Ikigai Leadership

In this episode, Dhru interviews Peter Hurley, who shares his unconventional journey from studying human physiology and selling sailboats to becoming a highly successful headshot photographer. Starting with his unpredictable path to picking up a camera, Hurley's initial struggles in modeling and acting eventually led him to focus on photography. Driven by a desire to make a good living and pursue his passion, he overcame challenges and established himself as a sought-after headshot photographer, emphasizing the importance of taking risks and exploring new paths for a fulfilling career.Peter shares insights from this wealth of experience in the headshot photography industry including the significance of a strong work ethic, personal growth, and collaboration within the community. He stresses the value of education and learning the basics before developing a unique style. Additionally, the interview touches on the influence of mentors, childhood experiences, and the impact of travel on personal growth. Throughout the episode, there's a recurring theme of embracing opportunities, taking risks, and prioritizing personal growth to achieve greater success and fulfillment in one's career and life.About Peter HurleyPeter Hurley is a New York and Los Angeles based portrait photographer who is regarded as the industry leader in headshot photography. He’s best known for the genuine expressions he captures for his executive business portraits and actor headshots.With a wealth of diverse experiences, Peter Hurley has navigated life’s twists and turns with purpose and passion. From sailing the seven seas in preparation for the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games to gracing the camera lens as a model for Polo Sport and Abercrombie & Fitch, Peter’s journey has been nothing short of remarkable. His peers recognize him as the foremost authority on headshot photography, a reputation solidified by his acclaimed book, The Headshot.With over two decades of experience, Peter seamlessly transitioned into the role of a director. His passion for excellence shines in every project, producing compelling videos that showcase his clients’ businesses at their best. Rooted in New York City, Peter finds inspiration in his beautiful wife and cherished twin daughters, driving his ongoing pursuit of creativity and excellence.--Contact Dhru Beeharilal | Nayan Leadership: Website: NayanLeadership.comLinkedIn: DhruBeeFacebook: NayanLeadershipYouTude: DhruBeeContact Peter Hurley | Peter Hurley: Website: Peter HurleyInstagram: Peter_HurleyTwitter: Peter_HurleyFacebook: PeterHurleyPhotoLinkedin: PeterHurleyYouTube: PeterHurleyPhotography--Transcript:Dhru 00:00Hey everybody, this is Dr. Dhru Bee. And I'm here to welcome you to my podcast, Ikigai Leadership. We're gonna be talking to leaders in all different industries from all different backgrounds and demographics from all over the world. And we'll be discussing topics like leadership development, culture, DEI, content creation and marketing, and all things business and entrepreneurship. Dhru 00:26All right, welcome, everybody. Welcome back to another edition of IIkigai Leadership. I'm here in a special place, here. This is not my normal spot. As usual. I'm sure you guys have known by now. I'm here with the amazing Peter Hurley. Thanks so much, Peter, for taking the time to talk today, man. Peter 00:42Oh my gosh, Drew, I'm so psyched you came in. This is awesome. I need, I wanted you to see the studio and hang out with you. But this is cool that we got to do this. Dhru 00:48The studio is awesome. It's actually, the location is phenomenal. But this this actually is setup. I mean, I'm I'm blown away by how amazing this for folks. I mean, I brought my photographer and Peter already has everything set up here, which is pretty cool. So I can take advantage this amazing space. Super cool. Peter 01:03So no, I was excited. Because I knew when you asked me to do this, and you were gonna come up, I was like, I'll be ready. I'm gonna have this place rockin and rollin by then. Dhru 01:11It's awesome to have you on here. And a lot of folks who are watching us will not really know you, have an idea of your background in that kind of thing. But who is Peter, would you start by going to what what made you pick up pick up a camera? I mean, we talked about this a little bit. You told us a story back in Denver, but I mean, folks who weren't there, obviously. Peter 01:28Sure. My name is Peter Hurley. I was born in New Jersey. The path for me to grab a camera was pretty random. I didn't know what the heck I was doing. I went to BU and I was studying like human physiology. And I was like, I don't know what I'm gonna do. When I graduated. I graduate and I sailed for the summer. As I always did. I raced sailboats all my life. And I just I was really into it. I grew up on the Jersey Shore in a small town called Mantaloking. That summer, I was selling sailboats at a local sailors' shop. And one of my friends owned him was my boss and kind of beat me up and taught me a lot about marketing and stuff like that. Actually. It was amazing. Actually looking back then at this guy, he was he was nuts. But he did things outside the box. Nowadays, but.. Dhru 02:10What year was I'm just curious. Peter 02:13This was no, it was 1993. Dhru 02:18Okay, yes, so marketing was totally different back then, compared to now.Peter 02:21Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, I was 23. You can do the math. Anyway, I asked for a couple days off to seal on this national championship. And he gave it to me. And I was like, okay, so I won. And then when I won that fall, I didn't know what I was going to do, because it was a summer job. And I was like, I'm gonna start training for the Olympics, because the boat that I had sailed mostly, predominantly had gone to be an Olympic class. And I was at the stage of my life where I was like, I didn't know what I was going to do with my degree. And I didn't know what to do. Anyway, long story short, I ended up sailing for a couple years. And somebody saw me sailing, well, Caggie Simaneli Bradfor saw me sailing, and she's like, you could model and I was like, I don't know about that. She goes, Yeah, I'm gonna get a photographer. She got a start. And then she goes, and I'm gonna send your pictures over to Ralph Lauren. And they really liked you. And you're gonna go down to Miami and get in front of Bruce Weber's camera, and you're and then you're gonna have a huge modeling career, blah, blah, blah. But no, it wasn't that huge, but it was fun. But Bruce told me to pick up a camera. I became friends with Bruce. I was in Miami and I said, Hey, are you free this day I'm racing? Why don't you come shoot this race. And he came and he put it in Italian Vogue. And it was just cool. If that time of my life I was really, it was crazy. Dhru 03:34That’s the point. You're shooting and you’re modelling both at this time. Or just shooting? Peter 03:28No, I was just modeling and sailing. I wasn't even modeling yet. I was just mod, I had modeled and I was sailing. And then I missed the US team in 96. And I came to New York and I decided to try the modeling thing. It was not easy. I'm not that good looking. Like it's just like it wasn't that easy. And it was hard. But I got some jobs and I plugged away. And I had the support of some diverse, one being Bruce Weber. And he said he's I don't know why he encouraged me to pick up a camera but he said well, what are you doing? Just pick up a camera and go walk around and take pictures on the street? So I did. That was it. I was like alright, I kind of liked this. This is cool. Dhru 04:20You're the headshot guy. Like everyone knows Peter Hurley is the expert in headshots like far and away right? What was that moment where you were like headshots. It's a thing for me. I just I love doing that Justin that's what I'm gonna specialize in or, or was there a moment like that? Peter 04:31Yeah, I mean, it was a monetary thing I was trying to be with you know, I told her so I remember telling him I want to shoot like you I want to do like, like shots for of actors for Vanity Fair. And I want to shoot ad campaigns. I want to do this, that, and the other thing. And I was like, Well, I needed an agent. I needed to get commercial work. I needed all that stuff. And I was an actor. So while I actually picked up the camera to get out of a bar, I was bartending and I hated it. And in New York it was like till 4am. So I was getting out of the bar at four, and barely sleeping, I was falling asleep on modeling jobs, I had started acting, and I was like, Maybe this acting thing can take off because this modeling thing isn't gonna last. Let me try this acting thing, but let me figure out how to pay for it. So I was like, let me take some pictures. So I’d done actor's headshots, and I was like, this didn't look like a bad gig. And these photographers were making a good living. And I was like, if I could get anywhere close to what they're charging, I'd be alright. So I started and I'd go to acting class, just to try and get the actors to pay me to take the pictures and like I would do it like that. Yeah, sorry, guys running around doing that. I was like, I don't have to go to a bar anymore. And then I was like, Oh, my gosh, I suck at acting too. Like, I should quit that. And then here I am. Dhru 05:43Let's see, I think I just want to highlight something about that, though. Like one of the things I tell people a lot of times is that there's not always a direct line to what you want to do necessarily, right. Life is all about the zigzag, right? It's like moving around. And then if you didn't want to get out of bartending, you might not have picked up a camera ever. Right? Peter 06:03Yeah, exactly. Dhru 06:05Which seems like random at the moment. But I mean, set the tone for rest of your life, which is crazy. Peter 06:09If I was gonna say like, one of my biggest things in my life that I've noticed, is like, if you throw me a bone, I'm gonna pick

In this episode, Dhru talks with the lawyer, entrepreneur, business coach, and CEO of the Cause and Effect Consulting company, Sajad Abid about the reality of finding success in the business world. They have an honest conversation on what it takes to find a succession business and how to tell if entrepreneurship is right for you or not. From being money-motivated to juggling plenty of hats to finding your passion in work, they discuss it all. This episode is a must-listen for anyone who needs a pep talk to feel motivated about their calling. You’ll hear real-life examples of clients both Dhru and Sajad have encountered, along with mistakes learned along the way. Sajad also shares his unique perspective on what it takes to get a business started and why you can’t be a people-pleaser if you want your business to grow. You’ll also hear what it takes to live your dream, even if it means buying a literal mountain! About Sajad Abid HusainSajad Abid Husain is a highly sought-after business mentor, coach, and CEO of Cause and Effect Consulting. Sajad is a highly sought-after business mentor/coach and sounding board for ideas and key advising. His years of experience creating successful businesses and coaching motivated entrepreneurs to do the same, has set Sajad apart from the busy world of online coaches. His raw, authentic approach, to business is informed by his experience as a lawyer, social worker, teacher, and his incredible life story. Resources discussed in this episode:Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon LechterI Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit SethiThe Science of Sex Appeal imdbLes Brown--Contact Dhru Beeharilal | Nayan Leadership: Website: NayanLeadership.comLinkedIn: DhruBeeFacebook: NayanLeadershipYouTude: DhruBeeContact Sajad Abid | Cause and Effect Consulting: Website: CauseAndEffectConsulting.comCalendar BookingInstagram: CauseAndEffectConsultingTikTokFacebook: CauseAndEffectConsultingYouTube: CauseAndEffectConsulting--Transcript:Dhru 00:00Hey everybody, this is Dr. Dhru Bee. And I'm here to welcome you to my podcast, Ikigai Leadership. We're gonna be talking to leaders in all different industries from all different backgrounds and demographics from all over the world. And we'll be discussing topics like leadership development, culture, DEI, content creation and marketing, and all things business and entrepreneurship. Dhru 00:27Everybody, welcome back to another edition of Ikigai Leadership. Thank you so much for joining us. My name is Dhru Beeharilal. I'm here with a unique guest who I'm actually excited about this interview because we can talk through just really just talk shit, Sajad Abid. Sajad, thank you for joining us today. Sajad 00:42Thank you very much. It's Sajad Abid. Dhru 00:45Abid, sorry, my bad. Sajad 00:46It’s okay, well, we gotta get my dead grandfather's name right. Dhru 00:48Fair enough. My apologies. Sajad 00:50I've been called worse. Dhru 00:51That's true. That's fair. I mean, I'm sure I think we all have but yeah, I'm sure you especially have. Sajad 00:58Thanks. I think.  Dhru 00:59No, it's a compliment. So, we just talked a few minutes before we started this conversation here. And I'm actually gonna start with a little bit different than I normally do. And I want folks to hear about your idea about weekends, or lack thereof. So, we just talked about a unique perspective you have on weekdays, weekends, and just days in general. Do you mind sharing that real quick before we jump into your backstory and everything? Sajad 01:24Sure, I have no idea what day it is, until somebody tells me. There's a quote that says, “If you do what you love for a living, you never work a day in your life.” So, my life is Groundhog's Day. It's the same thing every single day and it's fun all the time. I work the vast majority of the time, but I love what I do. So, it's not like work at all. It's not like hard labour, or I've positioned my life, to be in the place where I get to do exactly what I want, be completely myself, have complete autonomy, help a lot of people make a lot of money. I help them make a lot of money, and I make a lot of money. So, it's all fun, everything's good. Every single day. Dhru 02:08The podcast title is Ikigai Leadership and that leads Ikigai, right, the whole, like, finding passion for what you're doing. And then just leaning into it and doing it, right? And finding different aspects of yourself that you want to enjoy. And then really leading to all those aspects at the same time, because there are different things that are gonna light up different parts of you, right? Sajad runs a couple of different things. One is Cause and Effect Consulting, which is a, I'll let you talk about what exactly it is. But my bad summary of it is business coaching and supporting people in positions of being business owners and leaders in organizations kind of thing, and how to grow their businesses. Right? That's my short, really bad version of what you do. But I really enjoy pelagic networking, personally. The networking groups you run, because it's not a typical networking group. It's not the normal BS like hey, you say what you do and then here's the networking question. And then here's your here's exactly what to talk about. And, you know, now that we don't give you any prompts, you'd have no idea what to say to each other. I liked the way you run it, and it's a lot more authentic, it's a lot more real. First of all, share what you do with folks and then tell us how you've encountered this.  Sajad 03:11Cause and Effect Consulting is changing the world. By becoming extremely well organized, you will significantly increase your productivity, and you will substantially reduce your stress. I'm gonna run you through a six-week business development boot camp where I'm a beat you with a fucking stick. I'm gonna ignore your stupid feelings, you're gonna hate me for six weeks, and you're gonna be in love with me in four months from now. When you hire me, we're together one hour per week, I'm on call 24/7. As I said, I don't take off on weekends. And I also don't celebrate holidays. You get one hour of homework. It's an entertaining educational video, you're gonna take copious handwritten notes to ensure that it pounds into your subconscious and that you're not multitasking. You get access to my online community, which is 20 other entrepreneurs like you, as well as my online program and the support of eight of my former clients who I pay to assist you through the program. As a former attorney for over four years, I won all my cases including trial work. I was deputy chief of staff with the state of Illinois, the Department of Children and Family Services, fourth in charge of a $1.2 billion agency where I ran the biggest projects for the state. And I had a very successful tech company for six years, doing custom websites, custom CRMs and providing business consulting. It was very successful. So, my four-bed, two-bath house is paid off in cash. I drive the $76,000 twin turbo, and my girlfriend's super hot. She's not with me for my personality. How I got here, I had my tech company going, I had my law firm going. And then I got the job with the state. I was a social worker for 16 years before that. I'm old. I'm just really good-looking. So, when I was with the State, I was pushing people to work. And they would always say to me, you don't know how things work around here. And that means we don't work around here. And I said, Oh no, no, I'm Deputy Chief of Staff. So, we're gonna work, we're gonna go get shit done. And we did, we got a lot of things done. I created and led the team that cut the time from adoptions down from 554 days to 121 days. And I helped incarcerated people have the opportunity to engage in their children's plans, their life plans, you know, whether they're playing instruments or doing sports. That's important, because the vast majority of people over 90%, get out of jail within a couple of years. And if they're not engaged with their children, then when they get out of jail, they don't reengage with their children. And so I led like nine projects like that. And then I had my law firm going, and my tech company going while I was working for the state. And people kept reporting me saying that I was trying to sell my services, which I didn't. I never even mentioned my law firm, I never, I mentioned that I had a tech company when we were discussing things like organization in CRMs because that's what it did. But I never mentioned the name of the company, I never tried to sell my product. I didn't even say what the company name was. So, I wasn't trying to do that. But they kept trying to get me on ethics violations, to get me to stop pushing them to work. So, I shut down the law firm, shut down the tech company and then after I left the state, I was offered four jobs, Vice President jobs at the major firms, nonprofits, like the ones that bring in 50 million - 100 million in revenue per year. And, you know, managed a lot of their executive staff through my projects. And so I was offered a lot of jobs, and I accepted one of them. And then I self-reported to the Office of Inspector General, that I was going to accept this position. And they said you're not allowed to work for anybody that has a government contract or license with the agency for a year. It's supposed to prevent corruption. I don't think it does that. But it kept me from getting a job. So yeah, for two years, I was applying for jobs. I applied for over 800 jobs. I got eight interviews, four of them were scams. Three of them told me I was overqualified. And then one of them was Amazon operation manager. I interviewed for whatever, eight hours, 10 hours, and I was declined but they didn't they didn't tell me why. So, I was still doing consulting for nonprofits that didn't have government or at least DCFS contracts. And so I was doing that for a couple of years. I had been an entrepreneur before, so I didn't want

In this episode of the Ikigai Leadership podcast, Dr. Dhru Beeharilal sits down with Dr. Steven Kirch to discuss his journey from being a physicist at IBM to becoming a successful business coach. They delve into the importance of effective management, the power of measuring leading indicators, and the significance of caring for employees. Dr. Kirch also shares insights from his time at Intel during the 90s, a pivotal era in computing technology.They explore Steven's transition from IBM to Intel and the critical role he played during the advent of the Pentium chip. Steven emphasizes the value of measuring leading indicators for success in sales and business development. He also highlights the importance of genuinely caring for employees, drawing on his experience in leadership at Intel. Listen in to discover the valuable insights and powerful lessons that Steve Kirch shares and find out how you can transform your leadership and business skills. Don't miss out on the opportunity to learn from a seasoned professional with a wealth of experience.About Steve Kirch Dr. Steven Kirch is not only a seasoned business coach and former physicist but also a visionary leader with a unique perspective forged through over two decades of experience at Intel. His expertise lies in the seamless integration of technical prowess with effective management strategies, making him a standout figure in the realm of leadership development. Beyond his impressive professional background, Dr. Kirch's unwavering commitment to employee well-being and his passion for teaching have been instrumental in shaping his distinctive approach to coaching. In this episode, he imparts invaluable insights from his journey, offering a wealth of knowledge to business owners and aspiring leaders alike.Resources discussed in this episode:IBM: www.ibm.comIntel: www.intel.comThe Seven Habits of Highly Effective PeopleAndy Grove: Andrew S. GroveICF: coachingfederation.orgRandy Haykin--Contact Dhru Beeharilal | Nayan Leadership: Website: NayanLeadership.comLinkedIn: DhruBeeFacebook: NayanLeadershipYouTude: DhruBeeContact Steven Kirch | Profit Minds: Website: profitminds.netThe Gratitude NetworkTwitter: @sjkirchLinkedin: Steven Kirch--Transcript:Dhru 00:00Hey everybody, this is Dr. Dhru Bee. And I'm here to welcome you to my podcast Ikigai Leadership. We're gonna be talking to leaders in all different industries from all different backgrounds and demographics from all over the world. And we'll be discussing topics like leadership development, culture, DEI, content creation and marketing, and all things business and entrepreneurship. Dhru 00:24Hey everybody, welcome back to another edition of Ikigai Leadership. I'm Dr. Dhru Beeharilal and I'm here with Dr. Steven Kirch. Steve, great to meet you, thanks for coming out today, I really appreciate the time. Steven 00:35Dr. Dhru, hey, great to be here. I'm really looking forward to our conversation today. Dhru 00:40Yeah. So, profit minds, it's obviously it's business coaching, for those who don't know, and particularly different lens, as Steven knows, you know, everyone, every coach has their own little lens through which they see the world through which they help the clients see the world. And so what's your lens? What does it look like for you? Steven 00:55It's interesting, because, yeah, my lens is quite different. I'm a scientist and I like to understand things in some level of detail before I prescribe some kind of a solution. And life is an experiment. So, we try something and if it doesn't work, we'll try something else. And, you know, I've learned a lot over my years. That's, you know, how I got the gray hair. Dhru 01:26You earned the gray hair writing and getting– Steven 01:28I earned it, I earned every one of them. That’s right. Dhru 01:30Yeah. So, tell us more about I know you're a PhD in physics, right? How do you go from being a PhD in physics to being a business coach? Steven 01:39Yeah. So, it is kind of an interesting story that, you know the first job I had out of graduate school, my wife and I both got jobs working for IBM, in New York, and moved there. And, you know, I had no desire whatsoever to be a manager in the IBM System, because a manager couldn't do anything technical. And I loved technology, and I loved being on the cutting edge of developing new technologies. That was the reason that I became a physicist in the first place was to discover new things and the IBM System required that managers be managers pure and simple manage. We had a minimum of 30 people reporting to you. And that meant all you could do is manage. I've been at IBM for eight, nine years, something like that. And they did their first layoffs. And it was at that point, I realized I needed to take responsibility for my own career. When I joined IBM, I figured I'd be there for the rest of my life, you were called an “IBMer”, that was the expectation. But when they made that change, I said, well, I better do something about this. So, I started passing out my resume. And a guy from Intel called me and recruited me to come to California, which is where I am now. And also convinced me that I could be a manager because, at Intel, you could manage a team of three or four people and do technical work at the same time. And so for the rest of my career at at Intel, even though I was a manager, almost all of that 22 years, I was also able to contribute technically, so it was a good balance. But a few years into my time at Intel, I was introduced to, I was offered the opportunity to take the class, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. They were rolling it out to the entire organization and 1500 people are going to take this, they were taking three to five days off-site for every member of the organization. That's a huge investment. And I found the course transformational. In fact, they were looking for instructors, because again, they're rolling it out to everybody and I put my hand up, because I know the best way to learn something is to teach it. So, I became a certified facilitator and I've been able to do that now for over 25 years. And one of the other cool things about Intel is that each senior leader, I was director level at that point, is required to teach at least three classes, a year, every year. That's the way they perpetuate the culture. And I loved the teaching, I loved watching the students' eyes light up as they got some new concept. And over time, I got introduced to and certified in a number of other courses of that ilk, you know, personal productivity, organizational effectiveness, you know, those kinds of things and I found that I really loved it. And the other pivotal thing that happened to me while I was at Intel, this is 2008, so almost 15 years ago now or 15 years ago, I was a member of the senior staff for the factory that was here in Santa Clara. And we announced or we were told we had to announce that we were shutting down the factory. 800 people were going to be displaced by that single act. And what we did as a leadership team, I was Chief of Staff to the gentleman who were running the factory at the time, the entire leadership team said, we made the commitment to every employee, we said, we will find every employee a successful new beginning. We didn't define what that was like, what that was going to be for them. We also put together courses to help them figure out what it would be. But the fascinating piece of that was that those employees, we had a turnover in the factory. And in here in Silicon Valley turnover is pretty high, we were probably averaging somewhere between 15% and 20%, annual turnover within the factory, right, you know, for the 18 months. And by the way, we announced the shutdown, and it was 18 months later that the factory was actually closing. So, we needed to keep those people to do the things that needed to be done and our turnover dropped from over 15% to around 5%. And the reason was because we made a commitment to the people in that organization. And they understood that we delivered for them. I would be willing to bet that of the 800 people that were displaced, there were less than 10 that didn't have a successful new beginning. My real discovery of the enjoyment of teaching, I taught in graduate school, of course, but wasn't the same, right? But my enjoyment of the teaching of some of these fundamental business principles and combining that with the value of understanding how important it is to tend to your employees. Those two things combined. So, as I started to contemplate this thing they call retirement, which I did now, more than seven years ago. I said, boy, it would be fun to continue that as a business coach. And so I hung out a shingle. Dhru 07:16That's awesome. There's a couple of things I wanted to cover on there, like you said a lot. And I wanted to touch on a couple of things. But the first thing actually I'm most curious about, honestly, is actually kind of a tangential thing that you mentioned just in passing, but being part of Intel, during the 90s, right? And IBM and Intel, both during the 90s when the with the advent of the Pentium chip, right? What was that like? And for some folks who are here who are not as much as a nerd as I am, if you wouldn't mind sharing what that is, you know, but.Steven 07:45Yeah, so the Pentium was the big breakthrough for Intel, in terms of the microprocessor and really set Intel apart, as you know, the leader of the microprocessor movement. Now, I arrived, as the Pentium, the first Pentium was being certified. And I took over the organization that was actually responsible for the failure analysis of those devices as they came through. So, I was really there sort of, in the heart of it, at the very beginning. And some of the people that I worked with, and for, were solving those problems. That, you know, in the reliability space, I was part of the quality and reliability organization at the time. And it was a magical place. Let

In this episode of Ikigai Leadership, Dhru Beeharilal sits down with Tom Gay, a seasoned entrepreneur and the visionary founder of EngagePro. With over two decades of experience, Tom imparts invaluable insights into cultivating business relationships and referrals. He stresses the pivotal role of EngagePro as an enablement tool designed to streamline the process of filling sales pipelines with high-quality prospects. Tom's expertise shines through as he underscores the power of giving, building trust, and reciprocity, emphasizing that business success often hinges on teaching others how to refer you effectively. He teaches listeners about the 'know, like, and trust' paradigm, revealing how understanding the art of reciprocation can be a game-changer in business. This episode offers an informative perspective on the human factor of entrepreneurship, reminding us that genuine connections can often yield greater results than transactional approaches. With Tom's guidance, you'll be ready to reframe your approach to business, placing authentic relationships at the forefront of your strategies.About Tom GayTom Gay is a dynamic CEO renowned for his expertise in successful relationship selling, referral marketing, and serial entrepreneurship. With a rich background in merging sales skills, information technology, and problem-solving, Tom has made a mark in the entrepreneurial landscape. His primary focus centers on empowering professionals to establish systematic, repeatable processes that drive client acquisition, sales growth, and business sustainability. Tom's profound grasp of trust-building and relationship nurturing, coupled with his disciplined approach, yields extraordinary outcomes. Beyond entrepreneurship, Tom's passion for team-building, leadership development, and mentorship is palpable in every venture he undertakes. His specializations lie in sales skill enhancement, relationship marketing, and coaching, culminating in the creation of trusted communities of professionals and fostering personal growth.Resources discussed in this episode:Jim Rohn: www.jimrohn.comInternational Coaching Federation: coachingfederation.orgPygmalion by ShawThe Replacements--Contact Dhru Beeharilal | Nayan Leadership: Website: NayanLeadership.comLinkedIn: DhruBeeFacebook: NayanLeadershipYouTude: DhruBeeContact Tom Gay | EngagePro: Website: engagepro.comEmail: tom@besteversocial.comLinkedin: Thomas Gay--Transcript:Dhru 00:00Hey everybody, this is Dr. Dhru Bee. And I'm here to welcome you to my podcast Ikigai Leadership. We're gonna be talking to leaders in all different industries from all different backgrounds and demographics from all over the world. And we'll be discussing topics like leadership development, culture, DEI, content creation and marketing, and all things business and entrepreneurship. Dhru 00:26Everybody, welcome back to another edition of the Ikigai Leadership podcast. I am honored here to have my friend here, Tom Gay. He was the founder of EngagedPro among other things. Tom is a serial entrepreneur and like myself, which is why we get along, and we have similar ideas about business. But Tom's done some amazing stuff and we want to talk to him about that and have give him a chance to share a little bit about his story with you guys. Tom, thanks so much for joining us today. Tom 00:49Oh, thrilled to be with you Dhru. Dhru 00:51So, tell us more about EngagedPro, and then we'll dive a little bit under the hood later on. But I wanted to hear more about kind of what you're doing right now and what you're working on? Tom 00:58Well, I've spent the last 20 years teaching professionals, coaches, consultants, professional service providers of all types, how to build a business by focusing on relationships and referrals. So, EngagePro is the extension of that background, where we've taken the steps that you need to follow to successfully fill your sales funnel with quality prospects. And we've systemized it so that you can do this easily, quickly, and in a repeatable way. Now, in training, I still train people, I just hung up the phone from a client who I'm working with. But not everyone needs that. Sometimes you just need the tool to help you stay on track, personalize your relationship, and then understand where to take that relationship so that it becomes a win-win for both parties. So EngagedPro is fairly new as a platform. I did build one, a predecessor Tool and Company that went to almost 5 million users, sold it a few years back. And as I've described, EngagePro, it's now the grandson of that company, refer.com. I love teaching people how to bring relationships and bring people back into the forefront of their marketing to offset all the technology and noise that we're dealing with every day. And I'll guarantee you that you'll get more business by working on relationships than you will by going out and buying ads on Facebook. Dhru 02:34Yeah, no, I definitely appreciate that. And then I think that's why I want to have you on and talk about this. Because on the one hand, you have the technology platform, EngagePro, right? But then I love that your focus is still on relationships. It's not on the technology. It's not on the just, I mean, obviously, we have to make money, we're here to do business, businesses is reality, right? But like you said, you do more business building relationships than you will on focusing on some transactional situation. Tom 02:34To your point, EngagePro is an enablement tool. If you buy into the principles that people do business with those who they know, like and trust, then you ask the question, well, how do I build trust with the right people at the right time, and build it consistently? So, that calls for a system. It calls for something to help you stay on track and calls for something to help you make it that you are trustworthy or trustable, and that's where EngagePro comes in. Because once you build trust with, truthfully, a small number of people, you don't need a lot of people to fill your sales funnel. If you can do that process with 20 people and 20 people, know 25 people that you should be meeting, you’ve got 500 people available to you to come in and see if you can help and serve their needs. So, enablement, systematic, repeatable, but still on relationships. Dhru 03:56Yeah and, you know, I was thinking about this as you were talking, because I know you didn't make it to Sajad’s call today, we have a mutual friend named Sajad’s, who I am hoping to get on here at some point. But um, you know, we were talking on that call today about the know, like, trust specifically, we talked about that. And I think, you know, the knowing is obviously relatively straightforward, right? It's the last two I think people have challenges with is the like, and trust and they tend to tend to mix those two up, right? If you like someone doesn't mean you necessarily trust them. And if you trust someone doesn't necessarily mean you like them, right? And the other kind of caveat to that is do you have to like the person or do you have to just appreciate the value that they bring? Tom 04:36Well, I'm gonna give you a third dimension to this that most people don't get. Okay. So, know like and trust. The like part comes from, you’re being a giver. And by giving, you become someone that creates, in the person you're giving to, a desire to reciprocate. The trust part comes when you establish your credentials. Your credentials really relate to your knowledge and your reputation. You get the opportunity to build that trust, when you focus on giving into the interests of the other person. When you talk about what they want to talk about or talk to them about what they do on weekends, or where their kids go to school, or what their favorite sports team is, and all that, that's when you become likeable and trustable. Now, everybody stops there and this is the big mistake. And I can just tell you, the mistake was left uncovered today. What you have to do when you build that trusted relationship is you have to teach people how to reciprocate, how to give back. There is a perfect referral for you. If you don't teach me what that perfect introduction or referral is, then I'm not going to be able to reciprocate in a way that brings value to you. That's what I teach is how to teach people to refer you perfectly. And a perfect referral, I'll give you one story. I taught people how to give me perfect referrals into my consulting practice. In 1, 30-day period, I had three people give me a perfect referral to the same person. True story, when I had those three people introduce me, independent of each other, to that one person. And I walked in the door to meet that person for the very first time, never had a conversation, didn't know they existed, CEO of a company. In 15 minutes after our initial greetings, he had signed the agreement for us to go forward. Because trust was transferred to me. My credentials went before me, the red carpet was rolled out for me. That's what know, like, and trust has to have added to it. Know, like, and trust teach, and then you'll receive what you're looking for. Dhru 07:19I actually like that a lot. And I think that's a great addition. I think people need to know that more often, obviously. So, when you teach people that what is the biggest challenge people have when it comes to learning that. Tom 07:31There's two challenges, one is getting over the fear of asking, Okay, and there is a perfect way to ask. And I have a little video that I've made called The Art of The Ask. It's not high-tech, but you need to know it. If you don't know it, you're not going to do it. So, that's the first thing. And the second thing, the hurdle. The hurdle is being other-centered, thinking about the other person's interest and staying on that topic as opposed to talking about yourself. Kind of hard to be saying this here in this broadcast. But if all I do is talk about myself, and not learn about you and then rel

Dr. Dhru welcomes Dr. Dorothy A. Martin-Neville onto the podcast to discuss leadership, development, and personal growth. The focus of their discussion is on stress management and how stress impacts our physical, mental, and emotional health. Dr. Dorothy’s unique experience in health and wellness brings inspiring insights into how we can change our mindsets, embrace our lives, and find joy in the ordinary. Dr. Dorothy shares how stress is directly related to our susceptibility to disease, illness, and physical health. By sharing anecdotes of memorable patients and clients, Dr. Dorothy paints a picture of what can be possible when we give ourselves the opportunity to get in touch with our desires and pursue what really matters to us rather than pushing through the stress. Taking care of our mental health enables us to create better relationships with our families and employees. She encourages leaders to embrace their inner knowing and express their leadership as an authentic expression of who they are rather than a job to be done.About Dr. Dorothy A. Martin-NevilleHaving formed five companies of her own and supported 1,000s expand, change, or begin their own organizations as well as supported senior executives’ transition while transforming their careers and lives, Dorothy clearly sees through the stories and masks to what is really needed, wanted, and dreamed of. The bottom line of effective leadership begins with purpose, passion, and power. Is it time to claim yours?--Contact Dhru Beeharilal | Nayan Leadership: Website: NayanLeadership.comLinkedIn: DhruBeeFacebook: NayanLeadershipYouTude: DhruBeeContact Dr. Dorothy A. Martin-Neville | Ask Dr. Dorothy: Website: AskDrDorothy.comFacebook: AskDorothyLinkedin: DorothyMartinNevilleVimeo: DrDorothyYouTube: DrDorothyCT–TranscriptDhru 00:00Hey, everybody, this is Dr. Drew Bee. And I'm here to welcome you to my podcast Ikigai Leadership. We're gonna be talking to leaders in all different industries from all different backgrounds and demographics from all over the world. And we'll be discussing topics like leadership development, culture, DEI, content creation and marketing, and all things business and entrepreneurship. Everybody welcome back to another edition of Ikigai Leadership. My name is Dhru Beeharilal, and I'm here today with Dr. Dorothy A Martin Neville. Thanks so much for joining me today, I really appreciate it. It's an honor to have you here and talk to you about the work you do because you're also a business and executive coach. But your approach is a little bit different from most. So do you want to say a little more about that and who you are.Dorothy 00:47Because I spent 20-something years as a psychotherapist, in private practice, as well as being a pioneer in integrative health care here in the United States. What I do is combine the depth of knowledge I have around health and psychology and how leadership is impacted by their belief systems by how they hold their stress by their understanding of leadership, their understanding of who they are theoretically supposed to be. And when you move into levels of self-betrayal or levels of confusion, you may be in transition, where am I going? What am I going to do? And as a leader, you can create all kinds of illusions about what you should be doing and where you should go and all of this. And that ends up not only impacting the effectiveness of your leadership, it impacts your health emotionally, spiritually and physically, so that you don't get to bring the best of you to the table. Yeah.Dhru 01:45Yea, and I think that last part is the part people don't necessarily connect the dots on, right, that affects your physical health, we tend to prioritize physical health over other types of health, which is interesting in our society. You know, I think now it's kind of coming around a little more where mental health is becoming more of a focus. But frankly, it's become an excuse and a lot of the time sometimes, because how do you measure mental health? Right? There's no like, objective way to measure mental health and in terms of like being like, Oh, you're even pain, right? Because it's your pain? Is it a five? Well, hers is a five, two, but you guys might have different thresholds for pain. And how do you how do you talk to people with the with that kind of feeling about that?Dorothy 02:21For me, what I look at is, what's your functionality? If you're emotionally healthy in and we all have stuff, I don't care who we are, we all have stuff, you know that stuff to the day we pass. However, for some of us, we are working so hard not to see our stuff, that we spend our days pushing through it, thinking we are functioning well. And yet, when you're working with people, they can see how quickly you go into defense, how quickly you go into rage or push and will and in or collapse. And although you think it's not impacting you, it's having a huge impact. So to me, when I see somebody emotionally healthy, I see them and I have recordings I've done on emotional intelligence, you know, because I truly believe in this. When I see somebody emotionally healthy, what I see is their ability to own their own stuff. To say God, I blew it. Sorry about that. Let's regroup and go over this again, come up with it. Or I might have made a mistake. Tell me what are your thoughts on this? And can we look at this and do this differently? Because there's a sense of who the “I Am.” When you're emotionally healthy you have or mental health, you have a sensitivity ”I am” it's far from perfect, but you know what it is you can define it, you recognize the strengths as well as the limitations, you're not humiliated by the limitations you own them, and so that they don't become an energy drain on you.Dhru 03:49I love that because I always say that the worst kinds of leaders are the insecure leaders, right? The ones who are have that in the back of their heads, like I can't, I can't do anything wrong. Right? Sometimes it's imposter syndrome. Sometimes it's just blatant basic insecurity. But either way it comes in manifests poorly with your team, with your with people you manage with the people, you're supposed to be inspiring. And right. Yeah, it's disheartening in some ways, but it's also it's something that we can look at, and which is why I love the fact that you're doing this and connecting that connection that thought and in a very, very, like, direct way, because I haven't done that with my clients really, in terms of, I kind of, I won't say I shy away from I do some somatic work, but I don't go as deeply as you do, right. Like you actually connect the dots and say this is a physical manifestation of your stress of your insecurities. And when you work with folks, how does that manifest for you? Like how What's the process like when you work with someone and talking to them? This kind of thing.Dorothy 04:39Well with a potential client who called last week we're gonna have another conversation next week. He called me up. He's been in an industry he couldn't stand for 26 years he hasn't liked to since the day he graduated from college, but it was a theoretically good industry, and it was going to provide well for him and his family.Dhru 04:56I was gonna say, is it law? Because it might be law.Dorothy 05:03I’ve had a couple of those. So, the thing is that he doesn't like it at all. And at one point, his company was downsizing. And he was let go. And he grabbed the first thing he could, which is the same business again, which he still didn't like, what ended up happening, he was out of work for about a month and a half. And in that month and a half, he went through so much self-hatred, about being a failure, because a man supposed to provide for his family. So he failed as a man, those belief systems, I failed as a man which we won't even get into the cultural ridiculousness of that concept. But that's there. All right, I failed as a man therefore, I have no value or worth, while the self-hatred comes up, all the insecurities come up. The stress literally gets held in the whole prostate area. And because it's around his manliness, his manhood, and he ended up two months later, you know, going and finding issues around prostate cancer. And so, when I said to him, you know, how is your health record? And he said to me, well, I have had prostate cancer. And I said, were you ever laid off or fired? He said, Well, yes. And I says, so when did the prostate cancer show up? He said, a few months after I was laid off, why is there a connection? I said, yeah, there definitely is a connection. So, let's talk about what's going on in your life right now. And he said, I'm fully aware that I could do this for 10 more years and take early retirement, but I don't know that I'll live 10 more years. So, I need out. That's okay. Now we can talk because in working with him, if he chooses to come on one, obviously as a specialist in transition, I will help him begin to see that this time, what does he want to move into what is going to make him feel alive? What is going to make him feel? Yes, highly productive. Many of us are driven by being productive by doing something of value, making this world a better place. So what can he do that would make him feel excited to get up in the morning and go do whatever that is he's doing. And in addition to that, help him develop the life skills, as well as the business skills needed, because it's going to be outside of his realm. He doesn't like what he does. So, it'll be outside of it. But it's looking at how that stress is held. It's based on belief systems; it's based on expectations that are frequently very unrealistic. And so let's look at it because how you hold your stress is what impacts your health. And how you hold your stress depends on your belief systems.Dhru 07:35I like the fact that it was a male example, because I think there's always a lot of talk about around self-care around women, right. And there's not as

Dr. Dhru Bee welcomes Dr. Stefan Zavalin, The Professional Unicorn, to discuss a wide range of topics, from when and how to be vulnerable in your content to what it means to be creative and many topics in between. You’ll hear how to find confidence in yourself, get to the root of your motivation, and why it’s important to avoid seeking external validation. From when to fire your clients to knowing if running a business is right for you, this episode has great lessons for entrepreneurs.  In addition to talking about business and content creation, Dr. Stefan Zavalin also tells the story of how he lost his vision in graduate school and how he went on to complete his degree in physiotherapy and practice as a physiotherapist. He shares his passion for getting people to move more and sit less, which motivated him to write a well-received Ted X Talk and write the book Sit Less. About Stefan ZavalinDr. Stefan Zavalin is The Professional Unicorn. After losing his vision in graduate school, Stefan not only finished his degree, but went on to work in the clinic, start a business, write a book, and give a TEDx Talk. He went further into creating a digital interactive show for desk workers that was revolutionary for the virtual meeting era.Resources discussed in this episode:Move More. Sit Less. TedX Talk - Dr. Stefan ZavalinSit Less by Dr. Stefan ZavalinGary VaynerchukImpact Theory with Tom BilyeuTask RabbitTim MinchinContact Dhru Beeharilal | Nayan Leadership: Website: NayanLeadership.comLinkedIn: DhruBeeFacebook: NayanLeadershipYouTude: DhruBeeContact Stefan Zavalin | The Professional Unicorn: Website: StefanZavalin.comInstagram: Stefan.ZavalinTwitter: stefanzavalinTikTok: stefan.zavalinLinkedin: Stefan-ZavalinTranscript:Dhru: [00:00:02] Hey, everybody. This is Dr. Dhru, and I'm here to welcome you to my podcast, Ikigai Leadership. We're going to be talking to leaders in all different industries from all different backgrounds and demographics from all over the world. And we'll be discussing topics like leadership development, culture, DEI content creation and marketing and all things business and entrepreneurship. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another edition of Ikigai Leadership. And my name is Dhru Beeharilal. I'm here with Dr. Stefan Zavalin. So one thing I love about Stefan, he also loves Purple, which is my favorite color as well, which is cool, makes him automatically close to my heart. On top of that, he's also a fellow nerd and fellow business owner, so we have a lot in common. And you're actually also legally blind, right? So which is amazing. You couldn't tell because again, just you operate. So I don't want to say normally, but you operate so ably, I should say. What's the politically right way to say that? I don't know. But either way, you'd never be able to tell Stefan. You know, you call yourself the unicorn. I'll start with that. Where did that come from? What does that what does that mean to you?Stefan: [00:01:08] You know, it actually it came about because I was being called a unicorn a lot of times. And then I just started sort of wearing it. It came about so I was originally born in Russia and then moved when we were seven and grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. And I think that many people don't know about Nashville, Tennessee nowadays is that if you grew up in Nashville and you're still in Nashville, you're a unicorn, that's what you're referred to as because it's so rare, most people move away. And so that kind of unicorn thing came out from being called there. And then I always loved to do things differently. I always just stand out and just do random stuff all the time and make it theatrical. I was never in theater, but I was one of those kids where you're like, That's a theater kid. I didn't get exposed to what theater even was until I got to undergrad when I joined a rock band. And all of them were theater kids, and I was like, Oh, I'm just a musician. I don't know what this is all about. So the unicorn thing was kind of always there. And I went to school. I went to grad school for physical therapy. I got my doctorate in physical therapy. I also got a parasite in grad school. That's not something that they advertise on the university brochure.Stefan: [00:02:09] But it wasn't even there. It sounds so bad now. I wasn't born blind. I became blind, as all of that. And I was in the clinic. I was doing just the usual clinic stuff and documentation got so much, and I wanted to start my own business. And I swear this relates to unicorns. It's coming. And when I started my first business, and I was still in this shell of being like, no, I have to be very professional. I have to do things this way. This is how we do it. In the clinics, they always made us wear ties even though we did exercises. I was like, Man, why? What is this? Come on. And so then finally when I really pushed out, and I was like, No, I want to be the me that everybody says, like, be yourself, do the thing that you're supposed to do and that you love doing. And I went, well, unicorns are pretty cool, and that would be the unicorn thing to do. And nobody would ever expect a unicorn kind of a business thing like this. So that's what I'm going to do. And then the tagline to that finally was, I was like, Oh, but then people won't think I'm professional. How do I overcome that limiting belief? Call the company The Professional Unicorn. Nobody can argue with you there. And that is the full circle.Dhru: [00:03:12] There you go. I mean, those are the kind of the most fun stories, though, the ones that kind of evolve organically. Like you said, it was always there, but you never really called it out until it kind of came out. Right. Everything we do, it's kind of like that. I appreciate the think about Nashville, too, by the way, because DC is kind of the opposite. I consider myself some of the unicorn in DC as well because of the fact that I'm actually from DC and 98% of people are from somewhere else and moved here. So it's kind of like the opposite of Nashville where everyone moves away, everyone moves to DC, and I'm actually, I was already here, which is interesting. So when you started that business, you said, you know, you went through the process of going to school and getting your doctorate and everything. What was the first business you started, and what made you start it?Stefan: [00:03:51] There was kind of a combination of I was basically being pushed out of the clinic because of the whole blindness thing. And then we were trying to get accommodations and they were giving me... It was a nightmare, and I finally said, I don't even, I don't want to deal with this. So I was already in my mind. I was thinking, I want to start a side hustle. I want to do something. I had already kind of purchased the website, and I was going to talk to people about the dangers of sitting and how we can help remedy that. So I dived in. That was the first business. It was a consulting business around the whole idea that we should reduce how much we sit. And so it resulted in a book called "Sit Less", a Ted Talk called "Move More, Sit Less", and a show called "Scared Shitless", because that's a hilarious title. But, the goal was to kind of public speaking and educating that it's not just go do exercises, and there is a very valuable lesson that I think I'm still holding true even to the new business, The Professional Unicorn. The thought behind it was the idea that you're given a problem, and a lot of us go, Oh, okay, I need to do more of the good thing that will solve this problem. And I was saying, But what if instead of doing more of the good thing, we do less of the bad thing? And this could be translation into diet? What if instead of eating, you know, more salad, you eat less pizza, and naturally that can be a vacuum, so better things fill in slowly, and you make that transition. At work instead of being more productive, how do you be less ineffective? And if you view it from that perspective? So yeah, that was the first business.Dhru: [00:05:15] Yeah, now you're talking crazy. Because that just makes too much sense, right? I mean, why not? It's like the it's the helmet idea, right? Like, why not stop doing the thing that makes us need a helmet and just get us a helmet. Right? It's like it's the Jerry Seinfeld thing, which always cracked me up because it's like a funny joke. But in reality, it's. It's a legitimate thought, right? It's like, hey, we decided that we were going to create something to allow us to continue doing this dangerous thing, which eventually is now having TBI and things. We're all recovering now, concussions and whatnot. Right. But we made this helmet to allow us to do more of the things that are inherently going to kill us. We, as a society. It's a funny case study. I'm like, I'm curious, you're a clinical guy as well, right? If you're looking at an experiment and consider the human race like an experiment and the way that it works, the way that it functions or doesn't at times, I wonder where we are in the spectrum in terms of successful or non-successful experiment outcome-wise.Stefan: [00:06:15] With that premise of the experimentation you're setting up, that there is an answer of success versus failure.Dhru: [00:06:21] It's all relative.Stefan: [00:06:21] And then that's a huge question. It's like we don't what is success versus what is failure, right?Dhru: [00:06:25] What are we trying to do? If we're, again, going back to another comedian, George Carlin Right. There's the whole point of us being here was to create plastic. Then we've succeeded, right? Because maybe the earth needs plastic long term. But if the whole thing of creating us or us existing was to, I don't know, have a productive society that people are people are happy, I think we're pretty much in the failure category at this point. Yeah.Stefan: [00:06:47] Yeah, maybe. All right, I'm gonna spin around. Let's get a tiny amount of deep and hear more about our host

Dr. Dhru B welcomes Damon Johnson, President of DJ Realty Solutions, back to the show. This time the conversation covers Damon’s businesses and how things are going, including an in-depth look at the challenges and successes of working with social media.  Damon, like Dr. Dhru, is a social media consultant and he shares his thoughts on what apps are working best for engagement right now. Socials are a necessity but it’s not always as easy as simply being a quick hit influencer and Damon talks about the longer game of building steady growth. It’s the sustainable second tier growth he looks for.Dr. Dhru and guest Damon Johnson cover social media platform name changes, functionality, oversight, and what they’d like from the future in their conversation. They share the pros and cons of the most popular platforms and touch on how topics like racism are handled. In the world of consulting, Damon also urges clients to meet with more than one consultant to find one you fit with, one who matches your voice. Dr. Dhru and Damon also reflect on their time at VeeCon, where their friendship was cemented, and possibilities for the next convention. Resources discussed in this episode:Gary Vaynerchuk“Influencer: Building Your Personal Brand in the Age of Social Media” by Brittany HennessyLately About Damon JohnsonDamon Johnson, President of DJ Realty Solutions, is an experienced and professional realtor with a demonstrated history of working in the real estate industry. His skills are varied and include sales, investment properties, management, working with first-time home buyers, and leadership. Damon is also a radio talk show host for the show Music and Meatless Meals out of Detroit. He received his Master of Education (M.Ed.) focused in Educational Leadership and Administration, General from Oakland University.—Contact Dhru Beeharilal | Nayan Leadership: Website: NayanLeadership.comLinkedIn: DhruBeeFacebook: NayanLeadershipYouTube: DhruBeeContact Damon Johnson:LinkedInInstagram__TranscriptDr. Dhru: [00:00:02] Hey, everybody. This is Dr. Dhru B, and I'm here to welcome you to my podcast, Ikigai Leadership. We're going to be talking to leaders in all different industries from all different backgrounds and demographics from all over the world. And we'll be discussing topics like leadership development, culture, DEI, content creation and marketing and all things business and entrepreneurship. Damon, welcome back. Thank you, everybody. How are you doing? Damon Johnson: [00:00:31] Thank you for having me. Dr. Dhru: [00:00:32] It's great to have you back, man. Thank you, everybody, for joining in today to our Ikigai Leadership podcast. My name is Dr. Dhru B, and I'm here with my good friend Damon Johnson, aka DJ Realty Solutions. Welcome back, bro. Damon Johnson: [00:00:44] Thank you for having me. I know it's how long has it been? Has it been that long? A couple of months, maybe. Dr. Dhru: [00:00:50] Since we saw each other? It's been a few months, but since we talked, we talked on that book conversation. So we've been in touch. Damon Johnson: [00:00:56] Yeah. We try to stay in touch. I got to do a better job. I got to do better. Dr. Dhru: [00:01:00] Me too. I think. I think we're both falling to the same trap, my friend. Damon Johnson: [00:01:02] But that's okay. Dr. Dhru: [00:01:03] It's all good. How has business been so far? I know you started social media stuff. Damon Johnson: [00:01:07] I picked up a huge client last week and it was like, she's family so... It's been different because with their social I'm using their voice. With my other clients are kind of in my same realm of business, so I can kind of use my voice with their voice. So figuring out their voice is different. So we're, we laugh. And she's like, Damon, that doesn't sound like me. I'm like, Are you sure? So yeah, we're working those kinks out. But it's been great. She referred another client to me and I went to meet with both of them yesterday. So I got ahead and behind at the same time. So it's like, yay! New clients! But like, Oh, no, I'm behind on paperwork. But so yeah, it's been interesting. It's been busy, but good. Better busy than waiting for the phone to ring I always say. Dr. Dhru: [00:02:05] Yeah, agreed, man, 100%. Congratulations. That's awesome. You got a couple more clients and it's always good to get that coming in. But you know, from social media side of things, I think people don't realize that that little piece of things because, you know, everybody thinks, Oh, I got a Facebook account, I got an Instagram account, I can be a social media consultant. But no, I'm sorry. You really can't. Right? I mean, I was reading this thing today, there's a book out there called Influencer. And so, I mean, the content is good so far. It's, I forgot who was by now, you know me. I don't know authors as well as, you know, I can talk about the book titles or whatever but authors and content. Well, content I know, book titles I know, authors I don't know as well. The book is geared towards women, which is fine because a lot of women are influencers. A lot of influencers are women, I should say. And she even says in the book, 95% of the influencers she hires are female. She doesn't really hire the male influencers. But, you know, it's the whole thing about, well, what do I need to be an actual influencer to actually be a social media consultant? And a lot of people think they just need to be attractive and then have a camera. That's pretty much it. And it works for some people, it does, right? Because they get clients initially. What happens unfortunately, though, for you and I, people who actually know what the hell they're doing, is that we get the clients the second level, right? We get them that. Damon Johnson: [00:03:18] We get them after. Dr. Dhru: [00:03:19] Right? So they're like, Oh, social media is bullshit. Or like, I don't, you know, I don't believe in hiring marketing consultants because I've been burned too many times. Because you go with the wrong person, right? You're going with somebody like these other people who don't consider actual social media and marketing tactics and thoughts and strategies, and they just want to say, Hey, I'm just going to be hot and post. And they don't realize that, Oh, no, there's more to that. That's actually strategy behind it. You have to actually have their voice, right? It's authenticity, brand authenticity, creating a brand, right? All that stuff has to be considered. Damon Johnson: [00:03:48] I remember years ago it was myself, my older sister and D-roc. We were on the phone for an hour arguing about the width of the lettering. My broker walked in like, What are y'all talking about? And it was something about the width looked wrong or something. You can overthink stuff so fast and you can... Social is weird because you can overthink it and not post it and post it and be like, crap that looks awful or ooh, it's too spacey or whatever. Because I've posted for, I've posted for clients and I thought it looked great. But one time somebody's head was cut off and I was like, Whoops, because there is no magic system that shows you what it's going to look like on every page. It can show you what it's like on some pages, but then you'll know how the social, how the platforms go. You can think it looks one way and you look at it like, that's not, that isn't what you said it was going to look like. So it's a space where you're right, we get the leftover when they finally realize like, Oh, I haven't made any money or I didn't get the reach I was supposed to get. So can you fix it? I'm like... And then, I don't know if you run into this, I've run into people with multiple accounts that need working on. I'm like, Why do you have so many pages? I'm like, you have four Facebooks, four Instagram. I'm like, listen, you need to reel this on in. I'm like, Oh, no. So I try to tell them, Hey, you have a lot going on and none of it is telling the right story. Dr. Dhru: [00:05:45] I think the two are related, right? That whole having five or six pages or whatever, and then combined with the idea of you don't know how things are going to look until you post it sometimes, that's getting better and it's gotten a lot better than it used to be, right? I mean, you think about even five years ago, right? Posting and content creation and whatnot was for like the elites, right? You know what I mean? Like, because you had to know how the heck you were doing. Like, take this set up right here, right now, you and I have right now, right? Streamyard. Streamyard was not always as easy. Damon Johnson: [00:06:14] No. It was awful. It was awful to use. Dr. Dhru: [00:06:17] When it first came out, it was like, what? You gotta do this? And you basically you have to be a programmer and have the API yourself. Damon Johnson: [00:06:23] I looked at it years ago and I was like, Oh, I don't have time for that. Dr. Dhru: [00:06:27] No, absolutely not. I was like, What in the hell? And when I first saw like, you know, the Gary Vee's guy, Dustin, he did a video during 2020 about how the setup for, I think it was Streamyard at the time, and it was, I was just like, This is so complicated. I don't even want to bother with this. And I was like, just no. Damon Johnson: [00:06:44] That's why I got from D-Rock. I was like, Bro, I said, Oh, I'm not a techie. I know just enough to get things set up. If it's like less than ten steps, you got me, but more than ten steps, I'm like, Oh, oh, no. Same thing with Zoom. I go in with Zoom sometimes and I'm like, Listen, I'm here just for this meeting, all this other stuff. I don't have time for that, in a good way. I'm like, I'm sure it's fantastic and I'm underutilizing it, but it becomes a time thing. If things are cumbersome, I need to have systems that I can use in my car, as I'm walking, wherever. So easy is always best for me and my clients. Dr. Dhru: [00:07:26] Yeah. That's the whole thing, it's gotten so much easier, righ

Dr. Dhru Bee welcomes guest Marcus Britt, Senior Manager of Technology for Under Armour, to the show to talk about technology and people. Marcus discusses how he has an equal career history of tech and HR and how that shapes his career ideology of people first, then process, then technology.  Marcus believes technology shouldn’t be done for the sake of technology but instead done to enable and help people. He uses his HR background to relate to colleagues and C-Suite leaders alike when explaining technological advances to them. As he tells Dhru, if you aren’t in the technology for the right reasons and you don’t have your people and your process in a great place, all technology will enable you to do is finish bad work faster. Dr. Dhru and guest Marcus Britt discuss all aspects of how tech intersects with and affects people. They talk about AI and the rush to adopt it before truly understanding how it may affect people in a company, why ensuring you’re on good footing before advancing is vital, the interconnectedness of business, the best kind of leadership qualities Marcus has experienced, and why self-awareness and patience are two of the most important virtues for getting ahead in any industry. Their conversation is insightful and engaging, and shines a light on the people technology should be focused on.About Marcus Britt:Marcus Britt is the Senior Manager of Technology at Under Armour. He is a transformational leader with experience in technology, project management, continuous improvement, human resource management, planning and business continuity. Marcus has a proven ability to implement comprehensive technology solutions while maintaining a business driven mind-set.—Contact Dhru Beeharilal | Nayan Leadership: Website: NayanLeadership.comLinkedIn: DhruBeeFacebook: NayanLeadershipYouTube: DhruBeeContact Marcus Britt:LinkedInUnder Armour LinkedIn__TranscriptDr. Dhru: [00:00:02] Hey, everybody. This is Dr. Dhru Bee and I'm here to welcome you to my podcast, Ikigai Leadership. We're going to be talking to leaders in all different industries from all different backgrounds and demographics from all over the world. And we'll be discussing topics like leadership development, culture, DEI, content creation and marketing and all things business and entrepreneurship. Dr. Dhru: [00:00:26] Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another edition of Ikigai Leadership. I want to thank you guys for joining us today. I'm here joined by my good friend Marcus Britt. We just met recently. We kicked it off pretty hard at the Blackstone Technology Conference in Charlotte because we're both apparently nerds, which is awesome. Marcus Britt: [00:00:41] Absolutely. Yeah, I claim it. I own it, man. Nerds forever, man. That's what I love. Dr. Dhru: [00:00:45] Absolutely. It's the only way to be, man. So. So, yeah. Marcus, thank you so much for joining us today. We'll talk a little bit about the Blackstone Technology Conference, talk about our conversation there. But before we get into that, tell us a little bit about yourself, man. You know what kind of work you're doing right now. What do you like to focus on? And what brought you to the Blackstone Technology Conference? Marcus Britt: [00:01:01] Awesome. So a little bit about me. Currently, I have the pleasure of working at Under Armor and I am the senior manager of Digital Teammate Experience. It's a technology role, but it doesn't sound like a technology role. It's pretty cool, right? But our focus is really on kind of aligning technology and making sure that the experience for our teammates is good. Right? I mean I think that's where I can consider us to be an experience economy now, it really drives everything, right? So making sure that the processes, the systems, data, all of that stuff is good and it provides a good experience for our teammates. That's really what matters. I've been in technology now for around 20 years. I'm a little bit of a weird bird in that I've had a chance to spend time in tech and HR about equal times, equal parts of my career in both, so I have a unique perspective on really kind of understanding how people, you know, what people's needs are in the organization, how they move around an organization, how people feel in certain spaces, and then also having technology and how to enable that, right, to make that go. Because I'm a firm believer you don't do technology for the sake of technology. You do technology to enable and help people, right? If it's not a tool to make things better, it's really useless. So being in that space for a while I had an opportunity to work at some great companies and really focusing on that. And like we talked about, I'm a super nerd, I love Marvel movies, anime, Legos, I got my Lego back there, my motorcycle back there. So just enjoying being able to really understand technology in a deep way and then helping people and understanding people and helping merge those two together. That's really what my DNA is. Dr. Dhru: [00:02:36] I love that, man. And there's a lot of opportunity to talk about that kind of stuff just in general. I mean, especially nowadays with the AI and everything, people talking about this stuff. But I love that you also work in Under Armor because Under Armor, one, was founded in Maryland, I'm a Maryland guy, but I actually had the chance to hear Kevin Plank speak live at VeeCon when I was there. And it was really cool hearing his story and how he started Under Armor and how that whole genesis happened. And one of the things I really appreciate about him and his vision and where kind of Under Armor came from is the innovation piece, right? It's that innovative spirit. And it doesn't sound like that's left, it's like that's very much alive in today. And a lot of companies, I feel like they tend to kind of, I mean, I'm not going to point any fingers, Apple, but, you know, they kind of they start out on this innovative journey and then they just kind of just like, oh, you know what? We're good now. Let's just coast, right? Let's just rest on our laurels and do what we want to do. And Under Armor hasn't really done that. What's been your experience there? What's drawn you there? Marcus Britt: [00:03:31] Yeah, that's so true. I think one of the things, it took me a while to get used to how innovative we are because I've experienced other organizations that are much more bureaucratic, right? More slow moving. Under Armor is definitely not that. And really, you know - KP is what we call him - you know, Kevin kind of really established Under Armor and said hey, you know, we have this problem where athletes have this you know, not so great fabric that you get sweaty in and it weighs you down. So you kind of slows you down. So he wanted to have a situation where, you know, this is our Under Armor. We have our fabrics that are breathable and there's a lot of technology that goes into it, and it's really mind-blowing how much our team has done with that. But that is really in the ethos of all of the Under Armor. You know, even me being a technical role, being an experienced person, right? I mean, that's really revolutionary to think about technology as an experience front, more so than just bits and bytes, ones and zeros, you know, servers, things of that nature, all that's there. But really, it's like, how does it impact the teammate? And really the fabric of Under Armor is like, we want to make athletes better, right? So it's really focusing on the athlete. And the way we do that is performance apparel so they can train longer, they can feel good, they can engage their craft and do what they want to do. You know, striving for more is what we always talk about. So yeah, it took me a while to say, Wow, this is really fast-paced. This is a lot of innovation and I love it. But I'm like, okay, are we really like, can I just go right now and do this right now? Are you giving me the keys? And they're like, Yeah. I've only been here six months, but yeah, go for it, Marcus, that's what you know, go for it and make us proud. So it's been really a cool experience to work there. Dr. Dhru: [00:05:07] That's awesome. Like you said, a lot of companies get weighed down by that whole bureaucracy and like, Oh, we got to check with this person and get these 16 approvals. And then, you know, a year later, it's like, oh, well, that technology is already obsolete. Marcus Britt: [00:05:18] It's already obsolete, right? Absolutely right. Dr. Dhru: [00:05:21] Technology, right? Like you can't move that slow with technology. I always point to the government. That's the other extreme, right, of the innovation side of things. It's like you have computers in government that are Windows 7, right? Marcus Britt: [00:05:31] It's still, right? It's like, what's going on, guys? Yeah. And think that's the thing that I enjoy so much about being in a space that I'm in right now because I don't lead with technology, I lead with people, processes, then we apply technology. So I'm always focused on, Hey, are the people here, do they have the right skill set? Are they trained up? Are they engaged? If that's good, then you move on to okay, what are our processes? Because I've had the opportunity to be in situations through where, you know, the thought process, we got to go buy this new shiny technology, we got to go get this new thing. And I'm like, Well, wait a minute, what are our processes? And then actually understanding what the processes are, Hey, we can make these process modifications and buy nothing and gain 30% efficiency. Is that okay? Yes, that's great. You know, so a lot of times it's not trying to run after that shiny thing and really understanding how we do things and how we, you know, add value and have the transactions that we have, then you look at technology to enable all of that and make that go faster, right? Because I always say technology makes things faster. It doesn't fix problems, it makes things go faster. So I'm making bad widgets, ri

In part two of the Twelve and a Half episode, Dr. Dhru Bee continues his conversation with three guests - small business entrepreneur Ben Harbuck, realtor Damon Johnson, and entrepreneur Brittany Maas. They dive more deeply into what the values espoused in Gary Vaynerchuk’s book, Twelve and a Half, have meant to them and their businesses.Ben, Damon, and Brittany discuss conviction and kindness in respect to conducting business, and touch on the subject of Bad Money. The idea that a sale must be made at any cost is one that they reject, choosing instead to focus on what might be best for the client in each case. But they also flip the script to address what is best for themselves as entrepreneurs and how to establish boundaries against clients who would seek to drain them. Dr. Dhru and guests Ben, Damon, and Brittany continue to examine Gary Vaynerchuk’s book, Twelve and a Half, exploring ways in which they each apply what they’ve learned from Gary. They talk about the order in which Gary’s steps may vary from individual to individual, integrity in business, the sense of therapy contained within what is essentially a business book, and experiences with VeeFriends and meeting in person. Don’t miss this conclusion to the inspiring conversation started in part one. Resources discussed in this episode:Gary Vaynerchuk“Twelve and a Half” by Gary VaynerchukKen Honda—Contact Dhru Beeharilal | Nayan Leadership: Website: NayanLeadership.comLinkedIn: DhruBeeFacebook: NayanLeadershipYouTube: DhruBeeContact Ben Harbuck:Website: BlackSpotTattoo.comInstagramContact Damon Johnson:LinkedInInstagramContact Brittany Maas:Website: BrittsTwoCents.comInstagram__TranscriptDr. Dhru Bee: [00:00:02] Hey, everybody. This is Dr. Dhru Bee, and I'm here to welcome you to my podcast, Ikigai Leadership. We're going to be talking to leaders in all different industries from all different backgrounds and demographics from all over the world. And we'll be discussing topics like leadership development, culture, DEI, content creation and marketing and all things business and entrepreneurship. If you haven't listened to the first half of this conversation, be sure to go back to the last episode and listen to that one first. Damon Johnson: [00:00:34] It's so funny. I forget that it's really a business book. It turned into therapy and I was like, Wait a minute, I'm supposed to be doing this? It's hard to do that - I guess it's the point - it's hard to do that. I can say for my business for sure, when I do apply them, I make more money and it gets to be easier. But some days you look at people, you know, because we all deal with clients, customers, you're like, I know you're not talking to me like... you have to, I have to catch myself like... When I apply all the work or most of the work, I'm like, ah, I try to look at from the other person's point of view. And also like with the client who called before about the podcast. I know you need a boundary. It's not you, it's me. I let you go too long without a boundary. So the book is true. You're like, Oh, I got to teach you my language. Because right now we're having foreign conversation because you're saying something, I'm shaking my head and I'm really not agreeing with you, but I'm doing the international sign for I understand you like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, oh, no, he doesn't know that. I don't want to really do this because I've been doing it the past two podcast episodes. Now I got to put a wall up in business because I don't have to have all the clients, I want to leave with some sanity so I can be positive for the other clients who we are on the same wavelength. Ben Harbuck: [00:02:20] I think you're bringing up a really good point, Damon, if you don't mind me interrupting. Damon Johnson: [00:02:24] No, come on. Ben Harbuck: [00:02:25] That's what has been so hard about the tattoo shop. Because we turn away more people than we tattoo. And people are going like, What are you doing? You can't do that. And it's like, No, I have really good friends now who don't have tattoos because I talked them out of a bad decision when they were out on a girls night and they were peer pressuring each other to go get a tattoo. And then they came to us. And I've read this book and this book says the money doesn't matter. Like literally this lady is about to, she's a bank teller or she's maybe a real estate agent or maybe even worse, she's like a teacher, but in a very precarious political position in the part of town she's in, she's going to try to get some tribal tattoo on her arm. And guess what? She ain't got a job Friday. And so, like for me, you bring it back around to yeah, we started it out with therapy, kind of. But the book being therapy. But now the book is back in how you, people, knowing that there's worse things than losing a client. It'd be better to have a good client. Dhru, I was curious because you kind of started this off by surprising me, I guess I didn't do my research, but, like, the coaching thing kind of triggers me a little bit because. Because like, the guys I know in East Texas that do that, they only want my $80 a week. That's all they want, bro. You know, like and it's like after six months, you're like, man, I'm broke and my business isn't doing any better. Dr. Dhru Bee: [00:04:16] No, and I hate those guys, frankly. Right. Like Damon and I talked about this because the problem, one of the, I mean, not to get on this huge tangent, but with coaching specifically, there are a lot of things like this, a lot of professionals like this, right? Where there's no real, there's certifications, but there's no real formal licensure process to become a coach. Right? And the same thing with social media managers, right? Anybody can wake up one day and say, you know what, I don't like my job. I'm going to quit. Guess what? I'm a social media manager now. I'm a coach now. Ha! Now I have an Instagram. Ben Harbuck: [00:04:45] You know what's weird, though? The reason I can call you out is because we met. I'm calling myself out. Dhru, I taught myself how to tattoo. I bought a license from the state of Texas for 2500 bucks. Like I'm saying, you and me and Brittany and Damon, we're all the same. We're all the same people in different parts. Like, you can make up anything. And so you're trying to do this with integrity. So I didn't mean you triggered me from a bad place. I meant like, I have people that come in the tattoo shop tonight and they're going to come in 15 minutes before close. And eight ladies who are drunk off their very cute behinds are going to want infinity symbols or crosses. And we could make another $600 in 20 minutes. Except that we're going to coax them to come sit outside with us. Tell them we've locked up for the night. We're going to bring out 12 bottles of water and we're just going to sit there and get to know them. And people go, Why didn't you get that money? Because it's not the right thing to do. Dr. Dhru Bee: [00:06:05] Prospective client. She reached out and she's like, Hey, I need to do this assessment. And everyone said, I need to do this assessment, so I want to do this for my organization. I'm like, okay, I do that assessment, but let's back up a second, why do you want to do this assessment? And she's like, Well, everyone said, you need to, I need to do this because this is what I want to do. I said, okay, well, everyone's wrong. You know, you don't have to do the assessment. I'm like, There's a cheaper way to do this, and there's actually a better way to do this. And you don't actually have to do it to do any of this stuff to get what you want to get. And I gave her a really simple solution that didn't cost her, that's not going to cost her anything. And she was like, Oh, really? I'm like, Yeah. She's like, Well, you know, you don't want to, you know, you're not trying to sell me anything? She was like, just, you're not trying to sell me? I'm like, it's doing what's best for the client. Because at the end of the day, the client is a person, right? And you show that empathy for that person, for who they are and what their struggles are because, yeah, I could get that money, but how am I going to feel about it in the morning, right? Brittany Maas: [00:07:00] I was actually talking with someone the other day about a situation and you know, unfortunately there is desperation in sales where people will lie, cheat, commit fraud even, just to get a deal when, you know what is so bad about qualifying and disqualifying? What is so wrong with saying, hey, yeah, we could have collected $600. but that's a transactional sale. And we're not thinking about the impact that's having because it's not like they're just going in a shop to buy $600 worth of cosmetics or some shit. You know, they're putting something on their skin that's going to be there, and like you said, who knows what their situation is? And they wake up in the morning, you know, and sure, they may not necessarily blame the shop, but are they going to go back? Whereas what if those ladies did want the tattoos and one of them's probably going to remember where they went that didn't screw them over. You know, like how much more word of mouth and reputation and establishment are you building for yourself? And if you only see the $600 dangling, the carrot dangling, go for it. But, you know, to me, you know, with that accountability and empathy and stuff like in the book and everything, why it's so powerful for business, because it allows us to think about the people behind what we're offering rather than simply just, Oh, I need to make from this, otherwise it's not worth it. Ben Harbuck: [00:08:37] Saturday, you're going to see me on Tom's live stream from Twitter getting a catfish tattoo, a V1 because I lost a box break to him. And he actually, he was so nice. He said, Ben, I want to let you out of this. And I said, Bro, I have Hello Kitty tattooed on me, like I have NFTs that were like rubbed like two

Dr. Dhru Bee welcomes three guests to the show - small business entrepreneur Ben Harbuck, realtor Damon Johnson, and entrepreneur Brittany Maas - to talk about the impact Gary Vaynerchuk and his latest book, Twelve and a Half, have had on their lives. This is part one of a two-part episode. Ben and Damon share a similar first experience with Gary Vaynerchuk’s work: the video “You’re Going To Die”. It was a video that impacted them each differently but powerfully. Brittany’s first Gary Vee experience was broader, the overall impact Gary’s work had on her at the time she was introduced to him during the situation she was in. Ben, Damon, and Brittany get into their personal stories and detail ways in which Gary has shaped their paths forward. Dr. Dhru and guests Ben, Damon, and Brittany discuss Gary’s book Twelve and a Half, the impressions the book made upon them, their favorite parts, and which parts left the greatest impact so far. Their discussion covers personal struggles and insights, an exploration of gratitude, and a sense of the power behind what Gary Vaynerchuk is all about. Resources discussed in this episode:Gary Vaynerchuk“Twelve and a Half” by Gary VaynerchukGary Vee “You’re Gonna Die” video“The Creative Act” by Rick Rubin—Contact Dhru Beeharilal | Nayan Leadership: Website: NayanLeadership.comLinkedIn: DhruBeeFacebook: NayanLeadershipYouTube: DhruBeeContact Ben Harbuck:Website: BlackSpotTattoo.comInstagramContact Damon Johnson:LinkedInInstagramContact Brittany Maas:Website: BrittsTwoCents.comInstagram__TranscriptDr. Dhru Bee: [00:00:02] Hey, everybody. This is Dr. Dhru Bee, and I'm here to welcome you to my podcast, Ikigai Leadership. We're going to be talking to leaders in all different industries from all different backgrounds and demographics from all over the world. And we'll be discussing topics like leadership development, culture, DEI, content creation and marketing, and all things business and entrepreneurship. All right. What's up, everybody? How's it going? Thank you guys for joining us. Those of you who are live, thank you for joining live and everybody who's watching after the fact. We really appreciate it. I'm excited to have this conversation with Ben, Damon, and Brittany. I'm gonna give you guys a chance to introduce yourselves, but we're going to be talking about this book right here, 12.5 by the Man, the Myth, the Legend, Mr. Gary Vaynerchuk. So I'm gonna go in order of my screen or on the screen here. So I'm going to go left of me right now. Ben, do you want to go ahead, introduce yourself? Ben Harbuck: [00:00:52] Sure. I'm really happy to be here. My name is Ben. I go by iBenKind on most social medias, and essentially I'm a tiny business starter. I don't know how to say it any different. 2011, I started a local coffee shop that my family still owns. In 2014, I started a tattoo shop with no machines. In 2019, I started a software development company. Prior to that, a couple of my brothers, we all pitched in and bought a furniture consignment shop that our family still owns. So yeah, tiny businesses all around. And as far as my first Gary V experience, I want to say it was like Instagram 15 years ago. That's like my first recollection. Dr. Dhru Bee: [00:01:42] Taking it back. That's awesome, man. Do you remember the first post you saw of his? Ben Harbuck: [00:01:47] It was probably wasn't too long prior to... well, no, it was... I really don't. The first piece of content that really hit me like a brick, though, was the lady on the street in New York, 'You're going to die', you know. For me, it was a response that I've talked about a lot. There's really nothing that bad. A lot of people, again, I'm not going to try to make this about myself, but like, I have a black spot in the middle of my palm and I read a lot of historical books growing up, and Treasure Island was one of my favorites. And pirates get a black spot when They're going to die. So I'm in my early 20s, I have a beautiful wife, I have two beautiful kids, I have a great job, I'm making a lot of money, and I'm depressed. And I couldn't figure out why. And this was before therapy became a thing. And I remember carrying around this rock in my palm and walking around with it for months and months. And then I realized, you know, in conversation that essentially I was looking at a black spot like pirates get from the story. I love stories. I'm very passionate about stories. And so I went and got this tattoo and I actually had to talk my tattoo artist into it because I didn't have any other tattoos at the time. And he didn't want to ruin my life by giving me a tattoo on my hand. So I had to go back six months in a row before he would do it. I still remember the morning after I woke up and I felt better. And it was just like Gary's advice of 'You're going to die'. It's like, look, I was marked and I woke up anyway. There's really nothing I can do now but work hard. I was supposed to die, I didn't die. And that was just my way of working through the Depression. And so when Gary said that, it was just like, Oh, wow, that's my story. So yeah, that was probably the first piece that really stood out to me. Dr. Dhru Bee: [00:03:48] That's awesome. I love that story, dude. I love stories too. So that's phenomenal. All right, Damon. Damon Johnson: [00:03:53] I'm Damon Johnson with DJ Realty or DJ Realty Solutions, however you want to cut it off. I was a former school teacher, got into mortgages, got my real estate license while I was doing mortgages, probably, oh, goodness, my first Gary experience... Oh, you know what? When I got into real estate, the people from the mortgage company were using me for real estate. I got really busy, really fast. One of my coworkers was like, My brother wants to be your assistant. And I was like, What? So got him. He was like 19 at the time and we were butting heads. I was like, This boy is too young. He's getting on my nerves. And he was like, Damon, you got the goods, you just are kind of mean. I was like, What? So he showed me a Gary video and guess which one it was, that 'You're going to die'. And I looked and I was like, Fuck, who the fuck is this? And so I was like, All right, let me watch another one. So the one that really did it for me, I've always worked at big companies, so the school was really large I worked at, so a lot of layers, a lot of bosses, a lot of whatever. And so he was outside, this one, he did more stuff outside back, this is way before DRock, he was outside and this guy was like, you could tell he owned a big business. Damon Johnson: [00:05:21] He was like one of my employees, you know, want to work hard. And he was like, Well, why the fuck are they working harder than you? And I was like, Oh, my God. I stood up at my desk with my headphones on and I was like, I quit. And everybody was like, Damon, you can't quit off one video. I was like, you know, you know when you find your person. I knew that that was my tribe. They said, When you find your tribe, you'll know. I knew. When I say I went feet first, head first, I devoured. I started from number one where he was like a number 80 at that point, I went frontwards, backwards, whatever. It's just undescribable. I've never wanted to walk off of a job so bad and it wasn't anything that they were doing. I knew what to say. It was, It's not you, it's me. I really knew. So I've been worshiping at the Church of Gary ever since. Got lucky right after that and met him for the first time. The tears, my God, the tears. So it just has been, they say never meet your heroes, and I was really nervous, but I think I cried the whole way home because I knew. I was like, Oh my God, he's not an asshole. Damon Johnson: [00:06:39] I was just so excited. And it just has been... people always ask me, you know, why him, and you're so successful, and I was like, Gary and that team have done so much of showing me what to do. It's like a hands-on business school that you don't have to pay for. It's people like, Well, Damon, why do you buy everything? And he could come out with whatever, I want 20 of them, like here, just whatever. I'm on this show because of him, so it's not like I could never pay them back what they've done for me. So I just try to be nice to everybody now because I think I really was kind of mean. But yeah, so I'm here and thank you for having me. The group that you have here are just exceptional and yeah, just I'm just here, I'm just happy to be here and go. But yeah, that was, that was the content that did it for me, really, those two. But when he said, Why are they working harder than you, I was like, My God, he's talking about my manager. I quit. So yeah, that's it. I'm here and we're going to dissect this book and let's go. Dr. Dhru Bee: [00:07:52] Love it. Thanks, Damon. Appreciate it. All right, Brittany. Brittany Maas: [00:07:57] Hello. Thank you very much for having me join in. Very excited about this. A little bit about me. I am originally from Buffalo, New York. Live out in Nevada on the West Coast. I would say I'm mostly in business formation and maintenance and in my day work and then I have projects that I'm working on in the background pretty much on every platform. My accounts are going to be BMaas287. Spell the last name right, though. But I would say as far as getting introduced to Gary was an interesting experience for me since I'm from New York State and I never really heard his name or knew he existed until 2018. And it was January of 2018 and that was actually about a month before I took the steps to leave being a Jehovah's Witness and my past and stuff like that. So to be honest, being introduced to Gary in general, just the words that he has to say, for me, what interested me most was how on par they are and were with things that I'd been taught you could only really find through religion. And something about that resonated with me staying committed to like staying out, out. I would say, you know, a lot of people

Dr. Dhru Bee welcomes Brandon Reed - animator, cartoonist, and head of Cartoon Connect - to the show to share the secrets of his success. Brandon worked incredibly hard to make animation a career he could rely on and he’s now realizing success with an Amazon Video deal. He talks about motivation and not quitting when things get rough.Brandon dreamed of making animation his career but with working and raising two children, he had to push himself to animate between the hours of 9pm and 2am before getting up to start his day again at 6am. He credits his work ethic and support from family for keeping him going. Now as head of Cartoon Connect with an Amazon deal for one of his YouTube shows on the horizon, he is on the path to where he dreamed of being.Dr. Dhru and Brandon talk about the fear that motivates creativity, not quitting on your ambition even though it can be incredibly unrewarding at the start, and how watching animation inspires and excites Brandon in his career. Brandon shares some of the things that inspired him as well as how he developed the shows he’s known for today. Dr. Dhru has an insightful conversation with a true creative force about the importance of mindset in entrepreneurship.Resources discussed in this episode:Dragon Ball ZMy Hero AcademiaKimi no Na wa (Your Name)“The Secret to Success” by Eric ThomasSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse—Contact Dhru Beeharilal | Nayan Leadership: Website: NayanLeadership.comLinkedIn: DhruBeeFacebook: NayanLeadershipYouTube: DhruBeeContact Brandon Reed | Cartoon Connect:Website: CartoonConnect.netLil Ron RonFacebookInstagram__TranscriptDr. Dhru Bee: [00:00:02] Hey, everybody. This is Dr. Dhru Bee, and I'm here to welcome you to my podcast, Ikigai Leadership. We're going to be talking to leaders in all different industries from all different backgrounds and demographics from all over the world. And we'll be discussing topics like leadership development, culture, DEI, content creation and marketing and all things business and entrepreneurship. Dr. Dhru Bee: [00:00:27] Brandon, thank you so much for joining today. Man, I am so excited to talk to you. This is the first time we talked since VidCon actually, right? Brandon Reed: [00:00:33] Yeah, man, I'm excited to be here. I appreciate you, you know, having me on your platform. Dr. Dhru Bee: [00:00:37] Oh, absolutely. It's my pleasure, man. So, ladies and gentlemen, thanks to Brandon here for joining us. Brandon is AKA Cartoon Connect, is an animator, cartoonist and just an overall creative dude we got to meet randomly at VidCon, actually. He and his friend Kristen came over to me and Damon when we were talking, hanging out, and actually introduced themselves, which I appreciate. I'm so glad you did that, but we had a cool conversation. How was the rest of VidCon for you? Brandon Reed: [00:01:01] Man, it was great. I feel like we learned so much just by being there. I've been an entrepreneur for like 6 or 7 years and I had never been to anything like that, and I feel like that was like the perfect space for the motivation that I needed at the moment too. So we met so many great people, learned so many cool things, and really came home with so much motivation to continue, you know, doing what we're doing. Dr. Dhru Bee: [00:01:25] Absolutely, man. I love the speakers they got, too. They were pretty amazing and inspiring people just talking about their own experiences and stuff like that. And, you know, that's one reason I do the podcast. You can talk to folks like yourself who, you know, don't have the same platform as like, you know, Jesse Itzler, for example. Right? But who was your favorite speaker? Brandon Reed: [00:01:41] My favorite speaker was Eric Thomas. Before we even went to VidCon, I listened to him almost every day. There was like a point in my life where things were like not going well. And I would listen to him every morning on the way to work. And it really, you know, changed my mindset and changed my life around. So to be able to see him in person for the first time was crazy. And it just seemed like the message that he had that day resonated with me. Like it just seemed like I was meant to be there in that moment to hear that specific message. So that was amazing. Dr. Dhru Bee: [00:02:11] Yeah. You know, I've heard that a lot from people at VidCon, right? The whole idea of like, being meant to be there and, you know, being the right place at the right time. I think there's definitely something to that, especially in business and in the world we're in, right? Like the entrepreneurial world, right? There's definitely something to timing, right? To kind of like be in the right place at the right time. You go there without expecting. You don't know, at least I didn't know what to expect because I didn't go last year. Right? Brandon Reed: [00:02:33] Yeah, because last year it was in like Minneapolis or something like that. And that's a decent ways from where I am. That's about like eight hours. So the fact - well, no, maybe it's not eight hours, I think it's Minnesota from Indiana, maybe it is. It's a decent way, but I couldn't go to that one. So the fact that the next one just happened to be in Indianapolis somewhere where I could just get up and go to, it was like, Yo, I have to go. Dr. Dhru Bee: [00:03:00] Yeah, exactly. And that actually happened to be my only free weekend that entire month, which was random for me because I don't really have a lot of free time, when things get going, they get going. And it's just, it worked out really, really well. So that's really cool, man. So you actually have some really cool stuff going on, right? You got the puppet show, you got the cartoons you're working on. And for those of you who don't know, Brandon has a show coming out on Amazon soon. I don't know how much you can say about that, but I wanted to, you know, plug that a little bit for you. But before we get to that, what was your journey like as a creative person? There's a lot of folks out there who struggle and don't make it, right? So how did you get to the point where, you know, where did you start? And, you know, how did you get here? Brandon Reed: [00:03:39] So I started off just teaching myself how to make cartoons. It took me about two years of just watching tutorials and trying to do it, but I decided to just start putting cartoons out. Like I was like, You know what? I kind of got it figured out. Let's start making stuff. So I made my first cartoon. It was terrible. I feel like it's still on YouTube now, but probably one of my way older videos. But it was so bad, but it got like 5000 views and I was like, Yo, like, that's a lot of people. Like, I don't even know 5000 people. So I'm like, I think I have something here. So I was like, Maybe it's just the idea. So I kept trying to put that same cartoon out and it was, you know, getting a decent amount of views. But then I was like, What's something that I can do to make the views go up? Like, what's something that I can grab people's attention with? So I started creating these parodies where I would take an old school cartoon, like, Hey, Arnold, remix it, make it urban, change the characters around, and change the story around. And I did that. And at that time I was like really big in being in Facebook groups. So I would post my stuff in different Facebook groups, but I found a Facebook group called Black Animators and Artists. So once I made that first parody cartoon, I posted it in that group, and that was the first time I ever went, I guess you could say viral because I had thousands of shares for the first time. I had never seen that. I've been doing art for years and never seen that many shares. So that video ended up getting 100,000 views. And once I seen that, I was like, You know what? I think this is it. So just continue to keep doing different parody videos. Brandon Reed: [00:05:13] A little while after that, I went to the hospital because I had to get surgery on my neck and it turned into like a really bad situation. I was in an ICU unit, face mask, like couldn't talk, like it was really bad. It was a situation that I didn't think I would make it through. In that time when I couldn't talk, I had to just kind of sit there and think a lot. And I thought so much about animation and how I was just kind of doing it here and there. Like I wasn't doing it serious, and I told myself I was going to take it serious when I got, like if I got out of the hospital because I was in a situation where I didn't know if I was going to get out of there. So once I got out, I would say a month later I animated the first episode of Little Ron Ron. Overnight it did around 2.3 million views. My phone started going crazy and at that point that's when I was like, Okay, here's this chance. I either got to run with it or, you know. Brandon Reed: [00:06:05] So we continue to do Little Ron Ron episodes every single week. Eventually, my YouTube channel grew to 100,000 subscribers while I was still working at my embroidery job. I was a graphic designer there and I was so hype about it. Like I was like, okay, I could be working on work stuff, but I have two computers here. Let me animate. So I started animating while I was at work, continued to run the numbers up. I remember hitting 500,000 subscribers at my job, and then I would say once I got around 800,000 subscribers, I quit my job and my boss was mad. I had a video of that too. I documented the whole thing, but I don't know what I did with the video, but after that I took it full time and that was in 2017, 2018, I want to say. It's been working since. I've been putting out the animations, Little Ron Ron, which is the show that we're getting ready to get on Amazon video. It's been approved to be on there, but they're still, you know, getting things uploaded. So it's not on there yet, but hopefully it should be on there pretty soon. We're in our 12th season of animation for that, which is going to be the second sea

Welcome to the first episode of Ikigai Leadership with host Dr. Dhru Beeharilal, or Dr. Dhru Bee. Ikigai Leadership will focus on different leadership development concepts and interviews with leaders in business and entrepreneurship. This first episode focuses on DEI and the importance of representation in entertainment media. Dr. Dhru does a deep dive into the Disney Plus show American Born Chinese, exploring how it handles diversity, equity, and inclusion.Dr. Dhru Bee offers coaching in DEI as one aspect of his overall business. He shares how too many times companies contact him about DEI coaching and simply want to do lip service to having put in effort. DEI needs to have consistent support throughout the year, it can’t just be virtue signalling, otherwise it minimizes everyone in minority groups. Dr. Dhru’s review of American Born Chinese aligns with the tenets of DEI that he opened with. He explores every aspect of the show: casting and characterizations, acting quality, the subtleties of modern racism, diversity in the portrayals, and the monologe from actor Ke Huy Quan that resonated deeply with him. Through the show Dr. Dhru talks about what it means to see yourself represented in media in a positive and varied light, and how DEI directly impacts how minority groups can see themselves moving through the world.Resources discussed in this episode:American Born ChineseShort CircuitKe Huy Quan—Contact Dhru Beeharilal | Nayan Leadership: Website: NayanLeadership.comLinkedIn: DhruBeeFacebook: NayanLeadershipYouTube: DhruBee__TranscriptDr. Dhru Bee: [00:00:02] Hey, everybody. This is Dr. Dhru Bee, and I'm here to welcome you to my podcast, Ikigai Leadership. We're going to be talking to leaders in all different industries from all different backgrounds and demographics from all over the world. And we'll be discussing topics like leadership development, culture, DEI, content creation, and marketing, and all things business and entrepreneurship. Dr. Dhru Bee: [00:00:02] Hey everybody. Welcome to our first episode of Ikigai Leadership, my new podcast. Thank you guys for joining us so much. Well, joining me, at least in this situation. My name is Dr. Dhru Beeharilal and I go by Dr. Dhru Bee, makes it a little easier on everybody. This podcast is going to be a pretty fun endeavor, I think, at least for me. Hopefully it's fun for you as well. Our first episode to kick this off, we're talking about a lot of leadership development concepts, business, marketing, branding, all these different things within leadership development, within coaching. There's going to be the concepts of DEI - diversity, equity, inclusion - and I know a lot of folks hear those words and immediately have a cringe reaction, a visceral reaction to those words. A big reason for that is because most companies and I will say most as in like 95% of companies out there, 95% of people out there in those companies, are implementing DEI wrong. They're doing DEI wrong. How do you do DEI wrong? Do you do DEI wrong by focusing on optics and having optics be your primary thing that you focus on and that you promote? I can't tell you the number of times I have companies folks reaching out to me because of the work I do. Asking me to do the work for them. Dr. Dhru Bee: [00:01:43] I'll give you an example of how that sounds. Ring, ring. Just the phone, obviously. And then phones are actually ringing like that anymore. Anyway. Phone rings. I answer the phone. Hey, we saw that you do some DEI work and we wanted to do some for our organization. We have some culture concerns, we want to really address those and we want you to do the work for us. Can you put together a proposal of what you want to do? Let's say we talk for another 20 or 30 minutes about what the actual needs are there, and then I ask them what they have in mind. The inevitable answer that I get most times, unfortunately, Yeah, that's too much in terms of what we want to do, we don't really want to do a whole training or any kind of coaching or anything like that, anything significant. We really just want to do a couple of brown bags. Can we do maybe like a series of 2 or 3 brown bags? No, no, I cannot. If your budget and if your intention is only to do 2 or 3 brown bags, I would take that money and instead of doing DEI work, just throw a pizza party, it's going to have the exact same effect, if not more frankly, than me coming in, talking at people about DEI. Brown bags do not work unless there's already interest, a deep interest of some sort, in the content, topic area, or whatever you're talking about. Dr. Dhru Bee: [00:02:59] Now, do people have that interest? Some, yes, absolutely. But again, because of the way things are happening and the way things have unfolded since 2020, and honestly before that, but 2020 was really, with the George Floyd murder and everything like that that happened that whole summer, all the riots, all the everything that happened, that was really what kind of awakened a lot of people to the need for doing DEI work. And it is still a need. It is a real thing and it's still a need. And there are a lot of folks out there who don't believe that because of the way that it's been marketed, the way that people focus on it, and the way that people have chosen to implement it, that is incorrect. And that is really annoying because it kills the thing that actually is needed very badly in the community for many, many reasons. We don't have time to go into all of them here. But that's one of the realities is that because these companies have changed their focus to be let's spend money on this just to say we're spending money on it, it's virtue signalling on a company level and you see it happening all over the place with all the pride stuff right? I mean, there's all these memes about about companies turning gay in Pride month because that's really what happens, right? They act like they've been with them all the time, but then the rest of the year they completely ignore these groups, right? Whether it's Asian Heritage Month, whether it's Black History Month, it's Pride Month, Women's Awareness Month, these groups are invisible to these companies all year round, except for that month because they want to get the publicity and the clout from saying, Oh my God, look at all these, look at all this money we're investing. Look at all this energy we're investing into these wonderful groups that need to be supported. And yes, they do need to be supported, but they need to be supported consistently. When you turn DEI into a checkbox and you turn culture consulting into a checkbox, you're minimizing and taking away all the value that those concepts, that those approaches bring to the table. And in the process of doing that, you're also minimizing everyone else, everyone in those groups, right? And you're taking away their value and you're insulting their intelligence as well, by the way, which is I think is probably one of the bigger deals. Because let's take away the consulting, all that additional stuff there. Right. Let's imagine that doesn't exist. Let's imagine nothing. No solutions exist for this kind of problem. If people just had a basic level of respect for other people and other groups that are not their own, there wouldn't be a need for DEI consulting. Dr. Dhru Bee: [00:05:22] That brings me to my topic today, after five minutes of talking about this. It's not just DEI as a whole, it's actually, like I said, this is a cinema coach episode. And so we're talking about American Born Chinese. It is a series that just came out a little while back and it is really good, actually. I was skeptical because of the fantastical nature of part of it. It's an interesting balance you have to strike when you have a, let's call it mythological world, and then you're taking that mythological world and combining it with the real world that we live in on a day-to-day basis. It's very rare that a movie or TV show or someone like that can actually make that work properly because like I said, it's a very delicate balance. Sometimes, especially Disney, they tend to go a little too far on the fantastical side of things, right? And a couple episodes kind of go in that direction and it's a little bit kind of a deviation from what you feel like. But, I would say the first episode hits you and hits you hard. And I wasn't skeptical per se, but I was like, okay, I was cautious. I wanted to approach this and see what it's like and see if I'm going to like it because maybe I won't like it. There are some things where they are too heavy-handed with it and it's too much. It's not realistic, right? It's so blatantly obvious and so like in-your-face that it's like, okay, yeah, this is an exaggeration of what people actually experience. But no, this show actually tackles it very, very well, very accurately, very realistically. Dr. Dhru Bee: [00:06:48] The main character, Jin, the actor Ben Wang, honestly, it was really well done. The character was played perfectly, I think, actually - so I'm looking at IMDb - it says Wang, but I wonder if I want to say his name is Wong in the show because I feel like the dad corrected the principal about that in the show. Anyway, that all being said, it's a great show. I mean, Ben Wang plays that character so well. You feel for this kid. You're watching him exist in this world, and they did a really good job of stepping out of the typical portrayal of an Asian kid growing up in this world. He's actually not just a nerd, right? He plays soccer and he's pretty good. He's also trying to get away from the nerd world, like they talk about the, first episode he talks about, his parents ask him about his friend Anuj, who's an Indian kid, soccer and the Indian kid and the Asian kid hang out, right? The Chinese kid and the Indian kid. Soccer. That happens because it happens in life. But his parents ask him, How's Anuj doing? How's he doing? And he's like, Oh, well, we haven't really talked

Dhru Beeharilal explores the leadership journeys of leaders from all different backgrounds, industries, and walks of life, discussing the barriers they broke through, the challenges they overcame, and the influences and inspirations they encountered along the way.Contact Dhru Beeharilal | Nayan Leadership: Website: NayanLeadership.comLinkedIn: DhruBeeFacebook: NayanLeadershipYouTude: DhruBee