Below is the transcription for this episode:
Dave: What's going on, my friends, this is Dave Sharpe, welcome to Wake Up, Legendary, we've got an Air Force mechanic turned nerdy online entrepreneur. I love it. Looking forward to hearing. Chris's story Chris, welcome to the show, brother.
Chris: Hey, thank you very much sir.
Dave: Hey, thanks, thanks for your service. First of all, not a problem. So you were deployed a couple of times so far around the world, is that right or around the country?
Chris: Both around the world, definitely.
Dave: That's it really. You know the last couple of years I think have shown us no matter what your values or belief systems are, how important freedom is, you know, democracy, and what we have here in America, so thanks for renewing. Alright man. So, yes, yes, Yes, so you have found your way into the online world, and I guess you've gotten bitten by the bug is that right?
Chris: Yes. Yeah, I got tired of just saying it's a scam or just kind of brushing it through, like, you know a lot of other people. And you know what I just finally jumped in.
Dave: So you, you actually consider: Have you had a pessimistic or cynic attitude towards online business and online marketers, for, for a period of time is that what you're saying.
Yeah. Budgetary wasn't the first attempt, of trying to do something online and make some money got burned by. I'd say one at least. Other, other things that I tried and you know I can't get that money back for that time, especially. So yeah, I was definitely a little skeptical at the beginning, but what do you think the difference is between that and this then and then and now. The number. I mean besides all the stuff that's offered the community is what, what really drew me in. I kind of got it. I kept seeing a friend of mine posts about him getting started, you know, he's still working, but making some money online and he was one of my first trips in the military and I actually know that person in real life. So, I know he's, you know, we're both ex military and all that stuff so I kind of reached out to him and, you know, asked the question, Hey, is it, what the hype is about or is it a scam, kind of thing and optimized. It's been an adventure after, after that sale.
Dave: When was that?
Chris: At the end of the summer so may end at the end of May.
Dave: Okay. So. So, now you find yourself on, on the other side of things actually going through some training. I would assume having your perception or your understanding of what's possible, have you know the difference between, you know, leverage, kind of like how it talks about in Rich Dad Poor Dad have kind of trading time for money or that employed or self employed to them that that business owner and investor right kind of understanding the difference what has been some of the biggest aha moments and of course I mentioned there the mindset stuff and kind of how you see the world in yourself in money being made. But, I mean what, what have been your big aha moments that have convinced you and got you excited about this business?
Chris: Well, you mentioned the Rich Dad Poor Dad. I have never been a book reader. I definitely have my audio audiobook but listening to that book, every day on my 15 minute drive to work each way. Kind of blazed through the book that just kind of slapped me in the face with the way I was brought up, work, work until you die or work, you know, make somebody else successful by giving your, you know, 120 some odd hours every paycheck to somebody else so that that book and doing the training at the same time just man it flipped my life upside down but in a good in a good way, it just my whole family's factory workers every single one of them, and I'm kind of, I'm still in that portion of it but I'm going to get escaped that that lifestyle and I'd like to be the first one in my family to do something like this.
Dave: That's fascinating. You know there's been a huge celebration for so many decades, at least is, as long as I've been alive. I'm the first person in my family to go to college, you know, and that's been the thing that's sort of been celebrated so it's like, you know, for many, for many people it's well, my family members didn't pay a lot of money to work for somebody else their entire life. They just did it without a college education. I got a college education so I paid 10s of 1000’s of dollars to work the rest of my life. Become an order taker and. And you mentioned factory workers I think for a lot of people in Indiana, in the upper Midwest. Right. A lot of the car factories. Right, exactly. I mean, Michigan and Indiana and so forth, Wisconsin. That's, that's, well and I would, I would assume a lot of that is because it's so cold for a certain part of the design of a building, working and if you can, if you can develop a workforce and and put them inside of a factory and, you know, that was very intelligent for for Henry Ford or whoever started, I don't know the history of those kind of stuff but to say hey look there's probably a bunch of people up here a large labor force it's cold, a lot of the year they're looking for work, they can you know particularly mow lawns and do landscaping let's put them inside of a factory and have them build cars, or have them build equipment and stuff like that. But I digress back to the point of his celebration sort of shifting to me being the first person in my family to successfully run a business to become an entrepreneur. And that's what I just heard you say, Am I right about that and what, what, you know, how might that shift and change future generations in your family?
Chris: So I have an 11 year old son, who's almost as well as when I was going through the 15 Day Challenge. You know, it's kind of like dry dragging his feet but I drug him in my office and we had him sit through. You know some of the videos and the training and stuff, especially listening to, you know the Rich Dad Poor Dad mindset is something I wish that my parents could have done for me. You know, they, they didn't know better, but I don't want to repeat that cycle so I know he's gonna have even more opportunity than we have right now so I don't want them to think that, you know the factory life and all that is already set up for him I want him to. I wanted him to know that there are 1000’s of other opportunities online to be successful and I sat him down. You know, he rolled his eyes a little bit at first and, you know, you liked it. I didn't make him go through all 15 days.
Dave: You know that's that's great man, And there's been a bit of a theme this week. This week, starting with Papa Don at the beginning of the week 78 year old gentleman who was kind of introducing his grand children or grand son to, You know, online marketing, and, and, and, you know, one thing that I think about is also the fact that, you know, I really don't know what the next five or 10 years or 20 years when your children are going to be in my littlest ones are going to be kind of going into the quote unquote workforce, but hell. I mean if it's anything like the last year and a half, the labor slash, you know, just that working mortar workforce is going to be drastically different, and or affected, but most of all vulnerable, Right, because, I mean, you know, whether it be just a virus that wipes across the world, and it's an innocent accident, or as you know, with a military mind whether there's some, you know, biochemical sort of warfare that begins to happen, or something happens, you know, many of us who were positioned to be able to work from home, work with a computer work inside the safety of our home throughout 2020 2021 at some of the best years that we've ever had, you know, and, and it's, it's interesting, right, It's what's coming up for you as you as you think about that?
Chris: So, I mean I'm kind of kicking myself in the butt a little bit during the shutdown. Last year, you know I worked a little bit of it but, you know, even my auto manufacturing job we shut down for two months. And you know I was, that was, that was when I was still in the skeptic phase, and I just kind of kicked myself in the butt. Now thinking man, I shouldn't. I wish I would have known then what I know now, and I get started then. But yeah, I mean, I still, because I still have a nine to five, because I gotta, you know, I got a family, and I'm working on growing my, my reach and helping people and everything but I see it every day. In my current job, we're hurting for people we're hurting for people and I'm kind of in a pickle or in the back of my head when they're talking about. We're short on people and I'm thinking that because they can make money at home, they can be online, they can be online if they're anything if they know anything about what isn't, in my mind right now, what I've been shown and woken up to, like there's no, there's no wonder I'm not surprised that I can't get people to, you know slave away in here, you know, especially on weekends and stuff.
Dave: So, yeah, well here's the other thing is that this has been going on for a year and a half. Okay, so during that year and a half people's habits have actually changed. They've gotten, and I've seen it, I've seen it, the behavior shift in people not wanting to come out of their house, they used to. Okay. Some of us think, well oh it's just because there's variants and still a virus it's going around. Well, what's happened is people have actually shifted. People have adapted the same way that they've adapted and I want everybody to really listen to this, because as much as we're all waiting for it to go back to normal. The truth of the matter is, what's right now, is the new normal. This is normal, it is real, whatever is happening in this moment is the new normal. And I believe, if people have shifted to being more comfortable and feet in whether it's just a they've adapted, and now that is comfortable to them, they figured out ways to be happy at home, whereas before they wanted to take vacations and right, we, we figured out ways to be happy, we figured out ways to be fulfilled, we figured out ways we've either gotten to horses or we've gotten closer towards balance right. We've come to adapt because that's what human beings do. So, the thing is that I like to sometimes shout from the rooftops and I've always done this, it's been for different reasons over the past 10 years, but right now my reason for shouting for the rooftops for people to get serious, is because this is the new normal. And people are at home, they're staying home. They're figuring out ways to stay at home, and so people have said well because they're getting the government check, you just said, Well, it's because they're figuring out what, who cares. It doesn't matter. The truth is that they're sitting at home and they're either figuring out ways to make money at home online or they want to figure out ways. And they're also shopping from home, they're on their computer more often, and all industries you in that we're talking about the furniture how things have slowed down, All industry has been affected and prices have gone up, not particularly just because of, quote unquote inflation and prices have caught up men in many reasons because there's been more of a demand because now people are at home shopping on the computer, and living around to your house and shopping and saying I want a new couch or I want to, whereas before they weren't paying attention to that stuff as much now because they're at home every day, they say well if I got to look at this couch every day it might as well be a nice couch or I'm going to order one that's
happening, I believe it is. Right. It's true, I deal with in the auto industry, or the computer chip shortage is everybody's buying new computers and they're, they're trying to upgrade their stuff because they're gonna be at home, they're either realize they're their old TV or their old computer wasn't getting it. If they're gonna be there every day. I see. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, so there's an urgency, you know it for me that's why I, I always try to find urgency in what I'm doing because there, there's, you know, you got to attack it now. You can't put it off, and you've got to find urgency to create that motivation for you to do it now and for me, urgency and others, right as a marketer, and as a company, I want to create urgency for our team members to do stuff. Now, to get better, to grow now as a marketer, I want to create urgency for people to buy now to convert now to believe them. To see why. Now, today's the time to buy. Today's the time to take action. And what I'm laying out for, for you, but also for everybody here, of course, my opinion is, there's urgency. This is the urgency, it's not going back, your jobs not coming back. It's not going back to the way it was. If anything, we're at the very beginning of a massive shift in all of the technology that was already on the kind of break is is being drastically sped up right now to where we can get to and I was just reading something from a really successful person in the health niche, who said, within a couple of years, you know, they were talking about gyms because they marketed specifically to gyms and help them grow their gyms, but they said, This is a dying thing. I mean this is, this is a dying thing home gym is a dying thing help companies like peloton are exponentially growing because they've got equipment, they can acquire customers for free, because there's profit, there's their subscription services people feel like there's community, and before you know it, there's going to be virtual reality that you're going to be able to put on a set of glasses, and literally look to your right and see your best friend, or see the person that you ride with every day, them on their bike, as you're in your garage, alone, and that technology will be here before you know it.
Chris: I think it's exciting and scary. You got to think of it like a chess board I guess you got to be planning ahead. That's how I've been trying to look at it, just trying to be a couple moves ahead of where everybody's expecting me, or expecting the community around this area to be.
Dave: Essentially you’ve got to detach from your community, while still being connected to your community, you know, for me, it's been a balancing act of staying connected to my community and my communities are rather thriving progressive in terms of technology and building and so forth. I'm in St. Petersburg Florida and you know it's a growing city man. I mean there's buildings and apartments and things being built in, and there's lots of different people from all walks of life, all viewpoints and beliefs. It's kind of like a melting pot. But, but still there is a, a, there is a majority who are just living life based on what they see, kind of in the here and now, in not like what you just said, thinking about where the puck is going. And so there's an element that I've always had to sort of, you know, detach from that, so I can get connected to my online people in my online vision and where I'm building my business which is global, get still stay connected with friends and family locally, and in some respects, that means I need to cut out some things or even cut out some people, I don't want to cut out everybody I don't want to become a hermit and ignore my friends and family and all that, but I would assume that transformation has happened for you to where you're starting to see the world as as your global playground your global marketplace, rather than just your local city as the tip of the iceberg, is that right.
Chris: Yeah, I mean, like I mentioned at the beginning about the community, like the people that I would have never met or ever known about on online that I, that I've met up to on a daily basis, that are from this, from Legendary or just being on TikTok or other social platforms trying to make a name for themselves, or escape their, you know their story also like mine, but I mean, I talked in. In, compare notes and everything with these people, more than, You know my neighbors I live across, across the street. It's strong. I feel like it's a stronger bond with the community and the friends that I've made since I started here.
Dave: Yeah. Tell me about the nerd speed thing and how you develop sort of this, this, what I, what I would consider here a brand. I would assume that sort of where you're going with that. Tell us about that a little bit and how you've been developing your, your kind of message. So you can create your marketing content, and build an audience.
Chris: So the name, I mean, I guess it's always been there but growing up I was always the nerdy kid in my family, no one, no one else, I mean, like video games love Star Wars and Marvel and all that, all that stuff around a lot of it's an Indiana fans around a lot of fiber. So, you know, called a nerd a lot and when I started getting into computers and everything, my whole family. None of them know anything really about computers so they're like, hey, I need you to fix this, what, what the heck is this thing do and it's making funny noises and I was able to fix it so it's just, it was one of those things that kind of stuck or on the nerd and, you know, they expect me to get it done quick and fix it. Fix it quick, so it just kind of looks all right and if this fits, If it's me, people that know me. That was that nerd something that that kind of nerdy, whatever whether people call said thing was something that growing up was, was kind of labeled negatively or communicated negatively to you.
Dave: Have you taken that, in turn, that sort of into a strength. I always say turn your message to your message. Was that something that you felt insecure about growing up, and now you've flipped the script on that a little bit or did you always embrace that role.
Chris: I mean it kind of, it's both. I mean go in, you know, high school and stuff. Yeah, I didn't know I had a select few group of friends that were into the same stuff as I was and you're building computers, and taking them apart and seeing what they're made of, You know, so that, that's like a strange thing when I was in high school I feel old now but, you know, I'm 35 so that's back when computers were was kind of a strange thing, and I was getting into it early and, you know like, it was good and bad, but it never really fazed me where I don't want to be, you know, I don't want to be in the, in tech, tech stuff or, I don't want to tell people that I built computers or that I've been I like all that stuff I just kind of from high school on just kind of owned it and then I got into the military and I get into like the. I want to say a grease monkey kind of job where I'm working with my hands and getting dirty and, but I'm also a nerd, so, you know, they, they go back and forth with that dude, you're, you're nerdy and stuff but it kind of plays plays out because now they're coming to me for the computer stuff and I was in this, you know, kind of crypto stuff and and all that so it's kind of bled into my strengths,
Dave: Yeah you've turned that into you've turned that well if you want to call it a struggle I respect the fact that you don't consider it or really didn't ever take it on as a, as a struggle. I'm sure at some times there were people that were negative about you. I tried right but they didn't faze you. Well, he, you know, the example of that turning that mess into a message in those struggles into strengths is of course my addiction, and my high school dropout scenario, and, you know, the things that happened in my teens and 20s to where, you know, most people would, would be, you know like this is embarrassing. You know this is a struggle, and it was, it was at that time. But, I turned that struggle into a strike, and I use that as sort of the low point of my heroic story, my comeback story. And the reason why I asked you that about the nerd piece, whether that was something that was a struggle for you, or like you got made fun of, or whatever in high school was because I want everybody who's listening to realize that the thing that you've been hiding your whole life or the thing that you've been even ashamed of or the thing that maybe others labeled you and made fun of you for is literally the very thing that can make you rich, as a marketer, because every great marketer and every great brand has a powerful hero's journey. And part of that Hero's Journey is of course, it's, there's got to be a local, and I talked about this in our training, and it's a big part of every thing that you see here at legendary is people, learning how to use various parts of their life, particularly those low moments, or those embarrassing labels, or those embarrassing times or those, those traumatic or dramatic times, and using that as your low point in your hero's journey, because human beings love a heroic journey, every movie has a hero. Every story has a hero. Every book has a hero, and most of the time, right, there's been 1000s if not millions of books and movies created. It's not superheroes, it's regular people superheroes are only a small percentage of books and movies, stories and have been told it's regular people, usually are the hero of the story why, because we can relate to them, right, we can relate to them, you know, you look at Harry Potter's, one of the best examples, just an average kid that's why people gravitated to him so much in adventure and was a hero in various different situations saving people and doing things that there was a mystical element to that. But there's all kinds, look at Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, you know she kind of, you know, thinking of that because I was, I saw her rigid slippers. Last week in DC, in 1949, but anyways, every, every, everybody. Everybody is used to celebrating a regular average person who overcame something challenging to now live, you know, in their glory or or have accomplished something. And so I just asked all of you who are kind of having a challenge with finding your message telling your story and using that story as your brand story developing that help, that Hero's Journey story to lean into whatever you may have seen as a struggle or the thing that you don't want to talk about, that's another sure sign that that's, that's the juicy part of the stories if you don't want to talk about that. You know, so let's talk about your content creation a bit before we bring this in for a landing. You've been creating on TikTok, is that the only place you've been marketing at?
Chris: So I started there and kind of just slowly getting into Instagram and I don't know if I'll be able to figure out Pinterest but I'm sure, I'm sure not gonna give up, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna try. But yeah, just know, tick tock at that right now is the biggest platform where I can try to reach people, like myself, just by scrolling. Yeah, it's, it's not real or it's a scam and, and hopefully, I know how I felt when the moment I'm just trying to build essentially from from scratch to try to, in hopes to do that for somebody else, like, flip them from thinking it's a scam to change in their lives. That's really what I'm trying to do. I love the feeling, like what I have and, and what I've gotten from, from this. So, I'm trying to just slowly build it, Because I have a job still and raising a family and everything so I'm just trying to slowly grow to do that for other people. I think it's a good thing to pay it forward and remember how you felt at the beginning of your journey and, yeah, wherever it is.
Dave: Well, and also as I said, one, I think it was Tuesday was, was, was, was embrace the beginning of your journey take pictures of you at your job, take pictures of you drive in whatever car you're driving today because when you're not driving a car and you're driving, whatever car is next for you that you want to drive, you can afford. When you start making more money, you'll look back, and that'll be part of your journey, you know, that'll be part of the story, the story evolves, right, right now, you may be in you're speaking to the audience, you may be in your kind of low moment you may feel like the world's on top you but if you keep at it. One day you'll be on top of the world, and that will then be a part of your, your elevation of that heroic journey of accomplishing or winning or achieving. And so, you're, you're in that mindset of adding value in the only way to get paid. The only way to have people want to take your suggestions and recommendations is if you demonstrate you can actually help them first. And that seems to be the mindset that has clicked for you, you get that, and that's what you're focusing on doing. give us one thing that's worked really well in your marketing, one thing that you've tried that didn't work so well.
Chris: I would, I would say what's, what's worked well for me, is just trying to be myself and be honest, you know, try to fall, I was trying to follow some trends, or hey this is what I've seen other people do, and kind of getting at a, who I actually am so I guess that's both what's worked and what's not just kind of going back to being being true to myself, not trying to be, you know, the guru of something that I'm not but more the nerd, and, you know those people who are also like that will, will come, you know come around and, or maybe they think that they don't have anybody that will listen to them. So, yeah, I've had a lot of people on my actual Facebook asking about it because they know me personally and they know that, you know, I'm not going to just go around promoting something that I don't believe in. And so that's, that's kind of helped, and I've had some success with helping a few people get started and you know already, helping them change, change their mindset. Their life is one thing but the mindset is the big thing is just getting out of that, that grind and I got it, I have to do this, this is the path that is already laid in front of me. That's not true.
Dave: So have you used things like Star Wars are things like the summit on some of these topics that you are knowledgeable and passionate about in tied that into products that you're promoting?
Chris: Yeah, most. I got into crypto and everything and trading during COVID. Like a lot of people did, but I'm sure I guess I need it out a lot more than the average person when they were invested in or when crypto came around so I do get I'm still learning with the crypto area but I have a lot of people coming to me for the advice on that on that aspect or the gaming items and merchandise, okay, what, what do you have, I know you like computers and what do you recommend, And that's that. That was another aha moment for me as I was doing. I was doing this every day at work or in my life. Anyways, like I buy, I bought something, I saved them and bought something. And I told people about it and they're like, What do you mean, you can do that with, with your computer, okay what do you buy, and I tell them and then they kind of be a week later and they tell me that they bought the same thing that I told him about all that stuff was and I took, you know, changed my mindset with it I'm like, Man, I need to I need to figure this out because I'm doing this every single day, I got a lot of people into trading and getting into crypto trading and everything and I wasn't aware that there was a whole world on online marketing.
Dave: Well, if you were to sum up the 15 Day Challenge net experience in a sentence or two and how it's affected your life, what would you say?
Chris: The information that is in the 15 days is huge, but the. Going back to the mindset that changed for me, is something that I, I mean I can't even say thank you enough. Because a lot of people have those blinders over their eyes, and just hearing your story and hearing from other people that have taken the course, there's their origin story coming from failure or the bottom to where they're at the course and the community is unparalleled. I haven't found or seen anything, anything like that, that's what keeps me driven is just seeing everyone's posts on social media and how many responses you get from just saying hey you know I signed up I'm making I'm making a change in my life, and you get hundreds and hundreds of people. Hell yeah, like that. Congratulations. That's awesome. Let me know if you have any questions just seeing all the people coming in. It's just, there's nothing like it.
Dave: Well, thanks for being a part of that dude I mean, as I say to most guests you know like, I can't do that alone. I'm not, you know, I've become a small part of this larger community, and happy to have to be here just as much as you are honestly because I am learning every day from even somebody who just got started, I'm staying inspired myself by talking to you, and you know that that is what I think makes what we're doing really cool, at least to me, so thanks for your time this morning, I'll let you go on with your day and, you know, keep doing what you're doing and in showing your son as well. That path. Keep rolling his eyes, and you know that'll let you know that he's listening at least to stay Legendary, my brother come back and keep us posted on your journey. Okay, and I appreciate your time and thank you again for your service.
Chris: I appreciate your time. Thank you guys very much.
Dave: All right, Chris, see you buddy.
Alright guys, go and follow Chris As I always say, on tick tock nerd speed, real simple nerd, speed, and think about how you can use, maybe something that has always been a part of your personality, good or bad, right, something that maybe you've looked at, or has been something you've been made fun of. Right. That didn't happen to be the case with Chris; he sort of always embraced that. But, you know, for me, of course, drug addiction homelessness was not something that I sort of, you know, carried around as a patch of pride, but I do now, because I'm not there anymore. And part of that reason is because I've built a business that has allowed me it afforded me a lifestyle that I can live in a nice house, right, I can drive a nice car, I can spend more time with my family, and all of that stuff is now in the distant past, and it can be for you to feel like that at the beginning, feels like you're in it, you are, embrace it, take lots of pictures, right, tell lots of stories about the small wins that you have as you're overcoming things in the daily journey, every day and before you know it more space will get between you. Feeling like the world's on top of you to you feeling like you're on top of the world. All right. And we'll be back tomorrow for another episode. Get out of here, be Legendary. See you then.
