The Modern-Day Napoleon Hill: Why Most People Don't Believe in Themselves! Evan Carmichael

Speaker A: If you have the ability, you have the responsibility. If you can, then you must. And so we often think that we don't have a lot of gifts to share. Like, nobody cares about your story, and, like, why would somebody watch my video? Because you. You've been through stuff, and people need to know that. And you're gonna say in a way that whoever Mel Robbins isn't gonna say and Tony Robbins isn't gonna say. Like, your background and story and character means a lot. And somebody is gonna watch that, and they're gonna completely change their.

Speaker B: Told the truth.

Speaker A: Welcome to truthworks, where we dig into the nitty gritty of leadership and work

Speaker B: and what needs to change. I'm Jessica Neal. And I'm Patty McCord. Our journey together started in HR, but trust us, it's evolved into something wild, honest, and, well, a bit rebellious.

Speaker A: So throw out the handbook. We're here to redefine rules to work

Speaker B: for us, not against us. Let's dive into another episode. Hi, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Truth Works. I'm your host, Jessica Neal, and I'm with my co host, Jeff Markowitz. Hi, Jeff. How are you today?

Speaker C: Hello.

Speaker B: Hi. And more importantly, we have a very special guest here today who I'm so excited to learn from and I'm sure many, many, many, many of our listeners have from him already. His name is Evan Carmichael, but Evan is a university dropout, become, uh, founder of a, uh, company which sold become venture capitalist, but then has become an Author and a YouTuber and has over 4 million subscribers, which I. I don't even know how that happens, but I want to know how it happens, because, hey, maybe I can have 4 million subscribers. I don't know.

Speaker A: Maybe.

Speaker B: And you, you talk about something a lot that I believe deeply in, which is you have to believe in yourself. And you talk a lot about that, and I want to know why. And I want everybody else to believe in themselves. So. Welcome to the show, Evan. Thank you for coming. How are you today?

Speaker A: Great. Thanks for having me. Great to connect. J and J here in the house. I love it.

Speaker B: Yeah, we are J and Jay. Yeah.

Speaker A: A little scared to see what kind of hard truths are gonna ask me.

Speaker B: No.

Speaker A: But, yeah, excited to dive in. I mean, I think lack of belief is the world's number one problem.

Speaker B: I know. I've heard you say that. Yeah.

Speaker A: Everything is possible, but people don't do it because they don't believe they can. So you can have the right strategy, right guidance, right mentors, right education, right. Whatever. And you just, like, still just don't do it because you don't believe you can. And um, that's what I wake up every day trying to solve with my channel. If, ah, introvert who hates a spotlight like me can go get 4 million subscribers, you guys definitely can as well.

Speaker B: Okay, well that's interesting so, because I've read this, uh, about you that you are an introvert, but you're out there, really out there. And so how did you believe in yourself so much? Like how did you conquer it? And then do you wake up some days where you don't believe in yourself?

Speaker A: Yeah, well, it's a work in progress. Yeah, I don't think we're ever done.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And so I believe in myself more than I did when I was 19. But I still have a long way to go compared to you, uh, know, 85 year old Evan, looking back. Yeah, I think it's a constant work in progress. You know, I used to one of the most common questions I get asked on podcasts is like, what would you tell your younger self? And I used to not hate. That's a strong word. But I used to not enjoy that question because I don't think backwards. Like it's, what's the point? I'm not going to go back and tell my younger self anything. So what are we working on now? But I realize is whatever you would tell your younger self is actually the same thing that older you is probably telling you right now. And so then it actually becomes practical. Like the thing I would tell my younger self is believe in yourself more, man. Like you can do this. And what's 85 year old Evan telling? How old am I now? 45 year old Evan, Same thing. Believe in yourself more, man. You can do this. Like go do, just believe in bigger things.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And absolutely. I wake up on days and don't believe in myself. I mean that's uh, most days. And so I think it's having the routines to like bring you out of it. So like one of the most powerful things I do every day, I call it a believe walk. I wake up. So I wake up, get outside. Like even just doing that will help. Like wake up, don't go on your phone, just get outside, go for a walk. Uh, you can, you can do rucksack if you want, you can run if you want. But like just get outside, get some vitamin D on your eyes and go for a walk. And then what I put on is something in my head, my earphones, that will make me believe in myself a little bit more. And so for Me, I'm in entrepreneurship. So I love listening to successful entrepreneurs, their stories, how they got started. And every morning I have a different entrepreneur in my ear and, uh, learning from them. And by the time I get home, I believe in myself a little bit more to take on the day. And so we've all had those moments where you felt incredible belief and confidence. Maybe it's listening to this podcast for some people, maybe the guests or Jessica or Jeff, you know, they're the ones who inspire you. Great. Put that on in the morning as opposed to being a random accident later on in, uh, the week.

Speaker C: Uh, Evan? What? Um, you know, I always like to hear how people who have made it, you know, they clearly were influenced earlier in their lives by something. So what did you take from your parents that helped you get to the point where you believed in this?

Speaker A: That's a great question. I have a picture of my parents on the wall right there. It's like me when I'm 8 or 9 years old, and then them. And I look at that every day. My mom, she's the ambitious one in the family, and she always tell me that you're Evan Castrelli Carmichael. My middle name is Castrilli. That's her last name. You can do anything you believe that you can. And I remember used to. I have two sisters. Uh, I'm in the middle. And every year around report card time, I guess twice a year, we'd always have to have the talk. My sisters got straight A's, and I wasn't failing. I got Bs and Cs, but not the straight A's that my sisters were getting. So we had to have the talk. And they'd always leave with that. That you're having Kashruli. Karmic. You can do anything. Believe that you can. And I guess I believed it slowly. And so that's, that's. They're not entrepreneurs. They never were. It's not the thing that they do. But I still try to be as nice a human as. As my dad is and be as forward thinking and ambitious. Ambitious as my mom is.

Speaker B: What's your mom do?

Speaker A: She was the, uh. So I had a family newspaper. I started when I was 8 and I went to family newspaper. Family. Yeah.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: I just made my own newspaper for, for my family. Just because. And, uh, my first interview was my mom. And I asked, hey, mom, why are you a lawyer? And she corrected me to say, I'm not a lawyer. I'm a constitutional lawyer. It's like, okay, what. I mean, I don't know what the difference. It's like lawyers help kind of follow the laws and enforce the laws, and constitutional lawyers help create the laws. Uh, so welcome to my mom. So she, she was a, um, constitutional lawyer, then she became the chairman of the University of Toronto, and she was the first woman chairman. And then she had them drop the man from the chair. And so she just became the first chair of the University of Toronto. And so that, you know, tells you a little bit about my mom. And, you know, your mom, she sounds awesome. So she's the power woman. And I have two very, very powerful, motivated sisters as well. And so I was the, the lone boy in the family. Um, and then my dad's just like the nicest human of all time. It's like, it's really hard to meet a nicer person than my dad. And so I try to, I try as much as possible to take the best of both worlds and turned into Devin Carmichael.

Speaker B: Yeah, um, it's, it's amazing also, I think at a young age when you have someone that believes in you, you know, and like, you know, it's like, I believe in you versus, like, some kids and some grow up where they have people that are like, I don't think you can do that. Like, you know, they're not like, pushing them. And so I think, I think that's important at an early age. And, uh, it's interesting because I have a six year old and I try to tell him things all the time, especially when he's like, I can't. I'm like, yeah, you can. You can do it, you know.

Speaker A: Yeah. Uh, well, and that's also why you, uh, know, YouTube is so powerful and the Internet is so powerful, because even if you don't have people in your life who are cheering you on, you can get that through this podcast. Like, people have never met you and they're inspired by what you guys create and share on a regular basis. And so, you know, if you don't have the best family upbringing or you don't have connections, you don't know anybody, great, you can go online and find it. Even, Even I still do it now in my morning Believe walks. Right. I have. I was listening to Story of Bugatti this morning on my walk and how, like, Enzo Ferrari was inspired by him. And so I'd never met Bugatti. I'm never going to. I'm. I never met Enzo. I'm never going to. But I can learn from their stories to help me believe in myself a little bit more. And I think if you're struggling to believe in yourself, one that's normal, like, welcome to being human. Everybody does. And you can borrow belief from other people. Either the people close to you who might have an awesome message like that, or just people's stories that you look up to that you may never meet in your life. But you can be inspired by them and say, hey, what they did was inspiring. But it was also the fact that they believed in themselves to do it. And what it does is drop seeds of hope that, okay, if they can do that coming from where they came from, like, maybe I can too. And often that's enough to just get us started down the path. And the hardest step is the first step, once you start taking momentum. Like, I don't know how you thought, how long you thought about making a podcast before you started the podcast, and now you're here, and now it's easier to keep going on the podcast versus that first step. Like, what do I do for the first episode?

Speaker B: Yeah. Yes.

Speaker C: You instill so much positivity. What's. I'm, um, curious. What's a tough day for you?

Speaker A: I'm. I'm pretty emotionally regulated, so I. I don't have really tough days, but I don't. I also don't have really, like, amazing days, so I don't. I don't roller coaster that much. You know, I think the toughest day. The toughest day is just, uh. The toughest day of my life was when my dog died. That's. That might sound. That might sound really odd.

Speaker C: I just.

Speaker A: Awful. Yeah. The worst family. I mean, I have both my parents a lot. You know, when. When my parents pass, I don't know. I don't know how much of a wreck I'm going to be, so I. I can't. I haven't gone through that yet, but. And I have my sisters, etc, so, um, I haven't had a. A significant family member loss, but. But my dog Toby, my family dog for 15 years, was. Was pretty devastating. And the. I've. I have filmed every filming day on my channel since. I can't remember how long it's been. I started in 2009, so we've had a lot of videos going up. And, um, I filmed through a broken neck. I filmed through concussions. I've filmed through vacations. I've filmed through a divorce. I filmed through, like, all sorts of stuff. But the only day I couldn't film was the day that, that, that Toby died.

Speaker B: Brutal. I get it. Yeah.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: And.

Speaker A: And, uh, my dad Insisted on being in the room when they put him down. Yeah, I'm like, oh my God. Okay. So I didn't want him to be by himself, so I went in with him and it was just. Anyway, yeah, no, but the dog lovers, it makes sense for the uh, for the non dog, it's like, it's. He was basically, you know, member of the family.

Speaker B: Yeah, of course.

Speaker A: And I just came out and I just made a quick video saying what happened and, and like I couldn't, I couldn't film video that was, that was my filming day and I could not film. I could not bring myself to like turn on the camera and film the usual, you know, believe, optimistic, hopeful, positive leadership content that I like to make.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And so my team for that week patched together some old things and we still released on schedule, not our usual schedule. So that was an incredibly tough day. But, uh, you know, most of the things that are tough, you don't land a deal, your channel's down or whatever. They're not actually, you know, that major

Speaker B: problems, these accidents that you seem to have, like concussions and broken neck. We'll maybe get into that later, but can you take us back to when you started? Like, so, you know, I was reading your story and doing research about you, and you joined this company with a couple entrepreneurs and you got a 30% stake in the company and then you lost like a $40 million. But then you end up selling the company for I don't know how much, but I'm sure a good amount. But not 40 million. And then you get into venture capital and then at some point you start this YouTube channel. And so how, how did all that, how did it happen? Were you just like, I want to do this or it just.

Speaker A: Which part that like the YouTube channel? Yeah.

Speaker B: Like, so you get through all of that, you, you know, you go into vc and then you're like, okay, I'm just gonna start a YouTube channel. Like, how did that.

Speaker A: Yeah, it's, it's, it's the whole Steve Jobs, like connect the dots looking backwards. But I, uh, didn't plan any of it. I think your purpose comes from your pain. So I think whatever you struggled the most with is what you wanna help other people with. We've all been through some significant challenges in our lives and like, if, hey, if we can solve the suffering for others. There are millions of people right now who are struggling with the thing that you strug and they need you and they need your voice and you can share. And so that's what I started doing, uh, YouTube in 2009. When I started was not a thing. Nobody had a million subscribers. Entrepreneurs weren't posting. It was, it was not a, it was not a business model for anybody. I'm just a visual learner. I like to see things. So the fact, I get that this is, this is an audio podcast for some people, but if I couldn't see you two, it'd be a lot harder to have this conversation, have my headphones on and just be super focused because I, I'm a visual person. And at the time YouTube was the only visual place to put content. And so I just started making videos and I was not very effective at the beginning. Introverted, shy, all those things. And I thought you had to be the uh, loudmouth might be too strong a word, but the extrovert, the, the Kevin o' Leary's and the Mark Cubans and the like in your face kind of leaders. I didn't see any people like me out there doing stuff. So I thought, you know what? I'll make content for people like me and maybe somebody will like it. But it wasn't a business model. It wasn't, it wasn't a forward thinking. How did I know that you. I didn't know. It was just the only place to make visual content. And I'm a visual learner. And I thought, hey, if a few entrepreneurs can learn from my story and maybe not struggle as much as I did. Cool. Like that. That's pretty awesome. If 50 people saw a video, I was super pumped. Like 50 people saw that video. That's crazy, right?

Speaker B: More than zero.

Speaker A: It's more than zero. I m mean my first year, my video, the first video I had in my first year had three comments on it. My mom, my older sister, and then some random stranger was like somebody, somebody gave a comment on my video. You know, it's a different world now. But um, I just did it to try to help. But to try to serve, I mean that's what gets me out of my introvert shell as well. Um, I think introverts, uh, or at least speaking from my own experience, we actually love helping and we love serving and we just don't like small talk and we don't need to be famous. Um, but having a deep, meaningful one on one conversation is like the best. Having a thousand surface level. How's the weather there? Conversations is completely draining.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: So I wanted to serve and I wanted to help. And so one other thing my mom used to always tell me was if you have the ability, you have the responsibility. So if you can, then you must. And so there's a lot of. There's a lot of anime castruli kind of flowing.

Speaker C: I use that with my kids.

Speaker A: Yeah, you do. Or you're going to.

Speaker C: I'm going to.

Speaker A: You're going to. Yeah, yeah, I said it really quickly. But, But I mean, it's actually a very deeply emotional thing for me. It's like if, if you have the ability, you have the responsibility, if you can, then you must. And so we often think that we don't have a lot of gifts to share. Like, nobody cares about your story. And like, why would somebody watch my video? And why, like, do we. Does the world need another podcast on whatever? Like, yes, yes. Because you've been through stuff and people need to know that. And you're gonna say it in a way that whoever Mel Robbins isn't gonna say and Tony Robbins isn't gonna say. Like, your background and story and character means a lot. And somebody is gonna watch that and they're gonna completely change their life, you know, you have. What.

Speaker C: So funny you mentioned that, because Jessica knows this. I stepped away from day to day work in October and have some parental stuff that I need to tend to, but really just wanted to advise and do not much of anything. But you very quickly realize you need a purpose. I started. I mean, Jessica's writing a book. I started actually writing a book for my own consumption, not for anybody else's consumption. And as I'm reading, as I'm writing it, it's like, nobody's going to care about this. Maybe my family will or my kids

Speaker B: will, but nobody cares, Jeff. I'll care.

Speaker C: But it's interesting that you know that what Evan just said, you could think that, but maybe it's not true.

Speaker B: Well, our brains are constantly trying to sabotage us. I don't know why, but they tell you lies all the time. You know, they're like, you know, it's like, you can't, you can't, you can't. But to Evan's point, yeah, you can.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: And, and, and, and if you do, it might be really amazing and really great. I don't, I don't know. I feel like, um. So my mom didn't say something as eloquent as your. Your mother said to you. But whenever I would say, I can't, my mom would say, can't, never could. And I grew up, I grew up in. I grew up in Kentucky, so it was like, can't, never could. I. But that's like, if you can't you never will. You know, that was the point of it. So it was like, yeah, you can. You can go do it.

Speaker A: Yeah. I think, um, ah. I think your brain is designed to keep you safe.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Right. I don't know. That actually sabotages you, but, like, it's designed to keep you safe, and social dynamics are important. Like, if you are the weird one in a group of cavemen and you got kicked out of the tribe, like, you don't have food. Yeah, exactly. You die. Right.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: You know, the world has evolved, but our brains haven't much. And the thing that makes you weird and different is the thing that people end up loving you for. Uh, now, you know, in this era, and as long as the intent is positive and to help and good, um, I try to. I say that great ideas flow through me. And so, like, great ideas are coming to you, and so you have a responsibility to take that idea and do something with it. Uh, as long as you're in a positive state, like, the ideas that come to you when you're feeling energetic and bold and you're around awesome people, it's like, I'm going to do blank, like, that energy. We're not living in it daily, but when it comes and we've all felt it, I think you have a responsibility to then do something with that idea that comes to you. And we often sit on those great ideas and we act impulsively on the stupid ideas, right? Like somebody, uh, cuts you off in traffic, right? You got to catch up just to see who this person is, this person who cut you off, right? It's like this impulse on the negative, okay? So, like, breathe on those, and the ones that are positive, like, lean in faster and harder on it, um, because people need you. And I think as long as I default to service because you won't, at least for me, I won't do enough for myself. But if I can feel like, hey, if this is going to impact one person and call the service, then you'll. You'll find more strength than you had otherwise to then go and do the thing, write the book, make the video, create a podcast, whatever the thing is. And once you get a taste of service, it's, uh, like, that's a good kind of addiction. It's like, people are watching this podcast. It's not where you want to be. It's never where you want it to be. Right? Like, you're never. You're never where you want to be. Cool. And we can be really grateful for, like, what. What we've done and recognize that people do need this and, like, like this. And. And we have responsibility to get up and do more tomorrow.

Speaker B: I love that. So you start the podcast 2009. You're just, you know, you're making some videos, and then when. When were you like, oh, wow, this is a thing? Um.

Speaker A: Um, a big turning point came in 2014, so. So five years in, I forget how many subscribers I had. I have it on my website. Couple thousand subscribers. It's not a big deal. You know, if you're making videos for five years and you have a couple thousand subscribers, you kind of feel like, what are you doing? Um, but two things happened in 2014. Uh, one, I married my wife. And, uh, I did not know how important it was to have somebody who was, like, a cheerleader in your corner. Not like somebody who kind of it's your thing, and like, okay, yeah, go do your thing. I'm happy for you. Like a passive supporter, but someone who's, like, an active supporter. So on a relationship spectrum, you've got, like, active negative. They're, like, actively against what you're doing. Then passive negative, those are the worst. Because it's like the. Oh, you're gonna do that? Okay, Right? It's like, yeah, passive negative is the worst. Butting a passive positive. Like, yeah, it's your thing. Go do it. Cheering you up versus, like, active positive, which is incredible. I didn't realize that I needed it, how incredibly valuable that was. And you may not pick your parents and, you know, pick your family, but you can pick who you marry, hopefully most of the world, at least. And that. That's, um, incredibly powerful to make sure you pick the right person. So 2014, I. I married Nina. Uh, and then I also asked for help. And one of my biggest struggles is asking for help. I think for a lot of people, we don't ask for help enough. Uh, it took me five years to ask somebody for help. And there's a picture of. If you go to my website, there's Nina, my wife, and then Steve, who, um, to my agent, and he's the one who I asked for help in 2014. And after that, my channel started growing. It went from whatever it was 7,000 to 33,000 to. And it just keeps going up. And so it was people in both cases, like, I tried to do everything myself, and then having my wife support me on the personal side and Steve on the business side made a huge, um, impact. Neither of them are YouTube experts, but they both gave me.

Speaker B: Yeah, how'd you know?

Speaker A: Steve Steve, I met through, um, an entrepreneur came to me, wanted me to be on his show 2014. It's like, early days still. And he said, my agent suggested I talk to you. It's like, your agent, you're a business guy. Like, who has an agent? Like a. Like a sports star has an. Like, I'm a baseball fan. Baseball players have agents. So you're just. You're an entrepreneur. That's. What do you mean? You have an agent? So. Yeah, I have an agent. He represents me. It's like, can I meet him? So I don't think I ended up doing anything with the guy. I think I went on his show once, but. But then I met Steve, who's a New York guy, and, uh, yeah, that's how I met him and we started working together.

Speaker C: What kind of help did you ask for?

Speaker A: I don't know. It was like, I. Hey, what does an agent do?

Speaker C: You needed help?

Speaker A: I don't know what I didn't know. Yeah, like, I. I struggled with even knowing how to ask for help. Like, in my first business, um, you talked about a little bit. I was. I was 19, was a biotech software company. I thought, hey, I'm an entrepreneur. Let's go. Let's go make some money. My first move was I went to the bank and said, okay, I'm here, ready to go. How can you help? They're like, do you need a loan?

Speaker B: What do you need?

Speaker A: Oh, I don't know. I don't. Do I need a loan? You tell me. You guys help entrepreneurs, right? I see all the ads everywhere that you help small business, right? Like, uh, what do I need to do? It's like, well, like, we can. We can give you a loan, but how long have your business been around? Like, we just started it. What are you talking about? Like, well, you need three years of history to get a loan, or you gotta personally guarantee it. Like, can you do that? It's like, no. So I was like, I made a complete fool of myself with this. And he was a very, you know, I'm sure he thought it was a giant idiot walking in here. And so maybe I got PTSD for asking for help after that. Experience.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: So when I met up with Steve, I didn't even know, like, what does an agent even do? And he looked at my channel and, uh, he. He was used to working with people in major media. So he took people from CNN and NBC, people who had, like, media experience, and they're great on camera, but he helped them find their story and message and Create a business around it. He said, like, you're the opposite. Like, you have a great message with Believe, but you suck on camera. Like, perfect, right? I've been doing this for five years now. this point, it wasn't like I just got started. It's like, well, thank you, Steve. That's awesome. And then he just started. He started helping me, and he started, uh, giving me feedback and advice, and he would watch my videos and he gave me assignments. So the first assignment was tell my foundation story. And I'd make these 20 to 40 minute videos of my foundation stories. Like, you got to get good at practicing your foundation story. Okay? So I send him one in the morning. He'd review it. I'd do it again at lunch, he'd review it. I'd do it again at dinner. He'd review it. And I did that like 40 times. And they were like 20 to 40 minutes. These were not little, tiny little videos. Uh, and I slowly got better. And it came to the point where, uh, I started being used as the best practice in the agency for the other clients to say, hey, go look at what Evan's doing. Because they were making one video a month or a week, and, like, struggling to get one a week. And I'm doing like three long form a day. And so I was the worst one coming in. But just effort. I didn't. Also didn't even know any better. I didn't know. But he gave me feedback. I do it again. Why not do it? Like, my favorite things. Why not right now? Right Next week is like, next year. What are we waiting for? Like, how about. How about right now? So he was really helpful in making me better, uh, on camera. And, um, he's the one who. We fought a lot and fought. I don't fight much. I'm a Canadian. So we don't. We don't actually have that big fights.

Speaker B: But, yeah, you guys are so as

Speaker A: much as a Canadian can fight on, um, he would say, you have to get famous. You gotta be famous. Evan's like, I have zero interest in being famous. I hate the spotlight. I don't want to be famous, Steve. And for a couple years, we fought on that, uh, until he said it in a way. And more likely I just matured to be able to hear him. Probably where he said, hey, the more people know you, the more people hear the message. It's like, uh, okay, so again, you put it to service. I'll do more. If it's just about me, I don't care as much. And so that's when I started really turning it up on. Okay. Me being the brand and me sharing more of my store. I would never come on this show. It's like, what do you. What do you want to talk to me before go interview whoever. Like, I can give you a list of a hundred people who should share their story more than me. Who cares about my story?

Speaker B: I do.

Speaker A: But in telling the story, realize, oh, that's actually inspiring. It's not about me. It's about the people that can hopefully learn from the journey.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker C: Can I ask you about entrepreneurs?

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: Great.

Speaker A: No, you can't. No.

Speaker B: That's the one question you can't ask.

Speaker A: Exactly. No, we don't talk entrepreneurs.

Speaker C: Yeah. So Jessica and I have both worked with entrepreneurs a lot. You know, I worked with them for many years at Greylock, and then I went to Google and worked for Sundar. So I got to see really small and really big. When you talk to entrepreneurs and you look at the ones that have been really successful, what's the. What are the things that they do that you've picked up on that make them successful?

Speaker A: I would always start with believe, because, of course, but they believe in themselves when they shouldn't. Like, quote, unquote, shouldn't someone like them, from their background, their abilities, shouldn't be doing this thing. But they just go. Whether that's naivete and, like, they don't even think about it, or they just have a higher level of ability to fail or confidence, they do it. We just had a.

Speaker C: Our.

Speaker A: So we. We do a YouTube mastermind, and we meet four times a year in person. We had a member come out. We just finished it last weekend. And he closed a $13 million deal from his YouTube channel and is getting 2,200 leads a month from his channel. And when he started with us, he had. He was just getting started. He had like a hundred subscribers or something. Now it's like the number one way he's generating business. But the thing that he does that other people don't do, he's just. He immediately takes action. He doesn't second guess. He doesn't.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: But he doesn't delay. He just does it. So on day one, even at this event, we were showing a new thumbnail style, like, here's a new. And I geek out over all YouTube things. That might be a whole other podcast, if you guys want. But what's our thumbnail gonna be? Right? It's like your book coverage really matters. And we found a new way that's working really well that night, he launches 20 new thumbnails in the new style. Like other people are taking notes and he's in a group of other ambitious people who are also action takers. But he's just like the ultra ambitious action taker. He just does it. And most of the time we find ways to stop the flow. And so all the successful people that I've profiled, they, they are immediate action takers. It may not work out, but I'd rather know that it's not going to work out faster than sitting on the idea of doing this forever.

Speaker C: Yeah. Fail fast.

Speaker B: Yeah. I mean it's, it's funny because I think a lot of the great ones that, that I've worked with as well are that, I mean, and you know, I worked with Reid, who I think is one of the greatest entrepreneurs ever, and he would immediately do stuff like if we decided to do something, he walked out of the meeting and did it. No questions asked, change done. You know, it could be a behavior thing, it could be just a thing we're going to say to the company. But it was done immediately. It's very interesting decision making and action.

Speaker C: And they also, to Evan's earlier point, they ask for help.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker C: They know they don't have like Dylan Field at Figma. It's a greylock investment. Dylan was, I think 19 when he started Figma. I mean, what did he know about being a public company CEO? He asked for help. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs do that. The good ones.

Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, think back to uh, even Steve Jobs calling up, uh, was it Hewlett? Hewlett or Packard? I think it was Hewlett in the phone book and said, hey, I'm trying to build a something, can you help? And then he got a summer job working at Hewlett Packard and then eventually, obviously started Apple, et cetera. But the willingness to, like, I've got this crazy idea, why don't I just look up the CEO of the largest tech company in the phone book and call them on a Sunday afternoon and ask them for help? Like who does that?

Speaker B: Back in the day you could, man, it's harder, a little bit harder now to find those.

Speaker A: But even, even the thought that you could, like, he doesn't even think that it's not possible. Like, who cares who he doesn't pick up or I get the wrong one. But we just spend so much time overthinking instead of doing.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: And again, I think when you can, at least the thing that helps me is just go back to service. That Somebody out there is counting on me that if you had 50 views on your video, we tend to think that's not a lot and we suck. But maybe for one person, like, it's actually a life changing video and you were too afraid to put it up because you had a pimple on your nose. Right. It's like it just. The things that we tell ourselves aren't real compared to the impact that we can have. And that's not that hard a thing, uh, to get behind is that, hey, we have watched, uh, we have all watched a video that had a major impact on our lives. Great. Like, why can't you be that for somebody else? Your story can hit someone in unique ways. Like, of course I can. And so then whatever excuse is in front of you, oh, uh, I don't know what camera to use. I don't know. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right? All the, all the things that just keep us stuck when you can think about service. And I have a philosophy called big Y little why. The big why is like the big mission we're on. And sometimes the big why is awesome and like, I'm going to go change the world and it's great. Uh, but sometimes a big why is too big. It's like, who am I to do that crazy thing? I mean, it could be the same day that we have that imposter syndrome, right? We're on top of the world and then an hour later, oh my God, I'm a fraud. That's the big why. But the little why is, can I help one person? And you can always get behind one person. Like, I may not change the world, but I can help one person. Like one person needs to read Jeff's book and for them that will completely change their life. And if you can actually feel that, even if it doesn't hit New York Times, obviously, like you'd love the book to do well, et cetera. But like, if, if one person read the book and then sent you a letter and said, jeff, your book changed my life. Here's how. It's like, it's so worth it. So big Y, little Y I find helpful to stay motivated too.

Speaker C: I like that.

Speaker B: So I do too. And I've heard you talk about this, I think in with entrepreneurs, but the, the daily habits we, we form. I think like you talked about like getting outside and going on a walk. But I think a lot of entrepreneurs have really good habits. Like they, they take, they've learned to take care of themselves in some way or form. Right?

Speaker A: Yeah. Uh, yeah.

Speaker B: No or no? You don't believe that?

Speaker A: I think it depends. Well, I think like being an entrepreneur, it's tough because we, a lot of entrepreneurs can't fit into a corporate system. Yeah, right. Like you get fired from any major job and I know there's some forward thinking companies that encourage innovation, but like for the most part, most businesses, an entrepreneur would really strug struggle with rules and a boss and being told what to do. And uh, they want freedom. And so starting a business is the absolute freedom. But then you're, you're forced to reconcile your demons there because you have to create discipline for yourself, which is hard for a lot of people because you have no boss. Like, you wake up, okay, what are we doing today? There's nobody who's going to come. I mean, our customers I guess are our boss. Right. But, but there's nobody who like, if you don't show up to work today, there's nobody breathing down your neck. You're not having performance review, trying, uh, to hit these arbitrary, you know, metrics. Uh, and so a lot of people like deeply struggle with a schedule because you're, you're talking to people who crave absolute freedom and hate schedules. But then they, they are forced to put some level of discipline into their daily activities. So it's like finding the right balance for each person to make that happen. And my, my preferred balance is to have different tasks for different days. And so I do completely different things on different days. So we're talking on a, on a Thursday. I don't know when this show actually gets released, but Thursday is my public facing day. So all I do is interviews and podcasts and my own community and I'm on camera for most of Thursdays. And I always get anxiety at the start of every Thursday because I'm introverted. I don't want to do any of this stuff right. My morning, morning average, like, I don't want to do this. I don't want to. I don't want to. Oh my God.

Speaker B: I'm sorry, Evan. I'm sorry.

Speaker A: No, you're good. I don't want to disappoint. It's more disappointment. It's like, I don't want to let you down. I don't want to let your audience down in your showdown. I want to have a, I don't be a crappy guest for you guys. And it gives me anxiety in the morning. So I always start with my own community. I do training inside my community Thursday mornings for my clients. And then after that, like you Guys get the energy from all the other shows. I've already, like, it's easy to stay in flow when you're in flow, right. It's hard for me to get into it. So task switching is a real thing, but it's especially hard for me to jump between things. And so the answer for me at least is just chunk everything on one day. So, uh, Thursday is my public facing day. Friday is my CEO day. Monday is my team mentoring day. Tuesday is my YouTube day. Wednesday is my project day. Saturday is my family fun day, and Sunday's my family admin day. And it's, like, just so much easier to stay focused because I know what I'm doing on each day and my team knows what I'm doing on each day. So I'm not getting messages like, evan, how do we deal with blank? Because they know Thursday I'm talking to you guys and I'm. I'm doing shows, right?

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: The day today, I thought it would

Speaker C: be the worst day.

Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, like, well, it's all. Maybe also today. I don't know. I don't think about it. Worst day. But. But I always love, like, today. I love today because I get to. I get to meet new friends. I get to go on a show. Get the. This is fun. This is awesome. Like, tomorrow is my CEO day. Like, I don't want to sit. I don't want to sit and do CEO work. I want to do more.

Speaker B: What does CEO Day mean? What does that look like? I was curious.

Speaker A: CEO Day. You know, when you're the entrepreneur, you're everything from the janitor to the CEO in your business, especially at the beginning. And we tend to be in the business a lot more than we probably should. So Wednesday is my kind of in the business, do operations, do projects that are on my to do list that I, you know, never get to. So I have a day in my week to do it. And then Friday is like, okay, just this is my now, uh, my CEO hat. I'm going to put it on. What would the CEO of this business do? And just asking that question. So on my belief walk in the morning, I'll go and literally ask myself that, what would the CEO of this business do today? And then I try my best to do that thing for the day, but I don't book meetings, I don't book calls. I don't talk to team. I don't. I don't make videos. I, uh, I. The responsibility today is to be the CEO of my business. Whatever that means to me. On the day, but it's just more thought exercise. I used to do CEO hour. So for an hour I'm gonna be CEO of my business. What would I do differently? And I got some great results for that. That then I turned it into a full day.

Speaker B: Uh huh. What's the would say biggest successful CEO day you've had? Like what. What happened on that day?

Speaker A: Wow, that's probably a great question. I'm so bad in looking backwards. I don't.

Speaker B: I know we already we. I shouldn't have asked you to go backwards. You already sucked at it.

Speaker A: You know, highlight moments. I always put the lens of family and my wife and adventures more than business. So. But like in terms of CEO, probably making some tough calls on direction. You know, one of the things I have a hard time is like letting go of things I've said yes to, letting go of responsibilities that I've outgrown. And I stay in something in some cases for like years longer than I should because I don't want to disappoint people that I committed to. But like, it just doesn't serve me anymore. Like if I started this podcast and we, um, committed every week to going and then I didn't want to do it anymore, I would spend like a year trying to tell you I don't want to do it anymore. I struggle a lot with that. But like CEO, I was like, what are you talking about? You should have been out like nine months ago. And so. But when you're in it, it's hard. It's hard to step above. And so that's what I try to do. And again, the walk helps me in the morning just reset my mind. I'm listening to Enzo Ferrari or whatever. They're making all these big plays, like, okay, they wouldn't do this. And so whatever comes to mind, like the level that I think of now compared to, you know, 10 years ago is obviously different scale, bigger impact, et cetera, but it's still like, what's the biggest thing that is that I need to focus on that would help grow my business in the next five years? And then that's what I try to do.

Speaker C: How do you scale yourself, you know, as helping a billion entrepreneurs? And how do you do that?

Speaker A: Um, so I eliminate automate delegate. So most of the things that we do are actually not that helpful. You know, Like, I realize if I just stop doing this, nothing changes. But I just saved three hours of my week. There's a lot of things that we do every day. Like all the overthinking and planning and preparation. It's like a lot of it is just, uh, a complete waste of time. And I still do it. Jeff. Like, I'm definitely not perfect, but it's just trying to catch those moments, like, where am I to just wasting time in my calendar that just like, don't do those things that already frees up a lot of mental energy. Then automate. And AI has gotten so much better to help us with a lot of the automations. I mean, my first company was a software company, so I've loved automation kind of from, from day one. Um, and then the last is delegate. And I love people. Like, I'm, I'm a people first. Somebody asked a question. I don't know if you guys ever play this game. When I listen to podcasts, when people ask questions, I just, for some reason I always imagine, like, how would I answer that question? I, uh, know you ever play that. And so somebody asked the guest a question like, is it the journey, the destination? Right? And like, okay, easy. One heard that a million times. Like, of course it's the journey, not the destination. Right? Of course, that stupid question. Next. But the guy's answer was, it's neither. It's the company you keep along the way.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's a good answer.

Speaker A: Oh, I really like that he turned this, like, stupid question and stupid, you know, fair enough. Friend of mine, Joe Polish, says there's no stupid questions, just stupid people. And he said like, uh, that the whole that it's the company you keep along the way was very cool. It's like, I like that. So I'm like, I'm an, I'm an HR driven CEO. I like team. I like doing things together. It's more, it's way more fun. And so I probably have more direct reports than I should. We've got 60 people in the company.

Speaker B: How many?

Speaker A: And it took a while to let go of some.

Speaker C: Of 60 direct reports.

Speaker A: No, not anymore, I was gonna say. But I probably went to 25 before I hired, like, any layers. Love. I love it though. It's like that's, that's part of my challenge on CEO days. Like, I need to let this go. But I love it too much. Did they love it? I hope so. I mean, we've had people for some people, you know, uh, one of our guys just celebrated nine years yesterday with us, and he was sharing the journey of how he started and what a great place it is to work, et cetera. I think the closer you get to me, the, the more expectations and there are and the faster we go and it ends up being like the best thing. Like the people who, uh, love the push, love moving fast and we go together and we break things. Uh, and if you don't want to go that fast, then you're, you're probably not in the immediate circle even just the, the directness and the kindness. Like if my, if one of my account managers makes a mistake, say, okay, you know, awesome, great job, next time do it like this. We can get better, yada, yada. But good work on blank. If my head account manager, like made that mistake, like, what are we doing? But it's from a place of love. Like the push they know is based out of love. Right. It's not a yell at them. Things like, they appreciate being held to a higher standard and a lot of people aren't used to that or don't like it. And so you have to have a foundation of love in order to hold people to a higher standard. At least I believe. I guess you can come in and just yell at somebody and place your standards on them, but if they don't understand that, like it's. You care about them, um, then they don't follow through and listen.

Speaker B: Yeah. So true.

Speaker A: But I love it. Like seeing people grow and learn and get better is the best. It's my favorite thing. So eliminate automate, delegate. And uh, I still probably do too much myself just because it's fun.

Speaker B: Yeah. And it's, it's hard to let go. So I, I also believe that pushing people and giving them feedback and directness is care and love. And one of the things that I always talked about in Netflix is like, if you're not honest, that's not caring. If you really care about people, you'll tell them the truth. You'll help them. You know, you're not going to yell at them. That's not kind. But you're going to help them and help them see it differently, help them see it more clearly. And that might be the thing that they just need that day. Right.

Speaker A: Yeah. I think the, the opportunity is to meet people where they're at.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: And for some people, they, they crave growth and improvement and they want to get better faster. Uh, and so for them, you have to tell them the truth. And it's usually the more ambitious you are, the less of the hand holding they want and the more like, just tell me to my face what I need to do. And like, they love it the most. Uh, I remember going to see, um, uh, Tom Bilyon. I don't know if you guys know Tom, a friend of the channel, he built Quest to Billion Dollar Company and started Impact Theory. And the first time I met him, uh, I was doing a YouTube breakdown for him and I told him that his intros sucked. And I showed him in the data, like, see, everybody's falling off. Like, your intros really suck. You gotta fix it. He's like, I love this guy because nobody tells him that he sucks. Right? But it's like in a loving, it's not like you suck, it's just your intro suck. Fix it. It's like, this is great, right? Like the, the more of an achiever you are, the more you just crave the actual truth. Because nobody tells you the truth because they're kind of tap dancing around the truth.

Speaker C: But.

Speaker A: But some people just need a hug. Like they're so buried in their life that they can't even hear, uh, the a growth message. Like when my dog died and we talked about the beginning, you could, you couldn't push me for anything. I couldn't even make a video. Like, all I needed was a hug. Um, and it might even be the same person that one week needs a hug and the next week needs like a massive push forward, right? So I think it's just meeting people where they're at. Because if you push the person who needs a hug, they hate you. And if you hug the person who needs a push, they hate you too.

Speaker B: That's true. That's true. I have a not serious question.

Speaker A: Great. Okay.

Speaker B: Uh, you have the same uniform on all the time. In all my research, I'm trying to find, you know, videos of you and research you and listen to you. And you have this yellow triangle sweatshirt on. So is this like a uniform, uh, or what. What is this like a Steve Jobs thing? What that you just.

Speaker A: So first off, it's gold, it's not yellow.

Speaker B: Okay. Okay. Correct.

Speaker A: We, we have a joke internally that you get at first time, it's a warning, and then, then it's a fireable offense to call it yellow instead of gold. I've never actually fired anybody, but it's a fun thing.

Speaker B: Yeah, I know. I. Well, okay. Gold. I will never make that mistake.

Speaker A: Yeah. Uh, Ah.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Even if it is very clearly yellow.

Speaker B: It's gold.

Speaker A: It's gold.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's gold.

Speaker A: So gold and black. Yeah. You know, if you go way back, way, way, way back, it was blue and white. It was still. It was always the airplane. It's always a paper airplane. Like the logo's been a paper airplane. It's evolved a little bit over the years, but it's always been a paper airplane. And the paper airplane, I think, represents entrepreneurship. Oh, one. We want to be somewhere else. Like, the entrepreneurs are never happy standing still. You always want to fly somewhere else. But it's a paper airplane because we don't have the money to buy a fancy jet. Right. So we don't venture capital. I mean, some do, obviously, but for the most part, entrepreneurs are. It's, uh, a paper airplane, and you're. You're flying and you're crashing and you're getting all torn up. And then on the videos, if you watch carefully, you'll hear the paper airplane breaks a sound barrier. So it's like a boom comes across the screen. And the idea that, like, a paper airplane could break the sound barrier is entrepreneurship. Uh, to me, it's like, you shouldn't be able to do this, and yet here you are doing it right. And so, yeah, that's. I mean, that's the origins of the logo. And then I just having it as something easy to wear every day. Don't have to think about it. And just branding. People come to expect it. It's funny.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: I have.

Speaker B: Didn't wear it like people, like.

Speaker A: Yeah, people. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker C: People wear it everywhere.

Speaker A: I wear it everywhere. Yeah. Like, almost everywhere. Like black tie events. I'll have slacks on, but I'll still have. Well, like, they. They invited me to present some awards, so they. That's what they get.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker C: Dinner with your family?

Speaker A: Uh, my closet is this. If I don't.

Speaker B: I was gonna ask how many you have?

Speaker A: You know, 40, 50. Uh, I've got. Yeah, yeah, I've got a lot. But I have three hoodies that are not. I have three spider hoodies. I don't even know spider. It's an athletic brand. Super comfortable hoodies. I love them. Um, so if I'm either working out or I want to go incognito, because I'll also. I'll also get stopped every now and then. If I'm walking down the street, I have this on. People recognize the channel or whatever. So if I want to go quiet mode and just not get stopped, I'll have my spider hoodie on. And sometimes I've made a video for my Instagram or whatever. And, like, what are you wearing? I've never seen you wear a, uh, different. It's like, I'm not allowed to wear a, uh, gray hoodie, but it's more just, I guess, part branding and part convenience. I don't Think about it. One less decision to make every day. And, um, good branding that people recognize and I can focus on making content.

Speaker B: My head of production, who you saw earlier, he wears a black hat and a black shirt and I'm pretty sure black pants.

Speaker C: It's easy.

Speaker B: Every day. That's what he wears every day. But I have to change. I like to think about what I'm gonna wear. I don't know.

Speaker A: Yeah, I, uh, I guess I just don't care. It's like, I think back, you know, uh, so for food, for example, you know, my wife loves food. For me, food is just like, I like it, I appreciate it, but it's sustenance, you know, like in university, I just make a basic giant pot of pasta. I need it for the week. I'm good. I do not want to spend an hour making food. So whatever is the easiest thing to do. But also, I care about branding and design and so two birds with one stone.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: I love it. The outfit, uniform. Can you see the mannequin behind me here?

Speaker C: No.

Speaker B: No.

Speaker A: Maybe it's cut off because we're doing a three way. Yeah, but there's a mannequin, so. I used to always think this is part of, like, Believe. Um, I love cartoons growing up. Batman and Superman and, you know, spider. Ah, man and all those guys. But when you go into Batman's underground base and when he's Bruce Wayne, he takes off his batsuit and puts it on a mannequin. And then when he's gonna go to fight, he puts on his batsuit and goes off and fights. And so, like, I want a mannequin. And so I got a mannequin and it's. It's wearing the believe.

Speaker B: But it's not one of the creepy. It's not one of the creepy mannequins. Right?

Speaker A: What's a creepy mannequin?

Speaker C: I don't know what a creepy mannequin is.

Speaker B: Like the. I don't know, the ones that you see in the store that actually kind of look like people, but they're older.

Speaker A: Well, there's no, there's no head on it.

Speaker B: That's good.

Speaker A: It's just a. It's like a fitting mannequin that I got it from a, um, dressmaker who she was using it to, like, put on dresses, but I guess she had. Because that's a man's outfit. So I guess she also was doing suits.

Speaker C: I don't think that was in department stores anymore.

Speaker B: Yeah, I don't think they do, but every time I hear the word Mannequin. That's what I think of it.

Speaker A: Legit scared me for the first two months. Months? I thought somebody was at your door. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I legit scared me, and then I got used to it. But just the idea of belief, it's like, hey, uh, back to big. Why? I'm trying to solve the world's biggest problem. People don't believe in themselves enough. I'm on a mission to try to do that. Every day I'm a. I, uh, tell myself I'm a superhero. Going to work. Right. At least that's who I want to be. And so create the environment that helps reinforce that for you.

Speaker B: So there's your batsuit on your.

Speaker A: I got to put my batsuit on. Exactly.

Speaker B: Yeah, you.

Speaker C: Sorry, go ahead.

Speaker B: Well, no, we have one more question, then we have to wrap up because we are running out of time. And you get the last question. Jeff, let's go.

Speaker A: Jeff, make it good.

Speaker C: So you talked about Enzo Ferrari and Bugatti. Where do you find what you want to listen to?

Speaker A: Well, I make it so, like, we do. We do a lot of videos profiling different entrepreneurs. And I do that for me because I want to. Because I'm curious and I want to learn. Most people don't know the story of Bugatti or Ferrari or some of these. I love history of entre. I don't love history history, but like, history of entrepreneurs. I love. I find it super fascinating. And so as I research and learn, I share. And thankfully, enough people like to watch that stuff too, that I can hire awesome editors and a team. So it's not just some random hobby that I have. And then when I find something that I like, I try to check out the channel more.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: If this is somebody's first time listening and he's like, man, Jessica and Jeb, they asked some wild questions. That was like a good vibe. If you feel good, as a result, you feel motivated to go do something in your life, your business, because of it. Cool. There's a couple hundred more episodes to go back and listen to.

Speaker B: Yeah, please do.

Speaker A: So that's how I think if, like, if I listen to one episode or something from some other creator that I really like, like, oh, man, that she asked great questions. Then I try to see what else has she done. And maybe that was just some random one off thing, or maybe she's actually got like years of a library that I can go and consume. But I think the most important part is that you're curating it, because most people wake up and they Just go to their phones before you even got out of bed, and you're, like, scrolling through whatever. Right. Stuff that just hits you, as opposed to, I have a believe walk uh, playlist that. Then that's what I load and I get out of the house listening to that. So if there's ever been a piece of content that gets you all fired up, motivated, ready to go do something more bold in your life, cool. Now curate that in the sources and make that part of your daily routine. It'll change your life.

Speaker B: I love it.

Speaker A: Love it.

Speaker B: Okay, so listen. Well, I didn't lie, but it is a question, so that wasn't really the last question. But we always ask our guests to leave our listeners with some. Something inspirational, some advice, like a little nugget for them to take away. So what will you gift them with today in terms of a little inspiration, a little advice?

Speaker A: I just say believe that someone out there needs you to stand up and play bigger. And whether that's. Start your podcast or Jeff's gonna write his book or whatever, the thing is that, you know, you don't have to believe you could change the world, but you can believe that somebody else out there needs you. You're built to serve. And so playing small isn't a, uh, good enough reason anymore. It's time to go.

Speaker B: Yeah, I love that. And, Evan, we need you. So thank you so much for coming on the show, and I'm so.

Speaker C: Thanks, Evan.

Speaker B: Yeah. So glad that you're doing what you', um, keep inspiring us. Thank you.

Speaker A: Thanks, guys. Thanks for listening to truthworks.