Super Stacking

So this segment, we're goingto talk about super stacking,super stacking.All right.OK, super stacking.What the heck is that?Super stacking isthe term I Stole.I Stole from peoplewho work out.I think it's awhat is that calledbranched chain amino acids.And if you take a certaincombination of proteinsand supplements, it allowsyou to build muscle quickerand to recoverfaster from workouts.And I was thinking, that'san interesting concept.So in the rightcombination of things,you can actually hack your body,hack performance and thingslike that.And I started thinking aboutthat around who you areand who you are as a person.And I think formost of us, we showthe world like one part,one facet of who we are.And usually that's ourprofessional self, the thingsthat we have a lot of skill at.So if you're reallygood at running,you might be a sprinter andthat's what you show, people.But you can alsobe an amazing chefor have an interest inbuilding box heightsor something like that.So I started to think aboutcertain areas that would defineall people and thatthe more you'reable to overlap yourindividual circles, I thinkor definitions, the more happyyou be, the happier we'll be,the more powerful you beand the wealthier you be.Because of a result ofdoing things that you lovethat are able to combine allyour interests and the thingsthat you're good at.So I came up withfive prompts and I'mgoing to speak off the cuffbecause I don't remember allof them off the top of my head.Let's see if we got it right.The pro group, youcan look up that call.I think it's calledFinding Your superpower,and there are fiveprompts, so weneed to know whatwe're good at thingsthat we're trained to do.Basically, for most of us, it'skind of what our profession is.We need to knowwhat makes us happy.So that would be thesecond from thingsthat just fill us up with joy.And the third one is opportunitywhere opportunities right now.This could be trendsthat are happening.We're becomingincreasingly connectedthrough the digital world.The idea of the cloudhas become prettymuch like a standard thing now.It used to be a thing thatpeople talk about all the time.A very difficult concept.We're spending more timeon our mobile phonesand we're seemingly OK nowwith owning fewer possessionsbecause the sharing economyis like a real thing.We share homes, we sharebikes, we share cars,we share just abouteverything that we have.And this is onlygoing to continue.So those are whereopportunities exist now.The traditional model is youonly needed those three things.So what makes you happy?What you're good at doing andwhere opportunities exist,inferring that whereopportunities exist,you make money andyou need to findwhere those things overlap.But I think it's leavingout a few things.This is where I forgetwhat it's called.It's the it's calledthe triple net or.And I forget, like you haveto kind of think of somethinglarger, but the fourthprompt is society like whatyou do to contribute to others.Because I thinkthat's important,so the first threeare all about you.The fourth one is, canthere be an overlapwith what's good for theenvironment or peopleor cultures or something else?How you contributeto the advancementand the betterment of humanity?And the last one, whichwas a frivolous one,but I think it'simportant to consideris things that you'rejust passionate about.Now, some peoplemight say, well,isn't passionateand happy to see.Maybe, maybe not,isn't it isn't.What you're passionate aboutis also what your skill thatmaybe, maybe not.I was just tryingto help open up.Different ways ofthinking so that you'reable to fill in as manythings under each category aspossible.So there are things that I thinkI'm passionate about that I'venever thought of as there'san opportunity to do somethinglike that for money,nor am I good enoughto be a professional at that.For example, I playvideo games, so I'mvery passionate about that.Watching movies, Ilove watching movies.I like watching TV shows.I like to dissect things I like.I like gear and camera.I like architecture.I like furniture.I like fashion clothing.I like all kinds of things.And so what you do is you.You create thesebuckets, these $5and you trying to fill themwith as many things thatdescribe who youare and what you'reinterested in as possible.And then you put allthose buckets together,and if you can dumpthem into a circleand you trying to move as manyof them together as possible,this is the ideaof super stacking.So when you're inthat space, whereare you able to combineas much of who you are?I think you become somethingyou transcend who you are today.And I won't give you anexample of what I mean.OK so for many years, I taught.I taught for over 15 yearsat Art Center at Otis.I've talked, I taughtworkshops at Cal arts,and I love teaching.So if I were to breakdown, well, what?What do I get out of teaching?Well?I love workingwith other people.I like sharing what I know.I like learning new things.Because every time Ihave to teach something,I have to learn somethingnew to add to that.I like talking aboutdesign, and I'm good at it,I think I'm prettygood at teaching too.And so it gives megreat joy, and whenI'm teaching theclassroom, I getto be a little bit of a gesture.I get to have outrageousexpressions and all the kindsof things that I'm doingthat you guys mightsee on camera now.And that was wonderful.But unfortunately, it didn'tconnect to some other things,so it didn't connectto opportunity.It didn't connect to theway that the world is today.The way I teach and theway most teaching is doneis still fairlytraditional and dates backa couple of years, at least.So not much has changed there.So that's why whenI went to teach,I didn't earn a lot of money.I earned sometimesless money than I paidfreelancers who work for me.So go, figure.On the other sideof the coin is.I ran a fairly successfulmotion design company,and there was definitelyan opportunity therebecause when westarted, this wasat the beginning of the motiongraphics or the desktop videorevolution, and we'rethere and so we'remaking really good money.I was being able to use all theskills that I learned in schoolor design topography,learning new skillsabout cinematography, editing,lighting, color correction,visual effects.And so those thingswere wonderful.However, it fell shortof a couple of things.It fell short of whatare we really doingto better society,culture and humanity?What am I doing to betterthe human condition?Not really.If anything, you canconsider advertisinga blight on the creative artsbecause someone who said this,that no other industry haveso many talented peoplecome together to do so little.To put together 30 secondspots or to do a billboardor to do a spread in a magazine.So it seemed to be a waste oftalent in terms of writers, artdirection, photography, artdirection, photographers,illustrators, thosekinds of things.So obviously therewas a hole there.And so for a longtime, my two worldsdidn't really overlap that much.There was a core overlapin terms of sometimesI'm teaching conceptsthat I actually work on.But more often thannot in academia,I'm doing very different thingsthan I'm doing with clients.It wasn't until I started toplay around with what if I wasteaching, but I wasusing technologyand the tools ofthe 21st century,using very popular open formatsand platforms like YouTube,Facebook, Twitter,zoom, videoconferencing,the connected world.The fact that we'rehaving this conversationacross multiple timezones, different countries,different laws.This is pretty wonderful, andit also taps into this thingwhere you can makesomething onceand it can be shared countlessinfinite times across allover the place.So we're changing things.We're changing how we teach,because teaching requiresyou to be physically most ofthe times in the same space,in the same room.And so now we have to alignaround a particular schedule.So there's been studiesto show that people learnat different times in the day.Some people learn betterin the morning midday,and some people learnbetter at night.Just like working out, somepeople perform much betterin the morning.Some people perform reallylate into the night.So this is the coolthing about videois that you can watch any time.And you can sync it up towhenever it makes sense to you.And you don't havethe fear of two thingsyou don't have the fearof performance, meaningyou don't have to fearthat the teacher is goingto point at you and say, you, Ineed you to speak up right now.So that allows yourreptile brain to chill outand you don't have thefear of did I miss that?You don't have to sitthere and take notes.Vigorously, you don'thave to do that.You can just chillout and you can listenand you can listen because ifsome concept doesn't connectand we've heard peoplesay this, they'vewatched our videosmultiple timesand that's the really cool part.So that's why I've now been ableto super stack kind of almosteverything that Ithink makes me me.And it's almost burstingat the seams here.And that's why todayI'm so happy doingwhat it is that I'mdoing, talking to youguys showing what it isthat I know I get to learn,I get to read booksas I get paid,essentially to read books.How cool is that?I get paid to watch moviesbecause those movies helpme to understand things andjust share them with you.So I go out into the world,I gather information,I come back to thevillage of you guysand they say, look,check out this movie.Wasn't this really cool?You guys remember thatscene in Jurassic park whenyou saw the puddle of watervibrate and the kids look up?So the editor and thecharacters know somethingbefore we know it.And then when they finallylook up, we see what they see,which is a T Rex coming down.So that's pretty cool.So that's an editing technique.So I get to sharethings like that,and that's what makesme really happy.And luckily,luckily, as my theorygoes, if you do somethingthat is all of you,you're happier,which I am, you'rehealthier, whichI feel like I am.But you'll also be wealthierthan you've ever been.So there's a littleplatform that we'vecreated in the Pro communityor the future at large.It is growing and it will.It will eclipse what blind hasdone in terms of annual revenueby next year.So it's taken us 22 years toget to this point as blindas service company.But in two years of merunning the future for years,if you count itas a school, we'regoing to be able tosurpass and blastthrough the ceiling that wasblind, that is blowing my mind.That's why I encourage youguys to find your superpowerand to super stack all thethings that make you you.And that's all I haveto say about that.I have a question.Fire away.So I know the callis coming to an end,but the Diane Gibbszoom, do we stayon this call for that or we do?We do not.And I'll answerthat in one second.So on this topicof super stacking.Anybody have anyquestions about this?And if you haven't been able tofind finding your superpower,maybe it's not been postedyet, you let me knowand I will make sure it'sup on the Academy side, ok?I think Rachelwatched it already,so I think it'sup there already.Fantastic anythingelse, you guys?Every time you finishtalking about something,I feel like clapping,Philip laughing, Yeah.Do I know you findsomething funny?No clapping.I thought you said, laughing.I'm like laughing way then.And you can climb, you cansilently clap, it's all good.And you guys likethis kind of format,I'm happy to do thisbecause I don't reallyhave to prepare too much.And if this works, especiallywhen we cut this down,it's going to be a lot easierfor us to watch, right?That's the idea.Philip, I can't hear you.Yeah oh, it's really goodto have those digestiblebits these small 5 to 10 minutesegments that are chestnuts,that kind of spark.Oh, maybe I should lookinto that more rather thanor do I need to write andhave been a few notes I'vemade on words or phrases?I'm like, I'm going to haveto look that up and like,look into this further.Good thank you.Thank you very much.You're welcome.Anybody else?Yeah, I have something to say.I just tuned in soundreally, really late.But I will say frommy heart just now,I'm actually going through a bitof a situation like that too,even though, you know,I've only been a yearinto my company, Martin,realizing that there'sa couple of things that I feelI can capitalize on and reallybuild on.That may not be thattraditional routekind of like what you're doingwith the future and blind.It's like, well, it's a littlebit of a side angle, obviously,but you enjoy it more.And you have an opportunityto build more capital quick,quicker rather than goingreally long, stretch out a routethat may not.And that being what youreally want in the end,anyway, so I think it'sa really great segue.I do want to say this.I've never beenhappier in my life,I've never been moremotivated to wake up,and it's almost like I haveto tell myself, stop working.And this is not that kind ofworking where, Oh my god, Ihave to finish the render andthe color correction isn'tright.I'm falling asleep at my desk.This is more like, Oh mygod, my brain's on fire.I need to finish this andI want to respond to thatand look at this.And I'm so excitedevery single day like Irun on very little sleep.Yet I don't feel tired,which is pretty bananas.Like yesterday.What was it?I think I stayedup to like four.I think I stayed upto 4:30 in the morningand I got up at7 o'clock, so I'mrunning on 2 and 1/2 hoursof sleep to do the boot camp.And so we do the bootcamp and I thought Iwas going to be like a zombie.Because I wassitting there and Iwas writing somethingthat couldn't rememberChris Martin's lastname, I was like, Chris,what the heck is thislast name martin?And I was like, Ohmy god, this is goingto be a terrible boot camp.It's going to be horrible.I get on.We do our thing.People are engaged.I'm loving it.And I'm feeling at some pointin this day, I'm going to crash.Maybe I need to take a nap.I go to the office totalk to the boys we share.It's like, oh, this worked,and we can add this.We each it's midnight.It's 12, 30.I'm still up and thinking,aren't I supposed to be tired?I need to go to sleep right now.I need to stop doing this.This is enough.So when you're filledwith purpose, passion,the pursuit of things thatmake you happy and profitcomes your way.My goodness, it is anincredible feeling.It's something Iwish for all of youto have at some point inyour life, if not today,sometime in the future.Sounds like you'reliving the dream man.I'm trying.Somebody asked me thisquestion, and I'll probablyend it on this, somebodyasked me this questionand they say like.What is your normalstate of mind like?What makes you frustrated?I had to reallythink about this.I was thinking, well, gosh.Not a lot frustratesme because Ihave agency over my own world.I get to choose what it is Iwant to do and I am in control.Melinda, I'm incontrol of my lifeand I take 100%responsibility for who I amand the thingsthat happen to me.So I don't like something today.I just change it if Idon't like this room,if I don't like thislighting, I just change it.If something isn't makingme upset or unhappy,I try to figure outwhat's the root of that,and I just get rid of it.So clients make me unhappy.I don't want clients anymore.Or if getting paid acertain amount of money,just make me unhappy, I stoptaking those jobs immediately.If you guys annoyme, I stop talkingto you, which that doesn'thappen, obviously, because I'mtalking to you right now.So I get to controla lot that stuff.So the answer is this is like ifyou live in a life where you'reconstantly frustrated or annoyedor feeling down about things,you have to think like, whyare you where you're at?Why do you live in thathouse or that apartment?Why do you staywith that person,that partner in your life?What is it that's compellingyou to stay if it makes youunhappy, why do youwork at that jobthat gives you no fulfillmentand nobody appreciates you?Or perhaps it's likewhy you continueto do the thingsthat don't make youhappy versus learn a new skill.And a lot of thatis, I think, fearfear of the unknown, fearof what else is out there.Fear of change.If you can just summon upthe courage to go and change,I think you can accomplishsome really cool things.Hey, Chris, have you everhad that in your lifethat you felt like you just haveto jump because of that fear?Let me think.Can you be a littlebit more specificbecause I'm searchingfor something in my mindand nothing is jumping out?Why is it specificyou're looking for?Well, yeah, like youtalk about that fearabout just have you ever justfelt like, you know what?I know you've talked aboutit in the past on some videosand on some calls about,you know, the earlier yearsand not feeling so confident.Have you ever just feltlike, you know what?I'm just going tojust go all in on?Just whatever happens iswhat's going to happen.I'm just going to do it.I'm just going tojump just, you know,see what happenson the other side?I mean, yeah, I'vehad that feelingmany, many times in mylife, but in my mind,it probably doesn'tfeel like the way it isin some other people's minds.And I'll give you an example.When I was much younger,probably in grade school,in junior high, I was.I would say, like I wasan easy target for bulliesto attack me, andI knew going in,this is not goingto be a fight that'sgoing to end up in my favor.I knew that, I knew that, butI can just remember hearingin my mind, my brother'svoice is he always told me,and this is not coming frommy father's, from my brother,who's four years older than me.He always told me ifhe stand up to them,regardless of the outcome.If you let your pride goand because boys don'twant to get beat up, right?That's not a good feeling,but if you do that,they'll realize thatthere's an easiertarget that won't fight back.So I'm like, let's go.Let's do it.You know, I'm easily 10, 20, 30pounds lighter than those boysbecause they're bigand I would fight them,and sometimes it wouldbe a neutral outcome.Sometimes it's like itwas never that violent.Back then, peopledidn't stab each otheror, like, brutalize one another.But it was justenough of a resistanceto say that I will show up.I will stand up to you.And then you wrestle.You throw each other around,some punches get thrownand then that's it.It's over.Because really, itwas about them justtrying to pick somebody.It wasn't really.They actually hadreal beef with you.And so we move on.And so I've had many pointsin our company's history,for example.There are moments whenI came to the companyand it felt totally toxic interms of the work environment,and I didn't wantto be there anymore.And so the fear comesin to say, like,if I have to let thesepeople go who are essentiallydoing the work, that'sgetting us to workand making money for me.I'm going to be financially in aworse position that I am today.So do I choose happinessor financial well-being?And it shows happiness,and there was a priceto pay for that becauseeventually those people leftsome of them I got rid of.The revenue the companytook a dramatic hit.My sales reps weretelling me I'm insane.And I had to tell them at thetime, you have to trust me,you have to have faith inus if you don't understand,you can represent somebody else.I wish for you to stay.And if you don't wantto, that's totally OK.You've got to dowhat's good for you.But this is what's good forme, and I get to choose that.And we've had multiple momentsin my life in the company'shistory where we've had tomake these big decisionsthat we've had tomove like rightnow we're makingthat decision, we'redeciding we're choosing toforego blind as a servicecompany and to move everybodyover to doing the future work.And so this is a verydifficult transition.There's a lot of unknowns.Financially, we're not thereyet to support the payrollof everybody at blind.So we've had to makesome hard choices.We've had to let some people go.We've had to cut some salaries.We have to rein back.The spending so that wecan make this transition.So what's unknown infront of me is this.OK, I'm going to just layit on the table, guys.And then this year it isour projection and our hopethat we will be somewherebetween $2 million and $3million in revenuefrom the future alone.OK, for blind to stayopen, given our overhead,our staff and ourbuilding, which I thinkis like $40,000 amonth in rent alone,not rent in mortgage payments.Is we have to build $4 milliona year just to like, break even.I mean, it could be alittle less than that,but it's somewhere aroundthe $4 million markand that's going to blow yourminds because I've got to justdo $4 million to break even.That means that I getpaid my salary, whichisn't gigantic comparedto what other CEOs makefor their companies.OK in order for me tomake any real profit,I have to makemore than million.Otherwise, there's nota lot left after taxes,after any kind of bonusesthat I give within a year.There's not a lot left inthe pool for me to take home.And so right now, ifyou think about it, evenin our best projection, ifthe future does $3 millionin business, there'sa million gapthat currentlyblind has to fill.So as I divert all ourattention to energy,our resources fromthe team, thatmeans no new work is beinggarnered like our sales repshave not gotten as anew job in over a year.Almost all thework we got or gotis from old clients,old relationshipsor new relationships beingbuilt through the future, whichis really strange.So I the success of ourcompany is wherever I focus.So right now I'm notfocused so much on blindlydoing client work.I haven't been involved inthat for quite some time.So there's this risk ofthis financial peril.From Japan, my wife gaveme two days to recover,and then she says,we need to talk.And whenever your wifesays we need to talk,it's like not good news.It's not.We've got to talk, honey, I loveyou the best man in the world.We've got to talk honeybecause there's a problem.She said to me, we arelosing $200,000 right now.And I was like, Oh my God.She's like, yeah, I'm keepingthe payroll alive rightnow by withdrawingmoney from our savingsto finance this thing.She goes, I'm nottelling you what to do,but you need to decidewhat's important.Because we're burning money.So it's OK for you to spendthat money and to burn itas long as you're intentionalabout it, to thank god,my wife's understandinglike that.So I had to go back to theteam and say, what can we cut?What's absolutely essentialand everything elsewe've got to get ridof and we have to letgo into this likestarvation mode.We have to go intothe winter here,so we have to makeit really tight.And that's what we had to do.And so there's stillthis uncertainty aboutwhether or not we'regoing to get there.It's only through faith,hard work and determination,and I believe in this.I believe that you can manifestyour own goals from happeningif you focus on it enough.I really believe that Iknow that sounds super Woo.Woo but I'm reallyall about that.So I envision the future.I know what it needs to do.I know what it needs to do interms of every single month,every single day.We need to know howmuch I know how much.We're supposed tobuild so that wecan get to 3 million threshold.I also know whatblind needs to doto be able to cover the gapwhile we wind down the company.So I hope that answers thewhole like leaping fear and justrunning into it and saying, whatthe hell, let's just go for it.Yeah, it really does.It totally answers that.I definitelyappreciate that a lot.It gives me the confidenceto know that what?It's just really about thatturning point to say, hey,you know, I don't care anymore.Just, you know, I'vealready I know whatit's like to hit rock bottom.So, you know, I'vealready felt the thing.Why not just go,OK, now all of youguys that have beenat the rock bottom,it's not a feeling that youwant to get too familiar with,for sure.But we know, we know wecan build ourselves up.We know what itmeans to be broke.But as Vincent says,broke but not broken.We know that we'reOK hitting that pointagain because we know how toget ourselves out of the hole.We know how to get outof the Lazarus pit.We know how to climbout like Batman.We can do that.I'm not planning on beingthere, but I'm just saying,I can do that as well.So a lot of thisis really about,I don't want youguys to walk away.This is dangerous.I know this is dangerous.I say something like this.The next thing somebodyis like, screw it, let'sgo all on Black Las Vegas.Let's do it.Then I'm Black.I'm not saying that.I'm not saying that at all.I'm not reckless in mydecision making process.Not at all.I'm very deliberateand very intentional.I have maps and have plans,and I figure things out.And then there's stilla lot of uncertainty.But it's not justtwo fools sayingI'm going to climb Everest,and we've never climbeda mountain before in our lives.We've prepared.It's just we're little headof that tipping point, right,most people wait for thetipping point to happen.They're the lateadopters, if you will.I don't think I'm likethe early innovator.I'm just the early adopter.I'm not going to just rushin blindly without a plan,without clearexpectations of whatwork is going to be required,what success looks like.I do know what it looks likeand it's very clear to us.All right.Woo!so much for an hourand a half call.Guys, here we are,two hours into it.I know my memory card is full,so forget about that recording.All right now we're done.We're totally done.OK, so I'm going to hitStop on the recording.