PDM 010: Unlock Your Purpose ft. Brandon Walker

Narrator: Welcome to the home of Project Dream Mastery. Here at PDM, we are challenging the status quo of what it means to follow your dreams and how to unlock the power those dreams will bring to your life. The show experience will be unscripted, authentic, and transparent. So now sit back, relax, and get inspired with your hosts and Patryk Labuzek.

Patryk Labuzek: Okie dokie. Hi everyone. So how many times in your life have you just found yourself lost for words, for passion, for purpose? Well, today we have someone really special joining us that will share some of the tools and methodologies for helping you to become a high performer. So this is surely an episode you do not want to miss out on!

Lucas P. Johnson: Welcome to the tenth episode of the Project Dream Mastery Show where we help inspire you to follow your dreams, defy expectations, dream big, and love deeply. My name is Lucas Johnson.

Patryk Labuzek: And I’m Patryk Labuzek.

Lucas P. Johnson: Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast to be the first to receive new episode releases and if you have any questions that you would like answered on the show, please tag us on Twitter or Facebook at Project Dream Mastery. Just in case you are interested in the full experience, this episode is available with video. So check out our website at ProjectDreamMastery.com/listen to watch now.

Patryk Labuzek: So this episode is going to be absolutely epic and I am sure there will be a ton of value added both to your lives and ours. So I have a really, really great feeling about this one. Today we have someone really amazing joining us, Brandon Walker based out of Wilmington, North Carolina and for this episode, we will be focusing in on unlocking your purpose.

Lucas P. Johnson: Paddy, I'm super excited. Let’s get Brandon introduced properly to the show. At 19, Brandon Walker dropped out of college to become a sales intern for a start-up beer social media company. Like first off, that is awesome. That opportunity sparked something incredible. Brandon spent the first five years of his career as the Senior Vice President of Sales for one of the fastest-growing companies in the country, Untappd. Now this company definitely made a splash in the United States and if you like beer, you definitely know what I am talking about. Brandon led a team of 45 employees, training them to become high-performance salespeople. He recently left Untappd to start Beanie & Blazer, a lifestyle engineering company that trains aspiring high-performers on mindset and habits. In his spare time, Brandon loves reading, running, and enduro dirt biking. First thing that goes through my head is what is enduro dirt biking? So I look forward to hearing more about that. Brandon's business Beanie & Blazer and Project Dream Mastery are incredibly well-aligned. Brandon is a prime example of a high-performer passionate about chasing dreams until they become a reality. Perfect for our show. So without further ado, welcome to the Project Dream Mastery show, Brandon. We are super excited to have you on with us today.

Brandon Walker: Dude, that was an awesome intro. Thank you. Yeah. Super glad to be here. Great connecting with the both of you.

Lucas P. Johnson: Yeah. We're excited.

Patryk Labuzek: Likewise.

Lucas P. Johnson: So Patty, I'll pass it over to you to start us off.

Patryk Labuzek: Sure. Yeah. So Brandon, first of all, there are no expectations here and if there are, we are all about defying them as you probably know at this stage. So, you know, man, just have fun and how about let’s break the ice? So man, at 19 you dropped out of college. So we're very interested. Was it an intense experience? Was it something more subtle? So it would be great if you could tell us your story and what has inspired you to chase your dreams.

Brandon Walker: Sure. So starting off in college, I started playing college basketball at a small school up in Michigan. And the idea was I had spent the majority of my youth learning how to play basketball. And that was how I fed my obsessive nature was through sport. After my freshman year, I got, or during my freshman year, I got involved with an entrepreneurship club at the school I was going to and parlaying from that I started a petty cab company. So like those bike taxi things. I started one of those. I like bought one from Indiana, started doing brewery tours and selling Groupons. That was when Groupon was still pretty prominent back in like 2013. And then I got a second one and started hiring a little bit of a fleet. And so I saw a fork in the road. It's like, all right, I'm starting to do this entrepreneurial shit. I really enjoy it. Basketball is still important to me but like entrepreneurship kept pulling me in and I've never been good at balancing two things at once. Like I go all in on stuff that I'm focused on. So I caught the entrepreneurial bug, wanted to go out to California and just like peace the fuck out and figure it out, out on the West coast. And my mom threatened to cut me off of car insurance, phone, like all the bills if I just dipped because my family is from Ohio. So we compromised. I ended up in North Carolina and once I got to North Carolina, that was when I met the team that would ultimately become Untappd. And so dropping out of school was, I saw an opportunity to get a foot in the door with them. And I also went to San Francisco for two months to a school called Draper University which is a billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper started the school. There were 65 students from 30 different countries as part of the program. And you just learn a lot about entrepreneurship. So those things happening in lockstep, meeting the people who would introduce me to Untappd and going to that school gave me the courage and the experience to drop out and not worry too much about like the risk involved with that.

Lucas P. Johnson: So it was kind of, it wasn't really subtle. It was just I have this dream. You know, I'm gonna be cut off. What is the realization there, man? Like you were just saying oh God, I got to figure out, I've got to figure my shit out or how did that come about?

Brandon Walker: I don't know. I feel like my mom's answer would be different than mine. Like it probably from afar seemed like I was flying by the seat of my pants, you know, from an outsider's perspective. And a lot of it was, it was youth and just like I'm really excited and there's this energy and this vibrance that I'm just going to fucking go and figure it out. In my head, it was a little bit more methodical. Like, okay, if I take this risk of leaving school and the opportunity works out with these guys, that makes it for me. Like by the time I'm in my mid-20s, I'll have had something really valuable on my resume, etc., etc. Worst case scenario, this fails and I go back to school, then I get a job and then eventually I'd be an entrepreneur later. Like that's really not a huge risk once you realize you can go back.

Lucas P. Johnson: Fair enough. So how did Untappd approach you? How did that start up kind of come to you and say hey, all right, we want you to do this internship we want, and then they finally take over that position as an executive with Untappd?

Brandon Walker: Yeah. So they certainly didn't come to me. That didn't happen. So there is actually, it was a company called Next Glass that was started in Wilmington. So the guy who started it is a serial entrepreneur named George Taylor. He's had 10, 11 companies. He's IPO'd a couple of times. He's been doing this since the 80s, like really talented entrepreneur. So I knew of this guy because Wilmington's not a big town and he's like the entrepreneur locally that everybody knows about in this world. So I was like, I need to meet that guy. Like he was the one that I was really enamored with. So Next Glass was Pandora for wine and beer. So basically what they did was they bought this machine called a liquid chromatography mass spectrometer or an LCMS. And they raised money and just bought a shit ton of beer and wine and we would run little 10 milliliter samples through this machine that spins it really fast. And we could identify the chemical, molecular makeup of that beverage. Then we used machine learning and algorithms to be able to tell you, okay, if you like this Cabernet, you'll probably like this rose and this beer. And so you can make recommendations based on actual taste profiles instead of just labels or genres or styles. So that was the initial idea. The app popped. It was killing it back in like 2012/2013. Then downloads and retention started decreasing. So there was a fork in the road. It was either a) we started spending a bunch of money on marketing or b) we acquire a company with a big community to make the business model work. So Next Glass was where I got my foot in the door. We ended up buying Untappd, going route B and that was how Untappd fit into the whole picture. How I got in with Next Glass was I met them at University of North Carolina-Wilmington. I introduced them as speakers at an event. And then I just would not leave George alone. I was emailing him, texting him, calling him all the time. Just give me an opportunity, give me an opportunity, give me an opportunity. I went out to Draper in California, kept it up until I just harassed him into giving me a chance and getting my foot in the door.

Lucas P. Johnson: So the one takeaway that, I know there's a lot of takeaways there, but the one thing that really stood out to me is things don't come to you. You have to chase those opportunities.

Brandon Walker: Yeah.

Lucas P. Johnson: Go ahead. Sorry.

Brandon Walker: No. He loves telling the story of how obnoxious I was. Like I just, I wouldn't leave him alone.

Patryk Labuzek: So you were clearly motivated to chase after your dreams. And I'm quite curious, did you have at the back of your head like a bigger picture of what success meant to you? Or was it just something that kind of you went along the way and you were thinking okay, so, you know, like those micro successes? So did you kind of like a bigger version of success at the back of your head, it wasn't just something that you went kind of with the flow?

Brandon Walker: I think for a lot of the decisions that I make, I try to optimize for learning experiences. Like I value the opportunity to learn something whether it's a valuable lesson or something about myself. That's what I optimize for way more than outcomes. So whether it's a financial outcome or an accolade, I don't really give a shit about that stuff. That seems to be par for the course when you're pursuing growth and knowledge. And so the opportunity with Untappd, Next Glass, for example, was I just want to learn from this entrepreneur. And eventually I'll be able to apply that in different ways. And if the company is successful, then great but that was secondary.

Lucas P. Johnson: So this led you to really pursue your dreams. Untappd presented an amazing opportunity. Again, dropping out at 19, man, I'm just like mind blown. But that's also, I'm so happy that it worked out and you pursued your dreams and you followed the, followed your heart. So how did Beanie & Blazer come into existence, man? That's just, it's incredible. I'm super excited to hear about this.

Brandon Walker: Thank you. Yeah. So two things happened in tandem that were the Genesis for Beanie & Blazer. So to add a little bit of context, Beanie & Blazer, I don't sell merch. I don't, it's not a clothing company. Beanie like the hat represents mindset and blazer represents application. So think your nine to five, your family, it's how you apply new knowledge and new skills back into your life. And so when I was at Untappd leading a team of 45 people, a huge part of my job was getting folks who had either recently graduated in college or earlier in their careers, turning them into salespeople and not just salespeople but really high performing salespeople. So for a little bit of context, we were on the Inc 500 list of fastest growing companies in the country. We're three years in a row topping out at number 150. We were the fastest growing company in the state of North Carolina. And a huge part of that was on the back of what the salespeople were able to produce on a day-to-day basis. And what we did was we focused instead of just like hammering on how to become a better salesperson or a more motivated employee, we focus on that person's holistic well-being. So like relationships, sleep, habit development, goals that transcended the workplace which is a pretty unique approach. Like I sort of took that whole Millennial management idea and put it on a traditional sales format which is relatively unique as far as my research has indicated. And so I loved it. Like we hit these crazy numbers. I'm like 23 years old running a team of 40 people and it's, and it's working. And so I wanted to take a lot of those things that we trained in people and remove the sales context. And so whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or a musician or an actor or a dentist or whatever, there are some universal skills that underlie being a high performer, like living in alignment with your values, setting goals, having some sort of discipline around your habits and calendar. And so I wanted to create a community and a curriculum around those universal concepts and just allow people to plug their value system into it like a hub and spoke model that enables them to go chase after their life's purpose. So it was that experience at Untappd plus this enduro dirt biking trip that I went on that beat the hell out of me, that all amalgamated into it's time.

Lucas P. Johnson: So I used to do, I used to be big into dirt biking probably from the time I was 13 to 18. Just loved it. And then finally, my coach goes hey, you got to choose either football or are you got to choose that. I mean because one of them you're going to get hurt and it's probably going to be dirt biking. So I know the dirt biking part. What is enduro part?

Patryk Labuzek: I'm quite curious as well.

Brandon Walker: So enduro dirt biking as a sport or a hobby is when you're going to cover a lot of ground. So it's like a five-day adventure, a seven-day adventure, whatever. And you're riding, like you're doing legit dirt biking over a long distance in a long period of time. So it's like marathon dirt biking basically.

Patryk Labuzek: Wow.

Brandon Walker: Yeah.

Lucas P. Johnson: That's pretty sweet. So are you, and I'm curious, are you going through the mountains or is this more of like a road trip?

Brandon Walker: So we're in Baja, California, Mexico. So the first time my ass ever hit a dirt bike was crossing the border into Tecate. Like I had never been on a dirt bike in my entire life. And so there's eight guys. I'm the youngest by 15-20 years. They've all ridden for a long time. I got invited by a mentor and a friend of mine and it was a five-day, 500-mile ride. And yeah, I just, I spent four days just getting the living hell beat out of me. I crashed so many times. It was, it was gnarly. But learned a lot about myself on that trip and it was how far I can push my comfort zone like really push my comfort zone physically and mentally. And that experience was one of the big seeds that was planted that okay, I really, I think it's time to go start my own thing. So it was all that experience at Untappd was sort of the underlying concept but then it was going on that dirt biking trip, pushing my comfort zone that really tied everything together and made me feel like the timing was right.

Lucas P. Johnson: So Brandon, we are focusing on unlocking your potential today and you brought up a great topic there is your comfort zone. What advice would you give to our listeners about that? How do you unlock your comfort zones and really bring yourself out to your full fruition?

Brandon Walker: So there's a concept I think about a lot called the challenge skill balance. And this was initially written about by a guy named Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi and his book Flow back in 1990. And so flow is a state of consciousness where you feel your best and perform your best. So when you're in flow, it's what people often describe as being in the zone, having the 'it' factor. It's those basketball games where every shot goes in. It's those two-hour conversations that feel like they last five minutes. It's just that feeling where you're totally locked in. Now the challenge skill balance says that there is an optimal amount of--let me rewind that a little bit. The challenge skills balance is basically the ratio between the complexity of a project task or activity that you want to take on in relation to the skills that you've cultivated to accomplish that project. So challenge versus skill. Right? Now the idea is when something is too easy for you so the challenge is way below your skills, it's not really worth doing. Those are the things you automate or you delegate or you procrastinate on doing because it's too easy for you. Think of like being 30, doing a puzzle for seven year olds. It's just why would you, why would you do that? Now the inverse is when the challenge is harder than your skillset. So when the challenge is way harder, like if I were trying to build Tesla, we'd be screwed. We never had electric vehicles. I don't know, like it never happened. So it gets overwhelming. That's when anxiety starts manifesting. But there's this sweet spot of the challenges like a little bit harder than your skillset. Right? And so it's looking for I want to learn how, I want to run a marathon. I'm capable of running two miles right now. What happens if I try and run three? It'll force me to break down some of these mental thresholds in my head. It'll force me to drive some lactic acid through my body. And so it's a matter of thinking about things that are just a little bit harder than what you're comfortable doing and continuing to do that in different facets of your life. It gives you the confidence of completing these little micro wins that manifest and roll up into much more momentum towards your big, your big, hairy, audacious goals. So that's how I think about it as just a little bit harder incrementally has huge returns downstream.

Lucas P. Johnson: Hey man, half the battle is just showing up. You know? And those atomic habits of small, tiny goals, you're setting those micro goals, it really all plays together. Patty, you were a big fan of atomic habits, man.

Patryk Labuzek: Definitely. Yeah. I mean in the past episodes you were talking about those micro goals, micro successes that we, you know, achieve in our lives. And I feel like establishing healthy habits for us is very important. They kind of push us, you know, further and further. I'd like to say, Brandon, you know, going out of your comfort zone, I think that's a big one. Me and Lucas, we love traveling and we traveled far and wide together on some crazy, crazy adventures. You know, some people think that, you know, traveling is just going, seeing a new place but I feel like Lucas, you can completely agree on it, for us, it was pushing our comfort zones. We're learning new cultures, you know, talking with new people, hearing their stories, being in very uncomfortable situations, scary sometimes, doing things we've, well, definitely haven't done before from, you know, our little rooms. And so, you know, pushing them comfort zones further and further out kind of helped us, you know, to define our dreams really. And it kind of allowed us to push forward, you know, that we were motivated to kind of even start this podcast and, you know, all those little things that we've been doing. So it's great hearing from you that you also think that, you know, going out of your comfort zone is one of the major, major effects or, you know, major things that you have to do that has direct effect on your life and your productivity and becoming a high performer.

Brandon Walker: I would love to hear more about some of those adventures. That sounds epic.

Lucas P. Johnson: Patty, he loves doing things that are not the norm. Let's just put it that way. Patty, he'll go out and he'll see something he wants and he goes and gets it. So he wanted a coconut when we were in Bali and he goes oh, man, I would love some fresh coconut water. Instead of him asking a caretaker to go get it, he starts trying to climb this tree. The caretaker comes out and I'm sick as a dog by the way. I had Bali belly. I had all these things. I got salmonella, like all this stuff going on and Patty, he's like hey, man, do you want any? I don't know. I don't know if I can, I can take that. Caretaker starts climbing up the tree. He's like how many you want? I would did it. I would've did it. Coming out of your comfort zone? Man, yeah. So there's plenty of those. But going back to that, man, I actually was getting ready to run a half marathon and it would have been yesterday or whatever today is, I don't even know what today is. It would have been yesterday, the run, the Asheville half marathon and I was super pumped about it. I've never enjoyed running, never loved it and never was passionate about it. In fact, I was always that guy that pulled the asthma card. Oh man, I got asthma, I can't run. So I started running back in March and since then, I've lost about 40 pounds, I changed up my diet, changed up all these things. And going back to your comfort zone is if you start to get that mindset, you start to realize and set those micro goals that you're going to do this, you're going to accomplish this. You know, even going back to the state of the flow and you say okay, yes, I can achieve this. You're going to go out and do it. So it's just, it's really cool how all these concepts when they come back, they really flow. They really bring that flow back to it.

Brandon Walker: Dude, 40 pounds running since March? That's amazing. Like I think COVID, COVID sucks obviously. Like it's, you know, a pandemic and people are sick and die. It's terrible. But I have seen a fork like in the way people have responded to it and I think it's as simple as victim mentality versus ownership mentality. You know, people are like nope, collecting my unemployment, not looking for jobs, comfortable with video games, lounging, chilling, no big changes. Once they come out of COVID, once they get back into a job, it's like basically just a year went by and nothing happened. Then you have people who are doing like really deep self-reflection and making huge lifestyle changes and being more thoughtful about where I live, who I hang out with, what I want to be focusing and working on. And so hearing about you doing some of that at that type of a velocity in the last five months is pretty fucking impressive.

Lucas P. Johnson: You just got to go get it, man. You got to go get it. So I want to bring it back and see how this applies to Beanie & Blazer. So what challenges or obstacles have you had to overcome to get to where you are today and taking that comfort zones into play?

Brandon Walker: I think for us, the company is still so young that we're still trying to figure out who we are. I mean it's only been in the last, like my last day at Untappd was June 24th. And so it's only been two months that I've been away and building and figuring this out. And so some of the bigger challenges so far, it's like although I have a ton of experience in a leadership role in a company that's scaling rapidly like a startup and growth and all of that, I've never been at the absolute head of the table and had to think, you know, everything from finance to marketing to internal culture to HR to hiring and all these other things. It's like you see it from that leadership position but you're not actually the one doing it. And so one of the biggest challenges for me has been getting myself better organized and like creating enough time and space that I can manage these, like these disparate tasks in a timely manner while still allowing enough space for me to both continue learning and to be a human so I don't burn myself out. And so just trying to reshape everything in the context of this new hat that I'm wearing, that has been a hell of an experience so far.

Lucas P. Johnson: So Patty and myself, and this is really that, Patty and myself started companies as we were kids, man. And figuring that shit out at that age and trying to figure it out now, completely different just in 10 years, dude. Just 10 years, the shit that has come out. And it has allowed us to not only make our life easier but has allowed us to be like okay, why are there so many solutions? What can I use? So you're going to do a marketing campaign and you're like oh, all right, I can just go on each one of these. All right. I got Twitter, Facebook--I almost said Tinder there. Who knows nowadays? You got Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, you got all these platforms right in front of you and you're trying to figure out okay, what can I do to make my life easier? You got CoSchedule, you got Bluffer or, I don't even, I don't even use them all. But there's all of these you can utilize. Hoot Suite, that's another one. So going through just trying to figure out the marketing side and that's not even the advertising side, it's just, so man, I get it. And being that starting a company especially now in 2020 with COVID going on, there's so many people that are like oh, yeah, it's time to get on the entrepreneurial track. I'm home. I have the time. But I bet you, 99.9% of companies after COVID are going to fail. And it is the ones that pursue past that, the ones that are going to take their experiences and apply all these principles and make that shit happen, man, that's going and achieving your comfort zones and making shit happen. Brandon, I can't wait to see what Beanie & Blazer do, man. I'm so excited. I know that you're two months in and like you said, June 24th was your last day. But it's going to be exciting just to see and hopefully later on, we can do an episode and talk about the challenges and obstacles you face and how to overcome because man, that's the reality of life. You have to figure out how to deal with them. Right?

Brandon Walker: Absolutely. Absolutely. Well said. And yeah, I totally agree. It's a matter of sticking to your principles. It feels a little bit sadomasochistic right now to like, you know, and a little bit arrogant, like hey, the world's burning down but now's the time to go start a company. Like a lot of people who don't understand the space or any of those mechanics are like all right, dude, whatever you say, like big risk. But in my opinion, it's like if you can read the underlying trends that are, you know, the pillars of where we are economically and socially right now, people are looking for more direction. They want to take ownership of their lives. Like I said, that fork that I've identified that people are sort of trying to live by their values, if you, and there's this big trend for online communities and courses and alternative education and stuff. And so if you can find despite everything at a macro scale being so chaotic, if you can find your little niches and ways to connect with people, some of the best companies have been built in times of turmoil and recession and stuff. So you know, why not?

Lucas P. Johnson: It's definitely shaped our outlook. COVID-19, man, it's shaping our outlook and our perspective on life as we pursue a new norm, a new, a new outlook, a new environment. So how has your outlook on relationships, loved ones and friends shifted or altered throughout your journey thus far?

Brandon Walker: Good question. I think a big thing that happened for me is one of the first things that we talk about with the Beanie & Blazer methodology is it's called calibrating your personal compass. And the idea of that is identifying your core personal values that make up your perception and orientation of the world and how you want to optimize your relationships, opportunities, decision-making habits, etc. So the idea is you come up with a statement, a core personal value statement that has five values and descriptions of how you want to behave. So for example, mine are lifelong learning through education coursework or coursework reading and conversations like this. It's fitness of mind, body and spirit. It's entrepreneurship and creativity. It's quality time with friends and family and it's dynamic adventures for the sake of novelty. And so I took the time during COVID to evaluate my life in the context of those values and really be deeply thoughtful about it. And that was a driver for me deciding to leave Untappd or end some relationships like girlfriend, friends, like just really trying to engineer my lifestyle to fit now that I brought awareness to these values to make sure I'm living in accordance with them. You know what I'm saying? And so like that has been the driver and I've been a little bit more like isolated and introspective, yes, because of the quarantine but also it's intentional just trying to spend more with myself and make sure that any distractions or alternate things that I could be doing that I let into my mental head space, that they're entering thoughtfully and not just succumbing to the people, the situations that I've just had in my orbit for the last five years.

Lucas P. Johnson: That is a really great mental, well said, well said.

Brandon Walker: Thanks.

Lucas P. Johnson: Patty, you being from Dublin, kind of shed some light on your perspective here in relationship to that because I like hearing, I like hearing those different perspectives and seeing, you know, different countries, different ways of thinking. So Patty, how would you, how would you relate with that?

Patryk Labuzek: Honestly, I think I relate a hundred percent with what Brandon said. There's not much of a difference here and, you know, things have changed a hundred percent. They kind of that, you know, trying to find our 80 degrees you know, our social lives kind of ended. At least in Ireland, it was pretty severe with the quarantine which was very, very strict. For two months from March to May, we were all locked off in our houses obviously even going through things like, you know, your local supermarket was an adventure in itself because on the X amount of people were allowed in or there were only certain times that you were allowed in then. You know, it was just very, very difficult. So in all that time, you know, what Brandon was saying is I took this time to think outside of the box, think what I need in my life, really evaluate some of the things I've been doing and kind of focusing on what I really, really need to, you know, to be a better version of myself, to do what I love to do and to focus on achieving my goals and my dreams. And you know, out of this, I also defined expectations that people have upon me. So that's given me, you know, quality, quality time to actually think, you know, what do I want to do with my professional life? What I want to do with my love life? What do I want to do with all the things that have been going on, you know, with our podcast, with Project Dream Mastery, with my blog, alwayssomewhere.net. And so time, man. Time. It gave me just this precious time that I didn't have before to kind of learn from my previous mistakes and build upon them.

Lucas P. Johnson: So talking about that time concept and also applying what Brandon said here about the relationships and having that time to really think, to have that time to really understand and comprehend what's going on, and how do you deal with that? Because I mean this is everywhere, Brandon. This is, I feel like you can't even get a free second now unless you go to say a mountain house that has no internet or phone service. I mean just saying. How do you deal, how do you deal with unsolicited feedback, the critics, the haters, the half glass empty thinkers? I'm going to put it that way.

Brandon Walker: Do you mean how do I think about it in terms of like criticism towards what I'm building or in terms of like their mindset and the limiting nature of that?

Lucas P. Johnson: Just a sense of when people have something to say, if they're going to, you know, the ones that are like, okay, why, why are you doing that? You know, like putting you down in a gradual sense or even like dude, like this is the hack, like yeah, right. So but applying that to every part of your life, how do you deal with the haters? How do you deal with the people that don't have that positive outlook on life? Like obviously you do.

Brandon Walker: So I think there are varying degrees. It's like you have your tribe which I believe is a really critical part of a person's experience. And so to me, a tribe is made up of three things. One is mentors so people who are designed to help you get to your goal. They've been there, they've done that, they have the experience, they've earned the credos. That's piece one. Piece two is unconditional support. So friends and family, whether or not you hit your goals, they're just there to love on you and be supporters. And the third element of a tribe is eliminating all the negative aspects. And so your tribe is like the really close proxy people to you that are there in support of your quest and the quest is just life and how you experience that. So your tribe is like layer one. Then you have one degree removed from that which are people in your social circles, online, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, whatever. Then you have one degree removed from that which is just the fucking peanut gallery. And so I think how you perceive and respond to each of those layers needs to be different and optimized. So people in my tribe, I listen very intently to their feedback. If they tell me something's fucking dumb or high risk or really smart or something, it's not even that I have to like a hundred percent agree but I put a lot of thought into that and I don't sort of just like push it away. You know what I mean? One degree removed from that is I'm listening for like the true objections and the true concern. So for example, I had somebody totally unrequested tell me hey, Brandon, you want some advice on your newsletter? Make it shorter. It's way too fucking long. Nobody's going to read it. Make it like The Hustle. I was like okay, well, one, didn't ask for your opinion but thank you and two, what is the underlying piece there? Attention spans. How much of my other content does that person review? Like so I want to, I want to suck out the value from that and not let it impact me. Like oh my God, I'm writing something that's too long and that person thinks I'm stupid or something. And then I think the degree removed from that is those people like way out in the stratosphere, they don't know you, they don't know the real you. They don't know you, they don't know your company. They are only seeing bits and pieces and they're judging you based on tiny little snippets. And so I think you can't listen to the good from them nor can you listen to the bad because they're only seeing things without context. So it takes a lot of feedback from that third layer for me to make any sort of decisions. If an aggregate, the way their feedback quantifies is saying hey, this particular messaging is not working, I will listen to that but never the individual little snippets because they don't fucking know me and I'm not going to let that positively or negatively impact my ego.

Lucas P. Johnson: So I really love the fact that you're like F them, man. You know, most people, most people, they really get caught up on the feedback from what others have to say. And you know, we talk about this quite a bit on the previous eight, nine episodes about how you need to define your circle and you need to find the people. I love the approach you take with the three or four layers that make up that circle. Because man, that is whew, that I never thought about it that way. That's super cool. Now one thing about this show is we love being devil's advocate. We love seeing, you know, we might say something here but we don't, we don't want to ask, we want to see how the feedback's drawn out, what your expression is to it? And it's that man, just whew. I'm just going to say that. The four layers removed, that's a really cool approach. Now, you know, hopefully we aren't the peanut gallery. Hopefully, we can become the tribe. Hopefully, we can become the tribe. That's, you know, maybe I'm just thinking like that but, you know, I like having that close proximity. I like having that circle and it kind of just builds on how do you go about your life. Like how do you, when you have a vision for something and dream, how do you pursue it? What are the action steps that you take to go and actually make that a reality?

Brandon Walker: So if I have a dream, like let me think about this a little bit. My brain just went in a few different directions. I think like identifying and actualizing a dream, it's a series of decisions. Like you create forks in the road and at every fork, you pick a path and that creates new forks and you're moving towards it. Right? Like in pursuit of whatever that dream or goal or objective is. And so I think like the first thing is how do you make decisions? Like a lot of people do pros and cons lists. So I'll use the example of me deciding to leave Untappd. A lot of people would say okay, I'm going to make a list. Like why should I stay at Untappd? Why should I leave? Why should I start Beanie & Blazer? Why should I not? And they'll write out a series of pros and cons. That's a good approach but the problem is when you're evaluating pros and cons, you're looking at a situation or a decision as though everything else is equal. It's like sort of pushing your decision towards the median. So for example, if I say like a pro of staying Untappd is I get to work with the people that I'm friends with, that's definitely true. That's definitely a pro but that's not like stretching. That's not next level thinking. That's just like this is an inherent truth of this decision. The way I think about decisions is best case scenario, worst case scenario. So best case scenario, I stay at Untappd, I get promoted, I have a fancy title, the company performs really well and I make some money on the upside and I get to work with cool people. The worst case scenario is I spend the next five, seven years not pursuing my dream and working within this entity and I like may defer my entrepreneurial pursuits longer than I actually want to. Okay. Flip side, Beanie & Blazer, best case scenario, I get to impact a bazillion people with my methodology, I make good money from it and it has this big resonant outcome. Worst case scenario, I go broke and I have to get a new job. So like when you, when you make things so simple, like this could happen, this could happen and you make good with the best and worst, it makes it easier to make decisions. So as I have dreams down the road, I'm thinking about those things at every inflection point. Do I hire this person? Do I not hire this person? Do I move to a new city? Do I not move to a new city? Do I take on a new project or hobby? Or do I stick with what I'm doing? When you can create that framework for decision making, it starts showing you fewer and fewer paths to branch out. So it's a lot less ambiguous, the route, to get to the objective, to get to the goal that you're trying to optimize for. Then once I like am on that track and I can visualize like the direction I'm going because it's in alignment with my values and all that other stuff, it becomes a learning process. So then you enter like okay, I need to learn these skills and these tools. How quickly can I close the knowledge gap? That determines how long the path to success is and etc., etc. So I'm not trying to get too heady or meta with the whole thing but it really is as simple as like give yourself optionality to start. And then once you figure out what you want, close the gap so you can stay focused and then just build a life and optimize in pursuit of those values or goals or objectives or whatever. Sorry.

Patryk Labuzek: I love what you're saying there because it kind of goes back to what me and Lucas discussed before. What I've touched on on my blog is the opportunity seeking. So when I have to make a decision, I look at the opportunities rather than the pros and cons. I look at the opportunity of going, let's say, you know, imagine a fork in the road. I look at the opportunity or what will happen if I go to the right side. And then what is the opportunity on the left? I weigh those opportunities against each other and, you know, exactly what you were saying and kind of by pursuing a certain opportunity, it gives us a certain reward. But it pushes us , it makes us focused in that certain direction. So with the constant learning process, I just find it fascinating that, you know, we've never met in person, for example, but we have so very similar views on those things. It's actually quite wicked.

Brandon Walker: Well, but that sort of goes back to the paths starting in narrow. Right? Like I chose my path, my dream Beanie & Blazer. That led me to going on Matchmaker where we all connected here. But the reason I found you guys is because I'm living in alignment with my values as are you. And once those paths start shrinking, it opens opportunities for serendipity like this. And so that's what's really cool about starting to narrow your focus. Like this conversation wouldn't have happened had I continued to have a broad perspective, had you. We would have just been ships in the night. You know?

Patryk Labuzek: Yeah. Completely.

Lucas P. Johnson: I'm so excited that we did meet on Matchmaker.fm. I got to make sure I add that dot fm. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to Match.com whenever I type that in. Just saying. So with that said, I don't know, are you familiar with the book Find Your Why by Simon Sinek?

Brandon Walker: Very much so. Start with why or Find Your Why is the workbook. Right?

Lucas P. Johnson: Yeah, yeah. Find Your Why, Start with Why. So one of the things from that book that I obviously took away is finding my why, finding my purpose. Anyone that reads that, they should be able to at least take away one thing is where in their life they want to be even if they haven't identified their purpose yet. And since this topic for today is unlocking your purpose, how did you identify your purpose? How did you find your why?

Brandon Walker: I think, I think a purpose statement, like going back to the core personal values, if you think of, if you think of your purpose and your values as building a house, it's like those values are the plumbing, the framing, the electrical, the dry wall, And you know, I'm not a handyman, whatever else goes into building a house. So like, those are the pillar tenant pieces of building out your life house and the purpose is the roof. Like that's the umbrella that captures everything. So it's an amalgamation of those values and the application of those values. And so to me, a purpose statement is if my value say, this is who I want to be, this is how I want to behave, this makes up my identity, the purpose statement is and because I am that person, this is the impact that I want to have on the world or on myself or on my family, like whatever you're optimizing for. And so to me, it's like my goal is to make an impact on as many people as possible on these universal things that I have found to be true and do it having a shit ton of fun and learning a lot. That's not very wordy but, you know, you get the gist. And so if that's my purpose in life, whether Beanie & Blazer is the vehicle through which that happens or just in my one-on-one relationships or whatever, the goal of mine is still the same. Beanie & Blazer is just like the thing that gets me from value set A to purpose set B. That's the path that I'm trying to take to get there.

Lucas P. Johnson: Brandon, you have really solid language there. It's almost like copyrighted language. You know, the one that you use for marketing content. You should apply that to your newsletter and go back to that guy and say hey, how's this sound now, man?

Brandon Walker: Beanie & Blazer TM.

Lucas P. Johnson: That's absolutely amazing. So throughout the course of your life and I think we briefly talked about this at beginning, what expectations did you have to overcome to come out on top? I know that you said 19 was the year that you said okay, I'm ready. I need to pursue this passion, need to pursue my entrepreneurship journey, I have that bug. I want it, I'm going to achieve it. And clearly, dude, you're doing everything right. You are, you're one hell of an entrepreneur and it's really exciting to see you be so successful throughout the last five years. That's going and working in startup and translating all of what you've learned to your own business is just amazing. So what expectations did you have to overcome to come out on top to where you are today?

Brandon Walker: You do a really good job of making your guests feel special. Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

Lucas P. Johnson: Of course. You are special.

Brandon Walker: Oh, thanks. Thank you. I think so expectations, I think I have a tendency to be very optimistic and sometimes the speed of the challenge skill balance, I will accidentally find myself in something where the challenge way outstrips my skills like the dirt biking trip and I have to get my ass kicked to get through it. And so being at Untappd so young and getting the mentorship and coaching that I needed, that helped me close a lot of knowledge gaps in real time really quickly compared to a lot of people who have to go it on their own and they don't have the same sort of like guidelines and frameworks that they can play inside of. So I was really lucky to have that. And then, yeah, I think like some limiting beliefs, like it's natural no matter what you've accomplished or who you think you are or what other people say about you to say like okay, the other people who are trying to do this are way smarter than me or have more experience than me or are better marketers than I am. And so it is always sort of a constant juggle of confidence versus self-doubt. And like am I capable of building this? What if it actually does work and my name is slapped all over all this stuff and then I fail publicly? You know? It's like you're always wrestling with some of those limiting beliefs and I think it's just a matter of like we talked about with the atomic habits, just one foot in front of the other and just keep moving. Because if you let that stuff freeze you up or if you let that stuff get to your head, it's going to freeze you up and you're not going to go anywhere.

Lucas P. Johnson: I'm going to add one last thing before I pass it to Patty for a question. We talk about a lot in our previous episodes about how people don't really give a shit. Okay? So this is the theory behind it. Growing up, you have all these things that happen to you. You play a sport, you win, you lose a couple of, you know, a couple of weeks go by. All right, that's gone. That's done. Okay. Good job. You get that job. Okay. You got the promotion. Okay, cool. That's one more thing on your resume. Cool. Couple weeks go by. No one remembers. So thinking about that and applying it to what you just said, in reality, man, if you keep pursuing and just don't give a shit what people think, you're going to be, you're going to kill it. You're going to crush it because no one truly gives a shit in the long run. They want to know if you're successful in that moment. Yeah. Okay, cool. The only ones that really matter are the ones that, you know, for me, it's faith, family and friends. You know, I always, I always go to the man upstairs for me and then I talk to my family. That's my tier system. So I really deeply care about what they have to say. When we put it out there that we started a podcast, I got messages left and right. You know, this is awesome, this is great. I'm thinking myself do I really, you know, this is scary for me, this is nerve wracking because these are the people I really admire and I care about. So in your life, how relevant do you find that concept, that theory?

Brandon Walker: Well, that's like what I was saying about the layers of the tribe, you know, like the people that are closest to you, like yeah, I very much care about their opinions and their feedback on things. As far as like people not giving a shit, I totally agree. Like, you know, you have those unconditional people who love you no matter what, even they maybe will judge you for the failure but they're still going to hold your hand and have your back the next day like once you're trying to pick yourself back up. And the people who are being really judgmental and critical, they're just happy to see you fail and like onto the next one. You know? So I very much align and agree with that as a framework. It's more over like for me personally at least, it's less about worrying about what the perception of me is. It's me telling myself that because I lack this or because I have this bad habit that I am less apt to be successful than these other people who, again, I don't know them, I see tiny little bits and pieces of what they're building. And so it's like just not succumbing to the things that you know you're not supposed to succumb to and just being cognizant of it.

Lucas P. Johnson: Do not succumb. Patty has been one my best friends. I met, Patty, when did we meet? Like two years ago? Three years ago? I don't even remember now.

Patryk Labuzek: We met three years ago.

Lucas P. Johnson: Yeah. Yeah. Wow, man. It feels like yesterday. We became like best friends and we were in Australia and we met two weeks, probably two weeks in whenever I, after I arrived in January 2018 and man, it's amazing. I've only known him for going on three years and we have that friendship that I probably have with the friends I've grown up with. So do not succumb. Find the people that are going to be close to you, that are going to inspire you, that are going to motivate you. And when it's all said and done, they're going to be your circle. So Patty, I want to pass it to you. I know that there's probably a few last questions that you have on your mind before we wrap up episode.

Patryk Labuzek: There's definitely a big question I have at the back of my head and that goes back to what Brandon was saying. You know, you're clearly a positive thinker. You think outside of the box. You're a successful entrepreneur. And so I bet that you have in the back of your head like kind of a bigger picture of yourself, of what you will be doing let's say in 20 years' time. But my question is how would you like to leave your mark on this world? It's a tough question. All right. So, have a think.

Brandon Walker: No, it's a good one. So we have a podcast. It's called Beanie & Blazer radio. It hasn't launched yet. It's launching in September and it's me and my--

Lucas P. Johnson: Inside scoop right there. We got to blurb that out.

Brandon Walker: Exclusive, exclusive. No, it's just me and my buddy Eric like talk about performance shit. We have conversations like this and just sort of banter on it. It's a lot of fun. Whether or not it's good, we'll see. But it's fine. Either way, there is, every episode we give, we rotate, give each other a challenge and it's a challenge of physical, mental or spiritual spirit. And so one of the exercises I had to go through was writing my own obituary and it was an awesome exercise. And so the reason it was awesome is it makes you reflect on your values, how you left your legacy, what your impact was. And some of the things that popped up, like I read it very or wrote it very stream of conscious and the things that really stood out in reflection was I tried to be really funny with it. So like kept my sense of humor throughout the whole thing. I had kids, I had successful businesses, I had a good relationship with my wife who this theoretical wife is named Beatrice. I don't know any Beatrice's. And then the end of it was like values to live by. And so I think that when it's all said and done, if I can look back and say like okay, no matter what the number of people were, if there were people that changed their lives for the better and made impacts on other people and sort of had that like pay it forward effect stemming from teachings that I brought to the table, that be really powerful for me. And there's really no way of quantifying that.

Patryk Labuzek: Amazing. Yeah.

Lucas P. Johnson: And writing your own obituary, that is, that's impressive. That's impressive.

Brandon Walker: It was a lot of fun.

Lucas P. Johnson: Beatrice. I wonder how she's doing.

Patryk Labuzek: Me too.

Brandon Walker: She's my Magnum Opus.

Patryk Labuzek: There you go.

Lucas P. Johnson: Watching a little bit of Netflix I see.

Patryk Labuzek: So, Brandon, you're doing all of these amazing things. But if you were supposed to give one piece of advice to someone today, you know, an aspiring entrepreneur or someone who's thinking of quitting college to pursue their passion, what would it be and why?

Brandon Walker: I think my first piece of feedback is like test it, like prove to yourself why you shouldn't do it. It's not necessarily to like quit school and go cause like that's not the point. The point for me was I saw the opportunity as outweighing what it was at school. So it's like test it, measure it, feel it out, take that first step into the thing that you want to try. And if it feels right, if it's in alignment with your values or it's a goal that you have, then jump all the way the fuck in. Like too many people waffle and you get analysis paralysis, you don't move. Like try it, dip your toe in and then just fucking jump. I think that is the most important thing that a person can do to take control of their lives.

Lucas P. Johnson: Amen. So this just kind of goes right off of that, three lessons or three of the most important things that you've learned so far in your career and in your life? It doesn't matter if it even applicable to Beanie & Blazer. Just overall if you were to give this advice to someone, what would you say? Three lessons.

Brandon Walker: Seek out mentorship. Like find people who've been there, done that to guide you. You'll save a ton of headaches and pain. Optimize for learning lessons. Like embrace the struggle and just don't think about milestones. Think about the process. And then I would say the third one is take care of your mind, body, spirit. Like do recovery, get a lot of sleep, exercise because your longevity counts on it both as a professional and your overall well-being.

Lucas P. Johnson: Amazing. Amazing. Couldn't have said it any better. Patty, you have one last question for us today?

Patryk Labuzek: Honestly, it's mind blowing just the content you're saying, Brandon, is insane and highly applicable to everyone especially to me I'd say. And so, you know, fair play, man. And I can't think of anything off the top of my head now unless you want to add something, Lucas.

Lucas P. Johnson: I guess, I guess the one last question I have for you and I see a skateboard back there too. By the way, I was awful but I at least tried. Again, comfort zones. I'd still try today. Dirt biking. Yeah. I might have to go try the enduro dirt biking. I'll hit you up with my personal number after this, man. We're going to go on a trip.

Brandon Walker: Awesome. I'm super down.

Lucas P. Johnson: Wilmington's only about three hours from me so we'll make it happen.

Brandon Walker: Yeah.

Lucas P. Johnson: What Influences you most when it comes to achieving your dream today? What is, whenever you get up in the morning, what is like oh, yeah, this is my reason, this is my why. Is it a family member? Is it something someone said to you as a mentor? If you were to say to someone else you need to go find a mentor. Okay, great. But for you, what exactly when you get up every morning influences you to do what you're doing, leaving your mark on the world? Because you are. You really are. You are leaving your mark on this world and it's really amazing to see, it's really applicable to Project Dream Mastery. What is it? Who is it?

Brandon Walker: I think for me it's just like why not? Like nobody, I like to believe that we'll have other lives to live. Like I don't, I'm not necessarily meaning like reincarnation or whatever. But like hopefully spiritually there's more to the game once this one ends but we don't know that. And so like I did use to watch a lot of TV and like smoke pot and like just chilling a lot in college and stuff. And once I got that fire lit under my ass and I realized like dude, you only have one life. Like go for it. Yolo. Once like that really struck a chord and resonated with me, it became like when I'm not doing stuff that is in pursuit of my purpose or just my value system, I feel really out of whack. And so it's sort of like flipped 180 degrees to feel like man, if I only have 24 hours today, I would rather spend it either learning or doing something I love or hanging out with people I love. It's not worth anything else because we have such little time.

Patryk Labuzek: Amazing.

Lucas P. Johnson: Absolutely amazing. So Brandon, Patty, I think that is probably a good place to wrap up. You guys have any additional comments, questions, or feedback?

Patryk Labuzek: I was just going to say that from what you said, Brandon, on your bio, your team and yourself put together a digital workbook called "Restless to Relentless." Right? So, it breaks down the first steps to take in pursuit of high-performance. If you are interested you can find it at beanieandblazer.com/giveaway or in our show notes.

Lucas P. Johnson: Cool! So if you are interested in connecting with Brandon, you can find additional information in the show notes or connect with him on Twitter @BWalk_2. With that said, let me give you a quick recap of what we discussed in this episode because man, it was incredible. It was an awesome episode. A lot of takeaways on unlocking your purpose. Just a couple of things that I noted here and I'm sure that there was a lot more that was encompassed in this episode. But again, I only have so many sticky notes here. Let me tell you. So, one of the most important ones that we have outlined over the last few episodes is your tribe, your circle. And once you go through those layers and you find those people that are really there for you, you have your tribe layer one, you have your second, your social circles, the peanut gallery and third but not least is this true objections, the real talk. If you apply all those to your circle and find the ones that they're the real OGs, the real goon squad, the real, the real people that are there for you, you're going to find yourself happier. You're going to find yourself defying expectations, dreaming big and loving deeply. Next but not I guess next, things don't come to you. You have to chase the opportunity. Brandon, you talked a lot about today that everything that you have done is been pretty much in your hand. You have went and pursued it. You've taken your passions and your dreams and made them a reality by your own doing. People have helped you, yes. But you took that initiative and made it happen. And that applies to our guest today. It applies to our lives, every single one of us, even you that are listening. You need to go and chase the dreams, chase the opportunities that are in front of you. And if you don't do it, you're the only one that's responsible for that. Optimize for learning. You know, build those experiences, pursue growth. You know, Beanie & Blazer. Brandon, I'm gonna give you one last chance to tell us what does beanie mean and what does blazer mean?

Brandon Walker: Beanie represents mindset. So get your shit straight upstairs. And then a blazer represents application. So once you get right upstairs, we show you how to take everything and plug it in, in the real world.

Lucas P. Johnson: Man, that is so in line with Project Dream Mastery. We also talked about your comfort zone. The challenge still concept, you know, the flow book being in the zone. We'll put all that information down in the show notes. It's going to be extraordinary, really incredible. You know, we talked about his story. So everyone's got that story. Everyone has to go through all these obstacles and challenges to find themselves and find their passions and Brandon, you've done an incredible job. Beanie & Blazer is going to crush it. I know it. Patty and I know it and we're so excited to see where you go here in the future. So with all of that said with a brief recap, here's your homework for this week. Go follow Project Dream Mastery on all our socials as on Thanksgiving Day 2020, we'll be giving away some pretty sweet merch to a few of our followers. Read Find Your Why by Simon Sinek. It's a great book that will open up your eyes and help you discover your purpose. Another great option to read is Lessons from the Mouse by Dennis Snow. Great book. I did not even, it's something like 60 pages but you know, go check it out. Also, we just launched our Patreon membership community where you can become one of our elite supporters and gain exclusive access to early releases, live streams and Q&A. We have a few different tiers available with some pretty sweet perks. So make sure to check them out and consider supporting the show. Go to ProjectDreamMastery.com and click the red button that says become a Patreon to learn more. As we reach our monthly goals, we will have some pretty sweet giveaways. If you have not already, please make sure to review the show, subscribe, like and share so that we can reach more amazing listeners like you. All of our shows are available in both audio, video and written form. So make sure to check out our website to access the full experience. Again, thank you so much for joining us today, Brandon. Thank you so much for joining us for the episode, tuning in. We look forward to seeing you on the next episode to come. Talk soon.

Brandon Walker: Thanks guys.

Patryk Labuzek: Thanks.