00:00:00.017 --> 00:00:05.617
Kevin Lowe: What if the very thing that makes you feel broken could in fact become your superpower?
00:00:06.097 --> 00:00:09.777
Kevin Lowe: Today's guest, John Kippen, he would end up having a brain tumor.
00:00:10.017 --> 00:00:11.577
Kevin Lowe: You're going to hear about that story.
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Kevin Lowe: But what happened next is where the story takes a turn.
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Kevin Lowe: It's after the discovery of the brain tumor.
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Kevin Lowe: It's after the surgery. It's the realization that half of his face was left paralyzed.
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Kevin Lowe: And for the next 12 years, John Kippen would stay hidden from the world,
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Kevin Lowe: convinced that the rest of the world wouldn't be able to see past his face,
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Kevin Lowe: his smile that he no longer had, the person he was, he felt was gone.
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Kevin Lowe: But then, thankfully, a twist of fate would lead him back to a childhood fascination
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Kevin Lowe: with magic, and that would change everything.
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Kevin Lowe: Today's conversation is going to challenge how you see yourself.
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Kevin Lowe: It's going to challenge how you define beauty, success, and strength.
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Kevin Lowe: This is a journey through trauma, through transformation, and the healing power
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Kevin Lowe: of finding your purpose.
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Kevin Lowe: So whether you've ever felt judged, held back, or maybe even hidden by something you can't change,
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Kevin Lowe: today's conversation is going to show you what's possible when you stop hiding
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Kevin Lowe: and you start showing up to the world as your true authentic self.
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Kevin Lowe: Because, my friend, no matter what you think is holding you back,
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Kevin Lowe: no matter what you may think is
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Kevin Lowe: wrong with you, my friend, the world needs more of you, just as you are.
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Kevin Lowe: That is what I want you to gain out of today's conversation with John Kippen.
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Kevin Lowe: So, with that, my friend, this is episode 402 of Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.
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Kevin Lowe: I'm, of course, your host, Kevin Lowe. And in the most sincere way possible,
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Kevin Lowe: I want to thank you for being here.
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Kevin Lowe: Because you chose to click on today's episode, it tells me that you care about
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Kevin Lowe: yourself, that maybe you have something that you've been hiding from the rest
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Kevin Lowe: of the world, that you've been thinking it makes you less than.
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Kevin Lowe: But today is going to show you, no, it's actually completely opposite.
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Kevin Lowe: It makes you greater than. So, my friend, with that said, this is my interview
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Kevin Lowe: with none other than John Tippett.
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John Kippen: Yeah, I got great grace and inspiration on my mind.
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Kevin Lowe: What's going on and welcome back to Grit, Grace and Inspiration.
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Kevin Lowe: Today, I am in the studio with none other than the man himself, John Kippen.
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Kevin Lowe: John, man, pleasure to have you here. Welcome to the podcast.
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John Kippen: Hey, Kevin, it's my ultimate pleasure to be here with you, Mike Wendt.
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Kevin Lowe: Oh, man, well, I am so excited. I'm excited to get to explore so many different
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Kevin Lowe: areas of your story. And, of course, we're going to have this through line of magic.
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Kevin Lowe: When you say the word magic, I don't know that you can help but not start us smiling.
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Kevin Lowe: And I would love to know, if we could, going back, where did your first kind
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Kevin Lowe: of memories of magic come from? Maybe was it on television? Was it a relative?
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Kevin Lowe: Like, where were you first introduced to magic?
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John Kippen: I had an uncle named Uncle Milton, who was my grandmother's brother,
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John Kippen: and he would come into town to visit my grandma.
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John Kippen: And I would visit my grandmother once or twice a month.
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John Kippen: And one day he was there, and he saw me, and we met, and he pulled a quarter out of my ear.
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John Kippen: And from then on, I was hooked.
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John Kippen: And he saw my love for magic. And then every year on my birthday,
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John Kippen: he'd send me a trick to learn.
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John Kippen: And every time he'd come into town, I'd pull out that trick and we'd do it together.
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John Kippen: And he'd show me the nuances and help me with the presentation and the pattern.
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John Kippen: And that continued until he passed away when I was 15 or 16.
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Kevin Lowe: Wow. Wow. How awesome that it came from your uncle. That's amazing.
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John Kippen: Yeah. And then I grew up watching all of the famous magicians on TV,
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John Kippen: Doug Henning, Mark Wilson, and
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John Kippen: Bill Dixby, and Sigrid Roy, and so magic became part of my life early on.
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Kevin Lowe: Yeah, amazing. Did you ever think as a kid, though, that
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Kevin Lowe: magic would end up being such a big part of your life later in adulthood?
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John Kippen: I hoped it would be. Magic was who I was. It's how I shared my personality.
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John Kippen: I always enjoyed fooling people as a kid.
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John Kippen: I had a summer job in a magic shop where I would ride my bike and go in and
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John Kippen: get behind the counter and demonstrate magic for people who were coming in to buy a trick.
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John Kippen: So I got to be really good at presenting geek magic and learning magic.
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Kevin Lowe: Yeah. Amazing. Now in school, I guess, like I'm thinking of like drama class and stuff.
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Kevin Lowe: Were you ever like involved in any other type of, of acting or singing, anything like that?
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John Kippen: Yeah. In high school, I was first in the band and I learned how to play the
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John Kippen: clarinet and then became part of their orchestra, which was a lot of fun.
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John Kippen: They put on a spring musical every year, and I was good enough to be in the
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John Kippen: orchestra for the musicals.
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John Kippen: And then one day I was walking across the multipurpose room,
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John Kippen: which also had the stage, and I was going to do some clarinet practicing.
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John Kippen: And the theater teacher was also the music teacher, saw me walking across the
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John Kippen: room and said, hey, John, come up on stage.
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John Kippen: So I put my stuff down and walk up on stage. And then he introduced me to the
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John Kippen: rest of the cast of Annie Get Your Gun as Chief Sitting Bull.
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John Kippen: And I was like, okay.
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John Kippen: That's what started my acting career. I proceeded to act in almost every production after that.
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Kevin Lowe: Wow, wow. Now, I asked the question, but I kind of almost assumed there has
00:06:17.469 --> 00:06:22.549
Kevin Lowe: to be. an element of acting in with being a magician?
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John Kippen: Oh, yeah. You know, I actually coach magicians. So what I'm all about,
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John Kippen: is letting the audience see who you are as an individual through your magic.
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John Kippen: Letting your life stories be a part of your illusions and custom tailoring tricks
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John Kippen: that you might be able to buy online or buy at a store,
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John Kippen: but turn the presentation into something that really represents who you are
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John Kippen: and your life experience.
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John Kippen: Because I find that when you make it about your passions, audiences can't help
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John Kippen: but be attracted to it and enjoy it.
00:07:05.959 --> 00:07:06.499
Kevin Lowe: Yeah.
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John Kippen: It's funny, as I coach magicians and they come to my house,
00:07:10.939 --> 00:07:17.019
John Kippen: I have a theater built into the back of my house and a magician will sit down
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John Kippen: and the worst thing he does and reach into his bag and pull out a deck of cards.
00:07:21.919 --> 00:07:26.939
John Kippen: And I say, oh, sorry, we won't be using those today.
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John Kippen: And he looks at me and goes, oh, okay. And then he puts the cards back and he pulls out a set of coins.
00:07:34.788 --> 00:07:41.008
John Kippen: And I kind of smile and I go, well, sorry, we won't be using those today either.
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John Kippen: And then I start getting a look like, what am I paying you for? Why am I here?
00:07:46.068 --> 00:07:51.348
John Kippen: And I said, no, we're going to talk about why you chose magic as your art form.
00:07:51.708 --> 00:07:54.968
John Kippen: What do you want audiences to learn about you?
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John Kippen: Tell me the things you're passionate about in your life as hobbies or locations
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John Kippen: or whatever that brings you joy.
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John Kippen: And we're then going to take that and find illusions that are going to help
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John Kippen: you as a metaphor for those ideas of yours and those things that you love to
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John Kippen: do to help you make a connection with an audience.
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John Kippen: And that's how I approach magic.
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Kevin Lowe: Wow. Wow. Okay. Amazing. Okay, so I have a lot of questions about magic.
00:08:30.468 --> 00:08:35.188
Kevin Lowe: But before we get to magic, there's another kind of aspect of your story that
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Kevin Lowe: I don't really understand how the two are going to blend together.
00:08:38.528 --> 00:08:43.228
Kevin Lowe: So you're going to fill in the gaps because you, like out of school,
00:08:43.248 --> 00:08:49.088
Kevin Lowe: you would actually end up somehow getting into the technology space,
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Kevin Lowe: which seems totally different than acting or magic.
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John Kippen: You know, music, which I was into, has logic. to it.
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John Kippen: Matt has critical thinking. And I was always a techno dweeb.
00:09:02.668 --> 00:09:08.968
John Kippen: I would watch all of the Mission Impossible shows and get smart because I like gadgets.
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John Kippen: And my school, elementary and high school, was very affluent.
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John Kippen: And so they had the funds to buy computers.
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John Kippen: So I got to touch a mainframe computer at the age of 12, I think,
00:09:24.408 --> 00:09:31.548
John Kippen: and start working on a mainframe and started working on personal computers really early on.
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John Kippen: And I understood how they worked. So they weren't intimidating to me,
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John Kippen: you know, as a computer consultant now.
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John Kippen: I do a lot of teaching of people on how to use a computer.
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John Kippen: And oftentimes, people make it more difficult than it is.
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John Kippen: And once they understand how a computer thinks and what a computer assumes they're going to get,
00:10:00.002 --> 00:10:03.122
John Kippen: what kind of input they're going to get for you and what it's expecting,
00:10:03.122 --> 00:10:07.502
John Kippen: it really helps people embrace computers.
00:10:07.502 --> 00:10:11.402
John Kippen: People are fearful of computers because they don't understand them.
00:10:11.622 --> 00:10:19.242
John Kippen: So in high school, in college, I was very involved with IT computers.
00:10:19.242 --> 00:10:23.202
John Kippen: And I was working on a playwright festival in college.
00:10:23.982 --> 00:10:28.542
John Kippen: I was technical director and the lighting designer was brought in from being
00:10:28.542 --> 00:10:29.862
John Kippen: a professional lighting designer.
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John Kippen: And her day job, she worked for a commercial production company.
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John Kippen: And we got to be friends. And I shared that I was good with computers.
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John Kippen: And she invited me down to their offices because their computer system wasn't working very well.
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John Kippen: And I said, sure, if you'll pay me my rate, I don't mind.
00:10:48.822 --> 00:10:52.482
John Kippen: And so I drove down to Burbank, which, you know, a 15, 20 minute drive.
00:10:52.782 --> 00:10:55.682
John Kippen: And I was able to solve their IT issues.
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John Kippen: Quickly and they were like holy cow
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John Kippen: where have you been all our lives hired me
00:11:02.665 --> 00:11:05.845
John Kippen: and then you know the commercial production industry is
00:11:05.845 --> 00:11:08.865
John Kippen: an interesting being it's run by
00:11:08.865 --> 00:11:13.645
John Kippen: freelance individuals producers production managers go from company to company
00:11:13.645 --> 00:11:19.065
John Kippen: when there are jobs to produce and apple had just came out with their first
00:11:19.065 --> 00:11:25.425
John Kippen: apple laptop and all these producers had the money to buy these computers but
00:11:25.425 --> 00:11:27.125
John Kippen: didn't know how to use them.
00:11:27.345 --> 00:11:30.525
John Kippen: So I made a deal that I would teach them how to use them.
00:11:30.645 --> 00:11:35.185
John Kippen: I would give them forms that would help them do their job better on the computer,
00:11:35.725 --> 00:11:40.045
John Kippen: if they took my business cards and passed them out at the companies that they
00:11:40.045 --> 00:11:41.505
John Kippen: would get hired to produce more.
00:11:41.705 --> 00:11:49.165
John Kippen: And before I knew it, I had 70 to 80% of the commercial production companies in LA as clients.
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Kevin Lowe: Wow. Wow. Now, at that point, about how old were you?
00:11:55.125 --> 00:11:57.505
John Kippen: I was 24, 25.
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Kevin Lowe: Wow. Wow. I mean, man, that's incredible.
00:12:01.965 --> 00:12:07.445
John Kippen: You know, I had some formal computer training in high school.
00:12:08.085 --> 00:12:11.765
John Kippen: But in college, I just played with them. I owned one. I took them apart.
00:12:11.885 --> 00:12:15.385
John Kippen: I built them. I put them together. I loaded software.
00:12:15.785 --> 00:12:19.025
John Kippen: I screwed up. I erased the machine. I reloaded the software.
00:12:19.305 --> 00:12:24.285
John Kippen: I screwed up. I erased the machine. I reloaded the software a different way.
00:12:24.285 --> 00:12:26.205
John Kippen: It worked. I was like, yay.
00:12:26.765 --> 00:12:34.425
John Kippen: So I learned by trial and error. That was long before there was Google or any of the search engines.
00:12:34.605 --> 00:12:38.125
John Kippen: So I just had to be a creative problem solver.
00:12:38.245 --> 00:12:46.205
John Kippen: And that is really what I think I am in my theater career, in my magic career, in my IT career.
00:12:47.050 --> 00:12:48.950
John Kippen: I am a creative problem solver.
00:12:49.230 --> 00:12:55.830
Kevin Lowe: Yeah, well, on behalf of me and everybody else who are not creative problem
00:12:55.830 --> 00:12:57.310
Kevin Lowe: solvers in the world of computers,
00:12:57.590 --> 00:13:03.390
Kevin Lowe: we applaud you because the best piece of advice I have ever been given as it
00:13:03.390 --> 00:13:08.750
Kevin Lowe: regards computers was told to me by one of my blind instructors.
00:13:08.750 --> 00:13:12.950
Kevin Lowe: So after I went blind and she was teaching me how to use the computer with talking
00:13:12.950 --> 00:13:18.610
Kevin Lowe: software, and she gave me the very wise piece of advice that before I throw
00:13:18.610 --> 00:13:21.490
Kevin Lowe: it out the window, remember to open the window first.
00:13:24.410 --> 00:13:29.570
Kevin Lowe: So, yeah, as I say, me and computers is a definite love-hate relationship.
00:13:30.730 --> 00:13:36.090
John Kippen: And actually, you know, doing theater, doing magic, becoming a consultant,
00:13:36.370 --> 00:13:38.570
John Kippen: allowed me to hone my people skills.
00:13:39.690 --> 00:13:44.730
John Kippen: One of my favorite stories was, I got a call from a client. He was a location
00:13:44.730 --> 00:13:47.570
John Kippen: scout and his wife was his partner.
00:13:47.890 --> 00:13:51.090
John Kippen: And he called me one day and said, John, I'm having trouble with my computer.
00:13:51.210 --> 00:13:52.890
John Kippen: Will you come out and help me? And I said, sure.
00:13:53.350 --> 00:13:56.630
John Kippen: What's the problem? He said, well, there's a problem with the screen.
00:13:56.870 --> 00:14:02.130
John Kippen: And I sensed some hesitation. So I said, well, what's wrong with the screen?
00:14:02.390 --> 00:14:05.390
John Kippen: He said, well, just come out and you'll see.
00:14:05.590 --> 00:14:11.970
John Kippen: And I was like, all right. So I go out and I knock on the door and he opens
00:14:11.970 --> 00:14:14.670
John Kippen: the door and he leads me to the dining room.
00:14:14.670 --> 00:14:20.670
John Kippen: And there on the dining room is his laptop with a two-inch hole through the center of the screen.
00:14:22.090 --> 00:14:25.470
John Kippen: And I'm not going to use his name, but I'll substitute yours.
00:14:25.670 --> 00:14:30.310
John Kippen: And I said, Kevin, what happened to your computer? Did you shoot your computer?
00:14:32.210 --> 00:14:38.510
John Kippen: And he said, John, I must admit, I took out my .45 and I shot the computer.
00:14:41.570 --> 00:14:44.310
John Kippen: And i said and the rest of
00:14:44.310 --> 00:14:47.650
John Kippen: the story and he said oh my wife was
00:14:47.650 --> 00:14:51.390
John Kippen: my business partner and i was going through emails and
00:14:51.390 --> 00:14:54.310
John Kippen: i stumbled across an email that she sent from our
00:14:54.310 --> 00:14:57.270
John Kippen: business account to someone she was having
00:14:57.270 --> 00:15:00.170
John Kippen: an affair with and that
00:15:00.170 --> 00:15:03.630
John Kippen: person ended up being my biggest competitor and
00:15:03.630 --> 00:15:06.930
John Kippen: i got so angry i reached for
00:15:06.930 --> 00:15:10.330
John Kippen: my gun and shot the messenger and
00:15:10.330 --> 00:15:13.230
John Kippen: i said kevin when i had you on the phone
00:15:13.230 --> 00:15:18.630
John Kippen: and i asked you what was wrong with your computer why didn't you tell me that
00:15:18.630 --> 00:15:25.250
John Kippen: you had shot your computer in the face and he said john come on if i had told
00:15:25.250 --> 00:15:29.490
John Kippen: you i pulled out my 45 and shot a hole through the center of my screen.
00:15:29.510 --> 00:15:30.750
John Kippen: Would you even need to come?
00:15:34.090 --> 00:15:36.030
John Kippen: You have a valid point.
00:15:41.757 --> 00:15:47.337
John Kippen: Just an amazing – and, you know, we just talked, and I pulled out his hard drive
00:15:47.337 --> 00:15:51.677
John Kippen: and got his data off and transferred it to a drive so that he could have his data.
00:15:52.377 --> 00:15:57.337
John Kippen: And then he went out and bought a new machine, and I never saw him again.
00:16:00.637 --> 00:16:09.897
Kevin Lowe: Oh, my goodness. Wow. Who knew being in technology could be so interesting as a story like that?
00:16:09.897 --> 00:16:12.277
John Kippen: We don't have time for all my tech stories.
00:16:12.577 --> 00:16:17.857
Kevin Lowe: Yes. Oh, wow. Okay. So you're in the tech space.
00:16:17.877 --> 00:16:21.497
Kevin Lowe: You have a thriving company in your 20s.
00:16:21.837 --> 00:16:27.097
Kevin Lowe: So I guess I'm kind of curious, where do things go at that point that ends up
00:16:27.097 --> 00:16:29.077
Kevin Lowe: leading you back to magic?
00:16:29.977 --> 00:16:34.337
John Kippen: In 2002, I started having symptoms.
00:16:34.617 --> 00:16:38.097
John Kippen: First of all, I couldn't hear men's voices in my left ear.
00:16:38.677 --> 00:16:39.237
Kevin Lowe: Hmm.
00:16:39.897 --> 00:16:44.797
John Kippen: So I went to an audiologist who was recommended to me by my dad.
00:16:45.317 --> 00:16:49.377
John Kippen: And he's one of these Beverly Hills doctors who don't take insurance,
00:16:49.517 --> 00:16:50.977
John Kippen: right? So I had to pay cash.
00:16:51.417 --> 00:16:54.517
John Kippen: And he was very expensive. And he did all the hearing tests and said,
00:16:54.597 --> 00:16:57.297
John Kippen: John, I don't see anything wrong. And I was like, okay.
00:16:57.557 --> 00:17:01.437
John Kippen: So I went home. And then all of a sudden, I started getting dizzy to the point
00:17:01.437 --> 00:17:05.457
John Kippen: of every standing or walking moment, I had to hold on to something.
00:17:06.097 --> 00:17:12.957
John Kippen: It was very difficult to concentrate. So I saw my primary. I saw a whole bunch of specialists.
00:17:13.634 --> 00:17:17.874
John Kippen: And none of them really understood what was causing the dizziness.
00:17:18.194 --> 00:17:24.274
John Kippen: I then found a ENT as part of my medical plan, knowing that I was going to have
00:17:24.274 --> 00:17:28.614
John Kippen: to go get an MRI to see if I had anything between my ears.
00:17:28.914 --> 00:17:32.234
John Kippen: He did a prescription for me to go get an MRI.
00:17:32.574 --> 00:17:36.974
John Kippen: And upon getting the films, I was pretty anxious at that point.
00:17:37.134 --> 00:17:39.914
John Kippen: So I remember going to the lady at the front desk and I said,
00:17:39.974 --> 00:17:41.394
John Kippen: how much for that set of films?
00:17:41.394 --> 00:17:44.134
John Kippen: And she said oh no no you don't you don't
00:17:44.134 --> 00:17:46.994
John Kippen: get these these go to the radiologist and then
00:17:46.994 --> 00:17:50.334
John Kippen: the radiologist will read the films in a couple days they'll
00:17:50.334 --> 00:17:53.394
John Kippen: write a report and send it to your doctor and i said no
00:17:53.394 --> 00:17:56.934
John Kippen: you i don't think you heard me right how much do i
00:17:56.934 --> 00:18:02.034
John Kippen: pay for that set of films and she got on the phone and called around and said
00:18:02.034 --> 00:18:06.954
John Kippen: three hundred dollars and i pulled three hundred dollars out of my wallet and
00:18:06.954 --> 00:18:11.954
John Kippen: i walked away with those films and i drove back to my ent with the films in
00:18:11.954 --> 00:18:13.514
John Kippen: hand, without an appointment,
00:18:13.714 --> 00:18:18.954
John Kippen: I walked in, and I saw my ENT standing behind the reception window,
00:18:18.994 --> 00:18:21.754
John Kippen: and I held up the films, and fortunately,
00:18:21.874 --> 00:18:26.614
John Kippen: he had a little time, so he motioned for me to come in, and we went in an examining room,
00:18:26.674 --> 00:18:30.654
John Kippen: and he pulled one of the films out and put it up on the little whiteboard so
00:18:30.654 --> 00:18:36.194
John Kippen: he could read the MRI and the color drain from his face, and he pulled that
00:18:36.194 --> 00:18:38.374
John Kippen: one piece of film down and he said, John,
00:18:38.594 --> 00:18:41.654
John Kippen: I see something.
00:18:42.014 --> 00:18:45.514
John Kippen: Wait here. I want to make a few phone calls. And he disappeared.
00:18:45.554 --> 00:18:49.214
John Kippen: And I don't remember how long it was, but he came back and he.
00:18:53.991 --> 00:18:59.291
John Kippen: A peering clinic downtown LA for you and they're squeezing you in tomorrow morning.
00:18:59.511 --> 00:19:06.091
John Kippen: Take your films down and get them to look at these films and see how they can help you.
00:19:06.231 --> 00:19:11.631
John Kippen: So I left the office feeling pretty worried but fortunately the appointment
00:19:11.631 --> 00:19:17.791
John Kippen: was the very next morning so I drove down and walked in into an examining room
00:19:17.791 --> 00:19:19.811
John Kippen: and the doctor came in and put
00:19:19.811 --> 00:19:23.591
John Kippen: up my films and looked at them for a minute and then got on the phone and
00:19:23.991 --> 00:19:26.831
John Kippen: called a neurosurgeon in and the neurosurgeon came
00:19:26.831 --> 00:19:30.831
John Kippen: in and looked at the films and they conferred it's
00:19:30.831 --> 00:19:34.931
John Kippen: like i was sitting there watching a movie i was
00:19:34.931 --> 00:19:39.471
John Kippen: completely detached from any kind of conversation and the neurosurgeon left
00:19:39.471 --> 00:19:43.771
John Kippen: the room and the other doctor turned around and said john you have a four and
00:19:43.771 --> 00:19:49.831
John Kippen: a centimeter acoustic neuroma brain tumor it is displacing your brain stem and
00:19:49.831 --> 00:19:54.431
John Kippen: killing you I have arranged to push another patient,
00:19:54.431 --> 00:19:58.491
John Kippen: and you are having brain surgery a week from today.
00:19:58.671 --> 00:20:03.851
John Kippen: You will go deaf in your left ear completely, and there is a small chance of
00:20:03.851 --> 00:20:06.231
John Kippen: some residual facial paralysis.
00:20:06.571 --> 00:20:12.011
John Kippen: We will do whatever we can to preserve as much facial function as you can.
00:20:12.171 --> 00:20:13.271
John Kippen: And then you left the room.
00:20:14.631 --> 00:20:17.571
John Kippen: And then we're sitting on you know the the table with
00:20:17.571 --> 00:20:20.971
John Kippen: the tissue paper and and just going wait
00:20:20.971 --> 00:20:25.211
John Kippen: a minute what what did he just say and i
00:20:25.211 --> 00:20:28.111
John Kippen: realized at that moment and i want to share this with
00:20:28.111 --> 00:20:31.451
John Kippen: your your listeners if you're ever going to
00:20:31.451 --> 00:20:35.131
John Kippen: a doctor where you suspect there might be some bad
00:20:35.131 --> 00:20:39.551
John Kippen: news bring someone with you yes because
00:20:39.551 --> 00:20:47.151
John Kippen: what he said went in one ear and out the other and i immediately met my parents
00:20:47.151 --> 00:20:52.611
John Kippen: for lunch and they were like what is what did you say and i'm like i i don't
00:20:52.611 --> 00:20:57.671
John Kippen: know i have a brain tumor and they're gonna take it out a week from today hey.
00:20:58.591 --> 00:21:00.271
John Kippen: What's the recovery going to be like?
00:21:00.391 --> 00:21:03.431
John Kippen: And my parents are grilling me.
00:21:03.691 --> 00:21:06.471
John Kippen: And I'm like, I don't remember what he said.
00:21:07.131 --> 00:21:12.351
John Kippen: I just know I'm scared and I'm getting operated. I'm having brain surgery.
00:21:12.571 --> 00:21:18.131
John Kippen: So I got my affairs in order and talked to my main consultant guy who worked
00:21:18.131 --> 00:21:22.291
John Kippen: for me and asked if he would cover for me because I didn't know how long I'd be left.
00:21:22.571 --> 00:21:27.151
John Kippen: I'd be out. And my parents and I went to dinner the night before downtown.
00:21:27.491 --> 00:21:31.851
John Kippen: We had a great steakhouse, and we had a nice meal, and then they dropped me
00:21:31.851 --> 00:21:36.571
John Kippen: off at the hospital, and I spent the night at the hospital not getting any rest.
00:21:36.911 --> 00:21:43.571
John Kippen: And an orderly came in at 6 a.m. and said, Okay, John, first put on the gown
00:21:43.571 --> 00:21:47.831
John Kippen: and then hop on this gurney, and we're going to take you to the operating room.
00:21:48.391 --> 00:21:52.271
John Kippen: And so I remember hopping on this gurney, and it was cold.
00:21:52.947 --> 00:21:56.587
John Kippen: To my skin i just remember it was i was shivering and
00:21:56.587 --> 00:21:59.487
John Kippen: they rolled me down the hallway into an elevator down to another
00:21:59.487 --> 00:22:02.867
John Kippen: floor into a pre-op area
00:22:02.867 --> 00:22:05.987
John Kippen: and i remember the surgical nurse saying
00:22:05.987 --> 00:22:08.867
John Kippen: john we need to shave half your head would you like
00:22:08.867 --> 00:22:15.187
John Kippen: me to do it now or after you're under and i said after i'm under and then as
00:22:15.187 --> 00:22:19.947
John Kippen: i'm laying there with millions of thoughts going through my head and then a
00:22:19.947 --> 00:22:24.947
John Kippen: woman wearing a surgical mask came over and looked down at me and said,
00:22:25.107 --> 00:22:26.567
John Kippen: Oh, John, my name is so-and-so.
00:22:26.767 --> 00:22:29.647
John Kippen: I am your anesthesiologist.
00:22:30.067 --> 00:22:36.867
John Kippen: And I have a little distressing news. My office just notified me that my services
00:22:36.867 --> 00:22:40.347
John Kippen: are actually not covered by your insurance policy.
00:22:40.807 --> 00:22:46.327
John Kippen: So here is a form that you need to sign before I can put you under.
00:22:46.767 --> 00:22:51.667
John Kippen: Now, fortunately, both my parents were attorneys and i learned a lot about the
00:22:51.667 --> 00:22:56.247
John Kippen: law even though i didn't follow in their footsteps so i knew that her asking
00:22:56.247 --> 00:23:01.727
John Kippen: me to sign that document was signing under duress so i happily signed that document
00:23:01.727 --> 00:23:05.607
John Kippen: knowing that i would never have to pay one dollar for her services.
00:23:06.187 --> 00:23:10.607
John Kippen: They rolled me into the operating room and the they put the mask on the face
00:23:10.607 --> 00:23:12.687
John Kippen: and counted from five, and I was out.
00:23:12.947 --> 00:23:17.347
John Kippen: And the next thing I know, I'm trying to regain consciousness.
00:23:17.747 --> 00:23:24.807
John Kippen: It was like I was 30 meters in a pool, and I could look up, and I could see the surface,
00:23:25.227 --> 00:23:31.247
John Kippen: but I couldn't get to the surface, and I was just trying to swim out of the
00:23:31.247 --> 00:23:38.707
John Kippen: surface, and finally came to, and I found my dad sitting on my bedside, holding my hand.
00:23:39.527 --> 00:23:44.407
John Kippen: And I was starting to hear people calling my name. John, John,
00:23:44.407 --> 00:23:46.227
John Kippen: are you there? John, wake up.
00:23:48.032 --> 00:23:53.032
John Kippen: And I wore glasses at the time. So once I had become mostly conscious,
00:23:53.052 --> 00:23:56.512
John Kippen: I asked for my glasses and looked around the room for my mom.
00:23:56.792 --> 00:24:01.272
John Kippen: And I looked across the room and my mom was standing there. And the look on
00:24:01.272 --> 00:24:03.572
John Kippen: her face was one of horror.
00:24:04.292 --> 00:24:11.952
John Kippen: I could tell what she was thinking later on was, what did these butchers do to my poor son's face?
00:24:12.612 --> 00:24:18.832
John Kippen: But at that point, I didn't really understand why she had such a horrific look.
00:24:19.372 --> 00:24:23.372
John Kippen: Because I have full feeling in my face. I just can't move the left-hand side.
00:24:23.712 --> 00:24:27.332
John Kippen: So when I was strong enough to get out of bed, I went to the mirror and looked
00:24:27.332 --> 00:24:29.492
John Kippen: in the mirror. And I went, oh, my God.
00:24:30.152 --> 00:24:35.012
John Kippen: I look like Frankenstein with staples going from one side of the head to the other.
00:24:36.352 --> 00:24:39.732
John Kippen: And my face is paralyzed. and
00:24:39.732 --> 00:24:44.652
John Kippen: that's I think when my self-image was
00:24:44.652 --> 00:24:47.672
John Kippen: shattered when my mom the person who
00:24:47.672 --> 00:24:50.592
John Kippen: was to love me unconditionally no matter
00:24:50.592 --> 00:24:54.052
John Kippen: what reacted so honestly
00:24:54.052 --> 00:24:58.152
John Kippen: to see my new face so
00:24:58.152 --> 00:25:02.792
John Kippen: I went home after spending a week in the hospital and started sitting on the
00:25:02.792 --> 00:25:07.532
John Kippen: couch and okay I'm ready to heal and then I coughed and I realized the back
00:25:07.532 --> 00:25:11.952
John Kippen: of my neck was wet and I was like what is it's not blood what is so I called
00:25:11.952 --> 00:25:15.692
John Kippen: the doctor's office and they were like oh no you need to come back right away,
00:25:16.192 --> 00:25:20.012
John Kippen: and it was a spinal fluid leak when the base of the incision hmm.
00:25:21.152 --> 00:25:24.792
John Kippen: So I went back and forth two or three different times to the hospital.
00:25:25.212 --> 00:25:29.352
John Kippen: But because of where the incision ended right behind my ear on the bony part
00:25:29.352 --> 00:25:35.312
John Kippen: of my skull, they weren't able to fix it with pressure bandages.
00:25:35.712 --> 00:25:39.252
John Kippen: What they did was, because they pulled out a very large tumor,
00:25:39.672 --> 00:25:44.312
John Kippen: they take belly fat out of your stomach and they shove it in the hole so that
00:25:44.312 --> 00:25:47.832
John Kippen: your brain doesn't hit the side of your skull.
00:25:47.832 --> 00:25:53.292
John Kippen: The brain slowly assimilates the fat i remember when they told me they're going
00:25:53.292 --> 00:25:57.252
John Kippen: to pull fat out of my belly i said well if you're in there can you take it all
00:25:57.252 --> 00:26:00.752
John Kippen: yeah and the doctor said no my job.
00:26:01.432 --> 00:26:07.992
John Kippen: And uh i said damn but i said so how are we going to fix this and this time
00:26:07.992 --> 00:26:13.572
John Kippen: i brought my attorney parents and my dad who is my attorney because we both
00:26:13.572 --> 00:26:17.792
John Kippen: felt that they didn't do a proper a job of closing the incision.
00:26:18.032 --> 00:26:21.992
John Kippen: And they said, well, we're going to readmit you in the hospital and put you
00:26:21.992 --> 00:26:24.112
John Kippen: on your side and put a needle in your spine.
00:26:24.532 --> 00:26:29.552
John Kippen: And we're going to drain the excess fluid until the incision heals.
00:26:29.992 --> 00:26:37.532
John Kippen: It'll be about a week. And I said, not a chance in heck am I laying here for a week on my side.
00:26:37.792 --> 00:26:41.732
John Kippen: And they went, well, the only other option is to take you under,
00:26:41.972 --> 00:26:44.912
John Kippen: put you under take more belly fat out and uh
00:26:44.912 --> 00:26:48.412
John Kippen: we do the incision so that's what happened and
00:26:48.412 --> 00:26:51.332
John Kippen: so i was only in for one day after that second
00:26:51.332 --> 00:26:59.272
John Kippen: surgery and then started healing and uh boy brain surgery as you know full well
00:26:59.272 --> 00:27:07.012
John Kippen: kevin knocks the wind out of your sails your energy level is just nowhere what
00:27:07.012 --> 00:27:08.572
John Kippen: it was like before surgery.
00:27:09.292 --> 00:27:15.812
John Kippen: The healing takes so much longer. Even after the physical scars of the incision
00:27:15.812 --> 00:27:18.132
John Kippen: have healed and the hair has grown back.
00:27:19.117 --> 00:27:24.037
John Kippen: I still needed to take naps. I was still, you know, unsteady on my feet.
00:27:24.257 --> 00:27:26.157
John Kippen: I would walk down a hallway.
00:27:26.457 --> 00:27:31.757
John Kippen: And if I was tired, it was like I was drunk. I was bouncing off the walls because
00:27:31.757 --> 00:27:34.537
John Kippen: the balance nerve was severed as well.
00:27:34.917 --> 00:27:42.457
John Kippen: But I started to heal and get stronger and learned how to deal with being deaf in one ear.
00:27:42.677 --> 00:27:45.317
John Kippen: You know, the doctor said, hey, you're going to be deaf in
00:27:45.317 --> 00:27:48.277
John Kippen: your left ear okay but they didn't
00:27:48.277 --> 00:27:51.877
John Kippen: really tell me what that was going to be like that
00:27:51.877 --> 00:27:54.897
John Kippen: wasn't going to be preparing me for the habit
00:27:54.897 --> 00:27:58.937
John Kippen: of picking up the phone and putting it to my wrong ear and go okay put it to
00:27:58.937 --> 00:28:04.957
John Kippen: the other ear so i can hear someone's talking or it didn't prepare me for having
00:28:04.957 --> 00:28:09.237
John Kippen: uh going out with a friend for dinner and then sitting on my left hand side
00:28:09.237 --> 00:28:13.197
John Kippen: and talking in my ear and I'm like, I have no idea what you just said.
00:28:13.437 --> 00:28:18.457
John Kippen: Or walking down the street with a friend and them standing on the left foot side of me.
00:28:18.737 --> 00:28:20.977
John Kippen: And literally, I would stop.
00:28:21.257 --> 00:28:23.197
John Kippen: I would grab them by the shoulders.
00:28:23.537 --> 00:28:26.757
John Kippen: I would navigate them to my right hand side.
00:28:27.017 --> 00:28:31.897
John Kippen: And then we'd continue walking because they would forget that I was completely
00:28:31.897 --> 00:28:33.737
John Kippen: stone deaf on my left hand side.
00:28:34.077 --> 00:28:37.037
John Kippen: You know, I shared this story about the first
00:28:37.037 --> 00:28:40.137
John Kippen: time in my home after my brain
00:28:40.137 --> 00:28:43.457
John Kippen: surgery and losing my hearing about 2
00:28:43.457 --> 00:28:50.837
John Kippen: a.m I heard a chirp and I knew immediately that that was the indicator of a
00:28:50.837 --> 00:28:56.957
John Kippen: low battery in a smoke detector well I had five of them in my house so I got
00:28:56.957 --> 00:29:01.197
John Kippen: out of bed and went to the first one and waited and waited.
00:29:02.257 --> 00:29:07.757
John Kippen: No, it's not that one. Then I would run to the kitchen and I would stand and I would wait and wait.
00:29:09.395 --> 00:29:14.595
John Kippen: No, it's not that one. And I would be running around the house going to every
00:29:14.595 --> 00:29:19.635
John Kippen: smoke detector, standing there, trying to figure out which one was low on battery,
00:29:19.875 --> 00:29:23.355
John Kippen: to the point where I got so frustrated I called my neighbor and said,
00:29:23.535 --> 00:29:27.915
John Kippen: please come over and tell me which smoke detector it is so I can get some sleep.
00:29:29.495 --> 00:29:29.975
Kevin Lowe: Wow.
00:29:30.975 --> 00:29:37.655
John Kippen: You just don't, they don't, doctors don't prepare you for healing and what it's
00:29:37.655 --> 00:29:43.575
John Kippen: going to take to survive and thrive despite the trauma.
00:29:44.355 --> 00:29:49.955
Kevin Lowe: Well, 100%. I mean, honest to goodness, I know for myself, I mean,
00:29:50.055 --> 00:29:56.275
Kevin Lowe: they told me that when they removed my brain tumor that I'd be back to school in three weeks.
00:29:56.535 --> 00:30:02.595
Kevin Lowe: Well, forget anything about going blind, losing sense of smell.
00:30:02.815 --> 00:30:08.595
Kevin Lowe: What about I suffered short-term memory loss? I had the same thing you talked about.
00:30:08.775 --> 00:30:13.455
Kevin Lowe: I mean, I couldn't stay awake all the time. I was constantly sleeping.
00:30:14.055 --> 00:30:18.595
Kevin Lowe: All these things that I'm like, even without going blind, there's no way I would
00:30:18.595 --> 00:30:21.395
Kevin Lowe: have went back to high school in three weeks after brain surgery.
00:30:21.855 --> 00:30:22.335
John Kippen: Yeah.
00:30:22.655 --> 00:30:25.435
Kevin Lowe: Yeah. Insane. You're a different human being.
00:30:25.555 --> 00:30:26.395
John Kippen: You're a different person.
00:30:26.735 --> 00:30:34.355
Kevin Lowe: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. How long would you say that it took you to recover
00:30:34.355 --> 00:30:39.795
Kevin Lowe: physically from the brain surgery to get back to a place where you could even
00:30:39.795 --> 00:30:42.315
Kevin Lowe: begin to think about going back to work?
00:30:42.635 --> 00:30:47.815
John Kippen: I worked for myself. I worked out of my house. So I was back to work in days.
00:30:48.015 --> 00:30:48.575
Kevin Lowe: Oh, wow.
00:30:49.215 --> 00:30:53.715
John Kippen: Reading emails and listening, talking to clients and talking to my team. But,
00:30:54.470 --> 00:31:01.330
John Kippen: Before I really felt strong enough to venture out and get in the car and drive,
00:31:01.510 --> 00:31:02.750
John Kippen: that's another funny story.
00:31:02.970 --> 00:31:09.950
John Kippen: So I'm sitting in my house and I live alone and I'm bored in stiffness and I love playing poker.
00:31:09.970 --> 00:31:15.290
John Kippen: So I decided to drive to a local casino, about 20 minute drive.
00:31:16.030 --> 00:31:20.630
John Kippen: And I still had a bandage around my head and facial paralysis,
00:31:20.670 --> 00:31:22.390
John Kippen: and I would sit at a poker table,
00:31:22.550 --> 00:31:30.070
John Kippen: and I realized that the other people at the table could care less about my facial
00:31:30.070 --> 00:31:32.110
John Kippen: paralysis. They just want me.
00:31:33.450 --> 00:31:39.970
John Kippen: And I started making friendships with these semi-professional gamblers,
00:31:39.970 --> 00:31:45.550
John Kippen: and I realized is that that's not the people that I really wanted to establish
00:31:45.550 --> 00:31:48.410
John Kippen: lasting friendships with.
00:31:49.670 --> 00:31:55.110
John Kippen: One of my favorite stories, I'm sitting at a poker table, and in comes a gentleman.
00:31:55.110 --> 00:31:59.390
John Kippen: He sits down, and he has a caregiver with him, and I look at him.
00:31:59.670 --> 00:32:02.010
John Kippen: It was Don Adams from Get Smart.
00:32:02.390 --> 00:32:03.110
Kevin Lowe: Oh, wow.
00:32:03.430 --> 00:32:07.410
John Kippen: The 70s TV show. And I was a huge Get Smart fan.
00:32:07.610 --> 00:32:10.930
John Kippen: But everyone would try to engage with him, and he was quiet.
00:32:10.930 --> 00:32:15.250
John Kippen: He was just there to play poker, wasn't there to talk about his career,
00:32:15.570 --> 00:32:17.750
John Kippen: wasn't there to really socialize.
00:32:17.890 --> 00:32:23.870
John Kippen: But there was one time we were in a hand together, and I had top two pair playing
00:32:23.870 --> 00:32:30.050
John Kippen: Texas Hold'em, and he had four cards to a straight, and the final card came on the board,
00:32:30.550 --> 00:32:33.390
John Kippen: and he didn't get the card that he wanted.
00:32:33.830 --> 00:32:39.770
John Kippen: And so I won the pot, but I turned to him and said, Don, miss Chip by that much.
00:32:41.843 --> 00:32:45.083
John Kippen: And he started screaming laughing,
00:32:47.763 --> 00:32:53.403
John Kippen: one of his most famous lines in the tv show and i know a lot of your listeners
00:32:53.403 --> 00:32:57.183
John Kippen: are going don adams get smart who that what is that,
00:32:59.183 --> 00:33:05.743
John Kippen: look it up on youtube it's it's an amazing show but anyway we became fast friends then Oh.
00:33:05.843 --> 00:33:06.103
Kevin Lowe: Wow.
00:33:06.623 --> 00:33:09.403
John Kippen: Because I wasn't able to just make him laugh.
00:33:09.923 --> 00:33:16.423
Kevin Lowe: Yeah. Wow. Will you talk to me a little bit more about the facial paralysis
00:33:16.423 --> 00:33:20.803
Kevin Lowe: as far as what exactly that means?
00:33:21.183 --> 00:33:25.603
Kevin Lowe: And how did you deal with that?
00:33:25.843 --> 00:33:33.063
Kevin Lowe: Because it's one thing to be deaf in your one ear. That's not something that people can see.
00:33:33.743 --> 00:33:36.063
Kevin Lowe: The facial paralysis is something that people can see.
00:33:36.263 --> 00:33:43.043
John Kippen: The left-hand side of my mouth droops. Many people think that I had Bell's palsy.
00:33:43.763 --> 00:33:50.103
John Kippen: It's a very similar reaction. And the fatter I get, the more pronounced the droop you get.
00:33:50.583 --> 00:33:58.543
John Kippen: And gravity takes a toll because there aren't muscles being activated to hold the side of my face.
00:33:58.683 --> 00:34:04.463
John Kippen: It's symmetry at rest. So the drippiness gets a little bit more pronounced.
00:34:04.803 --> 00:34:09.663
John Kippen: I had to learn how to drink out of a soda can again. I use a straw because every
00:34:09.663 --> 00:34:13.843
John Kippen: time I drink out of a soda can or a beer can, half of it would end up on my
00:34:13.843 --> 00:34:17.523
John Kippen: shirt because I'm not able to close my mouth properly.
00:34:17.843 --> 00:34:23.703
John Kippen: One of my ironic things that I talk about in my TED Talk that I did in 2019,
00:34:24.403 --> 00:34:29.203
John Kippen: was the one syllable in the English language I have trouble saying.
00:34:29.203 --> 00:34:33.563
John Kippen: Was two consecutive peas, like in the word pepper.
00:34:34.584 --> 00:34:41.644
John Kippen: Hmm ironically enough in my own last name kippen yep so i had to learn how to consciously.
00:34:42.844 --> 00:34:46.344
John Kippen: Form my lips to be able to enunciate
00:34:46.344 --> 00:34:49.384
John Kippen: so people didn't think i was a cat they would
00:34:49.384 --> 00:34:54.804
John Kippen: say oh john kitten i said no no no no john kitten oh that's what i said you're
00:34:54.804 --> 00:35:00.084
John Kippen: you know like a like a young cat i'm like no i'm not a young cat i'm a kitten
00:35:00.084 --> 00:35:07.564
John Kippen: you know i slowly got rid of all the mirrors in my house because I didn't want to be reminded.
00:35:07.844 --> 00:35:12.264
John Kippen: I refused to pose for photographs with people.
00:35:12.684 --> 00:35:20.884
John Kippen: I refused to socialize with friends that knew me before my surgery, knew how I used to look.
00:35:21.284 --> 00:35:29.124
John Kippen: And this went on for 10 to 12 years where I was a recluse and I could just see
00:35:29.124 --> 00:35:30.404
John Kippen: really, really close friends.
00:35:30.704 --> 00:35:36.084
John Kippen: I remember going to a restaurant by myself and sitting and having dinner.
00:35:36.344 --> 00:35:40.284
John Kippen: It was a Tony Romo's, and I think they're all gone now. But there was a family
00:35:40.284 --> 00:35:41.404
John Kippen: in the booth in front of me.
00:35:41.684 --> 00:35:47.244
John Kippen: And they had a six-year-old kid who was fidgeting at the table and turned around
00:35:47.244 --> 00:35:51.484
John Kippen: and was looking over the back of the bench seat at me.
00:35:51.804 --> 00:35:56.044
John Kippen: And they kind of looked at me like, huh. And so he got up on the table and his
00:35:56.044 --> 00:35:57.044
John Kippen: parents went on talking.
00:35:57.264 --> 00:36:01.524
John Kippen: And he came over right to me and he said, mister, what's wrong with your face?
00:36:02.104 --> 00:36:08.864
John Kippen: And that was the first time someone actually acknowledged it and was curious
00:36:08.864 --> 00:36:10.624
John Kippen: and wanted an explanation.
00:36:11.204 --> 00:36:15.284
John Kippen: Most of the times adults would just do a look, do a double take,
00:36:15.344 --> 00:36:19.064
John Kippen: and I never knew what was going through their mind.
00:36:19.244 --> 00:36:24.284
John Kippen: But this little five or six-year-old was inquisitive. And as I started to,
00:36:24.464 --> 00:36:27.404
John Kippen: I got on my knee and got to his level.
00:36:27.764 --> 00:36:33.944
John Kippen: And I started to explain to this young boy why my face was like it was.
00:36:34.124 --> 00:36:38.764
John Kippen: His mom saw him and immediately stood up and grabbed him by the arm and said,
00:36:38.904 --> 00:36:43.784
John Kippen: don't bother the nice man. He has enough troubles already and took him back to the table.
00:36:45.244 --> 00:36:49.624
John Kippen: And then at that point, I knew this could be a really good teachable moment.
00:36:50.204 --> 00:36:53.864
John Kippen: So I approached the table and I turned to the boy and I said,
00:36:53.964 --> 00:36:55.544
John Kippen: hi, my name is John. What's yours?
00:36:56.204 --> 00:37:00.184
John Kippen: You know, you had a really good question. I had a medical procedure that caused
00:37:00.184 --> 00:37:01.804
John Kippen: me not to be able to move my face.
00:37:01.984 --> 00:37:04.904
John Kippen: But it's my new face that I like it because it's cool.
00:37:05.364 --> 00:37:08.784
John Kippen: It's cool. It's different. It's different like yours.
00:37:09.504 --> 00:37:14.524
John Kippen: And the kid kind of looked at me, acknowledged what I told him,
00:37:15.424 --> 00:37:19.544
John Kippen: shrugged his shoulders, and went on playing with his toys and finishing his dinner.
00:37:19.624 --> 00:37:28.064
John Kippen: But I remember making eye contact with his mom and her expression was one of, holy crap, I'm sorry.
00:37:28.976 --> 00:37:36.416
John Kippen: Because she interrupted her son's learning what someone who was different looks
00:37:36.416 --> 00:37:43.756
John Kippen: like and squashed his desire to truly understand what I was going through and
00:37:43.756 --> 00:37:45.356
John Kippen: why my face was like that.
00:37:45.936 --> 00:37:53.716
John Kippen: And I could tell she acknowledged that as a lifeless and the entire family could appreciate.
00:37:54.116 --> 00:37:54.576
Kevin Lowe: Yeah.
00:37:54.576 --> 00:38:00.336
John Kippen: So, you know, it's the kids can be cruel, you know, because I don't have a filter.
00:38:00.976 --> 00:38:07.456
John Kippen: Adults just go on. They ignore. They they make assumptions. Oh, John had a stroke.
00:38:07.996 --> 00:38:12.816
John Kippen: Oh, John has Bell's palsy. I never asked why my face is paralyzed.
00:38:14.136 --> 00:38:18.656
John Kippen: So anyway, so that those kind of experiences gave me the courage.
00:38:18.856 --> 00:38:21.096
John Kippen: And I started doing magic again.
00:38:21.656 --> 00:38:27.716
John Kippen: And I joined the Magic Castle, which is a private magician's club in Hollywood, very famous place.
00:38:28.036 --> 00:38:32.856
John Kippen: And I started performing magic little by little. And as I would sit behind a
00:38:32.856 --> 00:38:38.776
John Kippen: table dressed in a suit, and I would be sitting with a group of five, six, 10,
00:38:39.136 --> 00:38:43.176
John Kippen: 15 strangers, and they were there to see magic.
00:38:43.176 --> 00:38:45.816
John Kippen: And i would all of a
00:38:45.816 --> 00:38:50.016
John Kippen: sudden see their faces forget about
00:38:50.016 --> 00:38:56.316
John Kippen: my facial paralysis look beyond my mask and see into my heart as i shared my
00:38:56.316 --> 00:39:02.936
John Kippen: passion for making the impossible possible you know i start my magic show every
00:39:02.936 --> 00:39:08.216
John Kippen: time i do it hi guys my name is john i've been in magic all my life In 2002,
00:39:08.276 --> 00:39:13.996
John Kippen: I had a brain tumor, and when I recovered, I realized that something happened
00:39:13.996 --> 00:39:16.096
John Kippen: to me when I was on that operating room table.
00:39:16.656 --> 00:39:20.136
John Kippen: I'm not sure what it was, but all I know is I recovered.
00:39:20.616 --> 00:39:25.816
John Kippen: Well, I realized I had acquired some new skills, and then I pause,
00:39:25.956 --> 00:39:29.216
John Kippen: and I wait for the audiences to get on the edge of their seat,
00:39:29.416 --> 00:39:35.836
John Kippen: wanting to know what possible skills I acquired by having brain surgery.
00:39:35.836 --> 00:39:39.196
John Kippen: And I look to my right and left like it's the biggest secret,
00:39:39.376 --> 00:39:46.796
John Kippen: and I lean forward, and I whisper in a loud voice, guys, I am able to visualize people's thoughts.
00:39:47.746 --> 00:39:51.386
John Kippen: And then I go on to do some mentalism or mental magic.
00:39:51.846 --> 00:39:55.846
John Kippen: And I'm immediately at that point done a couple of things.
00:39:55.986 --> 00:40:00.666
John Kippen: Number one, I've answered the question that was distracting them that they never
00:40:00.666 --> 00:40:03.826
John Kippen: had to ask. Why is this guy's face like it is?
00:40:04.286 --> 00:40:12.206
John Kippen: So now they can focus on the magic. And the second is I shared something uber
00:40:12.206 --> 00:40:13.986
John Kippen: personal that happened to me.
00:40:13.986 --> 00:40:17.406
John Kippen: And when you share something that a journey
00:40:17.406 --> 00:40:20.786
John Kippen: that you have conquered people find strength
00:40:20.786 --> 00:40:24.086
John Kippen: from that they sense your
00:40:24.086 --> 00:40:27.086
John Kippen: resilience and want to drink from
00:40:27.086 --> 00:40:30.166
John Kippen: that pond they are inspired by
00:40:30.166 --> 00:40:34.486
John Kippen: you even if they don't realize it emotionally they
00:40:34.486 --> 00:40:37.386
John Kippen: fall in love with you just because you have
00:40:37.386 --> 00:40:40.846
John Kippen: the courage despite your trauma
00:40:40.846 --> 00:40:46.646
John Kippen: you go on living and celebrating your differences as opposed to hiding them
00:40:46.646 --> 00:40:53.766
John Kippen: and that is really my life's mission now is to teach people how to treat people
00:40:53.766 --> 00:40:59.346
John Kippen: who are different with the respect and compassion that you would want for yourself.
00:40:59.346 --> 00:41:10.326
Kevin Lowe: Yeah wow wow You know, John, what I love about you and one of your many superpowers,
00:41:10.506 --> 00:41:16.466
Kevin Lowe: but it's this superpower that I see in the way in which you have this amazing
00:41:16.466 --> 00:41:26.286
Kevin Lowe: way of putting people at ease in an uncomfortable situation by simply addressing the fact.
00:41:26.286 --> 00:41:33.786
Kevin Lowe: And I think it goes back to what I believe we can all learn from children is
00:41:33.786 --> 00:41:36.246
Kevin Lowe: that exactly as you talked about as adults.
00:41:37.024 --> 00:41:43.144
Kevin Lowe: We feel it's better to not say anything. We don't want to say the wrong thing.
00:41:43.344 --> 00:41:46.784
Kevin Lowe: We're afraid to do something that's going to offend somebody.
00:41:46.904 --> 00:41:53.664
Kevin Lowe: So we do nothing, which oftentimes, more times than not, is absolutely the worst thing you can do.
00:41:54.244 --> 00:42:01.164
Kevin Lowe: Instead, learning from a child where you just have their own innocent curiosity
00:42:01.164 --> 00:42:05.124
Kevin Lowe: of the world, There's so much to be learned by that.
00:42:05.304 --> 00:42:12.244
Kevin Lowe: And in listening to you, how you're able to take that and use that to put grown
00:42:12.244 --> 00:42:15.244
Kevin Lowe: adults at ease, I think is really remarkable.
00:42:16.264 --> 00:42:22.664
Kevin Lowe: And in with that, I would love for you to share the story because I think it's
00:42:22.664 --> 00:42:28.164
Kevin Lowe: another one of these tools that you've discovered that you've created in with your magic stuff.
00:42:28.324 --> 00:42:31.164
Kevin Lowe: You actually had a friend named Henry who helped you out.
00:42:31.164 --> 00:42:36.964
John Kippen: Yeah, so I was at the Magic Castle, and I was sitting in one of the bars having dinner.
00:42:37.364 --> 00:42:43.304
John Kippen: My back was to the entrance. And this couple came in, and they had seen me perform,
00:42:43.324 --> 00:42:45.124
John Kippen: and I was one of their favorite performers.
00:42:45.704 --> 00:42:49.644
John Kippen: And they wanted to know if I was there that night, but they didn't remember my name.
00:42:49.944 --> 00:42:53.184
John Kippen: So one of the managers was standing there, and they went up to the manager,
00:42:53.284 --> 00:42:55.244
John Kippen: and I could hear this conversation.
00:42:55.664 --> 00:42:58.764
John Kippen: And he said, you know, we're looking for this magician. God,
00:42:59.364 --> 00:43:01.904
John Kippen: we saw him last time we were here, and he was amazing.
00:43:02.364 --> 00:43:05.464
John Kippen: Boy, I don't remember his name. You know who I'm talking about.
00:43:05.464 --> 00:43:07.804
John Kippen: He's the big guy with the paralyzed face.
00:43:08.464 --> 00:43:12.904
John Kippen: And I overheard this couple describe me that way.
00:43:13.324 --> 00:43:17.444
John Kippen: And I thought to myself, I don't want to be known as the guy with the paralyzed face.
00:43:18.044 --> 00:43:22.104
John Kippen: So I got on my phone and started Googling, and I found a guy who makes these
00:43:22.104 --> 00:43:25.004
John Kippen: pocket squares, or the jacket pocket.
00:43:25.544 --> 00:43:30.244
John Kippen: And they have lights in them. So I love blue, so I bought a blue one.
00:43:30.504 --> 00:43:34.184
John Kippen: And as soon as I got it, I started wearing that pocket square.
00:43:34.484 --> 00:43:40.204
John Kippen: And like magic, instead of people saying, oh, you're looking for John,
00:43:40.364 --> 00:43:41.664
John Kippen: the guy with the wear last face.
00:43:42.164 --> 00:43:46.344
John Kippen: No, you're looking for John. He's the guy with the lit blue pocket square.
00:43:47.984 --> 00:43:52.184
John Kippen: Changing that from a negative to a positive,
00:43:53.130 --> 00:43:58.290
John Kippen: It got to be the point where, you know, I would see regular members and I'd
00:43:58.290 --> 00:43:59.610
John Kippen: be walking down the halls.
00:44:00.550 --> 00:44:05.290
John Kippen: And instead of saying hi to me, I named my pocket square.
00:44:05.470 --> 00:44:09.130
John Kippen: I gave it an identity. And it became an integral part of my show.
00:44:09.550 --> 00:44:15.050
John Kippen: And I named him Henry. Well, Hank was short. Hank A. Kirchhoff is his given
00:44:15.050 --> 00:44:16.290
John Kippen: name, but I call him Henry.
00:44:17.570 --> 00:44:20.630
John Kippen: And i would have people walking down the
00:44:20.630 --> 00:44:24.290
John Kippen: hallway and see me and say
00:44:24.290 --> 00:44:29.970
John Kippen: hey hank how you doing today they'd ignore me and ask how my pocket square was
00:44:29.970 --> 00:44:36.590
John Kippen: doing but i i involved him in my magic you know i reached out to the guy who
00:44:36.590 --> 00:44:41.350
John Kippen: made him for me and i asked can you make one that i can change the colors.
00:44:41.610 --> 00:44:47.370
John Kippen: And he said, sure. So $700 later and three prototypes, Henry was born.
00:44:47.530 --> 00:44:52.630
John Kippen: And I would do a mentalism routine where I would hand a spectator a cube with
00:44:52.630 --> 00:44:59.030
John Kippen: six sides with a different color on each side and a blue plastic box that would hold the cube.
00:44:59.450 --> 00:45:04.190
John Kippen: And I would ask them to take the cube below the table and choose a color and
00:45:04.190 --> 00:45:05.950
John Kippen: put it face up and cover the box.
00:45:06.250 --> 00:45:09.430
John Kippen: And then I would ask them to imagine the color that
00:45:09.430 --> 00:45:12.750
John Kippen: they had chosen and then i would review that color
00:45:12.750 --> 00:45:15.690
John Kippen: and they were impressed but then all
00:45:15.690 --> 00:45:20.830
John Kippen: of a sudden i would be distracted i would make henry start blinking what what
00:45:20.830 --> 00:45:28.250
John Kippen: oh henry you oh you you want to try all right okay guys i'm sorry my assistant
00:45:28.250 --> 00:45:32.430
John Kippen: here wants to try if you don't mind we're going to do it one more time and pass
00:45:32.430 --> 00:45:35.510
John Kippen: the box to someone else and take the box,
00:45:35.750 --> 00:45:42.150
John Kippen: take the cube under the table and make sure I don't see and choose a different color and bring it up.
00:45:42.350 --> 00:45:44.650
John Kippen: And then Henry's going to try to read your mind.
00:45:44.890 --> 00:45:48.530
John Kippen: And so they would do that and they'd bring the box and they'd set it on the table.
00:45:49.110 --> 00:45:52.590
John Kippen: Understand it's completely opaque. You can't see through it. The lid's on the box.
00:45:52.890 --> 00:45:56.090
John Kippen: I haven't touched it. And I turned to Henry and I said, okay,
00:45:56.250 --> 00:45:57.430
John Kippen: Henry, it's your time to shine.
00:45:57.750 --> 00:46:01.170
John Kippen: And he would start glowing the color that they selected.
00:46:04.610 --> 00:46:07.550
John Kippen: And Henry would get a bigger applause than I would.
00:46:08.670 --> 00:46:15.190
John Kippen: But it was just a matter of taking people's perceptions and turning them upside down.
00:46:15.590 --> 00:46:20.130
John Kippen: You know, we all have these preconceived notions that limit us.
00:46:20.310 --> 00:46:24.090
John Kippen: And in my life coaching, my resilience and environment coaching,
00:46:24.090 --> 00:46:29.970
John Kippen: and my motivational speaking, I really hone in on limiting beliefs.
00:46:29.970 --> 00:46:34.390
John Kippen: We always grow up and we get our belief system from the people who raised us,
00:46:34.410 --> 00:46:36.110
John Kippen: our parents or our grandparents.
00:46:36.610 --> 00:46:42.710
John Kippen: And so many of us don't challenge them as we grow and evolve into human beings.
00:46:44.146 --> 00:46:50.326
John Kippen: And I encourage people to constantly re-evaluate and start dreaming again.
00:46:50.726 --> 00:46:55.726
John Kippen: You know, as a kid, you meet, you have a friend, Brent has a friend over and
00:46:55.726 --> 00:47:00.426
John Kippen: they turn to you and they say, Johnny, what do you want to be when you grow up?
00:47:01.206 --> 00:47:02.746
John Kippen: I want to be a fireman.
00:47:03.626 --> 00:47:07.626
John Kippen: No, no, I want to be a policeman. No, I want to be an astronaut.
00:47:08.446 --> 00:47:12.546
John Kippen: No, I want to be a rock star. and you
00:47:12.546 --> 00:47:15.986
John Kippen: go off as a kid and you imagine what it's
00:47:15.986 --> 00:47:19.586
John Kippen: like you pull out your air guitar and you start grabbing
00:47:19.586 --> 00:47:25.346
John Kippen: kitchen utensils and start banging on things like you're in a band and you become
00:47:25.346 --> 00:47:30.726
John Kippen: a rock star you start dreaming about it and then in some point in your life
00:47:30.726 --> 00:47:36.546
John Kippen: you grow up and you stop dreaming of what life could look like?
00:47:36.846 --> 00:47:38.766
John Kippen: What would bring you joy?
00:47:39.206 --> 00:47:44.726
John Kippen: And many of us get stuck in a career that we get stuck, it pays the bills.
00:47:44.926 --> 00:47:49.786
John Kippen: We don't particularly like it anymore, especially when you go through that midlife
00:47:49.786 --> 00:47:52.186
John Kippen: crisis in your mid-50s and 60s.
00:47:52.366 --> 00:48:01.286
John Kippen: But the thought of dreaming again and starting a new path scares the crap out of us.
00:48:01.386 --> 00:48:09.306
John Kippen: But I encourage people to stop and evaluate their belief systems and start dreaming again.
00:48:09.706 --> 00:48:13.126
John Kippen: Pretend they win the lottery and they have more money than they know what to
00:48:13.126 --> 00:48:15.746
John Kippen: do with. What is going to bring you joy?
00:48:16.206 --> 00:48:21.846
John Kippen: What is going to fulfill your day that you're excited to come home and tell
00:48:21.846 --> 00:48:26.366
John Kippen: stories to your loved ones about your experiences from the day because you're
00:48:26.366 --> 00:48:28.966
John Kippen: doing something that you're passionate about.
00:48:29.506 --> 00:48:34.686
John Kippen: You know, the old adage, you don't work a day in your life if you love what you do.
00:48:35.106 --> 00:48:40.486
John Kippen: Couldn't be further from the truth. I mean, it's just, but people don't dream anymore.
00:48:41.580 --> 00:48:49.240
John Kippen: And so I really encourage people to take time and fantasize about how they can
00:48:49.240 --> 00:48:58.320
John Kippen: use their passions in their day-to-day living to communicate who they are and
00:48:58.320 --> 00:49:00.100
John Kippen: what their value systems are.
00:49:00.280 --> 00:49:06.060
John Kippen: Because that's how you really build long-lasting friendships and relationships.
00:49:07.020 --> 00:49:12.180
Kevin Lowe: Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Man. And so remarkable.
00:49:12.740 --> 00:49:20.300
Kevin Lowe: John, what exactly do you do today in terms of somebody listening today and
00:49:20.300 --> 00:49:22.540
Kevin Lowe: they're in awe as much as I am?
00:49:22.820 --> 00:49:28.880
Kevin Lowe: As far as do you have openings that you work with clients in coaching right now?
00:49:28.960 --> 00:49:31.900
Kevin Lowe: Or how can people just stay in touch with you?
00:49:32.800 --> 00:49:35.880
Kevin Lowe: I'm curious because I'm thinking if anybody
00:49:35.880 --> 00:49:38.760
Kevin Lowe: else is kind of sitting there with their kind of
00:49:38.760 --> 00:49:44.580
Kevin Lowe: mouth open right now listening to you in awe of this guy who's told us this
00:49:44.580 --> 00:49:52.780
Kevin Lowe: crazy story from brain tumors to being a magician to then having such amazing
00:49:52.780 --> 00:49:57.580
Kevin Lowe: insight on life I can't be the only one who thinks wow,
00:49:57.860 --> 00:50:00.780
Kevin Lowe: how can I tap into more of this guy's life?
00:50:00.780 --> 00:50:05.520
Kevin Lowe: So, John, where is the best place for somebody to learn more about you,
00:50:05.660 --> 00:50:10.780
Kevin Lowe: whether it's speaking, to even find different things online,
00:50:11.160 --> 00:50:14.880
Kevin Lowe: any and every way possible to connect with you? Where can we send them?
00:50:14.980 --> 00:50:19.540
John Kippen: I have two websites. I have a master website, which is johnkippen.com,
00:50:19.920 --> 00:50:21.200
John Kippen: just spelled like it sounds.
00:50:21.420 --> 00:50:24.120
John Kippen: But remember, no T's, P's.
00:50:25.043 --> 00:50:31.103
John Kippen: I also have kippen.coach is specifically for my coaching website.
00:50:31.343 --> 00:50:36.003
John Kippen: You know, as I got trained to become a life coach, I needed to find my niche.
00:50:36.363 --> 00:50:41.243
John Kippen: And a lot of people who get into coaching, most people are fitness coaches or
00:50:41.243 --> 00:50:43.783
John Kippen: they call themselves life coaches.
00:50:44.043 --> 00:50:48.603
John Kippen: And I didn't understand what the term life coach meant.
00:50:48.623 --> 00:50:53.823
John Kippen: So now I position myself as a resilience and empowerment coach.
00:50:53.823 --> 00:50:57.663
John Kippen: I guide people to find their own
00:50:57.663 --> 00:51:01.663
John Kippen: resilience within themselves and to
00:51:01.663 --> 00:51:09.863
John Kippen: forget about why they're in their current situation and live each day like it's
00:51:09.863 --> 00:51:16.483
John Kippen: their last and take the opportunities that they see that all of a sudden appear
00:51:16.483 --> 00:51:19.763
John Kippen: from in front of their eyes once they're open to it.
00:51:19.763 --> 00:51:23.963
John Kippen: And I spend a lot of time coaching, although I have, you know,
00:51:24.103 --> 00:51:30.743
John Kippen: I do a six or 12 or 24 week program and then they go, excuse me, they go away.
00:51:30.923 --> 00:51:35.643
John Kippen: And so I'm constantly needing to fill my days with coaching clients.
00:51:35.663 --> 00:51:42.103
John Kippen: So you can certainly go to Kibben.coach and sign up for a complimentary call
00:51:42.103 --> 00:51:46.223
John Kippen: where we can discuss your challenges and see if I can help you.
00:51:46.223 --> 00:51:53.323
John Kippen: But if you go to JohnKibble.com, you'll also see my TED Talk that was voted
00:51:53.323 --> 00:51:59.883
John Kippen: by Los Angeles Magazine as one of the most profound TED Talks of the century.
00:51:59.943 --> 00:52:02.123
John Kippen: It has over a million views.
00:52:02.383 --> 00:52:06.863
John Kippen: They'll see the documentary that I produced, co-starring Jamie Lee Curtis.
00:52:07.403 --> 00:52:09.123
John Kippen: Called John's Ultimate Illusion.
00:52:09.123 --> 00:52:16.003
John Kippen: They'll be able to see my book that I recently published and buy a copy called
00:52:16.003 --> 00:52:18.003
John Kippen: Playing the Hand You Were Dealt.
00:52:18.163 --> 00:52:20.543
John Kippen: I'm really proud of what I've accomplished.
00:52:21.323 --> 00:52:29.203
John Kippen: And all of it is geared towards helping people get through their adversity and
00:52:29.203 --> 00:52:31.143
John Kippen: find joy on the other side.
00:52:31.483 --> 00:52:36.883
Kevin Lowe: Yeah, I love it. John, man, it's been a pleasure getting to have you here today.
00:52:36.883 --> 00:52:41.843
Kevin Lowe: More than anything else, it's been a pleasure just getting to spend time with
00:52:41.843 --> 00:52:45.903
Kevin Lowe: you, to hear your story, all the things that you've overcome,
00:52:45.903 --> 00:52:51.243
Kevin Lowe: and yet, at the end of the day, you just want to be able to help somebody else.
00:52:51.543 --> 00:52:58.003
Kevin Lowe: And I think you're an amazing guy, and it's been an absolute joy to have you
00:52:58.003 --> 00:52:59.743
Kevin Lowe: on the podcast. Thank you so much.
00:53:00.747 --> 00:53:06.027
John Kippen: Oh, thank you for allowing me to share my messages with your amazing audience.
00:53:06.527 --> 00:53:15.927
John Kippen: And my final thought is that using your passions to communicate who you are
00:53:15.927 --> 00:53:21.807
John Kippen: to people is the best way to build long-lasting friendships and relationships.
00:53:22.287 --> 00:53:27.907
Kevin Lowe: Yeah, absolutely. I love it. For you listening today, please be sure to check
00:53:27.907 --> 00:53:33.587
Kevin Lowe: out today's show notes where you can find all of the links mentioned and additional resources.
00:53:33.947 --> 00:53:40.727
Kevin Lowe: But more than anything else, if today's interview has you kind of lost in thought
00:53:40.727 --> 00:53:44.827
Kevin Lowe: as much as it does me, thinking a little bit bigger, maybe thinking a little bit differently,
00:53:45.547 --> 00:53:51.067
Kevin Lowe: I encourage you to take action on it today and make this mean something to you in your life.
00:53:51.187 --> 00:53:55.307
Kevin Lowe: And maybe it's you giving back to somebody else by making their day,
00:53:55.507 --> 00:53:59.567
Kevin Lowe: by sharing today's episode with them. So my friend, whatever you want to do,
00:53:59.787 --> 00:54:02.827
Kevin Lowe: just be sure that you're doing something that lights you up,
00:54:02.907 --> 00:54:05.567
Kevin Lowe: that makes you smile, and makes a difference in the world.
00:54:05.947 --> 00:54:10.147
Kevin Lowe: I'm Kevin Lowe, and this, of course, is Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.
00:54:10.640 --> 00:54:31.355
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