Ep 49: American Ninja Warrior’s Only Host and Competitor, Alex Weber

As the only person to host and compete on American Ninja Warrior, Alex Weber knows a lot about storytelling and competition. He joins Julia Landauer on this week’s episode of If I’m Honest, talking about his journey from D1 Lacrosse player to entertainment host and competitor to keynote speaker. Rooted in grit, perseverance, diligence, and persistence, Alex explains how he trains for American Ninja Warrior, what he calls “fear training,” and how to minimize fear. Julia and Alex compare American Ninja Warrior obstacles with SURVIVOR obstacles and discuss what it’s like to come off the high of being in the zone for competition or performance. Alex also shares how he got involved in keynote speaking, how he prepares and assesses his performance, and shares the fun and creative way he found his style of speaking.

Learn more about Alex Weber at https://www.imalexweber.com and follow him at @imalexweber.

Learn more about Julia Landauer at https://julialandauer.com/

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello everybody, and welcome back to another episode of If
I'm Honest with Julia Landauer. I reached out to today's
guest after we were both speaking at a keynote event
and I missed his talk, but I heard incredible things
and I got to look him up and was just
so impressed with his backstory. So Alex Weber is our
guest today on If I'm Honest with Julia Landauer, and

(00:25):
Alex is an international keynote speaker, award winning host for NBC.
He's a competitor on the Emmy nominated series American Ninja
Warrior and author of the book fail Proof Become the
Unstoppable You. But Alex also knows what it feels like
to hit challenges, self doubt, uncertainty, and failures and how
you can overcome them. Alex gives his system to be
a powerful leader, ignite positive culture, and accomplish your biggest

(00:49):
goals in your career, your relationships, and your life. We
got to talk about everything from the competitive backgrounds that
we have him on the sport of American Ninja Warrior
and my racing, and of the synergies and similarities pre
competition rituals, how we train, how we get into it.
We then shifted gears and talked about our speaking careers,
everything from how you craft a story to how you

(01:10):
get into the weird industry that is keynote speaking, and
the high that we feel when we get off of
the stage, and how we are constantly trying to figure
out how we can improve and evolve. And then we
talk about a little bit the business side of speaking,
what he's looking forward to in the coming months. And
this was just so great, so much energy. I can

(01:32):
only imagine the amount of energy he brings to the stage.
And I hope that you enjoy this episode. Alex, thank
you so much for joining me on. If I'm honest
with Julia Landauer.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Thank you for having me. I'm pumped to be here.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
So for our listeners, we have not actually met in person,
but we are in the speaker world. And the other
month we were both speaking at a really awesome event
out in Denver and we had just missed each other.
For me, it was a really quick fly in one night,
fly out the next day. But I was so interested
by Alex's story. You heard it in the intro, So Alex, first,

(02:05):
can you tell me how one becomes the host of
and then contested on American Ninja Warrior. Is that the
order that I have correct?

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, yeah, talk to me, talk to me. And it
is so awesome to see you. People were raving about
your talk and that event. Cindy and the entire team
there at HDI just they crush it.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
So they really do. Yeah, real quick side note, like
for people who get on stage or do speaking events, like,
I love all my clients and it's always fun to
engage with an audience, but when a client puts on
such a high tech event, like with a full on
led stage and like all of the tools that a
speaker can want, like confidence monitor and timer, and you

(02:47):
know when it's just when they make our job easy,
it makes I feel like the presentation that much more
fluid and so it's just really big. It's a luxury
as a speaker.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, one hundred percent, and just the energy and uh
and truly everyone was raving about your talk, so uh,
pup to learn more about you as well. And you
know my journey with American Ninja Warriors. So it's it's
a funny thing because there's and I know you know
this in your own journey, there's like layers. So it's like,
how deep do you go in? Do you go from

(03:21):
when I left playing college lacrosse and doing finance and
took a leap of faith and moved to LA to
do entertainment, How far.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Do you go?

Speaker 2 (03:28):
But really, what it was was I got hired as
a host, and that, at that time in my life
was the biggest dream. I played college across, I did
sports my entire life, and then society told me I
was a former athlete. Oh you played D one lacrosse.
You're a former athlete. How cool. I'm like, Oh, I
guess I'm a former athlete. That kind of crushes my

(03:51):
soul when you say that, but I guess that's who
I am.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
I appre we can get into that too, because like
the shifting and moving on from that identity as the
full time athlete. Oh my god, Okay, we've got even
more to talk about.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Sorry, continue, Yes, well, I love that because I think
you nailed it, the shift, And it's because that part
of us doesn't go away. It's just where do we
channel it. And I've had seasons of my life where
I've channeled it to bad things because I didn't know
where to put it. So I put that energy into
things that didn't weren't really good, but I didn't know
what to do. And then American Ninjaw Worry was so incredible,

(04:24):
so I really took a leap of faith. I went
after TV hosting and I never forget this, but I'm
giving a slightly longer answer.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Because that's okay.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
We can geek out on this stuff, because I know
you can get it because of where you've risen to
in your sports, in your career. I got my first
TV hosting agent after I went to a casting director
workshop because I literally was like, hey, I think I
could do hosting. I wasn't very good at acting, or
at least I felt like I was pretending to be

(04:55):
people and they're like no, next, I'm like, great, do
you validate parking? Okay, I'm out of here. And so
I followed up this casting director. I went to her
workshop and she said, hey, I think you'd be good
at hosting and I'm like, awesome, Like this is just
me how I am with my friends. She's like, I'm
gonna get you an agent. That was huge, and then
I wrote her a message the next day she didn't respond.

(05:17):
It was Facebook messenger a couple days later, Hey, just
seeing if you saw this. She didn't respond. Something went
off in me where I'm like, I'm gonna follow up
with this person until the end of time, and so
I wrote her a message every single week for fifty
two weeks, like literally, happy Flag Day, Happy July fourth,
hope you had a great Easter. And then on the

(05:38):
fifties second week, literally she goes, Alex, I've set you
a meeting with this agent, and that just like kind
of triggered into me of positive perseverance, of just like,
if you really want something, stay at it, be polite,
you know, come with appreciation. Anyways, the first real job
that I got hired for was NBC American Ninja Warrior.

(05:58):
So it literally felt like going from farm League, you know,
out in the routes to now on this like huge
stage in Kent, Weed and the entire team in American
and Joy are freaking awesome. So just the short version
of it was I was hired as a host. My
job was to be this goofy guy. Hey, here we
are in Oklahoma City, here's all the best athletes. Look

(06:20):
at how crazy these obstacles are. And then they thought
it'd be fun if I got up there and just
failed for everyone's entertainment. So did that for the first
year and then on a dime. And this is what's
been really relatable to audiences. My bosses and I get it.
It's you get it's entertainment, it's creative. They came to
me the go Alex, we want to go in a
new direction. You need to be good at this sport. Now.

(06:43):
I was like, okay, I'm sorry, what's this And so
literally now my dream job in the balance because it
wouldn't be hard. They could just go find someone else,
maybe a past competitor, you know. So now I'm like,
if Alex, if you want to keep this job, you
got to get good at this impossible sport. Right. That
is really where so much of now what I speak on.

(07:05):
It was just such a pressure cooker for it because
I ended up really clocking in and we can unpack that.
But for a year I just was like, Alex, all right, man,
like you got to do this and started as beyond
a beginner and worked my way up to we won
an award for end BC I still have it all

(07:26):
and became a competitor, so the only person to ever
host and then compete on the series.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Well, that is such a cool legacy to have. And
I guess, you know, I'm curious because I've seen the show.
I haven't watched it religiously, but I've seen it. It's
a really good go to for like when you're on
the road, like it's just then as the competitor in me,
it's always fun to watch and to root for the
people who look like the underdogs. I think it's kind
of my go to. But how do you even best

(07:52):
prepare for those kinds of like challenging obstacle, Like is
that the proper term or.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, And that's such I love that question too. And again,
I was so excited to do this because of just
the level that you've been at in your sport. I
know that you get all the intricacies of it, and
you know, I think what was really interesting was I
was an All American Division one lacrosse player, I'd won
US Lacrosse Coach of the Year, and then I was
now a beginner, and so that was this really stark

(08:23):
experience for me. But I realized, like, okay, Alex, like
either way you're a beginner. You can either bring in
all your ego and your judgments and still be a beginner,
or you can bring in humility and hunger and be
a beginner. And I'm like, all right, yeah, I get it,
Like that's the way to do it. And so like
my motto was, wherever the best people are training, that's

(08:45):
where you need to be. Because what I did in
the beginning was, and I think this happens with a
lot of people, I kept it at this safe distance.
So I would go to my comfortable gym, LA Fitness
or Equinox, and wherever I was at the gym, and
I'd be okay, they seem to have strong upper bodies.
Let me do a lot of pull ups. And really,
what I was doing, and this happens with a lot

(09:05):
of us, is we have this big dream and we
take this first step that's kind of small, and we
keep the dreams still over there at a distance. And
what I learned is like, the dream is still going
to be daunting whether you are at this distance or
whether you're in the heartbeat of it. But the variable
is how much fog is around it. Because for me,

(09:26):
when I would just go train on my own, it
was still this mystical thing. But when I went and
I was like, all right, that's the best American INJA warrior,
and thank you to them for being so welcoming. When
I was training with them, I sucked and it was frustrating,
but at least I was like, Okay, they can do
one hundred of this thing. I can't do one. But
at least I know what's going on.

Speaker 1 (09:48):
Now you know what your roadmap is, that's exactly.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
And then you know, this is what's just so cool
is if you really do clock in and you have
humility and you learn from people, then you get this
incremental growth and you're like, whoa hold on, I'm nowhere
near where I want to be, but I'm starting to
get some momentum.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
I'm starting to get Yeah, no, totally. So getting into
the nitty gritty of the training. So obviously the competitions
are a collection of different activities and obstacles and stuff.
So are you how do they break down the training?
Is it like certain strength training? Is there endurance training?
Like for racing, for instance, we have you know, if

(10:27):
you're racing for several hours on end, you have a
combination of core and next strength that needs to be disciplined.
You have heat training that you have to do. You
have sprints that you have to do, you know, and
there's like specific you know, it's not like necessarily bulky muscle,
So there's there are unique things that we do to
train to best be prepared for the car. So how
do you break down the types of training you do

(10:48):
for American Ninja Warrior.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
It's so cool and I love that and I want
to geek out with you on like neck and core
and heat training. That's so cool.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
Shout out to the iron Neck for the really cute
contraption that we used to Yeah, the iron neck. That's
like you know, the trainer can like shake it to
simulate vibrations or you can just do resistance turning. Yeah,
it's ok.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
And and this sounds I mean, this pops up. And
I think there's such a correlation with American Ninjuoyor and racing.
I mean they're both racing, right mm hmm, dial um hmm,
with like fear training like that was part of it too,
because bad things happen when you're hesitant.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
That's when bad things happen.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
You got a percent, you know, and so I imagine,
I mean you've had the sport in your life for
a long time. But there was probably a point where
you really had to push through that fear.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
Oh yeah, that's something I talk about on stage all
the time. And like to your point like that, you know,
if you decide you're going to do the thing that's scary,
you owe it to yourself to give yourself that best
shot and commit one hundred percent. Because if you don't
commit one hundred percent and it doesn't work out, you're
going to be that much more hesitant to try it again.
You're not giving yourself that fair analysis of how it works. So, yeah,

(11:56):
we are on the same page with that.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
The honest base, you don't know what you've got, and
I find that, I mean that's in all areas of life.
But you asked about the different categories of training. The
three and now four that come to mind that we're
really is one is, yes, you have to build up
your strength because that is the that's the tool that
you're using in this. But then the second one is mental,

(12:23):
meaning you just have to like I would just call
it time in the gym, or really I would say
time on obstacles because the sport is ever changing. It's
super cool like that, it's always creative, and it's very
collaborative because these gyms have grown now massively. In this
next generation, people are always trying things that it happens

(12:44):
so fast with social media that someone will try something
late night in the gym to see if they can
do it. Then they did it and they posted it,
and now the rest of niningenation is trying to do it.
And because these athletes are fe freaking good fast forward
a week, a two weeks, now, this thing that didn't
even exist is now like, oh, you got to be
able to do this, So that informs also these creative obstacles.

(13:08):
The obstacles. You don't know the obstacles until you get there,
so the ones that decides your fate, your dream, you know,
all this you don't know until an hour before when
you're doing the walkthrough, So time on obstacle and that's
just experience, right because then you're like, okay, I'd never
seen this obstacle, but it's kind of like this mixed

(13:29):
with this, so you just kind of have that mental side.
And then the third is the art part of it.
Like all sports, I always say, there art not science.
Yes they're scientific, of course, there's metrics and use your body,
but you really watch any of the best athletes in
any sport and they're artists. They just are. And so

(13:50):
that third part, I would just say is knowing the
craft and knowing how your body moves and knowing how
these stuff works. So those are the three and the
fourth that I'm really realizing with you now is that
fear training. Something that was so nutty in the beginning
was I mean I always was like a feet on
the ground kind of guy. And I had this buddy

(14:10):
Steve I remember growing up where he was always cliff
jumping and climbing, climbing trees, and You're like, that's crazy Steve,
but that's not us.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
Then now I'm doing this sport where everybody's crazy Steve
and it's normal. Like if you go get lunch with people,
I'll never forget this. Like we got dinner and then
after dinner we're literally like climbing on buildings and like
climbing on lambs all this and the style yeah, truly,
and it's it's it's because it's fun and it's a

(14:38):
jungle gym, and it's a way of viewing the world.
And in the beginning I didn't do it because I'm like,
that's not me, And then I'm like, well, it could be.
And why I say this is there was some moments
I'll never forget very early on in Ninjo Warrior, where
like you're climbing on things very high up, especially like

(14:58):
if you're not in the gym or on the competition
or in life, climbing a building or a tree or
a lamppost. And I'll never forget one of the ninja
said to me because I was like really freaking out.
He's like, do you have faith in yourself? Like? Do
you if we had mats underneath this, could you hold
onto this? Yeah? I could? Okay, why are you so nervous?
And so? Yes? Of course there's degrees to that, but

(15:19):
I think that's very powerful because it changes the focus
from like, oh my gosh, look at all this exterior
noise and what ifs and fears to do you have
faith in yourself? Do you have faith in your abilities?
We'll focus on.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
That, mmmm totally, so do you have? Or Something that
I also talk about and something that I've realized with
my own racing and then off track as well, is
that kind of fear physically manifests itself in my body
certain ways, and so there are things that I do
to try to minimize those physical symptoms to try to
get me into the best kind of like central nervous

(15:53):
system neutrality in a sense. So do you have similar
things that like you kind of do to is the
symptoms of fear?

Speaker 2 (16:01):
Do you mind if I ask what is? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I can feel when I'm I'll
put nervous and scared in the same category, although I
know that they're different. But like before a race, I'm
definitely nervous, not so much scared, but I start to
feel anxious in a way that makes me a little
jittery hearts racing, like typical things. And what I found

(16:23):
very early on in my racing career is that if
I did a little sprint before the race, cool and
it was because I was late getting to the grid
and I had to go to the bathroom. So I
sprinted to the bathroom. Then I sprint it to my car.
But it made me still feel nervous, but that negative
edge of nervousness was gone. And so I now sprint
before every race. You know, I can't sprint before a keynote,

(16:45):
and I do get a little nervous before keynotes because
I care, and I want the audience to find it valuable.
And I know how I want I know how I
want to perform the best, and so like I'll do
some deep breathing stuff to help kind of calm those nerves.
It's really the deep breathing and then the of activity
to help calm me down.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
I love that you're sparking. I've kind of like, I
have two answers to this, because you're you're bringing them
both out. I played in a lacrosse game yesterday. I'm
in a lacrosse league here and it's it's a really
good league. And I've had this experience with Ninja Warrior
and in lacrosse and really any and what I found

(17:25):
and it's kind of like what you talked about with
the sprinting I'm in. I call it sloth mode. And
maybe that's me and me being a little hard on myself,
but it's also my like critique of the world. I'll
show up to these big athletic things, training for American
Ninja Where or playing this really big lacrosse league, and
I'm like, oh, Alex, you're in email mode, You're in
sitting in your chair mode, You're in You're in sloth

(17:46):
mode and like we need something to get you into
warrior mode, athlete mode, and this is primal, So this
isn't you know. And so I figured out in lacrosse
it's like I need to like get in it and
same and nin warrior. It would take me like the
first half of training to get out of sloth mode.
And the thing is is like, I'm not seventeen years

(18:08):
old when I you know, as I've been doing this sport,
and so I I and what I realized is like,
you can't afford to lose an hour getting in and
so exactly what you said front loading and just like
coming in hot, like coming in intense to just spark
everything up. And then there's such scientific visceral benefits to

(18:29):
getting it out of your head. You're ramping up your body,
you're getting like the blood flowing, and so with that,
and then in speaking, I found and I love this
because we both come from the athletic environment. I had
an acting teacher once look at me and before I
did an acting well, he knew about my athletic background

(18:50):
and he goes, you're like a horse in the in
the like in the stall before a race. And I
think that's what happens with us as athletes because we've
had so many years of like, Okay, now it's go time.
And so now that we're doing something that's more artistic,
which I would say kenot speaking is more artistic or creative,

(19:12):
that quality is still there. But I've I really love
it because I definitely do have what maybe would look
to someone else as a little bit crazy like leading
up to it, like I'm definitely like in my own
world as I'm sure you are too. But I love
those moments because it's because we care about this and

(19:33):
we want to do our best. And yeah, we are
getting a little fired up and nervous and focused. And
I guess the last thing I'll say on that is
my relationship with nerves has changed. Where it used to be,
especially in college, across so overpowering that I would change
who I was because of it, and now I've tapped

(19:55):
into more of Okay, this just means I care, and
this just means there's a lot of energy, let's channel it.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
That's beautifully said. Oh I relate to that so much.
We're going to take a quick break, but we will
be right back with Alex Weber. We are back on
If I'm Honest with Julia Landauer with our guest Alex Weber,
we were just talking about kind of the pre competition

(20:25):
period being in the zone, and a few episodes ago,
I looked into the psychology of pre race rituals and
the importance of them or pre competition rituals, and you know,
one of the things that I learned was that a
reason that rituals are so important important for performance is
that they kind of create familiarity, especially if you're an athlete,

(20:47):
let's say that's constantly moving to different physical locations, and
so that familiarity helps kind of center you to compete.
Do you find that the well one is American Ninja
war traveling it is, right? Yeah? Yeah, So do you
find the traveling nature of American Ninja Warrior to be

(21:09):
a challenge? Is it something that doesn't really affect you
anything like that. No.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
I mean, one thing that was a blessing of it
was as I was really ramping up for competing one year,
it was also doing speaking and that was challenging. But
I realized, actually, this is a great thing because now, okay,
there's a speaking event in Philadelphia. Let me find out
where the nearest, Ninja Warrior gym is and now I'm

(21:37):
going in and then the culture and community is so
supportive and welcoming. So I could just go to any
gym and now it's like every gym has their like
marquee obstacles and newness and things that they're training on.
So by nature of that, it was like, Okay, now
I'm in Columbus, Ohio. Right, Wow, here's all this other

(21:58):
new stuff that I don't know what to do with.
Here's the Philly ones and the Atlanta ones. And so
because of that, it really helped me with getting over
the newness part of it. And I think a lot
to your point, Ninja Warrior is like you're flinging off things,
you're grabbed, like I really realize you gotta warm up
and stretch, fire up the muscles. And that, to your point,

(22:25):
was a good experience of Okay, now we've begun. You know,
as you're doing this fifteen minute it's not a ton
of time, but fifteen minute warm up of just like
really it's very intentional things though it's kind of meditative.
You know, you're doing these very like you know, muscle movements.

(22:45):
It was a good spark of Okay, now we've begun.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
Right right now, that's so interesting. And the warm up
is also as you get older, even more important. I
gotta do it. I have to do even just like
going for a run now like go three month run,
like it requires a lot more warm up. So I
was on the show Survivor, and Survivor has a lot
of those kind of physical obstacle course challenges, and so

(23:10):
when I think back to my season, I had a
favorite obstacle which was basically we had to run across
pontoons and they were just in the water, and then
we had to swim to this platform where we then
had to climb this like pyramid ladder and then you
get a paddle or something, and then you had to

(23:30):
like run off the boardwalk thing and like wow, jump
like six feet out and hit a tile that was
hanging and that if you broke the tile, it released
a key. You fall a lot of feet into the
water and then you have to swim it back. So
that was one of my favorite obstacles. Do you have
a favorite obstacle that you have done on American Ninja Warrior?

Speaker 2 (23:53):
I mean so many, I'll the one that really comes
to mind and it's because of what was going on
with it too. This was that season where at right
before the season, they said, Alex, you gotta be good
at this sport. We'd film every two weeks, so it
was almost like I would h get like check ins.

(24:15):
And in the beginning I was failing on all these
and then and then as we progressed, Okay, well, now
I got two more weeks to train as hard as
I could. Okay, now here we are in Oklahoma City. Nope,
still failing. And I and I talk about this. I
would splash in the water and I'd look over and
I'd see my bosses huddling up, and I'm like, are
they talking about me? Like is this it?

Speaker 1 (24:35):
Like?

Speaker 2 (24:35):
Am I getting get fired?

Speaker 1 (24:36):
Like?

Speaker 2 (24:36):
This is my this is my dream job, you know?
And Okay, we got two more weeks and uh. This
all led up to we were filming our season finale
at the National Finals. So they at this time they
would travel in different cities. You'd compete different cities regionals,
and then the best of every region would come and

(24:58):
descend upon Vegas, the best American Ninjia Warriors on the
National Finals course. So when we filmed our season finale,
the producer at the time came to me, like, Alex,
we're gonna get one shot for our series for you
to go on the national finals course. This is the
toughest obstacle course. Like this isn't just the regional one.
Now we're on the toughest obstacle course and with this
really dynamic which means you're gonna fling in the air

(25:20):
a lot obstacle and we're gonna get one shot with
all the TV cameras to shoot this for our series.
And like that was it. And it was just one
where I'm like, Alex, this is a just who are you? Moment?
Like this is just this is it? Like this is it?
And it was this obstacle called the Double Dipper and
there was some really cool technical pieces of it and

(25:41):
you had to fling in the air and fly in
the air, which was so contrary to all of my
life beliefs about myself leading up to this. And I'm
so high in the air and the stands are packed
and the athletes and the cameras and I got it.
And that I was talking with a great buddy of

(26:02):
mine after who his name's the island Ninja Grant McCartney,
huge personality on the show, and we were talking about
just like when you just need it, you know, you
just need it to prove to yourself and to prove
because just like in racing, like there's a lot of rejection,
there's a lot of falling short, there's a lot of
you know, and then sometimes you just like you need
this one to re ingrain to yourself yes, like yes

(26:25):
I can do this, Yes, this is who I am.
And especially the stakes and so spent so much to
get that and that and after that is when we
won the Best Series award and uh so that was
really cool.

Speaker 1 (26:37):
That is really cool. So when you're going through those
obstacle courses, I assume you kind of end on a
high like rose of if you did really well or
if it didn't go the way you want, like the
whole experience of being in the zone and competing, and
then like you have this high, what's the come down
like for you?

Speaker 2 (26:54):
Gosh, I mean, I got to ask you that one too.
I don't have an answer for that. Even yesterday I
played to look cross game and I was revved up
for like seven hours after right and after speaking. I
find it the funniest contrast in the world right into that.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
Yeah, I mean because and I asked this question because
partially I I've worked with a communications coach. She helped
me with my TEDx talk, which is how I started
my keynote speaking career. And we'll get into that later,
but I worked with her again the other year just
to revamp, you know, like ten years later, let's do
a revamp. And she talked about how when she gets
done speaking, she tries to like come down off that

(27:33):
high really quickly. And she asked me what I do
to do that, and I was like, I don't, Like
I love the feeling of the speakers higher, the competition high,
and you know, I don't do drugs, but I get
why people would, because it's just like it's so great
to be in that mental space and you're feeling on
top of the world. And so I just let that
live as long as possible. And what I find is

(27:55):
like speaking, by the time I get back to my room,
or if I to travel out right away, I start
to kind of get come back down to earth, but
I just float in that feeling of feeling incredible, Like
it just feels so good to know that you to
one to make that human connection if it's a speaking thing,
you know, make that human connection. If the audience is engaged,

(28:16):
it's really incredible you feed off their energy. Or if
it's competition, like putting your heart and soul into something
is such an incredible privilege to have. And I think
being able to get into the zone in whatever you're
doing is a privilege because it means you just get
to one dimensionally focus on this thing, and that's so cool.
It is so cool. So I don't try to come

(28:37):
down off the high. But I also don't feel that
it bothers me. Once it's gone, it's gone, and I
just look forward to the next time.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
I think. I mean, I kind of go to this
lens of how rare and how special for you and
me and anyone else to experience that feeling. Why as
a human being should we dismiss it or get rid
of it. The world's doing a good enough job at
making it hard to feel that way. So I think

(29:06):
that if we are so fortunate to feel grateful and
the high is coming from I think we're using our gifts.
We're doing a good job to help someone else and
serve them. It's good stuff. You know. We didn't rob
a bank. You know it's right and it's earned. Yeah,

(29:27):
I think in the beginning, and this is a cool
mile marker for me, I would celebrate and I actually
have now, which feels so much better. Me celebrating was
when I really wasn't like a professional speaker, I was
a visitor into a professional speaking realm. I would do

(29:48):
it here and there, and so what has felt really
great now is that thank you Lord, din know. And
then that's just my own you know that this is
life and that I this is business as usual and
I'm a professional, and so I often remind myself the
reward of a job well done is to have done it.
And so there's no celebration, there's no tick or tape parade,

(30:10):
there's no I don't need to go out and get
a double triple Sunday. I can return back to my
room and spend a moment with that gratitude, and then
I can do some work. I can call a loved one,
I can go to the airport. Because this is now life.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
Yeah. Yeah, And I think I would assume that whether
it's competition or performance or entertainment whatever industry like, initially,
when you're not used to the feeling or you're not
used to. Or if you go from you know, being
nervous or feeling like you could have done better to
really feeling like you mastered what you set out to do, Yeah,
it becomes more normal. And I feel like you need

(30:45):
almost more extraordinary performances or something to kind of feel
that same need to celebrate, and like, I definitely, I
definitely feel that it's important to acknowledge when things go
really well with a keynote. I also, like I nitpick
to death my performance Sam, like, oh my god, exactly

(31:06):
that could have been better, Like, oh shit, I didn't
deliver the line, and like, I know that the audience
doesn't know that, right, they don't know what I'm going
to be delivering. But yeah, we're high high performers, high achievers.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
I mean, let's geek out on this because I agree.
What I've found is and this used to have so
I come from stand up comedy as well, and the
minutes before a talk because where juices are flowing, I've
actually found that those nerves can spark cool new ideas
because you're just like you're on you're alert. Similarly, after
a talk, I find that that's a good moment. So

(31:40):
do you have a kind of post talk you said
you nitpick, Do you have a I mean, I don't
know if you're watching like film of the performance.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
Yeah, so a couple of different things. So I don't
I haven't yet invested in bringing my own videographer or
stuff like that's you know, one day we'll get to
that at that point. But a lot of times, if
a client can provide a video, I go through it. It's
also a gut check though, because there are some times
when I get off stage, I'm just like, I killed that.

(32:09):
It was awesome, even if I didn't do everything exactly
how I wanted to, Like, you can feel the energy
of the audience. I don't know if you do Q
and A, but I have a Q and A at
the end of every talk, and so you can kind
of tell how engaged people were based on that. And
there are some where it's just like I rocked it.
I'm not at all concerned. I know that the client's happy.
And then there are other times where like maybe the
audience was less engaged, or maybe it was just a

(32:30):
more reserved audience, or maybe I didn't kill it as much.
And it's in those moments where I feel like I
know in my gut if I felt like it could
have done I could have done better, Or if I
spoke too quickly at one point. That's my big thing.
If I rush through things, or if I feel like
the audience isn't loving it, I'll get more nervous, right,
And so so it's in those moments where I kind
of go back and I just think about, Hey, how

(32:51):
did I deliver it? How would I like to deliver it?
Is there a way that I can catch myself next
time I'm doing that? And like, I've been doing this
for a while and it's just it's constant evolution, constant
work in progress. And then I'll watch video if I
have access to it, and I'll be able to see
how it's improving. And so there was one in March
or so where I was worried that I was speaking

(33:14):
really quickly, and like, obviously, if you speak too quickly
at some points, it can diminish the impact of the
words that you're saying, like you want to give the
audience some chance to sit with what you've just said.
And I was nervous about that. And then I got
copy of and I was like, oh no, it was
a little quick, but it wasn't that bad. And then
I stopped beating myself up. But I'm very black and white,

(33:34):
like that's what I loved about racing. It's like the
stopwatch doesn't lie. The data doesn't lie, like either you're
doing it right or you're not, and so it's not
kind of once I get that validation, I guess I
feel better and then I move on.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
Yeah, well, I I fully hear you in it. And
because it is a subjective field, sometimes you don't know, Uh,
it's tough, you know obviously, like if you get a
standing ovation, it's like, wow, that's you know, that.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
Feels I'm the hot ever.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Yeah, yeah, you know. And then one I've kind of
introduced because we'll talk about, you know, metrics, because that's
you know, kind of you said the data. I've always
now found if people feel compelled, because I've been in
an audience and after someone's presented or done an art
piece or a comedy, I gotta go talk to that

(34:21):
one person. I gotta just tell them this. And so
that's been I've kind of latched onto that of do
people feel compelled that they need to come say something
to me? So that's been one.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
That's yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, No, It's super engaging, and
I think it is also going back to the high.
It's interesting to get off stage if you're on that
high and then talk to people and like everything's positive
and like I'm sometimes they'll be talking about more serious stuff.
I'm like, calm down, Julia, like this is the more
serious conversation.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
It's an interesting dynamic. We're going to take another quick break,
but we'll be right back with Alex. We are back
with Alex. And if I'm honest with Julia Landauer, keynote
speaking as an industry is very entrepreneurial, but it's also
pretty opaque at least I found that like ten years

(35:15):
ago when I got started, and everything from you know,
what should you charge? To how do you get your
name in front of people who were making these hiring decisions?
To you know, how do you develop a keynote and
get on stage and speak in front of people for
forty five minutes? So how did you tackle breaking into
the industry.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
It's such a great question, and I've been asked that
before and I think for me it was it was
not this. It was the same uh genesis as every
other meaningful or quote unquote successful pursuit of my life.
It was something in my heart that was, you feel

(35:58):
called to this, you want to do this deeply, and
I think you can do this. That is what led
me to go off and play college Division one lacrosse.
That's what led me to then leave all that and
move to LA and do TV hosting, and then be
a TV host and win an award for NBC and
then feel this in me of gosh, I feel called

(36:19):
to go into this speaking world. And you know, part
of it a site slide tangent was I won US
Lacrosse Coach of the Year in my first season coaching
high school acrosse, and I share that story in speaking
because it has to do a lot with leadership lessons
and also imposter syndrome and not good enough. But then

(36:39):
as I got into TV hosting, I had this spark
in me of Okay, I'm doing TV hosting, stand up comedy,
and I come from US Lacrosse Coach of the Year.
I wonder if there's a way to put all that together.
And so that was the spark in me of I
always felt called to do this, and no one you know,

(37:00):
it's not like I got. I didn't. I didn't get
an inbound request. That's what pushed me to be a
speaker is because someone saw it in me. It's what
happened was And I say that to just kind of
change the focus if anyone listening, I say this to everyone.
If you have someone in your life who believes in

(37:20):
you and is encouraging you to go after something that
is such a gift, cherish that. And if you don't
have that, and if even if people are telling you
you cannot do something, you still can. It is upon
you to be brave, to listen and to act. So
for me, I was like, okay, well, no one knows

(37:43):
that I want to be a speaker. But so first
I started to share that in the world. One of
my great American Ninja Warrior friends, Maggie Thorne, phenomenal and
she's a speaker as well now, but at the time
neither one of us were. One time we were at
this Ninja Warrior event for this gym, and right before
but before we went out on stage, she because this is
who she is, she goes, Alex, what's your biggest dream?

(38:03):
And like I go and I just kind of confide
it I was like, I really want to be a speaker.
She was interesting, and a month later she asked me
to be the speaker for this charity she was a
part of.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
Oh Cool.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
So that's where I say, like, it's so important to
be brave and then start to identify yourself as this
because you have to create that identity so more tactfully
or more externally. I then reached out. I played division
on the cross at Pen. I called the pen coach.
I said, hey, can I come speak to the guys
and he said sure. And all these things. I started

(38:36):
to video because people don't see it until they see it.
That's a key thesis of mine. People don't see it
until they see it, especially in this noisy world. So
I started to put together a tape and then I
applied to some TEDx's and I got the tapes from that.
My whole journey with speaking has been a brick mentality
of let me just keep doing this, and you know,

(38:59):
and I truly thank you God for the ability to
go after this path. I've just started to just level
up and Okay, wow, now I got on this stage
and I have video from this. Well, now I'm this speaker. Yeah, now,
I got on this stage, and now I have video
from this well, now i'm this speaker, and so it
all kind of continued to move all the while. And
I want to share two other things because I think

(39:20):
these are both really important. All the while being obsessive
with the craft, because I've learned this, and I'm sure
you've learned this to it, you'll get that moment, but
you do got to be ready for that moment. And
I very much feel that if you are doing consistently
good work, all the other things are going to fall
into place, all the external stuff. But if you're seeking

(39:43):
and chasing the external stuff, it's gonna catch up because
something's going to be hollow in there. So that was
it playing the long game, not the short game. That's
a lesson that I continually have tried to embody because
this is such a beautiful relationship. And you know, and

(40:03):
the last thing that I feel compelled to say is
I felt like, Okay, I've got all this subject matter
and that I'm passionate about and that's the cake. But
for my first years doing this, I didn't know what
frosting to put on the cake. And that is really
big because that is how people identify you, and they

(40:24):
decide if they like that flavor and if they want
to invite that cake to their wedding or their birthday
party or whatever it is. And I say that because
it's really important. In the first few years I put
on the wrong frosting. I was just guessing. I'm like,
am I humor guy? Or positive? Am I fail guy?
And so I was just like these flavors, and I

(40:44):
believe that probably bureaus and clients didn't really know what
to do with me.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
There's no clear box.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
Yeah, yes, exactly, And so the engagements I was getting
was because they saw enough good stuff. But I think
what really, you know, led to the next level was
I cleaned up everything and was like, this is my cake.
This is and it's not gonna be the cake for
everyone but the people looking for that cake. I was

(41:12):
very clear, I'm gonna stop with this cake analogy now.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
But it's a really good analogy. So I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
Well because I think, and I've talked with many speakers
about this, who are getting going your cake is great
because you wouldn't have risen to this level of success
in what you're doing. But we just got to figure
out like, what frosting are you putting on it? And
for me and I feel this was just a meant
to be and really a blessing. This word unstoppable. I
just said, you know what, I'm going to go all

(41:40):
in on this because my book was called fail Proof
Become the Unstoppable You, and this word unstoppable. I just
really liked it because to me it felt honest. It's
not saying you're not gonna get knocked down, it's not
saying you're not gonna have fears. It's just saying we're
going to keep going and we're going to make it through.
And so I just said, you know, that's my frosting.
I'm gonna be the unstoppable guy. And that's I think

(42:03):
what's resonated.

Speaker 1 (42:03):
Well, that's awesome, and I think that that's so relevant
regardless of what you're doing or who you are, Like
if it's if you want to have Internet fame and
be an influencer, like there's pick a lane and go
for it, like no, no one's going to be everything
to everyone right like, and there's no way that every
speaker is going to be perfect for every audience. There

(42:25):
are different tracks, there are different themes like the freelancer,
who's the entrepreneur trying to like always get the next
gig or whatever. Like it's think, oh, here's a conference,
Am I a good fit? Should I pitch myself? And
it's like, Eh, don't force it, Like if it's something
that's not what your storytelling is going to compliment, and
it can feel like a bit of a ding or
especially if you like there are a few clients or

(42:46):
potential clients I've had where you know, they want to
have a talk beforehand and they want to get into
the nitty gritty as to what I'm going to be
talking about. And there was one that I was excited
to get because it was unexpected, and then turns out
that it was not a good fit. And I could
tell during the call that like the way I storytell
wasn't going to be what they wanted based on how
they were asking their questions, So like I knew that

(43:06):
it probably wasn't the right fit. And being okay with
that and learning that yeah, if you have a specialty
and you're going to be great for those specific audiences
and you don't have to be everything to everyone, well,
once you're like, you know, kind of those like super
big speakers that can fit into any any event. But
as we're building and if we're not household names, then

(43:27):
really mastering the craft. I totally agree with you.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
Oh, one hundred percent. And you know it's I'm definitely
in those meetings now, learn the like the power of
questions and just listening. And that's the truth. I think,
whether you're in sales or whether you are working with
a client actively and ongoing, it's like people will tell
you the answers and uh yeah, I think that's been

(43:51):
and I'm sure you've had this too. It's now if
I meet with a client and they express this is
what we're looking for, it's like, okay, well then we'll
change the keynote and we're going to ramp up this
area or this area. And so I don't know, I
love I love this work for so many reasons, and
there's like a there's a puzzle element to it that
I think is really fun too.

Speaker 1 (44:12):
You know, totally agree, totally agree. How often do you
I know you just got started in twenty twenty, so
it's it's fairly new, But do you have a cadence
at which you feel like, Okay, I need to revamp
some of my themes because I think what a lot
of people don't know is like a lot of speakers
have one, two or three talk tracks that they kind

(44:34):
of used, and they a lot of times they'll cater
it or curate it to the client. But it's not
like a speaker has fifty different talks that they give
and so but there are times where it's like, and
I'm in this moment right now where I'm I have
my my key keynote that I think will always be
attractive and some collection of the themes will will always
resonate with people. But I'm kind of at a point

(44:55):
in my life where i want to shift the style
with which I give a key note a little bit,
and maybe change the narrative arc a little bit and
tap into some new experiences that I've had more recently
that I have not yet, you know, kind of figured
out how to storytell. But I know this theme that
I want to storytell like and this is my like
I've done this, you know, I started speaking in twenty fifteen,

(45:17):
and so I've probably done this twice before this, and
now this is like kind of the most seismic change.
I feel like I'm gonna embark on making We'll see
how well it goes. But do you have you found
yet that you kind of decide, Okay, I need to
add more content or bring in fresh content.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
I love that that you're doing that, and it's such a.

Speaker 1 (45:37):
It's scary though, it's scary.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
It is. I really admire it, though, because you know
the trap is this is working, let's just keep doing it.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
Mm hmm totally.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
But again, I mean, it's your background, I think is
a competitive high athlete that you know you have to
just keep growing. And yeah, I think that's also where
the fun is and where this doesn't become stale.

Speaker 1 (46:02):
You know.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
And yeah, so I'm there's two directions. One is I
went through a period where I was finding all this
cool content and so I was, oh, this is great.
I love this study or I love this quote or
you know, and I would put it in and then
I had a keynote and it went great. But I

(46:26):
was like, this is too much. This is too much.
And I think that's a trap, especially as people are building,
is you want to share everything that you've ever believed
about anything, and that's not the goal. You're you're doing
one line here, ye, So you know, I say survival
of the fittest. You know, you gotta the best of
the best is what makes it. But yeah, I think

(46:47):
even now I'm looking at the talk and I'll use
this expression fresh eyes, you know, and that's probably from
my entertainment days. But you get so close to something
and then you need to back all the way out
and with fresh eyes and just look at it and
say does this still belong here? Or is there something
new or better? And uh so, anyway is all that's

(47:10):
to say. I'm kind of in the middle of doing
that now too, and it's scary in a way because yeah,
you know, you like some stuff, but it might be
time to move on to something else.

Speaker 1 (47:21):
Yeah, And I think also something I'm preemptively nervous about
is like, you have to deliver this for the first time, right,
And so you're going to have a client who hires
you and they're expecting you to do great, like your
reputation has you doing. And then it's like, all right, well,
I'm giving my new talk. And you know, you can
practice it as much as you want at home, but
you don't necessarily know how the audience is going to

(47:44):
engage with it or react to and like, you know,
I have a handful of stories that I know is
going to rile the audience up. I know that they
are going to laugh. If they don't, something's wrong with them,
because like, like I know, I know at this point
there's that.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
Nothing.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
Nothing's ever wrong with the audience says you guys are perfect,
it would be me no. But and so it's just
like there's a high pressure element to that. And I
gotta say, like my high pressure and my competition is
coming out in keynote speaking next. I'm not racing really
as much. And so it's like, all right, well, this
is the chance to rise to the occasion. Yeah, and

(48:19):
do it well, Like, don't don't go out there and
deliver it until you're ready to do it well.

Speaker 2 (48:23):
I fully agree, And I think that's a great thing.
I I would be worried the day when you or
I don't get juiced up to go do it.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 2 (48:34):
You know. And I think that's what's cool about having
new content is it's very real. You know, it's evolving
with you or I as we're going through. Yes, yeah,
I mean, it's it's so fun.

Speaker 1 (48:46):
It's really fun, and it's really challenging, and oh, I
wanted to go back to something you said earlier about
how you like you focus on the craft of what
you're saying. I had one time where someone I knew
who also has a great story they had gotten asked
to give a keynote somewhere and asked if we could
chat about it, and I was like sure, And so
I'm talking with him and I would talk about the

(49:08):
importance of practicing. It's like, you know, if you're gonna
ask someone, he hadn't yet I think gotten paid to
give a keynote. And it's like, if someone's gonna pay you, like,
you gotta deliver something good. And I really believe that.
And he's like, yeah, I don't think I'm gonna practice.
I think I'm just I, you know, I have a
good time just winging it with people. And I was like,
this feels like such a slap in the face to
everyone who's like honing in the craft and like, you know,

(49:28):
not just like answering questions, but really trying to share
a story. And it was humbling, it was infuriating. But
there's no right way to do a craft. So I'm like,
you know, what if you're delivering something good for your audience,
then that's fine. But they're just like I could never
not prepare for it.

Speaker 2 (49:47):
Yeah, I I mean I think like, at least for me,
Q and A is a fun time where Okay, we
can be spontaneous and we can think of totally and
I get a thrill out of that, as I'm sure
you do. Yeah, but I don't know. I mean, I
go back to there's two quotes that I'll share John Wooden,
best basketball coach arguably of all time. Failure to prepare

(50:09):
is preparing to fail. And that sticks, you know, and
it's a lot of pressure to put on yourself to
be like, Wow, I'm going to be incredibly articulate and
succinct and present for an hour, winging it good on you.

Speaker 1 (50:26):
And I wish I had that much confidence in my CEO.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Yeah, And I don't think it's as fun. I mean
I had Again, I had an acting teacher once and
we're doing this play and I was trying to perform,
but I didn't know the words. I didn't have them
all memorized. And he goes, you're trying to dance, but
you don't know the steps, and that hit home so
much and I've carried that into life. When you know
the steps and when you know the the not glamorous

(50:51):
and then not fun stuff, but you got the fundamentals,
then you have the foundation to dance and have fun
and let it rip.

Speaker 1 (50:59):
And so yeah, yeah, that is such a beautiful analogy,
and I feel like we could continue talking forever, but
I'm going to use that as a really beautiful way
to lead into our last segment, which is the if
You're honest. And so this is just going to be
four rapid fire questions which I did not warn you
about ahead of time. My apologies. All Right, what has

(51:20):
been your favorite venue that you've spoken at in terms
of like the atmosphere.

Speaker 2 (51:25):
Okay, this one pops into mind. There's been so many
incredible ones, truly, and the production value of so many.
The one that popped into mind was a little bit surreal.
It was in a theater Day of Excellence Rapid City,
South Dakota. It's an amazing event. It was sixteen hundred
people full theater. I did receive a standing ovation and
that was just a surreal moment.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
That's amazing, especially in a theater context, like that's really cool,
super cool. Okay, what is your go to meal to cook?

Speaker 2 (51:56):
Oooh okay, so this is really big burgers on the
grill is so good. And yeah, I like sushi and
I like, you know, Italian restaurants. There's something so nourishing
and fun and satisfying about just a huge burger on

(52:16):
the grill. So that's it.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
What topics do you put on the burger? Oh, thank
you for asking you very welcome.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
Awesome.

Speaker 1 (52:22):
I asked the hard hitting questions.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
I'm very simple. I don't like all this stuff, but
I'll say this, it's swimming in ketchup. It's an impossible
amount of ketchup on there.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
I love that I've recently gotten into mixing ketchup and mustard.
It almost gives like a kind of Chick fil A
sauce vibe. Anyway, so good. What is one event that
you are looking forward to speaking or otherwise in the
next twelve months?

Speaker 2 (52:51):
Gosh, so many. I just had the client call with
them earlier today. But it's for an amazing credit union
in Navy Federal Credit Union in Pensacola, and I'm gonna
have some loved ones there, God willing, and so that's
just always super special.

Speaker 1 (53:07):
Yeah, that is super special. I'm not going to keep
this rapid fire. Have you done many engagements where you
have loved one or someone that you're like in the audience?

Speaker 2 (53:16):
So I wouldn't say many, but I would say, you know,
I've invited my mom to come, I've invited my dad
to come, girlfriend to come. And I think what I'm
very big on is it needs to be it cannot
be distracting, right, yeah, totally acting to any audience, client,
or you. And then you know, it's such a beautiful

(53:38):
path that we do. What I've found is because we
share so much of our personal lives just in what
we do, like like they're characters life, and so they
get a thrill of Like audience rummers have been like
you're Alex's mom, Like I just saw you on a video.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
That's so cool.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
So it's same thing with you know, with the other
and so it's just so beautiful. You know. I think
one thing that I love so much about this speaking
industry is it seems like everyone's winning. There's just this
energy where you know, your bureau partners are happy, the client,
the audience, you're happy everyone. It's just such a beautiful industry.

Speaker 1 (54:18):
It is such a beautiful industry, and I'm going to
go on a slight tangent again keeping my own rule
very well, but like I love you what you said
about it's something where someone's always winning, because I feel like,
while there is competition potentially amongst speakers to get a
gig or whatever, once you have done a gig for
one client, you're not likely to perform again because they

(54:39):
want to bring fresh people in for their audience. And
so in some ways it's like a really regenerative like
industry and like you know, you can kill it and
then someone else can kill it. And I really liked
it because from our HDI event, the Smiley he posted
something on LinkedIn and this is a speaker. I met

(55:00):
him in twenty eighteen at a gig in Germany and
I was so excited to see his name on this
event agenda. But I was shocked because he posted on
LinkedIn thanking the organizers and then also mentioning every single
speaker that was there. I was like, oh my god,
he is advertising other speakers. Is this going to kill
his business? And then I realized it's like an abundance mentality,

(55:22):
and then we're going to engage with that and our
audiences are going to see it, and he's just like,
it's that goodwill. And I was so humbled by that
and appreciated that, and I feel like kind of it
shifted how I want to engage with the speaker community.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
That's such a smiley thing to do. Yeah, right, not
such a good guy?

Speaker 1 (55:41):
Yeah, so cool. Okay, back to the last. If you're honest,
what is something that you're grateful for right now?

Speaker 2 (55:49):
Oh gosh, I'm grateful for this truly. I'm going to
give my deeper answer to this, which is this is
a purpose and a calling. And one thing that I
wrestle with is Okay, Alex, that hour of on stage,
what a gift because you're in purpose, you're helping people,
You're doing it. Now, what I'm putting time and energy

(56:11):
into is what do you do with that other hours
so that you are still sharing and helping and impacting people.
So that is really something I'm stepping into in these months,
is how do I do that more? And so grateful
for the chance to be here with you and to
do it today.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
Oh well, thank you for you made my job so
easy and you were such an absolute pleasure to talk
with and you offer so much and it's obviously the
obviously you are a great storyteller. Where can people find
you on social media? And I'll link these in the description.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
Thank you, Julia. I have been really looking forward to this.
And yeah, I'm Alex Weber one being Weber. That's my
handle on everything, website's social media, LinkedIn, all that stuff,
and I would love, love, love to connect with anyone.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
Can confirm that he responds to DM. Sorry if this
give you exposed, But after our event, I was like,
oh my goodness, you're amazing when you come on my podcast.
Please and no, I really appreciate that. This was so
much fun. I have so many follow up questions, but
that is our time. This is Alex Weber. I mean,
this is so great. Thank you, Alex, Julie, thank you
so much. Everyone. If you enjoyed this episode, I do

(57:20):
hope that you will share. I do hope that you
will go follow Alex. He's got incredible contact, he's content,
he's always on the road. Please go ahead and subscribe
to the podcast, follow the podcast, and thank you for
letting us be honest with you, and I look forward
to seeing you next week.