The Formula for Explosive Social Media Growth (Stop Trying To Be Perfect)

👇 SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL - so this show can reach more people 👇 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIprGZAdzn3ZqgLmDuibYcw?sub_confirmation=1 Click the Link Below to Subscribe to my email list to MAXOUT your life (all value, no fluff) https://konect.to/edmylett 💥 Get my exclusive Monday Motivation training in GrowthDay, the world’s #1 app for advanced mindset and personal development. Visit https://growthday.com/ed. This show is sponsored by GrowthDay. What if the key to explosive growth isn’t perfection, but letting people see the real you? In this episode, I sit down with Josh Richards, Jenna Kutcher, Bethenny Frankel, Amy Purdy, and Billy Gene to break down what it really takes to build a brand that connects and converts in today’s noisy social media world. We share the behind-the-scenes truths about consistency, documenting your journey, and the power of showing up authentically, even when you think no one is watching. Josh Richards shares how he went from an ordinary kid with an iPhone 5 to building a 30-million-follower brand by outworking everyone else, while Jenna Kutcher reveals how stepping away from perfection allowed her audience to see her heart, not just a highlight reel. Bethenny Frankel talks about ignoring the noise, following your gut, and building your brand from the inside out, while Amy Purdy reminds us that our true story is what people actually want to connect with. Billy Gene lays it down on why your imperfections are what make people trust you and why the entrepreneurs who win are those willing to start small, work for free, and play the long game. I’ve spent years building my brand, and let me tell you: this conversation will remind you that your edge is your authenticity, your consistency, and your willingness to put your story out there—imperfect, real, and relatable. Stop overthinking, stop waiting for the perfect camera or the perfect moment, and start documenting your journey. If you’ve ever wondered how to get people to care about your message, your business, and your brand, this episode is your roadmap. The truth is, you don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to start, stay consistent, and let people in. That’s how we build brands that last, that impact, and that give us the freedom we’re after. Let’s stop trying to be perfect and start letting people root for us, exactly as we are. Key Takeaways: - Why documenting your journey beats trying to be perfect on social media - Josh Richards’ consistency formula: 5 posts a day and 4-hour livestreams that built a 30M audience - Jenna Kutcher’s reminder to let your audience see your heart, not just your highlight reel - Bethenny Frankel’s approach to building a brand from the inside out and staying aligned with your values - Amy Purdy on using your story as your brand’s biggest asset - Billy Gene’s practical reminder that your imperfections are what build trust - Why consistency, authenticity, and shareable content are your social media growth trifecta If you’re ready to build a brand and a life that reflects who you really are and attracts people who believe in your mission, this episode will get you moving. Thank you for watching this video—Please Share it and get the word out! 👇 SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL👇 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIprGZAdzn3ZqgLmDuibYcw?sub_confirmation=1 ▶︎ Visit My WEBSITE | https://www. EdMylett.com #EdMylett #Motivation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

  So hey guys, listen, we're all trying to get more productive and the question is, how do you find a way to get an edge? I'm a big believer that if you're getting mentoring or you're in an environment that causes growth, a growth-based environment, that you're much more likely to grow and you're going to grow faster. And that's why I love Growth Day. Growth Day is an app that my friend Brendan Burchard has created that I'm a big fan of. Write this down, growthday.com/ed. So if you want to be more productive, by the way, he's asked me, I post videos in there every single Monday that gets your day off to the right start. He's got about $5,000, $10,000 worth of courses that are in there that come with the app. Also, some of the top influencers in the world are all posting content and they're on a regular basis, like having the Avengers of personal development and business in one app. And I'm honored that he asked me to be a part of it as well and contribute on a weekly basis, and I do.

• 0:45Ed Mylett?

  So go over there and get signed up. You're going to get a free, tuition-free voucher to go to an event with Brendan and myself and a bunch of other influencers as well. So you get a free event out of it also. So go to growthday.com/ed. That's growthday.com/ed. I hear so many small business owners say the exact same thing. They just never have enough time in the day. Well, I measure time differently. I've compressed, condensed, heck, I've bent time. My first day is 6:00 a.m. to noon. My second day starts at noon and goes till 6:00 p.m. And my third day, 6:00 p.m. to midnight. I now get 21 days a week. Stack that up over a month, over a year, over five years, and my life's completely different than it would have been otherwise.

• 1:27Ed Mylett?

  And if you want to win as an entrepreneur, you have to compress your time too. And you definitely can't afford to waste it, waiting weeks on a big bank for capital. Your best bet's to work with my friends at Cardiff. They know how to compress time for entrepreneurs. They get your business approved in minutes and funded the very same day. They're America's favorite small business lender, and for good reason. Over 20 years in business, over $12 billion deployed to small business across America. Stop letting bank delays slow down your momentum. Head to cardiff.co/ed. That's cardiff.co/ed. Cardiff.co. Real growth, fast funding. Cardiff, borrow better.

• 2:08Speaker 01

  This is the Ed Mylett Show.

• 2:13Ed Mylett?

  Hey everyone, welcome to my weekend special. I hope you enjoy the show. Be sure to follow the Ed Mylett Show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. You'll never miss an episode that way. People think, "Well, why would anybody want to follow my social media? Because I'm not yet at a level of success that say, maybe you perceive that I've had." But what I will tell you is that people want to root for other human beings. And the more that you can begin to document your life as opposed to just, you know, creating content, I think you'll find that you'll begin to build a following. And so what most people try to do is they try to be an influencer, if you will, by creating content, you know, posting these memes that are motivational or their own version of a video like what I might do. And there's nothing wrong with doing that per se,

• 2:55Ed Mylett?

  but it's going to be very difficult to get a lot of following because when people are watching, they're going to be going, "Yeah, but why aren't you there yet?" And it's not really the fastest way to build a following anyway. The fastest way to build a following is to document your life. You'd be surprised by how interesting you are. And the reason you're interesting to most people is because you may be more like them than you realize. So there's all kinds of people that have become very, very successful on social media by just documenting their journey. You're a young man, Caleb, be able to get up and document, "Hey, the struggles that you're having. Hey, it's been a really hard week for me. I've missed two or three sales. You know, I've kind of lost my mojo. Pray for me. You know, I'll update you after this next sales call." And people are like, "Hey, how'd the sales call go?" Right? And they begin to follow your journey towards success.

• 3:38Ed Mylett?

  People that are, you know, that have lost a lot of weight, that have documented it on Instagram, people begin to root for you. They begin to want to see you successful. And Caleb documenting that you, you know, "Hey, I just had a great visit with a client and this is what's just taken place for me." Or, "This is a difference I was able to be made. I feel so good about myself. Always wanted to help people." So documenting more of what's going on. There's so much stuff on social media that's like, "Hey, here's my picture of me eating whatever. Here's me celebrating. Here's a filter there. Here's my tip on how to do this." All of that's great. But just documenting, hey, I just woke up in the morning, you got bed head. Man, I'm 20 minutes late. Any of you ever wake up 20 minutes late? It's not part of my routine. I gotta get it going this morning. I'll double my efforts later, right?

• 4:22Ed Mylett?

  It's that stuff you go, I relate to that guy. How did you get over it? And you begin to teach through documentation more than just teach through the lessons you have. You know, if you think about it, you're competing on social media with a lot of other people, right? And so if you're just posting what everybody else is posting, how do you distinguish yourself? The one distinguishing thing about all of you that are watching this is you, is your life. There's one of you with your personality, your thought, your look, your struggle, your circumstances, your achievements, your failures. There's only one of those. And that's interesting to people. It's not just interesting to people who already know you, by the way. And so the other thing I would be thinking about too is can you create things that will be shared?

• 5:05Ed Mylett?

  Social media growth now is more and more, it's less really about likes and comments, and it's more about shares. Are you creating content that people will share? And so that's why I believe documentation matters. Because if I'm a parent of a young entrepreneur and I stumble upon your struggle as an entrepreneur and your journey, I'll share it with my young entrepreneur children, if that makes sense, right? And so, or if I'm, you know, in the recruiting type business and you're struggling with getting recruiting going and I've got friends in those types of business, I can share that content. So be conscious of creating things that people would want to share and be conscious of documenting. And then the third thing is you have to be consistent. You know, most people will stop posting consistently when it's not getting engaged with.

• 5:49Ed Mylett?

  They just do. If they don't see growth after a week or two or four or five weeks, you have to post every single day, right? And if that's on Instagram, if that's your story, it's multiple posts a day. It doesn't need to be a lot. There's a nuance. If you've got a certain amount of followers, you're gonna wanna post a certain amount of times a day. You don't need to post 20 stories a day when you have 3,000 followers. What you're gonna get is people clicking through your stories and you don't want click-throughs on the algorithm because then they won't show your stories to people. So you wanna have a selective amount of stories relative to your following. And I think- You should be making a main post in your main feed every single day with something that you're at least staying in contact with people. Where you stay in their consciousness. And then the other thing I would say lastly is not all branding needs to be social media.

• 6:33Ed Mylett?

  Right. It's a highly competitive place. Think about alternative ways other than just posting. Could you create a blog? Could you create an email newsletter? Could you create a vlog on YouTube where you're documenting? You know, I've had Josh Richards on my show from Sway House. I've actually had Bryce Hall also from Sway House. These are young TikTok guys that are influencers with 20 million plus followers. They're just average, ordinary young men documenting their life. And so guess who follows them? Millions of average, ordinary young people watching their life happen. And so that's the formula now on social media is documenting a life. You could be Bryce Hall and think, what was, why would any 22 year old want to follow me? I'm just like every other 22 year old. That's the point.

• 7:18Ed Mylett?

  Right? That's the point. Seeing them have fun, seeing them overcome, seeing them goofy things in that case is not only will do people follow it because it's documented. It's shareable. And so be thinking about documenting and having shareable content and doing it consistently. That would be my formula for helping you grow your brand on social. What can you learn from an 18 year old? You're going to find out today. I have a really remarkable young man to share with you guys today. Some of you for sure have heard of him. And if you have children under 20 years old, every single one of your children know who he is. Let me tell you why. First off, this guy is an entrepreneur. At a very young age and a very successful one.

• 8:01Ed Mylett?

  But we're talking about someone with 30 million plus followers on all social media platforms. Josh Richards, welcome to Max Out with the entire family here welcoming you to our community.

• 8:11Josh Richards?

  Hey, thank you very much, man. I'm happy to be on.

• 8:14Ed Mylett?

  Let's start out. I want to, I want to get into a little bit about you, but I read recently, because you're unique, brother. All the guys in Sway House, and by the way, for my, if you don't know what Sway House is, I'm gonna take you all back. Picture the real world, except on social media. All of you that are in your 30s or 40s, you ever watched The Real World on MTV? It's almost like a reality show of these young guys' lives. You're unique, because you gotta be the young 18-year-old dude, partying and all that stuff. I get all that. Yet, there's the really, and so is Bryce, by the way, really savvy, sharp businessman, who's getting some of the best mentorship in the world. But recently, a while ago, you stepped away. And like, why did you do that? You kind of got away from it for a little bit. What was the reason for that?

• 8:54Josh Richards?

  Uh, the party?

• 8:55Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 8:56Josh Richards?

  Uh, yeah, I mean, I think what ended up happening is we wanted to show everyone, like, our true authentic selves at the very beginning, because no one was doing that in social media. Everyone was putting up a character, and I was actually signed to a manager for two years that didn't let me post any of the content I wanted. He would monitor every single video, every single story, every single tweet that went out on my account. So, when I finally was able to be authentic, we went all out. We were like, we were showing them every single thing we do, if that's partying, smoking, drinking, whatever it is. And then when we got that audience, we got those people that realized how authentic we were. We were like, how, how else can we show our true authentic selves? Because if we just show one side of it, if we just show the partying, then we're not being authentic. So, we're going against what we're trying to do, right? We gotta show them everything.

• 9:42Josh Richards?

  And that's when the business came into play. And with that, as I started, like, growing my portfolio out in the entrepreneurial world, there were just, there are certain deals and certain, I guess, partnerships that were way more important than going to the next party, or going out drinking that night. So, it was just kind of like looking at what was more important for, for me personally, and it was the business stuff. So, I've just been kind of like stepping back, letting myself focus on the entrepreneurial side and grow that out.

• 10:11Ed Mylett?

  You're really impressive, and you're, you're obviously one of the top content creators in the world. So, almost everyone who listens to my stuff wants to create content that people want to see. You obviously do it in your demo. But is there any advice you would give, just in general, to people who are creating content that they want people to see? So, it grows their brand, it grows their, their company, it could grow their income. Wh- which overall content advice would you give?

• 10:39Josh Richards?

  Yeah, I mean, one huge thing, and everyone says this, but no one seems to follow it, is like consistency is key. Like, I've said that so many times to people, and they'll be like, yeah, and then they go and they post, you know, twice a day for two weeks, and then it doesn't work out, and they're like, ah, I'm quitting, can, that's not the trick, that's not the trick, like. I took two years where I was posting five videos a day on, on TikTok. It was Musically at the time, but two years, five videos a day, plus live streaming for four hours every single night, from ten PM until two AM, straight, four hours, because I knew the only way I was gonna be able to get ahead of the millions and millions of people that are doing social media was to just outwork them.

• 11:20Josh Richards?

  So, that's what I did. I, I went, I went live all the time, I posted all the time. And then also, it's, you gotta make stuff that's passionate, like, you gotta care about what you're creating, you can't just go and copy someone, like, I can't just go look at Bryce's content and be like, alright, I'm gonna post the exact same thing on YouTube, the exact same style, or else, you're never gonna grow, people are just gonna look at you as the copycat kid.

• 11:45Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 11:45Josh Richards?

  And you need to build out your own identity, it's super important. Um, but yeah, those, like, building out your own identity and staying true to yourself, and then consistency are like the two most important things.

• 11:55Ed Mylett?

  So, beautiful, I wanna go down that road, cuz I did that too. I, I didn't do it to the extent you did, which is why I don't have thirty million, I have ten million. And you, you know, guys, one thing about it too, you look at these young guys in Sway House, if you don't know what it is, Google it, ask your kids, you'll know in about one minute. But one of the things I said to Bryce is, I don't think people understand the amount of work, it looks like a party, it looks like you're having a blast, it is work to create content. But the thing you said in the content that I think most people don't appreciate is you really, that identity thing, you're more revealing who you are, you're showing parts of your life, it's like, uh, I think some people think on social media, cuz it's what I do a lot, it's like, here's a tip, here's a key, I'm an influencer,

• 12:35Ed Mylett?

  uh, you know, that somehow, if you're not bringing value all the time, but I think it's just like documenting your life.

• 12:41Josh Richards?

  A hundred percent.

• 12:42Ed Mylett?

  With all due respect to you, you know, I don't think an eighteen-year-old's life who's carrying on in LA is any more or Less interesting than a forty year old mother who's trying to get her kids off to school and get to work every day, right?

• 12:53Josh Richards?

  No, exactly. And there's just a whole different side of entertainment that comes with that, right? Like, I have a different life, so I can show the entertaining things in mine. But like you said, a mother is gonna have a total like different side of it. Like, three kids, let's say they had three kids, like my mom has three kids. If she would have set up a video camera and filmed me and my siblings growing up, I'm sure she would have had a ton of followers because we were crazy. But also, just like, there's so much entertainment in people's daily lives that they don't even realize.

• 13:21Ed Mylett?

  That's exactly what I want to, rather, if we do nothing on the show, it's those. Cause I, I'm so glad you said it, because one, I believe consistently of posting, you know, the amount you did is more of an idea, but I'm, bro, it's every day I put something out. But people value themselves. They think, I'm not interesting. Who the heck wants to know about me? What you're not getting is Josh and Bryce and these other guys are the ultimate example of what were average, ordinary, everyday teenagers.

• 13:49Josh Richards?

  Yeah, most, most normal kids, just like I was playing sports, I was going to school dances. I was like, just everyday kids, small town, no one knew me at all, didn't come from a rich family, like, nothing like that. And I just picked up my, like, I think it was probably an iPhone five or four at the time. And just started creating videos in my room, didn't need lighting, didn't need like, it's just a phone and yourself and you can become whatever you want to be, really.

• 14:18Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, and are you better at it now? Like, are you better on, did you suck on camera in the beginning? Like, give people some insight, or are you already pretty good at this from get?

• 14:28Josh Richards?

  Um, I was a pretty outgoing kid, just luckily, like, I was, you know, the class clown. I would always like stand up in class, make comments. So it was kind of just, I found a different way to be that class clown. It was just on social media, right? But I definitely was not even close to as good as I, like, at the start to now. It, it like, every single day when I was going live, I was getting better and better. I was finding different strategies to like entertain my followers. Because at the start, people would be like, this live is boring. I don't want to watch it anymore. So I, I.

• 14:58Josh Richards?

  To find new ways to spice it up all the time. I was playing different games. I was like engaging them with liking the video. If they would double tap it, I would play like if every 10 K likes, I would go and react to my fans videos or I would guess them on the live stream. It was it was just thinking creative ways to keep it entertaining.

• 15:14Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I want everyone to get this. So you got to start to document your life and what you think isn't interesting, isn't for people the first time. But if I see you with your kids three times, four times, five times, I post my little Pomeranians all the time, my dogs, right? Everybody's got dogs, but I post them consistently and people start like, I wonder what these that my dogs don't do anything cuter than your dogs, but I post them consistently and you they become something of an addiction when people start watching. All of a sudden you've got followers. Guys, just picture this way. You take Josh, 20 million on TikTok, 30 million overall. Okay, he has more than 99.9% of the top recording artists in the world, actors, actresses, and way more than most athletes, give or take five people on the planet. Okay.

• 15:57Ed Mylett?

  And and in my case, I've got, you know, several million people as well, and my first post got eight likes. And I just kept posting regularly until people caught on. Let me ask you a question about young people. So if I'm an entrepreneur, I'm either a young entrepreneur or I'm a business that I want to market to them or I want to recruit young business people. I want to sell to young people. What do young people want? Educate us in my audience. And by the way, there's tons of 18 and 20 year olds listening to this right now, 2 and 16 year olds. But what do young people want on social? And what do young people want in terms of their ambitions in their career? What's important to 16 to 30 year olds right now?

• 16:37Josh Richards?

  I mean, for me, I always looked at like the workspace and I was like, I want to do something more than just the normal. Right? Like, and I think that's for a lot of Gen Z kids now is because there's so much opportunity out there. No one just wants to be the regular guy that goes to college, has like a works a nine to five office space. Fan like the same old, same old, that tradition that everyone's done since like college has been a thing, right? Um, so I think that for me personally, it was like, how can I make sure I just find something more exciting or find something and it was like creating content. But i- i- it's really just anything that.

• 17:18Josh Richards?

  Is different now. People want to be different.

• 17:21Ed Mylett?

  Do you think that young people like from a business standpoint, here's what I'm finding, I interviewed Damon John recently from Shark Tank.

• 17:28Josh Richards?

  Right.

• 17:28Ed Mylett?

  And he has really, he's got the sock company that's blown up where they, you know, they buy a sock and give some away to the homeless. Uh, do you feel like, correct me if I'm wrong, I think this generation wants to also be involved in businesses that have a purpose and a cause.

• 17:42Josh Richards?

  It needs to be more than just the business, right? Like Dog for Dog, the company that you brought up with Snoop Dogg. It's not just like a better dog food company or healthier kibble. It's every single time you go and buy a bag, a bag gets donated into a shelter. Like the euthanization in, in the United States is ridiculous. I'm pretty sure the last time I looked it up, it was like seven hundred thousand dogs are killed a year in shelters. And it's like, for someone like me who has a husky and then also my family had a dog when I was growing up, like that, that hurts me, right? So then what I do is like, there's something more, right? I'm passionate about it. I love it. I can give back, but then also I'm creating a business. I'm, I'm using my, that entrepreneurial mind I have to help, you know?

• 18:27Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. What do you think of, uh, I think it's big guys. I think it's big and you're hearing it from really arguably top one to five guys on the planet who deals in this demo. But what about, um, overall, like I just watched something on, uh, Netflix last night, The Social Dilemma on Netflix. It's a documentary.

• 18:45Josh Richards?

  I don't think I've seen it yet.

• 18:47Ed Mylett?

  Pretty interesting, man, about, really, you fit it perfectly about how algorithm works and people keep feeding on top of one another. But what about overall social media addiction? Have you gone through any of that? Like, I mean, cause you're huge. So do you think it's a, uh, do you think it crosses over if someone have children or even for themselves right now? Have you seen it cross over to be like an unhealthy thing? Or do you think all of it's all good? It's all a net positive?

• 19:14Josh Richards?

  I mean, I think that like, I think my brother spends too much time on social media, for example, right? And like, a- as a kid, when I grew up, my parents limited my screen time. It was like, you came home from school, you gotta watch one TV show, and then you were outside. Like, my parents kicked me out of the house. They were like, go, go have fun, play outside, be a kid, right? And I think that's super important for, especially this generation, because how, like, how easy it is to always just be on their phone. They can always just pull it out of their pocket and check it. So it's a lot harder for parents also to monitor it nowadays. It's, it's just gotta be something that you look at. Pardon me?

• 19:49Ed Mylett?

  How much are you on?

• 19:51Josh Richards?

  Not, like, honestly, I only go on my phone for posting, doing podcasts, like, when I'm tweeting. And then I get off, because I spend so much time on it doing work. It's like, it's become something that I don't even like doing for my spare time anymore. Besides, maybe watching Netflix or playing video games with my friends. But there's always, like, some feeling of being around people when I'm on social media. So it kind of adds to the friend value as well.

• 20:18Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I want to remind everybody that I'm talking to an eighteen-year-old right now. So I just want you to listen to the amount of poise, uh, articulation, intellect, experience that this young man has. And by the way, when you go to TikTok and look at his content, you're gonna go, that's not the same guy. Because, because he's, but when we listen to your podcast, I do see that guy. So, you know, all of you, because I'll be honest with you, TikTok started, I blew it. I'm like, I don't get it, man. I'm not a dancer, like, um, you know? And, and now I'm seeing more and more entrepreneurs and business people finally get viral on that platform. I'm curious, as someone who's on the leading edge on the planet in social media.

• 20:58Ed Mylett?

  So you've got Instagram, you've got Facebook, you've got Twitter, you've got YouTube, you've got TikTok, you've got Parler, you've got all these things.

• 21:05Josh Richards?

  Yeah.

• 21:06Ed Mylett?

  Give us a glimpse as to what you see over the next five years. Like, what are your insights about where social's going?

• 21:13Josh Richards?

  Well, the, what we saw with TikTok was like quick form content, which we hadn't seen since Vine, like in that video format, like everyone went from Vine and then YouTube blew up with the longer form, like fifteen minute videos, twenty minute vlogs. It almost felt like you were watching TV, but about your favorite person every single time, right? And then as David came in, David Dobrik, and introduced these like four minute vlogs, people started getting more and more used to this quick action, like always climax in the vlogs, just best content you can get for four minutes and twenty seconds. And then when TikTok came out, you get fifteen second videos or even shorter.

• 21:52Josh Richards?

  So what I think is gonna happen is that there's gonna be these short video platforms for probably the next three years, and then it's gonna boom again in the like five to ten minute videos.

• 22:06Ed Mylett?

  Really?

• 22:06Josh Richards?

  Yeah, I think that kids are gonna love the short, like their short attention span, that's how Gen Z is right now, like they just wanna watch a video and then go to the next, go to the next, go to the next. I think that TikTok and videos like that are gonna move to more like sixty to like three minute videos.

• 22:21Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 22:23Josh Richards?

  At least I think there's gonna be room for that soon.

• 22:25Ed Mylett?

  Very good, man, cuz you guys know that I said this earlier, but he's a founder in TalentX, who's like a TikTok management company, is one of the things that Josh is involved with. So for me, I wanna ask you, I wanna stay on social cuz everyone listening to this is on social, so let's just stay on that topic for a minute. So I'm fascinated to hear that you think it's gonna go the other way, which sort of favors me a little bit, cuz I'm, I'm not saying anything or doing anything in fifteen seconds. But I'm also become a pretty big believer of not relying on one platform.

• 22:54Josh Richards?

  You gotta, you gotta spread across platforms.

• 22:56Ed Mylett?

  Okay, elaborate on that, what do you mean?

• 22:58Josh Richards?

  Like, you can't hold yourself to one social media platform at all. That's like the worst decision I think any content creator can make, and that's what. When I first started social media and I was looking at what I wanted to do, I was like thirteen years old and I wanted to be a YouTuber. I remember I was like, I want, I want to go make vlogs. But I also saw how hard it was to grow an audience on YouTube when you just start on YouTube. You need something else to push it. So I was like, alright, how can I push my YouTube when I don't have any social medias to push it? Like, where am I gonna start? Then I saw Musically and I was like, look, this app is this anomaly where you can grow quite quickly on compared to all these

• 23:40Josh Richards?

  other social media platforms. Let me start on Musically just so that I can push my YouTube, which is actually what I wanted to do the whole time. So it was like, I was never just focusing on one platform, ever. I was always branching out. And then when I grew my Musically, I was like, alright, I need an Instagram. Because what happens if, what happens if that disappears one day? What happens if Musically or TikTok, we saw TikTok almost got banned. Imagine you were just, like, you were just a TikToker. What would happen to you?

• 24:05Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I think of, so Amanda Sertie is a friend of mine. She's been on my show. She was huge on Vine and then like, one day it was gone. And so, I want everyone to hear this too. It's like, and you may stick better on one platform than the other. Like, try YouTube. Try making some content there. Try putting up, right?

• 24:21Josh Richards?

  Yeah, and I wasn't even good at YouTube at the start. Like, I remember being so like nervous or almost like unsure of what to say when I was staring at the YouTube camera and filming because it was so different than a live stream. Like, it was a completely different thing. So don't like go on YouTube, anyone that's listening right now and then be like, oh, this is too awkward, I'm too awkward. It probably took me three and a half months to finally get comfortable behind the YouTube camera. And I had already done social media at that point for three years.

• 24:48Ed Mylett?

  Hmm. So this is very interesting to me, you guys. Like, you would think that it's different in his age to grow your brand and your business, and it's not. It's the same principles. It's just, he's better at it than everybody else. And it's just, it's just, it's a fact. So I really appreciate you saying that. Now, let me ask you, I'm loving this, bro. I'm pulling everything out of you I can.

• 25:09Ed Mylett?

  Let's talk a little bit about entrepreneurship, but inside that, you're conscious of, see, I think people should, if they don't get on camera, like, write a blog, have something relevant. Create an email, something. Don't you agree? Like, find some way to expand your reach. People do business with people they know nowadays. People used to say-

• 25:29Josh Richards?

  It's, it's such a like- Since I've been in L A, I've found so many times I will get brand deals or I will get um a business deal just because I went to a dinner with someone like I went to a dinner with that person. We become like friends or we're on a good level and then they're like, oh, wait, that Josh kid, I remember him. He would be perfect for this. Let me call him up and boom, there's a fifty thousand dollar brand deal. Or, oh, look, I'm on a jet to Dominican Republic to meet Vin Diesel, right? Like, those things have happened to me just because of networking and knowing the right people. So like, when people say social media is important, or like you're saying, even an email list, a list, a blog, whatever,

• 26:10Josh Richards?

  it is so important to do that networking to keep moving up and up in that entrepreneurial world.

• 26:17Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, because you're one, this is the truth, you're one relationship, one contact, one person seeing your video, one person reading your blog, one person away from completely changing your life.

• 26:28Josh Richards?

  A hundred percent.

• 26:29Ed Mylett?

  Even you and I are here because I had dinner with Bryce, Michael's there. He goes, Josh, and now we're doing something together, right? Which will expand you into a couple million new people in my market. I'm gonna meet a couple million people in your market and we're networking. If you go, well, I only got eighty followers, I've got three hundred followers, you're one away.

• 26:46Josh Richards?

  Yep. It's, it's, it's crazy how quick it happens. Like, I, I remember like yesterday, having my first video on Musically hit a thousand likes. Like, my first ever video. And then it seems like just two days after that, I was signed to my first manager. And then a week after that, it seemed like I was on a tour. Like, it happens so quick and it's really just because of, like, the people you need to know.

• 27:09Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I totally agree with you. And so everyone, get out there, talk to more people, do it your way. What about your podcast, BFFs with Portnoy? What are you doing there? What is that all about?

• 27:19Josh Richards?

  Um, so I've been looking at my social media content and I've found that personally, I

• 27:26Josh Richards?

  Knew where I wanted my identity to go, but I wasn't taking the right steps yet. I had done some of the stuff, branching out into YouTube was a great idea. Uh, it was adding depth to my personality because you can't really see a lot off a 15 second dance video. Like you said, like people listening to this podcast will go watch my TikToks and not even think I'm the same person. Just because it's so, it's so different, right? Um, but I've been trying to get touch into the male demographic as well because I'm so strong on the female demographic. And want to step into the sports world. I grew up like an athlete. I played sports my entire life. So that's why that was such a good move to go on that Barstool podcast with Dave. Dave is huge in the guy demographic. He has a little bit of the college fan base, which is older as well.

• 28:10Josh Richards?

  And it, it ha- it has a lot to do with sports, which I love. So it was just this perfect crossover because I feel like Barstool also sometimes has trouble reaching the Gen Z. Which I reach very well and also on the female demographic, they don't reach Gen Z very well. So I think it was just a perfect crossover where we both were touching into each other's demographics.

• 28:30Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you uh, are a product of mentor, you brother. So it's, you can't have the amount of wisdom and insight you have. Without seeking out mentorship and I was struck even with Bryce by, you know, we went to dinner with a couple of other guys and how much he listened closely. And uh, and then also told me who else he has sort of working with him. General Josh about the importance of finding mentors and coaches for everybody listening to this.

• 29:00Josh Richards?

  Yeah, I mean, there's been, I can probably think of like five, six, seven very important mentors in my life. Since I moved out to LA. But just to know that you have the ability to send a text to someone that's been through what you're going through. Or to get advice, have a different set of eyes, a fresh pair of eyes, look something over if that's, you know, a deck for an investment, if that's what your next play is going to be in, in a business situation or whatever it is like. It's just a comfortable feeling like I'm able to shoot off these texts to billionaires or people that are very wealthy and have done what I'm trying to do. Um, and, and they give me advice or they'll hop on a 15 minute call with me and just go through what I'm, I, I need to vent out, you know?

• 29:45Ed Mylett?

  What you do though, that people don't get, first off, you should all be seeking a mentor.

• 29:49Josh Richards?

  Hundred percent.

• 29:50Ed Mylett?

  When you are one like me, let me tell you what you watch. Do they do what you ask them to do? And then they can do more. Nothing's more frustrating than someone asking you for your time, asking you for some counsel, like today. Today's a mentor call for your social media, for you moving into the younger demo, and we're telling you things you should be doing. Get on more than one platform, post more consistently, document your life, tell a story, right? We're talking about those things you need to do. Build your identity and your brand. Are you going to do these things? They actually work. So for you, some entrepreneurship, you get approached with a bazillion deals. And he's had mentorships like the Van Winkles from Facebook, Ashton Kutcher, different people. How do you determine that this is a business I want to invest in?

• 30:32Ed Mylett?

  Cause you put money in stuff or just partnering with somebody? How do you make that determination?

• 30:37Josh Richards?

  Um, sometimes it depends on like the, the product, like how passionate I can get behind the product. But a lot of the times it has to do with the founders, like when I see a good founder or I believe in a founder very strongly and I know they are a good one, they're going to make it work. Great founders always find a way to flip their product, change it if it doesn't work, like they find a way to succeed and make you have an exit, right? So a lot of the times it's, it's looking at those founders that are involved.

• 31:08Ed Mylett?

  Do you work on yourself at all or are you too young? Like if you started kind of reading, um, or you've just kind of mirroring what these mentors give you, or you try, how do you grow your own identity? How do you do that? When the whole world's telling you, you're amazing, you're 18, 30 million people, you can't walk out of the front door. He's back in this town outside of Toronto that he's in right now. I can't even imagine when you go outside there. How do you, and the reason the question is this is, is let me tell you what I mean by asking. A lot of people listen to this have had some success. And I think they grew to get to that success level. Here's what I watch with humans. They get to a certain point that maybe exceeds where they thought they'd ever get.

• 31:47Josh Richards?

  They get caught.

• 31:47Ed Mylett?

  They're throwing themselves. You got it. So what are you thinking about that?

• 31:51Josh Richards?

  Um, so for me, like, I'm, I'm analytically tracking, I'm a very analytical person. My dad's a calculus teacher. So I was just like, I remember being like three, four, four years old and my dad had the timetable out, like the twelve by twelve, going through it with me, making me memorize every single time, stable like. So I've always just been a person that's driven by numbers. So what I do is I'm tracking my numbers all the time. If that's like in growth, if that's like how many likes I'm getting proposed, how many comments, um, the like, how many people I'm converting a day from my TikTok to my Instagram. And when I'm tracking that stuff, I'm making sure it's never going down. Like, that's what keeps me driven to just go up, up and up.

• 32:35Josh Richards?

  The only thing I have to say about that is like, you just need to make sure you don't lose yourself in the content and trying to always beat the old content by going crazier and crazier. Because I think that that is a road we went down like Sway. When we started getting in a lot of trouble in the media, there was a point when we were just always trying to outdo ourselves and that got us in trouble. But we kept going and we kept pushing ourselves forward. So in the end, we did it, we made it work. But you just, you just can't get comfortable. I- if that's putting yourself even in uncomfortable situations, like starting YouTube or going on a brand new podcast or like just add depth to your portfolio. So then you're never comfortable.

• 33:13Ed Mylett?

  You guys were listening to an eighteen year old. I mean, so just what, you know, I coach large groups of entrepreneurs. I have something called RT Syndicate where I coach entrepreneurs. One of the things I'm psycho about is tracking metrics and data. I cannot get over how many people that are either entrepreneurs or even in like fitness. So they say they want to get fit. They don't track their calorie intake. They don't track their water intake. They're not specific on weight in the reps, right? You know this.

• 33:36Josh Richards?

  Yes, I know. I'm tracking my calories right now. I'm trying to get, uh, every day I'm trying to get like three hundred, three thousand five hundred calories right now.

• 33:42Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, and I'm trying to not eat three thousand five hundred because I'm more than double your age, right? Same exact thing. You're trying to gain weight, but like, how are you going to get super fit if you're not tracking it? If you're not measuring your body fat? As an entrepreneur. I mean, so many entrepreneurs, they don't know their data. They've got no idea how many contacts are, how many leads, what's in the pipeline, what their revenues, what their... And like, it's brilliant to hear that on social, which is your main business, you're a psycho about the metrics and the data. It's awesome.

• 34:09Josh Richards?

  Dude, I've been someone that's been so focused on like, the customer since day one. Like, how I blew up on social media was not a natural way, kind of to blow up, I would say. I, I feel like I cheated the system and I don't think people are gonna be happy to hear this, but what I pretty much did is, I, I had Musically, right? I knew this platform, it was easy to grow on, but it was going down in relevancy. So, I hired my sister on a 15% commission-based salary when I was 14 years old. And, and I was going live on the platform because I found out you can make money on the platform. The other thing I found out was, when I went to the leaderboards on the livestream app,

• 34:50Josh Richards?

  they actually showed you a list of the top 250 highest donators. So, the people that donated the most money in a livestream. So, while I was live every single day, I would get my sister to go through all those 250 people, tap on their profile, follow them on my account, should be logged into my account, she'd follow them, like seven of their posts, and then unfollow them and swipe off. And she went through the entire list. So, I was going directly to the consumer, the highest-paying customer, because I was, I, I knew that, I saw the list. So, I didn't need to have the most followers on the app. I had, I think, 80,000 followers, but I was the highest-paid livestreamer on the app compared to people that had 7 million, 10 million followers, because I was going right

• 35:30Josh Richards?

  to the customer. And then also, had my sister going to the biggest Musically, like, creators, going to their comment section, because those were the most engaged followers, obviously. They liked the video and commented. And then she would go to all the positive comments, the people that loved on that person. And follow them on and like their posts, unfollow them, and then they would follow me as well. So then I was gaining, we did two, we would do, uh, until, we did it until I would gain 250 followers every day. And then I would make sure that I was gaining, or I was making minimum $500 a day too. So we would go live and she would be going through and following that until I made 500 and then 250 followers every single day minimum. And then that grew up to 500, that grew up to 1,000, that, it just kept going.

• 36:13Ed Mylett?

  Okay, all time on the show, one of my favorite things ever, ever, freak is the first off, it's incredibly vulnerable and honest.

• 36:20Josh Richards?

  Yeah, people are, people are gonna be like, Josh is a fake social media thing now because I like, I-

• 36:25Ed Mylett?

  I think we're a little past you having to worry about that, like-

• 36:27Josh Richards?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 36:30Ed Mylett?

  But, but, everybody stay on this, okay, a couple of things to unpack there. Number one, a dude with 30 million was literally going back and liking seven a day and getting, like, that's how you grow. How many of you are doing that? So my, my social media teams watching us do this right now, they are going crazy because when we started, I'm like, listen, after I make my post every day, I want you to go to Tony Robbins and Gary Vee and Tom Bilyeu and Grant Cardone. I want you liking this many of their posts, I want you commenting on these, they're like, that's not gonna get us anything. I'm like, absolutely, yes, it is. And so we would micromanage it so much and still with my team, I'm like, we need to reply to this many comments, we need to like this much other stuff. I'm a psycho about it. Now you listening to this, those of you listening, do you do that stuff?

• 37:12Ed Mylett?

  With competitors, with peers, with people, do you comment and like in different people's communities? Are you there consistently? This is how you grow something when it's not just your content. Second thing I just wanna say is how many of you, you can't get Josh because he's one of the most famous dudes in the world. But how many of you have a person that thinks like Josh in your life? So for me, when I started, it was my son Max. He'd do the likes, he edited my podcast, he sort of helped me with content. You gotta have someone in this, it's probably your kids, guys, who's like, hey, let's go over there, right? But like, you gotta have someone, you were that person, both the creator and the person doing it, right? It was you.

• 37:50Josh Richards?

  Yeah, I mean, I, I, I was luckily able to do both, but I, my sister was a huge help as well, like, being able to like hire someone and just be like, alright, she knew as well, she was making money every time she was going through the follow list, so she loved to do it too, like, it, it helped me a ton. And then it, it's like, it didn't just stop there. I made sure like, like you said on Instagram, I would comment on like Shawn Mendes photos or Justin Bieber photos, and I would make, try to get like a lot of likes on my comment. I would try to comment something relatable or funny on, under their posts. And then I would gain followers from that as well, like on my Instagram. And the crazy thing is, is like a lot of people would, if they ever saw you doing that or caught you doing that, right, they would be like, you, you're a scammy social media kid, you're,

• 38:34Josh Richards?

  like, that's not how you can grow. No one can grow that way. They would call you out on it. They would try to expose you, whatever. I never got caught, because I was good at it. And look at where it brought me. Like, now I'm all the way up and I'm at the top. Like, it took a lot of work and it was like actual work. It wasn't just like hoping a video would blow up. I was like, entrepreneurially finding a way to get famous on social media, because I knew I could do it. I just knew it would take work.

• 39:01Ed Mylett?

  Brother, awes- freaking awesome. Like, and by the way, it does work, and it may not blow you up to thirty million followers, but it might blow you up by six thousand. It might blow you up by six thousand, right?

• 39:12Josh Richards?

  Yeah, and then six thousand turns into eight, right? Because then you start, like, the craziest part about it all is, is like, once you start getting that traction, like, once you start building that fanbase, it just starts growing on its own too. So there's obviously a point where I stopped doing that all, like, after probably two, two years of doing it, like, I didn't have to go and like all those posts anymore. I didn't have to go and follow and unfollow people. I didn't have to go into that donation part and like do that to make money. Like, I, I could do it on my own now and I would get pushed on the app naturally because I was already one of the big creators. Like, you've just got to do it for a long enough time, work hard enough so that it starts growing on its own.

• 39:50Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, and the principle of it is, brother, is to do things other people aren't willing to do. So,

• 39:54Josh Richards?

  Exactly.

• 39:54Ed Mylett?

  This is why it's my, one of my favorite things all time said on the show. I've had tons of social media people. I have the biggest dude I've ever had on, because here's- is actually what I did. And so a lot of you post stuff up, but do you work your social media? Are you entrepreneurial on your, are you creative? Go to similar pages and like some comments, engage with people. It's it it what if it was eleven, some of you, what if it was eleven new followers a month? That's a big deal in a lot of places. So so so good, bro. So good.

• 40:21Josh Richards?

  And I'll let you, I'll let you in on one more thing. People aren't gonna like this. People aren't gonna like this. But uh, so I first started and I did social media. Like I created my account and I did it for about two months during the summer. And then I got bullied in high school and I was used to being like the popular kid. I played sports. So I was like, what, what the fuck is going on right now? Why are people like making fun of me, like calling me like, like slurs, all that? And then I quit. So I quit for like two, three months. My account went completely dead, inactive. And then my one friend was like, yo, Josh, why, like, why would you quit? Why would you stop doing social media like you were, you were doing good? Why would you let like these stupid high school kids like get in your head, right? And I was like, you know what? You have a great point. Like that's, it's dumb. So I went onto the app and I swear it was meant to be.

• 41:06Josh Richards?

  It was like the craziest thing ever, but this was my first investment, I would say, of my life. I saw this guy's account. He had seventy thousand followers and he was quitting. He was quitting social media and his account was active. He was getting ten thousand likes a video and my account had twenty thousand followers and was probably getting like two thousand likes, right? And and then it went inactive. So it was down to like a thousand. I DM the kid and I was like, hey, can I buy your account? And then the guy was like, oh, I don't know, like people don't really do that on social media. I was like, dude, don't worry about it. Like, let me just buy it. I'll switch the username over, whatever. He was like, all right, give me like six hundred dollars. And this was me like being four hundred or fourteen, sorry. And I was like, holy cow, six hundred dollars. All right. This is like, it's a lot of money.

• 41:48Josh Richards?

  So I sent him the six hundred bucks, but that six hundred dollars turned into my thirty million follower account. That's on TikTok today. So that was probably the best investment I've ever made. Like, ah, like the multiple on that investment was crazy.

• 42:02Ed Mylett?

  Talk about rate or return on six hundred bucks.

• 42:04Josh Richards?

  Yeah, I know.

• 42:05Ed Mylett?

  Get entrepreneurial about your social, right?

• 42:08Josh Richards?

  Hundred percent.

• 42:09Ed Mylett?

  So good. All right, last question, man. I enjoyed today, brother, like.

• 42:13Josh Richards?

  Yeah, it's great combo, man. I gotta come on this podcast all the time.

• 42:16Ed Mylett?

  I would love to have you on all the time and they would love to have you on here all the time because, guys, listen, you're talking about a young man who's involved in like tons of different businesses and different sectors, different segments. He's an actor, he's a writer, he's a musician. He's got a music with a hundred million downloads on one song. Like, it starts with having his 14-year-old sister start liking stuff. This is what everybody to get. You may not get to 30 million, what if you get to 30,000 or 300,000? Work your social media, work your brand. It's not just about the content. But I gotta tell you, when I told family members you were coming on, and so this happened with Bryce too, brother, I gotta tell you, the amount of influence you have on young people

• 43:02Ed Mylett?

  is striking, like the responsibility that comes with it. So I'm talking about my nieces and nephews and, bro, I've had some of the most famous people in the world on. I say I got Josh coming on, they're like, what? Whoa, you know, like, and it's a demo that buys. It's a demo also, though, that right now, it's kind of a vulnerable demo, man. There's a lot of young people that feel alone. Their suicide rates are up. There, there's pressure because there are such successful dudes like you to be successful very young. And if you're 23 and you're not, you're past your prime, you know, there's all of that stuff. So I just want to give you the floor. I want the parents to hear this, and if they have children, play this part at least of the show.

• 43:42Ed Mylett?

  What would you just say to kids, like, overall advice? I give you a microphone, which you have every day, but now it's not a 15-second video. Just young people, here's some of my counsel to you as a dude you all kind of look to.

• 43:55Josh Richards?

  Well, the first thing is like, something that you said there that, like, I feel very, very responsible for is like, with power comes responsibility. That's something my dad said to me day in and day out, every single day as a kid, because he always felt that I was going to be something more than just a regular kid. So I have that tattoo on my arm, like I live by that. And just the one thing I want to say to everyone out there is, You gotta stop comparing yourselves to the people on social media all the time because that is the highlight of people's life. Like, that's what I think people are missing. Like, you post on social media, like, no one posts on social media now when they look bad, which kind of sucks. Like, I remember Instagram used to be the most casual thing ever. Like,

• 44:36Josh Richards?

  I would post a picture of my smoothie that I just made, right? Like, it didn't need to be this, like, over-edited, all that. But, like, everyone tries to compare themselves to these models on Instagram, or guys might try to compare themselves to the Swayboys on Instagram, whatever. You gotta stop doing that because, obviously, we don't post, like, the worst photo of ourselves. It's just, it's strange. I think it's, I get why people do it, they've just got to get over that. The same thing why I love TikTok, though, is because it's created this notion where you don't need the quality, you don't need the lighting, you don't need the, like, the camera, which is awesome. So that's why, yeah, I just love being able to post on there, too.

• 45:17Ed Mylett?

  Very good advice, brother. Comparison is a formula. I did a whole podcast on it. For adults and young people, comparison to people's highlights, comparison to the best one minute of their day, comparison to their best lighting, comparison to your former you. Even compared to a year ago, or you at a different moment in your life, it's a thief of bliss, it's a thief of joy. And I could not agree with you more, and I do think it's more pronounced with younger people, but I think it's an epidemic with all people, is comparison. This episode is sponsored by Ro. A lot of people assume GLP-1's cost a fortune, and that assumption keeps them from even looking into treatment. Ro helps people find a more affordable path to FDA-approved GLP-1 treatment. Ro wants to help people lose

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• 46:41Ed Mylett?

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• 47:25Ed Mylett?

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• 47:50Ed Mylett?

  Very short intermission here, folks. I'm glad you're enjoying the show so far. Be sure to follow the Ed Mylett Show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. Here's an excerpt I did with our next guest. My guest today is an educator, a photographer, a blogger. She's the host of the unbelievably popular Gold Digger podcast. She's a mother and a wife, but even beyond that, my favorite thing, she's a self-proclaimed mac and cheese lover. You didn't know I knew.

• 48:19Jenna Kutcher?

  Yeah.

• 48:20Ed Mylett?

  So this is Jenna Kutcher, everybody. Thanks for being here.

• 48:23Jenna Kutcher?

  Thank you. I'm so excited.

• 48:25Ed Mylett?

  I am too. Getting into business for you started out with, like you buy a camera on Craigslist or something, right? Is that how all of this starts?

• 48:33Jenna Kutcher?

  Every bit of it.

• 48:34Ed Mylett?

  Take us through that a little bit.

• 48:35Jenna Kutcher?

  So I went to school for business and I kind of, I had this idea of success. So to me, success was a business suit, high heels, corner office.

• 48:45Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 48:45Jenna Kutcher?

  And I used to tell people, gosh, someday I'm gonna have this corner office and I'm, my husband's not gonna work. And I'll come home and I'll kick off my high heels and I'll have dinner ready. Which is so weird, because it's not really like a common female vision. And so, I get into corporate world and I hated it. And I was so disappointed that I hated it because where I'm from, you get a salary and benefits. Like, you've made it. Like, that is making it. And I felt disappointed where I was like, I thought it would be better than this. And I think that follows you through everything.

• 49:22Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 49:22Jenna Kutcher?

  But, um, at the time, I was planning my wedding with my college sweetheart, Drew, who's my husband. And I have always just loved pictures. Like, pictures to me is just like, just brings you right back. And so it's like, I'm gonna buy this $300 camera and I'm gonna take pictures while we plan our wedding. And, long story short, I just was passionate again. And I feel like the corporate world sucked so much from me. And, and it wasn't a bad company or bad, it was, it was just not for me. I didn't like climbing a ladder that I didn't want to climb. I didn't want people telling me what the next level was if I didn't want it. And I think I saw people glorifying busy.

• 50:00Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 50:01Jenna Kutcher?

  And that was, that was it. And so, it all started from a camera.

• 50:05Ed Mylett?

  Amazing. And that would have been like wedding photography and all that. One thing I noticed about your Instagram page, everybody you should check out, what is your Instagram, by the way?

• 50:12Jenna Kutcher?

  Jenna Kutcher.

• 50:13Ed Mylett?

  Okay, it's easy. And you should check it out because for men and women, particularly women, it's beautifully done.

• 50:17Jenna Kutcher?

  Thank you.

• 50:18Ed Mylett?

  It's, it looks beautiful when you look at it.

• 50:20Jenna Kutcher?

  Yeah.

• 50:21Ed Mylett?

  Um, is that conscious on your part?

• 50:23Jenna Kutcher?

  Oh, so conscious.

• 50:24Ed Mylett?

  From what sense?

• 50:25Jenna Kutcher?

  So, branding to me has always been just so fascinating. I mean, I analyzed logos and typefaces and colors and like, if I could, if I had any other job, like even I was walking in your house and I'm like, that arched window.

• 50:40Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you do.

• 50:41Jenna Kutcher?

  You'd probably walk by that. A million times a day and never pay attention to it. And I pay attention to all of that. And so, being a photographer, the editorial side of things to me is so important. And I want to draw people in because it's pretty, but I want them to stay because I'm talking about something. So for me, I'm analyzing all these little details. I was like, I want to give Ed feedback on his brand.

• 51:03Ed Mylett?

  You should.

• 51:04Jenna Kutcher?

  Because to me, you can attract and repel. And a lot of times, we just do things because that's how we've always done them. But for me, everything is intentional.

• 51:13Ed Mylett?

  What would you give me feedback on?

• 51:15Jenna Kutcher?

  Oh, you want to know?

• 51:15Ed Mylett?

  Well, why not? Let's let everybody hear it. I want to hear it.

• 51:17Jenna Kutcher?

  So, when I look up Ed Mylett online, and I understand that it's part of the vision and the messaging is you're selling a lifestyle.

• 51:26Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 51:26Jenna Kutcher?

  But you know what's so different is like, you should be selling your heart.

• 51:30Ed Mylett?

  Thank you.

• 51:30Jenna Kutcher?

  And the way that you show up, the reason why you have the following you do, the listeners you do, is because of your heart. And so, I think it gets lost in the lifestyle. And for so many people, if I watch a demo reel and there's your jet and this home and all of that, I can't relate.

• 51:47Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 51:47Jenna Kutcher?

  I still can't relate to this day. I mean, we live in this little suburbia place in a home that we're so blessed to own. But a lot of people that follow you, they just want to make another $1,000.

• 52:00Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 52:00Jenna Kutcher?

  They just want 10 hours back with their children. And so, a lot of times, when you level up, and I'm feeling this right now, I'm feeling this in my life, is like, you feel this need for importance and more and showing these things. I mean, I'm wearing like Target today. You know, I'm like, oh gosh, like, is Ed's wife going to have designer? Which she doesn't.

• 52:20Ed Mylett?

  Nope.

• 52:21Jenna Kutcher?

  But you feel this like next thing. And what I've realized, and I think what the secret is, and we'll talk about this, I'm sure, is that we need to paint the possibility that our people can understand.

• 52:32Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 52:33Jenna Kutcher?

  You know?

• 52:34Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 52:34Jenna Kutcher?

  And so, we're painting the possibility that our peers get. They're there.

• 52:38Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 52:39Jenna Kutcher?

  And so, sometimes it's like we have to go backwards. And I really felt that a lot when I went from six figures to seven figures.

• 52:45Ed Mylett?

  Yep. So you're... By the way, I want to first thank you for that.

• 52:48Jenna Kutcher?

  Yeah.

• 52:49Ed Mylett?

  And you're the second person... I told you I'm maybe gonna be with an agent now.

• 52:52Jenna Kutcher?

  Yeah.

• 52:52Ed Mylett?

  And identical feedback. She goes, "I was surprised when I met you. You're like, nothing like your brand." And I went, "Ah." Well, then, that's a problem with my brand. So, I think... I think probably I had an initial brand in the beginning.

• 53:04Jenna Kutcher?

  Yeah.

• 53:05Ed Mylett?

  And then, I've made all this content. And I just sort of assume everybody knows that's who I am.

• 53:09Jenna Kutcher?

  Yeah.

• 53:09Ed Mylett?

  And I've not sort of altered the jet...

• 53:11Jenna Kutcher?

  Yeah.

• 53:12Ed Mylett?

  ...house muscle thing.

• 53:13Jenna Kutcher?

  I'll help you. I love this.

• 53:14Ed Mylett?

  You know what I mean? So, thank you for that.

• 53:16Jenna Kutcher?

  Yeah.

• 53:16Ed Mylett?

  And that is really critical because you've done that. This woman's become a self-made millionaire.

• 53:22Ed Mylett?

  But I would say self-made because I've met Drew. He's obviously a huge part of this. He's right upstairs with Christiana now and Conley right now. Who you call Coco, right?

• 53:29Jenna Kutcher?

  Yeah.

• 53:29Ed Mylett?

  Your baby. We've got so much... There's so much I want to get into about you. I think you're remarkable because... And I pride myself on this too. Where you're unique is the breadth of your content. Jenna's content goes everywhere from how to start a business for $5,000 to how to make your Instagram page go right, to mother stuff, to lifestyle. I mean, it's amazing and it's so good. Like, your content is so good. So, I want to give the gift to people today of a little bit of it. So, you go from zero to a million dollars a year, plus an income and all this stuff. What... How'd you do this? I mean, that's a broad question, but how did you become you? Most people listening to this would like to grow their following and influence somehow.

• 54:11Jenna Kutcher?

  Yeah.

• 54:11Ed Mylett?

  How'd you do it? And what would you tell them to start with in doing it?

• 54:15Jenna Kutcher?

  So, my first thing is, is if you have a follower, you have influence. So, I hate the term influencer. When anyone uses it, I'm like, "We are all influencers." My gosh, if you're waiting to start your message till you have 10,000 followers, your message should be started now. Somebody the other day scrolled all the way back to the beginning of my feed.

• 54:36Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 54:37Jenna Kutcher?

  It is hilarious.

• 54:39Ed Mylett?

  Really?

• 54:40Jenna Kutcher?

  But, I've never deleted a thing because I want people to see the transformation. But I also want them to see that eight years ago, I was talking about the same things I'm talking about today. How this all happened is because... And I think that you can relate to this is... I put it all out there. I mean, I talk about cellulite, I talk about wrinkles. I mean, I talk about this stuff because we're all thinking it.

• 55:04Ed Mylett?

  Mm-hmm.

• 55:04Jenna Kutcher?

  And I think it started as a coping mechanism because I was afraid that people would call me out for it. So if I say it first, it doesn't hurt as bad.

• 55:13Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 55:13Jenna Kutcher?

  If I say, "Look, I see my cellulite there. I see those extra pounds." You can't say that and hurt me. But what it's become is a true celebration. Like, I feel better today in my skin, in my business, in my body, in my life because now I own it and like, it's me. It's, I trust that. But I think over the years, I've just, I've just shared it all.

• 55:41Ed Mylett?

  Was this intentional? Because you have this ability to monetize on your, in your business, and I don't feel like you're monetizing. So I know this is sort of an inside baseball type thing here, but is that intentional of you? Did you start out, "I'm on Instagram, I'm going to profit from this."

• 55:56Jenna Kutcher?

  No.

• 55:57Ed Mylett?

  Or it started out in this mode and then just sort of over time turned into a business that you're running?

• 56:01Jenna Kutcher?

  So I heard two years ago that the average millionaire has seven revenue streams, and I made eight. It was, every piece of my world is so intentional. But I never approached things because of that.

• 56:17Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 56:17Jenna Kutcher?

  Um, what I think my gift is, is that if I care about something enough to sell it to someone, I'm going to tell it like I would tell a friend. The way that I write, the way that I share emails, the way that I pitch anything to is, "Who really needs this?" How do I communicate that? Because I'm doing a disservice if I'm not actually getting through.

• 56:38Ed Mylett?

  Mm-hmm.

• 56:38Jenna Kutcher?

  Um, you know, I'll jump on Instagram Live and put on my makeup and talk to people about something I'm selling, but it's because I care. Like, if this is for you, I don't want you to miss this. I genuinely care about that.

• 56:54Ed Mylett?

  Today is heavy-duty note-taking because I have a guru and an expert sitting here with me today. 300 million-plus views of his content. And if you want to learn flat-out, let's just call it what it is. If you want to get more customers, if you want to learn how to create the right content and how to get that content to people, I have the best dude on planet Earth sitting to my right here. So, Billie Jean, thank you.

• 57:18Billy Gene?

  Hey, thank you, thank you very much for having me.

• 57:20Ed Mylett?

  It's long overdue. And the reason that I wanted you here today is that I did some of these things by mistake and then when I hear you illustrate them, I go, "Oh, I do that." Some of them I make the mistake of, that's why I'm not more successful. But like, for example, it's by no mistake that a lot of my videos have a Pacific Ocean behind it. And so, I've had these unique environments, right? I try to do something entertaining, I'm certainly trying to do something that educates. But I love what you said about imperfections. Everyone watches like, "Look, I'm broke," or "I don't look the right way," or "I'm in the fitness space, but I'm not yet super-fit," or "I'm an entrepreneur, but I'm not yet super-wealthy." And they think these imperfections are a hindrance to them posting or a hindrance to them gathering a following. You would say what to them?

• 58:04Billy Gene?

  It's the entire story. It's the entire reason. Like, you don't watch Game of Thrones to see a successful king, be a king for much longer and have like everything win. People love to see the trials and the tribulations. And so, like, for example, the example we gave earlier when we were talking about it is, just imagine if... Here's a quote that I think sums it up. "I'm looking forward to the memories of right now." So, I just think that all of you are, along your journeys, some of you watching this will create billion-dollar companies. And you will get someone in a decade from now that will ask you,

• 58:48Billy Gene?

  "How the [bleep] did you do that?" And when you can say, as opposed to telling you, "I'm gonna demonstrate and just show you..." Everything changes. When they get to see the story, the other characters and cast that were involved, that's your family and friends, your competitors, the times you fell, et cetera. That's when you stop building a following and you start building a brand. That's when people get obsessed with you and they become raving and they watch everything that they do. It's because they saw the hardship. You guys ever seen a TV show and the first five seasons were fire, but the freaking last two were absolutely horrible, but you watched it anyway? You were too deep into the story. You had to see how it ended. It was boring. It wasn't good.

• 59:31Billy Gene?

  There was new writers. Everything went bad, but it's like, you gotta see what happens now.

• 59:34Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 59:35Billy Gene?

  You stick around.

• 59:35Ed Mylett?

  Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. And the other thing is this, my crew will tell you this, everybody. By the way, my crew, to go back to Billie Jean's earlier point, I just want to illustrate this. All these guys that work for me started to work for free. They're willing to prove themselves. Not enough of you in the entrepreneurial spaces, he said earlier, are willing to go out and prove yourself and work for nothing in the beginning to demonstrate how great you are.

• 59:55Billy Gene?

  And you want to hear what's so weird about that?

• 59:57Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 59:57Billy Gene?

  Because you only see this in entrepreneurship. If all of us are going to be doctors, say we decide to be like open heart surgeons. We understand that it's going to take four years of undergrad, another four years of like, you know, of grad school.

• 1:00:14Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 1:00:14Billy Gene?

  We know it's going to be another four years after that of residency. We know to do that, we're going to have to invest and borrow $300,000. We know we're going to have to eat top ramen and crash with people that we don't want to live with for all of that time. And we understand that.

• 1:00:28Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:29Billy Gene?

  Only in entrepreneurship, we're like, yo, I'm going to buy this one course for 200 bucks and I'm going to be rich in six weeks.

• 1:00:34Ed Mylett?

  So true.

• 1:00:36Billy Gene?

  Where did the patience go?

• 1:00:37Ed Mylett?

  So true.

• 1:00:38Billy Gene?

  Like, why do we think we can skip the steps of success in entrepreneurship? It's weird.

• 1:00:42Ed Mylett?

  It's weird.

• 1:00:43Billy Gene?

  It's weird.

• 1:00:43Ed Mylett?

  But no one says it like that. No one compares it to another career that you might be successful in. And that's 100% true. By the way, the other part of it that's even more crazy is the people who are entrepreneurs who aren't even willing to invest the capital to learn these things. And then they think they're going to become successful.

• 1:00:58Billy Gene?

  It's extreme.

• 1:00:58Ed Mylett?

  Like, if you're not investing in programs, you're not investing in advertising, you're not investing in podcasts like this, like, you're crazy to think you're going to be successful.

• 1:01:06Billy Gene?

  Because all the content that we see as entrepreneurs is destination. Meaning when you watch your episode of Shark Tank, all you see is the pitch. And then two seasons later, you'll see the update of how they made a million bucks. Therefore, you believe that's what the truth is. And as we come up to this next five, 10 years of content, we're going to see more journey and those expectations will change. And people will get educated on what it really takes to be an entrepreneur.

• 1:01:28Ed Mylett?

  Like what you said earlier about documenting your journey is brilliant. And it's like, it's my great regret that I sort of built most of my career during a time where I didn't document it because there wasn't such a form. And now, my content that's the most engaged with you guys is when I'm documenting. It's the vlogs I do when I go speak at different events. So people love the documentation journey. I find myself watching people's content, you guys, this is me, who aren't even successful yet. But it's just, I'm fascinated. And I love documentaries on Netflix. Like the number one thing I watch, I love watching, I love, I love reality TV. I love documentaries. I love sports. They're all the same exact thing because they're documenting the journey. So you don't have to be on the other side. The other thing, I just want to acknowledge that I'm going to ask you a question because this is just like, this is like some of my favorite stuff we've ever covered on the show. Is that your imperfections work.

• 1:02:12Ed Mylett?

  So you know one thing about the show, everybody, and then Billie Jean's going to talk about this. I don't shoot the same video 10 times. And so when I shoot a video that you see, almost every single time unless I completely screw up, it's one take. They know me around here for doing one take. Because I'd rather post something with a slight imperfection because I think it engages the audience better.

• 1:02:32Billy Gene?

  Hundred percent.

• 1:02:32Ed Mylett?

  Because I want the imperfections. I want the real thoughts. I want the interruptions. I want the hesitations. Because it's those real things that on your content, it doesn't have to be the perfect picture with your FaceTime edit and every filter and every word right in your post. Do you speak to that, especially even captions and everything?

• 1:02:49Billy Gene?

  Big time agree. And let's just simplify it all. When people are watching your content, well, actually, let's take a step back before that. Entrepreneurs that are watching this, if your customer believes you 100%, they would buy all of your stuff. Accept that truth with me. So for example, if you're a coach that helps people get X, Y, and Z result, if they actually believe that you were the person to get them there, they would give you money every single time. If there was a business coach and I believed I would triple my income as a result of working with them, I would give them money every single time because that's the logical thing to do. So when you're creating your content and when people are stalking you, all we're looking for is one question. Can we trust you or are you shady as?

• 1:03:32Billy Gene?

  So we actually care about even when art like you got kids or something like that. Or you're on Tinder or all that stuff. When you're stalking someone and you're going back years back to see their pictures and what they're do, you just wanna know, can I actually trust them?

• 1:03:44Ed Mylett?

  So true.

• 1:03:44Billy Gene?

  Are they not a serial killer?

• 1:03:45Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:46Billy Gene?

  So the imperfections are what make people trust you.

• 1:03:49Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 1:03:50Billy Gene?

  When someone is so dialed in and they're buttoned up, the first thing you say is, oh, something's off about them. I don't know, just everything, every word was perfect. They seem so rehearsed and they're so polished. Something's off, I can't trust them. Even take our president, but if you like him or not, listen to me. He was the most imperfect candidate that you could ever imagine.

• 1:04:09Ed Mylett?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:04:09Billy Gene?

  He said inappropriate things like that, like whatever. There was a piece of him that everybody related to, which is like, damn, he's not perfect.

• 1:04:18Ed Mylett?

  You, okay, let's stay on that just for a second. Cause I wanna, I wanna agree with what you just said about something. And by the way, zero politics here. I have a theory about voting for president because I think when you look at that, it'll actually tell you how your whole business life should work too. I have two theories. One is the more imperfect person, that's the more real person. What I call vulnerability, I talk about vulnerability typically wins. And secondly, the higher energy person. So, so, so.

• 1:04:41Billy Gene?

  I mean, that you just, you just nailed the second thing.

• 1:04:44Ed Mylett?

  It's a fact because if you go back to those of you that are political, you know, historian types, go all the way back to Kennedy, Nixon and pair the two candidates against each other and ask yourself, which one was higher energy? Higher energy.

• 1:04:57Billy Gene?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:57Ed Mylett?

  Kennedy or Nixon? Kennedy. You can go all the way through, all the way through Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Reagan, Mondale, right? Go all through all of it. Bill Clinton and whoever, George Bush's dad, right? You can go through all of it. Go George W. Bush, how George, cause he got to run against, no offense, but he ran against Al Gore and John Kerry. Slightly higher energy than those guys. Barack Obama, John McCain, higher energy guy, right? Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, higher energy, right? And quite frankly, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, higher energy wins. And the more real person wins in every single election.

• 1:05:30Billy Gene?

  I started seeing TV commercials for Facebook like three or four years ago. And they were advertising this one thing. It was called Facebook Live, which a lot of people familiar with now. You click a button, now you're live broadcasting. So what Trump's administration did is every single city that he was campaigning in, they went Facebook Live.

• 1:05:49Ed Mylett?

  Really?

• 1:05:49Billy Gene?

  Hillary wasn't. And this is, this is here, like if you look at the difference of reaching more people, people like statistically. So what would happen is. Let's say Hillary's at a rally, she's reaching, you know, 10,000 people in the room. Dollars, same place or different place, 10,000 people in a room. He's Facebook Live.

• 1:06:03Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 1:06:03Billy Gene?

  That 10,000 turned into 3 million.

• 1:06:05Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 1:06:06Billy Gene?

  She lost by default. There was, there was no, she was outreaching people, he was outreaching people in so many ways. People don't realize it, the difference was Facebook Live. I don't care what any historian says, everything from a marketing standpoint. If you look, the difference was Facebook Live, you reach more people.

• 1:06:18Ed Mylett?

  Wow, that's brilliant. And by the way, you can go back even, you talk about this stuff.

• 1:06:20Billy Gene?

  You can look at this, you can go to this page, go look at them.

• 1:06:22Ed Mylett?

  And obviously, a lot of you know the Barack Obama's history. When Barack Obama was people, people did not know who he was. When he was just running on the Democratic side, it was his utilization of social media that got him to go right past Hillary Clinton when he ended up winning the nomination, then ultimately the presidency too. The point is, how's this transfer to you? Energy matters in creating content, energy is influence. And obviously utilizing these different forums and also imperfections are a value to you, not a negative.

• 1:06:51Billy Gene?

  And also a third one.

• 1:06:52Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 1:06:53Billy Gene?

  Trends and timing.

• 1:06:55Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 1:06:55Billy Gene?

  So for example, like, like you said Barack, he came on just when social media got going. Trump, he leveraged Facebook Live right when it first got going. Right now, you guys, that same thing, that shift, that paradigm shift is happening with video. The people who own video, the people who realize video is not going anywhere and that in three to five to maybe seven years, every single company will have a videographer in house, just like they do a salesperson. The person who owns that the fastest and goes all in on it, you will crush your competition.

• 1:07:26Ed Mylett?

  Oh boy, that's huge.

• 1:07:27Billy Gene?

  It's real.

• 1:07:28Ed Mylett?

  So listen, that's real everybody, did you hear that? The faster you just accept that truth.

• 1:07:32Billy Gene?

  Yep.

• 1:07:32Ed Mylett?

  You're ahead of the curve. You have to be documenting the journey, you gotta have a videographer. So you know those pieces in your closet that you find yourself wearing like on repeat all the time? That sweater that kinda just goes with everything or these perfect pair of pants? Those are the pieces that make getting dressed easy and that's what Quince does best. Quince focuses on high quality wardrobe staples with premium materials like 100% Mongolian cashmere organic cotton. The styles are timeless, versatile and designed to become the dependable pieces you reach for every day. It's what I'm wearing right now. They give you the softness and quality you'd expect from a luxury brand without the price tag. Quince also makes premium pants, fitted tees and polos. And breathable activewear, quality basics designed to work with your wardrobe and hold up to everyday wear. I love their cotton tees. I'm wearing one now and I get a ton

• 1:08:17Ed Mylett?

  of compliments when I wear them on the podcast and when I speak. So find your next fall favorites at Quince. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com/ed for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. That's Q U I N C E dot com slash ed. So you know, I've been trying to take my health and my morning routine to the next level. And I used to do a whole bunch of different stuff, tons of different supplements. And then I found all in one in a drink with IM8. IM8 is the way to simplify your supplement routine, finally, once and for all. 16 supplements replaced 90 ingredients across nine major organ systems in one drink. You can have

• 1:08:59Ed Mylett?

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• 1:09:38Billy Gene?

  Very short intermission here, folks. I'm glad you're enjoying the show so far. Be sure to follow the Ed Mylett Show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. You'll never miss an episode that way.

• 1:09:48Ed Mylett?

  Bethany Frankel, good to finally have you here.

• 1:09:50Bethenny Frankel?

  Thank you so much for having me.

• 1:09:52Ed Mylett?

  What about someone listening to this and so they're not on The Real Housewives, but now social media is an individual's reality show, if they choose it to be. And for me, I was, I was a successful entrepreneur way before social media, but I feel like business lately is no longer who you know, but it's more who knows you. A lot of it is who knows you. And for me, unbelievable of opportunities have come my way because I decided to get, you use the word attention and intention in the book. But I've intentionally paid my attention to expanding my, call it my notoriety, my expansion of people hearing about me. It makes all my businesses operate much easier.

• 1:10:34Bethenny Frankel?

  Via what? Yeah, but via what? Because a publicist or all social media and are you spending money on it?

• 1:10:40Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, my, my, my Instagram's got, you know, I've got two and a half million followers on Instagram. I've got 10 million total. My podcast is a top five podcast, but I, and seven years ago, I literally had no accounts. I didn't.

• 1:10:53Bethenny Frankel?

  Wow, that's crazy. And so you spent, did you spend a lot of money on that or not as much?

• 1:10:57Ed Mylett?

  No, none. Like I had, my son was my guy, but I made, but what I did is I made, I think there's a few ways to get big on social. One's to be entertaining and another way is to be valuable. And I, I knew a lot, so I was valuable in the beginning. I gave great content for free. Something other people charged for, right? But my point, and this isn't about me necessarily, but my point, I think what I'm asking you is, and this is, you know, you're one of the most, let's just take the last 10 years. You're one of the more iconic brands of a female entrepreneur slash entertainment person. I don't even know what that means, but you know what I mean.

• 1:11:36Bethenny Frankel?

  No, I do. I know because I get, because there aren't that many women in business that are also humorous and entertaining that are, you know, you could be entertaining while also being intelligent about business. And I'm finding because of all the offers I get for TV shows and different opportunities in the business space, there aren't that many women to, to, to go to.

• 1:11:55Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. And by the way, opportunities keep coming your way, even if you haven't been successful at every single one of them. You had a talk show, you talked publicly about, I didn't like doing it. It didn't work. Bam. Now you got another show. You got a bestselling book. You, and I have to believe, I know you are because you went to LA and then you were, you were on Saved by the Bell, like you were, you know, but working on that show. Are you intentional about Bethany Inc., her notoriety, her brand? And would you say to a, a young woman right now who's listening, goes, I'm going to have a, uh, I'm like the two ladies that were on your show with Kevin. I'm going to create a cookie business, a baking business. Would part of your advice be go build your brand also?

• 1:12:36Bethenny Frankel?

  I just don't think that way because and I yes, and you have thought that way and it doesn't mean there's a right or a wrong. I go from the inside out, not the outside in. So the way you just described it is like build your brand. That's very big. I come, the way I came up, there was no word brand. There was no word entrepreneur. I wasn't an entrepreneur. I, you know, liked, I liked healthy food. So I went to school for food and healing and became a natural food chef. I liked pashminas. Sorry, I found a pashmina. I liked it and saw a hole in the market. So I ended up selling them million, you know, hundreds of thousands. I go from the inside out, but that's not that it's right. I, I sit on Instagram by accident, looking at blush and then say, oh, wait, there, the people are listening. I drink a drink, talk about it. And

• 1:13:20Bethenny Frankel?

  then here, wait, the people are like, I feel the connection. It's like two people, you're rubbing two sticks together unintentionally. You're like, whoa, that, that was something. So for me, I realize what's resonating and what's true to me. They have to stay, they have to align. So if I'm talking about what's going on with my medical health and saying, I'm so sick of people preaching about non or vaccine or everything being political, or if I decide to say a rant on Balenciaga, that's part of my brand in that I'm a person who's known to be truthful, like me or hate me. So that translates into the beauty. It means you're being truthful about products and it translates into on television with Kevin O'Leary and people's businesses. So my

• 1:14:04Bethenny Frankel?

  brand ultimately is truth and just straight up no chaser. But I didn't decide to make that. It's just what's authentically inside me. And then I decide, decide that we have to protect the realm and align with that. So no, I'm not doing that opportunity and I'm not talking about that because it doesn't align with who I am. And it's who I am and then who I've also mandated with everybody around me that we have to stay to be. Don't, don't stray. And if you're going to stray, you're mentioning, this is an outlier. And sometimes I don't even know it's an outlier. I grew up at the racetrack and I posted something about Giraffe Kings and I was like trolled. And I thought, wait a second, people spend money on plastic surgery and whatever, but they can't on

• 1:14:46Bethenny Frankel?

  gambling. Like my audience doesn't want to see that. So I'll either not do that again because I don't want, because I understand their perspective. Or I say, this is my, this is where the rubber meets the road between us. You know,

• 1:14:57Ed Mylett?

  Why do you do all this, Bethany? I, you interest me so much because I read How You Grew Up and then I'm like, so did she become an entrepreneur because she just wanted to be like independent and free because you didn't start as an entrepreneur, you started out with like with jobs, but like

• 1:15:14Bethenny Frankel?

  No, I didn't want to be an entrepreneur. I didn't know there was such a thing to be an entrepreneur. I totally overshot the mark. I that's what I'm saying. Like I don't have any plans ironically. I wanted to cook on television. I wanted to be on the Food Network and the head of the Food Network at the time said to me, it will never happen. So then the the Housewives showed up and I was, you know, baking cookies and doing all my stuff and and I didn't want to do it at first. And then I thought it's not that easy to get on television. And I could promote being a natural food chef. I wanted to be some sort of an entertainer, be myself. I had no idea that I would be an entrepreneur, not even close. But if I look back, I thought about all the jobs I had and all the money I made.

• 1:15:54Bethenny Frankel?

  Uh, you know, not a lot of money. I just mean the different things that I did from selling pashminas to doing events. Um, so if you look back, it sounds entrepreneurial, but I never wanted to be an entrepreneur.

• 1:16:05Ed Mylett?

  Don't be humble. What's your special? What is, what is, don't be humble. Uh, what is, what is your thing? What is, what is your special? Is it your grind? Is it your personality? Is it your intensity? Is it your?

• 1:16:17Bethenny Frankel?

  I miss nothing. I miss nothing. You can't, I miss not, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't miss. I don't like, I don't forget. I don't, I'm on it. I'm juggling 7,000 things in my head. I've come capturing them all. I don't stop thinking, which is not fun for me. I mean, I make sleep a discipline and I do it and I do relax and I do vacation, but my brain, it's very hard for me to take it down. And that's the discipline that I have to have like Kevin loves being like running around, doing this, doing that, be here, be that, traveling more. That's not good for me. I would be good at that, but that's not good for me. So I value the taking it down a notch. But yeah, I'm not,

• 1:16:59Bethenny Frankel?

  it's like I'd be great Gordon Gekko, money never sleeps. I don't want to be that and I don't want that life, but like, you know, if money never sleeps, then I'm in, you know, then I'm in the right business.

• 1:17:10Ed Mylett?

  Are you happy?

• 1:17:13Bethenny Frankel?

  Um, yeah, I'm really, I'm, I think peace is happiness and I'm very at peace right now. Yes, I am happy.

• 1:17:18Ed Mylett?

  So it's been, I, I asked this to-

• 1:17:20Bethenny Frankel?

  Has anyone ever said to you, no, I'm not happy when you've asked that question?

• 1:17:23Ed Mylett?

  They've hesitated. Yeah, they've hesitated and I've had some people, I mean, even if you ask me that, you'd be, it would depend on the week you asked me. And I have a blessed life. I've, you know, I've got beautiful children. I've been married to a girl I went to high school with. I've got hundreds of millions of dollars. I've, um, my health is great. I should be happy every day, but I'm not. And I get asked often if it was worth it. Like, you know, I, I wasn't in clubs. I didn't travel a lot. I, I sacrificed a lot of things to probably even my health to some extent. I'm not saying you have to do those things to win. In fact, I now know you don't have to.

• 1:18:04Ed Mylett?

  But I've had a lot of like nights I didn't sleep, just like you. I've had a lot of waking up with stress. I've had a lot of that and I, I'm curious with you. I'm thrilled to hear that you're happy. That's wonderful.

• 1:18:13Bethenny Frankel?

  Well, I, uh, the, it's the discipline I talked about. I have had higher highs and lower lows, but I don't even like the higher highs because it's just, it's activation. And I'm, um, I can sometimes be bored in my life because of the discipline of it and because I'm a very much ironically an introvert. I don't like to go out of my, I don't like to leave my house. I really don't. Um, unless I'm have to be somewhere. I don't just like, go out to lunch or just like walk around dressed up in the day. It's just not who I am. So, um, for me, happiness is that balance and that peace and that not the, the drastic highs and the lows, which I'm used to from growing up in a very crazy

• 1:18:55Bethenny Frankel?

  household and life. So that is the whole thing I was saying with the discipline about the sleep and the peace and the health and the, you know, I'm, yeah, of course, let's go there. Let's go on that trip. It sounds great. Let's book that trip. And then you get there and then you've done three trips and you're exhausted and you're stripped. I'm trying to avoid that.

• 1:19:11Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 1:19:11Bethenny Frankel?

  Overall in my whole life, the, the, the, the roller coaster.

• 1:19:14Ed Mylett?

  Do you have a ton of confidence? And if you do, how'd you build it?

• 1:19:20Bethenny Frankel?

  I do have a ton of confidence.

• 1:19:22Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I see that.

• 1:19:22Bethenny Frankel?

  Not arrogance. They're not the same. I'm not arrogant. I'm confident and I don't know. It, it's upsetting and it's such a waste for people to not be because it's based on something inside of their head, their psyche, their emotions, and it's, it's- I know, because I have noise about different things, but not about confidence, like about, am I good enough? Can I get that? I just like plow through everything, just like walk into it. Oh, I didn't, you know, walk through the liquor business when it was back then all about men, like walk through, didn't even know it was all about men, didn't realize it was run by men, marketed to men, no idea. Boom. Um, podcast space, never listened to a podcast in my life to this

• 1:20:07Bethenny Frankel?

  day. Walk in, put the microphone on, I think, you know, I'll be decent at this. Boom, three podcasts. I just walk through. If you stop, if you think, when you stop and you hesitate, that's a lack of confidence and that will get you stuck. What's gonna happen? You know, I say to my daughter, she wanted to meet friends this summer and, you know, she doesn't go to camp and there was a girl on the beach and I was frustrated that she wouldn't walk up to her. And I said, listen, let's just play this thing out. Cause she said, I want to go to the beach and meet a friend. I said, you walk up, she says, you're disgusting. I never want to see you again. I don't want you to ever come up to me. I hope I never run into you again. She says that. What happened? You didn't know her. You lost nothing. You never see her again. You don't know who, like, there's nothing. You don't walk up, you know, but what happens if she wants to be your best

• 1:20:51Bethenny Frankel?

  friend? And she's the best friend for the rest of your life. You know, you didn't walk up to her. Nothing's, definitely nothing's going to happen if you just sit and don't walk up to her.

• 1:20:59Ed Mylett?

  See, I love that. You have this thing, why don't you talk about this for a minute? Cause we're not gonna have a lot of time left, but I just think you're so, I, I don't think you realize how profound some of the things are that you think and do. Like you're like, yeah, of course I do, but that's not normal. That's why we're talking to each other. Right? And I don't think that, I love when people that have great things about them, kind of aren't aware of it. And I think most times when you're really great at something, you're like, it's no big deal because it's something you already own. But you do have that. And you say some brilliant things in your book. Like, I just want to acknowledge you because like, You know, famous person, I'll crank out this book. No, it's a good book.

• 1:21:41Bethenny Frankel?

  Thank you.

• 1:21:41Ed Mylett?

  And there's one little nuance in the book that I'll say it my way, but then I want you to say it your way, which will be better. Which is that like, I'm a preparation freak. Like I know a lot about you, right? I've worked hard to get ready for this thing today.

• 1:21:53Bethenny Frankel?

  Which I appreciate, which I, by the way, I had a very famous person recently interview and didn't know like the basic, like the most recent basic thing. Like literally was probably like, oh, how's it doing the housewives? It's like, what?

• 1:22:05Ed Mylett?

  Hello, where do you?

• 1:22:06Bethenny Frankel?

  Yeah.

• 1:22:08Ed Mylett?

  I know what you mean. When I get interviewed, um, I feel like the highest form of respect is that they, they've prepared. Even if they're not very good.

• 1:22:15Bethenny Frankel?

  They made a mistake, but it's sometimes they like, I'll sometimes prepare and I'll say, oh, you have a sister named Joanne or like somehow it was printed wrong in the article. They at least know that you've done the research.

• 1:22:25Ed Mylett?

  You've done the digging. Yet at the same time, I think people take that to an extreme. Cause then they use lack of preparedness to take lack of action. And in the book, you're kind of like, hey, trust the process a little bit, but also like, I don't. There's been almost nothing I've ever done that I've won at, I was completely prepared for. But I've been willing to step into the unknown and kind of have that internal confidence of, I'll figure it out when I get there. I'll figure it out when I get there. The businesses I built, podcasting, for example. Literally when I set my social media, I told my son to set me up. I swear to you on anything. I said, you need to get me one of these Insta face, Insta face accounts. I literally even know they were.

• 1:23:10Ed Mylett?

  There isn't, I didn't even know what I was talking about. So, but just, I'm like, I'm willing to kind of get in, get me in the room.

• 1:23:18Bethenny Frankel?

  Well, no, you know, something's going on. That happened to me with Tik Tok before those two girls that have all the followers, Charli D'Amelio and the other one.

• 1:23:24Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 1:23:25Bethenny Frankel?

  I was saying to my, uh, social media person, I, I like, I would be good on Tik Tok. I think that would be good. And she said, it's for eight to 13 year olds. Don't bother. And I always regretted not pushing that because it was a gut thing. Yeah. I, you know, and get, and, um, Gary Vee is the one who told me at that time, that was going to be the whole thing. I didn't even know what he's talking about. And you know, that's a lesson too, to not be like, oh, who cares? I don't know what that is. You gotta investigate.

• 1:23:50Ed Mylett?

  But you don't need to be completely prepared. You're saying in your business life, like. Have you known every when you got into the liquor business that you didn't know or anything? Did you even know where the buyer was going to come from? Did you have any idea where you're going to be?

• 1:24:01Bethenny Frankel?

  I didn't know what, no, no, no. I literally was walking my dog from my studio apartment. I had this lawyer that was like literally not, he was a lawyer, but I don't know what kind. He probably was a veterinarian on the side, too. He was a very inexpensive lawyer. It's all I could afford. And I was doing this deal with this guy. Now my deals are so complicated. The deal with the guy was like one day an agent wrote it up and a lawyer looked at it. And he said to me, we have to talk. Do you want this to be licensing or equity?

• 1:24:27Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 1:24:28Bethenny Frankel?

  I said, what? I don't know what that mean. What do those two things mean?

• 1:24:31Ed Mylett?

  I love it.

• 1:24:31Bethenny Frankel?

  He said licensing is you get them, start getting money now. Equity is, you know, you have more risk, but it's your thing. I said, wait, so that's like more skin in the game. He said, yes. I said, okay, this is my ace in the hole. This idea, I want that one. I want that thing. I didn't, but I've always been good at concepts. So he explained to me what the two things were. So I'm like, okay, now I understand the concept. So lawyer man, do it that way. And the same thing happened when I was negotiating with Beam Global. I, the biggest, smartest thing, the biggest thing I ever did in business was to say, wait a minute. You want to buy Skinnygirl, but you're a liquor company and Skinnygirl could be everything. It could be lip gloss. It could be jeans. It could be sunglasses. It could be popcorn. It could be dressing. It could be all these things.

• 1:25:16Bethenny Frankel?

  So they said, no, we're paying all this money. We want to own the brand. I said, why? Like, because Grey Goose never did jeans or any of this other stuff. It's just a name owned by a liquor company and all they can do with it is liquor. So I said, why? You don't need the other stuff. You'll have to, you'll have to trust me as a partner that I'm not going to exploit these other categories and ruin your brand, but I'll have to trust you as a partner that you're not going to ruin the brand and destroy what I want to build. So that was a concept. So I didn't have to know anything to know that. It was just like an idea in my head. So then you go and, you know, listen to all the experts and crowd source information. And then you sign the dotted line and you make the decision. Never knew anything about anything I do.

• 1:25:54Ed Mylett?

  Wow, that blows my mind and it makes it more impressive to me.

• 1:25:59Bethenny Frankel?

  Nothing, not a book, not a podcast, not a TV show, not in anything. Not, and I'm like, and I do tons of deals and have amazing ideas and I'm running circles around people, but nothing, knew nothing about any of this stuff. Didn't even pay attention in college.

• 1:26:10Ed Mylett?

  So do you, me either, by the way.

• 1:26:14Ed Mylett?

  How has that changed your perspective on successful people? So for me. This is really powerful. I actually hope this becomes one of the clips what we're I'm about to ask you because I'm really interested in your your feedback on this. I really thought, by the way, there are brilliant people in the world. No question about it. There are there are people that

• 1:26:31Bethenny Frankel?

  Of course, literally brilliant. We I am not one of them.

• 1:26:34Ed Mylett?

  Nor am I. And by the way, you're making me feel better.

• 1:26:37Bethenny Frankel?

  You know, I'm just kidding. I could see that about you.

• 1:26:40Ed Mylett?

  It only takes about four minutes to figure it out. But what has surprised me overall is neither are most of the people. In other words, most people that I've met that are successful on the surface impressed me less, yet as I got to know them, I was more impressed because they won with just average abilities and skills. And so I'm take someone in that's I'm picturing like a young woman or man listening to this right now. They're 25 or 30 years old. That's still young to me. And they're like, I'm intimidated. And I think this is a huge factor. I'm intimidated to get into that room to make a deal. I'm intimidated, afraid to start

• 1:27:21Ed Mylett?

  a business, even have a conversation. I don't know anything either. These people are smart. I have found Mark's an exception. I think Mark actually is a brilliant

• 1:27:30Bethenny Frankel?

  Mark who?

• 1:27:31Ed Mylett?

  Cuban. You mentioned Cuban.

• 1:27:32Bethenny Frankel?

  Very, very smart. Kevin, by the way, is very smart.

• 1:27:35Ed Mylett?

  He's a very, very smart guy, but I think in a different way. Barbara's been on my show as well. And I mean this, I Barbara's one being she's a very smart woman. But I don't I don't even think Barbara would tell you that she's got a she's she's not she didn't win because of intellect, right? She she won because of hard work and timing.

• 1:27:56Bethenny Frankel?

  It's all different. Yeah, no, I'll tell you something. Mark is extremely smart, but also very well read. Like, he he does a lot of research. He knows what the hell he's talking about. I got to tell you, Kevin's I was walking in thinking the way that you think about Kevin, that he's smart and he's successful. Kevin's really I'm shocked by how smart he is. He's really smart in the right way.

• 1:28:18Ed Mylett?

  Is he smart? Or is he experienced after 30 or 40 years of being a business?

• 1:28:21Bethenny Frankel?

  Yes, both. But I think Mark's a little of that. But yes, it's a different story. But yeah, but but. The way that someone's mind, listen, Kevin's no spring chicken. He's there. It's not the same as Shark Tank. This show is us in there 10 hours, brains fried and him just, it's being on. It's not just experience. It's being on and quick. Kevin is like that. Mark is like that. I am like that. I can't say, I don't, I can't name five other people like that.

• 1:28:49Ed Mylett?

  Okay, but I do. And I think what you just said is really important. I think one of the six, I've never said this out loud in my life. I think one of the successful traits in people is their ability at some point to process information and make decisions more quickly.

• 1:29:01Bethenny Frankel?

  Exactly. Decisiveness.

• 1:29:02Ed Mylett?

  Decisiveness. Do you agree with that?

• 1:29:04Bethenny Frankel?

  A hundred percent.

• 1:29:06Ed Mylett?

  That's

• 1:29:06Bethenny Frankel?

  But I'm not decisive about, I, I will be in the, I'm, I only sweat the small stuff about like a purse or spaghetti or what are we eating? Or what are we doing? Where are we going? What's the hotel? Like that is, that's muck, but in like real [BLEEP] two seconds.

• 1:29:20Ed Mylett?

  Me too. I feel like this. That's, I, I actually think, take an NFL quarterback, like what makes them better? Their ability to process information faster and call a shot.

• 1:29:29Bethenny Frankel?

  Because they're playing chess and checkers at the same exact time.

• 1:29:31Ed Mylett?

  And I think that's business. I actually think that's life. Like, and I also, tell me if you agree with this. I'm okay if I didn't even make the right decision because I'm just going to execute my plan, whatever it is, even if it's a flawed plan so aggressively.

• 1:29:43Bethenny Frankel?

  By the way, yes, that's what you said earlier that I forgot to respond to is that when you're failing and when you, you know, when, when things are hard, when you're, you're low, that's when you learn everything. Cause that's when it's like, you've got that car and you, you've got a loose horse or whatever the analogy is. And you have got to like, hold the steering lever, not too tight because you're going to blow it all up and not too loose where you're walking away. You've got to steer. Like that's how a person like deals with a cancellation crisis. Like how do you deal with that? Like, and you will learn so much. And if you treat it like a gift, which it is, then that's where all the gold is. That's where all the gems of a successful person are in that time when it's like the rubber meeting the road.

• 1:30:25Bethenny Frankel?

  That's when you will learn everything. So people have to pay more attention to that stuff. Sometimes I don't want it to happen, but when, that's when I get awake and like lit and like strategic and really combat mode.

• 1:30:37Ed Mylett?

  Very good. What have you, what, what surprised you about doing the show with these entrepreneurs? Is there a common line? I mean, the one I watched, they were three different episodes, very different businesses, but is there?

• 1:30:49Bethenny Frankel?

  You wouldn't live for the show. There are some, there are people a hundred something million dollar businesses that are like not knowing what to do and. Also, when we first sat down, I mean, I didn't know what they should do. Like, you gotta get granular and think about it and pull the taffy and then it came clear every time. For some reason, we never, we never weren't totally resolved and didn't give a great verdict. I think it'll be interesting to hear what the people say on the other side. I think in most cases, they'll be thrilled. Unlike Shark Tank, which is a different show, where they're like pissed they didn't get an investment or something. I think they'll mostly be happy. Um, what have I learned? That it's case law, that the more, you know, all business is case law. You do something one time, it works. You have that in your tool chest. Oh, you do some part of

• 1:31:34Bethenny Frankel?

  that that failed or was just not the best. That's part of your tool chest. Now take yourself on to the next one. Case law. Remember that happened and the other thing happened. Let's do that this way. So the more deals you're making, to your point about Kevin, the more interactions you're having with different types of people, uh, the more business negotiations and weird tentacles and little deal points that come up that are so weird in contracts that you deal with. It's case law. So you keep taking that with you and that's how you become older and wiser. That's why there's the college debate. And that's why I think if you're not going to get a masters or, you know, your MBA or be a doctor, I'm not, I'm not pro college for the, for the debt and all of it. I'm really not.

• 1:32:15Ed Mylett?

  I've moved there. It's funny you say that because I've moved there lately and both my kids are in college right now and they know that I feel so I'm glad they're there. They're both flourishing, but more.

• 1:32:25Bethenny Frankel?

  But it's also could be purgatory. Sometimes you might not think your kids are ready or you want a place to put them. You're not ready to jam them right into life.

• 1:32:30Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, but, but more and more, I'm with you. Walk out of there with a couple hundred grand of debt or just get into business and start something or get a job and learn something that you could start a business on. I have a remarkable soul to share with all of you today. And I've been following this woman's journey for a long time. We were just talking, we have so many mutual friends. She's really the all time, I think, most decorated, uh, adaptive snowboarder of all time. Uh, she's an unbelievable speaker. Oprah Winfrey calls her basically the most inspirational person on the planet. She's toured with Oprah Winfrey. And oh, by the way, when she was 19 years old, she lost both of her legs from below her knees. And so there's a lot to talk about. Oh, should have won Dancing with the Stars

• 1:33:11Ed Mylett?

  with my boy Derek Hough. That was a robbery, but she was runner up there. So Amy Purdy, welcome to the show today. Thanks for being here.

• 1:33:18Amy Purdy?

  Thank you so much, Ed.

• 1:33:20Ed Mylett?

  You're so remarkable because you've built this really amazing entrepreneur side of your life also, and you've built a brand. I feel like maybe one of the keys to your brand is just your authenticity and vulnerability. But is there anything you would give advice on to who, maybe an aspiring entrepreneur or an entrepreneur who's like, I want to be better at building my brand, but I just feel like a lot of people just think, I don't really have anything. I didn't lose my legs before, you know, below the knee. So who really wants to pay attention to me? Obviously, we want to pay attention to you because your story is so compelling. My story is not that compelling, and they discount themselves. What would you say about building brands as an entrepreneur?

• 1:33:57Amy Purdy?

  I mean, I think, you know, the more you know yourself, the more you'll be able to build your brand where other people believe in it, right? So you do have to know your story. And I believe we all have stories. You know, it doesn't have to be a story like mine. I mean, we all have things we've learned along the way. Like, what is it that makes you you? And what is it that makes you want to put this brand or this product into the world? So the more you know that story, I think for me, I connect with people who are authentic, authentically share their journey and their story and their passion. You know, it's very easy to share something outside of yourself. And I have to check myself at times, too. You know, I can sell something outside of myself, but it doesn't

• 1:34:39Amy Purdy?

  always sell, right? But you're so much better at not selling, but at sharing your journey, bringing people into your life. And I think that that's when your product or your brand shines, really. So I think storytelling is key. I mean, these days with social media, you know, everybody's selling something, right? But the ones who really sell you on it are the ones who can relate, who can say, this is why this is so helpful, and this is what it's done for my life, and I can show you that, you know? And so I just think it's important to know the story, your story, you know, and believe that your story is valid. Believe me, I didn't even think mine was. I mean, everything I've gone through, I would think, why am I being asked to stand on stage and talk to?

• 1:35:23Amy Purdy?

  You know, Fortune 500 companies, clearly they're successful. Clearly, they know what they're doing. Why are they asking me? I don't know anything more than they do. But what it comes down to is knowing my truth, right? Knowing, knowing what's helped me. And that's what's actually built my career is just knowing my, you know, my perspective matters. And, um, and your perspective matters. And so I think we have to kind of dig into ourselves a little, a little bit, not try to sell something outside of ourselves, but have it authentically come from our experiences. And that's what people relate to. Like, people do relate to, um, vulnerability. You know, we don't relate to success. Not everybody's going to stand on a podium and

• 1:36:08Amy Purdy?

  have medals around their neck or, you know, be six, you know, massively success, successful like you are. And so I feel like what we do relate to is, but how? Like, but how do you get there? Right? And that's what we all want to know. And, and so when it comes to your own brand and business, it has a story and you just have to figure out what that story is and be willing to actually go there, you know, to connect on that vulnerable level so that you can really help people. I mean, I'd imagine that's, that's what every entrepreneur wants is to make an impact. And so it has to be authentic to you.

• 1:36:44Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. Huge takeaway is storytelling. Like that, guys, like that's a gold nugget. That's just massive is that just beginning to at least be intentional about telling a story, a story about your life, your product, the journey, the difference you could make. Maybe it's not even you. Maybe it's a, a story of what your product or service did for another person, but

• 1:37:01Amy Purdy?

  Exactly.

• 1:37:02Ed Mylett?

  You're so right about that, that the best people that build brands, by the way, even my best friends, what many of them, you know, people always say, well, you friends with all these comics and comedians, they're just great storytellers.

• 1:37:13Amy Purdy?

  They are.

• 1:37:13Ed Mylett?

  I just love to be around people who can tell a story, right? And the more you're intentional about that all the time, that's the world we currently live in. That's why reality TV works so well right now. That's why social media works.

• 1:37:24Amy Purdy?

  Exactly.

• 1:37:25Ed Mylett?

  The best politicians are the best storytellers. It's just like, can you tell a story? Now, finishing question here. By the way, follow Amy on everything. Okay? So just, you guys already get this. So, and by the way, when we do this, it's Amy Purdy girl, but it's P U R D Y. For those of you that might not know, a girl is also has the G in it. Okay. So go everywhere and get her stuff. I, I don't only fully endorse her, I'm telling you to go do this. Okay. And we also have millions of people praying for you, but this idea of these stories is the last thing I wanted to finish with. Like this just flowed really well, but we tell ourselves stories about our past and sometimes we repeat these stories. And I think one of the most detrimental things you could do, if you're trying to make a change in your life right now,

• 1:38:08Ed Mylett?

  is in any way comparing where you currently are. There's comparisons terrible, comparing to other people. But one things we do to really harm ourselves is we sometimes compare ourselves to what we used to have or we used to be. So even a relationship you're currently in, if it's in the 10th year, comparing it to the sixth month isn't fair to the 10th year. It's not as, as new and as exciting and comparing it then isn't fair, comparing yourself. And so I picture this beautiful soul that you are, and you said that both times with the new situation, the other one, but particularly the first time where you lost, you know, below the, the knee, you looking down and your feet are gone. And immediately, instead of looking at what was there before and comparing,

• 1:38:51Ed Mylett?

  you began to look at the next story and visualize the next story. That's so profound. What advice would you give or counsel to someone who say, all right, things were better before for me? In any way, shape or form, right? They were better before and I am, my, that's right, Ed's right. I am sort of beating myself up and comparing to another place or time. What would you say? How do I get out of this? How do I create a change? Cause I do keep looking at, maybe it was a little bit better before. What would you say in conclusion for those people?

• 1:39:22Amy Purdy?

  I mean, so first of all, you know, be gentle on yourself because I think we all feel that way. There's especially when something drastically happens. You're you're like, yesterday I was here and today I'm here. Like, how did this happen? It was so much better yesterday. But I also think that, you know, we have to embrace the moment. That is, that is the key to life, right? Be in the moment, what's happening right now. Yesterday was like an era. What an amazing era that was, right? I did this and this and things were great. Now I'm in this era. And so you're not losing anything, you know? You lived it. I didn't lose, you know, yeah, maybe I lost my legs. But it's like, you know, I didn't lose who I was. I I lived a certain life and now I'm stepping into this new era.

• 1:40:05Amy Purdy?

  And there's, and we're going to have these new parts of ourselves and new stories and new complete realities as we move forward. So it is very important to be in the moment. And one thing that really helped me when I lost my legs and when I was laying in that hospital bed and saw myself snowboarding. I had this feeling. And I I I asked myself this question. If my life was a book and I was the author, how would I want my story to go? And the reason I asked that question is I thought, you know, I am not a victim to this. It's not like, okay, I lost my legs, lost my kidneys, my life is over. No, I refuse that. I refuse that. So if I had control over what my life would look like, what would that be?

• 1:40:50Amy Purdy?

  And allow yourself to daydream. Literally allow yourself to go there. Don't shut it down. We shut ourselves down so quick before we even get started, right? We go, oh, I can't visualize myself doing great things because I don't even know how I'm going to get there. Forget the how, right? Just allow yourself to ask that question. Like, if you, if your whole life was a book, you were the author, how would you want the rest of the story to go? And for me, I saw myself walking gracefully, helping other people. I saw myself snowboarding. I didn't know how I was going to do any of this. I even saw myself speaking before I knew there was even, you know, a speaking circuit. But I felt it. I saw, I was like, I wanted to tell people, everything's going to be okay. It's like, no matter what circumstances you're facing, it will all make sense in the end.

• 1:41:35Amy Purdy?

  So just go on the journey. But you also have, you know, you're a co-creator of it too. It's so like. Know that you can control to a degree where you go from here. And allow yourself to visualize that and feel it and believe it. And you'll be surprised where you go. I know I have been.

• 1:41:56Speaker 01

  This is the Ed Marlin Show.