Proximity Is The Cheat Code

Something in you may be waiting on a room you keep postponing. We talk about why proximity is a cheat code and why your next level is often one relationship away, not one more tactic, post, or plan.

We start in Luke chapter 1 with Mary and Elizabeth and that powerful moment when a simple greeting makes something leap to life. That story becomes a framework for spotting the people and environments that cause purpose, passion, and vision to wake up again. We also get personal, including a fifth grade relationship that shaped the trajectory of my life and still reminds me how long one voice of belief can echo.

From there, we walk through three “Mary” relationships that have sparked real movement: Pastor Jentezen Franklin and the kind of room where you can hear God with clarity, Troy Hoffman and the steady leadership voice that pulls you out of fear and into action, and Patrick Bet-David’s Vault Conference, where the right seat in the right room turned scattered ideas into concrete next moves. We also land the plane with practical application: identify your “Elizabeth,” text them today for 30 minutes, and then ask how you can be that person for someone else.

If you care about relationships, mentorship, leadership, faith-based entrepreneurship, and building a life where your calling actually grows, hit play and take notes. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs the right room, and leave a review with the one relationship that has changed your life.

Transcript

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Book Launch And The Big Idea

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Proximity. I am your host, Ken Jocelyn. Super excited to talk to you guys today. I think this is one of the biggest keys, is this is book launch week for us. 14 Frequencies of Proximity drops. Actually, it's it drops Wednesday, the 14th. So we have book launch this week. We've got amazing things going on, but I wanted to kind of back up a little bit in this episode and talk to you a little bit about really the premise of the entire book. The premise of the entire book is this that, and I've said this for several years, that proximity is a cheat code. That the number one thing that we need to go from wherever we're at in our current life to the next level is a relationship. And I want to talk today out of Luke chapter one. I love this, I love this passage of scripture. And I want to talk about Mary and Elizabeth. And so, Elizabeth, if you're familiar in scripture, Elizabeth and Mary were cousins. Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist. Mary was pregnant with Jesus. And there's a passage of scripture in here that I want to share with you guys this morning. Real quick, it's like three or four verses. Not much. Luke chapter 1, verse 39. It says, A few days later, Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to her town where Zechariah lived, and she entered the house and she greeted Elizabeth. Now again, they're cousins. They've had a relationship. They've known each other, I would imagine, pretty much their whole life. And I love verse 41. It said, At the sound of Mary's greeting, Elizabeth's child leapt within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. I want to focus on verse 41. At the sound of Mary's greeting, Elizabeth's child leapt within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Mary And Elizabeth In Luke 1

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Guys, the truth I want you to grab this morning is this there is something inside of you that won't move until you get in the right room. When we talk about proximity being a cheat code, when we talk about relationships, guys, in my new book, I go all the way back to the fifth grade. A 10, 12-year-old boy just had we had moved from uh the Pontiac, Michigan, Detroit area when I was about eight, nine years old to Georgia. Um, single mom, two younger sisters, no dad at home, fifth grade, broke my left femur, playing football, was in traction in the hospital for almost six weeks, came out of that experience, gained about 20 pounds. I was a short now fat kid, got picked at, made fun of, no dad at home, having to be the quote unquote man of the home at that age. And the one relationship that was a game changer for me was my fifth grade teacher, Miss Lambert. And it was really cool this week to be able to take uh one of my books and our our kind of our branding. We've got these really, really nice magnetic clothes book boxes. It looks just like my book, but my book fits in it. It's got a little foam insert, the whole nine yards. We got these really nice cards printed to go inside of there. And I was able to send one of those to Miss Lambert this week. Now, guys, I'm 58 years old. You're talking about almost 50 years ago, and the impact that this woman had on my life 50 years ago really is the catalyst for why I wrote this book. It is the catalyst for what I've discovered in my life that every time we go to a next level, it's always done through a relationship. Guys, there's something inside you that won't move until you get in the right room. In Luke 1, verse 41. The moment that Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, something inside of her leapt. John the Baptist, she's Elizabeth is pregnant with John the Baptist. Mary is pregnant with Jesus. Now, I don't know about you, but I look at this and I'm like, man, they're pregnant with the same type of calling. They're pregnant with the same type of purpose. They're pregnant with the same type of vision. And when we talk about Mary and Elizabeth, I want you to understand, guys, that you we need to identify. And that's what we're going to talk about today: identifying the people that you need to be around, the rooms that you need to be in, that when you get in those rooms, something comes alive in you. Because, guys, here's a couple things I want to share about this. And then I want to jump into a couple of what I would say are Mary's in my life, that very similar relationship. That when I get around them, something on the inside of me comes alive. I'm going to share three of those relationships with you this morning.

A Fifth Grade Teacher Changed Everything

SPEAKER_00 5:05

But guys, number one, proximity starts with a decision. In verse 39, it says Mary went with haste into the hill country several days on foot. She didn't wait for Elizabeth to come to her. Guys, when you when you know or you feel like there's a room you need to be in, guys, you have to pay the price to get in the room. And I'm not talking about just financially. I'm talking about you have to make the decision to get in the room. Guys, that's how you know the right relationships in the right rooms. When you get in a room or you get around an individual and something comes alive on the inside of you, you know that's the right room for you. Guys, the right people will say things and speak things into your life that you cannot speak yourself. When Mary simply greeted Elizabeth, something changed on the inside of Elizabeth. The scripture says the baby leapt inside her womb and she was filled with the Holy Spirit. And guys, as we talk about this relationship with

Pay The Price To Get There

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Mary and Elizabeth, I want to share with you. There's really three relationships. I had two, but one, another one just came to my mind. And I'm gonna walk you through how. Sometimes it drives my wife absolutely crazy. We go to church on Sundays. We go to church at Free Chapel. Uh, Pastor Jensen Franklin is the pastor there. I've known Jensen and Sharice for probably close to 30 plus years. And been a dear friend, endorsement on this book for me on the 14 frequencies. I think he's had two or three New York Times bestsellers, one of the most humble, quiet men that I've I've ever been around. It's funny because every time we go to church, again, my wife looks at me like, what are you doing? I will get in church. And even during worship, because that's my room. Like when I get in that room, guys, when you you'll know you're in the right room when something on the inside of you comes alive. When something on the inside of you, like Elizabeth, kind of leaps, you're like, oh man, I'm there's something in there. It could be purpose, it could be some kind of a conviction, it could be vision. There's something on the inside of you that comes alive. And so with Pastor Jensen, it's funny, we'll go to Free Chapel. We were there yesterday, and even during worship, Jonathan Etienne and the teams leading worship, man, God will begin to speak to me like crazy. It is unbelievable what I feel in my spirit when I'm in that room. And I literally, during worship, a couple, two or three times, I'll grab my phone and I'll make a note because God is speaking to me in that time, because of the room that I put myself into. And then Pastor Jensen can get up and totally be preaching on a completely different topic or subject that God is speaking to me on. But because of the anointing and the presence of God in that room, because he is a right relationship for me, when I get in that room and he begins to teach, it is literally unbelievable from ideas for this book, ideas for my next book, The Core Five, the operating system for the faith-based entrepreneur, my ideas for the ideas for my third book, Course Correct, The Power of Self-Awareness and Repentance. Like all of these things, the all the content and the things that God gives me, so many of those

The Church Room That Sparks Vision

SPEAKER_00 8:55

come from those types of rooms. So Pastor Jensen is one of those relationships. And again, he could be preaching on something completely different than what God is speaking to me in. But when I get in that room and he gets into what God has called him to do and the anointing that God has given him to preach, it is amazing what God stirs in my spirit. So again, I'm going to go back and say this. This is the big idea for today. There's something inside of you that will not move until you get into the right room. The right rooms will unlock the passion, the purpose, the vision that God has for you. And it may not be an exact or specific thing that someone says to you. It may be the room, the soil, if you will, is so right and ready for where you're at in that season of your life. It causes you to be able to feel something tangible on the inside of you that comes alive, something different, like this vision is different. Guys, listen, you want a way to be able to learn and understand and hear the voice of God. Get in rooms that where somebody or that relationship is anointed. Obviously, I'm talking about a Sunday morning framework or a Sunday morning experience where I'm at church, but I'm going to give you two more relationships on top of that. So Jensen is Pastor Jensen is one of those relationships. When I'm in that room, God speaks to me in an unbelievable way. It can even be during the worship time. It can be when pastor is preaching. But God speaks to me in an unbelievable way. I literally cannot stay off my phone from taking notes of all the things that God is giving me.

Troy Hoffman And A Fear Reset

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Second relationship, Troy Hoffman. Troy's been a part of our GSD corner now for a couple years. Two times Inc. 500 guy exited his company for north of $100 million, a legit nine-figure exit. And Troy is one of those guys that there's something in me when I'm around him that it comes alive. And sometimes, guys, it's even these moments. And I've had two or three massive moments in my life over the past three to four years that all tie back to Troy. One of those is, gosh, probably a year and a half, two years ago, I had two people who had made commitments to me for corner and some other things. It was about $80,000. I think it was $81,000 total. And on a Sunday night between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., both of those people text me and backed out of their commitment. $81,000 out the door. I don't know about you, but I'm an entrepreneur. And this was two, three years ago. So I was about three years into building GSD. I mean, even $81,000, that's a lot. If it walked today, that'd be like, oh, holy cow, now what do I do? And I literally, I'm laying in the bed that night. That's Sunday night. I'm laying in the bed and I'll never forget it. I'm flipping out. I'm sweating. My stomach is like, oh my God, what are you going to do? And I literally picked my phone up. I text Troy. And I said, hey, buddy, not trying to complain, but here's what happened tonight. And about 30 seconds later, my phone dings and I lit down as Troy. And this was his response. Okay, where are you going to go find that $81,000 at? I just laughed. And just his presence, his wisdom, his voice immediately took me from worry and fear into okay, God, this is yours anyway. This ain't mine. I'm going to trust you. Now, where am I going to go make up this difference? That's exactly what happened there. Second moment with Troy was two years ago in June. So two years and three or four months ago. We're in Costa Rica at RMI getting stem cells. Troy and I are having breakfast, and he looks at me and he he just asks me this question. He goes, Ken, you do realize that you will stand before God and give account for how you stewarded GSD. I was like, holy cow. Like, you know, when you're when you're doing your what you're passionate about, and for for me, GSD is just a ministry. It's just an extension of when I pastored. Even when people ask me today, Ken, what do you do? I pastor high-performing faith-based entrepreneurs. That's what I do. I pastor them now no different than I did when I was a senior pastor of the church. I pastor them now, no different than I was when I was a student pastor and grew one of the largest youth ministries in the country. Like it's the same thing that I do today. And he looked at me and he said, Ken, you do you realize you will give account? Changed my perspective. It changed the way I stewarded things. Something on the inside of me, I'm AC Hotel, San Jose, Costa Rica. I'm we're sitting there having breakfast, and something on the inside of me came alive. Something on the inside of me said, Whoa, hang on just a minute. This is different. Just like it did inside of Elizabeth when Mary greeted her. At the sound of Mary's greeting, Elizabeth's child leapt within her. Verse 41 says, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Something on the inside of her shifted. Something on the inside of her changed. When you get around people who are pregnant, if you will, with the same type of purpose and passion and vision, something on the inside of you will come alive. That's the second thing with Troy. Third relationship actually came through Troy. Last September, September 2025, I get a call from Troy and he goes, Hey, buddy, I need you to come to Orlando next week. I'm like, dude, I'm slammed. There's no way I can make Orlando. This is like a Saturday or Sunday. And he goes, I need you to be here next Sunday. I'm like, dude, I can't make it. Three or four days later, I believe it was Thursday, I get another call from Troy. And he goes, dude, have you booked your flights yet? And I said, dude, I told you I am slammed. There's no way in the world I'm going to be able to go. And he goes, I need you to be in Orlando. Again, something on the inside of me kind of leapt. And I said, Well, if Troy needs me in Orlando, and he's this adamant because I know how busy this guy is. Like he's not calling me two times in a week for no reason. I said, okay. Now this is a relationship. I put myself in this room. Let me back up just a little bit on this story with Troy. I was asked to partner with another guy in a mastermind in Salt

Orlando, Vault, And Thirteen Moves

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Lake City. Actually, we did it at Sundance Resort. And I was asked by a guy. He said, Listen, I want you to partner with me, contract the whole nine yards. I planned this whole thing. I had my executive assistant plan this whole mastermind, about 30, 35 very high-performing entrepreneurs, not a faith-based event. And so I'm there to be his partner. I'm there to speak. We're hosting this thing together. I'd never really been to a mastermind, didn't really even know what it was. And I get there and I find out not only am I not his partner anymore, but he canceled my contract, which he legally couldn't do, brought in another partner. Now we're staying in this two or three million dollar cabin, and I'm sitting there and he's telling me this. And I'm like, what? This is like we're we put on the whole event. Like my team put on the event. I'm out thousands of dollars. Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm hacked. I'm so pissed. I can't, I can't even see straight. I go in, I go in, I'm staying in the basement of this cabin in this room, and I go in my room, I pack my bag. I'd just gotten there three or four hours before that. And I've flown all the way. I was in Scottsdale, Arizona the week before, and I flew from there directly to Salt Lake City. I go in my room to pack my bag and God says, Don't you leave. And I'm like, God, they did this and they did this, and he didn't honor his word, and I've got a contract. I'm mad. And God goes, don't leave. And I just reluctantly unpacked my bag because I packed my bag. I'd already packed the whole thing. I'm walking out the door and God goes, don't leave. And this is the first night, hadn't really met anybody at all. The next day, who do I sit next to? I sit next to Troy Hoffman. Didn't know Troy, met him that day. Sit next to my good friend Ked Mao, my good friend Patrick Henry, all of those guys connected very heavily in what I'm doing at GSD. This was June of 2021, guys. This is five years ago, over five years ago. And I'm sitting there, and guy goes, Don't leave. And I didn't leave. And the next day I sit down, first person I sit down next to is Troy Hoffman. And now you know the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say. Well, Troy calls me and goes, I need you to be in Orlando. I'm like, dude, I can't make it. He goes, I need you to be here. Calls me again. Did you book your flight? Nope. I need you to do it today. Okay. So I literally told Michelle, I said, hey, I've got to go to Orlando this week. What for? I don't know. Troy wants me in Orlando. I get to Orlando. Little did I know that it was Patrick Bet David's Vault Conference. This would have been 2025. And Troy hands me and four other guys CEO tickets. They're $20,000 CEO tickets to go to Patrick Bett David's conference. And there's, I don't know, six, seven, eight thousand people there. It's it's pretty full. We're sitting in like the, you know, the first few rows all days, all the the the entire time. Well, Patrick Bett David had written a book called Your Next Five Moves. I believe it was a New York Times bestseller, if I'm not mistaken. Well, one of his first sessions. Now, I'm talking about this is four days long, 8:30 in the morning until about 9.30 at night every day. It's go time. It's 13-hour days. I tell people it was a business MBA in four days. It was like drinking water from a fire hydrant. So I'm sitting there in this session. This is one of the first sessions of the day. And he's talking about next five moves, because that's his book. And he has this whole, this whole session plan, this whole workbook, this massive workbook, but there's several pages in the workbook that has you walk through your next five moves. And you, you, you took about 15 minutes and you kind of worked in a kind of lab setting with the people sitting around you of, okay, what are the next moves vision-wise for me and for my organization? I wrote down three. I think it had room for 15. I wrote down three. And then he goes through and he ranks. Like if you wrote down one through three, you're this. If you wrote down four to seven, you're this. If you wrote down eight to eleven, you're in this. Basically, this is the category or where you are in the health of your vision. Like basically, I scored as low as you could go. And then if you score from 11 through 15, this is where you're at here. You're you really are operating in a in a in an amazing sense of planning and vision and purpose. And so for the next few hours, we did this session with Patrick at David as he walked us through creating your next five moves. Well, I left that day. I literally have this vault conference workbook at our studio here in Alpharetta. I left that day with 13 next steps. 13 guys. Not three, not five, not eight. I left with 13 next steps. Do you know what number 13 was? And I didn't even hit this, didn't even hit me until we opened our studio in Atlanta. Number 13 was our GSD offices and studio. That we had our own studio. And here I was two months ago. I was literally teaching our first proximity live in person. We do that the third Friday of just about every month, about eight months out of the year. Third Friday of every month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. We bring in, we've had between 40 and 65 faith-based entrepreneurs who'll come in. We do some live worship. I've got two or three of my friends that come in. We do a panel speaking and we theme them out every month. Like November, the theme for November is actually gratitude. We're going to do a Friendsgiving for November. Well, I'm standing there, the very first one we did in our studio in August, and I'm literally looking and I'm sharing this story. And I'm like, oh my gosh. And I had my vault notebook. I grab my vault notebook and I open it up and I show everybody in the room. And I'm like, you're sitting in number 13. Had I not been in that room, had I not had a friend like Troy Hoffman who said, dude, you need to be, you need to be in Orlando. Had I not had somebody like Troy who invested in me, I had no idea he was going to hand me a $20,000 ticket to go to Patriot David's conference and sit in the CEO section, which includes like all the bells and whistles. He invested in me. Guys, what room are you putting yourself into? There is something inside of you that will not move until you get in the right rooms. Guys, some relationships make you comfortable. Troy, when he called me that day, he didn't call me to make me feel comfortable. He called me to put me to give me an opportunity for me. Me to get in the right room. I'll be back in just a second. Okay, guys. I've named you three relationships: Pastor Jensen Franklin, Troy Hoffman, and then Patrick but David by default through Troy Hoffman. Guys, 13 next steps I walked away with a year ago. And here we are, one year later, and every one of those 13 things that I wrote down has come to pass. Every single one. So let me ask you this question. What would happen if I hadn't have taken Troy's, hadn't accepted Troy's invitation and booked a flight to fly down to or this was Thursday afternoon when he called me back? I flew down there on Sunday, three days. I was in Orlando, and it was a game-changing week. What happens? What does GSD look like right now? What does Ken Jocelyn's life look like right now if he doesn't accept the invitation to step into that room? What does it look like? Let me tell you what it wouldn't look like. It wouldn't look like what it looks like today. I wouldn't be on the verge of one of my this book launched for 14 Frequencies of Proximity. I wouldn't be hosting it in my own studio in Alpharetta. I wouldn't have a team of four full-time staff members in an office in Alpharetta, literally with a with a passion to create impact and influence in the lives of faith-based entrepreneurs across the world. It wouldn't happen. So here's a quick, here's what I want you to do. How are we going to apply this today? Like I've shared with you two or three relationships, the impact they had on my life. The truth that listen,

Find Your Elizabeth And Be One

SPEAKER_00 24:06

something, there's something on the inside of us that will not come alive. It won't move until you get in the right rooms. So who's your Elizabeth? I want you to, if you're, if you're not not driving, I want you to name who's your Elizabeth. Who is someone that's further along that you than you are? It's carrying a promise very similar to yours. Like when you know, even when you get in their presence or in their room, it does something to you. It gives you a greater belief in yourself. It causes that purpose and that passion on the inside of you to come alive. Who is that person or who are those people? I want you to write them down. I want you to write them down. It needs to be at least one or two people. I would say one to three. And this really are going to be the people that you go to. And listen, Mary, it says Mary went with haste. Like she didn't wait. She went. Don't wait, guys. Go see them. What do you have to do to put yourself into proximity with those people? Like, here's what I want you to do: it pick at least one person. I want you to text them today. Don't wait. Text them today. Say, hey, I'd love to get 30 minutes. Kim, well, they don't live in my town. That's great. Hop on a Zoom call. Hop on a Riverside FM. Hop on a FaceTime. Hop on a phone call. Do whatever you have to do to get in their presence. Offer some specific times. Let them pick one. Hey guys, um, I'd love to connect with you. I'm available this Thursday from either at 2 p.m. or 4 p.m. You tell me which one works best for you. And then in this, like get in their presence. Like, who are the people or who is the person that you need to be around to make that purpose come alive on the inside of you? And then here's the other question: how can you be someone else's Elizabeth? Who's carrying a promise that needs your blessing spoken over it? Who in your life needs you to speak into their life the way that Mary spoke into Elizabeth's life? Mary went, Elizabeth's baby left. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Like her purpose came alive in her in a brand new way that day. Guys, your calling will not come alive in isolation. It only comes alive in proximity. Your calling will not come alive in isolation. It only comes alive in proximity. I'd love to pray for you. Father, I just thank you for every listener today, God. And I just pray, Holy Spirit, you give us wisdom. James 1.5 says, if we lack wisdom when we ask, you'll give it to us liberally and without reproach. I pray for wisdom for every single listener today. God, who's our Elizabeth? Who's the people that we need to be in a room with to be able to experience that purpose coming alive on the inside of us? That that to experience the the purpose and the vision and the passion that you put on the inside of us, it would come alive again. Father, I speak favor and grace over them, wisdom in Jesus' name. Amen. Guys, listen, thank you for joining me today again. Super, super, super grateful for you guys. You've helped us crack

Prayer, Gratitude, And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 27:37

the top 50 podcasts on Apple in America, the top 50 entrepreneur podcasts in America. Unbelievable. Super grateful for you guys. Here's what I'd love for you guys to do. 14 frequencies launches this week. Growstackdrive.com forward slash proximity live. Growstackdrive.com forward slash proximity live. You can grab a copy. I'd love for you to join us three days Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, October 14th, 15th, and 16th. I've got 14 of my amazing friends, Pastor Colleen Rouse, Gary Brecka, Josh Porter, some amazing David Meltzer, Randy Garnes, some amazing Emberly Lago, some amazing human beings and friends of ours are coming alongside of me for three days to teach on these 14 frequencies of proximity. I'd love for you to join me. Also, you can go to starting today or starting Wednesday, you can go to actually you can order it today. It'll get delivered on Wednesday. You can go to Amazon, Amazon Prime, Books a Million, Barnes and Nobles, any of the bookstores you can go to, grab 14 frequencies of proximity would be, and I would encourage you to do this. Not only just grab one for yourself, but grab one for your team. Grab one for anybody you know that needs help in building the relationships that will help them go to the next level. Which that would, that would be everyone. That would be everyone you know. Love you guys a ton. I'll see you next week on Proximity.