2362 - The Winning Pair That Future-Proofs Your Business with Optimus' Brad Hart

0:03Brad Hart:Welcome to the Thoughtful Entrepreneur. If you're committed to growing your business by serving audiences with generosity and real expertise, you're in the right place. This is a daily 15 minute show featuring leaders who believe real impact comes from generosity, not hype, which means as a listener, you're going to get the good stuff. In fact, we created podverified.com to give thoughtful leaders like you free tools to show up better on podcast stages, like this one. That includes your free PodVerified score, free PodVerified guest training, a free media kit builder, and so much more. It's the first ecosystem of its kind built by podcasters who genuinely want to help guests thrive and grow in podcasting.

0:46Brad Hart:Visit podverify.com if you'd like to be featured as a future guest. I'm Josh Elledge. Let's get into it. with us right now it's brad hart brad you're the founder and ceo of optimus you're found on the web at buildwithoptimist.com brad it's great to have you thank you so much i appreciate it josh and it's great to be on the show yeah well hey before we get going talking about your superpowers what you do um you always love finding out what leaders are into when they're not at work and i understand you've been reading a book that you're that you enjoy yeah and this is kind of

1:21Josh Elledge:out of left field. So there's a comedian called Louis CK who got in a global amount of trouble, like Pee Wee Herman level amount of trouble a few years ago. And he made this really funny joke. He's like, um, I went to the airport and I tried to get away from my life. Uh, the problem was every single flight landed on earth. So there was nowhere else to go. Maybe Elon will solve that for him. But he's a very funny standup comedian. Uh, he wrote a book recently. It's a fiction book about a boy who's literally grown up on a farm his whole life. And his mother, like they're, the farm is dying and his father leaves and his mother's like, go out in the world and figure it out.

1:52Josh Elledge:And he does. And it's a wild ride. I just read his name. And yeah, it hit me, it hit me deep. I like it. He's pretty talented as a writer. It's a great first effort for a novelist. So Ingram. Yeah. So in the, in the premise is what? So he's like a young boy. He's maybe 10 years old and yeah, he's been on this farm his whole life and, you know, feeding and tending to animals. And then all of a sudden everything goes South. They foreclose on the farm. They slaughter all the animals. His father gets on the horse and leaves without any preamble. The mother's like, Hey, you're going to die here. You got to go figure it out.

2:24Josh Elledge:And I can't help you. So he just goes out into the world and he starts walking and it's just a wild ride. You gotta, you gotta read it. It's interesting. Okay. I just added it to my cart.

2:32Brad Hart:I'm going to check it out. Enjoy it.

2:33Josh Elledge:It's a little dark, but it's kind of dark in a way that's like refreshing. It's like, uh, you know, there's an old saying, if everybody put their problems in a circle, everybody would want their own problems back. It's one of those, you know, it kind of makes you realize that maybe your problems aren't so bad.

2:47Brad Hart:Great, great saying too. All right, Brad, love to hear what you do with Optimus and share with us what your superpowers are.

2:55Josh Elledge:Yeah, thank you. So historically, I've always built mastermind groups and been a part of them. I've joined over 100. I've written two books on the subject. I have launched 25, all of the world, 43 states, 27 countries I've been to now doing masterminds. I love them because they're a great way to get paid to learn and connect with amazing people. So Optimist is the latest version of that. So every time I kind of want to get into a rabbit hole on something, I start with a mastermind because, you know, again, they take better notes. They ask better questions. You build partnerships and you gain knowledge faster.

3:24Josh Elledge:So if I want to learn crypto, if I want to learn e-com, if I want to learn whatever, start a mastermind, get paid to do it. This one is for AI. I started it a year ago. We've got 32 businesses now representing over 200 million in revenue. Some really amazing people. At the last event, we installed our first operating system, which is a collection of all the tools we've been building. So we built about 30 plus AI tools for SMBs to enterprise. SMBs are like 70 % of the economy, so it's really close to my heart. That's where innovation comes from. That's where a lot of the real workforce in America comes from.

3:58Josh Elledge:So it's near and dear to me. I want to serve these people. I want to get them AI ready because if you're not implementing AI in 2025, by 2030, you won't have a business. I don't care if you're in digital. I don't care if you're in physical, you know, the AI and robotics is coming for you and you got to be ready for it. You got to lead it. So, um, you know, Optimus is really right for those, the visionary leaders that want to, you know, lead AI and not follow it and lead robotics and not follow it. And they want to do it today and not wait for it to, to happen to them. Right. We've seen a hollowing out of the economy.

4:26Josh Elledge:And I think a lot of that's because people are being replaced by automation. So we want to make that easy for people to transition into that.

4:33Brad Hart:Yeah. Yeah. So obviously masterminds is something that you've become quite known for. So what would be, and let's say someone was a part of a mastermind and it wasn't really fruitful for them. What are some reasons why a mastermind or someone who calls something a mastermind might not actually deliver? Or where do you see masterminds kind of like, yeah, well, who'd want to join that one?

5:02Josh Elledge:yeah and there's a lot of junk out there so i i get this question all the time and i think it comes down to three things uh it's the three r's so it's results relationships and recreation the reason people join masterminds are for one or all of those things right and we've all been a part of mastermind we go to the mastermind and there's like really smart people doing really cool stuff and they're making a lot of money but it's kind of like you know they're artistically competitive you kind of want to take a shower after you talk to them uh and you're just not like you don't feel a sense of community there.

5:30Josh Elledge:So that's one thing. So you're getting results, but not relationships. Or on the other hand, you've been a part of a mastermind, maybe where you go and you're like, Hey, I kind of like these people, but we're all so scattered and doing different things. And just, we're not really getting any work done. Uh, and if I have to have another conversation about a cold plunge, I'm going to jump out that window over there. Uh, you know, we've all been a part of that mastermind. And then there's just masterminds where it's like all work and no play makes Brad a dull boy. And that's just no fun. So you want to have the results.

5:53Josh Elledge:You want to have the relationships. You want to have the recreation. Uh, why those things? Well, I think relationships are more valuable than money. And the reason being is because you can take a relationship at the right time and build a trillion dollars in value. Larry and Sergey, Google, Bill and Steve at Microsoft, Steve and Steve at Apple. But you can't take that trillion dollars and then go recreate that relationship at that time. So I'm always building relationships and masterminds are a great way to curate relationships because the hardest thing in the world is to meet great people. It's really hard.

6:22Josh Elledge:And I don't think it's getting easier with more apps. It's actually getting harder because we're all so busy. We're all so scattered. And masterminds give you that opportunity to come back to center, back to source, and actually be in a room with people who are curated by somebody who cares. And that's the value that mastermind provides. So as long as the leader of the mastermind is hitting all three of those marks and bringing in the right people, and it all works, there's some really great examples. I'm an AI mentor for four rooms. Optimus is a great example. There's multiple examples of people doing it right.

6:51Josh Elledge:Flight Club's another great one. I've been a top affiliate there for a long time and referral partner. You know, I think where most people miss the mark is they miss one of those three things.

7:00Brad Hart:To bridge the two things that you've been talking about here, I think, particularly in an age or an era now, where, you know, we may have gone to and worked with a professional and worked human to human to get answers to questions we have. Obviously, we all have access to AI who can seemingly, what can seemingly provide instant information and help us with planning and help us with doing a lot of the work that humans used to do. But the downside of that is it's not human. And so I'm curious about your take on, let's project this out just a little bit if we become more and more and more dependent on this artificial intelligence, if we don't prioritize human connection, what is the cost to that, especially for someone that's a business leader?

8:02Josh Elledge:Yeah. And I have no idea what's going to happen in 10 years. I try to think in terms of what's not going to change. People are still going to need a place to live. They're still going to eat. They're still going to have curated communities. Those things will probably stay the same. Everything else is up for grabs. We're literally moving through a period of everything up until this point was predicated on scarcity economics. And now everything will be predicated on abundance economics. But in the middle, it's going to be really messy. So when you zoom out, it's too hard to predict. But what I predict for the short term is that AI is actually not human.

8:30Josh Elledge:And it's not wise. And it doesn't have experience, taste, and discretion. It doesn't have all the things that make humans creative. It's just a really effective prediction machine with a lot of data to train it. That's all it is. So when you break it down to that, it's like a really helpful tool, which can make a great person go 10 times faster, but it can't replace what a human can do that makes a human uniquely human. Will that be true forever? I have no idea. But this idea of like, oh, it's going to take over the world and generalized AI and it's going to break all these systems. It's not that smart yet, really.

8:59Josh Elledge:It could get there, but it's not there yet. I think where it really gets interesting is when AI has hands and legs and walks around and is in your home. I just bought a robot two weeks ago that's going to be delivered next year. That's supposed to do some chores around the house and things. But even that, it's going to require human operate to train it hundreds of times before it can actually do the task that it wants to do. So all these things are happening. They're happening fast in the relative scheme of humanity, but they're not happening overnight. And I think your relationship to it is really a question, to get back to your earlier question, is like, if you're ignoring the human beauty, you're missing most of the value.

9:37Josh Elledge:And I would say maybe AI could provide five to 10 % of the value, but it's still mostly the human that's driving it.

9:45Brad Hart:I love your take on that. I am, I have seen, and I have felt, you know, and I think sometimes already as leaders, you know, they always say, you know, it's lonely at the top. That can be true. And particularly for leaders that might be working from home by themselves in terms of like, you know, physical proximity to other humans. There's another layer of loneliness. So there's, you know, kind of the job description. Sometimes there's not enough people to kind of share the things that you're struggling with. You're like, I can't tell my team about that one. And I certainly am not going to post about that.

10:23Brad Hart:My mom's not going to understand. I really can't vent about this a whole lot to my spouse or my family. They don't really get it. And so, you know, where else do you find like that trusted confidence? Because I think a lot of this is, you know, especially like if it's some sort of like an emotional burden and it might be complicated from a business perspective, but you're asking

10:43Josh Elledge:for a friend, right?

10:44Brad Hart:Josh, no, no, listen, I am not asking for a friend. I'm asking for me because I absolutely know this dynamic. And I also know the value of temporarily sharing that yoke with another human. Like, again, AI is great because it can give you great ideas and it can replicate, you know, compassion or whatever. but you know, does that scratch that itch of, I have a burden and I just need to talk with another business owner about the fact that, you know, I'm struggling to make payroll and here I am supposed to be the successful leader. And you feel all alone, like you're the only person in the world that's dealing with that problem.

11:25Brad Hart:Surprise you're not. And you just need to get in the right rooms with the right people so you can learn, you know what? You're not so alone.

11:31Josh Elledge:Yeah. And I think it's a yes and no. I think the yes is a, I can talk to you 24 seven. I don't have to call anybody and wake them up at three in the morning. unless there's a true emergency. I like it. I like it about that. I've had AI talk me off the ledge. I've had AI help me go back to sleep in the middle of the night just because I could vent and it could talk back to me and it was helpful. All those things are true. And, you know, I think there's value in having a real human that's been through the thing. I wouldn't go to some schmuck on the street who's never been through the thing I'm trying to go through and ask him about it.

11:58Josh Elledge:It's just, it's not valuable. It's not helpful. But I also wouldn't go and dump all my darkest secrets on one person either. I think there's value in compartmentalizing with people and with AI. The things that are most relevant to that person, that's their strength. So what are the things that people deal with? They deal with debt, divorce, health, bankruptcy issues. They deal with relational issues. They deal with illness and health issues. Go and find those people within your mastermind who have dealt with that thing. They've had problems with their kid. If my kids ever, God forbid, turn into fucking sociopaths and start hitting me and getting arrested and doing drugs all the time, I know exactly who to call because I know exactly who's been through that.

12:41Josh Elledge:Thank God. You know, like I've never been through that. Hopefully I never do. But it's like when something really terrible goes wrong, just by sheer fact of like, I know the right people that have been through and solved it and come out the other end, I can immediately call them and get the perspective. AI does not have their perspective, unless they train it to have their perspective. And that's not a widely understood thing. It's like, information is cheap. It's ubiquitous. It's everywhere. Wisdom again is not.

13:05Brad Hart:A few groups of people that I, in my experience, feel are particularly vulnerable to, you know, again, I think it's been, you know, the loneliness epidemic has been talked about with our kids. But also I see men, particularly, you know, when they get, you know, along, you know, get in their forties or whatever. I can say from my own experience, It is really, it is far too challenging to get together with my other guy friends. I don't know why that's the case. I wish, you know, and it really takes a concerted effort. And I know that if I don't make that investment in those relationships, it has a cost on me.

13:50Brad Hart:Social media, again, has some value in connection, right? But, you know, it's like you, you know, it kind of add that plus, you know, the fact that, you know, what we do might be fairly unique in the world. And again, it's the cure, you know, the cure to the, if someone is, you know, maybe not, let me just ask you this way, you know, maybe with that preface there. When someone might be feeling down, they might be feeling anxiety. I don't know what it is, right? But what are the symptoms of someone who actually might be experiencing loneliness in your experience that a mastermind may be able to help heal that?

14:39Josh Elledge:Yeah, there's things that happen to us and there's the stories we make up about them. It's the first thing they teach at Landmark. So the story of loneliness, the story of being isolated, the story of whatever. Like I've spent some of the best times of my life alone. And at the same time, I've had periods of my life where I was miserable being alone. I couldn't be alone. I couldn't handle it. and they're different and they're both equally valuable and they teach you different lessons. So I'm not going to just label on the surface what those are, because I believe you can get value from everything in life.

15:07Josh Elledge:Life's an experience about getting value from your experience, right? That's the purpose of life is to live it, right? To answer your question more specifically, I think when you join a mastermind or a curated group of individuals who are all at that level, they didn't get there on accident. They're not making eight, nine, 10 figures. They're not growing their family and their business. They're not growing their communities. They're not being leaders in their communities on accident. They didn't luck into it. They made a series of concerted efforts to build habits over time that produced that result.

15:38Josh Elledge:And those types of people are rare and they're, they're interesting and they, they create capacity within you and within them to hold something bigger than what you could be held by technologically or on social media. like social media has kind of blurred the lines between business and personal. And it's really valuable to have a fucking slot machine in your pocket. I hope I can curse. I apologize. But it's a slot machine in your pocket that maybe gives you a head of dopamine and maybe doesn't. It maybe gives you money and maybe it doesn't. And maybe it brings the next great person in your life and maybe it doesn't.

16:07Josh Elledge:It's like, it's really dangerous game to play, especially when that's the only game you're playing. But if you have like a real community, like my friends and I, Dr. Anthony Balduzzi has a beautiful cabin that his family owns. We go out there. It's out by the New Mexico border. Three, four times a year, we just hang out with the boys and it's like completely off grid and there's elk and there's fish and there's hiking and there's all this stuff. And it's like, we make a point to prioritize that. And if we hung out every week, we'd probably hate each other, but like three times a year is about right.

16:34Josh Elledge:Three times a year for a mastermind is about right. And then you can have touch points throughout the year. You can go on a hike and you do this, you can go to lunch, whatever, dinner, brunch. But it's like, if you don't have any of that, you're going to have a real problem because you're only going to go on social media and you're only going to see the highlight reel and you're only going to see the algorithm you're only going to see rage porn or whatever you're going to see out there and that's going to distort your view of reality humans were meant to be in community we cannot survive without each other we've just used money and social media and tech as like a proxy for what we used to do as small tight-knit communities how we evolved and we don't have the capacity to hold every single problem that's happening with a microscope on it all day long, 24 seven, it will literally kill us.

17:14Josh Elledge:So people who are experiencing loneliness, I think they just need to get off of their whatever, and maybe go out and be with a person or a set of people, a community, a group, whatever. And I'm not saying you have to join a mastermind. Maybe that's not right for you. But if you are a business owner, that's a really good place to meet other business owners who are going through it. And then you can cross pollinate ideas on how they handle their struggles with you, as well as the wins and what's working. And, you know, like, dude, it's like seeing the future. I saw Bitcoin at five cents because it was a part of a mastermind.

17:42Josh Elledge:I was in Ethereum at$8. You know, I was building businesses and e-com and selling corporations and like doing all these cool things as a result of being part of a mastermind, launching a hedge fund, having 106 % year. Like I couldn't have done any of that without a mastermind group. I really believe in it. And, and, you know, insert community or whatever you want to call it then, like the founding fathers who built America and said, F you to the British and signed a document and put their lives and money on the line were 52 business owners and landowners that had a mastermind group. Essentially, that changed the world, man.