Well, hello there and
welcome to Push To Be More. Oh yes, I'm your host Matt Edmundson, it's
great that you're here with us as we get to dive into another amazing conversation
about what fuels the journey of life. And today I have A great guest actually,
John St Pierre from Entrepreneurs United. We're going to be diving into his unique
life experiences, the hurdles he's had to push through, the way he recharges his
batteries, and what he's doing to be more. Oh yes, but before we do that,
let's j
ust enjoy the music. Yes, do love this music, it's
just great, it just gets you going, that is what it does. Now don't forget you can find all of
the detailed show notes and complete transcript from our conversation
on the website at pushtobemore. com. And hey, whilst you're there, why not
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by Aurion Media, the
magic behind the scenes that lets entrepreneurs and
business leaders like you and me amplify our voices by hosting our own podcast. But you might think why on
earth would I want to do that? Well, let me tell you, my
podcasting journey has been nothing short of transformational. It's not just about the marketing,
although to be fair, that's a Pretty big part of it, but
it's about the conversation. It's about the connection. It's about the community. It's about all of it, really. It's given me a
platform to celebrate
my customers, my team, my suppliers, and it's created a ripple of impact
far beyond what I could have imagined. But I get it. The technical stuff can feel a
bit of a nightmare, can't it? Setup, distribution, the tech, all of it. What's going on? And honestly, who wants to do production? Because I sure as heck Don't,
and that's why Aurion Media are the amazing team that they are. They step in, they're the backstage
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t
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aurionmedia.com, A-U-R-I-O-N media.com. We will of course, link them on the
push tobe more.com website as well. Either way, you'll find them crack
on, get your own podcast set up. Uh, and speaking of podcasters,
let's talk to John St, Pierre, uh, the entrepreneurial matri, who's
juggled the meteor meteoric success, an eye-opening setbacks, scaling
ventures beyond th
e $50 million mark. He's not just a business builder,
but a wisdom sharer on the Entrepreneur's United Podcast. Oh, yes, a fellow podcaster, uh, is
on the show, uh, a guiding fellow. Uh, adventures, uh, sorry, guiding
fellow adventurers, let me get that right, through the highs and lows
of their entrepreneurial journeys. In John's world, every setback is
a set up for a comeback, making business sagas not just instructive,
but downright exhilarating as well. And if that's not enough, he's just ab
out
to launch A brand new book called The 100 Million Dollar Journey, your guide
to building the business of your dreams without diving, driving it off the cliff. That's a very good book, Ty. And John, I'm not going to lie,
I probably should have read that before I started out in this world. I often say to people, I'm a guy that's
had more failures than successors. It's just that my successors are
Far outweighed my failures, so it's great to, uh, it's great
to have you on the show, man. How are
we doing? Doing great, Matt. Thanks for having me. Ah, it's great that you are here. It's great that you're here. I'm so excited to, because we
were talking before we hit the record button and I've been on the
Entrepreneurs United Podcast as a guest. This time. The tables are turned. In fact, I'm the one asking the
questions, which is quite nice. Uh, and so , I'm looking forward
to this one, revenges mind. Say if met, um, , but no, no, not at all. It was great to be on show. I thoroughly enjoyed
it. So it's great that you are here. Always nice to talk to a fellow podcaster. So let's dive straight in
with our opening question, Let's do it. Aurion Media experts in podcasting. Uh, like to sponsor the opening
question, which is simply this, you've obviously got your podcast, right? Um, entrepreneurs United Great podcast. Um, but I'm curious John. They may have already come on the
show, they might not have done, but if you could have anybody on that show
to talk to, uh, who's had a massive
impact on your life, uh, present or
past, um, who would be your, who would be top of your guest list and why? Yeah. So, uh, great question. I think, you know, there's a lot of people
that have had influence over our lives. A lot of people, including our
family, parents, uh, friends, uh, fellow entrepreneurs, but this
person made a big impact in my life. I'll credit them with the
reason why I met my wife Okay. That's pretty Although I've never met them, uh, and,
uh, I basically watched one of the
ir, uh, cassette series tapes after experiencing
a massive failure, and it really helped pivot my mindset and shift, and that,
that guest would be Anthony Robbins, that cassette series tape was the Personal
Power, uh, cassette tape series, and, uh, When I see what he's done in his
career and his life and the influence he has and he now wrote a new book called
Life Force, uh, talking about, you know, prolonging life through medical advances. Like there's just so many interesting
things that this
gentleman has done in his life and the impact he's had on me that
I'd love to have him on and have a really, really in depth conversation with him. You see, you're not the first person
to come on the show and say Tony Robbins, uh, he's quite a popular
chap, him, Jesus and my dad, you know, they tend to be the, the, or
my grandfather or somebody like that. They tend to be the, the common answers. Um, what, what I found fascinating
was not that you mentioned Tony Robin, uh, John, but the fact that
you mentioned, um, Cassette tapes, That's it, Saska. That's it for me. I'm sitting here thinking I know,
I know exactly what you mean, I've probably got those same cassette tapes
somewhere in my, uh, in my attic. Have you seen that t shirt with the
meme on that's got a, um, uh, it's got a picture of a cassette tape and
it's got a picture of an iPod and, uh, it's got that famous line from
Star Wars saying, I am your father, coming out of the cassette tape. Have not, but that's a good one. Yeah,
that's a great shirt. So, Tony Robbins, what, so the,
the failure that you came out of, um, and this is where Tony
Robbins is brilliant, isn't he? He's great at helping you, um, reset
your thinking, um, to get you out of that, I'm feeling terribly sorry
for myself, um, sort of place to a place where you feel like actually. I'm back in the game. And I can do this. What was it? How did you pick up that cassette series? What was it about that that drew you in? Yeah, well, quite honestly,
I was just
a sponge. This was, uh, younger in my career. I was probably 24, 25. And, uh, I was just a sponge for learning. So, I don't know why I
grabbed it, but I grabbed it. But hadn't listened to it yet. And, uh, this was around the year 2000. 2001 more specifically, but in the
year 2000, we had the dotcom crash and you know, being well versed in
the e-commerce space, you know, I had jumped onto a dotcom company. We were venture funded, and we
were growing like crazy and I was a pretty young entreprene
ur
at that particular phase, and I thought I had life all figured out. This business thing is easy and
with the stock market crash. Uh, you know, the venture firm
was like, Hey, uh, we're not going to fund this business anymore. You guys got to survive
and figure this out. And sure enough, what happened was,
uh, I basically got terminated by the firm, uh, after three years of building
this thing and found myself broken, uh, halfway across the country and here in
the U S I was on the West coast a
nd, uh, had to drive back to the, to the
Midwest from, from basically, you know, Portland, Oregon to Chicago, for those
who know the geography of the U S and that's a pretty much a three day ride. And I said, well, no better time
than to listen to the tapes now. And it really was what I needed
at that particular moment. You know, the right message from
the right person at the right time. And that hit me. It's interesting, isn't it? You poured your life into this. Was it a startup when you starte
d? Was it? Is it one of these things that
just sort of was growing massively? And it just sucked all the
life and energy out of you. But everyone was excited
to be a part of it. Yeah, it was, it was a com
startup that got venture funded and started growing like crazy. Yeah, it's um, it's, it's funny
isn't it, you sort of give your life to these things. Um, and it, those kinds of, it's
not like you just go and work at an ordinary company for want
of a better expression, is it? You, you, you, you
pour your
heart and soul into these things. You give your life to it. And so that, I think when
something like that ends, it just feels a lot more personal. It feels a lot more, I don't know,
you just feel it deeper, don't you? I would have thought. Mm. Mm Yeah. I mean, when you put your heart and
soul into something like that and, and, you know, I think the biggest
part too, Matt, is I thought I had this thing all figured out, right? This whole business thing, this is easy. I got this thing. An
d to figure it out that I
didn't have it figured out was a pretty rude awakening for me. And I think the lessons I
learned through those personal power tapes were pretty pivotal. Uh, and I mentioned earlier
that I met my wife through it. And the reason I did is he talked
about knowing what you want in life and setting your goals and knowing
exactly what you want, not maybe what you want, what exactly do you want? So I took that tip and I wrote down
on my personal daily planner, which is handwrit
ten at that particular
point, I wrote down the 35 things I was looking for in a significant other. And sure enough, When I married my
wife, she had 35 things on the list, Oh, what was missing? on that list, right? And, and so just things like that
that really made a big difference in how I set goals and how I viewed
life from that point forward. so I'm sorry. I am curious. What was missing? What was the 35th thing
that was not checked off? Well, you know what, this is a good
story because my wed
ding day speech, I took the list back out and I told
everybody that she missed one of them. You're a And I proceeded to read the list. I didn't read everything on the list, but
I read most of the things on the list. And, uh, the one she did miss was the
fact that she, I had mildly religious and she's not religious at all. Uh, but, uh, but that was the one thing
that, uh, that she missed on the list. Uh, interesting. When I was, uh, when I did something
similar Uh, back in my, uh, early twenties,
John, I was, I was like, um,
I, I, I want a wife that does not want a pink bedroom because I just could not cope
with the idea of having a pink bedroom. Um, and at the time my favorite movie
was Bad Boys, you know, the, the, the Will Smith Martin Lawrence movie. And I was like, and she's just got
to really enjoy the Bad Boys movie. Um, and so we don't have a pink
bedroom, but Sharon does never. Never cared for that movie whatsoever,
so that would be the one missing off my list, which is quite f
unny. Um, but, uh, how long
have you been married now? 20 years next year. Ah, so your list worked. It has worked. It has worked. There's a lot of other things that you
have to do in a marriage to make it work other than have a list, but, uh, but,
uh, found, found the one for me for sure. well congratulations,
um, it's good to hear. We've been married 25 years. This year we've, we, six
months ago, we were 25 years. Um, and, and in a lot of ways it feels
like it's just yesterday, you know? And, u
m, uh, and it's, it
is quite a wonderful thing. So you're listening to these tapes
in the car driving cross country. Um, what was. Do you remember if there was one specific
thing that he said on the tape that really stuck out to you that really kind of, you
know, gave you that light bulb moment? yeah, I think it was what I just
mentioned, you know, knowing exactly what you want and controlling
your own destiny to go get it. I think for me, that was really,
really pivotal for me because I wasn't
sure exactly what I was
looking for at that particular moment. I was just kind of running hard
and trying to create things. I think really having that clarity
of exactly what you want, go get it. Don't be afraid to be very, very specific
with what you want in life and your goals as an entrepreneur and such. yeah, yeah. So fast forward 20 years, uh, from
that date to today, um, you're now You're just about to release
your, your, your first book. Tell us a little bit about the book. Yeah, so the b
ook is called The 100
Million Dollar Journey, your guide to growing the business of your
dreams without going off the cliff. And the experience I shared with you
about the com business was the first business that didn't actually succeed. I had another one from
there in early 2000s. I started two companies
following this com era crash. And, uh, grew them both to north
of 50 million, uh, which was great. The problem is I lost one of them in
dramatic fashion, and that was the one that I was running
, uh, and experienced
a pretty massive failure, um, five years ago, uh, uh, approximately from today. And lost everything
I'd built for 15 years. And it was a business I cared deeply
about, the people about, um, and, uh, made some pretty fatal mistakes. So I took those learnings, um, really
documented, you know, my path as an entrepreneur and what I'd learned
through that, you know, experience and applied seven principles of
entrepreneurial success that I applied to my other business to
successf
ully grow that to north of a hundred million dollars the right way. And those are the learnings I'm applying. I'm spotting a pattern, John. I'm not going to lie. Uh, this seems to be life's going well. Yeah. Life's not going well. Life's going well. Life's not going well. Which is to be fair, a pattern for
most of us, uh, in, uh, in life. And I'm just sitting here thinking you
had a business worth, you know, that you was turning over over 50 million
and then you'd lost it in some quite. Interest
ing fashion. And then I'm sort of coupling what
you're saying with the fact that you are still married 20 years later. So not only are you going through
all of this, but your wife is going through all of this as well. Um, and so I'm kind of curious because
I think I've met a lot of business people that have had business failure. And in fact, 98 percent of people
that have been in business have had some kind of failure somewhere, but
I've seen it wreck their marriage. And I've actually seen busin
ess
success wreck their marriage as well. You know, the sort of the two extremes. So if you don't mind me asking,
I'm kind of curious, how did you navigate this as a couple? You know, you're still
together 20 years later. Um, how did, how did you guys do that? well, I, I, if I was to write a
book on marriage counseling, it'd be called Saturday Night Date Night. Uh, that's the one thing we've
maintained throughout everything, uh, is every Saturday night. And if it can't be a Saturday night, for
w
hatever reason, it's some other night. We're going out together as a couple. And really sharing, uh, you know, spending
time together, playtime, conversation, and really that deep connection point. Uh, and there's been some, you know,
trials and tribulations through business as well that, you know,
we've had conversations about. And, you know, part of the reason
I lost the company I'd grown to north of 50 million is I brought on
some significant capital investment and lost control of the busines
s. Well, she was advising me
maybe to not grow so fast and not take it on at the time. So when the failure experienced,
right, it was part of like, Hey, sorry, honey, I, I messed up. And you were right, uh, kind of moment,
uh, which is difficult to have as well. But having that support factor in somebody
that's really, you know, uh, the wind beneath your sails, if you will, in terms
of what you're trying to accomplish in life is so critical as an entrepreneur. To have that partnership and someti
mes
it's a spouse, sometimes it's a coach mentor, sometimes it's partners in the
business, but really having that support infrastructure is so critical because as
you mentioned, uh, you know, life is full of ups and downs and peaks and valleys
and challenges and that's what life is. And you have to have that support
factor with you along for that ride. Saturday night, date night. I love that. In our house, it would be
Sunday night, date night. Um, but the same thing. Every week, you, you always
date
your wife and, uh, Is your wife, sorry, what's your wife called? My wife's name is Amy. So, is Amy part of the business or
is she, does she do her own thing? Fantastic. She does her own thing, but she does
help in certain areas when needed. She's a data analyst. So sometimes I have her jump
into the business and do some data analytics for us. But yeah, Yeah. Same, same with Sharon, my wife. She's, she's, uh, she owns
half the business, um, just the way the company is set up, but
doesn't, sh
e does her own thing. She teaches English, um, to refugees
and asylum seekers, you know, uh, teaches English as a foreign language
and loves it, loves that, can't, does not get the world of business at all. It's not for her. Um, but she is the person that I speak
most to about what's going on at work. Uh, and the insights. that she gets mainly because
she's quite pastoral or, you know, will care about people. And whereas I'm, I'm quite happy
just to not think about people. Do you know what I mea
n? I can just be so focused,
driven on an outcome. Um, and, and Sharon will be like,
well, yeah, I think you just need to rearrange your thinking here,
dude, but you know, Oh, okay. Uh, appreciate you telling me, um, not
always the easiest things to hear, but actually I think Sharon is probably
the biggest reason why I'm successful in business without a doubt, you know. There's the complementary mindsets, right? The yin and the yang. And like, for example, to your point
with Sharon, like Amy's a
n engineer and I'm an entrepreneur, right? So there's different mindsets, there
are different mentalities and, you know, uh, she's, she had more of
a stable career, corporate, you know, type of, uh, you know, jobs. And I was more of the entrepreneurial
trying to build businesses, but having that support factor and that
relationship, you'll talk through the ups and the downs because that,
again, that's what life is all about. And as you say, Sometimes we experience
more failures than successes. J
ust that the successes
have to be really important. Uh, you know, success in
relationship is a big one. yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Succeed at home first was one of
the pieces of advice I was given. Uh, and I, I think it's very, very true. Very true. So, you've, um, written, uh, the
book, the a hundred a hundred Million Dollar, uh, book, um, was
that a, was that a labor of love? Was that torturous? Was that, uh, did you
think every other day? Why on earth am I doing this? I mean, what wa
s that all about? Yeah. So, you know, when I experienced a
massive failure back in 2018 of losing this business, like literally losing
it, uh, and being fired from the company that I started for 15 years and
grew, uh, and, and left with nothing. Uh, and you know, all my best friends
were in the business and everybody I loved was in that business and losing it all. I went into a moment of
self reflection, right? Um, I took some time off. I started documenting what had happened,
just telling the s
tory in my own writing, like what, what happened here? And what were my contributions? And I think one of the big
things, Matt, with failure is introspection and perspective. We'll help you advance
and take those learnings. And so for me, trying to be really
introspective, like what were my contributions to the situation? You know, I could have easily
said, this person did this to me, this person did that to me. But at the end of the day, when you're
an entrepreneur and you experience failure, y
our decisions contributed to
the situation in one way, shape, or form. What were those decisions I made
and what would I do differently with my other business to make
sure this doesn't happen again? And so I started documenting
those learnings, and then, so then I had those learnings. I'm like, okay, well, these
learnings mean nothing unless I can't take these learnings and
apply them, uh, successfully. So I took those learnings that I had,
we applied them to my other business and grew that subs
equently, uh, to be
north of 100 million, but doing it the right way and applying these principles. And that's when I felt,
okay, I got something here. Uh, now I got to turn this into a,
to something that can help share with other entrepreneurs to make sure
they don't have the same failures and pain that I had through this journey. If I can help one entrepreneur change
their lives and make sure they don't fall into those pitfalls, then I
would have done something right. So, uh, that's kind of
wh
y I wrote the book. Love it. I, this, this idea of introspection
and learning when it comes to failure, I think is This is something that
most entrepreneurs have done at some point, maybe not to the depth
that perhaps we need to quite often, because you, you, you, like you, I,
I was, I was let go from one job for, for want of a better expression, uh,
in a company that I'd helped build. And then, you know, my wife was I
was very pregnant with our first child, um, in fact, no, I think
he'd just be
en born actually. Um, and so I was very quick to, to, to
go, right, we just need to do something to create some kind of income as you do. Uh, and we started up again and it wasn't
until a few years later that I actually sat down and went through my journals
and thought, right, what, what can I learn from this so that I don't repeat
the, you know, the same mistakes or, um, it's not that I would have changed it. Um, because it's one of those
things, isn't it, with regret? It's a funny thing. Would
you change it? I don't know because the reason
why I'm where I'm at is because I went through what I went through. Um, and I don't know if I'd want to
change where I'm at, if that makes sense. And so, uh, it's, it's an
interesting thing, isn't it? But it's, it is good to think about it. I mean, do you, do you do the regret thing
or do you just kind of, it is what it is. What can I learn from it? Let's move on, kind of a guy. Well, I think it depends on when
you have those conversations, right?
When I think about it right now,
that failure was necessary for me. I needed to be humbled. I needed to be sat down and say, Hey,
you don't have everything figured out. Listen here, right? Uh, so there's a very humbling moment that
in, in retrospect I needed, but you know, a lot of people say, you know, failure
is a prerequisite for success, right? It's a lot easier to say years later
when you look back at it than when you're dealing with that failure and the
heartache of it in the moment, right
? So you have to get through that,
uh, moment of self reflection and thought and introspection to, to
really extract those learnings. And then you also feel a lot better
when you extract those learnings and apply them and are able to find the
success you were actually seeking. And so I think there's a
lot of variables there. A lot of people experience failure,
don't extract the learnings. They have the victim mindset, right? It's all, somebody did this to me. It's their fault. They don't extract
the learnings. That's not good. And then they don't take those
learnings and apply them, uh, and get themselves back up and do it again. Right. And so if you don't do either of
those two things, it's very hard to look back on failure and go,
that was, that was a good thing. But if you do do those two things,
you can look back and say, you know what, that was necessary for me to
go through this in order for me to progress in my life where I want to go. So you're, you're, you're sort of
stood the
re looking at your life now. What, what was it that you took away? I mean, I appreciate you've
written a whole book. So I'm asking you to summarize
your book, I suppose, in one sense, but, um, when you, when you do look
back at it, you know, what was. You said it was necessary that you
were humbled and that you had to, you know, you had to learn something. I guess my question to you is
why was that necessary for you? Why, why at that point did you, do you
feel like you needed to be humbled? What
was going on? What can we learn from that? Yeah, well, I think sometimes
when you experience success as an entrepreneur and sometimes success
early in your entrepreneurial life. You feel like you're invincible. You feel like anything you
start will be successful. You can grow these businesses
and you have it all figured out. Uh, and that was the
humbling moment, right? It's like, no, no, no, you don't
have everything figured out. And life has a funny way too, Matt,
sometimes of, you know, when
you think you have everything figured out, it likes
to, you know, kick you in the nuts, right? and teach you a lesson. But, but it's meant for a lesson. It's meant for something you
need to really grab on to, uh, and so that was what part one. Part two was when I was younger, I
used to have mentors say to me, John, someday you'll find your purpose. Someday you'll find your purpose. And I'm like, what are they talking about? I found my purpose. I'm going to grow some companies,
make some money an
d do well. I don't need another purpose. Uh, but when you have these failures
in your life, you're like, Ooh, maybe, maybe I do need to have
a purpose beyond just myself. Like, what am I ultimately trying to do? In that company that I lost, Matt,
I was growing for gross sake. I just wanted to have a big company
and be at the top of the mountain and go, I got the biggest company. I built this thing. I really didn't have a very wise
strategy of what I was trying to do and why I was trying to do it
. And so, you know, Simon
Sinek start with why. I would sit down with our company
all the time and say, what's our why? We need to know what our why is. We need a strategic plan for our why,
but I never really did it for myself. I didn't really have a why for me. I didn't have a purpose for myself. I didn't have a life plan. I didn't have any of that kind of stuff. And this moment really had me sit down
and go, Okay, what am I ultimately trying to achieve 30 years from now,
10 years from now, fi
ve years from now? And what's the roadmap to get there? And then, you know, that was
a big, big, you know, pivotal moment for me in my life. So how did you go about
discovering then your personal why? Um, uh, which I think
is such a good phrase. Uh, but I What was that
process like for you? I followed a few different Roadmaps, if
you will, from different individuals. Right. Start with wise and one example of them. Uh, the other one was, uh, Gary
Keller's, the one thing, what is the one thing you
're trying to accomplish? Right. That was a, that was a big one for me. And then the other one, the biggest one
I've applied though is, uh, Jim Collins. Uh, good to great. Uh, he has. A Venn Diagram, yeah, and a Venn Diagram is what
does success look like? And success looks like, and where
those Venn, three circles intersect is, what are you most passionate about? What can you be the best in the world at? And what drives your economic engine? That's where you should live. And so if you, I applie
d those
three principles together, I figured out what my Venn Diagram was. And I said, okay, now knowing this. What do I want 30 years from now? What's my one thing that
I'm trying to accomplish? Let's work my way back. What do I want in 10 years? What do I want in 5 years? 3 years? 1 year? This quarter? This week? This month? This hour? Am I doing that right now? Yes. Okay, I'm headed in the right direction. Okay, what's my true north life plan? Uh, is what I like to call it. And, and I was abl
e to design that
true north life plan to kind of guide me in terms of how do I want to apply
this to my business as an entrepreneur. The problem I had, Matt, was
my strategic business plan. was not tied to my personal life mm hmm, I had a business plan. wasn't tied to this. So now I've tied them together. My True North life plan ties to my
strategic business plan and they work in sync to accomplish really
what I want to accomplish in life. How, um, if I can put it this way,
how easy was it for y
ou to do that? Because I get your point that actually as
entrepreneurs we can be living almost like these separate lives, one at work, one
at home, and you're trying to bring them together to create this one whole picture. Was that an easy thing to do or
has that been quite challenging? Mmm. Um, it was challenging at first. Uh, that's where the
self reflection comes in. You know, I, I, I think it's self
reflection is probably one of the most. You know, uh, underrated
process of one's life. We ju
st, we just start running and
we're running around in circles trying to accomplish things. We've got kids, we've got family,
we've got work, we got to make dinner, we got to cook, make the dishes. Let's watch TV for a little bit. But when do we really sit
down with ourselves and think? And it was actually one of the guests
on our podcast that we had, Matt, that you were on as well, uh, Dr. Julie Bell. And she's like, you know, she'd
start every minute with every day, excuse me, with a blank shee
t of
paper and write for 20 minutes. I was like, that's interesting. I've never done that. And I started doing it 20 minutes
every day with a blank sheet of paper. And the things that started coming
out was really magical for me. I had never done that before. I was just running hard through life,
uh, seeing where it was going to take me, not really knowing what I truly wanted. And that, that, that kind of
really was pivotal for me, but it's not an easy process. But you know, I, I challenged the
listeners to this, you know, how often do you sit down with yourself with
a blank sheet of paper and think? Mm. It's a very, very powerful question. How d And I, I, if I, if I
reflect slightly, John, I, I find that I go through seasons. where I'm very good at sitting down
with my journal first thing in the morning, um, and just writing and
creating space in the diary, um, to think, uh, and I find for me, actually,
location is a big part of this as well. So, um, I will travel, I will. Um, I'm, do
I, we're looking at
buying a, do I buy a holiday lodge like 50 minutes away from the house? Would that be helpful looking into that? Um, I'm converting the back of my van
to be like a sort of mobile office so I can just go sit down by the
river, you know, near where I live. Location's a pretty big deal for me. So just getting away from place and, and
into a different space, even a coffee shop with just a notebook and a pen. or going for a walk in the
hills or something like that. Super powerful
. But there are seasons
where I do that, right? And there are seasons where I
don't do it because life just takes over a little bit, doesn't it? It just becomes hectic. Um, how do you, how do you
stay on top of it yourself? Um, or are you a little bit like me? Whereas, you know, there are, you're
kind of up and down in terms of how effective you are with this. Yeah, I mean, I've, I've been
fairly disciplined over the past several years, um, partly
because it's been working for me. It's really he
lped guide me and, and
shape me, but no doubt my kids play sports and we travel all the time. And when I'm traveling, you know,
it's the same thing, Matt, when I'm at home, I go work out every day. When I'm traveling, I have a
hard time going to work out. When I'm home, I eat well, when I travel,
I have a hard time eating well, right? So. Yes, that absolutely happens. But there's, you know, it's habits. It's creating a habit in your life
that directs you and guides you, uh, that I think is reall
y important. But absolutely, uh, I would say everybody
kind of deals with those, the seasonality of discipline in anything that they do. Uh, but it's just important to
always go back and find your center. And once you know that exercise, like you
know that exercise, that it's very healthy for you, When you find yourself veering
off path and being unhealthy, I bet you revert right back to, what works for me
when I'm on top of my game, that works for me and you revert right back to it. Yeah. No, a
bsolutely. Absolutely. When you, um, staring at your blank piece
of paper, because I know this is going to be a question that's going to come
up, but do you, do you have an agenda? Do you have an, do you write
a question at the top of it? Or is it literally, I'm just going to
start writing where I'm at or what I did yesterday and to see where it takes me? So the format that I use is pretty simple. It was, I put grateful or put just a G
on the top and I said yesterday, today. So what was I gratef
ul for yesterday? What am I grateful for today? And then the rest of it is blank. Now, sometimes I got just
something on my mind. I have a big meeting later this
afternoon, or I have to have a conflict conversation with somebody,
or I have to make a big decision. And that's what guides my, what
am I going to think about today? In a lot of cases, it's like, well,
I don't have that big thing today. So what am I going to think about? And it's, that's the first question
I'd ask if I don't have that
big, you know, one thing I really want
to be focused on in that moment. It's like, okay, what do
I want to think about? And then, then that can take me
in all any direction that I go. And in some cases I start
writing something else. I'm like, oh yeah, no, I want to talk. I want to think about this and start
going in a different direction. So. I kind of let it guide me. I let the white paper kind of guide
me in terms of which direction. Um, but if I, it's not
a to do list, right? It's not, I don
't go put down
everything I got to do today. That's a different process. This is just more, what
do I want to think about? What do I really want to digest? And in some cases, Matt, it
really is helpful because. I have to make a big business decision. Okay. I'm going to do a pros and cons
analysis of this big decision, right? Or, uh, I want to do, I have a
conflict conversation with somebody. What are all the reasons
I'm having this conflict? What's going on in my mind
and what's going on in ther
e? Let me review from their perspective,
what's going on in their mind. And then you get into that conversation
later that afternoon, you're prepared. You're prepared to have
a healthy conversation. So just, you know, really helping thought. create thought versus, you know,
instead of having the white sheet of paper, guess what I would do? Go straight to my emails, go to my
calendar, return the voicemails I got to return, and I just get going. And once you, as you know, once you get
going with y
our day, it's gone, right? The day just happened. So starting it really early is Yeah, yeah, absolutely. No, I totally appreciate that. It's, um, it's quite, it's quite lovely
actually sitting here listening to you talk just about the simplicity of
a pen and a piece of paper in a world which is digitally crazy right now. Um, and, um, you know,
this, It's like my kids. Actually, I shouldn't pick on my kids
because they're, they're, they're okay. But you know, certainly one of my kids
has almost l
ost the ability to write. You know, just different eras, isn't it? Different world. Um, so it's quite, it's quite lovely
just to sort of sit and think about that in, in, in a lot of ways. If I can ask you, what else do you do? What, what sort of stuff do you
do to recharge your battery? So you sat there at the start of the day
You've got 20 minutes where you're just going to, you know, in your blank piece
of paper, I would call it journaling. I don't know what you'd call it, but,
um, that, that
type of thing, you obviously work out when you're at home. Um, but what, what sort of things
do you do to sort of fill your tank to stay sharp yourself? So I, I listen a lot, uh, whether
it be podcasts like yours or I, you know, YouTube videos or,
you know, whatever's going on. I was trying to sharpen my saw right now. I'm really big trying to sharpen
my saw, artificial intelligence and what's going on in that whole world
as well as the medical advances and what's going on in that world. So. As
you know, when you host a podcast
too, it's like, it's like reading a book every week, you know, when you
have these conversations with people. So I love just sharpening
my saw like that. I can then in turn assist
other entrepreneurs as well, which is kind of my passion. So always trying to
sharpen the saw that way. And then obviously family, right? You know, it sounds like we have a lot
of alignment there, just spending time with the kids and trying to be present. For everything that they have,
uh,
is really, uh, you know, enriching experience for that as well. So, you know, that's, you know, I'd
say that probably fills in, right? Family, health, workout, uh,
you know, reflection, and then sharpening the saw through education. Is that, um, is that why
you started the podcast? So you could, you could actually
learn from other entrepreneurs or were there other reasons behind it? And that's maybe, you know, one of
the sort of the fringe benefits. It sounds quite nice. Yeah, no, it is act
ually one of the
fringe benefits, uh, that I love. Um, I started the podcast because
when I did that Venn diagram of, Where do I want to spend my time? Where do I want to live? Uh, that Venn diagram for me is I want
to make an impact to entrepreneurs. I want to help them build the business
of their dreams without making the fatal mistakes that I made and what
better way to touch that, right? So, uh, you know, that's why we did
the Entrepreneurs United Podcast and building different, um, types
of
services for entrepreneurs. Uh, I have a holding company myself,
so I own, uh, five different businesses now within our private holding company. So I work with entrepreneurs
day in and day out. And try to bring them the best
practices of what's going on in the entrepreneurial space as well. So that's where I kind of spend my time
and why that podcast was really important. fantastic. I mean, other than me,
obviously, uh, who's been some of your outstanding guests? Um, and what, what does some, I
mean, you,
you've mentioned about the paper, but what are some of the other things that you've,
that, that, that, that, that you sort of learned from a guest that sort of helped
change your outlook on life a little bit? Yeah. You know, you know, it's been fascinating,
uh, actually, it's been a common thread, uh, in people we've had on the podcast. If I had, you know, I used surveyed
at the beginning, you know, who would you have as a guest? And you said, they're here the
top three Jesus Tony Ro
bbins and their father or grandfather. The one thing I find amazing is, uh,
if we had to do a recap of the number one book that has influenced, Most
of our guests over their lifetime, it was Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Okay. And some of the guests that we've
had on talk about, uh, how that has changed their lives and how they change
other lives through just the process of, you know, whatever you believe
and conceive may just happen, right? Um, it's just a really powerful moment. So we had a
guest, John Mitchell, uh,
he's, uh, down at the University of Texas. He teaches what does success look
like at the University of Texas. Uh huh. Students, and then he teaches it
to the entire athletic department, which is a pretty big athletic
department here in the United States. And just that, that conversation was
very fascinating to me to just talk, think about how it changed his life. And now he's trying to help others really
think about what they want to achieve and what is the secret to th
e science of
the mind and how this instrument works. Uh, I thought that was pretty fascinating. Um, we have a guest coming on pretty soon. I'm really excited about. Talking about Tony Robbins is, uh, Dr. Cap, who's the CEO of Fountain Life, uh,
and where they're trying to prolong life through medical advances and just, you
know, so many fascinating conversations I can go on and on, but most importantly,
I've also had a chance to interview, uh, you know, former, uh, partners, former,
uh, bosses o
f mine, mentors and coaches of Wow. uh, throughout the years as well, and
just kind of go back and extract all the learnings they've had in their experiences
in life, uh, is really important to me. I don't know about you, John,
but I, when I do the podcast, um, I have four different podcasts
which I'm involved with, right? So this is, uh, one of four, and this
will be the second of four podcasts I'll actually record on this day. Uh, three of the podcast
recordings are mine. One of them is I'm a
guest
on somebody else's podcast. Um, which I also enjoy doing. I much prefer hosting than being the
guest cause I get to ask the questions. Um, and, uh, it's, uh, like you, I,
I love having great guests on the show cause I feel like I learn things
every time I take a lot of notes. Um, and, um, you know, and it's, it's
been one of the most incredible things, uh, about podcasting is the, is the
conversation you get, the conversations you get to have with extraordinary people. Um, uh, who have, wh
o, who either
think about things differently or, do you know what I mean? Or they've gone through something
that you haven't, but you can learn from that and you just kind of, every
time, um, like today I've just, I've written down in my notes, I, You know,
I need to get back into journaling. It's just, it's just that simple
remark, just get back into journaling. What's wrong with you? Uh, and, uh, that's not
what I wrote by the way. That's just to be clear for you. Critics call me about self cr
iticism. Um, but it's, it's one of
those things, isn't it? Every time you have a guest on the show. And I love that. I love those conversations because you
can, you can go into these conversations. It's just a matter of fact, like this
is, I just need to get the podcast out, I just need to get content. But I think one of the things that,
because I get asked this all the time, I don't know about you, John, but like,
you know, what makes a good podcast host? How do you make sure your podcast works
? For me, it's always be interested,
always be interested in the person opposite you, right? Yeah, I, you, you, I think you apply
the same methodology we do in a way, which is, you know, ask questions
that you're genuinely curious about. And know that if someone's listening to
your podcasts, they probably have the same question you're gonna about to ask. Right? And so, uh, we have a
lot of fun with that. My co-host, rich and I, uh, really
just, we're gonna ask questions we're genuinely intereste
d in, and the notes
we have after these conversations. I just even gave an example here today,
but my white sheet of paper by Dr. Julie Bell three years ago, uh, kind
of changed, you know, and, and so. For me, you know, one of the best parts
about this, if you can extract one or two learnings yourself from each podcast,
you know that your guests will as well. Uh, and then those, those, those,
uh, learnings you extract compound over time, uh, in terms of your
education and sharpening your own saw
. Yeah, absolutely. And like you say, it's like
reading a book every week. I love that. I'll quote that, John. I'm going to steal that quote. I'll credit you if I remember,
but I'm totally stealing it. Listen, let's, um, let's do the question
box because I feel like this is a good time to do the question box, where I
draw from the box all my question cards. I'm going to flick through them. You're going to tell me when to stop
and wherever you say stop, that's the question we're going to ask. Oka
y. Who's the best boss you've ever had? Hmm. Whoa, that's a tough one. There's been a lot of, a lot
of really, really good one. Um, it, it, it, Your first boss in
any role that you ever have as a young person, as a young entrepreneur,
uh, can really direct your future. And Yeah, my, my first, my first boss
out of college, his name was Jeff, really became a mentor, uh, a really,
really close friend, uh, guided me, was, was tough on me, but also loved
me and, and, and paid attention to me and real
ly helped me develop the skills
required to grow as an entrepreneur. Uh, and really made a
big impact in my life. And, uh, you know, to this day, uh, I
was with him a few weeks ago in Austin when I released the book, you know, just,
just having him as a part of my life and having that first mentor really can help
shape guide, uh, you know, a lot of times we talk about young entrepreneurs in
terms of their first roll out of college. I don't care how much you get paid. I don't care what company yo
u go work for. Go find a good mentor. It's so critical for success. Dude, it's like we're twins. Seriously, because it's, it's like, um
When I came out of uni, uh, I volunteered at my church for a year, and then I
ended up working for a friend of mine, um, because I knew I wanted to be an
entrepreneur, but I, I knew, I didn't know a lot, but what I did know was
I needed to be mentored in this, you know, and so I spent five years working
for this friend of mine who's a great entrepreneurial guy,
and to this day
we are still very, very good friends. Um, and, uh, we speak
at least once a month. He lives in New Zealand now. Um, and we speak at least once a month
and I try and go over and see him. Um, you know, I've not been over
because of COVID obviously, but, um, I do try and go and see him a lot. And I'm listening to
you talk and go, yeah. Cause one, as you were talking,
one of the questions in my head was how bearing that in mind, you
obviously employ people, right? I'm asking myself t
he same question,
John, it's like, given the impact your first real boss has on you,
I don't know if I'm aware of that when I employ people maybe as well
as I should be, if that makes sense? That's pretty deep thought. Yeah, I don't know that I think about
that either, right, in terms of my thought process when I'm hiring people or
working with people, but I do think that if you apply the same methodologies that
you were mentored by in your practice, it will happen inevitably, right? So I think
that's an important factor,
I believe, in terms of how you apply it. You know, that training you had, you
know, similar to parenting, right? Yeah, chances are we're going to
parent somewhat similar to the way we were parented, uh, just by, it's been
ingrained in, in who we want to be. And, but that's the one thing I also
learned from my mentor and first boss was how to be a situational leader and
how to not manage everybody the same, but manage them based on the situation
and their, their learni
ng ability. So, uh, you know, but I, I do think
it's important for entrepreneurs to really think through. Uh, are they a manager? Are they a leader or are they a mentor? Mmm. Very good. Very, very powerful stuff. John, listen, I'm aware of time. I, and I'm, I'm aware that
there's a whole bunch of questions I've not, I've not yet got to. Um, when you're thinking about the
future, you know, you've got your, your, your, your life, your North
Star, I think you called it, and your life plan sort of m
apped out. What does more look like for you over
the next sort of five years or so? Where's the future heading, do you think? Yeah. My mission is to impact
more entrepreneurs. Uh, to me, that's
really, really important. I feel like if I can impact more
entrepreneurs to build the business of their dreams, I'll ultimately
accomplish my goal in life. Uh, and you know, what I'm trying
to achieve in my life, which is to maximize life's offerings
and what we have to offer. So that's where I enjoy time
. That's where more is for me. That's lovely. It's um, hence the reason you've got
the podcast, hence the reason you've got the, the book, hence the reason
you're sharing, uh, wherever you can. One of the things that, uh, really, I,
I don't know if you've noticed this, um, John, but certainly people that have
gone through a process like you've gone through where, um, like you, I've sat
down, I've read the book good to great, and I've, I've looked at the, the Venn
diagram and figured some stuff o
ut, and you kind of write your North Star down. Um, and yeah. And you, and you put these things down. When people seriously do that, the
one thing that I've noticed is most people's guiding North Stars are about
giving back to someone or something. Um, very rarely do I come across
somebody that says, my North Star is to make 30 million over the
next 30 years, regardless of cost. And what drives people and what,
what keeps people motivated? It seems the things that we want to,
whether we live the
m or not, I think is an entirely different question. We could do a whole
show on that, I suppose. But when we write these things down,
it, it intrigues me how a lot of it is based around what can I give? So for you, how can I help
entrepreneurs, you know, and it's, I find that fascinating. There, there, there's a funny saying I
learned when I was younger, which is. You know, money doesn't buy happiness, but
people would be a lot happier with, you know, a few million dollars in the bank. Ha you'r
e right. Money doesn't buy happiness, but
sometimes money is a means to what you're trying to accomplish, right? So in my True North life plan, I want
to maximize life's offerings, maximize what everything life has to offer me. That can be easier to
attain with more financial. Uh, wealth or with more freedom in my, in
my role as an entrepreneur or whatever it may be, but also I truly believe that, you
know, if it's all about the monetary role and you know, this as well, there's a lot
of billiona
ires out there and millionaires are just really, really unhappy. Uh, and so to me that that's
not what it's all about. And I think people realize that once
they achieve some level of wealth, they're like, Oh, this is what it is. I didn't re I thought this was
just going to make me happy. I didn't understand. Uh, that's not what it
all has to be about. So. I truly believe you need to have
your true north plan and know exactly what you want to achieve. But if, if what you're writing down is
how mu
ch wealth you want to accomplish, you know, I'd like to say this too, like
think and grow rich, you ask people, what is think and grow rich about? Oh, it's about making a lot of money. No, no, no, no. It's about being rich in life. It's about being rich in
whatever you want to be rich in. It's not necessarily just money. Uh, so that's really important. Yeah. Very good. Very good. And on that mic drop moment,
um, uh, John, listen, appreciate you coming on the show, man. And thoroughly, thoroughly
enjoyed the conversation. And, uh, Loved it, genuinely loved
it, like I say, lots of notes. Um, if people want to reach out
to you, if they want to find out more, maybe get a copy of the book,
what's the best way to do that? Yeah. So go to 100mjourney. com is the website for the book. Uh, we're entering the
pre order phase now. The book will be out November 30th of
2023, uh, or you can go on Instagram or any social media channel at John St. Pierre 100. Very good. Uh, go pre order the book now.
And the best of British with it,
as we like to say here in England, best of luck with your book. Uh, I hope it goes well. I will definitely be ordering a copy. I can't wait to read it. Um, and, uh, yeah, I hope it
gives you, I hope it delivers everything you hope it does. Uh, in, in terms of opportunity
and, and, and, and impact. Um, because why not? Why Thank you very much, Matt. I appreciate it. No. Great to have you. Thanks for coming on the show. And of course, we will link to John's
info, u
h, in the show notes, which you can get along for free with the
transcript at Push to Be more.com. And of course, if you've signed
up to the newsletter, they're gonna be coming straight to your. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a
wrap on another fantastic conversation. A massive, oh I'll do this now, hang
on, let me get, got to get it all set up, a massive cheer, oh yes, huge
cheer to John for joining me today. Uh, and let's just keep
that going, no, no, stop. And, it's just been
awesome, abso
lutely awesome. Also, a huge thanks to today's
show sponsor, Aurion Media. For all you change makers out there
contemplating podcasting, uh, like me, like John, uh, as a vehicle of
expression and connection, definitely reach out to them at aurionmedia. com and of course they'll be
linked on the website as well. Remember, keep pushing to be more. Don't forget to follow the show
wherever you get your podcast from because we've got some more seriously
compelling conversations coming up. I don't wan
t you to miss any of
them and in case no one has told you yet today, let me be the first. You are awesome. Yes, you are created. Awesome. It's just a burden you have to bear. John has to bear it. I've gotta bear it. You've gotta bear it as well. Now push to be More is brought to life
by aurion Media for transcripts and show notes, as I said, swing on by the website. Push to be more.com Big kudos to the
team that makes this show possible. Sadaf, Beynon, Tanya Hutsuliak,
and a shout out to Josh Ed
mundson for our incredible. So, from John and from me, thank
you so much for joining us. Have an awesome week and I'll
catch you on the flip side. Until then, keep pushing and bye for now.
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