The Art of Vibrant Living Show with Daniel Aaron - Keenan Johnson: Video automatically transcribed by Sonix

The Art of Vibrant Living Show with Daniel Aaron - Keenan Johnson: this mp4 video file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Daniel Aaron:
All right. All right. We are live. Hey, y'all. Welcome to the Art of Vibrant Living Show. I am your host, Daniel Aaron, and I'm so excited to be with you today, especially for this show, because. So many spiritual people are just broke. Let's not beat around the bush. In one of my favorite quotations is that there's nothing sadder than a broke philanthropist. Well, in the same way, when we get people with amazing values, visions, great potential, and they're struggling, they're in survival, they're contracted, they're doing somebody else's work. They're not living their creative vision in the world. Well, technically speaking, that sucks. So doubly excited today because we get a juicy topic. Even better. We've got an amazing special guest here, Keenan Johnson, who is a brother from another mother. And not only does he have a beautiful shaved head as well, he is a titan of business with a ton of experience and success behind him. From network marketing to trading to cryptocurrency to e-commerce to YouTube creation to I could go on and on. He's a man who is full of wisdom, great experience, even better Big Heart. And here for us to jump in and share some really beautiful wisdom for our community. So awesome. Keenan, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being with us. How's it? Thanks for having me. Yeah, total pleasure. And you know, and I know there's so much that we can talk about here and what I've told our audience so far about today is that the value of passive income and creating financial freedom is just it's such a big thing in order for one to live up to their potential. And so many of the people that connect with me and come here, they're into personal development. They're into spiritual development, though oftentimes not everyone, but oftentimes there's a divide between that as in comparison to the financial and business world. So that's, you know, some of what I want to get into, though, you know, I haven't shared that much about your story and how you got into this. Would you give us a quick walkthrough of how you got into business and how it connects for us?

Keenan Johnson:
Sure. Um, let's see. It all started back when I got okay. I was in high school and I like, I like the idea that you're talking about personal development and then business. Because if it wasn't for the personal development, I probably wouldn't have been able to get anywhere in business. So I think that's kind of like a good foundation to start off of, and I was able to get that through the network marketing industry. Some people are excited about that industry. Some people can't stand it. So it's kind of a mixed bag. Um, and I can understand both perspectives, but it all started when I got out of high school 2007. I was working at a company called Walmart Pushing Carts. I was a cart pusher. It was a big job. I was trying to get promoted to cashier because I hated going out in the parking lot all the time and almost hitting cars with the carts, you know? And so I was cranking away at that. While I was finishing high school, I had a, you know, it was my job while I'd go to school and then I'd come back and I'd work until sometimes, you know, 12 or midnight. I was one of those people that turned 18in high school, so I was able to get a job. I guess it wasn't quite full time until after I graduated, but during that time, the guy that trained me, um, he was my boss. He showed me where the cameras couldn't see so you could take extra breaks. And also he wanted to he would zero out extra Powerade back in the day so he had more drinks while we were while we were, you know, working. And he called me one day and he was like, Hey, I just found this opportunity I think you'd be interested in. And back then I used to have long hair down to here I'm a guitar player and I was in a metal band, believe it or not, before it all fell out. But he was like, Hey, I think I found something that could excite you. And back then I didn't really have high ambitions for anything. I just wanted to play guitar and tour, you know, which I guess is still a big ask, but like, I wasn't really big on like being a millionaire or having a big house and all that stuff.

Keenan Johnson:
Um. So I met up with him and this girl had a Starbucks down the street. And they told me they started talking about business and they had this great opportunity with a video phone. And I was, you know, this is 2007. This is before Skype and all that stuff. They were saying it's going to be the wave of the future and we're going to be able to, like, make calls on phones and show our faces and stuff. But then they had like a 5 or $600 box that you would plug into your phone line at home just to be able to make a video call. And I was like, okay, I don't really care, but I guess that's kind of cool, you know? And so she asked me, she was like, Hey, what do you want out of life? And back then I was like, What do I want? I was like, I want a Harley. That's what I want. I want a Harley Davidson. It was like $10,000, you know. And she's used to people saying, I want a mansion and, you know, Ferrari and all that stuff. And she's like, okay, well, I think you could get that here. We have another meeting tonight in a different city. You should come to that. So I said, okay, sure, you know, you got me interested enough. And the opportunity to make something that's better than pushing carts at Walmart. So I'm all ears. So I ended up at this hotel meeting and there was a guy at the front of the room, this giant goofball, and he's talking about Bentleys and making all this money and video phones and stuff. And I found out that he was making like $40,000 a month. And so I thought if this guy at the front of the room can do it, I'm going to crush this thing. I'm going to just destroy it. You know, like, I can do better than this guy. Little did I know it was a sales tactic for him to just look stupid, So I'd feel like that, you know? So anyways, I got involved in that company maybe six months later. I think I made $1.20.

Keenan Johnson:
No, it didn't change my life. But that night I went home and I told my mom, I was like, Hey, you know, I think I've found something that's going to help me, you know, retire you. She's like, Oh, honey, I know what this thing is. You know, you're not going to be successful. I was like, okay, you're wrong, mom. I'm going to show you, you know? But she was still very supportive Anyways, that didn't go anywhere. But I did make some connections. I made some friends that ended up sticking it out. And after that company, there was a couple of other companies that they people would leave and go to and they were trying to show me. And I finally got to a point where I was like, you know, I'm not really interested in this. This isn't for me. But I did get a lot of opportunity to get exposed to personal development for the first time in my life. And that's where I started listening to CDs by like Jim Rohn and, you know, people like that. And I was reading books like Think and Grow Rich and Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie like their little thing. And, you know, so I was I got exposed to like a lot of positivity and how to like, really shape your, your mental fortitude to make sure that you can persevere and have self-starting motivation and be able to go out there and make it happen. And that's stuck with me, even though I didn't have financial success in that company, that was a seed that was planted that I still am thankful for to this day because that's kind of what happened to help me blossom into everywhere I was able to go over the next over a decade later and so quick after that, I got a job at Guitar Center. It was basically like, that was my dream job as a musician, you know, it was to work at Guitar Center. I got like a discount on guitars my whole check. I get it. I just blow it on buying equipment, you know? And then a few years passed, I tried to go to college. I was in a band.

Keenan Johnson:
We were able to tour a little bit and, you know, I just wasn't super happy. I was just constantly grinding away and living paycheck to paycheck. And all of a sudden those friends that stuck it out, they started seeing massive success after a few years sticking in that industry. You know, one of them got a Lamborghini and I remember seeing that and I was like, Oh my gosh, I should have stuck it out. So I was at a different job. It was a different music shop called Sam Ash. And what happened was. One of my friends that became a multi-millionaire pulled up and we set up a meeting and he showed me what he was doing currently at that time. And I said, You know what? I'm going to try and stick it out. So I got involved in that company and from there I was fortunate enough to be connected directly into people that were top earners in the industry, and they were able to help kind of like bring me under their wing. And after that I realized I love personal development and I love compensation plans. Those are just my interests. Now, if you look at like there's like different personality types on what they would call a green or an urchin, which means I'm like the technical guy. I like all the little details. That's why I speak in paragraphs, if you haven't noticed already. And so what happened was. I ended up getting introduced to people that were starting their own companies, and I had a knack for trying to help them figure out their product. I liked looking into the compliance of the industry. I liked looking into compensation plans. So I started getting introduced to people that were starting up these small network marketing companies. And then I would I would network with them through a connection, and then I would help them build a comp plan. I'd help them understand the compliance of it, link them with an attorney that was more, you know, obviously knew how to do things. But then I would sit in on those meetings and hear what the attorneys were saying and understand a little more what to look out for is, you know, roadblocks that would come up in the future with other business endeavors.

Keenan Johnson:
Obviously, it would always go through an attorney, but I was able to kind of help maybe speed the process up just because of the exposure I had to the legal information. So I did that for a while. I ended up getting into a bunch of different companies and had a few good runs, you know, built teams of, you know, well over 10,000 people internationally. We had a lot of success in Southeast Asia, um, with one of them as a health product. And I just started networking and that was part of the industry. So. I just don't know. But then I got to a point where the last company I helped out get started. It dawned on me. I realized, like all the data, I seen all the data of these companies, and I started seeing that, like, the average person wasn't going to be successful in these companies. They weren't even going to break even. They were going to put money in and they were never going to get anything back out. And it started to become a problem for me. It was like a moral issue where I was like, Oh man, I'm like up here preaching to these people, telling them about this opportunity of a lifetime of being able to get involved in something that could help change their family lineage and change their family tree and have all this abundance and finally time and money all together. And I just knew that like 99% of people were never going to achieve that. And it's not because the system didn't work. It's like a gym membership. That's what my mentor always taught me, right? Like not everyone has a six pack, but that doesn't mean the gym's a scam. It just means that they didn't work the system. But I knew at the same time we weren't being very honest with a lot of people. We were telling people like we were kind of making it seem like it was easy and it wasn't. You need to be a sales master. You got to you got to be reading the books, listening to the audio tapes, showing up to the meetings and practicing on yourself. And then you got to overcome your fear of public speaking.

Keenan Johnson:
And the people that are making the money are the ones that are at the front of the room, and not everyone's going to go do that. Like all my mentors, they didn't have no one came in and started their organization. They just knew after their training, okay, if I'm going to join a company, I need to go on there and set up my own meetings, my own hotel events. They pay for it themselves and they're building their business. But a lot of people aren't going to do that and they don't know how to. So I realized I don't really want to be in this industry anymore. So I got out. I decided I don't want to be in there. And that's when the Internet really showed how much opportunity there was. So I said, okay, what can I do where I can make the same kind of income that I was doing in those industries or even the opportunity to make more. But using the Internet where I don't have to rely on building teams or worrying about one leg going to a different company or like someone getting sniped out with a deal or something, you know. And that's when I got exposed to e-commerce, crypto, forex trading, things like that. Forex is that's a whole different world. I dabbled in it. I was I wouldn't say I'm successful in Forex, but I was successful using the internet and e-commerce and social media content creation such as YouTube, um, and crypto. So Tom, the gentleman that was supposed to be on this call that I'm stepping in for today, he introduced me to Ethereum back in 2016, back in back when it was $6. So I got in very early on that and when 2018 hit and there was all the tax stuff going on, I decided to get out of the market. So I kick myself all the time for that because it went way beyond that. But I learned a lot about blockchain technology and cryptocurrency from the 2016 exposure, and that's something that I still believe in heavily to this day. The other project that I worked on was I converted a lot of what I sold on my Ethereum to is I started an Amazon business because I saw that Amazon had a huge opportunity a few years ago to be able to create your own brand, create your own product.

Keenan Johnson:
There's many different strategies, but the one that I ended up going through with with my partners was we actually built our own baby product line and we manufactured overseas. We imported them here, we sent them an FBA warehouse or the Amazon warehouses and then they would ship them out for us whenever we did the marketing online to drive traffic to those listings. So that was a good run to, you know, you can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars off of just one product, you know, so imagine having an inventory of products. So we did that and then COVID happened. Covid came and basically it wiped us out because the manufacturers would shut down our inventory. Cycling went down. Amazon created better relationships with overseas manufacturers to directly come in to cut people like us out. The the middlemen that were because Amazon first and foremost looks out for the customer. So they want to give them a fast delivery time and best prices. Sometimes that comes at a at a cost in terms of quality. But they were able to create that bridge directly with manufacturers and it basically priced us out of the market and we couldn't keep up with a lot of the stuff. So I got out of that and one of my buddies who was doing YouTube, he had a month where he grinded for eight months making content about video games. It was a new video game that came out called Fortnite, so he was making content around Fortnite and all of a sudden, eight months later, I was like, Hey, how's that YouTube thing going? He's like, Oh, it's pretty good. I'm going to make 120 grand this month. And I was like, Oh, wow, That's that's great, man. How can I do that? And so that's when I realized YouTube was a was a viable business endeavor. It was a real business, you know, And so I got involved in that and I love it. That's what I do now full time. I just focus on YouTube, but I'm always open to hear new opportunities. And there's another one that just fell into my lap recently that I'm working on as well. But that's kind of a long winded explanation from A to Z, and all of that was able to happen because of the personal development.

Keenan Johnson:
You know, just being able to stay positive and self motivated. That's really what it came down to.

Daniel Aaron:
That's that's awesome. Keenan Thank you. And you dropped a couple of great gems in there. I just want to amplify. And then I got a couple questions for you. One for for everybody in our audience, I hope one one glaring thing to me that came through with what you're sharing, Keenan, is that you developed what I think of as the entrepreneurial mindset, which says, I'm going to succeed. I don't know where it's going to be, what it's going to look like, how it's going to be. Every single entrepreneur that's successful that I know, every single investor that I know that's successful has had things fall out, not work, get stuck. What they all have in common, though, is they they keep going forward and they have a you know, it's funny, the word opportunistic has like a negative connotation for some people. But to me, it's a beautiful word. What it means is it's the ability to see opportunity and life is always giving us opportunities. If we have the mindset and the willingness to say yes to it. Um, so amplify that piece. You also said how you understand both sides of the, the attitudes that are often reflected toward network marketing. And I want to come back to that in a minute because that's, I think, a really important one, you know, and the truth is, every industry has people that succeed and people that don't. And there's far fewer that succeed than don't. And I totally appreciate how you know, you. You got to a place in yourself where, like, I'm not feeling great with the way I'm showing up here or the ethics of it in some way. And you made a personal decision, even though you're making money with it, to shift what you're doing. So it was more in line with who you are. Right. And that's that's powerful. And for again, a lot of my audience are people that are spiritually minded. And part of why they have not succeeded to their desires in business is because they feel like, oh, I have to sell out. Or, you know, there's this sort of liberal or hippie perspective that, well, you know, commerce or capitalism means selling out.

Daniel Aaron:
And of course that's not true. It can mean that, but it doesn't mean need to mean that. And entrepreneurship can shift the world in beautiful ways. Right? But we'll come back to that. And I want to come back also to, you know, why you've come back to network marketing, right? Because that's how we met. First, though, I'd love to hear if you have anything more to say about it. Like what is the relationship between personal development and business? Why? Why is that so important? You know, and and specifically with network marketing, like when I first found out about network marketing, which was really only a few years ago, I was amazed to see that while so much of what's involved is is giving personal development, because for me, for years I didn't want to do anything with network. I'm not interested in helping people develop businesses. I'm doing other things. And then eventually I realized like, oh, when I'm helping people with is how to develop themselves and their business comes out of that. But does that make sense? What I'm asking though, can you make that tie in a little more for us?

Keenan Johnson:
Yeah, absolutely. I think what helps with personal development is it breaks you out of the mold that a lot of us are formed into from an early age, Right? So we're taught about we're taught essentially in a lot of society how to be a piece of a machine. And we're like, we're a cog, right? That can go into the printer. And if we break, we get taken out. It doesn't teach us how to own the machine or how to understand all the mechanisms of it. And so personal development, granted, it doesn't teach you how to like, you know, all the technicalities of like an MBA you might get from a master's in business administration or something. But what it does is it helps open your mind and it helps you see that there's more opportunity out there than we might be led to believe. And it also helps you stay positive, because one of the things that I realized is that if you're very negative and you're skeptical and you're always bitter and grumpy or you just have like a just a chip on your shoulder, which is easy to do, especially in an economy like now, it's it's no blame against you if you feel upset and bitter. Right. Because it's the system has failed so many people. Personal development helps you stay positive and realize like, hey, listen, just like just keep going. Just keep going. Just keep going. There's a beautiful picture I see online where it's a guy that's like chipping away in a mine and then he's like this far away from like, a stack of diamonds. And it's like he just gave up. But he. You just got to keep going. And he was this close, but then he stopped right before he hit it, you know? And so personal development helps you realize that there's more out in the world than we realize. And the system is designed to make us be a piece in it. But it reading about this stuff and learning from very successful people that have a different philosophy on how they view life. Helps you kind of get out of that system where you realize, wow, I could I could be that person.

Keenan Johnson:
I could be somebody that has time and freedom and money and the ability to start a family or to own property or to go on vacation or to live out on an island if I want to. You know what I mean? Whatever you're into that's available and the world is big enough and there's enough in terms of there's enough to go around for people. The problem is, is a lot of people that hog it right that have it. And so now this all personal development does is it helps you realize that, hey, if you just stay focused and you're and you're motivated and you just you keep trying new things, even if you fail, you just look at it as a lesson, not as a failure. Eventually you just keep chipping away at it. You're going to get somewhere. And that's the beauty of it. You don't have to settle. And I think that's that's really what it comes down to, is a lot of people have just settled and it's not their fault. They just don't realize what is out there, especially with the Internet now. Um, it's a little bit for a lot of people. I can't say for everyone because not everyone's going to get it and not everyone's going to have the skill set or the ability to go out and do it. But if you focus and you learn the human brain is powerful, the way we've been designed is you can really go out there and and learn even if you feel like you can't, you know, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to start generating revenue off of using the Internet or having a good idea for a product or just being a sales person.

Daniel Aaron:
Absolutely Yeah. Nicely said. And I mean, it's so true. Like one of the one of the biggest distinctions I got from personal and spiritual development is the realization that. I can do whatever I want. You know that. One of my favorite quotations questions is how good can it get? And that's the flip side of the settle for disease that infects so many of us. And I know for me, I was a lower middle class kid, grew up in Maine, and both of my parents were employees and they lived their life as employees. And there was constant conflict in their marriage about money. And, you know, the ethos that I was brought up with is, well, you got to work hard and even then you're probably not going to really get ahead and there's never really enough. And and, you know, part of what you pointed to there is. Well, that's no accident. Right? It's no accident that so many of us come up believing that. And the antidote is an incredible liberation, that, hey, this is available to anybody. Anybody can create whatever they want. And that's really to me, that's the ultimate spiritual liberation, is to know that, hey, the world is my oyster. Anything is possible. Um, you know, and a lot of I think a lot of there are a lot of myths out there, a lot of spiritual folks, myself included, at one point have this concept that, well, money is evil or people that have money are selfish. And, you know, my experience has been, well, sometimes that's true. Yeah. And, you know, I know plenty of poor people that are selfish. Just just the same, you know, all money does is amplify possibilities and opportunities. Yeah. So it amplifies.

Keenan Johnson:
Who you are as a person. So if you're a bad person, you'll probably be a bad person with money. If you're a good person, you'll probably be a good person with money.

Daniel Aaron:
Absolutely. And you know what's funny about that? One of my yoga teachers years ago used to talk about that very same concept with yoga, right? So we practice yoga and meditation. And part of what that allows is a greater flow of life force or energy to come through us. And it's no different with money. Money is energy, right? And when we have more of it, it gives us more opportunity, more life flow, and it's going to amplify who we are. So, you know, you can be a poor asshole and make minimal impact or you can be a rich asshole and make a really negative impact. Or on the flip side, you know, like one of the things I love about our common friend Tom, you know, who's a, who's who's a fast talker and a good businessman. And people say to criticize him sometimes and say, you know, Tom, it's you know, you're all about money. You're a money grubber. And his response is, no, you know, I just know that I can help a lot more people with a fat wallet than I can with a thin wallet. Yeah, that's true. And and amplifies his goodness in the world. And that's what I've seen myself. So all that said, let's you know, because you've, you've really run the gamut with network marketing. Can we dive into that a little bit? And I mean, you already mentioned a bit about feeling like you were on stage living the dream, but knowing that most people out there weren't going to and it was going to be a losing proposition for them. Um, and so that was part of why you decided to step out of that. But can you say more on that? Because you mentioned, you know, seeing both sides of the coin there.

Keenan Johnson:
Yeah. So I think a lot of people when they hear about an opportunity in the network marketing industry, um, they usually have some uncle somewhere that tells them it's a scam and for some reason that's the valid opinion that they like to run with because people like the validation when they're skeptical. It's hard to. And one thing I learned is like, we're not supposed to be convincing people. It's like the right people are going to get started. And the ones that have no interest, just just let them have no interest. But people get desperate because they feel like they don't know enough people. And so they start looking at people as a paycheck and not as an opportunity to to share with somebody something that could help them. And that also creates a negative experience because people see that as like, well, you know, we've all seen the memes online or heard about the stories of I haven't talked to someone in ten years and all of a sudden they go, Hey, how are you doing? And you get an email or a text from them and you're just like, Oh, great, what do you want? You know, you're gonna invite me to some thing, you know, and it's created this. It's supposed to be relationship marketing. You build it off of relationships that you make with people, but sometimes people, they just, they get desperate. And it's no longer about the relationship. They're just trying to get, you know, make a paycheck. And unfortunately, that's when you start using somebody. And so there's a lot of people that have had that negative experience spinning on being on the other side that feel like they're being used or there's the people that don't care. They see the opportunity, they get started. They feel like they've done everything they were told to do and then they don't see any results. So that's kind of where the negativity usually comes from, is the people that haven't succeeded are the ones that have a bad experience being exposed to the industry.

Daniel Aaron:
Um, can I jump in there for a second? Yeah. Yeah. Because, you know, I love. What you said with that and. Like. So again, just to put it in context for me, I knew about network marketing years ago. There were a few products that I thought were really cool. I got into the for product. I was like, Wow, I can make millions of dollars with this too. That's wonderful. And you know, But then I never did anything. I never told anybody about it, didn't do any of that. And so but that was fine. I didn't really have an opinion one way or the other. But then at a certain point, I became the recipient of that kind of desperation that you're talking about, and I kind of got a negative taste in my mouth from it. So I made the judgment that, well, yeah, network marketing is lame. I don't like this Yeah What I didn't realize, of course, was that was just the approach that was happening for those people. So then jump forward to just a few years ago. I find another product that I think is amazing and I say, All right, well, I really want to share this with people, and then I actually take the time to learn the model, the business model of network marketing. And I say, this is a really cool model. This is people talking to people rather than paying millions of dollars to slick advertisers to manipulate things. And so one of the things that happened for me is I started reaching out to people that I hadn't spoken to in ten years, 20 years, Yeah And and with some of them, there was I could feel it, you know, that like, why are you calling me now? What's going on? Yeah.

Keenan Johnson:
Yeah. What? What's the catch?

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah, what's going on? But what I felt like and I think this is an important distinction and I'm curious to your perspective on this, I think it's hard for a lot of people to grok is this concept of win win, win, win, win. And for me, it was like I have so many friends that I've collected over the years, many of whom most of whom haven't been in touch with in ages. And it's not because I don't love them or that I don't want to be. It's just because life is happening. Life is full. I'm talking to this. I'm doing, you know, But then this opportunity that I'm excited about yet that I can also benefit from if they get excited about it for sure that's true that was like the tipper that got me to reach out. So then I would reach out to someone and say, Hey, you know, this is the reason I'm calling. This is what put me over the edge. And I'm excited. I'm thrilled to reconnect. And I'm so grateful that this business opportunity is what pushed me over the edge to reconnect. And I have found since then that I've reconnected with people, I mean, sometimes for more than 20 years ago, that that who knows if I ever would have reconnected with them. But because of this and because they found some excitement and or didn't, we just reconnected and they're like, no, that's not for me. But, you know, let's let's get together. And so, you know, that that concept of it's both and it's win win. It's I value the relationship, I value the person. And here's an opportunity that might be of benefit for you. And if you if it is, then we both benefit. Does that make sense?

Keenan Johnson:
Yeah. I think what really helps is when you have a product you believe in. Yeah. Because then it's real, right? It's don't worry about the compensation plan or how much you can get paid. Like I think really you just focus on a product you can be passionate about. And a lot of people unfortunately get exposed to products that maybe they're great, maybe they promise, you know, your hair will come back, which doesn't work, right? Or they'll say, um, you know, they'll take wrinkles off your face or they'll, you'll drink a drink and you'll feel, you know, 20 years younger or whatever. The thing is, some of these products in this industry are phenomenal, but there's a lot of garbage, too, that you find out isn't worth what they have. Because when you look at the compensation model, they have to mark these products up so much in order to be able to pay out the commissions that you end up with something that you feel you can actually go down the street, get at the store. Maybe it's a different brand, maybe it doesn't taste as good or whatever, but it's like, you know, ten bucks versus $100. And you start realizing like, you know, like, yeah, I believe in the idea of this new ingredient or something, but it's not that good. So there's a few companies that have really good products and they prove themselves before they even became a network marketing company where you're like, okay, this is a solid product. And so if people are willing to purchase it without having any, they don't need an incentive to participate in building teams and commissions, then it's a good product, right? It's hard to find a company that people are willing there so they go gangbusters over the product. That's tough to find where like they have no care about the the compensation plan. And that's actually where from a compliance perspective, that's kind of where the government starts to get kind of upset, was they don't like having companies that are so focused on pushing out the opportunity. They want people to they want people to actually participate in purchasing products before having an incentive. And that's how, you know, you have a winning product and that's when they think it's a more legitimate business model.

Keenan Johnson:
Um, when it comes to finding that product, though, it's tough. And if you don't believe in the product, it's going to again, you're going to have a lot more of those negative experiences. Um, but it's also something that people get into where a lot of the products, you don't have an opportunity to really earn your money back off of the product, you just consume the product. So you'll buy like a skincare thing or you'll buy a health drink or something and you might feel better. But it's really hard and it's really challenging for you to buy a bulk of inventory and then go out there and actually wholesale it. Like some of these models tell you, you can go do what you can, you can buy at a discount and sell it at a profit. But who has a supply chain where they're actually able to go out there and do that on a scale of any significance? Right. And so that's another thing, too, that I wanted to kind of drove me out of out of the industry was I didn't find products that one, maybe they were good, but two, they weren't something that I feel like people could actually go out there and make their money back off of because they're just not going to go out there and sell it. And that's where I think there's some opportunities with companies that will pop up where they'll offer you the opportunity to say, Hey, you can invest in this, or technically don't use the word investing because it's like, that's a bad word, especially if you're not like a financial advisor or you don't have any sort of certification to say that. So they'll say, go ahead and get involved or something. They'll use the different terminology. And what will happen is you'll generate revenue somehow just by existing in this system, you don't have to go out and build a team. Well, that's usually a red flag for me. Whenever I see something like that, I'm thinking, okay, that's where the big P word comes in, you know, the whole Ponzi thing. And it's like, I don't want to I don't want to be involved in any sort of Ponzi structure. I have no interest in that.

Keenan Johnson:
But what happens is you get people that are jaded from products that they can't resell that are super expensive, and then they start seeing an opportunity where there's a company telling them, Hey, you don't have to do anything. You can just give me your money and you're going to start getting paid off of that. And that's that's where you start seeing a lot of these actual legitimate scams pop up over the last few years, especially in like the crypto space or any sort of blockchain technology. And so I'm very skeptical when it comes to that stuff. Um, so it's like it's hard, you know, But to really come, what brought me back into the industry was I was exposed to something a couple of weeks ago, um, for the first time in years that made sense to me. And I think it's legitimate, you know, from what I saw and understand about blockchain technology, I was like, Wow, this is actually something that has the legitimate side of being a legitimate compliant company, but it also has the opportunity for somebody to. Purchase something that can yield rewards and that could potentially be worth more than what they got it for. And that to me made a lot of sense. And it wasn't something that was going to disappear very quickly and it wasn't a pump and dump scheme because that's another thing that I've seen. A lot of people want you to get involved in their coin and you buy a bunch of it and people are spending their life savings because they think they're going to make everything and they mortgage houses, right? They do reverse mortgages and they take home equity loans out. I've seen all sorts of stuff and I never wanted to be involved in any of that. And I just again, it goes against my morals. I don't want to see people. Liquidating like assets that they've worked their entire life for just to get duped in the end. Um, and I think we found something that actually kind of marries all the positives and eliminates a lot of those negatives. Obviously there's still always going to be risk in anything you do, especially in the crypto world. But I think that there's a project that we've stumbled upon that I think is actually going to.

Keenan Johnson:
Be that like unicorn that too good to be true thing. You know, that is actually true.

Daniel Aaron:
So now that that's a perfect segway, it's You must be psycho. I mean, psychic because you just read my mind. And I do want to, you know, get into a little bit this opportunity. That's how we met. And and I'm putting the the URL. If people can want to learn more, they can see that on the excuse me on the on the show here. Um, and. I'm with you. I've seen especially just in the last few years, like for me, for first, I don't know, 48 years of my life, I had no interest in money. I had plenty of it, you know, for my standards. I could do whatever I want. But I was not into investment. I didn't know about taxes. I didn't know about passive income. I didn't know anything. And I always kind of thought that was over my head, not for me. But then a few years ago, I realized, you know, a few life circumstances clicked and said, You know what? This is an important realm. I need to study this and master this just like I need my health, my spirituality. All of that needs to be in my own hands. So and as I've gotten to this world in the last few years, like you, I've seen a lot of. Schemes and things that were too good to be true. And I've I've fallen for some scams myself. I've had friends that have fallen for scams. I've seen companies that weren't scams, but they just couldn't do what they thought they were going to be able to do. Right? And so one of the themes that's come up a lot for me in the last few years is this age old expression where people say, well, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. But then I think, well, wait a minute, is is that different than just straight up skepticism? Because the flip side of that is, well, if if you're your dream partner came along or you're you're looking for a house and you find the house, that's exactly what you want at the right price. Do you turn turn it down and say, no, that's too good to be true. So, you know, if life brings us something that's amazing, where do we find the like? Sometimes it's too good to be true. It probably is. But sometimes if it looks too good to be true, well, it's really worth investigating to see if it really holds up is the way I feel about it. So what would you say? You know, like what are your standards for how you evaluate? How do you determine because there's so much out there and it's you know, for a lot of people, it's hard to tell.

Keenan Johnson:
Yeah, definitely. Um, so I look for I think the first thing I look for is compliance. I want to be involved in something that's legal and that's not like in a gray area because that's usually what shuts down companies, right? And, and it depends too, because if you end up being. You know, I mean, depending on where you are in the structure of the company, like if you if you have knowledge of what's going on and you're still pursuing it, even though you know it's not compliant, that's a big issue. And not only is that a moral issue, but that's a legal issue. And I don't want to deal with those battles. So the first thing I look for is compliance. I just want to make sure I'm involved in something that's not. You know, going to get slammed by the FTC later or the SEC or whatever. You know, any any one of those groups are going to come along and do their thing, you know, and then I look at leadership. So I want to see who's involved, who's leading it. There's a lot of companies out there now, especially on the Internet, where you don't know who the owner is or they're hiding behind some mask or they're in some country that you've never heard of before. And they just, you know, and that's where a lot of these people invest and they're everything disappears. Um, so I look at the leadership. So who owns it? Is it is it public information? Are they out there? Are they like presenting themselves? Are they in the community, you know, or are they hiding, you know, like that's another red flag for me. So I want compliance, leadership. And then if those things pass the mark, then what I want to do is I want to look at, okay, so what's the product? What are they? What are they promoting? Okay, cool. And usually the product also ties into the compliance factor because regardless of whether you're dealing with. Crypto or skincare, you're going to there's going to be different ways of compliance in terms of how they market, how they pay out, and then also what the product is like.

Keenan Johnson:
Are they even allowed to do it right? Like some some companies, especially in the health world, the FDA is very strict on claims. And so I want to make sure I'm not getting involved in a product where even corporate is talking about like curing things. You know, if there's no medical research to back that up, if you can't validate it, you know, you don't want to promote it that way. Now, people in the field, they might break those rules and that's where corporate has to come in. And they put out all the fires saying, no, no, no, you can't say that. You can't say that. So if I see a lot of that activity, that's a good sign. And then I want to look at the compensation plan. So that's it. Compliance, leadership, product compensation plan. So if I can find those four things and they all check those boxes, then I might be interested. But even then it might not get me to come out of what I call my retirement phase, where I was basically still not interested because I was doing I'm doing fine. By myself using the Internet to generate revenue. I don't need to come out and be motivated. I need to be very motivated to come out of that and to really start working on building teams and doing meetings again because it is a 24 hour life. Doing this kind of stuff, you got to be on call. You got to be ready to do meetings. You got to meet up at conventions and fly around. And it's really fun. But it's a grind, you know? And. This one checked those boxes, this company, because they're from what I've seen, it's compliant. And even the questions that I had it, it made sense from a financial perspective. They're very, very, very strict on language, especially when you're dealing with cryptocurrency, because you want to make sure that you're not promoting investments. You want to make sure that it's not like a security. You want to make sure. So they're making sure that they're doing everything right to stay compliant. But the thing with the cryptocurrency world is it's kind of the Wild West right now.

Keenan Johnson:
So there's a lot of legislation that hasn't even been formed yet in terms of how the governments are going to be dealing with this new form of payment. So you're kind of also in this weird limbo stage where something that might be okay now might not be okay later. Right. And we're seeing that now with like proof of stake and proof of work. Um, that's a whole different concept in terms of blockchain. Some of you may know that, some you may not. If you don't, don't worry about it. But there is litigation going on with how people pay taxes on it with trading and if whether or not it's looked at as something that needs to be registered because it's going to be a security kind of like a stock, or is it something that's a little more nuanced, You know, and this company focuses a lot on that. And then the leadership behind it is they have experience in the world of network marketing and staying a longevity, right? That's something you want. You don't want a company that's going to come here and be gone in 24 months. You want something that's here to stay. And then they also have another partner which is involved in the crypto side who's been dealing with these technologies for a long time. And they're also they have finance backgrounds and science backgrounds. So that's what's able to mold the technology with what their value proposition is into the open market that allows them to generate the revenue to actually back up the cryptocurrency project. So you've got two worlds going on that came together of solid experience and leadership. So that's good. So the compliance check box, the leadership check box, and then the product check box is what's the product? What they're doing is they found a way to tie cryptocurrency to commodities for the first time I've ever seen. Which is crazy. The dollar used to be tied to gold and we had the gold standard. Why we don't have that anymore. So. What's backing up the dollar? Our hopes and dreams. That's all it is. It's it's a it's enough people in the world that believe in it.

Keenan Johnson:
And that's the only reason why it works. It's because we believe it works. But it's not tied to anything. It used to be able to put send money in and get gold back physically, right? You can't do that anymore. With this project, they actually found a way where they tied they called it. It's a token digitally linked gold where for every one token you own full whole token is actually connected to a gram of gold they have in a vault and you can actually cash it out and receive physical gold. And they have other projects such as oil, natural gas, aluminum, mining, satellite technology, agriculture. They have all these projects that they're working on and they're tying each project to a cryptocurrency, and they have an entire financial model that's designed to help. Create liquidity in the market. Help with scarcity. Supply and demand. They have this whole thing called tokenomics, which is like the economy and the economic version or the the economics of how their coins work. And that's the product is they're tying cryptocurrency to actual real world projects that are associated with commodities, things of actual high value and giant industries said, okay, that makes sense. And then the next one is the compensation plan. They created a very simple compensation plan. You just focus on showing it to people and if they like it, they get involved, you get paid and you build a simple team left and right. That's it. You go left and right. So you show it to two people and you're on your way. Now, the cool thing about this is that even if you're not interested in building a team, you still are probably excited about the opportunity to get in at the ground floor on the cryptocurrency projects because a lot of these coins out in the market, they have no utility, they have no use case, they have no technology behind them. They're not really worth anything, kind of like the US dollar other than you had a large enough community to say, Hey, this is kind of cool, we all want to buy it, but we don't know why. And so they created a market for no reason. This company.

Keenan Johnson:
If you can see companies or you can see other coins generate hundreds of millions or billions of dollars with just people, just a community of people that believe in it. Imagine a company that's already generated over $200 million in the last year off of their project, and they're projected to grow. I believe they're going to grow much larger than that. Um. And you can get involved. Now when you own the crypto or the mining licenses that they sell, there's a whole model to it that we can get into later. But essentially you you're able to yield minted coins out of this structure to where you now own this tangible asset that's connected to these projects. So even if you're not building a team, you're having these coins of value come into a wallet that you own entirely. And that to me is incredible because it's like, Hey, you might not even care about going out and building and recruiting people and showing the opportunity to people. But you could definitely participate in the customer aspect of it and get involved and own a license that'll be paying out. Uh, coins that have real value in the market. And it's a liquid market, which means that you're not left holding the bag of a coin that's worthless. So one thing that actually got I got I got screwed over with back when I was a holder of a lot of Ethereum was I decided, hey, I want to start investing in a bunch of coins that are worth a fraction of a penny because what if they go from a penny to a dollar? That's a huge increase, right? Well, I found out that the only way that's going to work is if I want to sell my we'll call it a crap coin if I have a crap coin, but somebody has a coin of value like Bitcoin. In order for me to actually see this turn into any sort of capital gain or growth on my investment, I need to be able to sell my crap coin and get something of actual value in return for it. So if I'm willing to sell 10,000 crap coins, but nobody's on the other side willing to fill my order and give me their coin of value in exchange for it, I'm left holding the bag.

Keenan Johnson:
So I had a ton of currency that's worthless right now, and I was the guy that was willing to give my coin of value, my Ethereum, in exchange for it. And then no one was on the other end when I wanted to get out and exit. So now imagine having a coin like this where it's tied to actual commodities projects so you're not left holding the bag because the companies on the other side and part of their business model is for all the revenue that comes in or any sort of transaction fees. Those of you that are familiar with how blockchain works with fees and sending and all that stuff, they actually purchase coins off of the market and then they burn them. So it creates less supply and it also creates a market with liquidity where you can actually sell out when you need to. It's genius now. It's very complicated. I know the dust is going to be flying right now, but essentially that's what got me excited about this because it checks all the boxes. And then you also have a compensation model where you can get paid just showing it to people. So any sort of referral, credit cards, do it, apartment complexes do it. Everyone there's so many companies that say, hey, if you just refer a friend, we'll give you a kickback. And that's all the compensation plan is. And that's all really network marketing is, is you're getting a commission for sharing some information with somebody who then shares it and shares it and shares it, and you're able to get paid off of that.

Daniel Aaron:
And what's you know, and it's worth reiterating what's completely possible with that is you're doing that in such a way that the parties that you introduce both win. You know, they're both getting a good deal on it and they're both saying thank you. And that's really all a referral commission is. That's how I define it. It's a thank you. Thank you for introducing me. Thank you for bringing something of value into my life. And we're going to need to wrap up in a moment. Keenan The you did definitely stir up the dust. Thank you for that. That's awesome. You know, and I reflect like we've got viewers and listeners of all levels here and some people are like revenue. What does that mean? You know, and some people are like, you know, can start talking about the satoshis on the blockchain and, you know, yeah. So there's a whole huge range. And I know for myself, it was only a few years ago where I understood very little of this and when I found cryptocurrency I was like, Well, this is not only the financial world, this is the future. This is revolution. This is creating a whole new world and it's an amazing world. And for all everybody, you know, tuning in, either live or by rebroadcast, my biggest encouragement to you is start where you are and just learn a little bit more because this world is so important. And maybe the last quick question I'll ask you, Keenan, is what you know, because anyone's motivation to learn and their abilities, their knowledge let me put it this way one's knowledge, one's skill is intimately, intimately connected to their motivation. Right? If they don't care if they're not motivated, well, they're not going to learn. So I'm super passionate about this realm, especially for the spiritual people, again, who often have blockages. And so what would you say just in a in a word or a sentence, what is the value? What's important about creating financial freedom and passive income? What can that do for someone?

Keenan Johnson:
One thing one of my mentors told me a long time ago is if your why doesn't make you cry, it isn't strong enough. And he said, If I put a lion in front of you that hasn't eaten for days, it's starving. And behind him is a briefcase full of cash. Are you going to go for it? Most people say, no, that's suicide. We're not going to do that. Why would why would we do that? Like, it's not worth the money. But he said, what if I removed the briefcase and put your family behind it and you knew that he was going to eat them next? What would you do? And that's usually when people say, Well, I'm going to go in there regardless and try and save them. So your motivation shouldn't be you shouldn't it shouldn't be money because money comes and goes, right? Money's not the important thing. All money does is it allows you to do things. It stored energy. You need to figure out what is it in life that's going to motivate you and get you passionate. And for some people, it's just helping their family. For me, it was I wanted to buy my mom a house because she was never able to own a home when I was growing up. And she she could have given me the world if she had the resources to, but she didn't. And that's one thing I wanted to do for her, was I said, Hey, mom, I want you to be able to have a home. I was able to help her a couple of years ago get into a home that she now owns. And so that was a big thing for me, was being able to. Think of what motivates you that has actual substance behind it. And the money is just a tool to help you accomplish that. So like I said before, if your why does it make you cry? It isn't strong enough. You've got to be emotionally tied to why you're doing this. And it can't just be money because that's not going to last very long. People just that comes and goes, you know what I mean? It needs to be something that really, really has a lot of value and emotional connection to it because that's what's going to help you get up in the morning when you don't want to wake up. That's just going to help you go out there and do your meeting or set up your business or go learn how to do something or read a book because you're going to know that that's what's driving you and that's that drive is what is. That's what creates the success is your drive. Yeah And so that would be my my suggestion.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah. And you know, obviously Simon Sinek's book start with why is is a testament to that concept and it's been hugely successful. Totally with you on that. And it's I think that's a great place for us to leave it right now. We could talk all day. I got 448 more questions for you, but we'll have to leave that for a part two another time. So, Kenan, thank you again so much for coming on here and sharing your experience, your wisdom. And for all of y'all tuning in watching, thanks for being here with us. For the Art of Vibrant Living, I'm Daniel Horn, and I'll see you later. Aloha.

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