821 Coffee Conversations: Building The School of Greatness Empire

IN CHARM WE TRUST. How do you enroll people in your vision? How do you ask for more than what your limiting beliefs think you deserve? How do you accomplish dreams even though you feel unprepared? It’s all about pushing past what you think you can do. You have to ask. And you need to surround yourself with people who will help you accomplish the impossible. The School of Greatness wouldn’t be what it is today without the help of my executive team. On today’s episode of The School of Greatness, I talk about the journey of The School of Greatness with my friend and COO Cesar and my amazing assistant: Sarah Livingstone. Sarah Livingstone has been my assistant for the last six years and is now moving on. She doesn’t love the spotlight, but I wanted to stretch her by having her as a guest on The School of Greatness. She says the keys to being a great assistant are thinking three steps ahead of others and believing in the message. So get ready to learn more about Sarah and how The School of Greatness has become what it is today on Episode 821. Some Questions I Ask: What’s been the biggest lesson from the last four years? (11:00) What was the highlight of the second your for you? (29:00) What advice do you have about being a great team player? (35:30) Who was your favorite guest on The School of Greatness? (43:00) Was there ever a time you wanted to quit? (46:00) What advice do you have for me moving forward? (56:00) In This Episode You Will Learn: The story of how Sarah and I met (15:00) About the “champagne” story (19:00) Sarah’s highlight of the six years (24:00) About the evolution of Sarah’s mindset (40:00) What’s next for Sarah (1:00:00) For videos, show notes, and much more go to www.lewishowes.com/821 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 821 Coffee Conversations with my internal team on what it's been like building the School of Greatness empire. 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. Margaret Mead said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world.

• 0:43Lewis Howes?

  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Mother Teresa said, "None of us, including me, ever do great things, but we can all do small things with great love, and together we can do something wonderful." We've got another Coffee Conversations back on the School of Greatness podcast, and usually it's just me and Caesar. Matt Cesaratto, who is my head of operations, really just runs the business and runs everything here at School of Greatness HQ. It's usually us sharing behind the scenes of what's been working, what's not working, the strategies, the mindset, how we think about things.

• 1:25Lewis Howes?

  And today, we're bringing on a very special guest, Sarah Livingstone, who is my former executive assistant. She supported me for the last six years from really the beginning of the School of Greatness podcast. She was around when it just started. She managed my life, travel, schedule, booked all the podcast guests. She was chef with me for a while. She's done everything you can imagine. Stylist, whatever it may be. She showed up, event planner, running masterminds, you know, pretty much anything you can think of. She is superwoman and has done it. And prior to working with me, she was an international realtor, property manager, lived

• 2:09Lewis Howes?

  all over the US and Guam. She's a proud Midwesterner from Wisconsin and now based in San Diego. She's been an incredible gift to my life and to this brand, to this, this mission of the School of Greatness to really help. The world, impact people, live a better life, help people heal from past, have more loving, meaningful relationships, purpose, mission, all that. She's been a part of it. We wouldn't be here without her. And so we brought her on. She's pretty shy. And we brought her on, got her to open up a lot about, you know, reviewing everything from the last six years, what she's done with me, what's worked,

• 2:54Lewis Howes?

  all the adventures in business, the highlights. We kind of cover everything from the early years till now. The power of building the right team, we talk about, the drive to connect with our audience and how out of it, the summon of greatness was born. We talk about effort versus skill and which one always wins. And she shares things about me that I never heard that I think you might be interested in hearing as well. So get ready for this. I'm excited about it. Before we dive in, all right, guys, I'm excited about this conversation. The Coffee Conversation with Caesar and Sarah.

• 3:34Lewis Howes?

  All right, welcome everyone to Coffee Conversations. Cheers it up. Yes, we've got Caesar and a special guest, Sarah Livingstone in the house.

• 3:45Speaker 01

  The lovely Sarah.

• 3:46Lewis Howes?

  The stone of the living, the living of the stone. Sarah has been my assistant for the last six and a half years or six years?

• 3:54Speaker 02

  Six years.

• 3:55Lewis Howes?

  Six years, three days ago? What's your start day, right?

• 3:59Speaker 02

  Monday.

• 3:59Lewis Howes?

  Monday, well, it's 17th, June 17th, right? And it's June 19th while we're recording it. And you're, you're leaving us. You're leaving us forever. You're moving on to, you're moving on to a new adventure in your life. And it's been an amazing six years. So thank you for being here.

• 4:19Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 4:19Lewis Howes?

  We thought we'd have you on and give you one final challenge. Your biggest challenge to come on the show because you don't like being on camera. You don't like speaking in front of people. So we get to constantly help her grow and challenge her to become a better person.

• 4:34Speaker 01

  But you're so great at it. And that's the thing. No, no, you have such humor and wit.

• 4:39Lewis Howes?

  When she speaks at the Masochist, I never know then.

• 4:41Speaker 01

  People love it. People love it. When they get to know you, it's just like,

• 4:46Speaker 02

  I have successfully dodged every camera.

• 4:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, photo.

• 4:50Speaker 02

  Photo.

• 4:51Lewis Howes?

  It's amazing.

• 4:52Speaker 02

  You have for six years. I mean.

• 4:55Lewis Howes?

  Six years. So when you first came in, I was looking for an assistant six and a half years ago, and I was asking everyone. I don't know if I asked you, Matt, if I was asking you, but...

• 5:05Speaker 01

  I remember that when you were looking for an assistant, for sure, because I've seen the previous assistants before that, too.

• 5:10Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 5:10Speaker 01

  I saw the struggle you had right before Sarah.

• 5:12Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, I had a couple.

• 5:13Speaker 01

  This is before I came on the business. So I remember seeing that struggle, and I think, I don't want to get into that, but I think you wanted somebody who was all in and dedicated, and you were finding people that were like, part-time and half in and half out, and that was a struggle, so...

• 5:26Lewis Howes?

  And I was like, this is what I need. I need someone who can do anything at all times. I was like talking to everyone, I was like, someone who could cook, who can run around, who can see, who can like sew things, anything, right? And I was telling all my friends and my chiropractor time, Trish, she, I was telling her, and she was like working on my back or something, and she was like, I think I know someone in Utah. And I go, get her on the phone, let's get her out here. And I was telling her all the details of what I wanted, and she was like, yes. Then you came out for a visit, I think, like a week or two later?

• 5:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, well, I was scheduled to come out because I was looking for, I was coming out to interview massage therapy schools.

• 6:04Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 6:05Speaker 02

  And I just happened to be in town, and then we set up the...

• 6:08Lewis Howes?

  It was like a week or two later.

• 6:09Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was, the timing was perfect, yeah.

• 6:12Speaker 01

  Were you and Trish gonna like go into business together? Because Dr. Tricia Smith is like crushing it right now with Wim Hof method.

• 6:17Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, she was just getting started. She was like maybe a year.

• 6:20Speaker 01

  Well, she was a physical therapist, and she was working on your wrist, right? Because you had that...

• 6:25Lewis Howes?

  Wrist, but also just my back, everything, like, because I was doing all that CrossFit then, so I was getting injured.

• 6:30Speaker 01

  You were telling me, she was the one who literally gave you the mobility back in your wrist.

• 6:34Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it helped.

• 6:34Speaker 01

  From the injury that you had in arena football.

• 6:36Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it helped. I mean, it's still limited, but she helped a lot.

• 6:39Speaker 01

  Sure, yeah.

• 6:40Lewis Howes?

  We met at Earth Bar.

• 6:41Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 6:42Lewis Howes?

  You remember that?

• 6:43Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 6:43Lewis Howes?

  And she was super nervous then. We met there, and I was asking you questions, and you were like, I'm gonna come and do this massage school, and then I'll work also part-time or something? Is that what you said?

• 6:55Speaker 02

  Well, I was coming, I was just gonna come to LA to do the school, and then go back to Utah. And then...

• 7:03Speaker 02

  You enrolled me.

• 7:04Lewis Howes?

  I convinced you it was. I said, come on. And you were like, nah, I'm gonna go to school. But weren't you gonna work and go to school at the same time?

• 7:10Speaker 02

  Not here. I was just coming to go to school and I was staying with Trish while I was going to.

• 7:14Lewis Howes?

  But then when you came on board, you were also like, I'm gonna go to school at the same time.

• 7:18Speaker 02

  I think I was gonna try it out to see how it.

• 7:21Lewis Howes?

  And then two weeks later, you were like, yeah, never mind.

• 7:22Speaker 02

  Well, you were a full-time job.

• 7:24Speaker 01

  I didn't know this. The cool thing I'm hearing right now is like, you're saying Louis enrolled you hard.

• 7:30Speaker 02

  He totally interrupted what I was.

• 7:32Speaker 01

  If people don't know, like, the second you meet Louis.

• 7:34Lewis Howes?

  She had a vision.

• 7:34Speaker 01

  It's like a tractor beam. You just can't get out.

• 7:36Speaker 02

  You're in, you're.

• 7:37Speaker 01

  You are in.

• 7:38Speaker 02

  Nope.

• 7:39Lewis Howes?

  She had a whole nother plan and I just said, no, I need you here. And you were resisting for a while, I remember. And then you were like, okay, never mind. I think I kept telling you, I was like, what do you want to do? Like rub old men like all day long?

• 7:51Speaker 02

  Nope.

• 7:52Lewis Howes?

  I was like, half naked old men, like hairy bags.

• 7:58Speaker 01

  I can hear that.

• 7:59Lewis Howes?

  Is this what you want to do for the next 10 years of your life? Nothing wrong with that. I mean, hey, or do you want to go change the world or something like that? I think I said something like that. So I'm glad you came on board. It's been six long years. No. It's been amazing. And we have a timeline of a lot of things I want to talk about. And then we have some questions from our inner circle members for you. But I'm curious, before we get into all this, what's been the biggest, biggest lesson of the last six years for you while being part of the School of Greatness? Whether it was just me and you in the beginning, or as you've seen the team come and grow, and some people come, some people leave, what's been biggest growth for you in six years?

• 8:41Speaker 02

  I would say just that reaffirming that everything and anything is possible. That you've stretched me to get outside of my comfort zone when, you know, if I'm negotiating something on your behalf, like, if for me, I would never ask those questions or never push that hard or never ask for a deeper discount or, you know? And so you've stretched me to.

• 9:09Speaker 02

  You know, get outside of my comfort zone and, you know, knowing that there's always a way, there's always, you know, a lower price or, you know, a better deal. And I would have limiting beliefs or like, there's no way, there's no way that, no. And, you know, in charm we trust. And sure enough, you ask and Most of the time you figure it out. Yes, it would, it would have blown me away. So just a reminder.

• 9:39Speaker 01

  In charm we trust.

• 9:41Lewis Howes?

  What's an example of something you asked for that you didn't think was gonna happen? Did you think of anything?

• 9:48Lewis Howes?

  Anything specific come to mind?

• 9:49Speaker 02

  I think, these aren't really big ones, but I think more, just being more recent history is negotiating for the events and venues and but man, from rent, finding apartments or, I don't know, I'm trying to think. There's been some big ones where I'm like, no way. And I'm like cringing having to even ask the questions and

• 10:12Speaker 01

  See, something's come up for me because, you know, Louis says, and you always repeated this to me. Louis's way of requesting anything from anybody is, and it starts like this, and literally if you have a pen and paper right now, use this because it works. And you go, and your request comes in the form of, what are the chances? And then you leave that little ellipsis, dot, dot, dot. What are the chances, based on what you're saying is possible? What are the chances we can double or triple or think outside the box or come up with some crazy, outlandish idea or dream and make it happen? And it just pushes people that much further to see what's outside of their, because people typically, they want to stay in the comfort zone.

• 10:57Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 10:57Speaker 01

  I mean, I'd see myself doing it and I just continue to want to push. And I think, again, we always go back to like the athlete mindset. And I actually have a question for you. What has been like working with us as well in this dynamic? Because, I mean, I came on a couple of years after you, but I know it's, it's like, this athlete mindset is like, let's just push. Let's see what's possible. Let's not be afraid to ask. Let's get fear out of the equation right now and just go for it. So, I don't know. Back to you, I just have to say that literally this coffee conversations for me is just a straight out celebration of you. Because I have to say The ripple impact you've had on me, on the podcast, on Lewis, on the entire team.

• 11:37Speaker 01

  I mean, Tiff's sitting here. I just know everybody. We say this as a term of endearment for you. You're the HBIC, which is the head bleep and charge. Insert whatever you want to insert. But I have to say, like, the two things that come to mind about you that just have made such an impact on this business are thoughtfulness and effort. And every part of the way and everything that you do is done with such thoughtfulness and care as if it was like your family.

• 12:05Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 12:06Speaker 01

  And then it's just the effort to just do what it takes. Make that extra ask. Take yourself out of the comfort zone. I mean, the first story you told me about how you guys met and the first ask, I have to start there because I want to talk about that for a second.

• 12:21Lewis Howes?

  This was day one.

• 12:21Speaker 01

  If you're willing to, day one.

• 12:23Lewis Howes?

  Day one, June 17, 2013.

• 12:26Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 12:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, I get a text from Lewis. What are the chances you can pick up some shaving cream and razors? I'm like, okay, I could do this. So, brand new to LA. Go to the CVS down there.

• 12:39Lewis Howes?

  You just moved like two days before, the day before.

• 12:40Speaker 02

  Yep. Go to the sketchy CVS, get stuck in the elevator. Pretty sure someone had just peed in it before I got in. Stuck in the elevator. I'm thinking, oh, my gosh. I told him I'd be right there and I'm stuck in this elevator. Finally get out, rush to get the shaving cream, the razors, rush over to your house and knock on the door. He answers. Nothing but a bathrobe. Proceeds to tell me he needs to shave his entire body. I'm like, okay, it's gonna be an adventure.

• 13:12Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 13:12Speaker 01

  So, fill everybody in on what you're doing.

• 13:14Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, at the time, I was part of an emotional intelligence workshop with Chris Lee in LA and we had to do an experiment to essentially shed our ego and dress as something that we would be completely uncomfortable being seen as. And for me, that would be a girl at the time, right? So, he said, okay, you need to shave your whole body, makeup, put a wig on, like, wear heels, wear skirt, everything. So, this was an experience in a workshop that I was going through. This isn't like daily life. And she just happened to be there the first day that it was happening. And I needed something right then. I didn't have a shaver because I was always trimming my face with clippers. So, I needed like to razor it. So...

• 13:54Speaker 01

  Do we have a picture of this that we could like post on the show notes page?

• 13:57Lewis Howes?

  I might have a photo of me in the

• 13:59Speaker 01

  Tiff, let's remember to potentially do that.

• 14:01Lewis Howes?

  I have a photo.

• 14:02Speaker 01

  With the red boa.

• 14:03Lewis Howes?

  I think it's my first photo on my phone that I have because it was like transferred over my last phone. Yeah, it was crazy. I think I was wearing a Speedo or like a bikini or something crazy. Anyways, the things we do at School of Greatness. So that was your first day.

• 14:17Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:18Lewis Howes?

  That was your first day. Uh, we talked about what are the chances? Uh, so 2013 was the first year. You came halfway through the year. I was in another apartment down the street.

• 14:29Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 14:30Lewis Howes?

  It was just a, we just had a kitchen table and a couple of mics set up.

• 14:34Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 14:34Lewis Howes?

  And that was the first podcast just launched five months before that.

• 14:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:39Lewis Howes?

  And had people come over there. I was doing over Skype still sometimes.

• 14:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, a lot of audio, a lot of Skype calls and audio only at that time.

• 14:48Lewis Howes?

  This was still before podcasting was really a big thing. And when did we move over here? Was that 2014?

• 14:55Speaker 02

  13. July, July.

• 14:58Speaker 01

  It was like right around that year.

• 14:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was a nice, that was one of my first tasks, to find the place.

• 15:04Lewis Howes?

  That's right.

• 15:04Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 15:05Speaker 01

  You had done this, the transformational training where literally right after that because you had the big podcast where you shared with the world, you know, what you had gone through and overcome.

• 15:15Lewis Howes?

  That was here when I did that.

• 15:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, and that was powerful, you know? I mean, that was like probably within a month, like a lot was happening at that time.

• 15:23Lewis Howes?

  That was a few months after that.

• 15:24Speaker 02

  It was a little further in.

• 15:25Lewis Howes?

  Later in the year.

• 15:25Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 15:26Lewis Howes?

  Probably like October or something. Yeah, it was interesting. That was 2013?

• 15:30Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 15:30Speaker 01

  13.

• 15:31Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, so one of your first opportunities was to figure out like what's a good vent, uh, house or apartment or condo. And we found, you found Dominic.

• 15:40Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 15:40Lewis Howes?

  Who we've been friends with now for five, six years.

• 15:42Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 15:43Lewis Howes?

  He went through the same workshop and like everyone we did, uh, we know went through that. And, um, he found us this place. I guess you were looking at other places first.

• 15:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, we were looking at other places. This wasn't even on the market. He wasn't gonna put this on until construction was done. But Dominic was friends with the neighbor.

• 16:00Lewis Howes?

  Who knew about this place and said there's a pocket listing, right? And you used to do real estate, so you knew all the whole business. And I came, I remember we went to other places and I didn't like any place.

• 16:10Speaker 02

  No.

• 16:11Lewis Howes?

  It's like, and you didn't like it, you're like, eh.

• 16:13Speaker 02

  No, it was not, yeah.

• 16:14Lewis Howes?

  And we came here and we just stayed here for like an hour, looking out the view.

• 16:18Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:19Lewis Howes?

  We've been here ever since. And then we built out the studio in the next few years.

• 16:23Speaker 02

  This has changed quite a few times.

• 16:24Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, this was just a white box and now it's really evolved into, you know, what it is today. So that was the first year, first half a year. Anything else that year? Then we did a big holiday, How's Holiday Bash?

• 16:37Speaker 02

  How's Holiday Bash?

• 16:38Lewis Howes?

  We had like sixty, seventy people.

• 16:40Speaker 02

  There was a lot of people, yes.

• 16:42Speaker 01

  You gotta tell the story about the champagne story. It's hilarious, you have to. Because it just, it gives a little insight into Sarah's wit and the like, little insight into Lewis.

• 16:52Speaker 02

  Well, and you be literal.

• 16:54Speaker 01

  Very literal you can be sometimes, yeah.

• 16:56Speaker 02

  I may have overindulged in some champagne and then the next day when I came, I was like, "Oh, who was pouring champagne down my throat?" And you were like, "Who was pouring champagne down your throat?" And, but we were just still getting to know each other and I'm like, "No, I was just kidding."

• 17:12Speaker 01

  You're just teasing?

• 17:13Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. So that was.

• 17:17Lewis Howes?

  That's funny. Okay. In 2014, what I have here is we launched School of Greatness Academy. So you were still the only one working with me for a while. I think I brought someone else on to kind of try to run operations. It wasn't a good fit. We launched School of Greatness Academy, year one, 2014.

• 17:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was 2013, you were shedding your old business. You had sold your previous business.

• 17:38Lewis Howes?

  I sold my business to my old partner.

• 17:40Speaker 01

  Yep, to your old business partner and boom. And then 2014.

• 17:43Lewis Howes?

  Well, the podcast started growing and people said, "Hey, we want to like be a part of a community. We want more training." So we created a course. It was a six-month program that now is an eight-week program. So we did that for a half a year. People loved it.

• 17:56Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:56Lewis Howes?

  That core community has been, a lot of them are still friends today.

• 18:00Speaker 02

  I know, I remember the names, because that's when we were, yup.

• 18:02Lewis Howes?

  Hollin, Alyssa, like all these people who've been around.

• 18:05Speaker 02

  Claire, yeah. That's when we were like doing t-shirts.

• 18:08Speaker 01

  The OGs, yeah.

• 18:09Speaker 02

  T-shirts, mailing them, hand mailing them.

• 18:11Lewis Howes?

  Sticker, like bumper stickers, everything.

• 18:12Speaker 02

  Yes. Created the School of Greatness t-shirts.

• 18:16Lewis Howes?

  T-shirts, the brand, everything.

• 18:17Speaker 02

  My Crash course and Pantone.

• 18:18Lewis Howes?

  So many people, I remember that. So many people. Have gone on from that first round of SOGA and launched books and done TED Talks and launched their businesses and so many cool things that they've done. So it's been fun to watch that journey. What else do we have? I saw my first book deal in 2014. The book came out 2015. So that was a cool win for me to experience my first big book. You were part of that.

• 18:43Speaker 02

  For the team, really. I mean, when you're and then making New York Times Bestseller list like that. I mean, the whole team.

• 18:49Lewis Howes?

  I still remember calling you guys. I was in Denver.

• 18:52Speaker 02

  We were all just like waiting, watching the number like waiting for the release.

• 18:55Lewis Howes?

  That was crazy. So that was 2015. We started in 2014. We also started a webinar course and that really started to take off as well. Teaching people how to run webinars. But 2015, the book came out and that was like our whole lives for six months. It took so much time. You were on the team, right?

• 19:12Speaker 02

  Yes, he had just started.

• 19:14Lewis Howes?

  Right before the book launch?

• 19:15Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, and you had you had a significant team. I think you had a team of five.

• 19:19Speaker 02

  Brittany, Christine, Asia.

• 19:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:22Lewis Howes?

  You and someone else or no?

• 19:25Speaker 02

  No, no, I don't think so. I think we had just some agencies with like.

• 19:31Lewis Howes?

  Ads or something.

• 19:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:34Lewis Howes?

  PR.

• 19:35Speaker 02

  Graphics or.

• 19:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, I didn't know that we had that. We had a graphic designer.

• 19:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:39Speaker 01

  PR, but we didn't even really work with like a paid acquisition agency yet.

• 19:43Speaker 02

  Brittany was doing Facebook ads originally.

• 19:45Speaker 01

  She was doing the Facebook ads. Yeah.

• 19:47Lewis Howes?

  That was a big year because there's just a lot of work. I was traveling around the country. We were just trying to we were saying yes to everything.

• 19:53Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 19:54Lewis Howes?

  A book tour. I was doing interviews like crazy.

• 19:57Speaker 02

  No, he was doing all that. It's like, oh, and we're gonna do like a 15 city book tour. I'm like, oh, great. Who's planning that?

• 20:03Lewis Howes?

  You were.

• 20:04Speaker 02

  Oh, me. Okay, great.

• 20:05Lewis Howes?

  And start calling up bookshops, right?

• 20:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, and we just well, we found people like you. You had made a post about people who could host and then whoever in those cities, we collaborated with and.

• 20:17Speaker 02

  That was crazy.

• 20:18Lewis Howes?

  That was four years ago, huh? Man, I don't feel like four years ago. Lots happened, lots happened, almost, October, four years ago to be. Okay, so you joined the team, we launched the book, that was pretty much the main thing of that year. When did I go to Spain, was that 2014? Yes, Spain, I went and played professional handball for a little bit in Spain in 2014. 2015, the book came out, book tour, I'm sure there was other stuff that year, but that was the main highlight.

• 20:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, that was the main, the press leading up to it.

• 20:46Lewis Howes?

  It was a lot of time.

• 20:47Speaker 02

  And then after the book tour, yeah.

• 20:48Lewis Howes?

  We built some online courses and stuff like that at that time, you know, continued to expand, seven-figure webinars, yep. We started doing the podcast three times a week that year, I believe.

• 20:58Speaker 02

  Yep, is that when it went to video?

• 21:00Lewis Howes?

  16. 16, you made the commitment, Tiff came on board, right at the beginning of 2016. Is that right? February, January, February, yeah.

• 21:10Lewis Howes?

  So 2016, we had the summit that year, it was the first year, you guys remember that? First year of Summit of Greatness. That was crazy.

• 21:17Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 21:18Lewis Howes?

  We had no clue what we were doing, we just said, "Let's do this cool conference and bring everyone around the world together and make it an inspiring experience." We had no, that was a lot of stress.

• 21:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, but I think that's almost one of my favorite, the highlight of these six years was the completion of your one summit.

• 21:36Lewis Howes?

  Really, the completion, why?

• 21:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, just because not knowing what we were up to or how, like, we're just so naive, like, "Oh yeah, this sounds great." And just like all the work and then just the core team and just being, you know, because of, you know, we're all remote and so we're

• 21:54Lewis Howes?

  Coming together.

• 21:55Speaker 02

  Coming together and just the accomplishment of that and...

• 22:00Lewis Howes?

  Bonding, experience. It's great to get together. So many things were last minute, we're just like figuring it out behind the scenes, 20 seconds before, and we just made it happen somehow.

• 22:08Speaker 02

  And charm we trust, and that's the kind, that's the magic of this team and you, that, you know, We believe that we can pull it off.

• 22:16Lewis Howes?

  Somehow we pulled off.

• 22:17Speaker 02

  We do.

• 22:18Lewis Howes?

  We could probably prepare for everything a lot better, but we always make it work.

• 22:21Speaker 01

  I mean, in these years too, it was growth. We were checking out new opportunities for our business because you just continued to evolve and grow over time. We brought products and courses in based off of demand. We had people asking for this and then you're like, "All right, team, let's go create this." We had people saying, "Let's get together." You know, and really, some of the greatness was born because you had such a powerful, and I remember you telling me about it, you had such a powerful connection of seeing people in person because after your School of Greatness book launch, you met everybody individually and you were so impacted. Your heart was so impacted. You're like, "I'm absolutely physically drained, but I've never been filled up more in my life and I have to duplicate this." And then that year, you know, Kat, your sister Catherine, who was our event planner,

• 23:04Speaker 01

  we went in 2015 to World Domination Summit, which is where you spoke, which is a powerful keynote. It's online. I mean, we should probably add that link in there because that's just a beautiful keynote. That was the first time I was just like, this is, I mean, you on stage in that moment was great. You had, you know, sold from stage and spoken at smaller events, but that stage was like, wow, I mean, Kat and I are sitting there in tears and we're like, everybody else is in tears and watching you speak, you know, about this, you know, topic and about your life. And so I think, again, some of it was born from just you having gone through the School of Greatness book launch and then going, "I just want to get everybody together and I want to bring it to my hometown."

• 23:46Speaker 01

  You wanted to give back to your hometown because a lot of what you wanted to do is always going back to your roots. You know, and that's, I think the Ohio grown in you is just like, "I want to give back to my community. I want to give back where I can." So you brought it back to Seabass and that's, that's actually where we met. So it's, it's like close to my heart, so I'm so happy we're there every year. Summit of Greatness this year is what, September 5th to the 7th?

• 24:07Lewis Howes?

  Tickets.

• 24:08Speaker 01

  That's it.

• 24:08Lewis Howes?

  Sarah will be there. Give her a hug.

• 24:10Speaker 01

  Sarah will be there. Sarah's still on. Even though she's, she's technically leaving her current position, you're staying on through Summit of Greatness, which, I mean, if you guys are going to come there, give Sarah a big hug for me because she has created so much for this podcast community and... I'm gonna celebrate you this entire time. We bring it back to you every time.

• 24:29Lewis Howes?

  2016, we did the summit. We also launched, we sold the Mask of Masculinity book deal. We launched the Legacy Course and we launched the Greatest Mastermind at the end of the year. It was another big year.

• 24:40Speaker 01

  It's just growth, opportunity, again, based on demand. We had people asking for this, people asking for that. You know, they wanted the Mastermind opportunity to work closer, one-on-one with you, because we really didn't have that. All we had was courses, which is video trainings of you. And then we had a couple of office hours with some of our courses, where they get a virtual group call. And now, here we are.

• 25:02Speaker 02

  But all the while, he's getting pulled in a million different directions. Remember the, like, different pilots?

• 25:09Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 25:10Speaker 02

  Like, the takeover, you know, going on set.

• 25:13Lewis Howes?

  You came on set for a few different things. That was cool, huh?

• 25:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 25:17Lewis Howes?

  None of those led to anything.

• 25:18Speaker 02

  But all behind the scenes, so all the things that are working, there's many things that you're working, trying to make happen, or exploring. And, you know, it just...

• 25:28Speaker 01

  Working your magic on scenes, having conversations, seeing what's possible.

• 25:31Lewis Howes?

  You never know what's gonna work until you actually do it. And we've done a lot of things that didn't work. We just don't show those a lot.

• 25:36Speaker 01

  I don't know. I think we've done a lot of things that worked. It's a matter of then, what do you want to continue and build your business around?

• 25:43Speaker 02

  Double down on it.

• 25:44Speaker 01

  That's what's really happened in the last couple of years.

• 25:46Lewis Howes?

  Because we can make anything work.

• 25:48Speaker 01

  We're just there. A couple of weeks ago, we had our offsite, where we're just diving into what our core business is. And it's like, we have this option, problem of options. There's so much we could do. But it pulls us in so many different directions, and inevitably pulls you in so many different directions. And bottom line is, we just get back to our core business is podcasting.

• 26:07Lewis Howes?

  That's it.

• 26:07Speaker 01

  And that's why we're here. And we're here to stay, yeah.

• 26:11Lewis Howes?

  2017, we did the second year Summit of Greatness. We launched the Mask of Masculinity book tour, which was intense, but we had a better footing on what to do, because we had a lot of structure from the previous one, previous book launch. We launched another book a month later, Million in Morning. We launched our monthly membership Inner Circle, which has been incredible. And we did, we finished the Mastermind, year one. Is that right, we finished in the year one?

• 26:38Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 26:39Lewis Howes?

  And that was a, what was the biggest highlight from the year for you? 2017, with everything, second year summit, the second book, membership, Mastermind completion.

• 26:51Speaker 02

  I think it's the Mastermind, having

• 26:54Lewis Howes?

  It was fun.

• 26:55Speaker 02

  been involved with that and like Matt said, we have Kat, your sister, an amazing event planner and seeing her action at Summit and being able to take that away and recreate experiences for the Mastermind members here in LA and really taking the lead on that and getting stretched in that capacity.

• 27:14Speaker 01

  You crushed it. You absolutely crushed it.

• 27:17Speaker 02

  That was fun.

• 27:17Speaker 01

  Every single weekend you've created for that Mastermind community has been top notch. I mean, people are always asking us like, "What do you do? How do you do it? It's unbelievable." And I mean, beyond the members, they're like, "Give us your blueprint of how you conduct these."

• 27:32Lewis Howes?

  Find Sarah.

• 27:33Speaker 01

  Right here.

• 27:34Lewis Howes?

  Find a Sarah.

• 27:35Speaker 01

  Right here.

• 27:35Lewis Howes?

  She's the one that does it all.

• 27:36Speaker 01

  Really?

• 27:37Lewis Howes?

  Your attention to detail and your ability to really connect with each Mastermind member is what makes the difference for them, I think. Because you just, you know their name, you're very thoughtful of what they need, and that's really powerful. 2018, third Summit, we moved to Ohio Theater. Was that the last year we moved?

• 27:53Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 27:54Lewis Howes?

  So we did the same event in a new space, three times aside.

• 27:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's like starting over.

• 27:58Speaker 01

  Felt like starting over.

• 27:59Lewis Howes?

  It was.

• 28:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, it did.

• 28:01Lewis Howes?

  It was a lot. So, but it was also very exciting. It was just a beautiful venue.

• 28:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, it never fails to be exciting and still get that.

• 28:11Lewis Howes?

  Nervous.

• 28:12Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:13Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:13Lewis Howes?

  Great. I'm excited for this year.

• 28:15Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:15Speaker 01

  Just to be in person.

• 28:16Lewis Howes?

  It's amazing this year.

• 28:17Speaker 01

  I mean, last year, we had Y-Cliff, that closing party.

• 28:20Lewis Howes?

  Oh my gosh, it was insane.

• 28:21Speaker 01

  Years before, DJ IRE, like, just

• 28:23Speaker 02

  It's gonna be amazing.

• 28:24Speaker 01

  closing it with just a dance party. I don't know. It's like you have this amazing consumption of these keynote speakers that are just filling your soul with possibilities and opportunities for your life to grow. And then to just celebrate it at the end.

• 28:39Lewis Howes?

  It's amazing.

• 28:40Speaker 01

  It's unbelievable.

• 28:41Lewis Howes?

  Gosh.

• 28:41Speaker 01

  I think we need to have a dance party for Sarah.

• 28:43Speaker 02

  I don't know. I can't keep up with tips.

• 28:45Speaker 01

  We're gonna bring you up on stage and we're gonna make you dance in front of everybody. Take you out of your comfort zone.

• 28:51Lewis Howes?

  Crowd surf.

• 28:51Speaker 01

  Crowd surf.

• 28:52Speaker 02

  Nope.

• 28:53Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 28:53Speaker 01

  Yes. We're gonna make you crowd surf. Sarah, rough. Lewis and I are gonna pick you up. We're gonna toss you into the crowd.

• 28:57Lewis Howes?

  Yes. So that was 2018, 30 Year Summit.

• 29:03Lewis Howes?

  We launched Talk Show on Facebook, Inspiring Life with Lewis Howes. That was an interesting experience.

• 29:09Speaker 01

  It was amazing. It was cool.

• 29:11Lewis Howes?

  You came out for one of the shows.

• 29:12Speaker 01

  Yes, yeah, I came out to New York. You shoot in Brooklyn.

• 29:15Lewis Howes?

  That was an awesome experience.

• 29:16Speaker 01

  It was great. I mean, here's the thing. The one thing that just resonated with me is, as a small team of entrepreneurs, we can get so much done so much more quickly. So when you're kind of like waiting around for the process of that, that was the most daunting thing. It's like, just this waiting game. All right. Lawyers conversing, conversations. It feels like, the reason I love this is because we have such the ability and power to just move and make massive changes quickly in a business. And that's where I think, man, I don't know. It's just like, the next TV show we do, I say we just do it ourselves.

• 29:50Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 29:50Speaker 01

  You know? And partner with somebody great, but...

• 29:53Lewis Howes?

  I like it.

• 29:54Speaker 01

  I know we went big. Facebook was an amazing partner. I mean, we had a lot of fun, a lot of learning from that experience. And I just feel like, let's just do it ourselves.

• 30:01Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 30:02Speaker 01

  That's how I always go back to that.

• 30:03Lewis Howes?

  Do what we want, you know?

• 30:05Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 30:05Lewis Howes?

  You have a partner, you have to, you know, create the win-win. So.

• 30:08Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 30:09Lewis Howes?

  So we did that. We did the Mastermind second year, and then, that was 2018. What else was in last year? This is big. The Talk Show took a lot of time and energy.

• 30:20Speaker 02

  That was a lot of work.

• 30:21Lewis Howes?

  Plus, this was all about doing the podcast three times a week over the last three years, four years. So...

• 30:26Speaker 02

  And everything, just hanging out there waiting, tentative till, you know, we need this answer to make that answer.

• 30:33Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 30:34Speaker 01

  And it's always focusing on the podcast. The one thing we're not talking about is the continuation of the podcast. Three episodes a week. So we had to get ahead, you know, for that time when you were going to be in Brooklyn, New York, the shoot. And we just didn't know how long. And then, at the last minute, we realized our team is the sole support on launching on this platform.

• 30:55Lewis Howes?

  All the marketing, promotion.

• 30:56Speaker 01

  Everything. I know we talked about this on our last, you know, coffee conversations, but everything, last minute, they're like, oh, it's you guys.

• 31:03Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 31:04Speaker 01

  And we were like, well, we had no idea. We weren't contracted to do it, but you know what our team did? We just said, okay, let's suck it up. Let's organize this plan and let's launch this as best as we can.

• 31:14Lewis Howes?

  Do our best.

• 31:15Speaker 01

  I think we did great. I think we did really great. Inspired a lot of people with that show. I mean, the comments were pretty awesome to see.

• 31:20Lewis Howes?

  It was amazing.

• 31:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:22Lewis Howes?

  So that was 2018. And then 2019, this year, we're working on another book. I've been traveling a ton this year. I think I've been to, I don't know, seven or eight countries already.

• 31:33Speaker 02

  Handball.

• 31:34Lewis Howes?

  Handball. And we're working on Summit of Greatness, year four, writing the next book, podcast growth.

• 31:41Speaker 02

  So many meetings.

• 31:42Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh. So many TV pitch meetings.

• 31:45Speaker 02

  This has been a year of meetings.

• 31:46Lewis Howes?

  It's crazy. All my free time is meeting.

• 31:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 31:49Lewis Howes?

  So it's all good stuff. We're getting to know people in Hollywood, but it's been interesting. But you also started, you told us like three months ago that you're transitioning out. So this has been a short year for you.

• 32:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:02Lewis Howes?

  And that's, that's your life in the last six years.

• 32:05Speaker 02

  Sums it up.

• 32:06Speaker 01

  And you've been in complete support through the process, supporting with us, finding that transition, finding the right person. So, I mean, I'm sincerely grateful for that because, I mean, you could have just said, "Hey, I'm out, guys."

• 32:20Speaker 02

  No way.

• 32:21Speaker 01

  And you always continue to hold us high, lift this business up, you know, the School of Greatness, 418 Media, Lewis Howes, all of us, so.

• 32:31Speaker 02

  It's been my tagline.

• 32:32Lewis Howes?

  That's it.

• 32:33Speaker 02

  Keeping Lewis Howes alive since 2013.

• 32:35Speaker 01

  Yes, I like that.

• 32:36Lewis Howes?

  So what are, what are some things that are coming up for you? What's, what's some advice you could give to other people on other teams? If they're an assistant on another team, what should they really think about if they're wanting to be assistant? Or if they just want to be on a team for a company? What advice would you have?

• 32:56Lewis Howes?

  To be a great player, team player?

• 32:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, I just think doing whatever it takes and whatever your title may be, you know, that, that might mean you do other things. I mean, I scrub toilets if, if, you know, a podcast guest was coming in, vacuum the floor, you know, I, whatever it takes to get the job done or what the, what your, your team members need, so it's just.

• 33:25Lewis Howes?

  What's been the biggest challenge, year after year? The challenge is?

• 33:31Lewis Howes?

  Working with me, working with the team in this business, our mission, our vision.

• 33:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, there are challenges at the time because you're a dreamer and you dream big and you continually stretch me and the team. And so the challenge at the time is, oh my gosh, I can't believe it, really again? Are you gonna try to pull this off in this timeframe? But then when we pull it off, it just feels good. So the challenge really is just an opportunity for growth.

• 34:03Lewis Howes?

  What do you think was the biggest challenge you've faced internally over the last six years that you've now overcome and you're like, I don't know why I was so stressed out about that one thing?

• 34:14Speaker 02

  I think just being on this podcast right now is overcoming a lot of fears.

• 34:20Lewis Howes?

  Maybe something in the first three, four years where you're like always stressed, you're nervous about, but now you're like, oh, it's no big deal.

• 34:25Speaker 02

  Just not feeling like, you know, I belonged in this world, you know? I had no idea what to expect coming into this, but, you know, having a skill set of just being a supporter and, you know, loving to cook, just loving to take care of people and being very nurturing, not having a skill set of podcasting or editing or, you know, a lot of the courses that we use and the programs and platforms we use, not having experience with those things and then thinking like, oh, I'm just, you know, the assistant or I don't have that skill set and so feeling like I didn't belong. But, you know, realizing that all those little things matter and, you know, I support you

• 35:10Speaker 02

  at the highest level, which I got really clear in the, you know, leadership program that we did, that I am a leader and, you know, through you, I've been able to impact people and, you know, I'm proud of the work you do and I do feel like, you know, I've been a part of that and your movement and your mission. So it's given me the opportunity and you've given me a place and purpose. I feel emotional, but yeah.

• 35:37Lewis Howes?

  It's been amazing.

• 35:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 35:38Lewis Howes?

  It's been amazing, yeah.

• 35:42Lewis Howes?

  That's cool, okay. What questions do you have for Sarah, Matt?

• 35:47Speaker 01

  Oh, man. Questions?

• 35:50Lewis Howes?

  What do you think would be helpful for people to hear?

• 35:53Speaker 01

  I think it'd be supportive to hear, again, that the contribution, you know, as Sarah was just saying, like, I didn't know these platforms, I didn't have experience in this, but I think just the willingness to do what it takes, like you said. The willingness to just insert the effort instead of the know-how at times wins out almost all the time, in my experience, with having people on your team. Hire somebody who's just willing to do what it takes and has the effort. Effort wins out over, in my mind, skill or intellect or experience at times. Because, I mean, I'm happy to allow somebody to learn and grow on the job and insert themselves in your business and really learn the business.

• 36:37Speaker 01

  It's kind of how I got to know this online, you know, world. And podcasting in general, I came from corporate background. So, I'm just wondering what the question is, but I think the question for you is just, what does it take in your heart to have that? What do you have to shed and let go of to just say, "I'm all in"? You know, what has it taken for you? And what are the mental conversations you have with yourself? At times, I'm sure, when you're like being asked, like, "Shoot, I gotta do this again," or, "Gosh, what, this again?" Or, "Man, I want to resist," but what does that create for me? And, I don't know, what's the mindset for you? What's your mental mindset coming into every day?

• 37:20Speaker 01

  You know, I know you have a very strong ritual and habit of waking up every morning and meditating. Like, what is your mindset? I think that'd be really powerful to share, if you're willing to.

• 37:30Speaker 02

  Well, it's shifted over the years just because my role, I mean, what I do today versus from day one, it has evolved. And I, you know, other than, you know, being a... Shooting the podcast, I've been involved in almost everything, you know, in some capacity. And so, it's just changed. And transitioning from being more in studio to virtual and the different roles, it's just changed. But I think...

• 38:03Speaker 02

  The mindset again is just doing whatever it takes. How am I gonna be in service today? And also check my crap at the door, you know? Like, we all have bad days or personal things. But my role is to make every day a good day for you. So I just come in, just like, how can I support? Whether it's a cup of coffee or, you know, booking your travel. So it's just seeing the need, seeing you, assessing you, and...

• 38:36Lewis Howes?

  Going from there?

• 38:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:37Lewis Howes?

  What you did really well is you always try to think like three, four, or five steps ahead of me. Which I think is very powerful for your position. As opposed to needing to ask all the time something.

• 38:46Speaker 02

  Right.

• 38:47Lewis Howes?

  You're always thinking, okay, he's gonna need this when he gets, when he lands in London. He's gonna need this next.

• 38:52Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm. Yeah, if you had to ask me for something, I would take that, like, guess feedback myself. Oh, man, I...

• 38:59Lewis Howes?

  So you did a really good job with that. What was the greatest perks for you over the last six years? Just like, benefits of being, outside of like getting paid to do a job? What was like the perks?

• 39:10Speaker 02

  I think just seeing the amazing people come through these doors and sit in this seat and...

• 39:17Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 39:19Speaker 02

  I also...

• 39:21Lewis Howes?

  You learned a lot, you learned a lot listening to the podcast.

• 39:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 39:24Lewis Howes?

  Going through personal challenges yourself, or health, or whatever it may be at the time. We would have guests in and you would read their book, or you would learn and listen, and you would apply it. You know, Wim Hof has been a big part of it.

• 39:35Speaker 02

  Every book, yes. Yeah, Wim Hof has been huge, that practice for me personally and...

• 39:40Lewis Howes?

  Right. You used to do all the research. You were the one reading the books, writing the questions.

• 39:44Speaker 02

  Page to page, read each of those books.

• 39:46Lewis Howes?

  You read every book and would give me note cards where I would interview people. I remember that.

• 39:50Speaker 02

  Remember handwritten before the, I had handwritten note cards?

• 39:53Lewis Howes?

  Handwritten cards.

• 39:53Speaker 02

  The greatness, yeah.

• 39:55Lewis Howes?

  Wow, that's crazy. That was like five years ago, maybe.

• 39:57Speaker 02

  That was a while. That was a while ago.

• 39:59Lewis Howes?

  So you learned a lot as well, just by...

• 40:01Speaker 02

  Right, right.

• 40:02Lewis Howes?

  Being part of the team.

• 40:03Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 40:04Lewis Howes?

  Sorry, I cut you off.

• 40:05Speaker 02

  No, I was gonna say the, the Pencils of Promise trip.

• 40:07Lewis Howes?

  Oh, yeah.

• 40:08Speaker 02

  That was such a privilege.

• 40:11Lewis Howes?

  Until last day, but yeah.

• 40:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, I was, I'll still take it though. That was... Oh, it was rough, but...

• 40:17Lewis Howes?

  We took the team to Guatemala.

• 40:19Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 40:19Lewis Howes?

  Tip was there as well. Christine came, and then, yeah, it was a fun time. What'd you, what'd you experience there?

• 40:26Speaker 02

  Just the... Children, I mean, and even just, I mean, the community in general, just having so little in way of material things. But the happiest people.

• 40:38Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 40:38Speaker 02

  You kid me, it was just.

• 40:40Lewis Howes?

  It was fun.

• 40:41Speaker 02

  Mind blowing, and also, um, I believe it was the first school you built and dedicated to your.

• 40:48Lewis Howes?

  We saw.

• 40:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 40:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, we saw.

• 40:49Speaker 02

  And getting to see that and the impact and just, I obviously know what you're up to and the impact you're making and pretty big deal in my eyes, but you know, in the day to day, you just, you don't really realize it, and to see you and the impact you're making and the people's feedback and hearing the stories and the testimonials and how you've impacted their lives, it's just like, wow, and in turn, again, I, I feel that I've also had a part in that, so.

• 41:18Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, of course.

• 41:19Speaker 02

  You know, that feedback to you, I also take very personally and.

• 41:21Lewis Howes?

  Well, that's cool. That's good.

• 41:23Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:24Lewis Howes?

  So that was a perk, what other perks? Who was your favorite guest, actually? There you go.

• 41:28Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 41:29Lewis Howes?

  Couple of guests. Who's coming to mind?

• 41:34Speaker 02

  Well, one of my favorite interviews that it wasn't necessarily, it was before uh, we did in studio, or actually I might have met him, it was, I think it was when you were in the Santa Monica place, but um, Brendan Schaub.

• 41:44Lewis Howes?

  You loved it, you were dying laughing, right?

• 41:46Speaker 02

  Because I, he really, they were giggling, I just, I don't know, I saw a different side of Louis, like, any, anyone who could get him to laugh.

• 41:52Lewis Howes?

  Funny.

• 41:53Speaker 02

  Like, real, really genuinely laugh like that, what, I just.

• 41:57Lewis Howes?

  I did something different with that, too, I remember, I was like, let me find 10 things in common between us.

• 42:04Speaker 02

  Yes, that's right.

• 42:05Lewis Howes?

  I remember that specifically, I should do this with everyone, but I really researched and I was like, what are the things that we have in common? Cause he was like a birthday, his birthday was like the day or two after mine, we both played football. There was like a few things really quick, and I was like, let me find 10 things. And um, we were just dying laughing.

• 42:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was the banter, the banter, I don't know, it was just really funny.

• 42:24Lewis Howes?

  And he, he's blown up since then, he's got like an HBO or Showtime special and touring around the world and all that stuff, so. So he's one of your favorites still.

• 42:32Speaker 02

  The favorite podcast, I mean, just.

• 42:35Lewis Howes?

  It's funny.

• 42:35Speaker 02

  That just always, cause I get asked that a lot, you know, but that.

• 42:39Lewis Howes?

  Brendan Schaub, there you go.

• 42:40Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 42:40Lewis Howes?

  Just trying to get him back on. That's cool, what, who else, favorite female podcast?

• 42:47Speaker 02

  I really liked the Barbara Corcoran.

• 42:49Lewis Howes?

  Oh, yeah.

• 42:49Speaker 02

  She was, again, she's funny, like, I just like the humor, you know? But, um, obviously, a lot of value as well, so.

• 42:58Lewis Howes?

  Right, huh. What were some of the challenges that you overcame?

• 43:03Speaker 02

  With the podcast, or just in general?

• 43:05Lewis Howes?

  With the team, with six years, yeah.

• 43:06Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 43:10Speaker 02

  Yeah, I think it's just, it will always remain a challenge, it's just the,

• 43:16Speaker 02

  sometimes, not lack of preparation, but your, your big ideas in really tight turnaround.

• 43:22Speaker 01

  Short runway.

• 43:23Speaker 02

  Yep, yeah.

• 43:23Speaker 01

  The runway, it's like trying to take off a 747 in a small, tiny airport.

• 43:27Lewis Howes?

  Twenty feet?

• 43:28Speaker 01

  It's like, uh, let's find a way.

• 43:30Speaker 02

  But again, it, it always works out, yeah.

• 43:35Lewis Howes?

  What was, uh, was there ever a time you wanted to quit? They like honestly wanted to quit, not just like, oh, this is a bad day, I'm out of here, but, until this year?

• 43:46Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, no, I mean.

• 43:49Lewis Howes?

  Did it ever push you too much that you were like, this guy's a jerk, I'm out of here?

• 43:55Speaker 02

  Not that you were a jerk, but yeah, you'd push me a lot, I mean, it's just, again, the, the big dreamer, you know, like, just big dreams that, you know, we had to.

• 44:08Lewis Howes?

  Mm-hmm.

• 44:10Speaker 01

  Give us some dirt, give us something, you know, it's, or a funny moment, or a little behind the scenes.

• 44:15Lewis Howes?

  I used to scare her all the time for years.

• 44:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm super jumpy.

• 44:19Lewis Howes?

  She's super jumpy, I would scare her. With film.

• 44:21Speaker 02

  I'd just like, I mean, I think I could just be sitting there like,

• 44:25Speaker 01

  And I remember that a lot.

• 44:26Speaker 02

  Scream, bloody murder.

• 44:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, I remember that a lot.

• 44:29Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 44:29Speaker 01

  I'd just walk into the studio, like, in the morning, you know, just listen to my phone or on a phone call, and I'd like just turn the corner, and you'd just turn around and just, I mean, that scream is like a bloody murder scream.

• 44:43Lewis Howes?

  What were some of the things, maybe three or four things, that you noticed over the last six years that really allowed our business to grow, and allowed for growth to happen? Whether it was with me, or how our team worked together, or some things that you just noticed that maybe I'm not even aware of, or maybe I am, but that would be powerful for people to listen to?

• 45:04Speaker 02

  I think bringing on Matt.

• 45:06Lewis Howes?

  It's game changer, right?

• 45:07Speaker 02

  Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

• 45:09Lewis Howes?

  Huge. Yeah.

• 45:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 45:12Lewis Howes?

  Why was that powerful?

• 45:13Speaker 02

  I think because he was able to rein you in in an organized way to take your ideas and make them a reality. I mean, it's obviously all your input and stuff, but he made it happen in an organized fashion and, you know, reined in the troops and...

• 45:34Lewis Howes?

  Organized it better.

• 45:34Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 45:35Lewis Howes?

  Because I was trying to organize team, manage team, and be the creative content person, and it was just a lot.

• 45:41Speaker 02

  Yeah. And then I think that allowed you the freedom to focus on what you do best. And there was also a shift with Lewis, and I don't know when exactly it was. I really couldn't even say, but you really like wouldn't pop off or like you would just be calmer and...

• 46:02Lewis Howes?

  I used to be angrier?

• 46:03Speaker 02

  Not like just...

• 46:05Speaker 01

  Here's the thing, I'll share this. You wouldn't pop off, but I could see like, like you're so tenacious and relentless. And it could be a text message, and it could be something like this. Like, I'll just come up with some random example that's just out there. But say a podcast episode goes up, and like, I don't know, there's the wrong link or something like that. And it's rarely happened over time, but when it does happen, you're just like, so why did it happen? Like, and what do we gotta do? And like, every single question you have is trying to get to the core problem and then relinquish that problem so it doesn't repeat.

• 46:39Lewis Howes?

  And I would say, what do we need to do that this never happens again?

• 46:41Speaker 01

  But you tend to sometimes like just repeat the same question. And it's like, we gave the answer. But I understand, like, it's just that, I don't know, it's that tenacious part of you that's like, let's just make sure we continue to elevate and grow and do better next time and...

• 46:58Lewis Howes?

  Not these little mistakes all the time, yeah.

• 47:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 47:00Lewis Howes?

  I can't stand little mistakes.

• 47:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 47:02Lewis Howes?

  For some reason. But I've gotten more patient with what you're saying.

• 47:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, I just, he's just more mellow.

• 47:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 47:09Lewis Howes?

  Huh.

• 47:10Speaker 02

  More mellow and...

• 47:11Lewis Howes?

  Until it's like happened multiple times in a row, then I'm still like...

• 47:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, there's a...

• 47:15Lewis Howes?

  There's a breaking...

• 47:16Speaker 02

  There's a few scenarios that where I'm like...

• 47:17Lewis Howes?

  There's a breaking point for me.

• 47:18Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 47:19Lewis Howes?

  Where it's just not acceptable anymore. Especially when I'm like paying someone a certain amount, I'm like, okay, why are we making these mistakes? Maybe that's something I need to work on, but.

• 47:28Speaker 01

  You have.

• 47:30Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 47:30Speaker 01

  I feel like you have.

• 47:32Lewis Howes?

  That's good, okay.

• 47:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 47:34Lewis Howes?

  So you've seen the patients.

• 47:35Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 47:36Lewis Howes?

  What else have you seen that makes our business work really well and stand out?

• 47:44Speaker 02

  The consistency of the podcast, like non-negotiable three episodes and, you know, doing whatever it takes to get the guests and

• 47:52Speaker 02

  just always leading with love and how you can be of service. And, I mean, I guess that's just been pretty much a consistent, I mean, really.

• 48:02Speaker 01

  I think our team meetings have really been impactful, you know, we really started, I remember when we came on, I don't even know if you guys had team meetings, but I was like, we gotta have a weekly team meeting, we gotta have a weekly.

• 48:12Speaker 02

  We had, remember we had your mom, Ali, me and you, we just, we were sitting at the table, we're like, alright guys.

• 48:18Speaker 01

  What are we gonna do?

• 48:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, what are we gonna do?

• 48:20Speaker 01

  What are we gonna do?

• 48:23Speaker 02

  I'm like, I don't know, but I got something in the oven, I had laundry going, like,

• 48:28Speaker 02

  it took a while for those to stick, but yeah.

• 48:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, of course.

• 48:30Speaker 02

  Now it's non-negotiable, we need to connect as a team.

• 48:34Speaker 01

  It's so impactful.

• 48:35Speaker 02

  And the challenges, and you brought along the huddle, which is great because.

• 48:38Lewis Howes?

  The end of the week, right?

• 48:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, and that, that's kind of where you're not there and we can really speak freely.

• 48:45Lewis Howes?

  Talk about all the big things.

• 48:46Speaker 02

  Our grievances or, you know, just.

• 48:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, really talk about the challenges.

• 48:49Speaker 02

  Real talk.

• 48:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 48:52Speaker 01

  You would really.

• 48:53Lewis Howes?

  You're gonna lie to me on the team calls?

• 48:55Speaker 02

  No, it's just more grateful.

• 48:57Lewis Howes?

  I need to tune in on a.

• 48:59Speaker 01

  Here's, here's the thing.

• 49:00Lewis Howes?

  Huddle and listen in and see what's really happening one day.

• 49:02Speaker 01

  You can listen anytime, we'd love to have you there, I would love to have you there, but I just realized it's always trying to allow you to have the space to do what you do best, which is create, be the visionary, be the master networker, like, focus on your superpowers. Like, I just see you on team calls and it's my experience of you, like, on team calls, like, if it's not laser to the point and within 15 minutes, you're just like.

• 49:25Lewis Howes?

  I gotta go, dudes, I gotta go take the actions.

• 49:27Speaker 01

  And then you're on your phone, it's like, well.

• 49:29Lewis Howes?

  Cause I'm trying to take the actions right there.

• 49:30Speaker 02

  We know, and it's like, we lost him.

• 49:32Speaker 01

  We lost him.

• 49:32Speaker 02

  Like, if you didn't get it in, like, he's gone, see you next week, cause he's gone. Yeah, you just see the look.

• 49:40Lewis Howes?

  What are two or three things that you observed in the last six and a half years, or really this year, that you, what advice would you give us moving forward without you here on how we can improve and be better?

• 49:54Speaker 02

  I mean, it's just gonna be better just by way of, I'm really excited for the new team members and, you know, the skillset that she has and, but, just the communication, keeping the huddles, keeping the team calls going and just everyone being on the same page, you know, and Summit bringing everybody together. We did, we had the one, we did a few times the, like, team outings, we did the helicopter ride and...

• 50:26Lewis Howes?

  That was fun.

• 50:26Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 50:27Lewis Howes?

  More of those are good.

• 50:28Speaker 02

  I think so, just to have the, it was before...

• 50:32Lewis Howes?

  Were you there?

• 50:33Speaker 02

  No, no, she was just like...

• 50:34Lewis Howes?

  Me, you, Christine and Brady.

• 50:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's before me.

• 50:37Speaker 02

  Yeah. But doing stuff like that and, you know, you know, everyone working remotely.

• 50:41Speaker 01

  I'm surprised, helicopter ride, you didn't get sick?

• 50:44Lewis Howes?

  I got a little...

• 50:45Speaker 01

  You get like motion sickness, don't you?

• 50:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was...

• 50:48Lewis Howes?

  Wasn't that bad.

• 50:49Speaker 01

  Remember the Disney trip?

• 50:50Lewis Howes?

  Oh my gosh.

• 50:51Speaker 01

  Oh, the Disney trip was so much, but we were having a blast, you and I, at Disney, drinking beers.

• 50:56Lewis Howes?

  I was sick in the nurse's office for five hours.

• 50:58Speaker 02

  Mickey's infirmary.

• 50:59Speaker 01

  Oh, I felt so bad. Oh my gosh, you were there for four hours just laying in the infirmary. No one else is in this infirmary. No little kids, like, with scraped knees. There was like no one there, it's just Louis.

• 51:10Lewis Howes?

  The fetal position.

• 51:11Speaker 01

  Literally.

• 51:12Lewis Howes?

  Little kids ride.

• 51:13Speaker 01

  Sweating, like, you just were sweating.

• 51:15Lewis Howes?

  Oh man.

• 51:16Speaker 01

  You just could not get out of this funk, this motion sickness, I mean, your equilibrium was off.

• 51:20Lewis Howes?

  Blue Angels is worse.

• 51:21Speaker 01

  Oh my gosh, driving back in the Tesla.

• 51:23Lewis Howes?

  I was so out of it.

• 51:25Speaker 01

  You just laying in the car like...

• 51:26Speaker 02

  I know, he's hot, then he's cold, hot, cold, like...

• 51:29Speaker 01

  Like, you were just huffing like...

• 51:31Lewis Howes?

  Oh my gosh.

• 51:32Speaker 01

  Oh, man.

• 51:33Lewis Howes?

  I felt like I was on Mars for days. I just felt like so out of it.

• 51:37Speaker 02

  No, how about the Tesla when it wasn't charged and we're like, how are we gonna get through the desert? We're like, there was no charging station.

• 51:46Lewis Howes?

  What did we do?

• 51:47Speaker 02

  Well, we found one, but we were lucky to get there, but then I'm on the, like, right when I'm on hold forever with customer service, finally get the line drops, we had a desert.

• 51:56Speaker 01

  Can AAA actually give us a boost?

• 52:00Speaker 02

  Like a portable battery?

• 52:01Speaker 01

  But we were like 2% away or so, I mean, it was...

• 52:04Lewis Howes?

  From the station?

• 52:05Speaker 01

  The Tesla was like down to, because it was El Centro.

• 52:07Speaker 02

  We were trying to coast down the hill.

• 52:08Speaker 01

  Is where their bases.

• 52:09Speaker 02

  We're like, yeah, we're trying to go down the hill, we're like, charge them. Oh my god.

• 52:14Lewis Howes?

  So we charged it huh? Was I just passed out the whole time?

• 52:17Speaker 01

  We made it.

• 52:18Speaker 02

  The whole way back?

• 52:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:20Lewis Howes?

  Passed out? And I remember I was passed out during the charging time too, I guess?

• 52:24Speaker 02

  No, that's when we went to the mall. It was a mall.

• 52:27Lewis Howes?

  I got a smoothie.

• 52:29Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 52:30Lewis Howes?

  Oh gosh.

• 52:30Speaker 01

  That was on the way there, on the way back. Cause you had to speak like the next day.

• 52:33Lewis Howes?

  Oh my god, it was miserable.

• 52:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, cause we took, I took the train back. Were you in San Diego at that time?

• 52:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, you took it back with Tim.

• 52:40Speaker 01

  Tiff and I took the train back, yeah. Oh man.

• 52:42Lewis Howes?

  That was miserable.

• 52:44Speaker 01

  Oh my goodness. Well reel it back in. Let's reel it back in.

• 52:49Lewis Howes?

  So other, other advice for us moving forward? How can we grow? How can we be better?

• 52:56Speaker 02

  Well, a little preparation.

• 52:58Speaker 01

  I was gonna say that. I didn't want to put the words in your mouth. Cause I, I saw the, you were puckering like preparation. Like that's it. Like that's so important. I mean.

• 53:06Speaker 02

  When we can, I think, you know, we've gotten really good at just pulling stuff off. And we make it work, but I think there's room to really elevate the next level with, you know, control the controllables and things are still gonna come up and things will be last minute, but.

• 53:23Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 53:25Speaker 02

  I get it, you're pulled in so many directions, so many exciting things, but.

• 53:29Lewis Howes?

  Prepare.

• 53:30Speaker 02

  You know, a little bit.

• 53:32Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, okay.

• 53:35Speaker 01

  I always say this about Lewis, he's just like, he thrives. He's like a fourth quarter. He's like a bottom of the ninth, like I want to catch the final touchdown pass to win the game in the corner of the end zone, fully stretched out, like you, it's like you have prepared for those moments and you just thrive in those moments. There's been a couple of times I've seen you like getting ready to speak from stage and we'd even start preparing early on, the team is supporting and conversations and getting slides together and all this.

• 54:04Lewis Howes?

  I'm like, what am I gonna say?

• 54:05Speaker 01

  And then last minute you're like, ah, so what are we doing? And like, so we just got used to just also preparing in the wings for every possible moment.

• 54:13Speaker 02

  Yes, every scenario.

• 54:15Speaker 01

  Again, just you have supported in such a way. Once you learn how Lewis works, I mean, that's, that's it. At the end of the day, I mean, every key person on this team is here to support you, obviously as a business owner. And we just need to grow and find ways to work around it. I mean, that's it. But preparation is key, obviously in any business to really be successful, you know?

• 54:37Lewis Howes?

  Prepare.

• 54:39Speaker 02

  The whole time he's like, "Not gonna happen."

• 54:41Speaker 01

  But it's like, here's the challenge. It's like when you've got like a Michael Jordan.

• 54:45Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 54:45Speaker 01

  Who is just, can hit the final shot, can like, just pull it off.

• 54:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 54:50Speaker 01

  I mean, even some of the greatness, like, you're like, "I don't know what I'm gonna say." And I got my walkie, I'm backstage, and you're like, I'm like, "All right, here's some talking points. This is what we've been talking about." I'm pulling up my phone, like, Google Sheet, I'm like, "All right, this is what we got. What about talking about this?" You're just like, "I got it. Just came to me."

• 55:07Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 55:08Speaker 01

  And I'm just like, "What?"

• 55:09Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 55:10Speaker 01

  Like, I'd be losing my mind.

• 55:12Speaker 02

  What speech you did, the five, five...

• 55:14Lewis Howes?

  Like Bulletproof, is that it? Or no?

• 55:16Speaker 02

  No, I think you did another version of it.

• 55:18Lewis Howes?

  Oh, at here, at the Wonderlust.

• 55:20Speaker 02

  Wonder, it was a book.

• 55:21Lewis Howes?

  We did the greatness event here.

• 55:23Speaker 02

  We're like, "What are you gonna do?" He's like, "Just give me a few minutes." Goes in his room and meditates.

• 55:26Lewis Howes?

  No, I think we were driving to the facility, and I came over there in the car.

• 55:30Speaker 02

  Oh, well.

• 55:31Lewis Howes?

  I think that's what happened.

• 55:32Speaker 02

  Meditating was another speech.

• 55:33Speaker 01

  It was like the five Gs of something, right?

• 55:34Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 55:35Lewis Howes?

  I just made it up.

• 55:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 55:36Lewis Howes?

  But it all worked extremely well when I was thinking about it. I was like, "Okay."

• 55:40Speaker 02

  It was so, I'm like, I didn't believe he really just made that up.

• 55:43Lewis Howes?

  People loved it, and I saw other people taking the same content and using it in other places.

• 55:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 55:49Lewis Howes?

  Cause I, you know, done a lot of work before, done a lot of speeches, and had these exercises, so I just kinda put them all together in a format that worked for this audience, so... I don't recommend it. It's not the...

• 56:00Speaker 02

  It's not...

• 56:00Lewis Howes?

  It doesn't make you feel peace.

• 56:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 56:02Lewis Howes?

  But for some reason, like, it brings me to focus. In the last minute, I focus in those moments, and I don't know.

• 56:08Speaker 01

  Well, it's just part of you. You've...

• 56:09Lewis Howes?

  The pressure's on.

• 56:10Speaker 01

  You've, you've harnessed your own

• 56:13Speaker 01

  weakness into a strength.

• 56:14Lewis Howes?

  I was always a last-minute guy. Last-minute Lewis. In school, ooh, last-minute Lewis.

• 56:19Speaker 02

  I'm not thinking that one.

• 56:20Speaker 01

  I don't know why.

• 56:21Lewis Howes?

  Last-minute Lewis. In school, I didn't start writing my five-page papers until like, three hours before. We would have two weeks to do the research and write the paper, and I would just pull an all-nighter, write it a few hours before, and somehow, you know, pass the class.

• 56:36Speaker 01

  I think you must be thinking about it. I mean, it must be like Barry Vayner's book, Procrastinate on Purpose, or something like that. There's a pieces of...

• 56:42Lewis Howes?

  In my mind.

• 56:43Speaker 01

  You, you harness your procrastination into somehow working for you.

• 56:47Speaker 02

  There's a little seed in there somewhere.

• 56:48Speaker 01

  I mean, yeah.

• 56:49Lewis Howes?

  It's crazy.

• 56:50Speaker 01

  Oh, man.

• 56:51Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 56:51Speaker 01

  Well, back to Sarah.

• 56:53Lewis Howes?

  Any, any final questions for Sarah, Matt? Or any final thoughts?

• 56:57Speaker 01

  I don't know. I think we got through a lot of the inner circle questions about behind the scenes of our team. Um, we're happy to share anything more, obviously. And I think, I'm just curious. What's next for Sarah Livingstone?

• 57:12Speaker 02

  I don't know. That remains to be seen, you know?

• 57:16Speaker 01

  You got a lock and key on it?

• 57:17Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 57:18Speaker 01

  I mean, come on, give us something.

• 57:20Speaker 02

  Well, I really want a family and, you know, so it's getting clear on that and what that's gonna look like.

• 57:27Speaker 01

  You are going to be unbelievable.

• 57:30Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 57:31Speaker 01

  You with Bella, when you were here last week, staying with us.

• 57:34Speaker 02

  Oh, Bella's the cutest.

• 57:35Speaker 01

  I mean, she fell in love with you within two seconds. She just sat next to you and was like, "Your little buddy."

• 57:41Speaker 02

  I know, it's cute because they always FaceTime, you know?

• 57:43Lewis Howes?

  She loved you, huh?

• 57:45Speaker 02

  She's out of the screen, like.

• 57:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 57:47Lewis Howes?

  She was, she came to you pretty quickly?

• 57:49Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 57:49Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh, like that.

• 57:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 57:52Lewis Howes?

  Faster than me. Takes her like 20 minutes with me.

• 57:54Speaker 01

  You're just so, you're just so giant. Like, when you probably walk up to her, she's just like, "Ha."

• 58:01Speaker 01

  Like, it takes her a second. But then when you start throwing her off in the air.

• 58:04Lewis Howes?

  She won't get away from me.

• 58:05Speaker 01

  She's like, "More, more."

• 58:06Lewis Howes?

  He does this thing, it's just, "More," yeah. She won't get off of me after I do that.

• 58:10Speaker 01

  She won't?

• 58:11Lewis Howes?

  I'm like, I'm exhausted.

• 58:13Speaker 01

  She cries when you leave. She cried when you left.

• 58:16Lewis Howes?

  Oh. Oh.

• 58:18Speaker 01

  It's my family here.

• 58:18Lewis Howes?

  Mama Sarah.

• 58:19Speaker 02

  Mama Sarah.

• 58:20Speaker 01

  Mama Sarah.

• 58:21Lewis Howes?

  Well, any final questions, Matt? Any final questions you have for us?

• 58:26Lewis Howes?

  We're gonna see you in the next

• 58:27Speaker 02

  I know.

• 58:27Lewis Howes?

  few months, but I mean.

• 58:29Speaker 01

  I don't know, I'm just proud of you for getting on the podcast. I think it's such tremendous value to just talk behind the scenes, pull back the curtain a little bit, and just share that. I mean, it's, it's been an unbelievable six years. I've known you for that time because Louis enrolled us in that transformational workshop back then. I'll never forget.

• 58:51Lewis Howes?

  You guys went through a lot together.

• 58:52Speaker 01

  What are the chances? Yeah. So, we really were friends before we actually started working together.

• 58:56Lewis Howes?

  Because you weren't working with us, yeah, were you? Were you on the team?

• 58:59Speaker 01

  No, no, it was almost a year and a half before.

• 59:02Lewis Howes?

  Wow, so we were just friends, we'd go to Rockin' Riley's.

• 59:05Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 59:05Lewis Howes?

  Play shuffleboard.

• 59:06Speaker 01

  Play shuffleboard, yeah.

• 59:08Lewis Howes?

  That's interesting, yes. You guys knew each other for a while before you came on?

• 59:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, we did.

• 59:12Lewis Howes?

  What was that like, being friends and then having Matt work with you and kind of also managing? Part of your work experience, was that a challenge at times?

• 59:21Speaker 02

  He came in just super sly and just like, "Oh yeah, I'm just here to support."

• 59:26Lewis Howes?

  And then it became like, threw the hammer down.

• 59:29Speaker 02

  I'm like, "Who is this?"

• 59:31Speaker 01

  I just kinda came in here like, "I'm just gonna observe." And then I'm like, "All right, we gotta..."

• 59:36Lewis Howes?

  Now we gotta dig some...

• 59:37Speaker 01

  Let's go.

• 59:38Lewis Howes?

  You guys had some challenges at different times, right? You guys had some like...

• 59:42Speaker 01

  Well, you had a nickname for me, Chippy, right?

• 59:45Speaker 02

  He's just telling you.

• 59:46Speaker 01

  He got me a mug. He got me a mug that said, "Chippy," it was like Christmas gift. I was like, "I don't know whether to enjoy this or be insulted." No, I'm teasing.

• 59:54Lewis Howes?

  How did you guys handle conflict between each other? And move past it and where it didn't like resent certain things, you know, times?

• 1:00:02Speaker 02

  The good old lingo from...

• 1:00:06Lewis Howes?

  My TT, the workshop?

• 1:00:07Speaker 02

  I think it was just like...

• 1:00:08Speaker 01

  We would just talk. We'd talk it out, talk about what the upset was. We wouldn't let it just kinda brood, you know? It's like, "Let's just get through it, let's talk about it." I don't know. It's your experience.

• 1:00:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, he's like, "Do we have to have a clearing?"

• 1:00:23Lewis Howes?

  A clearing?

• 1:00:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:00:26Lewis Howes?

  That's good. Did you guys get through it?

• 1:00:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:00:28Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 1:00:29Lewis Howes?

  When were you most pissed off with me? Was there anything I did or said or didn't do that you were super angry with me? And you...

• 1:00:37Speaker 02

  I'm sure.

• 1:00:38Lewis Howes?

  Besides like little things, I guess. But was there ever a moment where you're like, "I'm really mad at him"?

• 1:00:45Speaker 01

  Well, here's the challenge, because I'll just say this. I know that personal assistant, executive assistant is such a... Like, her first point of contact and support is you. Business second. Like, that's just... And everybody else is kind of business first. Obviously, you are the focal point, but with the business in mind. So for me, I just remember a couple of instances where it was like, I came on and my whole identity was around shedding the stress of, you know, people management from you and making sure that any conversations needed to be had that were sensitive conversations were mine to be, to have with everyone. So there was like this part where, I remember a couple of times, there was a... I'd be talking to Sarah and she'd be like, "Well, if Luis is upset, he could just talk to me, he could tell me about this."

• 1:01:29Speaker 01

  I just remember a couple of times that there were like...

• 1:01:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, there was a little struggle.

• 1:01:33Speaker 01

  So then I was like, "All right, you know what? At the end of it, you guys talk about it, but I would just be there to support in any possible way, like..." Even be in the room like, what do we need to talk about?

• 1:01:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:01:44Lewis Howes?

  We had one of those moments, didn't we?

• 1:01:46Speaker 01

  We did.

• 1:01:46Lewis Howes?

  Where Matt was like in the middle of both of us. What was it, years ago, huh?

• 1:01:49Speaker 01

  That was a few years ago.

• 1:01:50Lewis Howes?

  When was it? What happened? I don't remember what happened.

• 1:01:52Speaker 01

  I can't recall either.

• 1:01:53Lewis Howes?

  You were really mad at me or something.

• 1:01:55Speaker 01

  I was like therapist. I was like, I just pulled out my notebook and like.

• 1:01:58Lewis Howes?

  You don't remember? You remember?

• 1:02:00Speaker 02

  Oh, I remember.

• 1:02:01Lewis Howes?

  I don't remember one of it.

• 1:02:03Speaker 02

  You don't forget something like.

• 1:02:04Speaker 01

  Sarah never forgets.

• 1:02:06Speaker 02

  I do have a really good memory.

• 1:02:07Lewis Howes?

  You remember what this was? I can't remember where we were, but we had like a sit down.

• 1:02:11Speaker 01

  Let's finish off with a little juicy gossip.

• 1:02:13Speaker 02

  No, I want to talk about all the, like.

• 1:02:15Lewis Howes?

  Do you remember that moment or no?

• 1:02:17Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:02:19Lewis Howes?

  Do you want to tell me later?

• 1:02:19Speaker 02

  Well, maybe.

• 1:02:20Lewis Howes?

  Tell me later. It's gonna make me look bad, I don't know.

• 1:02:23Speaker 02

  No, no, I just want to talk about the good things.

• 1:02:27Lewis Howes?

  How do we resolve that? I can't remember.

• 1:02:30Speaker 01

  We did it. Because we're strong and powerful people that work in the space of fixing and clearing and moving on. You know, creating a more powerful relationship than it was before, you know?

• 1:02:41Speaker 02

  Not having upset. And for me, and again, coming in with good energy is huge. And you're super sensitive to energy. If somebody's off, that throws you off. So, any issue we had, we've had to move through quickly.

• 1:02:55Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:56Speaker 02

  So.

• 1:02:58Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:02:58Speaker 02

  I feel we have.

• 1:02:59Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it's good.

• 1:03:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, kind of firm. Be willing to have the hard conversations, but like just outline what the request is. What's the request going forward?

• 1:03:08Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:03:09Speaker 01

  Can you?

• 1:03:10Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:10Speaker 01

  On to that request or not? And then just try to keep moving.

• 1:03:13Speaker 02

  I think our dynamic's been really good. If there's ever been.

• 1:03:17Speaker 01

  It's only one time I remember. Yeah, one time. Yeah, let's leave it on a positive note. Again, this is a celebration of six years.

• 1:03:25Lewis Howes?

  Sarah Livingstone. Amazing. We appreciate you. We acknowledge you. You're amazing. Couldn't have done this without you, seriously. It's been incredible.

• 1:03:34Speaker 02

  It's been awesome.

• 1:03:35Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:35Speaker 02

  Thank you for the opportunity.

• 1:03:36Speaker 01

  It's sad, there's a little piece of Louis.

• 1:03:38Lewis Howes?

  I'm sad.

• 1:03:38Speaker 01

  There's a little piece of us that's like, no. It's like. Sarah's part of our team. She's our family. Like, we're gonna do what it takes to keep her here.

• 1:03:46Lewis Howes?

  Well, when Sarah came to me, or came to us and said she was leaving, you were very nervous. You were like, a lot of emotions coming up for you because, you know, you've been a part of this team for so long and it's more than just a job. And I remember thinking in that moment, I go, I have an opportunity where I can be the biggest jerk in the world and try to enroll you to stay and figure out any way possible to get you to stay. And I bet there might be a way to get you to stay. If I really wanted to, if I really wanted to, I would figure out any way, incentives, whatever it may be.

• 1:04:18Speaker 01

  It was coming from you.

• 1:04:20Lewis Howes?

  No.

• 1:04:21Speaker 01

  So you said I have zero power of enrollment over you?

• 1:04:23Speaker 02

  You, no. The two of you, you just saw me like even getting on this podcast.

• 1:04:28Speaker 01

  Tips even like.

• 1:04:30Speaker 02

  No.

• 1:04:31Lewis Howes?

  I knew.

• 1:04:31Speaker 02

  You two tag team, I would be done.

• 1:04:33Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. I knew, sitting at Starbucks at a moment, I was just like, man, this is a lot for you to talk about. And I was like, if this is really that big a deal for you, then it's meaningful for you to like wanna have this next chapter of your life, of the potential of starting a family, however that's gonna look for you. And I was just like, do I wanna be someone that supports someone in their dreams and really like, if that's what you want, I want you to have it? Or do I wanna be selfish because you're like the greatest thing we've ever had here? I'm like, do I wanna keep her and have her resent me a little bit, you know, or always wonder what it would have been like? So, I remember that moment, I was just like, I'm happy for you. I mean, I said something like that. And then Matt was like, what's it gonna take for us to keep her? And I go.

• 1:05:18Speaker 02

  I know, he started hard and then you shut him down. You're like, no.

• 1:05:21Speaker 01

  You shut him down.

• 1:05:22Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:05:22Speaker 01

  I respect that because you're right. Exactly the way you said it. Like, this, I know, came through a lot of thought.

• 1:05:31Lewis Howes?

  You're thinking about it for months.

• 1:05:32Speaker 01

  I'm sure you were looking for the win-win, you know? You were looking for the ways to make it possible, but you just need to allow yourself the space to see what's possible and not have anything else pulling you away from the next step that you want for your life. And I will, I will say this on camera. I don't think we've seen the last, but.

• 1:05:51Speaker 02

  No, I'm gonna be in Summit and I'm, you know, I hope to still be part of the team in some capacity with the events and.

• 1:05:57Lewis Howes?

  Mastermind weekends or something.

• 1:05:58Speaker 01

  I am committed to that.

• 1:05:59Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:06:01Lewis Howes?

  So she'll be a part of the team, just not a full-time part of the team.

• 1:06:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, like letting go of that. And that's, that's hard. And it's been challenging even just in this training process, like. Oh, just letting go of that and

• 1:06:13Lewis Howes?

  Because we've got Lilly who

• 1:06:14Speaker 02

  But I'm the one who But I'm the one who does that like it's just It's been all these mixed emotions and just like not wanting to let go but having to let go and just like It's gonna be challenging.

• 1:06:27Speaker 01

  It'll be fine. It'll be fine. It's gonna be great.

• 1:06:29Lewis Howes?

  We appreciate you. You're amazing.

• 1:06:31Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 1:06:31Lewis Howes?

  Thank you for everything. What's um Anything final before I ask you the final question?

• 1:06:37Speaker 01

  I don't know. I feel the need to like just Sarah, you have literally built this podcast with Louis Almost from day one.

• 1:06:47Speaker 01

  And now it's over a hundred million downloads and Over a million listeners across the world. And I just feel like if anybody is Inclined to just say thank you to Sarah. You can reach her at [email protected].

• 1:07:01Lewis Howes?

  That's true.

• 1:07:02Speaker 01

  And

• 1:07:02Lewis Howes?

  Send her a little

• 1:07:03Speaker 01

  I would be grateful.

• 1:07:04Speaker 02

  Oh my goodness.

• 1:07:05Lewis Howes?

  Send her a letter.

• 1:07:05Speaker 01

  Super grateful.

• 1:07:06Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:07Speaker 01

  Because I mean, I'm gonna just continue to Praise her for now until some of the greatness and then beyond because I mean, our, you know, my family is close friends with you. My wife is close friends with you. Bella Is basically family to you, so I know we're still gonna be friends, but I hope we continue to work together.

• 1:07:26Lewis Howes?

  S A R A H

• 1:07:29Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:07:29Lewis Howes?

  greatness.com.

• 1:07:29Speaker 01

  Because that's a big thing. She's not the one without the H, with the H.

• 1:07:34Speaker 02

  He actually witnessed this.

• 1:07:35Speaker 01

  It was hilarious.

• 1:07:36Speaker 02

  Because I tell him like every time he

• 1:07:38Speaker 01

  Sarah's with an H, they like girl out together. They're like, oh, are you with an H or without?

• 1:07:42Speaker 02

  It's like the first thing, oh, my name's Sarah. Oh, I'm Sarah too. And then we just, there's this awkward

• 1:07:48Speaker 02

  With an H and then we both wait and then if, if, yes, it's like

• 1:07:51Speaker 01

  The media girlfriends. Like, come here girlfriend.

• 1:07:54Speaker 02

  And if not, it's like

• 1:07:57Speaker 01

  It was cute.

• 1:07:59Speaker 02

  Nice to meet you.

• 1:08:01Speaker 01

  I'm having a hard time letting go here, but I'll let you close it out.

• 1:08:03Lewis Howes?

  Well, what's uh, any other things you want to share before you share your definition of greatness?

• 1:08:09Speaker 02

  No, I just again appreciate the Opportunity and the, it's given me purpose. It's given me A platform to use all my skills. Like who knew? Like, oh, knowing how to sew and cook and you know?

• 1:08:25Lewis Howes?

  Organize.

• 1:08:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, just all these things that I love to do, you know? Showing me that, you know, they are worth something that I am a leader that

• 1:08:35Speaker 02

  They can be monetized and, you know.

• 1:08:38Lewis Howes?

  What's the greatest skill you acquired over the last six years?

• 1:08:42Speaker 02

  Never taking no for an answer and just that there's always a lower price. And, you know, just like keep trying and like to ask the be comfortable being uncomfortable. It's funny, Trish even says she's like, okay, well, if Louis asked you to do this, would you do it? You know, because like if I know I'm doing it for him, it just gives me this courage or, you know, to dig deeper. So I'm just gonna take that in.

• 1:09:07Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 1:09:07Speaker 02

  To my next chapter and, you know, just be relentless with what I want for myself.

• 1:09:13Lewis Howes?

  That's great.

• 1:09:14Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:09:14Lewis Howes?

  Nice. It's a good lesson. What's your definition of greatness?

• 1:09:18Speaker 02

  You know, it just when we were sitting here, I'm like, when he just said the last question, I'm like, I didn't prepare for that. Like, how in all these episodes? Like, that's always the closeout question, like.

• 1:09:28Lewis Howes?

  Well, okay, what's the greatest answer you've heard from someone that you that you really liked? They were like, ooh, that was a good one that it was in here with me. And then what's your own personal?

• 1:09:40Speaker 02

  I can't think of the actual guest who who said it, but I think, you know, just, I just think that I'll just say my own definition of greatness is just, you know, right now, feeling the fear and doing it anyway, you know? I'm like terrified, terrified to let go of this. Just, you know, trusting the process and that, you know, there's, you know, I believe that there's a higher power that's guiding me and, you know, just being open to the signs and trusting the process and, you know,

• 1:10:21Speaker 02

  trusting that everything's gonna work out and, yeah, feeling the fear and doing it anyway. So.

• 1:10:30Lewis Howes?

  We love you. We appreciate you. We love you. Cheers.

• 1:10:32Speaker 02

  You?

• 1:10:33Lewis Howes?

  Yes, we do. Cheers. Coffee conversations. Great episode. Three Musketeers right here. Thank you.

• 1:10:42Lewis Howes?

  There you have my friends. I hope you enjoyed this coffee conversation. Building the School of Greatness Empire with my executive assistants, Sarah Livingstone, Matt Cesaratto, behind the scenes of the last six years. Crazy to think about. One idea to launch one episode and hopefully get one listener has grown into what it is now. 120 million plus downloads, 5 million plus downloads a month, 821 episodes, our fourth annual Summit of Greatness, the New York Times bestselling book, another book, incredible courses, a membership site, greatest mastermind with massive seven-figure,

• 1:11:26Lewis Howes?

  eight-figure entrepreneurs, and we just keep growing and growing and growing. And it all starts with the power to take one step to do one thing with a vision. And that's what we've done together as a team. Very excited and grateful for our team, for what Sarah's done for us. And she's still a part of the team, but in a different setting. And she's taking more time for herself on her next chapter. And I'm very grateful for this. If you guys enjoyed this, let me know. Share it with your friends, text them, lewishouse.com/821. And you can always tag me at Lewis Howes on Instagram. And let me know if you want to see more of this content, more behind the scenes with me and my team to hear how we do what we do. And again, never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world.

• 1:12:10Lewis Howes?

  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has, said Margaret Mead.

• 1:12:16Lewis Howes?

  If you're starting right now, just yourself, or with a small team, two, three, five, 10 people, you can make a massive impact. We had a small team, just me and Sarah to get started. And we've built a massive impact over the last six years with just a small team. You don't need a lot, but you need to give a lot. And that's up to you. How much effort are you willing to give? How much love are you willing to put into small things that can do wonderful things? What are you willing to do? I love you so very much. You know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.