speaker-0: So thank you very much, Scott, for coming to my podcast Business Breakthroughs. ⁓ it's really nice to have you here. It's privileged because I've checked your website, I've checked what you've done. And not only did you are ⁓ you know being in the army, you're a veteran, you're obviously speaker, you published books, you speak, you do a lot of different things helping people, especially with I check like if you can tell us all obviously more about it, but with their ⁓ inside, what is it they are if they are not feeling what they should be feeling, sometimes they are succinct on the outside world. And you can help them with inside. But more about that and about other things, obviously I'll ask you questions. Would you mind but just starting out telling us a little bit about yourself so we can get to know you little bit and then ⁓ we'll start right right there.
speaker-1: No, I appreciate that, Vincent, and thank you very much, everybody. I appreciate the build of opportunity to be on your platform. And as you said, my name is Scott Lackey. I do live in the United States, ⁓ in southern United States, near Atlanta, Georgia. And I just launched my book ⁓ that you mentioned. The name of the book is Wake Up to Die Again. And really, the book is a lot about the different things that I've done in my life. I feel like I've lived nine lives, and I speak a lot about those ⁓ those events, if you will, ⁓ throughout the book. And I use those as opportunities to talk about ⁓ the challenges that we're dealing with as human beings here on this little blue planet we live on. And what I mean specifically by that, I start out in chapter one with ⁓ the statement that you're not where you're supposed to be. And that's a feeling, Vincent, that so many people have ⁓ today is that they're not where they're supposed to be. And again, I won't get off into the book, but I've spent a lifetime ⁓ dealing with my own lightning strikes in life. And I refer to a lightning strike as an event where things immediately change where you cannot return to who you were before. And anyway, I talk a lot about that in the book. And it's about who sh what shapes you, how you become who you are. If you're not where you're supposed to be, where are you supposed to be? And a lot of that has to deal with ⁓ the broken promises that we made to ourselves that we didn't follow through on. And so that's a giant circle about the book and ⁓ what I talk about.
speaker-0: Perfect. Thank you very much. So I have a question. So, how do you know when ⁓ some event happened in your life? It can be the stricken thing and something happened. How do you know if this is the moment you should kind of maybe shift, maybe find new ways to focus on something, maybe focus on yourself, find maybe new paths, or on the other hand, just keep going and maybe doing the same thing? Because sometimes we hear Like you don't know, maybe you are already close, like you know, these ⁓ some of these ideas when people are digging the gold and then they give up after a long time, and then somebody just goes after them and just like dig a little bit longer and suddenly there is a gold because they they finish too soon. So how do you know when to finish and when to find a new path?
speaker-1: Yeah, that's the million dollar question, right? Am I is it time to stop and turn a different direction? Or am I just being a crybaby and do I need to keep going? Right. I think the answer to that, I'll speak for myself, but I think the answer to that, to the listeners, I think personally, I think we all know the answer to that. I really do. I believe we know the answer to that. But I'm gonna speak for myself. Okay. When when I use the word lightning strike. The decision is made for you. That's how significant the event is. For example, okay, you're you go into work one day and you think it's a normal day and you find out you're getting fired. There is no going forward, right? The lightning strike has happened and life has changed. Now I know what you asked about. You asked specifically about but what about if things aren't going the way I think they should go? When do I know if I should keep going forward or should I stop and do something else? So again, I just there's just two answers to that. There's there's the lightning strike moment where you don't have a choice. And then there's what I believe to be, at least in my case, is I know if I'm wasting my time on something. And how I know I'm wasting my time on something is because I continue to break my promises to myself, and it doesn't mean anything to me. That's the big signal. That you're wasting your time and your dream of pushing forward, ⁓ well, it must not be that important to you because you continue to break your promises to yourself. So if you do decide to make a turn or you do decide to do something different, and I speak about this in the book, this is again something that I do with myself, is I think about what is it, those what are those things in my life where I have been breaking my promises? What are the things that I told myself that I was going to do that I haven't done?
speaker-0: Yes, right.
speaker-1: Where did I make promises to myself that I really wanted to do something and I didn't do it? And one of those examples is I promised myself for many, many years that I would do an Iron Man race. Mm-hmm. Right? And a lot of broken promises. And so I finally decided to do an Ironman race. And that was really my final decision to make that commitment and do the race. And and and I think you find out is that when you're when you're genuinely committed to doing something. Like an Ironman race or starting a business, whatever the case may be, then you will push through when things get hard because it is genuinely something that you want. But if you're breaking your promises to yourself all the time, then I I'm not I'm not even sure you actually had the desire to do something.
speaker-0: Yes. Yeah. Yeah, it's really good. Yeah. I really like it. ⁓ like it a lot. Like the when you mentioned about the lightning strike. So it happened to me multiple times in different occasions, personal life, professional life. Very recently actually in a professional life, we split up with a business partner. We ⁓ finished two businesses. ⁓ but for a quite while I was like, you know, it's good the business, it makes money. But I wasn't really enjoying it. It was just that. And I really wanted to do the other thing, which is my mastermind helping people and things like that. But that was taking my time. But then something happened and then I had to finish. And then kinda it was tough, but it really gave me more capability of focusing what I really wanted to do. So there was, I think, like you described, the lightning moment that it decided for me. ⁓
speaker-1: Yep. Well, it's interesting. When when they happen, we I shouldn't say we, when they happened to me in my ⁓ during my earlier life, we would always go down the road of, wow, what did I do wrong? Why does the world hate me? Right? What mistake did I make? I'm not a bad person. That's the path we go down. Right. So my challenge to ⁓ the audiences to do or at least a try what what I did that was very successful for me was I stopped blaming anything or anybody and I started looking at myself. And whether it didn't it just didn't matter what the lightning strike is, I would look at myself and I would ask myself, okay, this happened. What can I learn from this? What tools can I take from this and apply those moving forward so that I can be a better version of myself today. Than I was yesterday. And that became a very effective process for me of turning that negative energy into something positive and building on that, you know, jumping from lily pad to lily fad lily pad ⁓ to attack those big projects, like writing the book, for example. Mm-hmm.
speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah, it ⁓ it reminded me I often listen on ⁓ YouTube, it's one of my favorites, is then ⁓ it's a forty years old recording or maybe more now from Jim Rohn. ⁓ and he speaks about like he got the mentor which was Errol Shaw and he he asked him like, you know, he was like having that list of who everything he's blaming and and ⁓ like blaming the government, blaming the tax, blaming everybody else. And then the Errol Shaw told him like there is one thing missing on the paper. So you didn't build paper X but fresh paper X is like me.
speaker-1: You I've not I've not heard that before, but I would love to hear that because it's true. You know what I mean? Is is when it's every when it's when it's the world's fault, then man, you need to look in the mirror. You know?
speaker-0: Absolutely. Yeah. And so tell me because of this live, I've seen that on your website that you speak as well. ⁓ where do you usually go? Like are you mainly in the United States? And if you go to speak, would usually who would be like it'll be the companies. Where do you usually go? So I'm asking for two reasons. Like one is somebody can listen so maybe they can see like, ⁓ okay, we we could use Scott ⁓ to to do and come to us to speak. And also I might know some people who could, you know, I can connect you. So I'm always asking people their speakers because I'm a speaker myself just to see who who is the target audience.
speaker-1: No, love that question. And yes, I've got a history of speaking. And so some of those companies, you know, names like you would recognize or Federal Express, ⁓ you know, I've spoken with that company before. There's a list of them actually on the website. I tailor my speeches to the audience and to what the host is ⁓ wanting to focus on. But generally, generally, specifically, what I like to talk about are transformative events. Things that take either individuals or take companies or businesses from where their current state is, whether it's poor achievement, poor success, lack of results, but speak to what are the necessary activities that need to take place in individuals and or companies to move them in the direction to achieve the transformative event, whatever that is. And I I love talking about this because there was about four years in my life where I was working as what we would call here in the US a turnaround or a workout specialist, where companies were in great distress, where banks were about to seize their assets. And so I would get a phone call, I would visit those companies, and in many cases I would act as the interim president and assess the b you know, the business, the people, the project, the ⁓ the the income streams, et cetera, ⁓ and work with them to try to restabilize the organization. When you have that in your background, and of course, all the entrepreneurial things that I've done, where I've started businesses, you know, from nothing and built them into $20 million businesses. When you when you understand building the business and you also understand restoring the business, and then of course you throw in the third leg of the stool, which is the self application. Of doing Iron Man races, among other things. When you take those three skill sets, you're able to talk to the audience or the business about a lived experience versus you know real real application versus telling them some story about what somebody else did and how they should think about it. Some of some of the keys to speaking the audiences ⁓ in businesses really it's about lived experience. You know what to do because you've been there before, whether it's the bottom of the hole or the top of the mountain. Right? A failed business or a wildly successful business. Two different things. ⁓ but those are those are the audience and the topics that I like to talk about. I've had requests, a lot of requests to speak on specific topics, and I've listed the top 10 on my website of my most requested keynote speeches. But events that I haven't spoken, ⁓ I have a gentleman that's actually looking ⁓ for a ⁓ engagement for me in New Zealand right now. I've never been, I'd like to go to New Zealand. But of course I've I've traveled extensively in Europe. Used to live there when I was stationed in the military, just outside of Stuttgart in Germany. But I would I would love to find a venue in Europe somewhere, whether it's Scotland, Netherlands, the UK, ⁓ and ⁓ come speak to an audience there.
speaker-0: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I mean, yeah, I mean, for one, I mean, ⁓ hey yeah, I'm ⁓ you have it in USA, it's called ⁓ NSA, National Speaking Association. Yeah, we have in here a PSA Professional Speaking Association. I'm a president of ⁓ re one region which is for Edinburgh. So for once you can come and speak over there, so you can do that. And ⁓ we actually have a one guy from USA. ⁓ he's doing a lot of spe speaking, he's coming next month. I get get him convinced to come and we'll play golf. Yeah, yeah. ⁓ so it's always about the connections and ⁓ what we can do and how we can collaborate on. so definitely ⁓ good. And ⁓ to be honest in terms of ⁓ you know, other people, I have a lot of I know a lot of people in the Europe as well who some of them are they run their own events. So yeah, it's always about, you know, introductions and then seeing what can be done.
speaker-1: It it is always about relationships that will never change.
speaker-0: Yes. Absolutely. So based on what you mentioned about the transformative events, so are you asked a lot now to go to companies and obviously because now AI is a big thing, so AI is obviously changing a lot of you know, in employees' mindset, like will I be replaced or do I need to adapt? And obviously there is a lot of uncertainty, obviously a lot of people already lost the job, but obviously there was creation of a lot of new jobs. So ⁓ but are you asked to come to those companies and is that ⁓ now topic which you can help them with that transmoti transmotive event?
speaker-1: Yeah, I've I've not been asked about that. I I expect that's coming. There's a lot of discussion about it, ⁓ but I have not been asked to speak specifically address that. But I do have a ⁓ a counteropinion to what the world is telling us right now. And that counteropinion is that all of these threats about what AI is going to do of taking jobs is I I generally believe is. Overpromised and it will underdeliver. Yeah, what they say is gonna happen in two years is not gonna happen in two years. And I'm not talking about the scale at which AI is learning. I'm not talking about that. What I'm talking about is the is the scale at which they that that we're threatened on YouTube endlessly on, right? Is that we're all gonna wake up ⁓ in twenty twenty seven and nobody's gonna have a job because a robot's gonna happen. And ⁓ that's just I just think that's absolutely ridiculous. And I've been into some of the factories because of my current career where robots are being made. And ⁓ I'm sorry, I'm not impressed. But
speaker-0: Yeah. I think I think it's obviously it's gonna take a while and I think it's like with everything, like the the people they will slowly adapt to anything what is going on. And then yeah, I think like there's a lot of this scarcity being created because obviously scarcity sells, scarcity creates a views for people. So that's why obviously a lot of people go with that. But I think there will be certain way of you know adaptation to different things, and like we are talking about AI and robots. To be honest, like I live in Scotland and some people don't even use, like, I go to a barboard, they don't even have a card machine. They they just like, hey, send me the money. They don't even want a card machine. Some people just take cash in a lot of in here, like they don't even want these things. A lot of people, the businesses around, yes, they may have a website, they don't even use social media, which is free platforms, which they can get more business into their business. And they don't even use that, which is here for a long time. So the adaptation it's ⁓ it's very slow with a lot of things. So even with that, that it's gonna take a take a while. ⁓ I think it definitely enhanced the possi opportunities. Like I use AI a lot with a lot of different things, and ⁓ have a lot of different AI agents, but it just helps me to be more effective. But it's like, for example, I have ⁓ staff and for example ⁓ I wouldn't want to get rid of her because somebody still needs to make sure, control everything, what's going on, and then I only know now she can do more than she did ⁓ without it, ⁓ before we would hire ⁓ for example, another person. But it's ⁓ it's just ⁓ yeah, yeah, like I think like it's not gonna be that quick like people are saying, like you you know like you said, yeah.
speaker-1: I think you're making an excellent point, right? The excellent point, whether it's scarcity mentality or or I've always done it this way, there's no question AI is going to change things. I'm just saying it's not going to change the things, many of the things that the YouTubers are threatening us with. Right? Yeah. And and it's just it it's it's amazing how many people are scared about this. ⁓ but it's also amazing the number of people who know nothing about it. It's like two extremes.
speaker-0: Yeah, yeah, that is. Yeah, exactly. ⁓ I had to actually a question to do because obviously you you've built some businesses, you all overcome a lot of situations. And I ask this question every single time if you want my podcast. It's good to speak about the good stuff, but I like to speak also about the tough things. So you obviously have been in a situations where it was difficult, either it was in your personal life, business life, wherever it is, you don't need to share the the or whatever happened, it's not about that. It's about how do you overcome it when something bad happened? Because I know there is a lot of people in that stage right now, and I've been in that state in the past many times. And then everybody resonates with something different. So what would be your advice? How do you all overcome certain things in the past? It can be multiple things, which can maybe help someone to maybe test it. Like, yeah, I'll I'll try what Scott said.
speaker-1: Yeah, no, appreciate that, Vincent, a lot. Let me let me give some context to your listeners, and I'll be very brief about this. But I my second invention was actually funded by a private equity firm for three million dollars. And I thought I hit the American Dream business lottery. Okay, I could tell you about all the things I was going to buy because I thought I had become a you know a business rock star. Six months later. The private equity firm fired me and the management team, stole the company, and again thought they were going to be successful, but they destroyed the company and the product. Exactly. Wow. What do you say to that? When you're when you're on a conference call, you know, I wasn't fired face to face. I was fired over the telephone from matter of fact, they didn't use the word fired, Vincent. They used the word terminated, like I was an insect. So that's the context for the listeners about me. And this is where I like to talk about transformation. That event involuntarily transformed me into something else. So when these when these, and that's also what I call an excellent lightning strike. So your question to the listeners is well, Scott, I didn't have three million dollars, you know, funding my invention, whatever. I've had, but I've had lightning strikes. How did you get out of that hole? What did you do? And what I learned, and it took a couple years for this, but I learned a lot from that. Well, one of things that really came to me from that invention was this single thought of stewardship. versus ownership. So many of us operate in life as if we own everything. It's like but ownership is like reaching into a bucket of water and trying to squeeze a handful out. The tighter you grip, the less you have. Unlike an open hand where you can move the water any direction you want it to go. Stewardship. That was a practice that I began and I learned from. That was I was operating under the ownership mindset, right? Where I had control. And in reality, even though I was the president of the company and I had the power to say the things that I said, the investor is the one that actually had the control. So there's a big difference in our life between power and control. We all run around thinking we're in control. You're not in control, but you do have power. We all run around treating everything as if we are the owners of it, when in reality you really don't own anything, but you're a steward over it. You have responsibility over it. Right? You have power and responsibility over events. So who is it? What are these events are you talking about? Well, the one I want the listeners to focus on is the power. Or the influence, the stewardship that you have over yourself. Because that's where the real transformation changed. And then the other thing I would say, we spend so much time thinking that our life is about addition. What do I mean by addition? If I just had the house, if I had that new car, if I had that job, that girlfriend, that boyfriend, that husband, that wife, that possession, that nice pair of running shoes, the clothes. The couch, whatever it is. If I had this, then therefore I would be or become. And you know, I've done that for many, many, many, many years. Just around the corner, just over the top of the next hill, only to get to one of those destinations, Vincent, and there was nobody there, and I was a little bit more empty. But that voice in my head would say, Little bit further, just keep going a little bit further. And many of us, including me, we wake up one day and we're lost. We still have our job, still have our family, but we're just lost. That is where addition leads you. That's one of the reasons why so many people feel lost, is they think it's about addition. So I'm going to conclude by saying what I practice is the opposite of that is subtraction. It's getting rid of the things that no longer serve the purpose of what I'm trying to accomplish. That's very fulfilling to me. ⁓ Subtraction is more about stewardship. Addition is this mindset of ownership. So the courses, the courses look the same. They look the same. They almost look parallel. But each one of them has two dramatically different destinations, even though they look like they're the same. So, you know, to the audience, there's some some different descriptions of where you may be and how you may feel, but putting that into practical application. Think of think of subtraction. What is it in your life that you need to remove, you need to stop in order to gain the things that you are missing? And you'd be surprised. I think they'd be surprised. I've spent a lifetime doing this. They'd be surprised where the the art of subtraction will take you to the places that are more fulfilling and remove that feeling that you're not where you're supposed to be.
speaker-0: Mm-hmm. Absolutely. I think it also relates a lot to to business when it comes to sometimes we do a lot of things, we feel busy, and then ⁓ there are some things, even if we drop them, we'll be less busy, we might enjoy life a little bit more, but sometimes we don't need to do them at all. We just we are doing them because it's we feel like we have to be doing them, we but sometimes they don't even need to be done. so by that subtraction to To remove some of the things. ⁓ yeah, it was really good. Thank you very much for that. Because ⁓ the funny thing is ⁓ about that, like the ownership and stewardship is a lot of people they want to own a house. I don't own my house, I I just rent it. And some people ask me why you don't own the house. I'm like, I mean, if I do own the house, I pay two and a half times more than what I pay for the house where I live. And It's like okay, but you own it. I'm like, no. I own it in 30 years. I don't own it. The bank owns it. I only pay a deposit. I don't own it. You don't own your house unless you bought it outright. You don't own it. And even if you own it, I'm in I'm from Czech Republic. We had the communism for a very long time. You don't know what can happen. Government will come and take your property, and doesn't matter what is written on the paper. It's just in the paper on some land registry. It doesn't matter. Like like you said, people who have the power, the investors, whoever is in the top, they can take it. Like the government can take it. Like we had the COVID, and then you think you have freedom, but then you are forced to stay at home and not so it's it's kinda like, you know, people think they own stuff. Like you said, like I own the car, like do you have a lease? Yes. You don't own it, it's not yours. So not until you it's paid off. But like yeah, and then the you'd really remind me ⁓ like what you mentioned in here, and then I I I first heard it from ⁓ Tony Robbins, but here to learn that from Jim Brown probably. And it's like getting things will never make you happy. It's about well who you're gonna become. It's gonna make you happy, the progress as a person, not getting the things, right? And and sometimes it's difficult in today's world when social media is like, hey, everybody's screaming, you know, get that cart, get that house, whatever, and people get trapped. And I can see that on on people. ⁓ I have a one of my Clients, just 19. And he didn't even have a driving license yet. And he bought himself a Mercedes for $20,000. And I'm like, you don't even have a driving license. Why did you buy it? I was like, yeah, it feels good. I'm like, yeah, but you cannot drive it. Like, and he had to wait like six, seven months before he passed the driving license. Like, why do you have it? It's like, like, and also, so expensive car as a first first car. I'm like, you know, you can have a car for 5,000 to start with. ⁓ but very interesting ⁓ like how people think.
speaker-1: It is, and I love this story because ⁓ again, I I'll say this let me say this briefly, but I went through an event like that in my life where ⁓ I was in an accident, the car that I was driving was total destroyed, and I had the opportunity to go buy, you know, a new car. And my family was excited for me because they knew and they they knew that I didn't really care for the car that I was driving. They also never thought that the car I was d driving was A car that defined dad, right? So went to look at a couple of different cars, and I ended up not buying the two cars that I wanted. And it led to this discovery because I c I just had this mindset, probably like this young man. Man, I really love this BMW 5 series. I really love this American SUV. Right? They had everything that I wanted, but I ended up not buying them because I was wrestling with this thought. This is the this is what that young man's not wrestling with. Here's the question What is it that is inside me that needs an external object to validate who I am? What am I missing inside me where there's a requirement? That's an incredibly hard question. To ask. But it's one that needs to be asked and one that needs to be answered. So for the audience, if there's something you're craving, That is an outside object, ownership. Ask the question what is it inside you that's unfulfilled that is making you feel that way? And my challenge to you is if you can figure the answer to that out, I have, I figured that out for me. Is I don't need those external things anymore. Do I like a beautiful BMW five series? ⁓ yeah, I think it's a beautiful car. I think there's a lot of beautiful cars since we were talking about that young man. I think there's a lot of beautiful things. But the difference between me and that young man now, and I was once probably like him, the difference is that I no longer need an outside activity or trip or vacation or possession to be happy, joyful, peaceful, thankful, love. You know, I don't need that. I can be that exactly where I am without anything. I can be that way if I had to go dig ditches. Right? Yeah. And ⁓ That's that's the place, believe it or not, I think that's the transformation I'm talking about. That's the wonderful transformation I love to talk to audiences about ⁓ is when you can get to that place where you don't need something else to fill that hole inside you, when you can find that place and fill that inside, that's a beautiful place to be, Vincent. That's a powerful place to be.
speaker-0: Hmm, absolutely. ⁓ Thank you very much for sharing. I'll ask you a last question because we have half an hour in, is do you have like a some vision? What is it you want to what is it you want to accomplish ⁓ more? Because obviously there is a reason why you are a speaker and you sh sh share your stories and want to help people speak, you know, like see you speak on stage. So what what's the vision?
speaker-1: Yeah, I ⁓ thank you. ⁓ it's it's not what maybe most people think. It's not about the stage. By the way, I do do do we all love being on the stage and the energy from the stage? Absolutely. Do we love yeah, all of those things, love all those things. But for me, it's not about the stage. It's what about it's it's it's singularly about sharing through my book, through speaking, how so many people Millions of people are waking up every day just to die a little bit more. They're waking up every day to lose a piece of themselves just a little bit more. And they don't know how to get out of that trap. And so they go through the motions. And the problem with this, Vincent, is that when all of this is happening around the world, It affects the quality of their life and the quality of life of everybody who comes into touch with them. ⁓ Whether it's your wife, your kids, your husband, your colleagues, your neighbors. So what I aspire to do is again, through my book and through speaking to other people, is hopefully encourage them to do some of the things that I did in my life in their life. So that they can look at themselves in the mirror and be proud and be thankful to be who they are. No matter where they are. There's nothing they've done that is too far away to restore themselves back to the person they were meant to be. It's achievable for all of us. But when we do that, Vincent, this is the real transformation that takes place. When we fix ourselves, not the world, when we fix ourselves, We are going to be in a place where we can be happy again, have peace, have joy, be thankful, have gratitude. We're going to get there. But the real gift is not only to ourselves, but it's to everybody around us. It is our neighbors. It is our spouse. It is our son, our daughter, our friends, our colleagues. It's all those things. We fix, we fix the world, so not that it can be fixed, but we fix the world, we fix ourselves from the inside out, not the outside in. And so that's the message that I aspire to talk about on the stage and in my writing. I'm also a columnist in a newspaper. My my article publishes every Saturday. And I talk about these things every single week in that column. But that's what I that's what inspires me, Vincent, to go out and do. And I've already been able, you know, to do that with the people that I speak to. And there's many of you may do this. It's going to take more than just me. It's going to take, you know, many, many people to do that. But But that's what I appreciate appreciate about meeting people like you who are doing this ⁓ in your home country. And again, the more of it, the better. And that's what I aspire to do.
speaker-0: Matter fact. Thank you very much for sharing, Scott. It was a very good ⁓ I really enjoyed the interview, whatever thing you shared today. ⁓ thank you very much again for ⁓ taking your time ⁓ and then being here today with me.
speaker-1: Likewise, Vincent, it was nice to meet you in your beautiful country.
speaker-1: No, I appreciate that, Vincent, and thank you very much, everybody. I appreciate the build of opportunity to be on your platform. And as you said, my name is Scott Lackey. I do live in the United States, ⁓ in southern United States, near Atlanta, Georgia. And I just launched my book ⁓ that you mentioned. The name of the book is Wake Up to Die Again. And really, the book is a lot about the different things that I've done in my life. I feel like I've lived nine lives, and I speak a lot about those ⁓ those events, if you will, ⁓ throughout the book. And I use those as opportunities to talk about ⁓ the challenges that we're dealing with as human beings here on this little blue planet we live on. And what I mean specifically by that, I start out in chapter one with ⁓ the statement that you're not where you're supposed to be. And that's a feeling, Vincent, that so many people have ⁓ today is that they're not where they're supposed to be. And again, I won't get off into the book, but I've spent a lifetime ⁓ dealing with my own lightning strikes in life. And I refer to a lightning strike as an event where things immediately change where you cannot return to who you were before. And anyway, I talk a lot about that in the book. And it's about who sh what shapes you, how you become who you are. If you're not where you're supposed to be, where are you supposed to be? And a lot of that has to deal with ⁓ the broken promises that we made to ourselves that we didn't follow through on. And so that's a giant circle about the book and ⁓ what I talk about.
speaker-0: Perfect. Thank you very much. So I have a question. So, how do you know when ⁓ some event happened in your life? It can be the stricken thing and something happened. How do you know if this is the moment you should kind of maybe shift, maybe find new ways to focus on something, maybe focus on yourself, find maybe new paths, or on the other hand, just keep going and maybe doing the same thing? Because sometimes we hear Like you don't know, maybe you are already close, like you know, these ⁓ some of these ideas when people are digging the gold and then they give up after a long time, and then somebody just goes after them and just like dig a little bit longer and suddenly there is a gold because they they finish too soon. So how do you know when to finish and when to find a new path?
speaker-1: Yeah, that's the million dollar question, right? Am I is it time to stop and turn a different direction? Or am I just being a crybaby and do I need to keep going? Right. I think the answer to that, I'll speak for myself, but I think the answer to that, to the listeners, I think personally, I think we all know the answer to that. I really do. I believe we know the answer to that. But I'm gonna speak for myself. Okay. When when I use the word lightning strike. The decision is made for you. That's how significant the event is. For example, okay, you're you go into work one day and you think it's a normal day and you find out you're getting fired. There is no going forward, right? The lightning strike has happened and life has changed. Now I know what you asked about. You asked specifically about but what about if things aren't going the way I think they should go? When do I know if I should keep going forward or should I stop and do something else? So again, I just there's just two answers to that. There's there's the lightning strike moment where you don't have a choice. And then there's what I believe to be, at least in my case, is I know if I'm wasting my time on something. And how I know I'm wasting my time on something is because I continue to break my promises to myself, and it doesn't mean anything to me. That's the big signal. That you're wasting your time and your dream of pushing forward, ⁓ well, it must not be that important to you because you continue to break your promises to yourself. So if you do decide to make a turn or you do decide to do something different, and I speak about this in the book, this is again something that I do with myself, is I think about what is it, those what are those things in my life where I have been breaking my promises? What are the things that I told myself that I was going to do that I haven't done?
speaker-0: Yes, right.
speaker-1: Where did I make promises to myself that I really wanted to do something and I didn't do it? And one of those examples is I promised myself for many, many years that I would do an Iron Man race. Mm-hmm. Right? And a lot of broken promises. And so I finally decided to do an Ironman race. And that was really my final decision to make that commitment and do the race. And and and I think you find out is that when you're when you're genuinely committed to doing something. Like an Ironman race or starting a business, whatever the case may be, then you will push through when things get hard because it is genuinely something that you want. But if you're breaking your promises to yourself all the time, then I I'm not I'm not even sure you actually had the desire to do something.
speaker-0: Yes. Yeah. Yeah, it's really good. Yeah. I really like it. ⁓ like it a lot. Like the when you mentioned about the lightning strike. So it happened to me multiple times in different occasions, personal life, professional life. Very recently actually in a professional life, we split up with a business partner. We ⁓ finished two businesses. ⁓ but for a quite while I was like, you know, it's good the business, it makes money. But I wasn't really enjoying it. It was just that. And I really wanted to do the other thing, which is my mastermind helping people and things like that. But that was taking my time. But then something happened and then I had to finish. And then kinda it was tough, but it really gave me more capability of focusing what I really wanted to do. So there was, I think, like you described, the lightning moment that it decided for me. ⁓
speaker-1: Yep. Well, it's interesting. When when they happen, we I shouldn't say we, when they happened to me in my ⁓ during my earlier life, we would always go down the road of, wow, what did I do wrong? Why does the world hate me? Right? What mistake did I make? I'm not a bad person. That's the path we go down. Right. So my challenge to ⁓ the audiences to do or at least a try what what I did that was very successful for me was I stopped blaming anything or anybody and I started looking at myself. And whether it didn't it just didn't matter what the lightning strike is, I would look at myself and I would ask myself, okay, this happened. What can I learn from this? What tools can I take from this and apply those moving forward so that I can be a better version of myself today. Than I was yesterday. And that became a very effective process for me of turning that negative energy into something positive and building on that, you know, jumping from lily pad to lily fad lily pad ⁓ to attack those big projects, like writing the book, for example. Mm-hmm.
speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah, it ⁓ it reminded me I often listen on ⁓ YouTube, it's one of my favorites, is then ⁓ it's a forty years old recording or maybe more now from Jim Rohn. ⁓ and he speaks about like he got the mentor which was Errol Shaw and he he asked him like, you know, he was like having that list of who everything he's blaming and and ⁓ like blaming the government, blaming the tax, blaming everybody else. And then the Errol Shaw told him like there is one thing missing on the paper. So you didn't build paper X but fresh paper X is like me.
speaker-1: You I've not I've not heard that before, but I would love to hear that because it's true. You know what I mean? Is is when it's every when it's when it's the world's fault, then man, you need to look in the mirror. You know?
speaker-0: Absolutely. Yeah. And so tell me because of this live, I've seen that on your website that you speak as well. ⁓ where do you usually go? Like are you mainly in the United States? And if you go to speak, would usually who would be like it'll be the companies. Where do you usually go? So I'm asking for two reasons. Like one is somebody can listen so maybe they can see like, ⁓ okay, we we could use Scott ⁓ to to do and come to us to speak. And also I might know some people who could, you know, I can connect you. So I'm always asking people their speakers because I'm a speaker myself just to see who who is the target audience.
speaker-1: No, love that question. And yes, I've got a history of speaking. And so some of those companies, you know, names like you would recognize or Federal Express, ⁓ you know, I've spoken with that company before. There's a list of them actually on the website. I tailor my speeches to the audience and to what the host is ⁓ wanting to focus on. But generally, generally, specifically, what I like to talk about are transformative events. Things that take either individuals or take companies or businesses from where their current state is, whether it's poor achievement, poor success, lack of results, but speak to what are the necessary activities that need to take place in individuals and or companies to move them in the direction to achieve the transformative event, whatever that is. And I I love talking about this because there was about four years in my life where I was working as what we would call here in the US a turnaround or a workout specialist, where companies were in great distress, where banks were about to seize their assets. And so I would get a phone call, I would visit those companies, and in many cases I would act as the interim president and assess the b you know, the business, the people, the project, the ⁓ the the income streams, et cetera, ⁓ and work with them to try to restabilize the organization. When you have that in your background, and of course, all the entrepreneurial things that I've done, where I've started businesses, you know, from nothing and built them into $20 million businesses. When you when you understand building the business and you also understand restoring the business, and then of course you throw in the third leg of the stool, which is the self application. Of doing Iron Man races, among other things. When you take those three skill sets, you're able to talk to the audience or the business about a lived experience versus you know real real application versus telling them some story about what somebody else did and how they should think about it. Some of some of the keys to speaking the audiences ⁓ in businesses really it's about lived experience. You know what to do because you've been there before, whether it's the bottom of the hole or the top of the mountain. Right? A failed business or a wildly successful business. Two different things. ⁓ but those are those are the audience and the topics that I like to talk about. I've had requests, a lot of requests to speak on specific topics, and I've listed the top 10 on my website of my most requested keynote speeches. But events that I haven't spoken, ⁓ I have a gentleman that's actually looking ⁓ for a ⁓ engagement for me in New Zealand right now. I've never been, I'd like to go to New Zealand. But of course I've I've traveled extensively in Europe. Used to live there when I was stationed in the military, just outside of Stuttgart in Germany. But I would I would love to find a venue in Europe somewhere, whether it's Scotland, Netherlands, the UK, ⁓ and ⁓ come speak to an audience there.
speaker-0: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I mean, yeah, I mean, for one, I mean, ⁓ hey yeah, I'm ⁓ you have it in USA, it's called ⁓ NSA, National Speaking Association. Yeah, we have in here a PSA Professional Speaking Association. I'm a president of ⁓ re one region which is for Edinburgh. So for once you can come and speak over there, so you can do that. And ⁓ we actually have a one guy from USA. ⁓ he's doing a lot of spe speaking, he's coming next month. I get get him convinced to come and we'll play golf. Yeah, yeah. ⁓ so it's always about the connections and ⁓ what we can do and how we can collaborate on. so definitely ⁓ good. And ⁓ to be honest in terms of ⁓ you know, other people, I have a lot of I know a lot of people in the Europe as well who some of them are they run their own events. So yeah, it's always about, you know, introductions and then seeing what can be done.
speaker-1: It it is always about relationships that will never change.
speaker-0: Yes. Absolutely. So based on what you mentioned about the transformative events, so are you asked a lot now to go to companies and obviously because now AI is a big thing, so AI is obviously changing a lot of you know, in employees' mindset, like will I be replaced or do I need to adapt? And obviously there is a lot of uncertainty, obviously a lot of people already lost the job, but obviously there was creation of a lot of new jobs. So ⁓ but are you asked to come to those companies and is that ⁓ now topic which you can help them with that transmoti transmotive event?
speaker-1: Yeah, I've I've not been asked about that. I I expect that's coming. There's a lot of discussion about it, ⁓ but I have not been asked to speak specifically address that. But I do have a ⁓ a counteropinion to what the world is telling us right now. And that counteropinion is that all of these threats about what AI is going to do of taking jobs is I I generally believe is. Overpromised and it will underdeliver. Yeah, what they say is gonna happen in two years is not gonna happen in two years. And I'm not talking about the scale at which AI is learning. I'm not talking about that. What I'm talking about is the is the scale at which they that that we're threatened on YouTube endlessly on, right? Is that we're all gonna wake up ⁓ in twenty twenty seven and nobody's gonna have a job because a robot's gonna happen. And ⁓ that's just I just think that's absolutely ridiculous. And I've been into some of the factories because of my current career where robots are being made. And ⁓ I'm sorry, I'm not impressed. But
speaker-0: Yeah. I think I think it's obviously it's gonna take a while and I think it's like with everything, like the the people they will slowly adapt to anything what is going on. And then yeah, I think like there's a lot of this scarcity being created because obviously scarcity sells, scarcity creates a views for people. So that's why obviously a lot of people go with that. But I think there will be certain way of you know adaptation to different things, and like we are talking about AI and robots. To be honest, like I live in Scotland and some people don't even use, like, I go to a barboard, they don't even have a card machine. They they just like, hey, send me the money. They don't even want a card machine. Some people just take cash in a lot of in here, like they don't even want these things. A lot of people, the businesses around, yes, they may have a website, they don't even use social media, which is free platforms, which they can get more business into their business. And they don't even use that, which is here for a long time. So the adaptation it's ⁓ it's very slow with a lot of things. So even with that, that it's gonna take a take a while. ⁓ I think it definitely enhanced the possi opportunities. Like I use AI a lot with a lot of different things, and ⁓ have a lot of different AI agents, but it just helps me to be more effective. But it's like, for example, I have ⁓ staff and for example ⁓ I wouldn't want to get rid of her because somebody still needs to make sure, control everything, what's going on, and then I only know now she can do more than she did ⁓ without it, ⁓ before we would hire ⁓ for example, another person. But it's ⁓ it's just ⁓ yeah, yeah, like I think like it's not gonna be that quick like people are saying, like you you know like you said, yeah.
speaker-1: I think you're making an excellent point, right? The excellent point, whether it's scarcity mentality or or I've always done it this way, there's no question AI is going to change things. I'm just saying it's not going to change the things, many of the things that the YouTubers are threatening us with. Right? Yeah. And and it's just it it's it's amazing how many people are scared about this. ⁓ but it's also amazing the number of people who know nothing about it. It's like two extremes.
speaker-0: Yeah, yeah, that is. Yeah, exactly. ⁓ I had to actually a question to do because obviously you you've built some businesses, you all overcome a lot of situations. And I ask this question every single time if you want my podcast. It's good to speak about the good stuff, but I like to speak also about the tough things. So you obviously have been in a situations where it was difficult, either it was in your personal life, business life, wherever it is, you don't need to share the the or whatever happened, it's not about that. It's about how do you overcome it when something bad happened? Because I know there is a lot of people in that stage right now, and I've been in that state in the past many times. And then everybody resonates with something different. So what would be your advice? How do you all overcome certain things in the past? It can be multiple things, which can maybe help someone to maybe test it. Like, yeah, I'll I'll try what Scott said.
speaker-1: Yeah, no, appreciate that, Vincent, a lot. Let me let me give some context to your listeners, and I'll be very brief about this. But I my second invention was actually funded by a private equity firm for three million dollars. And I thought I hit the American Dream business lottery. Okay, I could tell you about all the things I was going to buy because I thought I had become a you know a business rock star. Six months later. The private equity firm fired me and the management team, stole the company, and again thought they were going to be successful, but they destroyed the company and the product. Exactly. Wow. What do you say to that? When you're when you're on a conference call, you know, I wasn't fired face to face. I was fired over the telephone from matter of fact, they didn't use the word fired, Vincent. They used the word terminated, like I was an insect. So that's the context for the listeners about me. And this is where I like to talk about transformation. That event involuntarily transformed me into something else. So when these when these, and that's also what I call an excellent lightning strike. So your question to the listeners is well, Scott, I didn't have three million dollars, you know, funding my invention, whatever. I've had, but I've had lightning strikes. How did you get out of that hole? What did you do? And what I learned, and it took a couple years for this, but I learned a lot from that. Well, one of things that really came to me from that invention was this single thought of stewardship. versus ownership. So many of us operate in life as if we own everything. It's like but ownership is like reaching into a bucket of water and trying to squeeze a handful out. The tighter you grip, the less you have. Unlike an open hand where you can move the water any direction you want it to go. Stewardship. That was a practice that I began and I learned from. That was I was operating under the ownership mindset, right? Where I had control. And in reality, even though I was the president of the company and I had the power to say the things that I said, the investor is the one that actually had the control. So there's a big difference in our life between power and control. We all run around thinking we're in control. You're not in control, but you do have power. We all run around treating everything as if we are the owners of it, when in reality you really don't own anything, but you're a steward over it. You have responsibility over it. Right? You have power and responsibility over events. So who is it? What are these events are you talking about? Well, the one I want the listeners to focus on is the power. Or the influence, the stewardship that you have over yourself. Because that's where the real transformation changed. And then the other thing I would say, we spend so much time thinking that our life is about addition. What do I mean by addition? If I just had the house, if I had that new car, if I had that job, that girlfriend, that boyfriend, that husband, that wife, that possession, that nice pair of running shoes, the clothes. The couch, whatever it is. If I had this, then therefore I would be or become. And you know, I've done that for many, many, many, many years. Just around the corner, just over the top of the next hill, only to get to one of those destinations, Vincent, and there was nobody there, and I was a little bit more empty. But that voice in my head would say, Little bit further, just keep going a little bit further. And many of us, including me, we wake up one day and we're lost. We still have our job, still have our family, but we're just lost. That is where addition leads you. That's one of the reasons why so many people feel lost, is they think it's about addition. So I'm going to conclude by saying what I practice is the opposite of that is subtraction. It's getting rid of the things that no longer serve the purpose of what I'm trying to accomplish. That's very fulfilling to me. ⁓ Subtraction is more about stewardship. Addition is this mindset of ownership. So the courses, the courses look the same. They look the same. They almost look parallel. But each one of them has two dramatically different destinations, even though they look like they're the same. So, you know, to the audience, there's some some different descriptions of where you may be and how you may feel, but putting that into practical application. Think of think of subtraction. What is it in your life that you need to remove, you need to stop in order to gain the things that you are missing? And you'd be surprised. I think they'd be surprised. I've spent a lifetime doing this. They'd be surprised where the the art of subtraction will take you to the places that are more fulfilling and remove that feeling that you're not where you're supposed to be.
speaker-0: Mm-hmm. Absolutely. I think it also relates a lot to to business when it comes to sometimes we do a lot of things, we feel busy, and then ⁓ there are some things, even if we drop them, we'll be less busy, we might enjoy life a little bit more, but sometimes we don't need to do them at all. We just we are doing them because it's we feel like we have to be doing them, we but sometimes they don't even need to be done. so by that subtraction to To remove some of the things. ⁓ yeah, it was really good. Thank you very much for that. Because ⁓ the funny thing is ⁓ about that, like the ownership and stewardship is a lot of people they want to own a house. I don't own my house, I I just rent it. And some people ask me why you don't own the house. I'm like, I mean, if I do own the house, I pay two and a half times more than what I pay for the house where I live. And It's like okay, but you own it. I'm like, no. I own it in 30 years. I don't own it. The bank owns it. I only pay a deposit. I don't own it. You don't own your house unless you bought it outright. You don't own it. And even if you own it, I'm in I'm from Czech Republic. We had the communism for a very long time. You don't know what can happen. Government will come and take your property, and doesn't matter what is written on the paper. It's just in the paper on some land registry. It doesn't matter. Like like you said, people who have the power, the investors, whoever is in the top, they can take it. Like the government can take it. Like we had the COVID, and then you think you have freedom, but then you are forced to stay at home and not so it's it's kinda like, you know, people think they own stuff. Like you said, like I own the car, like do you have a lease? Yes. You don't own it, it's not yours. So not until you it's paid off. But like yeah, and then the you'd really remind me ⁓ like what you mentioned in here, and then I I I first heard it from ⁓ Tony Robbins, but here to learn that from Jim Brown probably. And it's like getting things will never make you happy. It's about well who you're gonna become. It's gonna make you happy, the progress as a person, not getting the things, right? And and sometimes it's difficult in today's world when social media is like, hey, everybody's screaming, you know, get that cart, get that house, whatever, and people get trapped. And I can see that on on people. ⁓ I have a one of my Clients, just 19. And he didn't even have a driving license yet. And he bought himself a Mercedes for $20,000. And I'm like, you don't even have a driving license. Why did you buy it? I was like, yeah, it feels good. I'm like, yeah, but you cannot drive it. Like, and he had to wait like six, seven months before he passed the driving license. Like, why do you have it? It's like, like, and also, so expensive car as a first first car. I'm like, you know, you can have a car for 5,000 to start with. ⁓ but very interesting ⁓ like how people think.
speaker-1: It is, and I love this story because ⁓ again, I I'll say this let me say this briefly, but I went through an event like that in my life where ⁓ I was in an accident, the car that I was driving was total destroyed, and I had the opportunity to go buy, you know, a new car. And my family was excited for me because they knew and they they knew that I didn't really care for the car that I was driving. They also never thought that the car I was d driving was A car that defined dad, right? So went to look at a couple of different cars, and I ended up not buying the two cars that I wanted. And it led to this discovery because I c I just had this mindset, probably like this young man. Man, I really love this BMW 5 series. I really love this American SUV. Right? They had everything that I wanted, but I ended up not buying them because I was wrestling with this thought. This is the this is what that young man's not wrestling with. Here's the question What is it that is inside me that needs an external object to validate who I am? What am I missing inside me where there's a requirement? That's an incredibly hard question. To ask. But it's one that needs to be asked and one that needs to be answered. So for the audience, if there's something you're craving, That is an outside object, ownership. Ask the question what is it inside you that's unfulfilled that is making you feel that way? And my challenge to you is if you can figure the answer to that out, I have, I figured that out for me. Is I don't need those external things anymore. Do I like a beautiful BMW five series? ⁓ yeah, I think it's a beautiful car. I think there's a lot of beautiful cars since we were talking about that young man. I think there's a lot of beautiful things. But the difference between me and that young man now, and I was once probably like him, the difference is that I no longer need an outside activity or trip or vacation or possession to be happy, joyful, peaceful, thankful, love. You know, I don't need that. I can be that exactly where I am without anything. I can be that way if I had to go dig ditches. Right? Yeah. And ⁓ That's that's the place, believe it or not, I think that's the transformation I'm talking about. That's the wonderful transformation I love to talk to audiences about ⁓ is when you can get to that place where you don't need something else to fill that hole inside you, when you can find that place and fill that inside, that's a beautiful place to be, Vincent. That's a powerful place to be.
speaker-0: Hmm, absolutely. ⁓ Thank you very much for sharing. I'll ask you a last question because we have half an hour in, is do you have like a some vision? What is it you want to what is it you want to accomplish ⁓ more? Because obviously there is a reason why you are a speaker and you sh sh share your stories and want to help people speak, you know, like see you speak on stage. So what what's the vision?
speaker-1: Yeah, I ⁓ thank you. ⁓ it's it's not what maybe most people think. It's not about the stage. By the way, I do do do we all love being on the stage and the energy from the stage? Absolutely. Do we love yeah, all of those things, love all those things. But for me, it's not about the stage. It's what about it's it's it's singularly about sharing through my book, through speaking, how so many people Millions of people are waking up every day just to die a little bit more. They're waking up every day to lose a piece of themselves just a little bit more. And they don't know how to get out of that trap. And so they go through the motions. And the problem with this, Vincent, is that when all of this is happening around the world, It affects the quality of their life and the quality of life of everybody who comes into touch with them. ⁓ Whether it's your wife, your kids, your husband, your colleagues, your neighbors. So what I aspire to do is again, through my book and through speaking to other people, is hopefully encourage them to do some of the things that I did in my life in their life. So that they can look at themselves in the mirror and be proud and be thankful to be who they are. No matter where they are. There's nothing they've done that is too far away to restore themselves back to the person they were meant to be. It's achievable for all of us. But when we do that, Vincent, this is the real transformation that takes place. When we fix ourselves, not the world, when we fix ourselves, We are going to be in a place where we can be happy again, have peace, have joy, be thankful, have gratitude. We're going to get there. But the real gift is not only to ourselves, but it's to everybody around us. It is our neighbors. It is our spouse. It is our son, our daughter, our friends, our colleagues. It's all those things. We fix, we fix the world, so not that it can be fixed, but we fix the world, we fix ourselves from the inside out, not the outside in. And so that's the message that I aspire to talk about on the stage and in my writing. I'm also a columnist in a newspaper. My my article publishes every Saturday. And I talk about these things every single week in that column. But that's what I that's what inspires me, Vincent, to go out and do. And I've already been able, you know, to do that with the people that I speak to. And there's many of you may do this. It's going to take more than just me. It's going to take, you know, many, many people to do that. But But that's what I appreciate appreciate about meeting people like you who are doing this ⁓ in your home country. And again, the more of it, the better. And that's what I aspire to do.
speaker-0: Matter fact. Thank you very much for sharing, Scott. It was a very good ⁓ I really enjoyed the interview, whatever thing you shared today. ⁓ thank you very much again for ⁓ taking your time ⁓ and then being here today with me.
speaker-1: Likewise, Vincent, it was nice to meet you in your beautiful country.
