Redefining Success Beyond the Financial Spectrum with Craig Siegel

I want to help people, and I want to do a lot of good, and I want to be around positivity, and I want to share and not have everything be so transactional and what I learned on Wall street. And just to be clear, I wouldn't have changed a thing on my journey. I learned a lot there, Became a man there. I learned discipline, and there's a lot of skills that were transferable for me, but there's also a lot of lack of integrity. Everything, for the most part, is very transactional. There's usually an agenda. I just didn't resonate any longer with the consciousness. As I began to spread my wings and grow and become more spiritual, I just didn't have as much in common with the energy over there. And for me at that time, it was time to do something a little bit more meaningful with my life.

Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Business Lunch podcast. And today's guest is Craig Siegel. Craig, welcome to the show. How are you doing?

I'm doing phenomenal. No place in the world I'd rather be than right here with you. Every time we get together, it's magical. Let's have some fun.

Well, I don't know. You said you just got married, so if I'm you, I think I'd probably rather be on a honeymoon than here with me. As much of a honeymoon as it is, of course, to be with, you know each other.

We had a little bit of a honeymoon, more like a mini moon after the wedding. You didn't really want to think too hard part, so we just went to Bahamas for a little bit. I'm gonna probably book Greece for a couple months out, but I'm glad to be back. You know, when you love what you do, you don't really want to leave it for too long, and nobody knows that better than you. So definitely excited. Married. I got the New York City Marathon in two weeks, which I'm training for. And business. But all good things. All abundant. Not overwhelmed you.

You have had.

We.

We did your podcast before and the cls. Experience. Experience. Right. And right. You have had kind of an interesting career starting in the world of Wall street and then kind of getting into motivation and drawing on your experience with marathons and stuff. Would you give people a little bit of kind of the quick entrepreneurial journey that you've been on so far?

Yeah. So I spent 13 years on Wall street, and I was making money. And at that season of life, I. That's what I basically defined success as. And I was doing the stock thing Trading. And that became very stressful and I didn't love it anymore. And so I left that and I started my own company. Was supplying businesses across the country with working capital, loans and so forth. Pretty trendy industry, very lucrative, but wasn't exactly lighting my soul on fire. And so look, we're going to spend about a third of our life in our career, another third sleeping, so. So you better love what you do. And it occurred to me that there was a lot more to success than just making money. Is it possible that you can connect to your purpose, find what you're called to do, share your unique gifts with the world and make a lot of money doing so? And as it turns out, you can. And so when the pandemic happened, I shut down my office for what I thought would be two weeks. At the time, I think that was a good opportunity for the whole world to just take a second and reassess something I know now to be so productive. If I'm being honest, that was kind of a forced pivot for me. And when I got really quiet and connected, I was able to be that channel and start getting those downloads. And I realized just how obsessed I'd always been with personal development. And so I put together a whole strategy, kind of created like a 10 lane highway, like to be very strategic, 10 different ways to make an impact and also unapologetically make money. And so I was taking coaching, community speaking, book, podcast, TED talk, et cetera. And then I reverse engineered it. And at the time I had no following, no connections, no celebrity friends, nothing. I said, what's step one? I said, let's start putting out content and sharing and building a personal brand. And so I started my CLS brand for the first time in my life I was in alignment universe. Definitely like that left Wall street for good. I'm a big believer in, for me personally, can't really have a safety net. I need to be all in and shift my energy. And I say very humbly, over the last few years it took off and never had more fun or made more money.

So what, what did you do on Wall Street?

I was trading for a while, stocks broker.

And what drew you to that? Like what caused you to be interested in moving in that direction in the first place?

The truth is, is when I graduated college, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I what I didn't know. But I was ambitious, did live in New York and I was always fascinated with stocks. So I thought that would be a good place to start.

Okay, yeah, if you don't know what you want to do. Pick something that interests you. Right. What did you discover about that that caused you to want to do something else?

I want to help people, and I want to do a lot of good. And I want to be around positivity, and I want to share and not have everything be so transactional and what I learned on Wall street. And just to be clear, I wouldn't have changed a thing on my journey. I learned a lot there. Became a man there. I learned discipline, and there's a lot of skills that were transferable for me, but there's also a lot of lack of integrity. Everything, for the most part, is very transactional. There's usually an agenda. I just didn't resonate any longer with the consciousness as I began to spread my wings and grow and become more spiritual. And I just didn't have as much in common with the energy over there. And for me at that time, it was time to do something a little bit more meaningful with my life.

Sure. Yeah. And it's a good message when you start to feel that way. Right. That. That I think a lot of people are. And so your reinvention formula, is that based kind of on the experience that you had of getting to the point of feeling like you needed to reinvent yourself?

Yes. So we did a TED talk, and I was looking at some data just recently, and I saw an alarming stat that probably wouldn't surprise you, and that was that only 20% of Americans are actually finding purpose in the work that they do. Yeah. And I was actually a part of that other 80% for a very long time. And so a lot of people gravitate towards me to help them with entrepreneurship or coaching or spirituality because they've seen what we've been able to do in a relatively short amount of time compared to most people. And I want to show people that there is, in fact, something more for you if you feel called to it. But how do you identify what your purpose is? How do you become available for your next level? And then how do you marry that with business strategies, which no one's better than you, and get practical with the spiritual and create something really special?

And when. When a lot of people, I think they, you know, long ago it was people, most people lead lives of quiet desperation. I think that's still true for that 80%. They are living in, you know, either imposter syndrome or unhappiness place or whatever. What would you. Or how do you advise them and tell me if you do or don't in the book to make the move away from the thing that isn't giving them the joy and happiness and fulfillment they want to do the next thing. Because I think fear stops so many people from doing that.

I couldn't agree more. Fear is an interesting thing and it's important to cultivate a healthy relationship with fear. Yeah, in the book we talk a lot about this and what inspired me to do this and how I did it. I think a lot of people relate to this topic, probably why I became a Wall Street Journal best selling book and so forth. And so that's good news for everybody that maybe is in a season right now where they're not super inspired or excited about what they're doing and they feel like there's more out there for them. I think there's a couple steps. There's typically a barrier in between where you are and your next level. And that barrier, as you just attested to, is typically fear and doubt or insecurities. Once in a while, we'll get a glimpse of, of what our next level is and what our courageous action could be. But that barrier makes us feel very uncomfortable and really not safe. And that's the thing you mentioned, fear. A lot of people get glimpses of what they could do or what they might be good at. But then it's the fear of rejection, the fear of looking silly, the fear of judgment, what if I fail? And so forth. And so what is the next step? Right, let's make this practical. Well, the first step is are you open for your next level? Right. If the answer is yes, if you're listening to this and we're really resonating with you right now, then to get a little spiritual, tell the universe, whatever your thing is, God, Jesus, creator, that you're open for your next level. I would be available for it. And then part two, which is arguably more important, is once you declare that you are open for your next level, do you have the willingness, the willingness to go out of your comfort zone, to try new things, to take some messy action, to look a little silly if you're not, if you don't have the willingness, you're probably not going to stay inspired. But the universe is yearning to see your willingness. And I believe once you have the willingness and you step into that discomfort, that could be your portal to expansion. You can convert that and the universe will typically open up doors. Doors create opportunities, you'll meet the right person, a download will come or something. But that's on the other side of stating that you're available. And then having the willingness to take the uncomfortable action.

You talk a lot about limiting beliefs, which I may. I think that's such a fascinating subject. What are the limiting beliefs that keep people stuck?

A lot of ones that I see are as follows. It's too late. I'm too old. Who's going to want to listen to me? It's a saturated market. I can go on old may. But I think. Go ahead.

Can I want to run something by you in this context. I just read a friend of mine sent me. I guess it's an email that was kind of going around virally and I wish I had it to read, but it was along the lines of this guy saying, I'm 46 years old. I just. My wife just told me she wants a divorce and that she's been cheating on me for 10 years. I have no relationship with my son. When I was 20 20. When I was 20, I was popular. I had the world ahead of me. I had written 70 pages of my novel. I was my dream. I had already been to the Philippines and New Zealand or someplace backpacking, and my dream was to do that all over the world. And then I became a provider. And now my son doesn't know who I am. My wife, you know, leaving me, cheating on me. I have nothing. Don't make the mistakes I've made and waste your life. This guy is 46, who's basically going to make the same mistake he made when he was 20 because he thinks his life is over. And so he's living a life of regret now. And so are a lot of people who are like, you know, if only I'd have gotten on the bus, if only I had done that one thing. So contextualize your answer with that, too, because. Because I literally see that happening all the time around me, and I know that it. That you can help those people.

People, your consciousness creates your reality. So if you think at 46 that it's over, then maybe it is. But if you think at 68 that you're just getting warmed up, then you are. And I. And I promise that to be true. And I recently spent some time with some billionaires. I was at an event that I was invited to a couple weeks back. And also we've had some of the most successful people on our podcast, such as you. And one thing that I hear often a lot of successful people say is that they didn't really put it all together and hit their stride until their late 40s and 50s. The wisdom, the experience, and so forth. And so look, it doesn't take time, it just takes alignment. The people around you begin to change when you begin to claim your position. So if you're claiming at 46 that nothing was a waste because you're going to take all those lessons that experience those skill sets and transfer them to something that you feel really connected to, then that's beautiful. But if you really believe that it's too late, then I would encourage you to consider a different perspective.

I love it. What gets us excited about reading what we're going to learn in the reinvention formula? Give us the sexy trailer. This is. This is going to light me up and make me absolutely want to get in there.

Yeah, I love it. So look, I think a lot of people are looking to reinvent themselves. And not just a career, but maybe an identity or self image or a consciousness. If you're into personal development, spirituality, mindset, removing, limiting beliefs, building a bulletproof mindset, relationships, how to make money, how to build a personal brand, entrepreneurship, if any of those things appeal to you, then this book is for you. And I say that, you know, somewhat joking, because this book isn't niche. It's for anybody that knows that they're here for more and how to identify and connect to that more. And I tell my story in there, but by no means is it a biography. But I have been through some stuff. I did reinvent myself. Totally different careers. I have ran seven marathons now. I ran one after having surgery, getting a tumor taken out of my foot just a couple months prior. I've been through a lot of adversity and I know a thing or two about overcoming it, being very resourceful and connecting something bigger to call in your desires. And I think everybody's looking to do more in their life. When I say more, yes, we all want to make more money, but how to connect to the real authentic purpose that you're here to do? Because we all have different gifts. I don't believe our gifts are actually ours. I believe they were given to us and we're the managers of them. And it's on us to share those with the world. And when we do that, with the right consciousness, we end up making, like I said unapologetically, a lot of money doing so. So anyone that's looking to tap into something more, overcome setbacks, get rid of limiting beliefs, build a business. You'll find some nuggets in here for sure.

Did you ever get to the point where you thought you might break. Like, man, this is. Is just. I don't know if I'm gonna make it through this thing or this phase.

Or whatever Question, Roland. I'm taking a second because it's very deep. And immediately when you ask that. The first thing that came to mind was before I reinvented myself towards the end of my Wall street days, when I was a gladiator in the wrong arena, and I was very out of alignment, and I was, I would say, depressed. Though I wasn't diagnosed, I was drinking a little bit more than I'd like to admit. I was not waking up inspired. It was a tough season. A bunch of things happened at once to my personal life at the time, and I knew I was here for something more. But I wasn't taking the time necessary to connect and figure out what that was. I was just kind of in it, and that's on me. I didn't think I was gonna break, but it sure was lonely, and it was dark. I always believed in myself. That was a superpower that I developed. And I think that if you believe in yourself, there's always a way. And so even if you get knocked on your butt, you'll extract the lessons and you'll figure it out. So I never necessarily thought I was done or out of it, but it got pretty dark. But I never lost hope because, number one, I have faith and I'm very spiritual. And also because I believe in myself. Though I will admit, it did get pretty close before I put it all together and reinvented myself. What's the.

Say that again.

I'd love to ask you that, brother. Did you. Were you ever in a season where you thought you might break?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I had a marriage where I was, you know, friendly, but it was like being married to your sister. I wasn't particularly happy. I had a disagreement and an enlightenment that you should never pick a fight with people that own a jail or an army. And, you know, went through some. Went through some very, very dark times. But I like. I like helping people by saying for. For. Because I. I feel like no matter how successful you are, and actually, I think probably the most successful people go through multiple times where there's a lot on them. And the more you strive for, the more you take on, the more you want to move ahead and evolve and grow, the more you're out of your comfort zone, and the more people depend on you and the more pressure you have, and, you know, it's a bigger game. What I like to share with people is, like, what got you through that? So you're at that place and you're not, you know, you're not exactly where you want to be. You're not who you want to be. You're saying, I like, I'm the gladiator in the wrong arena. You know, Sarah Blakely says, this is not my movie, that I'm living. I like that, you know, this. That recognition. This isn't what. I'm not going to accept this as my reality is kind of what it is for me. And I'm just wondering, you know, if you have the same take, a different take, any particular thing that.

Like that.

That person who's watching or listening to this right now that's in that place can kind of cling to and say, you know what? Yeah, that's right. That's me. That works for me.

If you can look up, then you can get up. Even if you're in the. In the darkest valleys right now. And it does not seem promising if you're listening to this conversation. If you just have a glimmer of certainty that you can turn it around, if you can connect to something bigger than what's going on here, logically, then you're connected, and it doesn't take so much time. And for those of you that go, what does even. What are you talking about? What does it mean to be spiritual, and what does it have to do with business? Well, I would just say being spiritual means that you believe that there's something else going on here beyond our logic. And if you can tap into that, then we can cultivate momentum, because it doesn't take all these specific circumstances to happen for you to get back at it. It just takes a shift in your consciousness. So for me, I was feeling a little bad for myself. I was. I was maintaining that victim consciousness, which I think a lot of us experience when we've had short end of the stick. But the truth of the matter is, is now I actually subscribe to the opposite. I look to take accountability and responsibility for everything in my life. Even if it maybe wasn't my fault, I like to assume it was because that gives us power and control over the things that we can control. And then we can start taking responsibility for a shift in our mindset and a shift in consciousness. And just like that, things can begin to open up.

What is the most surprising thing that you discovered about yourself during that reinvention journey?

Maybe a couple things here. So something that surprises people is that I'm actually an introvert and showing up speaking all over the world. We just spoke at the UN Two months ago. Social Media, all that stuff. It was very uncomfortable for me in the beginning, but I understood that it was such a great tool to be able to share your message and help people and also build relationships and so forth. And so whatever you might not be good at or you find to be uncomfortable, that's not a. Like a death sentence. You can create a newfound respect for it, you can change your relationship with it and so forth. And I think there's something to be said about the power of consistency and discipline. A lot of people like, well, like, how do you. Like, how did you get so much momentum? Well, first of all, I'm not just interested, I'm committed. Yeah, right.

I have the mentality, Very important distinction.

Yes. Do a thing, do it. Well, if I say I'm gonna do something, that's it, we're doing it. Nothing like a mutual friend of ours, Dave Meltzer and I have a weekly show on Instagram called the Paradigm Shift. You've been on it, have on celebrity entrepreneurs and so forth. We've done it now 187 weeks in a row, no weeks off. I even did an episode the morning of my wedding. That's how committed I am. Some people think you're crazy. I had 20 minutes that morning. Of course I could do it. And to be honest, it's a pleasure for me. And so being committed, number one, awakens that desire and shows the universe that you're committed, which open up doors, but also just the power of consistency. You don't understand how much power you have. Once you commit to that, so much can happen. Relationships compound interest, quantitative value, etc. And so, look, I always knew that I was committed, but I was kind of in the wrong arenas. When I applied it to the stuff that I finally felt connected to. It took off relatively fast. And I think I pleasantly surprised myself on how quickly you can attain success. When you love what you do, you're committed to it and you're willing to put in the work.

Yeah, that's true.

What.

When you're talking to people or they're reading your book, what's one thing. That is a big point of disbelief where, where they just.

They're like.

They disagree with you. There's. It's like. It's like. Yeah, yeah, you say that, but is there anything like that that people tell you? Obviously, it's coming from their limited belief.

Yeah. I think that a lot of people, the main reason why they don't manifest their desires is because they settle for less in life, in relationships, in their spiritual connection, and what they think that they deserve. And as a, as a result, by setting that type of standard and buying into it, you're now delaying your ability to manifest and create, whether it's money, projects, relationships, opportunities, anything. And so you have to be willing to go from a confidence and a belief, which are great, to a certainty consciousness. And the way to tap into something much bigger, which is certainty, is to cultivate a knowing. And I believe you're able to cultivate that from creating a connection with something bigger. So for me, it's creator, for someone else, God, Jesus, whatever. But by quadrupling down on that connection, you're able to tap into something much bigger. And when you have certainty, you're also removing doubt. And when you do that, you can create manifest with ease. And I think some people don't realize how easy this is. I shouldn't say easy. It's simple, not easy if you commit to it.

Right. And so they, they struggle with the ability to believe that that will work, or the ability to try it, or the ability to make it happen. Where is the, the disconnect that causes them the, the pain and struggle to not get the benefit that you're trying to help them see from that recommendation.

I love how deep we're going right here. I think a lot of people are so jaded from either getting beat up by the world or however they grew up, trauma, the parents, the economy, whatever, that they're almost afraid to even consider a different narrative. Right. There's people that are. That are just so conditioned and programmed to think negatively or to have limiting beliefs or to not subscribe to the stuff that I'm talking about. But I always say, don't take my word for it. Test it out, See for yourself. But some people are just unwilling to consider that they are not only the main character, but also the director of their own movie. And you can literally change the scene. You could change the geographic location, you could change the cast of characters in your movie. You are in control of that. And if you just play around and stop focusing so much on what can go wrong and maybe consider what can go right, things will open up. But you have to have the willingness.

Yeah, yeah. If you don't, if you're not open to the possibility, then. Then you will forever doom yourself to the presence re repeating itself. Right. I mean, it's just not, it's not going to change. I. A buddy of mine's a copywriter and he, he wrote me. He just. Super nice guy and he wrote me. He actually, you should have him on your podcast Frank Kern is just great guy. And he just randomly spontaneously sent me an email where he wrote a bit of copy for one of the programs that we have. And it was like, I know you may be asking. I know, maybe saying to yourself, this is just more of the same. I've tried before and it hasn't worked. None of this stuff works. And he said, but what if this was the time that it did? What if this did work? What would that do for you? How would that be different? And honestly, what do you have to lose? Because what you have to lose when you commit to no change is everything different from what it is right now. And what you have to lose from trying something new is finding out one more thing that isn't the exact thing that works for you. And I really like that perspective, you.

Know, that's absolutely beautiful. I love the way that he broke that down. And I would even. I would give this nugget to everybody when things are going really good or when things are not going so good, always ask yourself this, what else is possible? What else is possible? And then you start to open up a different perspective.

I love that. So you're about to run another marathon.

You said New York City in two and a half weeks.

Have you done that one before?

I have, yes. Yeah.

What's going to happen with that?

What's going to happen with that? I hired a new coach this time around. Different vibe, different energy. I'm really enjoying it. I'm expanding the vessel. The mileage is up. I have a nice goal. I just want to do a really, really good job. Last year, I had a PR, which is a personal record of 327. Yeah, I'm looking to do a little bit better than that this year. I know that last year, although I did well, I left a lot on the table, and I. There's a lot of room for improvement, which excites me. So I just want to get to the start line healthy. I'm a little beat up right now, if I'm being honest. Physically, no predictions, but I am looking to beat that time and just do a really good job and have a lot of fun doing it for me. People always ask me, why do you run these things? It's all about the transformation. The training camp, the voice in your head, what you have to go through to get to the side, it changes you. And I love that because I take that into other arenas. And so even for anyone else listening, I'm not saying you should sign up for marathon tonight, but maybe find a vehicle for you that you can use that creates transformations in addition to business and so forth.

I love it. So in addition to that and being married, I'll give you. I'll give you passes on those two. What's the thing that you're most excited about right now?

Right now, we're just building the business. We're reaching a lot more people. I'm speaking a lot. We have a huge community with 600 people in there. We meet every Wednesday. The book hit Walt's journal bestseller. We're hiring right now, which is something that I found challenging because I figured out a better way, and I started to get more intentional with who I require to be on the team so that I can go to my next level and focus on what I need to do. And in the beginning, I didn't know what I didn't know, and I was hiring a little bit more for potential and like generalists, but now I know specialists. I knew what it required. I need integrated, blah, blah, blah. And we're growing fast now, but it's a different energy and it feels really good. So the business marathon wedding, and a little bit everything in between, I like it.

So for people that would like to find out more about you, what you do, how to reinvent themselves and all that good stuff, what's the best way for them to do that?

Anywhere you buy books, the reinvention formula, anywhere you listen to podcasts, to CLS experience, say hello on social media. Craig SiegelCLS and if you love free nuggets of wisdom throughout the week, you could text us at 917-634-3796. Text the word Roland so that I know that you heard it here.

Awesome. And we will put that in the show notes as well. Well, thank you so much for joining us. Is there anything you want to leave our folks with or you feel like we. We did a pretty good job?

Yeah. I would just let everyone know that as we get ready for 2020 25, this just in. Playing small is canceled. So I encourage everybody to consider what else is possible and have the willingness to step into the uncomfortable. And your next level of expansion. Success, career, relationships, money, and everything in between is on the other side of that.

I love it. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to be here today, and we'll look forward to staying in touch and seeing what happens. We'll get that up, guys. Definitely check out the book reinvention formula and we'll see you next time.