667 The Power of Innovation (Coffee Conversation)

“THE KEY IS TO ASSESS WHAT IS AND WHAT ISN'T WORKING IN YOUR LIFE.” Cesar is a recent father and has been by my side pretty much since the beginning. He’s been the business side of my company, helping me push things forward and helping to reign me in when things aren’t working. For this episode, we discuss exactly how you can develop on innovative mindset -- what you need to focus on, and not focus on, to see your business and relationships move forward. If you’re not innovating, you’re standing still. When you stand still the world is leaving you behind. Innovation isn’t about being better than your competition or reacting to what what’s happening around you. Innovation happens before you need to react. Learn how you can be more innovative in all areas of your life, on Episode 667. In This Episode You Will Learn: Why you need to think about reinvesting in the future (6:18) The three things we’ve got coming up (9:27) How you need to think if you want to grow your business (11:09) Ways Facebook is a solid business example (14:04) The power of branding (15:52) Where innovation can come from (17:32) The documentary we’ve been working on (20:49) Our annual event, The Summit of Greatness (24:48) How the principles of business and personal relationships are the same (27:17) The ways investing can give you piece of mind (30:19) What you need to focus on as a business (32:42) 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 667, The Power of Innovation.

• 0:06Lewis Howes?

  Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, 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.

• 0:31Lewis Howes?

  Albert Einstein said, "You can't solve a problem on the same level that it was created. You have to rise above it to the next level." Today, we're doing a coffee conversation with my good man, Matthew Cesarato, aka hashtag Caesar Life, who is the man who runs everything that you see here at School of Greatness headquarters. He's the operations and really kind of keeps everything moving forward at the highest level. And today, we do a little coffee conversation. We've done this a few times. You guys ask us to continue to come back to share more behind the scenes, behind the mind of the way I think, the way we do things as a brand,

• 1:14Lewis Howes?

  and what we're always working on, so you can kind of get that inside look. Today, we dive into how we get involved with our audience and know what to improve on in our business on a daily basis. Also, what area of growth I committed to grow in during this particular episode. Also, why it's more important to focus on your customer than your competition. Big one that Caesar talks about. And where innovation may not work in their business or your life. And how to get clear on what you do as a company, as a brand, or as an individual, which is huge for your future. And before we dive in, Want to give a shout out to the fan of the week. We appreciate you guys so much.

• 1:59Lewis Howes?

  So many of you have left incredible reviews, testimonials over on the podcast app. And this one is from Mark James Lent who said, "This podcast is thoughtfully crafted to tailor to a broad audience. No matter what age, race, gender, financial status, past or future goals, Lewis's content and guests are thought provoking and stimulating. I left the corporate world to launch my own brand, write a book and pursue my best life possible. This podcast is definitely one of my go-tos when I need a boost of inspiration. Thank you, Lewis." So Mark James, thank you, my friend. And again, we've got over 3,200 five-star reviews. If you want to leave one, you'll get a chance of being shouted out as the fan of the week.

• 2:47Lewis Howes?

  All right. Welcome everyone. Coffee conversations with the one and only Matthew Cesarato. When was the last time you came on?

• 2:55Speaker 01

  Months. I think it was months earlier this year.

• 2:58Lewis Howes?

  Cheers it up. When was it? How old was Bella, your baby?

• 3:02Speaker 01

  She was last time, she might've been around six months, seven months. She's almost 11.

• 3:06Lewis Howes?

  Almost a year. July.

• 3:09Speaker 01

  July 28th, she'll be eight.

• 3:10Lewis Howes?

  Wow, dude. Where did the year go?

• 3:13Speaker 01

  It's nuts.

• 3:14Lewis Howes?

  I was there for the birth.

• 3:15Speaker 01

  You were.

• 3:16Lewis Howes?

  She's almost walking.

• 3:17Speaker 01

  That was a beautiful moment.

• 3:18Lewis Howes?

  Beautiful moment. Now she's almost walking.

• 3:20Speaker 01

  She is. She's standing. She's kind of scaling the tables and things and her playpen and all that sort of stuff.

• 3:27Lewis Howes?

  Crazy. And so much has happened in the last six months, but also in the last year. And I wanted to talk about in general, the principle behind innovating your life and innovating your business, and also constantly reinvesting in your future. So now that your baby's almost a year old child. It's like you're thinking about as a dad reinvesting in her future, I'm assuming, right?

• 3:51Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 3:52Lewis Howes?

  It's like you're thinking about, well, okay, we gotta start saving a certain amount for her.

• 3:56Speaker 01

  College 529.

• 3:58Lewis Howes?

  College 529. We gotta start thinking about, you know, where we gotta live in the next four years for her school, kindergarten, preschool, all that stuff.

• 4:06Speaker 01

  That stuff is more real, I think, once you have a child to start thinking about.

• 4:10Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 4:11Speaker 01

  Because as a parent, you're the protector, you're preserving their innocence, you're creating the opportunities that, at least I remember, my parents definitely strove every day to create for me.

• 4:21Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 4:21Speaker 01

  Growing up. I mean, it's just allowing them to have every possible opportunity for growth and dreaming and being a kid, having fun. I mean, right now, she's not even a year and it's just more so focused on just being there, spending time, connecting. I mean, just looking into her eyes every time, every morning, just blows me away. When I'm just seeing her pupils dilate in wonder and awe, it's just, it's beautiful.

• 4:48Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 4:49Speaker 01

  It's pretty cool.

• 4:50Lewis Howes?

  Amazing. She's a cutie.

• 4:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:52Lewis Howes?

  And you've had some, a lot of sleepless nights, so.

• 4:55Speaker 01

  Last night was one.

• 4:56Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 4:56Speaker 01

  Yeah, we ended up having to like, just literally bring her into bed with us, which I know some parents are gonna be like, "No, don't do it." But she just would not go to sleep on her own. She'd fall asleep and the second you do that transition moment into the crib, and we can, we can get into this whole topic of like, child like sleep patterns and how to like, train them to sleep, but we're kinda just going with just instinct right now, Ken and I, so. And, and family always gives you great input because they've been through it first.

• 5:26Lewis Howes?

  Absolutely.

• 5:27Speaker 01

  So, but back to innovating business and life.

• 5:29Lewis Howes?

  Innovate business and life. We've been, one of the things that I like to do a lot is think about the future and what can we invest in now that's gonna be a big payoff for the future? And there's a lot of conversations that I hear from people in our inner circle group or just on social media who are asking me these questions about, you know, "How do I get to where I wanna be?" "Louis, what did you do 10 years ago to where you're at now? Like, how did that happen?" And I've constantly been reinvesting in bigger, scarier projects.

• 6:02Lewis Howes?

  That I believe will pay off. Now, some of them haven't always paid off. We tried to launch a magazine a few years ago and never launched it. We spent all this time and energy investing in design and development and resources and the team and decided it wasn't the right fit at that time. And we put a pause on it. So some things that you invest in or some things that you try to innovate aren't always going to pay off.

• 6:26Speaker 01

  Right.

• 6:27Lewis Howes?

  But I think that innovative mind will always pay off.

• 6:30Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 6:31Lewis Howes?

  Even with a few things that maybe not. So we've been working on a few things lately and we've been talking about some of them behind the scenes a little bit, but I think we'll dive in a little more today. Is it two big things or three big things? Well, we've got three things that we've got coming up. One is, we made an announcement about a month and a half ago about a show that we partnered with on Facebook and it's called Inspiring Life with Lewis Howes and it comes out early August. And again, this has been a year and a half journey, about a year and a half journey.

• 7:03Speaker 01

  It's been exciting and trying. I mean, just watching you just continue to like beat on that door until it just happened. It was really powerful and I think that's the cool thing about what I've seen you create in your life and your business is, you know, and even the podcast, is just this hunger to try new things, see what works, be willing to test and fail, be willing to try and fail, and be willing to ask for the big potential opportunities to happen.

• 7:33Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 7:34Speaker 01

  And Facebook show being one of them, you know, and I don't know how much you've shared or what we can really share about the trajectory of making that happen, but I just remember it was conversation after conversation you would continue to have, connecting with the right people, sharing what the vision and the dream is for the show and how it's going to create an impact for the audience. And that essentially just won out, I think.

• 7:57Lewis Howes?

  Timing, the right time for me, the right time for the platform, the right connections, the right experience. I don't think I would have been ready a couple of years prior to this. For the opportunity. So I think it was my own experience. So a lot of things had to come together. And we'll see how it goes. We'll do a full recap probably in a few months about everything. Once it's come out and all the ups and downs and the amazing things that are coming with it. I've decided that in order to reach my vision of reaching 100 million people, I've got to start accelerating the partnerships in the distribution. It can't just be all me working or just our team working on it. It's gotta be bigger strategic partners.

• 8:40Lewis Howes?

  And being innovative in the process of reaching distribution. Not doing it the way that most people do it, but really just trying to think bigger and innovative. And that's something that we did a year and a half ago. That's taken a long process and a journey, but the goal is it's gonna pay off big time in helping more people, making our brand more larger known around the world. And impacting lives, you know, obviously we want to build our business and grow our business, but really impacting lives. And everything for me has started with the podcast. Like you say, we always go back to the podcast. We're at 70, almost 70 million downloads now.

• 9:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:20Lewis Howes?

  And we launched five and a half years ago. 70 million downloads. And it wouldn't have got there without us being innovative in our approach to investing in the production quality, investing in great people like Tiffany, who's running all the video and the content editing and everything like that. And investing and innovating in the way that we do things. If I would have just kept doing it the same way that I started out on my iPhone, it wouldn't be where it's at.

• 9:49Speaker 01

  Wouldn't be where it's at. No.

• 9:50Lewis Howes?

  We wanted to attract the right people. We wanted to reach the right people. And we want to be building a business.

• 9:54Speaker 01

  You know, I mean, that's essentially what the podcast is about. It's growth mindset. You don't necessarily want to stay where you're at. You have this dream, this goal, this vision that you're looking at. And your dream goal and vision was to impact 100 million people and 100 million lives to living the greatest life. And so every step you took from being on your iPhone that I've seen in that journey. And that was prior to me even coming on, you know, support the business was then going. What's the next step to increase the amount of lives that you can reach and connect with? And those steps that you took were steps that increased the growth. I mean, even, you know, I asked today, is this just gonna be audio?

• 10:37Speaker 01

  And you're like, no, I want to invest in video. I want to invest in the video content because everybody watches TV. Everybody watches content online. And it allows you even this different type of engagement that some people like. So we have people watching the video, people listening to the audio. Now, most of them are listening to the audio. But you've continued to invest in the things that potentially could pay off, potentially could be innovative in your space. And I think podcasters that have allowed themselves to get in the video space have seen that the growth is there.

• 11:09Lewis Howes?

  Right, yeah.

• 11:10Speaker 01

  And that also shows about the Facebook show. I mean, they're focused on creating great video content out there for their audiences with Facebook Watch.

• 11:19Lewis Howes?

  And they're doing an amazing job. We just had a call with their team.

• 11:21Speaker 01

  Amazing, yeah.

• 11:22Lewis Howes?

  And I'm not allowed to share certain things, but they are really innovating their platform.

• 11:26Speaker 01

  So innovative.

• 11:27Lewis Howes?

  You know, look at the growth of Facebook in general, how far it's come over the last 10-plus years. They continue to innovate. And because they're innovating and investing, and they're putting a lot of money into original content and all these incredible shows, and they're putting money into it. They're innovating their platform. Four years ago, I don't even think there was video on Facebook. I think it just started with video on Facebook a few years ago. Now, they're putting a lot of their emphasis on video and original content, longer-form content. And it's paying off. They're getting their users to stick around longer, and it's helping build their business and make an impact. And that was my intention with them, was let's find the biggest distribution partner in the world. You know, they've got 2 billion on Facebook.

• 12:10Lewis Howes?

  They've got, I believe it was a billion active daily members on Instagram. So I'm sure there's cross-promotion there of people who are, you know, Instagram is on Facebook, but there's probably... And then they got a billion, I believe, on WhatsApp.

• 12:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:25Lewis Howes?

  Billion on Messenger or something crazy like that. They've probably got a few billion in their ecosystem.

• 12:29Speaker 01

  I mean, do you remember?

• 12:30Lewis Howes?

  Half the world.

• 12:30Speaker 01

  Do you remember getting on Facebook?

• 12:32Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 12:32Speaker 01

  We were at Capital University. It was like the time that we met. Was the time that Facebook came out. And they were rolling out university after university, and then Capital University was rolled out. And everyone joined, and here we are today. I mean, it's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. And that's...

• 12:49Lewis Howes?

  And they've innovated.

• 12:50Speaker 01

  That's it.

• 12:50Lewis Howes?

  They constantly innovate.

• 12:53Lewis Howes?

  Side note, there's ways to innovate in your life and your business. We're probably going to focus more on the business side of things right here. But, you know, I think of other business models, the ones that, in my mind, correct me if I'm wrong, haven't really innovated that much for a long time. I think of one of the most successful ones here in California, In-N-Out, which has been the same thing for, I don't even know, 50, 60 years or something. I don't know how long they've been around, but they have the same model, same like franchise, I guess they don't have a franchise, it's all family owned. It's like, five things you can order.

• 13:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:29Lewis Howes?

  I don't think they've really innovated that much, but they have lines outside of the building constantly.

• 13:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:35Lewis Howes?

  So maybe there's things they have innovated, I'm not sure.

• 13:36Speaker 01

  I think their brand is just, they've done something with their brand, I think, that is pretty special. I mean, obviously, the product, you know when you have an In-N-Out Burger. I mean, it's just a different taste, different experience. I think what they've done is, they've really just done well with nostalgia, maybe? Because you go in there and you feel like maybe you've taken a blast, you know, stepped back in time and you're just going back to, your grandparents had a burger at this place years before. And there's, I think there's something with nostalgia there with In-N-Out Burger.

• 14:05Lewis Howes?

  It's also just amazing taste.

• 14:06Speaker 01

  It's amazing product.

• 14:07Lewis Howes?

  It's amazing product.

• 14:08Speaker 01

  Amazing product.

• 14:08Lewis Howes?

  So if you've got the best product, you may not have to innovate.

• 14:11Speaker 01

  The vegetarians out there are not gonna love this, but let me tell you, I love In-N-Out Burger.

• 14:16Lewis Howes?

  I haven't had it in a while because I know it's not good for me, but it is so good tasting.

• 14:19Speaker 01

  You're on a health kick, you're trying to innovate your life in a healthy way.

• 14:22Lewis Howes?

  I am, fasting, I've been doing some of that stuff. And it's like, if you want to see growth, you have to innovate. You have to innovate somewhere, do something different to optimize the situation you're in.

• 14:34Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 14:35Lewis Howes?

  So that was just one thing that came to mind, is like, I haven't really seen them come out with new products. You know, like McDonald's comes out with new products all the time. They've got like salads and other things, right? They've innovated their menu. But.

• 14:46Speaker 01

  And innovation sometimes comes from listening to your consumer, your customer, your clients. I mean, that's, I think, where a lot of our innovation as a business comes from. People make requests, you know, podcast guests. I mean, you're connecting through social media. And sometimes, you haven't even known about a person, and you're like, oh, I had somebody mention this person. Wow, interesting. And then you get excited about it, and you're like, yeah, I've never knew this person before this moment. One of my social media followers was like, hey, how about this guest? You follow them, you connect with them, they're on the podcast. I think a lot of it has to do with your customers. I think maybe in In-N-Out, it doesn't have to innovate, because their customers are

• 15:25Speaker 01

  like, we love the product, we're still coming. You give exactly what they want, they expect. And, you know, I mean, they're quick with it. I mean, it's fast food, and they do a great quality of fast food, so.

• 15:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, and there's ways, you know, in business, I think that's the right move. It's like, if you're thriving with your customers, and your business is going up, you don't need to constantly innovate.

• 15:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:50Lewis Howes?

  Until you see requests, a constant feedback. That's why you have like comment boxes at restaurants or whatever. It's like, hey, we want more of this. Otherwise, we're not coming back.

• 15:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:59Lewis Howes?

  And so you have to be mindful of the customer. So I think In-N-Out has done a great job with that.

• 16:03Speaker 01

  Speaking of customers, I mean, I just, I still go back to, there's one person that is obviously innovating at a level as a business owner, and not only as him, but also in how he's, you know, getting his business to continue to innovate, and that's Jeff Bezos with, with Amazon.

• 16:20Lewis Howes?

  It's amazing.

• 16:21Speaker 01

  And, you know, he attributes it to just customer obsession.

• 16:25Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 16:25Speaker 01

  That's what he calls it. We're just customer obsessed. And so, I think, yeah, that's definitely a place where innovation lies. And it also lies in the visionaries, the leaders. Every entrepreneur out there with a dream and a vision. I digress a little bit, but I just know that that, Jeff Bezos and what he's done with Amazon is really focusing on the customer.

• 16:46Lewis Howes?

  They stand out in what they do. Everyone's got Amazon Prime, everyone orders something from Amazon. It seems like they, they innovated by investing in buying Whole Foods, to be able to even capitalize even more customers, and help their customers even more with, with Whole Foods. And so they're making that investment to innovate. And, which brings me back to what we've been doing with the Facebook show, and just. The content we're creating in general, again, we're investing in content because there's so much noise out there in our space. There's so much noise in general out there on social media, on every platform. And if we want to stand out like the Amazon of the industry,

• 17:28Lewis Howes?

  it's like you've got to be willing to invest, acquire content, make different types of content, and create a product that is so great that people have to buy it. You've got to make the product so good. And so that's what we've been doing with this Facebook show. It's like while everyone's creating a YouTube show, or this or that, or whatever it may be, or vlogging, let's invest in something deeper. Let's do deeper work that's going to take longer time, that's going to be harder to do, but hopefully it hits the right thing and spreads through the world, and that's the goal. So we've been doing that with the Facebook show. We also have a documentary that we've been filming and editing for the last, is it a year, year and a half now, almost a year and a half?

• 18:10Speaker 01

  It'll be coming up in a year, yeah.

• 18:11Lewis Howes?

  A year, since we started filming, right? Like in the summer of last year. And that's been, again, an investment in a lot of money, a lot of time and resources, a lot of energy from a lot of people that we've hired in our team as well, going through hundreds of hours of archived video.

• 18:30Lewis Howes?

  Spending all that time and energy.

• 18:32Speaker 01

  Seeing all those boxes of childhood footage and photos, and you know, the pictures your dad took when we were playing football back in the day. It was kind of exciting. It was just cool. I mean, again, talking about nostalgia, just going back and going, wow, look at those pictures of us, you know, in college, playing football, and going through that, going through those archives of actual footage that you had from your family, from yourself.

• 18:54Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 18:55Speaker 01

  Was a fun experience to just kind of go back and, you know, step back in the past for a little bit.

• 19:01Lewis Howes?

  Right. It's been fun.

• 19:02Speaker 01

  But the documentary, I mean, being that that is also something new. I mean, you have to consider new options in innovation. You can't get stuck in your lane so much. And I think that's

• 19:14Lewis Howes?

  And we've never done this. We've never done something like this.

• 19:16Speaker 01

  Never done it. Even the trajectory of you, you know, you started very much in the internet marketing game, network marketing and stuff like that. And you have moved forward to becoming a podcaster and have mastered that.

• 19:29Lewis Howes?

  Writing a book.

• 19:30Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 19:31Lewis Howes?

  Writing books and figuring that process out.

• 19:33Speaker 01

  So you've definitely chosen a lot of verticals rather than just staying in your lane. Just to, I mean, there's just so much variety in options out there. Follow what you're excited about, obviously. And I think that's what you've done and what's served you. And you were excited about a documentary. I mean, your, our business has really thrived around what you rally around and what you get excited about. And doing a documentary that continues to always point back to what the business vision and mission is, the impacting 100 million lives, is always where we kind of rely. It's like the cornerstone. It's like

• 20:06Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 20:07Speaker 01

  Everything that you try to do, everything that you want to start and test and try, kind of falls back on that principle of our business.

• 20:15Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 20:15Speaker 01

  You know, our mission.

• 20:16Lewis Howes?

  Yep, exactly. And the documentary, again, until you do something, it's going to be, if you've never done anything, it's going to be innovative for you. So when I launched a podcast and never done it before, that was innovative for me from being an internet marketer before that. Writing a book was innovative for me because I'd never done that. But the second time I did it, I was already an expert because I'd already done it once, hit the New York Times list. And so we knew what to expect the second time. Same thing with the documentary. This is a new exploration, a new adventure. It's innovative right now until we do it again. And then it's rinse and repeat or it's, you know, little tweaks here and there.

• 20:54Speaker 01

  Which is great.

• 20:55Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 20:56Speaker 01

  If something's working, continue it.

• 20:57Lewis Howes?

  Keep doing it.

• 20:58Speaker 01

  Keep doing it.

• 20:58Lewis Howes?

  Until it doesn't work.

• 20:59Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 20:59Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. You know, I could have continued being an internet marketer and put more time and energy in doing that seven, eight years ago. But it wasn't fueling my soul as well as much. And I wanted to do other things. I want to be creative as well. So we have the documentary that we're going to be The goal is to be shopping it around here soon. We're finishing up the final touches and my intention is that it's going to be on Netflix, featured right front and center. They're promoting it and it's going to be spread around the world. That's the goal.

• 21:28Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 21:29Lewis Howes?

  That's the vision.

• 21:29Speaker 01

  That's what I get excited about that. When you start saying, I want it on Netflix.

• 21:33Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 21:34Speaker 01

  I mean, I rally around that. I get excited about that. Our team gets excited about that, so.

• 21:38Lewis Howes?

  So we'll see. We'll see where things unfold. And then also, the third thing that we've got going on right now is our annual event, Summit of Greatness, which this will be the third year. So it's not innovative in the fact that we've already done it twice, but it is innovative in that we're doing a new, bigger venue and stretching ourselves out of our comfort zone. We've done something twice that's comfortable. We know how to do it. And I think in order for us to continue to reach more people, we had to get a bigger venue because it only held.

• 22:10Speaker 01

  We outgrew it.

• 22:10Lewis Howes?

  It only held a thousand people or something.

• 22:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, we outgrew the venue.

• 22:12Lewis Howes?

  So this new venue holds like 2,500 plus. If you haven't got your ticket yet, make sure to sign up at summitofgreatness.com. It's going to be incredible. Big speakers announced already and we're focused on that as well. That's what, three months away?

• 22:27Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 22:28Lewis Howes?

  Three months away, October 4th through 6th. And we're constantly innovating everything we do in order to make it better.

• 22:38Speaker 01

  Right.

• 22:39Lewis Howes?

  Some things we're doing the same, the podcast. It's a similar thing for the season that we're at right now until we realize we need to do something different.

• 22:47Speaker 01

  I think innovation, I mean, it's also just hearing you talk. It's like you have to be so detail oriented, so micro focused to really just make the most out of everything. When we talk about Summit of Greatness and we get on our bi-weekly calls right now, it's like we really focus on what are those just micro pieces that are just going to be focused on. Bringing such an amazing customer experience. That is just gonna blow people's minds. I mean, that's, you know, that's, those are the words that you use.

• 23:17Lewis Howes?

  Emotional feeling that you give people that they feel like, wow, this is so worth the investment.

• 23:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 23:23Lewis Howes?

  And it's gonna change the trajectory of my life, at least for the next year.

• 23:27Speaker 01

  Right.

• 23:27Lewis Howes?

  There's so many people that have come to the Summit of Greatness. Who build relationships, business partnerships, or friendships, and they've been connected for the last two years as like their best friends.

• 23:38Speaker 01

  Right.

• 23:39Lewis Howes?

  And that's cool to see that we created an experience where people were able to come together and build something greater for their life.

• 23:45Speaker 01

  It's amazing.

• 23:45Lewis Howes?

  And that's the whole point of everything that we do with the Facebook show. Innovating there, hopefully reaching the masses with the content we have there. Our podcast, doing it three times a week. The documentary, the goal will be to just continue to do this in different formats. And then a live experience, again, a lot of the stuff we do is digital, it's all online. And that's the fastest way to scaling. We also want to create that intimacy and connection for a lot of people. Who are willing to make that investment in themselves and willing to make the trip to Columbus, Ohio, so.

• 24:16Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 24:17Lewis Howes?

  Those are the main things that we've been innovating and again, some things are gonna pay off huge. Other things, maybe they're so-so. Some things that we do in the future may not work at all.

• 24:29Speaker 01

  Right.

• 24:30Lewis Howes?

  And I think that is, the key is to assess where you're at in your business or your life. And ask yourself what's working and what's not working. Continue to do the things that are working. The things that aren't working, whether it be your relationship, maybe you need to innovate the way you communicate.

• 24:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:45Lewis Howes?

  To have a stronger relationship. And make your customer, quote unquote, your partner happier.

• 24:50Speaker 01

  That's right, of course.

• 24:51Lewis Howes?

  And make them feel more accepted, or loved, or heard, or seen.

• 24:55Speaker 01

  And you both have to come up with a vision for your lives.

• 24:58Lewis Howes?

  Absolutely.

• 24:59Speaker 01

  You know?

• 24:59Lewis Howes?

  The vision's gotta be aligned for both people.

• 25:01Speaker 01

  You don't have to sit there and go, oh, it's like a business. No, it's, but the same principles apply. You know, I think that's what.

• 25:07Lewis Howes?

  Innovating and investing, investing in the relationship, investing in your ability to communicate better, or. Let go of things better, whatever it may be.

• 25:16Speaker 01

  Still connect, even though, you know, my wife and I have the most amazing addition to our family, to our lives. It doesn't mean that that needs to be our sole focus. We still have to give time back to each other. Invest time in order to continue to innovate our relationship to being the best relationship that we want.

• 25:34Lewis Howes?

  Because you're at a different stage now. You were in the honeymoon travel phase the first couple of years, then living together phase.

• 25:41Speaker 01

  It's a lot easier when all you have to do is focus on each other.

• 25:44Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 25:45Speaker 01

  You know?

• 25:45Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, so as human beings, we get to invest and innovate in our personal lives and our business lives or our career lives or job lives if we want to reach greater results in the future and if we want to keep growing. And if we aren't innovating or investing in our future, it's going to be challenging to grow. And I think that's where I see a lot of people struggling is when they feel a lot, they're like they're stuck. They feel like they're not growing. They're not seeing any progress in their dreams or in their vision or their goals. And that's why it's important to invest. Like you were just saying to me yesterday, like you should, you were telling me that I should invest in a vocal coach to say, you know what, you're going to be doing a lot more TV.

• 26:29Speaker 01

  Christine, our producer, had brought it up to me multiple times. And I was, I was like, yeah, I think that'd be a great opportunity.

• 26:34Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. And so I'm like, you know what, at a new stage of my life, if I'm going to be on TV a lot more, I should do it. So we're starting that track.

• 26:41Speaker 01

  It's a place for growth.

• 26:42Lewis Howes?

  Absolutely.

• 26:42Speaker 01

  It's an opportunity for something new to come out you didn't see. I mean, that's again, innovation. Focusing on something, only one thing for so long isn't always, it's going to get you right to be focused on that one thing. But open yourself up for other options and possibilities in your relationship, in your business. And we haven't even shared the other options of innovation that you and I consistently talk about. I mean, potential production company down the road. I don't want to speak, you know, too much about the things that we continue to talk about privately and dream about, but I mean, there are exciting opportunities. And I think it also just gets you hungry to be focused on. More than just one thing.

• 27:25Lewis Howes?

  That's it.

• 27:25Speaker 01

  You know, it gives you the option to dream in other areas. Business, life.

• 27:31Lewis Howes?

  Health.

• 27:32Speaker 01

  Health.

• 27:32Lewis Howes?

  Relationships, yeah.

• 27:33Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 27:34Lewis Howes?

  By investing and innovating in your daughter's life right now for her future, it gives you much more peace of mind knowing that in seventeen years when she goes to college, you have, the innovation and the investment has paid off.

• 27:51Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 27:51Lewis Howes?

  That's a very delayed time. You know, I'm thinking more of a year, two years out in our business. Like, what's the investment we can make right now that's gonna help us next year?

• 28:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:00Lewis Howes?

  In the future years.

• 28:01Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 28:02Lewis Howes?

  But that's.

• 28:02Speaker 01

  And just talking about what you just said, you don't wait to contribute to college or wait to save until the time when you need the savings. Innovation is not about that. It's not reactionary. It's not reactive. It's prior to having to react. It's thinking before you act.

• 28:21Lewis Howes?

  Mm-hmm.

• 28:22Speaker 01

  Of opportunities that, you know, lie out there in the future. So, yeah, I think, and I'm not saying a college savings is innovative.

• 28:31Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 28:32Speaker 01

  But, you know, I think it obviously works. People are doing it because it works. It allows you the comfort now to know that there's gonna be something in the future. And not having to be reactionary where it's time for college, we don't actually have anything. We didn't spend the time.

• 28:48Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 28:48Speaker 01

  To be diligent with our savings. So, I mean.

• 28:53Lewis Howes?

  That's it. That's the key. And again, for me, we work with our Mastermind members, the Greatness Mastermind. And this is something that I talk about with them when we do our quarterly meetings is just, you know, what are you doing right now that's going to invest in something greater for your future? That's going to help your business? You know, we focus on business a lot in that Mastermind. What's the thing you're gonna invest in now that's going to make you stand out from everyone else in your own industry? So that you're. Customers will notice you, they're gonna see you standing out by yourself, and they're gonna start coming to you and seeing what your products and services are, what you have to offer. And they're gonna start paying more attention because you're different and you're innovative. And when you do that, you're gonna attract more customers, your business is going to thrive.

• 29:38Lewis Howes?

  And that's the key, is figuring out how do we innovate to stand out. And when you can stand out and offer a great product, whether it be business or personal life, if you're a great human being, you're going to attract the life you want and the business you want, and you're gonna continue to see growth. So that's what I wanted to talk about today. Anything you wanted to add on top of that to finish it?

• 29:58Speaker 01

  No, I think, really, again, as far as a business, focus on your customers. I think you can't go wrong with that space. Listen to them. If you have a customer support team out there, connect with them, talk to them, be willing to see what's going on, on the micro level. Be focused on those details, because those details are important. They do lead to innovation. I would say that. Watching you, you really weren't driven by focusing on your competitors, because I think businesses can really do that. You can be so focused on what your competitors are doing and trying to do what they're doing. I think, I've never really seen you do that. You continue to run your own race, and I think that is a necessary thing.

• 30:43Speaker 01

  You can get too bogged down with focusing on your competitor, and it leads to no innovation in your space. Stand out beyond your competitors, focus on that, rather than just focusing on living up to your competitors, you know?

• 30:57Lewis Howes?

  And copying them, or?

• 30:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:59Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. What's the one thing that you noticed that I could be more innovative in?

• 31:03Speaker 01

  Hmm, that's a tough question.

• 31:09Lewis Howes?

  Maybe you've told me, or you haven't told me before.

• 31:11Speaker 01

  Um, going where you're uncertain about yourself, going where you're seeing the most problems for yourself. I don't, I don't know what that is.

• 31:23Speaker 01

  I think business-wise, we're pretty connected on that.

• 31:25Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 31:25Speaker 01

  You know, and I know we're connected very close as personal friends as well.

• 31:30Lewis Howes?

  But okay, business-wise, what are we not doing that we can be more innovative in? Or do you feel like we're doing too much innovation? Because there's a balance of that, too. It's like, you don't want to be constantly innovating.

• 31:43Speaker 01

  Right.

• 31:43Lewis Howes?

  And not focusing on what's working.

• 31:45Speaker 01

  I think what I just said about focusing on competition and what they're doing, seeing what everybody's doing, trying to duplicate the next thing that everybody else is doing. I'm not saying don't do that, but don't get so hyper-focused on that.

• 31:59Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 31:59Speaker 01

  You know, what's going to work for your business? Get to know your business. Focus on us. Let's look inwards. We have the answers here. And the answers lie in our customers, in my opinion.

• 32:10Lewis Howes?

  That's it.

• 32:11Speaker 01

  Continue to focus on relieving that pain point when it has to do with what we're teaching in their businesses. Relieving that pain point when we're, you know, bringing on guests for the podcast that are speaking on whatever topics: health, wealth, relationships, spirituality. Going where the customer requests are, you know, is really supportive.

• 32:32Lewis Howes?

  That's it.

• 32:32Speaker 01

  And I would say for you, not being so reactionary, maybe. I mean, you have such a vast network, and they give you tons of information and intel. And it's tough to sift through that, because it sometimes takes eyes off the ball.

• 32:48Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, absolutely.

• 32:50Speaker 01

  And we've done that a lot in the past three years, I think we know. Like, something looks exciting and seems to be...

• 32:56Lewis Howes?

  You're chasing it.

• 32:57Speaker 01

  Somebody has enrolled you into seeing something that they're currently doing that you have to do.

• 33:03Lewis Howes?

  Some of those things have paid off, some of them have not.

• 33:05Speaker 01

  Some of them certainly have not, and some, yeah, absolutely.

• 33:07Lewis Howes?

  Paid off big time.

• 33:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, of course.

• 33:09Lewis Howes?

  It's really getting excited about something, but also giving it a beat and not rushing it.

• 33:15Speaker 01

  Taking a moment, assessing it as it relates to your business.

• 33:19Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 33:19Speaker 01

  You know, and connect with the team.

• 33:21Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 33:22Speaker 01

  Outsource that opportunity to say, "Hey, guys, what do you think? Allow me a minute to check in with the team and say, 'What do you guys think about this opportunity?'" Rather than, "Hey, guys, this is what we're doing."

• 33:32Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 33:32Speaker 01

  "I just talked to Louis an hour ago, and let's just do it."

• 33:36Lewis Howes?

  That's it.

• 33:37Speaker 01

  So.

• 33:38Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, so being mindful and patient as well of the innovation.

• 33:40Speaker 01

  I see that the most loving way because again, some of the most amazing things for our business happened.

• 33:45Lewis Howes?

  Because of that, yeah. Let's go now. We're doing this.

• 33:47Speaker 01

  You're gonna, you're gonna be resistant, Matt. You're not gonna wanna do this, but I do. I'm gonna tell you about it. I know you're gonna say no, but I wanna do it.

• 33:57Lewis Howes?

  What's the thing that I've done over the last, because how long you been with the, with, running the business now? Was it three years?

• 34:03Speaker 01

  Early 2015 before the School of Greatness book launch, so.

• 34:07Lewis Howes?

  So.

• 34:08Speaker 01

  It's over three years.

• 34:08Lewis Howes?

  Over three years.

• 34:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:10Lewis Howes?

  Almost three and a half years. So what's the thing, if you can think back to the beginning, that I've done where I'm like, we're doing this? That.

• 34:17Speaker 01

  I think I killed the magazine, to be honest.

• 34:19Lewis Howes?

  I think you might have, but I said okay.

• 34:21Speaker 01

  It was coming on board and I was like.

• 34:23Lewis Howes?

  This doesn't make sense.

• 34:24Speaker 01

  And I think it serves us because we just did some coaching about our business, focusing on our business goals, where we see our business going. And identifying what business are we in? And right now, we identified, we're in the podcast business.

• 34:35Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 34:36Speaker 01

  So.

• 34:36Lewis Howes?

  We're in the show business.

• 34:37Speaker 01

  We're in the show business.

• 34:38Lewis Howes?

  Create a show.

• 34:39Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 34:40Lewis Howes?

  And then that trickles down to everything else that we offer.

• 34:43Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 34:43Lewis Howes?

  Our products and services.

• 34:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:44Lewis Howes?

  But the show is the main driving force. It's what's build the audience, and what connects the audience, is what offers value to the audience. And then our products, services, events, books, you know, mastermind are the things that we sell.

• 34:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:59Lewis Howes?

  To keep our business going.

• 35:01Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 35:02Lewis Howes?

  And allow us the resources to create the value to spread to the audience.

• 35:06Speaker 01

  Necessary. You wouldn't be able to start the podcast if it wasn't for the resources you gain.

• 35:11Lewis Howes?

  From a previous business.

• 35:12Speaker 01

  Your previous businesses.

• 35:13Lewis Howes?

  That's it.

• 35:13Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 35:14Lewis Howes?

  Good feedback, good advice. So think about, in your business or your life, where you can innovate. Think about the place where the most pain is, where you're struggling the most. The skill that you can master to innovate in that space, so you don't have that pain anymore. If you have a business, think about what your customers are saying they want more of, and figure out a way to innovate and invest in offering that solution for them. If you haven't followed our Facebook Watch page, where the, the launch of our Facebook show will be, you can follow me on facebook.com/LouisHowes. Go follow that. We'll have it linked below in the YouTube video. If you haven't bought a ticket to the Summit of Greatness, go to summitofgreatness.com. We'd love to see you there. It's gonna be an incredible experience.

• 35:59Lewis Howes?

  Mind blowing. Get ready. It's our favorite week of the year. And.

• 36:05Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 36:07Lewis Howes?

  That's it. That's it. That's it. Coffee Conversations. Matthew Cesarato. Get back to work. Appreciate it. Let's get back to work.

• 36:19Lewis Howes?

  There you have it, my friends. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Thank you so much for being here. Again, all about the power of innovation. If you're not doing things to evolve and grow and learn and develop new strategies for growth in your life, then you are slowly declining and you are not innovating. So make sure to share this with your friends, lewishouse.com/667, all on the power of innovation. And again, tag me on Instagram, @lewishouse, on Twitter, Facebook, all the great places that you like to hang out online. And as Albert Einstein said, "You can't solve a problem on the same level that it was created. You have to rise above it to the next level." That's what this is about, guys.

• 37:02Lewis Howes?

  Doing something different, innovating your life. Be different than the normal individual in the world. Continue to be a stand for a higher standard in your life. This is your life. You've got an opportunity to do something incredible with it right now. And as always, you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.