A (8:54)

Welcome to gift wrapping.

B (8:55)

Whoa.

A (8:55)

So is Saldana.

C (8:56)

Hey, can you wrap these please?

A (8:58)

Wow. IPhone 17s.

C (8:59)

You splurged at T Mobile. You can get four iPhone 17s on them. The new center stage front camera is amazing for group selfies. It's the perfect gift for everyone.

A (9:07)

I'm the worst. I only got my mom a robe.

C (9:10)

Well, it's better than socks.

A (9:11)

So I have to trade in my old phone, right?

C (9:14)

No AT T Mobile. There's no trade ins needed when you switch. Keep your old phone or give it as a gift.

A (9:19)

Incredible.

C (9:20)

In fact, wrap up my old phone too for my Aunt Rosa. Forget that. Aunt Liz will be jealous.

A (9:24)

Sounds like my family drama.

C (9:26)

Oh, I got it. I'll give it to my abuela. I'll take reindeer paper with hey where are you going?

A (9:30)

To T Mobile. The holidays are better at T Mobile get four iPhone 17s on us. No trade in needed when you switch plus four lines for just 25 bucks a line. And now T Mobile is available in US cellular stores with 24 monthly bill credits and four eligible board inside essentials for well qualified customers. Auto pay + taxes fees and $35 device connection charge credits and imbalance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel Contact Us Finance Agreement 256 Gigabytes.

B (9:51)

$830 required Visit T mobile.com Step 4 Micro Experiment. You want to do a one week test of trying this new thing, right? You don't have to commit to it 100%. Create a one page website and see if you get any leads and or interest on the waiting list. Create one post, create three or four videos on Instagram and see if anybody's interested in this topic or what you're thinking about creating or the product that you're creating, whatever it might be. Curiosity should be cheap, right? You're trying to fulfill your curiosity. If there's legs with this idea, there's a potential with this idea. If this is something that's worth pursuing because not enough for you to say, oh I love to do this, this sounds like a great idea. This is going to be amazing. That's fantastic. But we're in business here, people. We live in the real world, in the real marketplace. So if the marketpl place thinks this is not a good idea or they don't want it, this is not a solution to a problem they have, then I'm sorry to say that that's a terrible business idea. It's not going to make you any money. So you have to test out your curiosity and see if this is something you want to commit to. Because commitment is expensive. So make sure that you just spend one week. One week's not going to really affect your current business. You take a week off, it shouldn't affect your business. But the point I'm making is that if you take one week, it's a cheap way to find out if there's interest in what you're about to build, what you want to create. See what the reaction of your audience will be. See the reaction of are people signing up for the waiting list? Are people interested in this topic? Are people sharing their pain points when it comes to this area, whatever thing you're building. So this is a great way for you to just give your curiosity a chance to see if it actually matches the marketplace does your idea actually have legs? Do people actually want what you're about to build? Step number five, alignment check. Does this new thing, new project, new business fit the life you're building or are you just keeping busy? This is so important because entrepreneurs everywhere, I'm telling you, every single entrepreneur I know suffers from this where they want to be busy because they feel useful when they're busy, they feel productive, they feel significant in some ways. And this is often coined as busy as a badge. I have a badge of honor that I'm busy. No, no, no, no, no. Okay, you have to remember, what's the point of all this? You know, what's the point of you building a business and serving customers is so that you can have a fulfilling life. And a fulfilling life is a well rounded life. A life with balance, a life with great relationships. Time for you to work on yourself, physically, mentally, spiritually, whatever it might be. So get busy with other things that don't cost you more in life. So whatever you are thinking about building, how will it impact your life, your lifestyle, the people around you, the people that you love, the things that you enjoy? Right now, for example, Nicole and I are about to do our strategic plan for 2026. Plan out exactly what's important to us, what we want to accomplish in 2026. There are things outside of business that I really love. I really enjoy travel with Nicole. You know, dinner's out, I love basketball, I love going to the gym, I love playing poker. These things. Am I going to sacrifice these things if I add something else to my play that I'm currently doing? If I'm going to add, I have to remove. So I have to make sure that whatever I'm about to do, is it going to be aligned with the way I want to live. So, for example, if one of your things that you want to start doing is become a world renowned public speaker, this is going to require you to travel a lot. Does that align with your values and what you love doing outside of work? Like meaning spending time with family or with your pets or whatever it might be. The point here I'm trying to make is that make sure that this actually is going to give you joy and happiness and will actually serve the other parts of your life as well. Now, let me tell you where this all came from. Back in 2019, Nicole and I were well underway in building our software company, Webinar Ninja. Revenue was up. But, you know, the thrill of building something new is kind of gone. It's been for almost five years of building this SaaS and I started sketching out new SaaS ideas, new product ideas, new podcast ideas. Anything new and shiny was getting my attention. And I thought creativity meant starting something new. Being creative means creating, right? It really meant staying creative inside of the things I was already working on so I can stay committed, so I can have momentum, so I can actually honor the things already built. You can be creative and do something new within what you're doing. So, for example, we've been running this podcast for over 11 years. The audio version of this podcast has been around for over 11 years. We started in 2014. And one of the ways I can create something new within this podcast is to add the video element. We started a YouTube channel last year, and we started posting more videos on social media. So this is something new that supports the project I'm already working on. Listen, I get it. As entrepreneurs, we love the beginning. We love creating things out of thin air. That's what really attracted me to entrepreneurship in the first place. New ideas, they feel like you're falling in love, right? All the potential, all the warm and fuzzies, right? And there's like no responsibility in a lot of ways, because it's not really out in the world yet. And it really can't fail because it's just new. So it feels kind of fresh, and it feels almost like a love affair. But if you keep jumping into new love affairs, you'll never a lasting relationship with the thing that you're building right now, with the thing that you committed to. You have to learn to pick and stick and to find new ways to ignite that creativity and passion with the thing you're working on. Until you get to the point where it's like, okay, I've done everything I can with this, this project, with this business. It's time for me to exit. It's time for me to sell. And that's a whole different episode and a whole different story and something that I experienced myself with my software company, Webinar Ninja, which is totally fine. And actually it's a great milestone in your entrepreneurial care, right? You're selling an asset, but don't be one leg in, one leg out. That's really bad for not only your business, but also for your own mental health. So either get it to 70%, like I said, at least 70% or more. Where some team is taking care of your business, okay? Somebody else is managing it, somebody else is responsible, and you check in and make sure it's okay. And that's like an investment. You have Running, and then you start something new or you sell the business and you start something afresh if you'd like. So the point I'm really trying to drill home is that you need to build upon the successes you already have. Momentum is one of the most powerful things you have in business. And often in business, we have plateaus where we plateau and we kind of feel like things are not moving as fast and exciting as before. That's normal. You got to break through that plateau. And often in order to break through that plateau, you need to improve yourself. You need to change. You need to reinvent yourself as a leader, as an entrepreneur, so that you can be able to break through and do the things that you'd like to do or find the success you'd like to find. I'm telling you, focus is a multiplier. People that know how to focus are people that succeed a lot faster than other people because the growth is compounding, just like compound interest. So the challenge I want to give you if you're thinking about starting something new, is to run your new idea through those five filters, those five steps I gave you. Now, it doesn't have to pass all five, but it has to pass at least four out of the five filters for you to move forward. If it doesn't, you need to finish what you started. You need to just wrap up what you're doing right now or hand it over to somebody else to do it for you. Protecting your focus will make you richer, will make you more successful than any other new idea could ever do. And this is just out of my own experience. I'm somebody who's been doing this podcast for over 11 years. I can tell you that if it wasn't for my consistency and me just sticking to it and trying to get better at it every day, I would not have the show I have today. I'm not saying this to beat on my chest. I'm saying this because I'm trying to share with you what I learned through those years, is that that's really the key to me being able to have a successful podcast. It's not that I'm some sort of, you know, whiz kid on the mic or I have some marketing genius. No, it's when you do something long enough, you just get better and better at it. The product becomes better and better at it. You find new, innovative ways to improve. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. I'm telling you right now, most of my wins came from ideas that came right before I quit. Every breakthrough idea hides behind some sort of boredom, some sort of friction, some sort of feeling of like, I need something different, I need something change. And that's when I realized, oh, the change is actually going to happen within my own business and this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to take things to another level. What does that level look like? Let's dig a little deeper. And then you eventually get out of that uncomfortable feeling and have clarity. Okay, let's move forward. And you have to remember you'll never run out of ideas. Ideas come to us constantly as entrepreneurs, but freedom comes from finishing. Start new only when you've built something that can run without you. If this episode brought you clarity, share with another person that is in need of clarity. Thanks so much for tuning into this podcast. I really enjoy doing the show because I get to do something with everything I've learned through the years. I get to share with other people. I get to hopefully carve an easier path for you. Who's listening right now? And if in any way this has helped you, please, please, please implement. I'm telling you, the number one thing that has helped me in my journey is when I learn something, I try to find a way to implement even just a little bit of it so that I can get better day after day. If you found today's episode helpful and you want more practical business lessons to help you start, grow and scale your business, the best thing you could do is subscribe to this podcast, Hit subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast app, the one that you're using right now. Whether it's Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. By hitting subscribe, you get our next episode automatically. And it's the best way to support the show. It's absolutely free and it's a way for you to commit to growing your business. And now that you've subscribed, I'll check you in the next episode.

D (20:29)

There's a reason Chevy trucks are known for their dependability. It's because they show up no matter the weather, push forward no matter the terrain, and deliver. That's why Chevrolet has earned more dependability awards for trucks than any other brand in 2025, according to J.D. power. Because in every Chevy truck, like every Chevy driver, dependability comes standard. Visit Chevy.com to learn more. Chevrolet received the highest total number of awards among all trucks in the J.D. power 2025 U.S. vehicle Dependability Study Awards based on 2022 models. Newer models may be shown. Visit J.D. power.com awards for more details. Chevrolet together. Let's drive.