Why Traditional Finance is Failing Us with Nick Davies

Nick: [00:00:00] Go find your purpose and I just couldn't do anything with Dustin. What the switch was for me was to start thinking about rather than finding, it's creating. And so for me, that's the other side of that equation. It was like, take the opportunities now go create the person that you want to be or create opportunities.
And that is such a big, was a huge mindset shift for me and my journey through entrepreneurship. Because that was the moment I was like, Hey, what, what do I want to do? What do I love to do and get clear specific again, there is around what is it I liked about 20 years working in banking. It was people.
It was the connection. It was the relationship. It was not. How can I teach you on a technical skill? It's like, well, if two people know the same technical skill, why is one person flowing through with ease and gets the result? Another person is crashing and banging on the phone. Maybe it gets the result in the end, but the experience is so crazy.
Dustin: Welcome back to the seven figure leap. [00:01:00] I'm really excited today for many reasons. one of which is this is, I think the third consecutive Nick, that I've interviewed on the show, which I don't know how many podcasts really can have that claim to fame. so I met Nick Davies, Through another relationship, which, you know, is a pretty common theme around here.
So I met a guy named Matt Drinkon, who, uh, after I was a podcast or a guest on his podcast, we became friends. I joined front row dads, he joined my accelerator program. And then at some point along the way, he introduced me to Nick because Nick and he both work, at a. company called pro advisor is coaching company that Nick will tell us all about.
and so as Nick starts to talk here in a second, where you're going to realize it's probably got the most beautiful accent of anyone I've interviewed as well. So no pressure, Nick. and uh, yeah, but this relationship is really deepened. He was, went through my accelerator program. We hung out in person in Orlando back in January, because Nick is now part of our seven figure leap mastermind group.
So get to see Nick on almost a weekly basis. He, is a real gift to me and to the group, and I'm really excited to share him here with the audience. So [00:02:00]
Nick Davies, you want to just give a quick introduction let us know what you're up to nowadays?
Nick: Wow, man. Well, that's a nice intro. I appreciate that. And yeah, I can't believe it's January when we were down Orlando and as we record this almost May, which is wild, but absolutely.
Dustin: Been quite a whirlwind of 2024. how's it been for you?
Nick: Yeah. Well, when, well, when for sure. And, uh, like very exciting. I was excited. I've been business wise for a long time and you're a big part of that. So I appreciate you for that. And. As you said, lots of connections, relationships, that's what it's all about. And, you know, it's very clear for me now that what I do is help financial advisors.
And so I work with high level financial advisors on their way to becoming seven figure impacting advisors. And, the clear piece of who I work with and how I help the most is that they want to have a thriving business, but don't want to impact their time with their family or sacrifice their health.
And that's, it's such a, I get so passionate about that, Dustin, because it's such a thing that can hold people back so they don't really strive for what they want to get in business because they [00:03:00] push and realize that it's impacting their relationships, their most important relationships in their life and they start to really then stop pushing so hard in business and ultimately don't get what they want in business and they can bring some of that resentment to those relationships as well.
So it's a very dangerous thing to think about, but yeah, that's what I am passionate about doing now, working with advisors in that manner. And I also had previous to that 20 years experience working in finance for big banks all over the world.
Dustin: yeah. so if you're a financial advisor, you really hit the jackpot today, but really everything that Nick teaches is applicable to other industries. He just has this deep passion and history in finance. And we're going to get into mindset work and sabbaticals and all kinds of unique topics today that I think are really going to serve anyone who's going through a similar entrepreneurial journey.
Uh, Nick, what I love to do is kind of go back a little bit, kind of dig into a bit of your history and, your entrepreneurial journey, just to start to paint a picture and
really unpack why you're sitting here today with this very specialized expertise and passion and, coaching work that [00:04:00] you do. So.
You can go back to, I'm assuming across the pond, or you can talk about when you got to the U S or when you left corporate, wherever you think is most appropriate. When you felt like you had a real inflection point that started to put you in the trajectory of doing the work that you now do.
Nick: A couple of places I'd like to jump to quickly before I dive into that for sure. So yeah, back across the pond, I suppose I fell into banking right out of high school. So I spent a lot of time doing that, but I started really young and it was more a case of, I just fell into doing that and it was pretty rewarding.
I was pretty good at it. played well and But it was never really a choice and I, quit, went traveling, back in 2008, 2009, when, you know, that stuff was happening then, and then came back to London and wanted a job anywhere else in the world that wasn't London. And, I found myself living and working in the Philippines, working for a big bank in the Philippines.
And so this, the two years that I spent there were a very, very valuable time. And I suppose what I draw everyone's attention to as a start point here is that how important [00:05:00] environment is. As an indicator of change, whatever that might be big, huge things, small little things, creating your own environment and that journey I had of two years working there.
I thought I'd just get my career back on track and I work out all the time because I was really important to me and really was just a journey of realizing that I got those things. I was able to do exactly what I wanted. But Dustin, I was miserable. Really miserable. Like I realized how important it was.
Human connection is so important. And it sounds so silly to say it now, but that's how I just, that was the realization. And that's when I really started my personal development journey. I started asking myself questions like, what is success? What is happiness? What do I really want? And at the time, And the best I could come up with was the, okay, well, if I could have it anywhere I wanted it, what would I want?
and I just got back from like a stag do a bachelor party in Vegas. I was like, well, that was really fun. Okay. If I could have anywhere I wanted to have it, I would go to Las Vegas with my friends. well, that won't work. Cause I'd be like dead in three months. So that, that is,
that's not the, that's not the table yet.[00:06:00]
That won't work. but it was, whoa. Cause that was the best I could do. It was the best I could do as an actual. Entry point to what sustainable fulfillment happiness was, but that's really what started me on my journey to go. There's got to be something like there's got to be a way of figuring out what this life thing is.
And, uh, I was in my mid twenties at the time and I wanted to live in America. I knew that was clear for me. I don't really didn't really know why, especially at the time. And so for that was really the genesis of, starting to read some books, which created some, I always think of it like this, like some scaffolding in my mind, like all the thoughts were there, but I had no way to put them.
I didn't know what to access. It was all scattered. And I read Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Cover to cover and then cover to cover again, and it's just I need this just now I now I know where to put things like it was all there in the first place. But yeah, that was really the start of memory.
I can trace the line from then until here for sure.
Dustin: That's awesome. So yeah, I don't know if I realized Philippine part of this journey. I'm sure you told me at some point, but [00:07:00] it didn't really stick, but that's, that is really instrumental. Like you're there, you're like, Hey, I can just like focus on myself and work out and make money. And then you realize that it actually wasn't fulfilling at all.
and then you felt this draw to America. What got you to America? When does the family start to enter the picture? I'd love to hear kind of where these pieces, so you got the scaffolding and you've kind of got a framework now for where all these learnings and experiences belong in your self.
And then it sounds like there's a lot more refinement that happens after that point. Yes,
Nick: shift in that piece as well. Because when I was in the Philippines, I had a boss, which was he was great. He was a yeah. Originally from India, I spent a lot of time in a lot of different places. So it was a, it great leader. I said to him, don't want to be here.
I want to be anywhere else. be in America, but I'm open to being anywhere else. And so at that, point, I want to, because here's the thing with, mindset, Dustin, oftentimes people know that what we believe and what our mindset is really shapes, controls lives, but it's often [00:08:00] so esoteric.
And. What I love to do is make it real. And so This is what it is in my mindset up until that point, I was always thinking I'd be the one that will take the opportunity because I'd seen lots of people in my career up to that point go, I won't do that. I can't do that.
Too much change is going to hurt me. I'm not doing that. I'd be the, always the guy with a hand up going, yeah, I'll do that. That sounds fine. And so I thought if I keep following opportunities and make myself valuable for everyone, I'll be
successful. And that. Point, which I flipped it over because what I said to my boss at times that I do anything I do anything and I thought that by saying that to him, I was making it easier for him, meaning like, Oh, I haven't got this have this specific thing.
So I've got to find something, which I don't know where it is. I say I do anything. Well, actually, what I was actually doing was making it. Much more difficult because I was asking him to choose,
which took me a long time to figure out.
Dustin: so analogous to business building and marketing and so many other things, right? Like. Yeah, well, we always talk about if you want to be super referral, be super specific and who you serve and how you [00:09:00] serve
them, because that unlocks the ability to make your referral. But yeah, the same thing is true for your own, in this case, employee, employer relationship.
if you went to him and said, I really want this, that empowers him to help you get it. Whereas you're just like, I'll do anything. It's like. I can't really, what do I do with that? Right.
Nick: exactly, man. that's why I want to mention it because it really flows through. And so he was smart. He said to me, well, give me three locations and three types of jobs that you want. And he said, allow me to start to think through it better to get there. But yes, I went from thinking about everything up to that point was, oh, I'll take the best opportunity.
I'll do the thing no one else wants to do. And it switched to this is what I want to create. This is what I want to go and do, or it started to. So that's the mindset of
like, I'll take opportunities versus I want to go create. And so if I fast forward a little bit, I got the move to America. I've got to move to Jacksonville, Florida, where I met my, beautiful wife and to celebrate something I shared with you as well, that we just had our vows renewed for almost a year.
10 years wedding anniversary, which happened to be in Vegas. We [00:10:00] got married in Vegas originally. So was awesome.
Dustin: Congratulations. That's a milestone for sure.
Nick: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And so I, we lived in Florida for a long time and moved to New York, works on wall street. And if I think about how mindset started to flick around as I was on wall street, I had this other moment where it was like a Tuesday afternoon.
We were married. first daughter was a baby at the time. And I was just, Walking around wandering around Wall Street and went back into the building and it's just like, oh, I don't want to be and I was like a Tuesday afternoon or something. I think I just want to go home. I just want to get this done.
We didn't get it over with. there's a realization that. Like, this is my life. Why can't a Tuesday afternoon be better than a Friday afternoon? Because that's how it was for me at the time. up until that point, I started to search and think about what I wanted to do. And the prevailing thought in my mind was like, what, go find your purpose.
Go find your purpose and I just couldn't do anything with Dustin. What the switch was for me was to start thinking about rather than finding, it's creating. And so for [00:11:00] me, that's the other side of that equation. It was like, take the opportunities now go create the person that you want to be or create opportunities.
And that is such a big, was a huge mindset shift for me and my journey through entrepreneurship. Because that was the moment I was like, Hey, what, what do I want to do? What do I love to do and get clear specific again, there is around what is it I liked about 20 years working in banking. It was people.
It was the connection. It was the relationship. It was not. How can I teach you on a technical skill? It's like, well, if two people know the same technical skill, why is one person flowing through with ease and gets the result? Another person is crashing and banging on the phone. Maybe it gets the result in the end, but the experience is so crazy.
What is it that I love to do? People get their leverage from now. What is people's motive for action? And that, piece is really, the piece that I love to do. And that's how I got into coaching. That's why I thought about coaching, originally. And that's what really started my journey to where I am now.
Dustin: That's awesome. So through a lot of struggle and iteration and finding resources and books and just life experience and moving, [00:12:00] you really dialed it down to like, the thing I love to do is help people, and the people that,
we were around happened to be in finance. So you also picked up In that environment, language they use, the culture, and you understood them at a deeper level. So, At what point does coaching enter your life? you get coached first? Or do you like just become a coach without ever being coached? Like did the coaching switch happen? Because at some point you left corporate and became a coach and I'm sure there's some transition in that process.
Love
Nick: again, and beliefs, if you roll all the mindsets and beliefs up they become your identity. And there's like everything unpacks. There's lots of beliefs inside your identity, of course. And I think about that journey, how impactful it was for my identity, but also my wife's identity and who she thought I was through that and how that changes.
That's a big piece of it as well. But so for me, it was looking at what I love to do. And so I spent all my time in, one on ones of people on my team or people outside of my team, helping them break through, get to the next place. It's okay. It seems like it's coaching thing. I was coaching before I even know what it was.
I wouldn't even call [00:13:00] it. so I went out research, like just didn't want to list a bunch of podcasts, got out there and. We listened to a lot of Tim Ferriss and other people in that kind of place at that time. I was listening to a lot of Tony Robbins on one of the Tony Robbins things I was listening to, I was always like, Oh, apply here to be a coach.
It's like, if I'm going to be a coach, I'm going to go straight to the top. not? Dustin: it.
Nick: On a whim. Cause I didn't tell my wife I was going to do it because I thought, well, nothing's going to happen. Uh, except they And then I went through a period of, this coaches Academy I went through Dustin was they had, they did it once a year or so, and they had like 400 people apply.
I think they did 80 phone interviews and they invited 40 to join the first month of this three month coaches Academy, and then they. And 42 first month, And then the second month they invited 35 back. The third month they invited 27 back, and then they finally hired 18. And I was privileged to be one of those people.
And I was a Tony Robbins coach for a number of years. And that [00:14:00] transition where, like, we moved to North Carolina, moved out of the corporate world, it was a lot because it was stopping all of that stuff, everything I've known for the last 20 years. We got, you know, young child, and we've moved to a new state.
And that was a lot at once, but that was the leap that I made.
Dustin: obviously there's parts of your identity as a husband and things like that,
that don't change, but that's a pretty major identity shift, right? Like now you're. Not a finance guy. You're not on wall street. now you're a husband, a dad, you live in North Carolina, um, all the way from London via the Philippines.
and now you're a Tony Robbins coach. So like, yeah, what, wow, what a crazy whirlwind and how powerful. So give us just like idea of when did you become a Tony Robbins coach? And then from there to what you're doing now, like just give us a snapshot of that part of your life.
Nick: And I should mention as well that I've met my wife in banking. She's still in banking as well with that identity tied together. And so that was a big thing to go through. for sure. So there was, a, transitional period, but there was a, I'm out full time. The corporate world, I was doing some [00:15:00] consulting in the
corporate world.
I was Tony Robbins coaching, and then I found a coaching organization you mentioned earlier. so I was doing three things at once. Essentially, I was doing three things at once. and with Tony Robbins, it was great because I was just co I was coaching people with lots and lots of reps, like repetitions of mother of school.
To quote Tony, I really wanted to have a way where I could build my own business. And that was a great experience, but I wanted to move full time to working with business owners, working with people that I really wanted to
work with, that could grow. And so I, found Provisor Coach here in North Carolina, and that was back in 2018, 2017.
And, that's the journey I've been on since. It's crazy how that's grown across this time as well, but it's been a great experience to work with so many different businesses and apply all the things I've learned leadership. And so every, every day that I did that and continue to do that is the reminder that there are only so many principles and concepts of success.
It doesn't matter what industry you're in, they always apply. Now there's obviously nuances, best practices that apply to the specificity of those industries, but that baseline foundation like is always the same.
Dustin: [00:16:00] Yeah, that's beautiful. So I have a, funny question for you. So did your wife let you coach her since she's still in the financial industry and
Nick: Ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever coach a spouse.
Dustin: very curious. Really like that.
Nick: I've definitely had a few stop coaching me over the years. Yeah, for sure. Yes. Yeah.
Dustin: Yeah.
that's awesome.
That's great. So love unpacking the journey and hearing how. your own experiences have now become such powerful tools for you to help other people who are going through transition or who are trying to, like you said, level up their business success while also leveling up their health and their relationships, versus.
What many people do a sacrifice, you know, one for the other two or two for the other one. so yeah, give us a snapshot now and you can reveal as much as you want, as much as you're comfortable. But I'm curious, what's a typical week like now? Are you doing a lot of one on one work?
I know for sure you launched a, group coaching program very successfully coming out of our accelerator time. So yeah, I'd love to just kind of hear like, [00:17:00] what does it look like this year for Nick and his business?
Nick: I mentioned briefly earlier that this is the beginning of this year. I've been the most excited about where my business is and where it's going because of the clarity and back to the same again, getting focused on. Look, there's lots of people that we can all add value to, but we've got to make sure that we know the people we can add the most value to and focus on them, and that's how we can create the biggest impact.
And quite frankly, Change the world. That's how we do it is like where we can add the most value at that value. Do that thing. So, yeah, absolutely. just as you finished the first cohort of, the, XLR advisor, under the seven figure advisor banner here. And so the focus on that is, is really, really cool.
And so as I look at the setup of my business, I still have a bunch of one on one clients and I have, the next group about to start. And I'm going to be creating a mastermind version of that as well, coming soon as well. And so being really specific with making sure that I got, I'm focusing on serving these advisors.
And what happens is there's so much. [00:18:00] And you know this obviously, Dustin, but there's so much overlay of the relationships and the consolidations. One of the things that was really intriguing to me was to, again, a mindset around, Hey, there's nothing more than one on one because you get my 100 percent attention.
We can focus all the way of what is that that you need, and we can get to the heart of those questions. And then, anything else I thought would be a somewhat dilution of that, So the mindset of going, okay, well, I know I can scale my business. If I can add more people to that equation in the same place.
How can I do that in a place where I know it's diluting? And so that was my first mindset about it. Now, I still think that one on one is really powerful, but rather than a dilution, I realized the group is not a dilution at all. It's actually, it adds way more. there's definitely a still place for one on one.
It's a different, it's a different thing. I shouldn't really be compared. And so what happens in a group, as you know, Dustin, very well, is that you get everything from the person that's the coach, the advisor, the facilitator, the consultant, whoever you want to phrase [00:19:00] that. They also get amplification, magnification from everyone else in the group as they share with where they are, and so especially powerful for me in my group because everyone in the group is adjacent to each other, right?
Like, they're not quite the same, but they're close enough that they can all help each other. And there's so many things that I can share to move forward. So I'm really excited about it. So as I move forward, the flywheel of those group programs will get fast and fast and faster.
the machine, the engine of the business with just providing more and more value to the advisor community. And in fact, let me share this with you because it's just been popping in my mind, but I want to get it out there. It's like, okay, well, I think about the particular firm that I work most with, and they have about 4, 000 advisors across the country, and it's like, I'm going to look it up.
So I googled, how many financial advisors are there in the country? And Google says something like 300 and something thousand. So I thought, well, what if my three year target was, what if by April 2027, I can impact 100, 000 advisors? And then I got [00:20:00] scared, then I got excited, then I got scared and excited some more and just sat with that for a few minutes because by thinking like that, it changes your actions, it changes what you start to believe about what you would need to do in order to make that leap to have that type of impact.
where I'm going.
Dustin: and more importantly, who you need to be, So, I'm going through what it feels like another 10 X leap. And I've talked on, on previous episodes about kind of the trajectory of my business, and this is actually fairly, fairly fresh. but this idea that, I hit a million dollar run rate, uh, in the Q1 of 2024, which is amazing.
there's this temptation to sort of think cool, like, I can just hang out here. and then there's an episode that probably got released just before this one with Ryan dice. And we went pretty deep on this topic. Cause he's been through a lot of these shifts and he's advised many people going through these shifts and the true reality that there is no status quo, right?
You're either growing or dying and you've got to make that choice. And so one of the things I've been working on too, it's very similar to what you just shared, [00:21:00] Nick is the expanded vision. And for people that have been through this, they'll understand it. If you haven't, you'll understand it when you're in it,
but it's this idea that like, You get to a certain point with your business or your personal life or in a different achievements, and then like this new horizon opens up and it's like, Oh, I didn't think about this.
And so I've been working diligently through this sort of identity work and mindset work around. Okay, it's cool. I have a million dollar coaching company. but what, next is actually a 10 million mastermind company, right? Like my unique gift is actually in the mastermind is I'm not really a coach and it's never really felt like the right title or, or label for the work that I do.
And I'm like, I'm really good at facilitating mastermind experiences and getting people rapid transformation through clarity and connection in that environment, you know, including Nick, I'm very proud to work with Nick. but it's like, what does it look like then to have a, the impact of a 10 million? Mastermind
company and not only what I, what, what I need to do, but like, who do I need to be? And who do I need to, who do I need to [00:22:00] know? And who are the, who's that would help empower that? And, and I have no date for that. It's like, that's not really the point. It's more like, What future self do I need to be
stepping into to be able to like realize a bigger vision and a bigger impact in the world? So very timely. It seems these conversations always happen at the right time. that you bring that up because. just totally relate to it and love, love what you shared there about, like in a very practical sense, you can like Google, like
how many people in my specific thing that I serve, can I actually impact and then like, man, what if I touched.
A fourth of them. that's a big number, but why not? I mean, look what Tony Robbins has done as your original mentor in this space.
Nick: Yeah. What? I think it's so powerful because we tend to resist it though, because, Oh, I couldn't do that. But it's what feels the best to your point with a grow or die. We are asking ourselves questions in our businesses, like, you know, what business are we in? if you've got a more of a traditional type business, the answer tends to be that industry, you know, like an accountant.
So what business are you really? Well, I, I help people see their way to financial [00:23:00] three freedom through making sure that they are exactly where they need to be in a textile, but something where it's an emotional attachment to it. So you can realize what you're actually doing, what identity you're affecting to your point.
And then there's also the next question is, well, what business are you going to be in?
Dustin: Mm hmm.
Nick: Because you've got to be working on where are you going. And as you said, that's the identity. And so if you act like that identity, you'll realize that identity. And you know, the word that I wrote down is back to that concept for me between the taking opportunities and creating the person that you want to be.
So it's getting out. one of the things I write down every day as part of some affirmation work I do is just quite simply, I create, and I know that I always feel the best when I'm creating, when I'm moving towards something. It's the antidote for any of the head trash that comes in or anything that's happening.
It's like, if I'm moving forward, I'm creating something. I'm not looking at what's happening behind me or worrying about things that aren't exactly where I want to be. that's the place that we always want to be. And I believe in order that we keep going forward, because yeah, even if everything in your [00:24:00] life is exactly the way you ever envisioned it, the best version of it possibly could be, the only way it remains anywhere near that is for you to keep creating, because by itself, it will get worse.
Dustin: So it's really, again, funny timing on people are seeing the video. I'm just pulled up my notes app. So like literally this morning, as this is April 30th, 2024, if you go back and look at my LinkedIn, I posted a LinkedIn post, I was revisiting the strangest secret by Earl Nightingale. And the quote that I centered my post on, and that is in this notes app that I'm holding up that I wrote this less than two hours ago was there is no competition.
There's only the need to create. he said this in 1956 before there were like creators and like the creator economy, but it's this idea that like, you really don't have competition. You're a creative being and you get to create the reality, right? Like you are the sum of your own thoughts. And I know that some of this stuff sounds a little woo woo.
Keep in mind, I'm like an engineer and Christian. Like this is not woo woo. This is like. Heavy emphasis in the Bible itself is about these ideas of you are what you think about and that we are creative beings. And I think as [00:25:00] entrepreneurs, we're hyper creative beings. And when we get in a funk or we start feeling scarce, like you just said, it's perfect.
Like the antidote to that is creation. And so that's why you got to keep growing because how do you create if you stay static, right? You're not creating anything. And what ends up happening is you get burnt out or you just burn the
whole thing down and start something new because you have a. Innate desire and need to create.
so yeah, I love where we're kind of coming together in this moment with where you're at with your business, where I'm at with my business. And I'm sure we're pretty much everyone listening to this is at, uh, they're wrestling with some version of this.
Nick: yeah, exactly. I mean, that's the thing. It's like, well, my, my moving towards the thing that I want, or am I staring at the thing? I don't want. It's like, stare at the thing that you don't want. The best you can do is just be okay with what you don't want. You still haven't got what you do want. It's just like, turn around, go to the direction that you want.
Dustin: So I want to talk kind of like how you're, we just did the future casting. Like, Hey, where's this going? and I want to hear about some of the practical ways you're going to do that. And [00:26:00] we're going to wrap up with Nick's thoughts on like really practically, like how do you actually do this stuff to make mindset shifts?
But I want to share, this is just like a one minute personal anecdote. I think it speaks to Nick's character. It's also just a funny story. So he and I, one of the. I don't know. One of the first zoom meetings we had, I was remarking on his background. So if you're watching the video, you can see Arnold Schwarzenegger and you can see some other cool, placards or whatever, like signs on his background and somehow it talked about like, yeah, my son and I were hanging out and we were watching a UFC match, which is not something I've done a lot of, but he's pretty into it.
And so. I don't know. it seemed that that was it. a week later we get this package and I open it up and I'm like, I thought it was Conor McGregor and I opened it up in a second. I'm like, damn it. Like I thought my son had basically took my credit card and bought this. Like it was cool, but I'm like, I didn't give him permission to buy this.
I know he didn't buy it with his own money. I hit it and I'm like, I'm not giving this to him. Like, he's not getting this thing he bought without my permission. And there's like another week or two goes by and Nick's like, Hey, did you ever get the package? I said, I'm like, what are you talking about?
And he's like, it's, is it Pedrora? It's Dustin.
Nick: for [00:27:00] you.
Dustin: Oh yeah. Yeah. So again, I'm not like a super fan and I'm like, Oh, it's a Nick. And this like little, blip in our conversation took the initiative actually go by my son, who's never met this, graphic of this UFC fighter. And so this was actually a gift from Nick to my son that I intercepted inadvertently and thought it was something that wasn't.
So I bring this up now, Nick, because it's still hanging in his bedroom. that was, you know, whatever that was six months ago or something. The time that we're recording this, he's been gone for over three months. in two weeks, we finally get to see him. He's going to graduate army
basic training.
And when he left, he literally took a picture of that and printed it. And it was one of the very few possessions he took with him was the picture of that
UFC fighter because of the spirit behind it. And he knew what he knew. He needed to have a warrior's attitude going into basic training. yeah, I just, I just wanted to share that with you here, Nick, because Again, it speaks to your generosity, the way that you care about people.
Um, and it really made a big impact on our son at a very pivotal time in his life as he was [00:28:00] deciding his next steps. And you didn't know that when you did this, but just wanted to share kind of a full circle moment with that.
Nick: it gives me chills, Dustin. That's so cool, man. That's so cool. You
Dustin: I was like, Oh, here's the best part. They have two weeks left to basically training and. Of three weeks. This week is hand grenades. Next week is combatives, which is literally like basically UFC fighting. They learn how to grapple and fight. And he's like, so excited about it. Cause he's always wanted to do like jujitsu and stuff.
So he's probably going to get to live that out. Uh, he probably gets his butt kicked in the process, but he's going to have a lot of fun the next week, trying to channel his inner, UFC fighter. So.
Nick: Very cool, man.
Very
Dustin: for letting me indulge you or indulge the audience with that, kind of funny story. But, so yeah, I know we got at least two things we want to cover before we wrap up.
One is your, Upcoming sabbatical. And then maybe from that, we can talk about, Hey, if someone's just like, this stuff all sounds great. Like it's kind of woo woo, but it sounds pretty cool. How do I start to shift my mindset and like a very practical way? I love for you to touch on both those things, if you don't mind.
Nick: tie together actually very well. what I would want to point people [00:29:00] out to is that the tie between, as you said, what can feel like is woo woo and can't get my arms around it. Tie it to something that that is real. And make it a representation of how you want to have your mindset and therefore ultimately, we can also use interchangeably mindset beliefs and identity.
We move those around a little bit. So the semantics there, but tie something external to how you think about something in order to show other people what you're doing, but most important show yourself and living the identity you want to live. this mini sabbatical I'm calling it, I'm taking the whole of August off, is a way of creating more free time.
time for me, not vacation, although some of it is going to be vacation, but the concept is that it's taking more free time. And if I have more free time, I can create, make more money in my business. now that concept is what I share what with my clients on, right? You've got to create space first such that you can make informed decisions such you can take massive leverage action to have the right people and, yourself in the right area and [00:30:00] have the biggest visions in your outcomes.
And so I share that all the time. And so this is me actually doing it. This is me saying I'm living that for you as well client. I'm doing it. I'm taking the time off. Oh, by the way, since you're in like my direct impact path, I'm not going to be there for a month. And so I'm going to be out and I'm still expecting you to pay me for a month, but I'm not going to be there.
But with the concept of that, I want to be bold enough to say that my belief is so solid in this, that I know it's going to have, I'm going to give you some tools a way of Living this experience with me through that process, but it's gonna be even more valuable for you that I'm not there for that time, such that I'm gonna move away.
And then when I come back in September, it's gonna be even more valuable for again, you're gonna get a double whammy, even though I'm not there. And so my commitment to that concept is what this is all about. I'm gonna spend the time, you part of it. We're gonna be in London since my family could be in Barcelona for a couple days.
And so I'm gonna spend that month. I'm gonna You mentioned martial arts. I'm going to go back to doing some more martial arts every day. I'm going to learn Spanish. I'm going to [00:31:00] do some stuff around the house, And build some things my wife wants me to do. That's what I'm going to do in that time.
And so I'm not going to do any delivery work. I might do some focused thinking work, but I'm not going to do any delivery work. that's what I'm going to do. And leading up to that, I'm going to be sharing what I'm doing, why it's scary, why it's exciting, Anyone who want is interested to follow along can do and as part of that and then through that period themselves and take from it what you want, put the rest to the side.
But that's the concept from it. And, uh, I am very excited. I'm very scared, Because it is something I'm putting out there. And, um, we want to be bold, think about something I learned podcast, a good friend of yours. I know, of course, is that if you're having something that is really attracting something, you've got a magnet, you also a big part of testing, whether that attracts something is whether it repels something as well.
And so that's such a great freeing frame to think about so this is part of it. I'm really bold into certain area and some people won't get there and won't like that. That's totally fine. And so that's that thinking process that's so important. if I parlay [00:32:00] that into the, okay, well, what does that actually look like?
How can we practice this ourself? It's the thinking piece that's so important. we talked a little bit about vision and pushing yourself and it's really challenging sometimes to do that because it seems like here's how I think about things. This is what I've worked in the past. So we tend to judge what we can do in the future based on what we do in the past.
But the past does not equal the future unless you live there. But most people do. And so this is the difference, So if you're thinking patterns have allowed you to get to what you've got. by default, they're not going to get you to the place that you could get to. You're just going to get the same stuff again.
think about financial advisors, for example, with all that numbers and measurements, they generally look at their production or their business by, Oh, I've grown 20%. I grow 15 to 20 percent each year. I think that's good numbers. But what if you thought about growing a hundred percent? what would a hundred percent look like?
who would you have to become? What would your business have to become in order that that would get to that point? And just thinking like that changes the game. I like thinking of it like time is such an important thing because adding more time to your [00:33:00] day. I think most people that Have some sort of level of success dusting and somewhere on the line had the framework of look, someone told them, Hey, if you want to be successful, work hard and becomes tension between our lazy work hard and if you pick work hard, great means I'm not lazy.
But that runs out, it runs out, and you keep trying to work hard, there's no more hard to work.
Dustin: I like that
Nick: So the frame becomes hard work versus leverage. That's the place we need to be thinking about. So again, that's another example of what those two different mindsets are. And so how do we translate that to something that's real for us? here's another way I think about it as well.
If you've got a rocket, you know, maybe not one of the, rockets, but one of the old school ones with the big booster rockets on the side taking off those big booster rockets. Like they need that huge amount of power, those extra rockets, extra boost, extra fuel to get off the launch pad, right?
Most of the power is getting them off the launch pad, getting going, getting the momentum flowing. Now, after a while, they get up to a certain point and that they've got [00:34:00] there, they're going crazy. But what happens with those, boosters? Like when they run out of fuel, what do I do with them, Dustin?
Bumper! Here's the question. What if they didn't? What if they got to a point where they're nearing the atmosphere, they're out of fuel, and they didn't dump those fuel canisters,
Dustin: they would hold them back. They would drag them down. they would make it impossible for them to get to the outer Rings of space because they become an impediment. Like what was a thing that served them to get to that
point would now become an impediment and hold them back from the next stage.
Nick: and then probably crashing back down to Earth, and unless you have got an Elon Musk rocket that can land itself, and then you just do the whole process again, right? It's just over and over and over the same thing. And that's why people get to a certain level. Can't get any further and then come back down again and start again and they bounce between those two things.
you've got to let go. That's the thing. He's like, it's the very thing that got you to where you were. It's the very thing that's been the last thing in your mind that you'd let go of is the very thing that you need to let go of. It's not something else that I did something before. It's the very thing that you are holding on to right now.
It's the scariest [00:35:00] thing there is. And so it's understanding where you're thinking is in that place.
Dustin: Can I give another just really practical application of this? Cause it's like literally what I'm doing right now. So I already explained kind of this visioning, what could be possible. Right. And like, what if this was a 10 million mastermind company? Like what roles would I have to fill and not fill most importantly, not fill.
Cause actually every time you level up your, your company or your life, you actually need to be doing less things because you're going to do the really important things with a higher level of focus and quality. And so for me, like. To get to the million dollar point in my business, I basically did everything.
Like we'll have some VAs, but basically I did all the sales, all the fulfillment, leading every live call. Like that's what I've done. And so very scary to let go of some of that and say, well, I actually need to let other people do a lot of these roles. So I'm literally in this moment. So I made that decision.
You know, you decide first. Right. And then you commit to the new vision or the new identity mindset, like you said, kind of interchangeable. And so for me, the practical application of that was like, I have to get out of my own way [00:36:00] to actually become the CEO of a company and not just like the founder doer of all things.
right now I'm like week two of, I hired a really high level fractional COO who's working with me over the next three months leading into my own mini
sabbatical in June when I'm taking my wife to Italy. and we're just. getting the stuff going like an org chart and like, Oh, you're you don't have a project management system.
You don't have like a CRM, like things that people would look at this and be like, that's insane. I'm like, yeah, I built it through like grit I got to let go of these rocket boosters, right? Like I had this fuel of emotion and vision and energy and that got me to where I am, but it started to feel like it was dragging me down. Like I started to feel burnt out. I was starting to feel a little resentful of what I had built. And so the, the remedy, as you started with earlier is new creation. So like, I don't really care, honestly, about any of the money stuff. we're doing great.
Like, it's not about that, but it's like for personal development and impact. I needed to commit to a new action. And for me, that was really focusing on operations for a full quarter. Like I'm not selling any new seats right now. It's like, I'm just getting stuff ready for the next stage. [00:37:00] So I really love.
That what you shared is exactly what I'm experiencing too. So
Nick: That's so cool, man. It's so cool because yeah, the quicker you can make the switch between that resentment, because that's, that's how it really feels. Like, it's the, again, the very thing that you were excited about before, now you resent it. And then you've got to take that, immediately go into that creation phase because the further you go down, the further you've got to come back up to zero to start again.
You know, it's like the deeper those foundations be to build back out to it. we talked about the identity, which is the rolled up beliefs and the beliefs themselves, because, if I think about the flow of what life is, it's beliefs or identity. And then from that, you get your thinking, like, because you think about what you believe.
Beliefs come up in conversation and journaling and coaching. but thinking you can start to grab those, throughout the day, and then thinking equals what we do. So our actions and actions equals our results. Those two are external and the results often we stop there, but really we want results because we want the quality of life.
We think that that gives us, and we want that really because of a certain feeling. [00:38:00] We want to feel fulfilled. We want to feel good. We want to feel like that impact. It's all about the feelings we can measure some of that stuff is really
powerful. And this is why I wanted to share as a as an offering to everyone who's watching and listening is that.
I have a really cool tool which can measure some of those thoughts. a really cool tool. I mean, there's lots of great assessment tools out there. This one's been around since the 70s. And the guy that created it was actually nominated for a Nobel Prize back in the late 70s before he passed.
But it's really powerful because it's based on mathematics and have some clarity around what our thought processes and patterns are. And it's almost like an early warning system, right? It's like, if I can know where my thinking is, yeah, yes, I can figure out what I believe sometimes, but that works kind of hit or miss.
And that's why it's a challenging piece of work. That's why it's like, ah, it's like most people want to push it away because it's a lot of work. But if you can measure some of those thoughts, you can front load, okay, what am I going to do? Therefore, what am I going to get and how am I going to feel? So I wanted to offer that for anyone who wants to, is interested in taking that, they can go to.
coach nick mind scan.com. Coach nick mind [00:39:00] scan.com.
Dustin: that's awesome. Yeah. And I know, of this tool because, I took this mind scan and really importantly, Nick then unpacked it with me and it was like super insightful. It was, it was actually a big part of some of these transformations that I started to make last year. how the world works.
Nick hires me and then like, then he serves me right back and he unlocks a lot of things for me. And I that's the power of having great people in your life. but I would highly encourage, this is not something that's typically free. Like It literally does cost money to go take this, but Nick's, got some ownership of it, so he's able to offer this to the listeners.
So coach Nick mind scan. com. Just to be real clear for people. So go to that and absolutely take advantage of it. It's an awesome tool. I'm sure, you're going to get a lot of results immediately from it. And then if you want, I'm sure Nick can help you unpack it and really get maximum insight from it.
But Yeah. The starting point is to go check out the mind scan Nick: yeah,
Dustin: for yourself.
Nick: go take it. And so the, I'll say the first five people to take it, I, I'll be more than happy to unpack that, give 'em a free coaching session and really tie into, 'cause the key piece, of course is tying these two things together. To go back to what we said [00:40:00] earlier on. It's taking that stuff that. Is woo woo, but taking it to the outside and the external and actually tying it to something that you actually want and result in something that you can see in the physical world.
Dustin: I love that. It doesn't get much more practical than this because it's, literally like taking your thinking and like you said, it's math, right? It's like it's, it's math and science. And so it gives you a very, Quantitative look at what feels very qualitative and loose.
so, yeah, I love it. So coach, Nick mind scan. com. That's very generous of you. definitely go do it as soon as you hear this so that you can, get some help from Nick if you're one of the first five before he's gone on sabbatical and running around Barcelona and London. So, uh, well, Nick, this is a amazing, you're a great friend, a great resource.
Really blessed to have you in our mastermind community and get to hang out with you on a regular basis and learn from you and just observe what you do. so thank you so much for being here with us.
Nick: Thank you, Dustin. right back to you. Same thing. I really appreciate being part of your world. And I know there's gonna be many, many more things to come. So
Dustin: Absolutely. Yeah. And if you guys are listening and [00:41:00] you're like, Hey, I'd like to get into this world and experience what a mastermind is like, our entry point to that is the podcast profits accelerator, of which Nick is an alumni, and it's basically an immersive 90 day experience where you come in, you get to be in a mastermind with a lot of really cool people get maximum clarity.
And we actually use podcast guesting. What Nick's doing here with me as the vehicle to help you get this clarity about your business, your offers, and, just really grow your business in a fast way through the power of relationship building at scale as a podcast guest. So if you're interested in that, you can just simply go to seven figure leap.
Dot com and click the button right there. And we'll get a free consultation for you and just talk about what this is like, and if it would be a good fit for you and
your business, and we'd love to be able to serve you in that way. So thanks again, everyone for listening. Can't wait to see you on the next episode of the seven figure lead podcast.
Make sure you go check out coach, Nick mindscan. com and get your free resource. And we'll catch on the next one.