Getting Personal(ads): Balancing Data Privacy and User Experience in Advertising

[00:00:00] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Yeah, so, on the pure selling skills or kind of interaction skills, I mean, my number one tip for anyone listening, read a book, if you're b2b, if you're b2c, it might not apply as much, but it's still worth reading. It's called Sell Without Selling Out. Okay. And it's really about how to authentically show up as yourself, right?

[00:00:17] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: You do not want to, The more pressure you apply to people, the more likely you know that, that it's gonna break, right? You do not wanna apply to pressure. So the way I sell is like this, no pressure selling mode where it's like, I'm here to help. Okay? If you don't want my help or you don't need my help, like I got plenty.

[00:00:36] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: What's going on everybody? Welcome to the Better Than Rich Show. I'm your host, Andrew Bigs here today, and I am so excited about our special guest, Ian Kodiak here today. Ian is, a dear friend of mine. He's somebody who I go way back with and he, currently helps be to be account executives, perform to their fullest potential to crush their quota, master their mindset, their habits, and their skills so they can perform at the highest.

[00:01:00] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: He has an amazing story. He did over a hundred million in sales at a little company called Salesforce and was the number one account executive there for years and years. And I'm so excited to dive with you on your story on what you to what to here.

[00:01:17] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Good to see you brother. And for anyone listening, my whole story started with, well, it didn't start, it started with my parents, but Bigs was a big part of the story cuz he introduced me to personal development and masterminds and he actually was the sales rep who. Got me to sign up for, at the time, a mastermind called Epic Impact, and that was kind of my journey into personal development, which has continued intensely for the past six years.

[00:01:41] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So I would not be here doing this podcast where not for you. So it's great to reconnect after all this time. I know we've talked a lot in between, but it's all come full circle,

[00:01:50] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: of course. And so for any of you who think cold emails don't work, Ian is a testament. some random email about Tony Robbins ended up transforming, his life, and obviously my life as well as I've gotten to know you, man. So I'm just so glad you're here and I'm excited to dive in.

[00:02:05] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: So, one of the more interesting parts that I would love to, dive in with as a starting point. I remember when I first chatted with you, you're like, Look, man, I'm doing well. I make, a quarter of a million dollars a year. I got, some a good thing going out here in the el in the southern California area.

[00:02:19] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: I drive my Maserati like, life is good. And also there was something missing, and I just think it's so perfect for the Better than Rich show to talk about what life is like when you are successful, but you still feel empty. I'd love to start there. What was that like for you and, and how has life been since you had some of these big realizations that you've had?

[00:02:39] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Yeah. Well it's interesting cuz what was empty at the time, frankly, I was, comfortable, but I knew. That I wasn't performing to my full potential. You see, there were people in Salesforce that were making seven figures that were the top of their game, and that's why I'd gone to Salesforce. I had left a pretty successful position.

[00:02:58] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: I had 80 employees and was working in a Fortune 500 company before going to Salesforce. I wasn't going there to make two 50. I was already doing that. I was going there to actually get to the elite level at sales. And when I went and, joined Epic impact at the time, you know, I come off missing quota.

[00:03:12] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: for three years in a row. and the third year I missed it, just barely. And it was the most painful feeling in the world. Okay. The feeling that you're not performing to your full potential, That you were put on this earth to do great things, and you're just kind of living a mediocre life.

[00:03:25] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Now, I know 250 K may not sound mediocre, but in the world of Salesforce, that's. Smack in the middle. I mean, if you're doing that, you're probably not even hitting your plan. So fundamentally, I was not feeling good about myself regardless of what that income was. I, knew I wasn't performing as good as I could.

[00:03:40] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And, that's why initially joined is, so I could perform better. And, frankly, I did. I performed, I went from. Average to number one, globally, I cracked seven figures. And there was still something missing. So at first, what was missing was the ability to achieve what I knew I was capable of.

[00:03:57] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: But once I achieved that level that I knew I was capable of, I still didn't have what I was looking for. And that's the interesting thing. So really the, answer to your question is what's it like to chase money and not feel fulfilled? Right? And it feels like really crappy. It feels like, Man, why am I unhappy?

[00:04:15] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: I should be more grateful. I have a great life. Things are going well. Why do I feel like, there's a void in my life? And that was something that I really, frankly, didn't actually ever. Find that inner peace or find that true mission or purpose until I had done some very, very deeper work later on, myself through therapy, through addiction recovery, through some of my faith where that void actually finally got filled.

[00:04:39] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So I would just say for people chasing money or success or external, reputation or status. you can spend all your time thinking it's going to get you what you want, but once you get there, you'll realize, hey, maybe this isn't actually what I wanted. And, that was kind of my journey up to that point.

[00:04:56] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And, once I, realized that, that's when, the real work began that I, started to do.

[00:05:00] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: Yeah. Do you mind telling us a little bit more like telling me a little bit more about what does that mean? Like what did the real work really entail? Cause I'd say it's probably like, Yeah, a couple years into your personal development journey. First off, you went from making, a quarter of a million to a million dollars plus a year which is obviously incredible in and of itself.

[00:05:19] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: But then at that point, something shifted even more. Right. You mentioned therapy, you mentioned addiction. What were you looking for and, how did you actually find it?

[00:05:30] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: part of the work. So I felt like, you know, my career, what I was doing was great. I was making money. I had a good lifestyle for my family, but it wasn't very fulfilling. So I was helping companies improve their efficiency, grow their sales, grow their revenue. But I realized like I really wasn't helping people at the level that I felt like I was called to do.

[00:05:46] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And so part of the work was in 2019, you and I Andrew, Go way, way back. We joined a program called Brand Builders Group and it was how do you actually, and that evolved into what you're doing and what I'm doing now, and, it was really like, how, can you be. Serving others. Right. So that was something I was just serving myself, was very fairly selfish.

[00:06:05] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So I thought the work that I wanted to do was like, how do I, use the blessings that I've had, the gifts that I've been been given, and the experiences that I've gone through to actually help others. Improve their life and better their situations. And I started to do that work and I, created a personal brand and I spent the better part of 2019 after having two great years at Salesforce, starting a business and coaching others.

[00:06:27] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: While all that came crashing, To halt in 2020. and this was right around the time of the pandemic. And while I was building a brand and continuing to perform at Salesforce, what happened is my ego got fairly big. I, got into this place where I thought I was God's gift to the world.

[00:06:47] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: I was this great salesperson and know my brand was doing well. People wanted to pay me for my time. it was really ego boost. And anytime your ego gets really big, that's when the devil will come for you. Really hard. I say the devil, I mean energy. I mean the dark side. I mean, there are forces.

[00:07:01] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: When you go too big, you fall on your face, right? So whatever you believe fundamentally there is this common thread when ego. the higher you fly, the farther in the harder you fall. And that's kind of what happened to me. I was getting into a place where like I was, thinking I was great.

[00:07:18] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: I was also stressed out a lot. And, I started turning to addiction as a way to like, it wasn't even like a way to cope. It was like, Yeah, I deserve this. I'm gonna party hard. And I go on Benders at Vegas, go get drunk. Go like, celebrate it. I remember, I'll tell you. So my, addiction was, sex and porn.

[00:07:35] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Okay. And, obviously I also had other addictions and tendencies too. Gambling, pot, alcohol, you name it, right? It was this like kind of sales culture of like wild, craziness. But, One time, I had just closed the biggest deal in my career and it was like, I went out with my se and we went and celebrated.

[00:07:53] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And I, just remember getting so drunk and I was flirting with women. I took off my wedding ring at a nightclub. I was just acting completely inappropriate for a married man and for, and I remember flirting with this girl. I had, a woman, her my arm around her. I mean, she must have been half my age and.

[00:08:09] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: I, thought that was like this, bro kind of frat boy culture thing. Like I wanted to get my satisfaction of knowing that I was a badass. So like my worth was always coming from like, making a lot of money or respect from other people or attention from women. Okay. And, that's a empty,

[00:08:27] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: shitty existence.

[00:08:29] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Okay, So fast forward to 2020. and, my marriage was actually suffering. I had been distancing myself from my wife because I'd worked so much and I had personal brand. I kind of like wanted her to change. I was like, Look, I'm doing all these great things. Why don't you do these great things too?

[00:08:46] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And I, wanted her to like stay busy and make friends and all she wanted was my time and my attention and actually my presence and love. And I was so consumed with myself that I couldn't give that to her. And, frankly That's something that had a, caused a pretty big riff in our marriage.

[00:09:01] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And, all the while I'm hiding my addictive tendencies cause my wife had been previously married to an alcoholic and, I made her a promise that I wasn't gonna do that. Certainly the, porn and the sex was, not something that I was sharing. she is Christian, and that was definitely against her idea of what, faithfulness and marriage was.

[00:09:18] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And I was doing things like going to strip clubs. I mean, a lot of my story, but fundamentally I was living this wild double life. Okay. And I started feeling really guilty about it. Through the bulk of 2019, I, made some horrible choices. Did some things were, out of integrity with my marriage, and I started wanting to, like, ease my conscience.

[00:09:36] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So I started telling her about the porn and telling her about certain things, but not telling her all of it. And I, hit a rock bottom. It was February 13th It was 2020 and I, started telling her about, my porn habit, and then I told her I'd actually gone on web cameras, where, live women were, There's a lot of sites where it's like interactive and so I had gone to that and she collapsed, fell to the ground, she was pregnant, and started having contractions. like at that time my world stopped. This was my rock bottom. You always hear about this in addiction, but for me that was the time when you only think you're hurting yourself.

[00:10:11] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: When you see your partner collapse to the ground shaking uncontrollably, literally like she was having a seizure and then start to have contractions, and then you think you are going to murder. your unborn child through what you did, your world just gets flipped upside down and that's what happened to me.

[00:10:28] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: That was my rock bottom. We rushed to the hospital and all I could do is. I hadn't been a religious person up to that point, but I started praying and I said, God, do not take this baby. I don't care what I need to do. I don't care. who I need to become. Please do not take this baby. I will do whatever it takes.

[00:10:44] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And I'm, so proud, I'm so proud of the man I am now versus who I was then because we get to the hospital, we get to the doctor. He puts on the ultrasound, and I swear to you it was probably 30 seconds of, him looking around and the whole time I'm just thinking, there's no heartbeat.

[00:10:59] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: The baby's dead. And it was just, The longest period. And, then he goes he says There's a heartbeat. He looks up, he's like, There's a heartbeat. I'm like, Oh, thank God. Like, what is it, Doctor? What's going on? He's like, These aren't labor contractions. And she's not in labor. These are stress contractions.

[00:11:13] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Your wife is body under so much stress that her stomach's contracting cuz of shock. And like, what happened? Did you cheat on her? Like you got a girlfriend? Like, what's causing this? And I'm like, Well, she, I told her some things that she didn't know about. And in at that point I was like, That was it. and that's when the Lord came into my life. That's when God did his work. And that was the deep work. The deep work for me was looking at myself, not as how I wanted to project myself. In the true way, which is a sinner looking at myself as somebody who was not loyal, who is not honest, who actually wasn't good at all.

[00:11:50] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: I humbled that work is humbling myself and realizing everything I thought mattered and all the values that I had. None of that mattered. Because I nearly caused the death of my unborn child through what I was. So me thinking I was great, My ego just dissolved in that time, and that got me into my path of recovery.

[00:12:08] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: That got me in my path of finding my faith, finding, a path to recovery. It's been over two and a half years now since I've last viewed porn. I haven't gotten drunk during that time. I haven't smoked pot. So I've made some major changes. I got off Adderall and it's only possible through my faith and through frankly the humility of realizing that.

[00:12:29] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: all these things that I thought I wanted in life, none of it mattered. If I wasn't a person who could look in in the mirror and be happy with the person I am and live with integrity, and now I'm living a life of integrity where I have nothing to hide. I went through a process with my wife where I told her everything.

[00:12:43] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: I went through a full disclosure where I told her everything I'd ever done that was a secret, and that was like truly, truly the most liberating, biggest weight off my shoulder. And you know what? Her leaving and losing my family, but it's the right thing because then it was her choice knowing who I was, whether she wanted to stare go versus staying because of a lie or what she didn't know.

[00:13:04] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And that's the work I challenge any man in a marriage to do. If you have secrets or things you've done, if you come clean, I wouldn't challenge you to do it if you've done some really. disingenuous or really things that are out of integrity. Like don't do it by yourself and just go tell her everything.

[00:13:19] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Go get the help that I got. This was a gradual process. I had to therapist. I was in 12 step meetings, but fundamentally, the most free man in the world is the one with nothing to hide, and I truly do not have anything to hide with my wife anymore. And it's like the best feeling in the world because she did leave and then she came back and she said, I want this to work.

[00:13:38] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: We have a beautiful two boys, and now I've done the work that is going to change the generational pattern that was in my family, coming from my grandpa to my dad, to my brother, to me, that work is now stopped with me, and my kids will have a man of integrity as a father and not someone who's living a lie.

[00:13:57] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So yeah, that's the work that, I'm referring to, really find peace and fulfillment in life.

[00:14:02] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: Well, thank you so much for sharing, man, and just being willing to be so open and obviously you have nothing to hide with your wife. You have nothing to hide to hear on this podcast

[00:14:11] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: It's true. It's right. It's like, I don't mind sharing this cause that's not who I am. that's the beautiful thing about it. If a man can listen to this and get, or a woman or whoever's listening and get some value and get some inspiration to not only change, but like to be real and honest in your life, in your marriage.

[00:14:26] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Holy

[00:14:30] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: shit, I just did the work God put me on this earth to do, and that happens all the time. I get people through sharing this story, opening up and in their lives. Transform so that's why I share it. It's not because they're shame, it's to help other men who struggle in silence. Frankly, with, exactly what I struggled with.

[00:14:44] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: Absolutely. And I mean, porn is just, it's so pervasive these days. If you haven't read your brain on porn, if you're listening to this and whether you struggle or not with porn, I would really recommended a book by Gary Chapman. And when I, read that, I was like, Holy shit. This is way more corrosive and insidious than you think.

[00:15:03] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: It's way more pervasive. Like I think it's estimation about one in every three men is addicted to porn and with at least the people that I chat with on a regular basis. there's a lot of guys who struggle with it and, it's something that I've struggled with.

[00:15:15] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: It's something that I think a lot of people have and it's so pervasive in our culture. It's almost expected right at this point,

[00:15:22] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Yeah, it's just accepted period. In, the type of porn now. I mean, it's, again, I was looking at live women and to think that, and. extremely common. It's not just me. Some of the sites make, that's what they do, And I'm not gonna name sites, but like they're very popular. And that's not okay for anyone in a relationship to be looking at real women.

[00:15:39] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: It's not fantasy, it's not a video. It's a real woman who's live with you. That's cheating. Sorry to say, but it's cheating. and in my denial, convinced myself it wasn't, and That's just the addiction. Cause it's not about what you're doing or what you're not doing, it's about what you're not telling your partner.

[00:15:53] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: That is the important thing. I want people to take this. If you have someone to hide, it's not right. So if you can do it with your partner watching, by all means, if they don't care, go for it. But if you're hiding stuff because you know it's wrong, then you're out of integrity with yourself and you are not gonna go out and do your greatest work because there's gonna be an inner conflict that you're still dealing with.

[00:16:10] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: Absolutely. I mean, one of the things you said is you wanted to ease your conscience, right? And so, again, this is kind of a better than rich principle in, theory because what one of the things that we teach is that somebody who's really practicing self leadership, has an intimate relationship with their conscience.

[00:16:25] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: They're constantly checking in. They're constantly kind of measuring their actions on a daily basis against their conscience and really tuning in and listening. And that makes, it's a tough standard to hold yourself to. The reflection that I've seen from you in the last several years because of your willingness to have the courage to listen to your conscience and be convicted by your conscience and to take action, that's just been amazing.

[00:16:47] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: And now it's like, boom, the chains are set free and all your addictions, which is just truly amazing.

[00:16:52] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: started with the porn and then it went to the Adderall. I flushed it on the toilet. The alcohol, I have no desire to get drunk or check out. It's like, what am I checking out from? I got a great life. So that's the deep work. It's therapy, it's sharing your demons. It's realizing, you know, you're not alone.

[00:17:06] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: It's going to meetings and again, it's not just addiction. It could be depression or anxiety or whatever, but if you don't, Attention, whatever, that you struggle that's holding you back. In my case, this was the thing holding me back then. You can't break free to go and do whatever God put you on this earth to do.

[00:17:21] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So, I mean, I love better than rich principles and, and that's why I'm here and that's why we're talking about this. Cause that doesn't matter. Making millions of dollars and being badass, Salesforce don't matter if you, if you fricking can't look in the mirror and, and be fully open about who you are.

[00:17:36] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: I was living alive.

[00:17:37] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: I mean, it's interesting you bring up faith, prior to, a lot of those things, you never struck me as a religious guy. You never struck me as somebody who was took his faith, necessarily how that, seriously. And maybe something maybe you believed in something, I'm not sure but didn't strike me as something that was a cornerstone of your life.

[00:17:53] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: It's something. For me growing up in the church then I kind of had a phase where I, kind of left and experimented. I studied, I moved to India. I looked at Eastern religions. I studied, Buddhism. I, looked at, obviously like things like Eckhart Toley. I looked at Denta, which is basically not two meaning oneness, like we're all one.

[00:18:12] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: And I found all these things to be super helpful and, I even studied some Hinduism and some polytheism. But in recent years I've kind of like come full circle and I'm almost like I'm back in the church and we're back into like small group and we're having conversations about Christianity and faith such, and I'm just curious how.

[00:18:30] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: why religion? Like, does it really matter? Cause I think a lot of the world's problems, it's like, there's almost like this renaissance happening that I'm witnessing. If you're paying attention, people are sick and tired of what the world is offering on 'em, and a lot of them are running back to faith.

[00:18:45] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: Even though that's not the narrative that maybe is being told that often. why faith for you? Like, what's your experience like there?

[00:18:51] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: so there's a big difference between faith and religion. I wanna call it out. So faith is your connection and your belief and your higher power. And it's that moral compass that guides you to be the honest, loving, kind, genuine, caring person. That is really what Christianity calls Holy Spirit.

[00:19:08] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And I'm sure there's a lot of other terms for it, but it's, the God inside of you that causes you to go out and do things to help others and to really. Operate from a place of, love and abundance and, that's it. Polar odds and opposites with the achiever often that the world is telling you to go out and hustle and grind and go make a lot of money and go do all this.

[00:19:29] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So I'd kind of been living in is this achiever where. I didn't have religion growing up. I didn't have faith, I didn't have spirituality. and so I, was taking what the world said would make me happy and fulfill and look where it got me life of addiction and lies, and yeah, I had all that success, but it's exactly right.

[00:19:44] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: I'm like, I was craving, something else and I didn't even know what it was. I always believed that there was something bigger than myself. I had always, said the universe or, serendipity or whatever you wanna call it, but the. Getting them to a 12 step recovery specifically.

[00:19:59] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: You have to put every put let they say, let go and let God, Right? And so that's kind of the principle is like accepting that we can't do this on our own, whereas the world tells us everything you want, you have to do on your own. Right? this appeal of faith is like, hey. Well, there is a couple appeals.

[00:20:15] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: The first appeal for me, which really, struck a core, especially with Christianity which I relate to, but I don't think Christianity is superior to any other faith, and I don't think it's the only way. I think whatever relationship with you have with your God, if it makes you a better person and guides you, that's, great.

[00:20:30] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And so that's, something for me that I wanna really call out is, for me, the doctrine. Of the gospel and, Christianity and the Bible resonated because I didn't understand why I did all these things right? I, was literally looking in the mirror and I couldn't recognize myself. And I'm like, What is

[00:20:48] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: fucking wrong with me?

[00:20:49] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Why do I go and do things that are out of integrity with my character? Why do I repeat these bad habits And for me to like learn that we were born into sin and that human nature is to sin and that only. Accepting God and in Christ and really understanding that He died for a sense. For me, that was like a really nice explanation of why I was doing the things I was doing.

[00:21:10] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So it appealed to me, especially in this moment of like, ego disappearing and, really like needing something. I needed to give some explanation of what had happened because I felt so horrible and ashamed of, what I had done to my wife and what nearly the tragedy that nearly caused.

[00:21:26] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So that was how I got became a Christian is really just understanding, hey, you know, We were born in sand only through really the fruit of the spirit, right? And understanding like what the world tells you what God tells you and the fruit of the spirit are very different.

[00:21:41] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So the fruit of spirit is, kindness, peace, love, patience, mildness, self control. Faith, right? Those are the things that I lacked, that I was impatient, I was high. Definitely wasn't mild tempered. Definitely, didn't have that inner peace. That was like the void that I was looking to film. I'm like, Hey, if I practice this, those are the things that are promised to me.

[00:22:02] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And so I just made a point to like really not just like read the Bible, but incorporate my daily routines and habits and shift towards those things. So I shifted to daily prayer. I shifted towards walks with my wife and time with my family and, acts of love and develop patience and.

[00:22:23] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Like tried to, I didn't know a lot about Christianity, but I tried to practice and apply the principles, not just going to church and reading some stuff cuz I, didn't go to church. It was covid and nothing was going on. But I, did study the Bible with my wife and I did learn all these new things that frankly, Gave explanation as to what I had been living before and why I was so miserable, and then what I was doing now.

[00:22:45] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And, again, I'm not here to preach and to tell people that, there's only one way to live. I know everyone has their own beliefs, but I'll tell you, not believing in anything and only believing yourself is, not for me. It's not as, is nearly as fulfilling or as, satisfying, I guess is, believing that there's purpose for us and that God lives within us and, we need to follow his will and understand his will for us, because that's like a forever thing.

[00:23:08] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So every day, step 11 and 12, step recovery is pray for knowledge of God's will in the power to carry it through, right? So every day I pray. Knowledge and say, Well God, what do you want me to do? And, and, and if God is love and God is like kindness, like where is the downside in showing up that way and, and treating people that way.

[00:23:28] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And that helps me watch my temper, it helps me keep my cool, it helps me kind of stay in this like middle ground where the highs are much lower and the lows are much higher. But you know what? I feel good every single day and it's sustainable versus this crash and burn, crazy chaos that probably would've killed me.

[00:23:44] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So, That's the appeal for me of, faith versus religion, religion's, just the way to practice it with like, like-minded people and connect to a community, Right. And, associate with whatever religion that that gives you that makes the most sense to you, I would say, but I'm not, I wouldn't call myself overly religious, but I do think my faith in spirituality is extremely.

[00:24:03] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: Yeah, that's, such a good explanation, Ian. I really appreciate that. And I think that if you're listening, I hope that that appeals to you and, we're not here to try to, you know, sell you on anything. But like Ian said, not believing in anything. He's not a great solution.

[00:24:15] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: And I love what you said around step one of the, 12 step recovery that you need support. I think that's, one of our biggest issues as human beings is just like pride, right? We just are so proud of ourselves and so, I can relate to like, when I wanna achieve, it's like I wanna do it on my own.

[00:24:30] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: I don't want your help in, I don't want, God's help. I don't want anybody's help. I wanna do it on my own so that I can boost my ego and make sure that I'm inflated through this achievement. And A, that's no way to live, right? Cause you're basically alienating people throughout the process.

[00:24:43] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: And B, it's no way to live. It's not even possible to do it on your own. You're standing on the shoulders of giants, you're standing on the shoulders of your, ancestors. And think about all the people who have been supporting you your entire life that if you're not grateful for over them right now, just think about.

[00:24:58] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: Every single teacher you had, every single person in your life who, did something kind. Every single person at your job who who sometimes maybe they annoy you, but guess what? They're doing their job too. And they help you stay employed and do what you need to do. So there's so many different ways that we

[00:25:13] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: are, supported.

[00:25:14] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: one, other thing which really resonates and like to your point, is. If you think you're relying on yourself, like where did you get the courage? Where did you get the intelligence? Where did you get the charisma? Where did you get the way you're wired? You were born that way.

[00:25:29] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: You're just born, you're just lucky. You be born where you were to the parents, you were with the gifts. You were, No, you're born probably in the us You're probably born hopefully to parents that tried. Maybe they're still around, maybe they're not. But they tried to do their best and had a place you a home.

[00:25:43] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: You could have been born in Africa starving with no parents, right? So you were gifted. Your situation, whatever that is, buy something or someone, I call that gift God. God put me with my parents, one of whom suffered from addiction, the other whom was very hardworking and, successful in a worldly way for me so I could do the work that God wants me to do in the future.

[00:26:06] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Like that is so. Liberating and encouraging and just makes you feel great about your situation cuz it's all happening for you, right? For you to become the man that we're supposed to be or you're supposed to be. So I think just giving some credit that like this isn't just you who's making it happen. You are gifted with whatever it is that's putting you in this situation is really.

[00:26:26] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Humbling, and it's just a, good way to glorify God, who, made us all very different with each of us having unique gifts and strength that ultimately he wants us to use for the betterment of, this planet.

[00:26:39] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: Hmm. I love it, man. Thank you so much. I, do wanna shift gears slightly and I wanna ask you a few questions about what you're up to now because there might be some people listening who would say Hey, it's really cool that you were able to make a quarter of a million.

[00:26:53] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: And then, even all the way up to seven figures as an account executive for Salesforce, be number one and then have this sort of discovery. But I'm not that far along yet. of course, I wanna try to incorporate many of the things that I'm, learning here and maybe avoid some of the, landmines of that culture of being successful and just chasing achievement.

[00:27:13] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: And that's why I listen to the bed at the Rich show every single week, but at the same time, I wanna make more money too, man. Like, gimme some tips. Like, do you got any, goods for people? I I'm looking here at, some of your catch phrases and one liners. if we wanna dive into those, we can.

[00:27:26] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: Or if you, wanna give more of a, meta frame around this, you

[00:27:29] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: I can give some frameworks. So what I do now is I teach people how to be successful in both business and in life. And I know that sounds like very generic, but I'd like to say I teach success principles that apply to sales and entrepreneurship, and where I see the biggest impact.

[00:27:46] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Frankly is not by teaching sales tactic. Because if you build sales tactics on a poor foundation of lacking integrity and lacking honesty, and some of the principles that I realized will matter most, like nothing, it doesn't matter. You're going, maybe you'll get the money, but you're not gonna actually be happier fulfilled.

[00:28:05] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So what I see is a lot of people who are kind of in my situation where they're making pretty good money, they know they can do better. And the bulk of the people that have these massive, massive leaps in their income and in their life are the ones that actually shift their mindset and shift their habits.

[00:28:22] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Okay? And once they do that, frankly their work ethic shift And with work ethic shifting, you get more at bats, you get more experience. You learn and learn by doing in the skills. So I'd say 95% of success is, is mindset and habits. It's what we do. And the other 5% is the skills that develop through doing the right things and having the right discipline and having the right perseverance and, and the right resilience.

[00:28:48] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So I'll give you kind of some pointers on the mindset side and then, some pointers on the habit side that I, teach a lot of principles. The first principle I teach on my mindset side is called living with integrity. And I don't mean living with honesty and just like the stuff that I just talked about, I, mean what integrity means.

[00:29:06] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: The word integrity comes from the Latin word integer, which means whole or complete. So the way I define integrity is when your thoughts and your beliefs, in other words, your identity, who you are. Okay. Aligns with your actions and behaviors. So a lot of people have conflict inside, and the work that we do is to resolve the conflict.

[00:29:32] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And the conflict is because they say one thing or they think one thing and they do another thing. And so they literally are beating themselves up over all the things they're not doing. Okay. So the, I'll give you couple quick examples. Let's say I am a person that is, Honest, and I see myself as honest, but I'm hiding things in my marriage or from clients or whatever.

[00:29:53] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Like I am literally a hypocrite. Okay? And, I'm out of integrity. Let's say. I think I'm a hard worker, but I'm actually procrastinating and not getting shit done and playing on my phone and messing around. I am completely out of integrity because I'm delusional at that point. I think I'm one thing, but then my actions, So the work you do, On the one hand, you have your identity, how you see yourself, what you say, and what you think, and then how you show up every day.

[00:30:20] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So we identify how do you see yourself, and then are you showing up this way every day? So if you see yourself as healthy, are you eating healthy? If not, what needs to change? Are you working out? If not, how can we incorporate those routines? Those are the things, And I do a 30 day challenge. I say, Well, what can we do in 30 days to change and make that integrity?

[00:30:42] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: I have a chart. it's called Living with Integrity. and in there's two lines. One is the identity line and one is the action line. Right? And when the two don't light up, like you're screwed. The bigger the gap between the two lines, the more out of integrity. So we say, Well, how. Bridge the gap?

[00:30:57] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Well, we have to change our actions. So if my identity is someone who's healthy, I need to make sure I'm eating healthy and exercising right? So that's what we do. Let's get on the treadmill, do 30 minutes to exercise for 30 days straight, and that then compounds into other changes that people make.

[00:31:12] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: But it starts with taking one. Dramatic action that will change everything, right? So that's an example of, the concept that is living with an integrity. another concept I teach is it, it's called the Golden Rule of Time Management. Okay? And the Golden Rule of time management states that the quality of time you work determines both the quality and quantity of time you have outside.

[00:31:38] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Okay. So in a simple explanation, if I'm working. You have to set boundaries for work. So people say, Ian, how'd you build a seven figure business in a year? I built my seven figure coaching business. The average coach makes about 85,000 a year. I've done over seven figures in coaching. It's not cause I was this amazing coach.

[00:31:55] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: I think I talked to you. I was about three 50 when we were So It's blown up. Fundamentally, it's not because I'm a great coach or a great business person, it's because I have really focused activity during the day. I only work 40 to 45 hours a week. I don't work 90 hour weeks like most founders.

[00:32:11] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Okay? But when I work, I'm working. So that's the golden rule of time management is when you're working, you are really working, you're working on the right things, you're focused on what I call revenue generating activities. So my work is either delivering, coaching, selling, coaching, or building my pipeline for coaching.

[00:32:29] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: That's it. So my calendar reflects that I'm not doing a podcast like this as much as I would love to. I'm working court on the fundamentals of my business. I'm not doing other side work. I'm not selling an online university to businesses. I'm not like there's a million directions you can go as an entrepreneur, but for me, I decided what I'm gonna do is be focused, laser focused on one area.

[00:32:50] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And everything I do is to build that area, right? And then when that gets, to a certain point, I'll shift and do some other things. But there's so many opportunities. It's not about what you're saying yes to. It's about what you're saying no to that matters. So I said no to writing a book and I'm saying no to, running addiction groups.

[00:33:05] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: I'm saying no to. A lot of things that frankly I would like to do but are not in the core mission. So that concept of the golden rule of time management just is really simple. If you work a full day on the right things, you will have inner peace at night. If you don't work a full day, you will have to work at night and you won't be as present with those that you love, your family, your spouse, and you're basically taking work home because you didn't get it done when you were supposed to.

[00:33:29] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So for me, I don't have that. When I'm done, I'm done cuz I actually executed what I was supposed to. Cause I know if I don't, I'm robbing my lovely kids and my wife, my time and my presence and that's not fair to them. So that's another principle I teach and I have a lot of these frameworks and principles and I teach all about mind mindset habits.

[00:33:48] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And then we optimize calendars. We look at where our time is spent and where what we say no to and what we say yes to. And by making those fundamental changes and making sure our calendars are filled, RGAs with revenue generat activities, you will transform your results, especially if you're in business or sales, because that's what's driving the results, right?

[00:34:05] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: The revenue generating activities. So those are three concepts. I have about 15 that I teach and that I have copyrighted. And they're very powerful. But those are kind of the three that a lot of people apply right away.

[00:34:16] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: Yeah, those are awesome, man. Thank you so much. I mean, I love the golden rule of time management because so often, especially as, we get a lot of entrepreneurs or sales people who listen to this, podcast, and so often we can feel like we're being productive, but we're really not, Or at the very least we're not being productive on the right things.

[00:34:34] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: sort of. Productive procrastination, if you will. Right. Oh, look how much I got done today. But none of them were revenue generating

[00:34:41] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: None of

[00:34:41] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: it mattered. That's the funny thing. It's like, where did the day go? You're browsing online, you're going down a rabbit hole, you're doing this thing, you got 20 windows open. You didn't finish anything. So it's like focus less is more. fewer but better. Right? that's a huge principles like focus on the critical fuel.

[00:34:56] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: It's a 80 20 rule, right? We get 80% of results from 20% of our activity. So I'm not on Instagram, I'm on in stuff for, family stuff, but I'm not doing my coaching business there. I'm not on tick TikTok, I'm just on LinkedIn. But I went all in on LinkedIn and that's why I got all of my, revenue for my coaching business.

[00:35:12] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So it's like the few, but do it really well. The few things that you do,

[00:35:16] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, one of the things that I think is interesting about, the level of game that you play at, right? Because, I remember we were talking about a particular deal you were working on. You're like, Oh yeah, I guess Bill Gates gave him a call and like swooped in the last minute and, stole the business away, sent it to Microsoft instead of Salesforce.

[00:35:34] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: I'm like, that's interesting that like a call from Bill Gates is like your competition what would you say is is some tips maybe I had of here? One of the things you wrote down is like, be interested, not interesting, Like how do you walk into a. Full of like C level executives at a Fortune 500 company and hold your own and not be intimidated.

[00:35:52] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: What? What are some tips you have there?

[00:35:54] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Yeah, so, on the pure selling skills or kind of interaction skills, I mean, my number one tip for anyone listening, read a book, if you're b2b, if you're b2c, it might not apply as much, but it's still worth reading. It's called Sell Without Selling Out. Okay. And it's really about how to authentically show up as yourself, right?

[00:36:12] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: You do not want to, The more pressure you apply to people, the more likely you know that, that it's gonna break, right? You do not wanna apply to pressure. So the way I sell is like this, no pressure selling mode where it's like, I'm here to help. Okay? If you don't want my help or you don't need my help, like I got plenty.

[00:36:30] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: it comes down to value in your time. I got plenty of people who do. So you have to know the value of your time and when. Desperate or when you have like this neediness, when you show up with clients, they can smell your commission breath a mile away. So remember, it's not about you. Part of like letting your ego dissolve is like realizing your goal as a sales professional is to help your clients achieve their goals or solve their problems, and that's it.

[00:36:56] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: If you cannot understand what their goals are or what their problems are with the areas related to what you're selling, then don't pitch. Do your discovery first. So when I go into a room with CEOs or C level, I don't treat them any different than I treat you, Andrew. I don't treat them any different.

[00:37:13] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: I talk to them like a human. I try to be interested in learning about them. You don't wanna like be interesting to them. You actually become more interesting to people when you're interested in them because most people just show up and they think they need to throw up and they give their pitch and they talk and they don't listen.

[00:37:29] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And that's what stains our industry. That's what destroys the reputation of salespeople. Flash talking, pressure selling, Use this tactic, say this like sleazy salesperson. and frankly, that's the opposite. I mean, I'm here talking about my faith and talking about addiction recovery, and it's like, that's how I would talk to clients.

[00:37:47] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: I don't like care. It's, truly being authentic in making it about them. Okay? I'm not here to impress you. See, you leave the best impression with people when you stop trying to impress. Okay. Cuz if you're not pressuring them, if you're genuinely there to help and understand what's going on, what the world is, you can very quickly see is this a person who wants or needs my help?

[00:38:06] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And if not, like bbye, I got plenty of other people who do. Right? So that's this, being mission driven around like what you sell and how it helps other people versus trying to hit your quota or trying to make this money, right? That's the shift every salesperson needs to make to go from average to.

[00:38:25] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Right. The elite sales people, they shift from inward to outward. They shift from me, focused to you focused. And so when I'm on a call with a business client or whether it's a coaching prospect or whoever, I'm just trying to get to know them and see where they struggle, see their challenges, talk to them, give them support, and then, hey, if it makes sense for them to.

[00:38:44] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: work with me in a, more deep capacity, then that's gonna naturally happen and I'm gonna go through my offer with them and tell 'em how I can help, right? So I don't do that until I know their situation. And I think that's the main principle that I, teach, is like, look, don't be attached to the outcome.

[00:39:01] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: This is not your outcome. It's their outcome. Be attached to their outcome. It's not yours versus like having to close the deal or make this much money at a, certain event. Or, at the end of the day, if you got a big pipeline, right, you don't have to stress about one deal so much.

[00:39:14] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: It's like you're, busy. that's also another principle, but it really is about seeing people eye to eye. Not putting someone on a pedestal just cuz you look up to them and they're successful if you just. See your customers as people, whether it's B to C or b2b, or whether it's an exec or just a, a peer.

[00:39:32] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Like if you just treat people as humans and just get to know them and understand, where they're at, and see if you can help. Like there's no pressure. It's gonna happen naturally and like, hey, if they don't want it, like they're lost. Seriously, they're lost, not mine. And I think that takes a real quiet confidence.

[00:39:48] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And it takes a real belief in yourself and what you do to be able to get to that place. And I certainly didn't get there most of my career. It only really happened, frankly, when I, started working on myself and realizing like, I have nothing to prove, like I'm here to help. And, it did coincide with, my recovery, frankly, because that's how I started thinking.

[00:40:05] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: And then that's how I started.

[00:40:07] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: I love that. Yeah. And, those are not coincidental, right? Like your results and your recovery and everything that went along with that. They, we're definitely correlative and it's pretty cool to see. So we always ask three questions of every single one of our guests. The first question we ask is, What do you think the world needs most right now?

[00:40:26] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: I think the world needs love, and I know that , I know that's a song, right? What the world needs, but like really if, fundamentally, if we just show. From a loving place, treat our neighbors and our friends and our family with love like, and everyone did that. I mean, what would the world like, what is more, what is more powerful?

[00:40:47] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: People are so toxic and angry and filled with the opposite of love and finding reasons to argue and hate and troll and whatever. Like I don't play any of that. Honestly, if I get some of that, Takes two to tango. So, I just don't engage with, with those type of people, but I try every day, I pray to show up with love and, kindness for my clients and, then that gets reciprocated and it comes back to you and, that's, To me, what's missing and the source of people's misery is they're just so bitter and angry and holding onto these negative, toxic emotions.

[00:41:19] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Cuz the quality of your emotions is the quality of your life. So if you're filled with love and joy and gratitude and, and that comes out in your interactions, like it's only gonna help everyone else and have a ripple.

[00:41:30] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: I love it, man. Thank you so much. What one to three books do you think people should read? I know you mentioned Sell Without Selling Out. What other books should, people pick up in your opinion?

[00:41:39] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: My favorite book of all time is The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. that is a classic. It's got time management, it's got vision setting, it's got human interpersonal connections. I mean, it's just so good. That's my, favorite. And I, would say in the spirit of what we were talking about, the Bible, I mean, there's just so much wisdom in the Bible in terms of how we can interact with others and where we can focus and what brings us joy and what doesn't, and just so many wise lessons.

[00:42:06] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Now, I haven't read the Bible myself, but I know a lot of captions and scriptures and in the areas that have. Been really inspiring for me. And I, have a little Bible app that I look at in the morning, and it's a daily devotional. It takes a second. And so I draw inspiration from the Bible. And there's, there's one book that we talked about.

[00:42:22] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: The last one, I know this is four, but if time management and procrastination and bad habits are a struggle for you, I would highly recommend a book called Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy, which is all about how to overcome procrastination and focus on the critical few. It's got the 80 20 rule.

[00:42:40] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: It's got time management principles, daily planning, weekly planning. I read one book a month and I, have a Massive library accumulated over the past four, to five years of personal development. And, it's almost always around like success principles, time management. There's one I just downloaded.

[00:42:56] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: I'm giving you a whole list, but,

[00:42:58] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: I know. It's hard.

[00:42:58] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: yeah. It's Victor, Frankel, right? Who is in the Holocaust. And it's called Man Search for Meaning, right? And, finding no matter what situation you choose, the way you wanna respond and how you wanna think about it. And if Holocaust, someone could keep their inner peace and keep their mind strong, like you can do it during the work day.

[00:43:16] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Okay, . So man, search for meeting Victor Frankel as well. Those are five. I'll give you a couple bonus ones.

[00:43:22] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: I love it. Final question what does it mean to you to be better than rich?

[00:43:28] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: For me, it's just to be a good person. Like be a person of integrity, of character. Just show up and be kind and if you can show up that way also If you could have inner peace, right? Cause chasing riches, there's always another level. There's always a bigger house, There's always some higher level of success in a worldly way that you know you can achieve.

[00:43:50] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: But if you don't have that inner peace, or if you're not happy with yourself, like it doesn't mean anything. So being better than rich is like being. You could still be ambitious, but being at peace with who you are and realizing and having that patience to realize like you're doing all you can and not keep chasing and chasing and chasing the ever eluding goal of, money or, wealth if, you will.

[00:44:10] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So I think having inner peace is a lot better than being rich personally.

[00:44:14] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: Oh, beautiful man. Thank you so much, Ian. This has been an amazing opportunity to get to know you more. Just thanks for being so real and adding so much value to our audience. Where can people kind of follow you and, find you if they wanna learn more about you?

[00:44:26] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Well, if you're in b2b sales you can go to my website. It's called unap your sales potential.com. And you can learn all about my coaching program. If you wanna have access to me or work with me or anything I shared resonates, just go there. It's, sold out. But there is a wait list I'll be taking clients in, in December.

[00:44:43] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: So you can sign up for the wait list. If you wanna work with me, if you just want to consume some of my content, you go to my YouTube channel. It's www.youtube.com/ian koac. And then if you, Want to engage with me. I'm on LinkedIn. I'm not really doing much on Instagram unless you wanna see pictures of me and my family, but, but LinkedIn and YouTube and my website are where, you know, I, coach and I provide every single week new videos that I put out to help the sales community really, tap into their full potential in mindset habits and selling skills.

[00:45:15] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Those are the three areas that I make videos on.

[00:45:18] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: Awesome. Yeah. Your videos, they come to my inbox every single week. I don't watch everyone, but when I have time, I click on and I'll watch it. They're quick hitting, and so he's a great great follow, great person to have sign up for his email list and just check out the content in general because Ian is a game changer when it comes to these sorts of things.

[00:45:34] Andrew Solo Ready for YT CE: So thank you Ian. This has been amazing. Thank you audience. We appreciate you. And remember, until next week to leave today better than you found it. We'll see you that, Bye.

[00:45:42] Ian Solo Ready for YT CE: Thanks everyone.