Build Your Utopia

Hello and happy Friday Utopians! Today Josh and Ben talk about Vickie Kerr's episode earlier this week.

Ben and Josh think about a comment Vickie made about sacrificing now to have the time later in life to enjoy her time with her husband and when the time came, her husband had passed. Josh and Ben both have a hard time putting themselves in her shoes and dealing with a similar situation.

Our hosts also discuss gender bias towards women, especially working women and expecting mothers. Josh understands the 'old school' gender roles, though he may not agree with them, and Ben is just confused by that mindset.

We also find out that Josh was a guest on a show this week (that makes two for him and zero for Ben, so far Josh is winning).

• Hangouts that Convert
• Startup Dad HQ

Josh and Ben then get into Vickie's three points, and dive into the first about negativity and negative people. Our hosts explore how to remove those people from your life, even if they are family or close friends.

Josh's son turned six this week, here are some of the things they did together:

• Big Hero Six on Amazonand iTunes
• Super Smash Bros on Amazon

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

We are very happy to release today's episode. Joining us is Vickie Kerr, the REAL Miss Vickie of Miss Vickie's Chips and the Arizona Language Center.

Miss Vickie's utopia is being able to do what she wants, when she wants, and to do the best job that she can. She is living that Utopia now, and has earned it as she's been working towards it her entire life.

Miss Vickie started Miss Vickie's chips as a healthy snack for her kids and she grew the business by having a fantastic product and by nurturing her relationships with retailers, customers, suppliers, and her employees. Listen to the show to hear it all strait from her.

Miss Vickie left us with some valuable takeaways today

• Don't listen to negativity and negative people
• Get over false pride and find the courage to try
• Have humility and be humble

If you want to keep up with Miss Vickie you can find her

• @RealMissVickie on Twitter
• @RealMissVickie on Instagram
• Miss Vickie's Kitchen
• Arizona Language Center

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

Welcome to Build Your Utopia! Happy Friday everyone! Today Josh and Ben discuss this past week's show with Tony DiLorenzo of One Extraordinary Marriage. Make sure you listen to Episode 44 or this show will spoil some of the stuff we talked about.

How do you come back from the loss of a child? We think Tony and Alisa handled it in the most positive, productive way possible. Now we just need to get her on the show and hear her side of the story. Someone take a note and get her on the calendar.

Josh and Ben get sidetracked (big surprise there) and spend some time talking about movies. Please let us know how you feel about the Andrew Garfield / Spider-Man situation. And also Heath Ledger's performance in The Dark Knight

• The Amazing Spider-Man on Amazon andiTunes
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on Amazon and iTunes
• The Dark Knight on Amazon and iTunes

Josh and Ben also talk about Tony's acheivement in hiking the Pacific Coast Trail. It is a massive distance and our hosts talk about how you can take such a huge undertaking and break it down into smaller and smaller parts so that it becomes something manageable. It's a tip for success.

Josh and Ben also talk about Tony starting Parkour and we learn how Josh has even thought about trying that himself. We also learn how Josh practices Muay Thai. (It may not be as crazy sounding as the title lets on...)

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

Hello Utopians! We have a great show for you today. Tony DiLorenzo, half of One Extraordinary Marriage, co-author of the Seven Days of Sex Challenge (read on Amazon), and entrepreneur join us to share his story and drop some wisdom.

Tony DiLorenzo walks us through his path from the loss of a child, the breakdown of his marriage, through relearning how he and Alisa (his wife) communicate and relate in the wake of everything. Alisa and Tony pick up the pieces, decide their marriage is worth it, and ultimately create a company helping couples improve and grow.

Tony DiLorenzo also let's us know what he does for himself and how he finds the time for himself now that he and Alisa run a company. He's made time for learning parkour and even hiked the Pacific Crest Trail.

Finally, Tony DiLorenzo shares his three value bombs:

• Live life in the present & enjoy it
• Build your life as if you are on the offensive
• Enjoy the folks around you

Find more of what Tony and Alisa have to say at One Extraordinary Marriage. Make sure you listen to episode 001 of their podcast to hear Alisa's side of their story.

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

Happy Friday everyone! On today's episode of Build Your Utopia we talk about this week's interview with Hal Elrod of The Miracle Morning. Make sure you listen to Hal's interview, he provided all of us with a ton of valuable information.

We go through a number of Hal Elrod's points today, starting with his previous thoughts on being a husband and a father to his current standpoint. Spoiler alert, he used to think very much as Josh does, very traditional, in that the man provides for the family. While we may have differing views on the traditional parenting roles, that isn't what we talked about. After having a conversation with a friend of his, Hal realized that his role is not a provider, but as a participant.

We also talk about Hal Elrod's practice of goal setting, which he calls the CBAs.

• Clarity - What do you want, why do you want it, what might prevent you from achieving it, and what do you have to do daily to achieve it?
• Beliefe - What do you need to embody to achieve your goal?
• Accountability - Do you have someone in your corner to keep you focus and hold you accountable?

According to Hal Elrod, once you have the answers to those questions, you are in a great place to achieve your goals.

Hello Utopians and welcome to Episode 42 with Hal Elrod!

This show is jam packed with fantastic advice and he starts it with an amazing revelation, and very on point considering Josh & Ben's discussion on episode 41 (listen to it here).

Hal Elrod also teaches us how to set and achieve your goals, and it's as easy as C-B-A! (not ABC, but just as easy to remember as Hal explains.

Among all the value Hal provides us in this episode, it is also worth noting that he believes in something Ray Higdon called out in his top three lessons (listen to them here). Hal believes in his goals and he is 'committed until' he makes it.

As a testament to Hal Elrod's drive and commitment, working "until" you make it, he shares his story of a horrific car wreck and his amazing recovery.

With all the valuable information and inspiration Hal gave all of us, he wrapped up his 3 value bombs into one key idea

• Everything starts with a solid morning routine

Find out more about Hal Elrod

• Achieve Your Goals Podcast
• Join the Miracle Morning Community
• HalElrod.com
• The award winning book The Miracle Morning on Amazon and iBooks
• The Biology of Belief on Amazon and iBooks

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

Today on Build Your Utopia Josh and Ben reflect on Episode 40 with Ray Higdon. Ray's episode inspired a few different feelings in both Josh and Ben. If you haven't listened to episode 40, go listen now, we'll wait.

Back? Good, now let's get into it. Josh and Ben were both inspired and impressed with Ray. He was successful, but missed his kids, so he left his job. He was fantastic in his new job until the market crashed and he lost everything. After denial and depression, he pulled himself up and created his current business and he is rocking it now. What is not inspiring about that?

Then things get a little heavy with Josh and Ben. Ray's story about getting rid of baggage (which frees you up for finding new opportunities) and reconnecting with his father impacted both Josh and Ben. As they think about what his story means, both our hosts reflect on family, parents, kids, and making time for the people you love.

Listen to the show and hear what happens.

And if you haven't seen Office Space, check it out on Amazon or iTunes.

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

Ray Higdon is a two-time best selling author and founder of Top Earner Academy. Just a few short years ago Ray had lost it all in the real estate market and was in personal foreclosure and has since created a multi-million dollar a year coaching and training business. His focus is helping entrepreneurs with their home based business.

Ray always had a solid work ethic and worked his way up corporate America. He was making a great salary at an insurance company at one point and he was spending more time looking at pictures of his kids then spending time with him. Ray left his job and went into real estate, did really well for a few years, then lost it all, became dead broke, went through a divorce, went into foreclosure, attended an event about building a business from home, inspired, started one, and the rest is history.

Ray's Utopia? Being surrounded by people that you want to be surrounded by and doing things that inspire you. Doing stuff at your convenience, do thing that you want to do, not things that you have to do. He created a lifestyle where he was able to vacation once per month throughout 2014. If Ray was ever on The Price is Right, he would take the Trip option in the Showcase Showdown without question. His best trip? Tony Robbins' resort in Fiji

Ray is in his current vision of Utopia, but is constantly looking to build. He has doubled his business in 2013 and again in 2014. Still hungry, not comfortable, and looking to keep building. Five years ago in 2010, he had no idea his life would be here in 2015. He translates “income earned into value provided” so he focuses on providing value to his marketplace.

When the real estate market changed, Ray's model of flipping houses still worked. In 2008 it completely stopped working. He spent about a year in spiritual and financial coma but wasn’t doing anything about it. He was having a family get together at a house that was up for foreclosure, when a guy came to the door and handed his mom foreclosure papers. His mom grilled him after that. It made him upset and motivated him through anger. Anger is better than depression because anger will move you forward. He hadn’t talked with his dad in 13 years and then decided after this time of his life to re-establish his relationship who had also never met his sones that were 8 and 9 years old. A week or 2 weeks after that, he found an opportunity that made him a million dollars in commissions. He believes if you get rid of baggage it can help you focus on your future.

Utopian Quote of the Show“If you maintain an attitude of gratitude, you attract more things to be grateful for" - Ray Higdon, Build Your Utopia (Click to Tweet)

Ray started doing affirmations in 2009. The more that he has invested in his mindset training and being around the right people, the more it has molded his improvements to his routine.

On top of all this content, Ray had three points for us.

• If you are frustrated with the results in your business, stop looking at results, look at habits that have created the results so you can change those habits.
• If you want to make more money, put more value in your marketplace.
• He embraces the word “until”, when he started blogging, he wasn’t making any money. He kept at it and then was able to improve getting leads to the point where he is now getting 1000s of leads per month. Keep at it until you get really good at it.

That last point is emphasized in one of Ray's favorite quotes "Be so good that they can’t ignore you" - Steve Martin

Keep up with what Ray has to offer on his site, on his podcast, or on facebook.

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

Today Josh Marsden & Ben Thompson discuss their interview with Damon Moschetto on episode 38.

One of the very first things that they review is the importance of continuing to learn. Damon is very aware of the times in his past professional career when his business stopped growing was exactly when he stopped keeping up with the advancement in his field. They relate this to Josh and how he continually learns the advancements in digital marketing.

They also put themselves in Damon's shoes when it comes to having a plan and having that plan removed from you. Damon was injured in college ball and couldn't continue his plans as a professional athlete. What do you do when you can no longer perform at a professional level and your scholarship is lost as well?

They explore the differences and challenges associated from moving from a physical location to the digital world. How does a coach correct your posture online? How does a coach motivate you when you're not in their office? The benefits of a digital world are fantastic for the consumer, and it is starting to show in customer perceptions and business attitudes.

Ben and Josh talk about how to deal with people who listen actively and people who interrupt and talk over others. They both give people their attention when they speak, but they deal with interruption differently. Ben can be passive-aggressive and Josh is actively-agressive.

Josh and Ben also have no idea what the names of coffee mean or how they are made. What is an americano? What is a cappuccino? What is an expresso? We have no idea, someone should let us know.

Speaking of coffee, would you work (or can you?) from a coffee shop? Josh can, and has, but Ben can't get his head around it.

Finally, Josh and Ben review the three value bombs that Damon left for all of us. Listen to the episode to find out their thoughts on what Damon had to say.

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

Damon Moschetto is a high performance coach, author, speaker and host of the High Performance Living podcast.

As a coach he has helped countless men and women transform their lives through his unique style of guiding people to transform themselves by living a high-performance lifestyle.

Injuries cut his college baseball career short and the natural progression for him was into the health and fitness industry. After owning and operating his own personal fitness company, in 2001, Damon began working as an account manager and presenter for a national fitness company, traveling across the U.S. training trainers and consulting with club owners regarding their fitness programs.

He's also originally from Portland, Maine and now lives in Naples, FL.

Damon and his wife own a gym there, Florida Fitness Coaches. They also do online coaching through High Performance Living Online, and run a podcast that you can check out here.

Damon believes in “Living life on your terms”. After working in corporate for 10 years, he decided entrepreneurship was the path that he wants to take and decided to build his Utopia through entrepreneurship.

Being an athlete and being competitive has always pushed him through the peaks and valleys of entrepreneurship. His will to win from sports has continued to drive him forward.

Damon's 3 Value Bombs for Utopians:

• When it comes to big choices, get a 2nd opinion. This isn't paralysis by analysis. This gives you someone that you can turn to. Find people that you trust that are not bias.
• Don’t settle for being average. That’s different for everyone. He runs into this a lot in his practice with people being “ok to cruise.”
• “If something doesn’t make you happy or it’s making you miserable, please stop.” Take action to find a solution and get out of it.

Utopian Quote of the Show

“You are either growing or you are dying." -Damon Moschetto, Build Your Utopia (Click to Tweet)

You can find Damon at his website here or on Twitter.

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