Award-Winning Keynote Speaker: Why Human Connection Beats AI

That's what successful businesses are built on. They're built on successful human relationships. You're teaching them how to commoditize themselves. Relationships is what makes life fulfilling, right? If you follow someone and you connect with someone on social media, and you see an AI-generated post, do you feel more trust with them?

Or do you feel more trust with someone that goes up on stage and goes up on camera, and it's actually them, and they can articulate and communicate at a very high level? There's such a disconnect in the soul. You can't put lipstick on a pig, right? Tyler, dude, man, anytime we get a chance to connect, I get all fired up. Uh, I love your stuff.

I love who you are as a person, and I appreciate you making the time for us today, dude. For sure, man. Likewise, man. Um, I'm super grateful to be here as well. So you said something before we went live, uh, and I know this about you, but, you know, we were just chit-chatting, and it aligns so closely with my current mentality, or probably been my mentality forever, but certainly in the moment that we're in, which is you said, "I am incredibly bullish on this human connection."

Like, what does that mean for you, and why in the moment we're currently in are you so bullish on humans when the entire world seems to not be able to talk about anything but AI? Right. Absolutely. Well, I had a really great mentor. He kinda exposed me to this, uh, this methodology.

It's ca- it's called the five senses. Like, if you really think about the five senses of a human, you got the smell, the taste, the visual, the hearing, and the touch. And so any type, any way, any, uh, time that you can incorporate those five senses within your organization or within your business, that's what's gonna allow you to facilitate that type of relationship. But ultimately, that's what successful businesses are built on. They're built on successful human relationships because what I learned early on in my career, Ryan, is that a lot of businesses are extremely transactional.

It's like, "Hey, what's the price point? What can you do it for? This is the service that I can deliver. Boom. Don't talk to me.

Don't have my personal cell phone." Like, just leave it at that. Very transactional. What I've always felt and, and have experienced me personally is that, you know, I was always the guy who was like, "Here, take my personal cell phone. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me."

And I understand that it requires more work, but there are certain times where I was talking to one of my clients yesterday. He's one of the top, uh, surgeons in Southern California. And I was just thinking about it last night. It was just like, I'm just so grateful that I have very high net worth, very successful individuals in my Rolodex. Why?

Is, is because I spend the time to invest in those relationships. And then the same thing with, you know, personally as well. Any type of relationship, whether it's family or whether it's relational, it's the grass is greenest where you water it. And anytime you water the, the grass, it's gonna become greener, and that's how you're gonna be-bear the fruit of those relationships. Specifically like family, if you tend to move away, it's like I always wanna make the conscious effort to maintain those relationships because relationships is what makes life fulfill-fulfilling, right?

Because it's one thing to have a lot of success and make a lot of money, but if you don't have the relationships, you're not ... If you're doing it with clients that, uh, that you don't like working with is a huge thing 'cause I, I've been there where I've taken consulting gigs and worked with clients where we're not really ... You know, I may not, you know, break bread with them outside of that initially is to start my career, where now it's like every client that we work with, I see myself as a, as someone that I could break bread with. And, and if I do get the chance, I would like to break bread with e- every single one of my clients. Um, and like you mentioned, AI and technology, that's really gonna be the biggest differentiator because any time in, time in business, how are you differentiating yourself in business?

And if me and you are let's say in the same industry, let's say we're both insurance, doing insurance, then it's like, well, it always comes down to what's the cost, what's the coverage, all that stuff. So how can I stand out and how can I differentiate my brand? How can I differentiate myself? Well, that's gonna come down to the relational side of things, and that's really gonna come down to your story. What are the experiences that you've gone through?

And I know you have tremendous amounts of stories, tremendous amounts of experiences that you sh- share in your keynotes, your TEDx talk, where those are the things that people relate with. And one of the things for me was I always like to tell people I was a former college athlete, and I played basketball overseas in Asia because I can connect with a lot of athletes that had that drive and hunger they put towards sports that now have that same drive and hunger that they put towards business. And again, if you're in the marketplace and you're wanting to w- you're deciding which vendor or who you wanna work with, you're not only gonna ch- you know, look at, you know ... There's different industries and different products where, you know, there may be no brand loyalty at all. There's certain customers that just lowest price, whatever, that's what they want, that's what they prioritize.

But other than that, I wanna be in the space where people prioritize high-quality products and also a high-quality experience because if you as a business owner can tap into that, um, you're gonna get rewarded big time specifically in the AI technology era because everyone has the same, you know ... The, the playing field's getting leveled, right? So it's now what makes those tools to make a social media graphic, how, how is it gonna be different versus than just having someone to scroung- you know, you know, look over the internet, take information, you know, create a graphic on a, on a trend that's popping? Well, you know, you could have hundreds of agents do that, so what's gonna really separate you? And that's where the human relationships, the connections really come into, um, i- into, into play here, and that's where public speaking and communication is a, is gonna be a, a massive skill set moving forward because the last thing I will say with this, Ryan, is if you look at the education system, people are spending, you know, hundreds, thousand dollars plus to get a great education so they can provide for their family and also they could set themselves up for success.

Well, a lot of these students now, and there's studies that shown this, is that they're not even You know, exercising their critical thinking muscle anymore. They're just having AI do it all. So now, not only is college kinda limited, keeping you limited and to some extent at first, but now if I'm going through that whole four years going through the motions and I'm not even exercising the ability to learn a- and to think, then what exactly is that doing for me? And then, and that's where it comes into, you know, uh, mental atrophy, where people become so reliant on AI, which is great in a business sense, and it's good if you have the experience and you know the industry 'cause you've arcs- you've actually done the work. But if you don't have that contextual use cases for AI, and you don't know how to lead it, then it can be very overwhelming and very consuming.

And then I could, you know, be playing around in AI and do all these things, and I don't even-- I, I can step away with zero skill set. So it's really important that if you have a specific skill set, like developing human relationships and through communications and speaking on stage, then those are the skill sets that you, you can immediately stand out. Because if you follow someone and you connect with someone on social media, and you see an AI-generated post, do you feel more trust with them, or do you feel more trust with someone that goes up on stage and, or goes up on camera and it's actually them and they can articulate and communicate at a very high level, right? You're gonna build a stronger relationship with the people that can do it through human connection, and you know it's, you, you know, you know it's actually them. And, um, again, it, it takes more work, it takes more preparation, takes more creativity, but if you can do that while leveraging AI and technology, I mean, that's the sweet spot, you know?

It's like personalization at scale. And then that's really the name of the game, and if you can do that, um, like you're gonna have some success and you're gonna develop a lot more relationships. Yeah, I got into a quasi, we'll call it an argument. It was really just a discussion with a buddy of mine because I heard him telling people, uh, in a webinar that I jumped on. He was teaching people to create, like, HeyGen avatars and how to make, you know, social media posts, AI social media posts of yourself in various locations that you aren't or haven't been or, you know, like just different stuff as a way to, you know, create content at scale.

And I listened, and afterwards I text him and I was like, you know, he's like, "Hi, how'd it go?" Or whatever, you know. He was, he was looking for my feedback on, on his delivery and all that kind of stuff. And I said, "You, you did great," and he's great at what he does. I said, "But man, I couldn't have, I couldn't disagree with you more on what you were teaching everyone."

He was, he's like, "What?" And you know, and I think maybe 'cause he thought, like I'm a sales and marketing guy, that I would be, you know, and a big content creator, that I would be down that path and I was like, "Dude, like there's-- You're teaching them how to commoditize themselves. Like that's, that's all you're teaching them. Like you're literally teaching them..." Like I know his intentions were good.

Like he's not a grifter. He wasn't trying to like sell them some course. It was really, it was a free webinar that he was giving. But I was like, but like if, if, if all they need to do is put a prompt into Claude to get a script, to put it into, you know, HeyGen or 11 Labs to create some AI avatar of themselves, like there's such a disconnect in the soul. And like I know you're a Christian, I'm a Christian.

Whether you believe or not, you know, is up to you. But I firmly believe that, you know, we are not our body, we're not our mind, we're our soul or our spirit, however you like to define it. And I think that gets lost when everything is purely done via AI. Now, that doesn't mean you can't use AI to help you make a script. It doesn't mean you can't use AI to create some B-roll or help you with some edits or cuts or, you know, feedback on your videos or, you know, various aspects like that.

But one, if you're not creating the video, let's say you're doing a little solo talking head video for your business, like if you're not creating that, if you're not the one saying the words and talking to the camera, I just-- There's such a disconnect there and it's so odd. Like you can, you can feel it. Like, and, and some really, really good ones, it might take you a second or two to pick up on it, but you feel it. And then the first thing I always think is like either like does this guy not care? Like does he not, does, like does he not care about me?

Is that why he's doing it? Like he can't be troubled to sit in front of a camera for a few hours and bang out some videos? You know what I mean? Like, and if this person is willing to throw aside their humanity to do a video, like what if there's a problem in our business? Like are they just gonna pass me off to some AI customer service agent and hope things get...

Like, and again, that might sound like a leap, but I think to the consuming public, and y- to your point that, that you're trying to build trust and respect and connection with, it, it seems completely counterintuitive to me to in- over index on all of this AI content generation when, you know, and, and think that you're gonna get the same level of connection back. 'Cause to me, what I think is either you don't care or you're lazy or, you know, s- you know, insert a million other, other issues versus I can't trust that you own the information. What I know is Claude knows the information because you created the script in Claude and fed it into another AI to create the video. I know they know it, but do you know it? And I feel like that disconnect is so real today that it's simply not worth going down that path. Right.

A- absolutely. And, and you, you know what it makes me think about? It makes me think about, you know, who is your target audience and what do they truly value? Because there are certain brands, like if you think about it, if you go to a grocery store and you look at, let's say, the toothpaste aisle, there are certain brands like Colgate that they know that they're competing on price. You know, like e- the, if you go to the local store brand, it's like, "Hey, our whole thing on our product is we're the lowest price."

You know, Colgate may be, let's say, $4 and our toothpaste is $3. And so we don't have the major brand, but there is a, a, a subset of customers that value price. That's their priority. There's other customers that value brand. They're like, "Oh, I only buy Colgate.

I only buy, you know, uh, Crest," whatever the case may be. And so it's getting clear on, you know, who your target audience is because, you know, there, there's been studies on this is that if you ask the, the f- the future generations, the younger generations that if you had two opportunities, if you could go Interact with a human being and, uh, you know, have that option to interact and talk to a human being to order your service or product, would you prefer that? Or would you wanna just do it all virtually online and have no, no human connection at all? And most younger generations, they don't want any human connection at all. They, they want, like, hey, they want the quickest, most fastest, most affordable option that is most convenient for them.

They're, they're paying for convenience, and that's why Amazon is one of the wealthiest companies in the world, because they sell convenience, right? It's I can buy anything and essentially get it shipped to me within a 48-hour period. That's a huge market. And then there's people that no matter what you tell them, like, "Hey," like I, I can, I could offer you a, a gold bar, and there's certain people that are just like, "You know, I wanna sit down with you face to face and talk, talk to you," and, and that's their decision-making process. Because they don't just value the service.

They don't value just the pricing. They value the relationship and the interaction and the experience of it. And that's what I've found has really been my sweet spot in business, is developing those long-lasting relationships with people that, that value that. Because you know what that also tells me? Those people typically have kids.

They're usually married. They're, they usually value family as well. Um, and again, understanding your context, because if you go into that route where it's extremely transactional, you can go in that route, but just know that once something is faster, more convenient, or cheaper than your solution, you're gonna ki- you're getting kicked off the curb. And so again, you're always competing on that, and that's where a lot of these AIs are now doing. It's like, "Hey, we have this model.

We charge this." It's like, which one do you wanna use? And now it's the, the business models are sh- are, are shifting as well, where a lot of people, they won't think twice spending 20 to 100 bucks a month for an AI, right? So it's like, "Hey, I'll try this one, I'll try this one," whatever. It's 20, 30, 50 bucks.

Now these models are shifting to these subscription-based models and, you know, it goes to like the, uh, w- what's the gym? Uh, Planet Fitness, where I, I don't know if you saw their statistics, but they price their-- They, they've optimized their pricing so much where it's like 20 or 30 bucks a month. They price it in such a way where you don't even think about it, and most of the people that sign up for Planet Fitness, they don't actually show up to the gym. So let's say, you know, let's say, you know, out of 1,000 memberships that they sell, that they have active this month, let's say like 10% actually show up and use the equipment. Because if you look at their square footage, and if all of their members came in at one specific time during the day, they're, like they wouldn't have enough space, right?

But they also know their customer, that they are willing to be on this monthly subscription because it sounded great, but the last time they actually went to the gym was maybe three or four months ago, right? And so again, getting crystal clear on what do you value as a human being. You know, w- what are you called to do? Because there's always gonna be something that comes up. You know, w- whether it's, uh, there was one...

I, I, I forget the... There was an app where people would talk on it. It was just the audio. I, I honestly forget the name of it, but it was like huge like two years ago, and it was like, oh, like- Yeah. Even a celebrity Naval Ravikant.

It was Naval. It was the, it was the app Naval put that app together. What was the name of that one? You know what I'm talking about? It's, it's- I know what you're talking about ... it's called Clubhouses or Talk.

It, it was like where people would just talk, and you would get into the room with these CEOs, and it's like, I don't even remember the name anymore, right? And so technology and AI, it, you can't, you can't put lipstick on a pig, right? It ha- you have to have a good product. You have to have a good service. You have to have great content, um, because if you don't and you go the other route, which is like, you know, faceless YouTube, faceless content, everything, where it has no personalization, you can go that route, but just know that that ability to duplicate and replicate your business model is gonna be easier than ever.

And the- and then, and then the, the barrier to entry is also low. So I always like to create businesses where I, there's a huge differentiation between me and my competitors, and also too, I can incorporate my story. So having some sort of connection to it, like a model that I teach is do it, teach it, sell it. Go out and do something. And I know you, uh, can relate to this too with it's like, hey, you had a very successful career growing and scaling your insurance agency.

So now you've done it. Now you can teach people how to do it. And now if there's a marketplace, now you can sell it and sell that information and sell that as a service because you've actually gone out and done it. Now I'm authentically aligned, right? So now if I come to, you know, l- let, let's say me and you offer insurance consulting, you know, and I'm just...

I go to AI and be like, "Hey, build me out this, you know, a million dollar a month, uh, insurance consulting business that's a, you know, that's world-class and number one in the space. Build out this, uh, business plan. Build me out, uh, a social media content strategy that I can speak on." Like, that will take me pretty far. Like, you know, with nowadays, people are ordering peptides from people that aren't certified.

Like, you can do a lot of things without certifications. Like, that's the opportunity AI and technology can bring. It's like within a matter of weeks or days, I can set up these businesses, start selling products literally today or tomorrow, and start bringing in revenue within the next week. But the, the question then becomes, you know, uh, do I value that quick buck, or do I value something that I, I expect to do in the next 10 years? And so for me, my mind always goes to, that's a great opportunity.

I may be able to make some money, but what about the next three, five, 10 years? Where do I actually see this developing? Do I plan to actually sell this faceless YouTube channel, uh, in the next three to five years? And if so, what is the exit strategy? And so by having that, it's, it then gonna come down to the relationships and, and, and there, there's more loyalty and, and things like that.

But every business is different. But I've noticed that every time I've chased the quick buck, and every time I've chased business models that are focused on transactions and pricing, that Those quickly fade away, um, just because it's cutthroat in those type of industries where, um, I wanna be in, like, the Louis Vuitton bags where it maybe costs them two hundred bucks to make the bag, but they're in their whole own little island where people are willing to pay three grand, five grand, ten grand for a bag just because it's not just about the transaction. It's about the experience. It's about the status like you talked about. Um, and it's a, it's all these other things that the client prioritizes than just pricing and transactions and convenience.

Um, but there's a huge market for that, you know, uh, in terms of AI and technology and, and that's where a lot of the AI technology serves. And all those avatars, a lot of people that promote avatars, they usually have some sort of business to teach you how to build an avatar as well, right? The biggest disconnect I see is organizations or leadership groups or individual leaders who talk like they wanna be white glove service, connection, relationship, human, but they operate price, speed, convenience or the opposite, right? They, they, they're based on price, speed, convenience. They give lip service to that, but maybe their service is a little more high-end.

It doesn't fit that, doesn't fit that type of solution. And, you know, if you're, to your point, there's literally nothing wrong, nothing wrong with going transactional. N- there's nothing wrong with that. But if you're gonna go transactional, you can't market your product, talk about your product as if it's some white gloves high-end Louis Vuitton brand. You're not.

Your brand is, "I'm selling, you know, uh, uh, off-market generic white tube socks to middle-aged men." Okay, guess what they want? They want the easiest pair to find, to order at the cheapest price that's gonna work well enough that it fits in their boot and isn't gonna disintegrate in five days. Okay. Like, but, you know, that's not some high-end, you know, super elite, you know, tactical boot sock that would last, you know, in the rain for twenty-five days that, you know, has this lifetime guarantee.

Those are two completely different things that can't be talked about, marketed the same. And if you're gonna be transactional, you have to own, you have to own the fact that you're transactional because your, now your mind is optimizing for the things that are important in that business. How do we shave two pennies off the, the, the cost to, to put the socks together? You know, where do we, how do we bring our cost of acquisition down on Google Ads by fifteen cents a click? How...

You know, now you're talking in these little, um, you know, you know, you're trying to find margin in these little, these little micro cents or dollars in certain places versus like, "These socks are a hundred dollars a pair, and, you know, they're, you know, they have all these features." Again, I don't know why I went down the socks path, but, like, you know, it, it's that, it's the mindset disconnect I feel that really messes people up. If, if you own one side or the other, you can be just as successful, but you kinda have to commit to either the path that you're on, right? Where it's about I, I want, I would pass on five shallow relationships for one deep relationship, you know, any day of the week, right? Like, that's your business model, and you own it and therefore, th- uh, therefore you create a filter that says any of these cheap, fast, easy money-making schemes that come by me, man, they don't even hit my brain space.

Like I, I don't even give them a second thought because it's not who I am or what I'm trying to build. And getting clear on that seems to be, you know, it's a defining characteristic of, of individuals and organizations that are successful regardless of which side of the, uh, of the game they're on. Yeah, exactly. And, and also too, there's so many interactions with the customer within the business as well. Like if you, if I'm thinking about, like, just any type of restaurant.

You know, like, if you go into some of these restaurants now, like, where some of the kiosks you don't even have to order. You can just go press in your order, and then it orders for you. There may be some parts of the process where someone could care less. You know? It, it, maybe at that point they're like, "Hey, I just wanna get my order, and I just wanna order it now.

I don't need to interact with any type of human being," and that's gonna come through market research and development. But essentially what I've found too is like y- exactly what you mentioned, like, you know, with the socks example. You know, you, you really have the e-commerce. You have some sort of product, uh, or like physical product or virtual product, or you have some sort of service. I mean, that, that's really kinda what you're, you're falling into.

And for me, I've always found that if you're gonna provide a high-quality service, and I always love providing high-quality services because that really just takes your expertise, your time, and your skill, is that if someone's gonna be willing to pay you, you know, high ticket for s- for your time and for your, your skill set, there has to be that relationship there to really cultivate and separate from differences. Where e-commerce, again, there are, you know, some people will buy a milk or some socks because they're tied, you know, authentically to the brand. But usually if it's, you know, studies show that if it's within a certain threshold financially for them, it's like they don't even think about it. Like some people, like again with the socks, they, they could take the freaking Walmart socks. They don't care what s- type of brand of socks are because no one's gonna see them anyways.

As long as it's thick, it lasts me for, you know, it's twenty bucks whatever, give you a, a six-pack or a twelve-pack w- whatever. You know? And again, that goes back down to your customer. So I, I think a huge, uh, you know, piece in business and the AI, leverage AI and technology is the people that are crystal clear on the problems that they solve and who they solve it for, those people are gonna win in the a- in the age of AI. Because if you do it strategically- And again, if you really-- I, I was having this conversation the other day.

If you know the problem better than the prospect or better than the person that you're gonna talk to, that h-is how you establish authority, that's how you establish trust, and that's done through experience and skill. But if you can then take that as the, as the foundation and then just amplify it with AI agents, because really the AI agents, they're-- e-especially if you're building something, it, it, it also depends if are you building kind of what's already been done out there, or are you kind of tapping into something that has never been done before? Because AI can basically look at, you know, "Hey, this is our best educated guess of what we would recommend," and it just spits it out as if it's, like, right or wrong. You know what I mean? Like, you'll ask it a question and be like, "Hey, you know, what's the best restaurant in this area?"

And it'll be like, "This, this is your answer." You know? It's, like, so confident. Where, you know, this is where the experience and the skill set is how much dependency do I have on AI and technology because if I kinda look at it as like, hey, as maybe someone, a, a team member I'm-- within my organization where that's, hey, that's actually really interesting. Let's test it, let's get the data, and let's continue to grow it.

Um, but nowadays, like you can... I, I think the, the one guy I saw a, a stat that he sold his company, you know, for, it, it was, like, it was over ten billion dollars, and it was a, it was a one-man operation because he had all these AI agents. But even with that, and what a lot of people don't talk about with AI, is that if you have a lot of tasks for it, a lot of these AI companies, they're now, you know, under lawsuits because it now has a monopoly. Because if they want you to-- if they wanna charge you, let's say, five thousand dollars per credit or per ten thousand credits to use within a monthly period, well, who's, who's determining the cost of a credit on their platform? Now we're talking about, like, cryptocurrency and tokens and coins.

Th-there-- Essentially, it's a, a credit where, hey, if they're-- if Claude is the best AI to use or whatever the case may be, and you have to be spending X amount of dollars through these credits, you sure as heck better know what you're doing, because you better have a business model that actually provides value, actually solves a problem, and actually delivers value, because if it doesn't, you're not gonna have a sustainable business model. You know, regardless of how, uh, you know, powerful AI and technology is, you-- it has to leverage the foundation of the problems that you're solving, the people that you serve. And through that, marketing becomes a lot easier at that point, where it's like, hey, there's four other people that are cons-- perceived as what you do. You know, there's di-different levels for the consumer. Fir-first level is, like, kinda like, you know, I don't know, like, they, they know they have-- they don't really know that they have a problem, but they know they need to make a change, essentially.

And then there's people that are like, "Hey, I know I have a problem." Now they're in the solution-finding stages. They're open to different solutions, and they may not know what the solution is, but now they're actively looking. Then it's like, "Hey, I know the-- what the solution is. Now I gotta find a vendor that can provide this solution for me."

And then the last piece is like, "Hey, I'm gonna actually, uh, purchase this product and move forward with it." And again, it's just like we can always tie it back to what do you do in your decision-making processes. Again, you wanna, you want-- people wanna work with people that they know, like, and trust. And for me personally, if I see... You know, AI is one thing.

I, I think if you can do it at a great level and if you do it creatively, and I think if you do it, um, strategically and position it, I, I, you know, I think there's some AIs that makes you, like, super fad and think. There, there's some things that if it fits with your brand and you wanna have fun with it and you're, like, open and transparent about it, I think it, you know, you can have a lot of fun with it, build relations, but you use it to build relationship. But it's, if it's just designed to save time, be extremely transactional, then again, you may make that quick buck, but it's not gonna provide that sustainability that people are looking for when it comes to business, um, and eventually sell it, right? I couldn't agree with you more, and I, I'm glad you made the comment kind of, uh, following up on what I said about the HeyGen avatar only kinda, you know, all-AI content 'cause I, I do agree with, um, mixed into your brand in the right way, fun, cheeky, uh, maybe it's just a, a, a, an interesting way to deliver content. And, and as you said, and I thought the word you used was perfect, which was if you're transparent about the fact that, "Hey, I, I created this fun avatar version of myself, which allows me to, you know, speak at, you know, point eight percent of the speed of I normally do, so I'm not really talking too fast, and I'm trying this out."

It's almost-- You mean, if you could, you could make it fun and on brand, and then it's okay, I think to... And I didn't make this point earlier, and I, and I'm glad you brought this up. What I was speaking to was more the, I don't wanna say disingenuous 'cause I don't think people are trying to trick people, but, like, if you're putting out a, a HeyGen avatar version of yourself with a ElevenLabs voice, and you're positioning it as if you did that, like it's actually you, I think that's where you take the major brand hit. Not as you said, and I think very rightly so, and I'm glad you brought it up. If you're coming up with some crazy graphic of you with, like, jacked-out muscles on the beach, you know, as like a way to do something fun for something, something you're promoting.

Like, those are two different things in my mind, um, and I'm very glad you brought that up. And, you know, I, I wanna, I wanna change our direction just a little bit t-to your areas of expertise, which is the speaking space. And I just wanna set a little bit of context, and then I'll, I'll let you roll it here. So I had a buddy of mine who's a professional speaker. He's a great speaker, one of the best speakers that I know.

He's been a mentor for me. I've hired him multiple times for different events that I've run, uh, and, and actually, um, referred him out to a bunch of events that I do. He's just a, a great human, great speaker, okay. Called me about a year and a half ago, and he just, just kinda complained, you know, bitching or whatever. You know what I mean?

Just like venting like friends do And he's like, "Man, I'm a little worried about the speaking space." He's like, you know, "With all this AI stuff coming in and the avatar stuff, and, you know, all, all the different things that are coming out and how people can now recreate, uh, or, or, or take, take, you know, uh, a speech that I did that's on YouTube and put it into Google, uh, LLM and... or Google... Or NotebookLM, sorry, from Google, and now get like a breakdown of it or, you know, recreat-..." He's like, "I'm just, I'm worried." And I said, "Dude, I think we're going the opposite way."

My opinion is the, the in-person experience, sharing the same air, is going to have a premium like never before, because AI, as you've mentioned, like AI is going to commoditize so much of what we do. Like I was talking to another buddy the other day, and he just put a new website up for a new business he's starting. And he just made this side of... You know, he was- he just made this side of off content. Uh, "Oh, I really liked insert this one competitor's website.

So all I did was give it to Claude Design and tell them use my brand and my language, but basically rebuild this site." And now his new site for his business looks basically the same except for different colors and slightly different language as one of his competitors. And it took him a day to do that, I mean full website, from nothing to full website, you know, all built, all language, everything, all the functionality. And, you know, so now that, like you have this great web designer who knows the little tricks and hacks of conversion and landing page design, and that separates you a little bit from me, who maybe doesn't have that content. Like today, AI just mashes all that together and makes it so easy.

So how do we differentiate? My opinion is, one, I think formats like this where I think it's one of the reasons podcasting is taking off so much. But the other side is I think in-person speaking, being in their workshops, uh, keynotes, you know, spending time in the same air as someone, that comes with a premium now 'cause, 'cause the audience gets the, like this person that they follow on Instagram and see, I'll do this stuff, or they follow them on LinkedIn or listen to their podcast or music. Now I get to like be there with them and say, "Oh, hey, I was at this keynote that my favorite, you know, thought leader did at this place." And it becomes so much more than just, I think, what a lot of conference speaking was maybe 10 years ago, which is just, "Oh, I go to this conference every year and hopefully somebody good shows up."

I think we're completely changing the game in terms of, or maybe elevating the game in terms of what it means to be a speaker and, and the value that in-person events are going to have. Yeah. A- a- absolutely. And so, I mean, it, it's a great point, man, because you know what it makes me think about? It makes me think about COVID, because before COVID, I was, you know, I, I was hired as a consultant for one of the largest personal development live event companies in the world.

They were doing about 70 events a month around the world internationally. This was before COVID. COVID hits, it's illegal to go inside a room and be six feet, uh, next to someone, right? And so people were on their phone, they're on their technologies. If you look at that time, Netflix, a lot of these, you know, streaming apps, they, they, they, they made profit.

They made a lot of money because people were going to their... But also too, people are struggling with isolation. You also saw the healthcare companies go up because now people are battling more with mental health and depre- you know, all these different things and put... And then after that wave was gone, people, like the, the live event business after a year, you know, I think it was like in, you know, to- it took a two-- it took a while for it to get back to where people felt confident. You know, people could still go back to live events, but there was still a huge market that still wore the mask and still were, had their tents- Yeah, it was almost like 2024 when these things started- Uh, yeah ... you know, opening up again.

A- a- and then it was like a boom. Like if you had that, if you had that live in-person experience, people loved it, right? And so then it's also looking at, okay, what are you actually providing and, you know, to, to the customer? Because nowadays, like you mentioned, with AI technology, information, it, you can't really... It's really hard for course creators and people to sell information.

Unless it's tailored information, it's like, "Hey, how to use this AI to then create an agent to then, you know, send 10,000 emails a day." Where it has to be some sort of connection and application, and then you're essentially maybe s- you know, you're essentially selling the system or the process, uh, where by just having an event just to sell information, you really, y- you have to get clear on what you're selling. And, and, and s- speaking does a couple things. And, you know, there, there's this book, you probably read it, the, the Seven Principles of, uh, Persuasion by Robert Cialdini. But o- o- one of the things it talks about is, uh, authority.

You know, like one of the principles is authority, and that's something that I always think about is like, how can someone establish trust and authority? Well, one of the best ways you can do it is step on stage and communicate at a very high level, right? Because I can see you, and within the first five to 10 seconds, I can immediately determine whether I like you or not, or whether I wanna do business with you. And that's just how the human psychology and human nature works. And again, if you're bold and if you really understand who you are as a person, and, you know, this was something that I wanted to bring up, too, as we were talking about AI, is what are your core values?

What are your non-negotiables as well? Because AI, you know, whoever's creating them, and I don't wanna go down that rabbit hole of, of, you know, kind of their, of who is behind creating these, but there are different political agendas. There are different agendas based off the creators. And so if you ask the same question to the seven different AIs, you're gonna get seven different answers. Well, why is that?

Well, now, because they're built on different questions, they're built on different values. And so getting clear on what your values are and what you stand for is gonna determine what you're passionate about, what you communicate, and ultimately what you offer. And if you can get clear on that- Get clear on your story, which we all have a story, and you can communicate that at a high level, that's what, that, that's what's gonna stand out, because then at that point, you haven't even told me what it is that you do, right? You... I...

Like, sell me on you as a person first. Like, who is Ryan? What, you know, who do you stand for? What do you like to do? Like, do I like you as a human being?

And if the answer is yes, then people are most likely gonna be like, "Hey, Ryan, but what the heck do you do, man? Like, how, how can we do business together?" And that's when the sales process becomes so much more easier, where, you know... And again, there's a lot of strategies and tactics that you can leverage on the sales process. If you have no trust and you're going cold, then that's really based on having a very strong offer with money-back guarantees and certain things like that as well.

But speaking, people, people are gonna... Li- like, honestly, it's gonna be one of those long-lost skills. I, I, I think in the next 30 to 50 years, like, 'cause if you think about it, you know, when I first got into speaking, and I've given eulogies at my grandparents', you know, a- and th- this is really real for me, is that most people would rather be in the casket than give the eulogy at a funeral, right? Their number one fear is public speaking, number two is death. Obviously, things have fear, not, you know, that, that, that statistic has shifted.

Now you could place AI maybe as a top fear for people now, as like is it gonna take over the world, and things like that. But at one point, there was a time where people feared death, uh, feared public speaking more than death. Why? It's because people care what other people say about them, right? And public speaking puts that on blast.

If I go up on a stage and I say something, if I-- even if I say something with the m- the purest intention to wanna serve the person in front of me, there's gonna be one person that's gonna disagree, right? It's like, "You know what? I, you know, this guy, uh, promotes family," right? Or whatever. Well, it's like, "I don't like family," right?

D- 'cause there's always-- 'cause, 'cause that's where it comes into the law of duality. There's always gonna be someone who has a different perspective on a different context, and they have justified their reasons of why they think the way it is. Where for me, I-- and this is where AI and technology is really amplifying, 'cause people that don't really have their clear values, don't really have a clear vision, don't really have clear, uh, topics and values and, and, and messages that they wanna deliver, are now using AI to just go out and build out these messages for them. Hey, whatever you think is right, whatever you wanna promote. And what does it do?

It goes to the major news sites. What is CNN promoting? Oh, let's take the headline off CNN, which was their number one, uh, engaged post, and let's make a post about it, right? Or let's take what's going on in, uh, China, or l- let's, let's look at the, the most profitable industry. And so again, that's slowly shifting people's priorities.

That's slowly shifting how people think. And again, if you can use AI consciously and intent- intentionally, I mean, a- a- as you've seen, those are the ones that succeed in business, right? The ones that can take it. But if not, it's just gonna be an expensive side hustle that they, that's distracted them. Where speaking, I don't care where it i- I don't care what business that you're in, if you can become a better communicator, there's really three levels.

There's personally, uh, there's relationally, one-to-one, one-to-many, a- a- and th- those are really the three levels. So the first one is, you know, personally. You know, how am I communicating with myself? How am I communicating with my heavenly Father? How am I communicating what needs to get done on a day-to-day basis?

Basically, how can I get my mind right? Right? Because if I have negative self-talk, if I'm not having an open dialogue with my Creator, I'm not, I'm gonna be kinda lost. So having that clear conversation is important. And then once you get to that point where, you know, you're grateful, you're, you're, you're, you're in a, the right head space, now how can I go make an impact?

How can I impact one person's life? So now it's like, you know, how can I communicate? Well, in a business standpoint, how can I have a conversation that leads into a long-lasting relationship and ultimately a customer? And, you know, from one-to-one, you know, that's how people start, man. W- whether it's some sort of e-commerce or some sort of a product, it's like, do you have customers or not?

Are we making revenue or not? Because if not, we need to get clear on the, the market fit. Do you have a product that people actually want? But if you've actually proven that model, and it's like, yes, I've talked to the people, people want the service that I want, there's a huge market for it. Now, how can I scale this?

And that's where the one-to-many comes in. And this can be done virtually or in person, where if you can... And a lot of people, and you've probably seen this too, and people are still hitting on it. It's like virtual webinars, whether it's a pr- a live presentation, right? Where, again, that's a whole sale t- sales process, but it's, now it's extremely efficient, and that's kinda like the personalization at scale is now that you can-- it's you, it-- you're a human being, you're able to communicate it and, and share your value, share your story at extremely high level, and now you can do it one-to-many, and now it's a very high leverageable task.

So that's why you see a lot of online marketers and business owners doing that. And same thing with a live event, man, because that authority piece is when someone has... is on a stage, they have a higher perceived level of authority. I even actually had a mentor. He-- I, I remember he would get up on stage, and then he would run off the stage. Because you know how there's some speakers that would, uh, you know, come off the stage and connect?

I, I'm like that, you know? If someone wants to come up and talk to me, I'm like, "Let's talk, have a conversation." But he had that persona and that it was, it aligned with his brand, where he just ran off the stage. He didn't wanna have any contact with any person in the crowd. Why?

It's because now he s- his perceived brand seemed to be more exclusive. And if you wanted any one-on-one time with him, he offered one-on-one coaching, right? And so again, it fueled into a business model, but it's, it, it, it provided that exclusivity. And that's something to look at, is if you were, and even if someone's not a speaker, if you were to stand up on stage for 60 minutes Who would you wanna be in front of? If, if you could, uh, set it up in an ideal world, who would you would-- who would you wanna speak to, number one?

What problems would you speak into? And what the heck would you talk about? Because if you don't even know that, start looking at that, because then that's where AI and everything comes into play. Social media, what are you gonna create content on? Y-you wanna think of yourself that there's a book out there called, uh, The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes, but he, he, he kind of talked, and you probably heard this too, the Dream 100.

You wanna think about your Dream 100 clients or prospects sitting in a, a stadium full, a, a, a stadium wide, and you're speaking at the stadium in front of all your ideal prospects. What would you talk on? What would you speak about? And if you are that crystal clear on who you serve, the problems you solve, and you can speak at a very high level on the solution that you can provide to them, you're gonna do well in business, you're gonna do well in sales. And again, I can't rely on AI.

I could, I can have it crafted and maybe help me make some visuals, and I can help it kind of share the format of how I wanna showcase the information. But I have to bring it the raw material. It's like bringing it. It's like making a masterpiece. You know, I went to this, uh, uh, art museum, and this is, uh, a notebook by Vincent van Gogh.

Like this, this little, this little, uh, like you can see it here. But it's like I can't just say, "Hey, go make me..." Like, if I go to AI and be like, "Hey, go make me a Vincent Gogh, like, painting." Well, it's gonna, you know, w-which would actually be a very interesting conversations 'cause it's gonna basically take what we, what it thinks is the perceived value of society, and it's gonna create us an art form, um, that it feels like is gonna justify that. Because when you go into certain equations like that, there's no right or wrong answers to certain equations, you know?

Th-th-there's that creativity muscle, and that's something that human, that human element. And same thing with speaking, there's that level of unpredictability, right? And that's why people are in, you know... They, they like the variety, right? Because if you do the same thing over and over and over again, people will ty-typically get bored.

And that's usually why most relationships don't last as well. People, they have great relationships, great connections with someone, and then after a while, it just comes, becomes mundane, it's the same, and then eventually it withers away as it, um, it falls apart. Where that creativity element, that unpredictability, is what makes a brand unique. You know, some of the p-content creators that I follow say, "You really don't know," like, you, like MrBeast is a great example. You don't know what the heck you're gonna get the next video.

It's gonna be something crazy. Now that's, you know, you get a chance to win $100,000, and so that's why that facilitates engagement. But it's, it's really getting clear on what do you wanna speak on, what can you speak on, and if someone were else were to duplicate your message, could they speak on that same message? Because here's the secret, and the last thing I'll say with this, is you wanna create a one-on-one message. And this is within your branding, your business, when you speak on stage with your keynotes, is what is your one-on-one message?

Can I just take the-- Like, if you're telling me how to scale and grow your company through, um, AI marketing, that's pretty duplicatable, right? Any person can go online, type AI, and bring that in. And so we could have a, a piece that's tactical and transactional. But what part of your content, what part of your communication is unique and different that if you try to take what I'm trying to say, you wanna be able to do it and vice versa, and if I try to take some of the things that you say, it wouldn't align with my brand. Like, what are those things that not even some of the biggest name speakers or the biggest name people in your space, they couldn't even duplicate?

Because once you find that, you know, now you got enterprise value in your organization. Now you can actually sell it. You have higher perceived value. I mean, if you look at, like, SpaceX, you know, IPO kinda is going down and stuff like that. But the, the trillion dollar valuation, why, why is that so-- why did everyone wanna be a part of it?

Because who else can send or has the vision to send people to Mars? Well, Elon's pretty much the only guy crazy enough to do it. So if it does happen, it's high risk, high reward. Where it's like that, you know, not even NASA can com-compete with... They're, they're, they're still working on the, the moon and stuff like that.

You know what I mean? And so it, it's one of those things where you have to become so good and so skillful and so craftful what it is that you do. And if that's what you're laying your hat on, awesome. But if you don't, you gotta be creative in how can you develop a brand that connects and develops relationships better than those corporations. Because that's where I see the, the huge advantage too, is...

And that's some of the q-q- one of the questions I always like to ask too, Ryan, is how can a, like a one-man team compete with a, you know, 50,000 person corporation within your same industry, right? Like, is it possible? And, and if so, why would someone choose to work with you who, let's say compared to a corporation that has a bigger brand, more case studies, uh, more money, why would someone choose to work with someone? And usually, the answer to that is the relationship piece. They, they wanna talk to a human being.

They wanna have that one-on-one contact with a, with a person. And that's what speaking does, man. Speaking is that human experience, and that's what you're selling them. You're selling them a human experience. And people love to be entertained too.

You know? People love having that... People love family-friendly, especially if you have kids, man. I, I, I've noticed that people will spend-- They, they will justify anything that if it's for their family, if it's family-friendly entertainment, it's reasonably priced. You know, they're gonna spend some stupid amount of money on a dinner that wasn't even that good anyway, so it's like we might as well, let's go for an experience.

And what's the community aspect? What are some of the relationships that I can develop and foster? Because it, it's, it's tough to meet people nowadays. Like, I, I, I'm grateful that I'm married, but I, I can only imagine people that are trying to connect. It's like- Yeah, it sucks.

I, I, I've been doing it for four years. Brutal. I-- Now, thankfully I, I, them, the woman that I'm with, we- we're- it'll be a year in August. We're actually taking a trip to Italy together, which is great. So like, feel like I got a pretty good scene now right now, and things are going well, and I'm happy.

But dude, brutal. I mean, brutal. Because especially, like I'm a little older than you, I'm, I'm 45, like, th- I was married during this transition to digital dating, right? So like you know, talking about, you know, talking about personal brand, right? Like, you- all the people you dated were in your world.

You bumped into them at, you know, whether it was college, at the gym, or at class, or, you know, some hall, or, you know, in high school, you're in class with people or, you know, maybe even, uh, post-college. Um, it's you go to the same bars, or you work out at the same gym, or you work at the same-- you work in the same industry, right? The same, in the same building or whatever. You're bumping into that person. You're seeing them interact with other people.

You're hearing them talk. And then you decide for various reasons, this is somebody I'd like to ask out on a date. When you go to, to digital dating, one, I feel like the s- the-- and th- and think of this in a, in the context of people buying from you, too. Like, when it becomes fully digital, y- the tru- your tr- any trust that you may have had, like, like in person, even if you're walking up to someone cold, you see, let's say you see, you know, a woman in a, at a coffee shop, and she's sitting alone and, and you wanna go say hi, right? Like, the way you approach, the way you, you know, start the convers- like immediately that person's making a, a judgment, yes.

But I feel like if the judgment is positive, you're way higher on the trust meter immediately. Versus digital, it's so hard to, to build any kind of trust because one, there's so many people out there that are doing things nefariously. Uh, there's so many people out there with fake profiles and all this kind of stuff. Like, you know, I, I, I feel kind of bad saying this, but I guess I don't really. Um, you know, when you're-- I had, I had this one exchange.

This-- thankfully, this is like almost two years ago now. But, um, you know, you, you're young, man. It's a stupid app, man. Like, it's not, you know, like where you have like a, a, a one-page profile you're supposed to make a decision on, you know, what you wanna do. Whatever.

So, uh, w- woman reached out to me on the app. From everything I read, she seemed interesting and, you know, attractive, whatever. So sure, let's go get-- like, I normally just go get coffee. That was my thing, coffee. And again, thankfully, I, I'm, I'm not in this world anymore, and hopefully won't be ever again, if, if, if not for a long time.

Um, but I made the mistake of going and getting dinner because, you know, this is if any of you are side questing in the single, single world right now, you know, you probably understand why you go get coffee because you just never know what you're gonna get. In this case, as soon as this woman got out of the car, and this is gonna sound bad, like, I just wanted to like run to the bathroom. Like, she was- You, you basically got in your car, freaking, you, you, you, you turn it on, you realize that that photo that they used was maybe fifteen years old, and you freaking zoomed out of that parking lot, man. Yes. I was like, everything about...

You know, and again, she was a nice enough person, and I'm not gonna be a jerk. I had dinner with her. Sure. We chatted, nice. But like, what was hard was, and we're, we're way off topic, way off context.

I'm gonna try to pull this back to business in a second, but I'll finish my story. What was hard, and again, this kind of speaks to when you're off-brand on business, like she's trying to flirt, you know, 'cause that's what you do, and I just wanted no part of it. Like, I didn't want she even sh- I didn't want her to believe the door was open at all. So it was like this very awkward, weird engagement. Okay.

So I think, again, the thing with being in person, speaking, workshops, you know, uh, being in person with your team, if you're in a business, uh, seeing your family in person is what, of all these things, your friends, you know, spending time in person is that it's very hard to hide. And you get, you know, some people, you know, sociopaths, psychopaths, some people can, can obviously hide who they are and, and whatever. People try to, but it's very difficult to hide who you are. So if you are clear going, and this is where we'll circle back to, to, um, our conversation about business here, and particularly about, uh, speaking and, and, and that authority that comes from it, is you, you said a term that I think is one of the core principles, if not the core principle, this idea of being one of one, right? You may talk about marketing, but what is the one of one idea that you have about marketing that makes you different from other people?

You might talk about self-improvement, right? Our mindset or insert some other fairly generic topic that a lot of people talk on. That's actually not the problem. I think some people feel like they need to go all the way down to some super micro niche. That can work.

But really what you have to find, and, and, and maybe you can being-- I'm gonna set the table for our engagement just to give a little more context. But my question for you before you answer is: how do you help the speakers that you work with find their one-on-one, right? So guys, how I initi- initially met Tyler was I was struggling both with crafting my TEDx talk and understanding the TEDx ecosystem, because it's very different from how I ever experienced speaking, and I shared this with you in our very first conversation, uh, almost a year ago now, um, or two years ago. Was it two years ago? It might've been two.

It was two years ago. That's crazy to think about. Um, but like, I was-- I've always been sixty to ninety minute keynotes, uh, maybe keynotes and a sixty-minute workshop, uh, or, or a breakout session after. Like, I, I had never had to focus my energy to one specific topic and dial that in in seventeen minutes. Like, I had never had to do that, and I was, I was struggling with it.

So- Uh, I saw, I actually saw your, you on Instagram. You were talking about, you know, I was searching up people, you know, who are involved in TEDx community, understand this ecosystem, found you, watched your videos. I was like, I just, you know, your whole idea of legacy, of purpose, you know, the fact that you're a Christian, that, that your value structure matched mine. I was like, "This is the guy I wanna talk to." We spoke, and then obviously it was a huge success.

Um, I have more than half a million views on my TEDx talk, which was in large part you helping me craft at least the structure that I need to put together, and then actually, uh, helping me with how I, how I presented myself and packaged myself in order to reach out to TEDx events to, to get a gig, which I ultimately did and couldn't be more happy. So when you're working with someone like me, I'm, I'm coming to you and I'm saying, "Hey, I, I have this message, um, but, you know, I wanna get into TEDx. I'm struggling with whatever." How do you help them find that one of one, and maybe what are some of the other paramount characteristics that sort of, um, shares aspects of a TEDx talk that makes it unique, makes the success? Dude, well, I'll, I'll take it back to the relationship thing, 'cause I, it, it, 'cause I, I, I share this because whether it's personal or business, man, one of the things...

I'll ask you the, the two questions. I, I definitely wanna talk about how to create the one-on-one message and also, you know, h- how can... And it'll, and it, and also address that relationship thing, too. It's one of the first things to look at is y- you know, what are your non-negotiables? It, whether it's in business or in your relationships.

Like, at first it was like, hey, this person looks good. This option looks great, right? Or this, this message sounds great. It's like this concept that sounds good, right? But it may not, it may not be a non-negotiable, but I'll, I'll, I'll come back to that.

But you, you really gotta look at your story. What I always like to people, like, you know, tell me from the start, like the beginning, like what are some of those major moments that you've experienced that are most memorable for you, both good and bad? And, and I'll give you some examples of mine, and I can k- I'll, I'll tell you how I tie it into everything else that I do. Like, I'll give you an example. Like, when I was born, I had excess liquid in my, my ears, and I, like, they had to, the, the doctors had to drain all this liquid in my ears.

They thought I was gonna be brain dead. They thought I was gonna have all these issues. But I had a speech impediment as a little kid. And when I would go to school, I would sound different and, and people would ask me what my name was and I struggled to say my R's. I would be like, "Hi, my name is Tyler Sawney."

Like I couldn't say my R's. I struggled with certain pronunciations. Well, even at that moment, man, and this is tying it back to even the spiritual, like usually when you are a kid or at any age, but if you face a severe adversity, that's usually the enemy that's trying to take you out or distract you from your course that you're trying to go on because you have a huge calling over your life, right? And so what ended up happening in third grade, since I struggled to speak and since I was below kind of everyone else in the class when it came to articulating my thoughts and my, my words and all these things, they had, they, the school that I was at, they had a, they brought in a private speaking, communicating coach for me at the third grade. And since I, it was like me and one other kid that struggled with our communication skills, I had a private one-on-one speaking coach literally in the third grade to help me communicate just at a natural level, but eventually to teach me in everything that I'm doing today.

So I, and I share that with a- as an example because that is the very unique experience that if I share that with people, they're like, they probably couldn't relate to that, but what they can relate to is the adversity that someone has faced and, and overcoming that. So it's also taking a, you know, looking at your story, writing down kind of these core moments for you, and this could be anything. You know, what are some of the moments that you're most ecstatic about? You know, that moment which you had with your boss, that breaking point where you basically walked out and you were like, "You know what? I'm underpaid, undervalued.

Like, I'm gonna go start my own thing." Like, there are these transitional mo- monumental moments within your life that if I, if I have a document and I can create like let's say six or 10 of these, now I have a story. I have an emotionally passionate story that I can share. I have takeaway, I have a main idea takeaway from it. And then I'm starting to put all this together, and then it's like, okay, I have all these stories and this is what's gonna, you know, that's the spice, that's the flavor that's gonna bring it together.

And then what you need then is, you know, what's gonna be the main through line? What's gonna be the thread that ties it all together? Because if I talk about, let's say, relationships in a context or talk regarding AI and versus business, could be the same exact story, same exact message, but I'm gonna tailor it specifically more toward the, a specific topic than the other even though it's the same story. And so what brings it all together is what's gonna be your non-negotiables and your values. What's something that from right now is, you know, a couple things.

What do you wanna be known for? Like, what are you trying to accomplish? A, a, a great question is what are you trying to achieve in the next six to eight, 18, or 12 to 18 months? What are you trying to accomplish in the next three to five years? Whatever that goal timeline looks like, then ask yourself, "Who do I need to become to achieve that outcome?

Who do I need to become to achieve that outcome?" Because then what starts to happen, you start to start thinking about what are, what are the beliefs that I need to have? What are, what are the thoughts? What are the core values? What are the actions that I need to be taking?

If I was really an individual, um, you know, let's say sending rockets to the moon or a, a $100 million organization. Like, you know, you can start thinking about, then you start asking yourself, "Who do I need to become?" And then you start realizing all the actions and all the things that you need to do to get there to, to get to that goal. Then you start establishing these values and these non-negotiables. And this can be done in any aspect of life, even w- with your relationships as well, man.

It's just like, and this is something that I, that, that- And this ties back to what we were talking about with AI technology. If I go to AI and say, "Hey, find me a girlfriend," or, "Find me a wife," where it's like, well, how the heck is it gonna even know where I should even go to meet this individual? Well, it's not. Well, what if I told it I have very clear values, I have very, uh, uh, you know, she has to be, uh, a speci- a, a specific re- religious affinity, and, a- and she has to, uh, be at least six foot t- or whatever the case may be. If, if I give it more criteria, more values, and, and not, not just looks, but the actual values piece, that's gonna determine how that person thinks.

That's gonna determine where that person is located. Because that's where what happens with a lot of AI technology and developing these messages, they're operating from a space. Like they're, they're going in the club trying to find their wife, you know? And it's like no matter how many women you meet at the club, you, you, you, you most likely, I'm not saying all the time, you most likely will not meet your wife there, okay? Um, you may have a good time, whatever, but that's...

If you're looking for something outside of that, you're gonna have a disconnect. Same thing with the, the marketing and speaking background is that once you kinda have your stories, and one of the things that was always resonating with me is, you know, the question is, if you had 24 hours left to live, what would be a message you want, would wanna share with your friends, your family, and your loved ones? And for me, the thing that kept popping up for me was just purpose. You know? If I could teach someone how to find their purpose, run towards their purpose, and go all in on that, that, like, would make me ecstatic and light me up.

And so even if I have that general idea of purpose, I can start doing some market research, just like a business. Like let's say someone wants to get into real estate or someone wants to get into insurance, they wanna make money. Like whatever the goal is, whatever the topic is, start moving in that direction, and then look at, okay, what else is available, right? And then that, that's when I started look at, it was like, okay, w- one of the top most watched talks is how to find your life's purpose in 15 minutes. I think it has like 20 million, the views on it now, and he's like a famous director.

And I saw it, I was like, man, I don't need 15 minutes to tell you what your life's purpose is. And so my message was how to find your life's purpose instantly. And so again, that's just an example where you now, since I have a firm foundation of like my core values, I have these core principles that I can think about and I, I gravitate towards. Now I start to have context and clarity and, and ultimately the, the, what provides peace of mind is discernment. Because that's what we really all seek for when it comes to making decision.

How do we know that we're making the right decision? Well, it's that, that skill set of having discernment. That this relationship is actually gonna be fruitful. If this business partnership that I'm gonna go in is actually gonna be fruitful. If this message that I deliver, and I'm gonna give everything and pour my heart and soul into, that it's gonna resonate with the audience.

Where it comes down to having that discernment and by you having clear values and clear non-negotiables tying it into your story, you've already separated yourself from a lot of people. 'Cause most people can't tell you what their core values are. Uh, some people don't even have any non-negotiables. They don't have those core non-negotiables in their life. And then also too, uh, they don't re- they haven't actually taken the time and look at the stories and the experiences that they've gone through to make them unique. 'Cause it's really your past, your present, and your future, you know? And I look at it as your story, your purpose, and your vision.

And th- those are, are really the three things. And the past is like these are the stories. The, the, th- this is kind of what you've gone through. This is your personal experience, where you grew up, what you did, what, what do you like to do in your free time. That's what is your story.

Let's incorporate some of that in. Your purpose is the middle, the present. We'll get to that last. And then you have the vision. Where are you heading towards?

What's the goal? W- w- what are you moving towards? If I have a compelling vision for my life, now I can actually be excited to talk about something. Well, you know, r- you'll love this, Ryan, but o- one of the things I was a- actually having this conversation with my wife, there's people that you will interact with on a i- in person in life where it's just like they're totally socially awkward. They don't have any...

Like, and I was always c- you know, I was always curious about that. There's some p- some people I'll meet and it's just like, "Hi." And it's like y- you're kind of, you're prying information or i, you know, it's like, "Hey, how are you?" You know what I mean? And one of those things is I, what I realized is that a, a lot of people, they don't struggle to communicate, they struggle to have things that they genuinely excite them.

Because if you go to someone and they have low energy and low... A- and th- there's always a problem in their life. They don't wanna talk about it. They don't wanna talk about their day because they hate their current situation. It's just like if you wanna be a powerful speaker or a communicator, you're either doing things in your life that excites you, that you wanna share with the world.

And even if you're at that point where you're, you're like in the lab and you're building and y- it's still working, go pick up a book. Go, go, you know, put things into my mind that are stimulating my mind and these ideas that excite me to talk about them. Because if I can get up and have a vision that I'm compelled towards, like for me, we're on a mission to help a million people fi- you know, I'm, I'm sorry, help 10 million people find their purpose. We've a- we've already helped over three million people already with the TEDx talk, but with the book as well that we're coming out with is... We, it's like create a compelling vision that you're moving towards.

And then it's like your purpose gets fi- figured out on your day-to-day. What do I need to do to achieve that goal and achieve that outcome? And obviously that evolves and shifts as you get older, and priori- priorities and responsibilities change, but what are things that excites you? Because you have your purpose, the things that kind of formed you and the intention of the reason why you're here, and there's, you've gone through all these experiences. There's reasons why you've gone through those experiences.

You just need to kinda extract why. And then it's like, you know, what are you passionate about? What genuinely excites you? And Focus on those things because again, it's not only about what you say, it's about how you say it. And I'll end with this, Ryan, is if we were to give three people a script, right?

Me, you, and someone else, and we all had the same exact script and we all deliver it, we're all gonna get three different outcomes. Why? It's because the weight of our words when it comes to certain topics are different, right? Like, if you were talking about insurance, you're gonna have more weight than me because you have more experience in that, right? And, and vice versa and all these different things.

It's like where, where do you have authority in? And this could be through lived experience, uh, this could be through, yeah, really through lived experience. If, if you, if you've gone out and lived it and spoken about it, and, you know, if you looked at your s- your 19-year-old self, you know, what were some of the lessons that you could teach yourself and how could you help them? There's usually some gold in there as well. And then it's just a matter of crafting it and tying in every aspect of it, uh, of the five senses, man.

Like, what are you wearing when you, when you deliver the talk? You know, how do you, how do you sound? Like, Jim Rohn, one of my favorite presenters, man, he, he... Like, if you listen to some of his audios, man, his voice fluctuates and it's like an entertainment. It's like a stand-up comedian.

He's, like, taking you on a journey because he's, he's cracking jokes, and he's lowering his voice, and he's r- And, and, and then that's when you can kinda fine-tune it like a, like a song, right? It's like y- I have all the raw ingredients. I have all the stories that are interesting, unique, that are, you know, engaging. It's like I have these puzzles to the puzzle piece. I have kind of some core values, some non-negotiables over here.

I have a clear vision of where I wanna move towards, you know? And then if I see everything in front of me, then I can start to pull together and be like, okay, this story can actually teach people how to find their purpose here. This, this, you know, adversity, like, uh, adversity taught me how to find my purpose. I had another story where, you know, w- we were going to a speed networking event and all my friends were nervous, where I got excited. So if someone else is nervous about something that you're excited for, that's another thing that points you closer to your purpose.

So now you can start stringing these stories, these experiences to a specific topic. Now you have a one-on-one message where not only am I showcasing, uh, valuable information, some main takeaways, but I'm doing it in a way that's engaging and unique by incorporating my own personal story. And if I can incorporate some of my passions and how I deliver it, you know, n- now y- you're, you're pretty much set up for success, man. Now, now you can go out and run with it, and then, you know, that, that's the branding piece. And then at that point, it's just build a successful product or service that you can promote and sell, and everything else is gonna funnel back to that.

And then you can, you can, uh, live, l- live a good life, man, because those are the component, components of a purpose-driven life, man, is like, once you understand your purpose, you have an intimate relationship with the Heavenly Father, and, and, and people are struggling with that, abiding with the Lord, getting clear on that, getting to ground zero. It's like the seed. And then with the communication, you can only speak on what you know at a high level, you know? And so it's like, what are certain lived experiences that people can learn from? What are some skills and expertise that you can share?

And ultimately, too, is there a product or service that aligns with this message that can benefit people? Because again, 60-minute talk, 30-minute talk, 15-minute talk can only provide so much transformation. Well, what if someone listens to the talk and they wanna go deeper with you? How can you provide, like, what else can you provide to them from a level of service and authenticity that's generally gonna help them go to that next level with what, what does that look like? And now you have a purpose-driven business model.

And again, whether I'm speaking on a stage, speaking through my content, speaking on a podcast, I know my core values. I know these stories that I can reference. I can communicate with authenticity. I can communicate with confidence, knowing that it's all resonating with the people that I'm called to serve. I gave the, uh, we'll call it introductory keynote to a conference in 2018 that I hosted, um, uh, called Elevating 2018 was the name of the conference.

And I gave, like, a little 10-minute kickoff 'cause I was the emcee. I wasn't speaking. We were hosting, so I was the emcee, so. And the title of it was, uh, It's Cool to Care. And the idea was like, we show up to do these jobs every day, whatever that is, and in this case, this was an insurance audience.

And, you know, it may not, uh, seem like you're changing the world by processing a car change or, you know, selling a new liability policy or whatever, but, like, it's what you do. So, so care. Like, like, give a shit. Like, show up. And that energy, that energy is so infectious and it whitewashes so many maybe nuanced mis- uh, quote, unquote, doing air quotes for those that aren't watching, you know, like, mistakes that you might make in a, in the delivery of your message.

A, an um, an ah, an awkward pause, uh, uh, uh, mispronouncing a word, stumbling over a story. Like, those things are gonna happen. But if the audience can feel, to your point, that you are a, a one-of-one individual trying to deliver a message to them that you're excited about, and that excitement doesn't have to be like you're vibrating or jumping up and down or running around. It just means you can be calm and deliberate but still filled with energy. It's a, it's a frequency thing.

I believe in frequenc- that, that, that we are, that our frequencies interact with each other. I- it's another reason why I believe in-person events are so important. But, uh, like, for the speakers out there, for those of the people that are listening who, who wanna become speakers or are in the early stages or maybe their speaking career hasn't gone as well as they want So often what I see from those speakers, and right, I've done 450-plus keynotes at this point, you know, uh, including a TEDx talk, including, you know, all kinds of different corporate stuff, workshops, breakouts, keyno- you know, all kinds of different things. The energy that you bring to that is could be quite possibly the most important aspect of it. Like, the audience will get behind you if, if you are moving around too much, or you're speaking too loud, or you're speaking too fast, or like I said, you're miss- Like, all these little things that people worry about, like they think that's what's making ...

You know, I'm not professional enough, or I need to go, you know, take some big, long training or ... Sure. D- don't get me wrong, we always wanna get better at our delivery. We always want it to be more thoughtful in how we bring that message. But like, if it's not, if you're not energized by your unique way of delivering that message, why would anyone else care?

Like, why would anyone else care if you don't? Like, if you're not up there going, "This thing I'm teaching you," or, "I'm talking about," or, "This story I'm sharing," or whatever it is, right? If you don't care, if you're not excited, if you're not willing to, to feel and let the energy flow through you on that topic, w- the, the audience never will. They n- they never will, they'll never relate. And maybe you might get some claps and a couple, "That was goods" after or whatever, but you know just as well as they do that no one connected.

And I've found that, you know, I've had projectors go blue smoke. I've had the audio die at a 1,000-person event. I've had, you know, the lights go out. I've had people heckle me from the crowd. You know, I've been sick.

I've been ... You know, all the different things that happen in a speaking, speaker's career. You do enough, you run every scenario. But if you ... Like, I, I just did a ga- I did a gig in the spring, and first time this ever happened to me, I actually did a little Instagram video on it, where I don't know what happened, but about 15 minutes before I was supposed to go on stage, the PDF file with, that was my slide deck, completely corrupted and was unusable.

And I had to like look at the event organizer and go ... And so I like tried to recreate it in AI real quick. I got like seven of the slides done, and it was time for me to go up. So I literally just like took the top slide, and I was like, "Look, like this is what happened." I told the, I said, and, and the, they kinda looked at me, I was like, "We're gonna be fine.

Like, we're gonna be fine. I'm gonna go up there and rip. Like, we're gonna be great." I was like, "I need you to be cool with it, but like, this is what happened." And you could say like, "Oh, I messed up."

I did mess up. Like, I should've double-checked. I should've had a backup copy. There's, there are things that I should've done, for sure, right? And it's a mistake that I made and, that I made and whatever.

I eat that. But I still went up and delivered the message that I had with passion and energy and maybe it wasn't the exact flow that I had if I had gone by what I designed with the slides. But the audience didn't know the difference and didn't care because I re- the message that I was delivering to that particular keynote was, was very real inside me. So I, I think that, dude, you've nailed it, and I think this is a perfect place to kinda wrap up, um, our conversation today. But, uh, this idea of it doesn't matter what you're talking about, it's what is the one of one version of how you do it?

That, to your point, it could be your niche. It could be your background. It could be your experience. It could be, you know, you read 1,000 books on a topic and no one else has. It could be you climbed a mountain.

You know, it, whatever that thing is, whatever your delivery mechanism is, maybe you're funny, maybe you're deadpan, maybe you're pure educational, like own whatever gets you jacked up about delivering that message because that's what's gonna make you unique. Not, "Tyler does it this way and I, he's so successful, so I'm just gonna copy Tyler." It's like, no, that's Tyler's way of delivering that message. That's how Tyler, Tyler, Tyler gets jacked up about delivering that message. You could have a very similar message, but you have to do it in your one of one way.

I absolutely love that. Dude, I want people to know, like, I want people to get into your world because, one, tremendous just follow from a content perspective. It's uplifting. It's positive. It's purpose-driven.

I absolutely love what you do as a creator. But that your work, I mean, you, you know, I, I wouldn't be a TEDx speaker if it wasn't for you. So I want to drive people ... Besides your website, we'll have that linked up. Are there any other places that people can get involved in your world and follow along with your journey?

For sure, absolutely. Uh, Instagram is a great place, Tyler D. Cerney. We'll have that linked, and LinkedIn is also a great place. So those are two great places.

I will wanna end with this, Ryan, 'cause I'll, I'll leave the audience with one more, uh, pe- food for thought here, is purpose precedes design. Purpose comes before the design. So when you're design the talk, when you create that business, when you create that, try to create that relationship, the purpose will precede the design. And I'll give you an example with this. If I'm making a, if I'm a car manufacturer and I wanna make a car for a bachelor who wants to go 0 to 60 in, uh, three seconds, that's one shape of model 'cause I have a specific purpose in mind.

But if I have a purpose of a vehicle that wants to house, let's say, eight kids and that's reliable and s- and safe, now I'm gonna create something else. So the purpose that I have for that invention is gonna precede before I actually design it and before the creation. So literally everything around us, there was a purpose before it proceeded that, and that's the same thing within our lives. Jesus Christ, the Lord, made us one of one individual. So if someone's listening to this and they're like, "Hey, I don't know what makes me unique, unique," well, it's just like every single fin- fingerprint, every single snowflake.

We're all one of one, and we're all unique. It's not like if I'm really struggling to find those answers Well, I need to understand the purpose and the intention for my life when I got designed for, right? Because if I was a, um, if I'm, let's say, 5'5", maybe the, the Lord didn't have me in my cards to go play in the NBA. You know what I mean? And, and if I, if I'm a guy that can't jump or whatever the case may be, and I'm not saying to use that as a limitation, but there are strengths and there are weaknesses within all of our lives.

Why don't we play to our strengths and really get clear with, you know, "Why did the Lord make me this way?" You know, "Why did the Lord put me in this situation?" Or, "Why, why, why did I experience this level of adversity?" You know, "Why did I go through this?" It's, well, it's everything that everyone has gone through up until this point of listening to this has prepared them for the day, for, for today, and has prepared them for the future that they're walking into, right?

And so get clear on what the purpose of the talk, the business, the, the relationship. What's the end outcome? Have the end outcome in mind, but get clear on what the purpose is. Because once you have that, then the design, the actual invention, the creation, it all falls into place because it, the purpose will help you have that discernment to decide what's aligned and what's not aligned. And that's really what it is, is having that full alignment.

Because when you're fully aligned, you're not trying to impress anyone else. You're just trying to... You know, I, I tell people I, I have one person to report to. I got one man upstairs that I gotta work for every single day, and that's someone that's gonna hold you accountable. And if you can know that you've given it your all every single day, and some people just don't resonate with it or just don't wanna be a part, maybe that's not the person that you're called to serve.

And the people that do resonate with your message, that are-- do resonate with your business, your relationship, your values, and, and what it is that you stand for, those are the people that you wanna pour your life into and, and, and support. Um, and same thing with the speaking, man. There's gonna be some people that are, no matter what you say, they're gonna be on their phone, whatever. There's gonna be some people that are really engaged, and, uh, if, if you have that perspective, if I can go change one life and just speak and serve into that person, you're gonna be good, and that's even from a content or social media perspective as well. But yeah, if anyone has any questions, feel free to reach out via Instagram, via LinkedIn.

Understand the purpose that is gonna precede the design and the creation of anything around us. Tyler Cerney friends, we're outta here.