The Success Monster - Road to 57 Million Dollars | Ashley Armstrong | MMP #015

The Success Monster - The Road to 57 Million Dollars | Ashley Armstrong | MMP #015 Speaker 1: So, your marketing of the plan, what else did you do to hit $57 million? Speaker 2: Oh, wow. Unknown Speaker: You're watching Marketing Misfits with Norm Farrar and Kevin King. Speaker 3: Mr. Farrar, what's happening in the world? How are you doing, man? Speaker 1: You know, it's the perfect time in Canada. It's hot, but you know what, in Canada, it's either hot or cold, right? Speaker 3: Is what, 70 degrees, it's hot? Speaker 1: No. Speaker 3: 70 degrees Fahrenheit? Speaker 1: No, it could get over 100 here, believe it or not. I live two hours north of Toronto and you can experience June, July, it starts to cool down in August, but yeah, you can get 80 to 100 degree days. Speaker 3: But do you have the four seasons where you're at? Speaker 1: Yeah, four seasons. Speaker 3: You actually have four seasons, not two. We have two in Texas. Down here in Austin, there's like two. It's hotter and hotter. Speaker 1: Yeah, I know. I've been there. Your place actually. So sir, we have a fellow Canadian coming on the podcast today. A person that I've known for quite some time. She's awesome. Ashley Armstrong. And she is, she originally came, we were just talking before the podcast, from Peterborough. She's a serial, she truly is. And I hate just throwing that word out there, a serial entrepreneur, but wait till you meet her. Speaker 3: And I know- Does that mean she makes Cocoa Puffs or Golden Grams or Cheerios? What's a serial entrepreneur? Speaker 1: She's trying to be funny. All right, let's get her on here. Speaker 2: Hello, Ashley. Oh my gosh. Hi guys. Speaker 1: How are you doing, Ashley? Speaker 2: I'm just sitting in a bag here, just cracking up at you two. I love it. We need to meet like this more often, just so we can have- Exactly. Speaker 1: We hope we do. Speaker 3: Oh, you should just see it when we're in person. You should see it then. Unknown Speaker: You think this isn't, yeah. Speaker 1: So you live out in BC right now. How long have you been out there? Speaker 2: Oh gosh, okay. It's a very good question. I moved out here after college, so 25-ish years ago and then down to Cabo Mexico for 14 years and then back to Vancouver just before COVID basically kicked off. So yeah, I've been out here for about six years again now, steady. Speaker 3: Were you in the hospitality business in Cabo or just decided to just move? Speaker 2: Yeah, real estate. My husband, you know, following in your time share, full state real estate for the most part. And Cabo is, you know, as we know, a fantastic four season destination resort, even though technically there isn't four seasons, to your point, you guys were talking about earlier. But being in another country where I couldn't technically work, I had to figure out how to make money, hence the whole publishing books online and then getting into the Amazon space and manufacturing and then consulting and all that. I had to do it all and figured it all out from having to live in another country. Speaker 1: Well, let's talk a bit about your background. Speaker 2: Oh man, you sure you want to do that? Speaker 1: Yeah, I do. Unknown Speaker: So long-winded. Speaker 1: All right, readers digest. But I know a little bit about your background, and it's incredible. We were talking beforehand, and you come from a real sports, a whole sports family, like your, your, your father was heavily into sports. I don't know about your mom. But I did read Way back that he was into, what was it? It was a high level, like tier one something. What was the sport? Speaker 2: Downhill ski racing. Speaker 1: That's right. That's crazy sport, by the way. Speaker 2: It is. It definitely tears your body up. The family tradition for the Armstrong started, oh gosh, great, great grandparents. I mean, like Canadian hockey leagues across all the way down to My grandma, my grandpa, my dad, my dad's brother, you know, either pro water skier, pro downhill snow skier, football, lacrosse, down to like myself, pro skier, you know, the whole damn thing. And then my cousins are, you know, all the same thing. They were into Olympic bodybuilding, weightlifting. They're also into, my cousin right now is a pro lacrosse player for, well, Peterborough, the Lakers, as well as the Halifax Thunderbirds. Not currently right now. So it is a family affair. Speaker 1: So I'm sure you're not into participation trophies. Unknown Speaker: Absolutely not. Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, no. You know, I'm 42 years old. You didn't grow up with those types of things. Unknown Speaker: Either you won or you didn't. Speaker 3: So she's noticed that she moved. She lived in Kabul and she moved to Vancouver. But I was like, I was waiting for the rest. I was waiting on pins and needles for the rest. Speaker 2: There's not much going on there. Yuki kind of nailed it. So ski industry, big time, you know, spent my whole life in that, which is fun. As you know, I moved to Mexico, had to figure out what to do, got online. And that's where I met you wonderful folks and the rest of our, you know, e-comm community. I spent a decade there and then slowly sort of transitioning and pivoting. As you say, the serial part, like I'm constantly This is going to be new. I'm kind of bored. Let's try something new. Let's try something. Can we make this a little bit better? Speaker 1: Do you like the startup side of things? Speaker 2: I do like the startup side. I'm a creative. I'm like the visionary for the most part. So I definitely need to have partners in my corner to make sure everything gets executed and continues, I guess you could say. But I'm also, you know, you have seasons in life. I feel like every day of our life is a page in our book. And then, you know, we have seasons, which are chapters. And I have a lot of chapters in mind, as I'm sure you guys do as well, of course. And, you know, the last three, four years, whatever, the new chapter has been being a founding partner of the plan with Dan Hollings and whatnot. So no longer e-comm in the, you know, the AI crypto world and, you know, some good old passion projects. So it's a whirlwind to say the least. Speaker 3: If someone was writing the forward to your book, what would it say? Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Well, the book is conquering unseen challenges as you strive to reach your goals. And it's specifically for self doers, self motivators, high achievers, those who identify in that aspect and Basically, I took a shared universal experience and distilled it down into an easy-to-understand framework that explores the intricacies of achieving goals, which of course is success at the end of the day, and how to begin anew afterwards because no one really talks about the trials and tribulations and the chaotic aftermath of achieving our goals and the depression that follows it basically for the most part. So the forward to it would be, You know, buckle up, prepare it as you're doing. You're going to feel depressed. Happiness is going to be fleeting and get right back on, you know, get right back on that horse again and do it all over again. And it's all good. You know, you only got one life to live. So live it to the fullest. Speaker 1: That is something that a lot of people don't talk about. And I don't know if it's everybody. I've been in the situation. But once you Once you sell your business, once you exit, and it could be a very successful exit, there is a state of depression. And it could be severe depression, but there is definitely a state of depression that happens. Even though you've got all this money and you've got all this freedom, you've succeeded But I know I was down and I was on the couch watching Judge Judy twice a day, you know, for some time until I got back. And then the mind just changed like that. And now, you know, the entrepreneurial side kicks in, but it does hit you hard. Speaker 2: It does. And it's everything. It's going to high school and graduating, going to college, graduating, getting a job, getting the job, applying for the job and getting the job and getting in and after a month and like, well, I'm not that happy. After having a baby, the loss of identity when you finish up a career, it's small to huge. The bigger the goal, the bigger the drop. The smaller the goal, the smaller the drop. But if you're not aware that it happens and it's a neurological aspect and it's a human nature aspect, if you see the signs and symptoms, it's so much easier to go through it because you're in control. You don't know what's happening. Then you're out of control and you spin like crazy. And then you're like, what the hell? What next? How do I do this? I've lost myself. Until, you know, spark happens again. So I try to help people get that spark again, so they don't sit in the valleys of doom for too long. Let's just say it happens. Speaker 3: It is the destination, isn't it for a lot of entrepreneurs? Speaker 2: Mm hmm. Yeah, it's. Yeah, you know, yeah, especially for like, we're talking about misfits here, you know what I mean? And I find that entrepreneurs definitely are In that category of Misfits, we're always doing, trying, falling, failing, getting back up again, scraping our knees, you know, cheering other people on, you know, getting the crap kicked out of us, you know, all the exact same time and, you know, getting outside the box with thinking and whatnot. Yeah, it's, it's pretty interesting what Our community, which is in my aspect, also shares heavily with the athlete aspect as well. People who are either ex-athletes because they're adults now or they're still young and still participating in sports or whatnot, that mindset and that go and that strive and you get the goal, get the win, but enjoying the journey seems to be so hard for us because it's like, get it, get it, get it, get it, and like no celebration. You know, in between or whatnot. So it's definitely an interesting way of life that we tend to gravitate towards. Speaker 3: Athletes are a little different though, aren't they? I mean, because an athlete, once they're past their prime physically, they may be at the They may enjoy the locker room and want to want to be there, but they just they can't be there anymore. So it's almost and sometimes it's forced versus an entrepreneur is not always. It can be forced, but a lot of times it's it's you go out at the top of your success and get the depression, not at the bottom of your physical ability. So there's a slight psychological difference there, isn't there? Speaker 2: Um, yes and no. You know, I know some people who say that athletes make the worst entrepreneurs. And I also see the other side of that because I don't look at anything one way. It's like, there's a you're a multifaceted human beings. But I also do feel that, you know, athletes could very well be excellent entrepreneurs, because they understand perseverance, they understand putting in the work when they don't want to feeling the pain, you know, and pushing forward regardless. And, you know, to your point about The thing about being an entrepreneur, of course, is we have the options and choice to pivot and move and continue to strive to do what we need to do, which usually, at the end of the day, is putting food on our table first and foremost. Then in some aspects, of course, inspiring and making some sort of change, wave change, thought leadership kind of aspect. Then with the athlete, depending on what level you're going to, it's still the same amount of commitment and drive to get into doing it. Exiting being in sports and or exiting in business, no matter what it is, there's still a depression afterwards, you still have to go through like that loss of identity and figuring out like what your next move is going to be and how you're going to do it. The interesting thing is what I'm seeing nowadays. I don't know if you guys watch Welcome to Wrexham, which is Brian Reynolds' show. Freaking amazing. They're coming here like next weekend and we've got tickets. I am so flipping excited. I never even liked soccer, aka football, until I started watching his docuseries. And they have made it a point to teach their players how to become entrepreneurs and how to leverage their placement, their standing, the recognition they have right now, the following they have right now, so that when they do end up leaving the sport, that they have something that they can rely on because nine times out of 10, You're so tunnel-focused and tunnel-visioned into trying to be the best in your sport that when you do leave it because of injury or because of retirement or whatever, if you're not prepared, you're like, I have no skills. I have nothing. I have to start over again from scratch. So it's almost like an entrepreneur who's trying to make multiple income streams so that we're not relying on one income stream technically. And it's the same thing for the athlete. So I think the world's changing. And we're also seeing that in like, modeling as well. Like I'm not into modeling by any stretch of imagination, but you know, some really amazing docuseries where these modeling companies are doing the same thing. You're a model, you're being paid to be in these photo shoots or on these runways, how can we leverage what it is that you're doing and it's, you know, pivot from it and or leverage it in order to build all these other income streams as well. So when you're no longer modeling, you have, you know, a safety net. And something that you can take you further than that. So I think the world is changing in that regard where a lot of people are starting to understand that, you know, multifaceted aspect and preparing for the future now while you can you have the energy and the drive and hopefully maybe some recognition or, you know, following or whatever that might be. So yeah. Speaker 1: I like to talk a little bit more about the sports side. Back, I don't know, probably 25 years ago, more maybe, I was involved with this organization called the Executive Sports Club. And what we were doing, this is when I was down in Tampa, is we would bring professional athletes, A tier, B tier, C tier, and get them to be introduced into the world. And they've always, We're able to do anything. People were just dying to be around them. They could say anything, be at any place. It could be late. They could do anything. Now, there were certain athletes that You know, we're, I would call the entrepreneurial type, but for the most of them, when they left the sport, they were deers in the headlight. So what we were trying to do at that time is introduce them to businesses that would sponsor them. And, you know, they could go and do their thing while they were still getting medical attention, because this whole psychological thing was crazy, literally deers in the headlight. But once you had that It doesn't have to be a star athlete, but if they were a star athlete, a lot of the times these people would be bankrupt, literally bankrupt. Within a year or two of them leaving the sport, they depended so much. I traveled with, Kevin knows about this, I'm not gonna say his name, but I traveled with this tier one athlete for years. And on the plane, he would put a quarter million dollars on the, just take what you want, and we're gonna go out and party tonight. And it was crazy, but you have to be careful, because even an entrepreneur, You might think, and I see this in a lot of young entrepreneurs with their first hit, they get their big hit, they're throwing their cash around like crazy, just like these athletes. And then once they get that kick between the legs, once or twice, they lose it all. They lose 100%. And it's hard getting back from that. So your success, you lose it all. And You come down hard. Speaker 2: Yes, and I have definitely experienced that myself as well. Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, me too. Me too, by the way. Speaker 2: Oh, man. Yeah, I think it's a rite of passage is really what I think it is at the end of the day because I think I'm the only loser here who's making poor decisions that I kind of like decide to open up my wounds and share a little bit like, oh, yeah, I've been there, done that. I'm like, oh, okay, I'm not the only one. I'm not the only one who's making bad decisions. Great. Speaker 3: I see a lot of people too that are successful. They're right place, right time. Maybe they're young, they're in their early 20s and they just were at the right place, right time. They caught on the cusp of, I don't know, some AI thing or some social media thing. And then they exit out and then they can't repeat it. This happens in the Amazon space all the time. People come in and they were there in 2013, 2014 when it was much easier to launch a product. We get things going and the cash registers just ringing and they don't have to do anything. They just kind of rode the wave of getting more reviews and the way the algorithm works, they just kind of were there at the right place and they sell their business for millions of dollars and then either that company tries to hire them and they don't know what the hell they're doing or they go out and try to do it again, they fail miserably. And so that's got to be, you're talking about the depression a little bit, that's got to be even more of a hit to the ego. They're like, oh, yeah. And you know, in dealing with that, and sometimes they risk too much of what they exited with, and they end up worse off, even doubly worse off. I see that a lot. Speaker 2: Yeah, and I've definitely experienced that too. Check, check, check. Oh my god, I must be a misfit. Speaker 3: But entrepreneurs, I mean, a true entrepreneur never gives up trying. I've had bankruptcy. Back in 1998, I declared bankruptcy and it hasn't stopped me since. I've ruined my credit and built it back. I've done all the typical entrepreneur, brought Peter to pay Paul. Deliberately bounce a check, just figuring whoever I bounce the check to, it's worse than not paying the one I owe the money to. We've all been there and done. Luckily, I don't have to do any of that stuff anymore. That was 20, 25, 30 years ago when I was younger, but do what you got to do. A lot of people sometimes don't understand that about entrepreneurship. They come from a world A shelter from their parents or from a corporate world where things don't work that way. And it's hard to understand how you got to be a misfit. You got to not go by the rules sometimes. I mean, don't break the law necessarily, but you don't go by societal rules. You can't, in a lot of cases, to have success. Speaker 2: Absolutely. I agree with you a thousand and ten percent. Yeah, you know, I've just experienced it all. And so many people in our space have experienced all that and just kind of keep up and going. And that's what makes us unique. And also hard to find sometimes, you know, um, finding, you know, entrepreneurial groups through conferences or men, you know, masterminds or something along those lines. Uh, they're in one aspect of God sent. Someone's willing to put together the time, energy and effort that it takes to put that together so that we can cultivate a community of high achievers. But when you aren't in those, or maybe you took a break from them or whatnot, it's very isolating. You're like, no one understands me. My husband can only handle so much of me freaking out. You know, and I got I got two young preteen teenagers now and they're just like, gosh, mom, I don't want to be anything like you. It's that stressful. You know, and I'm just like, yes, you do. Yeah, do whatever you want. But let's just get a little side hustle going because you gotta have, you know, a safety net, you know, if anything, but yeah. Speaker 3: What's the biggest lesson you've learned as an entrepreneur? What would you say the biggest lesson, what taught you the most? Maybe it's the most painful thing you went through or maybe it's the most successful. What taught you the most? Speaker 2: Well, that's definitely twofold. So I think stemming from the athlete side of things, first and foremost is The biggest lessons that I have learned is flexing my failure muscle. You know, I had started at such a young age, you know, and again, I grew up with Olympic athletes. That's the 18 you're talking about, Norm, about my father. So he took athletes from the age of 17 all the way to the Olympics, you know, for like almost 40 some odd years. So all my big brothers and sisters were Olympic athletes. Which was really interesting to grow up in that space and wanted to be like these people and emulate like them. So flexing that failure muscle was a big thing and transitioning between Canada to a whole nother country. Those trials and tribulations were definitely individual little learning lessons. But I think the biggest lesson that I've had out of all of it is to slow down. Because I'm like a flippin ass racehorse. I mean, like put me in the gate, open it up and I'm gone like boom, you know, and, you know, trying to get that goal trying to get that when you don't do quick detect, correct, how can I make this better and move forward, and not really smelling the roses and not really taking the time is like, you know, done is better than perfect kind of scenario. But looking back, You know, I would just make so many stupid mistakes because I was rushing to try to prove myself. I was rushing to try to be like the successful person to get the title to get the, you know, the accolades, whatever that might be. And then that really stemmed into what my passion project is right now, which is a book that's going to be launching in the next month or so is called Success Monster, which is what this thing's all about. So this is this is my identifier for my success monster, which is a custom made glove by an Emmy Award nominee. Brianna Leto, who's an FX makeup artist for the film and movie industry. And it's just kind of been like my, you know, like my, I wouldn't say it's my alter ego, by any means, but whenever I'm doing anything, when it comes to the success monster, I'm like, this is my identifier, it's a part of me, you know, we've got the light side, the dark side, and I'm going to own it, you know what I mean? I'm going to name it, and I'm going to identify it, and I'm going to tame it. And my experience when we had our record-breaking launch with the plan and the unexpected aftermath of that wasn't really prepared for literally any of it to a point where. I basically got to a point where I no longer wanted to be here. And I explain and dive into that story a little bit more in the book or whatnot. That was like the biggest lesson is that every single human being, no matter how ambitious you are or not, again, has this neurological, psychological, experience every time we decide to do something, accomplish doing that something, and then the wake afterwards. And then the bigger the success, the bigger the drop afterwards. And if you're not able to handle it, or understand it, or recognize what's going on, or just that it's a normal freaking thing that every human being experiences, but no one really talks about it, because it's really effing embarrassing. You know, so I'm trying to be like the first that might be like, this is okay, you're going to experience this. And the biggest lesson is just that just gonna hit the goddamn fan. It's okay. You're not alone. Speaker 1: It's okay to fail. Speaker 2: It's okay to fail. You flex that failure muscle. It's like you go to the gym to get stronger, the resilience muscle. You just got to keep doing it and putting out those reps. It's going to get stronger. Your routine is going to get easier. You're going to recognize when the body is fatigued, I got to stop now. I need to nourish. I'm not eating enough or getting enough nutrients into me. I'm not slowing you down enough and sowing the roses and being at peace and being in the now and stop forecasting so much because there's only so much you can do. So it's like, show up, do the work, hold the vision, and then just let it go and the universe will provide. Be in the right place, right time. You can't be in the right place, right time unless you're prepared in order to be able to accept the right place at the right time. And Richard Branson says, just say yes anyways and figure it out afterwards, which I'm totally game for. Speaker 1: I live by that, by the way. Speaker 2: So do I, you know, I just, you know, just always try to keep showing up. So I think the biggest lesson I've really learned is this the last couple years with, you know, what we've done with our, you know, with our team. And just dealing with the highs and lows that is inevitable when you are striving to accomplish something. And when it comes out of the blue, when you weren't really prepared for it, you know, that's the biggest like, you know, like slap in the face of unexpectedness. But yeah, it's definitely you don't need to take your life. You don't need to get massively depressed. There's ways to get through things. And it's totally normal. You're good. Let's keep moving forward. Speaker 1: You were talking about the plan and the plan you've partnered with Dan Hollings. Partnering is some of the best things. Kevin's very good at this, but partnering with people, strategic partnerships is something that is part of your skill set, isn't it? Speaker 2: It took me a long time to get there. As a track and field summer stuff and then in the skiing industry where I did end up compete and then I repped and then I coached and taught and ran ski schools and racing clubs and the whole damn nine yards and even went to college for skiers art operations, skiers art management. I really did follow in the footsteps of my big, huge shadow and shoes of my dad or whatnot, trying to prove myself when it comes to that. But yeah, it's, oh my gosh, I totally just threw up weird. Speaker 1: We're talking about strategic partnerships. Speaker 2: Strategic partnerships. I was always trying to do things alone because it's always a solo sport, but it's simultaneously a team sport. And to your point, you know, Kevin, what you were talking about earlier is that, you know, when I did get into e-comm, it was back in, you know, 2012 and 11, 12 and 13, 14 and 15. And it was so much easier. And the wins came so easily. And you're like, what the, you know, and I just didn't know how to handle it. I didn't know how to manage anything. I was doing it all on my own. I couldn't get the right people. And I tried multiple partnerships over the years when I, you know, pivoted to different aspects. Some worked out great. Some, there was lawyers involved. Unknown Speaker: Some, you know, lots of things. Speaker 2: There's like not so great stuff. I end up transpiring from it. But what I end up experiencing in the last four years with the plan is we have like a very robust partnership team. And it's kudos to Dan. He's the one who spearheaded all of this. He's very old school. You know, it's a shake of the hand and everyone shows up and says, this is what we're trying to accomplish. And he wants to do what? And then we just volunteer, you know, just I'll do that. I'll figure that out. And because every single person has a unique skill set that we bring to the table, it's the most beautiful, I mean, I'm very well aware of how blessed and lucky I am to be working in a partnership, relationship, family that I currently am right now, and it just keeps getting better and better. And I also realized that I didn't really get anything done because I didn't have those other key pillars that need to run a business. I didn't have those skill sets, or I didn't care about developing those skill sets. And so having the person who has them makes perfect sense to me, you know, hindsight 2020. So now it's just like, I know I can't get anything done unless I have someone else who is going to be the other side of the coin. Or the other leg of the table, as you would say. So partnerships is crucial. Nothing gets done by one individual. That's why businesses run, they have, you know, 10 employees, 20 employees, 500 employees, thousands of employees, because they all need to be there to make the damn thing go. And for us being entrepreneurs thinking that we can do it all on our own, I don't know where that thought process came from, or why so many of us think that it's very interesting and weird. Yeah, you can't do everything alone here, folks. You can't even raise a child alone, for crying out loud. You know, it takes a village. So, you know, these concepts are valuable in every aspect of life, that's for sure. Speaker 3: Can you remind those that are listening that might not know, you've referenced a couple times what the plan is, just to let them know what that is? Speaker 2: Yeah, it's one of the world's largest online educational companies and we focus on crypto and we focus on AI. Speaker 1: Now, the plan, by the way, you've kind of, this is, you know, playing it down low. The plan was one of the most successful platforms ever. Within the first month, didn't you sell 50 or 60 million dollars worth? Speaker 2: Yeah, we did something like that. Yeah, we did $57 million in the first seven months. So we did break the world record of the largest digital marketing launches. And we rounded the year off at $70 million. And that was what I was talking about. That's what spurred the success monster book and this whole You know, deep diving into understanding what the hell, why did all of us have this great success that came out of the blue and then like massive depression afterwards, how to handle these things and people and this and governments and taxes and partnerships and, you know, the whole damn rigmarole and nine yards, it did end up coming from that experience. And that's where I end up having my, my good old self reflection and deep diving into what, you know, we're talking about now about high achievers and that chaotic aftermath. But yeah, that the plan is it's an amazing, It's an amazing company and we just really strive to do everything we possibly can to help individuals have that safety net in their life, have that top-tier produced educational information and training. Our creative director is a Hollywood director who's actually the gentleman who produced and directed The Secret. I mean, we have Mike Balmeseta, who's like ClickFunnels, like number one, heavy hitter, he walks up on stages and gets like 10 bloody awards. And I mean, they've got Daniel Hall, we got Elaine Wilkes, we got I mean, like, there's just so many freaking amazing people who've come in to be part of this team, all by choice, you know, and that's the that's the interesting thing about partnership, you know, Kevin, just kind of bring back to that one, you know, when you get it, when you have a job, you know, you're there for a paycheck. When you are in a partnership, it's a choice to be there, like a relationship in a way, you know what I mean? If you have a personal relationship with your spouse, it's kind of like a business and vice versa. You choose to be there. You choose to work through the highs and lows. You choose to try to better yourself as a human being. You choose to try to learn how to work through disagreements or whatever that might be. So it's a really interesting thing when it comes to a partnership because it's choice and who you want to work with, just like if you're going to date somebody. Speaker 3: So when you launched the plan, you were at the height of the crypto bubble. I mean, 2020, everybody's at home trying to make some money and you guys came up with a software tool that kind of automated and helped like find the little The gaps in the margins and everything. And I know several people that did that after watching the webinar and went on to that. How has that world changed now? I mean, crypto is not going away, but NFTs had their big spike and then they crashed. The backbone, the blockchain, the principles behind it aren't going away. It's going to be part of our daily life, continue to be part of our daily life and more so. Now with, you know, the speculation like on Bitcoin, is it going to go to a million? It's 60 something thousand at the time of this recording. And Ethereum going up and down and all these meme coins and all these other networks. And where do you see this going? And how are you teaching people to be patient? Because so many people get into it because they see it as a get rich quick. They hear these stories of someone that created a doji coin and Became a billionaire in a month. So everybody wants to do that. And they don't they don't look at it as a long term investment play. Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, that that's always that that's always a conundrum, in my regard, especially, you guys know this, especially in the in the online space, when it comes to the educational aspect that we can do, we do everything we can or and the best interests of our members, like these people from 130 countries around the world. And we are so upfront of like, Do not do anything if you can't. Do not invest a bloody penny if you can't afford to lose it. Do not put your rent into this. Do not put it onto credit cards. You know, this is something that's a long-term game and it's a skill set, you know, like anything else. And so, where do we, from where when we started to where it's going, you already said it, like it's going nowhere. It's here to stay. It's like that whole like, is the internet going to be here? The internet's crap in all the papers and then, you know, three years later, the papers that have print and now completely online, you know, it's kind of one of those, but for like, for me, myself, and I have, and I talk about this all the time, I have teenagers. Two teenage girls and they have grown up in the digital space in the digital world. Like that's all they know. They play video games that use digital currencies. They have to like earn digital money to be able to buy the house in the game. They have to use real money, convert it to digital money to buy fairy wings for their avatars. It's really interesting. And so for me, I don't I know I'm quite different when it comes to looking at this sort of stuff, but I don't really care about the right now as much because the future is inevitable. The technology is inevitable. Most people don't even realize that the blockchain, everything you just talked about, it's already a part of our lives, but you're just not aware of it. Like Visa is using it, PayPal is there, like it's already a part of our lives, but unless you're paying attention, you don't really know. So the way I look at it is just like, does it even really matter? Know what's there, show up, be curious, get on the bloody train, because if you have an opportunity to be, you know, you know, first to the mic, and even though it's, Years later, it's still early enough. Why not just dig a hole in your backyard with the tomato plants and just start throwing some stuff into it for the future? That's really all that I do. For me, Dan and Tony, They're, they're heavily invested, they are reading everything, they're watching everything, they're in it every day, they're tinkering around like crazy. And I feel like I'm like a large majority of the population, or I'm just like, man, I want to be diversified in my investments. So I got, you know, stocks, I got crypto that I got cold wallets that I'm shoveling stuff into for my kids from when they get older. And I'm just kind of like, Just a little, you know, go for, yeah, pretend I'm going for dinner, and then I throw it over there. And I spent it. And that's how I get my brain around it. Because a lot of people, like you said, they want like, They want to get rich quick, which doesn't exist technically. Yes, there's people who have obviously had wins like that. Yes, we see them all over the line or whatever. But we all know that even if you have a quick win, coming from the come down off of that quick win, and trying to replicate it and do it all over again is even harder in a lot of cases. So really, the technology is there. It's here to stay. It's just like diversifying your investment portfolio, whatever you choose to invest in, and you don't invest more than you can afford to lose really. And for me, It's just like going out for dinner or I went shopping and got a couple of cool new shoes. Except for there's no shoes. It's just sitting in a thing. So for me, it's the future. I'm sure NFTs and everything like that is going to come back. I followed you guys and we all have them. They're kind of sitting in our wallets or whatever that might be and seeing when the next thing is going to come around. But at the end of the day, everyone's going virtual. Kids don't even talk to each other anymore. They literally go home to get on their devices to hang out. Like my child trying to get together with their friends and go for a walk or go to the park or do something it's like almost impossible. And you know, if that's the next generation, everything they do is online, everything that you know, like this tapping of the car to pay for things, you know, ordering Uber for the, you know, the cell phone, like it's, that's just the way it is now. And it's just going to be exponential and it moves forward. So I'm like, I don't really care. I'm just like, it is what it is, it's going to be I'm going to participate, I'm going to get involved, but I'm not going to worry about it too much. It's just, you know, just, again, just shoveling it off into the backyard. You know, with the tomato plants, just saving it for later. And if it ends up being a million dollars bonus, if it doesn't, it doesn't matter because I technically already spent it. Who cares? That's how I do things. That's the only way I can survive. Speaker 3: With the EFTs and everything now going with like BlackRock and all the EFTs and all that stuff, it's only helping to legitimize it even more. Huge. Those are those are huge things for people that don't follow it. They think it's still some, some biggest players in the space, you know, PayPal is now doing stuff. I mean, Stripe is doing stuff. You have EFTs, you have It's here to stay. Speaker 2: It's here to stay. Exactly. So it doesn't really matter if you're with it or against it or in the middle. It isn't what it is. It's just going to happen. So you can watch it go by or you can jump on the train with the rest of us. Speaker 1: You know, one of the things that you're talking about, I don't think a lot of entrepreneurs do. And that's pay themselves first, putting that little bit away. Yeah, you have to do that. You know, if you're putting everything back into your company and back into your company first, you're not The pitch is not correct. And you should always try to pay something, even if you're taking it out and just putting it into that, either the crypto like you're talking about, or into some sort of fund here in Canada, RSV, or a tax saving plan. Speaker 2: I do all of the above. And you should be doing all of the above. Speaker 1: Absolutely. It adds up. It adds up. You have, I mean, over the years, you can learn how to do it properly. You know, there's all sorts of different techniques. We won't get into that today. But the other thing I want to talk about is your marketing of the plan. I know that you had ClickFunnels expert, but what else did you do to hit $57 million? Speaker 2: Oh, wow. You know, it's we have done everything soon to be Expanding upon that, but affiliate marketers, they are our backbone. They're the most amazing human beings that you have a chance to work with, in my personal opinion, because they've done the due diligence, the time, energy and effort to cultivate a community and a following and they've proven themselves and they've been worthy of the people who are following them and on their email list and whatnot. And because of them, Basically advertising, marketing, what it is that we offer and giving their people a chance to make the decisions for themselves if it's right for them or not right for them to join our program or anyone's program for that matter. It was all affiliate marketing and we partnered with Rapid Crush in the beginning and with Jason and Will and those guys are freaking phenomenally amazing human beings in themselves. And we all shared in that success together and it was just really synergistically beautiful at the time when it happened. It was like right place, right time, like you guys are talking about. And that's what we still do. We still invite affiliate marketers or anyone who just has a small list or a medium list or even a big list who might want to have an opportunity to Advertise, market what our products are and as we're growing and expanding, we have more offers and whatnot down the road, but we're also in the process of getting our cool traffic funnel up and going as well and being across the T's and dotting the I's and being as compliant as possible. I mean, we go through I mean, fine tooth comb as best as possible in everything that we do so that we are representing in the most honest, holistic, right way and helping people to make those decisions. So when you have a chance to, again, to work with those backbone affiliate marketers, and then eventually, as we go to, you know, cold traffic funnels and ads and whatnot, we really are doing everything we possibly can to maintain being, you know, one of the best online educational companies in the world. It's a beautiful thing, really, at the end of the day, and we're very grateful for everyone who's participated, and we're always excited to introduce what we have to offer to more people who would like to join the ranks of all the other individuals who got to have a lot of fun when they were advertising our stuff. Speaker 1: Sorry, Kevin, do they have to be involved in crypto to become an affiliate? Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's the beautiful thing is because, as you guys said, you know, obviously, the blockchain and the digital space period is ever expanding across everything. And it's just another opportunity for someone to learn how to again, diversify their investment portfolios, whether it's small, big, or just getting started. So you don't have to, most people that end up doing exceptionally well with sharing our offers with their audiences were Anyone who's business oriented, real estate people, people who are just copywriters, I mean, like anyone and everyone, any audience, every audience that tends to work very well in that regard. So you do not have to be crypto specific, you do not have to have a massively huge list you're following, as soon as we get the cool traffic funnel and stuff like that up and going. So it's again, it's one of those universal things. It's just like, you know, the internet, you know, timeframe, you know, like, is it going to be here? Is it going to be gone? We got a computer at home and you bought internet? Okay, great. Yeah, you're just kind of like sort of working down that pathway. So Yeah, it's, it's for anyone and without their brother, for the most part and our AI, you know, AI profit pathways, which is about making money online using artificial intelligence and our custom made apps. We're the only one in the world that has these apps that execute all the different steps that we tell you to do throughout the course, which is freaking amazing. We have like one of the world's top prompt engineers, who's building custom building all these things. And it's just It's amazing. So it's, you know, again, it's really for anyone and everyone. If you already have a business, we can help you, you know, whether it's crypto or whether it's AI. If you don't have anything, you just want to sort of get started and you want to, you know, that low hanging fruit, get in, get simple, short, sweet, to the point, quick wins, you know, that's, that's really what we're trying to do is give people options and choices and quick wins. Speaker 3: You had Jason Flatland, that helped a lot. You just kind of mentioned in passing, but for those listening that have not heard that name, he's the top webinar guru in the space. When it comes to AI and the crypto, what are some of the The hurdles you have to overcome, the objections that people have to either investing in crypto or getting on this AI. Oh, AI is just a fad, you know, or crypto, that was just a fad. What are some of the objections that you have to overcome in your marketing as a misfit or what are some of the angles that you guys, you've experienced or that really works from a psychological point of view or from the objection countering point of view when it comes to selling those two types of things? Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a really, really great question. On the crypto side, like anything else, we really do our due diligence to making sure that we position ourselves and our offers in a way that this is what we're doing, your choice, if you think this is going to be valuable enough for you. And we also, you know, present opportunities for people to kind of kick the tires, as one would say. The biggest objections that we have, especially on the crypto space is they don't understand it. If you don't understand something scary, regardless of what it is, so we totally get that. And we make it easy to understand. We distill everything down so that you can put the blinders on and not worry about anything else. And you can just do step A, B, C, and D. And you can see how everything works and we call it in paper mode. So everyone gets to kind of try it out and practice it without actually risking any of their own real funds. You can really put it to the test and all of our, both of our crypto course options. So the people can really get to do that. But the biggest thing is, is that people, Um, in the crypto side, either they don't believe it's going to be here to stay. They don't realize that the entire world has already adopted it. And it's already the backbone of so many businesses and servers and you know, where they're reconciling things like, you know, visa reconciling on the on the blockchain and whatnot. And it's it's Trying to make them aware that whether you realize it or not, it's here. You're already using it every time you tap your visa. You know what I mean? You just don't realize it yet. And here's an opportunity that you can leverage it and take advantage of it if you so see fit. So that's kind of like the crypto side of things. And people who aren't ready, they're not ready. And that's perfectly okay. When they are ready, we'll be there for them. And then when it comes to the AI stuff, oh, my gosh, talk about a bag of worms. You know, of course, we have to deal with the fact that A lot of people are very concerned that AI is going to take their jobs and everything else along those lines, but that's the same thing that happened when, Dan says this really great story when he talks about it sometimes, is that back in the day, you used to buy chunks of ice. You have these freaking vehicles chucking around these big-ass blocks of ice to people to keep their food and everything closed. Then all of a sudden, this freaking refrigerator came out. Like, oh my freaking god, you know, like, oh my god, you know, and it completely disrupt an entire business, an industry. And so on from, you know, ice blocks to refrigerators, you know, and it's just part of, you know, the human experience that we have. And The amazing people who are able to come, you know, think outside the box. Those misfits who push the boundaries to try to find something that can make things better or make life easier for us, especially the day that we have right now. It's inevitable. There's nothing you can do about it. You know, it's part of the evolution of the human experience. So when it comes to the AI, what we're trying to help people understand is that it's still a robot at the end of the day and either you can let it control you or you can control it. You can participate in a way that's going to benefit you, that you can leverage it. If there's something that you're already doing in your life, that can maybe, you know, shave off some time, energy and effort so that you can get back to what's important. And what's important is time with your family. What's important is time for your mental health. What's important is being in the now. And so if we switch the, if we can flip that, so it's, we're focusing on the positive and not focusing on the negative, anything is possible. And so, You know, of course, we have the artists that we have to take into consideration like MuteMidJourney and so on and so forth. And again, no one is out to steal anything from anyone by any stretch of the imagination. That's not how it's going to work. That's not how anything's going to work at the end of the day. But being able to move into a space where people can get things done they never thought they can get done before with the help of a collective interface, you know, like say, like chat GVT is now it's an interface that's got a database that's on 4.0 now, I think, or whatever is going on to 4.8. 0.5 is what's going to be coming down the pipeline. And it's, you know, it's already smarter than Einstein, we're crying out loud. So like, hell, yeah, put Einstein in the backseat of my car. Unknown Speaker: Let's go for a ride. I'm game. Speaker 2: You know what I mean? So like, there's only so much I can do. And if I can help me get some stuff done, then you know that that's fabulous. You know, people who I lived in Mexico for 14 years. I homeschooled my kids, had a private teacher, did a lot of distant learning, did private schools, did Montessori, I did absolutely everything. And if I had this sort of technology back then where I could help with my kids' studies, help create what it is I want them to do. It's just all about making your life easier, you know what I mean? It's just like if you go way back, I know I'm totally jumping around here a little bit, but if you go like way back in the day, I'm Canadian, we're Canadian, and we know about First Nations, and my husband's Newfoundlander, so he's the upside down dinosaur that's on the right-hand side of the Canada map, and we had the Vikings come over, and then of course we have all that history of the Europeans and whatnot coming over and whatnot, and let's just say people try to grow fruit or vegetables or whatever that might be. And, you know, okay, you plant the thing in the ground, just like we're used to, but the thing's not really working, and everyone's starving. It's like, oh, well, if you put a fish with the seed, you know what I mean? It's gonna help the plant grow. It's just one little tiny trick, you know, that makes you, you know, have the fruits of your labor, as you might want to call it. And that's just a beautiful thing. Sometimes just having that little extra help, that little extra insight, that little extra step ahead of what can work, has worked, and can work for you, and then you can expand upon it. And lean into a little bit more that that's really what it is. So when it comes to like, how can we help people? And what's the marketing tactic? Well, the marketing tactic is just kind of sort of what I just sort of like vomited out there. It's like, this is what we're doing. And this is where we feel the universe is going, the world is going and you can choose to participate or not. And you can either watch it go by, which I 100% feel that it is going to go by a lot of people. And the ones who are curious enough and courageous enough to sort of Step in and lean into something that they don't know and they don't understand and they get to pick and choose who their mentor is to enlighten them on what they don't know and they don't understand, then they're putting themselves in a position that they can really grasp the reality that they want for themselves because of putting themselves in that position, because of taking that leap of faith, because of stepping into the unknown with a big community from all around the world and we get to do it together. Speaker 3: What would you say on AI? You just mentioned on AI that it makes your life better, it makes it easier to teach your kids, easier to do research and all that stuff. But how do you make money on it? What do you teach people? Because these are entrepreneurs coming in, they wanted to make money on crypto. Now some people would say, oh, you're just jumping on the latest new fad. Crypto was a fad, now AI is a fad. How do you make money on AI? Give me like three examples of ways that you guys teach people like, okay, you can come into this and here's how you can actually Make a living using AI. Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know, the funny thing is, is that, again, you know, We like to have a lot of fun and joke around. We actually asked AI, we did a recording, we're like, hey, you know, AI, let's just call it. How do you make money? You know, can I make money with you? And they're like, well, you can do this, you can sell your phone, you can do this. And it's like, no, no, I want you to put money into my bank account. And they're like, well, I can't, the AI is like, well, I can't help you do that. Like, okay, we know you can't put money into our bank account. So let's just remove that from the conversation, because it's not a push of a bloody button. And somehow money is going to magically appear into your bank account. Trials and tribulations and effort and energy and everything, investment into your self-time and finding energy, the whole nine yards that are required to do so. So what we do specifically when it comes to making money with AI is leveraging the aspects that would normally take a human intervention of some kind and lean heavily on AI to be able to do that. So we have three pathways. The first one is about growing an audience, a list. Affiliate marketing, of course, and whatnot, and using our custom-made apps on all the steps that you need to be able to do to, you know, do a marketing plans, email sequence, lead magnets, the whole nine-yard web platforms to sort of set up on and start growing a community, thought leadership, let's just say, or even just a subject matter that you happen to like and start there. Because at the end of the day, again, to your point, a lot of people want, you know, quick, rich, now kind of thing, but it takes time and it takes Energy to be able to even get anything done. Like your house is not built in a day. A garden is not giving you fruits and vegetables in a day. You have to do the work in order for you to see the fruits of your labor. So we have the growing of the community, affiliate marketing, growing a list so that you have billable assets for the most part. And then the next path we have is publishing. And so again, we can do nonfiction, children's books or whatnot. And then the last one is print on demand physical products in that regard. And so every single pathway leads to a buy button. And that's really the game changer for us. And what it is that I think everyone here needs to You know, really make sure they don't forget. If you do not have a way for someone to give you money through the internet, because we're talking about online stuff here. Then you're hooped. You need a buy button, period. No matter where it is, no matter how it is, even if it's a free giveaway, like, you know, a lead magnet of some kind, you're getting an email from somebody that is still technically a value add that can turn into money if you are going to do the next steps to leverage it. And so every single pathway that we have leads to multiple buy buttons so that you're more of Omnipresent as best as possible with buy buttons all over the place as best as possible within a branded experience. So, you know, one theme, one topic, one whatever, and you can go all over the place, of course, but As you guys know, staying focused is always easier and helpful. And that's really what we focus on. So can AI make you money directly by putting it to your bank account? Absolutely not. But can it help you do all the tasks required in order to get those buy buttons out there in a seamless, faster way so that you can focus on things that are more important to move your business forward or to get more buy buttons out there? That's exactly what we do. And we have like, 30, I think we're at like almost 50 custom made apps right now that do everything. I mean, like, we have an app that's a business analysis. And I mean, like, it's amazing. You just put a URL in there, and it will literally expand like, Output, everything that's going on with that company, their value proposition, who their competitors are, how you can leverage it, the email sequence, how to reach out to people, if you want to do partnerships, if you want to do podcasts. I mean, absolutely everything. The full scape analysis reports that we would have to do for competitive analysis research, if the click of a button in the URL, we can give you all of that in a matter of minutes. And that's just one example of all our apps. And another one that actually is one of the most Used one and we get the most feedback from is we have this one called cell searching, which is kind of like soul searching. So if you don't really know what it is that you wanted to do, and you're coming in kind of like green, I guess you could say, and you're like, Oh, no, I want to do something. But you know, I'm working on five, I just don't know what I could possibly do. There's a million things out there's a million different business models. I don't really know. You fill out a questionnaire of what you like, what you're passionate about, what you're kind of doing right now, and it will spit out all these different business opportunities and break it down with market research. Competitive analysis reports, analyzing demographics, the whole night, the color freaking, what colors you need to be using, the fonts you need to be using, everything that you can think of and that you would need in order to have a concrete, solid plan to move to the next step. And that is blowing people's minds because when someone comes in and they already have a business model that they're already operating, whether it's service-based or product-based, they fill that thing out and it finds holes in the market that they didn't even know that they could add onto the business that they're already operating. So it's really interesting when we're able to get an outside perspective in such a way because it has been custom coded and created and prompted by one of the world's best prompt engineers and creators. It's just it's really changing a lot of people's lives where they realize that they can get something done without having to spend a crap ton of money. Hiring people to do so and finding the right people and spending all this extra money and whatnot when you have a business because you have to find someone who's going to make the email stuff and then find someone who's going to make the social media stuff and find someone who's going to like make the, you know, all these things. And so if we can cut that fat off so that you can really focus on those buy buttons and that's really what's the most important aspect. Quality, of course, is really important and getting those buy buttons out there as fast as possible. And that's what leads to money in your bank account at the end of the day. But you still have to put in some elbow grease here, folks. You know, it is what it is. Speaker 1: I see, Kevin, we're going to be contacting Ashley about Dragonfish. Dragonfish is their other company. Speaker 3: Maybe so. Speaker 1: We've talked a lot about the marketing side of things, but you're a serial entrepreneur. You've built a lot of businesses. And I think it would be really interesting to find out all these applications that you're putting out there. How are you building a moat to protect these businesses? What do you normally do? Speaker 2: Well, you know, that's that's really, really great question. So if we're just going to be talking about a brand, let's just say and you guys are like the foremost experts when it comes to this stuff. So I love your 2.2 cents. But you guys went into everything, because I've known you guys for like a decade now. So everything that you bring to the table is absolutely amazing. And you've helped 1000s and 1000s of people. with this particular one. So, you know, protecting yourself first and foremost. Well, everything nowadays kind of regurgitated in a way, one way shape or form or the other. So You know, an idea may not possibly be new, but it might be new in the way that you perceive it, experience it and explain it. And that's what kind of makes it new. Obviously, what we are, we always have the initial, like we have lawyers on our team and everything else along the line. So everything that we do when we position someone into getting into something is you got to do your due diligence. So first and foremost, it's. Here's an idea. Go do a little bit of research. Make sure someone else is not out there doing it. Make sure you look at the copyright. Make sure you look at the trademarks. Make sure you're looking at all these different aspects that you don't want to be building something and all of a sudden have your legs cut out from underneath you because I'm sure some of us have been there one time or not, which I have. I have totally built something and then realized, oh crap, someone else is already doing that. Whoopsie. And you learn from your mistakes. So we're trying everything we can to pull back the curtains so people don't have to go through those. But at the end of the day, obviously, a differentiating factor in a marketplace, niching, start up with your niche, and then doing your market research, speaking to people, hearing what people have to say, and then gives you the opportunity to niche down, especially with platforms like YouTube, as an example, where you can start broad, and then based on the feedback of what you're getting and what videos are Getting more views or so on and so forth, then you're able to like, oh, this is the topic, this is where I should really focus in and like niche down into that. And then, you know, as I said before, making sure that you do have it in your plan to set yourself up as a business at some point in time after you found that it works. And you know, start looking into your trademark, start looking, excuse me, trademark, start looking into Copyright, start looking into all those like legal aspects. And of course, you need to have a legal advisor to tell you what to do in those areas. None of us, I'm not a legal advisor or accountant or anything. So full disclaimer, I don't know. I'm not any of those people. I don't know any of that stuff. But I pay a lot of money for the right people to help me with that stuff at the end of the day. And, and of course, making sure that you're expanding and growing Whatever it is that you're going to be doing, because a lot of times you put something out there. I'm a total, you know, one of these individuals were a creative individual. And I'm like, I just want to build, I just want to create, and then they put it out there. And then it's like, I want to the next thing. It's like, what were you, you know, I'm completely ignoring it. You got to market it. So at the end of the day, it's like, if you create something, you build something, you put a buy button out there, the way to protect you is to make sure that people know that there's a buy button there. So you have to market it and you have to Let people know about it and you have to talk about it and either you can be the face of your company or you can have someone else be the face of your company or you can be a faceless company. It really depends on how you want to live your life and hopefully what we're able to accomplish is we're teaching, we're helping people realize that they can create a life that they want to live based on the types of business models that they're going to be investing their own time and money in. I love being on camera. I love being on TV. I love being on stage. But I realized I don't necessarily want to be growing and maintaining a community like a Facebook group. I have one. I've been running it for like 14 years. And it kind of runs on its own right now, which is all great. But that's not my favorite thing to do. And so when I started Success Monster brand, I'm creating it in a way where I don't I have to do the things I don't want to do. And it's going to do the things that I need to do more on an evergreen cycle, because that's the lifestyle that I want to lead, or live, excuse me. And you know, we get the same thing for ecommerce. It's just like, when you when someone wants to like get into ecom, and then you pull back the curtain of like, all the things that you need to do to have, you know, yourself in that, whether it's print on demand, or whether you're actually doing product labeling, or you're doing manufacturing, or whatever that might be. If you don't think that's the lifestyle that you want to live, to be doing all those things, then maybe that's not a great business model for you to get into. I was like, why buy a gym if you don't even like to work out? Speaker 1: I won't be buying any gyms anytime soon. Speaker 2: No gyms, no gyms. You almost bought one in Mexico and I'm so glad you didn't. Just before COVID happened and everything shut down. So I'm like, oh, by the grace of God, thank you so much for not letting us buy that gym. And I'm like, I don't even like my husband used to do bodybuilding stuff. And that's his world. And even though I was a, you know, the whole athlete thing, I'm like, not so much. So you know, protecting yourself is identifying and understanding the work it takes to do a specific business model or specific way to get money into your bank account, protecting yourself, making sure you do diligence and doing market research analysis to make sure that no one else is doing it. You're not, you know, Copying from anybody else and that you're also preparing yourself on the legal side of things with the business and trademarks and copyright and whatnot. And I really at the end of the day, that's just kind of like the umbrella, you know, over effect. And you guys have way more in-depth knowledge and expertise and tips and tricks because I know I've seen them and I heard them that you help people with as well. But really, it's just like, you know, just do your damn due diligence at the end of the day. And if you don't know what to do, then hire someone to help you do the due diligence. Speaker 3: Success monster is your new passion project right now. That's what's on your hand for those watching our video. Did that evolve out of a TEDx talk or something like that or is that kind of where it does its origins? Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 3: Where do you see this going or what's your ultimate goal with this? Speaker 2: Um, so the whole success monster was the going through the chaotic aftermath of our big launch that you had talked about earlier with the plan and looking back and realizing that there's these fricking patterns and I see it all the time in myself and society and themselves and kind of like identifying it and putting it into a framework. Um, and then I was blessed enough that after my third attempt with Ted, um, after the last like six years, uh, that I applied to go there, I finally got accepted. And I realized that the first few times I didn't have enough, um, of a story that was Ted worthy. I hadn't gone through enough crap to be quite honest with you. To be worthy enough to be on that stage and share a message is at least how I feel. So the success monster was a TEDx talk and I did that in December. And I've got some amazing feedback from which I'm really, really grateful. So it's really condensed down and simplistic and in the framework, the MNSTR framework, monster technique, or whatnot. And what I'm hoping to do with it where the book itself is really intensifying It's for someone to go through, and again, it's short, sweet to the point. You can scan right through it for those who don't basically read because it's full of visuals. And then it's to help go-getters, self-motivators, high achievers, identify what their success monster archetype is. First, it's important for you to know who you are, where you're at right now, and how you're operating. And then after that, you're going to be applying the five key elements of the monster technique. And that's, again, very simplistic. A lot of us know this already, but maybe have not formulated it yet, where M represents mindset, N is miracle chemical understanding, S is satisfaction, intrinsic versus extrinsic, T is for treadmill, which is the hedonic treadmill, the happiness baseline, and then R is for restoration of motivation and wellness. And when you take all of those into consideration, Whenever you're feeling kind of. Shitty this day, or you know, you accomplished a goal, you check something off your list, you sold a business, you got the job, whatever that might be, you finish the marathon, you know, it prepares you for what's coming, you know, once you hit that peak, and then how to handle coming down that peak. So you do not stay in the valley of doom for too long. So you kind of get right back up and go again. And really, it's just, you know, helping people understand the intricacies, you know, of Success, or the chaotic aftermath of success. And so that they're able to begin anew easily, for the most part, is the way that I'm seeing is when trying to be the first to the mic to say, hey, you know, every time you accomplish something, you're going to feel like crap afterwards, the bigger the goal, the bigger the crappy feeling, it is what it is, it's perfectly fine, your brain's gonna do it, whether you like it or not. Signs, symptoms, here's the technique you need to use to get yourself out of it. And my goal really is, is try to Well, first and foremost, the biggest thing is, is hopefully people don't end up doing the most drastic thing, which is end up taking their lives. I've been down that road. Mike Phelps has been down that road. A lot of really amazing high hitters in the spotlight are slowly starting to talk about it. Thanks, you know, thanks to podcasts and whatnot. People and mental health being on the table. So people feel like a little bit more comfortable sharing it. So that's first and foremost, that on the one end of the scale, people don't end up like making the worst decisions in their lives and leaving us because there is something that we can do to help you. And then on the other flip side of it is I'm really hoping that It ends up being a universal, holistic way of looking at success that can be adopted through education systems, as well as through corporate worlds, and the general public, you know, just the general public, period. You know, you get online and you see someone who might, you know, their career is in the spotlight. So I'm just going to use someone famous as an example, you know, someone famous, could be a movie star, could be a rock star, whoever it is. And they had enough courage to say, you know, that they're struggling right now, or not feeling super good right now, or something's happened in their lives, they're not feeling awesome, whatever it might be, because they're freaking human for crying out loud. And then if you look at the buddy comments down below, and I was like, Oh, my God, you have so much money. How dare you? How dare you not be happy? How dare you to do that? You know, and I'm, I sit down, I look at that. And I'm just like, wow, the world as a collective has no idea that There is a neurological cycle that ends up happening, whether you're famous or not. There's things that are happening to you as a human being, no matter How much money you have in your bank account or not. And that if people had more awareness of it, then people would have more understanding and hopefully more empathy towards each other. And a perfect example of this is when I was in Mexico, I was a childbirth educator and naturopath. So natural practitioners, the only one there at the time, childbirth educators, another woman there. And as an expat with a crap ton of other expats, there was no education. So I decided to bring up that education. And at that time, Postpartum depression, you know, it was, it was kind of known within the moms, you know, and people like myself who were doing childbirth courses, trying to prepare the mom and dad like dad, mom's gonna push it, you know, mom spent nine months growing this damn thing with her body, then she's gonna get the damn thing out of her body. And then now it's going to be like, what do I do now? And then like, you know, all the neurochemical rushes that are going to go through her body, like you wouldn't bloody believe it's basically like a period that a woman gets every single month, times 10 million. Some people have it worse than others. And you know, society wasn't really talking about it. It wasn't on the table. It wasn't super normal, I guess you could say. And then the last I would say, 10 years, you know, mental health becoming on the table, postpartum depression started becoming on the table, it became part of a conversation, men and women knew about it, people were more aware of it, people who didn't have children became aware of it, people, you know, in the workforce became more aware of it, managers, you know, important in the corporate world started to understand that, oh, you know, you just had, you know, Matt leave and now you're coming back to the office and you left your kid at home now after spending like maybe three months alone with your kid or maybe you're lucky to get eight months with your kid. Now you're coming to the office and you're going to be like massively flippin ass depressed because you just had a child and now you're leaving them to be reared by somebody else. And there's like all this craziness that's happening. And because now that we can talk about these things with the world as a collective is starting to accept it. Then we have more empathy for each other and we have a chance to see from a different perspective and a different viewpoint. And we may not know it ourselves, but if they're experiencing it, then I'm like, okay, you're experiencing it. I kind of get it. I may not be going through it, but I get it. And I'm going to give you space, or I'm going to give you a safe place to share how you're thinking or feeling, or I'm going to watch out for you and help you and step in when needed. When I see that you're struggling and I need your help. And that's really what my goal is at the end of the day, is just to be to the world. It's going to hit the fan and it's okay. And here's the signs and symptoms and everyone has it no matter if you have accolades or money or no accolades and no money. And let's just, you know, help each other out here a little bit for the most part so we can, you know, strive and have the best life that we can while we're still alive. Speaker 3: Norm, it sounds like she might need to come to Elevate 360 in Iceland. Talk about this. Speaker 1: Talk about it, Kev. That's something that you're doing right now. Speaker 3: That could be a very good topic for Elevate360 in Iceland next year. Speaker 2: Sounds awesome. And honestly, it's a good topic for everything in every industry in every space. And in my personal perspective, because it needs to be, it just needs to be out there. And in an easy to formulate way. And that's, that's what my goal is at the end of the day. Speaker 3: So, all right. Speaker 1: I think, I think we're coming to an end. Actually, we're probably 15 minutes over. But yeah, great conversation. Speaker 3: Yeah. Speaker 1: And what you're doing, you know, bringing attention To depression and just all these emotions that come up, it's not talked about enough. And so congratulations on that. And we'll be definitely posting some information on how to get the book and everything else about you. But we're at the end of the podcast. And at the end of every podcast, we like to ask our guests if they know a misfit. Speaker 2: Gosh, well, I'm looking at two right now. First and foremost, let's get clear on that. I know a lot of amazing misfits, especially because we're in the entrepreneurial space. And I think every single one of us is. One way or the other, but I am going to nominate Alex Katony. She just won a digital marketing award. She's absolutely amazing. She's big into branding, positioning and copyright, of course, and making sure people's voices are seen and heard in a way that is unique, identifiable and articulate. And so I think Alex is definitely one of those next up and comer misfits that you guys might want to be aware of. Speaker 1: All right. Well, thank you so much. That's awesome. Can't wait to talk to Alex. How do we get ahold of you? How do people get your book when it comes out? Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a really great question. So successmonster.com. So success, then M-N-S-T-R.com. Take out the vowels. M-N-S-T-R. That's the easiest way to get onto the waiting list for the book. And at this very moment in time, Instagram seems to be the main place that most people like to hang out. So Ashley.hiddenrules on Instagram. And that's the easiest way to sort of follow me around or thehiddenrulesexpert.com, which is my main website. We're all over the place. I got things going all over the place. So that's just basically it. You can find me anywhere here, folks. I'm on Facebook. I'm everywhere. Speaker 1: Like I said, serial entrepreneur. Speaker 2: Yeah, I got one life to live here. Folks, you might as well do everything you possibly can, right? You know, I could be gone tomorrow, but life's awesome, so I'm good. Speaker 1: Well, Ashley, thank you so much for coming on. Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you so much, guys. I absolutely love everything that you do. And I love this new platform that you have. And honestly, it's everything that you have been able to provide your community, your audience, the insight, the help, and you do it with like so much compassion and love, which is why people just love and trust you guys so much. It's something to aspire to. And I'm very, very grateful for the opportunity to be here. So thank you so much. Speaker 1: Oh, you're very welcome. Speaker 3: Appreciate it. Thank you for joining us. This has been great. Speaker 1: All right. There we go. Speaker 3: Now, that was great, Ashley. That was great. Good stuff. Really, really interesting. We could have kept talking for quite some time, I think. Speaker 1: I know. I hope Ashley can come back one day. Some of these things, I'm actually going to have a friend of mine, Brian Hansel, reach out To Ashley, I don't know if she knows, she knows him, but he has something called ConvoPlate. And this is in Canada, but I think it reaches all over the world. And it's all about talking about suicide, depression. And so I'm going to, I'm going to pass Brian's information over to her. It's so important. But anyways, we got a lot of stuff going on and we've got a lot of great guests on Marketing Misfits. Over the last few weeks, we've had just some incredible guests. Speaker 3: Since the very first episode, I think every guest has been amazing and we're just getting started. Speaker 1: If anybody has any ideas for some guests that you think would be a marketing misfit, just reach out and let us know. There are so many people that have done things differently, thought outside of the box and have just made it, have been successful by using certain techniques. Make sure you send that information over to us. Speaker 3: Where do they do that at Norm? How would they send that? Would they go to marketingmisfits.com or .co? Speaker 1: Come on now Kev, you know it's .co. Speaker 3: Marketingmisfits.co. Yeah, you could actually go there and there's a little contact us or something. I remember exactly what it says. You could submit that. While you're there, you can also check, see all the links to check this out on YouTube or follow us on Apple Podcast or Spotify or I don't know what all the other platforms are that Kelsey throws this up on, but wherever it is that you like to listen to podcasts, make sure you also give us a like on your favorite platform or a comment or a share it. or a thumbs up on YouTube and hit that subscribe button so you don't miss a single one of these. Every Tuesday we have a brand new one come out. So I really appreciate everybody staying with us and joining us on this journey. Speaker 1: Oh, by the way, this is crazy. I was going to say this. I forgot about it. I'm old. Well, Ashley was talking, but this has been happening for about a month, maybe two months. I was going to just interrupt and say this, but on YouTube, There is a commercial running right now. Every time I watch one of, you know, one of the videos, this commercial comes up, maybe every other video has no logo. Has no mention of a company. Every time I watch it, not for, you know, five seconds or 30, I watch the whole thing, trying to figure out what this company does. And there is nothing, there's not, you can't get to it. And I, I, did they forget? Do they have a, like, it looks like it's a very well-made commercial, but there's nothing leading, no call to action, no logo, no mention of the company. Speaker 3: So they're just doing brand awareness. What's the product? Speaker 1: I have no idea. It's like they have this person coming down, sitting on a chair, they start talking, and it's just, it's bland. Speaker 3: Maybe it's subliminal, Norm. Maybe there's actually messages coming with rays out of the computer into the back of your head and you just don't realize what the message is. You took some actions and you did something and you're like, how did I? Speaker 1: I know what it is. It's Ashley's next level AI. Speaker 3: There you go. Speaker 1: All right. So that's it for today. Looking forward to seeing everybody on the next podcast. Speaker 3: Take care, everybody.