435 Podcast: Southern Utah
Explore the heartbeat of Southern Utah with the 435 Podcast, your go-to source for all things local in Washington County. Stay ahead of the curve with our in-depth coverage, expert analysis, and captivating interviews. Whether you're a resident or visitor, our podcast is your key to unlocking the latest happenings and trends in St. George and the surrounding areas. Tune in now to stay informed and connected with our thriving community!
435 Podcast: Southern Utah
Building Digital and Physical Networks for Collective Success
What if you could create a life that balances success across all its dimensions? Join us as Marcus Green shares the inspiration behind The Whole Enchilada community, a movement dedicated to becoming well-rounded individuals who thrive in business, relationships, and spirituality. Delve into the journey of personal growth that has attracted a network of like-minded people eager to support one another in living elevated lives. The discussion highlights the pitfalls of idolizing success in one area while neglecting others, promoting a comprehensive approach to self-development.
Discover the power of community engagement in wealth management and real estate with insights from Branden DuCharme and Russie Edwards. They reveal how podcasts can empower individuals to make informed decisions and discuss their unique approaches to audience engagement—Branden with a nationwide reach and Russie focusing on the hyper-local St. George community. Explore the role of digital and physical communities in shaping local business, real estate, and politics, and how personalized advice can foster intelligent conversations with professionals.
Navigate the complexities of building digital communities in a crowded podcasting landscape. Insights from Gary Vaynerchuk emphasize providing genuine value over chasing numbers. Marcus shares his journey of establishing "enchilada nation," stressing the importance of personal growth in content creation. Reflect on how past communities shape us and the value of contributing to current ones, all while balancing business growth with family life. As we adapt to changing landscapes, explore how to stay relevant and continuously add value to our listeners by addressing local issues.
Contact guest Branden DuCharme @ Du Charme Wealth Management here:
https://www.ducharmewealth.com/
Or check out the Du Charme Wealth Management Podcast on all platforms.
Connect with guest Marcus Green from The Whole Enchilada Podcast:
https://www.thewholeenchilada.biz/
Guest Russie Edwards is on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/russiedee?igsh=MTVvMjVxYjN5bDdqZg==
Looking for a Real Estate expert? Find us here!
https://realestate435.kw.com/
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Find FS Coffee here:
https://fscoffeecompany.com/
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#PersonalGrowth #Commun
wholeheartedly say that it just hits different when you hear it from a different source. Sometimes for sure right, um, I've had my dad, like in hindsight, where he's probably talked blue in the face trying to explain something to me and uh, and then I'll hear it from a different you know contact or someone else that just it wasn't like their space to normally be giving that message or something and also under something clicks and I go oh, oh, yeah, it's brilliant from the blue form media studios.
Speaker 3:This is the 435 podcast the pulse of southern utah hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the 435 podcast.
Speaker 4:I'm your host, robert mcfarland, and today we collaborate together as a community with Marcus Green, the whole Enchilada Nation, the whole Enchilada Nation. Brandon Ducharme with the Ducharme Wealth Management crew Thanks for joining us. We have Rusty Edwards as a guest here, as well as a business partner with Marcus, and we talk about communities and building communities, whether it's a digital community, but also your physical community, understanding how we take that into our daily lives. So we hope you enjoy the episode, guys. We'll see you out there. The whole enchilada community. You built this around the whole enchilada being have. When we look at our lives, like, what are the elements in our lives, in our lives that we want success in, right, and you, you have like a pie of of aspects. So tell me about just the start of whole enchilada and kind of what the the base yeah thought is with that community.
Speaker 3:The whole trigger of the whole enchilada is, uh, you know I'm was already very involved in business, very involved in real estate. One of my pet peeves in business in general is these people get put on a pedestal of crushing it in business and we all idolize them and then, once you start breaking back every other aspect of their life spirituality, relationships, things like that their lives are in shambles. And it caused me to ask the question like well, why are we idolizing these people that are crushing in one aspect but everything else is in shambles? So that's where I was like I want to be a complete person, I want to live in an elevated state across multiple platforms, and ultimately came up with the idea of the whole enchilada. And the whole enchilada is about my journey of how am I living in an elevated state across relationships, faith, business, all of these things and inviting my community along. And it's been really fun to build that community of people that want the same thing.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So when you, when you're, when you started with the community, where did you start with? Like, who? Who's the first listeners, so to speak, as you kind of gone about it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the good news is, my first listener is still my most religious listener and that's me.
Speaker 4:You listen to it every time, huh.
Speaker 3:Well, I just I listened to it while I'm going, Cause for me, the whole point is I'm on this journey of self-development and I'm I'm thinking, where do I want to grow? And those are the reasons I want to be in conversation with you guys today. And so I say that facetiously a little bit, that I'm my own listener in the beginning, because I put every episode together for me and it just happens to attract a community that wants the same thing.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, and then. So, brandon, just for anybody who hasn't checked out the Ducharme Wealth Management Podcast, where is your community that you're trying to aim for?
Speaker 1:We have a really big belief in professional, individualized advice when it comes to the wealth conversation, so we're really passionate about wealth, helping people with their money, and we want to see people succeed. But sometimes I think the conversation can be missed, where everyone wants to do it themselves or do none of it, and I think the key is to be educated enough to have intelligent conversations with the professionals that you're going to work with, and so the Ducharme Wealth Management Podcast is a platform where we try to educate people and give them enough awareness around the topics relating to their money that they can make smart decisions and engage the appropriate professionals in the most impactful manner and and move forward and be successful that way, yeah, and Rusty your community.
Speaker 4:as a real estate agent is the people that you know like and trust you. Right, it's like the people that you see all the time, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 4:So um you don't have a podcast too.
Speaker 2:I don't have a podcast guys.
Speaker 4:You should, Should I get one? You should get a podcast. This is the test. This is the test today.
Speaker 2:This is the test to see if I should start one.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Maybe by the time we're done today, I will have already have an idea for one.
Speaker 4:Well, thinking of different communities, like being somebody that isn't hosting their own. Like when you listen in to podcasts. What is the topics like? Do you even listen to my guests?
Speaker 2:I do every single morning.
Speaker 4:So like where? What are you seeking in those podcasts?
Speaker 2:Like. So for me it kind of is a variety of things right. So I'm a big believer in personal growth, so a lot of the podcasts that you'll see in my heavy rotation are personal growth related. Personal growth business always right Like I'm always interested in that. I recently am on a as a middle-aged woman as as Brandon's target audience and a middle-aged woman, um, I am on a big kind of health journey and realizing, like I've got to, I've only got one body here and I got to take care of it, and so I'm on a lot of like the health rotation and and aging as a woman what that looks like.
Speaker 2:And so that's kind of I'm, I'm, I'm an, I'm an information seeker all the time, so can it help me? Can I help my clients? Can I help my family? Uh, can I help someone that I care about is usually what I'm listening for.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, and some just pure entertainment. Some of it's just to make you laugh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 4:Yeah, do you just turn Theo Vaughn on and you just laugh at the ridiculous conversation? Yeah, so Absolutely Just a ridiculous conversation.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so this comes back to you. Tell us about the Wealth 435 community.
Speaker 4:So yeah, the 435 podcast too is, you know, our team, the Wealth 435 team, right, it's wealth management and real estate and those things intersect in some capacities and we found that a lot of clients they're in their own silos, they make decisions on the financial wealth management side that aren't as connected to real estate as they could. So it's kind of like an educational thing. And then how do we facilitate it? But the podcast itself, the 435 podcast itself, is just for st george. It's southern utah, right, if you're right now, it's in just washington county. Obviously the area code goes up north. Yes, I know that.
Speaker 4:Everybody listening in from up north with the 435 area code, but I mean it's really focused in on the geographic area, right it's. The community is that narrow and small, and that's okay because we don't have enough conversations at the local level. At least from my perspective, that is a one stop place for all that information that's really impacting our lives on a day to day basis, right? Businesses that are coming into town understanding what's happening in development, because we're a growing county and, um, you know real estate business and then politics, right, and the politics bleeds into all those things. So local politics doesn't get covered, hardly at all.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, Well, I mean, for me, this is the reason I thought it was really interesting uh, interesting with Russ and I coming into town for some business meetings and things.
Speaker 3:The reason I reached out to you guys to do this podcast mashup is I love the way you guys approach your community and I see how much value you're bringing to the people that lean into your conversation and it's fun to see all of us approaching, building community and value to a different audience, but in some element, the same way, right, using using digital media as this platform to have these conversations.
Speaker 3:And, as I thought about man, what I want to, I know I want to spend some time with these guys and have this conversation, but where do our our communities clash or come together? And that's one thing I thought was interesting is, even though, like my, my footprint is all over the U? S cause we're not as hyper local as you guys, you guys are going so deep in value in in in one area. It just I thought it'd be an interesting conversation to talk about, like how, how important community is and sometimes we discount geographically where we're located, uh, where we're hanging out online, and how big of an impact that is from a decision standpoint on ultimately what you become, if that makes sense.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, well, and then it's on the heels to today, being that it's the first of October. The episode that dropped today was the Kiln episode, and Kiln's a co-working space that's coming in to St George, but they're in Lehigh and Provo, they're all over up north but they're in lehigh and provo. They're all over up north but they're opening like 15 other locations across the western portion of the united states and that co-working environment, the sense of community is, is one of the main things they're hanging their hat on, is a differentiator in the co-working spaces. Uh, cultivating, creating community within those smaller businesses or those businesses that are moving around, that are a lot more mobile or flexible, is kind of what they've driven at and the importance of that. And in that episode I talked about this digital nomad that I was listening to talk about.
Speaker 4:He traveled for five, six years in all over the world because he could work from anywhere. Right, he just it was him and his laptop and how he was really depressed because of that, like that ultimate freedom and being able to go wherever you want. He was missing out on that, that physical community, the ones that he got to see. And build long term relationships, because there's value in these short term relationships and you can only go so deep. When you're digital right, there's only you know you can talk to somebody on the phone and hide your face with puffy eyes right.
Speaker 4:And sound just fine, right, we've probably all done that. So that local community you raised. The question, though, too, is like can somebody where where they're raised is kind of where you phrased it from is like, if you're raised in a small town or a smaller town like St George, versus you know a bigger city, whether it's Salt Lake thinking about, does that impact, like who you become later on? I thought that was an interesting question, yeah.
Speaker 3:You know well. I think it's interesting because I think we've gone full circle to some extent. You look at our grandparents, or even our parents to some extent, is they have less choices in their community, right? They, a lot of them never migrated far, far away from where they lived or where they grew up. Their community became their local congregation or where they grew up, their community became their local congregation, their local school, and they didn't have the digital resources.
Speaker 3:Fast forward to COVID years. All of a sudden, we all like completely disengaged with all of the things that were normal community, right, kids weren't going to school, a lot of people didn't go to work, a lot of people were working from home, and then people started feeling the effect of not being part of a community, and now I think we're still trying to figure out this place in the middle. But the thing I love about it is the world we live in now is people can be more selective on choosing the communities, and I think, if they purposely do so, it's going to accelerate their personal development because they'll have more choices, which can feel diluted. But by having more choices, you can actually be more selective in what communities you're going to lean into that are more in alignment with who you are.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Well, getting information right, like as you operate within the world you have, you have to go to trusted sources for information right, and I think we're all habitually going to go. Um, you know, there's a, there's, there's some reasons why Walter Cronkite was as famous as he is, but he was kind of the only option. But now you there's lots of different options and knowing who you can trust on that given topic is sometimes difficult. But once you find that person, you end up building that, that community with that person, because there's that trust build.
Speaker 1:Well, I think that goes back to what Marcus is saying with your choice of community, right. So now, if you have a, you kind of lean a certain way politically or you really like leaning into certain conversations or whatever, you can seek out a source that is delivering that, that value set, and you can lean into that community. So now you have the choice of community there, which I don't want to say makes someone like Walter Cronkite obsolete or you know, but he's not around.
Speaker 2:But in a sense it kind of does right. Because you have the choice and you get to hear your information from someone that you know like and trust right. It's back to, it's almost back to the relationship on a on a news or an event or the local politics Like.
Speaker 2:I know that you guys got a ton of traction just covering that because so few places do, and for you to be able to say, hey, we're going to interview all the local politicians, we're going to tell you what's going on right here locally and now they get to choose. Like I actually love the way that Robert delivers this news to me and I'm going to go deeper into that community and you can almost intentionally or unintentionally filter out any other voice that you're going to hear.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right it's. It's potentially dangerous, though, like for sure, slightly dangerous.
Speaker 3:So it's, it can be powerful and it can be dangerous. Yeah, right, it's like having a power tool, yeah, it's just. And so let's, let's go deeper on that for a second Cause. I, in my mind, as I'm going through this, I'm thinking through all the different communities I'm a part of, right I'm, I'm building several communities through my podcast, through the businesses I own. But I also participate in some communities my jiu-jitsu gym, my church congregation. Those are communities that I participate in. But have I slowed down enough to say, looked at who I am and what I'm trying to like, the life I'm designing, and asking myself is that community really contributing to my progression on my design, what I'm trying to accomplish in my life? Or am I a part of this community by default? And I think it's interesting to look at. And the same thing with kids looking at them to be like are they falling into communities or are they being purposeful in choosing their communities? And I think, as parents, we need to choose some communities for them to teach them certain things.
Speaker 4:But just some thoughts yeah, and so so, thinking of that, do you think that there's a timeline where obviously there's a low overhead cost to being able to be a podcaster right and build a community in this format? Yep, like rob.
Speaker 4:I run her financials I don't know about overhead, just keep spending, rob, there's, there, there's, uh. But the ability to just get your voice out into the internet is, in general, pretty low and so are we diluted. Are we just diluting all of that and it's going to just make it more difficult and and up a lot of people will and not to criticize what you've created in your different communities, but I think people only have a maximum capacity of who they can actually build relationships and community with. Right there's like there's there's a finite number of relationships that you can maintain at a high level. I mean, there's lots of studies done specifically on this, but Malcolm Gladwell's really talked about this in communications and stuff like that. So, thinking about that number, do you think sometimes we're trying to build communities and just shouting into an empty echo, you know, into an empty cave of all these other?
Speaker 3:voices. I mean, I think this is a great question because I get you guys probably get asked the same question all the time, like oh, should I start a podcast? Like I get people all the time asking me if they should start a podcast and my question is is maybe like, do you have a voice, do you have a message you want to get out there, and is the message more important to you than the following? And I, I mean it is noisy, it is a competitive space you think about, think about over. If you made a list of the podcasts and digital mediums you followed over the last several years, you go through these patterns of I'm really into this one for a while until someone tells me about this one, then I kind of jump onto that one. I stopped listening to some of them. There's this rotation of value.
Speaker 4:That's funny, because that's kind of why I was asking Russie, like what are you listening to right now? Because it changes, it changes.
Speaker 3:And for me I can't. That's why I'm so committed to the journey I'm on, like I've. I've been thrilled with the community. I call my community the enchilada nation. I've been thrilled with it growing and the feedback I get from it. But it's because I'm not making it about just numbers. I'm not just saying I need as many followers as I can get so I can monetize this and make more money doing this or that it's. It's happening naturally by, I think, because I'm getting really clear on what I'm trying to accomplish and hopefully it's resonating for enough in that echo chamber that they're wanting to be a part of it and then at some point they they might decide like they've got enough value from it and they need to move on. And I got to be okay with that and be committed to the mission and vision of of what I'm, what I'm trying to accomplish.
Speaker 4:That's so funny said that because Gary Vee I was listening to Gary Vaynerchuk in like 20, probably 2017, 18, 19, like pretty heavily. I probably listened to him almost every single day because he literally documented every single thing that was going on in his life, so you could always jump in and get new content from Gary and one of the episodes. He's like if you haven't done the things that we've talked about doing, you need to stop listening to me and go do those things.
Speaker 3:And I turned haven't done the things that we've talked about doing. You need to stop listening to me and go do those things. And I turned it off and I I stopped going.
Speaker 4:I stopped listening to him. I'm not even kidding you, I was like he's totally right, I just need to go do the thing. But but it honestly like when I look at, uh, the 435 podcast, uh, I go back to his book. Uh, jab, jab, jab, right, hook right. He's like give value, give value, give value. And people are going to want to participate in seeing you do the things that you want to accomplish. As as that, as you're giving back into those communities value, there's going to be an eventual feedback loop that will, in return, you're going to see a clear value proposition that would want you to continue Right. And I think you and Matt have talked about the value ladder. I think you guys done value ladder classes and it's that's so impactful. So, thinking of how do I continue to give value to this community that's listening in and then also continue to expand that? You know it's tough.
Speaker 3:It's tough and staying relevant. That's why that's one of the things that's really impressed me with with what you guys have done here in St George. By the way, if anyone's listened to this that hasn't been to St George, utah, you've got to come see St George. It is beautiful and it's the quality of life here. It's incredible. But the thing I've loved about what you guys do is, instead of making it niche specific as far as like real estate, you've made it about just a product or a service you've, of all the people that live in Washington County or St George at any given moment, you've limited who you're bringing value to, but by making it about the community, every single person that lives here woke up this morning again to choose. I'm still want to live here, and if I want to live here, I want to understand what's available to me here. Right, it's brilliant.
Speaker 4:Well, and I was. The funny thing too is I was thinking about the people wanting to move here from these different areas that might not have heard or have done a little bit of research. But if you wanted to go find about the politics in Southern Utah before you move here, you couldn't really do it Right. And so that's where we followed the city council elections really closely, like every. We interviewed every single one candidate.
Speaker 1:I live here and I couldn't find information about local politics. I don't know what's going on until we started the podcast. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Interesting.
Speaker 4:And so and even still, like me doing research on some of these topics there's just so little information that you can find at the real local level and the county levels helpful to take a step up, you get. You get a little bit more information from that perspective. But either way, the idea would be if you're coming to St George and you've heard about water, like, we have episodes, plenty of episodes about water, right, we have you know about power and schools and all the different aspects of the community itself, and that's kind of. But then we have to again stay top of mind and also continue to add to that. Right, you can't just well, we already covered that Just go check out that other episode, go listen to that episode. Yeah, it doesn't really work that way.
Speaker 2:One thing, Marcus, you said was community by default.
Speaker 2:And when I think about that, I think that's pretty interesting, right, because it by default in some ways.
Speaker 2:Right Like you grew up in a small town, I grew up in a small town, so there's certain things that you're going to default into.
Speaker 2:And yet in this platform and we're talking about creating community and kind of those opportunities that come from it you almost you can't rely on a community by default, because by default, they may find you one time, but if you don't continue bringing value and, just like you were saying, continuing to kind of layer on and be current and know what's happening, they know they can come to these podcasts to get information, but it won't continue to be a default community for you because at some point, if it's no longer relevant, they're not going to continue to come to you. But yet how many communities are we involved in that? It's become a habit or default, and I think that's one of the interesting things about a digital community, which is really what's being created. Right, it's a digital community by default. You're not just going to keep your congregation in a sense, right, by default, you have to continue to be relevant, provide more information and make sure you're speaking to your community and what connects those people, which I think is interesting. A community by default.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's an interesting idea, Thinking about Gary Keller, lots of Gary's. Gary Keller talks about how real estate has to be a certain percentage digital and a certain percentage physical right. There's going to be value in every business. The way I'm hearing him talk about it, about it's like there's value in every business to some physical aspect of these communities that we build right, because a business is a community, no matter you know how we slice it up right. So it's interesting to see you know you get these booms of these uh, communities, digital communities, but what percentage ultimately stands the test of time? It it's going to rely on that physical community that they can maintain Right. And so, thinking about you feeling spread out, you feel a little spread out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I feel I feel spread out, but I think a lot of that too is is again getting clarity on the message, like if I was, if I was taking my message, of the whole enchilada of saying I'm seeking individuals that want to live in elevated state across the platforms of spiritual wealth building, business, health and relationship.
Speaker 3:If I stayed, so I live in Farmington Utah. If I stayed specific to Farmington Utah, it's not every single person that lives in Farmington would be want to be in my community, like everybody in St George has a vested interest in your message. So for me I have to go wider and so I think that to your point, I think within a demo, you have to know your demographic. So I've got to understand that I don't have the physical capability, even though I know I've got listeners, you know, even outside the U S, that tune in every week. I can't physically get face to face with them, but I've got a cross barrier. I can. I can still understand what it is they're waking up worried about and does that align with my message? And can I, can I close the gap for them? How do you get?
Speaker 4:like how do you bridge the gap between you speaking into the mic and then engaging back? Are you like in the comments?
Speaker 3:Do you get emails Like how does that work for you? So for I mean, for me, it's. It's interesting where I get comments back because the the podcast uh is it's harder for like on, like immediate engagement, because most people are listening sometime during the week while they're driving. That's normally where my people are listening to me is either during a workout or driving. We get way more listens than we get YouTube watches, um, but where I get to the majority of my engagement is generally I'll take something that's on my mind, like right now, community and culture is really on my mind. So what I'll do is I'll start thinking about that, trying to understand where I'm coming from, what I want to learn about it. I'll think about who in my world would be a great person to connect with to do a podcast episode.
Speaker 3:I generally write a blog post around it. It's interesting that that blog post the people that actually join my community and I'm sending out that weekly email to. That's where I get a lot of the emails back of like oh my gosh, this message was so timely, thank you. So that's where I'm getting a lot more engagement there. And then also breaking down my podcast messages, these long form content, into short form content, and then I'm getting the comments on social media. So it is interesting that you know you talk about. Geographically, it's easy to define the boundaries of St George as a city, but it's a lot harder to put a border around a digital community, because it's someone that may have been communicating with me via Instagram today, next week, may be responding to an email that went out to them, but it's their most digital forms, but different platforms.
Speaker 4:That's why it's so difficult, Cause like that, that physical connection is that email. Right, Like you know, somebody sat there behind the computer and then type this thing in and then you received it just like letters back in the day. Right, there was this physical connection to getting that personalized message and that's that's the thing I've struggled to do Blake and I were just talking about this today is that commitment to engage, like physically engage, into that digital community and stuff.
Speaker 2:And don't you think it's interesting that we're coming back to that almost, because for the longest time, I feel like blogs almost kind of went away, like people weren't reading them, people weren't reading them, people weren't opening emails. And now just you and I today were like, oh my gosh, if I get one more spam text right, it's. People are like almost going the opposite where they're going to take the time to read an email or a blog and engage in it, and maybe that is the like letter or the physical touch.
Speaker 4:Do you think? Do you think that that is coming back, or is that just I think?
Speaker 2:it is.
Speaker 3:I think some people are like no, the reason they're not reading anymore because they're getting in a video format. I think it depends on your demographic. I think this is where you've started.
Speaker 4:Got to start like narrowing down to like oh yeah, yeah, like connecting with gen gen x, whether it's millennials, gen z, that kind of those types. Is that what you're?
Speaker 3:talking about yeah, but again to me it's, I don't, it's this. Maybe this may make some digital content person out there roll over and be frustrated with me, they're probably not listening. I don't, I don't get, I don't get. I don't really measure my success by like how much engagement I get back on, like the long form content, but it's more. Am I? Am I personally growing from this process? Am I learning and?
Speaker 2:if.
Speaker 3:I, if I am, I've got to have enough confidence because, like the blog format, for example, if I have 10,000 of those emails go out in connection with the content, I'm focused on that week. And if I get, uh, let's say, 20, 30 emails back with really sincere replies, that's such a small percentage of the total number of emails that went out, but how many people opened it and didn't say anything or read part of it and then moved on? I don't. I don't really have a way to get. I can gauge some of those from opens and clicks. But I just got to say am I growing from this? Do I believe in the content and am I progressing? And if I, if I, if I am, I've got to have enough confidence that I'm bringing value to the community.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, one of the things that I found interesting this year I started sending out a weekly newsletter, yeah, and I've gotten more response on that than I would have ever thought. I have a click rate of over 50%, an open rate of over 50% on it.
Speaker 2:Which is huge.
Speaker 1:Huge.
Speaker 2:From what I understand, For an email that's huge.
Speaker 1:And I'm constantly getting back hey, I appreciate your newsletter. And then, like, I've sent it to somebody or is it OK for me to forward this to someone? And I've been. I've been getting like more engagement there than I've ever gotten on social media, which is weird.
Speaker 2:But I think that's really is kind of like when you said is that really having a comeback and a resurgence to me? A 50% open rate on a newsletter, that's big. And the fact that people are engaging and coming back to you and saying, do you mind if I send this to someone else, Like that you're bringing good content and you have the right audience.
Speaker 1:Well, I think the moment of epiphany that I just have, that I just had, is that my messaging and that is very clear.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Very specific and very clear in my newsletters and I'm probably not clarifying on my podcast enough who my community is and who I need to attract to that community. That's a good point.
Speaker 3:Let me ask you this question, just as out of curiosity is because, rob, you had mentioned earlier that I talk a lot about value ladders, right, that it's I think you have to, you have to layer value over time and that, and the steps on that value ladder can't feel too strenuous to go from one to the next. So obviously, the it doesn't take much obligation to read a newsletter, right, because it's I can't imagine they're buying the newsletter, right, but what was? What was the invite? What was the, the, the step before the newsletter? Cause somehow they got enough value that when that email hits their inbox there's enough validity for them to say of all the, all the emails that came in, I do want to open this one.
Speaker 4:I'm imagining that's not your first. Your money's frozen unless you read this email. You can't move your money unless you read this. I'm a prince in.
Speaker 3:Dubai. I wanted you to inherit my money.
Speaker 1:No, uh, I think what helped me is when I first, when I first sent it, I didn't know anything about okay, so there's always a thing about like the thing that can get in your own ways of your own intelligence sometimes, yep, so I didn't know that. Quite often I think, yeah, but I didn't know there was like you could could get tagged for like the systems would flag you for spam if too many people didn't open your emails. So I was just taking my CRM and just downloading my like contact list and just like blind CCing everyone you know, like sending it off to compliance. Hey, is this, is this email good? Yep, blind CC like blast, 200 people you know.
Speaker 1:And uh, and one of my it friends told me like hey, just so you know. So I had at first had no way of tracking, like open rate. All I knew was people were kind of saying like they were applying oh hey, this is really cool, great information and thanks, and so I just kept doing it Like um I S. I switched to um using like a service that sends them out um, but I had, uh, I had a, a group of people that I had their contact information because I've talked to them and had given them value like that's so it wasn't just like a everybody.
Speaker 4:Every email that you had is people you know and have talked to before.
Speaker 1:I've never. Yeah, I don't. I'm working on it right now so that somebody can, because I know this is like the next step in entrepreneurship here to be able to have people sign up on your website for my newsletter. But right now the only way they can sign up is, like if they like If they call you and say hey, can I get your newsletter? If I take the time to put their email in my CRM and then, like, tag them.
Speaker 3:See, that makes sense that your open rate is so high, because it takes some amount of personal connection for them to get in there.
Speaker 1:Well, so going back to your thing is like the thing that made them open, that is, they saw that it was from from me and they, I am hoping, associated in their head like, oh, this is somebody that has added value to me in the past, whether it's something that I think the hardest thing, though, like the hardest thing to do would be to take a podcast like this, or a podcast like the whole enchilada.
Speaker 4:somebody might've heard from a friend or they stumbled upon it, right, they might've stumbled upon it in some kind of way and, connecting to that person that you may have gotten their buy-in, but have you really got their buy-in? And then, even in the episode, you got to deliver that value that's in that email, when you have their attention almost immediately, cause you might lose them, you know, over something else.
Speaker 3:And I think, I think as as a value creator, someone that's really trying to drive that value forward. I think it's our obligation to know within our community who is willing to lean into a higher level of value right? So, like within the Enchilada Nation people hear me talk about it on my podcast hey, enchilada Nation, to me that's everybody. That's everybody that's potentially hearing my voice, my message to some extent, and then, uh, anyone that's getting the, the newsletter and some other things they have actively taking some step towards their relationship to like me posting a podcast out, me putting something on social media is me putting something out without any knowledge of whether someone's going to enjoy that value or not.
Speaker 3:But as soon as they take some step back towards me, like a subscribe, make a comment something to me that they go from enchilada nation to enchilada network is the way in my database I track it. If they're in the network that means they've made some element of the relationship back out of the network. If they really start leaning in, they're making comments they're coming to multiple things.
Speaker 4:I just held a big event for for the enchilada elite in Florida. We did a multi-tiered system, a gun shooting event, and we had 20 incredible entrepreneurs. How do we get an elite group? Yeah, I didn't get an invite to that, brandon did but we already did.
Speaker 3:It was it. We already did that. It was incredible. We had such a great time. But it was people that the reason the conversations were so high level and value there is because they'd been leaning into this value over time and knew that the other people in that group also had been leaning into the value.
Speaker 4:There's a connection there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there was a connection Like that community, even though that was the first time some of them had met at all or even engaged. Because there was the commonality and community, the barriers were instantly broke down.
Speaker 4:So within that community? So those the you rattle off the segments. What are the segments of your community?
Speaker 3:So a lot of nation, a lot of network.
Speaker 4:No, no, no no, no, no, no, like family spirituality, money spiritual, so spiritual wealth, business, health and relationship. Yes, Okay. So out of those elements, where do you get the feedback the most is like this this thing resonates. Do you think there's like one of them that's kind of an outlier?
Speaker 3:It actually has been kind of interesting, cause I think what which of the platforms first attracts them to the community is not the one that engages them the most. And what I mean by that is sometimes because I do a lot of like really challenging physical things. People get intrigued by climbing a mountain or doing jujitsu or whatever it is, and it attracts them to the community, thinking they want to do that too. But then the comment I get back from them is on a spiritual post, something about faith-based growth, and they're like that's what I needed to hear. So that's one of my. It's actually rewarding, I think, in a community when you find something you didn't expect in that community that even bonds you more to that community. Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 4:So, but going back to like what attracted them in might've been one thing, but maybe from the comments and the feedback, like when you're actually having conversations, is there one is spirituality, is that? Does that?
Speaker 3:No, I think the I think the business is number one. For me, business is the number one attractor in just cause uh, I think that's more the, the realm of which I'm known, and I think it's probably similar going back to you. I'm a pet is similar with wealth. Four, three, five is you may, you may capture a new listener because they're, they are like no, I do want to know about what is the water situation in saint george? Like I, every time I've heard about you before maybe didn't intrigue me, but now, if I can step in and say I am concerned about the water situation, to come and listen to that. They're getting value from that which probably opens them up, to be more open to like the other things, other topics you're talking about.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally, totally, my my thinking of like, uh, what do you know best to out of like all of those different segments you might also, what you know best is what you kind of lean into the most is business, the one you kind of lean into the most.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'd say business and um, you know I've, I've really done a lot in like the uh health space. I've really always enjoyed working out and those type of things, and I love being active.
Speaker 4:You didn't have a black eye this time I saw you, so I was like oh apparently he's been doing better in jiu-jitsu.
Speaker 3:Better or less, I don't know, or less.
Speaker 2:He's just been picking smaller opponents.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly so, yeah, I think that's right. I think you have to lead with what you know, because you have to have validity in your space. But yeah, but I don't. I don't think that you should shy away either. I think you actually because we were talking about the, the it being so noisy out there I think, if you're not pushing the limits of your own knowledge, that you become neutral, you become vanilla in the space.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, what you were talking about, like what do you want to deliver to your community, is a lot for like for your own self, like you're, you're number one listener. Yeah, funny thing is that really resonates with me, because the a lot of times the people that I have on there's I have some direction in certain times and then other times I'm just like I don't know anything about this. Who's the best possible person on the planet to talk to? Because I don't know and I don't really want to go to this, I don't want to go to the computer to do it.
Speaker 2:I don't want to give it a gook I don't want to give it a gook.
Speaker 4:I want that personal connection, to like somebody who's seen it happen in real life, right, and so I really like getting to like who is the tactician in any of these things that impact us, right? Who are the people that are like on the ground doing the work in that specific field and coming to from curiosity on them? You know, just I, I don't know anything. I don't necessarily want to tell anybody anything in this one. I want somebody else to tell us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, those are always my favorite, exactly, yeah yeah um, I think, marcus, one of the things that you said is you're best known. I think people that just know you in the industry or know you that would probably go to your podcast, most often for business. I think that's one of the things that maybe people are surprised by and that's maybe why you get comments on some of the other things. They came there for business but then they're like oh man, I'm also working on a work-life balance or I'm also working on a health journey or a spiritual journey, and so it kind of encompasses, like here's business and I'm known for this, but these are all the other personal journeys that I'm on, and I think that that's unique.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, good point, I think, being somebody that was raised by my father and now as business partners with them, I think I can wholeheartedly say that it just hits different when you hear it from a different source sometimes.
Speaker 2:For sure.
Speaker 1:Right. I've had my dad, like in hindsight, where he's probably talked blue in the face trying to explain something to me and uh, and then I'll hear it from a different you know contact or someone else that just it wasn't like their space to normally be giving that message or something. And all of a sudden just something clicks and I go, oh, oh, yeah, it's brilliant. And then, yeah, yeah, that's brilliant. And then probably what drives my dad crazy the most is when I take that back to him and I'm like dad, I have this idea.
Speaker 2:You're not going to believe what I just said. He's like oh really, I started implementing that when you were five, yeah Right.
Speaker 1:Um, so I, I think that's probably the why people are engaging on it is because they, they, they come expecting a message of of business, right, of how do I be better in a business sense. And then you, you know, here's this person that just says, hey, just from a vulnerable standpoint, here's what I'm doing to be better with my family, yeah. And all of a sudden they're like that's not what I was expecting to when I, you know, when I, when I landed on Marcus's reel or his posts or whatever, that's not what I was expecting to get at all out of that. And because they had that, they didn't have their guard up in that. You know, like in that space, right, they probably had their business guard up going into it. Like I don't, I'm going to be a little bit skeptical, but whatever, marcus is saying today, you know like?
Speaker 1:is that the right way? I'm going to be analytical, Cause that's what I'm here to challenge and grow on who. I wasn't expecting him to say that about family, yeah.
Speaker 4:So I want to go back to this question, though Do you want to say anything on that? I want to go back. It says this I think you worded it perfectly, so it's what impact does geographical community have in who you become as a person? Ie, are you going to be a different version if you grow up or live in St George versus if you live in Manhattan? So what do you think?
Speaker 2:Does it matter. I think it does no-transcript, that you can layer that in, and I think there will always be a piece of it that if I'm raised here and someone else is raised in Manhattan, we can probably do similar things and we could both end up in St George, utah someday and it would maybe change our outlook on things. Right Like, my outlook's going to be a little bit different, based on where I was born and raised and even from being had I been born and stayed in Brigham City, let's say real estate, for example, if I stayed in Brigham City community versus I mean I'm not that far away.
Speaker 2:I'm in Davis County, 40 minutes to the South, but at the end of the day there's still two different mindsets when I'm sitting down having conversations with agents that were born, raised and continue to work and live in that exact community they were raised in. It's a different mindset.
Speaker 4:So if we take a step back, though, and we say you know, will someone become a different version of themselves if they live in St George versus Manhattan, and we understand that our where we're born and raised in once we become adult I don't know if I I uh believe that you the the whole. It's kind of cliches where you can't take the small town girl out of you know the small town girl, no matter where she's at.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:there's a country song about it, right western, I think people reinvent themselves all the time. I think I think there's some things they take. But like being a different version, like, let's say, you're, you're uh, 30, 30 years old with a young family living in st george. If I was 30 years old with a young family in manhattan, like if I was pick up my situation, I was a move Manhattan right now, would I be a different version of myself by living there versus a different version here, that's, I don't know.
Speaker 3:So it's interesting to me because if I think about it in respects to myself, I think, oh well, I think I could be. I know enough about myself that I can be a good version of me in either place, but all of us have kids here. Think about it from the perspective of your, of your kids, of what decisions you're making about which school are you enrolling your kid with. If they're on a team that a sports team that you feel like culturally is, you know there's bullies and things like that Are you making a move On a smaller scale? More than geographically, you think we're making very specific moves? I mean, my, my family is a great example of this.
Speaker 3:We lived in Arizona for several years for business opportunities and as my kids got to a certain age, it was important to me to know that I was going to put them in a community that they were going to stay in through their whole junior, high and high school years. I didn't want them to have to move during that period of time because of the impact, the relationships, the ecclesiastical leaders, those type of things. I think all of those are examples of. As a parent, I'm trying to lay the best foundation for my kids to pick up not only the things from me and Chris Shell, the things we want to provide, but the rest of the community of what they're going to provide for our kids it's. Are we that purposeful in thinking about it for ourselves? I think we put more time and energy trying to do that for people we love and not putting enough choice in designing our own future of choosing our community, our friends, our groups that we're a part of, if that makes sense.
Speaker 4:So your stance is that, yeah, you're going to be. You're going to be a different version of yourself If, if you were in Manhattan versus St George, like the version of yourself, like it's kind of a vague thought of like what, what is your version of yourself? So you're saying you're going to be a different version if you're somewhere else.
Speaker 3:I think it won't be a black and white version, but it will be definitely a different shade of me based on the environment I put myself in.
Speaker 2:Well, because I think, if you think about even the people, right, you surround yourself with different people in different areas. Most likely, right, you're living here in Utah and then you just pick up a move, like you said, you pick up and move your family to Manhattan. It's going to be a different lifestyle, a different group of people.
Speaker 4:The people you surround yourself with. Is it a better version or a worse version? I think it depends on what you're doing. Right, it depends on what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Define what better is, you've got to define that and what? Opportunities, because different isn't always better. Different can just look different. Right, Maybe there's different opportunities where you're at.
Speaker 4:People move neighborhoods because it just legitimately is just who's across the street. If you'll move your whole house and everything you have you know because, you don't like the neighbors. I mean, it for sure is going to be better or worse, but it does impact. What parts do you think it impacts the most?
Speaker 3:I think that's a great question. I mean, I'm just in my mind, I'm thinking through, like actual decisions that we've made as a family to impact our kids future decisions that we've made as a family to impact our kids future. For example, we've chosen to to live in a home. That is a very nice home, but we could afford more. We wanted our kids to be around kids making more, uh, fiscal, responsible decisions and things like that, right. So I even think, like man, it's hard to say which which part of it impacts the most, but I think each of them are impacted significantly based on where you live. Like it's just.
Speaker 3:I think there's a lot of little things.
Speaker 3:One of my, one of my kids we moved schools one year cause we felt like that wasn't the right environment for her and it it putting her into a new environment at school three miles away produced a completely different result for a kid in junior high years.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I think it's. I think it's interesting that, as I'm I'm talking to myself now is it's interesting how many walks my wife and I have been on specifically designing the community around our kids and their best interests, but how many of those walks were spent talking about, like our own communities and are we leaning into the communities that are helping us progress, which some of those are, but it's funny how your kids kind of demand that attention. Yeah, but I I just would encourage the people listening to this is is getting clarity to your point. Brandon, I think you made a great point of like well, it depends on have you defined what you're trying to accomplish, and I think we make a lot of choices to do that but is are we putting thought into environment and community in support of what we're trying to?
Speaker 1:accomplish. Yeah, I think I've put a lot of thought into this. Personally, I left Wisconsin like two weeks after I graduated high school, full of piss and vinegar back then you know, you're still full of piss.
Speaker 4:You brought that with. I didn't say I got rid of it, I just said I love it Now has it somewhere else.
Speaker 2:He just said he took it to a different state guys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I I came to Utah cause I I I didn't have a great experience in high school, um and I I felt, uh, like I was going to be trapped if I didn't leave. And I had been to Utah and there was something about Utah where it just seemed like a higher level of competition Like you know, if you were that kid playing city league and you wanted to play sports on the traveling team as a kid like that's just a higher level of competition. There's something that just makes you want to go compete at a higher level, right, like to get. And I had that. I felt like I had that drive and I felt like Utah would provide different opportunities. That I had that I felt like I had that drive and I felt like Utah would would provide different opportunities that I had no idea existed. Right, just, I just knew that it was going to be something different. Um, and so I came out to Utah for for school, started summer semester at UVU, like just, cause I was like wanted to get out that fast to Wisconsin.
Speaker 1:And uh, well, and and from there I started like intentionally. At first I had no idea what I was doing. What was I thinking them? Who should I be surrounding myself with? What are the habits I should be picking up? Like I had never stepped foot in a weight room, in a gym before I moved to utah.
Speaker 1:Well, I had two roommates on the uvu rugby team and they got me right like let's go to the gym well, yeah, so I started like anyways, I like, so all of a sudden I'm changing as a person and and growing. And uh, when, uh, when I joined the army, we had we left utah, my wife and I, and we moved up to Washington State, and so then we're part of a different community and, for better or for worse, the community of the military is its own community, for sure. And then you have also the community surrounding you in Washington State, like when you're off base in in Washington state, like when you're off base, and uh, I quickly could see in the army that there's not a community here. That I feel is going to always be challenging me to be be better.
Speaker 1:Uh, yeah, it was uh, and, and I and I served with some some phenomenal people, but I didn't like the culture of the community, of a lot, of, a lot of the things that I was having to deal with, and so, as I got out of that and we had the opportunity to then move anywhere in the country after I got out of the military, we started thinking like, well, where do we want to go? And let's be intentional about the community, I'd like to say I put way more thought into it, but we, we did think like, do we go back to Wisconsin? Right, all my family's in Wisconsin? Uh, do we go? Uh, my, my father-in-law lives down in Kentucky. Do we go? You know, do we move to Kentucky, have a, you know, quiet life in rural Kentucky? Um and uh, that wouldn't be fine.
Speaker 1:Well, and, before I joined the army, we lived up in Utah County, right, and, uh, I picked a good spot. I remember going back on on Christmas leave, the year before I got out, and it had exploded up there and it was. It was huge, massive, all these people, way more than I had remembered before when I lived there before. And so, as we got out, we just went. Okay, first off, st George doesn't snow, so that's like the biggest thing they have. The university to me was it was in Utah, and I like that. Utah has this culture of driving to be better, to better yourself in business spiritually, better yourself physically, right, there's all these things that people around you. Just it's not hard to find people around you in Utah that will help you, help elevate In the whole enchilada.
Speaker 1:In the whole enchilada way, help you, help elevate yeah Right, um in the whole inch a lot, but in the whole inch, a lot of the whole inch a lot, yeah, but it was um, but it was a smaller community and so I felt like there'd be a real chance to be a meaningful part of something bigger and that was kind of important to me.
Speaker 1:I just I felt something about that and, uh, it was interesting that as I moved to St George with like never been here really, um, and got a job offer from a company in Seattle on my way here, that was like we need you to go and talk to all the businesses in St George that are in, uh, you know, like all the civil engineering firms, at land surveyors, you know, and like it to know, as you. It was such a thrilling start, yeah, it was really riveting conversations, I promise, anyways, but I really got to meet a lot of people. And then I started having that effect where when I go out places like you, run into people you know, like regularly, every time I go with my family, we're running into someone I know.
Speaker 1:And that, to me, has become an even more important part of the community in which I live, because I want to raise now my kid in a community in which you can always, I can always point to him and say, look, we always do the right thing, we always, we never sacrifice our integrity, we, we, we are going to have these belief systems in our family because it matters. We don't live in a big city that you can go hide from, from these things. Right, you need to be authentically yourself at all times, in all places, and and to me that's a lot of value and something I want to instill in my own kids, so I intentionally choose to be part of the community here.
Speaker 3:I think you that was a cool deluxe to go through that process of like real world experience of some of those decisions you made. One of the things you said that was kind of an aha for be there was by by ongoing, choosing our community. It doesn't mean you're walking away from something bad, saying this community or geographical area is bad. I want to go to a good one, like you had mentioned, in the military. There was good people there that had an impact on you, um, and I believe that we learn things wherever we were. Before Rob, you were in the restaurant industry, rusty you were a hairdresser.
Speaker 2:Is that the right name Hairstylist, hairstylist, hairstylist.
Speaker 3:You were in the military, I was in construction.
Speaker 2:Also spent a lot of time in the restaurant industry.
Speaker 3:I think a lot of us could, we could, we could actually outline some very specific things we learned in that era of our life. That is still part of who we are, but I think this the aha I had as we were talking, it's just like this the complete version of who I am today is bits and pieces of all these communities of where I've gleaned the treasures basically out of those communities up to this point. I think this evolution of continuing to choose community, continuing to choose groups I'm a part of, is just adding onto that treasure. Like, what is the next evolution of learning that I need to do, and am I in the right environment to add on to what's already been built?
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I think you can always learn in any environment you're in. I for sure learned that in the army, you know. But I, I just you're, you're joking. Like, uh, everyone probably in this room, some at some point worked in the restaurant industry and I'm like, yeah, I'll still go down to culver's right now and I've eaten a lot at restaurants, but I've never worked at a restaurant.
Speaker 2:I told marcus he needed to get a job this week in the restaurant on the way down we actually had a conversation around it.
Speaker 4:This could be a host one of my. First could be a host man one of my first jobs was working at culvers, which is like it's not.
Speaker 1:Like it's not a glamorous job by any means, it's like a notch above. You know working at mcdonald's as a kid or whatever, and uh, but I still take away like I learned a ton of lessons about how to deal with people and communicate. And you know, keep your chin up and you know it's not fun, but you just gotta have teflon.
Speaker 4:Do you got to have teflon on? People say mean things when they're hungry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, people I say mean things when I'm hungry I know, you know I get hangry. Um, I think that is huge, like the restaurant industry in general, like we were talking about. We were talking about it on the way down. I know you and I have talked about this a ton the lessons that you learn in that industry specifically that just fill into every other place of your life yeah, right and it's probably not an area I would want to live in forever, uh yeah, it's a tough one and like.
Speaker 2:The things you learned there are invaluable. And also you learn how to like. I think that that was one of the areas for me that I learned how to like, turn it on and be like you can walk in and hustle tonight and make as much freaking money as you want, or you can come in with a sour ass attitude. Can I say that word on this show?
Speaker 4:You can walk in with this. Let me ask. Let me ask the boss. Yeah, he says it's fine, okay cool.
Speaker 2:You can walk in with a crappy attitude and it's going to affect every piece of your day, right? It's going to affect your income, it's going to affect the way that people interact with you and it's going to affect, it's going to affect all those other things, and so to be able to just have that and go, okay, well, I've got this lesson learned that. I know how to take you from hangry to like a smile on your face, and I'm going to get you food right away.
Speaker 4:Yeah, hospitality and that and that kind of thing. It's like a fast track to it. The interesting thing when we think about those evolutions is that we always will hit a ceiling. No matter what we're doing, we're always going to run into some kind of ceiling of achievement, right? That's another Keller Williams nugget right there that I learned. No matter what job we're doing, whether it's restaurants or construction or rest, you know, real estate, all of those different things we're going to run into ceilings and we have to figure out opportunities to where. How do we need to? What do we need to do to to break through that ceiling and and move on to the next level? Well, I think that goes back to the conversation, whether it's a parent or anything.
Speaker 1:Well, there's times like where you rotate out of communities or you move on to something different to experience that growth that you need in another environment. One of the things that I was just thinking as Rusty was talking and I think I run danger close here to like sounding like a Kamala Harris quote or something about- me.
Speaker 1:So easy. But what I was thinking is you're, you're kind of a, you're a summation of, like the communities that you've been involved prior. Right, and so we have. We all have these unique experiences that give us unique perspective, unique skillsets, a unique way of thinking about things or being able to communicate different ideas, and now you have. What's cool is, when you're part of a community, you have the ability to go then take that and add that as value into the community that you're in now.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's it. I think that's a great point is we've talked a lot about what we're pulling from the communities we're in, but I think that's a really valid question is what am I contributing to the communities I'm in? And I think a lot of like how you've treated your past experience up to that point is what value you bring to the table for that community. That was a really deep thought.
Speaker 4:That's good. That's good. What else do you want to talk about as far as, like, the value of communities and giving back?
Speaker 3:I think this is a good question to start wrapping up on. Is this is I knew you'd have one. Thank you, you're welcome. If and I'm asking myself this and I don't have an answer yet, so I'm gonna ask you guys first, cause that gives me a few minutes to think of my answer.
Speaker 3:But if we're, I think what we've come to a conclusion of is you go first that we are all a result of the communities we've been a part of and if I look at it myself is there's some things I'm very proud of that I've gleaned and learned from from communities and there's some bad habits that I've pulled from from these, some of these communities and groups I've been a part of. I love the question of like and I'm actually going to spend some time journaling on. This is like what lessons have I brought forth that I'm contributing to the communities I'm in? But the question I want to pose to you guys is what is the next, what is the next evolution of growth for you, and are you in the right? Are you choosing the right environment, the right group of friends? Not saying that, not going back to the question of should you move to Manhattan for this, but like yes are you?
Speaker 3:No are you kidding? Are you in an environment, a group, a community, a mastermind group that has that lesson available for you right now, or do we need to go looking for that next evolution of growth?
Speaker 4:That's a tough question.
Speaker 2:That is a tough question. That is a tough question.
Speaker 4:So you're simplified, simplified down as um out of your uh value sets of who you want to become, which is the area in which we want to continue or we need the most, we have the most opportunity for growth in. Is that what you're talking?
Speaker 3:about. Yeah, so my, my, I think to simplify that down is what do you need to grow in next, and are you in the right environment for that growth? And I guess it.
Speaker 3:I guess I will go first on answering the question because, like one of the things I really have been thinking about is and I've talked to a lot of my people about this is I am proud of that.
Speaker 3:They've chosen me to be the leader of them up to this point, and we're in a completely different world from a business perspective. So one of the things I've actually said to my people is you have to choose. Am I the right leader for you forward? And I'm committed to grow my leadership to be a better leader for you, and the world is changing. So like this is all the books I'm reading right now, a lot of the podcasts I'm listening to things like that are all leadership based for me to become a better leader for my people. The question that I would say is am I spending enough time with the people that I think are actually much better leaders than me, instead of just sticking my nose in a book? And that's my? The answer is is I need to spend more time with people that I think are evolving their leadership so that I can grow as a leader to fulfill my responsibility to the people I lead.
Speaker 4:I think I think we've done some of these exercises before. Uh, whether it's an ignite classes or whether it's other trainings that we've been a part of before. Right, we've even business planning. There's always an element of like okay, what's the personal growth goals that you have for this year there? Business planning, there's always an element of like okay, what's the personal growth goals that you have for this year? There's this quote that I had to learn in high school. So like the very matriculation day, you know, military prep school mom and dad are gone, everybody's standing in line, getting issued all their gear and we had to read a book. It's called the blue book and it's all the rules. It's the rules of the school.
Speaker 2:This is terrifying for me.
Speaker 4:By the way, there's a quote. It's Colonel Robert S Goss. He's the first superintendent of the school 1891. The final line of it is he who commands himself is best learning to command others. Okay, and as I think about that final like thought is like he who commands himself is best learning to be a leader for others. Right To be a leader, you have to learn how to command yourself. I'm a slow learner, I told you guys before like I can't narrow one down. I've listened to a bunch of information about ADHD because I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was a young kid.
Speaker 2:I self-diagnosed myself, you self-diagnosed, a lot of people have self-diagnosed and I don't know.
Speaker 4:I don't even know what that means anymore, Like I don't even know if it's, like, how do you diagnose this thing? But where I see it affect my life is an inability to prioritize things, Like on the fly, like I have a hard time weighing out should I do this or should I do this, Like what's the most important first thing, right, Functionally it's, it's something I have to it. There's not in no intuitive nature to priorities Cause then, as if I let life just attack me, right, I'm a master of my schedule, right that?
Speaker 4:was my master of my schedule. It's still my affirmation because I still haven't done it.
Speaker 2:Mine too, because sometimes I have a mess on my schedule.
Speaker 4:I have such a hard time prioritizing like the most important things, right. And so for me, like I've settled into, like what's my opportunity? Okay, first, can I just command myself? Like, can I command myself to the level at which I would expect somebody else that I was going to lead? And so my whole life was like you could be a leader. Here's all the leadership classes. Like, starting as a sophomore in high school, I was taking leadership classes right, like listening to the books.
Speaker 4:I, you know, have always been in some kind of position of leadership, mainly because, in absence of one, I always just end up raising my hand, cause if nobody else is going to do it, I might as well do it Right. And so I get put into those situations and the one thing I had to stop doing, I had to stop being the one in charge, like I had to, like I'm going to just be in charge of my, my thing, my family, first, and make sure I can have self-leadership first before I can move forward. Right, and even us growing our team as we've gone along, as like adding people to it. I'm like so. So maybe it's a mindset thing, maybe, maybe.
Speaker 3:I mean just to this point. I recently wrote a leadership course that I'm rolling out in a couple of weeks, a three week leadership Academy and as I wrote that course, I asked myself what is the number one thing that someone has to understand about leadership before they can be a great leader? And you just affirmed exactly where my mind went. Is we talk about leadership in the form of leading other people, but you cannot earn the right to lead other people if you cannot lead yourself. Yeah, so I thought you nailed that and it just thank you. It affirmed to me, as I'm getting ready to teach this, this academy, and roll it out, that I started at the right spot there. So I think that's cool.
Speaker 1:Thanks, yeah, I think one of the takeaways I learned in the army was uh, before you can lead, you have to learn how to follow, and the best leaders, the best leaders, will know when to go back to just following. Like, there's a time to lead and there's a time to follow. Yeah, yeah, you have to be able to pivot and super hard to do, yeah.
Speaker 2:Super hard. So what about you? Yeah?
Speaker 4:What are you doing?
Speaker 2:Um, I don't think that I necessarily could say like, oh, next evolution, like Russie 3.0 or 10.0 or whatever number I'm on right now.
Speaker 4:The iPhone version is like 18 by now. So you're at least that, I'm at least that, yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that probably next evolution for Russie is I think one thing that you just said that I was like, oh my gosh, that resonates so much is if somebody else wasn't going to step up and be the leader. You're like, well crap, somebody's got to be a leader here, right? So I'll step up, I'll do it, and I think for me, it's being a lot more trying to narrow my focus and be a lot more intentional with the things that I'm. Where am I leading that I can actually make an impact and how can I continue to grow and evolve? Because, quite frankly, there's years that I'm like I feel like I'm on a like a scratch record where I'm just like you know where you're not growing, and I'm like, how do I skip through that, the ceiling of achievement, whatever it is Right, and how do I become more intentional with what I'm doing as a leader to be able to really make an impact in the areas that I care about and that I'm passionate about and that I really want to make an impact? And I personally want to grow in right, because I think it's easy to, by default, jump in and go I'll do that or I'll say yes to this and am I really making the biggest impact in that area, and not just on the people that I lead, but on myself too.
Speaker 2:Right, am I growing in a direction that I don't feel like I'm stagnant? Am I growing in a way that I'm like, oh, I see this new version of myself up here and I'm proud of that version. I want to get to it, and I know there's people that are stuck in the same loop and how can I impact them more? And so I think the next part of that question was like how do you find that environment? I think for me, it's really defining what those areas look like, who that person is, and then how can I go and put myself in a position that I am intentional with it, but I am the person that's the right person for whatever's needed in that exact space, and intentionality instead of broad right, because I think it's almost easy a little bit to be a broad leader and say yes to everything instead of narrowing and focusing on.
Speaker 2:This is where I really want to make an impact.
Speaker 3:So, now that you've identified that, do you feel like your current environment? Your current group that you associate with can help you do that?
Speaker 2:As I sit next to my business partner, marcus Green. That's why it's so scary, that's so scary.
Speaker 4:You should do this on a regular basis. I mean anybody you're in? No, I think, If you're in a serious business relationship with somebody. If the answer is no, it doesn't mean you leave, right.
Speaker 3:If the answer is no, it's how do we introduce those elements? Yeah, how do you introduce those in? We can change our community. You don't have to leave the community, you have to change.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, no, and I was just joking about that, by the way.
Speaker 4:But I think, in some way I feel like I'm in the middle of a divorce right now.
Speaker 2:I think in some ways, yes, right, like your environment, I'm a firm believer that if I'm not happy in the environment I'm in around and going something feels funky. How am I impacting that environment and people around me? So, yes, I think I'm in an environment of people that are focused on growth, which is big, and I also think that anytime that you've been involved in multiple communities, led across multiple venues and communities and spaces, organizations, I think there's people that you're tied to, in some that maybe aren't really growing anymore and I kind of have been just like resonating through this. Are they in your? Is this a group for a reason? A season or a lifetime? Right. And I think the lifetime, people can be different seasonally, right, they may be in a lifetime, but maybe that season's evolved and you've got to figure out how to change that environment a little bit to make it still evolve with you and the world you're in.
Speaker 3:Okay, Did you just make that up? The reason season or lifetime, that's good?
Speaker 2:No, I did. Have you never heard that?
Speaker 3:No, but you should have taken ownership of it, because I've never heard of it, I didn't take ownership of it.
Speaker 2:I don't even know where I heard it, but actually you know it's funny. Yeah, I think that there's for everything you're looking at friendships. Some of them are for a reason. You're going to learn something, some of them are for a season and some of them are for a lifetime, and you know everything.
Speaker 4:So let me, let me step back to this question. I'm going to rephrase this question.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 4:What's the current personal project for yourself that you're wanting to see growth in? It sounds to me like it started with health, like because you were listening to the podcast, yeah. So like as a project goes, it's like I need to focus on an area in life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'll start like at the beginning of this year actually and Marcus was the one that kind of threw out this challenge but there was just a series of events at the end of last year that there were certain things with people that either there was some unexpected tragedies that had happened in people's lives, there was a lot of things that were happening health related and again, like I'm a middle-aged woman, right and there's just certain things that start to happen and you lose bone density and you lose strength and you lose all these things. And I think, probably coming into that.
Speaker 2:Perimenopause, yes, and it's a buzzword right now too, but like actually living in it, I will say that it made me. In January I was like man, I've got one body that I've got to take better care of, and all the factors you can lead to and say, oh well, you know I had put them away, cause I stopped doing this because of stress or whatever, right, but I had to really like start diving into why am I making the decisions with my health, that I'm doing so for personal journey and evolution for me. At this point I'm kind of getting back into like I'm the worst at, like I have really great habits for a long time and I'm like, okay, well, I was training for the half marathon or whatever. And then I'm like, well, now I haven't ran for three weeks.
Speaker 2:You know I'm still working out, but I'm not running Right, and so, yeah, I think that that's a good evolution. And for me I'm just yeah, so probably that just continuing.
Speaker 4:What about Brandon? I was going to go on a sidebar, but I know we're looking at the time here.
Speaker 1:We can sidebar it later. Like my business life has just gone like smooth, linear, lower left to upper right, but really, like the ride if you zoom in looks way more like a stock chart. It's just you know it's up and then it's kind of sideways and you're just grinding through it and then you have like the different firms and stuff.
Speaker 4:I've been looking at some of the obstacles that you would have never. You could have never put that into a business plan for the year. Like, anticipate roadblocks is like one of the strategies. In that, dude, you faced a couple of curveballs, dude.
Speaker 1:But I really feel like I am in that grind out portion the last couple months again and I'm really poised for some really big growth again, putting the right stuff in place, some really big growth again putting the right stuff in place and really really able to, yeah, just just take the next leg up in business, right. But as I do that, one of the reflections I've had earlier this year was when my daughter was born and as I took two weeks off, like didn't come into the, didn't go into the office for two weeks, I think I took like two phone calls the whole time. Like as an entrepreneur, that is really uncommon, that somebody is just like, oh, I'm just going to check out for like two weeks, it'll be there when I get back and and and do that. And that was pretty life-changing to me.
Speaker 1:My relationship with my son has been, uh, entirely different ever since then, uh, with my family, and so I really want to focus on being more, more present with my family and in increasing those relationships and uh, so I got to have this balancing act of like as I take the next leg up is that do I want to do? I want to chase the, the growth income, or do I want to use that next leg up to chase lifestyle Right and and not and not? Lifestyle and time with family really is what that's the life right, that lifestyle Right.
Speaker 1:So do I want to have a, a, a, a big practice and big business for the sake of having a big business, or do I want it Because at a certain point, I should just be saying, like you know, I'm very blessed and and and I should be using this now as a mechanism to drive a opportunity for relationship building with my family?
Speaker 4:I'm glad you said that too, because, looking back at you know, when I was at the stage right there with a brand new number two, right, If you had a number of kids, right, and I didn't shift fast enough in my own opinion on refocusing on family, right, Because a lot of times, especially as men growing a business, women's completely different, truthfully, but just as a man looking, you can get so lost with the excuse, oh, but it's going to provide for this really great life later on for us. And if I do it now, these are my prime working years, blah, blah, blah, all that stuff you get told and the reality is like, oh well, your, your time with your family, especially your kids, is really small, really small when you look at the income earning years as a as a whole. And it's easy for guys to put their head down and then miss half of it and then before they realize you know, oh shoot, I don't want to let this thing go. You know, I'm glad you said that that's, that's, uh, so encouraging bro.
Speaker 1:To answer your question, I am, I think, looking for more opportunities to be part of, uh, some different communities that that can help me in that, in that journey. Nice, I'm aware of that. I think I have some really good support around me, like, I have access to some really good resources and be and and some communities. But, uh, I'll say that I also feel like it's a little bit challenging sometimes, like when you get into the, the entrepreneurial space, and you get into the communities and it's always so hard line one way or the other. Right, and I'm a very I don't want to say like vanilla guy, but I'm in the middle on a lot of stuff. Right, like uh and uh.
Speaker 1:So I'm looking for a community that's like hey, we, we get it. You know, we too think that you should be able to use your business in a certain way to fund, uh, you know, family opportunities. Right, and and and spend time with your family and not just say, well, okay, we're going to do the next thing to 10, x or scale your business, or hey, business is bad, and you should just sell your business and spend time with your family and cash out. I mean, I had that opportunity this last year and passed on it. Yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, I think you and I have a whole other conversation about the uh, male versus female version of that Right, cause you said not so much as women, and I think it's a different version.
Speaker 4:If I said that I meant not so much as women, meaning the version of the male archetype of leading a family and saying, as a breadwinner, right. And then having a woman also see that same vision, I can't understand, like for me, I couldn't. I can empathize with it, but I can't, I can't imagine like what? That? What you deal with? Being a mom and a business owner, yeah, that's totally different, totally different, totally different.
Speaker 3:That sounds like a completely different podcast episode.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what I said. That's what I was saying. I was like this is something I think you and I should dive into. I think it would be interesting concepts.
Speaker 4:Absolutely, I think we should wrap it here. Yeah, thanks for being on our communities, collaborating together, crashing communities together.
Speaker 3:Yeah, super fun, and thank you guys for the relationship too. We've known each other for a long time. I've learned a lot from all of you guys, so I'm excited to continue to grow, and this has been great. I took a page of notes here of some things to really make me think.
Speaker 4:That's why you took the notes, so you can say that you took a page of notes. Nice, no notes.
Speaker 1:He's got AI recording the whole thing.
Speaker 4:He'll have his transcription here.
Speaker 1:shortly It'll summarize all of the different things.
Speaker 4:All right guys. Hey, thanks for tuning in everybody. We'll see you out there, thanks. Thanks for listening in. If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe. Make sure you're following us on all the social media websites. We love your support.
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