56 – Business Out of Adversity: Tom interviews Mike Domitrz

Episode 056 – Mike Domitrz
[00:00:09] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:25] Hey everybody it's Tom here with Episode 56 of screw the commute podcast let me tell you something in 1989. Mike Domitrz received a devastating phone call as he held the phone tightly to his ears. He simply could not believe what he was hearing it changed the course of his life. And most likely saved the lives of hundreds of people since then. Today you're going to hear his story just a reminder if you missed my last weekly Monday training session which was episode 55. It was on private label products. These are products you can simply buy and put your name on it. So don't tell me you can't develop products. So go back and listen to that episode if you missed it. Now today's sponsor is the distance learning school the Internet Marketing Training Center of Virginia. Don't even think about retraining yourself or sending your kids to college until you check out our webinar on higher education. I do not want you wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars and putting yourself and your kids under crushing debt. So we'll have that webinar in the show notes at screwthecommute.com/56 this is Episode 56.

[00:01:56] Let's bring on the main event Mike Domitrz and don't try to type it in that way folks you will never find this guy ever. His name is spelled in a different way. Leading organisations and educational institutions seek out his thought provoking programs to transform the culture in their organizations. And he's the author of Can I kiss you. No secret about that. And I'm thinking no no you can't. And he's the founder of The Date Safe project. He has been a featured expert on media outlets including lots of media outlets including Dateline NBC. So instead of asking you can I kiss you. Mike can you screw. The commute. Got to put that in there.

[00:02:54] Yes. You know it's so it's such an interesting interpretation right. What screw the commute means to so many different people. Because when you're doing what you love you may be traveling a lot. You may be on the road but it's not that commute that people are stuck in that rut.

[00:03:09] Yeah commute is more of a daily grind type of thing. I mean flying places and speaking and being a big shot and saving lives like you do is a whole different animal. And I was very serious when I said you most likely have saved lives that you don't even know about and I don't know if anybody tells you that. But I want to be one to tell you that because I've appreciated your work for many many years. So please tell everybody what it's all about though what I was referring to.

[00:03:44] Yeah what we do is we look at what culture has taught people throughout history of time when it comes to sexual intimacy and that is hey you just go for it. And if they don't want it they'll stop you. Well if you wrote that down on paper and said one person's sexual advances until the other one physically stops them most people would say that sounds like a predator and we've been taught to treat partners this way in sexual situations. So we're brought in to transform that and say what if it took a totally different approach to actually gave your partner choice before things happened so that they actually were fully into the choice. So in the educational world the military world we're out there teaching them how to intervene and is seem messed up situations on the organizational level companies corporations and even on the military cultural level. They're bringing us in to talk about respect at all levels not just sexual harassment but how you cut off somebody interrupt somebody you work with how you treat your colleagues your co-workers your superiors the basic level of respect and how to really transform into a culture that's founded on respect.

[00:04:46] Well are you are you okay with telling everybody what put you into this field in the beginning.

[00:04:53] Oh absolutely. And you referenced it in the opening there. Yeah I was a college student with no plans on doing this that's for sure. I was studying theater at the time I wanted to be an actor. And I received a phone call I just got back to my dorm room and there was a note that said actually it was a note to call home.

[00:05:10] And I called the home and my mom asked me if I was sitting down. And right away you're like oh no your mind goes to somebody has died. Weirdly enough like you're ready for that. Like your mind starts to say OK OK was it a grandparent. Was it an aunt. Was it an uncle. And you know it's not going to be easy but you're somewhat prepared for that. So when my mom said Cheri has been raped. And Cheri's the youngest of my sisters. You're not prepared for that. I was in shock. I was furious. I was enraged. I was hurt. I was crying. I mean you just you're just distraught. And and that's where the struggle began. Right at that moment and then what would happen over time is the the Predator was caught the rapist was caught convicted and I moved back home because I was struggling so much with trying to deal with this and not being near my sister near my family. So I transferred colleges to be home and then I heard a speaker on my campus and I thought I could do that. And this was that's where it all began. So it was the combination of my sister's strength and courage and being around her all those months and then hearing a speaker and realize I can do something with this anger with this frustration to try to make a positive impact.

[00:06:28] Right. And how is your sister doing now.

[00:06:30] Today Cheri's doing wonderful. She has. She's been married 23 years has five children. She's a swim coach an incredibly successful what she does and we're very very close our kids are close and we're close.

[00:06:42] Wow. Wow. So when you go out on these college campuses for the military everything don't you do scenario training somewhat.

[00:06:52] Yeah. So we do keynotes that can last anything from 45 minutes to 75 minutes for the most part. I also do really in-depth like full day training but for the most part we're known for our keynotes and we do bring people onstage and We roleplay a couple of times in the show which people don't expect for this topic. What it allows people to do is to see there's a possibility that's realistic and that they can implement their lives immediately. If you only talk theory people think well that's nice but but nobody's actually going to do that. If you get somebody on stage doing it then the whole room is like oh I could do that. So it changes the whole perception of what's actually realistic what's doable.

[00:07:29] Well what I was thinking of is you actually became an actor and a little bit of your career.

[00:07:36] Yes absolutely. And that's the role play. But you're right. I also do scenarios where I don't have people on stage and I'm playing out situations that take place and every now and then our friends come and go do you miss your theater days. I said every day I'm doing a one person show and I get to write the script.

[00:07:55] So you got to fulfill your dream in a little different way. It's always like Be careful what you wish for but it's the it's working out. Like I said I'm sure you have saved many lives in many traumatic experiences for people and you taught some potential perpetrators some things that maybe they decided not to do what they were going to do. That's really great.

[00:08:18] That is the cool part you actually do hear from people on both sides of this you hear some people who are survivors of the same day you realize helping me realize how strong I was. You also hear from people saying I now recognize what I have done or what I was taught as messed up. I want to do it anymore. So yeah it that is a part of this that makes us empowering to think. All right we can have this long term impact.

[00:08:40] Now did you ever have a job or did you start this company right out of college right in college.

[00:08:46] I started in college but I had to leave it because what happened was when I started it I was 21 years old and I looked 16 and I would tell you I'm exaggerating but I'm not exaggerating. And so people gave me no credibility. So I did a full time through college and then realized I'm not going to survive with the culture. Keep in mind as early 90s. Nobody was talking about this. And so I left it did it very here there and in 2002 somebody saw me doing it and said Why aren't you doing this full time. Somebody who's a good friend now. And they said the world has changed. This is needed and we literally sold the company I owned at the time overnight almost went bankrupt but just believe this is where we belong. And then it really took off over the next two years.

[00:09:38] So was there any time in between you just had to go work for a living to the keep the money coming in.

[00:09:42] Yes, so that's exactly what took place.

[00:09:44] So this is a good lesson for everybody on this thing because some of them are struggling with the business or thinking about starting a business. So you get to do what you're going to do. What did you do.

[00:09:55] Oh my gosh so the first thing I did as it worked in the commercial cleaning industry so when you drive by a business the people actually clean that place when it's closed they go and I and I would manage these large accounts. This company did hundreds of thousands square feet every day in cleaning and that's what I was doing I was going to companies are managing their cleaning crews. And then while doing that I also started working for a mobile deejay company. Right get that acting sode of me. And what would happen is I would leave the commercial claiming to start a large mobile deejay company of my own. So that was the first move back in entrepreneurism. And then while being a deejay I created this persona called Michael T star. This game show host they would teach team building through doing game shows and I got involved with media professionals international M.P.I. and there's where people told me. Have you ever thought thought about going into speaking full time. And I told them why try before they go you have to learn about NSA National Speaker Association that link to me which then opened the door in 2002 for me to come back to this full time. So it was it. And I did news. We had newspaper routes to survive.

[00:11:02] Good. I mean that's that's the most everybody who's been successful has done some stuff whatever it took. The people that don't have that in them just go get a job and they suffer and the rest of their lives.

[00:11:16] We did everything wrong. We saw that every traditional theory says to do. We stretched all of our credit just because we believe we're doing the right thing. So we we maxed out credit we were doing literally I did newspaper route then when I started travel Karen took my wife took up the newspaper route. We were at poverty level without a doubt for a few years there. We're 24 we got married. And we came back to doing this in About four years into that marriage. So we had little ones already. At that point I already had three kids. So five years we had four kids.

[00:11:59] So what would you say if they had been through all of this. Someone sit there in a cubicle thinking about I really want to do a job I want to do my passion. What would you suggest that they do.

[00:12:12] Well you know the biggest thing I hear people say is I want to run my own thing but I don't know what I want to do and what I'll always ask is Well what ticks you off like what really upsets you in the world. And if you can start telling me what that is and you have a potential solution to it. There's your there's your career. What people make the mistake of doing in my opinion is going where's the money. Well in 20 years the money might not be in that place that you're building this thing and that might not be there so your fault you're following the wrong path. If you're following something that solves a problem for the world you're always going to be able to help solve that problem. So what fires you up What ticks you off and then how are you going to get your solution out to the world. For me it was speaking.

[00:12:52] Yeah you're totally right about the thing might not even be there. But I heard somebody say don't worry if your child doesn't know what they want to be yet it may not have been invented.

[00:13:03] I love that. Well here's the thing Tom when I told people in 2002 that I was going to full time speaking on this topic the far majority said you might want to keep your day job. These are people in the industry. No no you don't want to do that. And in 91 when I started very few people were talking about this. Now people go oh you're on a hot topic. I'm like I've been on this topic for 27 years. And what's amazing is at every stage of it people said well you know in 10 years you're topics that nobody is going be talking about anymore. That's been said at every stage of what I've been doing. So be careful of the naysayers who say whatever you're going to solve isn't going to be a problem in ten years because it'll morph is what will happen and they'll still be problems related to it now has things changed since the metoo movement and all that stuff for you.

[00:13:54] No I don't think things are changed yet. I think there's a possibility that things will change. There is one change is taking place organizations and companies are having an awakening and they're recognizing they cannot. The ones who care about their culture and their people they're recognizing they cannot do the same old training they've got to bring somebody in that's going to transform the culture that can really rock the boat in a way that's safe but give you real solutions to everyday cultural transformation.

[00:14:23] Now have you ever gotten screwed in business since you've been in business.

[00:14:28] Well in what way. I mean there's a million ways that can happen.

[00:14:31] Has anybody not paid you or robbed and partnered with somebody that didn't come through or any of the number of things that can happen.

[00:14:40] You know I've been fortunate. We've had times. It took us 10 months to get payment. Yeah that's not fun. And ironically it's US government. Of course though you can't even do a whole lot like you don't have a lot of options. So we've definitely dealt with that and people go Oh it's it's one payment but it could be for a tour. When you did a percentage of your year. Yeah people don't realize what that's like to not have that there and to try to run a business and you have employees you have people you know that you pay. So I've definitely had that struggle before without a doubt. As far as partnerships I've been fortunate I've had my person that's my right hand person is my sister not now not the sister that I talked about that's a survivor right. My middle sister is who I brought on board to run my sales marketing she does everything related as a client to contracts and that's been an incredible partnerships in over the years. I've had some other people that we've been able to add on to help support the system and sometimes we have to let them go because where what's happening with the industry. But what we we've had some wonderful people along the way and of course we've had a few situations where you're like why we we misread that and it happens in any organization.

[00:15:54] Now thinking about that government contract that didn't pay for 10 months in some in some forms of business. I think it's called factoring. I'm not sure if that's the right term. But if you have a legitimate accounts receivable companies will front you the money for a percentage of it and take over the accounts receivable worries so that ever happens again. Or for anybody out there that's in that situation where they have a reputable entity that just takes a long time to pay. Sometimes you can. You can get that money fronted to you so you're not missing your bills for a year while the money comes in. So anything funny or bizarre crazy happened while you've been on the road.

[00:16:40] Which one do you want to discuss whether it's leaving your. You know your computer on an airplane to just all the ridiculous things you see. I was driving to a school the other day. I can't make this up. I'm coming behind a car with mattresses on the top and I'm thinking are those human parts. What's going on. And as I get closer a person is sitting outside the window of a car. All the bodies out except their legs holding the mattresses down sixty miles an hour. So the things we see travelling never cease to amaze me. But what I love is a sense of humor in my audiences. So today just today I posted a picture on Facebook of somebody from last night that took a picture of me while I was speaking and put it on Instagram and it looks like I'm standing in a praying position looking to the gods with my hands together. And the person captioned it he's praying that we finally figure out. No means no. So just yeah that's a great sense of humor right. You're like that is awesome. So it's having fun with you got to be able to laugh at yourself when we're on the road right now for me in this case. I'm on the road 20 out of 24 days. You got a laugh right.

[00:18:04] Oh yeah because every. Every second of the day is a potential disaster. You know make an airplane seat shorter. You're pretty tall. And there I heard another one of the airlines is reducing the size of the bathroom To get an extra seat in the plane. I think I could stand up in one now without hunching over.

[00:18:28] Oh yeah. Yeah your heads on the roof if you stand up.

[00:18:39] But yeah you got to keep the travel now you have to keep a sense of humor. If I leave the house and go the airport I just say you know what I'll do is going to read the. Whatever happens happens. Nothing is going to upset me. And I always leave a couple of days early. I'm not usually on the road for a long period. I'm usually going to one big event and coming home. So I go to three days early. So I'm not running through airports and if the plane's late. Who cares.

[00:19:07] This literally is my schedule every day for the past 15 days. Get up between 3 and 4 a.m. get on a flight between 5 and 6 a.m. landed by 11:00 a.m. Speak between 4 and 10 p.m. Get back up at 4 a.m. repeat cycle. I don't mind it. You could take care of you though that's critical you have to take care of you.

[00:19:34] That's the thing and that is tougher the road. So what do you like best about working for yourself. What's the worst part.

[00:19:40] Well what I love best is the the possibilities the freedom. I think the freedom is just priceless and that when you want to try something you can just try it. You know if you're in a large organization you need approval and it has to fit this and it has to fit that. But just to to for whatever you want to explore and know that that you have that is priceless. The difficult part is that when times are tough it's on you. There's the check doesn't come when you have a slow month versus if you work for someone you have a slow month unless you're all commissions. The checks still coming. There is some leniency towards that. There is no leniency when you run your own show. It's on you or it's on those you hire. But it's it's absolutely. That part is is tough. It's tough it's tough. It's tough on you it's tough if you're married it's tough on your partners or even if you got married you're a long term relationship because emotionally that's when everybody how we make it happen how are we going to pay the bills next month.

[00:20:40] Yeah we had Jim Edwards on recently and he said he spends last year's money today instead of spending next year's money today. Yeah the great a great quote because you know when times are good people say Oh it's great let's buy this let's buy that. Let's get a big fancy new car and everything. No you can't put that money away and be ready for these times because it's always you know I don't know any business that doesn't have cycles. I think there's a book about the cycles of business. So yeah you've got to you've got to watch that money.

[00:21:15] Now the other thing about running your own business is that when you're in your busiest year say you have a record year. Now I've learned this at this point in my career you didn't learn it when it was first happening. Next year is death because what happened was you were running so hard in the business that you weren't working on the business and therefore you weren't on top of making things happen for the following year. So that's really critical when you're running your own show as you have to be in the moment and ahead of the moment you have to always be in both. You can't be stuck in either or you have trouble.

[00:21:48] Yeah. Lot of people they get wrapped up with doing what they love but then the marketing goes to zero. That's why I teach people to recruit geeks and young kids to keep the marketing going while I'm doing the bigger stuff.

[00:22:02] Well yeah. And the other thing that a lot of people don't discuss is consistency is everything. So if you come up with a great idea to stay in touch but then you're sporadically do it. It's not a great idea. It's got to be consistent whether it's social media whether it's a new idea you have to launch consistency's everything took a long term for playing the long game.

[00:22:23] Consistency and persistency. Because some things don't work right off the bat. I mean the crazy eulogy book I wrote years and years and years ago. First month nothing. And then I said I shouldn't quit. This is valuable to people who's going to help people that are in distress and I kept after it and kept after it. Forty two thousand dollars a year for nine years straight. So but if I had just given up just an e book I'll throw it away it would have not helped. All these people and I wouldn't have got that money.

[00:22:56] Well and there's a flipside of that that you have the freedom when you're running your own business to quit. Quitting the right things. Is very smart to do so if you like all it is this new thing you get into. Like this is not me. This is there's nothing about this that is me I'm out. You have the freedom to do that. You cannot do that if I hire a company hires you for that role. You can't be like while this role doesn't really affect me. Give me a different role. No they'll say you're out. But now you're out without a check.

[00:23:24] You got it other role here unemployment line role. So what's the what's coming up with you. How could people work with you. You have products to sell to help them if they can't afford to hire you. How do they hire you. Tell us a little bit about what you have.

[00:23:39] Yeah we have options along all those lines so if somebody is looking to bring us in to talk with their organization and really shift that culture the easiest way to do that is to get me at Mikespeaks.com is a whole lot easier than Mike Domitrz. So Mikespeaks.com would be a great way to do that that corporations organizations. If somebody is looking for us for schools for military any of that they'll find at the same place they can go there and they can just hit the home page and go find all the options. If they're saying hey what if I want to learn from you. Well we have an online training center where people can learn how to discuss this topic it's specific to sexual assault. But where they can learn how to be better trainers on the topic of sexual assault at datesafeprojecttraining.org. It's also at mikespeaks.com so they'll find everything there. That's our online training center so tell us about your last name.

[00:24:38] I pronounce that right is that right.

[00:24:41] Yeah. Domitrz is absolutely correct. Nobody listening would spell it that way unless obviously my mom's listening which would be possible. It's Polish. So it's great cuz you know telemarketers in two seconds. You want fun bio reads when they don't read the bio that you gave them the intro that you gave them to speak to you tell them please read this intro which I spelled phonetically on there but they do their own or they slaughtered every time because they don't know they are looking at the spelling. There's no way to pull that off.

[00:25:28] Ok so we're got to take a brief break from our sponsor when we come back we're going to ask Mike what's a typical day look like for him and I'm afraid it's from 30,000 feet and how he stays motivated.

[00:25:39] Folks. You know what colleges and universities are doing and Mike might not like this because he speaks at a lot of schools. But according to gradeinflation.com. They're raising grade point averages. I don't know if you do this Mike to make it look like they're doing a better job of teaching when there's a mountain of evidence that they aren't. You've got to watch the eye opening higher education webinar at screwthecommute.com/56 that's what this episode is for Mike Domitrz to potentially save yourself and possibly your loved ones friends and neighbors hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt when they go for higher education. So check that out.

[00:26:22] All right let's get back to the main event. Mike you're on the road now. But it's not every day it's a typical day on the road look like I think you mentioned that a typical day when you're in the office.

[00:26:32] Typical day on the road. We did break there but literally I'll be up probably around 4:00 a.m. I'll be on a plane by 6:00 a.m. I'll land where I'm was supposed to be by 11:00 a.m. get to the hotel catch up on e-mail any of that kind of stuff that needs to be done if I'm not crazy crazy travel mode. I'll try to get a workout in but if I'm in crazy travel mode I'm not doing that to my body. You know I want to stress any more than it's already stressed.

[00:26:56] I mean is that a little risky to be flying one to the other to the other because there's so many delays and canceled flights.

[00:27:04] That's why you're on the first flight out. So if there are there's always a backup to that situation and every client of ours knows that that's what comes with hiring me because they understand schools want this now. They wanted to begin the year. So they all understand they're all in the same boat. You respect the fact that somebody wanted me the day before.

[00:27:22] You always book in late afternoon the evening then so that the buffer.

[00:27:27] Ok. That's right. I don't start speaking till 4:00 o'clock. Yep. So then then I drive into the campus by 2:00 or 3:00 I'm there before I can get done usually between eight thirty and nine thirty p.m. Back to the hotel get to sleep at 11 back up at 4:00. So that that's the travel day. That's what it looks like. Now if I'm home we're in a whole different world. So if I'm home I'm getting up and I'm going out around sunrise if I'm up that early and I'm going out on the lake. I live on a small lake and I'm going to my kayak I'm rolling out and going out to Middle Lake and there's no one on the lake and I've been meditating for 20 minutes in complete silence out in the middle of the lake. That that's how I start my day. Then I'll come in I'll bike to my trainer my personal trainer. I'm in Wisconsin.

[00:28:23] This is the fun part. So until the lake freezes over. I'll dress warm and go out of my kayak. Once it freezes over then I'll do my meditation inside. That's the only difference but I I'll do I'll go out and ice skate. And now I'll plow the ice so I can ice skate. So I still love to be outside I think outside just makes a huge difference for our minds.

[00:28:47] And I didn't do this because I didn't live in this environment until the last year. But this has been huge. So and then I biked three to five days and biking to my trainer doing a workout and then go on for a long ride a bike ride home and then I have my breakfast or my day starts at 9 or 10 when I'm home so that I can put myself in the right place and allow myself to recover because I run this crazy schedule so much the year I have to allow my mind and my body to just be away and rejuvenate. So but if it's a workday then I'll start at 9 or 10 a.m. and I'll do all my creative stuff until 2:00 or 3:00 o'clock by sunset I want it done so I can be outside enjoying we face the sunset. So I want to enjoy that sunset every night.

[00:29:30] How old are the kids now when is the family time.

[00:29:36] Yeah well that's a nice part about when you're at home you're at home. So I when I was running this crazy schedule and my kids were in school I shut down specific days of the week so I was always at their events. So I'll give an example every Monday in September which is a busy busy time of the year for us. I did this first time I've spoken Mondays in September and in 15 years probably because my kids were in high school sports and stuff and I didn't allow it. Now all my kids are out of high school were empty nesters. So that changes all of that but I've coached all my kids in their sports. I've been at least half their high school sporting events. I was very strict and regimenting my schedule and what I would allow myself to be booked. So that family absolutely kept its priority.

[00:30:19] That's great because a lot of people. We had another well you might know her Caroline de Posada.

[00:30:27] Oh I know Caroline.

[00:30:28] She put us back together after all these years. You know she's always talking about the way her dad when he was on the road get in touch with her with postcards and she cherishes them to this day since he's gone. I don't have kids so I got dogs to take care of. One topic before I let you go I want to ask you about as you're clearly emerged at least in part of your career and the college speaking world. And there's been lots of people trying to teach this that you know other about college speaking. Give us a little bit of the real world of college speaking getting booked getting paid and all that kind of stuff.

[00:31:09] Well it's really going to depend on your topic. And as far as how somebody approaches that world. Because if you're looking to be a speaker who is right in the mid range of all other speakers and you just want to be really entertaining though you'd go to these college conferences called NACA which is National Association for College Activities or NACA. You go to these you'd get a 15 minute showcase and you'd hope a lot of people would book you because you're in the medium range you hit where everybody needs to be. That's one version. Then there's the the subject matter expert that you're known for being the expert in that area or one of three or five. Yeah we're one of you know there's a handful they have been doing what we've been doing for the amount of time we've been doing and none of us do it the same. So we are unique to them they're unique to themselves and we're in it. I'm not going to those conferences because the people who are going to book me are deeply passionate about solving the problem. They're not just looking to book a speaker. They want impact and they're willing to do what it takes to get that get that program into their campus. So we have campuses that take two three years to get the funding but they're determined to do it. And then once they get it they make sure they get it every year because there's no way they're not going to let next year's class get with this year's class got. And so for me I love that because I'm getting to work with people who care deeply about what we're doing versus somebody who's going there's a stage. Go do your thing and walks out. Doesn't care how it goes doesn't care for it impacts their community. I want to work with people who care about their culture and their community.

[00:32:38] You probably repeat bookings a certain time of year that they have you like as soon as school starts.

[00:32:45] Yes so starting a week and a half ago I will go almost nonstop through October except in mid September through October I'll take weekends off. But yeah they all want colleges want it early because they want to make sure that they have these skill sets before something happened to get early as possible. So with my topic they care deeply about getting it and soon. So that's the college world. But then the rest of the year the military and corporations and organizations are taking up the dates.

[00:33:13] So does anybody else do this program for you or on your behalf or is it all you.

[00:33:18] It's all me.

[00:33:20] So have you considered....

[00:33:22] Yeah. And our clients have made it clear they're not fans of me going that route.

[00:33:30] No way to go twice as big if you can't get the dates in.

[00:33:36] That's correct. But there's here's why we could do that. Maybe down the road there's two reasons I wouldn't do it right now. On my topic it's highly sensitive. And if somebody from that stage says one word wrong. They can do incredible harm incredible harm. So I cannot just hire speakers I cannot just hire actors or performers. I actually have to hire subject matter experts. Who then I can train to be at that high level of a presenter who have to care about both the presentation skill level personally themselves as they do the subject. If that match were to happen I would need to bring somebody aboard who would love to do that. Just build that part of the organization.

[00:34:18] The hard part is that if we got somebody with that high a skill level they'll just do it themselves.

[00:34:22] We're known for we're known for being the top of the line as far as you know what you're going to get no matter what happens it's going to be it's going to go well to be able to handle it. They're gonna ace that situation no matter what heckler's in that audience. You can't guarantee that when you start scripting people and they don't have the actual expertise.

[00:34:44] So I'm sure this question has got half the answer done because you have an intrinsic motivation. Because what happened in your life but how do you stay motivated on a daily basis. Are all that heavy duty travel and I know you keep a good sense of humor but how do you stay motivated.

[00:35:05] Meditation. And now nowadays even journalling really helps me. Yeah because what I have found since I started journaling is every day I'm evaluating my thoughts and where it's at. So if you see your thoughts going negative when you're writing it you'll notice it like you're like oh I'm being negative right now. Where's the gratitude and what's going on. And so suddenly I'm writing the gratitude and allows me to shift. We're going to have those moments in those days and those times. So it allows you to shift your thought in your mindset right there. So for me that's been really powerful. I'm journaling just about daily. Some days I'm journaling for five minutes other times I'm journaling for two hours on a flight. It just depends on where my inspiration is at that moment where my mind going. And it's not always journaling about my thoughts it could be an idea I have and I'm writing nonstop about a business idea that we're doing with that. That makes a huge difference for being able to really keep yourself inspired. Now here's another thing I do Tom that's incredibly important for me. I am an extrovert which means I get energy from the rest of the world. And so I've created systems in place for my audiences to communicate with me instantly during my program as we're concluding so every day I walk off the stage I can open up my phone and see everybody's comments to me. A thousand people log into the system and I can see them all. That's unbelievable inspiration because every day I get somebody saying something that just blows my mind about what our program just did for them. And you're like oh my gosh. I use a system called Kiwilive.com. Jeff Mason owns it and Jeff has great customer service and some people go Well why don't you just use Survey Monkey. Here's why When I send them to my Web site it automatically updates which surveyed they're seen based on the day of the event the time of the event. And what I've set up so I don't have to worry about having a different I create a survey and the date and time just what they see. For responses, I can go on to kiwilive.com. I export them or I can look at them live from the Web site on my phone. But I can export them and show the client all the impact. So I get the impact and the client gets the impact keeps me inspired keeps them wanting to bring us back because they see the results they're like we can't beat these results.

[00:37:47] That's excellent. So any parting thoughts for our screwballs we call them screwballs so they're thinking they want to be in business and they want to take their business to the next level.

[00:37:58] You know my parting thought was if you want to do it I don't understand what you're still doing not doing it. I mean that's the truth if you're listening right now on. Well want to do this if you're going to come you don't want to do it I'm willing to go what have you done. You've got to you've got to take a step. You're not going to take the step you're going to be having the same conversation in your head. A year from now 10 years from now and 20 years. Take a step I'm not saying you have to build the whole thing take a step and then take one more step take another step but take a step.

[00:38:33] That's probably some of the best advice we've had on here. You've got to do something folks. Some survey said that ninety eight percent or more of people in the corporate world would want their own business but virtually none of them do anything about that. So hopefully people listen this will do something about it. Well Mike you're doing great work in the world. Just just know that a lot of people that maybe you never thought of appreciate it. And I have to remind you about You probably have saved lives. It's not even a probably there's an absolute You have saved lives and very few people on this show or any kind of show you know doing business and yeah we're making money but we're not saving lives. So I appreciate that and I know the people listening will too. So thanks so much for taking the time to visit with us and I hope you come back soon.

[00:39:29] Well thank you Tom when your words mean the world to me so thank you very much.

[00:39:32] My pleasure. Now folks listening if you're new to podcasts we got instructions on how to rate and review and subscribe at screwthecommute.com everything we talked about today including the full transcript will be at screwthecommute.com/56. So check out all Mike's stuff you ever need a speaker on this topic. You better get on his schedule because the guy is busy and he's great. So catch y'all on the next episode.

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