189. Guest: Dr. Danny Brassell - Authentic Communication

This episode features Dr. Danny Brassell, a renowned speaker and author discussing the importance of storytelling and vulnerability in leadership and speaking engagements. His journey from journalism to teaching reveals invaluable life lessons, including the necessity of persistence and maintaining an abundance mindset. 

• Discusses how to turn failures into opportunities for growth
• Highlights the significance of storytelling in presentations
• Shares practical strategies for effective speaking 
• Encourages an abundance mindset for personal and professional success
• Advocates for vulnerability as a means to connect with audiences
• Emphasizes the responsibility of leaders to serve others 

Everyone should take a moment to leave us a five-star review to help spread the message!

http://freegiftfromdanny.com/

Chapters

• 0:00 Journey From Teaching to Coaching
• 6:45 Success Through Vulnerability and Storytelling
• 10:58 The Power of Storytelling and Connection
• 15:17 The Power of Vulnerability and Abundance
• 24:16 Inspiring Stories and Ethical Presentations
• 29:49 Effective Leadership Through Communication
• 34:18 Inspiring Leadership Through Encouragement
• 43:26 The Power of Asking Why

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Yeah, it's Mindset Cafe. We all about that mindset. Gotta stay focused, never settle for less. It's all in your head how you think you manifest. So get ready to rise, cause we about to be the best. Gotta switch it up. Gotta break the old habits. Get your mind right. Turn your dreams into habits. No negative vibes, only positive vibes.

Speaker 1: 0:19

What is up, what is up, what is up, guys, welcome to another episode of the Mindset Cafe podcast. It's your boy, devin, and today we are honored to have dr danny brassell on the the show with us today. He is a dynamic speaker. He's a trainer, a coach and, honestly, some even call him, as from his author standpoint, as the jim carrey with the phd. So he's been on over 3,500 stages or presentations. He has 16 books to his name, including Leadership Begins with Motivation. So, honestly, I already know this episode is going to be filled with knowledge. So make sure you guys break out your notebooks and then make sure you guys are leaving that five-star review for us so that your friends, your family, can also hear this episode as well, danny thanks so much for taking the time to hop on and, importantly, thanks for spreading some joy in the world and giving us a whole lot of practical strategies we can use.

Speaker 1: 1:11

No, I appreciate it. So let's dive straight in. Where did your journey begin? With having 3,500 presentations, worldwide, that is, and then going into writing, let alone publishing 16, that that is a huge accomplishment. So you know, hats off to you. But where did that all start? I'll try and put it in the short version.

Speaker 2: 1:36

So over 30 years ago I was a reporter. I was covering President Bush senior in the 1992 presidential election and had a great job, Got to meet all the major editors, newspaper dailies around the country and a major daily offered me a job doing the city beat for $16,500 a year. And then a friend told me they were hiring teachers in inner city, Los Angeles for $25,000 a year. So I became a teacher for the noblest of reasons, for the high pay, and started teaching, loved teaching, moved on to the university, worked as a professor. So I became a teacher for the noblest of reasons, for the high pay, and started teaching, loved teaching, moved on to the university, worked as a professor. So I've worked with all ages, from kindergartners all the way up to rocket scientists.

Speaker 2: 2:13

And in 2005, my wife and I attended a real estate seminar which turned out to be a scam and we lost everything and I could play the woe is me card. But I'm a positive person. I took a lot of important lessons from that. First of all, my wife is my life mate. I put her through the wringer and she stuck right behind me. Second, of all.

Speaker 2: 2:32

I no longer value money as the end all be all, because you can lose it in a second, I've discovered. Third, I try not to judge other people because if I was somebody looking at what I had done, I would have said well, you deserve that. But now I realize if you don't know everything about a person, you really don't know anything about a person. Fourth, I became a Christian, which I'm always embarrassed to admit, but the more I read the Bible, I'm not the first screw up to find Jesus. And fifth, which is most relevant to your question, I didn't want to have to file for bankruptcy and my accountant said well, you're going to have to make this much more money this year if you want to do that. And so I started speaking on the side and I hit that number right on the number. Well, the next year, devin, he gave a much higher number and I hit that number right on the number. So in year three I thought, well, maybe I should set a higher number.

Speaker 2: 3:19

And basically, during one of the worst economic downturns in American history, I was able to build up a speaking business which is highly successful. And then a thing called COVID came around and people said hello, how's your speaking business? I'm like, oh how I just lost 200 speaking engagements overnight because there's no public displays anymore, so I had to pivot again. For years people have been asking me to coach and I never really wanted to coach because I've always been a teacher that holds people to a high standard and I really want people to succeed and I hold them accountable. But it's turned out. I absolutely love really coaching entrepreneurs and executives. I've never found more motivated people that are willing to do the work, and so that brings us to today, which I help individuals, entrepreneurs and organizations leverage speaking on stages as a major client lead source that converts. So that's a very long answer to your short question, but that's my journey in two minutes or less.

Speaker 1: 4:20

No, that's awesome and honestly, like going off that. I mean my background. You know I was a personal trainer and then I opened up a gym and launched a franchise Right. So having a similar start from a teacher, right Me being a coach and a trainer in form. I know my light bulb moment that I realized that I liked coaching or teaching or training. You know people. What was that light bulb moment for you that you realize, like the teaching, the coaching, you know that whole aspect.

Speaker 2: 4:48

I just love. I love seeing people succeed. So I'm gonna give you two success stories that I just love sharing with people. One of them was a guy I worked with three years ago named Jason, and I always tell people well, there's two ways to get better at speaking. First of all, you got to watch lots of speakers. And, second of all, one of my mentors was a guy named Jim Rohn, and Jim used to say you can't pay other people to do your pushups, translation. You got to do the work, and so I always I, you know I was telling Jason I'm like, hey, you got to get on stages.

Speaker 2: 5:14

You know, even the smallest towns in America have a lion's club, an optimist club, a rotary club. You can go to chambers of commerce, and he was being difficult. I don't know any of those people. I'm like, hey, you have a Facebook account. He said, yeah, I'm like, okay, tonight you're going on Facebook live, I will be there, I want you to deliver your speech. Well, so he did it. There was like one woman from Ontario, canada, accidentally showed up and he sucked, and the next day I said you're going to do it again Next day. He did it, and then about three people showed up and he sucked, but he didn't suck as bad as he did the first day. Well, this is what I love about Jason Devin Every day for the last three years, jason has gone on Facebook live to deliver this same talk. He now has over 6,000 people in his community and he almost made seven figures last year off of all the different offers he made. It's just incredible. I'm so proud. So my light bulb is I'm just proud that he did the work.

Speaker 2: 6:11

The other guy I always love to tell people about this was so this is January, so it was two years ago, two years ago in January. So I worked with this guy named Gustavo. Gustavo should be the president of the United States. He's a great American success story. He came to America 30 years ago from Ecuador, didn't speak a word of English, did every menial job possible, invested all of his money in real estate. 30 years later, he's worth like $40 million, and so we were putting together his offer. So his offer is he coaches people for four months on real estate for $40,000.

Speaker 2: 6:45

I've crafted a lot of offers, devin. That's a very high offer, but I told him exactly what I say. I'm like hey, you got to do the work, you got to get out there. He said well, I'm going on a podcast. I'm like here's my phone number. You call me tomorrow. I want you doing it tonight. He calls me the next day, devin. He's like oh my gosh, danny, you're a genius. I'm like did you go on the podcast? He's like yes. I'm like did you make your offer? He's like yes. I'm like did you sell any? He's like 23.

Speaker 2: 7:15

Devin, reading's my specialty, not math. But if I'm doing my math correctly, he made $920,000 that night on an offer we had crafted that afternoon. Since then he and I are still in touch. He's made eight figures off of that speech. So that's what gives me. I mean, maybe I should be getting a cut of what these people are making, but what the satisfaction is he's succeeded and the reason he succeeded. I mean you're in personal training. You know people don't succeed just sitting on their butt. You know you got to get out there and you got to do the work and so, yeah, that's. That's again a very long answer, but that's my lightbulb moment that I absolutely love it. I love watching people and the looks on their faces and you know this also is those people now affect all the people around them. They're inspiring people, so there's a real butterfly effect, domino effect.

Speaker 1: 8:02

No, exactly, I mean all your answers are perfect, I mean they're not long. I I'd say you know, I love doing episodes with with individuals like yourself that can really elaborate on on a topic and really express it, because this is what you know the audience really digs and and they love stories like everyone can read like a textbook, right, and you, your example. You know, yeah, it'd be, it'd be cool if you got a cut of it, but that's not someone like you and someone like myself, like that's not the real passion or the the, the thing that makes us show up day after day, seeing the confidence, seeing the pride, seeing the things that are being developed in someone that we got to have a, a touch of. You know that and, at the end of the day, like you can give someone the blueprint but if they don't follow it and they don't even take action to even start it, then it's not, nothing's gonna get built Right. So that's so awesome that those I mean that is one that math is on point and it is crazy.

Speaker 2: 8:58

Your results may vary. I always have to tell you. Your results may vary.

Speaker 1: 9:04

Oh, no, 100%. I mean just to go into a quick tangent based off of that story.

Speaker 2: 9:10

I mean do you know who Russell Brunson is.

Speaker 1: 9:15

Okay. So I was at the event that he now talks about. You know, hand over fist, over every single podcast he's on, where he sold. I think it was like $3 million in an hour. I mean, I mean, I'm not gonna lie, I was one of the people that he sold.

Speaker 1: 9:28

You know, and it's so crazy, if you learn how to speak and you learn how to storytell and you learn how to conversate to the masses and and do it effectively, like there's no telling what you can do, so like that 40 000 pitch, like that's not surreal to me, you know, in seeing other people do it.

Speaker 1: 9:47

So you being able to coach someone and do that, that is a huge testament to your ability as a coach and a you know, real teacher, because at the end of the day, every, every person that can do it themselves, like every player in a professional team, isn't going to make a great coach, right? So that just is hats off to you on that aspect of being a coach and being a teacher. Now let's dive into that right, into both of those stories what being a CEO and being a business owner and sometimes we are the most difficult people to work with, but at the same time, you know we're also the people that if we say we're gonna do something, you know it's getting done. What are some of the things that you see as like a common mistake or a common issue? When someone wants to start speaking on stage or wants to start doing presentations.

Speaker 2: 10:34

So there's two things that the number one strategy I share with people is stop talking about your successes. Start talking about your failures, because not everybody in your audience has succeeded, but they've all failed. And the more you talk about your own failures, the more you're showing your vulnerability. Brene Brown she's a wonderful speaker. She talks about the importance of vulnerability. The more you talk about your own struggles, the more your audience is going to connect with you.

Speaker 2: 10:58

I mean, I'm working with a guy right now. He climbed the highest peak on all seven continents. He swam with sharks in Madagascar. He did the Iditarod. I'm like, dude, nobody can relate to you. You're bragging. You need to get it down to the. I mean, this is why. So here's a strategy for everybody in your audience. I do this with people all the time. I say okay, later on, get a pen and paper libation of choice, sit in a comfortable chair and for an hour I want you to write down every story that's ever happened in your life. I don't mean the entire story.

Speaker 2: 11:32

I just mean triggers, like the time I locked myself out of the car in front of Costco, the time I spilled mustard on my, or the time dad spilled mustard on his time when we went to that fancy restaurant. You'll find, in like an hour you'll come up with about 500 of these stories. So that's the first part of the exercise. The second part of the exercise is now. I want you to figure out well, what's this story really about? Oh, this is a story about endurance. Oh, this is a story about accountability. Oh, this is a story about love. And so if you were to look at my computer, I literally have tens of thousands of these stories on my computer. So if I'm giving a presentation, I'll have these stories to be able to go from. So that's the very first, probably the most popular strategy I share with people. The second one this is very important for your listeners to understand Stop making multiple offers Biggest mistake I see in most presentations. You'll even see it on podcasts. At the end of podcasts. I hear this all the time. Oh, just make sure you like, subscribe and put your comments.

Speaker 2: 12:26

You just gave three calls to action to your audience. You're going to have a much lower rate because of those three calls to action. Every time you give a choice, you're going to lose people. You need to lower it down to one call to action. This is probably the most important thing that people need to understand is the brain doesn't like choices. It confuses the brain. You confuse, you lose. So if you can do those two things and again, I always tell people, really one of the best ways to get better at speaking is watch lots of speakers. So I watch politicians, I watch televangelists, I watch comedians. I watch them in front of big groups, in front of small groups, in front of men in front of women. Here I'll give you a ninja strategy I watch a lot of televised award shows because when the person wins the Academy Award, they only have 45 seconds to connect with their audience.

Speaker 2: 13:19

Now, most people waste their time. They get up there like I want to thank God, I want to thank the Academy. It's stupid. Nobody's paying attention. But every now and then somebody does a great job. So a few years ago there was a guy named Joe Walker who won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing. Well, this is Hollywood. All the important people are in the audience, the actors. They don't care about film editing. You can see the camera. Nobody's paying attention and Joe Walker gets up to accept his Academy Award. He's British, he speaks very slowly and distinctly. He says a lot of people don't know this, but when phrased properly, the term Academy Award nominee can be used as an insult. Well, now the camera pans the audience and you see people kind of leaning in like what's he talking about? He's like. For example, yesterday I got in an argument with my 17-year-old daughter and she said well, academy Award nominee Joe Walker. All of a sudden you see everybody laughing. He gets off stage. Denzel Washington wants to meet him, brad Pitt wants to meet him, sandra Bullock wants to meet him.

Speaker 2: 14:20

Time Magazine said it was one of the highlights of the Academy Awards. That's the power of connecting in 30 seconds. You already gave an example of Russell Brunson. I love watching Russell because Russell is so approachable. I'm always amazed at how approachable he seems. He's a billionaire and this guy has all these stories he talks about. You know his first product was his potato gun. He speaks so proudly about it and he talks about all of the mistakes he made and everybody's always laughing because he's such a human he's not talking about.

Speaker 2: 14:50

There's a great 30 Rock episode where Tracy Morgan he's now become so successful as a comedian he can't relate to his audience and they show him doing his standup. He's like don't you hate it when your personal chef screws up your foie gras and nobody in his audience understands what he's talking about? So the power of connection you got to watch people. That's why I love watching you know another thing people in your audience is whatever you. Whatever you perceive as your weakness, turn it into your strength. Watch comedians. Kevin Hart's a short black guy, so he makes a lot of jokes about being a short black guy. Jim gaffigan's a big fat white guy, so he makes lots of jokes about being a big fat white guy. Whatever you perceive as your weakness, turn it into your strength. People can't use it against you. They're going to love you for it no, that's.

Speaker 1: 15:39

I mean, that is so awesome and it is so true in making it relatable, because everyone has failed at things. Everyone makes mistakes, but not everyone has succeeded in achieving their dreams. So instead of putting yourself higher and higher on a pedestal in people's eyes, you're bringing yourself down to their level so they can really connect with you. I think that is so true and it is so powerful that sometimes we do want to create an authority position for ourselves so that we could seem higher, or whatever the case may be, but in the process you also might be losing the thing you're trying to get. So I think that is so cool that you're really making that connection. Now, before I ask you know we dive into this, the storytelling, and how to engage a little bit more with this? You know we dive into this, the storytelling, and how to engage a little bit more with this you've had over 3 500 presentations, that's ridiculous.

Speaker 1: 16:34

You know, I had to make a lot of money, so oh, no, no, no I mean that's ridiculously impressive. You know, I, I didn't, I didn't add that last word right there on purpose because it is ridiculously impressive, right, and so last word right there on purpose, because it is ridiculous.

Speaker 1: 16:43

Lee impressive, right. And so where, where do you, where does one find 3500? You know things to be on on stage or on calls or on zoom things. You know where do you feel, where do you find these? Like, where are you looking or how are you?

Speaker 2: 16:59

Yeah, so that's actually a really good question, devin. So actually, the client I'm here in Dallas right now working with a client and that's what he's trying to do. He's like how do you get on podcast, danny? I'm like, well, I hustle.

Speaker 2: 17:11

When I first started out as a speaker, I was able to find two speaker bureaus to represent me. One of them they would do these two-day conferences uh, the other one, I had to do one one of them, I had a presentation. I put together a full day presentation, so I'd get up at six, get to the room at seven, start my presentation at eight, finish the presentation at three, go to the airport, uh, get on my flight at five and go to the next city. And so literally it would be like Monday in Seattle, tuesday in Salt Lake city, wednesday in Denver, thursday in St Louis, friday in Charlotte, go home for the weekend. It was crazy. Uh, the other one was two day seminars and, uh, it was kind of funny because, uh, they, they asked me to do four 75 minute presentations in the day to four different audiences, and then they needed somebody to do keynotes. And they said, oh, if you have the more presentations you have, the more we can book you. And I said, well, that's great, because I have five keynotes and 45 different breakout sessions. They're like great, we can book you, like crazy. So then, devin, I had to create five keynotes and 45 breakouts because I was just, I was saying whatever they want to say, which is good. I think sometimes you just got to push yourself all the time. Uh, I I worked um with a non-profit where I would train parents on how to uh work with the struggling readers, and so that was great because it got me used to working with adults.

Speaker 2: 18:40

Uh, my master, the very first mastermind I was a part of, it, was interesting because I was an educator. And one day I noticed I was at a table and it was me, a teacher, and seven billionaires and they had selected to work with me. I'm like, why did you pick out me? I'm just a teacher, all of you are successful. And they all said the same thing like Danny, you're really interesting, you always have 10 ideas and nine of them are crazy, but the other one makes us millions of dollars. I'm like, oh, and so that started building up my confidence working with business people.

Speaker 2: 19:17

One of the guys in my mastermind he wanted me to train his sales force. I'm like I don't know if I'm experienced to train sales people. I've never really done that. He said, danny, you got middle schoolers in the inner city to read Shakespeare. You can totally motivate my sales team. It was good. He gave me a different point of view. That was really important. It's all that mindset.

Speaker 2: 19:38

And then podcast, really what I did. I really went after podcasts aggressively when COVID and I said you know, if I can't speak, I still need to stay fresh. I'm going to get on 20 podcasts a week. And so I just I subscribed to all these different services that put me in people, put me in touch with people like you. I know a lot of people like why would you go on that podcast? They don't even have a million listeners. I'm like that's silly. Every time I'm on a podcast, I get to practice and it doesn't matter. This is and this is really important for everybody in your audience to hear. It doesn't matter how many people are listening. All that matters is who is listening.

Speaker 2: 20:17

You know, uh, when I first started speaking, I was making $700 a day and my local library asked me to speak for free. They're like, oh, we're going to have like 500 people come to your event. Well, four people showed up, devin. Two of them were my realtors. The other two was a Hispanic couple that didn't speak a word of English. Well, I believe in giving 110%, so I did as much as I could in Spanish. Got everybody laughing. We did a good time. Here's the lesson. The Hispanic woman was taking English classes at the Adult Literacy Center. She recommended me to do a 45-minute keynote, which I got paid $4,000 for, which at that time, was six times my going rate. I was like, wow, you never know. It's abundance thinking. You know this, I'm preaching to the choir, but this is why I listen to podcasts like this is the people that are listening to this, or the movers and the shakers, you, you surround yourself. I have an abundance mentality. Now I realize when I'm parked at a stoplight, I'm surrounded by at least a million dollars worth of vehicles.

Speaker 2: 21:17

You have no idea who's around you. Um, and I get excited, so I don't even know if that's answering the question. I'm hustling all the time Like you got to find those stages. Nobody's going to find them for you and I love it. I go all over the world. I go all over the world speaking. I just got back from I did events in South Korea and South Africa. I love India. It's probably my favorite place on the planet, but audiences are great. Canadian audiences are the best because they laugh the most.

Speaker 1: 21:58

No, honestly, that is so powerful. And I think the main part that I took away from that too, that you mentioned like a couple of times and it was like kind of brief but you kind of passed right by it was like the abundance mindset, right, and this is something that, as you were talking about it, and you were talking about the being at the billionaire's table and asking why and stuff, and it's it gave you a different perspective on things and the whole sales team and everything. It gave you a different perspective on on everything, cause at the end of the day, your reality or the limitations you put on yourself is typically just from the perception or the perspective that you've been looking at it. So sometimes, if you just, you know change that filter a little bit or or you know tune in a little bit more or turn the camera, all of a sudden it's like oh, wow, I didn't think about it that way, and so being able to shift your mindset, because at the same time I know this firsthand for my myself it's easy to give advice and stuff, and sometimes it's hard to take your own advice right, that whole Sullivan's paradox but at the same time you know your, your living, you know, proof of the hustle does work right. If you put in the work it. Maybe it might not happen. The library thing you know it was like that wasn't on your your radar to do, but all of a sudden look what happens from that. Sometimes one opportunity doesn't work out in the way you thought it would, but it leads to that next opportunity that is better than you ever thought it would be Right. So you have to be willing to place yourself and put yourself out there.

Speaker 1: 23:20

And I mean going back to how you said, kevin Hart earlier. I read his book and I've listened to a lot of his stuff and a lot of comedians too. Like they do smaller stages, like when you get to see him at a smaller club, like a comedy club. That's not them doing their Netflix special bit, that's them testing what stuff works, what stuff doesn't work. Like they have bad gigs also, but that's where they start to fine tune it. So just because you know you have a bad moment, you know or you didn't, you weren't a grade, a performer or speak the speaker then doesn't mean it's over for you. I can say I've spoken on one stage so far and that was I. It was my five-year goal. I hit it year, yeah, last year, um in two years. So I condensed that timeline and I will say I'm a confident speaker in my gym and in my business and on the podcast.

Speaker 2: 24:07

I got on stage and it was like you just need reps, though I mean I love that you just threw that out about kevin people always look at kevin hart I'm like they don't look at the 20 years of hard work.

Speaker 2: 24:16

I mean the guy drove from philadelphia to new york every single night to do his routines. Read Jay Leno's autobiography. Jay Leno, he was doing routines at senior centers, in prisons, at insane asylums. I mean the guy worked his butt off Even when he was hosting the Tonight Show. People don't know this, jay Leno. He's never spent a dime of his Tonight Show money. He was getting paid like 30 million a year for 25 years. Never spent a dime of it. After he tapes the Tonight Show, he goes to the Burbank Airport, gets on a private jet, would go to Las Vegas every single night to do a private show for a different company for $100,000 every single night. That's how he has all these cars and everything. But that guy works his tail off. It's always hard work. I mean the same thing in your industry. You start off as just Actually what you should read. Read the Schwarzenegger autobiographies. You talk about a guy with an abundance mindset. Everybody looks at all the knocks against you, but the people that succeed, they just turn those into their strengths. My accent's going to make me stand out. That's a great mindset. Like what can I do to stand out. Everybody else is the same.

Speaker 2: 25:27

I was watching an interview. It was a horrible interviewer. She was so rude. She was interviewing Jim Caviezel, the guy that played Jesus in the Passion of the Christ, and she said your last name's really hard to pronounce. Have you ever considered just changing your last name? And his response was great. He's like well, people learn how to say Schwarzenegger. That's exactly right. Good for him. And so I'm a public speaker, so I'll share this story with you. I was in India. I was speaking to a school, got all the kids all pumped up, and this six-year-old boy comes up to me after the speech, deb, and he has a tear in his eye. I notice he's missing his left arm and he's looking up at me. He's like how can I succeed? So I crouched down. I get to his eye level. When I was your age, I went to 18 different schools before I was 12.

Speaker 2: 26:16

Everybody called me stupid because I stuttered and eventually I went to school where a teacher she worked one on one with me and she would sing things to me and I would sing them back. And I found I didn't have my stutter when I sang and eventually I lost my stutter and I became a swan. But I looked at that boy and said isn't it interesting that the little boy everybody said was stupid because he couldn't talk right now gets paid vast sums of money to travel the world? To do what? And he gets the biggest grin on his face. He's like speak. I'm like don't let anybody tell you what you can't do. I mean, I hear this I work with. Probably one out of every three executives and entrepreneurs I'm working with has the biggest stage fright in the world. We get rid of that. I want you having fun. I like this is this is what makes this a little bit different. I work with coach Jimmy Hayes Nelson. He's from Broadway. I call us the professor and the poet. He's kind of a speech chiropractor. I like to get fun into those presentations.

Speaker 2: 27:10

There's three things I do differently. First of all, a lot of people that are speech coaches. They'll tell you to share your most dramatic story ever. Now. This is why I don't do that. I mean, this is a speech you're going to give again and again. First of all, the world just survived a global pandemic. All of us have had some bad stuff happen to us. I don't think we need to hear another sad story. I think we need stories of hope. Second of all, I'm teaching you how to create a speech that you're going to deliver again and again and again. Do you really want to give this sad speech again and again and again? You got to be stronger than me to do that. I don't know how people do that. And third and this is where people get angry with me I have one objective when I'm on stage, I want you to leave feeling better than when you came in. I want you laughing, smiling, happy. I think there's something admirable about the objective to get people to feel good about themselves.

Speaker 2: 28:01

I believe that these people that give these sad talks by the 20th time they've told that story. Now those are crocodile tears and now they're being manipulative. And I'm not saying it's not an effective sales strategy. It's a very effective sales strategy. But I, for one, don't want to have to take a shower after I get off stage because I just manipulated my audience. So I'm very adamant about integrity on the stage, and Jimmy and I this is why I work with Jimmy we believe you have a responsibility to your audience to serve them while you're on there, whether they do business with you or not. You got to give them practical strategies that will help them, and things just tend to come back. If you're good to others, they'll be pretty good to you. Things just tend to come back If you, if you're good to others, they'll they'll be, they'll be pretty good to you.

Speaker 1: 28:44

No, that is so true and honestly, I just this light bulb moment just came on in my head when you were, when you were talking about the little boy and how you got down on a knee. And it's something that we do and I coach my trainers in here. You know in our gym and in our franchise that when you're for I'll I'll take it to you know, so you said when you spoke to a little boy, you went to your knee. I tell my trainers, like if someone's laying down on their back to do sit-ups, you don't stand over them and then talk to them or correct them. Get down on a knee and then come down to their level and correct them at that point. Otherwise you're creating a separation and it's this awkward feeling because it's you're, you're way up here and you're an authority figure, but it's it's aggressive. You know, subconsciously, right, and so I.

Speaker 1: 29:30

The light bulb moment was you, by you doing that and getting down on his level, and you could disagree with me on this. But is that the same, or it's almost the same in my opinion, as a storytelling on stage Right, instead of getting on stage, you're already on a pedestal, literally. You're. You know and you could dictate you know all these things, you need to wake up at 5 am and you know, drink a gallon of water and do all these things, or you can give stories that bring you to their level and allow them to connect with you, or feel like you're not just preaching to them, you're absolutely right. I mean, of all people who said a million dead is a statistic.

Speaker 2: 30:09

One dead is a tragedy. That's what you're doing on stage. The reason you're inviting them to a story is now there. It's kind of like when I work with clients often, uh, if we're struggling, I'm like let's take a walk and we walk in the same direction and what you're doing is you're guiding them. It's a lot easier. I love that. You get people down to the level. I think that's exactly what you have to do.

Speaker 2: 30:30

You don't ever want to be intimidating to people. It's. It's really one of the biggest mistakes I see a lot of people doing. When they're, when they're bragging on stage, I'm like you can brag, but you don't want to do it at the beginning. So like, for example, I wrote my own introduction. And so when a person introduces me, I wrote the introduction to make me sound like Jesus Christ, you know. And so then when I get on stage, I'm like, yeah, jesus Christ forgot to wear his dress socks. Now, the audience, they've heard my credentials, but now they're like, oh, he's a real guy, he's just like me. I like to often joke.

Speaker 2: 30:59

I've never seen a presidential candidate that grew up middle class. They all had to grow up in a log cabin. Because you need to show the struggle. You know same thing with you. You know you had a whole arc. That's what a good story does is you started here as a trainer and then you're running your successful business and you're helping others. I mean, people remember stories, they don't remember numbers. Others, I mean that's that's people remember stories, they don't remember numbers. And so if you can create one of those stories that people really remember, then you're doing something, something glorious, and I that's what I love working.

Speaker 2: 31:31

I was working with a guy, richard, a few months back. He's a financial planner very successful, and so he started off his presentation. He's like oh, I, I've been in financial planning for 30 years. I've made my clients over a billion dollars. I worked with this famous person and this famous person I said Richard, what are the three most important elements of real estate? Location, location, location. This is great, but you have it in the wrong part of your presentation, and so we changed his speech. So now he starts off his presentation, he talks about the very first client he ever got and basically it's a comedy of errors. He made every mistake possible. It's amazing that this person invested a dime with him and what the way he gets clients is once or twice a week.

Speaker 2: 32:15

He goes to like these steakhouses and has about 15 couples that that listen to his presentation and then they set up appointments that they can invest money with him. And he said he used to get about six out of 15 would invest and when he was given the presentation at the steak dinner the husband's always sitting with his arms crossed suspecting like what's this guy trying to sell me? Now that he has this story at the beginning of his presentation, he's like Danny, now the guy he's leaning forward, he's tapping his knee because he's laughing so hard. And now we're averaging 12 out of the 15 people are setting up that next appointment. I mean that's our measure of success is how many people can we engage that audience? And you know you're not always going to get 100%. I mean very rarely are you going to get 100%, but I can totally get you from 40% to 70% just by a couple of little tweaks to your presentation.

Speaker 1: 33:10

No, that is so awesome. And I want to pivot because I don't want to run out of time before we get to this part too, because the speaking is so crucial, because communication to me is everything. Like me and my wife already know, communication is everything in every area of life, and that's how I am with my team and everyone. And you have to realize that most things can get solved, or most frustrations or stresses can get solved, if you just have better communication skills. That also goes on the listening side of it as well, not to go too much in that. But I do want to ask you your book Leadership Begins With Motivation. From that I wanted to see what are some crucial aspects of leadership in your opinion, and what advice would you give to leaders really looking to improve their leadership skills? Yeah, so I've never liked the term servant leader, because it's just redundant Leader.

Speaker 2: 34:02

By definition, you are a servant. You should be. I mean, there's a pretty good book. I think it's great. Most people call it the good book. But the lead character he says the way you're going to be to the top is by starting off at the bottom and by serving others, and the best leaders are doing that all the time.

Speaker 2: 34:18

When I wrote Leadership Begins with Motivation, it was interesting because when I was a middle school teacher, I was the only teacher that none of my students ever showed up late to class, because I always started off with a Paul Harvey story. Now you're younger than me. I grew up listening to Paul Harvey on the radio. He died a few years ago at the age of 325 years old. But he had a radio program called the Rest of the Story where he'd be like I'm Paul Harvey with the rest of the story and you're trying to guess who he's talking about the entire time. And my students, they just loved it. They're like, oh, who's he talking about today?

Speaker 2: 34:48

But the problem with Paul Harvey was a lot of his stories are about people like Sears and Roebuck. Well, kids today don't know what Sears Roebuck is. And so I wrote Leadership Begins with Motivation. Completely unintentionally, I read the book and most of my examples were white male Americans, and so the latest book I wrote is called there we go, misfits and Crackpots, and this book is the same types of stories, but almost all the examples are of women, minorities and international people, and it was the most fun I've ever had writing a book Because, again, I just I don't know how to say that I was working with. So one of my goals as a trainer is I want to coach more women and minorities to get on stages, because their voices need to be heard. It's great that I can make an impact when I speak in a place like India, but when.

Speaker 2: 35:50

I was speaking at an all girls school um school in India 5,000 girls. These two girls come up to me afterwards One wants to be a lawyer, the other one wants to be a doctor. I'm like that's great. Are you going to go to university here in India? Or maybe you go to the UK or America? And they shake their heads. They're like we're girls, we can't leave India. I'm like get back in that auditorium, got them back in.

Speaker 2: 36:08

This was in 2018. I'm like now is your moment, ladies. Within five years, india is going to become the largest country on the planet in terms of population. You're a very young democracy. You're only 75 years old, yet you've already elected a woman prime minister. America still has not elected a woman president. I'm like right now, there are twice as many women in India as there are people in the United States. There are actually more women in India with a graduate degree than there are people in the United States, and I'm like you just made it my mission in life. The next CEO, the next prime minister and the next really good mom is coming out of this audience.

Speaker 2: 36:44

I think it's great that I was able to give that presentation, but think about how much more powerful if I was a woman giving that presentation to those girls and think about how much more powerful if I was an Indian woman. And I'm not saying that race and gender are everything they're not, but they are something Little kids need to see themselves in a person. You know, like there's a little Devin out there that's looking up to the big Devin, like huh, if he can do it, maybe I can do it, and so that's that's the whole point of this. This and this is. I work with leaders all the time. Everybody needs a Mickey in their corner. They need that person that's encouraging them all the time.

Speaker 2: 37:19

When I was a teacher, I used to always tell my students you know what? Sometimes you need somebody else to believe in you before you believe in yourself. I believe in all of you. They only give me the best and the brightest, so let's go out and make this world a better place. You have a person telling you that enough. I think you start to believe it. That's why people need to listen to your podcast, evan. It's positive. I was watching a horrible show on TV last week called the News and it totally depressed me because it was all these negative things happening in the world and I'm like I don't need this.

Speaker 2: 37:48

I like to be around people that are giving me solutions, not problems, so that's why people need to listen to this podcast. I love that you're an abundant thinker. You're a person that's encouraging people and giving them practical strategies, because most people are negative Nellies and most people are experts without having ever done anything in their lives. You've overcome that as well. You've actually done something, so I commend you for that.

Speaker 1: 38:15

I appreciate it. No, and it's funny that you said this horrible show. Actually, people my clients and other people are amazed when they'll tell me something. I'm like, oh, that's crazy, I didn't know that was happening. And they're like you don't watch the news.

Speaker 1: 38:28

I'm like no, honestly, I don't, I don't. And then don't watch the news. I'm like no, I honestly I don't, I don't. And it's like, and then they're like you need to, you need to, you know, listen to the news, I can find out what's going on. I was like you just told me I already, now I know what's going on. Like you know, I don't need to watch the news to find out. People are going to talk about it and I'm good and honestly, that's something that you know. I would say.

Speaker 1: 38:48

Like in college, I started to realize, you know, I, similar to yourself, not only do I try to surround myself with one positive people, but also two people that are striving for more and trying to progress themselves. Because you are, you know, the environment or you are the outcome of your environment. And it's one of those things where, even for social media, if someone's just starts posting negatively or you know it starts, you know, to post a bunch of stuff that honestly, they just get unfollowed. Like I just again, anything that you are surrounding yourself, listening to, watching, like you start to put yourself in that mindset and you know there's not not enough time in the day for you to be absorbed by that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2: 39:28

So I do I'm a Baptist in your front row saying amen, devin, I love everything you're saying. I agree completely. No.

Speaker 1: 39:36

I appreciate it. Um, before we wrap up, I do like to ask one question, right, and I and I don't give this question ahead of time because I want the first thing that comes to mind Now. I will preface it by saying that this is not a tombstone. For some reason, some people, all of a sudden, make it like a tombstone. This is your legacy wall. Right On this legacy wall, think of the one quote, the one message. It doesn't have to be just a sentence long. It could be a short story if you would like, but what is the one lasting message that you would leave for the up and coming generations?

Speaker 2: 40:07

Probably a quote from Walt Whitman be curious, not judgmental. Walt Whitman, be curious, not judgmental, the more curious you are. I mean, the greatest thing about getting older is I realize more and more how little I actually know. And I love I mean spending time with you. I've learned a lot about you. There are so many problems in the world. I'm always interested in the solutions. I'm always interested in different points of view. That's why you know you'll hear all the doom and gloom about artificial intelligence. I think artificial intelligence is wonderful. It's one of the best lessons ever. It's no longer important to have the answer. What's more important is to be able to ask the right question, and I think if we're asking better questions, then we're all going to progress a lot better. So yeah, I would love. I'm a person that just loves inspirational quotes and abundance thinking and I love. That's why I read so many books I can read. I read a lousy book the other day and the whole book was a waste of my time. But there was one story in that book that made the, and I believe if I get one thing out of a book, then it worth my time. So it was a.

Speaker 2: 41:14

It was a marketing book, actually recommended by Russell Brunson and it was about this salesman and he was going around the world trying to figure out the next big thing to sell and so he was failing everywhere. He was in Chile and he's watching these fishermen. They're fishing and they're catching fish and there's these other fish that come in the nets and they put those fish aside and you notice they were eating those fish. And he said, oh, are you eating those fish? Because you get paid for the other one. They're like well, yes, but also this fish is tastier. He's like well, may I try it? And they're like, yeah, sure, so he tries. He's like, oh, my gosh, this fish is so much better than that other fish, what's it called? And they're like the toothfish. He's like the toothfish, that's the worst name I've ever heard for it. Huh, and so he takes it to the United States and it's now the number one selling fish in America. He changed the name toothfish to Chilean sea bass.

Speaker 2: 42:12

I love that story. I'm like I had no idea that was the truth. It's just a person looking at something. Oh, I'll give it a different. I love, I just love people that are thinking that way. I'm fascinated and it's all elements of life where they're.

Speaker 2: 42:24

I mean, I was just in South Africa. I think everybody should have to go to Robben Island to learn about Mandela's 27 years of imprisonment on that island for doing something that all of us Americans take for granted. He made fun of his government, he criticized his government and he went to jail for 27 years for that, and I honestly don't know how a person like that was able to walk the face of the earth. He's one of the most incredible human. I mean, every century we get a couple of those people. You know Martin Luther King and Gandhi in the 20th century. You get like an Abraham Lincoln in the 19th. I just don't know. I love reading about people like that and so, yeah, that's a very again, a very long answer. Be curious, not judgmental. I love learning about things I know absolutely nothing about.

Speaker 1: 43:11

No, I think that is so awesome and, honestly, that's the first time someone has dropped that in their legacy wall. So I think that is so awesome, because curiosity, you know they say, kill the cat, but honestly I think curiosity is the spark to innovation and is the spark to your success. Like you have to be think about. You know, I have a three year old daughter and she's got just got into the Y phase and me and my wife just looked at each other like, oh no, we are about to go through it. We were in the car and all of a sudden she was like we're like oh, my friend's little son had to go in the other car and she's like, why? And I was like, because his mommy and daddy have a car too. Why?

Speaker 2: 43:47

And I was like you know.

Speaker 1: 43:49

So it's like it brings you back to life in general and it's like, just because something hasn't been created yet, ask why you haven't achieved your goal yet, ask why, right. And you being able to ask why allows you to uncover a lot of truths about yourself, about the world, about certain situations. So I think that is so awesome. So, guys, make sure you guys give us that five-star review and, honestly, I know you guys have got a ton from this episode because I know I personally have. So make sure you guys give us that review because it will help spread the message to more people like yourself. But, danny, thank you so much for taking the time.

Speaker 2: 44:26

Well, thank you, devin, and just as a thank you to you and your audience, I wanted to give everybody a freebie. So if you go to freestoryguidecom again your audience, I wanted to give everybody a freebie. So if you go to freestoryguycom again freestoryguycom I'll give you the blueprint on how you can create your own well-crafted story presentation. And again, I just wanted to thank you for all you do, devin. Keep on doing it, my friend.

Speaker 1: 44:46

Thank you so much, and, guys, that will be in the show notes, so make sure you guys click that link and check it out.