The School of Greatness - 76 How to Craft, Communicate, and Cash In on Your Personal Story with Bo Eason

Episode Date: July 23, 2014

"I was being wheeled off the field to my 7th knee surgery and I was looking up in the crowd thinking, 'I think I may be going to prison.'" To get in-depth understanding of what Bo Eason stands for, come visit us at www.lewishowes.com/76

This is number 76 with Bo Eason. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. What is up, everyone out there today? Thanks so much for tuning in to the School of Greatness podcast. I am your host, Lewis Howes, and I'm excited about today's episode because it's all about

how to realize your personal story and the power of your personal story and how to share that with the world. So what I've found through a lot of my journey over the last five years with online marketing and building my business online is the reason I've been able to create the results that I have has been due to a lot of the fact of my personal story and being able to craft my story in a way so others can relate to it, others can connect with me, and others can feel comfortable to take action on what I have to share and my wisdom, my information, and my products and services. And I would say that my story continues to evolve and I continue to get it clearer and sharper so that people can connect

with it. And by no means is it the best that it can be right now. But after today, my goal is to make it a lot better because I get to sit down with my good man, Bo Eason, who I've been hearing about this guy for a while now through some mutual friends. And we finally got to connect and we talked on the phone and then we did this interview. And wow, we have a lot of similarities from I don't know any other guys who are doing what we do who are former pro football players. And it's pretty cool to hear about his story. He was in the NFL for five years. I'll talk about this more here in just a second. He also had a one man show on Broadway for a number of years and it's turned into a, uh, it's got picked up for a movie that they're working on now.

So a lot of cool things that Bo has done and it all comes back to being able to have a clear vision on what he wants and being able to share his message and his personal story with the world. So how would that make you feel if you could really share and talk about what it is you do in your story in such a way that other people got you? They just got you right away, and they were so captivated by you. They were able to connect with you, and they would follow you anywhere because of your story. That's what we're going to be talking about today. And with that, guys, let's go ahead and dive into today's episode.

I'm pumped. I hope you're pumped as well. Here's the one and only Bo Eason. Welcome back, everyone. And thanks so much for checking out and hanging out with me today on the School of Greatness podcast. I've got a friend of mine on that we just recently connected through a lot of mutual friends of ours that have been telling me to connect with this guy for about six months.

And I'm very excited because his name is Mr. Bo Eason. What's up, Bo? Hey, Lewis. How are you? It's funny that you say that because it's true. I've been told the same thing for the last six months to a year. Like, hey, you've got to know this guy, man. You've got to know this guy.

And when enough people say that to me, I go, well, I guess we better surrender to fate. Exactly. And the cool thing about the reason I think a lot of people have been telling us to connect is because we have semi-similar backgrounds. We're both former professional football players, although I was never good enough to make it to the level that Bo made it to, which is in the NFL. He played for five years, I believe, with the Houston Oilers and San Francisco 49ers. And I just played a measly year and a half in the arena football league. So he was much better of an athlete than I was,

but we somehow connect on that football level. So it was very cool. Yeah, no, it's been fun. But Bo, you know, is also – he's transitioned from football back in the day and done some amazing things now with his life. And he's built up an awesome business. He had a one-man play called Runt of the Litter. He still has it, but it ran for a long time in New York City.

Was it on Broadway or was it off Broadway somewhere or where was that specifically? Both. It started off and then it went on and we've had two different runs there. So it was really exciting and fun. And it was kind of fun to start like off-Broadway and kind of, you know, it's just like in the minor leagues. Not necessarily minor leagues, but you're just grinding it out in these small theaters. And then eventually, you know, producers come and they like it and they respond to it and they take you to the big show. So it's kind of like pro sports in a way. That's awesome.

That's very cool. Now, what inspired you to actually say, I want to talk, you know, create this, uh, show in the first place and it basically ended up being about your life, right? Kind of how you grew up and making in the football world. Yeah, it's a one man show. And, uh, I mean, the genesis of it was, um, you know, when I was a kid, I drew up this plan with crayon and school paper. And I was nine years old and I drew up this plan and the plan, I still have it to this day. In fact, I take it with me on stage quite a bit. And it's really kind of my declaration of independence where I drew up this plan and it was very simple. I just wanted to be

the best safety in the world. And, you know, safety is a position in football, for those of you who don't know. And that was it. And for the next, you know, 20 years, I ran backwards. Because that's what a safety is going to do. Exactly. You had quick hips, and you ran backwards. That's right. So I did that and was able to do that.

And I was first safety drafted in 1984. And that came true. And then after playing in the NFL, you have seven knee surgeries while it's playing. Wow. Yeah. So at the end of it, I just kind of running out of body parts

to keep playing this game. And I figured, and I don't know if you had this feeling Lewis, but at the end of my career, I was like, man, what am I going to do? I'm trained to be, you know, the best in the world at throwing my head into other bodies. What, how is this going to translate into the regular world? I mean, how am I going to, how am I going to make a living in the civilian world if that's what I'm trained to be? And you probably didn't have a backup plan, did you?

No. You know what they say. You know, when you have a plan B, plan A never works out. Exactly. So I took the plan A. So anyway, I never forget it. I was being wheeled off the field in Miami

playing the Dolphins down there and I was being wheeled off and this was going to be my 7th knee surgery and I was looking up into the crowd in the Orange Bowl down there in Miami and I was looking up in the crowd and I was thinking I think I may be going to prison

and that was that moment I think I may be going to prison. And that was that moment where your whole life passes in front of you and you go, wow, I'm the best at this thing that is not going to be acknowledged in the civilian world. And if I can't find some kind of way or some kind of platform to express myself, I'm going to go to, I'm going to, it's against the law what I do. So I'm going to end up, you know, in prison, like hurting somebody or hurting myself. So that in the very next moment, when they got me into the x-ray room in the stadium, I was like, I'm moving to New York city. I'm going to move to New York city and I'm going to start, I'm going to get on a, on a stage and I'm going to start to express myself and learn how to do that so that I can actually make a

living and not have to, and to avoid prison all in one fell swoop. So I was like, that's my plan. That's my new plan. Wow. And that's, that's kind of the genesis of where it all began. From the injury. Yeah. And you know, the injuries just kept coming and coming. So it was starting to, it was getting to a point where I was like, man, I got to be able to do something. But how the heck am I going to express myself? You know, the way you can, you get to do in athletics and it's actually, you get a pat on the back for doing it. Interesting. This is a, we have very, you know, the more I talk to you now, and we connected a little bit earlier today and kind of chatted as well.

But the more I actually connect with you and learn about your story, it's very similar in some ways to what I went through. So it's really weird, actually, that I'm learning about this right now. Now, where did you go to college to get drafted out of? I went to a small college up in Northern California called UC Davis, which at that time was a division two school with no scholarships. You know, you basically played football there for fun. They didn't recruit you. They didn't, you know, they didn't, you just played there. And no one was being paid. It was a very small time. And I went there to keep my dream alive of playing safety because I wasn't recruited by anybody.

Wow. And got drafted out of there. And you were the number one safety to get drafted? Yeah. You were the first safety? Yeah. Wow, that's pretty impressive. Yeah, yeah.

My brother is a year older than me, so he got drafted in 83. I got drafted in 84, so my brother was the first round pick as a quarterback and went to New England. And then in that same draft was my roommate from UC Davis, a guy named Kenny O'Brien. He was my roommate at Davis, so no one had really ever been drafted. a guy named Kenny O'Brien. He was my roommate at Davis, so no one had really ever been drafted. But my roommate and my brother

were both drafted in the first round as quarterbacks in 1983. So, yeah, so that's the draft with Elway, Jim Kelly, my brother, Todd Blackledge, Dan Marino, Kenny O'Brien. All those guys, six guys went in the first round.

It's never happened before. And one of them happens to be my brother, and the other one happens to be my roommate. And we all grew up together. And none of us got scholarships coming out of high school. That's crazy. How is that possible? It's impossible, right? We went to these little high schools.

But that's what I always tell people, man. People think like, you know, when you look at the most elite athletes or the most elite performers, and I don't care if it's in sports or in music or in stage work or in acting or in business, you know, it's always the people who are getting rejected,

you know, who want superstars all the way through. Those are the ones who really become something. Because they're hungry. Yeah, they're hungry. You're exactly right. They're hungry. And that was true of us three.

We grew up. We thought we were pretty good players. We worked our butts off. We had dreams. But no colleges were interested. So my brother went to a junior college. Kenny and I walk on at UC Davis, and they don't even want us,

but we go there. And cut to, you know, four years later, those guys are both first-round picks in 83. And then I go the next year in 1984 because I'm a year younger. Wow. And that's really how it all began. And, um, that's, that's, that's really how it all, you know, how it all began. And it's funny, it's, it's my story and, and, and most, most elite performer story is really similar to that. You know, you get the rejection, you get told you're not good enough, and then you just battle your ass off until you create your own way and then you master a certain thing and then once you master one thing, you can master pretty

much anything. Isn't that the truth? Man, once people learn how to master something and it's usually themselves, they can do anything I feel like, at least from my experience. That's really interesting. So when you were in college, did you basically – I mean, obviously football is interesting to me. So when you went to college, did you basically just develop as an athlete,

get a lot stronger and faster and bigger, and then you started to make a name for yourself? Or how did this all of a sudden happen in four years? Yeah, well, I had the plan, and I'd been following the plan for years. So I knew what I wanted, and I was trained. But when I got into college, I mean, literally my freshman year, I was 18 years old. I didn't have hair under my arms. I mean, I didn't have to shave.

I didn't have a muscle on me. I was really skinny. I was a late bloomer. And the same was true for my brother,omer. Same was true for my brother and same was true for my roommate. During those four years in college, I gained weight. I got muscles. I got hair under my arms. I mean, imagine that day when I got hair under my arms. Then my body kind of cut up with my dream in college yeah by the time i was 21 i was ready to go wow that's crazy very cool very cool so you played five years in the nfl seven knee surgeries later uh you realize that that's the end of the road was it did you make the decision not to try

to come back, or were they basically like, we can't sign you anymore because you keep getting injured, or kind of a combination? Well, you know, it's funny. Most teams, when you have that many knee surgeries, you're like a pariah, you know? Right. You're like, oh, my gosh, this guy is going to, you know,

these limbs are falling apart. So that was part of it. But I just, I mean, I could is going to, you know, these limbs are falling apart. So that was part of it. But I just, I mean, I could have come back, I guess, but I just was, after that seventh one, I was like, okay, I got to move. That's a lot of rehab, man. That's just like a lot of, ugh. If you think about that, that's seven. So back those days, you were in a cast for six, eight weeks.

Then your rehab was a year back then, you know, in the eighties. That's crazy. So, I mean, I was thinking like half my life I was on crutches. That is insane.

Yeah. I, uh, you know, I had six months in a cat full arm cast after my surgery from football. And I just remember feeling like miserable i was just like i wanted to come back and play but then i had another year to recover till i could fully straighten my arm and just like get the strength back and i was like it's

not worth it like i don't want to get injured again so okay so you're you're down and out you're you're like i might go to prison if i keep doing this in the real world, but I really want to express myself and get my message out there. And you moved to New York City. So is this when you started to develop this play concept, pretty much shortly after the NFL, or did it come later? Yeah. No, it came then. And what I did was I moved to New York, and I got in these acting classes and dance classes and voice classes. I mean, every class, I just used all the energy that got me into the NFL.

I used that to train to be— To master everything else, yeah. Yeah, and so I went to all the classmates in my classes, and I would go to them, and I was like 27, 28 at the time. And these, these students that were my classmates were much younger. And I would, I would say to them, I go, okay, guys, listen, I want to be the best stage performer, um, in the world. Who do I, who's the best right now? Tell me who the best is right now as we speak. And everybody, this was like 1990, everyone said, oh, that's Al Pacino.

And I go, cool, where is he? And all my classmates are like, what do you mean, where is he? I don't know where he is. He's Al Pacino. And I'm like, because I need to talk to him. Because if I can talk to him, and if he's the best cause I need to talk to him because if I can talk to him and if he's the best, I need to know what he's doing and then I'm going to do what he's doing. And then I'm going to take his mantle. And so I, I, everyone said I couldn't talk to Al Pacino. Well, about three days later, I'm in Al Pacino's house in New York and, um, awesome guy. And

we played pool for three hours. He had this room where, you know, he had a pool, uh, you know, billiards and we played and he knew why I was there. And I just said to him, I go, look, man, I, everyone in my class tells me you're the best stage performer of your time. I want that. How do I get that? Tell me what to do. I'll do it. He goes, okay. So we played pool for three hours and he broke down my next 15 years. And at the end of it, I mean he told me exactly what I was going to be doing for the next 15 years. And basically he said that I was going to be on stage more than any other human on earth for the next 15 years.

I was going to spend more time with my feet on a stage than anybody else. That was basically what he told me. He was saying that that's how you were going to become the best or that that's what he just saw in you? That's what he said that I had to do if I wanted that mantle. Right. So I got into it. He told me exactly who to work with, who to be around,

who to surround myself with, and what miles to run, basically. Jeez. It was like Lewis, you came to me and you said, Hey, Bo, I have this son and he's nine and he wants to be the best safety in the world. Will you tell him what to do? And I say, yeah, Lewis, I actually know what to tell him. Right. I'm going to tell him, but what I'm going to tell him is going to take him 15 years. Right. Exactly. And then your,

your son would be have to commit to running those miles. So that's basically what he did. And sure enough, I did everything he said. And 15 years passes. And I never saw Al Pacino for 15 years until opening night in New York City. And I run on stage and I'm doing the play, I'm performing it. And I'm so nervous because the critics are in the house and the New York audiences are tough. And I come out with a play that I wrote that I'm the only guy in. I run out. I start doing the play.

I start to get some semblance of being on stage and being in front of all these people about 10 minutes into the show. And I look out and in the fifth row, right on the aisle is Al Pacino wow and I didn't know he was going to be there and I hadn't seen him in 15 years since he told me what to do and we he and I make eye contact during the show and he gives me this nod like a like subtle, like you got this. And that was it.

That was it. And I remember after that saying to him, hey, thanks for telling me. Thanks for telling me exactly what to do. I bet you that performers come to you all the time and they say, hey, the same thing that I asked of you. I bet you get past that every day. He said, actually, you're the first. Wow.

He said, most people come to me and say, hey, I want to be famous. Or can you put me in your movie or can you introduce me to your agent? No one ever came to me saying, I want to be the best in the world at stage performance. Can you teach me how? Can you tell me what to do? And that really stuck out to me because, you know, that's how I train people today. You know, I train them exactly how I was trained by Al Pacino and by the coaches that I had to be the best safety in the world. I keep training them exactly the same. And I tell them, I go, look, this is not

going to be a weekend. This is going to be, yeah, you know, this is going to be mastery. But once you master this thing, which is the expression of you, then you now are the key. You have the keys to the kingdom because you now can express yourself in what you do and your vision of the world, and there's no occupation you can't have if you have the ability to do that. And that's really been like a huge lesson is to actually have people surrender to

the pace of being the best, you know, because. So hard, especially for athletes, you know, we want to be the best now. Yep. And it's hard for everybody because we're so quick to want to be the, you know, we want to be great right off the bat. Well, you can, we want to be great right off the bat. Well, you can, you can be, but, um, to really have that longevity and that mastery over your life and over everything, you really got to spend those like Malcolm Gladwell says, you know, the 10,000 hours.

Sure. Um, and, and, and, and that's exactly what I teach my kids, the exact same thing that I teach my clients. I mean, I teach my kids. They're nine, seven, and five. All I teach them is, look, we're going to outwork every other kid your age for the next 20 years. That's all we're going to do. I don't care if they're better at seven years old in living. I don't care if your friends are better than you then. All I know is we're going to out work them during those years for the next 15, 20 years. And we're working on being the best

when you're 21, not when you're seven. Right. When it matters. Right. When it matters. When it matters. Interesting. Yeah. I mean, and when we can understand and learn and experience what it means to work hard daily and whatever it is we want to master and really create the time, the sacrifice that it takes to put in those work hours over the years, there's nothing we can't do in my mind. No, you're right. You master one thing, you master all things. Yeah. So I don't care if it's safety or wide receiver or quarterback. You master that thing.

All of a sudden, whatever occupation is next for you, you just apply that same mastery that same work ethic and you'll master the next thing whether it's business or playing the violin it doesn't matter but i think the problem with most people and athletes for sure is we don't want to pay those we don't want to run those miles again we just want it to cross over directly and not have to start at the bottom again. Because we've worked our butts off to do one thing. Yeah, why don't they just, aren't I entitled to be great at everything now?

Right. And that's just not the case. I mean, but you do have the work ethic. You do have the discipline to take the next occupation to that same level. It's just you have to start again. You can't just start at the top again. And that's what people got to just get their mind around. And I think that's the advantage and disadvantage of some of the most elite athletes out there or professional

football players out there is that when they're done, they kind of want to keep staying at that same level of being at the top of what they're doing, but they're not at the top. They're down at the bottom. And some people can translate that work ethic and that hard work and that humility to start from scratch and build it back up. But then there's other guys, you know, obviously that we've heard about in the news and things that just commit suicide a couple years afterwards or just get really depressed or go to jail jail because they have no focus and they don't want to put in that hard work to start something new. That's right. And I always, you know, why I just wonder why people are in such a hurry.

I often have to ask people because they go, well, just tell me what to do and I'll just do it really fast. I go, yeah, I'm going to tell you what to do, but you're going to do it fast, but you're going to be doing it fast for like 10 years. Right. Exactly. Maybe you should. Yeah. Maybe it'll be 10 years and not 15. And I always ask people, where are you going or where are you, where are you not yet that you're heading? Where are you going so fast that you're not there already? Why do you want to make it so fast? Cause just take a breath, know that you're going to be grinding this out. I'm telling you.

Relationships are like that. Marriage is like that. Parenting is like that. It's all these lifetime commitments. Those are the ones that matter. Those are the ones you really need to build this muscle for. That's true. And one of the cool things about you is you've had success over all the different areas of your life, in college and professional, as a playwriter, and then becoming one of the best performers on stage. But then after that, you transition into what you're doing now.

And it sounds like you had some overlap over the same time you're on stage and performing but now you're doing a lot of personal storytelling you're a coach uh and helping people tell their story better and clearly and effectively and now how did that translate from wanting to become the best as a stage performer and reaching broadway and performing in over 50 cities around the country and having one of the top shows on Broadway to now doing what you're doing, which is really leading people into discovering and crafting their story and their message. So how did that translate? Yeah. That translated because it was kind of of accidental it's just that people were responding to the play in a certain way um businessmen you know presidents of companies

guys and gals they would come backstage and they would say hey can you bring this performance to my company and my wife is a producer of the show and and we were like, no, what are you talking about? We don't do that. We don't even know that that world exists. This is a theater piece, not a movie. And they kept coming, and they kept coming. And so eventually we said yes. Eventually we said, yeah, we'll speak to your company, and we'll train them based on what I know. And I know storytelling.

I know how to stay disciplined and tell a story. And then people then follow that story. People get behind me. Well, we just started and it just started, you know, picking up steam and people really responded to it. And corporations and individuals are finding that they just make a lot more money if they have the ability to tell their own story, regardless of their occupation. Interesting. So that's why it just built and built and built.

And now, you know, I have my own event twice a year, and we bring people in from all over the world. And I do my events in theaters, like Broadway-style. That's cool. So that the people, the clients get a chance to be in a room that's so vast and so big. Not that there's a lot of people in it, but the rooms are big and the ceilings are high and the lights and the stages. I want them to be able to fill up those rooms with their humanity, with who they are, because any room that they enter thereafter is going

to pale in comparison to the size. And once people get a sense of how big they are, of how big their story is and how big their humanity is and how for most of their life they've been apologizing for it, they really get a sense of their power and their leadership qualities. And therefore, they have an ability to make a lot more money because a lot more people follow them, regardless of what they're selling or what their occupation is. follow them regardless of what they're selling or what their occupation is. So why is it that people, when a company or an entrepreneur, when they have a clear story,

why is it that people want to, are enrolled in that person or want to buy from them or sign up for their products and services more frequently? Why is that? It's the connective tissue. It's the trust and intimacy that you can create immediately with a story that you can't do any other way. They say, there's this one quote that says the four most dangerous words in the English language are once upon a time,

once upon a time, because they say that every, I don't have a lot of religious background or training, but they say that every religious book, whether it be the Bible or the manuscripts from other religions, they all begin with those kinds of words, once upon a time. They all are told through parables, through story, because story is irrefutable. Like, you could tell me, hey, Bo, you could give me some stats and some numbers, and we could go back and forth about it. But if you tell me a story about you,

now I connect to you. And now you and me are the same. We're in partnership automatically right off the bat. So I was in London earlier this year, and I was talking at a speech to the top 100 financial advisors in all of Europe. So these are the guys and gals that control most of the money in Europe. And they brought them all into London. And I spoke to them. And they brought in two people. This other guy spoke. And he runs a company called Oxford Analytica. And Oxford Analytica has 200 think tanks throughout the world that basically, like our president, gets Oxford Analytica

briefings on his desk every morning, and so do all major leaders. So what they do is they come up with analytics and statistics and studies on threats, on where the markets are going, on all these stats. And so I was up there speaking about the importance of their personal story, these financial advisors' personal story. Well, this guy from Oxford Analytica comes up to me afterwards and he goes, Bo, can I talk to you? I said, yeah.

He says, do you know all that stuff you were talking about, these people's personal story being the key to the kingdom, the key to their success? I said, yeah. And he goes, do you know you're right? And I was like, well, that's cool. Cause I was kind of hoping I built my life around this. And he said, not only are you right, I'm going to send you the analytics that will back you up. And I was like, that's awesome. So what he did, Lewis, was he sends me a study that has been done and it started with Julius Caesar in the middle of the Roman empire, 2000 years ago to our last presidential election in 2012. They're all leaders in between those two 2000 years.

So not only was it leaders, uh leaders like political leaders and presidents and that kind of thing, it was also leaders like Lady Gaga was somebody they studied. And Osama bin Laden, of all people, was somebody that they studied. They really wanted to study why people follow other people. And they came up with these analytics what they all had in common for these 2,000 years all these leaders and guess what the number one thing quality that all of those leaders had to have they were great storytellers yes they had to have the ability they had the ability to tell their own story because like think about it right now.

Everyone on this who's listening to this podcast, and you and me, we all have people in our lives right now. I guarantee all of us do. A community around us, an audience around us that is watching us right now, that is waiting for us to lead, waiting for us to take over. And they're patiently just watching and waiting. And the minute that we lay out some connective tissue, they'll then follow us. And that connective tissue is called the story. It's a personal story. Like this is my background. This is where I come from. These are my dreams. This is where I'm headed. These are my dreams. This is where I'm headed. Now people around you that surround all of us right now are just waiting. And that

is how they've been doing it for 2000 years. So if that's the case, then you and me got to lay down connective tissue for people to follow, to trust, to do business with, to get married, to go on dates. It's all the same thing. Wow. Now, this is fascinating. And what I want to know is how much of your story, the connected tissue, do you uncover? Let's just say if you're an entrepreneur or a business owner, how much of your story are you supposed to share?

Or do you just share things that you think might be able to relate with people or open people up or create vulnerability with them? Is there a certain type of formula for how you share your story? Yeah, for sure. It depends on if you're unknown. If I'm unknown and I'm speaking in front of an audience, which happens all the time. So I'm speaking in front of people who's never heard of me. They don't know any of my background. The first place I start is a defining moment.

And if you think about storytelling throughout your life, like you and me and everyone who's listening has grown up with story. That's how we were taught. We've watched movies. We've been read books. We've been watching TV shows. Everything is story to us. So we know as a human being, one of our greatest attributes that's natural to us is we understand story and we connect to it. We love it. So if you think back of every great story that you've ever heard or any great movie that you've ever seen, it starts in the middle of the story.

Do you notice, like think of a movie right now, like think of like a movie, like an action movie with Tom Cruise, like say say, Mission Impossible, one of those kind of movies. Every time, the first frame of film that they show isn't Tom Cruise getting ready to do something. It's Tom Cruise being punched. He's swinging from a rope. Right.

Right. He's being punched in the face. They're taking his children. They're taking his wife. He's in the middle of the story. Right. So that is a defining moment in his life. So same is true for you and me.

So when I'm in front of groups that don't know me, the first thing out of my mouth is not thank you or it's great to be here in Detroit. The first thing out of my mouth is when I was nine years old, I had a dream. So I drew up a 20-year plan. That sentence is in the middle. Now, you know me like you know your next-door neighbor of one sentence, because it's a defining moment. It's a moment when I'm nine. So when you say that to people, when you let people in, like say it was you, Lewis, and you said to me, first thing out of your mouth, you come on stage and you say, when I was 13 years old, I was in love with a girl named Cindy. And I asked her to the prom and she said no.

Do you start a story like that? That's a defining moment that shapes your life forevermore. So right when you do that, when you get that intimate and that personal right out of the gates, people connect to you because now they think they're you. They think because you, everyone has that kind of pain and everyone has that kind of defining moment. So the minute you say, when I was nine years old, I had a dream, everyone in the audience and everyone listening is now thinking of themselves when they were not and what dreams they had and what dreams where they have heartbreak. So that is really the key. The more personal your story, the more effective it is, the more universal it becomes.

Because people, and this is, you know, you and I were raised, you know, in a, in a world that says, you know, don't brag about yourself. Don't talk about yourself. It's not about you. Well, that's just not true. Look, great storyteller shares himself or herself so that other people can participate. So, so when I say, um, when I was 13 my my girlfriend cindy dumped me everyone goes everyone listening goes oh man i remember that heartache i got dumped yeah yep and so you have now you have intimacy and connection and trust that would have taken you five years to build. And you have it in one sentence. That's what I'm talking about. So when I teach business people and entrepreneurs,

that opening line, what is it? So you can lay out some connective tissue so these people can start to co-create with you. That's what you want. Right, right. Very cool. Yeah, because it's all about building that bond and that trust and that likability and that relationship with anyone else coming in contact with you. So I think that's extremely valuable. But what about people that feel like they don't have a great story or don't have anything to talk about? What do you say to them or how do you help them discover it? That's true of almost everybody I've ever taught. Everybody I've ever taught.

That's true of myself. And that's true of every person that I've ever encountered. They think that the first thing that we do as human beings is devalue our own story. Or compare to someone else's story. Right. It's not good enough. Your story is so dramatic. It's just not dramatic to you because for you, you've lived it. And so it seems mundane and ordinary to you

because you lived it. But often, like this one kid got up, and I swear this is the first thing that came out of his mouth, Lewis, and he thought it was nothing. But to everyone else, they fell off their chairs. He got up and he said, the second time that my dad broke my arm, that was the first sentence out of his mouth.

Wow. Now, he thought, because that was his life, he assumed that that was everybody's life. It was normal. Everybody's experience. Yeah. So us in the audience, we're falling out of our seats going, did he just say that? But to him, it was mundane and ordinary because that was his life. Now, when I talk about playing pro football, look, I played pro football,

and therefore all my friends that I kind of grew up with and that I knew, all the people that I knew, were also pro football players. Right, right. So to us, it wasn't anything big deal. It was just like, doesn't everybody play pro football? Right. And then you get out in the regular world, and you realize that that's very rare. Right. And it's dramatic to people to tell them that. Well, the same is true for every person that I've ever met.

They've got super dramatic, moving stories. They just don't know it because they try to encapsulate their whole story. Like I'm 53 years old. So if I was to break down my whole 53 years, that would be a long, boring, stupid story. But what I break down is the most defining moment, like when I was nine and had a dream. That's what's dramatic. That's what's moving. Interesting. So what are some exercises or an exercise that someone could take on right now listening? If they feel like, you know what, maybe my right now listening if they feel like you know

what maybe my you know i feel like i tell my story well but i don't know like my business isn't growing so maybe it's not clear enough what's an exercise someone can take right now if they get out a pen and paper or if they just like go through something that you could talk about to get clear on their on their story yep um think Think right now, everybody, just do this exercise right now. It's like five seconds, okay? So everybody right now, think of your proudest moment,

the greatest moment of your life. Think about what that was. What was that moment? You want me to answer it? Okay. No, don't answer it. Okay. And I want you to get that out of your mind now because that's not a good story.

Now I want you for the next five seconds to think of your lowest moment, the one you don't want to tell, the one you're kind of ashamed of, embarrassed. Jeez. That's a good story. That one is good. That one is effective. What if it's really deep and dark and nasty and vulnerable and scary to share? Usually, that is where your gold lies.

All your money-making ability lies right there. All your leadership quality lies right there. Um, all your leadership quality lies right there in that little pot of gold that you're not going to let anybody see. It's, it's, and it's, you've got to massage it, obviously, and you've got to work through it. And you don't want to necessarily tell certain aspects of it in all business places. But you can certainly share a lowest moment. And you may have to finesse it a little bit so that people can hear it. Like some people say, for example, it's some kind of molestation or some kind of rape or something like that. If it's something like that, there's a way to tell it that's inspiring for people.

There's a way to tell it that has formed your life and made you who you are, which is inspiring to us. Think of, you know, I mean, just the same example we just gave of the Tom Cruise movie. They never start a movie ever. Say you and me were making a movie about Mount Everest today, you know, and we, so the first frame of that film would not be of us sitting on top of Mount Everest, planting the flag, raising our arms in victory. The first frame of that film would be us standing at the bottom of that mountain, looking up and saying, there's no way in hell we can do this. That's where great stories are.

Because no one cares if you win. They only care where you came from to win. No one cares that you graduated from Harvard. Nobody cares. They only care how did you get there why did you get there what did you have to face to get to that graduation nobody cares that you married the prettiest girl in town they only care about how did you get how did she say yes how did you get, how did she say yes? How did you get her? They don't care that you got

her. They care how, what mountain did you have to climb to get there? So that's why I say start at the lowest moment, work your way up to the victory. Now, when you're sharing your story is, let's say, you know, you could probably have your story in a long format and a medium format and a short format but when you're teaching and coaching you know individuals entrepreneurs big corporations do you tell them to be like very clear in their story and say it in like a couple sentences um or is it does it depend on the context of how they're sharing it? What do you think? It does. It depends on the time that you have.

I'm constantly revamping or shortening or lengthening stories based on how much time they're giving me to speak. So if I have a 90-minute speech, my opening story is about 10 minutes or 12 minutes long. If I have a shorter speech, I'm reducing that down a little bit, but I'm still leaving in enough detail and intimacy so that I build this trust with the audience very quickly. Could you give us... I have a longer... Go ahead. I was just going to see if you could give us an example of like a 15 to 30 second example of your story, like how you would say it if you were introducing yourself or connecting with someone and you just had a brief moment.

Yeah, well, I would do just like I did with you guys earlier. So I always kind of leave them hanging with the first sentence. So if, and I always use an age that I am not right now. So I'm 53. So I often will go, and most of my clients do this too. When I was nine years old, I had this dream. So that's a comma right there. But that half of it, so that's half a sentence. So that's half a sentence. Pretty much it's over right there. Because I've laid out great details. I've said when I was nine.

So everyone's good. So now the audience and the listener or the potential customer is now in their life at nine years old. Not my life, their life. We listen autobiographically. So when I speak of my, my dream, you don't think of my dream. You think of your dream or the lack thereof, or the dream that never happened for you.

So you go into your own life, which is where you want your customers and where you want your audience. You want them in their own life. That's a great service that you're giving them. Everybody wants to be thinking about their own life. We love, as human beings, contemplating and thinking about our own life. So if somebody gives me the gift of putting me in my own life, I like them automatically. They also know that I'm telling a story.

So I say, when I was nine years old. So that's just like saying once upon a time. When those words, when your brain hears those words, all judgment leaves. Your critical mind stops. When you hear the word, when I was nine years old, and I'm not nine right now, and that's obvious. when I was nine years old and I'm not nine right now, and that's obvious, your critical mind stops and relaxes and you sit back and you go,

I'm in good hands. I'm about to be taken on a journey and I like it. And the journey is my own life. So now I'm saying when I was nine years old, I had a dream. So now all my audience is now in their life at a certain age that they're not now and they're thinking of their dreams that they either had

or that never came to fruition. All the heartbreak. So the next half of the sentence is, so I drew up a 20-year plan. So now they're going holy wait a minute you drew up a plan to make this so now in one sentence

it's over in a half a sentence it's over but in a full sentence you're doing all my work for me you and me are now co-creating this experience together. It's no longer me spewing my story. It's you and me co-creating it in real time.

And there's nothing more intoxicating. There's nothing more intimate and intoxicating than co-creation. So I have three kids. So I co-created those kids with my wife. I'm telling you, there is nothing more moving and intoxicating than creating something together. And story is the same way. Great storytelling isn't about spewing and throwing up on somebody. It's about co-creating it moment to moment to moment with the listener. Once you, once you master that, then you have that.

This is what this, this study from Oxford Analytica was all about. It's about these leaders had the ability to get these people to follow them because they were co-creating their leadership with them. They wanted to be a part of the vision that this leader had. They wanted to be a part of the story. So most people, think about this, Louis, think about most entrepreneurs that you meet.

They start with their resume. They go, like, you go, Hey, what do you do? They go, well, like imagine I'm at the golf course the other day, right? So this dude goes, Hey, Bo, Hey, what do you do, man? And I could yell back, Hey, I'm a speaker or I'm a trainer or, you know, I'm a writer. And then what would he do? He would go, okay, cool. See ya. That would be it. That? He would go, okay, cool, see ya. That would be it. That'd be the end of the conversation.

He's not asking what I do. He's asking, Bo, what cloth are you cut from? What do you come from? Who are you? So this is how, when somebody says, Bo, what do you do? This is what I say. First, let me examine that. You say, Bo, what do you do? I say, when I was nine,

I had a dream. So I drew up a 20 year plan. And, and right then I walk away. And what do you think they're saying now? What? What? What was the dream?

Right. So now they're co-creating my story for me. They're doing half my work. Now we have intimacy. Now we have co-creating my story for me. They're doing half my work. Now we have intimacy. Now we have co-creation. That's what I'm talking about. So you can kind of leave them hanging. Right.

You kind of, you lead them to create for themselves. I think this is the mistake a lot of politicians make here in our world today. The reason we don't listen to them and the reason we dismiss them is because they never are speaking with us. They're speaking as if they're above us. And they never ask us to co-create. They ask us to just listen to what they say. And we're like, no, I'm not listening

to that shit. Oh, I'm sorry. Can I not cuss? Can I cuss on that? Yeah, you're fine. I thought I was in the locker room for a minute. But they never ask, they never are co-creating with us. And if they do, and when they learn to do this, they will get more than 50% of the vote. The reason they're ineffective is because they don't know this art. They don't know how to do this. And it's not hard to do. We do it naturally as human beings. We just have been in this information age for two generations, and we've gotten fat and flabby as far as our expression muscles and co-creation muscles go.

And, I mean, it's exactly like you and me right now are co-creating this with the audience that's listening right now. That's why, and you know how I know this is effective, is because people aren't turning it off. People won't disengage from this kind of conversation because they know there is important in co-creating what we're doing right now as you and I are. And that is the key to building what you want to build is this co-creation. And the only way to co-create with people is to share yourself, share what's most intimate with you. I love it.

Bo, I could, uh, I could hear you talk about your story and storytelling and the importance of it for a long time. But I want to wrap it up here in a second because I know you have a lot of different free video training on your website over at boeason.com, E-A-S-O-N.com. And you've got your event that you talked about that you do twice a year, which is called, I believe, Personal Story Power. I think that's what it's called. Yeah. And so you've got events, which I highly recommend if you guys are looking to craft and hone in on your own personal story and have control over it, as opposed to having no clue who

you are and what to say to people, then I highly recommend checking it out over at BoEason.com and signing up for the next event. He's got the info on the products and events page right here on his site. It's a beautiful looking site and some cool video training, some free stuff on, he talks about the three, discover the three most important things you must master to share your personal story. So some great content over on Bo's site. I highly recommend checking it out.

And maybe we can get you back on at some point in the future to talk more about this because this is something that I'm extremely passionate about and interested in. And I'm constantly working on and evolving my story and trying to master it. So I know there's always another level to get to. So if you're open to that in the future, hopefully we can get you back on. But I want to wrap up with So, um, if you're open to that in future, hopefully we can get you back on. Um, but I want to be great. I want to wrap up with our final question,

which is what I ask all of my guests at the end of every episode. And the question is, what is your definition of greatness? Wow. Really good. You know, um, it is this,

I, I, it's really good. You know, it is this. It's funny that I love the name, the School of Greatness, because often I tell people this. I go, look, I have one interest in the world, really. I have one interest, your greatness and mine. That's how I was raised. I was told since I was a little kid, and this goes for all my brother and my four sisters,

that we were the best. That's what I was told. And my dad would wake us up in the morning, and he would rub our backs. And my dad was like a cowboy and a rancher, so he didn't talk a lot. But when he talked, he listened. And he would rub our back and he would say, he would cuss. Because every sentence he would just lay out cuss words. But he would rub our backs and he would say, you're the best in there.

And then he'd drop a few expletives. He'd say, you're the best in there. And so I was raised that way. So everything I'd ever done in my life is I wanted to be the best at, whether that playing safety or whether it means stage performing or speaking or storytelling or coaching, whatever it is, I'm going to be the best.

And that's how I see greatness. I see it like I want to be the best. That's my, that's my dream is to be the best in the world at a thing so that others can see that that is possible. I think that's a life well lived. Now, sometimes I get pushback on that because people go, well, that's bragging. I go, no, no.

Look, I never say I'm the best. I say I want to be the best face in the world. I want to be the best stage performer in the world. There's nothing conceited about that. That is noble. That is honorable. And I don't see why all of us can't have that same expression. Like, regardless of what our occupation is,

I want to be the best in the world at this thing. And usually, if you're able to declare that, if you actually name that, then you have the ability to bring that into fruition. You just do. And the world will help you. They will because everyone's inspired by a dream and somebody who has aspirations like that.

So I say, yeah, I say it's about the definition for greatness for me is that's the only way. That's the only mindset there is to have is greatness, yours and mine, shared, co-created together. I love it. Bo Eason. Make sure everyone check out boeason.com, E-A-S-O-N.com. And I'm assuming you've got some places on social media that they can find on the website as well, right? Yeah, there's all kinds of stuff.

If you go to boeason.com, you'll see all the info and all the trainings and fun stuff. Very cool. Yeah, love to have you. Yeah, man. And I'll make sure to link all this up on the show notes. So check out the show notes link here in a second. And Bo, I appreciate it, man. It's been such a pleasure and a gift connecting with you for the last 60 minutes and getting to know your story.

And from one former football player to another, it's a pleasure, man. And I really appreciate what you're up to in life and how you're inspiring the world to craft their own message. So thank you so much for all that you do. Yeah, I love it. It was a great time. So thank you so much and we'll do it again. And there you have it, guys. Thanks so much for tuning in. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out the show notes over at lewishouse.com slash 76, the number 76, and leave a comment in the questions box in the comment section below. We got lots of cool links, pictures, images, videos, downloads, all sorts of cool stuff that we talked about in this show. So go ahead and check it out over at lewishouse.com slash 76.

Make sure to connect with Bo online as well. He's an awesome guy. And if you're looking to tap into understanding how to share your personal story better, then make sure to check out one of his connect with Bo online as well. He's an awesome guy. And if you're looking to tap into understanding how to share your personal story better, then make sure to check out one of his events because I really think it'll be a powerful experience for you from what I've heard so far. And I definitely want to go check one out myself. Thanks again, guys, for all you do to support the School of Greatness, to support the guests that come on here, the message and the vision behind the School of Greatness, to support the guests that come on here, the message and the vision behind the School of Greatness, which is supporting people to live a greater life. And I am so proud of this show and what we've been accomplishing together.

So thank you guys so much. If you get a moment today, please share this episode with one person you think it could be helpful for. One person you think could use this information to captivate others with their own personal story. And go ahead and share it online as well with your friends, always on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, tag where you are listening to this in the world and post it on Instagram. And we've got to have a lot of you have been requesting the music. You've been saying, hey, people have been emailing me constantly saying, where do you find the music?

Do you have a playlist for the music? So I might be putting up a playlist. I've got my podcast producer, Ian, working on that right now for me. We might be putting up a playlist for you and posting it somewhere. So stay tuned for that. More goodies coming soon. I want to start putting up two, three episodes a week. I've got a lot of great guests coming up right now.

So I might try to do this two, three times a week and see what that works for you guys. So again, thanks so much for tuning in, guys. You know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Thank you.