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- [00:03]
Liz Bohannon
Welcome to It's a Good Life, the podcast for entrepreneurs where it's all about.
- [00:08]
Brian Buffini
Growing yourself and your business. Here's your host, founder of America's largest.
- [00:12]
Brian Buffini's Mom
Business coaching company, Brian Buffini.
- [00:18]
Brian Buffini
Well, the top of the morning to you. Welcome to It's a Good Life. I'm your host, Brian Buffini and I am delighted to bring to you a very special guest today. Her name is Liz Bohannon. Of all the events, Buffini and company does the premiere of the premiere of the premier events we do is Peak Experience and we are delighted to have. Liz is booked for our Peak Experience event in May and your guys are going to find out why. She's not only a great public speaker, best selling author, she was the founder of SECO Designs and just does a fabulous job and she really helps people. She has this new book called Beginner's Pluck. Now, I had to be very careful as an Irishman saying those types of things, but I love this because it's about channeling your inner beginner. And rethink and reframe not only the struggles and the failures. You have to get in the curiosity mode, the innovation mode, and getting that purpose into your work and life. And for me, a guy who's been in business almost 40 years, I love this concept. I love this feel. And to get back into that new game, that rebirth and getting back into that whole dynamic. Liz, we're delighted to have you. Thanks for taking the time with us today.
- [01:28]
Liz Bohannon
I'm so excited to be here.
- [01:30]
Brian Buffini
Well, we're going to have a good time. Let's just get right to it. You know, what is beginner's pluck?
- [01:35]
Liz Bohannon
Beginner's pluck. Well, I'm sure you've heard the phrase beginner's luck, right? We typically use it in a way that can be a little bit dismissive or disparaging, right? Like, oh, they happened to get lucky and succeed. It was just because beginner's luck. My theory is that beginners, whether they are actually newbies, they are just starting out, or they are people who actually are leaders and experts, but they've figured out how to maintain their beginner spirit, are successful not despite their beginner spirit, but partly because of it. Beginners show up with a certain energy and a certain perspective that actually helps them become more successful. They're more creative, they're more innovative, they're more likely to collaborate. And so the whole concept of beginner's plaque is about learning how to channel your inner beginner so that if you actually are a Beginner, you can have some freedom and recognize like this. You don't have to apologize for this. You don't have to be ashamed of this. This actually might be one of your superpowers. So don't try to, don't try to hide it. You want to know it and maximize it. But also for folks that are further on in their career, my call really is, hey, becoming a great leader isn't just about pursuing, pursuing mastery or expertise. It's also about constantly diving back into the learning journey. And that means becoming a beginner over and over again. And it's the leaders that are the most comfortable with that and ideally even excited about kind of that cycle that go on to be the most relevant, compelling, inspirational, and make the biggest impact in the world.
- [03:12]
Brian Buffini
Well, preach it, sister, preach it. You know, look, I'm in this mode. I am this guy. But I'll be honest. Like I said, I'm at business 39 years, you get the snot knocked out of you. I've been through five major recessions and in the real estate business, two of them that were the center of the world. You know, the economic meltdown in 2008 and 9, which almost, you know, we almost had the entire banking system collapse. And then the last couple of years in the real estate space, we've had the two worst years we've had since 1993, where there was almost 100 million people less living in the country. So I'm predisposed to this. I feel like this. I often teach this. I go, hey, you remember the first day, your first sale? You need to get back to that, you know, now it's like, oh, I got a buyer, rates are high. Hey, remember the first day you got your first buyer? So I'm all about that. But I will say this. I think as life goes on, we get it knocked out of us. And so there's true beginners listening to us today, but there's people who need to be re beginners today. And I want to talk a little bit about that and just, just a little aside. I remember when I first got into real estate. At the time I got in, there was a bit of a recession going on. Rates were 13%. And in San Diego, where I moved to, they had let go of a bunch of businesses that supported the military. And so everybody's singing the blues and everyone in my office singing the blues. Now, I came from being a house painter. My motorcycle accident that I had when I was here, I'm 250 grand in debt. It's 1986. Everybody's telling me how terrible it is, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, this is how much you can make for selling a house. And I couldn't believe it. And next thing you know, I was rookie of the year in the entire country for a company called ERA Real Estate. Within two years, I was number five in the state of California. I thought it was fantastic. Two nights ago, I came back on a plane from Charlotte, and I'm sitting next to a lad, and he found out who I was. And he goes, oh, my boss has talked to me about you, and this guy has just gotten into real estate. He's in Iowa, and he thinks it's the greatest thing in the world, and it's the greatest time ever. Now I deal with tens of thousands of people who are singing the blues, how terrible the rates are, the markets. Nobody's buying, nobody's selling, you know, and we're going to go through this. I have a whole bunch of technical questions around your content, but how can you become a re beginner is what I want to know. Like, how do you get back on the horse when you've had it knocked out of you? When you're around people like this, it just makes me feel like it made me want to get back into real estate. Talking to this guy last night, you know?
- [05:30]
Liz Bohannon
Yeah, well, the fact that you said that, that's actually part of it. So there's 14 principles of channeling your beginner's plug. So there's 14 things that beginners just naturally do. What I love about that is that this is actually a whole concept of self leadership. You don't have to learn it, you just have to get back to it. Right. It's like, I'm positive you can do that. So because you started out there, so it's less about something that's out there, that it's like, I have to achieve this for the first time ever. And more about getting back to that and to your point. Who you surround yourself with really does matter. One of the concepts of beginner's pluck is that your dream or your. Your dream attracts your team and putting a lot of intentionality into who you surround yourself by. I love that story you just shared, Brian, because when you were starting out in real estate, you. You all had access to the same market, the same rates, the same tools, the same inventory. You had all of the same tools in your tool belt. The thing that set you apart was your perspective and your mindset. Like, is this the end of the world? Are we stuck in wasting so much of our precious time and energy comparing ourselves to last year or the year before or the good old days? That is such a suck. It is such a suck, and it is such a waste of time. And if while other people are spinning out about comparing whatever it is to the good old days, instead of looking at what is the environment right now, what is the landscape right now, and what are the opportunities ahead of us, that's how you get ahead. Like, that is your secret sauce. And it's a lot easier to do that when you have at least a couple other people in your corner who think similarly, because courage really is contagious. Like, we. How we see the world and how we see either challenges or opportunities really are influenced by who we're surrounding ourselves with. So I think it's no small thing that you met that guy and were like, this is the type of person I want to be around, because I know that's a successful mentality.
- [07:24]
Brian Buffini
Well, another gift I'm possessed with. I mentioned I got six great kids, and they're achievers and do all kinds of great stuff. 32 to 23. Okay. I'm 57. Well, our house has always been the hub, right? So it would not be uncommon for us to have 50 kids or 40 kids over on a weekend. And when there's a soup bowl party, whatever else, but every night of the week, our house was the hub. All the way through high school and then even into college, our house was always the hub. What it does for me is it inserts me into this different energy and enthusiasm. You look at people my age, I'm at the beginning of Gen X, but like when the millennials came along, the most mis maligned, absolutely brutalized generation of people ever. And I just said, you need to get exposure to these folks. Like, by the way, in the real estate business, you're selling houses to these people. You better get exposure. By the way, I love a lot of things these guys are thinking about. They don't want to work seven days a week. They don't want to be a slave to their business. So this whole dynamic, you said your dream attracts your team, who you surround yourself with. I think it's pivotal. I think it's essential, especially if you've been around a while, to go and hang out with beginners and feel that beginner energy. I invest in a number of businesses now. I'm able to bring wisdom to the table. So it's not just, I'm a beginner and I'm driving over A cliff. I'll often invest and then take an advisory position at the same time so I can give a little wisdom. But it gives you such energy to be around the juice, their entrepreneurial spirit. They're willing to try stuff, they're innovative. Their approach to markets, their approach to technology, like, geez, I got a best in brand company. But we could use a bit of that life, you know, and there's a.
- [09:00]
Liz Bohannon
Real humility and curiosity that I even sense from you that is a real part of having that spirit. You know, there's something called the hypothesis of earned dogmatism. And what the social scientists have found is that the more you self identify as an expert, a leader and a master in your craft, the less creative, the less innovative and ultimately the less effective you become. Because what starts to happen is it's really this like ego driven story, right? Where it's like, okay, I've, I've succeeded. I've gotten to this certain level where other people see me as successful. Now what I need to do is to kind of protect my position as the person who has all of the answers. And we spend a lot more of our energy trying to like not make mistakes and trying to look like we know all the answers than we do to even being like courageous enough to go ask the question. I think one of the most brilliant and courageous questions, typically only people who channel their inner beginner willing to ask is, are we still solving the problem that we set out to solve? And here's what I mean by that. Oftentimes we set out to solve a problem. There is something that we are just like there is a pain point in the market. And I have a better way of doing this. It sounds like with you it was around referrals. How do we do word of mouth marketing? So it's like there's this pain and you're like, I figured it out, I have the solution. I want to tell all the people. But you're very driven by the problem that you're solving so well, then you come up with the system, then you come up with the solution. What happens if you're not careful about it is slowly your energy starts going from solving this big, juicy, interesting problem to protecting and preserving the solution that we've created. And this is how we are teaching people to do this. And all of a sudden a lot of your energy is around. We've always done it this way. We have to protect it. It's always worked for us. So don't touch the sacred cow. And, and if you keep focusing on that and the world keeps moving on. And by the way, typically problems and people's problems also are evolving. And you aren't constantly asking yourself, going back to, okay, just quick vibe check. Are we still solving the problem? If you're a nonprofit organization like you never set out to be a fundraising gala organization, that was the solution. To solve the problem, you have to be willing to go, is it still working? And when you come to those crossroads where you go, actually, the problem has evolved. We need to evolve the solution along with it. The problem should always be more precious and more of a focus than the solution. And that is something that beginners do brilliantly.
- [11:36]
Brian Buffini
Oh, I mean, you are dropping truth bombs all over the building here today. I mean, it's so good. It is so good. And I look, I'm a product of this. You know, we're a company that's considered, you know, the brand in our business. We are the gold standard, but the same dynamic. I'm always having to fight. Like our mission impact and improve the lives of people. We have these good life stories. I always find myself fighting and making sure in the organization, hey, we're still about helping that single mom with a couple of kids, right? We're still about, you know, the Average realtor makes $35,000 a year in gross commissions. We're still trying to help that person, right? Like, that's still who we're trying to solve. And it's just easy to forget it. And you said something so powerful, protect and preserve, like that's what it becomes. Those two things, it's natural, it's human beginners, there's more to risk. And then it's like, hey, I have more to lose now. And so talk about that. Because, you know, you're not just, you're not just someone who wrote a book and came out. You, you formed a design company. It's been very successful. How old are we? When you started Seiko Designs, I was 21 years.
- [12:40]
Liz Bohannon
Let's go, 21 years old. I had a. I. My corporate resume was an illustrious two, two months long before I quit my first corporate job in the height of that same recession. And I bought a one way plane ticket and I moved to Uganda where I ended up starting Seiko Design.
- [12:59]
Brian Buffini
Wow. Tell the folks a little bit about it because it's such a cool story.
- [13:02]
Liz Bohannon
Yeah, yeah. So I'm 22 years old. 21 years old. I'm this like passionate, idealistic college kid, right? I think I know what I care about, which is women and girls living in global Extreme poverty and the economic and the educational dispensary disparity that is attached to that. So classic college kid, right? It's like, I. I have lots of big opinions. I know a lot of facts. You know, I can really run my mouth about an issue, and I thought that's what made somebody a passionate person. Turns out there's a difference between being a person of passion and being a person who just has opinions. Right? Actually, the word passion, the Latin root of the word passion is pati, which means to suffer for. It means to suffer and to sacrifice for something. I think it's a big misnomer that we have in our culture right now. Everybody wants to be like, find your passion. Follow your passion, and you'll never work another day in your life.
- [13:57]
Brian Buffini
What are you willing to die for? Right?
- [13:59]
Liz Bohannon
Right. It's like even that phrase, find your passion and you'll never work another day in your life. The root of the word is find the thing that you're willing to suffer or die for. Right. And so I had this moment right out of college when it's like, adulthood sets in. Like, I gotta pay bills. Like, you know, I gotta. I gotta figure this thing out. When I realized, okay, here's the trajectory that I'm on, and I'm pretty confident I can be successful. Like, I kind of get this game. I think I can play the game. I think I could make my way to the, you know, to the top of this ladder. But the question that I had to ask myself was, man, you have something that you say you're passionate about, but the reality is, when you look at that ladder, when you look at that life that you could build, when you look at the trajectory that you're on, interesting. There's a pretty big delta between what you say you care about, what you think a good life is made up of in this trajectory, in this path that you're on. And for me, it really came down to I realized you have a lot of opinions and a lot of passion about women and girls living in global extreme poverty. You don't have a single friend or relationship, your community, your actual life, where you spend your time, your energy, who you're hanging out with, who you care about. None of them are women or girls who grew up in global extreme poverty. And so for me, it was this real awakening moment where I was like, there's a delta. There's a delta between what the life I say I want to live and the path that I'm on. And for me, closing that delta was like, well, you have to have some friends. You need to. You need to have one friend at least, who is a girl who has been impacted by the things that you say that you care about. And so all of a sudden, I went from being this, like, classic millennial who grew up with this messaging, a lot of messaging. You might have escaped this. I got a lot of messaging growing up about big dreams, about going out and being a world changer and making a big impact. And listen, the heart behind all of that, I think is great. Like, I think it's a. It's well intended messaging, but here's what it actually does to the average person. Not everybody, but to the average person, that messaging is actually not very helpful. It's kind of overwhelming and it puts people in this state of being paralyzed. And I experienced that. I'm like, okay, well, I've been told if I want to have a good life, I have to go out, I have to get a big dream, and then I have to go out and I have to make a huge difference in the world and, you know, bring 10 million women and girls out of extreme poverty in the next 24 months. Brian, I'm a 21 year old dope who doesn't have any skills, who has nothing to offer the world, who. Who do I think I am? Right?
- [16:39]
Brian Buffini
And I haven't met a Ugandan yet.
- [16:41]
Liz Bohannon
And I literally don't have a single friend who's a girl who's impacted by that. Like, what if we start there? But here's the thing about it. So my. What started happening in that moment, I didn't realize it in the moment, of course, but in hindsight I can see is I actually gave myself permission to dream small. My new small dream became go make one friend. Like, go meet one girl who has actually been impacted by the issues that you say you care about. Now, here's the thing. You will never walk into a cocktail party and be like, I have this dream of making one friend and impress very many people. Like, it's not impressive. It's not big. No one's winning the Nobel Peace Prize for that.
- [17:21]
Brian Buffini
It's not going on Instagram.
- [17:22]
Liz Bohannon
It's not going on Instagram. But here's the thing about our small dreams. They also don't require millions of dollars. They typically don't require specific degrees. They don't require that you go viral on Instagram overnight. They don't require a whole board of directors cheering you on or approving your idea. So that also means there's not a lot of excuses. So the problem is just that we don't attach big meaningful energy to small dreams. Right. We actually so a huge part. And this is what I love about beginners. It's love. It's why I love being around beginners is the further on we get in our career, we really fall into this silver bullet like mentality where it's like I have to come up with the next big thing, the next big idea that no one else has ever thought about. And the reality is what you need, what your team needs, what your company needs, is actually just a leader who will put big dream energy to things that probably aren't Nobel Peace Prize winning initiatives. Right. And so for me, counterintuitively, it wasn't until I took my small dream of going, what if it's enough? Like, what if it's enough to orient my whole life, prioritize it, put money behind it, put time behind it to go make a friend, I treated that small dream like a big freaking dream. And I. And that was the energy that I attached to it and it was giving myself permission to dream small but then treat it seriously. That started everything. That was the thing that actually launched me out of this kind of paralyzed state of like waiting for the big dream or the big idea and into a state of actually just doing the freaking thing.
- [19:02]
Brian Buffini
So now, now you meet your friend. How do you go from meeting your friend getting connected to, to getting actually the business off the ground and making it happen?
- [19:09]
Liz Bohannon
Yeah. So I show up in Uganda and that's my goal. My goal is literally make friends. And I end up meeting an incredible group of young women in between high school and University. Top 5% of female scholars in the country. So wicked smart young women, but from backgrounds of extreme poverty. And they were getting ready to graduate from high school. And in Uganda, there's a nine month gap between high school and university. So these young women were going back home to their villages and one, they couldn't find jobs, there was no jobs, there was no money. And two, they really lost the community and support of these other like minded, really gifted female scholars that they had been living and studying with for the last two years. And this is the moment in the story where it's like you can read all the Gates foundation reports in the world that you want that kind of bird's ey high thinking, high level, like what's the problem? The problem was right here for me. It was just like, well, these are my friends and they're facing this nine month gap and we need to do something that accomplishes Two things. It keeps the girls together, living in community with other like minded women so that they're not going home and facing an enormous amount of social pressure to get married, typically to men three times their age, who they have no desire to be married to in the first place, to get their bride price and to start having kids and to stop their education. And we gotta do something to earn some cash. Like they gotta, there has to be an income, you know, earning potential to this. And so again, it does kind of come back to, I didn't set out to start a fashion company. Like I wasn't interested in business, I wasn't interested in fashion. But I became obsessed with the problem. And the problem was create a program that can create employment and community during this nine month gap. And I tried all kinds of things, Brian. Like I started a chicken farm that failed really miserably, like absolutely absolute disaster. And so sandals, for me it was like, honestly, I was at the end of my rope. I had tried four or five different things that had all failed. And so I'm here going, I'm back at square one. I don't care really what the solution is. What I care is that it solves the problem. When a friend from back home was like, what about those, like strappy, funky sandals that you made when we were in college? And that was enough for me to go, like, great, like, let's try that. And so that started me down a several month journey of trying to build a supply chain from scratch, trying to design sandals that we could actually conceivably sell in the United States. And then I went back to the school and I hired three young women. I hired three young women. Their names were Mary, Mercy and Rebecca. And I sat down with these young women and I was like, here's the deal, gals. If you promise to make these sandals for the next nine months, I promise that you will go to college in the fall. And they were like, okay. And I was like, okay. And then I came back to the United States a bit of a fashion entrepreneur and started hawking sandals out of the back of my, out of the back of my vehicle. So really, for me, that part of the story, one of the principles of beginner's pluck is you gotta be married to the problem and in an open relationship with the solution, is what I like to say, right? And so for me, the solution, it was just secondary. It was like chickens, sandals, it doesn't really matter what's going to actually solve the problem. And letting the problem lead versus becoming so obsessed with the solution that you think needs to exist in the world, that all of your focus goes there.
- [22:29]
Brian Buffini
It's brilliant. Just give us the. Give folks the 92nd end result. The folks at peak experience are going to get the whole deal. But tell them about where the thing, where it all ended up and well.
- [22:38]
Liz Bohannon
I sold a couple pairs of sandals to my mom and her friends but then I actually ended up going on to build a full women's lifestyle fashion brand. We have supported hundred thousands of female scholars not just in Uganda now, but Ethiopia and Guatemala. We've created dignified fair wage jobs for literally tens of thousands of artisans all across the globe. We operate on almost every continent supporting artisan groups who are using making beautiful handmade fair trade items in a way that supports really vulnerable groups but also creates products that make people look great but feel even better.
- [23:17]
Brian Buffini
How about that? I don't know what it is. My daughter in law is from Portland, Sophie and she was a physician's assistant who went to Uganda and it's ended up becoming totally integrated and so on and so forth. So we'll have to talk offline because we've got some things we want to support in Uganda and I'm sure you have some thoughts on the subject. It's so awesome. You know, one of the things I want you to talk about specifically that I find fascinating about your work is the whole dynamic of how you approach average. You know, in real estate the average realtor grosses $40,000 in commissions, which by the way, after they pay the broker and their expenses, the average realtor is halfway under the poverty line in the United States. Nobody thinks of this. You know, when the Department of Justice filed their lawsuit last year, it's let's screw these overly paid, you know, fashionistas, million dollar listing queens and stick it to the wall. And there's a million and five people who average 40 grand. Now our average, we have 22,000 customers who average 430 grand. They're not lifestyles of rich and famous people, but they're at least they're paying their bills, they've got a house and they're paying their kids college education. Average in my industry is a disaster. Average is poverty, average is brokenness. Average is desecration of the family. I love your concept about owning your average and I'd love you to talk about that because to me C's get degrees but not in business. And so I want you to talk about owning your average.
- [24:48]
Liz Bohannon
I'm so glad you asked about this because this is one of my Favorite concepts of beginner's pluck. And it really does come down to how do we own and adopt a growth mentality. That's what owning your average is about. Because here's the thing. A lot of people in my generation especially, we grew up believing that in order to go out and build an extraordinary life in a special life, first we had to unlock the belief that we were extraordinary and that we are special. Right? Like, you are special, you are gifted, you have potential. So let's spend all of this time and energy trying to cultivate that space self confidence. You stand in front of the mirror and tell yourself how awesome and amazing you are, even though you've literally never done anything before. And then you go out into the world and you have all these expectations because you've been told, I'm special, I'm extraordinary, I can do special and extraordinary things. And then what do you discover? It's really freaking hard. It's really freaking hard. And you're probably going to make a ton of mistakes, and you're probably going to really embarrass yourself along the way. And if you have a mentality that you are somehow inherently special or talented, you just need to wait until the right opportunity arises. What you're going to do is you're going to wait for the rest of your life, and you're never going to actually do anything very meaningful. There's really interesting social studies to support this concept. So there was a study that they did with a group of kids, and they gave them both the same math test, and the kids performed on the test, and then the teachers got the results back and they went to the kids, and in the first group, they looked at the results and they told the kids in group A, they were like, wow, you did really good. You must be really smart. You must be really talented, really smart, really special. You're gonna. You're gonna do really good. On the next test. The second group of kids, they looked at the test results and they went, okay, great. It looks like you tried really hard. Well done. It looks like you gave it some effort. Okay. Then they gave both of those groups of students a secondary test. So students in group B, the ones that were, like, not really praised, and if they were, it was really more on their effort and their work ethic than their inherent talent or, you know, some, like, special skills that they had, outperformed the students in the first group by over 50%. So we see this an immediate impact, that when we think that we're, like, above average and so we have to go out and prove ourselves that we're really smart, we're really successful, we're above average. What we actually start to do is we take less and less risks because our, our main MO becomes don't look like an idiot. Well, you know how you don't look like an idiot? Don't do anything that you're not pretty sure you can succeed in pretty quick off the bat. When you have a mentality, when your mentality is, listen, I might be a little bit average. Average in the sense of like my iq probably kind of average. My talents and skills, like I'm not, I don't have Olympic level, God given gifts. If I want to build an extraordinary life, you know what, it's going to come down to a numbers game. How much am I trying, what kind of risks am I taking? How fast am I willing to get back up when I've been knocked down? Because if you have the mentality that you're really special and you just need to prove it to people, it's humiliating and it can be debilitating when you don't have fast success, when you have a growth mentality and when your take is kind of like, I'm probably pretty average, but I bet I can stay in the game longer and get up quicker and get over these hurdles faster because like, what do I have to lose? I'm not trying to prove anything that I'm like God's special gift to the earth. So I'm gonna go out, I'm gonna take more risk, I'm gonna recover more quickly, and ultimately I'm gonna be more successful in the long run.
- [28:19]
Brian Buffini
And it all gets back to what are you willing to suffer for? You know, it is, I mean, you know, the Passion of the Christ was about crucifixion. Yeah, you know it's about crucifixion, right? It's like, okay, that's the faith tradition with Christ. You know, it's like, what are you willing to suffer for? To me, the impact was such a big deal for you. You made these promises to Mercy and Mary and Rebecca and you were like, hey, I'm not going to let them down. I'm going to own that. And I looked in those girls eyes and I made a promise. I'm going to keep that promise and I'm going to figure it out until I get it done. And it becomes that no matter what. And I think it's such a crucial thing, Liz, we could do two hours of this easy. You and I are going to have a hard Time talking backstage and then getting you back onto the stage at Peak Experience. Beginner's Pluck. It's a fabulous, fabulous work and I love it because as a serial entrepreneur, I'll say this, I feel at my best as a human being when I'm growing. And I think it's hard to have growing in your life without beginning something new. Now you don't want to just beginning stuff and like the guy that fixes up his house and starts this and starts this and never finishes anything. But if you can bring that spirit, what I've learned to do is take that beginner spirit and reinvigorate it into existing businesses to be creative internally as opposed to always starting a new business. How do I bring fresh energy and fresh insight to something I'm already doing? In fact, this year's peak Experience, I often do a movie from the past, Shawshank Redemption, Cool Hand Luke. This year I'm doing something different and fresh. I'm going to do it on Wicked because it's all about being authentic. So when you come to the event, we'll be doing that. You'll be representing Glinda and all the good stuff. So you're, you're in a great spot. The book is Beginner's Pluck. I highly recommend it. It's the spirit and the energy you need to find that inner beginner. And I highly recommend it. Liz, when we do this, our audience is very familiar. I asked five rapid fire questions. They know them, you don't. It gives us a different insight into who you are and how you tick. And if you can, we'd just love to finish up with these today, if you're okay.
- [30:21]
Liz Bohannon
Yeah, let's do it.
- [30:22]
Brian Buffini
What's the single best piece of advice you've ever received?
- [30:25]
Liz Bohannon
Single best piece of advice I've ever received is do for one what you wish you could do for many. Mother Teresa, which I feel like we can be like, oh, it's so true. We can get so overwhelmed with like, can I do the right thing for everyone? And the answer is actually no. And so it really is kind of about channeling that, that spirit of like the power of small and the power of if I take the opportunity that's in front of me right now and I do it to the best of my ability, with presence and with determination and with passion. That, that is a, that is a, an ingredient of a really, really well lived life.
- [31:02]
Brian Buffini
And Mother Teresa got her training one mile from my home in Dublin, Ireland. I bet you didn't know there you Go. That's where she became a novel. Of course, she got it off the Stones in Dublin. That's where all that great wisdom comes from. What's a one talent or gift do you wish you possessed that you currently don't?
- [31:18]
Liz Bohannon
Oh, I wish I was better at languages. I really wish that I. I don't know, what are they called? Are they called polygots? I don't know what the name for people who have a gift for languages are. I rely very heavily on Google Translate. I travel the world and so I have friends in nearly. I mean, so many countries and so many different continents. In my dream world, I'm able to converse more, but.
- [31:41]
Brian Buffini
Well, I'm going down to. I'm doing an event for about 5,000 people in Argentina next month and I'm. I'm really working on a few things that I can. Just. Because it allows you to connect.
- [31:50]
Liz Bohannon
Yes.
- [31:51]
Brian Buffini
And I'm working on a few little phrases, but that's a great one. What book has been most instrumental in your life?
- [31:56]
Liz Bohannon
Oh, what book has been most instrumental? Gosh, I feel like a lot of seasons. You know, there was a book called the Blue Sweater that was written by a woman named Jacqueline Novogratz back in, Gosh, it's probably 20 years old now, but she was really a pioneer in the realm of social enterprise, which it's so normalized to us now. But really it was only about 15 or 20 years ago where the world was pretty bifurcated. It was like you're either a business person who has a duty to your shareholders to maximize profits, or you're a do gooder, nonprofit, tree hugger, social lover. You can't be both. And I think that book was the beginning of kind of cracking open my imagination for I think it can actually be both. And I think business is actually one of the most powerful tools for making a positive impact in the world. And I don't think that we have to choose between profit and purpose.
- [32:49]
Brian Buffini
Oh, I love it. I love it. What movie do you watch? Every time it's on, you stop. No matter what's going on, you're surfing through and it's on. What's the one you watch over and over again?
- [33:00]
Liz Bohannon
You know, there is a movie called. Oh my gosh. The title of it is escaping me right now. I think it's called About Time. My husband and I watch it every year. I'm not really a movie repeater. Like once I watch a movie, I like to watch it, enjoy it, and then I move on. But this one, we come back to every year. And it's really, really. It's a beautiful love story, but the love story, I really think it's more about a father and a son than the actual, like, main love interest. But it also deals with just, like, regret and with how we spend our time, the precious, precious time that we have with the people that matter most. And we're both. I mean, we will be like. I mean, like, bawling by the end of it every time. So that's my fair warning that unless you're in for a really good try. But it's touching, and it really does center us back to what are the things that matter? What does make up a good life, and how are we orienting our time and our energy? You know, Annie Dillard, who's one of my favorite writers, has a quote, something to the effect of, of course, how we spend our hours is how we spend our days, which is how we spend our lives. And really going, like, I want. I want. I want to be intentional about it, because how I spend my hours actually makes up how I spend my life, So I want to make sure that I'm spending it on the things that I actually believe matters.
- [34:17]
Brian Buffini
That's awesome. Last but not least, what does the good life mean to Liz Bohannon?
- [34:21]
Liz Bohannon
Ooh, the good life. I am about building a life where you are using the gifts that you have been given to make the world, even if it's just a small corner of it, a little bit better and brighter for yourself and for those that are in that corner with you. And I believe deeply in not doing that alone. I am such a believer in the power of community and of relationships. And at the end of the day, we can have all the success in the world. All of our projects, all of our companies, they can work. But if we haven't cultivated relationships that are marked by trust and transparency and companionship and, honestly, interdependence, people where we can be honest of, like, hey, this was a huge win, and I want you to be in it with me and celebrate with me. And I feel like I don't have to hide or diminish myself. And also, I want to be able to call you on the dark nights when things aren't going well and when things are falling apart and when I need a little hope and a little reminder that morning is coming. And for me, a good life is, yes, sure, accomplishing lots of incredible things in the world, but at the end of the day, I want to do it in really good company with people that I love. And the people that love me. And I think that's what matters most.
- [35:31]
Brian Buffini
It's a good life indeed. That's why we got in the coaching business. It doubles the joy and cuts the pain in half. So we're always, we're on that journey together.
- [35:39]
Liz Bohannon
Love it.
- [35:39]
Brian Buffini
The book is Beginner's Pluck. And if you listen to this, this podcast today and you don't get it right away, then maybe you need to check yourself. Maybe not everything's running to the heart and the brain appropriately. I highly recommend it. For those of you fortunate enough to be part of the sold out Peak experience event this year. You're going to get to see her in person and she is bringing it from the stage. And we're so honored to have you, Liz. You're a treasure. We're looking forward to having you. And as we finish up here today, I'm going to have a little Irish blessing from my 94 year old mom who when I think of the word pluck and you look it up in the dictionary, her face is there. So thanks for joining us today. I really appreciate it.
- [36:19]
Liz Bohannon
Thank you, Brian. Can't wait to be with you all soon.
- [36:21]
Brian Buffini
You bet. Over to you, Mom.
- [36:24]
Brian Buffini's Mom
May the road rise up to meet you and may the wind always be at your back. May the rain fall soft upon your fields and the sun shine warm upon your face. Until we meet again. May God hold you in the hollow of his head hand. See you next time.