Episode 37
In this episode, we interview personal development expert Karl Sona. Karl is passionate about the hustle with the time management skills to execute it. He is the host of the Free Time Podcast as well as the Chief Revenue Officer of Streamlined Podcasts, a service providing post-production services for podcasters.
Let’s dive right in and gain some wisdom from Karl on how we can maximize our free time as well as some strategies and advice for personal development.
[00:01 – 07:11] Maximizing Your Time
- I introduce our guest Karl Sona
- Karl talks about taking ownership of your time
[07:12 – 18:09] Getting Honest with Yourself
- Karl shares about how he realized he needed change in his life
- Be willing to fill the gaps in your skills and knowledge
- Karl gives some more resources that shifted his thinking – links below
[18:10 – 32:38] Personal Development
- Karl talks strategy around balancing time
- Starting early with prayer, meditation, journaling, reading
- Karl talks about knowing your limits around personal development
- Remind yourself about the things that you’ve done and be thankful
- We talk about the importance of reward systems for completing goals
- Prioritize rest and reflection in whatever way you need
[32:39 – 41:02] Connecting with Like-Minded People
- Karl talks about the power of positive connections
- The right people will elevate you
- Be the one who also adds value
- The room that excites you is the right room
- Lightning Round segment with Karl
- Favorite book
- Hobbies
- Successful e-commerce entrepreneurs vs people who give up
- How to Connect with Karl – links below
Resources Mentioned:
- The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
- The Powerlist with Andy Frisella
- The Go-Giver
- The Inner Game of Tennis
- The Miracle Morning
- Sensory Deprivation Tank
- 5 AM Club
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Connect with Karl on LinkedIn and Instagram @karl.sona. Visit karlsona.com and book a free session
Email us –> support@firingtheman.com
Karl 0:00
If there is a gap that you already see in your abilities, or there’s a gap, in your knowledge, be willing to look at that as an opportunity to progress. Be willing to look at that as an opportunity to actually say, oh, wow, here’s a chance for me to learn something new and actually develop into a better version of myself. And so having that curiosity, I think should Trump any level of embarrassment or shame that you may have, where you currently stand?
Intro 0:27
Welcome, everyone to the Firing The Man podcast, a show for anyone who wants to be their own boss. Sit in a cubicle every day and know you were capable of more than join us. This show will help you build a business and grow your passive income streams in just a few short hours per day. And now your host serial entrepreneurs David Schomer, and Ken Wilson.
David 0:51
Welcome everyone to the firing demand podcast on today’s episode, we interviewed Carl Sona, a lifestyle entrepreneur, and host of the free time podcast Which centers around self empowerment, mental health, and personal fulfillment? I’ve personally been tuning into Karl’s podcast every week for the last few months and get excited every time he releases a new episode. I’m truly honored to have Carl on as a guest of the firing demand podcast. Welcome to the show, Carl.
Karl 1:19
David. Ken, thank you so much for having me, gentlemen. It’s an honor.
David 1:23
Absolutely. So to get things started, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Karl 1:27
Absolutely, man. I’m what I would call a true hustler. I get it from my parents, you know, they, they came here back in the 80s from a tiny country in West Africa. And it’s all I saw growing up, man. I mean, I didn’t really ever have Saturday mornings in front of the TV to watch cartoons. I mean, we were out finding a way to make $1 and that carried on with me all throughout my college life. You know, I went to school to try to be a doctor because that was what was shown to me as what it meant to be successful. And it up Almost flunking out of St. Louis UVA you and I met and I was at risk of losing my scholarship. And that’s when I pivoted, pivoted got in the medical device sales by the grace of God. And it’s been a very, very great career path for me year to date. But a couple years ago, I started realizing that I had an emptiness in me I had an emptiness that was really seeking much more than just my role as a professional salesman. And that’s when I really began my path into entrepreneurship, and really trying to figure out what my true purpose here was. And so it’s led me to speaking it’s led me to the podcast. I’ve now launched a podcast production company called streamline podcast where we help podcasters own their message. And yeah, man, it’s been a lot of fun. I just, I can’t speak highly enough about really asking yourself what it is you’re put here to do and really, you know, betting on yourself because you don’t bet on yourself who else is gonna write and just go out there and find the Way to find something that really lights you up.
David 3:02
Absolutely, absolutely. Now one thing I wanted to dive into today was time management. Now, if I think of masterminds that I’ve been in, or meetups that I’ve been to one thing that I hear people say all the time is I am busy. I don’t have the time to do that. Yeah. And if we think about our audience, a lot of them have full time jobs, a lot of them, you know, may have a family or children or other commitments, and, and at the end of the day, everybody’s got 24 hours. And you know, Ken and I certainly are juggling multiple balls in the air at one time and I look at somebody like you, who also has multiple balls in the air. And I just like to dive into this because I think that you know, through some of your self development that you’ve talked about on your podcast, you do a great job of getting really honest with yourself, and how you’re spending your time and and you have a podcast centered around taking back ownership. Have your free time. And so can you share with the listeners some some advice that you have on time management?
Karl 4:07
Yeah, absolutely, man. I mean, this is definitely a very layered subject. And I want the audience to know that this is one of those things that we should always pursue to get a little bit better at, right? I will not, you know, claim to have all the answers. But what I can tell you that’s worked for me is, first and foremost, getting honest with myself, I love that you brought up that point of we all have 24 hours a day, right? A couple years ago, I started to audit myself and I realized that I was spending a lot of my time being busy on things that weren’t necessarily important. I was spending a lot of my time on things that were urgent for other people and not necessarily myself. And so that’s spread me quite thin, right? And so when people are able to stop saying, I don’t have the time, I can’t find the time and they can take ownership of figuring out how to repurpose the time you start to find a lot of opportunity. He’s within your day, to improve upon a skill to grow that business to make that call whatever the task or whatever the objective of the day may be for you. So that was the first thing for me. Secondly, once I found a lot more openings in my day, I started to figure out what was most important to me to fill that time with. So there’s a great book written by Stephen Covey called the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. And he refers to this as putting First things first, meaning prioritize, but when people hear the word prioritize, they quickly go to the task list, right? All the random things that we’ve all had listed down our to do list, but oftentimes those things aren’t necessarily pushing us towards a greater mission or towards a greater goal. So two years ago, when I was in Nashville, and I was like, man, all my time is spent working. When I’m not working. I’m out at the bar on Broadway chasing girls, when I’m not doing that I’m nursing a hanger. I’m like, Alright, that’s gotta go. got eight fresh hours when I’m not working when I’m not taking care of my household that I can start to invest back in the car, you know, for personal development for growing a business for having conversations that help grow and cultivate relationships. And so those things were in alignment with where I wanted to go right there was a part of me that had died, there was a new part of me that was looking to grow in terms of figuring out how I would benefit myself and how I would I would find more fulfillment. So I just very simply started doing 123 things a day that were in an alignment with where it is I wanted to go. And for me, a lot of that, at that point in time was just finding a way to enrich myself through books through seminars, through conversations like this. And so I just found a way to prioritize having those activities built in to my schedule in a non negotiable time block. So that’s really what catapulted me in man and you know, you do anything consistently enough over time it starts to become an Green habit. So, I’m very happy that I found the opportunity to just get squared with myself and to ask myself a higher level set of questions in terms of what really mattered.
David 7:11
Absolutely, absolutely. You know, one thing that that you talked about there was getting honest with yourself and, and is it listen to you on your podcast, I noticed a lot of humility in recognizing that, hey, the way I’m going about things may not be the best way. And I know, you know, thinking back to, you know, my early 20s oftentimes, I did think, you know, the way I’m doing things is the best way and it took some, you know, some major hurdles and honestly failures for me to realize that I did have some room for improvement and so can you share, share kind of that that pivotal point where you turn the corner and, and, you know, maybe realize that the way you’re going about things maybe wasn’t optimal?
Karl 7:56
Yeah, absolutely, man. I mean, I kind of remember the day If there was last week, it was two and a half years ago. 2017, almost 2018. I was living in Nashville, Tennessee. So that was that was a great time in my life. And that that was the first major sort of stepping stone in my career as a medical device salesman, when I moved out there, but what I realized David was, I was just sort of getting by on on hard work, you know, and, and hard work, a great thing to embrace, in my opinion, but it does, it doesn’t always mean that you’re working as efficiently as possible. You know, so I was stepping into a role as a capital salesman, a role, really, that typically requires seven to 10 years of experience. I had none. I had just gotten by through great relationships in my organization, and like I said, hard work. And I literally just got, you know, my teeth kicked in on a couple of deals where I was like, Oh, my God, like what I’ve been doing is no longer sufficient enough to, you know, cut the opportunity here and I’ve been blessed and I’ve been very fortunate to be putting this operation And so I realized that I needed to do something off hours, I needed to do something that would level up my knowledge, level up my skills, my abilities in order to show up for the job. And that’s when I started to look at myself. And I was like, oh, wow, like, I’m not really reading much. I’m not really looking to sales education much. Maybe it’s time to find a way to fit those things in. And my first instinct was to say, Oh, no, like, I’m already working eight hours, this is what they pay me. I don’t have the time to do these things off the clock. But then that’s when I got square with myself. And I realized that there was a lot of time wasted, that I could just repurpose, and use that as off the clock. Again, personal development time to show up as a better meme. And I tell you what, it wasn’t perfect at first. I didn’t necessarily know where to go to find the knowledge. I did a lot of zigging and zagging you know, looking at things that I thought would be a great way to educate myself that turns out they weren’t but eventually I found a couple of great resources that I was able to use. And it did wonders for me in terms of my actual output and my results in my career. So I would say 2017 was a huge year, because I just realized that as I was at that point in time, I wasn’t at a skill level that would have been appropriate to get the job done. And I think for a lot of people, maybe they know that their skills aren’t in the level, you know, that they need to be in order to get that job done, or whatever the case may be, but they’re ashamed or embarrassed or, or just unwilling to actually accept that and do something about it. And so I would say to the audience, if there is a gap that you already see in your abilities, or there’s a gap, in your knowledge, be willing to look at that as an opportunity to progress. Be willing to look at that as an opportunity to actually say, oh, wow, here’s a chance for me to learn something new and actually develop into a better version of myself and so having that curiosity I think should Trump any level of embarrassment or shame that you may have where you currently stand?
David 11:07
Very nice, very nice. What are some some specific things? And I’d like to, you know, for our listeners that are listening to this, and saying, you know, that sounds great, but, you know, when I done listening this podcast, what are some specific things I can do? And whether that be, you know, blocking off time on a calendar, or dedicating certain parts of the day to certain activities? What are what have been some things that you’ve done, that have really helped with that?
Karl 11:33
Yeah, probably the biggest thing to be honest, I’m a big fan of keeping things simple, especially in the beginning, when you’re looking to change. I find that it’s easy to promise yourself, you’re gonna do this huge drastic thing that you’ve never really done before and you don’t really keep up with it. So one of the things that was huge for me was starting this program called power list. For those of you and you guys are in Missouri, there’s a gentleman named Andy for Sela. That was really key in sort of helping me pivot towards where I’m at right now. And he runs a company called first forum. He’s got a podcast as well called real AF. And he talks about this thing called the power list where if you want to create a new habit, if you want to be a bit more efficient, in your day, in learning a new skill, all you’ve got to do is outline five critical tasks that you are going to commit to getting done before you go to bed that night. And so for me, David, I hadn’t cracked a book since I graduated from St. Louis, you. So for me starting off, you know, reading was a key priority. It was it was a key initiative that I wanted to start to ingrain. So I was like, Alright, I’m gonna get a few pages in every single day. Another thing that I was very interested in at the time was e commerce. And so I was like, You know what, I’m driving a couple hundred miles a day, rather than listen to the same music, the entire trip. I’m going to find some podcasts that help educate me on on e commerce. I’m really big on relationship building. And we have so many free tools at our fingertips. I was like, You know what, I’m gonna go on LinkedIn, I’m gonna find a way to engage with individuals that are doing the e commerce game at the time, you know, when I was very, very interested in that space. So those are just a few things that I started to build into my day that I wasn’t doing before that very quickly led to some huge results. You know, before I knew it, Aaron under four guy, so listen to this guy’s podcast named James swannack. And he’s got this huge brand on Amazon called swan. And so these cool little blue light blocking glasses. So I listen to this guy’s podcasts, just trying to soak up as much information as possible. And before I knew it, I got wind of a mastermind that he was doing. So he opened up this mastermind, I remember filling out my registration. And next thing I know I was on weekly coaching calls with him getting all of this insider information that I probably would never have been privy to. So in my opinion, it’s about doing small actions on a consistent basis that allow you to get into a whole new realm of information of people have opportunities that you wouldn’t have had before. So I can’t stress enough really just keeping it simple. And finding a few things that you can implement that you’re not currently doing. That won’t take you too far out of your comfort zone, but that over time will compound into huge results and anybody would be very proud of.
David 14:28
Absolutely. You know, you had mentioned several year moratorium on reading and I went through something similar where I got done with school, and for honestly my entire life, I had, you know, read the chapters take the test and and then move on and never really did enjoy reading until my late 20s. And, you know, that’s when I met Ken, that was one of the things that you know, we really connected on was he he read a lot as well, and we listened to a lot of audiobooks and just called to talk to someone about like, hey, what, you know, what are you reading? What do you find in helpful? You know, I would be interested in what have been some of those high impact books that you’ve read that you would recommend.
Karl 15:12
Yeah, man. Well, one of the first books that I read that really started to sort of shift my thinking a little bit was the go giver. So I was gifted this book by some random lady at like a mastermind group or a seminar. No, I was just plugging myself in. And I remember reading that book. Actually, I have it right here. It’s the go giver. It’s by Bob Berg and john David Mann. And it really helped me from a sales perspective, because I remember heading in the calls, always thinking about my main objective, right? Like what was that key aim that I wanted to impose on the person that I was talking to, but the go giver really helped me understand that it was all about providing some value first, you know, especially being a 26 year old at the time, I wasn’t quite sure. What made me uniquely positioned to make things happen. And so I think when you’re a little uncertain about what it is you have to offer, you tend to come from a place of lack, you tend to come from a place of a scarcity type mindset. And that makes you do things that aren’t always in the best interest for business. But this book really brought some of those walls down and helped me to understand the power of adding value first. And now it’s sort of a core value in my life where, in any situation if it’s a friendship on a personal standpoint, or if it’s a business opportunity, I’m trying to ask myself and kind of check this box of, of how can I give How can I provide some value on the forefront in as much of a quantity as possible so that this will be a fruitful opportunity for not only myself, but my friend or my new business associate. So that was a huge one. Another one that I really, really enjoy. The inner game of tennis, in a game of tennis has really nothing to do with tennis whatsoever versus so much to do with mastering your mind and your psyche. Again, being a young man, you know, you’re constantly being shown all these images from society in terms of what it means to be successful. And so I think oftentimes, it takes you away from yourself as you chase these things that are external to you. But that book really broke down the power of being able to be aware of some of these things that you know, play and tug on your subconscious. And it’s given me a better relationship with myself. That book laid the foundation for me in terms of what it means to be successful with myself first, so I can show up as success right into the outside world into the universe where we would typically look to place success on first and foremost. So that was a good book in terms of just getting right with myself. I mean, those are just a couple amongst several others that have been huge, huge pivotal. catalysts for my mindset, which really conducts everything that I do on an external basis in the outside world.
Ken 18:09
So Carl, now one of the things I’d like to dig into is, you have a you have a lot going on you have you know, your sales, you have a podcast, you have personal life development, you have a lot going on entrepreneur, right. So what are some things you used to balance all that to keep everything in alignment and balance it? What are some strategy used for that?
Karl 18:32
Yeah, that’s a great question Ken a couple years ago, I learned the power of having some protected time in the morning. So I have a morning routine that I at all costs work to not shift around and to not compromise. I like to start my days around five to 530 if I can, and this is typically five to six days a week to give myself one rest day but five to 530 I’m waking Typically without an alarm clock, and I’m going upstairs to my loft, and I’m just sitting in the darkness. And the first thing I will do is I will reflect and pray on some scripture. And then I’ll actually meditate on the word. So it just allows me the opportunity to just be silent with myself, I find that when you do a lot, you’re oftentimes pulled in a million to one directions. And it’s so easy to be overwhelmed. So taking that protect the time just to be quiet and to listen to your body is huge. So after I meditate for about 40 to 45 minutes, I’m typically opening up a journal, and just writing down a couple of thoughts, whatever comes to mind, and or one to two high level things that I want to get done that aren’t necessarily tied to a business initiative. For instance, one of the things that I’m doing right now is I’m writing a mission statement for my life. And so I’ve been taking a little bit of time every single morning to continue to write and work on that draft. And it’s just a great way again, to really prioritize the relationship itself. Once that sort of Thinking time is done. I’m trying to get some physical movement in. So my girlfriend and I are super fun followers of a great strength and conditioning gym here in town, we’ll go lift some heavy weights, or I’ll just go play some basketball or do a peloton workout, whatever the case may be. But those three critical steps prayer, meditation, journaling, and reading are super pivotal in terms of making sure that I feel like I’m in a good headspace to show up to the day and actually, you know, fulfill all the different requirements that are placed on me. So that’s the first thing in terms of keeping up with all my different roles and responsibilities. Like you said, Can I’m a salesman, running a small startup company now do my podcasts and personal brand, I’ve just gotten clear. And I’m working on getting even more clear on all those different roles and I’m assigning the objectives that I need to fulfill on all these different roles to specific days of my week. So one of the things that I’m looking at is I’m not Looking at the weekend advance, and I’m planning Okay, Monday from seven to 10 protect the time for sales calls only, you know, the afternoon This is when I’m doing things of this nature when I’m connecting with people on a podcast, things of that nature. So it allows me to have a little bit of foresight, well before I step into that activity, about what I’m doing and how I want to show up. So that’s been absolutely invaluable because I had a place a couple months ago where I felt like all the balls were in the air, and I was just do my best to run to keep them all in there. And you know, you very quickly start to realize that you’re burning out so I can’t stress the need to actually take some time to sit down and prioritize while your roles are and look at opportunities within your week well in advance to plan out exactly when you’re gonna do all those different things.
David 21:51
Very nice. Now, one thing that I also want to dive into is you talk about working on yourself, and I I’ve said this on the podcast before, I’m a self admitted like self help junkie. And I think that there have been certain aspects of that that have been super powerful in my life and have had, like, a really good impact. And I’ll give you an example The Miracle Morning that helped me get my morning routine dialed in. And that was, is made a tremendous difference in my business. But But one thing I find is that as you go down this journey of life improvement, it’s very easy to look at yourself and in the things that are deficient. You know, I’ll give you a couple examples is, you know, society tells you you need to make as much money as you as you possibly can and get as many followers as you possibly can and, and I find myself sometimes feeling like, I’m constantly working on changing myself. And in total contrast this My wife is probably one of the most content people was ever met. And she often reminds me like, hey, you’re you’re doing great. You’re doing great. I love you. And not this this guy that that you’re trying to be in. So can you speak to that a little bit like self improvements? Good. But yeah, there may be something, you know, there’s such a thing as too much.
Karl 23:21
You know what I mean? Yeah, man 100%. So you definitely want to be very mindful of when the appropriate time comes for you to hop off the hamster wheel. Because I think it’s very easy. And it’s happened to me, man, in this self development world to constantly be consuming information to constantly be chasing the next seminar, you know, where you’re just continuously drinking from the firehose, and you’re not actually even finding the time to implement something that actually hits home for you. So, I have that man and I’ve struggled with that. I’m actually looking at a note right here on my desktop and my girlfriend, where she’s from Mining me to slow down and take a deep breath because I’m the hardest worker that she knows. So Oh man. I mean, this is something that’s hard, David, because when you become committed to chasing that next version of yourself, you very quickly realize that there is no finish line. And because there’s no finish line, you start to sort of chase your tail if you’re not careful. And so what I’ve had to do in order to prevent myself from going down, you know, that that spiral that never ending spiral is I’ve had to take a little bit of time in the evening, to just look at all the things that I’ve done in the show myself some grace, you know, it kind of goes back to the idea of auditing your time, when I can open up my planner, or my cell phone, where I’ve got my five critical tasks I touched on earlier and I can say, Wow, like we actually made some pretty good progress. Like, let’s, let’s take a breath, and let’s be thankful for all that we’ve accomplished and how it continues to set us up for the next leg of the journey. That’s been a huge game changer for me because it gives me a sense of appreciation for where I am in this moment. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve got so caught up with that next level. If it’s, you know, the next cool shiny material object or the next check that comes in that that hopefully will have an extra zero on the end of it, compared to last month’s check whatever it may be. I can’t sometimes I’ve been so caught up on chasing that thing that I start to get a little aggravated. And I’m like, why am I like, why am I kind of like tightly wound up and just sort of on edge? And it’s because I’m not taking the time just to be grateful. So I can’t speak highly enough of how much practicing gratitude has been helpful with what you just mentioned. And it What does it look like? It looks like taking a breath taking a step back, and just being extremely appreciative of all that is going well in your life. You know, one called A day may not bring that deal in that you want tomorrow, but it’s still a call that gets you a step closer. And so people need to find a way when I say people, myself included, we need to find a way to continue to remind ourselves that we’re running a long marathon here. You know, every day puts us a little bit closer, so long as we’re being truthful with ourselves, and we’re honoring the commitments that we make to ourselves. So that’s what I would embrace.
David 26:26
Absolutely, it’s, it’s refreshing to hear that I’m not the only person. I’ve had these conversations, but I have little post it note on my mirror in the morning, you know, it says you are enough. And that’s something that I need to do a better job of reminding myself of because I can say like in business, I was so pumped, the first month that I had over $1,000 in sales, and then I was so every milestone as you work your way up, it’s exciting. But then you constantly raise the bar and enter chasing that next new thing. At some point, it’s nice to stop and smell the roses. And I think, you know, from a time management standpoint, that that should be something I, you know, we as entrepreneurs should build into our calendar is send your selves calendar invite for once a week or once a day and, and, you know, look in the rearview mirror and what you have accomplished because it is it can be a grind. And you know, Ken talks a lot about your why. And that’s, you know, something that I think Ken does a really good job of is he has a really good North Star
Ken 27:34
you know, something and David along the lines and Karl you know, you touched on it is saying that it’s enough like, you know, anybody that has like a direction and goals and you’re, you’re achieving as much as you can to get there. You know, something that I’m not good at and I struggle with is to reward myself with with like to exhale and say, Oh, you know, like, like the whole list. Have tasks that I had last week, I got five of them done like, Yay, you know, like, give yourself a pat on the back. And it’s kind of refreshing to have those little baby steps. Do you have like a feedback loop or something or process that you personally use to do that to reward yourself of the little steps that you take on your path?
Karl 28:21
Yeah, man, I just got to massage this morning. It was awesome. And like, I know that not but I build that kind of thing. And because I tell myself like, all right, you’re definitely running, you know, at full speed here. And the last thing you want to do is to destroy you as the asset right, that creates all the things and that brings all the things into fruition that you hope to create for yourself. So Ken, I love that you bring that that concept of a reward up I think it’s very critical that we find ways to reward myself with rest or within experience. I know David, you just got back from a vacation, like finding the opposite. tunity to unplug, is what I have found, allows me the ability to stay available in this long race of a marathon that we’re running in the game of entrepreneurship. And quite frankly, like, I used to be the guy that would work like all day Saturday, I’d be like, Alright, what can I be doing to get like a leg up on the competition, I got to get up early, go to a coffee shop, put in 10 hours before I go out at night, or whatever the case may be. And now I don’t work Saturdays anymore. And I used to feel so guilty about that, again, the way I grew up, I didn’t grow up Saturday mornings in front of the TV, like I just always saw work. And so I feel like that’s so deeply ingrained in me to where I feel guilty or I feel like I’m losing a step, if you will, when I’m not working, but I’m coming to this place. Now. I’m not quite there, but I’m coming in this place. My girlfriend’s been huge in helping me get there to where I’m starting to prioritize rest. You know, periods of recovery are so critical to our ability to continue to allow our skill set to the Develop, but also to allow us the ability to continue to push against that big wall, whatever that wall may be for, you know, the listener out there. So I think that’s huge. I would urge everybody to find something that they can do to just tune out, that allows them the ability to just take a deep breath and, you know, come back to the mission at hand with a fresh set of eyes. And for me that’s going on a hike on Saturdays getting out in nature. I’m out here in Colorado, which is great. So there’s tons to do from that standpoint. And yeah, definitely rewarding yourself, you hit that little milestone, get a massage, you know, whatever that looks like for you do something to continue to have that positive reinforcement. Because the days will come up again, where it’s just long and you’re putting out a bunch of fires and it’s like, oh my god, how do I keep on pushing for But hopefully, you know, you’ve taken those periods of time away, that allow you that extra oomph, if you will, to keep on pursuing what it is you want to get after?
David 31:03
Absolutely. This is uh, this is definitely off topic, but I have to mention it. You You talked about getting a massage. Have you ever done a sensory deprivation tank or a float tank? You know, I’ve
Karl 31:14
heard so much great things about about those things that you’re kind of in that pool and you’re sort of floating Listen, yeah, like, like, like music, but I haven’t tried it yet.
David 31:23
I can tell you. And I feel like a lot of entrepreneurs can relate to this. My brain is always going. I always In fact, it causes me troubles when I try to fall asleep at night. And that has been the one thing that I have done. That allows me to totally shut down. I would say it’s pretty close to a meditative state. I struggled to meditate, I’ve tried it. I have the apps and always get a little distracted but Oh man, I absolutely love those and and I would prefer sitting and floating for 60 minutes over a massage and I just have to tell everybody about Because it’s uh, I talked to Ken about it a couple months ago and and give it a try. If that sounds interesting to you, I love it.
Karl 32:08
Absolutely love. people describe it as being like they’re back in the womb and I was I was fired back. How do you know what it’s like to be in the womb? Like?
Ken 32:20
I’ve done that a couple of times and in the float tanks, and it is a different experience. It is a way to disconnect completely. You’re in Yeah, you’re in a very relaxed state. And then yeah, I definitely recommend it.
Karl 32:35
I’m taking guys upK
Ken 32:36
on that. For sure. For sure. Absolutely. So Karl, I wanted to hit on something that’s been that’s been huge for for me personally, is connecting with like minded people. Now, you mentioned earlier, like you mentioned specifically LinkedIn and mastermind groups and that you are getting you are getting plugged in. Now. Can you speak to the audience about what that’s been for you perfect. How that’s helped elevate you and what it’s brought to your life.
Karl 33:03
Yeah, man, I mean, it’s it’s opened me up to a mindset of a whole new realm of possibilities, you know, when you’re when you’re just hanging out with your college buddies, or with the same people that you’ve always been hanging out with, conversation tends to hit a dead end fairly quickly. Like we can only talk about sports and to cu home or whatever it may be, like, that gets old and, and that’s kind of where I was, man. I mean, I think that for so long. That’s what I was shown as what it means to communicate what it means to converse. And so those are sort of the topics that we just continue to stay on. And it wasn’t until I found podcasts where I actually had an outlet to hear conversations that other people were having other seemingly normal people that had, you know, fall into the world of e commerce or real estate and I was like, oh, wow, like, there are some people just like me working professionals, you know, college grads that are finding ways to educate themselves and step into whole new worlds that I never even considered were available or possible for somebody like myself. And so I got hooked, man, I was like, Alright, I’m listening to these podcasts a couple times a week. I want to find ways to get around these people. And honestly, Ed, my lead is a guy that I follow a good bit, he says it best. He says, when you start to tap into networks of like minded people, people that are just a few steps ahead of you along the journey towards wherever it is, you’re going, you start to raise your internal temperature. So he describes people that are like minded that are, you know, massive action takers as thermostats for the room. You know, if they’re at 80 degrees and you come in at a chilly 68 and you hang around them long enough. Sure enough, you will start to level up to 72 To 74. And if you’re really good, maybe you’ll surpass them at 80. And that’s definitely been my experience. I remember the first self development conference I went to was in Las Vegas. It was a Grant Cardone TEDx conference. And I was like deer in headlights there. I mean, I’m a very outgoing person. But I never seen so many people just jacked up on life, so many people just out to make it happen for themselves that were outwardly communicating what they were going to do, the goals they were going to hit, and I’m like, whoa, whoa, like, I don’t have any of this figured out. And so what do you do when you’re in a situation that’s uncomfortable used to you tend to retreat at least mentally, right? You start telling yourself all these stories like, oh, wow, like, I’m in the wrong room. I shouldn’t be here. All these self limiting beliefs. But if you’re willing to stay on comfortable for long enough, over time, at least for me, those beliefs start to lower and you start to find windows of opportunity to where you can level yourself up or you can amp up your temperature a bit right to match the room that you’re in. So for anybody that’s Just starting, and that is curious about a subject matter. For instance, e commerce, find people find a community of individuals that are also interested in that thing. And you’ll be very, very pleased to see how quickly their energy starts to bleed up on you, you know, positivity, it’s very contagious, of course. But the same goes for mindset. The same goes for knowledge in any given particular area, I find that if you just put yourself in the situation, it’s huge in terms of what it can do for you, you know, 80% of success. I think Jim Rohn said, this is just showing up. So show up, get around those like minded individuals. And we have so many great tools. I mean, LinkedIn is great. You can literally do a query for people that have a specific job title that you’d love to network with, and add those people and find a way to add value. You know, go read the go giver, find a way to add value and soon enough, you’re in the rooms that you want to be in. And one thing that I can tell you about I’ll leave you guys with this quick little tip. If you’re feeling uncomfortable about being in that room, but it excites you, you’re in the right room. You don’t have to be fully prepared to give a thesis or whatever. Whatever the topic of conversation is, it means that you’re around people that are ahead of you. And that’s a great space to be because there’s an opportunity to actually grow and progress that way.
Ken 37:22
All right, Karl, we do a lightning round for all of our guests. I know we’re short on time. We want to be respectful of your time. So let’s try to get through these really quick.
Karl 37:30
What is your favorite book, favorite book 5am Club by Robin Sharma awesome book, written and narrative style story about three characters that leverage the very early morning hours of 5am to really tap into their purpose. So it’s a great book for anybody out there looking to find a way to be a little bit more efficient with their time of course, but really looking for a way to level up in their in their life.
Ken 37:59
Nice adding that to my list. Yeah. What are you? What are your hobbies?
Karl 38:03
Oh man, I love playing basketball. I love to drive fast cars. I love classic fast cars specifically, I’m actually really enjoying CrossFit style workouts too. That’s a new one for me. I’ve never done up until recently, any type of Olympic lifting, but I’ve been I’ve been having a great time putting some energy and some aggression to that medium. So that’s been a lot of fun.
Ken 38:28
Nice, excellent. Last one. What do you think sets apart successful ecommerce entrepreneurs from those who give up fail or never get started?
Karl 38:39
belief in self, we have the ability to do so much more than give ourselves in the current moment credit for but the separator in my mind, the separator is belief that we can get better. And so I would suggest to anybody, you know, it’s not enough to just look at yourself in the mirror, right and tell yourself I’m going to get better I’m going to get better. But it can be enough to realize that where you are today can be drastically improved upon and even a few months by just implementing tiny habits that get you a little bit better every single day. But you got to believe that those habits will compound into the results that you want to see in the external world.
David 39:18
Very nice. Now, Karl, where can people get ahold of you?
Karl 39:21
Oh, I’m on all the social media platforms at Karl. That’s Karl with the k dot Sona. I’m actually also getting ready to launch my own personal website here in the next few weeks of private and this goes live. You can find me at www.Karlsona.com as well. And reach out I’m always happy to connect. I’ve got a link as well that David can probably share somewhere here in the cow or in the show notes that has a link to my calendar. Happy to hop on a call and talk a little bit more about some of the stuff that we’ve touched on briefly.
David 39:53
Absolutely. Yeah. We’ll link to all of that in the show notes. Carl, thank you so much for being a guest on the show and wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. Ken. David,
Karl 40:03
thank you so much appreciate it.
David 40:06
Thank you everyone for tuning in to today’s firingtheman.com Podcast. If you liked this episode, head on over to firingtheman.com and check out our resource library for exclusive firing the man discounts on popular e-commerce subscription services that is www.firingtheman.com/resource. You can also find a comprehensive library of over 50 books that Ken and I have read in the last few years that have made a meaningful impact on our business or that head on over to www.firingtheman.com/library lastly, check us out on social media at Firing The Man on YouTube at Firing The Man for exclusive content. This is David Schomer and Ken Wilson. We’re out
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