Have you ever faced a challenging transition in life, both on a personal or professional level? It's hard, right? Join me, Ryan, Joe, and Angie, as we candidly share our own experiences about the tough reality of a business venture that didn't pan out as we'd hoped. However, within this episode, we find value in the lessons we've learned and the growth we've experienced from these less-than-ideal situations.
We delve into the powerful idea of pausing between stimulus and response, a concept that's proven invaluable for managing life and business transitions. Through stories of our journey with the Omni cube, we reflect on the wisdom we've gathered and how it has shaped our business decisions. We also explore how such moments of self-reflection can reveal hidden gifts in challenging experiences, preparing us to embrace unexpected opportunities. Prepare to be captivated as we lay bare the importance of openness to the possibilities that arise during these pauses.
The final part of our conversation emphasizes the significance of a strong support system and resources during arduous transitions. From seeking professional help to finding a mentor, we share practical advice that can help anyone weather life and business storms. We wrap up by discussing how small alterations in our physical environment can lead to big positive changes and open doors to fresh opportunities. This episode is filled to the brim with real-life stories, valuable insights, and advice that might just be the beacon you need in your personal or professional transition.
Angie Shockley mindfulangie@gmail.com
Dave Gold dave@davegold.com
Have you ever faced a challenging transition in life, both on a personal or professional level? It's hard, right? Join me, Ryan, Joe, and Angie, as we candidly share our own experiences about the tough reality of a business venture that didn't pan out as we'd hoped. However, within this episode, we find value in the lessons we've learned and the growth we've experienced from these less-than-ideal situations.
We delve into the powerful idea of pausing between stimulus and response, a concept that's proven invaluable for managing life and business transitions. Through stories of our journey with the Omni cube, we reflect on the wisdom we've gathered and how it has shaped our business decisions. We also explore how such moments of self-reflection can reveal hidden gifts in challenging experiences, preparing us to embrace unexpected opportunities. Prepare to be captivated as we lay bare the importance of openness to the possibilities that arise during these pauses.
The final part of our conversation emphasizes the significance of a strong support system and resources during arduous transitions. From seeking professional help to finding a mentor, we share practical advice that can help anyone weather life and business storms. We wrap up by discussing how small alterations in our physical environment can lead to big positive changes and open doors to fresh opportunities. This episode is filled to the brim with real-life stories, valuable insights, and advice that might just be the beacon you need in your personal or professional transition.
Angie Shockley mindfulangie@gmail.com
Dave Gold dave@davegold.com
Hi everyone, welcome to the Embracing the Journeys podcast. I was just saying to Angie that I finally got exceptional parents Extraordinary challenge is right, and then we changed the name of this, so maybe now I'll have to change it again since I got Embracing the Journey. Anyway, I am Dave. Gold is mostly when I'm with Angie, who is always as a steadying force in all of our lives. Right now, even though everybody in her world is going crazy, she's still very sane.
Speaker 2:So Angie Hi Dave, I don't know if I would say I'm very sane, but I am here and I am grounded and I am still talking with a lot of parents about exceptional parents, extraordinary challenges and all the episodes we did on that podcast. They are really amazing and they're out there and they're a great resource to folks. And just a quick thought about changing the name of the podcast to Embrace the Journey and about embracing change and big transitions in our lives. And Dave and I both have experienced transitions in our lives big ones, little ones, but big ones and you know what that feels like and so many people are experiencing that in our world and so that's why we, rather than shifting, I feel like we we broadened our scope a little bit in our podcast and still talking a lot about parents and working with parents, but parents also have to embrace the journey, whatever that's going to look like for their kids, with or without challenges. So anyway, that just throwing that little tidbit in there. It's good to see you, dave.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you too, and I feel the same way. I feel like we just followed the, we just followed the stream or whatever the thread, and the energy flow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and also just what's emerging in our lives, which is pretty much what we speak to.
Speaker 1:So today I always like to surprise each other and sometimes we like to surprise ourselves when we realized yesterday that, oh, we were going to do our podcast tomorrow and I was going to get guests, and it just so happens that myself, me and two of my closest friends are going through marked and dramatic and, I would say, informative transition that, angie, you're, you've got to witness firsthand because you were there at the inflection point when we had our I call it a come to Jesus moment, but I'm using that generic. I don't think any of us actually came to Jesus, and so I invited my two business partners, ryan McCrae, who's on, and Joe, who will shortly be joining us on, in between his sessions, to talk about the transition of when. Well, brian, actually you can just start talking about the trend, the third dimensional aspect of the transition. Then we can get into what, how we're facing it as a threesome, as partners, as friends and, I just think, just as human beings who are curious about what comes next in life.
Speaker 4:Yeah, thanks for having me on again. We were at a conference just a handful of weeks ago where we got to see Angie in person and she got to play around with the cube and watch us play with the cube and we just had a unbelievable experience there where people were coming in telling us you're the talk of the town and I got to see this thing and everybody's talking about it and I want my turn, that kind of thing. And as a business, we're like we've made it, this is it, this is what we've been working at for a year and a half now. Everybody gets it and blah blah and really was expecting Monday morning, tuesday morning, to check our emails and see, hey, let's follow up on this we met here or to follow up from the email that we sent out. And I remember I think I said to somebody there that this was. I think I said it was a turning point or it was an eye opening weekend or something like that that I was feeling and thought it was eye opening and business doors opening up and sales and all that, and I think it was more of a.
Speaker 4:What you're trying to sell is difficult and there might not be as much of a market for it and you might need a pivot. You might need it and I don't think we've quite figured out exactly what the pivot or shift is. But we had our come to Jesus meeting, we had our I would call it almost a morning session or whatever of the work we've put in for so long. Didn't pan out the way we had expected it to, but I think we've all come to grips with it and accepted it and don't feel like the door has been shut 100% on this business opportunity. We're looking at other models and avenues that we can pursue.
Speaker 4:But I've also just taken some personal reflection on how much I've learned and how much I grew over the last year and a half, and so I take all of that as a just a real positive experience and that to quote one of you two just part of my perfect journey to wherever my destiny is.
Speaker 4:And I took a meeting the other day with someone who just needed a little help and it was like second nature for me to give her exactly what she needed and I was like I need A, b, c, d, e, f in this order Once you get it to me, send it, I'll review it ball, and it was like I realized in that moment how easy and natural these different business decisions just came now from being down in the ditches for a year and a half writing our own pitch decks and asking investors and how we're going to, and it's just yeah, this, of course, this is what we need to do. You got to do blank and blank and this is what they're going to want to see and have her prepared, and it was like I wouldn't have had that and who, maybe I won't help her, maybe this will be.
Speaker 3:I will help her. Maybe this will be my next career is helping look for funding for people?
Speaker 4:I don't know, but it was clear that it was just crystal clear. Easy for me to come up with these things. And I was blowing her mind. She's oh, this is great, I need it. And I was like and it's just second nature for me. I think because of the time I've spent with you guys and how much one-on-one I've had with Dave, I've embraced this pull-up-a-lawn chair mentality. And let's just see, I had a was talking with a friend of mine today and he's I got to figure out what I'm doing next and I was like he's, I got to work security. I was like for whatever it's worth, man, you're just living your own movie right now. So it's a lot easier to kick your feet up and watch the movie than to try and be the director. And and I he's accepted it a little bit. I think he wasn't quite ready for that at eight o'clock in the morning, but yeah, it's. If you think about it in that way, I think life just comes to you with a lot more ease and yeah.
Speaker 2:That's that. Thanks for sharing all that, Ryan, and it is good to see you on the podcast and it was good to see you back at the conference. And everything you just said really illustrates the whole idea of embracing the journey. Like the journey that you're on, it's perfect regardless, and embracing that and surrendering to that gives you so much freedom and the ability to create things in your life. So I wanted to use one of Dave's terms. I want to unpack a little bit of that. I thought Joe was joining. I hit, admit, but I'm not sure where he went Either. So he are. You on, joe.
Speaker 3:I'm on here but I'm driving, so I don't know if you want or I can just do audio. No, you're good.
Speaker 2:You're good, stay with us.
Speaker 1:I think Joe is only going to be on. Joe, how much time do you have, cause? I'd love to get your story on this too and make sure we get it in and we before we unpack, ryan.
Speaker 3:My next one is a little flexible, but I was planning on being there around like three, three ish.
Speaker 2:Okay. So, joe, if I could so, I'll just tell you quickly that Ryan just gave us like his overview of what has happened with you guys, your business, the cube, from the conference to today. He was just talking about the transition that you're in and I think it would be really good to hear from your perspective what this transition that you're currently in, what's it like for you, what's your perspective on it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I say it's really interesting. So I just got back from a music festival One of our, the one we got married at a couple of years ago, and right before I left to go down there, obviously all of this happened with putting the pause on it and coming out back from the conference. And there was a thing that always happens when I experienced something really big, such as what happened with talking to Stephen Porges and Keith and Kim and helping all of these people and being the talk of the town and like being having a moment of being a celebrity in a way, and I got back and I had to spend a few minutes with our therapist, because I tend to crash when I get back.
Speaker 3:I never really figured out why I go like the low baseline and go into this deep depression. And something my therapist told me was like, if you think about the things that I've been doing, like the people I meet and the experiences I've had like most humans don't ever get that chance to experience things like that so it puts you in this elite status of meeting with foreign dignitaries and meeting with like famous people and being considered somebody of stature. And so when she was saying she said that then a guy that I know up in New Jersey is a hypnotist and he does business coaching and all this and I was talking to him. I sent him a message like man, I really need to talk to you, I'm just at a weird spot, I just trying to figure out life and maybe give you some good advice. And so he jumped on the phone with me and we were going through.
Speaker 3:We spent about an hour on the phone. He actually read my message back to me that I sent to him and he was like he goes. I've been watching you do this for years. He goes every time something big happens, whatever your, your, the, the logic part of our brain or prefrontal cortex, and our the. Was it singular? I can't really tell the name of it, but and I was like I'm not sure what it was.
Speaker 3:I can't really tell the name of it, but anyways, that like experience is like this really big thing and there's strategy and like all this stuff and wow, we're really making it. And then all of my trauma things kick in. My amygdala kicks in and says but if you do that, it's going to be scary and you shouldn't do it and you're just going to stay where we're at. And it really hit me. I was like, wow, I've been going in this like circle and like mastering this loop for so long that I just keep getting better and meeting more people. But then I realized that the future is scary, so I'm just going to stay where I'm at. And I experienced that when I went down to Florida.
Speaker 3:After you said that to me like how many experiences at a festival where you can do whatever you want that's the idea of where a lot of the cube came from was going to all these different festivals and stuff where really people are dressed up and doing silly things and whatever, and they're all adults. And I was like why am I so hard on myself? Or why am I still making these irrational decisions of out of fear when there's nothing to fear when you're there? So it was so like pointed to me that I was doing this and I've been doing it for so long in my life and so along with my creation, and that I would have a good thing and then I would destroy it. I would have a good thing and I would destroy it, because the destruction of it is the idea of staying safe, or what we think is safe. But what would really be safer is to actually be successful and have resources and actually be safe, and not our mind telling us one thing than the other.
Speaker 2:I really come to terms with that.
Speaker 3:I've been doing a lot of work with it stuff.
Speaker 3:But I feel like right now is just like this. I feel like the pause Let the dust settle a little bit, where I feel like we were, like I've always heard that there's more power in retreat than there is pushing, forcing, and I feel like the pause right now isn't stopping at all. I feel like it's just like us taking a moment to let the last couple of years of this process that we've been like working on and building and pushing, and like trying to figure out where almost we were trying too hard in some aspects, where we were like so far in it and not working on it that we lost track of where we were at and weren't really seeing the path of ease. And I feel like right now I just cleaned my entire office. I threw a bunch of stuff away, I cleaned out the entire closet, like wiped down everything in my office, like rearranged things. It looks beautiful and they're super fresh and it's clean.
Speaker 3:And I just feel like right now I just caught myself back up like I'm like I'm right at the zero point, where I'm like I met myself finally where I'm at, and so I don't know what's going to come up next. I've had people reach out to me over the last few days I had to read a pause that I reached out to months ago or said they're going to contact me or whatever, and then never heard from them and all of a sudden they're reaching out to me and they're like hey, sorry, I got busy, I wanted to still catch the touch base with you and stuff and so I feel great about it.
Speaker 3:I feel like I feel that that bit of a pause is going to give us some more clarity as far as like the path that, the actual path of ease and not what we thought it was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you got even more to unpack, unpack that year.
Speaker 2:I actually am taking notes, which I don't ever do auditory processor but I actually took notes on all of this. Yeah, thanks, joe, thanks for all of that, and I think there are so many really important things that have been said between you and Ryan, and expressing where you are on your process and in your journey and embracing the journey is what you're both doing, all three of you, because I've also talked with Dave about this you're embracing where you are on this journey, knowing it's not the beginning, it's not the end. You're just on the journey, and I think that is a really important concept for everyone to understand is that we, as humans, tend to think there's a beginning and an end to everything and if the end is not what we thought, then we can feel like that was a failure or a lack or we did something wrong. It can take us into all those human emotions, right, and the overthinking and all of that kind of stuff, when in reality, energetically, it's just a journey and whether we are starting or ending or opening or closing, hi there and as a view heart watching, we have a beautiful child has joined Ryan on his screen. It's the continuation of your life, it's a continuation of the journey that you're on. So it's not the beginning or the ending, it's where are we on the journey? So I think that's a really important concept and that's true for us in our personal lives, it's true in business and it's and I one of you guys talked about riding the wave.
Speaker 2:When the wave goes up and you're riding that way I think it was Joe that was talking about being treated in that elite group of people like a celebrity talking to important people, all of that and you get into feeling that and you're on the top of that wave. The thing about waves is that they always crash on the shore and they go back out, and then they come back in and they crash and they go back out and they come back in, and so that's also just part of that journey. But it can be really difficult to navigate when you're riding the top of that wave and then all of that wave hits the shore and then you're like, but who am I if I'm not on the top of that wave? And so knowing how to navigate, that, I think, is really important. So I think that's something that we should talk about.
Speaker 2:You talked about the pause and we and you mentioned Dr Porges, founder of poly bagel theory, and the, that whole idea of safety, having a safe container, and that you're, when you're in between the stimulus and response, that pause between stimulus and response, that's where your power is, that's where we have power. We how many times have I said there's no such thing as control. It's an illusion, and we always want to control when we're afraid something's going to come to an end or we're afraid something's going to start, like what Joe was talking about, like you create something, you get it going and then you destroy it, because it's more comfortable to stay where you are than it is to have a transition, to have a change in your life. We all do that too. But the power that we can control, the power that we have, is between the stimulus and the response, and you guys, as a company, are in that pause right now, as a company, as individuals, but also as a company. There's there, there was a ton of information and interest and all of this energy coming about it, and then there was really nothing on the other side. And so, between the stimulus and the response is where you guys are at right now, and I think it's a beautiful thing because all three of you are doing different things and supporting each other and knowing that it's not the end or the beginning. It's just a part of the journey with your business, with the OmniCube, with your friendship, with everything that you guys have worked so hard for that. You're just in the pause, and I think that's a really important and beautiful thing.
Speaker 2:When we were talking specifically to parents about the pause often not often all the time doing nothing can be a very important action. Right, because we always want to do something, because that's who we are. We're fixers. We take action for everything our culture are raising. Everything tells us business school. Everything tells us if you sit there and do nothing, nothing's going to happen. You have to do something.
Speaker 2:My experience is that often doing nothing is the absolute best thing to do, and that's the pause, and that's being in that limbo, that's being in that space to see, okay, first of all, how do I feel? Second of all, what is it that I really want for myself and for my life? And third, what's the world going to offer me? And, ryan, you really spoke beautifully to that of knowing what you've gained from the work that you guys have put in. It was not for nothing, no matter what happens at the end of, if there is an end to, this journey with the Omni cube or wherever it, what it morphs into or whatever happens down the road with that, like where you are right now, in this pause, you know what you've gained and that's really incredible and that, if we talk about that in energetic terms, that is taking a wound to a gift.
Speaker 2:Right, because it's also very real to feel scared, disappointed when you had all this buzz, right, and you're waiting for these emails, you're waiting for this follow up, and we are the cool kids in in the conference and and the industry is looking at us and everybody wants to know more and then boom, it's silence on the other side of that, right, and we're going to feel some type of way about that. We're going to feel frustrated, we're going to feel sad, we're going to feel personal. What did I do? There are all kinds of levels of processing when that kind of thing, when that wave crashed into the shore, it's okay, now what?
Speaker 2:But the wave goes out, the wave comes back in, and for you, you were able to regurgitate all of this incredible wisdom to this other person who came to you for help, and so that is an incredible gift, and the fact that you can say, wow, all this work you call it being down in the ditch, being in the ditch and doing all this really hard work for the last year and a half what incredible wisdom you've gained from that.
Speaker 2:So I think that's important for all three of you to be able to really know what you've gained from this experience, to take the time to really reflect on that while you're in the pause, while you're in between stimulus and response. What's the wisdom that you gain? And knowing that what you're doing is you are integrating this experience, because any wound can become a gift. There is no hard time that doesn't bring you growth. We always gain something from the experiences that we have, and so identifying that's really important and, I think, just bigger picture for anybody who's in the midst of a transition or who is somebody who's had the opportunity for a transition and they've totally blown it up because it was too scary to step into the unknown If we can really focus on what are the gifts that we've gained to this point and then how are those gifts going to help us move forward. I think that's a really important concept to embracing the journey and being able to navigate when life transitions happen to you, dave.
Speaker 1:I just want to hear from them. There's so much you said there, but I want to hear from just what you're, ryan and Joe, what goes to your head with any or all of what Andrew just said in terms of relating it to your individual and our collective experience?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think I would agree. The pause is difficult. I found myself we had our difficult meeting on Wednesday and on Thursday I had two hours of work to do and I was like what else do we do? And it's like this, like boredom set in, almost of like for a year and a half there's been someone to respond to some of the project, to work on a call to me and we hit pause and I was like I don't know what to do and but I allowed myself this was just the other day to go golf with someone who invited me out to golf with them.
Speaker 4:And while I was there I met another person who said his wife has been looking for something to do and maybe she could open up another center underneath me and pine her, which is a huge golf area. And I was like if I just forced working, like I'm gonna sit at my computer and write emails and I'm gonna look for opportunities, these things just wouldn't happen. But I casually went and golfed with this guy and me and the other guy got along well and now not saying anything's gonna happen, but there's the potential for it too.
Speaker 2:On the opportunity and allowing yourself to ride the wave and to continue to ride the wave, cause, yeah, you guys had a tough meeting and the next day was the crash on the shore of okay, if I'm not that guy who's constantly got something to do, then who am I and what am I gonna do with myself? And a lot of people can fall into like serious depression when those kinds of things happen and a lot of folks can really feel lost in that situation and we'll sit at the computer and feel the anxiety and the stress of I have to do these emails, I have to research, I have to do all that, and that's really just not how the universe takes care of us. That's not how we get our needs met. The only thing that I know that really gains anybody is additional stress and lack of opportunity.
Speaker 1:And I want to say something there too and you just belong to those lines is one of the things that we had our meeting on, meeting the Monday after this great success conference, and Ryan was in tears, but after I said stop, and we just grieved, cause we did, we just and it's great we grieved, we grieved the law. Ryan cried and I'm not telling any secrets, ryan's a man, he knows how to cry and it was. And yeah, we grieved, so we didn't, and then we didn't go into depression. We hadn't. We might have gone into depression because we wouldn't have been processing what was actually happening.
Speaker 1:It was just something beautiful about it speaks to us just as our who we are as a team and as partners, that, of course, that's what we did together, and so there's just something about that vulnerability and it is confirming everything. Look, this is we're not in a business and then have our lives. The Q-OmniCube is an expression of every value that we have, and so for this, in terms of us being able, oh no, we're going to live up to this value because we're OmniCube guys. No, this is just who we are. We're just, we're men of heart, we're men of character, we're men of trust and we're just men who are certain what the hell's coming next.
Speaker 1:And all of us and one of the things and, joe, I want to get your voice into we still have you but I want to mention is it what became clear to me and to the three of us in our own ways, is that in one way, the cube was standing between us and our lives, work which seems so, it seems so paradoxical or so wrong.
Speaker 1:And it wasn't that it was like an impediment, it was like no, there was something else, that, as long as we were just focused on the cube, we were not our own destinies which were unfolding separate from the cube when it wasn't coming out. And all of us have had this opportunity to say, okay, what is it now that we're free to do? They weren't before. And I think that is just such a big part of our podcast and of our whole theme is that there's an opportunity, and it's not just something we tell ourselves because it sounds good and we can sleep at night. So anyway, joe, when you had this realization about yourself and this recognition about yourself, what does it freed you to do or to feel?
Speaker 3:So I want to, before I lose the stock. I want to not only correct something but put a different spin on something you just said in regards to like the cube being in the way of our life's work, and something that we said earlier that we gained so much wisdom and knowledge from our experiences we had while working on the cube. And if you believe what we say all the time and believe what science is saying of our lack of free will and that we don't really have control over anything and it's just unfolding Because, as you say, we wrote it eight billion years ago then we didn't really have the cube in the way. The cube was doing what it was supposed to do, which is making us work and refine and gain wisdom from certain things that we did for the last couple of years. That allows you now to do your life's work. So it wasn't in the way it was right, where it was supposed to be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I put the point on it that so if we continue to drive in the dirt, if we held on to anything that we thought the cube was doing for us, that would have been in the way of our life's work and that's a much better way to do it. And for you, joe, it is your life's work.
Speaker 3:It is my life's work and that's the things you just keep unfolding for me and people are finding me now and I made a post on the Hulaween page. That, after we left, was everybody just asked who are you in real life, like all these people that we hang out with 27,000 people we're all partying with all weekend, who are you? And seeing nurses and doctors and ER docs, and these people that, like, are all dressed up in crazy costumes and all of a sudden, they're sharing that they have all these real life big people, jobs that we go down there to play and go down there that's our recess and I made a. I just made a post. I was like I made it shared a picture of the 3D rendering of the cube and I'm just, I'm an inventor and a creator and they've been working on this thing.
Speaker 3:And a guy reached out to me or I had a comment and he goes if you don't mind, I'm really interested in what you're doing. If you could send me a DM, I'd love to talk to you. So it's just, you don't know, and this is 10 years for me and I don't feel like I'm still not in the wrong place. I'm feel like what I learned from somebody that's been watching me for years and going. He read my text message back to myself and he goes see this line right here. I'm going to read it right through for you. And he goes this line right here that's your amygdala, here's your front through cortex. Here's your amygdala again. It was just like I would say something logical and I would destroy it and like all within one message to him yeah, and it was like he goes that's what you're doing over and over again and I just feel right now I've been able to really sit with that and experience a couple of different experiences when we were down at the festival and on the way of the festival where, after he told me that and there's certain things about Brie, my wife that trigger me, but she's aware of the situation because of my past relationship with somebody that had borderline.
Speaker 3:So I have a lot of deep seated trauma from being told you're a piece of shit almost every day and walking through your front door and not knowing if you're going to get punched or hugged. There's a lot of things that come with that and she said that numerous times. Where she's, I feel like you're more mad at me than what I actually did. So we're on our way down there and we got in this whole thing because she doesn't like being in a car, so she was very triggered by the traffic on 95, which who wouldn't be? And so we had a whole thing went down and I was like all of a sudden I was triggered and this was all happening and I realized that's where it was coming from.
Speaker 3:And then same thing we're at the festival where we were trying to get through from one show to the next and we were pushing Jupiter and the stroller and there's the two of us and luckily I had ADA access so we were able to get through the crowd and jump into the ADA section. But I went into this dark mode where I was like everybody's on our way, nobody cares, and all this kind of stuff, and I was like then I got in there, I was like why? That wasn't strategy at all, that was just me going into this scared mode or this emotional state of being triggered again. And the one beautiful thing taking Jupiter to all these festivals and doing all these things for her and focusing on that secure attachment bond.
Speaker 3:We were there in the middle of 20,000 people and this crazy situation and we finally got to the ADA section and Brianna's a little concerned. She goes, you think Jupiter's OK and I was like I looked at her and she's sitting back, kicked back in her stroller, with her foot up on the tray eating Cheerios, watching the show and I was like I think she's OK. Yeah, I was like she wouldn't be eating, let alone feeding you, cheerios, and all sprawled out in the stroller, if she was scared of anything whatsoever.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's interesting, joe. It's interesting, but it's also very cool that you are able to take that concept of blowing things up and how it's applying to every aspect of your life, but in a very short period of time, that information has processed in for you and you can reflect and see it. The other thing that I think it's important for our listeners to get out of all of that is that because we have that information, because we gain that awareness and we have that perspective and all that wisdom, it doesn't mean we're not going to do it. And so when we do it, then and we're aware of it then so what's the step after that? And so you started out by talking to us about what a beautiful weekend you had, what an incredible experience it was and how great it was to be there and what it's bringing you as you come back into your life from your recess, what it's bringing you professionally.
Speaker 2:I think for our listeners, it's important to know that you're going to blow things up. Just because you become aware of it doesn't mean you're not going to do it. You're still going to do it. And so then, how do you integrate? And again, it's the womb to the gift, it's the understanding why for Joe, particularly why it gets triggered by certain things and then knowing that those things are still going to trigger you and what do you do with all that emotion, and understanding the brain and how it works. So I think that's really important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I want to just throw something from my own perspective in terms of what I'm seeing and how it relates to everyone's transit, everyone who's transitioning in some way. That rises to the level of they say, hey, I'm going through a transition and that is that. As Joe and I were on, we had our meeting Monday and then I said, hey, I just want to talk to each of you individually, and Ryan and I, we grieved together and that was appropriate. And then Joe and I talked and Joe said the same thing that I see in me, I see in you, which is that you're still don't believe in yourself. Now, what beautiful. I look at it. I look at, hey, look at my resume. Guys, you want to see all the incredible things I've done, the people I touched, the confidence that I have and people that it still came down to.
Speaker 1:This is what this moment is showing me about myself, and I was thinking there's such a fine line between being intuitive and being superstitious, really, and I don't know where the.
Speaker 1:I wish I knew how to get a scalpel between those two, but the superstition is, oh, life's doing this to show me this and it's all happening for this reason, and we just start seeing signs that aren't there. But I know, with the capital K, that I am not going to succeed in anything until I take something on myself and completely believe in myself, and that's what this moment is for me. It was being as vulnerable and as transparent as I might not otherwise want to be in this with an audience. Is it still coming back to the fact I got my partners here? We're all working together on this. This is great. I'm one of three and that is beautiful. But when I said about something in the way, in the way me just being in a company we'll still do, it is in the way of me owning up to the fact I'm 71 years old. It's time for me to fully step into my shoes and see who I am.
Speaker 1:And there's this moment for all of us in every life transition. It may not be that dramatic or that clear, but just to ask yourself intuitively, with just a hint of maybe superstition, of something might be happening here behind the scenes, that what is life seemingly blocking me from, so that it can open up the door too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, because it really is about the journey, not the destination. The things that we gain we don't really gain at the end point, at the destination of whatever this journey, whatever leg of journey we're on, we don't really get the gifts at the end. We get the gifts during the journey. The wisdom comes during the journey and you guys are a great example of this because you are on the journey right now and all three of you have talked about incredible gifts that you've gained from this experience of the OmniCube, this business experience that you've had, but then how it's affected you and giving you so much in your lives, in your personal lives and your professional lives individually and not just as a group. And I think that's just a really important point. Now, especially with small business, it is really hard to be what the world considers successful in small business. It is a tough game to play and it is a tough thing to achieve. And so defining success, I think, is really important and I would say that you guys have been incredibly successful. You didn't get the defined success that you wanted to this point with financial success, selling a lot of the product, that kind of success, that definition of success. But when I look at you and who you are now compared to who you were the first time I ever talked to you guys. There's a huge amount of success that has come from this experience being a small business person, which I am one too.
Speaker 2:It's a tough journey and it's talk about riding the waves. The waves come and they crash, and they come and they crash, and they come and they crash, and you have to learn to ride them. You have to know that there's gonna be that crash at the end of the wave and you also have to know there's another one coming. You can paddle out there and get right on it. And so it's always that balance of attracting from the universe what is right, what is wealth, what is abundance from the universe. And then the action part of doing your part of what is it that you need to do in order to make that happen, and from the person who's been involved with what you guys are doing. But on the outside, looking in like I can see how you guys did that and did it very well, and I can also see where fear came in.
Speaker 2:Fear played a big part in this journey for you guys, because it was. That's a wave in and of itself. You have fear, and then fear is not a good thing, and so you try to mitigate your fears and change it into something else and become empowered in what you're doing. But then the wave crashes and it's okay. We don't have abundance and we don't have enough, and so fear and lack really come into play when we're on the journey of trying to create a new business, and knowing how to ride that and navigate that, I think, is important, and to do that you do have to be like, fully present in what's happening for you. Those are normal emotions when you're trying to build a business, it's there's absolutely nothing other than fear you're gonna experience when you don't have money for the next project, for the next Omnicube to be built or for anybody to get paid for. Anything Like having fear is incredibly human and normal and appropriate. So then, what do you do with that?
Speaker 2:And I really believe that having gratitude for everything that you have in the moment that you feel that fear is one way to mitigate fear, to really take yourself, step out and shift your focus. What is it that we have, what is it we've gained? And let's be really grateful for that. I think that's one thing for our listeners to know. It's something you can do when you're really experiencing a lot of fear. Whether you're building a business or you're transitioning to a new job, or you're in a divorce or whatever your big life transition is, fear is gonna come up. So what do you do with it? Recognize it, know that it's there, don't try to avoid it, because it's there. You have to acknowledge it. But then what's the opposite gratitude, what am I grateful for? What have I gotten to this point Again, what are the gifts that I've gained to this point?
Speaker 2:And then I think something else that is important in this process that Joe talked about was he changed his office totally, cleaned his office, rearranged his office. He shifted his physical environment, and I think that is also a very important concept for people to understand when you're in a life transition. If you shift your physical environment, whether that means purge your closet or move your living room around or just have a really deep clean of the home that you live in, or you take everything out of your car that you've been carrying around for six months, whatever we collect energetic baggage when we go through different phases of life. We collect that energetic baggage and we represent it with stuff in our lives, and so one of the things that you can do when you're facing a big transition and you're really feeling stuff is shift your environment. So I mean that's brilliant to clean the office, rearrange everything, make it fresh, make it new. It changes how you feel about everything. It raises the frequency of the space and of you as a person. So that's another piece of advice that I would give out to our listeners is shift your physical environment so that you feel differently about things.
Speaker 2:And, ryan, if you had gotten stuck in the I'm not going golfing, I'm gonna sit here at my computer and I'm gonna force myself to do this. If you had done that instead of going golfing, then one of the things that I would say to you is you need to move your computer, you need to move your physical environment, you need to move where you are. You need to change it. You need to shift your routine. Right? You did a great thing by going golfing. It's something that you love, it was fun and it was relaxing and it allowed you to open yourself up so that the universe could bring you an opportunity. Right? We don't get anything new until we move something old. That's just. It has to happen. We have to move something, release something to make space for something new to come in.
Speaker 2:And so you did that on that day you went, but a lot of people would get stuck in that I have to sit at my computer this is what work is and I need to be here and I need to do it. And I would say you need to move your computer and you need to change your routine. Let's talk about your schedule and let's change what that looks like. So there's always the energetic, spiritual piece of this and then there's always a very literal piece of this and it's bringing those two things together to move through a transitional time, to move through a difficult or challenging time. It takes both of those things. Bring them together. Those are two pieces of advice that I would offer up to our listeners.
Speaker 3:I have to get going from here, but I want to just put a couple of points on the things you said. There's something I read a while ago that I really liked. I've actually changed. I don't use the word gratitude anymore, and the reason that is it was beautifully written. It was like gratitude.
Speaker 3:If you look at the positive, negative, the black and the white, gratitude is the dark and appreciation is the light, because we're grateful for something, it's almost like we don't feel like we deserve it, where if we appreciate something, we know that we did the work and we know that it's ours. We know that we deserve it. I've always used the word appreciation or the word gratitude since then. The other thing that the guy in New Jersey told me is, like people that are in business, they're amygdala fires, almost 10 times more than what someone that's working for someone else does, because you don't know where it's coming from. You don't know where the next money's coming from, you don't know where the next thing's coming from. It's up to you to provide yourself your own security and not someone just writing you a check and going home and having that space. Yeah, and there was something else I was gonna say and I can't quite remember. I was trying to remember all the things you were saying and trying to add the things to it, but Let me suggest this cause.
Speaker 1:We're coming to it. And then here, I just think, each of us, I like each of us to give a reflection on where we, just if we were gonna give a piece of advice or share an experience that could be helpful to people in parallel situations, what would it be from each of our perspective? Why don't you go, sir?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so actually it's perfect because it's it reminded me of the thing that Angie said about rearranging your living room or rearranging your environment or the things that are in your space is and I'm gonna end it with a cube thing, because the cube is full, is a space full of objects and you can call those objects whatever you want to call those objects. You get them the energy that you wanna get towards them, and your room is the same thing. The cube is just the room in your house and how many objects are in your room and how many things do you appreciate in your room and how many things are just there as cluttered. And sometimes you need to remap, sometimes you need to like clean it out or move things around or realize you don't need certain things anymore. And that's what I've always done is just obviously you can see that with using the cube and stuff is that the cube is just mapping. It's just mapping on our brain of like objects in our space and how we feel about those objects in our space. So if you're feeling stuck, maybe you need to rearrange your house or rearrange your living room or something that changes the perspective that you're seeing or changing how you have to move around it or whatever, but it gives you that the sensation or the feeling that something has changed, even though it hasn't. You actually created your own positive change because it looks different to you.
Speaker 3:I've heard a lot of people say our daughter isn't walking yet, but they said we moved the. All of a sudden we moved the ottoman out of the way and just stood up and walked off Like just because you remapped it and like this object that you didn't know was causing something in them to be an obstacle, because they can't tell you it's the obstacle that's in their way and all of a sudden you move it and they just stand up and start walking and it's that one change. If in your house you've had the same things and it's the same mess, jordan Peterson always says clean your room, clean your bedroom right. Go to the place you're going to rest at night, make sure it's clean, make sure it's like things are put away and your bed's made or whatever. Have that place where you go. And there's that Admiral. I can't remember his name, but he said his book about make your bed in the morning. It's, you accomplished one thing before you started your day and you're coming back after a hard day, to a freshly made bed.
Speaker 1:Beautifully done, joe, thank you. Thanks for making it work too. I know you pushed the client off or something, but and at the end too, I'm going to talk a little bit about the kind of stuff you want to just spend one minute because we all have more time for our day jobs. Now of what you are doing and what you can do virtually with people as well. Can you do that in a minute, or is that too big?
Speaker 3:an answer yeah. So the one thing I was looking at not looking at, but I'm planning on doing is actually setting out information on doing virtual sessions with people, because we don't need the blocks, so we need objects, and I can do virtual block sessions or virtual virtual sessions, coaching sessions with people using their own objects in their home, and what I would suggest is like picking objects that you want to interact with, things that mean something to you, and set those around on the floor. We're going to play a game on the floor with you virtually over Zoom, and I'm just going to have you doing certain doing these tasks that I would do with people with the blocks, but you're going to do them in your home with me and you're going to interact with, maybe objects that bring some sort of like angst. We can work through that or maybe it's something where we can mix them up and objects that make you feel good with objects that don't make you feel good and we can mobilize some of that trauma or mobilize some of that, those associations you have with those things and make them more positive again and then maybe after that you can take those things that make you don't feel, that make you not feel good and throw them away or re-gift them or move them out so they're not part of your life anymore.
Speaker 3:So there's a lot that I can do virtually with people that I've beta tested during the pandemic and I just lost track of it and everybody that beta tested with me with the blocks said that they had the exact same feeling from doing the blocks with me in person as they do on online Play around the world or anywhere in the country that is interested in doing block sessions with me or virtual coaching sessions with me using the cube protocol. I'm doing $99 for an hour sessions. Hit me up and Sales guy.
Speaker 1:I mean this is I get to take credit for some of this way he went right for the club. Well played, joe. Thanks, I'm going to turn, so take off, joe. We'll talk soon. Right? What's your message from the masses?
Speaker 4:I guess, as cliche as it is, is just a trust, and I trust that if the cube is meant to be where I'm supposed to go, then the universe will provide opportunities for me to come back into business and go full time with this, and if it's not, it's going to reject that, and so I just got to trust about that.
Speaker 4:And then the other one was and this is some of the site, angie, you mentioned some of it, but it was almost the humanity beside it. Yeah, we're going to feel this grief, we're going to feel this sorrow that something we've poured our hearts and souls into for a year and a half didn't go the way we thought. And to not think you're lesser than or anything like that, and that is just. That's just one of the many human characteristics that you have. And until we're all not human, then just accept that and learn to embrace that part of it. And then the other day I was in a meeting with two guys who were financial guys and they were talking back and forth and I couldn't follow. I followed 10% of what they were saying and then in it I was like God, I have no idea what they're talking about here.
Speaker 3:I need to look all this stuff up.
Speaker 4:And then it was like if I was sitting with two Chinese guys and they were speaking Mandarin to each other, I wouldn't be expected to know Mandarin. But I'm not going to go Google what the Mandarin thing is. It's just accepting what you're good at and what you're good at and all that, and the people who are supposed to come to you to lead you on your journey are going to be there. As long as you don't push them away and you're open to it, then it'll happen. Yeah, just accept your humanity and trust that things are going to work out the way they should.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome. Be present in the journey, Be present in the moment that you're in. Yeah, I just want to go. That's my boy.
Speaker 1:So, ryan, what do you? I know you do some. If you want to plug anything you're doing too, I would say yeah.
Speaker 4:Since this time there have been two opportunities that have come my way and I'm seeing what happens with them. But I'm not committing to anything full time. But I'm also doing golf fitness. I own FitGolf Raleigh, so I've just really again, the energy you put somewhere is where success goes. It's how I've been putting energy towards the OmniCube and keeping FitGolf on the back burner and I've just switched those and so now FitGolf is on the front burner and so I do golf fitness. So I specifically work with golfers to improve their range of motion and strength in the areas of their body that they need it to improve. Whatever aspect of their game is that they need help on.
Speaker 2:Nice, but one of the things that we'll make sure we do is put, ryan, your contact information, as well as Joe's, in the show notes, so that anybody who's listening listening to this podcast can get to you guys if they need to. The book is called Make your Bed. It's by Admiral William H McRaven, and we can put that link at the bottom too for anybody who wants to. It is a very good book to read. So, dave, what would your takeaway be?
Speaker 1:Just surround yourself with the best people possible. One of the reasons we're navigating this is because we're together and we're with you, and it just makes such a difference and maybe you don't have a Joe or Ryan or an Angie or whatever exactly in your life, but the more you can find people that hold that space for you and with you, that's what makes it, and yeah, there's everything else.
Speaker 1:There's so much we could talk about, but I think more than anything, I deserve Such an appreciation. And also, yeah, one more. Of course I'm going to say one more thing, because I always do is I watched Ryan with his two girls there. Where we're going, who he's supposed to get them down?
Speaker 4:Now they're back on watching TV.
Speaker 1:I'm going to tell Liz it's all my fault, but anyway it's that it's not even about us. It's just watching you with your girls and listening to Joe, with him, with Jupiter, and we think it's. Oh yeah, I'm getting this, I'm getting that. We don't even know, we have no idea how this journey that we're on, that we're embracing, is affecting people in ways that we don't know. And I just you, keep that somewhere in the back of your mind or front of your mind or whatever, and it takes some of the sting of the personality out of it, the personal rather, and it also the hyper fixation, the natural narcissism that we have. It's all about us and there's something about recognizing and I watched it on my court the effect Joe had on people up in the queue Just watching you, with people just being so attracted to you, just so attracted to you, and they don't even know why they're attracted to you.
Speaker 1:And Angie's the same way. Angie's just a magnet for people. You just know that she has something. So, anyway, there's something about this recognizing. It's bigger than us two. That's all I got to say about that, other than I'm going to put more time in my day job of taking thorns out of lines Baws, which people has a have something in particular that's really hanging them up. That's my superpower, and will post my website up there as well. So, angie, thanks for you. So great, just roll. We just rolled with this and you just try to.
Speaker 2:Great we let. If you this is the first time you're listening to our podcast. They've been us surprise each other with guests every week, almost every week, excuse me, and so this was fun. I enjoyed doing this. Thank you, ryan, for being so vulnerable, and I know Joe had to leave us, but I'm going to thank him as well.
Speaker 2:Hopefully he'll hear this, but I appreciate your all's vulnerability talking about this business and the journey that you're on with it and just really sharing, because there are a lot of people who are in exactly the same place and they don't know where to go for resources, and that was another note that I wrote down. That and that'll be my final thought is on the tail end of what Dave said is have really great people around, who your supporters and your resources are. Use those people, use those resources, use the tools that you gain and if you don't have them, ask we can help you with those kinds of things. You can contact any of us and we can help you with that. I'm sure you can look around in your community and find someone whether it's a business coach or a life coach or personal coach or whatever somebody who can be a mentor resource for you If you're going through a tough transition like this, especially with a business situation because it is it can absolutely destroy people if they don't know how to respond to it. So that would be my final thought on everything and I'll thank everybody for tuning in.
Speaker 2:Dave, I had the last word last time. You get the last word today. Oh, he has zipped his lip and it's throwing away the key. All right, thanks everybody. We appreciate it and we will see you guys on the next episode of Embrace the Journey.