How To Crush The Day Before It Crushes You - Drewbie Wilson - Call The Damn Leads

SPEAKER_02 0:04

This is the Beyond the Story. A show that goes way beyond the story. Drewby Wilson, welcome to the show. What's up, brother? How are you? Dude, this is overdue. Way overdue. I don't know what I was stalling on on that, but you're like, uh, dude, I'm just a text away.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

But hey, man, I'm always available to you. You know. Yeah, man. Just waiting for my invitation, brother. You got it.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

You got it right here. We're here we are. We're doing the Apex tour this year. So uh you're first on deck. I think Sasser's next week. So um good to have you here, man. Good to uh always great to see you, man. It's just been a wild year in uh in Apex. We were chatting a little bit before the interview and just so grateful for uh the community and everything you guys do over there at uh at Break Free. And you know, we we ain't slowing down, so I'm I'm excited. I feel like we're just getting started here, and uh it's the right room to be in. I will say that.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Well, shoot, man, we appreciate the kind words, and I'll tell your audience we didn't pay him to say any of that. Matter of fact, he was telling me about the ROI he got before we started the interview. So I'll let you talk to him about that and get his confirmation. Uh, because man, we're just honored to have you and to see people like yourself putting in the work and getting such amazing results because you know that's really the ultimate testament for us is hey, if we've been able to do it and do it ourselves, and then give it to someone else, and they've been able to do it in their community and share it with their tribe. Like that's the mission, man. We want to help as many people as possible become the greatest version of themselves.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Yeah, that's how it's done. My my my my new mantra for 2023 and moving forward is help the person that you used to be.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Woo! I love that.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Yeah, man. So, and you know, leaving people better than than you found. I do not been doing that a lot on sales calls because people have been, we launched a campaign last month and I've got you know calendars have been filling up, but people come out of the woodwork, you know, and some people just can't afford to work with me. But I still pour into them, send them a copy of my book, get them over to my YouTube channel, and equip them with everything I can on the phone in an effort to just leave them better than I found them, you know, and I think there's some, I think there's some some juju there with, you know, kind of like a laydown. You make, you know, you make hundreds of calls and you finally just get a deal out of nowhere. I think the same works in the world of sales, but you got to call the damn leads.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

You got to call the damn leads. And I love that you, you know, you mentioned about helping people, right? Leaving them better than where you found them, sending them your book. It's funny. I also have a book and it's called Crushing the Day, right? Uh, success through service to others. That's all it is. Everything in my life has been about how can I show up, how can I serve people, how can I really just be a good member in the community and as a part of the team and the group. And in doing so, man, it's created a ton of opportunity. And same for you, right? You know, hey, most people would say, Well, if I give them the secret to the recipe for success, then they're gonna go and start their own restaurant and they're gonna put me out of business. And then it's like, well, yeah, maybe, but probably not. Most people are gonna get the recipe and they're not gonna want to make the thing or go get the ingredients, so they're gonna come to your restaurant and pay you because you're the expert at making that dish, right? But you don't have any issue saying, Yeah, man, here's the recipe. Like, make it at home. It's fantastic. I love people that love this recipe as my favorite recipe, so let's share it with the world. And ultimately, you know, they're still gonna come back to you either way, because sometimes you got to go to the expert for what you need. But when you show up with the mentality of serving the people around you, bringing value to the community, man, it's almost impossible not to be successful. And as we were talking about before the interview started, man, like you're seeing the fruits of that labor. And by sharing it with the world, it's just been crazy to see.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

Just wild, man. Just absolutely. And I had this like inclination before I ever joined Apex. I kept on hearing about it. I had people hit me up, be like, you need to get in that group. Uh, and I'm like, how? And then I saw Stuman's post randomly one day, probably in the sales um group. And uh, here we are. You know, I'm really you know grateful for him. I eventually would have found my way into the room in there. But if you're listening to this right now, being in a mastermind group, it's been spoken about for centuries and centuries and how powerful it is to impact your life and your business. Uh, Ryan Stuman, aka the hardcore closer, uh, runs started and runs one of the biggest masterminds in existence, as he would describe. So we got about 2,000 members and growing on a daily basis. So if you're interested in that, hit me up and I will uh be more than happy to make an introduction to Droby and the team over there, a little shameless plug for the Apex fam on the show here, ladies and gentlemen.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Well, we appreciate it, man. And it is, it's really just about helping as many people as possible, right? And that's why you're doing these shows because you know that if you put some great value out into the world, it's just gonna be returned to you. So that's why I'm honored to be here. And and you know, whatever I can share with your audience and community that might bring some value to their life and their journey, man. Shoot, let me let me do what we do. How do I what do we go on from here?

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Let's do it. Let's do it. Well, let's dive in. Let's let's back up a little bit. Let's help our listeners better understand a little bit more about the backstory. Um, before, you know, Droby called Drewby call the damn leads Wilson uh evolved uh into the machine that he is today. Let's let's go pre-apex. How did this all start? What what's your story?

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Yeah, man. So, you know, kind of going back a little ways. I grew up single mom, dad was in and out of my life a lot. So I kind of watched my mom really hustle her ass off to raise me and my two brothers, right? And so I kind of watched her and my grandma who helped raise us work their ass off, and I learned a lot about work ethic and really understanding you have to go out and grind to survive. And so as I came of age and got into the work world, you know, I became a nuclear pharmacy technician, was my first real job, uh, outside of selling drugs, of course. But uh, you know, so I basically combined these radioactive isotopes with these different um drugs and chemicals, and we'd send them off to hospitals and clinics. And like that was a cool job. And I thought, hey, for a guy that barely graduated high school and really doesn't have a whole lot going for him in life and isn't going to go to college or doesn't really give a shit about it. Like, here's a great job making 12 bucks an hour. Except that it was third shift and I'm not really a night guy, so I got real fat. I was probably 300 and some pounds when I quit that job. And when I left, I got into being a bouncer because I thought, well, here, I'll go to college and then I'll just work at night being a bouncer, right? I'll get this degree in photography and I'll go do photography shit. And of course, that was stupid because I was selling drugs in the back end and at school my phone was ringing off the hook, and I was watching people like graduating from photography college and saying, Hey, go get a job at Moto Photo, making $12 an hour, shooting like Christmas cards and shit. And I was like, Well, that's stupid. I don't want to do that. And one day I stood up and walked out and was like, All right, this ain't for me. Boss man at the uh clubs that I was working at said, Well, hey, you can come and work in the cigar shop, sell some cigars, help me work here in the day, and then come and bounce at night. So that's when I really got into like actual sales. Got into sales, worked there for a couple of years, got let go two weeks before Christmas, sold furniture for a while, got into insurance, sold insurance for a couple of years, and then that's when I found personal development and online marketing and this whole world that we live in now, right? And so I started listening to podcasts, like I had heard of podcasts all these years, but had never listened. Started waking up earlier, started listening to podcasts, found some great communities online, like the Sales Talk with Sales Pros group, and I really dove in on hey, how am I going to start being a better version of myself? Because I had gotten married, I had a young son, you know, we had just bought a house, and we're kind of going through that journey of life. Like, what am I gonna do with myself? Decided, hey, I'm one of the top sales producers in the insurance industry, but like 40 grand a year ain't gonna cut it. How am I gonna start making more money? So I went into the groups and I see these guys are generating leads on Facebook and they're using this advertising platform and getting super cheap insurance leads. And I'm like, cool, I want cheap insurance leads because if I get more leads, I can sell more stuff, right? That's kind of a no-brainer. If you got leads, you can sell them stuff, you can make money. This is kind of basic uh sales and entrepreneurship, y'all. So start learning this marketing game, put some funnels together. That's when I bought phone sites and kind of uh found Stuman, right? I'd been listening to the podcast and then he launched his phone sites platform, bought into it, started making funnels, started running ads, started getting insurance leads, doubled my insurance production and went, holy shit, this is crazy! Like, I'm in a whole new world of opportunity now, right? And so anybody that's in the marketing world that's ever had a campaign that like just went crazy and started dinging off the hook, you know that feeling you get when you're like, holy shit, this works. Like all this time and this money that I've invested in these courses and this training and all these YouTube videos, like this shit actually works. Well, go figure, my production doubles. I get some calls from other agents in the area. They're like, hey man, uh, you're the top producer and you literally doubled your production. What the fuck are you doing over there? Like, guys, I figured out this Facebook ad thing, like super cheap leads, it's awesome. And they're like, Well, we're not gonna do all that learning it, but we'll pay you to set it up for us, right? Remember when I talked about like, hey, if you just give enough people, they'll eventually just pay you because you're the expert. I told them, I was like, hey man, here's all this stuff, like, this is how I do it. No, no, no, we'll just pay you. In one weekend, I made $10,000 and I was making four grand a month working 60 hours a week, hustling selling insurance. I was like, I'm in the wrong fucking business. Like, what am I doing? Right. And so, like, I kind of start this marketing company up on the side, and I'm still selling insurance, and then I get a call. One day I'm sitting there at the office working on uh, you know, cold calling leads or some bullshit at the insurance agency, and my Facebook Messenger starts going crazy. It says, Ryan Stuman is calling. You ever have like those weird God moments when you're like, Yeah, yeah. What's this dude calling for? This is definitely a butt dial, right? Because like I had messaged him and asked him some questions over the you know the year, but like this is definitely a butt dial. So I send a message back. I'm like, dude, I don't really use Messenger like that. Like, I don't I don't know how that works, but this is my cell phone if you're actually trying to call me. About two seconds later, my cell phone rings. Hey man, he's like, hey, this is Stuman. How are you? I'm good, bro. What's up? He's like, listen, man, I see you're using phone sites, you're in the group, you're providing a lot of value, you're putting out these like tutorial videos and stuff, you're really helping the community. I don't have anyone who on the team that's doing that full time. How about I pay you like two grand a month and you just keep doing what you're doing? I know you have a marketing company, and as long as you're not screwing people or stealing their money, like I really don't care. You can keep doing that, but just like show up and help my community. I'll give you two grand a month. What do you think? I mean, that's kind of a no-brainer, like yeah, you know, like is this really happening? Is this real life, you know? So I get on the phone and I I'm like deciding, all right, cool. So I start working with him, get in there, start answering some emails, start doing some like backlog support tickets and stuff. And I think in the first week of officially working with the company, me and my partner at the time, because he brought us both in because we had a marketing company, uh, we cleared out like 90 days worth of support tickets. So, like, we completely just cleaned house, got shit organized, put a bunch of stuff in place, and got to work. And calls me back and he's like, hey man, you're in the wrong business. Like, I know you sell insurance or whatever the fuck, but like you're in the wrong business. I want you to fly down on February 20th and spend a day with me. Bring the SOPs, bring all the stuff that you're doing with phone sites, like, let's talk about it. And you know, let's go from there. So I'm like, Well, I don't have the money to just fly to Texas, you know, like I just literally had just maxed out my business credit card to join Apex like as a member to learn all this shit and like was still trying to pay that off. And I was like, Well, hey, he's gonna pay me this money, all right. So I made a decision. I'm gonna re-max out this credit card with my first paycheck from him, and I'm gonna fly down to Dallas and spend a day with the dude. Fly down, have a conversation. That whole story is kind of like a whirlwind event, too. I've I've like, we got a little time. I'm gonna share because I think it's hilarious.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Yeah, do it.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

So here's here's this guy, right? He's telling me I'm I'm six-year career insurance agent, I'm selling, I'm doing all this stuff, I'm starting a marketing company. He's like, hey man, fly down, spend the day with me. Um I don't know, man. I'm I'm doing all right. Like, he's like, no, no, no, fly now. So I max out my card, I fly down, I show up at the office at eight in the morning, like ready to rip. Like, cool, I'm here, I'm early, let's get to work. I'm sitting there. It's like 9 30. Like, uh, hey man, am I in like the right place? Am I just sitting in some random office? Like, what's going on? He's like, nah, no, I'll be there soon. Rolls in at 10:30, puts his phone on a tripod, goes live on Facebook, and he's like, All right, what's up, y'all? I'm about to do this training for you and my guy Drewby, who's just getting started for me. Like, check this out. And he does like this hour-long Facebook live training about sales and shit. And I'm just sitting there and I'm watching, and he finishes his live and he gets on there and he's like, All right, cool, I'm gonna show you a couple things on how to post and like keyboard shortcuts or whatever. And I don't know, it's probably one o'clock. And he looks at me and he's like, All right, I hate to do this, but I gotta get on a plane to Vegas because I'm speaking tomorrow. You're good, right? And I was like, Ugh, he just left you. Yeah, I mean, I guess. He's like, All right, cool, man, I'll catch up with you. I appreciate it. And he like bounces and I'm sitting there by myself in this office in Dallas, going, What in the fuck just happened? Like, did that what's going on? So he was there for like an hour. He was there for maybe 90 minutes, two hours at most, for sure. And then on about his day, and I'm hitting up his uh assistant at the time, who's like, it's literally him and his assistant and me. I'm like the third person in the company at this point, because he had literally just fired everybody. And I'm like, Did I do something? Or she's like, No, it's just kind of like this man, you'll figure it out. Like, all right. So I fly back home, I go to the insurance office, and I'm like, hey man, I really appreciate you putting me in your spot for the last six years and giving me all this opportunity. And this is like an in-law that owns the agency who literally I've helped build this whole thing. He paid for my wedding, my honeymoon, all this shit. Right. I'm like, hey man, I don't mean to be like unappreciative, but the most you can pay me literally is 50 grand a year. And this dude's gonna pay me like a base salary and commissions that's gonna be almost double that. Like if I did just like I've proved, like I I know I will make this. And he I was like, I'm I have to take this opportunity. I hate to be that dude, but like, I don't want to wait 10 years to own an insurance agency. And so I literally flew back after two hours sitting in the office with Stuman, flew back to Ohio, quit my job at the six years of six years at the insurance agency, and was like, all right, cool, I'm gonna start over as like a bottom tech support slash commission only sales guy for this dude in Texas. And I spent six months building my business, working, crushing it, flying back and forth to Dallas, and then I sold our house in Ohio, told my wife, hey, we're moving to Dallas. We flew down six months later, we sold our house, we moved to Dallas, man. We're here three years later. I'm the VP of the company. I've got a book, I've got a podcast. Like, fuck Sebastian, you know the rest of the story, but dude, it's crazy how just those decisions to show up and to serve the community and just to be a good person that was focused on being of value around anyone I was around, like the opportunities that it's presented me, dude. It's bananas.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

Yeah. Gosh, that's a great story. I had something similar when I was, I had a kid when I was when I was 21. She's now 21. And um I moved to I didn't, I graduated barely graduated from high school, and I moved to um I found out a kid was coming along. And um, her mom's a little bit younger than me, even even more of a of a circus. And uh I got a job in Chicago, and then I took that job for a year, it was way too cold. But I was I worked for a domain registrar like GoDaddy, and my job at dev was to identify website hosting companies and other companies that could resell domains through us. And I saw this guy have an infomercial on TV at three o'clock in the morning that sold a business in a box, and I go, This motherfucker's registering domain names. And I called him for six months straight. He picks up the phone, gives me the whole Gordon gecko, kid, your picture should be under the word persistence in the dictionary. My goodness, are you making the kind of money you want to make? I'm like, I'm all right, I'm just not a kid. I moved to Chicago. He's like, Are you making a hundred grand a year? I'm like, what? Is that crazy? This time I'm making like 50 grand. Anyway, didn't take the job initially, called him back six months later, and he goes, You're ready. And um, he said, Well, get out here and we'll talk. I said, No, no, no, you're looking for a sales guy. I'm exploring opportunities. You get me out there, put me up, and we'll have a conversation. Went out there, spent the weekend with him, and immediately went into the sales floor. And he's like, Let me set you up with a trainer. I'm like, just give me the phone and give me the leads. That's all I need. I broke records that week, stayed the rest of the month, went back to Chicago, bought two one-way tickets, and the rest was history. But the day I showed up, um, he didn't, he didn't get back from Vegas until like 10 p.m. that night. We were supposed to meet at five because traffic was a little crazy there. I literally was sitting in South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California, going, I don't know if I made the right decision or if this guy's even real. So, anyway, funny story about taking risks and betting on other people that are willing to bet on us. Uh, I just went to California for his 50th birthday and spent time. He's one of my dearest friends and still a mentor to this day. So um, it's just wild that when we're willing to show up for opportunity when we don't know what's on the other side of it, and it's absolutely terrifying. More times than not, you know, we're setting ourselves up pretty lovely.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

It's, you know, I think so many people would be more successful if they just get out of their own way.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Right? It's the ones that are sitting in that plaza having that conversation with themselves that decide to get up and go home that miss out. Because, yeah, you know, you make the trip, and sometimes those trips don't work out the way that you think. But sometimes you wait and you're patient, and that patience turns into like a payout bigger than you ever believe. Yeah, but you have to trust in yourself and you have to trust in the process. So many people won't finish out the process, so it's that meme that you see, right? I got meme lord tattooed on my knuckles for a reason. That's a whole other freaking conversation we could have, right? But it's that meme of the diamond mine where there's one guy who's like three feet away, and the other guy, and he's just walking out, and the other guy's just hammering away. And he's a little farther, but he's putting in the work. And so you already know like the one guy's walking away and he's this close, 99%, right? But the other guy's at 80% and he's hammering. So he's not gonna stop because he's got that faith and that belief. That's what I feel so many people are missing in their life is that belief in themselves to just say, hey, whatever position God puts me in, wherever I end up, I'm gonna be successful if I'm focused on a, you know, being a good person, having those core values and wanting to be a value to the community around me, and just focusing on, hey, in every relationship, every conversation, every transaction, situation that I'm a part of, am I leaving that person better off? Just like you said, hey, man, I got a lot of leads coming in on this campaign, but not everybody can afford to work with me because my services are unique and they do have a cost, but that doesn't mean that I can't leave them with something that can set them up to be able to afford my product in the future.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

That's that's the game right there. But so many people have that scarcity mindset where they don't want to show up in a room they don't want to give unless they have a guarantee of getting something in return. Doesn't work like that, don't work that way, baby.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

Does not work like that at all. And I'm funny, I'll I'll hear people often say, Well, this doesn't work, or that doesn't work, or you know, did you work? Is the question. That's did you work? Because you can't fake push-ups. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 20:26

The numbers don't lie, baby. That's why I love that call to damn least because you can see, hey, how many calls did you make today? Because numbers don't lie.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

No, you can lie to the numbers, but the never numbers will never lie to you. One plus one will always equal two. If it ever equals three, you're good.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

I mean, I don't know, man. You're getting off track there, but hey, it is what it is.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

That that we just progressed there, my goodness. Uh no. So um how long you've been with with uh with with Apex and Sumanman.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

I signed up to be a client, so I was a client before I became part of the team back in late November of 2018, so just over four years as a client. I fully committed and walked away from my career and said, Hey, I'm all in with Apex on March 1st of 2019. So I'm coming up on my three years of being here going into my fourth year with the company. Nice, nice.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

Um, well, you know, I'm sure it's it seems like does this feel like four years?

SPEAKER_00 21:25

God, it's been a flash in the pan, dude. It's crazy. It's nuts, it's crazy how fast time goes.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

It is in telling speech, especially as a parent. I mean, it's you got a little leader there that's not so little anymore, and uh my daughter's 21, which is mind-boggling to me. She just on the interview, she goes, please, please don't lecture me today. I replied back, that's called wisdom.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Yeah, yeah, it's not it's it's not a lecture, dear. It's just a learning lesson.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

That's all yeah, it is, exactly. Every isn't everything though? Isn't it isn't everything? So um let's talk about your meat for a minute. Okay, let's talk about my meat for a minute. Let's uh you've been uh you've you've been uh tearing that smoker up. Uh is this is this all since have you always smoked meat or is this something when after you got the new crib?

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Well, I've been smoking my whole life. Meat just recently got added into the rotation. And so um for Father's Day this year, I've been saying it for a while. I wanted to get a smoker. I love barbecue, like Texas brisket has always been my favorite like cut of meat, especially from a barbecue joint. And so when we moved to Texas, I was like, I gotta learn to smoke brisket. Like, I can't be a real Texan if I don't make brisket. So this year, my wife and son bought me a smoker for Father's Day and God love them, they're amazing. And I've been just going absolutely ham on that thing, making brisket. And like, what's fun, and we talk about social media and how you can use it intentionally to build an audience of people that know, like, and trust you by being authentic. And so for me, I'm also kind of a troll. So when I make a brisket and I take a picture of it and I put it on the internet, I tell people, like, hey, look at my meat. And I started doing that like long before I started smoking the briskets. I would just make like fillets on the grill and whatever and just make the joke, like, hey, look at my meat. Or when we started going to fancy restaurants, I'd take a picture of the fancy steak, like, hey, look at my meat, it's fancy meat, you know, stupid stuff because that's the internet for you. Yeah, but when I started doing this smoker, man, like I really have gotten a whole new level of attraction for my meat, where it's got kind of its own brand going on uh social media here where people talk about my meat, and they talk about putting my meat in their mouth. And I'm uh in the process of working on some things for the future that I'm very excited about that will involve smoking meats and taking over the flea market. So stay tuned for the future on that. But uh also making a ton of meat to put in the mouth of all of you fine folks that fly in to spend time with us here in Dallas.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

So I was about to say I can't wait to try this, but then I just remembered you're like, we're gonna be tearing it up for the uh for the fly-ins. So mission, mission accomplished there.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

Yes, sir. You can taste my meat.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

I love it. Let's uh let's wind things down here by by talking a little bit about what you shared at the at the last uh Apex Live event. That uh you absolutely again, I've been had the privilege of being able to speak for the past decade, and game recognizes game, and you knocked it out of the fucking park. Your delivery, your cadence, your level of energy, your humor, your brevity, your slides, d all the above. Outstanding, an outstanding job, by the way. I don't know if I told you that that day or not. No, but thank you. I really appreciate that. Hey, listen, game recognizes game, dog. Let's go. Uh, all you guys, Sasser, Sasser, Sasser and everybody cracking up. Izzo, Zizzo. Yeah, call him Izzo. I don't know why I call him Izzo. That's the other, that's the female.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

No, Lizzo. Oh, that's Lizzo. Yeah, good. Yeah, no, Lizzo's the opposite of Zizzo, but yes, no, everybody crushed it. We had a good time with that event.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

It was outstanding. The energy was uh energy was great. But let's talk a little bit about what you shared with the folks because it was very impactful. Uh, so much so that I remember all of it. Um, but I don't remember what I did this morning. So um, you know, short-term memory loss, I guess they come with age. That's why they call it dope. That's amazing. So, yeah, let's chat about what uh what you had to share, just kind of a reader's digest 30,000-foot perspective for the yeah, man.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

So, you know, the big overarching view of that topic was um crushing the day, right? That's what my whole personal brand is about crushing the day. And to me, that really comes back to time management and understanding the value of your time. Because we can all make money at this point. We all recognize that like we can go and we can do a job and we can get paid an hourly wage or whatever. We know how to make money. Money's easy. What we don't value enough is our time. Because if you went back and you asked yourself, like, hey, if I made a hundred grand last year and I worked 2,000 hours for the entire year, which is actually 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. So assuming you take two weeks for vacation, all that bullshit, you make 50 bucks an hour, which may be a lot of money, maybe not a lot of money to some of you, right? Like, I'm not here to judge that part. We're just using round numbers. Let's assume you're making 50 bucks an hour. But if you knew you only had 24 hours left to live, would you still sell me an hour of your time for $50? Absolutely not. You'd be like, the fuck off, man. My time is like priceless at this moment. And yet we wake up every day knowing we could only have 24 hours left to live, and we still treat our time as if it's only worth $50 an hour. Right. And so this is what people need to rewire in their mind. If they start focusing on, hey, every time that I spend an hour, what am I getting in return for that hour's investment? Right. Because that's your most valuable resource. Your most valuable asset is your time and your energy. You can't buy more of it, you can't win it in a poker tournament, nobody got a big box of it Christmas morning, right? Time is a limited resource. So if you go into every day focused on where am I spending my time and why am I spending it there, then you can get more intentional and create more success in your life. And I look at it like this, right? I call it the four sixes strategy. Because if you want to create balance, right, and then balance is kind of bullshit, but like everybody wants balance. Let's just play to the audience here. There's really four areas of life that are important. And the first one is sleep because you know damn well that you have to have sleep to operate. So, like, let's just take let's say six hours off the top, because we know we have to sleep at least six to eight hours a day. I say six, some people want eight. I'm not here to nitpick, I'm just getting wrong numbers, right? That's why I call it four sixes. So you take six hours for sleep, but then what's left? You got 18 hours, right? Not everybody listens to Gary Vee. They've all heard him scream that you got 18 goddamn hours, right? But like, think about it, you got 18 hours, and what are the other areas of life that are important? Well, for the majority of us, family is number one. That's what we're all saying. Family is the number one thing. And then maybe it's not family, maybe it's relationships, right? Because some people are weird about family and all that, whatever. Call it relationships. That's fine. So you got relationships, those people in your life that you care about, the kids, the spouse, you know, the friends, where are you going? What are you doing for them? So let's spend six hours a day on that uh, you know, that section. Then you got your business, because everybody has to make money. Because money is the tool and the resource that we use to go and buy more of our time to do cool shit with. And then you've got yourself. And the problem is most of us put ourselves last, always. We focus on our business and our families first, and then we worry about ourselves last. That's why people get out of shape, that's why their mindset gets all jacked up, right? Like people burn out because they're not taking that time for themselves. So now you think about you've got these three areas. You've got family and relationships, you've got your business, and you've got yourself. And you've got 18 hours a day to put into those three areas. So now you've got six hours for each of those three things. And if you've ever spent six hours focused and intentional, you can get a lot of shit done. You ever spent six hours with someone that you really love spending time with, maybe like shacked up in a room together in a nice hotel overlooking a beach? That's a lot, you can have a lot of fun in that six hours, right? You ever spent six hours like head down grinding on a project, building this thing out, setting up your future? Fuck yeah, you get a lot of stuff done. Six hours, people don't typically spend six hours in the gym, but like if you go and focus for an hour in the gym and then you focus for an hour watching educational content, and maybe you, you know, spend some time meditating or doing yoga, you can be intentional with that time. You can get a lot done. But so many people are still treating it like it's you know, they're wasting it. They're watching Netflix, they're scrolling through YouTube, they're fucking off doing whatever, they're not being intentional with the time they're investing. So to me, I look at it like this if you focus on those things every day, you track it, you measure it, you're focused and intentional with where you're spending your time, you're gonna get a lot more out of life. Because nobody's guaranteed tomorrow, but I can go into every day knowing I'm focused and intentional with the time I have. And at the end of the night, if I'm blessed to get there and I close my eyes and lay down, I'll know I've crushed a day. And that's all that matters to me.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

Yeah, love it. I found myself this year actually working a fraction of the amount of time that I used to. I used to, you know, get in engulfed in the hustle culture that you've got to work and you gotta work by five, and you gotta do five at five, and you gotta, you know, this whole hustle mentality. I swear I might work four hours a day, maybe. I work out, but it's an intentional four hours. Correct, correct.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

That's the difference.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

I stroll in whenever I want because I'm up in the morning trying to you know do my routine and read and work out and meditate and prepare myself and come in, do some as much productive work. Because let's face it, we're really only productive three, four hours anyway. Utilizing that I do. And I go home in the afternoon, I'm a giant sports fan. This world cup's been on. I mean, bowl seasons here. That's my outlet, that's my recharge ability. And we wake up up and do it all over again. But it's at my and I swear that has been there's been so much. I read a quote one time. It's like, I don't work more than three or four hours a day. Wildly successful buddy of mine is a coach. And uh he said, I don't work more than three or four hours a day. I need time to be me and to live my life a little bit. So it's crazy. Once you get your machine dialed in, because you did all of the work on here, you find yourself, and I glanced at your calendar the other day because you were talking about, you know, you're big on calendars and and schedules and agendas and how you plan out your day. You know, you got a lot of drooby and family time in there. Um, and it ain't just bang. I mean, I think I saw maybe like two windows of like two hours for sales calls, um, you know, on a daily basis. So it's not like you're sitting there pounding phones all day long, like it's very structured. But for those of you listening, think I want to do that. Maybe I should, you gotta build it first, build that machine, create the system, get the you know, get to where you want to be. And then things, so you're not you're taking your foot off the gas, you're just you're you're working at your own pace because you've earned the opportunity to do so.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

You got to grind it out until you get to the point where you're got wind in your sails, right? Like if you don't have momentum, you're not gonna keep going anywhere. So you have to put in the work to build that momentum, right? There, there's nothing to say that I didn't sacrifice a lot of family time early on, but I also know that it almost cost me my family, right? Like, so I had to reel that back in and understand that the true success comes from getting clarity about what success really means to you. So many people are chasing the grind, they're chasing the hustle because they think they need a Lambo or a private jet or a mansion or trips or this or that or whatever. But like the truth is, what do you want to do? Sebastian just said it. Hey man, I like to like watch sports and like hang out with my family and do my thing. Like, so I have me time. That's my day, that's how I set it up, that's how I know I'm successful. Just because it's what we want doesn't mean it's what the listener has to want. And so I want the listener to understand, like, hey, when you get clarity on success and what that means to you, your version of it, it's a lot easier to make it real. You stop chasing something that doesn't actually exist.

SPEAKER_02 33:18

Yeah, absolutely. It took me a long time to figure it out, though. I was just going through just going through the motions, and I thought my energy will get me there, and it wasn't because I had no clear finding a great community, the right tribe of people. This is true. I mean, I did some deep, deep work on myself in 2016 and decided to go all in with podcasting in 2018, uh, and then the pandemic hit. And then um, you know, a year later, I'd find myself in one of the greatest mastermind rooms you could possibly be in. So, but I had I not, I don't know that I probably would have got kicked out. I would have for sure got kicked out by it for sure. Had I not done the work on Sebastian and become who I need to be and stepped into my power and who I and knowing and believing who I am and loving myself and taking full accountability for my life in every area of it, I don't think I'd be prepared for for this type of environment. Because here's what I love about Apex, and I think as human beings, it this happens a lot. We dodge accountability like the plague just because that's human nature. Apex does not allow me to dodge accountability. Okay, I missed the calls, but above the calls, uh, I'm in every single fly-in. I will, I, I, I will not, I gave I I uh I turned down a speaking gig to make sure I'm not missing the first fly-in of the year uh with my family of choice. It was more of a hosting MC gig. I don't MC anymore. Um, so it worked out that um, you know, I just was like, I don't think I want to do this deal.

SPEAKER_00 34:44

Um But I think that's an important lesson, though, right? Like you were able to say no to an opportunity because you've built your machine, because you've done this goodwill, because you've put it out there to the point where not only did you put out enough value that you were invited to be a part of it, but you found that solidification in yourself to say, hey, that's not my lane anymore. I focus on what's I do best.

SPEAKER_02 35:07

It got that's that's the difference. It is. And I I walked away from that in 2019. And I built a heck of a career doing, I mean, I did digital marketers, traffic, and conversions for about four years, and that put me on the map. I mean, that is the biggest marketing conference in existence, still to this day. So that I mean, I created a lot of opportunity, made ridiculous amounts of money. But here's the thing I was the hardest working guy in the building, the first guy to be there, the last one to leave. You're not allowed to leave the stage. And it was a big ego check too, Drewby, because I went into that thinking they booked the Sebastian Rusk for this event. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. They booked Sebastian Rusk for the MC role, which means you do your job and you go home. You don't really matter. And I looked at that and I said, you know what? Am I being true to myself, knowing that because I know I can be, I'm a star. I know I can be a star, I can be a star of the show. Maybe that's not happening yet or hasn't happened yet, but I'm I'm like, maybe I'll just create my own world. And that's what I've done with podcasting. Um, and I just feel like the impact is far greater with you know giving talks than it is, you know, uh MCing. But I again I turned another one down last week and I'm and I'm coming in close to five grand a day on these two or three day events. So it's not, I mean, it was fantastic money, but at what expense, you know, mentally knowing, am I selling myself short here? Because I show up and give a talk for an hour, I kiss some babies, shake some hands, sign some books, and you know, hang out at a happy hour, a hell of a lot easier than you know, being chained to the stage for three days. So I that was a tough thing. People are like, what are you doing? Do you have the whole bow tie going? This whole like, what? And you're like, now you now no, you quit. And I'm like, I don't know if it's quit. I think it's I grew out of that role. And as I continue to develop my craft as a communicator and a speaker, you know, leaving people different. I don't know that I leave people different as an MC. Maybe I tear them up and it adds a different element of the event. Cool. But if I can really get in your head and your heart through my message and my story and what we're doing here, I think that's really what it's all about. That that lasting, the word impact is so overused now, but I'm gonna find a new one. But leave impression right there.

unknown 37:06

We go.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

Yes, leave a lasting impression. And that's what I'm committed to, man. I don't care if it's on an airplane and the back of an Uber at the grocery store. You know, I flirt with old ladies all the time. That's like my thing. It's like hysterical. They love it. It makes their day. I ask them if they're single, what's their phone number? I mean, it, but you have no idea. You have absolutely and here, I'll tell you a quick story as we wrap up here. I think I was flying back from a flying company and I asked an old lady who was sitting behind me, old, older lady, uh, senior, senior lady, and she I said, Do you need some help with with your bag? And she said, Well, why yes, I do. That is so nice of you. I said, anything for a young, beautiful woman. She goes, Oh, you're so sweet. I I really needed that. I'm flying back from I'm flying back from burying my husband that I was married to for 65 years uh on Friday. So hearing that really made my day. And I actually worked that into one of my talks about, you know, you never really know where someone's at or what your words can do. To I mean, she was talking about that for about five minutes, sitting behind me. The most adorable, you know, anyway. But that those are just some simple, you know, simple joys we find by being able to leave people different in every single aspect and every single area. You know, I posted about that this morning in the group, you know, about being so grateful for the apex community. Um, that if you're reading this and you've been on the sidelines, someone is missing out because you're not showing up. And that's that rattled my cage 12 years ago. You know, I shared a little bit about with that with with uh with the entrepreneurs group in September when I, before I brought Danny out. And, you know, I said, you know, I had somebody ask me a very serious question 12 years ago, back in my offended days, and that was, you know, what's next? And I said, I don't know. And she looked me dead in the eyes. So that's a fucking problem. And I thought, well, who's this girl to tell me my life's a problem? Well, she works for Tony Robbins and travels with him and has been with him for 10 years. You might want to listen up a little bit. And I said, Why, why is that a problem? She said, Sebastian, who's missing out because you're not showing up. Do you understand the gift and the power that you have? I didn't see it then, Drooby. I didn't see it now. We see it now, baby. We see it. See it now, baby. Yeah. Sorry. Wild ride, dude. Well, dude, man, I really enjoyed this conversation, man. I knew that uh I knew that I would. I was well overdue, but uh, hey, maybe it was perfect timing, you know. Um, we continue to evolve into the you know another version of ourselves continually getting better. But I appreciate you taking some time to hang out. I know you guys are getting the new office uh, you know, laid out and trying to move in and get situated and all that fun stuff. So that's a circus in and of itself. So thanks for taking some time uh this week where no one knows what day it is. No one at all.

SPEAKER_00 39:44

We're just living, baby. And I appreciate you taking the time to, you know, invite me on and let me be a part of this, share a little bit of my story because I know that uh there's someone out there that will hear this and that one person will make a difference in their life and they'll make a generational impression on their families and every family that comes to do business with them, man. And that's really what we're here for. So thank you for for everything you do and the way you show up in our community. And uh, man, it's just been an honor to be here with you.

SPEAKER_02 40:09

Likewise, my brother. Thanks again. And I look forward to seeing you in a couple weeks and uh playing with your meat or trying your meat. Yes, sir. Don't you worry. Until next time, friends. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story Podcast. Be sure to appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. Be sure to appreciate it. Signing off from the podcast, launchlab.com studios. We'll talk to you next time.