Men are told to be strong, but many are just performing. In this raw conversation, coach Lewis McFarlane shares the wake up calls that forced him to stop pretending and start rebuilding. We unpack modern masculinity, performative authenticity, sobriety, changing environments, and his simple framework of Thoughts → Beliefs → Actions → Habits that helped him transform.

What you’ll learn

• Why “authenticity” online often becomes acting
• How to spot your wake up moment and use it
• The four lever framework to rewire your life
• Why your environment beats your willpower
• How action beats anxiety and victim thinking

Chapters below. If this helped, hit subscribe and share it with a friend who needs it.

Lewis's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lewismcfarlanecoaching/

Timestamps 

00:00 – Are most men emotionally weak

02:18 – Authenticity vs acting online

05:00 – Personal wake up moments and stretch marks story

08:20 – The car crash and double life conflict

11:10 – Spiral, intrusive thoughts, and asking for help

14:15 – From self sabotage to first hard choices

17:10 – The drug run story and adrenaline dump

20:06 – Cutting vices and going sober for 12 months

23:00 – Rebuilding through mentorship and new rooms

26:20 – 80 10 10 rooms rule and managing ego

30:05 – Thoughts, beliefs, actions, habits framework

34:25 – Daily high frequency toolkit and next best action

39:10 – Tracking emotions, negativity bias, and perspective

44:30 – Victim mindset, language, and choosing the now

49:05 – Designing the future self and identity habits

54:10 – Action cures anxiety and closing takeaways

Brian Siegal’s story is a masterclass in reinvention. From a shy, insecure kid with health struggles, to corporate life at Yelp, to collapsing from a life-threatening illness that pushed him to chase his dreams, Brian has lived many lives in one. His journey takes him from teaching English in Korea, to motorbiking across Vietnam, to becoming an improv coach, TEDx organizer, Discovery Channel host, Bollywood actor, and eventually a breakthrough coach helping entrepreneurs and creatives around the world.

In this episode, Brian reveals why reinvention is essential, how comfort zones keep us trapped, and why action is the cure to anxiety. He shares the mindset shifts that turned failures into opportunities, the power of saying yes, and why beliefs—not knowledge, determine transformation. If you’ve ever felt stuck or afraid to take the leap, this conversation will show you what’s possible when you stop saying “no” out of fear and start trusting yourself.

Timestamps:

0:00 – Why reinvent your life?
6:10 – The marbles video that changed everything
12:00 – Backpacking Asia & motorbiking Vietnam
18:00 – Improv, TEDx, and a Discovery Channel show
24:50 – Uber Eats burnout & hitting rock bottom
31:00 – Saying yes vs saying no in life
38:00 – Overcoming imposter syndrome at every stage
45:00 – One interaction can change your life
52:00 – Realizing your dream might not be your dream anymore
59:50 – The power of journaling & asking “why”
1:06:45 – Reinvention at any age & brain plasticity
1:13:45 – Practical steps to start reinventing yourself today

Alongside his incredible journey, Brian now works as a breakthrough coach and TEDx speaker, helping entrepreneurs and creatives around the world get unstuck and step into their potential. On Instagram @iambriannathan, he shares daily insights on mindset, confidence, and reinvention that continue to inspire thousands.

In this episode of the Mind Soak Podcast, I sit down with Taj Now Smith, a 20-year-old Australian entrepreneur who turned $50 into a $2M landscaping empire. But Taj’s story runs much deeper than business.

At just 16, he was raided by 17 cops for drug dealing. Ten days before his 17th birthday, everything changed. What followed was a wild journey of redemption: starting from a car wash hustle, battling mental health, rebuilding after losing everything, and finding purpose through pain.

We dive into:

• The truth behind making money young without social media
• What it takes to break free from small town syndrome
• Real-world entrepreneurship lessons no one talks about
• Mental health, identity, and choosing purpose over comfort

If you're feeling stuck, need a fire lit under you, or want to hear a story of raw resilience, this is the one.

🔔 Subscribe for more real conversations and stories that hit deeper.

Time Stamps:

00:00 – Taj’s $50 to $2M story
01:03 – Why he chose the hard road over online fame
02:36 – Failing school, carpentry, and quitting his job
05:17 – The drug raid that changed everything
07:24 – Using car washing to escape the streets
10:06 – $50 to $10M dream: Swallowing ego and starting dirty
12:03 – The illusion of success on social media
14:51 – How Taj found a real-world mentor
16:54 – Growing too fast and losing $250K
21:14 – Mental health: How Taj rebuilt himself from zero
28:35 – The power of human connection in business
32:27 – Taj’s purpose: Helping others through real experience

Julia Gao Miller is not your typical creator. She’s a Muay Thai fighter, content strategist, and business mentor who went from getting fired as a coder to building a multi-layered brand in Bali, all while throwing punches inside and outside the ring.

In this conversation, we go deep on:

• The influencer illusion (and why going viral doesn’t guarantee freedom)
  
  
• Building real mental resilience through chaos
  
  
• The role of emotional healing and inner child work in personal branding
  
  
• Why most creators burn out, and how to avoid it
  
  
• Creating a business ecosystem around your identity
  
  

Whether you're a content creator, entrepreneur, or just someone stuck between comfort and the calling, this episode will challenge how you think about influence, identity, and power.

📲 Connect with Julia: 
Instagram –   / fightnomadjulia     
Website –   / getseengetpaid 

Time Stamps:
00:00 - Who is Julia Gao Miller?
02:12 - Fired from her job: the identity crisis moment
05:20 - The origin of “Fight Coder Girl”
08:35 - How she actually went viral (Muay Thai content strategy)
13:48 - Going viral doesn’t mean financial freedom
17:25 - Building a business from content (the messy middle)
22:01 - Document vs. create: her best advice to new creators
26:43 - Burnout, pressure & shutting down her Instagram
30:55 - Mental health, breakdowns & identity detachment
36:12 - The algorithm as a relationship mirror
41:18 - Why most creators quit too soon
45:05 - Using coaching to heal and scale
50:42 - Balancing masculine vs. feminine energy as a leader
55:30 - Reparenting yourself through brand building
01:00:55 - What Julia wishes more creators knew
01:05:40 - Her personal mantra for life and business

What if you could retire early… and only work 10 minutes a day?

In this episode, we sit down with Komey Tetteh, a self-taught trader who went from living paycheck-to-paycheck and maxing out credit cards… to building a life of financial freedom through a minimalist trading strategy.

Komey shares his journey from hitting rock bottom to discovering the power of financial literacy, low-cost investing, and simple habits that compound into real wealth.

You’ll learn:
✅ Why he only trades 10–15 minutes per day
✅ The 10% “self-tax” rule that changed his life
✅ How to escape the 9–5 trap with simple systems
✅ What most people get wrong about money
✅ How to live well (even in Bali) on $30K/year

Whether you want to quit your job, build passive income, or finally understand your finances — this episode is packed with value.

💬 Let us know in the comments: What would you do if you never had to work again?

0:00 – The 10-minute trading routine
2:17 – “I hit every financial goal… and still felt broke.”
7:03 – Rock bottom: living on credit cards
16:21 – Komey’s 10% rule for wealth
36:38 – Why he only works 10–15 minutes a day
42:12 – Building income from trading returns
50:16 – Teaching others: the mentorship dilemma

#FinancialFreedom #TradingLifestyle #PassiveIncome #MinimalistMoney #KomeyTetteh #EscapeThe9to5 #MoneyMindset #Investing #TimeFreedom #BudgetingTips

In this powerful episode of Mind Soak, I sit down with TEDx speaker and relationship coach Eri Kardos to unpack the truth about modern love, and why so many of us feel lost in it.

From the boardroom to the bedroom, Eri breaks down how emotional patterns shape everything from intimacy to leadership. We talk about fear of commitment, why the honeymoon phase always fades, and how to stop pretending in relationships so you can finally build something real.

Whether you’re single, dating, or trying to save something long-term—this one will hit home.

Topics We Cover:

• Why relationships are harder than ever
• How trauma shows up in love
• Emotional safety and how to create it
• How your patterns are impacting your career
• Why the “need vs want” debate triggered me

🎁 Check out Eri’s free masterclasses and book:
https://relearnlove.com

Follow Eri:
Instagram: @coacherikardos
YouTube: @relearnlovewitherikardos

TimeTopic

0:00 - Eri’s intro: From Amazon exec coach to relationship leader
2:14 - The “bedroom to boardroom” effect
3:00 - Sam’s story: Why a stranger’s advice triggered him
6:00 - Want vs need in relationships
10:00 - Why most of us learned love the wrong way
11:30 - Coaching vs therapy vs doing nothing
13:00 - Fighting in front of your kids (and why you should)
15:00 - The 3 stages of a relationship: Harmony, Disharmony, Repair
18:00 - Love as a skill: Why nobody teaches it
20:00 - Why we’re scared of commitment (and how culture affects it)
22:00 - Losing yourself in new relationships
25:00 - The science behind the honeymoon phase wearing off
28:00 - How to stop pretending and get real from the start
31:00 - Recognizing the slow death of a relationship
33:00 - Toxic relationships: How to spot and escape them
36:00 - How long-term love becomes medicine instead of poison
39:00 - Recognizing projection and rebound energy
42:00 - Final tips and Eri’s free resources

In this episode, I sit down with Jody Dontje, a global speaker, coach, and emotional fitness educator, to explore the deep, raw, and empowering journey of becoming a conscious leader. 

From being bullied and disconnected from her identity to transforming into a voice for emotional intimacy, Jody breaks down what it means to truly feel, process, and grow.

We dive into real frameworks, personal turning points, and leadership lessons that apply to anyone who wants to show up more fully, for themselves and others. Whether you're a leader, a creative, or someone on a healing journey, this episode will hit deep.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify, YouTube & Apple Podcasts

🔗 Connect with Jody:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jodydontjecoaching/

⏱️ Timestamps 

• 0:00 – Jody’s story about messaging her high school bully
• 2:15 – Seeing yourself and others through a compassionate lens
• 3:00 – The quote that changed her: “Life isn’t about finding yourself…”
• 5:00 – Becoming a university mentor and realizing her leadership calling
• 6:45 – Sam’s personal turning point from the Navy
• 8:25 – What emotional fitness actually is
• 10:40 – The “ice bath” analogy for emotional regulation
• 12:15 – The dark side of emotional awareness: gaslighting yourself
• 14:00 – Internal Family Systems and the 8 C’s of Self
• 20:00 – Jody’s 4-step process for emotional intimacy
• 31:00 – Letting emotions live without needing to “fix” them
• 35:00 – Breaking generational patterns through emotional maturity
• 36:00 – Leading others starts with leading yourself
• 40:00 – Sam’s story of being a safe space as a McDonald's manager
• 46:00 – Neuroscience and emotional safety in leadership
• 52:20 – Jody’s 4 steps to empathy
• 58:30 – Receiving love in friendships (during breakups)
• 1:00:00 – Final thoughts and where to find Jody

In this episode of the Mind Soak Podcast, Chris Streffe shares how he went from plumbing in Australia to running a multimillion-dollar e-commerce business from his laptop in Bali. We dive deep into the Aussie tradie culture, the trap of the “white picket fence” dream, and how travel became the circuit breaker that transformed Chris’s mindset and career.
He reveals how he got started with Amazon FBA, the key lessons from his first failed product, and how he built a brand doing over $6.5M in revenue. If you’ve ever wanted to escape the 9-5 or build a location-free business, this episode is a must-listen.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify, YouTube & Apple Podcasts
🔗 Connect with Chris:

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/chris_steffe/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@conqueramz.australia

1. 00:00 – What it’s like being a tradie in Australia
2. 01:01 – The “work hard, party harder” lifestyle trap
3. 03:24 – The advice that led Chris to get a trade before traveling
4. 05:09 – How generational thinking shapes your path
5. 08:43 – Travel becomes the circuit breaker for change
6. 11:10 – Breaking up and staying in Europe longer than planned
7. 13:21 – Discovering seasonal work and life experiences abroad
8. 15:02 – Returning home and realizing he’d outgrown the old life
9. 18:18 – First exposure to e-commerce and Amazon FBA
10. 20:23 – Meeting his wife and getting serious about growth
11. 22:04 – Starting a dropshipping store and first online sales
12. 25:40 – The first Amazon product (and failing fast)
13. 28:03 – Explaining how Amazon FBA actually works
14. 31:33 – What it costs to start and how to test the market
15. 39:03 – The Passion–Demand–Profit product selection formula

What happens when you ditch a six-figure engineering job to chase freedom, community, and faceless content?
In this episode of the Mind Soak Podcast, we sit down with Josh Reiher, a former engineer turned digital entrepreneur who now runs one of the top faceless Instagram communities in the AI niche.

Josh opens up about:

• His quarter-life crisis that sparked the leap from corporate to creator
• Failing 20+ businesses before finding the one that worked
• Building a content flywheel that generates revenue without ads or burnout
• Why community beats paid traffic every time
• The dark side of NFT sponsorships
• What it actually takes to make passive income online

Whether you’re a creator, founder, or someone stuck in a job you hate — this conversation will light a fire under you.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify, YouTube & Apple Podcasts
🔗 Connect with Josh: @Power.ai

#Entrepreneurship #ContentMarketing #FacelessPages #DigitalNomad #AI #JoshReiher #MindSoakPodcast #CommunityBuilding #Ecommerce #Solopreneur

In this powerful episode, Nick Elvery shares his raw journey from a decade of drug addiction to becoming a high-performance coach using hypnosis and neuroscience to help 6- and 7-figure entrepreneurs unlock their next level.

We dive deep into:

What keeps most people stuck
How subconscious beliefs shape your reality
Why your environment is everything
And how hypnosis can fast-track mindset transformation
This is one of the most real and transformative convos we've had on the pod. If you're ready to level up mentally, emotionally, or in business—this one's for you.

🔗 Connect with Nick: https://www.instagram.com/nickelvery/

🎧 Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/ULVA8kuL8hw

Timestamps: 
00:00 – Who Nick was 15 years ago: Addiction, chaos & wake-up call
03:00 – Early jobs, raves, and the trap of identity in party culture
06:00 – Discovering self-development while still using drugs
09:00 – Why most addicts never make it out (and why Nick did)
12:00 – Turning personal struggle into a coaching business
15:00 – The real psychology behind weight loss, business, and habits
18:00 – Revenue rollercoasters: why your mindset is the missing piece
21:00 – Fear of judgment: the #1 block for most entrepreneurs
24:00 – How belief systems are formed and why most go unchallenged
27:00 – Breaking subconscious loops using hypnosis
30:00 – How the brain filters your reality through belief (red car theory)
33:00 – Why affirmations alone don’t work — and what does
36:00 – The tech behind hypnotic light sessions and state-shifting
39:00 – What your learning style reveals about your inner wiring
42:00 – Future vision: Bali Connect, retreats & mastering the inner game