[Transcript starts at 1:27]
Hello, hello, hello, my podcast people. And thank you for joining me for the first episode of 2025 and another episode of my favorite podcast. Welcome friends. 2025. It's here. If you're listening to this or watching this on the day that it drops, it is Monday, January 6th, and I will officially be 40. God willing, nothing has changed between the time that I'm recording it right now and the time that you're watching it.
So speaking of changes, ch ch ch changes, how about that new intro? If you're watching this on YouTube, then you have no idea what I'm talking about because we don't play the intro song. But if you're listening on Spotify or Apple or wherever you listen, then Then you heard it. Maybe if you're a, you know, YouTuber, maybe go and listen just for this one episode, uh, and then feel free to let me know what you think if you liked it.
If you didn't like it, please keep that negativity to yourself. We're not bringing that into the new year. Okay. So I've been wanting to change the intro for the podcast for, for a bit now, uh, maybe like a year, two years for a bit. Uh, time is a flat circle, especially when you live in Southern California, it's like always the same.
But I knew that I wouldn't have the time. Translation, the desire to actually change it until this like Christmas, New Year's interim, weird limbo period. Uh, so here we are with new intro. I thought about changing the cover art as well, but And then largely only want to change it because my hair is different now, but like that's a lot of work And I don't want to do that.
So we'll see if that ever happens. I don't know y'all know I hate taking pictures So I love being in videos and like that, but pictures I hate doing all that shit So we'll see but I do want to break down the new intro a little bit. And it ties into the full episode, which is today we're talking about whose advice are you taking on?
So it does tie into that, but in the new intro, I say, I introduced myself and say that I'm the host. And then I say, I believe that online business, excuse me. I believe that your online business should serve you not the other way around. Join me each week to learn how to actually build an online business.
That fits your values and helps you live your best life. You get to decide what success looks like. I'm just here to give you insights and action items. And then of course, we still got Dr. J pop in there. I sent this off to my sister and she was like, I was almost really sad because I love saying, let's get it popping.
And I was like, as if I would take that out, come on, as if, uh, but with that new intro, I wanted it for, uh, A few reasons, and the number one reason was that I wanted it to fit what I talk about, especially if new people are listening. Honestly, I went and did a little research. A lot of podcasts don't have intros, which is fine, but I like an intro and I find them informative.
I also think it's great branding. Like if let's think about CSI, which I've been binging again, and let's think about Game of Thrones. I'm watching CSI Las Vegas, for those of you wondering, that's always my favorite one, but CSI, Game of Thrones, like, you know these intros, so, you know, for those reasons I was like, I'm definitely going to keep having one, I'm going to continue having one, I just want to switch it so that it fits.
Even in the old one, the last line, Jimmy, he's the voice that's in it, he says, How movement unites us all, and I'm like, Bitch, I haven't talked about movement in forever. You know, I can bring it up a little bit every now and then. It's really just the nervous system with anything else. All right. And I was just like, it needs to change.
So we waited until we have this interim period where we're at right now. And then I just started to kind of riffing about what I wanted and just typing random things into the computer and. And to my notes, like I've said this before to you folks, edit after it's out of your head, right? We try to like edit things while it's in our head and it's, it's no good.
So let's let it come out and, um, you know, wrote literally, I did a lot of talk to text, uh, of note, I will say I always planned on keeping the heartbeat and the music and Dr. J Pop saying, let's get it popping because all of that shit is fire. I just wanted to change. The words, Rupert's in here. I don't know if you could see him.
He found a crinkle. He's in here. We're going to let it rock though. Uh, but just giving you a little insight into, into the planning of this and to, you know, how I made this, why I wanted to make the, the switch for the, for the intro, but I am the only person speaking aside from Dr. J Pappa at the end, because it's honestly just easier that way.
Like the, before in the original, uh, intro that I used for six years, it was me and then it was Jimmy, Jimmy McKay. He's the host of PT Pinecast. It was my mentor Allison and my mom and I just asked them, you know, record stuff for me on their phone. At least Allison and J pop, they just recorded on their phone.
And my mom, they just recorded on their phone and sent it to me and I put it in there. Um, but it was just much easier to do it all myself this time. And yeah, so if you're wondering where the other voices went, I was just like, it's easier for me. To say the things, uh, but circling back to what I actually wanted to say and the words, right.
And it does tie into today's topic, which is again, who's advisor you're taking. I riffed into my phone and what I ended up doing was pulling out values, right? So I actually used claude. ai this time. Uh, Domini has been like recommending this forever. And all right, let me give Claude a chance. I didn't find it much different than ChatGPT, but I was just like, let me try something new.
Um, but what it spit out in terms of, I was like, Hey, here's my ideas. Can you give me a blurb for this, for a podcast intro? And I gave it specifics, but it's, and I asked for it to maintain my voice and all the things, but it just, it didn't work. It wasn't good. I didn't like it, but what it did do very well was I had given it a bunch of blurb sample writing and all my ideas for what I wanted to, wanted the intro to convey.
And I asked it to give me a list of four to five core beliefs that it thought that I held based on those blurbs. And they were really fucking good. So here's what it spit out. I spit out five of them. First one, success should be self defined. You're clearly against the one size fits all approach and believe people should determine their own version of quote unquote enough.
Yes. Number two, running a business shouldn't make you miserable. You specifically mentioned if you're crying every day, then you're doing it wrong and emphasize that business should serve your life. Yes. Number three, simple and lean is better than complex and bloated. You value practical, straightforward approaches over complicated systems and seem skeptical of large team structures.
Also, yes. Number four, real hands on work beats outsourcing everything. You talk about tech tenacity and seem to value people who are willing to roll up their sleeves rather than immediately delegating everything y'all already know. A hundred times. Yes. Number five, most marketing advice is overcomplicated bullshit.
You consistently emphasize cutting through the noise and giving honest, practical advice instead of recycling the same old marketing spiels. A hundred percent. Yes. All those things. Now it didn't really have to like deduce or extrapolate so much. Cause I give it a lot of context, but it summarizes things.
Well, right. All of these. GPTs, they, they summarize things very, very well. And they pull out main points very well, which is why I asked it to do that. And so knowing that it got that, I was like, yes, this is. What my North star is going to be for this podcast, right? This is what I've talked about and like largely evolved into talking about for over the past six years But now it's clearly stated in the intro It's clear to newcomers and it gives me an anchor much like I talked about With an Instagram bio right your Instagram bio should serve as your anchor and it just fits right the intro truly fits now Uh, past few episodes I talked about perhaps starting a new podcast and it just didn't sit well with me, like the older episodes are really fucking good and I love saying like this is episode 600 plus, like there's really no need for me to start a new one.
It's not doing something radically new. I'm not opposed to doing that or like, you know, people doing that if it makes sense for them and their brain. But for me, I'm just like. No, I don't need to like I want to keep this. I just need the intro to make sense So to tie this into the main topic of the episode Which is with a tie in rather to the main topic of the episode is that in my opinion my humble opinion If you're gonna take advice from someone You should have shared values with that person.
So again, this is the first episode of the new year. We know people got new year's resolutions going on, maybe your word of the year. What I'm seeing currently, a lot of posts with people talking about what they've learned in 2024 and all of that is, is good. All right. It's all good shit, but there's also a lot of bullshit out there.
Just straight up. It's bullshit. Nonsense. And there's also a lot of shit that's only applicable at certain times of life. Or only applicable to certain people. So I was like, you know, let me make an episode. It's just going to offer up a little guide, if you will, on how to be discerning with whose advice you take and how you take it.
So very simple, very, very simple four things that I would consider. Number one, do you have shared values? Number two, have they done what you want to do to a, here would be most applicable to like, if you're looking for a coach, have they helped others do what you want to do? Cause it's great if they've done what you want to do, absolutely, but it's even greater, even more better if you're looking to hire a coach and they have helped other people do what you want to do.
If you. You know, this person's not a, an actual coach and they're just like, you know, you want them to be your mentor. That's totally fine. But if someone's out there touting themselves at and marketing themselves as a coach, then they need to have helped other people besides themselves do what you want to do.
Number three, what were their circumstances slash what are their circumstances compared to yours? An example is this person saying, you know, go quit school, but they're They had parents who provided a financial safety net and like they could afford in all the Senses of the word to actually quit school, right?
Are they a white man? Society is going to help them out. This is their advice I'm not saying it's just bad advice But when we are looking to be discerning and we're saying whose advice should we take how should we take it? These things matter, right? What were their circumstances and what are their circumstances compared to yours?
And then number four, what phase or season of life is the advice giver in? So this last point was inspired by a question that was raised in the mafia, a few, last dinner. Um, and that question loosely was, It was asked to me and actually to Tracy, my girl, Tracy. And the question asker asked something in my eye.
How are you able to have such a balanced perspective when it comes to running your business and not just be like grind, grind, grind? Like, how are you able to lean into this knowing what your enough is? And immediately Tracy and I both had the same answer that we've been there and we've done that. I truly do believe that easy is earned and I have experienced a ton of traditional success.
A ton of it. I'm 40 now. I've had a lot of life to live and to experience these things, right? Like just across the board, you know, I was a division one athlete. I got my doctorate. I worked in New York City. I lived in New York City. I moved across the country. I was a lead instructor for, uh, A major company for rock tape.
I was voted MVP, my second year working there. And I started my own business. It's been incredibly successful. I went online before the pandemic. And then when everyone, pandemic hit and they needed help, I was there. I had my own movement course that I launched, you know, largely because of of rock tape and I launched it internationally, right?
I launched that thing in New Zealand and Australia. Like I've been able to speak in Dubai. I have experienced a ton of traditional success, which allows me to now be like, I'm good. And I really want to focus on the lifestyle side of things and just chilling out and hanging out with, you can see that guy right there, right?
Hanging out with Rupert. The person that was asking the question, he's not quite there yet. And so. Then, yeah, you are in more of that grind, grind, grind mode. In my 20s and 30s, early 30s, I was grinding like crazy. I really do believe that easy is earned and, you know, I like to think of things in terms of nature, especially when I'm talking about the Mafia because of Shadows to Laura Jean and Stephanie Hine.
But you can't enjoy the harvest if you're not willing to plant and tend to the crops. My concern with the way that I work with people and just my general concern is that people are toiling away and working on growing shit that they actually want to be growing. They're not like slaving away on this thing that they hate because someone else told them to do it, right?
It's going to take work, but I want them to be working on stuff that they want to be working on, right? So I'm going to use that as. Another segue into an announcement, right? Kind of flip flop the episode and we got the, the meat and potatoes and then we do the announcements and the, uh, the updates at the end, right?
Which is now. So I'm going to use this, this discussion in the mafia as a little segue, because this is important. Speaking of the mafia, do not forget, we will be having our first open house, open house, open house. Slash. Come to a mafia dinner. I'm switching the dates up here. So pay close attention first ever open house mafia dinner on January 29th that's a Wednesday.
It's the last Wednesday of the month and it'll be at 4 p. m I was going to do it earlier in the month and then I realized that I double book myself. And, uh, that's not, that's not okay. So, uh, it made the most sense to push it back. And we're going to do it once again, right in your calendar, Wednesday, January 29th at 4 p.
m. PT. We're hosting this because I want folks to see what we as a family, the mafia, consider to be the best part of being in the family, which is getting to know people and getting advice and getting help and getting to share with people in real time, right? We're going to be running what I call love seats.
I just call them hot seats, but I like love seats better, which are five minute Q and a section segments where it's basically a coaching segment where the person that's in the love seat gets to ask whatever they want about their business, whatever. And I, along with the rest of the family. We'll workshop the solutions for them.
Yes, we will have spaces for the guests to ask their questions and be in a love seat if they want. I anticipate people being shy, but we'll see. If you're a bold one, amazing. While I obviously do want to grow the Mafia, like this is why we're doing it, I want more people to be in the Mafia. But more than that, I want more people to be aware of the Mafia.
And to that end, if you come to the dinner, there is no obligation to join. Right. We just want you to check it out. We want you to know that there is a better way to do online business, which ties into those values that I listed out or this core business beliefs that I listed out earlier. Like this is how we do things in the mafia.
I want you to come check it out. We want you to know that there's a better way to do online business. And there's also like that community that maybe you've been looking for or that you didn't think existed, but you're like, that would be nice to have other people that are doing this. It exists, I promise.
So if this sounds interesting to you, the link to save your spot, it'll be in the show notes. Uh, if you are good at remembering things, it's the movement, my show. com forward slash mafia dash dinner dash reservation, but. Just link in the show notes. Courtney will link it. Thank you, Courtney, and thank you, Jojo.
So, would love to have you. If you got questions about it, shoot me a DM, shoot me a text, but honestly, just sign up. It's free. Come to dinner. Come hang out. So, I am looking at the time, and both, and I want to wrap this up and give you one update. If you are watching the video you're watching on YouTube, then maybe you see this tape that I have on my hands.
No, I'm not trying to be like Michael Jackson. Uh, I'm not. I busted my shit today. So I was working on the anchor unit, like one of the resistance plates, it just lost its resistance. And I, so I took it apart cause that's what I do. I took it apart. And, uh, as I'm, as I'm fiddling with it, I was just like, don't pull.
It's basically inside of, of this resistance plate. It's a, I don't know, 20 feet of wire of metal that's looped. It's circle, right? It's like into a square. small square box and it's just coiled. That's the word I'm looking for. It's coiled. That's how it gets the resistance. And if you've ever taken apart like a, uh, one of the cloth measuring tapes, that's how it retracts on itself.
But this is like thick metal. And so I see what's broken. And I don't think it's broken. Just like came off. And I'm like, I see this. I don't think I'm actually gonna be able to put this together, but I'm messing around with it. And I was just like, Basically be careful because if you pull this out, this thing's going to shoot apart.
And I don't know if part of me thought it wouldn't, but like I knew it would. And that's what happened. I pulled it up too high and it shot out and it got my hands bad. They just, these two, I got my index finger on my right hand, my ring finger on my, on my left hand, bad. The ring, the index finger definitely took the worst of it.
And it blew up. Like it was one of those things that happened. I didn't want to look at my hands. I was like, did I just like cut my finger off? Like it was bad. Uh, no, there's no bleeding and it actually didn't hurt when I was like, it was like done with everything. But this thing swelled up so big. I immediately like ran inside.
Lex was like, what was that? I put ice on it. Yes. I put ice in it immediately. I just wanted to, I compressed it with the ice. I was like, let's give it any pain. Let's just like shock this thing. And then I've been doing tape for compression. I got a co band on it and using red light. And it's like already so much better.
But as soon as it happened, I was like, fuck my birthday party is this week. And. My shit's fucked up, and did I fuck myself over, but I think it's gonna be okay. Fingers crossed, my remaining fingers, let's cross them. Um, I'll report back in the next episode about how the birthday party went, uh, but But yeah, that's the life update.
Don't forget, we got only one episode a week moving forward. Still not sure what I'm going to do with that extra time that I'm gaining. Apparently I'm going to just use it to hurt myself, but there's always next week. So hopefully I fill it in a better way, but that's all I got. I'm going to wrap it up here.
As always, endlessly appreciative for every single one of you. I'm stoked for the new intro. Same podcast, same maestro. Same message, but it is nice to have things, you know, tightened up a little bit. So thank you for still being here. If you got requests, anything like that, hit me up. Uh, otherwise I would love to see you at dinner on the 29th.
All right. That's all I got for you. Until next time friends, there's a little meowstro and maestro.
Watch this episode on YouTube!
Save your spot at the first ever Mafia Dinner Open House
Catch me on the socials: Instagram | YouTube | Threads | TikTok | Facebook