Adapt and Overcome: How to Tactically Evolve for Success with Karim Hijazi: An EOFire Classic from 2022

0:01John Lee Dumas:Boom, shake the room, Fire Nation, JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. On today's classic episode, we'll be breaking down how to adapt and overcome, how to tactically evolve for success. And to drop these vibe bombs, I brought Kareem Hijazi in the EO Fire Studios. Kareem is a spy turned spy hunter, serial cybersecurity entrepreneur, podcast creator and host. And today we talk about how you don't need to know what you'll do right off the bat to have a clear path to success and how the pursuit of perfection limits progress.

0:33John Lee Dumas:Get to it even if it's imperfect and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Kareem and our sponsors. Fire Nation, if you have a high ticket offer and need more quality leads, Nexus Install is designed for you. We'll book you eight to 20 qualified calls each month, then train you to run the system yourself. Email my team at john at eofire.com to learn more and see if Nexus is the right fit for you. If you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. High Level gives you website hosting, funnels, email marketing, automation, calendar booking, payments, and course hosting all on one platform, plus award-winning 24-7 support.

1:10John Lee Dumas:Get a 30-day free trial and my full bonus stack that includes a 15-minute private call with me and much more at highlevelfire.com. Highlevelfire.com. Kareem, say what's up to Fire nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Hey, John, thanks for having me. Honestly, a pleasure and honored to be here. Great question. The first thing that comes to mind among many is that you do not need to know what you're going to do right off the bat and have a very clear, direct path to success in many cases. And in fact, most cases, anyone I've ever talked to, including myself, took this very windy, interesting, almost Dr.

1:58Seuss looking tunnel to get to where I got. And I had a lot of stops and starts. And I think that the biggest thing here is understanding what you tend to have an itch for. There's got to be a passion that you just can't seem to get enough of. So like we were talking before the show started, cybersecurity and this particular area of cybersecurity I'm involved in really had me captured early on. And the intelligence gathering component of it was very, very appealing and alluring to me. And that kept me going through the tough times. And I did a variety of iterative things until I got here, but they all led to this point.

2:32So I think that I would never have been able to figure it out when I started, but here I am. So it's a testament to that fact.

2:38John Lee Dumas:So I'm not going to lie. Your bio is one of the most fascinating that I've seen in over 3 ,700 episodes that I've done. And of course, Fire Nation heard that during the introduction. I mean, a spy turned spy hunter turned serial cybersecurity entrepreneur. Share this journey. It's a really incredible one. Again, per the last question you asked and the answer I gave, I would never in a million years have guessed I would be here today. But I started in the world of essentially corporate intelligence. And more specifically, it does dovetail into things that sound more nefarious and exciting, like corporate espionage.

3:16And indeed is that. I was working overseas, working on behalf of US companies to help them win deals and bids. And what that required was for me to get information for them so they could make good decisions and essentially win in a very competitive environment. And that quickly and rapidly moved into the world of me helping the same customers that I was servicing to get intelligence for, helping them defend themselves against guys just like me because they were then suffering from losses based on peers that I had on the other side working for the competitors. So I said, well, look, who better to hire than someone like me to tell you exactly what I would do.

3:57And I started building countermeasures for them. I helped them understand what vectors that the adversaries might use to come in and get the intelligence they had that they needed to protect. And that over the years, so this is sort of the late, late 90s, early 2000s, it shifted heavily into the computer realm. And that is how I ended up in cyber, because frankly, most information, especially today, is sitting either latently, as in in a non-movable state, or transiting in some way electronically. So everything has moved in that world. And I was just perfectly poised in terms of the strategies these bad guys would use.

4:38It only just got faster with computers. So my experience lent itself well to that. And yeah, it's been a ride ever since. And I continue to do it today.

4:46John Lee Dumas:Well, I think everybody listening knows that cybersecurity is a serious threat, but what they might not know is it's becoming more serious every day, like on an exponential level. So talk about what we need to know when it comes to cybersecurity. Yeah, it's a really big, big question, because it's not a simple, very clear, bullet pointed answer, unfortunately, John, because there's too many things these days that we have done in the interest or in the name of convenience that has now exposed us. Right. Everything from sharing our own information willingly out to the world, which now adversaries can use against us.

5:28The very fact that right now most of your information is easily findable in an open source capacity, meaning there's no payment for it. You don't need to have some sort of private eye go look for it anymore. It's all out there. So unfortunately, people have done this, whether they know it or not, in many cases. And that just enables you, the adversaries to go out there and use it against you. So the best possible, I wish it was as simple as me telling you put antivirus on your computer and download the latest OS for your phone and you're good. I wish that was the case. The kind of advice I would give most people today is to be skeptical first and trust but verify an old intelligence, old adage from the intelligence community.

6:14And what I mean by that is when you get an email, John, even if you think it's from me, check it. make sure that email address is indeed my email address and not from someone else that made it look like that make sure the contents of those emails or don't have links in them that you would otherwise never click but you're being coerced into doing so that is probably 90 of how these adversaries are getting in they're socially engineering you into getting into your systems the technical hacking that is actually far less prolific as you might think they're not what you see in movies with a hoodie and a keyboard and hacking and tapping away the keyboard to get into a place.

6:49No, they're writing an email. You and I are both clicking that email unbeknownst to us and letting them in just like they were meant to be there. So that's my number one piece of advice, which is to be vigilant and look very closely at what you're doing on these devices, phones and otherwise, not just your computer.

7:04John Lee Dumas:Can you maybe share a common situation that comes up that does happen like that, where it's an email or it's a website or it's something else that just seems to be kind of common that people just fall for time and time again because they are trusting first, they're not being skeptical? Adversaries, they're watching everything more than we are in many cases because it's their livelihood. It's where they're banking on these opportunities. And I'll use a really good example. We went through the whole pandemic and there was everything from financial reparations, like loans that were being offered through email accounts.

7:41There were you know, late payment charges being sent to people all the time. That's exactly what these adversaries knew they could send an email to look like and people would click it because they were expecting that type of email. So unfortunately, they were leveraging off your already existing condition and using it. They weren't sending something that was completely out of the clear blue you would never care to look at or expect. They were sending you something that you would expect to get. And that's what was conning people into clicking these things. So that's a very good example of saying today's world right now might be a flight voucher or some sort of travel voucher because the community or the industry is trying to find its way back after such a long hiatus.

8:20And, you know, who wouldn't possibly click on a free vacation if you just fill out this quick little form? You know, people might do it today.

8:26John Lee Dumas:So this is really fascinating to me because I feel like we're all being touched by this on some level, or at least have the potential to be touched by this on a lot of levels. If we do receive something like this and we are skeptical, so we do the right thing and it just doesn't look right. It just doesn't feel right. What should be our next step? Yeah. I wish I could tell you that you could send it to some FBI agent and they're going to take action on it. They are so unbelievably overwhelmed. It's not a likely scenario. So, so look, it is always good to be a good Samaritan and a good steward of your, of your community by trying to help, you know, limit others from being exposed to it.

9:01But the first thing to do is probably if you're questioning it, go to Google, type in some portion of what is in that email and see if scam comes up around it and see if other people have reported it somewhere and said, this looks like it's something that's malicious, which will give you extra confidence and confirmation that you're not crazy, that this is indeed something that's malicious. And then the best possible thing is to delete it. Do not just not open it. Don't just leave it there for maybe later and we'll see and I don't know. Just get rid of it. If it's real and it's important and it's something that maybe you misrepresented as bad, they'll call you and they'll maybe send another follow-up and you can then get confirmation.

9:40As old-fashioned as this may sound, picking up the phone and calling your bank or whatever hospital or clinic or whatever you might be getting an email from that you think is suspicious is not a bad thing to do. But I say delete it, John, because if you don't, there is a possibility some of these things can self-detonate, which means that you don't even have to open it and it'll find a way to execute and get on your system. So that's a key point.

10:03John Lee Dumas:Very key point. And Fire Nation, if you think we're going to stop sharing these key points, you got another thing coming because we have so much more coming up as soon as we get back from thanking our sponsors. Fire Nation, if you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. That is why High Level is Entrepreneur on Fire's featured partner. High Level gives you a website builder and hosting, funnels and landing pages, email marketing, appointment scheduling, payment processing, course and membership hosting, and so much more. Everything you need to succeed all under one roof. No duct tape, no juggling five platforms, just one clean system for your business.

10:40John Lee Dumas:And their award-winning 24-7 support has your back when you need it most. When you sign up at highlevelfire.com, you also get my exclusive bonus stack, a 30-day free trial, a private 15-minute call with me, JLD, access to my weekly live office hours, a digital copy of my book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, my 50 Days to Something Execution Roadmap, and more. Visit highlevelfire.com and start building your something today. Fire Nation, if you have a high ticket offer but you are not getting enough quality sales calls on the calendar, Nexus Install is exactly what you need. This is a custom LinkedIn client acquisition system built to help you connect with the right prospects, start real conversations, and turn those conversations into booked calls, here is what makes it different.

11:27John Lee Dumas:We do not just hand you a bunch of theory and tell you, good luck. We build the system with you. Dial in your audience, sharpen the messaging, run the outreach, and aim to book you 8 to 20 qualified calls each month. Then, once the system is proven and installed, we train you on how to run it yourself so you are not dependent on another agency forever. If you have a strong offer, a clear result, and are ready for more quality conversations with real prospects, email my team at john at eofire.com and then we'll set up a call to see if Nexus Install is the right fit for you. Simple, focused, and built for predictable, long-term, quality lead flow.

12:06John Lee Dumas:So Kareem, we're back and Fire Nation, my audience, they're made up of entrepreneurs, small business owners, solopreneurs, side hustlers. They're all over the spectrum age-wise. But I want to start talking about some of the top advice that you have for entrepreneurs, my audience, who are starting their journey at the beginning part of it. How can we start the journey right? Yeah, that's a really good question. I think a lot of where early entrepreneurs get very bogged down, is the best way for me to put it, is they get themselves in this self-sabotaging cycle of, oh, but I don't have this and I can't do that.

12:43I don't have the money for this. I don't have the time for that. Or even worse and compounded, sometimes they're going to get themselves into a dust spiral by talking to other loved ones or people that mean well that try to advise them to not do something because they don't want them to be disappointed. Look, people, parents, siblings, spouses, they all mean well when they're doing this in many cases, many cases. But that is the most detrimental thing for young entrepreneurs to be subject to because right now that's the most contrary part of the equation you need to take the proverbial leap and just start doing i'll give you an example i started my podcast not too long ago and i'm not a professional podcaster and ceo of a company and i thought that would be an interesting thing to be an additive tool to the the war chest of marketing tools that we have and i did the classic thing john i got the equipment probably more than i ever should of.

13:38I got the coolest mic I could find. I had multiple screens up. I had a bunch of notes up of what I was going to say. And I sat there and I stared at an empty mic. And then I went to look for more stuff to do rather than actually record the podcast. And it's funny, as experienced as I am, I found myself in that exact same state that an early entrepreneur does, which is doing everything but the thing. And I think that it's this pursuit of perfection that limits your progress and I would just get to it, even if it's imperfect, just to get the momentum and the inertia. That is the most important thing to start with.

14:12Not even necessarily how good of an idea is, it's about doing, not thinking about it.

14:16John Lee Dumas:Well, we can only talk about so much on this podcast episode specifically, and I'm glad you're here to alert my audience about what you do and about the content you're putting out in the world. So let's give a little shout out. What's the name of your podcast? What's it about? What's going on? Sure. So the podcast is a mouthful. It's the introverted iconoclast. And it literally is that so if you look for it, it's the introverted iconoclast, you can find it everywhere. It's on Apple and on Spotify and iHeart and everywhere else you may listen to your podcast. And it's interesting, it started as somewhat of a memoir of my life.

14:49In fact, some of the stories I referenced in this conversation with john are in that podcast, I talk about my early fights with the anonymous hackers, I talk about my I've transitioned from being a spy to a spy hunter. And then I talk a lot about my business endeavors and how I built a company and sold it and ultimately took the windfall to build a tremendously interesting lifestyle for my wife and my kids and I. And yeah, it's been fantastic. And I moved into interviewing folks that I think are incredibly interesting. Love to get John on there someday. I think it would be absolutely fantastic.

15:22And it'll continue to evolve from the look of it.

15:25John Lee Dumas:I'm looking at it right now. I mean, Fire Nation, this is a show you're going to want to check out if you need to learn more about this. The Introverted Iconoclast. The Introverted Iconoclast. Looks like you just had an interview with Robert Lee. So that'll be an interesting episode to check out for sure. You know, one thing I'd give a little on-the-spot kind of coaching to or just recommendations to about podcasts in general. And this is just, you know, coming from my 10 years and 3 ,700 episode experience. is so many people really think that most podcast episodes have to be interview focused.

16:03John Lee Dumas:They have to have a guest on to make it like a really valuable show. And you've obviously done both sides where you talk about yourself and your story. But I really think that your podcast could be really powerful if you add in one to two very short form, personal, just one topic-based, one to your audience episodes a week on topics that are all around what you do at Prevalient. Because, you know, we all love sitting down for interviews and hearing the interviews and that's all good and great. But then that time in between, that could be really used in a great way for these amazing topics of knowledge that you have.

16:39John Lee Dumas:And so I would personally love to see that. Like I was scrolling through it being like, oh, I'd love to see like a couple of short-form podcasts on like, you know, what to do if this happens, what to do if that happens, or like this is the latest things that we're having in 2022 and beyond. So just some food for thought. It would make me like really excited about checking out, you know, obviously some of the interviews that you've done, but also kind of burning through some really those short form topics. And for you, Fire Nation, like how can you kind of fit in these kind of, you know, short but valuable snippets of your areas of expertise?

17:08John Lee Dumas:Because that's what a lot of what people want. And you've done a lot of things in your life, Kareem. Do you have any regrets? Do you have anything that you wish you had done differently? No, I don't. And I know it's cliche to say no, but I say that with a lot of confidence because I did. There was a period of time when I was a little bit younger and I was constantly berating myself for not doing something a certain way. And if I had just done it this way or that way, the outcome would have been so much better, which of course we know is silly. When we're all sitting there logically thinking about how we make these grand assumptions that if we had just done this, it would have absolutely been phenomenal.

17:47We don't know that. We have no idea. And when I have, I did have an epiphany that finally broke me of that mindset, which is that, hang on a minute, you know, I have no idea where this would have transpired. Had I not made this particular mistake, I wouldn't have landed here. And so going back to the very first question you asked me, those twists and turns and pivots and shifts and two steps forward and three steps backwards actually got me to where I am. So there's literally nothing to regret because you wouldn't get to where you're supposed to be going if you don't have those quote unquote missteps that you sort of foolheartedly regret at times when you're a little bit younger.

18:24And then I did an experiment as a final point on this, which is that I tried to start another company one day after my last exit that I had. And I was like, I'm going to do it right, John. I'm going to hire all the right law firms. I'm going to hire all the right patent attorneys right off the bat. I'm going to do all the things I didn't do right the first time. And it's going to take off like wildfire. And you know what? That company failed. so uh the one that i absolutely fumbled through and had no idea what i was doing and assumed i was making all the mistakes and all the wrong moves actually took off and worked so i learned the hard way that there is no point in regretting it's a useless uh waste of time yeah it's crazy

19:00John Lee Dumas:i've actually had experiences where like i literally would get done with an interview and i'm like i think that's the worst interview i've ever done and like almost don't release it and then i just do and then like the next day i get like 10 or 15 messages of people being like Like, that was awesome. And I was like, wow, like, what do I know? Like, sometimes you just don't know Fire Nation. But I want to end with a bang, Kareem. Talk to us about a few things. Number one, actually, let's just start with you giving the number one takeaway that you really want to make sure Fire Nation walks away with from our chat today.

19:31People like John and myself in the world being, have they had experience being an entrepreneur and driving forward. There is no better time in history that I've ever seen, or at least in my generation or my lifetime than now to start a business. It could not be better. And I know that the world, and not to date this, but we're in a very interesting and precarious position from a macroeconomic standpoint. And look, there's a lot of fear mongering going on. But if you look at any of the really successful entrepreneurs out there, they've taken these periods where there looks like there's going to be a downturn and they've leveraged it to their advantage and they've become incredibly successful.

20:08So the number one takeaway way is don't be afraid of the change. Don't be afraid of not knowing. Don't be afraid of what could get in the way and stop you from being successful. Just get on it and do it because now is the time. And with the tools that you have at your disposal and with the expectations of the world that you're going to be remote anyway, you couldn't be more poised for success.

20:27John Lee Dumas:Let's end with a bang. Tell us about Prevalian. Tell us about what we need to know if we're in a situation where we feel like your services could be needed. Certainly. So Pavilion is quite unique in the industry. I know a lot of people say it, but I get to say it with pride because I know it's true. Pavilion chases and hunts and takes over the infrastructure that the bad guys set up that they're using to attack innocent victims, organizations, people, governments. And since we're actually the aggressive attacker of these attackers, we get to see who they're victimizing. So we're someone that actually, in a very unique way, asymmetrically puts the bad guys on the run, which is quite nice.

21:12We're one of the only organizations on the planet that does this other than the governments that do it on a regular basis. So if you're an organization that has a concern around things like ransomware or you're worried you're being targeted by some sort of governmental group, maybe that's a foreign national government group of some kind, we're the right group to call.