The New Way to Build a Personal Brand (2026 Strategy)

AI has disrupted so much. The old playbook of building an audience kind of isn't relevant anymore.

Everything has changed. Everything has changed. People are not buying benefits and features anymore. What they're actually buying now is and that's why communities now are going to become way more important than ever before.

Chris Ducker, he's the founder of Upreneur, one of the leading authorities on personal branding for experts. Chris has built multiple seven-figure businesses and he has multiple best-selling books.

Be you. Do your thing, but ultimately narrowing down that niche is going to be the best thing that you can do.

The biggest threat to your personal brand isn't AI or the competition, it's burnout.

That's a big big problem right there that we need to deal with. And so really, if you feel tired, if you feel like you need a break, take the damn break. Self-care is not selfish at all. It's strategic. The personal branding game is broken. AI can now write your content, edit your videos, and even mimic your voice. Algorithm-fed feeds mean people aren't even following creators anymore. They're just consuming what gets served to them. But here's what most creators don't realize. If you're still building your brand the old way by sharing information and hoping for the best, you're about to get left behind. Because the creators who survive aren't the ones with the best content anymore. Our guest today on the Think Media podcast is Chris Ducker and he's been seeing this shift from miles away. And this isn't clickbait or hype. YouTube, online business, social media is being massively disrupted right now. We're going through a mega shift. And so if you want to protect your personal brand and online business in an age of AI, then lock in because we're getting started right now.

All right, Chris, welcome back to the podcast. I want to go zero to 100 real quick and actually talk about how much disruption is happening right now because of competition, because of AI, because of algorithms. People are having trouble standing out. AI is making everybody sound the same, um, echo one another, and it's really kind of changed the personal branding game, the expert industry, how we communicate online. And the old playbook of sharing information and building an audience kind of isn't relevant anymore. And so I want to talk about how to protect your personal brand in the age of AI before the competition figures out what we're about to talk about. We've got five big topics that we're going to kind of riff on and then actually a bonus topic number six for part two of the conversation for really building a personal brand that lasts. But AI is disrupted so much. Number one that I wrote down is information is everywhere. Transformation is actually what people pay for. What is your thoughts on the fact that if you're an expert, you've been in this industry uh for a long time and you've watched it change. Um, now everybody though can have good information. What, what are your thoughts on this uh big idea number one?

I think I think you've hit the nail, you know, very squarely on the head, plain and simple, with with this particular kind of this angle, so to speak, question-wise, because I think that not only is information everywhere, it's always been everywhere, at least for the last kind of 10, 15 years or so. Um, we know that, you know, we we've always kind of gone to Google, we said, how do I build a personal brand? And you've got, you know, you get this huge list of lots and lots of different resources that you can go to. Uh, and over time that's changed. It's gone from just being nothing but blog pages to, you know, videos that we can read to podcast episodes or videos we can watch rather, podcast episodes we can tune into, even social prompts and social images and things like that. But now with AI taking over that results page as well, everything has changed. Everything has changed. And if I'm being really, really honest, I might show my age here a little bit, but if I'm being really, really honest, I kind of ignored AI for the first year. I didn't really pay much attention to it. I knew it was there. I knew it was brewing. I knew people were talking about it all the time, but it was one of those things. It's kind of like NFTs, like when NFTs were all the rage. Everyone kept asking me whether I was going to invest in NFTs, and I said, "Well, I'm not going to invest in anything I don't understand, and I don't understand NFTs, so I'm not going to buy anything." Very much the same thing with AI. Chris, what do you think about AI? I don't understand. I don't know much about it. And I would move on. But then slowly but surely, my team, my my team kept coming at me and and you know, requesting that I look at things and spend time with things and try prompts out and all the rest of it. It was very, very clear to me that information's become even easier to get our hands on. I think you know everything from digital courses to downloadable PDF workbooks, everything else that you can think of from a digital perspective is not necessarily irrelevant, but certainly we're up against the ropes a little bit when it comes to that side of things. And so really the transformational side of selling and marketing comes to play more than ever before. People have always wanted transformations, right? You know that. I know that. Anybody that's smart knows that. But there's always been a lot of fluff around, you know, sales pages and and offers and all that kind of stuff. But now you've got to get to it straight away. You've got to you've got to say, "This is your problem. This is how the solution is going to come your way. I'm the person to give it to you. This is when you can expect it. This is what the investment is. Hit the button. Sign up now. Let's get to work tomorrow kind of thing." And it's really it's exactly that. People are not buying benefits and features anymore, which is historically in the sales game, what we've always really sold. What they're actually buying now is transformation.

Yeah. And I want to put a few more handles on that before we get to number two. So, what's common or what we're sort of getting at here, if you agree with this, is like people can pursue information in ChatGPT, whatever their favorite AI is. They might get all kinds of different tips and tricks. But what happens to 99% of individuals listening to this and ourselves included is like we might read books but do we apply them? We might uh buy a course but do we apply it? Do we actually get the result? And so the message being like if you can become known on your YouTube channel, on your podcast, in the products you deliver, coaching or courses that you deliver that you ultimately are getting people to a result. A famous um example is like people don't buy they buy the destination. They buy Hawaii. They buy sitting on the beach and enjoying that beverage. They don't buy TSA PreCheck and the person that has intense body odor they're sitting next to on the airplane. And actually the the painful process to get there. But if what you're delivering when people interact with your content, personal brands that will be protected in an age of AI are personal brands and experts that are just known like that individual gets people the end result. That person gets the result. And we know that also AI is ultimately insufficient for that because what some people might be well like I can just watch your stuff get some information but yeah, are you getting the experience and the transformation and the mindset and all all of that. Is that kind of what you think about this? Maybe even improving our offers. Half our audience would have an offer, but the other half it's even just their content itself. If you're just a regurgitated list of ChatGPT points where I could have just got that there, but if your the experience with your channel can actually transform me and bring me to the result that I actually want, then that's what what is going to help you stand out going forward. Any additional thoughts before number two?

Yeah. No, I agree with you 100%. And that's where the community aspect. I know we're going to get to this in a minute, but that's where the community aspect comes into play. People don't just want to have that transformation. They want to have that transformation with other people at the same time. People who are going through a similar thing or they're on a similar journey or people that get it, plain and simple. And that's why communities now are going to become way more important than ever before. Uh, and to your second point here, I know that you're baiting it. So, I'll tee it up. So, number one, >> information is everywhere. Transformation is what people pay for with their time or with their watch time on YouTube. If they're getting transformation in your content, but the big idea number two, if you're going to protect yourself in an age of AI, creators who build real communities, entrepreneurs who build real communities will survive. Everyone else is just renting attention. I've noticed besides expert industry like we'd be talking about people who are solving specific problems. I think about Bear Performance Nutrition. Nick Bear just came on the Think Media podcast recently and he sells supplements but so does everybody like when it comes to creatine, protein. What he's built is a movement. What he's built is a community. What he's built is a certain set of values. What he's built is um through social media and YouTube a a collection of individuals who are bought into an ethos not just again into information. So maybe unpack this a little bit and even get tactical because you've been actually doing this for years but just algorithm-fed interest-based content. One of the things that's happening right now people are subscribing less they're following less. They're just letting algorithms feed them content. I actually will find myself loving Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts and I'm usually I spend maybe too much time there, but I'm kind of just looking for entertainment. I get a little dopamine hit with a business piece of advice, whatever's coming my way, some viral trends. I'm trying to unpack and unwind. I am not following anybody. I'm just consuming what the algorithm brings me. That's fine. I might I might forward it. We're not even wanting to follow the creator. We're just, oh, that was so funny. You forward it to a couple friends. There's so much passive consumption that's the actually that's the opposite of actually building true connection and active participation. So what are your thoughts on what even a community means going into 2026 and how you've done that?

Yeah, I mean this is why you know you you know you've known me for many many years now and the importance of building that personal brand has always been at the forefront of my message right? Like literally from day dot. Um, I think my first ever blog post went live in 2008, something like that, right? Podcasting since 2010. Um, and I can genuinely say to you that this is where leaders and or leaders of community or people that want to build community, creators that want to turn into true business people, etc., etc., they are now going to have to lean into what weight, what truly makes them unique more than ever before. It ain't enough just to say you're the Lego dad who's building Lego on his YouTube channel anymore. You've got to be the Lego dad who's on the YouTube channel building all the Lego sets but is also doing it with I don't know facial tattoos or, you know, uh with, you know, uh soul music from the 1960s playing in the background all the time or you've got to have something to stand out, something that ultimately allows you to market like a magnet. And when I say that, what I mean is at the same time as creating that content, publishing it, even if you're going live, whatever it is, you're being you at all time. This is the key here. You're being you at all time at the exact same time as attracting the right people to hit that subscribe button and not just thumb through, you know, their feed and skip over you after 3 seconds, but to attract the right people that are actually going to want to be part of your crew, part of your tribe at the exact same same time as that's happening there, something pretty marvelous is happening. Something magical is going on. And what's happening is you are ultimately repelling the wrong people away. And that's the beginning of building a true community. So when we opened up the doors of the UpUpNow community in 2015, we had over 200 people join in the first 24 hours. And I attribute much of that very early success to Periscope because Periscope was all the rage when it was going on. And I remember I remember my first ever scope as they were called. Um, man, what a great time that was. Sean, can we just can we just reflect for a minute? What a great time. But like I remember my first ever live scope on Periscope was me with my arm out of a taxi on the Vegas strip at night. And that was my first scope. But I instantly became addicted because of those darn hearts popping up on the screen. It was that dopamine hit of I'm putting something out into the world and people are loving it. And I went live every single day in the run-up for about 3 to four months of the run-up of of UpUpNow when we opened it as a paid membership community and 200 people joined within 24 hours. I knew that the bulk of those folks came from uh came from Periscope. And the reason why is because I was just me. I was being me on Periscope. People joined not necessarily because of the transformation they were going to get at that point or because of all of the training that they were going to receive. They were they were joining because of me. Plain and simple. They liked my vibe. They wanted to be part of that tribe. And that's where the community aspect is now going to come into play. At the very forefront of everything is going to be the leader of those communities.

Before we go into number three, I really I like this because there's the action item of build a community, but you're saying the foundation of that is this going to be built around you. It's going to be around these distinctives. And if you try to say your distinctive is building Lego sets or teaching marketing or teaching business or teaching DIY homesteading, well, these days, you're going to find thousands if not tens of thousands of competitors.

So, the difference being, well, what are your values and beliefs? What, how, what's your vibe? What do you, what do you look like? Like you mentioned like tattoos, that's a real thing. Like if you have like a a hard rock edge and tattoos and maybe more of a counterculture, indie punk rock vibe, it's going to be totally different than a uh classical music Jordan Peterson soundtrack. You're dressed in a, you know, three-piece suit. Uh, age is going to come into it. You're you're different. So what's interesting is I actually think this is an undertalked about aspect of how we position ourselves online. Even just how we show up on video for you, like what have you found out when you think about how you've been different and you've just been you compared to the competitors that you've been running with over like the last 10 years?

Well, I think you know for me personally it came quite easy because I've always been me. What it says on the tin is what Chris does, right? And I'm actually 100% comfortable with the fact that not everybody likes me. I'm fine with that. I don't want everyone to tell. I don't not first and foremost I don't need any more friends. I've got more than enough friends. Secondly, I'm a very, very successful entrepreneur. I've made a lot of money. I've employed thousands of people and I've got nothing to prove to no one. So when I when I pull out advice of 22 almost 23 years of entrepreneurship and and and I and I give that to people, they're either going to pick up what I'm putting down or they're just going to ignore it entirely and walk by. And I'm absolutely fine with that. So I think that you know for some other people it might not come so easy. I recently just met a guy at a conference and he had um yellow framed glasses on, big like Elton John glasses right from like '76 or something, right? I remember saying to him like, do you do you wear these glasses like all the time? He said, oh no, it's only it's only when I'm at conferences and things like that so I I stand out so people remember meeting me. And I said, man, you should be wearing them every single day for that exact reason. Why are you not wearing them in every video, every social post, every, you know, everything you do. Like, and now he's actually doing it. He's, in fact, he's put those glasses in the logo on his website now. So, he's gone all in on the glasses because it's memorable. You see? So, it it doesn't have to be a huge thing. It can be relatively subtle like a pair of glasses or, you know, the fact that you you backlight your entire, you know, set bright pink or something. It's just got to be something that is is memorable enough for someone to connect to you almost instantly.

And this kind of ties into number three. So creators who build real communities number two will survive, everyone else is just renting attention. Number three, how someone feels interacting with your brand matters more than what you actually teach. Again, because there's 100 a thousand other people teaching what you teach. Now we could talk about there being distinctives about the fact that we could develop proprietary processes or different methodology of getting to the end goal. You know, what you teach might be the same. How you teach could be different and why you teach it could even be radically different. So every listener should be answering those questions. But this like feels thing is something that I've been processing lately and this idea of experience. I think that the experience someone has with your brand. Let me put it this way. Your brand experience is your product. It's not just your content. It's not just your YouTube channel. It's not your social media vertical videos or your courses.

People don't just buy what you know. They buy how it feels to be around you. And so whether that's authenticity and as kind of an interesting revelation of this not just being like a a 2026, 2027 thing, the CXO role, Chief Experience Officer showed up in the New York Times in 2006 and people thought it was unconventional, wacky, like what's a Chief Experience Officer? That's ridiculous. Like, is that that's a C-suite role? Like, what are we talking about? Most companies in 35% of companies didn't have this role in 2017, but by 2020, 90% of organizations have a CXO. And so the reason this matters for even brand new creators or established creators is this role literally didn't exist 20 years ago because companies just sold products, but now experience is the product. And so for a YouTube creator, a personal brand, it's a question that maybe people are asking for the first time. What do you even mean? I haven't ever thought about that, but they need to be the Chief Experience Officer for their own YouTube channel, their own brand. What are your thoughts on that? On AI can replicate information, but it can't replicate the feeling that people have when they're watching your content.

Yeah. You know, this this reminds me back in about 2012, 2013, I um I got together with a bunch of friends when we were over in I was over in the US speaking at an event. There was Pat Flynn was there. Guys that you've had on the show before, Pat Flynn, uh Amy Porterfield, host of other guys. And we were talking about like live events because we were there, we were in Portland for the World Domination Summit with Chris Guillebeau. And we were talking about like live events and and and how they were they were so few and far between back in those days that there just wasn't enough for us to see each other regularly like we wanted to. Um, and these virtual summits had become all the rage, right? Where you kind of convince seven, eight people to, you know, pre-record an interview with you or something like that. And they would, they would run it over a day or two or something. And they were becoming really, really big business. A lot of people in the industry were doing them um, regardless of what niches they were serving, what their primary form of uh, published content was, whether it was a blog or a podcast or YouTube or whatever it was. Um, and somebody said, "You should do one, Chris. Like, you know, you know all these great people. Like, why don't you get them get them together for this thing? It'd be great." And I said, "Well, why not just do it in person? Who wants to sit at a computer all day long like everyone else is doing?" And this was like 2013, 2014 at the time. So, I decided that I was going to do just that. And so, we we actually put together the first Tropical Think Tank event, which was a very, very different event at the time that we did it for the first time in 2014. It was based entirely on experience. There was yoga in the morning. There was snorkeling in the afternoon. There was island hopping and white parties on the beach at sunset and all these amazing activities. Oh yeah. And we threw a little bit of business coaching in there as well with all these amazing people that flew over. People still talk to me about those events to this day. People fell in love at those events. People ended up going into business together at those events and never would have happened if it had have been virtual or if it had have been curated by a bloody robot or something like that. So, you know, I think the idea of having inviting ultimately opening up the kimono to use a popular colloquialism, right? And and inviting people into your world, inviting them in a way that says, "Hey, not only do I want to help you, but I want I want to help you along with other people as well, and I want you to be part of something special that we're building here." That is where that community feeling really comes into play again. And you couple that together with the strength of building in experience and really making it different. Um, you you can't it's it's almost like a license to change lives. And that's exactly what you do when you do it. And if you do it well, you get to make a whole bunch of money and and serve a whole bunch of people at the same time. And there's nothing wrong with any of that.

Yeah. And I I really really agree with you that in this digital world, I think um they've never went away and there was obviously kind of the pandemic era, but in an online world, offline experience is so crucial. Real relationships or bringing it to even if you could get on FaceTime or or Zoom is different than just kind of a one-way experience where you can see individuals, but also for a lot of listeners while they might have limited resources and they're not at a place where the in-person thing or um they they may not be shipping products like I think about brand experience when you open up a box of a particular brand and there's language inside of it like sometimes what what brands are curating and the CXO is curating is the whole every touch point with the brand. But if we were to keep it in the digital, if you thought about like your YouTube thumbnails as your storefront experience or your video opening has a feel to it. That's your customer onboarding experience, the way your tone and comments that you you reply, your your email newsletters. Um, and then even your delivery of your products. Many people here are creating offers or they're inviting people into a Patreon or membership community. But if if all you're doing is posting again more information there, you're going to lose like in this is you're going to lose AI. You're going to lose. But how does it feel interacting with you for those online? Have you seen if if you're cultivating if you were limited by the constraints of I'm an at-home creator, you know, filming like we are in our home studios and trying to think about I want my the experience with my brand to feel different. What are some thoughts?

Well, so we we had we really had to think about this a lot in April of 2020 because we had always done everything in person. Uh, I really did not like doing anything online. It's just not my jam at all. I'm too old-fashioned quite frankly. But we were forced into that situation with with the pandemic. And so I remember thinking to myself, well, what am I going to do to bring the same kind of energy that I would usually bring to an in-person event where people can feel like, you know, that they're still getting what they paid for when they signed up for this thing that was supposed to be in person all the time. What can we do? So, we did a whole bunch of things. First and foremost, we shipped the swag bag to everybody prior to the event taking place. That was huge. That gave us so much social proof and social love even before the the event even started. Like, oh my god, what a great idea that was. So, we did that first and foremost. The second thing we did is we had all of our speakers that would have been there in person in a pop-up Facebook group for the week prior. And every day they would go in, I mean, you know, fair play to them. They they did a phenomenal job at showing up for me in my community. They were doing me a favor, plain and simple, because they wouldn't have had to hang out for a whole week if they'd have just done the two-day event, right? And so we had those guys coming and everybody loved the fact that they could converse with these speakers freely in an environment that they felt really comfortable with, you know, and then what we what I did is I dressed exactly the same way as I would have done if I'd have been on stage. I put on the tie and the waistcoat and we play loud, you know, funk music and and the blues at the break times and all these things that we always do at my events. Um, and we had so many people say to us by the end of that first day, you guys have nailed it. You know, you've nailed it. Like, we really do feel like we're still in the same room. And that was the whole point. So, I think it just goes it just comes down to like going the extra mile and not just resting on your laurels, you know?

That's some brilliant prompts for listeners. What kind of music actually would really represent your brand and give the right energy, vibe, and feel? Um, how could you dress or or being authentic, but be showing up on camera to give a different experience? What could you ship? Maybe it's as easy as shipping a postcard or something that's very affordable to a certain inner inner group. And pulling conversations into groups these days, Discord, all these different places. We're talking about the basically how to recession-proof your brand. How to AI-proof your brand. This might be stretching your thinking Think Media podcast as it should be because again information is becoming common but transformation, community, how it feels interacting with you, which is experience. Basically number one's transformation, number two is community, number three is experience, which brings us to number four, which is going narrow beats going broad. Own a small space rather than competing against a big one. And a lot of these were inspired. I was watching one of your recent videos on your YouTube channel about the trends you see going forward for the expert industry. Those that are thoughtrepreneurs, thought leaders, infopreneurs, personal brands, those that want to build online, build a business. And you mentioned this. This is a huge debate. Do I niche down? Do I not niche down? What does niching look like now? But this is a quote coming straight from you. Going narrow, you know, is something you want to be thoughtful about. What do you think that looks like today and going forward?

You know, I don't think it looks a whole lot different if I'm honest with you. Like the idea of niching down is nothing new at all. We've been talking about it for a long, long, long, long time, particularly in in the format of creating content and being found for search terms and all that kind of stuff, right? I it just it's just very, very it's a very simple way to imagine getting a room full of your dream clients, your dream subscribers, your dream followers or fans. If you try and be everything to everyone, that will never ever ever happen. Right? So instead of saying, "Well, I'm a health coach," say that you're a health coach that works exclusively with men. Instead of saying that, you could say, "Well, I'm a health coach that works with men in their 40s and 50s." Okay, now we're starting to go a little more narrow, right? Instead of saying that, you could say, "I'm a health coach that works with men in their 40s and 50s who are recovering from a major surgery." Oh, are you serious? If I've just gone through a major surgery, I am ready right now to spend money with you. Please give me an offer. I'm like, it's the easiest sale of the in in the history of selling, right? But the other thing is also this. When you go narrow, when you go narrow and you go after owning a little space of a rather larger audience or a larger or a larger uh industry, what happens is the language that you use enables you to be a lot clearer in your messaging with the people that you're trying to attract into your ecosystem. If I'm a guy who is working with 40s and 50-year-old men who are recovering from major surgery, the language I use, the words I use, the thought process I use is going to just nail that prospect or or that avatar so much easier. It's just going to be picked up so much quicker. So, for me personally, always niche down. Always niche down. You'll never be able to please all the people, so don't even bother trying to attempt it.

So when you talk about niche down, it makes it clear this is going to connect to the vehicle with which or the way in which you transform an audience, identifying an audience. Men in their 50s who are trying to get their health back that have recently gone through a surgery. So you've now developed fierce clarity on who you serve and then you have a process that will lead to transformation for that individual. But I'm curious your take on whether you agree or you disagree with Alex Hormozi and Gary Vaynerchuk's claim that you are the niche. And by definition, what they mean is that your unique combination of interest, values, personality, and perspective is the niche. And that if you're documenting your journey and I think where people get hung up is they're like, "Okay, should I be posting um how I can hack Chipotle and get double protein for without having to pay for it like Alex Hormozi? Should I be talking about wine and NFTs and crypto and business and social u and sneakers?" And people get they're like, okay, if I'm doing random stuff and this is a big ongoing debate is that algorithmically if I'm, you know, you you talked about being you. So essentially what are your thoughts on that sort of headline that them and many others have echoed and how that maybe ties in or maybe you disagree with how that ties into owning a niche and your business and also kind of sharing random things about your quirks and your story on social media.

I I am going to agree and disagree if I can do that. If you'll allow me to do that. The reason why I say this is because I will stand by my comments earlier on where I mentioned, you know, people will buy you. They will buy you nine times out of 10 before they buy whatever it is that you're trying to sell. Right? So, let's just get that very, very clear right out of the gate. But, I do disagree with the fact that you shouldn't pick a niche. You shouldn't pick necessarily a prospect or an avatar to serve. I think that's a bad move, particularly in today's world where we're we're just absolutely bamboozled at every available opportunity from one thing or another online and the way we consume our content now is very, very, very different to the way we consumed our content five or even 10 years ago. Right. So I I think that ultimately yes, lean into you and your quirks and things like that. Like you mentioned the bonsai tree thing. A lot of people know that I practice bonsai. In fact, when LEGO released their bonsai botanical set, I got four of the things sent to me from random people. So, you know, it just goes to show you people are listening to the quirks. They connect to the quirks, but you shouldn't necessarily place your entire marketing system around it. No way. Absolutely not.

And to give you context, Think Media podcast right before Chris jumped on, I mentioned, you know, he's looking good, he's looking vibrant, he looks healthy, he looks rested, probably because he's been trimming his bonsai trees. And that just is while I know him as this marketing expert, this personal brand expert, the author of the and and founder of this Upreneur community, that those little quirks around your story, you I think you articulated it great. It's like both are right and people are trying to say I'm confused because of what these people over here are saying versus what somebody over here is saying and your answer is like it's not either or, it's both. In fact, this really ties into number five.

Your personality and story are the only things AI can't copy. So it doesn't mean you don't pick a niche. It doesn't mean you don't have an avatar, a target audience. That by definition of entrepreneurship actually you kind of have to have those things. It'd be called uh your um unique uh, you know, USP, but I what was the other one I heard the other day? I was at YPO in Miami and uh somebody used another, you know, marketing term that was like just basically who's your your target customer? Who is your your unique customer, your ideal customer? And and that's what a business has. A business has a product for uh that solves a specific problem and is has a market that they're targeting. But it brings us to number five, your personality, your story, and the only are the things AI can't copy.

So, we've kind of touched on this, but is there any other thoughts that if if creators are going to, you know, and entrepreneurs are going to last maybe weaving in more of these things and how that might show up in their content?

Yeah, I just think, you know, it again, be you, do your thing, be quirky, add all that stuff in there, but ultimately narrowing down that niche is going to be the best thing that you can do. I'll give you a perfect example. Just very recently, I got more and more interested in wildlife photography, very specifically with birds. And so, I wanted to upgrade my camera. My camera was old. I knew I needed a longer lens to be able to get closer to the subjects and things like that. And I looked at a whole bunch of different reviews online. I watched a whole bunch of different YouTubers and all the rest of it. And I ended up picking uh an OM System or an Olympus uh Olympus system. Um, and the reason why I went with Olympus was because one particular wildlife photographer that I had been consuming on YouTube offers the opportunity to work with her one-on-one to dial your settings in, to learn how to use the the system properly, to learn what lens is best for what, you know, scenario, etc., etc. So, not only did I go ahead and buy a brand new camera, a brand new lens, but I also booked an entire day with her and traveled up to the Peak District in England, 5-hour drive, almost five 5-hour drive, um, to spend the day with her to learn how to use it all. I came back, went out to a nature reserve and started getting incredible photos right out of the gate. There was no real learning curve at all. Now, I could have gone the Canon, I could have gone to Sony, I could have gone a Nikon or whatever it is, but I went with OM because of her, because I got her vibe and I wanted to work with her on becoming better at what I wanted to do. So, it just goes to show you people will make moves based on who you are and what you do and how you do it.

Man, that's so strong. Her vibe plus the niche problem you had once you had committed to that brand of camera um became ultimately you becoming a customer and having this great experience.

And then also getting transformation and results. Now you have confidence, you're getting great, you know, photos, you love the investment that you made because you left now knowing how to use your camera and set up at all.

For her, Sean, this was the really big thing, man. She's in a very, very, very crowded niche. You type in wildlife photography YouTuber, you're going to have hundreds and hundreds of people to choose from. But she did was pick OM System. She's only doing stuff for OM System. And that's what stood out to me.

She was all in on that one particular system, one particular camera.

Powerful, powerful way of going narrow. And I do remember the term. It was funny because I'm sitting with like uh Nathan, the founder of ConvertKit now Kit, and like Eric Sue, and all these like legends who just talk marketing, and they go they go, "Hey, what's your ICP?" And I'm I'm, you know, I'm about to celebrate 10 years in business here at Think Media. I think I'm a decent marketer, been doing YouTube for like 20 years almost now. And I'm like, Insane Clown Posse? Like, what's ICP mean? That shows where I grew up, you know? Whoop. I grew up kind of in the rural farm ghetto where you got ICP people walking around. Um, only the real ones listening to this know. And so, and then they're like, "Your ideal customer profile." I'm like, "Oh, like your your avatar." So, ICP was your ideal customer profile. Knowing that, knowing what your niche and your brand is, but then infusing your story and personality. Here's the bottom line. Think Media podcast. AI cannot copy your story, your experiences, your vibe, your personality. If you want to protect your brand going forward in an age of AI, these are the things you need to figure out before your competition figures them out. But we mentioned a bonus tip number six, which is really kind of the second half of this conversation, which is something that most creators miss. And even if you nail all five of the first strategies, you can still lose everything because the sixth pillar isn't about your content or about community, it's actually about you. The biggest threat to your personal brand isn't AI or the competition. It's burnout. It's mental or emotional mastery. Because if you break down and you can't if you break down and quit, it's over. Really, it's just over. Like if you stop posting because you're overwhelmed. If you implode as a leader, then you're ultimately not going to survive over the long term. I remember Steve Jobs said something um that was like a quote that business is a game of attrition. That if you just stay in this for long enough, YouTube is a game of attrition. If you're just still here, not just after one year, but after four years. If you're just still here after 8 years, maybe maybe even right now practically your competition's like way better than you. And like you're like, I feel like I can't compete. Well, if you just don't quit, they might burn out. They might they might retire. There's been massive people saying there's the negative side of it, but massive people burning out in YouTube, but kind of retiring. Like burnout's extreme because the creator economy is kind of a grind. And some of them are like, "Yeah, I'm done. I'm stopping not uploading." I just think about we just got news recently. We had editors reaching out to us like really established successful YouTube creators doing very well. They're like, "Yeah, I'm I'm done." Not necessarily in a negative way. Maybe if they had some of your tips, they could have lasted, but they're they're set. They're done. So, there's a disruption that people a lot of times in this world, they're coming and going and they're not going to last. Are you a business owner or serious content creator that is struggling to crack the YouTube code? Are you feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or just plain frustrated with slow growth? If so, then our new one-on-one coaching program at viralvideocoach.com is your premier ticket to YouTube success. becoming the authority in your niche, attracting engaged leads and loyal customers. We offer one-to-one coaching with our YouTube experts that will help you get results fast and a supportive community that's cheering you on. So, if you're ready to stop wasting time with trial and error and to stop leaving money on the table, then head to viralvideocoach.com to apply to see if you qualify for our coaching program. But heads up, this offer is not for everybody. It's only for serious content creators and entrepreneurs that are ready to take action. So, if that's you, head to viralvideocoach.com to apply or click the link in the show notes.

All right, let's jump back into the episode. I want to talk about some of the principles from your new book. You wrote The Long Haul Leader, 10 Strategies to Work Smarter, Live Better, and Achieve Lasting Success. And that sort of most important foundational tip number six is that you know having those foundational pieces in your life are going to be key. So I wrote down some questions. These are pulled from some of the chapters of your book. You identify some of these big problems. One is the pace problem. You talk about setting the right pace. A lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of creators are sprinting when they should be marathon running. So what are your thoughts on this big idea of pace?

Yeah, look, I think busy is a bit of a trap, right? I'm so busy. Oh, I'm so busy right now. Um, thing is it shouldn't be about being busy. It should be about making impact and impact is the target. That's exactly what it should be. Being busy is not what you want to be. You want to be just creating impact. And so I think the easy way to look at it is like anybody can fill a calendar with stuff to do, right? But very few people will create meaningful results out of the work they do. That's just brutal reality. So the very the very idea of not confusing motion with momentum is at the core message of long-haul leadership. And the fact is that too many people are burning out. Uh, there was a recent study that was done um which was uh featured in Forbes which said that 68% of entrepreneurs experienced burnout.

68% which is pretty crazy and that's increased to 78% since the pandemic. So if we're talking about almost 80% of our entrepreneurs and creators should be looking at themselves as entrepreneurs, right? It's great that you want to create great content and put it out into the world, but ultimately unless you start making money from it, you don't have a job, you don't have a side hustle, you don't have a career, what you got is a hobby. And if there's nothing wrong with that, if that's what you want to do and you enjoy doing it as a hobby, that's fine. But if you want to start making money as a creator, you've got to start thinking like an entrepreneur, plain and simple. So if 80% of our entrepreneurs or thereabouts are burnt out, that's a big big problem right there that we need to deal with. You couple that together with the fact that 30% of those people will end up in some way, shape or form dealing with depression and anxiety like I have in 2021. I hit a burnout and I didn't see it coming at all. And we had an amazing business year in 2021. We crushed 2021 and I was doing amazing work and I was loving every single minute of it. I genuinely was loving everything we

We're doing. But the fact of the matter is, I was doing too much, doing way, way too much, and ended up hitting a brick wall, ultimately. And, uh, I was actually diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and acute, um, phase three adrenal failure.

So, my adrenal glands, which are these two little glands, sit on top of your kidneys. They create cortisol, which is our stress hormone. And a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with this, not just me. A lot of entrepreneurs struggle with, with, with this fight-or-flight scenario that pops up quite a lot during the course of their day. "Or there's a fire, I've got to put that fire out." Or "There's a problem with our website, I get that, get, I got to get that fixed." Or "I got to get on a plane to go somewhere to speak," or etc., etc., etc.

And so, what happened with my cortisol production was it flatlined. So, I couldn't handle stress anymore, which meant I got more and more stressed. And more and more stressed I got, I got even more, more stressed, and eventually, I ended up just burning out entirely, right?

And so, the thing is, what we've got to understand and really kind of like, I guess, almost with open arms, and it's a little harder for people in the earlier part, the infancy of their journey building something, is that you've got to understand that you don't have to break to justify a break.

"If you feel tired, if you feel like you need a break, take the damn break." Don't try and power through it, because you might be able to do it once. You might be able to do it twice. You ain't going to be able to do it three times. It's very, very hard to do that. So, if you want to build something that lasts, you need to last as well. And that's where self-care comes into it.

And for me, the big thing for me was that, and this was a big shift for me, all the work that I did, all of the, the inner work, the working with nutritionists and and a PT and a functional medicine doctor to get my kind of bloods sorted and all that kind of stuff. Like, what I, what I really understood, or what I really understand now, is that self-care and putting myself first actually is not selfish at all. It's strategic. It's strategic. It's strategy number one, because if Chris isn't in good shape, if Chris doesn't have the energy, he's no good to anybody. You know?

"There's this massive, there's kind of been a correction to it, but let's talk about this hustle culture as we're talking about pace, because I'm curious your thoughts." Um, some of the leading voices, I think, I think Kevin O'Leary from, was he on Shark Tank, or was just known for?

"Oh, he was, he was on Shark Tank earlier on."

"We've seen Kevin O'Leary. We've seen, uh, Alex Hormozi. We've seen people saying, if, if you want to, I think I've said this on social media. I borrowed the quote from maybe anonymous, but it was, 'If you want to buy things without looking at the price, you need to work without looking at the clock.'"

You know, that kind of energy. But and then, and then you saw Gary Vee, he got shredded in the media for a while, and he's kind of corrected. And maybe it's also about setting ambitions. There was, I saw Patrick Bet-David recently reacting to, um, somebody that's building a unicorn that is on their way to do there, meaning a billion-dollar valuation company, and they said, he goes, "I work seven days a week. I have for years." Uh, and he said, "If you're building a unicorn, it's seven days a week." There's Kevin O'Leary says, like, "You got to work your face off." Bill Gates said that too. He's like, "I didn't take a vacation for 10 years or something like that."

So, I know that, you know, not everybody, like they're like, "I'm just trying to build like a, you know, six-figure side hustle here on YouTube," or, you know, like, there, there's different levels of ambition. But what is your take on these mixed messages that we're getting? That if you're actually going to be, I think there's just a lot of pressure, 'cause it's like, you're taking, you just said, "Take a break." And sometimes we can feel anxiety as type-driven people because we're like, "Yeah, but there's someone's hustling, and they're working while I'm sleeping." How do you wrestle with this, and how do you maybe be anchored in this, like, major debate that is happening in the entrepreneur space, content creator space?

"I think the thing is, is that when I was younger, I felt like that too. I felt like that too."

"Right? Oh man, if, if I'm not working, then what am I doing? Like, my competitors are working, you know? My, my, my competitors are writing blog posts, you know? My competitors are recording podcasts." You know, we're only talking 14, 15 years ago now, right? So, I get it. I get it entirely.

I think hustle, hustle is not a bad thing. Let me clarify that. We will all need to hustle at some point. It's inevitable. Whether there's just a deadline to a project that we're working on, or there is a specific date that we need to, you know, launch a brand new offer, uh, or maybe there's, you know, an opportunity and we, and we've got to drop everything. We've got to fly to the other side of the world for a week, or whatever it is. We will always have times when we have to put a foot down on the accelerator a little bit.

But I think what I'm trying to get across here, above and beyond everything else, is that it is not sustainable to expect to be around for the long haul and to be all out all the time. Hustle is a season. It's not a lifestyle. Don't buy into the lifestyle thing at all. And I'm not surprised that Gary got some flak over it, because that was his whole thing for like a decade, right? And I've hung out with Gary, as you well know, we've hung out, right? Like on multiple occasions, and I'm like, "How you doing?" "Oh, man, I'm doing this, I'm doing this." Just talking to the guy exhausts me. You know what I mean? But that doesn't mean I don't respect him for what he's doing and what he's done and what he's planning on on doing in the future. All I know is that burnout is not a badge of honor. It's a warning sign that you've been doing things wrong, and you should pay attention to it as and when it comes your way. But yeah, the hustle culture thing, man, it's not a bad thing. It's okay, but you got to do it in little bits. Like you say, you, you run a marathon very, very differently to to the way you run a sprint.

"In chapter five, you talk about energy as a currency. And you have a whole chapter called 'Upgrade Your Batteries.' So why do you think and propose that energy management is actually more important than time management for long-term success?"

Yeah, we found, we did a lot of research on this, actually. I will say this is my third book. I did more research in this book than my other two books combined, because I wanted to make sure that I got this stuff right. I didn't just want to do nothing but "World According to Chris," right? And so, what we, what we found actually, that time, when it comes to real, like hardcore successful people, time is not seen as their most valuable commodity or most valuable asset. It's actually their energy levels.

So, it, it comes down to things like planning recovery type of activities within your working week, as well as on your weekend as well. So, we, we actually did something really fun on the subject of hobbies and pastimes. And there was one particular thing that I talk about in the book, and it came out, I just couldn't believe it at the time. But the CEO of Goldman Sachs is a guy named David Solomon. David Solomon has a really cool hobby. David Solomon, when he's in hobby mode, is called DJ D-Sol. And he is one of the most hardest to get, sought-after disco and dance like DJs, right? Like, he does parties and festivals and all the rest of it. When I found this out, I was like, "Hold on, wait a minute."

"That's crazy."

"If, if DJ D-Sol from Goldman Sachs has got a hobby like that, then there's no reason why any of us can't have a hobby." As far as I'm concerned. So, I dive deeper into this, and I find out that very particularly from an entrepreneurial perspective, you can increase your productivity and performance by as much as 30% by engaging in a creative hobby of some kind, like DJing, painting, trimming bonsai trees, whatever it is. You can increase your performance by almost 30% by doing that for a minim minimum of two hours a week, which is pretty telling.

"This is a, a major epiphany. Uh, one I looked up. So, David Solomon Music, 56,000 followers on Instagram, CEO, dad, music fan, DJ since 2015. All the proceeds go to charitable institutions. He doesn't need money." Um, but that is that is a such a cool example. And I think, uh, you know, listeners are probably stuck in two camps. One is they might just get into grind mode, or maybe they haven't cultivated and found their hobby. I think some are probably like, they're feeling affirmed because they're like, "Yeah, you should go play basketball," or "You should be playing pickleball," or you should." What have maybe you learned? I mean, yeah, so you're, what did you, what did you? You're developing a nature reserve, is that, is that your house?

"I mean, nothing says midlife crisis, right, then either." I think the way, and this is the way I kind of, I, I discussed it with my wife, who you obviously met. I said to her, "Honey, I'm thinking of buying this piece of land." And she said, "Well, like, why? Like, what are we going to build on it? Like, what's the deal, kind of thing?" I said, "No, I'm just going to turn it back over to nature. I'm going to do basically nothing." And she said, "What?" I said, "Well, look, I think I might be having a midlife crisis, but it's either I'm buying a piece of land to turn it over to birds and badges, or I could go get a girlfriend and a Lamborghini. I'm not sure which one you're going to be hot on, but I, I'm going more towards the birds and the badges myself personally."

Um, and so, yeah, that's what we're doing. We're actually buying the land right now. We're in the process of finalizing the sale or the purchase. And, um, I am going to do exactly that. I'm going to turn the land over to nature. I'm going to do everything I can to attract as much wildlife to the land as I possibly can. Um, and I'm building it for the future generations of my family. In fact, we've actually already named it the Legacy Nature Reserve. And that's going to be part of that legacy play, right? Which we actually talk about in the book as well, in terms of leaving a lasting legacy of positive thinking and and just positive life lessons through the work that we do as leaders and and the people that we work with and all that kind of stuff.

So, you know, we can joke about it a little bit, and I have been, trust me. But I think the, the, the overarching kind of lesson here is that if you've got something fun, something that lights you up, something that's got real genuine motivation plugged behind it, that you can look forward to, that you schedule, that you make time for, that cannot be a bad thing for your lifestyle. It just cannot.

And it's one of the reasons why every, every October, I have a team meeting where we plan out the entirety of next year's calendar. We've done this for about seven or eight years now. And I, I rock up to that team meeting with our calendar already preloaded with all of our family sabbatical trips, all of the couple trips that me and go on each, each year. We go on three different trips each year, just the two of us. All of the kitty stuff. I do trips with my kids each year as well, individually. Like, all of that is preloaded onto the calendar so that my team knows when I'm available for work. So, I'm putting that first. Like, that's priority number one for me. Anyone else can do the same. I appreciate obviously that I'm in the situation where I can kind of pick and choose when I work and don't work. Many people are not. But, you know, you can still, you can still plan out your vacation time way ahead of time and get that into HR and get that locked in so you know exactly what you're doing when you're doing to recover, because the recovery score thing is real. It's not just on your Whoop band, right? Like, the recovery score is absolutely real, and we want to make sure that we are putting ourselves first when it comes to our recovery.

"That's really strong. We got to go to the next point, but I, I have some big takeaways. And one, I think, uh, the action item of like, every week engaging in two hours at least of a, a fun hobby or a hobby of some kind. And the mindset shift needed for probably a few people listening, like myself, is that actually your YouTube videos are going to be better as a result. You're going to be more creative as a result. You're going to have less stress as a result. You're going to be able to last over the long haul, but also this is a competitive edge. The competitive edge of you're paid and rewarded based on the quality of your ideas, not on the quality of whatever chat prompt you can put into ChatGPT and sound like everybody else. So, you getting out and being human and getting your brain recovered. And this is a conversation for a whole another time, but you know, I have an entrepreneur friend who's built an eight-figure company up. We actually meet almost weekly at a sauna, a European steam bath about 15 minutes from my house. You have the sauna, the cold plunge, the red light therapy room, the jacuzzi, and a steam room. And you rotate through there. We hang out. We're, you know, hot, cold, hot, cold, which has so many benefits. It's active recovery. But we talk about HRV all the time. I have not got a Whoop band yet, but he's talking about like HRV, which just for a topic for some listeners, that that's one way that you're measuring your recovery. And so, a conversation for another time, but you could research that a little bit. Recovery score. This matters. This idea of not just being on, but also recovering well is your insurance to be built to last and be a long-haul leader. Now, just a couple more questions. I want to touch on a few more chapters, but we will make sure to link up in the show notes, and I want to encourage you, if you're listening to this, grab a copy of the book, 'The Long Haul Leader: 10 Strategies to Work Smarter, Live Better, and Achieve Lasting Success.' If you've listened to Think Media podcast for any length of time, you probably know that one of our core values at Think Media, out of our seven core values, is 'Built to Last.' I couldn't be more excited about the book because it's the under shared message. It's the undertalked about message. People are chasing tactics and they're chasing growth, and that matters because if you don't get that, then I mean, you're not in business. They're chasing sales. They're chasing, you know, marketing and all this different stuff. But it's like, if you're not here in five to 10 years, what's more important, you know? Is is just having 15 minutes of social media fame or YouTube fame, or just having a year or two of success, or stacking decades when it comes to your career, your impact, your family? So, pick up a copy of the book. We'll talk a little bit more about some of the other things in it later, but I want to touch on a few more questions I had from the chapters. Um, one chapter is on focus, focus amplification, and you say you get more of what you focus on in a world of infinite distractions. You say that long-haul leaders actually maintain focus on what matters. Now, I want to try to really pull some stuff out of you here, Chris, because, you know, some of these ideas are, are, um, are not new. Uh, you know, focus, it's like, maybe we've heard about that before, but, but let's make it just, how do we do this? 'Cause I know for me, shiny object syndrome, I just got back from a mastermind in, uh, Denver, and I took pages of notes, and I'm over, I'm overwhelmed, in a good way. I'm so excited. There's 57,000 things in AI I want to implement. There's different ways to tweak my offers. There's opportunities to expand. You could hire this or that person. There's 46 different YouTube video ideas. Three other business ideas I could start. So, there's all kind of that. And then plus, even just, you know, this ties into our life. So, I, I know listeners, don't jump off because it's the tools of actually being able to do this when so many people are sidelined by overwhelm more than ever before in just an age of infinite distractions."

"Yeah, I mean, you know, for me, this is, and this, we kind of touch on this as well in the book, but for me, this is about the zone of genius thing and like doing the work only you can do as much as you possibly can. The one thing that I really struggled on when it came to focus in the early part of my career was un, was was relinquishing control, but not just relinquishing control in terms of a micromanagement standpoint, because I was a horrible micromanager at one point, but also relinquishing what I like to call the virtual vulture phase, where you're kind of hanging off people's shoulders. You're not actually in the meeting, but you're kind of in the meeting, kind of thing. It's sort of looking over what's going on and things. 'Oh, copy me into that email just in case,' and all these kind of things. Like, all these things, they suck away the focus juice that we've got and and that we very readily require to be able to get through our workday.

There's a couple little things that I do when it comes to focus personally that work really, really well for me. The first thing I do is, when I'm in work mode, like creator mode, when I'm writing, very specifically when I'm writing, or whether I'm recording podcasts and things like that, my phone is not in my office. I leave it outside my office. It's a tiny little thing that I do, but I found that because it's not there, and even if it's on silent, I can still maybe see it or feel a vibrate or a kind of, you know, that the additional kind of, 'Oh, I can touch that and see if anybody needs me right now,' kind of thing. Like getting that out of the room has been a huge thing.

The other thing was my working environment. I used to work in mess, man. Like, I, my, my desk used to be like, you know, like a bomb site. It was, it was shocking. And really over the last couple of years, I've really nailed in the fact that actually I don't need half the stuff. Probably even a, I need less than a third of the stuff that's on my desk most of the time. So, I just keep my desk incredibly clear, incredibly clear at all times as well. So that focus has been, those couple of things right there really helped me to focus on the things I'm doing as and when I'm doing them.

But the bigger picture view is the zone of genius thing. Only I should be writing my weekly newsletter. Only I should be recording my weekly podcast. Only I should be recording our social media reels. I shouldn't be trying to delegate any of that stuff out because that's what I'm known for. That's what I can be doing. What I shouldn't be doing is mess around in my Facebook ad account, or I shouldn't be doing research on somebody that I'm wanting to interview. I can get one of my VAs to do that for me, and so on and so on and so on. So, I think it's a combination of knowing where your sweet spot is and and understanding what the right priorities are, uh, and letting go of the rest of those priorities as and when the time comes. Uh, but also equally knowing, you know, what we should be focused on in the first place."

"Before we move on, can you speak to early startup, uh, creators and entrepreneurs, which is many in our audience. They're solo. So this is genius advice. We have probably half our audience is business owners. So them in vulture mode, or them relinquishing control, or them delegating is, is essential. But there are some who are solopreneur stage building up their content, you know, business, just getting started, um, and thinking about, they're, they're ideating around, do I create an offer? Do I need to start building a list? Am I focusing on making YouTube videos right now? Should I actually, you know, I'm distracted by multiple social media platforms. If you were to apply focus amplification to people that are in their first or second year and are working on also, you know, there is a side hustle for them too. So with their, a lot of their time, they're maybe stay at home because they've got a partner that's, uh, helping them and, and but then they're juggling kids or something else, or they're, um, part-time or full-time at work. So they have a limited number of hours per week where they're trying to discern what to focus on. And after the only 5 to 10 hours a week they have to devote to their side hustle, that's so precious. You spend those in the wrong place, you're waiting till next week to make another investment towards actually reaching a level of financial momentum that's going to buy back your time. How would you apply this to people that are in those very early days?"

"Well, I mean, the first thing I would say is, is, is just because you can do it, doesn't mean that you should do it. So, there's a lot of great ideas that will pop into your head, particularly when you get going, and you've got that entrepreneurial bug, and you're reading the books and listening to the shows and all the rest of it, and you kind of want to go, go, go, go. But again, just because you can do a whole bunch of stuff, doesn't mean that you should be doing it all. And focus itself actually is the absolute best reminder of this if you look at it as the acronym that it is. You know, focus is 'Follow One Course Until Success.' So, do one thing at a time until you're done with it, and then move on to the next project until you're done with it, and then move on to the next project, and so on, and so on.

In inside of my Roundt mastermind, which is my inner circle that I work with a lot of seven and eight-figure entrepreneurs. One of the things that we do every quarter is we work on our three big things. And our three big things is like a really technical term that we use with multi-millionaires that we coach. Um, but we say we got the three big things. And the three big things are the three big things that you want to do in the next 90 days.

"It's not three, you know, it's not the big 10 things or or the big 20 things. And these guys have all got teams. They could do a lot more than three things in 90 days if they wanted to, but they only pick the three things. And we actually do a, a pit stop call in between our our quarterly meets where we look at where we're at on those three big things. So, we had 100% on one of them. Good. Boom. We ticked that off. Great. We have 50% on another, 70% on another. Which one can we complete easiest? Is it the 70 or the 50th? Okay, let's go to the 70% because we've only got another 30% to do. Now, we got two out of our three big things done. And we do it like that. It's very, very simple approach, but you do not run until you can walk properly. And I think that's a very, very clear piece of advice that anybody that's just starting out should pick up."

Chris, you just added so much value to the Think Media podcast family, and you made the smart move listening this far into the episode because like you said, it's very simple, but I know that 100% of us right now could be saying, "Do you know what the three big things are for your next 90 days? Are those defined? Are those clarified?" And then also, what are you doing that you should sit down, stop, say no to right now that are a distraction from those three big things? Focus, follow one course until successful. Okay, let's hit like two more here. So, you, you mentioned your zone of genius. That's chapter seven. We, we'll skip over that one. We got, um, and you could, you know, get more in the book, of course. And so, let's hit this one. You have a chapter on 'Master Every Moment.' And you also have a video on time blocking videos or time blocking in general. We've encouraged listeners to, you know, what gets scheduled gets done to time block, but you took that conversation to a deeper level, and maybe you could go even higher on 'Master Every Moment.' How does controlling your schedule actually protect your mental health and bigness business longevity?

"I tell you what, the big thing for me with time blocking was, and I, I'd kind of done this on and off for years, Sean. I kind of did, well, you know, I'm going to batch say, four podcast episodes together on Tuesday morning, for example, right? Or, or something like that. So, I'd kind of done it, but I kind of didn't do it. And going into this year, I really committed to to time blocking properly. And I spoke to another couple of people that had been kind of big proponents of it and really kind of swore by it. And I said, you know what? I'm going to follow this.

So, for example, on one day, it'll be my creator day. And all I do on on that day is create stuff. So, I'll either write scripts for videos or podcasts. I'll, uh, record, or, or I should clarify, in the morning, I'll write, and in the e, in the afternoon, rather, I will record. So, I might, you know, do, uh, any kind of written content first, like newsletters, things like that, emails, and then I'll go to more rich media content, like podcasts or video. Then in the afternoon, I'll record those podcasts or those videos. And you usually, I can do a couple of videos in one afternoon, or maybe three solo episodes of the audio podcast in one afternoon, right? So, like Monday, like I really look forward to Monday. Monday's like a really cool day of the week for me because all I'm doing is being me all day long. I'm just pouring all of me out. And I absolutely love that.

Second, second day of the week could be something completely different. It could be more, um, kind of like learning focused, or more big rock kind of focused, where I'm working on bigger projects, for example, or spending time with the team, or something along those lines. Those, those, those types of things. And another day of the week could be focused entirely on sales and marketing. So, maybe I'm in marketing meetings with my crew, or possibly I'm doing sales calls. Maybe I'll, I'll do two or three sales calls in the afternoon. So, we'll kind of batch them together.

What this has done for me has not only been really beneficial for me personally, but also for my team as well. So, for example, if we know that say Wednesday afternoon is our, is the only time in the week where I will do sales calls, then we know we've only got so many slots in that afternoon for me to pick out those individual sales calls that need to take place. So, those calls that come my way are my absolute best prospects. The other three or four people that might be a potential client are handled by somebody else on the team, because I know if I can get the absolute best quality three or four calls every Wednesday afternoon on the books, I'm likely to close every one of those deals. And so, not only does it help me to be more productive and make more money, but it also allows my team to know where the line is in terms of, is this for Chris, or is this for us? And it's been amazing for everyone this year. It's, it's genuinely changed the way that we work together as a team. It really has.

And another thing is that I do a certain amount of, um, a certain amount of one-on-one work with our Roundt mastermind members where they can get access to me on WhatsApp Monday through to Thursday, but they know that I only check my, my WhatsApp messages 9:00 a.m. in the morning and then at 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon. So, if they message me in the middle, they know they're not going to get a reply until 4:00 p.m. If they message me after 4:00 p.m., they know they won't get a reply until 9:00 a.m. the next day. So, it's also enabled me to kind of manage the perception of clients as well."

"That makes more sense and 'Master Every Moment.' And I want to encourage listeners, you got to have, you want to be thinking big in small places, and you want wise, intelligent systems, even if you're at the start. And so, time blocking, mastering every moment, taking control of your calendar, that's going to be the bridge from where you are today to where you want to reach with your online business, YouTube channel, and social media. I, um, have actually one, this is gonna be my favorite question of the whole time. And it's, it's something that everybody listening wants, but many don't know how to get. And..."

"I, I can't give you any free money, Sean. I'm sorry."

"Um, well, I'm going to be giving you my, my, uh, crypto wallet, so I still need a transfer by the end of this. Um, but before we get there, uh, to just our final question, I want to have you shout out anything you're doing. We'll make sure to link everything up in the show notes, and then, you know, tell us about the book. We'll link to the book. People can get it. Um, but anything else you want to give a shout out to?"

"Yeah, you know, for me, I'm just on this mission, man. Like, this is more than just a book. This is a genuine movement, I feel, in the works. Um, we've got the live event, the Longhaul Leader Summit, taking place in Cambridge, England in November. So, it's on November 1st and November 2nd, if anybody's interested. There are maybe, I don't know, two dozen tickets remaining. We kept it very intimate at just 100 people. So, you can go to longhaulleadersummit.com. Um, but at the bare minimum, buy the book. You won't regret it. It will help you leave, you know, uh, all that, that hustle culture behind and and start leading with more intention and more freedom."

"I love that. So, we'll link up the summit. We'll link up the book, and you could go to the, the website for the book, as well as anywhere where books are sold to grab your copy. Um, my final question for you is actually about building your reputation and building relationships and building your network. What was fascinating as I was looking at the Amazon listing of your book was I was looking at all the endorsements that you have, and you've got Lewis Howes, Amy Porterfield, Dan Martell, Sally Hogshead, Rory Vaden, Nene James, Michael Port, Aaron King, John Acuff, Amy Landino, Pat Flynn. You, you're missing Sean Kel. So, I don't even think anyone's going to. Just kidding. Uh, Ali Abdaal, uh, Mike Michalowicz, Donald Miller. My here's my question, though, is like, for people listening to this, I think they understand the power of, man, if I could get on that podcast. Hey, if I could develop that relationship, hey, you know, they look around and they see that, uh, iron sharpens iron, and that there is a multiplication factor. These are, these are like legendary entrepreneurs and content creators and people that are building different types of businesses. So, I'm asking for the audience, your advice that they would say, you know, I want to get in the room. I want to get in in the circle. I want to do it in the right way, but if I'm going to be the type of leader that writes a book in five years and has these kinds of individuals endorsing my book, what would you do today to achieve that?"

"I would get very clear on my intentions to do it for the right reasons. You know, relationships should be treasured. They shouldn't be used. And, um, I didn't have to ask any of those individuals twice. Um, and, and actually, one of the, um, one of the really, really nice, uh, moments in collecting those endorsements from people was from my friend and my, my mentor, Michael Hyatt. And Michael has been asked dozens and dozens and dozens of times to write forewords for books. Um, I really thought long and hard before asking him, but I'm glad I did. However, at first, he said, 'Well, send me the manuscript. I'll, I'll take a look at it.' And then I didn't hear anything from him for like a week. And I thought to myself, 'Oh, man. Did I overstep? Like, have I upset him? Is he kind of, you know, because I've been, you know, we've been building that relationship together for a long time, and we've, we've broken bread with our wives and hung out in different cities in the world and all these things.' And eventually, he got back to me about a week and a half later, and the foreword was attached to the email. So, he'd just been busy writing the foreword, reading the book, and writing the foreword.

But that for me was a real full circle, real full, full circle moment, Sean, because, you know, when I first met Michael, I remember explicitly saying to myself, like, you know, I want to be like Mike, not the MJ, but this Mike, because he's doing it right. He's got his family involved. He's doing the right type of work for the right type of people. He's doing it with longevity built in. Um, and I want to learn from him as much as I can. I want to be around him as much as I can. And I've made that a thing over the years, not just with Michael, but with Lewis and Pat and, you know, all those other guys that you mentioned. And I've never ever, ever done any of it with any ulterior motive other than coming from a place of wanting to learn and wanting to help and support and to serve them as much as I can as well. Um, and I just, I really feel like relationships should be treasured. The online business world is rife with people trying to get a leg up on their ladder too quickly, quite frankly. And what you've got to understand is that you're not meant to go 180 miles an hour when you're building a business. You're meant to go at a steady 30 or 40. And for me, that, that's all about surrounding myself with the right people. Getting in the rooms actually will be a heck of a lot easier if you just build relationships for the right reasons. Not to be in the room, but because you want to be like the people in the room. Eventually, you'll get invited to the room."

"How long? One of the things I find interesting is how long has it taken to cultivate those relationships?"

"I mean, you know, I've known Lewis, for example, for about, I'm going to say maybe 14, 15 years now. Pat and I have been buddies for a little longer than that. Amy Porterfield, 12, 13 years. Michalowicz, over a decade. Most of those guys are a decade, right? Most of those guys, or thereabouts. There's a few others like Don Miller, for example. He and I kind of been in each other's worlds a little bit. Never really spoken or anything like that, other than, you know, the odd social media comment, but I was invited to a mastermind at his, uh, at his house in, um, in, uh, Nashville, uh, last year, and we hit it off immediately. I bought him a, I know he's a big music guy and a jazz guy. So, I bought him a first press John Coltrane, uh, recording from back in the day as a gift for hosting the mastermind. That went down well, and we were listening to tunes together and talking together and all that kind of stuff. And, you know, I asked him, 'Would you mind?' And he said, 'Yeah.' So, you know, it, it really comes down to just playing the long haul. You know, you're playing that long game. You, you, you want to be around for a good while, and people have to understand that. I think the re, the really important part here is that you've got to nurture the people that are surrounding you, but you've also got to be nurtured by them as well. And so, I'm always about just fostering growth and building relationships in the right way. And I've been very, very blessed to be able to do it with some pretty awesome folks."

"I'm very inspired by your answer, and I agree with you. The online business space, the YouTube space, the creator space. Sometimes the going to an event and YouTube, you call you call the event VidCon or VidSummit. Mostly incredible people, but there's some people there, and you could tell that it's like it's just what's in it only for me. Like you said, they're just trying to climb the ladder. And like you said, they're trying to climb it too fast. And what I love, and it's such a great takeaway on this episode, is there's some personal branding stuff that we talked about that's so essential to adapt and pivot in a world of AI, and there is some urgency to hustle when you need to, to hustle for certain seasons, and to have good rhythms and have have good recovery. But you do want to strike while the iron is hot. And there's a massive window of opportunity right now on YouTube, on social media, if you're smart and if you're strategic. But getting to capture a vision at the end of this podcast for where could your brand and your business be in 15 years. I'm so excited about this book, and just want to acknowledge you for being a long-haul leader. And it's so cool that this is coming up, and it's going to change a lot of lives. But this is like, it's one of those overnight success things. It's like, 'Here's Chris's overnight success, his new book.' Yeah, just after a couple of decades of consistency in the same direction and doing it right, and, and of course, not being perfect. We make mistakes on the journey, but being value-based and principle-based, that that's going to last. Like when you just are, are you're not being weird in any relationships, and you're giving without expectation."

"But all of those seeds that you're planting are producing this harvest of the impact your business. That's why I love you as a friend, and the stuff you've been doing is because it's like, you're one of the good guys. It's like, you, you've built with integrity. You've built with character that has been established not in a few minutes, but in a few decades. And my hope is that everybody listening to this episode of the Think Media podcast would build that way. That they would aspire to be long-haul leaders. That they would invest in this information and be thinking about not just where can they be in the next 15 minutes, but where will their brand and business be in the next 15 years if they build right, and they build smart, and they commit to being a long-haul leader.

Hey, I just want to give you a quick heads up that there are a few spots open in our YouTube coaching program. If you go to viralvidecoach.com, you can apply to see if you qualify. And the bandwidth of the program is truly limited. We have a limited number of certified Think Media YouTube coaches that are committed to helping our clients get results and starting and growing successful YouTube channels, as well as driving business results. Whatever you want to happen, whether that's branding strategy, whether that's more leads, customers, we will put together a 90-day game plan with you. It includes channel reviews. It includes group coaching with me. And it's a very powerful program. But again, there are limited spots available. So, if you just want to inquire, it's super chill. You can see if you qualify and see if it's a good fit. Just go to viralvidecoach.com, fill out the application, and then we'll reach out to you to schedule a call with someone on my team to see if it'll be a good fit. And if you got value out of today's episode, it means the world to myself and our team if you like, rate, review, or share the podcast wherever you watch or listen. My name is Sean Kel, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel."