How Breaking Your Internal Rules Unlocks Limitless Possibilities in Life and Business with David Gibson

From Pike to Prosperity: The Journey of David Gibson and the Power of Authentic Leadership

Discover how David Gibson transformed setbacks into opportunities, utilizing neuroscience, storytelling, and intentional routines to elevate leadership and inspire change. This episode delves into the importance of authenticity, perseverance, and strategic mindset shifts for aspiring leaders and entrepreneurs.

In this episode:

• David's early experiences with high school struggles and discovering his mechanical gifts
• The pivotal moment in college where exposure and mentorship reshaped his belief in himself
• How building confidence through small wins and overcoming limiting beliefs ignited his entrepreneurial journey
• The significance of authenticity in personal branding, with emphasis on "becoming someone worth knowing rather than just known"
• Practical strategies integrating neuroscience, breathwork, and visualization to enhance leadership presence
• The story behind the Quest documentary series and its impact on local small businesses
• Lessons from setbacks at Firestone that catalyzed his transition into content creation and speaking
• How consistency and resourcefulness helped grow his platform to partner with Verizon and the City of Indianapolis
• The importance of environment, environment, environment — mentally, emotionally, and physically
• David’s daily routines for mental clarity, resilience, and maintaining alignment with purpose
• The profound quote from Howard Thurman about discovering what makes you come alive

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction and David Gibson’s leadership architecture

02:02 - Importance of clarity and consistency for leaders

04:37 - From high school struggles to college acceptance

06:47 - The power of persistence and finishing your degree

09:25 - Recognizing when the conventional path doesn’t fit your mind

11:23 - Transition from corporate job to entrepreneurial pursuits

13:37 - A life-changing conversation at Firestone

15:55 - The significance of belief shifts in personal growth

18:27 - Leading with curiosity and breaking mental rules

20:36 - Working in the corporate world and lessons learned

23:56 - The impact of mentorship and realizing potential at work

27:33 - Speaking at your uncle’s funeral: overcoming internal resistance

30:17 - The moment of divine inspiration and stepping into purpose

33:36 - Transition out of Firestone and embracing risk

37:38 - Navigating corporate downsizing with faith and strategy

42:28 - Building credibility through content and storytelling

45:17 - The importance of environment in shaping success

50:44 - Developing skills while building your brand on a budget

55:50 - The disciplined habits that fuel entrepreneurial resilience

62:23 - Authenticity and relatability in content creation

66:38 - The significance of being uniquely you in leadership and life

70:23 - How storytelling amplifies small business success

75:12 - Neuroscience, breathwork, and rituals for peak performance

82:09 - The science of readiness and planting seeds of growth

86:43 - The power of vision and identity reinforcement

94:21 - Distinction between being known vs. being worth knowing

102:09 - Follow David Gibson and the Elevation is a Must movement

103:18 - Final wisdom: Life is precious; contribute authentically

Resources & Links:

• Grab Free Copy of Self Discovery Blueprint & Mental Edge Diagnostic
• Books That Built the Life
• Wanting to learn more about The Coherence Program? Email podcast host directly at thisisthelifeispodcast@gmail.com
• The life is podcast instagram 

Connect with David Gibson:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Elevation is a Must 
• David Gibson - Youtube
• Elevation is a Must Newsletter

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Life Is Podcast, where creativity, culture, mindset, and intentional living come together through real conversation. I'm your host, Cloy Brown. Each week I sit down with entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, travelers, and visionaries who didn't stumble into a life they love, they built it. We go deep into how they think, how they reconstructed themselves, and what became possible on the other side. This is not just about what people have accomplished. It's about the internal work that made it sustainable. Because when you build from the inside out, life expands. Let's get into it. This week, I'm sitting down with someone who found his voice at a funeral. David Gibson grew up in the Pike area of Indianapolis. Not the best student, not the most polished kid in the room. He made his way to IUPUI in the Kelly School business, graduating in five years. He spent time at Firestone, and one day his uncle passed away. David stood up and spoke at that funeral, and the people in that room came up to him afterward and asked, Do you do this professionally? He didn't. Not yet. But that moment planted something that he spent the next decade growing into. When Firestone let him go in October 2013, after he spoke up in a meeting, what they actually did was remove the last obstacle between David and the work he was supposed to be doing. From a garage in Indianapolis with a camera and a conviction, he built Elevation as a must, a personal growth platform that has taken him to stages across the country, to documentary series on small businesses that attracted Verizon as a sponsor, and now to a partnership with the city of Indianapolis itself. His message is simple and it's everything. Elevation is not optional. It's a must. Here's how he got there. All right, well, welcome and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Life Is Podcast, hosted by myself. And uh today we have another phenomenal lineup, another person who hopped on the podcast with us to talk about their architecture, their internal coherence of how they got to where they're at, what they're doing now. And uh I want to give a warm welcome to David Gibson. Uh David, for those who are listening, he's a speaker, an author, filmmaker, mindset coach, founder of Elevation is a must. And uh David, man, it's a pleasure to have you on the show. Um how you how how are you feeling today?

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Corey, man, first and foremost, I'm excited. Um, looking forward to this conversation and definitely feeling honored uh to be a part of your podcast, brother.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Yes, sir, man. It's great to have you. I'm I'm I'm I'm grateful to have you, man, because for those who don't who are listening, you know, disclaimer, I know David outside of here, and uh David is just a uh a jewel of wisdom, um, just super committed, super uh search entrepreneur, and just very gifted at what he does. So I always appreciate his his knowledge and expertise. So I'm excited to get into it today. But with that being said, David, and if you can, for everyone just listening, can you tell people who David Gibson is, you know, where you started, uh what elevation is a must is, and uh what brought you up to this point?

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Man, that's a packed question, brother. A lot of moving parts, man. Um in in essence, man, if if I was to sum it up on the work that I do, I'm in the business of building leaders. Yes. I'm in the business of empowering individuals to step boldly into their personal power so that they can live out their God-given purpose and achieve the things that they want to experience in their life. Um I'm a storyteller, whether it's telling stories on stages or telling stories visually through particular film projects that my team and I, we produce. But ultimately, in the work that I do, my focus has always been to help leaders think with more clarity, uh, lead with more confidence, and ultimately staying consistent with the actions that align them with the goals that they're aiming to experience in life. And as you know, um there's a lot of moving parts uh within those particular objectives. But nonetheless, I'm coming to empower leaders.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Yes, sir, man. I love it. I think the big thing there, man, is it's clarity and consistency, right? For leaders who want to get to the life they want to get to. Um is you know, tap into that clarity. Well, I'm I'm I'm I'm appreciative for uh for the warm welcome there for us. As we kind of move forward here, I want to kind of dive in, right? Because I want to go kind of unpack your story. Really kind of going taking us back to high school, right? Kind of the origin of from Pike and even through the Kelly School business, which we'll get to and kind of really how you found your way into who we know you as today. So if you can't take us back, you know, kind of growing up back to Pike, right? Um I know we said offline that you know you mentioned in school you weren't always the best student. But what was what what was what was school actually like for you? And you know, maybe what were you drawn to or you know good at um that the classroom maybe wasn't measuring at that point in time?

SPEAKER_01 4:44

I was good with my hands, man. Um, you know, I I was I was very mechanical. Um my my mother would always talk about how I would break things apart and then put them back together. Right. Right. You know, whether it was, you know, the fan in the room or you know, a clock or you know, some piece of technology. I was always tearing things down. Um, but to your point, no, I wasn't the best student in high school. Um simply because, you know, I didn't necessarily value education in that stage of my life, right? And, you know, I frequently speak at a lot of colleges and universities, and one thing that I really emphasize is like the switch in your mindset and mentality as a student. Uh, like when you start to really value your education, you approach it differently. Um you lead with a different sense of urgency and intentionality when you truly understand that what you're investing in in the right now can pay dividends in your future. But of course, as a you know, 17, 18-year-old kid, I didn't necessarily have that level of thinking. So, you know, I uh graduated from Pike High School, didn't necessarily have the best GPA, and I can recall, you know, with this vision, so to speak, of getting a four-year degree because my parents practically beat it into me, like you're gonna be somebody, you're gonna do something with your life, right? And ultimately, as we grew up, right, you know, getting a four-year degree, going to a college, and you know, graduating was the game plan, right? That's what we assumed in so many ways was really the pathway to success. So ultimately, I started to submit applications to different universities and colleges. And letter after letter, I got rejected, right? And of course, man, like at a young age, right? You know, when your confidence isn't necessarily built, you haven't built the infrastructure of your self-esteem. Um, that can take a toll on your mindset and your attitude about yourself, right? But make a very long story short, got accepted into Ivy Tech Community College and started taking my general classes because IUPUI, which is now IU Indianapolis, uh sent me a letter and said, Hey, you know, we want to give you an opportunity, but we don't believe you can handle college courses, right? I'm paraphrasing, right? But this is the way I interpreted it. And ultimately they were like, We want to put you on a trial period, but you have to go to Ivy Tech and you know, prove quote unquote that you can handle collegiate courses, right? So at that point in time, I'm a competitor, right? Like now I'm like, okay, you you say I can't do it, I'm gonna prove you wrong. Correct. Right. So not only that, but you know, I didn't have any financial aid or any like scholarships that were supporting my tuition. So I had to get a full-time job, right? And I'm I'm leveraging my salary and paying my tuition and paying for my books. So now there's a different level of commitment. Yes. Yeah, yeah. You have to give your own personal education because you're personally invested into this. So in my mind, I'm like, okay, you told me I can't do it. I'm gonna prove you wrong, but at the same time, your boy ain't throwing no money away. Right, right. So again, making a very long story short, uh long story short. Um, took a few courses um at Ivy Tech and then transferred over to IUPY, got accepted into the IU Kelly School of Business, graduated in 2012. Took me six years to get a four-year degree, but I tell many leaders that are in college, it don't matter how long it takes you, what matters the most is you finish it because when you walk across that stage, ain't no ain't no dates on that diploma, right? Yep. Uh so ultimately from there, um, you know, graduated and really began this venture uh or adventure, so to speak, of stepping into the work that I'm doing now. Um and really my collegiate experience contributed a lot to, you know, the work that I'm doing now with empowering leaders.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Yeah. Man, you got a great, great story to kind of set the set the path for us going forward. You know, it's funny you said you were very mechanical. And and knowing you over the years, I I'd assume at a young age, you just thought different, right? You probably looked at things in a different, you know, light. Um, the way your mind thinks, so you think different. So even just that little story, I could assume, right? That's probably that probably took place at a young age.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Speaking of, I mean, I was I was very observant, Coi. Yeah, you know, um, I grew up very quiet and reserved. Uh, and we'll probably get to that later on in this conversation, where you know, that began to work against me in so many ways. Where, you know, because I was quiet and reserved and disconnected, you know, I wasn't building meaningful relationships and didn't feel a sense of connection. So, you know, I was struggling internally. Yeah. Um, and this began to take a toll mentally and psychologically and emotionally with me. But to your point, you know, yes, I was very observant, man. I was a people watcher, you know what I mean? And and really just observed people and, you know, how they how they approach things, how they lived, how they communicated. And, you know, hindsight's 2020, man, like looking at the work that I do now, I see how really developing that characteristic, right? And that personal personal trait within myself is really influencing how I interact with leaders today, right? Where I'm able to see things that other people can't see in themselves, right? I'm able to hear things that they've grown so accustomed to repeating to themselves that really are indications of limiting beliefs, right? Or fears and insecurities that are rising to the surface of their consciousness. Um, and and I owe that to, again, you know, a season in my life where I was very quiet and reserved and just very observant.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Was was there a moment maybe in school, kind of going back here again, was there was there a moment in school maybe specifically where you realized maybe the conventional path was not built, you know, for the way your mind actually works, right?

SPEAKER_03 10:53

Or you know, trying to find a different I wouldn't say it was a specific moment. Yeah, I would say it was a progressive realization, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Where even like in high school, transitioning into college, like so many you know, so many students, you're just trying to figure out like what's my path? What what do I want to do? Yeah, right. And nothing really clicked for me as it related to like stepping into particular spaces. Like corporate spaces. Now, granted, I was working for a corporation um as I was going through college, but deep down on the inside, I knew like, man, this really isn't for me. Right. Like, I didn't know what it was that really I wanted to do. You know, over an extended period of time, it began to reveal itself. But to answer your question, it wasn't a specific moment. It was more so something that I began to realize as I was just interacting, observing, and just living my life. I'm like, hold on, man. Like, there's gotta be something different. There's gotta be something more intriguing, there's gotta be something more fulfilling that I can experience, but I don't know what it is.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Yeah. Yeah, it's uh just like a natural progression of just you know, massaging this thing out. Like you know it's there, maybe can't identify it. Um you're just as you're maturing, you're trying to figure out what is this identity and kind of place a label on it. So yeah, I think that happens for a lot of people, myself included. You know, it's like figuring out like you know, to what you said, corporate, you may not that may not be the route you want to go. But through those years, you're trying to just figure out where do you fit in, right? Where am I best suited with my skill set? I think that's that's that's the uh the goal there. Speaking of IU and obviously uh Kelly School business, you said you obviously graduate in six years. Um for a lot of people, as you talk probably to a lot of leaders, it takes a lot of persistence, right, to keep going. Yeah, uh to not give up, right? After that four-year kind of quote unquote mark. Um and you know, being someone who described yourself as like, hey, I wasn't the best student, but I I still committed to it. Could you kind of identify or maybe share for those who are listening, maybe what changed from like Pike to then actually graduating from Kelly School business? Was there a shift there?

SPEAKER_01 13:19

Well, like I mentioned, I was paying out of my pocket, so that was a huge change in my mindset. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. But but really, man, as as I begin to grow and mature and even interacting with my peers on campus and building relationships, right? That's a value, a huge value point, man, when it comes to any college or university, man, is the network that you can build, right? And the relationships that can be created because, you know, you're on campus, whether it's relationships with students, relationships with professors or people that they connect you with that kind of assist you on your career path. But as I'm having these different conversations, right, I'm being exposed to new opportunities. Right. Right. I'm being exposed to greater possibilities. And, you know, I tell many leaders that your level of success is largely dependent upon your level of exposure. We all know that if you can't see it, then you can't be it, right? But once your mind gets exposed to something bigger and greater than what it's gone, you know, what it's familiar with, it will never be comfortable going back to what used to be. You know what I mean? Where you you you see something that's possible and you're like, hold on. They doing it like that out here, right? Or hold on, they they living like that, right? They're able to, you know, land this type of job or they're able to have this type of impact or you know, create this type of lifestyle for themselves. And it's like, now your mind begins to open up with greater ideas, greater possibilities, and you start desiring more, right? So that was like a natural transition for me as I'm you know interacting with my peers on campus. But then, you know, as I begin to buckle down and really begin to do deeper research, you know, when I got the vision of doing the work that I'm doing now, I'm like, man, hold on, maybe this is possible for me. And that's when everything shifted, right? Yes. It took some time for me to realize that, yeah, I can become an entrepreneur, I can become a professional speaker, I can impact people in a mighty way, you know, I can, you know, empower leaders to ultimately become the best version of themselves. But once the seed was planted, that's when the shift began to process and take place.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Take off from there. Yeah. I'm just curious too, David, like was there anything that changed maybe something you believed about yourself uh after the fact? So, you know, from when you started to when you finished, was it like belief change? Like, oh, I can do this, like I'm actually capable, you know, of actually, you know, completing this or actually getting to this level. Was there anything that you know from belief like that? When you're when you're speaking of grad like graduating who got a lot of people. You know, by the time you graduated, um, that you didn't believe when you started.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Yeah, I mean, that was that was a huge boost in my personal confidence. Yeah. Right. Because granted, for more context, man, first generation college graduate in my family. I graduated debt-free. I paid it all out of pocket. Um so doing that was like, man, when you really apply yourself, when you really lock in, when you really commit to something, even though it may be hard, on a subconscious level, you start to develop this mentality that, man, you can do hard things, right? Even though it may be challenging, just because it's difficult doesn't mean it's impossible. And that right there began to set the tone for me stepping into my entrepreneurial journey, right? Where that win, so to speak, that accomplishment, that achievement, yeah, brought forth a great level of fulfillment, right? Where you set out to accomplish something and you did it. But at the same time, now it opened up a new door where it's like, hey, if you were able to do this, what else can you do? What's next? What's something greater that you can experience and accomplish? You got the tools, you're developing the mindset, you got to have a vision, but at the same time, you got to execute on it. But the belief is the hardest part.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

You know what I mean? That's one thing I tell leaders like it's not necessarily accomplishing the goal. It's not necessarily landing the job, it's not necessarily earning X amount of dollars, right? Or landing this type of salary. The hardest part is buying into that this is possible for you. There's so many limiting beliefs that we have, there's so many insecurities, there's so many fears and doubts and trauma from our past that often blind us that this is something that you can gain access to. But when you overcome yourself, when you get out of your own way, when you break the rules of your historical thinking, that's the starting point of exciting possibilities for you and your world.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

I love that. Said break the rules. That was good. And just curiosity to your point. Like once you, once you unlock that door, now the curiosity is there. Like you said, what can I do with this? And then now that I apply myself to your point, now I need to execute, right? That's the thing. Now I can execute, be consistent, and uh continue to hold this belief that, hey, I can do this.

SPEAKER_03 18:32

Right. I'm I'm I'm capable.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

I wanna I wanna, I wanna, I know you're gonna ask the next question, but I want to say this, man, because maybe listeners that are tuning in right now can benefit from this particular concept that's kind of rolling through my mind right now. When you use that term curiosity, I think as leaders, man, young professionals, as entrepreneurs, as you know, success warriors, whatever you want to define yourself to be, I think that's a lost R for so many of us, leading with curiosity, right? Where in so many cases, we allow our problems and our challenges, our circumstances, or our current conditions to dictate what we believe to be possible.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

So we lose the kid in us, right? Like you're a father of some young ones, right? And you know, you know, I have some little ones myself, you know, as well. But when we look at our children, right, they are leading with curiosity, right? Yeah. Sometimes it makes you get them in trouble, but at the same time, you know, it it opens up their mind to new experiences, new adventures, right? And as adults, we lose that, man, because we allow our problems ultimately to dictate our decisions. In a lot of cases, we're leading with unexamined assumptions, right? Because we've had past mistakes or past failures or situations that didn't go in our favor, right? We largely assume that ideas that we create, things that we want to accomplish, aren't possible. So instead of exploring them, instead of being curious about them, we shut them down. And then we wonder why this year looks like 2024, why every month seems to repeat the same pattern, why we feel stuck and not making any progress, and we're not doing the things that bring forth fulfillment. It's because you're not leading with curiosity. And what I mentioned earlier was you've got to break the rules of your historical thinking. Yes, sir. Because we all have rules in our mind. You've got to step outside of your conditioned way of looking at life and adjust your perspective for new possibilities and new experiences.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Lead with curiosity.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

That's right. Look, I told people, those who are listening, I told you David, David is a is a treasure of wisdom. And uh, like I said, I knew he was gonna have something great, and he still has as we continue forward. But yeah, no, you know, David, as you speak, man, obviously I've known you, and I think this this this analogy in my head is like peeking past the door, right? Don't don't assume to what you kind of just alluded to, don't assume you know past experiences means correlation or I uh identical results today. Yeah. Things can be different. And it if you hold this kind of set in stone mold of identity and mental belief, right, you're gonna be in the same spot. So we have to break that rules, break the stone metaphorically. What's behind here? What what what can I get curious about? Because that's when your mind starts to you know brainstorm, you start to uh dive into different you know neural pathways in your mind and uh that's where you know possibility comes. That's where you know uh great things happen. So man, I love I love the the thread, the story that you can paint um and then drive the message home, you know, with uh some reality there. But as as we do move forward here, David, you know, speaking before we get to what happened after twenty. You know, what were you doing? You mentioned you were working at a corporation. Um, for those who are not aware, you were at Firestone. Um, you know, what was that season season of life actually like at that time when you were there? And uh, you know, what were you building uh toward, or what was quietly building inside you at that same time before you before you left?

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Man, that was a season of development, Coi. Yeah. Like, granted, man, like I had, like I mentioned, man, going through college, undergrad, I was working, working there, right? I started off, man, speaking of like mechanics, so it was it was a mechanic shop, right? Started off in the car service portion of it. Um, and ultimately, man, just using my hands, because I always love working on cars, right? And as I'm using my hands, man, just trying to figure things out, still taking classes, right? Um, you know, so literally I had no social life, man. Like I'm working full-time, I am a full-time student at the same time. You know, one thing that we didn't discuss is I was a full-time competitive boxer as well.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Um so I competed with USA Boxer. Uh so again, I really had no social life, man. I was locked in and really just building that discipline, right? But what I'm saying with this story is as I was working in the shop, I remember one particular incident, right? Or experience, so to speak, where we had a team meeting. We have my manager, all of the sales team, we have the service, you know, technicians, and everybody that's within this particular space. We're all having a meeting talking about how we can improve customer experiences, ultimately to increase the bottom line, right? And I remember my manager pointing at me, like, David, what do you think about what we're doing? I just share what was on my mind. I just provided some insight from my perspective and didn't think anything of it, right? Right, right, right. So at the end of this meeting, right, we wrap everything up. And my manager's name was Clarence Moreland. And Clarence was the type of person, Coi, where you really didn't know what you were gonna get from him, right? Like in one moment, he would provide you with some profound wisdom, right? That really made you think. But but in another moment, man, he was a huge jokester. And he would crack a joke and have you rolling, or even in some cases. I remember one time, man, he said, he said, Mr. Gibson, man, you so skinny. When you turn sideways, you disappear. I'm like, come on, man. I'm like, come on, bruh. So in this moment in the meeting, right, he's just staring at me, right? And I didn't know what to expect. So he starts walking closer to me. And he says, Mr.

SPEAKER_03 24:51

Gibson, I'm like, Yeah? What's up, Clarence? Yeah. He's like, Where you going, man?

SPEAKER_01 24:57

I'm like, man, um, I'm probably about to head to the gym, right? You think I'm too skinny, right? I need to put some muscle on. He's like, nah, no. I'm asking you, what you know what time it is? I'm like, well, Clarence is like a quarter past seven. He's like, no, you really ain't here, what I'm saying. And then what he said, Coi, really resonated with me, man, and it stuck with me to this day. He said, Gibson, it's time for you to stop sleeping on your potential. He said, I'm asking you, where are you going with your life, man? He said, I hear you in this meeting, right? And you share your words, you shared your perspective. He said, No disrespect to them, but you're bigger than this. Yeah, you're greater than this, and you're putting limits on yourself. You gotta stop sleeping on your potential. And it was in that moment, Choy, where like it started to register. Like sometimes you have to borrow somebody else's belief in you until your belief begins to kick in. Yeah, absolutely. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. What Clarence was demonstrating was that David, I believe in you. But nothing is going to be accomplished until you believe in yourself. And at that point in time, that's really where my mind began to open up to something different, right? Because again, I was just going through the motions. Now, granted, deep down on the inside, I knew I wasn't using my gifts, my talents, or tapping into my full potential. But at the end of the week, brother, I was getting this thing that we call a paycheck. You know what I mean? So I was comfortable. You know what I'm saying? And my heart, man, like my spirit within was yearning for something bigger, something greater, and something more. But because on the other side of what I was experiencing, there was uncertainty, there was a lot of unknown factors, there were things that I wasn't familiar with. Fear began to promote itself in my mind. I'm like, hold on, man, I need to stay put. But ultimately, what Clarence did was he sparked an idea in my mind that, hold on, maybe you can do something bigger and something greater than what you're growing accustomed to right now. Right. And from there, I say it was a season of development because Clarence pulled me out of the shop and he put me in the front in the sales department, right? And ultimately, I worked my way up to be the second in command. Now, granted, like I was in my early 20s at the time, and I was managing people that had been working for the organization for like 20 years. Like, I mean, talking like had some like their 50s and 60s. Right. Yeah, like me, me being the 20-year-old and now being thrown into the space where I'm managing men that can be my pops, right? It was it was something that I had to grow familiar with, but Clarence saw leadership within me, even though I didn't see it within myself. And he said, I know you can do this, you just got to prove it to yourself. And from there I begin to learn. From there I began to grow. From there I made mistakes. But at the same time, I grew from every single experience and I developed because somebody else saw something within me.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Man. You know, stories like that are so powerful, right? I think, like you say, you look in hindsight of how important it was, how vital it was to development for yourself. And that's what you're doing now, David. Like, you know, coaching of the leaders, how that's helped you um in those rooms, right? In those situations, in those conversations and experiences, um, become a more better and more effective leader. Um man, yeah, it's just uh it's an awesome, awesome uh story. And it really at that point really kind of launched you out, right? This is what kind of kind of your launch, your launching party as you got, you know, more experience, more time there, and then obviously launch you into speaking, which I want to get into next year, um, which was really kind of your exit from Firestone, right? Also the a funeral of your your uncle will will touch on and um really kind of get into speaking. Speaking of that though, David, your your uncle passed away, as you mentioned offline there, and you know, you were you were fortunate enough to speak there, right? You were fortunate to speak, you stood up and spoke at the funeral. Um consequently, right, you being you, people came up to you afterward, right, and asked, you know, asked if you did this professionally. And if you can, kind of take me inside that moment, like maybe not, maybe not so the recognition from other people, but like what was happening inside of you when you were actually speaking in that room? Because this was probably you know something brewing the back, maybe what you what you wanted to do, but now it was kind of here of a a moment that actually transpired and um you know people recognized it.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

So for full context, man, let me rewind back to a particular moment, right? And I promise I'll go full circle and all will make sense. No, you're good. So prior to my uncle's passing, I remember sitting on a file cabinet in the office. It was Bristol Firestone, right? And as I'm sitting there, like what happened was again, I was in a season where I was just inquiring about man, what is my purpose? Where am I supposed to go? What what what ultimately brings forth life? What do I want to pursue, right? And the way our mind works, when you ask a question, it seeks out an answer. So ultimately, what's most important isn't necessarily the answer that you receive, it's more about the question that you ask. Right? So many people they ask, why am I failing? Why can't I succeed? Right? Ultimately, your mind is going to justify why you're not successful. You know, it's gonna justify why you classify or define yourself to be a failure. So ultimately, I begin to ask the question, man, what do I want to be in life? Mm-hmm. What do I want to get out of life? And I remember like a shift taking place where ultimately I reframe that question. And instead of asking, what do I want to get out of life? I ask the question, what does life want out of me? What does life want out of me? And that took me on a different path of thinking. And again, I'm sitting on this file cabinet, and I remember it like it was yesterday, coy. Like literally, it was almost like the voice of God communicated with me and it hit me, right? It was about as loud as a whisper and about as quiet as a lion's roar, if that makes sense poetically, right? And I remember this voice saying, I want you to empower people to become better.

SPEAKER_03 31:50

I want you to encourage people to live out their dreams.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

Now, mind you, when I received this thought, when I received this vision, so to speak, or your boy literally laughed out loud, man. I'm laughing because even though, yeah, Clarence had told me he believed in me, other people say they believed in me. My parents have poured into me and said, we believe in me, right? Or we believe in you rather. I was in a season where I found it difficult to encourage myself. I'm like, how am I supposed to be in a position or to build a platform to encourage others? And I can't even do it for my own self.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Right. And ultimately, man, what I've learned to understand is what the enemy sends after you is an indication of what's at work within you. Right? Your challenges, your struggles, your obstacles, and the resistance that you feel and experience in life is qualifying you for what it is that you've been called to accomplish and to fulfill. I didn't understand it at the time. That's why I laughed, right? But ultimately, the seed had been planted. And then I opened up my mind to saying, hold on, maybe it may be possible.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

So I say that to say, leading into when my uncle passed away, this is November of 2012. Deep down, like the relationship that I had with my uncle, I just felt compelled, man, to speak at his funeral. Like, mind you, again, I was a quiet and reserved kid, right? Naturally introverted. And I'm not, I'm not the type of person that's speaking in public, right? I'm not the type of person that's grabbing the microphone. I'm the dude in the corner that ain't saying much, right? I'm intimidated to have a one-on-one conversation in some cases. You know what I mean? So ultimately, man, I felt this compulsion within to speak at his funeral. Because he had passed away, you know, out of nowhere, and it really hit our family hard. And I'm like, man, I really want to encourage my family. I want to uplift them. So I spoke at the funeral and didn't think anything up. No nose just kind of poured my heart out. And at the end of it, I had so many people that approached me and they said, Man, you're shining your light. So many people that approached me and said, Man, thank you. I I really needed to hear what you said. Yeah. And in that moment, what really took place was a limiting belief that had been broken. Because for years, Corey, mind you, I told you, I found it difficult to encourage myself. I was in a deep depression, right? State, a mentality where, man, I felt insignificant. I felt inferior, right? Like I felt as if my life really didn't have meaning. You know, I was battling with suicidal ideation and struggling internally. And it was all because, again, mind you, I told you, I really didn't build connections. I wasn't connected with other people. I was isolated in so many ways, right? And my mind is playing tricks with me, telling me that, hey, nobody wants to hear what you have to say. You have nothing valuable to communicate. So in that moment, me opening up my mouth and expressing something that's coming from the heart, and people are benefiting from it, that broke that limiting belief for me, right? That's huge. And again, I have received a vision of me stepping into this work of empowering leaders and speaking. And now it's like, hold on, there's physical evidence of me doing this. And from there, that's when my mind said, Hold on, David, maybe this is possible. Yeah, yeah. You might be on to something. I might be on to something. Maybe this is something that you can create and you can build. And that's when everything began to shift and take place.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

Yeah, you you you brought us back around. That definitely all came back around to just seeing those moments all connect, right? To the to the the belief from from your from your your uh your boss to then speaking up. All this evidence was just lining up, right? And it was just, you know, as I hear you, it's like these gates were just open at each point, right? Each each checkpoint was just you know getting ticked off. And um that intrinsically was was felt, right? Like that was the aha moment of like, okay, like this this is it. Like I think the light bulb, the light bulb, that light bulb, and uh you start thinking different, you started thinking different in those moments. I wanna actually speaking of pat you know the the funeral and speaking, you you you didn't mention it here on the on the show here, but very outspoken when you were much younger, too. And uh you you spoke up going back to Firestone days, you spoke about a meeting. Uh you let go in October of 2013, you told me. Um kind of walk me through that day, what the action was like, um, maybe that real experience uh of that moment when it happened. Man, you you diving into all the avenues of the journey, brother.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Yes, sir. Yeah, for sure. So um, how will we paint this picture? So basically, what you're describing was the lead up to my transition out of that particular career path. Right. I guess that's a great way to put it. Yep. But ultimately, man, um as Clarence was kind of shaping and molding me into my leadership role within the organization, um, our team, our district, we would often have these meetings, and each individual rep from specific locations would go to these meetings. And, you know, this isn't in every corporate setting, but a lot of corporate settings, you know, you've got people from the top who are coming down on the people who are in the trenches at the grassroots level, right? Because they've got KPIs, they have objectives, they got numbers that they're looking at. And when, you know, metrics aren't being met and outcomes that they expect are happening, um, depending upon their managerial style, sometimes they come down with the hammer. And um, in this particular case, that's what was going on, right? Where we're in these meetings and um they're verbally abusing you in so many ways and telling you that you're not good enough. And what are you guys doing? I can send in my grandkids and get better results, right? So, on one particular thing that we were working on, right? A product that we were pushing, um it had been communicated amongst my peers that this is something that nobody believed in, right? Nobody had bought into the quote unquote value of this. It was well known, right? Behind closed doors, we were having these conversations. But in the meeting, as we were going over the numbers and being verbally abused, nobody spoke up, right? So, me, the way that I operate and the way that I was raised, right? Um, there were some things that we were being asked to do that I did not feel were ethical and didn't align with my values. And again, being the way that I was raised, that's not gonna fly over my head, right? And I'm not gonna go with the okey dope. Um, so um I spoke up. And I knew that my peers uh were in agreement with me. But you know, when I spoke up in the meeting, um, our DM at the time, he asked the question, well, okay, is that how everybody else feels in this room? And I'm just knowing that everybody in the room is gonna support your boy. I'm like, yeah, man, we finally gonna have this conversation. Let's, you know, get the elephant that's in the room and expose it right. Um, but yeah, your boy was on an island all by himself. Man, all by myself. And like I mentioned, I think we had this conversation before him, and I literally felt like Denzel in training day, and I'm looking around like, y'all, I'm like, Y'all, y'all gonna do this for me. But um, again, man, kind of closing out this story. I went back to my office and I remember it like it was yesterday, Cory. I walked into the office and Clarence Morland looked at me, and all he said was, Mr. Gibson, you have officially put a target on your back. That was maybe like, man, it was like June, July of 2013. Fast forward to October 3rd of 2013. I remember the exact date. Um, got called into the district office. They sat me down, had a feeling what was coming up. Yeah. Um, they were giving out some promotions and doing some shifts within the company. And I sat down in this meeting, and the DM looked at me and said, Mr. Gibson, we no longer need you. We're doing some corporate downsizing, and we have to lay off some of our staff and some members of our team. And you've been selected. Now, granted, man, I had worked for this organization close to about eight years. Never used a sick day, never used a personal day. The day after my uncle had passed, Corey, I came in voluntarily just to clear my head. And when I tell leaders that, I don't say that to toot my horn by any means. No. I say that to say that sometimes you can be doing everything right, but be in the wrong place. You know what I mean? Like sometimes you can cross all your T's, dot all of your I's, you can check every single box, and it's not enough because you're not in the right environment. I knew what I was supposed to be doing. I knew that this really wasn't a position that I wanted to be in. I knew this wasn't a career path that was for me. Right. But again, it's comfortable. I had been given the vision to step boldly into entrepreneurship, to impact leaders, to become a speaker. But there was a lot of uncertainty. There was a lot of unknown factors. Um, there were some things I wasn't familiar with, many questions that I had no answers for. But I'm a firm believer, man, that the way God operates, man, sometimes when he gives you a vision and you don't act on it, he's gonna move life in a way that's gonna force you to act. So he had to kick me out of the nest just to demonstrate that I have wings. But it was my responsibility to learn how to use those wings, to leverage my capabilities, to develop myself, to improve, to put myself out there and to build what it is that he poured into me. Right. So that began my journey of empowering leaders and impacting individuals to grow mentally, emotionally, psychologically, and to align their behavior patterns with what they desire out of life. I didn't have any, I didn't I didn't have, I didn't know what I didn't know. Yeah. Is ultimately what I'm aiming to say. And I'm a firm believer that had I known what I was going to experience, I would have never made that move. Right. But the way that life works, man, life unfolds in a way that's going to again qualify you for where you're called to be. And you've just, you just got to trust the process. Um, from there, man, I hit the ground running, right? I gave myself an hour to feel sorry for myself, to be upset, but then I started to look at it. I'm like, man, hold on, man. This wasn't something that you really wanted. Exactly. Now you're in a position to invest your time to build this vision that you've been given, right? So from there, man, just started developing myself, uh, building my reputation, improving my craft and my skill set as a communicator, and building meaningful relationships and figuring out my value proposition as a business owner and the value that I'm bringing into spaces and events and organizations and really refining that. And again, I'm making a very long story short because this didn't happen overnight. Um, this process, you know, there's a lot of mistakes that I've made, um, a lot of challenges that I've experienced, but through it all, it has all qualified me to be in the position that I'm currently in. And ultimately, I know the position I'm currently in is qualifying me for even greater.

SPEAKER_00 44:21

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. When you say qualify, absolutely, all the experiences. I'm just curious too, and a side kind of a side question here, like what be alongside the fear, because I'm sure there's a little bit of fear when he got let go, was there was there a lot of fear. Was there a sense of not a little? Was there a sense of like relief? Right? Because it's like Absolutely. You know, you didn't want to be there. Granted, we're comfortable, right? We're we're getting the paycheck, paying the bills. But the along the fear, was there this like a sense of like, all right, let's let's do this?

SPEAKER_01 44:50

It was a mixture of emotions, man. And for anybody that can relate to being laid off, um, you know the myriad of feelings and emotions that you experience, right? Where it's, you know, you there's sadness, there's grief, there's uncertainty, there's anxiety, there's fear. For me, there was a sense of excitement, right? Because now you're stepping into something new. Um, as well as there was a sense of it's not an emotion, but more so an approach that I had to take where you got to buckle down. Like there's there's there's now a new level of discipline that's required of you. You know what I mean? Like, because you're stepping away from the money and time exchange. Yep. Right. And you're transitioning into the value in money exchange, right? And to create value, there's a certain level of investment that needs to take place, right? You're investing in yourself, you're investing in your idea. And in order to invest in something, and I'm talking about on a deep level, it's gonna require some sacrifices, it's gonna require a deep level of dedication and commitment, it's gonna require intentionality and consistency. So being let go, I understood. I'm like, okay, in one mind, I'm like, man, I got all this free time, but at the same time, it's like, man, you've gotta be, you gotta, you've you've got to be intentional with your time and you gotta be able to lock in. Ultimately, now you got to get a check for yourself, right? You gotta you gotta figure out how you can get some income coming in, right? To live indoors and and eat. Yeah, exactly. You know what I mean? You know, I was I was single at the time. I I didn't have a family, um, you know, and and just ultimately like building it, man. So I was in a position to step into that courageously. Um, you know, everybody's position is different, everybody's circumstances are different, but I was blessed to be able to be in a position uh where I can take that risk. It was calculated. Yeah, don't get me wrong, it was calculated, but anytime you're taking a risk, there's no guarantees. Absolutely. Um, so it's it was it was up to me to navigate those emotions, right? And master them in the moment where I understood that you ain't got time to feel sorry for yourself. You got to hit the ground running, right? Uh don't get too excited about holding this title of being an entrepreneur. You know, it's it's one thing to have the title, but it's another thing to actually live it. You gotta get disembodied. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 47:23

And I and I do I want to highlight too, David, because I think one of the things you said was so so key is going from time to money or exchanging time for money, now having value in money. So those who are listening, right, or the you know, listeners, I think no matter if you're an entrepreneur or not, I think that's probably the hardest shift.

SPEAKER_03 47:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:39

As an entrepreneur, or whatever you want to label as making that shift internally and then sticking to it. Yeah. Um, because we have been, you know, taught to go to school, you trade time for money. So I just wanted to highlight that that's that's that's a huge shift, a jump when you when you start that journey.

SPEAKER_01 47:55

Yes, there's an old story, man, that a mentor shared with me, and I'll I'll share this briefly. Um, but I think the listeners can get a lot of value out of it. Where there was a business owner who was running this factory, and this factory, everything just shut down. Now, on a daily basis, this factory is pushing out, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars. And when everything is shut down, they're not making any money. So they called this mechanic in and they said, Man, can you come out? Can you look at it, see what's going on? We don't know what's happening. We need somebody, an expert, to come in and resolve this issue. So the mechanic comes in, he looks at the factory, looks at all the equipment, he goes in the back and he's there for two minutes and then up and runs everything. Walks out and he says, Okay, awesome, and we appreciate that. Can you give us the invoice? He writes the invoice, hands it to the business owner. And business owner looks at it, he says, $5,000? What do you mean? You were back there for two minutes. $5,000. He's like, how much, how much? It's like, how much was the screw that you put into that machine to fix it? He was like, Oh, just you know, a few cents. And he's like, $5,000.

SPEAKER_03 49:10

Then he said, give me the invoice. He writes on the invoice and hands it back to the business owner. The business owner looked at it. He says, Okay, I understand.

SPEAKER_01 49:24

What he wrote on the invoice was screw to fix the issue, $1.

SPEAKER_03 49:32

Knowing what screw to fix, $4,999.

SPEAKER_01 49:38

And from there, that's the explanation of value and money exchange. Where it didn't matter how long it took him, the value had been created because of the experience that he had to develop that knowledge and understanding of ultimately what screw do I need to replace in order to get this manufacturing process back up and running. Right. And I think again, like to your point, Coi, that's a huge shift that I think so many people often struggle with. Um where we, you know, from a business owner's perspective, people that are stepping into entrepreneurship, content creators, right? Where it's hard to grasp, okay, the value that you actually bring. So in some cases, we're undercutting ourselves, right? We're we're we're not necessarily asking our true worth because we really don't see the value in the work that we're doing, right? And that's a mental shift that has to take place where you begin to gain a deeper understanding of, hey, even though it doesn't take me five or eight hours to get this specific job done, the value that I come to offer, it pays dividends in the future for the clients or customers that I'm serving, right?

SPEAKER_00 50:52

Yeah, yeah. And sometimes it can be hard to quantify it, like you said, you know, how do I quantify this idea of value?

SPEAKER_03 50:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:58

Where if we feel like I think time is measurable, whereas value is kind of like how do how do we capture it? So, but no, I love, I love the story. I love the story to drive that message home. Speaking of tapping into like this idea of like, I'm actually an entrepreneur, I'm creating these things, I'm putting in the work, right? To your point, you leave, you live um Firestone and actually putting the work in. In the be behind the scenes, right? You actually kind of bridge that gap after being laid off, right? Freelance, you did some website development, video projects. Yeah. While you built this platform that we're gonna get to, which is what you're doing now, and obviously for most people, that's that's the unglamorous thing I think people miss that we don't see on these, you know, highlight reels of Instagram or what have you on YouTube. Um, what did that kind of season kind of teach you, David, about like patience and process before you actually got to work?

SPEAKER_01 51:51

Man, it's it's it's all a matter of being resourceful, man. Um like what you were mentioning was as I'm building my own brand, as I am establishing the infrastructure of my business, I didn't have the funds to outsource, right? So I'm figuring things out on my own, right? As it relates to website design, uh setting up videos, microphones, and things of that nature, right? I'm developing this skill set and gaining a deeper understanding of how to execute on different ideas. So when things were kind of slowly building momentum, in a lot of cases, man, when you're building an idea, the success or the results are not going to happen instantaneously, right? But granted, again, I got to live indoors and I got to, you know, eat some food. I got to provide for myself, right? So as I'm developing these skill sets, man, ultimately what I begin to do is just leverage these capabilities that I'm building and developing as I'm building my own brand. You know, you mentioned website design. Like as I built my website, I became, you know, creative with it, developed that skill set. You know, anytime I was looking for some funds or, you know, aiming to get some extra cash and support what I was doing, you know, people would ask and inquire, I'm like, hey, yeah, I can help you build that, right? Or even with video work. Um, you know, I started creating videos for myself, had no idea how to do it, just went to YouTube university and got my master's degree on YouTube, man. And you know, watched tutorial after tutorial and and figured out, you know, the proper hardware, camera equipment, lighting, how to set things up, aperture, shutter speed, and things of that nature, all related to filmmaking. Um, and from there, man, I would have people inquiring about my videos. And, you know, I created partnerships with brands and even partnerships with organizations and helping them create content, man, as I was aiming to get on more stages. But ultimately, man, really just leveraging these skill sets that I was developing because there's a season or as you're making this transition away from security into your building your own quote unquote freedom, so to speak, and building the infrastructure of your organization or your business, things may not happen as fast as you would hope them to. Um, but you've got to get creative, you have to be strategic, and you gotta you gotta stay persistent and resilient. Yeah um otherwise, man, that process it causes a lot of people to fold. Um, you may bend, uh, but don't break. You know what I mean? And unfortunately, there's a lot of people that do break. The studies have proven that. Um statistically, I think um like 90% of small businesses um they end up closing the doors within the first one to two years. Yeah. You know, um, you know, many people that are venturing into side hustles or entrepreneurship, uh, they give up on those ideas because the process, man, it will begin to uh weed out those that really aren't truly committed. Um and again, you've got to take that calculated risk, meaning you come up with a game plan um and continue to adapt and adjust and maybe even pivot or in some cases reinvent your approach. But nonetheless, you've got to leverage your capabilities and find a way to make that thing work. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:17

That's that resourcefulness and leverage, right? Be yeah, be committed to the process. I I'm just curious too for the listeners who are probably you know thinking about this because we've all kind of related to it. You know, when you were building elevation as a must, right? You were building that up. What kind of on the days, you know, you didn't want to be maybe want to do freelance work or you were felt kind of down, what kind of kept you still moving toward that dream of building elevation as a must? Man, it's gonna five job.

SPEAKER_01 55:43

So here's the thing, right? When when I teach leaders about reinventing your reality, there's two things that you want to begin to practice. Number one is you want to be intellectually involved with your goals. And when I say intellectually involved, I'm talking about you know specifically what you want, right? You've mapped it out. Um, you see the objective, you see what you're aiming to accomplish, but you also have to be emotionally invested, right? Like you're connected with the end result on an emotional level. Like, what are you gonna experience when you walk across that stage and get that degree? What will you experience when you reach that benchmark in your business, right? That milestone, X amount of dollars or X amount of people impacted, right? What do you want to experience when you accomplish that marathon, right? Or whatever you're aiming to experience, right? The end result, you want to experience that on a day-to-day because emotion is one of the greatest influences on our decision, our daily behavior, right? You you move and think differently when you're in a state of joy in comparison to when you're in a state of fear and anxiety. So the key is for you to master your emotional state. And you want to make sure your emotional state is in alignment with what you're aiming to experience. Otherwise, you can become susceptible to giving up or giving in or opting out of your commitment because of how you feel, right? I tell many leaders, man, don't make a permanent decision that's based upon a temporary circumstance or temporary feeling, right? So when I say getting emotionally invested, you want to connect with your goals on a continuous basis, on a daily basis, right? For me, my morning routine, I'm always practicing visualization. I'm always connecting with the end results, speaking affirmations, putting myself in the emotional state that I want to be in when I experience that particular result. So I can connect with that vision. And the more connected I become to that vision, the more ultimately it begins to dictate how I show up. The vision inside of you is going to shape the world around you, but you got to keep that vision on the inside of you alive because there's always doubt, there's always fear, there's always shifts in the economy, there's always things happening in your personal life and your relationships that will often try to blind you of what's possible and what you're aiming to accomplish. But it's our personal responsibility to put ourselves in a state where we're in alignment with what we're aiming to experience. And you're far more effective when you do this on a habitual basis. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:17

You know, I keep on just hearing intentionality. You've got to be intentional about it. And as you said, as you're building this vision, as you're getting kind of aligned to that, the end result, what that would, what that would bring, what that would, you know, ignite within you, it's like the more you get back to it, it gets stronger, right? The weeds start to grow. You're planting a seed that's gonna get stronger. And you and you gotta be once again intentional, you gotta keep on feeding it. Um because outside circumstances, life, right, society, relationships, things will try to pull you.

SPEAKER_01 58:47

So I I liken it, I liken it to physical fitness, right? When you're going in the gym and you're lifting weights, you know, at one point in time, you may just be curling a 10-pound dumbbell, right? And you're stressing that muscle fiber, it's getting stronger and eventually it's gonna grow. And the more you do that, ultimately the more weight you're gonna be able to hold, right? So now you can recover more effectively and you're able to handle more weight. And the same is true as it relates to us connecting with our goals and developing that mental fitness. Yes, right? Where there's gonna be struggles, there's gonna be setbacks, they may knock you down, but the more mentally fit you become, the more you build that inner resilience. You may be knocked down at one point, it takes you a day or two to kind of bounce back. But the more mentally fit you become, what used to knock you down for a day or a week now knocks you down for five minutes. And you're able to bounce back, right? And get back on track and stay in alignment with where you want to go and what you're aiming to experience. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 59:52

I want to actually go forward here, right? Kind of talking about elevation and must and actually really building it now, right? And then going from Facebook from content sharing to now with, you know, you said partnerships with uh like Verizon in the city of Indianapolis, we'll talk to you, uh, talk about. But after 2013, right, you started sharing content on Facebook, right? Not just as like, you know, strategy, but really just showing up and saying things that were, you know, felt true to you, but also resonated, um, and it led to speaking about invitations. How did you know how did that happen and what did it teach you about what auth what authenticity actually does when you put it in public, right, in front of people?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:28

Well, so for full context, this is before I got laid off. I was on Facebook and just sharing insights. Um, and I began to notice that people were listening and it was resonating with people. So that was a part of me really develop developing the belief system that maybe I can't really impact people. Yeah. Right. So um that's that's just for full context. But ultimately, as I begin to continue to share content, um, you know, opportunities begin to open up. And that all stemmed from me just establishing one goal. And that was just to empower one person every single day. Yep. If I can encourage one person, right? If I can add value to one person, if I can make somebody smile, if I can help shift one person's perspective in a positive way, then ultimately job well done, right? And the more and more I began to do this, the more opportunities began to present themselves. Um, and then what began to happen as Facebook began to grow and develop, after I got laid off, I got introduced to Periscope. You remember Periscope? Yes, the live streaming app? Yeah. That was like 2015. Um, I mean, there's so many, there's so many different avenues that I want to take. Yeah, that's actually where I'm gonna go next, actually, because I was gonna go into your video production of Periscope.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:56

Okay, growing the online community, right? Before people knew that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:00

So really, man, like I remember when I initially started creating content, and this is another breakthrough, right? An internal struggle that I was having that I experienced a moment of growth from. Um, I had spoken at events, Coi, and I'm talking events and auditoriums with thousands of people, you know, events in different spaces with hundreds of people. There was something about standing in front of that camera, man, and trying to express myself, man. I remember my wife and I, we had this condo at the time, and I convinced her to be able to turn our garage into a video studio. And she's like, What do you mean? Like, yeah, I'm like, baby, just trust me. I got it. I got it. Yeah, just trust me. Trust the process, right? So I remember, man, ordering some equipment on Amazon, because again, I'm on YouTube University, figuring out what works, what doesn't work, what I need, and what I don't need, and ordered this like cheap lighting equipment, set things up, had a backdrop, and I'm like, I'm gonna start my YouTube channel. Yeah. And I remember, man, standing in front of that camera coy, and bruh, like it would take me five hours, man, to record a three-minute video. Like, I'm because I'm sitting here, I'm sitting here talking and stumbling over my words. Right. I'm like, hold on, am I supposed to stand this way? Okay, did I use correct grammar, right? Like, in the back of my mind, I'm overwhelmed by what other people are gonna think when they see this. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And what I began to realize is this, bro. Like, in that moment, I began to identify how I was performing for other people. And I was attempting to be something that I'm not. You know what I mean? Like, I need to be polished, I need to be perfect, my delivery needs to be on point. What are other people gonna think of me? Right? I'm thinking about, okay, if I have an event planner that watches this, is this professional enough? Exactly. Right? And that put me in a crippled state, right? And in that moment, man, it took me a little bit of time. But after trying to create a video for a number of different hours, and I got these hot lights that are shining on me, and I'm sweating inside this garage, I say, you know what? This ain't gonna work. Yeah. Because I'm wasting time and I'm not being productive. And I told myself, you know what? What's really stopping you, David, is you trying to be something that you're not. And you got to give yourself permission to be you, unapologetically. And I remember thinking in that moment, man, I wish I could just do this live. That way I don't have to record it and think about it, right? I'm kind of putting that bookmark right there. Yeah, yeah. But in that moment, I had to give myself permission to be me, give myself permission to be human, give myself permission to make a mistake, give myself permission to share with the world the real and authentic David. Yeah. Right? Um, that's the growth moment from that. But again, pulling out that bookmark, when I had that thought, I wish that I could just do this live. I got introduced to Periscope. I think it was Darren, my brother, actually. He was like, hey, man, I need you to check out this app, man. I think you can benefit from it. I'm like, hold on. You can go live? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Directly on your phone. Yeah. So from there, I had the goal. Yeah, David, you want to encourage at least one person every single day. Now I have a tool where I could connect with people worldwide and fulfill that goal. Like before, I was just focused on Facebook. I was focused on when I was working in Firestone and Bristol, interacting with clients and customers. You know, if I'm out in the grocery store, if I can just encourage one person, now I have access to technology that opens up the door to reach people in all walks of life, all around the globe. And from there I just went live every single day. And that really helped build like my platform, so to speak, because Periscope was a dynamic app, man. It was an app that was full of a creative uh uh community. Um, and in real time, it was easy really just to get your content out there, right? I remember, you know, when I first got active on there, you remember like that whistle sound, like when everybody would go live, like your phones. Every time you went live, like algorithms weren't necessarily, you know, tailoring what people heard or what they saw. If you were connected or following somebody, every time they went live, you would hear it, right? So, of course, if you're adding value on a consistent basis, people are tuning in. And it began to be integrated with Twitter, and you begin to share tweets uh of your broadcasts, and then people would, you know, connect with you. And from there, man, it just began to grow and develop.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:52

Yeah, I remember those early days too. I remember hopping on. This is when I was young. This is like 20, once again, 2015. I remember my first sales job. I was listening to one thing Fair Scope in the hotel. Right. Uh, you know, for those who may, you know, not knowing David then, or maybe some of that dude are listening, it's uh you you had it then. You know, you were very intentional, you were very um just tailored on point, right? And I love to your point, you said you just had to be you. I think for a lot of people, even myself, right, you try to be perfect and you gotta have this and gotta have that. But it's like that's where, like you said, you cripple yourself, right? That's not authentic you. And um, people enjoy the real you, they're gonna gravitate toward that can relate to that. Um, and that's more impactful, that's more real to be you.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:38

And uh, yeah, it was just what I discovered, Coi, is that you don't inspire people by being perfect.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:48

No. You inspire people by demonstrating how you overcome your imperfections. Like, think about that for a moment. Like, we spend so much time and energy ultimately trying to be perfect. But perfection is not something that anybody can obtain, right? But when we talk about how we overcame our imperfections, we demonstrate our humanness, right? And other people can connect with that, they can relate to that. And anytime you have connection, now insights and wisdom and empowerment can be transferred through that connection. But that connection can only be established when you give yourself permission simply just to be you. Because granted, even if you are perfect, they're gonna like you, some gonna hate you, and some gonna love you. They're gonna talk about you regardless of whatever you're doing, right? Like everything can literally be perfect. Everything can literally be just stacked out and polished. At some point in time, somebody's gonna have something to say. So you might as well just be you instead of trying to fake the funk, right? Exactly. Or ultimately sacrifice yourself to become something that you're not. There's no quote that says, all of us are born unique and different, but it's sad that so many of us die a copy of somebody else. Damn. Yeah, that's good. Right. And it's like when you just simply give yourself permission to be you, now you can connect with others in a way that you could never connect with them if you're holding on to this perfectionist mentality.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:21

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:22

Or this image.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:23

Yeah. I want to go, David, here, you know, I want to wrap toward toward the back of this half of this podcast, looking at just not speaking and coaching, right? As we talked about, you learned which we didn't talk about, you know, videography and uh using a camera. You you built the Quest documentary series, right, on small businesses in Indianapolis, which we'll talk to in a second. You attracted Verizon Wireless or Verizon as a sponsor, which is huge because now you're getting these major brands putting money behind your vision, and now you're working with the city itself, right? Can you kind of walk us through what you know what um it has taken to get to that level of institutional trust?

SPEAKER_03 1:10:03

Yeah. Manage consistency.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:06

Consistency, um, really just adding value. And ultimately we have to understand that when you're when you're building a business, any any money that's earned ethically, emphasis on the word ethically, is a byproduct of value creation. You know, like it's it's it's somebody that's solving a problem. That's what entrepreneurs are, right? You're you're solving a problem for a profit. Um, you know, you're you're this is a bad way to say it, but you know, to help people understand, you're you're profiting from other people's pain, right? Um, and and ul ultimately, you know, when we look at the quest, I saw a need where one, now granted, this is during 2020 when the entire world was shut down. And I was really just kind of reflecting and asking myself, how can I add more value? And I started looking at the things that I'm interested in, the things that I'm passionate about. And I came up with three categories. Number one, of course, is empowering leaders. I love to add value to leaders and help them shift their perspective in a positive way to help them align with their God-given purpose and the things that they desire for their life. Number two, I love storytelling. I love telling stories because, again, stories are what connect with people, stories that help drive a message home. And then lastly, I love business, right? Marketing, branding. Um, I love the dynamics of small business because when we look at our American economy, small businesses are what are driving our economy. And as you know, when the economy struggles, it's unfortunate, but business owners in the small business sector are hit the hardest. Yep. Um so as I'm looking at these pillars, I'm like, how can I combine all of these? And then I developed the series The Quests, which is ultimately a video production that goes into small businesses. And number one, it helps amplify their stories. We want to get the message out to the community about what these amazing businesses are doing, right? And then number two, number two and number three is ultimately we want to educate and empower aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners who are in those early stages, right? Because when they see it, right, they see it on screen and they hear the backstory of these entrepreneurs, they begin to realize maybe I can do it as well, right? A lot of times we can lead with these assumptions where people who are doing amazing work within our community, they're running a successful business, they have it all figured out, they had all the right connections, right? They had all the resources that they need. But what storytelling does is it opens up the curtain, right? And helps you see the journey that they have taken, the quest, hence the title of the franchise, right? Um, where you begin to realize that these are individuals that don't necessarily have it all figured out. They're making it up along the way. They don't have all the resources, they're learning how to become resourceful. These are individuals that got denied from traditional financing, right? And banks, but they became resourceful and figured out how they can build capital and invested in this idea. And this is what came of it, right? So what that does is it now creates a sense of belief for those who are in those early stages. And then, like I mentioned earlier, it's helping to amplify the stories of these business owners, right? Because when we look at small business, there's businesses that I patronize where I actually travel past many of their different competitors because I'm connected with the owner. You know what I mean? The story that they have it resonates with me. And I know many people that are tuning into this particular podcast, you can relate to that, right? Where you go to that coffee shop, you pass dozens of Starbucks, but there's a coffee shop that you patronize because you know the owner, you love the vibe that you get from that, right? This is where you met your wife or your significant other, right? This is where you landed that job. There's a connection that you have with them, right? Or you love that restaurant. You know, even though it's a hole in the wall, you know, they've got mop buckets on the side, but the food is fire and you're connected with the people there. You're traveling past, you know, uh Rick's Boatyard. And I mean, all these different, you know, uh nice Rick's Boatyard is a small business as well, but that just came to mind. But I'm thinking of uh, I don't shop in too many of them, like Outback or all these other different name brand, uh, you know, big, big restaurant names. But ultimately, man, again, this this has been a project that has built, has built ultimately a movement, man, where we want to share these stories. We want to support our local economy and small businesses. And at the same time, we want to empower people who have ideas because there's so many people who have amazing ideas, who have great solutions to problems that people are facing, who have great products that they can bring to the marketplace, who have amazing services that will add so many value to so many individuals, but their mind is getting in the way.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:27

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:28

And with this particular production, we're aiming to kind of break those rules, break those mentalities, and open up their minds to new possibilities so they can step into entrepreneurship as well. Because again, you know, granted, entrepreneurship is not for everybody, right? Starting and running a small business is not for every single person. But for those that it is for, we want to help provide resources and you know, perspective and strategies that are gonna help support their visions.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:56

Yeah. Man, that's the and also, too, I want to make sure that, you know, those who are tuning in, we'll make sure to put this in the show notes so people can tap into what you're sharing. I I I believe in your work. Obviously, you've shared it through social media. Uh, really great content, like really good production is great, um, super high quality. And to share those messages, really the behind the scenes, uh, right? Obviously to yours is the quest, but the behind the scenes of like what is actually taking place, um, I think, in my in my opinion, resonates a lot um, a lot better than probably a different approach that maybe someone else would do. Quick pause. If you're building something right now and the mindset keeps slipping under you, that's exactly what David works on with people through Elevation as a Must. One-on-one coaching, the breathwork and neuroscience-based tools you just heard him describe, built for people doing the real work, not chasing the highlight reel. Go to elevationasamust.com, links in the show notes, and mention code LifeISPOD 10 when you reach out. I want to kind of move forward here because I know we're we're kind of catching up on time here, but speaking of kind of what what you teach and how you teach it, right? You kind of spoke offline and even just prior in the beginning of the podcast that you use, you know, you integrate neuroscience, right, meditation, visualization, and even breath work, which is which is vital in how you teach and what you prepare for audiences. Which I I would say that's not really a standard speaking speaking toolkit. It's really diverse and uh expansive. What did you learn about or what have you maybe learned about how the brain actually works and what changed um works and that what changed um of how you design the way you communicate to other folks in your audiences, audiences really men to be honest with you, cool?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:38

The things that I teach was because I use myself as my own guinea pig. You know what I mean? Like yeah, yeah. Like on my own personal growth journey, I would just experiment with ways that would help me stay focused, be just be disciplined, and stay consistent with what it is that I'm aiming to accomplish in life. And like so many of us, right? Where you're waking up and you're not necessarily feeling your best, I'm like, man, what can I do to resolve that? You know, I'm waking up and my days and my mornings feel chaotic. There's a lot of confusion, maybe it's fear, anxiety that I'm experiencing, right? Maybe I'm battling with doubt, um, I'm struggling internally. How can I alleviate myself from these emotions? Because I'm noticing it's not helping me perform. It's not helping me show up effectively. So as I'm doing research and coming across different practices, I would integrate those and implement them into my daily routine.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:46

And I started noticing the personal results, right? The improvement and enhancement in my mood, the the clarity that I would experience, right? To answer your question, when when you talk about how that impacts us, there's so many of us who are walking around in a state of stress and overwhelm, right? Um the sympathetic nervous system is in high gear, and you're wondering why you're walking around with brain fog, and you know, you got aches and pains in different areas of your body. And a lot of it has to do with the stress, right? That you've never addressed or released, right? I love the book. Uh I can't think of the author's name, but I remember the title. The body keeps the score on how like trauma is stored into our body, right? And there's a lot of different techniques and methods that we could begin to use to release that energy, right? Because when you think about emotions, man, you know, emotions are nothing more than energy in motion. It's moving somewhere. It's supposed to pass through. And for so many of us, it gets stored in our body, right? So we're wondering why, you know, we're frustrated, we're irritated, we're stressed out, we're overwhelmed, and something happens at work, and then we, you know, blow a fuse and we're snapping off on somebody or driving in traffic and somebody cuts you off, and then you cuss somebody out poetically, like you're Shakespeare, and you do, you know, a unique way of putting words together, some four little words that uh uh really put some smiles on people's faces, right? But uh man, as I begin to just simply experiment with different practices, I would notice how it would enhance my mood, my focus, my clarity, and help me lead my day more effectively. And ultimately I just begin to share these things with others, um, you know, helping them develop visualization practices, meditation, um, you know, speaking affirmations uh in a productive way, um, as well as really like reframing their perspective, you know, how to overcome limiting beliefs. And this pays dividends. A lot of times it's hard to even quantify the results within this, but there's feelings that you have, there's experiences that you connect with because you're disconnecting with things that promote stress and overwhelm and chaos in your life, right? So I teach leaders and really encourage them, you know, find what works best for you. Identify, you know, what's really going to help you connect within. Instead of, you know, tuning into the noise that's happening around you, what can you do that's really going to help you get a sense of being grounded, staying centered, and being in alignment with what it is that you're aiming to experience? I hope I answered your question.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:51

No, you you absolutely did. Uh, I think you went further, which is great. You gave us a little more, uh, once again, more wisdom uh about you know just your the emotions and what that does for our body and what you know how you convey that to leaders, entrepreneurs and business leaders there. I I I want to kind of maybe attach a second question to that as we move forward here. Um we spoke offline, right? When you're when you're speaking, right, you you want to um, in a sense, control the entire event, the experience, right, when you're speaking. From how people arrive right to how they leave. Um, using breathing meditation and um just preparing the audience, right, before they come to the event, right? Most people's most speakers, right? And I've done a couple speaking uh engagement, they want to come in, kind of rally up, right? Get some energy in the room if it's if it's flat, but you're doing something a lot different, right? Very fundamentally different. Um, kind of what happens in a person when you do it right, when you kind of set the mood before you actually get into the message.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:50

I wouldn't say right, I would say what's best for you.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:54

Like everybody's different. Um, you know, so for me, what I have noticed is that when you're in a state where you're calm, cool, and collected, you're present.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:09

You're in the moment.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:10

Yep. Right. And when you're in the moment, you're in position to receive. Like a lot of times you can go into spaces or you you can go into events and you know, your mind's all over the place. You're thinking about the argument that you have with your spouse, you're thinking about what you got to do after you get off work, you're thinking about what's happening over the weekend, you're thinking about the NBA finals, right? I mean, all these different things that are happening in your mind, right? And you're you're occupying space in your consciousness that should be designated to the empowerment that you're ready to receive and that you want to receive. So when you can help prime audiences to ultimately be centered and be in the moment and disconnect from the noise and release the stress, you're setting the groundwork for fertile soil. And with the insights and the empowerment and the wisdom, the ancient strategies, the modern knowledge that you communicate on stage, it's nothing more than just seeds that are being planted, right? And as they hit that soil, now because the soil is fertile, we can start producing. Now, granted, right? You know, when you look at anybody that's facilitating a training or leading a keynote address, their responsibility is to provide the information and the inspiration, maybe in some cases. But that's not what leads to transformation. What leads to transformation is application. Information plus application is transformation. The application is your personal responsibility. And when you're centered and grounded, now you can be in a position to truly apply it, right? Because you can comprehend it, you can understand it, you can now execute on it, right? You're connected with it. You begin to consistently apply that to your daily routine, your way of thinking, your behavior patterns. And that's what builds into the transformation for so many of us, right? Because our minds all over the place, the inspiration, the information is being provided, but we're not ready to receive that. It doesn't hit fertile ground, right? And because it doesn't hit fertile ground, it never blossoms.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:28

Yeah. You know, there's there's some science behind this. Uh I'm blanking on really study, but in a in a simple way, right? We're not receptive, right? You you you you you gotta open that certificate fertile soil, excuse me, to be receptive. Um, and can you digest it, right? Like almost like food. Are you getting the right nutrients and all of the nutrients, right? 100% of it, not just 20% of it. So when it is fertile, like you said, that's when you can actually the growth grows exponentially. Like if you were busy and you're kind of blocked, and you know, all these little um, you know, barricades, if you will, that kind of stiffen uh that process to you know slow down.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:11

And sorry to cut you off, but I think that right there, like if you don't get anything else out of what we discussed during this conversation on this interview, I think that right there is something that you can walk away with. Where, man, you can have all the information, you can have the tried and true strategy, you can even have the resources and even the connections. But if the environment isn't where it needs to be, you're not gonna see the results. And so many of us, right? Like you're gifted, you're talented, you've got great experience, you're professionally skilled, you may have more degrees than a thermometer, right? But you're not in the right environment. Yeah. Whether it's internally, maybe mentally, emotionally, psychologically, you're not in the right environment, or in some cases, literally physically, you're not in the right environment, right? Where people don't necessarily see your value, people don't understand your vision, people can't comprehend, you know, your ideas, right? Um, you know, have you ever heard heard of that study where they talk about how when you go to the grocery store, a uh bottle of water is like, you know, a few cents. You go to um the movie theater, it's like two or three dollars. You go to the ballpark, right? It's like five dollars, you go to an amusement park, it's like seven dollars. It's like it's the same product. But the environment is what dictates the value of it, right? Where literally in so many cases, people are in positions, you're in careers, you're in organizations where they're underestimating your value, they don't see Your worth.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:00

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:01

But you can't allow what other people don't see in you to dictate what you believe about yourself. And you have to get into the right environment, right? In other cases, you may be in the right physical environment, but because your mind is ultimately hijacked by insecurities and fears and the story that you're telling yourself, because I tell leaders that the story that you tell yourself about yourself, it carries the greatest influence over your life, right? And because that's not in the right environment, you're missing the opportunities that are literally in front of you to progress and scale and accelerate towards the success that you envision. So you got to get in the right environment. Man, that's a great reminder, too.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:44

Um just to put yourself there and know that and recognize it to be in that environment. I got a couple more questions for you, David, as we wrap up. Just a few here. Um, you know, you said you embody obviously the concept that you you teach, right? This is visualization, we've talked about, right? Meditation, neuroscience, and even fitness, right? That we didn't talk about, which is not separate from the work that you do on the state, but really the foundation. And I'll tell anyone who's who's who's tuning in, uh David is consistent. Like if you could look up the dictionary, David's in there with that with that word when it comes to. With uh fitness, right? No, I I'm serious, man. You're you're you're you're just uh just locked in. But I guess my question to you here, right, David, is like what what does that practice look like practice look like you know day to day when no one's watching? Uh whether that's the coaching or just the fitness, really, as being that foundation. As far as consistency and discipline? Yeah, just the just the the the work beneath the work, if you will, right? The things you're you're embodying, you're teaching, right? The visualization, all that, um, the neuroscience and fitness all being together, um what does that all kind of kind of look like on a day-to-day basis? And you kind of touched on earlier, kind of what you do when you get up and stuff like that. So this might be maybe a repeat.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:05

Yeah, so really like for me, and let me let me put this caveat in here.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:14

One thing like people will ask, hey, what's your morning routine look like? Yeah, what's your approach to this? I think it's important for us to understand that there's more than one way to skin a cat, right? There's not one right way. It's more so about you finding what's right for you. Exactly. Right. So when when I share mine, understand that this isn't the one right way. You want to take your own personal journey of exploring and experimenting what works best for you. But for me, um, in this season of my life, because depends upon what season you're in, it may shift, it may look different, right? But in this current season of my life, man, waking up, first thing that I'm doing, man, is ultimately connecting. I'm connecting with God, I'm connecting with myself, and I'm connecting with my vision and my goals, right? I do devotion, do stretching, meditation, visualization practice that I have in prayer. And after that, I'll transition into physical movement, going into the gym, um, and training in the gym. And that's a reframe in my perspective as well, where I tell leaders, man, we're not coming here to work out. You know, you're going there to train. Like when you think about, you know, the impact of words, working out has a different feeling in comparison to evening. You know what I mean? Like when you're working out, yeah, you're just coming to exercise and you're coming to move your body. But when you're training, there's a deeper sense of intentionality. You're working towards something. So I tell leaders, man, you're I'm coming to train, right? And within there, I'm setting objectives and things that I'm aiming to accomplish physically each training session, because what that does is it creates wins, right? Small wins. And the more wins you begin to accumulate, the more you begin to reinforce your identity, right? Your identity of becoming who it is that you want yourself to become as far as a leader is concerned. So that training session is a tool for me to reinforce the leader that I'm aiming to identify to be in alignment with what I'm aiming to experience, right? And from there, I'll step into the workday, you know, and the kids and handling their responsibilities because let them tell that they the boss. But ultimately, and it it starts with really making your morning routine a non-negotiable priority, you know. Uh, you know, and I get it, right? Everybody's in different seasons of their life. Uh there may be professionals on here who have a lot going on, right? You you got some young ones as well. Uh, maybe you've got a newborn, right? Or, you know, you you have, you know, parents that you're taking care of, um, you know, your grandparents or whatever the case may be. But whatever may be going on, find five minutes, 10 minutes if possible, right? Um, just to invest in yourself, get centered, get grounded, connect with your goals. Um, like I mentioned, a few different practices that you can experiment with visualization, breath work, meditation, prayer, affirmations, journaling, stretching, yoga, dance, singing, whatever it may be. Uh, because when you look at you know, the average person, typically Choi, what are they doing when they wake up, man? They're grabbing their phone, right? You know what I mean? Like they're grabbing their phone, um, checking the news feed, scrolling through timelines, you know, looking through emails, responding to text messages, uh, or watching something on the news. And when you think about that, you're not in control of what you're going to now connect with and experience. Scrolling through news feeds and on social media, the algorithm is just gonna feed you something. And now that something has the power to dictate how you feel in your emotional state, particularly in the morning, right? When your mind is so suggestible, yes, right? And you know, you're soaking in whatever it is that you're viewing or hearing, right? It begins to set the tone for your attitude. So, with that being said, you want to be intentional about how you're starting your day, because when you check your news feed, when you're responding to text messages, now you're putting yourself in a state where you're reacting to what's happening in your life. And you can't be effective when all you do is react. You know what I mean? Because reaction is emotional, right? But responding is intentional. You want to put yourself in a position where you're able to respond to whatever life is throwing at you. And how you respond is by getting centered. How you respond is by getting grounded. How you respond is by connecting with yourself, your vision, your goals if you believe in a higher power, you know, connecting with God. So ultimately, you want to find what works best for you to help you reach that objective, to help you get centered so you can start your day off effectively and then perform at a high level and respond in a way that's keeping you in alignment with your vision, your purpose, and your goals. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:24

You know, we had another speaker on the show too. And I think I hear a lot of similarities to really both of you, because you're kind of both in the same field. But he wakes up at 3 a.m. every day, no matter what he does, right? You're getting up early doing devotion. And I guess also what I'm getting at is like that those activities are the fuel that keep you committed to the goal, to keep you kind of in line, that they're your guardrails, if you will, to keep you in line. Um and to your second point, right, you control that process, right? You control what rather than picking your phone up, you control how you set the standards, set the mood of the day by doing those things. And I think being committed to those things help. They they fuel, they compound whatever word you want to use in your growth and also your commitment to excellence, whatever that that looks like. So yeah, to those are tuning in, man, you don't have to do maybe what David's doing or you know, um other people are doing. There's many ways to do it, but um, getting into that that operation is important.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:30

Yeah. I mean, to sum it up, Coi, here's the way I would term it. And I mentioned this briefly um in my last response. You want to find ways to reinforce the identity that you want to associate yourself with. That's all it is, right? You're reinforcing your identity because your mind is wired in a way where your behavior is always going to be consistent with your identity. So you want to look at who you want to become, the type of leader you want to step into and evolve into, and then ask yourself, what are the daily practices that this person would integrate into their day-to-day life? You know, what are the behavior patterns or habits that they will put into practice and then begin to integrate those in your daily routine. And the more and more you do this, the more you reinforce that identity. And then now it becomes second nature, right? You start leading with more confidence, you start moving with more intentionality, you start raising your hand for opportunities that normally you historically wouldn't raise your hand for, all because you're priming yourself to be in alignment with that type of person.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:31

Yeah, no, absolutely. I want to ask you another question, too, really kind of for those who are listening, because it's kind of geared toward them, and then we'll kind of wrap up here toward the end. Obviously, you encourage people, right, to kind of find their what works for them uniquely. You've kind of uh demonstrated that. Um, rather than copying someone else's path, giving your own path, right? Going from pike to Firestone to the funeral to the platform, kind of all these monumental moments. If you could share maybe a thought, like what would you say to someone who's still trying to figure out what their unique thing even is? Would you have maybe an answer for them to another?

SPEAKER_01 1:38:07

I'll I'll um I'll share I'll share a quote that really inspired my book, Come Alive. Um are you familiar with Howard Thurman?

SPEAKER_03 1:38:20

The name sounds familiar. Book What's that? An artist?

SPEAKER_01 1:38:27

No, so he's he's a a philosopher, um, theologian in so many ways. Um, but he's he's no longer living, but his legacy carries on. He was actually Martin Luther King's uh mentor. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, yes. It was known that Dr. Martin Luther King would walk around with his publications and his books. Dumb. But years ago, um, I got introduced to some of his lectures, and I was listening to one of his lectures, and in his lecture, Coy, he said a statement that really resonated with me, and I think it really aligns with this question that you're asking.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:03

In that lecture, he said, when you're looking to do or discover what you want to do with your life, don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive. Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive. That's how to answer your question, you want to identify what makes you come alive.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:32

What promotes joy in your life? What seems to make time stand still when you are engaging in it? What comes naturally to you?

SPEAKER_03 1:39:44

What gifts, talents continue to rise to the surface that you deeply enjoy? Whatever that is, pursue that. Right? Pursue it.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:57

And in some cases, it it may not be your career path, it's a passion that you have, but ultimately it's gonna bring forth those emotions that stimulate fulfillment and enjoyment and gratification, and ultimately you experiencing life in its fullness.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:18

But again, don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and pursue that. That's probably one of the best answers, I think, to to that question.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:32

That resonate with me, because I feel like we hear kind of the common responses when you get asked that question, how to find your your uniqueness. And I feel like that just that that quote the way you expressed that was so eloquently uh stated. And it really gets you really focused and hone in on and like what does make you come alive? Because we need more people like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:56

That um gets you more tuned in, I guess, what I'm getting at to what's really important, what you want to wanna wanna do and bring more.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:05

Yeah. All right, so I got a couple more questions here, David. I know we've been on here for a while, but going back to um right, uh your EIM, right? Elevation is a must. You said your goal is not to become known, right? You said it plenty of times. The goal is to become some become somebody worth knowing. And you write the I actually in there. So you I'll show people here in the show notes, but you write the I lowercase on purpose. I caught that over the years. Good catch. Good catch. Good catch. When did you first see in the difference between the two things? And and more importantly, maybe what did you make or what did making that distinction change about how you build? Um and your business.

SPEAKER_01 1:41:45

Man, it it that that subtle, that that subtle adjustment in the lettering is is really built off of the understanding that this is bigger than me. Yeah. It's bigger than me, right? And when you mention that quote, it's something I live by, man. It's something that I share with others that the goal has never been to become known, but the goal has always been to become somebody that's worth knowing. And I know that completely contradicts our current and modern society, right? Where we I mean, like think of think about social media, right? Where, you know, the goal for so many people is to become quote unquote known. Right. Based upon how many followers you have, how many views you get, how many subs you have, right? How many people watching your streams. And what happens is people get it misconstrued. Where if the goal is to become known, now you have a classification of people who are willing to do anything to get attention. You know what I mean? Like attention is short-lived. Yes. It's short-lived. Like you can focus on one thing and have attention towards one thing for a subtle moment, right? Short moment, and then move on to the next. So what we want is not to become known, is to become somebody that's worth knowing. Now think about the difference in the two of those, right? Somebody that's worth knowing means they consistently add value. They're an asset, not a liability. When they come, they're coming with something that's gonna shift this space. Whether it's the energy, the perspectives, they're gonna shift an idea in a way that is really gonna intrigue everyone. They're gonna put sport, you know, create smiles and you know, help everybody feel seen, recognized. They're gonna provide information that is profound, whatever the case may be. There's somebody that's worth knowing. And ultimately, what this person begins to build and develop is this thing that we call respect. So you have these two different things that are on the spectrum, right? Attention and respect. Attention is short-lived, but respect carries longevity. But respect is not given instantly, it's something that's earned, right? So when we say become somebody that's worth knowing, that means you have to consistently add value to yourself. That means you have to be consistent. That means you have to continue to pour into others. That means you have to continue to enter into spaces and like I mentioned earlier, be an asset and not a liability.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:25

Before we keep going, David just said the goal isn't to become known. It is to become worth knowing. That's not just personal philosophy. It's a leadership philosophy. David brings that same framework into companies, teams, and institutions as a keynote speaker and a workshop facilitator. The same event design you heard him describe, where he controls a room from the moment people walk in to the moment they leave. If you're a founder, an exec, or one people development at your company, go to elevationasamust.com and look for speaking and corporate inquiries or mention this episode when you reach out. Indianapolis already knows what David does in a room. Your company should too. Yeah, there's there's substance there. I like that. Yeah. I got uh I got really maybe two questions here before you left, man, uh, as we're wrapping up here on my time there. But um for people who want to follow you, David, right? Follow, you know, your business, what you guys do, what you do. Elevation is a must. Um, and connect with your work. Where can they follow you? Where can they find you?

SPEAKER_01 1:45:24

Yeah, very simple. Appreciate that, Corey. You can visit my website, elevation is a must dot com. Uh, subscribe to my growth newsletter. It's a weekly newsletter that I produce for leaders and content creators, business owners, young professionals, all designed to help you master your mindset and develop leadership tools that you know help you stay in power. Um, and then on the website, you have access to all of my social links. I'm on Instagram at d1 Gibson, uh, pretty much at D1 Gibson on all platforms, as well as YouTube. Uh, that's YouTube.com forward slash David Gibson.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:57

Awesome. Yeah, I'm gonna put those in the show notes for you. And um, yeah, we'll make sure people get tapped in because I think just the wealth of information uh that you shared, I think uh can pull anyone to want to, you know, find out more with it with what's in them. My last question, right? My famous question that I always ask every guest, because we're on the Life Is podcast, right? If I asked you, David, you know, life is blank and you had to fill in that last part of that that sentence, right? And I always asked, you know, is it a phrase or a word you would use? What would you fill in on that uh on that question?

SPEAKER_03 1:46:33

Life is precious. It's precious. Uh you should value it. You should protect it. Yeah. Um you should honor it.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:44

And the best way that we can honor it is by us contributing to humanity with the life that we've been given. And we all have our own unique way of contributing. Um your way doesn't have to look like my way. But because it's precious, it's our responsibility, our personal responsibility, to figure out how we can make a contribution and really commit to it.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:08

Love it, man. As I said, man, I knew you were gonna come, you were gonna you were gonna come with it. Oh man, appreciate it. Man, that's that's that's pretty much it for the day. Man, I I I want to say as always, man, thank you. Thank you for the time, man. I've been looking forward to this podcast. Can't appreciate it enough. You know, from here, life is podcast, man. We'll let you go back. Continue to do great work that you're doing now in the community, and uh kind of take it from here.

SPEAKER_03 1:47:36

Yes, sir. Appreciate what you're doing, Coi. Keep building, brother. Awesome. Thanks, man. Take care.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:44

David Gibson found his voice at a funeral, and then a tire company tried to take it from him when he used it in a meeting. What Firestone did not understand when they let him go in October 2013 is that you cannot fire someone from their calling. You can only delay it. He built elevation as a must with a camera, a conviction, and the patience to keep showing up before the world confirmed it was worth it. From Facebook posts to Periscope to a Verizon documentary series to the city of Indianapolis, that is not a glow up. That is a decade of discipline applied to something true. The goal is not to become known. The goal is to become somebody worth knowing. David has been proving that one room at a time, one story at a time, and one honest word at a time. Life expands in proportion to internal coherence, and David Gibson has been building exactly that since the day he stood up at his uncle's funeral and surprise even himself. Until next time, I'll see you in the next episode. That's a wrap on today's episode of the Life Is Podcast. If something in this conversation landed for you, a shift in perspective, a reminder, or something you needed to hear, don't let it stay there. Take it with you, put it to work. If you're ready to go deeper, I have tools built specifically for this journey, a self-discovery blueprint, a diagnostic designed to show you exactly where your foundation needs attention. Links are in the show notes. And if this episode out of value, share it with someone who's building, leave a review, help us grow this community of intentional people doing real work. Remember, fulfillment isn't found, it's built. Life is art in motion, and you are the artist. Until next time, keep building.