[Transcript starts at 0:40]
Hello, hello, hello. My podcast people and thank you for joining me for your day, another episode of my favorite Online business podcast. If you are listening, tuning in. Tuning in, watching this on that it drops. It is, I slurred that on the day that it drops. It is Monday, October 27th. Welcome to the final week of October.
It's fucking done. Uh, I'm not sure if you listen, or rather if you look at the title of the episodes, uh, if you're diehard and you'll just be listening to whatever comes up next. Bless you. Thank you. I love that. Uh, but if you did look at the title today, we're talking about grass farmers and curious.
Roots. That is the title of the episode, grass Farmers and Curious Roots. And the episode is inspired by Octo as, wow. Can't speak tonight. October's Mafia Dinner Guest. Should be October. Yeah. October's Mafia Dinner Guest, um, which is our very own. Stephanie, he, I have brought her on the podcast I think twice.
Um. Definitely once, but I think twice. Uh, so thank you for linking that. Courtney. Thank you for jojo, uh, as well. Um, she's amazing. Stephanie is an amazing human, and now she runs a legit whole ass farm. We're their husband and they have cows on that farm and they sell the meat of those cows. And she was talking about the farm and so I brought her in to talk about it and she said, we're grass farmers.
And I was like, brain explosion, right? Translation. What does she mean by that? Their task is to keep the cows healthy, take care of the cows, which means they gotta feed 'em. They gotta feed 'em well. So their top priority is grass. They gotta go grass, so, so that the cows can eat the grass. I brought Stephanie in to talk about regenerative farming.
Which is what their Farm Hein Farms practices and we'll link their, their Instagram. Thank you Courtney. Thank you Jojo. Um, I brought her in because I believe we should be practicing regenerative commerce as business owners, so I just wanted her to share her brain and her experience. With regenerative agriculture, regenerative farming, and allow us to draw the parallels.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about when I say regenerative commerce, I made the term up. Like it's not like a thing, it's like going, you know, uh, I made it up with Chatt, BT I was talking about stuff, but I sent out an email to my newsletter. I don't, I can't say that I'm the first person to ever say it, but I'm saying I made up.
I didn't hear it somewhere. Like, I literally was talking about Chad GBT and I was like, Hey, how about this? And it was like, yeah. Um, but. I sent out an email to my newsletter about this, I don't know, a month ago, something like that. Time is a flat circle. I don't know. Um, but you could check it out. There's no need to subscribe.
We'll link it in the show notes. Thank you, Courtney. Thank you, Jojo. Uh, the would be a whole lot cooler if you did subscribe, but No, you don't have to if you don't want to. Um, or if you are like, wait, I, I'm subscribed. I don't know which one you're talking about. Uh, the title of that was that newsletter episode was, these Hoes Ain't Loyal.
Uh, and I was talking about the, the price increase from ConvertKit, but. Um, we'll link it and you can just read it without having to, to subscribe. Um, but a loose gen, a loose definition for regenerative commerce would be running a business that doesn't just extract value, AKA time, money, attention, but actively creates conditions where your customers, your collaborators, and even you as the owner come out healthier, stronger, and more resourced.
Right. It borrows the logic of regenerative agriculture, which is leave the soil richer than you found it. Right? Leave it better than you found it. So after Stephanie said, we're grass farmers, I posed the question, what would be the equivalent for online business, what we do? Right? And Laura Jean, the always and ever incredible Laura Jean.
She's in the mafia as well. She said Relationships. Then I fell out of my chair. Like, holy shit. We'll link all those episodes. I've had her on, I think twice at least as well. Maybe more. Um, but Courtney, thank you jojo. Thank you. Um, 'cause I was honestly thinking content my head went to like, what's the equivalent of grass content?
Because it's what feeds the audience, but the audience is not the cows. Bear with me here, folks. Right. The cows is what, you know, Stephanie is selling. Right. Loves them, takes care of 'em, but that's what she's selling. What we're selling are our offers. What sustains them, right? What keeps people interested and keeps people buying them.
Is the relationships. And I was like, holy fucking shit. Right? The relationships is the grass. The grass is the relationships. Holy shit. Holy shit. Content is one way to foster the relationships, but the thing that we're looking to really take care of in all the ways is the relationships, right? It's the people that we had those relationships with.
So how this ties into the title of today's episode, grass Farmers and Curious Roots, is that I believe at the heart of. Taking care of these relationships is curiosity. And I'm honestly just also talking about curiosity across the board, which I do think is a trait that some folks are born with. Way more of it.
And I do consider myself one of those people to be one of those very, you know, fortunate people, um, to just have like curiosity as a trait. I don't know if I was a why kid, but that's what I mean when I say that some folks are born with more of it. Like the kid that for every, every answer says, why, but why, but why?
I could have texted my mom. I could, I definitely could have texted my mom and just been like, Hey, but uh, I was out let any episode, I wanted to get it recorded. Um, but I'm gonna assume that I had some of this because I remember her. Telling me, look it up. Like that was just like a thing, like, look it up.
And like, now I carry that with me, like, look it up. And just saying that a lot. And like, I remember my, my little like set of encyclopedias and just like me looking shit up and it was like, well, it's not in here, but like, this was like one little set of encyclopedias and have all, it wasn't the internet, but I definitely remember her being like, look it up.
So she definitely nurtured that curiosity, uh, because she didn't tell me to shut up. Right. Or, or, you know, she didn't just gimme the answer, uh, or said like, don't worry about it, you know, she said, go figure it out. And. I did, uh, I remember my grandpa also, he could fix anything. He could build anything and he could fix anything.
And I remember how that was valued and that was celebrated. And I feel like my mom also has that in her as well. And just something that like was passed on to me and I was like, I just saw it and I was like, yeah, I wanna emulate this. Um, and just, you know, with her, just as something as simple as like making our Halloween costumes, they were always fucking banging amazing.
Like, she just figured shit out. I just thought, I just always viewed her as someone who would figure this stuff out. So, you know, those are more, uh, tangibles, tangible as wow. Tangible examples of that curiosity. But as it relates to the online, to online business, I think we can very easily see parallels with just, you know, the easiest, most simplest is a curiosity to figure out how things work, right?
And from the most, like. Simple example, just like how the tech side works, right? Like, which hopefully is paired with a level of tenacity that's required to actually devote enough time and effort to figuring in this shit out. Um, but if we circle back to the relationship aspect and the relational aspect, uh, and we tie in curiosity, what does that look like?
I think it can all be summed up as, tell me more. Right. And this tell me more, doesn't have to be just in like direct conversations either. Right. To me, it speaks to a desire to learn more about the other person, and there's a lot different ways you can learn more about the other person. It could be in conversation and simply asking more questions.
Tell me more. Right. That could, it could be on your own though. Just watching their stories, looking to learn about their life and their personality. I mean, just be genuinely curious about them. Right. It can speak to the bigger picture of. A desire to learn about your audience in general. Right. And what they need, and what they want and what they're experiencing.
You know, where they're at with things instead of just assuming, which we know never goes well, right. Never goes well, we can ask them for sure. We can just also observe. Be curious. As I was writing this outline and going through that, that mainly that part right there, I was going back and forth and I'm just like, what's the difference between curiosity and caring?
Am I saying just I care about your audience, but. It's different than curiosity, but I do think they're like inextricably linked, which to me just furthers this idea of curiosity, being at the heart of fostering these relationships. Right? Curiosity as wait for it. The roots, hence the title. Grass Farmers and Curious Roots.
A side note. This episode extra special to me. Why? Because my word for the year for 20, 20, 25 is root. And so whenever it comes up, it's really cool. Uh, and also this is episode 688 and eight is my favorite number. So it's just like all around dope. Uh, but yeah, curiosity as the root of what sustains our businesses and.
Relationships being that thing that sustains it. Like what sustains our businesses, relationships, and what's at the root of that curiosity? Right? To me, in my opinion, in my humble opinion, curiosity dies. When there's performance, when we're not listening, right? When every single post is a pitch and every conversation is an attempt at a conversion, when every comment is just a, you know, a, a breadcrumb, a trail back to your own fucking offer, curiosity has disappeared, right?
And yes, there's absolutely time to sell and have strategy, don't get me wrong, but we're also always interacting with people, which means there's. Also always plenty of opportunities to stay curious and get curious and be curious in so many different ways. So action items. 'cause you know, I can't just be here spouting off and having a TED talk.
I want to give you things you can try. So how does one foster curiosity, because earlier I said that I definitely think some people are are, you know, maybe she's born with it, maybe it's Maybelline, right? In this case I think some people are born with it, right? Um, or born with more of it, but. I do think that it can be nurtured and fostered, right?
Because it's something I think about. I legit think about this curiosity, um, very, fairly often. Fairly often. And I, you know, I'm wondering, I'm being curious as to whether it's something that can be taught 'cause it is at the heart of, of a successful business. Uh, and I do think it can be taught. I think it can be learned.
I think it can be improved on. I think it can be fostered, it can be, you know, nurtured. I'd like to think of it as a skill. And of course liking it to sports 'cause that's how my brain always works. But you know, you can get better at it and yes, you know, if you think about sports, the kid who's just naturally talented and also tries and works on it will always be better than the kid who just tries hard.
But like both can definitely improve. And the kid that just tries hard can definitely improve. So I had said earlier that. I think curiosity and caring are inextricably linked, but they're not synonyms. Right. They're not synonymous. And I do think that there's a somewhat of an order of operations here.
One does come first. It's not chicken or the egg. Because, and I, I laugh as I, as I think about this when I was writing it, because you can care about something and not be curious. Lex stays like, why aren't you curious? You like Ask Buster News. I'm like, because I don't care about that. I don't like, I shouldn't say that.
I don't care about it because I'm not curious about that. I care about you, but I'm not necessarily caring about that thing and I'm not curious about it. So you can care about the thing overall, but not be curious about it. But I don't think that you can be curious about something and not care about it in some way, shape, or form.
To that end, curiosity can be viewed as the starting point or as a starting point if we're looking for one. So action items, I promise you them three action items that I think you can do to help foster curiosity and become a more curious person. If that's your number one practice, wonder, not wander, wonder.
W-O-N-D-E-R, right? Just practice noticing stuff in your day. Anything and everything. When you're on a walk, notice everything. This is literally everything. The car that's up the sky, the clouds, the, the sidewalk, the animals. Notice everything. Just stick it in. When you're scrolling, notice everything. When you're watching tv, notice the, the, the angles, the people who they have on there, what the person's hair looks like, the music.
How long between camera shots? I, I don't notice everything when you're in the pickup line. I don't know. I'm not a parent, but like, I'm trying to like, make this relatable and like appropriate, not appropriate, uh, actionable for everybody. But just notice everything. Why? Because you cannot be curious about things you don't notice.
So as they start practice noticing things, it also forces a bit of a slowdown and like you to be in the moment. I think it's really tough to be curious when you're just like living on the next thing and you're never like in the moment. Uh, so curiosity does take time. And so this is like another way of like forcing yourself to slow down.
Give yourself time. So practice wonder. Number two, answer your questions. Fucking use chat. GPT if you want. Like whenever you say, I wonder why, I wonder what Answer it. Go fucking look it up. Oftentimes that does lead to more questions, which is great, but it closes a loop and creates more space in your brain for more curiosity.
I think that ultimately it creates like a positive feedback loop as well. Right. When I have a question, it gets answered. Our brains like that. They like closure. They like when things make sense. So give it that to me. If you like, have questions and you just don't answer 'em, I feel like your brain's like, ah, fuck it.
I don't want that. 'cause it's just like, ugh. It's open. It's like when you have something hanging off, you know, I, I'm looking at Rupert behind me. He's being so cute. Can you see? He's so cute. He's so cute. But you have a cat and they just like push something towards the edge. Most of the time they're gonna push it all the way off the edge.
But if you just have something that's like dangling off the side, like people's people don't like it, like, ah, close it. Do something with that. Do that with your questions. If you have curiosity, satiate it. My telling you, be curious. Again, it creates more room and it's a positive feedback loop of like, Hey, when I have this question, it gets answered.
Um, give it that so that it's, when I say it, give your brain that so that it's willing to have more curious experiences and be more curious. Right. And then lastly, number three. Follow discomfort. People do not like sitting with discomfort. They like sitting in it around it near, they don't want it. They don't want it.
I'm not telling you to go, Jason, I'm telling you that when it pops up, ask why. Ask yourself, why do I care? Why do I feel this way? Perhaps you need to start with what am I feeling? And then you move into why. Why am I feeling this? Why do I care about this? Right, but either way, investigate the discomfort instead of running away from it.
Right? We are literally training curiosity. So to wrap it up, regenerative farming, regenerative agriculture, it's dope. And to me, regenerative commerce is the goal. And for us farmers, they focus on the grass and we online business owners, we focus on relationships, which I believe is most easily accomplished by having curious roots.
Boom, look at that. Brought it back, brought it back together. All right, real quick. I had fun with this episode real quick. Uh, business and life updates because I jumped right into the episode and I know that you all are curious about my shit. See what I did there. Uh, biz wise, I can't make an episode about curiosity and not plug my other podcast.
Chad, be curious if you are in any way, shape or form, curious about JGBT. Literally anything. If you got any questions about it, if you are wondering literally anything about it, check it out. We're currently, I think, 15 episodes in, I'm still enjoying it very much so you could check it out wherever you listen to podcasts.
You can also check out the website, built that shit out. I'm really proud of it. Uh, chatt curious.com. You can search the episodes, submit questions. I actually have a, uh, tab on there. Uh, it's called Curious Finds, and it's just a list, um, of all the things that I've been, that I read and that I listen to, podcast episodes, YouTube videos, articles, things like that.
Um, about chat, GBT and about AI in general. Um, so we can check that out. Everything is hyperlinked. Um, you can check that out, but. You can also join the newsletter there, right? The newsletter is called The Curious Companion, and it's the written version of the podcast for folks who would rather read than listen.
Um, but yeah, the podcast is called Chat g pt, curious, check it out. Life announcements only one. And that is that on the day that this drops or the 27th, I'll be heading to Lex and I will be heading to Hawaii that Wednesday for Jill's wedding. We'll be The wedding is in Oahu. Uh, we're gonna stop by Jurassic Park.
And also we're lost somewhere where Lost was filmed, um, on the way up, uh, from the airport and on the North Shore, the actual wedding. But I got a new suit for it. It's dope. I got a tailored, uh, and I get to celebrate my best friend. So I'm really looking forward to that and I will report back. When I'm back.
All right. That is officially everything for today. As always, endlessly, endlessly, endlessly appreciative for every single one of you into the next conference, maestro out.
Watch this episode on YouTube!
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