Welcome back to the fast foundations podcast. My name is Jim Carter. I'm one of your hosts here and I'm actually recording my very first solo episode Now, in the past, I've been on here plenty. You've heard me on office hours. You've heard me training. You've heard me interviewing but. What I want to announce is something really big coming up for 2024. And it's currently December 31st, 2023. And I just felt compelled to announce it in this way. Now, if you've been following along the podcast, you know that after our office hours sessions, we ran a bunch of them. They were wonderful. We had such great masterminding and we really enjoyed it. We went ahead and just took a pause on that season and we're about to kick over into the 2024 season. And because of some of the changes, because of some of the things that happened over the course of the year, Not just with fast foundations, but also personally in my life, I felt compelled to take a minute and not only just kind of get it out of my head, but I wanted to share with you really the ethos behind why we are making some changes, some really big changes to fast foundations, not just around the mastermind, but to the business and to our focus for 2024. If you know me, if you followed me, if you've been to one of our masterminds, if you've been part of an online session, if you were part of our masterclasses, if you've ever downloaded anything. Or if you're just curious and you consider yourself that early stage entrepreneur that is in that early growth sort of cohort, getting off the ground, getting your feet wet, really diving into it and trying to maximize your time and revenue, then RT and I have succeeded. We love this program. We love this mastermind. But we also just found out very transparently that we no longer are in a place that we can continue to run it. So the first thing that I wanted to announce is that in 2024 and beyond, we have no plans to continue to run our Fast Foundations Mastermind. Now, to some of those that have been part of it in the past, you understand just how much goes into this. For those that are alumni of the program, you also understand just how much we pour into this program. We love this program. It brings us so much joy, so much gratification, and just gives us an opportunity to be better versions of ourself. But, at the same point, we are business owners too, and we just don't find a profitable way to continue to grow the program to be able to serve early stage entrepreneurs in the current state and time, the way that we really need to in order to continue to run this business. So yeah, this first announcement. This is a hard one, but the right one to make. In fact, The originator, the founder of Fast Foundations, the Harders Chris Harder is still a good friend and a mentor. He gave me some advice earlier this year, which I have used all year. And that's the next thing I wanted to announce is Don't be afraid to make good decisions over good feeling decisions. I had a call with Chris and I told him where we were at And told him that we were we're considering stopping this, you know, he said Jim You guys have done incredible this year. You've taken an idea that Lori and Nick and I had and you've turned it into a brand. You've, you've grown it. You've poured your heart and soul into it and you've found a piece of you that you didn't know existed. And for that you should be proud. He said, but there are things that you did that you didn't really make the best business decisions. You went overboard here. You went overboard there. And I was like, yeah, man, I know, but we loved it. Right. And we have to make those decisions in business. Sometimes it feels really good to make a decision, and sometimes you just need a good decision made. And as much as we adore this program, it is that season of our life where we're back to making good decisions. And because of that, the final thing that I wanted to announce is that we are really making this change to the brand to take full advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity to really talk about how technology can continue to add foundational elements to your business. So starting in 2024, you're going to hear a lot more of me. RT is still part of the program. He is still part of this business. He is still my biggest supporter, and I'm so grateful for that. But we have decided that I am taking over this show. This brand and all of these efforts to dive headfirst into supporting early stage entrepreneurs and now growth stage entrepreneurs and business leaders and those that run 789 figure businesses because I do consult with businesses of all sizes to be able to support with technology. And if you followed me before, you probably guessed it, AI is going to be a big piece of it. So there's something really special on the other side of Thinking about something like this this big on the last day of the year. This isn't about resolutions. This isn't about focusing on the unknown and diving, truly headfirst into what we don't know anymore. This is about making a good decision. And we found and we believe that where we can support more business owners, more leaders, more people who want to make an impact and show that this foundational technology can truly help you go fast. That is going to be the next iteration of Fast Foundations. And even though none of that's available yet, when you're listening to this, you may not even see any of those changes. It's going to be coming soon, and I'm going to keep you updated along the way. But to finish off, I want to tell you that story that I mentioned at the beginning of this. It's been a big year for me, too. Earlier in the year, we were running both an agency and this mastermind. We both had side hustles. We were doing all kinds of things. And that was great. We had fun. We made a ton of money. We're really proud of all of the things we accomplished this year. But, regardless of business, I wanted to take a minute and share something that's a little bit personal. Now, For those of you that do know me you know that I am Catholic and I'm currently practicing as a Christian. We have a, we have a wonderful local church. It goes by the name of Whittier Area Community Church and it's a beautiful organization. Wonderful people. About a year and a half ago, my wife and I found it. We got invited by a neighbor to come join. And I grew up Roman Catholic. So, you know, very to the book. This is the way church services are held. This is the expectation. Very, very just to the book, and I sort of fell away from that over the years. I started opening up to just new ideas and new opportunities and thinking about life a little different once I started traveling in my early 20s and now into my 40s. And our friends invited us to this church, and as soon as we got there, the first thing that I noticed was it was loud, and there was live music being played, and there was a light show, and not like a rave kind of light show, but like a very, very true light show where it was being videocasted and live streamed to YouTube, and people were standing, and they were singing, and you know, at first, I was very standoffish. I didn't know what to make of this. And, I kind of didn't know what to do. I was paralyzed with not fear, not anxiety. It was just, I didn't know how to make a change about how I was feeling. to be present and We decided to go back. We decided to keep going and the more I went the more I realized how much I enjoyed Something different in my life. It's never something that I had ever been to I've never been to a service like this But the more that I went the more that I just found peace and comfort and enjoyment in trying something a little bit different So you probably see where this story is going, but I want to just give you the real thing that the reason that I wanted to record this and bring it all together, which is After I went for a while. I found myself kind of sitting closer to the audio video booth now Just picture this if you've ever been to a live concert And let's say you're in the front and you turn around, you will likely always see a bunch of guys and gals inside an AV booth. And they're the, they're the heroes of the show outside of the performers, right? If the performers were just up on stage, it would sound horrible. There'd be no experience. These are the magicians. Right. And I've always had this desire to get to learn to be somebody in that pod. There's something about that, that I always loved. So as we went, you know, we'd sit down, we're like, all right, where are we going to sit? I found myself saying, let's sit a little closer to the AV booth. I watch some of these guys and gals work. And I got to the point where I found myself just kind of studying and looking over and just fascinated by it. And earlier in the year I just, I went on a website and I filled out a volunteer form. And they very quickly replied and welcomed me back to say, Hey, we practice every Wednesday, you know, come on by, we'll, we'll show you everything. And that was probably one of the most consequential emails that I sent. Over the course of the year because I found so much joy in coming back and learning and just picking up on all of the things that they were doing there I basically asked, can I volunteer? I want to learn and they taught me and they sort of took me under the wing. Show me the camera systems, the networking, the lighting, the slide controller the, the mixing board, everything. And, They gave me an opportunity to really embrace what, not long ago, I was terrified of. And that, again, is kind of going back to this, how do we continue to make good decisions for what we know we need to do, rather than just staying complacent and being in that good feeling decision, you know, sort of normalcy. And I just want to finish this off by sharing what is just a real full circle moment for me because I'm leaving that church right now. I just finished running the lighting system for all of the morning services. And earlier in the year, the very first time that they put me in and they were like, all right, here's your first service. We're going live. You're going to run lighting for it. Not only was it emotional for me, I found myself tearing up during it. I found myself just really taking in the whole experience more than ever before, but at the very end of that service, somebody came up and leaned over and they were curious about what I was doing and they started asking questions and I got to invite them in to be able to see everything and now that person ended up working on this service with me by the side of me. And There's nothing magical and special about this. You can find your own self in this story about, you know, holding the door open for somebody and then they open the door for somebody else. But how often do you really take inventory of those things that when you pour your heart into and you make the right decision and you see on the other side of that what it can do, not just for you, but the impact it can make for somebody else. How often do you get to see that in your life? This has been One of the most challenging, one of the most gratifying, one of the most incredible years for my personal growth that I've ever had. I am beyond grateful to call RT a business partner, to somebody who's done this with me. I am so thankful for every single person who's been part of this Mastermind program since we picked it up from the harters and we continue to run it. For the over 400 alumni that are part of this. My, my dearest friends in the world. I'm you guys, I have accountability partners that I met in fast foundations that I'm going on four years of staying accountable with right now. And I'm talking every single week we have calls and we keep each other accountable. I would not be the same human if it was not for this program, which is why we are not giving up on it. But we are making the right decision for what we need to be the best humans, the best business leaders, and also just the best fathers that we can be. So that's the story for today. If you've listened this far, I'm grateful for you. And I just wanted to take a moment to really make sure that you understood. How important it is that you find the joy that you need in this life in order for you to make the best decisions possible to be the best human that you can be because when you show up the way that you know you were meant to be and you don't let anybody else get in your Way of trying to understand that you should fit into some mold This is your opportunity to take on the new year and to do What you believe is right. Thank you so much for being part of this. The journey is just starting. The way that I look at this, the last couple years have been incredible. But this next round of what I have planned to do with Fast Foundation is going to blow you away. And I am so grateful for you. I am so thankful for the opportunity to get to serve. The world and everybody in it who is interested in this type of technology that I can't wait. So more coming soon if you like this, please Reply to this, shoot me an email, leave a review, find me on Instagram, just say hi. I would love to chat with you as I'm getting ready for this, and it's going to be a really fun year. Until next time, with updated branding, new socials, a new podcast name, and all kinds of great support coming, I can't wait to serve you in 2024.