235: Raising the Sound Waves and Creating Emotional Connection through Music with Sammy Taggett

But if you're trying to, like, really create a vibe for somebody, you need to know the company ethos you need. That's. That's huge. You need to know the energy and the pulse of who they're talking to. And then when it comes down to, like, curating the total package, I always remember that no one will really actually remember what you say. They'll rarely remember what you did, but they'll always remember how you made them feel.

Welcome to the Anthropology Podcast. I'm your host, Megan Walker. As a former naturopathic doctor and entropologist, I align the intersection of personal performance, purpose and innovative thinking in badass women working to change the world as entrepreneurs and go getters. Entrepology is the study and science of what makes an entrepreneur think, feel, and perform in a path compelled by a vision for helping others, solving problems while building a life on your own terms. Together we are exploring the health mindset and strategies that distinguish the world's best entrepreneurs. This is the Entrepreneur Podcast.

Welcome to episode 235 of the Entropology Podcast. I am your host, Dr. Megan Walker, and we are doing something a little bit different today. So normally when I record these, I am deep down in the dungeons of my podcast studio at home. I am not looking at anyone or anything. And today I have quite the view today. So not only can I see the. The mountains behind me here in Palm Springs, but I am sitting across from my guest, which is such a treat after 18 months of lockdown. So it really is my pleasure to introduce you to someone I have known for so many years. I've encountered for so many years, but never really. It's been a while, right? Never really had the opportunity to go deep. So I am super excited to introduce you to my friend, Sammy Taggart. And Sammy, I'm wondering before we do anything else.

Yes.

Can you just share with people a little bit about who you are and what gets you totally jazzed in the world of entrepreneurship?

Oh, that's the best question. I think entrepreneurship for me has been an incredible journey because I started my first entrepreneurial journey as a door to door salesperson in college.

Oh my God, we're going there. Yeah.

Yeah. So I learned rejection so quick, but no one really understands how good it is to get 30 no's right away.

And that's a little thing we might edit out. But no one understands how good it is to get rejected that much and to just have the perseverance to keep going. So that has been one of the driving forces into my entrepreneurial, into that journey and then from that most of the people and how, you know me is the DJ as the main guy that creates the vibe for everybody at the Mindshare Summit and for traffic and conversion and mindvalley. And that whole journey actually started for me in the bathroom at a nightclub because the only job I could get after a really tumultuous summer was to work as the mint and napkin guy in a, in a bathroom at Alley Katz in Denver. And the crazy thing about that is I use that same entrepreneurial hustle to gain rapport with people and make pretty good money.

So I actually, I know there's so much more to your story, so. But I want to back up for one second and I want everyone to just like hold a promise for me in this situation because you mentioned the door to door sales piece and one thing I'm, I am going to put my kids into is I want them to be that person on the street who asks you if you want to donate to the charity and nine times out of ten they say no.

It's so cruel, but.

So it's a bit cruel. But I'm coming at this from a loving place because you mentioned this whole idea of being able to withstand rejection. Like you realize it doesn't define you or any of those pieces. So I'm just acknowledging that and I'm actually just asking all of you to keep this as a tight secret. But you know, that segue into. And then we really need to talk about what happened in the bathroom at this, at this club. I think sometimes we get caught up in this idea that entrepreneurship is, is totally glamorous and it's easy. And if we're not in a flow and if it's not easy, then we're probably in the wrong place. Has that been your, has that been your experience? Like how did you overcome that? Because so far in listening to the story, this isn't an easy no.

Well, I think 99.9% of all entrepreneurs, Megan will say that the entrepreneurial road, if somebody showed you what was going to happen, they'd like f that there's no way I'm doing that. So when it comes to the journey of entrepreneurship, it's a day to day kind of discovery of what you can do and what you're resilient for and then ultimately what your zone of genius is. And then when you find that zone of genius, how to build the people around you. And so that's what I learned from being sidelined as this DJ in These places that everybody that's in this, that makes it work, they have a team and this family that they've built around them. And I always dreamt of that. I was like, what does that look like? What would that feel like to say, oh, I just talked to so and so let me have Cassandra reach out to you and she'll take care of the rest and then we can have this dialogue, right? That's been the game changing piece for entrepreneurship for me. And that's what I hope for anybody that's listening to this, is to learn that, yes, you will wear multiple hats, and yes, it's not easy, but if you can use some of the tools and the things that you have been able to teach people and that you let people know about, then their entrepreneurial struggles don't have to be that insanely shitty, because it can be really tough. And there's a lot of nights of just pulling your hair out when you don't use the stuff that's out there. Because that's the problem, right? People are like, dude, every super successful person has not only just left clues, but they've left you courses, podcasts, books.

They'Ve left everything through 234. If you are looking for references on those pieces, okay, But I agree with you and that when you are just starting out, that is the hardest part. And we had a meeting the last few days and we were talking about the early stages of entrepreneurship, and someone looked at me and they're like, oh, my gosh, I don't want to be there. And that's because you graduate from that. But there's so much power in moving through that experience. So what was the journey from the bathroom at this nightclub to DJing on some of the most compelling stages in the entrepreneurial community?

So the journey was.

I'm big into learning personal development from people like Tony Robbins and Brendon Burchard, even JJ and a lot of the people that were here with this weekend. And that was that you have to have a vision that's so compelling. And mine was to be on stages to perform. And so my reticular activating system was set. And if they don't know what that is, if you haven't realized what that is, that's super simple. If you were to go out and buy a new car, all of a sudden you see that new car everywhere, right? And so my unconscious mind was really honed in on how to get on a stage, how to be in front of people performing. And so my unconscious mind was doing was like, hey, how do you get from this bathroom and into this DJ booth? And how I made that transition is what was happening in the bathroom is the only thing that kept me there was the fact that I could walk outside of the bathroom, look around the corner, and there's this DJ just pumping up this crowd. And I was like, I gotta get out of this place. What am I doing here? And so my unconscious mind was like, okay, well, what would get you from here to there? And I notice really quickly that DJs love to party. They love taking shots, and they love women. At least the guys liked women. And so I would save my tip money. And I was like, I bet if I buy them shots and introduce them to some girls, they'll teach me what to do. And so I started saving my tip money.

That's exactly how I made it.

You know, that's what you were saying.

Yeah. So I'm sure that's where the entrepreneur came from. So I did that for five weeks. And after five weeks, I had accumulated enough knowledge that on a Friday when One of the DJs couldn't play, I was able to jump in and do my Eminem moment and took over the reins of this nightclub for 30 minutes and dropped some theoretical music bombs on people, right? And just got this crowd whipped into a frenzy. The VIP section has some really good promoters in it. That night, they introduced me to another promoter, and that promoter set me on the biggest stages in Denver. So that, in the super short explanation, was how I got started. And before I knew it, those events. And there's a lot more details in there. I don't know how deep you want me to go into them, but there's some crazy stories in there. Things that are not necessarily. I don't know, they're for sure not pg, but the things that happened in the middle, oh, my God. It's just nuts because I look back on it and I was like, damn, you did that? That was crazy.

Yeah, but I find that's power in that, right? You look back, like, I look back at some of the things I did, I'm like, I can't believe I had the audacity to step in and just do that. Like, in hindsight, I had reverse imposter syndrome. Like, is that something you have?

You.

Did you struggle with imposter syndrome? Like, when you just stepped on the stage that night and you're like, I'm just. I'm just going for it. This is my moment.

I'm glad you say that, because people ask me all the time. Like, how did you have the courage to do that at that point? I didn't have anything to lose. Yeah. So when you have your back against the wall, which my back was up against a real, like, shitty wall, both literally and figuratively, I was like, this sucks. I have nothing to lose. Whether they could fire me from working in the bathroom, which actually was funny because they came rushing to the DJ booth, and I thought I was gonna lose my bathroom job. And then they were like, what are you doing up here? And I was like, what do you mean? I'll go back to the bathroom? And they were actually like, no, you should be up here. And so, to piggyback on what you're asking, that imposter syndrome really came after I had made it to these bigger places. And the thing that happened to me where imposter syndrome set in the biggest was when I was Planet Traffic and Conversion, and I had, oh, do you know who Rachel Hollis is? So that chick threw me under the bus on the main stage, and it's like, dj, play me something good. And I was in the booth in front of 8,000 people. No one told me she was gonna do this. No one actually knew she was gonna do this. And when you play those main stages, I have on three sets of headphones. I have one to mix. I have one that's listening to the backstage with people like, hey, someone's coming up on stage. Then I have a third set of headphones, and they're all small, so one's big, and the other two are in each ear. So I have three voices. The third one is from the back of the line where they're like, hey, camera one, push up on Sammy. Camera two, I need this. So I need to hear all these three things. My headset explodes. Sammy, we've got so and so back. He's ready to come up after Rachel. Then the camera guys are like, sammy, push up on Sammy. And I'm like, do not push up on me right now. Do not get that camera close to me, because I do not know what song she wants me to play. And I pull up. I pulled up a Stevie Wonder song. No, I pulled up. I Feel good. And she's like, no, not that one. Play me something good, like if I'm drunk in college. And then it hit me and so hard, my hands started shaking. I started sweating. And I look on the side. There's a screen that's like, two stories high, and it's me on that screen trying to find a song, and I'm like, oh, my mother effing. What? What is she doing to me? And so at that moment, it was when I was like, I'm not good at this. Like, I can't do this. And that's when Imposter syndrome hit me. And I had three shows left that night. Not only did I have the rest of tnc, I had to play all these other parties where people are like, I saw what Rachel Hollis did you on St. And we thought that was such a good act. And people thought it was an act later. But oh my gosh, I had to go back to the drawing board because I was like, am I not a good dj? Could. I couldn't pull up a song that really, really sent it home. And that is when Imposter syndrome hit me the most, was when I felt like I had the most to lose.

Right.

Does that make sense?

Totally. It totally makes sense. And also, as you were saying that story, if I had been there, I would have hit Bed Bindler and the Wind Beneath My Wings to make her walk up on. I'm just saying that's what you do.

Missed your damn calling then.

Actually, it's the only song I can name on the spot. But yeah, maybe, maybe.

I ended up playing a remix of. Of Don't Stop Believing by Journey. So everyone really literally thought that is what, you know, they had. They had scripted together because it went off so well at the end. But I ran backstage at the end of that and I got up in her. I was like, why did you do that to me?

What.

What was. I was just so fuming because as a, as somebody that is trying to have a good show, a good run of show, that was just like the worst thing you could ever do. But that at that night I didn't sleep. I went through all my music, I went through all the things and I just looked back on the. On the trajectory of what had got me to where I was at and I was like, am I even good at this job? Am I. Do I deserve this? Because it was the highest paying gig that I'd had at the time. Actually to the date. I remember it was the first time I ever booked myself out for more than five figures for a gig. I as a DJ. And I was thinking because all of my DJ friends still made 500 to $1,000 for shows. And here I am on this main stage, but I can't even pull a song up. You know, that's when Imposter syndrome hits you, is when I feel like you've got to the summit and you have that whole fall.

Right, right. I was actually at that event. I wasn't in the room when that. When that happened. Which is the only reason you're on the podcast today.

Oh, man.

But, you know, I remember actually being at that TNC event and walking into a room and, like, meeting a few different people and going and catching myself. Catching myself in terms of stepping outside that comfort zone and feeling it in a different way, which I actually think is how you reinforce that you're in the right place. Like, to me, it has become a barometer of being in the appropriate room. What did you learn from that? Like, where did you go from that? How did you manage that?

Yeah. The next day? Well, for me, I'm such an extrovert. I went and asked everybody, I was like, did you see the Rachel Hollis thing? What did you feel? And everyone said, oh, that was awesome. It was my favorite part. And you were so great about it. And I know that must have been really embarrassing, but honestly, no one knew you were going to do that. And you're such a professional, you just held it together and it was incredible that you were just able to step up and just take it to the next level. So the validation of being in the right room, that's really what I looked for. I was like, well, and part of me is like, am I gonna get fired? They can't fire me. At least on this one, I guess I will, you know, keep. Keep my job. But at the same time, it was just one of those things where you're just like, oh my God, I need validation. I need to know that I'm okay.

Right? Well, you have, you have been in the right room. Like, you've literally been in the room at some of the biggest events, working alongside some of the most compelling people in this industry. What have you learned from them? What have been some of the most enduring lessons that have come from them?

The biggest lessons that I learned from all those folks is they never did it alone. And to have a compelling vision that's so big that it pulls you to dream so big and to not be scared of that massive dream. So my vision for myself was not just a, hey, let's build a podcast company and let's have a talent agency. It was never that. It was like, let's get on the most compelling world changing stages and work with the most influential, impactful people on the planet. And for me, I'm adopted from the Philippines, and when I found out my origin story, my biggest mission was to figure out how to save the kids from not having jobs and to get them put in a place that would be impactful for their lives. So that dream was nuts. And so I wanted to figure out what would be the craziest thing that Richard Branson would do or that, you know, Elon Musk would do. And all these people that have just changed the planet for better, and I learned from them that never being afraid of that massive dream is something that I really took away from it. Have fun, extreme amounts of fun, because it's all gonna suck at some point. But if you can.

Do you hang out with anyone who's not fun?

No.

Is it like a. That is a criteria to work with you?

Yeah. Like, that's a part of the thing. If you can't have fun, if you can't have a dance party on our Zoom call when we're doing shit, then why would we want to work with you? And then the other thing is, it's. You're never alone on an island. If you can be. If you can dream that big, there are going to be people that will support you. So those are the three big things.

It's awesome. I really appreciate those takeaways. I'm also just, like, feeling none of these people are reasonable people. Like, they don't sit in a room. They're like, oh, let's go up with some reasonable goals. Like, it's. It's so beyond that.

Yeah. And I remember when I was. That second time I was on Necker island, they brought me out there to play for his intergalactic party. They were like, hey, we're going to space. I was with the Mavericks and Janik and Sofia, and they were talking about going interstellar. And it was just a casual conversation. And he was talking about, yeah, we have to be an interstellar species, mother of religion, living on other planets, but we should be mining. And he's talking about Peter Diamandis and how he'd been mining on asteroids for a while now. And the conversation was so normal around this astronomically huge thinking, like, if I go back, when I go back. And I was telling my parents this. I was like, yeah, they're talking about mining on asteroids and living interstellar and doing these things. And my mom's like, did you see the new baseboards on the floor? I was like, it doesn't.

I'm so sorry. I did not notice.

I was like, yeah, mom, we're talking about minor asteroids. She's like, I know, but those look great, don't they? It's just that's. And I Think that is, the.

Society as a whole is not thinking like that. So we need people like you that are visionaries. We need people that go big and think huge and act in correspondence to that, because it's rare, but it's so necessary. The dreamers really do compel and pull the future forward. And that's what I love to be around. And I don't know how I got lucky to do that, but it's been 25 years of working on that.

Well, I appreciate the validation of the role of the visionary, because you need the visionary and you need the integrator. And you've got to have these two pieces, these two pieces working together for sure. You know, I want to. I want to shift things a little bit because I think one of the. I think what you offer this entire. I just call it the broader community of. Of thinkers and entrepreneurs is you add this layer of experience, this intangibility to the experience of. Of thinking bigger. And I've been at enough events with you. Like, your role really is to inspire that subconscious to, like, vibrate on the same level of the ideas that are being articulated, the audience. Like, that's really how I feel your role is.

That's so much pressure. Thank you.

So, like, play me something really good, Sammy.

I thought I was just playing music now. I feel I'm good with Bette Midler.

Like, my standards are very low.

I am terrified to start playing music now. What if I totally have to stop?

Oh, my God. No one's articulated it like that. That's great.

But I do feel like that. So, you know, I'm wondering if you can just speak to this idea of, like, how do you set a vibe? Like, not just running events, but, you know, I'm super interested in the user experience that we create as business owners. I don't care if you run an insurance company or you're a car dealer or you're a naturopathic doctor or like, it doesn't matter what you do. I feel like those individuals who have that intangible je ne sais quoi, like, they are. They are the Canadian way.

You must be so Canadian.

That's only actually funny because we're like in the deep states right now, but they have this intangible experience that they offer the people that they work with. It's not just branded pieces of paper that you are signing. There is an experience of that. Do you have a philosophy or approach that you take to being able to really curate the experience for your clients?

Yeah. Great question. I get that asked A lot, because people are like, how did you embed yourself so deep in mindvalley, Mindshare, trafficking, conversion, like, this huge thing. And inside the frame, I never really understood what I was doing. But after a decade of doing it and having the same clients for a decade, there was a couple things that really started to stand out. And the first one is a massive level of gratitude for the people that I work with. And so what that meant. It didn't mean, I'm just so thankful to have them. It meant that I went way deeper with them. It meant that I was like, oh, what's your favorite music? How are the kids doing? How's everyone else doing? So there's a level. And Mark Wade was asking me. He's like, how in God's name did you get so embedded with my company? My company loves you so much. And I was like, I think I just really care so much about them. And that comes from starting with gratitude for just having such a breadth of knowing one. I was adopted, so that has been ingrained in me for a long time. But if you're trying to, like, really create a vibe for somebody, you need to know the company ethos you need. That's. That's huge. You need to know the energy and the pulse of who they're talking to. And then when it comes down to, like, curating the total package, I always remember that no one will really actually remember what you say. They'll rarely remember what you did, but they'll always remember how you made them feel. And so when we take these tenets of knowing their ethos and knowing their language, knowing the music that they love and the emotions that they're trying to get from people, then I can tell what they need to feel. Sometimes these conferences, they don't need to feel hype and energetic. They want to feel a deep connection. They want to. They want it to be intimate and to be quiet. It doesn't need to have that, like, even for three days. They're like, we need intimacy and meditation and these types of things. And so I'll have to know that about them. So there's a combination kind of a knowing. Knowing the voicing, knowing that real deep part of the. Of the CEO, like JJ as a CEO, she has a super soft side to her that a lot of people don't know, and this childlike playfulness to what she does. And so the first year that I applied, mine played at Mindshare, we did this big pool party. And I remember I got that child out of her and she came bouncing up to me. She's like, I love this. This is my favorite. And I was like, that's what Mindshare is. Mindshare is a community of the most sought after professionals in their field, bringing out their childlike playfulness. And so I put that inside. And that's why when I bookend all these parties and all these things with them, it's all about dancing and bringing that kid out of them. So when we're like thinking of parties and doing the stuff with them, it's like, oh, yeah, we should have a bouncy castle at your thing. We should have games everywhere.

There should be a bouncy castle, right?

Of course there should be a bouncy castle. Of course we should have a theme party around, like, what is your superhero? And what do you dream of being? Right? So that's, those are the things that I've, I think I've gotten really lucky to know. And I, I, I also discovered that through a lot of errors, a lot of mistakes with advance, where I'm like, oh, maybe I'll just infuse what I think these people want. And things have flatlined.

Right. But this is what you were talking about before is that success leaves clues. And I'm, I'm just a huge advocate of like, just, just copy. Successful people don't steal their stuff, but emulate success 100%. So has, has anything like really juicy and exciting happened behind the doors of one of these big events that you can share with us that you can tell? Let me know. They're already keeping a secret for me.

Let's see juicy and explicit things that have happened behind the doors. Well, there's always the fun, the fun people on microphones that they don't know that their microphones are on. And like, some of the most prolific leaders and speakers that you think are just so sweet and they say are some dirty pirate, hooker mouth swearing people. So that's juicy. And it's always the ones that you don't think.

Never happened to me.

Never, Never. And then there's also, you know, on the sweet side of it, there's, there's some of the most genuine and sweet things that people do that they never say anything about. Like, a lot of people will be like, yo, give the staff here. I've seen this happen a lot more than I was expecting. Like, hey, give all the people that are like picking up dishes and stuff, give them an extra hundred bucks. Just slide it to them as you go. I see that happen a lot, A lot of a Lot of. And then this is kind of a delicate thing. But the observance of people doing really inappropriate things during events, that happens because you got, here's something. And if you're a listener and you go to events and you're going back into live events again, you got to remember that there is a front of house and a back of house, and the stuff that people search on their computers and do things and the things and the videos that they're sending to people and the stuff that we see on people's computers when they're working, it is, it's effing shocking.

Don't worry, we will not disclose any secrets.

I was like, should I do that? But no, that, that would be the. And then there's always, there's always like an ousting of somebody that's like, oh, that person does bonk, so they're getting fired. I get that. I see that a lot.

Yeah, you, you are, you are seeing all the things. Well, I feel like this is a perfect place to transition the interview.

So Was vague about that. Did you want specifics? Because you dirty. That was dirt. Dirt. Megan.

I was, I, I, I gave you every. Ouch there, Savvy. I gave you every out. It's okay. We're gonna record a second secret podcast behind a paywall. So we're going to transition the interview because we have this component of my podcast, and I call them our KPI. So just like we have key performance indicators in our businesses, I believe we have them in how we live our lives as well. So I got a series of rapid fire questions for you, and the first one is, has there been.

Yes.

Great. And question number two. Has there been a book or idea this year that has really, like, caught you off guard that you've like, really, you've just been compelled to share and, or has really, you know, forced you to think in a different way?

Limitless. Jim Kwik's book, Limitless. That book blew my mind, which was great because I had hit a stagnant point in, like, ingesting knowledge where I was like, oh, I gotta read a book, Gotta read a book, gotta read a book. But I wasn't asking myself the proper questions to read the books. And there's this part in his book where he talks about, you got to ask yourself the questions on why you're reading things. That way, if you do this, you'll actually ingest the knowledge and retain it, like, 80% more when you ask yourselves these proper questions in the framing around learning things. So I went from reading, you know, one or two books and retaining, you know, minimal pieces of it to really ingesting knowledge, but reading the right books for myself. Right, right. So that one and then Rocket Fuel, like reading rocket Fuel. I read it. I read it at least once a quarter because I'm always looking to find the best integrator and to figure out how to use that in my company, you know, as the visionary. And so Rocket Fuel definitely shows you the structure of how to build a company as a CEO better. And I'm always looking at ways to communicate better with my team because I've realized really quickly that I have fragmented thoughts and, and like, I didn't realize that. And they're like, what are you even talking about? And I was like, that doesn't make sense to you? What are you talking about? That's crazy. That makes perfect sense. And then reading that book showed me how to just look at it from there on. You don't have that problem, right?

No, I don't. I mean, I don't have any problems, really. That is like 25 other. 25 other episodes.

I feel like we're just stacking episodes right now.

We are stacking episodes. I'm also just going to remind you us that these are rapid fire questions. So question number two. What's your favorite health hack?

Ice baths.

Oh, yes. High five. In real life to the. Sammy and I actually, how do I phrase this? Sammy and I had an ice bath yesterday together. Sort of. Well, we were, we're both.

We were both in the same bath, but not at the same time. A lot of us. Ice bath.

Even framing it worse.

Yes, we're going down. Question number three. How would you define your purpose?

Ooh, wow. That's a great question. Really hit the brakes on that one, didn't you? Okay, so defining my purpose.

I think my purpose is to inspire and to educate. That's my two main things. And I used to think it was entertained. But entertainment is just a natural part of what I do. So I think my purpose is to really. Oh, here it is. This is what I always say. I always want to leave people in awe.

I don't even think I can keep going. Last question for you. Entrepreneurship. Are we born this way or do we learn to become entrepreneurs?

Oh, I think we're born this way. And then we find the best ones and learn more about it. I don't think you, you're born this way.

I, I, I, I'm going to leave you with that thought, Sammy. You are doing so many awesome things in this world. You're super fun to follow. Where can we send people so that they can follow along on your awesome journey?

We didn't even talk about this but my entertainment name is Shoebox Moses and you can go to shoeboxmosis.com and you can actually find out why they call me Shoebox Mo Moses. But yeah, Sammy Taggett is also Shoebox Moses and you can go and find me there. And that's on all the socials. So Sammy Shoebox Moses.

Awesome. Well, we will totally hook you up with Sammy in our show notes and on the forthcoming 10 episodes that we are going to be working on together. As always, I am Dr. Megan Walker. I'm wishing you an impactful week ahead and we'll see you again next time week.

Entrepology is the study and science of what makes entrepreneurs tick. It's the confluence of the mindset, strategic thinking, and health that we bring to the table as contributors, as purpose seekers, as individuals building out a better tomorrow. The work that we do on the Entrepreneur Podcast impacts the mindset, the business tactics, the and the health of those individuals who are working hard to change the world, to leave a legacy for the future. The best way that we can reach more people with the message of the Anthropology Podcast is if you help us share it. If the message that we shared in today's episode is something that resonates with you, or if you know someone who would benefit from hearing it, please send it to them directly. And if you have felt moved by the content that we have shared, I would to love love it if you could leave a review wherever it is that you pick up your podcast. Until next week, live life on in and with purpose. I'm your host, Dr. Megan Walker, and I will talk to you real soon.