Elite Success Coach: Don’t Quit Your Job to Build Your Next Chapter

What is it that when Mitch shows up is fucking easy for him- Yep ... and he can do it all day long- Yep ... max energy. It's new, and so that can feel scary, but the people who are able to shift and maximize are the ones who thrive. Are we looking at this as an opportunity? Are we looking at this as the enemy? AI can't really be the enemy.

Like, it's not a thing that can be an enemy. Machines can't transfer energy in the way that humans can. People are so much more willing to celebrate your wins if they know about a few of your losses. Give these things, like, their own personality. Yeah.

So I was like, "You're hardcore Gen X. You love Wu-Tang. Like, you're a Buffalo Bills fan." I was like... You know what I mean?

So, like, I'm giving him this thing. Yeah. I was like- So you know Max is a fighter. You know he's got some- Yeah ... yeah, raw talent. You- Doesn't take any shit.

Yeah, all that. Like- Maybe felt a little unappreciated, you know- That's right ... in his early years, right? That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, bitter at the two generations that are sandwiched between you.

That's exactly right. I was like, "Yeah, let's go." Had to ride his bike home on his own. Yeah. That's right.

Open up the house when nobody else was there. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. I know.

I sa-... Oh my gosh. And then- Oh, shoot ... and then, uh, this is the last thing I'll say. I'm just... Dude, I'm, I love this shit.

Like, I have become so enamored by it. Um, so, so the book I'm working on is called, um, Easy Mode, and the whole philos- my whole philosophy is to be our best selves we need to figure out what our easy mode is. Not- Yep ... not working hard, but, like- Yep ... what is it that when Mitch shows up is fucking easy for him, and he j- Yep ... he can do it all day long. Yep. Max energy.

Like, what are those things? Okay. Yep. Once we know what those are, right, then we use AI automation outsourcing to get rid of all the other shit. Not a new idea, but it- Ah ...

I wanna do this, but- Yeah ... it's through this filter of, like, a human optimized business. So my previous startup that I, I founded and sold, I basically got every employee to, to buy into the idea that we're only better than machines and automation at three things: building relationships, solving problems, and selling shit. Yeah. And that what we want is every human in our business spending as much time as we possibly can in one of those three buckets, and anything that they do that isn't in one of those three buckets is wasted time unless we have made a conscious decision for some reason that we want a human to do that. And, um, I see AI, to me, it's...

This is just such an amazing in time. There's so much opportunity. All these people are scared, and you got Bernie Sanders saying we're all gonna, you know, everyone's gonna lose their job, Armageddon, and I just don't see it. Like, I don't see that. Like, the world's gonna shift and change, but, like, I don't...

I'm just so optimistic. Well, it's one of those where you look at... I, I'm with you, and so much of it is your perspective, right? Because what's interesting is you know there were people that made the same predictions about the printing press, and there were people who made the same predictions about factories, and you're like, okay, well, it's new, and so that's, that can feel scary. But the people who are able to shift and maximize are the ones who thrive and the ones who resist.

Uh, you know. And I mean, yes, there is, with AI, there are some fundamental differences, uh, you know, and, and, you know, if we can go with the Terminator model, there, there are some scary potential outcomes. But at the same time, what... Who's... Uh, are we looking at this as an opportunity?

Are we looking at this as the enemy? And to be able to go, "Hey, we need to be intentional with our approach, but let's maximize the opportunity." I thought Patrick Bet-David wrote a really interesting book, um, Choose Your Enemies Wisely. I don't know if you read it- Yeah ... or have heard about it. Yeah, I didn't read that.

It's a really interesting book. I've heard it, yeah. Yeah. I, I, I won't say I've read every word. Um- Yeah ... but I, I own the book.

I've scanned through it. I've read some sections that I thought were, were really interesting, and it, and it's an interesting concept. And I think what I s- the mistake that I see a lot of people making today is they're making AI the enemy, where AI's not a thing. Like, it can't... You know, outside of some odd marketing message that is probably most, you know, self-indulgent to whatever however you make money, AI can't really be the enemy.

Like, it's not a thing that can be an enemy, right? So it's like people are completely misappropriating their energy and, and, and just their brain cycles on a technology that isn't positive or negative. It's, it's wholly based on how it's used. So like, yes, if you get a bad person, a bad person can do bad things with AI, but that bad person was gonna do bad things with whatever technology they had in their hands. So why are we demonizing AI when passed through a positive filter gives limitless upside to the qual- the increase in the quality of life that you can have?

And, um, I don't know. But I just... So long story short- Oh, it sounds like you're max- maximizing the shiznits out of it, so that's, that's awesome. And then that's the thing, especially as you're training up, uh, an agent to do some of the things you're doing there. Like, yeah, l- there are course corrections, there are fixes, but if you're saying, hey, th- Max is helping you save three hours a week, right?

And maybe 15 minutes you have to go back in and tweak something Max did, you're still up two hours and 45 minutes for the week, right? So, like, hey, that's upside, and boy, does that compound. Um, so yeah, we're in the process of, of identifying which systems can we Uh, be able to do what we do and do better through, uh, training up some agents and yeah, we're in the, we're in the process of that, which is exciting and a little existential and all that stuff too, so. Yeah. Well, if, um, you know, after this conversation, whatever, if you ever have any questions or want...

You know, I'm happy to just share- Yeah ... what I've experienced- I love it ... 'cause I've been down the rabbit hole. Um- You should probably, uh, you know, look for ways to rent out Max, for crying out loud. It sounds like you're getting a system locked in that would probably podcasters would invest in, right? Like, that's an incredible thing. So what's really interesting is, um, I was talking to this super AI nerdy guy, and, uh, very, very smart.

Yeah. And he's building all this stuff, and I asked him... You know, I was like, uh, he's kinda like a, I wouldn't say he's a close buddy, but close enough that I could reach out to him, 'cause I saw him doing all this stuff. Yeah. And I was like- To talk real with him, right?

Yeah. Yeah. I was like- Yeah ... "What, what is all this? You know, like, you're, you seem so many things going on."

And he goes, "Dude, I am fixing problems in my life and my business, and then every problem that I fix, I tell the AI as it's building the fix for me to consider what would it look like to commercialize this fix." So every, every project that he does, even if it's a small, tiny thing, he's asking the AI to, in parallel, build a commercialized version. And then when he gets to the end, he kinda, he s- I ask myself, like, one, is this something that I actually wanna have as a business? And two, is it commercially viable so much as more than just me have this fix and people will pay for it? So he now has, like, seven or eight little, like, SaaS companies going.

Some are, uh, recurring, some are just one-time purchase of a skill or something like that. And it's, it, all these just little tiny fixes. Like, you know, something was like Calendly to set appointment, whatever this process, and it was a simple skill. Yeah. You pay 24 bucks one time, now you have it.

Like, that kinda thing. And I was just watching him going, this is really int- it's an interesting change for particularly what I wanna talk to you about is, like- Yeah ... this... Literally this conversation that we're gonna have today couldn't have come better for me in terms of personal free consulting, because I'm in the transition that you literally teach people how to do. Yep. Yep.

So hopefully it'll be very contextual for the audience as I come to the question. One billion percent. I love it. Yep. But it is an interesting shift, especially for people in the consulting speaking space, where you're like, now literally every project that you work on, whether it's for yourself or for a client, you can be thinking in the background, "Is this something that I could commercialize and give and, and mass, mass scale this solution to a broader audience?"

Which was never possible at this scale before. It was just never possible. So. 100%. It's a que- I love that question, and it's a question we should've been asking ourselves for the last 50 years, right?

Like of, hey, you know, I obviously need this solution. Um, who else might need this solution, right? But, but you're exactly right. Now with AI, the ability to duplicate that and scale that becomes so much more possible. It's interesting, the person I was talking to just before you was my coach, and we're working through these kinds of things.

And the, what we wound up coming up with was all of these different opportunities are popping, right? And, and I always say my core question for myself, and it's also for my Authority Bridge clients, the people you're talking about, that, you know, successful people that now wanna coach and speak in addition to what they're doing. Not burn down their life, but add that, right? My question to myself is, hey, I wanna create a business that allows me to live the life that I wanna live. The, the, you know, do more of what I'm put on the planet to do in a way that I love doing it.

And sometimes when you come up with these product ideas, you're like, "Oh yeah, that's a viable business, but it doesn't help me live the life I wanna live," right? They're like, "I will be busier," or, "I will have to do things that are not me, that are outside that expertise, that zone of genius." So like, yes, is it viable? Um, yeah, it is. But do I, does it help me create the life that I wanna live?

If it's no, then who could you sell it to, right? Like that, I mean, that, that's the beauty of something like this is even a no still could get you to a yes. You just have to be intentional. 'Cause I don't know about you, but I love helping people build businesses that pay them really well, but I never wanna help them build a business they eventually... You know, it helps them create a life they hate. So it's gotta be both/and, not either/or.

And dude, we, we can just get into the podcast here since we're having such a good conversation. You know, this is one of the more interesting questions, um, that I've had to address even in my own life, is... Yeah, as I told you. So in 2020 I started a business, uh, a national digital commercial insurance agency. In 2021 we were, um, uh, fastest growing small commercial agency outside of the top 200 agencies, which are like mega agencies.

So, and, and that spurred us getting purchased, and then ultimately I exited two years after that, which is a, a kind of classic sell to a PE, watch them destroy my baby, you know, slice by slice until the point where I hit my first exit trigger and I was like, "I can't do this anymore. I need to get out." Um, okay. So I hit that point, I exit, and you know, I got a lot of people that were like, "Well, why don't you just go, go be an executive somewhere? You, you know how to scale.

Go be a CRO or take a, you know, become a mercenary CEO for maybe stagnated startups." And 'cause that's kinda the space I'm, I'm, I'm good at. Um, I'm good at launch to escape velocity is probably where my, my bread and butter is. I'm not a great peacetime general. I'm much more of a wartime general.

That's a huge realization. That, that, that's massive. So yes. So I toyed with this question, right? And to your point about, like, I could have gone and gotten a job at any number of companies, particularly in the insurance industry, which is my home industry- Sure250, 350, more, you know what I mean?

Like, tons of money, and I hate the corporate life. That is no knock on anyone who's listening to this that loves that lifestyle. It is zero knock. But for me, I have built my entire life around driving my kids to school and dropping them off, being... When they have a half day, going and getting them, or if they're- don't have school, like my older son is off from school today.

He's upstairs. Uh, he's 12. Like, when we're done here, it'll be, you know, early afternoon, and we'll go out and shoot hoops, or we'll- I'll go hang with him for a bit. And, like, I will, I would much rather have to kind of live, continue to live through that entrepreneurial, you know, kind of speaker, coach, podcaster life, which, you know, there's not that backstop that you get from a corporate job. But to your, to your, to your point, that lit- the extra stress and anxiety that comes from always having to kind of, to kind of keep yourself alive is worth the flexibility and not having someone go, "Oh, well, you know, were you logged off at 3:00 PM today?"

Like, you know- Exactly ... I, I just, I can't- You don't have any more PTO, buddy. Yeah. Yeah, it's like, wait a second. And that- Yep.

Yep. The idea of having to log into some system and tell somebody that I took two hours of PTO in the afternoon is just, it's never gonna happen again for me. Yeah. Like, I will literally- Yep ... never live that life. So it's just- Ryan doesn't play well in the sandbox anymore.

That's true, yeah. My, I think, unfortunately, I've become unemployable to that extent. That's right. But, but I think it's such an interesting question. So when you have, uh, someone come to you, right?

And, and, and, and they're having this existential crisis. They're like, "I'm not sure what to do next. I have all this expertise. I've thought about speaking. I've thought about coaching.

I also have maybe some offers to..." Like, what's the first step in starting to understand what this next move could mean for you and what the right path for you is? Yeah, I love that. And, and it really does start with acknowledging it. Like, you're not broken.

It's just a new season, right? 'Cause there were seasons of your life. You had success in the insurance world. You had success growing your own business. And those seasons, yeah, you might had to check in at 3:00 in the afternoon to take a little PTO, all that stuff, but you're in a new season. So it's time to reshape your life, right?

And I, I'm with you. I was in the pharmaceutical world. I had a lot of success there, but started... I, I got promoted into a bad fit job, which was my wake-up call. Like, "Wait, I'm not playing well in the sandbox anymore.

I think it's time for me to build something of my own." And, and so I did that. I started to, uh, build a coaching and speaking business on the side, and, and that took off, and I'm wildly grateful to say we've been able to do that full time since 2002. And then in 2006, other coaches and speakers started to notice what I was doing was working, so they started to come to me for help, all these kinds of things, which is great. And then fast-forward, now we have online programs that help people to do that.

So I do, I have a lot of people like yourself that, that come and say, "Hey, listen, I've got success in this area, and, uh, you know, I don't, I don't wanna burn down that life. I don't wanna quit everything. But I do wanna expand my impact. I wanna generate more income." They, you know, they have a scratch that they just know they need to itch, and part of it is to be able to say, "Hey, I wanna start creating something of my own."

And that is huge. So part of it is just acknowledging that and to say, "Hey, even that acknowledgement is a win." And then it starts with giving yourself permission to walk through some steps that we really encourage people to take. And it, it really does start with saying, "Hey, you don't have to burn down your current life in order to start this." We just start by giving yourself that permission and starting small.

And one of the first things, it's actually a pretty encouraging, uh, experience, but one of the things we do is to inventory your brilliance. Now, I know that might sound a little crazy, but like, like yourself, um, we always say there's, uh, there's a fish in water concept here where when we start to work with people, and it's, you know, oftentimes it'll be entrepreneurs and executives, um, founders, leaders, all of those things, it's a little bit of, you know, a fish swimming in water is not really aware of the water it's swimming in, right? And the people that we work with, they are often swimming in brilliance they have lost awareness for. Not to say that they're not doing, they're not walking out this brilliance every day. They've just started to walk around in that brilliance so much, they think that everybody knows it.

And the good news is, they don't, right? So it's that thing of being able to say, "Hey, what are some of those things that you do to make your team more successful? What are some of those things that you do that, to make your, yourself, your day, your morning, your evening, your family more successful?" Now, we're not saying you do it perfectly, and we're definitely not saying you have it all figured out. But to be able to say, what are some of those things that, that make what you do work?

And we inventory that brilliance. Um, and, and what's interesting is a lot of people will be like, "Ah, I think I might be too humble to do that." Like, "Ah, I d- you know, I don't have that much brilliance." And it's like, "Nah, you do. You have brilliance," and part of the brilliance is in the sequence.

You know? There's certain things that you know that might, there might be elements of it that are common, but you figured out some sequences, some things where the order matters. Let's, let's track that. Let's inventory that. Or, you know, we even say inventory events.

Like, you, you just walked out of a meeting. It ended on time. People seemed to have clarity, and nobody killed each other, right? Hey, I know I've been in enough meetings where that's not always the case, right? So what are three things you just did?

You know, we always say take a five-minute inventory. What are three things you did to set that meeting up for more success, big or small, right? So we have them inventory some of their brilliance. And it really is a pretty encouraging activity, um, where people will be like, "Oh, there are some things that I know That not everybody knows, or to be able to start to recognize those patterns, those things that you've done, choices, intentional decisions that you make. Um, you know, all of those things, it's a really powerful thing.

But then to be able to say, "Okay, now how can we start to teach to those things? How do we take those things that you're aware of to then turn them into teachable, tangible moments?" Um, and so it's, it's a really powerful process, uh, that kicks it off, and it helps people to feel more encouraged, but it also helps us to lay down additional strategy of saying, "Okay, that's some of the what, now who are we talking to, and how do we relay that?" So but it starts with an inventory of their brilliance. It's pretty amazing how in others we can see those things so clearly.

100%. Like, oh- Yep ... the way Mitch articulates the agenda at the beginning of meetings, it just... I know we're gonna be on time, I feel confident, I feel secure. Right? And you're like, "I just put an agenda together.

What are you... Doesn't everyone do that?" Or you're like- That's just what I do. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

You're right Like, in your head, you're just like, "Well, this is just what I do." And you, like, can't see it where it, it... Everyone around you, you could be like, "That's, you know, that's brilliant. That's brilliant. That's unique.

That's novel." Yep. And it, it is a very odd process insomuch as you, you almost do need someone to guide you through it. I think it's very difficult to ferret this stuff out on your own, and- Yep ... I'm a huge proponent of working with coaches, whether on a project basis or on an ongoing basis- Yep ... um, for this very reason.

Coaches need coaches. I mean, you, you already said it. Like, here you are, you know, one of the top consulting, uh, uh, coaches and, and strategists i- i- in the world, and you have your own coach who's, who's helping you get through your stuff. You know what I mean? Like, like- Who's dang expensive, right?

Yeah Like, but he is incredible, and he's helping me fill in the gaps, and, and doing, like you said, he's helping me inventory things I couldn't see. So you're exactly right. How do you get past the... I think people use fear as a misrepresentation for ego when it comes to putting these things together and making these kinds of moves. 'Cause I know, I know more than a few friends who will talk on the side at conferences or, you know, when we're, when we're chatting on the phone or whatever about wanting to speak or write a book or, you know, do some coaching or consulting, and instead they always take that, you know, C-suite job. They just keep coming back to the C-suite job over and over again.

And, you know, they'll bitch about it, but at the end of the day, they like being the insert, you know, chief of whatever, you know, whatever their specialty is. They really like walking into rooms and, and meetings and what- conferences, you know, being the chief of whatever it is they do. And one, if that's the case, should they even consider making the move, or, you know, or is there a way to kinda break down that ego/fear that might be keeping them from making the move if it's what they truly wanna do, working through the assumption that this is really what they wanna do? Yep. I love this question.

I love, Ryan, I love how you get into the mind. Like, this is, these are the things that, that people, some people, like, they feel that tension, but they can't put their finger on it like you just did. So I, I think that's one of your superpowers, one of many superpowers, right? Um, but that is something. We have a program called The Authority Bridge, and it, it is specifically for leaders, executives, entrepreneurs who are saying, "I've always wanted to coach," or, "I've always wanted to speak," or maybe they've even got invit- invitations to mentor or invitations to speak, but they, they just haven't s- put that business together, right?

Um, and we actually help them do that. But one of the things we say is it's best to start this when you still have a full-time job. And, and for many of our Authority Bridge people, people that are generating an extra six figures, you know, $200,000, $300,000 a year just by coaching and speaking on the side, um, instead of burning down their life or instead of quitting that C-suite job, they're doing it in addition to. And what's interesting is, is that, as you can imagine, as you start to inventory your brilliance, as you start to name some of those things that you do and do well, as you start to teach from those things, not as a, "I'm a speaker, I'm a coach," but you just start to teach from that leadership capacity, what often will happen, especially in early stages of The Authority Bridge, is your authority within your organization grows. I'll give you an example.

Um, work- one of our Authority Bridge clients is an engineer who's, um, she's very successful within her firm, and she wants... She's getting asked to speak all the time, and she's getting asked to mentor all the time. She's like, "I think I should put a business together for this." And so we started that process, but she's not in a place where she wants this to be her full-time gig, and she has to even be strategic about how she, you know, announces that she has her own coaching and speaking business. But we've started to build that foundation, and that's what we do.

We start to build the foundation so as those opportunities come in, you're able to handle them. But also, how do you grow your authority in a way that's complementary to your current business or current role, but also starts to send that signal, "Hey, I do this," right? "This is what I do as well." And in her case, it's really been interesting 'cause we have a process of what we call value-based promotion, which is not necessarily value-based based on, you know, your faith or your politics. It's you deliver value as you teach, right?

So her social media posts aren't about the breakfast she had this morning or about the sunset. Not that those things are bad. But she does one value-based post a week, primarily on LinkedIn in her case, where she just offers some of what she's learning from her journey. She hasn't made a big announcement that she's a coach. She hasn't made it a big announcement that she's speaking, although she's gotten paid for both.

She's just teaching from her journey. And what's interesting is, is that recently someone came to her and said, "Hey, we have an opening on our board, and people are kicking around your name." And she was shocked. Like, that has never been something she's been considered for in the past. But people have started to notice that she is consistently showing up, not only within the organization as a leader, but also as she starts to teach these things in a more public way, people are starting to see, wow, this isn't happening randomly.

Like, she's actually working on this stuff. She's actually-- She understands it e- enough to be able to teach it to others. And so, you know, what's wild about the board, it's a bade- a, a paid board, uh, you know, position. And what's interesting is, is that there's a good chance she's gonna go for it. There's a very good chance she's gonna get it, and that's probably gonna actually meet her revenue goals for what she was thinking would be her coaching and speaking business, right?

So it's that thing of being able to say as you intentionally step out and build your authority bridge to that authority, it allows you to have more impact oftentimes within your organization. You don't have to leave it. Again, you don't have to burn down your life to, to get this started. But with some of our folks, they just realize, like, "Man, I feel so much more satisfaction being able to once a quarter go speak to a big audience that is actually interested in what I'm, you know, talking about," and it scratches that itch of, of having more impact, more reach. But hey, they're happy to make an extra 100 grand a year by doing that periodically, but then coming right back to that job that they enjoy or that title that they benefit from, and they're not gonna leave it at all.

Other folks, though, they realize, "Hey, if, if I can make this much by this little effort, and I really enjoy it, what might happen if I have all of my time devoted to it?" So some of our Authority Bridge people do eventually then build that as their only business. Some of the people decide, "Hey, this is my exit strategy," or, "This is my retirement program." Like, "I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna start this now, and I'm five years away from retirement," whatever that might be, whether it's early retirement or, or actual retirement, whatever, and say, "Hey, this-- I'm gonna have a business that I can step out into fully, um, that allows me to make more income, make more impact."

But it allows them to exit in the way that they wanna exit. So it can be a both/and. It doesn't have to be an either/or. Yeah, I love that concept of this type of work being able to translate post maybe your traditional career. I think as we live longer, uh, as retirement ages get pushed back, um, our world is changing.

We were talking about AI before we went live and a little after. You know, um, like we have no idea what that world's gonna look like. But we do know, or at least I'm fairly confident that people who can specifically in person articulate ideas, uh, transfer energy to an audience, inspire, motivate, entertain, um, those, you know, kinda live experiences, uh, this, this being one of them, right? Uh, this type of experience here where, you know, this can't be duplicated with AI, right? You could write scripts, and there could be AI versions of us, but certainly not, uh, in the way that we're talking.

And I think, um, live, uh, coaching, live consulting, um, I think speaking events, I think all these things are gonna come back in the age of AI like gangbusters. I think all the AI's gonna tear apart thought leadership and all this stuff. And yeah, I mean, to a certain extent, there are people that are already just deluging these social platforms and our email inboxes with work slop. But I think that's only going to put even more of a premium on those individuals who are able to articulate thoughts, communicate them in a way that inspires people. That being said, this is work that you can do until the day that you die, right?

100%. And that to me is what makes, even if, even if it is just a small side portion of what you do today, right- ... it, it sets you up to be able to continue working, continue thinking, continue finding purpose and fulfillment. Yep. Uh, 'cause I'm a firm believer that, you know, your body reacts to how you use it, both physically, mentally, et cetera. So, uh, you know, when I hit 40, uh, my early 40s, I'm 45 now, I had, uh, talked about it on the show before, I had this testosterone scare, right?

Yeah. And, and it got me really deep down into, you know, our hormones and our, how our bodies change when we, when, as we age and all this kinda stuff. And my doctor basically said to me, like, this particular issue wasn't, was kind of acute and fixed, and everything's all good. Um, and, and that wasn't the issue there. Uh, she did say, "Look, like part of the reason your testosterone starts to drop for most men when they cross 40 is 'cause they stop being active.

They stop using it. And if you're not lifting things and pulling things and pushing things and doing stuff that tells your body, 'Hey, we need to still be strong and our bones need...' Like, it just starts to deteriorate ''cause your body's like, 'Hey, you're older now. You know, you're not here to procreate anymore. That day has come and gone, so we're just gonna start to deteriorate if you're not gonna use this thing.'"

Uh, same thing with your mind, right? So if you have this, you know, whether it's writing or podcasting or speaking or whatever your kind of, uh, mechanism of value delivery of choice, it keeps you active for the rest of your life. It's something you can dig into, build a legacy of. And as-- I'm a bad podcaster. I, I probably shouldn't talk as much as I do.

But I wanna share this with you 'cause we were, we were discussing stuff. So There's this open source tool. We're talking about OpenClaw, right? Yep. So there's this open source tool.

So I'm a firm believer that, um, I, I've kinda come to this realization recently, but that we need to have a local server, it could be a Mac Mini, it could be a Mac Studio. We need to have a local hard drive that's in our residence or our business that holds who we are, holds our, our, our files, our history- Yep ... all this stuff. Because the cloud is becoming more dangerous with AI, et cetera, and I think having a version that's on site, it's almost like we've flipped, you know, back, gone all the way back to the '90s when everything was on premise. Okay. Yep.

So there's this open source tool called Obsidian, which, uh, I started playing with, and it's essentially, think of it as a lightweight neural network for the content that you create. So I have pulled from LinkedIn, X, my podcast, and my website every piece of content that I've created over the last 10 years, and I have now put it into this neural network. It's insane when I can start to prompt my AI agent, Max Effort, and set, you know, where h- where I'm like, "Hey, I really wanna start working on an article around insert topic," right? Now, what he'll end up doing is going, he's not just, like, going out, finding some stats, and just pulling together an outline. He's going, "Well, you, you talked about this, like, in 2019 on this podcast with, you know, so and so, where you kinda broke this down into this really cool quote.

I wanna pull that in." So now he's able to go back and ha- and I actually have a, I have a database mind-mapped by topic, by, by, uh, medium of creation of everything I've created, thought, shared, every stupid thing I've tweeted or posted on LinkedIn for the last decade. And like- Yep ... when you talk about finding your brilliance, finding your zone of genius, your expertise- Yep ... holy shit, man. Like, it's crazy. 'Cause you forget what you were thinking 10 years ago. Absolutely, yes.

Right? Like, you might have this loose idea, but it was 10 years ago. I can't remember what- Yep ... I was doing 10 minutes ago- Right ... let alone 10 years ago. And now all of a sudden these, the, these agents are able to dip into this pool and come back and go, "You wrote this LinkedIn post in 2022 on the idea of," uh, I think I told you the book that I'm working on is called Easy Mode.

Yeah. Right? This, this- Yeah ... you didn't use that term, but you kinda talked about it here. Let's pull that reference in. I'm like, "This is amazing."

I mean, and I think about- Yeah ... what, you know, what the people you coach do for a living, right? Like, this is like gold to a coach, 'cause now you can, you can extract your own, like, "Oh, I was actually struggling with this same problem as my client seven years ago, and here's the post that I wrote about how I fixed it. Oh, I completely forgot that I had this step in there. That's amazing. Pull that out."

So it's like we're, we're just living in this world where I think what you're advocating, right, like, uh, I, I hate to say this 'cause it sounds huckstery, but, like, monetizing your expertise and experience, like, this is the golden age for being able to do that. One billion percent, and what I love about this, it's, it's a little bit like we were talking about before. You know, like, uh, you know, people raged against the printing press apparently, because they're like, "Oh, what's this gonna do to how we, you know, share knowledge?" Like, "We've always told stories," like, "What's this gonna do?" Or apparently there was, there was rage against factories as, as we started to understand how factories could work and what that could do to production.

People freaked out because it changed the way that we did the work, right? And AI can be that same thing, is are we gonna recognize it as a tool or are we gonna recognize it as the enemy? And I know we've talked about this, right? But especially when it comes to this, um, uh, and, and, and kind of in our shared world of creating content and as speakers and coaches, what's interesting is, is that, uh, all of this helps us to do... It can help us to do what we do and do it better, but the hinge point is IRL, in real life, right?

So it's those things of being able to document and, and keep an order to all of that content that you've put out there, right? Like, that is freaking gold. So you can put more content out that really truly helps people and makes a difference. Plus, I don't know about you, but I don't have a recording of my Grandpa Matthew's voice. One of my favorite humans to ever walk the planet, I don't have a recording that I can share with my boys of my grandpa's voice, right?

Uh, good or bad, my boys will be able to share with their kids and their grandkids, you know, my voice, 'cause we've got 450 episodes of Dream Think Do by now, for crying out loud. That's, that's like 450 hours of grandpa. You know? Like, oh my gosh. So that's, that's in and of itself a gift, right?

And we can do things with the information that we've created, again, to create more content, help us write books, all those things. But the IRL is in a coaching session, yeah, I got all this information up in my head. I've got these things that I've experienced. But boy, in real life, when I am with a client and I am fully present with them, I can do things AI will never be able to do. Um, speaking to an audience, right?

Like, I could actually have AI. I've got an agent that actually helps me create content for my speaking, uh, engagements, but I still gotta be there to deliver it. Because sometimes, as you well know, 'cause you're on stage all the time too, sometimes you can go and say, "These are gonna be my points," but boy, you have an interaction with an audience, and you decide for 10 minutes to go over onto this tangent because it's needed, and it's a call that you make right there from stage, and it's the right thing to do because of that moment in real life, the AI can't do. And sure, down the road, who knows what, you know, how we'll expand and change. But I do think- We can use AI tools to make us better, but it's that as long as it's allowing us to come into that in real life moments, in those in real life moments, and be fully present and to be at our best, which is really kind of that best of both worlds.

So creating content can be easier, improving content, fantastic, but still we are absolutely needed for those in, in real life moments. Machines can't transfer energy in the way that humans can. It's just that, that even when they're humanoids, I mean, maybe when they're, you know, AGI and they're walking around like Ex Machina, maybe, I don't know. I feel like we're a little ways away from that. Ex Machina.

Yeah. I mean, I know they can do flips and cartwheels and shit now, and they're strapping machine guns to them, but I don't see them, like, giving keynotes from stage and the- Yeah ... audience, like, 'cause, 'cause, you know, and I, and I'm sure you've felt this and anyone who's s- spoke who's listening to this right now, I, I'm sure you've had this experience as well, but there are moments in a, in a, in a presentation or performance, I like to call them performances, you just, they're all unique. You know- Yeah ... I, for, for, for almost five years, I did almost the same slide deck, but I never did the same presentation. For five years.

I was just- Yep ... you know, the topic that I was talking on at the time, it was relevant to the insurance industry. Everybody wanted me to come speak. I did probably 200 gigs in those five years. It was crazy. I was on the road all the time, and it was almost always the same exact th- same exact slide deck.

Never the same presentation ever. Because you're watching the way the crowd reacts. Are they tired? Are they energized? Are they leaning forward?

Are they dis- you know, did they just come back from, you know, a CE class and they're all bored to death? Are they j- you know, are they bellies full of pasta and chicken? You know? Like, are they just, are they all hungover in the morning? Like, what are we dealing with, right?

And then, and then your job sometimes isn't... You know, your job as a, as a, as a performer in this case, at least from my perspective, and I'm very interested in yours, sometimes it's not always to deliver the message that they hired you to deliver. Sometimes when you show up, I've even had event organizers do this, like in the moment go, "Hey, like, they're... Like, everyone's staring at their phone. Like I c- how do we kick this up?

Like, you got a story- Yep ... or something?" And you know- Yep ... now all of a sudden you have to do what, what a, what a human can uniquely do, which is read an in- a situation, feel the energy, and try to change the vector that that current audience is traveling. And again, as you always say, I, I feel like we have to always preface this. We have literally no idea what AI will be doing in the future. I'm fairly confident that in my speaking lifetime, um, AI will not be able to deliver that in person in the way that a human can.

And there's also just something to connecting with the people that you listen to, that you read. Like- Yep ... for me, it was Jordan Peterson was a big one. I've met him twice now in person. Yeah. And I've watched months of his content.

I mean, I'm just a huge-- I love his way, um, you know, I, I don't even agree with everything he says, but- Right ... I love, for everyone w- w- someone who's never seen him, he has this way. Have you ever seen him speak live? Oh, yeah. Yeah, okay.

I've not seen him speak live, but I, I've- Okay ... I've s- I've, yeah. Countless hours of his content. So I had the oppor- I had this opportunity because I, so I live in Albany, New York, tiny little town. Um, and he came for some reason and spoke in Schenectady, New York, which is an even tinier town about 20 minutes from here.

So I was like, "Oh my God," small venue, Jordan Peterson, this is crazy. I, I bought front row seats, like bought the VIP thing. I was like, you know, here's this guy I've been following for a decade. This is amazing. This is before his most recent illness, which hopefully he's continuing on the mend.

I know he hasn't been in great shape. But my point in saying that is, even having watched all of this content and read all of his books, y- I could not replace the in, you couldn't replace the in-person. There was just something about watching him do this thing where he throws this question out in the world, and real time, for 90 minutes, you watch him try to answer the question, uh, aw- you know, just working through the problem, and it's a u- you can't, you can watch him do it on thing, but when you see him do it in person, it's a completely different thing. And it's like that for you, for the audience that follows you. They're gonna have the same experience the first time they see you live.

Yep. Absolutely. And what, what I do love about this and appreciate about this, I think, I think we're talking about the future, we're talking about right now, is, um, you know, when we're training up people that are experts in an industry, or they're really good at their day job, right? Sometimes they'll, they'll be like, "Well, can I really wow an audience? I don't always wow my team," right?

Or, "I don't alw- I certainly don't always wow my children," right? You know, those kinds of things. You're like, yeah. Here's what's interesting is, is that one, with AI, AI's gonna help us to organize our content, process our content, um, produce our content. But to your point, being able to be in the room, like there is just an authenticity that can only come from that shared space and from seeing people do what you do, right?

But it's also that thing of being able to say, hey, um, you know, one of the perspectives that, that often is a real game changer for people is, uh, we encourage people, never teach from the destination, only teach from your journey. So, you know, y- you've seen, and I'm, you know, you've seen a lot of speakers, and there are people who try to speak from the destination. I have arrived. I have it all figured out. My life is perfect.

There's no problem that I can't handle because I've handled them all. And they teach from that. And, you know, some of those people are very successful, but I don't think they're always very effective. Because I don't know about you, but I think our world is changing rapidly, and one of the things that's happening is that everybody's BS meters are getting more sensitive. So it's that thing of, like, you know, I really don't think anybody has it all figured out, so I'm gonna play the BS card and say, "Ah."

Right? But for the folks that we work with, I'm like, "Hey, don't teach from the destination. You haven't fully arrived." Like, none of us will fully arrive on this side of heaven, right? So to be able to say, "Hey, I'm teaching from the journey, and this is something I'm learning this week."

Right? And what's beautiful about that is that also gives us freedom to teach from mistakes. And one of the things we always say is people are so much more willing to celebrate your wins if they know about a few of your losses, right? And so, uh, you know, I bring this up because especially with AI, you know, uh, you know, our industry, whatever industry you're in, has faced changes and challenges. That's just life, right?

But AI does represent a new kind of challenge. Something like, you know, COVID a few years ago was the first time in, definitely in our lifetime and really ever the whole globe has faced the same challenge at one time. So that was a really unique thing. AI poses some of those same things. Like, this is a completely new thing, but what's beautiful about the freedom of being able to teach from your journey, not the destination, is to say, "Hey, even with AI, this is what I'm learning this week.

Not saying I have it all figured out, but hey, I've got some things figured out, and in fact, this is something I tried, and this is how it went this week." And that has freed up a lot of people, whether it's big issues like AI or little things like a really problem- problematic teenager or a really problematic team member. You can be able to say, "Hey, listen, this is something I'm trying, and this is how it's going." And that can be so powerful, but I think it also comes back to the authenticity aspect of whether you're on stage or whether you're talking to somebody as their coach, their mentor, their consultant, to be able to show up and say, "I don't have it all figured out, but I got some of it figured out, and this is some of what I know. But let's draw out the best from you, and let's figure out the best plan for you."

And th- there's-- that, that's magical when it can happen, but it also, it's one of those things that can pay you really well when it does too. Guys, this is solid gold advice for really any time you're performing, and I, I couldn't agree with you more. One of the things that, uh, earlier in my career, uh, speaking career, I got, uh, marketing was a big part of why I would get hired to come in and speak. Great. Yeah.

And people would, "Ah, oh, you're such a good writer. You write so much," blah, blah, blah. And one, I don't know that I was a great wr- I didn't feel like a great writer, let me put it that way. Right. Um, and I would share, but I would share with people, like, I was a math major that had to cheat my way through college just to graduate.

Like, I, I'm not a writer. Like, I don't- Right. Like, I'm not formally trained in any regard. Hello. You know what I mean?

Like, go back... If you can go back in the way back machine and find some of the stuff I wrote, like, in the mid-2000s, like 2005 to 2009, it, it looks like a f- fifth grader wrote it. Like, it's crazy. It's terrible. Right.

But, you know, I just kept writing and writing and writing- Yep ... and writing and writing and learning and, you know, here I am, and now I'm fairly prof- f- prolific and feel like I can at least spin a word halfway decent. Um- Yep ... but originally when I first started, I never shared the story about, you know, I have this whole, like, little shtick that I do about, you know, I started as a mechanical engineering major. In my second semester I had a 1.3 GPA, and my, my, uh, guidance counselor basically told me, "You know, you can either be a mechanical engineer... You either have to choose mechanical engineering, and that's what you do, or something else." And the something else for me was play baseball, chase women, and drink beer.

And I'm not a mechanical engineer. And you, I'm sure prolific and very effective at all those things, right? Yeah. I was like, I'm not a mechanical engineer, so you can see which way I went, right? So, um- Right.

You know, but it's funny- And it's working out. That's right. That's right. Um, but when I s- it wasn't... When I started sharing, to your point, you know, to your point, when I started sharing that story of how, like, I was a mess in college.

I had no idea what I wanted to do. I changed my major two or three times. I ended up with a math degree- Yep ... simply because it was the only thing that I could graduate with on time. Yep. And, you know, and, and here I do nothing with math in my real career and, and marketing- Yep ... and speaking.

You know, it's, it's not a part of it. And my point in kind of reiterating what you say is, guys, like, these origin stories are what... So this is where I think this goes, and I'm interested in your take on this. Like, I think a lot of speakers feel like they have to be that perfect version, that destination version that you described, because they feel like that's what the audience needs to hear to believe me. And to your point, that couldn't be farther from the truth.

What the audience needs to know is a guy like me can become like Mitch? That's what you're telling me? Like, he used to kind of be like me, and then by doing his authority bidge- bridge process, he's able to become what I want to become? Like, holy, like, this is possible for me. Like, oh, wow, there's, like, possible.

He wasn't just born in the womb this amazing coach and speaker and writer and podcaster. Like, he was a regular guy who, who built this life for himself that I wanna have a similar life. Like, if you don't make yourself accessible to people and, and show them that, that what you've, what, where you're trying to get them is possible for them, th- it's just they're just writing down notes, and I feel like most of it is just bouncing off their face, and they're waiting for you to stop talking so they can check their Instagram feed. Yep. Absolutely.

And that's- Yeah ... that is. I, I think it's interesting in that as, as you're tempted... And this, this doesn't even have to be as a paid speaker, right? Like, uh, it's interesting. I think we're all in sales, and we're all in speaking.

Right? No matter what role you have, you're in sales. My mom, uh, it's... I have great parents. My mo- um, my dad was a r- a, uh, retired Marine and a warden in a prison.

My mom was a CPA. Um, I got into sales early on. I started working at a bike shop when I was 13, and, uh, the owner of that bike shop took me to a sell- selling school, the Schwinn s- bicycle company selling school, uh, when I was 14, and I got into sales, which I loved. And we would talk about this. I'm like, "You, Mom, as a CPA in a small manufacturing company, you're in sales."

Like, everybody's in sales. Like, everybody has to sell ideas. Everybody has to, you know, get people to see their vision, to sell their vision, all those things. Same thing as everybody's speakers. Whether you ever stand in front of a room of five or 50 or 500, we all have to communicate as a part of our day-to-day, so learning how to do those things more effectively helps everyone.

And a big part of that is how can you do it in a way that's truly, authentically you, right? Uh, where you can, you know, not perform behind a mask of a mask of perfection or a mask of I have ev- you know, all the answers, but to say, "This is who I am, and this is something I'm trying," or, "This is something I've done. What do you think?" And, and to me, one of the core elements of being a better speaker, whether you're getting paid to be the speaker or whether you're just relaying a message that needs to be communicated to your team or to a team member or to your teenager at home, is to be able to say, "Hey, listen, I don't have to be the smartest person in the room, but what I wanna do is I wanna draw out your best ideas. I wanna help make you smarter by drawing out your best."

And one of the things I always say is, "Are you holding your audience as capable?" Right? I, I don't know about you, but, um, I had a lot of great college professors, and I had some douchebag college professors, right? And the douchebag college professors were the ones who walked in and tried to establish their authe- authority by making us feel like idiots and, and to try to make us marvel at their brilliance, right? And what's interesting is that that usually did the exact opposite.

Nobody liked them. Nobody wanted to listen to them. Uh, you only did things because, you know, you had to get a grade. You were forced to do it, right? But those people who walked in, those college professors who walked in and, and you could tell they actually believed in us.

They, you could tell that they actually thought that, yes, we needed to learn some things, but we started out pretty doggone intelligent anyway, right? Like, those are the people that you double down, and you, you did your best. You, you delivered an A+ whatever, project, speech, because you wanted to wow this professor. You wanted to show to them, "Hey, you believed in me. Let me show you what I can do," you know?

And I think the best leaders do that. The best managers do that. The last parent, the best parents do that, is they hold their people as capable, and they wanna draw out their best. And you can see that when a speaker goes in and, and they don't care. Like, I try to not care what my audience thinks of me.

What I wanna do is I want them to think more of themselves, and part of that is to offer strategies and solutions that help, to tell stories that move the needle, but also help them freaking remember the brilliance that's in them. And the more I do that, the more actually brilliant they think I am too. But it's like, hey, if, if we get there, you know, by... If we get there by, you know, like, you're happy with my talk because you're actually happier with your world or you're walking out on fire and motivated, then hey, win, win, win, you know? So I always say, don't try to convince the audience of your brilliance.

Uncover the brilliance that's in the room. Oh, I absolutely love that. Um, I had, I, I had a buddy who works in PR, and he has- Yeah ... a client who's fairly famous. Um, everyone listening would know this particular person's name. And we were talking about this idea of authenticity versus performance mode, and what he said was the best performers he'd ever, he's ever worked with, from his perspective.

He's like, "When you sit with them in a booth at a coffee shop, they're like any other person. They're not, they're not, but when they go on stage for whatever it is the thing that they do, they become this bigger version of themselves." And he said the best, to your point, are able to take the authentic version and not change it, but amplify the parts that stand out on stage in the performance version. So it's not like you're a different human. You're not trying to be, you know, if you're, if you've never sold anything in your life, you're not standing there trying to be the world's best salesman, The Wolf of Wall Street or whatever, right?

But, but you're taking this authentic version of you that might be more mild-mannered, you know, doesn't talk as loud, doesn't talk as fast, doesn't, you know, whatever, right? Now, you know, you're just amplifying the parts of you on stage. How, how do you personally... O- one, do you agree with that? Two, d- do, like do you need a performance version of you? 'Cause I've seen people try authentic, and they're terrible.

And it's like authentic still has to be good. Like I know some people I think misinterpret and sometimes I think purposefully misinterpret 'cause it can be lazy. They're like, "Well, this is, this is who I am." And I'm like- I'm chill ... yeah, except that's- I'm chill. Yeah ... not interesting.

Like not, you know what I mean? Like there's nothing about- Yep ... that that anyone can grab onto. So like, okay, like so you're this skater dude, what-- and like no one cares. Like- Yep ... so you, you, how do you marry- Your authentic version of you with a performance version of you that, that actually, you know, is gonna draw some energy and interest out of the audience. Like, how do you, how do you marry those two ideas?

I, I love this question, Ryan, and I love that you actually used the word amplify, 'cause one of the things we talk about in some of our speaker training is I, I'm a U2 fan, and partially that's because Joshua Tree came out when I was in high school, and U2 was... That was really when they started to break through. And so they played an auditorium, uh, in Iowa. So me and a couple of buddies drove over. It was a two-hour road trip to see U2, Joshua Tree, uh, in this stadium, and there was about 30,000 people in this stadium.

It was, it was huge. It was amazing. But at one particular part of the show, there was a spotlight and a stool and a microphone hanging from the ceiling. I don't know how they did it. It must have been, like, I can't even imagine how long this microphone cord was.

But Bono comes out with a single guitar, just a, just a, a, you know, a not an electric, an acoustic guitar, and he sets up on this stool, and he, and he strums. And here I was in an audience of 30,000 people, and he was playing an acoustic guitar in a single spotlight, and he strummed, and somehow, even though I was in this sea of humanity, it was intimate. And that was partially and in most parts because his guitar was amplified, right? Somehow because of the way he strummed, like, it was, it was hooked up to amplification so that 30,000 people could feel like they were sitting on that stage with Bono all at once. So it didn't change the way the guitar sounded.

It just made it so that everybody could hear it, and that's what I talk about with speaking and amplifying who we are. It's not, it's not changing who we are, but it can be bringing a different energy so that people still hear the message. And that's, I always say is, like, I want you to be your authentic self, but I want your authentic self to be able to reach a stadium of 30,000. So how do we do that? And, and part of that is to be able to go in energized, not necessarily by being somebody that you're not, but it is saying, "Hey, do I actually believe what I'm saying?

What do I hope for for this audience?" Right? You don't have to go up there and be Tony Robbins or Chris Farley, right? You don't have to be over... And not to say they're over the top, but you know what I mean, like, over-energized, huge.

But you wanna show you believe what you're saying. You wanna show that you believe that they can actually believe what you're saying, right? So it's that, how do you show up in a way where you're telling stories that are truly authentically you, right? Um, how can you show up in a way that, that offers strategies that are not something so far out there that they can't do something with them immediately? That's, that's always my litmus test is can 80% of what I share be applied within five minutes of me being done?

That, that's always one of my litmus tests. And if I can do that, I walk into that space so much more energized 'cause I'm like, "Guys," like, "I want you trying this in the hallway when we're done. Like, when you're running to the bathroom because this session has been way too long, I want you trying this thing out," right? "I want you to do this stuff. I want you to apply these things.

I want you to experiment," right? That helps me walk in energized. Uh, uh, you know, I'll give you a, an example. I'm a pretty energized guy, but I also will say that I'm generally highly caffeinated, too, right? But recently I had one of those situations you, I'm sure with all of your travel you've experienced it, where planes were delayed, got no sleep the night before.

Nothing was optimized about my day. I was the first, basically the first, uh, event for a talk, uh, for a, a basically a two-day event, and when I walked in the room to do the mic check, everything in the room was basically on fire. S- an AV person hadn't shown up. Some files were corrupted. Like, everything was going wrong, and I was operating on about two hours' sleep.

And the event coordinator, who is an amazing human but was pulling her hair out and basically just short of losing her mind, she came up, and she said, "Please save my event." Now, I can tell you I didn't have the energy to go up there and be somebody I'm not, but I had the energy because I was like, "You know what? I know these people need what I've got." And, and that particular day, the irony was I was speaking on how can you be innovative and find new solutions when you're faced with worry and anxiety, right? And, um, the talk is called Is Your Hair on Fire?

So it's a catchy name, but that's basically what we're talking about. And so I actually started that talk saying, "You know what, guys? I gotta tell you, I'm operating on two hours' sleep and about four cups of coffee. Um, this room was on fire before you guys were in here. Like, nothing went right this morning.

So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna offer you strategies because I need them today, too." I'm not offering these strategies because I've got it all figured out. I'm offering these strategies because I need and use them daily, so would you guys be willing to join me in that? And the, the event coordinator came up afterwards, she's like, "Oh my gosh, they were eating out of your hand." And I'm like, "Yep."

Because it's not that thing of I've got it all figured out, join me in my brilliance. It's, "Hey gang, we all need this shit, so let's do it together." And that changes everything. I love that. I love that.

A- and I think developing your performance persona, right, this, this amplified version of you, it also becomes like a, like muscle memory. So even though you are on two hours of sleep, I'm su- sure there's a certain part of you that there was a switch that said, "It's game time. I, I may only be on two hours, I don't feel my best, but I know how to go boomp, and turn this version of me on who's not tired, who can put sentences together, who doesn't wanna crawl back into bed until you get a nap." You know what I mean? Like there's that version of you.

Um, you know, I, I, I wanna b- I wanna ask you this one last question too about, about speaking, um, and it's this idea of introvert versus extrovert. I get all the time people who come up to me and they're like, "Oh, you know, it must be nice, you're an extrovert. You know, you go up there..." 'Cause I, you know, I'm Irish and I, I have the hand gestures- He's Irish ... and energy. I like- Yeah. I like to walk around, and voice inflections- Yep ... and I, I, you know, I, whatever, I've been doing it a while.

I ha- I, I don't know, I like to get into it. I like to have as much fun as the audience having, you know what I mean? Right. I'm up there, even though I'm getting paid, I like to have fun too. But afterwards I am drained.

Yep. Like on zero. And like, it's, it's shocking to people when I tell them, like, maybe I'm an ambivert or whatever that thing is- Yeah, yep ... maybe. Like, but I am certainly not a pure extrovert. And there's this, I think a lot of people feel like if they classify themselves, which they shouldn't be doing to begin with, as an introvert, somehow that is a barrier to them ever being able to perform at a high level.

And it's like- Yep ... no, the, the performance version of Ryan is an extrovert, sure. But I'll tell you what, when I'm done speaking, I, I mean, you do the line, if people come up, I love that. Guys, if you're ever at one of my talks, I love it. Don't not come up. I love it.

But as soon as that line is done, I wanna go hide in the corner of a bar. I want an IPA, I want one IPA, I wanna sit by myself, and I just wanna like pull my s- And there's something about an IPA. I get it, guys, not everyone loves alcohol, whatever. I like alcohol, so do your thing. For me, I have found, not a, not, not wine, not a soda, but a single IPA, draft IPA after I speak, it just like allows me to come back into myself and like relax and whatever.

Okay, that's my thing. But being a quote-unquote introvert should not stop you from being a speaker or a performer if that's what you desire, correct? I couldn't agree more as an introvert as well, right? Um, I always say God's great sense of humor is that I'm a, I'm an introvert who's needed to learn to do extroverted things, 'cause part of my day job is to walk into rooms of 500 to 1,000 strangers and still be okay, right? And I'm with you.

Uh, and, and it's interesting 'cause a lot of folks that might be listening to this, maybe you've taken the Myers-Briggs test, maybe you've been, you know, some other assessment that's told you you're introverted or extroverted. I always say the best way to know is how do you restore? If, if you do something and at the end of the day you're exhausted and all you wanna do is grab up five friends and go to the bar and just talk about your day, there's a good chance you're extroverted. If you have knocked it outta the park, you've had a full day, you're exhausted, and all you wanna do is retreat someplace quiet with a good book and maybe a glass of wine, there's a good chance you're an introvert, right? And what's beautiful about that, you can be a great communicator no matter which model you use to restore.

I will say, and I might be a little biased, but I often will find that the best speakers tend to actually lean introvert. And the reason why I say that is the best speakers I always find are the ones who don't necessarily wanna be in the spotlight, but they've just found a truth or they've learned some solutions or strategies that they just have to share with the world. So they almost fight that, that resistance to be in the spotlight because their message, they know their message is so important. That tends to be more the introverted person. Now, some extroverts, and not all, s- uh, uh, I know many, all wonderful communicators that are also extroverts.

But there are, there's definitely a portion of extroverts that feel like they're, they, they demand the spotlight. They deserve the spotlight in every room. If there is a spotlight, they're gonna be right there in the middle of it, whether they've got a message or not, right? So I always say, yeah, if you're an introvert, don't let that convince you that you're not supposed to be a speaker. Some of the best speakers are absolutely introverts who've just learned to do extroverted things for an hour at a time.

I agree. I think, uh, talked to a lot of my speaker friends, and a lot of them classify themselves as introverts. And I think, yeah, I looked into it a little bit, and some of that I think also is introverts- tend to be a little more empathetic. They tend to be a little more in tune to emotional responses. So if you're not just giving a book report, if you're actually feeding off of the audience and trying to respond to how they respond to certain things and adjust midstream to match what's hitting, what's not, et cetera, um, an introvert will tend to be a little more receptive and naturally, um, attuned to how the audience is responding and their re- emotional reactions to things versus, versus a pure extrovert who may just plow right through those responses because they're just living in the moment of, of, of the spotlight, which is what they love.

And, and again, noth- like you said, nothing wrong with either one. There are pros and cons to both, but I just wanted to make sure we hit on this fact 'cause I get asked this all the time. I wanna add something to that, Ryan, 'cause I do think you dropped some wisdom there. It's a part of your brilliance, right? But I think for introverts who either are-- have thought about being speakers or get the opportunity to be speakers, you just talked about a key survival tactic, and that for me is that whenever I have an extroverted event, um, and, and I do coaching too, so my Tuesdays and Wednesdays are filled with coaching.

Those are all extroverted events. I'm with one other person. If I've got speaking, I'm, you know, in large rooms full of strangers. Those are extroverted events. So with every extroverted event, I need to have scheduled introverted time.

So for you, that's a, you know, dark corner with one IPA, and you know that, hey, that's what works for you. I know for me, after a, a full day of coaching, I need at least a half hour at the end of my day where I'm not talking to anybody. I can process. I can sit in my chair and just think about the day, process the day, get the day off of me so then I can move into the evening to be with my family, my wife, whatever it is. Um, scheduling, like make an appointment with yourself for just a little bit of introverted time after every extroverted event, and you will be able to sustain that thing that you wanna do and be able to do more of and take care of that inner introvert along the way.

Mitch, I could talk to you for another three hours, my friend. This has been absolutely fantastic. Um, I love the authority bridge. I love this. I love the, the demographic, the mindset of the person because I think this is a place that there's so many amazing professionals who have so much to share with the world that they don't because they don't know how to make this jump.

Where is the place that people who are kind of listening to this and going through it right now, if they wanna get deeper into your world, uh, how do they do that? Where do they go? Oh, I appreciate you, Ryan. So the, the easiest place to start is to go to mitchmathews.com. That's kind of our universe, and people can find out more.

There's a specific page just about the authority bridge. But we did put some training together. Um, it's, it's, uh, something called Making Time for Your Next Chapter, and it's specifically for people that maybe the authority bridge, the idea of it resonates, but one of the first questions that we often get is, "I'm so busy. How would I ever make time for something like that?" Whether it's, you know, making time for a coaching and speaking business or just something new, something, you know, uh, to, to inject into your life.

And so we have this training called Making Time for Your Next Chapter. It's $97 in training, but for your people, if people go to mitchmathews.com\time, and they actually, uh, use the coupon code PEAK, so we'll know they came from you, um, just, just put in that coupon code PEAK. It makes it free, and they'll get access to this training. It's been super helpful for folks, um, because it really helps them to go, "You know what? I do have time to do this next thing, whether it's coaching and speaking or something else.

I do actually have time to do it," and it allows them to move into that with boldness. So just go to mitchmatthews, uh, .com\time, use that c- coupon code PEAK, thanks to Ryan, um, and we'll get you that training for free. I appreciate that. And, uh, guys, I'll have that linked up. Whether you're listening to the audio, show notes, or YouTube video, just scroll down.

You'll find that. We'll find-- I'll have the coupon code in there. And I encourage you guys to go do this even if you do not desire to have a speaking and coaching career, 'cause I can tell you, going through these exercises, even at a minimum, they're gonna open you up to ideas that you could implement in how you lead your team, how you lead meetings, um, i- i- even help you connect ideas that, that may just help you in your day-to-day life or your interactions with other people. So, you know, sometimes when I'm putting together a talk, i- in, in, in that effort, I'll have, you know, a new product idea and two new articles and a, and a podcast that I wanna go do that just come out of going through the effort. Even if that never made it into the light of day or I never performed it once, you know, uh, going through these thought experiments can really help you in other avenues of your life.

So I appreciate the hell out of you, man. Thank you so much for your time. I wish you nothing but the best. We're out of here. Peace.