Hey what's going on
welcome to the duck show I'm Doug
Pennington and in this episode I'm going
to talk about the importance or at least
the relevancy of being around other
people that sort of have the same
mindset of you as you being around like
like-minded people and that sort of
thing so today I have actually been on
vacation for a little while so today is
my sort of first day recording and
hopefully I'll be able to talk actually
I just completely blanked out but
hopefully won't be able to talk and you
know produce some of these shows like I
have been but if people have been
following along you may know that I went
to Alaska I drove to Alaska from
Colorado so it's a very long drive
actually I had my my parents joined me
as well they're retired they enjoy road
trips and when I just mentioned that I
was doing it and if they wanted to come
along they could and it turned out you
know pretty good because number one it's
a much easier to drive with like other
people helping out so that was very
beneficial also my dad has a relatively
new Ford Explorer it's like probably
less than three or four years old so it
rides pretty smoothly
it's fuel-efficient a lot more fuel
efficient than the cars that I maybe had
access to so it turned out great bright
Georgie along I'll be posting pictures
and stuff on Instagram kind of slowly I
didn't really post anything while that
was on vacation I didn't want to be
distracted and I also don't want it just
like broadcast to the world like what
I'm doing at all times which seems weird
since I have all these different things
where I talk about myself all the time
but actually kind of like to lay low
so anyway I'm back in the office I'm
doing stuff again it was really good
to take roughly a month off I was
largely like not checking emails except
for like once a week or so I had VA is
you know things for me I had writers
doing things and I will get to the topic
by the way but the cool thing is I I
hired several different contractors and
different pieces of work to be done on
my business so that I didn't have to do
anything while that was gone
and some of those were vendors like
content development pros or content
refined or even human proof designs and
my VA s were able to make decisions for
me and basically serve serve as me right
so they were able to like feel the
emails from different parties and they
knew what I would probably reply back or
if they didn't they would be able to get
in touch with me sort of batch their
questions together so that I wasn't like
bombarded with like just random
questions that I don't really need to
answer and it was fantastic it's really
I'll probably talk about that in another
show and kind of go a little more in
depth but it's pretty cool to just
remove yourself and see how things go
and it went okay anyway it was a very
cool trip I'll actually be talking a lot
more about the Alaska trip because there
was so much that we did I I think I
traveled about 8,000 miles in 25 days
and my folks they drove to Colorado from
Atlanta so they had another I think
another couple thousand or 2500 miles or
so did they they went to additional so
it's good to be back home honestly but
it was also good to get away from the
heat I'm not a huge fan of hot weather
and it was pretty hot it was almost like
a hundred degrees when I left Colorado
so as soon as I started heading north it
cooled off quite a bit as you could
imagine and it's it's still warm here
but um you know it's not as hot as it
was anyway let's get to it
a couple things I'm going to sort of
mention you you can imagine I'm for
hanging around like-minded people or at
least like the sort of people that you
want to be moving in the direction of
and I'll explain now I
I didn't really pay much attention to
this sort of concept until probably like
2013 or something like that probably
when I discovered like this online
marketing stuff and working online and
all that sort of thing
but sitting where I sit now reflecting
back I see that so many of my like
behaviors were shaped by the people that
I was around so like my behaviors my
thoughts just generally how I was
looking at like the work that I was
doing what I wanted to do with my life
and all that kind of stuff now I don't
necessarily know what I want to do with
my life but I know several things that I
don't want to do which is also helpful
so I made a list I made some notes to
prepare and I was looking back at some
of the decisions that I made in the past
especially ones that were like kind of
shitty so I I kind of jotted down what
they were sort of the years that they
took place and then like now I'm doing
things much differently and when I look
back at like some of the folks that I
was hanging out with which I mean
they're my friends or they were my
friends and we've moved on to different
areas of life or had different circles
of friends or whatever like you know
maybe they're perfectly happy like where
they're at but I realized that I wanted
a shifting so example number one is when
I bought a house and that was back in
2005 and you probably are thinking hey
that seems like a pretty bad time to buy
a house well it was it was probably like
one of the worst times buy a house ever
in the United States maybe across the
world not 100% sure but it was a
show overall so I bought roughly at the
height of the market and at that point
in time 2005 I had like my first
full-time job for a couple years I was
like renting different apartments at the
time or at least like I had roommates I
also traveled essentially
old time like while I was working so I
was traveling and I didn't really have
like a home base but a lot of my friends
and I was hanging around
they were like getting married settling
down like giving houses and stuff like
that
also you probably realized that people
generally recommend hey buy a house get
some real estate when I looked at like
my older sibling and her friends like
they got a job they bought a house
pretty quick seemed to work out really
well they got another house they always
moved up my parents did this a few times
like basically buying a house up until
that point seemed like a really you know
it was a fine idea was responsible
that's what I thought I was like hey
this is a responsible thing to do I like
this neighborhood it's an up-and-coming
neighborhood like it was kind of rough
to be honest with you was like on the
other side of the railroad tracks in a
literal way people in Atlanta since you
know I don't live there anymore I can
tell you I kind of where it was but it's
like an Edgewood community which is kind
of it's kind of cool now but you may
remember like a few years ago it was
pretty rough and I think you know
they're at the point now where most of
the houses have been like purchased torn
down and like rebuilt so there's like
pretty nice expensive homes there now so
anyway I bought a house terrible time
ended up upside down a whole other story
for another day but eventually I let it
go into foreclosure when I had it as a
rental house for a few years I saw like
basically it was a terrible like cash
flow situation and like I had no
recourse with the mortgage company and
any of the plans that were out there and
programs to help people out that bought
houses that like they were basically
upside down they didn't apply to me
because I had it as a rental home so I
was making good money as well so
essentially I was I was with a bad
investment so eventually I let it go
financial decision I've ever made by the
way so that was fantastic my credit
score was fine I don't borrow money
anymore
so your credit score doesn't matter as
much okay moving on to another roughly
around the same timeframe
apparently I was very impressionable is
when I bought a truck in 2006 so it's
the same truck that I talked about a
little while back on the show here and I
like the truck it's pretty you know it's
a fine truck I'll probably keep it for
for longer until it dies most likely but
um basically I I don't really need a
truck it was kind of convenient with
having a house so I could like haul
things back and forth but it's pretty
rare when I actually needed a truck is
kind of like it was fine to help other
people out when they needed a truck to
but in like in the grand scheme of
things a different car would have been
like more fuel-efficient maybe a little
cheaper so on and so forth but I really
didn't need a truck but for whatever
reason I was like hey it's gonna be
awesome to have a truck and I probably
could have purchased like a vehicle that
was a little bit older and just you know
approach things differently so last one
that I'm gonna mention here is I used to
have sort of like rolling credit card
debt roughly from like you know around
caught the college time frame to around
2007-2008
which is a little bit after I got
married now the weird thing is I don't
know I don't know why I had a rolling
credit card debt because what I would
end up doing is I would like pay off the
credit card all the way and then I would
like buy like sort of expensive stuff
maybe go on vacation whatever I would
like bought things I didn't need I have
no I I don't even know what I spend my
money on to be honest with you didn't
really do much of a budget back in those
days I just had enough money I would
spend some whatever I wanted and I
always had savings too I always had
savings that were great
my credit card so I mean like I said I
don't know what I was doing other than
the stupid advice that like credit card
and financial companies give you about
hey you know prove you have a very
responsible financial outlook and you
always pay off your credit card on time
and all that stuff and you know you'll
have a better credit rating if you
actually like have some finance charges
so that you know they see that they make
money off you or something like I don't
even know the reasoning now but at this
point I don't trust any sort of
financial advice from any credit card
company or any of the financial
companies or financial advisors either
I'm that jaded because I mean the
incentives are all off for example when
you look back at the at the whole
foreclosure thing that I mentioned
before most of the advice out there is
from like creditors mortgage companies
who don't want you to make a decision
that is potentially better for you and
not as good for them if it's gonna mess
up their you know their mortgage and
they want your money right they want
your money so the the reason why all of
these are relevant is because my friends
were buying a house back in those days
some of my other friends had trucks
and/or they were buying like vehicles
right I was like oh I should buy I
should buy a new car even though I don't
necessarily need one and then finally
the rollin in credit card debt basically
every all my friends had like rolling
credit card debt or some sort of like
like big financing whether it was for
their car or credit cards or whatever
furniture what have you now the cool
part is I slowly like just stopped being
friends with those folks through just I
think like natural just growing apart
like we move further away different jobs
blah blah blah so I don't know a hundred
percent there was never like a falling
out or anything like that but it just
stopped hanging out with them as much
slowly over time and
I started hanging out with like other
people that were more either like
responsible with money or they just kind
of like had different goals that were
like a lot more clear these other folks
I'm not really sure what they were
aiming for we were young right we were
in our 20s so I think we were just like
taking what we were dealt and like doing
the best that we could with what we had
which is you know I respect that that's
all you can do but now at this point I'm
like in better shape than I used to be
like I think I'm probably got 20 pounds
lighter right now than I was in like my
mid to late 20s I don't know if that's
like you know I I expect it's somewhat
of a trend for like certain folks
obviously a lot of people would you
actually put on weight and your your
metabolism slows down and maybe your
habits don't improve so I've like swung
the other direction so I'm eating
healthier
I mentioned intermittent fasting all the
time at least in the context of the show
and I'm feeling much better
I exercise more than I used to and I'm
outside more than I used to be so all
those things are habits that I generally
picked up from you know either
physically being around like people who
had similar thoughts as those or
listening to podcast like I said I think
a lot of these mindset shifts for me
occurred after 2013 after I discovered
smart passive income and several other
podcasts I don't think those podcasts
that I was listening to necessarily had
those like like sort of healthier ideas
because that's most of the things that I
mentioned just now but it's also like a
mindset shift where instead of having a
corporate job and thinking wow this is
this is fantastic I really want to do
this for the next 30 years or whatever
or I hate it and I'm gonna do it for the
next 30 or 40 years just because I have
to now
well maybe you don't have to do that
stuff maybe you can do things
differently you don't have to buy into
all this that I'm mentioning right now
but like the mindset shift is like oh
you you can change right you could
change your behaviors and part of that
maybe would be hanging around
like-minded people and it's very
interesting and I want you to think back
to maybe a time where you were
I guess I don't want to be too redundant
but around like-minded Pico people or
people where you were like placed into a
different environment than what you were
used to and then you all sort of like
became a little bit more similar and
like each other now I was probably more
likely like if you end up going to I
don't know if summer camp would be the
right or the right thing but if you went
away to like a conference for example if
you went to a conference in your rent a
bunch of people who have like a similar
mindset or at least a mindset that you
want to you want to sort of shift
towards like all those conversations and
all your thoughts will then drive your
actions and you'll probably start doing
more of that stuff you kind of
internalize it so you know like at this
point when I think of a corporate job I
think it's just crazy I can't I can't
imagine now I'm saying I would never get
a job again if the right opportunity was
out there to work with like smart people
and and learn I think there's value in
that you know it's not all about having
a hundred percent freedom all the time
although I really really like that so a
couple ways I'll suggest some ways that
you could find people to be around
especially like if you happen to you may
be thinking oh I don't know how to like
hang out with other people right like
I'm sort of have like the neighborhood
crew that I know or maybe your
children's like your children's friends
parents right I since I don't have kids
I don't know exactly but my
understanding is you kind of end up
being friends with like your your
children's friend's parent
right so the neighborhood families maybe
you're you know you have a job most of
your friends or people that you're
around are at your job so maybe a little
tough so I'll have some suggestions for
you so one would be like mastermind
groups so I got into mastermind groups
immediately as soon as I started my
first couple websites so within like 1
to 2 months like I was trying to reach
out to people at the time it was path
lines niche site duel like forum website
I put together a small group there
we'll probably met for about six weeks
and then sort of grew apart and like it
just didn't work out all that well to be
honest with you but it served the
purpose especially for me I mean I
learned a lot from everyone there and I
think some of the other people like they
weren't committed they weren't serious
and they were honestly if a few of them
were just lazy like they said they were
gonna do something and then they didn't
do it
so I quickly formed another group with
some other folks that were they were
doers right they would actually make
some you know statement that they were
gonna do something and actually did it
pretty big deal I mean just that alone
just being around people that are like
I'm gonna do X and then they do it
that's huge most people don't do
they're very lazy next would be local
groups and like meetups so these are
everywhere you could just go to like
meetup calm and try to like find some
groups that are meeting there's a lot of
entrepreneurship groups depending on the
size of your city or like what is around
you you probably have a good chance to
have like very specific type of meetup
group so it may not be just like
entrepreneurship you may be able to find
like an internet marketing group or a
wordpress design group or whatever like
it can be very narrow if especially if
you're in a big city now another one
that I'll pitch here before I get to
like the big one that I think triggered
this idea for a show is paid courses so
I have joined a couple premium
courses I'm trying to think how many
like three to four and I think most of
them were I think the cheapest one was
like a thousand bucks and the most
expensive was like a around 4000 or so
and the cool part is usually like almost
90 percent of the time especially if
it's like a premium type course the
course will have some sort of community
now maybe it's a Facebook group
those are pretty popular that's where
the five figure niche site group is
others may have like a dedicated forum
but Facebook seems to be like a pretty
stable place at this point in time
especially for these sort of private
groups or it may be you know some other
forum and I don't know maybe it's
actually I won't even throw anything out
but usually a paid course will have some
community aspect and the creators
realize that it's a pretty important
aspect people want to you know chat and
meet other folks so for me I actually
have formed like two mastermind groups
from the community aspect of those
premium groups now there's a couple
fantastic things that happen when you
have a group like that so number one
they have skin in the game because
they've paid for the course that is very
big because you'll end up getting like a
better level of commitment just in
general than random people now I'm not
saying that you can't find a great group
without joining a course or anything
like that but if someone paid two
thousand bucks to be in the course and
to be in the group they're gonna respect
the group number one they're gonna
respect your time most likely and you
know they are very serious about
whatever it is you're studying or
whatever you want to talk about so
that's very key in my opinion you have
skin in the game and they are a little
more committed than just some random
folks out there now the other cool thing
with that is actually there's two more
good thing kind of number of these so
there's two more things one they have a
baseline set of knowledge that will be
common with yours through the course
material so if you're taking the same
course as them they're going to be
studying the same things and you'll be
able to use the same vocabulary you'll
be able to you know help each other with
the material and get just additional
insights with a study partner
essentially now you don't have to treat
it as a study partner but you could
remind each other like hey did you do
the exercise in unit 2 and literally
like I've had those experiences with the
mastermind groups that I've formed out
of courses so you have those couple
things and the other part which is sort
of like implicit to what I just
mentioned basically like you know the
topic of what you're going to like
mastermind about so one of the
mastermind groups that I had it was on
courses right like how do you get an
idea for a course how do you cover the
material properly selling the course
marketing it all that kind of stuff so
like we knew what we're going to talk
about even though like the person that
I'm mainly connected with their their
topic and their niche was completely
different than mine I literally have no
interest in what she was working on and
I don't know anything about it but it
didn't matter because we were
masterminding about courses and like the
the high level aspects of like course
design and creating a course so it
didn't matter that our topics were
completely different and that I had very
little knowledge in fact it may have
been helpful in us giving advice to each
other because we didn't have any sort of
like preconceived notions about the
other ones topic we could ask very basic
questions and be completely genuine
about it which is another way for me to
say that I asked dumb questions to that
person ok the last one that I'll mention
is co-working spaces so I kind of I
don't know I never really went to
co-working spaces on a regular basis for
whatever reason I have that weird mental
I don't know what word to use there but
I'm weird and I can work in my house I
don't get distracted by like other stuff
in a house so much assuming there's not
like a construction crew or like someone
talking directly in my ear but I I won't
like sit and watch TV I don't care about
TV or like those little distractions
like that so for me working at home and
not having any distractions and just
being able to cut out any kind of
commute time or anything like that was
great so I I don't need the social
aspect either however I appreciate like
being around other people occasionally
and just having those side conversations
so I can operate fine without like going
to an office and having like the
community aspect in an office it's fine
I've gotten by just fine for about
almost 10 years like mostly working from
home and a whole lot of it just working
by myself sitting at my desk or standing
so this co-working space idea hasn't
really like been so valuable to me but I
was kind of like wanting to you know
meet some people around my new home city
out here Longmont and I was like I'll
online earning,make money online, earn money online, online earning, online earning sites,
make money online free, online money income, earn money online free, money online, best way to earn money online, online income site, money earning websites, best online earning sites, easiest way to earn money online, earn money payment bkash, online money income site
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment