304: How to Become a World Class Leader and Create Purpose with Gerard Adams

My mom was like, work, you know, all day, you know, work at night, like come home. She still cooked dinner, she still provided for me and my sisters. So it's like seeing that, you know, taught me the work ethic, but also gave me this fire of like, I really want to help my mom to not be in this position, you know, I want to be able to retire my mother.

Welcome to the earn your happy podcast. I'm Lori Harder, founder of The Bliss Project, 3 Time Fitness World champion, fitness expert and cover model turned self love junkie, lifestyle entrepreneur and author. Each week I'll bring you a guest or a thought that will help you bust through your fears, connect to your soul and get focused and clear so you can elevate your life, business and relationships. We don't wait until we're ready for someone to tell us we're good enough. We take what we want and we anoint ourselves. Get ready to earn, own and unapologetically rock your happiness every single day. Are you with me? Here we go. Welcome back to the show. I'm so excited you're here and if you have not gotten your Bliss project ticket yet, you're going to want to run right now, like run to theblissproject.info because tickets are selling really fast. And I'll tell you if you're ready for total immersion, which means really going all in on your goals, if need a big change in your life, or if you're really ready to find your like minded tribe and just have one of the most fun, inspiring weekends that you'll have all year, go to theblissproject.info if you feel nervous right now, if you feel anxious right now, if you feel excited right now, these are all signs that you need to be in the room. So if you want big change, you have to make big changes and do something different. So go grab your ticket because I promise you, even if you come alone, you will not be be alone for long. It's one of the most fun things I do all year long. It's like all of the things that created transformation in my life mixed with all the things that I think are incredibly fun. Picture artists, dancing, yoga, meditation speakers, so many incredible things that are going to happen in this room. And I'll tell you, I just got done with a Bliss Project meeting with my team and I am so excited for what's in store for you this year. So head over to theblissproject.info right now to grab your ticket and on Today's episode. You guys, I have been wanting to podcast with this guy for quite some time now, ever since I saw some of his videos back on YouTube back in the day. Gerard Adams is on the show today. He's an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, angel investor, documentarian, and a mentor to this generation of millennials. Most notably, he's known for co founding the Emmy winning Elite Daily, which sold for. Are you ready for this? Sold for $50 million in. He's been pioneering the way for entrepreneurs, thought leaders and creators. And Gerard believes a world class leader doesn't just lead the way, but instead creates more leaders to make a more significant impact. He shares this truth on his web series titled Leaders Create Leaders, which gives trailblazers of our generation a platform to share their story and ignite the passion in others. You guys, if you have not seen this series, you can go on YouTube and check it out. Right now it has over 20 million views and it's syndicated by Entrepreneur Magazine. You guys, you absolutely have to check it out. I have found so many new mentors through this and I love this human being. So on today's podcast, we talk all about the mindset of a leader. We talk all about what is a conscious leader. We talk about the mindset around failure, around relationships, around health, around what his biggest lessons are, what it was like to make a million dollars at such a young age, and what the mind shifts were around it and how he lost all of it and then how he came back again from it. You guys, there's so many good things and amazing nuggets in this podcast. No matter where you find yourself in life, this is just wisdom and gold. So tune in until all the way. Listen to me all the way through the end, because I truly think some of the gold is right at the end of this podcast. So, you guys, let's get started. Gerard, I'm so excited to have you on the show. Thank you so much for coming on.

I'm excited too, Lori. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I just feel like I've been waiting to chat with you for a while. So we got to have a dinner together at.

Was that this.

Yeah, Was this this year at Thrive?

Yeah.

Yep.

Not too long ago. I mean, it's. It's crazy. Really does feel that way though. With 2018, it's like all like, holy cow, I can't believe it's almost over. So much has happened. But yeah, that was probably only three months ago.

Oh my God. Where does it go? It's really crazy. I kind of like Mark My year through, like, what events have gone on and where you've spoken at. But I suppose yours is like a blur because you probably speak all of the time, right?

I mean, that. And also from the show, like, you know, this is. Forget it. You know, sometimes I'm like, what day is it again?

Oh, my God, your show is so amazing. So that's something that I really want to dive into, is number one for people who don't know who you are, I would love for you to share a bit of your incredible backstory of where you came from and the journey that got you to the place that you're at right now and where that is.

Well, she is. I try to. I try to definitely, you know, for those that are listening, try to keep it concise because, you know, for all of us, I mean, there's so many chapters that go into it. I mean, you look at Instagram nowadays and you see the highlight reel. And a lot of people kind of know me because of my last venture, Elite Daily, which was the. Which was the largest millennial publication in the United states. We had 80 million unique visitors. And people saw that. That I got that exit under my belt, but they don't recognize that, like, I've been an entrepreneur now for 15 years. And it started in the exact place where I'm doing this interview, which was in New Jersey right now. My family, when they immigrated here from my mother from Columbia, and my dad's side from Italy, they settled here in Newark, New Jersey. And growing up here was really the initial foundation of who I became. Coming from an Hispanic and from the Italian background, like, you know, I learned such core values at a young age, just the work ethic. My mom worked seven days a week at a local supermarket. That was like, my first job working with her there, you know, from cashier to produce. And I was just like. I saw my mom working, and that was the first moment that, like, I'll never forget getting that first paycheck myself. And it was probably like, around $300. And I just looked at my mom, and she just was in pain. Her knees, her back. And she was like, super mom. Like my mom. My mom was like, work all day, work at night, come home. She still cooked dinner. She still provided for me and my sisters. So it's like seeing that taught me the work ethic, but also gave me this fire of, I really want to help my mom to not be in this position. I want to be able to retire my mother. And my dad, he was more of this businessman. He worked At Prudential. And he was tough on me, put a lot of pressure on me. He made me feel like education was really important. I had to go to Princeton. But I really. The smart kid. You know, my story started with, you know, eventually getting into trouble. Being a little bit of a misfit, hustling. I was a little bit of a hustler on the street kind of kid. I got involved in a gang and just started hustling weed at a young age. Not proud of it, but I was good at it. And it kind of taught me this, like, grit and, like, a little bit of this entrepreneurial spirit before I knew what an entrepreneur was. And then I dropped out of college my first semester after I went through a situation that could have all went downhill for me. Got surrounded by police. Thought I was literally going to jail.

How old were you then?

I was 17 years old. It was right when I was graduating high school and I was selling weed. And next thing you know, I get pulled over by cops. And I had all the weed in my transmission under my cup holder, and all these cops, woo, woo, woo, all around me. And I was like, oh, like I'm dead.

Oh, my God.

About to be this failure that my teachers thought that I was, like, gonna be. End up being this troublemaker. I just. I just was at a point in my life where I. I don't know, you know, you're young and you're just, you know, for me, like, finally being able to make some money in my pocket, and I was good at it, you know, and, like, all of a sudden, I felt like I had this worth and, you know, that all. Like, when those cops pulled me over, I was like, wait, hold on. Was this really what I was meant to be doing? Like, am I really about to go to jail and be this huge disappointment to my family? And luckily, someone was committing grand theft auto in front of me, and they let me go. And they were like this.

My God.

Yeah. Yeah.

So that is, like, the craziest story ever. So they let you go?

They let me go. I mean, I tell you that, like, my heart was in my throat. Like, I. That day, I felt like I had a guardian angel. And I was like, you know, we don't realize that every once in a while we get a second chance and we don't always take it. And for me, I took it. I was like, I'm gonna go to college. I'm gonna figure it out. So I went to, like, a school that no one probably knows. It was called Caldwell Community College. And Quickly, it just wasn't for me. I noticed that they were telling me what classes to take in order to earn certain credits to get into business, learning about business, and I dropped out. I found a mentor early on in my career and I became an apprentice to him. And he taught me so much early on about digital marketing, taught me about email marketing, he taught me how to research companies, he taught me how to get involved into stocks. And I just like, I loved it. I was this apprentice that would work under his wing till 3, 4 in the morning every day. I did whatever had to do just to learn and soak it up. And I learned more working for him in literally like within like the first, like month or two than I did in, I felt like all of school.

What do you think were some of the biggest lessons from him that just really stand out?

The biggest one really early on was he taught me how to do due diligence. Like, he taught me how to read financials. And I think that, like, that's something that we don't learn early on in our careers. But like, he. One of the first things he taught me was like, how to rate an income statement, how to read a balance balance sheet, you know, how to understand a pe, you know, how to understand, like, how to create what quarterly revenue growth was, and then also, like, how to tell a story. He was a great writer, so he would do all this research and he taught me how to research a company fundamentally from a financial perspective. But then he taught me how to write it about it in layman's terms and help tell a company story that may be this like, super technology type company. And how to be able to tell that story in a way that people would understand. Like, one of the first stories was like, how a company's using nanotechnology to reinvent the battery. And, you know, I just, you know, those are. I learned so much working for him. And so that set me up for me eventually starting my first marketing agency to be a storyteller to help companies tell their story online. And I started learning how to do ppc, Google pay per click ads, and basically how to help build people's email lists, how to tell their stories, how to get written up in other people's blogs. This is kind of before social media, social media really popped off. And I built that up to about 10 million in revenue by the time I was 24. I'll never forget the first day I became a, you know, a young millionaire. I remember calling my dad, like, dad, I can't believe it. Like, I just hit like my first million dollars in my bank account. Like this is crazy. I remember screaming up and down in my with my apartment and my dad being like, don't tell anybody. Yeah.

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What does that even do to somebody? Because I think a lot of people can't even fathom what that would feel like. You know the gap I'm talking about from before you hit that to when you hit it, it's almost like there's this middle point where you don't even realize you're doing it even though you do. Do you know what I'm talking about? Like there's this gap. So what does it feel like when you actually hit it? Looking back saying oh, these are the things that did it. Were you able to do that?

The best piece of advice that I would give you if you want to hit that first seven figure mark is one, be really great at what you do. And I know that may sound so stupid and simple but like really be really great at what you do. I mean like over perform, like forget about I say like money never leads. It follows if you're really great at what you do. And the second thing is I made that money through word of mouth. Yes, I was good at ppc. Yes I was good at storytelling and getting people's company's exposure and creating awareness and building lists. But I was so good at it that my clients sold my services for me. And to this day that is the strongest piece of advice I would give anybody is if you're really great at what you do, you have a great product, you're great at it, you're the best at it and you can over perform and deliver for your clients. You don't necessarily have to actually spend all this money on Facebook marketing and Google Ads and do all these growth hacks and look for shortcuts. No, your clients will literally sell it for you and it is only a matter of time before that compounds and you slowly continue to just build out your team. And that's how I made my first million. You know, it was Word of mouth, people sought after me. So that's the, that's the number one thing that I would tell you. And if I didn't do a good job, I would eat the bullet. Like, I would send the money back or I would go and spend my own money to get that client results, you know, no matter what. Like, I put my clients first. So good.

I. I've so found that to be true. I love that advice. Okay, so you made your first million and you were jumping around telling me.

Oh, my God, I was such a douchebag. Like, yeah, I was such a douchebag. I was this young Justin Bieber type, like, traveling, you know, I remember I rented 150 foot yacht and flew all my high school good friends out, my family out. We, you know, we just like jet skis, exotic cars. I got my penthouse. I had. I literally had two Bentleys. Like, why do you need two Bentleys? Like, one. It was just, I was being really this, like, what I call young money now. When I see a lot of people who need all that stuff, I'm like, cool, that's awesome. Like, I still like nice things, but I, at that time, I was stupid with my money. Like, I wasn't investing it properly. And. And I don't know, I feel like I started correlating being cool and maybe even my happiness, so to speak, with having the exotic cars and having the running, being able to rent that 150 foot yacht and having jewelry. I had the bling bling popping, you know, and I was like popping bottles at the club all the time, you know, and just, I look back and no regrets. But, man, if I just knew what I knew now, then I would have an extra freaking 10, $20 million in the bank right now.

It's such a powerful part of the story, though, because what part for you or when or what was it that you started waking up and those things weren't bringing the same fulfillment.

It was when God took it all away from me. So I literally, during the recession, you know, I'm 33 now. Like, I was in my mid-20s. Recession hits and I was up $20 million in the market, and I had invested in the stock market and boom, stock market crashes. And I lost the majority of the money that I had saved up. And I literally went through having to sell my cars, get out of the penthouse. And I remember I went to my mother and my mother was like, you know, I never wanted to tell you this story, son, but with tears in her eyes, she was like, you know, when I was about 15 years old and I was here in New Jersey. We just immigrated here. I came from Columbus. She's like, we lived in a little one bedroom apartment. It caught on fire. I was walking home from school, running home to make sure that your aunt and uncles were okay, that your grandparents were okay. Luckily we all got out. She's like, but literally we lost everything. It burnt. Like everything was gone. So she's like, we came here poor and now we literally are homeless. And she's like, I had to, at 15, start working in the winter on Canal street in New York to be able to make a little extra money to help your grandparents put food on the table. She's like, I had to take night classes and just, I was so young that it was even hard to convince teachers and I couldn't get a job in New Jersey. She's like, I had to go to New York alone as a young girl. She's like. And she's just, you know, my mom is telling me this with literally tears in her eyes. And she's like, if I was able to get through that point in my life, she's like, gerard, you can lose all the money in the world, but they'll never take this. They'll never take this. And she pointed out my head and my heart and she was like, so get back out there and do it again. And that's when I had this trigger. And this is the first trigger. I had two, two in my career, but this was the first one. And then that's when I decided I no longer want to do things just because I want to make money. I was addicted to making money when I was in my young 20s and mid-20s. And then I was like, I want to build something I'm proud of and I want to educate and use my storytelling to actually create a platform that gave a voice to our generation and the millennials. And I was like, I'm reading all these different publications online. Huffington Post, New York Times, Rob Report, Maxim magazine. I was looking at. I was buying all the different magazines at airports. I was Online opening up 100 different tabs to get all the news I wanted. So I was like, let's create a publication that is the Huffington Post of Generation Y. And we ended up creating elite daily dot com. Bought it for 999 on GoDaddy. Started it with three folding chairs in a smaller apartment with two interns that worked with me. They were my co founders. And we literally just started being naive. No journalist background, but just like building this on WordPress and hustling and figuring out how to get contributing writers with us. And we covered everything from help to business to humor, entertainment, culture, relationships and dating. We made a platform that Arianna Huffington I met, she was a mentor for us and she helped us learn how to build this contributor, you know, framework where we ended up getting college kids that were all millennials. Nobody for under like over 24 years old wrote for us, but we had 2000 contributors around the world and we started to being able to manage posting 80 to 100 articles per day within each one of those verticals. We did it like we liter grew this company from the three of us to. It was one of the best journeys of my life. We won an Emmy, we started doing documentary style videos. We had 80 million unique visitors per month. We built the company to 200 employees. We ended up raising money from some of the top venture capitalists in the world. And then a billion dollar media company known as the Daily Mail went to acquire US in 2015. And that was the second point in my life where now this time when I had millions of dollars being wired to my bank account, I had another point in my life where I really thought about what is my purpose? Why is this happening? And I don't want to be the same Gerard that I was when I was 24, 25 years old when I lost it all. So how do you now want to start thinking about what is fulfillment? What is legacy mean for you? How do you want to become a leader in the world? How do you want to show up? And that was the second point in my life when I really started to reevaluate kind of who I was. Like one of the most amazing journeys, having the elite daily happen. But when I first sold it, I actually went through this period of like a what if, like, oh, I wasn't supposed to like, you know, this was something that I felt was, was part of my legacy. And you know, I, it was interesting. I went through a point of like literally just like this little depression after selling it of like, like what do I do now was I meant to sell it? And I'll just never forget an accountant telling me to move to Florida because I was about to get millions of dollars wired to me to save on state income tax. I remember just being there in Florida, in Miami, looking at the ocean and just remembering saying to myself, you know what? I'm looking at everyone on social media that's out here showing what success looks like and becoming these like quote unquote influencers and selling people the dream. And I was like, I want to do something different. Like I want to show we define what it means to be an influencer into being a leader. We need more leaders in the world, especially for the younger generation. And you know, I just, I decided, I was like, you know what, I'm going to move back to my roots. I'm going to start a social enterprise in Newark. I'm going to open up an incubator in the middle of the hood and I'm going to start to build my personal brand. And I'm going to do that by documenting what it means to not just talk about it, but show people what it means to be a leader. And that was the beginning of, okay, how do I do this differently? That was the beginning of me launching leaders, Create leaders and now world class leader and founders my social enterprise. Wow.

So where did you that point of. Because I think there's that place for a lot of people where they can show up to their dreams sometimes and it's like, wow, this is what I thought I always wanted. And like that toggling back and forth point for you where you weren't sure and you were sure or I don't even know if you felt sure after that. But how did you start to either get clarity around that decision and go back to the drawing board and create more meaning again? Because we always, I believe that in order for us to obviously be happy or be fulfilled is to create more meaning in our life. So what made you go back and dig into creative create so much more meaning after reaching the top at such a young age? And I think that's so important and that's where the fulfillment keeps coming. So what is that for you that helps you go back and create that you know, or to dig in and find more meaning?

Too many people finish their workday feeling frustrated, drained and unfulfilled. I know that I have experienced that myself. And the good news is it doesn't have to be this way and you don't need a new job to fix it.

It.

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Core ways that work for me that if anyone's listening, you know, if you're looking to kind of really figure out okay, what does, you know, what is next for me? What is that? What is that dream? What is that purpose? What is that thing I want to go all in on? And the first for me is really interesting because I wish I did it earlier and now I'm like holy cow, this is so important. And literally it's as simple as being still and really meditating and literally through that practice of meditation and drawing out and just brain dumping everything that you are feeling internally. The reason why I say that being still in the meditation as the first step is because as entrepreneurs, we are alpha, man or woman. We want to achieve, we love to achieve. We want to grind, we want to hustle, we want to go out there, we want to conquer. We want to be able to be the best versions of ourselves. A lot of times, this masculine energy that I feel for me in particular, I always have had this, like, I'm going to manifest, I'm going to go, go, go, go, go, go, go. And when you're constantly going and you're constantly pushing, you don't really ever give yourself any time to respond to life, to see, to take a moment and to reflect. So the first step for me was the moment that I finally stopped and reflected. And when I was there in Florida and I started to really, like, meditate and journal and write down, like, what really is coming calling to me? What do I feel internally? Where. Where I really want to go? And that was the first step. And the second for me was when I got a personal advisor or coach. I actually hired someone. He is now a CEO of one of my companies, and his name is Peter Yobo. He was on my show before, and he really, again, he also meditated with me, but I worked with him. Like, he literally became my personal advisor and mapped out for me all of my vision. Where's my vision? What do I. What am I looking for? He took me back to the day I was born in meditation. Why were you born? Think about the Gerard when he first was a little kid. What were you doing? What was those first moments of your life that you remember? For me, it was as silly as hitting a bike ramp and being able to make it over garbage cans and my mom filming that. I remember that moment. He took me to these little moments as a child. And then he's fast forwarding. He's like, right now, where are you going? Who's the Gerard in 10 years? Where are you? Who are you surrounding yourself with? What are you doing? What stages you are? What are you building? What are you known for? How do people see you? How do you make people feel in that moment of meditation, that moment of just visualizing, just, boom, he's writing things on the board, he's writing things. And by the time you open your eyes, boom, you open your eyes. You're like, holy cow. Everything that was internal is now visualized on a whiteboard. And then from there, you map out a roadmap. And a lot of people should do this right now, especially going into the new year. And so that's the second. But a lot of times you can't do it alone. So get an advisor, get a coach, get a consultant that helps pull that out. And then the third is a radical change. You've got to create a shift. For me, that shift was doing the most uncomfortable, uncertain, hard thing. And that is what creates that radical shift. So for me, that was going back to Newark, New Jersey, where there's barbed wire and poverty. And here I am a million creating, selling a company for millions of dollars and I'm going into a place of poverty for you that may be traveling to a third world country. They may be taking some time to go to a cancer center and work with children. You know, that may be, that may be making a huge shift into changing your physiology, you know, whatever that means for you. But create a radical change that's going to be uncomfortable, uncertain and hard. And if you do those three things, I think it really will lead you to ultimately where your purpose, where your true growth and where your dream lies.

So true. I truly, truly creating. It's about getting still and being quiet. It's so crazy because just like you said, you know, we always want to know what's next. And I think the scariest thing is the not knowing. And that's where the gifts come in though. It's kind of like that free fall space or that open space where, you know, most leaders want to fill it up and be doing something. It doesn't feel productive if you're doing nothing. But there's no room for new if you're not. Oh my God. I just, I literally just had an experience with this, like this whole month and I got like this beautiful message this morning and I'm like, oh, I can finally hear myself again. Oh my God. So I totally agree with that. I'm right there with you. So you are working on your program called World Class Leaders right now. And I want to know what does that even mean? Like, what are the foundational things of creating a world class leader? Who is that for?

I really started to really analyze the culture that we live in currently today. And I recognize that, that right now more than ever before, we need leaders. We really genuinely need leaders to kind of like step up. And I think every single one of us has that purpose, has that gift. And you know, you think about the Oprah's of the world and the Tony Robbins or the Will Smiths or the Rock or Ellen or like any of these people, like anyone, I mean, think about it like anyone that we've ever admired, right? And you look at, if you, if you really take off the fame and like, where they're at today, the highlight, if you look back into their life or where it started, I mean, some of them, they got it way worse than all of us. Like, I listened to Oprah's story again recently, and I was like, holy, like, holy cow. Like, what she went through to become Oprah is, like, out of control. So there's no difference. Like, I think, I love that saying is like, we all have the same 24 7. And I think that for me, what I realized is that there's a lot of success for people that have had these, the monetary success, maybe in their life, similar to how I had, but then lack the fulfillment. And they're, like, ready to step into their story, sharing that truly because they're looking for more fulfillment and they're looking to impact people's lives. You know, my business partner Yaya says, like, you know, a lot of times people just need the same message, but from a, like, different. The same. It's the same message, but from a different messenger.

Yes.

Like, there's. And I always felt throughout my entire career, like, when I interview people on my show and like, even just me looking for mentors, I'm always looking to not be the smartest person in the room. Like, you can learn something from everyone because we all can understand struggle. We all can understand, like, that we come from different experiences. And I really looked at a lot of people who've had the monetary success, too, in their lives, but they've sacrificed so much, and they haven't really filled their own cup, but they're ready to start stepping up out of their comfort zone and no longer just build a company and make money, but, like, literally build a personal brand. Go out there and actually be impacting people through their voice, through their story, through launching a show, through writing a book, you know, doing all these things that, you know, we look up and we see all these people doing that are, like, in our network, right? We look up to the Jay Shetty's, the Lewis Howes, the Mel Robbins, the, you know, the Tonys. We see all these people doing it. It's like a lot of. I was the person who was this startup entrepreneur, for instance, that was like, okay, how do I go about, like, actually stepping into being a brand? The business of me no longer just building my, you know, being someone who invests in business and builds businesses, but, like, actually, I think Jay Z said it like, I'm not a businessman, I'm a business man. Like, how do you actually build the business of you and you? And you're like, and I want to work with the people who actually have earned it. I started seeing so many people on social media that's like, they're just looking to sell courses and they're just, you know, the get rich quick and showing their Lamborghinis and all their, you know, all that stuff. And that's all great, but like, there are a lot of individuals out there that really, truly have an expertise, have the scars and the struggles. They're ready to like, step up and have that brand. And they're not just doing it because they're just trying to buy their next Lamborghini. They're doing it because they actually want to make a difference in the world. They want to push humanity forward. They want to leave a legacy. And so for me, I was one of those people and I was building the personal brand into an expensive hobby and doing it in the wrong way. And it was until I partnered up, up with my speaking coach, Yaya, who we were all together at F Drive and we just, like, we came together and we're like, hey, you know, we, we want to serve a lot of these entrepreneurs and that want to build a personal brand and we want to be able to give them the shortcut and how to do it in the way that we wish we knew when we first started. That doesn't become an expensive hobby. And, you know, again, puts allows them to book their first TEDx and throw their first event and, you know, have their own show and write a book and all these things, but, but not put the cart before the horse and teach them how to actually do it in a profitable way. Because if they can do it while creating income, then ultimately that will mean that they'll make more impact. And a lot of times I feel, you know, we can, we can, we can wanna make that impact and we can be, you know, I call it the Gary Vee syndrome. We're posting all this content and we're, you know, we're trying to maybe even write the book, but we're doing things in the wrong order. And then ultimately we're burning ourselves out because, because we're not getting clear on who we're serving. What's the offer. If they come into your world, what are you actually offering them? What is that product that you're great at? The word of mouth is gonna spread and how do you actually deliver that powerfully and build a team around you powerfully. And then once you monetize that expertise in that way, we help you do that. Then we get into teaching you how to become a world class speaker. Book the right stages, get that TEDx or throw your first event. And then my expertise is how to actually promote your brand through launching a show which I'm so passionate about because of leaders. Create leaders and we call it the map. So we take you into m, monetize your expertise a, amplify your message through the power of speaking and then p promote your brand. I help you grow your platform. So yeah, I'm excited about it. It's been something that I feel. It took me a long time to get here. I think it's part of my legacy now is to support leaders, you know, to really help them to get clear and get clarity and get rid of that overwhelm and be able to build their personal brand.

I mean, those were all massive things that I used to struggle with and still struggle with, to be honest with you. So I think it's so incredibly powerful because I think the one thing with entrepreneurs and people who are creative is just clarity and focus, like two things that we are always after. So you do need those people in your life and you need a lot of different people, I believe a lot of different coaches, a lot of different methods. And I love that you said how, you know, different voices with different messages sometimes are the most powerful thing. It can be like I've been hearing the same message for years, but then one person says it, that just strikes me perfectly and I finally take that action that I needed to take. So I think that's so not only important for what you're doing, but important for people to hear because. Because of the fear. Right? So I want to talk about that because this is a question I know that you just probably get hammered with and I get hammered with all the time. It's like there are so many people who have stories and things they want to start, but the fear of it already being done before or fear of the inner, you know, the inner critic that's coming or. Because pretty much, I mean, when it comes down to it, it's pretty much fear that's stopping everyone from starting something because the actual actions are not that challenging. It's just moving forward with them. So what do you, what do you say to those people? And is there something that you're dealing with right now that you're moving through some fear in your life?

I love that question. You know, my finale of season three of my show was literally completely on this. You know, I feel like our world has become predicated on fear. I mean, and if you think about it, it's pretty much like innate inside all of us because our brain, our minds are built to help us survive. You know what I mean? Mel Robbins was on my show this season and I thought she gave the best advice for overcoming fear, in my honest opinion, because you're right. I mean it is the number one thing that holds us all back. It's this limiting belief, this imposter syndrome where you're not good enough. And really what I think a lot of it comes down to is comparison. And I think like infobesity, which then like meaning like you're just, you're over analysis paralysis. You're just. Whether you're buying courses, you're joining all these masterminds, you're, you know, you're looking at everyone else on social media. You're, you're, I don't know, you're just, you're, you're reading all these books, you're just, you're downloading so much and a lot of times it just can become overwhelming and give you some lack of like clarity. And then all of a sudden you just start procrastinate. And I think Mel Robbins is something that I started to implement. I brought her on my show and if you haven't read her book, it's unbelievable. I can't wait for her next. And it's called the five second rule. And I think the number one way to overcome the fear is to recognize it, is to understand that it's always going to be there. We're always going to have this time where I still deal with it on a daily basis. I deal with anxiety myself sometimes I deal with loneliness and depression and I catch myself and I've just learned to train to catch my. Where like when that negative thought comes into my head, I become aware of it so quick. And Mel has this like 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And just take action, break it, like change that thought by doing something. So for me it's like, you know, immediately in the morning, 70% of our thoughts the moment we wake up are negative. And you know, I think a lot of that comes from these phones. Like we're immediately ever arm's reach. We have our smartphone and we're immediately what happens in that phone? It's like at all times you have text messages, you have all these emails, you have Instagram, you're just Facebook. It's just so much all the time. You don't really give ourselves space. For me, it's like as soon As I wake up in the morning, if I have any negative thought, I immediately get up. I'm just like, all right, I'm going to just get up and I'm going to get my day going as quickly as I possibly can. Jump in the shower. Before I jump out of the shower, I put it on cold water. I say a prayer to just break my sting and kind of really to just get me into a more positive state at night. If I have negative thoughts, for me, I just start writing. I noticed that that's something I procrastinated about a lot. But the moment that I've started to become create a habit of journaling and like just writing out what am I accomplishing? What can I do better? You know, what do I want to accomplish tomorrow? What are my goals for 2019? And just really start to accomplish, kind of write that stuff out. It allows me to kind of clearly see it and then kind of build a plan that I can reverse engineer into little micro wins. Like the goal is to get momentum and the way to get momentum is to reverse engineer your big goals into these little mini little steps and get these little wins every day. Get 1% better every single day. Start to build the habits every day that are going to make, make you better spiritually, better physically, mentally. And it's just like it's a never ending journey of trying to work on yourself little by little by little. And for me that's been it, it's been changing my habits. It's becoming aware of the fear. It's the five second rule of just taking action, being okay with making mistakes, being okay with myself and being vulnerable. I'm still working on the vulnerability part, right? Like when you build personal brand, that's like the strongest way to create a connection is vulnerability. But that takes time for you to be able to open up that, yeah, here I am again, like feeling like maybe I'm, you know, maybe I'm not good enough or you know, maybe I'm going to fail at this. But you know what? I'm willing to take a shot and I'm willing to just be open about it, honest about it. Because the more that we do that and just walk into the fear and realize that that fear is only just our minds trying to protect us. But that there is, is, there's, there's nothing that is gonna. Even if you fail, you never really fail. You just learn from it, you grow from it. So like you just, the more that you can just realize that if you walk into the most uncomfortable, uncertain, hard thing for you to do that ultimately is just gonna build you up, build your character, build your will, your, you know, make you stronger and just lead you closer to whatever's meant for you.

Oh, man. Well, number one, I wanna tell you that you're doing great on the vul, because that literally just you sharing that was immediately that you, you know, that you've suffered or that you struggle with anxiety and depression and that you. I think those are such normal human things, and it's noticing it and interrupting that pattern. Like, I immediately was like, oh, my God, I feel the exact same way. It's so nice to hear somebody at your level who goes through the same thing. And it's just the normal being a human, like, the daily thing. And also, like, thank you so much for saying the one, you know, getting 1% better every day because I used to get so stuck in that cycle of. I used to think it would have to be 25% better. You know, it was the. The all or nothing, and it would just kill me because I would go all out. And then you just burn out. So really, just that little one, knowing that it. It goes. Sometimes it goes a lot slower than people think, but when you look back, it went faster. Does that make sense?

Yeah. I also think that we don't give each. We don't give ourselves credit. Like, if you really, like, honestly. So I had a friend today, you know, he's a business partner of mine and one of my companies, and he called me. He's like, yo, gee. He's like, man, I feel so old. Like, time is going so fast, and I just feel like I'm not where I'm. I'm not where I expected to be at my age. And I'm like, bro, like, think about what you've done, man. Like, you have. You know, you really have come so far, dude, you're the CEO of your own company. You have a beautiful daughter. You. You're. This guy's got a. You know, he's got a beautiful home, a beautiful wife. He's got a freaking. He's. Not to say that this is part of happiness, but, like, he got his dream car. I know it meant to him his whole life, he wanted to one day have a Rolls Royce. He's got his Rolls Royce if he wanted to. He can just take a vacation if he wanted to. And, you know, it's just like the little. I think one of the things that we just forget to give ourselves credit for, how much we've actually done, we. How far we've Actually come, you know, and just recognize that what you just said is like, like if our happiness is really caught up on achieving and accolades and money and materialistic things and followers and views and likes and comments, you know, and just all these things like, you know, we'll never truly be happy. And I think you just need to recognize like we're all in this together. We're all human, you know, and just like it's just every single day just try to be a better you. Try to bring value to the room that you're in and to the people that you meet. Try to always just give value and just grow. Like we're all out here little by little. Like so many of us compare our chapter 20 to our chapter two. You know what I mean? Like, we're all got different journeys. You look at some of the most successful people in the world and it's like they became a freaking billionaire and a rock star at like 40 years old, 45, 50, some people that everyone's at a different point, you know, and some of the people that have the most in the world, you know, I know billionaires that are like so unhappy, you know, yet I know people, if you go to a third world country that have a little hut on the beach and they're like the happiest people alive. So just like, you know, sometimes you just got to put yourself in perspective and don't be afraid to reinvent yourself. Like, I think it's scary when we work with a lot of our world class leaders. It's like, it's scary. It's like you're doing something really uncomfortable all of a sudden. It's like you're built, you're. You have to be vulnerable. You're building the business of you. You're putting yourself out there. You're building a personal brand. You're, you know, you have to like rebo. Build a team around you. And you know, there's a lot of like shedding ego with that and realizing it's no longer about you. And like you're putting yourself out there because you generally care about the people that you're serving. And it's. That it's reinventing yourself is really stressful, especially when you're an alpha female or alpha male and you're used to those achievements. But I genuinely think that like once you figure out, you know, what does fulfillment really look like for you? And I think we can all agree that when you can just. When you really care about people and you really care about helping other people and once you get clear as to like what that gift is that you have that really can help someone on their journey. Go all in on that and take it one step at a time. Helping one person at a time, you know, over time, you know, I think you'll see how quickly, you know, you genuinely are making a major dent in the world.

So I want to know, you know, with all of that being said, a question that's been coming up up with a lot of people. I actually just went on a book tour and I always do a Q and A and like this one question just kept coming up and I was like, that is such a great question because I'm still answering it all the time. And it was, how do you still have such high standards and huge goals for yourself if that's what you know that you are, but also kind of let go of that outcome and seek fulfillment at the same time. How are you doing that in your life? Life?

That's a big question.

That's what I think too.

Yeah, yeah. Only because of course, right, like we want, of course for me, you know, my partner and I were like, we want to have a lot of times, you know, yaya who, you know, I want to have the end all, be all for successful entrepreneurs to be able to come and you know, have a one stop shop for themselves to truly really be able to scale and build a profitable personal brand. And we want to have the best consulting agency out there that not only does it with them but also can provide done for you service. And the vision's so big and it's like help over a thousand people and create a billion dollars of impact. And I don't know, for me, I just really genuinely, I started to little by little shed the ego. Although we have this huge growth goal, I literally just try to take it one step at a time and like not get too attached to if we're the best. You know, I think a lot of us, we want to be number one. And it's like, I don't want to look at it as like I'm in competition with anyone else anymore in my life. It's just like, hey, I'm just trying to be the very best leader that I could possibly be for my community and for my clients. Show up every single day, continue to work on myself. And I don't know if that's answering your question because it's just definitely difficult. I'm coming to the, we're walking into December, it's my birthday coming up and this is the time of year where I Take a step back. And I do what I said in the beginning of our podcast. I'm going to meditate and I'm going to visualize, hey, what's this next year look like? As I think sometimes we can get overwhelmed when we think, hey, what's three years, five years, 10 years, right? It's like, yo, let's just break it down. Like for me, I'm going to break it down into like, what do I really want to accomplish? What's one thing that I really genuinely want to accomplish in 2019? And what does the next 90 days look like for you? What does Q1 really look like for me? You know, I think figuring out what you are really, really great at is the best piece of advice I can give you. I used to be the entrepreneur that I realized was doing too much. Like I was trying to be a little bit of everything for everyone. And the moment that I got super self aware as to what I want to be doing, what I love doing, what lights me up, what I, you know, what I'm great at doing. And then I started to just build a team. Like our team right now inspires me so much. And I've just been continuing to grow, you know, on a personal level. Like I have a personal team and then for the business. And I've Learned going into 2019, like how important it is to have a team, you know, a team that supports you on the personal side, a team that's supporting you on the business side. For me, the more than I've been able to get self, aware, break down everything, not think like so far ahead head, but really break it down into one year and then break it down into quarterly goals and then set up a team around me that plays to like, my weaknesses. I don't know, I just, that, that to me has taken a lot of overwhelm off my plate. It's, it's taken me, it's just helped me personally to just, you know, not get too overwhelmed with like trying to be a billion dollar income. I mean like so fast, like, oh, I gotta have this. I want, I want this to happen so quickly. Like, no, like we're, we're. This thing called life is a marathon, you know, it's, it's gonna take a lot of time. I started recognizing that, like with my team, I'm like, hey guys, like, hey, like this is a 20, 30 year. Like we got, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, this is gonna take a long time. This isn't something that we're looking to Just do, you know, in a year or two, like, this is something that we're. This is our life's work and that I want to be. Like, I want leaders. Create leaders, for instance, Like, I want this to be passed down. Down for generations. Like, I want, like, if I die, like, I want this. I want my movement to continue, you know, when I'm not around. Like, everything that I'm doing right now, I'm just being very, very intentional with. Like, this is aligned with my legacy. And I think that if you can just ask yourself that question with where you're putting your energy, is it very intentional? Are you very conscious? Are you very conscious and aware of where you're spending your time? Time, where your energy is going? Is it really where you feel like you're gonna be making the most impact regardless of money? That, to me is like, I'm constantly asking myself those tough questions.

What's one thing that you want to start doing this next year? And one thing you want to stop doing this next year?

Next year? One thing I want to start doing is I think I want to travel a lot more. Like, I To want. Want to. I really want it next year. I want to do more of. I love the fact that now our company is remote. I feel like I. I feel like I want to now. Like, I've always been reactive, and I want to start being proactive in all with traveling, with the way that I'm working with brands. Like, everything has come to me. Like, if I'm going on a speaking engagement, it's come to me. If I'm working with a brand, it's come to me. If it's, you know, a lot of my clients, you know, next year, I want to be proactive. I want to be very clear as to, like, my goals, and I want to take a proactive approach to. To things that I want to do. And travel is definitely one of them.

I love that. Where do you want to go? Where's the first place you would go if you had to pick right now?

Oh, well, I'm going to Tulum in December. That's the first place. But, yeah, that'd be fun. And I don't know, next year, I guess, in Tulum is when I think I'm going to get clear on that Tulum is the first place.

And When's your birthday?

December 20th.

Okay. I'm the sixth Sagittarius.

Still sad season energy. Big energy right now.

It is.

Chris is a sag too, so it's like double sag in the house.

Oh, wow. Huge energy right now.

That's a lot.

Okay, so what's the one thing you want to stop doing next year?

I want to stop worrying so much. You know, I feel that. I don't know if it's because it's like fourth quarter and it's going into the year, I'm like, you know, I feel like I get caught. I get caught worse worrying a lot, and I need to get rid of that. I need to get rid of, like, worry and just start being more present, you know, like, don't get the anxiety of worrying about, you know, the next day and the next morning. Like, I feel like that's where my anxiety stems from. So for me, I want to let go of that anxiety, and I just want to be fully present to the gift that we have every day. Being alive on this beautiful planet that needs us to be conscious right now and awoke to it. Because I think a lot of people are sick right now. The planet is sick right now. So I think it starts with us as leaders to just be present and be conscious of, like, every day, the impact that we can make. And for me, I would get so caught up in the future, and I think next year I want to start to be super present.

So what's something that you want to do that will help you? Like, when you notice that you're worrying, is there something that you kind of like, put in place or a mantra in your head or a pattern interrupt or what's the something that you're going to do when you start to worry?

I think breathe. I think I'm going to start to, like, really work on my breath work and just work on meditation. Like, meditation has been such a healer for me. I still haven't mastered it. Like, I know it's like a work in progress, but I need to start to master that on more of a daily basis. I'm not doing it enough. I pray every day. But meditation is something that I need to start to practice a little bit more.

Do you ever do, like, moving meditations or are you always, like, sitting down?

I'm always sitting down. Okay.

Sometimes what's worked for me is, like, if I just go walk outside and do like a gratitude meditation or like, just a really, like, that's also flipped how I look at meditation because I'm like, let's be real. Some days I'm just. My energy is like, I'm not going to go sit. Do you know what I mean? So, like, that it's been a new way for me to look at Meditation.

Being things I do like that, right. Once you get outdoors, especially like for me, it's like if you get outdoors, you're in mother nature, you're walking and you're just breathing and it's you all of a sudden you become that. You start to connect again to the gift man. The gift of just earth and life. God.

Oh, Gerard, this was so great. What do you want to leave people with? Like you have so much wisdom. I don't. I literally had, you know, like 20 questions here, I didn't even ask. So you know, it's how it goes.

Yeah, I know, I know.

What do you want to leave people with?

I think that one of the things that I want to leave you with is my last season was around being a conscious creator. And you know, my whole movement is around becoming a world class leader and leaders create leaders and leadership. And what is a leader? What is a leader? For me, you know, it means to be very conscious in the impact that you genuinely can make in the world. And like I mentioned a little while ago, right now our world is suffering. And you know, you have people that are suffering with fear, you have people that are suffering with depression, you have people that are suffering and that are extremely intoxicated. They're intoxicated with the, with the drug of money and likes and followers and comparison and validation and judgment. And you have our planet that is now suffering, you know, when it with environmental and with plastic and just in global warming. And there's a lot that's happening. So I want you to just, I leave anything with you is go into this new year really becoming conscious and feeding the internal. The internal. So that once you kind of start to listen to yourself, listen to kind of that inner voice that knows that you have so much more to give to the world and that you then find that purpose, find that confidence inside you to like step out of your comfort zone and to show up, show up powerfully in the world, show up vulnerably, show up just as you are and know that you are enough. And that being in the imperfect you is what the world needs right now. And it needs you to care. It needs you to care about your community. It needs you to care about your everything from your in your home, your family to your community, to your tribe, to their customers, your clients, to, you know, just humanity in general. So be conscious. Let's go into this next year together as a conscious collective, showing up as leaders in the world, as the leaders that we want to be. As an example, the leaders that we would want to follow so that the world, together, we can genuinely really help end the suffering. End the suffering of so many people around us that are scared to open up about what they're going through and just. And our planet too. Our planet really needs you to be aware. Start to care about the food that you're eating. Start to care about the war, you know, that you're drinking. Start to care about the pollution and all of those things. Because right now, the world really needs that.

Thank you so much for that. And I just want to say thank you and acknowledge you for being such an empowered voice and such a cheerleader for people and using your voice to help people find theirs. Because that's truly just the most beautiful gift that I think that you can pay forward to someone is helping them find their purpose. And I'm so grateful for you doing that for so many people, especially when you don't have to. And I'm just beyond grateful for you paying that forward also to this awesome audience that we have here. So thank you so much for that. And where can people tune into you? What's the best spot for that?

Yes. So Instagram is a platform that I love connecting with everybody. So I would just say hit me up on Instagram errardadams. If any of this resonated with you, just shoot me a dm. If you shoot the word world class in dm, then I will note it that this came from our podcast. And a lot of times I just know that if anything interested you about world class leader, I'll just start to communicate with you. And even if it's just the start of a conversation, a lot of times I love getting messages that are just that this touched you in any way possible, it's impacted you. Love to connect with you on there.

Thank you so much. And you guys, if you love this episode as much as I did, make sure you share it with your friends. And until next time, earn your happy. Bye, everyone. Thank you guys so much for spending this time with me on the earn your happy podcast. I am so glad that you stopped by. If you could take one second to share this episode with someone you think would, like, love it, that would be absolutely amazing and we would be forever grateful. Also, please leave us a review. If you feel so moved by going to itunes and leaving us an honest thought, an honest comment, tell us what you think, tell us what you want to hear more of. It would really help us out on our journey to helping thousands and thousands of people. Until then, don't forget to earn your happy. Thanks again, guys. Bye. Bye.