This episode of the Grow Fast Podcast featuring Rob Cressy, founder of Unlimited Coach, primarily focused on how AI, personal development, and brand building can be combined to accelerate growth in both business and personal endeavors. Rob emphasized how ChatGPT can serve as a creative thought partner, helping individuals refine their ideas, generate business strategies, and optimize personal branding. He shared specific use cases such as updating LinkedIn profiles and creating engaging, outcome-driven content to attract clients. The conversation also highlighted the power of integrating AI tools like ChatGPT with personal development practices, providing entrepreneurs with a pathway to scale their businesses quickly while fostering personal growth.

Another major topic was the importance of self-development for high-performing individuals. Rob discussed the significance of building better habits, routines, and mindsets to help leaders and entrepreneurs show up as the best versions of themselves every day. He shared insights from his own daily routines, such as early morning reading, journaling, and exercise, emphasizing the power of consistency in achieving long-term success. The episode wrapped up with a discussion on the value of mastermind groups, where Rob explained how surrounding oneself with like-minded individuals can accelerate both personal and professional growth.

You can find the whole episode of the Grow Fast Podcast with Rob Cressy here:

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This is the transcript for this episode:  

Mark Shriner [00:00]

Welcome to The Grow Fast Podcast where we talk with leading sales, marketing and personal growth experts about how companies can accelerate sales, optimize marketing and grow their businesses fast. Let's go.  

Mark Shriner [00:15]

How are you today?  

Rob Cressy [00:17]

I'm doing fantastic. How about yourself?

Mark Shriner [00:19]

Pretty good. I really had a great, relaxing, enjoyable Labor Day weekend. Did you do anything special?

Rob Cressy [00:26]

Yes, so I've got a two and a half year old son, and we lived down in Sarasota, Florida, and we drove an hour and a half up to Animal Kingdom to see animals, dinosaurs, The Lion King. So, it was very much for my son. And as you can imagine, he absolutely lit up which made it amazing for my wife and I.
 
Mark Shriner [00:47]

That awesome. And I don't know what it is with, I have three boys. What it is with boys or kids and dinosaurs for example, they just, I remember my boys would memorize all the dinosaur names, and then they moved on to trains, and then cars and whatever. But I don't know where there's something in the brain there that's wired into us, you know?  

Rob Cressy [01:08]

Well, yeah, because they are big, they're conquering, they're doing something. You're exposed to them early. So, it's like I liked dinosaurs, even though I don't exactly remember me doing it. But then you go to kids, and they just gravitate towards things. So, shout out to dinosaurs for all that they give us.

Mark Shriner [01:25]

Totally, totally, hey. I'm looking forward to talking to you about, you know, different ways that we can use AI, also community in order to kind of help our professional and personal development. But before we do that, maybe you can take a couple minutes and talk about what you do at unlimited coach.

Rob Cressy [01:45]

Yeah! In unlimited coach, we combine three things, artificial intelligence, self-development and building your brand. So, when we originally created this, we asked ourselves two questions. Number one, if we had to sell three clients in the next 48 hours, how would we do it? And then number two was, what is our unfair advantage? And I was like, Listen, if I had to sell three people in the next 48 hours, I would, number one, flex my expertise in AI and ChatGPT, and then number two, I reflect my expertise in self-development, because there's two areas in which I am mass master, as is my partner. And just like that, we're like, well, what is the genesis of growth if we wanted to prepare for the future so that we thrive for the long haul, what would we recommend to our clients? What are we recommending to our clients? Well, number one, no matter where you're at right now, AI and ChatGPT, it's like the brand-new internet where everything changed. It's the next version of the way that business is going to transform as well as get disrupted. And then number two, and of course, you know this is growing yourself, your mindset, your heart set, your personal growth and development. Because for me, every day is an opportunity for me to grow and get better. So now, if we combine these together, of all, right, we're going to work on that personal growth with that professional development on the AI side of things. And naturally, one of the things that we hear often is, I want to grow my brand, my business become more visible. So how in the world do we do this? Well, great, let's combine the three of these things together. So, we've got twice a week calls rotating between AI, self-development and brand building. We've got tools and resources really creating a space for high level leaders can have more of the right conversations about how to grow.

Mark Shriner [03:46]

Awesome. Man, yeah. So, you know this podcast is The Grow Fast Podcast, and we typically are talking to leaders who explain their strategies or tactics relating to growing a business fast. But really, it all starts with your individual and personal development. Because if you want to, if you want to grow an organization, first you got to grow yourself, and you've got to skill up, and you've got to get be motivated and ready to go. So I'm super excited to talk to you about all those things that you just mentioned there, but let's, let's break them down a little bit, because there is, I mean, you could call it hype, but there's definitely buzz about, you know, AI and ChatGPT, but a lot of times, what's lacking is real examples of how to use ChatGPT in specific situations. And now we're talking about personal development or self-promotion, so or self-branding. So, can you get walk us through maybe a couple of best use cases for how do I use ChatGPT to help me with my personal branding or personal development?

Rob Cressy [04:53]

Yeah, for sure, I've got tons of these, because this is one of the things that we specialize in. So, I'm going to take you at the very beginning. So, I used ChatGPT the first week it was out in beta in November of 2022 and within the first minute, I felt like I used the internet for the first time. I was like, holy smokes Batman, I am all in all my chips on the table. There is no having to convince me that this is the thing. One of my gifts is being forward thinking. And as someone who's a master creator, I'm looking around and I'm like, Wait, you're giving me this for free. I legitimately felt like I was using magic. So, the very first thing you actually do.

Mark Shriner [05:26]

I mean, what did you do that that came on because I've been onto ChatGPT, and sometimes I've had this, like, amazing experience too. Sometimes, if you don't exactly know what you're looking for and you're just going and playing around, maybe it could be a little lackluster. So, what did you do at that time where the light bulb just came on for you?

Rob Cressy [05:43]

Yeah. So, the good thing about me is creativity is one of my strengths, and I definitely believe, when you're using AI and ChatGPT, that there are millions and billions of dollars in our ability to ask it the right or better questions. It doesn't mean it's going to spit out a lottery ticket, but it can help us create the strategy, the thinking, the ideas that we as leaders can then use to execute and to create that in our lives. So, once I understood this, I saw this as a blank canvas that would be my first thing, because one of the things that we're always sharing with our clients is ask yourself this, what am I not asking ChatGPT to do? And you're like, well, what do you mean? Because it legitimately knows everything you could say, hey, Rob, I want to grow. I want to create a rocket ship to Mars. It can help us do that. Hey, Rob, help me create a social media strategy designed around a podcast and short form video. It can do that. It can say, hey, Rob, can you help me grill a steak at 450 degrees perfectly. It can do that. So, once you understand that the only thing that limits you is your own thinking and creativity, you go, Wait a second. This is actually a great opportunity for me to open up the aperture of possibilities. So, the very simplest thing that I did, and it's the lowest common denominator that anybody could do, was update my social media bios, so, specifically LinkedIn. So, I'm sitting there and I'm like, all right, I want to see what this thing can do. So, in my mind, I want to test it slash break it. So, I was like, here's my current LinkedIn bio. Can you help me write this better? Side note that's a very generic prompt, that it can definitely be better. But this is where I went. And all of a sudden it went, doo. doo. doo. I was like, okay, let's make that more outcome driven. So now all of a sudden it goes, doo doo doo doo and I was like, whoa, did this thing just create an outcome driven bio for me on LinkedIn based on what I already fed it. And once I saw that, I actually went through all my past jobs that I had ever had, and I was like, set it and forget it. I'm going to go update those formulaically, so that if you or someone was going there, you would get a better idea of the value I bring to the table. Because I'm writing this in an outcome driven way, not I did this. I did this. That's a me, not an outcome that I deliver.

Mark Shriner [08:23]

Can you explain a little bit? What does that mean, an outcome driven way?

Rob Cressy [08:27]

So, I'll give you, I'll give you an example. So, one of the things that I use ChatGPT for the most is going to be something as simple as a headline or a title. So, is this on my podcast episode? Is it the title of a newsletter? Is it the hero headline on my website? And I'm not asking it to create the thing from nothing. I'm giving my half-baked thoughts or ideas on what I wanted to say, and then I say, can you write a value driven, outcome driven headline? So instead of So, I'll use our community unlimited as an example. It's like, all right, well, we got calls twice a week, and we got a community of people. Well, we could just say, join a community of entrepreneurs, coaches and leaders, growing their business together versus so that's almost telling someone on that versus grow your business faster and easier with support.dot.so. Where are we leading on this? And this is getting very inside baseball on copywriting, but oftentimes where you put the emphasis on something. Am I telling you what we do, or am I saying, hey, Mark, this is the outcome that we can deliver for you. Launch a podcast in 30 days. Oh, I know exactly what this is, versus the world's best podcast training program. What it is versus. The outcome it can deliver for you. Well, once you understand that, well, why in the world does this matter? Because once again, we're going to go back to sales. I then put myself into the shoes of the prospective client or my dream client, and I'm like, all right, how can I speak to them? What is going on in their heads? Not about me? In one of the challenges, I and so many people face is we're very good at what we do. We know so much stuff. But how can we articulate articulately, share this in a way that speaks to where you are in your customer journey? It's not this is what the thing is. It's this is how this goes back to the whole why are we buying a drill? Is it to buy a drill? Is there to get the little hole so we can hang the picture? That's essentially what as a simple way that you can use AI and ChatGPT in your business? Does that make sense?

Mark Shriner [10:54]

Totally, totally. And I mean, maybe from a more basic, I guess, point of view, it's features versus benefits. What's the benefit? What are you going to get from this? And you're going to get the hole and you're going to get the nice picture on the wall, that's what you really want, versus the drill. That totally makes sense. And you know, you touched on something there. That kind of teed up another thought in my mind, that I think that most of us out in the business world feel pretty comfortable representing our company, our product, our service, and even maybe going so far to promote them. If you're in the in sales or marketing, a lot of times, individuals, including myself, have they struggle a little bit with promoting themselves or selling themselves, partially, because maybe it's something new to them. Partially, maybe because for me, I feel like, hey, you know, if I'm going on there talking about, hey, how great mark is that doesn't come off as being very humble, and it can be a little insincere. So, I struggle with that, and I'm sure others do as well. You know, how do you help people in that context?

Rob Cressy [11:55]

Great question, and this is something that so many people faced, a very simple way that we could phrase this is imposter syndrome, where we're really good at what we do, but for some reason you're like, Man, I just don't know what I if I belong, or am I bragging too much? And a lot of this can be around the story that we're telling ourselves, or where we are putting the focus. So, I'll share a quick story that can help you with this. A few years ago, I was the emcee of a marketing conference in New York, and at the end, they had Q and A, and this woman stood up and said, why would anybody care about what I have to say on a podcast very similar to what you're sharing here, Mark. And the answer is, if you have something inside of you that can help even one person, it is your duty to share it with the world. So, Mark, right now you and I are having this conversation, and someone is getting a positive impact in this, so I like to think

Mark Shriner [12:55]

I'm getting a positive impact. I've already taken notes. What I'd love to do is during a podcast, is I take notes on action items that I'm either going to do further additional research on and or actually action, you know, go out and do. And so, I've got, okay, ChatGPT applications, LinkedIn, bios, outcome driven. And then and now and now, we're talking about a third area here. So already, sorry to cut you off, but already I'm getting a positive impact. So hey, to your point, let's, yeah, keep going.

Rob Cressy [13:20]

All right. Side note, success leaves breadcrumbs. I am also taking notes on this conversation while we're going, because this is part of having a growth mindset. 101, so with this mark, I understand the feeling, but I also know this statistically, there's like it's either a seven to one or a nine to one negative to positive, ratio of negative information out there on the internet versus positive. So, if we were to sit there and you're like, I'm just not sure if the world needs to hear more from Rob and mark, but the reality is, any one piece of content from us that is inspiring someone, or in both of our instances, helping them grow their business or their life faster. You're telling me that we're going to hold this from other people because, and this is also going to be a sales 101, thing that asking is a gift. In the same is true with creating and sharing is a gift. Because why in the world mark would you and I ever withhold the things that we know can help people? Because when you said, I don't want it to be bragging too much on myself. I get that. But part of being world class at what we do is understanding how we can frame things. This isn't actually about us, even if we're sharing our experience, is how we can be a conduit for positive change and growth faster by sharing what it is that we've learned along on our journey. And to me, this is about earned confidence and leading by example, because somewhere along, minds, I consume content from somebody else, and they helped me so us as thought leaders, we also have that opportunity to shine our light, to help others on their journey.

Mark Shriner [15:11]

You know, I'm agreeing with everything you're saying here. At the same time, I'm thinking about, I can't remember her name. I think it's Amy some start I forget. Now she did this thing a TED talk about fake it till you make it. Amazing thing. I mean, you get a story that she went through where she always felt that she wasn't good enough to be in the position she wasn't supposed to be in these schools, in these jobs, whatever. And she felt like an imposter. And then one day, she felt like, you know, because she was faking it till, she made it. And then one day she's like, you know what? I this is where I belong, but I'm wondering at what point, because, you know, you see people on LinkedIn that they'll put stuff like, keynote speaker, you know, World, world famous sales trainer, consultant, and maybe there's a little bit more hype there than to then, compared to the reality, right? So, when do you start putting that out there like, as opposed to, do I self-actualize and say, you know what, I want to be a world class speaker. I want to be a keynote speaker. Do I put it on my LinkedIn profile now, or do I wait until it happens and then put it on there and, you know, is it? Is it the chicken or the egg man or the horse or the cart? How do we do this?

Rob Cressy [16:18]

All right, welcome to the mastery level, part of the PROG, the master level part of the program. Because here's the thing, Mark, when is somebody an expert? Is it when somebody gives me a title or an award, or is it when I claim that I am the expert? Because here's the fallacy and imposter syndrome. That imposter syndrome, something that I and almost every high performer still feels, no matter what we do, it's part of the game. But guess what? That is a standard of excellence. Because you know, who is not experiencing that? The majority of the people who are living by default, who are just mailing in their days doing the same thing every single day. They're not sitting there collecting their paycheck, being like, oh my god, am I good enough to collect this paycheck? No, they're just going through the motions. And because we see where we can grow and get better, we sit there and we're like, I am not enough, because I see where I am not whereas there's a great book about this, the gap in the gain, by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy. So, the gap is where you are now to where you think you could be that vision. So, for a lot of people, you sit here and you're like, I'm just starting out. Oh my god, I'm not where Rob and Mark are. I've never done a podcast, or I've never done this. So, they live in the story of lack versus the gain. Where you say, Holy smokes. Can you believe where I started from? A Fifth Third Bank call center slinging home equity loans at a computer with no internet, making $10 an hour. Whoa. To be where I am at right now, the amount that I have gained is unbelievable. Look at that simple framing. Are We Living in the gap what I am not versus the gain all that I've created right there? And I'll give you an even simpler example on this AI and ChatGPT. I claim to be an AI and ChatGPT expert. Why? Because I've gone all in on it since November 2022, and immediately I started coaching and teaching and sharing content on how I was using it. So only what, two months into it even existing in beta for the public, I was already claiming that I'm an expert. So now there's a contingent of people on LinkedIn and the internet saying, there's no ways that you can be an AI expert right now. This was just invented, and I'm sitting here and I'm like, I'm actively coaching clients and entrepreneurs and how to use this. I am sharing videos and podcasts that are getting hundreds and 1000s of videos on this, and I live in this world every single day. So I'll ask you, is that somebody who is an expert.

Mark Shriner [19:07]

Absolutely, compared to the general population, or 99% of the people out there, absolutely, man.

Rob Cressy [19:16]

Okay, so here's the next level up. So, I have, for the last almost two years run group calls or group AI program calls to where entrepreneurs and leaders can come on and share what they're working on their business and how we can use ChatGPT or AI to help accelerate it. So, I think at this point, I've done almost 100 calls, so 100 hours’ worth of client calls. And one of the things that I say to every single person on there, because they're at all various levels, remember, we all started at zero with AI and ChatGPT. So, the only difference is some of us are using it more than others are. Is each of you, even if you don't feel like it, are experts. And they're like, Rob, how can that be true? Because I can look around and be like you are the only 20 people, I know who have ever hired a coach for ChatGPT to help them grow their business. And you have done anywhere from five to 10 to 20 to 50 to 100 hours with me. You are better than 99.9% of people on earth at this but for some reason, because you're in the same room with me and you see the things that I'm operating on, you don't feel like you're as good as me, so you're not an expert. And I sit back and I'm like, you don't realize how good you guys are compared to everybody else, the gap versus the gain.

Mark Shriner [20:34]

Now I really like that. It's a really important perspective. Let's go back to ChatGPT and some more concrete uses. Could you just give me one or two more examples of real applications that are kind of like mind blowing, whether you know you use it, or somebody in your learning group has developed it?

Rob Cressy [20:55]

Yeah, 100% I mean, I've got endless amounts of them. So, number one, and this is my favorite, is as a thought partner. So, what I'm about to share is so important where most people fail with ChatGPT is they expect ChatGPT to be the one that creates everything. So, then they say, well, Rob and mark, it sounds like a robot. And the advice is generic, and I don't really like the output. Does that sound familiar? Yes, okay, right? I got that. So, here's the key. We are the leader and the driver. ChatGPT is our copilot or our creative assistant. It is there to support us in bringing our ideas to life or be our yes and for this. So, because of this, when you frame it that way, if it is always in your power, it is now additive to you, not the thing. Because, of course, when ChatGPT was created, marketers immediately ruin everything. They're like, oh, well, I'm just going to find as many keywords as I can and create an AI blog post. Now I'm going to game Google and SEO, and of course, that's not going to work, because now there'll be game behind the game. So, with this, one of the things that I love to do is, here's a tip, take what is in your head and get it out of your head into ChatGPT, because one of the biggest things that we hear from our clients is, Rob, I just don't know what to put in there. And I'm like, all right, cool, Mark, here's what we're going to do. Tell me what's on your mind, what's one area of your business you want to grow. Where is there a challenge? And all I do on my end is I type what they say to me, sit. You say, you can just stream of conscious. Just type, go. We don't have to have the fully baked answer to get the party started, because the key in ChatGPT is the first prompt isn't the end, it's the beginning. So, the analogy that I like to give is think of it like peeling an onion. So, we're going to start with using this is a thought partner. Hey, I've got this idea. So, one of the things that I love to do being a coach and having very active listening is I'll pull out like, one sentence that I hear in a podcast or on TV or in a song, and I'm like, wow, that was unbelievable. And I'll give an example of this. I was listening to a podcast with this guy who was a billionaire. It just very, uh, casually in conversation. He's like, Yeah, when you get the right momentum in your business, and I'm driving my car, and I was like, right momentum. I've never heard anybody say the word right or word before momentum. It's just like, momentum is momentum. But I was like, right momentum. So, I go into ChatGPT, and I just type in, uh, right momentum, as a world class personal growth coach from a high level. How is this true? So, what I wanted it to do was to mirror back to me this phrase, right momentum. And it goes, right momentum is, and I was like, oh, my God, this is unbelievable, is it? I'd never heard the phrase before. It may not even be real, right? So, with that, I was like, all right, let's see how good this thing really is. So, I'm always thinking about my clients. I was like, I would love to create a lead magnet where my clients could evaluate and score themselves on where they are in the right momentum in their life. Remember three minutes prior, this world, this word, had never existed in my world, right momentum, but right now, after it told me what it is, I'm like, I want to create a scorecard. So it goes, Sure do. So, it took the 10 things that said about right momentum, and it gave a scorecard saying, hey, think about this thing, about this rate yourself in each of these and I was like, Oh my God. This thing just created a scorecard in 17 minutes, 17 seconds. I was like, mind blown. But I was like, Wait a second. I know people, even if I give them a scorecard, what in the world does a 41 out of 50 for right momentum mean you'd be like, Rob, I have no idea. I've never heard this term 41 means nothing. Go ahead and create me a rating system. Zero to 10 equals this. 11 to 20 equals this, and he goes, doo, doo, doo, doo. And I was like, oh my god, we just quantified what right momentum meant with a scorecard. But even then, Mark, if I'm like, All right. Mark, you're 41 and that means you're you still can't do something with that. So now I want you ChatGPT to help me create a game plan that says, depending on which level you're at, here are three action items that you can take to increase your right momentum in your business and in your life. And it goes, and I was like, holy smokes. And I was like, but wait, it still isn't good enough, because even if I tell you what you can do, you're going to sit there and be like, yeah, Rob, that's nice, but I live a full life. I've got kids, I got a family and a business. I don't have the time to do it cool. ChatGPT, I want you to give me a time frame for the things that people can do based on their scorecard rating that will help them, step by step, formulaically create the right momentum in their life, and it goes in about seven minutes. It exploded my brain, because I took a term I'd never heard of in my life, right momentum, turned it into a scorecard with a rating system with a time frame and action items for things my clients can do to evaluate the right momentum.

Mark Shriner [26:40]

That's awesome. I'd be thinking like, you know, traditionally, something developing that kind of scorecard and recommendations time bound, all of that would take a team of graduate researchers a year or so to just get a draft out, right? I mean, this is, this is amazing. And what I like about it is because you're right. I think a lot of times people go on ChatGPT, and they'll say, you know, give me the answer for this. And they get the answer. Or write, write, write some marketing copy for this great widget that I have here. And they're like, that's kind of cheesy, but they you need to kind of refine it. Drill Down, up. You can use it so you know, like you said, you're in the driver's seat, but use these tools as tools, you know, as your copilot, your navigator, your graduate research team. That's an amazing story.

Rob Cressy [27:34]

Yeah, so Mark, I want to wrap a bow on this to make sure it's crystal clear for someone what I just shared. So I said one of the things you can do is use as a thought partner. But one thing that immediately separated me from almost everybody else in the world, so ChatGPT comes out for the first time, and on Twitter, everyone's like, oh my god, I can create a blog post that sounds like Daffy Duck. This thing is so cool. And I'm sitting here as an entrepreneur, and I'm like, how do I turn $1 into $1.50 I was like, I don't care about the dumb things you can do. So immediately my lens was business growth. Very important thing, because people will say, well, I asked it when George Washington went to the moon, and it told me, irrelevant to me, because I'm not growing my business by trying to say I got you on ChatGPT, so when you flip the lens to business growth, okay, thought, listen, now, it's my thought partner. What's this thing? Now I'm thinking about my clients, scorecard, lead, magnet, email, action this, to this, to this. Immediately, I just built a system into my business to where I could use this and ship this with you or anybody else. So now, at the end of the podcast, you can be like, and you can go to robinmark.com backslash, right momentum, get your own version of our scorecard. And then on the back end, you design an automation sequence that says, hey, do, do, do, 12345, and you're like, I don't know any of these things. You no longer have to know how to do these things. All you have to do is be willing to show up and allow ChatGPT to be the how. But the key is, you have to be willing to ship the work so many people get 80% of the way there. Remember, you don't just play ChatGPT. That's not being productive. The key is leveraging it as strategy to get you into action faster.

Mark Shriner [29:26]

Makes a lot of sense. Let me switch tracks here, because another thing that you help individuals with is self-development, okay? And so, what you've been talking about there is, you know, it's the application of ChatGPT to help you with your business, maybe with some of your self-promotion. But when we talk about self-development, well, first off, you define what that means in the context of your organization. Yeah.

Rob Cressy [29:51]

How can I show up every single day? Is the best version of myself? My goal today is to be better than i What better today than I was yesterday? So. Simply put.

Mark Shriner [30:00]

Okay, and what are some of the ways that you help your I don't know the customers clients do that.

Rob Cressy [30:09]

So many of the people that I work with are very successful at business. They're amazing people. They're amazing leaders, entrepreneurs and creators, but many of them have invested in their business, but not invested in themselves and their own personal growth. So, it doesn't mean that they're saying, oh, Rob, I'm coming to you because I'm broken. It's like, no, Rob, I'm really good in all of these areas, but I see that as an opportunity for me to be better in.dot.so ultimately, this come becomes creating better habits, routines and mindsets to help you show up powerfully, be your best and create more of what you want in your life. Because when you peel this back, high performance is really just a series of 11111, doing one thing over and over and over again. So, I very much believe in the power of consistency, the power of awareness and the power of intention. So, the story that you tell yourself or how you think will create your actions. Your actions will create your results. So, if we start at the end with the vision of what we would love to create. Hey, Mark, how would you love to wake up every single morning? I don't know, Rob, I've never had a morning routine before. All right, cool. So, let's start peeling that onion back. And this is something that is both specific to each individual as well as high performance. 101, you're going to look and see. All right, let's evaluate your habits. What would you love to do if we said you can do whatever you want today? What's that look like? And for so many people? Oh, man, I just don't have time to work out or meditate or read or journal or do any of these things. All right, let's look at your relationship to time. So, all of this is part of having a growth mindset, because we always have an opportunity to grow and get better. What I do is I'm a champion for you and others in that journey to help both challenge you, push you and help you open up to where there's more possibility accessible for yourself.

Mark Shriner [32:17]

So, let's talk about how you do that yourself, you know, let's talk about your, I guess, mental development, physical how you keep your energy levels high? What's a typical day look like for you?

Rob Cressy [32:31]

So, for example, I'll just tell you what I did today. So, I woke up at 5:06am, today, which was one minute earlier than I did last week. The reason for this is I just shared a podcast called recommitment to excellence. So as a high performer, someone who strives to be the best version of myself every single day, I do not believe I need to wait until January 1 to all of a sudden be like, you know what? Rob, now's a good time to reevaluate. Are you doing good? Do you have more goals? I'm like, no, we're coming out of a holiday weekend here, and I see this, and I was like, well, one for my own drive and sharpness of my sword. I always want to have in my tool belt the ability to create positive change whenever I want. And the way that I see that is by going back to zero and recommitting to my own excellence. Because for me, this is a standard of action, so welcome at 5:06am and the thing that changed my life, because I was not this person 12 years ago, is the first thing I do every single day is read a book for 30 minutes. It's usually a personal growth and development or leadership or creativity book or entrepreneurship. Why? Because when I left my corporate job 12 years ago and went all in on being a full-time entrepreneur and creator, I sat there and I audited the success habits of the most successful people of the world, the people that I aspired to be like and do things like, and I kept hearing the same thing over and over again. The average CEO reads 60 books a year. The average CEO reads 60 books a year. And I sat there, and I was like, I've never read a book in my entire life. Yes, I went through college and all of that, but I've never been one of those people. So, I legitimately see my dreams on the other side of learning how to read. Well, if something's important enough, you will always find time to make it happen. When is there always time? First thing in the morning. So, this simple thing I've run every single day, weekends, included, for 12 years, is read about for 30 minutes.

Mark Shriner [34:32]

And I'm a huge proponent of reading. I think it's it gives you the keys to the kingdom for everything else, all the other you know, disciplines in life. And I've heard the phrase many, many times that Leaders are readers. And, you know, and you've already made one book recommendation called the gap in the game. I'm going to come back for more recommendations in a bit. When you, when you start off, do you? Do you get out of bed? You have a reading space? Because, I mean, a lot of people, when they first wake up in the morning. It's like, man, you know, they reach for their phone and then they're on social media. Because it's easy. It gives them a little hit of dopamine, the idea of actually get up and reading a book. How do you do it? Not go back to sleep, you know? What do you do?

Rob Cressy [35:10]

Okay, great question. So once, once again, welcome to the power of consistency. There's several mantras that I live by in my life, one of them is, prepare for what's difficult when it's easy. So, if I want to be the best in the world, if Mark, I want to help you or any of my clients, who would I be? To be the guy that helps people with high performance in their life and being like, yeah, you go and do these things. But for me, I sit there, and I look at my phone and I snooze, and I do all this just like you guess what? 100 times out of 100, 5:06am is super early, like I wake up and I'm a zombie. So, this is exactly what I do. I have my phone across the room so I cannot hit snooze. I can't I have to get up to physically take it so it's out of the charger, and I walk, and I brush my teeth, and I go to the bathroom.

Mark Shriner [36:03]

Apologize to your wife, for the alarm going off.

Rob Cressy [36:06]

Yes, of course. So, when I brush my teeth, I use my toothbrush as a trigger for gratitude. So, I'll say three things that I'm thankful for. My eyes are closed still. I'm just like I'm thankful for my son, I'm thankful for getting to do a podcast with Mark, and I'm thankful for the ability to be a creator every single day. Boom, go down, and then I walk and using a Keurig, I make one cup of coffee, and then I take that cup of coffee, and I sit on the couch, I turn on the light, and I read on the Kindle, and I just turn that thing on, and I have a timer on my watch for 30 minutes. And before I read, I have a thing called my vivid vision, which is a three-year projection out of all of the things that I create in my business, in my life, over the next three years. So for me, it's a 2026, vivid vision. It takes me around nine minutes to read it. It's graphical, it's words, images, things like that. So I anchor my vision first, and then I set the timer on my watch for 30 minutes go and I read the Kindle while I'm drinking my coffee. And here is the thing that unlocked everything for me, is when I first started this, I'm reading things that I would enjoy or excite me or that I can learn. So, I'm not doing this the way that we previously used to learn of like, you better do this, or else you're going to fail the test. It's like, no, do I want to learn about creativity? I'll read a book about creativity. Do I want to read a biography about Richard Branson? I'll do that. So, there's going to be an element of being interested in whatever it is that I read timer for 30 minutes. Goes once that thing's done, boom. And then after that, I go to the gym. So, it's so habitual for me that, oh, I enjoy learning. Crazy. How this works. When you enjoy learning, you read the book. Now it's not a problem.  

Mark Shriner [37:57]

Now, totally agree. And I'd like the things too, about, you know, making things the bad things difficult, you know, like the phone. Put it across the room. You know, junk food. Don't put it in the house. Or don't if it is in the house, hide it. Don't make it. Put the healthy stuff out. You know, all that stuff. Make it easy. I like the routine. And you know, the thinking, you know, the thoughts of gratitude to get you pumped. Me in the morning, I do a little physical stuff first, just to to so helps me wake up. But I have two songs, primarily one that I'll put on, and soon as I hear it, my whole body just goes, boom. It's time. It's show time. Let's go. And I just get sometimes I'll be like, mid that first set of exercises, I do a bunch of body weight stuff. And in the middle of that first set, all of a sudden, I just get this surge of energy. And I'm just like, Yeah, let's go man. You know, game on. And then the workout goes through just after that. Because before that, I'm like, oh, man, I got to do those things. I got to do the body weight squats, I got to do the pull ups, I got to do. And I'm like, just, just, just start. As soon as you start, it's like, I'll now send it on autopilot. So Okay, before we jump off of books, though, if you, if you were to gift a book to all of your customers, clients, friends, family or whatever, what? What book would it be? It might be different for different people. But you know, what do you think would be in most cases?

Rob Cressy [39:24]

The obstacle is the way by Ryan Holiday. So, it is based around stoke philosophy. And the reason why I say this book is because it is the book that has probably changed my life the most, because you'll keep hearing this from me is I have I was not this person. I had no growth mindset and no self-awareness. When I started my entrepreneurial journey 12 years ago, I was a work, hard, play hard at sales, party, bro. So, I was making a lot of money. I was enjoying life going out all the time, but I was not filling up all the buckets of. My life. So, for me, when I think about my entrepreneurial journey, I am all in there is no plan B, because I'm the plan B. So, with this, I quickly realized how much I did not know. When you go from multiple six figures to $0 overnight, you're like, Whoa, I'm back at zero. No website, no clients, no one knows me for what I want to do. So once again, the auditing, the success habits, and there's always those stats about small business or entrepreneurship on the failure rates of them, and they're insane. It's like, after one year or 80% fail in five years is 90% or whatever. So, I'm like, all right, how do I not be one of those statistics in for me, it was very simple, don't give up. If I don't quit, I am still in the game. Therefore, I want to be somebody who specializes in not giving up, in staying in the game. Which led me to the book The obstacle is the way, because what ultimately it teaches you about is turning obstacles and adversity into opportunities. What stands in the way becomes the way, and this is why, mark when you're like, well, it's easy for people to just go on your phone and get that dopamine hit first thing in the morning, but guess what? That is not going to get me to where I want to go. So, I want to create this self-discipline to say, phone across the room. Do this, do this, do this, do this. So, I'm unconsciously not thinking about the things that I need to do. I like to call these effortless efforts. When I work with my clients. I want to make high performance so easy you don't even think about it, because that's been one of my superpowers for myself, that I do these things on a world class level without even thinking, because I know that tomorrow there's going to be obstacles, adversity and challenges. Some I see, some I don't see. Some I created some I don't created that are on the horizon every single day.  

Mark Shriner [42:01]

It's funny, you mentioned that I just finished a book called “The Hard Thing About Hard Things” by Ben Horowitz. He Andreessen Horowitz there that, you know, if not the leading, one of the leading VC firms in the world, amazingly successful entrepreneurs, and then, you know, venture capitalists, and they invest in hundreds of companies every year. Probably their total portfolio is, well, in the 1000s. 1000s, incredibly successful. And, you know, he was talking about what they look for in a CEO, and it wasn't like this. Oh, well, they're a natural, charismatic CEO person. Oh, they, they've got this, you know, they went to the all the right schools, and what they're looking for is that ability to stick to it, that grit do they have it, to just stick to it and go through the grind? Because see, being a CEO, you might have fun times, but you've got so many, you know, roadblocks, obstacles, you know, spontaneous fires that you have to kind of fight all the time, and if you get brought down by that. And that's kind of life, too, in general, right? I mean, you know, we all, we all go through that. But being the CEO, to be the CEO, you've got to have that, that ability to just kind of keep grinding through it, grinding through that. What I'm hearing you say is we need to be the CEO of ourselves, which means you have that objective there, and you just don't take no for an answer. You continually just keep marching forward. You know, Japanese have an expression. Japanese martial arts, it's seven times down, eight times up. You know, just keep going, man. So that's what I'm hearing you say. That's a major takeaway there.

Rob Cressy [43:33]

100%, if you want a yes. And for this in a book recommendation, relentless by Tim Grover, anybody who's a sports fan, Tim Grover was Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, so this mindset.

Mark Shriner [43:45]

These guys were insane, man like Michael Jordan. The stories about him that his work ethic and practice, and he practiced, you know, they do five aside, and he practiced with the B team because he wanted to play against the A team and beat them. And if people didn't show up and give 100%, he'd go nuts, man. And then always in the gym. Dwayne Wade as well. I mean, you know, working out at two o'clock in the morning before game after game, whatever. Just, just, you another one was Kobe Bryant, where people say, like, hey. He said, like, you know, my friends call me and say, hey, you want to come over and hang out. He goes, hang out. I don't even know what that means, man, I like, what do you mean? Hang out. I I'm being the CEO of my life here. And you know, I'm running, I'm a professional basketball player, one of the best in the world. I'm also running multiple successful businesses. Hang out. What are we talking about? And some people might go, Well, that's kind of extreme, yeah. Well, if you want to get to that level, man, maybe you do need to be a little bit extreme.  

Rob Cressy [44:41]

Yeah, so I always like to say I love to learn from outliers. It doesn't mean that I need to live like David Goggins and it's your birthday and you're sitting there and be like, why in the world? You so soft eating birthday cake on your birthday.

Mark Shriner [44:56]

I'm going to go nails, hiking up this mountain problem.  

Rob Cressy [45:00]

Right, so, I don't have to live his lifestyle to be able to learn from him. I can learn from Kobe, D, Wade, MJ, and those mindsets. And that's the thing in Mark, even just look at your energy difference in this. To me, I could feel your boom. You snap into this, and you're like, what in the world separates those who are average from those who are great? It's doing the common things consistently every single day and doing those really hard things consistently every single day. And the reason for this is because our biggest competition is ourselves. Despite saying all of this, I still wake up at 5:06am, and be like, Man, this is early as crap.  

Mark Shriner [45:49]

So comfortable here in his bed.

Rob Cressy [45:53]

Comfortable is always comfortable. So, when you know that you are your biggest competition, you're the one who's going to limit yourself. Because Mark, we even talked about this at the beginning. This is perfect. How full circle this is, who am I to share a message? Who? Imposter syndrome? 101, versus I'm putting in the work because I know what I'm doing, because it's going to create who I am by taking those actions. And that's the key to this. Be an expert, being a high performer, selling anything you want, whether it's yourself or a service, is all about your ability to keep showing up and doing it every single day, despite the fact that so often you don't want too awesome.

Mark Shriner [46:35]

Hey, you know one of one part of your equation is also to kind of facilitate or collaborate or put these mastermind groups together, because that's important. And why don't you talk a little bit about how important you know? What are the benefits of being part of one of these mastermind groups?

Rob Cressy [46:51]

It'll change your life forever. And I say this both as a consumer and client of them, as well as a leader and a coach in them, because one of the most challenging things that myself and so many people feel as a leader, as an entrepreneur, is alone in our journey. You look around and there's just not a lot of people like you doing what you do. And for more than a decade of my life, my friends and my family, they'll be like, I have no idea what Rob does. I don't even know how he makes money. I just don't get it. So, it's like, that is consistently everywhere. And think about Kobe and MJ and D Wade. Like, how many people are like them? There's like 10 ever in the history of the world. So, one of the things that is so powerful is the gift of conversation, where let's just create a space where we can be very intentional about the area that we want to grow in. My instance, AI brand building self-development, being creative and just being somewhere where you can share your challenges, you can help somebody else. You can all do this in the name of growth and so many beautiful things come from this. One, you sharpen your own sword. Two, you improve your systems and processes. Three, you create better habits, routines and mindsets. Four, you have examples all around you of people who are just like you, where you're like, Oh, I'm not a crazy person. There are others like me on this journey.  

Mark Shriner [48:32]

Come on, Terry Man, am I crazy?

Rob Cressy [48:35]

Exactly? So, it's nice to have that support there, because what this will do is create momentum for you. Because I very much like to share sometimes the framework of plus one, zero or minus one, and whether it's our self-talk or actions, whatever it is, these groups and communities help you live in the positive plus one plus one plus one or zero. Because the challenge is, if, when you're living that negative one, that negative mindset, those negative habits, the why is this not happening faster the scarcity than not enoughness? Man, that snowball rolls downhill super-fast in one day turns into one week, turns into a month, turns into a year. It's like, Man, how in the world did this happen? And one of the phrases I use for that is, how slippery is that slope when you know you just aren't doing the things that you could be doing to be the best version of yourself, versus, wait a second, what if I invest in my growth and development, professionally and personally, by being around to others like me to have those conversations to help me, Mark like you grow faster.  

Mark Shriner [49:44]

Yeah, no, I totally believe in the it's really important to get the right people around you, and you know, working with them on some specific areas. I remember, this is maybe 20 years ago. But I was in pretty bad shape physically. I've done sports most of my life, but I let myself slide for a couple years and put on a lot of weight. And I said, okay, I'm going to start running. And anyway, I was so heavy. Was so hard, man, it was just it was not fun. And I saw a friend of mine, and he goes, hey, I'm I want to start running too. How about we start training and by the way, four months from now, there's a half marathon. Why don't we, you know, put together a training program. I was like, Alright, so we would meet three days a week, you know, at some ungodly hour. Was always like, 536 o'clock in the morning, because we both had jobs. And we're in this, you know, the Pacific Northwest. Here we're in the wintertime. It's raining most of the time. No way I would have been able to get out of bed and go do that on my own, but because I had to pick him up, or he had to pick me up, and he was, you know, it was just like, I got to get up and go. And so, two days during the week every time we go for short runs, but and then we're talking as we're running, which is therapeutic as well, right? Because it's like, hey, you start the day in a nice, positive conversation. And on the weekends, we do progressively longer run. Again, I would have never done that if it would have been me on my own. Now, I can do that. I can, I can. When I put commit to a training program, doesn't matter if I'm with somebody or on my own. Always it's nice to train with somebody, though, but yeah, I mean that changed my life. And so having the right people around you, professionally, whatever, it's super important.  

Rob Cressy [51:20]

Yeah, and it's interesting, because there's really a few different ways of becoming this person, because Mark, at one point, you and I were not those people. So, I had to hire my first coach, or join my first group, or have that first accountability partner. So if you're listening or watching this right now, and you've never done that, that's actually a great thing, because this is the sign that, wait a second, let me get around the right people, and then secondarily, once you understand how valuable this is, it's no surprise that those of us who are part of coaching programs and Masterminds, we like to go and be a part of more of them, because excellence breeds excellence, and you know what you can create for yourself in this and you're sharpening your sword. And I love that story, because Mark, what you ultimately learn about this is how powerful you can be. Yeah, I needed someone to help me train for that first half marathon, but I understood that I can still show up every single day, even if he can't go and, oh, I can do this on myself. So this is where, once again, that earned confidence comes in. You learn by doing. Hey, maybe at the very beginning, whether it's running a half marathon or learning ChatGPT, the fastest way to get to where you want to go is to go with somebody who's already been there.

Mark Shriner [52:36]

Totally agree. Let me ask you one last question on that topic. You know, there you mentioned earlier, there's a lot of different groups out there. You know, a lot of different ways to kind of get that network effect. How do you find the right group?

Rob Cressy [52:53]

I've always found the right group by leading and putting myself out there first. So, it's almost like a skill set of it, of what is it that you want more of in your life, and what you seek is also looking for you. So, once you understand that, you're like, Alright, let me go and find it in my world, I'm oftentimes the person creating it. So, I've been on both ends of the spectrum. So, for the longest time, you might be listening to a podcast or a video series where just a call to action. Hey, if you'd ever like to join our community, go to this and you hear that. And how many times in life do you need to be told something before you do it? So, for me, the average CEO, read 60 books a year. I didn't hear that like 20 times. Then you hear, oh, they're all meditating or working out early in the morning. And I'm like, okay, success leaves breadcrumbs that if you keep hearing this, are you going to be a cynic? No, the timing's not right. The price is too expensive, or I don't have the time for it, or is life giving you these little miracles being like, drip, drip, drip. Here's those breadcrumbs. And then if you ultimately look and you're like, this does not exist. And I'll give you an example. I moved from Chicago, where I lived for 12 years, down to Sarasota, Florida recently, and it was a culture shock for me. One, I had a brand-new child. Two, I'm moving from one of the biggest cities to a vacation town, and I just Googled Sarasota entrepreneurs, Lakewood Ranch entrepreneurs, and it's like nothing. The only thing that's popping up is a Chamber of Commerce. So, guess what I did? I decided to throw my first networking meetup for entrepreneurs. So, I just took what I'm I just took what I'm doing online with unlimited and said, Hey, first unlimited Sarasota meetup. So, if it doesn't exist, create it. If it does exist, keep consuming the things. Because one of the things for me that is high performance, 101, audit your inputs. What are you consuming? You're consuming the right stuff. It is inevitable, the books, the podcasts, the videos, the webinars, you will find people like Mark and I who say, and here's how you can go deeper. Once again, Mark, this goes back to asking. Is a gift so very simply, like, hey, if this is something you enjoy, join our community creating unlimited.com you hear that and you're like, oh, am I just going to let that go? Or is this the sign of, wait a second, there's something here for me.

Mark Shriner [55:28]

Some great, great advice there. Well, hey, Rob dude, I am so freaking motivated right now. No, seriously, I told you that. This is, you know, Tuesday, coming off a three-day weekend. I got all this ketchup to do with, you know, a bunch of things and sometimes it's my motivation or energy levels can kind of drop a bit, but like they're right back up there right now, and I've got a bunch of action items here. So, thank you so much, man, for being on the grow fast podcast. But before we go, if any of our listeners or viewers wanted to reach out to you or find out information, more information about unlimited coach. What's the best way to do that?

Rob Cressy [56:06]

Yeah, for sure. I love hearing from people. And this side note, this is something that is a superpower when you do it, if you hear someone that you vibe with, reach out to them, because there's a silent majority and a vocal minority. So, you can hit me up on LinkedIn or Instagram. At Rob Cressy, if you enjoyed this energy and this vibe, we would love to have you part of our community. Go to creating unlimited.com check out what we have going on at unlimited coach, it'll change your life.

Mark Shriner [56:33]

Awesome. And I will put all those links in the show notes. Hey Rob, thank you so much for coming on The Grow Fast Podcast and have an awesome remaining of the week, I guess. Yeah, cheers, man!

Rob Cressy [56:43]

You too, Mark. I appreciate it.