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I need to, right?

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So I'm gonna do this.

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I'm gonna be right back.

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I'm gonna let you lead the way

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and I'll hear everything that you say.

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So in terms of University of Texas,

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choosing the Longhorns,

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I mean, there's really no other choice out there

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than being a Longhorn.

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But what made you choose that

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and what's your experience been?

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Yeah, well, thanks for having me on.

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Ready and really excited for the rest of the show.

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It's been a lot of fun.

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Definitely had a lot of opportunities,

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still have a lot of opportunities coming forward

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that I don't imagine I would have had

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under any other circumstances or any other university.

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UT Austin is a great school,

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right with great education and great,

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student organizations, student life,

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all that stuff that you can really hope for in a university.

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There's troves of it.

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So really, really grateful.

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You know it, baby.

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You know it.

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You know it.

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I wear this hat probably in 10 to 15% of my podcasts.

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Hides my hair when I don't have

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my Matthew McConaughey look going on.

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But you have both today, so it's all good.

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That's right.

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We gotta get him on the show in the future.

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Right on, right on, right on.

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All right, so Michael, I gotta ask, man.

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You're doing so much.

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President, student media, vice president,

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you founded a company as well.

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And you got so many opportunities.

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How did you, where does that drive for priorities come from?

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How did you discover that so young?

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I will certainly say it's a necessity.

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And when you have sort of a necessity

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in having to manage your time,

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you tend to get most out of that time.

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At least that's been my experience.

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So you really are forced to prioritize

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for better, for worse.

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You definitely have to kick some stuff down a little bit

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when certain things come up, expectedly and unexpectedly.

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But I think just naturally good time management,

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developing that skill,

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it's still something that I'm developing

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and will develop until I'm way older.

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You know?

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Yeah, right?

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So, but I think my parents

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have excellent time management skills too.

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Really set a good example for me.

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And just been really fortunate and blessed

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to have certain opportunities and certain things,

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one of which is going to UT.

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So that kind of stuff.

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It's always good to have kind of a time fire under you.

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And I always kind of have one under me.

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Absolutely, I love that.

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You know, and for those of you who don't have parents,

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that secret power of parents that exists there,

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you can find and adopt parents, by the way.

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You can find and adopt role models.

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I mean, I was fortunate.

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My mom's like extremely good with time management.

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My dad, who wasn't around as often,

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but when I was living with him,

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very, very little time management skills.

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I could have chosen either path, right?

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And I chose to gravitate more towards my mom's path,

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even though I would say my personality

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aligns much more with who my father is.

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So we've usually got those choices in life.

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And if I could say anything to those who are out there,

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living the dream and young,

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it's that life's gonna get busier and busier.

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So the sooner you develop those priorities

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and focus on the things that you want later,

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the more likely you are to achieve greatness

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and enjoy the whole journey along the way.

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So thanks for that insight.

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We'll cut to the break and we'll be right back, everybody.

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All right, welcome in to Vision Pros Live.

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With Jackson Calame, I'm your show host.

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We'll be doing interviews for visionary entrepreneurs

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and guest leaders who are building fantastic visions

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out there.

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Hey, what's up, everybody?

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Welcome in to Vision Pros Live.

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I'm your show host, Jackson Calame,

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founder and CEO of First Class Business.

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I am so excited to have Michael Lazenby on the show.

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I can't wait to bring him on stage.

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I've been waiting for this moment for a few days, actually,

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really thinking about this episode,

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because I'm so excited to have Michael Lazenby on the show.

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I can't wait to bring him on stage.

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I've been waiting for this moment for a few days, actually,

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because to me, he represents the future of visionaries.

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We name this episode, Empowering Dreams,

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Entrepreneurship as a Great Equalizer with Michael Lazenby.

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He really influenced that.

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He sees entrepreneurship as a great equalizer.

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I haven't talked to him too much

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about what that means to me yet.

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In fact, we haven't talked about that at all yet together.

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But I saw the same thing when I was much younger

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and realized, whoa, what this country was founded on

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and built on was entrepreneurship and freelance work.

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And corporate America has been a little bit of a distraction

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from that reality, in my opinion.

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We might come back to that later in the show.

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But before I bring Michael on,

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a couple of quick shout outs to different resources

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that are available for people in terms of sponsorships.

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In this case, both of the sponsors for our show today

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are clients of ours.

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One of them is the Wellness Shop 365.

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And the Wellness Shop is built by Sean LeChuga.

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Sean and Juliana LeChuga, they're a power couple,

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great family, they have excellent values.

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I've really enjoyed working with them.

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They're in the middle of overhauling their branding.

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And when I saw this,

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Cynthia, can you please lower it a little bit

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until the wheel?

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I got my assistant Cynthia behind the scenes helping out.

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This is what caught my eye,

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the 365 Harmony of Life Wheel Assessment

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and how they're not only looking at life

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from a nutrition standpoint,

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in terms of diet and exercise,

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but I saw that they were really tracking,

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what's joy and spirituality, creativity, finances, career.

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I was like, whoa, there is extreme balance in this.

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So while there's still an opportunity to optimize

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and refine the wheel itself and how it's delivered,

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the principles are what I pay attention to

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when I'm looking for clients, prospects,

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and when I'm looking for solutions for my own life.

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And so this really caught my attention.

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And then as I started to work with them,

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I just loved the balance and holistic nature

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of who they are and what they're up to,

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the vision sound.

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Then on the other side,

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we've got Melissa Gray from The Law Spot.

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She was also a guest.

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I highly recommend checking her episode out.

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She's an attorney and she's building a platform

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for entrepreneurs to get a strong legal counsel

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and a base for their foundation

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that doesn't have to be complicated.

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And once again, I saw this entrepreneur

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who not only has the ability to be

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that the attorney we think of on TV,

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but also one who nurtures,

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one who understands that there's concepts related

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to legal and law that people are kind of scared of

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and you don't know where to go.

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And there's also these really high retainer fees

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on one side.

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On the other side, you got these programs like The Law Depot.

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Nothing wrong with them, good program,

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but it's a bit too watered down to be able to go to that,

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go to that resource and have the right representation

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for yourself.

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So she's looking to bridge the gap for the middle ground

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so that small and medium businesses have legal counsel

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they can go to and trust.

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And I can tell you after working with hundreds and hundreds,

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very possibly thousands and thousands

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of the entrepreneurs I've worked with,

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I would venture to guess that maybe two to 5%,

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if I were to ask them, who's your legal counsel,

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if you get into a situation, they wouldn't know.

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They'd probably go to Google and find something.

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And out of the two to 5% that have it,

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they're probably overpaying considerably

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for somebody who's also so busy,

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they're probably not gonna give them great attention.

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So that's the type of gap that Melissa's looking to bridge

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and I find that super honorable.

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Last and of course not least are the causes.

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And in this case, we like to talk about the water project.

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The water project is something that I try to remember daily

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and think about often because most of us listening in,

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we have access to clean drinking water every single day.

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I don't have to think about it, I go right to my kitchen.

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There's millions of people who do not.

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And the children or the parents are pulled out of school

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or out of work for their communities to go get water.

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And they usually have to travel three to five miles

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in order to get it.

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And it's a bucket, whatever they have

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and are able to carry themselves.

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And they don't even know if that water is safe.

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And so the water project has created transparency

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around which communities they're able to support and help,

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what exactly they're building.

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And the cool thing is even if you only give a dollar

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to that cause, you then get to see

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how the project transforms and what happens.

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They use social proof to show you, okay,

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here's what's happening,

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here's what we're teaching these people about maintaining it.

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It's a very empowering process.

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And you also saw on the screen if you're watching,

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these kids celebrating water, like it's Christmas day.

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I mean, the amount of gratitude they have

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for the basic needs of life absolutely humbles me.

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And so even if you're not in a position financially

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to share that, I would ask that you just share

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the experience, share the site with somebody.

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You never know, you might be the person who touches somebody

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who spends a million dollars on helping that project.

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You might have a friend that shares $5.

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All contributions always help.

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We have 8 billion people in this world to be able to help.

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So if there's some other project that you know of

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that inspires you more and you're like,

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man, I wish this guy would talk about this project.

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Also drop that link in the comments.

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We're all about giving back.

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We'll definitely check it out.

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And if it's something that we also feel

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we should put on the show as well and say,

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hey, check this project out.

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We might just do that and you might be the catalyst

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for a lot of good.

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So without further ado, I'm gonna dive into

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Michael Lazenby's background a little bit.

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And so we're gonna go, one thing that caught me,

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he's got that Mark Cuban path as well.

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He's already started macrohint.com.

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He's a founder of this program to help people

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with the stock market analysis and understanding finances

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as an econ major.

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And then he's also the president of the texastudentmedia.com

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at the Moody College of Communication

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at the University of Texas at Austin.

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And in addition to that, he's the VP, one of the VP

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presidents of the University of Texas at Austin

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Student Foundations.

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So Michael, thank you for being on the show today.

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We're so happy to have you.

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It's a pleasure to be here, Jackson.

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Thanks for having me.

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Yeah, absolutely, man.

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I have never hosted a future president

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in the United States before.

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So this is absolutely my honor.

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Well, let me know when you do.

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I'll be amazing when you find out.

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Man, you got so much going on.

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00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:26,400
So what got you into being so involved

264
00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:28,840
in the student body and the media,

265
00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:31,840
the publications related to informing the school

266
00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:34,780
what's going on and the foundation?

267
00:10:36,560 --> 00:10:40,440
I would certainly say that a little background is needed.

268
00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:42,800
And with that, I'm actually a transfer student.

269
00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:45,840
So I transfer from a school really far away

270
00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:47,360
in North Dakota, oddly enough.

271
00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:49,880
So really, really cold to really, really hot.

272
00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:51,080
That's the state, right?

273
00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:52,520
Yeah, right.

274
00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:53,360
I'm just kidding.

275
00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:55,240
That's so Texan of me.

276
00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:56,400
It's totally valid.

277
00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:57,240
Don't worry.

278
00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:02,120
But I didn't know anybody in Austin.

279
00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:05,360
So I had to make friends somehow

280
00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:07,960
through some student organization before classes started

281
00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:10,560
and do something just to kind of get my foot

282
00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:11,920
in the door in that respect.

283
00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:16,920
And then just happened to apply as an opinion columnist.

284
00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:18,720
Writing is okay at the time.

285
00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:21,960
I was kind of enjoying it, but my mother actually has,

286
00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:24,120
I think she passed down her writing gene to me.

287
00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:25,400
She's a writer by trade.

288
00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:26,800
Nice.

289
00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:28,320
So I definitely inherited that.

290
00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,400
And then just thankfully got offered a position

291
00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:34,820
as an opinion columnist at the Daily Texan.

292
00:11:34,820 --> 00:11:37,940
And then over time, rose to the ranks,

293
00:11:37,940 --> 00:11:39,800
had a lot of great opportunities

294
00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:43,600
given by a lot of different people, a lot of great timing.

295
00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:47,400
And now currently serve as the president of Texas student

296
00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:48,880
media and also a board member as well.

297
00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:50,360
So it's been a lot of fun.

298
00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:52,720
So really enjoying it.

299
00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:53,760
That's amazing.

300
00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:56,720
That it makes me wanna dive into the power lessons.

301
00:11:56,720 --> 00:11:59,160
And I'm not supposed to do that too late in the show

302
00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:00,540
because I wanna talk to you about diplomacy

303
00:12:00,540 --> 00:12:03,200
since you've gained some idea

304
00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:04,800
of how diplomacy works at a young age.

305
00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:06,720
I had no diplomacy at your age.

306
00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:07,840
So that's why I wanna pick your brain

307
00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:10,360
for the sake of my kids, but I'll withhold.

308
00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:13,220
First things first, you can take this

309
00:12:13,220 --> 00:12:14,880
from the macro hint level.

310
00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:17,240
You can actually feel free to define this

311
00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:18,880
for all three ventures or beyond.

312
00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:22,200
But typically what's your vision for those that you serve?

313
00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:25,560
Well, I'll start with the website.

314
00:12:25,560 --> 00:12:29,040
The website is really, really geared towards

315
00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:32,360
making finance, investing, the stock market,

316
00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:35,080
knowledge of the economy, things like that,

317
00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:37,600
far more accessible than it has ever been.

318
00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:39,600
That is a really, really big part

319
00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:41,720
of what we do and focus on.

320
00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:44,500
It's really, really important that we distill,

321
00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:48,380
but don't really dilute information or dilute information.

322
00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:50,960
A lot of different ways to do that.

323
00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:53,360
But I personally started writing,

324
00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:55,960
I've just started a blog during COVID

325
00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:59,120
really out of boredom and needed to do something.

326
00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:01,120
And then just started gaining traction.

327
00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:03,640
I guess some people were enjoying what I was writing about,

328
00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:05,760
just different opinions on different stocks.

329
00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:07,600
And of course, based on the fundamentals,

330
00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:09,480
looking at cashflow statements, balance sheets,

331
00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:11,280
income statements, et cetera.

332
00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:14,040
And then it was really, yeah, there's the name of the day.

333
00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:15,640
And then I was really, really happy

334
00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:19,220
to get some different partnerships, sponsorships,

335
00:13:19,220 --> 00:13:22,040
and actually start monetizing the website

336
00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:24,920
through that after just gaining more and more traction.

337
00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:29,140
So that's been a lot of fun for sure.

338
00:13:29,140 --> 00:13:29,980
Awesome.

339
00:13:29,980 --> 00:13:32,300
And let's look at the path for this.

340
00:13:32,300 --> 00:13:34,080
So the vision for those you serve,

341
00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:36,600
what's the other end to look like?

342
00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:39,360
If somebody follows what it is that you're putting down

343
00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:41,840
and they decided to make some adjustments in their life,

344
00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:43,240
what's the outcome look like?

345
00:13:44,560 --> 00:13:46,680
Well, ultimately what we wanna do is make it

346
00:13:46,680 --> 00:13:48,800
so that investing isn't so scary.

347
00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:52,240
I think the thing is investing itself,

348
00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:53,820
maybe having a brokerage account

349
00:13:53,820 --> 00:13:58,000
or being able to buy a cryptocurrency or a stock

350
00:13:58,000 --> 00:13:59,560
has become really democratized

351
00:13:59,560 --> 00:14:00,920
with all the different platforms,

352
00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:03,240
think Robinhood, think all these other ones.

353
00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:05,860
But I don't think that knowledge of investing

354
00:14:05,860 --> 00:14:10,420
and really easy to digest knowledge of investing

355
00:14:10,420 --> 00:14:11,640
has been easily accessible.

356
00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:13,580
So the industry has kind of been lagging behind

357
00:14:13,580 --> 00:14:14,520
in that respect.

358
00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:16,960
So that's the gap that we aim to fill.

359
00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:20,000
And in terms of what the end viewer gets and what they get,

360
00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,960
I mean, we've received, my friends will tell me,

361
00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:25,340
I'll get messages telling me, this is great work,

362
00:14:25,340 --> 00:14:26,720
really appreciate it.

363
00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,000
So that is really awesome to me.

364
00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:30,440
Outside of the business context,

365
00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:31,720
like you kind of alluded to before,

366
00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:33,760
it's really about impact,

367
00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:37,440
not just impact on all levels, I'll say.

368
00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:41,120
So a lot of positive feedback for sure

369
00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:44,200
from all corners of the world.

370
00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:45,080
Awesome.

371
00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:47,720
Okay, and then let's move into the vision

372
00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:48,760
for the entrepreneurs.

373
00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:51,800
You talked about entrepreneurship as a great equalizer

374
00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:53,640
and empowering people's dreams.

375
00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:55,600
What's your vision as far as that goes?

376
00:14:58,420 --> 00:15:03,280
I think today it's very,

377
00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:05,560
I mean, kind of speaking of democratized platforms,

378
00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:08,520
it is far easier, and you can definitely speak to this

379
00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:10,920
to start a business than it ever has been

380
00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:14,700
with platforms like Etsy, Shopify, Fiverr,

381
00:15:14,700 --> 00:15:16,200
all these different platforms.

382
00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:19,160
You can like freelance work like you alluded to before.

383
00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:21,760
You can really, it's a lot easier to do that

384
00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:23,680
than it ever has been.

385
00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:26,240
And I think that I would love for more people

386
00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:28,880
to really gravitate towards that,

387
00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:32,840
use their own ideas, use their own skillsets,

388
00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:35,400
stuff like that, that maybe a lot of other people

389
00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:38,040
don't have and execute on those,

390
00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:40,360
even if it's considered if they fail

391
00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:43,160
or something like that, at least they try.

392
00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:45,400
You never know until you do try, obviously.

393
00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:47,640
So I think that is really important.

394
00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:49,760
Also just in a risk-taking context,

395
00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:53,360
I think there's a really, really kind of messed up notion

396
00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:56,080
out there that if you wanna be an entrepreneur,

397
00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:57,080
you have to be all in.

398
00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:00,240
You have to put yourself in some form of financial crisis.

399
00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:01,360
You have to, yeah.

400
00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:04,400
And you certainly have to be committed for sure.

401
00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:06,120
I have learned that over the last three years

402
00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:07,400
of this website being up,

403
00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:09,600
you have to be very committed for sure.

404
00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:14,200
However, I would say that it can still be very rewarding,

405
00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:18,200
very fun, and also just you can learn so much about yourself.

406
00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:21,000
So if all else fails in someone's venture,

407
00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:22,800
I would hope that they would take so much

408
00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:24,320
and understand that they can take so much

409
00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:27,280
from learning about themselves, their capabilities,

410
00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:28,520
strengths and weaknesses,

411
00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:30,840
and then just pick themselves back up.

412
00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:32,240
Absolutely.

413
00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:33,240
I will, if you don't mind,

414
00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:34,560
I will speak to some of those truths

415
00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:35,920
because you nailed it.

416
00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:37,160
And I might start in reverse order,

417
00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:41,080
which is if my venture failed within the next couple of weeks,

418
00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:44,360
couple of months, there is no greater refiner's fire

419
00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:47,280
that I could have possibly been in for shaping,

420
00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:48,920
turning into who I want to be

421
00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:50,600
for the sake of my four children.

422
00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:55,520
So that's a big aspect for me is I get to

423
00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:57,360
not only be my best self,

424
00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:00,320
but even being on this podcast and going live,

425
00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:01,400
sometimes I interview people

426
00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:03,840
that are fairly difficult to interview.

427
00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:06,840
And it puts me in a position to where I have to

428
00:17:06,840 --> 00:17:08,960
learn diplomacy skills on the fly,

429
00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:12,440
and say, okay, how do I help honor my audience

430
00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:16,440
while not torching this person and honoring their vision?

431
00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:21,320
And if I don't have the live component of that,

432
00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:24,680
it can be a lot easier to just kind of like go at them,

433
00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:28,080
rather than patiently see how can I,

434
00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:29,400
again, nobody's gonna die.

435
00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:31,360
It's just an opinion.

436
00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:32,960
Let's figure this out together.

437
00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:35,320
So there's dynamics and aspects like that

438
00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:38,280
with entrepreneurship every day that you have to go through

439
00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:40,200
to serve those that you're serving,

440
00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:41,520
whether it's team members,

441
00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:45,920
whether it's, you can't just escape the problems

442
00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:47,680
that come your way as an entrepreneur

443
00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:49,640
or with a team especially.

444
00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:52,800
In addition, you did say that it's easier to start on,

445
00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:55,640
become an entrepreneur than it ever has been.

446
00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:59,360
And there's a twist to that though.

447
00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:02,680
It's also easier for me to start any single type of business

448
00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:06,400
that I could possibly want to start or be distracted by.

449
00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:09,120
And that there's danger in that.

450
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:13,800
Also, ironically, the success rate for entrepreneurship,

451
00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:17,480
as far as I've seen in the data,

452
00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:19,400
I can manipulate the data to make this

453
00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:21,720
a much easier, friendlier path,

454
00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:23,280
if I wanted to convince more people

455
00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:24,840
to go into entrepreneurship.

456
00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:27,680
But the data shows 96% of business owners

457
00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:30,000
fail within 10 years.

458
00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:31,280
What often is looked at on that,

459
00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:35,880
if you're an optimist, is, oh man, it's 4% succeed.

460
00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:37,600
4% of people survive.

461
00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:41,160
And I see that over and over with the entrepreneurs

462
00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:44,360
I talk to, whether it's the amount of debt that they carry,

463
00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:48,120
and whether it's the unscalable nature of their business

464
00:18:48,120 --> 00:18:50,560
and the hustle and grind that they face.

465
00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:53,640
And Gary Vaynerchuk has an absolute place in this world.

466
00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:56,240
In fact, I love his content.

467
00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:59,400
However, his audience, his core audience,

468
00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:02,000
is hustling, grinding to get out of the ghetto.

469
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:04,120
His core audience is to get out of these circumstances

470
00:19:04,120 --> 00:19:07,400
where you don't have a circle of five or 10 around you

471
00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:08,960
to sustain you and support you.

472
00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:11,560
He's not talking to some rich kid

473
00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:14,120
who lives in the suburbs of San Antonio,

474
00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:16,960
and saying, grind, hustle,

475
00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:20,880
get out of your amazing, mediocre lifestyle.

476
00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:24,760
We love to polarize opportunities.

477
00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:28,000
And so there's a hustle and grind factor

478
00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:29,400
that can be helpful, but you're right.

479
00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:32,760
You don't have to throw everything in the kitchen sink

480
00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:33,840
at entrepreneurship.

481
00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:37,000
You can be more balanced about how you approach it,

482
00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,520
and you can maintain an open mind

483
00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:41,960
that even though you came from the suburbs,

484
00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:43,240
even though you came from an ICM,

485
00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:45,280
that still may be your call.

486
00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:46,880
What I've learned and what I appreciate,

487
00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:49,240
why I named this Vision Pros,

488
00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:50,480
is because I believe that everybody

489
00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:52,440
has a vision for themselves.

490
00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:54,920
And I believe that you are your visionary.

491
00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:58,000
And if there's people out there who can guide you, awesome.

492
00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:00,120
But if there's people who try to take the wheel from you

493
00:20:00,120 --> 00:20:01,760
and tell you, you should do this,

494
00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:03,480
you should be a dentist, Michael.

495
00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:05,120
I know you should be a dentist.

496
00:20:05,120 --> 00:20:08,760
I don't have the authority to give you that.

497
00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:13,040
What I do have though, so I'll make one plug before we move,

498
00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:16,160
is I've got an assessment that has helped people

499
00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:19,400
tremendously with reshaping the direction

500
00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:20,640
of where they wanna go in life.

501
00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:24,280
And usually the sooner they take this, the better.

502
00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:27,440
Most people haven't aligned their entrepreneurial pursuit

503
00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:29,440
with their absolute passions.

504
00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:32,000
And so I created this assessment years ago

505
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,360
for helping people discover the passion

506
00:20:34,360 --> 00:20:36,880
and live a life of purpose and fulfillment.

507
00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:40,760
And no, that is not the easy path, just to be clear.

508
00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:44,560
That is the path of what I would consider enjoyment.

509
00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:46,440
The journey will be difficult.

510
00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:50,480
But when I'm living for what it is I believe in most,

511
00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:54,920
I take that life over billions of success any day

512
00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:57,200
if I have to make a choice.

513
00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:00,160
I don't though, the law of abundance says I can pursue both.

514
00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:02,800
So thank you for letting me go off on that.

515
00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:05,640
Any other thoughts before we move on to your vision?

516
00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:07,800
Like for yourself.

517
00:21:10,120 --> 00:21:11,400
I would just generally say,

518
00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:14,760
I would definitely encourage people to think about

519
00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:17,400
just generally what they're naturally good at.

520
00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:20,120
Even if someone isn't even, is working somewhere

521
00:21:20,120 --> 00:21:21,360
and really deep in their career

522
00:21:21,360 --> 00:21:23,920
or really just confused a college student like myself,

523
00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:27,000
not really knowing what they wanna do.

524
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,040
Really hone in on what you're naturally good at.

525
00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:32,960
Like get away from the phone, get away from your friends,

526
00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:37,040
sit down in a room and just think really, really objectively,

527
00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:39,720
what am I really, really good at?

528
00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:42,560
What do I have an edge on somebody on?

529
00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:44,720
What am I really good at painting?

530
00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:46,200
Is that just a gift that I have?

531
00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:48,360
Am I really good at podcasting?

532
00:21:48,360 --> 00:21:52,280
Something like that, I think that that is one of the huge

533
00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:55,480
genesis of the website that I started.

534
00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:58,360
Like it's very, very important to really start

535
00:21:58,360 --> 00:22:01,800
with that first because it is super unsustainable

536
00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:04,560
if you are just focused on other things, maybe money,

537
00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:06,880
lifestyle, all that kind of stuff.

538
00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,200
That is very, very, very bad path to go down

539
00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:11,360
in any sort of venture.

540
00:22:11,360 --> 00:22:14,240
So definitely think about your core skills.

541
00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:17,440
I've seen it and I even, it's weird to see entrepreneurs

542
00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:19,240
who are ultra successful, but you consult with them

543
00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:22,360
on the back end and you see them break down and cry

544
00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:24,480
about the reality of what they're faced with

545
00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:26,440
or how stuck they feel in situations.

546
00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:28,480
$20 million in annual revenues

547
00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:31,560
and you get a million dollars in personal debt.

548
00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:34,360
There's realities that people can't see on the surface

549
00:22:34,360 --> 00:22:37,200
and I wouldn't expose about any specific person,

550
00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:38,920
but I see it time and time again.

551
00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:42,240
And it's usually those who have followed the pursuit

552
00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:45,240
of financial gain or an external metric

553
00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:47,160
rather than the internal focus.

554
00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:49,200
So Strengths Finder 2.0 by the way,

555
00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:51,360
one of the best books you could possibly read

556
00:22:51,360 --> 00:22:53,520
for those who are listening in and do the assessment.

557
00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:55,720
You have to buy it brand new to do the assessment.

558
00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:58,080
The assessment can teach you about your five strengths,

559
00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:01,760
what you are best at and my number one strength,

560
00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:04,440
I thought was one of my greatest weaknesses

561
00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:06,080
because I wasn't a good student

562
00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:07,880
and my number one strength is a learner,

563
00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:12,880
but I was a.33 GPA kid at Brigham Young University.

564
00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:17,240
And no, it was, I thought, man, I'm terrible

565
00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:19,800
at this student thing and learning.

566
00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:21,520
Just had a different style of learning.

567
00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:23,640
So Michael, what's your vision for you?

568
00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:25,440
What do you see for yourself over the next,

569
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:26,360
who knows how long?

570
00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:31,560
Definitely having my own business, maintaining that.

571
00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:35,600
We've been growing, acquiring new advertising partners,

572
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,880
tapping into new streams of revenue, things like that.

573
00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:40,840
So really, really growing in that respect

574
00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:44,480
and also just leveraging as many resources as I can.

575
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:47,000
At a school like UT, I will concede

576
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:49,080
that is a really big advantage.

577
00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:51,520
Having so many things, we have UT Launchpad,

578
00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:55,320
which is a partnership with Blackstone for Ventures

579
00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:57,120
and we have Venture Labs and all that kind of stuff.

580
00:23:57,120 --> 00:23:59,760
So it's really great to have those resources,

581
00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:02,960
but just making the most out of those resources

582
00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:05,440
is a really, really big priority.

583
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:08,160
And then outside of business, I will say,

584
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:11,280
just tap, I'd like to think of it

585
00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:13,840
as being a sculpture in a sense.

586
00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:17,760
You keep hewing down to how you can be the sharpest,

587
00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:19,400
the best that you can be.

588
00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:24,400
And I think a lot of what translates to business success

589
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:29,440
is really, really correlated to life success

590
00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:31,880
and that's super subjective, obviously.

591
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:34,240
But all that to say, it's really hard

592
00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:39,240
to have some sort of facade or something like that

593
00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:42,160
in the business world and then people see you one way

594
00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:43,840
in the business world and then they see you

595
00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:46,960
a completely different way or in a different light,

596
00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:48,760
outside of class or in class

597
00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:50,520
or something completely different.

598
00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:52,880
So I think maintaining good habits,

599
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:57,560
keeping that at the forefront of whatever I'm doing,

600
00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:00,840
business or school or being a tour guide at the university,

601
00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:02,520
one of my other little side hustles.

602
00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:06,320
So stuff like that, definitely just hewing down

603
00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:08,560
what I can add value to, how I can add value

604
00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:12,040
and then also just really sharpening skills.

605
00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:14,480
You remind me of one of the best leaders

606
00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:17,040
that I ever met at university

607
00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:19,240
and his name is Jordan Angelos.

608
00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:21,000
Anybody feel free, you might wanna look him up

609
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,800
if you're on the business path, but Jordan and I,

610
00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:26,040
we were dorm mates, not roommates,

611
00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:27,920
but dorm mates first year.

612
00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:32,000
And he was what we call Mr. DT.

613
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:35,200
He's the only one, the Mr. Good looking, et cetera,

614
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:37,200
talented of Deseret Towers,

615
00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:39,960
our buildings that we live near campus.

616
00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:43,640
And then he was fun, he was engaging,

617
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:45,680
everybody loved him, he led so many things,

618
00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:50,680
but I was so busy making the most of my social activities

619
00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:54,360
that I missed out on most of the important things

620
00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:55,600
I could have been doing.

621
00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:57,440
Fast forward several years, right?

622
00:25:57,440 --> 00:25:59,840
And I was three years after, we both got on missions,

623
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:01,640
he went to Finland, learned Finnish,

624
00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:03,840
I went to Europe, I learned Spanish.

625
00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:05,440
Fast forward another couple of years

626
00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:08,040
and I go back to see where are my dorm mates?

627
00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:09,120
Where is everybody at these days?

628
00:26:09,120 --> 00:26:13,120
And I see that Jordan, by the time we were 23 or 24,

629
00:26:13,120 --> 00:26:14,680
was a venture capitalist.

630
00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:19,320
And I was like, holy crap, what the heck?

631
00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:21,640
And I looked at his LinkedIn and I went through his profile

632
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,600
and I was assessing, oh, while we were there

633
00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:27,240
that freshman year, I believe he started an internship

634
00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:29,880
at Goldman Sachs, if I remember correctly.

635
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:31,240
And I'm like, how the heck did he have time to that

636
00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:32,800
and time to go to class?

637
00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,200
And then we go on our missions, he comes back

638
00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:37,400
and he gets involved in more and more.

639
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:39,240
In Goldman Sachs, I think Charles Schwab,

640
00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:41,520
I don't remember exactly, you can go look on LinkedIn

641
00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:42,360
and see this.

642
00:26:42,360 --> 00:26:45,880
And he did college right.

643
00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:47,840
He was involved in these activities.

644
00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:49,840
And I was looking at it going,

645
00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:52,240
I didn't know any of this stuff existed.

646
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,280
I was like, I didn't know how to do college right.

647
00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:57,120
I didn't pay attention enough in high school

648
00:26:57,120 --> 00:26:59,600
and in the college path to realize

649
00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:02,680
what I could have been using as opportunities.

650
00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:06,240
So again, anybody who's in that university,

651
00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:07,440
it doesn't matter, if you take my path,

652
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:09,720
you can still find success, you can still do great things.

653
00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:11,880
You can still have a great life.

654
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:14,320
However, if you have the opportunity to pay attention now,

655
00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:18,960
my invitation is use that network, use that opportunity

656
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:20,240
just like Michael talked about,

657
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:24,400
because you can't possibly see all the outcomes

658
00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:27,960
of the future, but if you follow that law of the harvest

659
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:31,120
of planting the right seeds, the fruits will come.

660
00:27:31,120 --> 00:27:33,040
The opportunities will arise.

661
00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:35,680
So I am curious for you though,

662
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,080
you had a lot of best leadership experiences.

663
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:40,480
What's been your worst leadership experience

664
00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:41,800
that you've ever had?

665
00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:47,880
Candidly, I would say that my worst has also been my best,

666
00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:50,360
especially in hindsight,

667
00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:52,160
maybe not in the moment when it was happening,

668
00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:53,600
but certainly in hindsight.

669
00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:57,760
We had actually an issue with the website

670
00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:01,880
and it was really overloaded, it was stressed.

671
00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:03,120
There were a lot of backend things

672
00:28:03,120 --> 00:28:04,760
that I was not really aware of

673
00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:08,720
and I had never encountered this issue before.

674
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:13,720
And this was the most stressful part of the business so far.

675
00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:18,560
And this was about maybe a year ago thereabouts.

676
00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:22,640
And the website was continuously crashing.

677
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:25,320
There were so many different issues with it

678
00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:26,160
and things like that.

679
00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:27,640
It was just really overloaded.

680
00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:32,640
So I guess the good about that is I had to adapt

681
00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:35,920
and I had to adapt quickly

682
00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:37,800
because I had no other choice.

683
00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:39,640
You had it, it goes back to necessity,

684
00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:42,800
which is a gift in more senses than none.

685
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:44,680
You definitely have to adapt.

686
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:45,520
And when you have to pivot,

687
00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:48,040
you have to pivot pretty hard usually.

688
00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:51,480
So talk about resources, I actually reached out,

689
00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:54,480
it's very strange, but one of my professors,

690
00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:56,960
former professors has a son-in-law

691
00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:59,080
who was a chief technology architect

692
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:01,880
at a major hedge fund out East.

693
00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:04,400
And then he actually gave me his email and told me,

694
00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:05,360
hey, just reach out to him,

695
00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:08,080
see if he can help you with the issue.

696
00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:10,720
And then I reached out to him and really, really grateful

697
00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:12,800
that he reached out to me expeditiously

698
00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:15,960
and helped me out and my team out.

699
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:18,720
And we fixed it almost expeditiously

700
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:19,760
following that as well.

701
00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:24,560
So that was very stressful, a lot going on

702
00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:27,760
outside of being a student and on top of being a student

703
00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:30,240
and on top of all these other obligations.

704
00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:35,120
But it was really, the good was definitely

705
00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:36,720
to see that I could adapt,

706
00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:38,400
that my team could adapt and pivot.

707
00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:41,480
And it's so much better now.

708
00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:44,680
We have fixed it 100% actually.

709
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,040
Of course, there's always gonna be little snafus

710
00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:49,680
and hiccups, but we're always ready to adapt now.

711
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:52,520
That's the blessing and all that.

712
00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:55,200
Absolutely, have you ever eaten at Uchi or Uchiko?

713
00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:57,480
I have not.

714
00:29:57,480 --> 00:29:59,760
It's time to go soon.

715
00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:03,800
It is a pretty penny, but they were rated in 2010,

716
00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:06,600
they were rated a top 10 restaurant in America

717
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:08,640
right down the road from the University of Texas.

718
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:13,600
And one of my startups, we do reservation software.

719
00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:15,240
So we're working with Uchi and Uchiko

720
00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:18,400
and it was Valentine's Day coming up.

721
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:22,440
And just like you, you not only had the stress of that,

722
00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:24,520
you had the stress of life, you had papers due,

723
00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:26,440
you had classes to attend,

724
00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:29,120
you had your student body to pay attention to,

725
00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:30,200
you got tours you wanna do,

726
00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:32,160
you got a personal life that you wanna live as well.

727
00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:33,720
All of these aspects.

728
00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:38,560
And so these moments of slowdown or screeching halts,

729
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:41,920
it derails everything in addition to the pain

730
00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:43,640
that it is in and of itself.

731
00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:46,160
So here we were coming into Valentine's Day

732
00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:48,200
and the founder of our company

733
00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:50,760
who was our main chief technology officer

734
00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:52,560
had accidentally made a mistake, not his fault.

735
00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:54,480
It just happens, life happens, right?

736
00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:56,560
But for Valentine's Day,

737
00:30:56,560 --> 00:30:58,800
one of the top restaurants in the entire world,

738
00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:03,040
we had accidentally doubled their reservation booking system.

739
00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:04,800
They had twice as many reservations

740
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:08,600
as they could handle on Valentine's Day itself.

741
00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:09,840
And when we figured this out,

742
00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:13,040
it was 48 hours before Valentine's Day.

743
00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:16,640
And we had, so we go in and they're so upset,

744
00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:17,880
but they handled it so well.

745
00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:19,360
And we said, you know what?

746
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:21,760
You know, we'll make all these calls for you

747
00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:24,080
and we'll tell them this was our fault, not yours.

748
00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:25,960
But I'm talking about calling people from Canada,

749
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:28,120
calling people from Israel, calling people from Brazil

750
00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:32,400
who are saying this is why we're coming to Austin, Texas

751
00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:36,400
for our, and we had to call them up and own this matter.

752
00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:39,040
And again, derail our own agendas.

753
00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:42,440
So these opportunities in life show up.

754
00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:45,160
And yes, I do call them opportunities.

755
00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:47,120
You know, do we rise to the occasion?

756
00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:49,920
Do we exercise the strength, you know,

757
00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:52,000
or do we, is it the time to quit and say,

758
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:54,480
you know what, you handle this, I'm just gonna leave.

759
00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:57,800
Right, we have choices in all these types of moments.

760
00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:00,560
Sounds like your team really rose to the occasion

761
00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:01,520
in relation to that.

762
00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:05,280
So what's another best leadership experience that you have?

763
00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,160
I think I'm still kind of living it.

764
00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:12,600
If that's, it sounds a little cheesy for sure, but-

765
00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:14,600
I love it, I like cheesy.

766
00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:18,400
Yeah, I mean, I think just translating something

767
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:20,600
that started out, I had no intention

768
00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:23,680
of turning the website into a business at all,

769
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:27,040
starting out, it was really just kind of a COVID

770
00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:29,600
passion project, like just, I had really,

771
00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:32,080
it was a weird time, I didn't, wasn't in school,

772
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:34,840
didn't have much to do, so I had this kind of window

773
00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:37,000
of opportunity and I thought, well,

774
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:39,920
my mom actually told me, like, you're gonna do this.

775
00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:42,240
Because I was watching way too much Friends,

776
00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:43,760
way too much The Office.

777
00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:45,640
I had to like do something productive.

778
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:48,080
So shout out to her, she really helped

779
00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:49,160
and continues to help.

780
00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:52,000
And then she, yeah, right?

781
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:57,000
And that was the main, like transitioning

782
00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:01,440
from just a blog to something that is scalable,

783
00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:06,000
proven already, and then also quite monetizable,

784
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:07,760
for lack of a better term.

785
00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:10,920
That has been like extremely rewarding.

786
00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:13,440
Really confidence building, really, really proud

787
00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:15,000
of what's happened so far.

788
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:18,200
And I think it's just, that's been,

789
00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:19,800
I don't think that experience is gonna end

790
00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:21,320
for a very, very long time.

791
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:23,160
It's been really happy.

792
00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:25,520
Yes, one of the best books I can ruin

793
00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:28,480
for people right now, telling you the end of the story.

794
00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:29,320
And this is a good one,

795
00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:30,640
because it's a self-development book.

796
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:32,480
And maybe someday it'll be important

797
00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:34,760
to all of you who don't have a business.

798
00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:37,440
It's called Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss.

799
00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:39,480
And it's all about the power of negotiation

800
00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:41,520
and the pinnacle of the story, the most important thing

801
00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:43,720
that he shares in it, and those are pretty much

802
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:47,680
his words about it, is in negotiations,

803
00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:50,840
the person who wins is a person who has nothing to lose.

804
00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:55,760
Who has really nothing to gain on either.

805
00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:58,800
And so if you want to be in a great position

806
00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:01,160
to negotiate on your business's behalf,

807
00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:04,400
then be in a position where you don't need the investors

808
00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:06,560
as one of the best positions you can be in,

809
00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:10,640
because now they have to give more to get involved.

810
00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:12,240
So you start in a business at this time,

811
00:34:12,240 --> 00:34:14,160
and we just want to give you that nugget

812
00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:15,760
in case you don't already have it.

813
00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:20,160
You stay in that position where you have control

814
00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:22,560
over what happens and what comes along.

815
00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:24,640
It puts the supply and demand in your favor

816
00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:27,080
as that business owner, and you'll be able

817
00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:29,120
to do what you want with your vision.

818
00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:30,760
Yeah, thank you for that.

819
00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:32,680
Absolutely, now it's your turn.

820
00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:34,840
So for those visionaries listening in,

821
00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:39,080
if this were the last lesson you could ever share in life

822
00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:40,280
to help people with their visions,

823
00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:42,280
what powerful lesson can other visionaries learn

824
00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:43,720
from your experience so far?

825
00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:50,880
I have plenty, but if I had to say one,

826
00:34:51,240 --> 00:34:55,520
I would think follow your,

827
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:57,080
and I actually heard this from,

828
00:34:57,080 --> 00:34:59,000
funny you mentioned Mark Cuban, I've heard this,

829
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:01,920
I think he said something like this way back,

830
00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:04,840
follow your efforts, not your passions,

831
00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:07,040
which sounds very strange,

832
00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:10,360
especially in the context of what I've talked about so far,

833
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:14,080
but just to add some clarity to that,

834
00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:17,000
I think following your efforts is very important

835
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:19,000
because it tends to actually reveal

836
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:20,560
what you're passionate about.

837
00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:23,560
So there's a really, really defined intersection of that,

838
00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:25,080
whether it's a restaurant business,

839
00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:27,240
whether it's painting, whether it's freelancing,

840
00:35:27,240 --> 00:35:29,800
whether it's running a finance blog,

841
00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:34,040
whether it's whatever, even if it's just working

842
00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:37,560
from a nine to five job somewhere in Silicon Valley,

843
00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:41,680
anywhere, if you can really focus on

844
00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:44,480
and track your effort historically,

845
00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:46,840
the consistency thereof in different areas

846
00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:48,160
where you've been really consistent

847
00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:50,200
and really enjoy doing certain things,

848
00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:53,480
then that kind of is your passion.

849
00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:56,880
You can meld that and marry those two into a job

850
00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:58,720
or kind of make a job for yourself

851
00:35:58,720 --> 00:36:02,960
and really go on the entrepreneurial path.

852
00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:04,560
I mean, that is excellence.

853
00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:08,200
I really, really think self-awareness critical.

854
00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:11,720
And then the last thing I'll say

855
00:36:11,720 --> 00:36:15,840
is always consider where you can add value.

856
00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:18,560
I think there's a lot of people that,

857
00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:21,960
especially I'll call out my generation a little bit,

858
00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:24,840
maybe some others, but a lot of people

859
00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:27,840
wanna be the biggest, the baddest, the best, right?

860
00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:30,480
And you should always wanna be the best, in my opinion.

861
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:32,160
You should always try to do your best,

862
00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:34,680
not anyone else's best, but do your best.

863
00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:38,280
And I say that because one of the things

864
00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:41,080
that I really enjoy outside of business and school

865
00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:43,280
is basketball, really into basketball.

866
00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:46,400
And every so often, I'll go watch basketball games.

867
00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:48,720
And it's actually minor league basketball games.

868
00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:52,680
So you can actually afford to see the San Antonio Spurs

869
00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:55,200
because of their draft pick they got recently.

870
00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:57,040
So it's really, really hard, as you know,

871
00:36:57,040 --> 00:36:58,200
to get tickets for that.

872
00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:03,200
So what I'll do is go watch, yeah, oh, his last, yeah.

873
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:06,360
He broke the scoring record, it's amazing, yeah.

874
00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:09,280
Go ahead, I'm on the same page.

875
00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:12,000
Yeah, so I can't afford to go to Spurs games.

876
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:16,000
So I'll go to minor league games in Austin.

877
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:18,640
So their minor league team versus their NBA team

878
00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:20,160
or their major league team.

879
00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:21,920
And then I actually had the opportunity

880
00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:26,680
to just kind of be in the same room as one of their coaches,

881
00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:27,920
one of their assistant coaches.

882
00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:29,760
And he was just kind of giving a talk to the fans,

883
00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:32,880
just getting everyone excited and stuff like that.

884
00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:35,200
And he said something to the extent of like,

885
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:38,560
it doesn't really matter.

886
00:37:38,560 --> 00:37:40,300
Like someone was like, how did these players

887
00:37:40,300 --> 00:37:42,720
from the minor league get to the major league?

888
00:37:42,720 --> 00:37:45,560
How do they make that huge step?

889
00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:47,560
And I was like, that's a great question.

890
00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:49,720
He said something to the extent of,

891
00:37:49,720 --> 00:37:52,960
it's not really important if they can drop

892
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:56,000
40 points a game, 20 rebounds, 30 blocks,

893
00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:58,640
like these crazy superstar statistics.

894
00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:01,960
It's really, because you already have people who can do that.

895
00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:03,240
Always try to be your best.

896
00:38:03,240 --> 00:38:05,520
And some people are anomalies that are just really,

897
00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:07,240
really good at what they do.

898
00:38:07,240 --> 00:38:10,680
But like the LeBron James, obviously the greatest

899
00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:13,220
basketball player probably right now.

900
00:38:13,220 --> 00:38:15,560
But those are very one-off scenarios.

901
00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:17,720
So you're better off focusing and concentrating

902
00:38:17,720 --> 00:38:20,320
your time and effort on where you can add value.

903
00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:21,640
And he really alluded to that.

904
00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:23,320
It's not about being the best player on the team.

905
00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:25,120
It's about, because they already have that.

906
00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:28,160
It's really, really important to focus on

907
00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:30,080
what can you bring to the table?

908
00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:33,880
What can you bring to a team that doesn't have it already?

909
00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:35,400
Are you really good at communicating?

910
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:36,600
Are you really good at writing?

911
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:38,180
Are you really good at marketing?

912
00:38:38,180 --> 00:38:40,720
Like find your niche and crush that niche.

913
00:38:40,720 --> 00:38:42,480
Like those are, I know that's not necessarily

914
00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:46,320
one piece of advice, but I think those are very important

915
00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:49,440
and something that I have been reinforced in my head

916
00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:51,120
time and time again.

917
00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:55,200
So well said, and I want to honor LeBron James

918
00:38:55,200 --> 00:38:57,120
on this reality is those who are listening

919
00:38:57,120 --> 00:39:01,680
and are not watching, in that I would say

920
00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:05,080
that combining it with honoring Mark Cuban,

921
00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:08,540
following your efforts, LeBron James is a champion

922
00:39:08,540 --> 00:39:12,840
that he is because he is also the champion of efforts

923
00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:14,960
and all that I've ever seen him do.

924
00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:17,400
And I studied that man's life far more

925
00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:18,720
than I should ever admit.

926
00:39:18,720 --> 00:39:23,000
He is just a champion in so many causes.

927
00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:26,360
And so then there's this, the idea,

928
00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:28,960
and then I think of Brock Purdy, that's his name, right?

929
00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:31,440
The, I'm like, they get the right name,

930
00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:33,560
the quarterback for the 49ers right now.

931
00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:38,840
I mean, he was a D-League style individual coming in.

932
00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:42,040
And again, it's those efforts that play a lot into it.

933
00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:43,680
Don't get me wrong, there's talents and gifts

934
00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:47,520
and variables that go beyond what it is we're doing.

935
00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:50,480
But I was that young kid, Michael,

936
00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:53,920
that I knew I needed to be the best.

937
00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:55,780
That's what I knew I needed to be.

938
00:39:55,780 --> 00:39:59,400
And I ended up in seventh grade, second chair trumpet

939
00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:01,160
in the state of Texas.

940
00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:03,860
And mentally, emotionally, I quit.

941
00:40:04,960 --> 00:40:08,500
I quit because I wasn't the best at my level.

942
00:40:08,500 --> 00:40:10,000
And that meant there was eighth graders

943
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:10,840
who were better than me.

944
00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:11,800
There was ninth graders.

945
00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:15,200
I mean, I did not feel like I had a place in this world

946
00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:16,760
because I wasn't the best.

947
00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:20,200
I had this horribly extreme attitude about growth

948
00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:21,560
and what growth looks like.

949
00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:23,960
It wasn't until I was about 30 years old

950
00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:26,420
with a back surgery already.

951
00:40:26,420 --> 00:40:30,320
I was also a super athlete, again, second in my school.

952
00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:32,840
According to, I felt I was first, but didn't matter.

953
00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:35,420
Like the mental block was already crushing me.

954
00:40:35,420 --> 00:40:38,440
And so it was 30 running around a track last lap.

955
00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:41,040
And I thought, you know, I could slow down now.

956
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:43,600
And I had to stop, what would LeBron James do?

957
00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:48,600
You know, WWLJD. And anyway, I booked it.

958
00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:52,640
I booked it and I went 20 yards extra.

959
00:40:52,640 --> 00:40:55,620
And I was like, hmm, this moment,

960
00:40:55,620 --> 00:40:57,960
this is a moment that what it feels like

961
00:40:57,960 --> 00:40:59,640
to have that type of dedication and commitment

962
00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:01,280
like LeBron James.

963
00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:03,840
And he has built a life around being willing

964
00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:05,840
to have those moments over and over and over

965
00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:08,360
and over and over as consistently as possible.

966
00:41:08,360 --> 00:41:10,200
And if I start doing that,

967
00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:12,640
then I can start to have the same types of results

968
00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:14,760
in my life in the sphere of what I build.

969
00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:18,160
So just to, again, honor the fact that I do believe

970
00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:20,760
full heartedly and what it is that you're talking about.

971
00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:22,520
I hope more people understand the value,

972
00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:25,160
but I love that you shifted to realizing too.

973
00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:27,720
And you realize that it's so much younger than I did

974
00:41:27,720 --> 00:41:30,240
and many others still don't know it.

975
00:41:30,240 --> 00:41:32,800
If we be our best self, like that's it.

976
00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:33,640
Like that's it.

977
00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:36,680
Just go to bed at night knowing I did my best.

978
00:41:36,680 --> 00:41:40,580
That also includes forgiving myself as best I can, right?

979
00:41:40,580 --> 00:41:42,920
Being the best at forgiveness so that tomorrow

980
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:46,240
I'm not bogged down by guilt and shame for any shortcomings

981
00:41:46,240 --> 00:41:49,280
that I can move forward being my best again.

982
00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:52,160
So we've got a few extra minutes.

983
00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:54,440
I'd love to know a little bit more

984
00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:56,760
about any one of your activities.

985
00:41:56,760 --> 00:41:59,840
What's MacroHint, Texas Student Media,

986
00:41:59,840 --> 00:42:02,960
or the Student Foundation.

987
00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:05,920
Are there any aspects of that that you'd like to share

988
00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:08,860
in relation to the podcast and your vision?

989
00:42:08,860 --> 00:42:10,920
Well, I'll actually plug one

990
00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:14,840
that I didn't previously mention to you.

991
00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:17,760
It's kind of a shout out to some of my friends

992
00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:19,960
who I believe are actually watching right now.

993
00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:23,480
It's the tour guide group, the Macartos.

994
00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:25,440
So it's just a job at the university

995
00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:28,600
where you just offer tours to prospective students

996
00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:31,580
and their families and their friends and things like that.

997
00:42:31,580 --> 00:42:33,760
It seems kind of random to bring that up,

998
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:37,000
but I think it is a really, really good idea.

999
00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:40,240
And it's one of the main reasons I took such a job

1000
00:42:40,240 --> 00:42:43,200
is because you wanna,

1001
00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:46,560
there's all this talk about artificial intelligence,

1002
00:42:46,560 --> 00:42:51,440
a lot of maybe dehumanizing in that context,

1003
00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:53,180
things happening in the world,

1004
00:42:54,540 --> 00:42:56,560
a lot of separation in that respect.

1005
00:42:56,560 --> 00:43:00,240
But I still think that it is really, really critical.

1006
00:43:00,240 --> 00:43:03,000
And because of all the artificial intelligence

1007
00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:05,800
things out there, that it's even more important

1008
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:09,280
to really, really sharpen hone in on your personal skills,

1009
00:43:09,280 --> 00:43:11,200
your people skills, getting up

1010
00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:12,840
and presenting in front of people.

1011
00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:16,360
That's been one of the biggest things

1012
00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:18,320
that I've really enjoyed about my job.

1013
00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:21,040
And I think that whether it's in the context of a job

1014
00:43:21,040 --> 00:43:25,200
or a volunteer organization or whatever it may be

1015
00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:27,720
at a dinner party, whatever that may look like,

1016
00:43:27,720 --> 00:43:31,160
I think finding ways that you can make yourself

1017
00:43:31,160 --> 00:43:36,160
slightly uncomfortable towards becoming more confident

1018
00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:40,600
in being a little, not to the extreme, obviously,

1019
00:43:40,600 --> 00:43:42,720
or to any extreme, but to be a lot more,

1020
00:43:42,720 --> 00:43:44,600
just get out of your comfort zone a little bit.

1021
00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:46,360
You never know what you're gonna figure out.

1022
00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:49,480
And I think it has served me really, really well.

1023
00:43:49,480 --> 00:43:52,260
So I have all these kind of prestigious organizations

1024
00:43:52,260 --> 00:43:54,640
at the university and then my business, which is amazing.

1025
00:43:54,640 --> 00:43:56,600
I'm really, really grateful for that.

1026
00:43:56,600 --> 00:44:00,140
But I also think you will find a lot of opportunities

1027
00:44:00,140 --> 00:44:02,520
in maybe not so common places.

1028
00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:04,480
So I would really urge people,

1029
00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:06,480
whether they're like entrepreneurship,

1030
00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:09,120
that is not for me, or people are like,

1031
00:44:09,120 --> 00:44:11,400
I wanna be an entrepreneur, that's all I wanna be.

1032
00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:14,360
Like finding ways that you can sharpen those,

1033
00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:15,880
I guess they call it soft skills.

1034
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:18,000
I don't see it as that way at all.

1035
00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:20,280
I think they're critical skills.

1036
00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:22,200
Sharpen those skills, hone in on those skills

1037
00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:24,000
and get out of your comfort zone a little bit.

1038
00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:29,000
I urge anyone on that spectrum to do that,

1039
00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:30,720
whatever that may look like for them.

1040
00:44:30,720 --> 00:44:33,080
And I'm sure you could attest to that too.

1041
00:44:33,080 --> 00:44:34,880
I will, I appreciate it.

1042
00:44:34,880 --> 00:44:37,560
It's, we'll wait on your friends on this too,

1043
00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:39,840
but the tour aspect is huge.

1044
00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:43,160
And again, the EQ, emotional intelligence

1045
00:44:43,160 --> 00:44:46,400
of knowing how to collaborate with people,

1046
00:44:46,400 --> 00:44:48,880
how to talk to people, how to lead this future generation

1047
00:44:48,880 --> 00:44:53,880
that's going to be, that's using automatic weapons of word,

1048
00:44:54,240 --> 00:44:57,120
for establishing their powers.

1049
00:44:57,120 --> 00:44:58,800
You got me looking up like, man,

1050
00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:01,640
I know that quote, the pen is mightier than the sword.

1051
00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:03,420
I'm a big believer in it.

1052
00:45:03,420 --> 00:45:05,280
I couldn't find who the origin comes from,

1053
00:45:05,280 --> 00:45:08,380
but I did find a couple of interesting twists, right?

1054
00:45:08,380 --> 00:45:10,280
So, and this is what it does say.

1055
00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:13,320
One source says this Edward guy,

1056
00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:17,380
Edward Bulwer Lytton said the pen is mightier than the sword.

1057
00:45:18,760 --> 00:45:21,000
Thought it was interesting what Douglas MacArthur said.

1058
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:23,360
I went to MacArthur High School actually.

1059
00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:25,760
He said, whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword,

1060
00:45:25,760 --> 00:45:28,000
obviously never encountered weapons before,

1061
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:30,040
or automatic weapons.

1062
00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:32,760
But again, while that's scary and makes sense

1063
00:45:32,760 --> 00:45:36,120
in the time from which it was, which he was talking,

1064
00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:39,120
we now have automatic weapons of words.

1065
00:45:39,120 --> 00:45:41,560
And I also like what this guy said here,

1066
00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:42,760
the pen is mightier than the sword,

1067
00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:46,080
but the tongue is mightier than both put together,

1068
00:45:46,080 --> 00:45:47,040
Marcus Garvey.

1069
00:45:48,120 --> 00:45:50,000
And at the end of the day,

1070
00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:51,880
what's really being talked about,

1071
00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:54,480
and what I think our generation has the opportunity

1072
00:45:54,480 --> 00:45:56,680
to be aware of and lead from is realizing

1073
00:45:56,680 --> 00:46:00,720
that automation, if with the wrong wording,

1074
00:46:00,720 --> 00:46:03,520
can destroy your reputation and others faster

1075
00:46:03,520 --> 00:46:05,480
than almost anything.

1076
00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:07,440
And so I was looking up yesterday,

1077
00:46:07,440 --> 00:46:10,240
I've got a new executive assistant, she's phenomenal,

1078
00:46:10,240 --> 00:46:12,680
amazing, she's gonna be helping me on my emails,

1079
00:46:12,680 --> 00:46:16,240
transparently writing occasionally with her name on there.

1080
00:46:16,240 --> 00:46:19,000
And sometimes as she gets to know me really well,

1081
00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:21,000
she'll write my responses,

1082
00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:23,760
just like the president has somebody write for him,

1083
00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:26,560
or LeBron James has somebody write from him and beyond.

1084
00:46:26,560 --> 00:46:29,960
Oh, this is not something that we,

1085
00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:32,400
as little people in the world can't do.

1086
00:46:32,400 --> 00:46:33,400
In addition to that though,

1087
00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:36,840
I was looking for an AI that not only could draft the emails,

1088
00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:40,440
but an AI that automatically drafts a response

1089
00:46:40,440 --> 00:46:42,760
to every single email that I receive.

1090
00:46:42,760 --> 00:46:45,440
And I haven't found that yet, I'm looking for that one.

1091
00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:48,680
I don't want it to automatically reply to everybody,

1092
00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:50,200
it will lose the nuance.

1093
00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:53,360
Maybe over time I can train it to understand my principles

1094
00:46:53,360 --> 00:46:57,960
and my identity enough to where I can let it bridge the gap

1095
00:46:57,960 --> 00:47:00,800
and foster and cultivate great relationships

1096
00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:03,000
with the people whom I want to meet.

1097
00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:05,560
But what I see happening all over the market

1098
00:47:05,560 --> 00:47:07,240
is marketers are leveraging this

1099
00:47:07,240 --> 00:47:09,600
to shove offers down people's throats

1100
00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:12,120
and to unnaturally try to progress a relationship

1101
00:47:12,120 --> 00:47:15,680
to a point where two people toxically come together

1102
00:47:15,680 --> 00:47:20,160
based on statistics or based on some fallacy of results

1103
00:47:20,160 --> 00:47:22,120
that they think is guaranteed,

1104
00:47:22,120 --> 00:47:25,360
when in reality I don't think we usually get

1105
00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:30,160
very good results without the nuanced of our humanity

1106
00:47:30,160 --> 00:47:32,920
and our relationships involved in that.

1107
00:47:32,920 --> 00:47:35,200
So take that for what it is, we would love your comments.

1108
00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:37,000
If you have different ideas on AI,

1109
00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:38,760
you have a different perspective, feel free to share it.

1110
00:47:38,760 --> 00:47:42,800
This is the idea of negotiations

1111
00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:45,080
and the idea of debate and dialogue.

1112
00:47:45,080 --> 00:47:48,280
It doesn't have to be as unhealthy as the political debates

1113
00:47:48,280 --> 00:47:52,000
that we see as our modern examples.

1114
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:53,480
We don't have to be toxic,

1115
00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:54,640
but we can learn from each other.

1116
00:47:54,640 --> 00:47:55,920
I mean, you can come in and learn

1117
00:47:55,920 --> 00:47:57,560
from somebody else's alternative paradigm

1118
00:47:57,560 --> 00:47:59,480
that's the opposite of yours.

1119
00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:01,000
That's one of the greatest strengths of leadership

1120
00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:02,960
that I'm still working on developing.

1121
00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:04,880
Just so happens that Michael and I

1122
00:48:04,880 --> 00:48:06,720
happen to be on the same point

1123
00:48:06,720 --> 00:48:09,080
on almost everything we discussed today.

1124
00:48:09,080 --> 00:48:12,680
So Michael, it was an absolute honor to have you on the show.

1125
00:48:12,680 --> 00:48:13,960
If people want to get in touch with you,

1126
00:48:13,960 --> 00:48:17,200
I got in touch with you through LinkedIn, my automation did,

1127
00:48:17,200 --> 00:48:20,680
and I took over from there and we caught up.

1128
00:48:20,680 --> 00:48:23,520
But where do you want people to reach out to you?

1129
00:48:24,440 --> 00:48:27,440
Yeah, so people can absolutely reach out to me on LinkedIn

1130
00:48:27,440 --> 00:48:28,560
if they want.

1131
00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:31,920
They can also reach out to me at our company webs

1132
00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:36,000
or a company email, macrohead at protonmail.com.

1133
00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:38,760
And then we also have a Twitter account,

1134
00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:42,640
macrohead, M-A-C-R-O-H-I-N-T.

1135
00:48:42,640 --> 00:48:44,320
And yeah, those are the main ways

1136
00:48:44,320 --> 00:48:47,680
you can reach out to me pretty directly.

1137
00:48:47,680 --> 00:48:48,500
Awesome.

1138
00:48:48,500 --> 00:48:51,000
So we have this information on the show notes

1139
00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:52,160
in the landing page.

1140
00:48:52,160 --> 00:48:53,400
For those of you who are listening later,

1141
00:48:53,400 --> 00:48:55,120
you can go and check that out too.

1142
00:48:55,120 --> 00:48:56,680
Get in contact with Michael.

1143
00:48:56,680 --> 00:48:57,960
And if you have a vision to share,

1144
00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:00,480
then absolutely consider applying,

1145
00:49:00,480 --> 00:49:02,640
coming to guest on Vision Pros Live

1146
00:49:02,640 --> 00:49:04,520
and let's get your vision out to the world.

1147
00:49:04,520 --> 00:49:05,960
Everybody have a fantastic weekend

1148
00:49:05,960 --> 00:49:07,600
and we'll see you on the next show.

1149
00:49:07,600 --> 00:49:08,420
Bye.

1150
00:49:08,420 --> 00:49:09,400
Thank you for being here today.

1151
00:49:09,400 --> 00:49:11,880
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.

1152
00:49:11,880 --> 00:49:14,520
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions

1153
00:49:14,520 --> 00:49:16,800
as these episodes continue to move forward.

1154
00:49:16,800 --> 00:49:18,520
This is gonna get more and more fun.

1155
00:49:18,520 --> 00:49:20,320
We'll have more and more engagement as well.

1156
00:49:20,320 --> 00:49:22,440
We'll invite people to participate in the show.

1157
00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:24,800
And thank you for giving us your time and attention.

1158
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:47,640
Have an excellent.