Special Guest Expert - Robert Butwin: Video automatically transcribed by Sonix

Special Guest Expert - Robert Butwin: this mp4 video file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Daniel Aaron:
What does it take to create a vibrant, thriving life? First, the sad news is that Thoreau was right. Most people are leading quiet lives of desperation, lacking in meaning, fulfillment and vitality. But we choose more. We choose to create extraordinary lives. And the art of vibrant living show entertains you with inspiration, empowerment and education to create your life into a masterpiece. It's time. Let's vibe up. All right. Hello, everybody. Aloha and welcome to the show. I'm Daniel Aaron, your host, and we have an amazing show for you today. I'm so excited for y'all to meet, learn from, and really get blessed Up by Robert Butwin. I will introduce him more in a moment. First, though, as so many people have reached out to me personally and to us here collectively on the island of Maui, one thank you. And to. Yes, it is that bad. And no, it's not that bad. The important thing that I want to share with you all is, you know, there's been some really big devastation. There's been loss of life. There's been a lot of trauma. Most of that is isolated to a specific area. The rest of Maui is, well, we're all feeling it and we're all dealing with it and taking care of our community. And one of the ways we're taking care of our community is letting people know that the rest of the island is open for business and tourism and it is okay. Don't. Of course you're not coming here to go to Lahaina, though. If you're coming to Maui. That's great. We appreciate that. Thank you for the for the well wishes. And, you know, collectively, we're doing everything we can to support the people that are have been and are suffering the most. So with that said, one of the best things that any of us can ever do for others and for the world is to increase our own vibration, to live a life of vitality, of purpose, of love. And that's the purpose of what this show is all about. It's, you know, for my own discovery as a kid, being fat, shy and depressed, having a vibrant, thriving, amazing, extraordinary life.

Daniel Aaron:
For most of us, it doesn't happen accidentally. It takes overcoming some programs. It takes intention, it takes some practice and effort. And so that's what we're all about on this show, is bringing you the wisdom via some people that are really living that and walking that talk. And specifically today, we have just one of the most beautiful exemplars of that, Robert Butwin, who I'll steal his thunder right now. I can do that because we're a friend. He'll tell you that with Robert, you can you can do nothing but win. That is his name. He's a magician of business. He's a master strategist. He is a incredible networker, which is something we're going to get into because he's got so much to teach about that even in the networking Hall of Fame. He's a great author. And I think maybe the best tribute I can say to Robert in terms of who he is as a man and as a businessman is one very spiritual to huge heart. And he does the work he does, helping people, coaching them without without pay, you know. And that was how I met him, was when I was launching my book, he said, Yeah, how can I help you? And, you know, I just want to want to help however I can. And yeah, maybe we'll do some business down the road. But right now, what can I do to help things for you? And it's such a beautiful example of walking the talk. So he is the real deal and I am so excited to introduce him to you all. So here we go. Robert, thank you so much for joining us. Welcome to the show.

Robert Butwin:
You know, I'm really grateful, number one, to be on the show, but more grateful even with what today is in my life. You know, you talk about the vibrant living, but so and why I say it's so grateful because I'm celebrating today. It just so happens and I'm going to make I'm going to renew a commitment. Today is my 37th year anniversary of being married in every year on our anniversary, we recommit for another well, it'll be for another 37 years tonight. So and we're going out to dinner afterwards. So I'm celebrating. I'm grateful. I'm really looking forward to sharing the perspectives and insights that we're going to talk about today.

Daniel Aaron:
Well, Well, you know, you could you could be a guest expert just by the fact that you've been married for 37 years. And not just that you've been married for 37 years, though I know that the love and the respect that you carry for your wife. I've heard it and seen it in you so many times. That's an achievement unto itself. And you know, and I know, Robert, you didn't come to be who you are by accident, right? You've got an interesting background that you chose to in some ways step away from in order to create yourself. Would you would you share with with our audience a little bit about how you how you got here and how you're into the work that you are into now?

Robert Butwin:
Happy to do that. I grew up in our family business, Family business. They started the high school award cheerleading jacket business in the 1930 1938. The challenge? A couple challenges. There's too much family in our family business, number one. And my dad believed that if it worked, if it worked in the past, it would work in the future. And one of the things I came to the realization early on in my entrepreneurial journey is that you need to, number one, recognize the changes that happen and embrace the changes. So I came to the realization that ultimately there was something out there that was different, better. I wasn't exactly sure what it was going to be. I knew that once I left the family business that that door would not reopen because I was the guy that got person that was always looking to make certain kinds of changes. So I started off as far as one of my journeys out of the family business. I ended up running a nightclub with no experience in the nightclub business, and I bought a club where the owner had sabotaged it back to the number one club in the Twin Cities. And then all of a sudden I found out that they were selling the club. I wanted to buy the club, but in the meantime, that was probably the greatest thing that actually did happen, because if I would have bought the club, I would have never met my wife. But, you know, shortly thereafter, I came across a cassette tape series. For those of you that are old enough and remember what cassette tapes are. It was by Wayne Dyer. It was called No Limit Person. And so I started listening to this and. The key things that I got out of it, that whatever is in your life, you're responsible for that being there. Once you take responsibility for what it is, you can take it for what will be. But unfortunately. Most people end up settling there in a state of denial. And I love the acronym Denial, which is don't even notice I am lying. So they don't take responsibility for what is. And so that was one of those defining moments in my journey. I ended up turning my car into a university on wheels and I started reprograming my mindset. I came across things from Jim Rohn, from Dr. Robert Anthony, Zig Ziglar, Michael Gerber, on and on and on. Because I knew for things to change, I needed to change and I needed to reset my mindset so that I could recreate the movie of my life the way I wanted it to be.

Daniel Aaron:
Beautiful. Beautiful. Well, so powerful. And and I imagine it took a lot of, you know, to have a family background that was successful and where you could have in some ways rode on the coattails of that to step away and recreate yourself and decide, you know, I'm going to forge my own path. That took courage. And then to say, hey, there's something else out there and I need to learn, learn. I need to I need to learn what to do. How to create myself. That takes humility. And and I would say wisdom, right? So there's a lot of courage and wisdom in all of that. So let's let's shift gears a little bit, though, because I really want to jump right into this, Robert, with you, because you're the best person I know to talk about this. I, I know for myself. And part of it's because I'm introverted. I'm thinking about the world of networking. And I remember, you know, when I first got into business 20 something years ago, almost 30 years ago, and I heard about networking, I had this preconception that that was schmoozing, right? That networking is all about running around and trying to get something from people. And it was only maybe, I don't know, eight years ago that I started to learn, well, maybe I had a misunderstanding about that. And I remember when I when I met you, Robert, one of the one of the first things I saw about you is your approach to to life and people and relationships is, is all about how can you be of service, how can you help people? So for anybody that might be listening in the same way that I was years ago, thinking networking is selfish in some way or inauthentic, could you could you help us, help us all understand a deeper level what networking is all about?

Robert Butwin:
Man that the answer? The answer to your question is, of course, definitely. You know, when I started networking and let me give you a little bit of, um, because I was unconsciously incompetent, I didn't know. I didn't know I was basically doing exactly what you just described. The reason why I originally got involved in networking is an acquaintance of my parents, Harvey Mackay. He's written many different books. I looked at him as like the grandfather of networking. You know, it was back in 1983 coming out of Minnesota and. He ended up through his networking abilities, brought Lou Holtz in to coach the Minnesota Gophers the year before they had won one game and all the rest losses they were outscored by their opponents 3 to 1. Lou Holtz If you don't know who he is, he was one of the he had coached in the NFL. He's one of the pristine college coaches. And so he brought them in and within two years, they actually got back into the bowl games. And I said, Man, what a great skill. And then I came across the thing that your net worth is in direct relationship to the value of your network. So I went about perfecting the art. Of networking, you know, and I believe that if you really have your intentions clear on what you want to accomplish, and I believe networking is an art. So it's how you attract. How you retain the right relationships and the transformation. They're going to have because they've got a relationship with you. Now, in my mind. And you brought up an interesting point, Daniel. In my mind, I was an extrovert. Well, when I met the lady that I was mentioning that I ended up getting married to, she. Sort of like beg to differ with me. And she said, you know, you're really not an extrovert. You're an introvert. And then I was listening to Ivan Meissner one time, who was the founder of BMI, and he had the same kind of communication with his wife. And she told him that, again, he wasn't an extrovert, he was an introvert. But because of the situation and circumstances, you know, he was what you would look at as a situational extrovert.

Robert Butwin:
He learned how to ask the right questions. And that's really part of the key to networking, learning how to, number one, ask the right questions because in networking and I love acronyms, I look at USC now that's not the college in Southern California, but it means understanding who you're speaking with. So I want to know what they do, what they're doing, what their intentions of what they want to actually create. So I'm understanding them then, as as you pointed out earlier in our conversation, is be of service, figure out what you can do to help them. One of the key aspects of networking is sort of like opening a bank account. You need to make deposits before you can make withdrawals. So figure out how you can focus on being a value, a trusted advisor. You know, you probably heard the expression know like and trust. It's not know like and trust or that's not what you really want. It's no love and trust. You want people to be in love with who you are based on the fact that you're a trusted advisor there to serve them. And the C is connect from human to human and focus on collaborations, not transactions. And if you do that properly, transactions will happen over a period of time or referrals or if nothing else. After you've gotten through a conversation with somebody, you're going to feel good because you know that you showed up and gave him or them massive value.

Daniel Aaron:
Beautiful. That's that's awesome. You know, and one of the things that came to mind when you were sharing that, Robert, is I made a study years ago of leadership. I never thought about leadership my whole life. And then because I wanted to do something and then it grew. And I was running some events. You know, one day I looked up and I said, Oh, man, I'm in a position of leadership. So I was like, okay, I better study about this and learn about it. And one of the lines that just so struck me from that, I think it was John Maxwell said, actually it might have been Theodore Roosevelt. I don't know. It was somebody. And and he had names, two names. It was a man. And he said, nobody cares what you know until they know how much you care. Right. And that's a lot of what I hear you sharing there, which, you know, like when I had the first perception of. Of networking. It was not about caring, you know, And it's similar like there's so many misconceptions about business. There's often the conception that sales is about getting something from somebody you know, and I know from from my own work in the coaching world over the last many years that like, I want to meet someone and find out what do they need, what's going on with them, Can I even be of service with to them, you know, and that's also what I hear you saying. It's like you're never going to like a doctor is never going to give a diagnosis until they hear what's actually going on. They're not going to prescribe something until they understand. So. And I remember when I did start reframing what network was, then I came across Robert Kiyosaki's liner saying that, you know, network marketing is the business of the future. And and I think he caught some flak for that. And I had to dig into it a little bit to understand what it is. And I think there was there's a lot of brilliance to that. So. What would you say in terms of, you know, like the misunderstandings around network marketing? And what do you think Robert meant by that?

Robert Butwin:
Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what he meant, but I agree with that whole thing because I'm in the Hall of Fame. I'm very pro MLM or network marketing. I believe that if people really understood this way of doing business, everybody would be involved in this kind of business. Now they're not, you know, I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly of network marketing or MLM. Um, but really it's an affiliate program that most network marketing companies today are what I call a hybrid. It's like they're a cross between the kind of car that takes gasoline and is electric and their hybrid. It's really about customer acquisition. We've we've known of affiliate programs for a long time. You know, for example, Amazon started off as an affiliate. Most of your airlines or credit card companies have got an affiliate that is linked with them. If you if you recognize it and want to take advantage of it. So based on technology and everything else like this, again, it's more of a hybrid. It's more of an affiliate with a leveraged back end. Now, part of the reason why it got a negative. Perception is because a lot of people were just, you know, number one, making ridiculous claims and just trying to focus people on doing the business. Part of the myth in MLM or network marketing is the fact that most people think if I get you involved that you're going to be there working for me. That's a myth. The reality is, if I get you involved because you say that you are looking for something better in your life and to me is the stands for making life meaningful. But I get you involved in an MLM company. I'm actually there working for you. You're not working for me because what I'm really looking for is more of your time, energy and effort. Jim Rohn probably said it the best if people believe the promise. Don't pay the price. The price is getting out of their comfort level, talking to people that they might not know, which is contrary to our programing. Because my guess is, Danny, you grew up you your your parents probably taught you something very similar to what mine taught me. Don't talk to strangers. Now I'm going to tell you, you can make a fortune by turning strangers into friends. That's how you and I originally met. We showed up at a networking event. You know, the magic happens when you do the one on one. Most people are, you know, because they're too focused on transactions rather than collaborations. They're not branding themselves through branding something else. You know, people need to be branding who they are, not the fact that they're selling this or working with this company. So but again, if in my opinion, if people really understood this kind of profession, everybody would be involved in it.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah. Beautiful. And I'm with you. I feel like there's so much in the world and network marketing MLM is a great example of it where people have a misunderstanding or a small part of the picture and so make a judgment about it. I remember a couple of years ago, and I'm still repeating this frequently, the quotation from Einstein condemnation without investigation is the purest form of ignorance, you know? And it's so easy for any of us and not to blame. And it's understandable if we have one negative experience or get some kind of association and then we don't we don't say, well, wait a minute, what was really going on with that was, you know, were they in a bad mood or was that a misunderstanding or, you know, so to be able to look at things and really investigate and find out and consider for ourselves is so valuable. So I'll take that actually as a as a Segway into another one. And I'll preface this a little bit because part of what I'm looking at right now, because I've been for me in my life, I've had one foot in the world of consciousness, spirituality. You know, when I was in my early 20s, I really had a hippie orientation. And I love some of the values that that we associate with the 60s and the hippie values. But I've always had another part of me that's been entrepreneurial and business minded and understanding value. And right now here in on Maui, right as people are processing the the grief and the challenge in so many different ways, you know, one of the ways that people are some people are looking at what's going on is they're saying, well, they're blaming and they're saying it's because of these big entities and the corporations and greed. And, you know, and there may be truth to all of that. I'm not here to debate that. But but I often see that there are people that don't have. Resources that get upset about people that do and think that somehow that's the enemy. And, you know, and I know you came from a family where there was business success and wealth, right? And you left that in some way and you created your own success in business and created yourself to be affluent. Yet I also know you to be someone who's extremely caring, which we've already seen here. You know, you're about relationships and adding value, and you're a man who has a very strong spiritual base. What would you say in terms of the relationship between financial abundance and and vibrant living and caring in the world? Does that make sense?

Robert Butwin:
Yeah, of course it makes sense. I mean, a lot of everything is based on your balance and your perspective, no matter what it is that we're doing. You know, I see a lot of people that however they come, you know, attract wealth. They misuse what they could be using that for. You know. One of the things that you mentioned and one of the mistakes that I see most people are making. Is there too focused on the differences rather than the similarities? Us as human beings, because that's really what it all comes down to. There's a lot more similarities than differences. You know, to me. I like to get rid of judgment and I like to take a look at what I can do to be a value to other beings, because, again, it's appropriate that we're talking about this right now. And let me explain why we all have to be days. A birthday in a box. Take the time. And in between those two days is a dash. And why it's appropriate for me to start talking about this right now is my mom in the last 710 days just passed away. And I take a look at because she had a lot of money and I take a look at what are the people that really knew her. Thinking about her. And the people that I know that really know her are not thinking positively, the majority of them. Now. That's sort of guided me in the way it's sort of guided me as I take a look at my purpose and as it relates to what I'm passionate about. It's how can I live a life of meaning based on making a true positive impact in as many people as we can. That's one of the reasons why I think that we really get along so well, Daniel, because I know that's a lot about what you're about. You know, you're focused on making positive impact on other people. So, you know. That would be how I would respond. As it relates to what you just taught. What you're talking about.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah. Beautiful. Thank you. And, you know, and I think it's worth mentioning, since you brought up your your mom and, you know, and I guess, yeah, seven, ten days ago and something that I think is, you know, a credit to you and an example for all of us. Like, I invited you to be a guest on this show. You know, I knew you'd bring great value to the show and you said yes right away to it saying, Yeah, I can I can show up and deliver. And it happens to be on the day of your, you know, day of your anniversary. So we'll make sure we end right on time. Right. And I called you up last week to talk about something related to what I needed from you for the show or something like that. And right away, you answered the phone. I said, How you're doing? And and, you know, amazingly, part of what you said is, you know, I'm doing okay. I'm doing great. And my mom just died. Right. You know, And that's such a huge thing. So what do you think? Is it in you that gives you that ability to, you know, to to be with life's challenges, to be with life's up and down ups and downs, yet always be, you know, so radiant, so alive, so positive.

Robert Butwin:
Well, first of all, it's coming to the realization there's always going to be ups and downs. It's how you react to them. One of the things I learned a while back, life doesn't happen to you. It happens for you. There's always a silver lining, so to speak. And the other part of it, because I really believe in self-talk and, you know, the things that how you communicate and express yourself to other people. And we sort of reflect back when I was listening to Dr. not Dr. Michael Gerber, when he came across the you know, he wrote the book The E-Myth and then the E-Myth revisited, and he talks about 4 to 5 entrepreneurs are going to fail in the first five years. And he goes on and says, You know, of the 20% that make it five years, don't breathe a sigh of relief because the 4 to 5 of you are going to fail in the next five years. And I'm listening to my self-talk. And my self-talk was not me. Failure was not an option. I knew that as I went through the journey and Sweetland Sweetland talks about success as the journey, not the destination. So I knew that as I'm continually out in these unchartered waters that I was going to be taking, that I'm going to have different experiences. And one of my mentors used to say, experience is what you get when you don't get what you want. So it's like, do you allow an experience to stop you from accomplishing the things that you want, or do you use it as a stepping stone? Then my real first in life mentor. Would tell me. Attitude of gratitude. You've got to be grateful for where you are as you're going to where you deserve to be. See, the mind works faster. Then reality and the processes that you go through to have the breakthroughs that you're going to have are going to serve you. And the example is like, if you're ever watching a chicken trying to get out of an egg as they're looking to boring, I mean, the natural tendency is to help them. But if you do, you're going to make them weaker and they might not even survive. So it's understanding everything that I'm going to go through as I'm going to be mentoring other people. I can look them in the eyes. Speak from the heart. Be empathetic. And number one, relate and then give them hope, because really what hope is helping other people elevate? That's you know, in reality what we're really offering other people being there to help them realize that what they're dealing will serve them and that they're going to break through and you're there to help them break through.

Daniel Aaron:
That's beautiful, Robert. You. You know, you've got you've got some very helpful and catchy phrases, ways of understanding things. And I can see that that is wisdom that you have garnered over many years. You said something in the midst of that beautiful response about about your self-talk. And I want to go back to that for a minute because something I'm working with one of my coaches on right now is, you know, I'm in the process of creating a new level to my way of being in the world. I'm recreating myself every day, all the time. And so as I'm taking a step back and doing that in a more conscious way right now, part of what I'm aware of and what comes up is I say, what are my own judgments of myself? What are the ways that I tend to criticize myself, you know, and I've been I've been in personal and spiritual development, like obsessed for 25 years. And I'm still as I go to this next level, I'm finding, oh, look at that. I'm I'm punishing myself, I'm judging myself, I'm criticizing myself for things and, you know, and then doing my best to meet those things with love and let them go and recreate myself. But, you know, did you, you know, with the positive self-talk that you have, is that something you've always had or, you know, did you did you change that? And how do you work with that? What can you tell people about that who resonate with what I'm saying?

Robert Butwin:
Sure. Um, number one, I recognize that the first key in any kind of change is recognizing the reality. So once I recognize the impact of self-talk and I'm not going to tell you that I just went from recognizing it to mastering it because I did it because quite often people are talking about having certain goals and I will be making X dollars. I will be doing this. Well, if that's your self-talk. You'll always be in the state of doing not getting there. So sometimes you need to shift and evolve. So it might be something like, I am prosperous and abundant. I am. This the two most powerful words in your self-talk? Our. I am. And you're stating into acknowledging what you know, who you are and what you are not the fact that you will be making X, you will be doing this. I will be losing ten, 10 pounds, 15 pounds, whatever it is. You know, I am perfectly fit and abundant and, you know, so the more that you start understanding and studying and listening to or however you are able to come across the right information, you're going to modify what you do to make it work more impactful and effective for you.

Daniel Aaron:
That's awesome. That's awesome. Well. All right. So there's a good transition to something else that I've been eager to get your perspective on. You know, there's a saying that goes around in the network marketing world that what really what network marketing is really about and people that get involved in succeed, they succeed because they really start to develop themselves, that it's a great vehicle for for personal development or personal growth. So, you know, is has that is that your experience of it? And how does how does your work relate to personal growth?

Robert Butwin:
Well, I'm a very strong advocate of personal growth. That's what changed me. You know, Jim Rohn used to say, I don't wish things were easy or wish that you were better. And many people have talked about the fact that network marketing is really about personal growth. And, you know, I quite often tell people when I started, because I started in the 80s became full time, September 7th, 1990, I've never worked a job psychologically unemployable, as my good friend Jeffrey Jeffrey Combs coined that phraseology. Um, but, you know, the, you know, basically it's the person I became because of the process. That I went went through and so I had to change it. But so when I started back many years ago, I spent a lot of money into attending the events, buying the books, buying the cassettes and the CDs along the process today, if you know where to find it. You can get it for free. You can go to YouTube and for example, in Google, Jim Rowan, take charge of your life, who to me is one of the best out there as far as overall business philosophy. I mean, think about it. He was Tony Robbins mentor. Herbalife paid him, gave him $1 million a year raise more than he was already making. I don't know how much he was making at the time, but they paid him $1 million a year more not to speak in front of any other network marketing company. So, you know, there's a reason why people quite often settle, you know, whatever whatever baggage they might be holding on to, the patterns that they're in, you know, that they've allowed to exist. In their life. And so one of the things I talked about in my book, you want to create interdependent, not codependent relationships. So it's helping, you know, it's helping people evolve and shift consciousness. One of the things I learned a long time ago, if you build people. People build businesses. So again. My experience is personal growth is very important no matter what you as it relates to the changes that you should or want to make to create the kind of results that you want in your life.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah, well, I completely agree with you. And I'm curious then. And you may not not have any answer to this. I don't know. But you pointed to something fascinating, like for you when you when you were kind of growing up in this world, you had to go out and spend some bucks on getting the resources, you know, cassette tapes. And I remember buying cassette tapes, too, in this world. And and I tallied it up recently and I spent I think I spent almost three quarters of $1 million now on personal development and coaches for myself, which I'm thrilled about. And you're so right, though. Like these days, the resources are there. I mean, to be able to watch an old clip of Earl Nightingale or Jim Rohn like people I mean, people had to travel for, you know, thousands of miles to be able to see that before. And now it's all there. What do you think? Like, what makes the difference? Why do some people value that? And it's not just about the money. Of course, putting money in is one way that we tend to value things or our measure of it. But why do some people just naturally go to that and say, I'm going to develop myself? Like like that quotation you said, You know, don't wish for things to get better, Make yourself better. Why do some people go for it and some people, you know, not seem to get there?

Robert Butwin:
You know, some people just get in the habit of settling. You know, living an okay life. Other people have some kind of defining moment, whatever that might be in their life. And, you know, come to the realization there's something more. You know, one of the ones one of the movies I love to point to. Which is The Lion King, because I think it's a perfect example. You know, there's different ways that fear shows up in our lives. And there's three different acronyms of fear. And the first one happened when Simba, you know, the king of Mufasa's. You know, I think. The son of Mufasa, who is going to ultimately be one day the king of the jungle. You know, somehow he felt that, you know, he was responsible because his uncle sort of like tricked him to the death of his father. So that's false evidence appearing real. The next acronym of Fear is f everything and Run. And that's what he did. He didn't want to deal with it. And this is quite often where other people, they're not taking responsibility. They're willing to settle there. They're willing to live in okay life rather than an exceptional life. So that's what he did. The second acronym of Fear. And all of a sudden, there was a scene in the movie where his father came back from the hereafter as he was looking in this puddle, as he had been sort of like kicking back and just existing. And this is where a lot of people are. And his father said, Son. You are more than you have become. And so the third acronym of Fear is Face Everything and Rise. And so what he did is he went back and confronted his uncle and took back the kingdom that he was born, the rights that he was born into. So, you know, that would be the way I would look at it. People get in the habit of settling. You know, sometimes there's that defining moment that says enough is enough. I mean, Jim Rohn, one example, because we mentioned a couple of times he caught himself lying to a Girl Scout. You know, she came soliciting to sell her to sell him Girl Scout cookies. And rather than telling her the truth, he said, I've already bought some. That was one of his defining moments. But it's recognizing those defining moments and saying enough is enough.

Daniel Aaron:
Well, that's. That's awesome. There's a lot of richness in there. And somehow when you mentioned fear, I was on the edge of my seat thinking, Robert's got to have some acronyms for this. Come on, I know it's going to be there. And. And the first two that you gave, I knew, but that was the first time I'd heard that third one. Face everything and rise. That's brilliant. And, you know, and I love that you mentioned The Lion King because I got touched, as you were saying, that I remember taking my daughter to see the the live show in Singapore. She was probably a little bit too young because I remember we were sitting in the front row and a couple times she's like jumps back like this. I was like, okay, it's okay. It's okay. We can deal with our fear here, too. It's all right. And what you said about Jim Robert, I didn't know that particular story, which is which is cool. I think, though, let's let's tease out a little bit more there because, yeah, that was a defining moment for him that he caught himself in that lie. But clearly it wasn't just that he caught himself in that lie. Right? He must have in the way I would phrase it is he must have restored integrity. He must have done something to fix that or clean it up. Is that does that make sense?

Robert Butwin:
You know, it definitely makes sense. I mean, he obviously had clarity of his reality. He was committed, you know, again, like a lot of sees, he was committed to make the changes necessary. He had the confidence to make, you know, changes. Again, lots of sees. He realized he had to make different choices and other see and he needed to be congruent. Another see with what he said and what he did and that led him to the last C, which is certainty of the results that he ended up accomplishing because he was willing to pay the price.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah. Thank you. That's really nicely said. And. You know, I think that that that is a superpower to be able to to admit that we've made mistakes. Right. And it's another one that I see right now in the current situation on here on Maui. Like, again, one of the ways that people process grief is to blame others. And one of the ways that people respond is by avoiding responsibility. Nobody wants to feel responsible for everything. Yet when we take, you know, even if it's something as seemingly small as catching ourselves in a lie, saying, I bought Girl Scout cookies already, when there's no purpose, Right. There's no reason he had to say that. He could have just said no, thank you. Um, that that when we're able to do that and step back and be committed to being more, that's a superpower, right? So do you have any, um, any examples in your, in your own life, Robert where you, where you struggled with something or, you know, you were kind of up against it and then you ended up learning something and rising up higher.

Robert Butwin:
You know, we all have challenges. And I look at challenges as making me stronger and. You know, I've been stabbed in the back and I could go into that, you know. But the point is, it's not how or what. It's how you process that process, is it? Meaning that life isn't happening to me. It's happening for me. So have I had challenges? Yes. But my mindset is always there. It's my mindset, and a lot of that is because of the foundation. From the personal growth. That I've done and the fact that I can see certainty and I know no matter what comes my way, I don't care what it is that I'm going to figure out how to go either over it, around it, through it, under it, whatever the case is. So, I mean, yeah, I'm human. I have challenges because I'm not sitting still. I mean, I've been stabbed and. I believe it makes me a stronger person. And so that's how you. The things that happen to you. And, you know, you take a look at a negative, for example. And, you know, Zig Ziglar used to say at the best turn lemons into lemonade. A negative is a horizontal line. So how do you make a negative? A positive? Draw a vertical line through it. Now you've got the positive side. So it's like, okay, this is happening to me, you know, or it's not happening to me, but it's happening for me. And how do I make the best out of my situation?

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah. Nice. Beautifully said. All right, cool. Well, you know, I know time is flying along for all of us, including your exciting dinner out with your bride today. And I have a feeling that you. You've created something. A gift for our audience. Is that true?

Robert Butwin:
I've definitely created a gift for the audience. It's got a value of $1,000. It's not going to cost you any money. And that's 30 minutes with me that I will open up my vault. I've opened it up to you, which I know that you've found some value there. Plus, I'm going to understand going back to what I mentioned earlier, which is understanding whatever's going on in your life, you know, there are very few things that somebody else is going to say to me that I'm not going to be able to figure out how to relate with it, how to give you a couple of different ideas of what you might want to do to take things to the next level. So I can give you my calendar link or you can put it in the chat, whichever is going to be the best. But all you have to do is actually let me give it make it easier. Let me give you a number. And you just all you have to do, because chances are you're watching this on your iPhone. So if you text. Win, win. All small letters. Get. My name is Robert Button. With Robert, you do nothing but win. So if you text win. 27078709474 again. (707) 870-9474. Text win and mention Yo, put the name Daniel. So that I know you know where you where you heard me talk, you know where you're coming from. And then I'm happy to talk to you about anything or anything that you want to talk about as it relates to the things that are happening in your life. And you know how I can help you as a, you know, take. Whatever's going on to the next level. Create whatever breakthrough you might need or want. You know, that's what changed my life, listening to other people that I respected and that. I trusted. And I knew that they knew what they were talking about.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah, that's that's really nicely said. So I just put that, that number in the on the screen there and in the chat. So whatever avenue y'all are tuning in, whatever platform you're tuning in from live or by rebroadcast, you've got it there. And you know, to me that's been, I think, one of the greatest lessons in my life. And whatever success I've been able to create in my life, you know, I mentioned leadership earlier and I don't feel like by any means I'm a great leader or a natural leader, though somehow I've had the the clarity, wisdom or humility or all of that to know that I become a better person when I reach out to others, especially ones that have experience or success or knowledge that I don't have. And, you know, to have your many, many years, you know, Hall of Fame networking experience, there, it's a really generous gift. Robert, So I appreciate that you're offering that to people and I encourage people to take you up on it, you know, and it it's we always become more by who we associate with. So awesome. Thank you for that. Go ahead. You were going to say something else.

Robert Butwin:
Let me make one quick comment. When you and I had our one on one, one of the people I introduced you to, because sometimes it's just that connection and we were talking about him earlier, Tony, and think of the impact that Tony, you know, had because of I opened that door for you. So. Yes.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah. And it's, you know, it's I think part of the wisdom of that, too, is especially for, you know, I know some of us, some of our audience will be listening and saying, you know, I'm I'm feeling a little stuck or or even I'm hurting with something right now. And to to say yes to the opportunity, whatever it is that the one that's in front of us to say, yes, we never know where that's going to lead. Right. And absolutely. You know, you introduced me to Tony and Tony's introduced me to other people. And every every step leads us forward when when we say yes to life, when we say, let's see, let's let's play with it, that's fantastic.

Robert Butwin:
You know, as you're saying that, you know, it reminds me of and it's so relevant to what everything that we're talking about. There was an actual movie and it was called Yes. With Jim Carrey, you know. Did you ever watch that?

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah. Actually, I'll interrupt you for a second to say this, because years ago, one of my teachers who was like an extreme extreme, some people called him an enlightened teacher. He wouldn't call himself that. But one of the things he did is in the late 70s, no, late 60s, he was from the UK. He moved to the US and he was like ruthlessly developed, ruthlessly devoted to his own evolution. And on his own he decided to make an experiment to say yes to everything that everybody asked him. And so he did this for three months and he was living in San Francisco at the time. And he talked about how challenging it was because he'd be, you know, going into work one day and then someone would say to him, Hey, would you like to come over for dinner tonight? Well, yes. And then, you know, he'd meet somebody on the street and they'd say, Hey, would you like to give me some money? And said, Well, yes. And he'd given them money. And then a little while later somebody else would say, Hey, would you help me move my furniture tonight and say, yes? But he'd already said yes to this person. So I remember really well when that movie came out with Jim Carrey, because, you know, for those of us that have been with that teacher, we were like, Oh, look, it's his movie and what a brilliant movie. And, you know, and Jim Carrey, a resident or a part time resident of Maui, played it so well. So sorry. I got excited, too. But yes, it was an amazing movie. Were you going to say more about it?

Robert Butwin:
Yeah. I mean, you you put the finale on what I hope the door that I open, let's put it that way.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah. And it's it is such a powerful thing. And I joke about it often when I'm working with people like, you know, just if we're doing physical stuff or yoga or anything like, yeah, you know, move around and move your head and, you know, shake your head no and feel what that's like because you're saying no to life, no to opportunity. And then say, you know, nod your head a bit. And that's saying yes to life. And that goes right back to what you said before about, you know, life is happening for us, not to us. And if we can take what's coming and say, yes, okay, that's the reality of it. That's the way it's showing up right now. And even if we're, you know, going back to what we talked about earlier, judging ourselves or having some negative self-talk, if we can start by saying, oh, look at that, I'm beating myself up. Okay, well, now that I'm aware of that, now that I'm realizing that admitting it, what else do I want to choose? Because we can't get anywhere else by saying no. Yeah.

Robert Butwin:
Great point. Sometimes a simple change as it relates to the way you think of what you're doing is all the difference to get you from okay to greatness. Let me give you another example. You are here wherever you are. Now, if you want to get there, wherever there is for you, what's the difference from here to there? The letter T in front of here. So sometimes some kind of simple change, Like instead of saying no, say yes, change the thinking, change of action, understand the habits that you've gotten into that are not. Allowing you to create the greatness that you're destined to create. And it starts with the knowingness that there's something more out there for you.

Daniel Aaron:
Beautifully said. Yeah, there's that great line attributed to the Buddha that in order to become who you really are, you have to let go of who you've been. Right. And and part of why I don't like the word enlightenment or enlightened is because it implies there's some termination point, some before and after, some off and on, when really what life is about is becoming more and more true to who we really are all the time, which is infinity. Infinite possibility. Yeah.

Robert Butwin:
Let me expand upon that, because you just hit another really key point. There's so much misinformation. In the marketplace. That virtually the one thing that almost anybody and everybody that I talk to can agree upon is that we know that we don't know the truth. So when you're talking about enlightenment, you know, it needs people like you, Daniel, like myself that are bringing the light to the world. Because again, there is so much misinformation. And I could talk about all these different lightning rods, but we all know what they are. So we don't need to be specific on one or another, but they need people that are conscious. Human beings like you are Daniel, that are helping people, helping people shift their false beliefs so they can become more effective and productive in the world.

Daniel Aaron:
Beautifully said. Thank you, Robert. We are coming up against the top of the hour soon, so I got two last questions for you. One is the big final question before I get to that. You know, you've generously offered people a way of contacting you, a gift to connect with you. And let's let's pop that back up on the screen here, how people can reach you. And aside from that, if somebody is for whatever reason, I was going to say crazy enough not to take up on that event, but you never know what's going on for people if they aren't ready for that or don't want to take advantage of that right now. How else can people tune in to what you are doing in the world?

Robert Butwin:
Every Thursday I'm due. I've got a room on clubhouse. It's under the grand landing, Big whales. And we talk about how to prosper and questionable times. The reason I picked that title and Jim Feldman, who's $1 billion marketer I've mentioned before, he's a he's amazing. He's going to normally be with me, plus a lot of other enlightened, high quality human beings sharing different ideas and perspectives of what other people could prosper. But the reason I picked that title is because most people are always going to have questionable times. Our objective is to help them get more clarity so that they don't have to deal with questionable times. So that would be one way. The other thing, you could just send me an email or go to Google, search my name. There'll be a way. You'll find out where I am, but my email is butlin at gmail.com. Or you can go to YouTube and put my name in Robert Butlin and search me there. I'm pretty easy to find and that's all organic growth at this point. Someday I'm going to shift my consciousness and actually start really taking more of a proactive, you know, promoting myself.

Daniel Aaron:
Nice. Okay, great. So various ways people can get in touch with you. Awesome. I'm so grateful that you've been with us so far, Robert. Would it be okay? Are you ready for me to ask you the big final question?

Robert Butwin:
You know, my response is, if you've watched the movie Rudy, as he ran out of the tunnel to play in his first or last Notre Dame game, I was born ready.

Daniel Aaron:
Awesome. All right, cool. Well, so, you know, given we've talked about so much and you've shared so much wisdom and so many brilliant acronyms, right. That I'm going to have to rewatch the show and write all of them down myself. All that said, for our audience, for the viewers, for wherever people are in their life right now, and knowing that what this show is all about is helping people to create, live and enjoy vibrant, thriving lives. What would you say is the number one most important thing people can do or not do in order to create their vibrant, thriving life?

Robert Butwin:
Well, first of all, I'm not going to focus on the not too I'm going to focus on the do. And here's the key aspect of everything. It doesn't matter where you start in life. Or where you are now. The keys are the direction you're headed. Now, you can always change your direction. But where you choose to end up. Life is about the choices that we make. So you can always. You can always make the choice to shift directions. I've had to do it a couple of different times because, again, you you create you are responsible for the narrative of the movie that you're going to create for your own life.

Daniel Aaron:
Choice. It's all about choice. It doesn't matter where you started or even where you are. It's about where you want to go. So nicely said, Robert. Thank you. Well, I think I think with that as a beautiful conclusion, dot on the exclamation of all this brilliance that you've brought us here, Robert, we will wrap up. So again, thank you for being with us today and all that you're doing in the world. And for you all the viewers and listeners, thank you for not only for tuning in, but, you know, if you've invested this time with us, I know that that means like Robert focuses on the doing. You're not just thinking about creating a vibrant life. You're doing something about it. You're investing in yourself. You're learning and and, you know, and that's a beautiful thing. So I'm super grateful that you tuned in, that you've given us your attention, that you're devoted to that. And we will see you again on the next show next week. Thanks for tuning in, y'all. Mahalo for tuning in to the Art of Vibrant Living show, y'all. I'm Daniel Aaron and may you live with great vibrancy.

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