883 5 Ways To Monetize Your Personal Brand with Rory Vaden

IS YOUR PERSONAL BRAND MAKING YOU MONEY OR COSTING YOU TIME? The last time Rory Vaden joined the show, he shared some strategies we could use to create influential personal brands — insight that helped me shift the focus of my business and scale it to the next level. We hear a lot more talk about personal brands today than we did even just a year or two ago, but I still don’t think people are acting seriously enough when it comes to establishing, scaling, or monetizing their brands. I am not exaggerating when I say there is no way I would be where I am today, personally or professionally, if I hadn’t started getting strategic and intentional about branding over 10 years ago. And, as time goes on, personal branding is only getting more important — for all of us. Luckily, things are a lot easier for us today than they were for me back then. There are hundreds of successful personal brands you can model, online marketing tools are only getting more accessible and easier to use, and most importantly, we are being guided by one of the world’s leading experts on influence. In today’s episode of The School of Greatness, we discuss why personal branding isn’t just a fad, why it’s actually only becoming more important, and the five best ways you can start monetizing your brand today. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, freelancer, or employee, pay close attention to this episode, because Rory brings the heat (again) and his advice will be transformative — if you take action. And if you’re really serious about monetizing your personal brand, you can book a free brand strategy call with Rory’s team. Let out a sigh of relief, because you’re about to find clarity on how to monetize your personal brand and scale your business in Episode 883. Some Questions I Ask: Why is personal branding still so important? (7:57) What are the five best ways to start monetizing your brand (AKA how to get P. A. I. D. S.)? (16:46) How does someone know which of these five ways to monetize a personal brand is the best for them? (40:07) What is ONE thing that listeners can do now if they want to monetize their personal brand? (1:00:58) In This Episode, You Will Learn: How people become “Twitter rich but dollar broke” (10:20) How you can monetize your audience without ever selling something to them (19:20) What my personal branding journey with Rory looked like & what we did to make my business more scalable (28:50) The advantages and disadvantages of P. A. I. D. S. (40:30) Why “you need to make sure your influence doesn’t grow wider than your character runs deep” (1:07:10) Plus much more... If you enjoyed this episode, check out the video, show notes and more at www.lewishowes.com/883 and follow at instagram.com/lewishowes Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

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

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  This is episode number 883 with New York Times bestselling author Rory Vaden on the five ways to monetize your personal brand. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week, we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

• 0:34Lewis Howes?

  George Lucas said, "Always remember, your focus determines your reality." Bill Gates said, "Only through focus can you do world-class things, no matter how capable you are." I want you to pay attention to that last quote by Bill Gates. "Only through focus can you do world-class things, no matter how capable you are." You're capable of doing so many different things. You're very a talented human being. You've got a lot of skills. You're growth-minded, and that's why you're here. You want to learn how to achieve greatness in your life, in your business, in your relationships. So you have the capability of doing many different things at a high level. But the challenge is, that can be one of the biggest distractions for high achievers

• 1:16Lewis Howes?

  or high earners, or people that want to just improve their life, is they try to do so many things with their focus, and diluted energy gets diluted results, is what Rory Vaden talks about. And in this episode, I think it's going to be one of the most powerful for you if you have influence, if you're looking to build a personal following, if you're looking to increase clientele, if you want to grow your brand, if you want to monetize your brand. This will probably be the most powerful episode for you at the end of this year, going into next year, to determine the success of your business, your personal brand, your career, and your life. Because what are we talking about? The difference between building a brand and building a profitable business.

• 2:00Lewis Howes?

  Because there's a lot of people who are... Audience rich, but financially poor. We're going to talk about how to change that. We break down the five kinds of businesses and what the benefits are of each one. So if you don't know what business model you're in right now, we're going to break down the five different types of businesses for your personal brand and the benefits. So you know which one is right for you. We're going to talk about how using Rory's techniques, I was able to identify what I want in my business, what I want it to look like and what I want for the future. And it wasn't until I reached out to Rory a couple of years ago and went through a number of his strategic processes where it allowed me to find clarity and focus in my business and personal brand.

• 2:44Lewis Howes?

  We're also talking about the power of narrowing your focus to create powerful results in your business and life. And we're going to be giving people a free call to figure out your goals for next year, to figure out your business model, to figure out how to grow your personal brand even more, how to monetize it, how to build your following, how to get clear on your message, your uniqueness. We're going to give you a free call with Rory and Rory's team. And you can go to lewishouse.com/brandcall right now to register for a free call to get clarity on your goals for next year, to get clarity on your business and your brand and some more great stuff. So make sure to check that out at lewishouse.com/brandcall. We'll talk about that more at the end, but make sure you check this out and share this

• 3:29Lewis Howes?

  with a friend. If you have a friend who's a coach or wants to be a freelancer or is looking to build their personal brand and is struggling, is trying to get more clients, whatever it may be, send them this link right now. Do them a favor, help them out by sharing this valuable resource, lewishouse.com/883 and tell your friends to check it out and see what they got out of this. Ask them how much value they got out of this and what their steps are moving forward for their business and their personal brand. I'm super excited about this. Again, Rory Vaden, New York Times bestselling author, world-class keynote speaker in the World Championship of Public Speaking, co-founder of Brand Builders Group, the world's leader

• 4:11Lewis Howes?

  in the study of reputation strategy with the mission to help every person identify their voice, tell their story and share their unique message. Without further ado, let's dive into this episode with Rory Vaden.

• 4:30Lewis Howes?

  Welcome back everyone to School of Greatness Podcast. We've got my man Rory Baiton in the house.

• 4:34Rory Vaden?

  Yes, again.

• 4:35Lewis Howes?

  Good to see you, brother.

• 4:36Rory Vaden?

  Hey, this is my third time here. Is that the most of anyone you've ever had?

• 4:40Lewis Howes?

  Third time on the show?

• 4:40Rory Vaden?

  On the show. It's been over the span of many years.

• 4:43Lewis Howes?

  Six years or something. Chris Lee has been on, what, 13 times?

• 4:46Rory Vaden?

  Oh, yeah.

• 4:47Lewis Howes?

  13 times. I think there's only maybe three people who've been on three times. Maybe, maybe four. I've got a... I think Gary Vee's been on three times, I think.

• 4:56Rory Vaden?

  Never heard of him.

• 4:56Lewis Howes?

  Tony Robbins has been on three times. Tony Robbins has been on three times. I think Tim Ferriss, at least two, maybe three, but...

• 5:04Rory Vaden?

  Well, that's good company to be in.

• 5:06Lewis Howes?

  You're in a small group of...

• 5:06Rory Vaden?

  That's good company to be in.

• 5:07Lewis Howes?

  Maybe five people. And the last time we had you on, we talked about building an influential personal brand, the strategy behind building it. Why, and today we're talking about ways to monetize your personal brand, the five different ways to monetize. But why is personal branding still such an important thing that everyone should be thinking about? Whether you're entrepreneur, freelancer, employee, why is this important for everyone? Or is it not important for people to build their personal brand?

• 5:39Rory Vaden?

  I mean, it's huge. It's the, it's the future, right? I mean, that's one of the reasons why we, we got in this space is just, look at how your life has changed, you know, as the School of Greatness has grown. And here's something that's fascinating about the, the world today, is that I think in many ways, people are aspiring more for influence than they are for income.

• 6:00Lewis Howes?

  Why is it?

• 6:01Rory Vaden?

  It's because you can't buy influence, right? Like you, you, in, in some ways, you can...

• 6:07Lewis Howes?

  You can fake buy it.

• 6:08Rory Vaden?

  You can fake buy it.

• 6:09Lewis Howes?

  By getting likes and followers.

• 6:11Rory Vaden?

  Yeah.

• 6:11Lewis Howes?

  But not real, true influence is by how you create something in the world, or the way people perceive you, or that people really want to hear what you have to say.

• 6:19Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, it's, and it's the difference between like, you know, a dictator can, can, can, you know, force things to happen, but somebody who has influence makes things happen, you know? Oprah has influence. She says something and people respond. That's different than, "I forced a law to pass," or "I'm your boss and you must do this." And I think, you know, there's so many ways to make money, and I just think there's a big movement in the world where it's like... We don't need more money. What we need is less stress. We need less complexity. We need more freedom. We need more peace. We need, we need to feel more aligned with our purpose. Doesn't mean we don't want money, but you know, like at Brand Builders, it's interesting because we say that our audience is mission-driven messengers. It's people like you.

• 7:02Rory Vaden?

  I mean, I think it is no accident that we started working with you so closely because it's not that money isn't important. It's just that money isn't the most important thing. So we wanna make money. We, we, the mission, it takes money to finance the mission, but at the end of the day, the message is more important than the money.

• 7:21Lewis Howes?

  I wonder if you ask people a question, if they could have all the income in the world and no influence, and they couldn't use the money to get any attention or influence, or all the influence in the world, but no money, and they couldn't use the influence to gain money.

• 7:36Rory Vaden?

  Which would you choose?

• 7:37Lewis Howes?

  Which would you choose?

• 7:38Rory Vaden?

  I mean, that'd be a good question to put on Insta or something as a survey. Maybe people could leave a comment on the, down on the blog for this.

• 7:45Lewis Howes?

  We'll do that. Send me a DM also of your reply, what you would do, we'll, we'll share that out there.

• 7:50Rory Vaden?

  But I would say this, you know, a lot of our clients, so, so our clients typically fit into two different categories. It's people who are sometimes, and I, I say this, you know, politely, they're Twitter-rich and dollar-broke, as we say. You know, they have a big following and they don't have any money.

• 8:08Lewis Howes?

  They don't know how to monetize.

• 8:09Rory Vaden?

  They don't know how to monetize it. So we're, we're helping those people.

• 8:13Lewis Howes?

  And then there's people who have all the money in the world, but no one knows who they are.

• 8:16Rory Vaden?

  Nobody knows who they are.

• 8:17Lewis Howes?

  And they're trying to build a following and it's so hard for them, right?

• 8:21Rory Vaden?

  And it's different. Building a following is different than building a business. There, and there's, there's some commonalities, but again, it's like, I think people with money, what they really are aspiring for is influence.

• 8:35Lewis Howes?

  Why?

• 8:36Rory Vaden?

  Because, I don't, I, I think it's just because... You make, they wanna make a difference in the world and you, you, you keep score at some point in your life like by how much money you have.

• 8:47Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 8:47Rory Vaden?

  But then over time, you realize that.

• 8:50Lewis Howes?

  It's not fulfilling me anymore.

• 8:51Rory Vaden?

  It's not fulfilling. It's, it's not like, once you get past a certain threshold.

• 8:55Lewis Howes?

  Ten million in the bank or a million dollars or whatever.

• 8:57Rory Vaden?

  It depends on who you are, but it can be, I mean, for some people, it can be a hundred thousand dollars a year and it's just like, there's nothing more I aspire to have, but there is always more that I aspire to be. There is more that I aspire to impact and, and to influence and to create in the world. And that is what is available through a personal brand and, and people go, you know, I don't care to be the richest person in the world, but man, I would love to have the kind of impact that Mother Teresa has and Gandhi and Martin Luther King and even, you know, you see the, the modern business moguls. You mentioned Tim Ferriss and, and Gary Vaynerchuk and Tony Robbins, like,

• 9:38Rory Vaden?

  those guys all make plenty of money, but they're not the richest people in the world, but they've made a tremendous impact. And I think that that is the currency of the day. That influence and impact has become more in pursuit than just income by itself.

• 9:56Lewis Howes?

  Because a lot of people are able to make the money, but after that, they need something else.

• 10:01Rory Vaden?

  Then what?

• 10:02Lewis Howes?

  You gotta do something else with your life, a purpose. And impacting people is usually the way to, to have that purpose.

• 10:07Rory Vaden?

  And so many people, the generation before us, our, you know, our parents and, and things, like so many people that worked hard to give us the things they never had, which was noble in many ways and wonderful, but it also taught us that many of us looked ahead and we saw people who were not happy and they were trading happiness for prosperity per se.

• 10:30Lewis Howes?

  Safety, a home, everything, yeah.

• 10:32Rory Vaden?

  Yeah. And, you know, the younger generation has said. Screw that, I don't, I don't care. I don't need to, I don't need to own a home. I don't need to even have a permanent residence. Like, I'll go travel the world and couch surf and Airbnb and, and I don't need to have a car. Like, you know, I'll share a car with somebody. But the thing that everybody across every generation has in common is, I want my life to count for something.

• 10:54Lewis Howes?

  And matter.

• 10:55Rory Vaden?

  I want it matter. And I think, you know, if you look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs, I was just having this conversation with a client yesterday as a matter of fact, and we were talking about how self-actualization is like the highest, the highest thing, right? It's like, I have become all, you know, all that I can be. But I think there's a higher level than that. And it's, it's not self-actualization, it's others' actualization. Is that even when you become your, your highest self, which I think is a very valuable pursuit, there's still an emptiness in self-achievement. We, we quickly realize, I mean, and, and just to use myself as an example in, in some realm, right?

• 11:38Rory Vaden?

  It's like, I had the dream to become a world champion, public speak, a public speaker, and I basically did that. I came in second.

• 11:46Lewis Howes?

  You're gonna be a New York Times bestselling author.

• 11:47Rory Vaden?

  Bestselling author, wanted to.

• 11:49Lewis Howes?

  Build an eight-figure business.

• 11:50Rory Vaden?

  Build a company, like, the next thing, the next thing. And it started when I was young. It was, my first thing was I wanted to be a black belt, and then I wanted to be valedictorian, and I wanted to get a full ride scholarship. And my life was this sequential thing, and, and you realize, even being a New York Times bestselling author, as wonderful as it is, and it's a worthwhile pursuit, the deep satisfaction that comes from that lasts for about 10 minutes.

• 12:14Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 12:15Rory Vaden?

  Because what you really realize is it's like, I don't want to be on a bestseller list. I want people to read my book and have it change their life for years and years and years and years, and have many, many people do that.

• 12:27Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 12:27Rory Vaden?

  And so it's, it's really others' actualization. And the vehicle of personal branding and, and the tools of digital media have made that more available and accessible than ever before.

• 12:40Lewis Howes?

  I want to take a moment from this episode with Rory to talk about Hemp Fusion. Now, perhaps you've heard about the potential benefits of CBD. I see stuff all over the place about the benefits of CBD. But know this, not all CBD is created equal. There's lots of different products and not all of them have the best quality ingredients. Most of them just offer CBD. Hemp Fusion is CBD plus omegas, plus terpins, plus other natural ingredients to help you feel a hundred percent. They do this because CBD works best for your body when combined with these other natural ingredients. Hemp Fusion also adds other natural ingredients to create products that help specifically with

• 13:23Lewis Howes?

  stress, sleep, and energy levels. Now, our bodies already make cannabinoids and plant-based CBD helps naturally balance our body. Everything Hemp Fusion does adds up to a better product and that adds up to a better day for you. Hemp Fusion, it all adds up. Available both online and at natural product retailers near you and shipped anywhere in the US. Use the promo code GREATNESS for 20% off your first order and free shipping at hempfusion.com. Again, that's promo code GREATNESS. You can get Hemp Fusion shipped anywhere in the US. Just use the promo code GREATNESS today. And now, let's get back to this interview with Rory Vaden.

• 14:11Lewis Howes?

  Why are there so many people Twitter rich but money poor then? Why have, why have people who have started building a following been unable to monetize their personal brand? And what are the five ways to start monetizing your brand?

• 14:27Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, so that's a good question. So, at the other end of the spectrum, right, is, is the Twitter rich and dollar broke, so to speak. And these are people who have developed influence and now it's like, gosh, I would love for it to become my full-time job. Like, I would love to, to, I would love to have the thing I love become my full-time job. And that is something that is available now, but it's like, well, how do you do that? And how, and there's a big difference again between growing a following and growing an income. So you still need to learn the skills of making money. It is a, it's a skill. It's a, it's a talent. It is. And, you know, to answer your question directly, there are five ways that we talk about,

• 15:09Rory Vaden?

  about how to make money. And so when we're working with a client, we basically gonna, we're gonna lay out these five ways, these five primary ways. We call them the P A I D S, five ways to get paid, basically. To, to take a pile of followers or a pile of influence. Have them give you money. And have them, have that turn into money in your bank account. Yeah. Okay. So here's, here's, what, P A I D S is an acronym, right? P A I D S. So the P stands for product, product. So you can take a bunch of people and you can sell them a product, a physical good. Like a book. Like a book. Yeah. Yeah. So a, a book would be a product, but I would say this, personal branding is not limited to just people who do information marketing. And I think that's what's fascinating.

• 15:52Rory Vaden?

  About half of the clients we're working with at Brand Builders Group are now executives, entrepreneurs, CEOs, who never care to sell a video course or get paid to do a speech. They're just trying to bring awareness, like Gary Vee. Gary Vee doesn't actually sell video courses and stuff. No. He brings awareness to the different ventures he's involved in. So anyways, you know, your company might, you might have water. Uh, Dave Asprey's a good example of this, right? Like the bulletproof coffee. So it could be a, a food item. Uh, Sarah Blakely would be a good example of this with Spanx, right? Like, her primary business model is still a physical product. Mm-hmm. She's got a personal brand that draws attention to that. Yeah. So, physical product.

• 16:37Rory Vaden?

  Physical products. Uh, and by the way, there's no one of these five that are better than the other. They all have advantages and they all have disadvantages. Sure. Okay. So number two is ads and affiliates. Yeah. Ads and affiliates. This is really fascinating, which is that you can monetize your audience without ever selling anything to your audience.

• 16:58Lewis Howes?

  Without ever having to create a product, a physical good, deal with shipping, deal with customer support, returns.

• 17:03Rory Vaden?

  Content creation.

• 17:05Lewis Howes?

  Product managers.

• 17:06Rory Vaden?

  Yeah.

• 17:06Lewis Howes?

  Never having to deal with any of that.

• 17:08Rory Vaden?

  Yes.

• 17:09Lewis Howes?

  And what are some examples of businesses that do that really well, based off of a personal brand?

• 17:13Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, so, well, I think the School of Greatness is one. I don't know how much you feel comfortable sharing your personal journey, maybe we can talk about that.

• 17:22Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure.

• 17:22Rory Vaden?

  About, you know, the work that we've done together over the last 18 months. When you came to us originally, you had lots of these.

• 17:30Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, all of them.

• 17:30Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, you had like all of these. And, and one of the, one of the problems is that when you have diluted focus, you get diluted results.

• 17:38Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 17:39Rory Vaden?

  And so, we help people figure out what is what we call their primary business model. And then we go, it is that which everything else should be in support of that thing. And in your case, we realize that actually, your long-term primary business model is ads and affiliates. It's the podcast itself. It's the thing that you once thought of as just a traffic source, that has actually become the main business model.

• 18:03Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 18:04Rory Vaden?

  So, it's the, it's the, it's the ads, right?

• 18:06Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 18:06Rory Vaden?

  It's the sponsors of the show who make the show possible.

• 18:09Lewis Howes?

  But we'll, we'll, we'll tell the rest of that story after we do the other.

• 18:12Rory Vaden?

  Okay, yeah, so we'll come back. So, so, but podcasts would be a good example of that. And, and affiliates, right? Like, you have a following, you can sell other people's products.

• 18:20Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 18:20Rory Vaden?

  And they're paying you, you know, some percentage.

• 18:22Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 18:23Rory Vaden?

  The difference between ads and affiliates, by the way, is, an ad is, is not a pay for performance. It's just a pay for, for impression, right? Like, for so many impressions, you're gonna be in front of this many people.

• 18:34Lewis Howes?

  I'm gonna give you this much money if you post this on your social media.

• 18:37Rory Vaden?

  This many times.

• 18:38Lewis Howes?

  I'm gonna give you this much money if you share it on your podcast, I'm gonna, whatever, maybe.

• 18:41Rory Vaden?

  Exactly, right.

• 18:41Lewis Howes?

  Based on the impressions, based on a calculation that you come up with, or that's industry standard for that thing.

• 18:47Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, and it could, it could be your whole platform, it could include your newsletter, your social, and your podcast, whatever. Affiliates is a pay for result.

• 18:53Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, you get a sale, I give you a commission.

• 18:56Rory Vaden?

  Yep.

• 18:56Lewis Howes?

  A lot of people do this with Amazon on books.

• 18:59Rory Vaden?

  You can do it with, yeah.

• 19:00Lewis Howes?

  It's like, you're linking with books, you get a commission from Amazon, Audible, you see that all the time from people.

• 19:04Rory Vaden?

  All the time.

• 19:05Lewis Howes?

  Okay, so, products, ads, and affiliates, what's the third way?

• 19:08Rory Vaden?

  So, the I is information.

• 19:10Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 19:11Rory Vaden?

  This is the one that I think historically people have associated personal branding with because there's some elements of personal branding that sort of spun out of information marketing or even digital marketing. So this is the classic video course, membership site, assessments, certifications. These are information-based products. Basically, it's intellectual property delivered in a digital medium. Yeah. E-books. E-books would be a great example of this. And in the last episode, was it 670? 670. 670, where we actually talked about dares. We look for things that are digital, automated, recurring, evergreen, and scalable.

• 19:56Rory Vaden?

  The information line lends itself well to some of those dares. So yeah, video courses and things like that. Information products. But also assessments and certifications are less common, but like, you know, we have some friends that do assessments really well, and it's like that is their main thing. Got it, okay. And the D? D is for deals. Deals. It's like being an agent. So it's a third-party deal that somebody is paying you, and it typically includes both an element that is not for performance in advance, and it usually includes a long-tail royalty feature.

• 20:39Rory Vaden?

  So a book deal, a brand deal, a movie deal, a TV deal. Some of the clients that we work with at Brand Builders Group are musicians, and we're actually helping them create other ancillary revenue streams, but their primary business model is their music deal, like their publishing deal. So there's a third-party that's usually like a distributor who's paying you. A guarantee regardless of performance plus of royalty.

• 21:08Lewis Howes?

  Got it.

• 21:08Rory Vaden?

  This is why licensing deals would also fall into this, which is one of the most underutilized forms of IP, which is people spend all this time creating their IP and they sell it to their audience and they never think about going,

• 21:21Lewis Howes?

  Corporations.

• 21:22Rory Vaden?

  What corporation would just license this content from me? And, you know, so, so those are, those are brand deals. But yeah, traditional book publishing.

• 21:31Lewis Howes?

  So like Darren Prince, would he be an example as deals? Cause he's an agent for all these athletes and Hollywood.

• 21:37Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, so Darren Prince, so you met him when you had Rodman on the show.

• 21:40Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah, I just had lunch with him yesterday.

• 21:42Rory Vaden?

  Oh, that's so great. Yeah, so I love, I love Darren.

• 21:44Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 21:45Rory Vaden?

  So he's a mutual friend, he's a client of ours.

• 21:46Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 21:47Rory Vaden?

  Right? So, so yeah, so Darren does deals. He's, he's on the agent side of it. So when you do a deal, there's usually like three parties. There's usually like the publisher, the agent and the talent.

• 21:59Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, the brand or the company that's giving you money to the talent.

• 22:03Rory Vaden?

  The publisher.

• 22:04Lewis Howes?

  The publisher.

• 22:05Rory Vaden?

  Right? Yeah, or it could be a brand.

• 22:06Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, or speaking deal.

• 22:08Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Then you have the agent, which would be like a literary agent or a speaking agent. You know, Darren is, is kind of like an all encompassing agent, like a manager.

• 22:19Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 22:19Rory Vaden?

  And then the talent, you know, like Dennis Rodman and.

• 22:23Lewis Howes?

  Hulk Hogan.

• 22:24Rory Vaden?

  Hulk Hogan, he works with several Magic Johnson, he, he works with several celebrities that he, he manages, but he is also an author now.

• 22:32Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 22:32Rory Vaden?

  Right? So he is off also.

• 22:34Lewis Howes?

  Products.

• 22:35Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, so he's also selling a physical product. And, and the difference, by the way, a, a book that you self-publish would be product, but a book that you traditionally publish would be a deal.

• 22:45Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 22:46Rory Vaden?

  And they're different and they have a different set of considerations.

• 22:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 22:50Rory Vaden?

  Right? So when you get a New York publishing deal, as you well know, there's a different set of expectations and.

• 22:54Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 22:55Rory Vaden?

  Things that come with it, but also, also great benefits.

• 22:57Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. Okay. So deals and the last one, the S.

• 23:01Rory Vaden?

  Okay. Last but not least is services.

• 23:03Lewis Howes?

  Services. So would that be coaching?

• 23:05Rory Vaden?

  Yes, basically speaking, coaching, consulting, training.

• 23:09Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 23:10Rory Vaden?

  Now, for anyone that's listening, that is going, I hate my job, I want to quit and I want to pursue my personal brand. Usually when those people come work with us, we point them towards services in the short term because services are typically the fastest path to cash.

• 23:29Lewis Howes?

  It's easy to sell, go on Instagram and say, hey, I'm doing coaching or I'm offering consulting. Send me an email, let's jump on a call if you're interested.

• 23:37Rory Vaden?

  Literally.

• 23:37Lewis Howes?

  And we get a thousand dollar client, a five thousand dollar client, whatever it may be.

• 23:41Rory Vaden?

  Today, I mean, you can say, hey, you know, put out some piece of content. You know, DM me for a free call. You do the call this afternoon, then move me some money. And we do our, you know, we do our first consulting or whatever. You know, like whatever it is. It's just a, but, but any service. The problem with services is that it's a time for money exchange.

• 24:01Lewis Howes?

  Time for money.

• 24:02Rory Vaden?

  So it's the most monetizable in the short term with the least amount of barriers to entry and the least resistance. But it's the least scalable long term. It has the least number of the dares. Digital, automated, recurring, evergreen and scalable. It's not digital, it's not automated, it's not, it can't sometimes be recurring. It's not evergreen and it's not scalable at all. Your calendar is your inventory.

• 24:26Lewis Howes?

  Unless you're now hiring and training other consultants to do the coaching consulting for you. There's a scalability effect, but you can't scale yourself.

• 24:37Rory Vaden?

  True, which is what Brand Builders Group does, right? So, so our team, we have certified personal brand strategists who basically take our frameworks and they run people.

• 24:47Lewis Howes?

  Through the process.

• 24:48Rory Vaden?

  They run people through the process.

• 24:50Lewis Howes?

  And if they want you, they pay a premium.

• 24:51Rory Vaden?

  They do, yeah. Or they come to a, a group, like an event, like one of our little intensive booths.

• 24:57Lewis Howes?

  So this would be, services would be speaking, coaching, consulting, training, masterminds.

• 25:03Rory Vaden?

  Uh, yep, masterminds would be.

• 25:05Lewis Howes?

  Group coaching.

• 25:06Rory Vaden?

  Yep, I would call a master, a mastermind is still a time for money exchange. There's some limit to the scalability.

• 25:11Lewis Howes?

  Would it be workshops too, same thing?

• 25:13Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, like a public seminar would, would still fit into this. Now, to some extent, you can scale them quite far, right? Like, you know, when I first started speaking, my first speaking engagement, I got 50 bucks. Right, my fee today is much higher. There's people, yet even still with speaking fees that are much higher than mine. So you can get a hundred thousand dollars to go stand on stage for an hour. That's fairly scalable.

• 25:34Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 25:35Rory Vaden?

  I mean, but you you still only have so many days a year.

• 25:39Lewis Howes?

  So many days, so many, yeah, so many hours that you can get paid.

• 25:42Rory Vaden?

  So many hours.

• 25:42Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 25:43Rory Vaden?

  Say, now, you know, seminars are a little more scalable.

• 25:45Lewis Howes?

  With someone like John Gordon is a guy who he's making millions every year just by speaking.

• 25:52Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, John Gordon, Jason Dorsey, you know.

• 25:56Lewis Howes?

  They do it full time.

• 25:57Rory Vaden?

  Jay Baer, yeah, that Carrie Lorand, Sally Hogstead. These are people that are making multi seven figures or close to.

• 26:05Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah, at least.

• 26:05Rory Vaden?

  Just in keynote fees.

• 26:07Lewis Howes?

  Then they have their books.

• 26:08Rory Vaden?

  Then you've got books, and then they may have some of these other things.

• 26:11Lewis Howes?

  Consulting or coaching.

• 26:12Rory Vaden?

  But this is where the problem also comes.

• 26:15Lewis Howes?

  Diluted.

• 26:16Rory Vaden?

  Diluted focus gets diluted results.

• 26:19Lewis Howes?

  And so this is when I came to you, so for people listening on episode six seventy, which was really powerful. I came to Rory about a, was it a year and a half ago?

• 26:27Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, it was, it was, yeah, it was about eighteen months ago.

• 26:29Lewis Howes?

  Eighteen months ago, I came to Rory because I was doing all these, I think. I wasn't doing software. What would software be under here?

• 26:36Rory Vaden?

  Uh, yeah, so software would probably set either under information or maybe product.

• 26:40Lewis Howes?

  Got it. Okay, got you. So I guess I didn't have software, but I had membership site, courses, books, audio books.

• 26:47Rory Vaden?

  Self-published books.

• 26:49Lewis Howes?

  Self-published books, live events.

• 26:51Rory Vaden?

  E-books.

• 26:52Lewis Howes?

  E-books, masterminds, one-on-one coaching.

• 26:55Rory Vaden?

  One-on-one coaching.

• 26:56Lewis Howes?

  Podcasts, sponsorships, affiliates, speaking. I was doing it all. Video courses, deals. I was doing everything. And we were doing great, but I remember feeling like I started looking out into the future and I was like, I don't know how to get the financial numbers I want to get to by doing all this. Unless I build a department and a team under each thing that we were doing, so we could scale it all bigger, because I was realizing my time and energy was limited by trying to do everything. At the best level. So we're doing everything at an eighty percent level.

• 27:32Rory Vaden?

  Right.

• 27:32Lewis Howes?

  And that was frustrating me. I was like, ah, but I'm not like the as best as I could be. I'm not living at the highest quality because my energy was diluted, like you mentioned. So I reached out to you and I said, I just feel like Rory will be able to help me. I don't know why.

• 27:47Rory Vaden?

  Which is funny.

• 27:48Lewis Howes?

  You weren't doing any of this before.

• 27:49Rory Vaden?

  Well, no, no. And we hadn't talked in like at least a year.

• 27:54Lewis Howes?

  I don't know why I thought of. So I remember calling you and I was just like, hey, I want to come to Nashville and me, because I think you could help me gain clarity.

• 28:02Rory Vaden?

  In fact, we were just in the process of exiting our former business.

• 28:05Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 28:06Rory Vaden?

  Which did sales coaching, like we were coaching salespeople one-on-one. This wasn't even on the radar.

• 28:10Lewis Howes?

  No.

• 28:11Rory Vaden?

  And then all of a sudden, Lewis Howes calls me and says, hey, you know, can I spend some time with you?

• 28:17Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. And we came down, it was a day, day and a half, two days or something.

• 28:20Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, it was like two days. That's, well, you've been, you've been for three separate two-day sessions.

• 28:25Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 28:26Rory Vaden?

  Plus other stuff.

• 28:27Lewis Howes?

  The first time was like a two-day thing and we just mapped out the vision, the brand identity, the vision, figuring out what is my uniqueness. We talked about this in the last podcast. And it's like really getting clarity on what your uniqueness is as a personal brand.

• 28:42Rory Vaden?

  That's step one.

• 28:43Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. And your vision for your business and your mission and everything moving forward.

• 28:47Rory Vaden?

  Yeah.

• 28:48Lewis Howes?

  Because I felt like we were doing a lot really well, but I didn't know where, how I was going to take it all to the next level. So I was working hard for ten years and it was growing and everything was great. And we were creating new products and opportunities and revenue streams, but it didn't seem clear for the future. I didn't see the clear path. And for me, I'm really good at helping others with a clear vision. And I've always been good with myself of having a clear vision. It was the first time I wasn't clear. And that was a wake-up call where I was like, I need someone else to help see it from a different perspective. So we came, we came to you. Matt was there too, right?

• 29:23Rory Vaden?

  Matt was there, yeah.

• 29:23Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, Matt was there. And we mapped out-

• 29:25Rory Vaden?

  Matt was there the first time and the third time.

• 29:27Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 29:27Rory Vaden?

  He bailed the second time.

• 29:28Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that was the keynote one, right?

• 29:29Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, that was the keynote one, yeah.

• 29:30Lewis Howes?

  And so, we came to you and we mapped out all of the pages. Then we did that, we mapped out all the pages.

• 29:36Rory Vaden?

  Yep, we looked at them on a, we, we took you through something we called the revenue assessment. We gritted them all out.

• 29:41Lewis Howes?

  To figure out what your business model is, based on revenue.

• 29:44Rory Vaden?

  Based on actual data, right?

• 29:46Lewis Howes?

  And so, based on the data of like, we mapped out all of our revenue streams, and I think courses are-

• 29:53Rory Vaden?

  At that time, video courses was your number one revenue stream.

• 29:55Lewis Howes?

  So, we were a video course company-

• 29:57Rory Vaden?

  Yet-

• 29:58Lewis Howes?

  Based on revenue.

• 29:59Rory Vaden?

  It was the, probably the furthest disconnected from your personal uniqueness and your long-term vision-

• 30:05Lewis Howes?

  And my mission.

• 30:06Rory Vaden?

  And your mission.

• 30:07Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, and so that's why I think it was like, gaining that clarity was so powerful to me, it was so eye-opening. So, we had products, we had deals, we had information, we had services, we had a mastermind, and the least revenue generating source was the podcast, was affiliates and, and ads, right? Sponsorships. And we had this kind of aha moment where it was like, wow, really the podcast is aligned to your mission of impacting a hundred million people a week, it's aligned to what you want to do of helping transform the world, and yet it's a thing you're kind of spending the least amount of time focused on. So, we need to figure out how we get a transition and switch it to being number one as opposed to the bottom, right? And that was eighteen months ago, right? And it's been like this transition, and you said, Remy, what'd you say then?

• 30:53Lewis Howes?

  You were like, this doesn't have to change right now, you let go of all these revenue streams now, but in the future sometime, this will need to switch.

• 31:01Rory Vaden?

  Yep, this is, the, the analogy that we use, it's like launching a rocket ship, right? So, when you, when you launch a rocket ship, you have like, it takes everything, like to launch a personal brand and just like make enough money to pay the bills, it's just like, in some ways, it, you're just, you're doing whatever you can do to get the thing off the ground, but then, over the course of time, you should be getting clearer and clearer about where you're going, and those, those side rockets, they have to fall off, and this is the tough decision that you've been willing to make that most people are not, which is, the hard part is not going from bad to good. The hard part is leaving behind good to go chase greatness.

• 31:43Lewis Howes?

  So hard.

• 31:44Rory Vaden?

  And you were, you were literally hitting Sheehan's wall. So if y'all didn't, you go back and listen to the episode six seventy where we talk about Sheehan's wall. You were hitting Sheehan's wall, not from a messaging perspective as much, but you were from a revenue perspective. Your, your team was, was fragmented and fractionalized and spread thin. And when we created that focus, I mean, focus is power, right? Like I talked about this in the Take the Stairs book, that if you put a magnifying glass between the sun and a piece of paper, the piece of paper catches on fire because focus, like literally scientifically, focus is power. If you take the magnifying glass away, nothing happens.

• 32:23Rory Vaden?

  That is very, very much the description of how most, most people's revenue streams are. Is they're, they're, and it's not like you weren't making money. You were making more money than you'd ever made in your life.

• 32:35Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 32:36Rory Vaden?

  But.

• 32:37Lewis Howes?

  But I wasn't breaking through the wall. I wasn't, it wasn't all aligned to my vision a hundred percent. And I felt like I couldn't see a clear path to the future. And that was the challenge. So it wasn't like, life wasn't bad or hard. It was just like, but if I want to continue to grow and make the biggest contribution for my life and have more mission and purpose, I needed clarity.

• 33:00Rory Vaden?

  Yeah. And you, and it was, it was, it was, it's first being clear on your, your dream.

• 33:06Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 33:06Rory Vaden?

  And then it is having the courage to chase it.

• 33:10Lewis Howes?

  And let go of really good things that are already successful, helping people, making money, supporting my team, paying for a lifestyle, all that.

• 33:21Rory Vaden?

  And it's interesting, you know, so, you know, in Christianity, this is kind of a random parallel, but you know, I'm a, I'm a Jesus freak. There's a, there's a concept that is called sanctification. And that it's like, you know, when you, when you become a Christ follower, that's not the end. That's the beginning, even though like that day is when you go to heaven. So that's done, like heaven is a done deal.

• 33:44Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 33:44Rory Vaden?

  But then you go through, it begins a process of sanctification, which is a gradual cleansing, like a, a steady improvement of, not to earn your way to, to, to heaven. So it's not the perfect parallel, but because you're grateful for what you have. Similarly here, when it's like, when you're clear on this vision. The clearer you are on your vision, your long-term vision, the more obvious it becomes what short-term sacrifices need to be made.

• 34:15Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 34:15Rory Vaden?

  And inversely, the amount of our endurance is directly proportionate to the clarity of our vision. So if I can see something clearly, something that I want, something that matters to me, something that I believe in, something that I feel called to, like in your case, it's a calling. As you see that more clearly, then there is a strong connection to the decisions and the choices and the sacrifices that must be made today to forward you towards that vision. So it creates a context for action and discipline to take place. And your discipline engages automatically as a by-product of the vision.

• 34:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 34:57Rory Vaden?

  But if you have a cloudy vision, or if you have too much stuff going on, or you have a clear vision, but you don't spend any time thinking about it, then there is at best a convoluted connection to how the sacrifices and the choices and the decisions that need to be made today forward you towards something you care about. And so you get stuck.

• 35:19Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 35:20Rory Vaden?

  And it's not because you're lazy. It's not because you struggle from a lack of discipline. Most people think, this is really like Take the Stairs.

• 35:26Lewis Howes?

  It's not because you don't work hard.

• 35:28Rory Vaden?

  It's not because you're not working hard. And this is really like right out of Take the Stairs. Is that most people think they struggle with the lack of discipline. They're not struggling as much from a lack of discipline as they're struggling from a lack of vision. And so you have to get clear on that vision first, and then you have to have the courage to chase it.

• 35:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 35:49Rory Vaden?

  And that is freaking hard, especially when you're doing great. Especially when you're already, like in your case, you're already a multi-seven-figure business. So for most people, it's like, why would I, you know, why not just play it safe and play it cool? And the answer is, because that's not what you're called to.

• 36:09Lewis Howes?

  Ooh. That's good. You're speaking some Jesus talk over here.

• 36:15Rory Vaden?

  It's not what you're called to. And that's why, you know, so brand over is one of the things that's, I think, also interesting and sort of unique about us. One of the reasons we got into the space beyond just that you called us randomly at this time in our life where we had this wide open space and then, and you said, you're the one who called us, this is your next, this, next, this, next business. But everybody, there's a lot of people, there's a lot of skills needed to build a personal brand. You know, it's, it's creating content. It is social media. It's building funnels. It's copywriting. There's Facebook ads. There's, there's running webinars. There's marketing automation. There's SEO. There's graphic design. There's video editing. Right? Those are all things that are, you know, probably skills.

• 36:59Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 37:00Rory Vaden?

  But most of the people who teach them, they teach it, and it's a singular tool in the tool belt. And it's like, when you're, when you're a hammer, all you see is nails.

• 37:10Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 37:11Rory Vaden?

  So what we realized is we said, there's nobody in the space sitting on top of all that going, how do we coordinate all this crap in a focused direction to serve the person's mission? Not just how do I get more clicks on my ads or get more downloads on my podcast, but how does this all forward to the mission I am called to live?

• 37:33Lewis Howes?

  So how does someone know which things they should be focusing on? How do they, is it step one, get clear on your mission, your vision?

• 37:40Rory Vaden?

  Well, yeah.

• 37:41Lewis Howes?

  And then?

• 37:42Rory Vaden?

  My first thought was, come work with us for two days. We'll take you through a process. We can go through it now a little bit. So, so.

• 37:48Lewis Howes?

  How do I, how do I know if I'm got, if I'm Twitter rich and money poor, cash poor? Like, so you would say?

• 37:56Rory Vaden?

  Yeah. So let me run you through a few of them.

• 37:57Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 37:58Rory Vaden?

  Okay. So each of these has, has, you know, advantages and disadvantages. For example, products become extremely high margin after break even. So like, once you've sold your break even point of Spanx, everything beyond that becomes extremely profitable.

• 38:14Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 38:14Rory Vaden?

  But. The brand development it takes to get there, the time and the logistical process of manufacturing and distribution and getting it, you know, in the proper places is not an easy feat.

• 38:29Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 38:29Rory Vaden?

  Okay, so there's, you go, one of the things we look at is what are my strengths, right? So it's like, okay, if I'm good at logistics, I'm good at building a brand and I'm good at coming up with product ideas and I'm good at sourcing inventors and people, you know, manufacturers, maybe products is good.

• 38:45Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 38:46Rory Vaden?

  But if I'm not good at that, then maybe I should look at something else. The ads and affiliates, here's who this is great for. If you are great at throwing a party, which is you.

• 38:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 38:56Rory Vaden?

  Right, like.

• 38:57Lewis Howes?

  Getting people together.

• 38:58Rory Vaden?

  Getting people together.

• 38:59Lewis Howes?

  Rowing behind something.

• 39:00Rory Vaden?

  Community, like, let's all like support each other and like if you create community and, and this is, you know, if you're good at creating a bunch of followers and fans and it's like, this could be really great for you because you know how to build an audience, you know how to throw a party. This is one that I realize that I'm not that good at.

• 39:18Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 39:18Rory Vaden?

  Right, like I'm much better at creating content and structure and stuff. I'm not one of the cool kids per se. So I think you and I work well together because you know how to throw a party and, and we know, we do a lot of execution like on the back end, but so if you're not, you know, if social media drives you nuts, ads and affiliates is probably not the right model for you.

• 39:40Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 39:40Rory Vaden?

  Right, because you're not good naturally at building audiences. You should go find partners who are good at building an audience.

• 39:46Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 39:46Rory Vaden?

  And they're going to love you because all the stuff you do gives them a freaking headache and stress and, and adversity.

• 39:54Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 39:54Rory Vaden?

  Information, so information is, is an interesting one. There's a low barrier of entry, which is why there's a lot of people getting into it. But, but one of the challenges is, is there's a lot of very mediocre information.

• 40:06Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 40:07Rory Vaden?

  And what we're going to encourage people to do, uh, you know, is to create true thought leadership, which means.

• 40:14Lewis Howes?

  Intellectual property, IP for yourself, for your own ideas.

• 40:18Rory Vaden?

  Yes, except the challenge that we want to hold people to is to advance the thinking of what's already been done. Not to regurgitate what is already out there in the space.

• 40:29Lewis Howes?

  For example, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, not just saying, here's Maslow's hierarchy of needs, but here's actually what's missing.

• 40:38Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, like here's from self-actualization to others' actualization.

• 40:41Lewis Howes?

  That could be like furthering the conversation that's already out.

• 40:44Rory Vaden?

  Correct, and, and some people may disagree with, you know, could disagree with that or whatever, but that's fine. That's thought leadership. It, it literally means you're spending the time to advance the thinking that has been done, not repackaging and regurgitating, although you can get really far with doing that as well. So, in information, generally, are you tech savvy? Like, if you're not tech savvy, you, you're either gonna have to hire or get a great tech team of people. Deals is kind of a, a special one. That's usually like, once you have a huge platform. Or you have to be extraordinarily talented.

• 41:20Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 41:20Rory Vaden?

  Extremely talented. Services is, is kind of a good one. It's, it's low barrier entry, but again, it's not gonna probably scale.

• 41:27Lewis Howes?

  Scalable, yeah.

• 41:28Rory Vaden?

  So, but it can, it can get you to a point, right? Like, it can certainly get you free of your, the job you hate, or, you know, create more flexibility in your life, or, or whatever. And some people, I mean, this is how I came up, right? My dream was to be a speaker. Like, originally, I never knew what entrepreneurship was, personal branding didn't even exist. I wanted to stand on stage and inspire thousands of people, and so I dedicated like my life to that for a decade.

• 41:54Lewis Howes?

  And get paid to do it.

• 41:55Rory Vaden?

  And get paid to do it, right? And, you know, I still do that some, a few times a month, but, you know, mostly we're helping our, our, our clients now become speakers, and I got two, two little, little kids, and so I'm not wanting to be on the road as much. That would be a good example of a downside, right? It's like, uh, you know, it's ironic, I just got inducted into the Professional Speakers Hall of Fame, and more than ever, I'm, I'm not, I'm doing fewer gigs because I have, I got a toddler and a, and a baby at home. So I don't wanna be on the road seventy dates a year, like, you know, have been in the past.

• 42:28Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 42:29Rory Vaden?

  So there's, there's, there's strengths and advantages, and it's like, what is your team and your staff? Like, what do you love doing? What do you not love doing? The part of your uniqueness, we believe, you know, on that last episode, we were talking about your uniqueness.

• 42:43Lewis Howes?

  Finding your uniqueness.

• 42:44Rory Vaden?

  As a message.

• 42:45Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 42:45Rory Vaden?

  So, so that's what that episode is like, your unique message. But this is, we believe that uniqueness also informs your monetization strategy. Like to use you as a great example, you're great at throwing a party. Look at how the podcast took off, even though it was sort of like an ancillary thing, like it gained all this traction. Imagine what would happen if you went all in, but the reason why people don't usually go all in, actually is because of money. Because they get, they're making good money, maybe better than they've ever done. And so it's a, it's a risk, it's a real risk to go all in, and there's no guarantee that even when you go all in, you'll make more money.

• 43:27Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 43:28Rory Vaden?

  One of the things I love, this is a guy named Craig Valentine, who was one of my mentors and friends, a world champion of public speaking, who mentored me early on. Craig shared this story one time with me, and he, the point of the story was that you have to decide that your dream is not for sale.

• 43:48Rory Vaden?

  You have to come to the conclusion that there is no amount of money that someone can pay me to forego the pursuit of what I am called to. And that takes tremendous courage.

• 44:06Lewis Howes?

  And discipline and courage and everything.

• 44:08Rory Vaden?

  And discipline and commitment and execution, because it's freaking scary.

• 44:12Lewis Howes?

  Scary to let go of certain things.

• 44:14Rory Vaden?

  And it's not guaranteed that it'll work, but, but here's, here's what I do believe firmly, is that if you go all in on a goal, and I've actually, I can think of, I can think of two great examples where I have done this. I went all in and it didn't work out how I thought.

• 44:30Lewis Howes?

  It did not work out.

• 44:31Rory Vaden?

  It did not work out quite how I thought. One of them was winning the world, the world championship of public speaking. As, as everyone knows, you always give me a hard time about, I came in second in the world in the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking, but that was not my goal. My goal was to come in first.

• 44:45Lewis Howes?

  If that would have happened.

• 44:47Rory Vaden?

  Right.

• 44:47Lewis Howes?

  You wouldn't be here.

• 44:49Rory Vaden?

  I may not be here. So here's the payoff. When you go all in on something, if it doesn't work out, you have the clarity and the blessing to know that it's because there must be some higher plan for you.

• 45:04Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 45:05Rory Vaden?

  But...

• 45:06Lewis Howes?

  And you went all in.

• 45:07Rory Vaden?

  And you went all in. You had nothing left. The reason why I didn't go back to do the world championship was because I had nothing left to bring to it. Like, I laid it all on the line. I honestly could not look back and say, "Gosh, I could have done this better, and I could have done this better." In fact, not everyone knows the story. I went to the world championship twice, so I made it to the top 10 the first year and, uh, lost. And then I, but I knew I had more to give. I went back the second year.

• 45:35Lewis Howes?

  With a whole year to plan.

• 45:36Rory Vaden?

  A whole other year, didn't get...

• 45:38Lewis Howes?

  You had the speech nailed, you had the stories, everything.

• 45:41Rory Vaden?

  There was nothing I would change about the speech. The speech could have won. I believe it was good enough to have... But, but here's the thing, it didn't work out. So I go, "You know what? At least I know that's probably because I am, there's something better waiting for me." But if you don't go all in, if you don't lay it all on the line, and then your dream doesn't come true, you don't know if it's because it wasn't meant to be, or because of a much more likely truth, that you didn't show up and, and take the chance. You never took the swing. You never, you never went after it. You never went all in, and so you will never know whether or not you were meant to do it.

• 46:23Rory Vaden?

  And sometimes you're not meant to do it. Like, the world championship is a good example. I, um, thinking about it physically, it'd be like walking down your, your hallway here. By the way, I love your new place.

• 46:32Lewis Howes?

  Thanks.

• 46:33Rory Vaden?

  So, it's like, if I, if I'm walking down the hallway, I have a clear vision of this door at the end of the hallway. And I get there, and that door is locked. But then there is a door to my left that is open, that I could not see when I was down here.

• 46:48Lewis Howes?

  Until you got to the locked door.

• 46:49Rory Vaden?

  Until I went all in. And so, you know, again, this is my spiritual belief, right? Is I believe God is leading me in a direction. And, and sometimes, you know, like if you think about prayers, sometimes when you pray, the answer is yes. Sometimes the answer is wait.

• 47:09Rory Vaden?

  And sometimes the answer is no, but I've got something better. And that is faith, right? Like that is it not not even spiritual faith. That's just faith in the the trust sense of the word is to say, I trust my calling. I trust my heart. I'm willing to take a shot.

• 47:30Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 47:30Rory Vaden?

  And I'm gonna go all in. And if it doesn't work out, I firmly trust that it will lead to something better.

• 47:36Lewis Howes?

  Something greater.

• 47:37Rory Vaden?

  Something greater.

• 47:37Lewis Howes?

  And it put me on a different path that I was meant to go on.

• 47:39Rory Vaden?

  Yeah.

• 47:40Lewis Howes?

  This has happened to me in many areas of my life. I remember I wanted to be a I wanted to go to Ohio State to play football.

• 47:45Rory Vaden?

  Yeah.

• 47:46Lewis Howes?

  Didn't get an offer. They they they said I could walk on, but I was like, I don't want to sit the bench for four years or five years. And so I decided to go to a different school and I transferred to three different schools. And I was a two sport All American and broke a world record. That would have never happened at Ohio State. I got to have all these different experiences and meet people and travel the world and develop myself as an athlete, all these different things. I wanted to go to the NFL. I went to the Arena League and I got injured and it didn't work out.

• 48:13Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, you're so that's a perfect you're a you're a perfect living example of this.

• 48:18Lewis Howes?

  And then I was like, but it led me to.

• 48:19Rory Vaden?

  It wasn't like you weren't all in on football. You were all in on football.

• 48:23Lewis Howes?

  On everything.

• 48:23Rory Vaden?

  You had no other plan.

• 48:25Lewis Howes?

  Zero backup plan, no other skills. I didn't have any other options. It wasn't like, oh, I have all these talents. There's because there's a lot of people will say, I want to do all these things. I have 10 great ideas. I have one idea. Wondering. And so it was hard for me to to not achieve it and be like, well, now what do I do? Because I have no skills.

• 48:47Rory Vaden?

  Right.

• 48:48Lewis Howes?

  And that was like a self discovery period, a transition, a reinvention.

• 48:51Rory Vaden?

  That was Sister's Couch.

• 48:52Lewis Howes?

  Identity. Yeah. What's my identity now? It's discovering my it's going on that journey of like, let me go out and develop some new skills and do speaking and salsa dancing and all these different things, which led me to the next thing, which then led me to the podcast.

• 49:06Rory Vaden?

  Which led you here.

• 49:07Lewis Howes?

  It's led me here.

• 49:08Rory Vaden?

  And you have 100 million people.

• 49:11Lewis Howes?

  150 million downloads.

• 49:13Rory Vaden?

  150 million.

• 49:14Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, 150 million.

• 49:15Rory Vaden?

  Gosh, man.

• 49:16Lewis Howes?

  150 million downloads. That's not people, but that's 150 million downloads.

• 49:20Rory Vaden?

  Well, yeah, my podcast has tens of downloads.

• 49:23Lewis Howes?

  That's great.

• 49:25Rory Vaden?

  It's it is. It's amazing, right? Like you would not be here.

• 49:31Rory Vaden?

  If it weren't for that.

• 49:32Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 49:33Rory Vaden?

  And you had to go all in.

• 49:34Lewis Howes?

  Had to go all in.

• 49:35Rory Vaden?

  If you weren't playing all in, maybe you never get injured.

• 49:38Lewis Howes?

  That's it.

• 49:38Rory Vaden?

  And then maybe you never end up here, right?

• 49:40Lewis Howes?

  Everything.

• 49:41Rory Vaden?

  The blessing, the blessing is not getting what you want. The blessing is going all in for what you, what you think you want. And being open to the idea that.

• 49:53Lewis Howes?

  It may not be for you.

• 49:54Rory Vaden?

  It may not, there may be something better for you.

• 49:56Lewis Howes?

  Better, greater for your purpose, for your life.

• 49:58Rory Vaden?

  And that, so by the way, that in, in the Tic Tac Stairs book, that's, that's the perspective principle of faith. It's the seventh of the, the, the decisions that the, the most disciplined people in the world make. It's choosing to believe that what is happening now is somehow for a greater glory later on. You know, an example of this, we use this illustration as, as a, a flat tire, right? So if I was driving along and I got a flat tire, you know, I would, I'd probably be, you know, most of us would freak out. And be like, oh my gosh, I had this flat tire. And if somebody asked you inside of today, like what happened today, you'd probably tell them about the flat tire. Like that would be a big deal. But you could choose, if you knew that getting a flat tire saved you from being in a car accident.

• 50:42Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 50:43Rory Vaden?

  Down the road, you would completely think about that differently.

• 50:46Lewis Howes?

  Like, I'm so grateful for the flat tire.

• 50:47Rory Vaden?

  I'm so grateful for the flat tire.

• 50:49Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 50:49Rory Vaden?

  And that is how it is.

• 50:51Lewis Howes?

  I missed my flight and then the flight goes down. I'm so grateful I missed my flight.

• 50:55Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, if you, if you, we don't, and then the thing is, is absent the ability to see the entire future. We are entitled to evaluate the reasons why dreams do or do not work out. The only choice that we have is to trust that if I'm called to it, I'm going to chase after it.

• 51:12Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 51:13Rory Vaden?

  I'm going to go after it with everything I can. And if it doesn't work out, something better, something more extraordinary will show up in its place.

• 51:20Lewis Howes?

  And that's why for me over the last 18 months, when we talked about, okay, you're switching the, uh, the pades. And the, and the opportunities to make money, you're going to be switching them eventually where the podcast is the focus. Sponsorships, ads, affiliates will be the primary business model. I was like, but how am I going to get there? I was like, how am I going to let go of these things? And it's been one thing at a time, letting go of. First it was courses and then we just started, we just, last week, we paused the mastermind. We're like, okay.

• 51:48Rory Vaden?

  Have you shared that on the podcast yet?

• 51:50Lewis Howes?

  We haven't shared it yet, but it's like, people have been applying for months to join. Someone who's makes, has got a nine figure business emailed me like the day afterwards and was like. I want to join, right? People that the there's two billionaires that have applied. It's like there's hundreds of applications where people want to be a part of this thing. Then now I'm going to say, you know what? I'm going to put a pause for a year and see how, see how it feels. And go all in on the podcast, go all in on this mission and see what happens. And it's

• 52:21Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hold on a second because we need to back up a little bit because that's a, that's a pretty big bomb drop on people about stopping the mastermind. And I, I think it's important for people to know a little bit about why that happened and what happened behind the scenes because, you know, for those of you that are listening, Lewis and Matt and I, we, we actually been talking for months about how we could help support the mastermind.

• 52:43Lewis Howes?

  Right. Partnering on it.

• 52:44Rory Vaden?

  Partnering on it so that I could help, you know, you and, and AJ, AJ is my wife and, and she's the CEO of Brand Builders. But like our team, how we could come and help carry some of the weight to free you up. We had this whole plan to be like, okay, how can we support this because you love the mastermind?

• 53:00Lewis Howes?

  I love it.

• 53:00Rory Vaden?

  You love the people.

• 53:01Lewis Howes?

  The impact, the growth, everything.

• 53:03Rory Vaden?

  And then we started doing it. So I, at the summit, I was there, led that one. And then a couple of weeks ago, we led another one. And it's so funny, we made this, the decision.

• 53:12Lewis Howes?

  And it was great. It was amazing. It was like growing everything, which keeps making me feel like second guess.

• 53:18Rory Vaden?

  Maybe we should do it.

• 53:19Lewis Howes?

  No, no.

• 53:19Rory Vaden?

  And then even, even the night before, you were going to announce it to the mastermind.

• 53:23Lewis Howes?

  We're up till midnight.

• 53:24Rory Vaden?

  You pulled me into the lobby. We're sitting there at midnight and you were like, maybe we shouldn't, maybe we shouldn't, maybe we should keep it going.

• 53:31Lewis Howes?

  Keep it going because the people are like, this is changing my life. This is amazing. The, the money is great, like.

• 53:37Rory Vaden?

  It was amazing. It was amazing, but it's not your calling.

• 53:43Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 53:44Rory Vaden?

  Your calling is to reach a hundred million of people a week on the podcast.

• 53:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. And impact lives and transform lives.

• 53:51Rory Vaden?

  And to impact lives and, and for whatever reason. That's what your calling is.

• 53:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 53:57Rory Vaden?

  And our job isn't to judge it.

• 53:59Lewis Howes?

  Uh huh.

• 54:00Rory Vaden?

  Our job is to support it. And one of the things that's super powerful is the clearer you are about your calling, the easier it is for people to support you in achieving it.

• 54:09Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 54:09Rory Vaden?

  And you have a shot, like this podcast has a shot to become a monster mainstream, even like more than it is.

• 54:19Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 54:19Rory Vaden?

  To, to, to, to grow exponentially beyond where it is. And that is the thing that you're saying and have been saying ever since I've talked to you, ever since you called me and AJ and we sat down with you and Matt in our home.

• 54:33Lewis Howes?

  Uh huh.

• 54:33Rory Vaden?

  Back then it was in our house.

• 54:34Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 54:35Rory Vaden?

  It was like, the podcast is the thing. And ever since that moment, it's, it's been like a gradual sanctification of going, what do we have to eliminate? Not because we don't like it, not because we don't love the impact, but because I'm called to this one thing.

• 54:50Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm.

• 54:50Rory Vaden?

  And look, for any of you that are listening, if you've ever gotten anything out of this podcast, if you've ever gotten anything from this show, from any episode.

• 54:59Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm.

• 55:00Rory Vaden?

  Lewis doesn't need you to buy something from him.

• 55:02Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 55:03Rory Vaden?

  He needs you to share the episode with everyone.

• 55:07Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 55:07Rory Vaden?

  He needs you to email blast it to your 50 friends and friends, like your Christmas list. He needs you to share it on social media.

• 55:14Lewis Howes?

  Text a friend, yeah, yeah.

• 55:14Rory Vaden?

  He needs you to text a friend, like, we have to get this podcast to a million downloads an episode. That's the next real target. And if we can get this podcast to break through that wall, it, it puts you in a position to, to literally change the world.

• 55:31Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 55:32Rory Vaden?

  Uh, and to, and to be a voice for our generation, like,

• 55:35Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 55:36Rory Vaden?

  of, of, you know, influence and, and interviewing people. And, and that is what we need and that, that, that's what you need.

• 55:43Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 55:44Rory Vaden?

  Because that's what your calling is. Not because anyone told you that, it's because that's what you feel.

• 55:49Lewis Howes?

  And that's why it's like I felt called to call you 18 months ago to be like, I need some clarity because every personal brand is going to get a lot of opportunities. Where I could sell toothbrushes, shoes, like we can sell anything.

• 56:03Rory Vaden?

  You can sell anything.

• 56:04Lewis Howes?

  Once you build an audience and you have people that... Follow you or support you in some type of way, listening, watching. You could really start to sell lots of different things. But you gotta figure out what your calling is and start going all in on that thing. Whether it's a product, or book, or ads, whatever it is. You gotta go all in on it to the point where you know, okay, I've maxed it out.

• 56:26Rory Vaden?

  Right.

• 56:26Lewis Howes?

  Then, I can add the mastermind.

• 56:28Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, if you want, bring it back.

• 56:30Lewis Howes?

  I can do these things.

• 56:31Rory Vaden?

  Right.

• 56:32Lewis Howes?

  But we haven't maxed it out.

• 56:33Rory Vaden?

  You haven't taken the shot.

• 56:34Lewis Howes?

  We haven't taken the full swing.

• 56:36Rory Vaden?

  On the podcast.

• 56:37Lewis Howes?

  We haven't, I mean, we've been consistent for seven years almost.

• 56:41Rory Vaden?

  Yeah.

• 56:41Lewis Howes?

  We've been showing up in a big way.

• 56:43Rory Vaden?

  It's not the school of average.

• 56:44Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it's not like, it's not like we're barely showing up.

• 56:47Rory Vaden?

  No.

• 56:48Lewis Howes?

  But we haven't fully dedicated every ounce of energy from everyone on the team on one thing.

• 56:52Rory Vaden?

  Which is crazy, like, what does that look like?

• 56:54Lewis Howes?

  Going all in.

• 56:56Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, so that boggles my mind that you got here without doing that. That's also evidence that suggests that this is the thing.

• 57:02Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 57:03Rory Vaden?

  Because it's like, who else got their podcast to this size without like, going all consuming in on it?

• 57:09Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 57:09Rory Vaden?

  So it's like, what could it be?

• 57:12Lewis Howes?

  What could it be?

• 57:12Rory Vaden?

  What could it be? So you've gotta take a shot.

• 57:14Lewis Howes?

  So that's, yeah, that's our mission in 2020, is going all in on the podcast.

• 57:17Rory Vaden?

  All in the podcast.

• 57:18Lewis Howes?

  Taking pause in the mastermind. And, um, everything we do has got to support the podcast.

• 57:24Rory Vaden?

  Right.

• 57:25Lewis Howes?

  Like, the goal is to write another book that supports the podcast. The goal is to keep doing the Summit of Greatness, because it supports the community of the podcast.

• 57:32Rory Vaden?

  It's the community of, it's the in-person event that supports the podcast.

• 57:37Lewis Howes?

  So it's like, it makes you, when you get clarity on these revenue streams and what your business is and what your mission is, which is what you teach in all the different workshops at Brand Builders, which I want to talk about in a second, because we gotta wrap up here in a second. When you get clarity on that, then it's easy to say yes and no to things.

• 57:54Rory Vaden?

  It becomes clearer.

• 57:55Lewis Howes?

  Clear, you don't have to say, well, what about this opportunity?

• 57:57Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, it's not necessarily easier, but it's clear.

• 58:00Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, you still want to say yes to everything, maybe. But you start to say, you start to draw a line in the sand and say, I'm no longer doing these things. I'm only doing these things. And that gives you more attention, more focus on the one thing. Which, uh, you know, Papasan and Keller talk about, is like, the book, The One Thing.

• 58:19Rory Vaden?

  The One Thing, yep.

• 58:20Lewis Howes?

  How it supports everything else when you do the one thing.

• 58:22Rory Vaden?

  Great guys.

• 58:23Lewis Howes?

  So what can someone do right now if they've got a personal brand, they want to build a personal brand? You've got, I think, nine different workshops and sessions that help you gain clarity on your brand identity, your focus. Break us down really quick so we, so people can go to you to get this clarity and support like I have in three different workshops I've done with you.

• 58:46Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, so, okay, so Brand Builders Group, what do we do? We help mission-driven messengers build and monetize their personal brand.

• 58:53Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 58:53Rory Vaden?

  And I will say this too, for some of you listening, the best way for you to monetize your personal brand is not to create a course and a book and become a speaker. It's to take your personal brand and direct all those people to the thing you're already doing that is making money, right? To your network marketing business, to your tech startup, to your financial advisory firm, to your accounting services, to your real estate. Like, that's always the easiest thing to do.

• 59:21Lewis Howes?

  Your fitness coaching, whatever.

• 59:22Rory Vaden?

  Right, if you love the thing you're doing, then just use it as a multiplier to drive attention to that. We're big fans of that. Like, we're not gonna, we don't think everybody should become a speaker and that's not, it's not like we have one formula.

• 59:33Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 59:34Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, so we have nine different two-day experiences on all different components of this, and we also do one-on-one coaching as a part of that. So we kind of like have events and then we kind of supplement.

• 59:44Lewis Howes?

  Accountability and coaching along the way.

• 59:46Rory Vaden?

  Along the way, just where people can have a strategist they talk to every single month to keep them on track, and then we have the events where myself and AJ and our strategist are in person, and they're smaller, they're typically like 20, 30 people, they're bootcamps.

• 1:00:02Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. Intensive trainings, bootcamps, getting clarity on the thing you need to work on.

• 1:00:06Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, and we're going through these frameworks, like, you know, a few of them we've shared here, and then we're taking you through exercises. It's not, it's not, it's not like sit and learn, it's a, it's a work. You're doing work on the spot, and the idea is that you leave with stuff done. But um.

• 1:00:23Lewis Howes?

  You've got one on like crafting your, your perfect keynote, on podcasting, on.

• 1:00:27Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, so we have, phase one is called brand identification, finding your uniqueness, which is, we talked a lot about that on episode six, seven.

• 1:00:34Lewis Howes?

  Yep, which is what I did first and gave me the clarity to be here now.

• 1:00:37Rory Vaden?

  Yep, the second one, phase two, is what we call creating your revenue engine. So that's like a lot of the monetization components, we've touched into that today.

• 1:00:46Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:47Rory Vaden?

  Um, we have one, phase three is called high traffic strategy. So that's like, okay, now, now that it's built, now that the house is built, how do I get more people to hear about it?

• 1:00:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:57Rory Vaden?

  Um, so that's, you know, where you get into more like the, the, the, the deep dive into SEO and Facebook ads and affiliate launches and book, you know, book launches and, you know, big, big time stuff. But that's, that's domino eighty-six and people often start there and that's why the whole thing explodes. Cause they're working on domino eighty-six, cause they saw a webinar for it. And it's like, you need to go, that you're wait, you're spending money in the wrong places.

• 1:01:22Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:23Rory Vaden?

  Um, but then, yeah, we have world-class keynote craft, which you came through.

• 1:01:26Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it was great.

• 1:01:27Rory Vaden?

  So that was working on your keynote, you know, the psychology of why people laugh and helping you like get your signature stories down.

• 1:01:33Lewis Howes?

  How to get standing ovations, how to, how to captivate people, everything.

• 1:01:37Rory Vaden?

  And then we have one called full keynote calendar, which is the business of speaking. So, so keynote craft is the art of speaking, but full keynote calendar is how to get booked as a speaker, how to negotiate fees, how to set your fees, like, you know, how does that profession work?

• 1:01:54Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:54Rory Vaden?

  Um, we have one called bestseller launch plan, which is specifically for launching a book or a course or a company, but like, what are the steps to actually execute a launch?

• 1:02:05Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:02:05Rory Vaden?

  And then you went through captivating content was the other one.

• 1:02:08Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:08Rory Vaden?

  Um, we sometimes call it bestseller book outline, which is creating your body of work.

• 1:02:13Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:02:14Rory Vaden?

  What is gonna be the content of the book or of, of the course? So we've got.

• 1:02:18Lewis Howes?

  Which is, yeah, like, help, where you helped me create my own intellectual property and my own thought leadership.

• 1:02:23Rory Vaden?

  Exactly.

• 1:02:23Lewis Howes?

  Stuff like that.

• 1:02:24Rory Vaden?

  Coming up with frameworks and diagrams and stuff.

• 1:02:26Lewis Howes?

  And you're one of the best people that I've met that teaches strategy at a high level to make it simple for someone like me to go execute on and gain clarity. And that's why I love working with you. And we have, um. Anyone listening right now can get a free call with a brand strategist on your team.

• 1:02:43Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, and that's what we love to do is we love to just actually talk to you. We want to hear your story and we have a team, people to actually that want to hear your vision and get on the phone with you. And so we have a special link for you set up for your audience, right?

• 1:02:59Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, LewisHowes.com/brandcall. So if you go to that link right now, you'll see a little video of me and Rory and then a little form to fill out to schedule a time to talk to see how someone on your team can help them.

• 1:03:14Rory Vaden?

  We may or may not be able to help too.

• 1:03:16Lewis Howes?

  You may not be ready for it.

• 1:03:17Rory Vaden?

  You may not be ready for it. I would say this, though, that we, you know, we work with some pretty big name people, like, you know, like yourself, you know, there's other.

• 1:03:27Lewis Howes?

  Other celebrities and influencers.

• 1:03:29Rory Vaden?

  You know, semi-celebrity or celebrities, some big musicians and stuff. But we also work with the person that's just barely beginning, like, doesn't have a ton of money. And so, you know, our program is designed to help you grow you to the next level. So if you feel called to build a personal brand, I feel pretty confident that we can help and we're one of the best in the world. You know, let's just talk about it and if we're not, we'll tell you.

• 1:03:55Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. Yeah, so go to the link, LewisHowes.com/brandcall. Schedule a call ASAP, I'm telling you. Just get me on the phone with the people on your team. They're gonna ask you questions to see where you're at, just to give you clarity. Whether you sign up with something you guys have to offer or not, they're gonna help you gain more clarity just from the free call.

• 1:04:15Rory Vaden?

  Totally, yeah. We walk you through a little framework on the call.

• 1:04:17Lewis Howes?

  Just to see where you're at. So it's gonna be worth it for the call alone. Schedule the call, LewisHowes.com/brandcall and go there right now. Rory, every time I'm with you, we learn a lot, we connect a lot.

• 1:04:31Rory Vaden?

  I got one more thing. I got one more thing we have to share.

• 1:04:35Lewis Howes?

  Go ahead.

• 1:04:36Rory Vaden?

  On the topic of monetization, right? Again, we are all about making money. Like, we don't dislike money, like, we're good at making money, we believe in helping people make money, but at the end of the day, it's about the message and it's also about the messenger. And my pastor Kevin Queen shared something a couple of weeks ago that really just like blew me away. I think it's important to understand that when you talk about making money, there's like a business side of it. It's processes and systems and structure and clarity and strategy, but there's also a personal side of it. There's a big heart side of it. And here's what Kevin said. He said, "Make sure your influence doesn't grow wider than your character runs deep."

• 1:05:19Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, I love this.

• 1:05:20Rory Vaden?

  "Make sure your influence doesn't grow wider than your character runs deep."

• 1:05:25Lewis Howes?

  What's that mean?

• 1:05:26Rory Vaden?

  It means that if you're gonna serve an audience, make sure that you are developing yourself, that you are on your own pursuit of greatness and getting better and integrity and living out what you're actually teaching people to do or promoting to do. It's kind of like having a life that the more people know you, and if they could see every private moment, or if they could hear every private thought, if they could actually hear your thinking, that they would be more impressed with who you are.

• 1:06:02Lewis Howes?

  That's crazy.

• 1:06:03Rory Vaden?

  And it's a high level to pursue too, but the reason it also matters is because if it should happen that your influence grows faster than your character, then you run into problems.

• 1:06:17Lewis Howes?

  Problems.

• 1:06:18Rory Vaden?

  You have all sorts of stuff that comes, all sorts of issues and ego and personal problems, press, media, physical health, and so you have to be developing yourself.

• 1:06:29Lewis Howes?

  I love that.

• 1:06:30Rory Vaden?

  And I think that's one of the things I love about the School of Greatness podcast. It's just like, this is a place that people can come to develop their character, to keep growing in that pursuit, and that's why they need to listen, they need to stay here, and they need to share it, because we need to get to 100 million dollars, we need to get to a million dollars an episode.

• 1:06:49Lewis Howes?

  That's the key. Well, if you guys haven't checked out Roy's stuff, he's got a couple of great books. This one is a game changer, "Procrastinate on Purpose," it's about being more productive and multiplying your time. "Take the Stairs," also a classic New York Times bestseller. But get on the brand call, lewishouse.com/brandcall. Sign up right now. Let me know if you signed up. Take a screenshot after you registered for a call. Let me know so I can support you and keep you inspired. A lot of people have gone through this from the School of Greatness community over the last year.

• 1:07:21Rory Vaden?

  Yeah, a bunch of people.

• 1:07:22Lewis Howes?

  When we did this in episode 670, hundreds of people have gone on calls and so many of them I've seen develop their brand over time and really grow in an amazing strategic processed way that you guys deliver and execute beautifully.

• 1:07:38Rory Vaden?

  Thank you.

• 1:07:39Lewis Howes?

  So make sure you guys sign up for it. You can check out Rory on Instagram, social media, website. You can check it all out, but we have all the information at lewishouse.com/brandcall and the show notes for this episode, we'll have it all linked up there. So Rory, you're the man. Love you.

• 1:07:54Rory Vaden?

  I love you, brother.

• 1:07:55Lewis Howes?

  Appreciate it. Go build your brand, change the world.

• 1:07:57Rory Vaden?

  Woo!

• 1:07:58Lewis Howes?

  Make some money. Let's go.

• 1:08:05Lewis Howes?

  A big thank you to Rory for sharing his wisdom and his insights. This is all the guy does. He works with leaders, influencers, entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants, people looking to build their authority, their reputation, and their brand. If this was powerful for you and if you want more, you can check out the previous episode we did where we talked about different strategies for building your personal brand. And you can also sign up for a free call with his team right now to figure out your goals for next year, to figure out the direction of your personal brand, where you want to go, what you need, what's missing, how to get you to the next level. Go to lewishouse.com/brandcall. Go there right now and schedule a free call with one of their coaches to really help you

• 1:08:50Lewis Howes?

  get clarity on your positioning, on your offering, on your business, on your brand, on where you want to take your mission moving forward. So check it out, lewishouse.com/brandcall. So make sure to sign up for a call right now and also share this with a friend of yours. If you know a coach, a consultant, an author, a podcaster, someone who does therapy work, a fitness consultant, whoever it may be, someone who's got a brand they're trying to build, a personal brand, someone with a small following, a big following, send them this episode to help them get clarity on their business model. On how to monetize their personal brand moving forward. You can be a hero and a champion in their life just by giving them some clarity and some focus and direction. Again,

• 1:09:35Lewis Howes?

  Bill Gates said, only through focus can you do world-class things, no matter how capable you are. You might be saying to yourself, I've got a lot of skills, a lot of talent, a lot of education, but I'm not getting the results I want. It's because you haven't focused on certain things. So that's what this is all about. Make sure to start taking action on this information today. Use this information for yourself and share it with a friend. Tag me on Instagram at Lewis Howes and let me know what you thought about this as well. And a big thank you to you for showing up every single week as we are obsessed with finding the best insights, the best information, the most inspiring people to help you unlock

• 1:10:19Lewis Howes?

  the potential inside of you, to help you grow, to improve in your business, in your career, in your personal life, in your relationships, in your health, and in your mission on this planet. So thank you so much for being a part of this. If this is your first time, please subscribe over on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, be a part of our community and let us know what you think. You can leave a review and we always love to see how we impact the different listeners around the world. Always remember, your focus determines your reality, said George Lucas. And Tony Robbins says, where focus goes, energy flows. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you got a ton of value out of this. And as always, you know what time

• 1:11:01Lewis Howes?

  it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.