POWER CEOS (Aired 04-14-25) Scaling with Soul in the Age of Overload

[00:00:25] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:29] Speaker B: Welcome to Power CEOs the truth behind the business. I'm Jen Goday, your fearless host, entrepreneur, investor and business strategist. Why are we here? Because iron sharpens iron. And when we bring industry leaders and experts, entrepreneurs and visionaries to share what's working in business and even some of what's not, we all learn and grow. As a result, our businesses grow and that impact ripples out not only to just ourselves, our teams and their families, but also to our communities and our world. You're in for a treat. I'm really excited about our guest today. We have a visionary entrepreneur, founder and CEO of MAD Events Media, a company that's dedicated to revolutionizing event marketing, scaling profitable and purpose driven experiences worldwide. Pedro Jerez. Welcome to the show. [00:01:19] Speaker A: So excited to be here. [00:01:20] Speaker B: Okay, so let's just start with events. Why events? What is it about events that is so special when we're talking about business? [00:01:30] Speaker A: I think just one thing that I can throw out there really quickly about this is that Google recently put out a study called 711 4. Have you heard about this? [00:01:39] Speaker B: Yes, actually, yeah. [00:01:40] Speaker A: It's a, you know, seven hours of content over 11 different touch points across four different platforms. And that's on average, right. For someone become a customer across all of the data that they've accumulated through. [00:01:54] Speaker B: Their advertising, that's a lot of time too. [00:01:56] Speaker A: That's a lot of time. Right. And events literally hit on all three of those categories. And so it's a really incredible, powerful tool to create raving fans of people who are just ready to buy from you. [00:02:10] Speaker B: And you don't just host events, you host experiences. Talk to me a little bit about the difference between the two. [00:02:18] Speaker A: Anybody can throw on an event. An experience is like everything is extremely thoughtful and by design, like nothing is left a chance. So that by the time that someone gets to the end of that experience, there's an inevitable outcome that someone wants to do, which is ultimately become a customer. You know, that's when marketing does its job, Marketing does its job. When sales, all they need to do is say, hey, this is something that you've decided you already want to do. And someone says, yeah, I would love to do that. Right. That means marketing did its job. Right. And so that's, that's what I would call an elevated event. An event that's been really thoughtful and designed from the ground up. [00:03:01] Speaker B: And so let's, let's break that down a little bit further because some people think, oh yeah, I've been to an event, I can do this. I Know, you've experienced that before, and. And it doesn't exactly go the way they think it's going to go. [00:03:15] Speaker A: Yeah, well, the first time that I really had an appreciation for this was I started my career working for Tony Robbins. And the first time that I saw the syntax for Unleash the Power within, which is an event that Tony's been doing for close to 40 years. And, you know, most papers, like, 11, eight by five, something like that by 11 or something like that by 11, yeah. And these papers were like, extremely wide. And it's like minute by minute, playbook, literally over the course of four days. And if you watch. If you hold the playbook in your hand and then you watch Tony on stage, it literally matches literally to the T. And it was several pages of this, like, the entire thing entirely by design. I was like, okay, maybe there's something more to this than, hey, let's gather some people and talk about stuff. [00:04:06] Speaker B: Imagine that. But it's not just about what's happening on the stage either. It's thinking about every friction point along the way. What is it like once they register? How do they feel like they're being handheld through the experience? How do you create those moments, even when it's not from the stage, that people are like, I don't want to leave. How do I continue this? Like, talk a little bit about behind the scenes, Some of the prep that goes into that. [00:04:34] Speaker A: Well, I think one of the questions, for example, like, if you. If you know that you're starting off with a complete stranger and, like, your goal at the very end, like, there's. There's. There's transformational events where they're just fulfillment events and you're just there to deliver. And there's also what's called, like, conversion events, right? Events that are designed to actually convert either one independent of what you're doing. There's a belief chain that's ultimately taking place along the way, right? So if you're taking a complete stranger and at the end of the event, you want that person, you want to invite them into your world, you want them to know that that's something they want to do. Then ultimately, from very first exposure all the way through, like, the question is, like, what do they need to believe ultimately along the way to get to the end of that experience and know that it's something that they want to do, whatever that next thing is for you, like, it should be the next logical step in the journey, right? So, like, if you see an ad and then you get to a Landing page about purchasing an event and joining an event, how does that become the next logical step? And once you purchase it, you know, how do you actually start to create engagement? Right. And have people want to know like whatever it is that they're going to be offering at the end. I already know I want to do this because that we started establishing certain beliefs along the way. You know, how about like during the actual event, you know, I think about a conversion event. Like an analogy I'll give is like if you had a balloon, right? And you're just like blowing air into that balloon, you want it, you want to get it to the point to eventually where the balloon just pops, right? And the balloon popping for me represents someone making a decision that they know is in their best interest. And what happens so many times why so many people do events and maybe don't get the results that they want is that they might do certain things to like add air to the balloon, right. But then they're deflating it. They're deflating it by maybe over teaching or it might be a wide range of different things that can ultimately kill the conversions on the back end. [00:06:28] Speaker B: You are a genius at this. This is your, what you do. You are really masterful. How did you get here? [00:06:36] Speaker A: A lot of trial and error and a lot of really amazing mentors. A lot of amazing mentors. I think it all started for me working for Tony, going to almost every single event that he did over the course of four years. And so I got a chance to see what a multi nine figure event based business looked like from the inside out. And that was really the beginning of my journey. And that really opened a lot of doors to then work with some really incredible people who started trusting me in really big ways in their business. You know, from writing all the copy to then designing the strategy to then being their right hand. And it just started kind of progressing in leadership, you know, as I was growing in my own career and like just having to solve for problems in real time, you know, like some will run an event and someone will say, oh, we can't get more than X amount of people. But I'm like, but why? [00:07:33] Speaker B: Right, right. [00:07:34] Speaker A: So like I feel like my superpower in life has always been able to take a look at a really complex problem and somehow be able to dissect that and come up with a way to approach solving that problem. I don't know. It's the way just my brain has always worked. And along the way I've been able to now have ran some of the largest virtual and live events in the entire info industry. The thought leadership industry, coaching industry. But a lot of trial and error and a lot of hard work. [00:08:10] Speaker B: So one of the things that people always ask me is okay. Or they, or they, they interact and they say it's really hot, tough. I just had this big fail. What was the biggest fail you had when you started doing this for yourself? And how did you pick yourself up? Because that resilience and that ability to do so is a really big struggle for a lot of people. [00:08:29] Speaker A: I think for me, I think my biggest failure was getting what I thought I wanted just to realize that I missed the mark entirely. And that's when I made my first million dollars. [00:08:41] Speaker B: So I want to hear more. How did we miss the mark entirely? [00:08:44] Speaker A: Ever since I was a little boy, I knew I was meant to do a lot of big stuff. I was five years old, me and my dad were walking through the MGM Grand Casino. We saw a million dollars in cash, which was the prize that the casino was advertising. And I looked at my dad at 5 years old. We were wearing matching suits, classic men in black. And I said in Spanish, I'm going to be a millionaire. And he looked at me and he just smiled. And that was the moment that bonded me and my dad forever. It set me off on a dream, but it also set me off in wanting to make my dad proud. And so, so much of what drove me, so much of my life was like that ambition. And Fast forward almost 20 years later to the T when that finally happened. My dad was there to witness the physical materialization of that. And there was an event that I did for myself, had over 220 people there. And I had 220 people around a ballroom, basically saying, sharing what they were taking away from these last two days. And people shared incredible things. I was feeling incredibly emotional. I see that my dad's by the entrance of the ballroom. It was in New York. So he was there, he was invited. And I see tears coming down his face. I've seen that man cry three times in my whole life. [00:10:01] Speaker B: Wow. [00:10:02] Speaker A: That was one of them. And I was like, I did it. I achieved the thing that I wanted to achieve. Made my dad proud. I go to bed, I wake up the next day and the first question that comes to my mind is now what? [00:10:19] Speaker B: Oh, I got chills. Because it's such a common challenge for people. I've had this goal, I've worked for this goal. I'm an achiever. I did this. And then, and then, what's Next. So what was next? [00:10:31] Speaker A: What was next is refunding people a lot of money, shutting it down, and going on a soul's journey. Something wasn't right. I didn't know what that was, but I knew I just had to go and figure it out. And that that would guide me to wherever it is that was meant to be guided. And that took me all the way to Thailand to where I met my spiritual mentor. And he gave me the greatest gift that any other human being has ever given me in my life. And it was showing me that everything that was causing me disease or that was bothering me, that was just a reflection of something that was going on inside of myself, everything I wanted to blame people for. I was, like, in one of the most beautiful places in the world, just feeling incredibly depressed. I was like, something's not right here. And he just kept on gently mirroring me, mirroring me, mirroring me. And in that, I found an incredible gift, which was just freedom in my own body. It was like six months of spiritual boot camp. And that then led to meeting my next mentor, which was kind of like what I would call my business spiritual mentor. [00:11:40] Speaker B: That's really powerful. And, you know, sometimes when we do that, we go through this soul searching, we go through mindset where we do so much inner work. And I love that you brought that to the forefront, because a lot of times I work with a lot of clients, and I always tell them, you have to do the inner work first. It's not going to happen. The next level, it requires us knowing what we actually want and understanding and working through that stuff. And sometimes it's three steps back or 10 steps back to do exactly that spiritual journey, mentorship, whatever that may look like, so that we can break through and have a clear understanding of why we're here and what we want to do next. We do have to take a brief break, but we will be right back, folks, with more after these messages. Okay. [00:12:45] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:12:52] Speaker B: Welcome Back to Power CEOs, the truth behind the business. Before the break, we were talking with Pedro Jerez, founder and CEO of Mad Events Media, about his achieving that goal, that success that he had set in his mind and realizing that he missed the mark. So, spiritual journey later, I'm here to continue the conversation. What happened after you found these mentors, when you found your business mentor, if you will? [00:13:21] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I think I just want to take one step back and just say that when I ended up taking this trip overseas, I ended up meeting this couple and specifically this guy. His name was Chris And I told him a bunch about me. And eventually he asked me. I asked him about himself, and I asked him, hey, what do you do? And I had told him about my Tony Robbins background and stuff like that. And he basically said, I help people who are ready to wake up, wake up. [00:13:50] Speaker B: Wow. [00:13:52] Speaker A: And I was like, what's that? I was so naive at the time. At that time in my life, I was just all business, like, all head. And his next answer was like, it's kind of just like the next level from where you are now. And it's like the perfect answer that anyone could have ever given me to, like, make me lean in into something that made absolutely no sense to me at all. Fast Forward eventually ended up meeting my business mentor. And this was just eight years ago, and his name is Jannik Silvers. And Jannik had just finished writing a book called Evolved Enterprise. And he's sitting right next to me at a business mastermind. And he handed me an early copy of his book. He was speaking at the mastermind. And inside of it, he said, here's to the future of doing business. And literally what that book gave me was a new pair of glasses in which to see the world. And I've never seen business ever the same. Ever since then. He would say things like. He would say things along the lines of like, write the business love story that you want the world to buy. I never thought of business that way. It's like you just kind of come with a message that resonates with somebody, and then, you know, hopefully they buy it, Right? And he just had these philosophies, almost like a business philosopher, and just kind of like, just like went deep into my heart, and I was like. And I. I literally felt like the energy, like, bubbling up inside of me if I was reading this. And I was like, I never want to do business the same way ever again. He highlighted companies like Patagonia and Tom Shoes and Auburns and all these different companies. And he showed how businesses can stand for something more than just the products and services that they sell. I didn't know that was possible, right? And he showed me that it was possible. And that's led to so much of, like, my current drive and my current vision. Like, currently, I have a vision over the next 10, 20 years that I want to donate a billion dollars to charity through a greater ecosystem that is being formed. You know, I think there's two ways that you really have a difference. Either you do it with your dollars, and you can align your businesses with your dollars, but the other way is by influencing culture, which is why marketing and marketing and branding are such key components of what you're building. Like, through just existing a company like Patagonia has had. Has made more of a difference on, you know, climate change than organizations that. That's all they do, right? Or any government initiative or anything like that. [00:16:38] Speaker B: And why is that? [00:16:41] Speaker A: When you. When you connect with a brand like that, there's a certain level of resonance that it holds a certain level of frequency that when you encounter it, if you're ready, you'll never be the same again, because it expands your awareness into an identity that you already desire to live into, but no one has invited you into. And that's what branding does when it's done at the highest level. And now their slogan is, we're in business to save our home planet. Oh, we just happen to be a company that sells clothing. [00:17:16] Speaker B: Mm. [00:17:18] Speaker A: Resonance. Yes, resonance. How can we make our brands vibrate? When you come across a brand that vibrates, it changes you. [00:17:27] Speaker B: It absolutely does. And. And what it does is it magnetically pulls you in, and there is no selling involved when it comes to that. If you are in resonance with a brand, you're. That creates that brand insistence. That's brand ambassador, if you will. The people who shout from the. From the rooftops that, hey, come with me, and builds that. That sense. And, and you, you're building that with. With what you're doing and your vision. So talk to me a little bit about what does that look like when we're bringing that into the event space? [00:18:01] Speaker A: It's just. It's just creating a bigger vision for what you're doing. Right. It's like anything in life. Like, you can just do events or you can do events that stand for something more. It's like, I just want to make this broad for everybody. In addition to events. It's like you can do whatever you're doing or you can play bigger. Right? And usually every time that I have found that I have become passive in anything that I'm doing in life is because my vision is not compelling enough. It sounds good, but it's not really that compelling. [00:18:32] Speaker B: It's not getting you out of bed in the morning, ready to go. [00:18:35] Speaker A: Well, not only that, but it's hard to, like, if you're ever having trouble, like, acquiring allies in your journey and like people to support you on your journey, it's like, chances are your vision just isn't big enough, so people don't want to help you. [00:18:46] Speaker B: But a lot of people think very small they don't believe that they can dream bigger or think bigger or have that bigger vision because of where they come from or who they are. How would you advise them to. What would you advise them to do so that they could start to crack open that shell? [00:19:02] Speaker A: I think one is just getting around people who think differently. I truly believe that your environment shapes you. So when I, Janik, for the first time eight years ago, he dropped a pebble into my pond of water that has infinitely rippled through meeting that human in my lifetime. And. But if I didn't put myself in an environment to be in a position to meet him, it would have never happened, right. And then his book was the next thing. But I think the way I think because of who I surround myself with, right. And so I would encourage people just to like, really evaluate their environment. Right. If. If you're around people who are inspired and who want to change the world and want to do big things and feel a sense of conviction for what is it that they're creating, you can't help but be inspired. You can't help but think bigger. You can't help but start to become that and operate from that frequency. And so I can't take any credit other than I feel like I've surrounded myself in the right people. But then I think the other, the other side of things is like, at some point you get to a place in your life where it's less about what you want from life and now it's more of like, what does life want from you? And you combine the two together and there's that middle point of what you're here to do, your purpose and the ways that you're meant to give your gifts in the world. [00:20:31] Speaker B: And you have one heck of a purpose that you're showing up. You and I have talked about quite a few things that you're doing. We have, we have just a few more minutes and we have a wide audience. We have an audience of entrepreneurs, executives on purpose entrepreneurs, people who maybe have a traditional business who would like to become that purpose led, purpose driven brand. What haven't we covered? What do you wish people would ask you? But they never do. [00:20:58] Speaker A: Oof. That's a big question. I don't, I don't know if I know the answer to that. But what I will say is that I am. I'm a guy who. I grew up in the Bronx in New York City. And I've always known, ever since I was a little kid that all I needed, I didn't need anyone to give me Anything. Like, I just literally needed an opportunity. And if you're watching and, like, you're feeling maybe like, oh, I don't know what my next move is or how I'm supposed to, like, play bigger at this stage of my life, like, I really just want to encourage you to, like, just wake up, you know? Just, like, wake up, you know, look at yourself in the mirror and, like, is this all that you're really, truly here to give? You know? And I really have this fundamental belief in life that everything that we want in life, the relationships we want, the businesses that we want, the people we want to work with, the bodies that we want in life, like, that all lives on the other side of one word, and it's generosity. And then the question becomes, like, how generous? Like, if you don't have what you want in life, right? If you don't have the relationships that you want in life, then how generous are you being in your relationships? You know, if you don't have the business that you want, then how generous are you being in your business? You know, if you don't have the people that you want, then how generous you being with the people in your life? How about your relationship and all these other areas? And, you know, it's a confronting question, but if you're willing to. To lean into that a little bit and be okay with that discomfort, then I think you might find something really powerful that might start to grow in you to create something amazing. [00:22:47] Speaker B: Oh, I've got chills. I love everything that you said. I truly come from that space, too. When we give and we find that giving ins of ourselves, it can't help but come back in ways that we can't even imagine half the time. And when we meet with other people who are in that space, it's almost like magic happens. I don't want to say that that word too much on the air, but it really does. When you surround yourself by people who are vibing higher, who have big visions, who are big thinkers solving big problems, who are collaborating together for a bigger purpose, something greater than ourselves, it's almost like magic happens. It just. It just does. And it's because we no longer. We let go of all of the things anchoring us to who we. And it allows us to step into the next, to the next level. Thank you for sharing that. It was super powerful. We are getting close to our break, but how can people reach out to you if they'd like to learn more about either your companies or some of the things that you're doing? Entrepreneurship on purpose. How can they reach out to you? [00:23:44] Speaker A: Yeah. So matteventsmedia.com that's where you can learn all about what we're doing in the event space. So that's one way to do it. A little bit about our story and who we work with and our big mission and also encourage people to if the whole on purpose stuff really resonates with them, then I also wrote a [email protected] it's about a 10,000 word manifesto that talks about this type of doing business in this way and also provides a bit of a playbook on how people can get started and why. I think that this is the future. [00:24:20] Speaker B: I think that's fantastic. Thank you for that and thank you for joining me today. I really appreciate it. [00:24:24] Speaker A: I appreciate you. So fun. [00:24:26] Speaker B: Absolutely. You heard it. Definitely reach out to Pedro. He is doing amazing things. He, he has quite a wealth of experience behind him and can really help you to take that next step and get to that next level. We do have to take a brief break, but we'll be right back after these messages. [00:24:51] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:25:11] Speaker B: Welcome Back to power CEOs the truth behind the Business. If you're just tuning in, you're going to want to go to NowMedia TV, click on shows and catch the first half of today's episode. It has been epic. We are talking about real and relevant, you know, human relationships in the first part of today. And we're going to shift gears just slightly because I have our next amazing guest here. She is CEO and founder of NGN G Enterprises, a book and business strategist, multi bestseller selling author, speaker, all the things. But the most important thing for you to know is Amber is a master of branding, digital strategy and personal alignment, especially, especially in chaotic times. So today we're going to dive into what true alignment looks like in today's high pressure AI influenced business world. Welcome to the show, Amber. [00:26:00] Speaker C: Thanks Jen. I just really admire what you're doing with the show and the way that you lead. And so I think this is going to be an incredible conversation for everyone. Thanks for having me. [00:26:09] Speaker B: Absolutely. I'm so excited because, you know, building a business that not only scales but also feels authentic, especially in an age of constant disruption, is so incredibly important. So I'm going to ask you just to kind of open us up. How do we build a business that reflects our values? How do you define alignment when it comes to business? Is it about strategy or something a little bit deeper? [00:26:31] Speaker C: So I'm actually going to take you back to about five years ago. And as I was approaching 40, I noticed that I didn't have the same energy levels that I used to have when I was a 20 year old punk in digital marketing book publishing. And I was starting to do the math, Jen, and I was thinking, this isn't sustainable. I can't wake up every day pushing the boulder up the hill to force my success to happen. There has to be a more natural way. So I started looking back on the work that I was really doing with my clients over the years as I was launching their books and their brands. And I came up with a foundational four framework that helps entrepreneurs get into alignment. Now what that means is living in line with your deepest beliefs, needs and values. And what I find is that most entrepreneurs are out of alignment and they don't even know it. If you sense that you have blind spots, you're missing something, something feels off, I don't have clarity. This feels harder than I think it should be. These are all signals that you're out of alignment. And by shifting into alignment, you are operating in a much more natural state estate that naturally attracts like minded qualified customers to you, where you have an easier time connecting with them, activating them and converting them. And at that point you just have to follow through in what you say you're going to do and offer a quality service in order to retain and scale. So alignment is more important now than. [00:28:03] Speaker B: Ever before, you know, and, and, and I couldn't agree more. And especially in today's digital age, like authenticity and alignment is, they seem like they're buzzwords, but it's so much more than a buzzword on social. But let's, let's kind of dig a little deeper into this because you work with so many founders. What are the most common misalignments that you see in business models? Because sometimes we're not really in tune until it's like a big deal. So what are some of the most common misalignments and what are kind of the red flags before we notice that we feel something's off? [00:28:38] Speaker C: It always is most common in marketing because most business owners say, I hate marketing, I don't like social media, I don't want to be an influencer. Influencer. Can somebody else just do it for me? And the answer is no, not if you are more of a thought leader, an influencer, an author, speaker, somebody who has direct influence on educating and leading their own community. You have to be visible in order for people to connect with you and convert in that way. And I'm not Saying that you have to be all things in every aspect of your company, but especially in marketing, it comes from you and within your vision. Your deepest why? Not because you want to help people, but because there's some unmet need in you around freedom or empowerment or joy, something that you are personally driven toward. And if you can give that away and cultivate that through your marketing, it will naturally activate other people who want to feel a lot of those same things. Traditional marketing, Jen, I mean, we could just hammer people with content and it would work. But ever since COVID and the rise of mistrust and misinformation and disillusionment, we are relying more on our feelings to make more decisions, which is a really interesting and massive shift in marketing. So by getting into alignment, you're tapping into those deeper feelings and needs. And when you are conveying them through your marketing, people naturally start to convert. So if your marketing isn't effective, if your sales are diminishing, if you are feeling overwhelmed and uncertain what to do, I'm going to suggest you start with marketing. Start by expressing your deepest beliefs, what you really want to say to your audience base. And if you just focus on that, watch how the tables start turning and more people will feel safer with you and they're going to move forward with you even if they don't totally understand what it is exactly that you do, because they don't really feel safe anywhere else. [00:30:41] Speaker B: Okay. And so I know immediately the next question, because I can hear the questions that are going to come through my email and LinkedIn based off of this. But wait, what if my deepest beliefs are in religious or political or some other fashion? That's a big no no to put out into the world because I don't want to put off certain people or alienate clientele. [00:31:04] Speaker C: What then? [00:31:04] Speaker B: Like, what's your advice to those entrepreneurs who went, wait a minute, this is a little bit more sharing than what I'm accustomed to. [00:31:12] Speaker C: Thank you. Because I am certainly not advocating for that. I do not share politics or religion inside of my platform. But for me, Jen, it really comes from, and this is me personally, my story comes from a place of feeling, like it was safer to be invisible in the world. And so a lot of my root core beliefs are around not using my voice because I didn't want something bad to happen. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs are driving toward something that, that they didn't have previously. So visibility can be really challenging for entrepreneurs. I'm more saying that you can promote things like kindness or accountability to your audience and educating them, but not hiding saying it how you really want to say it and really connecting with your audience, not sharing things that are going to stir the pot. I don't know that that's the right move for your business in today's political environment, unless that's like part brand message. But I'm more saying stop hiding, stop hiding. Say what you really want to say. Talk to one person, make it specific, make it count, make it matter. Don't just spew generic random content out there hoping that it's going to work, because it simply won't in this environment anymore. [00:32:31] Speaker B: You know, I'm, I'm immediately drawn to you. I literally did a, did a topical presentation in the AI space yesterday, and I generally keep it a little moderated. And I'm a no bs, straight, direct to the point kind of girl. And so I tried this on for Size, knowing that I was going to be speaking with you today. And so I was a little snarky and I like put it right out there. And I was very direct and bold with some of the assertions that I made. And do you know what? It literally worked. I had 10 people in my inbox before I finished asking for a consultation. So I tried your. I tried this on for size, folks, and I'm just saying this truly works. And I was really hesitant because in the AI space, there's not a whole lot of women. There's not a lot of women. And so it's, you tend to want to fit in with the, the imagery and with everybody else. Reality is, is I'm a woman, I'm not a man in tech. [00:33:31] Speaker C: And what businesses need now more than ever before is differentiation. [00:33:36] Speaker B: Yes. [00:33:37] Speaker C: If you are like everybody else, you're not going to stand out and people will not trust you because they will intuitively sense that something is off. So only when you can just be your true natural self in all of your forms, right? And just put it out there, you'll see that your people who match that frequency or match more of your personality. Like, if I tried to be snarky, it would not work for me, but works awesome for Jen. And I celebrate who Jen is, and that's her differentiation. So the more she leans into that now, your, your core values will be your guardrails. Am I overdoing it? Am I overcompensating? Am I hiding? You know, you want to try to practice this just as if you would be practicing movement in a gym. You want to practice it to know where your, your natural baseline is and not try to go over, under. You know, don't be so extreme. [00:34:37] Speaker B: Well, it's really easy when you're just being yourself and you don't like. I'm a. [00:34:41] Speaker C: No. [00:34:41] Speaker B: I don't hold punches. And anybody who's ever coached or consulted with me knows I don't hold punches. Anybody who watches this show knows if somebody says something I don't agree with, I'm like, wait, hold on. What about this? So it made perfect sense. And so I love that. Use your core values as guardrails. If you're watching, if you're listening, make sure you're taking notes. And so I'm going to ask you, because every. Everything I do here is I want something practical. What can people do if they're like, okay, well, I don't know what this looks like for me because I've operated in this box for 30 years, 20 years, 10 years. What's the first step that they can do? Maybe. Maybe an alignment audit, something that they can do to detect if they're not exactly aligned in their messaging. [00:35:27] Speaker C: Yeah, Well, I do have a congruence assessment, actually, and it's. It's listed inside of this book, Infinite Impact, that published last year. And It's a simple 20 questions. And you just go through and you know, it's a ranking system. And you can very quickly see by the end of these 20 questions how much in alignment or out of alignment, you really are in all areas of your business. So it tackles anything from team to marketing to sales to branding and everything. So that would be the first thing. But the second thing, again, even without getting a book and going through the assessment, if you feel like you have a blind spot, you're already out of alignment and there's something calling you, there's something trying to emerge. And especially in an age of disruption, that's when that inner voice starts to get louder and louder and louder. And the reality is, is if you are out of alignment, headed into this much accelerated chaos, you know, I would just be concerned for you. So this isn't a nice to have. This is something that I would tackle immediately, if not sooner. [00:36:35] Speaker B: So just to wrap up, because we do have to break for commercial, if you are feeling anything isn't quite right, if that inner voice is going, wait a minute, something's not right. Pause, stop. Do not press go. Assess. What's not right, what's missing? Pick up Amber's book. We'll have more on that after the break so that you can know how to find that. But today's the Day that you press pause before you keep going. Because if we're about to accelerate and we're going to automate and do other things, we need to make sure that we are amplifying that authenticity and that alignment. We'll be right back after these messages. Foreign welcome back to Power CEO, the truth behind the business. I am here with Amber and we are talking all things alignment in business. And before the break, she drops that truth bomb on us. That's right. If something doesn't quite feel right, if we're missing something or we don't feel like we're operating in a method that's in alignment with our core truth, our core values, what we stand for in business, Pause, do not press go, do not automate and accelerate that. Let's fix it now before we amplify that with technology such as artificial intelligence. Yes, I know. We've been talking about AI for a long time and more and more people are starting to integrate it. So. So Amber, using AI without losing your, your true alignment, your humanity and your authenticity, where does AI fit into aligned business growth? [00:38:27] Speaker C: Absolutely. I love this topic because it's a little controversial that on the top of my book here I put human made. And so people are like, what? Why did you put that on the COVID And it's because I'm, it's not because I'm trying to take a stand against AI. I love AI. I use it all day, every day to accelerate my thinking, to help me troubleshoot. But it will never replace my, my voice, my deepest truth. And that's the distinction. Now AI can, you know, upload my book, it can give me some sound bites, but I then have the ultimate say of discernment to make sure that when I put out a piece of content, I am only speaking to one individual and that is my avatar, Heather, that I know. My vision is to help her feel heard, seen and valued in this moment. Because what we both have in common is the fight for freedom of self expression and to feel self reliant in this world. And I just know that by putting my alignment on top of AI that I am going to be able to connect with my audience and activate and convert them in a more natural way. [00:39:43] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So let's break that down. I mean, there are a ton of tools available. How do leaders, entrepreneurs, founders avoid the trap of over automation? We're seeing it, we're seeing automation, we're seeing the AI over automation. And in some instances it's getting a little bit aggressive or pushy, sometimes very snarky. And there's just no kind of humanity left in some of the automations, especially on social media and messaging and email. So how do you maintain the human touch in areas like marketing, leadership, communication, some of these things that have kind of been a little auto or over automated at this point in time. How do you balance that automation with authenticity? [00:40:29] Speaker C: Well, remember differentiation? So if everybody else is starting to be chaotic in their marketing and they're cutting up editing and adding emojis and sounds and it's really messy and crazy, my social media is going to be calming less edits, right? Something that feels very different from that kind of noise. And then again, if I'm even creating a piece of content where it's been scripted in advance and I'm using a teleprompter, I might get AI to help me frame it, but then I'm going to edit it to make sure that it is the way I would say it to my avatar in that moment based on what I know from a human level. So I think that AI can get us 80% of the way there, maybe 90%. But we need to take it that last percentage and then use our brains around what's going to make me stand out in the marketplace and how can I make sure that I am keeping my end customer in mind as a, as a living, breathing human that is deeply afraid, guarded, you know, uncertain, you know, probably overwhelmed, exhausted. Right. Not that I'm trying to paint a doom and gloom picture, but that does sum up how a lot of people are feeling right now. So as long as I maintain that awareness of like really wanting to be in service to my audience, then it's going to work for me. [00:41:53] Speaker B: You know, I love that and I want to kind of, I don't like to dwell on the negative either, but let's talk a little bit about the emotional cost of tech overload and digital exhaustion because we are seeing it. So many people are like, I just can't anymore. I don't want one more platform, I don't want to. And founders don't want to do this. I actually literally was just talking to a couple founders last night about this at an in person event and they're like, I just, I just can't do social media anymore because it is so much noise. I'm overwhelmed. And now that I've got automations, I don't have to do the things that, that are crazy. So how, how, how are you dealing with that emotional toll? You see, when teams and leaders rely too heavily on tech or even the Founders are like, wait, I just can't anymore. I'm mind blown right now. [00:42:47] Speaker C: Yeah, you have to listen to that and protect yourself. I mean, I am not somebody that spends a lot of time on social media. I batch record a lot of my video content and I have a team that disperses it for me and they alert me when there are certain comments or dms that I could respond to. But I protect my energy at all costs because I am one person that is responsible for a lot of clients, team communities. I really have an interest in changing the world of publishing, which is no small goal. And so if I go down mentally, then the whole thing collapses. So I'm not subscribed to a bunch of newsletters. I'm very protective about my input. I have one source of news that I look at once a day for about seven minutes and I'm just, when I go to social media for maybe five or 10 minutes a day, Jen, my feed is full of artists and nature videos and musicians and people that inspire me. And so I just have to really protect that at all costs. And I recommend the same thing, not just for founders, but also team and founders. If you're not paying attention to your team's mental health, then let this be your wake up call because they are struggling with it, probably far more so than you are because you know better. Like you're in mastermind circles and you're a part of, you know, the communication and culture that's protecting CEOs. But what about teams? So yeah, I think it's just, it's a healthy move into self protection. [00:44:20] Speaker B: And, and so as someone who is doing this work in this space, like what's one way that everybody watching can maybe review their workflows and, and determine is this tool helping us reduce friction or is it just adding to that noise and that tech overload? Like what is your go to advice for people when they're working with their teams? [00:44:42] Speaker C: Well, one that could be helpful for you is honestly use AI to help you solve the answer, like solve the problem. You could voice note into A.I. all of the things that you're thinking and feeling and experiencing in all of these different areas and ask AI to assess what it just picked up from your, you know, admission basically. And you can find a lot of incredible data points that way. So I mean, that's one thing that you could try. But the second thing, Jen, is I just heavily listen to my body. So if I'm doing a task and all of a sudden I notice my heart increase, I notice that My energy starts to drop or I'm out of breath or I just feel exhausted. That is cue number one that I need to take a step back and really assess if this is important. Do I need to be doing this? Can somebody else do it? Can AI get rid of it for me so that I am only doing activities that are life giving and not life taking? [00:45:39] Speaker B: I love that. And so, Amber, we are getting kind of near the close and I want to make sure that if people are watching, they have a way to get in touch with you. If they're listening, how can they reach out to you? We've already talked a little bit about your book, so how can they pick up your book? How can they reach out to learn more about getting their business into alignment so that they can not only grow, but scale in a way that's authentic to them and just brings joy? [00:46:04] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, honestly, my work in the world is to help people feel self reliant and free. I think entrepreneurship is the way to get that. And one of the fastest ways to scale is by launching a book. So when you get your content out into the world, it's your biggest differentiator. My book is called Infinite Impact. You can find it on Amazon if you Google Amber Vilhauer. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in the world with that name. So, like I'm everywhere. But my work in the world is really to help entrepreneurs write a great book, to launch it, make it a bestseller, and use that as a tool to leverage to really scale your profit and your impact. And it's been a 20 year incredible business. I'm so grateful and I'm very accessible. If anybody has questions or feedback on this episode, I'd love to hear from you. [00:46:53] Speaker B: Fantastic. So we have just one more minute. Based off of everything we've talked about today, is there anything that you really want to share with the audience or an action that you would love for them to take? [00:47:05] Speaker C: Yes, and it's what my company stands for. NGNG stands for no guts, no glory. And this is not a time to shrink. This is a time to lean and find your courage, find your resiliency, reconnect with your deepest values, beliefs, and why, and get up and go lead because humanity needs you right now. No guts, no glory. [00:47:29] Speaker B: I couldn't agree more. Thank you so much for bringing your expertise to everybody who's watching today. I really appreciate you being on Amber. [00:47:37] Speaker C: Thanks so much. And you. [00:47:40] Speaker B: Yes, you. Unfortunately, all good things do come to an end, including this show. But you have an action step, and I love it. No guts, no glory. Show up as entrepreneurs, as executives, as investors. We are the leaders who are going who. We have an opportunity to shape the world and make it a better place. So today's the day to take that action, whatever that means for you when you do your reflection. Good news is we'll be here same time, same station next week. So until then, win today, win this week, and we'll see you next time. [00:48:15] Speaker A: This has been a NOW Media Network's feature presentation. All rights reserved.