Embracing Ease and Joy: A New Approach to Entrepreneurship with Samuel Smith
Kimberly Spencer ??
Founder of Crown Yourself? ?? CEO, Communication Queens Agency ???TED?, Helping visionary leaders boldly build their empire + stand out visibly in your industry with confidence, clarity, & courage ??
Have you ever wondered what it's like to be an entrepreneur at the tender age of 9?
On my latest podcast episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Samuel Smith, whose entrepreneurial spirit was kindled by repairing iPhones as a school kid.
Imagine balancing math homework with business calls to China!
This conversation isn't just about business ventures; it's a deep dive into the lifelong lessons that only a journey like Samuel's can teach. ??
#EarlyEntrepreneurship #LifeLessons
Enjoy this episode & transcript below where I discuss the power of storytelling in podcasting. I share my own personal journey from a young entrepreneur to a successful mindset and communications coach, emphasizing the transformative power of sharing personal experiences.
I'll show framework for successful guest podcasting and discuss how podcasting can be used as a powerful marketing tool, where you can build genuine relationships through guest podcast interviews and nurturing leads through targeted podcast outreach. And last, but certainly not least, I underscores the value of practice in refining your oratory skills and honing your intuitive ability to understand your audience resonance.
What You’ll Learn in this Episode:
**FYI Transcripts may contain a few typos. With many episodes lasting 30-minutes, it can be difficult to catch minor errors. Enjoy!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, Castbox, Amazon Music, iHeart Radio, Pandora, Youtube, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Samuel Smith (00:00:00) - First and foremost. Get peaceful. Get grounded. Take a deep breath and say what? Where am I even going in the first place? Do I want to be the best soccer player there is on planet Earth? Or only the best husband and father? Do you want to be super successful in my business with this particular goal? I think most people put goals and make them way too rigid though. Like I had this, I wanted to have $1 billion by the time I was 18. Not there yet. So in my version, it's like I kept putting failure on myself by putting unnecessary deadlines. But it's like you set a course, you go that way, and anything that's difficult is actually showing you basically to let go of, to become the version of yourself that has that thing or has become that person.
Kimberly Spencer (00:00:46) - Welcome to the Communication Queens podcast for the visionary leaders, speakers, service providers, and podcasters who are looking to stand out sharing their story. I'm your host, Kimberly Spencer, former screenwriter turned master communications coach.
Kimberly Spencer (00:01:00) - On this podcast, I'll be coaching you on how to share your own transformation story so that you increase your visibility, influence, and income on podcast interviews. Let's get your voice heard.
Kimberly Spencer (00:01:11) - Samuel, I am so excited to have you on the Communication Queens podcast. Welcome, and let's dive into your story.
Samuel Smith (00:01:21) - So I think that I can start at nine and then do a pretty condensed version of like where how I got here. so yeah, my parents had done Tony Robbins Platinum Partnership back when I was about 8 or 9 years old, and as soon as they did that, I was hooked because they would just go and learn all these awesome personal development things and complete like they were high school sweethearts. And then going to Tony Robbins actually completely shifted their marriage, just reinvigorated passion for both of them. And they it just completely changed the relationship. I was born in, Tyler, Texas. So buckle the Bible belt. so it was very unusual to have somebody from, like, Tyler, Texas going to all these, like, crazy conferences and, like, personal development.
Samuel Smith (00:02:07) - That's not through Jesus. Like, what in the world? Like, that's something's wrong there. so I just gobbled everything up that they sent read all the time. And we went to a mutual Power Within event. And Tony Robbins was talking about his new book, Money Match of the game in that event. And I read through the whole thing of variant and mentioned a guy named Dean Brazos who was talking about wholesaling. I was like, ooh, real estate. I can like I was 11 at the time, and I was like, okay, well, I can take property and then flip them over to somebody else without having a broker's license and make like 5000, $10,000. Be amazing. And the reason why I even wanted to do business in the first place was I wanted to create financial freedom because I saw the choices and allowed my parents to have to be an amazing masterminds. like A360, like all these different places where they can. I knew that you were the product of the people you spent your time around.
Samuel Smith (00:03:05) - I was like, I want to create the most amazing people that I get to spend my time around. And so from nine years old, I was like, okay, well, I'm going to start something. So I started repairing iPhones, fixing for 100 bucks, and I was like, it's gonna take forever to make 100, like $150,000 for a mastermind. I gotta find something else. And so that's when we found out about, wholesaling. I started doing that. And then a month in or so, I got a call because I was just reaching out to a ton of people on LinkedIn because I realized you could connect people that weren't actually in the same location to different people and get half of their fee. So I was like starting to think of like, leverage. And long story short, about a month in, a guy calls me and said, hey, I've got a hotel. It's like a hotel. He's like, yeah, $20 million. Like $20 million, like three times 20 million.
Samuel Smith (00:03:57) - I like those numbers. All right, I'll see if I can create something. And so I'm reaching out to a bunch of people on LinkedIn. And by the way, I'm like in eighth grade class at this point. And so I'm like having to hop out between classes to make calls, to London and to all these different places. It was hilarious. One time I actually printed in NDA on the school printer, and I got thoroughly chewed out because they only have a certain amount of printer paper that each, teacher gets. It was hilarious. But long story short, that one thing that hotel led to a guy saying, okay, I've got another deal coming. And he's like, hey, I've got the Empire State Building. I'm like. Well, that's a big jump from just regular old hotel to Empire State Building. He's like, yeah, I know the seller's representative. Can I talk with things like. Sure. And so I was like, oh yeah, there's also the new World Trade Center for like 10.2 billion.
Samuel Smith (00:04:50) - I was like, oh, what? I mean, I'll chat with him too. And so I chatted with the guy was super interesting. And so I went on LinkedIn, connected to some different people, and we actually ended up flying a buyer in from China to come and look at buying the Empire State Building, which was crazy. But it turns out because China is a communist country, the government has to be like, hey, we're not. It was pretty much like, we don't want to be spending this kind of money out of the country right now. So like, okay, long story short, fast forward. I did that for the next three years and I ended up burning out. I didn't end up actually closing anything during that whole time, but I learned so much from all of these different things, how to talk with people that were older than me because I was on calls with 50 year olds and I'd be like, okay, let's just get out of the way. Let's let people do what they need to do.
Samuel Smith (00:05:39) - And then. And about a year after burning out, taking a break for a bit, I really started diving into digital marketing. My parents had given us some courses and different things. I actually met Ty Lopez at an event and I was like, oh my gosh, this guy is like the coolest thing since sliced bread. He knows digital marketing. He knows all these things. So I paid him $2,000 for a course, which is like, that's what you do, right? And then I learned how to do Facebook ads for dentists. And their top student had made like $1 million in his first year working with desks. Like, I guess I'm doing dentists. Turns out everybody had the exact same idea. So, I got a couple clients and I was like, I have no idea what I'm doing, what in the world. And so I literally Google how to run ads for dentists. And one was like, hey, do a birthday campaign. Like, okay. So I go over and I try to do that, and the client calls me, say, hey, we had a patient call us.
Samuel Smith (00:06:40) - Said, the ads are tacky, so thank you, but no thanks. We're letting you go. I'm like, I have no idea what I'm doing. I was 14 here and I'm like, I have no idea what I'm doing. So I reach out and a bunch of Facebook groups to the like, the most successful digital marketers. I'm like, hey, I love what you're up to, and I'd love to learn from you and give you half of what I'm making. And so I was able to find some mentors taught me, and over the next six years grew from doing Facebook ads to we found a massive opportunity with one of the dentists we're working with, of all of the old patients that had come in for a consultation but haven't said yes yet. Right. So they were they're making 50 to $100,000 a month from from our ads. But turns out and these were for dental implants. So high ticket. Between 5 to 20,000 cases. And so once we did that, I was like, don't you have a bunch of old people here that haven't signed up yet? And I'm like, yeah, it's like, why don't I just reach out to them for you? And then we just see, like, sure, turn around.
Samuel Smith (00:07:45) - They made $100,000 in a month just like that, off of reaching out like there's something here. We've signed up another dentist and did the same thing, got a call center, all the things. And they made over $390,000 in three months with no ads, with only 650 people in their list. And I was like, okay, this is absolutely crazy that we can do that. And so from then on, I was like, okay, well, we started doing this a lot more. And shifting out eventually actually got acquired in the dental space, which was really exciting. And we moved on to like roofing. And then I was like, wait a minute, whenever we're doing this, like follow up stuff, it really just depends on how big the sales team is and how big the list is that they've got to work with. Right? Most people have spent millions and millions of dollars on ads, but as soon as they pay for them, they forget about it. Right? And they're like, oh yeah, my sales team supposed to be calling them through, supposed to be going.
Samuel Smith (00:08:38) - But we all know that they really don't do a great job of that. And so we actually figured out a software that's able to go and do this. And we've recently been able to put AI into it to actually manage and reactivate all the text conversations. So we have a it'll go to each person. It will personalize the message to each person that we're reaching back out to based on information or CRM, and it will manage the text conversations back and forth to book back into your calendar. And we're also working on a software right now that will actually be able to call them and do a 15 minute conversation, qualify them and book them into the calendar all completely automatically. And we get paid on a per book deployment basis. So that's a lot of the story, kind of like how I got to what we're doing now. And yeah, it's been a fun, fun journey.
Kimberly Spencer (00:09:30) - So a couple things in your story that I just want to extract is that there is a tenacity that comes with use. That's like because I remember when I was 16 and I got my first, I won an award for screenwriting, and so I got to go in and be mentored by a whole bunch of professional screenwriters.
Kimberly Spencer (00:09:51) - And I walked into this room and there was a, a gentleman who was standing next to the door, and I walked in, and I was so super excited, and I was like, I was ready to learn. I was ready to just I was ready, I was going to get a screenplay, I was going to get one produced. And he was like, yeah, well, we'll see how you feel when you've been in this industry for 40 years. And I was like, sir, if I've been in this industry for 40 years and I feel like that I would leave. And one of the one of the things with your story that I absolutely love is how young you were. So you didn't know better to know anything other than that. So. Knowing that that your parents had created a level of financial freedom. This is the second piece of your story. What did you really glean from your parents or they entrepreneurs? Or did you watch it, watch them scale? How did they support you? How do they create the mindset that you have now? That was like, oh yeah, sure.
Kimberly Spencer (00:10:45) - My 11 year old's making calls to China, you know, on his lunch break at school to buy the Empire State Building, you know?
Samuel Smith (00:10:54) - Yeah. Well, I owe so much of what I've accomplished to my parents. they are. And as a new dad, as of, like, seven months ago, I've got a baby boy named sage, which has been. An absolute blessing and a world class lesson in slowing down, because one of the biggest lessons I learned throughout that whole time, like I really didn't take weekends for over a decade. Like I would just work and work and work and work on business. Didn't really hang out a whole lot with friends outside of school time. Like at some point, like, I'm I'm really grateful for my parents were putting different opportunities and just knowledge to learn from. They had us read all the time from an early age, didn't have cable, which was great. To not have an excuse or really didn't do video games either. so I was able to just really pour myself into learning and growing.
Samuel Smith (00:11:44) - And it was funny because there like, they they had done real estate for about 30 years, so I was kind of familiar with it. But other than that, they're just kind of like, you go, you have fun. And so I had my dad co-sign on all my agreements and everything, so everything was legal. But yeah, I think that the biggest thing was just learning how to grow and not having I think the biggest thing is like action. They actually being an action around things because so much of the school is like, this is how you do a thing. There's so much mental work without a whole lot of actual implementation. I know you're homeschooling your son, and so it's like, how do you have them actually get excited and do something? And so that's been a lot of the cure all for what I've been working with.
Kimberly Spencer (00:12:27) - Yeah. So what in your story I love I love the tenacity and the fervor that you have and how you showcase that and how you highlight that. And I would love to hear more of like.
Kimberly Spencer (00:12:42) - What your successes have been. What do you feel was like your greatest success? What do you feel is that thing that you you already feel so super proud of, that you know, whether it's a achieving a certain monetary goal or a certain number of clients. What are those? What? Because I heard you speak a lot to your client results, which is a testimony to what you've been able to create. What are the results of your business.
Samuel Smith (00:13:07) - Great question. So the one of the main things I've been so proud of is like during the whole time of having these businesses and growing them, I actually graduated valedictorian at school at the same time, which was a really cool thing to be able to do for. And we had a very technical engineering curriculum with. I graduated about 50 college hours as well. So it was I was able to do those things at the same time, which I was really proud of. What has been so interesting is up until very recently, like there's and I've also had my own incredible personal growth journey over the past ten years.
Samuel Smith (00:13:43) - It's kind of been going at the same time as these businesses where I've been doing hours and hours of listening time, quiet time every day. And just like so much deep introspection around so many different things, releasing all of these limiting beliefs and different things. And so I think that my biggest successes have been my own personal growth throughout the thing, and being able to see how closely tied your business results are with your personal. Right? And like, oh man, it's like, as soon as I released this belief, turns out this thing showed up in my business. And almost everything that I do in my business is, as a result, a byproduct of what I'm listing and getting downloads. I'm like, okay, this is the next thing to do. I've got so many things to do all the time, and so there's no way I can get everything done. So it's like, okay, how do I quiet myself and ask, okay, what are the highest leverage things that I can be doing for my time that are in alignment with the things that I want to create?
Kimberly Spencer (00:14:39) - Yeah, I love that.
Kimberly Spencer (00:14:41) - The honesty that you have that like with your wholesaling business, that in all of those years of doing like working through and trying to get those deals on the table like huge, gigantic multi-billion dollar deals. And not having made a single dime.
Samuel Smith (00:15:02) - It was really tough. It was like, because I then this is me looking back on it with lots of crying and lots of expression after the fact. Whenever I decided to stop. I thought I was a failure. Like, I was like the way I was looking at things like, how much money do I have in the bank? Zero. And now I didn't have to have money in the bank. I was 14, I was 11, like, what am I gonna do? I mean, my parents are providing for me. I need a house. Everything's needed. But I was like, my every breathing moment was like, I want to create financial freedom because I knew the choices that I'm locked for me in so many different things because I wanted to have cash flow that I could then use to invest in the team, that I could then build the things that I'm wanting to create.
Samuel Smith (00:15:49) - Right. And these goals and things. But it was really hard. Like my dad was like, what are you talking about? Like you learn so many incredible lessons there, like how to talk with and own yourself in conversations with older people, how to have presentations, how to create business deals, like the list goes on. And I didn't really see that until doing my own tons of introspection and, just expression of all of the frustration and things that I felt about time. But yeah, I think that that was a really big thing for me to learn it. And I realize it's the same thing with a lot of people about like, finances being the main thing that they're trying to go for. And now that I have a child to prepare for or provide for and a family to provide for, it's like, oh, wow, I didn't realize how little responsibility I really had to actually provide for things. And so I just have so much appreciation and compassion for like, single moms. I can't even fathom how, like doing that, doing business or doing jobs I like.
Samuel Smith (00:16:57) - I just in for families for for dads especially that are. Like their, how much they're making is directly tied to how much they're working. I it just breaks my heart of like, wow, I now have so much more of an appreciation for what that takes. And I'm so grateful for the experiences that I've had too, along the that path.
Kimberly Spencer (00:17:18) - Yeah, yeah. I think in your story, I mean, especially hitting on, you know, the, the failure stealing because you're so young, like, and really with the mental health crisis that this country is under. Being able to speak to the youth in that way, because I know you've got learning with AI, which is your latest project that is blowing up with over 5000 subscribers now, like. That is targeting a youth market and be able to leverage your story to speak to the challenges that come with the first. Like there's the the frustration of trying something and then not getting it. And then there's the fear that leaves you apathetic, where you don't even try and prevents people from trying.
Samuel Smith (00:18:12) - I think the main thing is, is kids in social media. I think that's like the number one thing that's creating all this anxiety and things. I deleted Snapchat, Instagram, all of those things. It's such it's so. And I like TikTok. I downloaded one day, spent six hours on it nonstop and I deleted it. Never got to get like, I'm not going to spend my time doing this. But what happens is so many kids are like, oh my gosh, this is normal. Like people that put on Instagram. These are the things, I guess this is just their normal everyday life. I must be a failure because I'm not having that. Like it's the classic like comparison and like all of those things, right. But as far as, like the mental health thing, I think people taking time out of their day to like, go on and like electronic detox. For like 30 days. You'll be absolutely amazed. Like, literally live with withdrawals of, like, trying to reach for your phone.
Samuel Smith (00:19:06) - I've done it several times of stopping that, and then you realize how quiet and how peaceful you can be whenever you're not having all of these notifications and things going off. And and then from that, how do you go and have listening time of like, okay, what are all the things that are going on my brain? I, I have gone through like 20 of these Moleskine journals from like the back of like, just like all of the things that are in my brain just dumping it out, but then asking, okay. And this is like one of the most powerful lessons that I've learned is asking the question, what do I need to see? Question mark. And then just free writing. Write everything that comes to you, and that has been one of the most powerful things in my life, has been the things that have come through in that time. And now I've had thousands of hours of doing that, and now it's so cool because I can just ask the question. I can just hear an answer.
Samuel Smith (00:20:02) - And it's the most powerful asset I have in my businesses, personal relationships and everything.
Kimberly Spencer (00:20:11) - Yeah, yeah I see. Like to form in informing because you are such a serial entrepreneur like you are just we're wired differently. And you've been an entrepreneur since you were nine. I was split testing price points in five. Testing bags and glitter water like 5 or $10,000. Which one do you want to go for? But the thing that I see is for shaping your personal brand, being able to have that mental framework that you have already crafted for yourself that's so innate within yourself that you it's just the habits and it's just what you do. It's just who you are. It's it's what you cultivated over these, these years of of building businesses, trying new things, going for big dreams, going for big goals. And. In that space of. Looking at that, crafting that that message and just holding it in a little bit deeper on what was that mindset piece, because you have such a different and innovative perspective, because you're so young, because, like, you haven't even graduated college and have, you.
Samuel Smith (00:21:19) - Know.
Kimberly Spencer (00:21:19) - I'm still there. So you're so young and you're still doing these big things, and the mindset that you crafted over this time of like, what do I need to see? That is a pinpoint in a curriculum that could be taught or shared on any sort of podcast that is involving youth kids, inspiring them to go for bigger dreams. Because also when you're targeting the younger audience, they will follow you for a longer.
Samuel Smith (00:21:58) - Yeah. And that's you're, you're hitting on something that was actually that I'm between 14 like when I burnt out. And then I got really into Russell Brunson's books and like Expert Secrets and Dotcom Secrets, all those things. And I was like I was wanting to create some coaching courses for kids and young people around these things of like, hey, this is how you create, this is how you take action. These are how to do these things. so I haven't really thought about that since then, but I think that that's a really powerful. Message to give and also just to remind.
Samuel Smith (00:22:35) - Like the other thing is, I took it so seriously. Like I took things so seriously ever since I was nine years old. Like I was practically an adult from nine till 21 now. And it's been so fun because now I'm like, wait a minute, I just want to be a kid. Like all of us. Like, have fun, like enjoy. How can all the things, all the goals, all of the things that you want, how can it be easy and how can it be joyful and fun? And I think that that was a really powerful question for me, because it took everything that I was looking at and the energy that I had of just like trying to almost force and shifting into like, oh, look, I'm not even in control in the first place. And anything me thinking otherwise is just me having an ego like. And so how can I? I just like how to. I needed it to be hard because my whole self-worth was wrapped up and how hard I was working, right.
Samuel Smith (00:23:31) - And so it was like, if it wasn't hard, anybody else would have done it. So it needs to be hard, so it's worth doing. And so I just realized that like, no, it doesn't have to be hard. It can be easy. I was like, it just totally shifted everything. And now it's and I would just encourage anybody listening to like ask like anything that's feeling hard right now in your life, how can you ask, how could this be easy?
Kimberly Spencer (00:23:55) - Listen, how.
Samuel Smith (00:23:56) - Can I bring in ease and grace and joy into that? And that's been a really powerful thing for. All sorts of things have been going on.
Kimberly Spencer (00:24:05) - That is one of my favorite questions to ask myself on a regular basis, because I too was very hard on myself at a very young age and grew up very fast and was very Type-A and was doing all the things, and I, I see it it came to me in, that you said something very specific of it, and moving of it happened to be fun instead of forceful.
Kimberly Spencer (00:24:30) - And so a talk for you from force to fun. How I almost sold wholesale the Empire State Building and burned out at 14. That's a Ted talk, right? That.
Samuel Smith (00:24:49) - Yeah. Because there's like when I'm realizing is that it's like the Pareto principle is really comes back down to you, right? I always was fascinated by that topic, but I was like, this is an incredibly an actionable I have like, how do I know it's the 20%? And once the 80% I found that was infuriating. I was like, just give me a magnifying glass. I can tell what's actually important or not. And that's what this quiet time is. It is like, okay, what do you want? First and foremost, get peaceful, get grounded, take a deep breath and say, what? What? Where am I even going in the first place? Do I want to be the best soccer player there is on planet Earth? Don't you? The best husband and father? Do you want to be super successful in my business? With this particular goal, I think most people put goals and make them way too rigid though.
Samuel Smith (00:25:38) - Like I had this, I wanted to have $1 billion by the time I was 18. Not there yet. So in my version, it's like I kept putting failure on myself by putting unnecessary deadlines. Now, if I increased that time and just even let the time just be whatever it needed to be. You can let all of the hard things that come on the like, whether it's like you set a course, you go that way, and anything that's difficult is actually showing you basically to let go of, to become the version of yourself that has that thing or has become that person.
Kimberly Spencer (00:26:16) - Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm so grateful that I didn't hit my financial goals when I wanted to hit them because I wasn't personally developed enough to receive them.
Samuel Smith (00:26:27) - Exactly.
Kimberly Spencer (00:26:28) - It it would have wrecks me. So it's allowing for that process. And I love what you talked about about unnecessary deadlines, like because especially for a younger audience, there is all these beliefs and the arbitrary deadlines and like what actually is the deadline? Like, oh, you have to turn in your paper at this time.
Kimberly Spencer (00:26:49) - Okay.
Samuel Smith (00:26:51) - Outside of that, there's really no deadlines. It's arbitrary in the first place.
Kimberly Spencer (00:26:55) - And even that kind of, you know, oh yeah, there's a way to get an extra day, right? I know I did.
Samuel Smith (00:27:02) - The feeling like it's just not like during summer or doing it. I don't have a class. It's like, oh my gosh, I can just like relax. There's not like I don't have to stress is like the same thing, like why in the world we put all these things? Because we're so obsessed with everything that we have to hit by this point that we actually like, sabotage our own way of actually attaining that thing because we're so focused on the negative. we're not there yet as opposed to what needs to happen. How can I be more relaxed? How can I achieve that thing with the most amount of ease and grace possible?
Kimberly Spencer (00:27:36) - Because probably if you already achieved that and were the energetic match for that, you wouldn't be stressed out.
Samuel Smith (00:27:42) - Exactly.
Kimberly Spencer (00:27:43) - Yep. So looking at I mean your story has is so diverse and you speak to so many different audiences like for your for a podcasting strategy to look at who would be the best ones to get on.
Kimberly Spencer (00:27:58) - Like, I definitely think speaking to youth and having that and you more, not so much necessarily for your business, that they could definitely be users who like learning with AI, but more so for the giving, forgiving for planting those giving seeds that always come karmically tenfold return, and for also being able to establish early on followers who get to literally follow your journey, and who see your passion and you see your charisma and you see your tenacity. And to inspire that if if he can, I can too, if he can, you know, start a business at night, I can too. And to allow for that, that message. So for targeting the youth. Like what? I love your framework of what do I need to see? How can it be more joyful? How can it be more fun? And that comes.
Samuel Smith (00:28:54) - From ten years of force and it not being easy.
Kimberly Spencer (00:28:57) - You know.
Samuel Smith (00:28:58) - Yeah, it's it's on the other side of it. Like, okay, this thing could have been so much easier.
Kimberly Spencer (00:29:04) - And so if you were looking back and you were actually able to let's say, for example, hypothetically, because in a quantum realm, in some other universe, in the multiverse, you succeeded at closing in wholesaling the Empire State Building, what do you think you would have done with the money or how would you how do you think you would have experienced?
Samuel Smith (00:29:26) - So I've always had a very strong faith in everything that I've done. And so that's really been a foundation that my parents have done a really good job of, like just knowing that I'm good, I'm stable. and so I think really what I would have done, I'm like, Holy crap, this is amazing. What do I want to do? I think that there are like we learn lessons whenever we're striving towards a goal. Like that's the thing. So I think, in that other parallel universe, it would probably be very parallel, almost orthogonal. But whenever I feel that, it's like, I feel like I would have enjoyed it for maybe a few months and like, okay, this is boring.
Samuel Smith (00:30:06) - Okay, what am I going to do? Like, how can I invest this into growing things and listening, okay, what's the next thing to build? And then just funneling that things back? That's always what my goal has been with financial freedom is it's not for sure it is to have like a, a lifestyle that I enjoy. But that is like. Maybe like this. It on my list. It's really not that important. I know that it's going to be taken care of. It's like, I just want to have a ton of capital to go and create cool stuff. For example, I would love to create space hotels. Because why not? Those are awesome. But the real reason is like, I want to have people witness the Earth from space called the overview effect. Like whenever you have when the people that have gone to space to see the earth, they just cry. There's no orders in space. There's no like it's like weird. It helps you realize how small and how insignificant.
Samuel Smith (00:31:04) - So many of the things that we make so significant are. And so that just really impacts people at a profound level. So if I can have a fun way of having people completely changed for the rest of their life, like, I love Ender's Game and a bunch of science fiction. And so it's like, how can we make science fiction science fact? And I've got all sorts of fun and physics friends and, and so it's, it's really like I want to create as much wealth as I can to funnel towards building a space hotel to funnel, towards getting like, free energy. All of us, like there's all of these things. And so that's why I'm, I'm just realizing it's like, okay, I need to be so much more relaxed because I'm not going to be stopping anytime soon. So I don't need to make this difficult at this point, because this is just the beginning of all of the things.
Kimberly Spencer (00:31:51) - Yeah. And if you make it challenging now burn out the couple years in before you even get a hotel.
Kimberly Spencer (00:32:01) - Because it's hard.
Samuel Smith (00:32:03) - I already had that happen once.
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Kimberly Spencer (00:32:05) - You already did that. Good for you. Yeah.
Samuel Smith (00:32:09) - For once we're all good. So when.
Kimberly Spencer (00:32:11) - It comes to learning with AI, can you tell us more about learning learning with AI and how that came up with also the follow up agency and how you're navigating doing both and being a young dad.
Samuel Smith (00:32:27) - And finishing up senior year of your science. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Throw that in there. It has been fascinating. I will say that. What's so fascinating is like. Again, like listening time. And my relationship with God is guiding everything that I do. And so there was an old version of me like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna have ten businesses all at the same time because oh my gosh, I get so many ideas like, oh, that'll make $100,000 a month. Oh, that's so easy. Just do it. But I realized I learned this after several businesses I tried creating on the side of like, just because I have the idea doesn't mean that I need to go and execute on these things.
Samuel Smith (00:33:06) - So that was a hard lesson for me to learn. and so really, it's just it goes down back to the quiet time of like, okay, what are the things that are most important that you need to get done this week and then hiring, like having some team to help me with some of those things to integrate, like realizing I, my genius, is on the visionary side and like getting ideas and doing those things, but not a whole lot in the implementation. I can do it because I needed to, because I've had my own business. but it doesn't necessarily make me the most excited. Like, I like starting a spark and letting somebody else continue the thing through. but to answer your question, how has it been having two businesses and stage and family and all the things it's been it's been really beautiful because sage has been a reminder to slow down and relax. So since him, I have taken off on all weekends, like I'm not working on weekends, I'm turning off at like 5 to 6, which is crazy that I'm still able to do all of these things even within that short amount of time.
Samuel Smith (00:34:04) - And so, with like learning with AI, that really was just about I played with ChatGPT right as it came out, and I had completed the computer science project that was like writing this whole code and then creating this like eight page report on it, describing the code. Like very technical. It did it completely correctly. First time I was like. Why are we in college? Like, why? Why? Oh, this is great, I feel inside. So why am I here? You know. And so I was like, this is has a huge impact for so many things. And I have already had a background in AI for a bit from follow up before even think about about a year. And I just realized I was like, this is going to be so huge. And so I created learning with AI to essentially we created hundreds of different prompts that you only have to worry about, like all of the different things. What can I do? Go to learning with AI and I'll show you.
Samuel Smith (00:35:03) - And we got all of the prompts and everything completely done. But the other thing is really exciting is we created, I wanted to learn how you learn over time and say, okay, Kim is doing these things with podcasts, so we're going to make examples about podcasts moving forward. How do we have all the things really learn about you over time and adapt to you over time? So as a personal tutor, that's the intention. And it's so cool because you have different avatars teach you, so you can have Taylor Swift teach you. You have Elon Musk teaching you, have Shrek teach you. It's so fun. And it's like, like, hey, Beyoncé, help me with this math homework or hey, Beyonce, I need your help creating a Queen podcast. And it's just so fun. again, how can we make learning fun? I think there's so much fear of like, oh my gosh, what's this going to do to like, people can cheat and do all these different things. And so my intention was, how do I go out there and be like, no, how do we have Ivy for good? That's really what I see, all of these things where AI is the most powerful tool that has yet to exist, and how can we use that for the greatest good? That's the intention of learning with AI and the call of agency.
Samuel Smith (00:36:13) - And as for how I manage those different things, it's literally just a matter of how do I slow down enough to realize there's I don't need to be running in all these directions. There's really only like a few main things that are those 20%, you have 80% of the results. And so it's really just slowing down, quieting, asking what those things are and then doing those things and not needing to do other things. And if there's other little 80% things that just kind of need to be done offloading that or delegating that to. A virtual assistant or anything like that.
Kimberly Spencer (00:36:46) - What did you find were the few things, typically, if you were to say at least a basis like the main top three, then move the needle.
Samuel Smith (00:36:55) - Main thing is my quiet time like every morning. So like I will go and I will very clearly visualize the things that I'm wanting to create, like from thinking grow rich. Joe Dispenza. There's so many different versions of this that pretty much the exact same thing. And so that is really important.
Samuel Smith (00:37:13) - And then right there after I do listening time, it's like, okay, what's next on? Like that's where I'm going. What's next given where I'm at now. And so it shifts. So like for learning with I, I've got several developers. So I just have to think, okay, what are the new features that we want to do and how do I get more people. Right. So I've got a bunch of different strategic ideas and how do I just go and get clear, what's the next thing to do, and then hand that over to somebody to go and do it for the follow up agency? Right now, my main intention is how do we get more people and we grow that. And we've been growing like crazy with just referrals. So I've it's been really fun just to watch that grow. And I realize, like, I don't even need to put a whole lot of energy on getting new people now. It's just, how do I kick butt for the people that we've already got? And we started working with some enterprise level clients that are multi-billion dollar companies.
Samuel Smith (00:38:01) - Now that is just you can make millions of dollars on and you can make them hundreds of millions of dollars. It's just it's so fun thinking and scale. but those, those big things are writing down, asking what those things are because they change. It's like. And so it's really just a matter of like, how do I create some systems and stuff so that I don't have to do the same thing over and over again? A lot of that and then getting more people and just having help.
Kimberly Spencer (00:38:32) - Yeah, I see it is your mindset and maybe it's just my mindset background, but it is your mindset of how you think about the way you do business that is so fascinating. And. So often it's counter to a lot of what the the culture of entrepreneurship really promotes, which is hustle. Go faster, work until you die. You know those sort of metaphors that just aren't really serving.
Samuel Smith (00:39:04) - And I think the example of that exact thing played out exactly in my life, like, so I was doing all these different things.
Samuel Smith (00:39:10) - I was doing my agency for a couple of years. I think even at this point is like 3 or 4 years I've been doing my agency. I mean, I just reinvested everything because I have softwares I'm paying for. I like all people. So like I've been doing that for four years now. I had been doing that for four years. Still hasn't made it much. I'm like, what is going on? And so at some point I was like, okay, God, what's going on? Like really like, okay, what's, what's really going on here? What's the lesson? And then I just heard. Let it go. I can let your whole business go. Just stop working on it. I'm like, what? What am I going to do? Like I have all of this time and energy like sunk cost fallacy, right? Like I put all this energy and it. I'm like, what do you mean, stop? so just thought of it. All right, I guess I'll just stop.
Samuel Smith (00:39:56) - And I stopped. I had, like, one of the most blissful weeks of having no work, and this was, like, right. As summer happens, I didn't have school either. Like, oh, my gosh, this is so awesome. And I'm like, this is great. And then I just get like, in the middle of the night. I have this idea and it hit me like a flash of lightning. It's like, go and license off all of the things about how you built your agency and how you created a client. 390 grand in three months. Go and sell that to other agencies. I was like, oh my gosh, that's a brilliant idea. Suddenly, guess what? I'm back in business. And then the next week I made more money than the whole rest of my life combined off of three phone calls. No work. And there's like. And I just really just packaged all the things up that were already in my business. Now, this isn't saying, okay, go on license off all your assets.
Samuel Smith (00:40:43) - The the lesson was. By slowing down, relaxing. There are certain things to do that will actually move the needle so much more than all the other things that you've been doing. That was a huge lesson for me. And how do I do that all the time?
Kimberly Spencer (00:41:00) - Yeah, I think that that one of the things I teach my clients is in having that polarizing perspective in going on podcast and being able to have that perspective that is different and that in and of itself, being able to slow down, being able to just say, okay, yeah, you know what? Surrender like surrender the entirety of the business, don't do a thing. Don't work on it, don't grow it, don't focus on it, and then just let it go and then let inspiration drop in, like maybe it dropped in for you at a week, but so for sometimes it it takes a month, sometimes it takes, you know, it's like, oh what it needs to what is this surrender that you need to have? Because other pieces of working from the universe are like coming into play in this great cosmic game.
Kimberly Spencer (00:41:50) - And so the game.
Samuel Smith (00:41:51) - In the first place. Yeah.
Kimberly Spencer (00:41:53) - So being able to understand like, okay, my piece just needs to sit here and I just need to trust that all the other pieces are aligning in my favor. For that big moment in.
Samuel Smith (00:42:04) - Chess, and that is so hard to hear as an achiever. It's so hard. It's like, no, like I am my work. I am cranking things out and grinding from 9 to 5 in the morning, you know, and it's like, oh, it's like, who am I without that? And you're like, oh. Like it's a really great escape. You know, if you think about it, you kind of think like, oh, I don't have to look at myself.
Kimberly Spencer (00:42:31) - Yeah, yeah.
Samuel Smith (00:42:32) - I have to let it be easy, because if I let it be easy, then I have more time to just chill and be right. So people just like throw themselves into it, but they're just using it as a distraction of like, what are the things they really need to see or look at?
Kimberly Spencer (00:42:50) - Yeah.
Kimberly Spencer (00:42:51) - And I think, that that perspective and, and of itself, there are a ton of Type-A hustle culture, sort of like podcasts out there that. Are preaching a message that I do believe that it comes from a good place and at the same time setting yourself apart. When you go on podcasts that have where you present that polarizing perspective of allowing yourself to rest, allowing yourselves to have the quiet time, and also to follow through with what comes through which sometimes you may not always like or it may not make sense in order to allow something better that. Creates something so wildly different than what everybody else is saying on that podcast. for example, I went on a podcast, I think it was called tide Bay. I think it was literally called Type-A achievers. And I said some times that productivity is directly tied with courage. And so the greatest thing that sometimes you can do, the most courageous thing that you could do that will actually create the most productivity in your business is taken out. And the podcast says was like, what? Like that's blew his mind.
Kimberly Spencer (00:44:14) - And yet he ended up coming on as a client for our console because it was what I presented. And that is how you profit from podcasting is when you can present an idea in a way that shifts perspectives, like it's the perspective shift. That is what makes podcasting so powerful. And when you can provide that in mass, it on scale consistently on podcasts that are that are sharing a different audience, where the audience is like, yeah, I need more, more motivation to hustle harder. I need to do all that things, do all the things, do more, just give me more. Know if you go on and you're like, yeah, I made more money and in three days and three phone calls than I did in my entire life. Because I listened and I stopped doing my business as it was. That that is a game changer. Like it doesn't.
Samuel Smith (00:45:10) - Mean don't work. That's not what it means.
Kimberly Spencer (00:45:12) - Though, you know.
Samuel Smith (00:45:13) - That's the important distinction here. But and that's what was so hard for me.
Samuel Smith (00:45:15) - I was like, what am I going to do if I'm not doing this? And it's like, I want to do this. I was like, I know. But what was so funny is it's like the thing that really just speaks so much to me. It's like a pendulum, right? Like we are such pendulums whenever it comes to things. And so for Type-A achievers, there's a lot of not there's not a lot of balance. There's like, I am going, I am grinding. And so the intention of the slow down is. Not okay. I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to be a bump on the wall and play video games all day. It is like, know like I know you're going to go here. So let's focus on this way. So you'll end up kind of like right in the middle.
Kimberly Spencer (00:45:55) - Yeah. Yeah. And allowing for it to be that gentle swing from inspiration to like, showing up to do the work that matters.
Samuel Smith (00:46:05) - Exactly rather.
Kimberly Spencer (00:46:06) - Than just reporting all the time.
Samuel Smith (00:46:08) - And I think a lot of people talk about this. I talk a lot about this. They'll talk about the middle of like, okay, what is the aligned inspired action? That are the necessary steps given thing done. And guess what? It may not even have to be you doing it. You can just hire somebody to do it. Well, crazy, I know, but like that's a lot of my stuff has been is like, okay, what are the things that I really need to be doing? What are the things that other people need to be doing?
Kimberly Spencer (00:46:33) - Yeah.
Samuel Smith (00:46:33) - A great book is a ten X is easier than two X by Dan Sullivan. Really, really good way of like, how do you go and find those 20% things? It's more of a a mental construction view of it. But it was really, really impactful to read. To, get gather some of those things. Yeah.
Kimberly Spencer (00:46:54) - So often, especially societies, is we're programmed to have incremental steps, like we go birth education, middle school, high school, college, work that.
Kimberly Spencer (00:47:06) - And it's it's supposed to be incredible. And what I love for you is that you have two timelines. You have the timeline where you've had the incremental traditional like incremental path going through high school to college, and then you have the one that's just completely the entrepreneurial others. So you've had the whole the both tracks simultaneously and.
Samuel Smith (00:47:31) - A lot more fun, I gotta say.
Kimberly Spencer (00:47:34) - It's a lot more fun. You know, like you.
Samuel Smith (00:47:36) - You pay one. It's like. Like you invest $1, you get $2 back. It's like, this game is like, I invest $1, I get $10,000 back. What? It's so fun. But guess what? You got to do the not so shiny thing. Oh, look at me. I'm going in, darling. Oh, oh. That's not.
Kimberly Spencer (00:47:55) - Yeah. Whoo!
Samuel Smith (00:47:55) - Roar! Like I'm gonna go beat this thing. It's like. No. Like, how do you go deep within yourself? You already know what you need to do is the funny part, right? It's like we're just so distracted, intentionally or unintentionally, by all the things that we're doing.
Samuel Smith (00:48:10) - So we just feel better about ourselves, or we feel like we're being successful, or we feel like we're being productive, when really it's like, no, the most productive thing, like you said, you could do is take a nap or go and. Throw your phone out into the river and sit with a journal for an hour and just ask what you need to see.
Kimberly Spencer (00:48:30) - Yeah.
Kimberly Spencer (00:48:31) - That's I think you're it is your mindset. And your youth that are the key marketing principles of your personal brand. Because of the two timelines that you've lived simultaneously.
Samuel Smith (00:48:50) - And I like that.
Kimberly Spencer (00:48:52) - And then. Marketing. That to me because there are spiritual podcasts. Many spiritual podcasts. But they miss the business side. They miss the transcendence from the spiritual realm down into the physical realm.
Samuel Smith (00:49:09) - All right.
Kimberly Spencer (00:49:11) - It's like where, you know, we gotta we gotta work it out here to know why we're here and that.
Samuel Smith (00:49:17) - Yeah, why we're here. That's the funny part. It's like, I think it's so funny because I.
Samuel Smith (00:49:22) - I've had different phases in my life as well where it's like, oh man, I just want to be up in the stars, bro. I just want to enjoy it. It's like, why are you here in the first place? It's like, well, I got some stuff to do. So there's a balance between all of it.
Kimberly Spencer (00:49:38) - That balance and that balance in the path of. Spiritual dissension in into this like human form and ascension into who we are becoming. As we go back through our life, that path of being in the thick of deep entrepreneurship, which actually can be incredibly spiritual and as it has been for you like that, that piece of your journey is something that was not shown in your bio. And yet it was really shown in one of the questions that you answered in, in the form before this podcast was really about what are your deeply held beliefs? And and when you lead with that, why and that deeper belief beyond financial like financial freedom is a piece of it. And there's this underlying current of slowness that is.
Kimberly Spencer (00:50:42) - Allowing for that flow and pouring a little bit more of that into how you're pitching yourself, because it's so unique to not only you, but the your entire generation.
Samuel Smith (00:50:54) - And that's also now I'm seeing the connection between that and like the AI stuff that I'm doing. Right? Yeah. Because the holy stuff is like, why are you doing that? You don't need to do that. Just let the software do it so you can have more space and time. Like, what if you could double your business or triple your business without doing anything more? Right. Let's go put this AI system in here to go and sell more for you. And just let them do the thing right? Like, how can you use AI or these automations to go and just reactivate customers? The most valuable thing that somebody could be doing with their time, how could you have that? So that's I think I love that because. That perfectly ties into the things that I'm doing. It's a very easy segue into, okay, well, if you have a business, how do you make it easy?
Kimberly Spencer (00:51:41) - Yeah, yeah, because the two main things that you're doing right now is making it easy for follow up, making it easy to learn to learn anything.
Kimberly Spencer (00:51:51) - Right? Right.
Kimberly Spencer (00:51:52) - But not making it easy for the sake of ease, but for the sake of growth and leading people into their genius zone so that they can have actual freedom, financial freedom, and actual like time freedom as well to create.
Samuel Smith (00:52:07) - What they want.
Kimberly Spencer (00:52:08) - Yeah.
Samuel Smith (00:52:09) - If you're so busy doing, you're not like you're not actually creating. And so I was like, how do you get clear on what you want so you can create that thing? Creating doesn't have to be hard. Like the best creations are not hard.
Kimberly Spencer (00:52:23) - You've just got to do the work.
Kimberly Spencer (00:52:24) - Right? Yeah.
Kimberly Spencer (00:52:27) - Samuel, I have enjoyed this conversation so much and I love your energy. I love your enthusiasm and your passion and your your absolute tenacity to just go for what it is you want. I know I said before this call, like, I have no doubt that space hotels and you are going to be a thing, and I have a feeling my son will probably be working for you. So I would love to know.
Kimberly Spencer (00:52:54) - What did you love about this conversation? That was a big takeaway for both your marketing strategy and your storytelling strategy.
Samuel Smith (00:53:01) - I think the main thing was realizing that my business side of things does not have to be separate from my personal. Side and like, how do I have the brand actually be connected with what I'm doing? Because I think I've been so focused on like, okay, how do you grow an enterprise? How do you grow that side of things that I haven't really brought in, like the spiritual lessons I've been learning and like having that be a part of the unique flavor of what I'm bringing to the world, which I thought was really, really beautiful and a really cool way to bring those things together, which speaks to your genius of being able to see the the way to communicate that to the world.
Kimberly Spencer (00:53:46) - Amazing. Samuel, where can we find you? How do we work with you? How do we learn with you or with I?
Samuel Smith (00:53:54) - Well, if you have a business, that you'd love to scale with AI and making it easy, we are just a follow up agency.com.
Samuel Smith (00:54:03) - I've got my calendar in there. I don't know how long I will keep my calendar on there. but I would love to just meet and see if there's any way that I can serve. And then if you're wanting to just learn really cool stuff with AI and go to learning with AI and yeah, those are the main two things.
Kimberly Spencer (00:54:20) - And it's super fun. I played with learning AI and the interface is.
Kimberly Spencer (00:54:25) - Just.
Kimberly Spencer (00:54:26) - Beautiful and fun and and really allows for. I love the idea generation, so it's a really amazing tool and they're.
Samuel Smith (00:54:34) - All AI generated images by the way, if you notice that.
Kimberly Spencer (00:54:39) - Of course, because you're supporting the AI, the AI movement. So beautiful. I love the tie in. I love the correlation. Great brand awareness. And as always, my fellow communication queens, let your voice be heard because your voice and your story has the power to save and transform at least one person's life, but probably many, many more. Till next time.
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