We Were the Corporate Box: JMan and Jeffrey Get Honest About the Day Everything Changed

Most episodes of Outside the Corporate Box feature guests who stepped away from someone else's structure to build their own thing. This one is different.

This week, JMan and Jeffrey Scott Stanton turn the mic on themselves.

For over a decade, Jeffrey was the Executive Vice President of Learning and Development at Douglas Elliman Real Estate, shaping the careers of 6,000 to 7,000 agents across one of the most recognized luxury brands in the country. JMan built his reputation as a national trainer inside that same ecosystem. Their professional identity was inseparable from the institution.

Then the floor disappeared.

In this founders episode, both hosts share what it actually felt like when that chapter ended, not the polished version, but the gut-punch version. They talk through the grief, the loneliness when the phone stops ringing, the strange moment when you realize some of those industry friends were never really friends. And then they get into what happened next.

This is an honest conversation about what it costs to go all-in on a company identity, and what it requires to rebuild yourself on the other side.

"I woke up every morning saying, this is what I love doing. And then when that stops, either by choice or if it is taken away from you, that hurts." — Jeffrey Scott Stanton

Topics covered in this episode:
1: What it means when your work becomes your entire identity
2: The visceral emotional experience of losing a role you loved
3: Why the phone going quiet is one of the hardest parts
4: Learning who your real friends are when the title is gone
5: Why comfort is the most addictive thing in the world
6: How pressure builds diamonds, and why some people need it to perform
7: What discipline means when you are building something for yourself
8: The one thing both hosts would tell themselves five years ago

This is the episode that started the whole conversation. If you have been sitting on the edge of something, watching the writing on the wall, or just trying to figure out what comes next after a major disruption, this one is for you.

Timestamps
00:00 - ElevenLabs intro and show open
00:12 - Jeffrey describes his decade at Douglas Elliman and what that professional identity meant
02:43 - JMan reflects on being pulled into the corporate box from an entrepreneurial background
06:32 - The week before everything changed: what both expected for the next five years
07:57 - The moment: gut punch, betrayal, grief, and the silence that followed
11:19 - Business is personal: working through the stages of loss after leaving a role
13:20 - The phone goes quiet: the part nobody talks about when you leave a job
15:21 - Identity and title: how you find out who your real friends are
16:08 - Burn the boats: why having no other option can be the greatest accelerator
19:34 - Pressure builds diamonds: performing best when there is no safety net
21:26 - Discipline beats everything: what entrepreneurship actually requires
23:08 - The message for the listener: the person with one foot in each world
25:13 - Would you go back? Do you wish it never happened?
28:05 - The Last Question: what would you tell yourself five years ago
29:27 - JMan closes: doing what you love, serving people, and doing it anywhere
30:41 - Outro, sponsor close, and call to action

Connect with the Hosts
JMan (Jeremias Maneiro): LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmansells/
Jeffrey Scott Stanton: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreyscottstanton/

FOUNDING SPONSORS: 
1: Wise Agent | https://wiseagent.com/jsquared - The all-in-one CRM that helps real estate agents manage contacts, automate follow-up, and grow their business.

2: Subi | https://www.oksubi.com/ - Your AI transaction genie. From contract to close, your work is my command.

3: The CE Shop | https://j2.theceshop.com/ Use the discount code jsquared for an additional 35% off

SUBSCRIBE to Outside the Corporate Box for new episodes every Monday.

Outside the Corporate Box is part of J Squared Podcast Productions — a premium media network built for professionals who want more than entertainment.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

They woke up every single morning saying this is what I love doing. That was my professional life. I think what happens is when your work in any work or anything you're with becomes your identity, when that stops, either by choice to buy if it's taken away from you, that hurts. Comfort is the world's greatest addiction. It's more addictive than any drug, any alcohol, anything else. The most addictive thing in the world is comfort.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

We are at our best when we have no other options. There's no plan B for me. Bills don't stop, kids don't stop going to private school, mortgages don't stop having to be paid. Like there's no other option. Maybe that's what was needed in order to free us up to help more people, right? If we stayed there and we were comfortable and we just kept on because this is great and we didn't know anything else, then who knows what might happen. Welcome to Outside the Corporate Box. I'm J-Man alongside Jeffrey Scott Stanton, and this episode is brought to you by our founding partners, WiseAgent, Suby, and the CE Shop. These are the companies that believe in us and what we're building here. We're grateful to have them in our corner.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

The playbook is changing. The question is: are you changing with it? This is outside the corporate box. Real conversations with real leaders who broke the mold and built something better with your hosts, J-Man, and Jeffrey Scott Stanton.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

There is a moment in every person's life when the floor disappears. Maybe it's a phone call, maybe it's a meeting, maybe it's a message you didn't see coming, but the floor is gone. And you're still standing where you were a second ago, except now everything has changed. For me and the person next to me, that moment hit both of us around the same time. Same place, same kind of decision, same exact moment. Neither one of us chose it, neither one of us saw it coming. And looking back now, it might be the best thing that has ever happened to either one of us. This is the story of what happened when we had no other options and why that turned out to matter more than anything we had ever planned. I'm J-Man. The person right next to me is Jeffrey Scott Stanton. Hello. Good day, sir. Now, we didn't plan this show or this podcast ahead of time. Right? This show kind of exists because of a moment that we went through and changed both of our lives, right? Today we're going to talk about it, not the polished version, or no, we're not going to get into the details, but it's the moment that brought us to where we are today and what we're building and how we're really trying to change the world. Right? We're we are at our best, I feel like, when we have no other options. When the safety net is gone, when going back is not on the table, and we're going to tell you why. Jeremiah. Take us back before everything changed. What was your professional life? You know, what did that look like? What were you doing? You know, your role, your identity inside that work.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

I loved my professional life. Um, and for a good portion, I guess we'll talk about this later too. My professional life was my identity. You know, I was executive vice president of learning and development for Douglas Aleman Real Estate for and with that company for 10 years of my professional of my professional life. I ran um learning and development training, um, coaching to a certain extent, um, for 6,000, 7,000 plus agents across one of the most well-known, well-respected luxury brands in real estate. Um, and I thoroughly enjoyed what I did. I woke up every single morning saying this is what I love doing. Um, that that was my professional life. I think I think every day I woke up saying, This is cool that I get to do this for a living. And that's the best way I can describe it.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

Yeah, and I know everywhere you went, you were branded. Oh, absolutely all all the time. And that's how that like that tells me, even before we were at the same place, like that was your identity.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Oh, absolutely, absolutely. And it's and it's like, you know, the whole point is outside the carpet box is people were inside the carpet box, and I absolutely was. If something falls, I absolutely was 100% inside inside the inside the carpet box. Um, and I think that's good for a lot of people. I think what happens is when your work in any work or or anything you're with becomes your identity, um, when that stops, either by choice or by if it's taken away from you, that hurts. You know, I know we've had this conversation because you you worked for me.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

You know, right. I mean, and and and that's the the flip side of it is you were inside that role, you're able to affect change and make decisions that you felt were for the better of, you know, the best interest of the company, the agents. Like, who can we bring in to help them?

SPEAKER_01 4:53

And honestly, to a certain extent, I think it's I think it's the best. I I think what we were doing was was best for the industry too.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

I don't think it was just about like, hey, the organization we were in. I think what we did was like we did a lot of stuff that was, you know, changing for the industry, I think.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

Well, and I could definitely say uh I was with you on that journey for four-tenths of the time. But it's it it was the timing had to be right, and eventually it was. Where, you know, I wasn't gonna move to New York City. It was a remote roles during the pandemic, and it kind of like worked out perfectly where I was able from afar, able to help agents with this, you know, you brought me on as a national trainer and only doing what I love to do, you know, social media, video, tech, AI, like all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

And it's funny because I think to a certain extent that I kind of like pulled you into that, pulled you into that corporate box. Um, because it was like we had known each other and we're friends and you know, along the same circuits and saw each other to conferences and that type of stuff. And uh, I remember uh bringing you in and and we were um just for some I remember your first Zoom that we brought you in for at that time um was like seven or eight hundred people were were on were on that were on that zoom. I'm like, all right, this is cool. Um and uh, you know, it it's funny because when you're pulled outside that box um or or walk outside the box, you're long no longer in the box, stuff stuff changes. It it really does. What about you?

SPEAKER_02 6:36

Yeah, I mean, for me. Yeah, I was like, I felt like I was pulled into a box. Well, here let me say this. I've never I didn't drag you into a box. No, no, you didn't. You asked me politely, you're like, it's great in here. Come on, the water's warm. And I think for me, what was different is that I've never been part of a corporate environment my whole life. Like I've been either in sales or an entrepreneur since I was 19 years old. And I was like, I don't, I just don't know if this was for me. And then, you know, after a while, with with the work and the mission and the vision of what we're doing, I was like, Yeah, I I could rock with this, you know. Every once in a while I had to be reminded, like, you're in a corporate box. You can't do that, you can't do that.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

And that's hard for somebody who's used to the I wouldn't want to say freedom, but like you, you had a you had to learn, probably, and this is my observation of you, you had to learn to work inside those boundaries. You had to learn to work on those side those boundaries, and it wasn't as easy for you as it was for me, because before that, I came from a mortgage banking background, which is a very structured, which is a very structured background. It's like you're a mortgage banker, you know. It's it's not that, hey, I was a real estate agent and then I got into this. I was a mortgage banker, I was a real estate agent, and then, you know, all that during time I got into training and just wound up in that corporate box. And I honestly never wanted to be in the corporate box. And, you know, I'll say this the the person who I went to work for originally, um probably one of the most captivating leaders, captivating speakers, captivating people that you could ever meet. And I and I remember sitting down with her and having a conversation and saying, like, I want to work for this woman. Like that that's what got me into the that's what got me into that corporate box. And again, a lot of it became my identity. Um and and I know some of it became your identity. I probably did more of that identity thing than you, but I but I know anytime you work with someone who's a brand, who's who's a name, who's a who's a big thing.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

A household name.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

A household name, it becomes like, hey, listen, if you worked for Google, you'd walk around and say, I work for Google, because everybody knows it. Like it's it's that same, it's that same principle. You'd be wearing that Google shirt, that you know, that type of thing.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

And so if somebody had asked you the just the week before everything changed for you, where would you be five, ten years from now?

unknown 9:08

Right?

SPEAKER_02 9:08

If we were doing a business session, same thing.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Doing the same thing, right? Same company. Same thing. Same thing.

SPEAKER_02 9:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Same thing. Nothing would have ch I don't think anything would have anything would have changed. That's what I expected to do. Um, and what's funny because you think about like what changed. You think a lot does when something when something like that happens. And initially, you know, my first thought was, oh crap, everything's different now. And for a little while it was. Um, and I think what realized happened is that even now I'm doing the same. I'm doing the same thing I was doing then, but I'm just doing a better version of it because I'm doing it for me. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_02 9:49

Yeah, you yeah, totally agree. Is it like you don't you don't have to check with any there isn't a meeting that's required. And that was one of the things that always like, we're gonna have a meeting. Why can't we just do it?

SPEAKER_01 10:02

Let's just do it, let's do it. But then he that's within any corporate box. Any corporate box is yeah, you have it's you know, there's there's people who make decisions, people you have to bring to decisions, there's those meetings, there's a and that I don't think that doesn't matter. I don't think what company you work for. Down from, you know, if you're the janitor and want to do something, or if you're the CEO and want to do something, there's always meetings around it. Well, uh take me to the moment.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

Okay, we we don't need to know the where you were kick in the face. Or yeah. That's like tell me how tell me how tell me yeah, that's how it felt. Kick in the face.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

It wasn't it was what was the feeling? No, I'm wrong. It wasn't a kick in the face.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

It This is your identity. It's just taken away.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

A kick in the stomach. You know, you know, like when you're a little kid and you know something's wrong. Or maybe you did something wrong, but you didn't do something wrong, one of your friends did something wrong, or you didn't do it's like one of those when you when when like your mom and dad yelled at you and you felt it. Like that that like it's it's not the same thing, but that's that same visceral gut feeling of I just got kicked in the stomach, is probably the feeling. It's it's disappointment. Um it's it's disbelief, it's confusion. You know, I I think you run through so many emotions. Um anytime you're leaving a job, or if you're leaving a job by choice or not by choice, it there's always you know you know, it's probably the best. This this is my analogy. It's and I think this is my analogy, and I've used the analogy when I left um mortgages to get into real estate, and I think the analogy still stands up now. Is it's like a person you love dearly who you know you can no longer be with. It's that it's that like it's it's hard to describe that feeling, but that that's that's the best way to describe it.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

Yeah, let's just uh a little detail there is that you still really love that person.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

Right? Because it's not like there's people that they get fired or whatever, and they're like, I don't care, I hated this job anyways. Whatever, I'm out, right? And then there's like peace, like out.

unknown 12:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

And then there's like, what do you mean we're breaking up?

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:27

To use that same example, like, what do you like? I just bought an engagement ring. I'm ready to be here forever.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

Like, I got you tattooed. Yeah, I got a tattoo of your name tattoo on my neck right here.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

Um so it was it was all those feelings.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Yeah, and and again to me, because it it's my identity, and I had to learn I I I learned fairly quickly. We'll talk about it in a minute. What what about for you? What was the feeling like?

SPEAKER_02 12:56

Betrayal.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Oh, good one. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

If if I had to think of the the very first, because it's like it's almost when you're giving everything and doing all the things and and and more, and you're happy at what you're doing, and you're getting good feedback, and the people that you're interacting with are like, man, it's so great to then have the adverse outcome. And I I sat in silence for I don't know, 10, 20 minutes and display, is this really happening? Like, how could it? That that was, and like you said, just I am kicked in the nuts is a better analogy if I'm being yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Well, it's that stomach feeling, it's that weird, like it's it's listen, anyone who's ever listen, grief would be a good thing. You know me, it's it's I I do not a lot of analogies that I believe business is a lot like personal relationships. There's a lot of overflow, people all two separate things. No, no, that they really are very, very similar, especially the business we're in is very similar to like a personal relationship. And and it's one of those where it's like you go through a set of emotions. And again, I think that's no matter what company that you leave, it there there is a there's there's like loss. There's like grief, grief. Yeah, there's grief. You go through psychologically, you know, it it's I should remember this stuff, but I don't. It's like anger, grief, sadness, uh um bargaining. Like you go through an eventual acceptance.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

Yeah, an event, an eventual acceptance. Well, I just think we and we all go through it at different time frames, I guess, depending on how long we've been there. Right. Yeah. I think it it might you know it should have been, is, was much longer for you than it was for me. But I think the the misconception that I got from people that they'd be like, oh well, you'll be fine. You have your real estate business and your and your speaking business, and it's like, well, when you pour everything into one cup because you're so committed to it, I'm not marketing myself as a speaker for the last four years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

And and for mine, the last 10 years.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

Right. And my wife and I have a real estate team, she's doing most of that. I'm just kind of have my pulse on it to help agents so that I kinda know what's going on in real estate. So it's still like I'm sitting there going, What what am I gonna do now? You know, it's like I didn't have a plan. There was no exit strategy because you didn't we didn't see it coming.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

Yeah, and you know what? And I think one of the things people don't talk about when you leave any any position, I don't think this matters for any job that I've had. Um, I think it matters the same. I think it matters to anyone who's inside a corporate box, and even like an entrepreneur, if it doesn't work out is this your phone used to ring from eight o'clock in the morning until eight o'clock at night. And uh you know, all of a sudden it stops. And um it's weird because I spoke to I spoke to someone else who went through something similar um um that had reached out to me um probably like a a week or two afterwards and said the same thing. He goes, What you're gonna realize you're not on all the time anymore. He goes, and you're like me, you fed on being on all the time. And I said, Yeah. And he goes, You're gonna realize your phone's gonna ring less. There's less emails, there's less text messages. And it hit me. I'm like, it's getting kind of lonely.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Because you're so used to that interaction with people 24. Lily for me, it was from you know, eight o'clock in the morning till eight o'clock at night. That was, you know, people texting people, emailing people. Nationwide.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

So you have people on the West Coast, it's still four or five o'clock calling you.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Yep.

unknown 16:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

I think that's what it is. I think it it's it literally is like what do I do now?

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

And and for me, it was it didn't start out with what am I gonna do now for work. It was what am I gonna do now? Like, yeah. Yeah, it was it was like said. And it was and to me, and I don't know if I had the conversation with you. I know I had the conversation with someone, oh, I did have the conversation with you, uh, but I'd written a whole big thing about when your identity is attached to something that shouldn't have been attached, because my identity was attached. Like, listen, I could pick up the phone and call anybody in the industry and say, hey, Jeff Stan, blah, blah, blah. But I would get the return phone call. They pick up the phone call. And then you realize when you don't have that title anymore, those people who you thought were friends, you know, they don't pick up the phone. And you start to realize that that hurts. Yeah, yeah, it is, because you thought some of these people were actually friends, and you realize they weren't friends, it was business. And again, my identity is no longer that. Uh what's cool about, I think what's cool about a reinvention, because I think that's part of what me and you are doing right now, is I think what's cool about a reinvention is that you can be anything you want to be. Like, I I don't need to lead with you don't have to, you don't have to check with anybody. Yeah. I don't need to lead with, I'm from, you know, I don't need to do, do you know who I am? Like that.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

It's I am yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Jeffrey Scott Stanton. Stanton. Yeah, and I think that's that's that's that's a huge difference.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

Quick shout out to one of our founding partners, the CE Shop. Look, continuing education doesn't have to feel like a punishment. The CE Shop provides online real estate education that actually makes sense. Pre-licensing, post-licensing, continuing education, all of it built to fit your schedule so you can keep your career moving forward without putting your business on pause. Check them out at thecehop.com. Link in the show notes and be sure to tell them that J Squared sent you. I think what I've come to believe is like, and we and we did and this came up in one of our other interviews, like we're at a best when we have no other options, right? Like when Eric said burn the boats. It's like I don't have a there's no plan B for me. Like bills don't stop, kids don't stop going to private school, mortgages don't stop having to be paid. Like there's no other option. So we have no choice but to succeed.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

And I think it's um Yeah, this the whole thing, me and you are the same, is like put up backs to the walls. You know, we're coming out swinging. You know, there there is no choice. It's the old um, I think it was a Japanese proverb, get knocked down six, stand up seven. It's like I don't think I think both of us have that personality. I think that's why we work well together and we have the friendship we do, is because like you can't really knock us down. You can. You you can. Everybody can get knocked down. But it's like we brush ourselves and we brush ourselves off and stand up. And I know I had the conversation with you before, and you're like, I just get it, just get up. Like, and I'm like, all right fine, all right, fine. Like we'll call each other out on this stuff too. Let's go. Yeah, like let's go, let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 20:08

Jeffrey, we gotta go. And you're like, but wait, we need directions to get there.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

Yeah, it's yeah, that's still some of the covered box coming out for me. So and yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. No, and so I was gonna do, and so you know we had discussions separately and together about like, hey, what's next? What do we do next? What's like the next thing? Um, and I think the whole entire circumstance freed us up to do bigger and better things. You know, and and this is the one thing. Like, we're award winning. You know, that's all I say. We're we're award winning. You know, and it's it's some of those things. I literally have I have the awards right there, and I think it's funny because I look up, I I look up them and I and it's like this oh, this is great. It's almost like you know, if you have a picture of you and your high school buddies on the wall, like that one photo, and you look up, but it's like you kind of like reminisce a little bit. That's why I have them there. It's literally when I look up that that's the feeling that I get is that reminisce of like, hey, that was a cool time. And I and I can honestly say I enjoyed the entire time. I I I really, I really did. I don't think there's anything about that time that I that I didn't enjoy. Um that's I could think off the top of my head.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

So what's actually what does no other options actually teach you about yourself?

SPEAKER_01 21:36

It teaches you if you're fight or flight. When you have no other options, it teaches you. Well, this is the thing. You and I'm a firm believer of this, you always have an option. Most people just choose not to choose. And I think the difference like me and you have over a lot of other people we always. See other options. We always see a different way. Oh, could we do this? Could we do that? Should we do this? Should we do that? It's not that, hey, that's the only option where there is no option. You know, I think that's like it's like a fool's choice saying, oh, there's no option, so I'm not going to do anything. No, you're just choosing not to choose something because you don't think you have an option. Um, I know there's a big circle, but that's probably the best way I can say it.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

I mean, it is it is there something inside you that needs the pressure? Like you can't you can't perform without it. I feel like there is.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

I think that's in both of us. You you put us under the pressure, and I think we perform best under pressure. And I think that goes with, you know, we've both done speaking, we both do speaking, we've both been in front of large audiences. I think that pressure is what makes us good in front of those large audiences. That that pressure, like a lot of times pressure and pressure and pressure crumbles things. With us, it's like the diamond. You know, the pressure builds the diamond to something better than a chunk of coal. If it's just a rock, a lot of times the pressure breaks up the rock. Not the rock.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Sometimes you're just a rock with salty water on you.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Sometimes you're just a rock with salty water on you. Okay. I don't know what a rock. Is it at the beach? Yeah, the water hitting it, you know. Actually, wait, it ruins it. Yeah, I I think we're both that type that, you know, under pressure we perform the best.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Well, and I think that's what you like the fight or flight. When you train yourself, here's pressure. Run away or run towards. Once you train yourself to, okay, something's happening, let's go towards it. And I think that, like you said, that's that's that does that's years of training, really, to condition your mind to be used to it. You always make fun of me that you're you laugh when you see me running in the rain, but it's just years of like I love.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

I laugh, but I totally respect that. I totally respect the music. But it's but it's also years of like conditioning.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, I like it, I like it, I love it, I love it because I then know still becomes it becomes part of you. Yeah, I know that nobody else is crazy enough to be out here doing this at this time. So that equals life. When things are hard, I am gonna smile because I've conditioned myself to to keep doing it over the years.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Yeah, I I think, you know, I think one of the things that a lot of people look since outside outside the box. I I think one of the things that people who want to be outside the box, who who want to leave corporate positions, um, you know, I I think we had a I think we have a guest who says, you know, if you have six months of your savings, then go ahead and do it. Um I don't necessarily know if I mean it's a smart thing to do, but I think a lot of times if you have a safety net, you don't go out and do it. Or you you don't do it all the way. Because you you have that, it's that agent, oh, I work part-time, so I'm gonna do real estate part-time because I want this. You, you know, you're never gonna be great at multiple things. You know, it's the jack of all trades, master of none. It's you know, and I I think that's part of being outside the corporate box is looking at like, what can I do to be successful on my own now? Because I think that's what me and you're at is like, what are we gonna do and to be successful? Because I I I truly don't think any company anybody works for defines their success. I think what they do defines their success. And I think, again, I told you that was part of my problem, is my identity was that. My identity was that, but now I know it doesn't matter what company I work for or what I do. Um I'm I'm in charge of my own destiny, I'm in charge of my own success, you're in charge of your own success. And I think I think what says a lot too is that we're both sitting here doing the same thing at the same exact time right now. You know, we we didn't we didn't have to, you know. I think we both see a lot of things the same way. And I think ultimately we're doing now is you know, we get to help more people.

SPEAKER_02 25:55

Yeah, and I think it's this podcast specifically, it's like we're trying to create something here where maybe this happens to you too. You you're not you're not ready, but you're listening to this, and now you're like, hmm, I don't know. Last quarter they said profitability. You might see the writing on the wall, right? Or you're like you've been trying. You got two toes in each, you know, one in the corporate box and one in your side hustle, which at one point you want to make your main hustle, which we hear all the time in real estate, especially in bigger cities where like average price point might be a little bit high, and you're like, Oh, I just wish with all my heart and soul that I I could just quit this job and go do what I really love. And it's like, so do it. Yep. Because once you pull that energy from there and put it to what you love doing, it's gonna be exponentially great.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

If you can't do what you love for someone, do what you love for yourself. You know, I think I think that's a lot of things. I think a lot of people think I need to do this for someone, I need to be in that, I need that structure. Listen, if you're if you're a person who needs structure, you should stay inside the corporate box unless you're the person who can give yourself your own structure. You know, it's it's it's I think once you get outside of corporate box, be it, you know, if you worked for Google or you worked for whoever, and you're getting into real estate or becoming an entrepreneur, I think the biggest thing that you need is is discipline. Is that self-discipline? Because, you know, discipline beats hard work every single time. Every single time. Discipline beats discipline beats smart, discipline beats hard work because when you're disciplined and keep on doing it and doing it and doing, you can outwork anyone. Doesn't matter how stupid or smart you are, if you're disciplined and you keep on doing it, you get up every single morning, you make those phone calls, you get every single morning, you start a podcast, you get up every single morning and you're on a role play call. You know, I think that's what makes people successfully outside the box. It does sound familiar, doesn't it? It's weird because two things. Do you look back now and wish you were never there? And do you look back now and wish it never happened?

SPEAKER_02 28:02

No, and I I think it's you know, and I and somebody told me once, like, we have survived the hardest moments of our entire life. And that's what makes us who we are. And I think part of like that experience, but also how it ended maybe that's what was needed in order to free us up to help more people. Right? Maybe it's it you know, if we if we stayed there and and and we were comfortable and we just kept on because this is great, and we didn't know anything else, then who knows what what might happen.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

I did a post the other day which comfort is the world's greatest addiction. It's more addictive than any drug, any alcohol, anything else. The most addictive thing in the world is comfort. And and and I truly believe that. It's comfortable in where you are, in it's comfort just not change. People don't like change. And I think sometimes change has to be forced upon people. And when change is forced upon people, I think people start, you know, at first it's like again, that kick in the gut. And then if you're the type of people like we are, where it's like, you can kick me, but you're not gonna keep me down, I'm gonna do what I need to do. I think then you'll always be successful. Like the the the I have no doubt in my mind that you and me will always be successful, no matter what we do.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

Yeah, I mean, I I when my kids were growing up, they're still growing up, they're 10 and 15, but when they were younger, one of the sayings we always used to have was like, always be ready. Like I and they'd be walking around the house like, always be ready. Let's go. You know, you gotta be ready. And I think I wasn't following my own advice because I wasn't ready. Right. And so uh again, like there's a message for somebody else who's out there, just always be ready for the unexpected. I I think if I look at my life, there it's it is cyclical. It's like comfortable, comfortable, comfortable, comfortable, wham! Something comes along. Pandemic, boom! I got a great speaking business. Guess what sucks? That's that I thought was recession proof, a speaking business when you can't be around people. And then I had to grow a whole like you know, virtual business and do that virtually. And then that that went well until and it keeps you know cyclical, gotta keep going.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

So I'm gonna ask you this question. You can ask it back to me, but you may have just answered it. If somebody were to ask you now, like or it's two things. Oh, if you went back and said something to yourself five years ago, four years ago, whatever it is, what what would you tell yourself? Don't get too comfortable.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

Yeah. I I think it's you know, you have these parts of yourself, parts of your identity, if we go back to the beginning, right? That you shouldn't get rid of. Like these are all cups that I fill up. And if you spend too much time filling up one cup, these other ones run dry. And and and I think it's don't get too comfortable and always be ready. What about you?

SPEAKER_01 31:20

I would say the same thing. Don't get too I would this is what I'm this is actually what I would say to myself. Do what you love no matter what. Do what you want to do and what you think is right no matter what. Because as long as you're serving other people something of value, you're valuable no matter what you do, no matter where you go. It doesn't matter if you're valuable inside that box or outside that box. If you serve something, some if you serve people something of value, you can do that anywhere for anybody, including for yourself.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

I love that. Well, we're gonna end there, folks. You know, we we started this episode with a moment, the kind where the floor disappears, and it felt at that time like something was being taken away. But sitting here now recording this, having this conversation, I think that that moment might have been what we were waiting for and when everything was given. So, Jeffrey, one last question, if we keep it in the format of outside the corporate box. Oh, that's right. Uh that's right. If that moment never happened, if your world stayed the same.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

Yep. I'm sorry, go ahead. Continue the question. Would you still be there? Yes. I think no matter what, I will always do what I love to be doing. No matter what, no matter where. I'll always love to do. I'll always do what I love to be doing. And when I no longer love doing what I'm doing, that's when I will stop doing it, either for somebody else or for myself. Same question.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

Well, folks, that's our yeah. You're gonna ask me the same question?

SPEAKER_01 32:55

Yeah, might as well. If you end that way with asking me the question, I'm gonna ask you the same question.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

Yeah, I mean, if you're there, I'm there. We already know that.

SPEAKER_01 33:01

I would agree with that.

SPEAKER_02 33:02

Yeah, that'd be great. We already know. Um but listen, folks, this is our story. But the show, this podcast is not about us, right? Um, this is what allowed us to create this to help you. And every Monday we're gonna sit down with someone who had their own moment, their own disruption, whether it's their own choice or somebody else's, right? And we find out what happens next. So if you've ever had a moment like that, you're in one right now, this is your show. Welcome to Outside the Corporate Box. Share this with someone who needs to hear it. Subscribe if you have not already, and we will see you next Monday. But before we let you go, we want to say thank you to our founding partners, Wise Agent, Suby, and the CE Shop. They make this show possible and they are building tools that actually help people in this industry. Check them out. All the links are in the show notes. And thank you for spending your time with us. That is not something we take lightly. Now go make it happen.

SPEAKER_03 34:01

Thank you.