Justin Breen:
People like you and Mark I have endless empathy, endless presence and endless wanting to understand how their brains work. So that's to me what being present is is genuinely want to understand the person that you're talking about.
James Robert Lay:
Great greetings and Hello, I am James Robert Lay and welcome to episode 292 of the banking on digital growth podcast. Today's episode is part of the exponential insight series. And I'm excited to welcome back Justin Breen to the show along with Mark Fujiwara. Justin is the founder and CEO of Brevik communications and author of epic business, which we discussed on a previous podcast episode as well as the new book epic life, how to build collaborative global companies while putting your loved ones first. And this idea of collaboration work. Mark joins today's conversation because Mark is a certified portfolio manager. He's also the co author of the new book superior results, maximizing the value of your family office just like the super rich and today, we're going to dive into how collaboration specifically collaboration within financial services can unlock exponential growth opportunities for you, dear listeners, so that you can continue to maximize growth at your bank, at your credit union or at your fintech. Justin, Mark, welcome to the show. It is good to share time with both of you today. Thanks, James. Great to be here. Before we get into talking about exponential growth opportunities rooted in collaboration, something that the two of you have been doing together, what is good in your world right now personally, or professionally, it's always your pick to get started on a positive note, Justin, what's good for you?
Justin Breen:
Well, one, it's great to be here again. And it's fascinating to see what happens through time with with evolution. And like when you have the right mindset, like all these cool things happen. So this interview is a representation of that. And then the other day, I just got just invited to go to Necker Island for a week to hang out with Branson, and like, I was a journalist for 20 years and started first company six years ago with with zero business background. So now I'm going to Necker Island. I'm like, Oh, how did this happen? So always try to celebrate successes and appreciate, you know, the growth process?
James Robert Lay:
Well, I would say it's the result of, of attitude is a result of gratitude. And it's a result. And you said it before, it's a result of mindset. So all three of those things combined, that puts you on a trajectory to create a future that is exponentially far bigger than what we're experiencing right now in the present moment. Mark, what about you what's good in your world right now personally, or professionally,
Mark Fujiwara:
oh, man, that's tough. I'm finally able to do everything I want terms that my industry are looking at private walk, reset, which I've been working on for so long. And it's a little tough when you're working with a very large company. And I saw this about a year and a half ago, and I started building this. And I wanted to build something where I could have mass collaboration with the people that I enjoy working with. And not having to look over my shoulder because of compliance or whatnot. But just do exactly what I can for the clients that I have right now. The clients going forward. So this is happening. And I feel in my 30 years career, I'm finally able to be the advisor, professional entrepreneur that I sought out a long time ago.
James Robert Lay:
You know, if you think about that horizon line 30 years, some might look back and lament saying that's a long time. But I think you're just now getting started. The next 30 years will be 10 times 100 times greater than what you experienced over the first 30. So it's a matter of perspective and I think that's what is going to make this conversation today very unique. because you have 30 years of experience within financial services, and you and Justin have been collaborating to create new opportunities by combining capabilities, Justin in your latest book epic life, you write about the collaboration that you and Mark had been working on. And you referenced your Colby scores here. And Kobe is something that I've talked about before on the podcast. If you don't know Kobe, check out the conversation that I had with Audrey who is our operations lead here she is our certified Kobe consultant to provide some perspective on that, but but Justin, you write quote, it is perfectly collaborative. As my high Fact Finder compliments marks low Fact Finder, and his high implementer score replaces my miniscule one, you say, I don't even know how to hold a pencil, right. And I struggle building things that that children can do easily. Mark is a genius at building things, including the backstage parts of our company. So I want to just pause for a moment for perspective for the dear listener, and they are coming from a financial services, they work at a bank, they work at a credit unit, they work at a FinTech take us back into how collaboration started for you and mark here.
Justin Breen:
Since first meeting, in a room like this on Zoom during a Strategic Coach meeting, Mark's in San Francisco area, I'm in Chicago area, and you're in Texas. So Mark and I have met, we've met two times in person one was that the launch party for accompany at Chicago Yacht Club, which was a lot of fun. And then the other time, my wife Sarah, and I went to visit Mark and his wife, Amy in San Francisco for a couple days. Other than that, we've done all of this on the phone, or virtually. And the purpose of my life is to be a connecting superhero for every visionary who shares their stories with the world. So first company is a global PR firm only for visionaries a couple of years ago had this idea to create technology for that just a SaaS platform for what already doing through PR. But I'm a I'm a one implementer probably a zero if that could exist. I don't know how to build anything except like a network. And then so. So I was talking to Mark about it. After we had met virtually, and he's like, Oh, that's a great idea. Let's do that. And so Mark, I would describe him as a full backstage visionary integrator. So he's full backstage, but he's a nine Quickstart like you he's a full visionary. He's just he just happens to be backstage. And then I'm a seven Quickstart with a six follow through. So I describe myself as an integrating visionary. So I'm front stage, but I can, I can handle backstage, and then you're just a full, Euro, full visionary, visionary, visionary, visionary, visionary, visionary nine quick start to follow through. So Mark and I are kind of both unicorns and then we just combined our unicorn abilities to create this.
James Robert Lay:
I think that's a key insight for the dear listener here is you're owning, and you're being honest with yourself about what gives you energy, what excites you, what lights you up, and I think so many times, we are held back and limited to achieve future growth because we're lying to ourselves. We're not being truthful. We're not being honest. And you mentioned here, Justin, that y'all have met twice in real life. And, but, and I'm gonna quote you again, Justin, when it comes to mark, you developed an immediate bond, because you had the same mindset. Again, if you have the right mindset, it creates the right network and the right opportunities. What role and you're coming at this from the lens of financial services mark? What role does mindset play to create collaboration opportunities together with others?
Mark Fujiwara:
I think one of the big things you just mentioned this yes, we have the exact same mindset. However, different Colby scores, as Justin alluded to, but the mindset I think, if I were to just describe it in a way where we're the ones I really get along with and there's massive collaboration is when you have a sense of abundance. When I say abundance, you you live your life in abundance, but but you're also very true to yourself. And I also want to the one thing that I look for in collaboration as well is that you know I have three and I'll go through them real quick three Japanese principles that I abide by shoki which is true self true heart true true soul showing up as your true self high level of consciousness number two eKey guy which we all know high level purpose Ichigo ECA which is a high level of pride isn't a high level of presence so far too often, especially in my industry, you get on a zoom call with another professional. And they're like, you know, trying to do a transaction over here, and they're watching a movie and you know, things are going on like this. With Justin, immediately, I felt that, again, going back to the abundance part, we had that same mindset of let's just go forward on this, and not try to pretend we're something we're not. And we have the same goal in mind. The other thing I'll add couple things is that my dad always had an amazing judge of character. And he passed that down to me. So I got that got that sense that this is a guy that I got to just hang out with, I don't even know what he did, right? He's chatting with me on the side here. And I was like, Man, I just got to hang out, you know, the average of five people you hang out with kind of thing. I'm like, I just happen to hang out with this guy. And then so happens, his idea was just through the roof with me, when we started sharing that.
James Robert Lay:
You mentioned the idea, and I appreciate those Japanese principles. But I want to come back to presence. I believe in the age of AI in the age of quote unquote, digital distraction, there is an abundance of opportunity to distract us away from being present. And one of the best presents that we can give to others is to be present with them in the present moment. What what does it take to apply that principle of presence when there are so many other things where the mind can escape to, to come back and center into and focus around? Maybe it's the iki guy the point of purpose here?
Mark Fujiwara:
So I feel like I had the advantage of growing up with two different sets of grandparents one being Chinese when being Japanese not saying the Chinese weren't present. But it occurred to me very early on when I kept going back to my dad and saying, why is it that I feel like it's like my birthday every single time I see grandma and grandpa on your side, you know, I see him like two, three times a week. And the reason why is that we appreciate Japanese, the appreciation of the uniqueness of the moment. So if I were to invite all both of you over to my house, I have to treat it as a first and last time. So I always go back to how I felt when people were super present with me, when I'm on a zoom call. And that other person is super present with me. Now, it's this is the important part though. It can't be just for business. So when I'm with my daughter, I take Stella for example. Because that's that's what matters most to me, if I can be 100% present with her, I can tell you how powerful this is to when I am with her. I am looking if to get even more present, I'm looking at her all her features, the eyelashes, how uneven they are, how she moves her fingers, when she's watching things. Here's something very cool. When she is sometimes she's looking away, she's working on something and I'm just completely presence, I'm sending her all my energy, all my love in that moment. There are times when she turns around without saying a word and gives me a big hug, returns back to where she's what she's doing. So you live that in all parts of your life. That's the only way you can get the full presence.
James Robert Lay:
I want to stay on this subject because I think it's one that we're we might be missing in certain aspects of our life, for example, you talked about it just can't be professional. It also has to be personal as well. And when you look at and I'm writing about this in banking on change my upcoming book, exponential growth is the sum of personal growth and professional growth, we can't look at them as independent anymore. It's about integration. When it comes to presents, Justin, this is a bit of a big area for you to that you've been writing about with your book epic life, because the subtitle is how to build collaborative global companies, while putting your loved ones first. There was a conversation on LinkedIn the other day, from Ron Shevlin, over at Cornerstone advisors. And he was mentioning the idea of the out of office email. And now people are using an out of office email when they're in office just to create some space and time to not feeling like they have to reply all the time. And I said, Well, what if you just rethink the whole thing and a CEO of a Community Financial brand replied, Well, it's just the way it is. And I replied back to that CD at that CEO. I said, No. I said, it can be different because I have uninstalled email from my phone. I don't have a web browser on my phone. I literally have a dumb smartphone. What's your take on this idea of presence and I want to go maybe go even deeper? Because you're saying no, there's a better way forward here. We don't have to play by the rules. What's your take on that? Justin?
Justin Breen:
There's a lot of takes a lot of takes. Okay, so, one thanks for sharing that story. Whoever that person was, that was the wrong answer. But the great entrepreneur will just make up her his own rules if they don't like the rule. Also, I don't really like following rules just like making, making my own. And then my brain turns everything into patterns. So most of my days talking to world's top idea leaders, and they're all over the place. And then I simplify everything they say into patterns. So. So formula for creating a successful global company is very simple. As you see a problem, create solution problem solve successful global company. So I take that formula, and what you just said about email, well, it's annoying being bothered all the time. So just create a solution to it solve, and then it's successful. I mean, it's the same. It's you know, what Mark and I are doing, we're annoyed by platforms that lead everyone in because at the highest level, people don't have time for that. So creative solution, problem solved successful company, I was annoyed by PR firms for 20 years as a journalist with first company, so created solution problems, you're annoyed by the banking industry, or certain parts of it. So you create a solution and group of people that are also annoyed by it, and then you collaborate with it. So it's the same, it's the same formula. And then what Mark was talking about in what you were talking about being present. I look at it from an empathetic approach. And I'll tell you what that means. So there, Gallup Clifton Strength Finders, there's 34 of them, I am dead last and empathy, and second to last and include her. However, however, for people like you and Mark, I have endless empathy, endless presence and endless wanting to understand how their brains work. So that's to me what being President is, is genuinely want to understand the person that you're talking about. In my case, my whole day is either spending time with my family, or then talking to people like you too. And I have endless empathy endlessly wanting to understand, which is the highest form of empathy, of people like you.
James Robert Lay:
That's a fantastic point when it comes to presence and empathy. I think empathy in a digital world really becomes an opportunity for growth. And I want to come back over to you Mark, what is it that could possibly be holding financial brand leaders back from either a looking for, or be more importantly, really committing to create collaborative opportunities that lead to exponential future growth, because you are in the vertical? So you bring a unique perspective here for the dear listener?
Mark Fujiwara:
So I think it's if it's not broke, don't fix it. Again, I've been in this business for 30 years, and I've seen very little change. Whenever there is change, comes compliance, comes costs. So what happens is that, well, we're still making money, or advisors are making money. That's what I talk about on the private wealth reset, which is all the control the value of the advantage is in the professionals hands at this point. It used to be somewhat in the clients hands, but no longer because of the fact that, you know, we're still doing the same things we have since I started in the business 30 years ago. And I think it's just that, which is in terms of cross collaboration. I've seen that where the attempts have been, well, you know, the results could be there. And very rarely do we go in that direction, because of the fact that there's so much noise in terms of potential compliance and potential problems that would exist and it's like, why would you want to make that change? And it's like, it's very, it's been very challenging to work under an investment firm. When you're trying when my business multifamily office business is completely geared on finding the best external partners out there, and then collaborate with them to just bring the value back to the client.
James Robert Lay:
But this brings us all the way back to presence. And then back to your point just in pattern matching, because when you're present in the present moment, you're able to pattern match common problems that cause common people pain, and then go back and look for solutions. Either A, you create the solution or B, you look for the WHO that has a solution that, you know creates a an exponential growth opportunity going forward, which is where I want to bring this back to Justin, you've been collaborating together with with mark on this new book superior results, maximizing the value of your family office just like the super rich. What's the story behind the story here? Justin, how did this collaboration opportunity come to be around this particular book?
Justin Breen:
So think about how Marxan are my Colbys totally different yet fully collaborative? That's the same thing with this book. So in terms of my role with the book, I did zero writing of this zero. Because right mindset a try attracts right network race, right opportunities. Okay, so I said did zero writing the book talks about marks and my new company, being the connectivity platform for the super rich? And then the third co author is Ross Allen prince, who in family office space, multifamily office. I mean, he's, you know, he's top in world and he's the editor of private wealth magazine, they have around 2000 subscribers, average revenue per subscriber, which I don't care about, but most people do. It's eight figures. So then, so Ross is like, oh, whenever you have PR partners, introduce them to me, I'll do stories on that. And I'm like, Okay, so the backstory behind that is Mark and Ross had already had a collaboration, they had already call it head of collaboration. And then Mark and I started a collaboration. And then Ross just added me to his and marks collaboration. So I'm like, Okay, I'm happy to be on a book and talk about the new company. And then my role is just talking about the book and then connecting people like Mark and Ross to other people like Mark and Ross.
James Robert Lay:
So there's that exponential multiplier to where you go from to x to 10x 10x to 100x 100x to 1,000x.
Justin Breen:
There's no limits to it none.
James Robert Lay:
In I, one of the things that I want to touch on here is I think that I hear holds people back and you're, you were tapping into this earlier, Mark, trust, the need for trust. And I, you know, if we look at financial services today, and particularly what's happening in real time, out in your neck of the woods in San Francisco with SVB. And we've got a couple of other big crisis's that are you know, happening. And where does trust play into all of this because trust is at the foundation, even when I had Lee Richter, on the previous episode, we were talking about trust. And in baking on digital growth, I wrote trust in the pyramid of human relationships. It's the glue that connects everything trust is built upon two elements, what you say that your words communication and what you do. That's your action. So how is trust played into this, particularly when you're collaborating, and you've only met each other in real life twice, that could probably I hear some people listening, I don't know if I could ever do something like that. It just doesn't matter. They're true.
Justin Breen:
Those aren't entrepreneurs, go and mark.
Mark Fujiwara:
So I think it's as a release of Justin, seeing him. And the trust factor. Again, I have these advantages of seeing character. I also have an algorithm that is kind of like the confirmation. If I should take on a business opportunity, and it's zero to 100. When Justin approached me with this, it was through the roof. So So with me, the way that trust works is that looking for those three Japanese principles, okay, we got them and look, because I've lived them for so long, I can tell when someone is blessing me. And so Justin checked all the boxes on that. And then he comes up with this idea. And I in my heart says, hey, yeah, let's do this. I look back at my algorithm, it's going through the roof. So now I have double confirmation. And that is exactly how I approach external partners. Because if I have external partner resources, that aren't playing by these three principles, that something something up here saying, I don't know about that guy, not not the elite professionals who I like to play with, then then we go to the next one. Now unless we have every buddy as an elite professional, three principles, going in that same direction in terms of mindset, and then doing for people that we can root for the clients, contacts, the individuals that we part of our network that we can root for that is how you get the exponential humongous growth and the humongous value that you deliver to these people.
James Robert Lay:
It's a point that I want to highlight. You mentioned these three principles. I think about Ray Dalio in his book principles, we actually have four principles for exponential growth here at the Digital Growth Institute. And those of those were the result of some pain that we experience. We didn't have principles. We weren't getting the right people. And then as a result that was causing pain. But I'm a big believer, you can transform pain into power, power that empowers you to be the light for other people. And in fact, be the light is our very first principle for exponential growth. So it's it's a, it's a fascinating point that you're making here around principles. Justin, you're shaking your head in agreement?
Justin Breen:
Oh, yeah. Well, yeah, everything to me is hearing, blah, blah, blah. And then here's answer. So when I hear the answer, I agree with the answer. But the, the way Mark has an algorithm, which is I always like doing these interviews, because I like to hear how Mark thinks because it's, it's collaborative, but totally different than me. But it's really, then I like to see the comparison. So his algorithm, my algorithm, compared to his is someone's Colby score, it just happened a week ago, but only the second person under a seven Quickstart. That ever only, there's only been two under a seven Quickstart that I've that, that have partnered with my firm and six firms in six years, only that it was just the second person last week. So I have found and I'm a seven Quickstart you two are both nines, I found the seven Quickstart is really the dividing line. And really eight, nine and 10 is a true visionary, I can kind of game the system, but true visionary nine and 10. Those are the ones that really for the most part, there are exceptions, but those are the ones that really, that really changed the world. Okay, and then what you said about see the light, okay, see the light. So lower quickstarts, by the way, for the most part they're playing not to lose their the banking professionals who are afraid to take chances and there and that it's fine. It's just most of the world, I just ignore that world, I only talk to people like Mark and you that are playing to win. Okay, so then seeing the light, seemingly, all they do is talk to visionaries, so not business owners, not humans, not consultants, just pure visionaries. And I have not met one visionary, not one that has not overcome at least one of the following four things. Most now are actually three or four, I haven't talked to anyone under three, I'm only talking to two under three in the last couple years. So here are the four things that separates visionaries from humans. One is bankruptcy or potential bankruptcy to depression, three highest level of anxiety that you can imagine and for likely and or possible traumatic experiences as a child, young adults, so for humans, consultants, business owners, those are excused, there is no light there. There's only dark and an excuse for entrepreneur visionary. That's where the light comes from. That's where that's the, that's where you figure it out. That's where you find whatever you create. So it's also it's actually the essential ingredients for creating whatever you're creating.
James Robert Lay:
That's a fascinating pattern. And I would agree with your analysis of that even just thinking about my own personal journey, my own personal experience. And I want to come over to you Mark, because you've recently talked about it was 100 days, diving deep into this area of transformation restoration to improve these areas of your life. Can we unpack some of that here and maybe what you learned through that experience and how that has helped to provide a path forward to help others.
Mark Fujiwara:
This one was about seven years ago, where I was just in a rut. Okay, I suffering PTSD from a really tough divorce. When I say tough divorce, it wasn't my idea. Okay, so I just felt like every part of my life pre diabetic, I was just not running anymore, just getting out of shape. I suffered a major immense panic attacks, anxiety, depression, all my life. And so thankfully, I had this meeting with a great business coach, and we just decided to go outside my comfort zone for 100 straight days, I was I had been to a mastermind, where the keynote was this guy named John John, where he got rejected for 100 days and I got I got to do that. I'm kind of a Jerry Seinfeld don't break the chain guy. So what I did was I was intentional about it. I wrote down two or three of the ways that I can get out of my comfort zone business, Fitness, Health, everything. And so from that what happens was my our comfort zone expanded business went through the roof qualify for the Boston Marathon not in running shape at all. Met my wife actually confirmed by an algorithm by the way, met my wife, the most amazing woman I could ever possibly be with. The most important thing is I think it saved my life actually, because some time later on in that was like day 90, where this this nut this thing kept popping up on my spreadsheet, and I kept on ignoring it going to the next one. And it was to tell somebody about my mental health struggles, tell a family member and by the way, in my culture, talking about mental health, talking about any struggle, let alone mental health struggles is taboo. So I picked up the phone. I called my cousin Gail, who's like the matriarch of the family, strong, strong woman picture a Chinese Oprah. And I told her everything about how when our cousin Carson died from suicide 20 something years ago, I understood why he did it. I also had panic attacks anxiety. So she turns around and says, I have something to share with you. Gail suffers from those same things as well. Right then and there that just turned it, I ran out talk to my doctor started sharing that with any buddy who will listen. And it was just the fact that I no longer felt alone. And it just put me on a path where I gotta tell you, that's the best form of therapy there is when you can stop feeling alone about this stuff. And when you tell somebody, when you tell somebody you trust, the reaction is always going to be positive. And that is going to give you the permission and the knowledge to go forward and tell the right people like I told my doctor, we need to get you on a kind of a bridge, you know, you're suffering from PTSD, you have depression, let's put you on this bridge, some low dose antidepressant. So that's, that's what came about all of this. A lot of stuff came about it. But that was the biggest, most pivotal thing I could ever imagine.
James Robert Lay:
Thank you for sharing that. And, you know, I don't find it to be coincidence anymore. It's probably more of a synchronicity, that this conversation or this type of conversation keeps coming up on this podcast. If we go back to Episode 274, finding the cure from for workaholism.
Justin Breen:
Entrepreneur life, entrepreneurs are the most damaged people with the best coping skills. So if you know someone that has not, I'm not talking about a business owner or a consultant or if you know someone like us that has not gone through, at least really, I mean, three of the four, everyone I talked to now is threes and fours that I haven't talked to. Because what happened was when I first started first company was still talking to employees or small business owners. And some of those were ones and twos. Now it's all threes. It's all threes and fours. Not the silver spoon, folks, because that's what it that's what it is. That's what entrepreneur life actually is.
James Robert Lay:
And I I've been in all four, you know, and I would say it's talking about them is far easier. And I would say the biggest transformation on this point came from a conversation with Joe Polish and Dr. Gabor Ma Tei. When they talk about addiction, and don't ask, why the addiction, ask why the pain because it's that idea of pain once again. And if we think about this, if we can use pain, and transform that hurt, and we're all hurting to a degree, it's just a lever, do we have the awareness? Awareness comes from presents presents first and foremost with our self and then it's a cycle going forward into the future so together it really does it starts to click and and this is where if we look at reflection on the collaboration experience here, the greatest lessons that you have learned together through this journey in hindsight and how the dear listener might be apply some of those lessons going forward in their own journey just a big lesson for you,
Justin Breen:
James James I have this is okay, so just emanate factfinder I'll try not to over fact find but but the many of the listeners probably are pi fact finders as well. So when you're a journalist you're not thinking 20 years from now, what you're thinking 20 minutes if not 20 seconds. So it's like get it done, get it done result result result result result result. So entrepreneur world that's not how it works. It's about being patient. And I am so grateful to mark and and this collaboration but mostly for Mark and how his brain works is for helping me to understand What a good friend of mine, his name's Lee Benson. He's also in strategic coach, he's a full genius. He talks about strategic patience, he has had multiple exits. And so understanding how things just take, they just take time. And then really understanding it from Mark's perspective, because of how he had to get through compliance and how to get his book out and how to start his companies. Like, it's just been really interesting to see that. And then for it to actually happen. And then to see the great results that most importantly, come from applying that strategic patience that has been such a gift to understand and then be able to handle it and then thrive in it. That's been a huge evolution for me.
James Robert Lay:
Patients. That's a fantastic point of view. It's a fantastic perspective. Justin, Mark, what about you lessons looking back on this collaboration?
Mark Fujiwara:
So I feel like, again, I'm a big believer and just surrounding yourself with the right people. Couple of things. One is the fact that I myself, through in my industry have always said, Oh, you only collaborate, you're your financial advisors, you collaborate with the tax guy, the legal guy, right? Insurance Guy, maybe if you're like, way out of the box thinking. And I always thought that for many years, until I met Justin and just said, No, I can really go deep. And I can he's, he sees things one way, I see things the same way. But we're coming from two different sides here. Right. And that's, that's when you get something very powerful and unique. And you can go to the next level. The other thing I'm going to mention to this is, so I talked about how important it is to surround yourself with other people, because you can feed off other people's energy. I always take an inventory every 15 minutes plus two plus one, zero minus one minus two, how am I feeling? But how am I feeling after that? Right? So but I feel like when I can not only hang out with people that are give me plus to energy, but also we're collaborating on something that's exciting. That's an geeky guy that makes everything better. You know, we talk about presents being just as 24/7 value that you you have to you know, carry over from personal business back to personal. This is the same way I gotta tell you, I'm a better dad. Yeah, I'm a better spouse, I'm a better friend, I'm a better son. Because I'm able to go very deep with this guy. Somebody that sees eye to eye with me, we're collaborating on something that is just you that will bring a ton of value to the people that we love hanging out with. That puts it to another level. So I go upstairs every day at five o'clock and I my best self was with my daughter, Stella.
James Robert Lay:
That comes down you're carrying. And that's another acronym because it's how this add my processes the world its acronyms and care. The very first C is you're committing to a cause far greater than the present moment, which connects back to Justin. That takes patience. That takes perseverance. As we start to wrap up. I always like to send the dear listener off with something small, something practical that they can apply on their own journey of growth. And because we've been talking about collaboration here thinking about financial brand leaders, banker banks, credit unions, FinTech, what's one small thing that they can do to make progress on their own collaboration journeys? One small thing? Justin, what would that be?
Justin Breen:
Okay, sure. So I simplify everything to patterns. So and then you asked at the start of this interview, like the positive thing, so going to Necker Island to hang out with Richard, Sir Richard Branson, and top entrepreneurs on the planet, that'll be fun. So, but it has to do with the answer to your question. So I keep making bigger investments in smaller rooms, but the people in those rooms are making bigger impacts. So bigger check bigger investment to be in smaller rooms, people in those rooms are making bigger impacts. So basically, and the company Mark and I created is bigger check smaller room, bigger impact people in those rooms. And then so that allows me to spend biggest check, biggest investment in smallest room, which is my family where I can make the most impact. So it's the same formula just used in a different way.
James Robert Lay:
It's about investing in the future bigger than the present moment into the things that matter most to us. Great, great point, Justin. Mark, what about you?
Mark Fujiwara:
All right, so I'm a student on on just like Justin in terms of relationships and what works and what doesn't I have algorithms for everything. And I figured out like what really works like, you know, getting in a room with somebody and they're looking to sell their nine figure company and it usually takes 10 Min 10 meetings of hour and a half each, and you do it in 65 minutes. You do 65 minutes. So what how are you collaborate with someone like Justin and I've had this before where you collaborated on the first meeting, and all of a sudden, you guys see eye to eye and you're going, you're just taking off what would have taken six months. Now I'm gonna break it down here, and I'm gonna explain each one has to do with thinking about the end goal empathy of the other individual. The end goal, the finish line is benefit to the other individual 20%, which means 20%. You talk 80% them talk and if you're in the room with somebody, you're going to be asking each other questions. And that's the best way that's when you know that you have something magical there. And the last thing I'll tell you is listen to Bruno Mars. No, this is not a plug on Bruno Mars is that whenever this is my routine, before I get into a meeting of somebody new somebody I've already talked to before, I in the one instance where out of one meeting with the nine figure business owner, I did not over prepare for the meeting. In fact, I did not prepare for the meeting at all. I was playing which we call dinosaur stuffy races around my office with my little girl Estelle at the time, two years old at the time, and we were listened to a playlist and Bruno Mars just kept playing over and over and over again. All of a sudden, the alarm goes off. And I'm like, oh, man, I got it. I gotta get on this cost, like jump on it. It's just like, I gotta tell you, I didn't really know much or anything about this, this guy. But it worked out well, because I had no no this no scripts, no, like, Oh, I know your dog's name. And that's kind of freaky, actually. But when you could, that gives you the ability to show up as your true self. So that's my words of wisdom there.
James Robert Lay:
To frame that it's going all in on people getting really good at asking really good questions, listening to what they're saying. But then also just learning through observation. And what what are they saying but not saying it? Maybe it's something else and bringing your full, authentic self and just being present in that present moment. Thank you, for your presence, both of you today, to share your experiences on collaboration, not just from theory, but from practically applying it in the real world to create exponential value for other people. If someone's listening, they want to continue the conversation or or perhaps just get the books for both authors. Justin, you have two books. Where can they get those books? Justin?
Justin Breen:
Thank you. I appreciate that epic life and epic business. They're all wherever you can get books.
James Robert Lay:
Highly recommend them and catch the conversation Justin and I had before when we were talking about epic life. Mark, what about you? Where can where can the dear listener, grab your copy of your book.
Mark Fujiwara:
So by the time this podcast airs, it will be out, most likely, hopefully on Amazon superior results. I also am in the process of doing an audio on that as well.
James Robert Lay:
Connect with Justin connect with Mark, learn from them both. There's a lot of knowledge. There's a lot of wisdom here. And perhaps maybe there's just some collaboration. Thank you both for joining me for another episode of banking on digital growth. Thank you for watching, as always, and until next time, be well do good. And make your bed
