Undiscovered Entrepreneur : Get Across The Start Line

Mike’s Marketing Mastery: From Self-Doubt to Entrepreneurial Triumph

• Jesse Blount • Episode 86

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Discover the unexpected rise of Mike, the inspiring leader behind the Hounds of Business community, as he transforms from battling poverty and self-doubt to becoming a celebrated entrepreneur and mentor. Picture Rocky Balboa's resilience and you're halfway there. The episode takes you through his transformative journey sparked by COVID-19, where he pivoted to teaching marketing, sales, and consumer psychology on social media and LinkedIn, stressing the importance of authenticity and following your unique path.

Are you struggling with imposter syndrome or self-doubt in your entrepreneurial journey? Mike and I unpack the real roots of these issues and explore how overcoming them can lead to significant personal and professional growth. By sharing heartfelt stories and practical advice, we shed light on the importance of celebrating small wins and using setbacks as stepping stones. The conversation highlights how external validation and recognizing your achievements can counteract negative self-talk, urging you to harness these insights for self-empowerment.

Moreover, we delve into the power of resilience and the role of courage in entrepreneurship. Hear how Mike leveraged non-monetary exchanges like free services to create impactful opportunities. With a vision of building a community of a million heart-centered professionals, Mike's story underscores the value of courage before confidence, the importance of positive relationships, and the necessity of embracing your authentic self. Tune in to extract valuable lessons and take bold steps towards realizing your entrepreneurial dreams.

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Speaker 1:

This is an Undiscovered Legacy Production. Hello Scoob Believers, and welcome to episode number 86 of the Undiscovered Entrepreneur. Get Across the Start Line and it's me, scoob, coming at you with whatever device you happen to be listening on. Okay, before we get into today's episode, just a really super quick announcement. I do have a Facebook group that I have opened up to the public and that means you can join me and a lot of my guests that I've had in my podcast and get valuable information. Or if you just want to introduce yourself or get some help, please join me at tuepodcastnet. Forward slash Facebook group.

Speaker 1:

All right, so today we're talking to somebody that's very I don't even know how I could explain this guy. He is just so awesome. His name is Mike. Now Mike is the unexpected leader of the Hounds of Business community, a group dedicated to supporting heart-centered high-level professionals in their entrepreneur adventure. He's transformed his approach to business by embracing authenticity and letting his true self shine, and you're going to see a lot of true self in this episode. Also, as a self-dedicated Rocky Balboa of business, mike overcame poverty and self-doubt to become a successful entrepreneur and mentor. He advocates for courage before confidence and emphasizes the importance of inner work in achieving big business. I just can't wait to introduce him. So let's not wait any further.

Speaker 1:

Here is Mike. Are you ready to unlock your entrepreneur potential? Are you ready to break free from all the barriers holding you back? Then you've come to the right place. Welcome to the Undiscovered Entrepreneur, your first step in getting across the start line. I'm your host and guide, scoop, and I'm here with one mission to help you overcome the obstacles standing between you and the start of your adventure. Whether you're dreaming of launching a startup, creating the next big app or turning your passion into a thriving business, this podcast is your launch pad. Together, we'll navigate the challenges, overcome hidden boundaries that stop us from starting, and learn how to overcome them with the help of others. Experience them right along with you. So are you ready to take that crucial step to transform from aspiring to inspiring? Then let's get across that start line together, right here, right now, on the Undiscovered Entrepreneur. Salutations, school believers. And we are here again with another amazing entrepreneur Today. We're here with Michael.

Speaker 2:

Hey, michael, how's it doing? Hey, fair to middle and buddy, how are you doing?

Speaker 1:

Fantastic. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to be on the Undiscovered Entrepreneur.

Speaker 2:

It's a fantastic to have you on the program. Oh man, Pleasure being here. Love your stuff, man, Great stuff oh thanks, I appreciate that.

Speaker 1:

All right, so before we go anywhere else, I want to ask you a very semi-serious question. Okay, you ready, I'm ready.

Speaker 2:

All right, here we go. Are you a school believer? Who is it Heck?

Speaker 1:

yeah, I'm a school believer. Right, you got the uh t-shirt, man.

Speaker 2:

You know, you got a t-shirt, I got one before you. It sounds like, yeah, I have to. I have to hook you up, man. I make school believers t-shirts. Man, that's what I do. Nice, appreciate that nice you both all right.

Speaker 1:

So, michael, do me a favor here and let's, in the beginning, let's just kind of get a little idea who you are and how you got across the start line in your entrepreneur adventure.

Speaker 2:

I wish that was a straight line Scoob, but I'll try to keep it concise here. So I've basically been the Rocky Balboa business my whole life, or life in general. Just get beat up so bad that life sometimes says, hey, just give him something. I think a lot of folks since there's new entrepreneurs that listen to this can really relate to that. But I grew up just a little backstory. I grew up just really poor. I bounced around from the city to country areas and I was all passionate.

Speaker 2:

No clue, didn't really fit in as a kid. I went to college, got two college degrees, overly educated, pink neck, so to speak, and I was just chasing anything I could, but I didn't. I just didn't have the guidance. Nobody in my family was an entrepreneur, nobody really did much in there as far as higher education, and so I just kind of bought into that American dream get a good job right, be happy, go to work, go to church kind of stuff. And deep down inside of me I tried to suppress it, but I couldn't. Deep down inside there was something that just wanted to be somebody and do something special and I just kept telling it to be quiet, but it just wouldn't. And so really everything come to fruition around COVID, right? Everybody's got that pivotal COVID story, scoob and that story right there, man, that launched me into a whole new realm that I've actually wrote in a book about, about how I became the unexpected leader of the hounds of business community and did what I would never believe I'd do, which is teach marketing, sales and consumer psychology, centered around social media and LinkedIn. So maybe that's the story you want, because I don't want to go all the way back to second grade. But, yeah, it was unexpected leadership and, honestly, if you want me to get into the story, I can give you the mini version.

Speaker 2:

It's funny, but I had to find it. I had to find my way. I think that's where a lot of entrepreneurs go wrong. Right, you learn the technical skills, you learn stuff, you need that but you have to do like Elvis said do it your way, right, and I think that's where people screw up. It's like learning the cha-cha. If I learned the cha-cha my country self did that it would be funny, right, I would be stepping on toes, counting steps. Women would giggle. But once I got the technical down, then I put my own voice, my own flavor, my own style into it, and I think that's where people kind of get lost. They just I did the sales pitch but it didn't work. Yeah, because it's not you. You're completely. You Scoop right, you do your Scooby impression and all that good stuff. You don't care. And I think there's a lot to be said for the mental game before you go working on your marketing game.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that is so, so true. We really have to be able to work on ourselves before we can get anywhere else. If we're not good with ourselves, then how are we going to be good for other people? So I'm really interested. You're saying you're the unexpected leader of the hound dogs. How do you become an unexpected leader?

Speaker 2:

That's very interesting. Yeah, let me tell that story because I tell it all the time on the group calls and it's never a script. This is the most realest thing ever because I think people can relate. I know people can relate to it because they're in the hounds. So right after COVID, I was in finance I'm actually the redneck financial coach but I never talk about money or finance and people ask me why don't you talk about it? And the easy answer is nobody wanted to hear about it, right? Especially on LinkedIn. They're all trying to sell their stuff and be seen. So what happened was is right.

Speaker 2:

When COVID hit, I was getting a little bit of my stride. So instead of being told no a thousand times, I was getting told no 998 times, and I had started a business to help support the back office of other financial vice presidents. So I was starting to gain traction. I finally as poor as dirt my whole life. I finally made six figures and COVID hit and I just started losing heart. So I did the worst thing you could do. I was 38 at the time. I hated social media, so I went on mostly LinkedIn and pitch slapped with a P, pitch slapped and spammed people for two years, and that explains my receding hairline right. The other side is my kids, but this one fell out because I didn't know what else to do, and it was a real hard thing to go out there and think that people didn't like me. That's what I thought hey, they don't like me, they don't like your business, you suck. And so that was real hard. So what happened was I almost spent my last four grand on a LinkedIn marketing course. Thank goodness I didn't. And what happened was I met this crazy cage fighter from Chicago and he was an influencer, but he was a different style of him. He talked about no like and trust the stuff I did in person before COVID. He was talking about doing that in life and on social media, and everything he was saying I really resonated with. Here's what happened. Long story shorter.

Speaker 2:

So around Christmas time I was sitting outside in Kentucky freezing my tail off and this guy come out of nowhere and, like Wizard of Oz, he pulled the curtain back and he started talking about all these things right, how to connect with people, how to bring value, how to sort people and attract and repel and be yourself, be authentic. I was like wow. So I burned this guy up for three hours. He's giving me this stuff. I almost paid four grand for right. So fast forward. And this is how the hounds got started my unexpected leadership. So from December to March he was putting us in a group. I was learning. I was learning all this stuff. I didn't know how to do live streams, all this stuff.

Speaker 2:

And then he called me up one day and this changed not just my life but many lives through the hounds and a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners. He called me up and he says hey, man, your profile picture sucks and you're wearing a suit. Why? I said wow, man, they don't parse words in Chicago, do they? Right, scoop? I said wow.

Speaker 2:

I said I'm a fiduciary. I'm supposed to brush my teeth, comb my hair, take a bath, that kind of stuff. He says is it working for you? No, no, I make more money crushing 10Ks. No, it's not doing anything. He says so why don't you let yourself out? He says why don't you just? He said you talked about chickens when you explained investments. For Pete's sake, right? He said why don't you put your hat on your camo hat? Just let that all go. I said man, you must be out of your mind, you must be sick. I said I'll be the laughingstock. It'll never work. He said is it working now? What do you got to lose? My goodness, get that right there.

Speaker 2:

I said you know what, unless you got a shovel, you can't go further than bottom, and I had no interest in doing that scoop. So from that point on, I said you know what I am? I'm going to be me. And it's not like when I put I did Larry the Cable Guy in reverse. For folks who can't see this, this is not a costume. I'm sitting here in my flannel sleeveless shirt, my camo hat, and I don't care, I do this at church, million-dollar deals everywhere. This is just who I am. Because I want to be happy, that's it, period. And I told you backstage if I couldn't be happy in business and be myself, then I'll go be a rodeo clown or something I can be successful at. So I like to feel the dreams I built it. So when the guy he got kicked off, my mentor, he was teaching me stuff, he had a big mouth right, you make the wrong people mad. He got kicked off finally. So I became the de facto leader. Long story short, if I ever have one. This is what happened.

Speaker 2:

I said to myself, instead of trying to pretend to sell and not sell and all these hardcore things that I've learned and in hindsight I know why it didn't work it didn't work because I hated it. It was incongruent with who I was. So I had to find a way and I said you know what? I don't have nothing to lose. So instead of doing like everybody in my industry was doing, trying to find Joe Rogan and Oprah before they're the big successful people, I said you know what, what if I just loved on people who could be Joe Rogan and Oprah? It's like meeting Oprah before she's Oprah. And that's what I did. I became an impromptu dating coach. I did anything. I taught on LinkedIn, all the stuff I learned the hard way.

Speaker 2:

I taught others and I said if I loved on the right people, maybe they'll take a look. Once they got to know who I am, they'll know I can trust me. Maybe they'll take a look and move to try and buy. And sure enough and I was honest and all the entrepreneurs listening be honest. I said listen, I know you're going to make money, I'm going to help you. And when you start making $10,000, $15,000 a month, guess who's coming after you. Oh yeah, everybody's going, but you're going to say, no, thank you. The redneck was here when I was broke, I'm going to stick with him. And they said, yeah, we'll do that. Well, hey, in June, the market went down and everybody started panicking, and and they not just them Scoob their family, their friends.

Speaker 2:

And I realized this ain't a fluke man, this ain't one off. This is a recipe, a formula for heart centered, high level professionals. Instead of worrying about what we want, we go out there and help others and they reciprocate. And that's what we built from accident. And I resisted all of that for months because of my own self-esteem issues and lack of self-value. I just didn't see it, and so that's what took me into that journey, because most of us think we have a business problem. We have a head problem, we have a confidence, self-worth problem, and I'm open about that because I want people to know it's not you. You showed up to a football game with a baseball bat, just like I did. There's nothing wrong with you, you just have to learn. That's what we stand for. People aren't judged in the hounds, and we are pushing people up who have a great impact to make, but they just don't have the resources or the support to do it, and that's what we stand for, brother.

Speaker 1:

That's fantastic. It's something that comes across my mind when you say things like that, and that's something I like to say too is we rise by lifting others right. We want to help other people and in turn they'll help us, and it's a whole reciprocal thing. And then when we get to a point where we can pay them for services or anything, we're going to be the first ones on their mind because we're the ones that actually helped him right in the first place. And it was so nice of this gentleman to pull back the curtain, like you're talking about earlier. Let you tour the factory, see how he did things and lift you that way Right, and that's it's amazing. But it sounds like from the very beginning you actually came across one of my main hurdles, and that would be imposter syndrome. And it sounds like, since you've gotten over imposter syndrome to a point cause we always have imposter syndrome at one point or another it just changed your life.

Speaker 2:

It did and it still is. Again. What's in between the two ears is everything, and we all have stuff to overcome. We've had people, family ourselves. We grew up with people doubting us or saying things about us. You can't do that. So we have these tapes that go off in our head and it's really difficult to see it. But I hate to say it, but a lot of times we have to rely on external validation or KPIs right. But once you do something and again, this is something I learned a long time ago so if you're struggling out there with imposter syndrome or I'm not good enough, join the club. But here's what you should do. You should take count of the evidence. It's like saying Scrooge is not good at it yes, he is. Or he would be doing it every week.

Speaker 2:

Right, you look back and say, hey, I am successful, I've had successful people on this show, I've done this, I've done that. And you have to celebrate the wins and I'm not talking about celebrating with others. Celebrate them to yourself, because that's like throwing water on the negativity of fire in your brain. You got to say, hey, you know what? I hear this tape going off. But is that right? I just did A, b and C Right. So celebrate those little wins. If you're an extrovert and you stood up and talked for five seconds, dadgummit, you should really celebrate yourself and say I did that. And you stack the other one on top of that and then one day you keep doing that and hey, you look in the mirror. You made that person. You made that man and woman Right Child by fire and, by the way, I'm a firm believer woman right Trial by fire. And, by the way, I'm a firm believer, scoob, if you can't let it be, if you can't let those tapes or something that someone said to hurt, you, use it as fuel.

Speaker 2:

Hey, I was working the other day and I was going to stop and somebody's negative tape went off in my head and it just put me down. It was bad, and it has been years since I heard this and I said you know what I got you. And so I'm working and my wife comes in and she's like it's Friday, why are you working until eight o'clock? I said because they're not. Because they're not, because I am going to do this, I'm not going to talk about it, I'm not, I'm going to make things happen, because that negative tape could have done two things could have knocked me down and kept me down, or I can learn to use it for fuel. So if somebody throws a bag of horse dung at you, you can either let it soil your day or you can use it to make your fertilizer factory stock go up. Does that make sense? Oh, it makes perfect sense. So it's all the way you see it. It's all the way you see it, brother.

Speaker 1:

It's what we do with that tape, as, like you're talking about earlier, it's what we do with that information is what makes us who we are as humans, right, do we turn that thing into something that's going to bring us down or do we turn that into something that's going to say, hey, you said I can't do this. Just watch me do this and then do the thing right. I think I heard this the other day. Frank Sinatra said this the best. I hope I say this the best. Come on brain. Oh gosh, I love editing. Let's see the best. Revenge is massive success. So we use this negativity from other people as fuel. Watch me do this and I will accomplish what you think I can't do.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely and use it for fuel, not just because you don't want to get up every day and just do stuff to counter others, but use it as a way to do the hard work. We bury our head in the sand for a reason. We buried the childhood trauma and all this stuff that we deal with and we just carry it around. So use that to dive in. I faced massive betrayals and all kinds of things, man from people and I had to realize one day hey, dogs bark, cats meow on people, people, I'm responsible. It doesn't mean it's right, it doesn't mean that they should have done it. It means that if this continues to happen, it's me, it's not Scoop's fault, it's not their fault. I have to live with me. So I had to learn why am I not setting boundaries? Why am I not doing this? Because oftentimes it's something stuck, it's not the business. It's like when you give a sales pitch, somebody is ready to listen and they were going to buy, but you couldn't close the deal. You got to ask yourself what is that? Because you may not believe it, but how the heck are they going to believe it? If you don't believe in you, they're not going to believe in you. So you can have the best sales scripts on earth, but unless you own it and that, to me, takes a lot of inner work you have to dive in and go hey, what's my flaws, what's the truth? But once you come out the other side of that, nobody can hurt you, and you really can't, because you're basically obsessed with the mission Right now.

Speaker 2:

This impact I want to see it on a scale Hundreds is great, but I want to see tens of thousands. I want to see millions. I want to see millions of lives changed. It's not just about making money. If thousands of heart-centered, high-level professionals, if we got to do whatever we wanted every single day, with whoever we wanted, then we can make a serious dent in stuff that matters Food, insecurity, homelessness, equality and that's what the HALN stands for. And out of the pain and being rejected for 40 years, now, at 43 years old, I'm leading an amazing team and community of people who believe like this.

Speaker 2:

So whatever you're struggling with that you're avoiding out there, face it. Face it, because what stands in the way becomes the way, and I think that's what's the problem, right, once you can overcome that, how powerful it is to look someone in the eye and go. I understand you, I've been there and you tell them the hard truth and they take your advice because they believe you right, because you've been there. That's what we need to be for each other, and so if you're out there struggling, go find somebody that can point you in the right direction, that you respect. They've been there and go interview them. They've been there and go interview them. Say, how did you get unstuck? And then go to work. Once you get your head and your heart, once you know why you get out of bed, no one can hurt you, and that's what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, or success in general, in my opinion.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, and that actually is really close to my heart too, because I'm a former 16-year car salesman. So if you want to talk about having to have that right mindset, and if you don't believe in your product, you don't believe in yourself and your capabilities, there ain't nobody buying anything from you. And it's so weird. How it worked for me was like if you're not selling anything, you sell nothing, and people feel that. People know that negativity that you have in your heart. I got to sell this, I got to sell this, otherwise I'm not going to make money. It hurts, it's not good.

Speaker 1:

When you sell something, suddenly you're selling everything. Everything turns to gold because you have that confidence. You have that. Okay, now it's working, everything's working. So that's awesome and you bring up a good point. Take responsibility for your actions and what you do. Say, hey, I did this, yes, I did this, whatever it is that you have to take responsibility for, good or bad, because it's going to show you as a real person that takes real responsibility for what you do and what your accomplishments are. And when we do change a life, we don't just change that life, we change the lives of everybody that touches that life, and so on and so on and so on. And that's how we change the world by changing one life, we could change many, many lives behind that.

Speaker 2:

The compound effect Absolutely, and that's there's things that I've done in just a short amount of time that I'll never see, the fruit that I'll never see. And I was blessed. I was blessed to see, to be the catalyst. We're the hounds of business, right, we're not the hounds of therapy or kumbaya, but, honestly, we were born out of a friendship group. We rallied behind each other because we believed in each other. We were struggling together in the same kind of ways, and that's what launched some of the most innovative projects.

Speaker 2:

I probably made 10 cents an hour on the very first project when it was all said and done Scoop, but I didn't care because I cared about this person. They gave me a chance, right. I wanted to prove that I could do it for them, and it's like playing an Olympic-sized ping pong game, right, you hit the ball a little bit, I hit it back. Before you know it, man, we've got this fiery speed game going and that's a fun feeling. So, yeah, I'm with you on that, man. Find your tribe, too, because we touched on something earlier. Yeah, help the right people, keyword right people, test people, discern people. Know that not everybody's going to share your heart, right, but look for people who show and demonstrate core values that resonate with you. I'm seriously in this to help people, help myself, help my family right, Change that generational baggage, but then also go out there and help others do it.

Speaker 2:

I don't talk about it much, but somebody opened up about it and I shared my recovering alcoholic story. Right Eight years sober and I had no clue. Two and a half hours I said, oh, nothing's going to happen. Everything I said they took action on man and to be the catalyst unbelievable. So in your business, the same thing. Stop acting like it's weird or you're taking money from people. Get over yourself. You're out here trying to use your business as an extension of who you are and it has value and they have a solution. And if you don't do that, if you don't own that, if you don't spend late nights getting over it and learning your craft and getting healthy inside, then they're going to go waste money elsewhere and I think that's the key. So even in business, especially in business, you can have a compound effect. It's more than just selling products, guys. So thank you for that scoop, because that was that was gold brother.

Speaker 1:

Oh, thanks, yeah, I love talking about that. And you are when you, when you're doing something where you don't care if you're paid 10 cents or at all, really, you really get into this. You're in your zone of genius. You're in your zone of genius. When you're doing something you love so much, you don't care if you get paid or not, and I always talk about that in my podcast. If it's something that you love that much, go do it. Go do it for free. All it's going to do is make you feel better, that you're helping other people accomplish what they need to accomplish in their lives, and that gives you that nice, warm, squishy feeling in your chest right there, because that is worth more than any kind of money that you have.

Speaker 1:

And you make a good point about making sure that the people you surround yourself with are good people, people that you can lean on, people that understand you. We are the combination of the five people we hang around most, so we have to be careful about what five people those are. And you make a good point about the whole thing, too. It's like, yes, we want to get paid, we're entrepreneurs, that's what we do. It's like, yes, we want to get paid. We're entrepreneurs, that's what we do, that's how we keep things going. But the money is the byproduct of how well we serve others. So make sure that we are serving others first, and the money will follow. It's not the other way around.

Speaker 2:

Gold man, why aren't you in the hounds? We got to fix that, all right. So I love what you said because, guys, this is I'm not a theorist, I'm a practitioner. I do things right. I know, and I could tell Scoob does too. So I'll give you a prime example about it Free, all right.

Speaker 2:

Sometimes you got to start off. That's all you can do is free, nobody. You have no authority. Maybe your branding's off, there's something going on, but maybe free is all you can do. But I'll tell you what I did it the other day.

Speaker 2:

I said, oh, I'm going to do this and I'm going to work on this program. And I did it. I put the person on there. They got success. It was funny, it was cute, it was innovative. And they didn't pay me for it and it broke me. I was like, oh man, what the heck, like, how could you not pay me? And I know it worked, because the next day they were like can you do it again with this code? They wouldn't have said that if it didn't work.

Speaker 2:

So when you go out there and do things and people don't go with it, you know what I did, guys. I took that and I showed the other four people who became a sponsor quick right. So go out there and do a couple of things, and not just free, but trade. There's people out there, you have cookies, they have milk Go out there. If you're struggling and you're just implementing stuff in your entrepreneur business, then go find you a business strategist Right, like that's what I did Christine Bell, one of the best, most brilliant business strategists. I couldn't afford it, I could never find it, but because we're in community and I had the specific sales piece that helped her fill in the blanks. So we crossed over and now we promote each other, now we help each other, we refer people, we bring each other business. So go out there and find a dadgum partner that you can cross, pollinate and learn from and grow with.

Speaker 1:

That's the ultimate. My opinion Doesn't always have to be about money. There's other things, other practices, other experience that you could trade with other people. You make a great analogy. I love that mocha cookie analogy because now you're making me hungry, me too. I'll give you a good example of that too. When I first started three years ago, I came across a gentleman who did graphics. It was something I actually wanted in my podcast, in my YouTube channel. At the same time, I couldn't pay the guy, so I was like, hey, how about if I give you six months of free advertising on podcast? Perfect. He gave me the graphics. I advertised him for actually almost a year after that and it just worked out. So there's always a way to work something out. It doesn't always have to be an exchange of cash.

Speaker 2:

Man, that beautiful example. I'm not going to spoil it with my redneck idioms man, that's good. Good job, yeah, Because again, stop thinking like a chess piece on the board. Stop, stop. Everybody wants to be the queen or the bishop or the rook. Stop that. Zoom out, Take an aerial view of the board and become a chess master.

Speaker 2:

I can't do that. You know what I'm going to go like water. I can't go through it. I'll go over it, under it, around it. I'll find a way. I'll create a way. I'm a creator and that's what I do.

Speaker 2:

I take things, I innovate them and I make it work. If it don't work, do it anyway. Find a way. You're an entrepreneur. You ain't got no rules. You left that job. You need to make the rules. As long as it's not illegal, immoral and unethical, who cares what's the worst that can happen? It doesn't work, Then don't do it again. But how are you supposed to know if it don't work unless you try it? I will look like the biggest goofball. I don't care, I test Now. I do it in secret as much as possible, but I'll go out there.

Speaker 2:

I did some donkey thing the other day. I can't remember, but I know it was like man. That was really bad, but you know what? It could have been really good. Sometimes it turns out really good, like putting a stupid camo hat on and being yourself right, Like I wouldn't be here right now if I didn't do that crazy move. So here's another one that I think you'll like courage before confidence. How did you get the confidence, man? I had no confidence. That's another one of your four stops right. I didn't have no confidence, I had courage. I had courage to be rejected again. I had courage to look like a donkey. That's what it takes. So don't believe this confidence stuff. Go get beat up a little bit. You'll gain some confidence or you'll quit At least you know where you're.

Speaker 1:

At. That way, we don't have the regret of not knowing what's on the other side of what we could have done.

Speaker 1:

And you actually hit a good spot too, for failure. It's what we do with that failure, what we learn from that failure and take it into our next adventure. So we don't do it again. And take it into our next adventure. So we don't do it again, or we can help somebody else with that story of failure and improve what they're trying to accomplish. So failure is not really a failure if you really think about it. Failure is there. Failure is what we do as entrepreneurs. It's going to be part of it because that's how we learn things. But it's what we do after that failure, whether we take it within ourselves or make it a stop one of my hurdles of stop. But you know, guys like you and me, michael, we don't stop. We take that in and use it as a tool.

Speaker 2:

And I fail. Honestly, if anybody wants to get into the who failed the most category, I might beat you. I'll be honest, you're right, it's failure. We hear this and we hear this all the time in self-help books and failure fell forward and all this stuff. Listen, if you're failing over and over again with the same thing, you got a problem because you're not learning and you're truly. You may say, oh, I'm learning and growing, but you're not, or you wouldn't be on the same hurdle, right? You're on the same problem. Here's, here's how I look at it.

Speaker 2:

Life and business and entrepreneurship is just one continuous challenge after the other. It really is. There's no arrival. I don't know what that is. If there's somebody out there knows, let me know. But there's no arrival. Warren Buffett has money problems. We have money problems. The difference is he's trying to pay less in taxes because he makes too much, and I'm trying to have his problems. That makes sense.

Speaker 2:

So do all you can do to get off that hurdle number one and fail faster. You never go into a science lab and see the scientists throw the beaker across the room and start cussing because the experiment failed. In fact, they're elated. They thought it would take 6,000 failures and it happened at 600. So you have to take that approach, but you also have to be real with yourself, and that might mean late nights that might be trying to work out deals and things with other people who have that missing link like we talked about earlier.

Speaker 2:

You really have to do the hard work. You got to pay the price now. There's none of this nine to five stuff. Maybe somebody can do it, but most of us look I built from dirt. Scoob, you can't even burn dirt. So when you, it took me years to get where a lot of people were just born at, in that scale of life. So compete, but don't compare.

Speaker 2:

But I'm telling you you're capable of way more than you can even imagine. You listen to all the goofy motivational tapes you can find on LinkedIn or YouTube or whatever. Seriously, all day long there's something playing in my head. When I'm not working or with the family, there's some kind of tool motivation, self-love. I'm always constantly programming, reprogramming what should have been there from the beginning of childhood. But, guys, that's where the battle is. Get your head right, people, man, it balances off of me now. Stuff that used to break me three months ago makes me laugh in three minutes. That's growth, that's resilience. And you have to be honey badger tough to make it in most cases in this business, but you can. Don't let nobody stop you. That's my PBS special, right there.

Speaker 2:

That's my best one.

Speaker 1:

But you make a great point too. We come across a lot of people sometimes that want to put us down, that heckle us or they give us a bad, whatever it is that happens to be at that time. But we got to kind of think about what's going on in their heads that they have to go out and talk bad about somebody else, right? So when I come across something like that too, instead of feeling, oh he doesn't like me or whatever it is, I think what's going on in their lives that they have to do that. I kind of feel sorry for him.

Speaker 2:

David Goggins. He said that tape, or something I heard the other day. He said you'll never get hated on by the people more successful than you, something like that, and it's right. The only people think about this. The only people putting you down, are people who, a failed and gave up by failure. They just couldn't hack it and B never even want to attempt it. And that's the vast majority of people, right. That's why they're grumpy. You're over here paying the price, probably going into debt, doing all kinds of crazy stuff, and they don't. But they kick a straight cow on the way home, right? They're the guy who yells out the window for no reason on the road race. So you have to frame this and go look, consider the source. I'll put it this way Scoob, I'm nuts man. You got to excuse me.

Speaker 2:

I always looked at it as I said. Listen, if Mother Teresa looked at me and said that redneck's a real you-know-what, that would bother me, right? Because, hey, I don't like that person. I want to align with that person. That bothers me. Maybe I'm doing something out of character, but if somebody else like I'm not going to say his name, but some criminal doesn't like me, good, that doesn't make sense. I don't eat people, right? I'm not a cannibal. So if somebody said I don't like him, why would I care? And I know that sounds extreme. But guys, you got to.

Speaker 2:

I used to look up at people. That's the worst thing you can do. Oh, this guy. No, we're all equal. We all put our pants on the same daggone way and you are worthy of respect. If that person doesn't respect you, walk off. I've walked off from $30,000 deals with zero income and a family and two kids because that person oh man, that person and I needed that money and I tried to justify it. Oh, my values, absolutely not. Integrity is top notch on my value system and this person has none Done. And it took a while.

Speaker 2:

But opportunities start trickling in and then they started growing Because people, other people watch you. Man Lurkers are everywhere Social media. Nobody likes my post. They're watching you anyway. And everywhere social media, nobody likes my post. They're watching you anyway. And the reason they're not liking it is because everybody's been screwed by someone. So no one trusts anyone, especially on LinkedIn.

Speaker 2:

So when you're out there being consistent an oak tree in a sea of tumbleweeds man, you're not a branding expert today and a lawn care expert the next day. Look around, that's what's happening. They're just chasing dollars, man, snake oil and you, you don't waver. A hurricane comes by, you don't waver. A hurricane comes by, you're still there. I'm telling you, when you operate from value system and you just start pushing everybody in the wayside, the noise. Your life will change. But you have to be willing to prune those branches, those people you're hanging out with late at night, watching TV or going to bars. Do you think successful people are doing that? No, so you have to start changing who you are, and it's painful to lose those relationships or put them on the pause button. But you got to. You can't have success and be average. That's counterintuitive. You cannot have this level of success and want to do what everybody else that you used to work with do. Does that make sense? You can't have your cake and eat it too at the beginning.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it makes perfect sense to me. You can't be hanging around the people that are average and think you're going to be bigger than what they are, because that's what you're surrounding yourself with. It actually circles right back to the five people that you surround yourself with most. And the other thing, too, that kind of caught my interest when you're talking there comparison.

Speaker 1:

We don't want to compare ourselves to other people. We want to compare ourselves to ourselves. What we did a week ago, a month ago, a year ago comparison is the thief of joy. The more you compare yourself to these other people, you're going to get the imposter syndrome, because I'm never going to be like them, no matter how hard I try. No, that's not the way we want to think about things. The way we want to think about things is hey, I did this last week and now I'm better at it. I did this last month and I actually got a client out of it. I did this last year and I've actually was able to quit one of my jobs, because I work two full-time jobs but at the same. So we got to really think about it that way instead of comparing ourselves to other people.

Speaker 2:

Hey, put man unbelievable.

Speaker 2:

You get this. You absolutely get this right. And so compete. My mentor told me compete but don't compare. And I never understood that for a long time. I do now. I absolutely get it. But you know those people and I ain't gonna lie. I've had some people that they treat me like the valet parking right, like they're so big and I'm so small. We all encounter that. But you know what? I flipped the script In less than two, two and a half years I've got people who made some of the most amazing things. They made some of the candy we eat daily since the 80s. They're coming to me now and I don't mean that to be cocky.

Speaker 2:

I used to say this all the time. I was like I feel like a poor kid, waking up at Santa's workshop every day, just being around these people and having this opportunity. And someone scooped, said hey, you got to quit. Saying that. I said why did I need to quit saying that? They said because you're Santa. Now I'm the last to know. But again, I didn't do it for that.

Speaker 2:

But then I turned around and said you're the elephant with the tiny stick. You're the ginormous elephant that still thinks that tiny stick in the ground that you had since birth can keep you where you're at. All you got to do is sneeze and you'll pull that stick out and that's what you guys have to be on. Yeah, you're a baby, we're all babies but you grow up. And the faster you grow up, the harder you become, the more immersed in self-improvement, true self-improvement learning all the skill sets, staying up late, going to bed, what? Staying up late, going to bed early, something like that, and you know what I'm trying to say, but that's what I mean. And you hear this stuff and you're like, ah, but this is the, this is the real.

Speaker 2:

You just have to pay the price and then think opportunities come about. I have a lady that popped in a year and a half ago and I just now kind of hit my first stride and I'm telling you, if this lady wasn't around, I'd probably be gone. We wouldn't be here right now. If, if this lady wasn't around, I'd probably be gone, we wouldn't be here right now. If she sprouted wings, I'd be like, yeah, it makes sense, I wouldn't even flinch. And those kinds of opportunities you can't plan them in a business plan, but when you get smarter and you plan, you open yourself up for more possibilities of these opportunities. More people like you will come into your life because you're doing the things that attract business people, things that attract business people. If you're out here talking bad about people, you're not going to attract high-level, caliber people.

Speaker 2:

But if you start acting and back to the imposter syndrome, fake it till you make it sometimes, sometimes you have to get in there, you have to just cannonball yourself in it. It's like that John Wayne movie where he just throws the kid in the water. He's like how old are you? 12? He just throw him in there. It's time to learn. He said grab some water and pull it to your chest. Sometimes you got to do it and most of the time in entrepreneurship you might look stupid or you might feel goofy, but just like you said earlier, scoop.

Speaker 2:

Here's what I learned. If I don't do this, if I don't say this, if really don't care, then it probably don't matter. But is this going to keep me up at night? Same thing Somebody disrespects you and it bothers you. Hey, find a way to tell them nicely tomorrow, because it's going to eat at you. It's going to erode your confidence. It's going to erode everything you've got. So protect yourself, protect your self-worth. And yeah, I'm just getting off on it. Man, you're too good of a host. I'm just kidding you got to cut me off, man.

Speaker 1:

I want to respect your time here, and this has been probably one of the most fascinating conversations I've had in a really long time. So, mike, I want to do one thing with you here before we go and I do this with all my guests I'd like to know what your six-month goal is. I always follow up with my guests every six months to find out how they've progressed in their entrepreneur adventure. So where do you see yourself and the hounds in the next six months?

Speaker 2:

That's interesting. We're working on the KPIs and kind of measurements of the hounds, but here's where I want to go ultimately, because I'm still working on the six month plans. I'm not trying to duck you, but I can finally admit this. And when you can finally say this stuff out loud, then you know you're serious about business. You have a fighting chance in business. If you could say that somebody said what do you want? I used to give the answer oh, 10,000 people. Blah, blah, blah. Here's the real answer. And maybe in six months why not Crazier things have happened.

Speaker 2:

Somebody's going to walk up to me one day and go oh, it's you, it's you. And I'm like yeah, it's me. Who is it? Oh, man, I love leading in the hounds. Oh, my goodness, I love this. All the hounds is great. And I go leading in the who is this person?

Speaker 2:

See, because I'm flying around everywhere, I'm on jet planes, I'm on podcasts, I'm knocking down 20,000 people that are joining the pack right after I get done, talking man, because they relate to us, they get it, they want to be a part of it. They're astray, they found their way home. That's my ultimate goal and I couldn't have told you that six months ago, couldn't even say the words, but that's my goal. So, honestly, I'm not quite sure on my KPIs and all the technical. We're working on it now but that's the goal, that's the ultimate destination, and people go wow, that's crazy. No, I want three. I want 1 million people heart centered, high level professionals of all walks of professional life. I want a million of them in three years.

Speaker 2:

People say, oh, that's nuts. You know what? Reach for the stars, grab a tree branch. And, by the way, watch around you the people who keep doubting your big visions. By the way, watch around you the people who keep doubting your big visions. I don't know, maybe they shouldn't be around you much longer. Because I said that to a group of people. Half of them went yeah, he's nuts and we're crazy enough to go with him. And the other part said I don't know and guess who stayed through thick and thin? Guess who's reaping the rewards of our success, guess who left. So yeah, I'm not trying to dodge the question, but that's what it's about. As soon as somebody walks up and goes, it's you. And this had an impact in my life. I'm going to know that all this crap I put up with is worth it.

Speaker 1:

What's funny that you say that? Because that's actually my made it moment when I go out, like anywhere else. And aren't you Scoob? Yeah, I love you, know, and that kind of thing. That's all I want. I don't want a million bajillion dollars, I don't need to have millions of followers or anything. I just need one person to come up to me and just shake my hand and say I recognize you, thank you for what you do. That's all I want.

Speaker 2:

That's it because you changed their lives Exactly, exactly. That's it All right. And when you've done it once, you can do it again. Now it's a scale up. And the last thing if you did it one time, that's enough. There's no difference between one and a thousand, except scalability. So ask yourself how can I do this twice as fast, right? How can I do this? That's it. Everybody out here listening going I can't do this. Y'all done did it. Probably did it six months ago, but you won. Oh, I did it for free. You still brought value. Stop dumping on yourself. That's all I want to say, because that's what's happening. Stop dumping it on yourself. You give me all the reasons and excuses why you can't be successful. I'm going to challenge you, hounds of business. Go look us up Carrier, pigeon, linkedin, youtube. Give us one reason. You can't Just try one. And if you can't do it alone, hey, welcome here. That's it.

Speaker 1:

So that's always. My next question is it's your time to shine. I want you to be able to advertise yourself on how we get a hold of you, how we get a hold of the hounds, all that good stuff. I know you kind of chutzed on it, but let's get it official this time. Okay, ready set go.

Speaker 2:

I stole your thunder man because I was on. I'm always hosting, like you are. It's hard to transition. You're a gracious host man. Yeah, find us on LinkedIn. That's where we hang out. So it's Mike Asherbranner.

Speaker 2:

I know it's a lot of words, but you can also search Hounds of Business on YouTube. We have on LinkedIn. Our YouTube channel is bumping my website. You can find us, but I haven't touched it for a while. It's redneckfinancialcoachcom. All right, so we'll get on that soon enough.

Speaker 2:

But, yeah, plug in, check us out. And there's no, we're a free community. We're going to have a paid tier membership optional soon, so don't let nothing stop you. Come in, check it out and, by the way, I don't have an ego here. It's it like a buffet. You can have all none. Some come back later, watch the game, have a drink.

Speaker 2:

We don't care. We just want people to test drive us. Hopefully you buy clothes and try on clothes before you buy them. Hopefully you date before you get married. Same concept Test drive us out. I'll tell you this. If you don't like it or it's not a good fit, I'll walk you somewhere else. I'll take you somewhere else. That might be a good fit, because I just want to see better, more good people do better stuff. Stop being stuck. Don't look back and go. Oh, I wish I'd done that. Just do it now. I'd rather die fighting on my feet than grovel at my knees. So that's my calling card. Scoob, I appreciate the platform, appreciate you, the opportunity to be here, and I just hope one person was inspired by some craziness I said here today and that made it all worthwhile, brother.

Speaker 1:

All right, awesome, michael. Thank you so much for being the undiscovered entrepreneur. Get across the start line. Thank you so much, and you have yourself a great day. Thank you All right, scoob believers. Make sure you stay tuned for the wrap up. All right, everybody. Thank you, bye-bye. All right, scoob believers.

Speaker 1:

That was Mike man. That guy had a lot of energy and this is. This guy has to be the most authentic guy I've ever met in my lifetime. He just, ultimately, is himself, and you know it really. It really teaches me how to embrace my authentic self, and you should be able to embrace your authentic self too. I mean, put on your own camo hat and let the true personality shine.

Speaker 1:

Your uniqueness is your superpower and it will attract the right people who resonate with you and your values and your mission. That's why you shouldn't be afraid to be yourself. You'll have some people, like Mike says, you'll have some people that laugh at you. You'll have some people that doubt you, but ultimately, at the end, the people that you attract, the people that want to hear from you, are the people that are going to follow you, and you'll see that more and more as time goes on in your entrepreneurial adventure and courage does definitely come before confidence. Take bold action even when you're uncertain, even when you're not sure, and remember that every failure is a stepping stone towards success. Let's not give failure a bad name. Failure is something we can all learn from. We talk about that all the time. In the hurdles of stop, your resilience and your willingness to keep pushing forward will set you apart in the entrepreneur world, and that is the truth. Look inside yourself and know that you the person that's on the other side of this camera or listening to this podcast right now will move forward as long as you keep your resilience and your willingness to push forward. Always keep that in mind and with that thought I'm going to say thank you so much for another episode of the Undiscovered Entrepreneur and I'll see you next week. Goodbye for now, and there you have it.

Speaker 1:

Future entrepreneurs, we've taken another step towards our journey to get across that start line. Remember, every great business starts with a single idea and the courage to pursue it. You've already shown that courage by joining us here today as we wrap up this episode of the Undiscovered Entrepreneur. I want to remind you that the start line isn't as far away as you might think. With each bit of knowledge you gain, each fear you face, you're getting closer to launching your dream. Until our next episode, together, keep pushing, keep dreaming and, most importantly, keep taking those steps across the start line. They'll all add up to big strides in your entrepreneur adventure. This is, scoob, your guide across the start line. They'll all add up to big strides in your entrepreneur adventure. This is, scoob, your guide across the start line. Remember, your future is waiting. I can, I am, I will and I'm doing it today.