Mike Campion: Joining Up Dots With A Freaking Genius

Mike Campion Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast

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Introducing Mike Campion

Mike Campion is today’s guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots Podcast.

Just recently it was a delight to be asked to be a guest on his really fun show called “Conversations with a Genius”

Yep, I know don’t ask, but suffice to say that they didn’t check me out well enough and I managed to crawl under the wire and get on the show.

And I had such a great time, I thought lets reciprocate by bringing the host onto join up some dots with me.

But let’s tell you about him, as he is a man that has had hustle muscle running through him at such an early age, and you can see that a lot of this was as a direct result of growing up as poor white child in the south Phoenix ghetto.

Being raised by an amazing single mom with no money and a whole lot of hope.

And these formative years can either go two ways.

How The Dots Joined Up For Mike

One you can accept your lot, and stay in that situation, or two fight back.

And our guest did just that an embarked on a series of jobs, as he fought his way back to where he is today

As he says “For the last 17 years I have started, built and sold businesses. I have had a ton of fun, learned a lifetime of business genius, and even enjoyed some pretty cool financial rewards. I have also had more than my fair share of cursing, shaking my fist at the heavens, and sitting in a ball in the corner rocking and crying. I have invested thousands of hours (and dollars) devouring books, courses, podcast, articles, blogs, and the like on how to be a successful business owner.”

Well it now looks like it is all coming together for him, and why not, if you put in the effort and take consistent action everyday.

So when he was a janitor, sleeping in cars everyday, did he truly believe that he could get to where his is today?

And does he see now that his Mother could have done things differently, or was it just lack of awareness and time that held her back?

Well lets find out as we bring onto the show, to start joining up dots with the one and only Mike Campion.

Show Highlights

During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Mike Campion such as:

How all his employees quit on the first day of buying a cleaning franchise, eaving him with no idea why, but his hands down toilets to keep the business going. 

How he can now see that your pay is dependent on your giving up point. Push through further than you thought possible and the rewards will b so much greater.

How he  couldn’t see how poor he was as a child until he started to go out with a girl in school and realized how nice her home and car was.

And lastly……..

How he feels that you should never give up, but you must find the point when you realize that a new strategy is needed to make success. That is true business acumen.

How To Connect With Mike Campion

Website

Facebook 

Twitter

LinkedIn

Return To The Top Of Mike Campion

If you enjoyed this episode with Mike Campion, why not check out other inspirational chat with Hal Elrod, Dorie Clark, Alfie Best and the amazing Nichole Kellerman Wurth

Full Transcription Of Mike Campion Interview

David Ralph [0:00]
Today’s show is brought to you by podcast is mastery.com. The premier online community teaching you to podcast like a pro check us out now. podcasters mastery.com.

Intro [0:12]
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.

Mike Campion [0:37]
Yes, hello, everybody. How are we? Are we all right? We had our breakfast and everything and we’re rocking and rolling. This is Episode 354 of Join Up Dots. And you know, one of the best things about podcasting is not doing the show. It’s actually meeting people. It’s meeting the kind of guys that we’ve got on today and probably without the podcast, I wouldn’t have connected with him by Just recently, it was a delight to be asked to be a guest on a really fun show to do called conversations with a genius. Yep, I don’t know how I managed to get on there. But I didn’t check me out well enough and I managed to crawl under the wire and get on the show. And I had such a great time I thought let’s reciprocate by bringing the host onto Join Up Dots with me. But let’s see, let me tell you about him as he is a man that has had hustle muscle running through him at such an early age. And you can see that a lot of his was as a direct result of as he says, growing up as a poor Watch out in the south Phoenix ghetto being raised by an amazing single mom with no money and a whole lot of hope. And these formative years can either go two ways one, you can accept your lot and stay in that situation or to fight back. And our guest did just back and embarked on a series of jobs as he fought his way back to where he is today. As he says, For the last 17 years, I’ve started built and sold businesses I’ve had a tonne of fun, learned a lot on the business genius and even enjoyed some pretty cool financial rewards. I’ve also had more than my fair share of cursing, shaking my fist at the heavens. And sitting in a ball in the corner, rocking and crying, wallet big girl. I have invested thousands of hours and dollars devouring books, courses, podcast articles, blogs, and the light on how to be a successful business owner. Well, if it now looks like it’s all coming together for him, I’m delighted and why not if you put the effort in and take consistent action every day. So when he was a janitor sleeping in cars every day, did he truly believe that he could get to where he is? And does he see now that his mother could have done things differently? Or was it just a lack of awareness and time that held her back? Well, let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dance with the one and only Mr. Mike Campion. How are you Mike?

You know, I’m blushing. I’m 41 years old. I’ve got the red cheeks. I’m short of breath. It’s all very exciting.

David Ralph [2:50]
You’re just thinking about what we were talking about what we’ve been surfing. When Yeah, just before we make live, it just won’t be before you were telling me what you were doing. And I was shocked. My I was shocked.

Mike Campion [3:02]
I my contract we talked, we said I had a list of things we’re not going to talk about you jump right into it.

David Ralph [3:07]
So why nobody listens to this show. Nobody listens at all. So just before you come on, you was recording another show. So how did that go?

Mike Campion [3:16]
Well, I figured wouldn’t good, but you know, I think everything I do is genius. So I don’t know, I guess we’ll have to wait until it hits and see how many downloads we get.

David Ralph [3:22]
Yeah, but you do get that feeling in a show sometimes, don’t you when you think yeah, this is blind. This is brilliant. And then other times you think, Oh, it’s a bit of a push? How to how do you deal with those ones? Because you’re how many shows you’d be released. Now?

Mike Campion [3:35]
How many released? I don’t know we’ve recorded probably for 30 or 40. And I think we’ve got like nine I think we’ve recorded 40 or 50. We’ve got like 30 released give or take.

David Ralph [3:44]
So some guests you get and they fly up a guest or a bit of a push to get them through. Did you learn more from the hard ones and the good ones or the good ones are the hard ones?

Mike Campion [3:54]
Honestly, I think it’s not so much learning more from wonder and others being surprised. They’ll have a guest on The violent guy, this guy is going to be a dud. And it turns out I’m fascinated and it’ll have other people that they’re just killed. They’ve got all these pedigree and they’ve done this and that. And I’m just having to beat him over the head to make them half interesting. So it’s, it’s I’ve actually done to, I won’t say who but I did to record the whole thing. And I’m like, I can’t use it. It’s I just I couldn’t make it. This isn’t good enough to play so

David Ralph [4:19]
well. on anyone who thinks that way is your quality control, Mike?

Mike Campion [4:25]
Well, my quality control is they never they never got released. I just dumped him. I said, I didn’t even I didn’t even tell the people I just you know, if they ever call us and say, Hey, it wasn’t you know, I wasn’t feeling it, but we just we just buried them so maybe someday I’ll release the you know, the last records.

David Ralph [4:38]
So that Spielberg episode, we’re never gonna hear.

Mike Campion [4:43]
No, you won’t. And trust me, I’m doing you a favour.

David Ralph [4:45]
It’s dead. It’s dead to the world. So yeah, your conversations with a genius show. I had a great time on that. And it was one of those shows that didn’t really feel like a show. It felt my just having a laugh based around a format. Is that how you have created it

Mike Campion [5:00]
Yeah, it’s funny you say that because actually I felt the same way about your show. And when we spoke it was your and I hate to you know, I hate to be the kiss up on the thing, but I got a call. Like I said, You’re one of the guys where I was exactly what I wanted. And I didn’t want it to be like, all right, you know, here’s a question that I’ve asked of your genius and you give me a pat answer. We just go back and forth and talk about stuff that people have heard. I wanted to be like, you and I are just sitting at the bar. We’re hanging out. We talk a little business because we like business. We talk a lot of life because we like life. And you know, by God, someone turned on the mic and recorded the whole thing. And that’s that, so that’s exactly what I try to do. And sometimes I hit it, sometimes I don’t, but I felt when you and I did it, it was pretty damn conversational. So I was I was excited to see how it worked when with me on your show.

David Ralph [5:40]
So So where do you obviously we’re gonna touch on your whole life and your whole career and stuff, but we’re gonna talk about the podcast because that’s what sort of connected us but where do you want that to go? Is it something that you want to be full time? Is it something to grow a brand? Once you focus on that?

Mike Campion [5:57]
I’m gonna give you the honest answer, not the one. I should give you the one I should Give us like, I’ve got this four step plan. And I thought it through and here’s my whole business plan and email it over. But that’s not the reality. The reality is I sold my car dealership. We’re recording this in April of 2015. I sold my car dealership late June, early July of 2014. And I had made a deal with my wife and I wasn’t going to get back into you know, car dealership got employees and overhead and buildings and inventory. Yeah, on and on. So that wasn’t the life I wanted. I committed to our wouldn’t start another business because I keep starting this little ones thinking they’re just gonna stay small and they explode. But I didn’t, I still had the bug. So my goal is to really help other small business owners grow. And I did the podcast just because it seemed like a lot less work than blogging and whatever. And you know, when you’re not literate, you just speak into a mic, it works. So that’s kind of where it started. It’s pretty general. So really, all I’m trying to do right now is giving giving given I figure, at some point, somebody will show up and advertise or somebody trying to hand me a fistful of money, but as of now, just trying to create a lot of value to the world and see where it goes.

David Ralph [6:57]
And that’s the same like a lot less work and then You’re doing it all you surprised by the amount of work that takes to to develop and create a show.

Mike Campion [7:06]
It is so much stinking work. It’s so funny because I hear I listen to Adam Carolla big podcast fan of comedy, business, everything. I listen to Adam Carolla, and he’s always bitching about all so much work and I’m like, it just sounds like you’re sitting hanging out with your friends. But then I had, I don’t wanna say deja vu, but I had an epiphany where I was in the car, and I almost never listen to my own podcast. I’m like, I gotta try at least once to see what I’m putting out if it’s any good. And I listened to one and I remember recording it like going, Oh, there’s so much work. I gotta think about what I can ask what this guy’s saying and is this is this compelling? Do I need to cut him out what’s going on? And I remember being a tonne of work recording and I listened to him like, this is a tonne of fun. I love listening to it. So it’s it’s a lot more work than I thought it was gonna be, I guess the short answer

David Ralph [7:43]
and you’ve got over the the stickiness of hearing your own voice back I’d be

Mike Campion [7:48]
you know, I’ve got my $60 ATR 2100 mic that I’d somebody were referred to me. And this is the only time on this mic. I don’t. I’m like I don’t sound awful. I’m not ready to record an album just yet, but I’m like, I think I’m not absolutely embarrassed by voice. So that’s, that’s as good as I think I’m going to get in this lifetime.

David Ralph [8:04]
So let’s take you back in time, you’ve obviously got a kind of Midas touch, you know, the fact that you can start businesses and they literally explode is what so many people want but you you’re somebody now that’s kind of changing your direction. So have you always had the hustle muscle was we were talking about in the introduction? Were you the kid with the lemonade stand and going out mowing lawns and all that kind of stuff?

Mike Campion [8:26]
Well, if I was a good marketer, I’d tell you well, there’s a secret that I have that if you just pay me $2,000 I’ll give it to you and that’s what you need. But again, not the reality for me the reality was not so much Midas touch is no other option. Like Like you said in the intro is born super, super poor. So I had zero money and I didn’t even know anyone that had any money. And when I decided to go into businesses, because I didn’t know I could afford to go to college, and I didn’t think anyone would hire me for any wages that were worth anything with without a degree. So I thought if I really wanna make any money, my own business, the long way to go and I put everything I had And plus borrowed money into this thing. So I literally had no chance but to starve or to succeed. So working my tail off and just never going, Well, I guess if this doesn’t work, I quit. This doesn’t work.

David Ralph [9:13]
What was your business then? But you’re putting the money into?

Mike Campion [9:17]
Yeah, it was 22 years old and I bought a servicemaster commercial cleaning franchise, which is just as glamorous as it sounds. And it sucks, does it? What one of the stories I tell us about day one, I got home from the trip to go spend two weeks of learning how to clean toilets and do a balance sheet. I got home I went out for my first day like, you know, I’m 22 I think 20 years old, ready to conquer the world and the employees that wrote a little sticky on my on my door that said we quit the employees. So day one, I was literally cleaning toilets.

David Ralph [9:48]
So why did I didn’t like you? I didn’t like the job. Why did they all quit?

Mike Campion [9:53]
You know what honest to god that was 20 years ago. If I still wish I knew I’d met him like twice. They seem like nice people. Nothing happened. I have no earthly idea why on God’s green earth that that would have happened. I still don’t know.

David Ralph [10:06]
So you basically bought a franchise all ready to go you were going to be the manager. You were going to breeze in there. And you ended up with your hands down the toilet.

Mike Campion [10:14]
Yeah, so that was, you know, eight nine in the morning whenever I went out to get the paper at the time, and we all that we only had commercial accounts so 5:01pm that evening? I yeah, hands and toilets. Take it out the trash.

David Ralph [10:27]
And did you see the irony of it? Or did you just, I proved to you, I’m gonna turn this into a success. I can do it myself.

Mike Campion [10:36]
Oh, there was none of that. It was just sheer panic like I have, I have no other option. I have to make this succeed. So there wasn’t any like, I’ll teach you a lesson. It was just these toilets gotta get clean. This is day one. I can’t lose into these accounts. So we literally click my wife and I literally clean from 5pm to 5am. And then, you know, we’re working out of apartment. I was 22 at the time I have a baby face. So I looked like I was 12. And I’ve tried to hire these people for a minute. A wager 42 years old with kids out of a restaurant of the puffer belly I remember the restaurant. It was a long couple of months, man.

David Ralph [11:07]
And then what what did you why thing because to go into that kind of entrepreneurial spirit, when you might have gone off and got a job, you might have worked in a service station or McDonald’s or whatever, you know, there’s always a job out there. What do chiefing when you invested the money in and it’s gone so badly?

Mike Campion [11:25]
Well, I don’t know how much does the tight but we’ve divorced since so there’s some point she wasn’t pleased. I can assure you that.

David Ralph [11:31]
And so you know, with a sense.

Mike Campion [11:34]
No. So that was I was 22 and I had the unfortunate can’t recommend it had a divorce when I was 30. And then I’ve been married to my my current bride. We’re having our five year anniversary about the time this show airs will probably be on our five year anniversary in Disney World.

David Ralph [11:49]
It’s fascinating though, isn’t it? Why they left it would be great. Well, you’re going to go back in time at the end of the show that to go one day beforehand and know what their conversations were because Hey you know it can’t be a good job but if you’re a cleaner you know what you’re gonna get done

Mike Campion [12:05]
well the odd thing is we had so we had purchased the building but you can’t purchase the franchise but you can’t work until you’ve gone through the training. So as part of the deal the the guy was buying it from he had to kind of run it for the two weeks while I was in Memphis doing a training so i the only thing I could think of is he had told him I quit or don’t you know, back off or I don’t know because again we didn’t have words or we met it was just a very generic meeting. So there’s nothing negative that I was aware of. But I still told the guy bunch of money so I that’s why I can’t figure out like what if he told them to or did you have a say in it or just Honest to God I have no idea would love I’d give $1,000 to know why they quit.

David Ralph [12:43]
I tell you what, I’m going to use me time travel machine at the end of the show with send you back that far and then you you can find out but it’s it’s one of those things where when you look back on it, I suppose you learn more from the adversity you learn more about the fact that you could roll up your sleeves and and get dirty and just keep on going

Mike Campion [13:01]
Yeah, I gotta say it’s funny when people always want the magic What do I do? What do I do and I’ll take an untalented guy or gal that has that it doesn’t matter what happens I will continue period no matter what there’s nothing that can make me quit I will do this until I achieve it and I have no talent. I’ll take that I’ll bet on that guy every time over someone that’s got talent coming up their ears but at the first breeze of this is going to be a little bit of a pain in the ass they’re like I’ll try something different. That’s that’s not a skill that’s ever going to serve you not business at least

David Ralph [13:32]
so so do you think that is a key thing that people should look at that their own personal, I suppose metal wherever they can get going because it does lead ultimately to success, doesn’t it? And when you listen to all the Uber successful people, they’ve had that kind of God they’ve gone further than you possibly thought anyone could go and then that’s how they found the gold.

Mike Campion [13:54]
I think your pay is directly related to your giving up point. I’ve got you know When I had my car dealership I had, you know, whatever, 1010 bucks an hour I forget, we paid a lot of tenants, or detailers that would get hot out or we’d say, hey, you can’t show up a half hour late you’re gonna get fired. And they give up they just quit. And then you’ve got a 40 $50,000 a year guy or gal that’s got a little more responsibility. And he’s he’s going to put up with more stuff. But if there’s something gets hairy or gets trickier, we get sued or customers pissed off now that goes to $100,000 employee that’s got to kind of handle that kind of level of stuff. And then as the owner who most days made more than everybody, I was the one that if it got really bad and something was, you know, they just I give up I don’t know what to do here. So pay late pay grade was almost really on, who would give up first and the $10 guy gives away gives up almost immediately. I give up almost never and then you get an Elon Musk or somebody that just created this tremendous thing and that guy you’re like the world would have to end before he give up and even then he probably be getting some going.

David Ralph [14:55]
He’s that Aidan muskies he’s a bit mad and he really because he is Brian. operates in a way that you just can’t comprehend. I find that the real that will Atlit that cutting edge to sort of Tony Robbins, the Elon Musk, you can’t quite grasp how their brain is working is it’s like they’ve gone beyond the Branson’s and the Trump’s and they’re in that kind of almost I don’t know Yoda territory as opposed. I like the Yoda territory. That’s good. The DTU Do you see that? But there’s almost when they get to that level, it’s almost insanity that they’re so close to sort of going mad as opposed because they’re they’re always pushing, always pushing the pushing all the time. Yeah, you

Mike Campion [15:39]
wonder how much of that nature How about that’s his nurture because I think a lot of younger business owners will look at me and go, Oh, my, you’re just you know, everything is just as guru. And I’m like, if you knew how dumb I was, I just worked my tail off and bang my head against enough walls. I figured it out. But I look at those guys. They go, Oh, no, they were born with this magic thing. So I’d love to interview them and go, how much is how much you know, like Steve Jobs. You weren’t born into it. You had something That everyone else didn’t have. But you had to match that with the the insane work ethic. I’d love to get their take on how much his work ethic and just determination and grit. And how much is just this insane big brain that none of us have.

David Ralph [16:12]
I think he’s more the first I think the more you hustle, the more you work, the more opportunities come your way. And when you kind of Breathe in and breathe out, you don’t really hone your craft, do you? I think it really is that ability to just keep going, keep going, keep going. And I love that phrase that you said. But your pay is dependent on your giving up point. Because it’s really that’s that’s the point. That is the point, isn’t it? If you can go further than anyone else, you’re going to get the you just rewards.

Mike Campion [16:46]
Yeah, it’s I hate keeping going back to the car dealership, but that was my most recent deal. So I’ve got the best examples but there’d be stuff where, you know, we buy a $20,000 luxury car something and it would have a transmission problem. And no one wanted to deal with it. It was literally it would sit For a month until I got on and I go, what’s what’s the problem? Well, you know, needs a transmission. And usually we get it for 1800. But this is some crazy Mercedes, we couldn’t find the part. So it was it was 30 $700. And we don’t want to spend it because they will never be able to get out of the car. So they, the question I always ask is, so what are we just gonna leave it in the back? Like, we’re just gonna let grass grow, but somebody has to pick it a decision. And it’s at some point. Yeah, it really is. The bigger the bigger when the, when the buck stops with you. It’s kind of a pain because if you don’t do it, nobody’s going to but that’s where the money’s at. That’s where you get paid all the risk and all the all the rewards. It’s all right there.

David Ralph [17:33]
One of the things we talk about on this show a lot is the starting point that the point when you’re in a job that you don’t like or you’re in a relationship and you decide to take action, and how scary is at that moment, going back in time. Are you somebody that can just overcome that scariness or are you somebody that learns to live with it or maybe you don’t feel it at all?

Mike Campion [17:57]
Honestly, I’ve got a kind of a quick start. guy so I thrive on that, hey, this is a new idea. Other people like what’s the plan and let’s figure it out and I’m already half got it built and going so that has served me really well. But it bites me in the ass when it’s time to like three months in and the work begins and it gets a little more routine and wrote I’ve lost interest like there’s another shiny object I’m going to go start immediately so it’s kind of I try to cultivate the good and let go the bad but I don’t have a lot of that getting started. pain I have keeping going pain,

David Ralph [18:30]
can you can you see it from other people vote Can you see what may find scary or it’s just not on your radar?

Mike Campion [18:38]
You know, that’s probably one of my weakest points is my emotional intelligence is like a three out of 100 and My Brides really good at that. So I kind of rely on her for judging people. I’m super logical, super black and white. And I think everybody thinks the way I do and thank god they don’t. So that’s, that’s a big hole for me is when I hire people, I don’t have that insight that I probably need.

David Ralph [18:58]
So looking looking at your Start and I find it amazing that you go at you go right and not even though when you’re talking you go, ba ba ba boom and you you did you find when you go back that you was in a hurry? Were you in a hurry? Is that why you’ve got so much urgency you want to do is you want to do that you want to talk at 100 miles an hour and everything seems to be fast and frantic.

Mike Campion [19:21]
I honestly I just I get fired up and passionate and I’m excited and that’s I think I think really fast, which is good but oftentimes people can’t they don’t want to keep up or it’s either used to a different pace. So I think it’s off putting for some and some like it but i don’t i think it’s just I’m my mind works extremely fast and I get frustrated. My words won’t keep up. So I just talk 100 miles a minute, effective or not. You know, you practice it for 40 years. It’s a tough habit to break.

David Ralph [19:45]
But how does this take you back to the the ghetto in Phoenix when he was a young kid? Because he’s fascinating to me, you say but you had no money but were you aware of having no money as a child because generally as a kid you don’t do you you just kind of live your Life and it’s not until you annatto when you hear stories you think oh yeah, we didn’t have much.

Mike Campion [20:06]
Yeah, no, I had no clue because everyone around me was poor so we all you know, we always ate you know, we never had our lights turned off or electricity so we were but that was it like that was or maybe we did I just never I don’t remember it but yes, I had no clue I was poor until I think the first inkling I got when I was 14, I started dating this girl whose father was fairly wealthy and I just noticed like, man, her house is totally different than my house and this car that she drives, it’s a pretty different car and we’re going on tours to find out which college where they’re gonna go to Pepperdine or Westmont or all these high dollar you know, things in California and I have no chance of going to the school. So I think that was the first time and I didn’t even see it like oh my gosh, I’m poor. This is this is devastating. It was just interesting to look at like, Oh, she’s different than I like it. I met the first person with a different coloured skin like oh, that’s, that’s interesting. You know, I have not seen that before. So it was it was it was that was probably the first time I had an inkling and it wasn’t even a bomber. It was just interesting

David Ralph [20:59]
because I I’ve spent time in Phoenix but I don’t remember there being a ghetto area. So is it expensive? Is it a small selective area?

Mike Campion [21:08]
Well, when I was it’s funny because people that listen, I’m sure familiar with the geography but where I grew up was the downtown Phoenix, Arizona and Phoenix right now the metros, 5 million people. So it’s a pretty large city, but it’s sprawling, it’s, you know, 100 miles by 100 miles because there’s all these little smaller towns, you know, Suburbans around it. But the place that grew up was right in the middle of the city. And at the time, it was absolutely dangerous there. There was gangs and violence and we got robbed like every, I don’t know, three or four months probably which is ridiculous because we didn’t own anything of any value. And now, oddly enough, the gay people came in and took over and now it’s lovely. They fixed everything up and it’s now called a historic district. So if you go back the house that we couldn’t get out of quick enough that was worth you know, $26,000 is probably $150,000 house in a lovely quaint little neighbourhood.

David Ralph [21:55]
I’ve got this image of gay gangs going through it with

Mike Campion [22:00]
coming out, mixing everything up, tidy it all up.

David Ralph [22:02]
It be brilliant when it YMCA blasting out on that. Now that’s a stereotype we shouldn’t go with.

Unknown Speaker [22:08]
So how dare you, sir? Absolutely.

David Ralph [22:10]
I’d reckon if you was in, in the village people, you’d be the cowboy. I can see it.

Mike Campion [22:15]
Yeah, well, if I got a choice Absolutely. And I don’t think I could pull off an Indian then not everyone can.

David Ralph [22:20]
I don’t think you should say the phrase pull off an Indian on this show.

Unknown Speaker [22:25]
I’ll trust you to edit that right out.

David Ralph [22:26]
It has connotations. And once again, we’re professionals so we will rise above it. So where does life get difficult for you? Because you do seem to be somebody who can just breeze through everything. Did you look back what was the cleaning business the heart or was it sleeping as a janitor in a car because I was going through your your profile on LinkedIn. And I was surprised by that. I was surprised and it wasn’t too long ago that you were sleeping in cars every day.

Mike Campion [22:54]
No, that was me being what I thought was hilarious, but now apparently not so hilarious. So I put in my LinkedIn profile I have when I owned the car dealership for the last 10 years I put instead of CEO or master the universe or president or whatever silly Title I put janitor, because I thought it was hilarious. So my title for the last, the last three businesses I’ve owned has been has been janitor. So I just put, when I owned the car dealership, for job description, I thought it was ridiculous to say, you know, owner, so I just put, you know, I keep up I sweep up now and again, they let me sleep in the car. So that’s nice. So that’s me being facetious and apparently not all that funny.

David Ralph [23:26]
Well, yeah. Why would you? Why would you do that on your LinkedIn profile? Surely that is a representation of yourself. Not a comedy act, isn’t it?

Mike Campion [23:35]
Well, but that’s how I am. I’m silly. I don’t I that’s one thing. I thought, Well, I’ll tell you about the hard part. I’ll tell you that it kind of ties into this. When I was 30. And I went through the divorce. I think I mentioned earlier when I first started my business, I had the baby face and I never had any money and I didn’t know anyone any money. I had no successful business owners. So I kind of I don’t wanna say an inferiority complex, but certainly an awareness that I didn’t have the background and the passion pedigree and the education and the connections that the people that I was working with had and at some point, they’d be like, you’re just a 22 year old kid, how could you possibly run this company? Why would I give you money or sign a contract for $100,000, or whatever the case may be. So to compensate, I always acted extremely professional, everything was professional, I couldn’t be found out like that I was a real human being I just had to be this super professional guy. At age 30. When I got divorced, it just rocked my world and I literally couldn’t care less I had no desire to leave the house much less make $1 own a business, but the in the infinite wisdom of the courts, they’ve decreed that I had to pay a bunch of child support and alimony all this debt that I didn’t have. So I had to add a work and pay these these debts that I gotten from a quarter I’d go to jail. So I finally gave up and said, You know what, I don’t really have enough energy or interest in working but I’ve got to do it. So I’m, I certainly don’t have enough interest in energy and putting on this front and being this you know, quote, unquote, professional. So I decided from From then on, or at that point, at least, I was just going to be Me. So we were ridiculous. We went, the name of the company was killer shade, because we didn’t have the balls to call badass shade. And we stopped being professional, we stop acting like we were important if we got a big customer that was like, Well, you know, we’ve got this hundred thousand dollar thing, we need to take net 30 terms like you know, we’ll pay you later I’d say, you know what, we’re a tiny company, we can’t afford it, either pay me now because we’re too little to carry your note or we can’t help you. And I just moved from this fake, you know, I’m important to just be me. And that’s what I said janitor. And I did the same thing. So it doesn’t matter where it’s LinkedIn or Facebook or whatever. What you see is what you get conversations with the genius. There’s no time I act like I’m all professional. So I started that at age 30. It’s been 10 years and I love it.

David Ralph [25:37]
And so are you totally, totally authentic or what? Because what you find a lot of the time is people find their authentic self, and then start becoming a kind of character of their authentic self because that’s what people expect. And you see it in sort of entertainment, where somebody finds their thing, and Ben plays up to it constantly, constantly constantly and can almost block God.

Mike Campion [26:02]
Look, I, you know, was a little bit of an unfair question. I’d like to think that’s not the case. But you know that that’s my wife to get the honest answer. But from my perspective, absolutely not. Because when I get fired up about business, I’m not faking it or trying to put on a Hey, let me show you how fired up about business I love it is my passion. When I’m being ridiculous and call myself the janitor. That’s me. I don’t I hate people that are pretentious. And like, look at me on this. Chief Executive Officers like he got three employees settle down. So I try to me it seems a lot more easy and fun to be authentic than to try and carry because I’ve done it. I spent 10 years carrying around this, look at me, I’m perfect. I’m professional. You can trust me, I’m adult. And I’ve done it both ways. So for me, it’s easier and more rewarding and a lot more fun and people seem to be drawn to. This is me if you like it fantastic. Let’s hang out. If you don’t then take a hike. We’re not we’re never gonna get along. Let’s not fake it.

David Ralph [26:47]
Well, that that’s the power isn’t it? And that’s when your tribe really comes along. When you you find the people that do love you and the rest of the world can quite simply sort of go to hell, you don’t have to worry about them. And we see time Time again people make vast amounts of money and success with a very small proportion of the world’s population where the you don’t need a lot. Do you

Mike Campion [27:10]
know and that’s honestly that’s what I love about the podcasting I love about your show is either you’re really damn good actor or we get David and that’s just who he is. And it’s for everyone listening. I’ve talked to David I know 1020 minutes before and after the interview I did and before this interview, and the dude’s the same off the off the air as he is on I’m like, this is just the guy I’d love to hang out with. And when he hits the mic, it’s the same guy. I love it. That’s, that’s, that’s who I like to surround myself with. And that’s why I try and be

David Ralph [27:33]
Oh, yeah, by my miserable person away from the mic. Is is. That is a key point, though, isn’t it that when when you start doing a show at the beginning, you feel like you’re being your natural self, but it’s a kind of contrived national natural self is not quite you. Do you listen back to your earlier ones and think, yeah, I know where I was going with that, but it’s not quite who I really think I can be on the mic.

Mike Campion [28:00]
I listened I listened I this is terrible I should admit it but I listened to my own show is very infrequently because I’m such a fan of listening and podcasting I don’t like watching movies I’ve already seen so when I’ve done a podcast and I love them because the ones I do I’m constantly telling people all I just on this podcast I was and I can’t remember without a podcast was I just talking to a guy so I was talking to this guy podcast or not and here’s a great piece of advice yet or so I love the podcast but I rarely go back and listen But to answer your question I do find with my guests that I get that so the first 10 on a good guest it only takes three or four minutes before they open up and I get the real David as opposed to the david i think i have to be to make this audience like me and on the bad guest I never crack them like you know the whole hour like I we talked for an hour and I tried to get who you are and what makes you tick and I not once that I get a peek at the real thing, and those are the ones that drive me nuts.

David Ralph [28:48]
I’m gonna play some music now. No, I’m no I’m gonna you throw me out. You’re coming at such a speed. I’m losing me track on it. I’m gonna play some words that I really love. And these are the words of Jim Carrey and he said these are Recently, and I think that’s such a powerful statement to me, Jim Carrey.

Jim Carrey [29:04]
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. And I the words that we should get out to the world Mike.

Mike Campion [29:35]
I’m sorry, say that again.

David Ralph [29:36]
I like the words that we should get out to the world. I love that. I love that. I’ve never heard that put that way before but I’m going to steal it. You can fail it what you don’t want so you might as well try what you want. That is a stroke of genius. I love that. And is with your kids growing up is that the kind of sort of a mantra that you would like them to buy into do you do you think now we should say we have all the opportunities in Well, the fact that we’ve got the internet we can connect globally that literally you can go for what you want to do.

Mike Campion [30:07]
It’s so funny you ask that cuz I’ve got one boys 16 years old, going into senior in high school, which really make a guy feel old if you don’t have a high school, just wait, it’s it’s awful. But since I was young, I always had people say, Are you going to push your boy do you hope he’s an entrepreneur? Do you want to be a business owner? And of course, I love it. I think that’d be great if he did that. But my big goal for him and I’ve told him this, since he was able to speak is that I just wanted him to choose what he wanted to do. So if you wanted to be a garbage man, that’s fine. I just didn’t want him to be like, I can’t get any other jobs. I’m stuck with this. So I don’t care what he does. I just wanted to choose it and not feel like I had like, I felt like I couldn’t get a good job because I didn’t have a college education. So the world was happening to me. And my thing with my boys, I just want you to happen to the world. I don’t care what you want to be or how much money you make. Just choose it and know that you can do what you want. And if you’re doing what you want to do and not settling for what you think you have to do. I’m happy He’s

David Ralph [31:00]
a dad. And by going that route, I think the bottom line is he will make a lot of money. I totally believer, if you can find the thing that really lights you up, you’re going to put more effort into it, you’re going to get better at it. And if you can get past that, that give up a point, as you say, there’s value there, isn’t it? I don’t see anyone really gaining the same kind of rewards by going into a corporate gig anymore. Even if you get right to the top of the pile. There’s still a ceiling. But being an entrepreneur, you can take it any way you want. Come here.

Mike Campion [31:33]
I couldn’t agree more. And even that’s what I didn’t like about the corporate world that I think what I love about entrepreneurial is the same thing I love about sports. And I think it’s what guys like is when you watch football, or soccer or whatever, whatever you are. There’s no question when I watch the guy, the quarterback of the team. Never do I have to go off that’s the boss’s kid. He’s not really good. But you know, the owner daughters kid loves football. So there is you know, it’s the best guy that they can get. There’s a big hubbub here about the the owner of the LA clippers who supposes this big racist guy but he still had a black a black coach. And it was because I don’t you know maybe I’m racist in my personal life and I don’t like black people but I’ll be damned This is the best guy can get for the money black or white I’m gonna get him so I love that about small business ownership. You know women men, this colour that colour this disability, whatever it makes no difference the guy or gal that can get it done is going to get paid and I love it.

David Ralph [32:26]
And do you play for the let’s hire people back and do what I don’t like to do is is that how you would go with it?

Mike Campion [32:34]
Always I know what I’m good at. I know I’m terrible at and i i it makes me crazy to see especially I don’t know how it is in the UK. But in the United States education system is you must be minimum proficient and all of these things and I get it for reading and writing and basic math but things like geography and geometry and then you just have to get this minimum. So instead of saying, hey, let’s find out what you’re amazing at and make you the best in the world at it. They say let’s find out what you’re terrible at make you less terrible and just work really, really hard to get minimal benefit. I hate that.

David Ralph [33:04]
Well, I hate it totally. And in the early shows, we used to talk about Strength Finders, 2.0, which is amazing book, where have you ever been for that book might

Mike Campion [33:14]
know having to write it down as we speak Actually, it’s a

David Ralph [33:16]
great, great book. The book is like a little pamphlet. It’s not too in depth, but there’s an online test at the back. And you have to go online and you put in the code and you answer 178 questions on a wide range of subjects. And it’s the classic really like me a little bit like me, not like me at all, when it’s all goes down the five scales, and then about 20 questions down you think, Oh, hang on. This is the same question I’ve asked before but I do it in a slightly different way. And it comes out with your five key strengths. And I took that couple of years ago, and literally it nailed my top two streams, no problem at all. I could see that it was right. But the other three I thought to myself I don’t see this, this isn’t really me. Now, over the last couple of years, they give you a blueprint to actually build up both streams, and they literally is going by what you say, if you can find the five things that you can do really well make sure that you’re brilliant at them and forget the rest, because the rest can just go and spin really, it’s those five key streams that are really going to provide value. And now I work to those all the time. And I can see the things that I need to do better. And I work towards it, and I work towards it only on those five things. And it ties up with a job that you love, because it’s doing the things that you should be doing and not trying to learn French or whatever, because you’re just rubbish at French and you shouldn’t be learning anyway.

Mike Campion [34:43]
Yeah, you’re not gonna do any good at it and be if you love French, you can spend 10 hours a day studying it and it’s the time flies but if you’re terrible at it nine minutes and you’re ready to kill somebody.

David Ralph [34:55]
Yeah, absolutely. I’m just looking at what my strengths are. The first one was futurist that futuristic. That’s right. And Ben a Maximizer. I’m a great one for sort of getting people to really take action, then belief, positivity and activator. Now, when you tie those together, it’s literally what I do on a daily basis on this show that there’s not much difference to it. It’s very much about Come on, guys, get off your backside, come on, you can do it and all that kind of stuff to try to boost belief and positivity. And when you see that, and you think, yeah, that’s my strengths. That’s what I should be doing. And you start building a business around it. Wow. It’s powerful. And that is where the true value comes from. And that’s, that’s what your son needs to tap into. And that’s what everyone needs to tap into. Don’t go for a job, but go for the things that you love doing. And it’s not the Find your passion because I hate that kind of thing. Find your passion and you’ll never work again, because that’s so hard to find. But what you can find is your strengths and being build it into something. I think that’s the better way to go. What do you think?

Mike Campion [35:57]
I think it ties in perfectly with what we were saying before. If If you accept the concept of your your income your success is tied to how quickly you’re willing to give up if you’re doing something you hate and that you’re not wired to do i mean you might be able to just absolutely muscle through that and white knuckle yourself forward but why live a life like that but if it’s something you’re really good at and you’re really passionate about when all of your employees quit on the first day I was meant to be a small business owner it didn’t you know, if I wasn’t meant to be a small business owner it’s easy to go well this is a sign I should just go back to work I mean, what could be clearer than this? I I’ve had three employees for exactly one second and they’ve all quit or 10 employees or how many it was at the time and but because I am a small business owner and that was my strength that never even occurred to me that it would occurred to me as well. I guess I gotta figure out what to do. So I think I think we were talking about earlier matches up with this just perfectly.

David Ralph [36:52]
Well, what do you think about the burning your bridges about not having a plan B? Just have a plan. A deep net, sir. powerful way, or do you think it’s common sense to have two or three different routes?

Mike Campion [37:05]
For me, I’ll take the plan A, B, and C every time which is great for kind of getting smaller things accomplished. But for me, if I was ever going to escape the inertia, have I go here, you give me a paycheck, I go home and pay my bills. It was going to take a pretty extreme commitment. So I think there’s a time for each I don’t think you want to pell mell no matter what. Burn your bridges every time but on things like marriage. I think that’s a commitment you’re going to do you burn your bridges and that’s it. You don’t have a lot of other options on small business. To a degree Yeah, you got to burn your bridges and and that doesn’t mean you you take stupid risks, but that means when something happens, you don’t say well, this is a way to get out you say well, how am I going to continue to succeed and reach my goals with this new information or this new circumstance?

David Ralph [37:54]
Yeah, cuz I I’m a big believer in burning your bridges. Now. I think personally, I only speaking about myself personally, but I can see that this is the only thing for me, I can’t go and get a job again, I can’t become an employee that’s done and dusted, I could never work for someone else again. And I could go off and do some other stuff. But I don’t fancy it. This has got to work. And I quite like the fact that I’m going to put in so much effort to make it work. Because I think it sends out a message of commitment as well. And I think people can see that. And the fact that I pretty much put out more content than anyone else. I know, I know people do daily shows, but I do our plus every single day. But I think burning bridges really does set your stall out for success. And I would say to everyone now, look at it carefully. And if it’s something that you really fancy, get rid of your escape plans, because you’re the only way is forward when

Mike Campion [38:51]
well, forgive me in advance for asking a question that maybe has already been asked and trying to be the interviewer instead of interviewee but now I’m fascinated how hard Is it been like, have you come to two or three? Or have you had breaking points in your journey from working man to full time podcasts that were a normal mere human that wasn’t as passionate as you would have quit? Or has it been pretty easy? Right?

David Ralph [39:11]
is a good question. And last week, I got to almost breaking point where what I’ve been trying to do up to this point I’ve been, and what happens is you you struggle, struggle, struggle with something and then it becomes easy because you just learn systems and you can do things in a very quick way. But then it comes to a natural point where you want to move things to a different level, and you want to bring in different income streams. So when you get to a point and you think to yourself, I haven’t got enough time to do this, you have to find time. So you find time and you do things faster and you get it to a point and then you build other stuffs in. When you get to a point you think I’ve got to hand some of this off, but I haven’t got time to hand it off. I haven’t got time to train someone how do you actually do but and I’ve had numerous times when I’ve never Felt like quitting? Absolutely not. But I have had times thinking, I’m in a corner here. I just don’t know how I can take the show and the business and everything to the next stage. When it’s only me. I it’s almost I’ll be honest with you, Mike, when I look back on it now, going seven days a week on an hour show was setting the store too high, it was setting the bar too high. And you don’t realise how much work it takes in the beginning to create a show and create a show that’s really flying. You just almost think that you come up to the mic, you have a conversation, and then you edit it and you throw it up so much info. So I literally have had breaking points quite a lot. I would say, since I’ve been doing this and I’ve been coming up to a year now. I would say maybe every quarter. I’ve had a point where I’ve sat there and think, how can I How can I take it forward? You know in your words, I’ve been shaking my fist at the heavens and sitting in a ball in the corner. rocking and rolling, because I just can’t see how I can squeeze out any more time. But I don’t want to lose what I’ve created. I’ve built a momentum. I can’t walk away from it. What can I do, if that makes sense to you?

Mike Campion [41:13]
Yeah, absolutely. And I for you, I’ve got imagine your audiences a lot of feedback, like if I were in your position, because I think you’ve got a pretty cool and pretty committed audience like, now you’re almost stuck, like you kind of owe them this thing that you’ve got them addicted to, and they need the show. And if you, you know, back down to two or three or four times a week or a shorter show, or stop doing it, Dave, I think I think there’d be a big fat hole where you left. I’ll be

David Ralph [41:34]
totally honest, I’ve never said this at all. This is a daily show. And when I launched I launched with 35 shows in the can, and I kept up with up and I’ve had big issues where like, my internet went down for two weeks. So I had 15 shows scheduled to be recorded and I lost boom, so I couldn’t record them. And I fought my way through and I’ve had some pretty sort of bad times, but at Christmas I got down to two shows two shows. And when the show was not going to launch, it was going to be released. And I hustled like a madman hustle like a madman to be able to keep the show going. And at the moment as we’re going along now, I’m only five days ahead, where I used to be three or four weeks ahead, which was like a nice comfort blanket. And because of that situation that we’re talking about, where there’s only one man, and how do you get more time? And how do you suddenly find all this extra time to do all these extra shows, it’s been a bit of a pressure to say the least. But you’re still as you’re saying, You’re still providing that commitment to the audience. You want them to have the show, and you don’t want to sort of step back on it. So I did, I got down to two shows. And when I managed to get one more in and it was three shows, and then I thought this is it. And the funny thing is when it got to that point, I kind of relaxed because I thought I can’t do any more. This Is it Oh, my words gone, gone out the window. And that was four months ago and I’m still ticking along now.

Mike Campion [43:06]
Well, that that is a mate. That’s one of the pressures I show three times a week, which for me is perfect. couldn’t imagine doing seven days a week. But man, you’re right. If you’re down to two shows you like, today’s Monday, bye, I gotta get some done a Thursday. We’re, we’re dead air. That’s, that’s crazy. I couldn’t imagine that.

David Ralph [43:22]
Yeah, it was it was pressure. Because you know, the whole business is based around Join Up Dots. And the whole commitment is a seven day a week show. And it might come later on. Because once you get to a certain amount of content, I know some people that listen to it every single day, but a lot of people say to me, I can’t keep up with the amount of content you’re providing. So I come in whenever I want, and I watch to listen to two back to back and then sometimes I listened to, you know, nothing for a few days. And then I come in and I dip in it. I totally understand that. So it might get to a point where there’s enough content there but you can allow for you know, to Get step back and go to five or three. But you know, in your heart of hearts when you think, No, it can’t happen, you set your stall out and you work consistently. And it’s building a story. And it’s building a story that is going to be more interesting at the end of it because of the hustle because of the challenges you encounter. And that’s the fact when when I coach people, if you’ve been through it as you have, it’s far more powerful than saying well actually, I haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about, because I’ve never experienced it. You’ve got to go through those rough times. And I love the fact now looking back on Join Up Dots as it is, but I have had the roughest times I’ve ever had. Absolutely, until I press record and it all goes out the window and I enjoy every second of it. But leading up to it. It’s been very very dark dots. What what’s been your darkest dots it might.

Mike Campion [44:54]
For me it would be which is talked about little bit early my divorce that’s so I try and every time I get this opportunity You need to get on my little soapbox and soapbox and preach it people is mad don’t for me. I had 10 years from, you know, 20 to about 30. So not quite 10 years where I was my I had a mistress and my mistress was my business. And I was constantly cheating on my wife and my family with the business I’d be thinking about the business at the business just obsessed with the business, which served me well for the business. But then I find myself divorced and bankrupt. The business I built had evaporated and even if I hadn’t evaporated all I realised all the money and the financial rewards for the business. were to have a home for my wife and my son and to travel with my wife and my son, you take the wife out of it, and the sun out of it half the time the money meant nothing. So that was by far the darkest time of my life. It was I’m 41 so I was like 10 years ago, and I still stings thinking about it.

David Ralph [45:51]
I’m gonna play some words now. And these are for my classic film, and I think they really touch into what we’ve been talking about on this episode. Rocky Balboa.

Rocky Balboa [46:00]
You, me or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it 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 winning is done.

David Ralph [46:16]
Are you surprised at how much you can take?

Mike Campion [46:20]
Now just thinking I sound stupid, he said it so much better. You should have just played that clip earlier. We can save us all some time.

David Ralph [46:26]
But I you are you when you look at your life, do you think to yourself? Yeah, actually, I’ve got I’ve got a pretty hard jaw and I can take some wax and I can get back up.

Mike Campion [46:38]
Actually, sadly, I picked up. I’m so positive in life, but really just to answer your question as honest as I can. I don’t think I’ve got a particularly hard job. But I think that the world that we live in, certainly in the states where I’m at is gone. So soft, people give up so quickly and just maybe the government will pay for me or maybe somebody else or I’m going to sue that guy because I did It’s constantly I just give up and I’m looking for an easier way and I hate it. So I wouldn’t say I have a hard job, I have a good, strong job. That’s not extraordinary. And it’s only extraordinary because everyone else is so soft.

David Ralph [47:11]
So that that leads to less competition and greater rewards.

Mike Campion [47:16]
Well, yeah, but you know, here in the States, it’s, you know, God forbid you work twice as hard to make a buck more than the next guy, you know, the government’s right there to take it away and give it back to him who’s, you know, been sitting on his butt all day just you know, voting for the Pete the way you want him to vote?

David Ralph [47:29]
Yeah, but ultimately, it comes to you, doesn’t it? Anyone who gets out there and really puts their effort in and works hard. If I do it the right way. They focus, they drive themselves forward, it will come to a tipping point. And it may not be what they projected they were going to get at the beginning, but it will come to some level of success. I totally believe that I don’t believe that anyone if I carried on working, working working, don’t ultimately get their true rewards. That might be a naive view, but I think so.

Mike Campion [47:58]
Well, I think as long as they don’t Quit, like we talked about, I think a lot of times, you know, you’re mining and mining and digging and digging and digging, and then you’re you’re inches from the gold and you’re like, this is too much I’ve been going for, you know, three months now and it’s too much I quit and three months and four days is when you strike gold. So I think really, as long as you have not failed until you give up and once you give up, that’s it. You can’t You can’t succeed anymore.

David Ralph [48:22]
Did you think there is a clue to when you should give up? I know some businesses say that is one of the master classes when you look at it and being Yeah, okay, this really isn’t working. There’s no reason to keep on going for this.

Mike Campion [48:36]
I don’t think you should ever give up. But I do think there should be a time when you recognise the strategy that I’m using is not effective. I had my father in law, who’s an awesome man passed away a while back and he was an architect for his whole life. And it was he built like 300 embassies, airports and hotels around the world. So he’s very well respected and was just passionate about architecture more than Anyone ever seen it and really respected him for that. But it got to the point after the depression and this, he was doing work in China or the Chinese government, and they wouldn’t pay and eventually get to the point where it’s like, well, man, if you don’t do work with, you’re not giving up, you’re just saying, I’m not going to do work with China anymore. And at the time, no one was building anything United States. And at that point, you say, well, I’ve still got to make money, but maybe I go teach architecture or maybe I do something different. So the giving up of just saying, I quit, I lose my dream, but I’m going to go back to corporate life for you. I would say never. If for you, the podcast wasn’t working. So well. I’m going to go into coaching or teaching or creating a product or so I think there’s a fine line between giving up and and recognising the strategy you’re using isn’t working and picking a more effective strategy.

David Ralph [49:44]
So just before we send you back in time, Mike, where are you aiming to take your life at the moment or is it more to do with focusing in on your family, building new businesses? what’s what’s your key focus?

Mike Campion [49:58]
All right, I’m gonna try to not sound But like I said, to try to be as artists that as authentic as possible. So we’re always trying to be the honest answer what’s the right one or not. But honestly, right now, I’m at a point of giving back. I really, really love helping other entrepreneurs. And that’s why I’m doing the podcast, in even interviews, is just really giving back, whether it be with our church, we spent time with a high school kids and we go on mission trips, or with business owners. Like I said, I’m not really looking to get a bunch of employees and overhead and inventory and headache. But I still love helping other people. So for me, that’s what fires me up. And I’m going to spot finance, you are able to kind of contribute a lot of my time. And I also think that’s you for kind of a side note, that’s how you make the most money is when you contribute the most. But really, for me, that’s my focus is just giving back to family to friends, in business, and then on a personal level with people not in business. I think that’s what we find time and time again, don’t worry that when you get a certain amount of success in your life, it’s time to look over your shoulder and give some back. Yeah, I thought this documentary and happiness A while back was It was amazing. They did studies worldwide. So people that were living in huts to people that were living in mansions, the third world countries, first world countries, and they found in the United for adjusted for the United States dollar, I think it was like 40 $50,000 a year below that money affected happiness if you can’t eat or can’t have a reasonable place to live or transportation for work, money affected happiness, if you’re poor, money’s important. But above 40 $50,000 a year, it did not affect there was no correlation between money and happiness. So I always found that interesting when you get to the point where it’s like, Hey, I don’t need you know, I could live like a king for three years or I could just live reasonably for the rest of my life. Once you decide you don’t need all that stuff, you can really start looking at the important stuff because you know, when you die, you leave you leave it all behind and you can’t take anything with you. So the relationships that you have are kind of your your legacy. Where’s the money? That’s that’s going to go to somewhere but you’re not taking it with you.

David Ralph [51:53]
Yeah, absolutely. Well, this is the end of the show now and this is the part that we call the Sermon on the mic 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 and speak to the young MC, what age would you choose? And what advice would you give? Well, we’re gonna find out, because we’re gonna play the theme. And when it fades you up, this is the Sermon on the mic

Unknown Speaker [52:20]
with the best bit of the show.

Mike Campion [52:34]
Wow, I love that. That was cool. Um, again, I’m going to go back to kind of what I said before, if I could go back, I would go back to 22 year old Mike and say, listen, dummy. Work hard, but man, you got to balance that if mama ain’t happy, nobody’s happy. Take care of your family first. And money is a way to take care of your family, not the other way around. Very quick, as I would expect

David Ralph [52:57]
with you, Mike. How can I always connect with you so

Mike Campion [53:03]
you go to the freaking genius calm that’s where my podcast is conversation with genius where I blog shoot me an email. Like I said right now i’m not i got nothing to pitch just look at looking out there to bring good stuff to the world. So the freaking genius calm is probably the best way to go.

David Ralph [53:17]
Thank you so much for spending time with us today and joining those dots. 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 Mike, thank you so much.

Mike Campion [53:31]
Glad to be here man. I really appreciate the invite.

David Ralph [53:35]
Thanks for listening to today’s episode of Join Up Dots brought to you exclusively by podcast is mastery.com the only resource that shows you how to create a show, build an income and still have time for the life that you love. Check out podcast is mastery.com. Now

Outro [53:54]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you or wants to become so he’s put together 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.