THE PULSE: Real Talk, Rebuilds, and the Relentless Drive Behind the Brand

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0:39For people to see the finished product of, you know, the Jay Leno episodes and all the fun in L.A. and things like that, or not fun. There's a lot that goes into that. I just wanted to hit on that because we talk a lot about motivation versus determination. The finished product of the Jay Leno episodes, the Jamie Kennedys and all those cool things that we're doing. That's the fun part. All the work in between, it is a freaking grind. It is a fight day to day. That's what makes me a good interviewer is those moments I am just engrossed on growing as a host. That shit hasn't been easy for me, dude.

1:17What's up, everybody? Welcome back. Got something completely new for you guys today. I got my business partner and one of my best friends, Patrick Sickins here, bestselling author, marketing extraordinaire. I call him the wizard. So without further ado, man, let's get into it, dude. Drop the bestie right away. I like that, man. I was going to save that for at least the second one, but let's go. No, we got to go right there. Right into it. Awesome, man. Well, hey, thanks for having me on. I know we've been talking about this for about a year and a half and probably step in front of the camera for a little bit and do a different sort of episode.

1:51So, you know, the intent of the Pulse is to be more than a show. It's really the heartbeat of what's going on with the show, with the business, with you. It sort of flipped the tables a little bit and let you take it easy for a little bit and not have to come up with the questions, just answer them the way you like. I like that. I know. I like that. So, you're helping out already, buddy. So, hey, I want to start with the Pulse and just, you know, there's so much going on at the show. You know, June was big, big, big. So just from your seat, as far as, you know, the whole idea around this brand, around this show, around just the heartbeat of the show, tell me what it means to you.

2:25I mean, really, I mean, the show and everything going on that happened in June or even the last year and a half has meant so much to me personally, right? Coming from a background of being an athlete and, you know, not materializing to the athlete that I thought I was going to be at the division one level. This kind of is my playground. This is my big leagues, right? And it's just been really cool to see this thing grow and get stronger and stronger and become, you know, someone's playlist, to be quite honest, man. Like hearing what we're giving to the community and people enjoying the show, enjoying the guests and seeing me in different venues in different states.

3:06Dude, it's just it's been wild, man. It's kind of a whirlwind, to be honest. I don't think I've taken it in yet. No, we'll get there in a little bit, man. We'll get there as far as pumping the brakes a little bit on everything that's going on. But you started talking about where we've come. And from when I've come on board and been part of the show, been part of the business, it seemed like exit velocity and rocket speed and all the things we talk about surely is here. But I want to go all the way back because I know we have a lot of new listeners in the last few months, maybe even this year, that don't know what the Determined Society is and really what you've had to do to bring us to where we are right this second.

3:46So we'll talk just a little bit about the origin. So give me the two minutes on what the heck the Determined Society is and where it actually started. So the Determined Society, man, the way I like to break it down is a place where you can go and just hear stories of people that want more out of life. They're not here for hype. They're here for real, right? They're here for actual action. And where this thing started, it started as a Facebook group. And...

4:42And I was doing live videos in a parking lot of the gym at 4.30 in the morning. And funnily enough, people were actually watching them as they woke up. And it started to be this thing where people were posting inside of the Facebook group. People were engaging with each other and encouraging each other. And I just said, wow, during this climate of COVID and when things are so divided, these people are, I mean, I'm, I'm sure they all have different views on everything, but the one thing that they had in common is that they wanted to get better. They were looking for any edge to get better in life, whether it was physically, emotionally in the relationship or professionally.

5:23Um, you know, let's be honest, not everybody's an entrepreneur. Not everybody, you know, owns their own, you know, company or has their own podcast. They're salespeople, their teachers, their truck drivers. They're looking for ways to get through their day in a way that gratitude takes over and they're able to work on those actionable items. So one day I'm driving down the road and all of a sudden my just head just explodes. It was that moment where I'm like, good God, man, this is not a Facebook page. This is a podcast. And I didn't know how to start one. So I just Googled it and I ended up on Anchor app and started recording a show out of my car with like zero plan.

6:04And here we are. And here we are. Yeah. And there, there's a little bit in the middle there of here we are, but you know, just taking it from the car, then we got it out. Well, then you went into the, you know, the guest room in your house and then we got you out. Um, and all the things you said, man, just the, the things that we've been able to do, the experiences we've had, um, it's been incredible, but you know, for, for me, this show, and I know we've talked about the title a lot early on. You know, is this the right name for the show? Is it really the Determined Society? Should we change it?

6:35And every time it was a pretty quick, you know, quick discussion because it is. And that's exactly. So you're about to make a trade based on a friend's text. But which you do you listen to? Is it, we could buy a house in Tulum. Get optioning those options. We could lose everything. or let's do a little research. Get your head in the trade and make the investment decision that's right for you. Learn more at FINRA.org slash trade smart. Exactly what this show broadcasts, promotes, puts out there on a weekly basis, multiple times per week. So talk to me a little bit about determination because there is so much going on behind the scenes, man.

7:26And I think for our listeners to understand just some of, you know, the trials that we've had, because it's not, you know, we just keep bolting on new people and new things and this thing just keeps skyrocketing. There's a whole lot of determination in that recipe. Yeah, I mean, for me, determination is simply put, it's doing the things that you don't want to do, man. And like everybody can, you know, get into a room at a, at a conference or listen to a song or, you know, read a book and be motivated in that moment. But true determination is following through with what you said you're going to do long after the, long after the emotion wears off.

8:07Right. And what I've found is every single day there's a challenge, whether it's personally, you know, relationship wise, or even in the show that like, there's, there's multiple times during the day where I can just say, all right, screw this. I'm going to go in the pool. I'm going to hang out with my kids and I'm going to just screw this for right now. I'm not going to do it. And let's be real. We all have those moments. But then I think of like, okay, is that going to get the boat to go faster? Is that going to move us along? And so, you know, quite honestly, it's just about staying true to what you know is going to work.

8:40You know, if you're trying to hit, you know, 350 in the big leagues, well, you're going going to hit every single day. You're going to go through your process. And that's what I do. That's what you do. That's what our partners do. That's what my wife does in the show. Like we're all playing our part and staying within our guardrails, but also collaborating to a point of agnosium, right? Cause this, this is not easy. This shit is hard. And for the people that are watching this episode and listening to it, like, I know it looks cool, but dude, it's, it's been the exact opposite of that at times.

9:12It has been painful. This thing has brought me to tears. This thing almost brought me to losing everything, but I gained everything at the same time because I was super stubborn or you can say determined to know that, Hey, I feel this in my soul. This is what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm not letting up because someone tells me I shouldn't do this. And there was times I'm sure my wife was like, dude, you're crazy. You're crazy. What are you doing? But I felt it and I wasn't wrong. No, she definitely said you're crazy. I know for a fact, she said you're crazy multiple times. So don't say she might have, she did.

9:50She still thinks we're crazy. It was in Spanish. It was in Spanish. So I don't know. I don't know. I can't translate that. Yeah, no, but you're right. I mean, it's look, I absolutely love every moment that I'm here, but you know, I hate the old saying of find what you love and you'll never work a day in your life, this is work every single day. And, you know, for people to see the, the finished product of, you know, the Jay Leno episodes and all the fun in LA and things like that, or not fun. Um, you know, it's, there's a lot that goes into that. And I just, I just wanted to hit on that because, you know, you talk a lot about motivation versus determination and you and Joe Weatherford had a good, uh, good conversation in her episode about that.

10:29But, you know, you're talking about just kind of kicking off for the day or for the moment and going in the pool. But there's a lot more to that, man. Like there's been days where it's not just for right now, for this second, for this hour, it's been, what are we doing? Why are we doing it? So I would tell it, talk to me a little bit, you know, the difference between motivation versus determination, because a lot of people say, you just got to get motivated. You got to get hard. You got to get tough. You got to do all the things, find your process and it'll just work out. But you don't show up every day, just wanting to do every single thing.

11:02There are days where you just want to kick off and go hang out in the pool and just not deal with all the things you got to deal with. Yeah, dude. I mean, motivation is a spark. I think it needs to be there. I think that, you know, for a lot of people, motivation comes extrinsically. Like you look at somebody else and you admire that person, the results, maybe what they look like, how they speak and everything they have going on. But then somewhere along the lines, you have to decide what you're willing to give to get there, right? So to your point on the finished product of the Jay Leno episodes, the Jamie Kennedy's and all those cool things that we're doing, that's the macro result.

11:44That's not the, that's the fun part, right? And all the work in between all the pain that, that is, those are the micro, those are the micro results, right? The reps day in and day out. And those are the ones that are important, man, because that's what makes everything look pretty. That's what makes everything look polished. That's what makes me a good interviewer is those moments were behind the scenes. I am just engrossed on growing as a host and as a CEO, let's be honest. Like that shit hasn't been easy for me, dude. Like that hasn't been easy for me at all to, to remove, uh, feelings at times to say, okay, what's the best for the show?

12:27Like those are big boy and big girl moments. And as, as a salesperson or a corporate, uh, sale, uh, corporate professional, like you don't, you don't have that. Right. But there's times where I have to make very unpopular decisions. Um, decisions that I know that, you know, none of my partners in this thing probably agree with at the time, but like, I have to make them right. And, and for me, man, like it's just to your point about the, the finished product, that's like an eighth of it. It's not even, so when people are listening to this and seeing what's going on in the growth, like that's like someone throwing the game winning touchdown in the Super Bowl.

13:13That wasn't the moment. The moment started in June when they were in OTAs and then mini camps. That's when it started. Or even drafted or whatever. Right? I mean, it's a lifetime of preparation. So you're talking about the finished product. And for us, I mean, how many iterations of you as a host, the style, the format of the show, the brand, the website, I mean, everything has been built and burned and built and burned again and again and again. And I think it's that determination because there's been plenty of times where we didn't want to revamp X, Y, and Z. We didn't want to have to go through another painful process.

13:53We didn't have to have a hard conversation. And so a lot of times there's not motivation in that. No, there's not, dude. Just, you can break it down to the little things waking up like the last two nights, I've had six hours of sleep total. Do I wake up at 4am and do what I said I was going to do? Yeah, I have to because if I don't, then I'm not sharp, then I retreat from what I'm actually speaking about on my show. So I have to be the person that execute these, that executes these habits, right? But like, those are the moments, dude. Like, it's not, it's not always what it looks like it is a freaking grind it is a fight day to day and and that's what we've built here man like i truly like those those moments of having to burn it all down again that means i mean we've done it three times in a year in in the in the fun part the fun part is when someone says like dude i love that new logo i I'm like, oh my God, thank you.

14:53We're in retro gear here. The shirt's like three months old and it's already retro. That's right. That's old school. But like, exactly. But it's vintage TDS. But those are the things, dude. Like that, the behind the scenes. And that's what I want everybody to truly hang on to because they see the logo, they see the guests. But I want to give them the peek behind because the, that is where they can learn something. That is where they can take that and apply it to what they're looking to do, what they want to grow in their life. Absolutely. I mean, that's, that's the whole reason we wanted to do the pulse in the first place, you know, is to tell the stories that don't make it on the air and, you know, whether that's directly related to the episode, because there are, I mean, there's plenty of things that happen behind the scenes, conversations that happen, you know, before recording and things like that, where I think it's important for everyone who follows this show to understand everything that's going on because it is great, you know, the end product, but there's a lot of trials, tribulations, heartache, you know, all the things that you've talked about multiple times on the show.

16:02And so I think that's what, at least to me, that's what drew me to this in the first place was the authenticity, right? We talk about it a lot with people meet you and they go, oh, you're the same guy. I mean, that's just what it is. And I know that's not typical, but it's what we are. And so to give people, you know, the look at you, not only of what's going on, but to see, sit on whatever side of the microphone or whatever side of the interview you want, you're going to be the same guy. So, um, so, so let's talk a little bit about behind the scenes. Cause I do want to ask a question. Yeah, we went, you went to, uh, Atlanta in June with next level speakers and there goes my thumbs up.

16:39Glad that happened. Yep. Dude, you got to do that. That's just crazy. If Google's listening, please turn off my notifications. I'm sure they can do that. Thanks. Okay. Anyway, you went to Atlanta with Next Level Speakers, ET, Brandon Burns, Jeremy, Rachel was there. Then we went to LA, then back in Atlanta. So of everything that's happened, of the guests that you've talked to, whether we've released them or not, what was the biggest surprise for you in June? Rinse takes your laundry and hand delivers it to your door, expertly cleaned and folded. So you could take the time once spent folding and sorting and waiting to finally pursue a whole new version of you.

17:15Like tea time you. Or this tea time you. Or even this tea time you. So did you hear about Dave? Or even tea time, tea time, tea time you. So update on Dave. It's up to you. We'll take the laundry. Rinse. It's time to be great.

17:38I think the biggest surprise for me in June was that, you know, we, I alluded to it at the beginning of, of this, of this episode is I haven't taken it in yet. And, and, and I want that to be a message because I'm super grateful for where we're at. I'm super grateful for where I'm at as a person, but I don't want to rest on that. And so for me, all the cool things that have happened, like I haven't gone back and reflected on, you know, sitting down with Jay Leno, Jamie Kennedy. Like I just, I just haven't. Right. I mean, you know, you even look at, you know, Jeff Leach that, you know, that episode was just published.

18:20That was, that was a golden episode. And what an amazing human being that guy is funny as shit, but at the core of him, like he's so real, man. He, he's just. is so i guess to give the audience more context and give you maybe something that you do want to hear is all these people that you look at on tv on stage for stand-up comedy the tonight show like with jay leno man they're all people and and and they all have beating hearts they have blood running through their veins and they deal with the same struggles that we deal with they all have their shit going on in their life and they're all trying to overcome.

19:02So like, they're not, they're not like, I guess, absent from some of the things that the listeners listen into right now, depression, you know, undiagnosed bipolar, um, Jay Leno's wife going through dementia. These are real life things. And, and the more amazing people I speak to, you know, public figures and, and just everyday people. What I realized is that we're all in this journey together and we're all going through something. We all need people. We need people. You need people. You're talking about Jeff Leach. And so here's, here's one of the stories from LA. Now I'm not going to go there.

19:43Don't worry. But Jeff Leach. So Sean and I remember we were watching his comedy special. We watched it before. And then we watched it again in the morning before. and so i i told my kids about jeff i say he's really funny he's a comedian and i told i didn't show them but if you ask claire now my so she's my youngest daughter if you ask her she with all this sass in the world she says he's doing it oh no doing it oh yeah oh no you're gonna have to ask her so jeff you've got a fan and she doesn't even know your your routine yet so anyway all right so amazing amazing dude man he is the everyone we've talked to so something that we started right before la is we've added a few new questions in so i want to talk about the frequency our playlist what's going on with that and just the whole project so do you want to go into it you want me to go into it so i can speak to the playlist so you know you approached me about the tds playlist You got to build this place.

20:43You've been on me about a year to do this, to be fair. And I didn't get it. I'm like, dude, this is why are we doing this? Right. It's like, why? Exactly. There it is. Branding, branding. But what we've done is, and you can go to Spotify, it's called The Frequency. Subscribe to it. What we've, well, what Pat has built and I'm executing it after every interview is putting the walk-up songs or the hype songs of every single guest that comes on that, the song that speaks to their soul. And so when I go on now and I'm looking at, you know, the Rocky theme song, I think of, you know, Jamie Kennedy now.

21:25Like, I mean, like when I hear Rick Ross, Purple Lamborghini, I think of Elena Cardone. Like, and so like every time I'm listening to one of those songs, it brings me to that interview and in that moment. And as we know, music for a lot of people, it recalls moments and memories. And so for me, as, you know, the creator of the show and now, you know, adding to the playlist, it, it just gives me a different dimension to appreciate where these people come from. Yeah. Well, if you remember, I mean, the whole reason it started is we were talking about music one day and just, you know, how it can fuel different things from your workout to a drive to whatever, you know, can focus you when you're trying to work.

22:11And we started talking about walk-up songs, right? So hype songs, when we played in college, you're at LSU, I'm at JU. So it's like, Hey, what's your walk-up? What was your walk-up song? And so we started talking about and you could tell the energy behind you explaining that song. And I was doing the same thing. And so I was like, you know, we should put a playlist together that has the one song, the banger, the hype song, that no matter where you are, what you're doing, it just amps you up. And so to have that, and so we're putting graphics out so you can see everything Sean just said as far as Purple Lamborghini, who the song is by and who picked it.

22:43And so being able to pull those into some of the bonus content that we have where they're answering the question, it's great. So yeah, it's out on Spotify, the frequency, and you can find on the website as well. It's right on the homepage. So yeah, I want people to do that because it's a great playlist already. Every time we're out on the road, we use those songs in our reels, but it gets updated every single week. So it's cool just to have that, uh, you know, kind of living, breathing playlist. And it's funny because like you mentioned something about the reels and you know, when I do stories, like guys, everything is intentional now.

23:14Everything is intentional. So when you guys hear a song or hear a song in a story, that's from the playlist typically, right? Unless it's a template and, you know, I don't, you know, through an app, like I don't, you can't control that. But like, for the most part, it's very intentional, right? And the other thing that I really like about it, I didn't even think about this aspect of it. And as we're speaking about the playlist is it helps the artist. No doubt. well Robert Clark talked about it if you remember in Hollywood he was talking about people going to the movies and watching them to help support not just the actors but every single person that worked on it it's the same with music yep yep I love it so that's the playlist man I love it let's subscribe so my son gets in the car listen dude my son gets in the car the truck every single day daddy can we listen the frequency sure Calen's about two years away from it but you know a little different a little different yeah well you know there's a few songs on there we can play but not not all of them i play them all for him i don't i'm a little spicier yeah you're like i you're not saying it's a good decision i'm not saying it's not a good decision but you know he's going to listen to it otherwise so i might as well listen to it in my truck yeah they don't hear that on the ball field or at school or anything none of those words i'm sure never i'm never absolutely all right i want to before we wrap up i do want to talk about one thing that we've talked about a lot and we alluded to it a little bit, but I think, you know, from a value piece, just hearing from you, um, talking about focus, you know, and when we first jumped into this, we had, you know, I use Apple and the iPhone as the example, you know, we, we wanted to launch the iPhone, but we had iPhone 16 already in mind.

24:59And we were trying to throw a lot of bells and whistles into this thing and just figuring out, you know, what, what was going to be best, not only for the show, but for the society, you know, what was going to give people the most value, the most connection to the show, to each other. So we tried a lot of things. And then every time we bring partners in, they have ideas too. And so we keep going back to, and we were talking about this last week, you know, when we finally made the decision of everything else we can't control, we're just going to let it go and focus on the one thing we can, which is the show and the product that we're putting out and everything else will follow.

25:31And since we've done that, every time something creeps in, it's like, it's outside. We're laser focused right now. So talk to me a little bit about that because I see you from different angles, right? Show host, entrepreneur, former top sales guy, coach, husband, father, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So what does that mean to you when you look at it? You forgot extremely handsome. Well, I forgot extremely. I'm sorry. For those who are not watching the episode and have never watched the episode, extremely handsome. I'm sorry. I'm kidding, guys. There you go, Jeff Leach. There's your soundbite. There's your spectrum.

26:07There's your spectrum. Yes. So talk to me about laser focus, not only with what we're doing, but just when you look at everything you're doing, because you've gone through a big transformation, you know, physically and, you know, you're working on mental health, like just everything that's going on with you. Talk to me about focus. You know, I'm going to shout out my boy, Eric Thomas. You know, when I, when, when, when I was in Atlanta, he, you know, this is a next level speakers conference, right? And everybody there is wanting to become the speaker. And I was there to hang out with those guys.

26:44Shout out to all of them. Jeremy Anderson, Brandon Burns, Eric Thomas, Inky Johnson, Rachel, everybody. Just everybody is so amazing. I want to tie in with that community more because it's so soulful, man. and it's based on the fabric of what I feel everybody should be really, really digging into, which is love. Okay. Um, but he said something there is that all of you guys are sitting here wanting to be on the stage, but you're unwilling to go through the stages. So man, when you talk about wanting to build iPhone 27 and we're on iPhone four, like we were trying to go from four to 27. We were trying to skip stages, not because we were trying to, you know, cheat the process, but like we knew the ability of, of what this could be or what this is going to be.

27:39But we were skip trying to skip level steps. I think, you know, looking back at it. So my thing is, is when you talk about razor focus or laser focus, it's simple. Focus on where you're at, dominate that stage where you're at right now. What is the stages or the process because everybody loves to win, but no one likes to go through the stages. So what I've learned, and we had a team call on the way here, I'm like, Hey, I think we're close to this. And you said, no, we need to do X, Y, Z. So you, you checked me, right? But you were right. I was like, okay, we got to go through these three stages first, and then we can do that.