Episode 11 - Jairek And Amanda Robbins LIVE IT!

SPEAKER_04 0:07

Oh yeah, we know what that sound means. This is social buzz on air. What is happening, everybody? I'm your host, Amaster Rusk. And as always, hey, welcome to the show. Really excited about uh the show. I'm recording the show today on a Monday, so it's Monday and to have a good podcast again. That's a plural. Um I get really fired up to talk about it. My good friends uh Jarek and Amanda Robbins. Wow, what an incredible story they have of really truly living it, and that's pun intended. Uh we want to chat about their their new book that uh that just came out. And uh they've had some incredible travels uh over the past few years and recently tied the knot in Fiji. So they've got all kinds of encouraging, um exciting stories to share with us. We're gonna find out about the book, uh, find out about their adventures, find out how they met. Uh and heck, let's not waste any more time. Let's just get right down to it. Friends, if you could please help me welcome to the show my friends Jekick and Amanda Robbins. What's happening, you rock stars?

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Hello.

SPEAKER_04 1:03

Hey, thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_04 1:06

Hey, it's always hey, Jek, welcome back actually to the show.

SPEAKER_03 1:09

Good to be here. Hopefully everyone's still wearing awesome bow ties and being ridiculously cool here.

SPEAKER_04 1:14

I I agree with that. You know, I saw one of those bikes, and that's one of my favorite pictures you've ever posted, is that bike with the is that a sp- I'm sure there's a specific name for that bike with the big tire um that you use in your reel, and you've and I've seen it several times where you're like in a suit and you're the big it has a gigantic like front wheel and then a tiny back wheel.

SPEAKER_03 1:31

I forget what it's called. I think it's called a penny fourth right or fourth night or something. It's a very English bike.

SPEAKER_04 1:38

Well, I I I I I saw two of them on Saturday, and um I was actually um going for a skate on my skateboard with with Jessica Kazork, who you who you met at the badass business uh women um anniversary party. And I'm like, dude, Jared totally took a picture of like this awesome picture on that on one of these bikes. I think I'd fall over trying to get it, but you're tall enough to hop up on one of those things, huh?

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Uh it was actually quite the adventure. It was at a friend's wedding in Ireland. They had rented out this gigantic uh palace of a king or something. It was amazing. And it was really entertaining because it was old school and it was like a freaking museum inside, but out front they had two of those. So while everyone else is being proper and actually doing what you're supposed to do at a wedding, a friend and I were out trying to ride them around the front yard. It was pretty entertaining.

SPEAKER_04 2:23

That was that was extremely responsible for you and well played on that. So um you guys met uh has it been I a couple of years at least. I've been following your adventures. I I I feel since the inception, it just it seems like it started with just adventure, adventure, adventure, adventure, love, more love, more adventure, more love. And then uh you guys just put a nice little bow on it um in Fiji and uh and became husband and wife. So how did it all start?

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Go for it. You tell me the story better. Okay, so we were um it was the weekend before 4th of July, uh it was about two years ago, and we um both were quite reluctant. We love our friends dearly, but we're quite reluctant to stop by their um their crazy wild party, which was happening on the rooftop on the bay in Mission Bay, San Diego. And it was crazy, there was a DJ, and it was just a heyday. And so we both were pretty reluctant, but um persuaded by our friends to stop by. And um literally within two seconds of me walking in, I was so excited to see my friends who I hadn't seen in months, and they immediately saw me and they're like, hey, Amanda, you're here. There's someone I want to introduce you to. And I was like, I'm not here to get hooked up with anyone. I'm not like I was just wanting to stop by and say hi to them. I didn't think that anyone, you know, was I wasn't really looking um for any um of the guys that were there, and um they immediately threw me over to him. And um what did she say? She said Did you catch her?

SPEAKER_04 3:59

Jerek? They they threw her.

SPEAKER_03 4:01

They threw her at me, and I I did catch her. Um, I'll give you a little bit of background on the party. So our neighbors are very wonderful, pleasant, incredible human beings, and they're the type of neighbors that throw pre-party, party, and post-party just to make sure it was all well entertained and put together. Um, my neighbor's wife runs a promo modeling company, so I was very hesitant to go over there because usually there's incredibly good-looking people, but not the person I was looking for to marry.

unknown 4:26

Right.

SPEAKER_03 4:27

And Amanda felt the exact same way. She loves them dearly, they're wonderful, they're fun, but she wasn't looking for a husband in that you know mess of a of a group. And we both landed up being there when she they threw over to me. And when they introduced her, they literally, I didn't hear this till later, but she had grabbed her right when she walked in the door and she said, Girl, put a smile on your face, I'm about to change your life, and dragged her across the party, pushed her into me. And the introduction was um uh Jarek, this is Amanda. She loves to travel, she has a huge heart, she's an awesome person. She used to live in China and she taught English. And Amanda, this is Jarek. Uh, he has a huge heart, he loves to volunteer, he loves to travel, he used to live in Uganda and he was teaching organic farming. And then literally she turned around and walked away and left us both there, like staring at each other, not knowing what to do. And the conversation turned into, um, so you travel, huh?

SPEAKER_04 5:23

Yeah, uh hi, I'm awkward. You must be uncomfortable. It's really nice to meet you.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

And it it was entertaining because we have pictures of us standing there just deep in conversation. It's like you know, the whole universe disappeared around us, and it was just her and I talking, and it turned into about a four and a half hour conversation. At the end of four and a half hours of talking, I finally stopped talking at that point and looked at her and said, Shit, for all that listening, she must be hungry. I'm just kidding. Uh it was a conversation that went for four and a half hours. It wasn't a monologue. Um, but after four and a half hours of talking, I literally was like, Man, I'm hungry. And then I went, Shit, she must be hungry. And I looked at her and I asked her, I'm like, Are you do you are you hungry by chance? And she's like, Yeah. And I had heard somewhere, never go on a first date uh by yourself because you never actually get to be yourself. You're the person you think you're supposed to be to impress the other person. And so I hit one of my best friends who was standing next to me and was like, Hey, are you hungry? And he's always hungry, so I knew it was a given. And the three of us went on our first date right up the road for tacos.

SPEAKER_04 6:22

The three of us? That's all now. That's a buddy right there.

SPEAKER_03 6:26

It is. He he he was actually excited, and I figure if I she could see the authentic, real, natural me, just living life and being myself, as goofy and silly and weird and awkward as I am, um, and I could, you know, do my best to see her and all she was who she was, then it would be a great match. And the the way that confirmed it is my buddy had found a new app that pushed mustaches on people. So he took a picture of her on our first date and put a mustache on her and was showing me, and he said, Hey, if you still like her with a mustache, I think you got a keeper.

SPEAKER_04 7:01

Well, that is fantastic. And okay, so um you meet, um, you obviously talked her into seeing you again, and uh then then the travels seem to start pretty pretty short after that, no?

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Yep. We um within I think actually what's funny is during that time of during those four hours of talking on the in the middle of a party, um, he mentioned that he was going to um we were talking about traveling, where we had been, where we're going. And I said, Um, next on my list is to hit up South America. I haven't been there yet. And he said, Really, we're going in December. We're going to, I think it was like 12 countries or 15 countries in South America in December. You should come. A bunch of my friends are coming. And I was like, I'm down with that. I'll be there. And then um, sure enough, like that December, uh, we're, I think that was our first trip, or maybe it was Japan. But, anyways, that um that was a pretty epic journey. That was actually the first retreat we went on together, and that was 15 countries, 25 days.

SPEAKER_04 8:06

Oh, I totally remember. You did that twice in one year, didn't you, Jarek?

SPEAKER_03 8:10

I did. Uh what had happened was that summer I had gone on one just for fun, and I remember sitting down and having the time of my life and being like, wow, I haven't done this in a while, where I just went out, relaxed, enjoyed life, had fun, gave back, made a difference. And and I I sat around and I just was thumbing through my thoughts, and I was like, man, you know, I wish I could find a way to do this for free. Because as much as I like paying for vacations, it'd be awesome to at least figure out how to get it compensated.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

Right.

SPEAKER_03 8:36

And so I looked around and I saw their speakers on board, and I'm like, Well, I'm a speaker. Like, I wonder if they would let me speak on board. And I went and talked to the guy in charge, and he was like, sure. And he's like, Well, normally we pay the speakers and then we pay for their room and blah, blah, blah. And I was like, listen, what if I came for free and you just gave me a free room? And they're like, Wow, that's a great deal. And I was like, oh. Um and I was like, shit, I just got a free cruise. This is awesome. And and I thought about it, I'm like, I wonder if I can make money doing this. And I looked around and I was like, you know, there's nothing better than getting paid to do something you love. And so I looked around and I was like, hey, do you guys care if I sell people to come with me on this? Like if I bring my own people? And they're like, no, we would love that. You know, we were struggling with people bringing people anyways. We needed more people to fill up the ship. I'm like, done. And so I added a retreat fee of just, you know, just uh in the hundreds of dollars range. Added a few hundred dollar retreat fee, wrapped it into the price of the trip, and threw it online and said, Hey, come with me, I'll teach you these subjects. We'll be on this ship, there'll be other lecturers on board, other great things going on. You'll love it. And we had set it up, I I think it was 25 days, 10 countries at December. And I'll give you an insight. I had always struggled with finding someone who had the heart, the passion, the drive, the love for other human beings like I do, and really also worked their face off and was very, very, very successful and competent in what they did, and still had the mindset and flexibility to on a, you know, on an instant's notice turn around and say, let's just take a trip. And I've met a lot of people who love to take trips, but we're not successful, you know, we're struggling financially, we're always trying to figure out how to pay the next bill, we're always trying to figure out how to get their shit together. And I've met people who, you know, loved to work really hard, were doing incredibly well. But if you told them 25 days, they'd pass out because they they can't figure out how to take a three-day vacation. And to meet someone who was so unbelievably put together as far as a solid human being with a massive heart who loved and cared about humanity as much as I did, who volunteered and traveled and did all the things, and someone who's like, 25 days, 10 countries? Yeah, I'm in. My jaw was on the ground. Like, I was like, Do you exist? Really? And I remember wanted to like poke her and be like, Are you real? Yeah, is this real life? The second question was, how much did Molly pay you to say that to me? Like I swore my friends were paying her to come and tell me all this stuff just because they knew who I was and what I was up to, and uh, you know, we're trying to help me find somebody. And and and it's been an absolute incredibly blessed journey ever since. And it's just the beginning.

SPEAKER_04 11:14

It totally, totally seems like that. You know, those cruises, um, I have a buddy Jason, in fact, that I met at UPW that um that that started a little bit different from what you were doing. Yours was a little bit more um adventurous and and productive. Uh, this is uh he he invented the groove cruise. Um and he's done like 50 like for like the past, I don't know how many he's done, but he just got top 500 companies in Inc. Um doing like I don't know like $7 million a year. And these are just two cruises a year, LA and Miami, for people to go out and obviously lose their mind at eight. But as far as like how it grew, he goes, I sent an email out to a list of 300 people, and 150 people responded for a group cruise, and then from there, 600 people. And so the the whole idea of getting people together, like-minded individuals together to be able to do something like that. Um it seems to be very popular because people like it, and it's obviously adventurous, it's different. And uh what are you guys doing it again?

SPEAKER_03 12:08

Um, that cruise, we actually are trying for the first time. We did it last year twice. We did one, you know, in Europe for fun in the summer, and then we did Central and South America again. This year we're trying to do, we're switching over to Asia and do country specific. So we're actually doing it coming up in December. We're doing 10 days in Thailand, and we're gonna be going up and down all throughout Thailand, everything between you know, living in tree houses, visiting a hill tribe, building a school, or building a house with habitat for humanity, uh, living on raft boats a couple nights, um, visiting the elephant sanctuaries, uh, visiting all the temples and the fun stuff. So crazy fun adventures, real, you know, tourism, travel, that kind of stuff, all mixed in with a personal development curriculum throughout it to grow yourself. And our our thought process is you know, there's fun, crazy wild vacations, there's um lay on the beach and do nothing vacations. And ours is, you know, if you're gonna take a vacation and you're someone who loves to grow as a human being, why not take a vacation with a purpose where you're giving back, you're growing yourself as a human being and you're having fun along the way.

SPEAKER_04 13:10

Yeah, yeah. That's that's awesome. So um as far as um and I love the the giving back part. So it's actually, you know, and again, you when you look at fulfillment um uh of a vacation, you know, you can come back and go, did I eat too much? Did I drink too much? Did I spend too much money? Um, or you can can you come back and say, you know, wow, not only did I relax, rejuvenate, but we we seriously made a dent in an area that that that that needed some love. So I tip the hat to you guys for this, and I'm not I'm not surprised by any means at all with your guys' ongoing excess and what you're doing. I follow all your travels, and I look forward to getting on one of these cruises here sooner rather than later. I did the b the the bow tie definitely needs to uh expand his horizons to say the least. So um so you guys had all these adventures to the do um I think whether it's uh it's um just leisure or these these organized things you've put together, um, and then you finally got to a point where you said, you know what, um this is uh this is a lifetime deal. Let's go ahead and move forward.

SPEAKER_03 14:09

And then I think you proposed somewhere in in was it Europe or was it uh I can't remember, but I do remember Yeah, I proposed in Barcelona to start and lock it in. I remember I I proposed in in six other countries as well.

SPEAKER_04 14:22

Oh, that's right. I do remember. So I remember a scooter. Am I off there?

SPEAKER_03 14:26

There's a scooter in where was that? Lisbon. Lisbon, Portugal. Um, I proposed in Paris.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

In a market in Morocco, Morocco, um, Barcelona, uh, Rome, Monte Carlo, uh, where else? Portugal, Spain, Italy, Rome in front of the Coliseum.

SPEAKER_03 14:52

Yeah, we threw a whole bunch in there just in case. I wanted to ask her. And I think the most burning question every woman had of watching me on Facebook was were there six rings? Hilarious. It's like, no, there was one ring, and it was a freaking hassle trying to fight it off her finger every time to ask her again.

SPEAKER_04 15:08

Yeah, give me that, give me that thing. Yeah, absolutely. So uh yeah, on all these in all these cruises, you guys replay the the whole Titanic scene there on the front at night.

SPEAKER_03 15:16

No, we actually avoid that since we're on a ship just in case. We don't want to take it.

SPEAKER_04 15:21

I don't even want that juju around, right?

SPEAKER_03 15:25

We avoid that thought at all costs, right?

SPEAKER_04 15:28

So um I I I guess I saw you, it was gosh, it was time flies. It was at least two years ago, I guess, when you came. You had a talk and it was random. You go, I got a little bit of time on Friday night, and I'm like, awesome. I've got a badass businesswoman anniversary party I'm gonna bring you to. You're like, oh, what? All right, I'm in. And um, we got a chance to chat it up, and you just had your hands in fire at the time and just moving and shaking. And um wow, a lot's happened in two years, and then here we are, and and the book's out. Um, and I think we actually had a conversation a couple years ago about the book because I think I was thinking about writing a book, and you, you, you, everything was on the chalkboard at this point in time, and here we are, you know, as fast as life moves. And um live it is uh alive and well. Live it achieves success by living with purpose, and you're clearly doing that um just just just based on our our conversation and uh and and both of your travels. So um how'd the book come about? How the obviously I know how the name came about, you're you're living it. Um, but what where did uh where did the initial process walk us through it real quick?

SPEAKER_03 16:27

Um it's really simple. It's something that helped me transform my life and made all of this possible. And what it is is chapter one is simply just nailing down what is your absolute ideal day vision for your life. And the reason we don't ask what your ideal life plan is, is because you know, trying to bite off five, ten, and twenty-year chunk of planning is way too much. And things change so freaking fast nowadays that most people are overwhelmed at how fast things change and what's available and what's no longer available in an instant in today's world. And so we start off with what is your absolute ideal day? The type of day that you would not trade for anything on earth. No amount of money, no amount of fame, no amount of fortune, no amount of anything would be worth trading that type of day for. Meaning if you were living that day, no matter how simple or how complex it is, someone could come to you, write a check with lots and lots of zeros, double the amount of zeros you're thinking, and say, listen, you have to spend the next 15 years of your life doing something you hate in a place you don't like with people you can't stand, and I'll give you this check with all these zeros, or you can live the rest of your life doing that ideal day of yours. You'd look at your daily life, you'd look at the check, hand the check to them, tear it up, and be like, no, thanks. Why? Because, you know, let's say it's 15-year contract. What if you go 14 and a half years and then die? It's like, well, was that worth it? You don't get the reward, and you had to live miserably for the last 15 years, 14 and a half years of your life? What a horrible trait. And the truth is, none of us know when that day is gonna be that will be our last. Um, in you know, I think chapter five or six, I forget which chapter it is. I had a moment when I was living in a village in Uganda volunteering, I'm in my twenties, and all of a sudden a doctor comes in and says, Hey, with the malaria you have in your blood right now, you've got about five days left. And I was like, five days to what? And he said, five days till your body can't sustain itself. And I remember at that point thinking I had a lifetime to live and all these things to do and everything I wanted to accomplish. And yeah, you know, I have forever to get it done, and instantly realized, you know, my forever could be done in five days. So all of a sudden I sat down and I said, Wow, there is no tomorrow. There's no guarantee of tomorrow. Therefore, I've got to start designing my life in a way that guarantees I am fulfilled, I'm alive, I feel like I'm lived on purpose. And a friend of mine threw three questions out there, Brennan Bashard, he said, you know, at the end of your life, you have to answer the questions, did you really live? Did you really love? Did you really matter? And so part of designing that ideal day is designing the type of day where I know I lived fully and alive, you know, passionately for what I believe in. I know I loved fully and shared my life in a way that really spread that love to the people who matter to me most and everyone else around as well. And I know I mattered. I know I did something that was meaningful on this planet that I'd be remembered by. And so that type of day, and so chapter one is how to create the vision and create the outline of the day. Chapters two through 11 is how to turn that day into reality.

SPEAKER_04 19:21

The role real quick, Jarek, um, speaking of claiming your ideal day, I believe listeners can go to jerkrobins.com and and sign up for your uh claim your ideal day design kit, correct?

SPEAKER_03 19:32

Absolutely. It's a free gift we give away. And if you go to jerekrobins.com, you can grab it there. The other place you can grab it, and actually has a couple other bonus gifts we've topped it off with, is liveitbook.com. Just L-I-V-E-I-T book.com. And there's actually the workshop plus a habit tracker, which is good for chapter two in the book. It's something you use to go along with the chapter, and then a daily visualization process people can use every single day to build um strength and momentum with their ideal day, just something you can use every day beyond just the workshop itself. So it's available on both sites, and it's our gift to you to help you do that, just to get a taste of what it's like.

SPEAKER_04 20:11

And by the way, you're probably listening to this as a podcast, you're listening on SoundCloud, on Facebook, maybe on my website, thank God for iTunes. Uh all the links are provided in the show description. So Jarek's link, the Liv It Book link, um, and anything else we talk about for the rest of the episode, just side note there. Okay, so uh get getting back into the book. Sorry, I didn't mean to disrupt you there, but I I had your site up in front of me and I and I said this is perfect timing. This segment's brought to you by Ideal Day Design Kit, uh jerekrobins.com.

SPEAKER_03 20:39

Back to you, Jarek. Uh awesome. And the so chapters two through twelve is how to turn that ideal day into reality. The obstacles you're gonna face, the challenges you're gonna face, remembering there's not a tomorrow. Um, and it's great stories. Everyone from you know the recent Nobel Price Prize winner, Malal el Yosef uh Yosefe, um, to Team Hoyt, Dick and Rick Hoyt, the father and son who do all these amazing races where the father pushes, carries, and pulls his son through all these amazing races. But it's relevant, up-to-date, now stories that are really pertinent to show these examples of how to use the tools necessary to turn that day into reality. And it's my own personal experience over the last 10 years of doing so. Obviously, where I was 10 years ago isn't where I am now, and everything in that book is what helped me transform my own life and business. And more importantly, and it's kind of more fun to brag about, my story is awesome, good for me, who cares, but my client's life. You know, I remember sharing this, these tools and this idea with a client of mine who was working for one of the largest global banks. He was a managing director at the time, which is one step below managing partner. He had a six figure salary with a seven figure bonus check every year. He had millions of dollars of cash liquid in the bank. He uh was living in central London, running their entire global book of commodities. For the entire company. It was amazing. So, according to most people in that world, he was massively successful. And I remember asking him what his ideal day would be. And he described this day: living in the countryside, being with family, soaking up life, feeling connected to nature, being able to go for a run on the beach, being there with his beautiful, incredible wife and future child and maybe a dog. And he had this life where he was doing business, you know, on his own terms, where he was controlling his life and his destiny of where he was headed and what he was doing. And he could describe this beautiful day, you know, with some yoga in the afternoon, relaxing and meditating, doing business globally on a huge scale, changing the way things are done in his industry. And I remember being like, wow, that day sounds fantastic. And I was like, How does that compare to your life now? And I remember him laughing and being like, I live in central London. Uh, the sunshine is not something we see here often. It's all cement everywhere. I live nowhere close to nature and or the beach. And he's like, Yeah, not very close. And I remember hearing that and thinking, wow, according to every other person he knows on Earth, he is unbelievably successful. But according to his vision of how he would live life on his terms, he's nowhere close. And I remember working with him as a one-on-one coaching client for about two and a half years to transform. And he went through a lot of changes in that two and a half years. But I remember two and a half years later him talking to me and asking me, Hey, do you remember the very first question you ever asked me? And in all honesty, I answered back. I was like, uh no, it was two and a half years ago. And he was like, Remember, you asked me about the ideal day. How could you not take better notes? And I remember going, Yeah, it's in my notes. Let me flip back. And I remember reading his day to him and him saying, everything you just read word for word was my day today. I just bought a new house in the Hamptons. I was out running on the beach this morning. My, you know, I'm married now. My wife is expecting. I was out back in my office looking out at the beautiful view of nature, connecting, you know, walking around with my bare feet in the grass, working on a, you know, my new business, which is global and changing the industry I work in. He's like, I just want to say thank you because I would have never thought in a million years this trend, you know, this shift would have happened from then till now. But this is fantastic. And I just want to say, you know, in his terms, these soft skills changed my life. And he's very hardcore business. And it's that thought process of like, wow, how cool. Um, you know, same stuff I shared in the book. I remember I was working with a young woman up in Canada who was struggling, and her main goal was to find the man of her dreams. And these tools, she learned how to put herself together in a very powerful and positive way. I remember 18 months later getting an email saying, hey, I not only found him, but we're engaged. And so that's the my favorite part about this type of work is we put it out into the world, and our goal is to get our message in this book out to as many people as possible because we know the difference it makes in their life.

SPEAKER_04 24:52

Well, you know, I like to I like to say, I'm sorry, go, go, go ahead, finish.

SPEAKER_03 24:55

So the final chapter is, you know, once you've figured out your day, you've turned it into reality, the final chapter is now take that day and magnify it into five, 10, and 20-year vision for your life now that you know the day is possible. But if you don't know how to turn that one day into reality, you know, thinking a 5, 10, and 20-year vision is going to happen seems like it's just, you know, positive thinking. It's just getting your hopes up. Versus when you know how to turn that day into reality, setting your vision for the future now becomes absolute with absolute certainty, you can look in ahead and go, done, I'll get it. I'll make it happen. I know exactly what it takes.

SPEAKER_04 25:29

That's awesome. So what is the the book done? I don't want to say for your business, um, but I I I because I look at this a lot. People say, Well, I and I get interviewed, and you know, what what's the what's the biggest thing that's changed if you come out with a book? And you know, I I think my book is my new business card. Um, not to actually um generate new business. That happens, but um the president of my my publishing company said something brilliant, and that was you know, people never throw away books. So whoever you meet or a gift or a thank you or you know, people never throw them away, they give them away, but chances are they're they're still on their bookshelf and when it's a time to do business with you at that time comes, or maybe they know somebody does it, your book is still on their bookshelf. So I see a tremendous amount of value. Plus, people, I mean, for some reason, Derek, people actually take me serious now that I wrote a book, but that that's a little scary. That's a whole nother episode. But um what are some things that have changed, other than people, what are some things that have changed for your life and your business since the books come out?

SPEAKER_03 26:27

Um so if you flip over to a business thought process, our our book is our message of the world, and it's a way for people to get to know who we are and connect with us in a very simple, easy, and powerful way. Um the reason that happens is like you said, it's a lot of freaking work to make a book. I mean, it took us, and it's I I think our method was a little shorter than most people's method, but it took us about three months of hardcore writing and creation, another probably six months of letting our publisher go through the editing phases and all that jazz. Then the reworks and the reworks and the reworks and the re you know, the multiple editions of it, all the way down to the very final piece that has been crafted and edited not only by our team, but by our publisher's team, you know, seven people constantly draft going through the drafts, making sure it's absolutely pristine to represent our message and take that out to the world. And so what happens in business is this is a really, really, really refined version of your message that allows it to go out and circulate around the world and meet and greet people for you. And it allows your heart and soul and everything you're up to in your business to be shared with them in a very simple format that allows them to consume it, share it, learn about you, connect with you, really deeply build a relationship with you through your work. And it allows them to see how your work really affects their life and business if they take it that far and they really apply it, which is our goal. Not everyone's goal in writing a book, but our goal is get them to really apply it. And you know, our goal is if we can transform someone's life through a book, they'll become a raving fan. And when they become a raving fan, what happens to our business is they come back for more. And they want to know what else are we up to, what else are we doing, where else are we? How can they be involved? What else can they collect of ours? You know, whether it's an audio program or an online training, whether it's working with me one-on-one in coaching, if they have personal questions, whether it's joining us on a retreat. For our business, it becomes the ability as an for them to get connected to us, learn more about us, get familiar with our message, and take that first step on a journey to learn more about everything it is that we do. And then we have you know many other steps for them to go through if they're interested to support them along the way and to magnify what they've learned in that book and really just expand on it. And so we are constantly building content and fresh new updates via our blog to make sure we really support them all the way through that journey. And and what's the link to the blog? Uh just jerkrobins.com forward slash blog. Perfect.

SPEAKER_04 28:51

Yeah, you know, I I constantly talk about this, and like you guys, um I'm a storyteller, and I believe we're we're we're we're living in an age of storytelling, and we're also living in an age of disruption. Um if you don't believe me, just ask a blogbuster, right? Um and I believe that the stories um disrupt people's thought processes um in it in it in it in a in a good way. Um and it shakes them up in a good way, and it helps them to really secure that emotional connection with you and your brand. Um so that they just like you said, it it allows them it it's like a express way into your ecosystem so that you have the opportunity to not sell and market to them competently, but to simply have a um a valuable conversation um on a consistent basis by providing value and being there and then having uh content resources available um to provide them and to support them along the way. So um I I love how our our both of our thought processes are are definitely in line with that because um and it's nuts because you imagine what did we do 10 years ago? I guess I don't know, we faxed back the uh contract to the publisher if you got a book deal, right? And uh and you did some direct mail and some traditional advertising and and hope for the best of this day and age. It's just we are so instantly connected there. And correct me if I'm wrong, but but there's never been a b easier time or better time to start a business um or to go into business. It's just nuts how how how easy it is. It's not that easy, and let's not get crazy here. But as far as you know, starting a website and uh, you know, you know, like like Gary V says, you know, whatever you're interested in, you like submerged, just murf it up. Start blogging about submerged. There's somebody out there that'll read it. Um it's just I I think it's easier for us to identify an audience these days and then and then engage with them consistently.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

I have a couple things to actually add to that. I think you're incredibly right and spot on it's insanely easy to start a business these days, and there's so many different avenues to do so. Um on the flip side, that also means that there's tons more competition out there. So what's gonna set you apart tremendously is how much value you provide and truly the quality of um any product or service that you're providing. So I don't think that just because it's easy easy doesn't mean that you should by any means slack up in that department. And on the book note, um, with you know, it's it's so commonly said that the book a book is the best business card you could have. Um, and I I understand where people like where are you where that comes from at the same rate. I don't think with us we ever led with that as the intention or the the mission behind it. It truly was so much more than that. Um these days, again, it's it's so easy to write a book. You could self-publish, you, I mean, it's quite hard to get, I think, a advance or whatever book, your proposal actually accepted by some of the bigger publishers out there these days. Um so, anyways, if regardless of whether you're going through a traditional publisher or self-publishing, I think that if you're doing it just as a business card, then you're doing it for the wrong reasons. And really you should be leading with this as, you know, what can I serve? What can I deliver that is of tremendous value and of really great quality? Because if you're just doing it for a business card, your standards are way too low and you really need to raise them. Um, and so this has been a tremendous resource for us to literally just put into people's hands and help them. Um, there's something in there for everyone. You could flip to every page and learn something and really um, there's huge takeaways. So I just wanted to add that in there. And and then to go back, yes, it's incredibly easy to start a business, but um, that also means that there's a ton of competition out there. So your product and your service needs to be on point, it needs to be sharp, it needs to be of immense quality, and you absolutely cannot have low standards at all for it to be successful.

SPEAKER_03 32:35

And it's really trippy because we live in a time right now where people accept the value and the standard they expect you to deliver and what they expect to pay for it, you gotta think about it. We were just watching a uh rerun of uh the voice, and there was a commercial for this new game that's available via an app download from iTunes. And we were watching it, and to see the amount of graphics that this game was had in it and the the the just product they were delivering. I mean, this is a two to five hundred thousand dollar project for most app companies to develop and to create and to design and and to program and code and everything. We know that because we've done our homework, and if they're gonna spend two hundred thousand dollars, guess what the price point was to download it? Free. So we're living at a time right now where people expect you to put all that effort and energy and time and really you know perfect what you're giving them for free. And it and then and then they're still gonna bitch about it because they don't like what happens on fucking flippy birds on level 12 or whatever the hell it was. And you see it and you think, wow, what a trip. So I agree a thousand percent with my wife. Yes, it is your best business card, it is the best way to introduce you, your message, who you are, what you stand for, what you're about, what your business does, how effective you are to the world, and you got to know who you're competing with.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:07

Because if you're competing with companies that are willing to drop $200,000 into something for free for consumers, you better make sure your book does something in the world. Otherwise, it will there will become a time where your book does get tossed aside like a business card just because they're like, meh, didn't do anything in first page for me.

SPEAKER_00 34:23

And you have like two seconds to make an impression. So if they even take the time to crack open your book, it better be awesome. Otherwise, like Derek said, they're just gonna talk to the side. And thanks for wasting my time.

SPEAKER_03 34:33

And the key with that becomes I was just talking to uh my dad, actually, who's getting ready to release his book, and his is six hundred frickin' pages again. God bless him. He needs to do something with his life, really. Good job. He hates writing books, and he hasn't released one in 20-something years, and his is 600 frickin' pages long, how to master your finances. It's coming out uh just this month. And what's really trippy about it is I was talking to him about it, and he said, you know, I sat down with uh with someone of the generation, the archetype, the background, the age range I'm trying to reach with this material, and I had her read me page by page, chapter by chapter, the book. And each page, as she was reading it to me, I would st I would watch her eyes, I would watch her face, I would watch her reaction. And whenever I saw something interesting, as far as a cringe or a squint or a tension or a shake of the head, I'd pause her and say, Hey, what are you thinking right now when you just read that? And I'd ask her, and she'd go, Well, I was thinking, yeah, for you it might be easy, but but I have no freaking clue what you're talking about here. Or, yeah, that might make sense for someone in your position, but mine, you know, is so far from that. And then he would literally go back and redraft the damn page.

unknown 35:49

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

All based on the real-time reaction of the person he was trying to reach. So you gotta think, like stuff like this doesn't magically become you know number one bestseller across the board or or reach people and make an impact. And the people who have a dedication to their craft, yes, it's easy to get in the business, yes, it's easy to pop up websites. I'm a huge, huge, huge advocate of Gary Vee in that message. Gary V's also message is you know, it takes a lot of freaking elbow grease to stay number one in your industry now, which is fun because every day you've got competition of people nipping at your hills, people who are willing to drop 200 grand in their business and give it away for freaking free, just to get people's attention and disrupt what's going on in the world. So what's crazy is yes, what's fun is you can make it happen, you can get out there in the world and be part of the mix, which is awesome. If this, if the way technology is available today, if it wasn't, we would we wouldn't be in business. My website, you remember my first website. You we were buddies back then. Um, it was horrible. I made it myself. If you go on the time genius or whatever the heck it's called, the website that shows you the history of any website, go to jerekrobins.com and flip back to like 2010 or right before then, and you'll see the first versions of my website. It's pretty bad. I think we've all we've we've all been there. And by the way, the site currently looks great. Thank you. But with that site, though, with the passion and the constant delivery of great information and constantly pouring my heart and soul into it, it built a six-figure business in eight months, and it's grown ever since. And all that came from is our dedication and our passion towards constantly pouring out our heart and soul as much as we can into delivering the best of what we know for people for free up front. That's on our blog. Every week we throw the best of what we got out there just to serve humanity and people at the best we can. From there, we do offer all kinds of levels of other programs and other ways we can get compensated for our work and work with you one-on-one and invite you to take cool trips with us. But everything's in alignment with our brand, everything's in alignment with who we are, and it's all finding a way to serve first. And as long as your heart and soul is in it, as long as you're working your face off it, over-delivering and really, really, really backing up what you're sharing with people with the absolute best of what you can, you'll reach the right people, and that message will be heard and it'll ripple out into the world in amazing ways right now.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

Definitely.

SPEAKER_04 38:10

I I agree with that, and you guys are just doing an impeccable job. And it's funny you say work your face off. I remember a Vine video that uh Gary V had posted, and and I'll say the P PG-rated version of it, and he said, Um, you know, I've got millies and I'm still working my face off. Um and that was that went out to, I think it went out to like uh, you know, all my entrepreneurs out there or guys that are trying to people out there trying to come up in the game. Um I I got millions and I still work my face off every day. And that's true. You can't there is no uh substitute for hard work. And uh the the just the cool part about it is is that um and and I I remember hearing this one time if you if you want a lifestyle, if if you want a lifestyle um business, you've got to have a lifestyle. Um so it's not the other way around. A lot of people build their their their their business or career and then their life. Um I I think it's easier to build a life and then a career to business around that. Uh and you guys just do such a great job of that. So um we're almost out of time, but I want to chat real quick about the the magical fairy tale wedding over in Fiji. I know you guys got there early uh and spent some time and and stuck around uh obviously after the ceremony. Just give me the 30,000-foot perspective of how it all went down. Uh Amanda, I know that you were just uh well, obviously, you know, fairy tale is coming true here and you're you're getting ready to marry the man of your dreams in, but it's Fiji. So um just walk us through it. How how how how did it all obviously uh it's a no-brainer to get married in paradise, so it's not like out, out, twist my arm, let's go to Fiji and get married. But um how how'd the whole thing come together? I I saw some familiar faces over there too, so it looked like quite the wedding. Troy, did I say that right?

SPEAKER_03 39:41

Yes. Uh, you'd be surprised that when you invite friends and family and loved ones to Fiji, how many it it honestly is on the other side of Earth from the where the majority of our family and friends live. So um we had lots and lots and lots of people who who weren't able to make it with us, and we had our closest family and friends who were, and we're so grateful that they made it and took the trip out there. And we had an absolute blast. I grew up there ever since I was probably six, seven, eight years old. And so I have friends who live in the villages there, right across from the resort, who literally, like me and one of our friends, Jope, used to fish off the pier together with a plastic bottle and uh fishing line around it with a hook at the end. Like we used to fish every day when we were eight years old together. And so I grew up with them and they got to see me sporadically throughout life, and I got to see them sporadically throughout life and how their life unfolded and how ours did my mind did. And I got to introduce them to my amazing, beautiful, incredible wife, and people and and friends and family from the village were there, and then our friends and family from home were there, and we got to celebrate. And I remember, I think it was Ken Blanchard, a long, long time ago, told my dad, he said, you know, if you want to build a relationship, break bed consistently over a week together with somebody, and you'll build a deep relationship. And so it was fun having some of our closest friends who've known us known us forever, some of our newer friends who very, very good people, and getting the ability to share them all together and have an amazing, incredible week celebrating and relaxing. The other blessing there is some of our family, that was their very first trip out of the country. So to be able to take them somewhere and give them the ability to relax for a few days was a blessing in itself. Um, so we we got married in Fiji. It was beautiful, it was on the beach, perfect weather, um, perfect everything magically came together. We surprised everyone by having six Fijian warriors uh carry Amanda in and then escort her down the aisle. I saw that like as a guy standing at the end of the aisle saying, seeing six warriors around your wife and her father walking down the aisle. Uh you think watching the dad walk her down is intimidating. Imagine if you had six fucking warriors around him. Excuse the language. Um but it but it was quite the experience. I looked up and like, oh shit. Um it was fun, it was an absolute blast. And then we stood there for our honeymoon and it's fun. We we did some amazing, amazing um pictures of the wedding itself, the days around it, and also we did an awesome trash the dress shoot right after where we jumped in the ocean and and it was beautiful. I mean, it looks like the Little Mermaid in real life. It's it's magnificent. I hope you can share some of the links from our blog or some pictures online there in the the links here on the podcast or the download or the recording of this. But they're really magnificent. And we just actually got an email the other day that Fiji Bride magazine, which is the equivalent of like GQ over there, is gonna pick it up and do a whole spread on it, which would be pretty cool. That is awesome.

SPEAKER_00 42:39

That that's it was it was really incredible. It was um a place that I had always I've never been to Fiji. I always wanted to go, but I had saved this place of all the countries I'd traveled to and um and lived and all that jazz. Fiji was the one place where I was like, this is where I want to either get married or honeymoon. And getting married seemed like a little bit of a long shot to drag half you know your friends and family halfway around the world. Um, but they made it and we were so grateful for that. And so it was pretty fun. Um, Jarek had shared that you know, he had mentioned when we were just dating before we were engaged um about possibly going to Fiji together sometime. And I kind of blew it off. I was like, no, no, no, no, we're gonna wait like unless if we get engaged, then maybe we get married or honeymoon.

SPEAKER_03 43:22

Put it this way. I asked her to go to Fiji with me, and she says, that's very sweet, but I've always saved that for my honeymoon or wedding, so I have to decline. Again, just like when I found a woman who traveled and gave back and made a difference in the world, I'd also never met a woman that I'd asked to go to probably one of the most romantic places on earth with, and her be like, um, no thanks. I'm saving that one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:43

You know, I literally put it on the top of my bucket list after, you know, you know, obviously dad talks about it pretty uh pretty thoroughly. He's pretty passionate about it. He he owns the joint. So um, but of course, being able to to to get an uh an idea and a look into uh there, I'm like, that has gone to the top of of of The bucket list.

SPEAKER_00 44:01

It should be on the top of everyone's that place. The love and the spirit is absolutely phenomenal. They literally took my vision, my idea, my inspiration, and turned it into something that had our jaws just hit the ground, taking our breath away, um, every single day, every hour. It was incredible. They just poured so much um love and soul into every part of our wedding week. And it was seriously the best two weeks of our lives. And to be able to share it with you know close and friends and family is absolutely amazing, and we're so grateful. And the can the celebration continues um with friends and family in Michigan and California, which has been really fun. Um, it was magical. It was really cra incredible.

SPEAKER_04 44:40

It totally looked like it. I I I um I saw the lovely Mina Shaw was in the house, so she had snapped a couple of pictures, and then you guys get tagged and some few other guests that were there. So we we got some uh some almost real-time uh wedding Fiji buzz, if you will. Um while it all happened, I'll definitely have to check out your blog post and your pictures, and I'll be sure to share the links with the shows.

SPEAKER_03 45:00

We were we were keeping everyone informed and connected because we had lots of friends and family who weren't able to make it, but we wanted to make sure they could see it.

SPEAKER_02 45:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:08

Um the other piece with that, if I could throw a plug in there, it's the number one resort and spa in all of Fiji. They just beat out the four seasons Bali last year on one of the awards they won. And and uh there's no better place on earth. And it's not the scenery is magnificent, the location's incredible. They have 300 acres of rainforest that they own there, and they make into probably one of the most magical experiences. But the people there is what makes and break, you know, it makes it over everything.

SPEAKER_00 45:34

Everyone cried when we everyone, like our guests, we were in tears, the people of Namali were in tears. It's incredible. There, we couldn't have taken our wedding anywhere else and had that same experience. And the beautiful part was um, again, just how much love that they poured into it. And I really was a pretty chill, like laid-back bride where I was like, you know, like I don't want to get so caught up in the details. I really want to just stay focused on, you know, what was really important, what really mattered, and that and that was the union, the celebration, um, the ceremony between Jarek and I and sharing that with our closest friends and family. And they just they blew it up. Like they just made it and it was absolutely incredible. And nowhere else um could that have been the same. So we and we're so grateful to have actually people from the villages join. Um we had a local um pastor from the church uh, you know, do our ceremony, and then we had the church choir sing for us. We had um friends of Jarek's who watched him grow up uh attend the ceremony as well. So it was such a cool fusion between, you know, our friends from around the world and then you know, him growing up there as well in Fiji, which was really fun.

SPEAKER_04 46:44

Totally. And it it absolutely, and to add on to the plug, you can find out more information at Namily. That's M-A-N-A-M-A-L-E Fiji.com. That's a tongue twister. But um, I I've again top of my bucket list. I haven't been yet, but uh Tony Robbins had me at when you arrive, you can take a shower in the waterfall.

SPEAKER_00 47:04

You're gonna love it.

SPEAKER_04 47:06

You're gonna love it. It's amazing. Best place on earth.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

Get a one-way ticket.

SPEAKER_04 47:10

That's not a bad I love where your head's at there. Peace love. So um I I just want to commend you guys on all of your life success. You guys are just uh um a great example of what it really is to to to live it and to to be passionate about um um uh life, um, people that that um that that need passion and um you guys are just you're you're you're you're making a d I don't I don't believe a dent. I think there's like a huge like gouge coming out of this planet with it with two, you know, the Lord uses us, but two of us together, he's really got a program going. So um God bless you guys. I'm believing for the bet, you know, your your best days are ahead of you guys, and I uh you got some big things around the corner, and um I'm just glad to call it's a privilege to call you guys friends, and I'm I'm glad you you carved out some time and and brought us all up to speed. Uh listeners, make sure you check out the blog, uh go to jerekrobins.com. Everything's available in the show description here as well. If you have one information about getting involved uh with Jerek and Amanda, uh hit me up. I'd be more than happy uh to make an introduction. So well, guys, if you make it uh across all alligator alley over here to Cuba, I mean I mean Miami, um look me up. I'd love to see you guys. We definitely, definitely will.

SPEAKER_00 48:17

We'll do. Thanks, Sebastian.

SPEAKER_04 48:19

Hey, awesome, thank you so much. Alrighty, well, we're out of time. That sound says we are out of here. Big thanks to my friends Jarek and Amanda Robbins for joining us today. I'm Sebastian Russell, signing off from our studio here in downtown Miami. We'll see you next time.