The Business Method: Interviewing Billionaires, Billion Dollar Founders & the World’s Most Successful People 🎧🔥

2-10 minute high-performance clips delivered to you Monday & Friday from our top interviews I love incredibly successful people that still have the down-to-earth human touch. It is really enjoyable to talk with them and understand why they are who they are.  Today’s guest is one of those people and yet so much more. Janice Bryant Howroyd is the founder The ActOne Group and she is the very first African-American female to found a billion dollar company, and yes you heard me right, a billion dollar company.   What is even more impressive about Janice is that speaking with her was like talking to an old friend. She is incredibly relatable and really a caring and authentic human being. Contact Info: Website: thebusinessmethod.com/ Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/TheBusinessMethod Google Podcasts: bit.ly/TheBusinessMethodGooglePodcasts Spotify: bit.ly/SpotifyTheBusinessMethod Amazon Music: bit.ly/AmazonTheBusinessMethod Transcript: Chris: Do you ever wonder how a billionaire thinks? How do they process all those crazy thoughts that go through their head on a regular basis? Well, I was curious, so I asked one. And the person I ask is Janice Bryant. Howroyd the first black woman to build a billion dollar company.  Want to hear what she has to say. Let's hop into it. Going back to what you mentioned earlier in the interview, when you talked about your mind bouncing around all the time, Ray asks, how does Janice keep her mind in check and stay focused when it's all over the place and you see the world as a kaleidoscope? Janice: Ain't trying to do that Ray for chance. That's a failure from your perspective. I have no interest in organizing this beautiful mess. I love it. I thrive in it. What I do have though is Discipline. Discipline around initiatives and discipline around behaviors. So I love for my, you know, I, if you go up in there, it probably looks like Einstein's hair. But I, I, I deeply, deeply enjoy letting all the light come in, let all of it come in. And then once I filter it toward an initiative. Or, or a team effort, then I believe, as a matter of fact, my team will tell you, , one of my quotes they most often use is discipline ain't a dirty word. It's not a dirty word, you know, so I think that helps balance if that's what you're going at. I'm a highly disciplined person. . Chris: What is your filtration process there? , you know, we all get crazy ideas and they bounce around our head and we want to start this like new side hustle or new business or new project. , what are the ones that, what's your process for finding out which ideas are legitimate and the ones you want to continue to work towards? Janice: Oh, great. So there are four questions I asked myself. One, and this is kind of formulaic for me, Chris, so I can rattle it off. One is what do I want from it? If I do it. What's the outcome? What's the goal of it? What do I want from it? The next question is, what do I want from it? In the next 12 months, depending on where your energies are already obligated, you've only got so much time in a day that you can give. Even though all of us have the same amount of time to work with. So what do I want from it? The ultimate? What's it going to do? What's it going to be? Then what do I want from it in the next, , 12 months? What will it take to get to the next 12 months? And that's a biggie because entrepreneurs tend to tend to be, , exuberant in our thought about our own capacity. And then the fourth question is, what value will it have? You know, I'm very interested in being certain that the space I occupy, I leave better than when I got there better is in quotes because we all can define it differently, you know, and so that's how I filter to get to does this idea stand right now. The other thing I do is that, okay, so I live with an iPad. I'm on an iPad right now talking with you. I love, love, love, love, love iPad. Yes, I own stock in Apple, and yes, I bought it when it was a really good deal, but I love iPad anyway, and it allows me to do so much. And my notes section is busy. I am a fierce note taker. So I will write things down in my iPad and then I have a regular check in system where I go back. Is it still as clear to me as it was when I wrote it? If it's not, check, you know, and I move it. And so I systemize. ideas that come into my mind or initiatives. I also do that with asks when people are asking things of me, I do it that way as well. Mom used to do it much less, uh, complicated. She would say, oh, I'll come back to it later. If I can't remember what it was, it's gone. Or if it's burning at me and turning at me that I got to get back to it, then it's up there. You know, I think some people call it putting a pin in it. Chris: Yeah, I always tell myself if the idea keeps coming back to me, it means something that I should work towards or something I should implement. Janice: It can, it always doesn't mean that though. Sometimes, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, seriously. Sometimes it's the gateway to something else. Chris: Good point. Yeah. Good point.  And boom. There, you have it. You guys, Janice Bryant. Howroyd I love this because I, and I don't know if you can relate often feel guilty because of this beautiful mess up here. My mind, my thoughts, not harnessing them better, not using them better, not being more productive. And sometimes, , our minds can just go down rabbit holes.  And the next thing, you know, two hours went by and we don't even know, , what happened and we forgot the task that we're working on. And I love that Janice says that she loves this beautiful mess in her brain. She absolutely loves it. She says that probably it looks like Einstein's hair and she has no agenda or no care in the world to organize it.  She just lets it in. And filters it as best as possible. Absolutely. Absolutely incredible answer.  And if you guys take away anything, what are the four questions that you need to ask yourself? If you want to filter through all these thoughts in your head, right?  So what would Janice say? One. What do I want from it? Great question. Two what do I want from it in the next 12 months? Also a great question. This helps implement the short term thinking and also the long-term thinking. Is it worth my time and activity in the next 12 months. Maybe I should postpone it, or maybe I should implement it immediately, depending on what it is.  And three, the third question. What will it take for me to achieve in the next 12 months? Again? Revisiting that question of how much time and effort and energy it will take you to achieve this idea that you have in the next 12 months and the last question. And probably the most important. What value will it have? Will it raise the bar of my business. Will it raise the bar of my life will raise the bar of my relationships. Is it a priority or is it something that we can postpone until later? And I also love what Janice said about thoughts that are reoccurring, that you really think you should do. And I have this, I actually wanted to start a second podcast at one point. This was probably about four years ago. And I was just chewing on this idea for a new podcast and I thought it was so good and so juicy and it would be so successful. And I was convinced, , by another,, another podcaster, that's a good friend of mine and somebody I look to for advice like this, and he kept telling me, no, do not start a new podcast.  Do not start a new podcast. What he said is expand on your current podcast. And that's why now we have almost 200 high-performance episodes. So the high-performance are the short episodes. They're generally like this one, two to 10 minutes, , from the longer interviews that we do. And I took his advice and I'm very glad that I did. Cause I didn't have the time or bandwidth to run a second podcast and I'd be exhausted and that podcast would be stagnant now. So sometimes we have these great ideas. And like Janice says they're actually a gateway to something else.  It doesn't mean that idea is the actual thing. So. We're going to wrap it up there. You guys remember those four questions? One. What do I want from it to what I wa what do I want from it in the next 12 months? Three. What's it going to take for me to achieve in the next 12 months and for what value does it give?  Whenever you have a thought or an idea to do a new thing? We're going to leave it at that. You guys, if you haven't checked out Janice's episode yet. Please do you won't regret it? It's episode number 544. And interview with the 32nd richest woman in the world. Make sure you check it out.  If you like what you're hearing and you want to make sure you don't miss any of these tips, please subscribe. Here or here or wherever. Subscribe. Leave us a review and share with your friends.  We'll see on the next episode.   

2-10 minute high-performance clips delivered to you Monday & Friday from our top interviews Contact Info: Website: thebusinessmethod.com/ Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/TheBusinessMethod Google Podcasts: bit.ly/TheBusinessMethodGooglePodcasts Spotify: bit.ly/SpotifyTheBusinessMethod Amazon Music: bit.ly/AmazonTheBusinessMethod

2-10 minute high-performance clips delivered to you Monday & Friday from our top interviews Contact Info: Website: thebusinessmethod.com/ Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/TheBusinessMethod Google Podcasts: bit.ly/TheBusinessMethodGooglePodcasts Spotify: bit.ly/SpotifyTheBusinessMethod Amazon Music: bit.ly/AmazonTheBusinessMethod Transcript:  [00:00:00] Chris: She was born in the segregated south in extreme poverty, one of 11 kids, and she built a billion dollar company. You guys welcome to the high-performance tip number 189. Of our podcast. And today I want to feature Janice Bryant. Howroyd Janice is one of the most inspirational people that I've interviewed out of 500 people.  And what's really amazing about her is that, like I mentioned, she started in a segregated south born in 1952, where there was white people on one side of the neighborhood and black people on the other side of the neighborhood and she was born one of 11 kids in extreme poverty.  Nevertheless, she still made her way to found and build a billion dollar company. And not only that, she was the first black woman to build a billion dollar company.  She stands at the top of the list as the 38th richest woman in the world, and, she talks specifically in this episode, how she gained an abundance mindset and how her family, her parents taught her to have an abundance mindset and to dream. Even though she's in an extremely racist and suppressive environment during her youth for the first 24 years of her life. Let's hop into it with Janice Bryant.  Howroyd.  Janice: I was born in 1952 One of 11 kids, the fourth of 11 kids, same mom, same dad in Tarboro, North Carolina. , , so that can tell you a lot about just what was happening in my community at that time  we were a segregated community, Um, , we were segregated in many ways, not just racially, but racial segregation. offered the segregation of economics and I'm glad you said we were economically poor because we were spiritually rich, quite wealthy if you think of it, and aspirationally we were full. Mom and dad wanted for us the world that they dreamed was possible, but they didn't put boundaries on us about how that could be achieved, meaning they didn't want us to only do the things they thought we should do. Nobody had to be a doctor or lawyer, you know, a candlestick butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker. But they did insist that education would be a platform for that. That was the hard hitting thing in my home growing up. And I never saw anybody outside of a teacher or a preacher who held a professional job who was African American unless I got pictures and stories of them from old print magazines. , there was Essence. Ebony. Essence came later. There was Ebony. There was Sepia. And are you, are you familiar with the Georges? , the family? No, no, no. The Georges were, were the, , porters along trains. Along the rail tracks that ran from south to north on the east coast. And rather than bother to learn John or Fred or Joseph's name, everyone was called George or boy. Okay. Okay. Wow. The George is my, my grandfather was a George. Okay. He hated it. His name was Daniel. He worked that line for many years. And nobody knew his name. , and so, they would bring products and, and, and, , items to us that we couldn't get locally. So nobody was selling black magazines in Tarboro, North Carolina. Black focused magazines. So we'd get Ebony, Jet. Sepia delivered by the George's and everybody waited for the train to come in on the day that the magazines would come and that's where I started to get ideas about the possibility of what a black person could do And a black woman could do . We weren't seeing black people on TV. And that was so big for us. We'd all rush home. What does that got to do with the way I grew up? Everything I grew up with a full faith in what America is and what the world is like, and, um, and could be for me and that I had a place to shape it despite what was going on day to day. And that was the power. And I think the faith that our mom and dad put in front of us,    [00:04:54] Chris : There you haven't you guys, what do you think? Hearing stories like that make our difficulties in 2024 seem incredibly small. And irrelevant. And I would imagine very few listening to the podcast grew up in an environment that has equal or worse than Janice's, but nonetheless hearing a story like that really makes us think that anything is possible. Not only any, not only is anything possible, but, what is important. Is that we focus on the positive side of life. And we surrender to our dreams . And go after them with everything that we have. So, leaving you with that. I want to ask you.  What did you take away from Janice's story? It's a powerful one. If you haven't heard Janice's full episode, I recommend you checking it out. I believe it's episode number 544. , interviewing the 38th richest woman in the world. Janice Bryant. Howroyd. And if you want to make sure you don't miss any of these tips, please subscribe, leave us or view. And share with your friends, see you on the next episode.   

Listeners welcome back to the pod - today we will dive deep into the life of one of the most influential figures in the cruise line and maritime world. Our guest is a titan of the cruise line industry, a visionary entrepreneur, and a lifelong champion of global tourism his name is Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio.  Manfredi has transformed his family business into a global leader in luxury cruising. Under his leadership, Silversea Cruises expanded its company offering travel experiences across all seven continents around the world. In a strategic partnership with Royal Caribbean Manfredi orchestrated the sale of a ⅔ stake in Silversea for a whopping $1 billion in 2018. This strategic partnership not only elevated Silversea's brand but also marked one of the most significant deals in the cruise industry's history. And lastly, Manfredi is the Chairman of The Heritage Group which is a private equity company that acquired 85% of one of the biggest luxury travel companies in the world Abercrombie & Kent - whose founder Geoffrey Kent was on the podcast just last month.  Today we are going to dive into the life and mind of Manfredi Lefebvre d'Ovidio.    00:12: Who is Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio? 03:42: Manfredi’s Recommended Books      05:56: Manfredi’s Starts a Cruise Line 13:01: How this Billion-Dollar Founder Spends his Time 15:05: The Biggest Challenge Manfredi Experienced was September 11, 2001.  18:56: Manfredi Takes Over the Family Business 21:18: Manfredi Pioneers the Luxury Cruise Industry.  24:39: Why Manfredi Loves Being an Entrepreneur 26:13: Manfredi’s Career Chapters 29:59: Manfredi Orchestrated the Most Significant Deal in the Cruise Industry.  32:47: Manfredi & Geoffrey Kent Built the First Expedition Cruise Ship 34:59: Manfredi’s Daily Routine 37:13: Advice Manfredi Would Give His Younger Self 37:58: Things to Look for in Executives and Partners When You Bring Them On  40:25: What is Manfredi Most Proud Of?   Contact Info: https://www.manfredilefebvre.com/ https://heritagemonaco.com/ https://www.silversea.com/ Transcript:   [00:00:12] Chris: Listeners, welcome back to the podcast today, and we will dive deep into the life of one of the most influential figures in the cruise line and maritime world. Our guest today is a Titan in the cruise line industry, a visionary entrepreneur, a lifelong champion of global tourism, and his name is Manfredi LaFavre D'Ovidio. Manfredi has transformed his family business into a global leader in luxury cruising. Under his leadership, Silver Sea Cruises expanded its company, offering travel experiences across all seven continents around the world. In a strategic partnership with Royal Caribbean, Manfredi orchestrated the sale of a two third stake in Silversea for a whopping 1 billion in 2018. This strategic partnership not only elevated Silversea's brand, but also marked. One of the most significant deals in the cruise industry's history. And lastly, Manfredi is the chairman of the heritage group, which is a private equity company that acquired 85 percent of one of the biggest luxury travel companies in the world, Abercrombie and Kent, whose founder was actually on the podcast last month. So if you haven't listened to that interview yet, make sure you check it out. And today we're going to dive into the life and mind of Manfredi. Listeners, welcome to the show. Manfredi, welcome to the show. How are you doing today? [00:01:34] Manfredi: Not too bad. Not too bad. Can I add something to what you said? [00:01:38] Chris: Please do. Add or take away. Whatever you like. [00:01:41] Manfredi: Well, what happened is that as soon as I did my deal with Royal Caribbean, I did buy, uh, Abercrombie Kent, which recently I brought up to 100 percent shareholding, and I sold to Royal Caribbean subsequently one further that I owned, uh, in, uh, Silver Sea in exchange of Royal Caribbean shares and acquired another cruise line, which is called Crystal Cruises. [00:02:04] Chris: Ah, I did actually read about that. Forgive me for not putting that in there. [00:02:08] Manfredi: No, so it's just, the story goes on. And before Silver Sea, we had another cruise line, which was called Sydmar. Okay. [00:02:17] Chris: Was Sid, was Smar the one created by your father or was Silver Sea created by your father? Uh, [00:02:23] Manfredi: Sid Smar was acquired by my father with me because I was working with him at the time. And we bought, uh, the Cruise Line, which was one of the first cruise lines ever. And, uh, Sid Bar built the first free purposely built cruise ships, which were built in Italian shipyard fi can and LA in France. [00:02:42] Chris: Great. So that [00:02:42] Manfredi: was the beginning. Then we got an offer we couldn't refuse. We sold Smar. And we started Silversea together with my father, which I took over shortly after. [00:02:52] Chris: And that was in the 90s, correct? [00:02:54] Manfredi: That was, uh, we started in 92, we acquired in 86, Sidmar, sold it in 89, started in 92, uh, 91, Silversea, and, uh, we're ordering the ships, and then we started operating in 94. [00:03:10] Chris: Incredible. [00:03:12] Manfredi: So, and then in 2018, uh, we, I sold to Royal Caribbean and I bought in 2000, uh, actually was in 2019. The negotiation started earlier 2019. I bought Abercrombie & Kent. [00:03:27] Chris: That's right. Incredible. Um, so Manfredi, I was told by a mentor of mine a long time ago that the, uh, difference between a wealthy person and the average person is the information that we put in between the two ears that we have. and what we choose to do with it. And I hear you're an avid reader, so if it's okay with you, I'd like to ask about what you're reading right now and some of the more impactful, uh, books of your life. [00:03:59] Manfredi: Yeah, I tend to read two, three books in parallel. So now I'm reading the Silk Roads, number one, the old Silk Road and the new Silk Road. Then there is a new book which was written about the oil industry and the energy markets, which is very interesting. I don't remember now the exact title. And then, you know, other things which went back in time. An interesting View of the history of the United States of America, which is unconventional view. Ah, [00:04:34] Chris: do [00:04:34] Manfredi: you [00:04:34] Chris: know who, do you know who the author of that book was? [00:04:38] Manfredi: I can let you know. [00:04:39] Chris: Okay. [00:04:40] Manfredi: Um, it was recommended to me and I bought it and it's quite interesting. [00:04:44] Chris: Do you have two or three books that were the most impactful in your life? [00:04:50] Manfredi: Yeah, you know, but probably I'm, I, I had once, um, hepatitis, so I was stuck in bed for a long time and I managed to read all of War and Peace, the whole story. It's a massive book. In today's world, it's very difficult to read at all. [00:05:10] Chris: Yeah. Okay. Anything else, any others? [00:05:17] Manfredi: Oh, this is the one that comes to my mind immediately. The other ones are, you know, I try to always read something which will leave me something, uh, in knowledge. [00:05:27] Chris: Yeah. [00:05:28] Manfredi: A book that I loved was, uh, A Hundred Years of Solitude. [00:05:33] Chris: I've heard of that one. [00:05:35] Manfredi: There's a life in this village in Colombia, which goes through the civil wars in the country. It's quite interesting. [00:05:42] Chris: Nice. Um, so I kind of want to start this off about, uh, going back to your, your past and your childhood. And I'm curious about the first moment that you realized you had a passion for ships and cruise lines. Uh, do you remember that moment? [00:06:03] Manfredi: I can, uh, reconnected because when I was 14, my father told us, uh, he was We're going on a cruise. Now it's 14, it's uh, what is it, 56 years ago. It was really at the beginning. Nobody knew about cruises. And, uh, he, because his friend had his cruise line, which was called Sidmar, and so we went to all the way to Mexico, Los Angeles, took the cruise down the Mexico coast, and, uh, that was the first impact with, uh, uh, cruising. But I've been involved in shipping all my life, because my father was a ship owner, a professor of university of maritime law, and a lawyer, and he was always involved with shipping. So it's been all our lives that we've been involved with ships, we had yachts, and so on. We had shipping companies, we had ferry companies, we had all sorts of things. But that was a crucial moment because we sold this company, where I subsequently went to work. When I was 18. And then, uh, you know, we, we bought it. So it was a chapter here. You know, you go on a cruise and you work for them and then you buy them. Yeah. And then you see them. I hear your father was quite a, an interesting figure and he was a lawyer and he actually helped create the maritime law in Italy. [00:07:24] Chris: , and then You, you, did he start the cruise line, , the very first cruise line venture that you guys owned, or did he acquire it and then continue to run it and it became the family business? [00:07:39] Manfredi: He, we acquired it. [00:07:41] Chris: Okay. [00:07:42] Manfredi: And then, and when we acquired it, we built the new ships. And then they were so beautiful and were so, so innovative that we got a very good offer and we sold it. And then we started SilverSea. SilverSea is the first one that we started. In the past, you know, I had worked in other businesses. My father, with his, uh, partners had bought a big shipping company, which was listed on the UK Stock Exchange, which owned ships. It owned a very large, uh, Ship broker company and, uh, insurance broker company called Clarkson. It owned Maritime Insurance company. So he was always, uh, involved in that. He even had a fleet of tankers in Saudi Arabia at the beginning of the seventies. [00:08:26] Chris: Oh really? can you share about your father's influence on you? You know, as a young man, I could imagine, and a boy growing u

Listeners, welcome back to the podcast today, and we will dive deep into the life of one of the most influential figures in the cruise line and maritime world. Our guest today is a Titan in the cruise line industry, a visionary entrepreneur, a lifelong champion of global tourism, and his name is Manfredi LaFavre D'Ovidio.  Manfredi has transformed his family business into a global leader in luxury cruising. Under his leadership, Silver Sea Cruises expanded its company, offering travel experiences across all seven continents around the world. In a strategic partnership with Royal Caribbean, Manfredi orchestrated the sale of a two third stake in Silversea for a whopping 1 billion in 2018. This strategic partnership not only elevated Silversea's brand, but also marked. One of the most significant deals in the cruise industry's history. And lastly, Manfredi is the chairman of the heritage group, which is a private equity company that acquired 85 percent of one of the biggest luxury travel companies in the world, Amber Crombie and Kent, whose founder was actually on the podcast last month. So if you haven't listened to that interview yet, make sure you check it out. And today we're going to dive into the life and mind of Manfredi. 2-10 minute high-performance clips delivered to you Monday & Friday from our top interviews Contact Info: Website: thebusinessmethod.com/ Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/TheBusinessMethod Google Podcasts: bit.ly/TheBusinessMethodGooglePodcasts Spotify: bit.ly/SpotifyTheBusinessMethod Amazon Music: bit.ly/AmazonTheBusinessMethod Transcript:  [00:00:00] Chris: Hey listeners. Have you ever met somebody that's built his own cruise line and, or shipping company? I think that's really interesting because it's an industry that doesn't get a lot of PR there's literally massive shipping companies that are keeping the infrastructure of this world going and , operating on a regular basis. And there's some founder out there that built this massive company. Also with a cruise line. There's some founder out there that have, that is built Royal Caribbean and all the cruise lines out there that you can imagine. And they're operating on a regular day-to-day basis. What's very interesting with the gentleman that I just interviewed. He is the founder of not only a cruise line, but he's a founder of a shipping company as well. So he's been in this industry, his entire life. He grew up around it and now he's operating these massive billion dollar companies on a day-to-day basis. And I got to interview him. His name is Manfredi Lefebvre d'Ovidio and he's an Italian entrepreneur that lives in Monaco, not only does he have his own cruise line and shipping company, but he's also a majority owner in one of the biggest luxury travel brands that that's out there today. Sounds like a busy guy. But the awesome thing about Manfredi and talking to him is his philosophy around money. And when I got to interview him Manfredi talked about. How money is an instrument of freedom. Now, what I thought was fascinating is that a gentleman at this level is built. Multi-billion dollar company is a billionaire himself. Still believes that money is an instrument of freedom. Now you think most of us entrepreneurs out there, . Or freelancers or people just trying to do something online to make a buck we're using this muse. As an opportunity to have more freedom in our lives. And here you have a gentleman that has been an entrepreneur for somewhere around 50 years and he still believes that in his core, that money is an instrument of freedom. And I asked Manfredi, what is most important to you to be known as an entrepreneur? And he said, no, not to be known, but to be an entrepreneur. And there's a difference in that he doesn't care that he's known as an entrepreneur when he is an entrepreneur, he can make choices and have those freedoms in his life. Now, one thing that was really unique is when I dug deeper with Manfredi, he talks about how being an entrepreneur and a business person. , is a strong connection with the living world versus operating in the sleeping world. And I thought this was really unique and a subtle hint that he gave into his mindset that I think a lot of people will miss over when they listened to the podcast. So it's important to point out. , again, I'll repeat that. , being an entrepreneur is a strong connection with the living world. Versus operating in the sleeping world, meaning that entrepreneurs provide value and service. To the, , economy into the way that we operate. In the world today, entrepreneurs are a necessity for the world to keep going around the way that it does for the modern conveniences that we have for the opportunities that we have. We need entrepreneurs. Period. Versus operating in the sleeping world and what I think he meant by this means operating in a world where you're not really aware of the life that you're choosing, you're doing it because society told you, you should. And really in the grand scheme of things, if you want to live a fulfilled life, you have to operate in the living world and escape from that sleeping world somehow in some way. You've got to do it. And then Manfredi goes on to talk about how having more money is not his goal to live well. Cultivating self working on self. Having a freedom of choice is vital. which is really interesting. So let's hop into this. High-performance clip with Manfredi Lefebvre d'Ovidio. Enjoy it. [00:04:07] Manfredi: Money as an instrument of freedom freedom of choice. But the number one to be an entrepreneur! [00:04:14] Chris: That's most important to you , to be known for as an entrepreneur. [00:04:18] Manfredi: Not to be known to know myself, that I am, I wake up in the morning and I'm busy. I have a lot of things which, , interest me. [00:04:25] Chris: Yeah [00:04:26] Manfredi: I have a lot of things which I do, which interests other people. If I wasn't an entrepreneur, I wouldn't be here with you. [00:04:31] Chris: It's very true. So it's a very strong connection with the living world instead of going into the sleeping world. [00:04:37] Manfredi: And it's not a question you already have the money to live well. It's a question of money as an instrument of freedom And to, realize yourself, to achieve the satisfactions that you're looking for. And I like to do things which are not only tied to a monetary benefit. You know, having been successful from a financial point of view has to buy you, first of all, freedom of choice. Freedom of choice is how you spend your time. So how I spend my time is important. And spending developing the business that we have created, is a satisfaction. Spending it, organizing the wealth, in a way that it can then be at the benefit of the persons I love is a satisfaction. Doing other things, cultivating myself, traveling the world, visiting the world, etc., is a satisfaction. Having the freedom to dedicate part of the time to this without Having to be obliged by other things and having the substantial means to do it is part of the freedom of choice that success gives you. [00:05:41] Chris: So, what do you think you guys. Oh man. Freddy talks about money being an instrument of freedom, and it doesn't matter if you're operating a $20,000 company. Or a $2 billion company. We as entrepreneurs believe in our souls that money is an instrument of freedom. And if we can bring value to the world, the more value we bring to the world, the more money we make. The more freedom we have. Ideally, as long as you're managing that freedom and that money in that business really well. So you have the freedom of choice, but also when it comes back to it, the most important thing is really the freedom of choice. And if you choose to work out hard in choose to work 80 and a hundred hours a week, That's great. As long as you're doing what you love and you're fulfilled. And if you choose to work four hours a week, like another entrepreneur and billionaire that we interviewed, like Richard Kosch. You can work four hours a week. Also, literally, this is what he does I asked him personally, how much do you work, Richard? Half a day a week. Fantastic. Amazing. . So, um, but anyway, going back to Manfredi's con conversation, , you know, not to be known as an entrepreneur, that's not his goal. It's to be an entrepreneur, which he has been for many years and to have that freedom of choice and the freedom of choice to cultivate his life. Well, he even mentioned he really enjoys doing non-monetary activities. Uh, things that don't produce money, right? Things that give him more fulfillment, it could be spending time with your family, uh, going after the goals and dreams that you want practicing as a hobby or sport or something you really enjoy. And to be connected to the living world. I think it's a very powerful. A couple of questions to ask yourself, I want to leave you with. What are you doing to be connected to the living world? Really? What are you doing? Or are you operating in a way that you're really more connected with the sleeping world? You're more unconscious and unaware of the choices that you're making on a regular basis. You're working in a career that doesn't really fulfill. You, give you the life that you really want, give you the light that you deserve when, , going to work. And, , how are you? , cultivating that. How are you cultivating your life? Uh, do you really have the freedom of choice? And I think that's the most important takeaway. From Manfredi here. Do you have the freedom of choice? And if you don't. It's time to start working on that. It's vital. And if you do. Are you cultivating that freedom of choice? Well, And can you do it better? If you guys like what you're hearing and make sure you don't want to miss any of these tips, please subscribe. Leave us a review and share with your friends. See on the next episode.