John Lee Dumas -  Entrepreneurs on Fire :: The Common Path to Uncommon Success

SPEAKER_00 0:04

This is the Beyond the Story Podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story. What's happening, everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Beyond the Story Podcast. I'm your host, Sebastian Rusk. It's always great to be with you. I'm sure glad you took a few minutes out of your day to hang out with me. And I really hope that you leave this episode knowing the least one or two things that you did not know. My guest this week, kind of a big deal. The one, the only Mr. John Lee Dumas, aka JLD. JLD is the founder and host of the award-winning podcast, Entrepreneurs on Fire. He's been growing this show and his brand for the past decade and done a very good job at it. Entrepreneurs on Fire has generated in excess of $20 million over the past decade, while John has interviewed over 3,000 people for his podcast. Guests include Tony Robbins, Barbara Cochran, and Gary Vaynerchuk. His show gets 1 million monthly listens and has over a hundred million total listens since the inception of the show. We had a chance to connect on Clubhouse recently. Found out about his brand new book dropping. We connected. I said, love to get you on the show. He said, let's do it. And well, friends, here we are. His next book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, A Roadmap to Financial Freedom and Fulfillment, drops March 23rd, 2021. But you don't have to wait until then. You can get yourself a copy, and we're going to show you exactly how to do that in this episode. Friends, if you could please put your virtual hands together and help me welcome to the show, John Lee Dumas. JLD's in the house. What's up, dude?

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Sebastian, what's going on, brother? Loving life down here in Puerto Rico. All is well.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

How long have you been down there?

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Five years.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

Wow. And uh prior to that, West Coast, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:10

San Diego, which is a spectacular place beauty-wise, but uh you'll never see me back there tax-wise.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Oh, I I think that's becoming the common uh the common theme with uh you know, people people are like finally catching up to me.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

I did this five years ago. I moved to the tax haven of Puerto Rico, the warm Caribbean waters, you know, all these people that thought they were getting over, you know, the the state tax by moving to Texas. I mean, yeah, they're not they're not thinking that a wise decision anymore.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

So Puerto Rico. I never even thought about Puerto Rico. That's a short flight from I'm here in Miami, so that's kind of puddle jumper from Miami.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

It's just right here. And our weather's a ton better than Miami's, too. Like it gets cold in Miami.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

It does. Chilly. I had to grab a light jacket uh as of late here. So you and I had uh, well, we've been connected what seems like forever. I got started around the same time you did way back when, and been following uh EO on fire for a minute here. And then we recently connected uh in in virtual real life on Clubhouse of all places. And uh, I guess we'll kick the conversation off with Clubhouse. We're here to talk about your upcoming new book, a lot of hide it already, The Common Path to Uncommon Success. Uh yeah. About financial freedom. I didn't see that one coming from uh, you know, entrepreneur fire, uh, a podcast extraordinaire to uh let's talk about financial freedom and what that looks like. So I'm excited to dive into the book here uh in just a couple minutes, but let's talk about this whole clubhouse hype, man. It seems to be, well, it's clearly where all the cool kids are hanging out. We met. So what do you what are your initial thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Clubhouse is fantastic. It's a wonderful platform. I've always been an audio only guy myself. I've done 3,000 plus interviews audio only. Like so many of my guests try to be like, oh, just like flip on your Skype video. And I'm like, um, I'm not wearing a shirt. I did not even comb my hair today. Like, I'm definitely not wearing pants. Like, I'm not putting my video on. So I've done over 3,000 audio only interviews. And when Clubhouse came out, I was like, that is such an amazing, brilliant platform. And obviously it's just taken off. It's literally on fire. You know, we might be laughing about it in six months, like it was, you know, burst into flames a failure, or in six years, it might still be as awesome or better than it is now. Like time will tell. But right now it's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

It really is. And are you seeing any yield from from from the business side of things at all? Are people hitting you up and saying, hey, listen, I need your help with what you do, or I want to do it.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

100%. 100%. I mean, when you get into these rooms where there's 200, 800, I've been in rooms with over 2,000 people in it. And, you know, there's questions that are happening and you're giving really valuable answers, and people are tapping on your profile to learn more about you. And, you know, if you have a strategic and well-done profile, then, you know, people are are following up. And I'm definitely selling a lot of books from the clubhouse, my clubhouse uh time. And I'm definitely getting, you know, more followers on different social media platforms, more visits to the sites. So a lot of good things.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

So easy to be able to, I mean, the social media has always lowered the barrier of entry to be able to connect with people. Uh, but clubhouse, and plus everybody's been stuck at home for X amount of time anyhow, and we've moved to this virtual platform, whether we like it or not. So it's just been really cool to see ever like like our buddy Mark Savant says, you just never know who's gonna show up in one of these rooms on here. And we've had the uh the the pleasure of having you jump in for the past couple weeks and into our grow your past in 2021 conversation that's really starting. In fact, that room has motivated me to finally start my own room because I've been doing a lot of collaboration. I think that gets into a beginning and clock. Very important to some get some folks that are in your sandbox already in the similar space and start having conversations. So, yeah, having a lot of fun on uh on Saturday morning. So my podcast is all about helping people better understand what what people's how how they got to where they're at right now. And I I do that by by telling their story and just unpacking it in a from a 30,000-foot uh perspective. You and I connected probably back in 2011, almost at the very, very beginning, and uh on Facebook and then all the rest of the social media platforms out there, and I've watched things evolve for you. If we can rewind a little bit and go back to the day that you said, you know what, I want to launch a brand called Entrepreneur on Fire, or I want to launch a brand that does XYZ, and here's what we're gonna do. Um, when did that all happen?

SPEAKER_01 6:31

So in 2011, I was listening to podcasts. Like I was consuming them because I thought that they were awesome. It was a platform that just really clicked for me, you know, much like Clubhouse is kind of clicking for myself and a lot of people right now. Back then, podcasting was still kind of this new thing. Again, it had been around for a little while at that point, but on a very kind of techie level. But I was just like, wow, just being able to hear these conversations with successful entrepreneurs to be like a fly on the wall and to have it be on demand, targeted, and free. I love the fact that all of those three things exist into one platform, which is podcasting. So things really clicked for me back then. And I kind of set off and said, what's something that's missing in this space? And like that's kind of how I've always approached business opportunities. Like, I know what's not missing because everybody's doing it, but what's missing? What is missing? What do I wish existed in the podcasting space that doesn't currently exist? And I really thought about it. I wasn't sure because you know, I loved podcasts, which is the broad niche. And then I loved the business podcast, which was one niche down. Then I specifically loved the interview business podcast that were interviewing entrepreneurs. That was like the third niche down. And I kind of looked at that third niche and I was like, well, there's like six or seven podcasts that are doing that right now pretty well, very consistently. So they're all going to be better than me. If I launched, you know, what they launched, which is a weekly podcast show interviewing entrepreneurs. I said, How can I differentiate? What do I wish existed that doesn't exist in the world? And I said, Well, listen, I'm actually driving to work every day right now. I'm at the gym on the weekends. I wish there was a daily podcast that was waiting for me every single morning when I woke up so I could download a fresh episode and hear an inspiring story from a successful entrepreneur, but I want to hear their failures and their successes and their wins and their losses and their tactics and their strategies. And, you know, some shows delivered that sporadically, but I wanted to know that each show was going to deliver on those things every single interview, every single day. And so I said, hey, why not follow Gandhi's advice and be the change you want to see in the world? And that's when I decided to launch the first daily podcast interviewing entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs on fire. And Sebastian, the day that I launched in September of 2012, it was the best daily podcast interviewing entrepreneurs. It was the worst daily podcast interviewing entrepreneurs. It was the only daily podcast interviewing entrepreneurs. Like I was the only, and like learn from that. Like, how can you be the only? Like, that's an amazing way to get initial momentum, traction, and to get, you know, a victory and to get a win and to keep going and building off of that. And then as you and I are talking here now, you know, I'm entering my ninth year with this podcast, 3,000 plus episodes, 100 million listens, 1.4 million listens every month, and over 20 million dollars in revenue generated since 2012. So it's been it's been quite a journey.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Sounds like it. My goodness.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

So I gotta say that I mentioned I get to keep all that money that I make now because I live in Puerto Rico.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Uh I see what you there. So yeah, you've been a tremendous inspiration for I think I when I started out in 2010, it was just this general premise of helping people with social media in general. And I quickly learned that I don't want to do that. I don't want to manage your Facebook page. And as I started to develop my personal brand as a speaker and as an MC, I always had a podcast because I grew up in a radio station. My dad was a DJ for 30 years, and I thought, why not have a podcast? So I started a blog talk radio channel and uh was just consistent with that. And it was some five years later that I was finding myself in this space of, I don't know that I want to be labeled the social media guy per se. I'm I'm I'm I'm trying to find my place in this digital world while still remaining in it. And somebody said, hey, you've always had a podcast. And I think it was somebody one of those conversations where people think that any piece of content is a podcast. But why don't you create a system that helps people better understand or teaches them how to actually start a podcast? I mean, you're a podcaster already, aren't you? And I'm like, yeah, I'm kind of an inconsistent podcaster, it's just another piece of content on there. But as I started to look at examples like yourself where you've been able to really get into not only the entrepreneur niche, but saying, hey, podcasting is a phenomenal platform to be able to do it. And one decision to really go all in with that uh and and just make it a full-time business as a podcaster and also helping people make their podcasting dreams a reality. Um, there was a tremendous amount of fulfillment with being a, because I think that the digital world, and correct me if I'm wrong, is is extremely uh there's a lot of noise and there's a lot of busy. And if you really want to figure out what you want to do as far as your brand is concerned and building something, you really need to do something, find a niche within there. It seems like you've you've you've done a great job of doing that.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Well, what I will share on that point is most every single person that launches a podcast or launches anything in the online world, they launch it as a weak, pale imitation of somebody else. And what I mean by that is they're like, oh, look at what Sebastian's doing, look at what John's doing, look at what person X, Y, or Z is doing. They're having success. Let me do that. And the problem with that is they're not going to be as good as those other individuals who've already been doing it for a long time. And nobody wants the second or 10th or 40th best X, Y, or Z. They want the best. So why are you launching a weak pale imitation of somebody else? Um, it's because you have never sat down and identified your big idea, your zone of fire. And most people die having never identified their big idea, their zone of fire, and it's really sad. And it's really true, and it's really, really sad. And so, what are Sebastian and I doing right now? Well, we're living in our zone of fire. Like this is what we've been doing now for a decade. And guess what? We're still doing it because we love it and we're good at it, and we've been able to build a life and a business around it. And hey, I'm not saying anybody can't do that, but you can't launch a weak pale imitation of what's already out there. You need to discover. Well, first off, take one step back. You need to identify that big idea that I'm talking about of yours. You need to be able to live in that zone of fire and then say, okay, within this, I need to discover a niche, an underserved or non-served void in the marketplace that I can be the best solution to. And for those of you that are like, well, I don't want to niche, I'm scared of niche because then I'm not gonna be able to serve like as many people as I could otherwise, you're gonna fail. Every single time I've seen it, you will fail. You will just blend into the audience and you will blend into the crowd and you will be lost in the ocean and you'll fail. Those people that say, okay, I have a big idea right here, and it's a great idea because everybody, you know, has great ideas. So there's competition up here, which is fine because that's proof of concept. And maybe one day I'll be up here in this playground. But to start, I'm gonna find a niche, a void that's not being filled, and I'm gonna be the best solution to a real problem in this niche. And those people win every single time because people will beat down a door to you if you have the best solution. They will ignore you if you have the second best solution. And everybody launches the second to seven to one thousandth best solution. Very few people launch the best solution because they're not willing to niche down enough.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

I always heard that the riches are in the niches, and it never really made sense. And I thought, well, this whole world of social media is such a broad landscape. How can I? I found a niche from C Work. Speak very competitive, very saturated, MC world, not so much. Still wanted to be on stage, still wanted to make those connections, still wanted to work I didn't have to work hard at events. When you're on stage for all three days versus an hour, you don't have to work so hard to network and make new connections with people. But as far as the business side, when I saw and I knew that I was, I was in an I was I was going to dive into the podcasting niche when everyone was telling me crazy. People don't even know what podcasts are, no one's looking for a podcast service, no one's looking for help or they're just starting to understand what podcasting's all about. I think you're way too early. Those were all my indicating signs that I'm in the right lane. And that I've got to continue to blaze that chart. No, that was four years ago. Now is extremely popular, which is mind-boggling to me because it's almost two decades old. So, do people need to become who they need to be in order to build a successful brand? Really go in, do the inner work on themselves, becoming the best version of themselves to serve people with the best capacity.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

So I would hesitate by saying doing the inner work because that kind of sounds like a lot of work. And I don't I don't necessarily think a lot of people need to do a lot of work, a lot of inner work. What I think people need to do is they just take a deep breath to sit down and to say, hey, let me just actually go through a process of identifying a big idea that I resonate with, that I want to go all in with. And it's not that hard of a process. In fact, it's chapter one of my book, Identify Your Big Idea. Like I take you through an exercise that is mind-achingly simple. But again, most people will die never identifying their big idea, which is crazy to me when it's literally this simple to identify your big idea and to at least know it. I'm not saying you have to act upon it immediately, but at least know what a big idea in your life for you looks like. And that's just step one. Like just sit down and do that. Like doing all this like inner work and kumbaya stuff and like trying to get over past trauma, whatever. I mean, come on. Everybody's got sob stories, everybody's got, you know, things that they they they should cry about and they can cry about and they whine about. Let's just get over that. Let's sit down, let's identify an idea, let's identify an idea, a big idea that you have passion about, that you're excited about, that you're enthusiastic about. But then also, and this is the qualifying factor that a lot of people skip, you have expertise in, you have skills in, you have value to add to the world. It's a combination of those things. So many people are just like, I'm gonna do what I'm passionate about. Okay, that's a hobby that nobody's gonna care about. Like, good for you that you have a hobby. I'm not saying hobbies are bad, but when it's just your passion and excitement, that's a hobby. If you want to make this a big idea, you have to also have value, skills, and expertise with that passion, excitement, and enthusiasm combined. That's the zone of fire right here in my fist that I'm making. That's the combination of those things. That's where your big idea is. And then once you have that big idea, again, you're not over, you're not done. That is step one of the 17-step roadmap I've created for you. And so, of course, people fail when they come up with their big idea and just start doing the thing because they're missing 16 unbelievably critical steps. So, step one, identify your big idea. Step two, discover the niche within that big idea that actually makes sense and it's actually going to work for you. And then step three and beyond, that's the roadmap.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Get some crazy feedback on your mic. Of course, right? First time we connect on an interview here, I'm getting like some crazy, I don't know what's going on. Maybe it's StreamYard here. It's getting sick. You sound clear to me. We're good now. We're good now. You had you sounded like a um a space invader for a couple minutes, but that's cool. It adds effects to the show.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

I love being a space invader.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

The other day in Clubhouse, uh, you said that uh you told everybody in the room that their first episode's gonna suck. And I took that advice and told somebody that's gonna be don't you have a book that's called Podcast Suck? If you don't have one, absolutely. I sure do. I sure do. Um there we go. There's a little lower. Podcast suck if you don't have I get a lot of pushback.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

Your 10th podcast is gonna suck. What when have you ever done something the first time or the tenth time and been good at it? It doesn't, it doesn't happen, it doesn't exist. I mean, you've got to put in the reps. Your first podcast is going to suck. That's okay. My first podcast sucked. It was actually kind of weird we're talking about this right now because I don't know how this happened. It was like some blip in the iTunes universe, but like I opened up iTunes today and it just automatically started playing episode one of Entrepreneurs on Fire, which I haven't heard, I promise you, in nine years. Wow. It's so bad, like so cringey, cringe worthy bad. I couldn't stop listening to it though. It was like watching my own car crash happen over and over and over again. I just couldn't turn away. Oh man, it was so funny.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

I I do that too on my old content and think, wow, we've come a long way. I think that's important though, John. I think it's really important to look back and say, hey, listen, that was then, this is now, and to be able to pat yourself on the back and say, you know what? Gosh darn it, I'm awesome. So speaking of this book, how'd this whole thing come about with deciding to help people better understand what it what it means to actually arrive at financial freedom?

SPEAKER_01 19:26

So listen, I've been running a multi-million dollar business now for eight years in a row. And we're talking net profit, like money in the bank. Um, so I've learned a lot over the years. But not only that, like I've interviewed 3,000 successful entrepreneurs and I've learned from every single one of them. Like that's why I have a successful business because I've been the mentee to their mentorship for all of these years, these thousands and thousands of hours. And so, because of my business success, I have a lot of people reaching out to me every single day, like an overwhelmingly amount at times, asking me essentially the same 10 questions. You know, they're all variations of the same 10 questions. And I can't sit here and like answer individual emails and messages, you know, to that person's specific little situation in life when the reality is this they have not even started on their roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment. They are either like 10 steps ahead of themselves or just like 10 steps behind, like they don't even know where to start. And there are just the very clear, simple answers to every single one of these questions, and it's now in this book. And so I never had anything to hand to people and to say, this is the answer to your question. It's start at step one and go through to step 17, and you will achieve your version of uncommon success. You will achieve financial freedom and fulfillment. And oh, by the way, Sebastian, and I mean this, if people buy this book and they go through those 17 steps and they apply the principles, and after three to six months, they're not finding some version of uncommon success. They need to think about giving up because entrepreneurship is not for everybody. And the 37th employee at Facebook is a lot more successful than you or I are financially right now. They're crushing it. You might need to be a number two or a number 10 at some company, and that might be a much better, happier life for you. But if you think you're an entrepreneur, this 17-step roadmap is going to get you to financial freedom and fulfillment. If you think you are an entrepreneur, this book is going to show you that maybe you're not quickly. And guess what? That's a good thing too. Because now you can go off and do something you should actually be doing, and you can stop that little, you know, voice in your head that's like, well, maybe I could be the successful entrepreneur with lifestyle freedom and da-da-da. Maybe you can. And you'll crush it if you if you're supposed to and you can do it. This book gives you the tools to do it. If you can't, let's find out now. Well, don't find out in 10 years from now. Don't waste your time. You will know definitively, six months from today, of reading this book. Whether you have it or not.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

If that doesn't sell you on the idea that you need to pick up a copy of this book, there's probably nothing else that's going to, because I think that's all those desire, either to pursue our entrepreneur dreams and make invalidate them. But I also think there's a fine line between optimism and delusion. The common pen, common success, a road pat a roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment is JLD's brand new book. Don't worry about going to search for it and look for it right now. A link to the book will be provided in the comments on this live stream right now, but also most importantly, in notes on this episode. So if you're driving, you're trying to shoot, I need a pen, I need to write this down, I need to write it. It's all in the show notes. Don't stress, and you'll be able to connect with John as well. Let's talk about giving up for a second. Tried to do it several times the past 10 years, and it just doesn't work, John. I've tried everything in my power to give up. I've stopped. Why do you try to give up? Because it gets too hard. You know, and I have a dear friend of mine that tells me every day, Sebastian, going to the gym is hard. Being overweight is hard. Choose your hard. So I quit people, and that's where I got into the personal development woo-woo stuff, if you will, and able to take a closer look at why do I want to run? Why do I want to bail? Why do I want to quit? I never wanted to quit. I just wasn't, I was pursuing things that didn't make sense and weren't, I was like you said, you need to evaluate. And if something's not working, you need to bail on it. So I think it was a series of, but I got to a point where, well, I'll just quit. And then I thought, well, let them want to go. And I just found myself that, you know, quitting is not quitting specific projects, yes. Giving up in general as an entrepreneur, I just don't have it in me. But let's talk about that for a second.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

I'll keep going off of your comment about choosing your hard because it's true. Because guess what? It is hard to become a successful entrepreneur. It is hard work. This 17-step roadmap listen, this is a common path to uncommon success. It's not a hidden path, it's not a secret path, it's not a complicated path. It is a common path. It's what 3,000 plus entrepreneurs, including myself, have trod upon to achieve the levels of uncommon success that we've achieved. But there is a common denominator in this common path, it's hard work. Hard work is one of those common denominators. So it is hard to become uncommonly successful. But guess what? It's also hard to be broke. It's also hard to struggle every single day, you know, with everything in life, with your fitness, you know, with your weights, with your finances, with your relationships. So, you know, just like those words that Sebastian said, it's time to choose your hard. I chose my heart back in 2012 because my life was hard at that time. It was hard feeling every day like I was a failure and feeling like every day that like I was not living a relevant life. That was hard. It was also hard launching entrepreneurs on fire, but I chose that hard, and that was a hard that I grew to love because of the alternative, it was the best hard that I could choose. And that's the process. So guess what? Reading this book is hard because there's a lot of exercises, there's a lot of deep thinking principles, there's a lot of work in these 273 pages. And if you're not willing to put in the work, then I don't know why you're listening to the show. So I doubt anybody that's hearing my voice feels that way. But if you are willing to put in the work, like this book is here for you. And it's hard work, and it will teach you these 17 foundational principles, the 17-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment.

SPEAKER_00 25:35

And that's a lot of steps.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

17 17 steps.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

How'd you come over 17? Was that just your process once you unpacked it?

SPEAKER_01 25:44

No, it was like, listen, I boiled it down. If there was 18, there was 18. If there were 16, there were 16. There just happened to be 17 foundational principles that successful entrepreneurs follow to achieve success. That was it. That ended up being 17 very, very common steps. And if you're willing to put in the work, it's going to be hard. But you can choose your hard. And if you choose a common path and common success, it'll get you there. And by the way, just like we mentioned earlier, if it doesn't get you there, at least you know. At least you know now in 2021, not in 2030, you know, with all the wasted opportunity between now and then.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

I was gonna ask you my next question, but you already answered it, would have been what's the biggest mistake most entrepreneurs make? And it's staying in it too long and realizing this isn't working and I need to figure out an alternative to either my entrepreneur path or go get a job.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

So I'm talking real quick though, the biggest mistake that non-entrepreneurs make, like people that weren't meant to be entrepreneurs that think they might be able to be, but they're really non-entrepreneurs, is staying in it too long. If you're really an entrepreneur, it's just a matter of when, if you're willing to keep swinging the bat and keep trying and keep taking action, consistent action. That's the key.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

I agree. I agree. I see your profile pictures with the one and only Mr. Tony Robbins. What's that all about? Are you a Tony fan or were you over there and uh saw a bunch of marketers over there at some point in 2019 too?

SPEAKER_01 27:06

I don't know if you're I was one of those marketers. So uh promoted his course, Knowledge Broker Blueprints back in 2019. Um became one of the top five affiliates in the world of that course. And because of that, I won an all expenses, paid vacation to Namali, Fiji with nine other individuals. So myself, nine people to include like Jenna Kucher, Lewis Howes, Nick Unsworth, um, other just ballers. Um got to hang out in a room with Tony for four days. Like it was pretty cool. And I'm actually going now to his house in Florida in one month, actually, um, to do it again because I came in top five once again, second year in a row. And uh we were supposed to do it in Fiji again. Don't tell Tony, but I'm actually very relieved that I don't have to travel halfway around the world to the same resorts. I'm much happier to jump on a two-hour plane ride to uh Palm Beach and hang out at his house, which is amazing. And so looking forward to that in late March.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

Tony's the man. It's uh it's and I love to see how he adapts with the time he's been doing this for a minute here with what he does, like only he can do. But as technology uh continues to evolve, uh Tony said, Hey, hold on a second. We're the days of videotapes are gone. I need to be able to evolve with that. So when I saw that, it must have been must have been incredible to be in that room. But also, I mean, you think of like the ultimate mastermind, right? Fiji with Tony Robbins and nine other successful peers. Um, what was that like? I mean, you you gave us a little bit of an idea, but how'd how'd it make you feel when you got there and said, you know what, this is how I'm gonna spend the next four days?

SPEAKER_01 28:41

It was surreal. You know, it was such a beautiful location. Although, you know, I live in the Caribbean, so it wasn't like it was too off the charts as far as uh like this kind of beachy lifestyle, but it was a beautiful resort, really inspiring people. And, you know, I launched the podcast, Outpriters on Fire, back in 2012 because I knew the truth of the quote by Jim Rohn. You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And frankly, my five back in 2012 sucked. They weren't bad people, they weren't evil, but they weren't motivating, inspiring. They weren't living life to the fullest. Tell you what, that worked by launching the podcast because I was able to surround myself with the right people, doing what you and I are doing right now, interviewing them, talking to them, engaging with them, you know, being with them at conferences, et cetera. And that was kind of the culmination of it. Like being in that room was pretty awesome, pretty crazy.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

I bet. And we'll talk about uh uh just a uh a reward for hard work. You look back and say, hey, here's where we're you've you've had a tremendous amount of success uh over the past 10 years. So what does it look like when once you arrive now? Here we are 10 years later, made money, built a successful brand, hanging out with Tony and and other ballers in the space on here, living in Puerto Rico. Uh, I think you're about to get married to your dream girl. Is that is that accurate?

SPEAKER_01 30:02

I did propose on Christmas Day.

SPEAKER_00 30:04

I did see a picture of that. I did. And and very uh, and speaking of um the other ballers in the space and all that, there was lots of familiar faces pop up in comments there, so it was really cool. Tony's son, uh Jarek lives down in Puerto Rico.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

He's a huge yeah, he just interviewed me on his uh show. Um he's he is on the other side of the island, but he's here in Puerto Rico. Loves it down there. Loves it down here because you know, when you when you start keeping the money you make, Sebastian, life life just changes a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

What an interesting dynamic Jarek is to Tony, though. It's almost like same mannerisms, same height, the whole, but like 10 octaves slower. Like Jarek brings it back a little bit while Pops is still uh going full throttle. Well, if you're for some reason you decided to tune into the middle of this episode and you're wondering what in the world we're talking about here. I'm on with the one only Mr. John Lee Dumas, and we're talking about his brand new book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success. It is 17 steps, 17 steps that you can actually not only just read, but you can go in your life and you're able to find your common path to uncommon uh success on here. But we're almost out of time, and I know you're in podcast day because you told me you do all your podcasts in one day. So back to back to back to back to back. Uh, but so I appreciate you being able to carve out some time for me and must have a conversation. Finally, my goodness. Um I always like to every interview ask, I know I didn't. You're exactly right. They ask. Where have you been? I've been friendly friends with you on Facebook. That doesn't mean a whole lot in this day and age, but like in 2012, it did, right? To send a message out and be like, hey, John, I'm Sebastian. Um I always like to end each episode uh when I got a great guest on. Well, all my guests are great, but when I've got an extra special guest in unlike yourself, and say that hypothetically, we you and I are in an event. You're you're in the keynote talk about how to you know receive the common path to uncommon success. And I'm the MC for the event. And after we get done, the event wraps, and we happen to be networking, hanging out with everybody at the hotel bar, and it's late that evening, and I somehow am able to convince you that the other bar across the way has a karaoke bar and that we should go sing a duet. What song would we sing?

SPEAKER_01 32:10

I got you, babe, by Sonny and Cher.

unknown 32:12

All right.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

I'm gonna hold you to that. If we ever are in the same building and have a karaoke bar.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

Uh you got to be Cher, but I I will rock that.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

With the wig, I mean, I could use some hair. Wig might not be a bad scenario. D man, it's always a pleasure to connect with you. Congrats on the next bar. I look forward to to read. Uh, absolutely. And if you're listening to it right now thinking, my goodness, I need to get my hands on that, you most definitely can. When does it drop?

SPEAKER_01 32:35

March 23rd. But again, don't wait for the book to go live because the bonuses for pre-orders are amazing. I'm shipping all three of my journals to your doorstep if you pre-order. So uh there's four other amazing bonuses. Uh, this book has been personally endorsed by Gary Vanderchuk, Seth Godin, Neil Patel, Dory Clark, Eric Amandy, uncommonsuccessbook.com.

SPEAKER_00 33:04

Uncommonsuccessbook.com. You heard it right here. And it's also that link's available in the show notes in the comments. We're watching this live stream on here. Don't think about it. Go grab yourself a copy, pre-order a copy. Make sure you leave a review of what your experience was on it. John, it's great to connect with you, brother. I encourage you to keep on rocking. You are an inspiration to individuals like myself and those that are around you. And I'm sure the lives that you continue to impact on a daily basis with exactly what you're doing. You're truly living in your purpose and doing work that matters, that leaves people differently. And uh, it's it's an absolute pleasure to be connected with you.

SPEAKER_01 33:34

Thanks, brother. Adios.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

Amen. 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.