Build Your Utopia

We are very pleased to bring you part 2 of our interview with Mark Sumpter, Coach, Speaker, and Author.

Starting the second half of the interview discussing where Mark Sumpter sees his business grow to in the future. He would love to see his company evolve into having 5 or 6 people all working together to improve people's lives.

Mark Sumpter has some exciting (or do I mean expensive) outlets that help keep him balanced. Mark took flying lessons to become a pilot. He also plays in tennis (he plays doubles and enjoys playing the net) and soccer leagues. Mark makes sure he has the time for all his events by sticking to his calendar.

Mark Sumpter shares an impressive story about focus and finding things that are good for you vs things that are good for you right now. It is amazing how much you can do if you are focused on exactly what you need, when you need it.

To wrap up the show, Mark Sumpter dropped some knowledge on us with these three takeaways:

• Fail forward fast
• Invest in a Coach
• Connect with as many like-minded people as you can

Books we talked about during the show:

• No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs by Dan Kennedy on Amazon and iTunes
• Essentialism by Greg Mckeown on Amazon and iTunes

Follow Mark Sumpter:

• Renegade Success Coach
• Twitter

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

We are very pleased to bring you part 1 of our interview with Mark Sumpter, Coach, Speaker, and Author.

Mark Sumpter starts the show off with his view of Utopia. He wants the resources to take care of his parents in their golden years while still having the freedom and flexibility to travel. He also points out that he has always had these goals and has built his life around achieving them.

Mark Sumpter shares a story about hosting a coaching call from the deck of a cruise ship just as the ship is setting sail. That is the power of a digital company, it frees you from a 'location'. As long as you have internet access, you can do your job.

Next Mark Sumpter dives into how he got into the digital space way back in 1999. Back then, Mark was a police officer working two jobs (moonlighting as we know it) when he saw a guy driving a nice car headed home and Mark realized he was working harder and he needed to start working smarter.

Mark Sumpter shares how his business grew and adapted into what he does now. Way back, folks would ask Mark to lunch to pick his brain about how to be an entrepreneur and how to do business. Eventually, Mark was going out to talk shop with folks every single day (and he was still paying for his own meals, and sometimes the meals of the person asking all the questions!). He had enough, and when the next person called for lunch, he said "sure, it's $500 a day," and they bought two full days! As that model got more and more popular, Mark became more and more booked. As his time was evaporating, Mark took all his daily contacts and created a seminar to services multiple people at once.

Books we talked about during the show:

• No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs by Dan Kennedy on Amazon and iTunes
• Essentialism by Greg Mckeown on Amazon and iTunes

Follow Mark Sumpter:

• Renegade Success Coach
• Twitter

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

We are super excited to bring you part 2 of our interview with Jon Schumacher, Entrepreneur, Coach, and Fitness Guru.

Jon Schumacher tells us of the benefit of learning from those who already know, but don't just stop there. Jon spent a ton of time and money taking classes and working with other gurus in various fields to get better at the skills he deemed important. Once you have that knowledge though, make it your own, put your own spin on it, and combine different areas of knowledge and expertise.

Jon Schumacher reveals to us that he isn't the best at work life balance. He worked a full time job and built his side career, which didn't leave a ton of time for himself. He's aware of the issue, and he is working to fix it. Now that he has resigned from his day job, he is going to take back some (not all of that time) for himself and time with his wife.

Jon Schumacher then leaves us with three powerful things to think about:

• Life only gets better when you get better
• It's about connection, not perfection
• Persistence is key
• Get so busy that you don't have time to be disappointed

Books we talked about during the show:

• Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki on Amazon and iTunes.

Follow Jon:

• Hangouts that Convert
• Twitter

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

We are very excited to present part 1 of our interview with Jon Schumacher, Entrepreneur, Coach, and Fitness Guru.

Jon Schumacher starts the show off with two huge points. First, he just left a stable success job to work full time on his passion. Second, he puts it into perspective how much time you have in your life and how much time you have for your loved ones.

Jon Schumacher didn't really have the entrepreneur itch until 2010 when he started working on his own personal brand. After exhausting his Facebook and Google friends, the company crashed. He was disheartened and left that for the stock market. He found his way back and started working on his brands again, using his vast knowledge of person fitness to educate and help people. Also, he did all this while working a full time 'day job'.

Jon Schumacher also discusses some of the challenges to overcome when you go off on your own business. It can be a scary decision to make, but it also offers a ton of opportunity.

Books we talked about during the show:

• Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki on Amazon and iTunes.

Follow Jon:

• Hangouts that Convert
• Twitter

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

Happy Friday Utopians! Today is the last Friday of the month and that means a new recap show. Josh and Ben talk about the last 4 interviews with Joel & Pei, Eden Sunshine, Philip Beyer, and Midori Verity as well as catching up with what is happening in their lives.

Ben & Josh start the show talking about a very recent incident with Ben at his job. The company wants to pay his cell phone bill, great news right? The truth is, nothing is free and paying the bill also means giving out his cell number. What to do?

Next, our hosts spend some time talking about Josh's experiences with his new motorcycle. He also admits to being an adrenalin junkie (which may explain some of his hobbies). They also play with the idea of starting a new show!

Josh & Ben then talk about the conversation with Joel & Pei. Those two were a blast to talk with and they were super accommodating given some technical difficulties that happened during the show. As it turns out, our hosts cannot pick a top value bomb! This may be the first time that has happened on Build Your Utopia.

Then Ben & Josh move to Eden Sunshine (yes, his real name). Ben starts off with an apology, there was something on the audio that was very difficult to remove and it is obvious that Ben's pride was bruised because he couldn't fix it. Our hosts decide that their favorite value bomb from Eden was "learn to do the right work."

Our hosts then have a mini intermission and talk about Josh's issues with bees!

Once they get that out of their system, Josh and Ben then speak about Philip Beyer and his fantastic accent! Something about that southern accent makes a person super easy to listen to. Our hosts couldn't agree on a favorite value bomb from Philip. Josh picked "sales, sales, sales" while Ben picked "organize your business through systemization." It actually shouldn't be that surprising based on what we know about our hosts personalities.

Finally, Josh & Ben revisit this week's interview with Midori Verity. That was a great interview as well. Josh and Midori actually have something in common, something that Ben just doesn't understand. Our hosts were able to agree on this one and chose "look at the big picture, don't get caught up with the small things."

Here are the books and movies that came up during the show:

• My Girl on Amazon and iTunes
• Inception on Amazon and iTunes
• Do Over by John Acuff on Amazon and iTunes
• Ask by Ryan Levesque on Amazon and iTunes
• Money Master the Game by Tony Robins on Amazon and iTunes

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

We are very excited to share part 2 of our interview with Midori Verity, Relationship Coach, Entrepreneur, and Author.

Midori Verity shares some detail and specifics in her affirmations. She shares the story that she is currently mentoring some young adults and invited them over to her house to create vision boards. The vision board helps to visualize the goals and the attitudes you want to embody by making it part of something real. Then she shares a story about communication, specifically with her husband. She shares the Rubber Band Technique. It is a tool to adjust your thinking from a negative space into a positive one.

Midori Verity tells us some of the things that help keep her in balance, and one of the biggest ones is working out, physical activity. She doesn't enjoy running, but she does it every day because she knows she'll feel better once she is done. Midori and Josh then talk about the benefits of kick boxing. Sometimes Midori doesn't always have the time to work out, and she makes conscious, positive decisions to keep her schedule.

Midori Verity also shares her 3 take home lessons for us:

• Gratitude, come from a place of Gratitude
• Look at the big picture, don't get caught up with the small things
• Take care of yourself

Here are the books we talked about in the show:

• Secrets to a Kickass Marriage by Midori Verity Amazon.

Follow Midori Verity here:

• Midori Verity
• Twitter

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

We are very excited to share part 1 of our interview with Midori Verity, Relationship Coach, Entrepreneur, and Author.

Midori Verity shares where she came from and how far along she is in building her Utopia. 5 years ago she was in a very different place, battling depression and trying to find the strength to just get out of bed every day. It is a truly inspirational to know where she came from and where she is now.

Midori Verity also shares some of her tips and some of her process in writing her book. She didn't set aside time every day to write, but was driven by her passion to get the book written and the information out there. Being married for 30 years definitely gave her a wealth of experience to draw from, but she also recognized some of her shortcomings and brought in other experts to co-write some portions of the book.

Midori Verity then talks with Josh and Ben about a concept that help her greatly once she discovered it, Neuroplasticity. Affirmations, gratitude, and positive thinking all helped her change the way she views her life and what she knew could be possible with her life.

Here are the books we talked about in the show:

• Secrets to a Kickass Marriage by Midori Verity Amazon.

Follow Midori Verity here:

• Midori Verity
• Twitter

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

We are proud to publish part 2 of our interview with Philip Beyer, Entrepreneur, Author, and Coach.

Philip Beyer recounts a story of Steve Jobs and his return to Apple. When Jobs came back to Apple, he asked to see everything the company was working on, and after seeing the pile of products, he cut nearly everything out and left only three or four products. This hits home for Philip, especially after his experience with the crash in 2008-2009. It is best for the business leaders, the business, and even the market to focus your efforts on one thing.

Philip Beyer, Ben, and Josh also talked about examples of companies that have some simple systems in place. The act of greeting your customers when they come into the store is a system designed to make the customer feel welcome and appreciated. It's also simple to implement from a training/management point of view as well.

Finally, we recapped Philip Beyer's top three lessons:

• Make business contacts, don't be shy to talk to people
• Sales, Sales, Sales
• Organize your business through systemization

Here are the books we talked about in the show:

• System Busters by Philip Beyer on Amazon and iTunes.
• E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber on Amazon and iTunes.
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown on Amazon and iTunes.

Follow Philip Beyer here:

• System100

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

We are very pleased to share part one of our interview with Philip Beyer, Entrepreneur, Author, and Coach.

Philip Beyer is a proud husband and father who is very involved in his community. His wife, kids, and daughter in law all take part in the businesses and this helps to keep him happy and grounded in what matters most. Having the people he cares about and trusts also helps to keep away the business chaos that Philip feels is one of the biggest hurdles of modern business.

Philip Beyer hasn't always been a system driven, organized person. He started out, in his words, as a mess. He was even called out by one of his customers about the level of disorganization in his business. After reading the book E-Myth by Michael Gerber, Philip really got into processes and systems.

Philip also reflects on some of the business choices in his past, both positive and negative. His software company was doing great and he had the opportunity to sell Beyer Printing back in 2008-2009. At the time, he decided he would just run both, after all, they were both doing really well. Then the market crashed, and Beyer Printing took a big hit and it took years of hard work to recover.

Here are the books we talked about in the show:

• System Busters by Philip Beyer on Amazon and iTunes.
• E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber on Amazon and iTunes.
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown on Amazon and iTunes.

Follow Philip Beyer here:

• System100

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

We are very pleased to present part two of our interview with Eden Sunshine. Eden is an entrepreneur, speaker, and author.

Eden is a big proponent of developing systems. He gave us a few tips from Level 7 Systems. It is huge to create your business around systems that drive the goals of the company. That way, if someone is not available, others can step in and follow the system to get constant results.

We also learn the struggles that Eden and his wife face between being entrepreneurs as well as parents. What is the right balance between work and family? How many clients can you take on and give them all they need without losing time with the family? Once you find that balance, know it will change as the kids grow up.

Eden also shares with us his top three lessons, and he says it all starts with the 'decision to be excellent'

• Have the right mindset
• Learn to do the right work
• Find the best way to do the right work

Follow Eden Sunshine here:

• Eden Sunshine's site
• Eden Sunshine's Twitter

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!