Shoebox Moses Origins: Sammy Taggett's Journey from Abandonment to DJ Stardom

Ray and I, my partner, whenever we have like a blowout or anything, we're like, this is a great thing, remember? Because this was where we got to work on it, and this is where we get to go from here. And sometimes it takes a little bit longer. Especially in relationships or things of. Of nature that's not of your control. You take those like the mess is your message or, you know, like that reverse anchoring that I started to use over the years has really helped me to see when things were the worst. That. That is actually going to be my message later.

Can't be contained.

That's what I'm talking about.

Dude. Thank you so much for coming in.

Thank you for having me. Come in.

This is amazing. We got Sam Squared in the house.

Sam Squared. You know, it's a formula.

It is a formula. What? What's that? It a formula.

Formula for, I would say, massive amounts of love.

I love that. I. I feel like whenever I see you or whenever someone brings up your name or whenever I interact with you, it's like your presence just amplifies all the good in my body. I'm like, ah.

Oh, thank you. I received that. I think I feel the same too, actually. It's very rare where you can have somebody mention someone's name and you're like, oh.

And you get a visceral experience.

Oh, I love her.

Do you want to hear something dope?

Yeah.

Do you know that you and I are both collaborating on something this week? Do you know this?

Oh, we are.

We are.

We're both at Pablo.

You're DJing, and I'm teaching breath work.

Oh. Do you know? Oh.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

Yes. Oh, my God.

When I heard you were going to be there, I'm like, let's go.

We have so much bass coming to that place.

Really?

You guys hear that?

Maybe you will DJ the very first Wide Awake show.

I would hope so. What? Maybe. What is this maybe?

Okay. You're gonna DJ the very first Wide Awake show. Dude, we could even do it in this room. All you need for projection mapping is a white wall, and you can create a whole universe.

Amazing.

I'm so excited.

Amazing.

So before we pressed record, I was saying how you have such a unique story that I've only heard from other people.

Sure.

You and I have not actually talked about your story. You've not actually told me about your story.

That's so crazy.

And I know. So I would love, love, love, love, love, love to hear that. I'd love to hear that.

True. So. So for listeners that might not know who I am, and this is the first time that they've met me, I go by Shoebox Moses as an entertainer. You know me as Sammy. And Shoebox Moses is a moniker or a performance name that was given.

Pilgrimage back to my home country of the Philippines and looked for my roots as an adopted Filipino. And I wanted to go find where I was from, possibly look up some lineage and find out, you know, if my. My biological parents are still alive. And we did this. And it was crazy, because when you go to these places, you don't know how crazy the cities are and how much trashed and how much destruction and just. It's a gnarly place to go. It's just people on top of people in that small amount of time and that small amount of space. In the Philippines, there's millions upon millions of people. And so what I found out, I found my orphanage, which was amazing. Really, I found that. And then in that process, I also found out that I was newborn, and I was abandoned and left in a shoebox as a newborn baby. So, yeah, it was jarring, and at the time, it was so many emotions when I found this out. And I found it out, when I went to the orphanage, they told you. Yeah, I had paperwork. So here's what happened. I found I had paperwork that I hadn't even looked at. You know, if your parents give you a whole box of your old stuff, they're like, hey, Sam, here's all your things. You need to look through this. And right before I left, I was telling my mom that I was so excited to kind of find my roots and find these things. And she's like, you need to go through your paperwork. I'm just, take some time by yourself.

So she never told you?

She never told me. Wow. She's. And, you know, not to her fault at all. She really was like, there was not.

I'm trying to think, like, what would I do as a parent in that situation? So Interesting.

Yeah. She just felt like it wasn't. It wasn't a time or a need to. Right. I never had been asked. And. And God bless my parents. They were both school teachers doing three jobs at a time to keep. We. She adopted three kids. My parents adopted three kids, two from Korea, one from the Philippines. So we have this incredibly beautiful family. But when came to that, she's like, go through your paperwork and check this stuff out. And so I kind of had an idea when I left, and I was like, whoa, that's weird. I Just kind of. I had a pretty huge, I would say big Christ moment at that point. When I read the paperwork, literally had a breakdown. This was right before I was leaving for the Philippines. And so when I got there, they reconfirmed. They're. Yeah, they're like, you're a little shoebox baby. So good to see you again. And that happens a lot in a lot of countries. And so that's where I found that. Found out that part of the story. Then fast forward to where Shoebox Moses came from is I was catapulted into some of the most iconic places to dj. And so I was on Necker island with the Mavericks, and I was not fully in my full body and inflamed my full presence like we normally know me. I wasn't like, ah, yeah. And I was kind of coming off of this raw feeling of just. I don't know what to do with myself right now.

Yeah.

I literally just found some crazy news out about my beginnings. And as I was sharing with them about how I had found out I was left in a shoebox. And I really wanted to go back and set the kids free and figure out a path for them out and so that kids would have a future or a possibility of a future. And they have done so much of this type of work, and they just looked at me and they're like, well, you're always been our little shoebox Moses. Why don't we just help you with that?

That's where I came from.

And so, yeah, then. And the fun play on Moses is he went back and set his people free. And, you know, and I honestly thought that was the silliest name I'd ever heard. And then when I got back into the space, I was kind of sharing with my audience and. And my fans, and they were. They just took it. They're like, we love that. And the cool thing, Sam, is that's turned into this great way for young kids to attach to me. And. And a lot of my kids that I've taught over the years, they love that because it. It really shows the fight that I've been through and just kind of for forging through a lot of the. The adversities that you have as. As a human in general. But here's the cool thing that was, like, the first part of the story. And after that happened, I went through so much, like, crazy life chang.

Things. Even after that happened, after I found that out, a lot of people think you have that moment, and then all of a sudden you become enlightened. And awakened. I was in destruction mode even after that. And it was so weird. It took me years to figure out where I sat in that. And that was what was interesting. Like, when we were talking before, you're like, what would you like to touch on? And I really think that there's an immense amount of power that I found in pausing and going inward and finding the deep. The deep threads of gratitude. And that's why you and I have this really deep connection and why your audience just loves you, is you come from this deep space of gratitude all the time. Whenever, ever since I've met you, you're like, oh, I'm just so thankful for this. I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful for you. Thank you. Is it like that little kid in her sink, she's like, I love my hair. I love my mirror. I love my mom. I love my dad. I'm like, oh, that's Samantha. They always feel like that with you.

Thank you.

Thank. It's just. It's. It's. It's needed more than ever right now. And so as I was moving through life, I found that there was just so many places that gratitude. Yeah. And presence have been the biggest piece of what's pulled me through and pulled me up through the masses.

Did you end up finding your biological parents?

We're still looking. We found.

We're still looking.

We found the names, and we found kind of where they're at. So that'll be the next part.

What's that like for you?

There's. There's, oh, tons of emotions around it that are still bubbling up at the. At the current time. I'm a new dad, and so there's a beautiful energy that goes into raising him in a way that I was not raised. And I heard a really cool passage. It's not wish that they have. Wish that they don't. Wish that they got the lessons that you didn't get, but wish teach them the stuff that you didn't know. Yeah. Instead of. Instead of just trying to say, I hope he never. I don't raise him the way I was raised, but just teach him the things I didn't know.

Yeah.

Right. So, yeah. In the beginning, when he was newborn, I think when he was born and he was laying there for the first time, the nurses came in. It's funny. They were Filipino nurses, and they came in and they were telling me to go to sleep because I stayed up for 19 hours just staring at him. And I was like, how could this. How could this happen? Where in a Different place in a different circumstance. This.

Yeah.

Is thrown away, and that happens all the time. And, I mean, I don't understand what my parents are going through, but I will tell you that there's no way on this planet or in this reality that I could ever see any harm coming to that child. Yeah. So. Yeah, it's. It's. So to answer your question, there's curiosity. A lot of curiosity. There's no anger. I mean, the things that I've been able to do and pull off in this life. Yeah. I doubt they would have happened if I was over there.

Are you unattached from finding your parents, or is it something that you're like. I really want to. In this life.

In this life, I think I want to find solutions to be of service and if. Of being of service to find my parents, my biological parents is serving, and it leads to.

Yes.

To helping other people out. With that. I feel I'm pretty complete.

Yeah.

With that. But I know that, and I work with a lot of great therapists slash mentors slash coaches, and they're all in kind of the. The same camp that it might be good for me to find that loop and. And close it and see. And I think from a. Serving the. The world at a greater level, it might be good to have some ties there to see if there's something and if there's other brothers and sisters. I don't know. I. I think, you know, and that my. My goofy self is like, well, maybe they're royalty or something. Filipino royalty are way up there, and I want to go over there and get my dude.

A couple years ago, I was up in Canada with my mom, and we're driving home from dinner one day. I'm 30 years old. So four years ago. And out of nowhere, she just goes, I need to talk to you. And I'm like, o. Okay. And the. The car got like. I could cut the tension with a knife. I'm like, what? She's like, there's something that I've never told you. And I was like, o. Okay. And I was like, I'm adopted. Like, I know.

And she's like, you have a brother that I've never told you about? And I'm like, what. What are you talking about? And she's like, I had a child when I was 17, and I couldn't afford. Like, my mom grew up so poor. Like, she was the woman who. Like, she grew up so poor. She. She tells me all the time she would come home from school and have Wonder Bread and ketchup as, you know, dinner. Because they were so poor. And so she had no money, nothing. She. She's like, I can't raise this child. Like, it's. It would be irresponsible for me to try. And so she brought the baby to full term, birthed the baby. She didn't even get to hold him. She just gave. Like, they just took him. That's the way they did it. And it was such an interesting experience for me. I'm like, there is a human on this planet right now that shared the same womb as me, and we are so closely connected with our DNA, and I have no idea who he is. I'm like, fuck, I hope I didn't date him by accident.

Oh, my God, Sam.

That would be awkward.

Oh, my God.

So anyway, I signed up for all of those, like, 23andMe ancestry.com like, the whole thing. And I'm like. I'm like, where. Where the hell is he? You know? And I was really attached to finding him for probably, like, two years, but he didn't sign up for any of those things. So my guess is like, yeah. Either he doesn't know that he's adopted, which is very, very likely. Very likely, or he's like, I have, like, this great life. I don't want to. I don't want to complicate it, which is also very likely. So I. I got to this place where I was like, I just need to let this go and trust if God is desiring me to meet this person, it's going to be easy. And if not, that's okay. And I can move through the process of, like, knowing that someone's on this planet that is my brother and I don't know him, but it was wild. I was like, mom, why did you wait for so long? And, you know, it was. I could feel the release of tension in her body as she communicated it to me. It was one of the bravest things she's done. She's like, I just have had so much guilt and shame around it, you know?

Yeah. And that's the other part of. Of that piece to help my. My biological mom, like, know that I'm okay.

Yeah.

I think that's the part that, for me, feels guilty not to do.

Like, if I would look at him.

Yeah. Or she might not be. Who knows? Right? That's the thing.

I mean, if I've. If, like, you found me and I was your mom, I'd be like, my son is awesome.

My son drops bombs on crowds, like, musical bombs, like, just crushing It. Yeah. Yes, it's. I think that would be. I think that would be fun for her to see. I. And you know that movie lion came out, and it was so cute when. When. And if your listeners haven't seen that, it's about a kid who was left on a train, and. And he got separated from his family and then went and found them later. And there's a scene at the end where the biological mom meets his. His adopted parents. And when I sent my mom and dad to that movie, like, she called me later, and we were just blubbering messes, and she's like, you got to go do it. You got to go find her. And I was like, we'll. We'll do it. We'll try. So, yeah, we. That part of it for me is where when I think about it like, that, I was like, yes, you should go and help her understand that he. That I'm okay. That part, when I talk about that, that's what really opens up that door again for me personally. Like, my energy and my focus is on my podcast company, on my. My performance companies, and then working in the new spaces with AI and just, like, doing this life, right?

Well, it's. It's wild how adversity shape for better or worse, right? And I think there's such a beautiful quality that humans can learn, adapt by allowing every single challenge and every single adversity to shape them into being the truest version of them. And I think that's a mindset, that's a choice, right?

100.

You know, it's like one of my mentors says, with every situation in life, you can find a hundred things that are just so magnificent and amazing, and you can find a hundred things that suck, and the only difference is a choice. Yeah, it was so interesting. Eric and I were in Austin last week for our friend's wedding, and Eric's in hospitality, right? So he is so particular about everything when it comes to hotels. Like, every little thing. Like, and he's not, like, knocking it, but he's like, oh, they could have done this, and they could have done this, and they could have done this. And, like, so we walk into this beautiful hotel, and I am like, this is Hotel Disneyland. Like, it was so beautiful and amazing, not actually Hotel Disneyland, but it gave me that feeling of being at Disneyland. Like, everything's so special. And in my lens, nothing was wrong. Everything was perfect. But then Eric, being in hospitality, he was, like, looking at all, and I was like, isn't that so funny? It's the same Configuration. It's the same hotel, but two people with two different lenses are seeing it in a completely different view.

Yeah, right, Absolutely. That's.

And so what is that quality? Because I know for a lot of my listeners, they're amazing and on the path of personal development, spiritual development, but still. Still they can hit challenges that can kind of put them into a collapse. So how do you, as like a super busy entrepreneur, a dad, a visionary, a philanthropist, like everything that you are, I'm sure you have challenges smack you in the face, left, right, and center. How do you grow, evolve, and expand through those contractions versus collapse into them?

Ooh, that's a great question.

What the hell isn't? There's some socks in my pocket.

Well, to answer your question on how do I expand instead of contract into that space, let me share with you a story because this. This is what I always refer back to when it comes to that. Because there's always a moment at least 10 times a week where I have imposter syndrome.

Really?

About. Oh, constantly.

Like, one of those people where I'm like, nope, he doesn't have any of that. Just the way you carry yourself around the planet, like, it doesn't seem. Seem like that, but then also the internal experience.

Oh, totally. So when I first learned to dj, I don't know if I ever told you this, but my DJ career started after a failed relationship. I moved back with my tail between my legs from Texas. I moved into my friend's basement and left a candle in my friend's basement. Burned his house down.

Shut up.

Y. So the only job I could find, I was like, frantically trying to find a job because I didn't really have anything. My friend called me. He's like, hey, I'm going on tour. He was a guitarist for a reggae band. He's like, I'm going on tour. You can take my shift over at Alley Cats, which is a nightclub in Denver above a strip club. And he goes, just go in there, tell them you're taking Patrick shift, and then they'll set you up. And I thought I was going to bar back or whatever. I was so thankful to have this thing. So I get there and I walk through the strip club. I'm like, what? And God's name, what am I doing? Get upstairs to this nightclub that's up there. And it was like, a really chic, like, nightclub back in the day. You had to go through this alley. It was called Alley Cats for a reason. Yeah. And I remember getting up there and I was like, oh, this. Thank God. I'll make something here at the bar. And they hand me a duffel bag, and I'm like, oh, thanks. I'm like, what's this? And I open it up. Imagine I open it up, and there's. There's mints, cigarettes, napkins, little ashtray. And I was like, what? What is this?

Yeah.

And they go, yeah, you're in the bathroom. And so I have this duffel bag. I'm like, what? So I go in the bathroom, and I'm the bathroom guy. And so I remember looking in the mirror, and I'm like, you have no choice right now. You are rock bottom right now. Rock bottom. And so I get in there and I set up all my bathroom stuff, and I'm waiting, and all of a sudden I hear this. And I was like, what is that? And I walk outside in the bathroom, like, three feet away, there's a D booth. It was the first time I'd seen a dj, and I'm mesmerized. I'm like, whoa, that's what they're doing. And he was having a blast, just doing sound check and stuff. And I went over there and I asked him if I could check it out, and he was like, get away. I was like, what?

He goes, yeah, get back in the bathroom.

Go back to your station. And so I look in the mirror, and I remember being like, okay, I'm gonna get out of this bathroom. I'm gonna get to that booth. And I don't know what that's going to take, but I'm out of here. I'm going to figure this out. And so I realized very quickly that night that they love shots and they love women. And so I would save my tip money. And this is what I did over the course of a few weeks. I was like, I know my end. So I would save tip money, buy shots, and introduce them to girls. And in that. In that exchange, they're like, sammy, come here. And I would ask them, what's this button do? What's this do? What's this do? And so I learned how to DJ on the backs of this gift exchange. And so what happened on a. Is a Friday, and there is a total train wreck going on out there, which is DJ lingo for just up. And I was in the bathroom. I was like, what's he doing? Yeah. And I get out there, and he couldn't stand. He was wasted. And I jumped in there, and I just started sending it, like, full S time, and just got the club going and hopping and hopping. And all the promoters who knew me, they're like, Sammy's DJing. Oh my God. And then they followed me, you know, I did my little 25 minute set and then ran back to the bathroom and, and they followed me in there like, what are you doing? Why are you in the bathroom? And I thought they were gonna get me fired. I was like, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that. But they, they were encouraging me to get, they knew, they saw this, this, this amazing thing.

Let's go then.

So they told me about four, four new places I need to start playing. And, and what happened is it, it transpired very quickly into me playing one of the biggest parties in Denver for New Year's and doing these things, which led me to playing these other venues which got me in front of somebody that was going to mind Valley's event. And then that's when I met Vishen and that's when it took off, right? So I tell you that because when you say, how do you, how do you go back and not contract when, when that happens? As I think back on the journey that it took me to get from there to there, and I have these little notes that I have kept over the years from my a fest shows, from like the thousands of shows I've probably played at this time, and people have left me notes and they're like, dude, thank you for this, thank you for that. I always, it's funny because they're not requests for songs, they're just like, you're totally changing my life right now. And I keep those and I have them in a drawer. And so whenever I need that, I don't, I don't read them, I just put my hand on them and I just take a breath and I remember, I remember what I'm here for. And then, and then I get back to it. And that for me, that one pause for me has been the, the key from going this way or that way.

I have this folder in my email called Praise for Rainy Days.

Oh, I love that.

So whenever I get an email from someone to be like, oh my gosh, pauses changed my life or whatever it is, I just, I'm like, thank you. I respond and then I just file it. And then the days where I'm like, man, this shit's really hard, like I'm having a hard day, I just go into that email folder, I make myself a matcha and I just read all of that feedback. I'm like.

Machos and mantras, we should start a thing that's a good name. John, can you go buy that domain?

It's. It's so good. It's like every single moment. That's a great story, by the way. Let me just pause it. That's a great story. And what I love about that story is you putting yourself in the position that, you know, you deserve to be in. And I think that is a quality that we can all do more of.

Like, totally.

Like, people are like, how'd you do that? I'm like, I just did it. Like, I don't know. It's like, I didn't think about it. I didn't. I don't ask for permission. I'm like, oh, I want. I'm gonna do that. And we're gonna do that. Let's just go right now. And if you know that that's what you're. You're here to do, no one's gonna stop you because it's aligned.

Yeah, totally. And I think one thing that your listeners can probably take away from that is the power of. I would call almost reverse anchoring. So what I did. So now I. I think of a. A shitty bathroom. And that is my humble beginnings, where I'm like, dude, from here you go to there. So not only do I see the worst things now, and that is, like, the best thing. Yeah, it's a real strong power for me as an anchor to see things that could be totally the most. The worst thing that I could have possibly been in was the bathroom at that time. But now I see that as I'm like, this is. This is where it all starts. You get to go from here. So, like, whenever Ray and I, my partner, whenever we have like a blowout or anything, we're like, this is a great thing. Remember? Because this was where we got to work on it, and this is where we get to go from here. And sometimes it takes a little bit longer, especially in relationships or things of. Of nature that's not of your control. You take those. Like, the mess is your message. Or, you know, like, that reverse anchoring that I started to use over the years has really helped me to see when things were the worst. That. That is actually going to be my message later.

Oh, I love that. It's interesting. I've never actually thought about doing it that way because my mind's like, don't think of the worst, you know? But I. I like that. It's like, that's the. That's the trampoline. Yeah, it's like that bathroom was like the trampoline to allow you to explore.

That was a. In the fan for sure. Yeah. But it was. And I think, because we do. I'm. You and I are sunshines and rainbows types of people. We're like, oh, my God, everything's great.

But as a samurai and a ninja or a Jedi, you have to think of the worst things. But what are you going to do to repurpose that thing that could really go wrong or has gone wrong.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

And I think of that now. Like, I mean, I deal with it all the time. Like, clients are pissed at me about something, and I'm like, up went too fast. Well, that's good. I remember that now. It's that pause. It's that time to really expand into that place that I'm the worst at. But if I can look at that challenge as something that is my total springboard, that reverse anchor to it. Yeah. I just feel so empowered by it. I'm like, oh, yeah, dude, this is my weakness. I can't wait to work on this because it's going to take me to the next step. And. And you know that I don't know if it was Einstein or whoever said that you cannot get to the next level with the same energy that you got to that first place.

Yeah.

I look at those things. I was like, oh, that's my fuel. Cool. This mess is my fuel. Like, that is the way, you know, that obstacle there is the way. But for us, it is the springboard.

Totally. It's so hilarious that I have a company called Paws because it is absolutely my biggest lesson of this lifetime, I think. And patience. I hate everything that starts with a P. I know.

I was thinking I might call my next company Slow Down.

I'm going to call my next company Shut up and Sit Down.

But it is interesting. It's like pausing is my medicine, you know, it's my remedy. Breath work is my remedy. Like, being in the stillness is my remedy. Like, whenever I have the discipline or whenever I choose to have the discipline to pause, to slow down, there is such an in an abundance of intelligence that comes to me. And everywhere I look, people tell me to slow down. Half the time I'm like. And half the time I'm like, I think this person's God. Like, so my curiosity for you, because I'm always in question about this. For me, why do we go so fast?

Yeah.

I think that comes from. I think there's. Everyone has a different reason for going. The speeds that they go. But for. For us as entrepreneurs and building the plane on the Way down. Yeah. I think we're programmed that way.

I think so, too.

I think we came out of the womb. Like, I. I look back on school, I remember being so bored. I'm like, this is ridiculous. And I think we're programmed that way. And the best thing that people. Once you find out how you're programmed and how God made you, and to not look at that as absolutely. As the weakness.

Yes.

That mess. Especially nowadays with AI and assistants and the things that you've done. Like, we have people around me. I don't know how many people. Tell me about my calendar today. Three.

Yeah. Yeah.

Cool. I have that. Good. It's like my. My team is like, I'm putting the. I'm putting it in your calendar for you. I'm like, thank you. Yeah, right?

100.

Like, I'm. I'm on the. The test that I take is the Colby test, which is that Colby index test.

I bet you ours are so parallel.

Dude, I'm off. So there's four categories for listeners, right? They test on fact finding, follow through, quick start, and implementation. And me as an. As an entrepreneur, in my DNA, I am a nine on quick Start. I'm an eight implement, implementation, and a two on fact finding and a two on follow through.

I'm sure I'm right up there with you.

I guarantee you. And what's great is now I've built my team around me, so I have super high follow through, super high fact finding people that are right around me, and then they. They follow up and pick up where I'm really. I'm weak. Right. And so when people that are listening to this can figure out what is strong, what you are so strong at, and then build the systems, your life system around you that can be that. That life jacket for you. But, oh, yeah, I know that I'm not good at this, but doesn't mean it's a weakness. It just means that you got to build around it.

It takes a certain amount of self love, though, to. In my experience, it takes a certain amount of self love to actually honor the things that are in your zone of genius and truly let go of the things that are not. I'll give you an example. So being a CEO is something. It's a learned thing that I've had to learn in order to run. Pause. It's not my zone of genius, like, at all. It's like, I'm, like, pretty good at it, but I'm like, there's thousands of people who could, like, crush it. But there was something in My psyche, that's like, well, you built this, so you need to run it. And one of. I was.

Oh, 100.

I was up in Toronto the other day and I was sitting with. Do you know, talking more. I was sitting with. Talking more. Wait, you're still the CEO of your company? And I'm like, yeah. He's like, why?

Oh, that's a good question.

You know, And I was like. There was this feeling of, like, because I think I have to be and it's not true. And so I went back to my team. I'm like, hey, guys, I think I'm, like, gonna just sit real cozy in that founder, visionary role. And, like, you guys can run the business. I'll run brand, because I love that. But you guys run the business. I'm curious, are you similar in that sense?

Yeah, I've actually been talking to. I have a meeting with Cameron Herald and a few people. Yeah. To be like, do I need to not be the CEO? And I can tell you the resounding answer from most people. Big yeah, you're the visionary.

Are you the CEO now? Hilarious. We quit today. Yeah, I'm kidding.

Quit. I'm. What would you say We're. I'm not quitting, but I'm going to. I'm going to give myself a promotion.

I'm going to give myself a promotion.

I'm giving myself a promotion to founder and visionary.

That's so good. You know what's funny? It's like, my. My leadership team is so damn capable. They're so wicked smart. Like, even if I stop today, I don't think that anything would change.

Like, us would be. Other than we would be doing things that we're supposed to be doing more.

And I would remove it from my Instagram bio.

This is what we're the best at doing. Like, I got so excited today just thinking about, oh, man, I get to go just talk to people.

Yeah.

And share the vision with people.

Yeah.

And that, you know, my integrators just crush it.

Yeah.

They know. They think three steps ahead of me.

But hang on. Let's speak to the entrepreneur who's on, like, year one.

Yeah.

Because you and I've been in the game for a little while.

Oh, sure.

So this is so what Sam and I are talking about. Like, this is the reality of, like, releasing the addiction to having to be something that you're not. But let's go back to, like, the early stages. Right. We had to kind of do it all.

Sure.

Right.

We. Yeah, totally. I think the early stages, too we didn't have things like chat GPT and Claude and those types of things that.

Because I just like. I'm like you. I'm like plan my wedding. I don't use it for actual.

That's actually not a bad thing to do. Yeah. It will. It will actually really help. I think when we started one of the things that we got really lucky with is that we did have a lot more resources so we could YouTube things and find some workarounds. But you do wear multiple hats. So if I were to go back to talk to my first person in year one, I would have given that person two very direct orders. One, find a mentor. Find somebody that had totally done it and just deconstruct that thing before you hit go on any action. And then the second thing is like get Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance on your ass and get in the mindset of like, okay, am I ready to do this?

Yes.

And you know, I think I probably would have also put an accountant right in place right away.

Finances.

Oh. So. But. But the big thing is like finding a mentor that had done it that I respected the way that their life was. Because one of the things I found a mentor, but he was a total. And he was a liar and a crook. And I was like, yeah, but he has so much money and his house is so sick. And this is so great. But I can't follow this guy. And that's happened to me a lot of times where I'm like, dude, I love what these guys have created, but I don't like them.

100 that's been like such a boundary of mine since I started is if I'm gonna pay someone for their advice. I, I Val I. They need to be 10 out of 10 in my opinion on everything.

Everything.

Like relationship health. Because like energy has no walls. And if you are dropping the ball over here, you're gonna drop the ball over here. That's so interesting. People disagree with with me on that. They're like, no, no. You got to find the expertise in this one area. I'm like, but that's not how I live my life. You know, it's like how I am in my relationship is directly related to my business. Energy has no walls.

Energy has no walls. And there's so many people out there now. There's seven point billion people on the planet. There are people out there that are doing it. They're doing it 100 in every category that is important to you.

And they're probably all our friends.

Yeah. They're all In Austin last week.

They were all at Jen's wedding last year.

Totally. By the way, congratulations, Jen and Alex, we love you, but I think that is such a great. A great baseline to have. And, you know, they may. No one's perfect, but they can be pretty damn near high on all the things that are important to you. I look at if you've ever heard of Lifebook by John and Missy Butcher.

No. Eric and I always want to do that, and we just haven't yet.

It's a. It's a week. It's a week. You gotta hold up, do a thing.

Yeah. We're like, we gotta.

It's really worth it to do it with a partner. Like, I'm gonna do it with Ray. And. And the thing that is amazing is the things that were in my lifebook, the 12 categories of life, we still reference that. And John and Missy live that, you know, and it is incredible to see how. How amazing it can be to get real specific on the 12 categories of your life so you can design in a life that you really, really know you could live. And then you'll rise into feeling that you deserve it. A lot of times, like, as an entrepreneur in the first year, you are wanting to be an entrepreneur because you hate working for somebody else. And, you know, your vision is much more beautiful for you. And. And maybe, and God willing, it's more beautiful for the planet and everyone around you, but you get stuck and you're like, oh, man, am I worth doing this? But you gotta, like, take a look at your entire life and just kind of figure out what that beautiful life looks like, you know? And so what I was so lucky to do is I think I bought my first Tony Robbins set of CDs when I was, like, 18.

Stop. Did we both start with Uncle To?

Yeah, dude, Tony, for sure. I, like, maxed out my very first credit card for the personal power.

I think, like, half the world maxed out their credit cards for Tony Robbins, but, like, worth it.

Damn you Gussy Ranker. Yeah, yeah, they got me good. But the thing is, I mapped. They mapped out that. That. That power of having your full life and what you could envision. And so if there's one thing that I would also do along with finding the mentor that you love and respect on all those levels, getting. Getting really clear about what your. What your life could be so you could get yourself into that state so your mindset is proper, that would just be such a huge piece.

100%. You know, my brother is starting his first kind of his first company that he owns, 100. And I'm advising him a little bit. And one of the things I said to him was like, dude, are you ready for the greatest personal development journey of life? Like, it's not about the product. It's not about anything like that. Secondary. It's a close second, but it's secondary. The first thing is your business is going to push you. It is going to mold you, it is going to expand you, and you got to say yes to the invitation every single day. Businesses don't fail. People fail. That's why businesses fail.

Yeah. Oh, bingo.

You know, pause is the greatest personal development journey of my life.

Yeah.

Every single moment.

Yeah.

It's funny because pause meets all of my human needs in abundance. Like. Like, completely in abundance. But then it also pokes on every one of my insecurities and vulnerabilities in abundance. It's like the greatest of both.

Yeah. At least it only does that every hour of every day. So you don't just work, you just are constantly doing it every day. I don't know. I think yesterday, before 9 o', clock, I was like, I feel that's why the imposter syndrome can be a crushing blow if you do not take that time. Yeah. To pause. Put your hand on the stuff. And this. I'm working with a couple coaches right now. They're like, you need to get out of your head into your heart, and that's why your company and what you do is so powerful.

It's interesting, though, because it's like, it's one of the greatest, most powerful things to get out of your head and into your heart and focus on pure presence and gratitude. But it's talked about all the time that I think people are just like, that's nice information. And they don't really, like. I love breath work so much because, like, you're. It's a direct experience of the divine moment by moment. You know, it's like you are literally meeting God as you are doing breath work, and you can't wonder if it works. And so it works so well for the, like, minds that are a little bit more, like, pessimistic or doubtful or. No matter who I teach breathwork to, whether it's prisoners in the Pelican Bay prison or whether it's billionaires in boardrooms or whether it's children or people on the street.

Sure.

Everyone is like, holy.

Yeah. It's like something that, if you didn't realize it, that it's. It's like the King's Treasure chest that you sit on every day that you didn't realize.

Yeah, 100, right? 100.

And that's what's so crazy. I heard this crazy story and it reminds me of your breath work about a guy who was holding up a bank. He was holding up a bank and he, he put the gun to the teller's head and he's like, hey, give me your money. He got out of there with $6,000 from the bank. That's it. Then arrested like 30 minutes later.

Yeah.

And they're like, let me see this gun. The gun he was holding to hold this guy up was an old ruger from like 1945. It was like a pistol of some sort from like Nazi Germany or like from the Nazis in Germany. It was worth a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. What? And he held the bank up for 6,000 and went to prison for like 12 years.

People are so dumb.

So when I think of that, I'm always like, what am I sitting on? What am I holding up?

Interesting.

With the wrong thing. When internally I am sitting. Like the breath work that we have inside us is that million dollar, 100 million dollar answer to everything. Slowing down. Breathing. Like the amount of visions and intuition that I access from breath work. And I don't. And I'll be the first one to say I am not doing it enough in when I do. Like I did it with Alex and, and Jen and I was like, why don't I do this every day? So I guess I ask you, why don't people do it every day?

Addiction to suffering. We just get so addicted to feeling human and so addicted to our stories. And so breath work is a complete pattern interrupt that drops us directly into the divine. But if we're not, if we're not willing to surrender our story about how life's hard, we're not gonna do it. You know, it's been 14 years and I've done breath work every day for 20 minutes. Wow, minimum. Wow, minimum. Except for when I'm like crazy sick and can't breathe.

Right.

But I believe that every single human has an internal atm. And when we activate the energy of our body through breath work, making money is easy. Attracting wealth is easy. Living our most fulfilled life is easy. But if we are so caught up in the external world of all of these little dramas and we, we get our life force caught in all this crap around us, we forget that there's this internal atm, this power that we all have in our body to live out the greatest adventure. So to answer your question, why do people not do it either? They don't do it because they haven't seen how powerful it is yet. But for people who have, it gets to be more of a consistent practice. But then there's also, like, the mind that's like, I'm too busy for that.

That.

Yeah, I gotta build.

Addicted to suffering, I think, is what you said.

Yeah, you gotta break that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I think as entrepreneurs as well, it's like, this is my. This is something that I really had to get over is if it's. If I'm gonna win, it's got to be hard.

Oh, my God. I've just. I knew you're gonna say that because that's what I've been doing. I'm like, if this company's gonna work, I gotta work 80 hours.

Right. Right.

Thank God. I've got a beautiful woman on my right. Yeah. And my left. And in front of me, tell me. Well, she's omnipresent. That's how good she is. And she's like, it does not have to be hard.

Yeah, dude.

I was like, oh, you're right.

Yeah. It does not. It does not have to be manufactured struggle. I think there's a big difference between the necessary pressure that the universe puts on us in order to evolve and that that will show up in your doorstep. You're not asking for that. But then there's like the.

The.

The. The. That, like, just went out. But then let me start again. Then there is the manufactured struggle that we throw in our way in order to feel like we're getting 100, you know, 100. And so it's like, it's a choice every moment. It's like, how can I let this be a little bit easier?

Yeah, I love that.

How can I let this be a little bit easier?

So good.

Dude, this has been so fun.

I know. I can't wait to. I can't wait to see how your world with the events and things unfold. I can't wait to be part of it.

Do you want to hear a really fun vision that you're in?

Yeah.

Okay. So, duh. So last weekend I was doing vision amplifier with Jen and Alex, and we were doing breathwork, and I got the clearest vision of doing breathwork at the Sphere with projection mapping.

Oh, my God, I'm so loving that.

But here's the even crazier part. So I got this vision. It was so clear, and I'm like, like, holy, this is happening. We're doing pause breath work at the Sphere. This is happening. I ran up to my hotel room. I'm on my laptop, just, like, downloading what I saw, typing it out, the vision. And then I turned. I turned to Eric, and he looks at me and he goes, babe, you know it would be so dope. And I was like, what? He's like, if you did Wide Awake at the Sphere. And I was like, babe, I literally just. We had the same insight. So do you want to create the music for it?

Done. Done. Actually, we've already started working on music for you, and I've had things and visions in my head for you for a long time.

So let's, like.

Let's do some little pin in that one.

Let's put a pain in that.

I love you. Thank you so much for having me.

This has been so great. Thank you so much.

Yep, Totally. Love you.

Can't be contained.

That's what I'm talking about.