I want to talk to you a little bit about investing in yourself. And before I do that, I just want to preface with the fact that I have nothing to sell you. And I say that because anytime anybody says, you need to learn to invest in yourself, it's always followed by, and I have this course, I'm this coach, you can do this thing, join my membership, give me money. I mean it in the real way. I had of the most impactful experiences in my professional life came on the heels of a gift that was given to me by a friend. I was working with my buddy Calvin Corelli, who's the CEO of Simplero, I was his fractional CMO, and I I was horrible at that job, by the way he and I were, roaming the halls of traffic and conversion together which I used to go to every year religiously. It's one of my favorite events still is. And at traffic and conversion, they always had a booth for war room, which was a huge marketing mastermind. It was the longest, most successful marketing mastermind in history. It ran for like 13 years and it was a who's who of, entrepreneurs, not just marketers. Like, I mean, if you were for real in the business world, you were in war room at one point or another. And the booths were cool. They were like, this black and silver aesthetic and they had the velvet rope and these couches that you could go in and sit on if you wanted to, talk about joining. And it was 35 grand to join at that point. And I think it got up to 40 grand for the year. And you would show up once a quarter. With all these other hyper, hyper, hyper successful people. And you just learn from each other and collaborate and talk. And there'd be speakers and workshops. And I wanted to join so bad. And I mentioned it to Calvin. I was like, dude, that's war room. Like I got what I wouldn't give to be in war room. And Calvin's like. Go join. Why I Revenged, you joined yet? And I gave him every excuse you could possibly think of, it was like, nah, I'm not ready, soon, the money's tight, and then, I might not be able to make the dates, whatever it was, it was just non stop excuse making cause I was terror stricken I was terror stricken, I could have swung it financially, and what's interesting is the minute I joined, I, Recouped my cost first meeting just based off of the people that I met and I was capable of and what they needed But that's not why you should join those things incidentally just as an aside that said we moved on I figured that was the end of it and then it must have been like a year or two later it was a long time later. I hadn't been working with calvin for Much longer after that. I get a phone call from Calvin. He and I stayed buddies. I still really love him and he goes, Hey, man, I got you something. I got you a seat at war room. And I was blown away. Super generous. I go. Imposter syndrome haunted, and it was amazing. It was so much fun, everything I knew it could be, and there was just all these, brilliant people and super successful, one guy's business just went public, and somebody else just started a little teeny sass product, and I'm like, oh, what's the name of it? And then they give me the name, and I'm like, oh, it's not a little teeny sass product. It was like the belle of the ball at the time, and I'm just sitting right next to them, and at the table listening to people with problems that you can't even fathom. It was so cool but I didn't feel like I belonged at all, you know, I was the dumbest, poorest, least successful, least experienced human in that room and it was big, War Room got close to 400 members at its peak you're showing up these Beautiful, opulent hotels and resorts and it was just an easy place to be intimidated by. But, at the end of War Room, they had this competition called Wicked Smart. Wicked Smat. You don't pronounce the R. Wicked Smat. And everybody submits, not, you but like a ton of people, I think a third of the room generally submits an idea. You submit an idea. It has to be proven. This isn't like a concept that you have. This is something you've done in your business and you have to be able to present in five to ten minutes. And this is the last event of every War Room, and I think it has been since the beginning of War Room. And it's one of the things that people look forward to the most, because you get just a Like freight train of ideas one after the other and they're the best ideas from the smartest people in the shortest period of time It's so much fun. And they usually would open up the bar. So people have been drinking. So just got like really irreverent but high high value and so everybody submits and then they shortlist the submissions and they pick like the 10 or 15 best And then you just go through those folks and, can take an hour and a half to get through everybody. But they get on stage, they pitch their idea. The founders, Ryan, Richard, and Roland and Perry in various degrees. I think Perry was always up there Ryan was always up there, and then sometimes it'd be Roland, sometimes it'd be Richard. Which is relevant because, you know, Richard was always a lot nicer. Than Perry or Ryan were. Roland never really poked much fun at me. But, you'd get up there and they'd ask you questions and then, they'd also rip into you sometimes or make jokes. Anyway, I submit for War Room's Wicked Smart. The first time I submit My submissions, not only not accepted, but Ryan shot it right out of the sky. I love Ryan, by the way. He's a really, really brilliant entrepreneur. And what I love about Ryan is he's very honest, real direct. And so the first time I submit, he actually ended up being at my table for some reason, which is really unusual. But, you know, I was like, hey man, what do you think of this? And he goes, nah, I don't think that's going to fly, man, because... And it just ended up not being broadly applicable. you know, that was a little humbling. But worked up my nerves, submit the second time. And... I'm one of the shortlist and I go up there and I present the idea, which ended up not even really being my idea at that time. It was my business partners. It was a tracking or a targeting tool we were using inside of Google ads and I won Wicked Smart. it was amazing. it was a feeling that I was very quickly addicted to because then the rest of my life for the entire time I was in War Room was dedicated to winning those Wicked Smart awards. And I won every time I went five times in a row, which was a War Room record. And what's cool about that is they ended up sunsetting War Room, which is tragic because I loved it so much. they sunset War Room, the founders went in a different direction, so Ryan and Roland started their own thing. And then Perry spun off and started Driven. or wanted to start Driven. And I got a phone call from Perry, who I didn't know very well. I've always respected. And he goes, hey man. Do you want to start a mastermind with me? I'm like, what on earth? why of all smartest, most successful people in the whole wide world, and he calls me and it was my wicked smart wins. You know, I'd show him that I was capable of something other than sitting in a corner and listening And then he asks me to be his business partner. It was, it's me Perry Belcher and Jason Fladlin. And Perry and Jason are legitimately nerd famous and uber successful and I'm, you know, kind of the up and comer you might say. But it's because... My buddy Calvin gave me a gift. It's because I actually showed up because that was a thought in my mind, too You know, even though this very expensive gift was dropped in my lap. I thought to myself like man. I just don't want to go there So intimidated by it and then when I showed up I put myself out there and then after having put myself out there I was seen Which happens when you put yourself out there you get seen and sometimes you get seen in a negative light and sometimes it doesn't go your way and sometimes you get seen in a positive light and you get to shine a little and you get to shine a little and The result of that was me being one of the co founders of what I think is going to become and it's maybe arrogant to say, but I think Driven Mastermind is going to be better than War Room. And I'm blown away still that I get to be a part of it. Especially in the role that I'm currently serving in because Perry very easily could have just been hey man I'll you know put you on faculty if you're willing to talk every now and again. I'd have jumped at that But you know to be a co owner and get to guide the direction Here's what I'm saying, and I didn't do this. Well, by the way, so I'm giving you advice I didn't take myself but go for it I'm not telling you to join Driven, the time is right, come join Driven, give us money. But that's not it right now. There's something else for you. And I know that for a fact, because it's, it's true for everybody. We all have that, the booth that we were too afraid to get close to, right? Or the person that you're too afraid to talk to, or the job you're too afraid to apply for. Or the person you're, dying to ask out, or whatever, like I'll try to keep it professional. Just go for it. Go try and then fail a little first time I submitted for wicked smart I did not get accepted. I actually was told why my idea was bad by one of my entrepreneurial heroes, you just kept trudging along and the interesting thing about it is I'm not the most qualified person to be Perry Belcher's business partner Probably by a long shot I can name 20 off the top of my head that would be better and smarter But I put myself out there and they didn't and he saw me So go for it. Put yourself out there, go out on a limb be willing to look a little foolish. And I think you'll be really, really pleasantly surprised by what happens on a long enough timeline. That's the other piece is you have to give it a long enough timeline. But if you can do that and trust in Providence or fate or God or whatever it is that you want to attribute it to I've never not been rewarded for going out on those types of limbs, which is interesting. it's an interesting Pavlovian experience because every time I do it I get rewarded and yet for some reason I'm still so hesitant to do it. Videos like this for an example. Y'all every video I shoot I feel a little stupid I feel a little stupid. Hey, I'm sitting here in my office. I'm by myself Or actually that's better. Sometimes my wife's outside my office, you know, she's in the house She's not listening outside my door, but she's in the house and I'm thinking like she can hear my voice You can hear me talking. She thinks everything I'm saying is stupid and I Don't know if that ever goes away And those are just my thoughts. She doesn't really think that. She's never said anything. She's never been anything but supportive. People on YouTube have never been anything but supportive. I don't get negative comments. Not many, you know, I get nothing but like really kind. Sometimes I get low views. Just a lot like a negative comment, but for some reason I still feel silly and, self important and obnoxious. just sitting in a room by myself staring at a little black box, talking about my thoughts and ideas. But I go for it. Having done so, I've got 25, 000 subscribers on our YouTube channel today. My YouTube channel is the single most important marketing mechanism we've ever had. Blows me away. Perpetual traffic, same thing. I got that because I was a guest. And Ralph like talking to me and he just lost his co host. Right place, right time. But I've been a guest on podcasts doing the work. man, if there's anything I can inspire you to do, just go for it. Just do it. Do it poorly. Give yourself permission to do it poorly. Give yourself permission to say, you know what? I don't know how to be a podcast guest, but I'm gonna go do it anyway. And I'm just gonna submit a couple of times and my first couple of ones might go really bad. I'm gonna do my best. I'm not telling you to set out intentionally to do it bad. But give yourself permission to be the amateur, to be the fool, you know, to be embarrassed, to feel silly, to blush. And the first time will suck, and the second time will be a little bit better, and by the third time, it'll be as good as anybody else, right? Isn't that in that's just sort of how it works. So grateful to Calvin. Changed the entire trajectory of my life, just by, shoving me out front and center, and giving me the opportunity to be seen. And you deserve that opportunity too, but it's probably going to have to come from you. not all of us get Calvins. Maybe you can be the Calvin for somebody else, but maybe you can be the Calvin for you. the biblical adage, treat others as you want to be treated that'll cut both ways. That means you need to treat yourself as though you're somebody worthy of being cared for, because the way you treat yourself is the indication to you as to how you should be treating others. So... Anyway, for whatever this is worth, I feel silly, but I'm still gonna post this one. I'm gonna go for it, and we're gonna see what happens. I appreciate y'all watching. I'll see you tomorrow.