Life Changers
Power of Positivity: Mike (#2)'s Audio Speaker Startup Path
Check out KnotAudio
Ever wanted to listen to your favourite tunes emanating from an object you'd least expect? This episode, we're graced by Mike, the ingenious creator of Knot Audio - a speaker that seamlessly blends into your decor as a piece of wood. Mike shares how his musical passion and engineering prowess came together to transform a simple lumber into a superior quality audio device.
As we traverse through Mike's innovative journey, we also uncover the deeper lessons it carries about perseverance, self-reflection, and the courage to take risks. The tale of Knot Audio isn't just about creating an audio-tech marvel, it's a testament to the power of staying committed to your dreams and turning them into reality. It's about showing up for yourself and not letting the fear of failure deter you from pushing your limits.
Venturing beyond audio technology, we delve into a chat about the law of attraction and its role in personal success. Mike reveals how this philosophy played a crucial role in bringing Knot Audio to life, and how it encouraged him to take bold risks. We wrap up the discussion by highlighting personal responsibility and the transformative power of positivity. So, if you're intrigued by the crossroads of innovation, personal growth, and the pursuit of passion, this episode featuring Mike is an auditory delight you wouldn't want to miss.
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Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Check out KnotAudio
Ever wanted to listen to your favourite tunes emanating from an object you'd least expect? This episode, we're graced by Mike, the ingenious creator of Knot Audio - a speaker that seamlessly blends into your decor as a piece of wood. Mike shares how his musical passion and engineering prowess came together to transform a simple lumber into a superior quality audio device.
As we traverse through Mike's innovative journey, we also uncover the deeper lessons it carries about perseverance, self-reflection, and the courage to take risks. The tale of Knot Audio isn't just about creating an audio-tech marvel, it's a testament to the power of staying committed to your dreams and turning them into reality. It's about showing up for yourself and not letting the fear of failure deter you from pushing your limits.
Venturing beyond audio technology, we delve into a chat about the law of attraction and its role in personal success. Mike reveals how this philosophy played a crucial role in bringing Knot Audio to life, and how it encouraged him to take bold risks. We wrap up the discussion by highlighting personal responsibility and the transformative power of positivity. So, if you're intrigued by the crossroads of innovation, personal growth, and the pursuit of passion, this episode featuring Mike is an auditory delight you wouldn't want to miss.
Start for FREE
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Hi, welcome to the episode of life changers, and this is Mike. Today, we have a special guest. His name is Mike. Welcome to the show, mike.
Speaker 2:Thanks, mike.
Speaker 1:So today is just gonna be Mike and Mike. That can be too confusing for people. Do you know? Can you tell the difference between the mics?
Speaker 2:Well, this mic is in front of me, so I think this mic belongs to Mike here?
Speaker 1:Yes, there's two. There's actually like four mics in here. There's Mike that I'm talking into, there's me, there's Mike, there's Mike, there's Mike and there's a Mike right there. We actually have another Mike, but this other person is want to be on the mic unused. This is gonna be fun. So I have some friends hanging out with me in the studio and we're just chilling and I'm like, hey, let's record an episode and see what happens. So just, we're gonna give a little background on Mike, other Mike. Do you want to be Mike one or Mike two? Probably two, because this is your show, okay, well, no, you just told me you might buy it from me.
Speaker 1:I was joking around saying, hey, what happens to this guy's? Like a million hits, and then I'm like then I'll have to bring you back on, because everybody wants you back on, and then I'm gonna have to pay you. And he's like, no, I'll be paying you. Two shaped Mike. Welcome to the Mike and Mike show. Do we get a different intro, different? Do you want a different clapping? I don't know, maybe you can clap it out, get your wife to go. Ahhhhh, it's gonna be a great episode today, people. I think this will be better than one of the good episodes. After the last two episodes you guys just listened to about me talking to a spider in the cabin in the wood, so at least now I'm talking to somebody in studio, not to myself, so maybe the audience will like the difference. I don't know because you're the third person I've ever brought into the studio to talk to. Does that make you feel special?
Speaker 2:Mike that does. I don't know why I was number one, but I guess I'm still Mike number two, so that's right, I'm older.
Speaker 1:I know my place, that is right. And so today we brought Mike in here and we're just chilling in the office, hanging out in the studio and well, we're gonna give you a little background on Mike. So his name is Mike, he likes to ride a bike. People hung up at the show, but I turn off the show by now. They're like no, we're done. Mike's lost his mind. He's talking to himself, changed his voice. No, it really is another person in here, it's not just me, right?
Speaker 2:Right, oh crap, it's just me.
Speaker 1:No, the reason why I wanted to talk with Mike is I think it'll be fun. Now. We always said we should just talk and have fun with it and see what happens and hopefully this becomes a good episode that you guys like it. Let us know in the comments, send us an email to lifechangersmike at gmailcom, and let me know if you like it or not when I go crazy, but I should. Yeah, I was gonna record an episode at three in the morning today, but I was all like hyped up after watching Dr Dota Spenza. I was watching one of his live things on Gaia. I know you really don't know what I'm talking about a little bit, unless you do. I don't know. You're looking at me like you don't, but anyways, for my audience members who knows I talk about Michael's little spends, michael, wow, dr Joe's spends. I don't know what his first name is. Might be Michael Dr Joe, dr Joe.
Speaker 2:Is that first name, joe?
Speaker 1:Yes, you're right. Whatever his first name is, it's only nine o'clock at night right now, so not that tired, but we did just eat Firehouse sub and I'm really full now.
Speaker 2:You got the large two. I said you weren't even hungry.
Speaker 1:I know I wasn't hungry. Then we go to the Firehouse sub because we knew we weren't going to eat. We're going to have problems in the studio, we're going to get hungry. There'll be water bottles flying everywhere and I was like I'm not that hungry, but I'll just come with you guys.
Speaker 2:I'll be 10 bucks. I'll get half of it you have later, yeah.
Speaker 1:Things gone. Yeah, yeah, about the whole meal with a drink. I think I should walk home, leave my van here. Oh geez, louise. But the reason why I brought Mike in here? Well, because I was going to take advantage of them to write things for me. I hate writing out all this legal paperwork. My pen mentioned sucks If it ever faxes, yeah, if it ever faxes. Using these digital faxes, I'm going to real fax. Everybody know what a real fax machine is. I miss those. Those are great.
Speaker 1:But anyways, I want to talk about this special product Mike is making, because it's amazing. He shows up with to my house with a piece of wood and tells me he's going to play music on it and I thought he's just going to hit it. You know, like I don't know, if you hear the desk, I hold it. That sounds stupid. I thought he's just going to hit it, you know, like a drum and stuff, but no, he actually has a product that he made and it's a speaker that looks just like a piece of wood. But it's amazing to me how it works and maybe you'll get more into the technicality of it. But it's called, not audio. You can see him, see him. You want to see Mike. You can see his products at not audio dot com and check it out and see what's coming up.
Speaker 1:They're not for sale yet to the public. We're still the word. I act like I'm a partner with them. We're still in production and testing phase. But no, they're still working on testing on it and stuff like that. But it sounds amazing. It's a long process but like the hardest part I think for Mike was you have to research and find out the right wood, so make sound. You can't just use any wood right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we went through around 24 different species of woods, about two dozen of them, and we've also tried other materials that weren't organic, just to see how it would be with, like aluminum or glass, different things that you could turn into a speaker. And just to add a little note, it is not with a K because we like puns, because it is wood, so wood was the best sounding that we had, so it's not audio with a K there. We also have the domain name for not without the K, in case you get confused, because it is confusing, but I like it that way and the link isn't will be in the description.
Speaker 1:It'll be right there. You can just can click on it.
Speaker 2:So, anyways, we tried. It was actually sort of by luck, as life changers would have you say. Maybe Gaia is that, is that how this works sent me in the right direction by having me go out to the garage with the right grab the right to buy for and guy.
Speaker 1:Do you know what Gaia is? Where you continue Gaia is a streaming service.
Speaker 2:Okay, that doesn't sound right. I thought it would be like the Mother Earth, gaia, because that's that's also maybe the mythology side of it.
Speaker 1:Maybe. Yes, yes, I'm laughing at people that are listening like yeah, I know exactly what he's talking about. Mike, number one, figure out your stuff. So yeah, yeah, yeah, go sorry.
Speaker 2:Okay. So anyway, the universe then, yeah, brought it all together that I go out to the garage and get a random two by four. I don't know what project I was going to have for it, but I cut it up into a sound board and added a voice coil to the backside of it, and it actually sounded really good. So I go out to the garage and like, well, that was great, let me do it again. I'll have a stereo left right pair. And it didn't sound very good. I'm like now, what? Why? Why did the first one work in? The second one doesn't?
Speaker 2:So I tried a third one and it sounded like the second one. So I was like, okay, something's repeatable here, but not in the way that I want it to be. So I tried again a bunch of different species of wood hardwood, softwoods and found one that is grown locally here in Canada and we can source it, and it sounds very good. Actually, there are three that sounded very good, but one was West Coast, one is over here, not a very commercially available wood, so challenging to find. But again, the universe put it all in front of me and and so we have it. So again trying couple dozen different types of wood and different other materials, put it all together and found that you can actually even add a poster to the front of it, and now you can have artwork in your house. That is a speaker.
Speaker 1:And like that's. It's amazing to me how like, yeah, it's a piece of wood and, like you, the latest one you I saw had like the frame and the artwork in it is like beautiful, and then it still happens. One of my customers are like they call me up to like, hey, mike, like what's up, like we actually need you to court us on getting a system, a PA system, in one of our rooms, in our buildings, in one of the community centers. So can you find us a quote for this? That I'm like, have you met Mike, other Mike, mike to like, yeah, I could work on this. And then I was thinking about Mike and then you called me that yeah, that was yesterday, I think a couple days ago, couple of days ago. And then you called me and then I was like, how do you like, hey, yeah, be awesome if you can come over, or something like that. And you're like, well, I'm actually on my way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I asked if you're in the in the office because I was picking up contacts, I think as a obtometous office, I think, and so just down the street here and so I was like, hey, are you around? You're like yeah, and then you call me and I'm like I'll be there in like five minutes. Less than that, like 30 seconds really.
Speaker 1:I ruined the surprise Way to go, mike. But yeah, and then I was like, hey, you know, I just had a customer literally just call me and ask me for a PA system. And it's not because I'm lazy and don't want to do the work, people, it's because I, you know, not, audio is amazing sounds like, hey, I know you're not at manufacturing stage for, but can this be a project we can work on and send and like we can go up and install it and all that we're talking about? And he's like yeah, so we're working on that and like I'm hoping this will be like. You know, the universe is way of like, hey, how you guys met was pretty funny. And now it's for a reason and here's the purpose, right, I couldn't figure it out because when I met you, you were actually working on a different project and I was like, oh, that project sounds cool, it sounds amazing. Maybe I can pitch it to the hotels and stuff like that, right. And I believe it was something that folds laundry like sheets and stuff Sheet folding.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sheets and towels, which seems like it's still a good idea, but it seems like a bit much for what my wife and I would be able to do ourselves, versus having to hire too many people, and we aren't really at the stage for needing funding or anything like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and like they're folding I'm going to make it sound stupid, they're folding my job the thing that you like the prototype you were showing us I think you were showing us the videos and all that it's something that I know will work because you're helping the industry, because people sit in there folding all day, every day, for like hundreds of towels, thousands of towels.
Speaker 1:You know it gives you carpal tunnel probably, you know, sore arms or whatever. So this is actually going to help the industry. And then, but like it just turns out that I guess the universe is like hey, mike, number two, have you met the wood here that can make music? But like when they told us about it, they just also like holy smokes, why don't you guys work on this project? They got to the point where they got the website, they got the manufacturing figured out, like on their end, where they're doing it with suppliers and stuff which get in the wood like sounded like a pain in the ass to be on. And it so happens to be like where I go up north a lot there's a lot of this wood just chilling up there, but it's hard to get.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it's actually a little bit funny as well for finding this specific wood. So again, the first two by four. That was very good sounding. We tried to recreate it, finding the exact same type of two by four how it looked.
Speaker 2:I brought a small piece of it to Home Depot and was bringing it, like comparing it to all the different ones there. And it's hardly used for two by fours, it's mostly just left there. No one, no one actually harvests it for anything. So I was like this sucks. So anyways, I go to one of the timber yards and say, do you have this wood? And they're like, oh yeah, it's this one here. And I'm like, oh great, that's awesome. And turns out it wasn't that wood that they said it was. So that was unfortunate. I ended up getting around 600 or so board feet in total of this not correct wood. And they also said, here, take a buy from us, but take a two by four of this other one we just cut. So they actually have the logs and they're sawing them at the time, so it's dripping wet of like sap and all that kind of stuff and I'm like, yeah, I'll take it, I'll see what happens. And so, being that it was entirely green. It was.
Speaker 2:I had to wait about two months before it would be dry enough that it wouldn't twist too much for my usage of it. So I ended up trying all the other different types of wood and was kind of giving up that finding the right supplier was going to be very challenging. And then all of a sudden I was like, ok, I'm going to try this one. Finally, it's probably dry enough now. I felt it felt lighter and everything, and so cut it into a soundboard and added the voice coil to it and listening to it it was like this is different.
Speaker 2:This is definitely different than the other two that also sound almost identical to each other, but this one adds more bass, which is weird, because bass is kind of the problem that we've been dealing with this whole time. And so finding this wood now that was sort of by chance that I went to the right lumber yard or sawmill that had this being cut at the time, otherwise I probably wouldn't have ended up with it. It's not super expensive of a wood, but it is hard to find, which is the biggest problem then. So it's a lot of the universe really just saying maybe this is my destiny, if that's what you would call it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's funny because I try to tell it, like explaining to people. Is it luck? People will be like, well, hey, mike, one of my two, it's just luck that all this stuff's happened. You know what? Call it what you want. Call it luck. Call it fate. Call it the hand of God. Call it Gaia. Gaiacom is sponsored by this episode. Please give me money, guys. But yeah, I believe it's higher than that because, like, just think about if I did not go to that. So it was a business like get together, I guess in the community, probably about what, like 35 minutes away from here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a different city with a go to, and so we're just going around talking to people and you know, the small businesses, people, they all get together and you know, talk to each other and pretty much we're trying to sell each other on each other's stuff. You're right, you're like, hey, do you guys need some folding machines? And I'm like, hey, do you need some? Well, you don't need this because you don't live in the Arctic. But I also got fireworks what fireworks, mike? Or smoke bombs. Right, it's just us trying to sell each other. But like I know it was weird because I think our wives talked first. I met you first and we swapped cards and I was like I will go to my wife and I was like, hey, I was just talking to this guy named Mike and it's pretty cool, they're machining all that. I'm like you know, and I own a distribution company, maybe I can help distribute it. Like I just want to help people, like I just think my mission is to help people and I'm like that'd be awesome.
Speaker 2:And she's like I just met a girl who, I think, didn't have any more business cards at the time, and so they just exchange phone numbers right away. So then my wife comes up to me and she's like we have a date and I'm like what? Pretty much.
Speaker 1:And my wife was like I think we made a friend. I'm like oh who are these people? And then I was like, hey, that's, that's Mike, mike number two. So then we're just like hanging out and talking. I'm like, so we're going to be friends. Do you guys want to be friends with me?
Speaker 2:Yeah, as hard. As an adult, you kind of have to just go up to someone and say, hey, we have a few things in common. Do you want to be friends? Because as a kid you're in those situations like you're around the people all the time, but as an adult I don't ever have to see you again if I don't want to, and it's easy to just sort of put the barriers up and just say I'm not willing to put myself out there. But then now you're like maybe, maybe we could be friends.
Speaker 1:Right, and that brings us to the bulk of the I guess the meat on the bone of this episode of just stop limiting yourself. He liked my intro. I like I didn't know where this is going yet, so he really doesn't know that there's no script, as most of you got like we didn't write a script. I wasn't going to tell him, just like I got an idea. Mike, trust me, put the headphones on, let's talk. But no, it's, we limit ourselves way too much. Like you're saying how like we have to put ourselves out there. It's easier to be like, hey, no, I'm just going to stay home and not go to this event. Right, it was snowing. Was it snowing that day?
Speaker 2:No, it might have been freezing rain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Like it seemed like it was a crappy day to go drive you know three to 35 minutes somewhere in the country to this little town, but I know we did it. And then, hey, we were in France for a year now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's pretty much our friend. Diversity now too.
Speaker 1:See, happy friend of Earth, right, like his wife's laughing. She doesn't want to make a sound because she doesn't believe me that like I like these, these microphones are good, but like we have to like be close enough that you're making out with the microphone too. So she probably laughed and you won't hear nothing. Which is good for the world of the studio is because sometimes big trucks drive by and then I would hear it if I was using an amazing microphone that's called Rod Road. Oh, yeah, road. I remember the joke I made Road.
Speaker 1:I'm French, we do everything wrong for odd no, and it was a directional mic and it was really sounded nice and Mike was. Mike too was telling me how it sounds. Just like you in person. I'm like I don't know if people like that, but when I tested it we never use the audio because you can hear trucks driving by. It's too good of a microphone. I need a real soundproof studio. But I digress. But yeah, we limit ourselves way too much how we put ourselves back. It's up to us to decide if we're going to be successful or not. We're like Remember when we met we were talking about the machine and I was just like excited for you and then, I guess then a couple months later, like we want hung out on a, we did like what do you call those things? Escape room, escape room. We almost didn't escape people. We will still be there today. But yeah, then we started hanging out, becoming friends and then then out of the blue, like you were like hey, here's a piece of wood, listen to the music.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was it was almost six months later.
Speaker 1:Actually it's been six months, oh, just five, four, having fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's been over six months now of working on it, but yeah, I think it was roughly six months later. I was like Do you want to, do you want to listen to this, this thing that I made?
Speaker 1:and so the question I have for you I don't know if I asked you in the moment, but what made you decide To like? I know you were mentioning a little bit how it's kind of like you know luck or fate or Gaia, I'm bringing you towards this for the universe guiding you. So what made you? What was the aha moment that made you decide like you're going all in on this investment?
Speaker 2:So I guess, to back up to say why we even started, I say we, my wife and I, I. So we moved to a new house and we were trying to remove the texture ceiling for us when we were I, I guess, we're ordering a couch. So we had lived here for six months or something like that and finally said let's finally buy a couch. We, we can't live like this anymore. And we had guests that were gonna be coming to stay with us in a couple months. So we had a little bit of time. So we ordered one on Costco and, sure enough, it arrives very quickly. So I was like, okay, I need to sand this ceiling because I don't want to have this texture. I don't want to deal with this when we have a couch. So I'm just Boreding off the entire living room and just spending around like two weeks just scraping the this paint off anyways.
Speaker 2:So my wife says so I was thinking about like the artwork that you want to have on the walls, can we Put a speaker behind art? And I was like, maybe I'm busy so you could buy some speakers and some canvases and and see what happens. And so she does, and so she does it. And then she's like oh, can you wire this for me? So I did and anyways it sounded like crap. It just sounded very, very badly. And Then she says I found a different video that uses a different technology and we might be able to use the canvas to be a speaker. And I was like, okay, that's cool, I'm busy, go ahead. So she did, and it sounded pretty bad. But then we followed different tutorials on what other people have used and it worked, but overall it still didn't sound very good.
Speaker 2:And Then I I took one of these voice coils and I attached it to an acoustic guitar that I had, but I guess just recently taken back from. My sister was Holding on to it for a while, as I was sort of transient. So anyways, I had this available and I was like that sounds really good. Like that, that sounds like very good, actually like it sounds like it's live. So I was like this is doable, this was made, it could be made again.
Speaker 2:So went out to the garage, grabbed the 2x4 for the earlier story and then Thought we had the, the right material, thought we had the right wood, got the 600 or so board feet of it and it wasn't, but it was close. It sounded very good. It was actually better than most commercial speakers that I was comparing against, not as good as my 1970s banging Olson speakers, but it was good, and so I was like, okay, this has been made, this can be made again, I can do this. And we started to figure out different ways that we could turn this into a full product, and I Guess it was around a month after that. So I guess we had showed you a couple different options. You said which one sounded the best and it was. It was sort of at that point that once we felt like we were comfortable showing anyone else, it was really the sign for ourselves that it's good enough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome, that like just out of the blue, right, there's an ass your wife wanted, there's a necessity, right? Hey, I want a nice picture. I don't want a speaker to sit on the wall, I want it to look nice. And then you guys found all this technology and now you're just making it better and making it your own and you actually go out and, like you just mentioned earlier, try to all this different wood. Yeah, and like that must have been a lot of work because like he's taking two by fours and like I Don't know, playing them, sound them down into little little sections and glue in the mall. I was a big process. It seems like his patience, mike. Number two is good.
Speaker 2:He's a hard worker.
Speaker 1:Like and you have a background right like an engineering or something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I actually have two bachelor's degrees one in mechanical engineering, one in electrical engineering and a master's degree in electrical engineering with focus on RF and radar. So it's not exactly audio but it's. So I mean, audio signals are created by electrical, so that's that's sort of the electrical side. It is a frequency kind of thing, so it's not necessarily like Several gigahertz frequencies, like radar would be, but it's not all that different for the fundamentals. And of course, speakers are very mechanical by nature. That they're they're combining the electrical signal and transforming it into a Mechanical wave, that's the pressure wave that you hear.
Speaker 1:He's smart. Don't worry, it's not like I can build this. You need to be smart and be like smart like Mike and his wife. It was funny because after me and my wife were like we have smart friends. Oh, we're like we got an act, not stupid, I'm gonna act smart. I'm gonna work glasses that I don't need to be. No, but like you have no idea you have to do, you have on your website some audio of your. I guess it doesn't. It's kind of catch 22?
Speaker 2:right, it's. It's hard because how do we convince someone that this actually sounds good? We can provide charts, we can give them graphs of the frequency response, but unless you know what you're looking at, it doesn't help. So for us, if if I played you a recording that came from our speaker, it sounds bad because it was recorded twice and it's fine. I know it sounds good. If you hear it in person, it sounds good, but if you listen to it on your computer or on your iPhone or headphones or anything, you're hearing a, a Recording of a recording on a different device that already Changes the sound for what you hear.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's gonna be hard. Hmm, I was there any point where you're just like you know what. Whatever, I'm not gonna show it for myself. I'm done with this. This is crazy. Like what? Am I thinking we're gonna Make a speaker out of wood, all the?
Speaker 2:time. I Wish I could even count how many times I'm like I don't know if we should do this anymore. Maybe we should just give up because it's it's so much easier just to say no, I can find something else. What is that other thing? I don't know. I'll figure it out at some point, but this is too hard. It's.
Speaker 2:It's hard to keep going. It's hard to say, yeah, this, this wood that I thought it was, actually doesn't sound that great in the end and I've now spent Hours, I've spent weeks, I've spent months working on this how many of the lessons that I learned from it actually go to the next thing? I don't know. It's, it's kind of independent, like the dimensions that I learned from this other wood that I got the 600 board feet of Is not helpful, because I don't know how much of it translates to this other thing. Is it a? Is it a starting point? I mean kind of, but it depends. So I Feel like it was probably like a couple dozen times probably every type of wood that I tried. I had fun, but it's frustrating at the same time. It's hard to Continue and not just feel like I don't know if this is even doable because Another question that sort of my mom would always say is well, if you have such a good idea, why hasn't anyone else done it?
Speaker 2:You know I mean I get it, but at the same time you're like, well, why would someone have done this? How could they have found this would? Most of the speaker manufacturers out there aren't from Canada, so if this wood is local to Canada, then Well, maybe. But also Maybe they did try it, maybe they they did something and they gave up and I didn't. So is it perseverance? Is it just sticking through? Is it stubbornness?
Speaker 1:Maybe, but I mean we have something that sounds good and and like I'm not even being biased, like we're friends to the point where I'd be like hey, mike, number two, this sucks, burn it. But I was just impressed with how, yeah, you could do that, like I remember I was even asking like hey, can you make my walls turn into music? But yeah, like jib rock. If it was not jib rock, if it was, I mean it actually doesn't sound too bad, but it'll sound different, I guess.
Speaker 1:But no, it's amazing. You have to check out their website once again. It's not audio with a carry, yeah, and you also have it as not as with redirects. Yeah, it redirects to them, but it's not audio. Calm, and the picture you see at the top with their speaker, that's within the studio. My studio is nice. It's not as good as I want it to be because, well, took a lot of editing from his wife to make it look good in here.
Speaker 2:We had to start with a good photo to start with, but then little magic Photoshop.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but that was in the studio, so you get a glimpse of the microphone than that picture.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the one that you make out with. Yeah, I get really close to it.
Speaker 1:That's why you want looking over to make sure I don't peek on the Thing of my barber here. That goes up and out.
Speaker 2:I thought you're just looking at the time to see if you finally kick me out.
Speaker 1:No, no, we're only a halfway point. At this point, sorry, people go to us for another 30 minutes his wife's like, oh crap, I Can't wait to get out of here. But no, it is easy just to give up on anything, right? You watch all these movies and these TV shows and you're like, hey, no, these people, you're watching people live their dream, right, and the movies, tv shows. You get all excited and emotional for them. And then you get all excited that I'm gonna go out and do something right. And Then you take one step and you're like, ah, maybe tomorrow, right?
Speaker 1:So imagine if he said maybe tomorrow, made tomorrow, and maybe this opportunity came to you by luck or by the universe or by whatever.
Speaker 1:And if you like, man, whatever I'm done, I did my best, it's too hard to find the wood and all that. Then somebody else was more persevering, study came across it and Then ten years later, like Could have been me right, like I've been talking about running, like years ago Probably about 13 years ago before podcast, and all that became like really cool that we I've should done like a podcast and I had a friend that we're gonna do it with. Now we're just gonna be like the pessimist and the ost optimist. I was gonna say the awesome. Now we're just gonna talk about like news and crap, and just like he's gonna be the pessimist, I was gonna be the optimist and we're gonna try to find middle ground and just make it a fun Happy-go-lucky podcast. And imagine, if I did that then where it would be today right, maybe we, I, would have been more successful. And then this podcast itself right, like just to start today where I'm like okay we're gonna do this, mike.
Speaker 1:We're gonna do this. Let's go get dinner. Right, we'll do it the next time, next time, right, there's always the next time. There's always a tomorrow, there's always a later. But we really have to live in the now and show up for ourselves and I know in the first season I had talked a little bit about this. But you really do have to show for yourself and you control your own destiny. You know people are listening like oh Mike, you just said the universe guided all this stuff to happen, so you're not really in control your destiny. No, no, the opportunity is calm. Do you take them, do you not right? What's that song from Eminem? It's first one that made him pop away. Lose yourself, yeah, does it? Lose yourself when he's like? You know, one opportunity, one chance blah, blah, blah blah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I'm not a rapper, so maybe, if I'm big enough, we could play it on my speaker. If I had brought it, see, we could have listened to it in the studio. I'd be like that's right now. You know, a good thing we don't have cameras in here. The desk is pretty dirty. I was like iPad, laptop, paperwork, phones.
Speaker 2:But I digress Anyways.
Speaker 2:I think it's very easy to look at someone else's success and say, well, that's, that was obvious. But in hindsight it was obvious they still had to do it, they still had to put the effort in your like. Well, of course that was going to work. But how do you get to the point when you start something to say, I know this will be successful because probably won't. Like, we had a different project that we were working on before. It didn't work. Well, what about the one before that? It also didn't work. What about the one before that? It also didn't work.
Speaker 2:So, not even just the speakers, because that was its own perseverance, but it was. You have to know when to fold your cards to accept a new opportunity. But at the same time, now that we'll have this speaker and we're like, oh, this works. Well, obviously it was going to work and we should have just started with that. But part of it was we didn't have the space before, before we had moved up here, and we didn't have the tools because we didn't have the space. So we couldn't have made this so things. Even if we had this idea, I probably would have given up on the thought even sooner, because it wasn't feasible unless I had the right equipment. And so if I was in this townhouse that we were in before, I had a miter saw in the garage and a CNC machine in the basement I think that was pretty much it for tools and like a hand jigsaw and stuff like that. I could not have made this.
Speaker 1:Right, and like everything just seems to have worked out perfectly and, like you know, for me, like so here's this question for you, because you've only known me for a year. I'm like I was even talking. So we recently hired a new employee and I was talking with him and we're talking. He's like, yeah, no, this is an amazing brand. And we were talking a little bit about life changers and stuff like that and he was like, oh yeah, you know, that makes sense, right, like I was talking about the law of attraction and stuff.
Speaker 1:But I have friends that I'm close with that seen me do a lot of the things he can we talk about that seem me live and start changing the way I started looking at things. I stopped being like, you know, oh well, I'll never be successful, I'll never be rich because I was always told to be poor. Or, you know, I'll never be rich because I was never given that opportunity. Right, my friends that are rich and they have all the success because their parents hooked them up and blah, blah, blah. There's always an excuse not to show for yourself, but the people seem to change, and the way. Even my friend that was with me when I was taught, teaching him about. When I did the experiment and I know I talked to you about it a little bit when I did the casino thing and I was like I'm not here to gamble. You know, just about to frame a mind and all that you must have been like this guy's crazy Honey, let's go. We don't want to be friends with crazy, but like it's amazing to me how people see me do what I do and some of you make a, you know, a profit. You're doing my experiment and stuff like that and seen how things changed, just by the way I thought and changed by using that book from Dr Joe to spend.
Speaker 1:I called breaking the habit of being yourself. It's a good book, check it out. On audible and audible. You sponsored me. Amen, I want to monetize, but I'm how, just like you got to take control for yourself and show for yourself and decide that like, yes, I'm going to take responsibility for my failures and my success and that's really all we have to do. And so I mean you didn't really I guess you know me for a year you didn't really see me transform into this. But when I talked to you about, like law of attraction, the universe is providing for me, or when I'm like hey, this is how I see the world and how I understand it and it works for me. And you know, when we talk about it, because we're friends, I don't expect you to be like yeah, mike, you're good. Yeah, I agree with you, right.
Speaker 1:And like you know, you tell me how it is and you tell me if I'm being crazy or not Usually only if you ask. But here's the question and this, like law of attraction and like the way of thinking, like I know, as we hang out more and more, you'll see more and more of things I'm going to do and things I'm changing and how I'm going to create my own reality. And what do you think about that? Like, have you heard stuff like this before? Like, when I heard about it when I was younger like at 18, 19, I thought people are nuts.
Speaker 1:I was like so you're telling me I'm just going to make a vision board, I'm not going to put on a million dollar house. Well, a million dollar house right now in Ontario is a shed. So let's go to Toronto and Google, you pick up my garage so like a little shed there for 1.5 million, but anyways, but yeah, you have your dream home. You have your dream. This and like that movie called the secret of the book, called the secret. That came out back when I was younger, long time ago, because it was like 22 years ago when I first heard about this. But I was like these people are stupid, they're nuts for believing this, but like they're not showing you the full thing in those videos.
Speaker 1:I think is because yeah if you create your own reality, like I always say, like I got to create my success and I show up for myself and that works for me because, well, I believe it to work for me right. And and there's something to it, because when I did my test and I did change the way I thought of you know, instead of me chasing money and chasing this and chasing success, no, I am successful, right, I'm going to you know, as they say, right, as law of attraction, you act like you already have what you want and then you live it and then you create that energy, that universal energy that goes out in the world, and then, when those opportunities come, you'll just take them and do them. But it's still up to you if you want to be successful or not. And I'm like, but I don't know, it's, it's not, I don't know, I'm just rambling here but it might sound crazy to some people, so I bring it to you like number two.
Speaker 2:So I guess, if you look at it from a sort of scientific perspective, like if you're looking at like the, the, like the statistics, I guess behind it and stuff, um, there's Tar's target fixation. Man, this is tough for me to say. I wasn't planning this. It's a lot of big words that if you are approaching an accident with a deer in the road or something like that, um, you're trying to avoid the deer by staring at it. You're actually aiming toward it, you're. So it has good and bad.
Speaker 2:That if you're saying I'm going to hit this deer, I'm going to hit this deer, I'm going to hit this deer, how do I avoid this? You're not focused on the how do I avoid this? You're saying I'm going to hit this deer, so you do, and your aim straight at it. You did nothing to avoid it, and so that's sort of a law of attraction kind of thing that if you said this is my destiny, this is my goal, I'm going to hit this, I'm going to hit it, and so part of it's a mentality, part of it is scientifically legit, I guess. But it's also the same sort of thing of if you um, I guess to bring up the point that you had said before, you're presented an opportunity, you have to know to take it. If you aren't fixated on the idea of taking that opportunity, how will you take it? Cause you didn't even see it as an opportunity unless you were already planning for that, that future of yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's like um, I don't know if I ever mentioned this joke before in one of my other podcasts, but it's like the joke or the story of the guy who's like just lost his job and he's like you know, you know, please, universe, or he's praying, please, god, you know, give me a million dollars. Or please, universe, give me a million dollars or let me win the lottery. I need to make money because I just lost my job. And the lottery comes and go. He doesn't win. Then he's like well, he's lost his house, he's losing his car. No, I was like please, you know, please, hook me up with this lottery and his praying and praying for this lottery, right, and then comes and goes. He doesn't win, his family leaves them. Come on, my family left me, I lost my house on my job. And he's freaking out. Why have you fork sakin me? You know why? What's going on? And then you know it's like you know God comes down and is like hey man, how's it going?
Speaker 1:You know, I'm just like oh, why are you not forsaking me what's going on? Well, hey, at least buy a lottery ticket if you want to win bud. And it's true, if you just sit there and same with the law of attraction and I mentioned this before to over and over and over if you're going to sit there and saying I'm a millionaire, I'm successful, and you just sit in your room, do nothing, or I'm just going to sit here and I'm the millionaire, I'm the most successful podcaster in the world, but I don't have a podcast name, I don't even have podcast equipment.
Speaker 2:I.
Speaker 1:Don't believe my house right.
Speaker 1:It's not gonna happen if you don't take the opportunity to meet halfway. So you know, I know I like you mentioned it and I've mentioned another episodes of my thing it's not like success Just like. Here you go, you gotta learn a lot of stuff along the way. I've learned and worked and done all these crazy and fun ideas that were like obviously supposed to be successful but that weren't. But I learned a lot from it and when you're learning as you're going through, then you finally get that Right for you.
Speaker 1:I predict here's my prediction you heard it here from Mike number one. Mike from life changers. Is that like when he won a, mike number two presented me like number one? Okay, when you show me that thing and I just like whoa, this is like Finally like your, and as your, your product is, it's gonna be you. This is gonna be maybe not your legacy, but this is gonna be your one like oh, and then you're gonna re, rinse and repeat and you're gonna make more and more and you're just gonna keep on growing, kind of like. I've been running my own company since I was like 18, 19 years old and only sit in 2019. What? Four years ago, I finally got the when I don't have to push and live, contract to contract and try to put, and then all these ideas just floated and like I'm just like, oh and it's all, because I finally decided to show up for myself, changed the way I think of well, nothing good is gonna happen to me, because only good things happen to people that are already successful and blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 2:Or lucky or whatever Right, also easy to say in hindsight. That was a good idea.
Speaker 1:Yes, you know, many times I've said Like I thought of that before became a thing, but now it's a thing, so it's not, you sat and did nothing.
Speaker 2:Of course it didn't work out for you.
Speaker 1:How come I'm not rich, then, mike? But no, like you mentioned right, when you're focused on don't do this, I don't hit the deer, or don't be like, don't, don't be lazy, or you know, oh um, I Can't be successful because you know this is gonna happen, this is gonna happen, or I don't have the money, I don't have this, I don't have that. Well, all that is creating when you say I don't have, I don't have, I don't have, is more lack of their off, so you're not gonna get it.
Speaker 1:Yeah and See, mike might not make number two, might not agree with you, know the how I present with a lot of attraction to that, but he did use science and my benefit, so thank you very much. So for all you science people that have been down to me you heard it here first about my number two. But no, and I say this over and over, don't take what I say and like, take it as like you know, law or whatever. These are my stories, my up things that work for me and I encourage people to find what works for them and I encourage people to live like happy go lucky, like my motto, right? Akuna Montana is such a wonderful phrase means no worries, right? And that's how I live.
Speaker 1:I don't really Care about things. Why get stressed for things that you can't control? Like sometimes I joke around like my wife's all stressed out tonight. That's why we're in the studio, hide everybody. You think he's joking, but like, and I'm just like you know it's hard for me because like it's when you get stressed, it's it's honestly. Yeah, there's a lot of outside factors that can stress you, but in the bottom line it becomes to you to be like, are you gonna be stressed and frustrated today? Or are you gonna just come to Montana right Like, are you gonna Let this opportunity go because of whatever, all this or that, or? Well, poor me.
Speaker 1:Sorry, mike you know, all the would you want to use doesn't exist anymore. Right, there was a lot this year, but you didn't let that stop you. And it's so easy to be a quitter. But what's crazy and what I'm learning is it's easier to show up for yourself, not give a shit about anything else in the world, but except your reality and what makes you happy, and Just live your moment and understand that you are in full control of your moment and you're in full control Of what is happening in your world. You can choose to be successful. And people are like, oh no, no, it's so stupid. I used to think the same thing, but do it.
Speaker 1:I Could sit here complain to my friend, mike number two, about how, like, oh, I don't understand. You know, I've been trying all these diets and trying to get skinny, and willing on meditating to get skinny, and then he's like well, how many times have you got up and walk to work? Well, one, because I had to, just once that I drive the five minutes right now. What I mean. So it's not anybody's fault that I'm not happy with you know, my body size or whatever, but it's me, it's my fault. I have nobody to blame. And it's funny because, like you know, everybody blames everybody else for their situation. It's easier. It is easier I could blame, you know I'm. I could blame I don't know fireworks, because when I light fireworks off, when I was young and dumb I didn't wear your protection, and now I'm like hey, can you hear me, mike?
Speaker 2:And he's like my headphones too loud.
Speaker 1:So I have a tune. I think it's low Right. I could blame, blame, blame, but in the end, take responsibility for you and your actions, and there's nothing else that could change that.
Speaker 1:And people would be like all the time well, somebody could change, you know, change something about me, or you know well you know, mike, number two here could be like well, you know I wanted to do all this stuff and be successful about. My wife told me to stay home today. You know I can't go to see you at the studio, mike, because I'm not gonna come home with food.
Speaker 2:She, she said it before You've already. You already saw Mike number one today or like this week, so no, times no, you don't need to see him. This I'm a pretty easy. He's only like two minutes away. I Can hear him cry. I can see if he's free. And then sometimes they're like, okay, let's go get groceries or something, because we need to feed the cat you whatever.
Speaker 1:But there's, you know, we could easily blame right, and I used to do that. I used to do the blame game and blame this, blame that, and oh, I'm not rich because of this, or I got and it was funny, mike number two here. I was talking to him and he goes have you ever thought of it about it this way? I remember how I was talking to you about how I felt I got screwed over right Because I created my original company way back when. Then I brought in somebody who was a lot older than me.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I was listening to your podcast. I'm pretty far behind on them.
Speaker 1:Oh, you're listening to that podcast yeah, so he's listening to that podcast was talking about how I started the company and I was like, hey, you got 50% of the profits this year and then we'll negotiate later. And then when the contract came about, it was like 50% Shareholder and I didn't know what that means and I just signed whatever. But then, you know, mike was like you know, you blame him, you're putting it all on, he's the bad guy, but yet maybe he mishurt you and he did it right, right, I think that's pretty much along the line.
Speaker 2:Also, like legally, he was just defining that he would get that, like you said, verbally or even in a written agreement, but it's no more well written than in a shareholder agreement that he has 50% of the shares, like if you say, this is half of his profit, even if it's only for the first year, make a new company, start something new kind of thing, but it's guaranteed to be half.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, and I, when he said that to me, I was just like, huh, I Guess I should practice what I preach. I got nobody to blame about myself For not be more clear and sign of the day, but it's true, I look at all the situations that might have stopped me from doing things or whatever, or that you know prevented me from doing what I know I need to do, like, for I'm sure, even though you don't I don't know if you don't care about the law of attraction and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but maybe you think I'm a little loopy, your science man, I like science too, but anyways. But I always felt like a little, still small voice or that little feeling in your gut like, hey, do this, do that right. And every time I listen to that, something good happens. Oh Right, like.
Speaker 1:And I've experienced things where, you know, when it came to that situation With that individual, when I had to, was talking to him, had a little thing in my gut saying, no, don't sign it, don't do this. You know, trust me, trust me right. And then I'm like.
Speaker 1:I know what I'm doing, right, I don't need you a universe, or I don't need you, god. I'm like I know what I'm doing, I'm better than you, right, and then I just, you know, screw myself over and All it is is 100%. I don't know if you agree or not, but it's self-sabotaging, it's just. I Believe I need to be poor. I believed I needed to have reasons and excuses in my life, so, love attraction I created them. I didn't want to hit that moose, but I'm staring at the moose and I'm Concentrated on the moose, so, of course, you're gonna hit the moose.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hard to say. I think I was gonna say I think it. It could be that you were Young and naive and it was just a learning opportunity, and hopefully not too expensive of one. But you learned from that how to how to structure a business in the future, that you wouldn't have to Share it with someone else, that you weren't planning to, and that anything would just be a contract from that point or something.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I learned a lot of amazing things and see it makes me feel good with all my mistakes I made. When you come up to me and ask me a question about business, I'm like I could tell you a story how I screwed that up. So don't do this.
Speaker 2:You're like Season one, episode eight.
Speaker 1:Pretty much right, but no. So you know, once again, just like Remember, even you, mike number two, you are in control of anything that you want to happen in this world. I know it sounds nuts. I know people are like, okay, mike's been Smoking some weed up there in Canada because it's everywhere getting into the mushrooms but, no like the shit works, man, and I'm not on your action, I don't do that shit.
Speaker 1:Oh, maybe my grossing, but anyways, I digress. But no like for real. This works for me 1,000%. But it might not work for you because you have to find your way, your module. You have to reprogram yourself and your way of thinking because growing up my life, I was always taught how doesn't matter how hard I work, how successful I want to be, you'll never happen. And if I truly believe that, well, I limit myself and how. Life's going to be a struggle because that's the way it's supposed to be and it's supposed to be hard to make money, poor me. Right, mike, it's gonna be hard for you to make your speaker and be successful. Mikey, it's gonna be really hard, right, and all this crap's gonna happen to you, but it won't happen to if you don't want it to. Because it's funny.
Speaker 1:I look back at my life and I'm like I actually got it pretty good. I'm not a negative person. We know sometimes my ego goes nuts, as you heard in the last two episodes, I'm alone in the woods talking to spider, talking to the spider and and stuff like that. But In the end, when you just trust yourself. Trust, just trust. Go with the flow. Don't stress, don't worry, and like for you. You don't let all those Bumps in the road of like, hey, they told me the wrong. Damn, I need this kind of wood. That's not this kind of what these guys don't want.
Speaker 1:You could have just given up, but mark my word not audio calm, it's gonna be a product of the future. Like I'm so excited. Like I'm gonna get some for the studio, I'm gonna get some for my house and we're gonna work on this contract to get some up there and hopefully just blow it up and have this stuff taken everywhere, because it's really amazing technology to me. Like we're in 2023, people, and we still have like speakers made the same way Since the 70s, 60s or whatever, right, and we're in 2023. Where's my flying cars? Damn it. So about time. We got some amazing speakers that are like artwork on the wall and you could get printed any kind of thing on the canvas and put it on there and make it look beautiful. Right, you could probably put my family portrait on it, right, probably?
Speaker 2:yeah, I mean anything, you can get printed it. You know, vista printer staples if they'll sponsor you to whoever. Whoever, please pay this podcast.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, just buy it on, not audio. Calm, you'll get it from vista print. That makes the money. But, yeah, like it's, it's, I don't know it. To me it's like, and like you said, right, like you could have just been like this already been done or thought of blah, blah, blah, right, but it's a good thing. Even my podcast there's millions of podcasts out there. There's millions of good pot. There's people like you listening to it right now. Exactly, you guys are amazing, like for listening. But like, ah, just life is awesome, right, mike, yeah, yeah, you weren't convincing one, one day at a time.
Speaker 1:It does take one day at a time. It is raining out there right now, but it could be snowing what?
Speaker 2:do you prefer? I like snow. That's why I live in Canada.
Speaker 1:That is true. Want to come with me to the Arctic. You won't like snow After driving through some blizzards up there and you can't see nothing. It's fine. That's why I look forward to going Florida. I'll do another podcast in the closet when I'm in Florida. People, I don't know if you listen to that episode when I was in the closet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, did you? Yeah, it was one of the early ones I heard of it. Yeah cuz I said it sounded different. You're like, oh yeah, I was in the closet and I was like, did you tell your wife?
Speaker 1:Stop it. But did you listen to the end? I don't know if I put it just before the music kicks in, or after the music You're all sweaty.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm like oh, this is so I'm disgusting.
Speaker 1:I love that part in because it was funny. But what would you like to close with Mikey? What would you like to say to the world? What good thing would you want to say to the universe that can help people?
Speaker 2:Um, good enough. If you feel like something's a risk worth taking, just take it. Just try, because if you don't try something then you won't have a chance. And so if that's, if that's the law of attraction in your eyes, or something like, if you, if you want something, try for it, and if it doesn't work out, then don't necessarily give up entirely, but Don't don't write it off.
Speaker 1:It's a learning experience for the next project, cuz all of my failures to this date is what brought me to where I'm at today, and I know you've probably testified. Testify, mikey, the same thing, right.
Speaker 2:I mean. Everything where you are in life right now is a product of your history. Everything that led in your past is to where you are today, and All you can control is your trajectory. So it's where you're aiming yourself for the future. Whether you like, you can't go to the future, but you can aim yourself in the right way.
Speaker 1:I just saw something pop up said writing error. Hopefully it doesn't script the podcast. That'd be unfortunate. It disappeared now. Oh Well, hopefully it sounds good, cuz I'm not gonna check the audio. But Thank you very much, mike, for coming. Mike, number two, it's fun to say that.
Speaker 2:Thanks for inviting me, even though I didn't know I was gonna sign up for this when I showed up for dinner today. Oh crime, your friend.
Speaker 1:So anybody who's listening, who please check out the website at not audio comm, it's spelled with a K or the other way to get Redirected and send him a message saying, hey, you sounded great on the podcast.
Speaker 1:Then he knows like hey maybe this podcast is something I should go on again. I Need more guests. Okay, I'm sitting here alone in here and I'm just getting bored, but I just want to leave you with this message to all my listeners out there all two of you Is you know what you are awesome, you're amazing, and don't give up like life is as beautiful as you want to make it. So if you feel like you're in a rut, if you feel like you've been kicked and kicked down or pushed down or just not doing too Well, just remember that you're awesome, you're amazing and that you could change. Just by the way you think it's like the placebo effect of how you.
Speaker 1:Science is the placebo effect. Right, just be happy. Be know that there's a brighter side. Know that you control how you feel and choose and I know it sounds crazy, but just trust me, just be like you know what. I'm gonna be happy today. I'm gonna choose to be happy and find happiness and find good people, and stop finding those people that put me down and On and on and on right, and just use this motto I'll allow you to use. I'm gonna leave you with a little song. We're all gonna have fun in studio after I turn this off, but just honestly, happy, go lucky puppies and rainbows. For you know, just picture me prancing around puppies and rainbows. Life's amazing, right, but it really is if you choose for it to be, if that's the reality you want to attract and the version that you want to see, and Just yeah, the amazing motto for me that got me through life and still get me through life, because I'm not that old Dorm, no.
Speaker 2:I'm done now, guys.
Speaker 1:But just a Kuna Matata, right, a Kuna Matata motherfucker, but no, a Kuna Matata. It really means there's no worries, just live happy and enjoy life and the. Once again, thank you very much for listening to the podcast. I thank you, mike, for coming again, and please click the link in the description for not audio. Calm and you guys are amazing. Keep up the good work and get ready for the next episode. It's only gonna get better from here. See, if this episode was crap to you, just know listen to the next one and the one after that, cuz it'll only get better, it can't get worse. Thank you very much and I love everybody. Take it easy.
