Blaze Your Own Trail - From Corporate Grind to Creative Freedom with Erik Cabral

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

In this episode of the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast, host Jordan Mendoza interviews Eric Cabral, a creative director turned entrepreneur. Eric shares his journey from a corporate career to discovering his passion for real estate and personal branding. He discusses his upbringing in New York, the influence of hip hop culture, and the importance of mentorship in his career. Eric emphasizes the significance of building a personal brand with purpose and how his faith plays a crucial role in his business. He offers practical advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and highlights the transformative power of personal growth and community.TakeawaysEric transitioned from a corporate career to entrepreneurship.He discovered financial literacy through real estate investing.Growing up in New York shaped his hustle mentality.Hip hop culture and breakdancing influenced his creativity.Art school helped him refine his creative skills.Mentorship played a key role in his career development.He emphasizes the importance of personal branding.Eric aims to build brands that glorify God.He encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to take the leap.Personal growth is a continuous journey.Chapters00:00 From Corporate Grind to Creative Awakening03:15 The Early Years: Growing Up in New York10:17 The Influence of Hip Hop and Breakdancing18:24 Navigating School and Creative Pursuits20:07 Art School and the Journey to Corporate Life23:19 From Creative Passion to Corporate Reality27:03 The Awakening of Fatherhood30:49 Mentorship and Leadership Growth35:47 The Leap into Entrepreneurship39:36 Building a Personal Brand with Purpose48:59 Podcasting Tips for GrowthConnect with Erik: https://www.erikcabral.co/    Installing strategic sales systems & processes will stop the constant revenue rollercoaster you might be facing which is attainable through our 6 Week Blazing Business Revenue Coaching ProgramBook a discovery call with Jordan now to learn more! Are you an entrepreneur?Join my FREE Group Coaching Community where we have live calls, Q&A and more! Our Trailblazer Ecosystem also enables you to network with other entrepreneurs and creator hub eliminates multiple subscriptions and logins creating a one stop shop to take action!Use code: FOUNDING100 for 12 months access FREE and Founding pricing for life! (While Supplies Last)Join now! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. My name is Jordan Mendoza. I'm your host, and I've got a very special guest today. His name is Eric Cabral, and I'm going to have him tell you a little bit about who he is and what he does today. Tied up. Let's see. I don't even know where to begin, but I'll just try to quickly not make your help your audience fall asleep here. Corporate America did that grind do forever over 20 years in the creative space.

So graphic design, marketing, branding, all that stuff. I got really, really good at it, went to school for it in Manhattan, and just loved it. But it got to the point, dude, where it was truly just autopilot. So the last year and a half of my career in corporate was dedicated to kind of more managing and becoming a creator director where I don't do the things. I just ask people to create the visions. And it was awesome. But it was like burning the candle of both ends for sure.

And it got to the point where this hour and a half commute was a burn. Like I totally lost myself. I lost my goals and I didn't even, wasn't even sure if I had them. So I was fortunate enough to get laid off only twice in my life. So that was the second time. And they were asking me to let the entire staff go. Like here's the phases. And phase one, let these people go because they couldn't just shut the whole business down.

But they were like, do it like this. And then in phase three, you can leave last. So I had a lot of time to reflect and figure out what my life was going to be about. and we were, my wife was pregnant with our second Natalie. So I just saw my whole life flash before my eyes. I had another job offer to go do a lot of things that would probably make me work harder. And that's not bad thing. But I asked her, I was like, hey, I'm done.

I think I want to take a break from this creative stuff and doing it for two decades. And she was like, sure, what are you thinking of doing? I was like, real estate. She was like, you must be crazy. You don't know anything about real estate. So that's when that's really the first sort of catalyst. I started reading books, listening to podcasts. Robert Kiyosaki was a big piece of that.

I'm listening to rich dad, poor dad, and realizing I was financially illiterate. And I was like, wow, I've made all this money, but I have nothing to show for it, except for toys and material items and things that I'm not taking with me. So I decided to shift. And once I got into that world and that frame of mind and being around people that had an abundant mindset, I didn't know what that meant. I'm at the time. So that changed my life, bro.

And then it just blew up from there. Like, how do I learn to serve that community with my superpowers and my strengths? and how do I lean into what they do and learn from them as well. So that was it, man. Awesome. The catalyst started at all. That's great. Perfect.

Well, you know, my favorite part of the show is, and I appreciate the context because we're going to get back into that in the second, you know, half of the show. But it's really taking a rewind. We want to find out, you know, what you're made of. So that, how do we get that information? Well, we got to go back in time. We got to find out about little Eric. So let's give the audience some context, you know, where were you born and

raised. What kind of kid were you? What type of things did you get into? Were you into more sports? Were you into academics? Do you have any hobbies? And let's talk, you know, elementary, middle and high school years. Yeah, yeah, let's geek out on this. I know this is part two. So, yeah, we'll probably have a very similar conversation. But yeah, dude, I, I mean, grew up in New York, born and raised in Yonkers, New York. And then, dude, that was, I would say, whenever I bring up to my parents or they're around, they're in the room when I tell others, like, yeah, I grew up in the ghetto. Like, what are you talking about? We had a nice apartment. You know, my parents, immigrants, from the Philippines, very proud for making that journey and taking all the risks. And it was a nice

apartment because it was brand new. It was being filled. But it inevitably became the ghetto. Like if you go there now, yeah, you definitely want to keep your wallet in your front pocket. So yeah, there was a lot of things going on there. But I learned like how to hustle, how to grind, how to like survive, basically while I was there. And I took that city grit into upstate New York where they started to see that I was getting involved in or being a part of things that were kind of like the beginnings of something, like people trying to steal my bike, getting into fights, things like that. So we moved an hour north into a place called Newburgh. And dude, I brought the hustle from city life because that's where my experience was and that's where my uncle owned a bodega in the Bronx. And he would give me an

unlimited stash of candy, dude. So I would take that candy, whether it was noun laders or blow pops, whatever it was. And I would sell them in these suburban school. Kids were like, Oh, Eric's got all this stuff. And I was making money and then spending it. But yeah, that was my first sort of experience kind of just jumping into, I didn't realize it was early days of entrepreneurship. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, being able to see how you can increase the value of something that you have,

you know, and find what your profit's going to be. Yeah. So fun. So talk a little bit about activities outside of selling, you know, and getting good at communicating. You know, if you're going to be a hustler. then you have to be able to look people in the eyes. You've got to be able to tell a story. But I know you got into some more physical activity.

So what are some things you got into in your youth, maybe, you know, whether it was culturally in New York, you know, that was a place where hip hop, you know, a lot of people say hip hop was born in New York. What does hip hop culture mean to you? And what are some things maybe that you did that would align with that? Yeah. So we left, I think, we left the city, 1719.

in 1980. So things were about to pop off. My cousins were still there. So when we moved to upstate, which was only an hour away, it felt like I was in another state because like they would call, they would always make fun of me, my family and my friends. Oh, you live in the boonies. You know, you live in the boondocks, which, dude, I didn't realize that was a Filipino word, the boondocks. And yeah, I was like, what do you mean? So I didn't understand because I didn't drive, but I felt like I was far. But that culture from the city as I'll never forget, my cousin Joy, she gave me, a 12-inch record, and it said Sugar Hill Gang on it. And it said, Planet Rock. It was another one. And I was like, what? And I put it on my dad's record player. And I was blasting it, dude. And I had never heard

anything like it in my life. And my dad's like, what the hell is this? You know, he was like, playing on his typically classical music or at the time, it was like disco and stuff. So, yeah, that was my introduction. What's that? Some BGs. Yeah, yeah. They would take like the Star Wars theme and make it disco. I don't know if people remember that, but it was hilarious that they would take songs and then turn them into disco songs. But yeah, and then the radio started playing more and more hip hop. So that was like it, dude. I couldn't believe what I was listening to. And that whole culture just, yeah, took over my life for a period of time for sure. That's awesome. And so when did you get introduced to break dancing? When was that? When was that like a thing? And then, you know,

what did you enjoy about it? I want to say, dude, that I saw it live. But I, but what remembers me, what I remember most is seeing it. There were two movies that came out. Beach Street was one. And I was like, what am I seeing? Like it was a battle. And it was real. It was a New York City break dancers.

Yeah. Yeah. And it was like this whole thing. And I had never experienced that. I was too young, but I wanted to be a part of it. And then I think there was a little quick clip in that movie Flash Dance. This guy was like just crushing it.

She was walking through the city and he was doing windmills. And those are my first intros. And then those cheesy versions of the movies came out. break in and breaking two electric boogaloo and all that stuff, which was fun. But yeah, it was those were the early movies where I remember finally getting a hold of the VHS tapes and rewinding them over and over and over and trying to learn the moves. And then, yeah, I would say I was one of the early kids in the neighborhood to bring that whole concept to the suburbs. Because I would take a car, you know, my dad bought a refrigerator or whatever it was and I'd take the carboard out.

And then it would be in the living room. and then I drew like DJ turntables on it. And like all the kids would come over and they would see what I was doing and then be like, what the heck? Teach me. And then all of a sudden, yeah, we had little breaking crews. I mean, we were pathetic. But yeah, it was fun, man.

And then eventually going into the city when I was older, it was pretty wild to watch. I mean, I didn't get involved with the breakdance battles there. I was more like, yeah, in the safer area. That's good. Yeah. No, I mean, it's one of those things that it's breakdancing is art. You know, you're able to kind of freestyle and everybody's just making things up, especially when you're a teenager, you're trying to copy people essentially,

and it's the only way you can figure out how to do it until it feels right. And then you move on to other moves. And so, yeah, it's just one of those things that teaches you how to think on your feet for sure. And once you kind of build the moves out, it's a lot of muscle memory. You know, I've been doing it and teaching it since the 90s, and I still do it in my garage at 43. But it's amazing, dude. To me, it's a lot of fun, you know, teaching somebody how to windmill is like a big joy.

because it's not an easy move to be able to even do. So the fact that I'm still teaching it is pretty fun. One I could never master, dude. Yeah, you got to send me videos breaking it down. Yeah. I mean, because that's one that's hard to learn on your own. 100%. You know, head spins, I'd say is like probably second to kind of like just that balance.

The early ones I remember, the crab and or like, what's the one where you're doing the crap? I figured out on my own. Yeah. But there were certain complicated ones that you may be able to kind of crack the coat on. But that windmill, dude, I could. couldn't. And then at some point, I was like, man, I can't even get to the easy level, let alone the guys that would spin so fast. Can you do this? Where you're not, your hands are just tucked, you know, over in your crotch area. It's shoulder to shoulder. Yeah. I have, I don't think I can do

that now. I probably, I need to pray train. We, they were called nutcrackers. I mean, that was the official term back of the day. But, but, but yeah, that was a, you have to have a lot of momentum. Yeah. How is it and why has it? I, I guess I can guess on the why has brink. Has brink. break dancing become this it's gone to a different level dude it's it's macrobatics at this point yeah it's it's almost like defying gravity you know you see some of the moves and you're like how are you your body doing that how are you twisting like that how yeah times can you do that without your brain exploding i don't i don't even understand it i've kind of put people in blenders and or shot them out of a cannon and it's like i don't even understand yeah yeah i'm just wondering how did it get to that level

I guess little by little, but then it feels like... The internet, you know? Yeah. One person do it and then they try and it's just like it is level up, you know? It's like the skateboarder that did like five, nine hundreds at nine years old or something in Japan. You know, it's like what? You just, it's just the talent is just getting better and better. But I see it in my kids, man.

Like the younger ones are smarter than the other one. And they just advance and they talk faster and they walk faster and they pick things up quicker. Right. So it's just kind of like your environment teaches you. a lot, I think. That could be it. So there's a interesting. We'll see what the audience thinks about this and how things have advanced, you know, in sports, in technology and school. Like, everything is like levels above when I think you and I were probably in high school, you know? Oh, yeah. Like, can you imagine taking someone from 2024 breakdance level and bringing him to the 80s? Like,

it would be inconceivable. I think that would have happened, though, right? What space ship did you, like, fall off of, you know? Yeah. We're from far out there, bro. Right. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Especially that lady from Australia, right? She took it to the next level. Yeah, I don't know what planet she was from.

That was definitely entertaining. I mean, what a way to build a personal brand the wrong way. It's like, you know, everybody knows you, but I don't know if you want to be remembered. Yeah, yeah. Acting like a kangaroo, you know. Is it true that the Olympics has now taken, has removed it because of her? It was already pre-sulled. elected that it wouldn't be part of 32 or or, I mean, 28 or, you know, does that make sense?

So it has a chance to come back, I think, in 32. But they do this like four years in advance. They pick what they're the next events. People said, oh, man, they took it out for good. So this lady, you know, which I think they could have for the showcase you put on. So, yeah, let's talk a little bit. What else did you get into sports-wise, you know, in school? Was that something you focused on?

Did you focus more on academics and then, you know, outside of, when you look, left high school, did you plan on going to college? Was that a prerequisite or was it even a path you decided to go down? Oh, man. So the college thing was definitely not really on my radar, you know, until the last minute. But I'll say, Jordan, that like my priorities were all screwed up. I got very involved in social. Like, that was my, my priority was how can I blend in? You know, how can I, I, are going to be cool. How can I have like a girlfriend at 13? All those things were priority to me. I was like so distracted with, with those aspects. of school. I didn't pay attention. I didn't do really much to advance on academics. I was the type of guy

that was going to summer school every. You too, huh? Every summer, dude. Yeah. And at some point, yeah, my senior year, my junior to senior year, my dad shared with me that, hey, dude, you're not going to graduate. You're going to be, you're not going to be a part of the ceremony if you don't graduate or go to, if you go to summer school. And I was like, so then that's when I like, I had long hair dude. I was like a headbanger. And just funny story to tell you when I was, because I was a break dancer for most of like my early like this middle, you know, middle grades. And then I grew long hair because I met a girl that, you know, and that influenced me changing from hip hop to now heavy metal. And what a transition. And I'll never forget this kid, Brian saw me looking at heavy metal magazines in the store. And he whispered over my ears like, dude, come back to us. Come back to us, bro. We need you to come back to the whole hip hop community. That's awesome. Yeah. But anyway, yeah, that was it, dude.

Like, you know, maybe I was in some, like, arts was always the thing. I was always very focused on, like, how can I be creative? How can I excel in my art classes? But other than that, dude, everything else bored me and felt like a distraction from what I really wanted to do, which I guess was be creative. And at some point, my dad recognized that. He saw that I was always locked in my room drawing, you know, creating comic books and stuff. And he was like, hey, come with me.

Practically pulled me by the ear into the car. We drove upstate, even more upstate. state to a county called Sullivan County where there was a art school college. And I couldn't believe what I saw. Do you like drafting tables and just a bunch of people, you know, drawing comic books. I was like, what? This is actually a real place. A lot of mutants. You know, a lot of, if you go to any art school, man, those are the ones that typically in the corner of smoking or look very like, those aren't those aren't the cool kids. Those are typically like the nerds. The unusual one. You know? Those are like my people for sure. Yeah, there's more focused on breakdancing in the halls and, you know, being in every crew. I was hanging with the park rats, the jocks. I was hanging with the sports, you know, guys that didn't play football, but, you know, they, you were athletes and then I was hanging with the nerd. I mean, I hung with everybody. That was kind of my thing, too. I was very social. But I was in, I graduated 99. So, you know, in late 90s and basically, if you were me in that period, you were in detention or seeing the

counselor because you're a disruptor. And I was always disrupting classes and wasn't paying attention, skipping class, getting Josta and gummy bears, you know, my buddies. And yeah, so I think we had some similarities there where I could not focus, man. I just couldn't, I couldn't be focused. It was, it's not meant for kinesthetic learners. You know, it's meant for do this, follow these regiments. And if you don't, you're out of class. And it was like, I need more support, you know, not out of the environment. Yeah. And the interest level, like if you're not interested in these topics, it's really difficult, especially I would guess as creatives to focus on something that's totally left brain, something that's like not natural for me. So yeah, yeah. I mean, that being said, man, I, if I were able to go back, I definitely try to pay attention more and stop trying to be cool. High sights 2020, my friend. Yeah. But yeah, yeah. I mean, hey, got us here, man. We're together now. We got through it all. But yeah, school systems definitely.

Yeah, we're not built for people like us, that's for sure. Yeah. Yeah. And I like that the fact they are building them for people like us now. Like my daughter, I got a 13-year-old London, and it's like now they have choices in seating. It's like you can sit on a beanbag. You can sit in a chair. Wow.

You can sit like here. You got, say, a fidget toy. It's like they've kind of made it more accessible for people that may be different, you know, how they learn, you know? And I was like, oh, how cool is that? Like, you've created a better environment for everyone. versus everyone's got to sit in this desk and you got your name tag here. And it's like, no, I want to lay down, lay on the ground while I'm learning about this. You know, so I think that's pretty cool that they've started to make some changes here locally.

Yeah, yeah. It sounds like what I imagine Google to be, you know, back in the day. It was like when we were working in corporate, everything where everyone was in cubicles. And then Google started to hit the scene. Yeah, I'm a little older than you. So like, I was in the workforce and, you know, you'd sit at your desk and everybody looked exactly the same. You could get creative and like, you know, decorate your cube or something. But at some point we were seeing pictures of Google.

We're like, what the heck? And company started to mimic and model all the things they were doing that were anti- Yeah, pro-creative spaces. Yeah. So that's cool that it's made its way into the schools. Yeah. Yeah, I would say finally, you know, but it's all good. So you went to this college, fell in love with it.

Did you end up like finishing there? Yeah. And then you went to corporate after that? or what was kind of the route? Exactly. So it was two years. I met a girl there and she was considering going beyond that. And we started talking about it and I started seeing other friends of mine that were going to New York

City to get their masters, not their masters, their bachelors, because we got an associate's there. So yeah, you could have ended there, but I followed the rat pack and my girlfriend and we went to School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. And that was a different experience, like getting back to the city as an adult now. a young adult. And yeah, going to art school there was another level, dude, because all throughout high school, I was always like the top creator, designer, whatever it was. There were no designers back there. But yeah, just a creative guy. I was always in the awards and shows and stuff. So I was like a

big fish in a small pond. And then when I went to get my associates upstate, I was amongst, you know, maybe now 15 really amazing people. And then when we went into the city, and I was like hundreds. And I was like, whoa, this is scary. Like going from really talented thinking I was the Jordan of it all. and then go into a sea of Jordans. And I was like, wow, okay. And I got really insecure, dude. That's like, man, I suck. And then, but no, I mean, there's so many talented people.

It was just levels of talent. And then everybody pretty much found a job in the city after that. Gotcha. School. Yeah. Okay. So job placement was not a problem like. No, no.

I probably went on less than half a dozen at the most interviews. And so at that school with that level of talent, was it almost a guarantee like you'd at that time hit, you know, 50K to six figures. I mean, was that kind of leaving there? No, was it was it a little less than that back there? It was a much less, dude. My first job was 23,500 a year. Into like entry level, creative,

entry level, junior art director. I would say what year was that, just for context? 90, you were still in high school. So it was 96, 95, 96. Okay. That was an eighth grade, I think. Just getting fresh maybe, yeah. That was what the starting Saturday.

Valerie was for a junior art director. From a good school, yeah. From a good school, yeah. And I think nowadays it's less so expected to have a good school in your resume, whereas back then, you know, it was still part of it. Now it's about talent more, do you think? Yeah, and it's about talent. It's about your personality, your attitude towards life.

Like, I don't hire anyone based on their resume or where they went to school anymore. It's kind of like, where did you work? Yeah. What are you made of, right? Like what's your personality? What's your personality? What's you been through? Yeah.

What are your values? Character. Yeah. That's great. So get this job, junior, you know, art director. What's the goal? Like you try to make it to VP? Like you're trying to...

Same as high school. Same as school, dude. You're just like, oh, I just got this job and I'm just going to coast on through. Yeah. Well, just rolling through it, dude. I mean, for many years, I was excited about the idea that someone would pay me to do that stuff. I was like, wait, what? Like, this is easy for me. Paycheck. Yeah. So I just rode that and still didn't figure it out because I took the bad habits from high school. And then like for me, it was like social time.

You know, like, oh, how many girls can I date? How many people can I, you know, like, how can I be the cool guy? And yeah, it was just, you know, it was now I was getting paid and having fun in the city and going into debt for sure while living in the city because everybody who works there does not necessarily live there. Well, I lived there, which was, yeah, bad idea. But yeah, so that was my priority. And then, I mean, somewhere in the horizon, I knew creative director was a title like that I could aspire to. I didn't know what it entailed or what was involved with it. But at some point throughout that corporate ladder, you know, I found myself being in my

late 20s, early 30s and opportunities like that were coming. Like, hey, we want to elevate you to manager. You'll do less creative work. And I always pushed it away, Jordan. I was always like, nah, I just want a nose to the grindstone. I love designing. I love creating logos. That's my passion.

I want to be creative. So I pushed it forever, dude. Like, no, I don't want to manage people. I don't want anything to do with that. I just want to do my thing. But if it inevitably have to do it in order to grow, I had no interest in growing. And when did you decide to grow? Because it happened eventually, right, where you gave in and you, I don't know if it was the money

or if it was it that kind of got you to a point where you're like, all right, like, I got to, I got to do this. Yeah, I would honestly say kids becoming a father. Because I was living a life that most people would dream of, everything I prayed for growing up as a young adult, especially. I had a beautiful wife, like, you know, met her while I was working. And then we didn't have kids right away.

So we waited maybe four years after we got married. And then it wasn't until we finally decided to have start a family. I was still bringing the old ways, dude. Like, you know, terrible things, habits, you know, smoking, drinking, partying, you know, still acting that way. And well into my old was I late 30s. By the time I was early 40s when I had our first, Veronica. And dude, I'll never forget this.

Like I'm downstairs at Christmas time with my father-in-law, my dad, my brother-in-law, my family, and friends. I'm smoking a cigar. I'm drinking whiskey. As usual in the holidays, that's how I would always operate. It was always like drinking or smoking. And my wife comes down. She just put Veronica to bed and she sits outside. She's like, ah, yeah, maybe I'll have a glass of wine now.

The baby starts crying. dude and I'm like, whoa, I don't even hear, but she's like, the baby, I was Veronica's crying. She's like, can you go upstairs? I'm like, yeah, I go. I judge upstairs and I pick her up out of the crib and I'm holding her. And I reek, dude, of cigar smoke and alcohol. And at some point, I stumble forward. And it hits me in that moment.

And I'm like, what if I fell on top of her and passed out? And dude, that was like the beginning for change. It didn't happen overnight, bro. But at some point, I was like, I got a, I'm a dad now. What am I doing? You know, and I got, I got to change my life. I weighs my habits, the people who I hang with. So yeah, that was an eye-opening moment for sure. So what type of impact did that create in your world? You know, I know, I know, you said it was obviously not overnight or weeks or years, you know,

the big habit shift and mindset change and, you know, you're thinking of something bigger than yourself now. So what, like, how long has it been? Or like, is that a change that you said, man, like, this is, this is going to be for the long haul? Yeah. It happened honestly when I left corporate and decided not to go back and start my own companies. I realized that the habits of the rich and the successful were very similar. And I found it all compiled in a very cool way through Hal Elrod's Miracle Mornings. Like he did all the hard work. He figured out what all the successful people doing. And he created an acronym out of it called Savers for anyone who doesn't know. I would highly recommend looking up. But I'll never forget. I mean, I just saw him the other day. So it was like,

someone in the room asked, hey, what are Savers? I was like, I could have easily just went off and told shared it for him because I'm sure he's tired of sharing it. But yeah, it's like silent, starting your day with silence, then affirmations, actualization, exercise, eating, and then ultimately scribing, meaning writing. That got me to the habits of the successful. Eventually, a lot of that started to incorporate my faith because I wasn't necessarily in my faith or into my faith or aware of it. But now a lot of the meditation and all that stuff has incorporated prayer.

Oh, yeah, dude, it just me, ultimately, if you can imagine, if you're doing all these things consistently, you're going to change as a person. So I've definitely changed, become a better husband, become a better father, just a better human being overall. I don't drink, I don't smoke. Not that I wouldn't partake. I'm not like completely celibate of all those things. But yeah, dude, it's changed my life, man, just being pure and clean and aware and awake.

Yeah. Totally different person. Yeah. No, I mean, a lot of those things, you know, I've also excluded, you know, alcohol, you know, no smoking, sursize, silence, you know, prayer. those all have very positive benefits. Actually, since June, I was 246 pounds in June. Wow. And I'm 186 now in November. Yeah, dude. I was going to say, man. Yeah, you're different. Put in a lot of work, you know, and changed, like, lifestyle changes, you know, apple cider vinegar every day, ketones, fasting, you know, eating high protein, low carb, low sugar, no seed oils, you know, and it's like, I feel 20 years younger.

and with six kids, it's great, you know, because I chase them around. I feel like more, you know, more energy. And yeah, so when you, you know, and whoever listens or watches this, you know, these changes don't have to all be at once, you know. And if you try to do them like that, you're probably going to drive yourself nuts and it's just not going to work, right? So these are things that over time can add positive benefits. You start to institute one of them every single day, get consistent, put in the reps,

and then you add some more and you add some more. But, no, it's awesome, man. kudos to you for making the changes. You know, our kids will do that to us. You know, they'll have us making some tough decisions for the better. So it's awesome that that was kind of a, you know, something that where you just kind of drew a line in the sand and you're like, I'm not going to do this anymore. You know, I'm thinking about something bigger than myself.

So that's great. So let's talk about, you know, I know you're in corporate 20 years, had, you know, a pretty awesome career, lots of different roles, lots of promotions. Let's talk a little bit about, you know, when you first were responsible for. for a team that's way different than managing ourselves. And what are some, you know, either key resources or people, mentors, coaches that helped you on your career past, like leading you to, you know, where you got before you decided to blaze your own trail and go out on your own? Yeah. No, that's a great question, Jordan. I would attribute much, if not all, of

the step into leadership roles. This guy, Andy, Andy Epstein, he was, a creative director in one of the companies that I worked for. And I always liked his management style, just very approachable, very humble. And just overall, a good guy. And yeah, I won't forget, his boss, which was a friend of mine said when he was coming and joining the team, he was like, you're going to love this guy, Andy. He's a mensch. I was like, I don't know what that means. He's like, you never heard the word mensch. But anyway, so I was like, oh, yeah, so anybody who knows that word will understand that's where he came from. When I worked. for him, I started to recognize a lot of characteristics that are like, man, I'd love to kind of like learn from

this guy. But then ultimately, we, he left and we reconnected. And he was always like, hey, how can I help you? He's always staying in touch with me, even though we weren't working together. And at some point, I left that company. And he said, come work with me. And but I'd love for you to take a leadership role. Like, you, I think are ready to step into a director role, like a creative director. And dude, I think what's critical, if anyone has experienced this, where you're like, I don't want that. And I've been pushing it away all my life. Like, I don't want to do it. I don't want to do it. I think a lot of that had to do with failing and fear of failure. You know, I grew up in a very strict household and my dad had high expectations and, you know, failure was not an option. So that was just emblazoned

on my brain and that was probably a piece of why I never wanted to take that action. But, Andy gave me the confidence over time continuously calling me and I guess mentoring I didn't realize at the time that I could do it. He's like, and he would explain why. Like, remember when you did this. Like we had a history together. She was like, remember when you did this, when you did this, and this. He's like, why don't we just try it? And if it doesn't work, then, you know, you could quit. It's okay. So I said yes to an opportunity. I was scared of death. And I stepped into this creative director role. And it was life changing, dude, because it gave me the confidence when I left corporate to go start my own businesses, like on a real level. That's awesome. Yeah. You know,

those, those people give us what's called borrowed confidence. You know, they see it in us before we see it ourselves and then when we can muster up the courage enough to actually jump into it and have a little bit of success. I think that's where the, it's just a game changer, right? Because it was kind of like the catapult for you going into the rest of your career, it seems like. Yeah, I never really thought of it that way where he was one of the major sort of like confidence springboards for me to see what I was capable of. Because you never know what you're capable of unless you try. It's like with anything, you know, a marathon, for example, I've never done one. and I'm scared to death to do one.

But I'm sure if I start little by little and then eventually make my way up to completing, you know, and finishing one, I'm going to look back and go, oh, man, that was, that was scary just to think about it because I didn't know what I was capable of. But you never know until you just take that first step. So yeah, yeah, he's a main reason why I guess why I'm here. That's awesome. So you have an amazing career and what was it for you that made you look at your world and just say, you know what, I think I need to do this on my house. I think I'm ready. You know, I'm sure

your world of slang in things like in high school, you're remembering you had kind of some entrepreneurial things that you did in your world. Did that attribute to it where you're like, I could do this? Was it family? Was it callie? I'm just trying to figure out what was it? Because, you know, as entrepreneurs, you know, fear of failure is a real thing, right? But for someone that has it, most of those people don't go into entrepreneurs. because they're like, I don't want to fail. Like, if you look at the stats, if you look at the data, not a good decision, you know, but also people like us are not very good employees because our minds are always wandering.

We're always building. We're always creating. And so, like, we're disruptors, you know. And that's kind of how I was in corporate. And I was really a bad employee probably for 15 years in the same company. But I was loyal, you know, stuck it out. So what was it for you? Like, what had you going?

Like, I want to go leave the comfort of corporate, leave, you know, all the. stuff I have built and go venture out. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, all that resonates with me for sure. I was not the best employee, you know, taking advantage of time and, you know, which I'm hoping people don't do in my company. I'm sure there were people that have come through that do the same. But it was really just the repetition, which got tiresome, the predictability of it.

It's very much like Groundhog's Day with Bill Murray. I felt like every time that alarm clock went off, I was like, I know what's going to happen today. Oh, that's boring. You know, there was no passion anymore for what I was doing. And I was like, how do I find passion again? So the introduction to leading a team was a big piece of it because I got to experience and see a lot of things that I'd normally see and experience like the back end of the business,

the sales numbers, the planning, like all that stuff. I was typically usually a cog in a wheel. So I wasn't part of the big machine and picture. And now stepping back and seeing the plan of the machine and the blueprint and all that was eye-opening. And it did remind me of like, you know, slinging, you know, blow pops and whatever. And then I also did start my own companies. It failed. It started and failed with a video gaming management company where we held tournaments, stuff in Xbox and Mar-up.

What was the game? Halo tournaments and things like that. So I did that in 2003 and then it closed it in the same year, I think, 04 maybe. But I always, like, knew that I wanted to have my own thing. Whenever I would drive past, you know, a comic book shop or whatever it was, I'd go, one day I'm going to have a brick and mortar, Bill. I didn't say brick and mortar, but like, you know, I was like, I'm going to have my own shop. And, and I did at some point. We had our own studios and our own offices, but now with the virtual world, it's like, this is not really necessary.

All of that stuff, dude, that I learned in corporate, especially the last year and a half to two years, gave me the confidence that go, oh, hey, wait a minute. I was, I was a integral part to this half a million dollar business, which turned into a $2.5 million business in 18 months. And I was like, whoa, I think I know what to do now. And I'm, and I'm a, Of course, I tripped and fell right after leaving. I'm like, wait a minute, I had corporate backing. I had so much, I had some amounts of cash to help me with anything. I had budgets.

I had HR. I had recruiters. I had everything. But yeah, when you leave, you don't know. I mean, it's actually, if I knew that, I probably had curing. Rehury. Exactly, dude. But all those things, if you were to think of those things, you most likely won't do it.

So I'm glad I had ignorance because then it gave me the courage to step forward and, you know, worry less about failure and all that stuff. That's awesome. Well, congrats on jumping out and then, you know, still being around. I think that's important, right? It shows growth and all the lessons, you know, and losses that we, that happen in entrepreneurship. It's like a big roller coaster ride, you know, a lot of the times. And so now that you, you know, have a team and you're helping people, you know, all around the world, you know, talk a little bit about what that means to you, right? You've worked on teams, you know, at a high level, big budgets. And then you were on your own back to being kind of a gunslinger solo for dinner and then now you've got people on

your team that count on you. So what what's the change in your business? And then definitely we'd love for you to just explain exactly how you're helping serve people all around the world. I'm excited about this question, Jordan, because so much has happened over the past seven years. We started our company in 2018 and very early on it was it was social media. It was branding, logo development, things like that. And then we took on podcasting. So there was always different phases of the company where we're like, okay, we need to launch podcasts and brands for real estate investors because that was my space, very, very eager to learn about real estate investing. So that was my network. And then from there, it evolved into audio podcasts to YouTube channels. So then that was a

recent change in 2022. And then we transitioned all of our podcasts to video channels. But now video channels and also for non-real-state investors, but the majority of them are investing in something. And now it's evolved into a phase where we still do those things, but we also build personal brands. So for those who are out there that don't know or understand how, they hear the word, they hear the term, they're like, yeah, I should have my personal brand, but I don't understand how to incorporate it in my business. Well, it's typically they lack clarity on who they are, who they serve, and what their ultimate mission is in life and how do you how do you fuse all of this together um that's where we're at now where

i'm like man i love working one-on-one with the founders and the CEOs to gain clear help them gain clarity on their message so that i could take that authentic message that's that's taken from them as individuals their their systems their beliefs their core values and then we put it out there in content right doesn't have to be a podcast but it could look like one and then we put it out there and then people in this day and age want to know and love the actual founder before they do business with. So now that people are understanding that that's where we think the rubber meets the road and how we can be most effective for our clients. Dude, the last part of it, which is the biggest part, is because of my faith, and I mentioned it earlier, it gives me this, this larger purpose

beyond making money, being a father. And it ties everything in, dude. when I can align my business with giving God the glory because it's less me, because personal branding is very, very egocentric. And I always kind of struggled with that when I was doing this for others. I'm like, man, I'm like lifting up some people and they don't, they're not the nicest of people. But if I find other Christians that are like, dude, I don't know how to build a personal brand because it's about my love for Christ and giving glory to God.

So when I helped one guy figure that out, as I was having. helping him figure it out, it was unlocking for me. I was like, wait a minute. Now, how do I shift the whole company to this? So now 2025 for me is all about that, bro. It's like, how do I build personal brands that glorify God? And not necessarily someone's ego. That's, dude, that's everything for me, man.

I'd move the needle and gets me up every day. So we got a listener, you know, they're listening to this. They're watching this, you know, video side of the podcast. And they're like, man, Eric, I just don't know where to start. You know, you talk about personal branding. I've seen all the videos, but like, how do I, what does this look like for me? So what would you say to that person? You know, they're insert whatever business that they own or they're a side hustler out there,

maybe doing affiliate marketing. And they know, like, they need to be visible and present. You know, what are some practical things, like three things that they could do this week? You know, even at the holiday week, we got a limited number of days. You're about to be around people maybe you don't like, right? Maybe your attitude's got to be shifted a little bit. So let's do something fun. three things they can do now to start building their personal brand. Yeah. So it's, I'll give the answers,

but I understand it's harder than it sounds. So I mean, this is why it's deep work, right, potentially. So number one, it's like at least identify a core value. I typically try to find at least five to six with our clients that truly define who they are. So I'll give you an example, you know, fitness, finance, family, faith. Right. Those are those are good for core values. But I recommend people find at least one that they really truly, truly feel passionate about. And then from there, who in your business? Like, who do you serve in your business? For me, I understand. It's, it'll be straight up, but we go outside of it. But the core of my business are typically white Christian middle aged men who invest in real estate. Like super, super, super

narrow and niche. Because I just know, because I step back and I look at who I've been serving over the past seven years. And I'm like, that's that those are, those are my people, right? The data, the data shows itself. It shows itself. Yeah, yeah. And, and, they show up, like constantly. Not to say I don't have women. I serve, serve women clients, tech industry, all different industries, all different faiths. For sure, there are people that are not Christians in my, in my community. But just say, yeah, narrow down your focus into who you serve and who you serve. Right. So at least identify one to two core values. Who do you serve? And then think about how do you communicate with them, whether it's a blog or newsletter or an email or LinkedIn post.

Or I would say, here's, it's almost Thanksgiving, Jordan. So, you know, just going to date you. your thing here. I've been giving my clients the Turkey Day challenge where, hey, think about those things and what is something you can put out there? Maybe it's a video and just hold your phone and hit record a selfie video as you walk on your walk and you talk about that thing. Hey, this is a core value of mine. This is why I believe in it. I think fitness is really tied into success and then you just jam on that. And then that's it. Just take it and just record it. Don't even think about it and just post it. Just post it. You're like, hey, this is, this is when. And as people begin to realize who you are, over time and you start to put more of these authentic content out they're going to reach out they're

going to go hey man i love your content what do you do again how do how can i be a part of it and then that's going to start the conversation so that's what i would recommend love it and as eric said before i completely agree not easy yeah sounds super easy like a a little one two three plan but it's not easy folks because guess what you got to muster up the courage to record probably more than one time And then you got to muster up the courage to actually post the thing because you're going to have all the thoughts about who wants to watch us, who wants to hear me. There's a dog barking, right? So there's going to be some things that come up. But the good news is you can do it.

You know, if us knuckleheads can figure this stuff out and you can figure it out. I figure really honestly, anybody can do it. We just have to muster up the courage. We've got to be a little vulnerable. We got to be, you know, willing to put ourselves out there and maybe look a little silly to ourselves. but most other people don't think the things that we think about ourselves. So just, I would say just get over that. You know, get over yourself there and just muster up that courage because, you know,

it just takes one post, folks, to change your life. It takes one person to reach out, one interaction, one lurker that slides into your DMs and ends up being your number one client. You know, you just never know what can happen on the other side of that fear. For sure. And the thing is, if people get too into their own, heads. What are people going to think? What are they going to say? How are they going to react to it? It's going to be gone. People just scroll through their news feeds. They'll see it for a split

second. And then it's out of their, no one's thinking about us. Maybe that split second when you come into their newsfeed, don't overthink it. Don't think like people are going to be marinating in your content and thinking about you when you're like for hours and hours and hours. It's not happening. So like just consider it. It's one, it's done. It's an exercise for you, selfishly. to get it out there. And then just begin the process. And just to call back to Jordan, earlier part of our conversation,

it's like taking that refrigerator cardboard box that my dad was going to throw out and then just getting the courage to actually cut it open and then start and then inviting some friends and go, hey, look at me, make a fool of myself. Got to start somewhere, right? And you have to get that cardboard box and just put it out there and be silly,

have fun with it. And you never know. You might be like Jordan still doing it 20 years later and making a business out of it. That's it. Yeah. But you will definitely see me breakdancing on all the social media platforms. It's just part of what I enjoy doing.

And if I can figure out how to have fun and make money at the same time, then that's a good business, in my opinion. Sure. Eric, I mentioned some podcast tips for the audience. I don't want to forget this. So what are some ways? I know you've helped a lot of people with podcasts over the years. What are a couple tips you could share on how they can grow their show, you know, organically, let's say organically without paid ads. Yeah, I mean, that's my jam for sure. I think that's a hack and I don't think it's sustainable to buy ads. But I think that what I was mentioning earlier was just just hitting record. Like a lot of people have that as a challenge. Like the first step is to get confident hitting record. So if you've already done that and you're 300 episodes in and you're like, what do I do now? I would encourage you to revisit if not visit maybe for the first time. What are what are the core values of the actual podcast? Because it isn't maybe necessarily you. Maybe you have other things that you're fusing into the conversation.

But yeah, identify what's the show. Like create the guardrails for the show so that when people show up, it's consistent. You're like, oh, he's always talking about this. He's always talking about this. I know what to expect just like a magazine cover or a book cover. People want to know when they open it up what they're going to get and what they're committing to. So that's where I'd say get very clear on your show. I think a lot of people Jordan are asking now, like how do I pivot? Like should I end my, I want to talk about this now. I've changed as an entrepreneur. I've had a podcast for four years now. I want to talk about this. Well, I would recommend, and this is what I've doing. Don't start a new feed because what you're going to do is you're going to basically sever

the relationship with all the people that were a whole new audience. Right, right. I don't recommend it. Only time I would recommend it if it's a completely different topic that's going to potentially offend the previous followers and subscribers. But I would say, and I'm giving you advice from the bigger people than me, from the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur Magazine gave me this advice and so did Jordan Harbinger, who's like the biggest pod, the other bigger Jordan, a podcaster, they said to keep it in the feed and just name it something else. So Joe Rogan's a perfect example of this. Like if you go through Joe Rogan's feed, he's got the JRE, the J.R.R.R.R. Experience that everybody knows and loves. And then if you scroll through, there's something that's like

MMA. And he's talking about fighting in those. And it just, whenever he records an episode for that, he puts it in the same feed. So yeah, that's what I'm doing. That's what I would recommend you do. if you're in that phase of rebranding or, yeah, trying to look for change. Awesome. Love it, my friend. Well, you know, you've been blazing a trail. And what's awesome is since 2018, you've had many more trails you've been blazing. And it's really cool to see you evolving and growing.

So kudos on the success. And I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule. Again, when we do have the Lost Files episode that we might be finding at some point from back in the day. It's just crazy to think it's. We could call it back in the day now. But I appreciate you, brother, coming on the show. Keep blazing your own trail. I can't wait for the listeners to hear your story and journey.

I appreciate you, brother. Thanks for having me. My pleasure.