How to Lead, Grow, and Stay Optimistic When Everything Feels Uncertain with Dean Graziosi

I've been through three or four different shifts in the economy. The panic and the chaos and the craziness. Usually all that. It can either affect you or not. We have the opportunity to give it a different frame. Yes. When everybody's scared, I wonder if I could find opportunity. When everybody's making a decision, what if I just hold and then when everybody sits on their hands, what if I attack? To not panic, to not make harsh decisions and to say what opportunities exist. I think that sets us apart.

Dean, welcome to both of our shows.

Yes.

You're on Earn your Happy and the Chris Harder show.

Now.

We like it. I like it.

Every single year. This has become a tradition, right?

It has.

Normally you're at your east coast lake home. We're at our lake home in Wisconsin. Typically this year we're a little bit earlier. So we're in Newport.

I know.

And we're in person.

And we're in person. What could be better? This is you guys way better in person.

So let's jump right in to the economy and some of the stuff that's going on. And here's why I want to start there. We hosted our high level Mastermind a couple of weeks ago and we were shocked how many people were concerned about the economy and tariffs and stock market doing the wild things it's doing and all that. And these are high performers that usually you feel like they've got a grip. Right. And then I've seen a trickle down effect with other people dropping into the DM saying, hey, should I be worried? So the fact that you get to hang out with so many famous economists and you've got a different point of view than the average person, is this finally the time to worry?

Yeah. A really great question, I have to say. And it could be just more years on this planet.

Yeah.

That even in my picture, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s. Right. I'm halfway through my 50s. And over time, if you have enough things that go wrong and you see the other side, I should say go wrong. I've been through three or four different shifts in the economy. And when you see the other side of it, I think over time it makes you realize that the panic and the chaos and the craziness, usually all that, it can either affect you or not.

Yeah.

And I know that sounds really like duh. But a couple of things I want to share. If you Google Fortune 500 companies, do you know the majority of them were started in a down economy? I've heard that. Yeah. But you just Google it and it says it's like 60% were started in either a recession or a down shifting economy. Right. So I think through that and of course, please know, I'm not saying people shouldn't worry. We all have that internal worry. We all work hard for what we have. We don't want it taken away. But when I look through a lens like that, what I believe, and maybe it's the optimist in me and we all have to work to be an optimist and history and I'd have to be crazy not to see patterns at this phase of my life. But I think when the economy shifts and that happens, you guys have high level masterminds. So do Tony and I. Right. Is I think so many people when you get a little nervous, you get a little uncertain, you sit on your hands and I almost feel like if you're playing soccer, it's like you back up into the goalie and say, oh my God, let me protect. And you know, you can't win a game by just protecting now when it immediately happens. I get it. But you got to find a way to rebound and find that hunger and look for opportunity in this. Because when most people sit on their hands and most people get fearful, I think it's the most incredible time to find opportunity. Because when things shift, we're looking at the obstacles where there's a few that find a way to look at opportunity. And I think if we can find a way to work on the inner game to get a little more like strengthen this time if we can Google what could go wrong. Right. If you look at stocks, I mean even Monday, it was like three Mondays ago, that felt like the world just.

Yes.

So many people called me and I'm like, maybe it's my age, but just hold your breath for a little bit, don't sell anything, don't react. I think those, like if someone said, what do you work on? You have to work on you. Right. Not to oversimplify it, but to, to not panic, to not make harsh decisions and to say what opportunities exist. Yeah. I think that sets us apart.

Yeah, I would agree. Because you can't control the stock market, you can't control the economy, but you can control your reaction and you can control your mindset and you can control the actions that you take and you can control the optimism you mentioned. You know, at this point you're just very optimistic by default. I'm optimistic by default. Those are the things you can control.

You know, we could, we could go in a lot of directions, but when, when you're feeling stressed and, and being partners with Tony Robbins does doesn't, you know, it helps a lot. Right. It doesn't hurt, I should say. Right. But when, when things go wrong, when we feel at our worst is when we don't feel we have a compelling future. Right. If you look at like half a millennials and a lot of Gen Z, they're the most depressed generation we've ever had, the most on antidepressants we've ever had, the highest suicide. You could just Google and find that. And Tony and I had these conversations and what we've talked about is, and this has nothing to do with politics, but when you have the media saying the environment is going to end the world, 10, 15, 20 years, whatever it is, or if you didn't like Biden or you didn't like Trump or you don't like both of them, you don't. You like both of them, whatever it is, the president lend it, or it's going to be an oligarchy or tariffs are going to ruin our world, or inflation is going to change, or our dollar is going to be worth nothing like Venezuela in 10 years and it's going to take a wheelbarrow of money to buy a loaf of bread. When, when stuff like that is said so much to a whole new generation who hasn't had enough time on this earth, what happens? I don't have a compelling future. Therefore, who cares about today? Yes, if we said tomorrow, no matter how hard you work, Lori, four podcasts a week, I can't even believe. Amazing. No wonder you're so good at it. You guys are both doing so. I love watching your hustle. You guys are doing fantastic things for the world. But if someone came in today and said, I know for a fact, here's a crystal ball, in five years, the world's over. Maybe tomorrow you don't wake up and hustle like you. Right, Right. Like. Or if you said, you know, the business is like. So I feel like when this happens, what is happening to us is we are thinking our compelling future is over. So if we are brave enough, if we are bold enough to say, this doesn't feel good in this moment, but my future is so big and so compelling that I will be resourceful, I'll be innovative, I'll adapt, I'll adjust, I'll pivot. It just gives you a different perspective. Rather than life's going to hell in a hand basket, dollar will be worth nothing. The environment's going to end it. And I think three Mondays ago, whenever the Market crushed that. That immediate reaction is, it's over. This is the big one.

This is the big one.

How many times in your life has the big one already?

At this point in my life, plenty of them. I don't even react that way anymore.

How can you react to it? It's like it's the boy who cried wolf. And I'm not saying it's not difficult, and I'm not saying there's a shift, but we have to find a way to be bold enough to think that. Innovation, creativity. Listen, I don't know if it's true.

Yeah.

But I do know that oil used to be the sticky stuff on the bottom of camel's hooves. What changed it? Innovation switched it from sticky stuff to things that power everything around us. I believe innovation will find a new way to power things. I believe AI could ruin us, or I want to believe it's going to empower us. We get that choice. You know, I just. I just said this recently to somebody else, but I remember when Wayne Dyer. I don't know if you like old Wayne Dyer stuff. I remember listening to a live interview of Wayne Dyer when he found out he had leukemia. And when he found out he had it, at first he was like, what did I do wrong? Did I drink too much? Did I eat wrong? I should have exercised more. It's my sleep and all these things. And he said he went through weeks of just, damn, I got leukemia. It's going to kill me. Why did I do it? And he said, then just one day. And of course, he's got lots of practice. He was Wayne Dyer, for gosh sakes. Right. But he said he woke up one day and like, you know, no matter what, I have leukemia, but I'm going to be the crazy bastard who beats leukemia. I'm going to be the guy that everybody can look to and go, if Wayne did it, I can do it. And he said in one day, he woke up and said, okay, I got leukemia. I'm going to be. And he said everything changed. He still had it. Yeah. But he had a different frame around it. And he said, and now he ended up passing away of a heart attack, I think, or heart issues. Not the leukemia. But it just made me realize any circumstance that's going on, though, not easy. We have the opportunity to give it a different frame. Yes. When everybody's scared.

Wow.

I wonder if I could find opportunity when everybody's making a decision, what if I just hold? And then when everybody sits on their hands, what if I attack? Right, right. And I just think that's. I think that's the only way we can get through it.

Yeah, I agree.

I think about that a lot, because people will come. I was just thinking of this with the mastermind. People were coming up to me, and they were, you know, concerned about the economy and all these things. And I was thinking, wow, I wasn't even fully aware of everything going on. You know, he informs me of a lot of stuff, but I try to stay off because I feel an immediate. Immediate energy.

Crazy, though, if you didn't know, you just keep working.

I literally realized, like, I was having some really great things happening in my business because I was so focused there, and what I could do and what you can control, what I can control. And so I had this moment of, like, wow, what this person is consuming is truly taking away from any action or energy that they can move forward. Because if I was looking at the same thing, I'd be in the same boat. I wouldn't be. I wouldn't be doing four podcasts a week because I have no energy. And I'd be like, this isn't really worth it, and why am I doing this? And just like you said, you know, in these moments of, like, down time, it makes me think about asking the question, well, what do people need right now? Like, what would they need? What support would they need if they're feeling this bad? What support do they need if this is what they're thinking? And just changing that conversation. There's always. I feel like there's always something we can do.

Without a doubt.

I want to frame the year that I just had.

Okay.

Just so the listeners can catch up, because they may not be aware in the last 12 months. Frello, which you're an investor in, so you're aware. We woke up overnight last June, and the CFPB made a decision where suddenly, a couple million dollars in and two years of hard work, we couldn't flip the on switch on. We were just weeks from flipping the on switch on. And that was my first, like, punch through the gut, right? So that began stress, which then gave me a stroke in September. And I'm 50% blind in my right eye now. And some other neurological things.

I had no idea.

Yeah, isn't that wild? And so then, boom, another punch they got right. Then a couple other things happen, and here we are, you know, maybe 10 months in from all that, and I'm. You can see my little broken chicken wing here. I tear my bicep off my shoulder and have to get surgery and do Rehab and all that stuff. And yet I'm still incredibly optimistic. Now, I want to be clear. I wasn't optimistic the whole way. Of course, I wasn't happy the whole way.

You wouldn't be human.

I wasn't. I had bad days and bad weeks and bad months, and I doubted the decisions I made and I doubted myself. But the reason why I frame that is I don't know if it's the reps. I don't know if it's the mindset, practice. I don't know if it's the people I have, you know, that. That I surround myself with. But I probably, on paper, shouldn't be as optimistic as I am right now. Why do you think I'm built that way? You've known me for a while now. Why do you think somebody like you is built that way? And what advice do you have for someone who has their version of a year like that?

Oh, God, such a great question. I'm sorry you went through all that. You know, if you don't mind, I'm going to share a little something. Yeah. And I think it is time on this earth.

Yeah.

Right. Because I, In a year like that, if it was in my 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s, would be completely different outcomes. Right. Of how I would feel about it, how I'd approach it. I'm sure I'd get through it. You got it through it so elegantly. There's a way that we can change sooner than later. Everybody says, I went through this mess. Ten years later, they look back, oh, thank goodness I went through the divorce. I found the love of my life. Thank God the business partner stole all my money because I found out he was bad and I started my own thing. But when you're in it, you can't be like, I'm so glad I'm getting from. Like, you're in it. It sucks.

I love being robbed.

But can we. Can we condense that time, for example? You know, every action has a reaction, and we. We have the opportunity to frame what it means. Yeah, right. Maybe the shoulder. Like, I know this sounds. Maybe the shoulder. It was time with all the had going on to slow down and it's time to reflect. And maybe you can't work out in the morning, so you read for a while, or maybe you're journeying for a while and as you're journaling, something happens and pops in and it solves another problem. And then someday you look back, connected dots and go, and if I didn't have that stroke, if I didn't have the thing with my arm. If the business didn't delay, we wouldn't have found that thing. And I think it's just having the ability to connect the dots sooner, you know, as a kid, I've told this story before, but not often, so I wanted to share. As a kid, my dad was the youngest of 12, was physically abused and went through some really tough times. His dad knocked his teeth out, and finally his mom took him away from his dad and all this kind of crazy stuff. Old school Italian guy from a small town, east coast. Just never got counseling. But he had so much anger built up inside him. Chased away four wives, chased. My sister doesn't talk to him, who's, for 25 years, his sister and brothers, brothers and sisters didn't talk to him. So you could just imagine he just pushed everybody away. 12 years old, I moved in with him, and he was like the coolest dad who let me drive a car to school at 13. Taught me how to just respond like, you want to go to school? Here, take the keys. Taught me how to hunt. Did all this fun stuff also. Just a crazy bastard who did so much insane stuff that it caused me to have nervous issues. And, you know, just. I had an ulcer at 12 years old because I was worried about it.

Both ends of the spectrum, right?

So the reason I'm telling you that is because there was a time living with him that I could see him come through the door. And I'd call him. His name was Paul. He's still with us, right? He's 88 years old. Like, I'd see crazy Paul come through the door. Something must have happened that day. And I could feel his emotions. And by the time, I don't know if I was 13 or 14, I could manipulate his emotions to go into the dad I loved, right? So I could. I could look back about changing your past. And I wish I could have done it sooner is all I'm saying. I could say, man, it was really hard to make it with having a father that treated me the way I had an ulcer at 12 years old. He drove me crazy, scared my mom away, all this kind of stuff. But that's not the way I get to look at. You know, I look at it now. He taught me how to read and feel people. So now I feel like I can go on a stage with 50,000 people, and sometimes I'll be playing in one slide deck. I'm like, screw that. I can feel what they need. I'll shift. And whether it's true or not. I feel like I get to be good on camera and be partners with Tony Robbins and do really cool stuff and do an event with McConaughey. We had 2 million people live, and I feel like I could feel them. And it was the gift I got from my dad because I had to feel his emotions or life wasn't good. So I've changed that part of my history. My sister doesn't have the chance to change that because she's looking through the lens of what he did. I'm like, yeah, what he did, he made me a badass dude. What I do, I'm grateful for him. Took time and all that. But my only point to. Maybe someone listening needs to hear it. You know, my buddy Trent Shelton had a year like you did. He lost his mom a couple days later, lost his grandmother a couple days later. Neighbor mowing the lawn, A rock hit went across, hit his daughter in the head, passed her out. She almost. They almost lost her in the hospital. And then, like, two weeks later, playing basketball, his nephew snapped his Achilles heel. So it reminds me so much of some of the things you had. And he went through that same thing. He was in a tough spot. One of the most greatest inspirational speakers there are. In a tough spot. And then one day just realized, man, he found all the gifts and all of it and found a way to collapse that. And people say, well, you're overly optimistic. It's like, no, we all go through the hell. It's just, how long do you want to stay in the hell?

Yes.

Right? How long do you want to focus on what the president's doing or what the government's doing or the economy's doing or what tariffs are doing? Until you get back to seeing opportunity rather than obstacles, seeing the best rather than the worst. Looking back at your history and really realizing you're resourceful and that with the right temperament, the right frame of mind, this might be the time that you actually have the breakthrough you've been looking for. Start the business you've been dying to start. Scale the thing that's ready to be scaled. This.

This concept of overly optimistic. I mean, what's the alternative? To sit in the pain? To sit in the. The poor meat.

It's a true story.

You know, I just don't understand how that serv. As opposed to choosing to be optimistic or overly optimistic because one of them is going to. You can even bring you into opportunity.

You can even say, how about. I mean, to cut you off. I was just thinking, like, being brave enough to be optimistic. Because it's. Obviously, this might sound uncool or unpopular, but I almost feel like there's a group that, like you, you're an outlier if you're optimistic. Like, it's easier to look at all the things that are wrong.

Yeah.

And it's easier to fit in. It's easier to fit in.

Yeah. I know. I get it. That's. That's work. Yeah. How could we make it with all that's going on and. Yes. Look like. I don't know. I think maybe. Maybe we all need to be even more brave and more optimistic and be the oddball at the conversation.

I think that's what we're doing. I think we lead by example. I just want everyone to know we don't all have easy years. We don't all have easy times. We all have our going on.

Yeah.

But I think we get to set that example, that there's still a way to come out on top on the other end.

And like you say, that's it.

What would you say to somebody who, you know, they're. They're trying to be a leader right now, and maybe they are. I'm just even thinking of with my company and looking out at, you know, orders and tariffs and things that really do impact your bottom line.

Of course.

Am I gonna have to change this product? Am I gonna be able to keep this product? What is this gonna look like? How much money is this gonna be to have to go into environments where people maybe aren't optimistic at all? What advice would you give them to stay focused on? Like them, you know, continuing to stay optimistic despite what is continually being shown to them or thrown at them as a leader?

Yeah. Great question. And so if we. If we were just sitting at Starbucks, having a conversation, talking about this, I would share what I've been doing this year. So every year, you know, I'm responsible for hundreds of employees at this time, 400 almost between the two companies. And every year, I want to be a better leader, a better guide, you know? Right. If we have rocky, you know, if the storms are coming, I want to. I want to be inspired. I want to make the companies grow through this. I want the teams to feel good. And I also have certain companies that are getting hit with the same exact stuff. Right. So I've got this philosophy this year. After I've read a bunch of books going in, I've did a bunch of interviews. I'm just trying. How do I become a better leader, more efficient leader, and get more things done in this new year? In 2025. And what I would suggest is to narrow down your goals. We all, as crazy entrepreneurs, as we go, we don't realize we get multiple things going on and more, and then we see a good idea. We're part of a mastermind. One of your members comes up and you're like, why aren't we doing that on LinkedIn? And why aren't we doing that on Pinterest? And we could do this and we could do that, and all of a sudden, you don't realize. And what I've come to realize is me being a dreamer and shiny object syndrome and a crazy entrepreneur who tries to execute everything. It's like on the floor, there's a wood floor and there's a whole bunch of different planks. Right. It's. We have all these projects going on, and we work a little bit on this one and then a little bit on this one, a little bit on this one. It'd be like if you had Chris have 10 projects at home. I want this done. I want this lens done. I want this done. I want the outside thing done. Let's do the thing on the beach. And it's like on the weekend, you almost don't know where to start. You're doing a little bit. It's almost like you have 10 turtles going a little bit at a time.

That's what it feels like Across. Yeah.

Which is.

It can be painful.

So. So what I'm trying to do this year with the departments of my company and me personally, as you realize, you can't multitask. You can't have six things going on and expect to be good in any of them. And then you wonder why they don't work out. And you might think the employee doesn't. It's. It's because the focus wasn't there. So my philosophy for this year is pick a goal. A big one. The one that moves the needle most. The ones fixes your company. If tariffs stick, which in hindsight, I don't think they're going to, but who knows? But if tariffs stick, what is the biggest goal that you have? And you can have five or six. And I'll tell you why this is so important. And for those of you listening, what is the goal that would move the needle the most towards the human, the woman, the man you want to become, what is that goal? And what I would suggest is make it bigger than you think. This is a new philosophy. You ready for this one? Yeah. Yeah. Is if you have a company and you're doing 20 million a year. And I say to you, hey, next year let's go to 22. 10% increase. Your brain goes to. What do I need to maximize? How do I, how do I fix the block and tackling? How do I save a little? How do I make a little more? How do I maximize the team? If I said to you, you're doing 20 million, Chris, you got to get the 40 next year. It stretches your brain in ways you did when you first started. You see, when we first started, we had crap. None of us, right. We've had these conversations, we had to dream about that. If you told any of your, if you told your family, Laura, we had the chance to your family, like, what are you.

I couldn't even tell them, right?

But then all of a sudden we get in business and we start doing things and, and we start. Don't realize we protect a little, we get in maintenance mode. We want to make sure nothing breaks. And we forget to be that crazy dreamer that when, listen, when you went zero to a million or whatever that is, that was the most unlikely thing in the history of the world for sure. So if you're at 20 or 10 million, why can't you double it? So all I know is I've been trying to push my team to have bigger stretch goals and I'm watching them come up with innovative stuff and when they go, but I got this, this I know we're going to do. Instead of 10 turtles going across the desert, you're going to collapse them and have one rabbit run until you take it all the way to the end and either wins or fails. And then you come back and grab the next one and go right. So I think that could apply to anybody. No business, starting a business. What is the one needle moving goal in your life and how do you make it bigger, make it scary? That's number one. But this is the, like, I'm sorry, I've been in business for 40 years this year, which is insane. Wow. But this is the one that I think is changing it for me is once you set that goal, what are the constraints holding you back from achieving it? And attack those constraints one at a time, obsessively, just one at a time. Because what I was looking at with my teams and myself, if you got 10 goals and they each have five constraints, that's 50 problems. You're not solving anything.

No, no, no.

You're dabbling, you're hoping one. Right. You're, you're juggling plates. But if, you know, for, for example, I'm going to give you example in in office, actual team, sales team. Something changed with the dialing system. New new regulations and where they used to, if a dialer reached out to our people, they would contact 20% of the people we call. And it's really just calls saying, hey, what's going on? We doing? Can we help you? Something changed. It's down to 7%. I don't talk to anybody. Yeah, they've been talking about it for months. I sat down with our sales leader the other day. I'm like, what's your main goal? Inspire, impact and serve more people. Okay. And then he listed 10 of them, said, whoa, what's the main goal is we want to get to this metric. Like, okay, what's the main thing holding you back? Well, we need more people. We got to talk to more clients. He went through 20. I said, what is the main thing? He's like, narrow down to five. I'm like, no, the main constraint. He's like, we're not talking to enough people and they don't have a system for it. I said, guaranteed, there's a system out there. I know. I'm just juggling. I said, what if you just took the next five days and did nothing but find that solution? He started going, no, no. What's the main problem or the main goal? Okay, main constraint, A dialer that could help us contact more people. Guess what happened by Thursday that was.

Found it amazing.

He's been talking about for three and a half months. You know why? Because it was a problem amongst many, many when it was the only problem. I know you. I know your tenacity. You could solve anything if the only thing was, hey, my product is going to go up 18%. I know you. If you had nothing else to think about for an entire week, I know you could find a way where maybe when they buy a product, there's a different enhancement. They could buy all month or they could get it delivered, or there's a bigger version or there's a gold version. I don't know. I'm making stuff up. But if it was a bigger go, stretched out of your mind. Not just, how do I protect if tariffs go up? More like, no, no. How do I double while tariffs happen?

Yes.

Your brain's gonna think crazy, right? And then you go, but what would stop me? Well, these three things. Well, I'm only going to focus on this one thing. I'm telling you. I feel like I've been in business for 40 years. I feel like I've been faking it like, how did I do what I do without this? And I know most of you might be listening, you get it. But it's just a different frame. Yeah. So, so goal, singular goal or less goals. Stretch it, then figure out the constraints, attack them one at a time, and as you attack them, widen the circle as much as needed. Meaning I come up with this constraint. It's like, hey, Dean faced this, maybe him. And reach out to me, reach out to Chris, reach out to all of our other amazing friends that you're connected. Somebody's got the answer. Right. If you're focused on one thing, then the third part is, how are you going to measure your progress? Because when we're in the thick of stuff, we're working our tails off and the only metric we sometimes focus on is is the company doing better or not? But we're making progress along the way. We always beat ourselves up. We never look in the rear view mirror as far as we come. A lot of times you're kicking ass. Look what you guys are doing. And sometimes, you know, like, you look and you see somebody doing more or a bigger podcast or sold more books or has a bigger plane and you're like, oh, I'm so.

What am I even doing?

I've been doing this for eight years. Why am I now not like. But you know, what changes that? You just glimpse in the rearview mirror and go, look how far I came. Yeah. So you have to measure your progress or you don't give yourself the energy. And then the last and most important piece is deadline.

Yeah.

None of us do anything without a deadline. I don't know about you guys, if it's due on Monday, I'm working on Sunday night or Monday morning. Right. Did that since high school. Still doing it.

Still can't change it, unfortunately.

And then where a deadline can really help, like, you stretch the goal, shorten the deadline.

Yes. Condense the box.

Condense the box. Because we all know, like, if someone says, hey, we want to double your business over the next five years. Right. Do you do anything tomorrow? If it's a five year plan, three year plan, do you do anything tomorrow? No.

You're like, I got your four.

It's, it's in the year four month 11. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But if you said, oh, my God, I got challenged to double my business in the next 12 months tomorrow, you're on a call going, how the hell do we do it? What's the first thing? Right. It just, you just condense the time. And then the way I look at it, Is I'd rather put the hard work. Like, I love working hard. So do you guys. But I'd rather, if you want to take your business next level, I'd love. Rather condense a year where things are really difficult. Maybe you miss a few dance recitals or date nights or a few friends at dinner. You miss it for a year, they wonder, your friends, like, where the hell are those two for a year? Where is Dean for a year? Right? And then all of a sudden, you emerge and it's like, everything's. I. I'd rather live the hard way for a short period so I can live the easy way longer. Yes, for sure.

We're. We literally said that on our walk this morning. I said, you know, this is definitely going to be that year where maybe people are like, where'd they go?

Yeah.

Wondering, like, why we're saying no so much, because we were at a place where, you know, we, like, had plateaued a bit, and we know what it takes to get out of that. Yeah, not even plateaued in a bad way, but in a way that, like, the growth internally. I'm just not happy because I know there's so much more. And if we don't have a year like the years we used to in the beginning, then we're always just gonna stay right here. And we've been asking ourselves the question, you know, we talk about our goals and where we want to be, and we say, who do we need to be to be? Like, what person would we have to become? I love your. I love the focus, though. Like, the. The one thing that is, I mean, even missing for me right now is like, what'? That one focus. Because I have so many different.

I mean, a fuzzy target you don't hit. If you got your glasses and you got bad prescription. I can't hit a target. Put your glasses on. You're like, oh, there it is. It's right there.

So, Dean, what do you do? Like, because you have so many important things, are you literally every week right now kind of going, what's my one thing?

So for me, personally, I do that, but also, I'm trying to get my team. In fact, I just created something yesterday. Literally yesterday, because I've been preaching this to the team hard since January 1st. Both teams and I created a document, a one pager that has those four questions on it. And then underneath, I give them an example. And I said, from this point forward, I need to know what your thing is, what constraints you're working on, because I want to know if I can Help you with your constraints, what's your measurement and what's your deadline? And I am pushing the. It's my new framework for, for the company because therefore, if they take some of those most important things on their plate, it kind of takes it off my. So good, right?

Make that an opt in.

Yeah.

I'm like, can I please opt in for that?

That's really good.

Yeah. Well, I'll send it to you guys.

Okay, great, great. Yeah, I'll give you my email in exchange if you already have it.

You know, when we first met, you guys bought a house down the street for me, and you guys were walking by my house. Somebody told me you guys walked by and then I ran into you. And I remember one of the first times you, you came over our house and we were sitting outside talking and I was in that phase of my life where I knew the next year was going to be one of those hustle years. And, and I'm not saying this because I'm here with you guys, but I really enjoyed we. I think I felt we hit it off immediately. Oh, yeah.

So fun.

We went to dinner and I, after dinner, I'm like, I got in the car, my wife, I'm like, they're friends for life. And it felt comfortable and easy. And I mean that. Like, I, I feel that way about you guys. But I also told you I'm in a really busy phase of my life.

Yes.

Not all. I have four kids. I had two young ones at the time. They're still young. Two and five. Our company that I co founded with Tony Mastermind, was taken off like a rocket ship. We were adjusting for Covid, all these things, and I'm like, I just want you to know I really enjoyed you guys and I hope we stay friends forever. But most people are going to think, if you really like this, how come he's not calling us and going back to dinner? And I'm like, I might not see you for a year. Do you remember me saying that? But if you can appreciate a friendship where I trust I truly care about you, I'll be here for you no matter what. You need, always, and you have, and vice versa. So I understand that phase. And I tell you, if I look back at my life, those years or whatever time I put in, the lift is massive.

Yeah.

So worth it.

The lift is massive. I heard somebody say once that commitment and convenience don't live on the same side of the street.

Oh, wow, that's good, right?

Because we want the convenience of doing all the fun things and Being with our friends and make sure we don't miss a birthday or an anniversary. And we meet here and we go to the winery and we do the thing and then we do the other thing. And like, that is convenient and awesome.

Yeah.

But sometimes if we. If we do that the whole time, we don't have the commitment to get those big lifts. We can ride where we are. Yep. And it doesn't mean that everybody has that desire to do so. And if you're listening right now, you might just want to get to that first level. That's great. Then you're going to have to have commitment over convenience for a short period of time. Then enjoy the convenience for a while.

Yes.

Party, do your thing, travel. But then you're going to get to a certain point and go, this is stale. This is flat. Then you go back to the commitment. Yep. Right.

Yep. So we've been talking a lot about leadership. Right. And what. How you're leading your team and how Lori's leading her team and. And all the advance, you know, just bury ourselves away for a year. But let's now switch it to the solopreneur or the. The personal brand individual that's trying to go from 0 to 1 or from 1 to 2. What kind of limiting beliefs are they facing right now? What's the easiest way for them to take action?

Totally got it. Let's address that group. Yeah. There. There are so many things and there are. There are limiting beliefs. It's your surroundings. And we could talk about a bunch of. But one that I've really been focusing on more is I've never worked for anybody. Yeah. Right. I started my own thing in high school cutting. Cutting firewood. And then I went to cars and then real estate. So I've never worked for anyone. So I think I ignored this one for a while. So I like talking about this one the most because I never looked through the lens of being an employee because I never worked for anybody. I've never had a career.

Interesting.

I never got a paycheck from anybody ever in my entire life. I never had a boss. Imagine that. I've never had a boss in my entire life. Wow. I was just the kid in high school that was a dreamer that my friends loved me. But they thought, this kid, he's not going to college. His family, doesn't have money, lived in a damn trailer. The only trailer park in our town I lived in when I was a kid. So what I've come to realize is there's a big chunk of people listening right now that have a career that are hoping for something else. Wouldn't that be true? Yep. Without realizing it, I think we're, we're taught this and I'm not knocking it because thank God for career people, the team people that work for us, our teams, amazing we, where would we be without incredible people to be on our teams and, and work alongside of us?

Literally nowhere.

Right? Yeah. But here's what I think. In the wrong career, I think you go to school, you try to get good grades, you try to get good grades in college, trying to get the best job. And I don't think anybody approaches their job and goes, hey, I just want to get in here. I want to be complacent. I hope I get a little raise. I hope they don't see me. I don't think anybody starts that way, but I believe so many people have the ambition. I'm going to get raises, I'm going to get promotions, I'm going to help run this company. And then over time, maybe their boss doesn't hear them or they're not seen, maybe they're in a boardroom and they try a couple of times and it's never taken. They see a way to make their department efficient, but someone else gets called because they know somebody gets called to the promotion. And I think there's a time where you just let it go and go, well, this is the way it is in the world. You just, you know, I'll just, I'll just, hey, I'll do my thing. They'll put some money in my 401k and hopefully make it 65. And, and there's a time that you put your dreams and, and your emotions just in check. I, I, I believe it. And I've had the opportunity to speak to so many people where I have hundreds of thousands of people live. And I've watched when I just said what I shared and, and I'll watch tears come down, eyes or hand raised. And the only reason I say that is what you don't realize is all of a sudden you tuck away the innovation, you tuck away your creativity, you tuck away that inner innovator, that hungry person, the person that's resourceful, that could figure out anything and you just kind of coast and then you get, well, you could be happy. You got that great job, you don't even have to do much and you make it. Yeah, but the inside is dying.

Yep.

And then all of a sudden we might come on or Tony Robbins and when we do our big events come on and go Time to do your own thing. And you don't even know why you feel this hesitation. Like I used to. I used to take my kids crayons and draw the logo on the back of their paper. Why did I stop doing that? Is because you slowly got pushed back to your voice. Doesn't matter that you're not enough, that you don't know enough. And then all of a sudden, Tony and I, or you guys will say, you are enough. You know enough. You're just lacking the blueprint. Like what I always think about my mom. When my parents got divorced, she worked three jobs to make nothing. And I always look at my mom as. She was like a badass without a blueprint.

Yeah. Wow.

Right? And so I think the hesitation in some. And there's lots of reason. It is the story. It is so many things we could talk about there. But the one, the career thing, I think that one creeps up on people. You've had someone tell you what to do, when to show up, how to show up. You're building someone else's dream, so you give up yours.

Right?

And now all of a sudden, we might come by and invent and say, start. Start doing thing. Be a creator. Create a workshop. Do your own mastermind. Do a workshop. Build a community. And I think without realizing, you let the guardrails of the job go up. Even though you don't like the road you're on, you can't go over the cliff.

Right.

And then you start brain starts thinking, oh, if I do my own thing, the guardrails go down. I could drive off the cliff.

Yeah.

And, and, and that, that, that, that restriction that you felt is actually the thing that's holding you back from unleashing who you're meant to be. Right. We're living someone else's life in some areas. Like, so I believe if you can face that and go, hey, everything, every new level has a new devil. Everything you do has a. Has a good and a bad. Right. I could be in this job that's kind of safe, but I don't want to get to the end of my life and realize I missed it. Right. That's a little more painful to me. So what I'd say is it's time to investigate. It's time to just explore. We talked about this before. Find a hunger on why you want to do it. Right. We're talking about limiting beliefs. Find a new belief that you can do anything. Secondly, I think we find somebody. This is something we're definitely not taught in school. Find somebody who's already done what you want to do. Right? We know this. This is our lives. That's why you run masterminds, model proven practices. If I want to learn something, I don't know, I'm going to find somebody who's already done it. Right. It's just a new way of thinking. So if you. If you find a little bit more hunger, if you realize the story you've been telling yourself hasn't served you, so you have a little bit different story. You think outside the box. You stay. Say you're brave and bold enough, then find somebody already doing something that you like and model them. And lastly, make sure it's an industry that has the opportunity to grow, not die with all the changes coming on. If you can do those three things and realize that the career might have been good for a while. It got you out of Egypt, but it's not taking you to the promised land. You feel dead on the inside. And that career has actually been the thing that you feel safe. But is it really safe to get to the end of your life and realize you missed it? So I think there's a lot of ways to approach it. But hopefully something I said sparked to just be an investigator. You know, when people hear something new, it's not like you have to make a dramatic change today. But be bold and brave enough just to investigate. Look under the hood, try some things out. Right.

You said a badass without a blueprint when you referenced your mom. I know that one hit me. There's so many people. And this is what I respect about you and Tony is you go out of your way to provide the blueprint to millions of people instead of keeping it to yourself. That phrase right there, that'll stick with me.

So tell me for somebody listening right now, who. You just lit a fire. Okay, great. Tell me the blueprint. What do I do? Do you believe?

Like, what.

What is the belief? Does everybody need a personal brand? Like, are you telling your kids right now that they need a personal brand? Is it too saturated? Like, what does that look like?

Here's the cool part is I love what Tony and I do. I think we have the opportunity. We teach people to have their own personal brand, to be a creator, to take their life experience and turn it into a product. Right. It's what he's been doing for 46 years and me for 29. We got 75 years in it between us. I believe. Why I believe it's such a perfect time. This industry. I think it's in its infancy. If you want to know the truth? Wow. The world is, I mean, think about if I've been in the 29 years, 28 years, if you were at dinner with people five years ago, let's say 10 years ago, 15 years ago, and said, I have a coach at a dinner table 15 years ago, people like.

You have a watch.

Yeah.

Like.

Are you in basketball? Like, we have a coach. Coach. Right. It would actually be weird. You say, oh my God, I want to be better at gardening. I want to be better at whatever. I bought a course. What do you mean? Like, now go to dinner with five people. Now say, I have a coach. Oh my God, we have a love coach.

Yep.

Oh, I, you know, I went through menopause, I have a coach. I went through a marriage and trimester four. Or went through a birth. Trimester four is killing me. So I have a coach helping me feel more positive.

Try Mr. Coach.

Yeah, a sleep coach.

Yes.

Right. We had a sleep coach, a virtual sleep coach. For a second bait, like. And it shows. In this industry, they predict it to be a trillion dollars a year by 2027. It's two years from now. Right. So if it's an emerging industry, you don't have to worry about tariffs, you have to worry about inflation, not to worry about product cost or inventory because you've already paid for the product with your experience. And what people are realizing is I just want to learn from somebody who's a chapter ahead of me. Right. So what I want to share is we're doing a big event coming up and what we love to do, and we should have about 800,000 people sign up from about 100 countries, is just show people this is one of your opportunities. Let us show you why this industry, why now, why you. And what I love about it is it's okay if it's not for somebody we know. We're waking people up.

Yeah, right.

So what I'd say, you say, what do I say to my kids? My son's here who's 16 on his phone over there. He's bored. But I have an 18 year old as well and a five and a two year old. They got some time. But the two older kids, we had lunch yesterday and I've told them the same thing since they were little. I said, you can go to college if you want to go for the experience. Some people aren't going to like this, but unless you're going for a specific profession, I think college is useless.

Yeah.

And some people aren't gonna be happy. I said that. Be A doctor. You want to be an engineer. I get it. But 76% of people who get a degree don't use it.

No.

And so what I said is, if you want to go for the experience, which I know he does, I'm not sure my daughter doesn't. I said, that's fine. The other option is find something you're passionate about and go mentor under somebody for two years. That's the route my daughter's most likely going to take. She likes interior design. Right now, we're looking for great interior designers. I'm going to let her reach out, her send the letter. I said, you can tell them that you are going to be the best employee they've ever had and you're free. So because dad works hard, I can't give you a handout. I can't make your life easy. If you don't want to go to college or mentor, get nothing from me. Not a car, nothing. I love you. You can live in my house and eat. That's about it. But if you go serious and you go work for somebody and you are the best employee they ever had, I'll support you rather than paying for college, and that person will get a great employee for free. You can learn what took them 20 years, condense it in two, and you could start off where they left off. So that is. That is you say, how I. So I would love my kids to be in the knowledge industry, to share information, because information is becoming the new currency. Knowledge is the new currency. The value of it's going up. It's not taxed, it's not tariffed, it has no insulin. You know, inflation issues. And you don't have to ship it, you don't have to warehouse it. You get to change people's lives for a living. Like what you guys. Look what you guys do. I watch your masterminds. I watch. People don't want to leave when your masterminds are over, they gain knowledge and skills to go faster. You guys get to make a living and thrive by empowering other people. So.