Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Become The CEO Of Your Own Life With Rylee Meek

Episode Date: March 11, 2022

Rylee Meek (@theryleemeek) is an entrepreneur, coach and podcaster. Rylee is the host of The King's Council Podcast and the founder of King's Council Coaching. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about how to be the CEO of your own life, the importance of balancing the 5 power pillars of life (spiritual, mental, emotional, financial and physical), why he always finds time for the gym, how to become a better communicator, why he believes that how you do anything is how you do everything, the best advice he has ever received and much more! Find out more about Rylee Meek here: https://ryleemeek.com/ If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. For more information about CVV and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van. So good to see you, my friends. Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I'm CVV Chris Van Fleet pumped that you're with us on this one, because I got a ton out of this conversation with Riley Meek, and I know that you will too. That idea of being the CEO of your own life is so fascinating to me,

because whether you feel like you are or not, you are the CEO of your own life. And it's just a matter of maybe taking control and maybe changing a few things. Also, this idea of balancing the five power pillars of life, spiritual, mental, emotional, financial, and physical. If you can get all five of those aligned, game changer. Riley has a fantastic podcast of his own, by the way. So when you're done with this episode, check out the Kings Council podcast and give him a follow on social media. He's at the Riley Meek, R-Y-L-E-E-Meek, and you can find me at Chris Van Fleet. And take a screenshot, let us know that you're listening to this episode.

Subscribe to Insight wherever you're listening right now and subscribe to the Kings Council podcast. T. Blea is our fan of the week. He says, five-star Frog Splash. Chris is a top-notch interviewer and always conducts some of my favorite interviews ever. He asks the best questions and all of his knowledge of his guest careers really shines through in his interviews. I'd give this 10 stars if I could. Highly recommended. Thank you so much.

I read one review and I shout one person out on every single episode. So if you want a shout out, just leave a review on Apple Podcasts and we'll get to it. It may not be on the next episode. It may not be next week, but we will get to it. And if you've already left a review, and for whatever reason we didn't get to it, go back in, change a word or two, and it'll repopulate to the top of the list, and then we'll see it, and you'll hear it right here on the show. If you listen on Spotify, they now have ratings. It would mean so much to me if you could go in there and just click the five stars. It takes like a second and a half to do that.

Thank you. You are awesome. All right. Speaking of awesome, our guest today, so awesome. Let's dive into this. Please welcome. Riley, Meek. Riley, thank you so much for taking the time to do this.

Yeah, man, happy to be here. It's going to be fun. I think that anybody that looks at you goes, man, that is a guy who makes time for the gym. And I love this because you're obviously super busy with everything you have going on in your life, but you still make time for that. Why is that so important for you? Oh, man, it sets the tone for every day. So I'm a big morning routine guy. So we're a rhythm guy, not even routine, but more so rhythm. And if I don't get in the gym or at least get the blood

flowing a little bit, it's hard to get any of my mind, you know, juices flowing at all. So I've set up that morning rhythm that puts me in the right mindset to actually to conquer that day, man. Plus, we've been given one of these bodies. That's it, one. And if we're not stewarding it well and taking care of it, how can we expect to operate well in business or in a relationship, whatever it is, we need to steward this well so we can actually take advantage of opportunities that truly come our way. Yes, you were speaking my language here. I love this.

What's the difference for you between a morning rhythm and a morning routine? Yeah, I think routine, to me, it's just kind of like, that's like a negative word. Maybe it's just me, but it's like, it's kind of like budget. We have like a negative connotation to certain words. So it's like, oh, it's just the same routine. Like same-o-same-o. No, no, no. I want to live in a rhythm of life.

I want to dance my way. Not that I'm a good dancer by any means, but I want to dance my way through life. And so it's just more of a mindset shift. And I'm a big believer that what we speak is so important that, you know, the power of life or death is in the tongue. And so I choose to call it that rhythm. So it helps my mindset shift.

shift with rather just the same old rut routine. I'm now dancing this way too life. Words are really powerful, and I love that you make the distinction between those two. I think that's amazing. Yeah, absolutely, man. I learned that at a young age. I grew up in a pretty negative environment,

and when I started to see obviously the fruit in those people's life, I was like, I don't want any of that. So I started to explore just personal development, and I started to understand the power of our words. still well-knowing, like, as much as I love the concept of the secret, like, it still takes work. I can sit here and say, I'm rich, I'm rich, I'm rich, I'm rich. But if I'm not doing any work, money doesn't just show up in your bank account. Yeah.

Look, I think that we've all had those moments in our life where things, you know, change for us. What was the big bang moment for you that set you on the path that you're on now? Oh, man. So at the age of 15, I've been an entrepreneur since the age of 15, but I took a, a job for one day, a quote unquote, you know, job where I was getting paid an hourly wage. And I thought, so I grew up in South Dakota, there's like one place that I could get a job. And that was on a gas station. And I thought I was going to add, you know, go make some money, buy a car, whatever I needed to do like a high school kid would want to do.

And I worked an eight-hour shift. Minimum wage at this time, by the way, was $5.15 an hour. So I worked eight hours. I did the math in my head. Yeah. I was like, there's no way I'm doing that again. And really what I walked out of there just with a new mindset shift, kind of it. I was frustrated, not that they put that value on my time because when you're trading dollars for hours, that's what you're doing. Somebody is putting the value on your time. And it wasn't that they valued me that way, but it was that I allowed them to value me at that amount. And that's the day that I was like, I'm not doing that again. And I started to look for ways. in which I could bring more value to the marketplace. And that really is what started my entrepreneurship journey. And that's what I've been doing, man.

For now, heck, it's been 21 years now. I'm 36 years of age now. So from the one day of working for somebody else for $5 an hour, what was the next, like what was the entrepreneurial journey? What was step one for you? Yeah. So environment. Like that was a big, the biggest thing for me again was I grew up in a small community.

There's a thousand people in my entire. town like when i'm talking to city this is a town if you even call it that and i knew i had to be intentional with my time because there wasn't a lot of entrepreneurs there weren't people that i could glean from um and what i found what i had to do the nearest like big city to me was up here in minneapolis minnesota which is where i reside now uh once a month i found myself driving up to minnesota and i attended these events they were called success training seminars and i just got in a room of like-minded people. And I think there was such power in that.

I say mindseted, Chris, for a reason. Because I don't think it does us any good to be around like-minded people. Like we all, you know, it may be easy to be around those type of people. But I wanted to be around people that thought differently, but that had one goal in mind and that was progress. Like, yeah, they were going to continually get better and better and better. And that's why I seeked out these groups, ultimately mentors. I found every personal development book.

I didn't even know what that even was at that age. But I had a five-hour drive one way in which I started to listen to CDs, still CDs at that time, and just books and everything that I could get my hands on to just to grow myself as a person. And really audit my thoughts. Like, why did I think the way that I thought, even at the age of 15? Because most of us, man, were products of our habitual ways of thinking. And products of that of like how we grew up.

Like most of us don't think why we think about things the way we think about them. It's like we're unsolicited products of our environment when if we just all of a sudden sit back and go, why do I think that way? Yeah. And it was because of my, you know, my aunt's sister's uncle always said that at Thanksgiving or whatever whatever the case is. And I think there's such power if we can get back to thinking creatively, thinking maybe differently about things.

And that's, but still with one goal. nine and that that's progress. And that's that like mindseted position that I found myself, just desiring to be around and looking for the fruit in other people's lives. Like if somebody had what I wanted, I was just, I just wanted to go get around. You hit on so many great points there, but one of them that I want to hammer home here is we all, you know, a lot of people commute to work or you have that time when you're walking the dog or you're on the treadmill or whatever. You could listen to that same album that you've heard, you know, 419 times before.

Or you can listen to an audio book or a podcast and start to learn during that time. Commuter universities, what I like to call it. Yeah, I love it. Absolutely right, man. And even listening to the, I've listened to numerous books multiple times now because we're all at different state, who I was at 15. I'm a different person now. So my perspective of the words spoken at that point in time or the words that I'm reading

are received different. based upon my perspective. And so I would encourage anybody to go back and read, dive into some of your favorite books that you used to read or favorite personal development. Because at the end of the day, there's not a whole lot new under the sun. It's just some people change it and provide a different perspective to it and they deliver it differently. And then all of a sudden people think, oh, my gosh, that's the greatest idea I've ever

heard when, you know, Augmandino or, you know, some of these old people already thought of all of it. We're just now hearing it for the first time because somebody delivered it in a better perspective for us to understand. Yeah. How did a Craigslist ad change your life? And you remember what it said? Oh, yeah, dude. I will never forget what it said, man.

So I was coming off a failed business venture. I was like 24 at the time. And I was seeking out like, what the heck am I going to do with my life next? I'd sold all sorts of things, man, from different businesses I started. I had a business valuation company. I had a fitness center and I wanted to get out of that. I came off so I was seeking different opportunities, came off a failed venture from Mexico. And I literally had like $673 in my bank account when I saw this ad.

And all it said was to work three days a week and make $10,000. And I thought, yeah, right. you know but hey they had did its did its job and and it got me to click on it and so i inquired and and that really opened up my eyes my eyes to a new concept of selling one that i never really thought of or even you know heard of before um that that it completely blew my mind man and and from a from a matter of leveraging not only my dollars but leveraging my time through this concept and that ultimately has completely changed the direction of my life. And that's really what most of my companies are right now,

is still operating within that system. I think a lot of people get really scared off when they hear selling. Like, I don't think people like to be sold, right? Like, I think people picture going into the used car dealership and, you know, like the salesman jumping on you and, you know, like right as soon as you get in there. The reality is, Riley, and you know this, that we're always selling all the time. Yeah, absolutely, man. And that's that's the core of it. All sales is is, is a, you know, tactful communication. Unfortunately, a lot of untactful people have, have ruined it,

and given it that kind of four-letter word connotation, but the Norwegian root word is of sales, is sell-e. It's a, it's Norwegian, so it means to serve. And if, if we have that perspective, again, back to our perspective, our perspective is our reality. So if we, if, we think about it differently and we realize I'm just here to serve you. If this isn't the best product or best service for you, then great. At least I found out quicker. I'm not wasting my time, so to say, and I could move on to somebody that's actually a good product for. And if we have that perspective, both as the salesman and as the sales, or the customer potentially, it would just make that transaction so much easier. Because at the end of it, sales is, is, is service.

but it comes down to communication and how to communicate effectively. And, dude, like you said, we're all selling something. Like, I'm selling my wife every day why she shouldn't leave me, man. Like, and thankfully, I'm still accomplishing that task. But that's it. Like, how can I serve her more? How can I serve any relationship more if we have that perspective of it? It completely changes the atmosphere when we walk into that actual environment.

I think there's a lot of people that want to do what you've done and they want to be their own boss. They want to start their own company. What would you say are like three things that someone can do like right now to start taking those steps towards doing it? Yeah, great question. What is like the first thing that anybody could do is just, dude, set up an LLC. Do it. Because so many people think like, well, I got to figure out a product.

I've got to figure out a service or maybe they have a product. of their service. So they said, like, I got to figure out how to sell it. Like, just do something as quick as set up an LLC because it's a task that you can do it. And I'm back to that routine into rhythm. It takes routine in order to develop rhythm. So if you can, if you can get in the routine of checking boxes, your to do list, creating that. And, and, you know, I used to be the guy that would literally create the list. And I would throw on the list like two things I already accomplished just so I felt better about checking the box. Right. We cheated the game. a little bit, but that gave me now like that excitement, that rhythm of I'm accomplishing things.

And so set up an LLC. It's 160 bucks. You can do it online. There's websites that'll do it for you. And then go apply for your EIN. Get your bank account. And now, okay, I've got an LLC. I'm in business. Right. Now, what do you want to sell? I don't know. Pick a name because you can always set up a DBA down the road. But then let's, if you don't know what to sell, now seek out a mentor or hire a coach and look for opportunities. Okay, because here's where I think a lot of people go wrong. And a lot of people teach this. Like, if you follow your passion, you'll never work a day in your life. I think that's complete BS, man, mainly because ultimately, first off, a lot of people's passions isn't going to, you're not going to make any money doing it. Like my,

One of my business partners, his wife's passion is rocking babies. Amazing passion, right? But you're going to go broke real quick doing that. So what we need to do as entrepreneurs, which I believe everybody is an entrepreneur. All it literally means is to undertake. If you undertake anything, you're an entrepreneur. And if you approach life with that understanding or that mindset, you're looking for opportunities. Right.

And so like when COVID went down, man, I was head on a swivel. what's the opportunity that I can take advantage of, you know, not in a negative way, but in a way that I can bring more value to the marketplace. What's a need that's out there? And can I package it in a way in which people want it? Because I don't believe people buy what they need. They buy what they want. And so like the old saying, like you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

It's like, well, yeah, I could. I could put salt in its oats. And suddenly the horse wants to drink. right so it's understanding like the horse needs to drink to survive but i can't make him drink but i can put salt in its oats and it's going to want to drink and that's just again back to there's not a whole lot new under the sun unless you're inventor but business and a lot of business really is taking a good idea that's maybe already out there but repackaging it create a sexy little offer that you're bringing it to the marketplace in a different way that people didn't think about

back to that perspective didn't think about before and now we're able to provide it to them. So set up your LLC, look for opportunities, follow those opportunities, do not follow your passion, bring your passion with you wherever you go. I love this idea because we live in a world now with the supercomputer that's in our pocket. Like this is easier than ever now to get started and actually do something like this. That man, you bet. It's great. And a lot of people will say, you know, there's so much out there. There's so much competition, but again, there's always opportunities if you're looking for it. But you've got to be intentional.

And most people aren't. Most people don't have that morning routine. They're waking up with zero intention. They're waking up and let life happen at them versus take going to life and acting offensively. Most of us are playing defense, just trying to get by. I'm just trying to get through this day to get to the weekend. And then, you know, I can go to get bottle service again or whatever that is. It's a terrible way to live.

Right. I've been there. I've done that. know what that's like. And there's, it's complete, you're just, you're miserable, right? And there may be brief moments of, yeah, I crushed that business and I got that deal. It was great, but it's quickly fleeting. Unless you have that like sense of fulfillment and really truly what you're doing. And it doesn't, the product, the service, the business that you have, I've started multiple of them, man, that I do not care about the product of the service one

a bit. Now, it had to morally and ethically be good. It had to provide value, but I didn't care about it. What I cared about was people. I cared about providing value. Mostly, I cared about my family and the role that I took as a husband and a father to provide for them. So again, morally and ethically, if it's good and sound, I'll sell whatever you want me to. Just let's, how much money can I make doing it? And am I going to be, still be able to approach it in a servant manner and then let's go let's build the business if there's a need there we'll figure out how to make somebody wanted you mentioned fulfillment i love that because i think that there's a big difference i think between being happy and being fulfilled can you speak to that oh yeah yeah dude happiness is is

it's an emotion that that's fleeting right like it's it's kind of like um happiness i relate to like being satisfied in the moment. Okay. And then we experience times where we're satisfied in the moment, but then we quickly become unsatisfied, right? Like we eat, we're satisfied. Four hours later, I'm unsatisfied. I'm happy.

I'm unhappy. I'm unhappy. This is just what we go through life. And fulfillment is more of like content, right? Like I'm so content where I'm at in life right now, which is great. That's fulfillment, but I'm so dissatisfied. Like I've just started this thing called life. with this idea that I'm so content.

And I feel I have that fulfillment now with what I'm doing. Yeah. Because part of the reason, I think over the last decade, why I've started so many different companies then took every single one of them to seven, a couple of them hit eight figures within the first year of each. It wasn't because it was a great product. Other people were selling it.

It was I had a good system in place to generate leads and sales. But once I hit a certain level, it was like, eh, okay, what else can we do? Okay, what else can we do? And dude, that's how I approached my first marriage. Like, I checked the box. It was like, okay, now what? And it's, I can joke about it now.

We, even with my ex-wife, we can joke about it now, but that is a terrible way to live, right? But now understanding that it's so much more, understanding that my fulfillment isn't to, to, you know, start something from scratch and build it, my fulfillment is to like, is to keep it and to have that significant. So my marriage now is, you know, it's not to not to get the girl. It's to keep the girl, right? It's like, oh, man, now I get to do that every single day. In the same way I approach business now, it's fun because as entrepreneurs, it's a thrill of the hunt. It's like, man, let's go. Like the thrill of the hunt is so excited. I still get so excited about it. But now there's a fulfillment behind it where it's no longer that fleetingness of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. You talk a lot about the five power pillars. And I feel like that, this is a perfect jumping off spot from what you were just talking about.

What are those five power pillars? Yeah, man. So we got mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, and financial. And I really believe these pillars, we need to be operating our life like a CEO would operate a company. Right. So see, if you think of companies, they have different segments within their organization. There's the sales department. there's marketing, there's fulfillment, there's, you know, maybe HR, whatever it is.

And if you're thinking about running a company, as a CEO, your job is to really kind of adjust levers and, you know, okay, what do we need to do here? You're controlling the ship on this thing. It's not that you necessarily have to be the one that's doing it, but you need to, you know, pull the levers or give instruction on where this ship is heading. And if think, go back to the company concept, if marketing is, if marketing is, you know, struggling within the company, who is who in total is struggling? It's the whole company, right? If sales is down, the whole company struggles. If HR isn't hiring and firing the way they're

supposed to, everybody suffers. And our life is the exact same way. So we host these events called become the CEO of your life. And we teach this concept in which we believe if we can operate in excellence in our mental health, our emotional health, our physical health, spiritual and financial health. Like there's a health that we need to be operating in. That allows us to, to number one, put ourselves in a position in which God can use.

Like we've, as I mentioned before, we got one life to live, we got one body. We need to be available anytime we're called to step into the game. Right? I don't want to be the guy that's riding the bench because I'm not taking care of my body,

okay, and I'm not getting proper sleep. Or I'm not, you know, I don't have a mental health. health issues and or I'm emotionally a train wreck. Like, I want to be the person that can be that has the equanimity that it can can be called upon at any point in time. And I believe that's really truly how we operate in excellence. And not one doesn't have to suffer.

Right. Most, most people call it like a work life balance. Yeah, yeah. If we're balancing things, man, that means one's losing every time. One's up and one's down. One's up and one's down. And I believe there's this harmonious concept that we can approach life with, that they can all be operating in excellence. And if some are, it's like a wheel. We got five spokes on this wheel, mental, emotional, physical, spiritual. One of those spokes gets broken, the whole infrastructure starts to fail. And now we got a flat tire and we're limping around this thing called life. And that ain't what I want, man.

Dude, I was just down in Fort Myers four days ago. I went to dinner with my wife. I looked around and I thought, if I'm like this, at the age of 80, like, just shoot me right on the spot, because miserable. Like, everyone is just overweight and like, it's, it's just, we got to take control of our life. And if we don't do it now, when we, when we have our health, we certainly aren't going to do it 30 years from now, when we no longer have it. And then we've got to try to get it back. It's not how it works. You got to steward what we have well now in order to keep it in our older age.

What do you think is the best way to find a mentor or a coach that can really, help you on your journey and also get clear on your goals. Oh, man. It comes back to the fruit. I mentioned this before. When you're looking around and go above and beyond social media, because social media, I think, is, you're only seeing what they want you to see, right? You're not getting underneath the hood.

Highlight real, yeah. Exactly. And that's why I think a lot of people are attracted to it. But if you're really going to truly hire, if you're going to invest into a mentor, spend some time with them. I do this even from a now in which I still have mentors in my life, but even in business, before I'm going to go into business with anybody,

I want to date them a little bit first, right? Because I've gone into business relationships that did not end well because due to whether there should have been a one-night stand. And we ended up getting, you know, trying to push our way through this thing and it just wasn't going to work. And so first off, look for the fruit in their life that you want. Okay, because so many, especially in the coaching world, man, so many people want to be a coach,

like a life coach or even a business coach. First thing I want to see if you're a business coach, well, what businesses have you ran? Well, I don't. I have my business coach. Like, okay, deuce is, right? A financial advisor? Show me your finances, bro. Like, what have you stewarded well?

If they don't have it, then I'm on to the next one. a fitness instructor. I've seen 250 pound overweight women in the gym. And they're lined up with clients and every single client is 250 pounds overweight. It's like, what are you looking to do here? It's because they're comfortable in that environment and they don't have to be afraid of failing. But at the end of the day, they're not helping themselves. So look for the fruit that you want and go get around them. And sometimes you have to pay money to be around them. Sometimes you've got to serve your way to get a seat at the table. right if you if you don't have a seat at the table you got to serve water at the table but get in the room and naturally that fruit will start to fall off or you can start to pick it from the vine

and ultimately then plant that seed to produce your own fruit in your own life riley bringing us so much value here i love what's the best piece of advice that you think you've ever received oh man the best advice i've ever received um going off of what i just said is was something i I never even received that. I just had to kind of learn my way through that. But back at the age of 15, it was, all right, I needed to be around people. And it was just being intentional. And we've all heard the old cliche, like you're the sum of the five people you surround yourself with.

And as cliche as it is, dude, it's so true. It is so true. This is why so many people, back to just we have these neural pathways that have been ingrained into us on how we've grown up because that was the environment that we were in. You know, one of the things I heard once, man, which rocked me was a shark.

When a shark is born, a baby shark, it's like eight to ten inches in length. Okay, it's a little shark. If that shark is never taken from a fish tank and put in the ocean, it'll never grow beyond eight to ten inches in length. But that same exact shark when it's put in the lake or not obviously not a lake,

but a bigger environment, ocean, it will grow to 15, 20 feet in length. And it's because its environment affects its actual growth. So if you don't like where you're at, you're getting a different environment. Okay. And sometimes it'll make some hard, you got to make some hard choices. Like you got to choose to pull some weeds in your life and choose to get around other people. And when I did that, I started to be intentional with my time because time is your most valuable, valuable thing. It ain't money. It ain't anything else it is it is your time because where you invest your time is is what's going to ultimately reap that type of harvest in your life so get around those type of people and and steward your time well

yeah and i love what you're saying about being intentional because i think that that's tied directly into time if you're intentional with your time and you structure your days your weeks your months and so on i think you can get so much further ahead absolutely absolutely and that's that comes back to to letting life happen to you, we can live a life by design or by default, right? And I want my default to be designed. And that's back to that rhythm. And so when emotionally things happen,

I already know what my default is because I've already designed it, right? When physically I'm sick, like a COVID, whatever, like I already know what my default is because I've designed that. And if we can act with that intentionality in every area of our life, dude it's it's it's it's remarkable the freedom that we have if we actually had that intention and and and actually took it seriously because most people don't they're they're they're they're working to make a paycheck or they're they're they're constantly looking for shiny object what's the next best thing versus just focusing on that one thing do it really really freaking good and then we can

start to move on to that to that next thing yeah you're a fellow podcast your people can listen to Council, wherever they're listening to this. But I think's the biggest thing you've learned since you started your podcast. Man. So how, so I've done two podcasts, bro. So one was the sales conversion podcast I've put on hold. I interviewed a ton of people on that. And selfishly, I just did that to learn from people.

It's like, what better environment to learn? That is the biggest like a hack, like life hack. Like, if I were to ask you to go out to lunch with me, you'd be like, no, I don't have time for that. I asked you to come on my podcast. all of a sudden your schedule is wide open. Totally, man. Absolutely.

And I actually, I generated, you know, decent seven figures from that podcast just by inviting people on that, that we ultimately did business together. It was an incredible experience. And so it was, you know, being intentional with, okay, I have different products and services and then who out there could use them. Okay. And then I invited them to come talk about it. And then coincidentally built a relationship.

And it would have. never happened if I cold called them. So it's a great marketing and sales strategy, if you're intentional with it. But now the Kings Council, a lot of the episodes are solo for me. So I go into like prep mode. And when I'm, when I'm, I love it because I'm so and more intentional with, with what I'm going to talk about, whether whatever the topic is, any of those five pillars, mental emotional or, you know, we've been on a huge financial kick lately. And how I receive information, like how I listen to your podcast, man. I'm listening to them in a way of like understanding it,

digesting it, fully consuming it. And then how would I deliver that message? If I like the message, right? It's like, that was a great analogy. How can I deliver that? So I think it takes you from like, you know, student to like teacher to master level when you, when you go into a way of actually being able to teach it.

because it's like, you know, tell show, try, do. I've heard that conflict. People tell you how to do it. They show you how to do it. Now you try it. Now you're actually doing it. And that has really helped me with the Kings Council podcast and actually prepping for messages and teachings and trainings for people.

So it's been epic, man. I love it. And so much of what you've done in your career has been around sales. What do you think is like the one common denominator with people who are great at sales? communication skill i mean that's what it is because there's always those unicorns usually your best sales guy is your worst manager like don't take him out of his environment let the unicorn be the unicorn right and then there's there's good managers uh because the unicorn doesn't even know why he does what he does it's just like just this is what i do they're just like

ingrained with how to be relatable they're naturally just inclined to to use certain techniques like of pacing and leading or just teaching people, but it comes down to communication. Sales can be learned by anybody. I don't care if you're an introvert or a stay-at-home mom. You can learn sales, and it starts with communicating. It's like not only the words we use, but the tonality that we use,

that voice inflections, our body language. All of that comes into communication, and all of that is related to sales. The common denominator, no doubt mine, is just communication. Well, it's not what you're selling. It's how you're selling it, right? Yeah, absolutely. It is because the words you say only make up like 7% of what's actually communicated.

The tonality and the physiology, your body language, make up 93% of what's actually delivered or received during that communication exchange. So there's the sender and there there's the receiver. So 93% of what you're sending is being received. in the not the words you say right and this is why you've all probably gotten a text where it's like a k from your significant other and you're like was that like a k or you know and then you're like i don't know are we fighting now i don't know because you attach tone to it that they maybe didn't mean and that's why i love voice to you know actually doing an audible or all my sales guys we communicate on boxer great app so they can actually hear how to respond or a rebuttal or something versus just

me texting words because how it said is much more important than actually what's said. I'm a firm believer. I have a core belief that any skill can be learned. And I agree. Any like anyone can learn how to sell. But I think a lot of people hear that first know. And they go, well, that's it. Sales isn't for me. That's so true, man. So true. Here's the greatest advice. Actually, I want to go back to that question that you'd ask me a while. Okay. What's the greatest advice that I ever received? One of the very first sales jobs that I took, the sales manager, he looked to me.

So it's, he, it was selling siding in windows. We were just, we're on her own, like independent. We got to figure out how to sell this stuff. He looked at me and said, bro, 85% of this is negative. I was like, okay. And he goes, but if you can focus on the 15%, you'll make six figures in this. I was like 18 at the time. I was like, okay.

So if I run a hundred leads, if I have 100 appointments and I get 85 people that don't open the door, slam it in my face, whatever, I don't have to care about that. I just have to worry about the 15. And that was a mindset shift for me where it's like the first no, I'm like, cool, whatever. It doesn't even affect me. And I'm going to continue to flow in my sales process to ultimately get either the final no or the final yes. But that comes back to just mindset shift, man. Yeah. Well, and every no, we just get you that much closer to a yes. And I think that people hear one

know and go, oh, man, every single response is going to be a no now. Oh, yeah, absolutely. This has been very, very powerful. I've really enjoyed this. And I end up your conversation talking about gratitude because I love gratitude. You sit behind me here. Be great. You're grateful. Riley, what are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now? man i'm grateful for just standing here right now being able to do this podcast it's incredible like we're we've never met in person technology it's it's such a great thing and a lot of us just take it take it for advantage especially the younger we are we didn't have to deal with the dial-up phones right the any of that that junk um and so i'm certainly grateful for that just

being alive in this particular moment like right here right now and everybody that's listening is you're live right here right now for a reason. God chose you to be on this earth right now for a reason. And it's because you have value that other people don't, they don't know about yet. Right. But it's up to you to actually deliver that. So that'll be number one.

Can I count that as one man? Absolutely. Yeah, for sure. Right here, I'm grateful for this moment. I'm grateful for just life in general, dude. That's why I can wake up and have a rhythm of life because it's back to we get that one life and we don't get to it's it's one life that's it right or they'll say yolo you only live once like though we live every day you die once so you choose to live every single day and live it to the

fullest because i dude i don't want to i don't want any regrets on my deathbed and that that's just like why i want to live out every single day and i'm grateful for my spouse like ashes has been incredible uh through my my junk uh into where we're at now and and to where we're at now and how we've how we've come so far our relationship has never been more incredible and uh it's just uh it's just been amazing to see her growth and in and you know my growth for us to actually truly come together and fulfill this this mission this vision this purpose that we know god has on our life right now that's three what is the best way that people can get in touch with you or connect with you so probably most active on on Instagram man.

And it's the Riley Meek. I love how you spell Riley, by the way. Yeah, bro. I had nothing to do with it. I guess you didn't spell it that way. Your parents did. Exactly. It's so R-Y-L-E-E-E and then Meek, M-E-E-K, as in the Meek shall inherit the earth.

That's me, man. That's where it's at. Riley, this has been powerful and this has been filled with value. Thank you so much. for this. Yeah, it's been fun, Chris. Appreciate you having me on, man. Well, there we go, my friends. What are you grateful for in your life today? And the thing I love about gratitude is it is impossible to experience both gratitude and anger at the same time. Thanks to Riley for being with us on this one. Thank you to you for listening and listening all the way until the end. I've said it before,

but you are a real one for doing that. You can check out Riley's podcast. called the Kings Council podcast wherever you're listening right now. And take a screenshot. Let us know that you're with us on this journey. Tag us so we can share it. Riley is at the Riley Meek. And you can find me at Chris Van Fleet. And we'll leave you with these words from the great Jim Rohn.

If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's life plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much. Be great. grateful, have an amazing weekend. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight. Woo! The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary.

Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987.

I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.