Corey Poirier Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast

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Introducing Corey Poirier

Corey Poirier is today’s guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast.

This is a man who asks “Do you get scared trying something new?”

Do you start to wobble if someone asks you to get up in front of people and be authentically yourself?

Do you think that you haven’t got enough time in a day to make the momentum to work towards something rewarding and exciting?

Well for most of us these are questions that stop us in our tracks  before we get to do anything.

But for todays guest he is either 420 years old, or he has worked out how to maximise every second of every day to create a body of work that is hugely impressive.

How The Dots Joined Up For Corey

Over 400 articles in print, an appearance on Canada’s Got Talent, over 3,000 interviews with the high achievers of the world, professional Comedian with over 400 performances to credit, professional Singer / Songwriter with 3 CD’s, Radio Appearances, and over 500 performances to credit, sought after Award Winning Speaker, bringing three 3 Stage-Plays and a One-Man Show to Life, you get the idea……..

So is this going to be a conversation about hustle, talent, belief, courage, or all of them?

Well we will find out, but I am fascinated at what started this journey off?

Was he inspired by a relative, friend, or teacher who was doing stuff their way everyday of the week?

Or does he just have a way of compressing time to live a life that is full and eclectic?

Well let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots, with the one and only Corey Poirer.

Show Highlights

During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Corey Poirier such as:

How he didn’t read his first book until he was in his twenties and then read it twice in succession, and is still reading it today.

How he works hard at knowing what to say “No” to, so he can say “Yes” to the things that he needs to do more.

How he developed hypochondria in his early years and would literally look for things to be suffering from.

How he feels that he failed over 280 times from his first 300 attempts at stand-up comedy, but wouldn’t change it for the world.

And lastly……

How he wanted to be in the band Poison and thought the men were the hottest chicks ever!

The Book Of Why Corey Poirier

How To Connect With Corey Poirier

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Full Transcrption Of Corey Poirier 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 world. How are we all had our first cup of coffee? Have we been down to Starbucks already for a day? Maybe you’re still in bed. Just listening to me. That’s the place to be? Well, this is Episode 261. of Join Up Dots. I’m your host, of course. And we have got a great guy on the show who’s really moving and shaking like the best of them. Do you get scared trying something new is the question I need to ask do you start to wobble if someone asks you to get up in front of people and be authentically yourself? Do you think that you haven’t got enough time in the day to make the momentum to work towards something rewarding? unexciting? Well, for most of us. These are questions that stop us in our tracks before we get to do anything. But today’s guest he’s over 420 years old or he’s worked out how to maximise every second of every day to create a body of work that is hugely impressive. Over 400 articles in print and appearance on Canada’s Got Talent over 3000 interviews with the high achievers of the world, a professional comedian with over 400 performances to credit, a professional singer songwriter with three CDs Radio appearances, over 500 performances. So after award winning speaker bringing three stage plays and a one man show to life when you get the idea. So is this going to be a conversation about hustle talent, belief, courage, all of them? Well, we’ll find out but I’m fascinated at what started this journey was inspired by a relative friend or teacher who was doing their stuff their way every day of the week or does he just have a way of compressing time to live a life that is for an eclectic well let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dance with The one and only Corey Poirier. How are you Corey?

Corey Poirier [2:04]
I am doing fantastic. David, how are you doing?

David Ralph [2:07]
I’m rocking in a voting sir. I must admit, I feel like I put a lot in my day, I reward myself in the evening by getting a lot done. But when I started researching you, wow, how have you managed to do that much? How, how old are you? See, you’re not 420 years old. You’re not like a kind of Lord of the Rings character?

Corey Poirier [2:29]
No, not whatsoever. I kind of wish that was possible. Because you know, I can only imagine how much stuff I’d be able to get done in my life if I live to 420. But no, I’m the magical age of

Corey Poirier [2:40]
3939. But

David Ralph [2:42]
that that is astonishing. And we’re going to sort of go back over your history, which is what we like to do on here. But that LinkedIn profile you’ve got is probably the longest one I’ve ever seen. He basically I had an injury on my finger scrolling down to the bottom.

Corey Poirier [3:00]
I’ll take that as a compliment. David and so you you kind of asked me the question is how do I sort of juggle all that stuff? And, you know, it’s it’s kind of a long answer I literally have a keynote dedicated to what I call the productivity factor. But I guess the the kind of the the cusp of it is, it really comes back to knowing what to say no to so that I can say yes to a whole bunch of other stuff. And, and being actually on purpose with that because a lot of people say, you know, I say no to this and that, but it’s actually doing it on purpose and measuring your day. So it’s, you know, some of the things not everybody wants to do, but I even use a system that I heard of by a guy named Darren Hardy, who’s the publisher of Success Magazine, and he uses this weekly rhythm register. So I basically schedule everything in my week, and then I and it’s all focused on my goals. And then I essentially say no to the things that I know I can’t fit in. So like I can say, like I mentioned, I can say yes to the things that I want to fit in.

David Ralph [3:57]
That’s brilliant, isn’t it? So many people go with this. Now of being the Yes man and saying yes to everything. And in many ways, that’s a kind of good way of being because then you will grasp hold of opportunities that possibly you would have gone. No, no, I’m too busy, I can’t do this. But the fact that you’re saying, I want to do the good stuff, and so I’m not willing to do the stuff that I can’t fit in or not part of my goals. That’s a better way of doing it, isn’t it?

Corey Poirier [4:25]
Well, I’ll tell you one little thing that I do that I feel makes it a lot easier. And it’s something that took me like all of this stuff a long time to learn. And, and I will say, you know, after studying sort of in the room, and at the feed and over the phone with some of these, you know, super achievers, I’ll call them and seeing how they juggle their day and actually even accomplished, you know, three times more than me, I noticed that common thread that they were saying no to things that didn’t bring them on their path, so that they would make sure they stayed on the path. And so how I make sure I do it, and I really feel that this is something anybody can do is I literally You have this kind of mission statement. It’s a loose mission statement that says, what I want to do with my life is make sure that in every day in every way I’m donating, motivating, inspiring, entertaining, or educating. And so if somebody asked me to do something, and it doesn’t hit any of those five, then it’s the easiest know ever. And if it hits one of those, then it becomes, Well, okay, let’s listen a little further. And obviously, the more it goes up the scale, if it’s all five or three of the five, you know, whatever the project they’re wanting me to take on, if it does three of those five, then it’s a pretty easy Yes. So I actually have a system that kind of so that way I make sure I’m not saying no to those those, you know, flexibility things that maybe I want to go down that path on.

David Ralph [5:39]
And so in the introduction, I was talking about courage, but you must be pretty courageous to be able to do that because being in the entrepreneurial world as you are, obviously you are the money maker. And one of the things that traps so many people is saying yes to everything because they need the money. They need the money. When you started off. Were you different Well, you like that where you saying yes to opportunities left, right and centre because there was money on the table?

Corey Poirier [6:07]
I sure was. I, you know, tell you a couple of funny things that I heard that kind of spoke to who I was back then. But I heard the more recently is Richard Branson has this great quote that says, say yes to everything, and then figure out how to do a leader. Yeah. And so I was that person. But now ironically, ironically, I’ll say sort of the same thing about Richard Branson as I just mentioned, he’s he’s got enough different companies, enough staff members and employees. I really feel deeper in that quote, what he’s saying is say yes to the things you actually want to do, and then figure out how to do them not say yes to every single thing that comes your way because you’d never be able to juggle all those things. But I, I said yes to everything that came my way. And I heard this. When I started in speaking, I heard this, this other speaker say, when he started basically, if somebody would pay him $50 on the sidewalk to do a keynote, he would have done it. And I thought, Oh, my I would have done it for free. And so that that’s how I started. Yeah, I said yes to me. Everything, and then try to figure out how I could make it fit into my life. So I was totally the opposite. And it took a lot of hard earned lessons to figure out that there’s no way I was ever going to have the impact I wanted. If I kept saying yes to everything that came my way.

David Ralph [7:13]
He’s no bad thing to do three, though, at the beginning is it I coach a load of people and I say to them, you know, if you want experience vain, do it for free. Because once you’re being paid for it, there’s a pressure to perform. When it’s free, you’re learning your craft, you can make mistakes, and there’s a bit of freedom, liberation to get better at what you want to do. Do you believe in that?

Corey Poirier [7:37]
I absolutely. Do. you referenced my stand up comedy days. And that’s really what led me into the speaking. And so I will say the stand up comedy. It’s the same idea. Like if you think you’re going to go to the stage with 45 minutes of material on your first set. I get news for that person, that first of all, they’re not going to make it because the mics gonna be turned off after five minutes. But you know, Jerry Seinfeld has said that it took him two weeks That 15 minutes of material that worked on one night. So you know, the idea that you’re going to start out of the gates and, and be at a level where you can charge $500 or $1,000. to headline a show is kind of absurd. And I learned from stand up more than anywhere else at the 10,000 hour rule that we hear about is still in effect, like you have to go and be willing to do it for free. Because first of all, no comedy clubs going to pay you to do five or 10 minutes of material when you just wrote the material the day before, and it’s your first set ever. So you kind of have to do that to live and live that type of life. So yeah, that’s, I agree that you have to start off doing it for free because if you try to charge it first, the expectations go so much higher, and you’re almost certainly going to let people down and you’re maybe risking the chance of not being given a second chance down the road either. I

David Ralph [8:47]
like the word free but there also comes a time when you have to start charging. So when we go back right into your early days, when you was a young lad because I saw a picture of you and it was a great photo of you and you How fun dress Not that I like to look at young children half and dress I have to emphasise and you’re standing there with a guitar. And you’re you just look like you you were in heaven. You You look like you was the focus of the world, whoever was taking this photography, was that you? Was that your essence? Or you were kind of a showman? Do you like sort of posing and getting up there? Because you saw he looked like he was a little Elvis in the making?

Corey Poirier [9:25]
You know what? So I believe my mother took the picture. That was that. The first house I lived in until I was I think I was 10. So her and I tried to figure it out. I think the picture of me I think I was probably six or seven in that picture. And so the answer the question is first of all, yeah, I, you know, so when trying to figure out all these years later why I couldn’t identify my passion, early in life. Like I didn’t really I didn’t come alive until mid 20s. And so and trying to figure out what were some hints, you know, now that I’m teaching other people how to find their passion. You know, one of those hints that we missed, and I feel the hints that I missed is that that age, I totally was trying to work that room, or in that case, work the grass because it was outside. So you know, I was trying to constantly sort of be that person said, hey, look at Cory. He’s doing stuff. So I definitely was that person that was wanting attention. For whatever reason I was an only child, maybe I was craving it. But I definitely was that quote, unquote, showman and trying to get the attention. And then somewhere along the way, I kind of push that down. And then thankfully, when I first started stand up, it came back to life again. And by that point, I was already playing music and clubs for a few years. So it kind of came to life when I get back on the stage again, but for sure, I had that in me and I was that kind of kid. And I sort of that I think I pictured like you say grabs the essence of that.

David Ralph [10:41]
What he does, and he grabs the essence of the show as well because our tagline is joining up our dots and connecting our past you know, connecting our past to build our future and how it’s so important to look back on your early self and focusing on the things that you love. So it there’s a strong connection with Now to about six years old, you’re more closely linked to that person when you were this all intermediate years.

Corey Poirier [11:08]
Yeah, that’s absolutely true in my, you know, early 20s, I was a totally different person whatsoever. I mean, a totally different person altogether. I, yeah, I wouldn’t even compare the mid 20s person of me to either the 30, a 30 year old of me, or the six year old. And the irony is that the guy you know, that was 20, or under 20. And the guy that you know, was over 30, he actually has more energy, he’s more passionate about life. It gets more excited to get up every morning and do it all over again.

David Ralph [11:40]
So is it what made you change Ben? Was it a natural progression? Were you looking for something and then you naturally found it because it is a very eclectic history. When I’m looking back on it. There’s obviously there’s a lot of getting up there and putting yourself out so there’s a bravery that comes out the fact that you are You know, going on talent competitions, you’re doing interviews, you’re singing all those kinds of things, which so many people will shy away from. But when did it start coming together for you, when you suddenly thought, ah, I think this might be what I’m looking for.

Corey Poirier [12:16]
Well, I I feel that how, you know, that all kind of kind of came together. And, you know, I guess why it stopped coming together when I was, you know, late teens, early 20s, if you will. And and then of course, the shift that brought it back again, was that when I’m so I lived in a small little town or community. I think there were 3000 people, and they’ve since become a city amalgamated. So now it’s like 10,000, but when I grew up, there was less than three, and I moved to a city with roughly a million people. And I moved there with some friends but I ended up moving into the city and they kind of moved out into more of the rural area. And when I moved into the city, I took a position or a job with a fortune 500 company, and I was selling photocopiers door to door and it was the biggest culture shock, David you couldn’t imagine to go from 3000 people and never really having sold in that way and going and selling, you know, and door to door 2 million people and the rejection you faced. And what happened is, even though I kind of I did well in the career, and I kind of thrived in that sales environment, and that goes back to the outgoing side of me. What also happened is almost on the other end of me, I started kind of imploding. I actually, I know now, but I didn’t know then I became wise I actually ended up having generalised anxiety disorder. And so for about two years, I struggled with anxiety at a very high level, and then that it kind of morphed into what some people listening might know is hypochondria, which means that everything I read about every illness I read about, I would start developing the symptoms. Yet when you’re in the bubble, you can’t see that you’re only developing the symptoms you read about, you know, you’re not developing the ones that you never heard. And so yeah, so I basically chased that. That sort of anxiety tail for about four or five years in my early A mid, you know, 20s, maybe even going into my late 20s. And so that was the big shift in me is that I guess you could say, I became a negative, very negative person because you can’t be very positive and also have anxiety at that level. And they can’t exist at the same time. And so what happened was, I feel is that during those years, I, I’d lost my passion, which I didn’t even know what it was at that is that, you know, teen and the early years,

David Ralph [14:25]
just slow you so how can you lose something, but you didn’t know what it was?

Corey Poirier [14:31]
Well, because you stopped doing it. So let’s say for example, a person’s passion is photography. And they did it as a kid and then they got busy with the real life and real world and adulthood, and they stopped taking pictures, well, then their passions gone. And but maybe as a kid, they didn’t even realise that that’s, you know, what, they didn’t maybe didn’t even know what passion was or that that’s what that was, or the fact that they got that excited. They just thought it was their hobby. And then now, you know, they don’t have time for it anymore. So that was the same with me. I was, you know, I was I was Doing the performing playing music and clubs even as like 18 and 19. I was doing all those things. And then when I got busy with adulthood and stopped doing them, I didn’t even realise I was missing them. And then how it formed to me was this anxiety and that became so consuming. It’s kept me so busy, I didn’t realise that I was missing something. And that was a big culprit for why things have changed so much.

David Ralph [15:20]
He’s funny how life can take you over and certain, not passions, but infused chasms can engulf other passions or enthusiasm as I played a piano. And I used to sit on the piano for hours just blinking around and doing stuff. And I looked at it the other day, and I thought when was the last time I actually sat there and played anything. And I said to my wife, I don’t play the piano anymore, do I? And she says, No, I can’t remember the last time and I went. I wonder why that is. But of course, it’s because my enthusiasm for what I’m doing now and my focus and my passion, kind of, it doesn’t allow me to share it with something else. That’s the way I kind of think about it. So it’s not surprising that you went that way if you’re moving into something that is lighting you up in a certain way, then it’s understandable but you would lose those passions but you weren’t finding anything that was lighting you up you were just almost going through the motions Is that how you feel?

Corey Poirier [16:19]
Well, it’s funny because I it was kind of a weird time period because I was you know, working for this company and i i thrived on on the sales side, but I found it kind of the way I was doing it and the fact that I wasn’t doing anything else but just focused on hitting targets and and you know, taking this aggressive sales role on it didn’t allow for anything else. And it wasn’t enough I think to keep me stimulated like I did enjoy it. I there’s aspects of it. I can’t even miss a little bit. But it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t there weren’t weren’t enough of the things that I liked to make me say when I woke up in the morning. I’m so excited today to start start another day. I was just more busy trying to achieve what I was taught. That achievement was at that that age. You know, I was told, okay, this is the time when you’re supposed to like your career on fire. But I didn’t realise that I could actually be designing my own life in a different way than that. So yeah, I got so pulled into the bubble, and it kept me so busy, you know, that achieving of that career. So anybody in the outside wouldn’t have known because I didn’t share it, achieving at that level and being that busy, and at the same time having this anxiety that was keeping you in waiting rooms, because when you’re in sales, you don’t have to, you know, your port to the office in the morning, but then you can do whatever you want the day. So if you can hit your targets with half the day and then spend the other half a day in the waiting room to figure out what you think is going wrong with you. And you know, what, what you picked up or what have you, then you’re kind of too busy to actually say, Well, you know, I haven’t done this in a long time I haven’t recorded now, I haven’t played music. I haven’t gotten any of that stuff.

David Ralph [17:41]
I was in sounds for many years, and I know exactly what you’re talking about. But we used to hit our targets in the morning. So we could go down the pub in the afternoon. And the boss was saying you can’t do this. And we were saying, well, you set the targets and we’ve achieved the targets. What more do you want to do? So he would give us bigger targets? We would hit bat as well and still go down the pub. And it was a constant battle with us just to prove ourselves. I look back on it. And I think what the hell we were doing really, we could have got sacked. But it was putting a pressure on us to perform. And we needed on a daily basis. So every day when the targets went up, and up and up, we still come in ready to go. Because it was something to achieve. And it was the double whammy was the afternoon down the pub and also hitting those targets and proving that we could do it no matter what they threw at us. It’s interesting.

Corey Poirier [18:30]
So what you’re saying is that my manager should have been increasing the targets and I should have found the address of the closest pub to our office, you should have joined this call they you should have come down and we would have spent many happy afternoons down the pub in London. That’s the place to be. But

yeah, I would have been happy there I’m sure.

David Ralph [18:50]
complete waste of time and other waste of money as well. So that six year old kid with the guitar, if we’d asked him that question, what did you want to be when you grew up? What would he upset

Corey Poirier [19:01]
He would have undoubtedly said a rock star. And I like to think that if he knew a person could make a living as a stand up comic, or especially as a speaker that he would have added those two in, but he definitely would have said rock star first and foremost.

David Ralph [19:15]
And who would he benchmark himself against? What would been a rock star that he would have liked at the age of six?

Corey Poirier [19:22]
You know, it’s almost one of those things that you say in your head. I shouldn’t share this but then you say, but I have to. Have you ever heard of a band called poison?

Unknown Speaker [19:31]
Yeah.

Corey Poirier [19:32]
Okay, so poison was a band came out in 1986. I’ve got them

David Ralph [19:37]
here. Yeah. As a phone was I mean, wasn’t it?

Corey Poirier [19:40]
Yeah, well, the album itself that has every rose on it’s called open up and say off the out of the cover got banned because there was a tongue hanging out and they said it looked too much like it was a panic. So which is kind of funny for a band like them glam band. So they were like a New York Dolls type glam band, you know, that were a lot of makeup. And I remember my buddy bringing over the album He said, What do you think of this album? I said those chicks are hot. And he said, Yeah, I got some news for you. Those aren’t those aren’t chicks. So that was my introduction to them. So you know, they were a band that were a lot of makeup and so the lead singer, I was I was a big fan of poison so I guess I would probably have said either the guitarist or the lead singer of poison would be at my in my mind who I thought a rockstar was. Maybe not at six, but that was probably what I was picturing before they came out.

David Ralph [20:23]
I’m gonna dig out that album up and it’s terrible. Now I’m trying to think of the what was the episode your mama countdowns or something, wasn’t it?

Corey Poirier [20:30]
It was you totally have that. You totally have that album. Both those songs are on that album for sure. Yeah, your mama don’t dance was the big one on that album. And the other big hit was called on skinny bop. Oh, don’t remember that one was was

Unknown Speaker [20:41]
on the album as well.

Corey Poirier [20:43]
Now it was on a different it was on flesh and blood. And it was written because the guitarist brought into this is so random to porn stars into their jamming session, and the lead singer wants to show off so he actually started singing the lyrics on the spot and made them up on the spot and it turned into their second biggest hit of all time. That’s

David Ralph [21:01]
one of the greatest rock and roll stories you could possibly want, isn’t

Corey Poirier [21:04]
it? So is it maybe that’s why I had a premonition that that would be the rock band, one of the members of that band is that who I guess I would maybe think that I should be and the only other band that I probably at that time probably at six what a thought of what a rockstar would be would probably somebody like kiss, you know, with all the makeup and fire and everything. So it’d be the request or years later poison.

David Ralph [21:27]
So so when you are that six year old, and you are obviously a grown man now and you’ve sort of moved through that journey, what was sort of the young live a happy life and I don’t mean you know, you’re bathed in sadness or whatever. But but were you comfortable as a six year old were you in your own world because I spent a lot of time being on my own as a child. And I think a lot of that has formed how I am as an adult now, what what was life like for you as

Corey Poirier [21:55]
well. I will say I was an only child. So you know, when I was home I spent a lot of time alone, but I did have a tonne of night like we were in a little area where there’s just a tonne of neighbourhood kids that funny I’m still on connected on Facebook to some of them today all these years later, but there were probably about 25 little kids that lived nearby and we play like you know, frozen tag and all these you know, various childhood games hide and seek. So I had a lot of that so a lot of kids you know, hanging out and but being a being an only child at six I was actually quite happy. My mother and father were still together then. And at that age that was a big deal in my life. You know, I remember my father coming home I don’t know if it was six or seven or eight with a motor go kart that I could drive around the lawn and that was the only person I think probably in the whole little town that had one so yeah, it was I think I’d like to say it was probably at that point my life I was so innocent and and just thought you know, I had the world by the tail. So yeah, I would say it was it was a fairly happy childhood, at least until I was six for sure.

David Ralph [22:55]
Do you know I find it fascinating listening to you about just just before we started recording, and I should I did an interview. And the person was really difficult all the way through. And it was, it was a slog to get through the interview. And I mentioned it to you and you said, I would have been like that person maybe 20 years ago, or even 1015 years ago. But now you’re following your full on all the time. Is that an exhausting passion you’ve got now or does that actually spark you up? Because you are on you? You’re absolutely going for it?

Corey Poirier [23:30]
Yeah, I’ve been called the Energizer, Energizer Bunny, and I’m sure that doesn’t surprise you. Yeah, I got tonnes of passion, maybe some despair. I would say the only time I get tired at all is whenever I’m doing back to back keynotes, where I’m giving a tonne of energy. You know, it sounds strange, but the more people that are in the room, the more energy draining it is. So it’s almost like if people believe in energy work or energy in general, it’s almost like those people are kind of pulling my energy from me and you know, you can Like you said about that interview, if you have a room where it’s just a dead room, I’m giving them my energy, but they’re not giving a whole lot back. So that’s why, you know, for me, at least, whether it’s performing comedy music, or, you know, most notably on the speaking side, that you do feed off the energy of the audience. So if you have a passionate audience, and you tell them, you know, thank you so much for bringing your passion game. The truth is, is that most speakers really mean that because they leave that fired up rather than drained. So I would say, I’m pretty much always kind of at this level. And I would say it’s kind of a neat thing I heard I mean, we’ve all heard the story, that if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. But in I did this interview one time with and you know, some of the listeners will probably know of Trailer Park Boys, the TV show, kind of a raunchy TV show that’s done extremely well in North America. And one of the characters Mr. Lahey, the trailer park supervisor, I’ve done some, you know, multiple interviews with his name is john Dunsworth, his real name. And, you know, john said to me, he’s on the TV set of the TV show called haven at the end of a 14 hour day and all these young kids were there and they’re all drained. And he said, one was drooling. And you know, they were just exhausted. And he’s 65. And he’s like, well, what are we gonna do next? And they said, What do you want old man? And he said, I’m going to teach you guys a lesson. So I always call this lessons from a trailer park boy. And maybe I should say less than from a trailer park supervisor. But john, what he said to them is he said, if you can find out if this acting thing is truly your bag and your passion and what you love doing, you’ll discover that you can’t be tired if you’re never working. He said, I’m truly for 40 years I haven’t worked. So he said, How could I be exhausted after a day whenever I love what I do, and I haven’t actually picked up and picked up the work for whatsoever so and you know, once you can figure out if, if this is truly what you love, you’re going to understand why I’m not tired at the end of a, you know, a 14 hour day on set or 12 hour day and set. And so I think that speaks for me, David is that I love what I do so much that I truly don’t feel like I’m working and that’s probably why I’m always kind of this fired up if you will,

David Ralph [25:58]
but let’s play some words that really sold me sighs what you’re talking about this is Jim Carrey,

Jim Carrey [26:03]
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 [26:30]
So you really are at the moment, like Jim says, doing what you love.

Corey Poirier [26:36]
Absolutely. And I heard that speech, David and as a as a speaker myself, it floored me, you know, you watch TED talks that just kind of transform your way of thinking and, and it’s not that that that talk by you know, Jim, that address transformed my way of thinking because I already think that way, but it was like, wow, you know, I’m so excited that he gets it But not only that, he’s sharing it away that now virally on YouTube. A lot of other people are going to get it. So Absolutely, I completely would say that that’s how I live. My life

David Ralph [27:03]
is amazing. I play that speech, literally every single show. And if you listen back to the early Join Up Dots, it wasn’t on it. But when I heard it, it resonated with me. And I’ve had guests who have gone. Wow, wow, wow. Afterwards, like it’s really touched them. And it’s so simple, isn’t it? And when you look at the simplicity of it, you wonder why so many people aren’t following those words, taking a chance on doing something you love. It just seems obvious to me.

Corey Poirier [27:33]
Well, and the funny part today is there’s actually I don’t want to I don’t use the word more security, because you and I both know what the entrepreneurial journey is like. But I would say there’s probably not much less security in today’s job market to be going it on your own. I mean, there’s a difference. Obviously, if you’re running a business with a bunch of widgets, you know, and you’re and you’re running with a million dollars overhead a month. Yeah. And that’s your own business. And yeah, you’re taking on a lot of risk. But if you’re doing it, you’re running a lifestyle business where really your major cost is your time, then I don’t know that it’s it’s a whole lot less acute, you know, a whole lot less secure than working for quote unquote the man or woman.

David Ralph [28:11]
So are you, obviously you an entrepreneur, but if you was in a bar, for example, and somebody came up to you and said, What do you do for a living? How do you phrase what you do for a living because you do so many different things, but what you actually say to them?

Corey Poirier [28:27]
You know, David, some days, I’m still trying to figure that out. But I would say if I answer based on what, what kind of keeps me rolling and started the whole thing, and what’s at the centre of it all, it still always goes back to the keynote speaking, the training, you know, basically sharing the message in a live capacity. That’s really what I do for a living. So when I fill out any kind of forms, I always say, professional speaker, if somebody comes up and asked me what do you do for a living, I say professional speaker and they say, Oh, I don’t know what that is. And then I’ll say, and I hate to say it, but I’ll say motivational speakers. They’ll say, Oh, I know what that is. And the reason I say I hate to say it is because I love motivation, I love going to see a motivational speaker. But over the years, it’s kind of taken on a negative sort of connotation to some people, some people thrive on it, but other people go, oh, that thing, you know, motivation, you know, person, just try, you know, getting paid to go in there and try to read me up and then walk away and forget about me. So, you know, the motivation. I’ve tried to stay away from that, but I have to say, it’s the only way I can define what I do. So I would say the easy answer at the bar would be motivational speaker, but definitely, I’m carrying a lot more sort of eggs, if you will, than that.

David Ralph [29:34]
And then how have you found your message because it’s very easy. In many ways. I say, I want to be a motivational speaker. I was a speaker for years and years and years. And I know that it’s quite easy to get up and talk but actually having something to talk about and having your your keynote stories but are you know your signature stories. That is a totally different ballgame and a lot of people haven’t got that to fall back on. How did you find the One thing to go forward with,

Corey Poirier [30:03]
by falling on my face, I, you know, I said, I started with stand up and then evolved into speaking and I fell in my face and stand up, literally. And I’m not even stretching this, the number now of performances, and I’ve kind of retired from stand up, if you will two years ago. But the number hit up around I think 750 performances in total. And I would say, maybe 288 of the first 300 I fell flat on my face, you know, I’d get a laugh here, a laugh there, a certain bit will go over, but it definitely wasn’t smooth sailing. And so I fell on my face a lot there. And that taught me a lot about communicating and speaking. And then I went into the speaking world and then fell on my face a whole bunch of times again, and you went back, you mentioned earlier about doing a talk for free. And there’s definitely a lot of good reasons to do an early talk for no fee. And that’s because you’re gonna fall on your face. And rather, you know, it’s better to do that whenever they’re not expecting you to deliver a 2000 or five or an $8,000 keynote. So yeah, it was really from a lot of falling in my face and then studying what the kind of quote unquote masters are doing and then watching what was working In the audience as well, it was kind of basically crafting it. So I kind of practice that 10,000 hour rule, and just try to figure out a way to shorten it. So it was less than 10,000 hours. And I would say, the first year of speaking, and that was after a couple of years of comedy. I was still playing around with how am I going to make this work? And what stories fit here and and how do you design a keynote? You know, how do you actually design it? So it only has three points because mine had way too many points. When I started and I started studying people like Steve Jobs, who’s easily considered one of the best was considered one of the best presenters in the world. And I studied what did he do well, and what he did was he never had hardly any PowerPoints. He had a lot of visual so I changed and adapted for that. And of course, I thankfully had the storytelling side from stand up comedy they sort of fall on. And yeah, I just kind of crafted and pieced that together over time, from really those early failings and learning from them.

David Ralph [31:48]
But that’s incredibly brave, isn’t it to get out there? over 300 times and fail 75% of those times and yes, we can sit here now and saying yes, you will improve and you will learn in your Crap. But that is scary to get up there and try to get laughs and no one’s laughing. That is dry lip time. And you then go and do it again and again. And again. What what makes you different from the majority of us? That would go now? That was terrifying. I’m not going to do that again.

Corey Poirier [32:17]
Well, since I’ve shared the story, many times I won’t, you know, bore anybody with the story about my first show, but what I will tell you is that and plus anybody that kind of follows me, I’m sure they’ll they’ll see a video of me sharing it somewhere. But basically, the first show I ever did, David was I didn’t have the mic turned on when I told my goes, so I often said if I was going to quit, that was the time and that’s the thing did they love? Well, no, because I think they were they were embarrassed. They were awkward, like, does he not know or i don’t i don’t i don’t know what they heard because I was just talking from the stage and I don’t know if they heard the joke, but I told what I thought was the best joke I ever told my life. And the backstory is the comic that brought us there and didn’t tell us that we were the entity At night, he said we’re going to watch people entertain us. And we were doing this whole stand up clinic. So I didn’t even know I was going to be doing material. And so what I did was I did this bit about driving across the country but it was really I wasn’t prepared I was told, you know, 15 minutes before I took the stage that I was going to be taking the stage and then I go and jumped on I was first that was the first guy to take the stage because I believe if you’re going to face that fear, you dive in and and I jumped in and told this joke and I thought Here we go, let it roll and and nothing and then I jumped into the second job because I figured I’m already in now and nothing and then finally he told me and called me over to the stage and let me know that the mic was no it wasn’t turned on yet. So

David Ralph [33:38]
scared, did you does that excite you that that fear

Corey Poirier [33:43]
maybe something deep down does but at the time it didn’t feel that way I was covered in sweat before I told the first joke and it certainly didn’t go away. And you know I would go and and I’ll tell you the hardest nights for me were to go to the clubs and perform when it was like mid July you know X amount of degrees. out and you go down and perform a little cave of a club covered in candles and you know, you know, so heat, and you know, 400 people or 100 people in the club watching. I mean, I’d be sweating, I’d be sitting in the corner before I ever went near the stage, and my clothes would be damp. And it wasn’t because I was nervous in those times. But what happened is, then it made you nervous, because you said people are going to think I’m nervous because of this was like a total vicious circle. So yeah, it was, it was definitely not easy. And I definitely also think that it becomes obsessive if we stand up. I think it’s either you if you try it, if you eventually do try it, a person says it’s either for me, or it’s absolutely not for me and the people it’s for it becomes this obsession that you want to see if this material work and you want to see how it’s going to go. But at the same time, you’re kind of terrified about what could happen if it doesn’t go over? Well, it’s like this weird. I don’t know. It’s this weird obsession and the one thing about stand up versus a music and speaking is you you’ll never be perfect than any of them. But you certainly stand up as the one that You’ll never ever, ever master to the extent that you could go deliver the identical material, even probably to the same crowd but the identical material to a similar crowd similar size and feel you deliver it in the same way. And one night, basically get heckled and booed, and or at least dead silence, which is actually worse, or you’ll get laughs the opposite night. So it’s there, you can’t win it fan up, there’s no way to say I’ve mastered it.

David Ralph [35:22]
I’ve seen a lot of people talking about stand up and the fact that you’ve got to do so many shows before you can even consider yourself a comedian. And some of the sort of the top guys say that they actually miss when they were coming up. Now they go to a place and people have paid a lot of money to see them. So they’re already ready for a good time. They find the edge somehow has been lost compared to when they were earlier having to work the room not knowing what the reaction was going to be. And really sort of working on their craft. They become some soft because that the audience, I’m gonna have a good time because I paid to see them. Can you can you see what they’re saying?

Corey Poirier [36:05]
I sure can. There’s a great DVD out called comedian. It’s a documentary by Jerry Seinfeld that I recommend anybody who’s either curious about comedy just wants to see what a comic life is like, any of those things. I encourage them to check it out. I mean, it’s more of a rare DVD I think now, but I mean, of course, you can get it on eBay and Amazon and stuff like that. Or they get in touch with me, I think I have two extra copies. Because if I see it, I grab it because it’s not easy to get. But what I mean essentially what it is, is Jerry Seinfeld, to wrote all his material that he’d written over 20 years. His original concert DVD was called I’m telling you for the last time, and that was him ditching the material. And then this comedian thing was basically following him and a brand new wallet, a younger comic, showing both of them paralleling them and showing Jerry Seinfeld throwing all this material away and going into a club in New York and starting from scratch and I the opening scene is something along the lines of George Wallace, Seinfeld, Chris Rock and Colin Quinn sitting there Jerry saying, here’s the thing joke I’m thinking of doing and and they’re saying, Oh, that sounds like it has some potential and they said, What are you going to do it and he said in five minutes, and they said, all that’s going to diamond that’s not going to work at all. And they said, That’s jokes fire from ready. And so he’s scribbling stuff on a piece of paper and they’re calling his name out. And he goes up on stage, and he gets a standing ovation because of who he is. And he starts telling the jokes and it’s all brand new material and then you see this like dead silence come over the crowd. And finally here, this lady off to the corner say insist your first gig now and it should and it’s even like in New York, it shows you like he only got an extra two or three minutes of claps and standing ovation. And then it was like, you know, show us the funny and so yeah, I would believe a lot of stand up comics missed that. And I think that’s why you see people like Chris Rock and Colin Quinn and Seinfeld hanging out and then they go still go back to the clubs and do like a surprise, that apparent appearance at like a harrows or stuff like that.

David Ralph [37:51]
Did you think people and this is going out to the listeners? This is a question that for the listeners really, but do you need to be scared in life He said too much comfort that stops people going for their dreams.

Corey Poirier [38:04]
Yeah, well, you know what I, I believe so much that that there there is too much comfort that I actually started as a speaker kind of showing up on the board what i’m talking and, or sharing, you know, sharing it for them to write down in their notes, I get them to draw a circle, you know where their comfort zone is, and they put their name in it or comfort zone in the middle of the circle. And then what I want them to do is, is basically figure out what’s inside their comfort zone, what’s just outside it and what’s far outside it. And I try to demonstrate to them through story that if you want to become the best you possible, you need to expand your comfort zone because the best you possible isn’t in that little comfort zone. And so I try to teach them how can they take baby steps to get to the bigger things that are further outside their comfort zone that they really want, which could be for some people their passion, like maybe their passion is for, you know, four steps outside their comfort zone so they can start taking baby steps to get there. And if they don’t take those baby steps, they’re going to live a life not fully live. So I absolutely believe you can be comfortable. And I also feel that if you ever want to find your best life possible, and your true passion, you need to be willing to expand that comfort zone as much as possible. But the good news is once you start expanding it, there’s really no limit to how far that comfort zone will eventually grow. Well,

David Ralph [39:17]
yeah, that’s the key thing, isn’t it? Because I know that probably around the 200 episode of this show, I started to feel a little bit flat, where the the nervous energy and the fear to kick it off, became a bit comfortable. And I’m trying to find the way of expanding that comfort zone again, to take me into the next area. And you’ve got to keep on doing that. As soon as you realise that you’re coasting somewhat, you’ve got to look at pushing it. And that’s quite difficult, isn’t it? When you’ve, you’ve already worked at breaking out from somewhere, and then think why I’ve got to do it again. But you don’t really know what you need to do or where you want to go again, because you’ve already done it once and your focus was all on that first step.

Corey Poirier [40:00]
Yeah, I’ve absolutely been there. And you know that the show so our show was kind of an evolution of that I had a newspaper that we were publishing monthly, a business newspaper and and it still goes now, it’s still operating now, but its quarterly because obviously, the schedule has changed. And it’s a printed newspaper. And of course, there’s not as big of a market is there once was so but it was we started monthly in July 2007, and went a solid five and a half, six years monthly. And I got to that point where it was like, I’m not reaching and interviewing the people, you know, I’m not interviewing as many people as I want to. I’m not reaching some of the people that I economy when I was younger said that I wanted to either sit in front of or spend time with. And so I was stuck in that, like, what do I do from here? And then that evolved, it actually took a mini step in between it evolved into a book series called conversations with which ended up being a five part book series, similar to like a Chicken Soup for the Soul for business people. And then that evolved into the show, so I don’t who knows what the next step will be. Maybe it’ll be video, but yeah, I Been there, David, and I know what you’re talking about, because I was at that stage of how do I go to the next stage and next level and make myself uncomfortable again? And I’ll tell you, I’m glad I did. Because it was, it was exciting to have that again.

David Ralph [41:12]
Because I was listening to the Nerdist podcast yesterday, which is one of my faves just because it’s kind of a list as I’ve gone. And they were talking to Paul McCartney. And if, if anybody isn’t interested in Join Up Dots for a moment, obviously, you’re going to listen to this every single day. Go over to the Nerdist and listen to Paul McCartney because there was so many nuggets of Golden Bear. But one of the things that I found was amazing was the guys who run the show was saying, we’re gonna see Paul McCartney can’t believe this. Five years ago, we started in our garriage. And now we’re doing this and when you sort of hear about you think, wow, this is a journey. These people have gone on a five year journey to where he is now. But you look back over there. They’re kind of history, and there was quite a lot of people but I did No. And then suddenly, there was people that I’d heard or have been suddenly it was the a list as a Tom Hanks, the Tom Cruise the Paul McCartney’s and all that kind of stuff. And it’s very difficult, isn’t it? When you look at what you’re doing yourself to go, how am I going to break into those a listers? How am I going to break into those next guys? Because they don’t want to know until you’ve got a history to show them. And unless you’ve got the history to show them, they don’t want to know is a vicious circle. So how did you do that? How did you ultimately was it just purely food a book that you reached out to the people that you you wanted to speak to in the beginning?

Corey Poirier [42:35]
Well, it’s funny you asked that because, you know, I’ve been reflecting on that recently. And what started was the newspaper so that, you know, that’s a great point is with the newspaper, we started getting into the kind of the next level interviews, we were just starting to break, you know, ground in terms of reaching people. I mean, because there’s all kinds of great interviews of people who want to share a story. But there’s some people that as we were talking earlier, they have that gatekeeper system, they have Okay, I got to say no to this because I’m just, you know, not because they don’t want it. It’s just that they’re impacting a lot of lives. And they got to say, Okay, I only have so much of me to go around. So how do I break through and get a little bit of that time that they have to go around. And so the newspaper started at a bit, and then the book series continued it. But what I did in 2010, was I decided that it was going to be launching a radio show. And if I was going to get to a certain level of people, I had to test it beforehand to see if it was going to be possible and see what I could make happen. So I put together a list of 100 people that had impacted my life life on a pretty big scale. And I said, Okay, let’s try this. Let’s see how many of these people I can reach using different you know, creativity, but mostly it was it’s not as sexy as it sounds. Mostly it was reaching out and, and literally in my emails, or phone calls, showing them the benefit of why me versus the next person. But I put this list together, David of 100 people and I started showing friends of mine who were pretty ambitious people and ask them how many of you think I’ll reach and the highest number that people guess was plenty and A year later, I went through 93 on the list. And so that taught me a lot about what was possible. And I feel that’s what kind of made it I guess made it so my comfort zone expanded heavily as to what was what was possible and who I would reach out to. And you know, maybe a jack Canfield, who the day before he aired on our show, he was on Larry King and the day after he was on Oprah, the Oprah and friends network you know, so you know, that wouldn’t have been possible to the you know, the even the 2007 me I would have never been able to take the jump from interviewing you know, small business owner with three employees to interviewing jack Canfield I wouldn’t have been comfortable enough the interview would have been a mess, and I wouldn’t have known I would have never been able to make that jump so I believe what had to happen is the evolution of me going you know, and interviewing different people and and building that list of people till eventually I got to where I was comfortable, comfortable interviewing, you know, the Beatles of the business world, if you will.

David Ralph [44:55]
So is it belief or is it competence what comes first chicken, your neck, Tom Suppose

Corey Poirier [45:01]
I, you know, I, I actually feel its belief. Because I feel that personally the belief, like we said, a comfort zone, if you start taking baby steps outside your comfort zone, and you see it grow just by the smallest amount, your competence might not be there yet. But now all of a sudden, you see, oh my, that thing I thought I would never be able to do, you know, maybe speak in front of five people, you know, go to a Toastmasters group and speak in front of five people. Once you do that you’re like, if I could do this all along, what else could I do? So I feel personally the belief it starts, and then the competence takes over, and makes it possible after that,

David Ralph [45:35]
because I’ve got total belief in this show, even when I’m not gaining any momentum at all. And we see that in any new venture. And I suppose it kills so many people off that they put so much effort into it, and they don’t see their rewards. And so they give up but if I’d gone another two, three steps, Ben suddenly moves on. And whenever you’re doing anything entrepreneurial, it’s fits and starts Isn’t he goes really quickly and you think wow, this is going Amazing. I mean, for the next six months, you don’t see any momentum at all. Have you had that same belief in your whole career? Or was that really kicked in? Now? Because you’ve got so many things that have worked, and you can see how to do it in the future?

Corey Poirier [46:16]
Well, for me, I’ll tell you what makes things a lot easier now versus then is I am, you know, first of all, I have the ability to look back and see things that I thought were impossible. That had been achieved since so that, you know, that makes it so that my comfort zone really continues to expand, but it took a long time to get there and a lot of sort of exercise of that muscle. But now as well, what’s really worked? Well, I mean, it’s just been by accident. But I have so many things and so many kind of irons in the fire that you don’t you don’t worry as much if something fails or doesn’t work, because all of a sudden you’re you have you have as an example, five big things on the go. And then you submit your book to publishers. And you know, 10 publishers turn it down. It sucks, you know, and you You don’t like to have it happen. And obviously, it’s, I think that that, you know, hits that your ego, but it’s a lot easier to deal with if you have five of the things that are that are really exciting going on to keep you busy. So I find that just like in sales and you remember from the sales world, probably, David, if you had one of those months where you only had one deal, on the go, you focused all your energy in that deal. And sometimes you can even cost yourself that deal because you’re too focused on that one deal, and really probably irritating that customer because you don’t have enough other deals in the goal. But if you have 40 deals on the go, and they’re all kind of equal in size, if one even if you lose one it doesn’t destroy you like it would if you only had that one on the go.

David Ralph [47:37]
But but that’s that’s an interesting point you’re making there because so many people I know who listening to this show, can’t even think of the first thing to do let alone having five things going on at one time.

Corey Poirier [47:51]
Yeah, and you know what, when I started to, you know, like I said, if I look at the sales again, I’d have that one sale, you know, for I’d have one prospect for a month. This I’m talking my first you know, month, their first five weeks. And, you know much the same whenever I started with my, you know, entrepreneurial career, I like I started with the newspaper and I’d have, you know, five advertisers, you know, five advertising clients, and I didn’t even have the first issue ready. And so I didn’t even have one issue. And yeah, it was daunting. It was really tough to get that first one. But it’s almost like they say that, you know, the first, you know, thousands of the hardest, the first hundred thousands of hardest. It’s, it’s really once you take that step, then you’ve done one, it makes it easier to go and do the second one. So yeah, I would say for anybody that’s listening that says, I can’t even how do I even take that first step. It’s almost being brave enough to take a chance and have faith that you can do this and actually taking that step. And even if you don’t get to where you want to, if you know that you’re taking the approach that I’m going to learn from the failures and make it better the second time, if you at least take that first step. You’re actually going to be further and have less regrets in life than the person that never does take that step. You know, in 20 years time sits in a bar and said, I could have been a person who played music in clubs, you know, because I quite easily could have never taken that step. I was terrified when I did my first music performance. It was 1990 1996 a battle of the bands, that lead singer actually cancelled, like the day before. And it was my I was a songwriter. So now I had to go up on stage and be the singer. And if I never would have taken that first step, all these years later, after whatever amount of music performances is probably close to 1000 for music, you know, I’d be sitting in a bar, probably somewhere going, you know, I could have played music in a club, you know, I was good enough to do this, you know. And so to me, I know it’s hard to take that first step. And it was hard for me to but I also know that more people live in regret. And I’ve learned this from interviewing enough people to know where people live in regret when they don’t take the step and the ones that actually do find a way to take that step and maybe even have a system for taking it but find a way to take that step in the first place.

David Ralph [49:51]
Well, let’s bring Steve Jobs on to the show because he said some fantastic words back in 2005, about taking those steps and moving into a future which is On the web is not your path, but you’re willing to do it. This is Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs [50:05]
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 leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.

David Ralph [50:40]
Well, you’ve really been off the path, haven’t you? But you’ve always had that competence as he’s saying, to keep on moving forward.

Corey Poirier [50:48]
Yeah, it’s, you know, one of the areas of my life that I never kind of joined up the dots until more recently, is even like how I first when I said I moved from a small little town Working in that, you know, that large company environment, I actually apply for the job 170 some people apply for the job. And I didn’t find out and I got the job at of all those people, they only hired one person for that round. And I spoke to the general manager all a bunch of years later, we’re still connected as to why did you hire me? And he told me that it was because I, when I was 19 years old, I started a small little newspaper. My first newspaper, I started a small little newspaper and ran my own business at 19 years of age, when most of my friends were probably out drinking at the pub. And, and you know, he said, I seen you do that. And then you moved across the country at 20 years old. And he said that somebody that I’m willing to take a chance is probably going to do everything it takes to make this work and make this happen. So they don’t have to kind of crawl back to their small little town with their tail between their legs. So I didn’t find it until a number of years later, that that newspaper I started actually the dots joined it up so that I got the job with a fortune 500 Company, which allowed me to kind of get on the map with with my friends. Career and it actually was what allowed me to get into what I do now the speaking and you know, being able to talk to clients that are thinking of hiring me. So I can actually now see the dots right from that newspaper all the way up to me being a speaker today, and even the newspaper and the interviews that I do today.

David Ralph [52:15]
Once you think those words have hung around for so long, does it it’s at least gonna be 10 years coming up soon, and people are still quoting them. I quote them on a daily basis. Where’s the power in them?

Corey Poirier [52:27]
And the join up joining up with doc

Unknown Speaker [52:29]
Yeah, the Steve Jobs speech?

Corey Poirier [52:30]
Yeah, well, I believe it’s because most people I should say most, but most people that haven’t taken the step yet, feel that they don’t realise the dots are gonna join up. So they actually don’t feel that you know, what I’m doing today is actually going to impact me five years from now, a lot of people don’t feel that the negative mindset they have today is actually going to impact in five years time and they don’t want to actually accept it. I didn’t want to accept that. Maybe you know, the media five years later. not to get too far into it into the loop. But maybe the Mia five years later, won’t actually take, you know, to accept anything, any part of what, you know what decisions I made. So I feel it’s probably because we don’t have faith that the dots are going to join up. And we don’t think it’s all interconnected. And then when somebody presented to us in a way that we can say, Wow, well, it was for them, you know, and then they can provide other examples, the show was for many people like your shows doing, maybe there is something to this. So I think it hung around because people need that push. And the only way they’re going to actually take this step is if they see proof that the dots do line up and until that that speech, I would say a lot of people never even thought that the dots could line up. If that makes sense. It makes total

David Ralph [53:43]
sense. I love asking this question, but do you have a big dot, but you look back on and go, Wow, that was the moment that was the moment but it all started coming together for me.

Corey Poirier [53:54]
Well, I would say I would say the big one, while there is a split between two so you know, since we talked a lot about the stand up I’ll just say that first night in stand up was a big one. A second big one was the first book I read and this might shock you, David. But the first book I ever read in my life was Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People now that purple and probably shock you, but the fact that it was 27 when I read it might,

David Ralph [54:16]
well that was the first book you’d ever read.

Corey Poirier [54:18]
cover to cover? Yeah, I tried to read three books in school, three in school. And then I started Stephen King’s Cujo. And not because it was scary, but just because it didn’t pull me in. I quit after about a chapter. And then and I quit, like I didn’t read anything. All through those years, I’d never completed a book. My mom bought me this Dale Carnegie book at a flea market for a quarter handed it to me when I was going on this retreat when I was working for konica Minolta and other large company, and I took it with me and I got bored on the trip. And I said, Well, I might as well check this book out. And I got less than a chapter in it. And I was hooked. And I finished the book and I had nothing else to read. So I started over again. So I jokingly said it’s the first and second book that I’ve ever had in my life. But that was probably the biggest stop right there.

David Ralph [54:59]
And then what was it That, I can understand Cujo, because that wasn’t a particularly good one. But what was it about Dale Carnegie that really hit home?

Corey Poirier [55:08]
Oh, that’s today. It’s such an easy answer, then I couldn’t, couldn’t have told you, even for, you know, even one aspect of what pulled me in. But today I know what it was. And that’s after all these years now I read about three books a month. And the books that pulled me in. I hadn’t found any of those before. And the Dale Carnegie was the first one by the way, it’s still the pivotal one. It’s still my desert island book, I still read it over and over again and learn stuff from it. But what what Dale Carnegie did, which no other author done until that point is he knew he was a master at weaving story after story after story. So that book, you know, where some books tell a good story, and then they go back to theory. And they go back to application and then come back to the story again, three chapters later, Dale Carnegie was literally every page was either a new story or continuation of the story you were still in. And the stories are obviously what pulled me in because I could visualise them and learn from them. And that’s what that book did. And ever since I’ve discovered that the books that we’ve stories very well are the books that could hold my attention and get me through the book quicker and not feeling like I’m doing a chore.

David Ralph [56:11]
Did you? Would you say you, Ben, but that is the book that you would recommend to most people if I said what is the book, but I should wait, what do you think that one?

Corey Poirier [56:20]
Yeah, it’s of course, it’s the usual suspects of books, I would say thinking grow rich and the compound effect, which is a newer usual suspect. And then but top of the list, of course, yeah, it would be the Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends. And you know, I like I said, it was my desert island book. But what I also say, you know, actually, years ago, we interviewed desig, Ziegler and asked the question, you know, at 84 years of age, how do you decide what to read? Now, you know, now that you know, what, you know, how do you make sure you’re reading the right stuff. And what he said I felt was profound. And he said, basically, it’s the books that are recommended that are on personal development and biographies. And then I had another lady on the show, who had was dying. goes with four stage cancer and told you two months to live. And she actually put cancer in remission and live 12 more years, cancer free. And so I asked her likewise, how did you decide in two months what the read if you only had two months, and then she said, Korea, I basically went to the people who I admired, who knew what I was looking for, ask them what they were reading or what they were watching what they were listening to, and it was recommended three times. That’s what I dive into next. So what I would say is why I can easily recommend Dale Carnegie is that book still selling I’ve heard numbers like a million copies a year now, and it was written in 1936. So I would recommend that book but also with confidence that it’s still changing lives. So this day,

David Ralph [57:37]
I’ll have to pick that up and read but I’ve never read it. I have read you know, thinking Grow Rich, which is the classic one isn’t it really an easy, it’s interesting that the same books come up time and time again across the world. And we’ve all got different backgrounds. We’ve all got different futures. We’ve got different experiences, but it seems to be the same ones. The Tim Ferriss one’s thinking Grow Rich, Dale Carnegie It’s interesting how these books have stayed the pace.

Corey Poirier [58:03]
It absolutely isn’t. And I guess my, you know, the, at the end of the day, what my goal is, eventually is to, you know, I mean, obviously, and I’m sure there’s lots of people that have penned this as a goal, but I believe that it doesn’t take any more work to dream a big goal or plan a big goal that it does a small one. So my goal is to eventually write one of those books, you know, just one of my life I heard a band one time is actually slash from Guns and Roses, say with their album Appetite for Destruction. He said, there’s only so many classic albums that have ever existed. And he said, I believe with Appetite for Destruction. We had one of those albums. And so he was actually saying or other albums weren’t at that level. But he said that, you know, he said, if I if I died tomorrow, I could, you know, go restfully and peacefully knowing I had one of those classic albums. And so that’s kind of how I feel. I eventually want to write one of those books. I haven’t even attempted yet. But that’s really the goal for me, David is to eventually have one of those books that you know, whatever amount of years from now, people might say this book changed my life. And, and on a scale that is not just, you know, maybe five or six people’s lives, it’s actually changed. You know, like in those books we’re talking about changed millions of lives.

David Ralph [59:10]
Cooley, I can tell you 100% you’ve got that book in you. It’s just a matter of time. It’s just you sitting down and actually starting to write it. I believe I’m listening to you till you know what it’s gonna be about, even if he’s not sort of I’m formulized as soon as you start writing the words, it’s gonna flood you should get that done soon as possible.

Corey Poirier [59:30]
You know what, David, thank you so much. That’s so humbling. And I, I will say that it’s the perfect time now holidays is when I visit with family, but in between that I do some creating that I don’t have time to do. So maybe that would that should be the next to do list of creating.

David Ralph [59:43]
You do that. And I’ll have a mentioned in the front page. I’ve never been mentioned in a book before.

Corey Poirier [59:49]
Absolutely.

David Ralph [59:51]
Well, this is the end of the show. And this is the bit when we send you back in time to have a one on one with your younger self and if you could go back in time, what age Corey would you speak And what advice would you give? Well, we’re gonna find out because I’m going to play the theme tune and when it fades you’re about this is the Sermon on the mic.

Unknown Speaker [1:00:19]
remain on the money

Corey Poirier [1:00:31]
Hello, Cory 20 years old. I know you just not long ago move to a large city and it seems like it’s overwhelming. And it seems like you know, it’s it’s, it’s not going to get any better. And I know you know, you’re hiding the fact that inside you’re you’re struggling with this anxiety that not a lot of people know is going on. And you know, I know you feel that you feel most comfortable in the waiting rooms of hospitals trying to fight What is going on and and you know, thinking that maybe you’re not going to have as long of a life as you had hoped you’d have. But what I can tell you as the 39 year old Cory is that you’re This is actually going to be a time you’re going to look back on it and be thankful for I know, it sounds strange, but you’re going to be thankful for this time, you’re going to be able to see that this time, you know, helps you understand yourself better, helps you get a better feeling for who you could become. And at the same time, it actually is going to become a big part of who you will become when you’re 39. And that’s a person that’s very happy and content with what they’ve done in their life. So I need you to know that it’s going to get better. And you know, you have to go through this. So I don’t want you to stop, you know, going through this process of going to get checked out and finding it trying to find out what’s going on because that’s going to make you more comfortable. If something serious does happen to be able to go to the doctor where so many people are scared to do that. But at the same time you’re going to get past the point where you’re worried about having this or that and you’re going to become a positive person that has a happy life and that is intent with who they are. But you just need to know that this is really just a part of your life that is necessary. At the same time, it’s just a phase that eventually is going to move on. So just keep your head up and and try to learn as many lessons as you can from this experience. And and I’ll catch you in roughly about 2019 to 20 years.

David Ralph [1:02:19]
How can our audience connect with you, Cory?

Corey Poirier [1:02:23]
Well, the best two ways, the probably the easiest way would be the hub, which is the website David and that’s simply a passion cure.com You know, we’ve talked quite a bit about passion today. So that’s the key website where they can read my blog, they can hear interviews that we do so www dot passion, cure calm, but if it’s okay with you, David, what we’ve done is we’ve set up a special link on that site for the listeners of the show, to be able to go and and grab some insight from from us, you know, so this is inside. Corey Poirier What we’ve set up is a page where they can go and basically sign up get access to three top 10 list. And it’s insight that was called from we talked to 3000 interviews with some of the world’s highest achievers. Basically, it’s us looking saying what is the best stuff we’ve taken from that. And so listeners of your show can literally go to that same website, we mentioned the passion, cure, calm, and then add the backslash, and listeners with an S. So plural. So the passion cure calm backslash listeners. And if they go to that link, and basically I believe, enter their name and email addresses all as all it takes, they’ll actually get three top 10 lists that again, have taken literally thousands of hours to learn this insight, and they can get it in a matter of a couple of clicks.

David Ralph [1:03:38]
Brilliant. Thank you so much for spending time with us today and 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.Corey Poirier, thank you so much.

Corey Poirier [1:03:54]
Thank you, David. It’s been an absolute pleasure.

Outro [1:03:58]
David doesn’t want you to become a fated version of the brilliant self you are wants to become. So he’s put together an amazing guide 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.

Corey Poirier Ted Talk