Latest / Forget The Noise / 22. Operate Where You Wanna Be | Featuring Tharun Binu
Transcript
- speaker-0: They say motivation something you want. Discipline is something you need. Obsession is something you have to have. I'm gonna show you what I wanted, how I got it, and how I was obsessed to get there. Alright, let's go another week on Forget the Noise podcast. I think we're on episode like 17-18. Something like that. And now we're getting comfortable, so we're gonna like open the fucking floodgates. It's gonna be awesome. Today we're gonna get on the other side of the lens. We have a special guest, T-Bone, aka Thrune. Well, I guess it'd be Thrune, aka T-Bone. Anyway, so we're gonna call him T-Bone because that's his nickname. and It was kind of a last minute decision. Well, it wasn't a last minute decision. He got notified last minute. I had this planned for like two weeks now. And I'm like, I'm just gonna hit him like the night before. And we were actually at an event last night, a networking event. He was capturing some content, me doing some guest speaking. And we were there till what 8:30? 80, yeah. Yeah. And he d still didn't know at that point. It like what nine thirty? I messaged you, and he's like, Bro, you know the guest really well. And he's like, Who's a guest? I'm like, it's you. He's like, No F and way. But speaker-1: Eight thirty. speaker-0: I feel like lately it's been a lot of like output on me. I've been putting a lot out in the world. I've been doing a lot of like hate to say showboating or displaying what I'm doing and stuff like that. So I thought bringing through naught is gonna tackle a lot of other stuff that I wanted to capture in the content. It's like, am I actually doing the work? Because I've got some DMs or conversation where it's like, Are you actually at the gym every day? Are you actually getting up at four fifteen and stuff like that? And he can like vouch for that. On top of that, he's a new business owner. Which is great and it ties right into the personal development thing because he went like in his first year, year and a half of business now. What two years? Four. Four years. Whoa. Anyway. ⁓ but now he's getting into that like whole like personal development and getting into different networks and stuff. And that aligns exactly what I'm trying to put out in the world, is like you are who you surround yourself with. And he's gonna be able to tell you the direct impact that he's had on that and how it's changed him over what, six months now? Six months. Six months. So that's why I wanted to bring him on because it we're gonna get someone from behind. the lens actually in front of the lens we're gonna be talking about like the actual realistic struggle and day to day that I'm going through along with how it's impacting the people around me on top of that how it's helping a new business grow. So it's like the perfect episode at this time. I feel like we've just like we've just nailed it. Like the timing has just been nailed Very nervous about being on camera. Like he's already dropped his mic, he's like choked on his water. It's like a whole like nightmare so far for him. But we're gonna try to make it a little more comfortable with him. so like I was saying, he's captured like 90% of the content I've been doing on top of that. If he's not there, I'm probably talking, texting, emailing with him throughout the whole thing. Yep. In addition to that, he is on his own journey. And then he's building his business, he's done the work networking, he's done the work, kinda scaling, he's starting to hire employees, he's getting to that next stage and stuff like that. And I love pi pushing people out of their comfort zone. So that's why he's here today. I really want to push him past that comfort zone on top of everything else we talked about. So let's give him a second to do an intro, see how much he fumbles up his word because he's nervous. You know the routine. Look at that camera, that camera, whatever have to do. speaker-1: This is so weird. I wanna start off saying this is so weird. I I had never been in front of a camera. Like the whole four years of recording stuff and recording people, it's the first time I'm actually being recorded and being in front of the camera is so weird. But I'm Thirun, owner, operator of UCH Productions. We've been running for about four years now. I think we're going on to our fifth year. And it just like AJ said, last six months has been my biggest change in business and it all has to do with just being around the right people and just networking and just like understanding who you are as a business person instead of working in the business I started working on the business and like changing my mindset and it all ha like honestly not to do it his or but it all has to do with him. He just ever since I met him and like started working with him it just elevated my mindset, thought process and honestly it's benefited my business. ⁓ other than that, I think I technically still in school, even though I technically dropped out. I've been running the business since I started school as a side hobby, which kind of turned into a full-fledged business. My main source of I guess work is UR Real Estate. I do real estate photography and videography all over Dufferin County, Simcoe County, everything north of GTA. And now I do content creation, social media content, this, that, the other, mainly for AJ. speaker-0: For someone that's nervous on camera, that was like the longest guest intro. Like literally, he just ran with that. He was like, okay, now my time to shine. so being in front of the camera, there's two types of speakers. Yep. The ones that are nervous and ones that are liars. Yep. What do you think of that? It's true though, right? Yeah, I I know you're nervous right now, but like, even like yesterday you get in front of people, I'm like, speaker-1: Hundred percent you're not wrong. speaker-0: You you're I was talking to you and I'm like, do I use my notes? Do I not use my notes? Yep. But at the end of the day, like now that you're actually on the other side of the camera, is it that bad? Like tell people like I want people to expose themselves. I want people to be comfortable putting themselves out there. It's been what, five minutes? And like you're already like full on like montaging. So speaker-1: the biggest thing for me right now is it's I'm completely ignoring what's there and I'm just having a conversation with you. And usually a lot of people when they're doing stuff like that they're looking directly at the camera. And that's difficult. But if I'm having a conversation with you, it's just me and you having a conversation. It's just cameras are there. That's it. speaker-0: And that's what people need to learn is like getting out of your comfort zone, out of every guest we've had, like every one of them has said, Well it wasn't that bad. Yeah. It was just natural. It was it was easy. That wasn't what I expected, right? And I I don't know why everyone's so scared of like f being the center of attention. speaker-1: It's literally because you're talking to an inanimate object and there's it's just a lens and you're looking at it and then you're speaking to it. speaker-0: But think of it like this, like all the guests we have, they come on as they're nervous. Or other business owners or people going through a self-development thing. They talk about they want to be the best. Yep. They want to do the most. They want to like run a big company and stuff. You have to be the center of attention to do that. But then your biggest problem is like I'm I'm nervous about being the center of attention. I'm like, if you want to be a big CEO and talk to a hundred employees, you're gonna be center of attention. Yep. speaker-1: A hundred percent. You're up. speaker-0: You might as well break the ice when you suck at it, right? Like you have two employees, be na now be the center of attention. You wanna, you know, put out a mission or like some sort of like I guess life goal or like push people to motivate them and stuff like that. It's like do it when you have two followers. Yep. You know what mean? Like I don't even know how many views we get on a podcast. I don't even check. I just kinda show up, do the podcast speaker-1: ⁓ eighty to a hundred. ⁓ that's not bad. We get fifty consistent li like watching people and then eighty to a hundred average. Which is not bad for a podcast. Good job. speaker-0: Well do you know I think it was like something like 78% of podcasts fail after or stop after 10 episodes. Yep. Like we're in the top 30% already. Like we're done. We're doing it. No, but like it's true though, you have to get yourself to that point where you're putting yourself like in an exposed situation if you want to grow. Like you can't have the success and not be exposed. It just doesn't work like that. It's just part of the process. You have to be that person. speaker-1: For me it's the fear of failing. Like the biggest thing that's held me back from being on camera and like doing the stuff outside of being behind the camera is just the fear of failing or like messing up and like stumbling and just looking like an idiot, right? But then speaker-0: For what, all twelve people watching? Exactly. That's what I don't get with the whole fear thing. Like, what are you scared about? Like, I walk me through this because I I'm not the type person to be scared to do something. Am I nervous? Yeah, there's days I'm nervous, but I'm not scared to do something. I'll take on the biggest risk in the world and it's like At least I'm trying. Yeah. Kind of thing. So what's your mindset when you're worried about failing? Like what part of failing is it? Is it like you're not gonna accomplish it? Is it like you're gonna ⁓ look make yourself look like an idiot? Is it like you're just gonna judge yourself? Like w is it internal, external? What what is it that makes you speaker-1: So it is a completely an internal battle and why it's an internal battle is because ⁓ being in this media industry I know what like social media is. The stupidest thing could go viral, right? And I don't want to be the meme that goes viral because I stumbled on camera and then it just decides to go viral. speaker-0: Right. Talk about vote of confidence. I don't want to go viral. I don't want me to meet that goes vir relax, okay? I relax. speaker-1: I wanna go viral for the wrong reasons. I wanna go viral for the right reasons. Like if I like bring value to the world, I wanna go viral for that. But like I don't wanna be a meme because I stumbled or like something like that. Like if I said the wrong thing on camera and then I posted it and I didn't realize it was the wrong thing, but then it's out in the world. All my clients, all my work, business, friends, people, everybody sees it. speaker-0: Okay, how about this? How about we look at it like this? So say you do go viral and you stumble your words, you look like an idiot on camera, right? And you get exposed to a thousand people. Yep. Doesn't that open the door for more opportunity to revive yourself? speaker-1: But also closes the door for a lot of people who disagree with or like sees you as an idiot. Like it's a it's a give and play. It's like a give and take. speaker-0: But doesn't that build resilience and callous you? Like if it's like say a thousand people see it and it's like three hundred people thought I was an idiot, it's kinda like, Well, next time I won't feel so bad when I look like an idiot. Like speaker-1: Yes, you're absolutely right because with time and like just doing it is what makes you stronger. But for me it's mainly the fact that like I'm not a public figure, but a lot of people know my work. So I keep my work and my ethics to like a certain degree. So if I look like an idiot but then I'm producing high quality work one and one doesn't get together. Like I gotta look and present myself in a certain way to match the caliber of my real estate work and like the work I put out. speaker-0: So where do draw the line? Like what what would make you I guess impact a negative per se or perspective of you? Like what what would you do that would give people a negative perspective? Like what are you talking about with speaker-1: Again, so like my friend group and everybody that's around me kinda knows this. I tend to speak without thinking. Sometimes I yeah. I just speak. I don't really like give a thick about what comes out of my mouth. And nine times out of ten I say the wrong things. I'll say something stupid or something ⁓ out of pocket without ev without even thinking about it. Like I don't know, I don't know how to give a proper example. Sean's laughing in the background because he knows the amount of times I've said some stupid things. But like if I record that, I put it out in the world, like the best way to put it, when I work on the cars with Lex, like a lot of times I don't even know I'm being recorded. Because I'm just working on the car and then she's recording. And then I listen back to like w the recordings and I'm like, did I really just say that out loud? And it's like if people know that was me saying it, I feel like people would see me in a different way than the way I present myself to clients and other people. speaker-0: So what's better? Putting on a mask or a costume to present yourself to clients, people, friends, circles, or being your actual true self? Like will will you if you get to a certain point of success, will you ever be able to now walk away from that persona you've displayed for 10 years to people? And now that you're successful, work's coming in, let's use business as as an example, you don't have to worry about landing the next client. Like, isn't it gonna be more work? To uphold that like fake image. No, but I'm I on that. And that's where like I got about two years ago where I'm like, fuck it, this is me. You don't like it? Take it or leave it. Like I'd go to like an event and I'd be like, okay, I gotta wear nice slacks and a dress shirt and this and now you saw me yesterday. I was in a black tee and blue sh blue jeans, bro. And I was a I was a guest speaker. I'm like, you asked me to come speak. You know what I mean? And speaker-1: Shit, you got me there. speaker-0: I think I bring value. I bring enough value that, you know, my outfit isn't gonna be judged by the content I'm gonna be putting out there or the information I'm gonna be giving people. So like I kind of broke out of that because that's the way I looked at it, where it's like if I always keep up this fake image, like if I get to that point of success where like I can just do what I want, right? Like do I wanna wear this costume or this hat for the rest of my life? Or do I wanna just start now, be myself and Hopefully people just take it in. speaker-1: See, okay, I co that's my battle now. So when I started the business, I had to like I'm a people pleaser. I'm all about like making sure the other person that I'm talking to is happy and making sure they're good. I'm a people pleaser. Yeah. I've said it, I've known it. Even if it affects me, I'd still rather please the other person than like stand up for who I am. Yeah. Right? That's been my biggest concern, biggest issue, biggest battle all throughout everything. Outside of business, I'm a whole different person. My friend group knows me as a different person than My business people, if that makes sense, right? Yeah. Like you've seen both sides. You've seen me talking to other people. You've seen me outside of that. Yeah. You've seen both sides. You know I'm a goofy weirdo outside of work. And then at work I'm I'm I'm compl I am a geek. 100% a geek, I'll admit to it. speaker-0: Got geeks out on some weird ⁓ stuff. speaker-1: Goofy weirdo. Same it goes it goes line in line. But like the issue right now that I have is a lot of the clients are now entering my personal life. So they're seeing the different side. Cause especially now like with Lex's car account A lot of people start following that because I'm promoting it too. I'm showing like posting on my story so people start following that. And those who follow that account sees a whole different side of me versus those who've seen me. Like I'm talking more of my one-off clients. Like my personal clients that I deal with on a daily basis and like talk to on a daily basis, they're basically friends. They've seen both sides. So they know how I am professionally, but they also know how I am like personally. speaker-0: So why not just deliver personally right out right out of the gate? speaker-1: I just feel like it will deter other people like it will it's like me as like personal me is not for everyone. Right. speaker-0: Personal anyone isn't for everyone. Personal age is not for anybody, I think. Like no one likes you. Like it. No one, right? So like speaker-1: It's like the biggest thing is cause I g ⁓ I'm technically still a new business. Even though I'm four years in, the first two years of the write-off. I barely did any work, I barely made any money. speaker-0: That's why I said you were a new business at the beginning. You're like four years. I'm like, it hasn't been Technically it has. Okay. speaker-1: Realistically it's been two years of growth. Like my business officially started going from a just part-time to full time in two years. Yeah. And you've been the last six months been like the biggest increment into ever you've speaker-0: You've done the work. I just kinda I've moved some stones along the way so you don't trip, but you know, they're Hey, this path is paved, why don't we go that way instead of this way? Kind of thing. speaker-1: He is my mentor, I'll say it to anybody, he is the ma he's my mentor. speaker-0: Well you're growing, so no point in stopping, right? but I really want to touch on that. Like I don't get the like I I get when I was in the phase of a new business of like having a certain I guess image to people. Yep. And now I'm getting back to the like I found I had this image of like nice, gentle, people pleasing. Then I got into this like chip off my block, where it's like challenge me, try me. And I got away from that for about a year and now I'm starting to roll back into that where it's like, This is what we do. Like you don't like it too bad. Like it this is who we are, how we do it, everything like that. And I find People are more receptive to that because it's like there's something people like then there's an energy. Yeah. Call as corny as you want, but I feel like there's like an energy where people are like, okay, this guy's authentic, he's genuine. Right? You even see me with the networking groups and stuff. It's like I walk in there, people are like, hey dude, what's up? Hey Jay, what's up? You know what I mean? Like because I've just put it out there saying, This is who I am. And that's it. Like, why not just shave that shell off? Like, what's the worst case scenario in that? speaker-1: Sidebar the person you see on camera, the person you see online is the exact same person you see in person. He is no different. Like that's the one thing and that's again I wanted to get back to that because that's rubbing off on me now. What why I brought like brought this whole conversation up is because actually you brought it up, but why I want to touch on is because the last six months I stopped like a part of me stopped being that people peace pleaser kind of person and I started just being me. speaker-0: Can we talk about what you did that day driving in the car? speaker-1: Yeah, ⁓ yes, let's talk about it. Let's get into it. speaker-0: Yeah, so like talking about ripping the like ripping the band-aid off, right? He had this shell on him where he's like a people pleasing pleaser and stuff. We're having this talk. He's like, I'm having a problem with the client. And I'm like, what's the problem? He's like, I'm like losing money. They're not nice. They, you know, hassle me all the time, putting so much time, I go, drop ⁓ Like if we were in like a fifteen minute drive and he's like, ⁓ I don't know, this now. I literally grabbed his phone, I This is what you say, da da da and I'm like, You good with that? He's Yeah, I think I'm gonna send that later. I'm like, send, done. That's it. Drop the first client, like right then and there, but True f like from my perspective you look like you had this like sense of speaker-1: No, I'll I'll I'll tell you the full story on that. So That client was my first ever client that I started with when I started the business. She like I still have respect for her. I still have respect for the whole team and everything they've done for me. Because without them, I wouldn't be where I am in business. Yeah. Like their the portfolio, the work they've given me, they gave me credibility and loyalty. So in terms, I gave them loyalty back. The pricing, the way I treat them, the like they always got first pick, this, that, the other. Yeah. It's just over the last four years, they kept sticking down to basically saying I'm the way I was the beginning of the business where I was sloppy, this, that, the other, even though I wasn't. I have all their receipts to prove it. And they kept trying to bargain down my price, even though it was at the lowest it can be. And it just kept getting like it was just a snowball effect to get worse and worse. And when I brought it up to you, we had a meeting like maybe a month or two ago with the same client about 2026 and what we're gonna do for them and this, that, the other. And in that meeting they were degrading my work and saying, My work isn't this, my work isn't that like then there's just like completely downplaying me as a person and also my company. Which upset at me because I I was aware of where I what I've achieved and where I've became or what I've done, right? So speaker-0: You knew your words. speaker-1: I knew I knew my worth, exactly. And that's why I brought it up to you and you're like just drop ⁓ Changed my whole perspective. I never thought of it, like it's never crossed my mind. And you just told me if it's worth it if it's like basically affecting you more than benefiting you, just drop ⁓ speaker-0: And that we're gonna get into that later about how being around different mindsets, it actually just makes you look at things a different way. It's like people I talk to with problems, like it the solution's mostly the obvious. Yep. It's literally the obvious, but like hearing it out loud, it's kinda like, okay, now it makes sense. Like hearing it from someone else. It's like the unteachable lesson, right? Or what was the other one with the movie where Chris Williamson said it. or he might have quoted from someone where if you're in the main character in a movie, what would the crowd be yelling? speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ speaker-0: ⁓ you're like i it's the obvious thing and the it's the most obvious thing and most people just don't do the most obvious thing. You're like, I'm losing money on them, they're degrading my work, they don't appreciate my skill set. It's like the obvious thing is drop the client. Yep. But you in the moment, you're like, that's not an option. It's like, well why not? I don't get it, right? So we'll talk about rubbing off on mindsets and stuff. You're on my podcast, so we gotta dive into your business. UCH production, so we'll talk about that a little bit. why? speaker-1: Why? Okay, I'll be very honest with you. I started this company mainly for my fiancee. She Yeah. So I was never into photography. I was never into videography. I didn't I had no skill, no nothing. In high school I used to take photos on my phone and like dabble in it, but then Alexis was all about photography. Yeah. She was doing it since she was like twelve. She loved it. She was all about No, we've been together since she was sixteen. I was seventeen, she was sixteen. speaker-0: Yeah. had been together since she was like twelve. speaker-1: ⁓ so we're we're high school. Yeah. We've been together now nine years. We just had a nine year anniversary. That's awesome. Yeah. But ⁓ she got out of high school and she still wanted to do photography and stuff. And that's when I started getting into it because I'm like, ⁓ this is kind of cool. And I'm one of those guys who invest completely before I even make any profit or like see the end result. speaker-0: Operate where you wanna be, not where you're at. I love it, bro. speaker-1: I that's exactly what I did. I went full force, bought every little gear before I even had a client. I had everything ready to go 'cause then if I'm like when it starts, it's go go time, I don't have to worry about it. Yeah. I completely started the business, got everything so I can give her a job and make sure she has some sort of income that she loves to do. But then like for me it was mainly for the business aspect. I always wanted to do business. I always wanted to be a businessman. Yeah. I've never really wanted to be a photographer, but then I kind of fell in love with videography and the create like the art of creating things and the business side. So it just kind of worked out both ways for me and her. But the company is named like compl everything about the company is her. It was for her, it's meant for her. It was completely done for speaker-0: That's sweet. That's sweet. ⁓ now that you're four years in, we'll say four years, but four years. Four years. Yeah, four years. have you learnt that the cost of a mistake never gets cheaper? Have you learned that yet? speaker-1: The one mistake I sorry, one lesson I still learn on a daily basis. Holy crap, that quote is a hundred percent accurate. Doesn't ever get cheaper? No, no. It only gets worse. It only gets worse the day every day by day. Every little decision, every little mistake, every little action you make has a bigger consequence the more you go. And it's just the way it is. speaker-0: I find a lot of people don't learn that lesson. Like I'm I've learned to like capitalize on small mistakes quickly and rectify them because it literally doesn't get cheaper. They just get worse and they keep snowballing or bad habits grow and It just becomes routine and you're like, why the fuck is this happening every day? It's like, ⁓ I should've done with this six months ago. Like you what I So I'm pretty good at nipping something in the butt. But I heard that the other day and I'm like, What a perfect quote for the day that shoot with Tharun. He's like, he's probably in that phase where it's like ⁓ learning like mistakes do don't don't get cheaper. Like speaker-1: Honestly the one thing I gotta say is the tiny mistake, the small little things are the ones you gotta fix immediately because that's what will cost you the ⁓ most later on. Yeah. Like the big mistakes are still there but then the tiny ones will cause a bigger issue, the way l down. speaker-0: They're almost too big to snowball. They're like the big ones are like, that's a mistake and that's what it is, right? The small one is like, well now this affects that and that affects that. That affects that. ⁓ what are some big struggles that have stuck with you? Struggles? Struggles, yeah. Like yeah, PTSD for. Like I I have some PTSD in me that from like early on in business where I'm like, never again. Like if that ever happens again I can't do that. Like speaker-1: Honestly, I'll the biggest one right now is dropping a client and just like dealing with that situation. That was my biggest BTSE moment where I didn't I should have dealt with that situation way before. I should have handled that client and like everything about that whole transaction way before I did. I should have dealt with it two years ago, but I didn't. speaker-0: You know what, let's because someone's gonna be listening to this that wants to drop the first client. What was the aftercare on that? What was the experience after dropping them? Like what was the follow-ups? What were the like you know, emotions behind it? What were like the repercussions behind it? Because I'm sure you got a nasty email after or a text mess like I it i it's inevitable, right? Like if I get dropping the client, I'm gonna email whoever it is saying, Yo, what happened, bro? Like why? What like you know what I mean? So let's talk about the aftermath here. speaker-1: So the direct aftermath was her basically telling me she doesn't understand. That was it. I asked I told I in my text, I'm like, hey, this is we're like we don't work together, like this is not gonna work out. I'm sorry, I hope you understand. The direct message after that was, no, I don't understand. And I've never heard back from her since. I've never contacted her since. And we've kind of just fizzled out. And honestly the biggest thing for me was once again at that moment in time, even even then she was a good chunk of my business. Yeah. And losing that business was like the biggest thing. I'm like, am I gonna able to recoup my loss? Because if I lose this I lose X amount of my percentage that I make, is that really gonna like is this gonna work out in the long run? And honestly, best decision I ever made. I don't regret it. At the moment I questioned it. I was contemplating emailing her back saying, I'm so sorry, we'll get back. speaker-0: God, if you make me send that text message, you they're back happy and back below. Desperate speaker-1: I thought about it. There was like a week. It was a good week to two weeks where I was like, I'm gonna text her back and like, you what, let's work something out, we'll make it work, we'll figure it out, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, heat of the moment kind of thing. But then I stuck to my word 'cause I'm like, if I told AJ that I did it, I can't go back and like disappoint him. Cause even at that even at that moment I saw you as a mentor, right? And I can't disappoint you. I can't like let down the person who believes in me and is helping me grow. speaker-0: I appreciate that. Wow. speaker-1: So if I did that, I feel bad for myself and you. I'm like, there's no point of you wasting time on me. So if I made that step, I had to stick to it. And even speaker-0: Doing the work, see? Doing the work. It pays off to do the work. Just like if you want to know what's on top of a mountain, ask someone on the way down. And like I've had to drop a client before and like I get it. I get it. There's an emotional aspect of it. I didn't know you were thinking of messing your back though. Like speaker-1: ⁓ a hundred percent. I had second thoughts, I had everything. I even had the email drafted. I was so prepared to like do it, but then I literally had to s like stop myself and just think like if I do this, AJ's gonna be disappointed. He's not gonna see me as a strong business person with a strong mindset. If I need to be different and if we if I need to be new, I gotta make changes. So I just deleted it. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: look past it and it's been nothing but great since the best decision I've made again, the other decision I made because of him was hiring on a new person. Yeah. You literally told me, You're growing, you got too many work. If I need you at a certain point, you don't have a backup. You need to get a backup speaker-0: kind of a selfish mentor move where I was like, Bro, you're getting busy if I start getting pushed aside and be very upset, hire someone. So it was kinda selfish too on my part. speaker-1: If you remember I called him on the spot and hired him on the spot. speaker-0: Yeah, and that was I don't know if that would be a mentor move or me a business to business move kind of thing, but that's perspective again. He looked at as me being his mentor telling him to like grow his business and I'm looking at selfishly in like full transparency. It was selfishly where I'm like, I don't want to start getting pushed aside. I enjoy working with you, you're doing well, and I feel like we click and that we do well together. So I'm like, if I start getting pushed aside speaker-1: It was a mentor move because that's again another speaker-0: It's gonna put a sour taste in my mouth. So let's be transparent, let's be honest, right out of the gate and say, Hey, listen, this is a concern I have, this is what I'd like you to do, can you fulfill it? And I think it was a fair transaction. speaker-1: A hundred percent and honestly the best thing again because now I get to step back, let other people do most of the work that I do. I know. This is so weird. Like it's so weird being in the background or like being in front of the cameras and have somebody else. speaker-0: This is the time we have someone else filming me. We should have Sean on one day. We should. No, he No. He wants to be on the back end of the day. So dropping the client, hiring a first employee, I guess kinda working with me day to day, like has your vision opened up? speaker-1: 100%. My mindset, my goals, everything changed in the last six months. So best way to put it is so I I have a board in my house where I put my like goals and what I want to achieve and where I wanna be in a certain time. Yeah. I've always pushed myself way too far ahead and said, okay, in ten years I'm gonna achieve this. In ten years I'm gonna do this, in five years I'm gonna achieve this. speaker-0: So give us some examples of that. speaker-1: I shorten all my timelines. So I brought up all my timelines to one year. I need to achieve this goal in one year, period. End of story. I gotta work my ass off. 'Cause I see you working your ass off. And if you can do it on a daily basis, why can't I? Yeah. Like I'm I I'm not gonna so I'm not gonna lie to you. Like waking up at four am ⁓ is still crazy for me. I try. I'm I'm at like six thirty right now. Yeah. I'm trying to push myself back to like the five o'clock range. That's my goal. But I try to speaker-0: 4:15. But we're in different spots too, right? Yeah exactly. Like we're in different I guess I guess seasons, right? So it's a little bit different for us, right? Like you know what I Like I built the routine of working every day in my business. I've built the routine of managing the second business. I've built the routine of, you know, doing the podcast consistently. Like it's routine for me now. So now it's easy for me to add in waking up at 4 15, adding that to my routine. You're just at that point where you're like making small changes of like just showing up at the gym. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like that puts a wear on your body. That puts wear on you mentally. Yeah. Like all day you're thinking about like ⁓ my god I go I gotta go to the gym tonight. I gotta go to the gym tonight. Right, eventually that goes away where it's like, ⁓ I'm gonna work today, I'm gonna go to the gym, and then ⁓ I still have to do this after. Yeah. The gym just becomes part of it, right? Yeah. So you can't compare the four fifteen versus you getting up at six thirty. No speaker-1: The big the reason why I'm comparing it is because like six months before I met you, I wake up at like ten, eleven o'clock, I go to bed speaker-0: ⁓ my god. Yeah I I Sometimes he'd message me and he'd literally like, sorry man got up and I'm like, it's ten AM Like what are you doing getting up at ten AM? Like the day's done, I'm having lunch bro like speaker-1: Honestly, that's what that that was my eye opener. Every time I w start working with you, I'm over here by like 7 30, 8 o'clock. We're done work at like one. Yeah. And then you have the rest of the day off, and I'm like, wait, that's it? And I just realized like the benefit of waking up in the morning because then you finish work and everything earlier, you get to move on and still do whatever else you want or work on the business or whatever afterwards. Yeah. That really opened up my eyes and like the way I do things now. Like don't get me wrong, I still have my hibernation. I call it my hibernation moments where I do nothing but lay in bed for like a day or two just to recoup like mentally. I don't tell I never told you this, but I do that a l once every six months. I need to have an hibernation. I just stay in bed, do nothing but just speaker-0: I used to have days like that. I swear to god, I used to have yeah, like every few months I just get a burnout day. I I used to call my burnout days. I'm like, I'm done. Like I I can't speaker-1: I don't communicate with anybody, my phone's off, I'm just sleeping or like laying in bed just relaxing. Because I feel like I've done a lot. My ment like brain-wise I just go off. Yeah. It's just to the point where I can't handle anything else, so I just need to like sleep it out. And other than that, like that that used to be my worst, I guess, the thing I used to say like that's like the worst aspect of me, but right now I feel like it benefits because then when I come out of it, I'm fresh, I'm way more like energized. And like I still I do it like that. I think I might have my last hibernation like about a month ago. But like it helps in my way. speaker-0: So going back to two hibernations No, go going back to two hibernations ago, versus this most recent one, do you feel like how you visualize everything is different? Like I find here's an example. Like before when I'd take a day to kind of reset, I'd have my head in the sand. It'd be like, okay, I need to like, you know, change the dates on this, I need to change this, and you know, this is how I'm gonna input this. I just went to a cottage, what, two weeks ago? Last week. Last week. And speaker-1: That's all topic. speaker-0: I was thinking about business and how the businesses are run and what we're gonna be doing, how we're gonna be implementing them. We just implemented like a tier system for profit sharing, equity, and stuff like that. And I found that reset day was like looking from above. Yep. Almost like a chessboard. Like versus being on the chessboard, I like looking at it from above and saying, Okay, what's the big picture here? How do these two tie in? How am I gonna expand that? How am I gonna make more real estate this way? Like And I started looking at it a little bit differently where it's like I'm not in the picture. I'm just kinda like the grandmaster on top, just navigating the pieces, saying, Okay, how do all my pieces win? Yeah. And that's the way I looked at it. So do you feel like two hibernations ago versus this one, it's changed the way speaker-1: Again, this complete is because of working with these rubbing off on me. Because two hibernations ago, I would think about, ⁓ yeah, I need to change this creative angle. I need to try this angle. I need to shoot these houses this way. I need to start like working on this movement, this that movement. Like I was thinking of how I need to improve my craft. Whereas this my last hibernation a month ago, I was thinking about alright, I need to make sure Sean is ready to do this at this time, so I can do this at this time, and then the business runs. this way so I can still do this. I was looking at a peripheral. Like I wasn't thinking about what I need to do with in the business. I was thinking of what I gotta do on the business. Because like I'm at that phase where I'm transitioning out of the business and working on the business. Yeah. ⁓ because of you. I'm tuning I'm tuning speaker-0: I think I I think it's just a phase where it's what you need to do. And I think now opening your eyes to like save even expose to people I deal with on day to day activities like that. Yeah. It's ⁓ yeah, shout out to RBO. Join RBO dot com if you want to sign up. Great mastermind. I I've been part of it five years, six years, something like that. It's changed my life. speaker-1: Yeah, shout out to RBO. RBO is the best Honestly being in what, two or three conversations with those dudes already opened up my eyes to like the potential of what a business and what like being around the right people just can be. speaker-0: What's amazing what's actually f possible, like Exactly before, like you talk to someone that just works a nine to five going day to day, which is okay. Like it's it it's what they choose to do. And you tell them like I wanna make a million dollars, they're like, never gonna make a million dollars, right? You get into this group, everyone's like, Why haven't you made a million dollars already? Like it's crazy like the mindset because like people have actually physically done it and you got them on the other end of the phone call. Like I was talking about yesterday on the at the networking event. Yeah, right. It changes your perspective when you're around high achievers and it's like, this is realistic. Like you're no different than me. 100%. There's an average person that just put in the work every single day. It's going back to the David Goggins thing, right? All he does is run. Yeah. He has no PhD or anything like that. Like nothing special. Like he just goes out and outruns everybody. Yep. Consistently. Broken ankles, sore legs, tired, whatever it is. I think he lost an ultramarathon because he went down a wrong path or something like that. And the next day he went out and ran it himself just to prove he can beat the times. Like, but that's just work no one else is willing to do. And it's like he didn't write like a thesis paper that blew away the world that solves a math problem. He literally just puts in work. speaker-1: Yeah, he's consistent. It's the consistency that makes it happen. speaker-0: But then imagine you hang out with David Coggins every day. Right now you're gonna say, I can't run 10K. You hang out with them every single day, you're like, ⁓ I can run 10K. I can run 10K. Easily. No, easily, I can run 10K. Because you're putting around putting yourself around those people, right? So like there's no place for a man, there's no peace for a man who has seen what he can become. And I feel like I'm at that phase now. And now I'm like There's like a chip off my block. It sounds so bad and arrogant, but I'm like, fuck you, come try me. Like, if I'm gonna if I wanna do it, and I'm at the point where like before I think this is where it changed, I would take on any challenge. Yeah. Now I'm very dialed in where it's kinda like someone comes to me and says, Can you, you know run a hundred miles. I don't care to run a hundred miles. So I'm not gonna run a hundred miles. But if you come to me with something I want to do, you're not gonna stop me. Like you I mean you're not gonna stop me. If you want to talk about consistency, I will blow you out of the water with being consistent. You want to talk about like growth, I will blow you out of the water for growth. If you want to talk about taking the biggest risk, I will blow you out of the water taking the biggest risk. Because it's stuff I want to do. Yep. Before it'd be like I take on any and every challenge and I think that's where I got burnt out and I kinda hit my low. So I'm like I'm trying to do everything and I don't care to do half the shit. Yeah. I mean, like even yesterday at the networking event, everyone's ⁓ you're gonna write another book? I'm like, No, I don't care to. Am I going to? I don't know. I don't know if I'm going to, but it's like at that point where it's like, if I want to, I'm gonna do it. But if I don't, you're not gonna budge me. I'm gonna be like a mule, like a horse that just doesn't want to move. Like, I'm gonna plant my feet and like I don't want to do this because that's so much other stuff going on with so many other goals. Yeah, that that's what I want to put my time and efforts into. So do you find with yourself speaker-1: You should. speaker-0: That like you've seen a different potential in yourself and now you can't go back. It's almost like a double ended sword, right? speaker-1: It is a double-ended sword. So what you said before, I was the guy who took on every challenge. Like whatever somebody asked me to do, I'll say yeah, I'll do it. Whether I can or cannot, like I just didn't even care. I'm like, yep, I'll do it. And that burned me out because there's so many challenges. I'm like, shit, how do I achieve this? How do I get there? How do I even do it? Like it just it was physically and mentally like taking a toll on me to the point where now like now seeing you and seeing what you can do, it helped me understand, all right, I need to dial back and like stick to what I know, what I can and take on those challenges. Take on the challenges that I actually know I can achieve and like battle out. Yeah. Because I'm not gonna win every challenge, I'm not gonna do everything, but I'm very selective now. And I think that's the best thing I've done for my business and myself because at least I know the challenges I'll take on are the ones that I can like knock out of the park. Yeah. 100%. There's no stopping me if I take that challenge. Whilst before I'll definitely lose because I'm taking on a bigger challenge that I'm capable of. speaker-0: Are you finding there's more stuff that seems realistic now? speaker-1: Hundred percent. That's the biggest thing. So again, I'll I'll give a little story. So when I started the business, I was what twenty one. ⁓ my mom was my biggest supporter at the same time she was also my biggest skeptic. She was not she was completely skeptical on be being a businessman. She didn't think I can do it. Like she didn't see a full end result. Because she's like she was always she has what almost twelve, thirteen degrees. She goes to school, she has PhD, she does a lot. Yeah. speaker-0: She's an employee. So she's an employee. Again, do you think that goes back to perspective where she hasn't seen the full potential what a business owner can do? speaker-1: That's exactly where it's getting because initially she's like, you're not gonna make it. This is gonna be a hard thing. You need to focus on school. Focus on getting your degree so you have a sti stable path moving forward. Which is right. But at the same time, if I took the time that I put into work like school I wouldn't be where I am today. I wouldn't have meet the connections. I wouldn't have my business where it is. To the point where right now I'm my mom is actually seeing the benefits of all the time and effort I've put into a business. Because she's finally seeing that I'm self-sufficient, business is doing great, it's going up. I'm able to like do most, I'm able to do more than a lot of people in my age because the fact that I have a business and I'm able to connect with the right people. She's finally seeing the the like the fruits of the labor pay off. And now she understands that she's supporting completely. But in the initial stage she was supportive but skeptical and she was like always telling me you gotta focus on school, you gotta focus on this, you gotta focus on that have a backup plan but then if I had that plan I would not be where I am today. speaker-0: plan. We've all heard that, right? Have the backup plan. It's one of those like I find those are businesses that thrive versus don't. It's like the ones that throw away their backup plan. Yeah. Like literally even when I quit my job, I was like, they're like, well you on EI so you can get or Pogey so, you know, ⁓ shortage work so you can get EI or Pogy. And I'm like, nope, fire me. Fire me. I don't want no EI, I don't want no support or anything. I don't think I claimed any EI or anything like that. I went straight from collecting paycheck to not collecting paycheck. Yeah. That was pretty much it. It was just kind of speaker-1: I think that's exactly what I did too because I was I worked at Home Depot and it's just I loved I still love Home Depot was one of the best things I've done in my life because the environment, the people, the stuff I did was amazing. But then it was physically tolling and I just quit on the spot with no income, started the company. I took everything I made from Home Depot. dumped it into photography, every equipment I can buy, everything I can get, I bought, and I just started. And that's where mom got scared because my life savings, everything I had, was gone. Yeah. I basically was living off my mom's like in my mom's place and like living off of her for a little bit, the first year, but then it started going, it started snowballing to the point where now I'm fully self-sufficient. I think no, it was year two I was fully self self-sufficient. But then I didn't tell mom where I am. 'Cause even then she was still telling me school, school, school, you gotta study, you gotta do this, you gotta go to school. I wasn't giving her all the information. speaker-0: just loves you bro, that's it. Just looking out for you. speaker-1: She 100% and I completely agree with her, but at the same time, it's just being an employee, being s like some like being helping somebody else build a business, it's not for me. Yeah. And also being in school, like being told what to do, not for me. No, honestly, in university I had a photography class. I went there. This is when I had the gear, I had everything. I still went to school. I had a photography class. I took the class. The teacher looked me in the eye and said, I could never be a photographer. This is not for me. I took that as a challenge. And here I am today. He's still working at the school and ⁓ have my own business in photography. I'm going to I'm going to reach out to him. speaker-0: Send him your portfolio dude. Like, you know You should totally do that. Be your model. Huh? I'll be your model. speaker-1: I'm at the point where I should just because I feel like if I'm challenged, if I'm if somebody tells me I can't do it, I have to do it. I have to put in all my effort and just prove them wrong. No matter what it takes. speaker-0: Get that and I was like that and I'm still like that, but now it only matters when I respect the person telling me I can't do it. Does that make sense? Before it'd be anyone everyone says you can't do that. I'm like fuck you, watch me. Like But now it's like you're not doing what I exp what like you're not even doing half of what I'm doing and you tell I can't do it, I don't care because you can't even do half of what I'm doing. So like it means nothing to me by you challenging me to do that. Now when you're operating like I am, I mean it it sounds Cocky, but like I feel like I'm doing a lot more than the average person. I'm really putting myself out there and like I'm doing literally 110% every single day. So like when someone comes to that's only putting in 70, before it'd be like, okay, that's a challenge, let's do that, right? Now it's kind of like bro, you're only putting in 70. Who are you to say anything? Yeah. Come come to me when we're going toe to toe. Yeah. Then we'll race to the finish line. But until then, man, like you're two laps back. Like, I I don't need to hear this shit. I got other things to deal with. So eventually I feel like that's gonna change for you too. speaker-1: See, right now it's an ego thing. Like or back then it was straight up an ego thing 'cause I was a twenty two year old, full of testosterone. I'm like just I wanna prove everybody. speaker-0: Yeah, it's full of piss of vinegar thing, every guy has that, right? So speaker-1: 'Cause even now it's still an ego thing. Like I'll be very honest with you. I still think I have a chip on my shoulder. Like if I go to a room and talk to people, I feel like I always feel like I'm like the best there. Even though I'm not. I know I'm not. But then that's what being in the right rooms does to you because now that I'm with in a room with you and like other people, I know I can't. Like I can't top up to you guys. So I need to bring myself up there. speaker-0: But I feel like you get like at a certain point you're in a room where it's all competition, right? Yep. Then you get into a room where it's like lift each other up, like I never told you you had to be the best videographer. I never told you how to be the best photographer. I never told you how to be the best at social media management. One thing I did tell you, and I swear I think I still have the text message, is like I don't want losers around me. Yep. It's either you continue to grow. Yep. If you're not gonna continue to grow, I'll find someone else. Yep. And Louie, that that's where I I set the standard with you. Yep. I've never nitpicked at your work, I've never nitpicked at editing or anything like that. And I swear to God, like you he will vouch for that. That was a message to him. I'm like, you don't have to be the best at everything, but don't be a loser. I don't want losers in my circles, I don't want losers around me. If you're not inspired and you don't have motivation, you're not the right fit for me. Because I know with that personality trait, everything else will come organically. speaker-1: You told me that after our first ever like official day of shooting. Yeah. You text sent me that text and I live by that every s every single day. I hope you know that. Those are the words I actually live by because my goal right now is to not disappoint you. Not be that one person who's like letting you down. Or letting people who actually like see the potential in me down. speaker-0: But when you're pushed to those limits and you're like, AJ, what do I do here? Or I'm having this issue and we talk it through, like, truthfully, have you ever actually seen a bad result? No. No. That's why I feel like people have this like scarcity to like take advice and it's kinda like, ooh, I'm worried about a bad result. That person's not gonna take time out of their day and effort, especially if they're performing at a higher level than you. And that's where I'm at. I feel like everyone I'm talking to is operating at a higher level than I am. So I feel like this obligation, like my cup's getting filled, I gotta let it overflow to people below me. Yep. But like when I'm taking advice from these people, I'm like, they don't wanna fail. They don't have time to fail. They don't have the patience to fail. They have the integrity not to fail. So if they're telling me to do something, like it's not in the interest to make me fail. I'm beyond the competition stage. I'm at the collaboration. So they they're like, you're in my room. I'm gonna give you advice so you don't fail because you're gonna pull us down. Yep. If you're that one person in the room always failing, like it doesn't work. Yep. And you can't be in our room anymore. So like we're gonna pull you up so you're better. Yep. And it's so hard for people to wrap their brains around that because I feel like Us as society, we have this sense of competition in us where it's like everyone's always out to get us. And I'm like, I'm not out to get to anyone. Yep. Like literally I'm at that point where like there's no one in this world where I'm out to get. I have no grudge against anyone, I have no like hatred. Even if a job goes sour. It's one of those like I'll talk to my wife, she goes, Are you upset about it? I'm like, No. No. It's just I got so much other shit on the go, like I don't care. You can't change the people around you, but you can change the people you choose to be around. speaker-1: Yep. That's my life right now. speaker-0: That's right. speaker-1: That's that's literally the quote I'm living by daily. Cause I used to be that person who just was friends with anybody and just like do random shit, but now I'm really selective with the people I hang out with. If they don't if I don't benefit them and they don't benefit me, I don't like this it's a it was a waste of time at the end of the day. Like if I can't help them and they can't help me, like it needs to be a mutual growth situation. Yeah. With all my friend group right now too, like I try to benefit them and help their life as best they can, and they do the same back. And together we're growing together. with you. I try to bring you as much value and you bring me value and we're growing together. That's literally the quote I changed my life with the last six months. speaker-0: Love that. Okay, so this isn't like a highlight reel or resume, but like everybody knows it's four fifteen in the morning, hit the gym, go to work, hit an event or spend time with the family at night, try to get some shit done, wake up in the morning, do the same thing, and Well, you see my schedule. You see, like you're even at the office sometimes, like trying to edit and stuff like that. It's like what are you doing? I go, I'm doing this right until two o'clock. Like I have to do that because my I have that time blocked and I'm doing that work and everything like that. And again, it's not that highlight real aspect. I really want to emphasize on what you've taken away in your mindset of like seeing that day to day. Yep. speaker-1: Honestly, the one thing is when I walked into it, seeing the way you operate, you operate like a robot. You I literally thought you were you were a robot. Cause he's so you're so systematic. If you say you're gonna do it at this time, it's done at that time and then you move on. Yeah. You literally operated like a robot. I was cum because I've never seen anybody else do it the way you do it. And you say you wake up before fifteen, I thought it was bullshit. Until you started like showing stories and like texting me at four o'clock. I'm like, this guy's actually up at four fifteen. Yeah. This guy's actually up and around. And seeing somebody do it consistently inspired me to make change. Because I was not that guy. I was not systematic. I was s like all over the place. I think my ADHD brain was just completely everywhere. I I just don't have an organized schedule ever. Yeah. But then seeing how well you operate and where you've got to, and I think you have ADHD too. speaker-0: So Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah. So if you can do it, why can't I? speaker-0: Yeah. I think we we need to operate in that capacity, in that kind of structure, once you have like ADHD or attention deficit or whatever you wanna call it. I think a lot of entrepreneurs are self-diagnosed, but I think there is even if it's not full ADHD, I think there's an underlying trade in us that we do have like squirrel brain. Yes. speaker-1: And I honestly I c I call it my superpower because I'm able to do certain things that other people can't because of my ADHD or whatever you call it. Yeah. It's just we're wired differently and it you know ⁓ if you use it the right way, it benefits us in our life. speaker-0: I've had more breakthroughs working on one thing where my brain goes, hey, how about this? I'm like, that's actually a good idea. Hold on, let's jot that down. It's a brilliant idea and it works out and pans out. okay, so first off, it's structure. So structure is realistic, it actually works, proof of concept and everything like that. How about, I guess, let's talk about goals. Like, do you feel like goals are more reachable and they're bigger, or do you find they're a lot more work than you expected and they're closer than like we had to have smaller goals. Like as a whole, like how you think about like I it's like I wanna have ten employees. Like it's one of those like was that always realistic for you or was that just not in the card for you? speaker-1: So I'll I'll put it this way. So my five year plan six one of my goals is to completely get out of the business and like actually be like working on the business while having people work for me. Yeah. That's been my biggest goal. And that was my five year plan. I was I literally six months ago I put it in my book saying in five years I'll have two employees speaker-0: What are one of your goals? Let's do that. Why five years? speaker-1: Exactly. I was limiting myself. I was limiting myself. I was because I I always saw people operate where they want to be and I thought it was like a long-term process and I have to work towards this a gradual process. I was never in the mindset that if I just put in forty percent more work today, I can cut the five years to one year. I was never in that mindset where I'm like, ⁓ I'll just have my downtime, I'll work from this to this and then I'll have a downtime and then I get to relax and blah blah blah. speaker-0: Downtime and fuck relaxing, you don't deserve it. I'm gonna be honest, no, so many people out there, like not you specifically, but they're like, ⁓ I need time to relax or I need downtime from what you don't deserve it, like why you deserve that? Like, why do you deserve to have a day off? Why do you deserve for downtime? Like you have one life to live, and it's like, well, I'm gonna spend that life having downtime. Like, fuck no, why? Like it's stupid. speaker-1: Yo, and that's what you I feel like most people lived for retirement. And they always think downtime is like the best time. But like I'm trying to retire by 30. Yeah. Just like ⁓ what's his name? What's his name? Rick. Rick. Just like Rick. He was retired by 30, 35, and then he's living his life now. Yeah. That's my goal. And that's always been my goal. I've told mom that I'm gonna be retiring by 30, blah blah blah. She doesn't believe in it. But now that I'm I'm it's achievable. Yeah. It's actually like I could I could feel it. I just need to put in the work. speaker-0: Around people that actually do it. And those people will sit down with you and give you their roadmap for free. And see how the competition's gone and they'll you say, This is what I want to do in five years, and like I've already done that. This is how I did it. Yeah. Like open book, like that's it. Done. speaker-1: Honestly the best thing about surrounding yourself with people that actually care about your growth. Because they're like I've gotten advice from people, I've taken it and it's led me down the worst path. So when I took like advice from you, I was very skeptical. I was a hundred percent like every decision I made. I I I did fall for your good looks. I'm not gonna lie. speaker-0: My good looks didn't just give you confidence. There we go, right? speaker-1: But i it was I was skeptical through every decision, but then every decision panned out to be the best thing I've done. Yeah. And that's given me confidence in like even if you tell me to drop him tomorrow, I'll do it. Sorry, shot. But like speaker-0: Wow. We weren't even that we weren't even firing that way and you just turned around with a rifle. That's it. Boom. That's it and shot ⁓ Like relax. Wow. speaker-1: But that's the kind of trust I have in you. Like I know you won't lead me down the wrong path speaker-0: You're good, Sean, you're good. speaker-1: ⁓ You're you've been amazing, I I I promise. But the trust aspect's there. If you tell me to fire whoever or like hire whoever, I do it on the spot because I know you're looking after me and my like my best interest. Not like even if it even if it has selfish motives, then the day it still helps me. Exactly. Right? It gets me to my next level, which is what I need. I it went from me hiring two employees in five years to already having my first employee. Yeah. I was able to like work harder, get more work so I can hire people and get out of the business. Yeah. That was I'd never thought that would be a situation like this six months ago. Like the last six months has been the craziest six months of my life. It's good though. I like that's the one thing I stopped doing. Yeah. I'm up at like seven like six seven thirty maximum. Like ⁓ unless I'm like up till four in the morning. speaker-0: Stop sleeping in. ⁓ my god. ⁓ In in his defense there's times where I call him I'm like, Where's my video? Like the concert one the concert one I'm still waiting on. speaker-1: Is that an upload? speaker-0: I don't know. Is it? I don't know. Check the My son's think he's gonna drive. ⁓ is it? Never mind. I spoke too soon. Yeah, he spoke too. No, but there's there's times where I message him and like, dude, I need this done today and he's like, Okay and then I I get a text message like two in the morning, bro. I just uploaded it. I'm like, this guy's up till two. So that shows a grind too. Like that that's a flip side too, is like there's a grind behind it too. So when you know, I break ⁓ and tell ⁓ like, ⁓ why you sleeping in? There there's days where I get why you sleep s I don't think you should, but whatever. speaker-1: Honestly don't sleep in as much as I used to. I'm up and at it almost seven what? No, sorry, I I never I'll never interrupt again, but I have a good point. Is it isn't it just as good to stay up as it is to wake up early if you're work if you're strictly just doing it for work? Well that's terrible because you speaker-0: Why don't you do both? Why? So? speaker-1: He operates at four hours. Okay, I sleep. speaker-0: I will operate on four I I will pull all nighters. Like literally I think I pulled all nighters just because I felt like I should. Okay. Because there's someone out there that pulled an all-nighter, I'm like I don't really have much to do, but I'm gonna pull an all-nighter just because. speaker-1: I done the same thing like recently, just because just because you've done it, I'm like, you what, fuck I'll do an online, get everything outside if I even if I don't do anything, I'll just work on the business. speaker-0: Yeah, and now I'm getting to the point where like I'm enjoying more time like hanging out hanging out at home with my wife doing shit with my kids, driving around. Like I think over Labor Day I had to go drive my daughter at 9 30, then pick her up at 1030. Then drive her back out at one in the morning and then go pick up my son and I was up to like two thirty-three and I was still up at six the next day and went to the gym. Like it's just what I do. And I chose to do that because I know I'm on borrowed time with driving my kids around. I'm only gonna be able to drive them around for so long. So I'm like, well, I'm gonna sacrifice my sleep to be able to do that. Yeah. But that can't cut into me accomplishing what I wanna do. Yeah. speaker-1: It's useless. speaker-0: Still have to do what you have to do, right? So like don't get wrong, there's nights where like yesterday I got home from the event, came home, sat down in the family room, my wife was reading a book, I turned on the TV, I was eating dinner, me and her were shooting the shit and everything, we went upstairs. I have downtime like that. I don't want anyone to think like there's no such thing as downtime, but it's selective downtime. Yep. And if I'm doing it, it's gonna be like hanging out with my family or reading a book or something like that. But I'm not gonna be going out partying and drinking. I'm not there anymore because I know that's gonna affect me for the next three days. So I'll have downtime today as long as it doesn't affect me tomorrow. Yeah. Does that make sense? speaker-1: What's your opinion on those like people who actually go out and party at like eight o'clock after work and like or even those business owners who just says after eight o'clock they're not doing anything but like partying and drinking and this that the other? What's your opinion? speaker-0: What's it taking? Watch ⁓ for a thousand days and then come tell me where they're at. Because I guarantee they'll probably be the same spot. speaker-1: Yeah, honestly I yeah that exactly because I have a friend who does that. I don't wanna call call him out, but he most likely knows who he is, but he has his own business, but then after eight o'clock he does nothing but party and have fun and this, that, the other. I'm like, are you really trying to run a business or grow a business while doing that? speaker-0: But some people they're okay with just that. That's just enough for them. It supports their lifestyle, supports their habits, they're good with that. And not you like no it's not wrong for wanting that. And that's why I don't want people to have this perspective where it's like, my perspective is you get one life, like make the most of it. And if you're gonna build something, build it fucking huge. But some people are okay with just building something. I got a friend who has a business. He works on the tools. He goes to work. He makes a good $2,500 a week paycheck clean. He does his 30, 40 hours every week, and that's it. And if someone has to be invoiced or email back, he goes, listen, it's gonna take me a couple days because I'm still on the tools. He's transparent about it, he's very structured about it, and he enjoys doing that. And he goes, AJ, I'm just putting away money for retirement. Like I'm working a regular job, but I'm working for myself. I've created a job for myself. And he's okay doing that. And he says, the way it's going right now, by the time I'm 50, I'll be able to retire. I have enough money and investments to live off it. He goes, That's my goal to go to work every Strap in my tool belt, make enough money for the week, enough to put away for my retirement and go. So I'm like, that's his thing. Like I can't be mad at him for that, right? speaker-1: Like for me, like being a business owner should not be I'm just gonna work in the company and call it a day. Like you you should be striving for growth and like exponential growth, right? speaker-0: I think that comes down to the personal development thing. That's when personal development kicks in. I find a lot of business owners wanna scale and grow their business once they're introduced to personal development. Okay. Once they get into personal development, it's like I want a better life for myself. What can I do? Why I need more time? How do I get more time? I scale my business so it runs it without me. See how like it kind of stacks on top of each other? Yeah. I find a lot of people that are just happy where they're at, you know, they're happies in shape, they're speaker-1: my like if if you had a friend like this would you advise them in like a way or should you just let them be? Like do you I like do I do my part and like try to guide them or do I just say that's what they want to do is just put my hands up. What would you do? speaker-0: I like helping where I can. I would feel out the conversation like feel out the situation, saying, Hey, you know, Bob, how you feeling with business? ⁓ business going good, this and that and everything. Are you just still doing everything yourself? Yeah, I'm still kinda doing most of it myself. Are you good? Like have you thought about hiring anyone? Feel ⁓ out. They're just like, No, I'm good. I just I make my money, bro, I'm good. And that's it. Leave it. Like you you have no obligation to help them. Just like when I help someone, I have no obligation to help them. I just feel people out and I'm like, okay, they're in a situation that they want to help. I'm talking to another GC right now where he really wants to like get off the tools. I'm like, you really want to do that? I'll help you do that. But then my other buddy who doesn't want to get off the tools, I'm like, he doesn't want to, who cares? Like let him do his thing. That's who he wants. So I'd feel it out if you feel an obligation to, but I think you're in the phase of building, so why spend your time on someone else when you can still work on yourself, right? Fair. Kind of thing. ⁓ what's the biggest takeaway you've seen So far, working with me in six months. speaker-1: biggest takeaway? Yeah. The commitment and the consistency. For me, it's the fact that seeing somebody structured and like organized and like achieving what I want to achieve, it's like driving me to and like showing me it's possible. speaker-0: Yeah. See. Now is it more the being consistent is realistic or holy shit, look at the results you can get for being consistent? Like is it like an immediate eye opener where it's kinda like, ⁓ you I can be consistent every day? Or is it like a delayed ROI where it's kinda like, holy shit, I've seen him be consistent for six months, I see where he's at now. Like which one is it? speaker-1: It's because like for me consistency is something that ⁓ doesn't come like straight out of the bat. Like I can't be consistent in a routine tomorrow. That's just not how I operate. Yeah, it it really is it like it it takes a You're the only one in life that I know who's like systematic ⁓ speaker-0: Like going to the gym when you came in here. How do you make it to the gym every day? I go I get up, I put on my pants, I get in my car and say I gotta go to the gym. speaker-1: I don't know how he does that. Me, like I've been going to the s gym for last six weeks, hardest thing to do, like I've skipped out so many times that I didn't want to skip out, but like the next day I go and I go harder than I have ever have. That's just the way I punish myself for going out going to the gym. But like it's so difficult. Even tonight I have to go to the gym tonight. I don't want to do it. It's just how the hell do you like get speaker-0: You never thought you said I don't want to do it, I have to do it. speaker-1: See, and that's what I say before I go. Before I go, like the whole day leading up to it, it's like I don't wanna I wanna go, I don't wanna go. And then as soon as the time comes, I'm like, okay, I have to go. I have to do it. I gotta do it. speaker-0: Yeah, and it doesn't come naturally. Like, don't get me wrong, like when I go do a a CrossFit or a strength conditioning class, you can ask anyone in the class, even my wife, you can ask the coaches. Warm-ups, I barely even do the warm-up. I moan and groan the whole time, like, ⁓ my god, this is stupid. Why are we doing this? That buzzer goes off, it's like boom, it's like a you know, a horse out of the gate, like gone, let's go, let's do the work, right? So like it's not just naturally consistent. I don't think anyone's naturally consistent. I think people just adapt the brain to a certain point where it's like Either it has to get done, I feel like I'm more of a it's already done kind of guy. Now I just have to go through the motions. Like if I want, you know, to grow criterion, like I'm thinking about growing it right now and I'm reaching out for more clients and really trying to scale it up. In my head, I'm like, I already have 40 clients. It's just a matter of who are they gonna be. Yeah. Now I'm just going through the motion of getting those clients. I'm like, I know what the business is gonna be at 40, I know it's gonna get to 40 clients. Just who are they? speaker-1: See speaker-0: Yeah. So it's almost already done in my head. It just now I had to wait for time to kick in to catch up. speaker-1: Like for me, like the h the gym aspect of it. ⁓ in high school I used to be a gym freak. Every day I'm at the gym twice a day. Every single day I was a gym freak. I was fit. I was like buffed. speaker-0: I saw pictures the other day, I was like, holy that's not the same guy. speaker-1: I was skinny, but I was like strong and sh fully in shape. Yeah. But and like back then my goal was I need to impress the girls. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: Right? I like sorry, that's the best way to put it. It's true, yeah. I just need to impress people, so I need to look good and look a certain way. As soon as I went to university, my goal changed because I'm like, I need to work, I need to get this. And that's where my motivation for the gym just went downwards, because my sh focus shifted. And now when I'm at this stage of my life, my issue is my focus on the business, my focus on the growth. How do I s split my focus to self-development physically and this? Like that's my struggle. Yeah. speaker-0: If that makes sense. But you're adding something your plate. So it's like, you know, ev ever every business owner, I don't care who you are, I guarantee you got to the point where like you started a business or you bought into a business or you did what you needed to do. There was some sort of point where your health flopped. Yep. Everybody I know has their health flopped. Me. You know what I mean? But then running the business, you get into the weeds, it's like, ⁓ I'm so tied up. But then you get to that personal development point where it's kinda like, Well, need To get I think I want to feel better about myself. I want more time. I want more like mental, I guess, clarity. And how do you do that? Well, I had this buy back my time. How do I buy back my time? I scale my business. And that's when they remove themselves from the business to create that time to be able to do that. Like it's like you almost have to be in the weeds and hit that low to be able to realize you're in the weeds. Yep. It's like an unteachable lesson. It again it's speaker-1: It's an unteachable lesson. That's literally the one thing I learned now, 'cause being with you I learned all these terms. I'm like, damn, that it is an unteachable lesson. It's just speaker-0: Yeah. You have to go through it. Yep. I can tell someone until they're blue in the face, but till they actually won, they actually experience it, you might get one out of a hundred people to actually listen and go through it, right? What do you want to be asked? speaker-1: What do I wanna be asked? Sh the point they think speaker-0: You li you are here for every episode. You think at le I know you got no show notes to prep, but at least the last two questions in your head you would have speaker-1: He gave me no onboarding for him, he gave me no notice, he didn't let me clean up, he's a speaker-0: Two qu these two questions are the ones I ask on every single podcast. I figured these ones you'd have an answer for. speaker-1: Do did I do it? I've always I've always like had goals and I've told my family, my friends, everybody my goal. If somebody's to ask me like what's one question? Or if the somebody was to ask me a question, it would be Did I do it? Yeah. Did I actually do what I said? Was I able to put my foot down and say, Yep, I achieved this, I did this, at this age I was the youngest person to do X amount, whatever it is. I love that. That's my biggest question. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: Wait, I wanna ask you that question. What's one question you wanna be asked? speaker-0: When is it enough? I don't know. I I that's one question if someone asks me, like I really want to be asked that question and have an answer for it. I know I want a question, I ask people this question so they can give me an answer on it. But I feel like I have a lot of answers and a lot of clarity in myself, and I know my path and what I want. So I think, is it enough? Or when is it enough? That's one question I want to be asked because I think that question would stump me. Because I I don't think I'm at the point where like I know what enough is yet. I just don't know in life like where I'm gonna draw the line, where I'm gonna stop, where I'm gonna burn out, where I'm gonna like hit my peak. Like it's one of those like I just don't feel myself stopping right now. I feel like there's gonna be more added to my plate. Even when I was speaking at the event yesterday, I'm like, I have this company, I have this company, I'm an author, I'm a podcaster, father, husband, and more. Like I don't know what what's next. I'm gonna do something though. And something hopefully extreme. Right. So like I wanna be asked, like, when is it enough? And I'm like, I don't know. I I wanna be stumped with the question. speaker-1: That's actually really good. Never ex I I actually did not expect you to answer that question. That's crazy. speaker-0: What would you name this episode? Sh speaker-1: Operate where you wanna be. speaker-0: Operate where you wanna be. I thought it was gonna go with something different, but speaker-1: No, that's that's my that's been my like mindset. Last six No, that's too cheesy. speaker-0: I thought it's gonna be the other side of the lens. No cheesy That's not cheesy. You're the videographer and you're on the other side of the lens. I thought you were gonna run with some. speaker-1: Cheesy. I'm a videographer, but at the end of the day I'm businessman. I wanna like the whole my whole growth is the last six months is operating where I want to be. speaker-0: Yeah, I got Alright, open floor time. So give yourself a plug, social media, I don't know, advertise yourself, man. speaker-1: Yeah. you can follow me on Instagram at UCH dot productions. ⁓ I do have a website but somebody built it and I completely forgot to add the lot of photos into it. So UCH Productions.com speaker-0: I've asked twelve times, I've asked like twelve times to just stop asking, so he can just have no website. speaker-1: Other than that, ⁓ you can also follow our car page, LexCot 500. We do a lot of car content there. Other than that, and also Sean, I forgot his Instagram page. I'll tag it. Sean's my ex-rivadiographer, he does a lot of work, so you can follow all of us. We do a lot of content. Damn, damn. speaker-0: Did I even follow you, Sean? I didn't I didn't know. I'll follow you, don't worry. Don't worry. speaker-1: Other than that, just yeah, UC productions, you'll see me with him all the time and follow him. speaker-0: Perfect. All right, another episode. I forget the noise. That was an awesome episode. I actually didn't even have that many show notes. We just kinda ran with it. Yeah, I think we touched on everything. We touched on business, personal development, where you're at, ⁓ putting yourself in a different and better circle, pushing yourself to the limit, finding your potential. This episode just had everything in it. I think it worked out perfect. Late night kind of text message saying, Hey, you're on tomorrow, just winging it. I think it was a great episode. So hopefully everyone got some value out of that. Until next week, forget the noise podcast, AJ Cappuccini signing off. That's it, but speaker-1: That's it.