May 14, 2025 • 30 mins
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In this episode of MarketPulse: Pros and Pioneers, we welcome Christian Ray Flores — an entrepreneur, recording artist, philanthropist, and high-performance coach with a story that reads like a Hollywood script. From fleeing a military coup in Chile as a child to becoming a pop star in Eastern Europe and ultimately a successful coach and business leader, Christian's journey is one of relentless resilience and reinvention.
Christian shares his experiences of surviving political turmoil, rising to fame in the post-Soviet music scene, and transitioning from music to coaching. Discover how he overcame personal weaknesses, transformed his life through coaching, and now helps others do the same. He discusses the power of storytelling, the hero’s journey, and how these principles can be applied to startups and personal branding to achieve success.
You'll learn why every high performer needs a coach, how to develop a mission-driven business, and why understanding your client’s pain points is key to creating an irresistible offer. Christian’s insights are invaluable for business leaders, entrepreneurs, and anyone striving to live a life aligned with their purpose.
Don’t miss this powerful conversation packed with wisdom on resilience, storytelling, and self-reinvention.
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Show Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianrayflores
Website: https://www.xponential.life
Book Sneak Peek: https://www.christianrayflores.com/s/new-book-sneak-peek
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Paul (00:00):
Good afternoon and welcome to this week's episode of
(00:02):
MarketPulse podcast.
This incidentally is the verylast episode that I'll be
recording in 2024.
Be interested to see what'sactually happening when this
gets released towards the end ofApril 2025.
We're going to be four monthsaway from when it actually gets
released, probably more likefive.
But I'd like to welcome ourguest for today's show is
(00:22):
Christian Ray Flores.
Christian, thank you very muchfor coming along to the show.
Christian (00:25):
You're very welcome and thank you for inviting me.
Paul (00:28):
I just wish I could get you out sooner.
I've decided I'm not doing twoepisodes per week.
I think it cheapens the podcast.
I want to keep it one episode,but I'm desperate to get this
episode out already.
I know this is going to be afantastic conversation.
So a little bit of background onChristian is an entrepreneur, an
international recording artist,philanthropist, and performance
(00:49):
coach.
That is an eclectic mix ofskills and I can't wait to dive
into your story.
So sometimes when I have guestson the show, I can hardly
believe the biography as I'mreading it out.
It's amazing.
So after rising to fame as a popstar in Eastern Europe,
Christian then co founded ThirdDrive Media, where he's raised
millions for startups and ledaward winning media projects.
(01:10):
He's also founded XponentialLife, helping businesses and non
profit leaders excel.
He's a fluent speaker of notone, not two, not three, but
four languages.
And his journey includesphilanthropic work in Mozambique
and Ukraine, and he hosts theHeadspace by Christian Flores
(01:31):
podcast.
Wow, like how do you have timeto sit down and take the world
in Christian?
Cause it sounds like anincredibly busy life.
Christian (01:40):
Ah, it's easier than you think, actually.
I think you, if you are set upfor an eclectic childhood, I
think you are much morecomfortable with an eclectic
professional life.
probably how it happens, Ithink.
Paul (01:55):
So with that in mind, tell me about the childhood because
you've got a phenomenal, like aninspiring story.
I think a lot of the listenerswill resonate with
Christian (02:05):
I'm actually not sure if they can relate to it cause
it's just that insane, right?
But they'll hopefully beinspired by it and take
something out of it.
So I'm very eclectic, right?
So my mother is Russian, mydad's Chilean, which is an
unusual mix.
I was born in Moscow, but wemoved to Chile when I was six
months old.
And that was it.
That was the, it was supposed tobe the, a long, a normal middle
(02:27):
class professional life for myparents in the homeland of my
dad until there was a militarycoup in 98, 73.
And my dad ended up in aconcentration camp, made it out
of there.
We were in a Refugees for awhile.
I was five years old when I wasa refugee in a refugee facility.
And then that basically sent usinto the world.
(02:48):
We were exiled like a wholebunch of people got exiled from
Chile.
And we ended up in Munich,Germany, then in Russia, in
Africa, Mozambique.
And so I observed a militarycoup in Chile by age five.
I ended up in Mozambique by age7.
By age 8, there was already acivil war going on there.
(03:11):
Those thankfully outside of thecapital, not in the capital, but
we saw a lot of bombings andthings like that.
And it was in the back as abackdrop.
then by age 14, we, after thedivorce of my parents, we went
back to Russia.
And then, Russia, which is, atthe time, it was like the
superpower that would neverchange, right before our eyes in
(03:31):
91, as I'm graduating fromcollege, the whole thing falls
apart.
There was an attempted militarycoup, tanks in the streets of
Moscow, kind of thing, so I wasa witness to that as well, and
then everything just turned.
dramatically from all of thosehardships and changes into me
pursuing music.
I became one of the top popstars in that whole post Soviet
(03:52):
space in about a year and ahalf, it was very quick.
And, we went from being nobodiesto playing sports arenas and, A
year or two.
And then campaigning for BorisYeltsin against the communists
in 96.
used my song as the anthem forhis campaign.
And, so that's that's thebackdrop of an eclectic life
that I was referring to, youcan't be a normal person after
(04:13):
that.
I don't think.
Paul (04:14):
what's normal anyway, right?
What is normal?
Christian (04:18):
overrated.
Paul (04:19):
That's amazing.
I can't imagine that too muchphases you on the back of being
through all that.
Christian (04:24):
Yeah.
That's one of the superpowersyou get.
And that's what actually helpsyou become a good entrepreneur
because you're okay withdiscomfort, failure, rejection,
the normal stuff that comes withstarting new things.
Paul (04:34):
So then.
How did you get from being a popstar to a performance coach?
That's what I'm trying to say.
Christian (04:39):
Oh, that's actually, that's an easy trajectory.
Once I explain it to you, soI'm.
I'm a high performance guy,right?
So I'm at the peak of my career.
I speak four differentlanguages.
I can learn new things fairlyquickly because of some of the,
some of the gifts that come frombeing moving all the time.
You have this almost like aboutculture, about human nature,
about languages, what the powerof words, you're able to do,
(05:04):
create music that moves millionsof people.
Clearly you have gears, right?
I have gears.
I have gears.
what?
Most gifted, high performancepeople have very flat sides, low
performance sides to theirlives, right?
It just seems to be a rule.
really good at something andyou're terrible at other things.
And for me, I realized that, asI'm literally have a number one
(05:25):
hit and I'm clinically depressedbecause of romance and I'm such
a inadequate person when itcomes to family and romance,
cause all of my threegenerations of my family have
broken homes.
I just have, I don't have no, nointuition in that.
I have intuition in how to movea crowd.
I don't have intuition how tobuild a family.
I come across this Canadianmissionary in Moscow, who is a
(05:49):
very special guy, right?
And he just has this incrediblefamily.
And I said, can you, I get whatyou got?
That was like my direct, I quoteexactly how I said it and he
says, Hey, I'll teach you.
And that was my first coach.
And it just changed my life.
And it woke me up to the realityof a, every high performer needs
a coach because we all havemassive flat sides that
(06:12):
eventually they catch up with usand prevent us from doing the
very high performance that welike doing, right?
That's one thing.
Second is if you get guidance,you accelerate your growth.
What takes you 10 years willtake you one year, basically,
that sort of stuff.
and that just woke me up to thatreality because it just
transformed my life and it wentbeyond that.
(06:33):
So in romance and family, Iliterally couldn't hold a
relationship.
I just sabotaged every singleone of them.
I was You know, was like reallyterrible.
And then after the coaching fromthis guy, I was able to,
understand, Oh, this is how youchoose a mate in the first place
so that you don't regret itlater, this is how you court
somebody.
This is how you marry somebody.
This is how you stay married.
(06:54):
And so I now I've been marriedfor 25 years.
I have three beautiful children.
We're a super happy family.
So the thing that was literallymy weakest.
Part of my life is now mystrongest,
Paul (07:06):
Amazing.
Christian (07:07):
about marriage and parenting, right?
So it's just so extraordinarythat you can do that as in, in
the span of just a few years.
So I never stopped that really.
Really opened my eyes I startedcoaching other people.
First it was just Hey, somebodydid this for me.
I can do this for you.
(07:28):
That kind of thing.
And I ended up coaching Olympicathletes and fashion designers
and artists and people likethat, right?
And and for a while it, it wasin Russia.
So for a while I was like I'm acelebrity here, so that's
probably why people come to me.
then moved to the states.
turns out actually in theStates, same thing happens.
Eventually I put two and twotogether and I never stopped
learning and I created my ownframeworks, my own methodologies
(07:51):
and sort of ways to teach andcoach somebody.
And that's how, that's thetrajectory for performance
coaching.
Paul (07:57):
I think that's a beautiful gift to be able to take a gift
like that's been passed on toyou and then to have the
confidence to then relay thatinformation and tell that to
someone else and have that sameprofound effect on their life.
I can imagine that's extremelyrewarding for you.
Christian (08:17):
It's extraordinarily rewarding.
It really is.
Yeah.
It took me a while to.
Understand what you said, thatis a gift, that it's a gift that
should be systematized,implemented.
Because at first I was just sograteful, I was just doing it
really more organically over theoverflow of my heart.
But it took me a while to say,Oh, I actually have, that's,
(08:40):
there's a reason why people keepcoming to me.
So I think I have.
It's almost like this, it is agift.
It's not just talent or skill.
It's a gift.
It's a, there's a secret sauceof some sort and I need to own
it and I need to now steward itto, for the benefit of others.
So that took longer, basically,that, that confidence in, okay,
(09:03):
I think this is a thing.
Paul (09:04):
That's amazing.
We touched on before the showstarted, before we hit the
record button, the value ofbeing able to tell stories and
even just the simple version ofthe story that you've given us
there.
And I'm sure there are some,individual stories and learnings
amongst that, that, that wouldblow people away even more than
just the original story.
How important is storytelling toyou as an individual?
Christian (09:27):
I realized early on, I think.
First.
Through, being part ofcommunity, a community of
exiles, we had this very strangeokay, you're in West, you're in
Mozambique and you have acommunity of 150 families are
Chileans that were exiled.
(09:48):
Most of them were imprisoned ortortured.
That's why they're exiled.
And most of them were, So theywere brought into this new
country that just got itsindependence from Portugal to
help build an economy.
So it's a very niche group ofpeople, right?
And because it's very niche andit's immigrants, they all band
together a lot.
we had these sort of.
(10:09):
Every Sunday would meet at thebeach with food and music and
playing soccer and that kind ofthing, right?
they would meet at homes andjust hang out and then they
would do parties and the kidswere friends I think that was
honestly the genesis of itbecause you almost imagine a
biblical narrative Of Israel andBabylon, right?
Jerusalem is destroyed.
(10:30):
They're enslaved.
They're in this foreign land.
It was like that, like I, when Iread that account, I'm like, I
know exactly how it feels
Paul (10:37):
Yeah,
Christian (10:38):
So when you're thrown out of your natural environment,
it's almost like you consolidatethe exiles together and all they
do, all they have is stories.
And the stories about theirlives, stories about the country
of origin, the country they'rein, stories about injustice or
justice or stories about,tyranny.
So these high concepts all of asudden get concentrated in
(11:01):
storytelling in, in a very tightcommunity.
I think that's where it comesfrom personally.
Then eventually, obviously Istudied storytelling I, you, you
study the myth, the mythology ofdifferent nations.
The classic book, The Hero of aThousand in a Thousand Faces or
a Hundred Faces, I don'tremember.
But it's basically this idea ofthe hero's journey, right?
(11:24):
Which is now taught inuniversities, film.
You make every marketing personknows the hero's journey.
What are the main elements ofthe hero's journey?
And the reason for that isbecause it's, it's a universal
language.
Of how we make meaning of our,of the world around us.
We don't make meaning in justseparate, isolated concepts.
(11:46):
So we make meaning in, in, instorytelling narratives.
It sticks that way.
So I think it's very primal inus all.
And that's why we love films andtheater plays and operas and
ballets and books, things likethat.
Paul (12:00):
and yet it's interesting that so many business owners
struggle to come up with aconvincing storyline and to be
able to tell their own story fortheir business in order to find
the right customers orinvestment or, and that's
something that you've playedheavily into, right?
Christian (12:17):
I, yeah, absolutely.
It's an art, but you can,everybody, anybody can learn it.
That's the beautiful thing aboutit.
So we've helped a bunch ofstartups, tech startup founders.
Position their brand, only forthe customer, but also no less
importantly for the investor.
just a different story.
You have to understand what the,what is the story you're telling
to the investor, right?
(12:38):
And once you put that hat on ofthe hero's journey, once you
understand sort of these pillarconcepts it becomes incredibly
powerful.
But if you don't know, Allyou're doing is throwing facts
or stats at the person and,things that you think will
convince them and they don't,and a lot of, especially tech
founders, they're, really notstorytellers by, by, neither by
(13:02):
talent or by training.
They're coders, they'reengineers.
So they know how to buildthings, but they don't know how
to tell the story of the thingsthey built.
So that's one of the things thatI do.
I have a marketing company thatdoes some of that stuff and now
does it increasingly actuallyfor people who are speakers,
writers, influencers, coaches,because they need a personal
brand it's the best time in thehistory of humanity to develop
(13:25):
your personal brand so helpingsomebody really tell their story
well.
And how do you position it,package it, how do you tell it
organically and tap into thedeepest passions of the person,
which makes them much morecredible, much more
authoritative.
It's a beautiful thing as well,right?
And it's hard to do it yourself,even for I'm, this is what I do
(13:48):
for others.
It's hard work to do because youare objectively subjective about
your thing.
So you have to really focusabout your own brand.
and I do it continuously.
Like it does not stop.
The rebranding of me never stopsbecause it's a little slower and
harder to tell the storyobjectively, right?
From the outside in.
Paul (14:08):
It's an evolving story, right?
Christian (14:10):
It really is.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Paul (14:12):
It's interesting,
Christian (14:13):
not.
Paul (14:14):
the last episode that we recorded was a second visit to
the show by Adrian Fulle, whostarted his career in Hollywood,
learning from some of thegreatest producers the world's
ever seen.
And, he tells the very firstepisode he did, he dived into
the hero's journey.
And it's the first time I'm notmarketing classically trained,
right?
Like I've not been to universityand studied marketing or sales.
(14:35):
Part of the reason why I wantedto build the podcast I like to
absorb from other people andunderstand things.
And he talked me through theconcept of hero's journey.
And I just thought, you knowwhat, that none of that's
complicated.
That's simple.
It's so simple.
It's not.
Christian (14:51):
the blueprint, yeah, get the blueprint, you know what
to do.
Yeah.
It's a beautiful thing.
Paul (14:56):
It is.
And it's, like you said, I thinkit's in it.
So we're consciously seeking itout.
We just don't know that we'redoing it.
It's you hear a story and if youhaven't got the bad guy there,
the evil in the world, or theinjustice that's been done to
the hero, you don't, you can'tsay that's why the story isn't
resonating, but you just don'tfeel the highs and the lows that
(15:18):
you should do if the story'sbeing told properly.
And that's it.
And then I get another, a groupof people who were like I don't
want to tell a story for mybusiness because my business is,
conversation analytics or it'sAI and it's this, that, and the
other.
I'm like, yeah, but people don'tcare about your product,
especially investors.
don't care about your product somuch.
They want to know about you andthe journey you've been on and
(15:40):
the founding team, and how didyou get where you are and why
should they believe in what youcan do?
And I think that's the realpower behind a story is being
able to convey your valuesthrough your journey.
Christian (15:52):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think even a higher levelof storytelling when you're
marketing a business is, youmake the client, customer, your
hero.
And then through your marketingefforts, you tell their story to
them.
And that is the higher level ofthe art form.
I think in marketing andstrategy,
Paul (16:11):
So then you've got a really global perspective on so
many things, and I could sithere quite happily and pick your
brains for hours on some of thethings that you've been through.
How do you feel thatstorytelling changes across the
world or does it?
Is it, is a story in a matter ofwhere you go culturally?
Christian (16:28):
I think a story is a story everywhere you go.
And that's the concept of thehero's journey was actually
developed by this guy, JosephCampbell.
he wrote, that's the whole ideais that he wrote the hero with a
thousand faces.
as basically a treatise oncomparative mythology.
Like all of these global sort ofcultures and how, what they have
(16:48):
in common, basically.
So there's always a protagonistand antagonist and, the, of the
journey, the hero needs to.
Change, doesn't want to change.
There's an inciting incident,then there's the messy middle.
Then there's sort of anevolution of how, of that person
changing.
And then he comes back and giftswhat he has learned to his
community or her community.
(17:10):
That's there's, and there's muchmore complex breakdowns of the
hero's journey, but that'sbasically the gist of it.
but if you think about itEverything is story, right?
You can actually I was a gueston an episode yesterday, where
the gentleman was focused onaffairs and he said, can you
spend a lot of time with Russia.
(17:31):
And he's an American guy, aMarine, and he, just very
curious.
And he said, tell me about, isthat?
Why is the Cold War this wholeRussia thing, the evolution of
Cold War now?
What is, why is it happening?
And I was telling him, I said,look, it's a story.
It's all about the story.
story of the Russian people isdifferent from the story of the
(17:51):
liberal democracies, of classicliberalism of the West.
Period.
That is the core of all of it.
else is just commentary, nuance,and situational context, right?
But really, it's a foundationalclash of stories.
what it is.
Paul (18:07):
That's a fascinating way of, and again, as you say it,
I'm sat here thinking, yeah, Ican see that it is it's not a
thing complicated, you just needsomebody to point that out to
you.
Christian (18:18):
Yeah.
Paul (18:19):
From your perspective then, working with so many
startups, What's the biggestgame changer for them in terms
of getting started telling theirstory?
What's the, where do you takethem when you want to take them
on that journey where they startto share their journey in a way
that makes sense for whicheverparty?
Christian (18:37):
It's this, it's almost there's a duality to it,
which actually you and I touchedupon earlier, and that's, I
think, a good hint.
Is that, You said, what is yourstory as the founder, as the
business owner?
I think that is where you start,right?
basically the idea is what is itthat motivates you?
(18:57):
What's the why behind it?
Makes your what is your vision,your mission, and your solution?
That's one of the frameworksthat I use when I help people.
And the idea is that is.
If you have a mission and ittakes time to tap into a
mission, most people are afraidto even think that they have a
mission basically, right?
I'm like, I'm not special enoughto have a mission.
(19:17):
Yes, you are.
I think you are.
And that's sort of part of thecoaching work that goes into
that, right?
When I, that's usually on theperformance coaching part,
right?
It's, who are you?
What makes you unique?
Every, and everybody's unique.
So there's no such thing.
And people are afraid to gothere because they go what if
I'm not unique?
If I'm just middle of the roadkind of guy, no, you're not.
(19:38):
were convinced by your society,your parents, your friends,
whatever.
It was beat out of you, but youare unique and let's figure that
out.
So that's the mission piece.
And it's also fluid and itchanges with time, right?
It evolves.
It has these learned, thesecurves and a wiggly line, not a
straight line.
The second is, then once you geta really clear understanding of
(20:00):
the mission, that the thing thatdrives you beyond, financial
limitations, I don't have no, Idon't have staff, I don't have,
I don't have these skills, Idon't have marketing budget, I
don't have investors, all of thethings, all of the illusion of
limited resources.
That's the thing that Takes youthrough those things is your
mission.
(20:20):
You just won't stop until youfind the resources, basically.
then you need to develop avision also, and the vision is,
okay, based on the mission, Ican imagine myself in a
relatively short time, two orthree years.
Not 10 years, because then youwon't follow through and it's
too vague, right?
But 2 3 years.
What do you see yourself?
What does your ideal day looklike, week like, year look like?
(20:44):
What is your schedule is?
What is your financialsituation?
So you start developing thatvision.
And then, you can actually comeup with something very crisp and
super exciting.
Because now you have a vision,you have a, the next thing you
develop is a solution.
Okay, how do you get there?
What skills do you need toacquire?
What partnerships, strategicpartnerships, what strategies,
(21:04):
what, what fine tuning of yourmarketing do you need?
All of those things that very,that seem very mundane and
sometimes overwhelming.
you, if you have a mission, avision, the solution will come.
And so the duality of it is thatyou do it for yourself.
And then you do it for yourclients and your customers,
right?
Then you can think in the sameway, in the same structured way,
(21:24):
you can say, Oh, here's the guy,here's the girl I want to help
with this particular product orservice.
What is her, does she want?
And then what kind of.
What can, how can I solve it?
And then the solution is how canI solve it uniquely based on my
unique giftedness, my mission,my vision.
(21:45):
So that's how you develop anoffering that is very specific
and therefore irresistible tothe right person.
So that's the key there.
So it's your story.
And then it evolves into, Oh, Ican now imagine I can embody, I
can feel what my client feels.
Like literally I can be in theirmind.
And once you get to that placeof clarity, you can be, you're
(22:08):
completely unstoppable as aprofessional.
Paul (22:10):
And yet I still speak to businesses who aren't even clear
on who their target persona is,let alone what's inside their
head, because they don't want todo those hard yards.
It's hard, right?
You make it sound very simplethere, but I know that's a lot
of digging, a lot of soulsearching, a lot of,
Christian (22:25):
It's very hard.
Yeah.
Paul (22:26):
Yeah, it's not a, I,
Christian (22:27):
need a mission because the mission that firing
you.
will drive you through theheart.
Like I still almost weekly havea revelation what is the pain
point of my client, of my idealclient, in more nuance and more
context.
But I obsess over it because Ihave a mission.
And even my solution evolvesbecause now I have a slight,
(22:49):
just a teeny, maybe 1 percentbetter understanding of the pain
points of the needs of myclients,
Paul (22:54):
I often talk to people about, it's what you should be
selling to people, your service,your product, whatever it is,
it's less about how you do it,it's more about solving the
problems that other personcomplains to their wife or their
husband about over dinner on anight.
That's the thing that you reallyneed to help them fix.
(23:15):
And to your point, you need todo it in a unique way, because
that's where the value reallycomes from.
That's how you can make ityours.
I love that way of describingwhat you've just said.
And it resonates a lot with someof the things that I've heard
and seen and especially on thepodcast.
That's, it's really powerfuladvice.
And I hope that the people athome who's watching or listening
along on You take that adviceand do something with it,
(23:39):
granted, it's not going to fixyour problems tomorrow.
It's not going to fix, this timenext week.
But if you start to work onthose things and you spend the
time and the energy on thoseinstead of the day to day things
that will solve themselvesnaturally.
Then that's how you'll start tobe able to live the life you
want to live.
I think that's the importantthing is you're not just talking
(23:59):
about helping people build abusiness, you're helping them
create the life that they wantto live themselves, right?
Cause that's the other side ofwhat you do.
Christian (24:08):
I will now, if you have a mission and you have a
vision and you have a solutionthat starts working for people
Now you're providing them with avision and mission solution.
Your life becomes such apassionate place and it's
inseparable.
Work is inseparable from yourpersonal life anymore.
It's integrated.
And I think that's whateverybody wants in their soul,
right?
(24:29):
don't want to just be a cog, amachine somewhere, or especially
in somebody else's machine, So,but we become, we I think we
settled to be a cog because itoffers some security, some.
Predictability, some safety butand it's fine to actually do it,
be a cog and then become artiston the side until the artists on
the side can displace the cogpart, right?
(24:50):
And you can dedicate more timeto it.
Paul (24:52):
It resonates because, I'll often talk with my wife and my
wife comes from a, regular B2Cenvironment.
She's a nursery nurse, right?
Like by trade.
And we talk and she's like, howcan you be so confident that
you're going to do this thing?
Because I believe in it.
I know, I'll find a way.
I have to find a way.
There will be a way to do it.
I will find a way and I willsolve that problem.
(25:14):
And she really can't get herhead around why I think so
differently to her.
And I can't live like she doeseither.
And we're good together, right?
We make a good, we make a goodcouple together.
that difference in vision ishard, super hard for some people
to get their head around becausethey've never experienced it.
And I resonate completely withwhat you've said, because I know
there are things I just can'texplain.
I just make them happen.
I'm not going to say I, I'm notsomebody who's into affirmations
(25:37):
or anything like that.
I'm not going to say I makethings materialize, but because
I believe so passionately inwhat I'm doing, I will find the
doors that open to make thingswork.
And I think anybody who's superpassionate about what they do
will say the same thing, right?
Christian (25:51):
they will, they will.
And I think, honestly, I think,I used to think, okay, some
people were created that way,like what you're saying, I just,
this is how I'm wired.
I now believe that everybody'screated to be that, and we can
rediscover that.
So let's say your wife she's anurse, And perhaps she does
value stability, ofpredictability, routine.
(26:15):
and that's not a bad thing, butshe can certainly discover a
deeper level of mastery, even inthe profession, in the vocation
that she has, now makes herextraordinary leader, a thought
leader in that field.
If that vocation is driven by adeep sense of purpose and
passion, you can actually trulydevelop that into kinds of
(26:39):
things in that exact field.
You don't even have tobasically.
People, we are trained by kindsof things, right?
Our environment.
Our society, our family, etcetera, to be a certain way.
But I really think deeply, deepdown inside, all of us are
creators of things.
And to the extent that we'rehave the courage to, Explore it,
(27:01):
be coached in it, develop it,nurture it.
Every single person I think cando that.
Paul (27:08):
Amazing words to leave us on.
I thank you very much for beingthe final recording episode of
2024, Christian.
If anybody is inspired by thewords that you've said today
with your story, and they wantto reach out and find out a
little bit more, what's the bestway for people to contact you?
Christian (27:23):
Okay.
So if you are inspired to thedegree that you just want to
hear more from me every once ina while, newsletter is probably
the best thing to to subscribeto.
drops every Sunday.
You go to ChristianRayFlores.
com and you just leave youremail address and that's it.
You're, you'll get a lot ofthis, a lot of goodness every
Sunday.
(27:43):
If you are like sitting theregoing, Oh, this guy just changed
my life.
I need to be coached by him.
You can go to my coaching pageand it's exponential.
life.
And exponential is spelledwithout an E, starts with an X,
exponential.
life.
And you can just see theofferings we have, the
opportunities we have.
There's a great resource therecalled the Exponential Scorecard
(28:04):
that is free.
And you can just answer a bunchof questions and, really, it's a
great way to find out where areyou now along the most important
dimensions of life.
So you will enjoy that if youtake that.
Paul (28:16):
I love that.
I might just take you up on thatmyself.
Thank you very much, Christian.
Have a fantastic holiday.
I hope you get to spend sometime with your family and get
some downtime.
That's much needed.
No doubt.
And thank you very much ifyou're watching along in the
show.
Thank you very much forsubscribing, for following along
and let me know how you foundthis week's episode.
Drop me an email, drop me amessage on LinkedIn.
I'll always love to hear fromthe the followers of the show.
(28:39):
Thank you.
Take care.
Bye bye.
Good afternoon and welcome to this week's episode of
(00:02):
MarketPulse podcast.
This incidentally is the verylast episode that I'll be
recording in 2024.
Be interested to see what'sactually happening when this
gets released towards the end ofApril 2025.
We're going to be four monthsaway from when it actually gets
released, probably more likefive.
But I'd like to welcome ourguest for today's show is
(00:22):
Christian Ray Flores.
Christian, thank you very muchfor coming along to the show.
Christian (00:25):
You're very welcome and thank you for inviting me.
Paul (00:28):
I just wish I could get you out sooner.
I've decided I'm not doing twoepisodes per week.
I think it cheapens the podcast.
I want to keep it one episode,but I'm desperate to get this
episode out already.
I know this is going to be afantastic conversation.
So a little bit of background onChristian is an entrepreneur, an
international recording artist,philanthropist, and performance
(00:49):
coach.
That is an eclectic mix ofskills and I can't wait to dive
into your story.
So sometimes when I have guestson the show, I can hardly
believe the biography as I'mreading it out.
It's amazing.
So after rising to fame as a popstar in Eastern Europe,
Christian then co founded ThirdDrive Media, where he's raised
millions for startups and ledaward winning media projects.
(01:10):
He's also founded XponentialLife, helping businesses and non
profit leaders excel.
He's a fluent speaker of notone, not two, not three, but
four languages.
And his journey includesphilanthropic work in Mozambique
and Ukraine, and he hosts theHeadspace by Christian Flores
(01:31):
podcast.
Wow, like how do you have timeto sit down and take the world
in Christian?
Cause it sounds like anincredibly busy life.
Christian (01:40):
Ah, it's easier than you think, actually.
I think you, if you are set upfor an eclectic childhood, I
think you are much morecomfortable with an eclectic
professional life.
probably how it happens, Ithink.
Paul (01:55):
So with that in mind, tell me about the childhood because
you've got a phenomenal, like aninspiring story.
I think a lot of the listenerswill resonate with
Christian (02:05):
I'm actually not sure if they can relate to it cause
it's just that insane, right?
But they'll hopefully beinspired by it and take
something out of it.
So I'm very eclectic, right?
So my mother is Russian, mydad's Chilean, which is an
unusual mix.
I was born in Moscow, but wemoved to Chile when I was six
months old.
And that was it.
That was the, it was supposed tobe the, a long, a normal middle
(02:27):
class professional life for myparents in the homeland of my
dad until there was a militarycoup in 98, 73.
And my dad ended up in aconcentration camp, made it out
of there.
We were in a Refugees for awhile.
I was five years old when I wasa refugee in a refugee facility.
And then that basically sent usinto the world.
(02:48):
We were exiled like a wholebunch of people got exiled from
Chile.
And we ended up in Munich,Germany, then in Russia, in
Africa, Mozambique.
And so I observed a militarycoup in Chile by age five.
I ended up in Mozambique by age7.
By age 8, there was already acivil war going on there.
(03:11):
Those thankfully outside of thecapital, not in the capital, but
we saw a lot of bombings andthings like that.
And it was in the back as abackdrop.
then by age 14, we, after thedivorce of my parents, we went
back to Russia.
And then, Russia, which is, atthe time, it was like the
superpower that would neverchange, right before our eyes in
(03:31):
91, as I'm graduating fromcollege, the whole thing falls
apart.
There was an attempted militarycoup, tanks in the streets of
Moscow, kind of thing, so I wasa witness to that as well, and
then everything just turned.
dramatically from all of thosehardships and changes into me
pursuing music.
I became one of the top popstars in that whole post Soviet
(03:52):
space in about a year and ahalf, it was very quick.
And, we went from being nobodiesto playing sports arenas and, A
year or two.
And then campaigning for BorisYeltsin against the communists
in 96.
used my song as the anthem forhis campaign.
And, so that's that's thebackdrop of an eclectic life
that I was referring to, youcan't be a normal person after
(04:13):
that.
I don't think.
Paul (04:14):
what's normal anyway, right?
What is normal?
Christian (04:18):
overrated.
Paul (04:19):
That's amazing.
I can't imagine that too muchphases you on the back of being
through all that.
Christian (04:24):
Yeah.
That's one of the superpowersyou get.
And that's what actually helpsyou become a good entrepreneur
because you're okay withdiscomfort, failure, rejection,
the normal stuff that comes withstarting new things.
Paul (04:34):
So then.
How did you get from being a popstar to a performance coach?
That's what I'm trying to say.
Christian (04:39):
Oh, that's actually, that's an easy trajectory.
Once I explain it to you, soI'm.
I'm a high performance guy,right?
So I'm at the peak of my career.
I speak four differentlanguages.
I can learn new things fairlyquickly because of some of the,
some of the gifts that come frombeing moving all the time.
You have this almost like aboutculture, about human nature,
about languages, what the powerof words, you're able to do,
(05:04):
create music that moves millionsof people.
Clearly you have gears, right?
I have gears.
I have gears.
what?
Most gifted, high performancepeople have very flat sides, low
performance sides to theirlives, right?
It just seems to be a rule.
really good at something andyou're terrible at other things.
And for me, I realized that, asI'm literally have a number one
(05:25):
hit and I'm clinically depressedbecause of romance and I'm such
a inadequate person when itcomes to family and romance,
cause all of my threegenerations of my family have
broken homes.
I just have, I don't have no, nointuition in that.
I have intuition in how to movea crowd.
I don't have intuition how tobuild a family.
I come across this Canadianmissionary in Moscow, who is a
(05:49):
very special guy, right?
And he just has this incrediblefamily.
And I said, can you, I get whatyou got?
That was like my direct, I quoteexactly how I said it and he
says, Hey, I'll teach you.
And that was my first coach.
And it just changed my life.
And it woke me up to the realityof a, every high performer needs
a coach because we all havemassive flat sides that
(06:12):
eventually they catch up with usand prevent us from doing the
very high performance that welike doing, right?
That's one thing.
Second is if you get guidance,you accelerate your growth.
What takes you 10 years willtake you one year, basically,
that sort of stuff.
and that just woke me up to thatreality because it just
transformed my life and it wentbeyond that.
(06:33):
So in romance and family, Iliterally couldn't hold a
relationship.
I just sabotaged every singleone of them.
I was You know, was like reallyterrible.
And then after the coaching fromthis guy, I was able to,
understand, Oh, this is how youchoose a mate in the first place
so that you don't regret itlater, this is how you court
somebody.
This is how you marry somebody.
This is how you stay married.
(06:54):
And so I now I've been marriedfor 25 years.
I have three beautiful children.
We're a super happy family.
So the thing that was literallymy weakest.
Part of my life is now mystrongest,
Paul (07:06):
Amazing.
Christian (07:07):
about marriage and parenting, right?
So it's just so extraordinarythat you can do that as in, in
the span of just a few years.
So I never stopped that really.
Really opened my eyes I startedcoaching other people.
First it was just Hey, somebodydid this for me.
I can do this for you.
(07:28):
That kind of thing.
And I ended up coaching Olympicathletes and fashion designers
and artists and people likethat, right?
And and for a while it, it wasin Russia.
So for a while I was like I'm acelebrity here, so that's
probably why people come to me.
then moved to the states.
turns out actually in theStates, same thing happens.
Eventually I put two and twotogether and I never stopped
learning and I created my ownframeworks, my own methodologies
(07:51):
and sort of ways to teach andcoach somebody.
And that's how, that's thetrajectory for performance
coaching.
Paul (07:57):
I think that's a beautiful gift to be able to take a gift
like that's been passed on toyou and then to have the
confidence to then relay thatinformation and tell that to
someone else and have that sameprofound effect on their life.
I can imagine that's extremelyrewarding for you.
Christian (08:17):
It's extraordinarily rewarding.
It really is.
Yeah.
It took me a while to.
Understand what you said, thatis a gift, that it's a gift that
should be systematized,implemented.
Because at first I was just sograteful, I was just doing it
really more organically over theoverflow of my heart.
But it took me a while to say,Oh, I actually have, that's,
(08:40):
there's a reason why people keepcoming to me.
So I think I have.
It's almost like this, it is agift.
It's not just talent or skill.
It's a gift.
It's a, there's a secret sauceof some sort and I need to own
it and I need to now steward itto, for the benefit of others.
So that took longer, basically,that, that confidence in, okay,
(09:03):
I think this is a thing.
Paul (09:04):
That's amazing.
We touched on before the showstarted, before we hit the
record button, the value ofbeing able to tell stories and
even just the simple version ofthe story that you've given us
there.
And I'm sure there are some,individual stories and learnings
amongst that, that, that wouldblow people away even more than
just the original story.
How important is storytelling toyou as an individual?
Christian (09:27):
I realized early on, I think.
First.
Through, being part ofcommunity, a community of
exiles, we had this very strangeokay, you're in West, you're in
Mozambique and you have acommunity of 150 families are
Chileans that were exiled.
(09:48):
Most of them were imprisoned ortortured.
That's why they're exiled.
And most of them were, So theywere brought into this new
country that just got itsindependence from Portugal to
help build an economy.
So it's a very niche group ofpeople, right?
And because it's very niche andit's immigrants, they all band
together a lot.
we had these sort of.
(10:09):
Every Sunday would meet at thebeach with food and music and
playing soccer and that kind ofthing, right?
they would meet at homes andjust hang out and then they
would do parties and the kidswere friends I think that was
honestly the genesis of itbecause you almost imagine a
biblical narrative Of Israel andBabylon, right?
Jerusalem is destroyed.
(10:30):
They're enslaved.
They're in this foreign land.
It was like that, like I, when Iread that account, I'm like, I
know exactly how it feels
Paul (10:37):
Yeah,
Christian (10:38):
So when you're thrown out of your natural environment,
it's almost like you consolidatethe exiles together and all they
do, all they have is stories.
And the stories about theirlives, stories about the country
of origin, the country they'rein, stories about injustice or
justice or stories about,tyranny.
So these high concepts all of asudden get concentrated in
(11:01):
storytelling in, in a very tightcommunity.
I think that's where it comesfrom personally.
Then eventually, obviously Istudied storytelling I, you, you
study the myth, the mythology ofdifferent nations.
The classic book, The Hero of aThousand in a Thousand Faces or
a Hundred Faces, I don'tremember.
But it's basically this idea ofthe hero's journey, right?
(11:24):
Which is now taught inuniversities, film.
You make every marketing personknows the hero's journey.
What are the main elements ofthe hero's journey?
And the reason for that isbecause it's, it's a universal
language.
Of how we make meaning of our,of the world around us.
We don't make meaning in justseparate, isolated concepts.
(11:46):
So we make meaning in, in, instorytelling narratives.
It sticks that way.
So I think it's very primal inus all.
And that's why we love films andtheater plays and operas and
ballets and books, things likethat.
Paul (12:00):
and yet it's interesting that so many business owners
struggle to come up with aconvincing storyline and to be
able to tell their own story fortheir business in order to find
the right customers orinvestment or, and that's
something that you've playedheavily into, right?
Christian (12:17):
I, yeah, absolutely.
It's an art, but you can,everybody, anybody can learn it.
That's the beautiful thing aboutit.
So we've helped a bunch ofstartups, tech startup founders.
Position their brand, only forthe customer, but also no less
importantly for the investor.
just a different story.
You have to understand what the,what is the story you're telling
to the investor, right?
(12:38):
And once you put that hat on ofthe hero's journey, once you
understand sort of these pillarconcepts it becomes incredibly
powerful.
But if you don't know, Allyou're doing is throwing facts
or stats at the person and,things that you think will
convince them and they don't,and a lot of, especially tech
founders, they're, really notstorytellers by, by, neither by
(13:02):
talent or by training.
They're coders, they'reengineers.
So they know how to buildthings, but they don't know how
to tell the story of the thingsthey built.
So that's one of the things thatI do.
I have a marketing company thatdoes some of that stuff and now
does it increasingly actuallyfor people who are speakers,
writers, influencers, coaches,because they need a personal
brand it's the best time in thehistory of humanity to develop
(13:25):
your personal brand so helpingsomebody really tell their story
well.
And how do you position it,package it, how do you tell it
organically and tap into thedeepest passions of the person,
which makes them much morecredible, much more
authoritative.
It's a beautiful thing as well,right?
And it's hard to do it yourself,even for I'm, this is what I do
(13:48):
for others.
It's hard work to do because youare objectively subjective about
your thing.
So you have to really focusabout your own brand.
and I do it continuously.
Like it does not stop.
The rebranding of me never stopsbecause it's a little slower and
harder to tell the storyobjectively, right?
From the outside in.
Paul (14:08):
It's an evolving story, right?
Christian (14:10):
It really is.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Paul (14:12):
It's interesting,
Christian (14:13):
not.
Paul (14:14):
the last episode that we recorded was a second visit to
the show by Adrian Fulle, whostarted his career in Hollywood,
learning from some of thegreatest producers the world's
ever seen.
And, he tells the very firstepisode he did, he dived into
the hero's journey.
And it's the first time I'm notmarketing classically trained,
right?
Like I've not been to universityand studied marketing or sales.
(14:35):
Part of the reason why I wantedto build the podcast I like to
absorb from other people andunderstand things.
And he talked me through theconcept of hero's journey.
And I just thought, you knowwhat, that none of that's
complicated.
That's simple.
It's so simple.
It's not.
Christian (14:51):
the blueprint, yeah, get the blueprint, you know what
to do.
Yeah.
It's a beautiful thing.
Paul (14:56):
It is.
And it's, like you said, I thinkit's in it.
So we're consciously seeking itout.
We just don't know that we'redoing it.
It's you hear a story and if youhaven't got the bad guy there,
the evil in the world, or theinjustice that's been done to
the hero, you don't, you can'tsay that's why the story isn't
resonating, but you just don'tfeel the highs and the lows that
(15:18):
you should do if the story'sbeing told properly.
And that's it.
And then I get another, a groupof people who were like I don't
want to tell a story for mybusiness because my business is,
conversation analytics or it'sAI and it's this, that, and the
other.
I'm like, yeah, but people don'tcare about your product,
especially investors.
don't care about your product somuch.
They want to know about you andthe journey you've been on and
(15:40):
the founding team, and how didyou get where you are and why
should they believe in what youcan do?
And I think that's the realpower behind a story is being
able to convey your valuesthrough your journey.
Christian (15:52):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think even a higher levelof storytelling when you're
marketing a business is, youmake the client, customer, your
hero.
And then through your marketingefforts, you tell their story to
them.
And that is the higher level ofthe art form.
I think in marketing andstrategy,
Paul (16:11):
So then you've got a really global perspective on so
many things, and I could sithere quite happily and pick your
brains for hours on some of thethings that you've been through.
How do you feel thatstorytelling changes across the
world or does it?
Is it, is a story in a matter ofwhere you go culturally?
Christian (16:28):
I think a story is a story everywhere you go.
And that's the concept of thehero's journey was actually
developed by this guy, JosephCampbell.
he wrote, that's the whole ideais that he wrote the hero with a
thousand faces.
as basically a treatise oncomparative mythology.
Like all of these global sort ofcultures and how, what they have
(16:48):
in common, basically.
So there's always a protagonistand antagonist and, the, of the
journey, the hero needs to.
Change, doesn't want to change.
There's an inciting incident,then there's the messy middle.
Then there's sort of anevolution of how, of that person
changing.
And then he comes back and giftswhat he has learned to his
community or her community.
(17:10):
That's there's, and there's muchmore complex breakdowns of the
hero's journey, but that'sbasically the gist of it.
but if you think about itEverything is story, right?
You can actually I was a gueston an episode yesterday, where
the gentleman was focused onaffairs and he said, can you
spend a lot of time with Russia.
(17:31):
And he's an American guy, aMarine, and he, just very
curious.
And he said, tell me about, isthat?
Why is the Cold War this wholeRussia thing, the evolution of
Cold War now?
What is, why is it happening?
And I was telling him, I said,look, it's a story.
It's all about the story.
story of the Russian people isdifferent from the story of the
(17:51):
liberal democracies, of classicliberalism of the West.
Period.
That is the core of all of it.
else is just commentary, nuance,and situational context, right?
But really, it's a foundationalclash of stories.
what it is.
Paul (18:07):
That's a fascinating way of, and again, as you say it,
I'm sat here thinking, yeah, Ican see that it is it's not a
thing complicated, you just needsomebody to point that out to
you.
Christian (18:18):
Yeah.
Paul (18:19):
From your perspective then, working with so many
startups, What's the biggestgame changer for them in terms
of getting started telling theirstory?
What's the, where do you takethem when you want to take them
on that journey where they startto share their journey in a way
that makes sense for whicheverparty?
Christian (18:37):
It's this, it's almost there's a duality to it,
which actually you and I touchedupon earlier, and that's, I
think, a good hint.
Is that, You said, what is yourstory as the founder, as the
business owner?
I think that is where you start,right?
basically the idea is what is itthat motivates you?
(18:57):
What's the why behind it?
Makes your what is your vision,your mission, and your solution?
That's one of the frameworksthat I use when I help people.
And the idea is that is.
If you have a mission and ittakes time to tap into a
mission, most people are afraidto even think that they have a
mission basically, right?
I'm like, I'm not special enoughto have a mission.
(19:17):
Yes, you are.
I think you are.
And that's sort of part of thecoaching work that goes into
that, right?
When I, that's usually on theperformance coaching part,
right?
It's, who are you?
What makes you unique?
Every, and everybody's unique.
So there's no such thing.
And people are afraid to gothere because they go what if
I'm not unique?
If I'm just middle of the roadkind of guy, no, you're not.
(19:38):
were convinced by your society,your parents, your friends,
whatever.
It was beat out of you, but youare unique and let's figure that
out.
So that's the mission piece.
And it's also fluid and itchanges with time, right?
It evolves.
It has these learned, thesecurves and a wiggly line, not a
straight line.
The second is, then once you geta really clear understanding of
(20:00):
the mission, that the thing thatdrives you beyond, financial
limitations, I don't have no, Idon't have staff, I don't have,
I don't have these skills, Idon't have marketing budget, I
don't have investors, all of thethings, all of the illusion of
limited resources.
That's the thing that Takes youthrough those things is your
mission.
(20:20):
You just won't stop until youfind the resources, basically.
then you need to develop avision also, and the vision is,
okay, based on the mission, Ican imagine myself in a
relatively short time, two orthree years.
Not 10 years, because then youwon't follow through and it's
too vague, right?
But 2 3 years.
What do you see yourself?
What does your ideal day looklike, week like, year look like?
(20:44):
What is your schedule is?
What is your financialsituation?
So you start developing thatvision.
And then, you can actually comeup with something very crisp and
super exciting.
Because now you have a vision,you have a, the next thing you
develop is a solution.
Okay, how do you get there?
What skills do you need toacquire?
What partnerships, strategicpartnerships, what strategies,
(21:04):
what, what fine tuning of yourmarketing do you need?
All of those things that very,that seem very mundane and
sometimes overwhelming.
you, if you have a mission, avision, the solution will come.
And so the duality of it is thatyou do it for yourself.
And then you do it for yourclients and your customers,
right?
Then you can think in the sameway, in the same structured way,
(21:24):
you can say, Oh, here's the guy,here's the girl I want to help
with this particular product orservice.
What is her, does she want?
And then what kind of.
What can, how can I solve it?
And then the solution is how canI solve it uniquely based on my
unique giftedness, my mission,my vision.
(21:45):
So that's how you develop anoffering that is very specific
and therefore irresistible tothe right person.
So that's the key there.
So it's your story.
And then it evolves into, Oh, Ican now imagine I can embody, I
can feel what my client feels.
Like literally I can be in theirmind.
And once you get to that placeof clarity, you can be, you're
(22:08):
completely unstoppable as aprofessional.
Paul (22:10):
And yet I still speak to businesses who aren't even clear
on who their target persona is,let alone what's inside their
head, because they don't want todo those hard yards.
It's hard, right?
You make it sound very simplethere, but I know that's a lot
of digging, a lot of soulsearching, a lot of,
Christian (22:25):
It's very hard.
Yeah.
Paul (22:26):
Yeah, it's not a, I,
Christian (22:27):
need a mission because the mission that firing
you.
will drive you through theheart.
Like I still almost weekly havea revelation what is the pain
point of my client, of my idealclient, in more nuance and more
context.
But I obsess over it because Ihave a mission.
And even my solution evolvesbecause now I have a slight,
(22:49):
just a teeny, maybe 1 percentbetter understanding of the pain
points of the needs of myclients,
Paul (22:54):
I often talk to people about, it's what you should be
selling to people, your service,your product, whatever it is,
it's less about how you do it,it's more about solving the
problems that other personcomplains to their wife or their
husband about over dinner on anight.
That's the thing that you reallyneed to help them fix.
(23:15):
And to your point, you need todo it in a unique way, because
that's where the value reallycomes from.
That's how you can make ityours.
I love that way of describingwhat you've just said.
And it resonates a lot with someof the things that I've heard
and seen and especially on thepodcast.
That's, it's really powerfuladvice.
And I hope that the people athome who's watching or listening
along on You take that adviceand do something with it,
(23:39):
granted, it's not going to fixyour problems tomorrow.
It's not going to fix, this timenext week.
But if you start to work onthose things and you spend the
time and the energy on thoseinstead of the day to day things
that will solve themselvesnaturally.
Then that's how you'll start tobe able to live the life you
want to live.
I think that's the importantthing is you're not just talking
(23:59):
about helping people build abusiness, you're helping them
create the life that they wantto live themselves, right?
Cause that's the other side ofwhat you do.
Christian (24:08):
I will now, if you have a mission and you have a
vision and you have a solutionthat starts working for people
Now you're providing them with avision and mission solution.
Your life becomes such apassionate place and it's
inseparable.
Work is inseparable from yourpersonal life anymore.
It's integrated.
And I think that's whateverybody wants in their soul,
right?
(24:29):
don't want to just be a cog, amachine somewhere, or especially
in somebody else's machine, So,but we become, we I think we
settled to be a cog because itoffers some security, some.
Predictability, some safety butand it's fine to actually do it,
be a cog and then become artiston the side until the artists on
the side can displace the cogpart, right?
(24:50):
And you can dedicate more timeto it.
Paul (24:52):
It resonates because, I'll often talk with my wife and my
wife comes from a, regular B2Cenvironment.
She's a nursery nurse, right?
Like by trade.
And we talk and she's like, howcan you be so confident that
you're going to do this thing?
Because I believe in it.
I know, I'll find a way.
I have to find a way.
There will be a way to do it.
I will find a way and I willsolve that problem.
(25:14):
And she really can't get herhead around why I think so
differently to her.
And I can't live like she doeseither.
And we're good together, right?
We make a good, we make a goodcouple together.
that difference in vision ishard, super hard for some people
to get their head around becausethey've never experienced it.
And I resonate completely withwhat you've said, because I know
there are things I just can'texplain.
I just make them happen.
I'm not going to say I, I'm notsomebody who's into affirmations
(25:37):
or anything like that.
I'm not going to say I makethings materialize, but because
I believe so passionately inwhat I'm doing, I will find the
doors that open to make thingswork.
And I think anybody who's superpassionate about what they do
will say the same thing, right?
Christian (25:51):
they will, they will.
And I think, honestly, I think,I used to think, okay, some
people were created that way,like what you're saying, I just,
this is how I'm wired.
I now believe that everybody'screated to be that, and we can
rediscover that.
So let's say your wife she's anurse, And perhaps she does
value stability, ofpredictability, routine.
(26:15):
and that's not a bad thing, butshe can certainly discover a
deeper level of mastery, even inthe profession, in the vocation
that she has, now makes herextraordinary leader, a thought
leader in that field.
If that vocation is driven by adeep sense of purpose and
passion, you can actually trulydevelop that into kinds of
(26:39):
things in that exact field.
You don't even have tobasically.
People, we are trained by kindsof things, right?
Our environment.
Our society, our family, etcetera, to be a certain way.
But I really think deeply, deepdown inside, all of us are
creators of things.
And to the extent that we'rehave the courage to, Explore it,
(27:01):
be coached in it, develop it,nurture it.
Every single person I think cando that.
Paul (27:08):
Amazing words to leave us on.
I thank you very much for beingthe final recording episode of
2024, Christian.
If anybody is inspired by thewords that you've said today
with your story, and they wantto reach out and find out a
little bit more, what's the bestway for people to contact you?
Christian (27:23):
Okay.
So if you are inspired to thedegree that you just want to
hear more from me every once ina while, newsletter is probably
the best thing to to subscribeto.
drops every Sunday.
You go to ChristianRayFlores.
com and you just leave youremail address and that's it.
You're, you'll get a lot ofthis, a lot of goodness every
Sunday.
(27:43):
If you are like sitting theregoing, Oh, this guy just changed
my life.
I need to be coached by him.
You can go to my coaching pageand it's exponential.
life.
And exponential is spelledwithout an E, starts with an X,
exponential.
life.
And you can just see theofferings we have, the
opportunities we have.
There's a great resource therecalled the Exponential Scorecard
(28:04):
that is free.
And you can just answer a bunchof questions and, really, it's a
great way to find out where areyou now along the most important
dimensions of life.
So you will enjoy that if youtake that.
Paul (28:16):
I love that.
I might just take you up on thatmyself.
Thank you very much, Christian.
Have a fantastic holiday.
I hope you get to spend sometime with your family and get
some downtime.
That's much needed.
No doubt.
And thank you very much ifyou're watching along in the
show.
Thank you very much forsubscribing, for following along
and let me know how you foundthis week's episode.
Drop me an email, drop me amessage on LinkedIn.
I'll always love to hear fromthe the followers of the show.
(28:39):
Thank you.
Take care.
Bye bye.
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