Latest / High Five Hot Mess Podcast / She Got Rejected. He Wrote Two Books. Now What Happens Next?
Transcript
- High Five Hot Mess Podcast: everybody, welcome to the High Five Hot Mess podcast where we glow up, we show up, and we hustle baby. Like every step of the way. We all know about that. So as you can see, I have a guest host today. His name is Sharif Syed. And I cannot say enough positive things about Sharif. He is a dad, he's a husband, he's an entrepreneur, he's a restaurant owner, he's an author, he's a shoe magnet. I hate all of those things. And he is a resiliency and positivity titan. And what do I mean by that? I mean that like nothing gets Sharif down and I always look to him for inspiration when I feel like, you know, I just am not doing, I'm not, things aren't going my way. I always look to you Sharif and you're like, you make me feel like I just need to work harder. Like I can, it's there. I'm almost there, like a second away from getting what I want if I just keep going. And that is something that is so unique to you and so special. can't wait for everybody to kind of get to know you the same way that I do. how's your week going? Week's been going good. You know, we definitely are riding with the waves. You know, we're doing what we can to keep a positive output, but I think more good than bad has happened this week. Well good. I today's episode is really going to be about surviving in chaos. I think that's something you and I can both relate to. And how to just continue to pivot and how to move forward even if it's a little harder than other weeks, right? But really we want to make sure that people are aware that things turn on a dime. So this week for me has been a little weird. So here's what I'll say. I took some big swings this week. Like really put myself out there to some big heavy hitters, like industry heavy hitters was like, hey, you don't know me, but here's why you want to know me type of conversations like professionally. And I had some big misses. I was very humbled. ⁓ thank you. But we're really not looking for that right now. ⁓ but you know, that's the sign of the times right now, right? You and I both know, like you said, everything is coming in waves and We'll just wait till we're back on top. What goes down must come up. And then additionally, so I have been getting, I have like this nature saga kind of happening. So do you believe in omens or signs? Oh, a thousand percent. Okay, me too. Me too. So the universe, I believe sends us signs. We're really looking for them. And I have been really looking for them because I just feel like I'm at a crossroads and I'm not sure. And not even a crossroads. Like I keep feeling like I'm at a wall and I don't know how to get up, the side, over any of those things. So I've had some really strange things happen. I had a side wind or rattlesnake at our front door. ⁓ Like literally, I'm like, that's never happened ever. All the time that we've lived here. And additionally, like I'm leaving my house and there are two bear cub sized raccoons. at my gate and we don't even have, we're not even supposed to have raccoons where we live, which by the way, we don't really talk about where we live. Doug is afraid of people showing up at our front door. ⁓ So, but you know, I mean, at this time I'm like any press is good press. And then, then I saw I was driving on the freeway and a coyote ran across my road on the freeway, like an elevated freeway out of nowhere. And I'm like, these are signs. So I go to co-pilot. Yeah. I'm like, I feel like these are omens. And co-pilot's like, no, they're not omens. I'm like, no, I really feel like, you check native? No, it's not omens. You're just saying animals. And I'm like, no, no, no, please check like all sorts of mythological or Native American, like any type of omen environment and let me know. And then it comes back with this. OK, so the first one was a rattlesnake. It's the first sign it's a wake up call. Something in your life is shifting and you need full awareness. So be ready. Then the second, the raccoons are known as trickster animals. Something hidden is about to be revealed. You're being asked to not only be prepared for something to be revealed, but look back and make sure you didn't miss anything. And then last is the coyote, which is the divine disruptor. It's a forced reroute. The universe is nudging you into a different path. And if you don't have Goosebumps by now. Like I don't know when you're ever going to eat your goosebumps. And then I was like, okay, but what does all that mean? And it basically said, you're not, it's not a warning. You're being initiated. I'm like, into what? ⁓ We're being re-initiated into our current state of where we are because it's not wrong. Right now we have to fully aware the environment we are in today. If you're not on a pivot or in the know, you'll get left behind. You will get left behind. percent. A hundred percent. And then like, I think it's also important to say, okay, look, like this could mean anything. could be, look, you're here, right? You showed up to co-guess host with me because I lost my host. Cause she's had her own pivot that happened. So I think it's just a matter of. You know, don't be, don't be afraid of it, but just embrace and be ready for it. And I am, I mean, I'm ready for whatever comes our way. That's, that's been my week, like just big swings, weird universal signs, but. There you go. So on our, on our podcast, we like to kind of decompress a little bit after we talk about our weeks. And so our way to decompress is to kind of go into our pop culture. candy for adult brains, right? So we just want to like talk about what did you do this week to kind of distract yourself. Now, I'm going to talk really quickly about my pop culture moment for the week, but then I'm going open it up because I really want to spend some time on yours. so I, you guys and Shreef, you know, I love lady porn. You know, I read romance novels. That's all I read. That's it. And after a lifetime of reading books for work, I just stopped doing it. I don't do that anymore. I only read stuff that I really enjoy. And Lucy Score, who was one of my very favorite romance authors, and you guys, Lucy Score is like a PG-13 or like an NC-17. She's not something that you're going to be scarred for life if you read it. Usually when someone does not read this type of literature. I start them on Lucy's score. I love the Riley Thorne series is one of my favorite. Lucy, don't be mad at me that I didn't tell everybody that Mistakes Were Made came out and I want you to make sure you all run out and read Lucy's score Mistakes Were Made. It is so great. It's book two of the series and Lucy, I read everything you've ever written. I hope you see this and know that I'm a big super fan, a big old weird super fan, but you guys go out and read it. It's awesome. Now... I want to talk about the author part of Cherie. So Cherie, if you actually wrote a book, it's on Amazon, I checked. I'm very excited. We were all super excited to you. So talk to us a little bit about the book. Give us the title, the background, the whole nine yards. Yeah. So there's actually, there's two books out. One's called The Hustler Legacy and one's called The Hustler Playbook. And so the idea behind the books were. We were kind of in a lull with where we were in the industry that we were in. So it was a time for me to kind of do a brain dump of everything that's kind of accumulated the past 40 years, right? From beginning to end, lessons learned, and how did I end up where I am today? Right? And so the idea was, and it all started with me maybe 15 years ago where I was just in my notepad on the Apple and just kind of writing notes, writing notes, writing notes, right? And so I accumulated so many notes that I said, you know, this would be a really good book to just take and kind of put together and put out there. And so the Hustlers Legacy literally talks about how I came kind of from nowhere, how I developed, you know, from what I thought was going to be an athlete into going into the IT field, into going into sales, how into, always pivoting, but the importance of why I was able to pivot and why I was able to be nimble. was because I was structured around a goal setting, like thought process, right? Making sure I always surrounded myself with goals and right people. Making sure I had the right partners, making sure I have the right friends, make sure I the right circle. And it kind of following that through life, no matter where I pivoted or what I did from an industry perspective, it allowed me to be successful. And then the playbook is, it's a write-in book where you can actually take that book and actually write your five-year plan. and hold yourself accountable to that five-year plan. And also kind of keep yourself honest on, okay, I'm not going to hit this goal. Here's a way I can pivot it or things that are similar to this goal that I know I can meet. So it's not always just beating yourself up. It's also patting yourself on the back for things you could do. I love that. So listen, there's a lot of people that say that I'm going to write a book and then they never get to it. They never do it. So what was your motivation to go from planning it to actually executing it? what was like you, yes, you had your notes. Yes, you accumulated them for years, but then you took the action to say, okay, now is the right time. What was that catalyst event? Yeah. it was sit and go crazy until contracts got awarded where we were waiting or get something else done. Right. And this kind of, was, it was a nice. gift and a curse that the contract we were on ended, at the agency we're supporting. And then we were able to kind of take the time off to finish writing it, right? To actually put it into paper, to find a publisher that actually liked the idea. Uh, cause it's not always easy to find a publisher as well. Always self-publish and things like that. Um, and that's all good, but I think to find a publisher makes it much more, um, makes the book a lot more successful when it comes down to it. So you had the time. You needed a healthy distraction. I wouldn't know anything about that. And you, you really sunk your heart and soul into making sure you did it correctly. So you got yourself a publisher. You started working with that publisher. And again, I don't want anybody to shy away from self publishing. you're like Lisa Ryan last week. So Lisa Ryan from the Joyfield universe is someone I talked to a lot and she was our guest host last week. And she said the biggest enemy of really moving your life in the right direction is waiting to start. Right. So I think that I love the fact that you wrote a book. I love the fact that you have a journal accompaniment, which is what it's kind of like the plan. And if anybody is out there that's really trying to figure out like you have all this dynamic talent and charisma and you're not sure what you should be doing with it, I highly recommend that you read Shreev's book and that you use the the playbook with it. It will really help you shape where you're headed and why you're headed there. And I think that it is definitely a good tool. from the book writing process and the book publishing process, what was the biggest like surprise for you out of all of it? Good, bad, and different. What was the biggest like you would never believe moment? So the reality is, ⁓ well, two things. You don't get rich off of writing books. I'll tell you that much. don't realize that you actually have to, you know, pay for the paper and the ⁓ publish it website and all that. So, that was a big shock to me that I didn't kind of do the research and look at that. But to be honest, when I was writing the book and actually like putting everything together, we've accomplished a lot in our lives that we don't give ourselves credit for. Like, I think we individually are harder on ourselves than anyone else, right? Than anyone else that's critiquing us or anything like that. And forget about social media and the, you know, making things up in social media and all that stuff. No, but realistically, if you sit down and look at it on paper, to have gone from a professional athlete to working at an IT company to starting an IT company, resale, that's selling to Deloitte, starting another company, having that company sell. And then being where we are now with an opportunity to do it all over again. It's a lot. In a period of time that people just, like you said, the ones that don't, that just plan and plan and plan and plan and never get off of their butts and do it. We've done it. Right? And so I think that was the biggest shock to me is, okay, wow, I need to give myself a little bit more grace. Yeah. I mean, just look at me. I tell myself and everyone else how amazing I am all the time. did talk this week and it's one of those things that was talking to someone this week and they were like, well, how did it go? Because I had a big discussion. had a whole whiteboard filled out with all of these points that I was going to make. I, you know, I really, if I'm being truthful, I felt like I kind of psyched myself out a little bit. Like I kind of, was so prepared, but I had this like... I know, Faker syndrome, where I'm like, I'm not really this amazing person that's done all of these amazing things. Like AI did a great job in writing a lot of this stuff, but I didn't really do those things. When in fact, I really did. Right. But I think that, you know, we have a tendency, the meanest person you're going to talk to today lives between your ears. Exactly. And I think we talk ourselves out of a lot of things because we have the imposter syndrome or we find something else that's easier, faster to do. But I think that it is one of the things I love most about the book and the playbook is it really kind of solidified your foundation for what you're going to build on next, right? So it's something that you can talk about with future employees, future companies that you own, you know, and really kind of point back to this pivotal moment in your career and what you chose to do with that downtime versus what many others do, which is just hang out and eat chips and maybe go to Target 800 times a day. Not that I'm doing that, but it's a lot easier to do that. Right. So I think that it's super important. So I applaud you and I think it's great. And we're going to put the link to the book and the playbook in the show notes. Awesome. So then make sure that you guys can all read that and follow up on that. And I mean, that's not just it. Like you're also, like I said, a shoe magnet. Right. You're a cheer dad, right? I mean, all these things that you are really that encompass you so that the fact that you took this time and wrote that book, I think that is amazing. I think it's great. Okay. So Lucy score Sharif's book, that's our pop culture. So let's go into the hunt for the high five. our every week, Lisa and I, our main purpose for starting this podcast was that we wanted to vibrate high, which means focus on the positive things that are happening every day instead of kind of sucked into this negative sinkhole that we can kind of find. So like we always say, like we're about finding the high fives in a hot mess world. And I know it sounds really kitschy, but it's very, very true. Like, you know, you want to make sure that people are seeing the positive things as well. So we make our own happiness. Right. we acknowledge happiness. So we have what we call the hunt for the high five, which is a person, place or thing that gave us like a high five this week. So my, my high five this week, which I'm just going to take a minute and talk about it. Cause it was a good one. ⁓ I had an 80 minute CBD pedicure. Nice. And I know you like to have your feet done as well. Like we both love that. ⁓ but this one was so. I did a little research on it because I was going to talk about it. The average amount that people spend on pedicures in the state where I live is $65. That's usually for a 60-minute pedicure. To someone who does not get pedicures, that might seem like an insane amount of money. But trust me, by the time we're done here today, you're going to be like, wait, what? It's $65. Well, this was $80 and it was 80 minutes. And the reason that I did a CBD is because it's anti-inflammatory. if you have pain in your feet, pain in your legs, they have CBD scrub, CBD lotion, CBD salts that your feet are soaking in to help try to bring down that inflammation. And that is the benefit of a CBD pedicure. I'm going to put it all on Instagram. I have a little storyboard that I created for you guys so you can kind of see it. ⁓ but what I learned, which I thought was crazy. ⁓ so I am from the generation that if it's more expensive, it's better. Like trying to choose between milk, the more expensive milk is the better milk. We don't know why we just assume it's better. And I know you share that philosophy because we're both very bougie. And I was like, okay, so I'm looking up like the benefits of a CBD pedicure. I'm looking at what makes it. more expensive? What are the materials used? is that like, you know, one of questions someone asked me was, well, if I work for the government and I get a drug test, will I fail? And the answer is no, because you're not going to absorb the CBD into your body. So you're okay, you'll pass a drug test. But I thought it was a good question for someone who has never had this done before. So I was like, okay, great. And as I'm looking at the prices of different pedicures, you go down kind of a rabbit hole, right? So I'm looking at pedicures and foot treatments at all the big fancy spas locally. And there's all sorts of like, have your feet scanned and weird wild stuff that I'm totally into. I noticed that there was a CBD pedicure that was $130. Now remember mine was $80. What am I missing? Like this must be better. So I go and I look at the spa and it's not very nice. Like the one I went to was much nicer. And I was like, that's weird. They must have, they must use like a higher percentage, like of the CBD, like it's more expensive. No, it's the same exact products. I saw a picture side by side, same exact products, but they had the nerve to charge $130. for what you could get for $80 somewhere else. So you guys, expensive is not better. Do your homework. If there's something that you're interested in, check four five different locations. Go on Yelp, go on Google, check the spot, check where it is, read the reviews. mean, money is not, money is not growing on trees right now for any of us. So make sure that if you're going to spend the money, that you do it really, really well and that you're smart about it. So what is your high five moment of the week? So I went and saw a movie ⁓ along with your animal theme called Hoppers. I took the kids to it and it's a cartoon movie. It's really cool, but it's the idea of humans putting their brains in the bodies of animals just to kind of understand what they're about and things like that. And the whole, was a cute theme, cute, you know, kind of, it helped us kind of step back from the crazy that we're in and just appreciate. all the things that are out there and kind of working together and teamwork and things. So it was a cute movie. I liked it. I had a good movie that was out there. right. Doug wants to go see that. He's brought it up several times. It's a great movie. I need to take it to the Seahawker. Now I know. But that's awesome. I'm so, mean, if we don't stop and recognize our high five, however tiny It might be like, you guys, lose sight of positivity across the board, right? So it's so important to be grateful and identify that tiny piece of glitter for being the awesome high five in your week that it was and try not to lose sight of that. And then we're going to talk really quickly about the board. So Sharif, I don't know if you've listened to the podcast. If you haven't, that's okay. But we you have so yeah, so we as you know, just as a friendly reminder to everybody We have something that Lisa and I it's like a vision board for positive experiences. So Lisa and I believe you have to make your own happiness whatever however that looks that is that is what we're gonna do and part of ⁓ the development of the board was finding out what made us happy and really kind of understanding what that was and We were asked a question And I'm going to ask you, so, and it really kind of helps put a bucket around the board and what we need to kind of shape. if a genie showed up tomorrow or today, just right now and says, Shree, if you can have anything you want, what would you wish for? So I would wish for, I think my number one wish would be financial independency. And what I mean by that. Is I don't have to worry about where money's coming from because then I can focus on the things I love, which is mentoring, coaching, and helping others succeed. So it's not to be greedy or not to have all the money in the world. It's so I can devote, like you said, right? What is it that makes me happy? Right? What is it on that board? And it's, it's providing value, right? Showing value and providing value to people with my time. And let's be honest, right now sometimes because we're so reliant on the dollar, we do things that aren't as valuable. Yeah. And I think if I had more time to devote to mentoring, coaching, doing things that are more relevant, helping other people start their businesses, right? That's really why I started Motivate Consulting is to help other businesses start theirs. So I think all the, if with that one wish could help me continue doing that. Yeah, mine was to be blissfully happy and money was 100 % a part of that. I don't think I could be blissfully happy if I was struggling to make ends meet. For me, that's the price of admission. I love money and we all love money, but I heard this saying I thought was so cool and it was like, we were born onto a planet that provides everything we need for free. But somewhere, somewhere along the line, someone decided to start charging for it. That's right. That's right. It's like, it's so true. ⁓ Especially right now, it's so true. There's boogie with Keanu Reeves in it. ⁓ it is, so Keanu Reeves is an angel and he's an angel that stops people from getting into car accidents for texting. Okay. And he gets into, you know, Kumar from Herald and Kumar? I can't remember the actor's name, I apologize. But so he was the main character and he was driving and well, so he kept falling down on his luck. He had money issues, all these things. So it was Keanu Reeves job to show him that money can't solve all of his problems. he, the way he does that is he has of giving him money. So he gives him the money and then hit, you know, the, like the, the higher up angel asks him, so what happened when you gave him the money? Well, it solved all of his problems. ⁓ It's a it's a funny movie. It's a good movie out there too. mean, so I, I, we all know I love Keanu Reeves. I there you go. I have this very elaborate funeral plan that my friends all know that they need to try to get Keanu to come and like ⁓ throw himself on the casket. It's all part of my plan. But I think that it is, it is, I've read about that movie and I think there's a lot, mean, There's a lot of truth to it. Like it's hard. It's hard to like, like I was, when I talked to Lisa last week, I was like, you know, with our board, I want to think of things we could do that don't cost any money because you know, not everybody has money to do things. We talked all about that. So you guys will have to listen to that, but it is, it is super important. And I'm, I'm glad that you told me that that's, that's good to know. love it. All right. So I wanted to go into listener homework. Next. So I'm going to pop a question on you. Yeah. So here's why. we, and I are big fans of Marcus Buckingham and the Gallup organization. And we learned through many years of training that if you want an honest answer, don't give people preparation because they'll just, they don't have time to think. So we are trying to figure out what we want to call our listeners. So on Instagram or if I do outreach or socials or newsletter, And we have three that we're kind of landing on. So the first one is the High Fibers. The second one is the High Five Hive. And then the third one is the TriHards. And so for me, like the High Fibers is like, hey, High Fibers, you know, make sure you check out the new episode this week. The B High Hive, I think sounds a little bit like Beyonce. I want to her thunder. mean, she's a queen. But then the try-hards was, I was like, okay, so the try-hards for me, I think might be my favorite because it's about chin up, chest out, go again. Like being relentless, you know, like we try so hard. And I think a lot of us out there do try hard, but I've asked everyone on socials, I got no responses because. People don't want to answer. And then I talked to family and I got a different response from everybody. So I'm now asking Gav. So for listener homework, I want you guys to respond, but Shreve, what do you think it should be? I like, I like the, ⁓ the try-harders. Try hard. Yeah. Because it is what we're living in right now. It is the world we are living in right now. Right? If we don't try hard, we're not going to succeed. Yeah. Unless you're, unless you're independently wealthy because of your parents. I mean, those guys are killing it right now. That's right. That's right. They're killing it. But you and I both come from very humble beginnings and we're going to, we're going to do everything we can to make the world a better place and leave it better than we found it. Vibrate high, try to think of positivity. And then we're going to, we're going to wrap up and we're going to go into our bonus episode. But you guys, in case you don't join us there. Please remember to roll your shoulders back, unclench your jaw, drink your water, and have an amazing week. Thanks guys so much. Have a great week. Know someone that needs a high five today? Go ahead and send them this episode. Don't forget to subscribe to the High Five Hot Mess Podcast so you don't miss the next one.