Jump into this episode which offers a private peek into my life’s journey as an entrepreneur. Every morning I record an “audio journal” to document my progress, lessons learned through failure, and the solutions that made a difference.

Having gratitude, love, and appreciation in our lives for those who support us and stand in our corner yelling “CATCH THE CHICKEN ROCK!!!” is paramount. I hope to be your “Micky” during your journey as we fight our way in the boxing ring of business!

I hope I added value to your life today.  Foundation topics:

Mindset

Value

Entrepreneurship

Abundance

Networking

Family

Results-driven

Integrity

Gratitude

Financial freedom

Podcasting

If you have a growing business right now, congrats! But if you still haven’t built your own personal brand apart from that business of yours, then it’s time you start creating one – because there is more to you than just your business!

In today’s episode, Erik Cabral speaks with Greg Kihlstrom about why and how he built his personal brand alongside growing his company. Greg is a CX, EX, and digital transformation consultant and coach, an author, a keynote speaker, an Agile certified coach, and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. Greg is also the host of the podcast called The Agile Brand

Starting a company at 25 years old, Greg thought it was the only thing he could identify himself with. But he eventually realized he had to make a separation between himself and his company and create his personal brand.

Listen in as Greg also shares his passion for making people, processes, and technology work together with the end goal of making happy customers.

Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:

Episode Highlights:

The Classic Entrepreneur Fallacy

There’s this fallacy around being an entrepreneur where you get to do what you love every single day. But you end up having to worry about all the stuff you don’t – the legal, the operational, the financial, etc.

However, as an owner, it's your job to sell. Nobody can sell like you. Although at a certain scale that has to change, some things, or at least some percentage, will still fall on you. And so, even if you don’t like sales, you don’t like finance, you don’t like the legal or the operational stuff, you have to learn to embrace those things. Figure out the things you’re good at and those you should strive to be better at. At the same time, recognize the things that you’re not good at, which you can outsource if those are draining you emotionally.

Building Your Personal Brand

A lot of people try to write down and figure out the zeros and ones behind creating a personal brand. But it’s not a blueprint or formula you can just create.

Your personal brand isn’t created exactly by design. Instead, it’s something you need to figure out along the way and the pieces will then start to fall into place. It’s a matter of making that conscious decision to create that separation between what you do and who you are.

The Key to a Good Customer Experience

As good a job as you could do branding, marketing, and advertising your brand, if the experience of the customer was terrible, then it’s going to be hard to keep saying how good it was.

If the employees that are designing and building the product or front line employees delivering that product or service are unhappy and disengaged, then how in the world are you supposed to deliver a good customer experience?

Resources Mentioned:

Website: https://www.gregkihlstrom.com/

Books: https://www.gregkihlstrom.com/books

Podcast: The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlstrom

Jump into this episode which offers a private peek into my life’s journey as an entrepreneur. Every morning I record an “audio journal” to document my progress, lessons learned through failure, and the solutions that made a difference.

Having gratitude, love, and appreciation in our lives for those who support us and stand in our corner yelling “CATCH THE CHICKEN ROCK!!!” is paramount. I hope to be your “Micky” during your journey as we fight our way in the boxing ring of business!

I hope I added value to your life today.  Foundation topics:

Mindset

Value

Entrepreneurship

Abundance

Networking

Family

Results-driven

Integrity

Gratitude

Financial freedom

Podcasting

Today’s guest is inspiring the heck out of people to do something bigger and greater than themselves! In this episode, Erick Cabral speaks with Chris Waddell, a 13-time Paralympic medalist and World Champion in Winter and Summer Sports.

Honored by The Dalai Lama in 2005 as the Unsung Hero of Compassion, Chris is the first nearly unassisted paraplegic to summit Mount Kilimanjaro, as documented in the 1 Revolution documentary that won a ton of film festival awards.

Some of Chris’ career highlights include being the first ambassador for the International Paralympic Committee, founder of One Revolution Foundation, Paralympic Hall of Famer, and People Magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People.” Chris has won the most medals of any male monoskier in Paralympic history.

Get ready to be inspired by this great legend!

Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:

Episode Highlights:

[18:39] The Power of Strategy

Being able to create your strategy and replicate it, plays an active role in your path to success. Once you’ve figured out where you want to go, you can then apply that strategy in whatever area of your life, whether in school, your business, your family, and your relationships.

[25:23] Honoring Your Unsung Heroes

In the sports world, the definition of a hero is a person who succeeds against the odds. People who have had to face the greatest adversity are the ones with the greatest stories to tell. They’re the unsung heroes that you want to learn from – and they come from different areas of your life. They can be your parents, your mentors, your friends, or even that person who waits at your table who has been working two jobs to make ends meet. Unfortunately, sometimes, we tend to lose sight of this in our everyday lives.

[09:36] Climbing Your Mountain

Climbing a mountain is representative of our struggles as human beings. Oftentimes, too, we think once we get to the top of the mountain, then it’s finished. In that case, you will no longer be growing and changing. But the top of every mountain is just the bottom of the next mountain. It's difficult and your mountain may look different each day. But you have to celebrate the difficulty because the greatest joy is in learning something new and growing in a way you had never imagined.

Resources Mentioned:

https://chriswaddellinc.com/

One Revolution Foundation

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/ChrisWaddellSpeaking

Instagram: @chris_waddell_living_it

Get ready to be amazed by this guy who went from borrowing from his wife’s 401k to now having around 70 rentals in his portfolio – in less than five years! Today, he shares some cheat codes to a great marriage, a highly successful passive income generator, and a happy life.

Here are some clues: the right mindset, the right people, and the right strategy.

Listen in as Erik Cabral chats with Henry Washington, real estate investor and e-commerce business coach. All it took for Henry was to google “passive income” and watch a TED Talk at three in the morning, about a guy in his 20’s who had it all figured out. At that point, Henry made the decision that forever changed his life.

Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:

Episode Highlights:

Cheat Code #1: Change Your Mindset About Money

Decide to pay yourself first, and when you do that, you’re forcing yourself to figure out a way to make the rest of your budget work. It might also force you to get creative about how you make money and how you spend money.

Cheat Code #2: Connect with Real Estate Investors – Consistently!

We take on the characteristics of the five people closest to us. If you're in those rooms constantly, you're going to start to be and do what's around you. It’s human nature, so hack it and take advantage of it.

Religiously attend meetings and connect with real estate investors consistently and you will start to make a name for yourself. People start to notice and associate you with a successful investor, even if you've never done a deal, because you're there every single time.  Deal flow will come to you if you're consistently in these rooms. Plus opportunities will come your way. But you can't just go once or twice.

Most people who walk into the room think it’s just a “me” and don’t realize it’s actually a “we.” Consistency creates relationships and trust, and so people need to see you all the time.

Cheat Code #3: Hack That 401k!

You can take your money out of your 401k loan. Although you’re borrowing it at a set interest rate, it's still your money. So the interest you’re going to pay back goes back to you. Your employer takes the money directly out of your paycheck, and they take it pre-tax, reducing your taxable income so that's a benefit to you. Then once you buy a property and keep it as a rental, the cash flow is technically paying back your 401k loan.

Resources Mentioned:

www.podfestexpo.com/invest

Henry’s interview on the BiggerPockets: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/biggerpockets-podcast-366-henry-washington

Instagram: www.instagram.com/thehenrywashington

TED Talk: Design Your Dream Life Through Passive Income

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

What happens when you match design with purpose? Today’s guest used to work in a design company until he hit a saturation point and felt it wasn’t what he signed up for. Strong in his belief that design had a higher calling and that it needed responsibility behind it, he created Driftime, an ethical design practice for the Mavericks of today.

In this episode, Erik Cabral speaks with Abb-d Choudhury, maker, designer, writer, traveler, and culture & music enthusiast. Driftime helps brands craft their stories and digital experiences with the goal of creating long-term impact within the three pillars of sustainability: social, environmental, and economic.

Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:

Episode Highlights:

[09:16] Combining Passion and Purpose

One of the key takeaways from this episode is how Abb-d mustered up the courage to leave his W-2 job without even the certainty of his future. But he took the leap anyway with a mastery of design in his toolkit.

Combining his passion with purpose, he and his life partner, created Driftime solving the challenges of tomorrow, working at an intersection of purpose and intention, and looking to see where design can play a meaningful role.

While passion is important in creating a brand, you can’t ignore the fact that it should also be sustainable. And so, you need to have a solid approach to do things and have the processes in place that will ultimately create a long-term impact.

[11:32] Creating Long-Term Impact

Impact doesn't happen overnight. It can take years. It could take one to three years before you can actually start to see a difference. And you know there’s impact in the work, when you’ve measured it in the right way and you’ve hit your objectives.

In order for a company to create long-term impact, you also need to consider different perspectives from other experts in the field, especially when dealing with complex challenges. For Abb-d, they only control that one small chunk of design, like one domino in the whole line of dominoes that leads to a bigger goal.

Resources Mentioned:

https://driftime.media/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbdchoudhury/

How do you balance work, family, and your health? Not sure if you noticed, but it’s actually obvious. Many entrepreneurs find themselves in an unbalanced state where they’re sacrificing one area of their life over the other. Either they excel at work but their health or family life ends up suffering, or vice versa.

In this episode, Erik Cabral speaks with Jason Bronstad, CEO of MALK Organics, as they talk about the importance of balancing life and really being intentional about it.  Jason has an extensive background in retail, leadership, developing teams, and growing companies. He’s also part of the Front Row Dads, a brotherhood of family men with businesses, not businessmen with families.

Find out how Jason is filling up every area of his life to make sure he’s elevating, not just his life, but also the lives of those around him.

Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:

Episode Highlights:

A Balancing Act

Jason views life as an equilateral triangle, where each side is made up of family & faith, work, and health, and that any time you pay less attention to one side, the triangle gets out of balance. And so, if you fail to balance it, there’s always one or two sides that are going to suffer.

You could be too focused on your leadership at work, being the first one in and the last man to leave, unaware that you’re already compromising your health or your time with your family, which will only eventually stunt your ability to grow your business.

When you have that balance in your life, everything else elevates. When you're healthier, you can spend more time with your family, and you have a clear headspace in leading your team. In other words, one area always impacts the other.

About MALK Organics

MALK Organics prides itself on maintaining simple, organic, and clean ingredients. Their products are gluten-free, with no fillers and no gums. All of their products only have five ingredients or even less, and it’s not easy to make something that tastes great when you only have a few ingredients. And so, they have invested their resources in developing products that are not only clean but also taste great.

Redirecting Your Focus

When you’re too focused on where you’re going to be 10 years from now, sometimes you lose sight of what you have in front of you. Therefore, make sure that the actions you take today will set you up for success two, three, or five years from now.

Resources Mentioned:

MALK Organics

IG: @malkorganics

Front Row Dads

Ever been struck by lightning? Well, today’s guest, Mark Hentemann, has been struck by lightning, not only literally while he was drawing caricatures at SeaWorld, but also metaphorically, when he got fired from the David Letterman Show.

But what seemed to be the biggest punch in the face of his career turned out to be the best moment of his career. He used such failure as fuel to do better, eventually becoming an Emmy-nominated writer and producer of the popular sitcom Family Guy.

Aware of the uncertainties in the entertainment business, Mark has been investing his script earnings into multifamily since 2000. He is the founder of Quantum Capital and he is also the host of The Wild West Real Estate Show.

Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:

Episode Highlights:

[08:00] Turning Failures into Opportunities

A Harvard degree does not make you funny, and so you’ve got to do the work. And at some point, when you’re really serious about something, you’ve got to do what it takes to master it.

When Mark got fired from the David Letterman Show, he knew he had to take it up a notch and took it upon himself to learn as much stuff as he can so he could get better at writing. He learned the mechanics of not just job writing, but also script writing and developing characters.

[10:14] Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

No matter where you are in your career, imposter syndrome is simply inevitable. And so, you have to be able to reprogram your brain to get over your fears and just go for it.

[22:58] From Family Guy to Multifamily Guy

Aware of the uncertainty in the entertainment business, Mark knew he had to figure out a way to invest his money wisely, In 2000, he bought his first duplex and got an 800% return on it. Since then, he went all in and has been directing all his earnings from script writing into multifamily investments.

Resources Mentioned:

Quantum Capital Inc

The Wild West Real Estate Show

Health and wealth go hand in hand, don’t you think? Unfortunately, our health care system has led this country down this path where there’s sadly a growing obese population. Arguably, the government may also have played a part in the absurd number of COVID-related deaths.

If you think you’ve been heavily focusing on wealth-building and that you’re taking your health quite lightly, then be sure to tune in to today’s episode as Dr. Thaddeus Gala shares some awakening insights into today’s U.S. healthcare system as well as how we can create a healthier society.

Dr. Thaddeus Gala is a speaker, investor, author, clinician, and founder of Complete Care clinics. One of the defining moments that led him into healthcare was when his mom got sick and was told by the doctors that she was going to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. Fast forward to now, Thaddeus has a handful of clinics, and as a CEO, he oversees about 50,000 patients a year. They help people reverse chronic conditions – everything from fibromyalgia, arthritis, migraines to Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, etc.

Eight years ago, Thaddeus created the entrepreneurial mastermind group called The Guardians, with the goal to bring entrepreneurs together as they maximize their health, grow their wealth, and make an impact.

Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:

Episode Highlights:

[02:24] The Problem of Obesity in the U.S.

Over the last 20-30 years, obesity rates went through the roof. Part of the problem was the introduction of the food bill and some of the food subsidiaries which resulted in people becoming overfed and undernourished. As the obese population grew, we’re also seeing a rise in chronic diseases, largely influenced by the government making unhealthy food readily accessible and super cheap.

[05:54] Suffering with Meaning

When we give too many handouts and we make things too easy for people, we rob ourselves and others of the opportunity to do great things. It doesn’t mean people should intentionally suffer needlessly, but there are benefits to “suffering with meaning” – it’s the kind of suffering where, for instance, you go to the gym to exercise. And so, there’s a reason behind your sore muscles. It’s a good kind of suffering, it’s what causes good health on the other side. Whether you’re learning how to play the piano or how to fly a plane, there’s a certain amount of suffering that goes on too.

Suffering with meaning is where growth happens. But we've tried to bubble wrap the world and make it very easy. The government has made food so cheap and easy with all these food subsidies that it propagates this idea that it’s what people should be doing.

By removing some of these crutches and letting the free market provide, it will create opportunities for people to “suffer” in a good way, and this will ultimately make them stronger, healthier, more vibrant, and more productive and more capable on the back end.

Resources Mentioned:

The Guardians

The Guardians – Retreat

Instagram: @galathaddeus

The road to embracing the entrepreneur life is a rocky one. It often begins with that one impactful experience that shifts you to a growth mindset and sparks the change you want to bring to the world. David Longhini has come a long way by building his own successful company.

But he made sure not to forget his origins. As CEO of Empodio, he helps home and business service companies like his father's scale using software and value-focused processes. He believes that the only reason to start a company is to improve the lives of others. Here, he brings in the lessons he learned from his childhood, getting into Buddhism and meditation, and embracing failure.

Listen to the full episode as David shares his journey toward entrepreneurship, networking, and mindset and how they link to his childhood dynamics.

Here are some power takeaways from today’s conversation:

Notable quotes from the Episode:

“When you become an entrepreneur, you immediately go from one job you're good at, if you had a corporate degree, to ten jobs you suck at.”

“The best entrepreneurs I've ever seen are the ones who build deeper relationships where people come to them, and they build networks, and they build communities around them, by actually being able to provide support.”

“There are three things that you need. You need somebody ahead of you, on your level, and below you.”

Connecting with the Guest:

Website: https://www.empodio.io/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjml/

The Dynamite Circle: https://dynamitecircle.com/

Books and articles mentioned:

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber: https://www.amazon.com/Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses-About/dp/0887307280

Originals by Adam Grant: https://www.amazon.com/Originals-How-Non-Conformists-Move-World/dp/014312885X

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz: https://www.amazon.com/Four-Agreements-Practical-Personal-Freedom/dp/1878424319

Wait But Why by Tim Urban and Andrew Finn: https://waitbutwhy.com/

Burnout by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski: https://www.amazon.com/Burnout-Secret-Unlocking-Stress-Cycle/dp/198481706X

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