Navigating Challenges And Innovating The Event World | Chris George

Chris: There's probably nothing better than building an amazing family. There's probably nothing that can measure success more than you are a really good father, a really good husband, and you raise really good kids. That person is way more successful than anybody that made a hundred million dollars and has a broken family.

Matt: Welcome to Push To Be More with me, your host, Matt Edmundson. This is a show that talks about the stuff that makes life work and to help us do just that. Today I'm chatting with today's guest, Chris George from the Subscription Trade Association SUBTA, uh, in brackets if you wanna know about where he's had to push through what he does to recharge his batteries. Well. What he does to be more, where he sees the future going.

Now the show notes and transcript from our conversation will be available on the website pushtobemore.com. And also, while you're there on the website, make sure you sign up for the newsletter, and each week we will email you the links, the notes, the transcripts, all of that good stuff. Automagically they go direct your inbox. Totally free, which is amazing. Now this episode is brought to you by Aurion Media, which helps entrepreneurs and business leaders set up and run and host their own successful podcast.

Chris, you know what I have found running my own podcast, hosting my own podcast, even to be insanely rewarding, opens doors to amazing people like nothing else I've seen. I built networks, made friends, had a platform to champion my customers, my team, and my suppliers. And I think just about any entrepreneur or business leader should have a podcast because it's had a huge impact on my own business, which of course, Is great in theory, but in reality there's a whole problem of setup, distribution, getting the tech right, knowing what the right podcast strategy is.

I mean, the list goes on. Uh, I love talking to people, but not really all that other stuff. So Aurion Media, the team there, the amazing team which we've assembled, takes it all off my plate. I do what I'm good at, and they brilliantly take care of the rest. So if you are wondering if hosting your own podcast is a good marketing strategy for your business, do connect with them at aurionmedia.com. That's a u r i o n media dot com and they will of course be linked on the Push To be more website as well. So that's the sponsor. Let's talk about today's guest.

Now, Chris George is a successful serial entrepreneur who's launched and managed seven businesses, cuz you know, why would you stop at six? Including, uh, the Gentleman's Box and like I said, the Subscription Trade Association. He's also the founder of certified, a streetwear brand on a mission to donate 100 meals to feed in America through its signature line of hoodies. Chris is a sought after speaker who shared his insights on entrepreneurship and businesses at events like Digital Summit and SubSummit.

Oh, yes, that's coming up. We're gonna get into. Sub submit cuz I am going this year. And he also hosts a video series No Excuses with Chris G featuring notable guests like Gary Vaynerchuk and Ryan Hogan. Chris is passionate about giving back and regular sports purpose-driven businesses and initiative. Uh, Chris, welcome to the show, man. Great to have you. How are you doing?

Chris: I'm well, thank you for having me.

Matt: Oh no, it's great to be chatting again. This is the second podcast we have done. Uh, cuz it's fair to say you've been on the e-comm podcast, which is my other podcast, which is how we met. Um, and uh, we had such a great conversation. We were like, Chris, you should come on to push.

And then we were like, well, we should get together at Sub Summit. And so, uh, it's all kicking off. So let's jump into subsummit straightaway For the good folks listening, just let everybody know what that is.

Chris: Yeah, so Sub Summit is the largest event in the world for all consumer subscription brands. So it's everybody from Netflix to Fab Fit Fun, HelloFresh, blue Apron, you name it. They're at Sub Summit. And we built this event because we wanted to cultivate the largest community of consumer subscription brands.

It's your opportunity to network with other subscriptions, hear from leaders within the space, identify solution providers that can help you grow and build your business. It's three days. It's a ton of fun, and I'm excited. We're like, Seven weeks away or six weeks away. So

Matt: Yeah.

Chris: chaotic around here, but um, we're expecting 2000 attendees

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: and if you are a brand that is thinking about introducing subscription or you have a subscription vertical within your business, you should be at Sub Summit.

Matt: Yeah, absolutely. And um, yeah, I'm looking forward to getting over. It's gonna be in Dallas, right? So, uh, always nice to get back to Dallas.

Chris: Excited.

Matt: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, Chris, it's, I mean, it's fair to say, right, um, that, uh, you've, you've got around, you've talked to a few people, you even have your own podcast, don't you?

And, uh, you do all this sort of chatting. So the opening question, Chris, I I'm starting to ask people, um, if you, maybe you've interviewed them already, so on your podcast, um, if you could interview anybody from. The past or the present that's had a massive influence on you, it's had a big impact on your life, whether family member, uh, author, I don't know, a, a historical figure, who would you like to have on that maybe you've not had on yet, and why?

Chris: That's a great question. So, you know, my number one was Gary V. So that, that did happen. Um, and I think that, who else would I want to have on? Um, Hmm. Sorry I'm taking so long to think about this. know, there's, um, there's maybe a couple. It's interesting cuz I'm having, I'm, I'm having, I'm for some reason drawing a blank on this one individual that I can picture his face. Maybe Simon Sinek.

Matt: Okay. Yeah.

Chris: You know, he's a great leadership speaker. And then, um, I can't think of this other guy's name. There is one other one that I would for sure have on, and I don't know, I follow him. Oh, Jay Shetty on. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Matt: so why him?

Chris: Um, you know, I think his, the way he thinks about life.

Matt: Hmm.

Chris: And thinking more about your purpose and really dives deep into the psychology around a human is really important, you know? And I think that social media's made, especially this next generation, like believe that we need to live a certain type of life.

Right. You know, lot has been changed. Success is driven strictly around the fact around how financially successful you are. Right? And the more finance, the more, more successful you are the or the more money you have, the more financially successful you are. I just think that there's so much more to life than that.

Right. And when I go speak at, like, I just spoke at NYU last week, and I speak at different colleges across the US you know, while I talk a lot about subscriptions and understanding them, and it's typically a marketing class or the business school. You know, I get the most gratification when I talk to the students about what they should think about when they graduate

Matt: Hmm.

Chris: how they should handle social media and how they should identify to work for a company that they can get behind that has purpose. That has a mission, right? Not just because they're gonna pay you more money.

Matt: Yeah.

Chris: I think Jay talks a lot about finding your purpose right, and, and identifying. Who you are and what you should do. And so I get a lot of inspiration from him.

Matt: That's, that's awesome. And I also like Simon Sinek as well, because, you know, I, I really liked his book, um, the Golden way and, and he's really interesting speaker, isn't he? And he, um, or no, the Golden Circle. Uh, not the Golden Way. Um, but how was it interviewing Gary V then on your, uh,

Chris: it was, it was probably the first time I don't get nervous like ever, and I was nervous. Like right before he jumped on and um, yeah, I don't even know the last time I've been nervous to talk and like that one, I was like, whoa. Right. And so, but really quickly it was like over, he was so easy to talk to and I'll never forget what he said to me. He told me he was grateful to be on my show.

Matt: Hmm.

Chris: and I was like, wait a minute. I'm thinking like, what do you mean you're grateful?

Matt: Yeah.

Chris: Like, I'm extremely grateful, like for you to take time outta your day to be on our show. And I think that that was what was so important. It was his true character.

Matt: Yeah.

Chris: You know, he didn't have any benefit of being on. But, you know, it, it was interesting. He, and then at one point he wanted to learn more about the subscription space. So he is like, you know, I'm gonna get some value out of this. Like, let me ask you some questions. Like, what do you see happening? You know? And like I got excited there and you know, we agreed on a lot of stuff and, um, I think he's a good man.

I think what he says really resonates, resonates with me. And, um, you know, I, I've learned a ton from him.

Matt: Yeah, he's an interesting character, isn't he? Gary V. We connected on Twitter. Um, when he was just first starting out. Um, and when, you know, in the days where he was just literally connecting with everybody because that was his whole, his whole ethos and it was, it was really interesting. And I, and I, and you watch his journey and, and his sort of meteoric rise and you think, goodness me, there's a guy who practiced what he preached.

And I get that he's quite polarizing for a lot of people, but that's okay. He practiced what he preached and he's achieved what he's achieved. And you've gotta take your hat off to the man, right? You can learn a lot from that. Yeah. Yeah, totally. So you talked to college students at nyu and yet, um, how did you get into that? I mean, is that something that you deliberately wanted to do, or is that something that just kind of came across your path?

Chris: You know, I, you know, one of the ways I try to give back is being able to give some of my time and doing that is speaking at different schools. Right? So I've been fortunate enough to speak everywhere from ASU to Columbia University to nyu, to schools here local to to the Detroit area, to zooming into Tel Aviv University.

Right? It's probably been 30 different universities now. One, um, I love it. So I think that's the number one thing. You know, I, I get the, the dms, the emails and the messages I get post talk around how I inspire them is worth every single penny. Right. And knowing that I can have a positive effect on a student means the world to me.

And I think that we all have a duty to identify how we can give back what our purpose might be. I, you know, at my age, I'm 39. I resonate well with college students. One, I'm young at heart. I know what is like hip. I know what they're thinking the way I study, uh, social media. I know what's happening to them when they're seeing the same things I'm seeing, and my goal is to get them to identify what they're good at and move forward with that, right?

And not believe that you need to have a Ferrari and a mansion to be happy.

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: And I think that's what's most important because I lived this, I lived a life from 21 to 32, 33, where all I cared about was how much money I was making. Like every metric for success was revenue driven. Walking into the office, how many new subscribers, how much money did we make today?

Right? And we did. We made money. I made money and I did all the fun things. And, and, and I'm not saying. Don't go to on vacation or go to Miami and have fun. I still do that sometimes, but I do it cause I want to Versus you do it to post a video that you're in Miami. Right. And you know, I think, you know, social media is, people use social media to sort of showcase these fun things that they're doing.

It's like really this fairytale. Cause nobody's gonna post anything bad on social media, but you know, they made you to believe that. You need to make a lot of money to be successful, and it's just not how you live life. I th the minute I, we, we built Sub Summit with the intention of not making any money. Our intention was to build a network. Our intention was to be able to have leaders within the space that I didn't like my back pocket. Right. I could call the founder of F Fund because he is at my conference when we're friends now. Well, and when we stopped focusing on making money, And all I focused on was working on doing what I'm really good at, which is helping other people build really good businesses and we built the biggest business we'd ever built and, um,

Matt: works, right? Funny how that works.

Chris: And so, you know, I find true passion and love around doing what I love doing. And I think that's what the most important thing is that every single person needs to identify what success is to them.

Matt: Yeah.

Chris: There's no referee at the end of the day that's gonna say, oh, you won. Right. And there's no, and I know plenty of people that make millions of dollars a year, but their home is not good and they're miserable, right? And I know plenty of people that make 60, 70, $80,000 a year, and they work nine to five, and they take a, a, a few family vacations and beautiful family, and the home is great.

Who's to argue that that person's not more successful? Right. So I try to preach that to the kids and I really can see it working. And all I need is one student like to have an impact on one student that changes the course of their life because, I mean, I could go on this so for so long, but like this, the next generation really isn't a, they're the, I don't blame them for being this way.

Matt: Hmm.

Chris: They're growing up in an environment where things are very easy.

Matt: Yeah.

Chris: Everything's at their fingertips. The cell phone's a drug.

Matt: Yeah.

Chris: They're addicted to the social media. Right? And they don't have to work for anything. You know, I always joke like they're soft gen Zs are soft, right? It's cuz they don't have to get their hands dirty.

You know, you want food, you order DoorDash, it's at your doorstep. You want a cab, you jump in an Uber, right? You wanna go on a date, you swipe right.

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: You know, you didn't do that 15 years ago. 15 years ago, you didn't have a cat like you wanted to meet somebody, go meet 'em out, call them, wait four hours for 'em to call back and then take 'em out to eat.

Right. You know, you, you, you was a very, you know, I always say this like, especially for people that say they're having trouble making money,

Matt: Hmm.

Chris: it's probably never been easier to make money

Matt: That's true. Yep.

Chris: because. 25 years ago, if, let's just say our washing machine broke, our parents couldn't Google how to fix it,

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: we can just Google it, how to fix it. You wanna learn how to do digital PPC ads? Google it.

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: There's tons of free content. You wanna become a graphic designer. There's tons of free content on and free softwares to use to learn. You didn't have that 15, 20 years ago.

Matt: Yeah.

Chris: You know, you wanna learn how to, you wanna become a mechanic, you don't even have to go to school. There's YouTube, there's, um, thousands upon millions of YouTube videos you could teach yourself. There's no excuse now not to make any money. It's the ones that want to do it.

Matt: Yep. No, I agree. I I think it's a very true statement. It's interesting if I just, uh, sort of rewind a little bit there. Uh, Chris, you talked about, um, you know, with the students, what does success look like to them? You know, what's important for them? And it can't, it's not that it can't be money, but I think, like you say, money's a very shallow measure of success.

Um, I remember, uh, a friend of mine, um, who has, who's passed away, but I remember here talking with him and, and let me, he's a born of the wealthiest man on the planet or he was, um, and. I would, I would often chat with him, like who is happier? Him with his money, but his broken family or me with my happy family, but broken bank account, you know, and it was just this really, it was this really interesting conversation that we'd have on a regular basis.

So I, I, I fully understand that. So for you then, the first, uh, 10 years of your working life, um, money was the success metric. So what changed for you? Why did that, what, why has that changed? What happened in your early thirties?

Chris: And I realized that it didn't make me any happier that I had a few more dollars than everybody else, right? Like going out and having fun. Short term happiness, buying a new car, it's exciting for a week. Nobody really cares, right? I think the biggest, look, Gary says this the best, most people are buying things to impress others,

Matt: Yep.

Chris: in a lot of cases you're, and if you're posting it on social media, you're actually buying things to impress people that you probably don't even like

Matt: Yeah.

Chris: don't even know for that matter, right?

Matt: yeah.

Chris: And so, When I buy something now, it's because I want, I'm not saying you can't have nice things. I have nice things. I've got a nice car, like I have a nice house, but I don't showcase that I have it for me. Right. And I realized that that didn't make me happy. You know, I realized that, you know, look, I was married, I got divorced and don't have kids and um, you know, could have my career.

Did that help with the marriage? Probably not. I mean, I don't, that wasn't the reason we got divorced. I think that there was a lot of other factors, right? But when you realize like probably the most important thing in life is going to be who you decide to spend the rest of your life with and your career, right?

The reason being, those are the two people that you spend the most time with. You're gonna spend the most time with your spouse. So that's gotta be the most important decision.

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: Your career's gotta be the next most important decision cuz you're gonna spend half your life working. So if you go work for a company that you hate the job and you're miserable, what inherently is going to happen is you're gonna be miserable at work and you're gonna get home and it's gonna peel off into the family, right?

You're gonna come home and you're gonna be irritated and you're gonna lash out. Right? And then vice versa. If your home isn't good or you don't have a good relationship with your spouse, you don't work the same, you go to work the next day and you're, you're thinking about things, you're upset, you're not clear minded.

Those are the two most important decisions you'll make in your life. And so if you pick the career, that's gonna pay you more, but you're gonna be miserable that is gonna pay some bad dividends.

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: so I think for me, what I realized was like, well, I absolutely wanna be financially successful. And I will, that's not the most important thing.

I wanna be comfortable, I wanna feel good. I think I, I think I inherently have this entrepreneurship mentality where like, I'm gonna always work and I think that I've been blessed with the ability to make money. So like I don't worry about that. But I think that I don't wanna strive for so much while jeopardizing some other true passion, which is like finding the right spouse or whatever the case is, building a family, right?

There's probably nothing better than building an amazing family. There's probably nothing that can measure success more than you are a really good father, a really good husband, and you raise really good kids. That person is way more successful than anybody that made a hundred million dollars and has a broken family.

Matt: hmm.

Chris: My

Matt: interesting, yeah, no, I, I, I mean, well, I agree partly because I've had the same wife for 25 years and she's amazing. She's not killed me, which is always a beautiful thing. Um, and I've got three kids who we still all get on really well with, and, you know, they're actually contributing to, to humanity, which is always nice.

Um, excuse me. And tomorrow, uh, Chris you might, you won't know this actually, tomorrow I turn the big five O. Uh, today is my, the last day of my forties.

Chris: Happy birthday.

Matt: Oh, thank you. Uh, thank you.

Chris: you don't look 50, that's for sure.

Matt: sometimes I feel it though, Chris. I'm not gonna lie, but um, but it's interesting when you look cuz you, you know, when you start to approach this sort of age, uh, the, the 50 bracket, you, you do look back and you do start to.

Ask a whole bunch of questions. And I remember a friend of mine saying to me when said, you know what, your first 40 years on earth are all about success, you know, and how you measure success. And he said, after you hit 40, actually your measurement starts to change. And you start to think about significance.

Um, and it starts being more about significance than it is about success. I dunno how true that is. I just thought it was a really interesting thing that he said, you know, um, that you sort of, you make this shift. So when you are, um, So you're in your early thirties, you realize money's not buying you happiness.

So how did you then start to measure success? So what does success look like for you? How, what was, what was the switch that took place there?

Chris: For me, I think success comes like four. It's four things for me, right? It's my health.

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: So on the healthiest I've been in probably 15 years, like there was a moment where I was pretty unhealthy. It's overweight. I. Right. Um, it's my career, it's my friendships. And then, you know, hopefully one day it's my family, right?

So I just check in with them, those three things every day and make sure that they're good. And if I notice it, like I'm slacking on the friendship side of things, like maybe I gotta check in with some friends. Is my career going well? I think that if all of those end up in the green, Then I had been successful.

Matt: Yeah.

Chris: And there's nobody else that can tell me whether I had been or not. It's me that's going to tell that. Right? It's gonna be how, how am I waking up every single day? Right. And you know, I think that there's just plenty of times where there's like areas of that that start to decline and you have to check in with them and, um, I've definitely jeopardized my friendships the most because of how much work I'm put I'm doing right now.

Um, my health is, has been really good so that that's staying in the green, the career's going well and the career going well is probably sacrificed the friendships a little bit.

Matt: Yeah.

Chris: Um, I also think though, as you get older, your friendship circle gets smaller, right? So I did have like a, I have like a couple friends that I'm really, really, really close.

I have, I have a lot of friends, but there's like two that I'm really, really close with. Right. You know, and I think the family thing, I just have to strive, you know, at some point that'll, that'll happen. Right. You know, you meet people and you're talking to different people and, and you know, you try to strive to get to a certain point, but, um, that'll be the, that's gonna be my hardest

Matt: Hmm.

Chris: part of my success will be that fourth one for sure.

Matt: It's creating that sort of family. Do you, um, do you have any regrets then?

Chris: No, I don't live with them.

Matt: don't do the regret thing.

Chris: Can't. I think that you have to look at everything as a learning experience, and I think that all of those things that have happened in the past have built the character to who I am today. Right? So I'll give you a really good example. Um, you know, I was. You know, you know, I'm talking to somebody and like, you know, there might be if I meet a girl and there might be an issue that I was divorced in the past, right?

Some people don't like that. Whatever the case may be, you know, um, I would argue and, and then she'd say, well, would you regret getting married? I'd argue, well, if I didn't get married in the first place, I would've never met you.

Matt: Yep.

Chris: Right, because who knows what happens then in that time period, who knows who else I would've met.

Right? So you look at everything in terms of like how did those things build the path to where I am? And interestingly enough, I am in business. My co-founder of Sub Summit is my ex-wife's first cousin.

Matt: Okay.

Chris: close as can be. So theoretically if I don't get married,

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: which she's a great woman. We are still friends. Like I was fortunate enough to have probably the easiest divorce in the history of, of that, um, because we use the same attorney. It was super simple. Um, I never start Gentleman's Box. I never start Sub Summit. I'm probably never, I'm probably not on this podcast with you.

Matt: Yeah. It's really interesting, isn't it? It is. I Have you ever seen the movie Sliding Doors with Gwyneth Paltrow, who has obviously been in the news quite a lot recently? Um, sliding Doors is a really interesting movie if you get a chance to watch it. And it's about, um, what happens. Um, it sort of shows a story of her life.

If one particular event doesn't happen, Do, you know what I mean? There's sort of two paths She goes down and they cleverly sort of bring it back towards, you know, towards the end. But, um, It is a lot like that, isn't it? And you look back and you do look over situations and you kind of go, well, I d I didn't enjoy that, but in the midst of that, my character evolved into where I am today and the journey that I have taken has resulted to where I am today.

So I totally get where you are. We had a business that almost went bankrupt overnight, had that not have happened. I wouldn't be here today having this conversation cuz it would've been a very different path, you know? And it's, um, it's funny isn't it? How, and you have no idea what that path would be. Um, but I'm super grateful for where I am right now, you know?

And, um, it, it, it just sort of fascinates me, really. So as you look Chris to the, the future, you sort of, you know, you, you go through this sort of. It's interesting the journey you've been on, isn't it? Where everything was all about finance and now it's, it's sort of taking change and now you are actually wanting, actually for you.

There's also probably a fourth element to your, uh, or fifth element to your little list is how much am I giving back? How, how much of an impact am I having on other people? Right? Um, and so you speak students, you go out there, you do that, um, which, which one, if I can put it this way, which one feeds your soul the most?

Chris: Oh, so interesting you just said that. Um, Absolutely would be the fifth element of giving back. There's no question. Right. And it's funny that I didn't include it and I think I know why naturally just do that. Like, that is like part of what I'm doing in life. Like, it's like I don't, it it is, I'm glad you said it cause I'm gonna say it now in future when I get asked this question.

Um, because I think we all have a duty to give back, but I like. That's my number one thing. Like I believe in the give more than you take.

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: And, um, you know, I've got a, I, I've got a message written on my desk on the whiteboard. It's like all of our desks are like whiteboards here,

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: And, um, it says do it for those that can't. Right. I'm super grateful that I wake up. I have the ability to get to work. I can walk, I can write, I can speak. I was blessed with a a, a mind that's, you know, fairly intelligent. I joked right, that it's intelligent. People will say, I'm super smart. I say I'm overrated. Um, there's people that don't have that luxury, right?

And I need to do it for those that can't do it, that would do it. Nd Add so that motivates me, that's for sure. The number one that fuels my.

Matt: Mm

Chris: heart. Absolutely. And I think that if I was going in order, it's that ties, it ties hand in hand with the career

Matt: mm.

Chris: and um, you know, I think that hopefully one day it's the family. I mean, the family will eventually be number one if I, if I get there.

Matt: Yeah. Well, it's interesting, isn't it? And, and I, in, in some respects, I don't see them as mutually exclusive events. I think everything's all, all quite connected. You know, like your, we talked about your streetwear brand that's trying to donate. Was it a hundred million meals or something

Chris: Yeah, that, that, it's funny cause that didn't work. You know, it was real. I, I learned a ton. I learned that people, um, are less about the give back side and they would rather prefer like a cool product. Right. I think we ended up donating like 50,000 meals though before I stopped doing it, which was great.

Right. It felt good. Yeah.

Matt: It's interesting though, isn't it? Cuz you, you're, you're bridging the, you're bridging two things, the giving back and you are bridging your career. And, and, and actually this is what I mean, things aren't mutually exclusive, are they? So, Um, Chris, you've obviously, I mean, you've, you, you've learned a lot, you're sharing a lot with, with students as you go through. What are some of your strategies you've used to overcome obstacles and sort of stay motivated in life?

Chris: Yeah. Stay motivated. Um, That's an interesting one. I don't know if my take would be the same as everybody else

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: I've been blessed in the f like I don't need it. If that makes any sense. Like, um, I think that there's certain people that don't need motivation, they just go like, nobody needs to hoo around me

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: just as much as nobody needs to tell me when I make a mistake.

Matt: Okay.

Chris: So I'm equally, I equally know when I made a mistake on a decision and I beat myself up for it enough, nobody needs to tell me. Right? And you know, you could, we could joke that in a course in my business, nobody can really tell me that cuz I'm co-founder and CEO, but nobody needs to. Right? It's almost, and I, and I think about that even in relationships when I make a mistake or I did something to. Maybe make somebody upset. Nobody needs to remind me. Like I don't make the same mistake twice like I know it.

And so it's the same thing on the good side and the motivation side. Like nobody needs to motivate me. Like I just go. I think there's entrepreneurs that are like that. I think for others that need it. Things to think about is like, get inspiration from those that you look up to, right? Those that are doing really good things, but I, I also just believe the number one thing that has to happen is figure out what you're really good at double down on it, and your passion starts to come and you get excited.

It's just like, think about in school when the teacher asks a question that you know the answer. You're excited to like raise your hand

Matt: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris: when you don't know the answer. You don't wanna hope they don't call on me. Right? Like you get nervous. And I think part of that goes to like when you're really good at something, you can talk about it, you can do it, you're excited, you're more motivated cuz you're good at it.

It's like, why do I play hockey? I'm good at hockey. Somebody calls me to go play baseball. I'm not really motivated to go play baseball. Similar to the way life works. If you're good at something, you will be motivated to go do it. Right. Um, and I think that. To stay motivated. I think it's like less about staying motivated, more about staying consistent.

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: Consistency is so critical.

Matt: Yeah, it's such an

Chris: Having a strict schedule, like I have a really fairly strict schedule and that changed my life, you

Matt: Okay.

Chris: you know, having time blocks to do certain things changed my life, uh, um, and then staying consistent, changed my life. I consistently do the things that I'm motivated to do.

Matt: Right.

Chris: And so that's a big thing.

Matt: Yeah.

Chris: wanna get in shape. You can't go to the gym for a week. You can't go to the gym for two weeks. You can't go to the gym for eight weeks. You gotta go to the gym for a year.

Matt: Yeah. You've gotta be consistent. Yeah.

Chris: Then you build a habit. If you build a habit, you build a lifestyle, you build a lifestyle. Now your life, your lifestyle changes, right? And you so, um, To help other people stay motivated. I, you know, I, my answer's just so simple. If you want it, go do it. Nobody's gonna hold your hand. Nobody's coming.

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: Even when you watch these Gary V videos and he's doing it, and he might be getting some people inspired, even when I go to the schools and I can inspire them, but none of it matters if they don't actually execute on it

Matt: Yeah.

Chris: and they don't stay consistent.

Matt: Yeah, no, that's totally true. We always say that learning's not the same as implementation because it just isn't. Uh, and just get in. And he strike me as a kind of guy, Chris, that has the ability. And I, I think it is a gift in a lot of ways, because it strikes me as though you have the ability to recognize.

Say a mistake or something is not quite right. You can quickly acknowledge that and move on from it because you're, you're, you're very focused on what I do today impacts tomorrow, but yesterday's gone Do, you know what I mean? I, I, I can, I can forget the past and I can press forward, I think is the phrase, isn't it?

Um, and you strike me like that kind of character. You don't get wrapped up in the past, um, constantly revisiting it and, you know, and, uh, like, like, like some people that I know do, um, And I think it's very, yeah, I people like you, people like that. Um, and I, I probably put myself in that category actually.

Motivation is, is, is a lot clear cuz you're not tied up with it yesterday because you, you've let go of it. It's, it's, it's an easy thing to do, if I can put it that way. Um, and so motivation sort of comes, which I, which i, I love actually. Um, and so, so you. You are, you, you are sort of pressing on them. You, you've sort of, you're living in today, you are sort of aware of what today does for tomorrow.

Um, and very much just the, just go do it. You know, don't give me, um, excuses, just sort of crack on and, and, and sort it out. Right.

Chris: I think what's important is like, so funny, I was just talking to somebody about this last night. Um, everything's just about being relatively practical about what life is,

Matt: Yeah.

Chris: something that happened yesterday. I cannot change.

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: So how can we dwell on it? The only thing you can do is learn for the forward, but anybody dwelling on something that happened a week ago, a month ago, a day ago, you cannot change. Right? Life is 10% of what happens and 90% of how you react to it.

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: And I always try to find the positive and in the good in everything. And I, and I think about people in general and I think that too many people don't show enough good, right? And I think like in naturally as humans, when you do something wrong, you know it, you know, in your heart, deep down said, that's not the right thing to say. That's not the right thing to do, right? Getting over on somebody to be successful is not a way to live.

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: Hurting somebody's feelings with your words is not a way to live. Right? We all do it. We all might say something by mistake at the moment. You know, you did it, you, you're not supposed to do it. And that's the trigger.

And you know, don't know if, like personally, I'm like, I. This is why I wish I had a huge audience because like, I just think that in most cases I'll do the right thing. I don't find myself very often in life sitting there with that gut feeling like, did I just do something wrong? And I used to in such an easy gut check, you know, now you know when you're doing something wrong.

You know when you're saying something that you shouldn't say, you know, when you're not being good is whether or not you actually feel that and you do something about it. You know, just wake up every day and do the right thing. It's not hard. It really isn't hard. And you know, um, when you're surrounded by people that are not doing the right thing, you just detach cuz otherwise you get caught up in it. Right? You get caught up in that environment and.

Matt: Oh, you do. Yeah.

Chris: If you're around people that are complaining. I can promise you, you start complaining too.

Matt: It's so true. It's so true. Uh, bad company corrupts good character, right? And it, and you're totally right. It's um, it's one of those, isn't it, where it. Who you surround yourself with. For me, it's, it's one of those things that never taught you at school. There's a number of things I wish they taught you at school, um, which they never did.

Um, but in hindsight, you look back and you kind of go, that's an important life lesson number one is how to handle money. Uh, number two is, is how to, to handle conflict. Uh, and number three would be, um, you know, I mean, the list could go on, couldn't it, Chris, to be fair, you know, all these things that you kind of wish they taught you at school, but yeah.

Fascinating. Fascinating. Absolutely. Well, listen, let me ask you a question, uh, cuz um, I'm aware of time and I, we've not touched on it yet. Uh, well, you have a little bit, I suppose. What do you do to fill your tank, to recharge your batteries? So I'm, you know, you've, you've detached from the bad company, in effect, you know, who you hang around with matters. You, you've got it time blocked in your diary to hang out with your friends, your close friends. Um, what else do you do to sort of fill your tank?

Chris: You know, you try to make sure that you do some things that aren't involving your business a little bit. I'm happy to be not a very big vacation guy. I actually went to New York when I went to NYU to speak. I. I, you know, you know some people out there with me where we took a few days and, and, and I enjoyed a couple days off, right?

I still had some phone calls that I had to take, so it wasn't completely, for me, it's spending time with somebody that has not, that isn't, has nothing to do with work or business. Spending a night with somebody like that to me is a big, really recharges my tank

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: in general, 19. If there's 20 people that are engaging with me on a regular weekly basis, 19 of them are asking me something that has to do with work or their future or their business, that's the environment I live in. So having a person that doesn't do that,

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: that's a big, recharges the tank, having something to look forward to. thinking about what, I have something to look forward to happening later that week recharging my tank. And I think it's like the sports, you know, I play a lot of tennis, I play la, I play hockey. Like those are, those are moments where like I'm not thinking about work.

Matt: Yeah.

Chris: And I think that that's what really helps recharging my tank. I fortunately don't think my tank gets empty very, like it doesn't even get close to empty. There's times, trust me, there's times where I'm like, oh my gosh. And I just shut the laptop and I just sit there and I'm like, what am I doing?

Matt: Yeah.

Chris: But I think you have to. It's interesting. Um, you know, when I get home from work, I actually hate the question, like, if I was dating somebody, like, how was work today? You know,

Matt: Okay. Why is that?

Chris: because I just got home from work and I don't wanna talk about work. Does that make sense? Whether it was good or bad, it's just like, you know what? I'm happy to see you

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: like, I'm coming in the home, let's do something other than that. Right. So when your life is consumed with work, you know, and it's like, if it was exciting and great, I'm gonna tell them probably.

And if it was bad, I don't wanna talk about it. Right. It was like, it's not like they're gonna have a solution probably. You know, like maybe, I guess like in my head it's like, The moments I can have work not on my mind are probably the ones that refill my tank. Those are probably the most precious ones. And it doesn't because I don't love work. I love it.

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: It's just that there's not so many, there's not very many hours of that in my week.

Matt: Yep.

Chris: So then you cherish that moment of going and playing tennis with your brothers and cousins and like you cherish that moment of having dinner with some friends,

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: you know, and like, um, I also cherish like grabbing three, four friends and like building a business on a Friday night through Sunday and not sleeping like those are also like some of the most exciting moments of my life. Right. So it's like, I think it's just finding some peace.

Matt: Yeah. Yeah, that peace is an interesting word, isn't it? And, um, uh, there's a, there's a massive lack of it at the moment, I think, in people's lives. Um, That's really interesting. Listen, Chris, let's do the, um, let's do the question box. I've taken the questions out of the question box, right? So this is where, um, I have cards in my hand.

You're gonna say Stop. And wherever we say stop, whatever that random question is, that will be the question that I ask you. Okay? Um, and these aren't questions by me, by the way. These are whoever put together the question box. I don't know. Uh, so just say, when.

Chris: Stop.

Matt: Okay, so, okay, I, you told me to stop at that point, right? I just want to point that out. This was nothing to do with me. So the question is what makes you envious?

Chris: Oh yes. Somebody that's got a beautiful family and a good relationship with their spouse.

Matt: Okay. And is that because you don't have that?

Chris: Yeah, for sure.

Matt: Did you grow up in, in that environment?

Chris: No, actually, interestingly enough, but

Matt: Hmm

Chris: let me, let me, let me rephrase that. You know, my family came from, um, My parents are from the Middle East. They're born in Iraq and Baghdad. Right? So they came here and you know, my dad just had to work. He was here, you know, he was here just trying to make a living for us and my mom was taking care of the house and I got two brothers.

My brothers are great. We didn't do the like family dinners, right? We were just my, but my brothers put me in sports and I got to go to a really good school. My dad had us in a really nice area in Michigan, right? Grew up in a really nice area. I was surrounded in an environment of ambitious people. And so when I say the, um, I'm envious of those, of the family.

It's not that I didn't grow up, I. I just know that that is a big part of life. I just know that, um, going through life with somebody, like doing it with somebody else is better than doing it alone. Right? And so, you know, you, you look and see those that have this really good family, like beautiful family and you know, you get.

You get a little envious, you know, this is what you want. And you know, you know, someone like me, you wonder will that happen? Right? And you know, and I, and I, I might say that to some people and they'll be, oh no, like, you'll, you know, you're gonna find somebody like, not like what you think. Right? Things have to be right.

And I, and, and I think that, um, that's probably something I wanna make sure that I have. And then, you know, envious when I see it. Because I think it's a beautiful thing. I think family is, is so much more beautiful than people believe. Now, taking your kid to a soccer game, geez, like I don't, I'll give you a really good example. There's a video on YouTube, and this video's probably touched me more than any other video I've ever seen in my entire life.

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: A dad and a son, and they're, they're, um, he, the dad's driving the sun to his little league game and it's the son's birthday and the son thinks that dad forgot.

Matt: Right.

Chris: So they're driving to the game. They park, the dad tells the son, Hey, go grab the box out of the back, out of the trunk. They got outta the car. The son opens the trunk, and in the trunk there it is, the green, like this beautiful green bat that the son wanted. The son's so excited. He's crying. The dad is crying and the son goes and plays little league game. The dad's in the outfield. He's recording his son. The pitch comes and bang. The son cranks a home run.

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: The dad catches it. It's all on video.

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: And you think like there is one, I can't even imagine the feeling going through that dad. Right. And I don't think there is any amount of money that would replace that moment

Matt: No, not at all.

Chris: And so you think, you know, somebody like me thinks, well gosh, I might not ever feel that

Matt: Mm

Chris: if I was being real. Right? Like, will I feel that moment? Because there is like, I watched that video a hundred times cause that inspires me,

Matt: mm.

Chris: makes me happy. I cried to that video. And you think like that is a moment that you can't replace and like this dad got it on video, you should watch it. I'll send you the link

Matt: Yeah. Yeah. Something that I'm curious. Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: And um, I like Bill, you know, chills go down my neck when I think about

Matt: Mm-hmm.

Chris: what a moment in life that this dad had with his son. And there is nothing that could replace that. And that feeling, you know, you wonder, I wonder will I ever feel that because you could gimme a hundred million dollars and I'd replace it for that feeling.

Matt: Yeah.

Chris: That stuck with them forever. I mean, he caught the home run too, like, and the son didn't think he got on the gift and like, come on. Like you can't write a better story. Yeah.

Matt: very true. It's very true.

Chris: that's probably where it comes

Matt: it's a really in, I mean, thank you for sharing that, Chris. It's a really interesting, um, point that you make and, um, and I, and I, and I think

if I take stock of my own life, um, I've never. I grew up in, I, I grew up in a family where my parents divorced when I was young, so I didn't know what a happy family looked like. Um, but I know that I live in one now and, um, and it's the most remarkable thing. It is. And I, I, you know, I'm, I wake up every day and I'm super grateful for my, for my wife and for my kids and everything else.

Brilliant. It is what it is. And for the longest time I was always envious of people that had money. Because I had everything else. Do you know what I mean? It was really interesting, uh, the sort of the, the psychology in my head. Uh, and it, it wasn't until probably later on in my life that I started to realize, actually you, you, you, it was talking to the billionaire friend of mine actually, that woke me up to this factor around family and what I can tell you what I use my money for now, and that's to buy experiences and memories.

Chris: Yeah.

Matt: Um, and the. That's the interesting part. So last year I took my daughter, she turned 16 this year. I did it with my sons, I did it with my daughter as well, where I said, we're gonna go travel, just you and me. Anywhere in the world. You get to choose. Um, and we're just, you know, we're just gonna have fun for like two or three weeks and we'll take you outta school a little bit early and we'll travel and we'll do whatever.

And so we ended up doing a road trip. She wanted to do a road trip from, um, S uh, where do we drive from? San Clemente, which is just south of LA and we drove up the Pacific Coast Highway up to San Francisco. Uh, just me and my daughter, we still talk about she, you know, it was a year ago today, we were over there and she still talks about it.

And you kind of go, these, this is why we do what we do so we can create these sort of memories. And it's, um, it's really interesting, isn't it? There's a, it's easy to look sometimes at what you don't have. At least I found it easy to look at what I don't have rather than what I did have, which is why being grateful I think is super, super important.

But, um, no, thank you for sharing, man. And um, you know, when the day happens, Chris and you, you create that family and you walk down the aisle, send me a wedding invitation. I'd love to come.

Chris: I appreciate that, man. I will do that. I'll do that

Matt: I'd love to be there. Um, I did. It was funny. I was talking to some, um, Years ago I was talking to, uh, a beautiful lady, um, and we were in the French Alps. Uh, we were in a, we were working on the same project, a client's hotel over there. And we were working on the same project. And, um, we, we must have stayed up to like two, three o'clock in the morning just chatting away.

We just gotten really, really, really good and we became great friends. And when she got married, um, uh, she asked me if I would officiate her wedding. Um, and so she got married in an Austrian castle

Chris: That's amazing.

Matt: to this Austria. He was Austrian, her husband's Austrian. She was English, got married in this Austrian castle. So here I am doing this wedding, uh, for this beautiful lady and her great husband in an Austrian castle. It's a very surreal experience. Um, but. Yeah. One that I'll never forget.

Listen, Chris, thank you for coming onto the show, man. Uh, been an absolute pleasure to chat. Thank you for sharing. And, um, if people wanna reach out to you, people want to connect, people wanna know more, what's the best way to do that?

Chris: yeah, LinkedIn. It's uh, Chris G certified as my LinkedIn. You can look up Christopher George and feel free to email me chris@subsummit.com. And also, um, if you can make it up to Sub Summit, I'd love to see everybody there too.

Matt: Yeah, come join us at Sub Sumit. We're gonna be recording some podcasts for the

Chris: ecommerce podcast. Yeah, it's.

Matt: at Sub Sumit, which is great. I'm excited. I'm so excited to do some live podcast recording cuz we've not done any since Covid, so I'm like,

Chris: Yeah,

Matt: So if you are gonna come join us at Sub Summit. Do come say hi to me. Come say hi to Chris. It'd be great to see you there in Dallas at the end of May. May 31st,

Chris: May 31st to June 2nd.

Matt: Yeah. Yep. May 31st, June 2nd. If you wanna know more about that, check out subsummit.com. Uh, is the website. We will of course link to Chris's info in the show notes as well. Uh, but Chris, really appreciate you coming on, man. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for sharing from the heart. It's been an absolute pleasure to have the conversation.

Chris: Thanks, Matt. I appreciate it. Have a good day.

Matt: Ah, brilliant. You too, man. Listen, huge thanks to Chris for joining me today. Also, a big shout out to today's show sponsor Aurion Media. If you are wondering whether hosting a podcast is a good marketing strategy for your business, do connect with them at aurionmedia.com.

That's A U R I O N media dot com. We will of course link to them on the podcast. We will link to all of Chris's information on there and you can find all of that information at pushtobemore.com. Now be sure to follow the Push to Be More podcast wherever you get your podcast from because we've got yet more great conversations lined up and I don't want you to miss any of them.

And in case no one's told you yet today, you are awesome. Yes you are. Created awesome. And it's just a burden you have to bear. Chris has to bear it. I have to bear it. You've gotta bear it as well. Push to Be More is produced by Aurion Media. You can find our entire archive of episodes on your favorite podcast app.

The team that makes this show possible is Sadaf Beynon, Estella Robin and Tanya Hutsuliak. Our theme music was written by Josh Edmundson, and as I mentioned, if you would like to read the transcript or show notes, head over to the website, pushtobemore.com, you'll find everything there.

So that's it from me. That's it from Chris. Thank you so much for joining us. Have a fantastic week wherever you are in the world. We'll see you next time. Bye for now.