Welcome to Close it now, the podcast that's revolutionizing the H Vac and home improvement trades industries. Get ready to dive deep into the world of heating, ventilation and air conditioning. We're turning up the heat on industry standards and cooling down misconceptions. And we're not just talking about fixing vents and adjusting thermostats. It's about the transformative movement that's reshaping the very foundation of H Vac and home improvement. We're the driving force, inspiring top performers who crave excellence not only in their professional endeavors, but also in fitness, nutrition, relationships, and personal growth, proving that we can indeed have it all. This is Close it now, where excellence meets excitement. Let's get to work now. Your host, Sam Wakefield.

Well, all right. Welcome back to Close It Now. Sam Wakefield here. I am honored to have the guest that I have today. He is somebody that actually reached out to us a while back and we've been back and forth trying to get scheduled here. And one of the things that I'm going to mention during this podcast is something that I have been coaching you guys on, gentlemen and ladies on for a little bit, mentioned in some podcasts. And we're definitely going to talk about why this gentleman is a guest on my podcast versus a handful of people every single day. I get people reaching out to me to be guests on the podcast. And this gentleman stood out. And we'll, we'll cover why that is here in a little bit. So stick around. But I'm, I'm so excited to introduce. This is probably the first person that has come on the show that has a very different history. In fact, you're going to hear a little. He's going to give you a rundown. But he was a, had a career as a basketball player first and an athlete and then moved into what he's doing now. He's the author of Lots and Lots and Lots of Books, a 2 comma Club Award winner, if you know what that is for Internet marketing. He is. One of his superpowers is mindset and transferring that mindset from the, from the court into, into the boardroom and into the, into in homes and into all of the places that we need mindset work. And of course it does many, many other things. So I'm so excited to introduce to our show today. This is Dre Baldwin, otherwise known as Dre all day. Thank you for being on the show, sir.

Sam, I'm excited to be here. Thank you for having me on.

Absolutely, man. Well, we always like to start these episodes with Introduce yourself, let everybody know. There's so kind of two questions along with this. One is give everybody a quick highlight reel, how you got here and that. Then also we'd love to hear and you can answer these in whatever order that you would like. A lot of people reverse them. We'd love to hear a bit of a business and life philosophy that drives you forward as well.

Sure. So a little background how I got here. Three minute versions come from the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Based in Miami, Florida. Always played sports growing up. Eventually found my way to basketball around age 14, which is pretty late if you're trying to go somewhere in the sport by playing in college, let alone playing professionally. Sat at the bench. My one year I played high school basketball. Tell people how to front row seat right there on the bench watching the game. Walked on to play Division 3 college ball. So for those who don't know sports, Division 3 is the third tier of sports. Division 1 is the guys you see on TV. We were down there in the basement. So what you do there doesn't really lead to pro attention no matter what you do. So getting out of college, I played in college, but getting out of college, no. Nobody was checking for me to play at the next level again. So I had to kind of hustle my way to find an opportunity to play pro. And this is 2004. I graduated from college. I did end up being able to start a pro career via going to this event called an exposure camp. It's kind of like a job fair for athletes. Played pretty well at that and was able to leverage that into basically sold myself to an agent, got an agent to represent me. The agent helped me get started playing professionally. I played most of my pro career overseas in Europe starting in Countess, Lithuania. Last place was in Bratislava, Slovakia. Stopped playing ball in 2015. So in that gap around 2005, same time I started playing pro. Sam I put my first video on his website called YouTube.com and that was from a VHS tape. Actually believe it or not, from going to I put it on YouTube just for safekeeping. Basketball players started finding my content and saying, hey, this guy is pretty good at teaching basketball. Even though they weren't looking for me personally, I was providing what they look for. So for the next about four or five years, I was just making basketball content online. These players started asking a little bit about my background once they got curious about me and I explained to them what I've already told you all and they started asking me questions about mindset like how do you what kept you working out, what kept you trying? What kept you believing in yourself? And as I started explaining those things, I came to realize that a lot of people did not have much training or conditioning when it came to mentality. Sure, unlike basketball, you can walk into a park and watch somebody and see, or he can play or he can't play. With mindset, you can't tell what's going on in somebody else's head. So when I started explaining mindset, I came to realize that my way of thinking was not normal. I thought it was normal, but I found out it was unique when I started explaining it and people started responding to it. So I realized that I could lean into the mindset piece. Along with basketball, which I did, I started making these videos called the weekly motivational on YouTube. Did it every week for about 400 Mondays in a row. And that made the foundation for the business that I have now because, of course, the athletes appreciated it. But also people who didn't play basketball started finding me online and saying, dre, I don't play basketball, but that mindset stuff you're doing, that is useful for me. So that told me, Sam, that when I get out of basketball, because I knew I didn't want to stay in the sports realm, I knew if I wasn't playing, I didn't want to be a coach or a trainer. I wanted to get out of sports completely. And this told me, hey, I can serve people who don't play sports by taking the stuff I learned in sports and teaching it to them. So I already knew that about five years into my career, and I played for almost 10. So when I stopped playing basketball in 2015, by that point now, the. The Internet economy of being able to kind of go from 0 to 1 on your own without a keeper was already in full swing. So now I was monetizing content online. I was making this on my own products. I was writing my own and publishing my own books. I was making my own courses, I was picking up coaching clients, and next thing, I was going to go into speaking. So by the time I stopped playing in 2015, I had a different than usual transition for most professional athletes. Sure, most athletes are playing full time and not doing anything else because their careers were working very well. Mine wasn't always working. So I started focus on business stuff just in case this basketball thing didn't keep working right. So I already had a. A Runway of momentum going in my business career outside of sports. When I stopped playing sports, luckily for me, it ends up being lucky. Ironically, wasn't didn't feel lucky when it was happening. Right.

Of course, it's the struggle that so many times makes us stronger.

Right, Exactly. So that was in 2015. And I've been doing pretty much everything I've explained to you minus the basketball ever since. So that's.

Oh, my gosh, I love that dig the well before we need it. Right. Which is super powerful. So tell us a little bit more about that. I mean, so we're going to talk. I know a lot about mindset today and we 100% want to hear your some of the nuances that really has catapulted you to the top of the game, so to speak, in the mindset realm and mindset coaching and that type of thing. But question I have is when you're making that transition because within this community, it's home services. We've got a lot of technicians. We have a lot of people who are incredible technicians, incredible salespeople, business owners. But there's. The conversation is very, very often around I want to move into the next thing. The technicians that want to be step into more of a sales role, salespeople that want to move more into leadership or they want to go out and start their own companies and just all of this mix up all the time. So when you're talk to us a little bit about making that jump, making that transition from one thing to something, of course you, you built that bridge along there. But there had to have been a bit of a mental shift that happened and tell us a little bit about that and, and maybe a little bit of help when those guys are in that moment of things to be looking for and to avoid.

Excellent question. So for me to tell you the shift where it happened, for me, we got to go even further back in the story.

Sure.

So I was in College from 2000 until 2004, and in the middle of college, maybe between sophomore, junior year or something like that, I responded to this bulletin board posting on campus. And I don't know how many gen zers you have listened to. This bulletin board is like the Internet, but the physical version.

Right. I remember that we used to hang stuff upside down just to get attention.

Yes, exactly. So it was one of those. So I saw this posting that said, would you like to make some extra money in the summertime? And I did, because at that time, this is before college athletes can make money off of their names. So I responded to it turns out there was some random guy. He was doing what I came to learn to be network marketing.

Sure.

Now I stand in network marketing industry. But I went to a couple of the hotel meetings and I'm sure most listeners here have been to a hotel meeting. So I go to the hotel meeting and there were two things that happened there. Number one, the speaker on the stage was explaining concepts of money making and revenue generating that were not being taught to me in school. And I have a four year business degree so that was interesting to me. Like how do I have a business degree but the teachers are not teaching what this guy's talking about. I've never heard of this, right? It was making perfect sense, but I never heard a professor say it and went back to school, finished college and they still never said it. So that was number one. And number two, the guy said because you know, when you go to those meetings, half the people in the room are already in the business and other half are the guests. So he said if you're going to build the business, you have to build yourself because your business can never grow any further than you grow. And I said that makes sense too. He said in order to do that you need to be investing in his personal development. So when you leave this room, there's a table outside when these nice ladies are selling some personal development books, you need to buy those books and read them. And he started name dropping authors. He name dropped Napoleon Hill, Brian Tracy, Jim Rome, Zig Zig or Tony Robbins. I never heard of any of these people. And I looked at the books because I didn't have any money, right? I couldn't buy any, but I looked at them and I remembered a couple of the titles. When I got back to college I went on ebay. So this is before you bought books on Amazon. So I went on ebay and I bought two pirated copies of books for 99 cents a piece. So one of them was Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. From that book I learned that there was a process to actually intentionally conditioning the way that you think. Very influential for me. And the other book I bought for 99 cents was rich dad, Poor dad by Robert Kiyosaki. And in that book I got even further into what the guy on the stage at the network marketing meeting had been saying was that there's a whole other way that people make money besides just getting a job and working for the rest of your life. And that's really what planted the seed in my mind that in 2009 when I started creating my own products and courses etc online and monetizing my content, it was the germination of that seed combined around that time, about 2008, 2009, I read kind of like the digital version, the digital age version of Rich Dad, Poor dad, which was the Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris. And that book he was literally talking about, hey, you can hire somebody in the Philippines or India to work for you who you've never even met, and they will get things done for you that you don't have to do yourself. And I said, right, it was a revolutionary idea. He didn't invent it, but he was the one to. He popularized it. And I took all of that and that's where I came with the idea to make my first products. My first product again, 4.99. Didn't get rich off it, but I was making money, right? I was actually making sales. And this is when I said to myself at that time, to wrap up the answer to this question, that's when I said to myself that what I'm doing here on the Internet is going to be bigger than what I'm doing on the basketball court. Because you can't jump 40 inches in the air forever. But taking the knowledge out of your head and turning it into a product and exchanging it for money, I could do that forever. So that was the shift for me. It was a long shift, but that was the shift.

I love that. And thanks for the great answer. And anybody who listens to this podcast knows that any. If you talk to anybody that says you ask a sales guy a question, they're going to give you context before they get the answer. So that's okay. I find myself monologuing all the time when I'm doing trainings in that. But, but thanks for that. And in fact, it, it. This is perfect because I re realized that we need to circle back and go over the kind of the life and business philosophy question, which might even be better after, you know, that. That answer there. So thank you for that.

Sure. So what's the question?

Yeah, yeah, so what. What's like a big philosophy that drives you forward, that. That keeps you. And this will probably be a great segue into more mindset things. But what's the. You know, for years I've heard there's a difference between inspiration and motivation and having that your why should make you cry and your why needs to be your why. In fact, I'm reading Ed Mylett book this morning, and he's my daily read right now. And, you know, today he's saying in there, you know, your why should be bigger than your how. Because if your why is bigger than your how and your focus on that, that your, your why is bigger than the how will figure itself out along the way. And so all of these things, what you know, what is your focus and, and your take on the mindset that keeps people driving forward and, and moves them into that to work on their game and to constantly be in progressing.

Some of the things you said there I am 100% on board with and some of them not so much. But I'll explain, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

When it comes to the Ed. My left thing, the the what and the why and how, those three pieces are the keys to you achieve anything you need. Those three things, what do you want, why do you want it, how you going to do it? And what I say is similar to what he says. If that's where you got it from, is that what do you want? Which is a clear, crystal clear outcome and why do you want it? And that's the gas in the tank, that's the, the foot on the gas pedal that will move you through the motivation if you will. Inspiration call whatever you want. Drive inside is going to move you to go get it. And the how of course is what are the steps that are going to be taking to get there. So the way I look at it is like being on two edges of a cliff. What is over here, why is on the other side and how is the bridge in between Two. When the what and why are strong enough, the bridge builds itself. So I'm 100% on, on board with that. And I tell people in my audience the exact same thing. You got to know what you want, why you want it. You will figure out the how. Because when I was trying to play pro, I didn't know how I was going to do it. Helping me out. Same thing. When I became an entrepreneur, I didn't know how I was going to do it. Robert Kiyosaki was talking about real estate. I didn't get into that industry but I kept the, the seeds in my mind germinated into doing this thing on the Internet way before this was a normal thing to do. This is back when your Internet person, you're a bum living in your parents basement who needs to get a real job. Right? Right. So when it comes to the other part, your why making you cry, that one I've heard many people say, I know many people believe it. I don't answer that. Now my wise, don't make me cry. But at the same time it's the, and you mentioned motivation and inspiration. More important than both of those, discipline. Because As a professional, the definition of professional means you're doing something as your main paid occupation. And if you're going to get paid on a consistent basis, that means you must deliver on a consistent basis. The problem, or challenge rather with motivation, is that motivation does not show up consistently, doesn't always show up when you need it. So as I told you, I used to do these videos called the Weekly Motivation. I mean, I don't mind the concept of motivation I'm with, right? You can't build a career on motivation unless you're the one giving it out. You can build a career, you can't give build a career getting it, because sometimes it's not going to be there. So when it comes to, I use the term motivation because everybody gets it. But if you ask me, Dre, what motivates you every day, the answer is nothing. I might not be motivated today, but you can't tell because I'm still going to show up and deliver. That's discipline is what makes you a pro. And discipline is about showing up and delivering even when you don't feel like doing the job. Because a, an amateur has the option of not showing up when they're not motivated because nobody's paying the amateur. So if you don't show up, nobody can be mad at you.

Right?

But when you're a professional and you're being paid, you must show up. Because if you don't show up, then somebody's going to say, hey, give me my money back because you didn't show up what you were supposed to do. So discipline carries the day. And every high level professional is disciplined much more than they're motivated. Motivation is like extra, it's gravy. But if you're not motivated at all, your job still gets done. Does that answer?

Absolutely. And I love that so much. It and it applies to of course, what being mostly a sales training focused podcast. And I love the way that you, the way you talk about using the word motivation for your motivation Mondays. But it's almost this Trojan horse to get to talk about the real thing that's important. I do the same thing. I've said this very much. I'm very transparent about this to everybody on the show is this is a sales training company. We do sales training. But that's really my Trojan horse to be able to get in and help people change their lives in the dynamics that are outside of the scripting and all of this. People buy from people that are worth buying from. And so to help everybody up, level their own lives to Just become better people, you know, have better nutrition and fitness and all of the things that encompass a complete person. And so I love that we're on the same path with that because it's. It is so important to. To really focus on the. The things that are the important stuff. And it doesn't have to be flashy. So, like the word motivation. Right.

That's great. I'm 100 on board with that. And I like the phrase you just used the chosen horse. And I was talking to. It's a little bit off topic. I was talking to one of my business colleagues, entrepreneur colleagues, the other day, and we were talking about just drawing, just bringing more people into our worlds. And I had done a couple live streams talking about current events on social media, and they just drew a lot more attention than when I talk about evergreen things.

Right.

And the exact thing. It's the Trojan horses. I'm talking about this. But the real thing is I want you to come into my world so you can see what I really talk about. Right. I even told my audiences that, and they said, well, they like what I'm talking about in that moment so much, and it draws so much more attention if I just talk about, let's say, mindset easier if I talk about what's happening in politics.

Sure, sure.

Politics is over. That's not the story anymore. You're still following me. So some of them are going to stick around. Some of them won't. But yes, Trojan horse, absolutely.

Yeah, I love it. So let's dive into this. The. The concept. It's not a concept. It's a very real thing. But this idea of discipline and the power of consistency and that type of thing. So maybe talk to somebody who doesn't really. They find themselves doing business in fits and starts in that, like, they have this, like, big burst and be consistent for a while, but find it themselves falling off. And it's constantly, like, restarting and recommitting for these seasons and then falling off. Because that. It's like microwaving popcorn for two minutes and then checking it every 30 seconds. That bag's never going to. But they don't realize that they're almost there. So talk to that person. Because I get a lot, a lot, a lot of people in my community that. Because especially heating and air and that type of thing is very seasonal. We'll have these bursts of massive production. That's fantastic. And then it's like everything shifts for a few months until the next season hits. So talk a little bit about that and how do you get people into consistency with their discipline versus that kind of just start, stop type of life that a lot of people end up finding themselves in and don't even know how to get out of?

Well, the first thing is you're going to get ran over by people who are disciplined. So let's, let's avoid that, the people who are disciplined. So discipline first of all creates confidence. And when you're highly disciplined in something, you'll feel more confident at what you do. Confidence leads to performance, performance to results, and results to rewards. And the challenge with discipline is not that anyone is unaware of the concept. Everyone is aware that discipline is useful. If you were to stop 100 people on the street, you ever see those social media videos where they just talk on the street? If you stop them and ask them, is there any aspect of your life in which you need to be more disciplined? Everybody would say yes and they would name something. So it was my health, my finances, spending time with my kids, whatever it is, challenges. If you ask people, and I get people talking to me about this all the time because discipline is one of the main things I talk about. And I think people can just see by the way I conduct myself that I'm a very disciplined person. They'll say I'm my biggest challenge to raise, that I'm not disciplined. I'm not. No moving money into my investment accounts or I'm not going to the gym, I'm not writing my book, I'm not launching my podcast, whatever it is. And I'll follow up to them saying that and say, okay, understood. Thank you for sharing. What do you need to do about it? What needs to happen in order for you to fix the problem? And the answer that I get, actually, let me ask you, Sam, what's the answer people usually tell you, when they tell you they rack discipline, what they're going to do about it?

Usually what it sounds like is I just need to recommit. And I know, I know that I need to do this. And the answer is usually as soon as XYZ situation changes, then I'll recommit and do this. That's usually what I hear.

The most common. Right? So this is universal. So that's exactly what I hear. And it always starts with that phrase you use, I just need to. It's always, I just need to. Anytime someone starts to stick me, I just need to. They're talking about something that they know they need to do, but they're not doing it. So obviously that's not the solution because if that was the solution, we wouldn't be talking about it. All right. All right. So it's never just, I just need to. That's a tell to me because I've heard it so many times. People need to understand that. And usually what they follow up with when we're talking about discipline is I just need to get motivated. I just need to push myself hard. I just need to order. I just need to do that thing. I just need to get serious. Lol. Right? This is what they say all the time. What people need to understand about discipline is that you cannot force discipline upon yourself. It doesn't work. You can get discipline forced upon you, maybe if you have a strict parent or you're in the military or something like that, but other than that, it doesn't work doing it to ourselves. Discipline is a byproduct of structure. When you have clean structure, discipline comes out of the bottom of the funnel, so to speak, as a natural byproduct. For example, if you're having trouble getting yourself in shape even though you go to the gym all the time, if you hire a personal trainer, personal trainer will tell you when to come to the gym, what to do when you're there, what not to do, what time you're done, what you can eat and not eat in between this workout and the next workout, and they're going to tell you what time to show up for the next one. What is the person providing structure? They are providing the structure. And as long as you follow what they say, assuming they know what they're talking about, you will achieve better results with a trainer than without a trainer. That's an example of a structure. Anybody who's been in the military, you know, the military is highly structured. It's known for being highly structured. And people are at their highest level of personal productivity, let's say, for lack of a better term, while they're in there, because of the environment and structure that is involved in that environment. So anytime we want to achieve more consistent results as a result of discipline, all we need to do is either create a structure or even better shortcut, plug into a structure that already exists. The good news, Sam, is that anything in which we would like to be more consistent, slash, disciplined, there is already a structure that exists. We just need to plug into it. The challenge with that is that many people do not like the concept of volunteering for structure because it sounds like work, right? And human beings, by nature, we are. By nature, we are wired to be lazy. We are wired to conserve energy. So anything that sounds like you're signing up for work. You're only talking to about the population of people who really, really want to do it. They sign up for that eustress, as it's called, the positive kind of stress. Most things will only sign up or allow themselves to be subjected to structure if it's forced upon them.

Right. I love this too. And I think what kind of coming from the space of knowing the mindset of the community that we're talking to right now, a lot of times what I hear when I'm introducing maybe a set specific sales steps in order or scripting or just really even talking about systems and consistency, a lot of times what I hear from them is, well, I don't like systems and those types of structure because it feels like I'm being boxed in and it feels like it's limiting. But of course, what they don't realize is with that becomes freedom. So can. Can you talk to that mindset a little bit? People that are resistant to that structure, not realizing what type of freedom freedom it gives them and help them get over that, like, oh, I feel like I'm being boxed in. Hurdle.

Most people don't want discipline, but everybody wants confidence. And discipline creates confidence and confidence. If you ask people why do you want confidence? They'll say things like, well, I'll feel better about myself. I'll probably try more things. I'll pick up the phone more often. I'll follow up more often. I'll be more creative. I'll be happier with myself. Other people feel better about me because I feel good about me. All these positive things that come from confidence. And so why isn't everybody confident? I mean, being. It is so great reason. Everybody's not confident because most people don't know how to go about getting it. And they go about it using what we call inaccurate formulas. One of the most inaccurate formulas is called fake it till you make it not real. The best way to achieve confidence is to increase your discipline in the same area in which you would like to be confident. And that's the reason why people should sign up for it. And tell me what the question was again.

That's. Yeah. So somebody that's like having that mindset of man. I don't. They're resisting the structure and the systems because they feel like it's gonna limit them and box them in and like how to get over that hurdle because they don't. They don't know what they don't know. They don't realize that the. On the other side of it.

Wow.

There's way more freedom and more liberty to be creative and be that person, but just getting over that hump into getting into it.

So let's reconnect to that three step formula we talked about earlier that we agreed on. What, why and how. So what is it that you want and why do you want it when those desires. Because you can't put a why into a person. That why has to come from within. Sure.

You have to discover it themselves. Yeah, right.

So you can't make somebody want something any more than they actually want it. Now, what they want, you can give them a bunch of options and they can pick one. But why they want it, that has to come from inside the person. So if you are really clear on your why you want a thing, then the how doesn't matter. Because I really want something that doesn't matter what I got to do to get it, because I really want it. It doesn't matter if I have to make 100 phone calls and I'm only looking for one answer if I really want the outcome. When anyone really wants an outcome, they will pretty much stop at nothing in order to achieve it. So why is a really important part. And that why people can give it different call different names. Your motivation, your inspiration, your purpose, whatever it is, doesn't matter what it is. You just need to have one. When you have that and we say, okay, let's follow this structure. This is going to help you get to the outcome. Now, following the structure is subservient to the why. When a Y is serious enough, we'll do anything. So if someone said something like, dre, I will give you $1 million to leave out of your office right now and run five miles with this suit on. I'll do it. If I, if I believe the $1 million is real, I'll go do it. I'll be very uncomfortable. It's going to destroy my suit, it's going to destroy my shoes. But I can buy a new suit and new shoes with a million dollars. All right.

And then have plenty left over, right?

Yeah, exactly. So I'll go do it. Now if you said just go do it to prove something. No, I'm not doing it. I'm not. That's not a strong enough reason. So it's about how strong the reason is. And then as long as you plug into the system, assuming that you believe the system to work again, that's why you go find people who already know their stuff, then this is a no brainer. But that why piece that can't be given to you.

You have to find that, oh, I love this. So then the question that follows then is if some especially, you know, somebody's just very lightly tried to find their why or they were super surface level with it, or you're taking somebody through that's never done that type of exercise, how do you get them started? How. How do you help people find that why that's truly comes from within, that is deep enough and big enough that it's a reason to pull people forward on those days when they just don't feel like it?

Good question. And there's a couple things you can do. The good news is you can start to crowdsource ideas for what your why may be by just listening to other people who are motivated, who are inspired, who or who give out motivation and inspiration and listen to what they're saying. What's the reason why they became the person that they are? What's the reason why the last 10 people they talk to had a strong reason? And you'll start to hear different things and maybe something will just connect with you. Oh, you know what? That does make sense. Does make sense that I don't have that much time left in life, which is true to everybody. But maybe you don't think about it consciously. Oh, it does make sense that this situation didn't go the way that I wanted it to go. But instead of just letting it go and letting it move forward, maybe I'll be a little bit less well adjusted mentally and I'll use that as a reason to motivate me to go do something. A lot of athletes drive themselves in that way. So you can crowdsource by listening to and hearing and reading different things from other people because they may say something that just catches your ear. There's not even the main thing that they're trying to say. So those of us who read a lot and listen to a lot and absorb a lot of material, often I'll hear something that someone says offhand is not even the point they're trying to make. That that's the main thing that I hold on to. That's the main thing that I catch. But be observant. And you have to be taking it enough in order to get it. So that's how you can start. And the second way you can start is ask yourself, what do you want right now? Whatever you want right now could be a low level thing. It's not really no driving you, but it's a thing that you want. I wanted to make more Money this month. Okay, why do you want to make more money? And then just keep asking the question why? And if you ask someone why based on their line of answering about five or six times, eventually you get to an emotional driver, and that's what you want to get to. Because the why is really about emotion. It's not about logic. And most human beings, especially males, we tend to default to the logic. Right? And when we get through the logic and get to the emotional driver, that's the thing to get you out of bed. That's the thing that makes all the logic make sense. And when you get to the emotional driver, that's when we find why. And that why is what moves us through all the things that logically make sense.

I love this so much. This is. This is fun because everybody's hearing the same thing through a little different lens. When. When we're. When I'm teaching training cells is so many people do sales with people in homes and home improvement or whatever type of cells, and they take people through the very logic path. And I've always said that, you know, if. If making a cell is like driving a car, logic is the steering wheel to point the wheels in the right direction, but the emotion is the gas pedal to get people to move forward and to move forward now, because now they have a reason. They see how the things are going to change and their experiences are going to be different, and they're connected to it. So it's the same message. And it's so powerful because it. It applies to everything we do in our lives.

That's right. And it's like, I like to tell people what you just said. Emotions are great gas pedals, but terrible steering wheel. So just flipping it around like, it's great to use your emotions to move you to action, but you don't let your emotions decide your action.

Exactly.

The action. Then use the emotion of flipping around. And it's kind of like, I've heard this. People, when they sell smoke detectors, homes, they always show the video of the dog with the dead baby's toy. All right? That's what gets people to buy the smoke detector. It's not. You know, there are this many fires, and this can start a fire. Nobody cares about that. That does not move people to decisions. So to make decisions and incredibly indecisive. But if you get them emotional, you can get anyone to do pretty much anything, right?

Absolutely. And it's the coolest part, is when you truly approach it with a heart of service and care. You know, I sometimes, when we make these statements as trainers and coaches. You know, the context here is we've got to condition it a little bit, because some people can hear that as, oh, this is awesome. That's how I'm going to manipulate people, or, oh, I. I. All I hear you saying is this. You're teaching me how to manipulate people, and that's not right. But I always love to make sure that everybody. We do things with this heart of empathy and truly heart of service, and that's truly sales, because at the end of the day, we're not selling anything. We're just care for. People listen to a problem and offer a solution, and they can decide if they want it or not. But we can influence their decision, not manipulate. And it's such a cool distinction when we start to truly lift people up to do things right.

Yeah, I agree. And it's a little bit of a semantics thing, Sam, but I'll say that sales, by nature, is manipulative. I mean, that's what is. Oh, yeah. People to see things the way you see them and getting them to agree with you, but you're doing it because you're trying to help them with something that they need. And one thing that I tell salespeople all the time. You can tell me what you think about it, is that the main job of a salesperson is to get someone to do something that they already know they need to do, but they're too. They're too lazy to do it, and they haven't been able to move themselves to the action of actually doing it. You know, they need it. They know they need it. And your job is to help them break the inertia. That's the reason why you get paid 100%.

And that's. It's so cool when we can do that. Because if it. What, they're lazy. Yes. And it takes work to make the change. And there's this little piece of. They're comfortable in their comfort zone, or they would have already done it in the past. And so how do we help them break out of that comfort zone and over that hurdle and all the things, and, man, it's so cool. So tell us a little bit. We're going to turn the corner here a little bit, because I know we're starting to get closer to our destination and land in this plane here, but tell us a little bit more about the organizations that you work with and individuals and that kind of thing. Tell us a little bit more about, you know, Dre and. And your. Your company.

Yeah, our company is called work on your game. And our main program focuses work on your game University. That's what we do all of our coaching. So there we work with a lot of entrepreneurs who are either small business owners who are looking for help usually in the marketing areas or just people skills areas, relationship areas, not necessarily with their industry because I work with people in disparate industry. So I have clients who are in the food business, people who make clothes, people with food trucks, people in finance, accountants, lawyers, believe it or not, government employees. So it's not about a specific industry for us. It's often about helping them with some life skills and professional skills that are universal. And also a lot of times, especially with men who tend to be very ambitious, it's helping them with out of the office things that they have been sacrificing because everything at the office is demanding so much of their resources. That's the coaching side. We also offer copywriting and marketing, so funnel building, copywriting, email writing, etc. And then there's the professional speaking, of course, doing speeches. And there was some people called motivational speaking. I don't consider myself a motivational speaker, but I'll take the title if there's a check and Right the training side. So I work with sales organizations. A lot of times people sell different stuff. So I was talking to a furniture company last month, the insurance sales was as big to any kind of sales organizations because they always need, of course, to pick me up on the mindset side. They need it all every day. And then of course there's the tactical stuff, the tangible. How does it. What does it look like to prepare yourself? What does it look like to be more disciplined in your sales process? So anyone who works in sales, which I'm sure you know very well, Sam, is that not every person on the sales team is an A player, as they say. And you can't. Is almost impossible to have a full team of A player. So you got to take some of those B and C players and make them perform at the highest level of a B or C that they can be. So I'm the type person who gets brought in to help with that.

Oh, I love it, love it, love it. And that is, gosh, it's so powerful. And then of course, what you did mention, everybody that can't. That's just hearing on audio, that's not seeing the visual. There's so many books behind Dre on his shelf that he's written as well that I'm staring at. So make sure to watch the YouTube of this when it's posted, but tell us a little bit more about. So how many books in total have you written and where can people get a hold of those?

Technically, 35, but who's counting? Yeah. And I got always got new books in the pipeline. So I think especially given today's technology, Sam, as long as I live long enough, knock on wood, I think I get to 100.

So yeah, I love it.

Got a lot of books in the pipeline. Basically everything we talk about. I got a book on or I have a book on the way. And where can you get those? Well, I'll talk about one book specifically because if I give you links to 35, I think they might forget. So if you go to thirddaybook.com that's that red book that's right there behind my head. And also over here, that's my latest book, most popular one that I'm pushing right now. So people can get a free copy of that, but it's going to thirddaybook.com is all spelled out and that book is all about how you show up and give your best effort when you least feel like it. So in other words, exactly what we're talking about here today, how to have it and a process for discipline rather than just depending on motivation, which I already told you is for amateurs. Books free discovered shipping. Third daybook.com love it.

And for everybody that's that's driving. You're in Drive Time University right now. I will make sure to get that link in the show notes so you can just go there and don't, don't crash the car trying to write it down. So make sure it's in the notes. But thirddaybook.com, i love that so much. I am actually re rolling out the Close it now book club that I host once a month. And absolutely we'll be putting that in the lineup because I know it's after a conversation with you and knowing your history, it's one of the biggest missing pieces in especially outside salespeople. You've got your top 2% that they get this and they drives them forward. But then everyone else has those constant struggles of being great for a season and then, oh man, the bottom fell out of the leads coming in and so what do I do? And some mindset and all of that just content starts to drop until the next burst like how we started this conversation and I bring it back up so everybody makes sure to pay attention. Go get this book because it will help you get past those struggles of that constant up and down because, man, in a industry that if you are reactive, then you're constantly struggling with that up and down. And when we're proactive and actually create systems and discipline, it's incredible how much life smooths out and we can make a plan and accomplish way more things than we ever thought possible. So go get that book, everybody. Thirddaybook.com before we wrap here, man, what this podcast is known for is, and you've already given so many nuggets already, is something that every episode we cover, something that's very actionable, very immediately usable for somebody to just start right away. So what is that one thing that you would tell everybody? It's like, if you don't do anything else, focus on this one thing, what would that be for you in. In your messaging?

One thing I would give people that may be super simple for some, but I don't think for all in my experience is open up your calendar app on your phone or your date planner, if you have one, and actually fill in the time of your entire day and make sure that you have scheduled tasks. And the reason why that and what you're going to do is if you have a to do list, I know a lot of people have them, is take everything on your to do list to find a time in the actual day when this is going to get done. And the reason why I tell people to do this is because the calendar manages your time. It's the most valuable resource you have. We run out of time, we call that death. All right? There's no coming back from that. Run out of money, you call that broke. You can tell that story, you can't tell the story of death. So.

Right.

This is why you need to use a calendar. Because a calendar makes you show respect for the time that you have. And you're going to have to make some hard decisions about what you can do and what you can't do. Because the to do list is usually longer than the amount of time you have available to do all the stuff. This is the reason why a lot of things on this to do list keep getting pushed back. Start putting it on the calendar. You're going to have to prioritize and figure out what you can actually do. Fill up the calendar and then just do what the calendar tells you to do. So you want to talk about the structure. There's a structure right there that anybody can start with right now, where you sit.

Beautiful. That is probably one of the best end of show nuggets that we've had in almost 200 episodes. Now, so thank you. That, that's super usable. In fact, I have been drifting personally for everybody. I've been. This was always a big struggle of mine. I always thought as an entrepreneur and a visionary and like the sales guy, that, man, I can do 10 things in the day and end up accomplishing three. So I've absolutely lived that life. And that's been a big shift for me. I hired an implementation coach a few months ago that everybody listening. He's going to be doing an episode coming up as well. But, man, the more that we shift towards this exact structure, it's insane. The amount that we're able to accomplish and I'm able to do in my day than I was even two, three months ago before. Living and breathing and dying by the calendar is. Is everything. So love this. Thanks for that. And so, yeah, it's definitely time to land the plane here. Thank you for being on the show, man. I am. I'm really, really, really excited about us connecting. And yeah, we're definitely going to push this out. Third daybook.com everybody. And before we go, any. Any parting words to. To the crowd.

Yeah. So to everyone here, just keep in mind that everybody has a game. Whether you're in sales, you're a maintenance person, a librarian, athlete, entrepreneur, everybody has a game. And your job is to know what game you're in, know what business you're actually in, develop your ability so you can play the game, create an opportunity for yourself, go out there and perform. And when you perform, you produce results. You produce results, you get whatever rewards you want. So we are in a performance and a results based business. That is always the priority. What is going to help me perform, what's going to produce the result? Keep that front of mind. Everything else you do is a simple means. Tune in.

O love it. Thank you. Thank you for that. And it, it's such a good reminder for us all the time to.

To.

To focus. Yeah. Good times. So everybody that's listening, thanks for joining today. I'm going to record a outside of this recording. You'll. You'll hear it tacked on the beginning. So go back and listen again. We've got a couple of announcements things coming up. But Dre, it's been awesome to have you on the show and I know that we will be talking again in the future because I have some big plans for some things that this message is 100% a good fit for. So super glad we connected. And yeah, man, reach out to this community. Anytime that you need us, we 100% come from a place of that performance based driving constantly being focus on growing ourselves and realizing that just like you said at the beginning, CELLS is a personal growth plan that happens to have compensation plan attached to it and we this community absolutely supports that and in alignment with your message man. So thanks for being on the show.

Thank you for having me on, Sam. I appreciate the opportunity and thanks for sharing your platform.

Absolutely man. All right everybody, until next time you go, keep crushing it and be someone worth buying from.

You've been listening to the Close it now podcast. Our passion is to dive headfirst into the transformative movement that's reshaping the very foundation of H VAC and home improvement and at the same time covering fitness, nutrition, relationships and personal growth, proving that we can indeed have it all. We hope you've enjoyed the show. If you did, make sure to like rate and review. We'll be back soon, but in the meantime find the website@closeitnow.net find us on Instagram at thereal Close it now. And on Facebook at Close It Now. See you next time.