Driving Uber Eats at 2AM to $450k+ a Year | Adetayo Ibijemilusi
81 min
•Jul 15, 20263 days agoSummary
Adetayo Ibijemilusi shares his journey from suicidal ideation and college dropout to building a $450k+ annual income through AWS cloud engineering and launching 1% University, a coaching program teaching tech professionals how to leverage skills for higher earnings with less work.
Insights
- Alignment before acceleration is critical—internal dysfunction and misalignment prevent sustainable scaling; Tayo's success came from resolving personal worth issues and spiritual alignment before building his business
- Leverage and return on time (ROT) are more valuable than raw income; solving high-value problems for companies through cloud engineering delivers 6-figure solutions regardless of hours worked
- Mentorship collapses learning curves by years and delivers 25x+ ROI; selective mentor investment based on intention, proof of client results, and skill alignment is a cheat code for entrepreneurs
- AI adoption is now a competitive necessity—people who master AI tools will replace those who don't; 70% of business opportunity cost comes from not leveraging AI for automation and value creation
- Serving first with authentic intention (not guilt or ego) creates abundance; when motivation shifts from proving worth to genuinely helping others, financial and spiritual returns multiply
Trends
Cloud engineering and AWS certifications becoming primary path to 6-figure tech income, replacing traditional software engineering rolesJob stacking ethically through C2C contracts and consulting businesses as viable income multiplication strategy in tech sectorSpiritual and faith-based business leadership gaining prominence among high-performing entrepreneurs as differentiator from secular business modelsAI automation enabling solo operators and small teams to deliver enterprise-level solutions with minimal time investmentMentorship and coaching becoming high-ticket B2B service with 1000x+ ROI expectations, shifting from low-cost digital productsReturn on Time (ROT) emerging as more important metric than ROI for lifestyle-focused entrepreneurs and business ownersPersonal alignment and identity work becoming prerequisite for sustainable business scaling, not afterthoughtNon-compete agreement navigation and ethical multi-job strategies becoming normalized discussion in tech recruitingGenerational wealth building through business systems designed to last multiple generations, not just personal income maximization
Topics
AWS Cloud Engineering Career PathJob Stacking and Multi-Contract Income StrategyMentorship Selection and ROI EvaluationAI Automation in Business OperationsSpiritual Alignment and Business LeadershipReturn on Time vs Return on InvestmentPersonal Brand Building for Tech ProfessionalsLeverage and Income MultiplicationCoaching Business Model and Program DesignNon-Compete Agreements and Ethical EmploymentSuicidal Ideation Recovery and Mental HealthNigerian-American Identity and Family ExpectationsPresence Practice and Journaling for Decision-MakingC2C Contracting vs W2 EmploymentGenerational Wealth and Family Legacy Building
Companies
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Primary cloud platform and certification focus for Tayo's cloud engineering program and income strategy
Uber Eats
Gig work platform Tayo used to earn $10/hour while holding IT degree and certifications before pivoting to cloud engi...
Frostbrook State University
University where Tayo graduated with IT degree in December 2019 after switching majors multiple times
1% University
Tayo's coaching program teaching AWS cloud engineering, personal branding, and sales skills to tech professionals
Bob Evans
Restaurant where Tayo worked his first job as a server before transitioning to tech
People
Adetayo Ibijemilusi
Guest sharing journey from $45k to $489k income through AWS cloud engineering and coaching program launch
Stephen Scoggins
Podcast host conducting interview and sharing parallel insights on alignment, leadership, and business scaling
Robert Kiyosaki
Author of Rich Dad Poor Dad and Retire Young Retire Rich; books pivotal to Tayo's mindset shift on leverage and wealth
Myron Golden
YouTube creator whose content on leverage and multiplier output influenced Tayo's business philosophy
Rory Vaden
Author of Take the Stairs; introduced concept of Return on Time (ROT) that Tayo applies to business decisions
Alex Hormozi
Referenced as comparable success figure in Tayo's industry; Scoggins compares Tayo to him as emerging leader
Sean Polites
Mutual connection of both Scoggins and Tayo; real estate investor and A&E 50/50 flip business operator
Stormy
1% University student with high school diploma earning $321k through cloud engineering and job stacking
Quotes
"Wealthy people understand this one word very well and they implement it and they live by it: how can I make more money and work less?"
Adetayo Ibijemilusi•~25:00
"I was playing the wrong game and I needed to learn skills that can actually solve problems at a higher level in a way that because there's different problems based on the level of problem that you solve. That's how you're compensated in the marketplace."
Adetayo Ibijemilusi•~28:00
"You can't scale dysfunction. That's our core belief, right? And we see chaos as a spiritual principality at this stage in the game."
Stephen Scoggins•~55:00
"God's kingdom builds businesses like crock pots. The devil's business builds people, builds businesses like microwaves."
Stephen Scoggins•~56:00
"If you're able to take God's wisdom, that is the highest form of wisdom. Intentionally seeking wisdom from God, not only through his word, but even from speaking to him, actually having conversations with him, hearing him speak back to you in a very still place."
Adetayo Ibijemilusi•~85:00
Full Transcript
There was like a sea of homeless people and it kind of triggered something in me. I'm naturally empathetic. And so I told myself I'm going to make a difference. I felt worthless. It was like I wanted to, you know, I want I wanted my parents to be proud of me. And it was it was really, really tough. I was depressed. And a week later, after I dropped out, you know, I attempted to commit suicide. You know, before I passed out, I don't know if I was about to pass out, but I heard a voice and it said, it's not your time. wealthy people understand this one word very well and they implement it and they live by it how can i make more money and work less myron golden talked about this about a couple of weeks ago in one of his youtube videos but he says how can i get a multiplier output with minimum minimum input after reading that i said let me go ahead and look for a skill set that can make me more money and work less i did some research and that's when i came across I think that if you're able to take God's wisdom, that is the highest form of wisdom. I think just it's nothing specific, but intentionally seeking wisdom from God, not only through his word, but even from speaking to him, actually having conversations with him, hearing him speak back to you in a very still place. And before I started my program, I asked God, this is what I want. I don't want to live a life where I'm doing something and it's not what I'm destined to do. Yeah, this is what I want. What do you want? And I always pray, if this is for me, give me signs and make it so obvious that I'm not going to miss the sign. Yeah. Hey, guys, welcome back to One Part Lion, One Part Lamb, helping you rise, lead, and last the integrated way. As you know, I've been saying this for weeks now. We are super stoked because we're bringing you real leaders who are really doing the work, who are really building the things, who are really also operating within themselves what it means to become one part lion, one part lamb. I thought for this week, rather than bringing someone who's already built a bazillion dollar company. Don't get me wrong. This guy is super successful. We'll talk about that. I would bring you someone who's actually already, who's still right now building, growing, looking at different ways to create better infrastructure, looking at ways to systematize, looking at ways to build great teams, looking at everything that's really needed to build a sustainable organization. Right? This is the next level. So, guys, please help me welcome the one and only, Taya Lucy. What's going on, brother? I'm pretty good. How's it going on your end? Dude, I'm super stoked, man. It's funny. We were just chatting off camera with one of the other guests that had been on the show earlier. I'm going to go ahead and call it now. Okay? I believe you're the Alex Formosie for your industry Wow I really do I've never heard that one I really do I guarantee our mutual friend Sean is going to clip that in a heartbeat You know, but Before we get into being the founder and the CEO Of the 1% University I want to understand more about you Because we got a chance to start Chit-chatting over here before we hopped on air And I was like, no, don't waste it. Don't waste it. The reason I want to start with your origin story a little bit and what you have walked through or what you've been carried through. That's a good way to put it. That's true. That's more accurate. I want business leaders to understand more than anything else that their current present or their past past does not define or come remotely defining to their future. Agreed. um and sometimes the best way to do that is to share the story right and not the success so we get to celebrate achievement and accolades and stuff all the time you've been uber successful you're continuing to grow your row as is ridiculous right um you know stuff we can jam about off air yeah um but you know i i i don't want to be i don't want to have the show that focuses only on the highlight reel yeah yeah right i want to be a show that focuses on the reel yeah yeah so would So would you like introduce us to your reel? Of course. Before we get into the highlight reel? So those of you who are listening, my name is Tayo. Full name is Adetayo Ibijama Lucy. I go by Tayo Lucy for short. And I'm really glad you brought that up in terms of, you know, the trials and tribulations. Because, you know, in my perspective, that's where the gold is. You know, that's where you learn the lessons. That's where you have to overcome challenges and become a new person that's needed to actually attract the things that you want in life. And so, you know, I want to take it back to 2014. I was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, and my parents are Nigerian. I'm Nigerian, too, as well. They came to America in the 70s, and they always told me about how Nigeria was. they used to have to walk miles to go get water and bring it back and use it to cook, bathe. And they would sing it to me every day. I'm just like, you guys are just talking like you guys are annoying. And so, you know, 2014, they took us to Nigeria for the first time. And they took us to the nice places like, you know, Beverly Hills, like the nice spots of California. And it's very beautiful down there. Like very, very beautiful. Yeah, the weather's incredible. Yeah, literally. And then they showed us, they took us to where they came from, which was the village. And in between, you know, the nice spot and the village in between, I will never forget it. There was like a sea of homeless people. Elderly, middle-aged and little kids. The elderly people, it's like they were just on the side of the road, just waiting to die, lifeless. you know, middle age, they were just walking the kids. They were smiling, running up to the cars with, you know, bruises, and they didn't even know they were in poverty. And it kind of triggered something in me. I'm naturally empathetic. And so I told myself, I'm going to make a difference. You know, I was blessed enough to be born in America, you know, have a lot of opportunities that, you know, unfortunately, some people don't have. So I told myself that day, I'm going to impact a lot of lives in Nigeria. Now it's other thorough countries worldwide, but you know, I'm saying this to say, well, that was a very pivotal moment in my life because it just naturally called me to serve. And so fast forward in 2015, I was in nursing school. I wanted to be a nurse because I like to help people. I had dropped out of nursing school on the third day. Okay Yeah, I wanted to drop out on the first day You were committed Yeah, yeah It was three days in And I couldn't do it At the time I wasn't really that serious with schools Partying And I luckily got into nursing school And it was like It was buckled down season And so The third day I dropped out My parents came and got me And Dropping out of nursing school and then I dropped out of college, in a Nigerian household, it's like a taboo. You either have to be a doctor, a lawyer, engineer. And coming home knowing that I brought shame on my family, the expectations they had on me, it's like I disappointed them. It was tough. So it's almost like saying that you're not worth, almost like a sense of worth. My worth, I felt worthless. You know, and it was like I wanted to, you know, I want I wanted my parents to be proud of me. And it was it was really, really tough. I was depressed. And a week later after I dropped out, you know, I attempted to commit suicide. You know, I was in my garage. You know, I had a turn on the car. I had a note that said, sorry, mom, because my mom was like pushing me. Um, and you know, I, I, I turned the car on, you know, I attempted to commit suicide and, you know, before I passed out, I don't know if I was about to pass out, but you know, eventually I would have, but before that I heard a voice and it said, it's not your time. And that's when I turned off the car. Nobody was home at the time. I turned off the car, I went upstairs and I just started bawling, crying. And I just didn't, I was confused. I didn't understand. Like I knew it was God, but I was just like, I was at my bottom. And that was another pivotal moment of my life. So there's two pivotal moments, Nigeria, dropping out of college. Fast forward about a couple of weeks later, maybe two or three weeks, My parents said, hey, you should go to your uncle's house. He's successful. He has his own business. He's in IT. And so I went to his house, and that's when I met my first mentor. And he really just kind of – he didn't give me a fish, but he showed me how to fish for myself and showed me how to think. How did you recognize your first mentor? Because one of the questions that we get a lot is, how do I select a mentor? How do I choose a mentor? All this kind of stuff. How did you recognize, like, this man can help me? I think this mentor was different from all my other ones. And this was more so, um, a mentor that saw where I was, gave me faith and hope that where you are now is temporary. It's necessary to be temporary. That wasn't even intentional to be honest, but, um, you know, it was, you know, it was something, He just gave me hope that, you know, yeah, like this is really like nothing. Right. And you're meant for more. Yeah. And he just gave me hope. And he said, you know, I got you. You know, you're going to step by step, take it one day at a time. And now we're going to knock this out the park. And so the next so next semester I went back to school. So I dropped out of school for one semester. I went back to school. I was searching. I was searching. I did a finance major and then information systems and I switched to information technology all in one semester. And it's very much finding your way. I was lost in finding my way. Yeah. And my mentor was a key pivotal moment of, you know, guiding me through that process. I don't know if I can pause you there, but just dig a little bit deeper there, because I feel like a lot of us get lost in the messy middle. Yeah. Like we don't give ourselves grace. We don't we don't realize we're we're actually trying. Like it's OK. not it's a one is okay to not be okay yeah two it's okay to not know yeah yeah yeah like i would one thing i would tell because i think leaders a lot of times that we're we're talking to and working with on a regular basis they're a lot of times it's like well i don't i just don't know i'm like it's okay not to know yeah like the fact that you're voicing that like is important so when you're going through this messy middle like walk me through how you were kind of feeling at at the emotional level as you're kind of doing a little bit of this exploring and searching? Yeah. I remember I came back to college and I was so depressed. I didn't leave my room. Like, and I had class, like I didn't leave it for probably like five days, six days. I would leave out and come back and didn't leave for like another three days. I was lost, depressed, you know, anxiety. And the feeling was, it was unbearable, you know, but it was something I needed to go through because it was building who I am today. And so I think what you said is important, it's necessary to, well, it's okay to not know. It's okay to be, it's going to be uncomfortable not knowing, not being where you want to be. Well, the truth to me is always in the uncomfortable. Yeah. That's where the truth is. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And that's why so many of us are searching for truth because we don't want to get uncomfortable. I think it's getting comfortable, being uncomfortable, being in that arena. you know because that's like you said that's where the truth is that's for me that's where the leveling up was originated from and so i needed to go through that to get to that next level and i found myself in it and that was like oh my gosh this is like my playground yeah i didn't even know this was a major my dad used to teach it um a plus specifically it's a certification and I used to help him with the labs like when I was like three, four years old. Like he used to tell me I used to help his students change the background. I don't remember this, but, you know, I was really involved in technology at a young age, you know, more than most kids. Yeah. And when I figured out, oh, wait a minute, I used to do this back at home. Like I was like, wow, it's been here the whole time. And I didn't know. And I had to go through that. Oh, well, I don't know if I had to, but that is what I had to go through to find that. And it made me cherish it more. It made me feel like this is me. And December 2019 is when I graduated from Frostbrook State University. And I was like, wow, they said you needed your IT degree. Recruiters are going to be coming to you and you've made it, right? You need to go to school to get a job in this IT, so you're going to be making a lot of money. That wasn't the case. No, no. No one was calling? No one was knocking on the door? No one was calling me. I was applying to jobs. I could not get a recruiter on the phone. It sucked. It was like another feeling again of hopelessness. I heard, hey, Tile, you need to go get your certifications. And you hear that online. If you try to search up how to break into tech, you'll hear a lot of people saying, go for your security plus. and I got my security plus. I failed it five times. I wasn't that serious. Spent a lot of money, but failed it five times, but I passed it. I got my A plus. I got my AWS CCP. And so at this moment, I have three certifications and I have a college degree and I'm still driving Uber Eats at 2 a.m. in the morning trying to average $10 an hour. And so I tell people, for me, a college degree and three certifications, unless you're the type of person, and I was, that was excited to do Uber Eats and steal French fries in the middle of the night, free food. We're not advocating for that. Now, if your delivery's on my house, you can have a few fries. Just don't eat them all. Leave some for the customers. But, uh, that's why they tape the bags because of you. Really, really, really do. And so, um, you know, it's, um, for me, it didn't work and it wasn't, it wasn't until then I realized I was playing the wrong game. And that's when I read for the first time, Rich Dad, Poor Dad. And that book changed everything. Yeah. I learned that I was playing the wrong game and I needed to learn skills that can actually So let's talk a little bit about the wrong game versus the right game. What is the wrong game? So in my experience, and I'm only speaking from my experience, and I've seen people who come to me for help and they have a similar experience, go to school, get a job. Now, for anybody that wants to go to school and get a job, I'm not saying this is a bad way. This is just what I've experienced. Everybody wants different things. But for me, the path that I don't think is good for me is like go to school, get a job, and retire in your 60s. And when I started working, because I got my IT technician job from a friend, I started working and I was like, wait a minute. This is what people are doing? I started working and I was like, wow, this is the biggest scam on earth. and the reason college exists is to just put you into a system not so you can actually break free from one that's crazy i never heard that one i just made it up with all those live truths in fortuna cookie moments yeah yeah yeah yeah it's true and it's it's exactly what you said i realized it when i was in it and i was like i have to get out i was stuck in traffic i saw everybody else around me stuck in traffic yeah and this was the norm yeah and so i said wow like there's kids younger than me that's, you know, have seven figures and they figured like e-commerce, they, you know, drop shipping, day trading, you know, real estate, like, you know, these are all vehicles that all work, right? Well, properly. Yeah, exactly. Like when you have the right information applied properly with time and experience and diligence. Yes. Yes. A lot of folks won't get rich quick. It takes time. It takes time. And I said, you know what, this is one way, you know, going, you know, the nine to five route, you know, and it was stressful. And in terms of, in terms of, sorry about that. In terms of like, for what I wanted, and like I said, there's nothing wrong with what you want. If you want the nine to five, retire in your 60s, there's nothing wrong with that. But for me, I wanted to retire early so I can live the life that I truly deserve and spend the time with my family and my future family too as well. And so that's one way. And I had to realize to get to this other way of retiring early, I needed to learn a different skill. I needed to learn how to actually solve problems at a higher level in a way that because there's different problems based on the level of problem that you solve. That's how you're compensated in the marketplace. And so I told myself, OK, I need to learn. For the next couple of years, I'm just learning. I'm just a student. I'm in school, but just not in the traditional way. I read another book by Robert Kiyosaki, Retire Young, Retire Rich. Anybody watching this podcast right now, I highly recommend you read that book because that was the second book that I read that changed everything for me. In that book, Robert Kiyosaki talks about this one word. that one word is called leverage. His definition is very simple. He said, wealthy people understand this one word very well, and they implement it and they live by it. How can I make more money and work less? Myron Golden talked about this about a couple of weeks ago in one of his YouTube videos, but he says, how can I get a multiplier output with minimum input? And it's just to say, after reading that, I said, let me go ahead and look for a skill set that can make me more money and work less. I did some research and that's when I came across AWS Cloud Engineering. AWS Cloud Engineering is an environment where you can make a lot of money and work less, especially in the age of AI. Now, I joined the program. It was actually from one of my cousins. And I was able to learn the foundation of AWS. I was able to build projects. So getting that hands experience to solve problems that companies have The projects is just a solution that I can deliver to somebody Yeah One of the things I want to I want to showcase there because we get this question a lot It like um what the best way for me to start a business What's the best way for me to grow a business? What's the best way to scale, scale a business? The number one product, the number one question is, is are you solving the right problem? Are you solving the right problem? In other words, can you, is your business actually set up to solve a problem? Uh, one of the reasons that businesses go out of business is because what they called poor market fit. Poor market fit is all about solving the wrong problem or providing solutions for problems that either don't exist or are the wrong problem. Right. That's really good. Yeah. And that's really good. Anybody listening to this right now, I highly recommend you, you take what he just said. It's going to save you a lot of stress, a lot of time, a lot of money, opportunity cost, which is huge. But what you said is important because you can think like, oh, because I like this, I'm passionate about this. The market- May or may not care. Literally. Yeah. And it may or may not be saturated. Exactly. Right. There's a bazillion thought leaders, if you want to call it that, right? Some of them do it very well. I mean, they're actually very good humans and they're actually solving problems other people um i say people people's a strong word others uh struggle to be authentic struggle to actually be there to solve a problem they're like just pay me yeah yeah i'll pay you when you solve a problem and you actually get further by serving you know i've experienced this too like and we talked about this off camera but i've i've learned and i've always been open and giving but But in business, I've learned that when you lead with serving first, it talks about in the Bible, too. I'm going to paraphrase it because I don't remember the verse. But God blesses the servant. My name, Ade Tayo. Ade means crown. It does, too. Wow. Keep going. And Io means joy. Like my name translation means the crown has brought us great joy. Funny enough, my family's from royalty in Nigeria and the village that they're in. My grandma was the queen of her area. But, you know, we do come from royalty in a sense. But I don't lead with my ego. I lead with my heart in serving naturally. And God has blessed me because of that, of putting people first. Yeah. And because I put people first, I look at what they need. How do you put people first without self-abandoning yourself? Because I struggle with that. I was very much the same way, but I would I would do it too far. I would go too far too often. I was a people pleaser. And that stemmed from insecurities that I didn't deal with at the time because I was bullied and I wanted to feel accepted. And I went through a lot of stuff to heal. But I wanted to put people first, you know, all the time. And I was strained and I was broken and it got to a point where my mom picked me up and she said, Tile, remember these three things, God first, then yourself and then others. And so I won't go out my way to to help you if it's going to be detrimental to me because I can't help you if I'm not good, logically. Mm hmm. But I've noticed that when I put myself in a situation where, you know, I put God first, I put myself second and then others like I can still pour a little into you and my cup is still full. Yeah. God now blesses me in abundance. If I give $1, God literally brings back $100. And I'm not even expecting it. I'm not expecting it from this person, et cetera. And I'm talking about a monetary, physical money aspect, but I do mean that in different forms. And so, but it stems from serving. And from that mindset of serving, I'm always thinking, how can I actually bring more value to somebody's life? How can I impact more lives on a global scale? Yeah. It's just a mission statement of my business. Yeah. Impact lives on a global scale. Impact millions of lives on a global scale. I love it. I love it. Yeah. One of the things that I try to get business leaders to understand, which it's funny how you're intuitively doing it. You're kind of living it, which is – I mean, most of us are scared to face the darkness. Scary. Okay. I've been very similar where you've been in a different capacity. I'm still afraid of the dark. In that case, I'll get you a nightlight for Christmas. But no, I mean like one of the things that people that I feel like is – so our belief is, our core mantra is you can't scale dysfunction. That's our core belief, right? And we see chaos as a spiritual principality at this stage in the game. Okay, so look at any marriage, any business, any human life, and where chaos and dysfunction are operating, dissension, self-worth, all that stuff is being trampled on, right? So our big belief is that you've got to have complete alignment before acceleration. But we find that culture wants us to accelerate before we're even ready. Building the house on sticks instead of a stronghold. And I've also realized God's kingdom builds businesses like crock pots. The devil's business builds people, builds businesses like microwaves. Right. So as soon as it's done and it goes, ding, you had your, you get to eat your joy and then you're done. Where, you know, with, with God who's building your business with the crock pots and you get to go in and take a little sip out every now and again. Is it a little spice? Like that kind of thing. And it's slow cooks. Right. Now, in the grand scheme of things, one of the things that's brought me is like, you don't understand. Taiyo, he's accelerating. Like he is, he's really, really, his business is doing really well. He's got it. Really quick. Just want to correct. A lot of people say tile tile. It's not even me. It's all God. Yeah. Honestly speaking. Like I can't even take any credit. Yeah. Just honestly speaking. Yeah. No, I think that's great. But you know, the, when, you know, cause we get, we get, we get invited to have guests on the show all the time. Right. And we intentionally only put people on the show that we know can serve the audience. Wow. Right? And one of the – so even when I was first learning about you, I was excited to learn about you. It was like he's doing this, this, and this. He's doing these big things. I'm like, okay, what's the story? What's the real – like tell me about him. Yeah, yeah. And then it was like, oh, I love this guy already. And then it was like, oh, my gosh. He's actually living and building out the principle that we teach all the time, which is alignment before acceleration. Wow. Wow. Not only did you go inside out to get aligned there, not only did you have the connection up and down for alignment, the way in which you're applying your skill set is very much aligned with yourself, how you're wired, how you're – you see what I'm saying? Principles. And so I'm sitting here and I'm putting this together. I'm like, this is why he went from like 55K to like 500K, like fast, right? It's because he was aligned, right? Talk to me a little bit about what that alignment journey was like and really understanding this stage and the calling. I do agree with the other – the Dana, the other guest that was mentioned. I do feel like you'll be presenting at a very high level. Wow. I can easily see that, especially as you continue to stretch your legs. But I'm curious about your alignment journey. How do you know when you're in alignment and how do you know when you're out of alignment? Because I'm trying to give people a bit of a steering wheel, a GPS. Yeah. I think it starts with first discovering who you are. And that was a little bit tough for me because I didn't, you know, I was insecure. Right. I wanted to feed, you know, I wanted to, I was a people pleaser. I was focusing on others, feeling people to accept me as opposed to me accepting myself. Yeah. Spend time with myself and know who I was. And so I think the first thing to get in alignment with yourself is to first spend some time with yourself, discover who you are. and you know i've for me i've discovered like when somebody asked me hey ty what do you want i was thinking about this on the drive here yeah hey ty what do you want i want to help others hey no no no i know i get that but like what do you want like it's literally what i want that is like i it's i don't want like the big house i mean obviously it's nice you know cars stuff like that i'm still gonna you know have these things but it's not everything yeah you know but what i want is to retire my parents what i want is to help somebody that truly needs this and so like when i asked myself and i asked this way months ago i'm like what do i want um it's it's that's literally what i want and it's um it's not coming from a a hurt place like oh people are struggling i feel guilty it's not coming from a a lower emotion yeah it's coming from a higher emotion of love yeah like you know but that's just who i am and so i feel like you have to spend some time to understand who you are first to be in alignment with you what were things that you learned about yourself that you didn't know there? That's a really good question. That's a really good question. I think I don't want to rush the answer. I think I've... It's like not having glasses and something's kind of blurry, so you can kind of see it. But once I spend time with myself, it's like crystal clear. And I think just how empathetic I am now like I can feel emotions and you know I care for people but I think like I think based on what I've experienced internally and externally and what people say is you know it just comes back to I don't know the word for it, but I'll say it in a way that it's probably not going to hit the way I want it to, but just serving people. That's all I want to do. That's what my business does. That's what my generation is going to be doing because I'm building a business that's going to last for generations and generations. And that's the mission statement. All my, I don't really call them employees, right? There are people who work in the business. Yeah, we call them team members, yeah. Yeah, thank you. And so we lead with serving first, before money. Yeah. And, you know, I think it's just that one word, just serving. Yeah. Because there's so much treasure. Yeah. Even, like, what comes out of serving. Yeah. If I give you what you want and fully focus on you selflessly, not only will I, let's say, I get what I want. but even God will bless you in abundance in other areas and different forms. Yeah. Well, it's funny. I think a lot of times when we go to donate or give or whatever, and it's financial, we inadvertently think, well, this is how we're going to be repaid. Yeah. So first of all, the fact that we feel like we have to get repaid is a problem. Yeah. And the second of all, he rarely gives you the same gift you gave someone else. Yeah. Right. It's been my experience. But for me, when I was going through my own search, first of all, I had to stop. I just had to stop and sit still. One of the things I discovered recently, and there's a verse in the Bible in Psalms that says, Be still and know that I'm God. A lot of people have heard that. Very few of us have studied it in Hebrew. So much deeper, so much richer. It means to completely offload one's burden, completely surrender, and literally let God do the work. Wow. It means it's not self – and I'm paraphrasing it some because I have an entire thing on it. But it's to actually sit completely still. So one of the things we teach is what I hear you say is journaling practice. So my journal is over the counter. You can see it over there, right? I normally go sit over here on this little lounge couch behind us, and what I hear you say is, today's date, and I just listen. And today I only heard one phrase. Sometimes it's pages upon pages upon pages. Sometimes it's a paragraph. But I do it every morning, and I do not move until I hear something. Wow, that's powerful. Right? So I'm forcing myself to build this presence muscle, right? Because if you look at Jesus, you look at David, you look at Noah, you look at any of the major biblical figures, Isaiah, Jeremiah, so on and so forth. It doesn't matter who it is. They all spent one-on-one time intentionally with God. And when Moses was at the bush, he wasn't doing the talking. Right? So you can't be given your assignment until you stop doing the talking. That's very powerful. So I've been learning these lessons, right? I'm going to take that page, by the way. But just feel free to continue to give him glory. It was his thing. But one of the things that really stood out to me is when I went and did my own research in some of these moments when I was healing to stuff that I didn't know was there. And I'm 50 years old, dude. I was like, this has been here for 48 years. Are you serious? Driving me 48 years. Is this the motivation? when I was when I sat with myself and I was like you say you're for service you say you want to be helpful but if I was to hold up a mirror to your actions you like being seen you like being validated you like performing for applause you like this you like that you like this you like that and when I was able to sit down with that and I turned the mirror back and I was like is Is this the man that I want to be known for when all is gone? Right? It doesn't matter if I build another business or don't build another business. The reality is I have nothing to prove. Why do I feel the need to prove? Because the need to prove is what was creating the motivation inverse, which was actually repelling the people that I could actually serve. Wow. Rather than becoming the man. So I share this in the new book that will come out next year. not to give away the punchline of the book, but since the last chapter, in one of these experiences, God said these words to me. And this has become the entire battle cry of everything we're building now. He says, I've called you to be a David, but you've been leading like a Saul. Okay. So I sat with that, and I sat with that, and I sat with that, and I sat with that, and I sat with that, and I sat with that, and I said, what does that mean? And that's actually where one part lion and one part lamb was really born. Right. David carried both lion and lamb in its maturity. Saul carried lion and lamb in this immaturity. It was all about it was all about the heart posture, the motivation of the posture. You see what I'm saying? So I started like thinking. So when someone says, yeah, you go do you have to go. You have to go have an honest conversation with you and you got to be honest with yourself. It's hard to do that. Oh, bro. It's like – because your ego, your mind will go like, well, no, I really am of service. I just gave $100,000 away. I just gave $1,000 away. I just – I'm buying – I bought a car for somebody who didn't have a car. I just – I did – like you give and then you're like, okay, that's awesome. Fantastic. You were very generous to people. Why? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Were you doing it really to be of service or were you hoping someone else would notice? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Ah, bro. And the ego comes from, I've done some masterminds and stuff spiritually, and the ego is there to protect, but in the deepest form, it's really insecurity. And it's, you know, asking those questions is hard. It's like you kind of want to be defensive, like eagleness is a part of you, it's not you. And it's when you're when you peel those the layers, those layers, you know, you get to the root, which is like, you know, the essence of like who you are. And that's where the truth is. Yeah, I really feel and I believe that God created all of it. Like he created our ego self, our spirit self, all the things. What I've discovered is that the ego serves us all the way through about adolescence. And then it becomes a pattern that we have to shift from. So I began like what I would say that you – in the story that you shared even about your own – before we get into any of the business stuff. The business stuff is cool, right? Because I'm trying to give a voice for what entrepreneurs and business leaders should be focused on because they're so focused on the winning and the revenue and the OAS. It's all important. But like what's driving it? Yeah, that's the most important. Like what's driving it? And when it comes down to it, I'm like thinking to myself. It's like, okay, all I got to do is help you become one part line and one part line in maturity. I've got biblical illustrations of what that is There's several But David was really close Jesus was perfect He was perfect in it He could challenge a Pharisee And a Sadducee in seconds And within a second later Be humbly helping another person With no gain Because there was nothing that you could give Jesus There was nothing you could give him That's true Right? And I don't know. It's had me going down these different rabbit holes, right? And what I needed to bring – I'm just speaking for myself. What I needed to kind of move out of that direction was I needed to understand the system, which had never been identified. And then I had to turn the system into stewardship, right, which is what I've seen you do not just with your life but also with your business. Wow. Right? Hey there. I hope you enjoyed the episode. Look, I love making great content for you, but more importantly, we like creating great resources. So before we get you back in the episode, I want to make you aware of the Aligned Leader Index, which you can find at stephenscoggins.com slash leadership. This is a one of a kind tool that I wish I had when I was actually building and scaling my own organizations. Why? Because a lot of times the bottlenecks that we think are actually in our way are not really the bottlenecks that are actually in our way. and what the cool thing about this specific thing is it's going to let you know what the number one constraint is internally, the number one driver that's actually in your way or being disrupted, where chaos and dysfunction are showing up, and number three, probably most important, where your leadership blind spot likely is. So if you're tired of your business actually running you and you want to take operational control over your organization, make sure you take complete advantage of the Align Leader Index. It takes five to seven minutes and it'll give you instant clarification on the thing that's holding you back right now. Let's get back to the show. So I want to pivot a little bit because I believe that's why you yourself are climbing to the 1% of the 1% of the 1%. So it's one thing to go and build this for self, meaning it's one thing to go and be very successful in the IT space and become master engineering and start really looking, okay well this is what AI should do and could do and how it could integrate It one thing to do all that It a whole other thing to start teaching it for people It a lot harder teaching I would say running the coaching business So what led you there? What side of you was like, hey, this is so good. Other people need to know about it. So I used to do photography. Okay. naturally i started business about um i was in college and i created an organization it was really tough at the time but created an organization to bring photographers and models together to you know kind of just make things a lot easier for them like um i started day trading created the business to help it anything that i do and i found some success in it i always want to share it And that's just, it goes back to discovering who you are, that's naturally who I am. If I know that there's gold hair, hey guys, come, there's gold right here. I've got some gold. I'll carve you out a pile. Yeah, and it's more for everyone. Turns out it doesn't run, it doesn't go anywhere. We make it, it just shows back up again. It's crazy, it's like Nana. Yeah. It's – I think – just to go back to the question, can you restate the question? I want to make sure I'm on target. Yeah. I mean I just – I think it gives you – it's one thing to, again, go and create something for self. Like I said, okay, I created a good business. We're making good money. We're doing good work. That's one thing. Yeah. That's another thing to say. I'm now taking the same model, the blueprint that I've been working on creating that I found to be very successful, and I'm now going to teach it to people. Yeah, yeah. So to answer your question, I was kind of saying it, but anything that I do, I always want to teach it. I always want to just share with people, like, here's some gold. but um i think that honestly really just stemmed from 2014 just wanting to you know that's when i my world just opened up like people really do need some help out there and it's not even their faults that they're in certain situations um and so i've always just wanted to help wanted to help at first it came from guilt right um because i felt like i don't like i'm born do you think guilt can be good for a season? For a season, depending on the energy and how it's used. But I think... It's just an emotion that showcases or something more to dig into. Yeah, and it's from a vibrational... It's more of a lower level. There's more ways to operate and higher. Yeah, love and authenticity are the brightest. Yeah. And nice stuff. I've been doing this for a minute. Actually, I take that back. I've been rebuilding me for a while. Let's just be honest. And so I think at first it started with guilt, but then it came from love in terms of wanting to help people. But to answer your question, I think that doing it myself, I scaled my income from $45,000. It was $50,000, but after tax was really $44,000. $45,000. Thanks, Uncle Sam. Really. Which has never showed up in a family reunion, by the way. He's always got your hand in the place. My only uncle I've never met. He takes from you, though. But yeah, from $45K to $489,000 with cloud engineering. And so once I figured out how to do that, job stacking ethically and legally, you know, I had posted like my offer letter and people asked me like, hey, how did you do it? How did you do it? And I was like, okay, cool. I was already teaching day trading and I wasn't really that successful there. Teaching, I had like, I think five students in two years. And then I posted it, my offer letter, and I had nine students who wanted to sign up within a week. And so I was like, okay, there's more demand here. And so I started teaching. And, you know, it's insane. Like, we have people, like, I'll leave names out. But, I mean, I can include names. But different students have one person named Stormy. No degree, no certifications. He just knew how to turn on a computer and search something up on Google. He's making $321,000 right now. He still has a high school diploma, reserves, Marines, and no certifications. He's gotten three offer letters. He left one, and he's doing two ethically and legally. He's at that $300,000 range. Why do you qualify that ethically and legally? Are there other organizations that aren't doing it ethically and legally? So in the IT space, you can get different jobs, like W2 jobs. But you can't work a job. You can't work at Burger King and McDonald's. You can't work for competitors. You typically sign a non-compete agreement. And then also there is like when you do like C2C contracts, you're getting paid for a deliverable, not really for your time. We're paying you to deliver the solution to solve this problem from the solution that you can provide. And typically from cloud engineering, the solution that you're providing to businesses, one business is paying your business. You know, that solution is a six figure solution. And so you can work for different contracts under a cloud consulting business to scale your income to way past 500. I know somebody doing one point one million dollars right now. And so the reason why I say ethically and legally is because you can get work for W-2, 1099, or C2C. Most people in tech go through W-2 and they work multiple jobs under the radar. And so they don't really say anything. So they're actually infringing on their non-competes in many cases. Not only that, but then also you're obligating, hey, I'm working eight hours in this company. And then now you're saying you're working eight hours the same time at this other company. And you're probably not working 16 hours. Exactly. Well, everybody in tech, especially cloud, they know you're not working like eight hours. But it's just, you know, I don't know if it's time fraud or I forgot what it's called. But nonetheless, the non-competent one. And there's other stuff where it's like you kind of have to be under the radar. Yeah. And there's a lot of people in tech who do that. Yeah. The whole culture. Yeah. But, you know, a cloud consulting business or any, you know, consulting business, you get contracts. Yeah. And you can work multiple contracts as long as there's like same thing, not compete. And you're delivering a solution for a business and they're paying you six figures to deliver that solution. It doesn't matter if it takes you, for just an example, you know, two weeks or two minutes. Literally, because of AI, I was able to create a solution in two minutes instead of two weeks. And so that time that going back to leverage, Robert Kiyosaki, make more money and work less. It's funny you mention that because I tell people all the time, ROT is more important than ROI sometimes. Returnal time. That's crazy. Yeah. I've never heard that. That's crazy. Returnal time. Yeah. It's a good friend of mine, Rory Vaden. Returnal time. Yeah. He wrote a book called Take the Stairs. Wow. He's a big – the book's all about multiplying, right? Just multiplying your effort, right? So if you have five pounds of effort, you're producing 20 pounds of result. You've got one hour to dispose of. You're getting four hours of return. That's another way of looking at things. Yeah, so I call it return on time because sometimes I went and made the money. I got return on income or return on investment in some cases financially, and then I was miserable. What I like doing more than anything else, I like being able to control my day. I like the income. I like being financially stable and safe. of me and when i'm not i'm my little scarcity kid goes yeah i'm like slow down just breathe through it i'm gonna be okay you know it takes box breathing let's go yeah um but um like i don't like being places that i don't want to be yeah yeah like freedom's like really important to me right um and you know the the return on time concept became like a pivotal moment and that's basically what you just described yeah well well yes i never looked at it that way but it's true It's, you know. Just bring me a teacher group now. We're going to do some exchanges. Hey, guys. Here's what I'm going to break down return on time. There's different ways of making money. Low money, middle money, high money. It's all objective. But I realize. You can't get back more of this time. As far as we know. And that's where, and I got this from Myron Golden and, you know, Robert Kiyosaki. kiyosaki just in terms of operating in in arenas or environments where i can make a lot of money with least effort and so you know it's uh and it's about learning the skill set i'll say this um do you think it's um less effort or more intentional effort i think it's because if i think about a a leverage point a fulcrum and a pry bar yeah that's what the i want my intention my thing that I'm working on to be the thing I should be working on. Yeah, yeah. I think because in business, all business owners watching this, everyone knows there's thousands of things you can do in the business. But it's having the wisdom to understand what thing in the business is going to pull the most lever. Yeah. Give you the most lift. Give you the most juice with the least effort and squeeze. Yeah. And I think the only way to do that is experience or somebody coaching you because they're pouring you that wisdom to not do a thousand things. For example, my mentor, he said the only thing you should be doing in business until you're at $70,000 cash is it was a follower ad funnel. But you're running the ads already, but having conversations in the DMs appointment setting and having more conversations on sales calls. Until you're at $70,000 a month, there's nothing else you should be doing. Obviously, you have a product already that's the people results. That's how you can have a long-standing business. But anything else? No. Notice that two times during this conversation, we talked about the importance of having a mentor and an advisor. Yeah. People, a lot of times, so we get this all the time, it's like, you know, to work one-on-one with me is, it's not inexpensive, but it's not super expensive. I could be, you know, as far as how we intentionally price ourselves below market, so I could be more helpful to more people, right? And every now and again, you get someone who's building a business like, well, I'm not sure if I can afford it. Right? That's crazy. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm watching and I'm listening. I'm like, I hope you shift three levers. You're going to collapse your learning curve by a decade, right? And you're going to get a 25X return on that investment, right? So I want to talk about that because being selective with mentors, I had some other good friends. I'm sure you'll meet up. We're both connected to Sean, the Polites on. And they do 50-50 flip on A&E. They have multiple businesses. They're really in real estate. They sat right where you guys were sitting. Wow. And Crystal was sitting there. Dedrick was sitting there. Actually, Crystal was sitting there. Dedrick was sitting over here. And she was talking about – like she was having a conversation. Everybody should go watch the episode. If you haven't seen that episode, it's a killer episode. But she's like, yeah, this mastermind that they were going to invest in was like $16,000, right? And Dedra's like, we're going to get the money. And she looked and she said, you see her doing it on the thing. She's like, I told him we got the money. We got them credit. I'm like, be careful with credit cards. But they went on to say that $16,000 investment gave them a thousand X return. Yeah, yeah. So that's – if I do the math correctly, that's $1.6 million on a $16,000 investment. Yep, yep, yep. Right? So I'm curious not to give numbers whether they're going to learn more about 1% university working with you or – but what are you investing yourself? Are you investing a certain percentage of income into your ongoing training? So – When you do invest in a mentor, you collapse the learning curve by a lot. I think investing in a mentor is the cheat code of, honestly, I'm not the smartest guy. I'm not the sharpest tool in the show. I think he's being humble myself personally. Honestly, all I do. So if you're in business watching this podcast, right now my business does anywhere from $200,000 to $300,000 cash. Not revenue. I don't really count revenue. Cash. With a 74% profit margin. Typically in my space is around 10 to 25 if you're lucky, 30% profit margins. it is crazy i would say to see the numbers that i do see and i'm not special how i got here is i i look first i look at what do i want what do i want my life to look like i envision it i wake up in the morning i smell eggs my wife's cooking downstairs i can i I envision a whole day. Then I ask myself, what is the mindset first mindset that I need to acquire to get there? And what is the skill set that I need to acquire to get there? And then I write it down. You can even use AI to help you build this out. then i go ahead and look at somebody that has the mindset and skill set that i need to acquire then i go ahead and see if they have a step-by-step blueprint that i can clearly follow to acquire the mindset and skill set if you didn't know mindset is 95 of everything that you have externally. What you have externally is a direct reflection of who you are internally. It took me a long time to realize that. Yeah. Yeah. So I look for a blueprint that this person has, like he has the life that, you know, I want, or he has the skillset. And maybe a proven track record of success as far as client. I was getting there. Yeah. And then if he has that blueprint, Then I ask myself, has three or three people, at least three people gone through that blueprint and seen success? If so, I'm going to invest. And the reason why I say that is people and I used to have a very, very poor mindset. I would look at the price of the program, but not the cost. Let's just say there's a program. Right. Like, for example, I just sold, and we were talking about this before, I just sold an offer for $100,000. And realistically, it wasn't for sale because, you know, I didn't have time and I didn't know this person was serious. It really wasn't available. Like, he really, really wanted to do it. Yeah, he basically created a product. It's already created. Well, it is now. And so, you know, one of my students, he's doing the same thing right now. He's crushing it. He's doing $200,000 a month. Another of my students, he just joined recently. He's at, I think, $20,000, $30,000 a month. And so I told him, you know, you can do this on your own. I even gave him, like, the blueprint. He tried it for 10 months. He's still stuck. He has the information, but he doesn't have that experience to know what to apply, right, which is coming from mentors. Well, that and mentors also help give you the motivation to apply it in real time. Keep you accountable. And then also paying that money is going to be an opportunity, too. That's true. Because he got free at first. But going back to the point is, when choosing a mentor, first I look at the intention of this person. Does he have my intention? Does he have my best interest at heart? And it's kind of hard to gaze at that at first because you don't know him. But you can kind of pick up on vibes. Like, is this guy just trying to sell me something and take advantage of me? or does he actually want to impact lives? You can kind of tell. I like how you brought the proof of actual wins, not just testimonials but real people. Yeah. Because I was telling this with another guest that there is a trust recession, a trust economy, because people have paid a lot of money and not gotten very much for it. I've done that. I've paid in some pretty expensive masterminds, got nothing for it. Meanwhile, I've paid in some other expensive masterminds, got a ton for it. Yeah. Yeah. I think one of the things I'm going to get back to. So one of the things I want people to understand is a lot of people that when you get on a call and they drop the price, 10K, 20K, 5K, whatever it is, they're looking at they're coming from a fear perspective. And a lot of people, they don't really see it this way, but they allow fear to overcome them. They have an obstacle, which is themselves, and they allow the obstacle to overcome them. And a lot of people, anybody listening, do you think that most people will get to their goals if they have obstacles overcome them or if they overcome the obstacle? Yeah. Even when you do join the program, there's still going to be obstacles. you have to have the mindset yeah the identity to say i am somebody that's going to overcome obstacles to get what i want yeah because everybody has you had to do that yeah i mean one of the and then you do it at every level by the way yeah one of the things that you said that i want to highlight real fast because i got asked this question three times in the last three weeks yeah most of them are in the same week different people well don't know each other completely different industries and their core question is, I'm here right now, but I want to be there. What do I do? And almost my exact verbatim response and written form and Zoom call was, what is that person doing when they wake up? What is that person doing at 9 a.m., 10 a.m.? What are they doing? How are they living their life? Well, they're getting up, they're doing their presence practice, they're going to the gym and getting their workout on, and they're spending their first hour of the day. They're studying their niche, like physically continuing learning. Pull that now. And then they're setting up their first team meeting. They make sure that their team meetings aren't longer than 15 or 30 minutes. There's an agenda, right? You know your stuff. So they're telling me this. Once I just say, how does this person live their life every day? Yeah, yeah. Right? What do they do? Yeah. Right? And where are their blind spots on what they do that you don't know with it, right? Yeah. And it's funny. Every time they come back with this, they're doing this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this. They know. And I'm like – they were like, okay, that's a great exercise. What do I do now? Do that. And then come back. Do that. Just do that. Yeah, yeah. Like get up. Have your presence practice. Get up. Go work out. Get your physical on. Yeah. Spend an hour of your day learning more about your niche or how to elevate your niche from a trusted source whether it a book a podcast or whatever Right coordinate really efficient meetings like make sure your priorities are in alignment for your highest priority first which coincidentally is the number one thing you typically avoiding right and it was just so funny because you're like yeah i envision that and you use your five so i teach a process called five senses like you use your five senses like yeah you know i'm picturing my my spouse downstairs and she's making i could smell eggs yeah right it's powerful you know um I can feel the texture of a steering wheel or a doorknob or a cloth. We're here at Safe Haven on the lake. I can go out and physically put my feet in the grass and hear the water rushing. These are the most underrated visionary skills that keep us stuck because we get so focused on living the life that we've always known. We forgot how to dream about the world we want. It's powerful. I'm taking notes. I'm taking notes. It's like I've heard it, but the way you're saying it, 10 people could say the same thing and it can be interpreted differently. And I feel like the way you're communicating it is just very effective and more powerful. But it's very good stuff. Thank you. Well, I mean, if you think about people that build very successful organizations and lives in general, the one quality they all share is they have a vision. The Bible says have a vision and make it plain. I say – my Stephen Scoggins translation is create the vision and create a strategy, right? The make it plain is the strategy. It is the playbook. It's operating the five drivers, avoiding the five constraints. I want to pivot because I know we only got much time left, but what are we getting wrong right now with AI? A lot of people say this too. Alex Ramosi, Myron Golden, those are the two people. Myron Golden more so. But I think that, yes, AI is replacing jobs. But more importantly, people that know how to utilize AI that can create more value in a short amount of time are replacing people. And so I think that spending and I told, you know, my colleague, she's a business owner. I said, because I'm in tech and this is my field, I can understand the value of AI. It's like people telling you to buy Bitcoin when it was at a dollar and you're like, I'm ignoring you because I don't understand it. I don't understand the value. And now it's at, I think, $64,000 right now at the time of this recording. And so that value from the Bitcoin boom was huge, right? There was a lot of millionaires. From what I understand about AI and the power of it and what it can do, it is more explosive compared to Bitcoin. It's like buying Bitcoin at a penny, 0.001%. And to reap the rewards of it, I told my colleague, I said, please learn at least 15 minutes a day learning something new about AI. And you don't have to be technical because they make it easy now. But I think the biggest misconception that people have, just to answer your question once again, is they think AI is replacing jobs. People who know how to utilize AI is replacing jobs from a job perspective. But from a business perspective, I learned this from my mentor. It's good to have mentors. And this is how I went from 100 to 200K in 30 days. It's from one thing he said. he said you're not just a coaching company anymore you're a number one media company you're number two an AI company and number three a coaching company right now the amount of automations that I've built with AI like I can work two hours a month and that's because I'm in the coaching calls because I still want to connect with my students but AI is pretty much running for almost everything except for sales calls. And that can still be automated in a unique way. One page offer document and the sellings and the marketing, they're ready to pay already. But in terms of AI, I think that it really, truly, truly, truly, truly, truly gives business owners, if you know how to use it, it's a tool. If you know how to use the tool, it gives them an opportunity to have the biggest leverage. Yeah. Make more, work less. Yeah. And I think that if you, depending on whatever industry that you're in when it comes to business, if you learn AI and understand how to use that, mix with your experience, your context, the solutions that you can create, the automations that you can create, the value. That's one thing I was trying to say. The value that you can create without AI within the marketplace is amazing. With AI, the value and the time that I can text on my phone right now and AI is connected to my Slack, build me a website that delivers this product or whatever the case may be, and it can build it literally in three minutes. and it's a product that's really good because it has context. I fed my AI context about everything about me, about my ICP, my audience. I can build a low-ticket product right now and sell it. And the time to tangible result in terms of having a product, that time, three minutes as opposed to days, that is so – It took me three weeks to build a lead magnet or a high-value lead magnet because I have to sit down. I've got to think about it. How would I structure this? Where does the structure go? And the crazy part is AI is a thousand times smarter than us. Yeah. And you just have to give it context about everything about you, your business, everything that you can think of. Yeah. And then even my business model. And now, it's just I can go on for days about AI. But I think if you're a business owner and you're not utilizing AI, I would say about 70% in your business, the opportunity cost, not only money but time, is so huge. It's not even funny. You can't even fathom the difference. It's crazy. Yeah, yeah. Well, I think one of the things I've been telling leaders to do for a while is like you don't just have to fire anybody, right? Teach them how to use the tools. Let the tools do the work. You'll get a force multiplier, a value-add creation, and you'll have the same size team, but you want to take on three times business with the same size team, which means everybody wins. They get a little more. You get a little more because I think in the next two years, probably even five, maybe five would be very different. But as of right now, either you will learn how to use AI and be a value add to the company leveraging AI technology. Yeah. Or you'll be a tradesperson. Yeah. Okay. Using your hands. Massage therapies. Agreed. Nails. Hammer. Mm-hmm. Mow the lawn. HVAC. Which will become high-paid jobs, by the way. Yeah. HVAC. That we used to say, well, these, you know. Mm-hmm. When I was in high school, there used to be a picture of a guy wearing a construction outfit. They're like, you don't want to be like this guy. Go to college. I'm like. It's crazy all the time. Strange. Yeah. My truth was I lived the opposite, which is kind of crazy. You know, but then you're going to have the folks who just resisted change so much. Yeah. Yeah. Right? Because it's not a matter of if, it's when. Yeah. Yeah. Right? And you've got a window of time. My first mentor told me one thing. The first advice I got was when you have to know when the pivot and you have to be flexible and adopt pretty much. The market right now is adopting. I mean, it's proven already. And I think if you're humans, we don't like change naturally. But if you're reluctant to adopt AI, it's like imagine you compared to your competitors using AI and then their team members using AI, like you said. And the return on ROT, the return on time that each of those team members are getting now to have a multiplied output with minimum input. And they can now focus. They just saved a bunch of time. And now they can go focus more things to bring in more value within the company. Not just you, but your team members. Well, and I think one of the quickest ways to fast track people who are watching right now who are very interested in this particular subject matter is to look into the 1% university. Talk to me a little about the 1% university. what are your students most like what do they most enjoy like who is your ideal who is your ideal student so for the one percent university our perfect client they're already in tech they have experience in tech some of them they're they got laid off and they were making six figures already or making six figures and they're stuck because they're probably a software engineer working eight hours a day, more because they're on call, you know, it was tight deadlines. It's very stressful. Or, you know, they're in tech making six figures and they're trying to get to that 300K mark, that $500,000 a year. But the job that they're in, the skills that they have does not allow them to do that because they're typically working six, eight hours a day for one job. One person that I'm now teaching him business stuff, he was a cybersecurity analyst. And he got two jobs working like 16-hour days, day shift and night shift. I said, what the? That's insane. And he's burnt out. And he has a family, right? And he has kids, he has a family, and it wasn't ideal. And that's what a lot of people tend to do. Yeah. And so it goes back to that one word leverage. I teach people AWS cloud engineer. There's three skills. The first skill is the tech stack of cloud engineering, right? SQL, Python, Terraform, Ansible, Docker, Kubernetes. Like if you are not aware of these tools, it's going to sound like a different language, but those are the tools that you need to learn. A few other ones, right? Like Grafana, Prometheus, et cetera. But that is going to teach you the skill set of AWS cloud engineering and building projects around that that solves problems for companies. Then the second skill, and this is where most people don't teach, how do you get recruiters to reach out to you? I hear it all the time. I can't get a recruiter on the call. It took me six months to get one interview. That's insane. I used to do the same thing. That was my experience. How do you get recruiters to reach out to you? So I teach people how to brand themselves. I teach people how to position themselves as an authority in the marketplace. And so the third skill that I teach is communication. It's really just sales. How do you, and all sales is, is identifying the problem that a company has. And from the projects that you've built, from the skill set number one, from the projects that you've built, how are you able to clearly articulate the technical value that you've obtained from cloud engineering and in a way that positions yourself as an authority and one of the top candidates on any job interview. Yeah. I will never tell anybody, hey, in this three months, six months, you'll make $300. I have no idea. I don't know if you're going to make any money. You can't guarantee that you're going to apply themselves. But what I will say is anybody that joins our program, what we do teach is those three skills. and with time, it transforms into offers from my past students. I don't know what anybody else is going to do in the future, but for my past students, it takes an average of two to five months, depending on their time commitment, to actually get their first offer or multiple offers. And so I've seen some crazy stuff. All my testimonials, anybody listening is on my Instagram highlights. And also my YouTube channel is a bunch of different testimonials that you can see. You'll see the offer letters. you'll see you know the incomes and so just check it out to you know do your own due diligence if you are interested that's awesome bro yeah where can my before i gotta give you the last question where am i where can anybody find that information so on my instagram you type in tayo lucy t-a-y-o l-u-s-i uh you'll see you know a pretty face instead um but you'll find me on tayo lucy on Instagram. On YouTube, it's techwithtayo. LinkedIn, Tayolusi, Xthreads, Tayolusi. And so, yeah, you can find me on all platforms. Love it, dude. All right. So this is more of a fun one. And depending on the opinion on the time, we might do two just for fun. Let's do it. All right. What is the best $100 you've ever spent? I gave it to my brother And it was my last $100 And This was before I had like money And stuff like that My first job was I was serving Bob Evans It's crazy But yeah my brother He needed some help He was going through some personal stuff His mom had just passed away It was my half brother And he was That's what I'm saying. They know you're wrong, too. That's qualifying. I'm like, you're a disassociative, bro. Yeah, it was my last hundred, and I didn't feel anything, but it just reconfirmed who I was. And then it also, when we talk about investing into mentors, a lot of people hold themselves back. You talked about the 1,000 ROI percent. But a lot of people hold their hands. They want God to give them blessings. But how can you receive blessings if your hands are closed? And so it taught me how to let go of money, which is a spiritual principle that I'm saying. Money is like water. It has to flow. It has to flow. Most people, they put money in a bank account for security, and it's stuck. The only way it can leave is if you spend money and give it to other businesses. but wealthy people, we truly believe it's like a stream. Money comes in and out, money comes in and out. $1 comes in, $10. When a dollar comes in, I'm thinking, how can I turn this dollar to 10? So it always goes back out into investments. But that taught me how to open my hand to now invest money. But it came from a selfless act, like I just want to help you. But that is a principle that I learned from that, that stemmed from that. That's awesome. All right, one more. and we're going to wrap this thing up. What is the best piece of wisdom you've ever been given? Ooh, we're going to have to ponder this one, guys. The best piece of wisdom, it's going to be Proverbs. It's not going to be a specific, you know, verse or anything like that. It's just an aspect of when I ask myself, I'm reading books, I'm learning from different people. I've mentioned Allison Moses, I've mentioned Myron Golden. Very smart people. But I think that if you're able to take God's wisdom, that is the highest form of wisdom. I think just it's nothing specific, but generally speaking, intentionally seeking wisdom from God, not only through his word, But even from speaking to him, actually having conversations with him, hearing him speak back to you in a very still place. And before I started my program, I asked God, this is what I want. I don't want to live a life where I'm doing something and it's not what I'm destined for. Yeah, this is what I want. What do you want? And I always pray. My mom taught me this, but God, allow my will to be lost in your will. And so I asked God, if this is for me, give me signs and make it so obvious that I'm not going to miss the sign. God gave – I wanted to coach and do all this stuff. And I said, hey, God, is this what I'm supposed to do? He gave me three different signs. And I was like, okay, God, I understand. Got that fleece. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so that's probably the answer. But being able to lead with what God has in store for you and consulting with God in the different steps that God's going to show you. But making sure that your will isn't lost with God's will because his plan is always the best plan. And being in alignment with that plan in terms of what you're destined to do on this earth. Yeah. It's really interesting. I had a mentor of mine who told me once, he said, the more your heart comes into alignment with God's heart, the more your will will match his will. That's crazy. That's why Jesus is like, what are the greatest commandments? The number one is love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul. Just do that one thing. And see, I also realized that out of that one thing, the second piece of that, you'll actually give – you'll be given what you need to love other people. Right? You can't love other people well without loving God first. You just – that's why they're actually in order. I like patterns. I recognize patterns. But Nevisabhi says, when your heart matches God's heart, then your will will become his will. That's powerful. Right? So it's like a circle. Like I said, the way you say it, you say it in a different way. It's powerful. Yeah, dude. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show, man. We had a blast. Thank you for inviting me. That was quite quick, didn't it? It was amazing. It was amazing. Beautiful setting. You just got to love the lake. Love it. Love it. I've never seen a view like this, honestly. It's crazy. It's crazy. Yeah. All right, guys. That's going to do it for this episode. I hope you really enjoyed it. I know I did. If you haven't already done so, check out the show notes and all the things. We will put all the links that we talked about there. check out Taiyo he's doing some really cool stuff and he's already walking in what you've heard me talk about so many times which is becoming more like David David in his best days not David in some of his challenges the good news is even David in his worst days still humbled himself when he was caught in a misstep I really hope you enjoyed that episode, I know you do if you know someone right now for example that maybe IT is not your field but you know someone who could really use that I'm actually thinking about a couple people in my own head that I was like, I want to introduce them to them, right? Then share this episode with them. Share it with them. Help them see the benefit. Just send them a love note of sorts. Hey, I saw this episode. I thought of you immediately. There's a moment about, I don't know, pick some time in the show, the 10-minute mark, 30-minute mark or whatever that I think is specialty, but I love the whole show. I hope you enjoy it. Then just send a love note. We've discovered that that is the easiest way to like and share because you're liking and sharing with sincerity. And that's how people like to be gravitated towards an authenticity. So anyway, I hope you enjoyed the episode. As always, if you haven't already done so, please like, share, subscribe, do all the things. I don't like asking. I don't like me asking. But if you'll do it to help us hook us up, we can reach more people, more lives, do more good in the world, and you'd be a big part of that. So until then, I'll see you in the next one. God bless. Peace. Take care.