Ep310: Michael Brody-Waite – Turn to Your Trusted Network for Support

Andrew Stotz 00:03
Hello fellow risk takers and welcome to my worst investment ever stories of loss to keep you winning in our community we know that to win in investing you must take risk but to win big, you've got to reduce it. This episode is sponsored by a stocks Academy's online course how to start building your wealth investing in the stock market. I wrote this course for those who want to go from feeling frustrated, intimidated or overwhelmed by the stock market to becoming confident and in control of their financial future. Go to my worst investment ever.com slash deals to claim your discount now. Fellow risk takers This is your worst podcast host Andrew Stotz and I'm here with featured guest, Michael Brody. Wait, Michael, are you ready to rock?

Michael Brody-Waite 00:48
I'm ready to rock dude.

Andrew Stotz 00:51
I'm going to introduce you to the audience. Let me just get myself prepared for that, huh? All right. At the age of 23. Michael was a full blown drug addict. Every day, he drank a fifth of vodka, and a 12 pack of beer. He smoked two packs of cigarettes and more weed than any human should. And he did whatever other drugs he could get his hands on. He had been kicked out of college fired from his job and evicted from his apartment. He had no money and no home was throwing up blood and believe he would be dead before his 30th birthday. Then, on September 1 2002. After running out of options and fearing death, he checked into rehab, entered recovery and has been transforming himself every day since Michael's TEDx Nashville YouTube video. great leaders do what drug addicts do is the number one talk in the history of the TEDx Nashville program. It has been seen by 1 million plus people in 25 countries and provides insight into his 17 year journey from addiction and your homelessness to successful entrepreneurship. This talk sparked the mask free movement and brought awareness to Michael's mastery program built on three principles inspired by his recovery, showing leaders how to achieve balance, reclaim energy, and thrive in work and life. Michael is an acclaimed speaker, Inc, 500 entrepreneur, award winning three times CEO, a leadership coach and author of great leaders live like drug addicts how to lead like your life depends on it. his accomplishments include being named a most admired CEO named to the top 40 under 40. And being recognized by the Nashville Chamber of Commerce as healthcare Entrepreneur of the Year. Michael take a minute and Philly further tidbits about your life.

Michael Brody-Waite 02:45
Do I really need to I feel like you just talked about me for like 10 minutes. So I'd say the two most important things are I'm a recovering drug addict about 18 years clean. And that's that's what drives everything that I do. And as a, you know, Inc 500, founder and speaker and author, My mission is to teach people the principles out excuse to recover so that they can thrive and work in life.

Andrew Stotz 03:10
What a great lesson for the listeners out there, how to take your deepest despair, most painful moment and recovery from it, and then share that with the world to help others. So I think that's, that's an inspiration right there in and of itself. But I didn't know what to set

Michael Brody-Waite 03:27
the table. Yeah. The question I always ask is, what if the worst thing about you could be the best thing about you? And I really feel like that's my message. That's what I'm bringing to the world. And I'm grateful for the opportunity to do that here. Hmm.

Andrew Stotz 03:42
It's a great thing to think about. For the listeners, you know, Take a moment, think about what is the worst thing about you? Think about it. And then listen up to the rest of this podcast as we start to understand how to reshape the way you think about it. So now it's time to share your worst investment ever. And since no one ever goes into their worst investment thinking it will be. Tell us a bit about the circumstances leading up to it and then tell us your story.

Michael Brody-Waite 04:11
Yeah, so as a recovering drug addict, I'm no stranger to risk. It took a lot of risk to stay high, it was a risk to get clean. And I worked my way up the fortune 50 ladder at a company called Dell for eight years, got a promotion in eight years, I got to stay clean. I figured out how to do this thing called life. I never thought I'd live past 30 I got 30 years old and I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. And so at the height of the recession in the US, I decided to max out my credit card, drain my 401k and blow my savings. I'm starting a company called in quicker and our mission was to let patients schedule appointments online at the time in the States. 99% of healthcare appointments were made over the phone everybody was like how do we increase access to health care? I'm like, well, dude, if I can schedule an appointment for my cat, my car and my hair online 24 seven, why the heck can I do that to take care of my body? So bootstrap the company out a partner, parallel to the I started company with my partner a year after I got married. And the success that we had being bootstrapped as a healthcare company was phenomenal. We ended up being an Inc 500 company. We grew 20,000% in six years. And so the investment that I made during that time was, I invested in hiding my greatest weaknesses. I gotten really good at telling people that I was a recovering drug addict. But when I started being recognized as a successful CEO, as a, as a business leader that theoretically accomplished a, b, and c being the art, you know, in the news, and we'd have all these accomplishments, and we get these big marquee clients. The temptation to hide my weaknesses grew and grew and grew. And so like, you know, I know we're in the middle of pandemics we're actually talking about like physical mass. But like, when I was in rehab, back 18 years ago, they lay down to paper masks. And they said, We want you to use images and words for magazine articles to describe the person in one mass that you show to the world. And we want you to use these resources to create a mass that represents who you really think you are. So of course, the mask I showed the world. I'm a drug addict, that's homeless and but I like I do Ferrari's and, and, and, you know, George Clooney, and all this kind of stuff, and then the one around how I feel about myself, starkly different. And so I think not everybody can relate to the worst thing about them being about them being a drug addict, but everybody can relate to having this thing that they think is the worst thing about them, they don't want to share. And so I'd gotten good at sharing the addiction. But I was really bad at sharing, when I was truly tested in my struggle to be a great leader. And so in 2014, and quicker was, or 2013, actually, when I started and clickers blowing up. And I got blindsided by my two most important relationships in my life, my business partner, decided that he wanted to take my equity away, and try to get me unseated as CEO of our company. And at the same time, my wife, I kept catching in lie after lie. And she wanted to file for divorce. And the problem is, is that while but I'm really good at admitting that I was a drug addict. I was really bad at admitting how much I was failing in trying to navigate both of these issues. And the worst thing was they were playing off of each other. So she wanted a piece of the company. And he was using the fact that I was going through a divorce threatening to sell if I didn't agree to give up my equity, because he knew that I believe we would have long term value in the company. And so for a period of time at the company, I wasn't around. All of a sudden, this violaceous leader that really cared about his people was there and all this stuff, like Dude, I was gone, because I didn't know how to face my team. And I'd be and when I did show up, I'd be in these meetings, and I'd put this mask on pretending that everything's okay, because that's what the CEO of any 500 company does. Meanwhile, at home, if you were to watch my wife and I were two opposite ends of the house, it's we're living completely separate lives. I'm in tremendous pain. And I feel like man, I got myself into this mess, and I'm the only one that can get myself out. And so my greatest investment at that time was to do something that is really what kept me high. And that was hide my weaknesses. And so I did, and I ended up in a situation where one cold day in November of 2013. I go to my wife's lawyers office to sign a marital dissolution agreement that we had agreed on, she kept trying to take a large part of my equity in the company. And I had successfully been able to convince her to let me buy her out so I could keep the equity in the company. Meanwhile, I'm negotiating with my partner on him trying to take the equity that my wife is fighting for. I go sign this marital dissolution agreement, and I had an anti dilution clause in my contract. And so I called my partner's bluff. And so my appointment after I signed that marital dissolution agreement was to go across the street to meet with a bunch of investment bankers to put the company up for sale. And I didn't know if we actually meant it like going there. I knew we meant the divorce. I didn't know if we met That we were really going to sell the company, I thought I was just calling his bluff. And I hadn't asked for help. But I hadn't done anything that I learned in recovery. And we show up in investment bankers, and he just starts signing the paperwork. And I'm like, Oh, my God, we're selling the company. And then I asked the investment banker, what he thought the company was worth, the number that he gave me, was 600%, higher than the value we had used in the marital dissolution agreement that I had signed two hours prior to that meeting. And so while I should be excited that my companies were six times more, I wasn't in it for the money, I wanted to keep it forever. And I and that's why he was threatening to sell it. And also, without knowing I just screwed my ex wife. And so I sat there and I'm like, What do I do? And it felt very familiar to when I hit my bottom as a drug addict, like just completely powerless, and not knowing what to do and my weakness, just completely holding you back in life. And so I'm a member of a 12 step program. And so for the wife stuff, I went to my sponsor, and to my friend and said, What do I do? And I'm also a member of eo, a worldwide organization for entrepreneurs. And I went to my uniform, I said, What do I do, and it was so painful, because I had to admit, that I sucked. And I had to admit that I had no clue. And I gotten so accustomed to being this guy that knew what he was doing, and people trusted and respected. And here I was a fraud. Someone not worthy of their respect. And, you know, I mean, I, I just think that all of us walk around with these things that we're so scared to share. But I'll tell you the power of sharing that stuff, sharing your weaknesses, taking the mask off, this is what I teach people to do, not professionally, how they take the mask off at work and at home. It was so freeing, and so scary. But just as a business person mathematically, it exponentially increased my opportunities for resolving these situations. And I was a complete idiot for not doing it. And because I waited, like 18 months to do it, I ended up having to sell the company. I ended up going through a divorce. Now the one thing I did was, because I realized I've been investing the mass, I chose to take them off. So when I found out that the company was worth 600%, I did the thing that everybody said I shouldn't do. And I went to my ex wife, and I said you probably want to renegotiate this MDA. And that decision cost me a million dollars. And it's the best million that I ever spent. As a drug addict, it's hard for me to even to relate to having a million dollars. Like I was out on the street, I didn't have anything. But what I got was priceless. And now that story is in my book, it's the last chapter of my book, and there's a lot more in it. But I use that story to illustrate along with other stories, the power of leading yourself and taking your mask off and sharing your weaknesses. And so when I shared my weaknesses to my recovery friends, they helped me use the 12 step principles to navigate my way through what I needed to do with my wife. And what I learned was, I needed to do the next right thing, no matter the consequences, I needed to surrender the outcome. And then when I talk to my foreign friends, they actually gave me some advice on how to manage the situation with my partner so that we could use the process of selling the company to help him understand what a big mistake he had made. And so they gave me specific tactics that I used, and then he ended up apologizing to me at the end, and not taking my equity. But investing that mask meant that I divorced the two things that mattered most to me in 2014. And I had to start with a completely blank slate. Now what I'll say is it ended up being, you know, thing that most I think entrepreneurs do and that most recovering addict students, we turn crap into fertilizer. And I had a lot of crap. And so I got a lot of fertilizer on the back end of that deal. But investing in the mask is something I've assessed 2000 liters 9% leaders are hiding themselves behind a mask and it's hurting companies, it's hurting teams, it's hurting people. And, and I still wear him sometimes to this day, man. But hiding that weakness really, really killed me and it made me lose the two things that I wanted to keep.

Andrew Stotz 14:40
Well, that's what this show is all about too because we break through that mask and we just talk about our worst investment and then what we learned from it, so let's go through what how would you summarize what you learned from that experience?

14:53
So

Michael Brody-Waite 14:56
I'll give you some context this when people talk about drug addicts, it's you Usually a tremendous stigma and they're and they're like the lowest of the low. And then when they talk about a recovering addict that is successful, they say, Wow, look at that person is successful in spite of being a drug addict. It's really great that you overcame that obstacle. And now you're a regular who human like the rest of us. Well, my message to anyone that has an addict in their life or is an addict is your addiction is your effing superpower, because it makes you learn three principles that give you a leadership superpower. And that is what I use in this story, to be able to navigate through it. And that's what I've been using to build my companies into everything science, and so it's three principles. The first one is practice rigorous authenticity. Now, authenticity is a buzzy freakin word, everybody has checked the box authenticity or curated authenticity, everybody's gonna talk about that time, they kept it real in front of Grandma, I'm talking about you told your wife, x or wife, or soon to be ex wife, I owe you a million dollars that you could have not given her. Or I have another story where I told a customer about a problem where it would have ruined the company. And we still got through it. I'm talking about rigorous authenticity, no matter the consequences. And when you are a drug addict fighting for your life, and you are going to die, you learn what rigorous means it means all the time, not just when it's convenient. So the first principle is practice rigorous authenticity. The second one is surrender the outcome. And this is something that people intellectually understand. But leaders are not trained to practice, they literally have no capacity to do this. Because we are responsible for outcomes. We're trying to drive outcomes, who you know who's accountable here, it's me, I'm accountable for this. But how many times we've seen people wasting so much energy on things that they can't control at the expense of the things that they can Well, the first thing I learned as a drug addict was you have to surrender the fact that you're a drug addict. And the second thing you got to do is you got to surrender the fact that you got to work a 12 step program or something else the rest of your life. But then as I start going through life, and I start facing consequences, or experiences with my relationships, in business, and in person and, and life circumstances, instead of going to people, they're like, okay, here's how you manage things to get what you want. I'm going to tell us that people say this is how you surrender that. And it makes you feel so powerless. But it is so freeing, because what it does is it reclaims 50% of your energy. Because like just practically speaking, we've all seen a salesperson that complains about their quota, territory or product. And we've seen the salesperson that makes calls anyway. And the second one surrendered the outcome and they were able to actually manifest a better outcome. And so the second principle is surrender the outcome. When you practice rigorous authenticity and surrender the outcome, you're able to do this thing, which is a third principle called uncomfortable work. Now most leaders think that they understand what uncomfortable work is and they don't uncomfortable work is they think, Oh, I know how to do that. Now you're talking about hard work, or smart work, physical or intellectual. Uncomfortable work is emotional. It's literally decisions and actions that you avoid taking because of the sensation in your body. We've all seen someone spending eight hours doing harder smart work, avoiding 10 minutes of uncomfortable work, anyone that's ever not successfully performance management employee, you can relate to that anyone that has not told a significant other a serious problem in their relationship can relate to that anyone that hasn't negotiated a specific clause in a contract is they're scared they're gonna lose a customer can relate to that. So we don't know how to do uncomfortable work. And so that's why we say we want authentic leaders, but we don't know any politicians answer a question with I don't know, it's because authenticity is a fallacy. It is a dream, it is an inspiration. But the actual implementation on how you become a rigorously authentic leader means you learn how to be true, you surrender everything in front of you, and you go do uncomfortable work. And the only people that are equipped with a system to do that are addicts all around the world right now, working a 12 step program, because when you have to find out how to stop injecting heroin every day, or smoking crack, or weed or drinking every day, you have to learn how to do this, like your life depends on it. And that's why the people that I want to work with are recovering addicts

Andrew Stotz 19:04
exciting. So based upon what you learn from this story, and what you continue to learn, what what action would you recommend our listeners take to avoid suffering the same fate?

Michael Brody-Waite 19:18
So in my coaching program, we have this thing called the boulder exercise. And so when we start our group coaching sessions, I used to always walk around like going to like meetings with like business people or even like on dates or, or friends. And I would just want like to gut check right away. Do you have the capacity to get down and dirty and be real? Like, are you willing to be real? And tell me who you truly are not the things that sound like you're telling me the weaknesses? Are you willing to tell me who you truly are? Because the drug I'm practicing and doing that, right? And so I wish the people decide a stamp on their forehead that said, I'm authentic. I'm truly authentic. And so, for me in this program, instead of doing like, What's your job title, and where are you From we do this thing called the boulder exercise where I asked them a series of questions about the hardest things like are you walking on eggshells with your partner? Do you feel like you are in the wrong job? Are you worried about job security are worried about finances or worry about body image? Are you worried about mental health? I asked them, they'll close their eyes and they hold up a finger every time that they say yes. And so people end up having entire hand held up. And then they open their eyes. And I say these are boulders that we're all carrying. And we think we shouldn't be carrying boulders. So we're not talking about them. And they really affect performance. And everybody that you work with, that works for you or that you work for is carrying a boulder to. So in a world that's disconnected if you can be really good at identifying these boulders. And so for me in the story that I told you, it was hiding this weakness like I'm not a successful CEO and my personal life and professional life, that was a boulder that got heavier and heavier and heavier, the longer it went on, and the more I didn't share it, and the more I paid the price of carrying it. But the second I shared it with my 12 step people the second I shared it with my ego people, the weight of that boulder dissipated, I was pointed to solutions allowed me to take it off my back. And the truth is we have to destroy this notion that acknowledging our boulders and especially the scariest ones, we have to destroy this notion that it makes us weak. It allows us to connect with other humans in a service economy where everybody's using social media, they're not truly connected. That's a competitive advantage. So my lesson to you, if you're sitting there, and you're like, I really wish I could share the thing that is hurting me the most that is holding me back the most. But I'm scared, it'll make me less successful, I'm actually offering you a cake and eat it too situation, you can actually get the relief of sharing it with the people you're scared to share it with. And there's a nine out of 10 chance because 90% of people are wearing masks to that they're going to say Holy crap, that person just inspired me, they're gonna feel connected to you, because they're going to see your weakness, yeah, but they're going to see the strength that it took to share that, and then they're going to help you solve the problem. And I've experienced this because I don't have a college degree. I don't have anything that makes me successful. You have all these people, over almost 2 million views of my TED talk alone, that are reading my book and doing all this stuff, not because of all my accomplishments, I can bump into a million entrepreneurs that have an Inc 500 trophy somewhere. It's because I have the capacity to lead myself by owning my weaknesses and sharing them. And that inspires them not as leaders but as humans. And that gives me the ability to connect with them in a way that's not possible. So if you're suffering right now, the worst thing about you can be the best thing about you.

Andrew Stotz 22:27
Beautiful, well, let me summarize a few passionate

Michael Brody-Waite 22:29
about this, by the way at all? Yes, I

Andrew Stotz 22:31
didn't, I noticed that. Thank you for bringing the energy. I'll say a few things. The first of all, I mean, our story, you know, we have we have some things in common. The first paragraph of your bio reads quite similar to my life. And 38 years ago, in 1982, I entered rehab. So I want to know that Yeah, I'm also in a 12 step program, probably the same one. And my brother here, and I've had 30 years of uninterrupted sobriety. And, you know, I think what's interesting about it, is, I give a lecture, I do a lecture in finance, about ethics. And, but I give a little bonus, I say, I'm going to teach you how to get out of trouble. And you know, what I say is in it comes a lot from the 12 step programs. But you know, as a, you know, first thing you have to do is admit that you've made a mistake, or, you know, actually even before that, what I say is you've got to be aware, aware of the surroundings, and aware of what people are doing, you know, particularly in in any space, you know, be aware of what's going on, then if you, if you if you then look at it, then you admit to yourself, and maybe to one other person, and you admit that this is what I did wrong. And then the next thing you do is you apologize. And as I learned many years ago, apologies are very simple. And apologies are ultimately for you not for the person you're apologizing to. And it just you know, I was wrong. I am sorry. You know, with no ifs, ands, or buts, the hardest things to say in the world. Definitely. And then the last a is four A's. Right. So we're aware, we admit we apologize. And the fourth one which also comes from, you know what, what I've learned from the 12 step program is amend. And that is, you know, that's hard one because I think a lot of people feel like I've made my I've said my apology. You know, what more do they want? Well, actually, if you're apologizing, it means that you damaged someone something and some people say to me, you know, well, I caused a million dollars of damage. You know, what am I supposed to do? pay it back? I don't have that money. I said you know you need to go with since And say, I'm going to make amends for this, and I don't have a million dollars, but I can make a payment of $500 a month, you know, and I'll do that as long as I can, if I can increase it, and someday, I'm going to be able to pay this off. And I think the thing that it brings is liberation. You know, in 12 step programs, it teaches us that, you know, we will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. In other words, we no longer live with regret, we can actually clean up every mess that we make, by applying some of these principles, the ones that you've talked about, Authenticity, surrender and uncomfortable work, you know, and what I've just discussed. So oftentimes, as a recovering addict, and alcoholic myself, I'm surrounded by people that also, you know, work the 12 step programs. And basically, we oftentimes look at ourselves and think, Wow, how lucky are we because we have a blueprint, we have these 12 steps. And yes, and that, that helps me in a lot of times during the COVID crisis. And of course, you don't have to be an addict, you don't have to be, you don't have to go down as low as many obstinate addicts, like myself as an example. But there are many great principles, and, you know, one of them is surrender, let go. And when the COVID crisis happened, you know, so many pressures are on for business people, like myself and others, and everybody's under pressure, that, you know, I just, it brought me to my knees, and I haven't been on my knees to pray in a long time. And I just realized, you know, just let it go, surrender, it's going to be okay. And those things helped me get through what has been, you know, obviously, very difficult. And I know, the reality is, is a lot of people listening, that are going through the pain, and they don't necessarily have a way out. And so I think today, what you brought to the show, gives people a roadmap, and that is, be authentic. And don't be afraid to be authentic, because the reality is, like Michaels explained, everybody else has a max two. So when you let us down, you just may find out that you just made a friend for life. The second one is surrender the outcome, you know, you you, you decided to give your ex wife a million dollars, because you felt like it was the right thing to do. And, you know, there's many different outcomes that could have come from that, but just let it go and do the next right thing. And finally in the 12 step programs, there's something called the 12 promises, and it starts off with if we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are halfway through. But I love this word painstaking. What does it mean? Take pain. If we are not willing to do the uncomfortable work and take the pain that's necessary to do that uncomfortable world, then we're never going to get a full life, a full happiness for connection with people. So I think those are some of the things I'd take away from your story. Anything that you would add to that?

Michael Brody-Waite 28:06
Nah, dude, I think you did a great job. But I love what you said about, you know, when we sit down and we look at our friends and recovery, we think we're lucky. And I think a lot of people don't understand that. Like, when I tell people, I think I thank God for my addiction. They're like, Oh, you mean your recovery? I'm like, No, my addiction, like what? And I'm like, dude, my diction gives me two things you don't get number one, it means I walk around with a gun pointed at my head, the rest of my life that makes me prioritize these principles that actually make my life better. So I have an incentive you don't have. And number two, because it's such an addiction, such a big problem. There's millions of people like me out there. And we're all convening the ones that those of us in recovery in these meetings where it's no cost to extend other than an hour of your time and a really crappy cup of coffee. And you get to literally be in like what I would call, like Navy SEAL training for authenticity, surrender and uncomfortable work. And so you're literally getting trained up to do the thing that makes life better, whether you're a leader or a personal person, or in your personal life. And so most leaders don't have the incentive, and they don't know where to go to learn this stuff. And so my addiction gives me a membership, and an excuse to use it. And a group of people that are learning how to do what I think are the next generation of leadership skills. And so I think, you know, we sit there and we say, people think that we say, Man, I can't believe we survived and we're like, we can't believe how bad we're how much we're thriving because of recovery. But most people don't understand that. So I just I wanted to double down on that.

Andrew Stotz 29:44
So for the listeners out there, first of all, if you have a problem with alcohol or drugs or anything like that, there's answers out there. So go into the internet type 12 step programs. In addition to that, if you're in the middle of There are meetings in almost every city all around the world. When I came to Thailand to Bangkok, 29 years ago, there was one meeting, and it happened every night, the same place. And now there's many, many more. So first of all, if you're suffering, right now, there are ways that you can reach out in your own community right there to find a meeting number two, if you're not struggling with addiction, but you think, Hey, what is this roadmap that they're talking about? Just go to the Internet, and type in 12 step program. And also, there are open meetings that you could go and say, Hmm, what's this all about? And you can learn more. And of course, if there's a loved one in your life, who is suffering, you may want to go and type in 12 step program and find out how you can help yourself. And also maybe you can help that loved one. So a lot of great stuff coming out of it. My last question for you is, what's your number one goal for the next 12 months.

Michael Brody-Waite 30:58
So ever since the TED talk in the book, I essentially teach people a modified version of the intersection of my experience with the 12 steps, in my experience as a leader, and all the stuff that I've done to develop teams and companies and that kind of stuff. And so I teach the mastery program that teaches people to be an authentic leader, and they can reclaim $500 a year. And for me, it was purpose, not profit. But if I was to like, take my mask off here, I'm using a lot of my retirement to fund the initiative. And so 2021 for us is about sustainability. Because we have enough people, we've like 800 users in our mastery program.com portal, we've got like 100 members that are in the coaching program, and we're seeing a change lives 120 a day, action card at a time, we use these action cards to do this. And so now I'm like, Wait a second, I have to make this sustainable, because I got employees, I got expenses, I got all this other kind of stuff. And, and I don't want my children to be robbed of their future, just because I was pursuing my passion. So I have to do really uncomfortable work. And I have to actually sell. And I haven't been doing that. And because it feels weird to do that about something that's so personal, and, and all that kind of stuff. So 2021, we have figured out what our product market fit is, we have rabid adopters, all we have to do is literally go out there and say, Hey, we think this will help you. And so like we're going to companies, and we do this thing, you would actually like this. So you might, you know, my products are an intervention, a rehab, sponsorship, and then a program. And so the intervention is a speaking engagement. And the rehab is this one day rehab, where we help a company identify the business cost of inauthenticity in their company, and they walk out with an action plan to do it. And so I've got to go to my friends and other people I know, and say, I think this thing truly will change your life because it changed mine, it will really help you like it's helping the people my program, but you'll have to pay us money to do it. Because we don't, you know, get all of our stuff for free. And that makes me feel like crap. So that's my uncomfortable work. And I have to go do it. And I don't want to, but I'm going to because I'm built to do uncomfortable work.

Andrew Stotz 33:16
Beautiful and great disclosure, I know it's the same thing, I feel the same way. And one thing I have come to realize is that money is a great motivator when you pay a serious amount of money for a product or service. If you ever think about it, you know for the listeners out there, if you bought a course that cost $10 and you bought a course that cost $1,000 Which one are you going to feel the least comfortable putting aside that one that you spend $1,000 on. So think of it as a measure of commitment. And so anyways, that's amazing. I think you and I got some things to talk about. But for right now, I'm going to close this out by saying listeners that you haven't another story of loss, to keep you winning Remember to go to my worst investment ever.com slash deals, to claim your discount on my how to start building your wealth investing in the stock market course. And as we conclude, Michael, I want to thank you again for coming on the show. And on behalf of a Stotz Academy, I hereby award you alumni status for turning your worst investment ever into your best teaching moment. Do you have any parting words for the audience?

Michael Brody-Waite 34:33
No, but if you're either affected by addiction or affected by hiding your weaknesses, go to Michael Brody Wade comm and send me a message. I look at all of them. So I would love to hear from you.

Andrew Stotz 34:45
Beautiful and for the audience out there. I mentioned a few different ways that you can reach out and I said, if you're not an addict or something like that, and you want to tap into this 12 step program, what better way than to go to Mike website which I'll also include in the show notes. So that's a wrap on another great story to help us create, grow and most importantly, protect our well fellow risk takers. This is your worst podcast host, undisputed Andrew Stotz saying I'll see you on the upside.