Keep This In Mind
What you think affects everything. Thoughts are formed before an action is taken or not. David Specht knows this all too well and has made it his mission to help people contend with their thoughts and overall health. He interviews many inspiring people and brings practical tips to his audience.
Keep This In Mind
Debunking the Personal Development Hype: Authentic Growth vs. Profit-Driven Gimmicks with Omar Medrano
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Is the personal development industry truly helping people, or has it become just another profit-driven marketplace? Join me, David A. Specht, and my guest Omar Medrano, as we unpack the noise and uncover the reality behind the personal development hype. We dive into the significance of mindset and shed light on the superficiality that often overshadows genuine growth. Our conversation is designed to help you identify sincere coaches who are committed to your success, rather than just selling you the next quick fix.
Through heartfelt anecdotes and candid reflections, we explore the importance of personal commitment and the dangers of chasing high-energy events without taking actionable steps. One story about a family friend's daughter illustrates the hard truth: no one can desire your success more than you do. As we critique the commercialization of the industry, we challenge the impact of flashy conferences and the "10X" philosophy, advocating instead for authentic transformation and meaningful relationships.
In the final segments, we pull back the curtain on the podcasting and coaching worlds, discussing the prevalence of fake followers and the influence of so-called gurus. We share our own journeys and stress the value of authenticity, emphasizing the fulfillment that comes from helping others realize their potential. By adopting an abundance mindset and focusing on genuine human connections, our goal is to provide practical advice for navigating the personal development landscape and seeking out real, supportive mentors. Tune in, and let's debunk the myths together.
Hello there, I'm David A Specht and I want to be your coach. If there's anything that I've learned in my 30 plus years of leadership and coaching, I have learned that mindset is everything. Join me and my guests as we explore the positives and negatives of that thing between our ears. This is Keep this In Mind, all right, all right, all right. This is Keep this In Mind, all right, all right, all right. Welcome to Keep this In Mind. Brought to you by davidaspectcom and, of course, I am David A Spect. Today's show is going to be a little bit different, folks.
Speaker 1I had the privilege of being on the Omar Medrano's podcast what If it Did Work? Just recently, and it was more of a discussion than an interview. We go way back and we are both coaches, we are both mentors. We have been in the personal development space for a long time and we had a real enlightening discussion about that space and what people should look for when seeking out a coach or seeking out help, a mentor or just anything in the personal development space, and I just felt like it was a great discussion and so I asked Omar. I said, hey, brother, can I use our podcast interview on the Keep this In Mind show and he was like dude, you don't have to ask permission and I'm like, but I always will. So, without further ado, here's my discussion on personal development and coaching, with the great Omar Medrano as a host of Keep this In Mind podcast.
Speaker 2David and his guests help people with their mindset on a variety of subjects. Just real quick, dude, you need to update that, that's this is like the old you man.
Speaker 1Oh my gosh. It was like. That was like right after I launched the book, which was 18 months ago. So much in the world has changed in the last 18 months. And I'm sitting there just rocking along, going. Oh, you know, I made a book. I lost a bunch of weight, man, the whole world's changed, you know. There's a whole different outlook and, to be honest with you, there's a whole lot more noise out there than there used to be. And I don't know about your social media feeds, but I'm just getting pitched left and right about everything under the sun. I mean, you breathe, about vitamins and the next thing you know, you're getting like 18 different offers for the next multivitamin mushroom, coffee, lion's mane, whatever it. Just it's just so much. And for me it's like let's just tune out the noise, guys, let's work on the workable.
Speaker 2Well, you know, when this airs, next wednesday, which july 24th, not only is it simone boulevard day, which is the george washington in south america, it's yours truly, I'm turning 51 and I have to say, man, when it comes to social media, I get plenty of boner ads, I get plenty of ads for hair and ads for testosterone therapy. You know, pretty soon it'll be funeral expenses. You know, prepay, I mean, come on man. Reverse mortgages.
Speaker 1Reverse mortgages. I'm going to have the bonds man, hey Omar.
Speaker 2It's time man, it's time for that reverse mortgage.
Speaker 1You know, and that's the problem with the world today right, it's like everything is marketing, everything is marketing. So, even if you've got a great solution, there's so much marketing out there that people have a difficult time figuring out what's the real thing and what's just the BS. That some guy is trying to leverage his 5,000 views into a Lambo right. It's just like finding the people who are genuinely trying to help somebody else. It's needle in the haystack Con.
Speaker 2Oh, my gosh, I'd say, for the past five years of being in this journey, I've met more PT Barnum's and I've met more gurus. And what you know people fail to realize is these gurus, that's not the real them man, that's like an actor, lights, camera, action. They're like hey, everybody, whatever, whatever, you know, I don't want to call them out, but you know they're all the same and they're not sincere. That's not their authentic selves. But you know they're all the same and they're not sincere. That's not their authentic selves. And then you know, when you meet them, and then you realize or you work for them or you work with them and you're like holy smokes man. Well, I want, I want to meet, I want to know the guy that wrote that book or the guy that's that's doing all those videos Right, and really our relationship was started a very similar way.
Speaker 1I mean, you were a speaker at an event that I attended. I came up to you because you were so transparent about your being, your introverted nature, your social awkwardness, and that you can speak in front of a group. You know, it's just like your TED talk. By the way, if you haven't watched his TED talk, you're one of the few who haven't, because it's got like 8 million views or something.
Speaker 2Dude, you're speaking of the thing. I actually saw it for the first time two days ago.
Speaker 1I watched it all the way through and when I reached out to you and I'm like, hey, let's stay in relationship, you were open to it and it had nothing to do with sign up for your latest thing. I mean, I hired you as a coach but it wasn't until we had a relationship for probably well over a month, and I think that's really the difference maker is that so many people see dollar signs and they don't see the person. You know, and I tried to in my coaching business and you know that I I mean pick a lane right. I can coach in just about any lane that there is, other than probably football, because I just don't get defense and women's basketball and women's basketball.
Speaker 2There's someone better in the murph that that can. That I would hire for women's basketball, I think.
Speaker 1I, yeah, I think women's basketball, I think kim mulkey, anyway, but anyway, me too, me too. But the truth of the matter is, is that that you know, of the people I've met and I do this at every seminar I attend I, you know they all throw the QR code up, they're all like follow me on this. You know, you can, you can, you know you get their, their, their Instagram or their Facebook or their LinkedIn. I message each and every speaker that I ever attend and I say thank you for taking time, thank you for pointing to me, blah, you know, et cetera. And I wait and I watch and I see if they authentically respond or do they put me into an onboarding series of emails or marketing series of texts or whatever.
Speaker 1And it's the ones that are authentic enough to reach back to me that I developed some really good relationships with and I think, in a lot of ways, that is the difference maker between the showboat and, you know, the guy that's like, hey, there's 7 billion people on planet Earth, you know, move on to the next one. And the people who really want to make an impact. You know there's world changers, or want to be world changers, who think they have to change a billion people. And there's the real world changers, who change the world for one person.
Speaker 2Well, I told you and it's even in my book, the whole basis of this podcast, the whole basis for my first book is just if I could change one person positive and then after that let's go for two, let's go for three. But you know, I've never told people I'm a guru and I never tell look at people like their chase, and what I mean by chase is a checking account number and that's, that's so inauthentic. And when you, I mean I'm a Zig Ziglar follower. If you want success, help out enough people in here. I'll tell you that story.
Speaker 2When I went to New Jersey for that paid speaking event back in january or february for that pharmacy, for the food additive, um, for the sales people, uh, it was a woman and she originally wanted me to bought both books. Read it fan wanted me to coach her son and her son, you know, when it comes to business, for personal development, you know you can. You know, when it comes to business or personal development, you know you can't, you have to want it yourself. It's very invasive. So the guy told me, you know it wasn't a fit because I couldn't look at his goals. His only goals that he wanted was to own a publicly traded corporation ski resort like Vail or you know, Steamboat, which you know okay, and this guy's 30.
Speaker 2And the second one was he wanted to own he was at least specific the Atlanta Braves. So he wanted both. I mean, you know, big, big, like somebody would say big dreams, big goals, big ideas, and that he could never be happy or he would treat his wife like crap and he'd be upset till he made, like you know, whatever dollar sign amount and I never charged her and I'm like, hey, look, I don't want your money. And she was, you know, amazed and, being a big fan, she got me the speaking gig with her, her corporation. But if it was the other way around, I would have never had the ability for someone to fly me out to I mean it was Newark, but still to feel to get a it's a big US city right, yeah.
Speaker 2Yeah, and you know professionals. I mean, I would have done it for free. Now, if somebody's like you know, we'll fly you out there and we'll pay for one night hotel and stroke you a check. I was like, but that would have never have happened if I would have been chasing the kid, chasing the cash and like knowing well that it would never happen. It would never be a fit. But just pay for three months, four months, let's see how many thousands I can. I can bilk this woman, yeah, but other people would be the other way around.
Authenticity Over Hype in Personal Development
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah you know, and I've and I've, you know, I've been on the opposite side of that where I knew it probably wasn't going to work out, but they were so dead set about doing it. You're absolutely right. In personal development you got to really, you know, focus on the personal. And I'll tell you a quick story. I met a man who is a family friend and we got talking and he asked me what I do and I told him I was a, you know, I was a life, business and health coach and kind of explained to him my methodology and stuff. And he's like, man, my daughter needs to, really needs to get in your program. And I'm like, ok, tell me about your daughter. You know, and you know, and you know she was basically a college graduate from a major university. Graduate from a major university gets to her first job in her chosen vocation and had a bad experience. And now she wants to quit and go into retail, you know, and just go work at Starbucks or whatever. And what I told him was I said, but does she want this? I said I can give people tools, but if they don't want to use them or they, they, and he goes oh no, we're going to go see her, we'll get on a zoom, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1Well, long story short, he paid for a month of coaching and I could. I couldn't get her, I couldn't find her with a search warrant. I mean it was like I would text there's no answer, or I would send a message and it would be like two days later oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see this. And so finally, I was like you know what? I'm just going to cancel this. Somebody can't want it for you more than you want it for yourself. No, because you will not do the work, you will not take the tools. You'll end up you know, I tag all of my shows at the end You've heard it probably way too many times where I say applied knowledge is power.
Speaker 1So many people are consuming knowledge and they never do anything with it. And then they begin to blame the person who gave them that knowledge, and that just irks the mess out of me, and you know, that's why I'm very choosy. I'm only going to bring on people who are really interested in what I have to offer, because if not, it's a waste of time for both of us, and I'm too old to be wasting time. I don't have enough of it left.
Speaker 2I hear you, man, but speaking of time and everybody goes sometimes I think what the problem is is when you're sincere, when you're authentic. People are so used to the flash, people are so used to the flash, people are so used to the the dopamine. People don't understand, like las vegas casinos, the reason why the bling and the noise and the flashing lights is because it hits, yeah, and that's why people, you know they'll, they'll beat, they'll con you out because they have the smoke and and they, you know, they hire a professional videographer to follow them around and they rent like a luxury car and they rent the mansion. It's like, oh, this guy knows, or oh, my gosh, he's, he's authentic, he's certified John Maxwell, he must be one of john maxwell's protégés. It's like no man, this guy took a friggin course and paid john maxwell.
Speaker 1he never met the man yeah, I mean, yeah, it's true. Um, the, the commercialization of personal development has really diluted the personal development space. And I'm like you. I'm not the guy that's going to get on stage and scream and try to get high, high energy in the room. I mean, I can act a fool just as good as anybody, but at the end of the day, is the hype going to move the needle in your business and in your life? No, it's not. You'll come out of there on fire, but then you'll go back to the same depressing office that you came from or the same depressing house or the same depressing life. Until you have the idea that you can take that step back and see what's possible, and then see the pathway to what's possible, you're never going to do anything in that direction. You're just going to come out going, yeah, that was awesome, all right. And then the next thing, you know it's like the next one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And see, I'm near Nashville.
Speaker 1There's a personal development conference every frigging week. I could go broke just going to all the conferences that are around. It's like I went to a conference a few months back and it was about multifamily real estate investing. Now, I'm not into multifamily real estate investing, but a friend offered to comp the ticket. I wanted to go, I wanted to be in a room, see who I could meet, and I was just like every other conference I've ever been to.
Speaker 1You bring in the warm-up guy, you have five guys that are so-so and then you close out with the keynote speaker and they all talk about, you know, roughly the same things.
Speaker 1They will give you some tips, but you know, hey, snap the QR code to go deeper, and which is fine. Again, I understand the point of a conference, but what I'm saying is I guarantee you, if every real estate conference I'll go run into the same 50 people, because that's all they do, is go to conferences. They don't ever take that thing and say you know what, I'm going to apply it. Or take a meeting that was in the seminar with somebody that they sat next to and say, hey, let's grab coffee or let's go to dinner or let's do a Zoom and just find out more about each other and see if we can do business together. Nobody does that. They're just all about the hype and the hopium and it's just like stop, start doing the work, start heading in a direction, start taking an action and have you noticed, all these seminars and conferences are Nashville, Las Vegas, Miami, Florida, LA.
Speaker 2I wonder why Orlando? Oh, because you're number one in conventions. Why are they number one in conventions? Oh, because people want to go. I mean, you never see them. Like, like you know, Piscataway Um three, three days. In Piscataway, New Jersey, you will be floored as we teach you how to 100X.
Speaker 1Hey, yeah, I mean Grant Cardone's not having conferences in Lake Charles and by God, that's where he's from. They don't even know. You know what I mean. It's like, dude, you could be like bringing people to Lake Charles, louisiana, and really showcasing your state and showcasing where you came from, but instead, no, we're going to go down to, we're going to go down to Cancun and have a 10x event.
Speaker 2Of course, of course. It's never in Idaho, it's never in Montana, yeah, never in New Jersey, delaware.
Speaker 1Connecticut. I get it. You know you want to have a destination location, you want to have a one hop Right. You don't want to have to change planes to get there. But at the same time, how many people can't afford to do that? How many people are you missing out on because you're not good for me, that's. I would rather speak to every chamber of commerce board in the state of Louisiana than to speak to a Bridgestone arena filled of people who are not going to take any action. I'd rather do that, and and I don't think everybody has that, that mindset- Because I mean you're Instagram famous man.
Speaker 2If you could take a couple of pics just to view on stage at at an arena, oh my gosh, that means you've arrived. I mean you could be talking about pet dog shampoo or you know you, you could be just talking about whatever. But just, you know people, people go for, for that, they, they go for. I mean everybody posts a pic or a selfie with a guru. That's not that hard, man. If you have money you can get the picture. Doesn't mean this guy's best friends yeah, I have. You know, I've known gc forever. So there's no, no recent pics, because you know what's the point. But people think, if I could easily start posting all my pics, I've, I've. I had the pic with anthony robbins, I, I had the pic with g V, I had the picks with GC, with John Maxwell. Should I be like you know?
Speaker 1hey, look, this shows no, because it's an authentic man and I think people see through that BS now. I think early on it was and I didn't expect the podcast to be a hey, this is the problem, all the problems with personal development right now.
Speaker 2No, man, we're just riffing.
True Transformation in Personal Development
Speaker 1But really, gary Vee said it right. He's like every good idea, marketers screw up because they oversaturate. And the truth of the matter is, yeah, it made a big deal when, if you got your picture with Maxwell before, there were, like you said, 15,000 of John Maxwell coaches in the world. You know that. That. That it meant something. It doesn't mean anything now because it is a selfie world that we live in. I mean that to me, that I want to get to the crux of it. I want to get to the meat of it. I want to know. You know I don't mean to pick on Grant Cardone and maybe I'll get lucky and he'll call me out, I don't know. But like when I listened to the book 10X Method or 10X Formula or just 10X, I don't remember 10X.
Speaker 1That's all. It was 10X your effort, 10x your action, 10x your whatever. And that was the entire book, for I listened to it. It was probably four hours, five hours, and I'm like and I closed the book and I go, this dude doesn't know jack squat. Now again, I don't discount what he's done, I don't discount his ability, but that book did zero for me. It did zero for me and I guarantee you there's a lesser known person out there that's written a book that's way better. That would really move the needle, whether it's what, if it Did Work, or Old Dogs, new Tricks, or you know. Oh yeah, absolutely, they're my favorites.
Speaker 2They're my favorites too. I grew up with one of the artists. They're my favorites. They're my favorites too. I grew up with one of the artists.
Speaker 1But they're not getting seen because they're not loud, they're not in front of the Learjet and they're not in front and I'm just, but now removed. You know, I think it was during COVID. So what? Four years removed from when I listened to 10X during COVID? So four years removed from when I listened to 10X, people are not jumping in like they once were, because they are conceived to the BS, they're tired of the noise and they want somebody or somebodies that will literally take them through the process and not leave them hanging when they get to the end of the checkbook.
Speaker 1And that's my goal in life is to build lifelong friends, relationships, mentees. You know people I coach whatever. I want to coach somebody to the place where we share a stage together. I want to coach somebody to the place where they come to me with a business offer because I've helped them really upgrade their business. I want somebody to come and ask me to be at their kid's baptism because they were headed down a path of destruction and now they're married and have kids. That's my definition of success, not what the bank account says Now. Granted, we got to pay the bills. We all want the nice house, we all want nice things, and there's nothing wrong with that. But like Zig Ziglar said, in order to get everything you want, help somebody else get everything they want. And we're not doing that as a culture right now. We're all going after what I want and what I can get out of it at the very beginning of the relationship, and that is just. It's mind boggling to me.
Speaker 2Well, it's like wham bam, thank you, man. Or it's like let me suck you dry, let's see how much money we can get from you. And once you're tapped out, it's never like well, are you a success? Or what can you do, or what have you done? Or let me get you there. You know it's taking us longer. Instead it's like oh well, see ya, call me when you have more money. It's like that's, it's like a whore relationship, it's a prostitution.
Speaker 1Well, it's transaction versus transformation. It takes time for a transformation to occur and sometimes, most of the time, it takes a transaction on the beginning. But if the transaction is the only thing you care about, the transformation is never going to take place. And if you're a coach, if you're in personal development and you're not about transformation, you need to get out. If you're about transaction, go sell cars, go sell marketing, go sell whatever. But if you're, don't, be a coach. Please get out of the space, because there's those of us who want to help people transform their lives and you're getting in our way of being able to do what we're called to do.
Speaker 2Amen, and you know I it's like let's have everybody win. You know it's that. That's the abundance mindset, it's not the scarcity. Well, okay, I tap this person dry. Let me go find my next client. Well, and.
Speaker 1I'm going to use a sports scenario that perfectly illustrates this. Even when you hit success, or you start to hit success, if you're in a scarcity, transactional mindset, you get mad about how it's happening. Look at the WNBA Everybody's mad at Caitlin Clark because she's filling up arenas, and you know well our arena should have been filled up based upon all of our license. You know we're talented players. We're way more talented and I'm like be happy that your arenas are full, be happy that, that your league is lifting up, but you're going to get pissed that it's because it's this girl from Iowa.
Speaker 2Give me a break, but we were old enough to remember the NBA was an afterthought. I mean, it delays, no, it was like the fourth league competing with hockey. And then, you know, michael jordan came along and nobody, nobody. Now they try to knock the hell out of them, but everybody's grateful and they're to this day. They're very grateful because before him there were none of these amazing, you know, million dollar shoe deals.
Speaker 1Right and and I think that that is what's plaguing our culture, especially in the coaching space, but our culture as a whole it's like Enjoy your opportunity. Enjoy your opportunity and regardless of you if you were the catalyst for it or not, regardless, if you're 55 and you're now just finally starting to hit your stride, don't get pissed that it took you 55 years. Be happy that, at age 55, you're starting to hit your stride. And until we get into the mindset of I'm going after the very best version of myself, making the most impact that I was called to make on this planet. It's always going to be about what you can get out of somebody or something, and yet it's so much more fulfilling when you're. You know they say it's better to give than receive, but really and truly in the giving there is a reciprocal, almost a dopamine hit that you get when you're in abundance and you can bless another individual or another group out of your abundance. That is way more of a high than all the, than standing in front of a Lambo.
Speaker 2Well, and then I don't to. You know, everybody loves every denomination.
Speaker 1We're Christians. Yeah. 1s, 10s, 5s, 20s.
Speaker 2Yeah, we're Christian, we're Christian. No, you're not. Christian means to act and be more Christlike, but, but you know, every actions need to be aligned with words, plain and simple. Man, I mean, heck, you know, when you're an amazing person, when you're a good guy, when you help people out, you don't have to do that, you don't have to announce it. A lot of times, though, these fake people shoot. If they gave a $5 bill to a homeless person, I'm sure they'd have their professional videographer filming it or staging it. Maybe, hey, we need one of you guys to come dressed up as a homeless guy. Well, I give you a hundred dollar bill, but make sure to give me the a hundred dollar bill. After you know, we stopped filming.
Speaker 1Yeah, and and and. It all gets back to you know, we, we, we talked about content creation 10 years ago. You know content is king, but what we've done is like we, we have twisted it to the place where it's content over everything, and that's just not the way it is. We're losing our humanity by worrying so much. Now, don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1If I'm speaking, I want somebody to video it. If I'm being on a podcast, you bet I'm going to be clipping part of our conversation and putting it out there. That's part of the game, but that's not the game. And I'm seeing so many out there that are making it the game. And for me, I check out, I'm not going to lie, I check out. I've quit listening to more podcasts in the last year. I'm not going to lie, I check out. I've quit listening to more podcasts in the last year. I've quit watching more videos in the last year because it's just all the same crap. And I'm like I want somebody to reach out to me, to talk to me as me, not five points.
Speaker 1And if you follow our five-step program, you're going to have a million dollars in the bank in 90 days. Oh, really, you're going to have, you know, a million dollars in the bank in 90 days, oh really. Well, what's the steps? Well, you need to join our mastermind and be a part of our mastermind group that meets every week. And, oh really, what are we going to do in the mastermind group? Well then, you might need some one-on-one coaching. And one-on-one coaching not with me now, with one of my highly trained official, david, a spec coaches.
Speaker 2And it's just like this is bs man, I'm out, I'm out well, when it comes to content and podcasts, I look at your stuff because I'm biased. I don't look at my own stuff because, you know, just weird, I don't need to listen to the podcast anymore. I know I don't say all that, I've gotten better, I'm aware of that, just feel weird, I don't know something psychological. And then still, andy Frisola, definitely Ed Milet, you know the hopes. Maybe season four, is not it? Maybe season five? You know, at the end of the day, like we, we've gone too far to just stop Right. You know, you don't know if, if you're that much, you're that close, and once you quit man, you quit on your dream, you quit on yourself, you, what's, what's the point? Right? What the point? Right? What? What would what would be the point? Be? David, this.
Speaker 2It's like okay, three, three years plus one episode, and I'm going home because things didn't go my way. Then I'm full of shit, especially you know my book is full of shit, especially you know my book is full of shit. Then everything I say is full of shit and it's like, no, I'm. And when somebody wants to take a shot, I mean, what you see is what you get.
Speaker 2Man, nobody, nobody's ever said I'm a phony. After they've met me they're like, oh yeah, that guy's that guy. That guy can be weird at times, or that guy is socially awkward, but that's fine. But nobody's like, oh my God, but if I quit, then I've lied to them and I've lied to myself. So the only thing is you have to have that mindset and I tell people all the time you're only one podcast away, you're only one phone call away, you're only one presentation away. You know, you're only one reel away. Now the getting all these likes and so cyber hugs and all that, what does it do? I don't know, but at least you know. And would it sell more books? Not really, but you know, for you and I to make money off selling our books, we'd have to be like right next to JK Rowling.
Speaker 1Well, yeah, that's the fallacy of the space right of the space, right it's. Oh, you know, and I list myself as an Amazon bestseller because you know, I was in the top three for 15 minutes when the book debuted. Okay, that, that, that that that's Well me too.
Speaker 1I've never that's the story behind the story. But at the same time, you know I sell my book for $14.99. Out of that $14.99, I may get $4. Do the math To make any significant income. We're talking about having to sell thousands of books. And remember it takes $10,000 to be a Wall Street Journal bestseller. Even at $10,000, at $4 of books, that's only $40,000.
Speaker 1I mean give me a break Even in Topeka, kansas, it's like, okay. Well then, why did you write the book? Because I want people to know the message. I want people to learn from my mistakes. I want people to be better at what they are. And you know what I want people to cyber, stop me and say, oh, he is well, I'm going to get his book and check him out and then they can make an honest decision on whether or not I'm their guy. I'm the one that they want you know, coaching them in their life.
Speaker 1That, to me, that is the point, because unless you're Barack Obama, you're not going to go sell a million books out the gate. So you better be writing your book for the right reason, and I'm not looking for the many, I'm looking for the few who want to go on the journey with me. And I'm from Northwest Louisiana. We don't know whether we're Texas, arkansas or Louisiana. We ain't Cajun, but we ain't country either, and I may have a worldview that's slightly different, or I can look at a situation that's slightly different than the way you would, based upon your upbringing and your worldview. That will help you see things and keep things in mind, to help you move forward, and that's really what a good coach can do for you is to help you take that step back, because when you're in the weeds man, you're just chopping down. You got the machete and you're chopping. You don't even know where you're going.
Speaker 2Most of the time, being from Louisiana, are you going to say like go Tigers Never.
Speaker 1Never, never. No, I'll take that back. I do say go Tigers during women's basketball.
Speaker 2And when they play Bama, because nobody can cheer for Bama, nobody can handle Bama yeah, it's just no fun.
Speaker 1Or when they play Texas A&M, because I just oh, they're carpetbaggers.
Speaker 2Man, I'm a traditionalist, I'm just accepted.
Speaker 1I'm waiting for the reemergence of Swanee University, of the South, coming back to the SEC and Tulane.
Speaker 2Tulane man, I'm sure the Green Wave these days are like man man.
Speaker 1We missed out on a billion dollars yeah, they were vanderbilt, before there was vanderbilt exactly.
Speaker 2But I mean in the grand scheme of things. You know, everything happens for a reason, and I know we're. Are we at the tipping point? Only god knows and you know it's always about god's timing. I know we'll get there. It's just, you know, we impatient because we don't want it on god's time, we want it on our own time.
Speaker 1And, as we were discussing here, I'm like okay, so we talk about all the problems, what makes Omar and David different? What makes Omar's podcast different? What makes David's podcast different? Well, I will tell you from listening to many of your podcasts mainly when I'm mowing my grass because it's an hour and it takes an hour to mow the grass you get into very authentic conversations with your guests and you help them unravel their story in such a way that the listener comes away with a deeper understanding of, not only the guests but a lot of times themselves On my show, what I have found, at least personally and again, I'm like you, I don't listen to my own show a lot of times but I will tell you what a lot of guests say during the course of our interviews.
Speaker 1They will say, oh my gosh, nobody has ever asked me that question before. And I believe you know there's professional podcast guests out there and they know what they want to say and they know what they're going to get to and the points they're wanting to make. And when a guest says that to me, that tells me that I've done my job right. And what's funny is like you've probably seen this happen too. It's like when you have a good interview on a podcast, that guest wants to introduce you to other people, that they want to have guests on your show. In fact, a couple of the guests that you referred my way did that very thing. And so to the listener here it's like okay, what makes us different, those things? Why? Because we love what we do. We don't do it for the result, we do it for the process.
Speaker 1And that took I don't know about you, but that took me a long time to embrace, because I've been doing this process a long time. And that guy who quit after two years because nobody was listening, that was me in 2012. I did a show from 2012 to 2015, and I quit because I was pissed that I was only getting 200 downloads per episode. But think about this If I could say I'm going to be in a room with 200 people every week, I would be like heck, yeah, sign me up. But we've been so programmed that if it's not, you know, if it's not five digits, then it's somehow a failure. And so I get back to I'm not any better and I'm not any smarter, I've just made mistakes earlier to where I can help people, not make the same and that 200.
Speaker 2If you think about it, man, it like what you said, it's like being in a starbucks at it, it's just like that subway player playing. At times they've had, like you know, actual, like you too, and people don't even notice, but you have, you have a captive audience at the subway, like at the Starbucks. People actually are there 200. If somebody's like you know, people quit because they're only getting 50, 70 views and they're a business. Well, heck, man, I used to go outside with the frigging arrow sign. If somebody would have told me a million years ago hey, you know, just just post a, a reel which we didn't know it was called back then on this thing and you'll get 50 new people to know about you. And if you do it again the next day and then the next day you can possibly even if you're capped out at a hundred people. That's way better than like paying a shit ton of print ads.
Speaker 1Yeah, for shit returns and yeah and it's, and I love it and I'm gonna we're kind of, you know, again pulling the curtain back a little bit, but it's not about the 200 that listen right now. It is to some extent, but it's also about the one person who you meet that has a problem. And you go, wait a minute. I had a podcast episode where we dove into a problem just like that with a guest and you send them that podcast episode and they actually listen to it and they're like, wow, that's what I needed to hear. Or you send them that real TikTok yeah, can we go back to Vine To that person and they're like, wow, that's exactly what I need to hear, that's what I needed to see, thank you.
Speaker 1People don't think about those moments, they just only think about the cha-ching moments.
Speaker 1And for me and for you and for the ones that really matter out there, it's never about the cha-ching.
Speaker 1The cha-ching will take care of itself if we take care of the people and that's been my mantra in the newspaper business, speaking of print with shitty returns to marketing.
Speaker 1That's been the overall goal is, if you take care of the client, if you take care of the community, the client and the community will take care of you and if I if, if I'm honest enough, I never really saw that until times got hard and I got I could take that step back and I like, oh, wow, you know, I was really blessed by that relationship, or I could pick up the phone, or you know, or I could I could email my, my friend, the Congressman, and ask him to read my book and give me an endorsement if he thought it worthy and oh, by the way, he's now Speaker of the House. You know, you can't buy relationships like that. There's more than just a cha-ching. There's a real human being that you are in relationship with that really matters to you and you matter to them, and that is what personal development, coaching and all that should be about. It should be.
Speaker 2You know, that sounds like a great idea, man.
Speaker 1I I think it's time to to whip out some more free, like another free webinar yeah, what you want to do, we'll go ahead and have a staff meeting right here on on on the podcast. I mean, it is the. It is season four. I was going to make a joke about where we're broadcasting from the four seasons in honor of this.
The Reality of Podcasting and Coaching
Speaker 2Oh, people would believe it. Yeah, you're gonna laugh. My, my mom's like, because mia's actually, a couple weeks ago youngest, my oldest committed to LSU. She starts in August, but she wants to go to University of Florida a degree in journalism, for some crazy reason, like me. So she took a week-long trip to Gainesville and she told my mom that she's learning about podcasting and whatnot. And my mom told me me, just like last week, why don't I start a podcast? Oh yes, living the dream man. I'm like shit. Your own mom doesn't even know you got a podcast. It's like so it's Patrick by David Joe Rogan and then Omar they're, like you know, number three for podcast downloads omar, madrano and I don't know what.
Speaker 1This the new podcast that supposedly I need to create I tell you what, now that I'm thinking about it, why don't we do a webinar on that very subject, peeling the pulling the curtain back, telling people about the real and the fake, how easy it is and how hard it is, and even give, like you know, who we use to broadcast it? How do we get it out to the masses? What are the real numbers look like? Do we get it out to the masses, what are the real numbers look like? And really kind of talk to people? Because one of the things you and I do in our business coaching space you more than me, but certainly I do some of it is connecting people to be on podcasts, or connecting people with a podcast, with guests, and so we can talk about even that process, because I've done a few things you know outside of your, my relationship to get people onto the show, so that that might be a really good.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, definitely, Because I mean the ins and outs of you know, not hashtag winning, because we could buy 10, 20,000 fake followers and I guess I looks good at full disclosure. Yes, I do have fake followers and I guess I looked good at full disclosure. Yes, I do have fake followers. I I hooked up a guy that's on um with a couple clients and he's uh, he was a podcast guest so he gave me like 20 000, but I still have like 30 000 or whatever real ones. But does that equal to that? And 250 copy of the us city today? Yeah, you know, I'm the first one to admit there's fakes out there, but people do buy these things and think, oh my god, I you know people are gonna think I'm a rock star, I've got a hundred thousand followers. No, you don't man.
Speaker 2No no but yeah, I think that'd be a great thing to discuss. I mean, we've done everything Heck. I've spent thousands of dollars, hundreds of thousands of dollars on gurus that at the end, meant jack shit. I mean, I helped their checking account, I helped their legacy, but you know, I got nothing in return.
Speaker 1Yeah, and I've done the same, not to the decimal points that you have, but I have done the same. I will say that the most, two things that really have changed my life, two things that really have changed my life Number one in this space, now, let's say that because my life was changed when I gave it to Christ. But number one was actually seeing people on stage in different types of settings and realizing, oh, this isn't that hard. And realizing, oh, this isn't that hard, that you can walk out on a stage and give an address, a keynote, and be okay with it.
Speaker 1Number two the University of YouTube. Because if I had a question about anything of how to do it, I would dive into YouTube videos and begin to look and get the nuts and bolts down. You still have to develop the skill, but you can get the nuts and bolts pretty stinking easily. And now in today's world, chat, gpt, I mean, and all the other AI tools out there but being able to take somebody through that process and say, look, it's not as hard as you think. But the problem is is, when you peel back the curtain, the sense of peel back the curtain, the sense of awe goes away. The sense of awe goes away, oh, completely there's no.
Speaker 2uh, the only person I'll be in awe of on stage these days is if the end of days is upon us and jesus christ himself is on stage. Everybody else. I won't do the 10X, I won't do any of that bullshit. I'm not a monster, you know, not living with a monster, any of that shit. And yeah, no, I'm grateful for Anthony Robbins, but he'd be the first one I've seen him tell. I mean, he even told me you know, I'm like man, you saved my life. He's like no, you saved your own life, you did the own work. Now every other frigging guru like you better believe it.
Speaker 2Give me another 25,000. Now I've got this new program.
Speaker 1And when this and when the sense of awe goes, it doesn't mean you can't get anything out of it, but it does mean you become more critical because you do realize it's not as hard as they portray it to be. And then you get really critical and you start like, oh, your lighting sucks, your sound sucks, why don't you have a videographer here? Why don't you have a photographer here? What are you even thinking? And just know that that's the caveat when we, when we pull back the curtain and maybe that's what we'll call it, pulling back the curtain on podcasting and coaching, etc.
Speaker 2Um, I tell people, and you know it, it's, it's a prop which I mean. I don't even know why I I had the mic there because I haven't shit microphone, but mine's actually hooked up because I haven't posted anything to YouTube. I'm in my living room, the Peloton's right behind me, I don't have a glitzy studio and you know, three years later, you know everybody, everybody's into this bullshit. Well, I need a full. I need to go rent a studio somewhere to to do a podcast crazy how many people are doing that now oh, it's a business, now house.
Speaker 1You know where they have the facing chairs?
Speaker 2and yes, yes, and it's like, are you serious? And I've had people, I've had guests tell me, well, where is where I'll be on your episode. But where, where, where do we shoot? And I'm like, what do you mean? I'm like I've only done a couple of live and it's, you know me with a recorder, a digital recorder, and that's, you know, that's a pain in the ass. And then I've I've had people tell me no, when, when, zoom, I thought this was done in the studio And'm like, well, you thought wrong, you've got wrong, bitch, how much are you gonna pay me? Maybe I should be like you know john lee dumas and all that, and go okay, well, or I'll be like real bradley, I'll. Hey, bitches you want to be on. What if it did work? 500 bucks.
Speaker 1Here's the thing.
Speaker 2John Lee Dumas, you know he did it out of his living room, probably still does, but now his living room's down in Puerto Rico because he's avoiding taxes, you know the craziest thing is that there are podcasts besides his pay to play and and it's not like huge numbers, I can understand if, if, like friggin andy frisella, which they don't, or or friggin, you know, ed, my lat or any of the big guys was like hey, you know, we only, we only charge people. I understand, but when I was part of the stages which is a money grab for GC, we'll get you a lot of my guests, or this is it like. While we wait, you will be on Lewis Howes, you will be on Andy Frisilla, but for now you can be on Omar Medrano. What if it did work? And you know what? He's an alum of this program.
Navigating Personal Development and Gurus
Speaker 1Yeah, exactly Exactly. And for the audience, you know this isn't a gripe session, this is a reality check. We, we, we've been there, done that, we're a little. We may be slightly further down the road. We, we may be. We may have just burst your bubble with regard to gurus and and and personal development, but the truth of the matter is personal development exists because it's needed and it's bastardized because it's needed because marketers and certain people see the cash register. But the truth of the matter is the cash register wouldn't ring if it wasn't solving a problem. It's just you've got to find the right people to help you solve your problems. Again, I'm biased. The two people on this podcast have the heart and the experience and the knowledge to help a lot of people navigate this thing called life, navigate this thing called business and even navigate this thing called personal development.
Speaker 2I thought you were going to start singing Prince, believe it or not, when you said navigate, this thing called life. I thought, you were going to were saying let's go crazy.
Speaker 1Oh, I mean, and it doesn't matter people, you don't have to be gen x, but you'll get our references if you are.
Speaker 2But oh no, it just went straight to my head when you said that, because that's the only time yeah with, yeah I when I need that shrink. You know that because that's the only time you know with, you know when I need that shrink.
Speaker 1You know that, beverly hills everything, all right, yeah, but yeah no it's had it right too, though, and that was back in 84, yeah and you know what I mean.
Speaker 2Probably one of the most unappreciated musicians, but this is how it works once you die everybody. Oh my god, I didn't realize. He played every instrument yeah well, I mean I'm sure it said it all. I mean I was always a you know not my type of music, but the guy always evolved. I loved his old stuff but yeah it was.
Speaker 1I remember prince coming on the scene when I was in middle school and these you know what it was was the kids wanted his tape because he swore on it, he was singing about sex and all this stuff until he became a jehovah witness yeah, he went from little nicky to all of a sudden door knocking.
Speaker 2Yeah but, yeah no, I said. I say let's. Let's go for it, man, Because you know people, they, a guru, will tell you you have to spend your last dime and I've heard every one of them say this is your last dime, it's money well spent and it's like are you fucking for real? You just said if, said if the person only has $2,000 left to buy this fucking program. I couldn't tell that to anybody with a straight face. I couldn't even say it joking. Oh yeah, Omar, I only have 500 bucks left. Can you mentor me? Okay, dude, I'll mentor you, free mentor you free man?
Speaker 1yeah, yeah, I'll help you. What? What can I do? How can I? Yeah, there's a show that I binge watch. Yeah, that's right, I. I actually binge watch things on netflix, which is what every guru tells you don't do. Go build your business, don't binge watch. Look, I've heard that so many times. It makes me sick. Anyway, bitch, watch show called New Amsterdam. I don't know if you saw it or not. It's very left-leaning, which?
Speaker 2It's New Amsterdam. It's with the dude that was on the blacklist, right? I think so. Yeah, the guy that, the bad guy on the blacklist.
Speaker 1That's the movie You're talking about, the one that James Spader.
Speaker 2No, this is no no, there's James Spader and he I don't. I've watched only like I kept on getting pissed because we don't know whether it was the chick was his daughter? Yeah, you're right, that was married to the dude from new Amsterdam, Right, I think?
Speaker 1Yeah, he's a good looking guy, Like well he's just trying to tell me all about it Apparently, alexa off. Anyway, the the, the guy that stars in the show. He has the same phrase every time. He comes up to a group of people that are doing something how can I help? And that stuck with me because the best at what we do and it doesn't matter if you're in personal development or if you're running a business or if you're just and that stuck with me because the best at what we do and it doesn't matter if you're in personal development or if you're running a business or if you're just heading a department the best of us always ask how can I help? And that's what I believe we're about, and call it a pitch if you want, but if you're interested in seeing behind the curtain, let's do the webinar, look at our, follow us on social, go to our websites, whatever you want to do, but we're here to help and we're not from the government. Ronald Reagan, yeah, that was the next thing I was going to say.
Speaker 2Ronald Reagan told me, if somebody I'm here to help you run the other way, I'll meet you to it and we'll have all that up in no time because you're the guru. I still just mastered the word processor after the abacus and the hourglass, you know, in the speaking spell, I think. So we'll have all that. But, dave, this is what words of and you know I always finish what words of wisdom do you have to that entrepreneur, that person that has a side hustle, that person that you know they've tried personal development, they've read every book except for old dogs, new tricks, and what if it did work? And they feel defeated.
Speaker 1What words do you have to tell that person? Well, I'm going to be very transparent in what I say. I'm with you, I've been there, I am there. I'm still fighting the fight. But here's what I know when a team wins the Super Bowl or any top level accomplishment and they ask them how does it feel, they always talk about the adversity that they endured through the season. The adversity you're enduring and that you get through is going to be what catapults you to the championship. And so I get it. You don't feel like doing it. You feel like you're spinning your wheels. You feel like you've been at this way too long and it's not broken through for you yet. I can name off hundreds of people who felt exactly the way you do, and they said who felt exactly the way you do? And they said the one thing I didn't do, I didn't quit. So just keep going, keep pursuing and keep persevering and the breakthrough will come. And I'm saying it to me as much as I am saying it to every listener on this audience.
Speaker 2That's very profound, Dave. It's so true. Before we wrap it up, is there anything you want to promote besides our upcoming webinar Buy?
Speaker 1the book. Look me up, buy the book, go to davidaspeckcom. In fact, if you go to davidaspeckcom you'll see a little thing that says ODNT signed and you click on that and you buy that book and I get the notification from Stripe. I'm going to go right over to that shelf over there, to one of the author copies that I bought, and I will sign it and put it in the mail to you for the same price that you would have gotten it on Amazon.
Speaker 2When are you going to do the Audible?
Speaker 1Well, I don't know, I don't want to read my own book, but I did find an ai tool that sounds a lot like me, but they, they don't know how to say christian.
Speaker 2they say christian well, that could be your thing you know, that's my catch.
Speaker 1My catchphrase is mispronounced. I mean there's one.
Speaker 2there's a guru down the street that sounds like Elmer Fudd and he does well. That could be your trademark thing, and if you're on stage you say it that way. There we go. And then another thing guys, you can't write a fucking book with AI. That's someone selling you a thing. Nobody wants to read a book. That says firstly, secondly, thirdly, fourthly, Dave and I, none of our books are AI. The only thing I use AI is I get lazy and I do the reels.
Speaker 1Full disclosure, that's it Well, I mean, but that's just putting the words on the reel.
Speaker 2No, all the AI does is look at the fucking thing and says oh yeah, that's what he said.
Speaker 1Yeah, ok.
Speaker 2Now it says have you noticed that he said in this video? It's like yeah. I know what I said All righty brother, and we are so committed. This is a Friday night, Just like you know, Montel Jordan would say this is how we do it. It's Friday night. We're doing here doing this podcast, making sure it drops July 24th, national tequila day, and the day a legend was born 51 years ago.
Speaker 1Birthday, by the way, because when you hear this, I'm going to become Jehovah witness.
Speaker 2So I would say you'd hear this birthday when, when it comes out.
Speaker 1But we both know you're not going to listen to this podcast.
Speaker 2Ain't that the truth, All righty brother.
Speaker 1God bless. That is going to do it for this episode of. Keep this In Mind. For more, visit davidaspectcom. Like, follow and subscribe. Thank you for listening and remember applied knowledge is power. God bless.
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