The Focus Cast
#100 Setting Course for 2024: Recrafting the FocusCast for More Connection and Impact
Have you ever wished you could read someone else’s diary? Well, we're flipping the pages open on our own lives in this episode. We'll take you on a journey through our 2024 plans, share some raw personal insights and dive into why we're reducing the number of cuss words. All aboard the FocusCast, where we're implementing some mom-approved changes and, more importantly, recrafting some of our previous episodes so they can achieve their full potential.
Our 2024 mission incorporates more than course correction; we're expanding our horizons by honing our storytelling abilities. We'll pull you into a world of timeless tales and connect with 24 founders by the end of the year. It's a digital age, yet we believe in the power of human advice and connection. Think back to the days when you trusted "rate my professor" to make the right choice; that's the kind of informed decision-making we're talking about.
In this whirlwind of planning and connection, it's crucial to remember to focus, and in this chapter, we explore the potential of increased focus to unlock creativity and vision. We’re also discussing the merits of a four-day work week or half-day Fridays because, let's face it, work-life balance is not just about coffee breaks. They say the best ideas come when you step away from work, and we’re living proof of that. In fact, our podcast has become a journal of personal growth, healing and self-discovery. So, tune in and let us guide you through tales of becoming better parents, overcoming our internal voices, and finding the strength in focusing. As we explore the challenges faced by middle-class founders in today's world, we’re reminded of the power of human connection in business and the importance of supporting each other. Join us, as we set sail on this new chapter of FocusCast.
FIND US ON
thefocuscast.com
tiktok
instagram
youtube
Have you ever wished you could read someone else’s diary? Well, we're flipping the pages open on our own lives in this episode. We'll take you on a journey through our 2024 plans, share some raw personal insights and dive into why we're reducing the number of cuss words. All aboard the FocusCast, where we're implementing some mom-approved changes and, more importantly, recrafting some of our previous episodes so they can achieve their full potential.
Our 2024 mission incorporates more than course correction; we're expanding our horizons by honing our storytelling abilities. We'll pull you into a world of timeless tales and connect with 24 founders by the end of the year. It's a digital age, yet we believe in the power of human advice and connection. Think back to the days when you trusted "rate my professor" to make the right choice; that's the kind of informed decision-making we're talking about.
In this whirlwind of planning and connection, it's crucial to remember to focus, and in this chapter, we explore the potential of increased focus to unlock creativity and vision. We’re also discussing the merits of a four-day work week or half-day Fridays because, let's face it, work-life balance is not just about coffee breaks. They say the best ideas come when you step away from work, and we’re living proof of that. In fact, our podcast has become a journal of personal growth, healing and self-discovery. So, tune in and let us guide you through tales of becoming better parents, overcoming our internal voices, and finding the strength in focusing. As we explore the challenges faced by middle-class founders in today's world, we’re reminded of the power of human connection in business and the importance of supporting each other. Join us, as we set sail on this new chapter of FocusCast.
FIND US ON
thefocuscast.com
tiktok
instagram
youtube
What's up bro?
Speaker 1:What are we talking about today? Our hundredth episode?
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:We did it. It's the end of the year, it's December 2023. Yep. So today we are sharing what a hundred episodes feels like, yep. And then what's the plan for 2024?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Because you've got to have a plan right.
Speaker 1:I guess We've arrived at some conclusions that happened to manifest a change for 2024. Yep, one of those being something that our mother told us which we'll share. So, yeah, that's what we're talking about today. Today, we're going to talk about what next year looks like, what we plan to do, what we hope to do, and what that's going to look like for our FocusCast fans, our FocusCast fan.
Speaker 2:That's right, it's fans. There's three of them.
Speaker 1:I know I'm just kidding, I'm just messing, we're speaking from first person yeah, Whether it's 10 fans or a million fans it still serve. It's like it's one person.
Speaker 2:There we go yeah.
Speaker 1:Shall, we dig in, let's do it.
Speaker 2:I'm Jonathan. I'm Brandon.
Speaker 1:This is the FocusCast we're going to help you remove distractions, increase focus. You can live a life with intention. Nice, a little coffee today, sorry. So yeah, last couple of episodes we talked about what it's like to have 100 episodes or 99 episodes. We talked about stats.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:We talked about investment. We talked about what we're doing. We've talked about a lot of things this year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so now we're talking about some implementations, maybe some things we want to switch up. A little bit of a new direction. Yeah, how we want to maybe niche down, niche down.
Speaker 1:And some of the things that we will not say Right In 2024. Right, so first let's start there. So we're going to break this episode. It's going to be a quick episode, but let's talk about a funny story in which the words we will not say in 2024. And then we'll talk about what it's going to look like in 2024 and what we hope to do, right, what's what the goal is. So why don't you share with us a little story?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Jonathan about what words we are not going to say in 2024 and why.
Speaker 2:So I was calling our mom Because we're brothers. Because, we're brothers. And then just for some random question, and maybe about Thanksgiving, I don't know, but she was like she had a bone to pick. Oh, she had a bone to pick she had a bone to pick because she listened to one of our episodes and she said that she counted. They're like 37 cuss words and I think that was. I'm not even sure if that was between both of us. That may have been just between just me.
Speaker 1:That was just you, because she told me also that was just yours.
Speaker 2:Okay, 37 for me and like what? 20 something for Brian.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and she said it was very frustrating for her.
Speaker 1:And what's funny is if you got to know our mom, you know some people have moms that, like interject themselves toxically in your life forever and they don't stop. Our mom is the opposite of that. Right Like this for our mom to give an opinion about something that we are doing Like I think that's the first opinion that she's given me about something that we're doing since I lived at home. So like this is not like you know, this isn't like you know, normal for her to say it Right, exactly.
Speaker 2:It's not normal, yeah, you know she's not trying to micromanage us.
Speaker 1:No, no at all she, that whole let the bird go thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, out of the nest. We really left that.
Speaker 1:Really well she was a pro at that. She released us 100%.
Speaker 2:And um, and you know I'm sitting there and I'm like, yeah, it's probably pretty excessive. And I go listen to the episode. And it was excessive, obviously 37 cuss words, a lot of them being the F word not like hell.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no. And ass no.
Speaker 2:We're talking straight to the F bombs. Straight to the F bombs, Just dropping them Nonstop, Like it's a cluster, cluster strike or something like like we're in a war zone like we're getting paid yeah For every time we say it Exactly.
Speaker 1:Um so then I was talking to I do some consultants, consulting work for one of our mom's friends who is an executive director of a nonprofit, and she mentioned the same thing. She was like, yeah, I was talking to her mom and us and then I brought up the cussing thing and she was like, yeah, you know we were talking about that. Yeah so my mom and her friend. We're talking about our podcast and how we cuss too much at an event and they basically can't listen to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they can't listen to it. So we're losing the middle aged upper, middle aged upper, middle aged women category, who don't want to listen to young dudes say the F word over and over.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you know what? And and sound like degenerates.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So we've decided that we're not going to double down.
Speaker 2:We're not going to double down on degeneracy and we're going to you know not cuss.
Speaker 1:I think now it's fun.
Speaker 2:It's a fun game Like like oh gosh, I've already wanted to say the F word like 12 times. Yeah, but the F word, wow, this sounds like middle school.
Speaker 1:We should have a jar and then anytime someone says that they got to drop five bucks in there, and then that way, this paper, that's our lunch, yeah, lunch money.
Speaker 2:We had to do that it's one of our friends because he was doing too many abbreviations, so we made an abbreviation jar Because he called the AJ.
Speaker 1:He was just getting that money right in he's like I love my briefs, so yeah, I love my briefs money. The jar.
Speaker 2:So we're also. We want to salvage some episodes. Yeah, we're not gonna keep them all. Yeah, so we're going through tightening them up, you know, snipping out the audio for F bombs and Shit, and then we're leaving out hell and damn, I took out the bitches.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I took out that too, so we're all.
Speaker 2:I feel like we're only leaving hell and damn. Yeah, that's which we never say those because we're not in middle school. Yeah, so we're adults. We're adults, we use adult cuss words, so. So, yeah, we're picking episodes, cleaning those up for to you know, put those into the next phase of the podcast and then we're gonna move into a new format. Yeah, that, brian was spearheaded.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I think the number one goal, one of the things that when I read about, you know how to grow a podcast and all that kind of stuff, because, based on our stats, last episode We've got a consistent Set of downloads after a hundred episodes, but there's definitely no consistent growth, all right, so they just talk about you got a, you got a niche down. You got a niche down, you got to talk to a very specific audience and then grow from there. So a passion of mine is to serve founders. I mean, I've been a facilitator and a consultant for founders, yeah, and honestly, my core belief is like, like, and when I say small business, I mean like five to 20 million. According to the IRS, a small business is 500 employees or less. Wow, I'm not talking about just start-ups or like one-person shows. I'm talking about like a five, ten, fifteen million dollar business, small business. But I think founders like they, their employees trust them. Yeah, their attitude really dictates the culture A lot of small businesses give back to their community.
Speaker 1:Yeah they're very involved in their community. You know, you get the hundred thousand dollars from like Bank of America, you know, for some thing in Atlanta, but a hundred thousand dollars bank. It's like we gave 20 million dollars and we're, you know, a 12 billion dollar company, right?
Speaker 2:That's not even pocket change, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's just the 1% of the bank over draft fees that they charge.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but small businesses.
Speaker 1:You know they, they participate, they're out there. You know they're not just donating money, they're donating time and and so yeah, like on the boards.
Speaker 2:I mean this is, this is happening everywhere. But like we go mountain biking and you'll see, like the sign with the sponsors and donors for the trails, yeah, and you know there's small business, local businesses on there. Yeah, just so we can mountain bike on the trail. Oh, my that's great.
Speaker 1:So our niche is going to be founder led companies, and we are going to talk directly to the founder. Now, I've been fortunate to serve founders through Consulting around brand storytelling and making that story true for a long time now yeah, a couple decades. So we're gonna, we're gonna deep dive. The goal is that a Founder can listen to the podcast and they're gonna, they're gonna, they're gonna take some nuggets, some immediate application tools into their business. And then the other goal is that we help them Just enjoy being a human. Right now, work consumes you so much, yeah, and and there's a season for that, but sometimes that can just never end. And so, yeah, I would love for a founder to listen to the podcast and go, you know, take a weekend and focus on their family, or focus on their breath, or focus on exercise or whatever, and Take a break from their, their company, and then go in Monday with a new, fresh spirit and if we can, if we can help inspire that, that would be incredible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, kind of like the forerunner gunner they're really. The main point is to try and get people to want to go on adventure. Yeah, just get outside. It's kind of the same thing, I mean. Yeah take a break because of we talk about it, the diminishing returns.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of overworking.
Speaker 2:Yeah so we're very overworked. You reach that point where you're less efficient. Yeah, it's like wow, it's just see, am I using my time properly, mm-hmm so yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So that's the goal. We got some, some things that we want to, skill sets that we want to increase yeah, one of those is storytelling.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So we really want to pull from, instead of just kind of getting some research and then speaking from our opinion of the research and then a couple of rabbit trails here and there about the government and All that's some government tangents. Yeah, so we going back and listen to the episodes from the past hundred episodes. We we go on some some anti-government rants, but um, but, as any true entrepreneur.
Speaker 2:Yeah, podcast should that's right.
Speaker 1:So we'll focus on the art of storytelling and just you know, we've been reading and learning a lot this year, so pulling some of those incredible stories they're almost timeless out and applying those, and so that'll be a goal. Yeah, in a skill set to.
Speaker 2:It'll be fun to look for random Applicable stories. Yeah, 100% so.
Speaker 1:I would love the end of the year to be able to just in conversation, be someone who Really tells stories almost in every conversation. Yeah, like I, I just want to be that kind of person.
Speaker 2:I mean people who tell badass stories. They're amazing. Everyone shuts up, everyone, exactly, and everyone loves it. Yeah, and it's just adds to the whole yeah, the whole experience.
Speaker 1:Yeah, word. I'm looking for and it's like we've been a, we've been a written language. You know. Human culture, yeah, for just a small piece of Our entire history. Storytelling, yeah it's kind of an art is an art and it's been. It was the primary source of communication transfer for a long time and I'm not practicing it, but I want to that sounds great.
Speaker 2:I want to be able to tell cool stories and, yeah, make it engaging, and Not just like a where you say like and um and you know 40 times, yeah, like, wait, what happened with? I think I went to you know. I want to knock out some dirt nasty, dirt nasty stories Like epic, yeah like engaging stories, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:So that'll be a skill set that we will perfect in this next year, and Then we're gonna go just kill some of the bad episodes not really bad episodes, but just less, less punchy.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so we'll go from episode 100 to episode 11 or 12 or however many. We decided to keep him post, yeah, so it's definitely like a pretty holistic Refresh, yeah. So that way, as founders come in, you know, we want to, we kind of want to handpick some of the episodes that we think would be very valuable for founders and then and then build on that. Yeah, I think the biggest insight for me was I was, you know, going into 2024. You know I'm an entrepreneur, plenty of ideas, plenty of cool stuff to try and do, and I was like, man, how many founders do I have in my phone? Mm-hmm, and I was just scrolling through and there was like two and I was like I want 24. That's my first goal.
Speaker 2:I like that. That's a great goal. So Because let's be real, it's a great network of people to have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got adventurous people there.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know you just great wisdom applying. You know hard lessons every day. Yep, you know founders are pretty cool, they're special. So by the end of next year I want to have 24 founders that I can just call at any moment and ask a question. That's really the goal. So if whether the audience is a thousand or ten thousand, but if or it's two if I have 24 founders in my phone that I can call and ask a question, it'll be worth it. Nice For me personally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then for me, secondary, through you, no. So no, it's a good community to build Because pretty much everyone has ideas. Maybe you don't want to be like the entrepreneur who works 80 hours a week and that's fine yeah. But like people. If you have, you want to build something, if you have an idea, it's nice to have people you can reference and contact and ask questions. Yeah, because the internet is just. It's great, it's a great tool, but there's so much information.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know just search entrepreneur in YouTube and tell me what happens. Yeah, you'll have 20 years worth of videos pop up. Yeah, that just make you feel like you're head spinning. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So and so much of that space now online are these like it's kind of tainted. Ai, you know like, yeah, you know, just do this and you'll make $200,000 a month. And you know, it's just so much of that, like Like making it sound like a silver bullet. Yeah, exactly, and true founders know it's no silver bullet. It's a healthy mix of just learning and growing Exactly.
Speaker 1:And growing and growing and stepping up and stepping back and it's very human in the real world. So to be able to call a human You're like what was your experience? Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm experiencing this. Yeah, what was yours?
Speaker 1:What was your experience? Yeah, it just feels much better. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:So, as people have done it, if they've already done it several times, they can probably save you some time and energy with advice.
Speaker 1:I learned this in college when I you know rate my professor came out later for me in college For those of you who don't know rate my professor as you go online and see what everyone says about a professor so you know to take that professor or not.
Speaker 1:So I worked full time so I knew I could. I didn't have capacity to take a professor that only 20% of the class would pass Right, I just didn't. I was going to do in three classes at a time and working full time so I just didn't have capacity for that. So I use rate my professor purely for that. If the overwhelming feedback was that only a few people are going to graduate, this class, I was like I'm not taking that class, especially if it's not in a subject that I cared about.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, like history, world history, american history, yeah so anyway. But before that I would just go to when I was a freshman. I would just go to second semester, freshman's or first year sophomores and be like what teacher should I take? And they'll be like well, don't take this. And because having that person who's just gone through what you're about to go through gives you the best insight.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And we love Gary Vee and Rick. What's his name? Who's the shark that owns the basketball? Team Cuban, yeah, cuban, mark Cuban, all those guys are brilliant and they give really solid advice, but their situational environment is that of a billion dollar company.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's different or established. You know there's decades into it. So and it gets hazy. It gets hazy. I imagine not that I'm saying. I know specifically about entrepreneur experience but, anything. Yeah, it's like oh yeah, I went through that 30 years ago. Yeah, like well yeah that's different than talking to the person who just did it six months ago.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and like it's like if you're about to have your first kid and you talk to someone who's got nine kids.
Speaker 2:They're gonna be like oh, you're fine, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're at the point to where, like their house manages themselves. They got like seven little businesses, yeah, like a little factory going on in their house, you know, yeah. So it's just yeah to have someone who just went through that or just solved that problem. They understand the nuance, they remember the nuances.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yes, and so that's the goal is, you know, as for me, launching the footwear company and, you know, working on all this content stuff and creative stuff to surround, to surround ourselves with founders and creatives. You know, this one guy reached out on Instagram with one of the posts I did and he's a creative and I was like we should hang out. And he's like, yeah, that'd be cool. And I'm like I just want more creative people around me. Yeah, so to hang out with founders and creatives next year, like crazy drone flyers and people that just sit in the studio all day and obsess over these cool like graphic type, you know, b-roll or footage and stuff like that. Like I just want to immerse myself with those types.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Build the community, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so format wise, we're going to take it all down. It's all going down, yeah. And then I don't really know how that works for, like, all of the TikTok videos. I mean, there was a time when we were uploading for TikTok videos a day. I think. I deleted some of those, but a decent amount is going to be deleted, and then sometime mid-January I'm not even worried about it.
Speaker 2:Sometime in January.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, we're going to launch or release the first phase three episode of the focus cast and what we're thinking about doing we'll see if we do it is or if it changes or whatever. What we're thinking about doing is a founder's day starter. Yeah, so five minutes or less on the way to work, a key principle they can take into their company that day, and they're just going to be broken down into the themes. So we're going to hit a theme a month, break that theme down into weeks and then hit a component, an element of that every day. So I think we're going to start with brand storytelling telling a story, making sure that your brand tells a clear and compelling story that produces a call to action. So we'll break that down. What does it mean to have a good story?
Speaker 1:You know, for us wanting to learn the power of storytelling, and then I've consulted brands for 25, like 15 years now on brand storytelling. Yeah, so we're going to break down the power of strong brand storytelling.
Speaker 2:So, bro, does that mean part of our brand? Storytelling is telling stories. Yes, so if we can't tell stories, well, yeah, what's then how we're going to tell other people to tell their stories Exactly?
Speaker 1:So that'll be it. I know I'm excited to talk about things like delegation. Delegation is a big component for founders. Trust when you, when you, delegate. A lot of times we don't delegate because we don't trust.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:We've delegated. We've talked about this. We actually did an episode on delegation and you delegated and you got burnt, yeah, so it's like then you pull it all back. Yeah, so the art of delegation, so we'll talk about things like that. But again, the goal is Monday through Friday, or Monday through Thursday you, five minutes on the way to work and you're going to be able to walk in, you know, inspired with this little gym.
Speaker 1:And then another piece that we would love to do that I'm really excited about is a Friday. You know, 10, 15, 20 minute, whatever episode to prepare for the weekend. Yeah, you know, for a founder who worked really hard Monday through Friday, how do you reset yourself, set yourself To prepare to go into two days of rest? Mm-hmm, how do you turn that off and Be fully present with your family, or fully present outside of your work persona? Yeah, how you take a break right, the mind needs a break yeah, like science will tell you. Yeah, yeah, I have a break. So we would love to For a founder to just feel inspired to go into the weekend and Work on some self-work and be present with their family or their friends because what you said earlier, bro, yeah, what you said earlier, you basically Creativity doesn't exist if there's fear, not saying that founders are scared, but it's like in the car if you reach points where you're getting overwhelmed, yeah, you might be kind of nervous.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm you know, some of these things I kind of get in the way of creativity and, yeah, just having a Forward vision.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, we always hear the story of like. I thought of this in the shower. Yeah you know you're in a meeting, you're trying to be creative, you're forcing creative and it's just not working.
Speaker 1:And then, like the idea pops in your head later. Yep, and that's because the brain, when it breaks a Different part of the brain, is engaged, because you're actually relaxed or you're walking or you're breathing, and then all of a sudden the answer Comes up right. So training the brain to to step away from All of the things that the week brings, you know we'll be very healthy. Team will love you on Monday, yeah, but not on Tuesday. Less on Tuesday, not very much on Friday, but no one cares about work on Friday. Anyway, everyone's just ready to go home.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly Like Friday shouldn't even be a work day. They really shouldn't. I Don't think I've ever worked a Friday in my life. It's totally not true.
Speaker 1:But when I'm, when I'm a, when I have several employees for one of these companies, I'm pretty, I'm pretty determined that we'll have a four-day work week, yeah or half-day Friday, as if it's like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, or like work if you want to yeah, because if people are showing up and not doing anything, anyway, I know, I mean I've, we've all seen it. Yeah, we've all seen it. A lot, a lot.
Speaker 1:Friday rolls around, it's like everyone's there in person, but long no bodies there in mind, they're just talking. Yeah, chat it up.
Speaker 2:To our yeah, 30 minutes late, one hour lunch and they're out the door one hour early. Yeah, and if the boss is not in oh right, I ain't nobody doing anything. Forget about it, yep.
Speaker 1:I mean it's water. You might as well put out 30 water coolers, just Everyone's staying around talking and you got the few people that are like, oh, their identity is in their work. Yeah, so they're like. No one works on Friday. But I do I do? Yeah, calm down, bob, calm down. Yeah, go home to your family. Yes, it's not that I'm gonna play some golf, so anyway, yeah, that's, that's 2024.
Speaker 2:We'll see how we feel at the end of 2024. Yeah and we'll be on 5.0 6.0.
Speaker 1:Yeah version. Yeah, there's. No, I'm not attached to anything.
Speaker 2:They say it takes about a year to find your voice. Right, yeah, we've been doing it for how long?
Speaker 1:Well, they say a hundred episodes. Oh, a hundred episodes.
Speaker 2:Yeah. All the we found our voice and then we didn't like it, so we're gonna delete every episode. We had a 10% hit rate. I'm just kidding, that's a joke, right? We are honing in what we actually want to talk about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah you know Well, and I mean again. We've said it in the last couple episodes, so, but we'll say it again, because this might be the only episode that's still Available after we delete the last two. Yeah but um, talking about Increasing focus. For two years, a hundred episodes has made us increase our focus.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so when I and I'm surely I talked about this on the last episode, but doing the research and listening to podcasts like the model health show, specifically shout out to my man, shawn Stephenson yeah, you learn a lot of information and it's great. Yeah, and I don't regret it at all. It doesn't matter if we only have what 50 monthly listeners doesn't matter, doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:My life has radically changed. Oh gosh, yeah, in the past 12 months, radically changed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in fact, everyone should start a health podcast, even if no one listens to it, because it's gonna make you learn about health.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and even for us, what's so beautiful about the subject of focus is it's mind, body yeah. So we spent a lot of time talking about the mind and the traps yeah, and the trauma and the hiccups and the pains and the fear and the worry and the anxiety, the human element, the human. We spent a lot of time researching and Discussing and there's the podcast. But then there's all the conversations we have around the podcast.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So yeah, to your point. I mean we literally just had a journal. More or less Of the podcast is it's been a journal for us for two years. Yeah and so now, looking back, it's like Completely different perspective in life. Yeah, significant healing. Most definitely the therapy work and all that stuff. Yeah, we used to get drunk. Yeah, when he recorded. Yeah, I Can honestly like check this out. Okay, let's, let's hear it bro. So a Year, two years ago, mm-hmm, right, I'm a good dad.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know I'm a good dad.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't need anyone to tell me that, of course not.
Speaker 2:But don't even let someone tell you you're a good father.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they don't need to. Don't tell me what I know. Tell me what I know. But a couple years ago, go listen to the episode on disassociation that one will still live. But I had a manager in my head, yeah, controlling my life for how long?
Speaker 1:Since I was five, maybe eight, for context, probably really nine. Yeah, because that's when the brain starts. But the manager was like you need to be a good dad, you need to be a good dad, you need to be good dad, you need to be present, don't look at your phone, don't do this, don't get angry. So I was a good dad. I Managed my way to be a good dad. Here I am and I used to sit and think about Entrepreneurism and ideas and it wasn't gonna work. And is my good enough and my qualified enough? I used to. Just literally, the brain was just constantly to the point where I drank a couple beers every single day Just to shut it up. Yeah, and that was the pattern for like the last decade, with every day after work and then the family would go to bed and I would work for two or three hours every single night.
Speaker 2:Hmm.
Speaker 1:I have my day job and then my night job just whatever I wanted to work on. Yeah, so now I can go home and I can sit with my kids and play trains. Yeah, and and literally not think about anything else.
Speaker 2:It's a completely different existence, completely different. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I would agree with you.
Speaker 1:Thank you completely. Yeah, so that's that's what has happened?
Speaker 2:I mean, there's something beautiful about just sitting there and playing with some kids toys and like your head being empty.
Speaker 1:Yes, and really thinking about because even when I'm hanging out.
Speaker 2:I don't have kids, but the nieces and nephews and I'm like I'll build a train.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't care.
Speaker 2:It's really fun. This is fun, it's fun and you just kind of like your head's empty, yeah, like if you really hold that space like you're a kid again.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And you're like how can I, can I do a bridge on the track? How many loops can I put? Yes, so yeah, it's a completely different experience. Yeah, one is you're trying to bend yourself over, force yourself to be a. Yeah, you're telling yourself you got to be a good dad.
Speaker 1:Yeah, don't be like a. You're not a degenerate, don't be a loser and then one, you just exist. You know I'm just here. Yeah, call me a good dad, call me a bad dad, I don't care.
Speaker 2:And kids respond to that oh, they know. When you're just existing and you're hanging out with them, yes. Or when you're just kind of half, not saying you were half assent, but when your mind is elsewhere, yeah, they know If I'm sitting there anxious about not being good enough. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Or anxious about something that I'm working on or something that I want to work on that I'm not working on because I don't have the money, I don't have the resource, whatever, yeah, whatever, yeah. They feel that, they feel that I'm not present. But now you just sit there. When I walk in, my little is just pats the floor. And that's him, because he doesn't talk, he signs, he talks through signing and noises, yeah, but he just pats the floor and that's him telling me I want you to come sit with me and play with me. That's really cute, yeah.
Speaker 2:He's just sat me down in the chair the last time. Oh yeah, he'll let you know what he wants. He's like you sit here, we watch this and we hang out.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, and you don't move unless you use the bathroom. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I'm gonna look back at your face to make sure you're watching what I'm watching every 30 seconds.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 1:Like present, with my wife present here in the work yeah present in conversations, like when I go to these meetups and stuff out in the out in the professional world. Yeah, you know I'm not in the room like do they approve me? I got to talk to this person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I got to meet that person. I got to close the deal. I got to do this. I just walk in and if someone wants to talk to me, I just talk to him, and if no one wants to talk to me, I'll just sit there and eat the snack that they have available and I'll leave.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Whatever, yeah, while all the big wigs are over there talking, I'm just hanging out with the people serving food, so no one else wanted to talk to me, so I'll talk to this nice person over here. Yeah, dishing out plates.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What do they got going on?
Speaker 2:They're probably starting something. How are they doing? They probably got multiple projects.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So anyway. So yeah, a year of two years of talking about focus, and now I don't even have to sit here and think how am I going to increase focus, it's just already, I'm just there.
Speaker 2:We made it. We made it to maximum focus yeah. I'm not even focused. I'm so focused, I'm so focused. I don't have to focus on being focused.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Exactly, you just go.
Speaker 1:I gotta wake up, take a cold plunge, do 40 burpees, read 30 minutes of my time, stuff, and then I got to do this, I got to do this, I got to do this. And then I'm gonna get to work. I'm gonna be so focused, I'm gonna have a clock and one of my Chrome extensions and my phone extensions, I'm gonna do my juice thing and yada, yada, yada. I'm gonna set up this infrastructure and then I'm gonna teach class on it, on how to how to how to, how to, how to how to, how to how to how to.
Speaker 2:I was just like. I was like is this a focus class or a manic?
Speaker 1:Yeah, how to be manic class. Yeah, how to. How to maintain manic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Manic, manic, manic maintained.
Speaker 1:It's like as an entrepreneur. What's so funny is like as an entrepreneur. Yeah, I don't want to be that person. I don't want to be the person, the manic no, I want to be like the monk in business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I I don't have to have a crazy exercise routine in the morning, but just like a little movement.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know a little stretching, a little something my tea. It's nothing crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know a little bit of breathing. Yeah, pretty much good to go, good to go. Cold showers do help.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we've been on the game for a while.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm not saying everyone should.
Speaker 1:Do whatever you want. I really should try it. At least try it.
Speaker 2:But it's had a positive effect on my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, me too. I love it, I love it. I'm addicted to it now. Yeah, so it's been. It's been pretty fun, so that's exciting. So, yeah, we'll take everything that we've learned and throw it into the next phase and see what happens.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a good book Because, real quick, we didn't. We haven't even mentioned this yet. Consolidation from large businesses yeah, from mega corporations yeah, that's what makes founders so cool. Yeah, you know, starting small businesses is an important thing. Yeah, because we don't need to only have one option from the mega, mega corp.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:International. No, I don't want that yeah. I don't want Amazon to be the only company selling food, delivering it. Meds and like in meds and all this stuff, Because then it's like it's too much. It's too much control.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean you had to talk about that because, you're right, we didn't talk about.
Speaker 2:I can't believe we haven't talked about the government or big companies yet.
Speaker 1:So founders.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah. Why founders? Why founders?
Speaker 1:Great. So you know, we've heard it from our politicians Middle class, middle class, middle class. We're slipping into an environment where, in my opinion, the founder, the middle class founder, is one of the most attacked persons, just through our tax codes, money, accessibility, technology as barriers to entry, walls written to specifically make it harder for newer businesses. Looking at you medical industries, you know.
Speaker 2:Like when you were trying to start the lab.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, Lobbyists are good. One of the strategies for big business to maintain market shares to have lobbyists pass laws. That makes it more difficult for barriers to entry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, bloodsucking lobbyists do serve a purpose for the billionaires.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I mean, you know it's all goes back to just protecting. Why wouldn't I hire, if I'm a big company, a lobbyist to go in?
Speaker 2:I mean when you're looking at it strictly as an entity yeah and an entity wants to survive.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, it is a collection of humans who have a vested interest in that continuing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So yeah, Of course there's going to be lobbyists. Yeah, and you can, you can, of course they're going to bribe the politicians, or?
Speaker 1:whatever it takes. Whatever it takes, it's just natural. Yeah, but back to the founder, like we said before, I think I think there's a lot against them. You know, I think it's just diff, it's a lot of work to maintain a small business and our current infrastructure. So I have a lot of empathy for founders around that. I think they're heroes and, like we said before, they are anchors in the community. It's more connected.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1:So human to human in our community, so that's why I really want to serve founders.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we probably should have started there, probably. Oh well, we'll end it there. We'll end it there. I like that.
Speaker 2:Sweet.