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Happy Friday!  It is the last Friday of the month and that means it is time for just Josh and Ben to talk about what has happened this month and review the great guests than graced us with their presence on the show.

We start off the show discussing networking at conferences.  What does it mean for Josh to put his game face on when he attends these events.  What does he get out of it and how does it help him professionally and personally?  This also leads into a discussion on why we started the show.  Learning from those who are out there doing the things they do while still making time for themselves.

Next Josh tells a story of revenge!  Revenge in a pure form of being the best that he can be.  Josh went to Pei Wei after recording an interview and ran into an old friend that he lost after a breakup.  We're sure that after a couple breaks up, friends sometimes choose one person or the other to maintain the friendship.  This friendship was one of those where Josh was on the losing side.  It was very satisfying to talk with this lost friend and tell him how well Josh was doing and how satisfied Josh is with his life.

Getting themselves back on track, Josh and Ben talk about Kavit Haria.  Ben really wanted to talk music with Kavit, after all he's played with some stellar musicians!  Staying on theme for the show, Ben really tried to keep on work/life balance.  The music conversation then moved to a previous guest, Graham English, who also came from a music background.  Finally, Josh & Ben talk about their favorite Value Bombs from Kavit.

Next Josh & Ben talk about Ed O'keefe and their favorite Value Bomb from him.  In a rare turn of events, Josh and Ben both agree on their favorite Value Bomb.  This leads us down a conversation about what spirituality means and of Ed's views on how to take care of yourself, what does spirituality actually mean?  Josh also shares a valuable part of himself, he is not very woo woo.

After that, Josh & Ben cover what they learned from Austin Iuliano and what we learned from him.  Ben reflects a bit about Austin revealed that while he was speaking with us, he was also Meerkating the show.  At first Ben was very concerned about the world listening to a very unpolished, raw show and on the heals of that, how awesome that Austin's fans were listening live and enjoying the conversation!  Would you Utopians out there enjoy listening to the shows live as they are recorded?  Should we try and make that happen?  After much speculation, Josh & Ben speak about their favorite Value Bombs from Austin.

Finally, Josh & Ben review our guest from this week, Alisa DiLorenzo.  For Ben, it was like catching up with an old friend while speaking with Alisa.  That speaks highly of how easy she is to speak with. Josh & Ben then get to their favorite Value Bombs from Alisa (again, not agreeing).

Before closing out the show, Josh & Ben tease about the upcoming 100th show

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

Direct download: 093_Noodles_or_Fried_Rice.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT

We are very happy to bring you part 2 of our conversation with Alisa DiLorenzo, author, coach, podcast host, wife, and mother of two.

During this half of the conversation with Alisa DiLorenzo, we get really into some of the ramifications of divorce and how the decision to end a relationship can ripple out and have an impact on multiple people for many years down the road.  We live in a very disposable world, and it is a shame that people sometimes view their marriage as disposable as razors or paper coffee cups.

Josh drops a huge question on Alisa DiLorenzo, "What advice would you give someone who is working on building their business while maintaining a healthy relationship with their significant other."  Alisa doesn't miss a beat and has a great answer, SEX

  • Schedule time together - you schedule time with your clients, schedule time with your spouse and keep it!
  • Enrich the relationship - invest in the things your spouse likes to do
  • eXchange roles - sometimes you are the leader and sometimes you have to let your spouse lead

Next, we move into what Alisa DiLorenzo does to maintain balance in her life.  Alisa needs to get out and move, she takes walks (marathons are not her thing).  She really enjoys reading and she loves writing in her journals.  It is important to her to journal, and she teaches the folks she coaches the same thing.  Journal, write it down and get it out of your head so you can focus on what you need to focus on.  You can always come back to it.

Alisa DiLorenzo admits that she struggles to make time in her day for herself.  She used to use paper calendars until the world moved to digital calendars on the all of our phones.  Alisa realized that she was adding way to much to her day and moved herself back to a paper calendar, just to have the visual of how much was stacked in one day.

Finally, Alisa DiLorenzo drops her value bombs!

  • Be intentional about your resources
  • Be willing to take risks
  • Love deeply

Alisa leaves us with a surprise free gift!

Follow Alisa DiLorenzo here:

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

Direct download: 092_Interview_Part_2_with_Alisa_DiLorenzo.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT

We are very happy to bring you part 1 of our conversation with Alisa DiLorenzo, author, coach, podcast host, wife, and mother of two.

We start the show catching up with Alisa DiLorenzo. Her husband Tony was a guest on the show back on episode 44.  It feels like old friends catching up with eachother and really speaks to how open and easy it is to speak with Alisa.  We also find out that their show, One Extraordinary Marriage, is closing in on the 300 episode mark!  That is a great accomplishment and we are very excited for them both!

Alisa DiLorenzo shares her view of her Utopia. It's an internal sense, it's a sense that she's living her life on purpose.  She invests in herself and the world around her.  She pours so much into her life with her husband, her kids, her business, and her podcast.  Alisa wants to make a positive impact in people's lives.

With that in mind, Alisa DiLorenzo tells us the story of why she and her husband Tony wrote the book, The Seven Days of Sex Challenge.  Alisa and Tony were in a rough spot in their marriage.  They were living like roommates, not a couple.  They took a challenge of 8 weeks of sex and had a great response.  She also realizes that 8 weeks is a ton of time, but anyone can do something for 7 days.  To help other couples they sat down together and wrote the book.

After sharing where she came from, Alisa DiLorenzo shares where she wants to go in the future.  Alisa loves public speaking and she's looking forward to more speaking events in the next few years.  She also has plans to continue to grow the audience of her podcast as well continuing to grow the company ONE Extraordinary Marriage.

Follow Alisa DiLorenzo here:

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

Direct download: 091_Interview_Part_1_with_Alisa_DiLorenzo.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT

We are very excited to bring you the second half of our interview with Austin Iuliano, a phenomenal Brand Strategist and avid Meerkat user.

As we dive into Austin Iuliano's work/life balance, he feels it's important to give us some back story.  He lives in New York, he's 27, he has a girlfriend who is also his business partner.  He does not have a family, so his life is work/work.  Austin feels the core of the matter is defining your goals in life.  He actively decided to not have a family because he wanted to work on his business.  You also have to know what revitalizes you.  Introverted people get energy from being alone where as extroverted people get energy from other people.

Next Austin Iuliano shares how he deals with aspects of his business that he doesn't like to do.  For example, Austin loves talking with people, so he does that as often as possible.  Austin does not enjoy editing his own blog posts, so he doesn't do them.  He's carried that over to nearly every aspect of his business, if he doesn't like it, he doesn't do it.  Austin uses the barter system.  He struck up a conversation with a guy in the park, learned he is an english student and traded coaching on building your brand (Austin) for editing blog posts (english student).

Following that, Austin Iuliano talks about how he is always in work mode (even when he is having fun).  Austin shares the story of buying lift passes for a ski trip only to find out they were not good for three days.  Instead of paying full price for that day, if he waited for 90 minutes, the passes were much cheaper.  For those 90 minutes, he flipped back into work, created a video on his phone, made some minor edits, posted it on YouTube, and got it out into the world.

We close out the show with Austin Iuliano's Value Bombs:

  • Humility is essential
  • Don't be afraid of failure
  • Pursue your passion

Follow Austin Iuliano here:

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

Direct download: 090_Interview_Part_2_with_Austin_Iuliano.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT

We are very excited to bring you the first half of our interview with Austin Iuliano, a phenomenal Brad Strategist and avid Meerkat user.

Austin Iuliano shares how he recently got into Meerkat and how that platform is a fresh new way to interact with your fans and followers.  Not only does Meerkat allow you to directly speak to your followers, it also lets people meet and interact with the person behind the brand.

Next Austin Iuliano and Josh make plans to meet up when Josh and his son visit New York.  The conversation dives into a mini nerd fest about the Marvel universe with reverences to Iron Man, the Avengers, and Daredevil.

Getting back on topic, Austin shares his vision of Utopia.  Live each day better than the last.  He was inspired at his first job teaching folks to snowboarding (which he officially started at 16).  He learned that it isn't about age, but about knowledge.  He taught an 86 year old who was not interested in snowboarding, but how to do something new and exciting.  It helps to recognize your audience and speak to them.  After all, teaching an 86 year old is much different than teaching a 6 year old.

Next Austin Iuliano shares how he lives his vision of a Utopia.  One of his key steps is to take some time every morning to be grateful.  Starting from a place of gratitude makes it easier to have a great day.  He then shares a very personal story about a dark time in his life where he contemplated suicide.  He stopped because of his mother and he started lying to himself.  He told himself every day "I am confident, handsome, charming, I do well in school, and people want to be my friend."

Following that, Austin Iuliano shares his thoughts on what he would change, if he could, from his past.  Austin struggles with this question because there is no way of knowing what will cascade from making that level of change, but if he could, he would start earlier and work harder.

Follow Austin Iuliano here:

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

Direct download: 089_Interview_Part_1_with_Austin_Iuliano.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT

We are very pleased to release part 2 of our interview with Ed O'Keefe, entrepreneur, author, and father of 7!

Ed O'Keefe was reaching the end of desire to be a coach for dentists and he decided to create something from scratch.  That is really challenging to do and something very few people have done.  Ed then gives us a few high level points about this very topic.  Why go to work for anything if you are not passionate about it, especially in this day and age.

Next Ed O'Keefe walks us through some of the reasons why we (everyone) feels overwhelmed, like they are 'dumb', or like they 'stink'.  Ed starts with a mini biology lesson and helps us understand how we as a species have evolved much slower than the technology we use on a daily basis.  Take just six hours a day to pick one thing to focus on and really learn for 90 days.  When you wake up after 90 days you will be in the 1% of that niche that you chose.

Once we start talking about how Ed O'Keefe keeps balance in his life, his first bit of advice is to throw the work 'balance' out of the equation.  When you are at work, be 100% focused on work.  When you are spending time with your family, be 100% focused on your family, completely in the moment.

Finally, we get some great Value Bombs from Ed O'Keefe:

  • You need to take care of yourself (physically, spiritually, mentally, socially) you are not going to be great at supporting other people
  • If you are in business, your early focus should be what is your customer acquisition and monetization strategy.
  • When you feel like a loser, surround yourself with winners
  • Bonus! Do not talk poorly about your children or your spouse, ever

Books discussed in this show:

Follow Ed O'Keefe here:

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

Direct download: 088_Interview_Part_2_with_Ed_OKeefe.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT

We are very pleased to release part 1 of our interview with Ed O'Keefe, entrepreneur, author, and father of 7!

Ed O'Keefe is the 12th of 13 kids, and the youngest boy of 9.  His parents are also still together, celebrating 61 years together this month!  Ed comes from the background of working in a stable environment.  Get a job and join a union so you know where your money is coming from.  Ed was also the first in his family to graduate college.  That is a major accomplishment!

Ed O'Keefe shares a story about clothing, the tempory tattoos of our day with phrases and thoughts (and corporate messages/logos).  Ed was wearing a wrestling shirt with a message on it that struck a cord with his friend and his friend's son.  It was so important that this message is now a tattoo on all the members of this family.  This led Ed to creating his own line of clothing with messages on it that he and his family support.

Next Ed O'Keefe shares his vision of the future so that from the health supplement point of view people are living longer and healthier, from the clothing point of view that he is working with some great designers and brands that fit with the athlete market, and from his personal point of view having the time, energy, and resources to spend time with his kids as they grow up.

Books discussed in this show:

Follow Ed O'Keefe here:

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

Direct download: 087_Interview_Part_1_with_Ed_OKeefe.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT

We are very excited to bring you part 2 of our interview with Kavit Haria, musician, coach, and entrepreneur.

Kavit Haria shares that he is a big proponent of journaling.  He loves writing down his thoughts, ideas, plans, and tasks.  He feels that once he writes it down it is documented and no longer taking up space in his head.  Kavit, Josh, and Ben then dive down a path talking about Evernote, a great app for many journaling features.

Kavit Haria says one of the best ways for him to stay on task and also to make time for himself, is to have an accountability partner.  He has a friend the talks with at least once a month and they keep each other on track.  He also trained his assistant to manage him.  By that, he means that he shares his goals and schedule and his assistant makes sure he stays on topic and focused.  At the end of the day, it always comes down to self dicipline.  His accountability partner and his assistant can tell him what he needs to focus on, but he still has to be the one doing the work.

Finally, Kavit Haria drops some huge value bombs on us:

  • The more clarity you have, the more your confidence will increase.
  • Come from a place of humilty.
  • Realize you are an incredible unique potential to be the best you can for yourself and the society you live in.

Check out one of Kavit's (and Ben & Josh's) favorite apps, Evernote for iPhoneiPad, and the Mac.

Follow Kavit Haria here:

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

Direct download: 086_Interview_Part_2_with_Kavit_Haria.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT

We are very excited to share part 1 of this interview with Kavit Haria, musician, coach, and entrepreneur.

Kavit Haria is a professional musician (including playing with Jimmy Page and Paul McCartney), studied genetics in college, coaches other musicians, and a successful entrepreneur.

Kavit Haria shares that he has recently (in the last couple years) started meditating.  Ben asks for some of the noticeable improvements or changes that his two hours a day of meditation.  This leads to a great insight to the level of focus you can achieve and the quality of work you can perform.

Next, Kavit Haria shares that he currently works only 4 hours a day.  He does this by being really good at what he does as well as finding repetitive actions or tasks and automating it with systems.  Putting these in place help him stay productive, focused, and successful while only working 4 hours a day.

The conversation then moved into how Kavit Haria accidentally created his first business.  He was working as a professional musician and finding success.  As more musicians found out about his success and asked for his advice, he started creating products to teach people to find the success that he had, thus creating his first business.  He continues and shares the story of taking months off to travel and what happened to the business while he was gone.

Kavit Haria also shares how his business works and how he would like to evolve it in the coming years.  It is interesting to hear what he has to say because it echos so much his life philosophy that Josh read at the top of the interview.

Check out one of Kavit's (and Ben & Josh's) favorite apps, Evernote for iPhoneiPad, and the Mac.

Follow Kavit Haria here:

As always, a special thank you to The Strand for our intro and outro music!

Direct download: 085_Interview_Part_1_with_Kavit_Haria.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT

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