WEBVTT
00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:02.399
Welcome back to Clear Signal.
00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:06.959
Last episode, we talked about using your business as a teacher.
00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:11.839
And today I want to talk a little bit about using business as a game.
00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:24.000
I did a guest spot a couple of months ago now on a podcast that is by gamers and for gamers, meaning people who are video game enthusiasts.
00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:25.839
And I am none of those things.
00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:37.759
And one of the things sometimes I like to do is put myself in an environment where I have to explain concepts to people who have no idea what I'm talking about, and I have to become adaptive on the fly.
00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:41.039
Yeah, I think it's a good exercise for everyone to do.
00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:45.679
Too many people stay in rooms where they feel comfortable, and that's not where we grow.
00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:54.240
So something that I said on one of the first episodes of 2026 is that clarity is not the destination.
00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:57.119
Clarity is just the key to the next chapter.
00:00:57.759 --> 00:01:00.159
Something you're going to hear a lot in my world.
00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:05.040
And it is a pillar of the work I do.
00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:09.840
Because a lot of coaches out here are selling clarity in a time where everyone's lost.
00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:11.519
People are changing their business model.
00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:13.760
Society as a whole is changing.
00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:16.239
Entrepreneurship is never a sure thing.
00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:18.959
Humans always want the plan.
00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:22.000
Some people more so than others.
00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:31.680
And clarity is this nebulous buzzword, popular term that can make people feel like, okay, if I give this person money, I'm going to get this.
00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:33.120
I'm going to know the plan.
00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:34.560
I'm going to know where to go.
00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:40.959
And that's why selling tactics and frameworks and solutions confidently is what gets people money.
00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:43.280
And clarity is important.
00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:45.680
And clarity is what I give people, real clarity.
00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:47.439
Clarity that comes from the inside.
00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:48.959
Clarity that is embodied.
00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:50.719
Clarity that cannot be denied.
00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:52.560
Clarity that is a little bit dangerous.
00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:54.319
And I'll tell you why it's dangerous.
00:01:54.560 --> 00:02:01.439
It's dangerous because once you see it, no other option is an option.
00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:06.159
I don't care if the option is not the easiest path.
00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:09.039
I don't care if the option is not what you thought you wanted.
00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:13.439
I don't care if the option means that they're sunk in costs with where you've gone up until now.
00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:17.520
I mean, all right, I can't unsee this now.
00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:22.800
My system has reorganized around this vector and we're going forth.
00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:27.520
That is what is called orientation, which is part of the five-step framework that I do.
00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:32.000
By the way, I have nothing against frameworks because the human brain likes to think in systems.
00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:38.960
What I have is against frameworks that are useless, such that the word framework has means nothing.
00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:41.360
Kind of like clarity means nothing.
00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:47.759
Kind of like alignment has no longer means anything, which is why I have taken it out of my brand, if you didn't know that.
00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:54.400
I mentioned my other podcast, so I'll just say that I went off on a diatribe the other day.
00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:56.000
I'll say it in a much nicer way.
00:02:56.159 --> 00:03:04.479
I went to an event the other day, it was a networking event, and the person who invited me made a big deal about how great the speaker was.
00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:07.280
And I said, okay, well, I'm doing high-ticket advisory.
00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:12.800
Referrals are going to be a big part of what I do, so I should maybe become more formalized with this notion of referral.
00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:16.879
And none of my other businesses involved referrals.
00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:26.800
And his 14-step framework, which I left at step 11, one of them was, and each step had a TM trademark behind it.
00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:28.479
One of them was ask receive.
00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:31.439
It was ask arrow receive TM.
00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:36.639
And I was like, okay, now we don't even know what the fuck a framework is anymore.
00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:38.000
This is just shit.
00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:41.919
So I'm not against formulaic things.
00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:49.360
I'm just saying that let's let's use framework the way it should be used.
00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:58.479
And the stuff I'm creating is gonna be like nothing anyone is ever talked about in the way that I talk about it.
00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:00.400
That's category of one.
00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:05.520
Speaking of category of one, I published my article on Substack of Category One, it's listed in the show notes.
00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:13.039
If you're not a Substack person, no worries, but if you are, and or you want to subscribe to my thoughts in email, that is there for you.
00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:18.480
So going back to the podcast episode I did, it was for gamers by gamers.
00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:23.600
And I gave the analogy because I was like, how do I describe what I do?
00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:30.079
I guessed it on that podcast around the time that I was talking about Clarity is not the destination, it's just the key to the next chapter.
00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:32.959
It's very close to the time that I recorded that episode.
00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:39.040
And I use that because they are all gonna understand this concept of levels, video game levels.
00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:41.360
And so I said, you know, think about a video game.
00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:46.240
You're not trying to focus on the whole thing, you're trying to get to the next level, the next level, the next level.
00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:51.120
And I'm a fossil relative to the most of the people listening to that gentleman's podcast.
00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:57.600
So my reference point was Mario Brothers or Xanadu, or I don't even remember.
00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:04.319
These are games that were played probably 40 years ago, 35 to 40 years ago.
00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:08.000
So obviously you do not represent video games now, but the notion is the same.
00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:17.040
I remember you were trying to, you know, there's always some challenge at the end of each level to get you to the next level, to get you to the next level.
00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:20.560
And that's the way I like to view business.
00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:31.920
And so the last episode, I talked about business as a teacher, and I briefly shared some examples from my past businesses, which I'll share more in the future.
00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:36.560
And one of the things that someone would say is, okay, well, you did all these businesses.
00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:40.160
That's a lot of businesses in a short amount of time, 15, 16 years.
00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:41.839
I mean, sure, there was some overlap.
00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:46.639
None of them were, not all of them were meant to be long-term.
00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:56.319
The import-export, I was riding the gold wave, the gold rush of the Amazon FBA, no different than people have changed their entire business model to be I teach Claude courses.
00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:57.839
You think they're gonna be doing that in two years?
00:05:57.920 --> 00:05:58.160
No.
00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:07.439
They're riding the gold rush, they're getting uh cash-heavy business so they can utilize it for something else.
00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:10.879
And that was my initial thought with Amazon FBA.
00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:30.000
I learned that the overhead, the minimum overhead from an shipping from a minimum operations overhead, sheer pain in the assness factor, and upfront cash outlay was not worth it, but I had to learn the hard way.
00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:32.800
I had to crash and burn, if you will, in that.
00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:41.759
And there's a story I will tell in the future where there was a come to Jesus moment where I realized that I had no control over what would go wrong.
00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:46.879
There is a difference between I have no control here, so I'm gonna navigate.
00:06:47.120 --> 00:07:03.920
And there's a difference between that and you have put yourself in a situation where you have absolutely no control over if everything goes wrong, everything falls into the ocean, and you lose everything, and there's nothing you can do to stop it.
00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:13.360
And that's when you say, I place myself in a video game where I can't win, or I don't even have, there's no seek or doorways for me.
00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:14.639
I game over, right?
00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:18.560
The the the guy gets killed at the end to keep with the analogy.
00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:25.839
So I was explaining it to this guy, and I used this analogy of fog of war.
00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:34.240
Now, five minutes before the interview, because I do everything kind of last minute, I looked up on Chat GPT, give me some video game terminology.
00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:44.000
And so I utilized this terminology of fog of war so that I could be say something that would be somewhat recognizable to his audience and bring it back to something they would understand.
00:07:44.160 --> 00:08:01.040
And fog of war is this notion of you send soldiers, you know, virtual soldiers into the fog, and then they can seek out information for you, and then they bring back the information, and then you're less in the fog.
00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:02.879
The the analogy is the same.
00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:04.639
It's this notion of you're in the fog.
00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:07.120
That seems like a cheat to me.
00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:09.199
I think generally in life, you don't have that ability.
00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:12.720
You can't send out these secret virtual messengers to get information and come back to you.
00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:18.079
You kind of have to navigate in the fog without that.
00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:35.360
But the analogy is the same as navigating through the fog, finding clarity through that process, using that process as a teacher, and then getting to the next level of the video game.
00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:36.879
Not dying on level one.
00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:39.679
If you don't die on level one, you can make it to level two.
00:08:40.559 --> 00:09:01.519
And in the process, maybe you're gonna have fun, maybe in the process you can use it as a teacher, maybe in the process you can use it as a way to have fun, learn about yourself, treat yourself as a game, treat life as a game, treat business as a game, treat the whole experience as a game, treat your various chapters of your life as levels.
00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:04.799
And I have so much more to say about this, but I will save it.
00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:14.720
One of the things I'm trying to do is make each episode succinct, not in terms of length, but in terms of one idea per episode, which is not my natural style.
00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:22.879
By the way, if you like this style where I jump on, I don't edit, and I just have a thought, and uh it's usually gonna be 15 minutes or less, not always.
00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:27.279
I have a place where these are gonna be in the summer when I'm taking a step back from the podcast.
00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:30.480
We'll have a few episodes in the summer that'll be mostly guests and collaborations.
00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:38.960
But if you like my off-the-cuff teachings, I have a place where I'm gonna be sharing those and I'll let you know about that soon, maybe before or after Labor Day.
00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:40.240
Memorial Day.
00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:41.919
This is the second time I've said that.
00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:43.360
That's information right there.
00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.799
Okay, well, I'm listening.
00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:47.919
That's what I'm saying.
00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:48.639
Are you listening?
00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:50.320
That's another thing people don't do.
00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:53.600
But game.
00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:55.360
Video game, video game of life.
00:09:55.600 --> 00:10:09.679
So a long time ago last summer, I had an episode that was inspired by a quote from James Clear, and it was, I believe the title is What the Three Line Can Treat Us About Teach Us About Trial and Error.
00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:19.279
And there was a part two episode that I never dropped, because as I get further away from the older episodes, you know, the cadence is so different, the sound quality is so different, it just doesn't fit.
00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:27.039
And what that episode was about is I talked about all my different businesses, and I'll bring those concepts back in the future in a different form.
00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:32.799
But I had basically shared that, you know, if you were to look at a bio of me, I don't share my import-export business.
00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:34.480
I don't share my health coaching business.
00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:48.879
You're gonna see the health product I launched that was six figures, first to market, a real business in quotes, and the consulting consultancy I had for over a decade, 15 years, still at some level I do.
00:10:49.600 --> 00:11:01.039
The other ones were building blocks to that, or part of that journey, or aren't relevant from a I did X and Y, but they are relevant from an experience perspective.
00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:07.759
And I share that because when I launched my probiotic, prebiotic line on Amazon.
00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:10.159
Amazon is the wild, wild west.
00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:12.320
Amazon in 2015 was a nightmare.
00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:14.320
Amazon is sharks and sharks and sharks.
00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:15.679
Think chum in the water.
00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:17.519
And people think of Amazon as amazing.
00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:23.200
They're like, oh, I ordered my toothpaste and it arrived yesterday, or it arrived in like four hours.
00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:26.559
And yeah, Amazon is an operations arm.
00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:28.799
Amazon's background is logistics.
00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:35.120
Amazon is fabulous at this, and this is a decade after I was really selling on Amazon, at least with the FBA fulfillment by Amazon.
00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:38.720
If you don't know what it is, it was a thing in the online business world.
00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:49.679
And it was a wild, wild west back then in stories and things we'll talk about later here elsewhere.
00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:51.519
But the bottom line is it was a shit show.
00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:57.759
And the bottom line is that there was no rhyme or reason, and the bottom line is you could get away with everything and anything, and they've changed their rules now.
00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:14.639
But it was a wild, wild west, and I was competing with people who had no ethics, who are 22 years old living in their mom's basement, who literally would do anything for money, whose entire ethos was marketing bros, and it was a shark-infested waters.
00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:26.720
And the supplement industry and the health industry, in the health product industry, which is why I've stepped away from it for in addition to a number of reasons, is very, very, very gamed on Amazon in terms of reviews.
00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:28.080
Reviews are bought.
00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:39.519
Um, Amazon will bump people to the top who spend X number of dollars on ads, and it's a self-fulfilling prophecy because the more you lie, the more money you make, the more money you make, the more you can put back into ads, you can get premium placements, etc.
00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:46.399
The bottom line is it's a cutthroat, cutthroat, cutthroat, cutthroat industry.
00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:48.639
Sharks at every angle.
00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:54.639
There's no way I would have been able to navigate that if I didn't understand the Amazon platform.
00:12:54.799 --> 00:13:04.480
And the reason that I understood the Amazon platform is because I'd sold before selling non-perishable, non-expirable goods that were not in that category.
00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:10.879
I was in the health and beauty category, but I was not in the supplement category.
00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:14.720
And just as a little aside, I'm always thinking 10 steps ahead.
00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:16.639
That's why I call myself a clarity architect.
00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:21.759
So when I sold physical goods, I got approved into health and beauty.
00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:27.600
So that when I needed to sell regulated products in health and beauty, I already had an in.
00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:33.039
I already had track record because everyone is trying to sell in health and beauty because that's where the profit was with skincare back then.
00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:33.679
It was supplements.
00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:34.480
I don't know what it is now.
00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:35.600
Now it's a disaster, you know.
00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:40.799
Now with the influencers and Amazon shopping and social media, I have no idea.
00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:43.120
I have absolutely no idea what that place looks like.
00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:46.399
I am merciful, I'm thankfully completely ignorant about that world.
00:13:46.480 --> 00:14:03.200
I have such post-traumatic stress from that entire thing that, you know, other than pressing an Amazon Prime button for my renewal of the few things I buy, I literally don't go on that platform because that was uh a chapter of my life that is uh was a lot.
00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:14.159
A lot of sleepless nights, a lot of waking up to, you know, waking up saying, uh what's gonna, what is what shit show am I waking up to now?
00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:16.240
What email am I waking up to now from Amazon?
00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:19.679
What dumpster fire am I waking up to that I have to navigate today?
00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:22.320
It was unproductive and crazy.
00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:30.320
Um, and so my point is that that was learning video game level one before I went to live video game level two.
00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:37.279
And it's not something that's gonna get any applause and it's not something that anyone's gonna understand, but that's the real deal.
00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:45.440
And because of the amount of money I was spending for inventory for my product line, I could not afford to not make money from day one.
00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:51.200
I could not afford to fuck around and find out on that dime because those weren't products that were gonna expire.
00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:54.399
So I had to be selling immediately.
00:14:55.120 --> 00:15:03.600
And there was a minimum amount of time it took to produce that product because the cranberry was from Canada, cranberry has a you know crops and all this, like it was a whole thing.
00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:08.879
And so I had to game the system a bit, not in a negative way, but in like I had to find the crevices, I had to find the cracks.
00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:12.000
You only find the crevices and the cracks when you know the system.
00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:16.399
So that was an idea of this level one, level two.
00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:26.720
And so that is treating this as a macro conversation instead of a micro conversation.
00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:29.759
What is the video game of business?
00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:32.000
What is the video game of life?
00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:34.320
What is the video game of you?
00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:38.720
And that's what I mean by using business as a teacher.
00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:43.279
This is not a podcast you're gonna hear anywhere else.
00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:47.279
Because they want to sell you a sexy tactic based on nothing.
00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:51.120
And they want to sell you what success looks like.
00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:56.240
And I'll tell you that what I'm saying doesn't look successful, but it is in its own way.
00:15:57.600 --> 00:15:59.519
And what's important is I deem it that way.
00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:05.200
Because a lot of times we are the product of the stories we tell ourselves.
00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:17.840
And if you allow other people to tell you the story of your journey, that is a very different story than what you would tell yourself if you use the perspective I'm giving you here.
00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:21.279
And that's something I want you to think about.
00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:26.159
Because the more that I work with people, the more I realize they're not thinking that way.
00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:30.399
I think it could be useful for you to start thinking that way.
00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:40.720
As you're navigating forward, thinking about business as a video game, thinking about gaming the system, not in a negative way, but like life as a game.
00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:50.720
If you look at neuroplasticity and you look at neuroscience and you look at habit change, there is something known as breaking the chain.
00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:58.320
Breaking the chain is let's say you want to go to the gym every day, let's say you wanted to take a particular superfood every day, let's say you wanted to get up by 6 a.m.
00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:01.279
every day, let's say you wanted to do morning pages every day.
00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:13.680
Now I'm not a coach, and this is not my area of expertise, but I can tell you that this whole notion of marking it on a calendar that's visible to your brain because your brain doesn't want to break the chain.
00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:16.640
That's what accountability is based off of.
00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:17.519
So you can game it.
00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:21.200
You can game your brain to be like, oh, I'm winning the game.
00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:22.079
I'm gonna be game.
00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:23.440
Can I do this for 30 days in a row?
00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:26.799
Makes it a lot more fun and a lot more interesting that I have to do this.
00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:35.359
So gamification is built into apps, gamification is built into Facebook, gamification is built into everything, gamification is built into challenges, who can fundraise more, right?
00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:40.319
So bringing gamification back to your business, and by this I did not mean game theory, by the way.
00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:41.920
That's a that's a summer episode.
00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:51.599
But, you know, bringing back this notion of levels, bringing back this notion of play, bringing back this notion of what am I learning on this chapter that I'm gonna take to the next chapter?
00:17:51.920 --> 00:18:00.720
And maybe, you know, every lair is not a hit out the park, but maybe you survive to make it to level two.
00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:02.960
Right?
00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:08.319
So the takeaways for you are all the things I said when I do these kind of episodes.
00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:13.759
I don't do it packaged in a bow because what I do is I come on with one thought, I go in a direction, and I wrap it up for you.
00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:17.759
And that is going to be the format and the style of the thing I'll be presenting to you when I do.
00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:21.519
I keep wanting to say Memorial Day, I keep saying Labor Day.
00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:29.680
Now, twice in a row that's happened, so maybe my intuition is telling me something that is different.
00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:34.480
Category of one article from Substack linked below.
00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:36.319
I really like that episode.
00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:42.000
I don't know when it's gonna air, but if it airs and when it airs, I'll link that episode below in the show notes.
00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:43.839
It may be a long time from now.
00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:48.880
And I hope you enjoyed yesterday's episode, I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:54.000
I will see you after Memorial Day for an official kickoff for season three.
00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:58.640
And the takeaways are how can you see your business as a teacher?
00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:02.079
And how can you see your business as a game?
00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:03.759
I'll see you next time.
00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:02.399
Welcome back to Clear Signal.
00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:06.959
Last episode, we talked about using your business as a teacher.
00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:11.839
And today I want to talk a little bit about using business as a game.
00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:24.000
I did a guest spot a couple of months ago now on a podcast that is by gamers and for gamers, meaning people who are video game enthusiasts.
00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:25.839
And I am none of those things.
00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:37.759
And one of the things sometimes I like to do is put myself in an environment where I have to explain concepts to people who have no idea what I'm talking about, and I have to become adaptive on the fly.
00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:41.039
Yeah, I think it's a good exercise for everyone to do.
00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:45.679
Too many people stay in rooms where they feel comfortable, and that's not where we grow.
00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:54.240
So something that I said on one of the first episodes of 2026 is that clarity is not the destination.
00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:57.119
Clarity is just the key to the next chapter.
00:00:57.759 --> 00:01:00.159
Something you're going to hear a lot in my world.
00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:05.040
And it is a pillar of the work I do.
00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:09.840
Because a lot of coaches out here are selling clarity in a time where everyone's lost.
00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:11.519
People are changing their business model.
00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:13.760
Society as a whole is changing.
00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:16.239
Entrepreneurship is never a sure thing.
00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:18.959
Humans always want the plan.
00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:22.000
Some people more so than others.
00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:31.680
And clarity is this nebulous buzzword, popular term that can make people feel like, okay, if I give this person money, I'm going to get this.
00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:33.120
I'm going to know the plan.
00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:34.560
I'm going to know where to go.
00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:40.959
And that's why selling tactics and frameworks and solutions confidently is what gets people money.
00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:43.280
And clarity is important.
00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:45.680
And clarity is what I give people, real clarity.
00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:47.439
Clarity that comes from the inside.
00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:48.959
Clarity that is embodied.
00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:50.719
Clarity that cannot be denied.
00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:52.560
Clarity that is a little bit dangerous.
00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:54.319
And I'll tell you why it's dangerous.
00:01:54.560 --> 00:02:01.439
It's dangerous because once you see it, no other option is an option.
00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:06.159
I don't care if the option is not the easiest path.
00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:09.039
I don't care if the option is not what you thought you wanted.
00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:13.439
I don't care if the option means that they're sunk in costs with where you've gone up until now.
00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:17.520
I mean, all right, I can't unsee this now.
00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:22.800
My system has reorganized around this vector and we're going forth.
00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:27.520
That is what is called orientation, which is part of the five-step framework that I do.
00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:32.000
By the way, I have nothing against frameworks because the human brain likes to think in systems.
00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:38.960
What I have is against frameworks that are useless, such that the word framework has means nothing.
00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:41.360
Kind of like clarity means nothing.
00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:47.759
Kind of like alignment has no longer means anything, which is why I have taken it out of my brand, if you didn't know that.
00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:54.400
I mentioned my other podcast, so I'll just say that I went off on a diatribe the other day.
00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:56.000
I'll say it in a much nicer way.
00:02:56.159 --> 00:03:04.479
I went to an event the other day, it was a networking event, and the person who invited me made a big deal about how great the speaker was.
00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:07.280
And I said, okay, well, I'm doing high-ticket advisory.
00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:12.800
Referrals are going to be a big part of what I do, so I should maybe become more formalized with this notion of referral.
00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:16.879
And none of my other businesses involved referrals.
00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:26.800
And his 14-step framework, which I left at step 11, one of them was, and each step had a TM trademark behind it.
00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:28.479
One of them was ask receive.
00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:31.439
It was ask arrow receive TM.
00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:36.639
And I was like, okay, now we don't even know what the fuck a framework is anymore.
00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:38.000
This is just shit.
00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:41.919
So I'm not against formulaic things.
00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:49.360
I'm just saying that let's let's use framework the way it should be used.
00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:58.479
And the stuff I'm creating is gonna be like nothing anyone is ever talked about in the way that I talk about it.
00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:00.400
That's category of one.
00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:05.520
Speaking of category of one, I published my article on Substack of Category One, it's listed in the show notes.
00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:13.039
If you're not a Substack person, no worries, but if you are, and or you want to subscribe to my thoughts in email, that is there for you.
00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:18.480
So going back to the podcast episode I did, it was for gamers by gamers.
00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:23.600
And I gave the analogy because I was like, how do I describe what I do?
00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:30.079
I guessed it on that podcast around the time that I was talking about Clarity is not the destination, it's just the key to the next chapter.
00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:32.959
It's very close to the time that I recorded that episode.
00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:39.040
And I use that because they are all gonna understand this concept of levels, video game levels.
00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:41.360
And so I said, you know, think about a video game.
00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:46.240
You're not trying to focus on the whole thing, you're trying to get to the next level, the next level, the next level.
00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:51.120
And I'm a fossil relative to the most of the people listening to that gentleman's podcast.
00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:57.600
So my reference point was Mario Brothers or Xanadu, or I don't even remember.
00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:04.319
These are games that were played probably 40 years ago, 35 to 40 years ago.
00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:08.000
So obviously you do not represent video games now, but the notion is the same.
00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:17.040
I remember you were trying to, you know, there's always some challenge at the end of each level to get you to the next level, to get you to the next level.
00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:20.560
And that's the way I like to view business.
00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:31.920
And so the last episode, I talked about business as a teacher, and I briefly shared some examples from my past businesses, which I'll share more in the future.
00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:36.560
And one of the things that someone would say is, okay, well, you did all these businesses.
00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:40.160
That's a lot of businesses in a short amount of time, 15, 16 years.
00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:41.839
I mean, sure, there was some overlap.
00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:46.639
None of them were, not all of them were meant to be long-term.
00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:56.319
The import-export, I was riding the gold wave, the gold rush of the Amazon FBA, no different than people have changed their entire business model to be I teach Claude courses.
00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:57.839
You think they're gonna be doing that in two years?
00:05:57.920 --> 00:05:58.160
No.
00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:07.439
They're riding the gold rush, they're getting uh cash-heavy business so they can utilize it for something else.
00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:10.879
And that was my initial thought with Amazon FBA.
00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:30.000
I learned that the overhead, the minimum overhead from an shipping from a minimum operations overhead, sheer pain in the assness factor, and upfront cash outlay was not worth it, but I had to learn the hard way.
00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:32.800
I had to crash and burn, if you will, in that.
00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:41.759
And there's a story I will tell in the future where there was a come to Jesus moment where I realized that I had no control over what would go wrong.
00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:46.879
There is a difference between I have no control here, so I'm gonna navigate.
00:06:47.120 --> 00:07:03.920
And there's a difference between that and you have put yourself in a situation where you have absolutely no control over if everything goes wrong, everything falls into the ocean, and you lose everything, and there's nothing you can do to stop it.
00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:13.360
And that's when you say, I place myself in a video game where I can't win, or I don't even have, there's no seek or doorways for me.
00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:14.639
I game over, right?
00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:18.560
The the the guy gets killed at the end to keep with the analogy.
00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:25.839
So I was explaining it to this guy, and I used this analogy of fog of war.
00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:34.240
Now, five minutes before the interview, because I do everything kind of last minute, I looked up on Chat GPT, give me some video game terminology.
00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:44.000
And so I utilized this terminology of fog of war so that I could be say something that would be somewhat recognizable to his audience and bring it back to something they would understand.
00:07:44.160 --> 00:08:01.040
And fog of war is this notion of you send soldiers, you know, virtual soldiers into the fog, and then they can seek out information for you, and then they bring back the information, and then you're less in the fog.
00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:02.879
The the analogy is the same.
00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:04.639
It's this notion of you're in the fog.
00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:07.120
That seems like a cheat to me.
00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:09.199
I think generally in life, you don't have that ability.
00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:12.720
You can't send out these secret virtual messengers to get information and come back to you.
00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:18.079
You kind of have to navigate in the fog without that.
00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:35.360
But the analogy is the same as navigating through the fog, finding clarity through that process, using that process as a teacher, and then getting to the next level of the video game.
00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:36.879
Not dying on level one.
00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:39.679
If you don't die on level one, you can make it to level two.
00:08:40.559 --> 00:09:01.519
And in the process, maybe you're gonna have fun, maybe in the process you can use it as a teacher, maybe in the process you can use it as a way to have fun, learn about yourself, treat yourself as a game, treat life as a game, treat business as a game, treat the whole experience as a game, treat your various chapters of your life as levels.
00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:04.799
And I have so much more to say about this, but I will save it.
00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:14.720
One of the things I'm trying to do is make each episode succinct, not in terms of length, but in terms of one idea per episode, which is not my natural style.
00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:22.879
By the way, if you like this style where I jump on, I don't edit, and I just have a thought, and uh it's usually gonna be 15 minutes or less, not always.
00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:27.279
I have a place where these are gonna be in the summer when I'm taking a step back from the podcast.
00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:30.480
We'll have a few episodes in the summer that'll be mostly guests and collaborations.
00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:38.960
But if you like my off-the-cuff teachings, I have a place where I'm gonna be sharing those and I'll let you know about that soon, maybe before or after Labor Day.
00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:40.240
Memorial Day.
00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:41.919
This is the second time I've said that.
00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:43.360
That's information right there.
00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.799
Okay, well, I'm listening.
00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:47.919
That's what I'm saying.
00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:48.639
Are you listening?
00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:50.320
That's another thing people don't do.
00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:53.600
But game.
00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:55.360
Video game, video game of life.
00:09:55.600 --> 00:10:09.679
So a long time ago last summer, I had an episode that was inspired by a quote from James Clear, and it was, I believe the title is What the Three Line Can Treat Us About Teach Us About Trial and Error.
00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:19.279
And there was a part two episode that I never dropped, because as I get further away from the older episodes, you know, the cadence is so different, the sound quality is so different, it just doesn't fit.
00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:27.039
And what that episode was about is I talked about all my different businesses, and I'll bring those concepts back in the future in a different form.
00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:32.799
But I had basically shared that, you know, if you were to look at a bio of me, I don't share my import-export business.
00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:34.480
I don't share my health coaching business.
00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:48.879
You're gonna see the health product I launched that was six figures, first to market, a real business in quotes, and the consulting consultancy I had for over a decade, 15 years, still at some level I do.
00:10:49.600 --> 00:11:01.039
The other ones were building blocks to that, or part of that journey, or aren't relevant from a I did X and Y, but they are relevant from an experience perspective.
00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:07.759
And I share that because when I launched my probiotic, prebiotic line on Amazon.
00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:10.159
Amazon is the wild, wild west.
00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:12.320
Amazon in 2015 was a nightmare.
00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:14.320
Amazon is sharks and sharks and sharks.
00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:15.679
Think chum in the water.
00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:17.519
And people think of Amazon as amazing.
00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:23.200
They're like, oh, I ordered my toothpaste and it arrived yesterday, or it arrived in like four hours.
00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:26.559
And yeah, Amazon is an operations arm.
00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:28.799
Amazon's background is logistics.
00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:35.120
Amazon is fabulous at this, and this is a decade after I was really selling on Amazon, at least with the FBA fulfillment by Amazon.
00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:38.720
If you don't know what it is, it was a thing in the online business world.
00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:49.679
And it was a wild, wild west back then in stories and things we'll talk about later here elsewhere.
00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:51.519
But the bottom line is it was a shit show.
00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:57.759
And the bottom line is that there was no rhyme or reason, and the bottom line is you could get away with everything and anything, and they've changed their rules now.
00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:14.639
But it was a wild, wild west, and I was competing with people who had no ethics, who are 22 years old living in their mom's basement, who literally would do anything for money, whose entire ethos was marketing bros, and it was a shark-infested waters.
00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:26.720
And the supplement industry and the health industry, in the health product industry, which is why I've stepped away from it for in addition to a number of reasons, is very, very, very gamed on Amazon in terms of reviews.
00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:28.080
Reviews are bought.
00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:39.519
Um, Amazon will bump people to the top who spend X number of dollars on ads, and it's a self-fulfilling prophecy because the more you lie, the more money you make, the more money you make, the more you can put back into ads, you can get premium placements, etc.
00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:46.399
The bottom line is it's a cutthroat, cutthroat, cutthroat, cutthroat industry.
00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:48.639
Sharks at every angle.
00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:54.639
There's no way I would have been able to navigate that if I didn't understand the Amazon platform.
00:12:54.799 --> 00:13:04.480
And the reason that I understood the Amazon platform is because I'd sold before selling non-perishable, non-expirable goods that were not in that category.
00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:10.879
I was in the health and beauty category, but I was not in the supplement category.
00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:14.720
And just as a little aside, I'm always thinking 10 steps ahead.
00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:16.639
That's why I call myself a clarity architect.
00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:21.759
So when I sold physical goods, I got approved into health and beauty.
00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:27.600
So that when I needed to sell regulated products in health and beauty, I already had an in.
00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:33.039
I already had track record because everyone is trying to sell in health and beauty because that's where the profit was with skincare back then.
00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:33.679
It was supplements.
00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:34.480
I don't know what it is now.
00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:35.600
Now it's a disaster, you know.
00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:40.799
Now with the influencers and Amazon shopping and social media, I have no idea.
00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:43.120
I have absolutely no idea what that place looks like.
00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:46.399
I am merciful, I'm thankfully completely ignorant about that world.
00:13:46.480 --> 00:14:03.200
I have such post-traumatic stress from that entire thing that, you know, other than pressing an Amazon Prime button for my renewal of the few things I buy, I literally don't go on that platform because that was uh a chapter of my life that is uh was a lot.
00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:14.159
A lot of sleepless nights, a lot of waking up to, you know, waking up saying, uh what's gonna, what is what shit show am I waking up to now?
00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:16.240
What email am I waking up to now from Amazon?
00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:19.679
What dumpster fire am I waking up to that I have to navigate today?
00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:22.320
It was unproductive and crazy.
00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:30.320
Um, and so my point is that that was learning video game level one before I went to live video game level two.
00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:37.279
And it's not something that's gonna get any applause and it's not something that anyone's gonna understand, but that's the real deal.
00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:45.440
And because of the amount of money I was spending for inventory for my product line, I could not afford to not make money from day one.
00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:51.200
I could not afford to fuck around and find out on that dime because those weren't products that were gonna expire.
00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:54.399
So I had to be selling immediately.
00:14:55.120 --> 00:15:03.600
And there was a minimum amount of time it took to produce that product because the cranberry was from Canada, cranberry has a you know crops and all this, like it was a whole thing.
00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:08.879
And so I had to game the system a bit, not in a negative way, but in like I had to find the crevices, I had to find the cracks.
00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:12.000
You only find the crevices and the cracks when you know the system.
00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:16.399
So that was an idea of this level one, level two.
00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:26.720
And so that is treating this as a macro conversation instead of a micro conversation.
00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:29.759
What is the video game of business?
00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:32.000
What is the video game of life?
00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:34.320
What is the video game of you?
00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:38.720
And that's what I mean by using business as a teacher.
00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:43.279
This is not a podcast you're gonna hear anywhere else.
00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:47.279
Because they want to sell you a sexy tactic based on nothing.
00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:51.120
And they want to sell you what success looks like.
00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:56.240
And I'll tell you that what I'm saying doesn't look successful, but it is in its own way.
00:15:57.600 --> 00:15:59.519
And what's important is I deem it that way.
00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:05.200
Because a lot of times we are the product of the stories we tell ourselves.
00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:17.840
And if you allow other people to tell you the story of your journey, that is a very different story than what you would tell yourself if you use the perspective I'm giving you here.
00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:21.279
And that's something I want you to think about.
00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:26.159
Because the more that I work with people, the more I realize they're not thinking that way.
00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:30.399
I think it could be useful for you to start thinking that way.
00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:40.720
As you're navigating forward, thinking about business as a video game, thinking about gaming the system, not in a negative way, but like life as a game.
00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:50.720
If you look at neuroplasticity and you look at neuroscience and you look at habit change, there is something known as breaking the chain.
00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:58.320
Breaking the chain is let's say you want to go to the gym every day, let's say you wanted to take a particular superfood every day, let's say you wanted to get up by 6 a.m.
00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:01.279
every day, let's say you wanted to do morning pages every day.
00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:13.680
Now I'm not a coach, and this is not my area of expertise, but I can tell you that this whole notion of marking it on a calendar that's visible to your brain because your brain doesn't want to break the chain.
00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:16.640
That's what accountability is based off of.
00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:17.519
So you can game it.
00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:21.200
You can game your brain to be like, oh, I'm winning the game.
00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:22.079
I'm gonna be game.
00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:23.440
Can I do this for 30 days in a row?
00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:26.799
Makes it a lot more fun and a lot more interesting that I have to do this.
00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:35.359
So gamification is built into apps, gamification is built into Facebook, gamification is built into everything, gamification is built into challenges, who can fundraise more, right?
00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:40.319
So bringing gamification back to your business, and by this I did not mean game theory, by the way.
00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:41.920
That's a that's a summer episode.
00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:51.599
But, you know, bringing back this notion of levels, bringing back this notion of play, bringing back this notion of what am I learning on this chapter that I'm gonna take to the next chapter?
00:17:51.920 --> 00:18:00.720
And maybe, you know, every lair is not a hit out the park, but maybe you survive to make it to level two.
00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:02.960
Right?
00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:08.319
So the takeaways for you are all the things I said when I do these kind of episodes.
00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:13.759
I don't do it packaged in a bow because what I do is I come on with one thought, I go in a direction, and I wrap it up for you.
00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:17.759
And that is going to be the format and the style of the thing I'll be presenting to you when I do.
00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:21.519
I keep wanting to say Memorial Day, I keep saying Labor Day.
00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:29.680
Now, twice in a row that's happened, so maybe my intuition is telling me something that is different.
00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:34.480
Category of one article from Substack linked below.
00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:36.319
I really like that episode.
00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:42.000
I don't know when it's gonna air, but if it airs and when it airs, I'll link that episode below in the show notes.
00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:43.839
It may be a long time from now.
00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:48.880
And I hope you enjoyed yesterday's episode, I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:54.000
I will see you after Memorial Day for an official kickoff for season three.
00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:58.640
And the takeaways are how can you see your business as a teacher?
00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:02.079
And how can you see your business as a game?
00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:03.759
I'll see you next time.
