Think Bigger: From $1M to $10M with Business Coach Jean-Luc

What if thinking small is what's killing your business? In this powerful conversation, entrepreneur Jerry sits down with his business coach Jean-Luc to discuss AI adoption, systems thinking, and why most entrepreneurs are dreaming too small. Jean-Luc, who sold his fitness business and now coaches from his island estate, drops truth bombs about the shift from employee to entrepreneur mindset, why "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" is a death sentence in 2025, and how to hire people who actually match your values. From building OnPod Studios to scaling to 30 locations, Jerry shares his real-time journey of overcoming internal resistance and learning to pitch investors. Key takeaways: Why AI makes switching systems easier than ever, how to test job candidates beyond talk, the power of designing your Dream 100 list, why virtue is its own reward, and how thinking 10x instead of 10% completely changes your business strategy. This isn't theory—it's two operators breaking down what actually works. Whether you're stuck at $100k or pushing for eight figures, this conversation will challenge how big you're willing to dream. Ready to scale your content? Visit OnPod Studios and turn your conversations into powerful podcasting content.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

This podcast is produced by Onpod, a video content studio near you. Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. Today I'm with Jean-Luc, my uh very, very um professional and very awesome business coach. Thank you, Jar. Thanks for having me. Ah, thanks for coming. I mean, it's it's funny because we we often talk, you know, we meet every week, um, but uh never in person.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Because we live so far away from each other. But it works.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Yeah, and he, you know, sometimes he's in Thailand and I'm in Nicaragua, and our Wi-Fi connection isn't the greatest work, you know. We're both on beaches, and it's very hard.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

Uh, but it's true, but it works, it does work. So let's uh I mean let's jump into it. We were talking just before the podcast, so like we got some really good uh conversation piece, and I think you know, this is it, right? This is the idea of podcasting. A side note is like you know, you're meeting someone for coffee, like you said, and it's like you know, we're having this crazy conversation, it's like, why not just record it? Yeah, exactly, and use it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

And uh that's a core component of you know how many times you're at a coffee shop and you're going, I'm having this great conversation. I wish I would have recorded it, you know, and this space is incredible to just oh, let's just switch from the coffee shop to here. First of all, we can go deeper into conversation. Um, it sets, you know, this nice safe container. There's no noise of people all over, you know. Um, so we're able to go deeper. And I don't know about you, but you go to networking events and it's all surface level, you know. Yeah, I don't care. Yeah, you know, somebody's there, and hey, I know he just wants to give me his business card. And it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're not gonna call me and we're gonna play this game and go. But actually, it's like here we can go deep. Yeah, and like we can talk about subjects that actually matter, you know. Yeah, and uh sometimes it's not I know I don't know if it's like this for you, but sometimes you know, the best conversations aren't even the business conversations. No, no, no, you know. I start talking about life, and yesterday I was having uh a meeting with somebody, and we started talking about you know, philosophy and family and all this stuff, and I left that going, I know him more.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I met a guy, uh well, a guy I've met a few times, but now we we had a great conversation about well, he builds studios for ESPN. Uh, and then we, you know, out of that just conversation of just talking, but we're two tech guys, so it's it's fun, you know. But I just talking about that, we we we came up with this crazy idea, this like this this software idea. It's just like stuff just kind of flows, you know, and it wasn't a business meeting or anything, it's just a friend, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Yeah, and did you do it at the studio?

SPEAKER_02 3:04

No, no, I was on vacation, like I was in Lake Placid, right, right. We're in a cottage, there's no studio yet in Lake Placid, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Soon, soon but this is the opportunity that you have is to capture these moments for people, you know. That's what was fascinating with me when I first heard what you were doing and stuff. Is like I just saw the big problem, you know, that um it's the new networking. People haven't just people haven't clued in yet. You know, that we can do this, we can I I remember at a time where Gary V was saying, you know, hey, in the future people are gonna be following you with a camera, you know, because there's so much content that can be available just in regular conversations, you know, in travel. So it's like fast forward to today, and it's like, yeah, like the more content you have, the more you can put out there, especially quality content. Um that's just the game that's being played now. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

But um and so what what do you see? Like you obviously you have a lot of clients, you're you're you're helping businesses grow and and push forward. Like what do you see with with AI and stuff? Like we talked a little bit about it. Um some owners will will see it as a scary thing, right? And some will see it as a good thing. But what do you see?

SPEAKER_00 4:36

I see that it is the biggest roadblock at this moment for every business owner. They are treating it like it has a an ending to it. You know, it used to be like you'd buy a software, you know, um, and your business would run this software, and then if another software came along, you'd say, no, no, I got my software. You know, I'm not switching because switching is is is hell.

SPEAKER_02 5:08

Huge pinpoint.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Yeah, it's hell to switch over, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:11

Switching, I'm switching right now.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

So I'm gonna keep this thing, you know, I'm gonna keep this thing going, and I'm gonna I'm I'm gonna stick with this. And it's like like you're you're when you get a new iPhone, right? I don't know if you guys have ever had uh have updated your iPhone in a while, but I just did it. How fast is it to make the switch over now compared to what it was? It's very fast, but I had a small issue, but it's very fast, right? Yeah, yeah. So in general, in general, it used to be like, oh my god, what am I gonna do with all my photos, my apps, all the transferring, but now that friction is going. Yeah, you put it on the cloud, and then boom, it's all comes back. I got my new phone within an hour, yeah, it's yeah, it's shifted all over, right? So that's gonna get better and better with technology, right? As the frictions go down. And but we're still in the same mindset of old software that's gonna end. Yeah. So we're going, oh, we're hoarding, we're holding on. You're scared of switching. And it's this idea that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Remember Phoenix?

SPEAKER_02 6:26

Yeah, or maybe you try to forget it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Right? It's this idea if it's broke, if it ain't broken, why fix it, right? And this line is the detriment of every business owner that's going to lose. Everyone that has mindset is going to be the dinosaur. Yeah. Because there's people like the people I work with, yeah, that we're eliminating that mindset. That we're saying, actually, Jared, you're a technologist. And if we look at business in general, we can say, you know, I remember reading the emyth when I was 17 and having an epiphany. Wow. Systems run the business, people run the systems. And then I started my worldview changed, right? I was looking at businesses through a different lens from that. How are there systems? Oh, this guy's just winging it. This guy is just winging it. Yeah. Oh, this guy, oh, and then I go into a franchise-based business like a subway and go, it's like, oh, everything's the same. Yeah. The sandwich I have is the same whether I go here or I'm in New York.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

They got a system. So I started to see that the good businesses are businesses that have systems, because systems at the end of the day is integrity. It's saying what you, it's doing what you say you will every time. That's the definition of integrity to me. Yeah. So it's, you know, if I go into that sandwich shop and one day it's a different type of meat, and they say I don't have this, and I have I lose integrity.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Yeah, which is which is funny. You talk about that, and I went to a subway in Oslo, Norway, yeah, and there were different types of meats, and I was unhappy. But different countries, different, I get it, right? Because like I'm not from there, but that that did, you know, it's it's interesting. Yeah, it's very right.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

So it's like uh on a on a um psychological perspective, we're not getting the same kids, kids. My daughter, when she was young, I remember this one time we go to the restaurant. First time we go, they give her a piece of paper with crayons, uh, you know, a little umbrella in the in the juice. She probably all always wants that now. And then next time we come, there's no crayons. And she throws a little fit, right? Yeah, yeah. And and that's the human nature of it, is we don't want it to change. Consistency is important.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you go to McDonald's, you need to have the same things. Like, if not, it's not gonna work out, you know.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Yeah, so to me, that became what a good business is, yeah, you know, high integrity, right? Um, professional. And then now it's evolved to the point where I don't see it as like a business has good systems, but a business is systems, right? And now with AI, it's just expanded a whole other level of that. That means it's a man and it's machine, and it's so easy right now.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Like, it is so easy to build your own CRM. Like everything is there. I mean, there's too much, right? Monday.com, you Monday.com, they so Monday.com is like a Google Sheet, right? A fancy Google Sheet that you can do anything, you can automate, uh, just like Google Sheet. And then they created Monday Vibe, which is vibe coding, which is just basically you chat GPT it kind of thing. You say, I need this, I need that, and it's gonna do it with your with your data. So now you can you can have that data into a concrete system and build anything into minutes. Like it's it's so easy, so simple. So it like you said, like anybody that's not moving right now is gonna lose.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

It's gonna create these sort of monopolies in a way in your industry that like if you are um if you're adopting this technologist mindset, like Elon Musk, right? He sees himself as a futurist, a technologist, right? He's going in and he's engineering, he's looking at the whole engineering of things. We gotta look like that, we gotta move towards that identity because, or if not, we're gonna be dinosaurs. A lot of times we get into business just because you know, we were doing that specific things. We were a technician, we're a personal trainer, and then we open our own fitness club, and and and it's like, so we were the technical person, so we didn't really see ourselves as an architect, you know, but we need to do that now. We need to say, okay, how does this operate with leveraging AI as much as possible?

SPEAKER_02 11:24

Yeah, and it it's funny now because you know, obviously I'm gonna concentrate on building studios because that's my business. Like, I need to concentrate on this one thing, right? But it's funny how, like, if I sold the business tomorrow, uh, I could still use you and we could build, we could build any business because now I know the systems matter so much, right? The sales system, the client acquisition. So it would be easy to you know have you as a coach because I'm still learning, but basically I could, I could have any business, like I could have a muffin business, anything, just following these simple steps of having these perfect systems that says, like, today we're doing this and today we're doing this. And it's like it's it's uh it's so simple when you think about it. It is now I see the simplicity in it because when I was when I started as a videographer, and I have a lot of friends that are videographers, so they do video production, and and some of them are like, Oh, I don't have a lot of work, you know, are you doing marketing? Do you talk to people or you stay home? Right, you have a system for your marketing for client acquisition? Do you like like I started to, you know, at one point I was I was I I met Martin here and he was like, uh, he needed help with his podcast, and this is all how it came about. But the idea is that my business was low, and then I figured out I can just sell my service and I'll sell my service to you. This, you know, let's say you're a realtor, and I'm gonna work for you one day a week, you know, and it's gonna cost you this much. But like this day I'm working for you, and I do that for multiple companies, and you that there's always a way to make more money, it's just about the system and how you sell your your products, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:07

Yeah, yeah. The way I see it is um, you know, I 2025, I also did some soul searching on on really the type of client that I want to work with, right? Because I get to choose, I'm lucky like that. But you know, people come to me generally to sell their business, okay, to scale their business, or to um build a well-oiled machine that they can sit back and it prints money for them, right? Yeah, yeah. So I've done those three myself and I've helped other people do it. But to me, what I've noticed this year, and just this is recent, is that I'm more for the company that wants to scale big. You know, the I laid on the beach for many years after I sold my company and I did nothing, you know, I just hung out. And um it gets boring after a while. Yeah, I can see it. Yeah, you know, so few business coaches can can say that, you know, that they've they've they've been at that point where okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

And that's what we want. You want a business coach that actually did the business, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:22

Yeah, right. Oh, there's so many important, there's so many theory people out there, um, in the business coaching world.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

And it's uh and and some are good, like they're good at coaching and they're not good at doing, you know what I mean? Some are good at coaching, not good at doing.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

But I've never I've never but it's not I I've never resonated with anyone that hasn't done what I, you know, I want somebody that did it, right? Like uh absolutely, you know, to some degree. The one yeah, yeah, yeah. They have to have had skin in the game. If they came, you know, I used to own an incubator and I would hire, I I would get people into my startup incubator that are university students that just came out of business. They don't know anything. Like they do in theory, and it sounds really good, but anyone that's been an entrepreneur knows that ideas are are are a commodity, you know, yeah until yeah, they're proven, until you put them out. Yeah, right. How many times when we're working together? I said, we gotta put it out there, we gotta try. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We gotta see what what we receive back because we don't know unless we throw ourselves out there.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

And the reality is a lot of these people have been conditioned, they've been through uh a university program, they've been told what to do, follow the rules, follow the systems, that that actually trains them out of the number one virtue that you need to be a successful entrepreneur, which is courage.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

The courage to break the mold and say, fuck this. No, we are going to do something that no one has done before. We're gonna do the impossible, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what creates these huge leaps of innovation.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

You know, it's funny because you we sometimes we even like going out of school or going to school, you know, they tell you, okay, you can get a job, you know. And and the idea when when I grew up, when I grew up, the idea was like, okay, I'll get a job at 80,000 at the time, 80,000 a year was great, you know, it's a great salary, or like 100k was like big, you know, and today it's like it's almost low, you know. Yeah. When you look at the at everything, and it's funny how we're conditioned to say, like, you know, you want to make 100k a year or 80k a year. That's what you want, but you shouldn't just want that, right? Because that's like uh that's just regular. That's a regular job, right? So so yeah, we have to dream way further than 100k a year.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

Oh, yeah. And and on that note too, like just to pull out of the entrepreneur what they truly desire, that's a challenge in itself. Yeah. Because a lot of times you say, Well, I don't know what I really want, you know? Yeah, we're doing everything for our wives, or yeah, you know, we're we're doing things for other people, we're for our parents still, even as grown men, you know. Yeah, and it's just like, but what do you want? Like, what is you, you know? I live on an island, you know, on my estate with fruit trees. I have no bills to pay, I have nothing, I don't need any clients, I have everything I want. I'm in another country on this island. I had to break the mold. I I I I went there because I know that when I'm in a state of peace, when I'm in a state of peace and I don't need anything from anyone, I'm a powerful man that can say whatever I want to my client. What I believe is true for them selflessly to say, hey, you know what? He may fire me over this, but I gotta call him on this bullshit. Yeah, yeah, and it's important. And a lot of people, a lot of business coaches are not in that position to do that because they got rent to pay.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Yeah, they don't want to get fired.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

They don't want to get fired, so they start to please the person on the other side. I don't have a mortgage to pay, everything is paid. Yeah, I don't even have food to pay for. So, so you know, God, the universe, whatever you want to say, brought me to this place where I can speak straight truth to somebody with no fear of losing them in full benefit of what I think they need to hear to be the best version of themselves.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

And you talk about like what you know, what we want, uh, what does the entrepreneur want, you know, at the end, right? And it's so interesting because it's like, what do we want, right? Like, let's say I had, I don't know, 10 million tomorrow. What do I do? Right? Like you went to a beach, you you hanged out, but it's like, it's like, what is success? Right? It's very like, what is success? Is it family? Is it this? Is it that? Is it money? Because at the end, after you get everything, you might not be fully happy, right? Like it's it's so hard to um, I mean, life is interesting when when we look at it, right? And like, even it, the people that have everything in the world, are they happy? Are they are they overworked? Do they keep going? Do they stop? It's very interesting.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Yeah, I I mean, for a long time, I believed in the illusion of this freedom to be the ultimate virtue, right? Like, if I am just free of my business and I don't have to work, and freedom was more seen as a license at that time. Do whatever I want whenever I want.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Um I'm telling you, this gets boring.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

Yeah, yeah. That's what uh I talked to uh Julien on another podcast, which you know, Julien Leblanc, amazing like storyteller, you know. Love this guy. Great, so great. Uh, but he said the same thing. He's like, Yeah, you're gonna get there, but then you're gonna take a little break, and then you're you're gonna find something else. You're gonna start a new business and you're gonna keep going because you this is you now, you know. It's just interesting.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Yeah, oh man, so much on this topic. I mean, there's first of all, the intrinsic motivators, right? I've had the Mercedes, I've had the million-dollar house, all that stuff. It it's all meaningless. Yeah, like who needs a bigger who needs more? Luxury is a it's it's a big scam. If you're still thinking that this is gonna provide happiness for you, like, yeah, studies have shown, okay, you get a little blip of happiness, but then it goes down, and then you want something more. It's like being at the casino, ch-ching, ch-ching. Yeah, like that's not where you're gonna find that's just a dopamine rush, right? Yeah, where are you gonna find true happiness in terms of like joy, right? Joy and excitement are two different things, but you there needs to be that fulfillment, and the materials, the materials don't do that, they're short term. Not to say that they're hey, if you're if that's your thing, you love it, go for it, right? Like, I'm not, I don't demonize the material. It's no, no, but it's uh you know, uh, one of my great clients has a car collection, you know, has Lamborghinis and Bugattis and all these types of cars. That's his thing, it's his passion. Yeah, but there comes a point, I think just with age, that we start to see, you know, the veil gets lifted on this stuff. And then you go, okay, well, what's more important? You know, relationships are important, my family's very important, right? It's at the core of it. But it's like there's also something more, there's these intrinsic values, which has been studied. Copeland, I think, is his lane, the side. Psychologist, but it goes passion to purpose, purpose to uh sovereignty or freedom, and then to mastery. So, you know, if I look at my background, that's how it all that's what I've been following my whole life is I'm passionate about this thing. That thing that I'm passionate about turns into a purposeful thing, right? It started out when I was 17. I love fitness, you know. I'm I'm training, I compete, I win the Canadian champion, I play seventh in the world. I love this thing, you know, and then that attracts a lot of people around me that say, hey, I want to get in shape. Like you're inspiring to be around. And then that turns into my purpose of helping other people get in shape and get real good. And then I want freedom out of that. I don't want to work for somebody else. I don't want to, I don't want to be boxed in, right? I want personal sovereignty. So I break free and I open my own chain of fitness clubs, right? Freeform fitness. I start to build that. And then there comes a point where I need to master this. I need to be a master at this, right? So I want to master the whole game. So to today, mastery is my biggest, my biggest motivator. It's an intrinsic motivator. Can I master myself in my life, in my relationship, in my health, in my in all the ways, right? Self-mastery, but also master my business. Master the way I coach, like no one else does it, right? The way I think it's best done for the people I serve. That's it, right? Like I want to eliminate everything that other people are doing just to say, what's the essential? And how does that provide my life where I can live on an island and still help these men that are making tens of millions of dollars, right? And I have even like even my Wi-Fi connection isn't very good, but I'm able to give the essence of something that they value. You know what I mean? Yeah, does that make sense?

SPEAKER_02 24:09

It does. So I have a question for you. And I'm gonna make this parallel, this really weird parallel. But let's say, and I'm gonna switch it, but let's say this this guy's getting out of prison.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

Okay. And now, you know, he has nothing, right? He needs to flip his life and start a business, right? Like go as an entrepreneur. Now, there's a parallel. Let's say there's a lot of cuts of the government coming, which there is, right? I see this, I don't see this in prison, but they have the golden handcuffs, right? I see the cuts as a it's kind of a good thing, you know, because here you go. You you have all this knowledge now, go be an entrepreneur, you know. How do you help those people? Like, do you have an idea? Like, what would you tell those people? Because I see it, you know, you lose your job, maybe tomorrow, right? You work in the government, you have the golden handcuff, you were super comfy. It's like it's not like being in prison, but it's like it's like going, it's like you you're being pushed out somewhere that you don't want to be. What do you do next?

SPEAKER_00 25:13

You know? Yeah, to me, I see it as an opportunity. Yeah, for sure. To me, yeah, that's the best thing that could happen to you. Because to me, that's slavery, right? To be in those cuffs. It's no different to me. Um so it's like finally stepping into your soul's expression. Like, this is a very spiritual thing to be an entrepreneur to me, because you're actually following that passion that wants to help solve a problem somewhere that you have skill in, right? Like, so I would take like that. That actually happened to me when I wrote the book School Is Broken many years ago, a deck over a decade ago. I wrote School Is Broken, and the principal from my school ended up calling me, and I owned studios at that point, you know. I own these personal training studios, and he said, Hey, I'd love to meet up with you and talk about your book. I was like, You're not gonna really like what I have to say about school, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, because I had deconstructed how it was killing creativity, you know, killing that.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

It is, they don't teach you entrepreneur in school, like in high school, you know.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

They don't say anything that's useful.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

Go work for yourself. No, no, no. Go find like go to this um yeah, this network of schools and go to your like whatever, right?

SPEAKER_00 26:38

Yeah, they don't teach you how how to make money, you know. They don't no, they don't teach you not often, yeah, how to, you know, it's it's all basic stuff, you know. Yeah, they don't teach you relationships, they don't teach you so much of the key things of how to network, yeah. You know, how much of you know, we came together, you and I, through a networking thing, like through somebody else, right? Through Martin, through Martin, yeah. It's like connected us. Oh, you'll like Jean-Luc, you know, and you'll like Jaren. It's like we end up connecting. Yeah, you know, do they teach us these social skills of how to network properly, how to be a great human being? Like it's all like textbook, anyways. I could go on a you know, yeah, yeah. That that's anyways. I wrote that book. He calls me, I said, sure, let's meet up. So he comes, but he surprises me and he brings a student with him. And we're sitting in my office in the Glebe, and uh he goes, Okay, I read your book and everything.

SPEAKER_02 27:36

But was it like a broken student, like a student that was not doing well?

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Or I I I couldn't even say we didn't get into it. Okay, um, but I did feel a similarity with the kid, yeah. You know, there was something he had like baggy pants. I was a skateboarder when I was a teenager, right? So uh a bit of a rebel or a yeah, break the mold sort of guy. So I could see that in him, his ball cap and his cool, you know, uh demeanor. And um yeah, he goes, I read your book, it's all about the problem, you know. What's the solution? Oh, it's book number two, yeah. Yeah, it's coming seriously. Buy it, buy it. So I hadn't really thought about it that actually. The solution, yeah. Because I was just so pushed into it. Man, I can deconstruct how this is bad in so many ways to human spirit. It's always hard, right? Find the solution. So he said, What's the solution? I just like instinctively came up with this where I just said to the kid, I said, What are you into? Like, what do you do when you're bored? And he goes, I'm a gamer, you know, I love games, and like I don't care about games, but this kid cares about games. And I said, like, how much do you like games? You know, oh, and he just started lighting up, yeah, his posture starts to change, you know, and things start to move around. I'm looking at the not just the words coming out of his mouth, but his his the way his passion's starting to come up. I said, Do you have any friends that are into games like you? And he goes, Oh, yeah, we play online all the time. Where, you know, we love it. I said, Okay, well, what if I gave you a project to say build a game? You and a bunch of friends that are passionate about building a game, you you build a game and you're actually gonna put it out on the market, you're gonna sell it for some money, and you're gonna get money from that game. It's exciting. He said, I would love that, that would be so good, you know? And he lit up. And I thought to myself, like, me being a skateboarder, if you would have said, Hey, let's gather all the skaters and you guys are gonna build a skate park. We would work day and night to build the biggest skate park in the country. For sure, for sure, and we would do it out of pure fun and like pleasure, yeah. So compare that to sitting on your butt, yeah, reading these, doing these tests that are evaluating you on your intelligence so you can be a good employee.

SPEAKER_02 30:23

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_00 30:24

So it entrepreneurship. I see, I don't work with anyone that's not an entrepreneur, like I can't even relate to somebody that's an employee.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

Yeah, because you start to you feel like it's interesting because as an entrepreneur, I want employees, right? Like I need employees in the future. And sometimes I'm like thinking, I'm like, why would you be an employee? Right? Like like now, now my brain has a switch, right? So, like, I mean, I don't feel bad because some people are just made to be more employees than entrepreneurs, I guess. But it's like I kind of ask myself, like, why would you want to work for me? You know, I don't know if some other of your clients like think like that or have thought like that, but it's it's that a question, like, how do you, you know, I want my employees to be the best that they can be.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

And I want to tell that I kind of want to tell them, like, be an entrepreneur, you know, it's kind of funny, but absolutely, and it's actually a problem that I run into sometimes, you know, because um, like sometimes we impose as employers, as entrepreneurs, what we think is is right for them, but we're not like them. An entrepreneur is not like an employee whatsoever. And there's some people, once you make like, for example, I had one client that owns a uh kombucha business out in um out in uh out in Nicaragua, and uh he wasn't wanting to put structure in place too much, you know, because he felt that it was limiting the freedom of the um employee in the same way. He's like, Well, you know, I don't want to limit them and and put some structure in place when they can just I think it's gonna be limiting to their freedom, right? And I said, I want you to do an exercise, I want you to go interview 10 of your employees and ask them if you they want more structure from you or less structure from you. They probably want more. The next time we had our coaching call, he said, Wow, every single one of them wanted more structure because really what they wanted is they wanted something very transparent about whether they were doing a good job or not.

SPEAKER_02 32:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's very interesting because my friend works for um for someone in the government, and I I know that person uh personally because I I worked for him in the past, and this guy is very entrepreneur-like, um, but he's he's very high up in the government fixing uh a system. We'll just say a system, don't know which one, a system. Um, and basically, this this employee is very like, no, I want structure. But the the uh the the the CEO or the manager or whoever, he is not structured at all. He's like, let's do it. We're gonna do it, we're gonna just do it, and that's it, right? There's no structure. He's like, let's move, let's move. He's really good to push people, you know. But again, they want he's a he's like the entrepreneur mindset, let's just do it. And then the employees want structure. They want, no, we shouldn't just do it. We can't just do it. We need a plan, we need this really good plan and like really structured, right? So there's it, it was interesting to see that. And I I I know both personality, and I could say that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

There is there's three personalities. There's the there's the employee, there's the manager, and the entrepreneur, and all three are very different personality types, right? But the but even being the entrepreneur, of course, the manager needs to be very structured, right? Because you're creating containers for these people, you're creating maps for them, and the employees, the more they know that they're doing a good job and they have incentives in place, um, and they have uh repercussions also, they know what's going on, they just don't like the surprises of the unknown, right? And if you can create a structure that helps all these specific types of employees, then you create culture from that. The structure actually creates the culture, not just the words on the wall, structure determines the outcome. That's why I'm big on systems. Like yeah, a business is systems. If you're if you're loose on your systems, you're gonna have a loose business.

SPEAKER_02 34:57

Yeah, you know. Another cool thing I I we talked about actually was like, you know, how to hire hire employees and and who you choose, and you know, personality is huge, it's it's so important to kind of know. Like, I was talking to um to Emily in Montreal, one of my hosts for On Pod, and you know, she specialized in knowing how people kind of act and react and and and how to do the right also interview question. Because often in interviews, we just give the answer. Like, can you edit on Adobe Premiere? I just gave you the answer. Like, I want you, you know, I'm asking you, like, can you edit on Adobe Premiere versus, you know, what do you edit on? You know, I don't want to give you the answer. Right. But but also like she kind of explained to me, and and we talked about this too, like, you know, uh, you know, uh, there's one guy that um uh he he's very closed in versus another guy that's very like open. Like there's there's all these personality and they need to match to your personality, or or at least you need to know how to not handle them, but like how to train them the right way and and teach them. Uh, like I'm very um can you send an email to a client? We need this, you know. I'm not gonna be like, oh, you did a good job today, and you know, but I I some people need that, right? They need to know that they're good at their job, right? So I think it's it's it's kind of an interesting um thing, right? Like you have to hire the right people that matches your your personality, I think. Absolutely. Uh, because I'm a straightforward guy, right? So if I'm hiring somebody that needs always like reassurance that they're doing good, for me it's it's hard. But if I know the person needs that, then I can adjust myself, right? To make sure that they, you know, are good.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

Well, one of the one of the best exercises around that subject that I that I that I've learned is that you have the best predictor of a good employee is looking at the past employees. Like this only applies to somebody that has a lot of business experience, right? We go and he had employees before. He had employees. So we can say I I just always ask the question, who were your best employees? And then he's like, let's say, okay, this guy, John. Okay, what made John so good? Let's break it down. And then I'll go, well, John's the type of guy that doesn't look at the clock, he just gets things done. Yeah, you know, at any time of day. So he so I go, so what is that? Uh, you know, let's break that down into a characteristic of what that is. Like, oh, he's uh, you know, he's all in, he's very committed to the thing. Okay. And uh what else did you like about him? You know, man, he's always positive, that guy. You know, John was always positive. Okay, we write down positive, we write down committed, you know. Uh check every yeah, we'll write it down. Okay, now we have a template of the type of person that works well with you, not some business book that's telling you, you know, this is what you should look for in a manager, but it's proven based on you. And then we also on a split the piece of paper, we say, Okay, now I want you to write down the worst person that has worked for you. Oh, interesting. And I want let's break them down. And he's like, Oh, yeah, you know, uh late or Sally, you know, she's always she's always checking the clock, right? So so they'll say the opposite thing of what John wants, you know. She's always checking the clock, she's out at like even five minutes before, and it drives me crazy, right? Because I'm paying her and I don't know. And all when we show the different, it's like a blind man, you know, like hitting the cane. We gotta look at the positive, we gotta look at the negative, and then we find our middle way. And then it's just like bam, these are the values that work well with me. Now you build a team with those types of people. Now you have a killer team, you know.

SPEAKER_02 39:11

Yeah, potentially you could give them like uh, you know, when those tests, right? These um value tests or not not really a psychology test, but you know those tests that kind of evaluates what type of person you are.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

Well, yeah, but even better than that, people cheat these things. And what I want to do, that's that's true. Yeah, I want to do is I want to look at commitment and say, how has that person's actions demonstrated that? Because to me, talk is cheap, you know. So I want to make sure I will even tell the person I'm working with. I say, how do we break down these characteristics and then I'll say, how do we prove that? How do we test them on that? Right. If they're good at that software you said, don't ask them. Give it to them and say, show me. Yeah, I want to see you do it. Yeah, right. It it so I will look for indicators and we'll come up with a very unique customized hiring system where that person is actually being tested on all the values that match their values, but in a way that's proof-based. I don't believe what people say. Yeah, yeah. It's very hard because people love. Oh, yeah, I'm I'm like this or our guy. So that and reference checks, you know, proof and reference uh are so important in the hiring process.

SPEAKER_02 40:34

You know, when I was an employee, like after kind of leaving the employee state, you know, I always thought to myself, if I go back to a company, like work for a company, and there's a few out there that was like, wow, I love the culture, I love everything about it. Like, I mean, I I visited Spotify the like the other day because a friend of a friend works there and like there's free food. It's a very nice place to work. Like it's it's like Google, right? Like, right, there's even like you can go to this corner office, listen to some vinyls while you work, you know, like it's very it's top not. You want a latte, there's free lattes, you know. Oh my big lines, it's free lattes, uh, free everything, basically. Yeah, um, and then like Epic and Video, like the culture was great, you know, smaller team, but like they they tried to like there's stuff in the fridge, you know, there's frozen pizza, you need to anything, right? Um, and so, anyways, my mindset changed in the sense that okay, if I go for an interview, like I don't want to just do an hour interview and be hired into this team that I don't know. You know what I mean? Like sometimes people are like, I really want to work at CBC or or wherever, but like you don't know the team, you don't know what you're gonna do, you don't know anything, right? Like, you know, approximately like you'll be the manager of this, you know, cool. But like I don't know what the people are like, right? Yeah, and I feel like there should always be like, I'm always like, can I just like instead of doing the interview, like, yeah, I'll do an interview, but like, can I go meet the team? Like, can I meet these guys? Like, I don't want to work here. If, like, but people don't see it like that, they see like it's an interview, and you're always like, everybody wants work, right? So they don't think about themselves, they just think about well, they they do, but like, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 42:12

Like, I just wish it would I mean that's because you have a lot of self-worth now, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:17

But I wish the process would be different, you know. Yeah, like I don't want to work with people that because it's it's all about the people when you're an employee, it's all about the people, right? It's not about the work, like it is a little bit, but like it's really about the people that you're gonna work with. And if they're not nice, or if one person is super, there was this lady when I worked somewhere, and this lady would come in, like, she would email me, and then not even like two minutes after she emailed me, her office was down the hall. She would come in and like, and me and my buddy Steve are working, you know, and then she come in and just sit there and wait till we're like we're done. And like, did you guys get my email? Okay, give me a minute, you know. This is so like sometimes you're like, Oh, I wish I I wish I knew before I I had an office so close to her office. Nice person, just like her personality, just didn't like know.

SPEAKER_00 43:09

And yeah, you know, sometimes yeah, weird arguments, and it's also that that's a good point. And there's like um, I've I've had a a client, you know, a pretty successful, like five million dollar business, had a hiring problem, right? But I was trying to investigate what is it exactly because there's many components that could happen. And when I looked at his ads of what he was putting out there as what he was looking for, yeah, and what the true culture was, there was a mismatch completely. Yeah, so this guy is a hardcore sales guy looking for hardcore salespeople at like in truth. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But his ads are like, hey, come and we got all these perks, you know, like the coffees, and we got this and this and that. And then you'd get these people. That comes in that were all soft and then they get injected into this culture that is like the guys driving them. Yeah, he kept losing people. So we we shifted this whole hiring process to be real. Yeah. Looking for superstar salespeople. Yeah, real and can't handle it, don't apply. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The application we moved the application from single process hiring of just interview to the first thing is group interview. Online. Oh, interesting. Go online, he's sitting in a studio, stressful, and he's pitching what the company's about.

SPEAKER_02 44:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:43

And he wants to filter out anyone that's not a true salesperson. Yeah. He just don't waste basically.

SPEAKER_02 44:50

Do you really want to work for us? Like, because this is it, you know? No lies. This is what we do.

SPEAKER_00 44:56

And that established the frame of this is what it's truly like to work here. And then he did one-on-one interviews. And then from those one-on-one interviews, he hired superstars. And it completely radically changed all of the problems he had in terms of losing people, losing you lose people, it costs a lot of money.

SPEAKER_02 45:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Retraining, like this.

SPEAKER_00 45:19

All of it, right? Yeah. And we just created that alignment and and got so just to say, when you have the same type of people all in the same with the same alignment, everyone's rowing the boat the same way. Man, that's powerful.

SPEAKER_02 45:35

Yeah, and it's crazy how those small changes affect uh in a big way. And and sometimes it's it's great to have you on our side because you showcase those, you know, you tell us because we don't like as an entrepreneur, you don't really see it, right? What's happening at the at the core level because you're always looking at you're always doing 12 things at once, right?

SPEAKER_00 45:59

You're it's I always say it's hard to see the picture when you're in the frame. Yeah, and that's everyone. Yeah, yeah. I don't believe that, right? There's a reason um coaching is sometimes 600-900% growth that people get from it, yeah. Right, it's not like this little incremental thing, it's just because some it's like a a uh a pro golfer, right? Has a coach and he's you know, why the coach isn't he's even as good as the the player. The player, why would the player need him? Well, it's because he has an outside perspective and can say, actually, your swing's a little off here. You can't see it because you're doing it, but it could be shaped a little different, right?

SPEAKER_02 46:46

Yeah, you could get a little bit more power, it could be a little bit faster. And and it's funny that you talk about this, like how like how a business coach could boost you like 900%. And basically, you know, you sent me this question, and like, you know, we've we've been thinking like, you know, we were here, and then I was, and then you gave me something, and now we're here, you know, and so we grew a little bit, and I'm like, oh yeah, okay, we could do this, you know, and then okay, we could do a million a year, you know, oh cool, you know. And now you sent me like, what if, what if, what if you wanted to do 10 million in a year? Like, what would you do? And it's like, and that's that's hard because I'm like, okay, well, I got like I did the calculation, and like, okay, we gotta go, we gotta go right now to 30 studios, and then we gotta we gotta boost it forward, and then we gotta get that the right sales and the right marketing, and then but it's doable, but in maybe 15 months, you know. So it's interesting how like our mind has said, like, okay, a million, that's so big, you know, like we'll get there, you know, it's possible. And then you ask like 10 million, and you're like, oh, okay. Actually, it's doable. Like you think about it, you plan it, and then boom, it's it's done. Um, so it's it's yeah, it's very interesting how the mind works and how like we we block ourselves from moving for sure.

SPEAKER_00 48:04

I mean, this is hot right now for me because we just we're entering 2026 and we're a weekend, and this is really fired up for me. That's why I've been messaging you, I'm messaging all my clients like almost every day saying just questions to expand the mind, you know, because to me, doing the impossible is what we're here for, you know, to do something new, create creativity is doing something new, putting something out there, and and the way we think is linear. We go, oh, I made I made a hundred grand last year, so now I'm gonna make a hundred and fifty, and maybe you know, that's a 50% growth. So that's a lot, you know. So maybe next year I'll make two. And and this is generally what happens. And I like to say, well, what if it's like a hundred times that?

SPEAKER_02 49:01

Yeah, and what if you have that system to do a hundred times that, right? Because the system is replicable, right?

SPEAKER_00 49:08

It aligns all of the right decisions when you dream big. So when I say, okay, you know, 300 on pod studios, you know, when you say that, the way to get there is going to be very different than if you say you're gonna open two studios more next year. Right? Two studios more next year puts you in the technical role. Yeah, you may go, okay, well, I'm gonna call this guy and I'm gonna make sure down, build a table. We're gonna be thinking about tables. You know, yeah. Right? We're gonna be thinking about tables. But when you say 300, the priority shift where you all of a sudden you say, I'm not gonna touch tables anymore. No, no, I can't. That's I can't. So it aligns all of your decisions in your habits, in your day-to-day time to say, is this helping me get to 300? Or is this a detriment to getting me to 300? So the question I had sent you was, you know, yeah, what are the three things you need to do to get to that? And what are the three things you need to eliminate? Because oftentimes it's the things we need to eliminate too, right? We're doing things because we, oh, you know, and we'll come up with every clever idea on why we're gonna stick to doing those little things that are actually blocking our way to make to do something bigger.

SPEAKER_02 50:33

Yeah, because you think like like building sets, right? I'm saving money, but I'm losing time and I'm losing time on important things like finishing the system and you know, working on maybe sales right now, right?

SPEAKER_00 50:49

Totally. Right. And one of the things is like, oh, I I don't want to be marketing and selling. I want to be creating the infrastructure that's going to provide a constant predictable flow of leads and sales.

SPEAKER_02 51:06

Yeah, the SOPs.

SPEAKER_00 51:07

So it brings it back to what we were talking about at the beginning that we are architects as business owners. You're not just some business owner, you're a creator, you're creating a uh out of nothing, something that's going to impact the world and help people in so many ways. We have to get out of this small mentality of, okay, I gotta fix the tables, you know? It's like, no, how am I going to like, you know, create these studios so it's all replicatable in different areas around the world in every single city? How would I possibly do that? I would need to think who, not how. I would need to think about getting the right person on board. And to get the right person on board, they're gonna cost a lot. So, what's another thing? I need to raise money. I need money, I need investment money because there's a speed component to what we're doing. So, wow, in those top three priorities, I need to raise money, you know. Then I gotta find the right people and build a team, you know, and so it aligns the bigger you extend, the more clarity you're gonna get.

SPEAKER_02 52:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:28

Of the right moves forward, right? So it does a lot, it eliminates the 80% of the crap you've been doing that doesn't really move the needle towards the vision, and it focuses on 20%.

SPEAKER_02 52:43

Yeah, because at first I thought this is impossible, right? But it is possible. 10 million a year, it's possible. You just have to align everything the right way and just go faster.

SPEAKER_00 52:54

Yeah, and I uh, you know, this is uh this is a common thing with almost everyone I work with, is that when they first come to me, they say, I have this goal, and this just happened a few weeks ago. And he says, Hey, you know, I I want to reach three million, right? So generally I'm working with companies over a million, and they come to me at 1.5, you know, three, and you know, and this guy says, Okay, I'm at two, I want to get to three, and it's like, why? Why do you want to get to three? Why three? Why'd you choose three? And it's this linear thinking that if I did two, three is a massive goal. Yeah. But to me, it's like it's not very massive, and it's actually not that exciting. No, right? Small, yeah, it's a small little butt. Like if you're at two, it's easy to get a three. Like me, even as a coach, I'm not that excited about it. So I have to be excited also, right? If we're gonna be allies in this, like let's shoot for the moon, and if we don't get it, we land in the stars, you know. But like, let's not just make it a little jump, like let's let's do the impossible. That's and like I said, it aligns all of the 80-20 rule of like all the 80% of what you've been doing needs to go pretty much, and that's a lot of internal resistance. It's not what I'm talking about with coaching, is very rarely is it external challenges, it's almost always internal challenges to wow, do I have the courage to do that? Do I have the commitment to do that? Do I have the confidence to do that? Do I have the capabilities to do that? I don't know. So I come along and say, let's look at your past, look what you've done. What's unique about you, right? Like when I talk about capabilities, I I I also look at where is your skill? What's and and then you gotta go and do that, you gotta do the thing that you love doing and that you're better than everyone at doing. Because, like Jar here, you know, like technically, no podcast, I believe, no podcast studio can compete with him on a technical automation professional standpoint.

SPEAKER_02 55:24

No, I don't I don't think it exists anywhere. Some people tried, uh, but more audio podcasts, you know. But look at your background, right?

SPEAKER_00 55:32

Like, yeah, do people have you talked about your background?

SPEAKER_02 55:35

Uh a little bit. You know, I worked at CBC for a long time. I worked at the Science and Tech Museum. Um, and I've CBC, I've basically touched everything. You know, I've I've I've did some maintenance, I've did uh switcher director, I've did lighting uh with the the lighting director, uh sound, like you name it.

SPEAKER_00 55:56

Video quality, you talked to me about video.

SPEAKER_02 55:58

Yeah, so CCU's camera control unit. I was really uh passionate about that. Uh, you know, to put the the video chart on and then to match the cameras, to match the colors. Obviously, in in you know, in here we use the same cameras, we put them on the same preset. It's very easy to kind of match, but but at the deeper end, you know, um matching cameras in a broadcast kind of state was was very different. And I love doing that, you know, matching the the reds with the reds and like finding tricks to to reduce uh you know, if something doesn't match, I would reduce the saturation a bit, I would play with the knee. There's all these all these tricks and all these things, and it's uh it's kind of a passion. And now the passion is like, how do I automate? Right? Everything needs to be automated and it with a good good quality, but like nothing can fail. Like I love thinking about like I never want anything to fail, and I'm like, I'm adding a setting uh today on this on this recorder where between the green button and the red button, there's gonna be a yellow flashing button that says wait, because some people will press it twice, you know, they'll double tap it because they they don't wait, you know, a second, and they're like, which is fine, but we're adding, you know, I want to make sure that okay, no, as soon as this butt as soon as they press, this starts flashing like crazy. It's like, wait, okay, perfect. They wait, it goes, you know. So I I'm always thinking about figuring out a way to alleviate like problems, like make sure there's no problems, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 57:33

And and and it's if if you guys are listening right now, right, you could see that Jair's energy shifted, you know, in just talking about it, right? There's and that's what I am always looking for, is like, whoa, there's a lot of passion around this thing, and it's not me, right? Like, I'm not, I don't know anything about the cameras and how these technical things it's so it's very easy for me to spot and go, wow, this is a unique thing that you got, and I look at your background, and then you know, how does the the this the purpose that Jair has, how does it play into the big picture of the business he's building? And how does that become the uh branding differentiator that no one will beat him on because he can do this in his sleep. He does this for fun. If he's doing something, he'll build, he'll be building something. If you're bored about something, you'll be improving the technical aspect of this amazing space. And no one is gonna be able to compete with him at that. It's like trying to compete with somebody that it's their passion, it's what they're good at. They do it in their sleep. If you're competing with somebody like that, and for you it's work, there's no way you can compete. Yeah. So aligning the small purpose with the large purpose is just a sure win moving forward.

SPEAKER_02 59:08

Yeah, and I believe it's a sure win, like just working with you. Like it's just it's like you said, like we now we have a you know, we have a list of 100 Dream 100. We have we have plenty of steps that there is no chance that this doesn't work. Exactly. There's zero chance that it doesn't work, it's just a matter of time and and and doing some of the work, but it's like it's simple, it's easy. Uh, we gotta get investment, we're gonna build 30 studios in the next two years, and then sky's the limit.

SPEAKER_00 59:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:40

And it's there's there's no chance it doesn't work.

SPEAKER_00 59:42

And and like you talked about when you're talking about the self-worth of the employee coming in and saying, Well, I don't know if I want to work here, right? I want to see the team. Yeah. And it's that self-worth too in the in the business of realizing the spot you're in, that a lot of people will, a lot of business owners won't actually don't have the self-worth to see the the gem of a situation they're in. Podcasts, podcasting, huge wave, huge rise. Yeah. So opportunity perfectly aligned, aligned with your purpose personally, aligned with the market and what it needs. You know how complicated it is to start your own podcast? You have to first come up with the ideas of what is it gonna be? How am I gonna get guests? You gotta strategize all this stuff. What's the name gonna be? Is the name available? Okay, you start this thing. What platform am I gonna use? I'm gonna do it this way, that way. Oh, now I gotta know how to edit. Now I know I gotta know how to edit these videos, I gotta do clips. Oh, in different formats and different, oh, there's different format sizes and shapes of different videos. Oh my god, here I am, hours into this, right? And then oh, I gotta, I I did it now. Now I gotta distribute this. How do I distribute it? What platform? Yeah, and it is a lot of problems, yeah. And now you've said, here, I'm gonna make it real easy for you. Just come in, hit the button, yeah, leave, and you got your stuff. Yeah, that's solving a real problem.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:23

The guy not a one that you know what he started his podcast in his basement, and it's like he bought all the gear, and it's like even if you buy all the gear and you have the set and you have everything, it's still not very simple. You know, you gotta go to each camera, you gotta pull out the gear, okay, put that in the computer, transfer it, do the like and it's still not professional like this, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:45

Like, so it's not good, you this lighting, this everything, right? So to me, you're solving a real problem that saves somebody so much time, money, and effort, right? In in how to do it. It's so you got the industry, you got the purpose, internals, you know, the small purpose, the business purpose. It matters this thing. Okay, let's get the dream 100 investors that want to invest in this and that realize that this is a gem that is bound like to be a massive success and be sold to some large company in the future. And you got all the skills and and the right uh ability to do this. So there's the plan.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:36

Yeah, and we're pitching, and like I'm pitching in the next three, three different people in the next month, month and a half. And there's even like it's funny because you know, we've put Toronto as a coming soon on the website, which is was a plan, was not a plan, now it's back on the table. You know, there was a well, a shift, you know, it just depends on money and and time, right? And now I get emails like monthly or even like close to weekly, like, oh, when is Toronto opening? And it's like, and there is studios in Toronto, but like they're waiting for this. This is just easier. And sometimes at first I thought, oh no, technician, you know, because I used to be the technician and be like, okay, say this again, okay, guys, okay, start again. You know, I used to be there for them. It's actually a good thing there's nobody here because it creates a safe space where you can have a conversation, nobody's around with that person, right? With your guest. It's um it's more personal, right? Plus, there's no cable, there's no like moving the cameras, there's not like not all this stuff. You know, we lose like 30 minutes, like, okay, we're gonna we're gonna just gonna refocus and we do that. Oh, we don't need that. It's it's just you come in, you press the button, you have your conversation, you leave, you're done. So people are waiting for that in other cities. Like, we just gotta get the word out. And Toronto has been has been out a little bit, and and people know and and ask for it. Like, I just I was asked for it this morning. It's just crazy, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:00

So I'm excited to see where it goes, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:03

It's me too. I'm uh remember this podcast. A little stressed, a little excited, you know. I don't know, but uh, but it it's good, it's gonna go. Like in in two months, we'll have an investor. Pretty like pretty sure. Uh, and then and then we're going. And then 15 months, like we might be, you know, from 15 to 30 studios. And then again, sky's the limit. Like uh the potential is there. Yeah, and I'm excited.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:36

Yeah, exactly. Well, I I think when you have clarity, yeah, yeah. With clarity comes motivation, you know, inspiration.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:46

Yeah, we were we were thinking like one studio in Toronto next, maybe no studio, maybe doing the and now it's like it's so clear, and it's already big, right? We you know, and and and we were lucky enough to like I met Tree through you, which uh coded our um our new storage system. So instead of having Google Drive, we have our own Google Drive that we built, and now we can do whatever we want with it, which is amazing. And again, like it's all about connecting with the right person, right? I met Martin, he gave me kind of the idea with the podcast garage, podcast cafe, like he he needed help with his podcast, so like he kind of helped me, and then I met you through Martin, and I met uh Tree through you, and then everything is like you know, just building blocks.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:32

So the idea is meet the right person and also go meet people, and it's on a podcast, it's literally the essence of what this is built for. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Right, because one person does have the potential to change your life, but if all of a sudden all you're talking about is exchanging a business card, you're not gonna actually get doesn't do anything to the depth with that person that you could in a great space like this, and then we meet and we actually Actually, get to know each other and the opportunities that come out of, you know, I was living at some point with no money, right? I went all the way, I went high and then I went all the way low, lost it all, like almost purposely, right? To see what it was like to have no money. Um, but in the in that, and my rise back up was that your network, the people you know, and that have made connections along the way are still there. Right. The other thing I realized was skills. We have skills that are super valuable, that are unique to you, right? And then virtues, you know. Are you courageous? Are you strong? Uh do you have integrity? Um, do you have wisdom? You know, like these are these are things that are in us or not in us, you know. If you don't have integrity, I don't think you'll have a good network, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:03

My my father-in-law, while we were climbing up uh the I think it's 800 steps, uh in Petra in Jordan. Uh so have you been to Petra?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:13

No.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:14

So, but you know Petra, right? The um it's one of the seven wonders of the world. But, anyways, you go up and these old tombs, uh, which look like little kind of castle in the in the in the sand. And he said, You are a eternal uh optimist because I'm always like, it's it's right there. I think like I just you see the corner there, and it's it's right the next one, and it's like another hundred steps, another hundred steps. And then and then I realized, yeah, I'm a I'm an eternal optimist. I I used to do dance competition, and and we won this dance competition to be my dance partner, Joel, in New York City. We went first place and we were so surprised, you know. But we did this big aerial stab like in the air, and it was that was crazy. And um, and then I was like, let's go to Europe and we're gonna win in Europe. And she got like a little mad because she was like, We're not that good, you know? And I was like, I don't give a shit. I know we're not that good, but I'm just so optimist, you know. I don't care. I don't care if we don't win. I just I just want let's let's just do it. We'll see after. We don't choose, you know. So it's interesting the mindset, but yeah, eternal optimists.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:25

But yeah, it reminds me of the stoic saying uh Marcus Aurelius said, uh, virtue is its own reward, you know, virtue is its own reward to be optimistic is a reward in itself because it feels good to you, right? Like, and in the same way, like courage and having self-discipline, the rewards in itself, it doesn't even matter what the outcome is, it's the fact that we're actually doing it.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:56

Yeah, because when we look at like me going to an investor and pitching, you know, next month and this month, uh, I never thought I would be doing that in my life, you know what I mean? I never thought I would like, and I remember back.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:09

It's so exciting, man, that you're doing this too. Like, I just hearing you say that just lit up my face.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:15

Yeah, like the first one. I might fail, I don't care. I'm just gonna go to the next one, the next one, and it's gonna get better. And uh the idea is good and it makes sense. We just gotta do it now, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:29

Yeah, and and and and how do we get good at pitching?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:33

Yeah, yeah. Right. I just read Pitch Anything, it was an interesting book. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:39

And just, you know, anything is possible. That's the thing. Yeah, yeah. And if you just put in the work, um, you know, we just went through, we just yeah, yeah, we just we just gotta be ready for anything and and be super prepared, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:57

And it's like um you have to think that you're talking to a person and the person has feelings and they think different, and we have to just align and right. So it's it's just interesting the the whole mentality behind um behind negotiating, behind pitching, all this stuff, like it's it's very interesting. Psychology is interesting, right? People are interesting. Uh, so it's gonna be yeah, it's gonna be an interesting time.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:24

Yeah, I I do find uh one of the key elements, you know, it's uh high self-worth. And and I find like when when I hired my coach like uh a few years ago, I was at a point of low self-worth. And I also needed somebody else, you know, for me to because I felt something. I felt like, hey, there's I'm not thinking big enough. I'm not all these things that I now, you know, uh help other clients with, I was in that too. So I felt it. I felt the oh, there's something, there's a there's a worth because in all of these things, pitching, negotiating, selling, all these things, you have to realize your value.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:15

Yeah, yeah. And it's not always easy. Like I I just still feel like this, this really young entrepreneur. Um, but in reality, it's it's much more than that, right? Um, and so like you said, like I need to get in this room and and feel like I'm worth something, you know, not feel like I'm worth nothing. Or know, right? Yeah, know that I, yeah, exactly. Yeah. And then uh, so to finish up, um anything that you want to say to entrepreneurs or any books you want to recommend to people?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:50

Um, things I want to say. Well, it's the beginning of 2026. I think it's time to hit the gym, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:58

Gym owners are happy right now. They're like, yes, this is the time. Everybody's gonna come in and get their yearly uh subscription. It's true though. It is true, it's very true. I'm going back to the gym.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:08

Like I'm the gym is such an important aspect of uh I don't I don't think there's not anything that can create more of an impact on you mentally, physically, spiritually, than actually starting to work out if you're not. But that's not the message I would say. The message the message I would say is um is sort of a theme that I'm passionate about right now is think big, yeah, think massive, write it down. Don't be scared of you know how big that is and how grand it is, and it should be uncomfortable and almost uh seem impossible, yeah. Because when you write it down, there's some magic that happens with writing it down and seeing it that things just start to move in that direction.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:59

Yeah, when you said 10 million to me, I I said, yeah, impossible and uncomfortable. Yeah, that was that's the feeling I got. But then I said, let's let's do the exercise, you know, let's write it down. And and then I did, and it is doable. She needs more money and just do it faster, and just you know, it's possible, yeah. But just you just gotta don't think small, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:22

Yeah, don't think small, and then in terms of books, I mean um, what am I? I read a lot of different types of books now that are like more philosophical in a way, but uh I think my book uh The Bot Build Business is pretty practical, right? How to move from the old way of doing operations to thinking with AI, yeah, bot build business. It's called the bot build business, it's free on my website, but it talks about how we're moving away from checklists and checklists and and and uh yeah, yeah, yeah, and SOPs and all these things are are irrelevant now because we have I can get a prompt on my phone what to do next. I can take a picture and it could AI could analyze something and tell you exactly what's wrong.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:22

There's you can literally tell GP touch GPD to send you emails with reminders with all the steps you know, like sky's the limit. I could I could get a text every day, so then like bing, do this. Okay, sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:36

Yeah, you know, so the game has changed completely, and I think the follow-up to that book will be more the mental aspects of what's stopping us from becoming a dinosaur in the business world. Because as much as the technologies are there, it's overwhelming for a lot of people to go, where do I start? There's too many, it's moving too fast. Uh, you know, I'm so what do we do? You know, it's fight, flight, freeze. Most people just freeze, freeze, yeah, yeah, and they go, uh, too many options, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. And that right there is what's going to kill you because you actually have to shift.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:22

Yeah, you need to learn and move forward with the technology. Because if you don't, you you'll be losing. You'll be left behind. You'll be left behind. Yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah. So good. I think uh I think this is good for today.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:37

Awesome, Jared.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:38

Thanks for coming to Ottawa. I mean, I'm in Ottawa too. We're both in Ottawa, which never happens. Yeah. Uh so uh yeah, hopefully we can redo this uh in six months to a year and see where I'm at.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:51

It's gonna be it's gonna be grand.