#168 -Blueprints for Turning Setbacks into Growth Opportunities

Ever faced a voice inside your head that whispers you're not good enough? Baz Porter, a man whose life epitomizes the triumph of resilience, joins us to unravel his journey and how he tamed that inner critic. In a candid exchange, Baz and I navigate the tribulations of self-doubt and imposter syndrome, and he lays out a blueprint for anyone to transform these challenges into stepping stones. He shares a compelling tactic to 'name' the negative voice, thereby delaying its control over you. Our conversation takes a deeper look into how the spaces we inhabit and the company we keep can remarkably influence our path to resilience and relentless personal development.

Mentorship can be the keystone in constructing the edifice of a successful business, and I peel back the layers on how this understanding was a game-changer for me. Learning from setbacks is crucial, and we dissect the importance of resilience and the perseverance mindset that you need when you're on the brink of surrender. Drawing inspiration from stories like those in "Three Feet from Gold," we highlight the courage to authentically show up and the intricate dance between professional aspirations and personal commitments – a balance that high achievers are often grappling with.

The landscape of leadership is evolving, and our final focus on the shift toward empathy and understanding in leadership roles. We discuss strategies for leaders to cultivate their teams by tailoring roles to individual passions and strengths, with tools like the DISC assessment.  As we conclude, Baz is excited to share his new website and the upcoming event featuring Jordan, a testament to our dedication to empowering entrepreneurs. This podcast is sharing genuine experiences, and we're grateful for your steadfast support and engagement. Join us as we explore these narratives that have the power to reshape our perspective on life and leadership.

How to Reach Baz:
Website: https://www.ramsbybaz.com/
General Admission Ticket: https://www.ramsbybaz.com/a/2147779588/tPobmMaq
Vip Admission  Ticket: https://www.ramsbybaz.com/a/2147779587/tPobmMaq
VVIP Admission Ticket: https://www.ramsbybaz.com/a/2147779586/tPobmMaq

Event Details: 
Phoenix Voices 2024
Dates: March 21-23, 2024
Times: 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST

Hope to see you there!

To Reach Jordan:

Email: Jordan@Edwards.Consulting

Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9ejFXH1_BjdnxG4J8u93Zw

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jordan.edwards.7503

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordanfedwards/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanedwards5/

Hope you find value in this. If so please provide a 5-star and drop a review.

Complimentary Edwards Consulting Session: https://calendly.com/jordan-555/intro-call

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:00

Hey, what's going on, guys? We've got a special guest here today. We have Baz Porter. It's his second time on. He's got a story, and it's one of resilience, growth and unwavering dedication. With over 15 years of high performance coaching, a British Army veteran with a decade of experience, baz has developed the Rams method, a unique approach to addressing the internal struggles of high achievers. His mission is to lead you out of the shadows of burnout and depression and into a life of purpose and fulfillment. So, baz, I ask you, how has resilience showed up in your life? How has it been somewhat of your superpower?

Speaker 2: 1:38

Thank you, jordan, and it's a pleasure to be here today with you and serving your audience. Resilience, for me, was an interesting combination of finding a willpower. Beyond that willpower you being a marathon runner there is something in your area of expertise of running in your physical hit a wall. In life we hit walls all the time and it's digging deeper within yourself to find the extra edge to go further than anybody else is willing to go.

Speaker 2: 2:14

Resilience has built up over time. It's like a muscle Doesn't just happen, but with resilience it shows up in your life every single day. If you're a parent, you've got to be resilient to take care and nurture your children and family. If you're a spouse either side you still have to be resilient and open to listen, be compassionate. So resilience is much more than just a single word. It's a way of living life. It's a constant battle between the mind where it goes, I'm gonna give up and just go and sit on a couch with a box of crisps and watch a soap opera all day, or choosing to get up and move forward with a mission, with a dedication. To what? Not to yourself, but to serving others. That's what resilience means to me.

Speaker 1: 3:09

Yes, yes, so good, because the thing is the way you described and you've explained it. I was meeting with a client yesterday and I was explaining to him about compound interest and finances and everyone understands that because the numbers go up as you have longer time, higher interest rates. And the thing we don't realize is this same compounding, the same resilience, happens in every aspect of our life, whether it's physical fitness, whether it's parenting. It's just harder to gauge on some of those because it's not as easy as business, where it's hey, we made more money, great In life, I guess we're happier, or this moment I might be happier. So how did you gauge resilience and what were some of the things you had to overcome?

Speaker 2: 3:58

My own self-doubt was the major one, the imposter syndrome that really shows up in not just high achievers but everybody. We have that voice in the back of a head going you're not worthy, you can't do it, it'll go wrong. And then your brain takes over with a lot of excuses and that's what normally controls humans. It's when we re-engage with our true self, our soul aspects, and we say actually that's someone else's thought, that's an imprint of my family or when, a version of me when I was a child, or a version of you when you were unaware of these things, but they come up in every aspect of us. And it's learning to understand the difference between brain talk and re-digging deep and going actually I'm capable, I am, this is possible and I am not just worthy of it, but I'm worthy of so much more.

Speaker 2: 5:01

A colleague of mine. She's a phenomenal leader. She said her thing is and yes and not, but no. And she was a ballerina, she was a dancer and then she went into conscious leadership and she's done very, very well. But that is yes, no, oh sorry yes, and is a powerful statement when you start to use it in an environment where your brain is going you can't do that, no, you're not capable of that, oh, you're going to fail, and then re-frame, noticing it first and reframing each part of the limiting belief systems that we all have. But it builds, like you were saying, compounding earlier to do it regularly and building that muscle of I did it. Once I can do it again, I'll. That's come up.

Speaker 2: 5:58

What I also found was naming that aspect of me. I named him and I think it was Patrick, and when that Patrick came forward and when that Patrick came forward, I told him to sit down. We'll have a conversation later. I'm doing this now. So, like jumping out of airplane, if you've ever done a tandem parachute jump or anything like extreme sports, there's a part of you come forward and say you can't do it. And Patrick, go and have a word with yourself. I'm gonna have a conversation with you later. I'm doing this now. And that was reinforcing that and identifying that I am capable, I am worthy of this, and I'm not gonna listen to the noise outside of me other people and the variables and equally, I'm not gonna listen to the voice inside of me limiting myself, which I know is something, is capable and compounding that into resilience, into that worthiness of going. It's done, I'm doing it.

Speaker 1: 7:05

Yes and this is one of the reasons I love being the host of this podcast and having people listen to the podcast is that you brought up two amazing points. One is that you named yourself out. We should all find ourselves out, because it's inside of us and we handle it each and every day. And then the other part is the environments we're in, where, when we're around different people, it causes us to think differently. And that's why I love this is because this is an empowering conversation. You become a higher version of yourself when you're listening to this. You're rising up. But there's sometimes when your environments, where people are like, oh, you shouldn't do that bad, don't even try, you're never gonna achieve that, and we've all heard that so many times. And it's enough to battle with ourselves, but let alone battling with others and there's others could be loved ones too, and they don't intentionally do it. They try to protect you. But sometimes you gotta go for it and you gotta prove that it's possible.

Speaker 2: 8:08

It's very true. I mean, yesterday I was having a conversation with somebody and I'm gonna speak about this a bit later, but I'm preparing something in the March and this is very ambitious and then I told her a story behind it and she was like holy shit, wow, okay, I'm on board. But until that point she didn't get the whole concept of why it was actually taking place and the messaging behind what people do. For instance, if you look at Rams and people think around and go the team or the car, but it's more than that.

Speaker 2: 8:49

It's not just a brand. For me, this is a way of life. Rams, for me, stands for results, attitude, mastering systems. To get somewhere you need a result. You need to know what you're aiming for. That will constantly change. Then you should look at the attitude internally and your attitude towards objectively situations and reassess that and reevaluate continuously. Mastery is a continuous basis of that and learning to elevate not just oneself but the business. The different aspects of that, but the last and final one, is the systems. Systems can be things from relationships to automated systems to learn a new skill. There's so much vast quantitative and quality aspects of that. A coaching it doesn't just mean it's coaching having a conversation. These are actual systems that work. So when we look at the aspect of leadership, resilience these are simplistic words but there's a lot more depth behind them and meaning of them is different to everybody in these environments. A marathon runner has a resilience. A tennis player has greater resilience, but it means different things to different people at different levels.

Speaker 1: 10:19

Yes, and that's why it's so important, whenever you're speaking to anyone, to understand the context of what does resilience mean to you, baz? And that's what we started off with. And then it's what does leadership mean? Because if you guys aren't on the same page, words have limitations, and we know that. So if we don't understand what the other person's trying to say, then we're both technically right, but we're struggling with what we're trying to accomplish.

Speaker 1: 10:49

And the other thing I wanted to bring up with Rams is, I think, having directional awareness. This is something I've been getting into a lot and I think the audience should take this away. You should have directional awareness on where you wanna go. So you might not know the outcome or, in this case, you might know the result that you wanna achieve, but you have to know the general direction. So are we trending in that right direction? And then it's also the incredible thing that you brought up was that the people, the conversation you were having with that woman or that client or whatever it was people don't understand you unless they understand your context and what you're trying to get across, because they might see someone, and that's why we shouldn't judge people right off the bat. We have to seek to understand, and then we can make a decision whether it's hey, they're good for me or they're not for me, and that's okay too.

Speaker 2: 11:44

I love what you said, then it's about understanding somebody or something, a situation. I would like to go one level deeper and that's having an inner standing of something. Understanding is a conscious level and an intellectual level. If you go into the inner standing of something, it's like a text message it can be misconstrued. But a physical conversation with it be by phone or by virtual, in person isn't as easily misconstrued. If you're clear with an intention, a text message and a writing, a paragraph or LOL, can be misconstrued in so many ways. So having clarity on something, on a situation, on a person, on a voice, is key to the outcome.

Speaker 2: 12:37

It's not just oh, this is where I'm going. This is where I want to get a rough estimate of what I want it to build. So you want to build a business? What business do you want to be in? What business are you really in and who do you know to help you? And are you prepared to ask and be vulnerable and authentic? Most people will go I want to build a business and they're like I want to get a loan, I'm going to do this and do this, but there's other ways to do it and it's asking, it's asking, it's asking and it's asking these questions Hi, I'm doing this project.

Speaker 2: 13:14

I really don't know what I'm doing right now. I need a bit of help. Are you willing to spend a bit of time with me to mentor me, not coach, because there's a huge difference. Mentor and help me learn so I'm not making the same mistakes that other people have done Now? I was humbled doing this and I had to go and ask people to help me level up my game.

Speaker 2: 13:39

And now, because of am I able to go to someone? So look, this is what I'm doing. I need help. I'm unsure of the direction, I'm unsure of the components. Can you help me understand this so I could implement it at a much higher level, learning to be humble and ask? I ask with integrity and honesty. Hey, you know, I messed up and the other day I was speaking to you before I went to a website live and I lost 28 pages. And it wasn't the fact I lost a page, it was the incompetency of myself and the lack of knowledge in the structure I was using to save and move the pages over to a different system. That was the ultimate failure of that, that aspect.

Speaker 2: 14:28

But I learned the lesson, and Now I can do that. I can in future, if I have to go through a similar situation or devise somebody, I can say swap them over to landing pages and save all the content, everything. So you're not repeating the process.

Speaker 1: 14:47

And and the biggest thing here is that we're all lifetime learners. Yeah, so it's not that Someone suddenly understands something and now it's all complete. There's levels and levels and levels, and levels and levels, and it's constantly a growing game and it's how do we win? Get our small wins to continue that growth, so that we don't give up and we keep that resilience inside of us, because there's a lot of times in life where I mean right now, it's difficult, people are challenged and there's a lot of people that are like I'm, I want to give up, I want to be done, but you're here and you can't. So what, what should these people be doing? What do you think would be Valuable for these people to find out?

Speaker 2: 15:36

a lot of people who are challenge with the focus of where they're going, living, and some, in some cases, they lack an Awareness of their purpose or they've forgotten why they started something. Coaches do this all the time business owners, entrepreneurs. There's a book from Somebody that I know called dr Greg Reed and it's titled three feet from gold, and the concept of the book is simply people fall short of their goal, their direction, that rich it, the riches they're aiming for, by about three feet, and the reason they do it is because they think that they haven't got any more. And Then the the brain takes over and says what we were saying earlier you can't do it, there's no point in doing that. And you start believing what the brain starts telling you, and then you lose sight of your purpose, you lose side direction and Ultimately, you become sad. You Envision yourself less than you actually are. And then you start making excuses, restination of why you can't do something. I can't get up in the morning, I don't want to meditate, I don't want to build a business, I don't want to get on a sales call and you make up reasons why not.

Speaker 2: 17:11

But then I I say to people in that situation what if? What if you could be that difference in somebody's life? What if you could make that phone call today to change their, their thinking? And you don't know what's going through that person's mind? They could be contemplating and alive in themselves. It can be that serious. You don't know what's happening behind the scenes. So if you showing up authentically, you're showing up compassionately, with empathy and love, and not judging people, like you were saying earlier. Think about that as a purpose, not just finding yourself and building something grandiose with lots of money or Lamborghini and a high-rise apartment in downtown New York. That doesn't mean success. Showing up for somebody and spending time listening to them Is the difference between saving someone's life sometimes and the not being here tomorrow. It's that simple.

Speaker 2: 18:21

I've been in situations like that. Well, I've had to find reasons not to want to live myself, and the reason I've done that is because I had to dig deep and I realized that this isn't just it and that's selfish. How can you be compassionate and self and and self-serving at the same time? You can't. So you've got a rise higher and listen to people, understand their world Before making a judgment of somebody, because judgment, as I was saying earlier, is misconstrued sometimes. Learn to listen, learn to be compassionate and empathetic towards Situations that you don't understand, but learn to understand them.

Speaker 2: 19:09

Ask elevated questions. Why are you here? Are you really okay If you ask any bloke, any male, that, yeah, I'm fine, it's a, it's a go-to answer Most high achievers I'm not fine Because they are so snowed under with other people's views of them and family pressures and work pressures and staff and leadership. The amount of questions I get asked is In my coaching sessions how do I diversify with a team? How do I make my team better? How do I diversify with a team? How do I make my team go faster and harder? You got to know the team first. You've got to know what they want and then provide a source of ambition for them.

Speaker 1: 19:59

Yes, it's not about money.

Speaker 2: 20:00

It's not about we'll give them a pay rise, we'll give give them more hours. It doesn't amount to more progress.

Speaker 2: 20:08

But if you can drive someone's in a, in a thoughts, if you can, if you can influence them positively, in an impactful way, and say what about this? No, and if a worker has been working for you for five years and all of a sudden they're showing up late, they're unshaven or they're closer on iron, before that six months they were on time, pristine, all the deadlines met. Whatever they're going on, something changed in their life. Sit down and have a conversation, not an interrogation. Say, hey, I've noticed a few things. You're not in travel. This isn't going to reflect badly on you, but I really want to understand what's going on. Can you help me understand so I can help you? It's a different conversation rather than going in there and saying you're late. This is a warning because you're pushing someone back into a corner and they're going to retaliate in some way. It's not going to elevate them.

Speaker 1: 21:21

Yes, An interrogation and the ability. It's just so good and amazing how you changed the paradigm and what success actually means. And what a lot of us don't realize is that it's that deep conversation with someone, it's that compassionate conversation. And when you were saying that, it made me think about during the holidays this past year I did send out these voice memos and I spent out like 750 of them and my thought was it was me sitting there, because each of them takes like 10 to 30 seconds, and then you got to ponder it and then how do you personalize it? And you're thinking about it and it made me realize. I would look at someone's name and I go are they worth 30 seconds? Slash on an even bigger scale. Is their friendship worth the 30 seconds? Slash even bigger.

Speaker 1: 22:16

The holidays are really tough for a lot of people, so is this 30 seconds going to move the needle for them? And when you think like that, I think everyone should pause the podcast right now and send the three voice memos to people they love, because it's always oh, we don't have time, I'm tired. I'm this because you can get on a phone call and I did it three times yesterday where you get on a phone call with a friend. You're on for 45 minutes an hour. It's a lot of time.

Speaker 1: 22:44

If you send a voice memo that says hey, I'm really proud of you and I'm really grateful for you and I appreciate you Takes 15 seconds, they feel 100 times better. You conveyed something, so you're in gratitude. Say it. It moves everyone and it's that human first element that you were talking about in the workplace and even in the friend place, because there's so many times where we don't treat work. We try to be these different people and work over machines, and we're not. We're humans first, like Baz was saying. We have to understand that and not forget that component.

Speaker 2: 23:24

Love what you said there about we're humans first, because the moment you recognize that we're all the same and status isn't defined by how much money you have in the bank, what clothes you wear. These are all versions of personas or identities that we have. You said it earlier we show up in work in a different person than we do at home. But what if we could start showing up within an authentic self and be that true self all the time, without so much judgment? That's a hard thing to say, but if we practice gratitude, get in the habits of mindfulness actions. So mindfulness doesn't mean just going into meditation or staying in quiet place. Mindfulness is just what you did Understanding someone else's world, showing compassion and gratitude for them in a message. If you do it three times a day and you randomly text or voice memo somebody three different people every morning, hi, I'm really, really grateful for you. You haven't heard from me for a while which one of what you're up to do. You fancy having a conversation that changes someone's world because it's having the time to go above and beyond what everybody else is trying to do and send a quick text message, send an impersonal email, send a DM to somebody. If I'm DMing somebody for the first time, or even a friend that I've not spoken to for ages. I will send either a voice memo or a video message. Hi, just thinking about you. How are you doing okay? How did your holidays go? Let me know? That's it.

Speaker 2: 25:20

It doesn't have to be anything more than that, but that thought, that action, has a ripple effect for that person. They may pay it forward. Bloody hell. I feel wanted again. I feel as if I'm thought about how many people wander around the streets in their world, in their own little world, just going. No one cares about me. My wife hates me, my kids scream at me, I've got foul business, bloody, bloody, bloody, bloody. I don't realize how special they are. I don't realize the impact they have in others people's lives because they're not reminded and they're walking around in this identity that they've created, which is limiting their aspects and their contribution to the world.

Speaker 1: 26:13

Yes, it's so good because the other thing that a lot of people don't realize is you do three a day, you're going to hit a thousand people, and the other thing is you can only focus on what you can control. You can't control everything. So out of those 750 I sent, I probably got half responses. Half people never responded back to me. However, I did this the year before and I even sent it again to people who didn't respond to me the first year.

Speaker 1: 26:45

I got responses immediately going Jordan, so grateful, can't believe I missed this first message. You're the man. You have to understand that people are busy and stuff happens, so don't take it personally. And the other thing is that it's reciprocity. You're going to get it back, so you're going to feel good about what's going on. Because we have to give. It's the giver's gain. The more we give, the more we receive, and it's a good circle. That happens in life and it's okay to get ripped off sometimes. It's okay to leave an extra few bucks and those might be compliments you leave to people who don't respond. That's an extra few bucks on the table. Good, I'd rather have goodwill with them than not.

Speaker 2: 27:29

Most of the same is not just a restaurant. If you take it to home, how we deliver through, people have per year, amazon, fedex, et cetera, et cetera. Ups, all of these companies, the staff have families. The staff work sometimes 16, 12 hours a day, 16 hours a summer even more just to put bread on the table at home. How difficult is it to leave a box outside with some snacks, healthy snacks, some hot chocolate if it's winter, or water, something that's going to change their life? Or even if you feel inclined and you know they're coming, just put 10 bucks and say, really in an envelope thank you very much, really appreciate you. And I know it's cold outside At the moment it's minus 17 here stupid, stupidly cold. But that changes someone's day. If you leave a glass of hot cocoa in a flask and say fill your boots, help yourself, chill out for five minutes and have a drink that changes their world, that means something to them, then it's not just a text message, it's being conscious of the values of somebody else that changes lives.

Speaker 1: 28:58

Yes, and it's an outsized gain, but it also raises the level of society, right? You do that for someone you don't think the next person they go to they're going to be a little bit nicer, a little bit kinder, a little bit this. You are the ripple effect that you're looking for. We all have to be the ripple effect and we all have to take accountability for making that transition. Now I know, baz, you talk about leadership and you say that there's a transition going on in leadership. What are you seeing?

Speaker 2: 29:34

So a lot of the ways of leadership in not just the entrepreneurial world but in the corporate world of changing. It was more of a dictatorship you will be there, you will be doing this, et cetera, et cetera. And there wasn't compassion with the conversations. There wasn't understandings of if we nurture our teams, if we can say, okay, what do you really, as I was saying earlier, what do you really want? Because and Gary V speaks to this a 21-year-old doesn't want the same things as a 30-year-old, a 30-year-old doesn't want the same things as a 45-year-old.

Speaker 2: 30:21

The dynamics change as we grow as people. So the constant elevation and evaluation of your company and the evaluation of your staff, your workforce. You work for them, not the other way around. As a leader, you work for your employees Because without you, they don't get to put the nice things in their families, they don't get to feed themselves, they don't get to go on holidays and trips and do all the things that we take for granted as leaders, because we're in a position of authoritarian ship within that company. The leadership style was do as I say, not as I do, or you will be here on time.

Speaker 2: 31:11

Now that's changing. Now we have remote workforces, we have people going in with self-education in the workforce and it's changing the way business is done, not just on the micro but on the macro. I look over here elevated views of companies, but when I go into them I want to know every single detail, not just about their stats and the finances and marketing and sales and where they want to go, vision, et cetera. I want another workforce, I want another staff and I want to do an in-depth analysis, something called disk assessment, with all the staff, because they may be in the right company but in the wrong position and without an analysis on that person using disk and other methods, I don't know if that's the case. They may have a passion for graphic design, but they're doing copywriting. How does that work? They're not in where their passion is. So you drive their passion and you will ultimately raise the workforce standard just by changing one thing.

Speaker 1: 32:34

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 32:35

I had an interview yesterday with somebody he's going to become a client and he runs a PR company for multiple very big corporations and outward clothing or I can't say which ones and he was like I'm bored of what I'm doing, I need a new challenge. And I was like, okay, but he told me his life and where he got to where he is now. He's very successful, but his next challenge in life is going. I don't want to be working in the business. I want to be working on the business and a remote place on the set of Beach in Mexico and enjoy what I'm doing again.

Speaker 1: 33:22

Yes.

Speaker 2: 33:23

But he's lost the touch of his purpose and where he's going to. Yeah, he thought until yesterday he reached a limit in himself and he got complacent. So his leadership level was a capacity, but then, all of a sudden, it's gone to a different level because he's spoken to someone with a macro view of a knowledge that he didn't have, and all of this on his little spot back.

Speaker 1: 33:57

It's, and this is why one of the things I found is that most of us, we end up talking to the same seven to 10 people, whether it's friends, whether it's coworkers. That ability to expand and, again, one of the favorite reasons of the podcast is that I'm allowed to talk to other people. It's actually encouraged, it's part of the process and, like, you need to find ways to speak to other people or just listen to other podcasts, listen to other conversations because, like Batch has said there, expansion comes from conversation. Expansion can also come from listening to conversation. However, it's super important, super, super important to get a wide range of friends, family, colleagues, so you're getting a holistic perspective and you're not just stuck in your bubble, which I find a lot of people end up living there.

Speaker 2: 34:59

Yeah, what I found in mine to add on to that is put yourself, be willing to put yourself in uncomfortable situations, because sitting on a couch watching it so proper is cool, but after a time it gets very uncomfortable because you're asked, you need to move, you become stagnant and you become complacent. But if you're challenging yourself, if you I've done this, I'm sure people were listening. Have as well. I've walked into rooms and gone on in the wrong room. I'm just in the wrong room. I don't feel as if I'm in an elevated pep, an elevated crowd, and I'm a teacher in the room rather than an equal or I'm learning. I want to be learning, I want to have that growth and having these having the awareness of, okay, what can I learn? But equally, what can I give, how can I teach or give a reference to that's going to elevate the person.

Speaker 2: 36:09

This podcast is gold for that. I mean there's so many people come on here with so many different aspects and different knowledge sets. I don't know everything, but your podcast is great because you have so much diversity business owners from different backgrounds, different ways of thinking, different concepts. These people pay literally thousands and thousands of dollars obtaining this knowledge. But if you start putting yourself in the elevated rooms and walking out of the rooms that are no longer serving you and being confident enough to go, I'm done. Thanks very much for the opportunity, but I shouldn't be here. Don't snide at them, don't make them feel bad, say look, I'm sorry, it's a personal thing. Love what you're doing, but this is not for me. Have the confidence to walk away, stand up for yourself, elevate your ambition, your internal clock, then the things will follow.

Speaker 1: 37:13

Yes, and you could also reference that. It's a season of your life. It's a season for me to move on, whatever that may be, because Baz does make off an incredible point where it's. I actually had a friend who reached out to me. His boss recommended he go to Toastmasters. Now I was going into the same Toastmasters in 2019.

Speaker 1: 37:36

Covid hit. I did it virtually a little bit Sider wasn't for me, Wasn't loving it. I recommended my friend to go back to that same group because the same guy is still running it. He's like literally one of the highlights of my year was doing Toastmasters, because I wake up Wednesday morning because he's doing a mostly remote job and he's like I get to speak and people get to hear what I'm saying and I get critiqued and I get compliments and I win things. He's like I love it and it's not that one's good or one's bad, it's just everyone has their season and it's okay to go into new activities that might serve you differently.

Speaker 1: 38:15

Now, what I mean by that is recently I signed up for Muay Thai. I know nothing very little about Muay Thai. However, I signed up. I even did some one-on-one stuff with the coach and it's been awesome because it touches on so many different areas where you start to understand your body better. You start to understand the way you think about things a little differently and it's challenging in a different capacity. Now, does that help my business? I don't know. Probably it's probably more productive to do that instead of sit and watch operas on the couch, because you're getting out there and you're doing something different and you're learning. So it's not saying that you just have to learn about different stuff in business, but it's sign up for a class that you've never done, do an activity you've never done and find the right energy in the room. So, as you bring that up, Baz, I know you have an incredible event coming up Phoenix Voices Summit and this is getting in the right room, so talk about that.

Speaker 2: 39:21

The concept of Phoenix Voices is about elevated leadership, resilience and overcoming challenges, and I wanted to provide something of immense value to an audience willing to invest in themselves. So this isn't just for everybody. This is for a person or persons who are willing to go to the extra level, and it's about personal stories of some of these leaders have spoken in 997 countries 96 countries. They are world renowned. The access to them to get one-on-one access, you're paying literally tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. So I've connected with these people and I've said I'm doing this and this is the first of a series of them. On the macro, we're going to take us to different states. I was having a conversation three days ago with a person I can't mention his name that runs events in the AT&T arena in Dallas, Texas. Wow, we're auditing talks for the next end of next year for holding an event there at the macro level. But I wanted to try it on a very micro level, virtually before I start inviting people and sponsorships and doing all that jazz. But it's really about getting through to up and coming entrepreneurs, business owners, younger business owners, the next generation go, look these. Yes, it's difficult, we get it, but and it is possible. These people have come literally from like myself, $7, nothing, growing multi figure businesses being on stages showing up other people. It's not just an element of a certain class of people. These people are mean for the rain. That person in Canada, some of them in the States, some of them are speaking from the UK, Mexico, Australia. These people are world renowned speakers I'm not going to mention the list just yet that are becoming on the announcement very shortly on a LinkedIn post a live. These people provide services and value beyond anything that I've ever heard or seen and they've been influential in not just my life but many, many other people as well, and they asked them to come on and say can you share your story? Can you help someone understand that the journey where you are now isn't the end, that the journey where you are now isn't the end? They're very successful, but they weren't always successful and they built businesses literally from nothing. There's a certain speaker on there that actually broke their spine in four places, quadriplegic for years. That person now is fully functional, walking Wow, and has spoken on stages in at least three contexts Wow. And he only takes seven clients maximum per year. So that'll give you some idea of his level of leadership and what he does for people.

Speaker 2: 43:04

There's a person on there another one who went through a horrific divorce. She's got kids and now she coaches people who are in this nine and 10 figure range Wow. And she came from nothing, the broken home. She was brought up very developed Catholic in Utah I think it was Chicago, one of them, anyway and then she made a life for herself outside of that, discovered her authentic spirituality and then learned business skills, development and all that and that, and that's just what she does with her clients. But these people came from nothing. She realized she was laying on the floor of a basement one day and she had an epiphany I don't want to be here. And then that was her turning point.

Speaker 2: 43:55

It took time, but these stories aren't just stories. These things change other people's perceptions and lives, and that's what Phoenix Voices is all about. It's about you hearing other knowledge that you would normally pay. This is a very real number, hundreds of thousands of dollars to receive from these people if you're trying to work with them individually. Now, how much is that worth to you? How much is that knowledge going to be worth if you can then understand it? And then not only that, apply it. This is what this is about.

Speaker 1: 44:36

Yes and I just want to harp on this that whenever anybody comes to me or when I think about any of these opportunities where it's like, do I want to invest in this, is this something that's going to move the needle for me, the thing is that you have to realize that there's a lot of people who go bankrupt, like there's a lot of people that go to zero but they don't lose their knowledge.

Speaker 1: 45:01

That's why every time they go to zero, they can come back up. They don't lose their knowledge, they don't lose their connections and they don't lose their skills. They might have a mishap and something might have changed, but for you I'm just saying, if you're listening whoever's listening it's super important to realize that you're investing in yourself and you're listening to things that might take you out of that dark place or might inspire you on what is possible, because that it's priceless and that's why I try to get incredible people like Baz on my podcast Week in and Week out, because it moves the needle, it changes the way you think about what is possible and I appreciate you, baz, for even creating this space or even having the foresight to think about this on the micro and the macro, because it's going to change lives.

Speaker 2: 45:55

The whole, my whole thing is about paying it forward. I can't ever expect anybody to know everything, but my knowledge and my experience through many different walks of life, through recovery, through mindset, through business, through the resilience, isn't my knowledge and it will be selfish of me and anybody to think, oh it's mine, I'm going to keep it Is that knowledge. You have that spark, that experience, maybe the difference between somebody else in the future of changing their life, of making a difference that will change the course in somebody's life, that they may come president or a leader in their industry and have a bright idea 80 years from now. And you've been the catalyst. Yes, it's not going to change.

Speaker 1: 46:58

And the toughest part about that is that you might never know that. You might never know. You're the catalyst. You just have to believe and hope that the work you're doing is impacting lives positively. And that doesn't mean that you have to be a coach. That doesn't mean you have to be an entrepreneur. That's anybody in the world, whether you're going to the grocery store and the old lady needs help bagging her groceries. It's the little things that are going to make this earth a better place and a more human place. So that's what I want to leave you guys with is how to become more human. It's do the human thing, help the people do the right thing. And, baz, where can people learn about this? Obviously, I'm going to throw everything in the links in the show notes. But where can people learn about this?

Speaker 2: 47:46

So I've just released a new website and it's been a while in the making about two and a half three months. You can go to rams at buybazcom, or you can reach out to me on LinkedIn and myself or one of the staff will get back to you and just send us a message where we're open to communication. And this journey is not about me. This is about your future, your kids' future, and my whole thing is about live with purpose and inspire with legacy, and maybe we can have a conversation about that on that call. If you want to reach out to me, and I hope to see you at the event. Jordan is going to be there as well, speaking in his age. Absolutely, it's an honor to have him a part of this.

Speaker 2: 48:38

Thank you for listening, and this podcast is just another way of communicating an authentic message. So I want to thank you, jordan, as well, for showing up for business owners, entrepreneurs like myself, and providing this platform for others. Thank you, Thank you.