122: Balancing Business Success and Personal Fulfillment: Lessons with Michael McLean

Michael McLean, a dynamic multi-millionaire entrepreneur, shares his inspiring journey from professional hockey to the business world, offering a treasure trove of insights for those aspiring to blend success with a meaningful life. Listen as Michael recounts how he tripled his father's insurance agency's size and profits in just 36 months, demonstrating the impact of a no-nonsense approach. With half his time spent in Canada and Florida, Michael emphasizes striking a balance between business achievements and personal commitments, proving that true success is about more than just the bottom line.

Learn how a childhood dream of running a video store with home delivery led Michael to discover the importance of personal sovereignty, guided by his father's wisdom. At 19, a volunteer position as a hockey coach ignited a passion that eventually steered him away from the instability of professional sports and into entrepreneurship. Michael's story illustrates the power of seizing opportunities and embracing change, all while fostering a deep commitment to family and community well-being.

Explore Michael's transformative strategies for owning the first hour of the day, where intentional actions set the tone for success. Discover how prioritizing health, love, and mission can boost productivity, as

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Chapters

• 1:39 Breaking Boundaries With Michael McLean
• 5:49 The Journey to Entrepreneurship and Giving
• 17:00 Transforming Communities Through Action and Balance
• 24:15 Winning the First Hour Every Day
• 31:23 Prioritizing Health, Love and Mission

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:40

Thank you, breaking boundaries of your mind, body and business with integrative health, and when you do that, your possibilities are limitless. I'm grateful you're here. Ah, yes, always grateful for you joining me here today on the Breaking Boundaries for Entrepreneurs podcast. I appreciate you listening in and, since you find value in our episodes, it would be amazing if you could just leave a few kind words in the form of a five-star review on your favorite podcast platform. And that'll do two things One, it'll let me know that you found value in these episodes and, number two, it will help us to help more people. And that is my personal goal, my professional goal goal, especially the way we want to leverage the Breaking Boundaries podcast and podcasting has been such a wonderful experience. I've been doing podcasting since 2019, not always here on the Breaking Boundaries podcast, but I was in a different space and industry when I did start podcasting and if that's something that you're interested in learning, reach out to me and I can share an amazing resource with you to help you to fast track that podcasting experience. And it's a great way to hone your speaking skills and to meet some amazing people. And that leads me to today's episode in our conversational series, where you know, I get the opportunity to meet some amazing people in this industry, in different industries that reach out to me, and not all guests that reach out to me become guests on the podcast. A lot of times that there I just don't see the synergy, but that's not the case today. Today we have an amazing guest coming your way and I'll give you a brief introduction here on today's guest.

Speaker 1: 3:27

Michael McLean is a multi-millionaire business owner, author, speaker and business coach who has taught thousands of highly successful men how to get it all done in today's business world and still enjoy an incredible life, and that's why I felt that Michael would really bring some value here, and you're going to love the value bombs that he brings to us here in the Breaking Boundaries podcast. Michael is widely known for his noble kick butt take no prisoners approach to business and as the celebrated merchant of truth of the coaching and consulting industry. Opinionated, ruthless but wildly generous. He fundraisers for children's literacy programs, fundraisers for the homeless, fundraisers for local animal shelters, rotary, the Food Bank and multiple other local and national charities. Michael is a former professional hockey coach and team owner.

Speaker 1: 4:28

Michael became famous for joining his father's small town insurance agency, which we're going to talk about in this interview. In 2002, with zero insurance experience and tripling the size and profits in his first 36 months, michael won the 2009-2010 GKIC Marketer of the Year Award. And Michael currently lives half of the year in the beautiful heritage town of Perth, ontario, canada, and the other half in sunny Naples, florida, with his wife Krista, his daughter Emery and their black lab Clifford. So, without further ado, here's my conversation with Michael McLean. You're going to love the value bombs he brings, michael. Welcome to the Breaking Boundaries for Entrepreneurs podcast.

Speaker 2: 5:21

Thank you, jeffrey, it's great to be here.

Speaker 1: 5:23

Excellent, excellent. So tell our listening audience audience who the hell is Michael McLean.

Speaker 2: 5:26

Who the hell is Michael McLean? Believe it or not, I'm actually an ex-professional hockey coach turned eight-figure entrepreneur. But, admittedly, the most important job I have right now is as a husband, as a father, so we spend half our time in Canada, canada on the lake, and we spend the other six months in beautiful Naples, florida. I've been an entrepreneur since I was 12 years old. I have the dreamers disease, just like you, jeffrey.

Speaker 2: 5:55

I remember my dad turning to me when I was 12 years old and this is going back in the day and I said, dad, I said you know what we need to do. We need to start a video store. And this is back before even Blockbuster. And I said we got to start a movie store with videos and all this kind of stuff, and we're going to do home delivery, we're going to combine the video store with the Domino's pizza. And my dad turned to me he's been an entrepreneur since he was 15, pizza. And my dad turned to me he's been a entrepreneur since he was 15, 71 years in the trenches. And he said oh, my goodness, you have the dreamers disease. So that's, that's my story. I've been an entrepreneur since I was a little kid and now it's the freedom lifestyle as a husband and father.

Speaker 1: 6:40

That's amazing, and so let's go a little bit deeper into going from a pro, a former pro hockey coach, into an eight figure entrepreneur. Can you dive a little bit into that story, because it's kind of an unusual transition.

Speaker 2: 7:05

I was like, I have no idea what I'm going to do, and my mom and dad were like, what's this guy going to do? And I'll never forget it. We were in phys ed class, gym class, and one of the things we had to do is we had to volunteer. In other words, we had to coach a t-ball team or a volleyball team or a baseball team, whatever. And I'll never forget. I went to the arena. I said, okay, I'm going to put in the minimum amount of hours here. And I'll never forget. I went to the arena. I said, okay, I'm going to put in the minimum amount of hours here and I'm going to coach this little team of 12-year-olds. Maybe, you know, push some pucks around and help out a little bit. I'll never forget.

Speaker 2: 7:34

That absolutely changed my life. That day I went from a drifter to a person who was driven at age 19. And I'll never forget coming home and I'm sitting at the kitchen table with my mom and dad and my dad's an entrepreneur. And I sat there and I said I said I know exactly what I want to do with my life. And they were just stunned. They're like what? We don't know what you're doing day to day. I said I'm going to coach hockey for a living. I'm going to make a difference, I'm going to help people. This is my calling. And I remember my dad kind of laughing and my mom kind of laughing like you've only been to the rink one time. But that's where it all started. It was. I wasn't passionate about it, I was obsessed. And ever since that time, volunteering with that young team, I said to myself I want to make this my job, this is my calling, this is my purpose, this is what I'm here to do.

Speaker 2: 8:30

So I coached hockey, jeffrey, all the way through college. So when my friends were working at the pub or they're working at Subway, I was literally coaching high level hockey where I was paid. And when I graduated after five years with my yes, with my degree, I had a backup plan. I said, okay, if this hockey thing doesn't work out, I'm going to be a phys ed teacher, I'm going to be a gym teacher, I'm going to, I'm going to coach high school. So that was what I went to university and college for. But when I graduated, at age 24, I had my very first minor pro job waiting for me as an assistant coach. So my cup runneth over and from there.

Speaker 2: 9:13

I coached minor pro hockey the wild wild west for three years and then the strangest thing happened in pro sports. I got fired and my dad looks back and he laughs at he said what do you expect to happen when you're in pro sports? I got fired and my dad looks back and he laughs at. He said what do you expect to happen when you're in pro sports? But I'll never forget it. I got fired after three years of being a pro coach.

Speaker 2: 9:34

I wasn't married, jeffrey, I didn't have children and I went home to lick my wounds after I was terminated and my dad and my mom were sitting at the kitchen table one night and I was getting ready to apply for my next coaching job. I mean, that's what pro coaches do we get hired, we get fired and we go back. And my dad said to me he said do you mind if we speak about something? And I said sure. He said okay. He said before you go back to the sport of hockey, he said how many cities have you lived in the last four years? I said three. He said how many people have you worked for different owners? I said four and he said OK. He said if you continue on this path as a young man. You're not married, you don't have any kids. He said you can expect your children to attend how many schools? I said well, a lot, I said. And he said how many owners will you work for? And I said probably a lot. And he goes how many times do you think you'll be fired? Every three, four years? And that was the defining moment for me where I went from a mindset Jeffrey of moment for me where I went from a mindset Jeffrey of I just want to coach hockey to personal sovereignty.

Speaker 2: 10:54

And my dad said I have been in business. He's been in business for 71 years. He worked to age 85. He said never once have I worked for somebody else since the age of 16. He goes it didn't matter what I was doing, I did it myself and I grew up in the back of a general store.

Speaker 2: 11:07

Then my dad was in the insurance business. He said I answer to myself and my clients. He said I'm. He said this is what I'm thinking. He says what about you joining the insurance business, the family business, for one year?

Speaker 2: 11:21

And I was sitting at the table and I'm like, ah, the insurance business that's so stale and boring and dull. I'm a hockey coach and he said give me one year. He said I'll teach you the business from the front door to the back door. And after one year, michael, if you don't love it, if it's not something you're obsessed with, you know you can always go back to pro sports. But he says, if you do love it and you want to make it your calling your life, your mission, he said we'll work out an agreement where you can buy the business and go from there.

Speaker 2: 11:56

So I was sitting there. I said you know what? I'm going to take him up on this offer. And it's so interesting because I walked in that door 17 years and I worked with my dad, toe to toe, elbow to elbow, for 17 glorious years and we took that business was already a successful business and over those 17 years I got to work with my dad every day and we built that insurance agency into the number one agency in the entire country. Built that insurance agency into the number one agency in the entire country. And it was so interesting because my dad gave me the best piece of advice. He said, michael, when you come into this business, I don't want you to adjust to the insurance business, I want you to bring your passion and your obsession for coaching and serving other people. I want you to bring your marketing passion and obsession and make the business adjust to you. In other words, run it like a team. And that's what we did. That's what we did, jeffrey, for 17 years, and that's how we got to number one.

Speaker 1: 12:58

I've always admired the entrepreneurs and the business model where they operate as a team, rather than that hierarchy waterfall approach to who's more important than the other one. So there's great admiration for bringing your experience as a hockey coach and a team coach into entrepreneurship and business and a few key points I want to touch on that you had mentioned. You went from a drifter to a giver. Let's talk a little bit more about giving in entrepreneurship and business, because there's something that ties in to success with living a generous life.

Speaker 2: 13:40

When I was broke and I'm talking financially, I'm talking physically, I'm talking emotionally, I'm talking spiritually broke when I was broke in my 20s and 30s, I was a taker. There's two types of people in this world there's takers and there's givers. So when I was broke as a human being, I was a taker. How can this work for me? How can I get rich? How can I use this to my advantage? And that's pretty normal behavior in young people my life transformed in business and my personal life. I mean all levels. When all of a sudden, I said how can I serve other people? And when I became a person of service whether it was coaching hockey, whether it was working with the Rotary Club or raising funds for the library or the food bank everything transpired. And it was amazing because I never made any money. I never made any real money until I became a man of service.

Speaker 2: 14:43

And the light bulb really went off in the insurance business, where I would be doing some marketing for Thanksgiving or Christmas, whatever it was. And I stopped myself one time and I said you know what? I'm not going to do any of this stuff without connecting it to something in the community. And you know, I'm mailing the flyers, I'm mailing the newsletters, I'm on television, I'm on radio. I stopped myself one day and I said how can I raise all kinds of money and awareness for these charities in our community? So I kind of it's like the dreamers disease.

Speaker 2: 15:17

I kind of caught fire with helping other people and we just started doing everything connected to charity. So, as an example, we would do a food drive in December for the food bank, I would raise money for the Rotary Club in November. But everything we did with the insurance agency was connected to serving other people and it literally, literally transformed our business. It transformed the type of employees we attracted and all of a sudden, our business in a small community of 6,000 people started to be viewed differently. It was like these people are about more than just themselves, and that's very difficult to do in the insurance business. When people think of insurance, jeffrey, they're like oh, it's something we have to do. We became almost like an organization that was about the community first and if you had to buy your insurance, this is an option for you. But when I changed from a taker to a giver, everything in my life transformed.

Speaker 1: 16:25

I know that our listening community are great note takers and I know they wrote down. How can I serve? That is such an important question to ask ourselves, especially when we're trying to build our business or elevate our business to learn more about. And that is how you transformed the, the barbershop in Canada, and elevated that beyond like the average barbershop. Can you share a little bit about that?

Speaker 2: 17:00

It all goes back to my entire principle, which my dad taught me, which is the Napoleon Hill. If you don't have any examples, if you don't know what to do, if a person is born into a family where there's no role models, whatever it is, just look around at what everybody else is doing and do the exact opposite. That's Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich 101. If you don't have any role models, if you don't know what to do with your life or your marketing or whatever, just do what everybody else isn't doing, because the herd is always wrong when it comes to health, wealth, family, whatever. So I kept driving around our community. We have two main streets and I have my five-year-old daughter with me and I pick her up at school and I drive her home and we always roll by this abandoned building on the corner and we have this beautiful heritage town of 6000 people. And every time we would stop at the red light my daughter was five at the time She'd say, daddy, that that's an ugly building. It's an ugly building in our community. And one day, jeffrey, the light bulb went off. I said I'm not going to talk about this, I'm not going to whine, I'm not going to complain, I'm not going to, you know, make excuses or cut things down. I said I'm going to do something with that corner. So the next day, with my, with my daughter's inspiration, I said you know, barbering was starting to come back at the time this is like seven, eight years ago and barbering was cool again. It was a trade that was coming back. Not everything was super clips anymore. And I said what about an old school husband, father, whatever on that corner? And I put out the black awnings and I clean up the corner and it'd be a place that our community was proud of and we would serve people. So that's exactly what we did. I called the landlord the next day. I said how much do you know for this? And a member of the construction guys in there. He said Michael, I'm going to give you 90 days of free rent. You got 90 days to get this thing going. It took us, jeffrey, 60. We made the place look immaculate, which was great for the community, and everything was about, you know, the barbershop experience. I had fun creating that place because I went on online and I lived in the past. I was like, ok, here's what I you know nostalgia in the 80s and 90s and we had the jukebox and we had the old stadium seats and we had everything you could imagine. And we built that business into the top barber shop in the entire country.

Speaker 2: 19:37

People said to me at the time they said, michael, the only problem with barbering right now there's no more barber colleges, so you're not going to be able to find any more barbers. So, living that Napoleon Hill where do the opposite? I didn't listen. I did not listen to that advice. I said I'm going to find great people and I'm going to train them in the trade of barbering and I never had scissors in my hand in my life. But we went about it that way where we said, listen, we don't want anybody that does have experience, we want people that have the right attitude, that are coachable and want to have a trade. And I'll never forget hiring the top barber in America and I flew him in from New York City to our little community and he spent two weeks with the five barbers. They weren't even barbers at the time and I said teach these people to be the best at what they do.

Speaker 2: 20:35

And that's how we started. We never had an employee shortage. That barber shop was. Every day there was a promotion to serve the community. It became almost like a movement in our community where you know that's where you go and you get your hair cut. You take your son, you take your daughter, you get the bit the thing a big league chew, you get the old Coca-Cola and you help other people. So that's that's. That all started, with my daughter and I driving by and she goes daddy, that's an eyesore. You could do something about that.

Speaker 1: 21:09

That's amazing and most people would just let that. You know. Water run over the bridge and then that was it. But you're obviously an action taker and applying some of your. It's admirable that you set any ego aside and realize that you're not going to be the smartest person in the room. You bring in the expert, you train the people in your community and you revitalize an entire corner in that community for a thriving business that serves. Going back to that, that is absolutely amazing. So how, with all of this that you're doing, being a high achiever and an entrepreneur and an athlete how do you balance high performance in business with being present and connected as a husband and a father?

Speaker 2: 21:56

I own the first hour of my day. So when I was working for my dad 20 years ago, I could not have been more busy, I could not have been more distracted. I was a receptionist, I was a service worker, I was the whole thing. But I was also not married with no kids. And my dad said to me he goes, you know, I watch you operate. And he said you're busy but you're not productive. He said if I acted and behaved like you, he said, I would have been divorced from your mother 40 years ago and you kids would have never seen me. I would have been divorced from your mother 40 years ago and you kids would have never seen me.

Speaker 2: 22:31

I never, ever, ever can remember one time in 45 years that my dad was not at the dinner table, not one, not a seminar, not sick, not away, not playing golf. My dad was home every single day of his life at 6 pm and my mom had a rule. She said I don't care what time you leave in the morning to go to work, because my dad had the dreamers disease. She said I don't care if you go at five, if you go at seven, I don't care if you drive the kids, but business is over at 6 pm and I remember my like for 40 years. It didn't matter what age we were my sister, my brother, my dad was at the dinner table and then after dinner there was no. There was no like, ok, we're on our phone, or anything like that. My dad was both feet in today.

Speaker 2: 23:22

So when he said that to me, Jeffrey, when I was working, he said you better get your act together, because if you ever want to be married and stay married and you want to be a present father, he said you better get your act together, because if you ever want to be married and stay married and you want to be a present father, he said you need to own the first hour of the day. And I was like own the first hour of the day. He said listen. He said what time do you get up at? I said well, I get up at seven o'clock and he said yeah, and you drag your ass here to work for eight 30. He said what you need to start doing is reverse engineer it, where you start going to bed at the same time every single night. And for me I was like could be 12 midnight, it could be one in the morning. I didn't care. And he said and then you get up at the same time every day, but the first 60 minutes is for your number one task.

Speaker 2: 24:10

So he said to me he goes, what would be your number one task If I gave you an hour today? What would it be? And I said I think it would be fitness and exercise. I said you know, I put on some weight sitting at a desk. For the first time in my life I've never, ever worked in an office. And he said well, what about this? What about you start walking tomorrow for one hour? No technology, no podcast, just put your shoes on and walk outside in nature? And I said well, and I tried that. And here I am, 22 years later and I can count on two hands.

Speaker 2: 24:45

The number of days that I haven't put on my shoes at now 6am and walked outside in nature and that just transformed my life in terms of balance is I always get that first win from six to seven and then, jeffrey, the rest of my day seems to really.

Speaker 2: 25:05

You know, it's about stacking the W's after that and I've used that first hour during the over the last couple decades. Sometimes it was for writing, sometimes it was for prayer, sometimes it was for, you know, reading. But most of the time I get up and I put on my shoes and that's my time with my creator and people. You know, they laugh at me, they say you know you don't walk with music, you don't take your phone, and I'm like, from six to seven, that's my time to unclutter my mind, to talk to my personal God and just to think. And when I get back to the house at seven o'clock and I see my wife there, my daughter, I'm now in second gear and that has been the secret. It's not been more difficult. It's not working more or doing less of this. It's the first hour of the day must belong to an entrepreneur and if you win that first 60 minutes, you win the day.

Speaker 1: 26:05

Own your first hour. That is powerful advice and something else. Another takeaway that I got from that, with the story about your dad is leading by example, and that's something that I chose to start doing for my children when I realized that I wasn't present for them or their mom at the time back then. And so that is fantastic advice. And own your first hour was something that I heard, maybe in a different phrase, but back years ago. That made a huge difference in my life as well, when I decided to take control of my future, take control of my life, take control of my health, giving myself that opportunity first thing in the morning. And when I was.

Speaker 1: 26:43

You know I've bounced back and forth between entrepreneur and employee for a few cycles in my life, but when I was an employee for a while, it was really difficult when I had to be somewhere an hour away at 6 am. I still own that first hour. I was still getting up at 4.30 in the morning to get my fitness routine done, to get my exercise done, and when I would show up to be a leader in that industry, all the other people would be dragging themselves to work sipping on a large coffee full of sugar and milk, and they would ask me like, where are you getting all this energy? And I would explain to them that it was the hour that I spent before I got in the vehicle and drove there to work.

Speaker 2: 27:22

It's amazing because 99% of entrepreneurs lose control of their day in the first 10 minutes. How do you lose control of your day? You play defense. So I use the sports analogy with my students. Like most people, they wake up and they check their phone. Well, when you wake up and you check your phone, that's somebody else's agenda, that's somebody else's values, that's somebody else's principles. I've never had a cell phone in my bedroom, I've never had a pad, I've never had a computer.

Speaker 2: 27:54

When I get up, I play offense. For the first 60 minutes I push my agenda. My agenda is to put on my walking clothes, to drink two glasses of water, to pray, to brush my teeth and to put my shoes on. My agenda is to push that door open and get out into nature and talk to my creator. So I don't touch a phone till 11 am, never, ever, ever. I have a lockbox, but that's the difference between winning and losing is, most people get up and play defense, and they play not to lose and they check their phone and consequently, you lose control of your day in the first 10 minutes.

Speaker 2: 28:35

Oh, can you believe this? Or politics, or sports. And I'm just like get up and play offense. How do you get up and play offense. You put out your clothes the night before, you put out the two glasses of water and you get up and you stack the W's and I call it violent consistency. Violent consistency, like I don't have any special talent, I don't have any special gifts, but I don't miss. Everybody else misses but I don't miss. I put on the shoes 365. I talk to my creator 365. I drink the two glasses of water I put out the night before, and that's a coaching tip that comes from sports.

Speaker 2: 29:16

That's so important is that tomorrow starts today. So when I get up at 5.59 in the morning, I don't need an alarm. I get up and I know exactly what time it is. My shorts and my t-shirt and my sweatshirt and my shoes are all there. The two glasses of water are there.

Speaker 2: 29:34

Tomorrow starts today. So the night before is when you set up your winning for the next day. That way you're not staggering around at six in the morning looking for this or looking for that. When I get up, it's just win, win, win, win. These little tiny wins, because I put all my stuff out the night before and that really, jeffrey, gets you through those days where I don't want to walk. I mean, I'm walking in the freezing rain, I'm walking in the bugs, I don't want to drink the water, but my environment makes it almost impossible for me to misbehave. I don't trust myself, I don't trust myself, so I build an environment the day before that makes it next to impossible for me to fail. But the secret is to get up and to play offense and play to win.

Speaker 1: 30:26

Don't play defense to somebody else's agenda. I love it and having that consistency, that violent consistency, and making tomorrow start. Today I started living that life and I know the outcome that it brings for us. And when I very seldom slip from that, you know when I, when I don't make my breakfast smoothie in the night before and I can just grab and go to the gym first thing in the morning, my morning is is off and then that cascades into my entire day being off.

Speaker 1: 30:55

So that consistency is super important and I did that out of necessity when I was an employee, getting up at 4.30 am, I didn't have time to prepare for my day in the morning before I had to leave for work at 5 am. So I would prepare the night before because I was devoted to my health, I was committed to the outcome that I wanted to, and now I get to live the life that I was planning back then and it came to fruition, and I have that now every single day. Was planning back then and it came to fruition, and I have that now every single day. So tell me, michael, when you are so busy well, I shouldn't say busy when you are so productive, what are some unconventional strategies that you use to help entrepreneurs get it all done.

Speaker 2: 31:38

Well, I disciplined myself for the last 22 years. The only thing that matters are three things in my life and this is a quote that rules my life, it rules my marriage, it rules my behavior as a husband, as a father. Number one is health. Love and mission are the only things that matter in my life. Everything else is noise. Everything else is playing defense. So, if I break those down for you, jeffrey, number one and I had to learn this recently in the last three years is I can't serve anybody as an unhealthy people pleaser. So I used to be a guy like I'm going to be the greatest father, I'm going to be the greatest husband, but really, when it comes down to physical and mental health, I can't help anybody Unless I'm showing up as the best version of myself. This is the reason I changed my diet three years ago. This is the reason I broke up with alcohol three years ago. This is the reason I don't participate in politics or anti-social media. I don't watch the news. These are the. So health for me became a number one priority and I started living it Me me spending time with my creator every morning. Walking is mental, emotional and spiritual health. So that's my priority and it happens in that first hour. The second priority is love and family. So everything I do is about getting back home to my wife and my daughter. I do all of this to be able to spend time with those two people.

Speaker 2: 33:23

And then the third thing, and I've always said this with my students a man or woman without a mission, it's. You can feel it. Everybody in this world needs a mission, and my mission is always serving other people. So I've had multiple missions in my life. I wanted to win a hockey championship. I did that. That was a mission. I wanted to have the number one barber shop in the country. That was a mission. I wanted to have the number one insurance agency in the world. That was a mission. But I have a mission every like. My life right now is my latest business mission is to serve one million entrepreneurs. I want to help men and women live life and do business on their own terms. That's my mission and it's going to take me 10 years, it's going to take a decade, but those are the three things that I focus on and I literally say no vitamin N to everything else and I literally say no vitamin N to everything else.

Speaker 2: 34:21

So if it doesn't fit into health or into family or into my mission to serve other people. It's vitamin N and people say to me Warren Buffett taught me that. He said you know the difference between happy and unhappy, between fat and thin, between successful and unsuccessful, he says, is high performance. People like you, jeffrey, say no to almost everything. And vitamin N like in 2025, I talked to my guys on my mastermind this year to me is about subtraction Do less better. So it's so funny.

Speaker 2: 34:58

If you followed, if you and I were here today in my house, you'd be like you'd be stunned at how little I do Like I'm like I say yes to a podcast because that's my mission. I say yes to going to the gym because that's part of my life. I say yes to driving my daughter to school, but anything outside of that is vitamin. It's no, and it was my dad that taught me. He said Michael. He said you know this people pleasing has to end. He said because as a husband and father, he said every time you say yes, it's a no to a priority, it's a no to a priority of yours. It's like checking your phone when you get up in the morning. That's not your priority, that's not your principles, those are not your values. So it all goes back to that, that three-prong approach. Where is it my mission, is it my health and is it my family?

Speaker 1: 35:55

and if it's not, it's a hard no knowing your values health, love and mission super, super important values right there. And I at one point was not living those values and my health was in peril. I probably wouldn't be alive today if I didn't say yes to myself before, and that took saying no to so many other people. Not that I had to cut people out of my life, but I did have to say no. A lot of those people did not take that well. Uh, they held that against me. They got angry with me. Some still don't talk to me to this day. But I said yes to myself because I was people pleasing and I had to make that decision.

Speaker 1: 36:35

And when it comes to love, that's something that a lot of people, especially you men, entrepreneurs don't talk about. That. This is one of the reasons why love is so important. There's only two ways to be. You can either be in love mode or you can be in fear mode, and that's one of the reasons why I named my private wellness practice Love Energy Wellness Because that love is shifting into that giving mode, shifting into that self-preservation mode and focusing on your health, and the mission is super important for me. That mission was to serve more people, help more people.

Speaker 1: 37:11

I went and learned from the best of the best for health education for high performance health, integrative health and I did that with the sole purpose to help more people, because those modalities helped me to turn my life around, turn my health around, and I probably wouldn't be here to this day if I didn't make those decisions back then. So, vitamin N, I absolutely love that. That's going to be in any recommendations I make to my clients as well. And you know, when I'm coaching clients and they say, well, I don't have time for X, y, z, it goes back to what you said what are priorities in your life? Because everybody has the same amount of time in their day or in their week, but it's just that they're not prioritizing whatever it is that they say is important for them, but then they're not taking action on that. So, speaking of taking action, michael, where can people find you?

Speaker 2: 38:02

I shoot a video every single day. Your members can join my email newsletter, which is a daily newsletter for free at brassballsvideoscom. That's brassballsvideoscom, and I send an email every day with something that I'm thinking about or something that came to me on my walk. Sometimes it's money, sometimes it's marriage, sometimes it's marketing, sometimes it's, you know, like community service, and and basically I also shoot a video every day. It's interesting because I don't care how many people like I'm not.

Speaker 2: 38:43

I never started shooting videos every day to build a following. I just, you know, I was out on these walks and after I talked to my creator, I'm sitting there going. I got some stuff that's percolating in my mind that I'd love to share with the world, and that's how 700 videos consecutively it started. And on YouTube it's Michael McLean, badass CEO, and I've got a couple of channels there. But the best place for your followers to sign up for the free newsletter and also get a copy of my book for free is brassballsvideoscom, and it's me sharing basically my personal life and professional life with you every single day.

Speaker 1: 39:30

Amazing Brassballsvideoscom Michael McLean badass CEO, on YouTube. I will link those up in the show notes. Michael, it's been a pleasure talking with you and learning from your experience and sharing that with our audience.

Speaker 2: 39:42

Thank you so much for being with us today, jeffrey, a tip of the hat to you, the entrepreneurs. I always tell my people guys like you and gals they don't hear it enough. You're the hero in this story. I mean, america is the greatest country in the world, canada is the second greatest country in the world because of entrepreneurs. And the world Canada is the second greatest country in the world because of entrepreneurs.

Speaker 2: 40:04

And my dad has told me that for the last 50 years and without guys like you risking building and all this other stuff that we do with a very little credit sometimes, and podcasts and everything else, all this goes away. This is the land of opportunity. 2025 is the greatest time in history to be alive. My dad said that to me the other day. He's 91 years old. We're sitting out on the boat and he says you know? He says, son, I've been an entrepreneur for 75 years, but he says I got to tell you I'm a little jealous. He says that I'm retired now, at 91. He says, with the Internet, with eight billion people, with the trillions of dollars, with everything that's going on, he said, man, oh man, the best is yet to come. He said make sure you're a big part of that and serving people over the next handful of years. So I tip my hat to you and thank you for everything you do to make all this happen.

Speaker 1: 41:00

I appreciate that, michael, and likewise right back at you, you're doing great things for the world and the world needs you. My friend, thank you for being here. Well, there you have it, my friends. I know that you really enjoyed all the value bombs that Michael brought to our listening audience. I hope you took some notes. Hope you, if you need his services, you reach out to him, check out his videos that he does every single day.

Speaker 1: 41:26

Talk about commitment, that is, commitment to helping others thrive and be successful, and that's what it's all about here on the Breaking Boundaries for Entrepreneurs podcast, and next week we'll be back with our regular shorter episodes in our series going through this year, talking about high performance, health and longevity and how we can break boundaries in that space. So if you have any questions or comments, you can click on the send us a message feature in the show notes as, as always, leave a way for me to respond if you're leaving a question that you want an answer to and I can get back to you directly. And I appreciate you listening and we will see you next time. Remember, stay healthy, stay motivated and keep breaking those boundaries. Bye-bye, everybody.