken me. I didn't even think I'd ever come to that epiphany. She just says it straight off the cuff. I'm like, She to me is a woman of discernment and wisdom and clear, just cut through the crap. There's no fog in her life. Like she just, it is what it is. Nick, this is what you should really do. I'm like, okay.

Don't do this deal. Don't hang out with this person.

Yeah. Just straight up. Not that she offers it, but I ask her for it. And then bang. So she's taught me that there's always a path. And to do things together, I think is what my best friend taught me. She's my best friend. But to do things together is so important because if you don't do things together, you've missed the whole point of living. And being content with where we're at. And to not freak out, she sees me freak out. I don't, she's Japanese Mexican. Okay.

My girl's Mexican.

Awesome.

All Mexican. Does she speak Spanish?

Yeah, she does.

No way.

Born and raised in Mexico, man. No way. Yeah. Where? Zitakura Michio Kan. What is it?

Michio Kan. From Mexico City. Yeah, no Michio Kan. Yeah, my girl's from Monterey.

Awesome. Yeah. Her mother's from Monterey. Yeah. Well, double date, man. Of course. That's amazing.

I need to learn Spanish. Are you fluent? I understand 70%. My mission is to get a full-time teacher this year. It's good. in the next month. I'm trying to find someone to come.

To my place and teach me. I love it.

I feel like it'd be the best skill I could learn.

I'm sure someone watching a podcast.

I know, right? I'm a fluent salsa dancer. Ah, yeah. I've been salsa dancing for 15 years around the world. I like the top salsa clubs.

It's a blast. So, I'm around the culture and the music all the time. Man, I love watching people dance. If I had arms and legs, the.

First thing I would do is dance class.

Oh, that's right.

Anyway, so the thing you love about her the most.

So the thing I love about her the most is that she's calm, she's collected, she's wise, and she's taught me to be happy and not freak out at anything. You have no idea. She's still in the process of getting her papers. Okay. She had a rough life. Her mother left. Imagine her mother left the family when she Her dad died of cancer when she was 18. Wow. She was alone in the house with her brother, took over her father's fish breeding business to just sustain. And then she came to America with her brother, speaking no English, not finishing high school, came to America to start all over again. So she's been through a lot. I've been through a lot, but together, it's like, wow, I feel unstoppable when I'm by her side. And I just gotta sit down, calm down, because I'm like, personality A, personality B, you're right. She just, my brain, and she's taught me to switch my brain off. And I want to share one last personal success with all of this. When I go to the dining table and I bring my phone. She grabs my phone. She puts it on the highest bookshelf.

Jump for it.

Right. Exactly. Do it. Try it. Let me see. Entertainment. I'm not a doctor on call. No one's going to die. And I was so adamant about time management, prioritization and reverse engineering. Where do I want to be? And where I wanted to I achieved in 2018. Louis, I'm looking you in the eye and telling you for a year straight I was able to with 17 employees, one for-profit company, one non-profit company, 17 employees. I'm CEO of both. I switched off my phone every week, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Wow. Four days.

No phone.

I worked Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, eight hours a day. Wow. And I'm not traveling, that was my week.

That's inspiring, man. Especially with four kids, that's gotta be inspiring. Amazing. Well, you just learned to prioritize. What are the things I need to.

Do and who do I need to hire to do this for me? Exactly. Delegate. As opposed to work harder. Exactly. So now I'm going through a massive rebranding though. Yeah. Now I'll help you. Thank you. I'd love to figure that out. But the bottom line is I don't want to travel internationally anymore. Between my back, my physical, I don't know how I'm gonna be in 15 years time, but I want to be there for my kids. I want to be there with my wife. And having that opportunity, even for me, it's a scary transition. It's not like I've got millions in the bank saying, oh yeah, let's throw a half a million at this. You know what I mean? I didn't want to work to become rich. I do enough work to get what we need to reposition is not an easy task.

It's not easy, man.

For anyone.

I've been through a rebranding of my website for like eight months. It's like moving into a new office, letting go of agencies, hiring people. It's a lot of energy, time, money.

But it's amazing. It's the right thing to do. And if you look at nickvoightage.com today.

Well, let's-- Don't look at it today. Unless you want to book this guy to speak, look at it in a.

Few months, hopefully it'll be rebranded. I was just gonna say it's a miracle because we actually put no marketing or branding. I don't know how you do it. I'm sometimes in some countries, I'm top three speaker. That's crazy. And we've done no marketing and branding. US. So I've been spoiled. Yeah, it's crazy. And so now I'm like, hey, America, I'm here. I want to go all around corporate America and help all the companies use me as a megaphone. As almost like a physical demonstration of what they've been trying to tell their team and sales team, Hey, we have no excuses, let's run, and let's live a life without limits.

It's hard to sometimes hear from your partner, your spouse, what they need to hear. Sometimes you need to bring someone else who they can respect and be inspired by to say, okay, it's time to do what you told me to do.

Right.

Three years ago.

Right. Exactly.

It's amazing.

I get it.

I get it. What's the thing you're most proud of that most people don't know about you?

Wow.

Either something you've done, something maybe that you haven't announced to the world, or maybe something you've done that no one knows about, not even your wife or your kids. or something that is big that you're proud about as well, but something most people don't know about.

I have to say that every entrepreneurial visionary needs some spark, not just of continuing to create and build and innovate, but to give back. And I've silently been mentoring, and I might actually start a podcast category not just for it, but coaching CEOs of non-profits so I've had 15 years of experience of non-profit I turned around our non-profit from where it was from different directors that were hired. I was kind of the speaker, the founder, the president, but not the CEO. And I took over about five years ago, and I learned a ton in the last 15 and basically helping nonprofits who are doing okay. Most beginning nonprofits, they'd be happy with $30,000 to $100,000 in the bank. And we help them go to the next level. And it's just an hour with me and the executive team and the CEO. Sometimes it's four hours. I love whiteboarding. I love helping them define their next goal. How do they change this? How do they change that? and I've learned that any big organization, they cannot change 20 things. But if any organization for profit or non-profit if you just hold on to two or three things per year to change and you do two to three a year, massive change happens. So they're now tripling the bank. They've, one of them just has done phenomenally well and I'm actually now mentoring because of my friend who lost both husbands. I actually googled, what's a non-profit that helps widows? And apart from Bill Gates' whole deal, there was only one. And it's run by three, a tax-deductible receipt to a widow through the church. They said, no. I'm like, Hmm. So I had a call with these women. I told them who I was. They said, But what do you want for it? I said, Nothing. I don't want you to even tell anybody. Now I'm telling everyone. But I'm just saying... You just wanted to serve. I just want to serve. And so there's something that no one knows. I love seeing other people fulfill their dreams. Yeah, I love it. And using the talent and the skill, if I can help fast-track 15 years of education in a year for free, I would do it. And so what we're doing is I'm getting so many requests that we may have a whole list of content, even maybe phone calls that we could do and just helping many nonprofits. You know, it's 400, no 1.2 million nonprofits in the US alone.

Crazy, man.

So many people are saying, well Nick, how did you break it? How did you do this? How did you do that? How did you build the team? And all those kinds of things. And so that's something that many people don't know. And if I don't do that, I feel incomplete. Because I want to pass it on.

It could be a whole podcast series.

Right.

Just how to help nonprofits scale, grow.

That's it. And they'd subscribe.

Absolutely.

To all the content. I don't know. I think I bring value to that. So we, after this show, Louis, are.

Gonna brainstorm a lot of things, man. It's gonna be great to learn from.

You because this is interesting. Right here I am as a worldwide speaker trying to actually rebrand myself to put my stake in the ground here in America like never before.

I'm excited for you.

And it might take a podcast and all this stuff that I'm gonna pick your brain on.

We're gonna talk after for sure on this. I've got a couple questions left for you. Before I ask the final few questions, I want to make sure that people do hire you to speak. If you got a big corporation, hire this man if you're to speak. decision making there, send it to your boss. Where can they go if they want to book you or learn more about booking you for speaking?

NickVoytchitch.com. NickVoytchitch.com. It'll be there by the time this is up.

It'll be there. Yeah, go there. We can also follow you on Instagram.

Facebook, you're on Instagram. I am. We're at the same, I'm hearing you're growing like crazy, but we're at the same 1.5. Okay, cool. And then English Facebook, we have nearly 10.

10 million.

-Huh. But I've actually done nothing. That's English. And then I've got two million in Spanish.

And then we do anything with it?

No, we. Well, like, we're starting now. Okay. We see.

See? See? Just growing without doing anything.

I didn't do anything.

I got 10 million fans.

Exactly what happened.

It was so simple.

I worked my butt off around the world to get that.

People.

Yeah, but we didn't strategically build it, so, I mean, that's just the. That's organic.

That's amazing, dude.

And that's just the, it's just a little barometer of what it took to inspire a billion people in some sort of level. It's amazing. So Instagram, Facebook, it's just your name. Yep. Nick Vojich, N-I-C-K, V-U-J-I-C-I-C. That's it.

Where else can we follow you or support you? You've got five or six books. This is one, Life that Limits.

Yeah, Life that Limits is our bestseller. We sold over a million copies of that. That's it? It's in 40 languages.

You're playing small, man.

Again, no marketing.

40 languages, go get this book.

So now 1.1 million, you guys. Thank you for selling out. But yeah, go to any bookstore on that. Just go online for that. But yeah, I'm writing a new book coming out on attitude. I want to take the attitude space. I feel like that's the one thing I could talk about. when it comes to happiness, depression, overcoming, exceeding your own expectations of your limits.

Yeah, relationships, everything.

All of that. So we want to do an attitude checkbook and just help everyone to have the premium attitude to have the optimum altitude.

I love it, man. This is a question, it's called the three truths I ask at the end of every interview. So imagine you've accomplished and achieved all of your dreams. and you've lived a very long life. You've lived as long as you want, and then at one point, you gotta go, right? And hypothetically, you've gotta take all of your content, books, materials, video, audios with you. So no one has access to your spoken or written or visual word any longer. Hypothetical. But you have a piece of paper, and you get to write down your toes, your mouth, you get to write down three things you know to be true. about everything in life that you've learned. These would be the only three things you could share with the world, your three lessons to the world, I call three truths.

What would be yours? How long can the sentences be?

As long as you want.

All right. Yeah.

Truth number one.

Truth number one, you're beautiful just the way that you are, and you have value. Number two, you've been created and designed for a greater purpose. Find it and run for it. And the third thing is, even facing death, there's hope. It's called heaven.

I love this, man.

And so that for me, I understand we all have different philosophies religious beliefs, I understand that. But for me, I found nothing limitless like that. That even if and when, not if, but when I face death, and however I may face it, every day I know that I have value. I'm achieving my greater purpose, and I know that this ain't it. And when you have that, then you make the most of everything you have, because not only are you doing good to be good, to know that you were good, but that you actually do good, do well, to even change the trajectory of eternity for other souls. And if you could encourage people to know that there's a wonderful thing called Purpose and eternity. That to me is the bottom line. But when you have that in your mind, go for your dream. Keep running, but never give up.

Now imagine that you were able to broadcast live to the entire world and everyone could understand English. And you had, you could only say one thing to the world.

Yeah.

And you had 30 seconds to share a message and the whole world was tuning in at this moment. What would you say to the entire world?

I want you to know that I love you. I want you to know that your broken pieces can somehow and sometime will come together for the good to be something beautiful. I have a history of brokenness. and pieces in my life. And I tell teenagers it's always worse being in a broken home than having no arms and legs. So it's not about what brokenness we have. It's about holding on to the beauty that will come from them. Where if you can help someone else in need, that's when you realize you don't need a miracle to be one.

Oh, that's good, man. You are a great speaker.

That was 37 seconds.

Yeah, I love it. You could just die. Yeah, it's all a die. You got into the time.

Is that good? Dude, before, before.

Before I ask the final question for you, I want to acknowledge you Nick for your generosity, man. You have a huge giving heart to serve people and it's not easy for a guy with arms and legs to fly around the country the amount of times that I do, but for you to do it hundreds of times a year, year after year, to serve, to inspire, to lead, to create hope for people, and to tell people they're beautiful and they matter is a beautiful thing, man. And I want to let you know that I value your heart and your effort and your energy towards service. I really appreciate that part of you. So, I acknowledge you for that. And so many things. I'm excited to hang out. Hopefully we can double date soon before.

You head to Mexico. -Definitely.

-For Mexican food. -I'm in, man. I'm in.

My final question is what's your definition of greatness? -Greatness. -Humility. Believe it or not, if there's only one factor, because the moment you think you're more important than somebody else is the moment you have clipped and limited your own full potential. I think the greatest parameter of greatness is humility, because with a humble heart you're happy, you're thankful, you have a servant heart. and you know that every single soul matters. So you take time to make the most of every opportunity with everyone. I think humility is, out of all the words that I could have ever said, would be to me, greatness.

Nick, well, man, appreciate you. Love you, man.

Love you.

Beautiful, man.