Empty Your Backpack with Sam Demma

One torn-up knee can change a whole life, but only if you’re willing to look for the lesson instead of the loss. Sam Demma, Author of Empty Your Backpack, joins us to share how a serious soccer setback became the starting point for a decade of keynote speaking, service, and storytelling built on one principle: small, consistent actions.

We dig into the moments that shaped Sam’s message, from picking up trash as a first “small action,” to a flight attendant who turned a paper cup into a phone stand just to help a stranger. That tiny act of kindness turned into a viral story with real-world impact, reminding us that the best leadership skills are often quiet, human, and repeatable. Sam also tells the pandemic-era “Be Someone’s Taco” story, a simple food delivery that became a symbol of hope, a kids book, and a surprising ripple effect in schools.

Along the way, we talk practical tools for communication and personal growth: how to capture story moments in real time, why using someone’s name changes the entire tone of an interaction, and the “spilled coffee theory” for what comes out of us when life bumps us. We also get into what Sam sees in students today, especially fear of judgment and the need for someone to go first, plus what it looks like to build a team and buy back your time without losing the joy.

Subscribe for more real conversations, share this with someone who needs a spark, and leave a review with your favorite story from Sam’s journey.

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Welcome to The Brad Weisman Show, where we dive into the world of real people, real life, and everything in between with your host, Brad Weisman! 🎙️ Join us for candid conversations, laughter, and a fresh take on the real world. Get ready to explore the ups and downs of life with a side of humor. From property to personality, we've got it all covered. Tune in, laugh along, and let's get real! 🏡🌟 #TheBradWeismanShow #RealPeopleRealLife 

Credits - The music for my podcast was written and performed by Jeff Miller. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Okay, here we go. This is gonna be a good one, Hugo. The Brad Wiseman Show. Real people, real life, and everything in between. So, what do your kids think of this?

SPEAKER_04 0:10

Oh, they are so embarrassed.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

In order to be unstoppable, you simply don't give up. You get knocked down, you get back up again. Where curiosity opens the door to genuine connection. And really struggle with their emotions. They really struggle with even understanding what's going on. Unfiltered conversations with the people shaping our world. What kind of show is this? There's red quilted leather all over the walls. There's a swing hanging from the ceiling. I mean, I don't sweat you. And now, your host, Red Wiseman.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

All right. Oh man. Hugo.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

Hello.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

This is gonna be really good.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

All right, all right.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

I've been stalking. I mean, I've been trying to find this guy for a really long time. No, uh, we have a really good guest, somebody that's been traveling all over the United States, and actually even to Canada, because I think that's where he's actually from. We'll talk about that in a little bit. But this is a guest that I saw one clip on Instagram, and his Instagram is just unbelievable. I saw one clip. And as I'm listening to the clip, it was one that just drew me in. And then

Meeting Sam Demma

SPEAKER_01 1:15

it was an emotional type story, and tears started going down my eyes. And I thought that is a good sign for somebody to try to have on the on the on the show. So that's why he's here. He traveled to come here to see us in the studio, which is awesome. His name is Sam Demma. Demma. Oh my gosh, I almost said your last name wrong. Sam Demma. How are you doing, man? I'm so pumped to be here. Thank you for having me. I'm pumped too. I mean, I've been like watching your Instagram posts and reels and YouTube. And you know, you are the master storyteller. You are so good at telling a story. And I have to tell you, and you're and the audience is going to experience this today, and they're going to be following you on Instagram and following you on TikTok and everywhere else. Because every time I listen to one of your stories, it it comes from your life. You're like, it's almost like you're taking notes as you're living life to try and doc to not try to to document people in their in their best moments.

SPEAKER_06 2:13

One of my favorite books is The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. Okay. And there's a little chapter in it that says the job of an artist is to live with their antennas up.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_06 2:22

Meaning, don't let life pass you by. Always be aware of what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 2:25

And that's where I draw all my all my all my stories and inspiration from. It's just paying attention to things.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

It's incredible. But you but you know that that is not something that everybody does. This is a superpower that you have. Have you worked on it? Do you did you know you had it? Did your parents say to you or relatives say, hey, you know what? This kid's unbelievable. He remembers every every story or everything that that he goes through. He has a story to tell. I mean, were you always like that as a kid?

SPEAKER_06 2:51

I think I was very talkative and loud. Yeah. Like my nunna, my Italian grandmother to this day. I call her when I'm getting invited somewhere to speak, and she laughingly goes, Speak. What do you mean they invite you to speak? I'll pay you to stop talking.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Oh, that's hilarious. Spoken like a true family member or grandmother, right? A no no no, right? No, no is everything. No, no, yeah. And then no no is grandfather, right? Correct. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And there's uh something in here about him there. And it's but you started young. I mean, you started young having these dreams. And I noticed in there that you were actually going to be a soccer player at 13, right? And things didn't go as well as you planned with the with the soccer, I guess, you knee injuries or something like that. Can you tell that story just so they know? I like to get a little bit of background first to know where you came from. Five years old.

SPEAKER_06 3:36

I remember the first soccer game I had. And I don't really remember it now, but my dad told me that's when they signed me up. And I was picking dandelions, not kicking the ball.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

That's a story my parents tell about me with playing baseball in the outfield because I got bored out of my mind. I was like, let's get the dandelions out of here. You know, this is boring. So, how did it go from there to actually really getting into it?

SPEAKER_06 3:58

Yeah, five years old till I was about 13, started falling in love with the game. Yeah. At the age of 13 years old, it was my full-blown dream

Chasing Pro Soccer Then Losing It

SPEAKER_06 4:06

and what I wanted to do with my life. And there was a unique opportunity to showcase at an event a couple hours from my house where an Italian soccer recruiter was going to be watching this tournament unfold. And my dad brought me, my older cousin went as well, and they identified me as someone who they thought could sign a pro contract and asked my parents to move me to Italy for six months. Oh gosh. Very hard for my mom. That's a big deal. Yeah, my dad was excited. My mom was like, please don't go.

SPEAKER_05 4:34

Yeah, that's your that's your child. I mean, that's tough.

SPEAKER_06 4:37

Yeah. Move there, spent six months, trained every day, didn't sign a contract, but renewed my belief that it was possible. When you're surrounded by it every single day, you start to believe it could be you too.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 4:49

Move home, start high school year after all my classmates dedicated my life to sport and academics, senior in high school, playing on one of the most competitive teams on the country. Then I had three major knee injuries and two surgeries. I spent two and a half years, lost a full ride scholarship, went down a really challenging path. And those challenges birthed who I am today. And I didn't understand it in the moment. I learned years later.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Was it like a in the moment was it a why me?

SPEAKER_06 5:17

Yeah. Right? Like there's a a lot of people do that. Yeah. Yeah. Like life is happening to me. Ah, instead of for you. Yeah. And not even just the for you. Like there's a quote by Jim Rohn that my mentor Chris shared with me. Yes. And he said, Life is not about what happens because what happens happens to all of us. It's just that the circumstances are different. Life is therefore not what happens. It's how we react and respond to what's happening.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 5:41

How we interact with it.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 5:43

And I felt like life was just happening in general. That's crazy. I wasn't interacting with it.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

And this is at a young age. So did you start to realize? So, okay, that didn't go well, or that part of your of your career, the soccer thing. So when did something snap to do something different? I had a teacher.

SPEAKER_06 6:01

His name was Mr. Loudfoot. And he was so passionate about teaching. One day in class, he grabbed a piece of chalk and he wrote these names on the board of people who had changed the world and tried to challenge the whole class to believe that there was nothing different from these people in history who made a massive change than all of us in his classroom, except for the fact that they woke up every day and did something about it.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 6:23

They took small, consistent actions. That was his phrase. Then he challenged the whole class to go in the community and take a small action. And

Small Actions That Changed Everything

SPEAKER_06 6:30

it was the first time outside of athletics where I was inspired to try something. And I started asking myself, what small action can you take? I was still in my senior year of high school, just after my first knee surgery. And I stumbled on a piece of garbage walking home from high school and made the decision. My first small action is going to be picking up pieces of trash.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 6:49

And once we started picking up garbage, we needed volunteers. What's the best way to recruit students to pick up trash? Go speak at schools. So I started at my house. That's crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

And my So you started speaking at schools and these things to get people to pick up trash.

SPEAKER_06 7:04

That's why I started. So I I asked my principal at my own high school to speak. The video is still there. If you scroll all the way down my Instagram, I'm wearing a black dress shirt. It's filmed upside down.

unknown 7:13

It's very bad.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

He's got just so you know, audience, he's gotten a lot better since then. His stuff, his stuff is actually right side up now, and it's really good. That's crazy. So that's how it started. And and that's an amazing start because to where you are now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:28

But it was about picking up trash. And here's what no one tells you. It took me 10 years. I've been speaking for almost 10 years. And only in the last 12 months have the videos caught on online and people started finding it.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:41

But I've still been speaking at 120, 150 events a year. Unbelievable. Almost the past decade. And I feel blessed that it's happened now. If it happened earlier, I don't think I would have been prepared for it or excited as much about it. But yeah, it's been a it's been a journey.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

And you obviously keep there's a common denominator. There's a common thought in your head that keeps you going. There has to be, right? Like when you wake up in the morning, do you ever go, ugh, I gotta go see Brad today. Gotta fly into Harrisburg, and you know, this you know what I mean? Like, do you ever think but something keeps you going? Yeah. Is it is it because you love also the interaction with people while you're traveling on your own? Because you have so many good traveling stories that I I just absolutely love. Like the the one I just heard recently was the the lady that the the no was his name, Josh, that made the thing that for the phone stand. Yeah, the phone cuff stand. I mean, this is like tell that just tell that story just because I I just said it. So tell how this worked that worked. It's one of my favorite stories.

SPEAKER_05 8:36

I love it.

SPEAKER_06 8:37

I'm sitting on the airplane, and the flight attendant starts serving snacks and refreshments, gets to our row, pretzels are cookies.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 8:44

So I'll take the pretzels, please. Hands me a bag of pretzels, serves us refreshments, turns to the row across from us, and notices that the person sitting in the aisle seat is staring at his phone like this. And he looked at him, Josh, the flight attendant, and said, Would

A Kindness Story Goes Viral

SPEAKER_06 9:00

you like a phone stand? And I've never heard a flight attendant ask that to a passenger. Never. I thought he was gonna pull out a Brad Weissman branded phone stand.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

I wish he would have, because there was everybody in the plane would see it.

SPEAKER_06 9:13

That's funny. I literally thought he was gonna pull out a box from Amazon. Unbelievable. And what he did blew my mind. He actually grabbed a paper cup that he was serving water in. He ripped the rim of it into three flaps, flipped two of them back inside the cup, third one extent forward, bent upward for a little ledge so this guy could rest his phone on it. I got so excited, jumped out of my seat. I'm like, Josh, did United Airlines train you to do this? Incredible. No, man, I just feel good when I do it for people.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

That's that's I just got chilled.

SPEAKER_06 9:40

Dude, this is why I love his stories. This is also the craziest part of the story I never talk about. Yeah. So then I said, Josh, can I have your permission to tell this story? And he looked at me like a crazy person. He's like, Who are you? And why do you what are you?

SPEAKER_04 9:51

Why do you creepy?

SPEAKER_06 9:53

And and he's like, Yeah, sure, man, no worries. And a few weeks later, I told it for the first time at an event in Idaho. And I've since told that story many times because it's touched my heart. And that first video we posted got 2.2 million views on TikTok. Holy crazy. And United Airlines found Josh and recognized him. You're kidding me, man. Josh's mom was going through surgery the same time the whole thing happened, and there was people from all over the world spamming the comments with prayers for his mother going into her surgery. He's since found like a following on TikTok of him making his phone cup stance. Like it's just such a cool return on it, such a small act of kindness.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

But you recognize it. That's the thing that I don't know of anybody that I've ever seen. Now, you know, we were close to 300 episodes, right? I've been I'm 55, been around a lot of situations in sales and met a lot of people. I love going to see keynote speaking and things like that. I've never seen anybody that can take something like that. But you inquire about it. You find out like a normal person, uh not that you're not normal, but a normal person would come up, would just see that happen and wouldn't even think anything of it.

SPEAKER_06 10:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

They wouldn't ask the question. Yeah. They wouldn't say, hey, why did why do you do that? You know, what what made you do that?

SPEAKER_04 11:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

And I and I think it's great because that just creates a story. And then the fact that everything else that happened around that, it just shows you that's what we should all be doing.

SPEAKER_06 11:13

But life is magic if you're paying attention.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

100%.

SPEAKER_06 11:17

Absolutely. There's magic unfolding everywhere. Constantly all the time. Yep. We just have to keep our antennas up, like Rick Rubin says, and pay attention to it. Yeah, it's cool.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

I just love that story. I just heard that was one of the more recent ones that I just heard that you had on there, and or not recent that you did, but I'm scrolling through to see all your things. How many are those are you putting up a day in Instagram?

SPEAKER_06 11:36

We post two videos every day across all platforms. We figure if you make it once, you might as well put it everywhere. Yeah. You actually just started posting on Snapchat. Oh, good. There's no downside, it's the same formatting. Yeah, right. That's cool. Very cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

So then so the big the big thing now. So you you get to the 13. Now you start, you did the trash thing at 19, I think that was, or no, that was started at 17. 17. Now all of a sudden, uh, when did you write the empty your backpack? The book. Your is this your that was your first book or no?

SPEAKER_06 12:05

That is my first book. And I published it in 2022, November. I did a book launch event. I actually announced the book launch event before the book was finished. Awesome. To act as a deadline for me to get the book finished.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Awesome. Don't you you know, there's nothing, it might my wife and I always

Writing Books With Real Deadlines

SPEAKER_01 12:22

say the best way to get things done in your house is book a party at your house. The best way to the book is to book the book launch.

SPEAKER_05 12:29

If you booked the book launch and you show up without the book, yeah, people are not gonna be happy. So I I almost didn't. It's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_06 12:36

So you actually booked, you had the date. I booked a venue, I chose a date, I announced it, I sold tickets, and the books were still not at my house. Oh, jeez. A little stressful? It was. I used it as a forcing function, and then leading up to the book launch, I started panicking because the books were getting into printing about five weeks before the event. Oh, jeez. And they usually take four weeks to finish printing. So I'm calling the printer every day. Hey, is there anything we can do to speed it up? We got the books for the book launch. Dude, that's a lot of stress. It was at 6 p.m. That's a lot of stress. Me and my dad sat in the in the garage after flipping through 500 copies, signing them. Sign them, yeah. Yeah. Unbelievable. But it worked. It worked. That's a lot of faith.

SPEAKER_05 13:20

And then I did it again for be someone's taco.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

So have you learned anything through this whole experience? It works. It works two times in a row. So the stress works, right? But it does. You know what's funny? Deadlines, you know, you can talk about this in any business or anything in life. If you set up a deadline and you put it out there and you say, I'm gonna do something, could be losing weight. Once you vocalize it, yeah, and once you put it out to the public, it now makes you accountable for that. Yep. And you will do whatever it takes to make that happen. 100%. Yeah, you'll print your books yourself. You'll do whatever it takes to do that. So the book comes out, and that really, I think, is what really started to put you on the map. Am I not correct about that or no?

SPEAKER_06 13:57

No, man. No. Um, those 2022 to 2025, the books were not selling that well. Really? Like I was pushing them at my own events. Yes. Online, they weren't really selling. Oh my gosh. It wasn't until the media started really exploding online that people found out about my stuff and started really searching.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Interesting. So they saw, so instead of it being the book that got you out there, you went out to like I think Wayne Dyer talks about this all the time. If if if if you don't have the money to have a publisher get your books everywhere in the United States or in the world, it means you need to get in your car and go to everywhere in the world and with your books. And he literally he filled up his station wagon when he was when he was a young man and left it being a psychiatrist or psychologist. I don't know if you know that story about him. It's amazing, Wayne Dyer. And he went to he went to every late night show. He went everywhere he could and had the books with him. And that's how he became a number one book selling, uh, maybe top author. Wrote like 30-some books before he passed. Amazing stories.

SPEAKER_06 14:58

One of my favorite stories from Wayne Dyer. I love Wayne. Using fruit. He goes, if you grab an orange and you squeeze an orange, what comes out of it? Orange juice. Orange juice. You grab an apple and you squish it, what comes out of it? Yep, yep. Apple juice. When life squishes you, what comes out of you? Whatever's in you. And it's such a beautiful reminder to just show up with love and compassion. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

You know? So true. He was a he's actually mentioned in my book. I met him when I was 20, oh, in my late mid to late 20s. I met him. At an event or yeah, he was at his at a speaking event. He had just come out with a book and I got to go. It was down in Valley Forge area towards Philly. And there's a whole story in there in my book actually about it. But I won't go into it now, but it's a it's a really cool story about how I met. I actually shook his hand and got to meet him, and it was really cool. But he's an he was an amazing person. Amazing person. Ed Milette talks about him all the time. Have you met Ed Milette yet? I have not met Ed. Yeah, he's the he's the guy, man. I gotta meet him. Yeah, me too. That's what I keep saying. Well, we shouldn't just invite him over tonight. What do you think? Let's show up. But no, so let's keep working. So the book, so you basically you went out and talked everywhere, did your thing, public speaking, doing your your your uh keynote speaking, and then that's how the book started to get out there. Because I think at that point you think people go, Well, I gotta buy his book. Yeah, I mean, he was amazing on stage. I'm gonna buy his book. It helps. And I read, I didn't get to read the whole thing yet. I just kind of did some skimming. It's awesome. I love the thing that you have at the end of each chapter. Do you have like the talking points? Yeah, super cool. For somebody with ADHD, I'm like going to the end going, Well, this is awesome. These are like the cliff notes of his book. Great, that's a great idea.

SPEAKER_05 16:25

Really cool.

SPEAKER_06 16:26

Full credit to Rachel, the editor.

SPEAKER_05 16:28

Oh, really? Love it.

SPEAKER_06 16:29

Sam, you got tack, you got very practical ideas. You should make a list at the end and call it chapter takeaways. Love it. That's a great idea. Rachel, let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Great, great idea. Because I'll tell you what, you can you can skim through that book and get great ideas very quickly. Cool. Very quickly. So yeah. So so now you also have written a kid's book, too. And that gets into the story of the of the taco.

SPEAKER_05 16:49

So the the book is called Be Someone's Taco.

SPEAKER_06 16:51

Yeah. Based on a real life experience. Which is how I found you. Just imagine you're back March 2020, pandemic hits, my business shut down. Yep. I'm going through it. And I figure if I'm struggling, you know, I'm not the I'm probably not the only person.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 17:07

I pick up my phone, start calling my friends. One buddy Andrew picks up my call. First thing he tells me, he's still lying in bed. And it's two o'clock in the afternoon.

Be Someone’s Taco During Hard Times

SPEAKER_06 17:17

And I'm thinking, man, if this guy's still in bed at two o'clock, something's wrong. Something's up. Something's going on. Hang up the call, go on his social media, looking for something he liked to surprise him or try and make him feel better. And I scrolled two years through his post. Oh, jeez. And I see something that said, my vote for dinner tonight is hashtag tacos.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Oh no way.

SPEAKER_06 17:37

And I'm like, this is perfect. This guy likes eating tacos. I'm gonna surprise him with tacos. Go on Uber Eats, find this taco dinner, punch in his address, just put a special note that said, Hey, these tacos are from your friend Sam. I watched the car like a Pac-Man video game, 20 minutes, take all the turns on my phone. I know exactly what you mean. We do it all the time. Yeah, for anyone under the age of 30, Pac-Man is in a video game.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

We'll put a disclaimer, we'll put a disclaimer on the post. So true.

SPEAKER_06 18:06

So true. And sure enough, I finally get the notification. Tacos have been delivered. I wasn't keeping track of time, but I want to say it was like 90 seconds if that before my phone rang, and it was Andrew and his wife Emily sitting on bar stools in front of their kitchen counter, box of tacos open behind them, just bawling. Yeah. And I'm like, man, it's good. You know, it's two tacos, let it go, you know, it's fine. And he's like, no, man, it's not the food. You know, like we had to recently shut down our business, we had to lay off an employee. We're not sure how we're gonna do things for the next little while. For us, this wasn't just two ta two tacos, it was a moment of hope.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 18:43

And he came up with this slogan after on my birthday called Be Someone's Taco. So he came up with that? So, so I never talked about it.

unknown 18:51

Oh man.

SPEAKER_06 18:52

Nothing came of this little story for at least about, I want to say like a year. And then on my birthday that year, Andrew sent me a logo of a bright yellow smiling taco that he had his graphic designer on his team design after they reopened, and above it it said Be Someone's Taco.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Oh my gosh, I love that, dude. That's awesome. So cool.

SPEAKER_05 19:11

This is what's really cool is that I get to see you do these small little segments. You missed the other context, right? There's so much context around it, which is which is uh this is mind-blowing to me. Can I tell you something crazy about that story?

SPEAKER_06 19:23

Yes. I never talk about this ever regarding the taco story. So we we we tell the story online, we we talk about being someone's taco. No one knows that uh two years after I started telling the story, we got a partnership with Taco Bell Canada. Unbelievable. And they're giving away free tacos at our school events for high school kids across the country. Unbelievable. Or that we made a rap song. If you go on Spotify and you search Be Someone's Taco, Sam Dema, there's a be someone's taco rap. Oh my gosh. I haven't published it yet, haven't made the music video for it, but it's up there.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_06 19:55

All this crazy stuff happened after the story unfolded. That's incredible. Yeah, really cool.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Yeah, I love I love getting all these other these other bits and pieces. This is like it's like gold, you know, it's like a digging for gold here. Yeah, but no, so the book is doing well, and and the taco story is what is in the beginning, I think we talked about it's what got me to to reach out to you. Yeah, I surf Instagram all the time, looking for the best people for our audience because you know we're really kind of on that. That's our quest is to find the right people and have people that are really interesting to tell great stories, have a great story, and are helping people and positive and all that stuff. And when I when I came across yours, I was like, I just saw that one video, and that was the story you told. It's about the taco. And tears down my face, and it just I think I immediately reached out to you. I messaged you on Instagram, and and you might remember, but I messaged you and I said, How about a podcast, man? I just listened to the taco story or something like that. And it's funny, but you'd be surprised too. What I love in this world that we're in right now, this this mindset world, the higher thinking, the positive, the the real trying to help our world be better. It's amazing how many people get back to you. Yeah, I'm blown away, you know? And because I'm just thinking, I'm this Brad here in Berks County, you know, you know, got a good amount of followers. We're getting a good amount of movement here, but you know, it's I'm not at my lead, you know. And the fact that you responded and then we were in communication and we were gonna do streaming, remember? And we it was gonna be in August. Because I think you have maybe another book. Yeah. Did you already come over the date?

SPEAKER_05 21:22

Yes, September 11th. Oh, that's right. You booked the theater. Did you really done yet? Book's not done yet. Did you start it?

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Did you start it? Did you start the book? Please tell me you started it. It's it's it'll be ready. Okay, good. So, no, so you know that was what was gonna happen. And then what I did, I don't know if you remember, I sent the pictures of the studio. And I said, This by the way, this is the reason that I I would love to have you in the studio. Check it out. And you got back and said, badass. Yeah, that's exactly what you said. And I remember saying to my wife, I said to my wife, I said, Oh my god, I think he's gonna stop in because he's gonna be a manheim.

SPEAKER_06 21:52

Yeah, yeah, it's crazy. Perfect alignment. Also, I want to double click on that. I'm not at my left for a quick sec. Yeah, go for it. When I started speaking, I Went on Google and searched speakers and looked at everyone else's website and was like, I'm not like any of these people.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 22:05

Like, there's no way there's a spot for me in this space, you know? And uh almost three months ago now, I've been dating this girl and she's really special. Oh, that's cool. And I've I think I've cracked the code on the best gift to get a girl. Oh my god, I can't wait to hear this. Best gift for a girlfriend. Seashells. Seashells. So I travel for speaking, right? Yes.

Seashells And The Power Of Uniqueness

SPEAKER_06 22:26

And now I routinely will walk the beach if there is one, and I'll pick up seashells.

SPEAKER_02 22:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 22:30

And bring them back to her, and she keeps them in this glass jar. That's awesome. She loves it. I love doing it. It's like a little adventure.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 22:36

And it's for you. It's for the two of you. It's for both of us. It's special. And I was walking in Alabama on Orange Beach. Gulf Shores. Didn't know they had beach in Alabama. But they don't, yeah, but they do. They have 240 miles of it. And I'm walking the beach and all the shells are the same. These white little shells. And I'm walking and I'm like, I need to find her something. Something special. Yeah. I finally found this orange one, picked it up, and was like, she's gonna love this one because it's different than everybody else. But I spent so much of my early career trying to be like everybody else, not recognizing that the world looks at me the same way I look at seashells for my girlfriend. Yeah, they see value in the uniqueness and the differences, not the similarities. Yep. And I would just encourage anyone listening to this to just let your own light shine because that's what the world needs right now. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

You're the only you. Yep. I mean, you know, there's and and what's I think is funny too is Ed Milet's being Ed Milette. Jim Rohn was being Jim Rohn. Wayne Dyer was being Wayne Dyer. You know, you need to be, you know, Sam, I need to be Brad. Yeah. And that's the part that people will be attracted to because especially more and more as we get into the AI world, the AI world clones us all.

SPEAKER_06 23:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

So we as humans are going to be very needy of real personal this right here, right here, eye to eye. What I said, there's there's no, there's no AI when you're eye to eye. Yeah. You know, there's it just doesn't, it doesn't exist. So, you know, the the more we realize that, I think, I really think AI is here as a gift to bring humanity back together, to make everybody realize that we're not robots, that we're not, that AI can't cry. We can. You know, who is it was I think it was Sylvie DeJuso that said to us about the the difference. Yeah, it was her, our friend Sylvie said, and this is really cool, and we'll get back into your stuff here. But she said that the difference between a robot or AI and and and us, and she said, here's how it works. If if AI can recognize that if there's something coming down your face, it sees water and it says tear. Okay. AI won't cry when it sees that tear. What do we do? If I see somebody crying, it's like almost automatic. I start getting emotional right with them. That's human, and that's a connection that you can't explain, and you can't you can't manipulate it, and you can't you can't recreate that in a machine. Not yet. So true. Not right, doesn't that's so so that's our friend Sylvie there. So yeah, so let's go back into into your stuff here. I definitely want to get into it. Let me get back in. Oh, this is the thing that really stuck out for me. Youngest keynote speaker to earn the certified speaking professional uh like ever. Is that right? It is. It's on your website. Just and if it's not right, then somebody's writing bull crack. No, but seriously, I I couldn't believe that. Because you're how you're you're young.

SPEAKER_06 25:23

I yeah, I got it when I was 26. Crazy. And no, I got it when I was 25. I'm 26 now. I am very fortunate that I had people in my life from a young age that mentored me up. You know, I I laugh because the listing of accomplishments or achievements or titles are just doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

I I I agree. 100%. Don't be a human trophy case, right? Yeah, it's that's why I always say don't be a human trophy case. Nobody wants that. Well, I just I think you don't lead with that though. No, I don't. Which is really cool. I had to dig to find this stuff. I had to dig to find this stuff because you lead with your stories, you lead with humanity, you lead with how you're helping people. And it's not about how many likes do I have, how many of this do I have, how many of this do I have. You lead with those things, and that's that's important, really important. And that's why you're here because Hugo, how many times have have we had people that we will no longer have? I mean, great guests through this whole thing have always been great, but there are definitely uh places that we're going a different direction. Sure. I I don't want to interview somebody that leads with their their end, what they did. Yeah, I want to know the journey, why, all those things I want to know. And that's what you're doing, which is really cool. So let's go into some of this other stuff here. The other one I loved. Let's I some of your stories we got to go through here because I love this one.

SPEAKER_06 26:39

I love it.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

The spilled coffee theory. I love it. That's a great one. So tell that story because it's a great story.

SPEAKER_06 26:45

It's so similar to the Wayne Dyer story. Yeah. So my uncle Corado sends me a video on Facebook and he sends me videos all the time. But this one video from my uncle just caught my attention.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

Oh, good.

SPEAKER_06 26:57

And it was a professor who was sharing a lecture with his class and asked his class, When you're holding a coffee and you're walking through the college campus, yeah, imagine someone bumps your shoulder and spills your coffee everywhere. Now

The Spilled Coffee Theory

SPEAKER_06 27:10

answer my question. Why did you spill the coffee? And I'm watching the video thinking to myself, because the guy bumped you? Yeah, right. Come on, it seems easy. And the professor goes, No, you spilt the coffee because you had coffee in your cup. If you had water in your cup, you'd spill water. It's so cool. And if you had juice, you would have spilled the water.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

It's the whole thing. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_06 27:27

Well, what what spills out of your cup when life bumps you?

SPEAKER_01 27:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 27:31

And I wish I learned that lesson sooner in life. And it goes back to the whole idea of that what happens happens to everybody. Yep. So it makes life different then is not what happens, but how each individual person interacts with what's happening in their life.

SPEAKER_02 27:43

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 27:43

And that's a choice we make. Absolutely. And that's the spilled coffee theory.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

I love that though. But it's a different way of telling it. Wayne Dyer's is getting old. That story's getting old. You gotta go with coffee. Nobody's eating freaking fruit anymore. Come on, guys. It's all about coffee these days.

SPEAKER_06 27:59

I'll tell you a funny story, though. Yeah, go ahead. Recently, I'm standing in the airport.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

Watch, bring your mic up just a little bit there, just so we don't yeah, just angle it because you're yeah, perfect. There you go. Good, good, good. Perfect. Perfect.

SPEAKER_06 28:08

I I have a Nexus card. You know? I think it's one of the biggest status plays in the travel world. Like I got Nexus, I can go through this line. Right, I can do whatever I want. Well, I show up to the airport and I go into my neck the Nexus line and it's jammed. There's like a hundred people. And I look at regular security, and there's nobody and it's empty. Yep.

SPEAKER_05 28:30

And I'm like, but there's people who will stand in that line.

SPEAKER_06 28:34

I'm looking at Nexus people and no one's moving. Yeah, it's like I grab my beds, I'm out of there. Go into the normal line. And I'm like, whoa. Sometimes we allow our status in life to keep us stuck.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

Yeah. Absolutely. That's a good story.

SPEAKER_06 28:47

Expertise, what we think we know is the right answer. Yep. Our ego, our status. We we lean on those things. Yep. Instead of going, maybe I don't have it right this time. Let me go back to square one.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

Been there before in the airport. I know exactly what you're talking about. We'll be in the TSA pre-check. We'll be in that line. And I look over and I'm like, I look at my wife, I'm like, why are we in this line? Yeah. Like I that that line, I swear, is going faster. It's empty. But they don't have, but I don't have to take off my shoes, though.

unknown 29:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

The trades before I'm going to be able to do it. Or my belt. Or my belt, man. Or my belt. You know what I mean? I sit there and go, but yeah, but I'll have to take my laptop out. You know what I mean? It's so funny. But yeah, it's that's it. It's so true. So let's um oh yeah, another thing I think I I I thought about with you is uh you see a positive story in all aspects of everyday life. This is what I see. That's what I see in you. Do you do you do you look for it now? Do you look for the story?

SPEAKER_06 29:39

I read a book called Story Worthy by Matthew Dix. Yeah. And there's a piece of homework in the book. He calls it homework for life. And he asks everyone who read the book to start an Excel spreadsheet on their computer. Yeah. And on the left column, you put dates of every day of the year, and on the right column, beside each day, at the end of each day, you put five to eight words that remind you of one moment from that specific day that could be a story-worthy experience, something you could share. And I got into the habit of doing that. Now I just pop them in my journals. So is that is that how you document

Building A Practice For Storytelling

SPEAKER_06 30:10

this? That's how I find them. I just pay attention in life, and when something happens that has a little bit of magic to it, I go, oh wow. And I pull out my journal or my notes app in that moment and I write down all the details.

SPEAKER_02 30:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 30:22

Because if I don't, 24 hours from then I forget about them.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 30:25

And there's so many little nuances that make a story a story that you miss if you wait. Absolutely. Reflect on it in the moment.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

So true. And you know, it's funny with writing the book, but I'm writing it. I'm trying to the uh ghostwriter will say, Do you have a story that you could do for that? And I'm like, man, sometimes you think you're gonna remember stories, and you start digging, and then every once in a while I'll trigger a story, we'll trigger, and then I can tell it, and then it goes in the book. But it's hard, and that's why I've been doing the same thing. I write down everything since 2019. Every time I have an idea, I either put it on my phone under the notes section. Uh that's why I wrote those notes this morning about you, because I knew when I got here today I'd forget them.

SPEAKER_03 31:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:01

And you just have to write that stuff down. So you just that's you make it a conscious effort. It's a practice, it's a good practice, really good practice.

SPEAKER_06 31:08

I think we would look at it no different than any practice. Yeah. It requires a time and attention, and it requires consistency.

SPEAKER_02 31:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 31:15

And I'm just constantly mining for them to the point where my whole team now expects me to have them. So if I take a few days off. Oh, yeah. You're in trouble.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

Are you in trouble then? Are you in trouble? Yeah, they're like, Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_05 31:24

Where's your new content? Yeah, where's the new material?

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Come on, Mr. Story Boy. Something didn't happen yesterday. Yeah, I'm like, you can't make this stuff up. It has to actually happen, you know.

SPEAKER_06 31:33

But you know what's interesting is that it also encourages me to participate more in life. Talk to more people, have more conversations. Yeah, because the possibility of something unfolding that's beautiful is a lot less if you're just staying to yourself all the time. So it's like forcing me to be a participant, an active participant in my life.

SPEAKER_01 31:52

Yes. I call it discovering people. Yeah. Instead of just meeting somebody or just like at the I always talk about this like going to the airport, like you do. You know, if I travel by myself and I'm at the bar or whatever, and I sit there, I you know, and just somehow you strike up a conversation, whatever. You could be the bartender too, or a waitress or whatever. But if you just show a little bit of interest in discovering who they are as a person, it's amazing what it does to the attitude. Also, you've you've known you know how that is. I mean, I'm one of those people that if somebody's miserable, oh, I I I try so hard to crack that code. Yeah, I will do everything. And not to be a jerk either. I'm not trying, but I'm trying to just how can I get them to smile?

SPEAKER_06 32:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

How can I get them to just understand that life is not that bad?

SPEAKER_05 32:34

And if they don't, you st you're you're still making a great intention.

SPEAKER_01 32:39

Absolutely. And some people will get mad at you. Well, they'll they'll just say, oh, you're trying to no, and then some, but 90% of the time, you can make it happen. Yeah. And then all of a sudden they're your best friends. Yeah. And they want to do anything for you. Oh, you want to need ketchup? Do you need salt and you need beverage? What do you need? You know? And also using their name. Do you find that too? Oh, the name is a huge one. The name is huge.

SPEAKER_05 32:56

I talk about the name all the time. You do. When you're you're talking about the the Megan at the cash register. Yes, Megan at the cash register.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

See, I even remember that. But no, you talk about that. The girl that what was that about? Was that have to do with books? It wasn't the books.

SPEAKER_06 33:07

Yeah, Bali Village of Books.

SPEAKER_01 33:08

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell that story. There's been a few, but that's a good one. Tell us about the names, like getting the name.

SPEAKER_06 33:12

Yeah. I read the book How to Win Friends and Influence People. That's where it comes from, yeah. Chapter in the book, Names and the Sweetest Sound in Any Language. Yep. I'm in high school when I read this. One of the first books I bought on my own.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

In high school? Yeah. No wonder you're 26 and like a complete master at this. And high school, I wasn't doing any of that.

SPEAKER_06 33:31

I went back to the store where I bought the books after I read it, feeling like I got the secret to life and made you made the decision. I'm like, I'm gonna start calling everybody by their names. Unbelievable. And sure enough, I get to the cash register. I have five books at the Valley Village where I shop. If you bought four books, you got the fifth one free. Awesome. Each of the books, like five dollars each. I hand them my books. I say, Hey Megan, how's your day going? And she's scanning my books and she stops and goes, She's pissed that you called her Megan.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

She's like, which is her name.

SPEAKER_05 34:01

How did you know my name?

SPEAKER_06 34:03

I was like, it's on your shirt, man. Yeah, like that's funny. And and then we started having a conversation. But she warmed up. She did. And she actually gave me a little bit of an employee discount on the books as I was leaving. And I was like, You made a mistake. And she's like, No, it's an employee discount. That's awesome. You know, and and it just reinforced in my mind that it's one of the little gifts you can give somebody every day for free.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 34:25

Is using their name, makes them feel seen and appreciated.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

Yeah. And they want and you know what it is, they want if they're in the service industry, they want to serve more or better or at a higher level if you're on that name-to-name basis.

SPEAKER_06 34:38

I'll tell you the most bizarre message I ever got after posting that video about.

SPEAKER_01 34:42

I would love to hear this.

SPEAKER_06 34:43

I got a message on Facebook from a woman saying, Sam, saw your video. But my name is Butchered all the time. And her name was Karen. And she was a part of a group chat. Because of the Karen thing? Karen's. And there was like 20,000 people in the chat named Karen in this group. And she was like, Can you come help us? Like, we've tried changing our, we've thought about changing our names. We don't know what to do with our name. And I was like, what a reverse perspective on the power of names. Yeah. And like the assumptions we make well before we meet someone because of culture is bizarre. Yeah, it is. But it's not right.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

I was also like, wow, that's crazy. Yeah, but it's true. But I've heard I've heard bits and pieces of the whole Karen thing of people have gotten depressed. I mean, you know, people take that serious. It's not. It's their name, you know? It is nuts. So but I heard that Brad was the op was the male version of that at one point. Really? Yeah. I thought I'm like, that's great. I'm in, I'm into it. I like it. I'm taking it on, man. I'm taking it on. I don't care. Who cares, right? But let's talk about. I was gonna say, there's one of the things that your your your uh team had sent some questions, and I picked a couple things out of there that said like possible questions. And I picked a couple because some of them actually I I really liked. What are they what do you see as the common challenges for young people, the young people are facing today? You get in front of a lot of young people. Yeah. What what do you see as I mean, I think most of you, it's young adults that you talk to a lot, right?

SPEAKER_04 36:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:09

Because they listen to you, because you know why you're still young. Yeah. You know, if it was me, it wouldn't, it wouldn't be delivered the same way. But with you coming in with the big backpack on and all that stuff, you know, what do you see the biggest challenges? Is it AI? Is it the screens? Is it is it you know, TV, is it their phones, is it social media?

Fear Of Judgment And Going First

SPEAKER_01 36:25

You know, all these things become blamed for every generation has a blaming place, you know, has something they blame for that, you know. What do you see out there?

SPEAKER_06 36:35

I one of the things I notice at every school I speak to is when I get to QA and ask questions, yeah, everyone goes like this. Oh, no way. To see if anyone else is gonna raise their hand. They don't wanna because they don't want to be the first. Wow. And I think the hesitation to take a risk, yeah, the fear of being judged, yeah, are like some of the biggest things young people have faced and will continue to face.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

And it breaks my heart because they they don't want to be wrong, or they don't want to they don't want to be ridiculed or they don't want to see. They don't want to get made fun of.

SPEAKER_06 37:10

But when you go first, it gives other people permission. Like what happens after the first person raises.

SPEAKER_05 37:14

Then it's a flood, right? Ten more, we're going. Yep, exactly.

SPEAKER_06 37:16

And I'll never forget, I was in Illinois speaking at an event, and I was having a hard day. I was going through some stuff at the time. Yeah, and there was another speaker who I had never met before. He crushes it on stage, uh, walks off stage. I'm like, dude, that was amazing. Do you mind watching my speech and like taking some notes for me? Give me some feedback. This guy takes two pages of notes, like super generous. I walk over, he's like, Why don't we go to dinner and like I'll go through the feedback with you? Awesome. We go out, we grab a meal, and I start telling him about some of my little challenges, like small stuff, kind of like going over the surface. I don't really know him, you know. Then this guy tells me some serious stuff about his life. Oh wow. How a decade earlier he almost made a terrible choice to cheat on his wife and deleted all of his social media as a result. Massive author, massive speaker. And then slowly over the decade rebuilt this relationship. And we get to the end of the conversation, and I'm like, why did you why the heck did you tell me this, man?

unknown 38:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 38:14

He's like, because it gives you permission to tell me what's happening in yours. Oh wow. And he said, just get just just make the promise to me that if you meet someone else in your journey, go first for them.

SPEAKER_05 38:26

Oh my god, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_06 38:27

I think that's that's good. Like that's what I see kids not doing. Not going first. Yeah, just go first. Yeah, and I don't even think it's just kids, it's just human. It's everybody's general.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

If you had a room of adults, we'd all do the same thing.

SPEAKER_06 38:39

When I was 20 years old, me and my best friend Lucas would go to LinkedIn events. We'd dress up in dress shirts and we had business cards that said CEO of nothing. CEO of nothing. Love it. And we would walk around and we'd hand them out and network with people. Yeah. And there'd be a panel of people doing a thing and talking about something, and and we'd sit in the front row and any questions, and he'd grab my arm and put it in the air. No.

SPEAKER_01 39:04

You knew what you were supposed to say. That's great.

SPEAKER_05 39:08

Well, you know, I put you on the spot. And also, you'll think of something. I did. You'll think of something. But I say that because that was me too.

SPEAKER_01 39:14

Yeah. That was me too. I love that story though that you just said about the guy sharing. You know, it's funny when you when you share, what ends up happening is somebody will hopefully share back.

SPEAKER_06 39:24

And if they don't, you also feel lighter as a result. Absolutely. Well, you absolutely Dan Martell always says the person who wins has no secrets. They don't they they they put it all on the table. Yeah, right, right. It's out there. You know, amazing.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

Yeah, there's nothing to hide. So that's so true. Good stuff, good stuff. Yeah, I'll tell you, this is great. And then let's get into some of the other questions that we're on here. You're doing, are you doing a coaching program for speakers now? Are you doing anything like that? Do you help other speakers? Have you thought about doing that? Because you're really good at it.

SPEAKER_06 39:54

I did a full year coaching every Thursday. I had about 25 speakers in the group. I was doing a 60-minute lesson every week on sales, marketing, systems, or performance.

SPEAKER_02 40:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 40:04

So some storytelling, some business side of speaking. Very successful. A lot of people that were in the program are doing well and they're doing their things now. But I was I started it out of the desire to help,

Coaching Speakers Then Choosing Joy

SPEAKER_06 40:16

but also because I was a part of a coaching program and everyone in the program was coaches building their coaching businesses. Gotcha, gotcha. And all of them kept saying, Sam, you should really think about starting a coaching business. You can help a lot of people. But little kid version in me still wants to fill stadiums with families. And so that's don't lose that. I took a departure from the dream because there was an opportunity for uh about a year, still pursuing my main stuff, but trying to make space for this other thing as well.

SPEAKER_02 40:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 40:43

Only to realize after a year I was building a life that I wasn't enjoying. And it just hit me like a wall of bricks. I'm like, I've been doing this entrepreneurial because everybody else had to do it. Yeah. Yeah. And I've been doing it for about at that point, six, seven years.

SPEAKER_02 40:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 40:56

I'd passed the point where I'm in a position now where I'm able to decide what I want to do with my time. Why am I going to create a life that I don't enjoy waking up and living?

SPEAKER_01 41:06

There's there's no reason to.

SPEAKER_06 41:07

Doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_01 41:07

No reason to. So with that being said, let's go a little bit into this. Where what do you enjoy the most? The book writing, the the the keynote, the the keynote speaking, the you know what what part, what part do you like the most? Or is there something that you're that you're hoping this is gonna also get you to do more of something else? I mean, is there something that you see or or is this what you love to do, what you're doing right now? I'm getting goosebumps.

SPEAKER_06 41:29

Look.

SPEAKER_01 41:30

That's good. That's good.

SPEAKER_06 41:33

So it's it's telling stories, it's just it's sharing stories with people that help them connect their puzzle pieces. I think like everyone's life is a big puzzle, and they have conversations and they meet people like Brad and Hugo and they listen to podcasts, and every time they pick up something, it's like a couple pieces in their life just connect. Yeah, and when you can be the person sometimes that helps other people connect their pieces, yeah, it's the most valuable thing in the world. Yeah, it is. You know, like Jim Jim always made jokes. Jim Rohn. So he was great. He'd go, I'm not here for the money, but I'll still take it. I'll still take it.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

He was the best. Jim Rome was one of the one of the best. He was so good at being entertaining while he was telling some awesome stories and and also giving you advice.

SPEAKER_06 42:18

Well, he would say that, and then he'd say, the real payoff is having your name appear in somebody else's testimony. Like that's the greatest gift you can get while you're here. Someone to say, I did what I did or became who I became because of Brad. Yep. You know, that's that's something money can ever buy.

SPEAKER_02 42:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 42:36

And for me, it's like those moments too. Yeah. And I and I collect those. I have a folder on my Gmail called Rainy Day Messages.

SPEAKER_02 42:43

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_06 42:44

And anytime someone sends me something that touched their heart or that how how our work connected their puzzle pieces, we pop it in that folder and I read them when things get challenging. That's awesome. Just a few weeks ago, I was in New Hampshire speaking at a high school. I finished the talk. Very difficult group. I was up there wondering, I'm not sure. But the way you felt the room?

SPEAKER_01 43:03

Yes. They read the room?

SPEAKER_06 43:04

And it's bad to make assumptions presenting because people assume they receive information however they receive it. Sometimes

Proof Your Work Changes Lives

SPEAKER_06 43:10

you want the whole crowd to laugh and they don't really laugh too.

SPEAKER_01 43:12

Well, engineers don't laugh. I mean, and I'm not just I'm making a general statement. If you look at those things too, people like I think if you're in front of a bunch of artsy type people, they're gonna be a little bit more emotional about your speech. If you're up in front of a bunch of engineers, they're gonna take your speech, but it's not that they don't enjoy it, it's just how they express it, right? And so what was the who were you in front of that that was just not accepting it or was it a high school. Okay, and usually I get a pretty good response.

SPEAKER_06 43:37

Yeah, because they're kidding, they're young. So I'm like, what's going on? You know, or are they picking it up? And I I was very serious that day in my delivery. Oh, and I think they weren't they weren't laughing as much because they felt this this energy of intensity and and seriousness. And uh anyway, I say it all because I'll never forget the speech ends. I'm questioning my impact. Young man will. Walks up to me and looks at me and says, You know, I'm really disrespectful to my mom when she gets home from work. She has a really heavy backpack. I'm gonna stop, I'm gonna stop being rude to my mom.

SPEAKER_01 44:10

Oh my god, dude.

SPEAKER_06 44:12

And I was talking about chills. Jeez. Yeah, I'm sitting there. That's life-changing. Yeah, so I'm that's those are the moments. It's like it's stuff like that that's all you need is one moving.

SPEAKER_01 44:20

That's all you need is one. Out of the whole crowd, you need one person that goes home and does something different.

SPEAKER_06 44:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:25

Or or or changes a habit that's not good. Yep. You know, that's all you need. I have another crazy one. Good. Crazy ones. We like crazy ones. Can I share one more? Yes, you can keep sharing. We got a little bit of time yet.

SPEAKER_06 44:36

In November, I spoke at Shortcrest, uh school in Florida. Okay. And I just went back there uh two weeks ago to do a second one. And the speech ends, and this young man named Daniel walks up to me and he goes, Sam, you came in last November. You talked about taking small, consistent actions. Well, check this out. I built this app. Oh my god. It's called Future Habit AI. It tracks your habits. You can choose up to three habits at a time. You click them off every single day. You should check it out. So I downloaded this app now and I'm using it. The kids in high school, he has 20 monthly users just launched. Oh my gosh. I love it. This is so freaking cool.

SPEAKER_05 45:12

That is awesome. It's the coolest little thing. And that's because of he saw you, and he it just came an idea came out of that. And you don't know. Like I didn't know that story.

SPEAKER_06 45:20

I wouldn't have heard that ever unless you went back to the school. Yeah, right. And so how many, how many of those moments occurred that we never hear about? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

So it's a lot, actually. You know, and so piggyback on that, and then we'll kind of wind up. There's another Ed Milette story that you probably have heard before. That I think is just such an awesome story. And Ed Milet gets up one morning, he's you know, getting up from uh sleeping, and he says to his wife, Oh my gosh, somebody saved my dad. He was an alcoholic. I don't know if you ever heard the story. He's he was an alcoholic and he till he was 15, till Ed was 15 years old, his dad was an alcoholic and it was a mess. And he said, You know what's amazing? There's somebody out there in the world right now that is responsible for the fact that I am where I am today. He doesn't even know who he is or she is, and that person might not even be alive anymore. But somebody went to my dad one day at an AA meeting and became his sponsor and saved his dad's life and his career and everything. And Ed said it's amazing is that person there never got the recognition that they needed. So that's what he says is that we do these things in life. I'm got chills now. We we do a lot of things in life that we don't realize, both good and bad. But a lot of times good, you don't realize that when you make those effects, when you talk to that guy on the plane and about the one that built the uh the thing for the phone, when you talk to Megan at the you you don't know what that what trajectory that changed in her life. And then it's not even just her life. What did it change in in her child's life or her mom's life because of what you said to her that day? That's the part about humanity that is just blows your mind. You don't even think about it. Is that the things we do today, the things how we treat people, affects more than just that person or more than just you? It affects a whole a community of people. So it's it's it's interesting. So it's good that you have those stories. It's good that you actually take note of those stories. It's awesome. I appreciate it. Really cool, man. Really cool. So let me just go back. I think there was yeah, there was just one thing that I had in here, and then we'll wrap it up then. But was what yeah, what have you been through to become who you are today? Like tell people how did it, how did you get to where you are today? Like, what you know, because a lot of times you look at somebody you go, okay, John Maxwell talks about people say, Oh, I would love to do what you're doing.

SPEAKER_06 47:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:34

But yeah, he goes, But would you would you have loved to do what I did the last 50 years to get to who I am today?

SPEAKER_06 47:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

So what what got you to where you are? What are the the pain points? Or what were the things that got you that drove you to be who you are?

SPEAKER_06 47:46

The first thing that got me to where I am today is my grandfather.

SPEAKER_01 47:51

No, no, Sam.

SPEAKER_06 47:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think if like if you have lazy grace, if you have lazy grandparents, you're gonna end up lazy. Yep. You know, because your grandparents' parents teach your parents how to do things and they teach you how to do things social. And you know, my grandfather was one of the hardest working people I've ever met. He passed when I was 13. But my dad tells me this story, it's one of my favorites. He woke up one morning and had to do some yard work, so he called my grandfather, his dad,

Work Ethic Doubt And Building A Team

SPEAKER_06 48:17

said, Dad, tomorrow morning, 7 a.m. I need help laying grass. Can you come? And my grandfather said, Yeah, no problem. So my dad wakes up at 7 a.m., goes outside, and the job is finished. My grandfather's standing out there asking him for a coffee to go to work. He showed up at our house at four in the morning. Oh my gosh. And did three hours of work by himself and then left.

SPEAKER_02 48:36

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_06 48:37

And he just he was obsessed with work his entire life. That's all he did was work. And I think I got my work ethic in life from him. And the the idea of working at something until you figure it out, yeah, is the idea I took from him. And I think it's a big reason for why I am who I am today and where I am today. But you know, I spent the last 10 years doing 150 events a year.

SPEAKER_01 48:59

Yeah. It's in the doing.

SPEAKER_06 49:01

In schools and it's in the action.

SPEAKER_01 49:03

Yeah. You're learning in the action. Yeah. Do you and and and and after 10 years, do you feel I I don't know how to say, like in in doing this, you know, with Hugo and I doing this and stuff, you start to get into a place where you not do you feel comfort. There's a comfort zone there. There's a there's a there's a part of we try to always push that comfort zone, and we always try to look outside of that. But do you feel a bit of like, I man, I I I feel good with what I'm doing. I feel good with how I'm received.

SPEAKER_06 49:29

I I battle the perception of myself and others to this day. I'm not sure it's something that'll ever go away. But that's okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 49:37

It's all right.

SPEAKER_06 49:37

But I'm having fun.

unknown 49:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 49:38

Well, that's okay. And people seem like they're enjoying it. And I think as long as I'm having fun and other people are benefiting from it as well, I'm gonna keep showing up. That's all, man.

SPEAKER_01 49:47

And you're and you're doing a great job. And then the last thing is I just said here, who were you last year in comparison to who you are today and why? Well, last year I had no gray hair. Dude, it's just just no, just so you know, it gets out of control it really quick. At 26.

SPEAKER_06 50:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:04

Wow, you're getting gray hair way before I did. Oh man, that's unbelievable. Yeah, it's because you travel a lot. That's just sick. That's just uh your hair's just losing a little color at spots. It's not a big deal.

SPEAKER_05 50:13

I'm spending too much time, man. That's too much time, too much time. But no, that's cool.

SPEAKER_06 50:17

But last year, how did I differ last year from this year?

SPEAKER_02 50:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 50:21

Well, I started understanding that I can only go so far by myself and started really focusing on building a team of amazing human beings. Yeah. I read this book called Buy Back Your Time, which taught me about hiring and managing people and delegating properly.

SPEAKER_02 50:35

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 50:36

And as a result, added four people in the past 12 months in different capacities. And what we've been able to do together is amazing, right? Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 50:46

Yeah, that's cool. Well, it's bringing people in on the dream. Big time. Yeah, on the dream. What's there? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 50:51

You brought someone in and they helped us create our mission, vision, values, and create a structure people could buy into, you know. Awesome. It's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 50:58

No, I I love what you're doing. So I'm just gonna say here, I said this, I think, at one point too. Is that you truly see a story in every single person's life, and that's a gift that you know everybody needs and the world needs today, is that you you see that and then you share it, and then you come on these platforms. And tomorrow I know you're gonna be going to somewhere else to uh talk to some young adults, I'm assuming. And I just think it's awesome what you're doing. I'm really, really, really, really into it. So I just want to say thank you for being here. Thanks for coming to the studio and making that effort because it means a lot. And we'll hope to have you back on again sometime soon after the book comes out September 11th. Thanks, Brad. Yeah, no problem, man. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right, there you have it. Sam Demo. My goodness. That was a great show. I don't know who you are or if you were watching this, that was a good show. Make sure you watch the whole thing because it was amazing. Make sure you go see Sam on Instagram, Facebook, uh, TikTok. He's on he's on everything, basically. And it's all good. Just listen to some of his reels, and uh, and I'm telling you, you'll have chills, you'll have tears coming down your face. You're just gonna love it. All right, that's about it. Thanks for joining us every Thursday at 7 p.m. We will see you next week.

Where To Follow Sam

SPEAKER_01 52:05

All right.