Interviewer: Ted has built a seven-figure company doing exactly what he loves while traveling all over the world. His personal clients pay him over $100,000.00, and his ability to deliver results speaks volumes. He went from struggling to overcome addictions, health, relationship, and money challenges to living a life he is truly passionate about. Ted, say [inaudible 00:00:29] tell us what’s going on in your world.

Interviewee: So I am in Peru, right now, and – excuse me, I’m in Cancun, I just got back from Peru; and I am just enjoying myself on the beach right now, and enjoying life. I was on a seven day trip where one of my clients has a travel club they put together where they bring in speakers, and business type opportunities, so it was great. I travel around the world to build my business.

I also have a theatre show that I do called, “Good Enough” on the story of my life where like ten characters on stage for about 75 minutes, and I was just performing that in Peru. Now, I’m here in Cancun doing that, and about to spend four days in a mastermind with another one of my clients; so life is good.

Interviewer: Ted, the life of a location independence entrepreneur doesn’t stink; you’re completely right about that. Ted, what we’re going to talk about now is the one-minute mindset question. These are five insights into your mind my friend, I’m going to break it down one by one. It’ll take about a minute-ish to answer these questions in any way, shape, or form that you like. The first one being: Ideally, what do the first 80 minutes of your day look like?

Interviewee: To break it down, this morning, I got up, I worked out for about 65, 75 minutes. I then came back, and I hired a salesperson, and then, I went to brunch with my beautiful girlfriend, and now I’m back here doing an interview with you. So because I’m traveling a lot, I work odd hours, sometimes I’m up to – when I was in Peru, sometimes I’m ‘til 4:00 a.m. and then getting up at 6:00 a.m. to go travel, and have some fun, and then working on the bus going to see some sites, and then coming back and doing the speech, or doing my show, and then working on growing my online business.

So it varies big time, depending on my lifestyle, I don’t really have that much of a routine except I make sure that I get in my meditations daily, I make sure that I get in my workouts, and I eat very healthy so that I have boundless energy to do what I do. So last week, it’s not uncommon for me to go for two or three hours a night of sleep, and then maybe nap for an hour in the day, and be able to squeeze it all in and knock it out. So that’s how I live. And then, there’s other times where I’m more down, like now, I’m in Cancun, I’ll probably take four or five hours of work, and just hang out and relax.

Interviewer: Well, today sounded pretty ideal; good for you. And Ted, you have some strengths which we’re going to talk about next, but what’s your biggest weakness as an entrepreneur?

Interviewee: You know, my show’s called “Good Enough” and it’s my journey through life of not feeling good enough, and my search for a purpose meaning, and since the time I was a kid, about six, when my parents got divorced, I created the story that I wasn’t loveable, and I wasn’t good enough. So I spent my whole life trying to achieve to feel good enough, and it didn’t work. I didn’t in Corporate America at 21, I made six figures, I became the number five partner out of five hundred partners for one of the top insurance companies in the world at 28.

I was making loads of cash, that didn’t do it, partner and status didn’t do it, becoming an entrepreneur didn’t do it, and I really never felt good enough until I realized that who I am, and who I’m being, and the true essence of myself is enough, and is great, and is my full potential, and is my best self, and can have boundless energy and create whatever I want in my life. And that really only started to happen about four years ago, five years going to start building my business. So I think my greatest weakness is when I fall into the story of not being good enough, which I think every person in the planet has it in some context.

You do something new, you’re like “I’m not good enough to do this,” you show up into a business meeting with people who make more money you’re like, “I’m not good enough to be around these people.” Maybe you have to negotiate a deal on money, you’re like, “I’m not good enough, I don’t deserve this type of money.” So everybody’s got that story, it’s the one thing through human kind that we all have. And my weakness is when I fall into it, and my strength is the ability to access my full potential and my best-self daily, and step in and know that I’m unlimited potential; it’s both my strength and my weakness.

Interviewer: How do you get out of that funk when you find yourself in there?

Interviewee: Well, about eight years ago, I started studying a science called holodynamics, and it’s about accessing your full potential, and the science that every human being on the planet has what’s called a full potential self because, everything on the planet is driven by potential. And so I was starting to learn how to access my full potential self, also called a best self because we can have – we teach five year olds how to do it. And when you access your best self, it’s going to place that’s peace, and then it’s imagining you at your best, more inspired, loving, caring, vibrant, dynamic, joyful, and happy.

And when that best self comes in, you could actually solve any problem in your life, except most people are creating problems in their life, and from the created problem, you can’t solve it because it’s not a real problem. So when you get present with your best self, and you realize, “Wow, I’m behaving like this because I don’t feel good enough,” or “I just got out of a sales meeting with my client, and they told me no, and now I’m whiplashing backlashing on them because I don’t feel good enough, and I’m blaming it on them,” or “I didn’t get the deal, and I’m blaming it on that person.

So we go into these modes of the mind, and really, if you can get present and access your best self, you can find out what the real problem is, and then shift it, and the real problem resonates in the body; it’s some type of feeling. And then, what we do is associate with the shape with it, shape to it, and then we help somebody communicate to themselves, or part of themselves that’s not fully potentialized. And when you can do that – that’s how I solved my addictions, I was addicted to alcohol for 25 years; I almost died from it, of drugs and alcohol, and in an instant, it all changed, I was done.

In six years I haven’t had a drink, and it’s not – I never looked at it as I was an alcoholic, I don’t even – my belief system is that doesn’t exist, and in my reality is just I had problems, and I used alcohol as the vehicle.

Interviewer: “Getting present” are two words I heard you use over, and over again, so fire nation, that’s definitely what I want you to absorb through this is the power of getting present. Ted, what’s a habit that you wish you had?

Interviewee: One habit that I wish I had was the ability to let go of control a little bit more, and to have faith in building my team, and growing my team. I’ve got a great team now, but sometimes I think I need to do all the marketing which I’m doing a lot, but I have a great guy on my team now that supports it. Sometimes I think I need to do all the sales, which is why we hired a sales guy today. So I think the habit I wish I had, which I’m learning right now, and out of necessity quite frankly because, how can you travel around to Peru, and Cancun, and being in Whistler skiing last – the week before without letting go of control, and allowing great people to come in and build the company.

So that’s the habit I wish I had, a better skillset with, and I’m developing it right now, but certainly that’s probably one of my weaknesses is not letting go of control.

Interviewer: Fire nation, we’re building our businesses, we need to be identifying the leverage points that we can insert how we – maybe have weaknesses in certain areas can insert people that have strengths in those areas; and that’s a critical part in the building of the team process. And Ted, you’re there right now, my friend, you’re building up that team, and you’re inserting people who have strengths, or maybe – not necessarily you have weaknesses, but where you could better use your time elsewhere.

And that’s something that’s not an easy task to do, but something you need to be thinking about, fire nation, as you’re growing your team, and leveraging your voice, your message, and your brands. And Ted, you’ve a lot of things that you’re excited about, lets’ be honest, but what’s the one thing that has you most fired up today?

Interviewee: My show. My one-man show. I’ve been in the seminar, and coaching business for about six years, coming out of Corporate America with New York Life for about eight years. And I love what I do because I help people take their life story and their message because I believe your message comes from your life story, and I teach them how to turn it into a business, and more so, a lucrative business and also a lifestyle friendly business. So whether they want to do one on one consulting, or they want to do group coaching, or they want to do seminars, or they want to be awesome and rock it online with their information products – we’re great at all of that.

And 18 months ago, I made the decision that I was going to do a theatre show, and it’s something that I had inside of me my entire life. I speak from the stage, I’m well known for selling really high-end stuff, putting on amazing seminars, being really profitable in the seminar room, but something was missing. Seminars are great, they bring out my inspiration, they bring out connection, I can help people transform, but something was missing, and that was the creative aspect of my life.

I think at some point when we’re younger, we get that trained out of ourselves where we were conditioned to just fit in, to follow a system, to be a lawyer, to be an attorney, to be a doctor, to be a financial person, to be this linear person, and what I realized since I was a kid, there’s always been a performer in me that I suppressed. And 18 months ago, I saw somebody do a one man show on stage, and in case anybody doesn’t know what that is, is one character, one person on stage, playing about 15 characters from their life. And so – 18 months ago, I said, “I am going to do that,” I’ve never had any acting experience, no theatre experience, nothing.

And I said, “I’m going to do it,” and I went out and hired one of the best directors who has toured a show for the last 10 years; HBO ranked his funniest one man show, two years back, and I said, “This is what I want to do.” He says, “Do you have any theatre experience? I said, “No.” “Do you have any acting experience?” I said, “No.” “Do you have any show experience?” – “No.” And I said – he said, “Why do you want to do it?” and I said, “Because, there’s something inside of me that’s calling to me to do this, and if I lead my life without doing it, something will be unfulfilled, and I want to serve people with my message and my story.”

He says, “Well, what’s it about?” I said, “It’s Good Enough, it’s my journey of not feeling good enough, and my struggle through abuse, and addictions, and all kinds of other stuff to find my purpose and meaning.” And I set out on this journey, and I’ll tell you what, over the last 18 months I’ve grown more, my creativity has blossomed, I play 15 characters on stage now where people look at me after I get off, they’re like, “Wow, you’re an amazing actor, where’d you study?” – “Nowhere. I have theatre performers that come up and say, “Wow, you’re an actor? I grew up in theatre that was amazing, that story is incredible.”

And I have no formal training on it, I just knew how to do characters, my director helped me write it and create it, and now I’ve moved to Hollywood, and now I’ve got managers, producers, writers. But the thing that I’m learning is like the greatest creativity come from me, and I can have writers say, “Do this,” and then I try it, and I flop on stage, or I can let my creativity come through and say, “Do this, Ted,” and I do it, and it blows the doors off of it. So hands down, the most fun I’m having right now, and it integrates into my entire business because my whole business is about your story.

And so every seminar that I do, whether it’s my message to millions, or my superstar speaker training, or my shift event which is a personal development event the night before we do the show, and people come in and they watch the 75 minute story, they’re blown away, and over the next four days, we work on their life story, their message, what they want to create, and how to monetize it.

And now, I’m traveling, I open up Tony Robins top clients, there’s like 200 platinum partners that pay him close to 100 grand a year. I open up the night before the platinum events, for the platinum partners, and I do my show. So I’m not directly related to the Tony Robins organization at all, so don’t hear that, I just get asked by the members to come do this show, and I do it. So I love it.

Interviewer: You talked about drug addiction, alcohol; we and entrepreneur on fire, we’re big about the journey of our guests, and you’ve had the journey, Ted. You’ve been to the highest of highs, to the lowest of lows, and a lot of places in between. But if you had to take us to what you would consider your worst entrepreneurial moments, and tell us that story, what would it be?

Interviewee: When you start to take the perspective in life that like every problem has its solution within it, your life changes. Now, it was the worst moment as I look back – as I look back, it was the best moment, but as I was in it – because, I didn’t know the problems show up because the solution is already within it. Things would show up and I would have fear. And I remember, coming back, it’s kind of interesting – I was coming back from speaking on stage with Deepak Chopra, and Donna Karan, I got asked to MC the night. And at the time, I was meditating like two hours a day, so I was attracting things into my life like – stuff like that that showed up in my life.

And this was when I was tinkering with wanting to be a speaker, and I got an opportunity to MC the night there, and they gave me like a five minute speaking spot. And I got back the next morning, to San Diego from New York, and after I had rocked this five minute speaking spot – like, just rocked it. And then, I got back to awakening to the reality of where I was in my condo – and at the time I was in a million dollar condo, and I had the 100 thousand dollar car, and I had what looked like a great lifestyle.

But when I got back, I got back to my third foreclosure notice in the mail, my car being repossessed, and sitting there on the couch with my face in my hands wondering what the heck am I going to do with my life. Interestingly enough, at that exact moment, I got an email, and the email was from a friend who had forwarded this along, which was a video from the scientist. And the guy is a scientist and also a psychotherapist, a quantum physicist, and all that – and he had this video, in my worst moment I was like, “At this point, I will freaking try anything.”

So I click on the video, and this video starts taking me back into my past, and I went back into my past, and I actually saw the moment that my parents got divorced, and I saw the story that I created was that I’m not loveable, I’m not good enough, and for the first time in my life I saw the truth of what my dad really said that day, which was that he really loved me. And I actually saw it, and felt it, and I realized I had been living out this story my entire life that just wasn’t true, and I’ve been telling myself this story over, and over again, and it showed up in my relationships, it showed up in my business, it showed up everywhere.

And so, while I was having my darkest moment of everything being repossessed, and my house foreclosing, and literally $1,000.00 left in my bank account, that was the moment where I had this massive shift, and I dropped down to the floor, and it was like Niagara falls, I was crying and it was like I had dropped a million pounds of unworthiness from my shoulders. And I stood up, and I remember for the first time I felt free, and for the first time I was like, “I can do this thing.” And that was the day I decided I created a blueprint, and I said, “I’m going to take my life experience, and take what I’ve learned, and I’m going to teach other people.

And I went out, and within seven days I got my first client at $3,000.00 which at the time was this huge victory because I had come out of New York Life, and I was making all kinds of money, and I was a top partner in the company, and getting paid for like you, and who you are was a foreign concept; that was hid behind products. And I decided, I mustered up the courage, and I was like, “I can do this, and I charged somebody $3,000.00 for the year coaching. And now people buy – they buy my products online for $2,000.00 to $3,000.00, I never show up, and my top clients enroll at $200,000.00 for me to coach them.

So it’s been a long crier – a far cry from that first $3,000.00, but I remember the satisfaction I felt, and then, it was like, “Wow, I can do this,” and then, more money – eventually I went to 25, and then 50, and then 100, and then higher. And then, I just realized, “Well, I can do anything.” And my number one focus has been this, my greatest lesson has been “The day my business grows more than my own personal transformation is the day I’m in trouble.” And so my number one focus in my life aside from the love I have for my girlfriend, is to grow; and our focus together is to grow spiritually, and to grow personally because, that’s the number one focus more so than business.

Interviewer: The phrase I love that you shared early on was “The solution is within the problem,” and I know that so many of our listeners, fire nation, you look at your problems just as that, problems. You look at that it is the lowest of the lows, that you are doing nothing but struggling, and encountering obstacles, and challenges, and problems along the way, but Ted, I love how you said that, “Hey, there’s a solution within that.” There’s a solution within that problem, and so in a way you can embrace that problem because, by hugging that problem, you’re also hugging, and holding, and releasing that solution.

Ted, we have some more things that I’m really excited to dive into, but before we do, let’s take a minute to thank our sponsors. Ted, welcome to the lightning round, where you get to share incredible resources, and mind-blowing answers. Sounds like a plan?

Interviewee: Sounds like a plan.

Interviewer: What was holding you back originally from becoming an entrepreneur?

Interviewee: Here’s the thing, right, when I was with New York Life, I was commission-based, so I was 100 per cent commission-based, and so essentially, as a financial [inaudible 00:17:18] you kind of feel like an entrepreneur, but you’re really not because, you’re still part of a company. And while I was there, my mentor – I’m so blessed that I had him in my life, and still have him, he was with the company for 20 years. And while I was there, I always felt boxed in, and so I had this animosity towards the company, which wasn’t the right thing, but I just – I was like “Why are we here? Why are we wasting our talent? And why are we wasting this?”

So on one hand, I had this voice that was like “I’m wasting my time here,” and on the other hand I had this fear of leaving. And so what was stopping me was initially the fear of was I good enough to do it, and also, the uncertainty of “What’s out there? How do you begin and start to do something like this?” So when I became the number five partner our of 500 partners with the company, that was the day I made the decision to resign, and to leave because the pain was just so – it was this illusion that one day if I achieve this status, or this money, everything will change, and I’ll feel good enough.

And it’s really interesting, like right now, I know it’s such an illusion, but I think people actually still believe that, like, “One day, when I get this, everything will be great.” And it’s just once I realized that after going after twice, first, making six figures, and then becoming one of the top partners, that that just wasn’t the answer, I realized, “Wow, I can’t do this anymore, I can’t stay in this trap, in this box,” and that was the day I decided to leave. But then, I always kind of had another illusion of being an entrepreneur meant freedom and all this stuff, but it was like, what, freedom from something?

But freedom is really freedom to something, not freedom from something. So freedom means freedom to something, like where are you going towards? And ultimately, when I left, and then I ultimately made the decision to clean up my life, and really “Who is Ted, really?” underneath it I found that there’s this amazing person who wants to serve, and loves to give, and loves to contribute, and wants to help people with a message that want to make a difference.

I could’ve stayed in business because I love to deal, and I love money, and I still am in business. But I want to make money doing something I love, and contribute in a way that I love. And I think I really discovered that I could really be an entrepreneur once I realized that you know what, abundance comes from within, abundance comes from who I’m being, not what I go do, or how much money I make. Because, I started selling hundred thousand dollar packages from the stage, and would you believe I still didn’t feel abundant?

Think about that, selling that kind of high volume of dollars, and you still don’t feel abundant? So it only felt abundant when I realized it was time to face my demons, and can I sit face to face with somebody and have the toughest conversation that I need to have around money? Because, money is really about standing by your value, and once I had started to make the decision to do that in my life, and stand face to face, and have a conversation about money, or reenrolling somebody, or challenging them to go after their dreams; I realize that type of intimacy allows me to have abundance anywhere in my life.

And I’d never have to think about money again from the standpoint of surviving, now it’s about absolute and total financial freedom so I can do whatever I want, when I want.

Interviewer: One thing you said that resonated with me, having come from corporate finance is that you are hiding behind products. And I can so clearly remember hiding behind products, too, but then you said you had that realization that people will invest in me. And fire nation, I think for you right now to identify where you’re at in your journey, and say that. Say, “Right now, let’s just be honest, I am hiding behind these products, but people will invest in me, and the value that I provide.” And Ted, you’ve gotten a lot of great advice in your life, but what would you say in just one sentence, is the best advice you’ve ever received?

Interviewee: I got this newspaper article from my mentor, and – he would always cut out stuff out of the newspaper, and always give me quotes to inspire me; he’s just that type of an amazing person. I remember, I would show up in my office, and one day, I show up in my office, and there’s this newspaper article in there, and it’s this interview that they did with Pat Riley, and they asked him what’s the greatest piece of advice he ever got in his life, and he said, “When I was a kid, my dad came up to me, and he said sooner or later, you’re going to have to stand on your own two feet, make a statement about who you are, and just do it.”

And that has always stuck with me because, being mentored by somebody who for so long people looked at it and said, “Oh, your success is because of this person, and he chose you, and you were lucky,” and you sit under this umbrella for a while, and it’s like momma bird, and the baby bird, and at some point you’ve got to spread your wings. And so when I left, and he and I stopped working together, it was like at some point, you’ve got to make a statement about who you are, stand on your own two feet, and just do it. And that stuck with me ever since.

And when I did my show, it was the same thing, it was like, I got to stand on my own two feet right now, and this show was about – it’s a statement, it’s a message, it’s a story about who I am, and I’m just going to freaking do it. And that stuck with me, and I realize today that I can do anything I put my mind to; I really can, and I put my heart, and my spirit, and all of that. And like, I’m going into the entertainment industry in a huge way right now, and I’m doing it because I believe the transformational space, and the speaking space, and the coaching space, and the entertainment space have the two biggest voices in the world, of positivity and influence.

And being both at the same time, and impact all the leaders there, I can make the biggest difference on the planet, so that’s the best statement I ever heard. ;

Interviewer: What’s one book you’d recommend for our listeners?

Interviewee: This is kind of a simple book, but if you haven’t read it, and it’s not a business book, it’s just a simple book, and it’s “The Alchemist.” And I read it about five years ago, it’s the only book I’ve sat down and I’ve read in one sitting. But the reason I’m recommending it is because it talked about your own personal legend, and to me, that’s your personal destiny. And I think without a destiny in life – without disbelief in this destiny and this calling – even a purpose; somebody could say, “I have a purpose now because I set up a business,” but I don’t think a business is a purpose.

I think a destiny is a connection point of all the points from your past, connecting the dots into your future, and then, knowing this because you know who you are from the past, and you know your vision of the future, you can be present, and create, and actually realize that this is just a game. It’s like, marketing for me, two years ago I said, “I’m not a marketer,” and now I’m a huge marketer because I changed my identity, and said, “It’s a game, I’m going to figure it out.”

I was just at a conference with Tony Robins where we had the top financial people in the world Ray Dalio, the number one financial trader in the world, 36 billion dollars in profit; Allen Greenspan was there; there were a hundred others in the room surrounded by the best people in the world. And building wealth is a game; all of this is a game, it’s like doing my show is a game. And when you start to really get back into like, “Here’s a business book I could recommend for this strategy,” but when you get into this place, like reading the book, “The Alchemist” that says, “Hey, you have a personal legend, you have a destiny that’s calling you,” and you really step into that destiny, you realize life is a game.

And it’s not about the end point or the destination of where you’re going, it’s about having fun along the way, playing the game, serving a heck of a lot of people, and enjoying each victory along the way.

Interviewer: I remember 2009, I googled “Best business books,” and this is pre-Kindle, so I actually had all the books on that list shipped to my doorstep in the physical form via Amazon. I remember the day they arrived, and I opened it up, and the first one was “The Alchemist” and I said, “You know what, this looks like a good first bite because it’s bite size.” And I remember sitting down, and reading it at one sitting, and saying, “Wow, I’m never going to have the same mindset again, that I had before reading this book.”

And fire nation, I know you love audio, so if you haven’t already, I’ve teamed up with Audible, and you can get an amazing audio book like this one for free at www.eofirebook.com. So Ted, let’s end this interview on fire with you sharing one party piece of guidance the best way that we can connect with you, then we’ll say goodbye.

Interviewee: I think everybody has something within them right now that’s calling to them, it doesn’t matter how successful you are, or how much on purpose you are; I think everybody’s got another layer within them that they can pull out of themselves. And I think it’s this layer beneath the surface of creativity that’s screaming to get out. And we live in such a linear world, we live in a world where we measure business statistics, and finance, and how much money we have, and our goals.

We live in such a left brain world, and we tend to look at the artists and say, “Hey, it’s only the few, and the proud artist can really go out and make a living with it, and the rest of them starve.” But at the end of the day, I think the true freedom and success is that left-brain tactical strategic part of yourself, but also the right brain creative aspect of yourself where you can bring the two of them together. And if you can feel the creativity in your business, and in your life, then it brings joy and fulfillment, and you’ll be so much better with the strategy, and the tactics, and all that because you won’t burn out.

So look deeply, find that fire that’s burning inside you, maybe it’s a match right now, and light that sucker up, and go do the thing your destined to do, and at the end of the day you’re good enough to do it, you’re more than good enough. Go after it.

Interviewer: What’s the best way we can connect with you?

Interviewee: If you want to check out a training that we do, go to 7-stepblueprint.com and go check out – there’s a 90 minute training, so it’ll give you an idea of what it is that I do. And if you’re looking to find your message, and really get it out to the world, and build your business around your message – which I think everybody in them has a message – just go to 7-stepblueprint.com, there’s a free 90 minute training on there, go watch it, check it out, and hopefully it’ll give you some insight.

Interviewer: Fire nation, you’re the average of the five people that you spend the most time with, you have been hanging out with Ted McGrath, and [inaudible 00:27:49] so keep up the heat, and head over to eofire.com, just type “Ted” in the search bar, [inaudible] page will pop right up with his book recommendation, all the great stuff he’s been talking about, and then of course, 7-stepblueprint.com, check that out. And Ted, thank you, my friend, for sharing your journey with fire nation today. For that, we salute you, and we’ll catch you on the flip side.