I'm not a singer originally.
Okay, nice. That is uh that's
good to know. Well, I gotta get
him on the show. I gotta get
Chris. I gotta get Phil on. It'll
be fun. Uh Cynthia. Oh wait.
We're good. Um so Cynthia hit
it. She got us live. Sweet. Uh
I wanna make sure our producer
know we're ready to go but
she's ahead of the curve as
always. So uh SA Grant, let's
dive in real quick. We're gonna
dive right into the books, the
book that you're looking at.
What would you recommend for
entrepreneurs? If you could
recommend to other people
because you wanna leave for
visionaries or entrepreneurs,
what would they be? I think
first and foremost would be um
Sun Seals, the Art of War. I
mean, that that book is is so
timeless and there's so many
different variations to look at
that book. You can look at that
book from a war like aspect but
you could also look at it from
a business aspect, a life
aspect. I mean, you could take
anything and ad lib and change
out the verbiage for whatever
topic matter you're trying to
do and it just fits into those
two. I think that's a good
point. One and done, one and
done or no, I agree. Second,
second to that one, I would say
it would be a movie and it's
been a movie that's always been
timeless for me to kind of make
me to where I'm a futurist at
heart and I've always been but
until that movie came out, I
didn't know what that really
was and that movie was Matrix,
the first one. So, 1998, that
movie came out and I think I
seen that movie at least
probably. I was in high school
at this time and I've seen it
at least probably like 20 times
in the first couple of weeks it
was like a movie theater. You
went to drive ins, movie
theaters and just seen the
movie over and over again
because if you think about that
time frame where technology was
considering where it is today,
you can kind of see the
foreshadowing. So, like being
infused in that world and being
infused into that system, you
can kind of see where we were
going. Yeah, absolutely. And
then last but not least, I
would say Napoleon's Hills
Outwitting the Devil which is
not one that most people talk
about but Outwitting the Devil
is kind of very comparable to
the book of War in the sense
that you know everyone has that
internal voice that's telling
them something negative or
something positive and it's
like a banter between both of
them. You're always arguing
going back and forth and that
book personifies that. It's
like literally a conversation
with an individual with the
devil and the devil is trying
to trick him and he's trying to
outwit the devil at the same
time and that's life. Absolutely.
Well, dude, way to way to pull
out the Napoleon Hill book that
we've all often talked about,
right? It helps everybody else
who's like, oh, I thought I was
gonna say thank you for rich.
Like now we get to double down
and in addition to that so funny
yesterday, my guest
recommended The War of Art and
I hadn't heard of that. I was
like, man, am I having like
dyslexic issues in my brain
because I hadn't heard of that
one but and he really threw
down like this is a phenomenal
book and so we got some great
resources today to talk about.
I'll also say that those of you
who are watching this right now
are gonna be able to get a
look at the resources that I'm
gonna recommend is essay grant
of Boss Uncaged. He is truly
throwing down. If you don't know
who he is, start looking him up,
start going and seeing his
podcasts or everything you can
about Boss Uncaged because he's
leading by example and I really
appreciate what you're putting
out into the world, my friend.
So we'll come right back. We'll
bring you on stage. We'll talk
about your vision at large and
yeah, we'll we'll dive in
visionaries. If you have any
questions you want us to ask,
don't hesitate to put those in
the chat box. Um you know, or if
you have a testimonial for essay
grant as well, feel free to
drop that in there as well so
other people have context and
what he's doing for others.
Alright, welcome in to Vision
Pros Live with Jackson Calame.
I'm your show host. We'll be
doing interviews for visionary
entrepreneurs and guest leaders
who are building fantastic
visions out there.
What's up everybody? Welcome
to another episode of Vision
Pros Live. I'm your show host,
Jackson Calame, founder and CEO
of First Class Business. I am
probably too excited to bring on
essay grant. I'm a bit nervous
because of it. Um he is a legend
in the space of podcasting in my
opinion. Um and in terms of
growing the podcast industry and
where we're going, he is leading
by example in so many ways. Um
he lives here in the states
right now. He's moving over to
the Netherlands. It's gonna be
interesting to see like, you
know, how that changes the
dynamics of his perspective on
growth worldwide and and what's
there and he's also involved in
PodFest Global and much more.
We're gonna talk more about that
in a minute but the best thing
that you can do, um if you if
he's a new resource to you is
go and subscribe. Go see what's
going on. Go see why I'm so
excited about this out of the
hundred and ninety guests that
we've had on this show. Um again,
why I think it's so important
and so valuable to follow what
he's putting down and paving the
path forward for those of us who
are also on the podcast path and
the business growth entrepreneur
or motivation space. Why? Well,
for me to drive purpose, um to
make sure that I'm serving the
eight billion people who need
help on this planet. If that's
you, then of course, feel free
to subscribe to this channel
too. With the sponsors that we
have here, a quick shout out to
Melissa Gray of The Law Spot.
Um she was on the show as well.
You can catch her episode. Uh I
was very nervous to bring
somebody who is a lawyer, an
attorney on my show. I was like
man, that's not too inspiring
for me. Most of them are very
contentious people. Uh they
tend to condescend the exact
opposite is true of Melissa. She
is a lioness. She has strength.
She does not need to force it.
Um she's so great at helping
people realize that the law does
not have to be complicated and
she breaks it down in simple
fashion and I see too many
entrepreneurs out there who do
not have their legal protection
in place. They don't know who
they would turn to and that
means you're missing out on a
portion of opportunity to be a
wise steward of your venture and
that's really what it's all
about. So if you get the chance
to interview her, you'll find
her to be a light. You'll also
find that she really does
understand what areas your
brand might be protection,
protection from and maybe you
won't go through the twenty
thousand dollar trademark
lawsuit that I went to when I
was co-founder of Restaurant
Connect. In addition to that,
you got directional advisors
with Franklin Parker. Uh I'm
gonna pick on financial
advisors right now. Um it is so
annoying to me to meet
financial advisors that are
dead broke. I'm sorry. I'm just
gonna say it like why in the
world would I have somebody
who can manage my money who
isn't managing their own money
and their own life properly?
Um then I met Franklin who I
brought on the show and he's
got some extremely bright ideas
for innovations and in addition
to that, he's a great leader.
He's uh been selected as one of
the last potential candidates
and there's two left to be the
voice of the CFA Institute.
There's six hundred and eighty
five thousand followers for
their financial program. It's
kinda like the hall of fame of
financial advisors. He's an
awesome author as well. Um he
has been and we just met up the
other day and give me a big
ol' hug and and we went to we
went to lunch together um just
yesterday and it was so awesome
just to get to see that in
person. He's just as awesome
and kind and caring as as he is
uh online but and and he's so
good to our team but in addition
to that, he really understands
finance at a different level
because he ran a family home
office for a billionaire. He
knows how financial moves are
made at the highest of levels.
So, I do highly recommend
checking his episode as well
and uh maybe getting him to
sing and play the guitar
because he's also a former
musician. So, uh fun person to
know and have in your circle.
Then, there's the water
project. Right now, my glass is
literally empty um but I am so
blessed to be able to get water.
You probably are too within ten
yards, I bet of where you're
sitting. You can go get water.
There's millions of people in
this world who do not have
access to that. I love what the
water project is doing. I will
never allow myself to rock this
microphone without pointing out
some cause that we can get back
to in the world. There's 8
billion people to help my
friends. What I love about the
water project is they show you
the exact projects you're able
to contribute to. They show you
whether they're building a sand
dam or a borehole well and you
get to see the outcome of
wherever your dollar went. Now,
if COVID economics has hit you
hard and you're not in a
position to give back, maybe
just tag somebody on this. You
never know. Maybe they are in a
position to give $10,000 and
save uh you know really not
safe. Give the opportunity for
three or four of these
communities to get the
resources that they need. These
kids that you see on the screen
right now, they're celebrating
water like it's Christmas Day
and it breaks my heart but
simultaneously reminds me of how
much responsibility we have to
give to those who have don't
have the needs that we have
access to on a daily basis. So,
if you can join me in that,
awesome. If you have a cause
that's like burning in your
heart, you're like, man, I want
to share this. Comment it. Give
us a chance to explore it too.
Let us have the opportunity to
maybe even promote that as well
and give to it ourselves and
uh and let's let's just
continue to bless this world and
shine a light. Without further
ado, Essay Grant, welcome to
Vision Pros. Thank you for being
here today. I'm really happy
that you let me click the right
button. Alright, here we go.
Man, you got me all nervous.
I definitely appreciate you
having me on the show today,
man. I was looking forward to
this this show for like the
past couple of weeks and I know
we've talked before but I think
today we're gonna definitely
leave behind something positive
and motivational and inspiring
for your listeners. Dude, 100%,
absolutely. Diving right in on
that thought. What is your
vision for those that you serve?
It's kind of, it's a difficult
question but it's an easy
question in the same sense. I
mean, originally, my my first
business was just kind of more
so in design and trying to
figure out how do I do more
branding and and and more web
design and more web development
and then as I progressed and as
life happened and things have
happened in my life, then I
realized that I was not leaving
behind the essential breadcrumbs
for my family or someone else's
family and that was the dawn of
Boston Cage but then if you take
that, I was like, okay, Boston
Cage is growing and we have, you
know, thousands and thousands of
downloads. We have multiple
different avenues as far as our
overlapping corporate structure
but I was like, how do we think
bigger than that? So, I was
like, okay, well, there is
Udemy which is a course
platform, right? Then there is
lynda.com which got bought by
LinkedIn. There is also
right. If you're talking. Two
billion dollars. Just saying.
Yeah. Yeah. And you think about
books. There's Kindle. There's
audiobooks. There's audio.
There's all these different
facets of this different content
on multiple different platforms
and I always say that there's
eight eight billion people in the
world and as far as Boston Cage
go, I know we're not gonna be
able to talk and communicate
with all eight billion at the
level that we want to but if we
wanna get a fraction of that
percent, that's the goal we're
going for on an international
scale is creating a platform
that's both half education and
half entertainment and merging
both those worlds together and
to your point, like I said
earlier, it's gonna be books.
It's gonna be audiobooks. It's
gonna be courses and again, it's
all gonna be driven by the
Boston Cage brand and what
we're doing every single day
behind the scenes. I love that.
That, I mean, we got so much
synergy with that with the
Academy of First Class
Businesses as well. I write up
on the future of education, you
know, Facebook has built their
change, their platform from a
personal driven platform back in
2017 to a community focused
platform and focusing on groups
and then they, you know,
launched Met as Meta and they
bought big stakes in Coursera
and I don't remember the other
name but there's two course
platforms and they've invested
who knows how many hundreds of
millions of dollars in Oculus
as well all with that same
intentionality. It's creating
amazing realities, visionaries.
You're not being outpaced by
Facebook, you're not being
outpaced by SA Grant. Your
contribution matters. Eight
billion is not a number that's
even quantifiable to understand.
So if you feel like you're like,
oh man, there's too many coaches
out there. I can't be, no. How
many more math teachers do we
need? You know, we need you on
this. So thank you again for
paving the path on this. What's
your vision for you?
On my end, it kind of goes back
to partial vision of what I
have for Boston Cage. It's
making sure I leave a legacy of
breadcrumbs not only for my
family but for the family of the
people that I'm interviewing
and the people that I'm helping
and that's why our content is
always evergreen content. I want
people to look at our content
20 years down the road and be
able to get value and take action
from it. That was the big thing
for me and then I was like, okay,
well, I could do that locally, I
could do that nationally. What
is that looking like on an
international platform? What is
that looking at international
scale? So, you know, like being
more of a futurist, I started
collecting software like
baseball cards and collecting
lifetime deals like baseball
cards as well and some of those
lifetime deals are like
translation software that will
allow me to translate videos
into multiple languages,
translate copy into multiple
languages. So, we're not just
limited to, I would say if you
look at English in the scheme of
8 billion people, English is the
minority. It is not the
majority. So, I want people to
understand that. Like, I mean,
if you were just to go to Asia
by itself, the languages that
are spoken there outweigh
America or outweigh English, you
know, essentially 10 to 1. So,
just understanding those
principles and then diving into
those markets on a global scale,
hence what you said earlier,
with me traveling overseas and
being more established in an
international format in the
middle ground between multiple
different lands is the direction
that I'm going in. I'm living my
vision as we speak.
That's phenomenal. Now, have you
lived abroad before?
I wasn't born in the US. So, I
was born in Trinidad and Tobago.
I grew up in New York, way of
Atlanta right now. I've done a
lot of traveling. So, to answer
your question, you could say,
yeah, I wasn't born here, but
you know, I was a kid. So, I
don't really look at it as in
today's memory. It's not
something that I can articulate
without going back there to
kind of show someone around.
100%. I get that. I lived in
Uruguay for two years when I
was 19. And I got to see, you
know, the world from a
completely different
perspective, right? You guys
heard when we started this
podcast, I was talking to
Cynthia in Spanish. And I was
like, oh boy, we're live
already. You know, and so we
jumped in. But my vision is to
bridge the economic gap between
South America and North
America. That's what I work for
every single day on what I do.
And you know, you can only do
so much, right? You got to, you
can be your best self and show
up and do everything that you
can and go to bed happy knowing
that you gave your all. And
that's kind of how I look at
things and how I go about that.
For the visionaries out there,
you know, if it's, I also want
to say it doesn't matter. Like
if your vision is to be the
best stay-at-home mom on the
earth, you rock that. Right?
That's your, that's your
calling. It's your heart and
mind that tells you that. What
would you say to the
visionaries who are out there?
Like, is there any vision that's
too big or too small? And how,
how do you figure out vision?
I mean, it's funny thing that
you asked that question. Like
people look at Elon Musk and
they probably say he's crazy.
But in reality, Elon knows
whatever he's building and
developing is not for this
generation. It's for future
generations, right? So I mean,
if we get to Mars, it's probably
not going to be in his
lifetime, but he's planting
those seeds to get to Mars, much
like if you go back in time with
the Wright brothers, if they
didn't tend to try to make a
plane fly or Ford didn't, you
know, make the Model T, all
these things that those period
of time were crazy. People look
at them was like, what are you
doing? But without that dawn,
without that start, without
that spark, we wouldn't be where
we are right now. So I would
just say that there is no
limitations. It's just when
does technology catch up to
where, where, where you want it
to be?
I love that you shared that.
I'm actually bringing up one of
the OG books. This is one of my
favorites. It's called as a man
thinketh by James Down. It's an
1800s book, you know, and he
didn't get to live to see a lot
of his legacy. He died in his
forties, but the man was blessed
with so much vision. I mean, I
can imagine writing a book of
this caliber and quality without
first reading the compound
effect, without first reading
all the books that you
mentioned, right? We were
blessed with so much wisdom
that we could put in the place
in our lives. And I see you
drinking that up and then being
willing to put it out there.
Back to what I saw in Uruguay,
a lot of these individuals don't
even know that LinkedIn exists.
They don't even know that Canva
exists. They don't know that
there's remote work available.
They could be the ones that
they think they need the
degrees. They think they mess up
in school and they don't have a
chance to go back. Now, their
societies are structured based
on different cultures. Every
single culture, you know, has
different constraints that come
along with the protections of
security that probably exists
too. But that's our opportunity
as online digital identities and
leaders, they are seeing on
YouTube, right? More and more
things and opportunities of
like, oh, wow, okay, maybe I can
do this. So inspiration is one
of those visions that I hope
both of our audiences gravitate
towards and say, you know what,
I can make a bigger impact than
I realize, even though I might
not be able to shake somebody's
hand in the process. What are
your thoughts on that?
I totally agree with you. I
think people, they don't really
understand the magnitude of that
8 billion people, right? In the
U.S., we're roughly 300 million.
We're not even at a billion. So
I want you to put that into the
scope of where we are in the
world and look how much things
have been accomplished by the
U.S. And the U.S. is like the
landmark for technology and all
these different things. Imagine
if you took a fraction of that
information and you were to
transpose it into another
language. And then you get that
other culture a little bit more
up to speed. They could easily
surpass us quickly overnight
once they realize what they
have access to. So don't fall
asleep. I said earlier, English
is not the dominant language on
the planet that we live in. And
until we get to Mars, you least
focus on the planet that you
live right now.
Dude, I love that. So when I
was in video power marketing
with Jake Larson, he's a YouTube
ad expert of the world, and we
had 70,000 people per month
coming to the website. I didn't
do that. They already had that
done. But I was so stoked. I was
like, oh my gosh. There could be
some kid in Sri Lanka right now
learning about Jake's video
systems who's going to outperform
us in 15 years because of all
that Jake's laid down or in five
years. Like how amazing would
that be? I think it's cool. I
think there's enough oxygen to
go around. I also think there's
enough of every other resource
out there to go around if we
distribute it properly. But
let's dive into some of the
darker subjects real quick. You
know, what is the worst
leadership experience you've
ever had or, you know, excuse
me, yours. This could be one
you've seen.
I would use myself as an example
of something that I've
experienced because I mean,
everyone you have to start from
the bottom and work your way up.
And I think for me is probably
having a leader that does not
believe in the future sense of
your capabilities. And when I
say that, I mean, is okay, let's
say someone says, okay, we want
to create AI. And they're like,
nobody else is doing AI. Nobody
really understands it. And you
look them dead in their face and
you tell them, I'm willing to
learn it. I can make it happen.
Give me a shot. And they look at
you dead in your face and they
saying, no, you can't. And just
by them saying, no, you can't
from a leadership standpoint,
for most people that would
downgrade them as an individual
in what they're trying to
achieve versus someone that's
going to look at them. And for
me, I'll put a middle finger up,
walk away and still keep
pushing because at the end of
the day, I'm not saying that
that individual is wrong, but
for any person that's a leader
that's not willing to then give
their community the opportunity
to give their team or give their
internal personal resources
access to grow and outweigh them.
Again, the only way you really
become really wealthy is you have
to hire people that are smarter
than you and more intelligent
than you. You don't need to be
the pinnacle of everything.
Wow. I almost messed that up in
the exact same scenario. My
third designer, I fired two
designers. I messed up twice.
Right. I didn't know it. I said
they messed up. You know, they
got all these great reviews, but
I'm like, oh, here I am and fire
them. And I'm looking at the
third scenario and it didn't go
very well. And I'm like, oh, man,
I keep pointing my finger at
others. And then there's three
fingers pointing back at me.
Right. So the fourth guy comes
in, you know, I don't hire all
these people on fiber. And I
thought I, this nasty, horrible
thought, is this happening
because I'm treating them like a,
like a transaction that pay less
shoes. Yeah. You know, I started
to think, okay, here's what I'm
going to do. And I asked the
gentleman, I said, what's your
favorite holiday? And I asked
him, and do you want to be the
best designer in the world, or
do you have ambitions outside of
design? This is back in like
2014. And he goes, uh, cause I,
I want to be an artificial
intelligence. Like he was way
ahead of the curve, you know,
he's like, I want to learn
everything. It kind of artificial
intelligence. And I happened to
be connected to guy who worked
at Google X at the time on
training robots, how to train
other robots. And so I talked
to him about that a little bit.
We just, we just chatted about
that reality. I paid him the
same amount as I paid everybody
else, but he came to work. I
stopped committing virtual
abuse, right? They say VA's
that's virtual abuse, right? No.
I started to treat him like a
human being. And my gosh, the
types of results that we got
just by taking a little bit of
interest in that individual
changed everything about the
scope of work that we continue
to build together. We're still
friends of this day. Um, you
know, and so, yes, we, we, we
all have the opportunity to make
these shifts. No, I was guilty
and because of it, I made a
change. So, you know what? I'm
gonna treat people better from
here on out. So moving into the
best leadership experience,
what's your best leadership
experience look like? I would
just say pound for pound. I
think no matter how much money
or how much money you're not
making in a corporation. And
again, this goes back time and
time again, if you look at all
the founders that have made
companies that were belly up,
that were on the brink of
disappearing and then they kept
their team alive, it's just
simply showing gratitude. I
think that is the primary thing
because to your point, somebody
may work really, really hard to
do something and for you, it
may, maybe it would have took
you 10 minutes. It took them two
hours, but they dedicated a
complete two hours to get that
thing done and maybe it's not
100%. It's equal to you, but
it's 85, 90% close. But if you
just give them that gratitude
and then you tell them little
things that could change, they
will eventually get as good, if
not better than you in the long
run.
That might be my favorite
answer out of 200 right there.
Like gratitude, huge. I've seen
that too. I mean, again, when
I've seen it, when I'm not
grateful, right? I forget to
express it, but I also see it
when I do take the time to
express it. Now, visionaries,
you may not have the time to do
that all day, every day. And at
the same time, we don't have
time, we make time. You know, if
we make time for the right type
of leadership principles, it is
amazing what can happen. And I
love the principle that you
share about the two hours thing.
You know, that might be two
days. It might be two weeks.
Right? Think of training
somebody. I do know that IBM,
when they hire a new sales rep
and they hire very, very well,
they have lots of systems in
place to really study people out
before they're bringing them on
board. And then that sales rep
has to shadow for an entire
not week, not month, an entire
year before they're allowed to
touch the phones. You know, as
startups, I don't think, yes,
they grant, I have the budget to
put people on that path. At the
same time, all the more reason
as visionaries and as young
startups that are out there to
be that much more patient with
your people and be that much
more invested in how you train
them if you want to get the
results of a company like IBM.
If this was the last chance that
you had to share a powerful
lesson, what powerful lesson can
other visionaries learn from
your experience?
It's a quote that I wrote a long
time ago. It's a very short one,
but it's very precise when you
actually break it down. And it
goes, life is parallel to
existence, but perpendicular to
time. And so it kind of goes
what we were talking about with
like Elon, right? I mean,
obviously Elon understands that
quote very well because he know
that his time on this planet is
very short. And he knows that
his time is going to end
eventually, but whatever he's
creating and developing now
essentially would be a
forefather for things to come in
the future. So that way by
default, he could live forever.
Life is parallel to existence,
but hit me one more time.
But perpendicular to time.
Perpendicular. I want to save
this like immediately because
that's when I want to absolutely
come back to and explore. There's
a lot of poetry in that. I mean,
that's, you know, some of my
favorite stuff, you know, where
you can like look at it from
different angles over and over
and learn new things from it as
you consider it. Thank you for
that. If we were to dive in
about your, you know, you've got
a lot of content online. You got
a lot of guests that you've had
and you've been involved in a
lot of seminars and stages. I
don't want to guide you to one.
I'd rather know from your side.
What should we be focused on
right now? Those people who are
looking at essay grant and
saying like, all right, where
are you headed? What? Which
which wagon we're going to jump
into? You talking about from my
perspective or from your
listener's perspective? Hmm. Your
choice, actually. Either door. I
would say from from this a
standard podcast. I mean, we're
both podcasters. That's the
common denominator plus business,
right? I would just say, I think
if anyone is stepping into
business and they're trying to
figure out how to market, how to
sell, how to make community
like all these different key
phrases and keywords that we've
heard and took courses for the
easiest and simplest way to get
all those things achieved is to
start with a podcast. Okay. And
when I say that, I want you to
think about a podcast has been
around since the dawn of time.
Yes, it's a new format, but TV,
radio, newspapers, all of it is
just media. But again, now it's
media that you can create that
you can control. You could own.
You don't have to pay royalties.
You don't have to pay fees.
Essentially everything that
you're creating, you can then
leverage. That is a game changer
in itself. Like if you think
about in time, it was impossible
for a regular person to go say,
Hey, I'm going to start a new
radio station. I'm going to get
a radio antenna. I'm going to
get this. I'm going to get this
AM. Now you can do that in less
than 24 hours and start your
podcast. And again, season one
should be garbage. It should be
right. And then as you grow, as
you grow, then you'll be able to
look at, I look back at my season
one and I hear my audio quality
and I'm completely embarrassed.
But I said, you know what? That
is a, that's a time capsule. It
shows the evolution of where we
were and where we are right now.
So that way you can kind of see,
you can start from the bottom
and then you can work your way up
and get better as you keep on
progressing through that system.
That's right. So many people
feel like that, that first
impression is everything. Right.
And it's not, it's the first
impression. You know, that's what
it is. And so it might have an
impact on some of the future
reality of the story, but you
know, not every story has to
start out perfectly. In fact,
usually the best stories don't.
And so with that said too,
Essay, like, how do we, why do
people do that? Why do people
feel like they have to be
perfect? What's your thoughts on
that?
Well, it's easy, man. If you
look at television, you look at
media, and again, we're talking
about media in general, what do
you see? You see Beyonce, right?
You see Jay-Z, you see Donald
Trump, you see essentially
billionaires, like the top 1% of
the 1%. And going back to the
8 billion again, this is a
fraction of what the real world
really is. So in reality is
like, yes, that's something that
you could strive for. But much
like if you wanted to play for
the NBA or the NFL or
baseball, it's unlikely. But when
it comes down to podcasting, you
can be the top seller, you can
be the best of the best, you
could be the Beyonce of your
world if you stick to it.
Absolutely. So these
distribution methods, you know,
again, we used to send messages
with somebody on horseback, if
they were lucky enough to have a
horse, right? And now, like you
said, they didn't have the
ability to say, you know what, I
want to go live to a platform
where there's a billion people.
That's exactly what we have
access to. Are we going to be
the right type of noise, the
right type of message that
people are going to find
irresistible and dive into?
I don't know. You know, you
got to try. You got to just, you
got to keep optimizing. What's
your favorite channel right now
to promote content on? Where
would you say is like your focal
point?
I would say there's an
overlap, right? I mean,
obviously there's different
demographics for different
reasons. I would say LinkedIn
is great for business, but
LinkedIn is starting to get a
little bit noisy, right? It's
starting to get a little bit
overlap with the personal. And
then obviously, believe it or
not, I still like Facebook. I
mean, Facebook is just a
monster and keep in mind that
they're still absorbing other
corporations to stay ahead of
the curve. So if you love
Instagram, Instagram's owned by
Facebook. If you love WhatsApp,
it's owned by Facebook. So in
reality, even though you don't
like Facebook today, you're
probably using one of their
descendants in some time or the
other.
Absolutely. You know, and it's
easy to not like something. You
know, it's easy to call
something out for not being
perfect. I mean, like none of
us are perfect. So the, hey,
look at that. Here we are live
right now. Weird. It's like
getting into the macro, micro,
the matrix. But all this, all
this content that you're
producing on different channels,
you know, to me, visionaries,
these channels, their resources
like water and fire or any other
element that's out there, it's
just an opportunity. And so if
we, if we alienate ourselves
from the channels, you know, or
or worry too much about like,
you know, oh man, should I be
here? Should I be there? I think
we're getting distracted from
the point. You know, are we
showing up for the people that
are on the platforms?
Yeah. I mean, it's a key word.
I think people, they've heard
about it. They maybe know the
definition of it, but
omnipresence. And so
omnipresence does not mean that
you're the focal point on all
platforms. It means that your
content is being distributed
across all platforms or as many
platforms as humanly possible.
And the reason why I like to do
that is because I never know
when my Instagram account may go
from 10,000 to 300,000. If I
keep posting content on it, and
then the demographic shifts or
the market shifts or Instagram
has a new AI tool that's or a
new algorithm. Again, why would
I want to start from scratch on
that platform? If I already have
the content, then I should just
distribute the content and focus
on my core platforms, which is
right now Facebook and LinkedIn,
but I have content on probably
at least another 20 other
platforms as well.
That's right. And you're crushing
it actually on YouTube. You know,
so you got almost 2000
subscribers. You were right in
fact, bam. You were almost at
that 2000 mark. And these
channels, they're not easy to
build. They take time and energy
to put out there and all this
content. Look at that. Jesse
Dovec, it's not business book.
It's Facebook. Right. I went to
his conference back when he was
really moving up the ranks and
ladders of influence. You know,
so what, again, visionaries,
like for me, maybe I'm wrong
about this too. Essay, what do
you think? Top of funnel is
distribution of voice. In my
opinion, that's what's usually
drawn on the marketing world as
well as how do I distribute this
to the right people or to more
people? How important is
distribution for visionaries
that are out there and what are
some things they should look for
in terms of like, man, should I
just start my YouTube? Should I
start my Twitter first? Should I
dedicate everything I have to
LinkedIn? Go ahead. Yeah, I
totally agree with that. I mean,
it's to the point to where like
our YouTube channel, for example,
I mean, it's monetized, but do I
pay that much attention to
YouTube right now? No, I don't
because my end goal, my end
thing that I'm going for is more
so a Roku TV or Firestick
Television. So I'm just
essentially creating content and
I'm storing it on YouTube right
now. Right. So think about it
from that standpoint. For the
future, once I decide, like I
think right now we're at maybe
700 videos. Once we hit like
12 to 1500 videos, then I'll
know for a fact like the
timeframe as far as hours go, I
will be able to play an actual
Roku station from Monday on the
first of the year until the next
year, the first of the year,
consistently straightforward
with the man hours that we put
into our actual content. So
that's what I'm going for right
now is just a storage space. But
to your point, if you're a user,
whatever platform you use,
that's the platform you should
go. It's not about chasing after
what someone's telling you to do.
If you're on X, then be on X
and become the best on X. If
you're on Facebook, then use
Facebook because all these
platforms work if you work them,
but none of them are going to
work for you by themselves.
That's right. And in essence,
what we're talking about right
now, everybody is breaking free.
Right. Is really taking off
these limiting beliefs, you
know, and feeling like you have
to be boxed in and have to
control everything. And I
think that's a great way to
actually do that. And I think
that's a great way to actually
do that. And I think that's a
great way to actually control
everything. You know, we can
we can work on ourselves and we
can make sure that we are doing
putting the hours and getting
the things done that we need to
get done. Roku TV is
interesting to me because, you
know, people were so guilty of
pushing features over benefits,
you know, which means talking
about the mechanisms. There's so
many channels right now. I've
been hit by a couple of
podcasters lately, me and my
clients saying like, oh, yeah,
we're on Roku TV. And to me,
I'm like, oh, yeah, we're on
Roku TV. So as a non consumer,
as a producer, I don't
necessarily have my attention
on that the way that I should.
And you do. So what are we
missing here about Roku TV?
Well, you got to think about it.
I mean, radio was first and
then TV was second. Radio and
TV still exists now. They're
huge. So we have these other
variants of it. So as a
podcaster, what would I look
like not having the visual
aspect? Yes, YouTube is great.
Yes, female is great. But
ideally in today's world, you
think about it at scale. Like
today I made a post about
Tubi. Right. So Tubi is they
had a new brand launched. They
changed their logo to talk to
the next generation. Right. And
they have a particular
demographic that's growing.
Their shares are like roughly
about 70 percent. But most
people probably don't even know
what Tubi is or people probably
never heard of Free V. And
again, Free V is a sub network
of Prime from Amazon that they
bought a few years ago. So
think about it. If the big bad
boys in the game essentially
because Tubi is owned by Fox,
Fox is owned by Disney, Free
V is owned by Amazon. If you
have the top three biggest
media outlets buying up these
smaller television stations or
these TV channels, then we're
doing ourself a disservice.
We're missing a complete mark
of the next generation of what
the visual reputation is going
to be. And again, it's on
demand, much like YouTube is
what it's the convenience of
having a remote control versus
having a laptop or a cell phone.
It's still very viable.
Absolutely. And you talked
about paying attention to what
are the wealthy entities in the
world buying, right? Not just
spending time, we're not just
sponsoring, but they see, wow,
we could invest our money in all
sorts of things. And we've
decided to consume this
particular device. Now, I
remember watching Periscope
come out and Mark Cuban and
Tai Lopez talking about how
they didn't think it was going
to do too well and take out,
sure enough, it ended up
dying. And that said, there's
a lot of opportunities that do
die, but these ones that do
get acquired, they do.
They're signs of life. They're
signs of, okay, Periscope
wasn't the problem. It was
probably the leadership and the
lack of vision, lack of
culture, lack of marketing.
There's a lot of factors there.
What do you think? And were
you familiar with Periscope?
I used to abuse the living hell
out of Periscope. I loved that
platform when it came out,
because again, it was the first
of what we're doing right now.
That's right. And so there's a
lot of success with that. And
you talked about that earlier
and how it might not be our
call to be the one who gets to
Mars, but that does not dilute
the value of the path that was
paved, even though we may not
be the one at the end of the
path celebrating the
destination. That may not be
our call. So what happened to
Periscope? Why do you think
that it didn't become like
Roku TV?
I think it's secondary. Where's
Vine? Vine was around the same
time as Periscope. And again,
people were Vine famous. They're
TikTok famous. So these things
didn't go, but they're the same
exact formats. They're not
really changing anything. Again,
it just comes down to the media
spend, the ad budget, and then
the target demographic, and then
adding key features for that
generation. TikTok is a good
example of that. Like those
short form videos sounds a lot
like Vine to me. What is the
difference between what it is?
I mean, TikTok started off as
music, people dancing in front
of videos. But if I remember
correctly, Vine was essentially
doing the same thing. It was
like, I ain't going to do it for
the Vine. I ain't going to do
it. And that became like
something that everyone on
the internet knew about. And
then Vine just disappeared. So
I would think things come in
phases, much like Zoom. Zoom is
the end all be all right now
because of COVID. But it's not
the original. It's not the
first. I mean, there was WebX
and all these other programs
that came out that were
corporate driven platforms that
completely suck in comparison
to where Zoom is today.
Absolutely. WebX, GoToMeeting,
lots of different challenge,
lots of different challenges
that are there. Visionaries,
what's some of the lessons in
this? Some of the lessons
involved in this are, no, your
history. When I say your
history, I'm not talking about
the books, about American
history and world history, that's
fine. You can consume that too.
But if you're on the path of
entrepreneurship, we have so
many great stories, modern
stories too, where you can see
what happened to those entities,
why it might have happened. And
there's a lot of insider access
from people who are using the
platform first to people who
used to work at those
platforms. We're like, Thomas,
the story time guy on Vine, I
remember watching his story time
things and thinking they were so
funny and cool. I need to look
up and see what happened to that
guy. Where'd he go? I know he's
doing something. If he's still
around, he's got to be doing
something fun or cool or
weird.
He's probably a founder or
something. That's the evil
thing. Much like Elon, Elon
founded, now we know what he's
founded, but these are not the
first foundations of companies
he's created to get him to where
he is. To your point, you have
to do due diligence. If you
think about like chat, I think
our generation now, they look at
chat as something that's
secondary, but they had no clue
that AOL was the first chat
message. And that was like less
than 30 years ago. So think
about that. I mean, like it came
out, parents were like, what the
hell is this? Kids were like, oh
my God, I'm talking to my friend
across the ocean.
Right. So yeah, it's the seeds.
It's all about the season and
where things are going to be and
technology, the way it advances.
I mean, AI today is not going to
be AI two years from now. It's
going to be a completely
different monster.
Dude, I just saw that Google
launched the new AI for video
games, where they let an AI
study 200,000 hours worth of
video games. And now you can
give it a screenshot of what you
want your game to look like. And
it will build a game based on
that. I was like, dang, like the
applications on this, they're
almost unimaginable still. So it
is amazing how many different
technologies coming out with
that. So breaking free, let's hit
that directly. What does breaking
free mean to you?
I mean, the name of my company
is Caged for a reason. I mean, I
think everyone, they have the
nine to five mentality at one
time or another, right? You go to
school, you get your degree and
you can't wait to get that six
figure job opportunity outside of
school. And then once you get
that job opportunity, then
leadership may suck. You may not
get the advancements. Somebody
may stab you in the back. Like
all these different things, all
part of the real world,
especially in corporate America.
But I think people, they get to
the point to where now I want to
become an entrepreneur. They
want to become in Caged. They
want to break those golden
handcuffs. So that's the main
thing that I'm focused on is
like the individuals that are in
corporate America that are, they
have their little side gigs. They
may have a little real estate
side gig. They may have a little
real estate podcast on the side.
But the reality is, is like, why
don't you then figure out how to
make that full time? Why don't
you become your own boss?
Because until you become your
own boss, you're still under the
regime and the handcuffs of the
individual of the corporation
that you work for that you may
not have even met before.
Absolutely. Visionaries, one of
my hopes with Vision Pros Live
and why I connect all these
leaders and why I also
interview overlapping
individuals, why, you know, is I
believe in the law of abundance.
I believe in the fact that like,
you know, not everybody is going
to like the medicine or the
cooking of Jackson Callum. You
know, and some people are going
to gravitate towards SAGRAV,
the process. And I've got these
books like James Allen, who I no
longer have access to. You know,
he could have been alive, you
know, theoretically, right?
He could have died. And if I
don't have a backup James Allen,
you know, like now I'm stuck, you
know, with one water source, you
know, that's now depleted. And I
don't know where to go for the
next one. So Peter Drucker, you
know, was that guy for me as
well with Effective Executive,
Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dead Port
at it, etc. Like all these
people now, I have never called
Robert Kiyosaki on phone. Not
yet. Right. I haven't reached
out to him. Not yet.
Entrepreneur on fire, John Lee
Dumas, right? I recorded a video
for him. I have not sent it yet.
You know, to say thank you for
the path that he's he helped me
create by serving behind the
scenes on what he did. The so
SAGRAV bringing up bringing up
breaking free. If you have a
desire to connect with him, my
invitation to you is to be bold
and make that connection happen
because he was also one of those
people on my radar where I was
like, you know what? I really
like to have him on the show. I
really like to have his wisdom
come forward on this. And he was
that opportunity. We made it
happen. And now every single
person who's listening to our
show has been blessed by his
wisdom that that just took
reaching out. You know, what are
your thoughts on that? Who do
you reach out to? How do you get
connected to these individuals
that have been on your shows?
So I mean, that's a really good
story. And it's very impactful
for podcasters because I think
season one for me was I was a
business person before. So I had
a Rolodex. Season two is my
Rolodex is Rolodex. And then at
the end of season two, I was
like, I'm chasing the fire when
I should just be putting fuel on
the fire. And I retroactively
went back and realized that from
season one, I guess I was having
some pretty good downloads in
the first six months. And I
started to get these emails and
I actually talked about this on
podfest before. And I've named
them podcast recruiters. Podcast
recruiters make all the
difference in my podcast because
now I have about 20 of them. And
essentially they'll send emails
randomly to me and say, Hey, we
have John Smith. John Smith is a
multi-billionaire. He's done X,
Y, and Z. Here's his dossier.
Here's his resume. Here's
everything he's done. Would you
like to have him on the show? And
I got to the point I was like,
why am I chasing again? So I
went back and I looked for all
those emails and made a smart
folder, collected all those
emails and in contact every
single one of them. And then
some of them I gave CAC Blanche
so they can just book at will.
So literally when I go to my
calendar, I've had people that
I've never met that's just being
booked. But I know that at the
particular caliber that I'm
looking for, I know that there's
not going to be anyone that's
just popping out brand new
without any education level to
what we're talking about because
now they're doing it at scale
and they're getting paid to do
it. That's the other thing about
podcast recruiters. They're
getting paid thousands of
dollars to find top podcasts. So
all the due diligence that you
would have to do to have a
conversation with someone or
have multiple different
conversations to see if you want
them on your show or not. I've
cut all that out. So like my
steps and procedures are if a
recruiter sends them and is
booked and the information is
filled out in my form, I'll be
there, they'll be there. And
that's the end of it. So now we
are at probably about 400
episodes. We've only aired about
230 of them. So that's our
backlogs. We have a backlog of
if we were to record episode
today, our backlog for that
episode is not going to air
until November 2025.
Wow, that's awesome. That
infrastructure, everybody,
that's that infrastructure is
something that the most
visionaries and entrepreneurs
are sorely lacking. And it's not
something that I recommend
building from scratch. I just
don't it is not it's not easy to
build by yourself. I know it's
very hard if you don't have that
integrator. I think SA Grant and
I have both been integrators
and in our both in the
companies that we've been at the
past. And I stayed behind the
scenes for a long time. I liked
being behind the scenes for my
vision. Now I am the face of it,
but I won't be forever. And
that's the beauty of understanding
the role of integrators. It's not
Jackson Pros live. It's Vision
Pros live. So we'll be expanding
the hosts that we have here as
well. We already expanded who
does our pre shows. I'm going to
honor this podcast recruiting
aspect a little further to we
had Crystal from Loop Studio
brought Bernard Chong to us and
Bernard Chong did an awesome job
on the show and she just teed me
up with Miss T Sandifer. Tamara
is amazing as a leader. 2022
bit woman of the year. Her and I
talked today. We both come from
similar family backgrounds. She's
got she's got a little brother
and she's one of five sisters for
him. I got five sisters like the
uncanny nature of our stories and
she's somebody that I'm looking
forward to introduce you to SA
Grant as well. Now in addition
to that, we've got our Facebook
group for Opa guys that are
part of Latinos, which is
opportunities for for Latinos.
And what we're doing is training
these individuals how to become
digital marketing ambassadors and
the process of becoming digital
marketing ambassadors. We're
teaching them how to find leaders
who are excellent fits for our
show. And in the process, they
become basically affiliate
marketers without the trash of
teaching people that it's all
about the money, right? It's not.
It's all about the proper
connection. It's all about the
authenticity. And that's so
there's lots of different
strategic mechanisms to put in a
place to expand the vision, the
empire of your vision. And that's
my that's my hope and my goal for
all of you visionaries is to look
and say, you know what? I want SA
Grant helping me build this. I
want T Miss T helping me build
this. I want her involved. I want
to support her foundation. I want
Bernard Chong to become an
investor of what I do. Use the
network, you know, get yourself
established and help, you know,
above all else. If you have
people in your life that are
tearing your vision down, like SA
Grant said, they're telling you
that you can't, you know, maybe
you give them the middle finger.
I'm also guilty of doing that
sometimes or empowered to do so
depending on how they come at us.
Right. Most times I can look at
people and say, you know what? I
love you. Goodbye. Um, you know,
it's time for me to move into a
territory of people who say, I
bet you can, you know, I'm here
to support you. Hey, I want to
help build that. You can find
people like that in your network.
That's really the whole design of
this process. So if you want to
connect with SA Grant, feel free
to drop a comment on the episode
and the platform of your choice.
We'll make sure that we tag him
on that. Also make sure to check
the action steps in the landing
page to see what programs he has
available. Uh, SA, man, do me
favor. And, and as you update
your programs over time, just
send us back what you need for
people to be able to connect
from this episode to that.
Because I think you're right. I
think this episode is going to
stay on the test of time and all
these principles are going to
apply, uh, 10, 20, 30 years and
beyond. So, man, is there
anything you want to share
before we, before we wrap up
today? Yeah, I think the last
thing that you talked about is
essentially getting more people
to help you and especially
building a podcast network is
what you were talking about. So
in that space of genius of where
we are right now with
technology, and I want people
to really listen to what I'm
about to say in today's world,
like prime example, I have two
AI avatars that look exactly
like me that have my voice and
allows me to create an unlimited
amount of content. So if you're
looking at it from a standpoint
of YouTube channels, Roku
channels, courses, you really
don't need 10 hundred people to
build out all these platforms
anymore. You can then leverage
these AI tools that sound like
you, that look like you, and you
can create a lot of different
things at scale and be able to
rival the companies like you,
Demi, or the bigger companies
like Amazon. You may not be able
to top them over, but you could
definitely be like there's a
shark and you're the fish
underneath the shark getting
like the leftovers, but those
leftovers are still worth
millions, if not billions of
dollars. That's huge. Absolutely.
And on that same token, Stephen
A. Smith, phenomenal, phenomenal
hosts of some great shows on ESPN.
He is not ESPN, though, yet he
has a massive brand. And so all
you visionaries have the
opportunity to do the same. Whether
you do that through podcasting,
whether you do that through
newsletters, whether you do that
through any other source of
mediums, our hope is that you
will distribute your goodness to
the world because the world is
waiting for all of us to show up
and provide our best service. So
everybody have a fantastic rest
of your day and thanks for
joining us on Vision Pros Live.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned
into Vision Pros Live. I'm
looking forward to seeing your
reactions as these episodes
continue to move forward. This is
going to get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more
engagement as well. We'll
invite people to participate in
the show. And thank you for
giving us your time and
attention. Have an excellent
time building out your vision.