All right, welcome back everybody to Vision Pros
Live. I'm your show host, Jackson Callum, founder
and CEO of First Class Business. And I'm diving
in with Deborah Heiser of The Mentor Project,
who is launching a brand new legacy, a brand
new brand called My Legacy Tree. And we just
talked about Bob Lefkowitz and how he inspired
this Pulitzer Prize winner who also wanted to
understand and see the impact that he was having
beyond what... maybe first readily available
and how that can help us move from floating through
life to really invigorate ourselves and living
with purpose. So, Deborah, let's talk. Let's
just dive right in. What is my legacy tree? Is
it is it something we can go and play with right
now? Is it something that's being built? Let's
hear all about it. It's something that's being
built. So we are in the beginning stages of it
in the sense that we have to get it built. But
otherwise, the concept is something very. much
that we can replicate in terms of how we've been
able to quantify things through looking at it
with the mentor project. So and we've also been
able to see, which is really the thing that got
me most excited about it, that people want to
give. They just don't know where and how. And
so by giving a platform that will allow people
to find new places, if you see others that you're
connected with who. are doing things in places
that you didn't know about, you might be more
likely to do it as, you know, do more than you
were before. So I think that honestly, we're
looking at a new time in our lives where social
media may not be exactly what we are looking
for and giving a bigger, deeper connection in
terms of how we are. connecting with others socially
is something that I think people are craving
right now. I think that's huge. One of the things
that we train founders on at First Class Business
is on the art of taking interest versus being
interesting. Really, really being interested
in the people you're talking to. And one of the
reasons why this is so important to me is we
work with these founders like Danny Vercel, who
is Dr. Danny is known worldwide for helping parents
with education, teachers education. He's taught
at huge stages and he has a program to help children
learn to become passionate about reading. And
when when he takes interest in somebody else.
And that person gravitates towards like, wow,
this person, this doctor really cares about me.
He really understands me. The reciprocal effect
begins to take shape. And now this person, it
may be a car salesman, it may be an engineer,
it may be a digital marketer. But now when they
take interest in Danny and find out, it's like,
what are you doing? I mean, how do your things
work? And when Danny reveals then why I help
parents inspire their children to love reading.
That person then becomes tied to that purpose
in a way as an opportunity to really step in
and say like, whoa, that's big. You know, like
here I am. They might feel bad about selling
cars. They might feel bad about being engineers.
I don't think they should. You know, that's they
got their own trauma stuff to work on if they
don't feel good about what they're doing. But
to be able to look and compare the two and say,
you know, I could I could be involved. helping
children throughout the world become better readers
become educated or I can get involved in the
water project or I can get involved in Fiji book
drive you know there's so many different really
massive things out there and I to your point
I think a lot of people feel like they're playing
small and and feel like they're they're not making
a big impact and I I don't want to have a life
like that myself. That's one reason I interview
visionary leaders is like I'm always looking
for what else can be done. What else can we do
to help the eight billion? So in that regard,
maybe you can more eloquently also speak to what
it was that I'm talking about with this disconnect
between visionary leaders who are out there conquering
major opportunities to make positive impact on
the lives of children and others. And then those
who. may feel like the most important thing for
their night is the next preseason football game
or the next preseason basketball game coming
on right now. What are your thoughts on that?
Look, I think a lot of people think they have
to make impact. It has to be enormous. And that's
super overwhelming because it becomes, you know,
a thought of where do I go next? How do I where
do I start even? and people don't understand
in many cases that impact can be something from
something so tiny that you would not have even
counted it like you could be rounding up at the
grocery store with 38 cents and think that means
nothing but that 38 cents compounded by everybody
else that's doing it might make an entire community
change somewhere it might change a person's life
so i think that a person may have that disconnect
where they say i have this big vision but i'm
going to go watch football because they think
it's too hard to start and what we really need
to do is make it into digestible bites so that
we can say where is the first place that i can
start and i'll counter that so the A big reason
why is because I don't think we'd have these
opportunities if it wasn't for the people like
Danny Brassell. It's like, where would that 38
cents go? And a lot of conservatives, for instance,
they're going to say it's going to go into the
pockets of the CEOs and on the people who run
that entity, not to the actual people who need
it. So there's that lackadaisical reality. But
I'm not getting at positioning one versus the
other because it's that. It's that ability to
say hi to somebody who hasn't been said hi to
in two years. It's that that's an important impact.
It's the ability to just take the time to listen
to somebody and hear their story. Right. That's
massive and important impact that we often do
don't equate with something that is real. But
I do think that a lot of us and I love what Les
Brown says. He says some of the best songs and
the best poems and the best books ever written.
are buried in the graveyard because people didn't
step up when they had the opportunity and had
the chance. And so there's like a catch -22 and
a balance of that that, you know, do you go big?
Or as I was pointing out, do you latch on to
somebody's cause like Danny's? He's the one designed
to carry the heavy load and to shoulder this.
But if I simply get involved and help one child
learn to love to read. Right. There's massive
impact on that. So I think we're more in harmony
than maybe it came across on that. So, again,
further thoughts on that, Debbie. I think you're
right. We are in harmony in how we're thinking
about it. The way that I look at impact is that
because we don't quantify our impact, we sort
of forget about it. That one person that we met
with and whose life might be changed, but we
don't get to see what that looks like. You know,
Bob didn't know what that person who was six
degrees away from him looked like, what he was
doing. And he didn't even know he existed. He
didn't know that his work went beyond him. And
I think that if we knew that we could make change
in the world with one person, with one thing
that we do, we will get gratification and fulfillment
from that and want to do more of it. I agree.
shouting in the wind that it makes us feel like,
gee, should I keep doing this? And a lot of founders
or people who do big things or have big visions
are able to see some of the impact that they
make because they're sort of in it. They're able
to see around them some of the impact. But if
you are somebody who's part of an organization
or who is living your life, you may not have
the ability to. you know see the quantification
of what that impact is you're not having board
meetings you're not meeting regularly and seeing
gee where have we gone where do we start from
what's our goal for the the year we don't tend
to as individuals think that way it isn't until
tax time that we say gee how much did i donate
this year and we start to think of our philanthropy
in terms of what do i have to put on my tax forms
but if we start to think about this more regularly.
Like you said, a lot of stuff goes to the grave.
We are wasting our most precious natural resources,
which is ourselves. If we're not engaging in
giving back in this way or connecting, like you
said, and talking to people and listening to
people, we're missing out on that. And that's
where I think that if we can be inspired by potential
impact or by our the impact that we've already
made, it's going to help us to feel like we are
that precious natural resource that was not thrown
out in the trash or buried with us. Yeah, huge.
I love this. I mean, this is one of my favorite
concepts. And I love what you talked about and
how there is a gratification with knowing that
what you're planting is being harvested, right?
It's coming to fruition. And my mom shared a
story with me when I was little. about a a missionary
who had gotten home from his two -year mission
and he uh he was upset that the only thing he
ever did was baptize a dirty little boy um and
i like that was the only impact that he had in
scotland or wherever he served and and uh it
was like 20 years later um when in fact i think
it was closer to 40 years later because he um
he was at a conference and a new young missionary
came to talk to him and said hey um you're so
and so um you baptized my grandpa um and they
had legacies hundreds of people who followed
in this the footsteps of this grandfather that
was the dirty little boy um you know and they
had um congregations set up all throughout that
thousands of people impacted because of this
one little experience and so I remember learning
about that passively as a young child myself.
And then I went to Uruguay. And my first Saturday
there, we baptized a 9 -year -old and 11 -year
-old. And I encouraged a 14 -year -old sister
to basically give the talk, talk about something
spiritual. And I worried about them the rest
of my two years because they didn't have... um
parental advisement um you know coming and helping
them and and uh they seemed to stay strong and
they were always sending me little gifts and
things and um fast forward several years and
that 14 year old girl went and served a mission
in chile oh and so i was like whoa i'm like this
is return to story moment like now i'm getting
to live this story um and you know then she she
got married and she's got children and they've
stayed really you know and thanks to social media
we've stayed like family um we always will and
so there's this there's this negative side of
social media that you did that you talked about
too that i think is rampant in the world and
we have such a choice to use these tools for
good and we have the choice to lose ourselves
in these in these tools and just waste time and
it you know that the tangent a little bit further
deborah It reminds me a lot of the Renaissance
age where they had plays set up and the plays
were set up in large essence by governments to
distract poor people and to get them off the
streets and to keep them from doing negative
things. And sometimes I think a lot of people
fall victim of social media in kind of the same
way. They just get in this routine of diving
into what do they call it doom scrolling yeah
you know and like there's that on the flip side
i use social media to connect with people all
throughout the world that i love that i have
i've worked hard to serve that i've worked hard
to help build their lives out and the choice
listeners it's yours what are you going to do
with the tool so deborah again i'd love for you
to take some time to speak about this I think
that you're right. There's nothing. There are
always two sides to every coin. And so social
media is one of those things that has two sides
to the coin. And we have the choice to, you know,
just the same as getting involved in terms of
giving back. We have the choice of doing that
or floating through life. And so with social
media, we can float through social media and
doom scroll or we can get more connected. and
it's it's not easy always you know if somebody's
taking a break and they just want to relax it's
easy to start to doom scroll um whereas you know
if you are looking at a lot of the you know connections
that you have in social media they may not feel
like you're you may not feel super close to them
so it's developing that that takes work um and
sometimes i think a connection needs to be made
where you can see that connection and you have
that because you've worked with people and developed
that connection but a lot of people especially
young folks haven't had that opportunity yet
to feel like they've developed connections in
big ways that they can cultivate those on social
media their likes their you know um connections
that are built to say i have this many followers
the way that people look at it is different than
gee, I have this connection. I better make sure
that I'm talking with them regularly or that
I'm reaching out or finding out really what they're
doing, not just the vacation photos or things
like that. It can be so overwhelming. I love
that. I can't wait to see my legacy tree come
to life. I want to be an early adopter. I want
to use it because it's a powerful journaling
experience too. It's amazing. Again, visionaries.
I'll speak to my vulnerable truth on this. One,
this weekend, I did a ton of trauma work for
myself. Right. And so here's a little journal
journaling activity that I was working through.
And then it continues to the next page and the
next page. And so there was that. And I'm constantly
trying to prune my social media garden. Right.
And what I mean, at one time, I actually deleted
over a thousand prints. You know, and now I kind
of regret that because I didn't need to do that.
That that wasn't the move that I really wanted
to make. What I wanted was to clean up my newsfeed
so that I could see my friends and family again.
And so then from there, I started last year,
I started unfollowing all the people that. were
just coaches um or just entrepreneurs that weren't
really connecting with me and they weren't really
following up they were like walking billboards
um and so they're not they're just trying to
figure it out and i get that so i didn't want
to unfriend so now i don't unfriend them i unfollow
so they don't see constant advertisements um
you know in the form of organic posts and so
those are the types of things you can do but
i also make sure if i if i have a friend or connection
who happens to be a debbie downer hey no offense
to debbie she's a debbie effort um but if um
if i happen to have somebody like that the negative
neds out there then oh no like i am not going
to follow what they put out there i'm not going
to let them throw their mud um you know or or
bring their rain cloud over my head that's something
to protect myself of again and so this uh this
idea of my legacy tree and then being able to
go somewhere holistic right to go and see wow
like what what is what i'm doing um making an
impact is it making a difference am i then able
to focus and shift more time to that Because
it's absolutely, I can see the immediate reciprocal
effect of being able to have access to that.
So Debbie, thank you for building the mentor
project. I met a couple of really, really great
people through that. And I'm very grateful for
those relationships. And in addition to that,
now we get to learn from and see the impact that
Legacy Tree is going to have. Thank you. And
thank you for having me on. I always learn from
you, Jackson. Well, likewise, the feeling is
mutual. So Vision Pros, we hope that you do as
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