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Chris LoCurto Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Chris LoCurto
Chris LoCurto is todays guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots podcast interview.
He is an entrepreneur and businessman who was for many years one of the key leaders for the Money Advice man Dave Ramsey.
Working closely with Dave, Chris LoCurto helped over see a wide range of promotional activities.
Not least the Total Money Makeover Live shows, which in many ways were more like arranging a concert than a conference.
Thousands of people would flock to these to gain an insight into how they can make the most of their cash, and solve those worrying financial leaks.
How The Dots Joined Up For Chris
Show casing his own personal talents and experiences he has since gone into business on his own and taken all those learning’s, and sprinkled them with his own personal beliefs and strategies.
Helping businesses and entrepreneurs take the next step in their development through Business Coaching, Strategic Planning and Life-plan events he helps his clients see the things that are holding them back from a better life.
And for many these may not be things within the business world, but instead in their personal lives.
So how does he know how to ask the right questions, and find answers where others wouldn’t think of looking?
And does he look back on his time with Mr Ramsey with total fondness, or are their things that he wishes that he could have done differently now he has branched out on his own.
And has he ever asked questions of his client and thought “Do you know I think I have that same issue myself?”
Well let’s bring onto the show to start joining up dots, as we discuss the words of Steve Jobs in todays Free podcast, with the one and only Mr Chris LoCurto
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Chris LoCurto such as:
How he believes that the American dream is still alive and kicking, but for the current generation there is a misunderstanding that the dream is not linked to work and hustle.
The reasons why when he was a kid he was inspired by Donald Trump and dreamt that his own life would go the same way as the property mogul.
Why so many people thought that he was stupid when he left the stage and thousands of people who hung on his every word to go it alone on his own terms.
How Chris Locurto trained for the Olympics in skiing but failed to go due to nothing more than family economics…his Mum couldn’t afford to pay for his equipment.
And lastly………..
How life is there to be lived and yes, it will be scary, yes it will be hard, but what is the alternative? Not living at all!
How To Connect With Chris LoCurto
Return To The Top Of Chris LoCurto
If you enjoyed this episode with Chris LoCurto why not check out other inspirational chat with Martin Shervington, Jack Canfield, Joe De Sena and the amazing Michael Michalowicz
You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here – enjoy
Audio Transcription Of Chris LoCurto Interview
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK, David Ralph.
David Ralph [0:26]
Yes hello there. Welcome to Episode 210 of a Join Up Dots. I’m going to enjoy this one today because it is a chap who is he’s quite a big cheese. He’s a large from ours, as we say in the United Kingdom over in America. And I’ll be honest, I don’t know that much about him. So it’s going to be a fascinating conversation. But I do know that everyone I’ve mentioned basically loves the guy they all say Oh, give him a big squeezy hug for me. So I’m, I’m going to try to do that on Skype if that’s possible to give him a squeezy hug. But he’s a guest who is was for many years one of the key leaders but a Money Advice man, Dave Ramsey. Working closely with Dave he helped oversee a wide range of promotional activities. Not least the total money makeover live shows, which in many ways were more like arranging a concert when a conference, thousands of people would flock to the east to gain an insight into how they can make the most of their cash and solve those worrying financial leaks showcasing his own personal talents and experiences. He’s since gone into business on his own and taken all those learnings and sprinkled them with his own personal beliefs and strategies. helping businesses and entrepreneurs take the next step in their development through business coaching, strategic planning, and life plan events. He helps his clients see the things that are holding them back from a better life, for many ways may not be things within the business world but instead in their personal lives. So how does he know how to ask the right questions and find answers where others wouldn’t think of looking? And does he look back on his time with Mr. Ramsey with total fondness or one of the things that he wishes he could have done differently? Now he’s branched out on his own. And as he had to ask questions of his client and for Do you know, I think I have that same issue myself. Well, let’s find out as we bring on to the show to start Join Up Dots but one and only Mr. Chris LoCurto, how are you Chris?
Chris LoCurto [2:17]
Doing great, David. I’ve got to say I believe this may be the first time in history I was Carl was called a large fromage. So I gotta say this has made my day.
David Ralph [2:28]
That’s a cheesy, cheesy compliment from this side. So I think start with a bit of cheese at the beginning. we’re on the right track, sir.
Chris LoCurto [2:35]
Amen. I’m all about it.
David Ralph [2:37]
So you’re, you know, if we go straight into it, your your surname is you know, it’s linked to pesto in Italian and, and parmesan cheese and stuff. Where does the surname come from?
Chris LoCurto [2:49]
Sicily. My father is from Palermo. And so as my, my grant Well, my grandmother’s from Palermo, my grandfather’s from Corleone, but mainly they moved from Palermo to come to the US,
David Ralph [3:04]
and was a full the American dream.
Chris LoCurto [3:08]
Yeah, it really was, it really was, it was my great grandfather, had actually left Sicily and came over to do some work in New York City, and was actually a part of building you know, some of the huge skyscrapers. And so he sent back and had the family move this direction, although they didn’t go to New York City, they actually went to Oklahoma City, if you can believe it. So, or Oklahoma, I should say, somewhere in Oklahoma. But yeah, that was it was about the you know, leaving Sicily for a better life.
David Ralph [3:41]
Well, what is it about America and the American dream because the United Kingdom is a great place to live in. But I don’t think that anybody says there’s a UK dream like they do with America, America seems to have this kind of magic about it that we we look at and go, yes, that’s where you can go and create a future that you just wouldn’t have got elsewhere. Do you feel about when you’re there? Or is that something that outsiders look at?
Chris LoCurto [4:07]
Yeah, I really do believe and I think some of our younger folks aren’t saying it as much. And, you know, some of our part, you know, some of our politicians have kind of ruined the idea. But the American dream, if you’re asking Chris LoCurto is that we have the opportunity to do whatever it is that we want. You can do, you can build whatever life you like, if you don’t like it, make alterations, you know, but you have this chance in a what we call a free society, you know, to be able to do whatever it is that you want to do. Unfortunately, a lot of people who are from here, don’t ever take advantage of that situation. In fact, there is a massive number of I don’t know what the percentage, but of the entrepreneurs in our country, a huge number of them are immigrants. Because they’ve left with the American dream, do to come here and make it happen, and then make it happen. You got people that have been here for generation after generation. And you know, they might not be doing exactly that. So the American dream, in my mind is you can make anything happen if you want to, you can, you know, decide where you want to put your efforts, decide where you want to put your passion. If it is becoming a stay at home, Mom, if it’s becoming a stay at home dad, fantastic, you can do exactly that. If it’s run a multimillion dollar billion dollar business, if you want to pour your time to that go after it.
David Ralph [5:32]
Now one of the things that we talk about quite often on the show, and I suppose it’s time to cut to the chase on this one as well, is the fact that it seems to me that people who come with nothing, or at least start with nothing seemed to be more creative in their choices and their decisions, and they will take risks about people that have got something to lose just won’t. Do you think that is one of the key points of the American dream where the immigrants came across. And they really only had most of the times the bags that they travelled with, they were more creative, and they were more adventurous and people that are somewhere up the ladder, and they could lose what they’ve already got.
Chris LoCurto [6:15]
Yeah, I would almost call it an entrepreneurial spirit. In not just necessarily in the idea of creating a corporate business, but the idea of I want to make something and when you have nothing. The only thing you know, if you don’t have resources, if you don’t have money, what do you have creativity, you have the ability to say, Okay, I don’t have anything to start this without people all the time are asking me Chris, should I get venture capital to start a business? Chris, how much debt Should I go into start a business, you’re talking to the guy who hates debt, I can’t stand debt. In fact, 74% of the Forbes 400 say that debt is the dumbest thing you can be doing. Get out of it. Don’t have it. So when you look at that concept, when people ask me, What do I do, I say, Go work your butt off. Get six jobs, man, I want I had a guy once asked me he says I think I’ve got the greatest idea for a taco shop that is just going to explode. Well, everybody’s got a great idea that’s going to explode. He’s like, how much money should I go into it I’m like, you don’t take a little stand and go down to your local flea market or go down to some place and get a get a warming, you know, those carts that you can put hot stuff in, make them for people in the park, I don’t care selling right there, see if you’re it even works if anybody even likes it, and take some money and build it up, go, you know, go at the rate that you have money to do. So if you want more money, work more hours and get other jobs to support this until you can build it up to you buy a truck, a food truck, and then take the food truck out there and do that. Do the same concept, then take it to our right now if you feel like you have to buy brick and mortar which nowadays food trucks are doing great. If you feel like you have to buy brick and mortar go by brick and mortar, and do that and take it from that point. But understand that 60% of businesses in the US start on less than $5,000 a year, less than five grand. What do you have to have if you only have $5,000 creativity and a spirit that says I’m willing to do what it takes to make this happen?
David Ralph [8:27]
Well, we call it on this show hustle muscle. And there you go, I’m a great believer in the more you flex your muscle, the muscle just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And I was coaching a lady last night, who we found a plan for her we know what she wants to do her passions there. And I was saying to her what you need to do is going get a job even if you don’t like it to be able to work towards it. But she couldn’t see that she couldn’t see about it. Or she was saying now Why should I go off and do something but I don’t lie, if there’s something but I want to do but I do like and I was because you haven’t got the money to do what you do. Like you need to work towards it. We don’t really talk about leaps of faith, we talk about slides of faith and you you plan a transition. So that we get to that point, you’re kind of half in the camp already and it’s not so dangerous. I find that a lot of it, Chris is to do with almost the overnight success. We call it the X Factor syndrome or the American Idol syndrome where you can sing one song and you’re suddenly plugged into superstardom. And you’re playing Madison Square Garden. So people aren’t willing, really to put in the spadework as you’re saying they’re willing to go heavily into debt to get it quickly. But that’s kind of built on sand somehow, do you think?
Chris LoCurto [9:44]
Oh my gosh, I mean, if you think about it, like you talked about the X Factor, the American Idol, these are shows that are showing people who are the ones that actually win this stuff, the people that have been singing for years, we don’t see the countless hours, the countless hours that went into honing their voice as a muscle, you don’t just all of a sudden start singing and you’re out, you’re winning the X Factor or American Idol, you know, that doesn’t just happen. It takes a in just a crazy amount of effort to get there. Now I can tell you, I’ve been there. I’ve worked jobs that I hate it, because I knew it was going to help fund something else.
David Ralph [10:24]
What was the last one that you hated? Chris? Well, when when you look back,
Chris LoCurto [10:27]
I used to do logistics. Now I am a very logistical thinker, which makes me a great entrepreneur in the sense that I can think through processes, you know, it just comes naturally to me. So I used to do logistics for companies that would move stuff across the country. So I would control states worth worth states worth of logistics. And the problem is, is that usually it had to end up on a truck somewhere. And so I would have to have a direct connexion when things went bad. So I would be getting phone calls, you know, two o’clock in the morning, I’d have to get out of bed and my shorts. I don’t know, if you want that visual picture, you know, I’d have to get
David Ralph [11:11]
it back with
Chris LoCurto [11:13]
you. Now I gotta go pick up my mind, I would get up and start working. You know what one of those old brick cell phones that after you talk on it for 45 seconds, your ears on fire? You know, I’m sure that put some sort of bad stuff in my system. And I’d have to work for an hour or something, go back to bed Get up, you know, do this again. And I did that for the longest time. I was really good at it, though. I was really good at it. And I made money.
David Ralph [11:42]
And I just asked you a question on that, because I’m sure you didn’t like it. But you’re really good at that. That is that a character trait that you’ve got when something you don’t like? Can you still be good at it? Because most people have by example, if I don’t like something my morale goes, and I just kind of Oh, I’ll just don’t put the effort in as much as if I’m really like it. But you’re different in that are you?
Chris LoCurto [12:04]
Yeah, the difference is this. I had a greater vision. I feel like so many people don’t have a vision for the future. I feel like so many people don’t have that entrepreneurial spirit. And listen, not everybody is built with the entrepreneurial spirit. But if you want more, if you want better, then you’ve got to get into a place where you’re willing. I’m not saying that you’ve got to go work every you know, 10 jobs that you hate to find the one that you love. I’m just saying you have to be willing to take that stand. If that’s something that has to happen for you to get there, then you got to go do it. I would prefer that you discover what it is that you’re passionate about what is it you love that you love and start moving in that direction, even if it’s at a small portion at a time. But for me, I knew that I could make more money doing something I was really good at that I hated. Which would get me me to my end goal a heck of a lot faster. So it was a trade off. What am I willing to give up today, so that I can do what I want to for the rest of my life. kids do not when I say kids, young 20s, even early 30s. They do not think this way right now. Because they’re watching TV. They’re watching social media, they’re watching all this stuff that says, have it now. Have it now have it now look at this person they want on a show for a few weeks. And look, now they’re a superstar. That is not real reality TV is an oxymoron, it is not reality. And so that we have this mindset, and by the way, we also have a generation of parents who are not giving their kids reality. They’re not teaching them reality growing up, you know, when you have parents that have that go into their school and say, listen, our child does not hear the word no. So you’re gonna have to adjust to that. No, I don’t, I don’t think so. That’s not the kind of thing that you’re trying means your child needs a dose of reality. And that is if you want, you got to work. If you want something, work for it, work hard, you can have even more of it work really hard, you get to a point where your money is now working for you. I’m in a place where my money works for me. It’s a great thing. Doesn’t mean that I stopped life. Oh gosh, no, I’m working harder than I ever have. But I’m doing what I absolutely love and I’m crazy passionate about.
David Ralph [14:27]
So So were you inspired to go this route by your parents was was your dad a hustle muscle monster was your mom was uncles and aunties. Where did this kind of entrepreneurial spirit, which is quite obviously in you big time? Where did Where did this all start? Flowers. So
Chris LoCurto [14:44]
yeah, so this is funny. I was actually as a kid, as a young person seven, eight years old. I wanted to be and I know it sounds crazy. But back then I wanted to be Donald Trump, I wanted to be Lee Iacocca with my limited understanding of their leadership skills, all I saw was how they were being successful and the things that they were that they were doing showing up. Now, of course, we’ve all learned a lot, you know, since but the point being is is that they were hustling, they were doing something and making something happen. And I wanted to do that same thing, I wanted that hustle. So from an early age, I wanted to be a real estate mogul, I now own a real estate company. I’ve wanted to own my own businesses I own for them. It was that type of thing of what does it take to get it now it did not happen. My I had a goal of owning my own business by 25 didn’t happen. I was out there busting it, moving in the direction of you know, making other people successful and making myself successful at that time. And eventually got to a point where I did start, I started the real estate company first years ago, then started this business a couple years back. And it was just this thing since I was young, I knew that I was going to be doing something along this line, you know, something that was entrepreneurial, something that was continuing to, you know, make things successful. What I didn’t know was that it was going to be making people successful and making businesses successful.
Unknown Speaker [16:13]
Did does that
David Ralph [16:14]
excite you the D providing value to people because it is a sort of truism really that the more value you provide to people, the more ultimately you get back either in wealth or in status or or whatever. But is it that kind of thing that actually excites you the key
Chris LoCurto [16:30]
to have to Chris, there is nothing that excites me more when it comes to, you know, business, that is my purpose, my purpose is to help people to have the greatest life possible and help them to have the greatest business possible. I have, I’m the kind of person I if it’s just to make $1, I don’t want to be a part of it. I don’t care. I’ve done enough in my life already. If it’s just to guide somebody you to make more money, or I’m not going to do it, if it’s just for me to make more money. I’ve got like I say I’ve got my real estate business, I enjoy that. But I do that because it’s a fun passion of mine. It’s not to make a buck. If I do make a buck, otherwise it’d be pointless. The thing that I’m saying though, is that when I change people’s lives, when my team changes people’s lives, it is stunning. It is purposeful, it is meaningful. My goal is to worship God. And I truly believe the Jewish people believe that the word worship, it derives from the term workshop, that it’s what you do during the week with God’s kids, that causes you to worship God, if you take great care of his kids, you’re worshipping Him, what greater goal for me, than to do exactly that. So when I’ve got a business that comes in, and we just completely rocked their world and show them how to make more money so that they have more margin so they can change more lives. Or if it’s one of our live plans, where people come in for two days, and we just go through their whole life and show them you know how to discover what’s been wrong and how they got to where they are and how you know messed up things can be fixed and how to be the strongest going forward. It’s it’s so powerful, and it’s so life giving that why would I ever want to do anything else? You in love with your life on you? Oh, my gosh. Oh, yes. Very much so very much that Does that surprise you when somebody says
David Ralph [18:35]
it to you like me, and this is the first time that we’ve connected, but I can just hear it coming out of you. Does it surprise you. But that passion is something that will ultimately connect to anyone across the world? If you have a conversation with someone, they are going to be engaged by that passionately?
Chris LoCurto [18:54]
Yeah, I hope so. I definitely hope so. I hadn’t thought about it that way. But yeah, I mean, funny. We had Steve Sims who’s an East London boy on on the other day. And he mentioned that he says, Man, he said, your your thing is your passion. And I was like, Well, yeah, of course it is. But I hadn’t thought about other people going, oh, wow, I enjoy that. I enjoy Chris’s passion. I always think well, they they enjoy what I give them. But yeah, you’re absolutely right.
David Ralph [19:22]
I’m going to play some words which we play around about this part of the show. And it really says what you’re talking about. And what we’re alluding to. This is Jim Carrey,
Jim Carrey [19:31]
my father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. And our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
David Ralph [19:57]
When did those words kind of really start coming into your life? Obviously, not Jim Carrey speech, but that the the message behind them?
Chris LoCurto [20:09]
Probably
probably 15 years ago, ish. Gosh, that’s a tough on a nail down. But there was a transition in my life, when I stopped focusing on what people thought about my life and thought about me, and started focusing on what I can do to bless them and benefit them. And if I did that well enough, if I took care of people well enough, I would be taking care of money would show up, you know, things would happen. The failure thing is something that I preach about like crazy. It is something that people are so afraid of failure. And I look at it differently. Now. Now growing up, I was tearing afraid of failure. I didn’t like failure, I hated failure. But I liked winning a heck of a lot better. So I was okay with failure. But it didn’t mean that I didn’t fear it. But there got to be a point in my life where I said, Forget this, this is stupid. If I fail, I learned if I learned from it, I do better. So if I fail more, and I learned from it, and I continue to do better, fail as much as you can just don’t feel it the same thing twice. You know, you’ve heard, I’m sure you’ve heard the term fail forward. Yeah. If I can make mistakes, you know, like Jim is saying in that if you’re going to fail at something anyways, because nobody’s perfect. Nobody you don’t, you’re not born perfect. It’s something you have to learn, you have to get knocked down a few times, you might as well fail at something that you want to win at instead of failing at something that you don’t care about.
David Ralph [21:57]
But But when you was like 15 or 30 years ago, where you like everybody else, and I’ve only just broken free from it where I was pretty much on a path that was expected of me. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do in life. So I kind of went into Jobs but I fought other people would be proud of. And it’s only when I realised that actually hang on, there’s gonna come a time I’m not on this planet anymore. What am I doing? I’m living my life because of other people not that that the life that I actually want to leave, but things have changed and things have gone so swimmingly since. So were you similar? Were you in paths that were kind of expected of you?
Chris LoCurto [22:37]
Yeah, I do have to say that that thought that thought process is like a virus, the concern of following paths because the concern of how people judge you is a horrid, horrid thing. I teach people that their life is a root system. I believe that you are the sum of your past and your influencers. The things that have happened in your past and the things or people that have influenced you now have some people push back and go, you know, yeah, but you can make different decisions. You make decisions based on your past. And what’s influenced you, whether it’s good or bad, you still make decisions based on all of that. And so many people have this built into what I call the roots, I’m a huge wine fan. I’m very passionate about wine and food as well. And so I do a thing where I talked about it for a very long time of discussing how deep down inside of you deep down into your root system are these things that get implanted, and it comes up in you and it’s things like like what you just said, you should follow this path, you should do this, you should make this happen. You should be a lawyer, you should be a doctor you should. You should not do anything except for what God has given you the passion to do now, let me couple that with the butt. Hey, watch out for those times where you can go bust you know and make some money, bust your backside and make some money so that you can afford to do the thing you’re passionate about that is that is a wheel that is a that is a tool for you to get ahead into your passion. So you might not be able to get to your passion right away. But that is the ultimate direction. Frederick Bittner said Frederick Binger said that your calling in life and this is a paraphrase. Your calling in life is where your passion meets the world’s need. That cross section is where you should live. That’s where you should be. So yeah, there were times when I was younger, that I was following the stuff that people said, well, you should be doing this, you just need to have a job, you just need to have this you just need to be here. And I got to a place where I started realising these people aren’t going to be around when I’m 60. And I’m unhappy. They’re not going to be their public me up with happiness, they’re not going to be there pumping me up with, you know, joy. So if I listen to them, and I follow their advice, or I do the things to make them happy, then where’s my happiness? And so I stopped listening to that kind of stuff, I stopped listening to people say, here’s what you should do, people thought I was stupid for leaving the stage of 10,000 people so that I can come work with one business at a time or one individual at a time.
David Ralph [25:28]
Why did they do that? Why did they think that you were stupid and not applaud you for following a path that is inherently you.
Chris LoCurto [25:37]
Because the stage of 10,000 people looks like success it is that’s, that’s a very successful place to be. But it is the world’s view of what success is. And I would get off the stage. And I would go and talk to one person and they’d say, Hey, can you just help me with this. And if I spent 15 minutes with them, I could change their life more than five hours on the stage. Because I could dig into them or their situation or whatever, and help them individually. And so it became this thing of going, Oh, my gosh, I have got a bigger platform. With less size, I can affect generations, dealing with one person. You know, I can affect your life for a short period of time, if you decided to choose if I spent a few hours with you on stage, and it’s a tonne of people now don’t get me wrong. both platforms are fantastic. Both are needed. But what I was being called to was this now I still go out and speak I still do large events. But what I’m doing now is just phenomenal in in what it’s doing as far as change. So yeah, I don’t think if you’re an artist, I was on a panel podcast A while ago for young creatives. And so many people that are you know, family members that feel like you should go get a job work. 40 years, I didn’t collect the retirement pension or whatever. push people away from creativity. Don’t be creative. You can’t make money being a creative. Oh my gosh. Are you kidding me? graphic people make more money than most people do. Now, on the grand scale. Yes, you can make money being creative.
David Ralph [27:26]
But the problem with it is not that it’s creative. But creative. People can do things naturally. Well. And that’s that’s that’s the point, people kind of think that work should be hard. You go and you do a day’s work. And somebody’s sitting there and getting to their state of flow, because it’s a natural thing for them to do. They kind of go well, now that’s just that’s that’s a hobby. You’ve always been doing that since she was a kid, you know, you can’t make money on that you’ve got to get a proper job. And that’s, that’s the sort of mentality, isn’t it?
Chris LoCurto [27:57]
It sure is. Because to the person who is not that creative. Not not a creative looks at that and goes, that’s that’s not real work, you can’t make money. And the truth is, they put in just as much work just as much time just as much effort and get paid well for it. So it’s not the job for a huge percentage of the people walking this earth. But first, a certain percentage, it absolutely is. And it gets paid a lot nowadays. So we listen to other people who aren’t us. If you don’t have the talents I do, why am I taking advice from you? If you don’t have the passions that I do? Why am I taking advice from you? It doesn’t work, it would be like me telling somebody who is meant to be a brain surgeon don’t do that there’s blood involved. Because I can promise you, I’m not the guy who’s going to be working on somebody, I’m not cutting somebody open that that’ll gross me out on that that guy. So why in the world would I ever get advice to somebody who is built for that? Who was made for that? And so now you shouldn’t do that? Because there’s disgusting stuff involved?
David Ralph [29:06]
So So do you ever have those kind of folks where you kind of think, you know, I know I’m earning here, but really, I’m enjoying myself too much. This is, you know, I, I shouldn’t be getting paid? Or are you past that stage? Because I think a lot of people that hang up don’t know, when they’re suddenly earning a lot of money, especially you see celebrities, and they seem like they’ve got everything, and then suddenly they’re taking drugs, and then they seem really unhappy. Because the Comic Con can’t balance that value they’re providing with the the value they’re getting back.
Chris LoCurto [29:36]
Yeah, I don’t ever think that way. And the reason why is because I look at this differently. This isn’t about Chris Ricardo, this isn’t about me, this is about the people on the other end of any service or product that we provide. It is a heavy responsibility for me to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to change lives, the team here, it is a heavy responsibility for them. And I have a huge belief that is where there is no margin, there is no ministry. So if you don’t actually have money, you can’t produce anything, you can’t do stuff. debt is not a way to do that. So for me, I want you to get paid a lot of money for doing whatever it is that you’re doing. Just focus it on a way of changing other people’s lives. So for me, I love what I do. And I did not I’m not an overnight success. I’m not, you know, all of a sudden, it’s just exploding because I came up with the idea a few days ago, I’ve been putting hard work in since I was 14 years old. And so success for me has been calculated, it’s been calculated risks, it’s been, you know, knowing what to do, it’s been losses, it’s been failures, it’s been all of those things. So for me, I’m not going to bug out on success and go, you know, gosh, I don’t know how to handle this, I’ve been in the end zone before, I don’t have to do a little dance. I’ve been here before, one before. Now go do it again. Now go do it again, do it again, do it again. But keep doing it on the thing that you’re passionate about. So when I look at those stars that end up just jacked up. It’s an inability to handle the fame, the stardom, it’s an inability to focus on the business side of what it is that they’re accomplishing. And it becomes all about them. One thing I love about your interview is, this isn’t the David Ralph show. Now, it’s it is but it’s not you know, what my podcast is not about crystal, it is called the crystal COURTEAU show. It’s not about me, you do a fantastic job of making sure that you’re asking stuff, so that the people listening to this get benefit. It’s not about blowing you up. It’s not about making you the star in the centre. And everybody focuses on David, you can tell by your interview style that you’re doing exactly that you care about what the people listening to this show here is success as far as I’m concerned.
David Ralph [32:03]
So if you take your style of interviewing your your talents on the stage, was it a natural fit for you to fall into where you are now? Or, you know, because I can imagine standing up and 10,000 I’ve been a public speaker for years and years and years, I’ve never done 10,000 people and I probably would find if I had to stand up there and do it. So when you were getting to that stage, was there any points when you actually went? despair was really uncomfortable? Because that’s one of the things that people are frightened of, aren’t they they’re frightened of the big picture that frightened of wherever aiming to be. So if somebody come along to you, Chris and said, right, Chris, you’re 18 years old, within two years time, you’re going to be standing there in front of 10,000 people, would that have terrified you? Are you naturally somebody that goes like, Okay, I’ve got two years to prepare. Here I go.
Chris LoCurto [32:55]
If I was 18 years old, that would have, I would have said that there’s no possible way that that would have terrified me. I had a transitional moment in my life. And that was I was actually sitting in church, I keep talking a lot about the my belief system, which is not you know, we’re we’re a company, I happen to be a believer, and we happen to believe, but that’s not the thing that we’re pushing. But for me, I was sitting in church and I had a moment where my associate pastor was on stage. And he was talking to people about how Satan gets to people through their weakness. And he says, you know, he gets to, he gets to a drunkard through the bottom of a bottle. He said, that would never happen to me. He said, because I’ve never had a drop of alcohol, it would get to me, the way that he gets to me is that I want you people to think that I am a great speaker. He said, eventually, I want you to think I’m a great pastor. But I want you to think I’m a great speaker. And I felt like I heard God say Did you hear what he said? Yeah, he said he wants people to think is great speaker and he said, Nope. He said, eventually, someday he’ll want them to he’s a great pastor. He supposed to be a great pastor. Now, that’s his job. And I felt like he said, if I’m going to put my children in front of you, it better be about me, not you. And it better be about what they hear, not what you say. And David, I got to tell you, that was a light switch moment. For me. That was a flip, where any fear of being on the stage was immediately gone. Any fear of public speaking, because the reason why there’s a fear of public speaking, is you’re afraid of what people are saying about you. Even though they’re not saying it, you assume that people are judging, you assume that people are saying bad things about you in their head, you assume people are sitting out there going, what a dork, you assume these things. And that’s where the fear comes in. When you realise I have 30 minutes, I have an hour, I have five hours, to give you the most important information I can to hopefully change your life. It changes everything. That fear is completely gone. Because it’s no longer about you. It’s about the people sitting in that audience. And that change, coupled with your passion is where success lives. When it becomes more about them than it does me and what they hear and what they get. And if I can change their lives, I am blessed to have an opportunity to do exactly I’m blessed to be on your show that hopefully this is a message that’s reaching somebody out there that is just going oh my gosh, that is exactly what I needed to hear.
David Ralph [35:32]
I think it is exactly what the audience wants to hear what you’re saying is perfect for the listeners of the show. Because the the number one thing that I get from emails and coaching calls, is the what ifs, what if this is going to fail? What if this is going to happen? What if, and I say to them, nobody starts by hitting a home run, as you said earlier, you know, in you’re going to have failures, you’re going to have successes, you’re going to hit plateaus. But it’s the assumptions, isn’t it. And you assume that somebody’s going to laugh at you, you assume that you’re going to go broke, you assume that you’re going to do this, now getting this show together. And now it’s small potatoes, but I have gone through many levels of fear. And at some certain times, it’s been proper fear. And I think oh my god, and funnily enough, it wasn’t the launching it, it was when it started getting successful, I still don’t really understand why that was the case. But that’s how I felt. But you push through. And when you actually push through and you look one step behind you, you kind of go Oh, actually, that wasn’t as scary as I thought leading into it. So, but your experience with people who are trapped, or they are desperate, and basically the people that listen to the shows, you’re not going to get a multi millionaire listening to the shows, but you are going to get the people who want more in their life, what is a good way for them to actually start making momentum, taking those shackles and breaking them?
Chris LoCurto [36:58]
Well, one thing I want to touch on is what you just said is that the fear of success, sometimes is greater than the fear of failure.
David Ralph [37:07]
People believe only reason why is
Chris LoCurto [37:10]
because we fear the unknown, we failed in the past, we know we can fail, we’ve hit that mark. But people are not confident enough in themselves that they can be successful. I in life plan I have dealt with everything. And I’ve dealt with people who have had absolutely zero problems in their lives, to people who have had horrid things that have happened. And one of the things that I find that our defaults, is that as somebody becomes successful, they will bring themselves down. Because they’re not used to being in that place. And so instead of writing that out and enjoying that, and keep on moving, they fear, oh, if I’m here, I have to stay up here. No, you don’t know, of course you don’t. You don’t have to stay up at that point. any longer than you want to. You can drop back down, do whatever you want, but shoot for hitting that again or greater. Keep trying so that you stretch yourself, we’re not stretched. When we hit that success. It stretches us a little bit and like you said, you able to turn around at that point and go, Oh, okay, this isn’t so bad. Look, I’m smarter. I’m wiser. I’ve done more. I have more money now. Wow. Okay, let’s do it again. So there’s an old saying that says, once you’ve made a million dollars, the second million comes easier. And that’s an absolute truth. The truth, the reason why that’s true, is because all of the energy and effort it took to make a million dollars. Once you’ve got there, you’ve got all that wisdom, you’ve got that hustle, you’ve got the ability to do it again now, and it’s so much easier. So making a million dollars, the first million is very difficult. The second, not nearly as tough, because you know how to do it. Now. That’s the same thing with success. But since we haven’t been there, and there’s so many times and there’s so many people in our lives, oh, there’s so many negative voices in our lives, that are telling calling us out on stuff and Oh, you’re not good at this. Oh, you’re you would not believe the people that come through our life plans. storey after storey after storey after storey of parents who tell their kids that they’re not good enough, who show them by not supporting them and not being there for them and not helping them to become successful and knocking them down. And the reason why their parents do it is because of their bad childhood and their list of failures and all that crap that comes with it. When you see this, it is that is one of my biggest goals is to help people to understand you are good enough, right? where you are. The lies that you’ve been told the lies that you tell yourself the junk that you’ve heard in your past, all of that is holding you down, and keeping you from being successful, and keeping you fearing success. But if you can get your head around that and actually understand it, then it usually takes me anywhere from four to eight hours to get them there. But when they get it, this light bulb comes on, and you would be shocked at seeing what happens. I mean, they become powerful in that moment. Because they realised that they just conquered their biggest issue their greatest fear. And once they once they grab ahold of that thing and just crush it in their hands, man, they’re able to move forward. A lot of times, that’s success, because the people in their lives have told them, You aren’t successful. You don’t deserve to be successful. You’re not going to be in fact, you’re just not good enough.
David Ralph [40:51]
So So do you still get negative comments at your stage of success? Now? Do people say to you, Chris, no, don’t do this. Don’t do that.
Chris LoCurto [41:00]
Yeah, I do. A buddy of mine. JOHN echo has what he calls the the hater rule. every thousand people that tell you you’re doing great. So on social media, it takes one person to say you’re an idiot to wipe all that away. Yeah. I it happens. I just don’t listen to those voices anymore. It immediately there’s the immediate, oh my gosh, somebody doesn’t like me, oh, I don’t care. You know, if it’s 1000 people telling me that I’m doing something stupid, and one person saying, Oh, yeah, well, all right, now I’ve got a different problem. But we struggle with that one voice or those two voices are those three voices. And so yeah, I’ve got some I got some, I have a guy that came through one of our events, who is actually a pastor. And he was struggling with a lot of stuff and and he did something stupid like that. I thought, Man, you poor person, you have absolutely no clue. You’re you’re in a high rise that you shouldn’t even be in this place of doing stupid stuff like this. And if I have if I decide to listen, then what happens is, is that I start beating myself down, I start wiping away all the lives that we’ve changed, I start wiping away all the businesses, I start wiping all that away. And it destroys it. Because why? Because I focused on somebody who’s insecure, I focused on somebody who’s hurting personally. And, you know, we use the saying hurt people hurt people. They take attacks at me because they’re hurting themselves. And I am a big target for them to take an attack on, you know. And so if I listened to that, don’t Can I give an example, you give me all the examples you want. A few years back three, four years ago, I had somebody I get a lot praise God, it’s it’s a blessing. I get a lot of people that will send me direct messages, emails, all kinds of stuff, saying how we’ve changed their lives and what’s happening and how thankful they are. And I was good. I was on a good run on Twitter. I had a lot of people just oh my gosh, Chris, you know, love your information, love your podcast, yada, yada, yada. Then I looked and there was one guy said, Chris Lee Curtis is an absolute idiot. Oh, my gosh, everything inside of me just built up. I was so upset that somebody would do that. How dare you attack somebody, I wouldn’t ever do that. At least I haven’t done that I’ve never gone out on on social media and called somebody an idiot. I just, I was so mad in the moment. I wrote seven responses and deleted all of them. I kept writing it and delete running it, delete writing it and delete. And then I thought, you know what, I’m going to turn my tribe on them. And I’m gonna, I’m just gonna say, Hey, guys, this is what somebody said, What do you think? And I know that they would go ballistic. But then I’m doing the same exact thing this guy’s doing right. Yeah. And so I’m sitting there just upset in the moment. And I feel like I heard God say, he probably only has 35 followers. On my you’re absolutely right, you should probably look at his Twitter page to see. And so I clicked on his Twitter page. And David, you know, where you’ve got the section where the pictures are.
Unknown Speaker [44:17]
in the, in the pool baby.
Chris LoCurto [44:20]
In the pictures was his baby in the nick you with tubes coming out of all these, you know, different tubes, this baby’s in the hospital. And all these different tubes are coming out of this baby. And in that moment, I looked down and I thought, This guy is hurting more than anybody on the planet right at this moment. I am sitting here upset. He just took a shot at me because he’s speaking from pain. He is so hurt because his child has got all kinds of tubes coming out of it. And so I decided to read an eighth response. And I just wrote, I’m praying for your child. And within about 20 minutes or so he responded back and he said, Thank you, I think it’s helping. And that changed the way that I view the negative voices. It there are going to be those folks. Oh my gosh, have I said things that have pain? Have I said things to people because I was hurting? Absolutely. My gosh, I have failed in that. Where there’s no grace to it? What is there? And so I have to make a decision? Am I going to base my life on one guy’s tweet that I don’t even know why he said it or where he’s coming from? Or, you know, or one family member who’s telling me that I can’t do it? Or that I shouldn’t do it because they’ve never stepped out. They’ve never stuck their neck out to try and make something of themself? Am I going to base my life on that? Or am I going to do the things to make me happy and change my life and make it what I want it to be? And so I made that decision, I’m going to I’m going to do my life instead of other people’s lives.
David Ralph [46:16]
in certain ways, Chris, you seem a very simple individual. You You know what you want, and you are very comfortable in providing that. But it also seems and we’re going to play the words of Steve Jobs in a moment, it seems to me from listening to your storey, there has been big dots in the Join Up Dots timeline has been big dots that may not be kind of under your control. But I’ve really made you who you are. And a lot of it doesn’t seem to be a bad job. A bad relationship. It seems to be a feeling it does that come from your faith. Does that come from the ability to understand where people are coming from?
Unknown Speaker [46:58]
Yeah, I think
Chris LoCurto [47:01]
I think it comes from both. I have had a extremely difficult personal life. I’ve have got junk all through my life. I’ve had bad situations in my life. I’ve had people that have just destroyed me in my life, I’ve got all kinds of crap, just like everybody else does. But I just happen to have a tonne of it. And every single situation, I feel like I’ve learned from I think the difference between me I always tell people, I’m kind of that self help person. If I’m afraid of something or something bad’s happening, or if I want to be better at something, I figure out how to, or I use this stuff in my past, I use this stuff in my history to change it or do something about it. And so for me, I think there’s been so much in my life that I’ve just, you know, I’ve I’ve in my face that I’ve looked at and said, why have all these things happen happened? Lord, why is all this junk happened to me, and the thing that I have come up with is because he’s using it to change his kids lives. And I was the strong guy who could take it. I was the guy who could take the beatings in the moment. And so I really believe that that is an absolute honour for me, that I have gone through stuff in my life, so that it changes somebody else. And the great thing is, is instead of sitting in my own pity pool, instead of sitting in my own junk and wallowing in it and being a victim in it, and having the mentality of I have no control over my life and all of that stuff. Instead of doing that I made decisions. You don’t like what’s going on, fix it, change it, do something different. work your butt off until it goes until it looks different. But do not sit here and be a victim. And do not sit here and allow this stuff to continue. If you want out of the junk if you want out of the mess, get out no matter how what no matter what it takes. there’s a there’s a place in in in the US and Colorado. It’s one of the very few places where it has both cows and Buffalo and a buddy of mine and author Rory Baden talks about how when the storms come, they always come west to east, they always run one direction, the buffalo will absolutely charge the storm to get through it as fast as possible. The cows on the other hand, will actually run with the storm, they won’t do anything different, they actually will run it with the direction of the storm, which makes the storm longer, if they lay down, it would actually be shorter, because then it would just pass over them. But instead of doing that they actually run in with the direction of the storm. They have the maximum amount of storm in their life. Instead of going, wait a second, there’s a storm, dang it, do everything you can to get through this thing. Get it done, move on. And so I think for me that has been the thing that has been so helpful for so many is that I’ve been through it I’ve been through a tonne of junk. I’m the guy that can look at a gal who’s been abused or a gal that’s that’s been raped, or I can look at a guy that’s been molested as a kid or I can look at him an entrepreneur who his his whole identity is wrapped up in his business. Or I can look at you know, whoever it is I can look at these people and help them to get to a place where that is not an issue anymore. And so it’s based off of years and years decades of experience, and deciding to have a better life. It doesn’t mean that my life is void of junk, it still happens. Businesses great personal life a second. business life is second person life is great. I mean, it just it just depends at the time.
David Ralph [51:08]
Well, let’s play the words of Steve Jobs, because he said quite nicely back in 2005. But really, life is a journey, we don’t know which way it’s going to go. But when we look back and we connect the dots, you can see where you came from. And where you’ve ended up. This is Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs [51:24]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards. 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leaves you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [51:59]
You been very open talking about the the dots in your life that have led you to where you are now. But do you have a big dot where actually the real Chris came to the fore?
Chris LoCurto [52:12]
Gosh, I don’t know of a time that I haven’t been the real Chris.
I think I think there I think there was a time so I trained for the Olympics and skiing when I was a kid. And I I I was really good. I was really good. But this was back in the day where you couldn’t have sponsorships, I had a single mom didn’t have any money. And it came time to pay for the Olympic team and we couldn’t afford it. And that was devastating in my life. That was a time that I quit skiing period quit watching the Olympics, about 10 years I didn’t touch the skis. I didn’t watch the Olympics. It was just a horrid place in my life. And I remember 10 years later that I stopped and I I did the look back and connect the dots. I said juvenile loud something can to control 10 years of your life where you gave up something you absolutely love.
Stop it. Stop it right now. And I went I went back out.
And skied and raced actually typed out and race my first day back on the skis and 10 years, I found a public race and I want a gold. And it changed the never do this again. Understand that you weren’t supposed to be in the Olympics, you weren’t, that wasn’t the direction that that God wanted you to go. And that wasn’t the place that you were supposed to be. You’re supposed to be on this journey. And like Steve said, you know, looking back, it’s very easy for me to connect the dots. Now, a lot of people can’t do it, because they don’t understand that the negative aspects of their life become positives if you let them.
David Ralph [53:56]
So do you think that the difference is the stumbles the light and dark? Do you think that is what people are missing out on nowadays, as they move forward into their lives? And they have these dreams and aspirations? Do you think that people feel that it’s just a straight path? And it isn’t, as you’ve experienced, as I’ve experienced at the G, all the successful people have experienced an absolute journey into the unknown?
Chris LoCurto [54:26]
Yeah, I really believe that people are so afraid of failure, people are conditioned. This is conditioning people are taught to be afraid to fail. People don’t like failure, people are worried of what might happen if they do fail, that they absolutely miss out on life on what could be on what they can accomplish. Failure is inevitable. Failure is going to happen. So when people avoided at all cos when people don’t put their heart into I hear so many people have so many folks that come through our life plan events that talk about love. And they’re like, well, I’ve shut myself down. I’m afraid I don’t want to put my heart out there. I don’t want to get hurt. That’s it. I don’t want to get hurt. Okay, so here’s what you do, you shut your complete love life down. Because you’re afraid of the possible, maybe it just might happen, that you get hurt situation. So what if it does, the your your alternative to that is not loving at all, not experiencing life not not trying to same thing with business, it’s the same thing with with creativity. It’s the same thing with leadership. It’s the same thing with entrepreneurship. When you shut your life down, because of that fear, you’re shutting you down, you’re shutting potential down, you’re shutting down success. It’s all gone. And so I think like Steve says, you’ve got to be able to understand that it’s okay. The dots will connect, it’s going to happen, no matter what it’s going to happen. Trust in that move forward, follow your heart. Because I have conversations
David Ralph [56:10]
with people I used to work with, I’m still friendly with them. And I will go for reunions or when people are leaving the company that I used to work at. And I will sit next to him. And I say, well, what’s happening at the moment? And like, I’ve got this really good plan? Yeah, it’s really great. It’s not quite right at the moment. So I’m you know, it is almost there. And being when I speak to them, like six months later, they’re having the same conversations. And I go, Well, you said that six months ago, and I got, ya know, but something else has come up with something. And I know that I’m going to have these conversations for four years, five years, 10 years, and there’s never that time. And it’s exactly what you’re saying, isn’t it, but not willing to do what you’ve done? What I’ve done, what the Donald Trump’s have done, and everybody who has left them out, David allow themselves to be hurt. And by bear willing to do that.
Chris LoCurto [57:01]
Well, and since we’re talking about Steve Jobs, Steve was phenomenal at ship it, ship it get it out, get it out. It’s not perfect. So what ship the thing, get it out there right now. It’s not going to be perfect. If we if we fall, if we suffer from, you know, analysis paralysis, then we’re never going to put it out there. We’re never going to take that step. We’re never going to do that thing. I want to jump out of an aeroplane, you know, I want to go you know, parachute. I want to jump out of an aeroplane. Well, okay, when you get it? Well, I’m not, I’m not really ready. And I’m not I’m not up to speed and I’m not secure. Oh my gosh, you’re not going to do it. You’ve got to make the decision. Whether it’s a product, whether it’s a move in business, whether it’s a whatever it is, it is ok, you are going to fail more by not making a decision than if you make a decision that ends up being a bad decision. The reason why I say that is because at least from the bad decision, you can learn and adjust by not making any decision at all. You keep you from from experience, you keep you from learning. So yeah, I think there has got to be a point where you go just ship it and go.
David Ralph [58:15]
When When did you realise your ship it in go? Because for many years, you were on a path, as we were saying that people saw was success. But then suddenly you pivoted and was fast shipping go moment, or was that just a period of wanting to spread your wings, but got to a point where you just had to do it?
Chris LoCurto [58:39]
Yeah, I think I I think that my personality style. I’m actually come from the other side where I’m I’m, it’s very easy for me to to pull the trigger, it’s very easy for me to snap a decision, it’s very easy for me, you know, I’m Steve and I both have very similar personality styles. That’s something else that I teach as I teach people on personality styles, and mine is one that I can snap a decision, I have the tendency to pull the trigger too fast. I pull the trigger, and I go, oh, crud, I did not even think it’s so for me, I don’t fall victim to the, you know, paralysis analysis. I fall victim to if I don’t think through this, it’s going to fail anyways. So hey, back up a little bit. Think through this. Look at the opportunities, the risks, what can you do? Ok, now go and I’m still going to pull the trigger faster than most people. So that’s what that’s the side that I come from. But I understand both sides, because some of the big things early on in life. I take big risks now. I mean, I have fun with the risks I take very well, let me say I take very calculated risks. I think through I just don’t think through it for the next year.
David Ralph [59:57]
Are you scared at those risks?
Chris LoCurto [1:00:01]
No, no, no. Tell now. scared now.
Do I worry that it could fail? Of course I do. That’s going to be that’s going to be something that you have to live with. The thing that you have to say is, so what if it does the problem? I tell people all the time, perspective, perspective, perspective, gain perspective, knowledge is power. If you have knowledge, you have power. So pull the thing out what’s what is the thing that you’re thinking of doing? Well, you know, I just bought a new office building, you know, company’s growing all that kind of stuff. And so it was a joy, I rent one do I buy an office? If I buy one, you know, I’m a real estate guy, I’m going to go find the big deal. And then I’m going to have to spend money fixing up and, and all of these options and things and I had to go through what if I do the wrong thing? Well, this might happen. And this might happen. And this might happen. Okay, on a scale of one to 10. How bad is the worst thing happening? Oh, crap, it’s probably a four. Okay, on a scale of one to 10? If it goes, Well, how good could it be? Oh, well, geez, an eight, Done. Done, perspective, walk through the negatives or walk through the positives? I really, you know, kind of do. What’s the old Ben Franklin lyst. You know, pros and cons. Right? Now what? Well, the pros really, really outweigh the cons move forward? What if it’s not the right place? What if it’s not in the right location, then sell it and move on? Or rented out and move on? You know it. So that’s how I make these decisions. We’re doing a big coaching launch. And I’ve been, you know, kind of walking my team through this this product launch that we’re doing, and just say, you know, what if? What if, what if this part works out, but this part doesn’t work out, we adjust, we move forward. But what so many people are doing is they’re going, it’s not perfect, I can’t do it. I don’t have this, I don’t have this, I don’t have this Oh, for the love. put together something that somebody needs, and that you’re passionate about and ship it.
David Ralph [1:02:06]
I think that’s brilliant. I really do. I think the simplicity of actually jotting it down. And looking at the worst case scenario would put most things into perspective, wouldn’t it really, it’s it’s those paper tigers, as they call them, those thoughts in our mind where they just become bigger and bigger and bigger. But when you sit down, it’s not there.
Unknown Speaker [1:02:28]
Yet, when you when you don’t have the perspective of it, it’s a 10 on a scale of one to 10. Because it’s a fear and fear is a 10 always, when you actually go, what is it that could possibly happen? And you list that out? You go? Oh my gosh, it’s not a tonne. It’s a for done.
David Ralph [1:02:47]
Is this really comes back to your sort of Olympics? Because you seem to me to be a very competitive person, that you seem naturally gifted at many things, but you take it to service level you possibly can we’ve been that that category of risk that we’re talking about it? Are you battling life, or are you battling yourself, sometimes.
Chris LoCurto [1:03:12]
I’m bad on me. But people have said that you’re very competitive, I’m competitive with me. I have to say, I don’t have to beat you. As long as I know that I can, I’m good with that. I know that I can beat you, I’m happy with it. My thing is I need to beat me. I need to always be better. My goal is to always be a better version of me. I’m not in competition with anybody else out there. In fact, you know, that’s, we’ve been noticing lately people are I hate to use the word stealing. But some people will launch something in within I mean days, somebody who is what you would be considering in our competition space has put together something and they’ve launched it. And it’s a, okay, well, whatever, we don’t care, I don’t care. I there’s there’s what is it 7 billion people on the planet now that we need to change lives of you know, there’s plenty of, there’s plenty of people out there. So for me, I’m not in competition with other folks. I’m in competition with what I can do to help people change their lives. And if I can do it better, I want to do it better. If I can do more, I want to do more. I’m at the point where we are really, really looking at me and saying, I don’t have any more individual time, we just took a huge inventory of my individual time. And we allocated a certain amount to work one on one with people or with businesses, everything else has got to go to meet creating content to change mass numbers, you know, how can I put this out there to change a large group of people, while I’m still doing this over here to help one on one. And that, to me is exciting. It’s challenging. And it comes in the form of competition to me, because now I got to do it got to make it happen. Ready to go. And so that that is kind of how I think I’ve always lived my life. How do I how do I do? How do I do Chris better?
David Ralph [1:05:09]
Is the kind of like multiplicity easy to remember the old Michael Keaton film when he is kind of like that we want more Chris’s, but obviously, you can’t. So you’ve got to look at how to scale yourself.
Chris LoCurto [1:05:21]
Yes, absolutely. Scale is. Scale is a fundamental idea. That usually does not come until later on in the process.
David Ralph [1:05:32]
Because when I started this show, it was just something about I started and now I’m very aware, but I need more of me. And there are getting many requests to set up coaching and mentoring and I’m doing stuff. But I’m thinking to myself exactly what you’re saying, How can I do this once? But people get maximum effect from it, so that I can move on to the next bit? And that that is the battle, isn’t it?
Chris LoCurto [1:05:57]
Yeah, Oh, absolutely. We’ve put together a map mine group. So because like you I do a tonne of coaching. And I can’t take any more people. I don’t have the time if I if I want to stay sane. You know, I can’t take in more people. So instead, we’ve created these groups, where we have once a month, we spend an hour together. And it is this is the group that grows together as a community. So it’s iron sharpening iron, it’s part me, it’s part them, it’s, hey, we spend an hour together. And then we come together twice a year for live events. And it’s just a powerful way of saying Okay, so maybe you don’t get an hour of me individually. But you will get 15 minutes of me here. But more importantly, we’re pulling from a collective intelligence. So David, it’s your turn, what do we want to discuss? Well, here’s an opportunity, or here’s an issue great the whole team, bam, let’s go. Let’s make it happen. Let’s give advice. Let’s do everything. And then we want to hear from David as well. David, what’s your ideas on this? So it just becomes this strong. And it’s it’s a all over the internet, which is great. So it just becomes a strong community of growing people
that I would not be able to do normally.
David Ralph [1:07:10]
And that the you the community since you know that there’s not a lot of difference, it seems to me with you, and may be somebody running a church. It’s all about protecting the flock and developing and supporting you. You’re very much you could be a pastor or something, can you?
Chris LoCurto [1:07:32]
Oh, it’s funny, you say that I came out of ministry years ago, youth ministry years ago, I always said I would never be as a pastor, senior pastor, unless God came down and said, This is what you’re going to do. And the funny thing is, is it’s it’s it’s what I do, essentially for living. The name of my company is the point main group, it’s Greek and it’s about it. The definition is it’s it’s a specific type of Shepherd, who loves his flock feels his flock would leave in 99 for the one that’s lost. And it came up because people kept telling me that that’s who I was. And that’s what my company was in a team that’s been built. So there is an aspect of it. I am not, I’m somebody who hates religion. I hate man’s religion. But I am somebody who loves God. And and so for me, it’s an aspect of my goal is not to push on you, you know, manmade religious beliefs. But I want you to understand, at the end of all of this, there’s something much greater than then you know, what the the idea that you’ve been sold. I don’t even know if that makes a whole heck of a lot of sense. But it’s a it’s a pestering from a side of not being a religious pastor.
David Ralph [1:08:53]
He’s interesting, because the show’s tagline is connecting our past to build our futures. And it seems glitchy every single day we find but the thing that people used to do, just for the fun of it becomes their authentic self later on in life. And when they look back, and they connect their past, they realise that actually, the passions that we were seeking, were bear all along, we just forgot about them somewhere along the line.
Chris LoCurto [1:09:19]
Let me go ahead and use a biblical storey, if that’s okay. Okay. For those that know, the storey of Joseph, Joseph, very young is given a vision from God that he was going to be in an exalted place. And he’s going to be he doesn’t know that it’s going to be taken care of his family, but he knows that his family’s going to come to him and bow down to him, which you know, as a young punk kid, he goes in and rubs that in their faces, they sell him into slavery, his brother, sell him into slavery ends up in slavery, he ends up in prison, later on down the road, he’s governor over the land. While he’s in prison, he says multiple times, would you please tell them, I don’t belong here. I don’t tell them I didn’t do anything wrong, don’t belong in this prison. And later on, he realises, oh, my course I was supposed to be there. God needed me there. So that I would end up in this spot, Exalted over the whole land, and also the one who saves my family later on. The problem we have today is that we look around at something bad happening in our life, and we scream and justice, and justice and justice, I don’t belong here, this shouldn’t be happening to me, for the love. Settle down. How bad is it? And seriously, you’re going to get over this. I see people freak out over the smallest decisions that they make into major issues. And the truth is 30 days from now, it’s not even going to matter. When you get down the road, like Steve was talking about, I am now 44 years old, 44 years young, I really want to say I look back on my life. And there is a tonne of junk in in my life, that during those moments, I wanted to scream out injustice, I don’t belong here. The difference is I always trusted my God. I always knew that God had a plan that was way greater than mine. And I might as well just ride this wave out and do what I can be diligent, I’d rather be the buffalo let me charge the storm, if possible to get through it as fast as possible. But understand that this is going to make me greater down the road, if I choose to use it. If all I want to do is point back at this thing, which so many people do nowadays and just go look at a poor pitiful me I’m a victim, all these things that have happened to me. If that’s all I’m going to do, then I’m not going to get stronger, I’m going to become better. Instead, I’d rather become better. How do you become better? You take those experiences in your life. And you say this happened? discover it, figure it out, gain perspective about it. Why did it happen? How did it happen? Great, right? Now I’ve got this perspective, move forward. It’s in my root system, it’s part of me, learn from it, grow from it, become better from it, do not let it stop your life.
David Ralph [1:12:12]
It’s very rare that I play three speeches on the show. But you’ve led me into this, Chris, this piece is the great Rocky Balboa,
Steve Jobs [1:12:22]
you me and nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take it keep moving forward. That’s how we did is done.
David Ralph [1:12:38]
That’s the message of the show really, isn’t it?
Chris LoCurto [1:12:40]
It really is I mean that that’s the message of the show. That’s the message of life, you’re going to get hit. Accept it now. Just like accept failure, except the sooner you realise that failure is not a negative, it is a positive, how’s it a positive, if you learn from it, you don’t do it again, and you grow. As soon as you understand you’re going to get hit. You know, if you understand that life is not fair. As we hear people screaming, that’s not fair. That’s not fair. And guess what, life’s not fair. It wasn’t meant to be fair. It was meant to be lived. And you’re going to get bruises and you’re going to get black eyes, and you’re going to have broken bones. But if you can take that and move forward, the world owes you nada, it doesn’t owe you a single thing. If you understand that, you can take those punches, you can take those failures, you can grow from them, and you can move forward.
David Ralph [1:13:39]
Well, it’s not a surprise that you’ve moved forward so nicely. And it was a surprise that you’re exactly the same age as me were both 44 years ago. So we’ve got something more in common on this one. We’re now at the end of the show, Chris, I really don’t want this show to finish. But I’m going to send you back in time like a young Marty McFly to have a one on one with yourself. And if you could go back in time and have a one on one with a young Chris, what age would you choose? And what advice would you give? Well, we’re gonna find out, because I’m going to play the theme. And when it fades you up. This is the Sermon on the mic.
Unknown Speaker [1:14:19]
Speed of the show.
Chris LoCurto [1:14:34]
So I know you’re young. And I know that in your mind right now you know a lot and you feel like you’ve got life figured out and you’ve got the future figured out. Here’s what I want you to understand, stop taking yourself. So seriously, stop depending on others to fulfil your happiness, to fulfil your joy. Stop looking to others for affirmation. Instead, focus heavily on God, trust, understand and know that he is always in your corner. And understand that you’re way stronger than you think you are. You’re way more intelligent than you think you are. And you absolutely not only have the power, but the responsibility to affect others lives. If you will focus on that, instead of what you can get out of this life. The amazing thing is, life will come and it will come way better than you think it will. So spend time trying to help others spend time trying to take care of others. Make sure you do it with very healthy boundaries along the way. But as you do that, you will have the most blessed life you could imagine. And it will be way greater than you thought it was.
David Ralph [1:15:52]
Chris, how can our audience connect with you sir?
Chris LoCurto [1:15:56]
Well, there’s two ways. So we actually have a free gift for the audience. If they go to Chris flickr.com, slash Join Up Dots. There is a conflict guide their personality styles, how to deal with other folks how to deal with conflict, how to understand personality styles. So that’s one thing we did that just for the audience for listening to me to so listening to my sermons here. So that is that Chris LoCurto.com slash Join Up Dots. And also you can just follow me at Chris LCurto.comor on Twitter at Chris LoCurto
David Ralph [1:16:33]
We will have all the links in the show notes. Chris LoCurto, thank you so much for spending time with us today. joining up those dots. And please come back again, when you have more dots to join up. Because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures. Chris LoCurto, thank you so much.
Chris LoCurto [1:16:49]
Thank you, David. It was an absolute pleasure to be on the show.
Outro [1:16:53]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you are wants to become so he’s put together an amazing guy for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Head over to Join Up Dots.com to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on Join Up Dots.