What would it take for you to live the life you truly want? Maybe it’s time to stop asking how much money you need to achieve it, or how you’re going to get there, and instead, uncover what type of life would excite you most. Joining us today is Rob Murgatroyd, whose life-changing transformations have been years, if not decades, in the making. While the bulk of Rob’s career was spent as a chiropractor, his life today could not be further from that reality. Not only has he moved his family from the US to beautiful Florence, Italy, but his TikTok videos on being an American in this food-obsessed country have made him a social media sensation! However, his journey from being a chiropractor to where he is today has not been straightforward or smooth. There is no way he would have reached his destination if he had not been willing to step off the familiar path. Similarly, our conversation today takes many fascinating turns that never would have happened if we had tried to plan it all out. While our conversation kicks off with Rob’s first taste of Bourbon, it ends with profound reflections on the nature of creativity, with insights on where it comes from and how you can learn to turn down the noise and listen to the voice within. In between all that Rob shares the many side journeys he had to go on, like traveling, becoming a DJ, and receiving coaching, to uncover the revelatory lessons that would help him shift his mindset and find himself where he is today. Join us for a truly expansive conversation and find out how his wife's fateful words 'I like you better in Italy' prompted his transformative journey, why he decided to use this phrase as the title of his upcoming book, and what ingredients he would use for his cocktail 'la dolce vita', and much more!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Welcoming back today’s guest, all the way from Florence, Italy, Rob Murgatroyd.
- Chris breaks down everything you need to know about drinking bourbon for the first time.
- Rob tries out his first-ever bourbon drink according to Chris’s instructions.
- The transformations Rob has gone through since he and Chris first met.
- What Rob gained from chasing what made him feel alive; from traveling to becoming a DJ.
- The challenge of subtracting what doesn’t bring you joy.
- Rob’s experience of trying to leave his chiropractic career behind.
- His advice to anyone going through a transformation, or gathering the courage to do so.
- The confluence of influences that helped Rob change his mindset.
- Answering the question ‘Where does creativity come from?’
- Learning to turn down the noise and listening to the voice within.
- Detailing and naming Rob’s cocktail, La Dolce Vita!
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Get to know Chris -
- Connect on Instagram
- Coach with Chris
- Learn more about Goodman Coa
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
UNKNOWN (00:00):
Music.
SPEAKER_02 (00:03):
Welcome to the Bourbon and Breakthroughs
podcast, where entrepreneursreveal their biggest
breakthroughs, both in life andin business.
I'm your host, Chris Goodman,and I'm a life and business
coach on a mission to helppeople change their lives and
grow their businesses.
On this show, you'll get todistill your own life-changing
lessons from my friends,clients, and the best
(00:25):
entrepreneurs around the world.
During our conversation, wefeature and taste a new or
notable bourbon or somethinglike it and raise a glass to
personal development, businessgrowth, and squeezing every drop
out of life.
So whether you're a seasonedentrepreneur or just starting
out, join us for this episode ofbourbon and breakthroughs.
Cheers.
(00:48):
What is up?
Long time, no see.
It's been a couple of monthssince we put out a new episode.
I decided to take a couple ofmonths off after the podcast
wasn't my one thing anymore.
If you've listened to the showfor a while, you know, I'm big
on the book, The One Thing andprioritizing what is most
important for your life, yourbusiness, your relationships,
for everything really.
And for a couple of monthsthere, this project of the
(01:10):
podcast was not at the top ofthe priority list.
So I had to take my own adviceand deescalate that priority.
which means we are now catchingback up the beginning of a brand
new year.
We have Excellent guests tobring to you.
I'm so excited that the firstepisode features, I shouldn't
say the first episode, but thefirst episode in a few months.
(01:31):
How about that?
This one anyway, that you'reabout to listen to features Rob
Murgatroyd.
He's been a friend for years.
We were in a mastermindtogether.
He's been a client.
He's somebody I reach out towhen I have really high level
questions or coaching concerns,or even if it's just a life
question, I see him as somebodywho has collected and earned a
(01:52):
vast amount of wisdom over hisyears.
And he's a highly strategic guyas well.
So on top of that, he'shilarious.
And if you've never listened tohis episodes on the earlier
podcast that we've recordedtogether, I think you're
catching him in his prime.
And you're going to hear acouple of his stories.
But real quick, if you don'tknow who Rob Murgatroyd is and
(02:14):
you haven't seen him online, acouple of things.
You can scroll down in the shownotes real quick, click those
links, and go follow him onTikTok, Instagram, everywhere
else.
And I do want to give you thisquick background.
Rob's story is one of daringtransformation, coming from
Queens, New York, and currentlyresiding amidst the enchanting
beauty of Tuscany, Italy.
For 25 years, Rob dedicatedhimself to the world of
(02:37):
chiropractic in Atlanta.
However, a pivotal moment shookhim to the core when his wife
uttered these words, I like youbetter in Italy.
This simple phrase ignited aprofound shift within him,
sparked by a desire for changeand a yearning to escape the
monotony of chiropractic andinto living what they call La
(02:57):
Dolce Vita in Italy.
Rob's forthcoming memoir, I LikeYou Better in Italy, illuminates
this extraordinary journey ofself-discovery and
revitalization.
And beyond his literarypursuits, Rob and his wife, Kim,
offer Rob and Kim's Italia, acaptivating five-day experience
to uncover hidden treasures inFlorence.
Additionally, they host thePlatinum Roundtable event, a
(03:20):
mastermind event focused onhelping entrepreneurs grow their
businesses through uniqueexperiences and around the
world.
In addition to these immersiveexperiences, Rob provides
coaching, guiding individuals asthey script the next thrilling
chapter of their own lives.
So like I said, you can scrolldown to the show notes, find the
links to follow Rob on TikTokand Instagram, or you can just
(03:43):
Google him real fast, but makesure you do follow him today
because he's always sharinginspiring tales of his Italian
life, Italian insights, thefood, the environment, the
community, and how to have awell-lived life by design.
So I'm gonna shut up and get outof the way because there's a lot
of great points in Rob's episodehere.
(04:05):
Listen carefully to how he talksabout how impact changed his
business.
And when he started to focus onimpact, that power automatically
just moved toward him in new andunforeseen ways all the time.
Listen to his reminders aboutbelieving in yourself and not
just in a positive talk BS kindof way, but really finding
(04:26):
something that motivates you,that you're passionate about,
and that you can commit to andhave a rock solid belief in
while you pursue it.
And then lastly, listencarefully to how he talks about
creating a clear narrative ofyour vision for your life, and
why that vision must becompelling, why you need to be
able to see it and feel it andeven taste it, especially in his
(04:47):
case where he lives in one ofthe food capitals of the world.
So like I said, you're going tohave a blast listening to Rob.
You're going to laugh.
You might cry.
And either way, make sure youfollow him and do us a favor.
Leave us a quick five-starreview on whatever platform
you're listening to this podcaston and share the episode to help
us get the word out about thesegreat guests, the bourbon that
(05:08):
they're getting into, theexcellent brands that have
partnered with us to make thispodcast come to life.
And by the way, have a goodlaugh in this episode because
you get to watch Rob take hisvery first sip of bourbon.
So, all right, enjoy everyone.
And we'll catch you on the nextepisode after this one.
All right, welcome back,everybody, to Bourbon and
Breakthroughs.
(05:28):
Today, you get to visit with myfriend and past client here, Rob
Murgatroyd.
If you've followed the show,especially when it was
Relentless Growth, you've heardfrom Rob.
If you're on TikTok, there's a99% chance you've seen Rob.
If you're on Instagram, there'sprobably a 98% chance you've
seen Rob.
So visiting with us all the wayfrom Italy today, thank you,
(05:49):
Rob, for being on the show.
SPEAKER_00 (05:51):
It is my pleasure.
And I am so excited to try.
Do you know, I'm going to tellyou, I am 57 years old.
The only time I've tried bourbonis one time at a mutual friend,
Chris Harder's Mastermind.
And I think this is bourbon.
Is Louis the whatever a bourbonor is that not even a bourbon?
SPEAKER_02 (06:14):
No, that is, I believe they, they bill that as
a cognac and that's, that's ahundred years old when you taste
it.
So that there's kind of like abourbon on this level and then
Louis Trey, like way, way, wayabove that level.
SPEAKER_00 (06:26):
Okay.
So I've never had bourbon thenis the answer.
SPEAKER_02 (06:30):
Fantastic.
And so some of you are going toget to see this on video.
Some of you are going to get tolisten to his reaction.
Do
SPEAKER_00 (06:36):
I have to fake it?
And do I have to like, make youthink that I love it?
SPEAKER_02 (06:39):
Absolutely not.
This is...
Okay,
SPEAKER_00 (06:41):
good.
SPEAKER_02 (06:42):
What a silly game that would
SPEAKER_00 (06:43):
be.
SPEAKER_02 (06:46):
Oh, this is my favorite.
I'm not going to drink any moreof it, but I love it so much.
SPEAKER_00 (06:50):
Spit bucket, please.
SPEAKER_02 (06:52):
Yeah.
No, this is actually part of thefun.
You know, when I starteddesigning this concept, it was,
if you and I were hanging outtogether...
we would have a Negroni orsomething while we chatted, or
maybe a cup of coffee or anespresso or something.
We would have something though,like even sharing a meal,
especially you being in Italynow, that would be important to
us.
And so this is really to beauthentic like that.
(07:13):
Some of the best feedback I everget from listeners is, you know,
we feel like we're sitting onthe couch in a conversation with
you guys.
It just feels so natural andeverything.
So no, funny enough, Rob, thiscame all the way to your desk in
Florence, Italy today from about30 minutes from my house.
Every bottle of that is made.
Wow.
Yep.
(07:33):
Every single bottle of it in theworld is made right down the
road from where we live here inbourbon country.
SPEAKER_00 (07:37):
Do you think...
that you're into bourbon becauseyou've grown up around it or
because you just happen to likeit or probably both?
SPEAKER_02 (07:45):
I think it's more that I happen to like it because
we have other things around herethat I'm not really that into,
like horse racing.
You know, we go to the derby, wehave a good time.
Big hats.
Yeah, big hats and nice suits.
It's fun once a year kind ofthing.
But this is something that Ithink is, it's kind of like art.
It's an appreciation.
It's an experience.
(08:05):
It's something...
Not everybody's going to getinto, but the more you learn
about how it's made, the deeperyou appreciate it.
So I think that's what got meinto it.
Cool.
Okay.
So first things first, we'regoing to get Rob into his
bourbon, let him taste it, lethim, you know, have the full
experience.
Rob, you have, you have some icethere, right?
I
SPEAKER_00 (08:23):
do.
SPEAKER_02 (08:24):
So I'm going to teach you kind of, if this were
wine, I'm going to guide youalmost like a sommelier would
guide you through this, exceptfor not that bougie.
UNKNOWN (08:33):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (08:33):
You don't, this being your first experience with
bourbon, and if you're playingalong at home, you don't want to
just go straight into it becauseat 90 proof, this one is, I
think, yeah, this one's at 90proof, 45% of what's in your
glass is alcohol.
So you're used to wine and otherspirits.
This one though is so much morealcohol that your body's
(08:54):
actually going to think it'spoison if you don't get it
acclimated first.
So first you want to kind ofjust get your nose in there, get
familiar with.
SPEAKER_00 (09:02):
You're really selling it.
Your body is going to read it aspoison.
So let's go slow.
So we chose to use Buffalo Traceinstead of arsenic tonight.
It's a little less, but kind ofthe same thing.
SPEAKER_02 (09:15):
Arsenic just doesn't have that good oaky.
It's
SPEAKER_00 (09:19):
just not done in those Kentucky barrels.
Okay.
So I'm going to pour it in.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (09:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (09:24):
Okay.
All right.
So I'll go about a quarter ofthe cup.
SPEAKER_02 (09:26):
Yeah, I don't have much faith you're going to drink
all of it, so we're going tosee.
You might surprise me, right?
How do we do this?
So just get your nose in there alittle bit first.
Oh my God, we have the sameglass.
Oh, wow.
What are the odds of that?
Literally the same glass.
That's
SPEAKER_00 (09:43):
crazy.
SPEAKER_02 (09:44):
It's actually not.
I mean, if you're listening andyou're not watching the video, I
jokingly showed up in a bluesports jacket with a perfectly
coiffed handkerchief in mypocket because I knew that's how
Rob was going to show up.
We have a lot of things incommon.
So, all right, let's get to thisso everybody can move on with
the damn show.
What do you smell at first?
What comes to your palate?
What comes to your nose?
(10:04):
Crack your mouth open a littlebit while you breathe in.
SPEAKER_00 (10:06):
Okay.
Strong alcohol, for sure.
Duh.
The first word that comes tomind is caramel.
That's about all I got.
Maybe a hint of
SPEAKER_02 (10:15):
vanilla, maybe.
Yeah, you're right on.
So part of the process isessentially scorching the
barrels with real fire.
And that caramelizes sugars andother things in the wood itself
that when they put the bourbonin there, it helps draw out
those flavors, those sugars.
So you get all kinds of notes ofcaramel, vanilla.
(10:35):
And then usually one of thefirst things people say with
their first few experiences withbourbon is oak because it's so
potent.
But nonetheless, As you tastethis, don't taste it yet.
I'm going to teach you what'scalled a Kentucky chew, because
like I said, it is so strong.
You basically want to put just alittle bit.
I'm talking a couple of drops,like two drops onto your palate
(10:57):
and then move it all around yourmouth.
And it's going to look likeyou're chewing it, but that's
going to help your bodyunderstand, oh, this isn't
poison.
This is, you know, it's a highalcohol drink, but it's not
going to hurt me.
And knowing, and I'm taking youthis way, particularly because I
know how you take your drinks.
So let your mouth, let yourpalate get acclimated to it.
(11:19):
And then you can swallow it, butjust a little bit.
Okay.
I wish you guys could see hisface right now.
I've seen Muppets that look likethat.
SPEAKER_00 (11:27):
Okay.
I did it.
I feel like I'm on fear factor.
I did it.
SPEAKER_02 (11:32):
Okay.
So what's your reaction now?
SPEAKER_00 (11:34):
Fire.
I feel like if I light a match,I could flame throw.
I don't get it.
I'm a little scared to gofurther, but other than that,
Mr.
Lincoln, the play was great.
That's
SPEAKER_02 (11:50):
right.
Well, you're right on cuebecause- I
SPEAKER_00 (11:53):
feel like I want to cough.
Yeah.
I feel like I just picked up asmoking habit.
Go
SPEAKER_02 (11:58):
ahead.
I did this event a couple ofmonths ago called Bourbon and
Breakthroughs, and some of thepeople who showed up-
SPEAKER_00 (12:03):
Oh, I had a breakthrough.
SPEAKER_02 (12:03):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
You were out of your mind for aminute there, I think.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (12:09):
Or out of my body anyway.
SPEAKER_02 (12:11):
So some of the people coming had never tried
bourbon and we go to adistillery tour and one of the
distillery owners was kindenough to let us thief whiskey
straight from the barrel.
So they're drinking 130 proof.
Yours is 90 proof there.
They were drinking 130 proofstraight from the barrel without
any ice.
And their reaction was prettyhilarious.
(12:31):
But here's the thing withbourbon.
You can take it however youlike.
Tons of ice, extra water, allkinds of cocktails that dilute
the strength of a 90 proofbourbon.
So as we go along here and asthat ice melts down into your
bourbon, it's going to open itup and make it much more
palatable for somebody's palatewho's not used to drinking such
(12:51):
strength.
I
SPEAKER_00 (12:52):
could literally feel my heart racing.
I swear to God.
You know how you get strongalcohol?
Anyway, go ahead.
I'm just a wuss.
SPEAKER_02 (13:02):
You feel alive.
SPEAKER_00 (13:02):
I feel alive.
Yeah, that's the way to
SPEAKER_02 (13:06):
put it.
All right.
Well, speaking of being alive-At this point, people have
scrolled down and clicked onyour TikTok or your Instagram
and pulled you up, or they knowyou from the other shows, or
they just know you from youbeing you.
They know that's really one ofthe things you're all about is
squeezing every single thing youcan out of life, out of food,
out of relationships, out ofyour environment.
(13:27):
I mean, we've come a long way.
We're kind of joking about howit's been, or maybe this was
just in my head.
I thought we were joking abouthow it's been about five years
since we met.
In that five years, you'vetransformed.
You've done a complete 180,including where you live.
What is different about youtoday and how you squeeze
everything out of life versushow you used to be?
SPEAKER_00 (13:50):
Well, I guess we would have to pick a date in
time for me to compare it to.
But I think perhaps a better wayto answer that question, if I
can refine it a little bit,would be to say that I'm always
looking for something that'slighting me up.
(14:10):
I'm always looking to chase thatthing that makes me feel like
I'm coming alive.
And I'm always trying to find away to subtract what isn't.
And sometimes the subtraction ofwhat isn't making me come alive
(14:31):
is difficult to get rid of.
For example, when i was achiropractor and i was no longer
happy about doing that it was myfamily's primary source of
income so it's very difficult tosay this is not lighting me up
anymore but it didn't stop mefrom taking a bite out of a lot
of different apples and so if ican give you a couple of
(14:56):
examples of trajectory here oneof the things that i did as a
chiropractor that kind of feltdisenchanted was travel.
And I would take some time to gotravel and I'd come back from
traveling with my wife.
And it was the thing that likegave me the shot in the arm to
get through the next couple ofmonths.
(15:17):
And then I was like, what ifthere's a way that I can capture
this travel on film?
And it's when YouTube, literallyit was the year YouTube came
out.
And so we took a little videocourt recorder with us and we
said, let's make a travel showjust for fun.
And there was a television showcalled wild on, on E and it was
(15:40):
a girl who just kind of liketraveled around the world.
And so we modeled a lot of whatwe wanted to do after the style
of the show.
And we would come back and I wasso excited to come back and sit
there and edit the videos andfind the right music and post
them because Facebook andYouTube was just starting and
(16:01):
post them online.
And it never turned out, wewound up selling guidebooks to
the destinations, made a coupleof bucks.
We didn't get rich, didn't allowme to leave chiropractic at all,
but it rolled into like anotherthing in my life that lit me up.
So when that chapter closed, Iremembered being in Ibiza.
(16:24):
And I remembered watching a DJon one of the shows that we were
filming.
And I was fascinated by how theDJ could take three or four
different songs, put them on topof each other and make a new
melody.
Like that was just fascinatingto me.
And so I came back and I said toa friend of mine who ran a
nightclub, could you get me DJlessons.
(16:46):
And he looked at me like I'm outof my mind.
Like you're 45 years old.
Like you want to learn to DJ?
Like are you Joe?
I'm like, no, I really do.
And I hired this guy to come tothe house once a week and teach
me how to DJ.
And that led into him asking meif I'd be interested in playing
in a nightclub one night.
And it was terrifying to me, butI did.
(17:07):
And I was, I felt alive and Iwound up getting a residency at
a club in Atlanta and And then Iwound up traveling as a DJ in
different cities.
And then my wife got pregnant.
And as you well know, it wasvery difficult coming home, fist
pumping with 20 year olds whowere on ecstasy.
(17:27):
Not that you know that, but youknow, having a baby, it was very
difficult to do that.
So I had to stop that career.
SPEAKER_02 (17:34):
Well, and for context, how old were you at
that point?
Probably 47.
Okay.
I just think it's relevant forpeople who don't know your full
story, how many turns there havebeen that were significant in
that 10-year range.
SPEAKER_00 (17:47):
Yeah.
And then after that, there wassomething that was in there.
And that's around the time thatI met you at our mutual friend,
Chris Harder's Mastermind, whereI was trying to say, okay, well,
what do I do now?
I still haven't found a way outof chiropractic to replace my
income.
(18:07):
And each one of these things Idid sort of like led me to like
the next thing.
And so when I met you, I was inthat mastermind trying to figure
out what was next.
And so I took pieces ofdifferent things and I went, I
love travel.
(18:27):
I love music.
I love interviewing people.
And that led me into, well, whatif masterminds were sort of like
all the rage at that time?
I was like, what if I did my ownmasterminds?
But what if I did it my way?
And what if we weren't sittingin the back of a hotel room and
we were doing it like, because Ialways find that the best
(18:49):
connections that people have,it's always at the bar, at the
hotel, or it's at the pool inthe afternoon.
It's never sitting therelistening to the prepackaged
speaker.
And so I was like, well, what ifI did that?
And then that led into doingmasterminds.
And so I can keep going.
But the point, the answer toyour question is that I used to
find, I used to be embarrassedby that and feel like the guy
(19:13):
with the resume that only haslike, you know, a job for a year
and a half.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, do you have any stabilityin your life?
But I reconciled it because Idid have the stability.
I had the 25 years ofchiropractic, but it was the
constant changing while I was inthat trying to find my lane.
And so to answer the very longanswer to your question, but
(19:37):
that allowed me to reach theplace where I am now, which we
can talk about.
SPEAKER_02 (19:43):
You know, you make it sound so almost smooth in
hindsight when I've experiencedit as more just volatile.
And I don't want to saycharacter shaking because your
character has never been up fordebate, but it's been sort of an
identity change.
journey along the way of like,is this who I really am?
I am the brilliant, successful,tenured doctor that drives the
(20:07):
Porsche.
No, I'm the guy that sellseverything and moves to Southern
California and is kind of abeach bum.
And no, I'm somebody else.
So going back, because I knowsome people listening to this
are in the middle of thattransition themselves or hoping
to get in the courage to get inthat transformational process.
(20:28):
What words of wisdom would youhave for them while they're in
the thick of that identityshift?
SPEAKER_00 (20:32):
To not bullshit yourself and to be very clear
about what it is that's lightingyou up and not doing the logical
next step.
It's very easy to do the logicalnext step.
It's very easy to say, I was achiropractor, so maybe I should
do chiropractic consulting if Idon't wanna see patients
(20:53):
anymore.
But somewhere for this person,There's a voice.
It's quiet.
There's a thing that's just notgoing away.
They've had it for years.
When they're well-rested, popsup, and then it's a flash and it
gets out of their head.
They think, I probably couldn'tmake any money at this.
There's a million people thatare doing this.
(21:15):
I don't even know where tobegin.
So none of that voice is everheard.
And so you just start living alife by defaults.
and continuing because you gotto pay the bills and you got a
kid and all these other things.
So the advice would be to getreally honest about what that
(21:36):
thing is and like separate itfrom the how.
And me being, it's awfully funnyfor me to be the guy giving this
advice because you are the onewho's on the receiving end of my
continually asking how.
And I really believe that youwere in my life as a coach at
that time to help me.
(21:58):
And by help me, I mean youmetaphorically grabbing me by
the shoulders and banging myhead against the wall every week
and me paying you an ungodlyamount of money to do that.
SPEAKER_02 (22:10):
You got in while rates were low, don't complain.
SPEAKER_00 (22:15):
But eventually you gave me, you interrupted the
pattern enough for me to seethat my desire for wanting to
know how was actually thebiggest block that I currently
had in my life.
I truly believe that.
And it wasn't until, I mean, Iwish I can tell you that we did
a coaching session and itchanged.
(22:36):
It was like well after.
I needed you resonating in myear and percolating for me to
continually see that habitualproblem.
But I don't have that now.
I'd love to talk about thatbecause I think people would
really, really get somethingfrom this.
SPEAKER_02 (22:54):
Please, because for you, it was more of an
unlearning than adopting a newskill set, mindset, something
else.
It was really letting go,shedding that.
But I don't want to speak foryou.
I mean, go ahead and-
SPEAKER_00 (23:08):
No, you're right.
It was more about letting it gothan it was learning a new skill
set.
And- You know, I think in life,sometimes there's a confluence
of things.
I think you were the one thatgave me the awareness that this
could be a potential issue in mylife.
Just having to know, how is itgoing to happen?
(23:29):
Tell me how this is going tohappen, right?
And my friend, Matt, he's areally smart dude.
And I reached out to him.
I'm writing a book now, which wecan talk about later if you
like, called I Like You Betterin Italy.
And I really, really value...
Matt's opinion.
And so we talked about it oneday.
(23:49):
And so he was like, well, what'sthe book about?
And so I started to tell him thestory about it.
And I'll just give you one quickexample for context.
I said, I wanted to have, I readhim something I wrote and I
said, I wanted$10 million.
And he said, okay, we'll stopright there.
And I said, okay.
He said, why'd you want$10million?
(24:11):
And I said, oh, I know because$10 million will throw off about
the amount of money I'm makingas a chiropractor.
Because for context in the book,it was, I wanted 10 million when
I was a chiropractor.
I said,$10 million will throwoff about the income that I'm
(24:31):
making as a chiropractor ininterest.
And so I'd never have to touchthe principal.
And he said, okay, where'd youcome up with that idea?
And I said, where did I come upwith that idea?
I don't know.
He said, well, think.
I said, where did I come up?
I, oh, I remember I was with myfriend, Darren.
I was at a chiropractic seminarand we were doing like a
(24:53):
breakout session.
And he said, so you came up withthe idea and you gave it to
Darren?
And I said, no, he came up withthe idea.
And so he looked at me, he goes,it wasn't even your fucking
idea.
And I went, okay.
Well, he did that.
That's one example of atrillion.
He did that with, every decisioni made why why did you do that
(25:19):
why did you and he would wouldnot accept any surface answer i
gave him and the interrupting ofthat pattern every week started
making me realize so much aboutmyself that i was not thinking I
was looking for a strategy.
(25:39):
I was looking for a model.
I was looking for what somebodyelse did.
I was looking for what's goingto get me a million dollars.
I was looking for what's goingto create the income that I need
to live my life, as opposed towhat would excite me to do.
It's the stupidest, mostridiculous question now that I
(26:00):
look at it, what would exciteme.
And one day about, maybe aboutsix months ago, Tim said to me,
you know, these little storiesthat you're writing in your
book, why don't you go on TikTokand tell a 90 second version of
them?
And I was like, hmm, that mightbe fun.
And I had like this littletwinge of, yeah, but that's not
(26:26):
what I'm known for.
Yeah, but like, is it going tosell coaching?
Is it going to sell a course?
Is it going to sell amastermind?
Like, what the hell has that gotto do with anything I'm selling?
But then- Between your coachingand his why, why, why, I said,
you know what?
I think this will be fun.
I just think it will be fun.
(26:46):
So I went on and I did a video.
And the video was about the moststupid thing you can ever
imagine.
And it was when I first moved toFlorence, everybody talks about
how you got to get theFlorentine steak.
You got to get a bistecca.
So I go into the restaurant andI say, I'd like a steak.
(27:06):
And I'd like it well done.
And he points to a sign and thesign says, don't even ask me to
make your steak well donebecause I'm not going to do it.
And so I looked at him and Ilooked at the sign.
I looked back at him and he'sdeadpanning me, looking straight
on like, I'm not giving you awell done steak.
Like it's not happening.
(27:27):
And so the story in the TikTokwas, but I should be able to
have a steak however I want.
I'm a paying customer.
And if I want to kill the cowtwice, Such an American thing to
say, right?
Well, this is the point, right?
So I woke up the next morning,there were 100,000 views.
Then it went 200, 300, 400, 506,eight, nine, 1 million, 2
million, two and a half millionviews, okay?
(27:49):
Then I was like, oh, people arereally interested in well-done
steaks.
So then I did the next one.
And I won't bore you with thatone, but I did the next one,
goes to a million and a halfviews.
And I went, oh my God, I amtalking about something that I
am ridiculously...
Don't know why, but I amridiculously interested and
passionate about, and I'mgetting literally millions of
(28:12):
views, okay?
So then I went one after theother, and they don't all get
millions of views, but they geta lot.
And so now I'm at the pointwhere I walk down the street.
It's...
It's happened to me literallyevery day.
I was on my way here and thiscouple just comes running up to
(28:35):
me wanting to take a picture,right?
Hey, we're from Miami.
I follow all your TikToks.
Can we take a quick photo?
There's not a day, not one daythat I walk through the streets
of Florence where someonedoesn't stop me to take a
picture.
Okay, why am I telling you this?
I'm telling you this because ifsomebody would have said to me,
first of all, It is impossiblethat somebody could have said to
(28:58):
me, you want to know the secret?
Make a video on the steak.
And then when you walk down thestreet, people are going to stop
and see you.
And then you can sell them tripsto Florence, okay?
Well, then we announced we'regoing to do a trip to Florence.
We sell the trip out in twohours, literally two hours,
okay?
We said, we're going to do 12people, 10 grand each, and we're
(29:22):
gonna give them the bestFlorence experience that money
can buy.
Like it's gonna be over the topcrazy, great.
With all our connections andblah, blah, blah.
We go to a Halloween party, weput it up for sale.
We go to the party, we figured,you know, we'll see how it does.
At middle of the Halloweenparty, Kim checks her phone,
we're sold out.
She's trying to figure out howto turn it off.
(29:44):
In the time that she took toturn it off, we oversold it from
12 to 18 people, okay?
None of this could have beencalculated.
None.
SPEAKER_02 (29:54):
There's a book from, I think, the late 90s called
Power Versus Force.
Have we talked about thisbefore?
SPEAKER_00 (30:01):
Yeah, you've screenshotted it for me.
You've screenshotted this thing.
SPEAKER_02 (30:05):
So there's a scale in this book.
The entire idea is that there isa major distinction between
power, something that isauthentic, something that is in
alignment, something that istrue to your heart, for
instance, and that comesorganically to you and is just
the essence of you incarnate,that is power, right?
Versus force that requires somuch of this feeling of rolling
(30:29):
the boulder up the hill andstrategizing and manipulating
circumstances and controllingand forcing, in other words.
That to me is the biggest rewardof watching your entire journey
is watching you slip into thisease of your power where you go,
yeah, I'll just, This soundslike fun.
(30:50):
You said this literally soundslike this could be fun.
And you even said, what ifthere's a way?
And these are pieces of things Ilove.
And even the language justreflects how unforced that was,
if that's even a word.
For you, when you're approachingthings now, how do you stay in
that lane of power versus goingback to the how and forcing it?
SPEAKER_00 (31:12):
Here is the good news of the obstinate
personality that I have.
Once I cross over to the darkside, you can't get me back the
other way.
I become an ex-smoker.
Do you know what I mean?
I become a zealot because I knowwhat it feels like.
And so now, if I'm writing achapter in the book, I'm like,
(31:34):
that's bullshit.
That's not honest.
If I am doing a TikTok videothat my heart isn't in and I
think it's going to work justbecause I...
I just know it will.
I won't do it.
Conversely, if like, okay,here's a really good example.
Yesterday, yesterday I did aTikTok video.
(31:56):
It's in editing now.
It's not out yet.
It probably will be by the timeyour podcast comes out.
And I was like, when I wasthinking about doing it, I was
like, oh, this is stupid.
Nobody's going to give a shitabout this.
And then I went, I do.
I don't care.
So when I go out to dinner withItalians, It's loud.
The hands are waving.
(32:17):
The vibration comes off the walluntil the food comes out.
Then when the food comes out,they put the plate in front of
them and it's silence.
It's like they're like a fighterpilot looking at a target,
trying to determine whether ornot this is friend or foe,
trying to assess the bogey infront of them.
(32:39):
And you can literally...
hear the like the collectivefork going in and the table at
once taking a bite and thencollectively like their eyes go
in the back of their head andthey go oh and they start waving
their hand all at the same timeand then boom like the table
(33:00):
snaps back to the conversationlike none of it ever happens
they are so food obsessed thatIt's fascinating to me, right?
And so I spent three hoursyesterday trying to find the
right words, the right way toexplain this, like what was in
(33:24):
my heart, right?
And the day before that, I wentto Bologna, right?
And I found it fascinating thatThey had a big fight in Bologna
trying to figure out how thickshould the width of the
(33:46):
tagliatelle be, which isbasically a noodle.
How big should it be?
They're fighting overmillimeters.
Here's how they settled it.
They said there's a tower inBologna called the Asinelli
Tower.
They decided that the goldstandard will be 1 12,700th of a
millimeter of the height of thetower.
(34:08):
So you can't, because right nowyour brain is going, what the
fuck?
Like, why?
And it's because they want totake history and food and find a
way to meld it.
I find this stuff fascinating.
So once you get a taste oflooking around and going, is
(34:33):
that interesting to me?
Like I found the guy earlierlast week, and this will be the
last one.
I found the guy last week thatis a third generation, which
means his father's father'sfather does one thing.
They make rolling pins, handmaderolling pins.
That's it.
That's all he does from themoment he wakes up till the
(34:53):
moment he gets to bed.
It's his entire life.
And next to his workstation, hisson is seven years old.
He's got a workstation.
Okay.
He's teaching him how to make arolling pin.
Once you get lost in somethingthat you're passionate about,
(35:15):
somebody else would be, I don'tcare about rolling pins.
I don't care about the width ofpasta.
This is boring.
Great.
I'm not your guy.
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (35:25):
That's it.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (35:26):
It's just that simple.
So, but once you get a taste ofconnecting with the DNA that's
inside you, I can go on and onand on about the thousands,
literally thousands.
I used to get like six peoplecommenting.
There are thousands commentingnow because somehow I connected
to my thing.
SPEAKER_02 (35:46):
You said that like it was an accident.
Somehow I connected to my thing,but you worked at this.
You essentially spent 10 yearsin search of that Florentine
steak moment.
SPEAKER_00 (35:58):
Yeah, because I think it's sometimes it's
knowing what it's, Sometimesit's all the things that didn't
work that allow you...
I think the word is contrastcreates clarity or the phrase is
contrast.
SPEAKER_02 (36:10):
Yeah, that or failing forward because in the
moment it can feel like failure.
Like, oh, I worked really hardon this one video and I put my
heart and soul into what Ithought was what people really
wanted and it didn't do shit andit feels like I failed.
And then I record this one aboutthis steak and...
Suddenly, now everything isexploding, and we're selling
(36:30):
out, and I can't go get a gelatowithout people flagging me down.
And I think that's just such agood lesson for people to hear
that, like Susan Scott saysthis, everything happens
gradually, then suddenly.
Everything.
SPEAKER_00 (36:44):
Oh, that's so good.
Isn't it?
And it's so true.
That's so good.
SPEAKER_02 (36:49):
Especially those among us who are really driven
for our own results, we getimpatient, right?
And we want to start tostranglehold everything and
control everything.
And I'm saying we, because I'mdefinitely in this boat, but I
also mean entrepreneurs.
We tend to be the type who say,I'm going to direct my destiny.
It is up to me.
I'm going to make it happen.
(37:10):
And we get into this train ofthought that, well, it doesn't
matter what it is.
I can make it happen.
And so when we get to a speedbump or something that's going
to take a long time to turn intosomething, it feels extremely
frustrating, like excruciatingto have to endure something and
go, this is so gradual, this isso gradual.
And then suddenly, boom, I got aclient right now who is, his
(37:33):
birthday is today, he's turning29.
And in the last 18 months, hehas written a book that in its
first two weeks has 194five-star ratings on Amazon.
It hit, yeah, it hit number sixin self-employment.
It's endorsed by Amy Porterfieldand the guy who wrote Profit
First.
What's his name?
His name is Brian Lubin, and thebook, we'll put a link in the
(37:55):
show notes, so he's going to beso excited.
SPEAKER_00 (37:57):
I know him.
SPEAKER_02 (37:57):
Oh, you do?
Yeah, you do know Brian.
SPEAKER_00 (37:59):
Yeah.
I feel like I connected him toyou in some way, like years ago,
or maybe he reached out to bothof us at the same time.
SPEAKER_02 (38:07):
A past client of mine, I think he interviewed you
before we met, and then a pastclient of mine connected me and
him.
Yeah.
This is the circles we run in,right?
It's getting smaller andsmaller.
SPEAKER_00 (38:16):
Great kid.
SPEAKER_02 (38:17):
Great kid.
It's funny to say kid becausehe's almost 30, but he is so
energetic.
The book's called From Passiveto Passionate.
And it's in this line of whatwe're talking about that your
timeline is not infinite.
Your health is not infinite.
Your most energetic andenthusiastic years of your life
are not going to be inretirement necessarily.
(38:37):
They're probably between 20 and50.
Or at least 30 and 60.
So what are we doing with ourlives, our businesses, our
income, even our passive income,to help explore that and unlock
something new?
And that's what I mean, though.
It is frustrating because eventhough he was working every
single day for 18 monthsstraight, putting out almost 500
(38:59):
podcast episodes, directmessaging over 5,000, 6,000
people, all these things,suddenly, boom, he's exploding.
And I think it's such a goodreminder for each of us, whether
we're self-employed or not, tohear that and go, you know what,
some things just take a littletime and then overnight it can
all change.
SPEAKER_00 (39:15):
Yes, but here's the highlight I would put on that
because the entrepreneurialgrits that it takes in many
ways, hear me out because thisis going to sound like
antithetical.
The grit that it takes toaccomplish something in some
ways, I think was my Achillesheel.
(39:35):
And let me explain what I mean.
I would look at something, notthink about whether or not it
was for me.
I would set a goal and then Iwould just go after that goal.
And very often I was leaning myladder up against a building
that was the wrong building.
And so that spirit, that driveto get there was actually not
(40:00):
the issue.
The issue was the where, like,where are we going?
Like, Let's put the drive.
Let's put the 500 podcastepisodes and all the reach outs
and the book.
And let's put all that aside.
Where are you going and why areyou going there?
And here's what, here's thething that the only thing that I
(40:21):
care about right now relative tothis conversation is why does it
matter?
Why does it matter?
Why do I give a shit about this?
And if you unpeel the layer ofthese silly little TikTok videos
that I'm doing, it matters forme because I get to have
somebody step away from theirlife in the chaos of the world
(40:45):
that we're in and have a stupidconversation about the width of
pasta and talk about, it's myway in to art and culture and
history and life and living.
That's why it matters to me.
It's not the fucking pasta.
Do you know what I mean?
It's about my way that I can getin there and share something
(41:08):
that I know you're going to havean opinion.
I know when I did the steak thatyou're going to have an opinion,
whether you want it rare ormedium, or you think I should be
shot for having a steak.
I get it.
But at least we're talking aboutsomething that's fun and light.
and soulful and historical.
(41:28):
And I get to bridge.
The best part is when theItalians stop me because 44% of
my audience, I just looked at ityesterday, 44% of my audience is
Italian and 42% is American.
So it's very interesting becausethe Italians are laughing at me
(41:48):
looking at their culture and theAmericans are laughing at me
about the Italian.
So it's this weird thing.
But for me, the point is, why amI doing this?
Why does it matter?
Why do I want to write a bookabout I like you better in
Italy?
We just created a course becauseeverybody wants to know.
They're like, okay, I get it.
(42:10):
I get it.
Italy's great.
How do I move there?
So we just created a course.
How do you move there?
We gave them a thing and it didphenomenally well.
It matters to me because beinghere with me asking questions
You, should I move to Italy as acoach?
I was torn.
Should I live in California?
Should I live in Italy?
And you're like, well, if youhad two years left to live,
where would you live?
(42:30):
That one question got us here.
It just did.
You know, I've told you that amillion times.
And so now we're here.
I want people who perhaps havethat same calling, that same
thing to do it.
But even more than that, I wantthem to find their Florence
because I believe neighborhoodmatters.
(42:52):
I think there's nature, nurture,and neighborhood.
You can't change the nature.
You can't change your nurture,but you can change your
neighborhood.
I'm a different guy than I wasliving in New York.
I'm a different guy than I wasliving in Atlanta.
I'm a different guy than I wasin California.
And I'm certainly a differentguy living here in Italy.
(43:13):
Environment dictates so much.
When I wake up to the sounds ofchurch bells and I walk into a
cafe and they're like, bonjour,Roberto, there's a different
feeling that I get.
When I eat the food and like Idescribed to you with the hands,
I'm present with the people atthe table and the food and it's
(43:35):
soulful.
So nature, nurture, I thinkreally matters as well.
SPEAKER_02 (43:40):
You're spot on.
There's no debate in it.
And we're even seeing evidenceon documentaries coming out
about how community in bluezones is a predictor of
longevity in life.
So it's not really up fordebate.
Is it possible you're ontosomething?
I mean, we know you're ontosomething.
And then marrying that withYeah.
(44:15):
that just didn't hit the mark.
But you do keep coming back toone of the others, which is if
this were fun and simple or eveneasy, what might it look like?
What could it look like?
Something like that.
To unlock this part of you thatgoes, oh, I can just have fun
and that's valuable orentertaining.
And then I can turnentertainment into a currency
and that currency can turn intoanother currency and so on and
(44:37):
so forth.
So for people, did you havesomething there that looked like
you?
SPEAKER_00 (44:41):
Yeah, I did.
You're so good.
You can literally tell my Botoxto eyebrow raising.
SPEAKER_02 (44:45):
It was more on what you didn't say or how you
changed your breathing.
SPEAKER_00 (44:51):
You're so good.
The big question, like you gaveme the one-two punch with that
question, which I think was thething that like loosens the top
of the container.
But the question now for me iswhy does it matter?
Why does it matter?
That is leading everything I'mdoing right now.
I don't know why...
But when I answer that question,honestly, earnestly, soulfully,
(45:15):
it matters to me because thenthere's no stopping me.
SPEAKER_02 (45:20):
So if there's no stopping you, where are you
headed?
SPEAKER_00 (45:22):
I'm kind of happy with like threes right now.
A book, the end of the year.
I like you better in Italy.
Some courses.
We've got two courses.
One is how to move to Italy.
And the other one is ourultimate vision course, which is
people like They're like, Idon't want to move to Italy or I
might want to move to Italy, butI keep setting these goals over
(45:43):
and over again and they're justnot happening.
And I did the vision board partyand I cut out my head on
somebody else's body.
I put it on the vision board.
I cut out words like inspire andit looked like Jeffrey Dahm
being out of prison across fromit, but it's still not
happening.
So that's that course.
SPEAKER_02 (46:03):
Mine had a picture of you breathing fire on it.
That's
SPEAKER_00 (46:09):
funny.
And then the third one is acouple of events.
We're doing a Florence event inthe fall where we take people.
It's not a business one.
It's just fun.
And we take them to the bestspots we know, the secret spots,
really, where very few peopleknow about.
And we bring them on a ride forfive days.
The other event we're doing is,I can't actually say to that one
(46:32):
yet publicly, but it's going tobe a more business event.
SPEAKER_02 (46:34):
So watch your Instagram, watch your TikTok
for...
details when they come out.
Yeah.
And these things have reallyblown up.
I mean, it's, it's so fun.
I'll bring it up to a client.
I'll be like, you know, have youever thought about, and they're
like, oh, I've, I've followedfor him for years.
You know, him start telling likewe're saving right now because
(46:54):
in two years we want to be ableto go do the big trip, you know?
So it's so much fun to see that.
So kind of winding down becauseyou're, you're enjoying your
bourbon so quickly.
I don't, I don't want you to getsloppy here or anybody who
hasn't watched the video.
SPEAKER_00 (47:08):
By the way, there's no way that I can fake this
because I literally have acamera staring at my face.
Literally, there's no way I cango, I've been drinking it.
SPEAKER_02 (47:17):
Yeah, no, it's good.
It's good.
No, it's good.
The ice melted.
That's what you're saying.
Here's the thing.
You have the book coming, sothere'll be another opportunity
to get to know you on adifferent level.
But when people are hearing thisand then they go back into their
daily life, what do you reallywant them to connect?
What do you really want them toknow?
SPEAKER_00 (47:35):
This is going to sound really cliche.
But, and maybe you've heard thisbefore with regard to
Michelangelo and the David,right?
There was a big piece of stoneand he chipped away all the
pieces that weren't David andwhat was inside was the David.
It's a great metaphor, I think,to answer your question because
there is a life, there is avision, there is a ideal of what
(48:02):
someone has that matters to themthat would get them out of bed
really excited.
And they kind of would do it forfree.
They don't want to, but theykind of would do it for free.
And that creative part that's inthere, if they're willing to
(48:22):
listen to it, play with it,think about it, journal it, ask
it questions, can literallychange their entire life.
That's what I would say.
Hopefully that made some sense.
SPEAKER_02 (48:33):
It makes perfect sense.
One of my favorite quotes isfrom Michelangelo.
He said, I saw the angel in themarble and I carved until I set
him free.
And you and I have talked aboutthis, where as entrepreneurs,
we, in a way, are artists.
We are creating something fromnothing.
We are carving this vision outone little chip at a time.
And it definitely doesn't go howwe think it's going to go, but
sometimes it turns intosomething really beautiful that
(48:54):
we get to share with people whodo appreciate it.
So I think you're right on.
SPEAKER_00 (48:58):
For sure.
There's a great book, I think,if anybody wants to learn more
about this.
There's a great book oncreativity by Rick Rubin.
SPEAKER_02 (49:05):
While he finds the title, double check on Spotify
for it because they justdownloaded millions of titles
that you can read for free.
The Creative Act, A Way ofBeing?
SPEAKER_00 (49:16):
Yeah.
It's basically Rick Rubin, forthose of you that don't know the
name, he's behind Adele, JohnnyCash, Jay-Z.
The list goes on.
He's done everything and he'sknown for having no musical
talent whatsoever in terms of hecan't play an instrument.
He has no musical training atall.
(49:37):
He simply knows what he likes.
That's it.
And to give you a quick example,Jay-Z's in the studio and
they're doing 99 Problems andthey start with music.
And then he says to Jay-Z, dothe first line with no music,
just acapella.
And
SPEAKER_02 (49:56):
the rest is history.
SPEAKER_00 (49:57):
Rest is history.
And he's got a story like thatfor every single thing.
And the book really gets to theheart of it.
Like, where does creativity comefrom?
How do you tap into that?
And that's like all the stuffthat you coach, all the work
that people do in listening topodcasts, you got to peel that
noise off of you in your life tobe able to hear that soulful
(50:22):
part of you that has theanswers.
SPEAKER_02 (50:25):
I just want to let that resonate because if they
could only do one thing fromthis podcast and just turn off
the noise for a minute, andbecause I can say this with
confidence, every single personI've ever coached turns the
volume up on everything elseexcept for that voice.
And that little voice ofwhispering of like, you really
love this.
You really light up with this.
(50:46):
This feels light and easy andexciting and exhilarating to
you.
I had to do this.
You are...
Probably the biggest forcebehind this podcast.
Well, definitely the firstiteration of the podcast.
Fucking hilarious.
You sat in my house inCalifornia and you're like, why
don't you do a podcast?
And I gave you a laundry list ofexcuses and you're like, that's
(51:08):
it?
So if we could solve that.
It's all you got.
Yeah, we saw that in 10 minutes.
I was like, uh-huh, what?
And then the podcast was bored.
So thank you for that.
And that's fun for me too,because talking about Brian, one
of his big things in hiscommunity is your audio needs to
match your video.
And for you, for the last five,six years, your audio has
(51:30):
definitely started to match upwith your video of like, who am
I?
What am I all about?
Why is this important to me now?
And taking really courageousaction Even if it's moving to
Italy, even if it's giving upreally lucrative business
opportunities, even if it'sletting go of things that used
to serve you that don't anymore,you really walk that talk, man.
SPEAKER_00 (51:50):
And I'll tell you something else too.
I know you'll land in the planehere, but I think this is
helpful as well for people.
There are parts of me, when wetalk about creativity, there are
parts of me that go, like when Istarted doing the videos, I was
like, I actually don't want tobe me right now.
I want to be an over-the-topversion of me and I want to have
fun and I want to be silly andlike almost theatrical, right?
(52:15):
You?
No.
But not like trying to pretendto be me, but really just being
theatrical.
Like I want to go all in ongoing, I am going to create a
character for this thing and I'mokay doing that, right?
And then I said, but there'sanother side of me.
I look at things a littledifferently.
(52:36):
than when i'm out in the fieldsand so yesterday we're in
bologna or the day before we'rein bologna and we're walking
around and we're walking arounda food market and i'm creating a
video that's not a characterthat's me like trying to
understand the food in bolognaright but then there's a third
(52:58):
version and the third version isthat kim doesn't tell me i don't
have my lashes on.
I don't have my suit on.
It's in the morning when I'm onmy way to the gym where we have
coffee and she pulls her phoneout and she says, okay, here's
what this person commented.
What's your reaction?
And so I film an immediatereaction without knowing what it
(53:20):
is.
And so you get three differentversions of me in the way that I
want to share that with you.
SPEAKER_02 (53:29):
This is really fun thinking about that because I
see you going where StanleyTucci has gone, people like that
who are sharing something thatwas a passion project, but now
they realize, wow, people reallyare into this.
And there's a lot of value insharing these things because
they don't have the opportunityor the money to go chase these
things down themselves.
(53:50):
The three different versions ofyou is like, it's so fitting
too, because it's like you gotthe art, the food, the
environment of Italy.
I see why you're gravitatingtoward threes lately.
SPEAKER_00 (54:02):
Yeah, they're just, they're like threes.
Like the last one we did, I didit on my terrace and I don't
know why, but Italians don't usedryers.
They have to like hang theirunderwear so the world can see,
you know, their underwearhanging.
So like I'm there and I'mliterally hanging my underwear
to dry on the clothesline.
And as I'm explaining it, thewind comes and knocks the
clothesline over and we kept itin.
(54:24):
Do you know what I mean?
Like, so I'm like, I'm justfinding ways to communicate Like
I see why these science people,Bill Nye, the science guy, or
what's the other one?
The one from the HaydenPlanetarium, Cosmos guy, Neil
Graston Tyson.
Yeah.
Like I see how they're tryingto, they have something in them,
(54:45):
but they want to find a way toget it out.
And so he does star talk wherehe brings a celebrity on to talk
about the cosmos.
But when you have that in you,you're just like, you want to
share it.
And if that's the way it's goingto work, great.
And if it could work that way,that's okay too.
Because none of it matters.
What matters is, am I getting itout?
SPEAKER_02 (55:05):
Yeah, it's kind of like that idea of if you don't
know what radio station you wantto listen to, you'll just
oscillate back and forth betweenall of them.
But if you know what you want tolisten to, there's something out
there for you if you just tuneinto it.
And it's so counterintuitivebecause we think we need to be
so strategic, especially when itcomes to selling a product or a
service.
It's like, no, you have to haveall of these things and we get
(55:26):
all locked up and there's noflow in that.
No.
So let's do this.
You know, everybody who's beenon the show so far takes a
moment to think about theirstory right now, where they are,
the breakthroughs they'veexperienced recently to get
here.
You know, we talked aboutgradually, then suddenly,
suddenly you're here.
You've sort of arrived onTikTok.
(55:46):
You know, you've been workingthe Instagram game for years.
But for where you are right now,if we turned this different
version of Rob into a cocktailor something, what would it be?
in terms of what kind ofingredients would go into it.
And I don't mean necessarily onepart bourbon, one part bitters,
whatever.
I mean more substantively.
(56:08):
What would you put in there?
And while you're chewing on it,what would you call it?
And you can take your time.
SPEAKER_00 (56:14):
Well, I've never been asked this question.
It's such a great question.
The cocktail would be called LaDolce Vita.
It would be consistent with mythrees.
It would be one part, why doesit matter?
It would be one part, belief inyourself.
(56:36):
And it would be one part, aclear narrative of your vision.
Because if you have the vision,and you know where you're going,
you know what the story is, andthe one page, just for context,
the one page narrative is thestory of where you're going
next.
And I could tell you my storyfor my next one if you want.
And if you have belief, And ifit matters to you, then you have
(56:58):
everything or you have La DolceVita.
SPEAKER_02 (57:00):
That's what I was going to say.
And you're living this.
SPEAKER_00 (57:03):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (57:03):
I don't have any notes or questions because I'm
just looking at this.
I'm like, that's you on thepage, man.
Right?
Because I thought for sure you'dsay, I like you better in Italy
would be the title.
And you went a totally differentdirection.
SPEAKER_00 (57:16):
Yeah.
You know why?
Because I like you better inItaly for me is the before
picture.
La Dolce Vita is the afterpicture.
Because baked into the I likeyou better in Italy is when she
said that to me, she didn't likeme then.
She did, but she didn't.
SPEAKER_02 (57:34):
Okay.
So it's hilarious becauseusually at this point, guests
are getting a little red in theface.
They're slipping over theirwords a little bit.
You got none of that.
You got none of that.
I interviewed a brilliantauthor, and in the last five
minutes, we had to pausebecause- It was slurring?
Yeah.
He's like, you should have toldme to eat a cheeseburger or
(57:56):
something before your interview.
SPEAKER_00 (57:59):
You did a great job, by the way, with the, and I
don't know if this is the sameguy, but you did a great job
with, his name escapes me, buthe's the one who wrote, sold
like the bazillion books on- Oh,
SPEAKER_02 (58:10):
Phil M.
Jones?
UNKNOWN (58:11):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (58:11):
Yeah, it was a great interview.
SPEAKER_02 (58:13):
Thank you.
It was just complete...
For everybody listening, if thisat all looks put together, just
know that there are shit showmoments where everything is
going sideways.
That was the most challenginginterview, probably the most
challenging anything I've everdone in terms of every technical
thing that could go wrong wentwrong.
And it went wrong twice becausewe had to reschedule that
interview.
(58:33):
So I'm glad that it came acrosslike that it was...
Well done.
Yeah, thank you.
And he's such a pro that hehonestly made it easy.
But that's also like talkingabout you appreciate food, you
appreciate Italy, you appreciatecommunity, these things.
I appreciate just having a wayin sometimes with people.
And bourbon is that for somereason, it's just a way in with
(58:55):
some people.
And I found out that he actuallycreated his own bourbon and then
named it after his brand.
And in finding that out, Ilearned we're connected in all
kinds of ways.
Like one of my top clients rightnow is coaching with one of
Phil's best friends, all kindsof stuff.
So it is, but it isn't, right?
Because had I not been lookingfor that thread that goes
(59:17):
through these circles and thesepersonalities, these
opportunities wouldn't show up.
So what I was going to say, andthen I got on a tangent, was
usually people are like, youknow, really loose right now.
And you...
You're in the zone though.
Is there anything else on yourheart or in your mind that you
want people to take and run withbefore we wrap up?
SPEAKER_00 (59:37):
No, because I think we hit the highlights.
I think, not to belabor thepoint, really think about what
it is in your life right nowthat matters to you.
I know, your wife, your kids, Iget that.
Beyond that, like what mattersto you?
Because we got one shot at thislife and as I'm approaching 60
now, I'm starting to realizethat there's only so many years
(01:00:03):
that I get to make a differenceand feel like I'm doing the
thing that I was put here to doand not just occupying space.
Yeah, here's what I would say.
Power, when you're trying to dosomething, we haven't talked
about this, but when you'retrying to do something that
makes a difference in the world,power moves to you.
(01:00:24):
It just does.
It just does.
When you're doing something foryourself, it doesn't move quite
as fast.
But when you truly are doingsomething because you really,
really want to make an impact,you want to lighten someone's
load, you want to put someshockwave out into the world
where somebody feels something,nothing makes me happier than
(01:00:46):
when an Italian stops me andsays, you made me fall in love
with my country again.
Like, nothing.
There's no thousand dollars thatanybody can give me, a hundred
thousand dollars that can chasethat feeling.
None.
And so when you're doingsomething like that, when you
find that thing, it's a wholeother level.
SPEAKER_02 (01:01:05):
Man, you're on a whole nother level.
This is so much fun to see youlit up.
You don't have the burden onyour shoulders anymore.
How of strategy of comparison.
So thank you for this.
This is, this is awesome.
This is great.
SPEAKER_00 (01:01:20):
Great.
This was incredible.
SPEAKER_02 (01:01:22):
For everybody listening and watching, you can
scroll in the show notes andcatch Rob on his website.
Look for the book to come out, ILike You Better in Italy, and
obviously on TikTok andInstagram.
Anywhere else you would sendpeople right now, Rob?
Nope, that's it.
That's it?
All right, man.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for listening to theBourbon and Breakthroughs
(01:01:42):
podcast.
If you enjoyed this episode,please do me a quick favor.
It would mean the world to me,and it would help us book better
and better guests every week.
Take just a second, make sureyou're subscribed to the
podcast, and leave us a quickreview of the show.
Thanks again, and cheers to yourown breakthroughs.
Music.
SPEAKER_02 (00:03):
Welcome to the Bourbon and Breakthroughs
podcast, where entrepreneursreveal their biggest
breakthroughs, both in life andin business.
I'm your host, Chris Goodman,and I'm a life and business
coach on a mission to helppeople change their lives and
grow their businesses.
On this show, you'll get todistill your own life-changing
lessons from my friends,clients, and the best
(00:25):
entrepreneurs around the world.
During our conversation, wefeature and taste a new or
notable bourbon or somethinglike it and raise a glass to
personal development, businessgrowth, and squeezing every drop
out of life.
So whether you're a seasonedentrepreneur or just starting
out, join us for this episode ofbourbon and breakthroughs.
Cheers.
(00:48):
What is up?
Long time, no see.
It's been a couple of monthssince we put out a new episode.
I decided to take a couple ofmonths off after the podcast
wasn't my one thing anymore.
If you've listened to the showfor a while, you know, I'm big
on the book, The One Thing andprioritizing what is most
important for your life, yourbusiness, your relationships,
for everything really.
And for a couple of monthsthere, this project of the
(01:10):
podcast was not at the top ofthe priority list.
So I had to take my own adviceand deescalate that priority.
which means we are now catchingback up the beginning of a brand
new year.
We have Excellent guests tobring to you.
I'm so excited that the firstepisode features, I shouldn't
say the first episode, but thefirst episode in a few months.
(01:31):
How about that?
This one anyway, that you'reabout to listen to features Rob
Murgatroyd.
He's been a friend for years.
We were in a mastermindtogether.
He's been a client.
He's somebody I reach out towhen I have really high level
questions or coaching concerns,or even if it's just a life
question, I see him as somebodywho has collected and earned a
(01:52):
vast amount of wisdom over hisyears.
And he's a highly strategic guyas well.
So on top of that, he'shilarious.
And if you've never listened tohis episodes on the earlier
podcast that we've recordedtogether, I think you're
catching him in his prime.
And you're going to hear acouple of his stories.
But real quick, if you don'tknow who Rob Murgatroyd is and
(02:14):
you haven't seen him online, acouple of things.
You can scroll down in the shownotes real quick, click those
links, and go follow him onTikTok, Instagram, everywhere
else.
And I do want to give you thisquick background.
Rob's story is one of daringtransformation, coming from
Queens, New York, and currentlyresiding amidst the enchanting
beauty of Tuscany, Italy.
For 25 years, Rob dedicatedhimself to the world of
(02:37):
chiropractic in Atlanta.
However, a pivotal moment shookhim to the core when his wife
uttered these words, I like youbetter in Italy.
This simple phrase ignited aprofound shift within him,
sparked by a desire for changeand a yearning to escape the
monotony of chiropractic andinto living what they call La
(02:57):
Dolce Vita in Italy.
Rob's forthcoming memoir, I LikeYou Better in Italy, illuminates
this extraordinary journey ofself-discovery and
revitalization.
And beyond his literarypursuits, Rob and his wife, Kim,
offer Rob and Kim's Italia, acaptivating five-day experience
to uncover hidden treasures inFlorence.
Additionally, they host thePlatinum Roundtable event, a
(03:20):
mastermind event focused onhelping entrepreneurs grow their
businesses through uniqueexperiences and around the
world.
In addition to these immersiveexperiences, Rob provides
coaching, guiding individuals asthey script the next thrilling
chapter of their own lives.
So like I said, you can scrolldown to the show notes, find the
links to follow Rob on TikTokand Instagram, or you can just
(03:43):
Google him real fast, but makesure you do follow him today
because he's always sharinginspiring tales of his Italian
life, Italian insights, thefood, the environment, the
community, and how to have awell-lived life by design.
So I'm gonna shut up and get outof the way because there's a lot
of great points in Rob's episodehere.
(04:05):
Listen carefully to how he talksabout how impact changed his
business.
And when he started to focus onimpact, that power automatically
just moved toward him in new andunforeseen ways all the time.
Listen to his reminders aboutbelieving in yourself and not
just in a positive talk BS kindof way, but really finding
(04:26):
something that motivates you,that you're passionate about,
and that you can commit to andhave a rock solid belief in
while you pursue it.
And then lastly, listencarefully to how he talks about
creating a clear narrative ofyour vision for your life, and
why that vision must becompelling, why you need to be
able to see it and feel it andeven taste it, especially in his
(04:47):
case where he lives in one ofthe food capitals of the world.
So like I said, you're going tohave a blast listening to Rob.
You're going to laugh.
You might cry.
And either way, make sure youfollow him and do us a favor.
Leave us a quick five-starreview on whatever platform
you're listening to this podcaston and share the episode to help
us get the word out about thesegreat guests, the bourbon that
(05:08):
they're getting into, theexcellent brands that have
partnered with us to make thispodcast come to life.
And by the way, have a goodlaugh in this episode because
you get to watch Rob take hisvery first sip of bourbon.
So, all right, enjoy everyone.
And we'll catch you on the nextepisode after this one.
All right, welcome back,everybody, to Bourbon and
Breakthroughs.
(05:28):
Today, you get to visit with myfriend and past client here, Rob
Murgatroyd.
If you've followed the show,especially when it was
Relentless Growth, you've heardfrom Rob.
If you're on TikTok, there's a99% chance you've seen Rob.
If you're on Instagram, there'sprobably a 98% chance you've
seen Rob.
So visiting with us all the wayfrom Italy today, thank you,
(05:49):
Rob, for being on the show.
SPEAKER_00 (05:51):
It is my pleasure.
And I am so excited to try.
Do you know, I'm going to tellyou, I am 57 years old.
The only time I've tried bourbonis one time at a mutual friend,
Chris Harder's Mastermind.
And I think this is bourbon.
Is Louis the whatever a bourbonor is that not even a bourbon?
SPEAKER_02 (06:14):
No, that is, I believe they, they bill that as
a cognac and that's, that's ahundred years old when you taste
it.
So that there's kind of like abourbon on this level and then
Louis Trey, like way, way, wayabove that level.
SPEAKER_00 (06:26):
Okay.
So I've never had bourbon thenis the answer.
SPEAKER_02 (06:30):
Fantastic.
And so some of you are going toget to see this on video.
Some of you are going to get tolisten to his reaction.
Do
SPEAKER_00 (06:36):
I have to fake it?
And do I have to like, make youthink that I love it?
SPEAKER_02 (06:39):
Absolutely not.
This is...
Okay,
SPEAKER_00 (06:41):
good.
SPEAKER_02 (06:42):
What a silly game that would
SPEAKER_00 (06:43):
be.
SPEAKER_02 (06:46):
Oh, this is my favorite.
I'm not going to drink any moreof it, but I love it so much.
SPEAKER_00 (06:50):
Spit bucket, please.
SPEAKER_02 (06:52):
Yeah.
No, this is actually part of thefun.
You know, when I starteddesigning this concept, it was,
if you and I were hanging outtogether...
we would have a Negroni orsomething while we chatted, or
maybe a cup of coffee or anespresso or something.
We would have something though,like even sharing a meal,
especially you being in Italynow, that would be important to
us.
And so this is really to beauthentic like that.
(07:13):
Some of the best feedback I everget from listeners is, you know,
we feel like we're sitting onthe couch in a conversation with
you guys.
It just feels so natural andeverything.
So no, funny enough, Rob, thiscame all the way to your desk in
Florence, Italy today from about30 minutes from my house.
Every bottle of that is made.
Wow.
Yep.
(07:33):
Every single bottle of it in theworld is made right down the
road from where we live here inbourbon country.
SPEAKER_00 (07:37):
Do you think...
that you're into bourbon becauseyou've grown up around it or
because you just happen to likeit or probably both?
SPEAKER_02 (07:45):
I think it's more that I happen to like it because
we have other things around herethat I'm not really that into,
like horse racing.
You know, we go to the derby, wehave a good time.
Big hats.
Yeah, big hats and nice suits.
It's fun once a year kind ofthing.
But this is something that Ithink is, it's kind of like art.
It's an appreciation.
It's an experience.
(08:05):
It's something...
Not everybody's going to getinto, but the more you learn
about how it's made, the deeperyou appreciate it.
So I think that's what got meinto it.
Cool.
Okay.
So first things first, we'regoing to get Rob into his
bourbon, let him taste it, lethim, you know, have the full
experience.
Rob, you have, you have some icethere, right?
I
SPEAKER_00 (08:23):
do.
SPEAKER_02 (08:24):
So I'm going to teach you kind of, if this were
wine, I'm going to guide youalmost like a sommelier would
guide you through this, exceptfor not that bougie.
UNKNOWN (08:33):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (08:33):
You don't, this being your first experience with
bourbon, and if you're playingalong at home, you don't want to
just go straight into it becauseat 90 proof, this one is, I
think, yeah, this one's at 90proof, 45% of what's in your
glass is alcohol.
So you're used to wine and otherspirits.
This one though is so much morealcohol that your body's
(08:54):
actually going to think it'spoison if you don't get it
acclimated first.
So first you want to kind ofjust get your nose in there, get
familiar with.
SPEAKER_00 (09:02):
You're really selling it.
Your body is going to read it aspoison.
So let's go slow.
So we chose to use Buffalo Traceinstead of arsenic tonight.
It's a little less, but kind ofthe same thing.
SPEAKER_02 (09:15):
Arsenic just doesn't have that good oaky.
It's
SPEAKER_00 (09:19):
just not done in those Kentucky barrels.
Okay.
So I'm going to pour it in.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (09:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (09:24):
Okay.
All right.
So I'll go about a quarter ofthe cup.
SPEAKER_02 (09:26):
Yeah, I don't have much faith you're going to drink
all of it, so we're going tosee.
You might surprise me, right?
How do we do this?
So just get your nose in there alittle bit first.
Oh my God, we have the sameglass.
Oh, wow.
What are the odds of that?
Literally the same glass.
That's
SPEAKER_00 (09:43):
crazy.
SPEAKER_02 (09:44):
It's actually not.
I mean, if you're listening andyou're not watching the video, I
jokingly showed up in a bluesports jacket with a perfectly
coiffed handkerchief in mypocket because I knew that's how
Rob was going to show up.
We have a lot of things incommon.
So, all right, let's get to thisso everybody can move on with
the damn show.
What do you smell at first?
What comes to your palate?
What comes to your nose?
(10:04):
Crack your mouth open a littlebit while you breathe in.
SPEAKER_00 (10:06):
Okay.
Strong alcohol, for sure.
Duh.
The first word that comes tomind is caramel.
That's about all I got.
Maybe a hint of
SPEAKER_02 (10:15):
vanilla, maybe.
Yeah, you're right on.
So part of the process isessentially scorching the
barrels with real fire.
And that caramelizes sugars andother things in the wood itself
that when they put the bourbonin there, it helps draw out
those flavors, those sugars.
So you get all kinds of notes ofcaramel, vanilla.
(10:35):
And then usually one of thefirst things people say with
their first few experiences withbourbon is oak because it's so
potent.
But nonetheless, As you tastethis, don't taste it yet.
I'm going to teach you what'scalled a Kentucky chew, because
like I said, it is so strong.
You basically want to put just alittle bit.
I'm talking a couple of drops,like two drops onto your palate
(10:57):
and then move it all around yourmouth.
And it's going to look likeyou're chewing it, but that's
going to help your bodyunderstand, oh, this isn't
poison.
This is, you know, it's a highalcohol drink, but it's not
going to hurt me.
And knowing, and I'm taking youthis way, particularly because I
know how you take your drinks.
So let your mouth, let yourpalate get acclimated to it.
(11:19):
And then you can swallow it, butjust a little bit.
Okay.
I wish you guys could see hisface right now.
I've seen Muppets that look likethat.
SPEAKER_00 (11:27):
Okay.
I did it.
I feel like I'm on fear factor.
I did it.
SPEAKER_02 (11:32):
Okay.
So what's your reaction now?
SPEAKER_00 (11:34):
Fire.
I feel like if I light a match,I could flame throw.
I don't get it.
I'm a little scared to gofurther, but other than that,
Mr.
Lincoln, the play was great.
That's
SPEAKER_02 (11:50):
right.
Well, you're right on cuebecause- I
SPEAKER_00 (11:53):
feel like I want to cough.
Yeah.
I feel like I just picked up asmoking habit.
Go
SPEAKER_02 (11:58):
ahead.
I did this event a couple ofmonths ago called Bourbon and
Breakthroughs, and some of thepeople who showed up-
SPEAKER_00 (12:03):
Oh, I had a breakthrough.
SPEAKER_02 (12:03):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
You were out of your mind for aminute there, I think.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (12:09):
Or out of my body anyway.
SPEAKER_02 (12:11):
So some of the people coming had never tried
bourbon and we go to adistillery tour and one of the
distillery owners was kindenough to let us thief whiskey
straight from the barrel.
So they're drinking 130 proof.
Yours is 90 proof there.
They were drinking 130 proofstraight from the barrel without
any ice.
And their reaction was prettyhilarious.
(12:31):
But here's the thing withbourbon.
You can take it however youlike.
Tons of ice, extra water, allkinds of cocktails that dilute
the strength of a 90 proofbourbon.
So as we go along here and asthat ice melts down into your
bourbon, it's going to open itup and make it much more
palatable for somebody's palatewho's not used to drinking such
(12:51):
strength.
I
SPEAKER_00 (12:52):
could literally feel my heart racing.
I swear to God.
You know how you get strongalcohol?
Anyway, go ahead.
I'm just a wuss.
SPEAKER_02 (13:02):
You feel alive.
SPEAKER_00 (13:02):
I feel alive.
Yeah, that's the way to
SPEAKER_02 (13:06):
put it.
All right.
Well, speaking of being alive-At this point, people have
scrolled down and clicked onyour TikTok or your Instagram
and pulled you up, or they knowyou from the other shows, or
they just know you from youbeing you.
They know that's really one ofthe things you're all about is
squeezing every single thing youcan out of life, out of food,
out of relationships, out ofyour environment.
(13:27):
I mean, we've come a long way.
We're kind of joking about howit's been, or maybe this was
just in my head.
I thought we were joking abouthow it's been about five years
since we met.
In that five years, you'vetransformed.
You've done a complete 180,including where you live.
What is different about youtoday and how you squeeze
everything out of life versushow you used to be?
SPEAKER_00 (13:50):
Well, I guess we would have to pick a date in
time for me to compare it to.
But I think perhaps a better wayto answer that question, if I
can refine it a little bit,would be to say that I'm always
looking for something that'slighting me up.
(14:10):
I'm always looking to chase thatthing that makes me feel like
I'm coming alive.
And I'm always trying to find away to subtract what isn't.
And sometimes the subtraction ofwhat isn't making me come alive
(14:31):
is difficult to get rid of.
For example, when i was achiropractor and i was no longer
happy about doing that it was myfamily's primary source of
income so it's very difficult tosay this is not lighting me up
anymore but it didn't stop mefrom taking a bite out of a lot
of different apples and so if ican give you a couple of
(14:56):
examples of trajectory here oneof the things that i did as a
chiropractor that kind of feltdisenchanted was travel.
And I would take some time to gotravel and I'd come back from
traveling with my wife.
And it was the thing that likegave me the shot in the arm to
get through the next couple ofmonths.
(15:17):
And then I was like, what ifthere's a way that I can capture
this travel on film?
And it's when YouTube, literallyit was the year YouTube came
out.
And so we took a little videocourt recorder with us and we
said, let's make a travel showjust for fun.
And there was a television showcalled wild on, on E and it was
(15:40):
a girl who just kind of liketraveled around the world.
And so we modeled a lot of whatwe wanted to do after the style
of the show.
And we would come back and I wasso excited to come back and sit
there and edit the videos andfind the right music and post
them because Facebook andYouTube was just starting and
(16:01):
post them online.
And it never turned out, wewound up selling guidebooks to
the destinations, made a coupleof bucks.
We didn't get rich, didn't allowme to leave chiropractic at all,
but it rolled into like anotherthing in my life that lit me up.
So when that chapter closed, Iremembered being in Ibiza.
(16:24):
And I remembered watching a DJon one of the shows that we were
filming.
And I was fascinated by how theDJ could take three or four
different songs, put them on topof each other and make a new
melody.
Like that was just fascinatingto me.
And so I came back and I said toa friend of mine who ran a
nightclub, could you get me DJlessons.
(16:46):
And he looked at me like I'm outof my mind.
Like you're 45 years old.
Like you want to learn to DJ?
Like are you Joe?
I'm like, no, I really do.
And I hired this guy to come tothe house once a week and teach
me how to DJ.
And that led into him asking meif I'd be interested in playing
in a nightclub one night.
And it was terrifying to me, butI did.
(17:07):
And I was, I felt alive and Iwound up getting a residency at
a club in Atlanta and And then Iwound up traveling as a DJ in
different cities.
And then my wife got pregnant.
And as you well know, it wasvery difficult coming home, fist
pumping with 20 year olds whowere on ecstasy.
(17:27):
Not that you know that, but youknow, having a baby, it was very
difficult to do that.
So I had to stop that career.
SPEAKER_02 (17:34):
Well, and for context, how old were you at
that point?
Probably 47.
Okay.
I just think it's relevant forpeople who don't know your full
story, how many turns there havebeen that were significant in
that 10-year range.
SPEAKER_00 (17:47):
Yeah.
And then after that, there wassomething that was in there.
And that's around the time thatI met you at our mutual friend,
Chris Harder's Mastermind, whereI was trying to say, okay, well,
what do I do now?
I still haven't found a way outof chiropractic to replace my
income.
(18:07):
And each one of these things Idid sort of like led me to like
the next thing.
And so when I met you, I was inthat mastermind trying to figure
out what was next.
And so I took pieces ofdifferent things and I went, I
love travel.
(18:27):
I love music.
I love interviewing people.
And that led me into, well, whatif masterminds were sort of like
all the rage at that time?
I was like, what if I did my ownmasterminds?
But what if I did it my way?
And what if we weren't sittingin the back of a hotel room and
we were doing it like, because Ialways find that the best
(18:49):
connections that people have,it's always at the bar, at the
hotel, or it's at the pool inthe afternoon.
It's never sitting therelistening to the prepackaged
speaker.
And so I was like, well, what ifI did that?
And then that led into doingmasterminds.
And so I can keep going.
But the point, the answer toyour question is that I used to
find, I used to be embarrassedby that and feel like the guy
(19:13):
with the resume that only haslike, you know, a job for a year
and a half.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, do you have any stabilityin your life?
But I reconciled it because Idid have the stability.
I had the 25 years ofchiropractic, but it was the
constant changing while I was inthat trying to find my lane.
And so to answer the very longanswer to your question, but
(19:37):
that allowed me to reach theplace where I am now, which we
can talk about.
SPEAKER_02 (19:43):
You know, you make it sound so almost smooth in
hindsight when I've experiencedit as more just volatile.
And I don't want to saycharacter shaking because your
character has never been up fordebate, but it's been sort of an
identity change.
journey along the way of like,is this who I really am?
I am the brilliant, successful,tenured doctor that drives the
(20:07):
Porsche.
No, I'm the guy that sellseverything and moves to Southern
California and is kind of abeach bum.
And no, I'm somebody else.
So going back, because I knowsome people listening to this
are in the middle of thattransition themselves or hoping
to get in the courage to get inthat transformational process.
(20:28):
What words of wisdom would youhave for them while they're in
the thick of that identityshift?
SPEAKER_00 (20:32):
To not bullshit yourself and to be very clear
about what it is that's lightingyou up and not doing the logical
next step.
It's very easy to do the logicalnext step.
It's very easy to say, I was achiropractor, so maybe I should
do chiropractic consulting if Idon't wanna see patients
(20:53):
anymore.
But somewhere for this person,There's a voice.
It's quiet.
There's a thing that's just notgoing away.
They've had it for years.
When they're well-rested, popsup, and then it's a flash and it
gets out of their head.
They think, I probably couldn'tmake any money at this.
There's a million people thatare doing this.
(21:15):
I don't even know where tobegin.
So none of that voice is everheard.
And so you just start living alife by defaults.
and continuing because you gotto pay the bills and you got a
kid and all these other things.
So the advice would be to getreally honest about what that
(21:36):
thing is and like separate itfrom the how.
And me being, it's awfully funnyfor me to be the guy giving this
advice because you are the onewho's on the receiving end of my
continually asking how.
And I really believe that youwere in my life as a coach at
that time to help me.
(21:58):
And by help me, I mean youmetaphorically grabbing me by
the shoulders and banging myhead against the wall every week
and me paying you an ungodlyamount of money to do that.
SPEAKER_02 (22:10):
You got in while rates were low, don't complain.
SPEAKER_00 (22:15):
But eventually you gave me, you interrupted the
pattern enough for me to seethat my desire for wanting to
know how was actually thebiggest block that I currently
had in my life.
I truly believe that.
And it wasn't until, I mean, Iwish I can tell you that we did
a coaching session and itchanged.
(22:36):
It was like well after.
I needed you resonating in myear and percolating for me to
continually see that habitualproblem.
But I don't have that now.
I'd love to talk about thatbecause I think people would
really, really get somethingfrom this.
SPEAKER_02 (22:54):
Please, because for you, it was more of an
unlearning than adopting a newskill set, mindset, something
else.
It was really letting go,shedding that.
But I don't want to speak foryou.
I mean, go ahead and-
SPEAKER_00 (23:08):
No, you're right.
It was more about letting it gothan it was learning a new skill
set.
And- You know, I think in life,sometimes there's a confluence
of things.
I think you were the one thatgave me the awareness that this
could be a potential issue in mylife.
Just having to know, how is itgoing to happen?
(23:29):
Tell me how this is going tohappen, right?
And my friend, Matt, he's areally smart dude.
And I reached out to him.
I'm writing a book now, which wecan talk about later if you
like, called I Like You Betterin Italy.
And I really, really value...
Matt's opinion.
And so we talked about it oneday.
(23:49):
And so he was like, well, what'sthe book about?
And so I started to tell him thestory about it.
And I'll just give you one quickexample for context.
I said, I wanted to have, I readhim something I wrote and I
said, I wanted$10 million.
And he said, okay, we'll stopright there.
And I said, okay.
He said, why'd you want$10million?
(24:11):
And I said, oh, I know because$10 million will throw off about
the amount of money I'm makingas a chiropractor.
Because for context in the book,it was, I wanted 10 million when
I was a chiropractor.
I said,$10 million will throwoff about the income that I'm
(24:31):
making as a chiropractor ininterest.
And so I'd never have to touchthe principal.
And he said, okay, where'd youcome up with that idea?
And I said, where did I come upwith that idea?
I don't know.
He said, well, think.
I said, where did I come up?
I, oh, I remember I was with myfriend, Darren.
I was at a chiropractic seminarand we were doing like a
(24:53):
breakout session.
And he said, so you came up withthe idea and you gave it to
Darren?
And I said, no, he came up withthe idea.
And so he looked at me, he goes,it wasn't even your fucking
idea.
And I went, okay.
Well, he did that.
That's one example of atrillion.
He did that with, every decisioni made why why did you do that
(25:19):
why did you and he would wouldnot accept any surface answer i
gave him and the interrupting ofthat pattern every week started
making me realize so much aboutmyself that i was not thinking I
was looking for a strategy.
(25:39):
I was looking for a model.
I was looking for what somebodyelse did.
I was looking for what's goingto get me a million dollars.
I was looking for what's goingto create the income that I need
to live my life, as opposed towhat would excite me to do.
It's the stupidest, mostridiculous question now that I
(26:00):
look at it, what would exciteme.
And one day about, maybe aboutsix months ago, Tim said to me,
you know, these little storiesthat you're writing in your
book, why don't you go on TikTokand tell a 90 second version of
them?
And I was like, hmm, that mightbe fun.
And I had like this littletwinge of, yeah, but that's not
(26:26):
what I'm known for.
Yeah, but like, is it going tosell coaching?
Is it going to sell a course?
Is it going to sell amastermind?
Like, what the hell has that gotto do with anything I'm selling?
But then- Between your coachingand his why, why, why, I said,
you know what?
I think this will be fun.
I just think it will be fun.
(26:46):
So I went on and I did a video.
And the video was about the moststupid thing you can ever
imagine.
And it was when I first moved toFlorence, everybody talks about
how you got to get theFlorentine steak.
You got to get a bistecca.
So I go into the restaurant andI say, I'd like a steak.
(27:06):
And I'd like it well done.
And he points to a sign and thesign says, don't even ask me to
make your steak well donebecause I'm not going to do it.
And so I looked at him and Ilooked at the sign.
I looked back at him and he'sdeadpanning me, looking straight
on like, I'm not giving you awell done steak.
Like it's not happening.
(27:27):
And so the story in the TikTokwas, but I should be able to
have a steak however I want.
I'm a paying customer.
And if I want to kill the cowtwice, Such an American thing to
say, right?
Well, this is the point, right?
So I woke up the next morning,there were 100,000 views.
Then it went 200, 300, 400, 506,eight, nine, 1 million, 2
million, two and a half millionviews, okay?
(27:49):
Then I was like, oh, people arereally interested in well-done
steaks.
So then I did the next one.
And I won't bore you with thatone, but I did the next one,
goes to a million and a halfviews.
And I went, oh my God, I amtalking about something that I
am ridiculously...
Don't know why, but I amridiculously interested and
passionate about, and I'mgetting literally millions of
(28:12):
views, okay?
So then I went one after theother, and they don't all get
millions of views, but they geta lot.
And so now I'm at the pointwhere I walk down the street.
It's...
It's happened to me literallyevery day.
I was on my way here and thiscouple just comes running up to
(28:35):
me wanting to take a picture,right?
Hey, we're from Miami.
I follow all your TikToks.
Can we take a quick photo?
There's not a day, not one daythat I walk through the streets
of Florence where someonedoesn't stop me to take a
picture.
Okay, why am I telling you this?
I'm telling you this because ifsomebody would have said to me,
first of all, It is impossiblethat somebody could have said to
(28:58):
me, you want to know the secret?
Make a video on the steak.
And then when you walk down thestreet, people are going to stop
and see you.
And then you can sell them tripsto Florence, okay?
Well, then we announced we'regoing to do a trip to Florence.
We sell the trip out in twohours, literally two hours,
okay?
We said, we're going to do 12people, 10 grand each, and we're
(29:22):
gonna give them the bestFlorence experience that money
can buy.
Like it's gonna be over the topcrazy, great.
With all our connections andblah, blah, blah.
We go to a Halloween party, weput it up for sale.
We go to the party, we figured,you know, we'll see how it does.
At middle of the Halloweenparty, Kim checks her phone,
we're sold out.
She's trying to figure out howto turn it off.
(29:44):
In the time that she took toturn it off, we oversold it from
12 to 18 people, okay?
None of this could have beencalculated.
None.
SPEAKER_02 (29:54):
There's a book from, I think, the late 90s called
Power Versus Force.
Have we talked about thisbefore?
SPEAKER_00 (30:01):
Yeah, you've screenshotted it for me.
You've screenshotted this thing.
SPEAKER_02 (30:05):
So there's a scale in this book.
The entire idea is that there isa major distinction between
power, something that isauthentic, something that is in
alignment, something that istrue to your heart, for
instance, and that comesorganically to you and is just
the essence of you incarnate,that is power, right?
Versus force that requires somuch of this feeling of rolling
(30:29):
the boulder up the hill andstrategizing and manipulating
circumstances and controllingand forcing, in other words.
That to me is the biggest rewardof watching your entire journey
is watching you slip into thisease of your power where you go,
yeah, I'll just, This soundslike fun.
(30:50):
You said this literally soundslike this could be fun.
And you even said, what ifthere's a way?
And these are pieces of things Ilove.
And even the language justreflects how unforced that was,
if that's even a word.
For you, when you're approachingthings now, how do you stay in
that lane of power versus goingback to the how and forcing it?
SPEAKER_00 (31:12):
Here is the good news of the obstinate
personality that I have.
Once I cross over to the darkside, you can't get me back the
other way.
I become an ex-smoker.
Do you know what I mean?
I become a zealot because I knowwhat it feels like.
And so now, if I'm writing achapter in the book, I'm like,
(31:34):
that's bullshit.
That's not honest.
If I am doing a TikTok videothat my heart isn't in and I
think it's going to work justbecause I...
I just know it will.
I won't do it.
Conversely, if like, okay,here's a really good example.
Yesterday, yesterday I did aTikTok video.
(31:56):
It's in editing now.
It's not out yet.
It probably will be by the timeyour podcast comes out.
And I was like, when I wasthinking about doing it, I was
like, oh, this is stupid.
Nobody's going to give a shitabout this.
And then I went, I do.
I don't care.
So when I go out to dinner withItalians, It's loud.
The hands are waving.
(32:17):
The vibration comes off the walluntil the food comes out.
Then when the food comes out,they put the plate in front of
them and it's silence.
It's like they're like a fighterpilot looking at a target,
trying to determine whether ornot this is friend or foe,
trying to assess the bogey infront of them.
(32:39):
And you can literally...
hear the like the collectivefork going in and the table at
once taking a bite and thencollectively like their eyes go
in the back of their head andthey go oh and they start waving
their hand all at the same timeand then boom like the table
(33:00):
snaps back to the conversationlike none of it ever happens
they are so food obsessed thatIt's fascinating to me, right?
And so I spent three hoursyesterday trying to find the
right words, the right way toexplain this, like what was in
(33:24):
my heart, right?
And the day before that, I wentto Bologna, right?
And I found it fascinating thatThey had a big fight in Bologna
trying to figure out how thickshould the width of the
(33:46):
tagliatelle be, which isbasically a noodle.
How big should it be?
They're fighting overmillimeters.
Here's how they settled it.
They said there's a tower inBologna called the Asinelli
Tower.
They decided that the goldstandard will be 1 12,700th of a
millimeter of the height of thetower.
(34:08):
So you can't, because right nowyour brain is going, what the
fuck?
Like, why?
And it's because they want totake history and food and find a
way to meld it.
I find this stuff fascinating.
So once you get a taste oflooking around and going, is
(34:33):
that interesting to me?
Like I found the guy earlierlast week, and this will be the
last one.
I found the guy last week thatis a third generation, which
means his father's father'sfather does one thing.
They make rolling pins, handmaderolling pins.
That's it.
That's all he does from themoment he wakes up till the
(34:53):
moment he gets to bed.
It's his entire life.
And next to his workstation, hisson is seven years old.
He's got a workstation.
Okay.
He's teaching him how to make arolling pin.
Once you get lost in somethingthat you're passionate about,
(35:15):
somebody else would be, I don'tcare about rolling pins.
I don't care about the width ofpasta.
This is boring.
Great.
I'm not your guy.
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (35:25):
That's it.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (35:26):
It's just that simple.
So, but once you get a taste ofconnecting with the DNA that's
inside you, I can go on and onand on about the thousands,
literally thousands.
I used to get like six peoplecommenting.
There are thousands commentingnow because somehow I connected
to my thing.
SPEAKER_02 (35:46):
You said that like it was an accident.
Somehow I connected to my thing,but you worked at this.
You essentially spent 10 yearsin search of that Florentine
steak moment.
SPEAKER_00 (35:58):
Yeah, because I think it's sometimes it's
knowing what it's, Sometimesit's all the things that didn't
work that allow you...
I think the word is contrastcreates clarity or the phrase is
contrast.
SPEAKER_02 (36:10):
Yeah, that or failing forward because in the
moment it can feel like failure.
Like, oh, I worked really hardon this one video and I put my
heart and soul into what Ithought was what people really
wanted and it didn't do shit andit feels like I failed.
And then I record this one aboutthis steak and...
Suddenly, now everything isexploding, and we're selling
(36:30):
out, and I can't go get a gelatowithout people flagging me down.
And I think that's just such agood lesson for people to hear
that, like Susan Scott saysthis, everything happens
gradually, then suddenly.
Everything.
SPEAKER_00 (36:44):
Oh, that's so good.
Isn't it?
And it's so true.
That's so good.
SPEAKER_02 (36:49):
Especially those among us who are really driven
for our own results, we getimpatient, right?
And we want to start tostranglehold everything and
control everything.
And I'm saying we, because I'mdefinitely in this boat, but I
also mean entrepreneurs.
We tend to be the type who say,I'm going to direct my destiny.
It is up to me.
I'm going to make it happen.
(37:10):
And we get into this train ofthought that, well, it doesn't
matter what it is.
I can make it happen.
And so when we get to a speedbump or something that's going
to take a long time to turn intosomething, it feels extremely
frustrating, like excruciatingto have to endure something and
go, this is so gradual, this isso gradual.
And then suddenly, boom, I got aclient right now who is, his
(37:33):
birthday is today, he's turning29.
And in the last 18 months, hehas written a book that in its
first two weeks has 194five-star ratings on Amazon.
It hit, yeah, it hit number sixin self-employment.
It's endorsed by Amy Porterfieldand the guy who wrote Profit
First.
What's his name?
His name is Brian Lubin, and thebook, we'll put a link in the
(37:55):
show notes, so he's going to beso excited.
SPEAKER_00 (37:57):
I know him.
SPEAKER_02 (37:57):
Oh, you do?
Yeah, you do know Brian.
SPEAKER_00 (37:59):
Yeah.
I feel like I connected him toyou in some way, like years ago,
or maybe he reached out to bothof us at the same time.
SPEAKER_02 (38:07):
A past client of mine, I think he interviewed you
before we met, and then a pastclient of mine connected me and
him.
Yeah.
This is the circles we run in,right?
It's getting smaller andsmaller.
SPEAKER_00 (38:16):
Great kid.
SPEAKER_02 (38:17):
Great kid.
It's funny to say kid becausehe's almost 30, but he is so
energetic.
The book's called From Passiveto Passionate.
And it's in this line of whatwe're talking about that your
timeline is not infinite.
Your health is not infinite.
Your most energetic andenthusiastic years of your life
are not going to be inretirement necessarily.
(38:37):
They're probably between 20 and50.
Or at least 30 and 60.
So what are we doing with ourlives, our businesses, our
income, even our passive income,to help explore that and unlock
something new?
And that's what I mean, though.
It is frustrating because eventhough he was working every
single day for 18 monthsstraight, putting out almost 500
(38:59):
podcast episodes, directmessaging over 5,000, 6,000
people, all these things,suddenly, boom, he's exploding.
And I think it's such a goodreminder for each of us, whether
we're self-employed or not, tohear that and go, you know what,
some things just take a littletime and then overnight it can
all change.
SPEAKER_00 (39:15):
Yes, but here's the highlight I would put on that
because the entrepreneurialgrits that it takes in many
ways, hear me out because thisis going to sound like
antithetical.
The grit that it takes toaccomplish something in some
ways, I think was my Achillesheel.
(39:35):
And let me explain what I mean.
I would look at something, notthink about whether or not it
was for me.
I would set a goal and then Iwould just go after that goal.
And very often I was leaning myladder up against a building
that was the wrong building.
And so that spirit, that driveto get there was actually not
(40:00):
the issue.
The issue was the where, like,where are we going?
Like, Let's put the drive.
Let's put the 500 podcastepisodes and all the reach outs
and the book.
And let's put all that aside.
Where are you going and why areyou going there?
And here's what, here's thething that the only thing that I
(40:21):
care about right now relative tothis conversation is why does it
matter?
Why does it matter?
Why do I give a shit about this?
And if you unpeel the layer ofthese silly little TikTok videos
that I'm doing, it matters forme because I get to have
somebody step away from theirlife in the chaos of the world
(40:45):
that we're in and have a stupidconversation about the width of
pasta and talk about, it's myway in to art and culture and
history and life and living.
That's why it matters to me.
It's not the fucking pasta.
Do you know what I mean?
It's about my way that I can getin there and share something
(41:08):
that I know you're going to havean opinion.
I know when I did the steak thatyou're going to have an opinion,
whether you want it rare ormedium, or you think I should be
shot for having a steak.
I get it.
But at least we're talking aboutsomething that's fun and light.
and soulful and historical.
(41:28):
And I get to bridge.
The best part is when theItalians stop me because 44% of
my audience, I just looked at ityesterday, 44% of my audience is
Italian and 42% is American.
So it's very interesting becausethe Italians are laughing at me
(41:48):
looking at their culture and theAmericans are laughing at me
about the Italian.
So it's this weird thing.
But for me, the point is, why amI doing this?
Why does it matter?
Why do I want to write a bookabout I like you better in
Italy?
We just created a course becauseeverybody wants to know.
They're like, okay, I get it.
(42:10):
I get it.
Italy's great.
How do I move there?
So we just created a course.
How do you move there?
We gave them a thing and it didphenomenally well.
It matters to me because beinghere with me asking questions
You, should I move to Italy as acoach?
I was torn.
Should I live in California?
Should I live in Italy?
And you're like, well, if youhad two years left to live,
where would you live?
(42:30):
That one question got us here.
It just did.
You know, I've told you that amillion times.
And so now we're here.
I want people who perhaps havethat same calling, that same
thing to do it.
But even more than that, I wantthem to find their Florence
because I believe neighborhoodmatters.
(42:52):
I think there's nature, nurture,and neighborhood.
You can't change the nature.
You can't change your nurture,but you can change your
neighborhood.
I'm a different guy than I wasliving in New York.
I'm a different guy than I wasliving in Atlanta.
I'm a different guy than I wasin California.
And I'm certainly a differentguy living here in Italy.
(43:13):
Environment dictates so much.
When I wake up to the sounds ofchurch bells and I walk into a
cafe and they're like, bonjour,Roberto, there's a different
feeling that I get.
When I eat the food and like Idescribed to you with the hands,
I'm present with the people atthe table and the food and it's
(43:35):
soulful.
So nature, nurture, I thinkreally matters as well.
SPEAKER_02 (43:40):
You're spot on.
There's no debate in it.
And we're even seeing evidenceon documentaries coming out
about how community in bluezones is a predictor of
longevity in life.
So it's not really up fordebate.
Is it possible you're ontosomething?
I mean, we know you're ontosomething.
And then marrying that withYeah.
(44:15):
that just didn't hit the mark.
But you do keep coming back toone of the others, which is if
this were fun and simple or eveneasy, what might it look like?
What could it look like?
Something like that.
To unlock this part of you thatgoes, oh, I can just have fun
and that's valuable orentertaining.
And then I can turnentertainment into a currency
and that currency can turn intoanother currency and so on and
(44:37):
so forth.
So for people, did you havesomething there that looked like
you?
SPEAKER_00 (44:41):
Yeah, I did.
You're so good.
You can literally tell my Botoxto eyebrow raising.
SPEAKER_02 (44:45):
It was more on what you didn't say or how you
changed your breathing.
SPEAKER_00 (44:51):
You're so good.
The big question, like you gaveme the one-two punch with that
question, which I think was thething that like loosens the top
of the container.
But the question now for me iswhy does it matter?
Why does it matter?
That is leading everything I'mdoing right now.
I don't know why...
But when I answer that question,honestly, earnestly, soulfully,
(45:15):
it matters to me because thenthere's no stopping me.
SPEAKER_02 (45:20):
So if there's no stopping you, where are you
headed?
SPEAKER_00 (45:22):
I'm kind of happy with like threes right now.
A book, the end of the year.
I like you better in Italy.
Some courses.
We've got two courses.
One is how to move to Italy.
And the other one is ourultimate vision course, which is
people like They're like, Idon't want to move to Italy or I
might want to move to Italy, butI keep setting these goals over
(45:43):
and over again and they're justnot happening.
And I did the vision board partyand I cut out my head on
somebody else's body.
I put it on the vision board.
I cut out words like inspire andit looked like Jeffrey Dahm
being out of prison across fromit, but it's still not
happening.
So that's that course.
SPEAKER_02 (46:03):
Mine had a picture of you breathing fire on it.
That's
SPEAKER_00 (46:09):
funny.
And then the third one is acouple of events.
We're doing a Florence event inthe fall where we take people.
It's not a business one.
It's just fun.
And we take them to the bestspots we know, the secret spots,
really, where very few peopleknow about.
And we bring them on a ride forfive days.
The other event we're doing is,I can't actually say to that one
(46:32):
yet publicly, but it's going tobe a more business event.
SPEAKER_02 (46:34):
So watch your Instagram, watch your TikTok
for...
details when they come out.
Yeah.
And these things have reallyblown up.
I mean, it's, it's so fun.
I'll bring it up to a client.
I'll be like, you know, have youever thought about, and they're
like, oh, I've, I've followedfor him for years.
You know, him start telling likewe're saving right now because
(46:54):
in two years we want to be ableto go do the big trip, you know?
So it's so much fun to see that.
So kind of winding down becauseyou're, you're enjoying your
bourbon so quickly.
I don't, I don't want you to getsloppy here or anybody who
hasn't watched the video.
SPEAKER_00 (47:08):
By the way, there's no way that I can fake this
because I literally have acamera staring at my face.
Literally, there's no way I cango, I've been drinking it.
SPEAKER_02 (47:17):
Yeah, no, it's good.
It's good.
No, it's good.
The ice melted.
That's what you're saying.
Here's the thing.
You have the book coming, sothere'll be another opportunity
to get to know you on adifferent level.
But when people are hearing thisand then they go back into their
daily life, what do you reallywant them to connect?
What do you really want them toknow?
SPEAKER_00 (47:35):
This is going to sound really cliche.
But, and maybe you've heard thisbefore with regard to
Michelangelo and the David,right?
There was a big piece of stoneand he chipped away all the
pieces that weren't David andwhat was inside was the David.
It's a great metaphor, I think,to answer your question because
there is a life, there is avision, there is a ideal of what
(48:02):
someone has that matters to themthat would get them out of bed
really excited.
And they kind of would do it forfree.
They don't want to, but theykind of would do it for free.
And that creative part that's inthere, if they're willing to
(48:22):
listen to it, play with it,think about it, journal it, ask
it questions, can literallychange their entire life.
That's what I would say.
Hopefully that made some sense.
SPEAKER_02 (48:33):
It makes perfect sense.
One of my favorite quotes isfrom Michelangelo.
He said, I saw the angel in themarble and I carved until I set
him free.
And you and I have talked aboutthis, where as entrepreneurs,
we, in a way, are artists.
We are creating something fromnothing.
We are carving this vision outone little chip at a time.
And it definitely doesn't go howwe think it's going to go, but
sometimes it turns intosomething really beautiful that
(48:54):
we get to share with people whodo appreciate it.
So I think you're right on.
SPEAKER_00 (48:58):
For sure.
There's a great book, I think,if anybody wants to learn more
about this.
There's a great book oncreativity by Rick Rubin.
SPEAKER_02 (49:05):
While he finds the title, double check on Spotify
for it because they justdownloaded millions of titles
that you can read for free.
The Creative Act, A Way ofBeing?
SPEAKER_00 (49:16):
Yeah.
It's basically Rick Rubin, forthose of you that don't know the
name, he's behind Adele, JohnnyCash, Jay-Z.
The list goes on.
He's done everything and he'sknown for having no musical
talent whatsoever in terms of hecan't play an instrument.
He has no musical training atall.
(49:37):
He simply knows what he likes.
That's it.
And to give you a quick example,Jay-Z's in the studio and
they're doing 99 Problems andthey start with music.
And then he says to Jay-Z, dothe first line with no music,
just acapella.
And
SPEAKER_02 (49:56):
the rest is history.
SPEAKER_00 (49:57):
Rest is history.
And he's got a story like thatfor every single thing.
And the book really gets to theheart of it.
Like, where does creativity comefrom?
How do you tap into that?
And that's like all the stuffthat you coach, all the work
that people do in listening topodcasts, you got to peel that
noise off of you in your life tobe able to hear that soulful
(50:22):
part of you that has theanswers.
SPEAKER_02 (50:25):
I just want to let that resonate because if they
could only do one thing fromthis podcast and just turn off
the noise for a minute, andbecause I can say this with
confidence, every single personI've ever coached turns the
volume up on everything elseexcept for that voice.
And that little voice ofwhispering of like, you really
love this.
You really light up with this.
(50:46):
This feels light and easy andexciting and exhilarating to
you.
I had to do this.
You are...
Probably the biggest forcebehind this podcast.
Well, definitely the firstiteration of the podcast.
Fucking hilarious.
You sat in my house inCalifornia and you're like, why
don't you do a podcast?
And I gave you a laundry list ofexcuses and you're like, that's
(51:08):
it?
So if we could solve that.
It's all you got.
Yeah, we saw that in 10 minutes.
I was like, uh-huh, what?
And then the podcast was bored.
So thank you for that.
And that's fun for me too,because talking about Brian, one
of his big things in hiscommunity is your audio needs to
match your video.
And for you, for the last five,six years, your audio has
(51:30):
definitely started to match upwith your video of like, who am
I?
What am I all about?
Why is this important to me now?
And taking really courageousaction Even if it's moving to
Italy, even if it's giving upreally lucrative business
opportunities, even if it'sletting go of things that used
to serve you that don't anymore,you really walk that talk, man.
SPEAKER_00 (51:50):
And I'll tell you something else too.
I know you'll land in the planehere, but I think this is
helpful as well for people.
There are parts of me, when wetalk about creativity, there are
parts of me that go, like when Istarted doing the videos, I was
like, I actually don't want tobe me right now.
I want to be an over-the-topversion of me and I want to have
fun and I want to be silly andlike almost theatrical, right?
(52:15):
You?
No.
But not like trying to pretendto be me, but really just being
theatrical.
Like I want to go all in ongoing, I am going to create a
character for this thing and I'mokay doing that, right?
And then I said, but there'sanother side of me.
I look at things a littledifferently.
(52:36):
than when i'm out in the fieldsand so yesterday we're in
bologna or the day before we'rein bologna and we're walking
around and we're walking arounda food market and i'm creating a
video that's not a characterthat's me like trying to
understand the food in bolognaright but then there's a third
(52:58):
version and the third version isthat kim doesn't tell me i don't
have my lashes on.
I don't have my suit on.
It's in the morning when I'm onmy way to the gym where we have
coffee and she pulls her phoneout and she says, okay, here's
what this person commented.
What's your reaction?
And so I film an immediatereaction without knowing what it
(53:20):
is.
And so you get three differentversions of me in the way that I
want to share that with you.
SPEAKER_02 (53:29):
This is really fun thinking about that because I
see you going where StanleyTucci has gone, people like that
who are sharing something thatwas a passion project, but now
they realize, wow, people reallyare into this.
And there's a lot of value insharing these things because
they don't have the opportunityor the money to go chase these
things down themselves.
(53:50):
The three different versions ofyou is like, it's so fitting
too, because it's like you gotthe art, the food, the
environment of Italy.
I see why you're gravitatingtoward threes lately.
SPEAKER_00 (54:02):
Yeah, they're just, they're like threes.
Like the last one we did, I didit on my terrace and I don't
know why, but Italians don't usedryers.
They have to like hang theirunderwear so the world can see,
you know, their underwearhanging.
So like I'm there and I'mliterally hanging my underwear
to dry on the clothesline.
And as I'm explaining it, thewind comes and knocks the
clothesline over and we kept itin.
(54:24):
Do you know what I mean?
Like, so I'm like, I'm justfinding ways to communicate Like
I see why these science people,Bill Nye, the science guy, or
what's the other one?
The one from the HaydenPlanetarium, Cosmos guy, Neil
Graston Tyson.
Yeah.
Like I see how they're tryingto, they have something in them,
(54:45):
but they want to find a way toget it out.
And so he does star talk wherehe brings a celebrity on to talk
about the cosmos.
But when you have that in you,you're just like, you want to
share it.
And if that's the way it's goingto work, great.
And if it could work that way,that's okay too.
Because none of it matters.
What matters is, am I getting itout?
SPEAKER_02 (55:05):
Yeah, it's kind of like that idea of if you don't
know what radio station you wantto listen to, you'll just
oscillate back and forth betweenall of them.
But if you know what you want tolisten to, there's something out
there for you if you just tuneinto it.
And it's so counterintuitivebecause we think we need to be
so strategic, especially when itcomes to selling a product or a
service.
It's like, no, you have to haveall of these things and we get
(55:26):
all locked up and there's noflow in that.
No.
So let's do this.
You know, everybody who's beenon the show so far takes a
moment to think about theirstory right now, where they are,
the breakthroughs they'veexperienced recently to get
here.
You know, we talked aboutgradually, then suddenly,
suddenly you're here.
You've sort of arrived onTikTok.
(55:46):
You know, you've been workingthe Instagram game for years.
But for where you are right now,if we turned this different
version of Rob into a cocktailor something, what would it be?
in terms of what kind ofingredients would go into it.
And I don't mean necessarily onepart bourbon, one part bitters,
whatever.
I mean more substantively.
(56:08):
What would you put in there?
And while you're chewing on it,what would you call it?
And you can take your time.
SPEAKER_00 (56:14):
Well, I've never been asked this question.
It's such a great question.
The cocktail would be called LaDolce Vita.
It would be consistent with mythrees.
It would be one part, why doesit matter?
It would be one part, belief inyourself.
(56:36):
And it would be one part, aclear narrative of your vision.
Because if you have the vision,and you know where you're going,
you know what the story is, andthe one page, just for context,
the one page narrative is thestory of where you're going
next.
And I could tell you my storyfor my next one if you want.
And if you have belief, And ifit matters to you, then you have
(56:58):
everything or you have La DolceVita.
SPEAKER_02 (57:00):
That's what I was going to say.
And you're living this.
SPEAKER_00 (57:03):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (57:03):
I don't have any notes or questions because I'm
just looking at this.
I'm like, that's you on thepage, man.
Right?
Because I thought for sure you'dsay, I like you better in Italy
would be the title.
And you went a totally differentdirection.
SPEAKER_00 (57:16):
Yeah.
You know why?
Because I like you better inItaly for me is the before
picture.
La Dolce Vita is the afterpicture.
Because baked into the I likeyou better in Italy is when she
said that to me, she didn't likeme then.
She did, but she didn't.
SPEAKER_02 (57:34):
Okay.
So it's hilarious becauseusually at this point, guests
are getting a little red in theface.
They're slipping over theirwords a little bit.
You got none of that.
You got none of that.
I interviewed a brilliantauthor, and in the last five
minutes, we had to pausebecause- It was slurring?
Yeah.
He's like, you should have toldme to eat a cheeseburger or
(57:56):
something before your interview.
SPEAKER_00 (57:59):
You did a great job, by the way, with the, and I
don't know if this is the sameguy, but you did a great job
with, his name escapes me, buthe's the one who wrote, sold
like the bazillion books on- Oh,
SPEAKER_02 (58:10):
Phil M.
Jones?
UNKNOWN (58:11):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (58:11):
Yeah, it was a great interview.
SPEAKER_02 (58:13):
Thank you.
It was just complete...
For everybody listening, if thisat all looks put together, just
know that there are shit showmoments where everything is
going sideways.
That was the most challenginginterview, probably the most
challenging anything I've everdone in terms of every technical
thing that could go wrong wentwrong.
And it went wrong twice becausewe had to reschedule that
interview.
(58:33):
So I'm glad that it came acrosslike that it was...
Well done.
Yeah, thank you.
And he's such a pro that hehonestly made it easy.
But that's also like talkingabout you appreciate food, you
appreciate Italy, you appreciatecommunity, these things.
I appreciate just having a wayin sometimes with people.
And bourbon is that for somereason, it's just a way in with
(58:55):
some people.
And I found out that he actuallycreated his own bourbon and then
named it after his brand.
And in finding that out, Ilearned we're connected in all
kinds of ways.
Like one of my top clients rightnow is coaching with one of
Phil's best friends, all kindsof stuff.
So it is, but it isn't, right?
Because had I not been lookingfor that thread that goes
(59:17):
through these circles and thesepersonalities, these
opportunities wouldn't show up.
So what I was going to say, andthen I got on a tangent, was
usually people are like, youknow, really loose right now.
And you...
You're in the zone though.
Is there anything else on yourheart or in your mind that you
want people to take and run withbefore we wrap up?
SPEAKER_00 (59:37):
No, because I think we hit the highlights.
I think, not to belabor thepoint, really think about what
it is in your life right nowthat matters to you.
I know, your wife, your kids, Iget that.
Beyond that, like what mattersto you?
Because we got one shot at thislife and as I'm approaching 60
now, I'm starting to realizethat there's only so many years
(01:00:03):
that I get to make a differenceand feel like I'm doing the
thing that I was put here to doand not just occupying space.
Yeah, here's what I would say.
Power, when you're trying to dosomething, we haven't talked
about this, but when you'retrying to do something that
makes a difference in the world,power moves to you.
(01:00:24):
It just does.
It just does.
When you're doing something foryourself, it doesn't move quite
as fast.
But when you truly are doingsomething because you really,
really want to make an impact,you want to lighten someone's
load, you want to put someshockwave out into the world
where somebody feels something,nothing makes me happier than
(01:00:46):
when an Italian stops me andsays, you made me fall in love
with my country again.
Like, nothing.
There's no thousand dollars thatanybody can give me, a hundred
thousand dollars that can chasethat feeling.
None.
And so when you're doingsomething like that, when you
find that thing, it's a wholeother level.
SPEAKER_02 (01:01:05):
Man, you're on a whole nother level.
This is so much fun to see youlit up.
You don't have the burden onyour shoulders anymore.
How of strategy of comparison.
So thank you for this.
This is, this is awesome.
This is great.
SPEAKER_00 (01:01:20):
Great.
This was incredible.
SPEAKER_02 (01:01:22):
For everybody listening and watching, you can
scroll in the show notes andcatch Rob on his website.
Look for the book to come out, ILike You Better in Italy, and
obviously on TikTok andInstagram.
Anywhere else you would sendpeople right now, Rob?
Nope, that's it.
That's it?
All right, man.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for listening to theBourbon and Breakthroughs
(01:01:42):
podcast.
If you enjoyed this episode,please do me a quick favor.
It would mean the world to me,and it would help us book better
and better guests every week.
Take just a second, make sureyou're subscribed to the
podcast, and leave us a quickreview of the show.
Thanks again, and cheers to yourown breakthroughs.
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