Finding Peak w/ Ryan Hanley - He Started Living on Purpose (and how you can too)

Episode Date: October 10, 2024

Spartan philosophy, built in the black-ops lab of business: https://www.findingpeak.comFinding Peak podcast: https://linktr.ee/ryan_hanley What if a single moment could transform your entire life tra...jectory? Join us as we explore the incredible journey of Matthew Hoover, a former minister turned purpose-driven branding specialist and CEO of Message Masters.Connect with Matthew HooverWebsite: https://message-master.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-hoover-4571248b/Sponsors:Get a FREE trial of unlimited access and an additional 20% discount on Shortform through my special link: https://shortform.com/ryanhanleyTake your podcasting journey to new heights. Get booked on high-influence podcasts with That 1 Agency: https://bit.ly/that1podcasttourEpisodes You Might Enjoy:From $2 Million Loss to World-Class Entrepreneur: https://lnk.to/delkFrom One Man Shop to $200M in Revenue: https://lnk.to/tommymelloIs Psilocybin the Gateway to Self-Mastery? https://lnk.to/80upZ9Get in Touch: https://linktr.ee/ryan_hanley--Recommended Tools for GrowthOpusClip: #1 AI video clipping and editing tool: https://link.ryanhanley.com/opusRiverside: HD Podcast & Video Software | Free Recording & Editing: https://link.ryanhanley.com/riversideWhisperFlow: Never waste time typing on your keyboard again: https://link.ryanhanley.com/whisperflowCaptionsApp: One app for all your social media video creation: https://link.ryanhanley.com/captionsappGoHighLevel: It's time to take your business workflow to the Next Level: https://link.ryanhanley.com/gohighlevelPerspective.co: The #1 funnel builder for lead generation: https://link.ryanhanley.com/perspective--Episodes You Might Enjoy:From $2 Million Loss to World-Class Entrepreneur: https://lnk.to/delkFrom One Man Shop to $200M in Revenue: https://lnk.to/tommymelloIs Psilocybin the Gateway to Self-Mastery? https://lnk.to/80upZ9This show is part of the Unplugged Studios Network — the infrastructure layer for serious creators. 👉 Learn more at https://unpluggedstudios.fm.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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Starting point is 00:00:59 com. Happy holidays. Want to give your host a gift? Consider subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show this holiday season. It really helps the show grow. From all of us at Believe,
Starting point is 00:01:12 have a Merry Christmas, everyone, and a happy holiday. The worst possible, like, feeling you can have about yourself, it, like, hit. But at the exact same time, it was like Jesus, like said, hey,
Starting point is 00:01:30 I'm going to give you a hug anyway. And like this like ridiculous, unfair, unmerited, undeserved love just hit at that same time. I broke as a human being. It was like, it happened in that moment where all of a sudden, like, boom, everything about me just completely changed. I fell to the floor. I just started weeping and weeping and weeping and weeping and weeping. Let's go. Yeah, make a look.
Starting point is 00:02:00 Make a look. The Ryan Hanley. Show shares the original ideas, habits, and mindsets of world-class original thinkers you can use to produce extraordinary results in your life and business. This is the way. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the show. We have a tremendous conversation for you today with Matthew Hoover. Matt is a former minister at a megachurch turned purpose-driven branding specializes.
Starting point is 00:02:32 CEO of Message, Masters. This is an episode that is going to take you through a dynamic journey. Matt's origin story is incredible. And it's necessary to understand how he got to the point where he is helping entrepreneurs, leaders define their purpose and convey that message through how they communicate. And his thoughts on communication in general, what makes good communication versus bad communication are all battle tested through his time as a minister. This is an emotional roller coaster.
Starting point is 00:03:10 It's an incredible story, and I am just can't be more excited to share it with you. Being so excited that I can't even come up with a good way of describing it. That being said, I love you for being here. I love you for sharing this show. I love it when you guys leave us a rating and review. I read them all. I appreciate the hell out of you. And it is my great pleasure to bring you, Matthew Hoover.
Starting point is 00:03:37 Dude, so I was incredibly excited when our mutual friend, Sala Hirsch, introduced us. And then we started rapping about some business stuff, except we talked for like an hour plus. And I'd say less than 10% of the conversation was actually even about what we were, you know, quote unquote, supposed to be talking about. And there's real life stuff, man. Talking about manhood, talking about life, talking about faith. Yeah, it was awesome. Yeah. And I was like, dude, you got to come on a podcast.
Starting point is 00:04:09 So first and foremost, I love, like, what you're wearing. And for those who are listening at home, you've got the built-on-purpose sweatsher with a built-on-purpose hat. That, the intentionality that that implies is, to me, something that has been a struggle in my own life. and I love it. Like, I really come to that message because for so long I felt, I felt like, you know, maybe I have some talents in certain places. I certainly have energy, drive, ambition. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:04:40 But I was like, I was reacting to things that were pressed upon me versus, like, like, your slogan, built on purpose. Like, here's what I'm going to do. And I'm going to focus that energy in an intentional way to get to a goal. So that's right. In getting there, you have this. amazing origin story. And I would love to start with in that place. Start wherever you want. Take it from there. We'll head on. Sure. I'll try to consolidate this because there's a lot of
Starting point is 00:05:10 wild things that have happened throughout my life. So I was born and raised in California, Central Valley. Modesto, California. If you happen to know where Modesto is, chances are you're addicted to some type of methamphetamine. No, literally, it was like the meth capital of California. It was crazy down in the valley. Anywho, grew up in Central Valley. Parents got divorced when I was eight years old, which really served to, you know, it served to mold and shape the next like 25 years of my life.
Starting point is 00:05:46 So Dad really wasn't in the picture. He was in and out. We were on welfare, Section 8 housing. We didn't have a working washer dryer at our house. We had to take all of our dirty clothes on a city bus. and then go to like a laundromat. And sometimes you'd see people that you know, like you're carrying your dirty clothes
Starting point is 00:06:04 and like a black hefty trash bag. And they're like, what the heck are you doing, bro? Are you homeless? And you're like, kind of. You know? And in so many ways, I felt like education was my way out of that lifestyle, right? And so I did really well in school.
Starting point is 00:06:20 And I originally was going to focus on sports medicine. But I had this crazy encounter when I was 17 years old. So my family really wasn't like religious growing up. I think after the divorce, my mom was searching. She was searching for maybe her next husband. I don't know, but she was searching for something. And so we bounced around to all these rando churches, all these different denominations. I didn't have a fat clue what was going on.
Starting point is 00:06:48 And honestly, once I became a teenager, had my sense of independence. My parents weren't really, or my mom in that regard, really didn't have a lot of supervision over us kids because she was working. She was trying to go to take herself back through school. So there was a lot of things that were distracting her. So we kind of got to just be wild. And so we definitely ate that up. We loved it. Got into a lot of trouble. And then when I was about 17 years old, this crazy situation happened. So I had befriended this kid, and his name was Derek, and his dad was actually like a deacon at the church. And he invited us to go to this youth event. Now, most times when he invite us to church or any type of churchy related thing, we'd be like, heck no, bro.
Starting point is 00:07:30 Like, we ain't doing that. But this time, like, he paid for it. And I don't know if it was just like my poverty upbringing. I don't know if it's my relationship with money. But the fact that the dude actually paid money for us to, like, attend, I felt like an obligation to go. And so sure enough, me and my buddy, we took a couple of girls. And we showed up to this rando church event, right?
Starting point is 00:07:53 And we showed up late. we were kind of like we didn't even know what was going to happen wasn't uber familiar with church especially the type of church that we're about to walk into and so we sit in the very back row and i remember they're singing their songs and you know kids are like on their knees and the band's playing and there's kids crying and i just remember the only thing i was thinking about the whole time was like the music ain't that good but the music is seriously not that good like what are you all doing uh but obviously there was something else happening in that room that i was totally unaware of and so sure enough they rap with the music and then this guy gets on the stage and he starts
Starting point is 00:08:29 preaching right and he's like this thin Mexican guy that had like these eyes man like like his eyes would like bulge out of his head and he had like the veins going on he had the sweat going on he was like screaming and yelling and honestly like for the first like 10 15 minutes of this dude talking I was like what a phony this is all BS dude this I have heard about these type of guys and I can't believe I'm actually seeing one like firsthand for myself. But then like this crazy thing happened. It was like, okay, I started looking around and all the like church kids that I was surrounded by, there was like 200 or 300 kids in this thing.
Starting point is 00:09:06 It was like this big auditorium. I kind of looking around, they were like passing notes to each other. They were like cracking jokes. It didn't really seem like anybody was actually paying attention to what this dude was saying. And that struck me. I was like, man, like either these kids are totally missing. like the gold that this dude is like trying to drop into our life or this dude just full of crap
Starting point is 00:09:28 and so like my little like curious brain said man I gotta figure out I gotta answer that question I can't just keep sitting here I gotta know what the answer to that question is and sure enough I start listening and Ryan I'll tell you it was like yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah you hear about people like saying they go to church and like God's talking to them or like they get this like ooh crazy feeling bro like all of that was happening like at level 11 right and so all of a sudden I'm like whoa this dude's like reading my mail this dude like knows what I'm thinking about knows what I'm going through and he's actually speaking something that is encouraging and so like the whole time like again I have no church etiquette I don't really know what I'm supposed to do and this dude just kept
Starting point is 00:10:14 he kept saying this rhetorical question like I didn't realize it was rhetorical at the time but he kept saying, who's going to stand? If everybody in your generation were to bow down to all the idols of this world, who's going to stand? You know, and his eyes, eyes were like, bha, you know, popping out of his head. And I remember he kept saying it, saying it, saying it. And I remember I was starting to get, like, pissed off. I was like, dude, this guy's been up here for like 25 minutes. He's sweating. He's screaming. He's yelling. He's like doing all of these things. And not a single one of these church kids are doing anything. Like, no one's standing up. Like, is everyone, I'm missing something?
Starting point is 00:10:48 Are they missing something? And so sure enough, like, all of a sudden, like, I'm sitting there and this crazy thought comes to my mind. It's like, maybe you're the one who's supposed to stand up, Matt? And I'm like, oh, heck, no, man. Like, no, dude, there's no way I'm going to do that. No way. I don't know these people.
Starting point is 00:11:02 I don't even know what's happening here. But, dude, that voice just kept getting louder and louder and louder and louder, and every time he'd say, who's going to stand, who's going to stand? I just felt this, like, impulsion to just stand up. So sure enough, in the middle of this too pretty. I just stand up. I stand up. I don't know if I felt bad for the dude. Like stop yelling at everybody, man. I'll be the guy. Like, dude, all right, I'll stand up. And so sure enough, I stand up. And he's, you know, kind of talking to this side of the auditorium. And then when he, like,
Starting point is 00:11:33 looks back over to the side that I was sitting on, the dude just stops dead in his tracks. And he's like, young man right there in the white polo shirt, man, God's been highlighting you in my heart and my mind, this entire service. God's going to do something radical in your life. and just going to use you to, like, impact people and all this kind of stuff. I'm like, there ain't no one standing behind me, so I guess he's talking to me, right? And so sure enough, like, what ended up happening at that moment is every kid in an auditorium turned their eyes straight to me, which made me feel like this big. I went from, like, bold and confident, like, yeah, baby, I'm going to stand, I'm going to show
Starting point is 00:12:08 these churchy kids, how this is really done, right? And sure enough, all of a sudden they started looking at me, I just feel tiny. I felt so insecure. I felt so like, oh my gosh, I've just made a horrible, horrible mistake. But this preacher guy, like, dude, he must have been tapped in with the supernatural or something, because he said something that in the moment seemed a little strange, but when it happened, it, like, made complete sense. He's like, young man, I want you to look at me.
Starting point is 00:12:37 And when I did, Ryan, I would tell you, I felt like I could do anything. I felt like I could stand there confidently. everywhere, automating tasks and making decisions at machine speed. But agents make mistakes. Just one rogue agent can do big damage before you even notice. Rubrik Agent Cloud is the only platform that helps you monitor agents, set guardrails, and rewind mistakes. So you can unleash agents, not risk.
Starting point is 00:13:07 Accelerate your AI transformation at rubric.com. That's r ubrik.com. I felt like my life could be different. And I felt like maybe I didn't have to keep repeating the stuff that I was born into that maybe my life could make a difference. And so sure enough, he's like, hey, I'm going to ask you to do something brave. And I'm thinking, my head, is this not brave enough, man? Come on. All right.
Starting point is 00:13:29 He's like, hey, I want you to come down here to the front. I'm going to like, I'm going to pray for you. And I'm just like, oh, dang, dang, dang, dang. Now I'm in it. Now I'm in it. And literally, like, the exit door was like four feet away from me. We were in the very last row. So I could have easily just been like, I'm out.
Starting point is 00:13:45 and just exit the scene super quick. Man, something told me. I was supposed to walk down there. So I started walking. And bro, it was like I was floating, man. It was like, I don't even remember how I got there so fast. It was just like, yeah, all the way there. And then this dude, he reaches, like, he crutches down to talk to me and he says,
Starting point is 00:14:03 hey, I'm about to put my hand on you and pray for you. And when I do, you're going to experience the power of God. Like, you're going to feel all of God's power just hits you. so like my first thought was like dude should I get a helmet on or something like what is that mean like what is it's like a freaking meteor going to hit me like I don't even know what that even means
Starting point is 00:14:24 and sure enough I'm like all right cool whatever let's let's go so the dude puts his hand on my shoulder and dude the only way I can describe what happens in me was when he put his hand on my shoulder
Starting point is 00:14:40 simultaneously I felt kind of my absolute worthlessness, like all the things I'd ever done wrong, all the ways I'd hurt people, all the ways I'd hurt myself, all the, all this scary and embarrassing and wrong things that I was hiding in my heart and all the things that I had done. And I just, I felt like absolute crap. I felt like, dude, I've screwed this life thing up. I'm a mistake. You know, like, the worst possible, like, feeling you can have about yourself, it, like, hit.
Starting point is 00:15:18 But at the exact same time, it was like, it was like Jesus, like said, hey, I'm going to give you a hug anyway. And, like, this, like, ridiculous, unfair, unmerited, undeserved love just hit at that same time. and what happened ryan was like i broke as a human being right like and it wasn't like because someone was like beating me it wasn't because somebody had like brainwashed me it was like it happened in that moment where
Starting point is 00:15:56 all of a sudden like boom everything about me just completely changed i fell to the floor i just started weeping and weeping and weeping and weeping well like i don't even know how much time goes by i finally like get off the floor and there's like this puddle of, like, boogers and all this kind of stuff, tears and everything. Like, I'm like, what in the world just happened? My friends are gone. Like, all the people in the conference are gone.
Starting point is 00:16:20 There's a couple of people in the back, like cleaning up trash. But they just left me laying there. I was just like, this is the craziest thing has ever happened. And so, sure enough, the first thing I'm thinking about is like, yo, man, like, I need to go wash this junk off my face. So I go to the bathroom. And now, this is the part of the story I didn't talk about until now. So I don't really... Are you talking about it?
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Starting point is 00:17:48 Bad case of acne, right? My mom's got rosacea. I had an overactive oil pour that was overproducing vitamin A. And so like when I would get zits and stuff, it wasn't just like those little white ones that pop up. I mean, it's like under the skin pockets of oil. Dude, it freaking sucked. And I had them on my chest, my back, my face, my arms, my legs. And it made me incredibly insecure, incredibly insecure.
Starting point is 00:18:14 And so what I did that day, standing up in front of everybody, that was like the boldest thing I'd ever done my whole life. because I really just kind of wanted to blend in, and I just wanted to kind of lurk in the shadows and not draw too much attention to myself because I 100% believe that when people were talking to me, they weren't really listening to what I had to say. They were just looking at my face and looking at how jacked up it was.
Starting point is 00:18:35 And so I was carrying that as a 17-year-old, super insecure, on top of all the other stuff, the poverty, not having a dad around. Like, dude, it was crazy. It was a lot of stuff happening. So sure enough, I go into the bathroom, and I start washing my face off. And I look up and my skin looks just like it does right now when I looked up. Obviously, I didn't have a beard.
Starting point is 00:18:56 But like it was clean. There was no acne. There was no issue. Everything had been completely healed. As a matter of fact, I was on this like experimental drug for the type of acne that I had that actually could cause liver damage and kill me. And so I had to take a supplement on top of it called Retina A, which replenishes your vitamin A supply. And so like all the little cracks in your finger, the reason why those little cracks of skin happen and they allow that flexibility is because your body is producing vitamin A that moisturizes and causes nourishment for those things to bend. Well, when you deplete your body of vitamin A, you have to replenish it or really bad things will happen.
Starting point is 00:19:37 So all of these things started cracking and bleeding. So in between my elbows, behind my knees, under my arms, anywhere that there's folding of skin, we were depleting all the vitamin A supply. So I was in pain, dude, it freaking sucked. It was embarrassing. But let me tell you something that day that I washed my face in that church bathroom. And I looked about myself. It was the first time I'd ever seen my skin clear. I'm like, what the, what is happening here?
Starting point is 00:20:01 And this is like, you know, when people talk about like hearing a voice from God, right? This was like my moment, I guess. This is my moment. And I'm sitting there looking at myself in the mirror. And I'm, Ryan, I am not that smart of guy. So there's no way I could have come up with this. But I'm sitting there looking at myself in the mirror, and I hear this voice say, what is your excuse now?
Starting point is 00:20:25 And it was like he took away every excuse. He took away the hindrance of my skin. He put a new heart in me. He helped me view the world differently. He put new passions and dreams and desires in me. And so I really had no excuse to hold back from this. this new life. And so sure enough, I jumped in and started getting involved with the local church, I became a student leader. Then when it came time to select college, I actually got a full right
Starting point is 00:20:57 scholarship to any California State University I wanted to go to because I graduated top 5% of my class and I was also low income. But I walked away from all of those scholarships to go to a non-accredited Bible school at that church to become a pastor because I was so deeply moved. My life was so radically transformed and when I thought about making a difference in the world, nothing could top maybe helping other people experience the same thing that I experienced. So that's really how the journey began right there because up at that point, I was just as obscure like kid that really had no direction that was just really trying to escape his past. But for the first time in my life, I had purpose. Had a purpose. And what's crazy is as I built ministries and travel over the country
Starting point is 00:21:40 and built different churches and all these different things, that message stayed with me everywhere I went. I'll be honest, as a pastor, I didn't really like preaching sermons. I didn't really like doing weddings. I didn't really like doing funerals. I didn't really like doing counseling sessions. I didn't really like most of the things that a pastor does, but the one thing that I absolutely loved more than anything else
Starting point is 00:22:01 is sitting down and hearing people's stories and then helping them find purpose, even in the pain, even in the dysfunction, even in the setback, even in the temporary trial or circumstance that they may be in, just pointing them towards, hey, there's always hope, God's always working, and you never know how this circumstance or situation, although painful and tough right now, might actually be preparing you for something greater in your future. And so those types of conversations, I just naturally gravitated towards. And so when I left the ministry in 2021 and started what I'm doing now with marketing and branding,
Starting point is 00:22:38 I knew without a shadow of doubt, we need to build it on the most firm foundation that we could, which is this idea of purpose. Because if you have someone shoot video, photos, and write copy, and create all these design stuff, but you don't even really know what you're trying to accomplish
Starting point is 00:22:52 or what image you're actually trying to put out there into the world, all that stuff's going to fall flat. It's all going to fall flat. But if you take the time to do the hard work to look inside and say, hold up, why am I really here on earth? And what am I supposed to be doing with the talents, the personality and the unique worldview that you've given me throughout the
Starting point is 00:23:14 course of my life. How am I supposed to be using that to help the human species survive? Not just my own survival, but all those around me as well. And when you start to zoom out of your life and really begin to look at it from that particular lens, all of a sudden what begins to happen is either you're completely overwhelmed because you don't know where to start. Or number two, you begin to feel this sense of empowerment. And you become like this unstoppable force once you discover and put some words to the question of what is my purpose. And so now that's what I get to do every single day now.
Starting point is 00:23:49 Every client that I work with, we always start with, let's discover your purpose. Let's start with the foundation of purpose and then we can build all kinds of cool creative stuff after the fact. But if you don't know your purpose, number one, you're going to struggle as a human being. And then you're also going to struggle in business
Starting point is 00:24:03 or whatever endeavor you're trying to move forward. if you can't connect it back to something bigger than yourself and something that actually helps other people solve problems or helps point them toward a purpose of their own. So that was like my story in like a super tight window, but that's where it started and that's where we're at today. Why did you listen to that message? What message? The church service?
Starting point is 00:24:31 What is your excuse now? I think a lot of people might have heard that. and gone right back to the same lifestyle they were living before. You decided to listen and keep pushing forward. You know, Ryan, if I'm being totally honest, I was guessing, man, I was guessing at life. And again, I was a teenager. So, I mean, you can't really have that much expectation for a teenager that really had no father figure, had no real leadership throughout their life.
Starting point is 00:24:57 But I just, I was just guessing. I was rolling the dots. I was hoping that maybe education, going to college, that that would somehow, better my life and better my future and maybe change the trajectory of my family. And so really I was I was wandering. I think I was lost. I was looking for leadership. And that was like the first time in my life where I felt like something had happened to me
Starting point is 00:25:20 that nudged me and led me and pulled me towards a destination as opposed to like good luck kid, good luck figuring it out. And so yeah, there was like a tremendous amount of direction. there was a tremendous amount of hope. And I think for the first time, and we can talk about this a little bit too, is I was chasing validation. And I think that was the first time
Starting point is 00:25:41 I actually felt validated as a person, as a human being, that like a God in heaven would care enough to like get my attention at this crazy church thing, like invade my heart, cause it to radically change, heal my body, and not just be like, yo, good luck. But then like the cherry on top was, like, I ain't done with you. Like, you are going to do things in your life. I've just removed some
Starting point is 00:26:08 of the limitations that is preventing you from even thinking like that, for even dreaming like that in your life. So don't allow an excuse or your previous past excuses to define your future. And I don't know. Honestly, there was probably so many psychological things that were happening in that moment that caused me for the first time to have hope about my future. And that hope was so strong that again it altered the course and trajectory of my life you know it's interesting um different context different scale but you know i do a lot of youth coaching coach basketball and you know everyone you know you hear you hear parents parents are the worst um except for the ones that i coach but you know uh no they just you know you hear all these things
Starting point is 00:27:00 you know, they're only, you know, 11 years old, don't put expectation on them. Don't put the chinole pressure. It's supposed to just be fun. And I look, I listen to that and, and I understand where they're coming from. I think it's coming from a good place. But there's another part of me that's like, okay, when is the arbitrary time that we start putting expectations, that we start holding people accountable, holding these kids accountable to, It doesn't have to be things that we'd hold a 25-year-old accountable for.
Starting point is 00:27:31 But when does the they're just kids' excuse go away? When do we start saying, look, you know, you've been doing this for five years. I expect you to act classy in every situation. I expect you to show up on time. I expect you to, you know, and for someone who had lived so long, as you said, without expectation, to me, you know, what I hear in that story is that the fact that there was, it was a different kind of pressure on you. It went from the pressure of how do I stay alive to the pressure of time to get something done.
Starting point is 00:28:13 And that expectation, you know, allowed you, you know, and again, and I'm reading into your story, but all of a sudden you started to feel worthy. You started to feel like you had value. Yes, yes, yes. And now you get direction. And I think, you know, this is one of the things that drew me into Jordan Peterson's work, which I came in contact with, bad thing, 2016, 2017 when he published 12 Rules for Life. He has a previous book, Maps of Meaning, but Bad is a Difficult, One of the Get Through.
Starting point is 00:28:41 Amazing, but difficult. Twelve Rules for Life is all about purpose and meaning, purpose and meaning. And when we find these things, you know, all of a sudden, that job, that maybe didn't feel, you know, isn't what you expect. I work in the insurance industry, right? There's no little kid who grows up and goes, I want to be an insurance agent when I grow up. Nobody.
Starting point is 00:29:08 There's not a single person that that does that, right? Yeah. But when you get in and you start to find purpose in the work, regardless of what the work is, all of a sudden you start to love what you do and love the people. And it becomes fun and interesting and engaging. Yeah. What, you know, and I want to, I don't want our entire conversation to be about maybe religion in these types of topics, though.
Starting point is 00:29:32 I do think they're going hand in hand. You know, it feels today like, and I'm not the first one to say this, it may have been Jonathan Haight or someone else. I think he wrote a wonderful book, The Coddling of the American Mind. But there's a, there's a God-size hole in people's heart today, and we're filling it with the wrong things. Sure. Why do you, you know, from your place, from doing as much work as you've done with individuals, both as a pastor and as just a friend, as a family member, right? Like, where did that whole come from?
Starting point is 00:30:10 And how do we start to fill it with purpose and meaning? Man, that's a fantastic question. Kind of dabbles in the realm of, you know, what's the meaning of life type of, you know. So I've got my own unique theological perspective and my own philosophical perspective of that question. If you have a different one, does it mean that you're wrong? It just means you have a different perspective on these things. But my unique perspective is this, right? The Bible outlines kind of this creation story, right?
Starting point is 00:30:40 Where God creates the heavens in the earth, creates man and woman. And then there introduces this kind of adversarial character, the devil, the snake, right? the tempter. And the tempter, you know, obviously gets the woman alone and says, yo, God didn't really say that you couldn't eat this stuff and touch this fruit. Like, what does he know? Man, he just knows that if you eat this, man, you're going to be better than God. You're going to know more than God. You're going to be wise than God. You're actually going to be God's God. So like, bro, he's just trying to keep you from all the good things. So have at it. Go be God's God. And so sure enough, like any human person, we have we have flaws. We have
Starting point is 00:31:20 insecurities, we have aspirations, we have all of those things, and really the snake manipulated our natural tendencies to get us to overstep a boundary that unfortunately brought in a ton of consequence, right? So the moment that Eve ate the fruit and then obviously shared it with her husband and then got confronted him about that, that was like when this idea of sin, S-I-N, right, missing the mark, whatever you, however you want to define it, it's just this mortal flaw of the human race that we now have. And again, according to Christian theology and according to what I've researched and identified in myself, I see it in my children, I've seen it in all the people that I've ministered to, is that this sin, we're born with it. We're born with that hole. So I don't
Starting point is 00:32:07 think it like you were like good, good, good, good, then you got punched in the soul and all of a sudden there's this massive hole that you need to get filled. No, no, every single person is because of what happened with Adam and Eve's past the bloodline. So, and why did God set it look like that? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know why you set it up like that. But the way you set it up was that every human being from that point on
Starting point is 00:32:29 would then inherit the consequence that happened in that garden. And so the consequence is this idea of sin. Now, sin isn't like, yo, you're bad. You're a terrible person. You've got no value. You're worthless. Oh, my gosh, you're such a heathen get about of my church, right? Like, it's not that.
Starting point is 00:32:48 What sin basically is, is the separation, the gap between who God created you to be and who you are right now. Right. And again, there's a lot of people who may want to disregard like, oh, God didn't make us a certain way. It doesn't tell us how to live a certain way. Well, then, dude, why the heck is this like 5,000-page book that's outlasted every other book? And if it went away today, it would completely destroy all literary understanding, all civilization. it will literally destroy the point of human life if this book goes away, right? If he didn't give us a manual on how to live, then through that book, then, man, I don't know what
Starting point is 00:33:27 you're not seeing. But anyways, through the Bible, they outline all these different things that we should do to be a good civilization and to ultimately close that gap between God and where we are currently with our sin. And the reality is, Ryan, like, that gap is way too far. and the people in the Old Testament, the way that they thought that they could close that gap was that I just do enough good things.
Starting point is 00:33:51 I just become a good enough person. Don't make any mistakes. And somehow if I achieve perfection, then somehow that gap has been traversed. And now I'm like one with God and I'm holy and I'm accepted by God and whatever. I get all the benefits of the God stuff, right? Paradise and living forever and all these things, right?
Starting point is 00:34:10 and so what God did was like that that chasm between where you are now and where God wants you to be is just too big and so that's why he sent a son Jesus right to be to be to be the filler of the gap that we could never be for ourselves and so you want to talk about a God's size whole the God's size hole really isn't like something in us it's the separation between us and God that's the God's side's whole and the way that God chose to solve that and bring bridge those two worlds was through his son Jesus. And again, a lot of people probably have a bunch of different beliefs about Jesus. But the cool thing about Jesus is the story goes, right? Like the theology goes that he lived a perfect, sinless life. He was a completely innocent man. But yet he took on the penalty of everybody. Like, we were the guilty ones, so we should have been penalized.
Starting point is 00:35:04 But instead, a dude who did nothing wrong, who pointed people to Jesus, or pointing people to God had to lay down and sacrifice his life to pay a penalty that we owed. Like, what the heck? What kind of freaking logic is that, right? Because this was like in a day and age where it was like eye for an eye. You like, you punch me in the eye? Bam, I'm going to knock you out, right? And we still live in that world, right?
Starting point is 00:35:28 That sense of justice, right? If you do me wrong, then I get to do you wrong. Or if you ruin my life, now I get to ruin your life. And really what happened when Jesus came to the earth was like he, upended the entire model of justice in our mind. Like, wait, hold on, wait, an innocent person is dying for the guilty, and they're, like, choosing to do that. Wait, that doesn't, that mess with my head.
Starting point is 00:35:52 And so really what Jesus introduced through his sacrifice was this idea of sacrificial love. Up and to that point, there really wasn't this idea of sacrificial love in the human race. It was, dude, I will sacrifice my child to keep my kingdom. You see that all throughout, like all the Book of Kings and all the Old Testament, like even Abraham was willing to kill his own son so he can become the father of many nations, right? And a lot of people say, oh my gosh, that must have been so hard
Starting point is 00:36:18 for him as a father. Well, in that custom, like, it might not have been as hard as you think, right? Because, again, that was kind of common practice. You were always thinking self-preservation. How do I build my kingdom? And how do I keep others from taking it away from me? Whereas what Jesus modeled was, you can take as much as you want. It's not going to make you happy. It's actually when you flip it and open your arms and invite others in and sacrificeally give for others. That's where you're going to find true fulfillment and true purpose. And that's why, like, I fundamentally believe that purpose is the most important thing that any human being should understand.
Starting point is 00:36:59 And at the root of purpose, it is not self-preservation. That's the root of selfishness. That's actually purposelessness is. only caring about yourself, only absorbed in your own things, only trying to make sure that you survive. But true purpose, the kind of purpose that God put inside of us, is actually when we lay our lives down, when we give, when we are willing to work and sacrifice and do everything we can to elevate the lives of others.
Starting point is 00:37:30 Just like what you're doing right now with this podcast, right? Like, I get it. Like, podcast is a thing. It's a medium. It's a platform. But I guarantee the reason why you're bringing. and all these guests, and the reason why you're having these interviews and these conversations, is that you hope that someone will hear this and it will bring some sense of fulfillment or
Starting point is 00:37:50 betterment or enhancement or hope or encouragement to their life. And why do you care about that, right? Because you want that human to survive. You want that human, not just to survive, but you want that human to believe that they can actually do something in the world and make a positive difference. And so even through something like this podcast, you are living out your purpose. purpose, which is finding a way to serve others with your life. And if you don't approach life from that view, then you are always going to have a hole in your heart. And a lot of people
Starting point is 00:38:25 say it's a God-sized hole. I'm going to challenge that a little bit. It's a fulfillment-sized hole, right? We all want fulfillment. That's what we all want. We want our lives to matter. We want to be put our head on the pillow at the end of the night knowing that we did something good for somebody else, that we actually did something to better the world. Like, all of us want that, right? But the problem is the only way to find it, the only way to attain it, the only way to grab hold of it is when you're actually helping other people survive and finding ways to help them thrive, not just looking for ways to feed yourself.
Starting point is 00:39:00 And when you just feed yourself, you're not going to get anything. So I'll share this one really cool story, and then we can move on to whatever questions you have next. So this Jewish rabbi was once asked to define heaven and hell, right? He said, let me start with hell. He said, in hell, there's this big, long table. As far as you can see, a massive table, it's got all this food on it, the most beautifully prepared, the most decadent, most delicious, flavorful, savory, sweet, every possible thing that you can imagine.
Starting point is 00:39:29 But in hell, everybody sitting around this table are starving. They're weeping, they're gnashing, they're in constant turmoil, they're in constant point of torture and torment because they have one problem. Their elbows don't bend. So they can reach the food, but they can't get it into their mouth. So they have everything they could ever want. It's all right there, but they can't get it to themselves. He says, now let me define heaven for you.
Starting point is 00:40:02 He says, in heaven, there's this big, long table with the most beautiful, decadent food you can imagine. There's people sitting all around this table. but all the people around this table are joyful they're celebrating they have more than enough oh my gosh every single person is having a blast they're enjoying enjoying what's happening around this table but their elbows also can't bend how is this possible they're feeding each other and if you don't understand that concept fulfillment will always be out of reach for you when we think about fulfillment and you really think about it in the moments where you felt the most
Starting point is 00:40:47 fulfilled I would guarantee for 99 plus percent of the people listening to this podcast it was in the moments where you participated in someone else's joy that's right where you felt the moat your kids getting the hit your spouse doing something amazing or or or taking on a challenge and achieving it a coworker, a friend, someone who's in need that you just see on the street. It's in the most, you feel the most fulfilled, always in the moments in which you participate in someone else's joy. And we, it's, but today, it's so easy to forget that with the messaging that comes through. To so many of us, you know, my kids ask me, my kids go to Catholic school.
Starting point is 00:41:35 I shared that with you, I think last time we spoke. Yeah. And they asked me about hell. I said, Dad, you know, is hell really below us? And I said, I don't know, maybe, honestly, I don't think so. I said, I think, you know, I would go so far as to believe that hell isn't even a real place. I think it's an experience that you have. And that experience is you meet God and you pass away and God shows you who you could have.
Starting point is 00:42:06 And you have to see that thing. Hell is how far away from that thing you are. Wow. You're right? And I said, that's what I think it is. You know, I said, I'm, you know, definitely a sinner. I make mistakes all the time. Sure.
Starting point is 00:42:24 I constantly am, you know, fighting the inner demons that we all have, right? But I'm trying to figure out, become the person, whatever it is, that I, that I, that, that, I, believe God created me to be. He puts you on this earth and he says, if you find your purpose, if you work through fulfillment, joy, love, sacrifice, hope, compassion, caring, all these things, you can become this thing, this amazing thing. And that doesn't mean you're the, see a billionaire, right? It doesn't mean you're the president.
Starting point is 00:42:58 It doesn't mean you're some powerful whatever, right, influencer with a huge audience or a Hollywood star. there's a thing that you're supposed to be in which you live every day in a massive amount of joy. And our job is to get to close to that thing as we can. And hell is when you pass away and God says, this is what you could have been, but you chose this path. And you look at that difference. And that's the best way that I can frame it in my head. I'm not nearly scholarly, but I just, I honestly believe, and this is why we connected so quick. I think within 15 minutes, I was like, you got to come on the,
Starting point is 00:43:34 podcast, all right, we can keep talking. Because I just align so much with what you're saying. And then I want to kind of take this out of the theological sense and put it into the business world. Absolutely. I guess my first question is, what was, you know, with all this experience and everything that you just shared with us, all these emotions and challenges that you overcame and work that you did. And you've, I don't want to say moved away from God, but certainly moved away from being a pastor. vocational ministry yeah yeah what was what was the impetus for that what was the impetus for that move
Starting point is 00:44:11 yeah no i appreciate it's a great question it's a fair question um so it's kind of two-pronged right i wasn't healthy and the environment i was in was not healthy um so when i first got into ministry right at high school i'm sorry right after bible school um i had these big dreams of working for You know, these big churches, multi-site, mega-churches, tons of influence. Because I guess I saw that as like success, right? I saw that as success. You know, the more people you can pack in a room, the more desirable you are as a communicator. That is what made you valuable.
Starting point is 00:44:51 And that's what made you successful as a pastor. And I chased that for a long time. So I started with a church plant. Then I went to a mid-sized church. Then I went to a large church. And then ultimately landed at a multi-site megasteworthy. at church where I was part of the leadership team and overseeing massive amounts of responsibility and ministry.
Starting point is 00:45:14 And I think what happened during that time was, like I said, I don't think I was healthy. So we mentioned this a moment ago in my story, I was chasing validation. Even though I knew God, even though God had given me this like, hey, you know, no excuses, like go get after it, go change the world. I was taking steps towards that, but man, I didn't go through any counseling. I didn't go through any processing of my past and how it altered my mindset, how it altered my filter that I was looking through all of my decisions and all the relationships that I was having. And it's only recently, probably within the last three years, that I recognized, holy cow,
Starting point is 00:45:54 the whole time that I was in leadership over other people, I had a love for God, but I was really chasing the affirmation of my leaders. I wanted the leaders, like the lead pastors, the guys who are leading the projects, I wanted them to look at me and say, Matt, you're a good guy. Man, God's using you. You're doing the right thing. I'm proud of you. Like, I was looking for these leaders in my life to say that.
Starting point is 00:46:22 And I would tell you, like, they can say it one day and then not say it for a couple days, and I need it again. It was like a freaking drug. It was a drug. And so because of that, it motivated me to work harder, perform higher, hold myself to a higher when everybody else was sleeping, I was working. But it wasn't because I had like this crazy work ethic. I think I'm a pretty hardworking guy, but I was chasing their validation.
Starting point is 00:46:51 I was chasing their approval. I wanted them to say, Matt added value to what we're doing here. Look at how hard this guy works. He's great. He's awesome. He's amazing. Let me tell you something. It doesn't happen that often. Nor should people have this obligation to make sure that you are affirmed. That's just a deficit in you. That's an insecurity in you that you need to personally go on a journey to uncover and discover why you're longing for that so badly. So I got to a point where in ministry, where I got to where I wanted to go, I pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed, didn't advocate for myself, was seeking approval, seeking to please people, seeking to be accepted and affirmed by my leaders, which is a terrible position to be as a leader. That's a very unhealthy place to be.
Starting point is 00:47:49 Because guess who I was thinking about last, the people I'm supposed to be leading and caring for? It was all about me, me, me, me, my, my, my, what do I get out of this? What do I get at this? What do I? And I rarely thought about the people that I was actually supposed to be serving, even though I was a pastor, even though I was under the guise of the shepherd of the flock. Oh, the servant of all. Let me tell you all something, there was a point in my life where that shifted to where I really just started caring about me. And so I started recognizing that tendency and the problems it was creating on the team
Starting point is 00:48:24 and the problems it was creating for me relationally. And then on the organizational side of things, so you don't get paid a lot, well, depending on who you are, I guess. Most pastors don't really get paid all that much. They're not in it for the money. They're in it to serve God and honor God and things like that. There are some that are probably in it for the money, right? Because we all have different needs and we all have different ways that we believed
Starting point is 00:48:49 in taking care of our family, whatever, okay? That's someone's personal decision. So we were really struggling financially after the birth of our fourth child, which was unexpected. And I knew the only way for me to make financial means work for our family was I had to go down the road of the celebrity pastor. I had to start self-promoting. I had to start running conferences and writing books and basically telling people, hey, if you really want to get to know Jesus the right way, you've got to come talk to me. which is a complete farce, it's freaking terrible that people do that, and then profit on top of it.
Starting point is 00:49:31 And so I guess I had a shred of morality left, even though I had served so long within the church, and I said, you know what, that's a line that I'm just not going to cross. And I saw that that was the only way for me to financially take care of my family, so I said, holy crap, the church isn't going to give me enough to take care of my family, and I'm not going to go down this road of self-promotion in the name of Jesus. I'm not going to do that. And so I only had one other option. And with how unhealthy I had become as an individual, the choice was really clear.
Starting point is 00:49:59 I got to step away from my post because I'm sure if I kept going, I'd probably get fired. Or I'd probably get caught up in some scandal. Or there would probably be some other residual impact, negative impact, if I didn't take ownership, take responsibility for myself and exit a situation that just wasn't healthy for me. And so it was funny though, like when actually, when I resigned, we had some conversations. This is the only thing that I'm going to say about money, right? I was asking for raises and different augmentation to my salary.
Starting point is 00:50:33 They're like, no, no, no, no, no. Your wife's got to work and all this kind of stuff. And it was terrible during COVID. It was awful. And so when I turned in my resignation, the last words they told me was, how much do we need to pay you to keep you? Oh! In which I was just like, oh, my goodness.
Starting point is 00:50:49 Okay. I knew I made the right decision, and I pieced that. out and moved to Texas and started my life over. Yeah. Well, there's an incredible amount of awareness in what you just described because many people get caught in that trap and don't come up or don't make a change until something really bad does happen. So there's a lot of awareness in there.
Starting point is 00:51:10 And I think it's a very good point and something that needs to be called out that validation is an addiction like any other. 100%. Oh, my gosh. Could be deadly. Yes. Yeah. We have a much more crass way of describing that on the show.
Starting point is 00:51:26 You know, it's GNF, give no fucks, right? And the idea is not that, and I've described it before on the show, but it's a mindset that I remind myself often of. And actually, you can't see it probably because of the camera, but for those watching on YouTube, but I have a piece of wood behind me that was made by one of the audience members. And it's the letters, GNF. and it's a reminder that, actually, it's right off my shoulder here.
Starting point is 00:51:54 It's a reminder that we cannot live our lives based on what other people think or say about us. That's right. You know, and how I describe it to people, because they'll be like, wow, and I've had people say, well, you know, if you're, if you say that, then that means you really do care or whatever. And my point is, it's not that I don't want you to like me. I want Matt Hoover to like me. I want you to like me. But if you don't like me, it has zero impact on my life. Bingo.
Starting point is 00:52:23 That's what it is. It's, I want to do a good job for you in this interview. I want to put your expertise, your story, your experience, what you have to share with this audience on display. I want you to have an amazing time. And I want the audience to pick up insights, opportunities, thoughts, ideas, little tidbits that they can apply their lives. I want that all to happen.
Starting point is 00:52:42 But if every single person listening to this hates me, if you hate me, I literally will go upstairs after this podcast is done and make lunch for my kids and I won't give a shit. That's right. It's a superpower, man. It's a superpower, for sure. Cultivated, I'll say that it's something I've cultivated over many years, but I will say it's also a blessing from God because I've also always had this in me. I've always been an outsider my entire life. I went to a school with, I went to a very large high school, especially for the part of the country that I
Starting point is 00:53:17 live in, but I came from a town of less than 900. And we were 30 minutes away from the school. We were the smallest town associated with this school. So from the rip, I was, you know, me and the five kids from my town, you know, because there just wasn't that many of us, right? Like, we were always outsiders in everything. We always had to fight to get on the team, fight to get in the club, fight to move up because we weren't part of this crew that had grown up together in the neighborhoods together, gone to the biggest elementary schools, then, you know, et cetera, et cetera. You know, we were all poor. That's why we lived in this tiny little town.
Starting point is 00:53:52 So there's that, you know, that thing. And, you know, through all that, I was never, you know, I always had this, and this is kind of why I promote this idea as much as I possibly can to people, because I do feel like it's a blessing that I've had and many other things that I struggle with immensely. But, you know, this particular thing, it bothered me, but not in the way that, like, it kept to me ever from doing anything. It was more like, it was more of, okay, I got to figure this out on my own. And I think when we search for validation, oftentimes, what we're looking for is tell me the answer and I'll do that answer. Not that I think it's the right answer, not that I've
Starting point is 00:54:33 put the time in to figure out whether this is the right path or it's, I'm going to do this thing, regardless if I think it's right or wrong, because it's what this person over here that I I need validation from wants, which means we're living a skew from going all the way back to what the core concept of this podcast, it means we're not living our purpose with intention. We're living someone else's purpose. I always say, you either dictate to the universe or the universe dictates to you. Preacher, brother. Yeah, there's no in between, there's no in between area.
Starting point is 00:55:06 So I'm kind of coming off of that and I want to spend the last few minutes that we have together. I want to pull all this big, huge, amazing competition to the business world, right? So now you're helping people with a message, with a business. You're helping them get that out, find their purpose. And you had something you said to me off air before we went live. And this is where I want to start this transition. Sure, sure. Communication is meant to solve problems.
Starting point is 00:55:35 I 100% agree with you. But why, what does that actually mean? And what is the difference between most communication, which I think does not, especially communication on social media, and the communication that actually does? Yeah. So I was recently asked to share about communication to an entire district of mayors, city mayors. And as I was preparing for that, I obviously went through, you know, my presentation checklist as far as like, okay, who's going to be in the room? what subject matters appeal to them and how can I add value
Starting point is 00:56:14 how can I just deposit something that they can all walk away with and say okay this was worth the cost of admission right and so I started looking at the idea of communication and started digging and digging into it and you've heard all the different things you know communication is talking and listening
Starting point is 00:56:30 communication is sharing a belief or you know connecting over a similar idea But if you actually dig a little bit further than that, what do all those things have in common? And what I discovered was the core purpose of communication is to solve a problem or avoid future problems. Like, if there were no problems, we would never have to communicate. We would have never developed that skill. it would have never become part of the human experience, but because we have problems,
Starting point is 00:57:11 both societal, internal, in the environment, like we have all of these challenges that we need to overcome in order to survive, communication became an absolute necessity. And that necessity was born because of problems. And so when you think about any type of communication that you are trying to deliver, at its core, you are attempting to address, solve, or avoid a future problem. Like, some people say, okay, all right, give me some examples of that. All right, so why does a manager at a company have team meetings? Everyone hates meetings.
Starting point is 00:57:58 you know, everyone thinks they're a waste of time, but why does that manager have some sense of passion and intentionality and they see some great value in those meetings? Well, guess what? They're trying to solve problems and they're trying to prevent future problems from happening. That will cost them their job, cost them their livelihood, or cost them, you know, the culture of the team, right? You think about a sports team. Why do they have practice? Why do they have huddles? Why are they talking to each other. Well, they're talking to each other because there are problems all around them and they have to find a way to navigate the problems to come out victorious. And without communication, you can't have that habit. And I'll even break it down to like human relationships. Like,
Starting point is 00:58:43 why do we as friends have to talk to each other? Well, because we're trying to prevent losing that friend and losing that relationship because that relationship gives us fulfillment. It gives us fun and care, care, love, support. It gives us all these things that we need as human beings. And if we were to lose that tomorrow, that would be a problem. And so the reason why we actually communicate with each other and stay up with the relationships is because we're actually trying to solve the problem of loneliness, and then also avoid the problem of future loneliness. So it doesn't matter if your communication is widespread and global, like a, you know, world leader, or in a one-on-one conversation, the ethos, the purpose, the, the purpose, this is a global. The world leader,
Starting point is 00:59:26 The whole reason why that interaction is happening is to solve a problem. Now, you can tell very quickly if someone's communication is effective or not, do they have a clear problem that they're trying to solve? Do they have a clear plan on how to solve it? Do they know how to motivate people to do it? And do they actually have action steps that a person could do to participate in solving that problem? And in the business world, your problem might be we have low sales.
Starting point is 00:59:54 Okay. So if your problem is low sales, how can you leverage communication to solve that problem? But if you never acknowledge that that that's a real problem, you don't want to look at any of the evidence that's contributing to that problem. You don't even want to consider how that problem is affecting those around you, and you don't want to put any time to actually thinking through what is the best approach to solving that problem, then you should keep your mouth shut because your communication is doing nothing unless it's directly anchored to you solving a problem or avoiding a future
Starting point is 01:00:24 problem from happening. What is the number one sales killer? Make this hyper tactical. The number one sales killer is barfing features and benefits onto a customer. Oh godly, yeah. Barfing features and benefits onto a customer. The reason that barfing features and benefits onto a customer put in the context of what you just said is because you have no idea if any of those features and benefits actually solves the problem that that potential customer has. Now, what happens? What happens? is occasionally you get lucky and one of those features and benefits does solve a problem and the person is able to connect the dots and they go okay but when you look at the great salespeople the people who actually get things done
Starting point is 01:01:08 they you know call it consultative sales call it listening sales call it empathy you know put whatever adjective or whatever on top of it right they're they're listening for the problem yeah and then they solve the problem that the person actually Bingo. Because that person, because you could have 17 features and benefits associated with your product. But there's only, there might only be one of them that actually solves a problem that customer has.
Starting point is 01:01:35 And if you haven't listened and aren't able to articulate and you aren't able to explain how it actually solves it, the sale never happens. Never happens. You know, this, this idea of framing communication is solving problems. I absolutely love and will 100% steal, give you credit for, but steal. I think this is this is dialing in on why so many people struggle on social media to build an audience, right? So say you're growing a brand and a business. It could be a coffee shop on Main Street.
Starting point is 01:02:05 And why is everyone still going to Starbucks? You're local. You source it from these crazy places and all this flavor and blah, blah, bu, and it's amazing. Because you're not explaining, you're not solving a problem in the way you're talking about your product. You're taking pictures of your coffees or doing dances on TikTok. And none of that is actually solving a problem for the customer. Absolutely. And it to me is, it's wild.
Starting point is 01:02:30 I'm gonna, you know, just I'm gonna share one more example with you. Yeah, go for it. On two separate occasions have grown insurance agencies at a massive rate by doing one simple tactic. I open up my phone and I answer a common question associated with a problem that insurance customers. Literally, I've done this twice. I've grown two YouTube channels, more than 400,000 views in a year about insurance because I did one simple thing. Yep. Hi, my name is Ryan Hanley, and today I'm going to answer the question, what is general liability?
Starting point is 01:03:05 So if you have a problem with general liability, I just gave you the exact answer to that problem. Exactly. They do. They go, geez, if he knows the answer to the problem I have, maybe he's the guy that I should call to solve the problem. And what's insane to me is that this simple tactic, I mean, I know we're going, we've gone from, we've gone from God to tactical marketing. Oh, it's all connected, baby. Right.
Starting point is 01:03:30 But it takes you all the way there to the idea and to bring it all the way back to what we were talking about earlier with God and the Bible. You know, again, bring Jordan Peterson in here just because I think from a, from a secularist viewpoint, Jordan Peterson, in my opinion, is the best conduit to the Bible. from a secularist viewpoint, right? Sure, absolutely. But as a conduit for people who tend to be more secular, Jordan says,
Starting point is 01:03:55 act as if these stories that are told in that particular book solve problems. That's right. That's what the book does. So even if you're like, I don't believe there's this guy up here and he set his kid down and he brute, you know, he had this flood and all the crazy shit that's in the Bible, right?
Starting point is 01:04:14 If you can believe none of it, If you just listen, appreciate, and internalize the stories, they will solve problems in your life, which is why the in book has been around for so long because it solves so many problems, which is why, and this is where I'm going to pass it back to you and we can wrap up. Sure. This is why I believe all these new age, postmodern, wokeism and stuff on the right too, right? some of the stuff that comes out of the MAGA stuff, right? All these new concepts we have to be so careful of. They haven't, they haven't been tested by time. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 01:04:56 It's okay to contemplate them. It's okay to even play with them a little bit. But we cannot base our belief structure on concepts that are 15, 20 years old. You know what I mean? And it doesn't have to be, look, if Christianity is not your thing, right? Look into some of the ancient Eastern religion. What you're going to find is the stories are pretty similar, right? I always say this to my mom, who's a devout Bible purist.
Starting point is 01:05:22 So every Japanese person before 1823 is fucked. Like, I don't understand, right? But when you dig into their culture and you go way back, the stories are very, very similar, right? So pick whatever, pick an ancient, these ancient stories are there. Believe, don't believe that's your decision. I ultimately think that when you start to embrace some of these things, you will start to believe.
Starting point is 01:05:43 but the stories are there to help you solve problems. Associate yourself with people, ideas that are battle tested, that as you said, are solving real problems. My friend, I could talk to you for hours, hours and hours. Both have things to do, the audience's things to do. I appreciate the hell out of you. We will absolutely have you back on the show. If people are digging your vibe,
Starting point is 01:06:07 if they want to find out how to work with you, how to help find their purpose, how to get their purpose out into the market, how do they do that? Yeah, so the name of my company is called Message Masters. You can find us online at Message-master nos.com. You can follow me on social media, master your message. And then I actually have a resource that in four prompts, I can help you discover your purpose.
Starting point is 01:06:35 Like literally the ethos of your existence, I can help you do it in four prompts. It takes about five to seven minutes. I mean, many of the people that I've taken through this particular resource, they're like crying. They're like, holy crap, I've never seen my life through this lens before. I never thought I could do something like this. I never put the pieces together. Because here's a deal. Like many of us are living out our purpose, but we're just doing it blindly.
Starting point is 01:07:00 So there's no real intentionality to it. And so really when I hear someone's story and I've taken them through this exercise, it's putting words and some direction to what you're already doing and showing you just how valuable it really is to the greater whole. So, yeah, we have our focus in brand development. We do video production services. Really, our bend in business is your business has an incredible purpose and has an incredible story. It's incredibly valuable.
Starting point is 01:07:29 And if you're not telling your story, you are missing, missing, missing so many opportunities to make the world a better place. And so that's our whole goal. Our whole goal is to... Where can people get that prompt resource? Is that something on your website or is that something they go through you for? You know, the way that we've primarily distributed is through a one-on-one conversation. I'll sit down with you for 30 minutes and then we'll kind of go through the process.
Starting point is 01:07:52 I have thought about making it more easily accessible. But the problem is it takes a level of coaching. You can't really do it on your own because there are a lot of things that you have to think about and consider. And I haven't taken the time to consolidate it down into, I guess, like a kind of a how-to step by step. But that might be coming your website and reach out to you through contact form and go through the process that way. Absolutely. Man, appreciate the hell out of you. We will absolutely have you back on the show.
Starting point is 01:08:19 This has been incredible. Thank you so much. Right on, brother. Take care. Peace. Let's go. Yeah. Make a look.
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