Riding the Wave Before It Hits with G. Scott Graham

Tim Melanson: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to today’s episode of the Work at Home Rockstar podcast. Today I am talking to a guy who’s got a whole bunch of businesses, and what he does is he helps people to get clarity on what they’re doing in their life and take action when they’re ready to do so. He does a whole bunch of other things too.

So we’ll get into that for sure. But I’m talking to g Scott Graham. Hey Scott. Are you ready to.

G. Scott Graham: I am ready to rock.

Tim Melanson: Awesome. We always start off on a good note here. So tell me a story of success that we can be inspired by.

G. Scott Graham: I think the biggest story for success to inspire yourself for that inspires me is that I have been doing this, I have been working at home, doing my own gig since 2006. Not filling in with something else, not going to work at the mobile station down the road and checking out not doing this as a hobby business. I have either gonna gonna be successful or I’m not gonna be successful. And the business has gone like, like this [00:01:00] over that time.

Tim Melanson: Nice. I started in 2008. Same things.

G. Scott Graham: Yeah.

It’s a nice feeling, isn’t it? It’s really, it really is a nice feeling. ’cause so many people, like I started off as a coach and so many people start their businesses and then when you dig a little deeper, they’re like, they’re really like a hobby businesses, right? They, they, they do this and then they have the real job.

So they’re not really invested in, you know, this piece. Yeah.

Tim Melanson: And, and he, you know what? There’s nothing wrong with, you know, moonlighting and, you know, building something on the side as you’re ready to jump out. Uh, but man, there is definitely something to be said for just not having anything else going on and just

G. Scott Graham: Yeah.

there’s no parachute

There’s, there’s no parachute at all.

Tim Melanson: Right on. So now let’s, I mean, because there is, you know, there’s a fair bit of this going on, I think, right. In, in [00:02:00] just about any business. And I’m wondering because I, I think that’s probably the reason why people just don’t do it, right? They’re just, they’re scared about this one. Right. And I’m wondering, can you share that one of those bad notes, something that just, you know, would, was just terrible.

But I mean, you’re still here, right?

G. Scott Graham: I’m still, I’m still here now. So he, so here’s, I am my spouse, Brian, who’s now, who’s now passed away after I started my business, he started his own business and he, and it was a restaurant and here is the truth. I’m gonna tell you people that are listening, here is the truth and you’re not gonna like it.

The truth is, your job that you have is in jeopardy all the time. You just don’t know it.

You just think everything’s great, but you don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes on what’s happening with the business’ cash flow, this or that. You could literally come in tomorrow and you could be [00:03:00] axed.

Out of a job.

The truth is, I as an entrepreneur know what’s going on behind the scenes. I’m working at home and I can see, holy shit, I’m not gonna, am I gonna have enough money to make the mortgage payment next month? Oh my God. Uh, I know before the shit hits the fan, you who are working for the man and think everything is great. The shit’s gonna hit the fan for you too. You just don’t know it. You don’t just, you just don’t know it.

Tim Melanson: No, I,

G. Scott Graham: Yeah.

Tim Melanson: Uh, like I used to work in high tech and uh, when I was working in that, in that cubicle job, the timing of it was just awkward. ’cause I started in 2000, the bubble bursted in 2000. So I went through eight years of layoffs, layoffs, layoffs, layoffs. So. me, that thing that you just said, that was always on my mind.

I was like, I’d get a paycheck for two weeks and I’d be like, okay, I’m, I’m good for two weeks. And then, and then another one. [00:04:00] I just keep on getting this so that I had that constant like that, that like fear of like, okay, I, I could walk in tomorrow. And they could be like, okay, well you’ve got your last paycheck, we’re going to maybe pay you a severance, maybe.

Unless they declare bankruptcy and then you’re really, really

G. Scott Graham: Right. Right.

Tim Melanson: but I, I was just talking to a friend of mine who’s still in corporate right now, and he’s one of the managers at his company. It’s a big, big company, and he literally said that, he’s like, if my employees knew what I know, like every time they go into a meeting, it’s.

Like, oh, you know, this is going on. We might have to let some people go and he has to make these really tough decisions. And meanwhile, everybody else is just blissfully going along with their life thinking that they have a stable job. Right.

G. Scott Graham: Right. Right. People

just, it’s like until they don’t. Right. They’re rock. That’s their rock. I have a friend who worked for

um, Amazon and in July he was replaced by ai. Right.

Tim Melanson: Yep.

G. Scott Graham: Boom came in like [00:05:00] 20 people in one day, were all let go.

And then like last month he said another like slew of people were all just let go.

He’s like, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I’m like, this is your opportunity, this seize this piece. They gave him a nice severance package. I’m like, you gotta develop something. Just don’t be, don’t be afraid. Don’t be worried. Take action so that you can re, this is not, you got 20 minutes to, I mean, 20, I mean, uh. Six months, they give a six month severance package to recreate yourself.

Do it, do it, Do it, do it,

Tim Melanson: I think the good news is that like, uh, I mean, hey, we were what, uh, you know, late, late two thousands when, when we decided to do this, and the world is very, very different right now it was then. I mean, you know, even with ai, I mean, one of those things that we have to think about is that, okay, fine jobs are being replaced by a AI because.

The business owner [00:06:00] is realizing that they can get a lot more done by using AI than they can with these people. So doesn’t that mean that us, as you know, solopreneurs or small businesses, can’t we do the same thing? Can’t we hire AI to do some of the parts of our business that maybe we don’t know how to do?

G. Scott Graham: Oh yeah, absolutely. And. Pa, every time there’s an iteration like this, Tim, there’s an O. There’s another opportunity. You just have to figure out what that opportunity is.

Right. So if you, if you were a, a copy editor and now you’ve been replaced by ai, well, I can tell you that AI is a shitty copy editor that

you need. There needs to be some sort of intermediary area there or some sort of manage the AI person. We never had a position called manage the ai.

Now there’s an opportunity for somebody to move in to manage the AI or interface with the AI along all of these pieces,

right?

Tim Melanson: I, I, so someone, uh, I was [00:07:00] just having this conversation. I have this conversation a lot ’cause I am my, I’m in tech. I, and so when it comes to ai, people are constantly like freaking out and scared about what AI’s gonna do and how it’s gonna replace all these jobs and, hey. Totally agree. Gonna replace a lot of jobs.

However, it’s also gonna create a whole bunch of jobs because, as you said, like ai, uh, uh, like in my, uh, knowledge of what AI is, it’s just code. It’s just code. It’s not a person. And it can take direction. if you’ve ever used ai, you know that it needs very clear direction. it’s not gonna do what you want it to do.

G. Scott Graham: Absolutely.

Tim Melanson: Who’s gonna give it direction, right? You, you, you know, you need people to be these AI architects, the AI directors, and you can’t just, like, I think people just don’t understand that you’re not just gonna like [00:08:00] put open up chat GBT and say, do all my marketing for me, and it’s gonna do

G. Scott Graham: Yeah, it’s not gonna happen. It’s not gonna happen.

Tim Melanson: you need a

G. Scott Graham: Um, right, right.

Tim Melanson: people that are losing their jobs, it’s because there is somebody that is a director of AI above them that is now directing the AI to do the things that you were doing when you just lost your job. Now the question is, can you do that and, be that

G. Scott Graham: Yeah,

Tim Melanson: a new company?

G. Scott Graham: right.

That’s exactly it. Yes. You know, as a side, as a side piece, and this is where I see another hole, this is gonna open up like AI therapists. Right. I’m gonna, I’m just gonna use AI therapists in a general kind of way. Gonna, and just gonna say, AI does therapy and AI is a therapist, and I know that there’s all this shit going on about it right now, but let’s just for the sake of matter, do this.

A a, a client of mine told me about an app called [00:09:00] Rosebud, and it’s a journaling app that is. That has an AI therapist kind of built in

and you can, you go in the back end of it and you program it on what kind of therapist you want.

Not nice or quiet. You can, you can go in and say, you know what, I’m in recovery from drugs and alcohol, um, and I need my AI therapist to focus on the 12 steps. Help me integrate AA philosophy into my life. And you’re gonna get an AI therapist like that. Everybody’s convinced. I’m actually working on a book now just for this. Hopefully it’ll come out in January, which is when this podcast is gonna my

gonna come out. So maybe this is your reading thing for the new year, if I have, if I keep my act together and get it published. Um, but what I think is gonna happen is that what we’re gonna see is. AI therapists that emerge. So instead of you going to therapy each week, you’ll go to at some point in the future, a therapist who has 80 people on their [00:10:00] caseload instead of 40 people on their caseload. And they’re working collaboratively with ai.

To make sure that you are getting the experience you need to get in between sessions, monitoring what’s going on, making sure you’re not gonna kill yourself, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That’s a really cool opportunity for therapists.

Right? Right. But now it’s like AI is gonna replace therapy.

It’s bad. It’s bad. It’s, it’s, uh, silly.

Tim Melanson: We, we’ve had, I mean, in, in every iteration of technology, it replaces some jobs. That’s the way it works. We, we

G. Scott Graham: Right.

Tim Melanson: efficient, we create this technology. So it’s the, it’s just the next iteration and it is gonna happen whether we like it or not.

G. Scott Graham: Yeah.

Tim Melanson: I think what happens though is that people, people are creatures of habits.

People tend to not, I. They, they tend to stay a little bit too long, right? In something that’s obviously [00:11:00] disappearing. And I mean, we, well, I mean we’ve here, up here in Canada, we have, you know, even our postal unions are freaking out because of whatever. And, and it’s just the world changes and sometimes we have to let go quicker of something that’s gonna disappear and move on to something that is emerging, right?

G. Scott Graham: Right.

Tim Melanson: I think the harm is gonna be in people going. Oh, AI is going to, you know, replace jobs, so I don’t want anything to do with it. That’s probably the wrong thing to do. That’s like saying, uh, you know, the internet is going to remove jobs, so I’m just not gonna go online. Right.

G. Scott Graham: Exactly

Tim Melanson: that leave you right now?

Right?

G. Scott Graham: right. Right. It’s, it’s like. And this is really important for people who are working or are working at home.

You have to be aware of the iteration that’s, that’s happening.

And you can’t be, you can’t be stuck in your habit

and be like, oh, I’m doing this, I’m doing this. And when the world wants that,

right? [00:12:00] If, if, if all you play as a musician is country music and the world doesn’t want that anymore, you know what? You have two options. Be poor and continue to play country music or learn some other genre that the world wants to listen to

and insert your personality into that.

Um, I am one of the, I don’t know if this is gonna happen.

I really don’t know. Be fun if it happened. You know, I’m, because my background is a drug and alcohol counselor, right? This

is, and so we, I, we have this wave that’s coming across the United States, um, in, of psychedelic therapy. Psychedelic coaching started in Oregon, which is where all these like weird things start and it’s spreading to the east.

And interestingly enough, our little crazy Maha, um, person that’s head of the Department of Health and Human Screws, he. Um, loves [00:13:00] psychedelic therapy. I mean, he’s got so many crazy things, but he loves, so we may, under this administration, find psychedelic therapies spilling out more around the United States. I don’t know if it’s gonna happen, but I’ve already positioned myself as a psychedelic therapy coach. So if that wave comes, I’m riding it. I don’t have to sit down and say, oh yes, now I’m this. I have written five books already on psychedelic therapy.

So when it comes, I can be like, I’m the expert. I’m not sitting down and saying, oh, I have to react to this now.

What am I gonna do? You should hire me. I’m an expert. No. I’ll be like, you know what? Three years ago I wrote a book on that.

Who are you gonna hire? Right?

Tim Melanson: Yep.

G. Scott Graham: Yeah.

Tim Melanson: So you’re keeping an eye on what’s coming down the pipe.

G. Scott Graham: Yeah, we gotta keep our eye on the pulse. If we’re working at home, we, you just have to, yeah.

Tim Melanson: I agree. Yeah, and, and I mean, I guess, I guess, uh, like especially now, it’s [00:14:00] so much easier to connect with other people that are in similar spaces and to get that education. Like, I mean, I think the. The main issue now is that it’s not that we have a lack of knowledge. It’s not that we don’t know what to do, it’s that we have a problem maybe with too much knowledge and implementing it properly.

Right?

G. Scott Graham: Right. Absolutely right. I I, I throw that out to folks all the time who come to me for coaching. I’m like, it’s not, the problem isn’t that you don’t know what to do, that you, you, everybody freaking knows what to do to lose weight,

right? That’s not the problem. That the, oh, we don’t need to know. I need a new diet.

It is following through and being accountable and being motivated and taking action and going out, running when it’s raining outside and, and, you know, um, and, and eating, not eating the donuts when you want to eat the donuts. All those pieces, it’s self-discipline and interestingly enough, that [00:15:00] whole thing of following through is the same thing that separates a successful.

Person at home from an unsuccessful person at home. The discipline piece,

Tim Melanson: Yeah, the discipline piece is huge. Now, I, I’m, I’m, I mean, not to get too much into the. Health and weight. However, our systems are set up with a lot of junk. Pretty much everything you buy at the grocery store is junk,

G. Scott Graham: absolutely.

Tim Melanson: it, I mean, it, it, it is a lot tougher right now. My wife and I, we’ve, we’ve actually lost a fair bit of weight and it was by taking out as much processed food as possible.

I’ll tell you. That is easy and hard at the same time, you know, just not eating processed stuff. I mean, you, you, you, you go shop at the farm and, and you know, your likelihood of getting processed stuff is less. However, that you eat at the grocery store, I, I look at the labels, there’s always something in there.

It’s, it’s nuts how bad the food supply is. It just is what it is. [00:16:00] And I, I think that, uh, having the, the discipline to just not eat that stuff is very difficult, especially considering everybody around you is also eating it and it tastes better, right. Uh, so it’s, it’s one of those things where, uh, I think that that’s a, a really difficult and also, Good way to, to build that discipline. Once you build it in one area, then it tends to spread into other areas too. So if you just pick something that you can, that you can be disciplined about, then chances are it’ll spill into other areas of your life, right?

G. Scott Graham: Absolutely. And you hit on a great piece where you just said, you know, there’s, there’s the, the, the people around us are all. Struggling with

that, you gotta switch the people that are around you. You have to, you have to. If you, if Tim, if you joined a running club or a yoga club or something like that, with, with those folks are probably less likely to eat, be eating processed food.[00:17:00]

Tim Melanson: You’re

G. Scott Graham: right.

And, and if you switch that piece, that’s gonna be a big thing that’s gonna help you in that direction of losing weight.

When I worked in substance abuse, all we would say to clients, uh, that came in, uh, and say we would say, you know, getting sober is, um, pretty simple and easy. You just have to change your whole life. Right.

Tim Melanson: Yeah.

G. Scott Graham: It’s really daunting, right? You gotta change your friends. You can’t go to bars anymore. You have nothing else to do that you used to do. You gotta change everything. Um, and it’s really daunting. That’s why so many people struggle to stay sober.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Well, I mean, and that’s just it. Like you, you, what is it the, you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Is that, is that how the adage goes?

G. Scott Graham: That’s how the adage goes.

Yeah.

Tim Melanson: so I mean the, like, if you’re looking for any type of success and you’re not getting it right now, then chances are it is because of those five people.

Like not, [00:18:00] it’s not their fault. It’s, that you haven’t put yourself around the people that are pulling you up, right?

G. Scott Graham: Yeah, yeah, yeah. There’s another adage that goes with that, and it says, if you wanna know what your life looks like five years from now, look at the people that you’re hanging out with today.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Yep.

G. Scott Graham: Right.

Tim Melanson: Now, uh, so something that, ’cause I, I, you know, I’ve, I’ve sort of been dealing with that five people thing for quite a while now, and people are like, yeah, but I can’t just cut my friends out. Like, what do I do? And I don’t think anybody suggests that you give them a call and say, listen, I can’t hang out with you anymore.

I think it’s a matter of like. Finding people that you look up to or that you, that have the life that you’re looking to, to have and just spending more time with them. And I’ve found in my life that when I do that and I find these people that are, you know, uh, where I want to be, then. The people that were in my life before will fall into two, two categories.

They will either just fall off because they just don’t want to do the things that [00:19:00] you are doing. Now with those people, they just sort of go, I don’t feel like doing that. Or they come with you. Some, some of them will. Some of them will be like, Hey, that sounds like fun. I, I’d like to go to this business summit, or whatever it is that you’re going to, you know, to improve your life.

Well. That’s cool. Now you’re not saying to them, I can’t hang out with you anymore. You’re just saying, I’m gonna go hang out over here. Come with me if you’d like. Right.

G. Scott Graham: Right that that you’re talking about is the core concept to this thing called the Mastermind group that floats out there, that coaches talk about. You see people saying, come and join our mastermind mind group. But you, if you’re listening to this podcast and you’re trying to do this at home, you can easily start your own mastermind group.

That’s what I did four or five years ago. I got sick of trying to find support and I was like, I’m not gonna join some coach and join their mastermind group and pay them a hundred dollars a week or [00:20:00] whatever to be able to do this. ’cause I know what I’m doing. And so. I was like, I’m gonna find some other people that are, are aligned with me and go with there.

And I, if I looked and I looked and I looked and I looked and I looked and I found one person, Bernie, um, and, um, and Bernie wanted to, it was like, I’m looking for somebody to work through. There was a book called, um, uh. Get hired now. Not get hired now. Yeah. No, it’s get hired now. It’s, it was a, it’s a step thing for people who are working at home on what you can do to network to kind of grow your own business.

Great book, by the way. Great book. And, um. and and he’s like, well, I really wanna work on this book. And I’m like, okay, I’m, I, I didn’t care what we worked on. We could have worked on Dr. Seuss for a book, um, and as a backup bone. And we joined, we did this. And it was just the two of us for like the first [00:21:00] couple months.

And then he found another person. Then I found another person

and then then those two people found another person, and some people came and checked it out. We meet every Monday at one o’clock. For an hour. Um, and then what, so he left, he’s not even involved in this group anymore. I’m still involved. I left, I came back.

Um, this group that we started has continued on. There’s people in it that are all over the country. Somebody in Wisconsin, somebody in New Jersey, and they’re all brought in by invitations of people in the group. Right now we’re using kind of a book called, um, the 12 week year, um, and we set goals for those three pieces, but it’s kind of shifted in the last six months. But the consistent thing is that we are together every week and we are all working at home or working on our own businesses or trying to start something. [00:22:00] And so we’re talking the same language and we can hold each other accountable. We can get cheery, cheer each other on, we can commiserate when there’s difficulties.

It’s

awesome.

Tim Melanson: That’s awesome. Well, and, and that’s the thing, right? I mean, one of the things that I do miss about the, the corporate lifestyle is that that water cooler talk, right? Where you actually have coworkers that you could hang out with and talk to, and you don’t get that work from home, and this is probably the best way to do that.

G. Scott Graham: Oh my

God, it’s so great. Yeah.

Tim Melanson: but, and not only that, but you get to choose the coworkers. ’cause that’s the thing, is that your employer chooses the coworkers who might not be, you know, the five people that you want. But if you’re creating your own mastermind, you get to choose who you bring into that group, and you get to choose people that are either already there or shooting towards the same, same thing.

Zero.

G. Scott Graham: Yeah, we have a facilitator every week or somebody’s in charge to keep us rolling [00:23:00] and um, we take turns. At doing that. And um, there, there’s been times when we’ve been really regimented. I think we’re gonna have to get really regimented again because we have, we got to the top of the hour last, this past Monday, there’s a new person in the group and we ran outta time and didn’t hear from her.

So the

person that was facilitating, you know, was didn’t, and I said, I really feel crappy that we, you know, didn’t get to the new person in the group on this piece. We stayed out, we stayed over like five minutes. But it was just that other people were really chatting, um, and the the group will fix that, right?

’cause

we’re, we’re, we’re talking about it and looking at it, that’s gonna happen. Um, and, uh, and so it’s, it’s a, it’s probably the most powerful thing that I have going on for my, um, life and business.

Tim Melanson: That’s awesome. So when we talk about like, uh, I mean, how do you find people in today’s noise? I mean, there’s so much going on right out there and, [00:24:00] uh, especially in social media. The audience is there, but how do you convert that audience into a fan?

G. Scott Graham: It is, it is never ending marketing. Never, never ending marketing as there’s al always if you’re, it’s the next thing that you need to do to just grow whatever is going on. Um, and so I’ll give you an example. When I, um, one of those five books that I’ve written on psychedelics. Two of them talk about, uh, using, um, a meditation TE technique called ana, which is focused on your breath.

And there’s a couple of like guided meditations on the internet about this. And so in the book, I’m like, gets to the section and I’m like, alright, if you’re having trouble practicing this or understanding this, just go to Google and search for Ana and find a guided meditation and use it. Well, like six [00:25:00] months ago, I’m like, well, fuck, this is stupid.

I’m sending somebody else away. I already know how to practice on upon a meditation. So I recorded five different on upon a meditations, two for beginners, three for experience at different lengths, 10, 20, and 30. And, um, now I’ve put those out on the internet and, and, and you think, oh wow. They, it’s like the work of marketing is never over.

So now I’m focused on getting those. On IMDB, you probably didn’t even know that You can get your podcast listed on I Is this podcast on IMDB.

Tim Melanson: I, I don’t, I don’t know. I’ve never heard of that.

G. Scott Graham: So IMDB is like a, is like Wikipedia for movies and

it’s, and, and it, and it’s now owned by that trusted company that we all love Amazon, who’s buying everything in the world. And, um, it wasn’t an, originally it was a separate [00:26:00] thing, but now it’s owned by Amazon and that is a piece that Google looks at. Like Google, if you, if you are, um, on Google and you are searching for something and, and Google thinks that you are important, it will create a thing called a knowledge graph or a knowledge panel for you. Like if you Google, I don’t know, president Trump. I’m not taking political sides here. I’m just picking something and, uh, you Google President Trump, you’re gonna get search results for him.

But above all that stuff, or off to the side, you’re gonna get key data from Google that talks about when he was born, where he went to school, when he was supposedly shot, and all that other stuff. Same. That’s Google thinks he’s important. So it’s serving that information up. If you are trying to get fans, you want a knowledge panel. So if you Google g Scott Graham, a knowledge panel should come up that lists my [00:27:00] books, has pictures, has all kinds of shit about me. And one of the things that Google looks at is Wikipedia. Crunchbase is another big one, and I am db. They’re considered, you know, valid verification that you’re the real deal and that you’re supposedly important. Um.

Tim Melanson: okay. So I, I, I, uh, I checked a couple things. First, I checked your g Scott Graham. That’s really cool. I know exactly what you mean by that knowledge panel. Now I, I was trying to figure out what that means. It’s, it’s, yeah, it’s just a, well, someone else can Google it and you could see what that means, but then I looked into IMDB and I, it’s weird.

There’s one of my episodes that’s on there, so I’m wondering, like this guy, was on my show. It’s, it’s Leonard, uh, Schneider Shiner. I mean, and he was on the podcast sometime earlier this year. I wonder how it just found that one episode, maybe he put it

G. Scott Graham: [00:28:00] He, he might have done something to put it up there ’cause he’s pushing it, pushing that piece. Um, that’s actually how I got. Initially on IMDB, there was a, uh, uh, some psychedelic show called, uh, t Late Night America with Ryan something or other. And, and, uh, and his was listed on there. And I’m like, I wonder if I put myself as a guest, if that would create a knowledge panel.

This is like the home, the home, you know, marketing stuff that you’re having to figure out because you don’t have a marketing department. Um, and boom, it created a an IMDB, uh. Profile for me, and then I’ve grown it from there. And then after I did this on Upon stuff, I thought, I wonder if I could create a page for the this on Upon a podcast. And IMDB would look at it and I, it’s on YouTube. So I think one of the things that has, that it looks for as a validity piece is like YouTube or Spotify or both of those to say that. you’re a real thing. Yeah. So [00:29:00] once you get that on there, then you, you know, you go in a little bit each day and add a summary and do this, and then you can get your own information on there.

And next thing you know here is Tim, the Wonder God, and here’s his sites and here’s, and then Google looks at that and is like, wow, this link for Tim is on IMDB.

Tim Melanson: I love that.

G. Scott Graham: Must be really important.

Boom. It pushes you up in everything.

Tim Melanson: Okay, well I’m gonna definitely do that. That’s awesome. on. So, uh, okay, so now let’s talk a little bit about the cashflow side of it. ’cause um, as you mentioned, like we do, we do this quite a

G. Scott Graham: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

Tim Melanson: right. And, uh, I think that stresses a lot of people out. It, is it something that stresses you out too, or is it just something that you roll with?

G. Scott Graham: It only stresses me out all the time.

Tim Melanson: Okay, so how do you deal with it then?

G. Scott Graham: Uh, part of it is, is just [00:30:00] not feeding it. Like, whenever we have problems, like problems are gonna come up for people. I talk

about this in coaching, right? You’re people are gonna die, you’re gonna get sick, you’re gonna be worried, you know, things are gonna come up. You can either accept it and that’s just the reality of what it is. Or you can fuel it. You don’t wanna fuel it, right? Think of somebody who goes down, they’re going down the highway and they cut you off, and they give you the finger.

Now there’s some people that are like, that person gave me the finger and that’s it. That’s that. They’re like, they, they might chase ’em down on the highway, give ’em the finger back, I don’t know.

But after that event is over. It’s over for them

now. There are other people who are bitching and moaning about that person 10 days later.

Can you believe what happened the other day? And this guy in this red car was going down the highway. He gave me the finger. What an

asshole. Like they’ve, they, that person just [00:31:00] wanted to give you the finger once and, and make you feel shitty once, and you have felt shitty for 10 days. You’ve been like, let’s be a partner on this thing and I’ll join you and I’ll feel crappy about it. Well, the same thing is true as you’re thinking about the cash flow of your business,

right? We were talking earlier that, you know the secrets. That you’re, if you worked for the man, they would never tell you.

Tim Melanson: Yep,

G. Scott Graham: You

just know.

Tim Melanson: Yep.

G. Scott Graham: and that’s, that’s really, and so you gotta have some equanimity about that.

Right? Um, a and there’s, there’s a phrase, oh, where it is. Hold on. Uh, I have this, this is my most favorite phrase in the whole world. It’s been up here for so long that this thing is done. It says, lemme get it right there. Um, and that’s a Buddhist term. It is yata.

And that phrase translates to, as it is,[00:32:00]

Tim Melanson: Yeah.

G. Scott Graham: not as you would like it to be as it is.

Um, and we could only master that boy, things would be so much easier.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. There’s, I think there’s a lot of faith in, in just about anybody who’s in entrepreneurship, because like, I mean, with this going on, I know for me it’s been one of those things where, um, you know, rather than, like you say, panicking about that, uh, oh, what I just lost a big client. What am I gonna do?

Right? And then you end up stuck in that. The, the other side of it is that, you know what I mean? Oh. If you, uh, if you put the work out there, if you, if you do the work to, you know, get out there and start to contact people, you’re gonna end up getting a yes eventually, right? it’s one of those things where if you’ve been in business for a while, like, like if you’re just [00:33:00] getting started, well then you’ve got nothing to go on.

But if you’ve been in business for a year, and I know that for me in my journey, I dunno if it was the same for you, uh, right off the bat. I mean, I, I, I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t get some business right away. It was just one of those things where you reach out to your, your, your network and all of a sudden you’ve got a little bit of business coming in because some people trust you and next thing you know, you’ve got something going on.

And then it’s like you run out of people that, that are in your, your main network. Right. And it’s

G. Scott Graham: Right.

Tim Melanson: Now what? So then it kind of goes down. That’s your first real drop is, is after you’ve already talked to the people that you currently know and that trust you, and now you’ve gotta get out there and do something else.

But the thing is, is that when you talk to the people that you knew, not everybody up with you, right? There was a, there was a

G. Scott Graham: Right. Yeah, absolutely.

Tim Melanson: that ratio tends to work all the time, right? I mean, and you could only get, I suppose you could get worse at it. Hopefully you’ll get better at it [00:34:00] proven that ratio.

And I think that that was the first bit of faith that I had was that I have a ratio, I have to talk to this many people in order for someone to say yes. So I just need to go out there and talk to that many people again to get another yes. And that’s where I think a lot of the faith comes in, is that that ratio exists.

It’s always gonna be there. I’m stressed out, but I just need to go out there and talk to another number of those people in order to get another Yes. Is that. Is that how it worked for you?

G. Scott Graham: That is absolutely true, and I think that’s absolutely true in everything. Um, you know, I was, uh, a couple of years ago, so the, a sidebar for this whole piece is that’s going on in my life and is that, um, when my husband Brian. Decided he wanted to start, um, uh, uh, a restaurant. Um, I took all of my money, everything, and we couldn’t get any money for him to start the restaurant. Um, and um, I had talked to my brother [00:35:00] and he wasn’t interested. Nobody was interested in giving money to start up the restaurant, and he was really down on his, on himself. And I really thought about this and um, and I’m like, I came home and I’m like, you can have all my money. Everything I cashed in my retirement fund, everything I cashed in and gave it all to him. And he said he was like blown away. He’s like, why are you doing this? And I said, you know, we’ve been together for 20 years. I would rather, I would rather, um, have you follow your dream and fail and end up living in a box down by the river, then deny you. And feel safe, and then you’ve never followed your dream. And, um, it was a bumpy road for many while, and then he died and then the, uh, his co owner of the business just screwed me out of the money. So I got no money for retirement. Zero. It’s all gone. It’s all gone. Um, nothing, not a penny. [00:36:00] And so at some point in the last couple years after Brian died, I got approached by Aflac.

They were recruiting, right? And it’s an independent contractor piece. And they were like, we’ll pay for you to get your insurance license and this is supplemental benefits. And I thought about this and I’m like, well, I’m already coaching businesses. This would be a nice thing to add on, right? Because the business supplemental benefits, you guys should provide insurance.

I can do. I can help you get your shit together and I can help you get insurance. And so I started doing that. And Aflac, um. Uh, motto is, or frame that they train people in, is that you have to get a hundred nos to get one. Yes.

A hundred nos.

To get one. Yes. that’s a lot.

of rejection, right? That’s a, you know, and they’re like, cold call, cold call.

It was like, it’s like horrible cold call. Hey, I’m calling to talk to you about B Ben. Hello. Hello. [00:37:00] Right.

Um. So I joined BNI. As

part of this BNI, for those who are, who are listening to this and are not familiar working, it’s a networking group that one per one profession, one person from each profession can join. So there can only be one realtor, there can only be one payroll person, there can only be one chiropractor in each group. And everybody focuses on helping grow each other’s business. Another kind of masterminding thing to do.

And so I knew right away I’m like, I’m not making a fucking a hundred phone calls and I’m joining BNI. And um, there’s a person in BNI, her name’s Cindy. I went and, and I knew her before ’cause I was in it as a coach and then I left ’cause it was not working out as a coach. ’cause I was, it’s a high ticket item. And I’m like, I bet I could join. And this person’s in payroll, she’s meeting with the people I want to meet with. And um, and so she has become [00:38:00] my work wife.

I stop and see her every Friday. I’m part of BNI. We talk all the time. She’s, we have become so close that I actually rewrote my advanced directive. Um, if you don’t have an advanced directive, you should have an advanced directive. Um, I rewrote my advanced directive and I listed her as one of the people that are in charge of pulling the plug if I am, um, a vegetable.

Um, and, uh, yeah, it’s been so. I dunno how we got onto that piece, but you gotta make a boatload of calls or figure out a way to get your referrals some other way. BNI has been tremendous for me,

um, because of Cindy. And we’re in this, we see that that’s been the connection that has happened because of that.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, I, uh, I was actually part of BNI. That was my, that was my initial, uh, funny story is that. After my friend list dried up, that was actually my next step is I joined [00:39:00] BNI and, and that, that actually started to, uh, to introduce me to more people. And you get a referral network through that. It’s very, very good that any type of like networking group is super useful, I think.

For sure.

G. Scott Graham: Absolutely.

Tim Melanson: So it’s time for your guest solos. Tell me what’s exciting in your business.

G. Scott Graham: What is exciting in my business, I think the, the, the, I’ve already talked about this piece, about psychedelic therapy. Um, so I’m, I’m pumping out books like crazy. Um, and so this is, I’ve really. Learn. One of the things you, you, that happens as an entrepreneur is that you hear these like myths. So I, I had, there was this myth that I bought into that you were supposed to write, um, an hour a day to get a book. It’s kind and, and I’m a musician also when I was in and I play the piano and there was this, like this thing where

you practice an hour a day. Right.

And, and that’s gonna help make you better, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it, I’m [00:40:00] sucked at it. I’m like, I absolutely, it was real. I, I was, I was so ridden with, I’m a failure.

It was not a good piece. What I discovered was that the way that I need to write is not an hour a day. I need to write when the passion strikes.

Then write like a bastard and just go and go and go and go and drink beer and eat Oreos and just be up all night and go and go and go and go and go and go and go. And then since I re and since I adopted that reality, what we were talking about, yata, BTA as it is. So instead of trying to change that, I embrace that and I’m like. Doing books and books and books and books because the passions. And then when the passion fizzles out, they throw the, set the book aside and wait for it to come back. Um, that has been brilliant for me. And so, um, I, as part of that piece, I’ve written like these [00:41:00] five books on psychedelic therapy and, um, and psychedelic coaching. And that is what I’m, I’m very passionate about because I think that that. For folks when that happens, I think it’s gonna happen. It’s gonna unlock stuff.

I just had a person call me, ’cause people, I can do psychedelic coaching anywhere in the country. Right? I don’t give people the psychedelics. I coach people before and after. So

these folks went out to Oregon and had their psychedelic experience and came back and they’re like, we are struggling with integration. And I’m like, I can help you with integration, which is taking what you learned and turning it into something pragmatic in your life.

Um, uh, and I can help somebody who’s thinking about going out to Oregon or Colorado or any of these other places doing an Ayahuasca retreat in, in Central America. I can help somebody. Get geared up and [00:42:00] prepare for that so they have an even better Ayahuasca retreat in the hills of Mexico.

Tim Melanson: Okay, so how do we find out more then?

G. Scott Graham: Uh, you can google psychedelic support coach.com. That’s where that’s at. Or you can just Google Gs Scott Graham and, and you’ll go down a rabbit hole of podcasts and videos and books. You’ll see. I think I’ve got, um, I’m working on my 32nd book.

Um, so this, um. There. And that’s, and that’s another income stream.

I’m shooting for a hundred. Um, and I’m gonna get there eventually. But, um, that’s, you know, a little here, little there.

That’s fuel my retirement.

Tim Melanson: So, Scott, I got the hardest question for you now. Who’s your favorite rockstar musician?

G. Scott Graham: Uh. Who is my favorite rockstar musician? Wow. That is, that is, I would say, David Byrne.

Tim Melanson: David [00:43:00] Byrne. Okay.

G. Scott Graham: Yeah.

Um, uh, yeah. No, I didn’t, I got the name wrong. It’s Alzheimer’s. Oh my gosh. This is what happens when you get over 60. Uh, just so you’re prepared, Tim, as you get as you age. So it’s not David who’s the, who’s the singer, who’s the lead singer of the Talking Heads?

Tim Melanson: Oh, the talking hits. Oh geez. I didn’t even know actually. Uh,

G. Scott Graham: Google that.

You better not say David Byrne after like shaming me,

like and saying, know who that is. It’s, that’s like the star, right?

Tim Melanson: talking heads is. Uh, let’s see here.

G. Scott Graham: I am gonna have to ask

Alexa or ci.

Tim Melanson: Eno.

G. Scott Graham: No.

Tim Melanson: No

G. Scott Graham: Now you’re

gonna pull my phone up.

Tim Melanson: Sarah David Bur

G. Scott Graham: is it David by

Oh, thank God I’m not Guy. It’s, I’m not the, I don’t have Alzheimer’s Thank [00:44:00] goodness.

Tim Melanson: Wow. Okay. Talking heads, I never got into the talking heads at all. I, I, I mean, I know cycle killer for sure, but that’s the only song I think that I know of them. So why do you, why do you like them?

G. Scott Graham: Uh, you know, um,

early in my career I worked for Outward Bound. And many of the other Outward Bound instructors were listening to the, the, the songs of, of the Talking Heads, um, at that time. And so I don’t think even, honestly, I don’t think it’s that I, it’s them. It’s that, that. Music is associated with a highly emotionally charged part of my life

that I really connected with deeply. And there’s some sort of, you know, ey, woobie sub, you know, piece that, that subconscious floating thing out there that when I listen to that song, it feels, those songs I feel really good because, I mean, I’m not actively reminiscing, [00:45:00] but, um, it’s, it’s a, that’s where it’s charged because of that.

Tim Melanson: That’s what I love so much about, especially cover music as, as well, like, I mean, I, I’ve, I have not written very much of my own music. I’ve mostly been doing covers for the last 25 years or so, and what I love so much about it is that you get to connect with other people’s memories through playing the songs that they connect with.

And so it’s like, it’s a very, very fast way to create rapport and to just create an environment with somebody. By working through the things that they remember. Hopefully they’re good memories because like, mean there are times when you’ll play a song that will actually give someone a bad memory as well.

’cause it, it, it kind of goes hand in hand like that Music really anchors something with you. And emotionally, if there’s something going that’s poor bad in your life that will bring it back, music will bring it back. Right?

G. Scott Graham: Right, right. We, I did that [00:46:00] with, um, Brian when we, we had specific vacation places that we went to, um, you know, um, Florida, California, new Orleans. And I made, we had playlists ’cause we went to those places multiple times. We had play, we had the New Orleans playlist that we had. And, um, you know, I’ve been to New Orleans like four or five times with him and listen to that playlist.

Now when songs come up from that

playlist. I am like, I can feel some, sometimes I’ll start crying because the

grief is still there. Um, and I’m wading through it still at five, six years later. Uh, and, and, and it’s, it’s a powerful hook that I created. I didn’t, I didn’t think this far ahead that

this was gonna happen. Um, and I’m glad I did it. I’m

so glad I did it.

Tim Melanson: That’s awesome. Well, thank you so much, Scott, for rocking out with me today. This has been a lot of fun.

G. Scott Graham: This has been great. Thanks, Tim.

Tim Melanson: Awesome. And to the listeners, make sure you go to [00:47:00] workathomerockstar.com for more information. We’ll see you next time on the Work At Home Rockstar Podcast.