Special Guest Expert - John Knox: Video automatically transcribed by Sonix

Special Guest Expert - John Knox: this mp4 video file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Brian Kelly:
So here's the big question. How are entrepreneurs like us who have been hustling and struggling to make it to success, who seem to make it one step forward only to fall two steps back? Who are dedicated. Determined, and driven? How do we finally break through and win? That is the question. And this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Brian Kelly and this is the Mind Body Business show. Hello everybody and welcome, welcome, welcome to the Mind Body Business Show. We have another phenomenal show lined up for you tonight. And that is because of the one and only and truly amazing. Mr. John Knox is going to be gracing this screen very, very soon. I cannot wait to introduce you to this fine young man who is on a mission. And I'm not going to give anything away. I cannot wait for you to learn what he is up to, what he's learned along his journey, and what what he's had to do to overcome certain things in his life to get where he is today. And that's what I love about what I get to do in this show, is about bringing forth to you prominent and successful entrepreneurs from all over the world, to help you to get to that next level in your business. That's what this show is all about. I extract the the secrets, the strategies, and all the value out of each individual that comes onto this show and that is on purpose, so that you can take notes and then take action and model their success. It's that simple. And that is what the mind body business show is truly all about. It is about what I call the three pillars of success. And these came about by way of my studying, just successful people. I focused on only successful people for about a decade, and what I learned over that time was these three pillars of success. These three common parameters kept floating to the top, and they're the very namesake of this show. Mind means mind set. So to a person, each of these very successful individuals had a very powerful, very positive and most importantly, flexible mindset. And then body.

Brian Kelly:
Body is that each of these and what we're talking about with successful people are there are some that I know personally, some I've worked with, some whom are my mentors, some whom I've never met, who I've just read from a book, authors, etc., others who are gracing stages all over the world, who I've studied those kind of people. And so, um, body literally means that these individuals took care of themselves and take care of themselves if they're still with us, both physically and nutritionally, and we're going to be hitting on that just a hair. Here tonight. I think this is going to be a good one. And then business business is multi multifaceted. And what these individuals had done to a person is they had actually mastered the skill sets that are necessary to build a successful business and not just build one, but then take those skill sets and build and then stack on additional skill sets, improve on the previous ones, and then scale one's business and grow it. Here's the thing that the entrepreneurs that come on this show are heart centered. They are here. They are successful because they help other people in their business. It's help driven everything. Every person I have met on this show over five years of interviewing entrepreneurs, that is the common denominator. They are not here to be money mongers. They're not just here to make the money. Money is important, don't get me wrong. And the transaction must ensue for them to continue to serve, to grow, to scale and then serve more people. So it's a wonderful cycle of serving, making money, serving, making money and growing. And so that is what the mind body business show is all about, these skill sets. I'm talking about that I just referred to a moment ago. Skill sets like marketing, sales, team building, systematizing, leadership. I could go on for quite some time. And I just want to help you out here real quick. And that is you're probably going, oh my gosh, I'm supposed to master every one of those. If you're an astute person, which I know you are, you realize that mastering any one thing can take thousands of hours of repetition, of practice, of work.

Brian Kelly:
The good news is you personally do not have to master every single skill set. Not even that small list I just rattled off a moment ago. In fact, if you just focused, your attention doesn't mean negate any other skill sets, but focus your attention on one skill set and you just keep that as your primary focus. Then all of the other skill sets will just they'll just meld together in a beautiful way. And if you want to know what that skill set is, just put it in the chat or I won't tell you what it is. I'm so kidding. I'm going to tell you that is the skill set of leadership. Once you are, you can even be on the path of becoming a master at leadership and that skill set, you don't have to have reached mastery all the way as you're doing it. You can then bring in other individuals who have already mastered those other skill sets that you have not, and maybe, possibly never will master due to just the time it takes to master each one individually. And that is how you can scale a business much faster. You do not want to do everything all by yourself. You want to bring in a team eventually, and the sooner you do that, the better. I just say that from experience. I was a solopreneur way too long, and once I realized I could do something much quicker and better, uh, I went after it with everything I had, and I hope you do the same. And so we, uh, another wonderful thing I noticed about these very successful individuals was also to a person. They are also very avid readers of books. Oh, and I have to, I have to I have to do the shameless plug. This is recently released my own book called Mind Body Business. Wow. Where did that title come from? Actually this book, I started writing this over ten years ago, and the title of this book is what inspired this show. The show has been running for over five years. The book just got released a couple of months ago, and you can get this at Mind Body Business book.com, and there you'll see Amazon and Barnes and Noble links.

Brian Kelly:
Go get it on Amazon because we get better ratings there. And that's a wonderful thing. But these individuals were very avid readers of books. So with that, I want to segue into a little segment very briefly that I affectionately call bookmarks.

Announcer:
Bookmarks. Born to read. Bookmarks. Ready. Steady. Read. Bookmarks. Marks brought to you by reach your peak. Library.com.

Brian Kelly:
There you see it? Reach your peak. Library.com. Now, a quick word of advice. This is for you. This is not for me. And that is when you watch this show. When you listen to this show, if you're listening on podcast, then please, I implore upon you to take out a pad of paper or some kind of note taking device and take notes. And what I mean by that is like in this case, write down reach your peak Library.com instead of clicking on another tab on your computer or device, or your tablet or your phone and going off to research it. Why would I say take down notes and don't run off and research it? Because the magic happens in the room. And that is when John Knox gets in here. Not when I'm here, but when John Knox is in here, which is right after this, he's coming on. I would not like this to happen to you. And that is you take your focus away. You're going in researching something that you shouldn't be doing at that moment because Brian just told you not to. And John says something that could potentially change your life forever, and you may miss it because your focus is elsewhere. I learned this from speaking from stage many years ago when I first started speaking from stage, and I would see somebody get up and walk away, go to the restroom, look at their phone. They had a message they had to they had to take. And I know being the presenter, I'm getting to that really juicy part that could help them. And I started realizing maybe I better pre-frame folks and let them know. Look, keep your focus here. If you need to hit the restroom right now and you're watching us live, go take care of it. Quick, quick, quick. Because I'm bringing on John in just a moment and then come back and be present and focused and take notes. Visit these resources after the show is over. Sound good? Because I do have a prize to give away at the end of the show. If you're watching live, if you're not watching live, you should be.

Brian Kelly:
You should go to the Mindbody business Show.com click on any of those where and how to watch buttons. You'll see many of them on the on the page register. All we do is we send you an automated reminder the moment we are about to go live with the link to join us. It makes it super simple. Then you can enter to win. What is it? It's a five night stay at a five star luxury resort, and these are from resorts all over the world. You get to choose. They are phenomenal. You do not want to miss out on that. So join us live. If you haven't watched live lately, jump on and watch so you can enter to win. And I see we do have some people viewing right now. Great. You'll have that opportunity. All right. Reach your peak library real quick. What is that? It is a website that I had my team put together. Really, and I don't I kid you not. This was with you in mind. Our viewers or the people watching this show. And that is it is a library of books that yours truly has read and vetted. Now, I didn't start reading voraciously, hardly at all until the age of 47. That was about 13 years ago. I'm pausing. So you can do the math. Yeah. That's right. I'm 60. That's awesome. I wear it on my sleeve. I'm proud of it. Every year is a victory. Seriously, I'm not kidding, I love it. And then, uh, as I was reading these books, finally I started reading them like, my gosh, they're having a massive, profound impact on me, either in my personal life or my professional life or even both, most often both. And so those books that had that impact on me, I said, put that one on the website, put the next one on the website, here's another one. And my team would put these on here. And these are all here for you to just choose a book. The next one on the list that jumps out there in no rhyme or reason. They're not alphabetical.

Brian Kelly:
If you've been watching them scroll as you're watching live, you'll see they're not alphabetical. They're basically put in kind of as I read them, uh, there's no actual rhyme or rhythm to them, so just scroll. Find the first one that really jumps off the screen and go get it. And look, you don't even have to buy it from this website. This is not for Brian to make money. This is for Brian to offer you a resource that can help you to grow your own business. So if you like to go to a physical. Say a Barnes and Noble bookstore to get your books, just note what book you want. To go get. Head on over and get the physical book from there if you just want. Convenience. Click the buy here button. It'll whisk you away to Amazon so it's up to you. No big deal. E-myth revisited. That's a great one. I need to put my own book on here pretty soon, huh? I think that'd be a good idea. Okay, so that is that that is a resource. Truly a gift to all of you. Uh, from yours truly. And I hope you get a lot of value from that. Speaking of a lot of value, it is finally time for Brian to slow his roll and bring on the guest of the hour. Do you want to? Do you want to see who that is? You all know who it is, right? John Knox he's coming on. Here we go. Once I get her up. Here we go. John, are you ready? It's happening right now.

Announcer:
It's time for the guest expert. Spotlight. Savvy. Skillful. Professional. Adept. Trained. Big league. Qualified.

Brian Kelly:
And there he is, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, it is the one, the only John Knox. How you doing, buddy?

John Knox:
Good. How are you?

Brian Kelly:
I'm living the dream now because we got you on the show. We're live. Uh, you're you've got a great background. Not just the one behind you, but your background of your life, your experience. I see a firefighter helmet back there. My brother was a retired fire captain. I have nothing but mad respect for all of you first responders, military, you name it. I love you guys and gals. You're amazing. Uh, John, would you mind if I just open this up by giving you a quick introduction that I would say that you deserve, so that folks can get a little bit of a glimpse into your background and why you're here tonight. Yeah, sure.

John Knox:
Woo hoo!

Brian Kelly:
All right. John Knox is a 23 year LA city firefighter paramedic. Emergency medical dispatcher. Just thinking of what my brother went through to do all that. It's. Thank you for doing all this, John. He is the founding board member and officer of firefighters for Freedom Foundation. The foundation is currently working to stop the unconstitutional vaccine mandates imposed by the City of Los Angeles, and to restore the right to work through freedom of choice and body autonomy. Since being terminated from the fire service for standing up against the mandates, it has allowed John to put more time into his organization. He is also pursuing his own endeavors and getting and got to reinvent himself. After being in public service totaling over 34 years, he is now working as a private consultant in the disaster management space, doing consulting for nonprofit startups and also doing public speaking and coaching for individuals in that space as well. It has also allowed him time to start. Yes, I love this part. Writing a book. He's on his way. He's going to be publishing his own book here. So with that, I want to welcome formally and officially to this wonderful stage, Mr. John Knox. How are you doing, my friend?

John Knox:
I'm good. Brian, how are you?

Brian Kelly:
Oh, man, this is going to be awesome. So I want to I like to open everything up with mine, which is the first word in the show's name. And that is, you know, I learned at a very late age, around 47 ish, when I started reading at the same time, coincidentally, that our mindset is really what gives us the result we have. It has nothing to do with anything else. The mindset will then drive your actions. So for you, you know, you had you had probably a very stressful position with all of those things. We just named off firefighter emergency medical dispatcher. Uh, what was the other one? Paramedic oh my gosh. It's like, that's a lot. That's a lot. You're dealing with mangled bodies and and high intense situations on a regular basis. That was your job in limited sleep. When the the sound, the horn goes off and you're woken out of a sleep after you got one hour, maybe if you're lucky and you're going out there bleary eyed. So God bless you and everything you've done and appreciate that. But I can only imagine, you know, having that experience and now being an entrepreneur and a coach in that space, when you get up in the morning, you know, you you now know, having been through this entrepreneurial space, that not every day is all just rose petals and, you know, light, fluffy clouds and wonderful little, little, um, petals or poodles and dogs and fun, fun fluffy stuff. It's it's like it's go time. We gotta get busy. And there's challenges every single day. It's like it never ends. That's the life of an entrepreneur. So for you, when you get up and you're coming to, you're gaining consciousness and you see and you know, and you start thinking about what's happening, what's going to happen for that day, and you know, there are going to be some arduous tasks that are going to be some challenges to overcome, some things to solve. For you, what is keeping you driven day in and day out to keep going? Yet another day? What is that motivating factor for you going on in that big, beautiful brain of yours?

John Knox:
Um, I probably have to say, at this point in time, the lack of leadership in our country, in the world, really? Um, when you look around at the the world stage, we really are truly lacking in leadership. And so for me, every day when I get out of bed, you know, it's being able to put my feet on the ground is is a blessed event in itself. Um, because we're here for a short time. And so I think what we do while we're here is extremely important. Um, you know, uh, you mentioned being in public service for 34 years and 31 years. I don't even know a long time, um, and and I always, you know, as a first responder, you know, I've been again in law enforcement, in the fire service, and I've done a lot of different things. And that being said, there always seems to be some sort of security blanket, like, you know, I know I'm going to have a check. I know that I'm going to a family is going to be taken care of. I'll have a pension. You know, all of those things that are allow you to really go out and, and do your job for the public and not think about those stressors, right. So with that being said, um, where I stand now, I've realized that that's all a myth. Um, any can be taken and stripped away from you, and I'm a perfect example of that. So when my feet hit the ground, um, you know, all of that happened because of a lack of leadership in the fire service, in the cities, in the country, all the way around. Um, and so to me, that's really the driving factor. How do I, as John Knox, create? Better leaders. And it starts with leading by example. So that's you know, when I get up that's what I think about what is it that I have to do today to go out. And whether you know it affect one person, all it takes is one person to change. Right. To step into that space that they didn't think they could do. Um, and so, you know, now, the beauty of it is, is that I've realized, you know, that that the life I was living before was was a lie. Uh, the freedom that I thought I had was a lie. I was living under the illusion of freedom. And now you know I have the ability. Every day when I get up to actually create that and to, you know, it doesn't rely on anyone else. It's me. Sink or swim.

Brian Kelly:
That is powerful right there. I've been through similar things when I was in the corporate world too, and not for for completely different reasons. But I don't know how many layoffs I've been through with different companies. And it got to the point where I said, what am I doing? You know, I have no control over my destiny this way. Like, you're exactly right. You feel the security blanket while you're there and then smack it hits you and you go, wait a minute, that's not so secure, and then go to the next one. It's like, okay, I'm starting to feel snuggle down, get a little secure, and then it's whack. Like, wait a second, it happened again. And that's the realization you just said it is. You don't have real control over your own destiny. You can do that as an entrepreneur. And I think we're seeing more and more people flock to entrepreneurship for that reason, because of things that happened to you would be one. And and folks like you where you are mandated to take a jab. You said, I'm going to push back on that. And they said, get out. It's like, give me a break. That is ridiculous. And then, you know, people that are just going through hardship now because of the economy and companies are failing left and right. And so people are out of work and they're now starting to flock. It's like, look, I want to do my own thing and, and be my own boss and call my own shots. And then when they get there, like you did, John, was there some kind of realization like, Holy moly, this is a lot different than punching a clock and having someone else do all that other stuff on top the administration, the hiring, the firing, the, the managing, the marketing, everything that goes with it. There's quite a wake up call. At least there was with me. Did you notice that as well?

John Knox:
You know, I mean, I've had businesses throughout my career, even in the fire service and so on and so forth. I mean, I started out young as an entrepreneur. You know, I think one of the first books that really, um, engaged me was Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. And that was one of the first books I read. I think I read that well, I won't say the first books I read, you know, other than Doctor Seuss. Um, but, um, stepping outside of the Cat in the hat. Um, I think that book, probably around the age of 19 or 20, really, um. Gave me some good insight that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. Um, but then, you know, and I did and I had companies and was successful, um, in, in some of those and, you know, some of them weren't so successful. That's the nature of business, right? Um, but then I got into, you know, because of skill sets that I had and so on and so forth. Um, you know, I grew up in a law enforcement family, and that's all I ever wanted to be was a police officer. My dad was LAPD. Um, and so I went down that path, and then later on, a friend of mine that I went to high school with basically said, man, your your resume is insane. You know, you should really come to the fire department. And I was like, I never even thought about that. And so one thing led to another, you know, um, I was already a paramedic, and, and I then I jumped ship and went from the dark side to the to what I thought was the great side. Um, and don't get me wrong, it was a fantastic career, I loved it. Um, and I truly do miss it. There's a lot of things I miss in it. Um, and there's definitely things that I don't miss about it. Um, but. Yeah. So, you know, I. Back to your original question Um, did I realize there's a lot of work in being an entrepreneur? Yeah, I knew it was. But again, you know, nothing comes easy, right? If it is, there's usually strings attached to it.

Brian Kelly:
Yeah, yeah. And it it's interesting, you know, when I made that transition and it took me a while to learn all the different moving pieces that involved that were involved in creating a successful business. And it was a journey, uh, specifically, you know, especially coming from a very regimented corporate background and basically kind of breaking those shackles of thought patterns that I was as an employee to now, okay, I'm an owner. I got to think differently. And it took some time. Now that it's all kind of in place and the work doesn't get any easier, there isn't any less work to do. But I am overjoyed, happy to get up and do it every day because I'm never bored. Not once. I mean, there's always something. A new challenge. Uh, every single day. There's something else. Another issue to solve, and that's almost the definition of an entrepreneur is a problem solver. Absolutely. Yeah. So you're signing up to do nothing but be faced with issues and problems if you want to become an entrepreneur, which is probably why so many people, the larger percentage of the population, do not ever embark on it. Plus, you need to have inherent risk taking ability or desire to or be okay with taking some risks. You never take risks that would absolutely decimate your entire portfolio or your financial picture. If you have a family, just you just do things responsibly, but you do take minor risks along the way. I just love the sheer, um. I love the variety. I love the variety of hats I get to wear, and then I will. I've nurtured one of my team members to grow and become a manager. I've been stepping away from that role and just having a blast doing it. Having that person manage another individual that do what I used to do, and I can now grow the business instead of, you know, build inside of it. And it's just been a wonderful journey. Yeah. And you're now into a whole different, um, kind of offshoot. You're now coaching people in a in addition. So if you wouldn't mind, I would just love to hear more in detail what it is you're currently working on. What is your your current, uh, passion? Who is it that you're helping? You know, what is your demographic of individual? Is it male, female? Certain age group? Is it single person versus a entire corporation or a team within one? What is your current model and what are you doing today to go out and serve people? Because I know that's what you're doing.

John Knox:
Yeah, actually, I think it's good. Um, you know, I mean, honestly, I have a servant's heart, right? Um, I think anybody. Um, well, I won't say anybody because there are some you mentioned some key tenets and stuff in, in, uh, in good leaders, in successful leaders. Right. But there's differences between success and then greatness, right? Um, so that's one of the things that in one of my courses that I've been writing, um, uh, we talk about that. Um, and so who am I helping? What am I doing? Um, I mean, being in in public service in, like I said, you know, in as a first responder for 30 plus years. Um, you really doesn't matter whether you're just a firefighter or you're a paramedic or you're a whatever position you hold, you're still in a position of leadership, right? Because when you call 911 right. It's the worst day of your life. It doesn't matter whether you're your toilet exploded and you have no idea what to do. Right? Because we get that it it or you're having a heart attack or you were shot or it doesn't matter, right? When when I got on scene, when we get on scene as a first responder, my job is to take over that scene and manage it, to make sure that whatever your need is, I have a solution for it. I have to figure that out. So you're the ultimate problem solver. And when I get there, I don't have the ability to pick up a telephone and go, hey, 911, this is 911. I need an answer. Give me a solution. It doesn't work like that. So as a first responder, you're really in a leadership role no matter what you're doing. Yes, you have higher ups and stuff, but you have to make critical decisions. And a lot of times they're their life saving decisions, right? They're life altering. Or they can be. So, you know, moving out of that space that I've been in for so long, um, and the chaos, you know, it's been now, I've been I was placed off of duty in December of 21. I was finally terminated last year at Thanksgiving.

John Knox:
Um, and now I look back at it and it's like, thanks for giving me a fantastic present. Um, in a lot of ways, you know, um, it's taken me some time to really figure out what it is that I want to do. What I what is my purpose, right? Because it's a very difficult thing and it's very personal for everyone, our purpose here on this planet. So a lot of introspection and things have to go on for that. And, you know, it's come to my attention to my light through, you know, uh, prayer and meditation and, um, you know, uh, conversations that I really flourish helping people. And so I've moved into that space now of, you know, um, I've done over the past three and a half years, I've, you know, done tons of public speaking. Um, you know, ReAwaken America tour. I've been on stage with over 10,000 people. Um, you know, live streaming to another 3 to 500,000. Um, just so I've been on some big stages, I've talked with incredible people, have my connections that I have are unbelievable. Um, and so I've made a lot of great friendships and learned a lot. And then out of that I've like, wow, you know, I'm running. You know, I started, um, a kind of like a beta test, small group type thing for, uh, leadership and men. And one thing led to another. And what I really found and you're asking. This is a long winded answer to your question.

Brian Kelly:
That's fine. Absolutely fine.

John Knox:
But what I've really found and what I've noticed, especially in the past three years since Covid, is that the world is truly lacking Leaders, um, and leadership. And so what I found throughout the whole medical freedom movement and everything is that women really stepped up to the plate, you know, um, because a lot of this affected their children. And, you know, you had all of these mama bears and whatever, right, that are stepping up to the plate and, and getting embattled in a lot of these fights. And, and my question always was, where are the men? Because the women are supposed to be, you know, and I don't want this to sound misogynistic or whatever, but usually the women are rearing children, right? They're teaching. They're they're nurturing individuals. They're not at the forefront fighting, slaying giants and doing those types of things. That's what we are supposed to be doing as men, right? And we work together, husband and wife, you know, whatever in that space to create a good, solid family. And in reality, what we've seen is a destruction of that in this country. And so getting back to that, what I found is that men feel alone, um, they feel like they're on an island and I call it the lone wolf syndrome. Um, because all these guys, you know, literally are out there, and they think that all of the crap that they're going through is there. No one else is experiencing this? This is my you know, I'm Atlas and this is my thing to carry. And that's a bunch of bullshit. Um, pardon my French, but you know it. It's a lie. And society has created a facade that if you have emotions, you cry. You. You come from the heart instead of the head, that you're a weak individual, you're a weak man. And and it's absolutely backwards. They've done it to basically shackle you and to keep you a slave. And so I've moved into the space now where I'm doing, uh, coaching with men who are leaders, but at the same time aren't able, haven't been able to figure out what it is that is holding them back. And so that's where we dive into, you know, a lot of introspection, work, journaling, um, and really looking at the boundaries.

John Knox:
You know, there's some things through an interview process that you have to do to be able to, to work with me. And I do groups as well, because I really don't. I mean, I will do one on one coaching, but ideally it's designed to be in a group so that you know that you're not alone. Right. You have that wolf pack. You have that ability to talk to other men without being weak. Um, and so, you know, it's it's a it's an ever evolving process. You know, some of the things you said about when you were talking about your books and stuff in your library is leaders. I mean, the we're on a lifelong quest for knowledge and to and really to better ourselves. And if you are at any point you think that you know it all or that you know you are the end all, be all, um, as a coach, as a leader or whatever. You've got it wrong and everything around you will come crashing down. And you know, the truly great leaders are always inspired by other leaders, are always inspired by the people around them and want to, you know, do better for others, not themselves. Right.

Brian Kelly:
So, absolutely. Yeah. And there's so many awesome books on this topic. You know, leaders Eat Last and, uh, my gosh, I can't even think of all of them. But there are many that reach their peak library.com. But they're all over. Just go to Amazon, look for leader books on leadership. Uh, what is your book going to be about? Can you divulge? Reveal?

John Knox:
Yeah I can. Um, you know, it's it's interesting. Um, I've always kind of said, you know, especially over the past 3 to 5 years. Well, actually, longer, I'm going to say eight years that that I've got quite a few books that I could write. Um, but I never really realized or thought of what I wanted to write. Um, and so I what inspired me to write the book that I'm currently writing right now, um, again, is I'm a big history buff. I really enjoy history. But Covid truly opened my eyes to history. I've gone down a lot of rabbit holes and I've gone down a lot of rabbit holes. We'll say since about 1988. But the name of my book currently, right now as it sits, excuse me, it's called True American History. Everything you've been taught is a lie. Ooh. Um, and it could probably be about 50 different books, so it's really difficult to write, I'll bet. Um, because, I mean, I the outlines and everything are there, but every topic inside of it literally could be its own book. And so in writing this, I had to sit back and think, well, how do I there's so much I don't even have the ability to, you know, to do it justice. So how do I put this on paper. And and I just realized, okay, you know, I've got my chapter titles and what they're going to be, and I just start writing on that, and I hit the highlights on these topics. And in reality, I think that, you know, we're spoon fed a lot of stuff, and I like doing research. And I'm not saying everybody does, but when you, you know, society in general has been trained, um, to go to work, you know, get on that hamster wheel, go do your thing, you know, you're tired when you come home. You want to sit down on the couch, crack your beer, watch dancing With the stars or whatever. Show's on now, you know? Right. Um, and then in the weekend, you spend time with your kids or running from game to game or whatever, right? And you get in this horrible, repetitive cycle. And that's not how it's supposed to be.

John Knox:
Um, and so it has taken you turn on the TV and you watch the news, which is really television programing, right? Um, yeah. So, so down that thought process you're really being programed on. What to think, what to buy, what to eat, what to look like. You know what? Everything. Keep up with the Joneses. And it's taking all of your your sovereignty away. And so my thought process was in writing this book. Hey, let's give you some pieces of this and then pique that curiosity. And then you start doing the research. And, you know, the house of cards is falling right now from the standpoint that you're realizing Covid really shed a lot of light on the lies that have been propagated to us. Right. And so everybody's seeing that now. And the powers that be, if that's what you want to call them, that have been in control for so long, have really done that because they didn't have the information era, right? Um, we had the Dewey Decimal System, right. And you had to go and have conversations with people and so on and so forth. And, and you really had to do a lot of research. Now you can get on, you know, your little computer here, right. And and literally I wouldn't necessarily use certain search engines because you have to go down 30 or 50 pages deep to start finding actual stuff. But, I mean, you can go to the Library of Congress sitting in your living room, right? And, and do research. No problem. You can find things. And there's a lot of people that have done research. And so you can look at what they're talking about and start, you know, Forming your own decisions, right? And your own thought process. I think that's one of the things that was really wiped out is, is critical thinking. Yeah. They don't want us to critically think, right.

Brian Kelly:
They do it for us. And yeah, I was glad you you took my question right out of my mouth. That was awesome. Which was because I experienced this, especially when it was at the height. I think it was during the last election time when I started doing searches on one of those big data, um, search engines that every single person is their default one at the moment. And I noticed that it wouldn't even give me an answer anymore on a topic that it didn't like. And I'm like, what? What is going on? And then I started thinking, well, where can I go to actually get information on this? That's I don't want to see if it's right leaning or left leaning. I just want to see what the truth is. I want the Walter Cronkite version. You know, the guy who used to come on and just say it like it was. I hope then, you know, now it's it's to the point where. Myself, yourself and so many people are questioning every single piece of information we see. Now, you know, we have AI that's out there and we look on social media. We can't even tell if an image is authentic anymore. And so you don't know where the truth is and where the lie starts, or vice versa. It's getting really confusing in that way. And it's frustrating is what it is. It's like, I just would like to find the truth and not all this one side weighted information and the rest has been filtered out because they don't want you to see it, or for whatever reasons. It's just gotten ridiculous. And this isn't conspiracy theory. This is this is actual looking for something. I know it happened. I know it exists, and I can't find a thing on it. Oh come on.

John Knox:
Fact. Yeah.

Brian Kelly:
Yeah. So I like to use. Yeah. It's just sad. You know what? Everything that happened with Twitter and then the turnover, which, you know, it was an improvement in my opinion. But, uh, it's just a lot out there about this and that, and there's proof of so many things that were happening to basically sway people's opinions, especially during I just wonder what's going to happen in the next couple of months, what's the next plan? But it's it's crazy. You just can't trust, uh, mainstream information anymore. I'll call it that. Like mainstream media. Oh my gosh. You go to five different major news stations, and if you were to record them all, you would hear them recant word by word, the same exact thing, like somebody's scripting all the news and feeding it to all the outlets that never used to happen.

John Knox:
Well, there's a reason, you know, and I'll just touch on it briefly because we could go on forever on this, but it's propaganda and it's 100% legal in the United States now. It used to be illegal to propagandize American citizens based on something called the Smith-mundt act. Back in, I think it was 1947. Well, in 2013, uh, Obama was the president at that time, and he created the Smith Monk Modernization Act. He brought it in. And basically what that did was say that they could use propaganda on American citizens. And so it spread throughout schooling and everything since that time. And it's perfect. There's nothing, you know, that that is illegal with it until that gets repealed. Um, which I would hope someone would do because we're living in, you know, a weird time.

Brian Kelly:
Extremely weird and concerning, uh, in so many fronts and, um. Yeah. So I want to. So you're, you're doing Phoenix Rising to help people with leadership. So real quick, his website is p r l PRL coach. So Phoenix rising leadership coach. Let me see if I can get. So I'm looking at my wonderful. There we go. That's it. I figured out my issue. So, um, I was having fun before we got started with, uh, certain things not working on my platform here, but PRL coach. Coach. So it's not.com, it's dot coach. And as we are speaking here, sitting here now, the website is still under construction. Just know that there is a contact form in there. Is that operational?

John Knox:
It is absolutely. Yeah. Um you can go put your name and your email address in and it will, uh, subscribe you to our newsletter. Um, and then as soon as the site is up and running, uh, 100%, then you will get an email from us that states, uh, we are in full operation on that. Um, so, uh, with the, the lovely nature of tech, uh, as you know. Um, yeah, it's it's it's still being built. Uh, but it should be, I would say within the next week, uh, finished.

Brian Kelly:
So that's pretty good. That's pretty quick. Yeah. And here's the thing. Uh, you know, a lot of people go, what do you mean? It's under construction. Every business I've ever been involved in is always under construction. Absolutely. And, you know, there are things called rebranding because, uh, yeah, I love this topic. So you start out and you're in, let's say you're in a ship and you start out course and you know where your destination is. But after a while it starts drifting off course. You realize it. You see that? Oh, wait, now it's way over there. It should be right in front of me. I need to alter course to aim right back at what my goal, my destination, is. And that's really exactly what you're doing at this very moment with this transition into your website that's under construction. Well, guess what? You'll get on course for a while. Not you. Just you, John, but everybody. You'll be on course, and then the wind will shift and it will push you off course a little bit. Guess what you're going to need to do is alter and correct course and redefine your business yet again and further refine it. Always improving. Always improving. Always. That's what I love about entrepreneurship. You never get. There's never a stagnant moment.

John Knox:
It's just you said something earlier that that I wanted to touch on. And I think it's really crucial is that there's a saying. Right. Complacency kills. Um, and so to me, you talked about it and it was it's comfort, right? Everybody gets in this comfort zone and I'm, you know, was was in that space 100%. You know, as a public servant, I was comfortable. Right. I yes, my job was stressful and so on and so forth. But, you know, after a period of time, again, it's no different than going to work and punching a stapler or doing whatever it is. Right? You you're very comfortable in that position and you don't want to rock the boat. Um, and so, uh, comfort builds complacency and complacency kills. And in, in my line of work, that could be, you know, literally happen, right? If I'm not focused and paying attention and and I'm complacent, I could walk into the wrong situation. And, and if you step outside of that barrier, though, and you go to, um, you know, just to any, any, any other business, right? In the business world, you're comfortable, right? You don't want to rock the boat. You know, you're just kind of. But you get in. Once that comfort sets in, you become complacent. And then that that killing doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to kill you in the sense that you think. But what happens is it kills your ambition. Yeah, it kills your drive. It kills your goals, right? Things that you were striving for before. And so the whole idea really is you need to always be in a state of uncomfortability.

Brian Kelly:
Yeah, I'm not even going to try that one. You did pretty good.

John Knox:
You want to be uncomfortable, right? You don't want to be in that position of comfort. And you can do that yourself in, in. And there are ways to do that.

Brian Kelly:
Um, so glad you said all that, because that's key to success in a business like it's absolute key. You just mentioned earlier that you spoke in front of many thousands of people, many people that hear that would say, I'd rather go to my grave than do that. And that is an actual fact. When polled people fear public speaking more than they fear death itself. And that is one of those areas where you are uncomfortable when you first do it for the first time. And the second and the 20th and the 30th and the 99th. The beautiful thing is, and you were touching on it, there's somebody coined this phrase that just goes right down the middle of the the plate of what you were just talking about, and that was get comfortable with being uncomfortable. And the point is, is to stretch yourself to a point of discomfort as often as you possibly can. That includes committing to say, I am going to speak in public by this date and put it in writing, and now you have to work toward that goal because you made a contract with yourself. And I'm going to I'm going to pick up a phone and make that that horrible sales call and ask somebody for money, you know, because a lot of people fear rejection. And what you'll find is after repetition, that fear goes away. You get more comfortable with it. You get more confident, more, uh, public speaking. I've done it, and I'm always nervous before I go up on stage. I'm jacked up, though. I'm excited. I mean, and all of it together. I love it in the beginning. Mindset. Yes. Right. And it's getting it's getting the right mentors in your in your hip pocket. I was told one of the greatest tips I was given I'm an NLP certified master practitioner, all this stuff. So I got the mindset stuff down. Doesn't mean I'm perfect. I'm always learning. In addition to that, I'm getting ready to go on stage. My mentor, from whom I learned NLP from I was getting ready to go on. He noticed that I was a little bit, you know, tense. I was getting ready.

Brian Kelly:
I was like getting jacked up. And and he said, um, just remember, don't think about how you or what you're going to say to them. Think about how they are going to be different because of you. Mhm. And I'm like wow. When you when you take the vantage point out away from you and turn it back on from the audience and what you are there to provide to them. I was like, that's a whole different picture. And the next thing was take a big deep breath and let it out. Those two things. And you go up on stage and you're amped. You're for the first five seconds. Maybe there's still some of that, and then it's just all adrenaline and let's go, baby, let's have some fun and and help save people or serve people and and get them to the next level depending on.

John Knox:
And that's what it's about. It's about, you know, serving others. Right. You're not there for your ego. You're there to bring a message that hopefully is going to benefit everyone, but it will touch someone. Right. And so that that issue of being uncomfortable, people really need to get used to that. And, and the analogy I use is of a bow and arrow. Right? Okay. Because I'm an archer and I was an archery coach. Um, and and think about this. Right. What happens if you, you know, I've got my little imaginary bow here, right. And, and, and I've got an arrow in there and I'm just, you know, it just sits there by itself. And that's comfort right now. If I pull this back just a millimeter, right, a tiny hair and I let it go, well, it might not even launch the arrow. Right? But what happens as I start to stretch this back? Right? The further it goes back and the further it goes back and back and back. Right now, I'm all the way back here. What am I? I'm uncomfortable as all hell right now. This is like the. But man, when I let that go, what happens? You rocket. You literally launch and your success and the things you're aiming for are literally the the sky's the limit, right? So the more uncomfortable you make yourself now, you don't have to go out and do something where it's like, literally you're going to have a stroke, you know, to put you in awkward position.

Brian Kelly:
But, you know.

John Knox:
Find where is that uncomfortableness? Where is that zone? And and take it one step at a time. Right. Because change is not an event. It's a process. Right. And people don't recognize that. And they think, oh, I'm going to I'm going to make this change and it's going to happen like that. It doesn't. It's a process, right? It's step by step.

Brian Kelly:
And you said the one word ego. And it doesn't mean you're an egotistical maniac. If you get nervous before you go up on stage, it just means or as an example, it just means you're thinking too much about yourself. That's all that means. It's not. You're a bad person. Every I have an ego. John has an ego. We all have egos. We just need to know how to keep them at check, put them in the closet and close the door for a little bit. And the thing is, if you turn it around, your life experience, your what you're about to go up and teach people on whether it's speaking from stage, writing a book, you know, writing an article, it doesn't matter. The thing that I think of is it would be a disservice if that information was not given to other people, because your experience can help other people, I guarantee it. I don't care what experience you've been through, someone else will resonate, just like you said, John. You said it will touch someone and that's all that matters. If you touch one life, isn't that worth it? Yes. And it would be a disservice if you were to keep that to yourself because, oh, I'm afraid to go up on stage. It's a real fear and I'm not trying to make light of it, but you will get over it. And the first time you do it, you'll go, gosh, that wasn't so bad. I didn't die, I didn't fall down, I didn't trip my snot, didn't run down my nose. All these things you think about, like, what do I look like? And all this crazy stuff about yourself, it is a disservice if you don't spread your knowledge, your wisdom, your experience to everyone else because you will help somebody. Guaranteed.

John Knox:
Absolutely. You know, and that's one of the things that I remember being on stage. And, you know, one of the first times I was ever on stage at a big event. You know, I had never planned this. This wasn't anything that I'm like, I'm going to go be a public speaker, right? It's not even on my radar. Like, so as I'm up there, you know, you're standing in front of several thousand people. It could be intimidating, right? Um, but, uh, my my message to everyone was like, look, man, I'm literally exactly like you. I get up in the morning, I put one leg in the pant and the other leg in the pant, and I pull them up, right. And I go, and I look at myself in the mirror, and I brush my teeth, and I do. I'm literally the same person as you. I have nothing different other than a mindset that I have, but it's not like I never set out to do this. I'm a human being with emotions and and all of these things, fears and whatever. It's just this is the path that I was put on and I have a message to share. And, you know, and people always want to know how. Well, how do we you know, this was in the medical freedom movement, right. And through Covid and all of that. And it's like you don't have to stand on stage. You don't have you know, this isn't all about being on a stage. That's just where I was thrown into the fire pit. Right. But for you, it might be just having a conversation with your neighbor that you're uncomfortable about, right? Being able to have a dialog, stepping in at a grassroots movement to something in your community, right to, uh, running for the school board or getting involved. I mean, it doesn't even have to be a school board, right? It could be your your kid's classroom being a parent helper in there, right. Bringing your experiences into that, being involved in community and speaking out when things aren't right. Um, and that's, you know, really, you know, that message that you don't have to be a public speaker. You just have to put yourself in that space of uncomfortableness and whatever that is. Everyone is different. And, you know, and that's one of the things we do in, in my coaching programs is we figure out what is that, right? And we work through that. And then what are the roadblocks, you know, and those, those, those can be all the way back to childhood. Right? There's a lot of things.

Brian Kelly:
Yeah, yeah. And the beautiful thing is people just need to get and start down the right path. And, you know, for those of you watching, if this resonates with you again, this is John Knox. And you can go to PRL dot coach, PRL dot coach. That's a website. Fill out their um their sign up form. It's a subscription form and at the very least and say, hey, is there something you could help me with? Let's have a conversation and I know he'll get back to you. He's got a servant heart. I mean, look at his background. He's law enforcement, firefighter. Paramedic. I mean, this is what people do when they have a servant heart. They help other people. Uh, and John literally puts his life on the line multiple times to do what he did. Uh, he's he's very humble. He'll probably say, ah, come on, Brian, knock it off. But no, I know, because my brother was a fire captain and EMT. And, you know, I know the kind of stuff. He's gone into burning buildings and almost didn't make it out. He's been in Forest Service. He almost didn't make it through fires in the forest. And I get it. And so you've been through, you know, I'm sure your stories are different, but I'll bet there's a lot of similarity as well. And going through that, you can, you know, that's what happens. I love what I get to do because people like you, you went through a lot of life experience that took you down a path to where you are today, and you're using all these past experiences in stories, in real life and situations to help put it in perspective so someone can go, I can do that too. I can be a great leader. If John can do it, I can do it. So reach out to him. Pr l coach, PRL coach, Phoenix rising leadership coach. Um, well, no, it's not Phoenix rising leadership. It's PRL coach website. Go there. We got a couple things to do before we sign off, so don't go anywhere. Number one is we're going to give away that prize.

Brian Kelly:
A five night stay at a five star luxury resort, compliments of. You see them up there, reach your peak. And this is. This is nothing to laugh at. It is a bona fide resort. Stay like 4 or 5 star big time, and you get to choose from anywhere around the world. So don't go anywhere, because we're also going to close out this show by asking John, he doesn't know about this, by asking John a very profound question to close it out. And it is it's a doozy, John. It's amazing. This this question I started asking this show has been running well over five years now and back during the beginning stages. On occasion, I brought this question up and the answers were intriguing and I was like, wow, there's another one. And so I decided I'm going to close every show with that question from that point forward. And if you're open to it, after we get more, a few more, I don't really know if we need that many more answers. We're going to take all those answers and compile them into a collaborative book with everyone's answers. And the title of the book will be the very question I'm going to ask you that you don't know what it is yet. Okay, I love the build up, but before before we do that real quick, I want to stay true to my promise about that prize. So everyone watching write down the following web address. I'm going to put it up on the screen here. Just write it down. Don't go there yet. Don't enter to win yet. Follow instructions. I'll know. I'll see them come through. I get a text message on my phone when anyone enters to win, but please do enter to win. The moment we sign off and say good night, we'll be monitoring it. My team will be monitoring it and we'll have a random draw for a winner. I hope it's you. All right. With all that, I'm going to put it up on the screen. What you want to do is write this down. Report. I'm forward slash vacation guest. Experts are allowed to enter as well.

Brian Kelly:
Just saying hint hint wink wink. Mr. Knox report I'm forward slash vacation and past guest experts have one because it is in fact a random draw. And you know what? I don't think a single person on here would be upset if you won, John, because you deserve it. You spent your time here and I would love it too. But it's a random draw. I'm not kidding. Repeat I'm forward slash vacation. Write that down and then go to it. After we sign off, I'm going to bring back the amazing John Knox right now. And now we're going to get to the crescendo. Oh it's a big one. It's awesome. So there's a couple wonderful things about this question John. And then I'll then I'll lay it on you. Uh, the first one is there is no such thing as a wrong answer. It's not a test. It's not a quiz is beautiful. In fact, the second beautiful thing about it is the exact opposite to that is that the only correct answer will be yours because it will be unique to you. As he ponders, what the heck can this question be? And the other part, the final third little piece of flavor to it, if you will, is it doesn't matter how long it takes you to come up with your answer. Some have done it in milliseconds, others have taken several seconds. Even that is exactly perfect because again, it's your answer. Oh man, I love the build up to this one. So with all that, are you ready?

John Knox:
I think.

Brian Kelly:
So. I hope so. You are John Knox. Come on man, of course you are born ready. That's right. All right, there you go. All right, here we go. I'm going to set the stage and bring you up front and center and ask you the important question. And that is. John Knox. How do you define success?

John Knox:
That's a great question. Um, so man, this question. That's a pretty interesting question, Brian, from the standpoint that everybody defines this separately. So a book is if you're writing a book out of this, this is going to be epic. Um, to me, uh, what I define success as I think would be living authentically as myself, right. Being who I truly am and with purpose. Um, and so kind of breaking that down, what that means is I feel that, you know, there needs to be for me to be successful. I have to have holistic growth or fulfillment. Um, it's I mean, sure, like you said earlier, money is fantastic, right? Um, it enables you to do things. Um, but it is not the end all, be all. If that's your definition of success in my book, that's you're striving for the wrong goal. So, um, you know, I look at it as holistic, uh, fulfillment and growth and not just externally, like what we're talking about with all these achievements or whatever. But I think that really comes from inner growth, right? Mastering, uh, one's self, being physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, kind of. You know what what you talked about earlier, um, success really isn't one dimensional. Um, it's Multifaceted. And it encompasses, to me really the full spectrum of the human experience and why we're here. Right. So I think that that for me, that is the thing that how I would define success being here on this planet, um, having these experiences and bringing that forth and the knowledge that I've learned, the experiences I've had, being able to share that with other individuals to help them succeed. Right. To give them that empowerment, to figure out what it is that helps them do the same thing for someone else. That's my definition of success.

Brian Kelly:
Um. Another beauty, another beauty. I mean, I'm telling you, you may not believe me when I tell you this, John, but I've been doing this now for over five years. And for a good part of that, that's been the ending question of every show. No two people to this date have answered it the same way. It's a very unique thing. That is what made it so profound and why I wanted to end every show. And I the thing, you know it always. This happens every time. And thank you for not giving just a two word answer, because that would be a very short section in this book. But I love how it always ends up where as the person is talking through it, the real essence really comes out at the end. And that's what happened with you. And it was about helping others to succeed. And that's where I'm finding the common thread. With every successful entrepreneur I've interviewed on this show, it's always comes down to helping someone else. Yeah, it's not about I want to get fame and fortune. You know, if I had asked you that question when you were 22 years old, John, I have a feeling you would have answered that quite differently Would you imagine? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Me too. I'm no different, you know. I want the Lambo. I want the babe. I want the house I want. I got the babe. But I want the house and all that stuff. I can't help it, man. My wife, I love her, and she's awesome, but, uh, high school sweetheart, too. Oh, she's my wife. She's everything. But, you know, you know, different. And here's the thing. 20 years from now, John, I bet your answer will be different again. Mine, too, would be different from what it is today. That's what I love about that question. It's like it's frozen in time for that moment, for that person where they are in their life at that moment. It's just beautiful. It's gorgeous. And your answer was just that. It was gorgeous. Uh. Very thoughtful. I loved how you talked about money.

Brian Kelly:
And that's the other thing I found. Not one person, not a single person that I have interviewed all these five years. Not one said success had anything to do with the focus on the money. And you said it just the opposite. Said it's if you're focusing on that, then I'd have to tell you, I think you're going the wrong way in defining success. And that was. That was all so beautiful, so totally. You know, I can tell with all these successful entrepreneurs, that's how we all got where we are, is through helping and serving others to get them to succeed. And through that, we ourselves, we get to encounter this thing we define as success because it's it's very subjective. It's awesome. It's amazing. And you know what, John? You are amazing, my friend. I appreciate you for coming on. Spending, oh, more than an hour. We've been having too much fun here, but that's good. And I just want to say to everyone out there, please go and and enter to win report. I'm forward slash vacation. We're going to sign off here in just a second. Before we do, I want to ask you all to do just two things. Everyone watching and listening. Just two things. Number one, go out and absolutely crush it in your business. Why? So you can just we've been talking about it all show long so you can serve. More. People. And the number two above all and everything else. Please everyone. To a person, be blessed. That is it for us here. On behalf of the amazing John Knox, I'm your host, Brian Kelly of the Mind Body Business Show. Until next time, we'll see you again with another phenomenal, successful entrepreneur. So long everybody. Have a great one. Thank you for tuning in to the Mind Body Business Show podcast at www the Mind Body Business Show.com. My name is Brian Kelly.

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