Latest / eCommerce Podcast / Why Purpose Over Profit Actually Builds Sustainable Businesses | George Bryant
Transcript
- 0:04Well, hello and welcome to the eCommerce Podcast with
- 0:07me, your host, Matt Edmundson.
- 0:09Uh, you know what, been in eCommerce for a little while, since 2002.
- 0:14And these days I get to partner with amazing e-com brands to
- 0:17help them grow, scale and exit.
- 0:20Uh, and if you'd like to know more about that, head over to the podcast
- 0:22website, ecommerce-podcast.net.
- 0:24You'll find out all about me, all about this show.
- 0:27And all about our amazing guests, just like George.
- 0:31George.
- 0:31Man, I've been looking forward to this.
- 0:33Uh, I just, I love our conversations.
- 0:35I'm not gonna lie, I always sort of go away feeling a lot happier about
- 0:38my life, uh, after we've chatted.
- 0:40So it's great to have you on the show, man.
- 0:42My friend, it's an honor.
- 0:43And I feel like you're an og.
- 0:44Og like 2002 in, in e-comm.
- 0:46Like I'm like 2008, 2009, and I'm always the old guy and I'm
- 0:51like, I hate to say it, but
- 0:52Yeah, I'm older.
- 0:54you got year older.
- 0:55A year older.
- 0:56You've been in the game for a minute.
- 0:59Yeah, I've, I've been around, uh, depending on the, on the mood that I'm in.
- 1:03Sometimes I'll use the phrase eCommerce dinosaur, just 'cause
- 1:06Yeah,
- 1:06quite cool.
- 1:07I mean like in true, in true reflection though, like the level of cycles that
- 1:13you've seen and the level of cycles you've seen repeat themselves from
- 1:172002, where everybody thinks it's always innovation, but it's like
- 1:21reinvention back to what it was.
- 1:23yeah,
- 1:24The wisdom too.
- 1:24That's why you have all the gray hairs in your beard.
- 1:26Right?
- 1:27Head is from stress.
- 1:28Beard is from wisdom.
- 1:30Uh, well I'll go with that.
- 1:31'cause I've not got really that many gray hairs on my head yet.
- 1:34They just seem to sort of be beard only.
- 1:35So,
- 1:36that's why I shaved my head because if I did, I have assuming
- 1:39I would have a whole lot more.
- 1:41yeah, you've got the opposite problem.
- 1:42Is
- 1:42And then I have like one gray patch right here where I'm like,
- 1:45look, I got, I got, I got my first wisdom stripe coming in at 41.
- 1:50Oh, brilliant.
- 1:50Well, there's not that, I mean, I'm, I'm in my early fifties now, so
- 1:54there's not that many years between us,
- 1:55Yeah.
- 1:57yeah, it's funny.
- 1:57Someone said to me the other day a, a great phrase that I heard.
- 2:01nothing exists in a vacuum, right?
- 2:03Everything, everything in effect is just history repeating itself.
- 2:07And, um, I, I'm always intrigued.
- 2:11I don't know you've seen the same thing, George, but I'm always intrigued by.
- 2:15Those in e-com always looking for something new.
- 2:21You know, like the latest silver bullet actually e-comm for me is
- 2:25just doing old school marketing principles really, really well.
- 2:29Mm-hmm.
- 2:31Mm-hmm.
- 2:32haven't changed.
- 2:32Just the, the way we communicate it maybe has.
- 2:36I couldn't agree more, and this is the hardest part.
- 2:40People lose because they chase the dopamine, because success in
- 2:43e-comm is simple because it can be scheduled, but it's boring.
- 2:48So people get really distracted with that dopamine or that shiny thing,
- 2:52and they always end up right back.
- 2:55To where they belonged in the first place.
- 2:57Like that's the thing that I've seen the most.
- 2:59It's like I even, I even joke with people, like I have this model I'll draw for
- 3:02them is like, what scaling looks like?
- 3:04And it's a Christmas tree, right?
- 3:05I'm like, 'cause even if you think about it, any e-comm people listening to
- 3:08this in the very beginning, Parkinson's law dictates that we can only focus
- 3:13on what actually moves the needle.
- 3:15Because if not, we're gonna go outta business, right?
- 3:16We're gonna let our investors down.
- 3:18We're not gonna sell through inventory.
- 3:19So like the trunk of the tree is like, okay, who do I serve?
- 3:23How do I serve them?
- 3:24What problem do I solve and what do I sell them?
- 3:26Right?
- 3:26And then we live in that bucket so frequently until something works, right?
- 3:31But like if an Instagram post doesn't work, you're like, gotta let it go.
- 3:34Gotta do another one, right?
- 3:35If that campaign didn't work, gotta let it go.
- 3:38Gotta do another one.
- 3:38But then we get to the point where we get some space and then we try to go
- 3:43wide and we're like, oh, that's working.
- 3:45So let's go do all these other things.
- 3:47And they build out like that first rung of the Christmas tree.
- 3:50And this happens at every single business and at revenue levels too.
- 3:53Like typically a hundred K, 500 K, a million, two and a half, five, 10.
- 3:57It's pretty predictable.
- 3:59So then they'll build out the base and then eventually they'll hit this
- 4:03ceiling and they'll stagnate and they're like, oh my God, what's happening?
- 4:06And they'll be like, what more do I add?
- 4:08And I always joke with them.
- 4:09I'm like, when was the last time you saw a rectangle Christmas tree?
- 4:12Yep.
- 4:13And they're like.
- 4:14Oh, and I was like, no, no, because what happens is you got so distracted
- 4:18with shiny bullets and all of it, you actually stopped doing the things
- 4:22that worked in the first place.
- 4:24So you have to trim back to the trunk.
- 4:26Let go of what didn't work, keep what did work, but protect
- 4:29that core of what's there.
- 4:31And, and that to your point, is the thing that I've seen more than
- 4:34anything, even with email, right?
- 4:36Like, do you remember a couple of years ago, everyone's
- 4:37like, email marketing's dead.
- 4:39I'm like, no, it's not
- 4:42Yeah.
- 4:42just like, it wasn't when it was Yahoo or MSN and it's like still here.
- 4:47And it's like, oh, but AI and blank.
- 4:49And instead of it being this like end world where I protect the foundation.
- 4:55And I'm willing to try something on top of it.
- 4:58As long as it doesn't sacrifice, to your point, my ability to
- 5:01execute the foundational strategies that work, then I'll do it.
- 5:06But it became this or world, and I think that's the place that I
- 5:09see people getting stuck the most.
- 5:11It's like organic or paid.
- 5:12I'm like actually paid requires organic to be successful in the long game.
- 5:18Right?
- 5:18And so I think that's how I see it.
- 5:20That's such, such wisdom.
- 5:22Uh, George, why I'm just aware of, we're, we're chatting away already.
- 5:25Just introduce yourself a little bit to the guests so they,
- 5:28they know who you're talking.
- 5:29I know who I'm talking to, but maybe not everyone else does.
- 5:32So just give us a little bit about yourself.
- 5:34You know, I, I feel called in this moment.
- 5:35I don't have business cards, but I have a poker chip in my pocket.
- 5:38It's pink 'cause my favorite color's pink.
- 5:40And it says your most valuable liability is what's on my actual business card.
- 5:45I just label myself your most valuable liability.
- 5:47'cause at this point I.
- 5:48is such a great phrase.
- 5:50I think I've done so much.
- 5:52In such a short or compressed amount of time.
- 5:55But you know, I, I tell everybody that like, I'm a dad first.
- 5:58I'm an incredible partner and friend, but like, what I have a passion for is
- 6:01helping entrepreneurs who actually care about their customers and their results
- 6:05scale their business to change the world.
- 6:08And I've been blessed to help scale hundreds of companies to
- 6:117, 8, 9, and two to a billion.
- 6:13And some of them people know Vital Proteins.
- 6:15I helped and on it, I've helped 20 authors become New York Times bestsellers
- 6:18and God made me gifted to be the oz behind everybody else's curtain.
- 6:23That's where he put my ego 'cause I was in front of it too.
- 6:25I, I also have this dirty little secret.
- 6:27I was a New York Times bestselling cookbook author, and I had a number
- 6:30one app in the world and I had a million social media followers.
- 6:33And then.
- 6:34I had a godly experience and he called me back to integrity.
- 6:38So I deleted all the followers, gave away the company, changed
- 6:41my phone number, and disappeared.
- 6:43So like I, I've kind of walked in this from physical
- 6:45products to digital products.
- 6:47And what I focus on so heavily is relationships, customer journey,
- 6:52and the mindset required to have the results that we desire, right?
- 6:56And one of the things that I say to people is like, you don't have the
- 6:58business you want because you haven't become the person to run it yet.
- 7:02Right.
- 7:02Like you can't scale your business till you scale yourself first.
- 7:05And I think people look at mindset and they think it's this like
- 7:10woowoo thing or something I don't need to joke with or need to do.
- 7:13But I always look at it for sports fans too.
- 7:15Like whether you have like American or UK listeners, like I can take
- 7:20a high school rugby player and I can put him on a professional
- 7:24rugby field with the playbook.
- 7:26He'll have the same plays that other team has, but he can't
- 7:28execute them at the same level.
- 7:31Eventually it can become it.
- 7:32And when I think about entrepreneurs is we try to get all these playbooks,
- 7:37but we never ask ourselves like how do we become the player to execute that
- 7:41playbook at the level where it matters?
- 7:42And so like I just have a soft spot in my heart for helping people do that.
- 7:47And I've accidentally helped scale a couple hundred companies
- 7:50and it turns out customer journey is a really important topic that
- 7:54makes a big difference for people.
- 7:55Yeah, no doubt.
- 7:56I, I love this phrase.
- 7:57I've accidentally helped people scale.
- 8:00you've definitely helped companies scale, uh, to, to, to larger figures than me.
- 8:05but it's, I I'm intrigued.
- 8:07Uh, your journey is quite unique, right?
- 8:09Uh, and, and the path that you've been on that the experiences that you've
- 8:12had and with what you do now, and just the joy I think you have in life.
- 8:17You know, the real sort of passion for.
- 8:19Just for being alive and being around people is, is contagious in many ways.
- 8:24What do you see the biggest mistake?
- 8:26Um, if there was, you know, like one thing that you see every entrepreneur
- 8:31or young and aspiring entrepreneur make when they're building or trying to
- 8:35build their empires, what would it be?
- 8:37Chasing profit instead of purpose.
- 8:40Okay.
- 8:41Uh, do you wanna dig into that?
- 8:42I, I would love to dig into that.
- 8:44Um, it's a really, really interesting topic because I. What I see is most
- 8:54people falling into this trap of cha chasing success instead of significance.
- 8:59And if you look at the world, what you'll find is, you know, entrepreneurs, like
- 9:04I always joke with people, I was like, you can always tell an entrepreneur
- 9:06because they'll have an exit and then 30 days later you'll read a news article
- 9:10about them launching another company.
- 9:12Launching another company, right?
- 9:13Like, and one of the things that I say to people is that.
- 9:18We spend our life convincing ourselves that we're building this business because
- 9:22we want more time, money, or freedom.
- 9:25But when in actuality the business is distraction and we're avoiding
- 9:28the one relationship we're guaranteed to spend the rest of our life
- 9:31with, which is ourself, right?
- 9:32Like our kids don't want us working, they want us home, right?
- 9:35And I'm like, oh, I'm doing it for my family, my eight year old's like,
- 9:38dad, I don't care about the business.
- 9:39Like, can we go to the skate park?
- 9:40Right?
- 9:40Yeah.
- 9:41Yeah.
- 9:42And so there's this semblance of understanding that like.
- 9:45Success in itself.
- 9:47I think the metrics that people chase set them up to lose by playing the short game.
- 9:51They think that success is a hockey stick.
- 9:54They think that it's this, like the one funnel that's gonna work
- 9:57or this product's gonna pop.
- 9:58But in actuality, you, you kind of make the game harder on yourself because
- 10:03you don't get to learn the lessons that allow you to keep, continue to grow,
- 10:07scale, build the team to pass those on.
- 10:09And you know, for you and I, both men of faith, one of the prayers that I, or
- 10:14phrases I wrote down on my wall for years is I oftentimes prayed to God for things.
- 10:18I didn't have the character and scars to maintain.
- 10:21Yeah.
- 10:21And even from my own e-commerce businesses, there were ones where
- 10:25like we hit a million easily and then we didn't grow past that point.
- 10:29We started to sabotage into it because we didn't have the character
- 10:32and the experience and the wisdom
- 10:35or even the know-how to call somebody who did to bring them in.
- 10:39And so when you think about success, you'll find that people will hit success.
- 10:44The cost of everything.
- 10:46They won't build a business to support their life.
- 10:48They'll sacrifice their life to build a business, and then they'll look back and
- 10:52realize they don't get that life back.
- 10:55And then a few of them get inspired at whatever age.
- 10:57Typically, it's some catalystic moment of like midlife crisis,
- 11:01trauma, death, or just emptiness.
- 11:04And you're like, oh, I need to go do something with this.
- 11:06And then significance follows.
- 11:08But here's the craziest part.
- 11:09When you prioritize significance.
- 11:12Success always follows significance.
- 11:15And so it's just prioritizing the right things.
- 11:17And even when I think about building a company or building a mission, like it's
- 11:21totally fine to be driven by revenue.
- 11:23Revenue is the vehicle that allows you to spread that mission and that vision.
- 11:27But also when you think about the most successful companies in the
- 11:30world, they're not built that way because people feel transacted with.
- 11:34They're built that way because people feel transformed by them.
- 11:37Like Nike's billboard doesn't say Just do it.
- 11:39Only if you wear our running shoes,
- 11:41just do it.
- 11:42Only if you run a five minute mile.
- 11:44Right?
- 11:44Like, they're like, just do it.
- 11:47Right.
- 11:47We'll leave the sweatshop conversation out of this.
- 11:49But like, you know, morals and ethics aside.
- 11:52Yeah.
- 11:53Just like all of us have had experiences where we've been in companies or
- 11:56we've been a part of something.
- 11:57Like if we think about car dealerships, at least in the us
- 12:00everyone's like, God, I hate going.
- 12:01They like play games with me.
- 12:02They make me feel like crap, they transact with me.
- 12:05They're trying to get more money outta me.
- 12:07We forget that.
- 12:08Like when we look at success, most of the success that people prioritize as revenue.
- 12:14Revenue is a byproduct of a successful relationship.
- 12:19A relationship is a byproduct of you actually helping somebody get results.
- 12:24And then when you help somebody get results, you build a relationship.
- 12:27When you build a relationship, they make referrals and also pay you revenue.
- 12:30And so I find that like even looking at it the right way is like.
- 12:34There's nothing wrong with wanting to sell a product or having a clothing brand, or
- 12:38even selling a supplement and not like thinking you're gonna go be Mother Teresa,
- 12:42but ensuring that the thing that you're making is tied to a bigger purpose or
- 12:45tied to a bigger mission where maybe the mission is we're gonna sell this product
- 12:49so that we can support our employees, or we can give them time, money,
- 12:52freedom, or location freedom, right?
- 12:54Like there has to be a deeper meaning.
- 12:56And, and this is why I love Mike Michalowicz as an author.
- 12:59He also has this book called All In, which is, is really how
- 13:01to build an incredible team.
- 13:04One of the things that he highlights out of it is the shared vision, right?
- 13:07Like there's this vision piece of like, even if you're gonna build and
- 13:11scale an e-commerce company, like you need to have some semblance of
- 13:15idea of where you're shooting for.
- 13:17And so I think.
- 13:19The biggest way that I would describe and summarize that, you know, mini
- 13:22TED talk that I gave, is that when you end up chasing success instead of
- 13:26significance, you end up measuring in days instead of decades, and it inhibits
- 13:31your ability to grow because you're too reactive to what's happening in
- 13:35the day to day, and you don't have a picture of what's happening in the macro.
- 13:39Yeah.
- 13:40That's so powerful.
- 13:41I've got, there's so much there.
- 13:43George, I, I'm kind of curious, is this a, do you think this
- 13:46is a bit of an age thing?
- 13:47Because I, as you're talking about significance and success, I remember
- 13:51someone said to me, a very wise chap once said to me, in your,
- 13:56the first 40, first 40 years of your life, it's all about success.
- 14:00You hit 40 and it's all about significance.
- 14:03And it's like there's this shift that happens as you get older.
- 14:07And I, I kind of listened to that and I, as I've got older and, you know,
- 14:14as my kids have got older and I've got more embedded into my marriage,
- 14:20I think my definition of success is very, very different to what it was
- 14:24when I was in my early twenties.
- 14:26You know, very, very different.
- 14:28And so I'm listening to you talk and going, don't think it's as simple as
- 14:31it's just an age thing, but I think is this thing with age that makes you see
- 14:36things differently, rightly or wrongly.
- 14:40I agree, but I don't know if I would submit that it's an age thing.
- 14:44I'd think I would submit.
- 14:46It's more of a values based perspective,
- 14:49Yeah.
- 14:49I.
- 14:50right?
- 14:50Because like I have, I have one of my clients right now who's 26 years
- 14:53old, like I'm 41, and he runs circles around me with significance and impact.
- 14:58Like he's like wanting to save the world and do this, and I was like.
- 15:02And how'd you go from drug dealer to this?
- 15:05And you know, it's like a funny story that we tell, but I think what it really
- 15:10boils down to is I think age would be a really easy metric to potentially look at.
- 15:16But what I really think is underneath it is self-identity and values, right?
- 15:22Like knowing oneself and like what genuinely lights you up and brings you.
- 15:27Joy in the world, but then also what are those things that you value?
- 15:31And I know for me, I didn't realize how much I valued time until the
- 15:36business that I had built and my son came along, cost me 160 flights a year
- 15:42and missing three years of his life.
- 15:44Well, now I takes an act of Congress to get me on an airplane outta Montana.
- 15:48And they're like, what are you doing?
- 15:49I'm like, I'll do it remotely.
- 15:50I'll do it remotely.
- 15:51And I'm like, he's laying eight feet away from me right now.
- 15:54And they're like, oh, I heard him in the background.
- 15:55I'm like, great, leave it in.
- 15:56Like it's, it's, we're we're a combo package.
- 16:00Right.
- 16:00But I think that there was this perspective shift and there was a season
- 16:03before him where like, I didn't value time
- 16:06because I thought I had an unlimited amount of it.
- 16:08And that's even crazier because I was an active duty marine for 13 years in
- 16:11my life, like two combat deployments.
- 16:13And.
- 16:14I thought that shifted my perspective of like, oh, I've seen death and I've been
- 16:18to places I shouldn't have come back from.
- 16:20Like I really value time.
- 16:21Nope.
- 16:22I was just a right matter of time before I was back to old habits,
- 16:25and it took me having a son.
- 16:27To really, really recognize what I value.
- 16:30So I think, I think what it boils down to for me is that like willingness to
- 16:35look in the mirror and, and be really radically honest with ourselves.
- 16:39'cause I also have friends that truthfully, they're like, my
- 16:42life is to be an entrepreneur.
- 16:44I don't want kids, I don't want blank.
- 16:45Like I just love being in the grind.
- 16:48And I'm like, well, I love you for sat.
- 16:50I will support you.
- 16:51I'll make you dinner.
- 16:51Right?
- 16:52But like, I'm not gonna come work on the computer with you.
- 16:54But I think it really boils down to, to being radically honest with oneself
- 16:58about what's important to you, what brings you joy, what lights you up.
- 17:02And also not shaming yourself for having those beliefs.
- 17:05And then number two is really like, what is it that you value?
- 17:08Because I go back now and I look at like the mentors I've
- 17:11had in my life, and I'm like.
- 17:13Man, if I just listened to them 10 years ago and I didn't fight so hard, and I
- 17:18was like, but then my journey is the guy who will self-knowledge that I won't
- 17:22learn unless I fall on my own face.
- 17:26Yeah.
- 17:26It's never big enough for me to shift, and so I just kind of had to
- 17:29fall in love with I'm the God that's gonna smack my face into the wall and
- 17:33hopefully pass that wisdom down to somebody else.
- 17:35But I think, I think it really just boils down to the things that we value in the
- 17:39world and, and our willingness to explore those things with curiosity instead
- 17:44of being so either dogmatic or locked into how we think we'd view the world.
- 17:49well, I, I'm loving this conversation, uh, 'cause we'd not planned it.
- 17:54And two, I, i, I very fortuitous timing one, one might argue,
- 17:59um, I wrote quite a lengthy uh.
- 18:03Article about purpose and values on Friday,
- 18:06Mm.
- 18:07one of the things that came out in the research, um, and
- 18:10maybe we can talk about this,
- 18:12Mm-hmm.
- 18:13of consumers now, so one in two consumers actively, not
- 18:18passively, but actively distrust.
- 18:21Corporations purpose claims, right.
- 18:24So I talk about, um, Wells Fargo had the purpose statement about helping customers
- 18:29succeed financially while simultaneously opening three and a half fraudulent,
- 18:33uh, three and a half million fraudulent accounts in their customers' names.
- 18:36Um, Boeing claimed to prioritize innovation and
- 18:40safety while cutting corners.
- 18:42Uh, and, you know, the, the, the inevitable, uh, happens.
- 18:47Um, there, there's, there's a, there's a. Littering of companies which have
- 18:53had these sort of purpose driven ideals because we thought that's what we needed.
- 18:57'cause that's what Patagonia did in Tom's shoes, right?
- 19:00Um, but it's got to the stage now.
- 19:02One in two just actively distrust it.
- 19:08I think that's quite, that's quite telling isn't it?
- 19:11A thousand percent.
- 19:12A thousand percent.
- 19:13I also think it's quite exciting 'cause I'll never not have a job,
- 19:22Yeah.
- 19:22This, the market's getting bigger.
- 19:24just to be radically honest, like.
- 19:27I, I was genuinely in a meeting the other day with a private client who,
- 19:32who builds custom homes and, you know, they went from 2 million to 8 million.
- 19:35And, and like one of the first things I said to 'em was like, values are not words
- 19:39that you paste on as wallpaper values are words for people to describe how you are
- 19:45being when you're no longer in the room.
- 19:49And he's like, oh.
- 19:52And I was like, that's what you've embodied, which is why
- 19:54you've scaled the company, right?
- 19:55Like, it's no different than a parent.
- 19:57Yep.
- 19:58Like, or a colleague or a business partner.
- 20:00It's like, and, and I hate to say this, but like the amount of
- 20:04personal trainers I've hired, I was a hundred pounds overweight.
- 20:08If they were 300 pounds overweight, telling me that I needed to
- 20:11eat different and move my body, I would've had a hard time
- 20:14like justifying like,
- 20:16Yeah.
- 20:16Yep.
- 20:17and, and not even because it's bad and wrong if the position is like.
- 20:21Hey, I live this way, so go do it.
- 20:23But if they were like, Hey, I don't live this way.
- 20:25I'm just telling you I want you to avoid the pain, I would've listened differently.
- 20:28Right?
- 20:28There's this embodiment piece to where even, you know, one of the
- 20:31core things I do with my clients, especially like physical products,
- 20:35brands, when we're helping them scale, is building a movement,
- 20:38which is truthfully an ethical cult.
- 20:40It's a shared belief system.
- 20:43Of like, you know, what's the impact we wanna make?
- 20:45Like what do we stand for?
- 20:46What is our belief system?
- 20:47Right?
- 20:47Like even at Vital Proteins, it, it wasn't people that wanted to buy collagen.
- 20:51'cause nobody wants to eat the hide of a cow.
- 20:54That's not like, oh, let me wake up and put cow hide in my coffee cup.
- 20:58Right?
- 20:58Like, that's not what we're marketing.
- 20:59It's like they want to have healthier hair, skin and nails.
- 21:03Right.
- 21:03Or like even at on, at the supplement company.
- 21:05Yeah, there were hundreds of products and what, but what everybody
- 21:08wanted was to be the person who was totally optimized as a human.
- 21:12Or even in my world, you know, when you go to my website, which by the
- 21:15way, it's the Pinkest website you'll ever see 'cause it's my favorite color.
- 21:19Yeah, I love the color.
- 21:20Um, but it says, relationships beat algorithms because I only want you
- 21:24in my world if you genuinely believe that your relationships with people
- 21:27are more valuable than profit.
- 21:29If you don't like it.
- 21:31I'll love you out the door and there's a spot for you at the dinner table, but
- 21:34you come in acting like a douche and I'm gonna kick you back out the door.
- 21:38Right?
- 21:38Like, not tolerated here.
- 21:40And I think that that's the part that a lot of people miss is they
- 21:43think that values or purpose or these words that we throw up on a wall and
- 21:48they're like, oh, give these to hr, let's, you know, boom, boom, boom.
- 21:51And you know, even with companies that we have, we're we're like, your
- 21:56values are literally the structure.
- 21:59It's like your human body and then the people that you put in and are
- 22:02the blood that pumps through your body to be able to run your business.
- 22:06And we're like, you hire and fire based on values
- 22:10and then those values turn into beliefs that are operating
- 22:13agreements for everybody to do, and then you train on skills.
- 22:17And they're like, huh?
- 22:18And I was like, yeah, you've been hiring on skills and wondering
- 22:21why there's this like broken osmosis throughout the the company.
- 22:24But you know, I think that's a benefit of me being a Marine for 13 years was like.
- 22:29We had such a small group of Marines, but everybody worked so
- 22:33cohesively together because they didn't train us how to be Marines.
- 22:37They trained us how to think and feel the same way.
- 22:40So then no matter what situation that we went into, there was
- 22:43like this embodied example.
- 22:45And so I, I genuinely look at that and I'm like, yep.
- 22:48And I wish the number was higher, because I think that that's
- 22:51where the world truly changes.
- 22:52If there's enough of us that vote with our dollars and our attention.
- 22:57We utilize these things that we see of like, yeah, we're not supporting you.
- 23:00We don't believe in this anymore.
- 23:02We're gonna hold you to a different standard.
- 23:04I think it actually starts to change the conversation because
- 23:06when you got into e-comm, I miss how business was done in 2002.
- 23:11Like I miss pre-internet where like you had to call somebody and have to trust
- 23:14them and like reputation mattered, right?
- 23:17And you weren't like buying Google reviews or hiring Craigslist ads
- 23:21for 80 people to go review your product and lie to them, or you know,
- 23:24white labeling products everywhere.
- 23:25There was like this.
- 23:27Space for innovation and creativity, but underneath it, this massive
- 23:31invitation for connection, it was real,
- 23:33right?
- 23:33Like people were still connected and.
- 23:36I look at those things and just like I look at it for, you know, anybody
- 23:40listening to this who wonders why business is hard in 2025 right now,
- 23:43because for the same way that they don't trust corporations, they also
- 23:48don't trust anybody that they don't have a prior relationship with.
- 23:52We used to blindly buy products 'cause we'd see a Facebook ad
- 23:55like, oh, here's a hot sauce.
- 23:56I've never tried it before.
- 23:58Now it's right past our filter for our unconscious mind, because if we don't
- 24:02have established rapport or some semblance of endowment, we're so conditioned after
- 24:08COVID and all the ads and the transactions and the false influencer marketing to
- 24:12pass it by like it never even existed.
- 24:15The amount of evidence or touch points it takes to get into your ecosystem before
- 24:20ever buying has drastically increased.
- 24:24And so it's just this really interesting thing that I, I'm like, I'm stoked
- 24:28that you wrote a, a blog post or an article on it as well, because I think
- 24:31it's the things that we have to think about as founders, as entrepreneurs,
- 24:35as e-commerce owners, right?
- 24:38And trust what I love about it so much.
- 24:41It's the one thing that can't be faked.
- 24:44It's real.
- 24:45And like when people are like, well, I'm gonna go be authentic of like,
- 24:48newsflash, you're already being authentic whether you're pretending to or not.
- 24:52Right?
- 24:52So there is no like, let me be authentic.
- 24:55Yeah, that's so true.
- 24:58And so I, I look at, I look at that and I look at companies where like
- 25:01the ones that always win for us are the ones that are transparent.
- 25:04Like if we have a supply issue.
- 25:06We just open up and tell people we don't hide behind it.
- 25:08We don't hide behind optics.
- 25:10This isn't some PR campaign.
- 25:12It's like we're in this with you and I, I think what people forget
- 25:16when it comes to companies is that companies are two-way relationships.
- 25:21They're not a one-way dictatorship because without your customers, the
- 25:24bloodline of your business doesn't exist.
- 25:26But what happens is, another mistake that I see people make is that they
- 25:30turn off that pipeline and expect it to be their way or the highway.
- 25:34But truthfully, the success of your business boils down to the feedback loop
- 25:38that you're getting with your customers
- 25:40and the journey that you're taking them on with you, which
- 25:42so much is like being a parent.
- 25:45We have a vision.
- 25:45Both of our daughters are the same age, right?
- 25:47But we have a vision for what we want their life to look like and and
- 25:50how we want them to view the world.
- 25:52Well, news flashes, dads, we don't get our way, but we just create bumpers and
- 25:56we catch them with a safety net in the process, and then they give us feedback.
- 25:59They push back, they lean in harder.
- 26:02It's the same with our customers.
- 26:04It's the same with our physical products companies.
- 26:06It's the same with our digital products companies, is that there's this
- 26:09two-way relationship, but everybody's fallen into the circumstance of
- 26:13thinking it's a one-way dictatorship
- 26:16and then that erodes trust as well.
- 26:18And it's, it's just an important way, in my opinion to like think about it.
- 26:22Like just even seeing it for what it is.
- 26:24And it's like if you go into a brick and mortar store.
- 26:28You'd never ignore somebody walking through the door to window
- 26:32shop, but yet when you take your business online, you're like, they
- 26:35haven't given me their credit card.
- 26:36How dare I respond to their comment?
- 26:38And I was like, well, let me know how that works if you were in person, right?
- 26:41Or you know, you walk into a restaurant and the hostess just stonewalls.
- 26:46You would ignore you.
- 26:47And you're like talking and talking.
- 26:48And I was like, are you gonna get a table there?
- 26:51And they're like, no.
- 26:52And I'm like, well, great.
- 26:53Kind of same thing, but there's all these examples of like to your
- 26:56previous point, successful marketing and business strategies that have
- 27:01always stood the test of time.
- 27:04And yet, for right now, it tends to be everybody wants the shiny bullet.
- 27:08They want the shortcut, but they don't realize the long term cost.
- 27:12Those are the things that are breaking the trust with corporations and companies.
- 27:16But the only thing that's maintaining it is going back to what we said at
- 27:19the beginning, which is the tried and true focus on people, build
- 27:23relationships, have conversations, and be willing to play the long game.
- 27:27I.
- 27:28Yeah, I totally agree.
- 27:29I think it's, um, it's an interesting one, isn't it?
- 27:33Because I think one of the things that I have that Amazon doesn't
- 27:38have, because this is a question I get asked a lot, George, right?
- 27:41Is like, do I compete against Amazon?
- 27:44Um, I. The answer in some respects comes down to pretty much what you've just said.
- 27:49The one thing Amazon doesn't have is me,
- 27:51Yep.
- 27:52right?
- 27:53They have, I have a relationship with Amazon, which is
- 27:56very transactional, right?
- 27:58They are a commodity trader and it is very transactional.
- 28:01And at the moment I'm happy to use them because it's convenient.
- 28:05It's, you know, it does what it says on the tin, but I have no loyalty to Amazon.
- 28:10If someone came along tomorrow, um, and did it better, or if.
- 28:15Without getting too political, Jeff Bezos decides to become the leading
- 28:20spokesman for the liberal party, the opposite of Musk, for example.
- 28:25We've seen what's happened to Tesla
- 28:26Yep.
- 28:27there, and you just kind of go, well, there's no loyalty there as such, there
- 28:32is, but it, I, I, I'm not that bothered.
- 28:36Whereas, um, in my hand I have, uh, a pen from Tom's studio.
- 28:42I, I'm, I'm much more loyal to Tom and Tom's not Amazon, right?
- 28:46He, and this is the thing that we, I think in eCommerce, it's hard to try and
- 28:51get across to people that actually what drives you, what light to your language,
- 28:56what likes you, what, what your values are, what you actually do in the business,
- 28:59and the difference that you make.
- 29:02Well, that's what.
- 29:04If you find a tribe of people that connect with that and form a relationship with
- 29:07them, well that's how, that's how you win,
- 29:09Mm-hmm.
- 29:10you do business in the long run.
- 29:12And, um, I, I always remember the first major contract I
- 29:15ever got was on a handshake.
- 29:17I never had a contract with anybody.
- 29:18It was just done on a handshake.
- 29:19You do that, I'll do that.
- 29:20Brilliant.
- 29:21We never best contracts I ever had were done on a handshake.
- 29:24I still do 'em that way 15 years later, it's the only way I do 'em.
- 29:29It says a lot, doesn't
- 29:30Mm-hmm.
- 29:32It says a lot, you know, fill out this, do you agree to these 20,000
- 29:36pages of terms and conditions, which screw you up every, which way you can.
- 29:40Mm-hmm.
- 29:41Okay.
- 29:42I have to, I suppose, but it's, it's an interesting one, isn't it?
- 29:45I, I, long for the day when learn the value of a handshake again in a, in a
- 29:52digital sort of format and how that works.
- 29:54You know, I'll be honest, I've lost clients because of this, and I'll
- 29:58look at them and I'll be like, Hey, I just wanna be really honest with you.
- 30:01You need to be comfortable with me telling you I love you, or
- 30:04you won't work well as my client.
- 30:06And after time they're like, you know, I can't do this anymore.
- 30:08I'm like, it's okay.
- 30:09I still love you.
- 30:11Like, there's this thing of like what you value and, and, and what you care
- 30:14about to, to, like, that's the thing that I feel like is missing in the world.
- 30:18It's like I still live in Montana and my favorite thing is like,
- 30:20I genuinely brought sugar over to my friend's house yesterday
- 30:23'cause they needed to borrow sugar.
- 30:26Right.
- 30:26And then I'll call him in a week and I'm like, Hey, I'm on a firewood.
- 30:29And he's like, I got you.
- 30:30I'll bring some over.
- 30:31Right?
- 30:31And then he is like, Hey, can you watch the chickens this week?
- 30:33It's like going back in humanity.
- 30:35But there's this like comradery and community that
- 30:38I, I, I think we all forget.
- 30:40We can bring in into your point.
- 30:42Your USP is literally the present inside of the box where
- 30:47your product and service is.
- 30:49Just the wrapping paper.
- 30:51Because the only thing that makes you different is you and
- 30:53I even joke with people too.
- 30:54I'm like, how many of us have been to an incredible restaurant
- 30:57food wise, but had subpar service?
- 31:00And I'm like, do you recommend it?
- 31:01And they're like, no.
- 31:02I'm like, how many of us have been to a restaurant with incredible
- 31:04service and subpar food and yet we recommend it to everybody?
- 31:08Yep.
- 31:09And they're like.
- 31:11Oh.
- 31:11And I'm like, that's the difference to your point,
- 31:15right?
- 31:15And I've even had people like, well, I'm like, well I sell, you know, dog shoes.
- 31:19And I'm like, well great.
- 31:20How are you gonna deliver them?
- 31:22How are you gonna speak about them?
- 31:23How are you gonna do blank?
- 31:24Like I even have a friend who has a CBD gummy company and she's like, no, no, no.
- 31:28We make the best CBD gummies for wine moms.
- 31:32And I was like, oh, that's really, really good.
- 31:34And she like makes coffee mugs that says like.
- 31:37Calm your boobs and like take a chill blank.
- 31:40And she calls her customers her baby grandmas because they're not old enough
- 31:46to have gra to have grandkids yet.
- 31:48But she's like, but your baby grandmas 'cause we're working towards
- 31:50your coffee mug slippers and CBD.
- 31:52And I'm like, you are so good at this.
- 31:54It blows my mind.
- 31:54And they love it.
- 31:57They love it.
- 31:59And I'm like, and it's just a CBD gummy.
- 32:01And yeah, do they have, you know, good ingredients of course,
- 32:04but it's the same as 38 other.
- 32:07Yeah.
- 32:07Brands in the market, but they create this identity and a relationship with
- 32:11it to, to your point, I think that that's the, the biggest secret sauce
- 32:15is that, you know, they even did a study on this, and I'd have to find it
- 32:19again, but the, the number was misquoted on TikTok when it went viral, but
- 32:23they actually found that authenticity resonates like 480 times deeper in a
- 32:28human being than the frequency of love.
- 32:32That's interesting.
- 32:33Authenticity, meaning I'm willing to be myself.
- 32:36I'm willing to say how I feel.
- 32:38I'm willing to share my values.
- 32:40And it also happens to be, the whole point of this conversation is like when
- 32:44you don't trust somebody, it's 'cause you can tell they're being inauthentic.
- 32:48When you don't have a deep relationship or you're USP, it's typically because
- 32:52there's a part of you that that's missing.
- 32:54Like I have no qualms joking with people, even in business.
- 32:57Like I'll go start a keynote with like.
- 32:59Everybody's lying to you.
- 32:59You're not one funnel away.
- 33:01And everyone's like, and I was like, I know Russell Love Russell.
- 33:04I still disagree,
- 33:06Yep.
- 33:07right?
- 33:07Where I'm like, and I'll say this and I'll say this, and I'll say things
- 33:10like, would you be okay if your grandmother went through your funnel?
- 33:13And they're like, no.
- 33:14I'm like, then why can mine?
- 33:16Yep.
- 33:17I was like, oh, it's okay to treat mine like crap.
- 33:19But if I did the, and they're like, oh.
- 33:21And I'm like, I'll say those things, but they're real for me because that's
- 33:24how I see business in eCommerce.
- 33:25But there's, to your point, so many people that wanna like live in almost
- 33:30the fringe of like not saying anything.
- 33:33But then they also turn off their superpower just like, who are you?
- 33:36And I think authenticity's one of the easiest ways.
- 33:39But to be authentic, you also have to know what you value.
- 33:42You do, and you have to know, I think you do, you have to
- 33:44know who you are in many ways.
- 33:45And, and a lot of people who say, I'm just being authentic.
- 33:48I'm like, actually, I think you're just being confused.
- 33:51do, Do you know what I mean?
- 33:52In, in terms of what they're saying?
- 33:54Because I, I, I, this isn't, I don't think that's authentic at all, but,
- 33:57Mm-hmm.
- 33:58um, I, I, I, I agree.
- 34:00I think.
- 34:01And again, it's not an age thing.
- 34:04Uh, I appreciate that, George, but as I become older, I become more aware of this.
- 34:08Mm-hmm.
- 34:09know what I mean?
- 34:09And the, and the stuff that I would say to myself when I was a 20, 30-year-old
- 34:13guy, I kind of look at now and go, what?
- 34:16You know, fortunately I had some good mentors around me, like you who,
- 34:21valued, you know, a handshake and you know, the let your yes BS and
- 34:25your no be no was drilled into me.
- 34:28Very on in my early twenties that actually what you say is more
- 34:31important than anything else.
- 34:33and if it costs you, what's the problem?
- 34:36You do it anyway.
- 34:37Right?
- 34:37Because you, you learn from that in so many ways.
- 34:42Um, it's, I remember, I remember years ago we had, um, we had
- 34:49a bookkeeping company, right?
- 34:51This was, sort of, uh.
- 34:55Early naughties.
- 34:56So just before, um, things went proper crazy with the web business,
- 35:02so we had this bookkeeping company and an internet company and we
- 35:06were doing a job interview, right?
- 35:08And, um, I said to the guy that we were interviewing and I said,
- 35:11listen, now you need to understand I have a certain value set.
- 35:15Uh, and I. I have no issue whether you agree with me or whether you don't.
- 35:19I'm not expecting you to have the same values as me in many ways,
- 35:22but do expect you to uphold them.
- 35:26Mm.
- 35:26And so I was like, one of the things that we have to is we just don't lie.
- 35:33own up, fess up.
- 35:36We, we fix the problem, right?
- 35:39Uh, when we're not into the blame game, we're just like, this is a problem.
- 35:42This is how I'm gonna fix it.
- 35:44'cause people I think, respond really well to that, especially
- 35:46when you word it in the right way.
- 35:48So he said to me, um, and I quote George, he said to me, that's no problem at all.
- 35:54No problem if you get someone on the phone and you don't want to lie to them.
- 35:58I totally get it.
- 35:59So if you pass the phone to me, I'll lie to them on your behalf.
- 36:05I was like, I was like, I think this interview's over, isn't it really?
- 36:12Wow.
- 36:14Wow.
- 36:16Wow.
- 36:17I don't, I, wow, I didn't expect that.
- 36:19I didn't expect that at all.
- 36:22Yeah.
- 36:22And I, I love, I love the way that, that you, that you describe that too,
- 36:28like I think all too often, I actually did a podcast on this, on my show the
- 36:32other day, and I said, what we tolerate, we eventually embrace, and what we
- 36:38evenly embrace becomes who we are.
- 36:41I think the craziest thing about this is no matter what age you are or
- 36:44where you are and experience, I think even with situations like that, like
- 36:48human beings are born with two fears, loud noises, and the fear of falling,
- 36:52everything else is a trained behavior.
- 36:54It's not like we wake up and we're like, how do I end up evil today?
- 36:57How do I agree to sell my soul and lie to somebody on the phone?
- 37:00How do I agree to take shortcuts?
- 37:02It, it ends up becoming this byproduct of consistent exposure
- 37:08to these things that we tolerate.
- 37:10That eventually we end up embracing because of us not having the
- 37:15willingness to say, uh, yet, no.
- 37:18I hold that line and you know, boundaries are only as powerful as your ability
- 37:21to enforce them but also protect them.
- 37:24Like they're not like, oh, I plant a seed and it grows.
- 37:26It's like, oh, I have to water this and till this and run through this.
- 37:29And, you know, I even think about it in the, in the game of business.
- 37:32Like I joke with people that I'm like, forever the non-viral
- 37:35king, God made me non-viral.
- 37:37Not joking.
- 37:38I've been doing videos on the internet since 2008.
- 37:42I went live every day for like two and a half years.
- 37:45Meka, Periscope, Facebook, Instagram, you name it.
- 37:50I was a food blogger.
- 37:51I'm talking about entrepreneurship.
- 37:53I'm talking about marketing, scaling your business, sharing everything.
- 37:56I've had one video go viral my whole career, one.
- 38:01I am one for about 65,000.
- 38:06Like we have six terabytes of video footage.
- 38:08Like I'm not joking one.
- 38:11And it was the one video where I was radically authentic and I started
- 38:16the live video and said, I do not wanna be live today, but I made a
- 38:19commitment to go live every day and I've no idea what I'm gonna talk about.
- 38:22And someone's like, well, why are you upset?
- 38:24And I was like.
- 38:25I've been struggling with eating disorders my whole life,
- 38:28and I've never told anybody.
- 38:29Well, I guess I just told you now.
- 38:31And then it turned into this three and a half hour live stream
- 38:33and 23 million people saw it.
- 38:36And I was like, this of all, and he's like, you were authentic.
- 38:40And I was like, I.
- 38:41Really, but like, I just, I joke about it because it's, it's this, like,
- 38:46there's all these expectations and even, 'cause I'm a marketer, right?
- 38:49So open loops in my brain drive me nuts.
- 38:51So tying it back to what you said at the beginning is like there's these
- 38:54silver bullets that people want, there's these shortcuts that people want, and
- 38:58really all they are are distractions from you putting in the rep that's going
- 39:02to actually give you what you desire.
- 39:05They're just delaying the inevitable to where, like I joke with people,
- 39:09like the fork didn't make me fat.
- 39:11I picked it up and ate the cake.
- 39:13Right?
- 39:14But I also can't expect abs if I don't go to the gym and I can't be upset
- 39:19if I go for one day and I'm like, Hey Matt, I don't have a six pack again.
- 39:23I quit.
- 39:24Right?
- 39:24There's this understanding of like, it's this active pursuit.
- 39:29I think that that's the part where people miss is the other biggest
- 39:33mistake that I see besides the two that I've mentioned is the toxic thinking
- 39:37of thinking there's a finish line.
- 39:39Like, oh, I've made it, or, oh, I've arrived.
- 39:42And I was like, well, the moment you embody that, you've already started
- 39:46deteriorating what you've achieved because it's harder to keep something than it
- 39:51is to achieve it in the first place.
- 39:53And then the moment you think you've arrived, you stop.
- 39:56And it starts eroding backwards over and over.
- 39:58And so it's like, oh, my clients, like my pipeline's doing great.
- 40:03Like we're making great organic sales right now.
- 40:05It's just gonna stay forever.
- 40:06Or, my ads are working right now and I'm like, wait till you hit ad fatigue
- 40:09or wait till the new platform pops up, or wait till election season and your
- 40:13Facebook ads go up eight times in cost.
- 40:16Right?
- 40:16Like there's this.
- 40:18Yep.
- 40:19You know, like I always joke with people if like in the world of
- 40:21business, especially e-comm companies, if there's not a check engine light
- 40:26on your dashboard, I'd be petrified.
- 40:30Because if I don't see a check engine light on my dashboard, I drive my car
- 40:34into a wallet and I try to make one.
- 40:35Because
- 40:36Yep.
- 40:37if there is not something being refined or quote unquote broken, then
- 40:41we're just coasting and it's just a matter of time before the Titanic
- 40:44ends up on the bottom of the lake.
- 40:46Yeah.
- 40:48Yeah.
- 40:48It's so, it's so true.
- 40:50Stagnant water always stinks, right?
- 40:52And it's, it's that.
- 40:54That's such a warm, way more eloquent way to say that.
- 40:57Like with way less words.
- 40:59Yeah, I, and I couldn't think of.
- 41:02It's the same thing as, and I think if you, you're, you're right.
- 41:05I mean, and the gym analogy's great, isn't it?
- 41:07It the day you stop going to the gym is when it, it all starts going wrong.
- 41:12And I I, I think you, on one hand, we've got this hustle culture, which
- 41:18is, you've gotta put in the work, right?
- 41:20And on the other hand, you've got emerging culture, which is
- 41:25like, well, hang on a minute.
- 41:26No, I, I still want time.
- 41:29And I think, um.
- 41:31Paul said it best, didn't he?
- 41:32When he said, I know what it is to be rich.
- 41:34I know what it is to be poor.
- 41:38In both these situations, I figured out how to be content, right?
- 41:41And I think there's this, there's a difference between being content and being
- 41:50Uh, Do you know what I mean?
- 41:50I, I, there's a difference between being grateful.
- 41:56And not putting in the work tomorrow.
- 41:59Like I'm grateful for my health, therefore I don't have to go to the gym.
- 42:02I'm content with where I'm at in the gym.
- 42:03Therefore I don't have to go in And I think, I think it's a wrong thing.
- 42:08I think.
- 42:11I think we do ours like you said.
- 42:13I'm just echoing what you said here, George.
- 42:14I think we do ourselves a disservice in many ways.
- 42:17We do, we do.
- 42:18Yeah.
- 42:18There's this, it's the inversion of the other side, which is the, uh, I
- 42:23have a friend who, he's actually from London, I believe Jamie Smart, wrote a
- 42:26book called The Little Book of Clarity.
- 42:28Right?
- 42:29And it's really a book dedicated to toxic thinking, right?
- 42:31How many times have we looked in the mirror and we're like, oh man.
- 42:36You know, I'm gonna start my diet on Monday, or I'm gonna start it on
- 42:40New Year's, or I'm gonna, you know, start this writing habit next week.
- 42:44And I'm like, all that is, it's toxic thinking.
- 42:47It's delaying the inevitable when the gift arrives and not putting it into practice.
- 42:51And, and to your point, this is the other side of it, right?
- 42:54Where there is no finish line and, and gratitude is an active state.
- 43:00When I express gratitude, what I'm saying is I'm willing to keep
- 43:03doing the work to keep this thing
- 43:06not, I'm so grateful I have it, I'm willing to lose it again.
- 43:10And it's this, I had an incredible friend on my podcast and he's like, I think
- 43:14everybody needs to look at wellness and redefine it as active pursuit.
- 43:18Yeah,
- 43:18Because
- 43:19the moment, and I even say this about integrity with men, when
- 43:22I used to do men's coaching.
- 43:25Men have this weird relationship with the word integrity because they think
- 43:29they're in integrity everywhere.
- 43:30But truthfully, in this moment, the only person I'm in integrity with is you.
- 43:35Because if I ask my son where he wants me, he wants me tickling,
- 43:37tickling him on the couch.
- 43:38If I ask my partner where she wants me, she wants me in Canada visiting, right?
- 43:42Like if I ask my best friend who's like over here for dinner, the only place
- 43:46I'm in, integrity is the place I'm actively pouring my present attention.
- 43:50Yeah.
- 43:51Everything else is waiting for me to bring it back into integrity.
- 43:54And it also frames to your point of like being content where I am, but also being
- 43:59willing to pursue the ability to keep that or support that or to pour into it.
- 44:05And, and the way that you described it, and I love how Paul says that,
- 44:08it, it really applies everywhere it applies to our team, right?
- 44:11Even when I joke with people about scaling your business, I
- 44:14say the reason that, you know.
- 44:16You can't scale your businesses 'cause everybody thinks it's relationship with
- 44:19your customers, but it actually starts with the relationship with yourself.
- 44:23And then that trickles down to the relationship with your team,
- 44:26which then both of them trickle down to the relationship with your customers.
- 44:30Right?
- 44:30It's actually an inside out job, not an outside in job.
- 44:34And that toxic thinking thing applies too.
- 44:36It's like, oh, well, you know, I'll, I'll start going to the gym again when
- 44:39I hit a million dollars in revenue.
- 44:40I'm like, you not going to the gym is why you didn't hit
- 44:42a million dollars in revenue
- 44:43Yeah,
- 44:45because an.
- 44:45things are linked.
- 44:46Yep.
- 44:46Every time.
- 44:48The first thing is I'm going to sacrifice myself, which is a lens
- 44:52of scarcity and perspective where we're not seeing it, whereas the
- 44:56boundaries or the, the things that we tolerate or prioritize are the things
- 45:02that actually make it happen, right?
- 45:03Like I'm, I'm unapologetic, like good luck getting ahold of me before 10:00 AM
- 45:07I don't care if there's 77 text messages.
- 45:10I still will not see them till 10:00 AM because my do not disturb is
- 45:13on, and that's when I get home from dropping him off at school and I
- 45:17finish my hour of sacred time with God.
- 45:19Other than that, it doesn't even exist in my world.
- 45:22I'm like, you know, the five people that can, 9 1 1, we can get through.
- 45:25But there's this level of like, we have to be willing to invest in ourselves.
- 45:29We also have to be willing to protect ourself in that process.
- 45:34And I found that, I'd say the biggest mistakes I made in my career of
- 45:37like why I built so many companies and, and built so much success and
- 45:41went from $500,000 months down to zero and back up and like six times.
- 45:45'cause you know, I don't learn.
- 45:49I finally learned.
- 45:51Yep.
- 45:52I finally learned is because I had avoided the relationship with myself, everything
- 45:59was just a compensatory behavior.
- 46:01I'm like, oh, it's working.
- 46:02Okay, well let me go break it now so I have something else
- 46:05to prove, or it's broken.
- 46:07Let me make it really, really good again.
- 46:09And you know, it was like never, I could never sit down.
- 46:12I could never sit still.
- 46:13And I had a, a monk on my podcast who's a dear friend.
- 46:16He was in.
- 46:17Monastery for seven years in silence.
- 46:19And he described the secret to success better to me than anybody.
- 46:23And he said, if you can't take a poop without your phone, you've
- 46:27never lived a day in your life.
- 46:34Oh, what did we do when we went to the toilet before the
- 46:37mobile phone existed, right?
- 46:39And then I look at it and how entrepreneurship is a celebrated
- 46:43addiction as a distraction from being in a relationship with myself.
- 46:48I don't have to sit there in the silence.
- 46:50I don't have to create space for God.
- 46:52I don't have to handle the thoughts and the feelings that are going in because I
- 46:56will forever have a bucket that will allow me to numb and distract, and the world is
- 47:01going to celebrate me the more I do it.
- 47:03Yeah.
- 47:04That was like my hard truth,
- 47:07and that took me getting, I did a three year.
- 47:10I'm not allowed to consume content cleanse.
- 47:13Mm.
- 47:14After a come to God moment, I literally deleted social media.
- 47:17When I gave the company away, I deleted a million followers.
- 47:19I disappeared off the internet.
- 47:21I didn't read books.
- 47:22I didn't watch booms.
- 47:23I didn't listen to music with any lyrics, and it was like the
- 47:27biggest drug detox in my life,
- 47:30and it took about nine months for me to get so sick and tired of feeling that way
- 47:34that I realize when you can't consume, there's only one thing left you can do,
- 47:38which is create, and then all of a sudden.
- 47:41There was this place to put my energy and attention, and then
- 47:45everything started working in my life.
- 47:47But now it's the thing that I crave the most, like
- 47:50people know me as, like this guy who speaks and coaches, I'm the
- 47:52biggest introvert in the world.
- 47:54You see me in an event, my natural state is sitting over in
- 47:57the corner staring at the wall.
- 47:58You're gonna think I belong in a padded room.
- 48:00I am just so peaceful and content.
- 48:04I'm like, are you okay?
- 48:04I'm like, yeah, like I love myself.
- 48:07Like I just love sitting here.
- 48:09I. By myself, like in silence.
- 48:12And even my partner Joe, she's like, you wake up in the morning
- 48:14and I thought you were dead.
- 48:15Turns out you're staring at the ceiling in a stillness practice.
- 48:17I'm like, oh, it's so good.
- 48:19Like, I don't wanna be asleep.
- 48:20I wanna be alive, but I also don't have anywhere to be.
- 48:23I'm like, totally okay.
- 48:25And content sitting in my body.
- 48:26And I think that it's a muscle that the more we flex, the better our perspective
- 48:31and the better our ability To your point.
- 48:33To pursue those things that really, really matter to us, like to be content, but
- 48:37also constantly be sharpening and putting that pressure on ourselves to become that
- 48:42version that can have the business or have the body, or even have the family
- 48:45or the relationships that we desire.
- 48:48So powerful.
- 48:50listen, I'm aware of time, but I, it's, um, just to come back to
- 48:55that, that final point, I think
- 49:00it is a divine thing to create.
- 49:02I think it's one of those things that is actually, I. Innate inners as a sort of
- 49:07part of our divine DNA is to be a creator.
- 49:09Right?
- 49:10And, and I think you cannot create, if you do not have the space, and if life is
- 49:16just 14 hours working, I don't understand where you are creating anything.
- 49:23And just the ability to not pick up the phone, to sit and stare at the
- 49:28ceiling and just be bored and think.
- 49:32I think is probably the times where I've had the best ideas about my e-com
- 49:37businesses over the years is if I, if I'm honest, it's not when I'm knee deep,
- 49:4114 hours into writing Instagram posts or whatever it is, it's more no, if I'm
- 49:48on my bike, Do you know what I mean?
- 49:50Or, or just being bored, staring out the window on a train and all
- 49:54of a sudden, boom, there it is.
- 49:55And uh, super powerful, man.
- 49:57Listen, how do people reach you?
- 49:58How do they connect with you if they want to do that?
- 50:00What's the best way?
- 50:01Yeah, so truthfully, the best way is you either think I belong
- 50:04in a padded room, or you don't.
- 50:06Either way, you're right, and I love you.
- 50:08So if you're in the padded room bucket, you can just check out the
- 50:12pinkest website in the world, which is mindofgeorge.com, my podcast.
- 50:16sales pitch.
- 50:17It's how do you get people to tell, get to your website, determin.
- 50:19It's the Pinkest website in the
- 50:21It's, it's so good and it's my favorite color.
- 50:22Like I literally, it's around me everywhere.
- 50:24And also if like, I can answer any questions, strategy,
- 50:27questions, t like anything, like I love connecting with people.
- 50:30My Instagram is like the best place and my Instagram is, itsgeorgebryant,
- 50:34the it's is included, it's ITS and then georgebryant, which I know they'll
- 50:38have the link in the show notes.
- 50:39And to your final point, Matt, the way that I would, I would
- 50:42resonate this for everybody is that.
- 50:45The biggest challenge most of us have is we're never quiet
- 50:48enough to hear God's whispers.
- 50:51And when you're intentional about creating the space and for, for
- 50:55everybody listening, your God is fine.
- 50:56I love my Jesus, right?
- 50:58I also love you for loving whoever you love, but your God is fine.
- 51:01But that space to your point, is being intentional to create the
- 51:05space and then the ideas can flow in.
- 51:09And that doesn't happen when you're sacrificing, when you're
- 51:11struggling or when you're grinding.
- 51:13It only happens when you slow down and allow yourself the
- 51:15space for those things to land.
- 51:17Yeah.
- 51:18Very good.
- 51:19George.
- 51:20Thank you brother.
- 51:21It was an honor, my friend.
- 51:22the show.
- 51:23We'll definitely have to do this again.
- 51:24I feel like it was warming up, if I'm honest with you.
- 51:26Oh, I'm ready to do a whole tactic and strategy episode.
- 51:28Let's go.
- 51:29I.
- 51:29Let's do it.
- 51:30We'll, we will get that booked in.
- 51:31But um, thank you so much for joining us.
- 51:34Uh, and thank you listeners.
- 51:35If you've been joining us, uh, this week, uh, it's been great to have you along.
- 51:39If you're new to the show, warm, welcome to you.
- 51:41Make sure you like and subscribe and do all of that good stuff.
- 51:44But yeah, fundamentally, that's it from me.
- 51:46That's it from George.
- 51:47Thank you so much for joining us.
- 51:49Have a great week wherever you are in the world.
- 51:50I'll see you next time.
- 51:51Bye for now.