Guests: Nick Santo, Daniel Ramsey
Recorded: November 18, 2019
Excerpt
Nick Santo is a medical miracle. Not only is he one of four people alive with the rare genetic condition, but the inspirational keynote speaker is also an internationally-known bodybuilder, athlete, and fitness model. He tours the country and speaks about his incredible story, showing people that anyone can thrive if they have the determination and willpower to go after what they want. When Nick was born, the doctors handed his parents a long list of things that he would never be able to do. Nick’s parents politely thanked them and threw that list out, and they raised Nick the same way they had raised his three non-disabled older siblings and instilled in him never to let the world tell him what he could or couldn’t do.
Is this something that you can relate to?
Most folks, at least once in their lives, everyone falls into the victim mentality, asking, “Why me?” You can take comfort in knowing that you’re not alone in feeling this way because everyone has their own struggles. You can shift from this state of being or stay in it when choosing to focus either on the negatives or the positives.
As a Realtor®, getting listings can be difficult, and in this shifting market, profitability can be a considerable challenge; even something like building and managing a team can be tougher—but if you can adopt Nick’s advice and breakthrough your limiting belief systems by shifting your mindset, you may find yourself seeing things from a different perspective. You will find solutions to these difficult situations and come out on top.
Nick’s advice? Begin with an attitude of gratitude, and the rest will follow. Being thankful for what you have will make you appreciate things more. Do you have a good pool of leads? Do you have the ability to meet your clients and make a difference in their lives by helping them buy or sell their homes? Focus on all the positives in your business, and the odds are that you will be able to zoom in on why you are in Real Estate. You’ll find the inspiration and motivation to keep pushing forward to double your business.
Transcript
00:00:04:05 – 00:00:38:13
Daniel Ramsey
Hey, everybody. Daniel Ramsey here with MyOutDesk today. We’ve got a very special guest. I’m really excited. I saw this guy speak in Breckenridge, Colorado. He blew my mind. Nick Santi, A.O. is here. He’s an author, speaker, a bodybuilder, now a snowboarder. Thanks to some amazing people and here’s here’s the why we brought this in. As an entrepreneur, I’ve grown a ton of businesses and helped our clients grow a lot of businesses.
00:00:38:19 – 00:01:05:11
Daniel Ramsey
And there’s one thing that is always present. People who win have a winning attitude. They have a winning attitude, a great mindset. And honestly, I feel silly because Nick, I don’t know if you don’t know this because we have we didn’t prepare for this and we didn’t. But I walked in, I saw you speak and literally inside I thought I should be so much more grateful than I actually am after hearing you speak.
00:01:05:11 – 00:01:12:16
Daniel Ramsey
And the reason you’re here is because your story is just so and inspirational. And man, thanks for joining us today.
00:01:13:03 – 00:01:21:24
Nick Santo
I’m dude, I’m pumped up. I’m grateful for the opportunity, brother. Any time I have the opportunity to get up here and share some wisdom, share some perspectives, I’m about it.
00:01:22:10 – 00:01:40:15
Daniel Ramsey
Yeah. So let’s, let’s I mean, if you’re listening, let’s dove in like Nick. Tell us a little bit about your story. Like, because people want to know, like, I mean, I saw pictures with the rock. You’re on stage in front of thousands of people, all the time, like let’s hear your story.
00:01:41:03 – 00:02:03:10
Nick Santo
Yes, for sure. So I’m 65 and I’m just going to I’m 22 years old in 1996 when my mom was pregnant with me, you know, they went in for the first ultrasound. It was great. Ultrasound. Great. And then my mom went in for a late ultrasound. And so basically when they brought my parents in, you know, they brought that they brought me up on the screen, the baby, and they said, you know, something’s extremely wrong.
00:02:03:10 – 00:02:19:17
Nick Santo
It doesn’t look like his limbs are being developed. Might have a cleft palate. He’s missing his legs. And just, you know, the list went on and on. And I’m like, I always self-reflect even on myself. I’m like, you know, how do you how does a parent react to that social situation? Right. Like, I’m not a parent, but how would how would a parent react?
00:02:19:17 – 00:02:34:03
Nick Santo
You could become the victim or the victim of that situation. And so my parents were like looked at each other and said, hey, like, can’t change it, right? Like, you know how everybody always talks about like you can’t change it. They were just like, we need to go with the flow here. And so basically they classified me with hand heart syndrome.
00:02:34:20 – 00:02:52:21
Nick Santo
And what hand heart syndrome is, is a super rare genetic disorder that either leaves the babies were undeveloped limbs or undeveloped organs. And so actually at the time of my birth in 1996, I was the 12th baby in medical history that they’ve ever seen this happened to. And out of the 12, me being the 12th, eight of them had passed away due to undeveloped organs.
00:02:52:21 – 00:03:10:13
Nick Santo
And so they gave me about a 30% chance to live. And my parents looked at each other, said, Hey, we’re going to focus on that 30% rather than the 70%. Because I always tell people focusing on the negative, like, I don’t care what it is, you know, in any situation in life, focusing on a negative aspect, we’ll just always think you right.
00:03:10:13 – 00:03:29:04
Nick Santo
It doesn’t empower you. And we’ll get we’ll get into like how disempowering humans are as creatures. Like we’re very disempowering. People get things right. But so basically they classified me with that and they gave me a 30% chance to live. And then you know, a couple of months later, my mom went into labor with me. She had a C-section.
00:03:29:04 – 00:03:42:19
Nick Santo
And they brought me out the door, tested my organs, and my organs came back 100% healthy. And so, like, there was this wild event and, you know, like the only thing that was affected were my limbs. And so for those of you watching, I’m born with no legs. That’s why I made the joke that I was six, five, and so I was born.
00:03:42:20 – 00:03:50:02
Nick Santo
No legs, one arm with one finger. And then this this little arm, this guy. And so, I mean, that’s that’s that was the start of the life, right?
00:03:50:17 – 00:04:10:02
Daniel Ramsey
Yeah. So I’m curious, like, you know, I’m a parent, right? And so I can’t imagine what your parents go through. And I listened to your book prior. And if you’re listening right now, at the end of this, we’re going to give away next book because it’s just it is it’s a freaking really good. I mean, it’s just really good.
00:04:10:08 – 00:04:20:02
Daniel Ramsey
It like slaps you in their face and like, okay, I need more gratitude in my world. But taught because you gave your parents a lot of props because they handled it, right?
00:04:20:20 – 00:04:39:03
Nick Santo
Yeah. Yeah, I, you know, I always say my parents are the superheroes. I’m just the offspring. And the importance of parenting is like and it’s it’s funny because I’m not a parent and I’m trying to prepare myself to be a parent. And, you know, you never can prepare yourself to be a parent. So, like, you know, you just always learn as you go, right.
00:04:39:03 – 00:04:57:14
Nick Santo
But I’m saying as as you guys, as parents, you’re cultivating your kids mindsets through your actions, through your words, the way you react, your emotions. I mean, if you don’t think your kids are listening, I bet you they’re watching. They’re always watching. And so the way my parents raised me, like I have to give it up to them, because in those early ages, it was either make it or break it.
00:04:57:14 – 00:05:11:16
Nick Santo
That’s how it was. Either make it or break it for me, I believe. And so the way my parents raised me, which was so unique and my biggest advantage was they sat me down in the early age and were like, Nick, you got no legs and one arm and like, things are going to be hard, but like this is how it is.
00:05:11:16 – 00:05:24:07
Nick Santo
Like this is how life is. Nothing’s going to change. You’re going to have to adapt to the world. You know, the world doesn’t change. And so they would put my clothes in front of me in the most polite way and say, All right, make like tinker with it, you know, figure it out, you know, we’ll be here, we’ll support you.
00:05:24:16 – 00:05:41:01
Nick Santo
And, you know, I get pissed off and I’m like, you know, why can’t you just help me? And they say, Nick, you got to go through the motions. You know, you got to go through the motions now, things are going to be hard now, but later it will be easy. And so I always, always kind of talk about things as muscles like the minds of muscle like.
00:05:41:01 – 00:06:02:12
Nick Santo
And there’s so many muscles that we need to, you know, exercise and condition. And the biggest muscle my parents helped me exercise was falling on my face and getting back up. Like knowing things were going to be hard. So at an early age, like I always tell people everything I did, I feel that like I’ve always felt that everything like getting on a chair, feeding myself was not I failed at everything.
00:06:02:12 – 00:06:23:01
Nick Santo
And so my biggest advantage was my parents didn’t call me and they basically helped me exercise the muscle of getting comfortable, being uncomfortable and I think we can all agree that like even nowadays with kids or even adults, like when things get hard, people throw the towel in. And the reason why they do is because they aren’t exercising the muscle of doing hard things and falling on their face.
00:06:23:24 – 00:06:25:14
Nick Santo
Yeah. Why?
00:06:25:22 – 00:06:33:12
Daniel Ramsey
Why why do you think you’re I mean, are your siblings were they raised with the same mindset like, are they all out there like or was it different for you?
00:06:34:04 – 00:06:50:11
Nick Santo
So it’s funny. My mom talks about she’s like, Nick, you were the last kid. So we knew the most. Like, you know, like, and, and and at that time, like, kind of like you, you’re not as strict, right, with the last kid because, like, you’ve been through it all, you know? I mean, I don’t know. But that’s how my parents described it.
00:06:50:24 – 00:07:10:00
Nick Santo
But even when they brought me home from, you know, my after my mom, you know, went into labor with me when they brought me home and they presented me to my siblings, they didn’t even talk about the limbs. They they were just, hey, here’s your baby brother. Here’s your baby brother. And my and my siblings reacted of just like, oh, it’s my baby brother.
00:07:10:00 – 00:07:24:02
Nick Santo
Like, they had no idea. And that’s the thing with kids. Like, if you if you don’t make things different, like, they just think it’s normal, you know, it’s like when a baby falls down, like, there’s two ways you can react like, oh, my God, are you okay? And the baby freaks out even more? Or are you just like you’re okay?
00:07:24:02 – 00:07:42:16
Nick Santo
You know, like you get up, you know, like you just brush it off. And so my parents just nonchalantly, like, introduce this unicorn to the family, just like that was their baby brother, you know, that was they were just excited to have another baby brother. And so, you know, I got beat up with the siblings. Like, I just they put me in the mix.
00:07:42:16 – 00:07:58:23
Nick Santo
And and that was my biggest advantage was my parents just treated me normal, right? And then, you know, I got thrown into the mix and they they beat me up. And my brother was a wrestler and my sister was a gymnast. So my sister was a gymnast. She would teach me how to do a handstand to get on a chair like that.
00:07:59:03 – 00:08:05:15
Nick Santo
It was just like, this is my baby brother. And like this, this is it. Like we don’t know any different, you know?
00:08:05:23 – 00:08:29:08
Daniel Ramsey
Right, right. What am I really listening? I know that some of the lessons that you learned growing up are what makes you a public speaker now and able to speak on this with such an authority. What happened? How how what were your teenage years like? What was it like to be that kid at school? And like, I just it’s a curiosity for me, you know?
00:08:29:10 – 00:08:29:14
Daniel Ramsey
Yeah.
00:08:30:06 – 00:08:48:12
Nick Santo
For sure. So growing up, I and I realized, like, I realized this a couple of years ago because I was I was looking back at baby pictures. And so I didn’t realize that I was different. You know, I didn’t realize all the things I had going on in a way early age. But I self reflected and I looked at a picture.
00:08:48:12 – 00:09:03:24
Nick Santo
I was in kindergarten, in a preschool, and it was it was a, you know, a school like a class picture. And we all had hats on. And so it was during Christmas. Well, it’s Santa hats and then here was Nick. And I took the picture like this. I had my hand stuck up in my hat because I guess I didn’t like the way my hand looked.
00:09:04:15 – 00:09:19:20
Nick Santo
And so that was like my first sense of insecurities that I don’t even remember that, right? I don’t remember that as a kid. But looking back on my day, I’m like, you must I must have struggled with, like, not liking the way my hand look. And then as I carried on, I didn’t. Now I’m good. Like, I love myself.
00:09:19:20 – 00:09:39:12
Nick Santo
Like I could care less, you know? But just like, conditioning, right on. But going into going into elementary school, like I said, I didn’t realize I was different, but there were certain occasions that people let me know is different. And so, for example, I was I was in third or fourth grade and we were out, we were in, we were doing recess and kickball.
00:09:39:12 – 00:09:54:24
Nick Santo
And you’re like, how do you play kickball? Well, I can run around the bases. And so I’d have someone kick for me. I’d run. And so you kick the ball for me. And I was running in it. I got first, I got second, I got third. And I slid into home right before they got me out. And I still remember this kid’s name.
00:09:54:24 – 00:10:14:01
Nick Santo
So that’s how much it affected me. Yeah, you know. Right. I’m in. I’m in between. Like I’m already safe. Like it’s already done. I’m in between the pitcher and the catcher and the and the catcher goes, hey, you going to let a cripple scoring? Oh, and I’m like, I’m in third or fourth grade, dude. I don’t even know like, what that word meant probably.
00:10:14:07 – 00:10:36:03
Nick Santo
But I knew that it was negative, right? And so my first taste of like getting into that victim mentality of like, well, I beat you fair and square. Why me? You know, like, why are these kids calling me these names? You know, like, why do you have to bring that? Like, why? You know? And everyone gets into the victim mentality at least once in our life.
00:10:36:03 – 00:10:50:10
Nick Santo
We can self-reflect on the time we were like, Why me? Right, everyone? And for those of you listening and watching, I want to take I want you to take a sense of comfort in that that everyone goes through it. Don’t think you’re just some random case that like, wow, I’m a weirdo and I’m a victim. Like, everyone goes, Yeah.
00:10:50:10 – 00:11:05:15
Nick Santo
And so there was a case like that. And then I was in, I was probably in six or seventh grade and I had to take the short bus because of my wheelchair with the wheelchair ramp. And so I was I was sitting in the bus and this girl was just going going around the whole bus, making fun of people.
00:11:05:15 – 00:11:22:19
Nick Santo
And I still remember her name. So you know how much it affected me. And, you know, I’m sweating. I’m like, oh, man, she’s going to have a field day with me. And she gets up to me and she goes, I don’t even have to start with you. You’re already too messed up anyway. And I’m like, I don’t even it’s like, Why, why?
00:11:22:23 – 00:11:39:08
Nick Santo
Why are you saying this to me? I didn’t do anything to you. And not only was was it the words that came over came out of her mouth, but it was the fact that she was a female. And so and in high school and middle school females, we deal for dudes. And whichever way you go, I don’t care.
00:11:39:08 – 00:12:01:04
Nick Santo
Whichever way you go, you’re craving that opposite energy, right? And so now I’m starting to stack, you know, we talk about stacking, positive stacking or negative stacking. And what I mean by that is you notice when you start your day off on the wrong foot, so to say right, you roll out, roll out of the bed, and one negative thing happens right off the rip, you tend to start just thinking about all the negative things that are going on.
00:12:01:04 – 00:12:08:23
Nick Santo
You tend to start nitpicking ourselves. We’re very disempowering creatures. And so if you don’t dig yourself out of the hole, you’re going to you’re going to dig yourself deep. Okay.
00:12:08:23 – 00:12:23:17
Daniel Ramsey
So how do you you said it. You open the door. So negative stacking, positive stacking. How do you dig yourself out? And nobody would know more than you in that scenario, that story you just shared.
00:12:23:17 – 00:12:35:15
Nick Santo
Yeah, yeah. I’ll, I’ll let you know how. And I didn’t know how to get out of that time. I want to let people know that clear. I was still struggling. I only learned how to get out of these negative holes a couple of years ago. So I don’t want people to think that I was this guru back in the day.
00:12:35:15 – 00:12:56:16
Nick Santo
Right. But the thing is, the number one key is self-awareness. And so what I mean by that is even even now, like you ever you ever have a time where, like, I used to go through school and like just be in this pissed off mood, and I wouldn’t realize that my eyebrows were crouched down. And so I’d just be like, you know, like resting, like bitch face.
00:12:56:16 – 00:13:13:04
Nick Santo
So to say, I don’t know if a lot of cursing. Oh, yeah, dude, what’s wrong? And you don’t even realize that you’re in this state. You know, you don’t because you’re just going through the motions. And so the the biggest thing is self-awareness, right? Realizing your physiology, you know, are you slumped over? Like how is your field physiology?
00:13:13:04 – 00:13:27:14
Nick Santo
Like, are your shoulders or back? Like, how are you talking? What are the thoughts that are going through your head? And then the second step, you got to sit in the gut. You got to sit in the mud for a little bit. You got to sit and sit in that state and realize I don’t like the thoughts that are going through my head.
00:13:27:20 – 00:13:44:07
Nick Santo
I don’t like the way I’m feeling. Okay, now it’s time to dig myself out of the hole. But like, you got to sit in the gut for a little bit and to know that you don’t want to be in that state anymore. Right, right, right. So then you got to the way you you to reverse stack is now you got to start thinking about all the things you’re grateful for.
00:13:44:13 – 00:14:06:17
Nick Santo
Like you got to start self reflecting. And I, what I’ve realized is that people have a harder time self reflecting. I’m moments proud of and moments are great before it just means you don’t you don’t do it enough and that’s okay. Like you’re already a step ahead realizing that you don’t reflect enough. So what I’m saying is you need to start stacking all the positive things like, man, I woke up today, I have a heart, you know, I was given this heart.
00:14:07:01 – 00:14:27:17
Nick Santo
I have a family or I have food in my refrigerator, have a bed. I mean, this stuff is going to dig you out because perspective and gratitude will always ground you and bring you back to that thing. And like, I am like, this isn’t just like mindset mumbo jumbo, the emotion of gratitude emotionally, like scientifically, it is emotionally impossible for you to feel grateful and sad or grateful and angry at the same time.
00:14:28:04 – 00:14:39:08
Nick Santo
So like, if you’re in these negative, negative feelings or negative emotions, go back to gratitude. Go back to what you’re grateful for, go back to that perspective. But it will always bring you back to where you need to be.
00:14:39:15 – 00:14:51:18
Daniel Ramsey
You know what? Slap me in the face. I’m listening to your book. And one of the things that you said is be grateful for hot water. And I’m like, What are you talking about? Hot water? Like, how do you be grateful for hot water?
00:14:53:14 – 00:15:19:00
Nick Santo
Because there are people in Africa that don’t have anything. And it’s like, Oh my God. Like you go outside, you see a dude sleeping on a bench. Like, what do we have to complain about? Like, oh my. Like, it inspires me up because. And I used to be an ungrateful kid too. Like, I don’t want to, like, get, get the fucking, you know, wrong, like perception of me.
00:15:19:00 – 00:15:38:07
Nick Santo
I used to be ungrateful, continued like we all go through this ungrateful stuff. But like even I know a man with no legs and one arm that there are millions of people in the world that would switch places with me in an instant because they just don’t have it like they don’t have enough. For me that is way more than enough for me, you know.
00:15:38:07 – 00:15:53:04
Daniel Ramsey
So as you you mentioned it earlier, so I’m going to ask, you know, relationship with women, like, how is that how has that affected you in an early age? And now as an adult like talk to me about that. I’m more than curious, you know, great.
00:15:53:04 – 00:16:15:12
Nick Santo
So so talking is piggybacking off of that girl’s story. So girls were my biggest suicide trigger. Nerves were my biggest suicide trigger. The girls were the biggest thing that made me dig myself into the darkest hole because I told you, we tend to stack on these thoughts. Right? So after that girl said that to me, the thoughts that go through my head continuously as a middle school and high school is okay.
00:16:16:08 – 00:16:30:09
Nick Santo
Nick Girls think you’re disgusting. Girls think you’re different. Nick how are you going to walk a girl to your locker? You can’t. Even if you got to the locker. How are you going to open a locker for? How are you going to hold her books if you’re going to want to hold your finger, that’s disgusting. Like, these are the thoughts that go through my head.
00:16:30:24 – 00:16:47:07
Nick Santo
Wow. Because like, that one girl put that put that thought in my head that like, dude, you’re you’re messed up, you’re like, you’re disgusting. And I’m just like, oh, my God, you’re right. Like, this is how girls portrayed me. And I didn’t. So those would be like, girls would drive me to my biggest suicidal triggers because, like, that was a big deal, right?
00:16:47:07 – 00:17:08:17
Nick Santo
I see my friends getting loved on, you know, I see you see it all over. And I crave that. I crave that feminine energy. And I never got it the way I wanted to. And so the power of reframing things changed my life. And so what I mean by that is everything’s the meaning you attach behind things. And so I didn’t I didn’t have this breakthrough until a couple of years ago.
00:17:08:20 – 00:17:31:03
Nick Santo
Like I was struggling with this until a couple of years ago. One of my friends helped me realize this, but I, I realized that Nick, if a girl doesn’t want to further a relationship with you, if a girl doesn’t want to dove deeper and connect with you on whatever level it may be because of your physical differences, well, then this physical difference is is an authentic filter, and it’s filtering out the girls that you don’t want in your life anyway.
00:17:31:17 – 00:17:52:14
Nick Santo
Boom. How empowering is that? That’s like it changed my life because I realize and like when I shoot, like, dude and when I share that on stage, girls like, oh my, like, it’s so hot. Like it’s itself making like it’s so attractive. Like, I’ve realized, like, not only being authentic, but sharing what you struggled with and sharing what you currently struggle with.
00:17:52:14 – 00:18:21:07
Nick Santo
It is just like people relate, man, and people just connect with you. And I’ve realized, like, for all of you guys and girls out there, I’ve realized looks, looks are they’re like, looks are like kind of important. But I promise you, it’s the way you connect with people. It’s energy like it’s all energy. And so that is probably the biggest like, like reframe that changed my life was like realizing like dude, like if that girl if that girl says something to you, kick rocks like you’re not you’re not, you’re not even on my frequency.
00:18:21:07 – 00:18:47:01
Nick Santo
Like, you’re not even you’re not even on my level anyway. Like, this disability is doing me a favor. It’s so empowering and that and, and so when I reframe my life like that, like now it’s amazing. And, and I meet amazing, amazing women that are driven, goal oriented, like on my frequency and everything’s about frequency. And those girls that are going to deny you for that, for those physical differences, they’re on like a wave low wavelength.
00:18:47:02 – 00:18:49:06
Nick Santo
Like they’re not going anywhere, man.
00:18:49:16 – 00:18:51:21
Daniel Ramsey
They’re not going anywhere. And you wouldn’t want them anyways.
00:18:52:06 – 00:19:01:11
Nick Santo
Yeah, right. But how empowering is that? You see, like in a snap of a finger, you take a situation that you were the victim and you spin it, you put it, you put an empowering meaning behind it. You’re the victim.
00:19:01:23 – 00:19:14:14
Daniel Ramsey
So how do I if if I’ve got something that I’m challenged with, how do I have that reframe? Like, what are the steps to cause that reframe? And then how do you practice that so that you’re freaking amazing at it?
00:19:14:24 – 00:19:38:13
Nick Santo
Yeah. So ask yourself like like this is it. This is a literally an exercise that everyone can implement immediately right now. And so I always quote Nelson Mandela and Nelson Mandela said, I don’t lose in life. I don’t lose. I only win or learn. And so when you frame your life of winning, you’re learning. So basically right now you can take an event in your life in the past that you felt was a loss, right.
00:19:38:14 – 00:19:58:05
Nick Santo
That you thought was negative. And you ask yourself, what else could this mean? What was one? Because I promise you, there is always one good piece of information that you can pull out of every event. I don’t care how negative you think it is, there’s always one good thing that you can pull out of it, whether it was a different perspective, whether it was a different piece of knowledge, whatever is different.
00:19:58:05 – 00:20:19:06
Nick Santo
Like there’s always there’s always something that comes comes out of it. And so you take an L and you extract the good and you turn into a W, and so like when something bad happens to you or like, like if I could quote, quote unquote something bad, like when you think something in the future, guys, like when something you think’s negative, ask yourself, Well, what else can this mean?
00:20:19:06 – 00:20:42:12
Nick Santo
Or What did I learn from it? Because I promise you, you can learn something from every event. And when you learn from something, you win. You win. That way you never lose. And so you need that. You need to be at an anchor. Like, what else can this mean? And that also goes back to the mind frame of the world is happening for you and that to you, the majority of the people think the world is happening to them and they’re the victim in all this stuff is so bad and the world’s happening for you.
00:20:43:01 – 00:20:45:19
Nick Santo
You just need to realize it and you need to pull that stuff out of it.
00:20:45:24 – 00:20:58:17
Daniel Ramsey
Now you’re mixing wisdom. So I got to I got to slow you down. Okay, so if, if, if I need a reframe or I feel like I have a loss, the question is, what did I learn? Or or.
00:20:58:17 – 00:20:59:13
Nick Santo
What was? You ask me.
00:20:59:22 – 00:21:00:22
Daniel Ramsey
What else can this mean?
00:21:01:01 – 00:21:04:13
Nick Santo
Okay, what else can this mean in a positive? What’s positive that comes out of it?
00:21:04:24 – 00:21:21:11
Daniel Ramsey
Okay, that’s good. That’s good advice. Okay. And now you switch to a whole nother thing. Let’s talk through that that perspective. Like break that down. Like the world is happening for me versus the majority.
00:21:21:18 – 00:21:36:05
Nick Santo
The majority of the world. They just think the world is happening to them and they’re not in control and all this stuff. But when you reframe it, like when you start living life, like everything’s happening for me, like I said, whether it’s you got punched in the face or whether you got in a car accident, somehow, someway this happened for you.
00:21:36:05 – 00:21:45:20
Nick Santo
There was a benefit. Something came out of it. Maybe it woke you up like, I don’t know what it is in their life, but there’s always some way that you can be like, Man, this happened for me. This was good. Like.
00:21:46:03 – 00:21:52:22
Daniel Ramsey
How did you learn this lesson? Like personally in your struggle as you went through life?
00:21:52:22 – 00:22:11:24
Nick Santo
Yeah, my whole life I was like, Why am I born with no legs? One arm are all like one. This is the stupidest stuff. Why? Like, I was suicidal. I didn’t want to look into a mirror. I didn’t want to go to public eye. I hated myself. I wanted to take my life. And then I realized like, Oh my God, this is no legs in one arm.
00:22:11:24 – 00:22:33:17
Nick Santo
Thing is my biggest superpower. It’s my biggest influence. This is what helps me break down people’s barriers and help me get them to open up and make that breakthrough. It’s my biggest superpower. That’s why. That’s why I’m able to speak, like because I’ve I’ve realized that man, there’s so much to talk about. But, like, when people realize our problems become gifts, once we learn from them, your life will change.
00:22:34:04 – 00:22:50:24
Nick Santo
Like the things that you think are so negative about yourselves. I promise you, those are your biggest advantages. Those are your biggest things that set you apart in business. Like, like my one of my mentors and my good friend Andy. For Sela, I don’t know if you know Andy Fossella. I met MFC Yo Project U the CEO first form, but I have a scar on my face too.
00:22:50:24 – 00:23:08:02
Nick Santo
But he has a scar on his face. And at first, like this is the worst thing in the world. Like this is so this is so like so bad, right? And then people then he started networking and doing business and they were like, oh, you know that. You know that guy with the scar on his face and he and that’s how they were like people would remember.
00:23:08:02 – 00:23:31:00
Nick Santo
Andy That’s a good that’s an advantage. Yeah. It’s just like I wanted to give an example of someone else’s life rather than mine, right? So it’s just like focus focused on, like, your advantages, like, like your strengths, right? And like how you are so unique. Like the things that you’re probably hating on yourself. How can you switch those and start using them to the best of your ability?
00:23:31:00 – 00:23:41:12
Nick Santo
Because life all builds us a deck of cards and you may think your deck is great. You may think your deck of cards is mediocre, you may think it’s terrible, but it’s our duty to play the hand to the best of our ability.
00:23:42:09 – 00:24:04:23
Daniel Ramsey
So you’ve taken this to a whole nother level because your biggest challenge growing up has become your biggest strength, that whole victim to victory. Right? I mean, 100%. How did you realize that that was your life’s calling? Like, how did you go through that process of like, holy crap, I’m called to help empower other people. What was that?
00:24:05:01 – 00:24:07:01
Daniel Ramsey
What was the event that changed your life?
00:24:07:12 – 00:24:24:00
Nick Santo
Yeah, so there was one event. But I’m still learning. I’m still learning that it is every, every day. Like when people come up to me and you know, even when I started speaking, like really in the beginning of my career, I’d come off and I’d ask my my business partner is like, how was that? You know, was good.
00:24:24:00 – 00:24:48:15
Nick Santo
Like, I don’t think my story’s cool. Like, I didn’t think it was cool. But then I, you know, like, and I want to let everyone know real quick, like, we all have a story and I don’t want anyone to compare stories and think of that story’s better and mine’s less important. I promise you, when you open up about the things you’re currently struggling with you and you open up and you tell your story of the things you struggle with, there are always people that are going to connect and relate with you like, and I don’t want anyone to think that my story is cooler than theirs.
00:24:48:15 – 00:25:08:20
Nick Santo
Like everyone, Stewart story is badass. Everyone’s story is unique to them. If there was a moment I was wrestling and like Matt Moyer wrestling, yeah. Well, there’s this. There’s a lot we can even go into that because I amputated five inches of this arm off to wrestle, like there’s so much we can cover.
00:25:09:01 – 00:25:18:09
Daniel Ramsey
Hey, I’m a I’m a wrestling coach, so I’m all about. Yeah, I’m all about it. Like, the mental toughness that’s required for that sport is insane.
00:25:18:17 – 00:25:32:19
Nick Santo
Yeah, well, wrestling. So my older brother was a wrestler, so I always looked up to him and it was the coolest thing. Ah, they are the cool thing. And so when I got in high school, I’m in this low point right now. I’m trying to figure out how to get out of this. And so all my best friends were wrestlers.
00:25:32:19 – 00:25:51:00
Nick Santo
I bowled my first year, my one buddy got me to bowl and I was like, This is not for me. Yeah. My best friends went back to wrestling. They were stud wrestlers. I’m from New Jersey, so wrestling is like a big deal. Yeah. Um, talking about humans being disempowering, we always, the majority of us start. We can’t always, like, oh, we can’t do this because this, this, this and this.
00:25:51:00 – 00:26:04:06
Nick Santo
Well, you know, how empowering is that? And so I always do my life of how because how will stimulate solutions. It’s not mindset mumbo jumbo. It will stimulate solutions. When you say, how am I going to do this? How am I going to break through this goal, whatever it may be? And so I was marinating on the thought.
00:26:04:06 – 00:26:15:23
Nick Santo
I was like, Man, how can I become a wrestler? So I came home one day and I said, Mom and dad, you know, I want to be a wrestler. And my parents supported me in everything and anything, but this was a little bit different. My mom was like, Oh no, Nick, you know, God forbid, wrestling does physical sport.
00:26:15:23 – 00:26:33:22
Nick Santo
You hate your arm because for those of you listening, this arm was five inches longer than it is now. And my bone was going faster than my skin. And so my bone couldn’t keep up. And so the bottom line is, if I would have hit my arm hard enough, my bone, when it came through my skin. So I came home, I said, Mom and Dad, you want I want to be a wrestler, Nick.
00:26:33:22 – 00:26:50:14
Nick Santo
What about your arm? And I said, Can we cut it off? And I said, Why? I’m a 16 year old kid. They said, What? And I said, Yeah, you know, can we cut it off? And they said, First off, the right word is amputate. You’re so aggressive with your words. Let’s let’s just stop. I’m like, all right, let’s let’s amputate my arm.
00:26:50:14 – 00:27:04:12
Nick Santo
And so they were like, Nick, this is something that you really want to do. And I said, Yeah. And you know, with my sophomore year, we scheduled the amputation. They did a skin graft, so they lasered five inch stomach bone off. They pulled extra skin from up here by my shoulder, pulled it over so I could beat people up with it.
00:27:04:23 – 00:27:19:20
Nick Santo
And so my junior year I was a JV wrestler, but I went into the room real quick just to touch on this. I went into the room and I told all my buddies, I said, Beat me up. Guys like do not hold back on me, like slam me and do whatever you need to do. Because if you hold back, I mean, I’m not going to become the best wrestler I could possibly be.
00:27:20:02 – 00:27:37:02
Nick Santo
And that was the same place my parents took. And so my senior year I was two and 17. I got two more real wins and I got the previous year, and that’s called winning progression. And so I came off the mat after getting my butt kicked as usual, and I was trying to catch my breath. And this lady came up to me crying and I’m like, Oh man, you know, what did I do wrong?
00:27:38:04 – 00:27:48:09
Nick Santo
And she said, Nick, I want to thank you. I said, For what? And she said, Well, my daughter’s over there in the bleachers, and she never wanted to do a sport. She never wanted to do an extracurricular activity.
00:27:48:09 – 00:27:49:14
Daniel Ramsey
But she saw you out there.
00:27:50:04 – 00:28:05:15
Nick Santo
You you not only motivated and inspired her, but you shifted her perspective. She’s asking me to try all these sports. I want to thank you. And I was like, boom, light bulb went off in my head because I was on the mat for myself. I was I was trying to dig my I wasn’t trying to inspire anyone. Nick wasn’t trying to be motivational.
00:28:06:11 – 00:28:25:05
Nick Santo
I was changing lives. And I was like, holy, holy cow. You know, like, imagine if I focus my energy on helping people. Like, what could I do? But like how you said it wasn’t just one event. Like, I’m still learning that I’m this is my calling because like, we all have our days. Like, I have days, man, where I wake up and I’m like, Dude, you’re not doing enough.
00:28:25:17 – 00:28:43:01
Nick Santo
Like, you suck. Like we all have these days, right? Like, we could be the most successful person, but you have a day where you wake up like, dude, you’re a bomb, right? Like, this is how you and this is how we are. We operate it, and it takes like an intro on a podcast for me to be like, Oh my God, I did do all these things.
00:28:43:10 – 00:29:01:13
Nick Santo
Or It takes someone coming up to me after my seminar crying and saying, You know, you saved my life like I’m still learning, brother. And that’s what I want everyone to realize. Just like each and every day we’re learning what our calling is. You know, it may be one specific event, but each and every day we’re conditioning and just realizing what our calling is.
00:29:02:01 – 00:29:14:09
Daniel Ramsey
I love what you said. Progression is winning because I’m a hard charging entrepreneur. Our audience, the folks that work here at my out us, we have over 1200 virtual assistants. We help businesses scale.
00:29:14:20 – 00:29:15:03
Nick Santo
Yeah.
00:29:15:12 – 00:29:19:01
Daniel Ramsey
And as an entrepreneur, I’m actually crazy.
00:29:19:01 – 00:29:20:15
Nick Santo
I’m always we are crazy.
00:29:20:22 – 00:29:32:10
Daniel Ramsey
I want to win, man. And I push myself. I push my team, I push our people. But that definition that you have progress is winning. Talk to me a little bit more about that.
00:29:32:23 – 00:29:51:14
Nick Santo
Yeah, man, progress is winning in and I came when I came up with that, when I realized that my lowest and my lowest and darkest days are the days where I’m the most stagnant. I don’t have much going on. So say, say I’m coming off of a tour, speaking tour, and I come home and I have like a week home to chill, right?
00:29:52:02 – 00:30:08:04
Nick Santo
Like I’ll chill for a couple of days and recharge. And then I’m like, Dude, like, all right, let’s get back. Like, you get the jitters, right? Like you need to get back to doing something. And the reason is, humans love the feeling of progress. I mean, ask anyone, right? Everyone loves moving the needle forward, whether it’s personally and professionally.
00:30:08:04 – 00:30:21:20
Nick Santo
Right. And so it’s funny, I came off the one, the one. It’s good thing I have one finger. I always say. So one of the one thing, one thing. And that’s what I’m telling people. If you find yourself in a slump, if you find yourself in a rut, you’re like, Man, I don’t know how to get out of it.
00:30:22:01 – 00:30:39:05
Nick Santo
Do that one thing, that one thing today that, you know is going to evolve you into a better human being. And that could be a big thing or a small thing that could be reading a book, that could be riding your bike, that could be doing meditation, that could be texting your parents. I love you, anything but do one thing today that you know is going to evolve you into a better human being.
00:30:39:10 – 00:30:59:17
Nick Santo
And that will start the snowball effect because we love progression and and I want people to self-reflect on that like we’re hustlers, right? We’re grinders. And it’s a it’s a blessing and a curse because you always want more and there’s never enough. But it’s super important to self-reflect and realize that, like, man, I really did go from A to D or A to J, like, you got to self-reflect on the journey.
00:31:00:01 – 00:31:18:10
Nick Santo
And because we’re so hard on ourselves, right? We’re so hard on ourselves as entrepreneurs and and, you know, whatever, whatever we’re doing, we’re just we want the best. But it’s so important to self-reflect on our wins. And and that’s something that I haven’t done enough. And it’s something I’ve realized speaking all over is people are an exercise in muscle self-reflection.
00:31:18:10 – 00:31:36:00
Daniel Ramsey
And it’s interesting. I love Zig Ziglar. He’s like the old school guy. And he is the OG. And he said, you know, if you can’t take a large step, take the biggest step you can right now. And I think that advice is just common.
00:31:36:00 – 00:31:40:16
Nick Santo
I need someone to go and type that it. I love it.
00:31:40:16 – 00:32:05:15
Daniel Ramsey
And Ziglar is like one of those guys, you know. So I think that kind of works well how you know, it’s interesting. One thing that’s amazing about you, we were in Breckenridge snowboarding and you have no legs. One arm, one finger. How the hell do you do all these amazing adventures? I’ve seen you on balloons. I’ve seen you climbing mountains, snowboarding, and I’ve only known you six months.
00:32:05:15 – 00:32:08:13
Nick Santo
So, like.
00:32:09:00 – 00:32:17:16
Daniel Ramsey
First of all, how do you do all these things and what’s it like to be to set these goals that are just kind of outrageous for the average person, really?
00:32:17:16 – 00:32:36:04
Nick Santo
Yeah, I’m going to make it very simple. And that’s that that’s the fact of I’m going to try everything. I’m going to try absolutely everything, you know, and I’m going to live my life with more remember ones and less what is. And so what I mean by that is just like climbing a mountain, my, my team, they flew me, we flew out to Arizona.
00:32:36:04 – 00:32:52:11
Nick Santo
They said, let’s go on a hike. They didn’t say it was a mountain. They said, Let’s we want to hike. They pulled up and they’re like, Hey, you’re climbing this mountain. And by the way, we’re going to film a mindset program while you do it. And I’m like, okay. And and this also comes into the the importance of like support groups and ability groups.
00:32:52:11 – 00:33:10:01
Nick Santo
Like when we were climbing, it was a three mile mountain. It took me four and a half hours to get to the top and I made my team carry me down. I’m like, I’m not I’m not climbing down. I climbed up. You guys bear me? Yeah, but there the environment, there was not one one piece of energy, of doubt.
00:33:11:04 – 00:33:12:23
Daniel Ramsey
Everybody knew you were going to do it.
00:33:12:23 – 00:33:27:24
Nick Santo
No one ever said, Nick, you’re tired. Nick, you need to stop now. Here, Nick, here’s your water. We’re almost there. Nick you’re 50% of the way. Nick It wasn’t all you like. It wasn’t any of that coddling and that supports accountability groups is like people that love on you but push you when you know you need to be pushed.
00:33:28:15 – 00:33:42:21
Nick Santo
And so that’s also important. But with all these things, like I said, man, I’m going to try everything and I much rather fail and fall on my face and pursue something that I’m passionate about than sit on the sideline and think, Man, I wonder if I could do that.
00:33:43:12 – 00:34:11:12
Daniel Ramsey
Well, you know what’s interesting, something that has struck me about you is consistently you are stretching yourself and that’s not normal. It’s not normal. And I think even even our audience like, how do you push yourself to be extraordinary? Like, how do you get out of that kind of mindset that the average person is and then go do epic stuff like snowboarding, for instance, like that?
00:34:11:12 – 00:34:26:11
Daniel Ramsey
I mean, how do you I mean, I get why you want to try everything. You probably are like me. I’m an engineer. I like a lot of variety in my world. Right. But there is something unique about what you’re up to. And I think the audience could take it away and learn something from that.
00:34:27:00 – 00:35:01:21
Nick Santo
Yeah. So the biggest David Osborne, you know David Osborne, right? Yeah. Yeah. One of the biggest wolf traps is the know it all the know it all syndrome. And so what my biggest like our biggest skill even as a company like it’s one of our like core values is being a student of the game and being a student of the game requires you to drop your ego and realize that you only know what you know and that you can learn any you can pull away any super powerful nugget from a janitor to the CEO, like anyone, but like people’s ego gets in the way of that.
00:35:01:21 – 00:35:17:19
Nick Santo
And so for me, I’m always just looking for a way to grow, like you said, stretch myself, but that that’s me just trying to be a student and just like trying to learn things. And so I think that people’s egos get in the way and they’re like, Oh, I can’t learn from that. I already know too much about that.
00:35:17:19 – 00:35:34:14
Nick Santo
Or, you know, like I want to learn more about snowboarding and I want to learn if I can do it and I want to put myself out there. And if I fall, I fall and if I if I suck at it, I suck at it. But at least I tried and like inside of you, knowing that you gave it your all and tried, you feel so great.
00:35:35:03 – 00:35:55:19
Nick Santo
And like, people, you know, like. Yeah, well, I mean, what are your thoughts like? I just. I always just want to push myself because I know that I always have to grow. And I also like everyone can. I view myself as a lantern? My eyes, I’m a lantern and everyone can use this analogy. I don’t care. I use my light.
00:35:55:19 – 00:36:10:08
Nick Santo
I look at my life as a lantern. And what I mean by that is I’m trying to be the light for people that are going through the darkness. I’m trying to give as much love, as much contribution, as much value. But if I’m not doing things that recharges that lantern, I can only give so much of myself are burnt out.
00:36:11:01 – 00:36:27:23
Nick Santo
And so, you know, I do things that make me kind of scared, like snowboarding and swimming with sharks. I’m not saying go swimming sharks, guys, but I’m saying like I do things that make me excited and you know, like if the one thought, man, I’m all over, but the one thought that fascinates me and scares me at the same time.
00:36:27:23 – 00:36:50:14
Nick Santo
And I think about it every single day is you’re going to die. Yeah, you’re going to die. You can die tomorrow. I was last night I was laying on the couch and I was like, I can close my eyes and I don’t know if I’m going to wake up today. I don’t know. But like, while I’m here on the earth, I’m going to try everything and I’m going to do my best to the ability to become the best version of myself, the best version of myself.
00:36:50:14 – 00:37:06:04
Nick Santo
I mean, at my last one of one of my great friends and great mentor is he has a great analogy and he says, when you die and you whatever, you’re I don’t care. Whatever your religion is, I’m don’t push religion. But when you die and you meet your maker, whatever your maker is, it could be a potato. It could be a girl.
00:37:06:08 – 00:37:24:00
Nick Santo
I don’t care what it is, but when you meet your maker and he in the end he brings up the version of you that you could have been. You don’t want that to happen. You want to be identical twins with that person. You want to be like, Hey, man, well done. You grew into the person that I know you could have been.
00:37:24:01 – 00:37:36:16
Nick Santo
You are me, I am you. You don’t want like you don’t want to be your deathbed thinking man. I wish I would have swam with sharks, so I wish I went in the hot air balloon. I wish I would have tried that business. You don’t want to be that guy or girl. You don’t want to be that person.
00:37:36:16 – 00:37:48:23
Nick Santo
And so that’s that’s the thought that always goes to my head that I don’t want to have any regrets. And in the way that I don’t have any regrets is I just try things. I don’t care if I suck at it. I care if I fail. I’m going to try it. Yeah. Yeah.
00:37:49:07 – 00:38:15:07
Daniel Ramsey
You know what’s interesting is so our audience, we we literally emailed half a million people because your message is so powerful and you know, to be honest mindset and like, pushing through barriers and what you’re about, it’s not super sexy because requires self-discipline, hard work, and you know, all those people that saw the invite but didn’t come, like, what would you tell them?
00:38:15:07 – 00:38:25:21
Daniel Ramsey
Like, what? What is it that entrepreneurs, leaders about your story that they need to hear that if they did, it would shift their whole world?
00:38:25:21 – 00:38:41:14
Nick Santo
Well, first it was just what we touched on, right? If you saw the invitation and you said all mine said, I already am already a mindset master. That’s your ego. Yeah. They’re already in the wealth. They’re already in the wealth trap. You know, you’re already thinking that you that you can’t learn from a 22 year old or you can’t learn from a man with no legs.
00:38:41:14 – 00:39:01:18
Nick Santo
But I’m like, you’re already like, losing. And so, like, not in a bad way, but like, that’s already the ego. And so boom, that, that that’ll be a shift in their perspective. Realizing like, man, I, maybe I should be more open to being a student more. Right. And so, I mean, I think that just that hits it on hits it right on, right on the nail.
00:39:01:18 – 00:39:22:06
Nick Santo
Right is just like ego, man. Ego. Ego is a killer. It’s a killer is a killer. Yeah. So it’s and that’s another muscle exercising the muscle of dropping your ego because it’s tough, especially as alpha males for the guys out there and the alpha females like the people that are just leaders and stuff like it takes a lot to sit back and be like, Oh shit, I didn’t know that.
00:39:22:19 – 00:39:48:21
Nick Santo
Or That’s a good idea. And to admit it, you know, right? But like, man, my whole thing is like, show up, genuine, show up, authentic, show up, transparent, show up. What you’re struggling with, show what you need help with. Ask people for help. Ask questions. People want to help, you know. And in it, in a time nowadays like there are less genuine authentic people than I mean, yeah, there, there are more fake people than there are genuine authentic people.
00:39:48:21 – 00:40:01:00
Nick Santo
And so when you show up in your business, when you show up in your family, you’re authentic, you’re transparent. That’s an advantage in itself because people know when you drop the dollar sign above your clients heads and you look at them and you say, What can I do for you? How can I help you? How can I serve you?
00:40:01:10 – 00:40:04:12
Nick Santo
People just want to get treated like people and people just want to know you care.
00:40:05:01 – 00:40:24:18
Daniel Ramsey
Right? It’s nuts. What are some of the things that you’re going to be doing this year and next year? I think I’m just I’m we’re wrapping up. We’ve got about 15, ten, 15 minutes left. But what what’s in your world, Nick? Where are you going to be doing? What you going to be tackling in the next six months to a year?
00:40:25:04 – 00:40:54:05
Nick Santo
Yeah, I got a lot of a lot of exciting new things. New new things to stretch me. Right. And so right now I’m getting ready for my second China tour. And so May 15 through June 5th, I’ll be touring all over China speaking and I plan on so I speak things who is into existence too, right. And so I’m going to take over the age of speaking market I already have it like I’m just give me a couple of years is going to be the biggest thing over in Asia because they’re not exposed to people like me because they’re out on the street, they’re institutionalized all these things.
00:40:54:07 – 00:41:13:11
Nick Santo
Right. So I’m just I’m just blowing minds over there. And so I’m super grateful for that opportunity. Also Next biggest dream, like my biggest childhood dream was to be a performer, was to be a singer and a rapper. I can sing. People don’t know what I play. The full set of drums. When I was younger, an electric drum set, people didn’t know that.
00:41:13:11 – 00:41:30:14
Nick Santo
There’s a lot of things that people don’t know. And so I’m getting back into it. Like this past year, my, my soul has been craving me to just create music. And the one thing that I’ve reflected on in the past is like, okay, you didn’t you didn’t become a famous singer and a rapper in the six months that you tried when you were 17.
00:41:30:14 – 00:41:50:17
Nick Santo
And like, who are you to quit? Right. And so I’m writing an album right now and I’m writing an album. It’s like singing hip hop, but it’s meaningful substance, like personal development. But in rap, like hot songs. And the not only do I love music and music moves worlds, right? But I can only touch so many people through personal development stages.
00:41:50:17 – 00:42:10:00
Nick Santo
But I can talk to the masses. I can touch, you know, millions through music because music makes you feel some type of way. And if I could plant the right seeds in the music then I’m subconscious. Like I’m planning their seeds, they don’t even know it. And so like I have a line in my song is Life is a Wave and I’m staring at a title.
00:42:10:00 – 00:42:37:23
Nick Santo
I’m just trying to be the light for the kids that are suicidal. That was me. Come in, step into my shoes. I’ll crack the no legs joke first. So technically you lose like just showing people how like you spin things and how how your mind’s a garden and like, just. And that’s how you connect with people. That’s how you build, like, a cult like fanbase, not only in business but in music is like you let people know what you’re going through and and your fanbase, your audience is going to be a bunch of kids that are going through some shit.
00:42:38:04 – 00:42:52:17
Nick Santo
It’s going to be a bunch of adults that are going through the same thing you’re going through and they relate to your music. And so I’m working on my album right now and I want a tour. I want a tour of my album. I want to sing all over. So I want to take over. I want to take over the entertainment and music and stuff.
00:42:52:17 – 00:42:59:23
Nick Santo
I want to become a DJ. Like, why not? My whole thing is like, why not? And so dude, everything I want to do everything. Oh.
00:43:00:12 – 00:43:18:15
Daniel Ramsey
I love it. What are, what are some things that I as an entrepreneur or we we should learn from you? Like the one or two things like as an entrepreneur, what’s the one or two things that you just kind of if you if you when you see it walking around, you’re like, oh, that guy needs this message really bad.
00:43:18:15 – 00:43:21:03
Daniel Ramsey
What are the one or two things that you you bring the people.
00:43:21:19 – 00:43:38:12
Nick Santo
The one thing I’ve realized is you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. And so what I mean by that is whatever industry you’re in, whether it’s real estate, I don’t care what what industry, right. To find out who’s crushing it and study them, find out what they’re doing. Right, and do more of those things. Find out what they’re doing wrong and don’t do those things.
00:43:38:12 – 00:43:57:22
Nick Santo
But like, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but you can make it smoother. Yes. Like for me, like when I started, like guys like bodybuilding I didn’t know anything about bodybuilding. When I started modeling, I had no idea speaking, no idea how to build this speaking company. But like I said, student of the game, like we we got as close as we could to the mentors.
00:43:57:22 – 00:44:17:09
Nick Santo
And if you can’t get to your mentors personally, read their books, watch their YouTube videos, but like there was so much information and that was like a big thing for me is like, you don’t got to reinvent the wheel like they are successful speaking companies out there. They’re successful people like bodybuilding. Like, just like you don’t have to like like that was that was a big big shock for me is just like, oh, my God.
00:44:17:09 – 00:44:35:08
Nick Santo
Like, the plans are already out there. Just do it your way and just like, do the right things. Put the next spin on it, but do it. Yeah. And then also networking like relationships. Being able to do like one of our core values in our company is longevity. I’m not here for quick fixes. I’m here for longevity, relationships.
00:44:35:08 – 00:45:03:02
Nick Santo
And so providing always providing win win situations. So say you want to learn from a mentor like go buy him coffee or go do something nice for him. Like just shock them. It pattern interrupts, right? Like and never want to take just the one. And also like after all these calls and after every interaction, just just at the end, oh, people do not hesitate to reach out to me if there’s anything I can do, if there is anything my team could do for you, please don’t reach to.
00:45:03:06 – 00:45:19:10
Nick Santo
Please don’t hesitate. Just reach out to me. And that goes back to treating people like people and letting people know you care. Because like the secret sauce, I said it on my story the other night. I’m like, You guys want to know the secret sauce? Be authentic. Like, actually care about people, like, holy cow. Like, they actually care about people.
00:45:19:17 – 00:45:36:01
Nick Santo
Yeah, that’s what I do. Like the way I incorporated caring about people and showing people I care. Like what? Speaking like I don’t show up and I. And I collect the check and leave. I make sure that I’m the ending and I do the meet and greet. I signed 400 books with my chin right in front of people to show them that I care.
00:45:36:09 – 00:45:42:18
Nick Santo
Like, what are you doing to set yourself apart? What are you doing to let people know that you care more than the rest of the industry? Right.
00:45:43:05 – 00:46:07:01
Daniel Ramsey
Selfishly, I have. This is my last question. You mentioned energy. And as an entrepreneur, as a leader, the vibrations that you put out there, the energy that you have, it’s contagious. If you want good things, positive energy. How do you manage your daily energy to have a positive impact on so many people and also keep your mind right in an entrepreneur game?
00:46:07:01 – 00:46:20:14
Daniel Ramsey
We we suffer setbacks. I was on a call earlier with a friend and I was like, man, if you want to really blow this up, you got to choose it because it’s freaking hard. It’s hard to win. It’s hard to build a team. It’s hard to be where we’re at.
00:46:20:17 – 00:46:21:06
Nick Santo
Sexy?
00:46:21:18 – 00:46:37:08
Daniel Ramsey
Yeah. It’s not sexy. It’s hard. It’s hard work. It takes a long time. It’s a lot of discipline. And you can make a lot of money if you just want to be your own guy. But if you decide you want to lead people and build something that lasts, you know you have to choose it. And sometimes you suffer defeats.
00:46:37:08 – 00:46:43:23
Daniel Ramsey
And how do you I want to end with this one question, because I think it’s such an important question for entrepreneurs.
00:46:44:10 – 00:47:01:18
Nick Santo
How do you do it? So to start off, I still struggle, right? I still struggle with it. I just won’t put it out there. I’m still a 22 year old kid and I still play Xbox. And, you know, sometimes I shouldn’t be playing Xbox and I should be creating content, but like, I struggle. Like we all struggle, right?
00:47:01:23 – 00:47:23:11
Nick Santo
Yeah. Yeah, I am. You got to be very choosy and very, very choosy and very wise of where you put your energy and who you’re giving your energy to. Yeah. So, like, you need to be very clear on the people, the right people that need to be in your circle that you give your time to. Because like we’re always getting pulled in all these different directions, right?
00:47:23:12 – 00:47:44:07
Nick Santo
There’s only one of us, right? And there’s only so much energy we can give. So I’m very I’m very choosy and wise of who I give my energy to. And for some of you, I mean, the hardest thing is the one of the hardest things, probably an entrepreneur who entrepreneurship but in life is like sometimes it’s our closest family and friends that we like are holding us back.
00:47:44:19 – 00:48:04:14
Nick Santo
Right. And so the one thing and I struggle with that and so the one thing I realize is that you don’t need to drop these people out of your life, but you need to love them from afar. You need to love them from afar and realize that it’s not like it’s not being selfish. It’s being selfless, right? Like you’re focusing on yourself, but just loving people from afar, like the people that you.
00:48:05:04 – 00:48:22:00
Nick Santo
I don’t want to give you all my energy like I got. I need to put my energy elsewhere. Just love them from afar and and don’t feel bad about it because that was that was one of my biggest struggles when I like my life changed very quickly. Like I went from, you know, a kid in high school. Then I was a famous prankster.
00:48:22:00 – 00:48:38:14
Nick Santo
I had a million followers on Vine. I’m like, Oh my God, I don’t know what’s going on. And then that stopped. And then I became a bodybuilder. And then now like, like my friend, like my friends back home, you know, they see me touring all around the world. And at first it was tough. It was. And, you know, it was just tough to move away from then.
00:48:38:14 – 00:48:54:22
Nick Santo
It was tough to not talk to them as much and put my energy elsewhere. And maybe I’m not talking to my parents as much, which sucks. But like for the people that you care about, this is the one thing that I need to do that I’m going to take my own advice, right? But the people that you care about and that you want to love from afar but keep in contact, you got to schedule the time for them.
00:48:55:05 – 00:49:05:24
Nick Santo
Because if you don’t schedule time like a five minute face time, call you. If you don’t schedule it, it’s not going to happen. And I, I don’t talk to my parents as much as I should. I’m going to put that out there and I’ll talk to my parents as much as I should. I don’t talk to my siblings as much as I should.
00:49:06:09 – 00:49:28:04
Nick Santo
And so that’s the thing, is just scheduling things. If you don’t schedule things are not going to get done. And so just very, very wisely, you know, why is it worry wearing your put where you’re putting your energy in? And I wanted to give the example of like there’s days where I play Xbox where I shouldn’t be playing Xbox and it’s just like sometimes it’s a recharge it sometimes it’s like, all right, Nick, like you played enough.
00:49:28:04 – 00:49:32:22
Nick Santo
Like, you need to, but like, I want to let people know I struggle with the same stuff that they’re struggling with, you know?
00:49:33:09 – 00:49:36:06
Daniel Ramsey
Yeah, it’s. It’s just that’s being human.
00:49:36:15 – 00:49:38:11
Nick Santo
Right? Yeah.
00:49:38:11 – 00:49:59:09
Daniel Ramsey
All right, Nick, you’re amazing, man. Thank you. If you’re listening in the show notes, we’re going to kind of put a link my out. Nick is giving away his book. It’s a really nice I think it’s about 2 hours worth of listening and you can speed it up. So I did it in like 45 minutes. Yeah. And so it’s a phenomenal book.
00:49:59:22 – 00:50:15:19
Daniel Ramsey
It’s victim to Victor and it walks through Nick’s full life story and some of his strategies. Nick, this has been awesome, as I expected, you freakin rock this thing. Thanks for joining us today.
00:50:15:24 – 00:50:24:14
Nick Santo
You’ve got a brother grateful for the opportunity. I appreciate everyone listening. And like I said, guys do do that one thing, one thing today, you know, it’s going to evolve you to a better human being.
00:50:25:08 – 00:50:34:23
Daniel Ramsey
Love it. Thanks, everyone.
