Man That Can with Lachlan Stuart
Welcome to Man That Can with Lachlan Stuart—the podcast dedicated to empowering men to break through barriers and achieve their full potential.
Hosted by Lachlan Stuart, this show dives deep into the challenges men face, offering actionable insights, real-life stories, and expert advice. Whether you're focused on fitness, business, personal growth, or fatherhood, you'll find inspiration and tools here to help you rise above any challenge and become the man that can.
New episodes drop every Monday and Thursday. Tune in, get inspired, and start living the life you’ve always wanted.
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Man That Can with Lachlan Stuart
Life Design Expert with 10 Years Experience Shares Top Time Management Tips | Bobby Hobert #607
What if you could transform an unfulfilling career path into a life of passion and purpose? Today, we uncover Bobby's incredible journey from a marketing student at Bentley University to a thriving creator and podcast host. Bobby shares how an uninspiring internship sparked a profound pivot, leading him through various jobs and side hustles before finding his true calling. His story is a testament to resilience and staying open to new possibilities, regardless of early setbacks.
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Do Something Today To Be Better For Tomorrow
Bobby, what's happening, brother? Great to have you on.
Speaker 2:Pleasure to be here, man. I'm ready to drop in with you. I just know that this is going to be a great conversation.
Speaker 1:Dude, I think from memory this will be around episode 600, and I'm genuinely excited to be speaking to you. I've followed a lot of your content on social media. It's very inspiring your tweets as well. I love reading and what you've created for yourself, and as I dove into more of your content, there are a lot of similarities in our journeys and I know you now live a life completely by design. You've moved to Austin, texas, a place that I really want to visit, but it hasn't always been that way for you. You finished, or studied, marketing. We're finishing in 2016 and we're at a bit of a crossroads. Can you take us back to that time? I want to hear sort of why you wanted to start study marketing, what you were aspiring to do with that degree, and then let's dive into the journey that has led us to now.
Speaker 2:I love it. Before we drop in, I got to give you roses for two things One for 600 episodes that's no joke, that's just absolute dedication, relentlessness, like props to you for staying that consistent. That's that's no easy feat. And then secondly, just um, the intention behind even just knowing that little tidbit. I appreciate the research and just the awareness to even know that. So thank you for that. Yeah, that was like such a pivotal moment, and May marked eight years since I graduated college and every time May rolls around I always post that same photo for me graduating. It's like my tassels to the left you can see the, uh, the arches of Bentley university. This the the school that I graduated from. You can, you're not supposed to walk underneath the arches until you graduate. And honestly, it's a photo that I look at and I can just I can drop right back into the emotions of like what I was feeling that day.
Speaker 2:But I went in my freshman year thinking that you know, life was after college was going to be corporate America, drive a nice car, rolex, climb the corporate ladder, make a lot of money. And it was during my junior year, through a marketing internship, that I realized this was absolutely not what I wanted to do. I just something about the culture of. It was just like whoa, this is not, this is not it. And it could have been the company I was working for.
Speaker 2:The people were really friendly, but I didn't. I wasn't passionate about the service or the product and the reason I chose marketing was just because I felt like I wasn't passionate about finance or these other pillars of business, but I liked the idea of marketing no-transcript. So it was pivotal, man. It was a pivotal moment to realize everything I thought I wanted was not what I wanted. But also I'm glad that I went into my senior year with an open mind of I don't know what I want to do after school, but I'm just going to enjoy this year because once I graduate, this is the end of the party, it's time to get my shit together and I definitely enjoyed it. Senior year and then that's what you know, led me to this kind of self-discovery, self-improvement path.
Speaker 1:Uh right, when I graduated what was it that made you continue at college, even though you recognize that it wasn't what you wanted to do? You know moving, moving forward because I, you know moving moving forward Because I, from my experience, I um started multiple university degrees in sports science, um, human movement, all that sort of stuff. But every time I realized I didn't like it, I quit only because I thought about the debt that was going to come with it, and I just knew that I wasn't going to show up. So what was it that made you follow through?
Speaker 2:I wrote about this earlier this morning where we truly are products of our environment, right?
Speaker 2:So the thought of dropping out didn't even cross my mind because everyone that I was surrounded by was pursuing college, was thriving in it.
Speaker 2:Even my closest friends that didn't go to my school were pursuing side hustles and passions, like an artist, one was a photographer, but they were still in school doing things. So for me it was like it wasn't even a thought do I drop out? And I also just knew that historically, so many people end up in job paths that have nothing to do with their major. So I was like kind of enjoying the marketing classes and I knew that, no matter what I did after school, like it will be good to have in my back pocket. But little did I know then that, you know, at some point in my career over the last eight years, I ended up spending four years working for Liquid IV and I didn't need to present that diploma, I didn't even have to take an interview for the job, like so it's, it's so funny looking back, but yeah it, it really was not even a thought of my mind of like I don't know, I don't think this is the right path, so I'm going to drop out my senior year.
Speaker 1:I know one guy that did that not at my school, but he dropped out to start his business and I think he dropped out three months before graduating which is just insane I always love hearing hearing about that, because there's a lot of people that I know and and cross paths with who are on their third degree or fourth degree and you're like how many degrees do you feel you really need before you actually just do the things you know you should be doing to build the life that you want? And we're sold this. I wouldn't say lie, because a degree is important for certain things, but a lot of people lack the understanding of what they actually want, so they're always searching outside themselves to create that. Hence why we're looking at degrees.
Speaker 1:You know I did similar to you. I went Uber driving. I went to multiple universities, played rugby overseas, did network marketing. Did similar to you I went uber driving. I went to multiple universities, played rugby overseas. You know, did network marketing, did door-to-door. So I was just always looking for that thing that lit me up and it wasn't until I ended up here that that happened. But a lot of people don't necessarily try anything different. They just continue building on the same degree, hoping that there'll be something that really lights them up as a result of that.
Speaker 2:Well, two thoughts come to my mind. One is are they just distracting themselves from finally taking the step to creating the life they want for themselves and getting the experiences and finding the job and starting to apply? Are they just distracting themselves like, all right, I got to do another two years here to get the degree or what was part B. I had another part I'm just now immediately blanking. It was either the experience or I just completely blanked.
Speaker 1:It could be the experience Like people get. So I guess as well. When you leave university or even school, you're being presented routine and structure. You have to be here for this class. This is what we're going to learn, this is how it all operates, and when you go into the, I guess, what we call the real world, you have to take responsibility for how your time spent. Obviously, we get a nine to five or something like that, but outside of that we can do whatever the fuck we want.
Speaker 1:That's why adulting is so cool, but it's also overwhelming for a lot of people.
Speaker 2:The thought that I lost that came back was if it's not distracting yourself, it's the only way I see it as a pass is if you're in a line of work that absolutely requires it. So if you're a doctor and you're operating on people, yes, please do every course major that you need to hit the checkbox. Or if you're a lawyer, right, like there's certain rules but there's not. I don't know what the percentage is, but I don't think that's where most people land as to why they keep going back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it'd be interesting to find out those statistics, but you said that last year you went into really enjoying it and that final year is what led you down the self-development path. What happened along that year that pushed you into self-development?
Speaker 2:Somehow I stumbled upon the School of Greatness podcast with Lewis Howes. It was the fall of 2015. And I had just started listening to Tim Ferriss and I think somehow I got led to School of Greatness and that's where I've just really kind of like woke up to like wait, there are people that are like pursuing being the best version of themselves and doing great in their business life and also just living amazing lives. Like I want to be more like these people. So I was just curious and I just started listening to his podcast religiously and it was so inspiring to just like be in the room of these really successful people but being able to hear like them talk about their lives and what they've gone through to get to where they are today, and it just lit a fire in me of like, what is my passion, what is my purpose, what would it look like to actually fall through and do that thing?
Speaker 2:And without listening to those podcasts it wouldn't have inspired me to start my own podcast. It wouldn't have given me the confidence to actually not get a job and start driving Uber full time. It was those stories where I heard so many of like their come up stories of Scooter Braun sleeping on a couch, or Gary Vee building wine library and his parents in their basement. It was just hearing those stories that just inspired me like, okay, I see where they're at at chapter 53, but I didn't see what they did at chapter 23, which was just hustle and grind until they could find a way to make it work.
Speaker 1:The inspirational stories are definitely something that I feel a lot of people can receive value from, and you started your podcast in 2016. So I started in August 2017. So that's another thing we have in common. We're definitely early in the game of podcast, but to be able to use it as a platform to for me personally, and maybe you were the same to learn to communicate better, explore ideas and and form your own opinions and then start interviewing great people is a cool experience that has helped me, and I'm sure it's helped you over the years as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally. I think the first two and a half three years of the show is just me interviewing and it served the absolute purpose of what I. But maybe the first two years maybe not the first three, because I think I stopped it after the third year but the first two years I was just interviewing young, passionate people because I just want to understand. I just wanted to understand how they got to where they are today. How did they find the passion, what are the hurdles they're going through? And once I started to figure out my passion and purpose, which was continuing to be a creator, that's when I started to give myself permission to like.
Speaker 2:What would it look like to record a solo podcast and talk about me instead of, you know, interviewing a guest and talking about them? So it, it. It literally was the best vehicle. Like, literally. Like. It helped me grow, helped me evolve, helped me find my purpose and passion. It opened so many doors to meet so many incredible people that I wouldn't have built a relationship if it wasn't for the podcast platform. I can connect so many present day dots in my life, eight years later, back to starting that podcast.
Speaker 1:So cool man. So so cool. I want to ask what was it like recognizing that you were a creator and the fact that you wanted to really lean into that? It's something I've struggled with personally. I've never, I guess, called myself a creator up until literally in the last three months, as I've been going through this shift around. Do I still run my company, the man that Can Project, or do I pull away from that and just have a personal brand under my name, because I feel like I've been hiding behind that and I guess the direction that my company is in and then also the direction that I feel I'm being pulled in now and want to go explore, is very different. So for me that's like well, maybe I am a creator, but I still struggle with being like. Is that even like a real job, or is that a real?
Speaker 2:thing. Yeah, you're absolutely a creator and I think for me, that's that's also been a limiting belief that I've had to funny enough, like shift Cause I'm so used to just doing the work that I I think I hear the word creator and I just immediately have these assumptions of you know, millions of followers making a lot of money, having major influence on people, and I was. I've had to work through that and like let go of like these limiting beliefs. Like I am that you know creator, someone that puts together their thoughts or shares it through you know, the virtual mediums of Instagram or podcasts. Right, and yeah, I don't remember this specific moment.
Speaker 2:It just like kept growing. Just from all the interviews that I was doing, I was like, wait, I really am enjoying this. Could I just keep doing this? Could I make money doing this? Once I really came to terms with that, which happened really quickly I was always just trying to grow the podcast, grow myself as a creator, test YouTube content, test vlogging. Grow the podcast, grow myself as a creator, test YouTube content, test vlogging. And then that's when I started to dip my toes in all these different platforms and mediums.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cool. So when you launched the podcast back in 2016, was that something you went all in with, or was it something that you were still sort of dabbling in and hoping to find a career in marketing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I went all in, man, I just bet the house on it. I was like this is what I need to do, I believe it and I'm going to fall through on it. And from episode one through the rest of the show, I was treating it like I was a million download podcast, making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, like I just treated it like I was as the most professional that I could, because I knew that would ripple into how the guests show up on the show, how the audience feels listening to it. But I think, looking back, what was really funny was when I started I launched a podcast August 31st 2016, and I was driving Uber full-time. At the time, I really thought Uber was going to be like a six-month, maybe a year gig. I'm going to find a way to monetize this thing. I'll be making money soon and I'll be chilling. Little did I know I would end up going to spend three and a half years driving full-time, so I didn't know how long it was going to be. But I bet the house. I was like this is, this podcast is what I need to do. And you know you grow with anything. You grow with anything in life the more consistent you are.
Speaker 2:But, like, if I go back and I probably could find the first episode that I've recorded, it didn't go live. I record as like a test with a homie of mine. So the second episode I recorded was technically episode one of the show, but if I go back and listen to it I can hear a young man that is so serious but also like this is what he's supposed to be doing. You know, like it's almost like you know there's a reason, there's, um, I think of music industry, a lot Like there's. You know, uh, talent seekers, right, like Scooter Braun found Justin Bieber and brought him up to who you say, like he saw talent in a young boy and brought him to what he is nowadays. And if I look back on that first podcast, that practice, I can see and hear there's something here. The only thing that this man needs to do is just keep going and stay consistent.
Speaker 1:What was it that made you go consistent? Did you ever have moments? I know you saw the potential in yourself, but was there ever moments where you had doubts? You felt like pulling the pin, it wasn't going to plan.
Speaker 2:It's a good question. I think there were so many doors that were opening for me just doing the podcast and friendships and people that I was meeting, that I felt like every five to eight episodes I would lock in like this really cool guest and I'm just like whoa, I have to keep going. Like I was really not paying attention to the analytics. I would look once a week and that was because I needed to go onto the platform to upload the podcast to release that week and I'm like all right, let's see what last week did. Oh, cool, 300 hours, awesome, let's keep going back to it.
Speaker 2:So I just like did not spend any time getting sucked into the analytics and how many on Tuesday, how many on Wednesday. I just kept posting. So I think there were a few moments, kind of like probably a year and a half, two years in, when it's like okay, I've been doing this long enough, why am I not seeing monetary things coming in? Or, you know, I think the show should be a lot bigger than I started to question it. But at least that first year if I look back in the first year of guests, like I hit every week a new episode and I was fired up with the guests that I was getting at the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a. It's a cool thing when you're not motivated by the statistics. I think as a, as part of the journey and the commitment, you need to start looking at that, because if you're investing the time in it, obviously much similar to you. It's like I'm establishing relationships, I'm building credibility, I'm learning, I'm improving my communication all things that have helped me in all aspects of my life. But then there comes a point where it's like okay, well, how can I really capitalize on the time spent? How can I afford to have an editor or someone who does the reels or whatever it is that isn't coming out of my own pocket, from other things, like I want the podcast to be self-sufficient.
Speaker 1:And that's where I think a big lesson that I learned was every time I find a solution to a problem, a new problem arises, which is just the next level in the game, and it's like am I prepared to level up, or is this it for me and I feel what I sorry see for a lot of people is they just hope that the problem that they've solved is the last one that they need to solve to live a good life. But the reality is, as we all hear that cliche saying, the goalposts continue to move.
Speaker 1:The life that you're living right now, bobby. The life that I'm living right now is one that we both once dreamed of, but I know that you and I both are very ambitious people and we're probably moving the goalposts. So it's like how do we appreciate what we've now got while still striving to improve those areas?
Speaker 2:I think it actually has weirdly gotten easier to appreciate it more because there's been so much past that has been built up that if I connect myself back to the days of driving Uber, it's like an immediate dopamine of like whoa, look at the life you live now. You know like I literally have 19,002 tatted on the back right of my arm, which is the total number of Uber drives I did Right. So it's like I, I, I just have so much gratitude for it. So it's like the goalposts do keep moving.
Speaker 2:But one thing I try to continue to do is if I'm going to compare myself, it's got to be me versus my past self, rather than me versus my future self, cause the future self I'm always chasing, it's the it's, it's always going to be the next peak. But if I look back in the last eight years, I'm like, okay, you know, you've, you've proven to yourself you can set your eyes on the prize and follow through and create. You know, create these things that you want for yourself. So like, let's keep going. So I agree, though One one you, you, you hit one problem it solves, but that just opens the door for another one.
Speaker 1:So the goal for you when you were Uber driving was that just a means to an ends why you were building your podcast?
Speaker 2:up yeah.
Speaker 1:And so the goal was to monetize the podcast and be able to have that to fund your lifestyle. Is that correct?
Speaker 2:Absolutely Yep, it was purely just to pay the bills.
Speaker 1:I love it. What were some of the things that you took away from Uber that maybe you weren't expecting to gain while doing it?
Speaker 2:That's a great question. I became truly an expert of time management through it, like all of fast forward. Eight years later, like so much of my offers and like my coaching program, like this is all coming back from what I learned then, which is every moment that I'm not driving Uber, I was essentially losing out on money. So that was the beauty of driving for the platform, as you know, I can turn on the app. I can turn off the app any hour of any day of the week. I was truly running my own business on my own time. It was amazing.
Speaker 2:But with it came this hyper awareness to my time. So it's like anything that I'm doing outside of driving Uber. It needs to be a value add to my life, otherwise I'm losing money. I'm leaving money on the table. So I systemized my life.
Speaker 2:I would wake up at 6 AM every day. I would work out, I would work on the podcast and content from 9 AM till noon. Then I would pack up a lunch, get on the road by 1231, drive from one till 9 PM, come home, go to sleep, pass out by 10, 11, do it all over again. Right, it was like I had built in a system with my life to make sure I was making money but also prioritizing my time. So I think that was the biggest hack that I learned was just you know, I took economics in high school and in college and the one thing that stuck with me is two things actually supply and demand, and opportunity costs. So every time I was saying yes to something, it could have been no to driving Uber, which was costing me money in my pocket, which was valuable. I needed that money. So that was the biggest lesson that I learned through driving for them?
Speaker 1:Did you meet any cool people that opened doors for you for other areas of your life, or for the podcast, et cetera?
Speaker 2:Nothing comes to mind immediately, but I will say every conversation was valuable. I mean 19,000 people alone, like there's so many different conversations that happened. You know, I felt, I felt I, if I had to bet, I'd say 70% of those rides I was actually engaged, talking to the person back and forth. 30% probably no communication because you know they're working on their phone, they're on a call, whatever. But I mean just so many deep conversations. I always, I always, I always tell people, like it was amazing to me that in LA, when I was driving full-time, I could drop somebody off at their $5, $10 million house and then an hour later be in the middle of Compton and dropping people off at an apartment that is very run down and it's just the polarity that I could see on a daily basis was so eyeopening.
Speaker 1:Definitely gives a lot of perspective. I learned to build rapport with people really quickly because majority of the trips in Brisbane were five to seven minutes. I was like I got to learn something about this individual. I'm either going to get them to tell me to fuck off or they're going to feel like it's the most meaningful conversation in their day, and that was something that's helped me throughout life, and business now was learning to really ask questions that most people don't ask and keep people engaged has been extremely helpful.
Speaker 2:That's a really good skill set that I did not think about. That's absolutely true.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's definitely game changing. I'm sure after 19,000 trips, you would be able to handle a conversation or two yeah, definitely can pull it out of people, for sure what about, um, the day that you knew you got to hang up the boots at uber?
Speaker 1:what was that? What was going through your mind then? What were some of the I guess, the decisions that you had to make? Like it, obviously it gives you that time freedom, it's it's in complete control. Did you start winding down the hours? Or was it just going from x amount of hours a day to just all right, this is it, we're on the podcast and whatever was next?
Speaker 2:yeah it's. It's kind of crazy looking back on it because everything kind of just happened, very like timing wise. It was incredible. But essentially, um, I had a conversation with a friend of mine about he was managing a YouTube group named yes Theory. So he was doing really great work for this YouTube group and I was just like, dude, I want to be doing this podcast full time. I'm driving Uber. Still Can't figure it out.
Speaker 2:So I went to his office one day and we whiteboarded my life, money, I was making debt, everything and he gave me two pieces of advice. He said one, you need to stop driving Uber immediately. You need to find a different career path that is going to be a value add, because right now you're not learning any more skill sets. You've already mastered communication with people in Uber. You need to find something that is going to better your skill sets. And then, two maybe think about rebranding the pod. And then two maybe think about rebranding the pod. So I really listened to both.
Speaker 2:I was already getting burnt out with the pod, so I started to plan to pause the podcast. I had like three episodes left that were recorded and I made a decision. I'm like I'm gonna pause it after this, while at the same time, I'm thinking what do I do to not drive Uber anymore? And I went home for a week to see family in Massachusetts. I got back to LA that first day. Back. I get home from driving, I pull out my phone, as I always did, and I was documenting the journey on my Instagram stories of me driving Uber. And I put up a story and I say, hey, by the top of 2020, this is October of 2019. I said by the top of 2020, I don't know what it is, but I'm done driving Uber. I've done it for three and a half years. I'm burnt out doing it. I'm just ready for something new. Hold me to it, watch, watch this happen. And I was religiously documenting the journey of being an Uber driver in my life at that time.
Speaker 2:And I wake up to a DM from a founder that I had interviewed a year prior. His name's Brandon Cohen. He was the founder of a company called Liquid IV Small company at the time. This was 2019. Hydration brand. And he DMs me and he said, hey, can you jump on a call tomorrow? Hydration brand. And he DMs me and he said, hey, can you jump on a call tomorrow? And I look at it and I'm like hold on a second. Why is he asking to get on a call with me? Like he's managing at the time maybe a $50 million business We've had. We did a podcast, it was epic. But I'm just like why does he want to jump on a call with me? And it clicked. I'm like hold on, let me go back. I look at my stories and I saw he had saw my story.
Speaker 1:I'm like.
Speaker 2:I'm like does this, does this man know of something that might work for, like, could help me? So, long story short, I set up a call with him for the next day and, um, he had just gone back from being in New York to be on Gary V's pod. So I'm like, before we talk about anything today, let me hear about that experience. And inevitably he ends up sharing with me. He's like dude, I saw your story.
Speaker 2:We are actually finalizing a job title and we're about to put it out to our network to find someone that I actually think you would thrive in. Is this something you'd be open and interested in? And he's like it's, you know, six figures guaranteed salary, maybe some equity in the company? And I'm he's like it's you know, six figures guaranteed salary, maybe some equity in the company. And I'm just hearing like yes signs. Actually, he didn't even tell me it was six figures. He just told me it was a really good opportunity.
Speaker 2:And I literally think I told him I was like I think I said, brandon, I don't know how much money I'm going to make, but if I'm working for you, yes, like, let's numbers, but I'm in. And long story short, two weeks later I was no longer driving Uber, I was working for him full-time. The podcast got put on pause and overnight it felt like I had gone from counting up every dollar I was making per ride to now a six-figure salary, financial security, but also, at the same time, now I wasn't podcasting, and that brought on a whole new set of challenges.
Speaker 1:It's cool that the fact that you documented on social media and it opened an opportunity for you there's still a lot of people who aren't utilizing the power of social media or the opportunities that it can bring, how you can inspire people, even in your instance, saying I don't know what it's going to be, but I'm not doing this by the end of the year. And then you get this six-figure job opportunity just because of the person that you've become. And I think one of the other things is you were doing Uber as your source of income, but you were building yourself, growing your network, honing in on your communication skills with the podcast. You were sacrificing time where you could have been doing anything else to upskill and make yourself more valuable, which people obviously started recognizing. And that job came through to you. The fact that you then had to put your, I guess, goals on pause of the podcast. What problems started showing up for that? Obviously, it's very easy to go. Most people's idea of success is a six-figure salary. You had that. What problems came up?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'd say I went from every day. Every minute is calculated. I'm either driving Uber or I'm working on the podcast. And then it shifts to, okay, Monday through Friday. I'm working in this office. It's a 45 commute in the morning, it's an hour and 15 on the way back at night. Like my life Monday through Friday is dedicated to this. I work out in the morning next to the office, shower there, go to work, come back and then it was the weekends would come and I'd wake up on a Saturday. I'm like what do I do with my time? I'm not working on the podcast. I'm so used to literally working every minute of every day, Like what do I do?
Speaker 2:And so that brought its own challenges of like trying to build community in a city that I had lived in for three years but I didn't have a community in, and then eventually, like I give it about two, probably about two, three months, and then I started itching to get back into the pod. So it was like the new challenge was, or the new problems that were arising, was like is the podcast my identity? Is the being a creator? My identity is the podcast. My identity Is being a creator. My identity, what is this like working full-time while also maybe building a creative career. What does that new version of me look like?
Speaker 2:And that's when I kept the show on pause and I started another show, which is now the present show. It's the Bearded man and I just started dabbling, like every few weeks, with a new episode. And then, once 2020 hit excuse me, once the pandemic hit and I had a lot of time and I was working remote that's when I started to go back full scale two episodes a week. But yeah, the new challenges was like I have more time. How do I want to spend it if I'm not hustling and driving every minute of every day?
Speaker 1:There's a few things there before we go to why you started the next show. I'd love because I'd love to hear that when you mentioned you didn't have a community. Was that one of the prices that you paid for going all in on the podcast and just working as much as possible with Uber?
Speaker 2:Yes, I think it was really. It was like an interesting realization was, yes, I had made so many great connections from podcasting, but a lot of people it was like and they had like their own friends, you know, like they knew me because I did this podcast and I brought them on the show, I made them look good, I had a presentable professional. It was a business transaction. So it was like I started hitting up a lot of these people hey, what are you doing this weekend? Hey, what are you doing this weekend? And, like some people like it, I just wasn't met with like the love or invitation that I was hoping to be met with. So it brought in this whole new challenge of how do I build community. I got to start throwing myself out there. I got to start texting people and it took a while, man, because I literally had punted that aspect of my life for three years.
Speaker 2:I was a guy in college and knew everyone and would be the first one in the bar, last one to leave. I loved raging and having fun and I was I'm an extrovert at heart, but during that three years I just I punted it, man, and I don't regret it, but I won't ever allow myself to live like that again, because it just inevitably you putting certain areas of your life on pause feels like a-okay, but you don't recognize, is like when you go to pick up where you left off. You got to rebuild that momentum and so that's why I always say to people I lived in la for six years but for the first three years I worked la, I didn't live in LA because all I did was drive, create, drive, create. Good problems to have. But that was definitely some of the biggest challenges I had faced with having the full-time career. I was like okay, what am I spending my time on the weekends doing now?
Speaker 1:It's a good lesson for a lot of people listening who potentially are neglecting areas of their life. I know it's a very common thing for men while they're chasing the status or the career goals or financial goals, they put areas not even on hold, they just completely neglect them. And when they go to celebrate their wins, there's no one there for them, or they decide how? I've got a bit more time, maybe I want to go on a ski trip or whatever. Their health just isn't there to support that. And for me, similar to you, when I first started my business, I stopped watching sport. I love sport Stopped watching sports, stopped going out for beers with people because I was obsessed with building a business. And after a while I tried to catch up with mates and I just couldn't relate to them. They were talking about sport and things that were happening in the world and I was just like man, I'm really out of touch and that was my wake-up call to go. Dude, in order to be successful, there are things that you can do to move the needle, but you still need to give time to your hobbies and interests, and that's where I got clear on like the difference between life development and life maintenance and when you're giving focus to a specific area and you want to develop or you want to grow that area, you don't just put the other shit on hold. You maintain it, meaning you can still give time to your relation. I'm married, you're engaged.
Speaker 1:If I was pursuing my business goals or my fitness goals, I wouldn't just say to Amy, my wife, I wouldn't say I'll see you in 12 weeks once I'm done. Now, this goal goal. It's like I'll still come home and have dinner with her, we'll go on date nights, but she understands that my priority for an outcome this quarter is this and it's. You know these are some potential sacrifices, but I'll still, you know, have some daily deposits there to maintain what we've got. It may not drastically improve it, but that's what I think is really important and that's the work that you do, bobby, is so incredible because you've systemized it and simplified it to help people be able to achieve that. But before we dive into that, I wanted to circle back to. You had your initial show. You started a new one. What made you decide to create a brand new podcast to?
Speaker 2:create a brand new podcast. Yeah, so, like I said earlier, the show, the first one Purpose in the Youth, the whole purpose of the show was for me to find my passion and purpose right and I had felt like I figured that out, like, even though I took the gig with Liquid IV, in my mind I knew that someday I would come back. I knew that someday I would be going full into myself. I just knew in the short term I needed security to breathe again and so, knowing that I was confident on this decision, I found my purpose. I found my passion. It just felt like hosting purpose in the youth was no longer in alignment with me and I started thinking through what a rebrand would look like and I didn't want to like I've seen other shows do it, where they completely rebrand the show and they just repackage it the same show and they keep it going. But I wanted to truly close the chapter. But also I wanted that chapter to be visible. I wanted that to serve as like a timestamp of my life so that today, june 20th, 2024, I could go back and re-listen to those episodes. And it's just purpose in the youth. There's, like you know how it is when people rebrand, like eventually that gets so dug deep that you don't even know that show used to exist.
Speaker 2:So I decided like, all right, I know I want to be a creator, I know I want to like just keep doing what I'm doing. And I was ready to like just double down on myself as a brand. And that's when I came up with it's the bearded man, because I was joking and always, you know, calling people, telling people I'm the bearded guy or the bearded man, and so I kind of just ran with it and, um, you know, the first 20 episodes I think they were just solo pods of me just ripping about life and things that are at the top of my mind, and then I slowly started to incorporate doing guest pods again, and then I made it, uh, two pods a week one one solo and then one guest pod with still the same mission of like trying to better myself by sharing great conversations with people and sharing the lessons that I was learning. On the solo episodes.
Speaker 1:That's so good, man. Does that mean you're going to keep the beard for life?
Speaker 2:It's a good question. I still don't see any reason to get rid of it. I feel like it is a lifetime contract. Maybe there's a day where I need to shave it a little bit. I'd be open to it. But yeah, I'm pretty locked in. I go through seasons where it'll be a little bit longer or where it's going to be a little bit shorter, but yeah, I don't know, it's just, it's so part of me at this point.
Speaker 1:I don't even know my, my, my fiance might be like wait, this is what I'm getting myself into. It's funny because my wife's got blue hair and I've never. We've been together for nearly 11 years and I've never known her to not have blue hair. Wow, and it's obviously part of her brand. So she's always like, oh, can't, can't change it. It's like my thing. I'm like maybe in like 20 years time I'll wake up one day and she'll have brown hair again and I'll freak out or whatever blue hair is definitely a statement yeah, 100.
Speaker 1:It's very recognizable, that's for sure, but that's um. So you were going through the. The pod took off. You were doing some work with vital iv uh, liquid iv, sorry liquid iv.
Speaker 2:Sorry, yeah, my vital came and that whole experience.
Speaker 1:Then you know you had about a three month period where you were off the pod and then you got back into it. So how long were you with liquid iv?
Speaker 1:about four years, four years up until january of this year yeah, awesome, and give me, give me a bit of a run through of that whole experience. So how are you managing, obviously working a full-time role? What sacrifices did you make in that period to then be able to get back on top of the pod and be building towards the life that you wanted to leave? I guess even at that point when you started the pod, was the goal to go okay, I want to get it to replace my salary that I've got with Liquid IV so I can then go back out to being a creator and an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a good question. So the first year, two years, at liquid IV, I was managing the podcast media buying and I I like loved it cause I was like working in the space that I already like, loved and listened, you know, clearly cared for. But now I was like supporting shows that I listened to and I was getting to the business side of the podcast space and kind of what had happened was like all right, I was working full time, we were fully remote because of the pandemic. We never went back into office after that. Um, truthfully, the work that I was doing, we did a lot of it outsourced through an agency. So I was kind of just managing an agency. So like I really had gotten it down to like working two, three, maybe four hours a day, which gave me more time on the side to also work on the pod. So I kept working on the pod.
Speaker 2:At the same time I was building community in LA. I was starting to date, I was starting to just kind of like live up the LA life and you know, go to the raves, these party in the hills and I just dude. Honestly, I just lived it for like two years, almost three years, so I was comfortable. That's what happened. I got comfortable I don't want to say complacent, I was still trying to better myself but, like that's what happened, we went through massive growth. When I got hired, there was 23 of us.
Speaker 2:When I left in January, there was near 200. We saw a lot of growth within the company. That was really exciting. We got acquired by Unilever. That was a big moment. But really like fall of 2021, early 2022 is when I started to mess with TikTok and Instagram reels Really TikTok and that's when my social started to skyrocket. And that's when doors started to open. Brand partnerships started a coaching program, started building my digital products and that's when I started to stop I don't want to say wasting time, but I started to get that fire back in me to like, okay, maybe I can do this as a business. The podcast is not getting enough downloads, I'm not making any money through it, but this new type of social media content is opening doors. I'm getting paid a lot of money to make these videos for these brands, and I spent the next 18 months honing in on brand partnerships, coaching digital products, which inevitably gave me the confidence to then eventually leave back in January.
Speaker 1:Did the comfort scare you at all that you were experiencing?
Speaker 2:The comfort.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was just frustrated. I was like I just feel like like I, here's the thing. I was really like productive and efficient, but I still would just feel like I was. I was. I was kind of like this is a great question, cause I haven't really sat and thought about it.
Speaker 2:There's been so much change in the last year of my life leaving LA, but I was like half in and half out to a certain extent where, like Monday through Friday, I was working my ass off, but then once Friday afternoon came, it was like switch, like let's fucking rage, let's have a good time, drink a lot of booze, party up till 4am, like I wanted to live that LA life that I had, you know, signed up for and, um, that men. Waking up Monday, I was hung over and like rebuilding, like the momentum. There were days that I would skip recording my solo pods on Monday because my voice was so scratchy from yelling over the weekend that I'd have to wait till Wednesday to record it, and then, before you know, it's already Thursday, Friday back out again, right. So it's like I was. It wasn't that I was complacent, I just wasn't using my time correctly and this is why it goes so much to like my core belief and stuff that I preach today. It's like on a day-to-day level, you may think an hour here, an hour there, it's all good, it can slip. I can waste time scrolling on social media or being hungover in bed, but when you start to do the math of how much time is being wasted doing the wrong things, living the lifestyle you don't want to live, how could you better invest that time elsewhere? So, like you know, I don't know how much time I quote unquote wasted during that two years.
Speaker 2:I had a blast, but it was a distraction for me finally creating the life that I now live.
Speaker 2:And here's the thing I can only speak on what, the reality of what is. But like it took me leaving LA and being in a new environment with a new reality, with a new lifestyle, with new goals, to then finally have that confidence and clarity of like, oh, I need to burn the boats. I can't just sit here and wait until I'm making the same amount of money on my business to then leave. That's never going to happen because I'm so wrapped up in the business. Cause my job had evolved Instead of three to four hours a day, I was doing six to seven hours a day, so my role had grown and I had to put myself in that position of uncomfort. I hope that I would have made that leap if I didn't leave LA, but I don't know, it might have taken me a little bit longer to finally have the confidence to say I'm ready to do it, and also my lifestyle expenses got cut in half the moment I moved to Austin versus being in LA.
Speaker 1:It's crazy how where you live can change a lot of that. Talking about the content, so you obviously talk a lot about designing your life, or life by design. What specific content were you putting out along the way while you were working in a job that started to take off and then that has obviously led you down the path of coaching, then doing your brand partnerships, but also creating those digital products? Are they still based around life by design?
Speaker 2:Yeah, what was such a like a eyeopening experience for me was right when I was starting to mess with Tik TOK. End of 2021, 2022, I would record a 30 minute podcast called six wellbeing habits that benefit me, right and in the, and I would break down six different habits that I do that help me, and it would get a hundred downloads, 200 downloads. And then I would go take that same script. I would summarize it into a TikTok style video. I would then shoot videos of me prioritizing my wellbeing, doing the thing that I'm talking about, and back then these videos were ripping. I would post and then six hours later, 100,000 views, thousands of people in the comment praising me like this is what I needed help, like this is so helpful. So it was such an eyeopening experience where I was like, oh, I'm seeing the exact same thing, except this is a different medium that's being prioritized right now. It has a millionth better discovery pattern rather than podcasts. So that was so. That was like, so eyeopening. It was like, oh, I'm finally being validated for the things I've already been saying. Just nobody knew I didn't have a microphone to shout loud enough because it was so small and there was no way for me to get discovered. I couldn't crack that code and I cracked it with the TikTok stuff. So it was so like eyeopening. It was like, wow, I'm actually being heard and I know that what I'm saying has value.
Speaker 2:And so then that's when I went all in on TikTok and I really started to build the audience. And then that's when I ended up hiring my own business coach to help me, like, hey, I have this massive audience and I'm building a lot of heat to my page. How do I monetize this? Because I don't know how. And that's when I started to build up the digital products, the coaching program. And at the time in 2022, I was messaging time management. But really, as it's evolved really the top of these years, when I landed on lifestyle design I've been testing different messaging to see like, what is it that I'm really doing? What connects with people? And, yes, time management is the vehicle getting someone from A to B. But what are we doing at a high level? We're helping people design their life so that both their personal professional lives are within balance. And then we do that. The vehicle is the time management. How are they spending their time each day, week and month?
Speaker 1:Why do you think it's so important for people to design their life?
Speaker 2:Because you need to be clear on what your priorities are for you then to allocate the time to do those things. If you don't, there are so many distractions in this world that you will be a yes man and go do all these things that are just not getting you to the place of where you need to be, which is it serves its purpose. I was on that discovery path, like I said, from 2016 to 2017, I was saying yes to a lot of different things. I was a music tour manager for some of my best friends. I would do random jobs to make money.
Speaker 2:My cousin owned a moving company in Boston, so he'd pay me cash and I'd go hang up moving flyers throughout the city. When he needed a permit, I would go hang it hanging up and he tossed me great money for it. Like that's because I was in. I was in discovery. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Once you have some idea, you have to design your life to align with those goals and priorities, and for me, what that means is scheduling your day out and being intentional about what you're doing and when, so that it aligns to the life that you want to create for yourself.
Speaker 1:What does that look like for you, like, do you use digital scheduling or do you have a handwritten sort of planner and stuff? And how do you then go through and prioritize what you feel are the most important tasks for you?
Speaker 2:Take everything with a grain of salt because this has been years in the making. But I, the only thing that's written or done digitally is calls and meetings. Everything else is internal. Like um, I wake up at the same time every day at 6 am. I work out every morning, usually between 7 15 and 7 30, just depends on know once the dogs are fed, do I got to do anything around the house, put the dishes away or whatever, but, like usually like clockwork, 7.15 to 7.30.
Speaker 2:I try to sit down to this desk to start working between nine and 9.30, depending on the day. I will shut this laptop after this call because I usually have a hard stop time at the end of every day. Like, so I've just created these systems and rules for me to live by that tell me what to do and when, which creates the pressure to do those things. But a lot of it is just mental, which I would recommend if you're starting off, if it helps, like write it down or do use a digital cow. But for me I've just created so many systems that it's it's become ingrained in my identity at this point, so I know when to do them.
Speaker 1:That's cool. I like hearing a different point of view, because a lot of people say you've got to put a lot of things down, and I quite often find that overwhelming. So I've sort of broken it into three things. Once again, I don't need to write it down because I know it's like me. Me time is the mornings, that's like when I'll train and read, write, do all that sort of stuff and hang out, enjoy a coffee or whatever. Then I've got work which is self-explanatory working towards tasks, et cetera. And then I've got them like social connections, time with my wife and family, et cetera, and it keeps it simple. So then I can fit specific tasks or events that fall within that and if I need to be flexible, with it.
Speaker 2:I can be flexible with it, but from a rough schedule standpoint it's like that works well for me. Yeah, and that's the thing you have to be open-minded to, just testing things. We could spend the next hour dissecting the different morning routines that I've gone through in the last eight years. At this point I've probably tested a thousand. I wake up, I read I journal, then I work out. I wake up, I work for two hours, then I work out. I've done all these different things.
Speaker 2:You have to just test and figure out what works best for you. So I know at a high level when I'm doing certain things, but then on a day-to-day level, if I'm like talking work-wise, like, okay, I know every day I'm working from nine to six, nine to five-ish. If I don't have anything scheduled on my calendar, which is usually just calls or coaching calls or anything, that's when I'll put it on the calendar. Outside of that, I know I'm doing 90 minute focus blocks, 20 minute break, 90 minute focus block, 20 minute break, four times in the day and 90 minute focus block, 20 minute break, four times in the day. And that means that whatever the priorities are for that day, I need to get them done within those four blocks, so call it six hours of working.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cool, I like that man. That's good to hear that sort of block in the way that you break it down. Why do you feel a lot of people don't chase their dream life?
Speaker 2:Because it's overwhelming.
Speaker 2:It's a lot of work, it's breaking old habits and patterns, it's going against the grain, it's looking at yourself in the mirror and recognizing like you're responsible for how you're spending your time and who you're surrounding yourself with. Not easy work, but it's so worth it. You know like I think I was so fortunate that when I started the podcast, the reason I had the confidence to do that first pod was I had five or six guys I was surrounded by back then that were extremely talented and passionate people doing unorthodox things but also had their middle finger up to every person that was telling them you're wasting your time. One of them was a recording artist, one was a model, one was a photographer. One was designing clothes. One was producing music.
Speaker 2:Back then, everyone in high school was talking shit about these people and they just kept going and they found ways to make their dream life become their reality and I saw it in real time and that's what gave me permission to do the thing. So I think that's also another big call is, if you don't see it directly happening around you, you think it is some magic formula that you don't have access to. In reality, it's probably just the environment you're surrounded by.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember hearing on the podcast I was listening to earlier where you were inspired by your mate, who was a musician, and it was very similar for me with my wife, where they were doing the same thing and going down that unwritten path almost, and people doubted them and then they made it happen and you're just like, well, sometimes you've got to back yourself and then everyone goes how did you do it? And it's very simple, it's just backing yourself and trusting the process and being consistent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just consistency, consistency and patience, right? If you looked at my social growth and monetary on a graph, right? My social growth from year zero to seven, maybe we had, you know, four to 5,000 followers across Twitter, instagram and YouTube, maybe 6,000 grow and then year seven to eight, it skyrocketed to probably 450,000. If you look at my bank account, zero, 0 to 7 was probably like I don't think I made more than $1,000 in that time span doing the thing, and then the next year after that, probably north of $50K from the business alone.
Speaker 2:So it happens fast, it can happen fast, but in reality it was just like chipping away and planting so many seeds during those times that allowed it to come to fruition. So it's like, yeah, you hear the hit record, but what you don't see, hear or measure is all the hours and time that was put on behind the scenes for that singular moment. Behind the scenes for that singular moment, and oftentimes too, I like in my journey, had I had that growth on year one, I wouldn't have had the appreciation, mindset and ability to like navigate that much attention on my account and me. But when it happened on year seven and eight, I was so locked in that, like. I've already been flexing this muscle for seven years. I don't care if it's a hundred thousand new followers, a million, 10 million. I'm ready to run this marathon. I am not going to stop while the fire is roaring. So there comes benefits too, with you know it, taking time to create the life you want for yourself.
Speaker 1:For sure, the patience is a key. And what is, I guess, guess your ideal life or the life that you've designed at the moment look like, and what is? Is there anything you're looking to build more of?
Speaker 2:not more of. I think it's really just staying consistent, right like it's. You know I feel really good with. I have set working hours. I work, you know, technically from like honestly, it's been changing a little bit recently. Let's say, 10 to five every day. Let's call it six hours of actual work. When it comes down to it, five days of the week, I shut it down at the end of every day. Last night we had a triple date night, game night with some friends. Tonight I'm just going to relax. I don't even know what I'm doing this weekend. Like I just feel so in flow. And you mentioned earlier I recently got engaged. That's exciting. Like all of these things are just kind of in flow.
Speaker 2:And and you know what I wanted to say earlier, I forgot what you had said that it sparked something in me is when I, when I was driving Uber, I think life was very black and white. It was like are we growing the business or are we not Cause nothing else mattered my wellbeing? I worked out every day. I did stay religious with that, but like nothing else existed. But when I started to prioritize these other aspects of my life, there was more color and also there were more chances for me to have a better day because I had other things that were working. So let's use this as an example. If, on a business day, back driving Uber, like I didn't make a lot of money and I didn't see a lot of growth on my socials, I'm like, damn, today was a shitty day. Present day, that same scenario happens where I didn't lock in the clients, my my, that post on Instagram didn't do as well, but I have a great date night dinner, or, you know, I catch up with my family, or I go, I, I try a new experience in Austin. It's like, oh, you know that didn't go great, but this was really good. So it kind of like allows you to like not just get so hyper-focused on one singular thing and then you start to see the world with more color. So I think, I think that's the, the, the.
Speaker 2:The crucial piece for me is like how do I keep seeing life from this colorful, balanced lens that just infuses and inspires me? Like we went and saw. It's tough to say his name right now because he's he just got hit with a DUI, which I am I'm not a fan of, but Justin Timberlake. He was just in Austin two weeks ago and I woke up the next day, on a Sunday morning, like I'm inspired, like that was so much fun. I also love seeing talented people thrive doing their thing and by Monday morning I was just like all right, I'm not trying to be an artist, I'm not trying to be Justin Timberlake, but I'm trying to create my dream life, just like he is doing right now. So I think there's also some subconscious stuff that we don't realize that brings value in these other aspects of our life.
Speaker 1:A hundred percent man. Very well said. Where can people find out more about the work you're doing, follow you on socials and all of that sort of stuff? Can people?
Speaker 2:find out more about the work you're doing, follow you on socials and all of that sort of stuff. Yeah, easiest, I'd say, is bobbyhobertcom, b-o-b-b-y-h-o-b-e-r-tcom, um. You can find digital courses through that, my different coaching offerings, one-on-one programs, um, or at bob a b-o, three b's, four a's and y on all social platforms and it's the Bearded man podcast.
Speaker 1:What's the uh, the meaning behind Bob A? Is it the only one available?
Speaker 2:No, no, only available. Yeah, I was gonna say there's no great story. I, I, um, at the time people would call me Bob A, so I tried to do B-O-B-B-A-Y. It was taken. I was like all right, we'll do two A's, b O B, B A, a Y taken. And I kept going until it was literally B O, three B's, four A's and a Y. And I was actually kind of pumped because it kind of sounds like B O, three B's, four A's and a Y kind of. It kind of flows good, but that's how. That's how we landed on uh, on that as the branding.
Speaker 1:That's perfect for everyone listening along. I'll put all the notes and links to Bobby in the show notes so you can click down there. If you got value from this episode, make sure you leave a rating review and share it with a buddy who'll grab some value from it. Thank you, guys for tuning in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's hold on. Double click on that If you're listening. Still, if you're at the very end of this episode, it is so clear that, whether this conversation was valuable or you're just a fan of the show, if you are listening right now and you have not yet left a review, I am disappointed in you, because there's so much time, effort and energy that goes into putting on these shows that you are consuming for free.
Speaker 2:So, at the very least, I don't care if you follow me. I don't care if you don't check out my Instagram or check out my website. Those are all great things. But if you're going to do any of that, you first need to please leave a review, because there is so much intention being put into the show and it is so clear just based on the way you navigate this conversation. So please drop a review, share it out, do it. It helps grow the show.
Speaker 1:Appreciate it, man.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
