Cut The Tie | Own Your Success

“Your Dream Doesn’t Go Away — It Goes to Someone Else” — Rome Madison on Confidence, Control, and Cutting the Corporate Tie

• Thomas Helfrich

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Cut The Tie Podcast with Rome Madison

What happens when you’ve reached the C-suite, survived restructurings, layoffs, and corporate chaos, yet still feel pulled toward something more? In this episode of Cut The Tie, Thomas Helfrich sits down with Rome Madison to unpack why high-performing executives struggle to act on the entrepreneurial visions that never seem to leave them alone.

Rome shares his journey from corporate leadership in publicly traded life sciences companies to cutting the tie and building a confidence-driven consulting business. Along the way, they explore identity after sports, imposter syndrome at the highest levels, and why most capable people stay stuck not because they lack ability, but because they lack clarity, confidence, and strategy.

This conversation is a wake-up call for executives who know they are capable of more but have not yet made the move.

About Rome Madison

Rome Madison is a life sciences consultant, confidence coach, and former C-suite executive with more than two decades of experience in precision medicine, genomics, and healthcare strategy. He has led sales organizations, launched startups, and navigated companies through restructuring, bankruptcy, and acquisition.

After cutting ties with corporate leadership, Rome founded a consulting and coaching platform focused on helping executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations activate confidence, sharpen strategy, and move faster toward meaningful goals. He is also the host of the Genetics for Healthcare podcast and creator of the Everyday Star Power confidence framework.

In this episode, Thomas and Rome discuss:

  • Why successful executives hesitate to act on entrepreneurial ideas
  • Identity loss after sports, titles, and corporate roles
  • Imposter syndrome at the highest levels of performance
  • Confidence as a system, not a personality trait
  • The three pillars of confidence: acceptance, skill, and strategy
  • Why slowing down is often the fastest way forward

Key Takeaways

  • Your dream does not disappear if ignored
    Opportunities move on to those willing to act.
  • Titles and accolades are not identity
    True confidence starts after roles are stripped away.
  • Confidence is built, not inherited
    Acceptance, skill, and strategy create momentum.
  • Any strategy beats no strategy
    Progress requires direction, not perfection.
  • Slowing down unlocks clarity
    Focused thinking outperforms constant motion.

Connect with Rome Madison

🌐 Website: https://iwantmorenow.com
🎧 Podcast: https://geneticsforhealthcare.com

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/genomicsellingsolutions/

Connect with Thomas Helfrich

🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/thelfrich
 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashelfrich
 🌐 Website: https://cutthetie.com
 📧 Email: t@instantlyrelevant.com
🚀 https://instantlyrelevant.com

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SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Cut the Tie Podcast. Hello, I'm your host, Thomas Helfrick. I'm on a mission to help you cut the tie to whatever it is holding you back from your success. And that success, as I always say, has to be defined by you. Otherwise, you're chasing someone else's dream and you'll get there and it'll feel pretty empty. So get out there, cut a tie, and today we're going to learn a little bit about our guest, Rome Madison. Hi, Rome.

SPEAKER_01:

Thomas, man, it's a it's a pleasure to be on your show. I love what you're doing, man. I think it's really important around this topic of entrepreneurship, especially with what's going on in the world today.

SPEAKER_00:

I will be honest with you. I have no idea what's going on in the world today. I don't watch TV. I don't have Twitter. There's a certain number you can put in my bank account, and I will delete all social media immediately as a Gen Xer. It's all gone. Except the podcast. I will keep the podcast, but I'll probably kill a YouTube version of it and just keep the audio at that point. But what is going on in the world? Wait, wait, before we get into that, because we will definitely go rabbit hole once you once you get me going on that. Oh man. Rome, take a moment. Introduce yourself, uh, who you are and what it is you do.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and as Thomas is introduced, I'm Rome Addison. And I'm a consultant in the life science space. Life sciences is about the genome. The human genome project was a 20-year project, 20-plus year project that cost over a billion dollars. That we were able to sequence, not we, the scientists that worked on this, were able to sequence our genome. So we know all of the genes in the human body. It's estimated that there's upwards of over 28,000 genes. We only know the function of less than a thousand, but that knowledge has helped us really transform how we treat diseases like cancer, sickle cell, heart disease, with the ability to test to see if a certain gene is turned on or turned off, what's happening in the pathway of that gene, or that roadmap of that gene that causes misfunctions in our body that causes autoimmune diseases like we were talking about. And so I've been in the industry for a couple of decades. Today I run a consulting firm that expands patient access to these innovative, unique testing and therapies because over two decades, um, we've been asking the question who are the most and the lice least likely to benefit from these therapies? You know, much like when you go to the doctor and you have an infection, well, they're gonna necessarily give you antibiotics. You know, they may test, do a cheek swab or something to see what kind of virus or bacteria you have, because they don't want to give you ineffective, you know, antibiotics. They're not gonna hurt you. They're cheap. But why waste time? Well, it's the same with cancer care and other genetic chronic illnesses. Uh patients get medications that don't work every single day. And there are now tests, genetic and genomic tests, to identify whether your genetic profile is going to be more receptive or more responsive to one therapy over another. So I've been having these conversations in this industry that we call precision medicine for two decades. When I started, there was only one company. I started the same year the Human Genome Project completed. Over that time, I have um been head of sales, launched two different startups successfully. Um, and now the industry has grown to where you have publicly traded companies. It's the hottest area of medicine uh that's out there. And more recently, before I decided to cut the tie, uh I was in a general manager role, in the C-suite role, uh running strategy for a publicly traded company,$500 million in revenue at one point, well over, you know, a billion dollar valuation. And in two and a half years, we ended up restructuring that company twice, took them through two layoffs, went to a workforce of well over 3,000 down to around six or 700 people when we took that company into chapter 11 and it was acquired by another public company. So I say that because my platform is still dedicated to the same thing I was 20 years ago when I got into this industry, to make sure patients have access to this information. But the reason I cut the tie is to talk to those just like me who's had a corporate journey, who had success. Uh, for those who have that idea, that vision of entrepreneurship, they have a business idea or a dream in their spirit, and it just doesn't go away. They don't take action on it. So I'm a confidence coach to help people in organizations to activate that personal power at key moments when it matters in order to be more persuasive, to come across more confident, and get more of what you want in your life and business.

SPEAKER_00:

That's I mean, I love that you've got such commitment to it. Uh do you have a personal tie to just the the you know from cancer or is stuff that's drawn you in and kept you there? Because it's hard to stay in any one industry. It's usually some kind of deeper passion that keeps you in place. Do you have do you have a I'm taking a risk because I don't know the answer, so I'm I'm making an assumption. But do you have something that's tying in a little bit?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, good risk, good assumption. So, so interestingly enough, how I got in the industry, and so this is this goes for all those people out there who say, Yeah, you know, this guy is a PhD, this guy's NBA, this guy knew someone. This is for all those people who have those excuses. You see this degree over my left shoulder here. Um, maybe you can't zoom in on that. I'm proud of it, but it says general studies, and thank goodness it doesn't have my GPA on there. What it's a 2.5 GPA I graduated from college. Now you see here, I played football. That is uh an actual picture. I'll knock the crap out of somebody. I love that. But you know, listen, I'm a 2.5 general studies major. What does that mean?

SPEAKER_00:

That was a job. I'm not a big Mizoo, I believe. I think that banner behind your head has a Mizzou little tiger paw on it.

SPEAKER_01:

Dan, and I got a man, I got some kudos for those hoosiers here in a few in a few. But um, you know, how do how does a guy end up, you know, who's a 2.5 GPA, who's an ex-football player, um, teaching and running strategy for doctors and PhDs? Um, my tie is when I got into this industry a year before, I was unemployed. I had been in sales my entire career up until that point. Um, but when I was unemployed, I had no job, no job possibilities. I'm sure everyone knows that when you have a job, it's easier to find a job. When you don't have a job, uh, it's tough.

SPEAKER_00:

And when you're uh with your entrepreneur, you have no chance for a job just because no one's hiring you. No matter how much you trick your LinkedIn, they know.

SPEAKER_01:

That's a fact. And listen, we're gonna put a pin in that one because what's happening in the world today, Thomas. You know, we have hundreds of thousands of people that are being laid off, that are losing their jobs. I go on LinkedIn, there's a new person every other day saying, hey, I'm open to work opportunities.

SPEAKER_00:

Amazon's laid off another few thousand today, and there it's you know, in uh, what are we in late October 2025?

SPEAKER_01:

It's Starbucks is closing over a thousand stores. Listen, like there's things that are happening in the economy, right? Just start there. It's bad coffee. We have to establish that right now. Don't get me saying I'm not a coffee drinker. I go for the environment, by the way.

SPEAKER_00:

But I'm sorry, keep going. I I just didn't interrupt you there.

SPEAKER_01:

But the key here is is is you know, when I got into this this this uh industry, there was only one company doing any type of test to do this, and I didn't qualify. I didn't have a background in oncology, didn't have um the degrees that they asked me to have. But I established a relationship with the hiring manager who was the vice president of sales, and he became my mentor. Um what was supposed to be three interviews over a month became six interviews over three months because they couldn't eliminate me. So when I was unemployed, interviewing for this opportunity because I had no other opportunities. Thomas, I went to Barnes and Noble's. I went to Borders Books, I went to the medical school library in San Antonio where I lived to study this stuff because I didn't have the money to buy the books. So I took notes and taught myself in college at the time.

SPEAKER_00:

I interrupt you, but I will tell you that's how I learned how to do coding. I would walk down to the Barnes Noble to look up how to do a certain thing, put the book back on, walk back to my condo, go finish the code, and get stuck, go walk back, look up that function. And now you just Google it. But it was like, I remember those times. You show up, you just read.

SPEAKER_01:

It's well, okay. So so that's this is my whole point. There was no Google back then. Right. You couldn't just look this stuff up, you had to actually learn it. And so I started in the industry um self-taught, and I just grew with the information. I got into this area of of uh you know personalized cancer medicine. And back then, people called it snake oil. And it was really tough, right? So it took, you know, half, you know, five states to find one person that was going to listen to you because that was the job. And as tough as it was, I kept asking myself, like, should I be doing this? It kind of felt like an M, I felt like an imposter, that imposter syndrome that you have. I'm going in and talking to this, this new technology with PhDs and MDs who don't know this stuff. Like, why would they listen to me? But two years into it, my own father was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. And at the time, Thomas, to be able to get this information for one patient, you had to be in the operating room when a tumor was being resected from that patient's body. And so I got to stand table side because the surgeon who performed his surgery in the hospital where my father got his care were already my clients. So I got to stand tableside and watch the doctors and the surgery team comb through my father's abdomen and his intestines to find the tumor and watched literally the white glow service they gave him to ensure they got these genetic and genomic insights from my father because I was there every other week with somebody else's father, mother, brother doing the same things. And so I committed myself to helping people understand how valuable this information can be, because there's so many patients back then and certainly today that don't have knowledge of genetics and genomics, that don't have access to this information, even though it's covered by your health plan, even though certain medical societies have deemed this as essential information to put it in their guidelines, patients still aren't getting access. And so today, my consulting firm is all about eliminating and addressing those barriers. One, uh, the outward-facing portion of that is my podcast, Genetics for Healthcare. It's a podcast for patients where we share patient stories and talk to experts in the field to tell us why this information is relevant to us. But they speak about it at a fifth grade level so people can understand and have the confidence and the language to advocate for themselves. And then on the industry side, there's a sales sales enablement platform that I've got called the Sales Coaching Clinic that I coach, teach coaching to sales leaders and people leaders on how to have better conversations internally to get more of what they want, with usually less and fewer resources as the demands continue to increase no matter what uh your headcount is or no matter what your budget is. Uh, you know, your leaders and your shareholders all want more. So that's how my platform solves these two problems in this particular niche.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and and I but the podcast bridges it with you. And uh I and I I usually do this way I didn't but I don't I didn't want to interrupt you during your introduction. Uh I like people to be able to stalk you while you're talking. So give uh give us a place. I always tell people, give me a single link for them to go stalk you at. Where should they go? You can't give them to the podcast. We don't want I want to leave my podcast to go to yours. That one's off the top.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. So listen, so later for those of you, and I'm here on Thomas, like, you know, this this is fantastic. I love being on podcasts where I'm not talking about um diseases, right? Um, but I want more.com. You know, I'm a confidence coach for those people who want to strike out to take action on that dream of that vision that they've always had. Because I got news for you. That dream with that vision that you had five years ago didn't go away, right? Um, if you don't take action on it, it doesn't go away. The opportunities don't go away. They go to someone else who is ready. So the bottom line is there are many people that are looking to transition, whether they've been successful in corporate America and they want to have the same type of lifestyle and be an entrepreneur. They want to run their own business. Or there's organizations who need to raise the the organization's confidence because of change, because of restructuring, because of increased expectations on the organization. Those are the people who are uh my tribe. So you can go to IwantMorNow.com and log in. There's a free audio book called Everyday Star Power, the 12-step confidence algorithm. It's good for people, it's good for organizations.

SPEAKER_00:

That's uh I like those stock people because and though I'm malmedicated, I will tell the ADHD listener will appreciate you just gave them somewhere to go. So they can look at something while they listen. I get it. I'm just you gotta you gotta cater to your audience, which are entrepreneurs that are fully typically ADHD. Um, we're gonna come back to uh your uh Mizzou journeys. And if you played with a friend of mine that I went to high school with in St. Louis who who has a ring, we'll come back. You guys look about the same age. We're all about Gen Xers that you know. I think well, L and Xers, just as a side note, should have a shirt that says F-A-F-O and and have a you know in your pocket, not a firearm, because we don't do that that way, but maybe just maybe that police baton that the correction be listened. I'm from Texas, we have both. You do no, and that's fine. I mean, in Missouri, you you know, it's plenty of reciprocity. Georgia here, we didn't even have COVID. I don't know if you guys knew that. We just we skipped it. We're like, we don't we don't do that. Do you see on a tangent? This is your fault because I was late to the show. Rome. Uh tell me something. Was your biggest tie though to build this? Because you've had, you know, you you're an athlete, and and as a former professional athlete myself, I know once you let it go, I you get fat. Sorry. You you you have a shift when you leave sports because you identify for your entire life in sports up to that point when you're like, I can't do that anymore. Did you have a big moment to to really on that reinvention and how you identified with yourself of like what your value was? Did you did you have to struggle with that?

SPEAKER_01:

That is a great question, you know. And um, a lot of times I talk about uh with with my coach and cohorts, I talk about imposter syndrome. And, you know, the the people that I work with are already high achieving individuals, right? And so it's very typical for athletes, as you know. In many cases, you've been the best at what you do for a long time, from little league to high school. You know, I was a four-year starter in college uh for the Tigers. And, you know, at some point, no matter how much you want to go forward, no matter how much you how long you've dreamed of playing in the Super Bowl, playing in the World Series, playing in the World Cup, it's over. Just like that. And you have high self-confidence because of your abilities. You have high self-confidence because of the the praise of the handclaps, the accolades that people give you, the way that they recognize you. But in an instant you realize you have low self-esteem because you really don't know who you are and what your purpose is. Now, I think that's changed a lot over the years. Um, but in you know, my day when I played, it was frowned upon that you're thinking about doing anything else besides football. What do you mean trying to build a bit? What do you mean trying to go to law school? You gotta play, you gotta work out, you know, it's those type of things. But I think not only is that unique for athletes, it's also unique for other high-performing individuals, doctors, attorneys, very successful people. Um, they get to a point and they've maybe accomplished many things, and they they really appreciate the accolades and the awards and the the you know, the pats on the back from people, but what does it all mean? Right. And so sometimes we have to define success. I know you ask on your question, what is success on your terms? Well, that's what people really don't do. They don't actually have a definition of what it means to be successful for themselves.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I I usually ask that early in not always, but like I I'm curious how today, because I know it's changed, how are you defining success?

SPEAKER_01:

For me, you know, how I define success is the freedom to to the freedom to go after the things that I have endeavored in my mind and create a life for myself and my family. That is success. And so really, you know, I've I've made great money over the years in corporate America, in sales as a sales leader, as a C-suite person. But this is success, is being able to do what I want to do because it means more to me, having the financial freedom, and this doesn't have anything to do with wealth or income. You know, this is financial literacy, right? If you have the financial freedom to do what you're passionate about, and in the process, you're making a dollar and a difference, that's success.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I listen, you know, what what does uh Jimmy Carr say? Um, happiness is your current situation minus expectations. I like the and I think it there I'll add to that, is like then you expectations, like just wanting less of I I often analysis of uh life is you have a bucket which represents anything left in that bucket is happiness or uh and this relates to kind of the things you're talking about with kind of wellness and like you know, from stress and things like that. But the more holes that are in that bucket, the more you got to put in it to find happiness. And so an example I give to a lot of people is like, you know, we buy that big house and you get the status and it's cool and it's nice, and there's a whole giant hole because there's a giant mortgage that goes with it, let's say. And eventually you're like, yeah, but I don't really care about the status, and it's a lot to maintain. And all of a sudden, that like the flow is slowed up, and then this is still blowing out, and you're like, I don't really like I like to travel. If I had 5k a month, I could go to. And the point being is you don't have a mortgage, you have less house, you take a little less status, but you don't need as much to fill the bucket. And if you think about that in your life from where you are and where you've gone, it sounds like a lot of stuff you've described as stuff's happened for you. And then for a reason, I'm doing this, I'm making a difference. And you and I both know, like from being an athlete, I just in a sales guy in particular, I just know that I gotta show up and do my 10 reps because tomorrow I'm gonna be just a fraction stronger. And I'm gonna be a fraction stronger, a fraction faster, and a fraction this. And that mentality is lost in a lot of those who have not just tried to get a tenth of a second off of 40, or for me to get a half step quicker on a serve, or something like it's do you know what I mean? Like you can draw upon that sports piece just because you know it's like if I do this every day, I know you won't go Sunday, and I am. You know what? Showing up is half the battle. More than that. I would it's I think showing up in a non zero day is like 90% of the battle, I think.

SPEAKER_01:

And that's just the point. You know, I've got a good friend, Andrew Henriquez, and he tells the story show up for your life, right? A lot of people don't show up for themselves. They give themselves outs, they give themselves excuses. And hey, I'm here to tell you that's fine with me. That's less people I got to compete with. Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Because listen, look, I mean, I don't know about you, but you're a consulting. So unless you've grown a mega consulting organization where you have people all over the bench, you probably don't need that many customers to have a really good business. You're not trying to build a billion-dollar business with that. You're not going to with a consulting firm. Um, if you are, someone's gonna buy it before you get there. But the truth is, you know, you just need to get a handful of clients and keep in touch with the ones that could be, and you're gonna have a great business. I mean, how about you? But if we get 20 clients in our company, I'm like pulling hair to try to keep my time together. And I'm like, I only need to be talking about 2,000 people at any given time to get one person to be interested. And that point is, people out there like, think about that. You know, you wherever you are, whatever you go go do next, you know, it's it's like, don't overthink it. Don't make, you know, oh, I can't compete. I should do this. My website needs to be the none of that shit. Just focus on the you know, and that's just yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So uh, you know, business strategy is is, you know, my my central lane. I'm a confidence coach, and and to me, Thomas, confidence comes down to one or three things, both professionally, personally, or organizationally. You know, the first one is acceptance, right? You got to accept yourself. That's not to say self-love. Sometimes, you know, some people have to learn to love themselves. You don't like things about yourself that that's fine. You don't like it, accept it because it ain't gonna get no better. It's only, it's only you you're gonna get. I don't care how much plastic surgery, you can't get a uh a personality transplant. You can't. You're just who you are. Accept it because, as you mentioned, you already have all you need to succeed at the level that you want to, okay, if you embrace it. So, really, the the first thing is self-acceptance. You know, I like me, learn to love you because you're the only person, you're the only one you're ever going to be in this life. Um, we're all born with gifts and talents that are unique to us, that we were birthed with in the place that we were birthed with, set on the path and life that we were set on to accomplish something of purpose that was not here, impact that was not being had, that is intentioned and meant for you to create in this world. The second thing is really your level of skill. So I mean by that is what is what expertise do you bring to the world? What do you bring? Knowledge, skill, ability that makes the lives of others better, that makes tremendous impact, that can help organizations take their sales and their profitability to the next level. That can one, create space for you in the world to create a business, a service, a product, or something that someone values that allows you to create the life that you want. So if you have skills, you have knowledge, you have proficiency, that's what we you know gain confidence in. But the third thing is strategy. The difference between where you are and the where you want to be is your strategy to get there.

SPEAKER_00:

And a lot of beginning with I'm gonna take a moment out. Any strategy is better than no strategy. As long as you know that like that's not working and you know why, you can adjust it. Otherwise, you're throwing tactics against the wall that might not anyway.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and those three things, and I don't care if you're talking about an individual and the state they are in their relationship. I don't care if you're talking about a solopreneur and their ability to get their business off the ground. I don't care if you're talking about a CEO and the challenge that that person faces from quarter to quarter to deliver on results for their shareholders. Confidence, whether it's individual or organizational, comes down to those three things. And as a confidence coach, I dive into those, help understand what you really believe about yourself and understand where the gaps are. And I help them address them very tactically and strategically.

SPEAKER_00:

When we uh when I work with our clients, uh, you know, our you know, our whole idea is idea for my company at Friendsley Relevant, is uh, you know, AI marketing that actually delivers, right? But at the core of that, it's me asking you a very direct question, and I'd love for you to answer this. What is the critical one problem you solve for your clients?

SPEAKER_01:

The critical one problem that I solve from my clients is getting them to their goals faster. Now, for anything that you want to do in life, you need more confidence, right? Now, there are some people that are just born with an inherent belief in themselves, whether they're delusional or not. Or just pure narcissists. We don't know. Absolutely. Um, and that that that can serve you in some points. Um but the reason why people come to me is because they see something for themselves in the future, and they believe in it, they're passionate about it, and they just can't put it together to get there in a way that keeps that vision current, that keeps that vision fresh, and that vision becomes motivating to them to take action every day, knowing that they're getting closer. That's the one problem I solve is that no matter what your goals are, what your aspirations are, particularly in your business, if you want to get there faster, I help them create the confidence and the strategy to do it.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh it's funny because uh in that uh sometimes they'll never get there. And there's certain reasons. Uh, I will tell you, as somebody who every year I cut a tie to something, that's kind of I live the dream. Like I stopped drinking a few years ago. I uh got men's health last year and worked out and transformed my body as almost a 50-year-old. I look better than I did when I was an athlete competing. I'm a little bigger, but for 50, goddamn, I look good. I want to tell you now, you guys who you're listening to this, just Google it. I'll show you some pictures. Anyway, the point being is uh this year was adult ADHD and taking the therapy, getting medication, getting the environment right set up, which was the other stuff was a precursor. I didn't realize so I started taking medication of how much of a glass box I lived in, with not being able to, I mean, being able to run a marathon 25.1 miles of it, but cannot finish the 1.1 left. Like and and if if you are out there and you know you're ADHD or you have a million ideas, you just won't admit it that you or you bounce all over, go look into it because you're never ever, you're gonna end into it, it's just you'll never get there. You're not allowed to. Your brain's not wired to do it. And for anybody who's like maybe the other way, like super organized, but they can't take a risk, this is where a guy like you comes in for both. Hey, man, you gotta address this shit if you want to get there, either way, or you stop chasing perfect no-risk taper. Without a risk, you'll never get there. So if you can't take risks, stop dreaming now. And if you don't have a coach that can show them the path to get through it, there's a those who could figure it out have a variance that they weed through it and they probably don't need it. But someone who's stuck on both sides of that never gets through. Is that fair or or do you have a different take on that?

SPEAKER_01:

No, that's absolutely true. Sometimes you have to slow down the speed of, you know. Oh my god. Yes. Infrastructure first and then go. Well, you know, in in even when you start growing, we were just talking about, right? So, like the the challenges of business operations when your business starts to grow and scale, right? When you come out with new products and services or offers.

SPEAKER_00:

And don't go do that before you've sold something. I I know people who've set up the most perfect operational business. I'm like, what's your sales? Like, oh, we haven't sold anything. I'm like, why are you wasting time? Just figure out how to deliver shit manually before you automate everything. Like, just sell it and hack it behind the scenes, right? And then figure it out. Like, if you don't ring that register, you're wasting your time. Ring the register.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. And you know the reason why I believe that there are not more entrepreneurs, Thomas, is that people are not in the habit or take serious their time and ability to think.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, and listen, there's two sides to that. It goes back to the two personas that struggle, which is the no-risk, perfection, use perfection as an excuse, can't get over the risk because they find a reason to say, well, I just can't, I'm not comfortable. I know how people will judge me. And then the other side are the ADHD or is they go a million miles an hour and forget the strategy pieces, and then there's the ones who are in between who really get it done.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and the reason why, as a coach, I believe I connect with those who I work with is because I've been there, right? Yeah. Talk about ADHD, when you talk about personal tragedy, you know, when you have to show up to work on a given day and everything in your life, it's chaos. But you got to show up and be great because no one cares about that. Like I've been there. Um, I've been there when my mind is running and running and running. You talk, we talk about ADV or DHD or dealing with anxiety. I've been there, right? And so I know what it's like to have to be responsible for your family or a team of people, or saying that I'm gonna run a business and ain't nobody there to make the calls, ain't nobody there to send out the marketing, there's nobody there to create your your your outreach campaign. It's you, right? So I've been there on many fronts and small startup businesses that are taking off and growing and riding the ride is success. I've been there driving the ship down a mountain to crash land. I've been there starting up, you know, uh a solopreneur practice. I've been there, you know, doubting myself, trying to fight back the imposter syndrome. And what it comes down to sometimes is exactly what you were talking about, those two types of brains. Sometimes we just have to slow down because you do have it in there. Sometimes it takes, and it I have a meditation practice. Um, I have a thought mindfulness practice. I've learned a journal. Uh, prayer is a big part of what I do, but more so just being in silence, being accustomed to listening to my own thoughts that are in my head, not the noise, and to block out the noise and to train myself to listen to those thoughts, to consider those thoughts, right? And to create things in your mind, uh, because that's how everything that's in our picture, everything that's in our world that has been created, it's come from the mind of somebody. But first you have to organize that in a way uh that you can articulate it to someone else that inspires them to come on board with you or to support you. And you got to be disciplined enough to be able to write it in a way that it can materialize and become something, right? That you can pan this down to your assistant, that you can create a strategy, that you can create a roadmap to creating something tangible that has value to people. You know, we don't take that time seriously enough to quiet ourselves, to quiet the mind in order to allow that to work for us.

SPEAKER_00:

Listen, I I man, you and I can keep going. We're both podcasters, so we we got to keep track of time ourselves. But uh I will I will leave with this before I ask you more maybe one more or a couple more questions here. But uh I intentionally tell people, especially if you're a solopreneur, in you can take the foot off the gas and you're not you're gonna feel like you can't, but you have to. And I personally go Monday, Tuesday, kind of full on. It's kind of my calendar would give most people anxiety those two days, just because it's business developments, podcasts, whatever. Wednesday's off. Wednesday is think day, and I block time to get one thing done that week. Um, this week's a little weird. I actually made a whole website in like a four-hour period with AI, including all the analysis. It's unbelievable. I don't know. By the way, if you guys are hiring people to do websites, it's over. Don't, it's not worth it. It cost me a dollar. Anyway, no joke. Okay, no joke. I will follow like no joke. Like, I literally set it up with Google Analytics and running ads within four hours with a logo all through AI. Unbelievably fast. It's it's and I'll I'll send it to you if you don't anybody wants to see it, they have to crazy fine. The last piece I'd say that you know, for for that would be when you give yourself time to focus and truly focus and be in your own thoughts, do it and shut off, and I do mean to shut off everything except like I'd even say, listen, for what you need to do, just try and think through a strategy. I I've gone to a coffee shop just with a notebook and a paper and uh turn my phone on, you know, do not disturb them, do me to listen to music sounds hearing, or some kind of like relaxation meditation music. And I'll literally maybe write seven words down on a piece of paper, but that'll be enough for me to go back to go work with AI to go figure out what I need to go do.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It's unbelievable. Like you'll your brain will think, you know, I need this, and those will all become little triggers, but I wrote it and it and I just thought through, hey, well, this, this, and this. And that little emotion over 30 minutes had more productivity than me reading everything else. It's so it's you're you're spot on. I think the one piece of advice I'd say from this is take a moment in your own thoughts. Us Gen Xers, boomers, do it probably plenty. If you're a sub-millennial, you're gonna have to work on that one. You're not you're you're growing up in a world where you don't get the chance to show off a mind for a little bit.

SPEAKER_01:

Listen, the that that 60s, 220 seconds that you were just speaking, I hope if if nobody gets anything out of this conversation, I hope they get that.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, the AI is definitely gonna pick that up. That was an intentional one because I know what's editing on this in the back. So I get very very targeted segments. Uh all right. Um, if there was a question, by the way, today, I should have asked you, and I didn't. What would that question have been? And how would you have answered it?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, the question that I would say is how do people get there faster? Right. Uh, and it goes back to those three central tenets of confidence, right? Do you believe in what you're doing? Do you accept the position that you're at? Because I think a lot of people get caught up in that trap of comparison, right? If you are entering a market where there are incumbents, if you are trying to create a new product or service that doesn't exist, that it's not meeting the needs of the market, you doubt whether you are smart enough, good enough, brave enough to do it. Because, hey, if if this was such a good idea, something would already be there. Um, most people just need to own where they are and own that their thoughts are genius. Your mind is genius. So if you want to get there faster, you've got to accept that you're the person to do it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

No one else is.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. Um that that second thing is the skill. If you need to do what you do best and be honest about what you don't do very well and make up for that. That could be through learning, that could be through outsourcing, that could be through a number of things. It could be through AI these days. I mean, listen, I just came from health, uh, the largest health innovation conference in the world in Las Vegas last week. I was podcasting live. Um, my gosh, you you could not imagine all of the unique solutions, healthcare solutions, the way AI is attacking healthcare to democratize medicine for all people and what it's going to do for genetics and genomics in cancer, sickle cell, heart disease, diabetes, and the next problem.

SPEAKER_00:

Drug development is the probably off the charts the one that's unfortunately pharma owns it. But the point is. Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I mean, it you're you're uh but the point being is is for those people, right? Is what is that skill? What do you do well that you need to focus on scaling versus outsourcing and creating processes that allow you to be great at what you are and allow someone else to tackle those tasks in your business that it's better served that you don't spend your time doing. So you can use more of your mind uh to generate that wealth. And then this, then the third thing is for people and businesses who succeed, they generally have all three. All right, they have a sense of purpose, which is a starting place for all great companies, and that is acceptance, right? Of where you are. Um, they have the skill, they have the knowledge, they have the ability to make a difference in people's world. That's why they they create something of value. And then they have the strategy. But for people who are not successful, for people who have failed over and over again, either one of those, two, one or more of those three things are missing. And that's what I help people and organizations put in place or to get squarely focused on solving in order to move faster towards your goals. And if you have those three things, you can get more of what you want by simply using more of what you already have.

SPEAKER_00:

I love it. Um by the way, thanks again for coming on. Well, give give them the address of where they should go check you out, stalk you a bit.

SPEAKER_01:

I want morenow.com. I want more now.com. That gives you everyday star power, 12-step confidence algorithm. You know, you can't trust your feelings. You can't, is it possible to be confident every day at all times?

SPEAKER_00:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

But just like our algorithm or get the dishwasher and like it falls apart.

SPEAKER_00:

I have no idea what I'm doing right now.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. But just like our algorithm knows us and will feed us things, so will this practice. So if you want to activate your confidence in key moments, whether they're conversations, whether they're showing up at the right place with the right type of energy and the words to say, I can help you do that through one of those three things, because we need to expect more, especially as entrepreneurs. You know, and you know, one of the things about my coaching program is to increase expectations, increase expectations because the more you expect in the life and your business, the more you have to get ready for. Nice.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks, by the way. Thanks for coming on. This has been great. Uh, and uh, I'm definitely gonna check out your podcast. Oh, yeah. Now you can mention your podcast. Uh, now that we're done with this one, people can go check. What's your podcast that they should check out as well?

SPEAKER_01:

Genetics for Healthcare. It's a podcast for patients. So we talk about um genetics and genomics and why they matter in our lives. Um, if you are a person who has a history of cancer in your family or sickle cell rare disease, diabetes. Um, genetics is now a ubiquitous tool in healthcare. There are genes that are targetable through uh targeted therapies. There are clinical trials, there are other diseases that are optimized for you, meaning you don't have the same side effects, you don't have the same toxicity that you get from taking medications from a, you know, a buckshot approach, you know, let's try everything first. And there's also things that you can do to take preventative measures in order to stay healthy, because in this country, we don't have health care, we have sick care. But through my platform and others, with the patient stories that we share that talk about what they did not know, uh what they learned in the process, and then really sharing tips for the audience that if you're in this situation, here's how you can empower yourself. Here's questions that you can ask. Here are things that you can know to go have these conversations with your care provider and your family members to become better advocates for yourself using genetic and genomic information. Wonderful. Man, thank you so much for coming on today.

SPEAKER_00:

Rome, Madison, you rock, man. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

I appreciate it, man. Listen, salute to those who's here. Man, I'm I'm liking them beating up on the Big Ten.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh like I said, I don't have it, I don't watch TV. I have no idea what's going on in the world. And here that I use winning something in football, because when I was there, not that I went to every game, but I all the games I did go to over a five year period, not one win. Anyway, so that was a different time. Uh thank you. Listen, anyone who's still here today, thank you so much for listening. And I hope you come back. I hope you get out there, go cut a tie to something uh holding you back in life. And if this was the first time here, I hope it's the first of many. Get out there, go cut a tie. Um, and just don't make excuses. Own your success.

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Thomas Helfrich

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