George Bryant The Power of Radical Authenticity

Joel 00:00:02.480 - 00:00:28.290 George Bryant is a New York Times bestselling author, Marine Corps veteran and digital marketing strategist. Known for his Relationships Beat algorithms approach. He's helped thousands of entrepreneurs and major brands build loyal communities and sustainable businesses by focusing on authentic connection over tactics. He's also the host of the Mind of George show where he explores the intersection of business mindset and heart centered leadership. George, welcome to Here for the Truth, my friend. George 00:00:28.770 - 00:00:33.250 Gents, I am, I am honored to be here. The name of the show has me excited to be here. Joel 00:00:33.410 - 00:00:59.610 Amazing, man. The. Honestly, dude, the honor is all ours. You've been in my ear a fair bit recently. I've really been soaking in your podcast and honestly man, first and foremost, I just want to thank you because so much of your knowledge, what you share, how you share it has really impacted me, even if just by osmosis at times, in the way that we approach everything that we do and the growth and the evolution since really adopting your message has been profound. So thank you, bro. George 00:01:00.090 - 00:01:17.050 Thank you. I. It's so nice to hear because, you know, as podcast hosts, sometimes it feels like you're talking into a dark abyss and you're like, who am I talking to? Like, is somebody listening to this? And so like, I'm like, I can never hear it enough, especially like 700 episodes in now. And I'm like, does anybody listen? Yerasimos 00:01:17.450 - 00:01:32.150 We talk about that all the time, where it's like, we just show up, we sit in these chairs and we have these conversations, we talk and then all of a sudden we get emails where we meet someone in and. And they're like, I just found your podcast and I binge listened to all of them. And you're like, wait, what? Yeah, it's pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. George 00:01:32.150 - 00:01:40.790 I don't know whether to say like, I don't know whether to say like, sorry or you're welcome. It's a large dose of me. Joel 00:01:42.070 - 00:01:56.790 Totally. Totally, dude. One way we always like to kick off these conversations is we just want to get real AF right now into your personal journey, your personal hero story. It doesn't matter how long it takes, man. We want to know all the Jews, all the major rites of passage, like, what made you who you are today? George 00:01:57.510 - 00:19:03.820 Oh, God, I love this question. I already love your show so much. This is like how I live. I'm going to keep it. I'm going to keep it to under a TED Talk so you can pick and choose where we unpack and where we rip bandits off to go deeper. And so, you know, I joke, I joke with People that I'm only successful because I'm stupid. And I mean that with, like, nothing but love. But I never set out to be an entrepreneur, right? My whole life has been survival, and I accidentally fell into entrepreneurship. So for everybody listening or watching to take you all the way back, my earliest memories weren't of like, oh, white picket fence, beautiful family. Like, I had two parents who I love dearly, and I respect them daily, but struggled with massive, massive demons their whole life. And so I grew up in drug abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse. And I, when I turned 13, is when I basically became homeless. And so social services showed up at my door and they're like, hey, where you're a caseworker, we're going to take you away from your parents. And I was like, good luck finding me. And I was out. And so I started working full time at a very young age and was bullied most of my life. I grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut for a couple years, so I was the only white kid in my class. I had my front teeth knocked out three times, my nose broken twice, and this carried all the way on into my high school career. And so most of my childhood felt like I was just trying to survive. And for whatever reason, and. And this I now know to be God, because I love Jesus with all my heart, but I grew up around that. Even my extended family, my cousins, my aunts and uncles, they all struggled with the same thing. It was drugs, it was addiction galore. Like, that was the common theme. And a part of me was like, I. I don't want to end up like this. And I don't know why. At such an early age, I was like, if I stay here, I'm going to die. And so I basically just tried to survive. And so I was freaking going to school the best that I could, working two, three jobs, lying about my age to get jobs under the table, doing construction, Dunkin Donuts. Like, you name it, I did it. And, and truthfully became really close with a lot of my teachers because I didn't have any, like, adults in my life that I could trust. And so a lot of my teachers, God bless them, they actually listen to my podcast now, 20 something years later, which is a full circle moment. I talked to them about everything, what was happening, where I didn't have a place to live, I don't know where I'm going to park my car to sleep tonight, whose house I'm going to try to stay at. And so that continued most of my high school career and Truthfully, I should have never graduated. And I didn't find this out till years later. And my math teacher, I went back to this high school and I saw her after, I don't know, maybe a decade, and she's like, I never told you, but we fought really hard just to pass you because we knew if you were stuck here, you were never leaving. And so they basically passed me so that I had a chance. And so When I was 17, I realized that if I stayed there, I wasn't going to make it. And so I did what any intelligent kid would do, and I forged my parents signature to join the Marine Corps because that seemed like the hardest thing I could do. And looking back, I wanted to try to prove to myself that I could do something. Challenge was that they wouldn't let me join because I also was 70 pounds overweight. And after the sexual abuse when I was like 9 and 13, I started struggling with eating disorders. So I was bulimic for close to 15 years, even through my military career. And so July 29th of 2002 is the day I left for boot camp. And so I went down to Parris island, became a Marine, and Napoleon complex took over. And I was like, watch. And so, you know, I graduated first out of like 1200 recruits at boot camp, went to Marine combat training, graduated first, got to my job, school, got my job and all that. Urag got me my first deployment at 20 years old. And so I got sent to Somalia in May of 2004 for 13 months of my life. And when I was in Somalia, besides struggling with like, just understanding the evil and darkness in the world, like things that you should never see, things that humanity you didn't realize was capable of, and being 20 years old and exposed to that, I almost lost both my legs when I was there. Not because of combat, but I had what was called exercise induced compartment syndrome. So I had lost the weight to join the Marine Corps. My recruiter put me through this really beefy, basically diet cut. And then when you go to boot camp, there ain't no way you're keeping weight on you. And I came out like, you know, 150 pounds soaking wet, which was mind blowing. And so I just started lifting and lifting. And so when I was in Somalia, I was probably £210, so around 198 kilos for all my other people. And I'm only 5 7, so I'm, I'm, I'm short. Right. So I was as wide as I am tall. Yeah. And so we did a lot of Missions out there and, you know, gear weighed, you know, 70 to 100 pounds, right? So like 35 to 50 kilos. And so basically on a mission, I lost feeling in my legs and I passed out from the pain. And turns out I had exercise induced compartment syndrome. So I stayed in country for six or seven more months because they misdiagnosed me. And then when they flew me home after 13 months, within eight hours of landing, I was on an operating table. And they're like, you're lucky to be alive. You had blood clots everywhere, and you flew back from Central Africa to North Carolina and you're lucky you made it. And so they ended up doing a surgery and they're like, hey, this, this should let us know if we can fix this or not. They did the surgery, I made a recovery. And they're like, hey, it didn't work. I was like, okay, so what's that mean? Like, we do another one? And they're like, no, no, no, like, we're going to have to amputate your legs. You're probably never going to walk again. And so at 20 years old, 21 years old, away from my family that was still going through divorce and court cases and lawsuits and criminal charges, I basically had to fight pretty hard for the first time in my life. And I was like, I need a second opinion, a third opinion. And they let me go see a civilian doctor, and he's like, hey, listen, I can do a surgery on both legs, but you're never going to be a marine again. Like, you'll be lucky if you walk. Never mind run, never mind do this. And I was like, all I heard was, you can fix it. And so I was like, great, let's do it. And so over the next 12 months, I had five surgeries and spent 12 months in a wheelchair. So in that process, I gained a hundred pounds and became addicted to opiates in the process because I had a PCA pump patient controlled anesthetic into my spine for like four months. So, you know, every six minutes I got to hit a button and I. I felt okay. And so during that time, my bulimia spiraled out of control. My binge eating, and then I was self farming pretty bad. It's the only way I knew how to deal with the anger and rage is I never wanted to hurt anybody else. So I would just, I would hurt myself, I'd punch myself, I'd, you know, cracked my own ribs, punch myself in the face. And I just had so much rage inside of me that I, I Didn't know what to do with it. And so that was probably one of the darkest moments in my life until I attempted to overdose. And I basically took an entire bottle of opiates, probably like 80 of them, and just fully expected when I fell asleep, I'd never wake up until the next day. Then I did. And truthfully, I didn't even realize I was alive. I thought I was stuck in some purgatory place. And then it kind of hit me like a ton of bricks that I was still alive and I was really grateful to be alive. But nothing really changed except I didn't really want to do that anymore. And so a couple months later, as I'm starting to recover, the Marine Corps said, hey, you've been on basically limited duty for 12 months. Going to kick you out. And I had like the fear of God instilled in me because I had nowhere to go. And I was like, well, what do you mean? And they're like, no, no, you're overweight, you can't run. They said you'd never run again. And I was like, what would it take for me to stay in? And they're like, well, you have 90 days and you'd have to pass a physical fitness test, which was running three miles, you know, pull ups and, and sit ups. And I hadn't walked in nine months. And so I started taking my physical therapy a little bit more serious. And basically because I was a Marine, my only job was recovery. So eight hours a day I was with a physical therapist. And this little 4 foot 11 Asian woman basically destroyed me every day while also motivating me. And so she retaught me how to walk, how to run, and within 90 days, I was able to pass that test by about, I don't know, 20 seconds of the run. And my boss is like, hey, you made it. You're still drastically overweight. I'll give you six months. And that's when something shifted to me and I was like, I'm not done. And so I made a, went on to make like a, basically a full recovery, even though I still don't have feeling in my legs from the knee down to this day, you know, 20 years later. And so I basically made fitness my new addiction. I was like, look, I'm rewarded for this. I can do it. They pay me to do it. They give me gyms. And so I, I kept going, kept working out. And then in 2009, 2010, I got deployed to Afghanistan. And that was the one that kind of did me in. I ended up with seven traumatic brain injuries in two and a half years, and then lost, like, 29 Marines, not in Afghanistan, but when we came back to suicide. And that's when things really started to take a turn for me. And then I had, you know, a traumatic brain injury, post traumatic stress disorder. And so in that process, though, while I was in Afghanistan, I realized because my dad had just passed away about six months before I went, my dad died of metastatic brain and lung cancer. And as much as my childhood was rough, him and I had kind of made our amends. And I spoke to him every single day. And I didn't speak to my mother for 15 years. And so he was kind of like my only friend. And that kind of hit me like a ton of bricks. And I was in Afghanistan and. Crazy story. I don't think I've ever talked about this in a podcast. I had a lot of Marines in my care in Afghanistan, 56 of them to be exact. And one morning I came to work on base in Afghanistan, and I opened the door, and when I turned the corner, a rifle went into my mouth. And when I turned the corner and looked, one of my Marines had lost it. And he had written my name on the rounds. And when I walked in, he stuck a rifle in my mouth because he wanted to kill me. And I froze in that moment, didn't do anything, had some choice words, and realized he hadn't shot me. So we tackled him, got it out of my mouth. But that did something to me on the inside, and it caused this really deep reflection. And I realized that I swore I never wanted to be like my parents, except I was doing it with a different drug. And mine was denial and avoidance and self harm and self sabotage. And I realized that I was just slowly killing myself. And so I started to really, like, open my eyes a bit while I was in Afghanistan of, like, what it meant to really live. And I realized that I'd, like, never lived a day in my life. I'd been surviving the whole time. And so when I came home, I realized that I wanted something different. And I started teaching myself, like, how to cook and how to eat clean and really, like, how to take care of my body. And I hadn't done any of the emotional work, but I was doing the physical piece. And because I'd struggled so hard, I needed accountability. And so while I was teaching myself how to cook, I was like, I can beat my bulimia. I can beat my eating disorders. I can, like, do this, but I need accountability. So I made a Fake college email address to make a Facebook account, because that's the only way I could get on Facebook. So every time I cooked a recipe, I could write about it and post about it on Facebook for accountability. And so I was still a Marine. And during this time, I was basically moonlighting as a food blogger without realizing that's what I was. Well, being a marine, you know, 80 hours a week. And in this process, my injuries started getting a whole lot worse. I would pass out when I was driving. I'd not wake up for like two, three days from the pain in my brain. And turns out I had like bleeding on my brain and fluid on my brain. And so just became like a medical test. And then the Marine Corps said, like, hey, by the way, like, we're officially going to be separating you out. Could take anywhere from three to six months, but you are beyond damaged goods and there's nothing you can do. This isn't like the last time, like, you're done, done. And so I didn't really know what to do. So I just kept showing up on the blog and, and turns out, you know, six months later, they said, hey, your last days in a week. So at 13 years, they basically handed me a piece of paper, said, you were done, and that was it. No benefits out the door. And I didn't have a backup plan. And so I'm, you know, 30 something years old, living in Southern California, and I was like, I don't know what to do. And so I just leaned all the way into the blog. And that's how I actually became an entrepreneur. It was completely by accident. And so I poured the same level of drive and desire as a Marine into my first entrepreneurial gig. And within six months, my first ever digital product. Made a million dollars and then went on to write a book, became a New York Times bestselling cookbook author, launched an app, had millions of followers, except we missed the part where I never did the emotional work. And so for every single thing I achieved, I was the most miserable I'd ever been. And the opiate addiction came back. I was in a relationship with my ex wife, son's mother, and I was basically hiding everywhere I could away from people that I cared about. So the Internet was my life, my social profile was my life, work was my life. And I was more depressed than I'd ever been, which basically continued for about two and a half, three years until the depression and the anxiety spiraled out of control. And it was on Thanksgiving, I think, in 2015, that I was like, I need to change and I need help. And so I went and checked myself into the hospital, spent three days in the psych ward until I gave the psychologist on staff a clinical diagnosis of everybody in there. I was like, I don't belong here. I just couldn't get an appointment and get me out of here. And they let me go. And it kind of opened me up to this path of like self healing and self love. And I started leaning all the way into it. And so that led me to breath work, that led me to emdr, which drastically saved my life, which then led me to Costa Rica. And it was in Costa Rica where I met an incredible man who helped shift a lot of things for me. But I realized in that moment that I had built this prison and entrepreneurship was this prison. And I'd never once taken a moment to love myself, to learn how to be in a relationship with myself, or to let any of this go. So without a backup plan or a another option, well, my ex wife was seven months pregnant with my son. I gave away that entire company in 24 hours. And I disappeared off the Internet. So I changed my email, I changed my phone number, and I disappeared. And I spent the next three years completely isolated, away from everybody, just learning how to love myself. From psychology, to personal development, to my own healing, to getting coached, to pouring into myself. And ended up in this new career. Because when I disappeared, everyone was like, where did he go? And then they'd find me and they're like, how'd you do what you did? And all these companies started calling to hire me to help them scale their business, like, how did you do it? Like, how did you build all these followers? How did you do X? And so I had this new career start simultaneously while learning how to love myself and walk through this process. And then basically the real work began. And so I spent a good, I don't know, five years until about three years ago, still continuing on that journey, you know, trying to be the best father I could be, while also falling victim to the old ways of like, well, look, I'm the best keynoter ever. I've scaled X amount of companies and all this idolatry and ego that kept coming in until finally, you know, my life as I knew it really just kind of and came down when, you know, the relationship ended. And for the first time, I didn't really have any other place to distract myself or hide. And that's actually when all the work that I had done for a good decade leading up kind of collapsed in one moment. And I realized that there wasn't fighting anymore. There was just surrender. And I needed something bigger. And that's when I accepted God in my life and basically ended up here in the shortest version I could give you. Yerasimos 00:19:05.180 - 00:19:09.180 What a story, man. Like, thank you so much for sharing all that. George 00:19:09.980 - 00:19:11.060 Yeah, thanks for asking. Yerasimos 00:19:11.060 - 00:19:48.710 Yeah. There's so many. There's so. Wow. I'm trying to figure out what question I want to ask because there's so much. You know, actually I wanna, I wanna get into this real quickly because you don't hear a lot of men talking about eating disorders, you know, and like a man being like, oh, I, believe me, like, the image we have is not of like a marine, like gorging himself and then going and like causing himself to like, throw up. Like, you think of it more just in one gender versus the other. So can you, like, talk about what that was and, and, and, and is it something that's more hidden in the shadows? Are there more men that are struggling with this that we don't know about? George 00:19:49.270 - 00:20:51.300 So here's the craziest part. Number one, we live in a society that celebrates men's eating disorders. I believe it's called Orthorexia. Right. What they look like. Obsessed with the gym, obsessed with macros at any cost. Hustle harder, grind harder, push when you're tired Restrict your eating X, Y, Z. What was shocking to me is when all this happened after. Well, in the process of building that food blog and still in it is when I had my first big healing stint of realizing that hiding it was what was keeping me stuck in the monster. And so, as crazy as this was, is the book became a New York Times bestseller. And I was on a book tour and I was about to give a keynote on three ways to use food to create breakthrough results in your life. I remember it like it was yesterday and my ex wife had said to me at the time, are you really going to go up there and lie to them again? Joel 00:20:52.180 - 00:20:52.660 Wow. George 00:20:52.820 - 00:25:13.650 And it was just one of those statements that stops you in your tracks. And I knew exactly what it was. And so I'm about to give this keynote to 500 people in front of my peers, my co author, my business partners, and basically tell them that I've been a fraud, that I've been on a New York Times bestselling book tour teaching people health while I was purging before I got on stage. And I'll never forget that day. And I did it. And after that, on the flight home, I just needed to write and I wrote a Post called Dear Bulimia, you fought hard, but I won. And it was just me just sharing like everything, just like this existential purge. And I didn't really know if anybody would read it. Like, I had plenty of people that came to my website, but I just posted it and I gave out my personal email. Within a week, I got over 5,000 emails and it took me almost 90 days to respond to them all. And the shocking thing was is that it was about 70% men and 30% women. Wow. And through that, I ended up going on a lot of podcasts and talking about this and got connected to some specialties and psychologists and psychiatrists and behavioral people around eating disorders. And it turns out it's not that it's more the other gender, it's that it's reported on that side because we're told to like, suck it up or that's not true, or that's not societally acceptable. And the thing that broke my heart the most is I'll never forget this. The youngest person who emailed me was like 13. The oldest man who emailed me was in his 70s and still struggling. And I even have a friend who I love dearly, who has stood on the Mr. Olympia stage and at 40 years old to this day still struggles with bulimia. And so it's so common, but it's so not talked about. And, you know, all of it for me boiled down to the deepest core of like, the reason I became bulimic is because when I was abused, I felt so out of control, both from my family and these things that have happened, that it was the only way that I could feel in control. But it was how I self punished because I didn't feel worthy. So, like, I'm not worth being in shape. I'm not worth loving myself. So I'd get so emotional and so upset, I would just go to food for that dopamine and that serotonin, and then I would be so upset I would beat myself up. Just like I was abused or I was yelled at, or I was demeaned. And the only thing that ever made me feel better was purging. And it's what made me feel like I was in control. So it was this really disgusting, cynical cycle of like, reward, punish, reward, punish, reward, punish, you know, and it cost me a lot. And so it's something I talk very, very openly about. Just like everything from the, you know, the addictions to my eating disorder, to the mistakes I've made, to how I have yelled at plenty of people in my life and thought, you know, masculinity was being the loudest one in the room no matter how anybody felt hearing you. And the thing that was missing the entire time was self love. And truthfully, Grace, like just, just radical grace, because I even look at it today, like, it, it blows my mind that, like, I have a career teaching people how to be a good human being and everybody thinks it's this thing to celebrate. And I'm like, why isn't this just our normal? Like, like, why do I even have a tagline that people come to me because I say relationship speed algorithms? Or that like, you should treat people like you should treat your neighbor right, like, that you should forgive them and give them grace? Like, I can't believe I have a career in it. It actually breaks my heart because we live in a world that's so transactional and so disconnected. Like the amount of times we ask somebody like, hey, good morning, how's your morning? And we're not really interested in what they have to say. And then all the times that we respond with like, bold faced lies like, oh, it's great. And I'm like, how about I'm choosing for it to great, but my dog got run over by a car this morning. I'm dealing with a divorce and I'm struggling a little bit, but I'm still choosing to show up. Like, we've lost that art of, like, being witnessed in whatever's real for us and allowing that to be okay. Because everything is about that, like, checkbox life or do I have it all together? And I'm like, none of it's real. And so I know you didn't ask that, but I think about it all the time. Yerasimos 00:25:14.380 - 00:25:46.500 Oh, yeah. I mean, I, I, I have, I don't want to call it experiment, but I'm trying to be truthful. Like, if I'm on the grocery store on the checkout line and they just have like the habitual, how you doing today? And I like, actually answer them and truthfully, what's happening? And they look at me like I, like I have two heads. Yeah, I'm doing okay today. I had a rough day. I got into an argument with someone. I'm feeling a little down on myself, you know, and they're just like, wait, what? They were expecting me to say good or fine and then continue checking out my food. So. Yeah, I appreciate you saying that. Yeah. George 00:25:46.500 - 00:25:51.980 I always joke, like, if you're gonna ask me how my day is, like, be prepared for the answer because, like, I'm gonna Tell you. Joel 00:25:52.860 - 00:26:18.290 Well, I mean, it's just, it's just a testament to the increasing value of authenticity and riddle connection in a world that's becoming rapidly more robotic. And so authenticity, authenticity is becoming more scarce. And so we actually value it so much more when we actually receive that from another person. And you're right, there's this strange, sad paradox in the fact that you can build a business based on valuing another person. George 00:26:19.090 - 00:27:14.250 Yeah, yeah, it's. It blows my mind. And I look at it right, like we, we live in a wheel, we all know the world, we read the same things. Whether you go the young route, the, the out of Vedanta route, the plant medicine route, the breath work route, right. This whole like self actualization route. For me, all those roads led me to Jesus, right? But in the, in the one core of all of them, the number one thing that is pure freedom is authenticity. That is like the ultimate form of self love is. I love myself enough to express myself integrously. Like that's the finish line. Yeah, that's where power comes from. That's where peace comes from. But you know, we also live in a world that the moment you're there, you can't be manipulated by your emotions, you can't be misguided by false beliefs or trying to grab all this identity that everybody tells you you could have. But it really is freedom. Like that, that talk that I gave. Joel 00:27:15.530 - 00:27:25.530 That was like, you're here for the truth moment. That was like, that was the choice where it's like, doesn't matter how much pain is there, I'm wiping the slate clean. I'm bringing myself to equilibrium, at least. George 00:27:25.530 - 00:30:17.190 Within me, a hundred percent. I can't even tell you, I think about that moment to this day. That moment was 11 years ago. I've probably given 700 keynotes since then and I start them all the same way now. Because what happened in that talk is I had my slides on the screen, I walked up on stage and. And I'll just paint the picture. A little theater in the mind for everybody listening. I am at the height of my career on a stop that my publisher paid for me to be on. And I'm about to go on stage and tell him and everybody else I'm a fraud. I was drenched in sweat. My heart rate was 170. I was literally physically shaking. I couldn't speak, like I couldn't catch my breath because I knew what I was about to face. And I doom scrolled every scenario. Everyone's gonna leave me. I'm gonna have no friends. I'm gonna end up bankrupt. And all of it, like on repeat. And I walked out on that stage and I couldn't give the talk. It was like God took the words out of my mouth. He's like, this is your moment, right? Like, this is it. Like, I love you, you're perfect. But, like, you get to show up as yourself. And I walked on that stage and I got stuck. I. I didn't know what to do. I have no problem speaking in front of people. I just couldn't say a word. And then my brain just did something and it was like, just be honest with them for one minute. And like, it's all I needed to give myself a container, like a Parkinson's law. And so all I did is I, like, looked down on my watch. This was pre iPhone, by the way, for all you young people that grew up on iPhones. Right? My watch. Because I think I sold a flip phone in 2014 or 13. And I just spoke and I was like, I've been lying to all of you. And the moment I said it, I was so present in the moment that everything else went away. And it was. To your point, it was like somebody just pulled a drain plug for like 35 years of backed up sewage. Yeah. And whether they liked it or not, I just verbally vomited on all of them. But I will never forget the feeling in my body. I was so present but also so unattached to what happened. I wasn't ruminating my brain. I wasn't in any moment. But there that from that point on, every single talk I've ever given, I walk on stage and I start a timer on my phone and I call it my 60 seconds of truth. And before I open my mouth, I tell them how I feel. I'm nervous, I'm exhausted, because I miss my son. There's three of you in the audience and we haven't spoken in five years. And I'm intimidated by you. And I'm nervous to give this talk. Enemies in the room, people that I've had bad run ins where I've like, asked for forgiveness in the middle of this. And then the moment the timer goes off, even mid sentence, I just end. I shut up and I'm like, great, so let's talk about Customer Journey. Joel 00:30:19.290 - 00:30:20.090 I love it, man. George 00:30:20.490 - 00:31:46.120 It's so powerful. And people come up to me all the time after, like, dude, I can't believe you did that. I was like, that wasn't for you. That was for me. Because it allows me to Be present and to be in that moment by just actually loving and honoring myself enough to be honest with myself. And you guys both know this from the work. The work we do is only cemented when we're witnessed in it, right? Why do we do men's work? Why do we do women's work? Why do we go see a psychologist? Like, you can't do it in the mirror because being witnessed in it is what makes it real. And so this. This game, like, that's what I try to play all the time now, is like, just, like, let's be authentic, like, wherever we are, right? Dinner, conversations, meetings. Like, don't make the mistake of sitting next to me on an airplane. I'm gonna ask you questions. I want to know, like, how'd you get here? Why do you end up. Why do you see it this way? Like, where did you get that persp. Like, I just think it's an invitation for all of us to. To be more of ourselves, right? And I. I think we live in a time. It's even the reason my branding's a lighthouse. No one ever complains that there's too many lighthouses or that they're too freaking bright. They're like, hey, I want it brighter when there's a storm and there's enough land for light to go around to everybody. Like, that's all of us. But we're only radiant when we're authentic, and that's what turns up our light. And I think that's what makes us all unique. And so I. I fight for it pretty hard. Joel 00:31:46.880 - 00:32:20.720 Beautiful, man. You're speaking our language. You know that. That moment of truth at that keynote, like, that's the ultimate embodiment of, like, one of my favorite quotes, Joseph Campbell. You know, the cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. And, like, people hear that quote and they think. Like, they automatically think of, like, an external act, like, you know, building the business or starting the social. Like, the most powerful embodiments of those moments is when you enter the internal cave that you fear more than anything else, and you sit down with that human being and you say, I've been lying to you. George 00:32:21.200 - 00:32:21.680 Yeah. Joel 00:32:21.920 - 00:32:22.800 No, Yeah. George 00:32:23.280 - 00:38:36.560 I love that quote. I also love that the. The most repeated one of them is how Mike Tyson took it. He's like, the answer you're looking for is in the work you won't do. And, like, everybody gives Mike Tyson credit. I'm like, I know. I know. But, you know, I. I think, too, for me, and I can't speak for anybody, Listening to this or to either of you incredible gentlemen. But for me, I thought entering that cave was more work. It was actually just surrender and stillness. Right? So to take you back to a moment when I ended up in Costa Rica, I was there to basically become a facilitator in transformational breath work. And I was at, like, one of the lows in my life. Like, I was at the bottom of the barrel low. And I paid a lot of money to be here, right? We're talking, I don't know, like, six, seven grand. And I walk up and I meet the facilitator, and he is like, you know, why are you here? And I was like, to fix my life. And he's like, no, no, no, no. That's not what this is for. And he's like. I was like, huh? I was like, I paid a lot of money to be here. And then he asked me another question, and he's like, well, what's the purpose for your life? And I was like, I don't know. That's why I'm paying you. And he's like, no, no, no. This isn't for you if you don't have an answer to that question. And I got irate. I was angry. I was yelling at this dude in the middle of Guanacaste, Costa Rica. I was like, I paid you X amount of dollars. Like, I'm gonna do, you know what I used to do, xyz, right? All this, like, gag me. I can't believe I showed up like that. But, you know, I forgive myself. And we get into it and I. I just am so angry. And, you know, I now know anger is a secondary emotion. Hiding sadness, typically. So he just let me go. He just let me go. And eventually I ran out of anger, and I ended up bawling my eyes out. And I was like, well, what do I do? And he's like, you can come back and see me when you can answer that question. What's the purpose for your life? And I was like, well, how the heck am I going to answer that question? And I used other choice words, but I don't cuss anymore. And he said, you know what your biggest problem is? You've never been quiet enough to hear God's whispers. And he's like, so why don't you just go with a pen to paper and sit? And I left. And it took me two days while I'm in Costa Rica. And I went through every emotion possible. And I realized in that process, after is like, one side emptied out all the Distractions, the noise, the pacing, the anger, the ruminating. Like, I had never actually just allowed myself to sit still because I was so uncomfortable in my own skin, right? Like, I had a monk on my podcast who lived in a monastery for seven years, five of it in silence. And he summarized this for me better than anybody, and he's like, you've never lived a day in your life if you can't poop without your phone. And I remember that moment specifically because this was 11 years ago. And I remember what I wrote on the paper, but it didn't come instantly. It came after two and a half days until I could actually just sit. And it wasn't like a, oh, I found this finish line. Oh, I made it. There was just this, like, being where I'm like, I'm good either way. I'll just. I'll just chill here, right? Like, I have nowhere to be. And when the question was asked, what is the purpose for your life? It sounds so cheesy, but it's mine, so whatever. I love it. I wrote to stand with structure in the face of resistance, to create possibility. That's what I wrote down. The purpose of my life was because for whatever reason, that resonated with me, it felt like God divinely, like, walking through my pen. And it made everything in my life make sense. It made the bullying make sense. It made my addictions make sense. It made, you know, the trauma and the death, the things that I experienced. It was like, well, if I can face those things on my own, imagine if I can stand in those with other people and be strong, back, soft, front, and be like, hey, I can't face it for you, but I can stand next to you in it, right? And it just. It collapsed this moment for me. But from that day on, what I didn't share in the story was right after that trip, I ended up bumping into my buddy Jim Quick, and I was up at his house. And for those who don't know Jim, everybody should know Jim. He's an absolute savage when it comes to the brain. And he said, george, one of the problems that you have is you don't recognize that your brain is a supercomputer. And every single thing you consume is programming it. The music you listen to, the TV shows you watch, the conversations you're listening to. And he challenged me, and he said, I want you to cut it all out. And so I made a commitment that for a year, I wasn't going to consume content. And I actually ended up going for two and a half Years. No shows, no movies, no books, no anything. The first six months of that was worse than kicking an opiate addiction because I was so addicted to distraction and busyness that I didn't know how to sit still. Now it is number one, the most profound and powerful practice that I have every day, which is just a stillness practice. My partner thinks I'm dead in the morning because she wakes up and she's like, you've been staring at the ceiling for 45 minutes and haven't done anything. I'm like, I have nowhere to be. I just want to be. And that was probably one of the most profound moments of my life and one of the things I do with all my clients as well. And I do this to them. They'll come to Montana. And they're like, oh, you know, they're scaling their seven and eight figure businesses. I'm like, great. They're like, what are we doing first? I'm like, I need your phone. They're like, why? I'm like, you need to go sit by that lake for an hour. You're done. No notebook, no music, not allowed to write anything down. I just need you to go witness it. Within five minutes, they're coming back in the house, like, what now? And I'm like, back out there. You just sit there, like, practice boredom. But I thought going into that cave meant, like, I have to push hard. I have to fight for this. Right. Like, I was convinced everything had to be hard when in actuality, it was just actually being still. And being still allowed me to be present, and being present allowed me to notice instead of judge or play stories on what I was feeling. And it's been one of the most profound things that I've ever done. Yerasimos 00:38:38.160 - 00:38:52.800 Yeah. So when you're laying still, is it. It's more of just like, I'm here, as opposed to, like, let me meditate and do some kind of mantra. And it's just, I'm. I'm with myself. It's like. It's like sometimes I tell people, let's see if you could just go sit in your couch and do absolutely nothing. Just sit in your couch. George 00:38:53.040 - 00:42:42.110 That, like. The reason I do. The reason I say it's a boredom practice now is because it's the only thing that lands for entrepreneurs. And I coach entrepreneurs for a living. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. I want you to practice being bored. Like, practice it right? So that the. The best thing that I can equate it to is when you get a massage and you book the Massage. And you're, like, so stoked. And then within, like, a day, you're like, why did I book it? I have so many things to do. I can cancel this thing, right? I can move it. And you're like, oh, fine, I'll go. And then you know the moment when you get on the table? Like, you get in, you're like, I wonder if it's too late. Can I ask her to, like, cut it short? Because, like, I have things to do, right? And then you're laying on the table naked. Then they walk in, and you're like, crap, I'm here now. Like, I'm stuck for an hour, right? So then they start the massage. And you know you can't get off the table. But that first 10 to 15 minutes, your mind is racing like crazy. You're like, okay, I'm gonna do this. I gotta remember this. I gotta think about this, right? And then you get to this point where you're like, okay, all right. Those three things are the most important. And you start, like, running a memory script in your brain of, like, when I get off the table, write this down, write this down, write this down, right? And then eventually, all the thoughts fade, and you're just in pure bliss. And when you stand up at the end of that massage, you can't remember anything that you were thinking about. You were just being that. Being feeling is the muscle that you're flexing when you do this practice. It's really depending on which route you go of learning this, but it's really being the observer, and it's allowing everything to be this individual moment, right? Like, Thich Nhat Han was one of my favorite people to study, you know, when I was secular pre Christian, and I would do, like, his walking meditations. And it was always like, notice the dirt under my foot. But then the moment I step again, I have to let that go and notice the next one. But it's actually being present. And so I joke with people. I'm like, no, no. Like, if you see a bird, like, I. I want your add to fly. Like, celebrate your add, if it's bird, if it's breath, if it's water, if it's car, if it's truck, like, just allow yourself to try to watch it. But what you're really doing is you're. You're flexing the muscle of calming and regulating your nervous system. You're allowing yourself to exist or be within whatever has happening around you without it dictating how you react or how you respond. You're Just noticing everything, but we never get quiet enough, right? Like, you guys have been around long enough. Like, remember, like, right before COVID everybody's morning routines was, like, the biggest obsession in the world, right? It was like, five. I don't want to knock anybody because I'm friends with some of these people, but, like, 5:00am Club and 4:00am this, and here's your ritual, and blah, blah, blah. I was like, everybody has a morning routine, right? And now you got people, like, 3:45am with this one particular water bottle. Like, people still celebrate it for some reason, and everyone's trying to mimic and replicate everybody else's morning routine. And I made an interesting point to somebody, and I was like, have you ever looked deeper than the tasks that they're doing? And they're like, no. And I was like, there's a direct correlation between the amount of success that somebody has and the amount of time they spend alone. It's not the tasks that they're doing. It's their ability to regulate their relationship with themselves. Right? Because the best ideas are yours. Nobody has your view. Nobody has your perspective. Right? Just like we know the best coaching isn't giving somebody what they don't have. It's giving back to them what they said to you in a way that they can hear it because they already knew the answer. They already knew the perspective. They just needed to hear it from a different source. And if we're all unique and we're one of eight and a half billion people and we're building our vision or we're building our life or we're building our relationship, no one else will ever have the answer for what that should look like for you. But if you don't have the time or the discipline to invest in that relationship with yourself, you'll never be able to find that answer. Joel 00:42:45.070 - 00:43:13.270 100, man. Yeah, dude. One of the most powerful movers, you know, in my personal entrepreneurship journey is. Is my mornings walking in nature by myself. Whether it's dark, whether it's cold, whether it's. Whatever it might be, just being with me, contemplating, having reverence for the mystery, having reverence for all that is. And, like, answers come, and I want to act on those answers. But then acting on those answers is pivotal as well, obviously. George 00:43:14.650 - 00:43:26.380 Yeah, yeah, it's. And. And it's. And it's true, right? Like, if we go, I feel like. And I don't know how old you guys are. Like, I'm 41. Right? So I think some. We're pretty close at age 35, 40. Yerasimos 00:43:26.520 - 00:43:27.850 I'm 45. George 00:43:27.930 - 00:48:00.760 Yeah. So we're close, right? I feel like it's a blessing that we grew up without iPhones, right? Like, I remember what my childhood was like, and it was like, play with rocks, right? Go build something out of sticks, go climb a tree, right? Like, most of my childhood, no matter how rough it was, was me actually connected to nature but not constantly having my attention commoditized, right? And now we live in a world and I have to joke with people all the time, right? Everybody who complains, like, oh, Instagram's, you know, limiting my reach. And I just remind them, I'm like, if you're not paying for a product, you are the product. Just be aware of that, right? So no matter, like, where we go, there's always someone or something trying to commoditize on our attention, to monetize it. Which means if we're not intentional about realizing we're sovereign beings and we're not somebody else's product, the default is that space is going to be utilized to make us somebody else's product. Whether it's the news, whether it's music, whether it's radio, whether it's products, it's billboards, it's social media, whatever. But I would submit is those are all the ways that things are done to create disconnection with ourself. And we don't have this, like, desire or cultural norm to pursue a deep relationship with ourselves. Like, we're convinced that you're incomplete until you find a partner. We're convinced that you're broken until you look a certain way. We're told every single day that you lose because you don't have X, Y and Z. Except they're all false premises. Because in this moment right now, no matter where you are, no matter what your life looks like, like, I. And just to clean up the story, I'm still getting divorced. It's been a four year process. Like, I'm not like, oh, sitting on a mountaintop singing Kumbaya and praying to God every day. Like, I'm in the thick of it. I'm navigating co parenting and custody and like, time with my son and divorce and investments and debt and all those things. There's no finish line to this, but there's this constant invitation that no matter what's happening around you, you always have a choice. You always have a choice on what you choose to focus on, right? Like, even my Bible tells me in Proverbs, like, I always have the choice whether I speak life or whether I speak death. Right. The choice is mine. Whichever one I choose, I make that bed, and then I have to recover from that bed, just like in every moment. I can choose to, you know, pick up my phone and doom. Scroll. Or I can choose for five minutes to sit there and maybe reflect and ask myself a question. I can choose to get in the car and turn the radio station up, or I can choose to drive in silence and see what radio plays if I don't turn it on. Right? Like, I call that God's radio. My son and I drive in silence everywhere. I live in Montana, so it's easy, right? We're staring at elk and mountain goats and mountains and lakes and rivers. But we always have this opportunity. And I. I think it's important that all of us understand we. We live in a world that commoditizes our attention. And if we're not proactive and intentional about creating that same thing just for ourself or protecting that in our environment, then we're going to end up building somebody else's life. We're going to end up in somebody else's relationship. We're going to end up building somebody else's business. Yeah. And I think I'm blessed enough to have done that enough that I realized that I've done that a few times, and I was more miserable than when I had nothing because none of it was mine. It didn't feel like mine. Didn't feel like my life. It didn't feel like my goals, my vision, my values. And what I had to realize is, because I never took the time to invest in myself to figure out what those were. And I can't do that if I don't do what you talked about, Joel, which is like, what's my time? Like, what's me time? Like, when am I just allowing myself to date myself, Right? Like, I. I laugh all the time when I travel. My favorite thing to do is, like, take myself out to dinner and take myself to a movie. Here's what's nuts. I now look like the crazy guy for eating dinner alone without a phone. I'm judged because I'm not on a phone and I'm sitting alone in a restaurant, and you see people looking and the server's like, are you okay? Like, yeah, I'm great. I'm just taking myself out on a date. It's so abnormal to the world that we live in now for you to just, like, actually exist on your own that it makes it hard, but it's required that we be proactive about it. Yeah. Yerasimos 00:48:00.760 - 00:48:09.560 I used to do that so much more, and I forgot about it. And now you just saying that. I mean, I'm. I'm married. I stay home a lot. I work from home, but I'm like, I'm gonna have to go to my wife. George 00:48:09.560 - 00:48:09.800 I'm going. Yerasimos 00:48:09.800 - 00:48:12.560 I'm taking myself out to dinner, and I'm going by myself. Joel 00:48:15.190 - 00:48:22.870 That's a good challenge for everybody, to go to dinner alone and not look at your phone at the dinner. Observe the restaurant. Observe yourself. Enjoy yourself. Yerasimos 00:48:23.270 - 00:48:46.410 Well, even, like, the. The patterning of people, even in personal development work, it's like we're with someone, they leave to go to the bathroom. We pick up our phone right away, and it's like, we all do it. I mean, I. I've done it before, and I probably still do it, but it's like the constant reminder, like, I don't need to pick up my phone just because my wife went to go to the bathroom for three hours. Or, sorry, three minutes. You know what I mean? Like, hours. That would be. That would be tough. Joel 00:48:46.490 - 00:48:48.250 So what were you doing? Yerasimos 00:48:48.250 - 00:48:51.930 I've been gone for three hours. Oh, I've just been on my phone. The time just flew by. George 00:48:52.330 - 00:49:02.890 Yeah. Yeah. It's. It's so profoundly powerful. And I think that, like, that's the. That's the craziest thing. Like, I don't think there's perfection in this. Right. There's pursuit. Yerasimos 00:49:03.130 - 00:49:03.690 Yeah. George 00:49:03.690 - 00:53:15.980 And that pursuit is tied to, like, what you want. But, like, I. I also have. I feel, like, been blessed to have. Have been around a lot of death. And even one of my best friends, who's only 56, passed away two weeks ago. And he called me, and he's like, I need you to come see me. I don't know how much longer I have. And this all happened very short period of time, and I got to go up there and spend eight hours with him. And we didn't have easy talks. We had hard talks. And he's like, hey, here's what I'm going to need you to do for my wife, Jodi. And here, like, here's what I wish I said to you. And here's xyz. Like, not once was he ever like, hey, I think we should post this on social media. Or, I feel like you should go work extra hard today. Or I feel like you should go distract yourself with everything. He's like, this moment means everything to me. And we forget, like, how fleeting life is, but how often we're not really present at all. Right. Like, we. We're constantly operating and like, well, I'm gonna get this tomorrow. I'm gonna get this the next day. I'm like, yeah, but what about, like, right now? Right? Like, it's just this constant dopamine distraction left, right, and center. And we miss these moments. And I don't know about you, but as a father, that was probably one of the most profound things for me is, like, I've had those moments. Like, he's nine. I still catch him 800 times a day staring at me to see if I'm looking. Doesn't matter what he's doing. He's constantly looking to see if I'm looking. And I swore I never wanted to be that parent, that when he looks, I'm looking at my phone or I'm looking away. Like, I want him to know I'm present and he sees it. And it's like, kids know they, like, crave presence. It's like how they exist. They don't have an inner dialogue yet, right? Their paradigm's not formed until they're eight. So they're just existing and being in these moments. And I think that that's the invitation for us. You know, somebody asked me about the meaning of life one day, like, what do you think the life cycle is? And I was like, oh, that's a loaded question. It's a good podcast question. And I was like, here's what's funny. I was like, I think we cry when we're born because it's the first moment we've ever been separated from God. And then we spend the first eight years of our life the happiest that we'd ever were, because we're not constrained by anything the world believes. We're celebrated for being unapologetically authentic. We can throw our food and our parents will take a photo and say, oh, that's cute. We can throw a temper tantrum, cry. They'll come, give us attention, then we'll be happy and move on to the next moment. And then somewhere in there, we get told how to fit into this world. We get told how to speak, how to act, how to think, how to believe. And then we go through the mid part of our life until we hit a midlife crisis or a catalystic moment. And then from the moment that happens, we spend the rest of our life trying to remember and embody what it was like to be a child until we pass away in peace, realizing we're going back home to God. I was like, so why don't we just skip that middle step and all of us Try to be more childlike now. Try to be more present. Try to be more in the moment, right? Like, I've watched my son go from best friend to mortal enemy with one kid on the playground 16 times in an hour. Yeah, right. I want to have a sleepover. He stole my tractor. I don't ever want to talk to him again. Dad, we're going to go play tag. Dad, I don't ever want to come back to this park again. Dad, he asked if I could go eat a snack with his family. Dad, we can't go. I don't like him anymore. Dad, can we go get ice cream? Like, yeah, I'm having like angel devil conversations in a moment's notice. But it's, it's all in the present. And, and I think that that's really, really what it boils down to is do we ever allow ourselves the time to focus on that? And if we understand from humans that there's only two fears that we're born with, which is loud noises and falling and everything else is a trained behavior, have we proactively started retraining these other muscles to get back to what it's like to exist like that? And I think that that's the power of stillness. I think that's the power of being out in nature. I think that's the power of spending time alone. Because at the end of the day, and this is what I say to my clients, most people that I coach, right, they're all seven figure businesses and above, and I coach plenty below, but that's a majority of them. And I say the hardest thing that you're going to face is that you built a business to avoid spending the one relationship you're guaranteed to spend the rest of your life with, which is yourself. Joel 00:53:17.420 - 00:54:02.030 Yeah, that's the authentic path, man. That's how this conversation started. 260 odd episodes was we just sat down, we hit record and we decided to talk about what it means to live authentically, to walk the authentic path. And you know, what does it mean to like to live intentionally, to curate your reality in your own image based on your own preferences, based on the things that you're actually interested in, based on the things that you actually like, you know, and even, you know, reminds me of that, that Bible verse, which I quote a lot as well. Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road which leads to destruction. And many answer through it. And it's the crowd, it's the herd that's answering through it, but small is the Gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. George 00:54:02.750 - 00:55:02.860 Oh, bro, I am so glad. I just got goosebumps. It's one of my favorite verses. And I think that it's so crazy because even on the biblical lens, that's the state of the world that we're in right now. It only takes one person, right? Like, we. We've seen it, right? I always love those videos. Like, okay, my default coping mechanism is YouTube shorts. I'm just gonna own it right now, right? Like, if I get stuck in a spiral, it's a YouTube short spiral. The algorithm's got me good, right? But I always love across coming across the ones where you see a hundred people in a field and nobody's dancing, and then one person gets up and dances and within a minute every other person is on their feet, right? Speaking in this vein or this undertow of authenticity. You ever also realize that when you're in a dinner conversation or you're in a meeting at an event, or you're with somebody, that the first moment that one person is authentic, every single other person follows suit and it feels like freedom, right? It only takes one. Yerasimos 00:55:02.940 - 00:55:03.500 Yep. Joel 00:55:03.500 - 00:55:07.140 It's the resonance. You break the pattern, you break it for everyone else. George 00:55:07.140 - 00:57:19.200 Yeah, every time, right? Like, I just had my retreat in Montana. We had 25 entrepreneurs here, and if I put on paper who was in the room, you would think that we would have a civil war against each other. We had half blue, half red, half agnostic, half I love Jesus, a couple Muslims. Every debate possible that our country fights on, nobody in the room agreed. And we all hugged at night. We loved each other, we're all best friends doing dinners together, but everybody shows up authentically. And I think that that's the invitation for all of us. But also, if not now, when? Right? It's that one thing where, like, we're so convinced that everything we want in our life is hard, right? We have to go do this, we have to go push this. We have to go achieve this. We got to go read this, we got to go study this. We're talking about just being honest in a moment to moment notice of like, just being like, hey, today I'm. I'm struggling and I'm still choosing to show up right Today. I'm like pissing unicorns and rainbows and I want to share some of it with you right today. Like, I'm excited because I've been on seven hours of calls today, but yet I'm still doubting and fearful of the divorce. And what's ahead of me? Like, I cried this morning because I was supposed to get my son back today and he asked to stay at his mom for a couple more days. All of those things can be true at the same time. Yeah. It's our job to honor those things and then allow, like, the full expression of our authenticity in. And, like, you know, even for me, like, as a Christian who loves Jesus with all of his heart, tells me 365 times in my Bible not to fear. That's the one thing I face every single day, more than anything, is like, eradicating that fear over and over of everything. Fear of judgment, fear of people's perceptions of me. You know, fear of how they're going to respond to this fear. Am I going to get the result? But I've also recognized in my life that giving voice to those fears is what eradicates them. Giving voice to those feelings is what dissipates them. It's when we stuff them all down and we pretend that they're not there, that they take control of us from the inside out. And I think it's just a deep reminder for all of us. Joel 00:57:19.600 - 00:57:20.800 Wholeness, not perfection. George 00:57:22.240 - 00:57:24.720 Always. Always. Yerasimos 00:57:25.220 - 00:58:17.690 It's also beautiful to see that you had this retreat with all these people still coming together. And I think we're moving to that place. Obviously, when we look at the media, we look outside, we go. We're so polarized. And yes, we are. And I'm seeing this movement. I'm seeing this shift of, like, when people do come together, it's not, oh, I have to sacrifice myself in order to be part of the group. It's like, I am an individual and you're an individual, and we can come together in a group and. And honor each other's individuality. And hopefully, obviously, with some of the more controversial stuff or polarizing stuff, at least be able to be with someone and hear someone and have respect for them and then ultimately focus on the things that really matter, that are universal, that we all share, as opposed to a lot of the stuff that are programs into us, that are causing us to fight and argue with one another and pick a side. George 00:58:18.250 - 01:03:03.600 Yeah, which is why I love the childhood thing. Curiosity. Right. Like, that's the difference maker. Right. When you're authentic, it allows you to be curious. And when you're curious, there's space for everybody. None of us know. Right. All of us are in our own version of thinking. We know. And then the longer you're alive, the less you realize, you know, it's just so much easier to be curious all the time. And also, I think the beautiful part of humanity is disagreement. I think that's what makes us humans, is the ability to disagree, is the ability to have these perspectives. Like, no one else has our lens. No one else sees what we see. Like, that's one of the beautiful things that creates contrast, which, like, here's the funniest part in a romantic relationship, the words tension. It's the number one tool you can use in your relationship. You don't create tension when you can see everything eye to eye. But trust me, men you love when there's tension with your wife and then she comes and attacks you. Because when you turn that tension, that polarity is what creates connection, right? There has to be a little bit of friction. And I think it's curiosity for all of us. And I agree with you on, like, you know, what the media says and all that. Like, I live in Montana, right? We have values from like a hundred years ago, a ten year ago, technology. That's what it's like living in Montana, right? It's heaven. Don't move here. We're full. Go to Idaho or Wyoming or somewhere else. We love you. Just love you on the other side of the border, right? And you see this in our towns and in our cities, but like election time, like, it's like blue, blue, red, red, red, blue, blue, red, red, red. And you know, we see on the news everybody's fighting and we're laughing at dinner together as we watch the news. I don't care, right? Like, that's the beautiful thing about, like, choice. It's. It's respect and curiosity. And so I, I think that that's the conversation. That's why I fight so hard for it in entrepreneurship all the time, right? Because, like, there's little, these little microcosms of this everywhere, right? Like it happens in entrepreneurship. Like, oh, you can't sit at our table. You don't make enough money yet. Or, how dare you sit with us. You sell a physical product. You don't do coaching. Like, get out of here. Like, mean girls was 20 years ago. Like, we graduated high school a long time ago. Can we just accept everybody for where they are? And, like, that's why I fight so hard for it. Because we all want the world to be a better place, but no one else is going to come do it. Like, if you see it, it's your responsibility. And I think that that's, even to Joel's point, Like, that's the narrow road, right? Like, it's Doing the right thing in that moment, regardless of, like, how people think about it or see about it. Just, like, I'm sure the person who stands up and dances is like, am I really going to be the first one? This doesn't feel right. But then they do it and everybody else gets involved and does it. Or the other ones I love is when there's one dude dancing and no one else is, and he still loves it and keeps dancing. I love that even more. And I'm like, go, bro. Like, be you. Right? I think that it's just a deep conversation. And I also think, not that you asked this, but I'm just, like, going right now. The reason that happens to your point about, like, the media and the things that we consume is that those things are designed to convince us that we don't know who we are or to make us question who we are. And so then when you get those moments, you doubt if you should say something. You doubt if you should engage with that person at the coffee shop or like, you know, I think about all those moments, and I'm sure everybody has one of these where, like, you've been in a public setting, like a waiter, a waitress, a. A barista, a flight attendant, and after you left, you had a moment where you're like, man, I wish I asked them a question, man. I wish I said, have a good morning, man. I wonder if I had said this, how they would have responded. I think that that's what we've all faced enough to realize. Like, we have these moments where we get to show up authentically. And, like, this is why I love, you know, my Bible, like, Jesus didn't care. I didn't care who you were. He was going to meet you with love no matter how you showed up. And it wasn't anybody. It was everybody, right? He never made it to a destination because he got stalked 8 million times on the way. And I think that that's the invitation. It's like, to meet each other where we are, to, like, show up as love where we are, to show up with respect where we are. I don't have the ability to judge anybody. My Bible tells me that there's only one person who can judge. So as far as I'm concerned, if you're in my space, you're my friend. That's it, the end. But that also requires me to put effort in and attention and be like, hey, how's your morning today? Like, hey, I saw that, you know, you looked a little down. Can I do anything? Can I pray? For you can ask you a question like, how can I support you? I think that that's the invitation is that we also have to fight against the disconnection. But it requires that somebody, one of us, all of us are proactively pursuing that to create those moments or to create those connections. Joel 01:03:05.840 - 01:03:21.330 Thank you, man. Okay, so how did the path begin with the current iteration of George Bryant? Mind of George relationship speed algorithms. Like, where was the. Where was the moment where I was like, this is. This is the path now? George 01:03:22.130 - 01:05:19.350 Yeah. So this is what's really, really interesting. So I gave away that company. And I remember I had that clarity after I met that. That guy in Costa Rica, and I had finished doing that breathwork cert, and I had such a profound experience that I realized that everything I had built wasn't mine. And I joke. I was a really good addict because I was convinced the best place to hide was plain sight. So if I was a health food blogger with a six pack, you would never know that I hated myself self harmed, was an opiate addict, and was bulimic at the same time. And so I had curated this perfect little glass house that nobody would ask. And even early on, I used to be celebrated for being authentic. I was never authentic. I gave you my version of authenticity, which was outside the moat. Because if I met you and I'm like, joel, man, like, I get it, man. I've struggled with this. I was sexually abused. I was ex. It would be so authentic bombing that you would never ask another question about how I really felt in that moment. And so when I made the decision to give that company away, everybody told me I was crazy. My ex was like, you can't do this. We don't have a backup plan. My coaches are like, you're an idiot. You could sell it for seven figures. And everyone I called said, no. And I was like, that's how I know it's the right decision. Because at 32 years old, it was the first time I can ever say in my life that I remember making a decision purely for myself that felt right in my head, my heart, my soul, my gut, everything. It was. The term is thrown around a lot. I use it too. It was alignment, but I don't like how it's used in today's culture. But, like, alignment, right? Like, everything was like, this is it. And whatever it is, Congruence. Oh, here. Thank you. That's a way better word. I use congruence too much, so I try not to use it, but coherence. I'm stealing and I will give you credit. Coherence is what it was, right? Like, everything resonated. Joel 01:05:19.350 - 01:05:20.830 Listening. I'll be listening for the credit. George 01:05:21.310 - 01:05:25.870 Yeah, I got you. This will be. I give credit. I love giving credit. Joel 01:05:26.030 - 01:05:27.150 I know you do. I know you do. George 01:05:27.560 - 01:05:31.240 Yeah. You listen to my podcast. You know half my podcast about other people. Joel 01:05:31.400 - 01:05:35.840 I love it. I didn't invent the word. It's okay. You can say coherence without mentioning me. George 01:05:35.840 - 01:05:38.880 All right, I know, I know, I know. But we'll say it's, you know, Joel. Yerasimos 01:05:38.880 - 01:05:40.120 Learned it from me. No, I'm just kidding. George 01:05:41.480 - 01:13:46.320 I'm gonna. I'm gonna spend three minutes giving credit for the one word, like, coherence. That's a good word. I'm like, actually, let me tell you where I picked it up. So my brother Nikhil introduced me to Joel, and we were on this podcast. He learned it from him, and he picked it up in this book from Joseph Camp. Like, okay, I digress. I submit now, in my story that, you know, I. I had lived this, like, false illusion, and. And really, it felt coherent for the first time, and, like, there was a knowing in me that there wasn't any doubt. I was like, I have to do this. What I didn't realize is that when I made that decision, I basically ripped all my armor and hiding places away, and I didn't know how to be because I didn't have something to hide behind. I couldn't distract with social and get dopamine, so I didn't have followers anymore because I deleted them all. I couldn't text any of my former coping mechanisms because I changed my phone number and got rid of the phone. Like, I did a full reset, and so it felt like I was a turtle that had a shell taken away, and I was just exposed to the world, and the only thing I knew how to do was surrender. And so what really ended up happening is when I ran into Jim, Quick Jim. And this was all the timing of God. I was three weeks in, after I did all that, I. I called Josh Trent. I was like, I need to give this to you. I want out. I want nothing to do with it. He now has an incredible podcast called Wellness Force, but he's who I gave civilized caveman to. And I had this, like, three weeks of just sitting in it, and I literally had no idea, no idea where money was going to come from, no idea what I was going to do. Next of the blue, Sean Stevenson. Big one, not little one. Rest in peace. Big one called me and Jim called me. They're like, hey, we have some friends getting together at the house and we'd love to see you. And I was like, guys, I don't have anything to add. Like, xyz. They're like, just come. And I was like, okay, cool. And I remember I drove up to LA and I walk into the room and then the who's who of everybody in the health space, the wellness space. Half these people have sold their company for billions now were in this room and they were all masterminding and they all went around the room doing intros and they're like, oh, business is great. My life is great. My family's great. Xyz. And then they get to me and it was like I was the dark storm cloud. And I instantly broke into tears. Number one. It was the first time I'd ever felt comfortable to cry in front of anybody. And I just didn't have a shell. So I was just like, I'm depressed. I'm. I'm struggling with suicidal relations again. I don't have a backup plan. I don't have anything. I don't know what I'm gonna do. My ex wife's pregnant. X, blah, blah, blah. And the craziest thing happened. I shared and they just moved on. Nobody, like, came to coddle me. Nobody came to pat me on the shoulder. I was like, thanks for sharing. And I was like, like, no pity fest, no coaching, no. No nothing. Like, we're just going to move on and pretend like I didn't say all of that. And it was the first time I also wasn't rewarded using it as a manipulation tactic. I was just witnessed in it. And so what ended up happening is that the rest of the day went on and I was living in extreme doubt. I didn't know what to do. And then somebody had asked Tucker Max a question about Facebook and scaling Facebook. And he answered it. I was like, Tucker, that's not good advice. And he's like, what would you do? And I was like, well, I'll just tell you what I did do. And I ended up walking in front of this room and teaching everybody how I had added, you know, 500,000 fans to my Facebook page after the algorithm changed, without tactics or strategies, it was all relationship based. And they were like, it blew their mind. And I no idea whatsoever. I just added value to the world. And by the end of the day, there were 22 people in the room and 20 of them tried to hire me. Except I didn't know that you could consult or coach. I didn't know that was a thing like, remember, I wasn't like an entrepreneur. I just figured it out. And so a few of them like, we'll help you. Like, just come help us in our business. And so on this sabbatical away from the Internet, I ended up getting the best seat in the house is I got to go behind the curtains and I got to speak into teams and people and help them shine brighter. And in this process of practicing and helping them, they were like, I feel like my business is mine again. I feel like this is why I started this. Like, I feel connected to my people again. And they were all being massively rewarded. Like, some of them doubled their business in two weeks with what I helped them with. And so it kind of started to edify this and build my confidence while also deflating my ego and putting it where it belonged, which was not for my own personal gain, not the results that I can help create. But am I really spreading the kingdom? Am I really helping people achieve things and, like, making it about them? And so I ended up doing that silently for two and a half years, no website, no anything, and rebuilt everything. And, you know, come to like, March of 2020, I was good. Multiple houses, multiple cars, multiple six figures a month. And I fell into the trap again. And, you know, my Bible tells me not to build my treasures on Earth where moths and vermin will get it, but to build them in heaven where, you know, they'll last forever. And Covid happened. And I at that time owned like seven companies, and I was consulting like 15 of them. And within a matter of 60 days, I bas a half a million dollars a month, and four companies went under. One of them, we were doing like $55,000 a day in supplements, and we basically went under. And so now here I am sitting in one of those houses I thought mattered that would make me happy in the mountains of. In the mountains of Mammoth. And once again, I was right back to where I was when I got out of the Marine Corps. And something was different inside of me, though. I had spent the last three years, like serving people, but I didn't do any good with the things that I maintained. I didn't steward the things that God gave me to help spread the kingdom or to do good. I just basically hoarded and collected. And so my business as I knew it basically got flipped upside down. I was running a mastermind of all Amazon sellers, and all of them went out of business because of COVID So basically every ounce of revenue dried up instantly. And to your point earlier, Joel, of Walking in nature because of all the things that I had gone through. I was like, I'm not going to solve this overnight. And I was like, you know what I'm going to do? I made a rule. I was like, I'm going to hike in nature every day until God tells me what's next. And I hiked every single day up this mountain, and I'd get to this rock on the top of the mountain, I'd sit there, and I'd sit there for an hour, two hours, three hours, and be like, I gotta go home. I gotta go home. And one day, it was like, day 21. I get on top of the mountain and I sit down, and the first thought that hits my head, which now I know is the voice of God, was like, why do you have a podcast microphone that you've had in your closet for eight years? And instantly my brain was like, because I never launched the podcast. I ran down that mountain, found the podcast. Mike sat down with a Google Doc and just started writing ideas, ideas, ideas, ideas, ideas. And my brain logically was like, hey, you've lost everything. You guys got, like, three, three weeks until you run out of money. You haven't been on the Internet for three and a half years. Nobody knows who you are. Nobody knows you exist anymore. You don't have any digital footprint whatsoever. Your grandiose ideas to launch a podcast from scratch. And I was like, yep, feels about right. Felt pretty coherent. And the next morning, I sat down and I recorded the first, like, 16 episodes, and I just started hitting publish and texting it to people that I knew. And I was like, I'm just going to help people. And on the podcast, I said, hey, if you're listening to this and you're struggling in business right now, if there's anything I can do to help you, I'm running these free calls every week. We're going to meet on Zoom, and I'm going to help you with anything I can. If it's marketing, if it's customer journey, if it's scaling, if it's operations, hiring, if you have it, I promise I can help with it. And I did that for about 90 days and just showed up every single day, launched a podcast, launched all that. And then people showed up for me to serve them. Joel 01:13:46.740 - 01:13:47.140 Yeah. George 01:13:47.140 - 01:14:01.300 And after about 90 days, some of those people are like, dude, we want to coach with you. The things you've done have helped us and rebuilt the business again in that process by being of service. And so then I was blessed because there was this incredible book that I read called the Go Giver. Joel 01:14:01.300 - 01:14:04.420 Dude, I was going to say, did you read the Go Giver before or after the podcast? George 01:14:04.980 - 01:14:06.020 I read it after. Joel 01:14:06.580 - 01:14:07.060 Wow. George 01:14:07.460 - 01:14:20.850 Ironically enough, is within a week of reading it, I had a friend who was one of those people and said, hey, I need to introduce you to my friend Bob Berg. You need to have him on the podcast. He wrote this book called the Go Giver. Joel 01:14:20.850 - 01:14:21.330 Yeah. George 01:14:21.570 - 01:14:44.790 Him and I became acquaintances and friends, and it shifted my whole perspective. And those three years that I had spent behind the scenes of the business, it made me realize that you can win alone, but when you get to the top of the mountain, it's very lonely. And when you win with other people, it doesn't matter if you ever hit the peak, because everybody wins in the process. Joel 01:14:45.190 - 01:14:45.670 Yeah. George 01:14:45.750 - 01:16:06.950 And I needed that time to be able to do that. And then I got really clear because I'd already been talking about relationships, beating algorithms, and I've been keynoting it and helping people, but I was doing it for all the wrong reasons. I was doing it so that people could make more money, so they could have bigger exits. Right. I wasn't doing it for legacy or to give back or to do all of that. And, like, that moment was what really anchored it in. And I'm like, I don't care if the world tells me I'm crazy till the day that I die, I will die on the hill. That revenue is never something to focus on in business, and relationships always are. And if you do it that way, you can never lose the game because there's multiple games being played. And, like, that's where the quote unquote mind of George was born. And then the moment that happened, I started doing events again. The podcast speaking. And, like, a lot of people don't know this, but I've been keynoting for, I don't know, eight years. I've never charged for a keynote. If you need me to pour into your people, you call me. Cover my flight, I'm there. You have a college class of kids that need to learn marketing. I'm there. You need me to come help you run an event, and I can help your people, I'm there. And I. I try to live my day very much by trusting God and taking every resource I have and just pouring it out, just trusting, if I like, so into people and I tithe into people, that God will always take care of me. And that's. That's kind of where everything was reborn again. Joel 01:16:08.960 - 01:16:09.600 Beautiful, man. Yerasimos 01:16:09.600 - 01:16:45.470 I love. Yeah, it's so beautiful. And what I really love, just to go back to your story, when you got invited to the house with everyone just hanging out, and then you had your experience and you were sharing and everyone just moved on, and yet you shared all this stuff. Like, I'm depressed. Like, things aren't going well. And then you go up and you offer value and p. And those people also, I want to give them credit. They, like, they weren't like, oh, look at this dude who's depressed and, like, not doing it. We're not going to hire him. They saw what you had inside and what you offered and the authenticity and the value you provided, and they're like, yeah, we'll hire you, we'll hire you, we'll hire you. Or it's like, that. That's pretty amazing, too, just hearing that. George 01:16:45.470 - 01:17:21.360 Aspect of the story, and that's what made me realize one of those moments. Authenticity matters. Like, if you're a parent or a husband, right? Think about the amount of times that you've had a bad day, something's happened, but, like, your wife or kid needs you. You still find a way. And it doesn't devalue your. Your worth in the world because you're having an emotion. It doesn't devalue your gift because you're in a season. I submit it enhances your value by honoring it and showing up authentically because it gives everybody else a permission slip to do the same. Yerasimos 01:17:21.840 - 01:18:34.590 I agree. I agree. Countless examples of it. You know, you're real, you're vulnerable. You're. But present and vulnerable, you know, maybe not, like, completely falling apart, which you can fall apart, but when you're. When you're there and you're authentically yourself and the complexity of who you are and you're sharing that, then people go, oh, wow, like, look at this person who's, like, real and authentic and present and, like, I want more of that. I want to be that way more. Instead of, like, let me be cookie cutter, you know, image of what I'm being programmed to be. And we are so unique. We're this gift of God, you know, we are this uniqueness. Like, how do you become more of that? You know, like. And it's like you become your version of it. I don't want you to be me. I don't want you to talk like me. I don't want you to act like me. What is your flavor? What is your uniqueness? And be more of that. Like, you can't be me. Like, I'm never going to be you, George, but you're never going to be me. And so the more that, like, we own that and celebrate that, that's the magic of life. And that's when communities are so awesome and so vital and, like, so cool because we're just. We just let everyone be themselves as long as, obviously, we honor one another and aren't hurting one another. Like, those are the people I want to be around. I don't want to be around the people that look the same, dress, the same talk, the same is boring to me. George 01:18:34.990 - 01:18:46.430 I love the best clip of this podcast is you summarizing everything I said more eloquently and with fire. Like, that is the clip for the show 100%. Yerasimos 01:18:50.180 - 01:19:03.860 To me, when people say, like, what's the meaning of life? What's the purpose of life? It's like, be as authentically yourself, self as you can. Figure out what you love, what your gift is and give it into the world. And, like, be of value. And. And if everyone did that, like, we have a much different world. Joel 01:19:04.500 - 01:19:04.980 Yeah. George 01:19:05.220 - 01:19:05.780 100. Joel 01:19:06.900 - 01:19:32.760 So the sermon of yours. But, you know, the thing is, man, like, the success that you're craving is never going to come by following performance culture or by following someone else's design for what that looks like. And everyone's trying to sell that to you. Everyone's trying to sell you the path, and we avoid it. We avoid it because the path isn't there. It's in here. And there's no single way up the mountain, man. There's not. George 01:19:33.400 - 01:21:01.320 For me, like, I always joke, my dad said this. Like, my dad had some incredible wisdom. And. And I forgave my parents a long time ago because they did a really good job on the short end that they were given. But he used to joke. He's like, if I was a car, he's like, when I get buried, I want it to barely start. Wheels falling off, bumpers broken, windshield cracked, like, looking like it shouldn't belong on the road. Knowing that I lived my life and I tried to figure out how to get there. And, you know when you were just summarizing this, somebody turned me onto this book about six months ago. And there was this woman who spent her whole career being a hospice nurse. And near the end of her career, she started interviewing all the people that she was a hospice nurse for. And the book is called Regrets of the Dying. I haven't read it, though, and it blows my mind because here's what's so crazy. There's five of the biggest ones that are shared by every single person on their Deathbed. Number one is I'd wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. Number two, I wish I hadn't worked so hard. Number three, I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. Number four, I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. And number five, I wish that I had allowed myself to be happier. Joel 01:21:04.430 - 01:21:09.150 I mean, that tells you everything you need to know in an apathetic way to live a good life. George 01:21:11.150 - 01:22:21.740 Yeah, it does. And I. I joke with people because, like, it sounds so simple, and it is, except I convinced myself for 25 years it couldn't be that simple and created a prison. And it was like my ego or my fear couldn't. Couldn't rationalize that. Like, the. The value of my day is how many people God lets me serve that day. And service isn't to get something back. It's to serve somebody that can give nothing back. Right. And I joke because I gave this keynote and I was like, put your hand up if you can remember reading a fortune cookie sometime older than five years ago. Right? And, like, everybody's hands go up. And I was like, keep your hands up for a minute. I want you to imagine that you believed what you read on that fortune cookie and that you applied it to your life every single day. Now, put your hand down if you don't think your life would be any better. And everybody kept their hand up. Right. Like, we have so many of these, to your point, apathetic pieces of wisdom. Joel 01:22:22.200 - 01:22:22.600 Yeah. George 01:22:23.000 - 01:22:49.020 Right. Where it's like, even airlines get it. Right. Like, put your oxygen mask on first. Right. Like chop wood and carry water. Like, even on the biblical lens. Right. Like the chop would carry water book I loved. Right. Like, our meaning comes from pursuing these things and using this gift that God gave us, whatever that is. Right. Or, you know, biblically, it doesn't tell me to rest seven days of the week. It actually tells me the ones who harvest the crop are the ones that eat. Right. And it's. You only rest one. Joel 01:22:49.970 - 01:22:52.930 The Quakers have a saying. It's like, when you pray, move your feet. George 01:22:53.490 - 01:28:42.650 Yes. A hundred percent. Right. And so when we think about these things, I think the thing that I had to surrender was to. To the glory and magnificence of God. That, like, my brain is not supposed to understand because I'm not God. My brain is supposed to be obedient because he created me out of love. But if I follow these things, whatever route you get to, because I've read Them all, they're all the same. Every book I've ever read in personal development and mindset, and all of it I found in my Bible. But reading it and living it are two different things. And I know for most of my life, I avoided living it because it was more comfortable consuming it and giving myself a temporary dopamine hit. But, like, oh, if I could spit out a lyric, right? If I can paste this on Instagram, like, hey, look, I'm meditating, Look, I'm. I'm breathing, look. No, it's like pursuing it over and over and over again is what really starts to drastically change, right? It's just like, I can drive by the gym all I want, but driving by the gym doesn't give me a six pack, right? Like, I can. I can quote authenticity quotes all day. I. I'll. I'll literally regurgitate the man in the arena, quote. But if I'm regurgitating the man in the arena, quote, I'm not in the arena being the quote, right? It's so, like, it's all these little moments where we're just constantly surrounded by choice, and it's this moment to moment choice. Like, all three of us today, like, this feels like the biggest blessing of my day. Like, I'm full. I could do this for seven hours. Like, I'm good. But it's because each one of us in this moment chose to show up, chose to share our feelings, chose to do all that, which means when we're done with this, we can choose or not choose to bring that into the next conversation. And I think the beauty of being a human is the moment you realize you're not choosing the thing that you desire. Well, guess what? Now you have the ability to choose that thing that you want to bring into integrity, right? And it's just this game over and over and over again, just like with my son. And I think he's been the greatest teacher I've ever had. I swore I would never raise my voice at my son. Like, that is something that's important to me because of my childhood. And I haven't. But I haven't been short with my son a hundred percent, not intentionally. And there's been a few moments where my son's like, hey, dad, can I talk to him? Like, yeah. He's like, hey, that didn't. That didn't make me feel good. I'm like, I'm so sorry, buddy. I hear you. Like, I'm sure it felt this way and this way. And then there's been thousands of other times where I'd, like, say something. I'm like, hey, man, I'm so sorry I said it that way. Daddy came off a little bit short, and I caught it and corrected it. And he's like, dad, it was fine. I'm like, oh, it wasn't fine for me. And he's like, okay. And we communicate like that. But, like, there's millions of moments in our day, just like earlier I gave that example. And maybe that's just me speaking, but I know I've been in a restaurant and had a waiter or waitress and walked out the door and instantly regretted, like, not asking them something or telling them something. And I'm like, well, guess what? My car is running, but it's not in reverse yet. I've opened my door, walked back into the restaurant and been like, hey, Joel, by the way, I just wanted to tell you it's the greatest gift to be able to talk with you. And by the way, here's my email. If you need anything, if I can help you with that at any way, just let me know. Right? We're always given the opportunity, but we have to choose that narrow road. And every time we choose those things, we get better and better and better, and it becomes more habitual. And I would submit. And this is me just kind of putting myself on blast right now. Most of the time, I choose those things. They're not the easy choice. I convince myself I don't want to do it. And then. This might make me sound like a bad dad, but, like, I love my son with every ounce of my being, like, that's my man. But navigating a divorce and being accused of things I didn't do and all these things takes a toll on my capacity. And then I pour into people 10, 12 hours a day. And there's so many times where I'm just sitting there relaxing with my son. He's like, dad, let's go bounce on the trampoline. And my default is no, right? It's not, yes, let's go play. And every part of my soul wants to scream like, yes, go play. And I catch it. And I'll be like, hey. But actually, I didn't mean to say no. I just needed a minute. You ready? And he's like, yeah. And, like, I just want to sit there and be a law because I'm so tired. And he doesn't know the weight that I carry sometimes. But then I saw Handraberman did a study on this, which is hilarious. There's a part of your brain called the mid angular cingulate cortex. And it's the part of your brain that's associated with willpower. And the interesting thing about it is the bigger it is, the more willpower, desire, joy and purpose you have in your life. The only way it grows is when you do something you don't want to do. And every time you practice that, it gets stronger and stronger and stronger again. And I look at it and I'm like, when we go to the gym, we see somebody running and they're making a face like they're dying. We celebrate them. We're like, oh, they're working hard, right. We say somebody like, pushing through something. We're like, look at them, they're working hard. But then when it comes to like our own intrapersonal relationship, we see those signs and we use them as a break check instead of something to push through and to keep strengthening the muscle of ourselves. And I think that that's the greatest opportunity because I genuinely believe in my core that the moment we stop pursuing it, we're not stagnating, we're not paused. We're actually regressing backwards because time is still going. And we're missing these opportunities to express our love more or to grow our mindset more or love ourselves more or to continue to basically, you know, men to that garden. And I think it's just such a beautiful opportunity for all of us. Joel 01:28:44.730 - 01:28:45.530 Entropy, man. George 01:28:45.530 - 01:28:45.930 It'll. Joel 01:28:45.930 - 01:28:50.250 If, if you don't exercise it, entropy will ultimately eat away at you on all levels, you know? George 01:28:50.490 - 01:29:05.890 God, you and your big words, man. I'm going need a dictionary. And I like this cohesion. Entropy. I love it. I love. I taught somebody a new word yesterday, so I'm proud of myself. They didn't know what titration was. And I was like, you don't know what titration is? Yerasimos 01:29:05.890 - 01:29:06.890 Oh, that's a good one. George 01:29:07.170 - 01:29:08.210 One of my defaults. Yerasimos 01:29:08.690 - 01:29:09.330 That's great. George 01:29:09.570 - 01:29:16.610 He always says, my best friend, though, he says deleterious. And I'm like, can you define that for me again? Because I, I really, I. I need you to define that for me. Joel 01:29:16.690 - 01:29:18.370 I, I don't know that word. What's that word? George 01:29:18.610 - 01:29:25.490 I don't even know. He's defined it for me like 10 times. And so now I'm like, subscribe to like three websites. Like, word of the day. Joel 01:29:25.810 - 01:29:26.290 Yeah. George 01:29:26.290 - 01:29:31.490 So I can keep learning words, but deleterious is like, harmful in like a subtle or unexpected way. Yerasimos 01:29:31.490 - 01:29:33.250 Yeah. Got you. Gotcha. George 01:29:33.250 - 01:29:33.720 That's good. Yerasimos 01:29:34.110 - 01:30:13.040 Hey, George, we've talked about a lot of Stuff here. And I know that it might relate to even some of the things you're. You're going to answer with to this question. Like, you have all these people that want to work with you, that have hired you to scale their businesses, to fix their businesses. So these people that have hired you, like what, what are like the common things where you realize they're just. You're just not doing it the quote unquote right way? Like, if you shift this, you can turn it around. I mean, I know it's like the customer journey in the relationship, but like, more specifically, like, you've worked with so many people, like, what are you seeing? And how can people who have coaching practices or businesses, like, what do they need to shift? George 01:30:13.600 - 01:34:55.630 Yeah, it's a great question. So I'm going to frame this before I answer it. So I love this question. Okay, so I'm going to tell a short story on how you can understand this. Right? And so I always ask a question. I was like, everybody tends to know who Tom Brady is, right? Tom Brady plays American football, right? Everyone's like, oh, yeah, Tom Brady, right? Brady is a quarterback. If you don't know, Tom Brady has a playbook to execute when he played for the New England Patriots. And everyone's like, yeah, yeah, I get it. I'm like, amazing. So do you think if I took the playbook of Tom Brady and I gave it to a high school quarterback, he could win that super bowl game for the Patriots? And they're like, no. And I'm like, but why not? They have the same playbook. And he's like, oh, because there are different caliber of players. And I'm like, ah, now you figured out what it takes to scale a business. Because in business, there's two games being played simultaneously. There's the playbook, which are the things that we execute. Our sales calls, our coaching calls, our fulfillment. Right? All those things. Marketing, sales, delivery operations. But then there's the most neglected game, which is the player, which have we become the person to maintain the business at that next level, which typically boils down to mindset, habits, behaviors, vision, things along those lines. And so the first mistake that people make is that everybody that has some semblance of success will bump up against a ceiling. The ceiling is not because there's plays missing from the playbook. The ceiling is because there's a perspective missing on how to execute those plays more effectively. It's a perspective shift at that point, right? Because the best companies in the world, some of the ones that I've Scaled to a billion. They're not doing paid media on a different platform than you are. They're not doing email marketing on a different CRM that you don't know exists. They're not coaching with some crazy model that doesn't exist. They're using the same thing you're using, except they're using it differently because they see it differently. So the first mistake is people assuming that every time they want to grow and scale their business that it's a strategy or tactic that's missing. News flash 99 of every business model that you could live in right now has been proven and executed. And it's not by being cute, it's by being consistent with the things that work. The second thing, besides that actually boils down to a lot of marketing and customer journey. Because one of the things that is glorified in our world right now is that growing and scaling a business comes from acquisition. Right? I need more sales, I need more leads, I need more calls booked, I need more people on my email list. Scaling a business comes from retention and not acquisition. You've heard this said before. In some degree it's cheaper to maintain a customer than it is to acquire a new one. But yet all of our actions and behaviors get focused on acquisition instead of retention. Retention is where customer journey comes in, where marketing comes in, where communication comes in. Right? And so what happens is when people want to scale, they convince themselves that the current way that they do business is the right way to do it. So like, if I just add more people into this, then I'll have more numbers out the back. But what they forget about is the long term game. Reputation damage, word of mouth marketing, bad experiences over and over and over again. So some of the common things that I see the most is that people end up drowning in a bucket of their business that doesn't have to do with delivery. And in delivery, their clients either aren't getting the results that they promised or they feel alone in the process. And then they put more people into that system or funnel or they think that when somebody gets on a sales call and they're a no, that means they're a no forever. When it actually means they just need to be guided and supported a little bit. But we say, oh, move on to the next. They said no, we're moving on to the next. Right. And so I, I always try to have people imagine if their business online was a brick and mortar. Like if you actually had a storefront for your coaching and every, every one of your coaching offers was A product on the shelf behind you. Would you treat and speak to people the same way if they were walking in your store the way that you do online? And they're like, no. And I was like, so why do you think it'll work online? Right? Because online, if somebody DMs you, you don't respond because they didn't pay you yet. But if somebody walks into your store and says, hey, good morning, I have a question about your product. Are you going to stare them dead in the face and ignore them until they leave? Joel 01:34:56.430 - 01:34:57.950 Leave them on red in real life. George 01:34:58.470 - 01:41:42.110 Leave them unread in real life, right? And they're like, no. And I was like, what about if somebody walked into your store, picked up a product off the shelf, asked you a question about it and then put it back on the shelf? Would you be like, hey, you're banned from ever coming back into my store and window shopping doesn't exist anymore? And they're like, well, no. And I was like, so why do you think it's okay to do it online? And why do you magically think that if you do that online, it's going to create this desirable result? Right? So Customer Journey for me is really relationship management at scale. And it applies to every business. I've worked with everything from like battery companies to physical products to kids toys to headphones to plastic surgeons, dentists, optometrists, it doesn't matter. I've worked in every industry because if you have a customer, you have a relationship that's being managed. And in business, it's really, really simple. Every decision a human being makes is an emotional based decision. Somebody choosing to listen to this podcast isn't based on logic, it's based on emotion. They could logically resonate with the title, get two minutes in and not feel safe on this show just because of how we're speaking and be like, I don't want to listen anymore. That's not logical, that's emotional. Right? Every decision we make is an emotional based decision. So I want to bring this full circle to what we were talking about earlier. In order for me to be in a relationship with somebody, I have to know who that person is, which means I have to experience them in some degree authentically, in their social media, in their marketing, on a sales call, something along those lines. And in order for me to make an emotional based decision, I have to be in a relationship, which means we have to know each other to some degree before you can ever invest in me. Once we have that relationship, you are only choosing to Work with me because I've promised you a result. Well, in order for me to win, I actually have to get you that result, which means I have to keep building and focusing on that relationship to help guide you towards that goal. And only when that result is in pursuit can I retain your attention and energy. And when you get that result, would you then turn around and give me a referral or tell other people about me? So the biggest mistake on top of the list that I said is people treat people like their transactions or bank accounts and expectations, transformational results. They look at it and they're like, oh, I only had a hundred people on my webinar and 21 showed up. That's not enough. And I'm like, okay, well imagine I just plopped you in my office and put 21 people in a captive audience in front of you. Would you say that to their face? And they're like, no. And we forget that every business starts with their first customer, their first 10, their first 20, right? Even the best restaurants in the world that sometimes have a six month wait, they don't have a six month wait year round. They have a down season where you can walk in and get a table. Right? They treat you the same, they do it the same, and they honor every single one. And so we forget the nature of business, the strategies and tactics that we use and the things that work, they're easy. But if you don't have the perspective to understand what you're doing, that like scaling a business is actually scaling one thing at a time, one person at a time, you'll never, you'll never win that game because you'll end up breaking something in the process. And so without context, it's hard to give strategic or tactical answers. But some of them are, I get somebody to sign up for my program and then I never email them again. I need to, until I need to sell them something else, right? Or somebody reached out to me and they asked me a question, but they didn't pay, so I didn't answer yet. So I left them unread or I sold them a course, but they're not doing it well. That's like paying a personal trainer and then gaslighting them for you not showing up to the gym. You didn't promise to sell them a workout, you promised to help get them a result, right? So there's a lot of like, tangible pieces that show up inside of business. Both coaches, consultants, physical products, course creators, where we forget about human nature and we're convinced that scaling is by being Transactional. If I just had a hundred more people, if I just got a thousand more Instagram followers, So I just got more people to listen to my podcast. But it's a trap, because if you actually got the more, it would break your business and put you out of business because you didn't have the capacity or the container to maintain it. And so a lot of the things that I do is when I go into a business, like with my private clients, typically, they're up against a wall. And I asked them one specific question. This for everybody listening. As an entrepreneur, I'm like, what are three things that you did in your business the first year of your business that worked really, really well that you are not doing today? And every single time, at least two of the three of those things, when we add them back, their business starts to grow again. And it's because when we're, quote, unquote, scaling, we try to remove the most important equation from the field, which is our. I had a private client, and she was doing $250,000 a month coaching, and then her team was like, hey, listen, you got to do this and this and this. Don't do those live videos on Instagram anymore. Nobody converts from them. There's only like, 15 people watching them. Like, it's not a good use of your time in that hour. Within 90 days of her not doing those videos, revenue got cut in half. But it wasn't tangible and measurable, right? It wasn't in a funnel. Came in as a client, and I was like, hey, we need to, like, what are we not doing anymore? There's an answer somewhere in this data. Well, yeah, well, we're not doing these lives anymore. I was like, okay, cool. Add them back. And they're like, what? I was like, add them back. Within four weeks of adding them back, that number started to grow 25% month over month until it was right back to where it was. And so people make these mistakes all the time. But there's a reason that success is boring. You're not supposed to get a dopamine hit from it. You're supposed to do it because it works. And when we're in business, a lot of times the things that people got to work, they got bored of doing, and they convinced themselves that something else will work better, so they stop the thing that's actually growing and scaling the business. And so I come in and I'm like, well, let's change the process around this. Let's make this more advantageous. Let's measure this. Let's help you have a better way to do this. And we actually build containers around the levers that move the needle in the business, not the ones that give us dopamine hits in the process. That's my short answer. Joel 01:41:42.670 - 01:41:58.830 You're a gangster, bro. I love it, man. One of my favorite quotes, and it just speaks to this realm so potently, is by Charlie Munger, the partner of Warren Buffett in Berkshire Hathaway. And he says, trust is the greatest economic factor in the world. George 01:42:01.470 - 01:42:50.880 Yes. And like, I say this to people all the time because they, like, I. I did a talk for Google in 2020 at, like, this natural foods thing, and they were sharing statistics with me, and it blew my freaking mind because they had quantified this, and they're like, did you know this was 2020? Did you know 91 of all marketing is word of mouth marketing? And I was like, what? And like, I knew it was, like, a lot, right? But if we think about it, if I'm like, hey, guys, there's this book that I love. Like, you're gonna go read that book now, because I read you those five quotes. I brought it up. You're like, I'm gonna go get it off my shelf and read it now, right? When somebody you know, like, and trust recommends a book, you'll go buy it, right? If you see a friend, you know, rocking a pink Stanley, because everything should be pink. Oh, look. And you have the go giver and the catalyst. Oh, my God, you're speaking my love life. Joel 01:42:50.880 - 01:42:54.760 Oh, and he has them. He has them. Yerasimos 01:42:54.760 - 01:42:55.280 I have them. George 01:42:55.280 - 01:42:56.080 I haven't read them yet. Yerasimos 01:42:57.120 - 01:43:03.320 Showing it based off of your post that Joel had shared with me about the books. And I ordered all of them. It's good. George 01:43:03.320 - 01:43:06.440 It's good. And, like, staring at them is like mental masturbation, right? Yerasimos 01:43:06.440 - 01:43:10.400 Because, yeah, totally. I mean, they just came in mail, so, you know, I got some time. George 01:43:11.780 - 01:45:32.230 But, like, we. We forget about this, right? And I joke with people all the time because we get convinced in this digital world that there's not a human on the other side of it. Yeah, right. Like, oh, it's just a number, right? It's just somebody else who didn't register for my webinar. What we forget is that same person might be your next $50,000 deal. And it's not about the money, but it's about treating everybody equatably to be able to do this. And I always give this example for people because a lot of people don't understand reputation. And we spoke about this earlier that we're seeing a shift in people wanting authenticity and wanting these connections. It is actually the thing that's moving the needle for a lot of my clients right now. Their buying cycles are a lot longer. The things that they used to do aren't working well. You want to know what the one thing that's working better than anything is? Authentic connections. They send video DMS back and forth. They give people the space and the patience. And so much of it is reputation based because everyone is voting with their dollars now. And they've been so burnt out in all these industries. They're like, I'm only going to work with you if I know, like, and trust you if somebody recommends you. And everyone's like, george, it's not that powerful. Like, okay, cool. Ready? I was like, have you ever been to a restaurant where the food was incredible and the service was horrible? And they're like, yes. I was like, great. How many people did you tell to go eat at that restaurant? And they're like, none of them. I'm like, great. Second question. How many people did you tell not to go there? And they're like, a lot. I was like, but the food was incredible. And they're like, yeah. And I'm like, great. Next question. Have you ever eaten at a restaurant where the food was suboptimal but the. But the performance, the staff and the treatment was incredible? And they're like, yeah. I'm like, how many times did you recommend that restaurant? And they're like, oh, I tell everybody about it. That's the point is that people forget about that. We are one of the most connected worlds now with social and Instagram and Facebook and TikTok and WhatsApp and we talk. And people focus so deeply on the transaction and the short game that they don't realize they're creating their own long term damage by not treating people like people. Because I would submit that half the things we try to do to people on the Internet, we would be afraid of getting punched in the mouth if we ever tried to do when they were standing in front of us. Joel 01:45:32.470 - 01:46:03.680 Yeah, you know, man, like, like we speak about coherence. And like, when I, for example, read the Go Giver, it's like, this is my natural inclination anyway. This is what I'm naturally inclined to do, how I'm naturally inclined to treat people, communicate with people, give to people. Yet for some reason, like, it's so distant, it's so out of the picture. It's so not. And it's like, this is easy. This is what I want to do this is what feels right to do. Yerasimos 01:46:03.760 - 01:46:40.280 Like, and I think some people, like, they'll. They'll behave in that. In that way, and then they get convinced otherwise, and they have to kind of rediscover it also, as well, in terms of, like. Like, maybe naturally giving. And I mean, giving from a place of, like, something that you. You're love and passionate about. It's not this, like, sacrifice or doing things that you don't want to do. It's just, like, the natural extension of your authenticity and that you're giving it out. And then you get conditioned. No, no, that's not the way to do business. That's not the way to operate. And you're like, but that's how I am. That's how I am with my friends, my family, the people that I love. And so why do we then just go, nah, that's not how business works? George 01:46:42.680 - 01:47:40.420 Well, that's the game, the lie that everybody falls victim to. And I do this with my clients all the time. They'll. They'll be like, well, I'm like, do me a. I want you to print off every email that comes that you're sending out to promote this offer. And they're like, yeah, I'm like, I want you to go find somebody that you know, and I want you to read them all out loud to them. And, like, I won't do it. Like, why not? They're like, I would never say this to somebody in person. I was like, then what makes you think it's going to work in email, right? Or like, imagine all the people that are convinced, like, oh, man, like, I gotta upsell them. I'm like, imagine you go to the grocery store and you show up with a banana, a loaf of sourdough, and a dozen eggs. And you check out, and they're like, great. Have a good day. And then when you get to the exit, they're like, hey, wait, Joel, do you want to double your eggs for half the price? And you're like, no, I would. I would have bought them already. And so you say no again. And then you get to the trunk of your car, and they're like, joel, wait. How about four dozen for a quarter of the price? And at this point, you get arrested for assault, right? Joel 01:47:40.740 - 01:47:44.380 And you're like, I mean, eggs go off. You can only eat a certain amount of eggs in a certain amount of time. George 01:47:44.380 - 01:48:37.050 You know? You know what I mean? But, like, we do that online, and we expect it. One of the things that I also ask, and I do this with every client. I've done a keynote on this. And I was like, hey, put your hand up in the air right now. If you have a sales funnel, right? And mostly everybody's hands go up. Like, cool. Keep your hand up. If your significant other or the person you love in your life the most were to go through that funnel today, would you be happy about their experience? And 75% of the hands go down. And I was like, so wait, you're up here telling me that it's okay that my wife goes through your funnel, but it's not okay that your wife goes through your funnel? And you want me to be stoked she's paying you, right? We forget about these simple things because we're surrounded with, like, get rich quick, Scale this here, do this. Why transact here, automate this. Joel 01:48:37.130 - 01:48:42.210 Yeah. Which is the antithesis of this. Because it's dehumanizing. George 01:48:42.690 - 01:49:06.370 It is all dehumanizing. And we all hate it, too. We all hate it, too. Like, even if you do it, you're the first one to complain when somebody else does it to you, Right. You're the first one to be like, oh, my God, I can't believe this automatic text message I'm getting. Oh, they're totally using manychat xyz. I'm like, great. If you don't like it, what makes you think the people you're talking to will? Joel 01:49:08.690 - 01:49:09.090 Yep. George 01:49:10.370 - 01:50:27.800 And the hardest thing about this is it's no different than losing weight. You want to lose weight, eat less than you burn, move your body, sleep and drink water. You want to build and scale a business. Realize that you're in the game of relationships. And if at any point in your business you're doing anything to try to remove a relationship or a connection or a touch point, you are choosing to put yourself out of business or make it drastically harder on yourself. None of us want to walk into a restaurant and have a robot hostess, right? I go to those sushi restaurants with my partner where they have the iPad on the table. I click that thing, and then I wave down the server. I'm like, hey, can you come talk to me for a minute? Like, can I get a water, please? Like, I want to modify this. Like, hey, I have a question. Like, yeah, yeah. Like, I don't want to talk to a robot. I want to be in a relationship with the person I'm doing business with. Right? That's just how I see it. And truthfully, I have an entire roster of people who chose to see it the same way. And now Their businesses are drastically different, and they're leaving a legacy and doing good with the money. And I'm not saying you can't do it the other way, but what I am submitting is if you choose to do it the other way, you also have to be prepared to handle the fallout when you're all done with that and what life looks like because it's not rewarding. And I've been on both sides of it. Yerasimos 01:50:27.950 - 01:50:28.190 It. Joel 01:50:30.110 - 01:50:35.790 Laura, value. True worth is determined by how much more you give in value than what you take in payment. George 01:50:39.070 - 01:50:46.590 Like magic eightball, bro, every time I shake you, I get some other profound piece of wisdom. Quote, like, we're just gonna call you Eight ball. Joel 01:50:46.830 - 01:50:48.430 I'm here, awake. I'm here, awake. Yerasimos 01:50:49.310 - 01:50:50.670 George, thank you so much, man. Joel 01:50:50.670 - 01:51:15.190 This has been incredible. This has been absolutely incredible, man. So much depth, so much richness. Your story. And then coming out the other side and just dropping these bombs, man, these absolute missiles on the truth about entrepreneurship. Love who you are. Thank you for being you. I'm so grateful for every hardship that you experienced in your life because of the juice that we get to experience right now in this conversation. George 01:51:16.070 - 01:51:19.110 Me too. Go ahead. You go. Yerasimos 01:51:19.350 - 01:51:20.870 No, you go and then I'll go after you. George 01:51:21.110 - 01:51:54.850 I was gonna say it reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, because you like dropping quotes every day. I'm so grateful for that journey as well. And I have it written on a sticky note in front of my computer, and it says, don't forget, you often prayed for things you didn't have the character and scars to maintain. And I realized that every single one of those moments was the greatest blessing ever because it gave me the scars to remember and the character to maintain, the blessings that God made puts on my plate every single day. Yerasimos 01:51:57.010 - 01:52:03.890 Yeah. Well, I was going to say I want to give a shout out to Nikhil because relationships are important, you know. Joel 01:52:04.210 - 01:52:07.170 But I mean, I was thinking the same thing, bro. Sorry. Go. Yerasimos 01:52:07.650 - 01:52:11.890 No, I was saying, yeah, I first heard about you and who you are and the work that you do through him and. Joel 01:52:11.970 - 01:52:12.450 But I'm. Yerasimos 01:52:12.450 - 01:52:13.290 And yeah, yeah. Joel 01:52:13.290 - 01:52:38.490 The thing I learned through you, right? It's. It's. It's like I'm from. I'm from Sydney, Australia. For some reason, I'm living in San Miguel die. And they. For some reason, I'm meeting the kill. For some reason, the gill is showing us George Bride. For some reason, George Bride is shaking our world up without ever meeting him. Now we're having this incredible conversation, and we get to continue to share the Gift through this conversation. And it's like, gratitude for all that is. Is the meaning of that. Yerasimos 01:52:38.490 - 01:53:05.390 Yeah. Gratitude for everything that it took to make this moment right here happen. And it's like, that's what I love focusing on, too. It's like, everything that you went through, all your life experiences. Then let's go back your parents experiences. Let's go back. Your grandparents experience. Let's go back. Your great grandparents experience. All these stories, all these struggles, all these choices that were made that. That. That allowed you and Joel and myself to come together in this moment. Like, that's the sacredness of life. George 01:53:05.710 - 01:53:06.030 That. Yerasimos 01:53:06.030 - 01:53:44.270 That's the thing that, like, I think about on a regular basis is, like, as I go through my day, like, what did it take to make all these things happen? And when you think about relationships, that's it. It's like, you know, we're on a call together, or you, you know, you're in a program with me, or I meet you at the store. Like, there's so many stories that we don't even know about that led to, like, our paths crossing and for, like, the potential for magic and miracles to occur because of those connections. And. And, like, that one makes me want to cry. You know, that, like, that awesomeness of life is so, so incredible. And. And that's what I relish. And that's what I think is so beautiful. And. And, yeah, I want more of it. George 01:53:44.270 - 01:54:12.620 You know what you said, right? Like, I. I think the best. The way that you just wrapped that is us surrendering to God's timeline and us enjoying the beautiful masterpiece that's being created in front of us and soaking it in, not trying to understand why it came or where it came, and robbing us of the ability to just enjoy it and be grateful for it. It every single day. Yerasimos 01:54:12.860 - 01:54:29.180 I agree. And I think that knowing and that embodiment is what counteracts the transactional nature of even. Like, I did a webinar, and there's 14 people on here. It's like, but us, 14 people will never be together like this ever again. George 01:54:29.740 - 01:54:30.220 Yes. Yerasimos 01:54:30.300 - 01:54:32.540 Can we just recognize that? George 01:54:32.940 - 01:54:34.700 Yes. Yes. Yerasimos 01:54:34.940 - 01:54:48.880 Like, how cool is that? Like, what were you doing this morning? What were you doing this morning? And then you all pressed buttons to get on this. This square. To be little squares in the square and to be together, you know, reception talk. George 01:54:48.880 - 01:54:49.360 Yes. Joel 01:54:50.000 - 01:54:50.560 Yeah. George 01:54:50.560 - 01:54:51.200 That's just. Yerasimos 01:54:51.200 - 01:55:20.330 I don't know, man. That, like, gets me excited. It's so cool. And it, like, that brings out the kind of. The wonder and the childlike nature within me. Of like the awesomeness of this existence. So 100. I think more we can have gratitude for that and put our focus on that as opposed to what can this person give me? You know, it's like, no, like what. What can this beautiful, magical, sacred experience provide for all of us that we get to be here together? You know, that's. It's kind of. It's pretty cool. Joel 01:55:21.290 - 01:55:22.250 It's pretty cool. George 01:55:24.170 - 01:55:25.930 Agreed. The piece to resistance. Joel 01:55:27.850 - 01:55:29.210 George, you have. George 01:55:29.530 - 01:55:32.490 I would literally do like a 10 hour podcast with you. Joel 01:55:32.890 - 01:55:47.870 Oh, dude, this won't be our last. I'm sure. I'm sure about that, man. I'm sure about that. You have our audience's ear, bro. Obviously of the incredible mind of George show. Where else would you like to I guess direct them to kind of enter into your beautiful universe at this point in time? George 01:55:48.270 - 01:57:39.620 Yeah. Thank you for asking. If you're listening, you're probably in one of two buckets. You're probably right. Either side. He's a kook. Totally true. And I want nothing to do with him. I love you. I will be here when you come back. Number two is like, I want a little bit more. My favorite color is pink. And if you want to see the pinkest website you will ever see in your Life, it is mindofgeorge.com it looks like a Care Bear threw up on my website. So yes, I love myself enough to love my favorite color pink. And I say that because Joel mentioned my podcast, which is will go down in history, is like the proudest thing I've ever done in business. 700 episodes and I give away absolutely everything that I know. I don't hold anything back. If, if somebody asks it, if you need it, I share all of it on there. And. And the goal is that it improves your life and you turn around and give that to somebody else. And that means the world to me. If it supports you and helps you. And I would say my LinkedIn except I'm banned for life. If you want to know why, you're gonna have to DM me and ask. But if you do want to connect personally, if you have any questions, if I happen to open a loop for you, if there's something you need more clarity on, if anything, I said I can help land the plane for you. Just shoot me a DM on Instagram. They'll have it linked. But it really easy. It's. It's George Bryant. The it's is included or else you get this like 78 year old realtor in Michigan that gets really upset that he gets blown up all the time because he's retired and he won't give me the account. But it's George Bryant on Instagram, and I mean it. If you want to get a cup of virtual coffee, if you want to have a video call on Instagram, like, whatever it is, however I can serve you, however I can support you, I'm here, so it doesn't matter. And I just need to say this. I don't care if you have a business, if you don't have a business, if it's eight figures, seven figures, one figure, I still want to talk to you because I just want to connect with you. So if I can help in any way whatsoever, like, please don't hesitate to reach out. Joel 01:57:41.380 - 01:57:46.180 Thank you, man. Thank you so much. Everyone else. He means it, and thank you for listening.