Andres Zuleta

Full transcript: Andres Zuleta on London Real

0:04 This is London Real, I am Brian Rose. My guest today is Andres Zuleta, recent graduate of the Business Accelerator. Welcome. Thank you. Tell me about you. Where are you from, what do you do? So my name is Andres, like you said, and I was born in Colombia, Medellín, Colombia, during the crazy times with all the drug lords and everything, and then we moved to the US, looking for the American Dream.

0:29 And we just got there with a bag, and right away I went to school, to medical school, did my training as a physician, as a practicing doctor, and came to realize that a lot of my patients needed so much more than medicine to really improve their lives and overcome their illnesses.

0:49 And this is the road, I mean, to really figuring out what are the experiences and the science that someone has to put together to be able to overcome illnesses. Wow. What was Colombia like, and do you remember anything, or was it an emotional time?

1:16 It’s crazy. It’s really up until recently, putting everything together. As a kid I would see someone get shot very frequently, every couple of weeks. As a kid I would walk down a supermarket, get home, turn the news and know that that place was just blown away and 400 people were dead, and just like, wow, I just walked through there. So it’s a little crazy, but it becomes normal. It becomes normal.

1:46 And the next thing, you go play with your friends, right? And so the normalization of these behaviors has an impact that you only put together later in life. The normalization of the behaviors and the role models that this puts, because these guys are always on TV, the drug dealers, and they usually express what on TV was the worst of them, the best of them. And then so you pick that up as a role model without knowing, and it impacts your life, I mean, in a major, major way.

2:26 And so also it was incredible. I mean, you grow definite and intense resilience. You use jokes and funny through the worst times. You learn to move on quickly from tragedy, you learn to reorient yourself to new realities as they happen, quickly, and move on and move on and move on. And so it gave me the worst and it gave me the best, and I’m cool with both of them, and it made me who I am.

2:58 Well, what was going on with you professionally and personally that led you to the Accelerator? Like, what was happening in your life? And so I think professionally and personally many things converged. Personally, from Colombia and from whatever happened in my life, I was a partygoer, everything, and then it caught up to me. I woke up in jail one morning.

3:28 And then as a medical doctor you have to deal with that majorly, and you get called by the state, by whoever gives the licenses, to deal with this now. And so I had to dig so deep and be able to find out and make peace with it, and say, okay, why did this happen, why did I have those behaviors? And then after you do that, there is a hole in your life and you have to fill that hole, because really what you were doing is fishing in the gutter. You were looking for something, but it’s never going to be there.

4:03 And so then replacing those things with different habits and different activities, like meditation and intense sports. These took me on a journey of mentors, took me on a journey of learning masters from different industries. And then professionally converging, that I would see a patient come in and they have diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, the classic metabolic syndrome, and they’re coming in for three prescriptions, when I knew in my heart that they needed so much more.

4:37 And I knew that the things that I was learning would help them, from all these different fields, get better, overcome their illnesses and create true lasting health, not a prescription that would really have side effects and not really deal with the root of the issue.

5:00 And so professionally I was looking, of course, of ways of learning everything, the science, deep science about overcoming illnesses, and experiences. Some people have experiences that help them overcome illnesses. Doesn’t have to be proven, but they have experiences. They meet someone, they have a story, they have a tragic event, something happens, their little girl tells them, you’re gonna be around? Can you please stop smoking so I can see you on my wedding day? And that gets them to quit smoking. There’s experiences that happen too. So how to put all of this together, the sciences and the experiences, to put it and accelerate someone’s overcoming of their illnesses?

5:42 So I went to do a fellowship in integrative medicine, and working on that, it was incredible, because you get an interdisciplinary team. And then professionally, what brought me here was really how do you do that on a bigger scale, or do it in a way that then replaces the way that I practice medicine. And it’s not even like fixing an issue, but it’s a new way of doing it. And how do I do that and expand that to many more people? And so that’s what brought me here to London Real.

6:16 Okay, and why London Real? I think I watched one of your videos many years ago, and it was such a good impression, because it left me like, oh, these guys have, I mean, he’s like who he is, and he just brings people in, and he’s authentic. And then I think I was searching something for self growth or something on YouTube, and then an ad popped up and I clicked on it, and I was like, yeah, this is exactly what I need right now to do this.

6:48 Okay, that’s a good reason. Talk to me about the first two weeks. You joined the course, we throw the modules at you, you got the videos, you got me on Facebook Live, you’ve got the accountability doc, 150 students around the world, you’re uploading things to Facebook. What’s that like? It was an incredible experience, because I have my practice at the hospital, I have my company, my nonprofit, and I have my fellowship, the fellows I’m working with, very busy, but this somehow took all of the attention.

7:25 Right, and somehow the human perspective that you get from this network of people giving you feedback, needing feedback that you have, was just so attention-grabbing, which I think that’s where we are, we’re in an age where, where is the attention going? And it took my attention, and I was gladly giving it to it, because it was very rewarding to see myself grow and to see others grow. And so, very, very awesome experience.

8:02 What did you struggle with? I think my biggest struggle was probably when I come up with this message, right? That fear that we all have of not being good enough. And the fear that I have that, are they gonna say that I’m not a good doctor, are they gonna say that? And so I think that was the biggest struggle. But deep inside I know that when a patient comes back and they tell me thank you, they look straight at me in the eyes and they say, thank you for what you did to me, my life is so much better now, that’s what keeps me going. And so that was the struggle.

8:44 Okay, tell me about this community of people. They’re all around the world, some are in your team, you’re meeting a lot of them here. What’s it like? It is one of the peak experiences, I think. I mean, it’s been one of the peak experiences of my life, I think. It’s been really an outstanding and refreshing way of looking at technology. I’m very involved with the whole telemedicine and using technology for healthcare.

9:08 And we were in a talk, and Sanjay Gupta, who’s the CNN correspondent, was talking to us, and he was saying that one time he was in some war somewhere, and they set up his daughter on Skype there so he could talk to her before she went to bed that night. And he said that when he had the conversation with her and he looked straight in the eyes and he saw her emotion and he saw his emotion to her in that moment, he was so moved by it, and he didn’t realize how much of an impact you can have through technology, through a video conference, right?

9:47 And he urged us, because in that room there were leaders of telemedicine that are gonna really shape the way that it is used in the healthcare field in the country, and he urged us to please take this into consideration, as the technology gets more and more advanced, to use it in a way that there is human connection, right, that people connect. And your course flipped and made a paradigm shift in me, that I realized how powerful technology can be through video conferencing and how many human connections we can make.

10:19 You ask me about this team and these group of people. When I meet them here in London, all coming from all over the world, it’s like I’ve always met them, because of this connection that has been created. And so thank you for that, because that really helped me understand the power that technology has for human connection.

10:43 You’re welcome. It’s amazing to see all of you connect. It’s amazing to see you too, because you, I think, interrupted me during the module six call when I was talking about the webinar, and you were like, Brian, Brian, Brian, Brian, I just sold something right now! And you were so pumped up, you were excited. Can you tell me what happened that day? And again, I had immediate connection with you, so when I see you here I’m like, there’s Andres. But what was going on then?

11:08 I think it was, I think, one of the things, financial health, right, is like a huge part of our health, and that day was the meaning of what is my relationship with money, right? Our relationship with money is such a big thing and it blocks us in so many different ways. And so the webinar for me was a huge, huge undertaking in terms of resistance because of that, because in healthcare we’re like, help, help, help, and we don’t realize that actually a part of it is actually being able to manage all of these aspects that come into it, like finances.

11:47 So selling in the webinar was a true, like, going out on a limb. But I always remember something that Russell Brand says, that like, if you really believe in what you’re selling, it’s actually a moral obligation to do that. It’s your moral obligation. So I did it, and then when I was doing the webinar, the payment thing didn’t work, and of course, of course. And then after the call, I felt good doing it and everything.

12:22 And the crazy thing is that I hadn’t looked at my schedule at the hospital, and I was planning to do it like Thursday or Friday, so I had like five days to prepare, and I looked at my schedule, it was like, tomorrow is the only day that I can do it. So I had to go ahead and pull the trigger. I did it, and then the payment thing failed, and then I sent emails afterwards, and then when you jumped in the call, then I got the first email back saying that somebody had bought the course, and it wasn’t somebody from this network.

12:55 And so then, a big paradigm shift, change, like a sense of responsibility that I have to give them so much value. I have to just give them so much value that, like, is a hundred times more than what they put in. Yeah. And so I’m just thrilled to be working on that. That’s powerful, man, I love it. I always remember you jumping in there, and it was worth it. I’m glad you interrupted me, it was worth it.

13:25 What’s the biggest lesson or takeaway you’re gonna get from this course? If you think about the whole thing, what’s the one thing that comes to mind? I think the biggest takeaway is the power of the network, the power of the network, the power of feedback, the power of listening to your market. I already started a company before, and I actually lost so much money trying to make it work, and here, in six weeks, you’re really making, seeing the first successful sales, even if it’s a little bit.

13:50 But I think the first takeaway is like, little reward, little reward. Add value to people’s lives. Add value to people’s lives and start seeing how you can have a healthy business and finances through that, so they both come together, and then from that you can build on. But I think that was the biggest lesson, that thinking about adding value first and seeing how you can do that first.

14:22 Yeah. What about six months from now? What do you want your business to look like? What do you want to be doing? What are the kind of things that you’re doing during your day, or your customers feeling, that kind of thing? So, Brian, there is this study from Gallup. Gallup is an international statistical company, and they put this study, and the study was about what is well-being, what is it that is well-being.

14:47 And so they realized that, it was the largest study done on well-being, how people are living, and they looked at about 150 countries, and they came across and they say that well-being is really, there is five aspects to it in people’s lives. There is a social aspect, the physical aspect, the community aspect, the relationships aspect and the physical aspect, right? And they categorize people into suffering, struggling, living, thriving, right?

15:19 Brian, there is countries in this world, so let me put it this way, only 7% of the people, only 7% of the countries have thriving in all seven, in all these five areas, only 7%. There are countries that have 70% of thriving, that their community feel that they’re thriving, 70%. There are countries that is 2%. So there is a ton of people suffering, and so my business is gonna close that gap. It’s going to help and contribute with all of these other people to close that gap. It’s going to contribute to close that gap, because we need to close that gap.

16:07 Agreed. What if we walk down the street today, you and me, and we bumped into the Andres who didn’t take this course? How’s that guy different than the guy I’m talking to right now? I think the Andres of before had a lot of passion, just like I do now, had a lot of knowledge that there’s many different ways of creating that well-being that we talked about, but it’s almost like you can run west looking for the sunrise and it will never come.

16:41 And so that Andres has a strategy now, that Andres has the tools, that Andres now has the network. The Andres before had all the passion and all the hard work, work day and night, but the strategies, the network and the step-by-step process is done. And then you can run west looking for the sunset and then you’ll get there, but you can run yourself to death to go in the wrong direction. And so I think that’s the difference, that I now have tools.

17:12 What would you say to someone who’s thinking about taking the Business Accelerator but just not sure if it’s worth the investment, time, money, that kind of thing? I think there’s a great quote by this writer, Holderoski. He says, between do and not do, I always do. And so between do and not do, always do. If you’re already having a desire to do something, just do it. That’s the first thing.

17:39 And then the second thing is that this community of people, I mean, everybody on the course who was on the fence in the webinar, they’ve done amazing things now. So this community of people are like lifelong friends. We just got off doing other interviews right before we got here, and we’re partnering already and creating other things. And so I just urge you, if you have that, the fact that it is there and that you have a desire, it’s proof that this is what you’re supposed to do, and so this course will accelerate that.

18:12 Well, welcome to the family. And so for the next 12 months you’re gonna be pushing and gonna keep it up with your monthly meetings and stuff, so I can’t wait to see what you come up with. You got so much passion, and it’s great you come from that medical background, and it’s great that you’re bringing something else to the table. I think that gives you a lot of credibility with your message, and I think people want to hear the message you’re giving, and there’s not many doctors talking about that stuff, and I think it’s really important. And it says a lot about you that you’re willing to go out there and put your training on the line and your reputation on the line, so thank you for doing that.

18:39 And I really appreciate your energy in the course, that’s why you’re here, and just keep doing this, man. I can’t wait to see what your class is going to do. I’m telling you, it’s gonna be like the PayPal mafia or something, right? Like, something’s gonna happen big in this class for the next few years, and I can’t wait to see what you guys do. Thank you, Brian, all the London Real team. It’s really been an outstanding and accelerating experience. Dude, thank you so much. As we say, it’s about the journey, man. I wish you well on yours, and let’s do this. Yeah.