Escaping the Drift with John Gafford - From Chaos to Podcast Success: Mike C-Roc's Journey of Transformation and Innovation

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

Mike C-Roc, a beacon of resilience and innovation, joins us to unravel his journey from the chaos of a large Italian family to the heights of podcasting success. Facing hurdles like addiction and divorce, Mike's narrative is one of transformation, where personal trials are alchemized into professional triumphs. From his youth in mushroom country to the pressures of a high-stakes restaurant career, Mike's story is a testament to navigating life's twists and turns with grit and grace.   Our conversation sheds light on the pivotal life choices that shape our destinies, including Mike's shift from the mortgage industry to a path of global impact through podcasting. It's a tale of leaving behind the comfort of a commoditized career to embrace the uncertain, yet rewarding world of digital media. We explore the transition from traditional media aspirations to digital prominence, highlighting the necessity of building a personal brand in today's ever-evolving landscape. Mike's insights into scaling a podcast agency and the delicate balance between AI integration and human connection offer invaluable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.   We also delve into the powerful concept of the "rocket fuel law," where life's adversities become catalysts for success, and how these experiences culminated in Mike's bestselling book. Insightful discussions on parenting with purpose, teaching financial literacy to the next generation, and fostering innate talents round out this rich dialogue. Join us for this episode of "Escaping the Drift," where personal and professional growth is not just a journey but a transformative experience, guided by Mike C-Roc's compelling insights.   CHAPTERS    (00:00) - Escaping the Drift (03:54) - Life Lessons and Career Paths (15:23) - Global Impact Through Podcasting (25:52) - Scaling a Podcasting Agency Business (36:09) - Rocket Fuel Law (46:17) - Parenting and Philanthropy Balance (51:54) - Building Personal Brand on Social Media   💬 Did you enjoy this podcast episode? Tell us all about it in the comment section below!    ☑️  If you liked this video, consider subscribing to Escaping The Drift with John Gafford  ************* 💯 About John Gafford: After appearing on NBC's "The Apprentice", John relocated to the Las Vegas Valley and founded several successful companies in the real estate space.   ➡️ The Gafford Group at Simply Vegas, top 1% of all REALTORS nationwide in terms of production. Simply Vegas, a 500 agent brokerage with billions in annual sales Clear Title, a 7-figure full-service title and escrow company.   ➡️ Streamline Home Loans - An independent mortgage bank with more than 100 loan officers. The Simply Group, A national expansion vehicle partnering with large brokers across the country to vertically integrate their real estate brokerages.   *************   ✅ Follow John Gafford on social media:   Instagram ▶️ / thejohngafford   Facebook ▶️ / gafford2   🎧 Stream The Escaping The Drift Podcast with John Gafford Episode here: Listen On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7cWN80gtZ4m4wl3DqQoJmK?si=2d60fd72329d44a9 Listen On Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/escaping-the-drift-with-john-gafford/id1582927283    *************   #escapingthedrift #mikecroc #resilience #innovation #italianfamily #podcastingsuccess #addiction #divorce #transformation #mushroomcountry #restaurantcareer #personaltrials #professionaltriumphs #brandbuilding #digitalmedia #traditionalmedia #personalbrand #aiintegration #humanconnection #entrepreneurship #parenting #philanthropy #financialliteracy #rocketfuellaw #parentingwithpurpose #personalbranding #socialmedia #strategicpartnerships #impactfulagencies #buildingpersonalbrand #digitalage #visibility #mailinglist #reviews #shares

We first started, I would work with anybody just to see what you can do, right? Because you have to. And then very, very slowly it started to evolve into a situation where we became exclusive. Yeah, I don't just work with anybody, no, at all. And if we get somebody that pays us and we find out that they're not aligned, we just give them their money back and move on. And now, Escaping the Drift, the show designed to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

I'm John Gafford and I have a knack for getting extraordinary achievers to drop their secrets to help you want to pad the greatness. So stop drifting along, escape the drift, and it's time to start right now. Back again, back again, for another episode of the show that like I said in the opening min, gets you from where you are to where you want to be. And today, ladies and gents I says in the opening man gets you from where you are to where you want to be and today ladies and gents live in the studio And it's dude

This is the biggest advantage of being in Vegas because dude at some point all the ballers come rolling through Vegas and when they do It's easy for me to get them. I wish I could say these people came just for me They don't they come for f1 they come for these magical events But hey, man, I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. I'm gonna take it. And today in the studio, I got a dude that is, he's probably the foremost expert on building your brand exactly what I'm doing right now.

He is the owner of the brand, but that podcast, he's a bestselling author, sorry, that one podcast, he's a bestselling author. Sorry, that one podcast, he's a bestselling author. And he's an all around good dude. And we're lucky to have him here. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Mikey C Rock. Thank you, John. Hey, listen, I gotta tell you,

I flew five hours to come just to see you. Just to see me? Just to see you. All the other stuff is just like. Yes, it's auxiliary, it's auxiliary visiting. Kill time while I'm waiting to come here. Yeah, that whole sphere thing. Just kill time, check that thing out. What are you gonna do? It's good, dude So no, I do I so appreciate you coming in selling yourself short, man. I know I'm just listen

I'm it's it's self deprecation. I think I think people it makes me more appealing Yeah, I think when I go self deprecation, I can't just go full ego You know Brad's got a Bradley my buddy Bradley's got a he's got that That cornered that market cornered. I guess what I'm trying to say, man, I didn't chew the neuro gum today. That's showing up easy after a heavy carb lunch, isn't it? Good Lord. So dude, let's talk about, so for those of people that don't know you, let's talk a little bit about your background. Obviously you're very, very successful. What you do, where did you grow up? Let's talk about this

because I like to get either the, you know, the, the villain, uh, or hero origin story. Where'd you grow up? I mean, talk to me about, I grew up outside of Philly and, uh, in the mushroom country, it's where the most mushrooms grow. And I'm talking about the food, not the grateful dead mushroom. You got to differentiate as specified, but, uh, it was the, you know, the food mushrooms and, uh and it smells like shit there and just like a horrible like smell when you walk through there because of the manure and fertilizer.

But I grew up there and Italian family and eventually made my way down to Maryland to go to college and play football. What did mom and dad do? My dad was a Mason, he had his own business, entrepreneur. And my mom worked for DuPont for years and then took early retirement and became a nurse. Okay.

Yeah. Two separate careers. Cool. Lots of brothers and sisters in the house? Yeah, I'm the oldest of eight with broken family. Oh my gosh. Broken family though. So like it was never any more than four in a house. Oh wow.

Four kids in a house. So question, you obviously had to become, if you're the oldest, you immediately went into sort of caregiver mode of your younger your younger Siblings, I'm assuming right? Yeah, so at what point would you say if you had to put an age on it? Were you forced to grow up? Well early because I don't remember my parents ever together So I came from a lot of brokenness like a lot like drug addicts alcoholic anxiety depression divorce child support custody battles And you had step parents into the mix and their agendas,

not getting along with people and just witnessing and watching all this stuff as a kid. I mean, ever since I can remember, I thought it was normal. So yeah, I mean, like, you know, I can tell you at eight years old, I was a really keen observer of human beings and human behavior.

And so I've always been known as being pretty grown up and mature. Yeah, so sports obviously became an outlet for you then. Oh yeah. And you got pretty good at it because you got a college scholarship to play ball. Well, I didn't get a college, I went to a division three school.

So I was never big enough. Okay. I was fast and had a head on me, but yeah, I played in college. Did you finish school? No, you didn't. Okay. God bless. I mean, you know, it's so funny. Let me ask you a question about that while we're talking about that. So is that something you regret? You look back, does that, does that always had a grinded on you forever? Uh, there's, I'll go through

seasons where I'll regret it, but at the end of the day, no. Um, when I got to college, I was playing football, but I realized that it like, I wasn't going to go anywhere after college with football. So then I saw parties. I saw parties I'd never seen before coming from a small town. I say outside of Philly, but when I went to high school, it was a small suburban, like not suburban, even rural town in Maryland actually. And when I got to college,

I saw like girls, the types of girls that were there, the parties. And it's just, that's what caught my attention. And so I went down that road, that road of parties and that was the chase. I was on chase for the good time. Like college and courses on that, that was always easy to me. What was the hustle? I was bored by it. Were you hustling in college?

What was the hustle? No, not till I dropped out. Okay. I got into the restaurant business while I was in college and watched, that was when Cocktail came out. And I watched it. I was like. Were you a flare bartender? Yeah.

Oh man. No, no, no, no, no, no, not a flare. But I did work, I was a bartender and waiter. And yeah, I had like a, you know, vision of start my own restaurant and all this. And then when you're in the restaurant business and you start to party, it's a cash business, late nights after you're done at the bar,

2.30, three o'clock, you're going to a party. And then just, you know, it's just not a good place to be, but that's where I ended up. Brother, I commiserate with you on all of that. So first off, like my college outing story, like it was one of those things where I never told people I didn't finish school. Like I never announced that.

I just let people assume, right? They knew that I was at this, you know, I went to school, I was there, but they never like knew that I didn't finish and I never brought it up. And I got pretty successful in my life. And it got to a point where I got outed was, so I'm sitting there, literally on the first day

they were filming The Apprenticeed was some sitting there literally on the first day we're filming the apprentice we're sitting there right and Trump walks in he says this year we're gonna do something a little different we're doing everything a little different this year what we've done is we've divided you guys into two teams half of you have college degrees and half of you do not because the ones that don't actually earn twice as much money as the ones that do so we're gonna go Street Smarts versus book smarts and I'm sitting do not. And he goes, the ones that don't actually earn twice as much money as the ones that do. So we're going to go street smarts versus book smarts. And I'm sitting there in this room going, Holy shit, dude. I like, like everybody that knows me is going to like,

getting skin and no, and I'm like, I'm freaking out. Right. And it like freaking out the whole time. And then literally it came out and it happened and nobody ever said, why did, why was that bothering you so much? Because I, because I think it was, you know, everybody has that little bit of imposter sister, sister, that little bit of self doubt. And it was like, man, if they find out they're going to judge me. And I felt bad about myself for that, even though it didn't hamper anything I ever wanted to do. It always just made me feel bad. So I was like, yeah, I thought people were going to like fucking out me. And then it didn't happenper anything I ever wanted to do. It always just made me feel bad. I was like, yeah, I thought people were gonna like fucking out me and then it didn't happen.

Nobody cared, right? Didn't care at all. That's the rule, man. We always think people care more about us and think about us more than they actually do. Everybody's got their own world. But nobody's thinking about you. They're thinking about themselves 100%.

And then the restaurant thing, dude, I, at 28 years old, I was involved with several restaurants and bars and I went to the doctor at 28 bleeding ulcers Oh my god doctors like well, what do you do? I'm like restaurant bar business. He's like How many hours you work? I'm like 120 he's like what's your diet? I'm like makers market cigarettes He's like you need a life change, not a judge. You need a fucking life change or you just going to eat your life. And I was done. That was the end of it, man.

I got out of everything that I had at that time and was done. Learn how to sell. I had a great time. I got to tell you, there were some great times, but there was also like, it ends up in darkness, man. Yeah. Dark times, heavy, like, yeah. Seven a.m. around somebody's kitchen table. Yeah. And then all your friends that are in college leave, go on their mission that they're going on. And you're just like, you're left with everybody else.

It's just not on a mission. Yeah. Except for the next party. And it's just like miserable. Yeah. No, no, no. And misery loves company. Not it. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So that business and that's, people talk about what the hardest thing about Las Vegas is, right? Or they want to know like,

why is Nevada so shitty with education? And the truth of it is, is because when I first moved here, it's like everything you think is normal in the world is exactly upside down here. When I moved here, I met my wife. She's why I moved here. My wife, when I met her, had a master's degree

in hospitality from UNLV, which is one of the best hospitality schools in the country, right? So what was she doing with her master's degree in hospitality? She was a cocktail waitress at the Palms, working noon to eight, noon to eight, Monday through Friday,

like banker's hours, cocktailing, making a quarter of a million dollars a year. It's a trap. With full benefits. Yeah, it traps you though. Friday, like bankers hours, cocktailing, making a quarter of a million dollars a year trap with full benefits. Yeah. Traps you though, dude, like the guy that you flip your keys to at MGM and you're like, Oh, park my car. That dude's well, maybe not anymore since they went to pay parking, but before they were doing paid parking, that dude is making 80 grand. So you have this cycle of like, yeah, it gets handed down like, well school, maybe not that important because I can get you a job at the casino dealing

or get you a job here or the bottles girl, those girls with the sparklers at the club that are making 200 grand a year take a bottle at table. It's wild here. I got trapped into sales, a sales job, in-home sales. Yeah. It's not like that, but like it was like, I got out of college, out of the restaurant business, looking for something.

One of my customers at the restaurant said, Hey, why don't you come meet with me one day? And I ended up in a in-home sales job, which is I looked, I hated it, but, but it cut my teeth in a lot of things like building rapport with strangers, presenting that's where you learn how to sell the money. Yeah. All the stuff that goes along with selling it was in home sales. That was the first spot. Yeah. So you got the license and then started doing that.

How long were you, so how long were you in real estate? How long did you just work selling out? So I was in in home sales for nine years and eventually saw my buddies making money in real estate and I'm like, he can do it. I hate to say that's the time I put them up. I always say that like, dude, if John can do it, I know I can do it.

Bro, you're not apologizing to me. Sorry, my life. I believe in myself, man. I have a firm belief in myself. If I see somebody, dude, if John can do it, I can do it. Bro, you're apologizing to me. Sorry, my life. I believe in myself, man. I have a firm belief in myself. If I see somebody, a human being doing something and I want to do it, I think I can do it. So I saw these guys making money in real estate and now looking back, they weren't top real estate agents,

but they were making more than I was making at the time. So I just started asking questions and that was in 05. Yeah, 05. And I had my real estate license for a year. I became top listing agent, top selling agent in the first year based on all the hustle that I in the grind and I knew how to do. And then I said, you know, I don't want to deal with this driving people around every day and all this stuff. I looked at the guy that I was sending my loans to or my customers to for loans

is my best friend. I grew up with and I said, dude and I'm coming to work. Yeah. No, you're not I'm coming to work for you and Cuz I was his top referral partner. He's like I don't lose that the trust me I'll make you more money than we're making right now So I came there learned the business I drove an hour and a half each way for five years To go to the office because we didn't have a lot of remote access then Yeah, just coming on where you could tap into your computer, but it was like, you know, the technology just wasn't there.

Not quite there. So I worked in a boiler room and, um, Oh six, uh, I guess it was November of Oh six. I started in the mortgage business right before the crash. And, uh, we were doing all the loans, like the two, two year arm loans, subprime, all that stuff, and mostly refis at the time and The first year cracked six figures first time ever and then I just went up from there eventually started managing I always I was aimed at up level. I'm always like, okay, who's who's at the next level? What are they doing?

What do they know that? I don't know because I came to find out that anything that you want in life If you want to up level you're not getting something that you want. You're moving too slow. You're insecure about something. It all stems from a lack of knowledge of something. Yeah. And that gave me control. And every time I want to do something, I'm like, okay, what do they know that I don't know? Let me go find it out. And that's what I did. And eventually ended up having branches up and down the East Coast. I think the most surprising thing about this story is that you could most uber successful people that are entrepreneurs, as we are, are chronically unemployable. And the fact that you could have a job for nine years to me is shocking.

Yeah. Like, well, you know what? I was very lucky because the guy that owned that company is still a friend of mine. He was a mentor to me. You got to think I was 21 years old, I think. And he just showed me the ropes. Like, you know, one of the biggest lessons I can remember him as a mentor is like, we had a problem customer and they were complaining.

They were just complaining. And he was like, I'm just going to give them their money back. And I'm like, why? We got a contract. You don't have to give them money back. I didn't get that concept. Get rid of the problem. Get rid of the problem. It's less expensive in the long run.

I didn't get it at that time, but that's a lesson I still use today. Sometimes you just have people that aren't aligned with you and it causes so much drama energy. You know, you can't your creativity gets stuck and it's just like just get rid of the problem.

Yeah, it's not worth it. So, yeah. So I working for someone, I worked for a guy that was like a mentor to me. And so I didn't feel like it at the time that it was like a job. Right. It was like a paid internship.

Yeah. And then when I got in the mortgage business, you know, as a loan officer or real estate agent, you're kind of on your own. So it wasn't much. And then when I started my branch and we had success, we kind of run around the show, even though it was under somebody else's platform, ran the show. We had a piano. Yeah. And they left us alone and we told them what we want. And I think because in that business, they're so afraid you're going to go somewhere else. Once you're producing, kiss your ass. And when you started building that I was respectful though, like I wasn't holding anybody over a bucket

Yeah, I never did that I had partners and and people my team that did but I just never operated that way But dude, well here's what for those of you listen is that are the mortgage business? I'm gonna tell you something funny about it Which is there's really two players at the end of the day when you clear everything out. There's two players UWM and Rocket. Nowadays. And they're both, they're both based in Detroit. And for whatever reason, these dudes just hate each other. It is like, it's like old school, like the men who built America, trying to take over the oil trade. It's like they hate each other. And at one point,

I want to say it was UWM came out and said, if you write paper with rocket, you can't write paper with us. Right? And we had, dude, and this is a couple of years ago at Inman, maybe three years ago at Inman, we were up in a suite because we were cutting JV deals with a bunch of other people and literally we went through like, UWM came in and they presented and then they said, this is what we'll do for you guys, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Thank you very much.

They left. And then it came Rocket and then they presented. And then we called UWM back and said, ah, you know, Rocket was better. As they said, they came back and then they were like, and we'll do all of this. And it was like, dude, watching these guys cut each other at the knees, I spiked at the end of the day.

I felt like it was wild. This is why I got out of the mortgage business. It was too commoditized. Toxic, commoditized. I just, and it's not sexy enough for me, but anyway, that's another story. But I just, I couldn't stand it. And the margins, like compression,

and to me, I just didn't want to be involved with that. I wanted to be involved with a business that I could separate myself and then nobody could find me down the street. Well, let's talk about that. Let's talk about that because dude you were doing very well with mortgage And then you woke up one day and said I just don't love this anymore I'm gonna do something different and that dude that takes a lot of brass a lot of people a lot of people can't do that Yeah, it's so what was that like first of all, I never loved it. I'll tell you that right now

I got it when you drop out of college. you're like, okay, I want to be successful. Where can I make money now? And where can I grow and where can I stack? It wasn't about what can I be fulfilled? Where can I make impact in the world? It wasn't any of that. It was like, I don't know, it's not survival, but because it was beyond survival, but I wanted to thrive. Where can I thrive? And I started making money and it started becoming a trap. And I just started feel like I was not just trapped, but like this is what this is my life, man. This is the way it's going to have to be. So I'm going to build this. And the further along it got, the more money I made, the more miserable I got. I'd come home, beautiful

wife, married 21 years, two healthy kids, house on the water, all that stuff. I'd come home and I'm conflicted. Like, why am I so upset? Like, what is this? And I started to realize like I'm around the wrong people. Yeah. Like this is not what I want to do. And so hit me when I hit 40, instead of chasing women and, uh, and getting a sports car, it hit me, I was like, I gotta make a change and I just said,

I'm, I can't do this anymore. And so I started a wind down process and then created an exit strategy. And yeah, that's where it started. But you know, it was- Did you know what you wanted to do next? Or did you just, you was like, I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I'm not doing this.

Yeah, exactly. I felt at first, the first thoughts like, what can I do not having a college degree? You know, this is back in 2018, not having a college degree. You know, this is back in 2018. Not having a college degree. I had just lost a million dollars. My partner and I, I mean, we got stripped behind the scenes on some margins.

And- Yeah, if you don't lose a million once in your life, you ain't trying. I had a big face in my mouth, and I was just like, man, like, what am I gonna do? And I just felt like, I felt boxed in. I didn't like that feeling. So eventually I just said, you know what? I gonna do? And I just felt like, I felt boxed in. I didn't like that feeling. So eventually I just said, you know what?

I gotta start doing something else, man. I don't know what it is. And so I started praying and I pray all the time now, man. Like I'm an unapologetic believer in God, man. Like he's, you know, when I was going through those dark times in college and partying and all that, I've felt so alone times. There could be people all around me, I just felt like alone. And now I don't ever.

Yeah. And so I pray all the time while I was praying and I was just like, please show me a way, man. Like show me there's got to be something. And the thing that came to me was you got to get known. And I was like, okay, well, I think I'm already known. I'm like, I've been on covers magazines locally, regionally, done news and all that stuff.

And then I said no globally, globally. And I they said, no, globally, man, globally. And I was like, I don't care about ego though. I'm not an ego, but I don't care about that. That's what I thought about getting known. You have to, it's all about ego. Can be, but that's not the right route to travel. I was thinking more along the lines once I started thinking more about impact.

If you get known, you're gonna create more impact. And so I committed to getting known globally. Well, real quick, I think that's something that people that aren't on that road or aren't on that mission, they just can't get their head around it. They're like, they look at everybody that does stuff that you do and it's all dudes and egomaniac. It's just all ego driven, blah, blah. And they don't understand that it's like, no dude, I just, I really, I got mine, I'm good, I did me, right?

And now I can help other people by doing this stuff and they don't get it. Yeah, well, I talk about that a lot to people, I'll say, you know, you gotta become a celebrity in your space, like you gotta become like the brand, that one, that's where that one came from. And you'll hear people say, oh, I don't really care about being a celebrity, I just wanna make some money and it's like, no's where that one came from. And you'll hear people say, I don't really care about being a celebrity.

I just want to make some money. And it's like, no, you're not getting it. I don't care about my ego. Like I don't, it's not about that. It's about impact. The more you get known, if you're getting known globally, you're going to knock out your local market, no problem. Like if you're in real estate and you, like, if I was going to be in right now,

like coming to Vegas and getting a real estate, I would be like, I'm the king of real estate in Vegas. I'm saying that day one. Yeah. Because you got to be it. Like just be it. And then all of a sudden your attention starts focusing on all the ways that you're going to be the king of Vegas real estate.

Now you might hear that. And me saying that on social media, this guy, where'd he come from? Doesn't matter what you think. It doesn't matter what the number one, number two, number doesn't matter. All that matters is what you think in your head and what you keep saying every day. You start taking these actions and before you know it, you got billboards all around where C Rock's the king of real estate in Vegas. Here's the king of real estate, even before the numbers prove it.

Yeah. And that's how you become known and successful. But again, it's not about ego. It's just a portrayal of that celebrity. So I started realizing like, I got to become a celebrity in my space, getting known globally. And I started going on podcasts, man. And that changed everything. Like I didn't even know.

Here's the thing. A guy invited me on a podcast 2019. He asked me three times. I said, no, no. And the third time he said, why? And I'm like, dude, I don't have an iPod. He's like, what are you talking about? Like, I don't know.

I guess I don't know what I'm talking about. I don't know. I didn't know. And so I was like, I don't have an iPod. He's like, what are you talking about? Like, I don't know. I guess I don't know what I'm talking about. I didn't know. And so as stupid as that sounds, especially for what we do now, um, he said, no, man, just come on the show. I'll interview you. So I, uh, he said, I respect your leadership and abilities and, and your

entrepreneurial, all that stuff. I said, all right, come on. So I was being interviewed and I noticed this feeling while I was being interviewed. You've had to feel it before as a guest before I was like, shit, this that stuff. I said, all right, come on. So I was being interviewed and I noticed this feeling while I was being interviewed. You've had to feel it before as a guest, before I was like, shit, this is awesome. Somebody showing interest in you, this isn't gonna go out to people, they care about what you think and what you say.

I was just like, this is amazing. I said, if I can bottle this, I'll be unstoppable. So I got off that podcast, I called my assistant, Kim, at the time, I'm in mortgage business. I said, Kim, clear the schedule. At this point, I was working maybe two hours a week in the mortgage business,

because we had to systematize. And I said, I gotta be on podcasts every day. We just gotta do this. And she's like, okay, but how? I don't know. The how doesn't matter, we're just gonna do it. Commitment first, commitment first, not how first, commitment first, the how shows up.

It always does. But nobody commits, they always want the how first. But more importantly, the who shows up. Well, that's part of the how, right? Yeah, the who, not how. Yeah, I heard that before, but the who is part of the how. Yeah. Right, so.

But you're the who, so that's why I'm saying that. Well, here's the thing, yeah, yeah, I'm the who, that's right. You're the who now, that's what I'm saying. I can get you on podcasts. But here's the thing, man, like when you like when you start committing to something Stuff starts to appear around you that has always been there. I started seeing friends that had podcasts I had no idea that podcast but they were my friends. How did I not know that? I wasn't paying attention to it

I started seeing all these opportunities. I started going on all their shows Seven to ten a week. I've been on over 1,100 as a guest in the last five years from doing this. Better shows kept coming, bigger stages kept coming, that work like massive network expansion. And so I just leaned into it. And before you know it, then the how came for the next step in my life, which is, wow, I have a system here.

I documented this process of getting on podcasts and what you, how to leverage every aspect of it. And I got to help other people do this now. So we created that one to help people become that one in their industry through guesting on podcasts and leveraging every aspect of it with some things that I figured out that nobody's still doing. Still not doing. Like what? Like what?

So first of all, obviously before Reels and TikToks came out, I was repurposing everything into clips and then posting it everywhere, I was repurposing everything into clips and then posting it everywhere, becoming omnipresent. But the key factor is, is that when people see you being interviewed by multiple people, not just having to show yourself for just once in a while, your credibility and authority perception wise from the people that are watching it goes through the roof beyond what you even actually feel about yourself. So you become like this, it's wild because when I started doing this, I would go to events and people want to take the roof beyond what you even actually feel about yourself. So you become like this. It's wild because when I started doing this, I would go to events and people want to take selfies with me and, and my family would be with me and they'd be

like, what is this? This is crazy. Like, why do they want to take a picture with you? We don't even want to take a picture with you. Um, just weird stuff. Even people are like, you know, even earlier, they're like, I know that that guy's somebody, but I don't know who it is, but I'm gonna get a picture. But see, I was good at branding my, like my last name,

if I said Sirocco, it wouldn't have worked. So I branded Siroc. And then it made recognition really easy. So people started coming up to me all the time and I was like, there's something here. And I didn't let it get to my ego. I just realized that I have something that I could document and build for other people.

And so when we started doing this now, so repurposing contents one. Number two, this is the most powerful thing ever. Every show I would go on within a week or two, I would get on a 15 minute call with the host. And I would set it up while I was still here. And I would show interest in the host on that call. It wasn't about me at all, it was all about,

hey, what are you working on right now that's got you excited? What's the vision that you have going forward? Challenges are you dealing with right now? I would ask these questions and actively listen, and then it would allow me to help them, connect them with someone, make a suggestion, whatever. And it expanded the network drastically.

Cause people would give the shirt off their back if you showed interest in them. That is, and nobody does that. Dude, that's the Dan Fleischman superpower, right? Dan is a friend and he's always said my phone is my superpower Yeah, because no matter what you need dude, that guy has got somebody else on they can do it. He's great at it Love it. Here's the other thing so not just podcasts then I carried this over and I was like, you know what?

I call these 15 minis these calls. Mm-hmm 15 minis work across the board So I was like if it works with podcast hosts I'm gonna start reaching out to people on Instagram and I call them perfect strangers. So I set up a system through Instagram where I can scrape Instagram okay for the target audience. I send out 50 to 60 messages a day, you know, letting them know that man their content's great, I appreciate their content and I'd love to connect more. And then they respond and I lead them to 15 minis and I have calls. I have like three to five a day in between podcasts and business meetings with total strangers.

And I asked them that, that right now that's got you excited. What's the vision for the future? And they either come, they need to get on podcasts. They need help with their Instagram growth and strategy. They need help with capital. They need help with their Instagram growth and strategy. They need help with capital. They need help with connecting. I mean, it's amazing. What platform are you using for your cold outreach? We use FlowChat. Okay.

I have a team that like works it. Dude, if you haven't seen it, and this is literally that's why the Scotsman you just met looks frazzled today because he's been in it 12 hours a day figuring this out. But Go high level just just launched AI across all of their stuff and dude it's $97 for voice. I mean just oh yeah it's wild how cheap that is. Like I saw Russell was doing like his last click funnels

live deal. I'm like I wonder why he's stopping it and I see this I'm like oh yeah cause Russell's gonna ride off into the sunset if I'm Russell. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. His high level is just on steroids. Yeah. Well, here's the thing, though. So with speaking of AI, there's still got to be some human connection and touch to it. Right. And then there's also platforms like like Instagram with if you do some of these reach out things and they're automated too much, it'll shut your account. I can't risk that. Yeah.

So we still have a lot of manual involvement, but it's still automated. But it works, man. Yeah. And then we've also done LinkedIn. We have a way on LinkedIn right now where you can create 500 unique accounts, unique IP addresses, and then AI creates these accounts for you. And then we can send up to 15,000 messages a month to a targeted audience. So my whole email through LinkedIn, I'm in it's called email. Yeah. Listen, I, I,

I want to connect with people to help them. Yeah, that's dope. My business, that one is just a tool that we take on the mission. And I just want to help so many people and lean into that. That's why Dan's good too. He cares about people. Yeah. Wants to help people. And it's not all about the dollar. The dollar follows. And so when I switched my mind frame up about just wanting to help people. And it's not all about the dollar. The dollar follows. And so when I switch my mind frame up about just wanting to help people, waking up every day, obsessed with helping people, whether it's a connection or strategy, whatever it's change everything, man. It's makes life so

much easier. So when you started that one, when you, how did you, obviously the strategy you just talked about, but here you are. So this is the decision you made to start this. So was it, what was the, what was the story arc of that? Was it podcast and then agency? Was it agency? Was what, what was the progression? So I started my podcast after I've been on probably a hundred shows as a guest. I've had 900, close to a thousand episodes of that show now. But so I had that going, I was still guesting and then I just winded the mortgage thing down. And I, while I was winding that down, I started the agency because I wanted to help others cash well help others

I want to get some cash. Yeah, it's that money. Yeah, it's worth 20s. We're doing for money Look, I had to you know, sometimes when you make a move like this, like you said, it's courageous man Like I wake up some mornings during that time. What are you doing? Like what is like you have a license you? This is what you're used to you're comfortable why are you doing like all these thoughts would run through my head. And I just kept telling myself, keep going, dude, just keep going. And very shortly after that, it started to like snowball. I was like, totally this is working. Yeah.

And then when you're starting doing a startup, you got to figure out pricing, you got to figure out your offers, your packages, and then optimize at all times and then raise prices and see how far you can go to based on the value you're delivering and the quality of clients gets better when you optimize everything. And so over the last three years, that's what we've been doing. We've been just figuring out how to optimize everything,

optimize fulfillment. So that was the arc. And now we're launching that one podcast tour to do more promotion and get involved with more people in person, travel the country more and just getting known. Well, let's talk about, let's talk about it again. I never want these things to turn it in for commercials, dude,

but I do want people to kind of understand what they do when they work with you. So if I'm somebody that calls you, let's say I call you up and I say, Hey dude, I want to build my brand. I want you to give me a podcast. What is my expectation? Like what, what, what would I expect is somebody that does that? So we have an onboarding call with them to find out their vision, their mission, where they are currently, cause we want to meet them where they are and then take them

you know, to the next level. So we find out all that information, how, how, you know, whether they've been on podcasts, what's their strategy currently. And then we just share with them what I've done and what I'm currently doing. And then we just dial in a great press kit for them. Cause we know what podcasts are, and like. And then we just,

we create a roster of shows to introduce them to. And it's very hyper intentional. Then we just get them warm, warm connections. And we try not to cold pitch ever. Sometimes we have to and on the client, but try not to cold pitch and we get them warm connections. And then they say, Hey, yeah, John, like to have you on the show. Here's the link. And they get booked on the show. No, it's such, it's such a fine line for you though, because do you guys turn people down? I mean, because you can't dilute because obviously if you started sending me a bunch of garbage, I'd be like, bro, what are you doing? 100% we first started, I would work with anybody just to see you have to do right.

Cause you have to. And then very, very slowly it started to evolve into a situation where we became exclusive. Yeah, I don't just work with anybody, no, not at all. And if we get somebody that pays us and we find out that they're not aligned, we just give them their money back and move on. Yeah. Because I don't, yes, 100%.

Who's your ideal client? Ideal client. What's the avatar of that? Well, ideally I'd like to have somebody that's been on podcasts before, but they just don't want to have that time and attention directed towards researching new shows, reach out to people, and they don't want to have that time and attention directed towards research and new shows, reach out to people and they don't want to hire internally because the way we structured it is you couldn't

hire a VA, a virtual assistant from overseas for the same amount of money with the expertise and the network and the systems of process we have. So I want to enter basically, you know how some people have like fractional CEOs fractional CMOs. We want to be that Department that you just interject you just plug into your company Yeah, and then we do all the reach out and get you on shows so you can show up and perform So when you started the business, did you have a scaling plan? Like did you start out and say okay, like it's just just me today when I get to this point Like I need to make this higher. I need to make that higher or just organically as you're going

No, I scaled to make that higher or just organically as you're going through it. I scaled the mortgage business. So you know, look, I was a loan officer and I had so many deals come in and I couldn't take anymore. And then I had delays, closing delays because I didn't know how to scale. I didn't know how to delegate. So no, 100%. And just basically structured the same way I did in the mortgage business, where we would

have certain processors and assistants handling certain number of loans. They'd have a pipeline and then we call them pods. We'd set up pods and then we would just have them. So we do the same now as we have pods, clients get a team and that team works on that pod with clients. And then everything we do, we document. One of my favorite books, which basically lays out what I've already done in the past, but I never really documented it was Dan Martell's buy back your time, where everything you do, you document it, you shoot a video on it,

and then you document it. And then that way you can replicate it. You can bring somebody in, it just, they don't know how to do the podcast booking side or anything, but they know how to follow a checklist. And you create a checklist and they follow the checklist and they know they've done a job. That is the biggest gripe that I literally just had a

Meeting here with all of our team leaders like all the people running businesses inside of our business And I'm like how many of you guys have a loom library of all of your processes and they're like maybe two of them I'm like so every time you bring on new agent You're literally starting from zero with your time and training that and you're setting them up for failure, dude It's setting them up failure. So we want to set them up for failure. Dude, it's crazy. You're setting them up for failure. So we want to set people up for success. So how do you do that? Well, you bring them in and make it as easy a transition as possible and then getting

things on a gradient scale and work them up into more difficult things. But you have everything laid out like a blueprint or a, what's it called? A step-by-step, not step-by-step, but it's a, yeah, they just, they're just guided into the business so that their comfort level gets better and better as they go. Yeah. And they have confidence building, you know, and they can have quick wins when they come work.

Yeah. Well, so let's talk about that. That's interesting too. How do you hire? What's your hiring process like? So in the, well, basically what we've done so far is we've got two Filipino VAs that help us out. Todd is the sales calls and oversees the booking department.

I have an ops manager and she came with me from the mortgage company. So I try to look in my network. Yeah. And that's mainly what I like to do is add for my network from the past. We have my son. I like to help young people out and teach them the game. My son, my ops manager's daughter works with us. Yeah. The guy that booked you was 16 years old. That's my kid. Yeah. That's who booked you. He's 18. My son's 16. That's who booked you. That's who booked you on this. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Because we just show them the ropes. Right. Yeah. But from here, really, like, I'd like to look at contracting. I don't like to have W2 employees, really. Yeah. I like to contract out and then teach them how to have set themselves up in LLC and have their own little business. Like I've, there's nothing better for me than to bring somebody in, teach them the ropes, and then have them get other business too and then explode. So I have to go find somebody else.

Yeah. That's the way we hire. And the cool thing about doing something that nobody's really done, which is what you did, was you're not going out to try to find some grizzled industry vet that has all these problems. You're just trying to hire the smartest people you can. I don't want to deal with that anymore. Yeah, dude. I quit hiring industry-specific people for a lot of our companies, and I just try to hire the smartest people we can.

Yeah. I can teach somebody any business. I can't teach somebody how to be smart. Man, I've had old dogs trying to teach them new tricks. I've had, bang my head against the wall, like people. And then, you know, in the mortgage real estate business, you had to phase where people were getting big signing bonuses and I couldn't do anything to keep them.

Yeah. Cause there were, there were some loan officers being offered 500 to a million dollars signing bonuses just to come over to UWM rocket. Yeah. Any of those. Yeah. And then it was just like, man, this is crazy. And I couldn't argue with them. No. Why wouldn't you take that? Dude, you have to do it with family. They know they can always come back. You know, so I just, that was the part of the business

I didn't like, but yeah, now I brand new. Nobody's done this. What we're doing right now, the way we're doing it. Yeah. And I just get real creative and try different things and. And make it go. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about the book, dude,

because I love this. Even the title about the book dude because I love this even the title of the book rocket fuel how to turn your failures into into fuel and it's so funny dude because Literally yesterday had a situation where my daughter faced some adversity through a sport that she plays and You know My daughter's very much me. My son is very affable. He's very much my wife, right? My daughter's Helen wheels.

And my wife's like, you're gonna go talk to her. I go, no, cause it won't do any good for me to talk to her right now. Cause she's, it's got to sting her today. Today's got a sting. She's gonna let it walk. But tomorrow she's gonna get the dude, this is gasoline. It can either burn you up or you can put it in the tank

for rocket fuel. That's exactly what I said. It was funny. And then I get you to see the name of your book. I'm like, Oh, there you go. Yeah, there it is. Perfect topic today. So, yeah, I mean, what, I, what, what, why did you want to write a book about that message in the first place? Well, because of where I came from and brokenness I witnessed, I mentioned earlier,

I was very observant as a young kid and I witnessed the people around me that were dealing with alcohol problems or prescription drug addiction, or they would always tell a story. It was always based on their past, right? Of why they were being the way they were right now. And I said, you can't, it was so obvious to me, you can't see that you're creating this life

that you're living right now. It was almost comical to me at a young age and I would call them out on it And they would get like pissed and try to argue and deny and I'm like now you when you know something even as a kid Like when you know something, you know something. Yeah tooth first not real buddy Come on, man, and so I knew that that was that was what was happening So I started realizing wait a minute if you tell a bad story about your past You must be able to tell a story about the future and then go live into that

So that's what I started doing as a kid. I was like, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. And creating these visions and then executing upon them. And I was seeing results and I was like, wow. But also anytime I saw a setback, discouragement, I'll tell you one story real quick. So when I was living with my dad, I moved in with him and his new wife when I was 10 years old. Was it 10? I was eight, my dad. I moved in with him and his new wife when I was 10 years old.

Was it 10? I was eight, eight years old. And very quickly I realized it wasn't an environment conducive for success, okay? My stepmom was jealous of my mom, my dad's side of the family. She was mentally abusive, verbally abusive. Like it was bad and I had threats come in my way as a kid. I realized after a few years that I, I had an option to get out and I shouldn't be in a situation.

So my mom filed court papers to get me back to move with her. And when my dad, I didn't say anything to my dad until he got the papers delivered to him. I came home from school one day and he said, what's this paper here says you want to move back with your mom, you know? And my dad was Mason. He had, had it pretty well off.

My mom, not so much. And my mom was moving on to her third marriage and all this stuff. And so you would think that that wouldn't be the spot that you would want to go. Yeah. But there was love there. There's no love here. Yeah. Right.

And so he came, he confronted me and I said, yeah, I want to move back with my mom. I, there's no discussion needed to be had. He said, all right, go back to your room. So he went, I went back to my room, for him and he said hey, you know what now? My dad was a he was my hero He had these big forearms and rough hands hard worker Yeah, and he always had a wad of hundred dollar bills in his pocket all the time Seems it's a very Italian Philly to have he'd show us money all the time with like I Benjamin Franklin was like that was awesome

And I always want a lot of those Well, he came back in the room when he confronted me and he pulled that wild $100 bills out and he peeled one off and he crumpled it up and he threw it at me. He said, here, you're gonna need this when you're living on the streets with your mother then one day.

And I was like, what did I just do? I make a mistake? All these thoughts go, you know, I was 10 at this point. All right. Yeah. Still. Still 10 years old. Yeah, man.

Not exactly the seasoned vet at ten No, but I said, you know And then all of a sudden it came to me. Wait a minute, dude You're not gonna need that money like you're not gonna need that money. Like you do. Let's show him This is like stuff running through my head, man I'm always talking to myself by the way ever since I can remember and I'm like, come on, dude. Let's go Let's let's rock now. And so I Basically use that basically used that scene

for my life all the way through high school, college, playing football, all that stuff. Anytime I needed it, I just fed off that. It was fuel, right? I didn't understand how I was really doing. I was subconscious. Well, when I hit my 40s and I started like really working on myself

and find out who I am and what I've been through and where I'm gonna go, started to realize this concept, like this rocket fuel law. I was like, what have I been doing all my life? That's been like creating this success. I realized that if you take everything that comes your way and you have two, a choice, two choices, one fuel tank or trunk fuel tank or trunk.

And it eliminates chaos. Good analogy. It eliminates chaos. Like chaos comes from when you have too many choices. Binary decision. It's in a tank or it's in a trunk. Trunk weighs you down, slows you down. Tank, convert, rocket fuel, come unstoppable. And I just became, I was like, oh shit, this is like a law, rocket fuel law. And so I just wrote a book about my story and all the instances of that law. And then during that time I ran into Grant Cardone, I read the 10x rule and

I was like, I vibe with this guy a little bit, this message. And then I got him to write the Ford. I said while I was writing the book that I was going to get him to write the Ford because his story and a lot of people have the story, right? Yeah. But his story with his dad dying when he was 10, all the stuff, it just resonated with me of how he used that as fuel. And so I got him to write the forward for the book, right, when he was doing Undercover Billionaire. And just, I see this story. You have the story, I'm sure.

Seen the story so many times now. It's just like John Maxwell has his leadership laws. This is the Rock and Fuel law. Yeah. The unstoppable. Yeah, dude, it's like, look, I don't have, I don't have the terrible backstory. I mean, straight middle class, whatever, I don't have the terrible backstory.

I mean, I, it's straight middle-class, whatever. I mean, father was an attorney. My parents got divorced very young and my dad. That's part, that's yeah. My dad banged my mom out bad in a divorce. You know, if you're listening to this and you're married to a Southern lawyer in a small Southern town, don't get divorced.

Yes. So in town, it's not going to go well for you. So yeah, I mean, we were, for us it was kind of a weird deal, right? Because we lived in the most expensive neighborhood, right? Cause my, we had the house, my dad left the house, but yeah, we were broke. So like all of my friends that lived all around us all had things, could all do whatever. And my mom was always struggling, right? Just struggling. So it created this really weird dynamic.

And it's probably led into like earlier when I said, I was so worried, but other people were going to think about me when they found out. That's a, that's a, that's a trauma situation. Sure. Not getting led. Yeah. Just everybody's got their own.

It's a, and you can't compare it to someone else's. It's like a human being's dealing with some kind of tragedy or trauma or conflict. Yeah. And then it's like, what do you do with that? Yeah. Obviously you figured out how to put it in a tank, not the trunk. Yeah. Well, do one of my proudest things like, look on the apprentice, I got fired. No news. You know, newsflash. There you go. Spoiler alert.

If you come back and watch it. Yeah, I get clipped. But the thing that I'm most proud about that show was the show. Psychologists wrote a book called Sweet Success and called me to interview me about it after after all the seasons of the show. And I said, why don't you interview me? She goes, cause you tested higher in resiliency than anybody ever had. And I was like, all right, cool, whatever, there you go.

So, hey man, I'll take it. Like I don't look back at anything in my life as a negative, it was all a gift. Everything is a gift to me cause it makes you who you are and builds you. I was talking to a CPA that works with billionaires, right? This company deals with like probably most of the billionaires in the United States Yeah, and he said not one of his clients

Has been to a situation where they didn't lose everything at least once most of them twice Yeah, you're not trying hard enough and then and so that that's another Example the rocket fuel lot works If you know if you're not willing to throw it all the way and go work at McDonald's, you're not entrepreneurial. That doesn't cross your mind. Listen, I still deal with it today. I mean, I still have times where things like that are happening, but I always say like now it's like so much quicker. I don't have any motion tied to it now. So much quicker. Like, oh, that's going in a tag. Yes. The worse it is,

oh, the more octane it has dude It's like Alex Ramozi was saying a couple I saw a clip of him on social media This is how powerful one clip can be this white month ago and I still think about it I literally think about this clip from Ramozi almost every day. We said look my life is a story I am the hero of my story every every time adversity comes up I think to myself this is gonna make a great story So the bigger the bigger the problem the bigger the dragon I get to slay the bigger the hero of my story. Every time adversity comes up, I think to myself, this is gonna make a great story. So the bigger the problem, the bigger the dragon I get to slay, the bigger the hero I become.

I look at everything that way. And I was like, man, that's really fucking good. Well, and here's the other thing too. At the end of the day, like a lot of times we wanna be the hero, but when you take that weight off your shoulders, and as a believer, like I just, I give all the credit to God, man.

I mean, and it's takes the pressure off of you. So I've gone through these transitions and a hit 40 started to realize like, it's not about me. That made a difference too. Like now it's about, okay, what can I do to help other people? And then everything that goes good, just give credit to somewhere else. Don't take credit for it. Yeah.

When people ask me, like, if was there a mind shift in your life that it's like that, that mind shift that affected you more than anything else. I think the day that I realized that I am a bit player in everybody else's movie and they're the star of it, not me. Yeah. Yeah. I think, cause you know, dude, why don't, why are, why don't they think this is important?

Why are they reacting a certain way? It's like, oh yeah, I'm just a bit player in their life. They're like, I'm just starting my own movie and I gotta let that go. And now anytime anybody does something that I don't agree with, right, I would take as a slight or whatever else, I'm just gonna go like, dude, I'm number 57

on the call sheet today in their movie. I'm nobody, it doesn't matter. It does not matter. It's not me, it doesn't matter. They're in their story. So I nobody. It doesn't matter. It does not matter. It's not me. It doesn't matter. They're in their story. So I want to talk about this, man, because you said you got an 18 year old. How old are the kids? 12. My daughter's 12. All right. 12. So you being a gentleman of means as we all are, I ask everybody this because it is my biggest fear on the planet. Somebody asked me what I'm scared of. And here it is. It's a raising worthless kids terrifies me. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Because dude, you want to give your kids all the nice stuff you want it. You want it, you know, when you go on vacation, if you're sitting up front that you want them set up front with you, it's just how it is. So what does Mikey Searock and my Mrs. Searock do to make sure that Searock Jr. and little Mrs. Searock are not entitled terrible humans? Well, there's a balance, right? Because I believe, see, when I grew up, I was sitting in the nosebleed seats all the time. Right.

And I didn't think it was possible for me to sit down there. Yeah. So there's a balance there between like giving them everything like that and never letting them sit up in a nosebleed because they don't ever know that it's possible for them. Yeah. So I believe I think I lean more on that side, it's shown that it's possible for them. So I believe, I think Eileen Moore on that side is showing them what's possible for them, but also knowing that it's, hey, this is me that did this, not you.

You didn't get this, you don't deserve this. You're getting it from me. But then the other part of it is I'm very, very hard on my kids at home. Like I don't beat them or anything like that. No, no, no, no. You have high expectations. High expectation standards to the point where they're like,

you know, you're not like, you know, I'm not trying to be their friend. Like, you know, but it hurts me sometimes because I'm like, man, he's pissed at me or, you know, or she's pissed at me or whatever. And it's like, this is better for him. I think I tell my son, I tell my son, this is the job, dude. Yeah, this is the job. I'm your father. I'm not your friend, man. Yeah. And I'd rather be hard on them and put them in really tough situations at home

So when they go out to the world, it's a piece of cake, dude I tell you I tell you a couple things I started doing recently. I love number one So my boy's working here now, right? So occasionally, you know, he's done it. He'll do the podcast stuff But I have him doing other stuff. He's really bright kid 4.65 GPA all IP classes really smart kid. And so I've just said, okay, cool. Um, I'll take this from the bookkeeper. You can enter the credit card charges into the quick books, just the credit card charges. And dude,

I started him with that and he would come around the corner and say shit like, man, I am so glad we got rid of Cox cable. It got YouTube TV. That bill was crazy. And it was like, yeah, cause now he sees how much every little thing costs. So that was one. And then number two, cause now he has a job and I'm paying him and he has money coming in

other than his little side businesses. I said, here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna give you a credit card just cause it's stupid to pay cash for stuff. I'm giving you a chase reserve credit card. Here it is. I said, once a month, we're gonna reconcile this. And he goes, well, how much more I know I'm spending?

Are you gonna have to track it? Yeah. Right. So we sit down once a month we're gonna reconcile this. And he goes, well, how much more I know I'm spending? Are you gonna have to track it? Yeah. Right? So we sit down once a month and I add it all up and I make him transfer all the money to me at one time. And I'm like, bro, you spent like $180 to Taco Bell. What are you doing? And it's gone from freewheeling good time, you know,

hating, throwing money all over the place to, yeah, I'm really cut back this month. I'm eating at home, I'm being responsible. I'm like, dude, this is the greatest. Yeah, so I created my son an LLC. Awesome. So he's a contractor for our company. And so I'm showing him how to do the taxes.

I'm showing him how to take advantage of every tax write off you can as an LLC, like all the loopholes and all the tax advantages. And, but also showing him how to get a check in X amount goes into your savings for taxes. Now I tell them to put 40% away and tax count, right? He's not going to have to pay that in the day because of the, all the way, the money shakes out, but he'll still have money sitting there.

And then he'll be like, Oh, I have extra money now. So it's, you know, so I teach him that stuff. I teach my daughter, my daughter started businesses already. Um, she's, I, you know, I'll give her a hundred bucks and I'll tell her, look, I'll give you another hundred bucks if you can double that money in two weeks, give them challenges like that. Yeah. Yeah. So little things like that. You see these kids today and it's, it's, I think my kids are head to like, do you see that? I don't know if you saw this.

So I'm like 10 year old kid Created a meme coin Yesterday and rugged for 30 grand. He's 10 He's 10 years old 2 million if you go state it and we could have made 2 million if it stayed in it. Yeah, dude, but You're 10 and he's speaking the language. Did you hear him? Yes, he's costing and all that but you're speaking the language You're 10 and you made more money than these people, dude. I, it's. Wait a minute. But here's the thing. I've realized something. What's that?

I don't know if this is true or not. Okay. But this is, I'm just, observations are like starting to tell me different things. I truly believe now I'm starting to believe this, that we come into this world and we come into a body, but the spirit or whatever it is that operates us is old. It's got information. You heard old souls. Yeah, of course. Things right. I say, I don't know, man, like I'm a Christian and everything. And I don't know how the Bible really spells this out effectively or clearly, but there's got to

be something there that these people come in and it's not about how old your physical body is. Yeah, it's got this. There's something more to that. Cause you see some people, not just business, but like athletes or musicians or it's just, there's something there, man. Did there's, there's nothing in here before. There's nothing more humbling than when you you're flipping through like Instagram and you see like an eight year old doing something that you do better than you'll ever be able to do it. You're like, I just say he's been here before. So he's got to have been playing.

I don't know if there's past lives, man. I don't know, but I've been playing drum since I was a little kid and I'll see some nine year old just shredding doing stuff that I will never be able to do. And I'm like, well, that's just disheartening. Yeah. Well, I don't know whether it's the spirit or if the cells have memories from the cells came from or something, but there's something there.

People know how to make money. Like naturally some of them, people it's it's wild something Well, I would have let's finish up with this man Cuz I think it's a good way to finish up So obviously very heavy with the Christian faith love that do very well along for Northship There's got to be some causes that are near and dear to your heart Do you have giving is built in a part of your of your business or you do you have? An arm of it that works that way or talk to you. So when So when I was in a mortgage business, we worked with an organization called Believe in Tomorrow.

And they had basically an organization that would take people that had terminal ill kids and give them vacations, the whole family at the beach where we live. And then I got out of the mortgage business. And then when I took that switch, now I'm going to build the business. Everything's going to the business. And then we're just helping entrepreneurs and focusing on giving connections and all that. And then I'm gonna get back into working

with that same organization, cause it's just the best. Yeah, to me, it's like to see the families and the kids when they can escape the stress. Believe in tomorrow is the organization that they have children's hospital or children's home by the sea, it's called. And it's just, it's out of Baltimore and they expand down to Ocean City,

Maryland with houses, houses that they put people in for vacations. That's awesome. All right. Well, if they want to find you, how do they connect with you? How do they find you? Mikey C rock on Instagram, man. Mikey C rock on Instagram and that one agency, that one agency. Look, rocket fuels on Amazon. Yes. All of it, dude. Thank you so much for coming I appreciate it Didn't get something out of that there's something wrong with you not wrong with me

Yeah, I mean personal brand is so important and the best way like literally it used to be every kid's dream to be on TV For 10 minutes. I mean everybody has their 15 minutes of fame It's so easy to get out there in front of people. If you have the right people behind you, if your goal is to become known, I would reach out to this dude. I do business with their agency. It's great. I think you'd be impressed. Anyway, I'll see you next week. What's up everybody. Thanks for joining us for another episode of Escaping the Drift.

Hope you got a bunch out of it, or at least as much as I did out of it. Anyway, if you want to learn more about the show, you can always go over to escapingthedrift.com, you can join our mailing list, but do me a favor, if you wouldn't mind, throw up that five star review, give us a share, do something, man. We're here for you, hopefully you'll be here for us. But anyway, in the meantime, we will see you at the next episode.