Mimi Ikonn - Dreamers & Creators

Full transcript: Mimi Ikonn on London Real

8:13 This is London Real. I am Brian Rose. My guest today is Mimi Icon, who is a global citizen, fashion blogger, YouTube inspiration and the co-founder of Luxie Hair, the customer centric hair extensions, e-commerce retailer, which you created five years ago with your husband Alex Icon that makes millions of dollars per year. You have a powerful footprint on YouTube with 2.7 million subscribers, watching your videos over a quarter of a billion times. That’s about 10 times more, 25 times more than London Real. You’re originally from Baku, Azerbaijan and moved to Toronto at age 16 with nothing. Mimi, welcome to London Real. Thank you so much for having me.

9:02 It’s a pleasure to be here today, seriously. Thank you. You know, we cleaned the setup a little bit and wanted to make it nice before you came over. That looks great. I love it.

9:09 Thank you. I appreciate it. So much to talk about. You know, I want to talk about Luxie hair. I want to talk about your videos, a little bit about Alex YouTube. I want to talk about your dreamers and creators agency for entrepreneurs. But before we do all that, lots of cover.

9:22 Yeah, I know lots of cover. I was wondering if you could take me back to Baku and Azerbaijan. I looked it up today on the map. It’s right on the, it’s like on a peninsula or something, right? It’s on the Caspian sea. It’s right next to all the bad places we hear about, right? Iran is there in Kazakhstan and Russia and Chechnya. But what’s it really like?

9:44 It’s really changing at the moment. I really love it because in a way it’s like right in between Europe and Asia. So you get a sense of both, especially now when you travel there, it’s like, it’s very modern, but yet old at the same time. But growing up there was a bit of an experience because when I was born, I was born in USSR. So Russian was the main language. And I went to school, let’s say, with the Russian being my main language. But then when I was about six, five, six years old, that’s when, you know, USSR broke down and the whole war happened. And it was just a mayhem for a little period of time. I was too young to remember too much, but I just remember it being a bit scary and overwhelming. Was it like a control between locals and the Russian government? It was just a power vacuum. When everything broke down, it was a bit of a war. And yeah, it was just a bit scary, especially for adults, I can imagine now. I mean, me and my sister were just looking out. I mean, there was one or two days where, I don’t know if it was, I can’t remember all the details, but the Russian troops or Armenian troops, they entered the city and they were just like shooting people on the street. But me and my sister just looked around and were like, oh my God, what is this? Like, but didn’t understand, because at that age, you don’t understand the concept of death or mortality. So we were just like, this is awesome.

10:58 And just the look on my mom’s face was probably like, holy, what is, because for my parents, it was probably like the end of the world. Like they grew up in USSR. So for them, their country breaking down must have been horrific. I can’t imagine. So yeah, I mean, that aside, that didn’t last for a long time. Then Azerbaijan became an independent country and there’s still a lot of changes that’s becoming its own thing. And I moved a while ago. I mean, I’ve been living outside of there for the last almost 13 years now. So I’m like a mix of things because I grew up in Azerbaijan, but then I feel I am Canadian by my passport because I lived in Canada for 11 years. And now I feel very much British now that I live here. So I consider myself definitely a global citizen, but I’m grateful that I was born and raised in Azerbaijan because it gives me that understanding of the Asian culture as well as now the westernized, the east and the west. Right. And then kind of that, it’s kind of got that kind of former Soviet Union kind of feel people kind of get on with things there, right? Yeah. Yeah. They’re just used to, you know, hardships happening because they have to live through a lot of them. So they’re just a lot more resilient. It’s, it’s funny because me and Alex were Alex, my husband, were talking about this recently. You know how in America, everything is, everything is so comfortable for the most part. And people are used to doing things a certain way. It’s a bit in a box

12:23 To me coming from the east still. That’s how I view it. So when, when something like 9-11 happens, which I think is one of the most horrific things that happened in my lifetime, people really don’t know how to, what to do. They’re completely lost where in countries like Azerbaijan, where you’ve lived through the war, it’s like nothing phases you anymore. That’s kind of a sad thing, I guess, in a way, but you become more resilient and you learn to, to think outside of the box.

12:50 You’re not always looking for a manual or for somebody to tell you what to do. You just kind of start thinking for yourself and your survival instinct just kicks in and you figure out things to do to survive, really. Yeah. I mean, you know, my girlfriend Mariana and she’s from Bulgaria. And so I always get this feeling with her that they just get on with it. Like there’s not a lot of talk about, you know, ups and downs or they don’t dwell on the past. It’s just kind of like we deal with it and move forward. It’s kind of refreshing. It is because I’ve never heard of the term depression or anxiety until I moved to Canada. Like it’s just, people are just grateful to just, I mean, things have changed again. Like I can’t comment on the way the country is now because I haven’t been living there for the last, you know, 13 years. But the way I grew up was we didn’t know those terms. You just kind of like make the best of today. If there’s food on your table, you’re happy. And that is it. That’s all I remember from my childhood. Talk to me about growing up because you have a brother, sister or sister? It’s me and my sister lately. And you shared a one bedroom place with your parents and that means everybody in a one bedroom place.

13:53 So mostly not a lot of space. You know, what was that like growing up? I mean, you were there till you were 16, right? Yes. I mean, growing up, you don’t realize because you don’t have much to compare with. Well, we started comparing once we started being exposed to like American movies and you know, all these things you see on television. You’re like, Oh, I want to have this. I want to go to this amazing high school. I want to have my own room. But yeah, like my parents pretty much lived, like slept in the living room. We had two separate couches. So they didn’t even have a bed for themselves, but they gave us their bed where me and my sister slept until, you know, we moved from there. So I didn’t realize even the sacrifice until now almost like becoming aware of while they give us their bed so that we can have a proper bedroom and a bed and they slept on very uncomfortable couches. But again, as a kid, you just don’t, you don’t, you’re not aware. You don’t have that sense of awareness yet, but I’m very grateful now. Thank you, mom. Thank you, mom and dad. I appreciate that. What do you think what happened to you if you stayed? You know what, Brian, I always knew I wouldn’t since I was a little girl and same with my sister. We just, all I remember since I can remember myself thinking is that I want to travel the world and that like, I never had a sense of nationality. I didn’t feel like I am a Zary just because

15:15 Like, I just felt like I need to get out and I want to travel. I want to fly like a bird. I want to explore all kinds of cultures. It, it, that was me until even 16. I haven’t traveled anywhere until the age of 16. The first time I got on a plane was my family immigrating to Canada and I was the happiest human being on earth because I was daydreaming about that for the first 16 years of my life. So, um, yeah, I don’t know, but there is a lot of nationality in Azerbaijan. It’s yes, especially now. I feel like after your sister broke down, people started speaking more of the native language, which is Azeri. People went more into religion and yeah, now there’s a very strong sense of all Azeri and this is what I stand for, but I don’t know. I just personally, I never had that growing up. I just always saw like, I’m a global citizen and I can see why other people can’t see that or think that way. But again, it’s just to me that was all that existed. It’s like there’s a world and there’s humans.

16:13 I don’t see countries and borders as a sad thing and that you have to follow that just because you’re French. I mean, just because you were born in France, you’re French or if you’re born in Azerbaijan, you’re Azeri. And did you want, was it the American movies that made you want to go to America or were you always like, I’m going to go travel everywhere? It’s hard to get away from the Hollywood. Yes. I think traveling was always something I wanted to do. America was attractive to me because we were exposed to all these American movies and Backstreet Boys was something me and my sister was obsessed about. So that’s kind of how we started like learning English language. We would translate the lyrics and word by word learn to speak English. So you knew English pretty well before you went to Toronto?

16:54 Yes, I knew it pretty. I couldn’t speak well. I could write really well because I remember coming to Canada in grade 10 and I had to do this test that everyone has to do in grade 10, Canadians or immigrants. And some of the Canadians that I had in my class failed and I passed even though I couldn’t speak well because I never really got a chance to speak to anyone in English. I mean, we had tutors that me and my sister would go to, but it’s different when you’re actually conversing in that language with natives. Right. What’s your relationship like with your accent? I love my accent. You know what? I’ve gotten to love it. I remember when I just moved to Canada, I was super insecure to even speak. Like I could understand anything I could write, but when it came to speaking, I would always feel insecure because I wanted to sound like everybody else. Only in the last few years, I would say I love it and I actually don’t want to lose it. I love that it’s unique and it’s different. I think accent is something, it’s like your face. It’s something that makes you unique. I wouldn’t want to change my face.

17:58 It’s what makes me mean me. So same with the accent. I feel like if I lost it, I would be just like everybody else, but I like being different. Yeah, Arianna Huffington said something similar. I think she was going to a speech lesson. It’s like 10 years ago and her husband turned to her and was just like, what are you doing? This is your IP. This is your USP. This is your asset.

18:20 Or Arnold Schwarzenegger. I love his accent. It’s what makes him Arnold. Right. Yeah. Whenever it was someone with a funny name or a funny accent says they, I’m like, okay, Schwarzenegger accent. So, you know, kind of enough said, right?

18:32 Yeah. Yeah. I don’t even think about my accent anymore. I feel like I’m British. I’m like the cat in the house that thinks he’s a human. That’s me in Britain. I’m like, I’m British, but I don’t even think about it. Yeah. And you shouldn’t. I think it’s what makes you unique. People always ask me like, oh, where are you from? I can’t figure out because of your accent. So it’s like a conversation starter. So I find that it’s…

18:52 I actually didn’t, when I first started watching some of your videos, I didn’t even connect that you were from somewhere like other than America. What did you think? I don’t know. I was just like, there’s Mimi. She’s talking about cool stuff. And then later, when I heard you say Azerbaijan, then I kind of heard the accent, which is strange, you know?

19:06 So you just hear like Canadian Americans. Yeah. Because here people, that’s what they would say. They would say, are you American? Yeah. Because they kind of put us all in the same category. I’m like Canadian, but, you know, it doesn’t matter. So talk to me about Canada versus America. I guess you went to Toronto for like an immigration thing because that was something you do. And why go? I mean, why go? That’s a big move. Since we were little, again, me and my sister wanted to move and live in different places. So we communicated to our parents that as soon as we turn 18, we’re out of here. At least that’s what I told my parents. And they could tell that we were serious. So my dad was thinking about different ways and where we could immigrate. The US is quite difficult even now. The only way you can really move there if you win a green card or if you get some kind of a work permit, which wasn’t the case for my father or my family. So Canada was very attractive at the time. And I remember my father applying and waited three years, literally three years, paid a whole lot of money.

20:04 I think my dad had to sell a few things or spend all his savings. And then you’re just waiting. You don’t know if you’re going to get a yes or a no. So you kind of like have this, oh, just this feeling. You don’t really know if you’re going to live here or live there.

20:17 And I just remember getting a visa and we had a month or something, like a very short period of time where we had to sell everything and go. It was exhilarating for me and my sister again, because we were kids and we didn’t have to deal with all the responsibilities of selling the house, selling everything that we had and packing it all in a few suitcases and moving across the world to a completely different place. So your parents kind of sacrificed this for you?

20:43 I believe they did. But I also feel like my parents wanted an adventure, especially my father. He’s a very adventurous man. He’s studied in Russia. He’s traveled a lot. So he said that it was his idea, not necessarily something we forced upon him. Of course, we never did that. But we always communicated that we want to live in the West. That was very appealing to us.

21:06 I was reading Andre Agassi’s autobiography. Very interesting. He’s Armenian, right? Again, I felt like the parents, like the big sacrifices for the children, you know, like everything. It’s in the culture. Very much so.

21:20 Do whatever it takes to get you guys. And then they tell you about it for you. So you should be this way. So you moved to Canada and then you became a millionaire and everything was great. Right. That’s not exactly the order. And I wanted it to be that way. You know what? Because when things come easy, you don’t appreciate them as much.

21:39 So what happened in Canada? What was it like? First of all, yeah, we wanted to move to the US. But because Canada was the easy way to get there to the Western world or to North America, that was the option for us. And you know what? I loved living in Canada. It wasn’t exactly how I imagined it. I remember arriving there thinking, hmm, because Toronto is very modern city. And I think I had in my mind a mix of US and UK, because I remember when I first came to UK, just for a visit, I was like, I think I thought I imagined the US or Canada being like UK. But anyways, as a kid, your mind is very confused with all the messages you get through the media. So I was a bit shocked at first and overwhelmed by the new surrounding, but at the same time, very, very excited because you can imagine it was something I’ve dreamed of my whole life.

22:30 However, I had to overcome a lot of obstacles like going to high school and learning to fit in, especially this was grade 10. So everyone already had their cliques and friendships, and just coming as an alien where you dress and talk differently. I was just excited and I knew it wouldn’t last a whole lifetime. However, yeah, there was a lot of difficult times where you feel like you’re an immigrant and everyone is looking at you like you’re weird. But you overcome that. That’s the beauty of it. I always, I think through life, whenever I am faced with hardships, I always try to focus on the positive. And sometimes it’s difficult, but if you focus on the positive, it just feels a bit easier, I feel.

23:12 Do you think your fashion sense comes from the fact that you went to Canada and all of a sudden, like all the Azerbaijan fashion is probably not cool. And you had to like really think about like, do I want to fit in or do I want to be my own? Do you think that affected you? Um, I, I’m very weird when it comes to fashion. I remember in Azerbaijan, women actually dress up very much. So they spend a lot of time into putting makeup on and dressing up. When I live there, I would actually dress very casually. So the way my mind works is that I try to be different.

23:44 It’s something subconscious that goes on in my brain. I just became aware of it. So in Canada, because people are more casual, I actually wanted to dress up. So I think, yeah, partly because I moved there. I wanted to dress up because I knew how to do it because I’ve observed it all my life until I was 16, but I never did it there. But when I moved to Canada, I was like, now I can do this here. Cause I liked, I, I don’t know, I’m a Leo by horoscope and it’s not like I really believe in horoscopes, but you know, Leo’s like to be the center of attention. So I like being different and I like to stand out of the crowd. I think, I think it’s a great thing to stand out. Right. And I’d say in London, you have that kind of North American look, like you dress a little more casual than say someone purely British or someone from France, but then you kind of pull it off that way. I think it’s a great mix here because yeah, I can, I could switch from, from casual to a bit more dressy, smart as they like to say it. Right. Right. Okay. So you’re in Canada, you start working during high school, everyone, I’m guessing everybody works in your family kind of at that point, working jobs, you wait to see. It was a bit difficult at first cause again, my, my parents had to start from scratch and my dad had a great job when Azerbaijan, he would travel, he worked for BP and then he comes to Canada and he’s a nobody. So he had to work security jobs. My mom would

24:56 Clean houses. It was difficult. I just remember even going to my parents one time cause all my friends were going to the movie theater and asking them for like 10 bucks so I can go see a movie and they just look at me and said, sorry, I can’t like we don’t have this kind of money. We, whatever money we have, we’re spending it to feed. And of course they didn’t even need to explain it. They just said no. And I remember going to my room, just locking the door and crying my eyes out cause I felt for a second, like a victim. But then as soon as I felt that way, I realized, you know what, I don’t need to be a victim. I can go and make my own money.

25:29 Actually this was great because I never want to depend on anyone, including my parents. So this from a young age of 16, taught me a huge lesson where I said, you know what, I’m going to go work whatever jobs I’m going to make money. And you know what actually will help my parents because they brought me here. So I started working as a first, I was, I think just babysitting some kid, you know, around the block. So that was my first gig and I got some cash. I was like, this is great. I can go to the movie at first, like 50 bucks.

25:56 Oh my God. Amazing. Yeah. And then worked at a fast food place for like another year or so, then got a restaurant job. I loved waitressing because I just love people. I love being around people. I get energized by just serving people and being with people. So yeah, I worked in a restaurant industry for a long time. And then I got a job at a bank while I was in high school. I just remember in grade 12, I was like, I just, I’m, I don’t know, tell me if you’re the same way, but it’s like, I think I don’t know if it has to do anything with being an entrepreneur, but I never enjoyed school. I just, I could never fit in that box of education system where everything is taught the same way to everyone. I just remember always being restless in class and waiting for it to end. So in grade 12, I was like, Oh, I just had enough of this. I need to get out. And I found out about co-op, which is great. You can get outside of school, you can get credits so I can still graduate and I can get real work experience. So that’s how I got into banking. And then they really liked me. So they hired me right out of high school. Okay. So co-op, so you’re in high school and you work and so you want it out of high school. You didn’t like the structure. You didn’t like being treated the same way.

27:06 So everyone else with assignments, that’s not the way you learn. Yeah. I’m very, as a textile, like when you have to touch and when you have to be actually doing something, I can’t just sit still for like hours in a chair. Even now when I work on a computer, I feel like I get up, I sit down, I need to move around a lot. I think it’s because my mind is very active. And I think that’s why now like they label kids like, Oh, you’re ADD, but I think it’s just people have different ways they learn things. Right, right. You met Alex at the bank. Yes.

27:35 CIBC, very nice Canadian bank. Right. And you guys met there and you were what 18, 19 this age? He’s a year younger. So I think when we met, I was probably, I’m so bad with like, we don’t count years, how long we’ve been together. So it’s a bit of a blur, but I think I was about 20 and he was 19. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Somewhere along those lines. Okay. Now Alex is Russian. Yes. But you wouldn’t know it unless you, does he have a little bit of an accent? He’s got a little bit, I think. Okay. You could probably tell better than me because I’m not in English speaking.

28:11 I mean, like, is there any, like, is, is there any fate that he’s Russian in your Azerbaijan? Or were you just, I never thought I would be with a Russian person. I can tell you that not because I have any stereotypes towards Russian people. I just always thought I want somebody different than from the Western world. Where with Alex, it’s like the best of both worlds.

28:30 Because he’s so in his mind, he’s so international. And yet he understands we kind of grow up, we feel like we grew up in the same culture because yeah, USSR had very similar culture. We’ll watch the same cartoons, movies, we use the same words. So it’s very familiar and comfortable. And yet, yeah, he’s very global. Just like myself. He moved to Canada when he was 10, 10. Yeah, very young. Yeah. It’s interesting because we talked about it on his episode. He talked about it a couple of times in some of the videos you guys made, which gave me some nice ammo. Thank you for that. But you know, we talked about his childhood and it’s fascinating because a lot of people would see Alex on the surface and he looks like he could be American. He looked like he could be the prom king. And you know, all the things that he talks about. But you know, Alex is, you know, he’s been through hard times and knows that whole struggle, not to mention coming from the culture where people don’t celebrate the struggle. They just get through it. And they don’t talk about it.

29:20 Yeah. You’re right. Because you don’t want to be seen as weak. Right. Right. But there’s also something comforting being around someone that knows that deal, right? Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

29:29 All right. So, but you guys didn’t hit it off right away. No, we did not. At first we were just friends. I think we, at first I wasn’t happy that somebody who speaks Russian got into the, into the bank because I had all my Russian customers. And then I was like, no, he’s actually really cool. So I changed my mind really quickly about him. And then we actually quickly became good friends and we would talk about, you know, traveling. We have so many different common interests that it was hard not to talk at work. Do you speak Russian at work?

30:00 We would mix. We mainly we spoke English then, but we mix Russian and English. It’s like, I don’t know, it’s maybe 70% English, 30% Russian. Okay. So there’s quite a lot of Russians still.

30:13 Okay. So you started talking at work. Yeah. We started talking at work where we’re still dating other people at the time. And then I broke up with the guy I was dating. He broke up with the girl he was dating and it just naturally progressed. Actually at the time, I don’t know if I want to go into the details because this is going to be a very long video, but really quickly I was moving. I decided at one point to move back to Azerbaijan. And I wanted to go ice skating.

30:36 So I told Alex, if you want to, I want to go ice skating. If you can get me skates, we can go together just like friends. But in his mind, it was like green light. And yeah, he got me skates and we went ice skating and that was the first date. And that kept you from going back? No, I went back. And in that short period of time, I thought I was moving for good. I quit my job, sold my car, everything.

30:58 I just, I think I did it because I was just overworked and burnt out at like 22. So sad. But I moved back and I realized I just changed too much as a human. And yeah, I just, I didn’t see myself staying there for a long time. So within a month, I decided that I want to go somewhere else. It was either Dubai or London, because I’ve always wanted to go to London, even then. And I just remember thinking that maybe Canada is the right place because we started dating and I went back to Canada, which I think was the greatest decision because then we really started dating and grew from there as a couple.

31:32 Okay. And is this before or after you were trying to get into that kind of government program that helped you? This is before, way before. So when I quit the bank, I moved back to Azerbaijan and was there for just about a month. And then I’m like, Oh, it’s fine. I made a mistake. I’m moving back to Canada and I moved back to Canada. And then I actually got promoted at a bank, but I just knew that it’s, my heart wasn’t there. I’m not going to stay there for long.

31:55 And then as you may know, already, Alex got fired from the bank for having a side business. Okay. No, I didn’t know that. You didn’t know that. I thought it would get badged towards that is, right?

32:03 Yeah. He had a side business, which was like moving cars from selling cars from US to Russia. And he was doing it during his work hours. And then the corporate security was checking all the emails. And one day they just came in and said, you know, you got to go.

32:18 You can’t do this. And, but it taught him a great lesson because Alex before wanted to be an investment banker. So he really wanted to grow in that ladder in the bank. And when he got out of the system, he said, you know what, I just want to do my own thing now. So I think it’s definitely the, it was one of the best things that actually happened to him.

32:36 He says it himself. And then at the same time, I decided that, okay, this is the right time for me to also leave the bank and really just follow my heart and see where I want to go. What, what about what I want to do in life that I’m actually passionate about? Because banking was fun because of the people in the team, but it was never something I love doing. Right. Alex says that back then you two would go on these gratitude walks and you would, I’m telling if I’m wrong, but he said you would walk around and just be grateful for all these wonderful things you had when you were probably too still broke as a joke. I don’t know.

33:08 And he said one time his dad called him or something. My dad. And your dad called you. What are you doing? We’re having you in our gratitude walk.

33:16 And he’s like, what gratefulness walk. You guys need to get a job. What are you doing? And now my dad can see that it works. It’s one of the most powerful exercises you can do.

33:26 Okay. Can you break it down for us? Yes. It’s not something we’ve invented. We got it from Tony Robbins, actually.

33:32 If you do this, I think get the edge 10 day program on day one, he talks about gratefulness walks, which is very simple. Every day you go for a walk. You can do it alone or you can do it with your partner. And the way you started this, you just start saying things that you’re grateful for, that you already have in your life. So you could say, I’m grateful for my body.

33:50 I’m grateful for my eyesight. I’m grateful for, you know, this beautiful city that I live in. So you start with things that are in the present. Then you can move on to I’m grateful for my partner. I’m grateful for my friends and family. And then the magic part here is that you start saying things that you’re grateful for, that you don’t have, but you want to manifest in your life. So we would go on this gratefulness walks while we’re broke and just don’t have lost, completely lost. Don’t know what we want to do in life. And we would say things like, you know, I’m grateful for having this amazing business. I’m grateful for, you know, that we get to travel the world together and that we’re financially free and we have this beautiful home and all these things that we wanted to experience and live. And Brian, now years later, it’s crazy to think that we’re here and beyond what we’ve even dreamt of or imagined. So we’ve used this exercise at different, different points of our lives and it’s extremely powerful and it works every single time. Is it like, it’s like an affirmation a bit, but you kind of will warm it up. It is actually very much so you warm it up and yeah, you do it daily and you put a lot of energy into it. Like I think it’s easy when you do it with a partner because otherwise you’re like alone walking. You can pretend you’re talking on a phone, like with the headphones, but you really

35:05 Got to like feel it. Like you say it and you feel it. And yeah, like we would do it for a few months and then we would stop, but things would manifest in like a year or two. And then we would realize that they did and we would restart the practice, but we would already ask for different things. And again, then they would come true. It’s truly incredible. I think I am not doing it at the moment, but me and Alex were talking about restarting the practice because it’s just been life-changing for us. Yeah, I think it’s super powerful. Would you make new ones up every day or would you kind of say the same ones back and forth to each other? Because you can’t, you can’t say the new ones. Right. So you can change it slightly, but kind of you focus on the same vision. It’s like you envision something and then you say it, you say it.

35:46 And that’s why I think after a few months we would give it a break. And then the universe or whatever it goes out and starts to slowly manifest the right people, the right events. And then you realize that years or two later that, whoa, I am here. This is what I was envisioning. I think it goes hand in hands with having a strong vision. So it’s using affirmations and the vision in a gratefulness. Well, I’ve been doing so the last seven months when I walked to the tube in the morning, I pull out my phone and I have my list of, I call them affirmations, but they’re not really, but it’s this, I’m talking about the things I have now in a really positive way. And my fears, I talk about them as if I’m over them. So I’m just like, I am excited to do this when I normally I wouldn’t like it. And I’ve noticed this crazy correlation.

36:28 And the other day I’m like, wait a second, you’re actually doing some of these things. And it’s weird. That is so cool. And so now I know exactly what you’re feeling. A lot of people will be like, maybe he’s crazy, but it’s like, it does so many things on the psychological level. It like, it tricks your brain into thinking it’s true, but then it tells you that you can do, it’s like it empowers you. It puts a goal. It does so many different things.

36:53 Super powerful tool. Yeah. I love it. And I just changed mine up a little bit. I actually surprised myself in the morning. I’m saying, I’m like, Oh, that’s going to be fun. When that happens, I mean, you know, yeah, once you get on a roll, it’s so much easier. It’s just the initial start point. Right. All right. So you and Alex are together now. I guess we should, should we fast forward to Luxi hair or should we talk about a couple of the things that happened before that? We can, we can pass forward. I used to look, but there was, I mean, like it’s, it’s interesting. Cause I, when I asked you about like some of the, the, some of your, you know, greatest accomplishments in your life, you know, one of them was, was your tenacity when you were, you know, when you were going after this program in Canada, I think you should talk about that. I think a lot of people find it fascinating when you talk about your failures and struggles, because I know, you know, they don’t often talk about it.

37:38 They don’t want to talk about it. And you’re on YouTube with, you know, this amazing videos you do of your life and, and your thoughts and a lot of your philosophies. And, you know, I, and I get it to a certain extent too. I did a webinar last night and I talk about, I used to be broke and American express had a hit man looking for me and people are like you, but it’s like, but you so refreshing. You’re like, I used to work in a fast food restaurant. You know, a lot of people where you are now wouldn’t say that. And I’m proud of it. That’s the thing, Brian. I believe that if you, if you can be proud doing any job, you can grow to anything. Like if you can sweep the floor and be passionate about sweeping the floor, then you will grow eventually. But if you’re sweeping the floor and you’re like, Oh, this is so beneath me, but that kind of attitude, you will not grow. So it’s all about the attitude. If you take pride in your work, regardless of work, what work it is, you guarantee through hard work and persistence, of course, and vision, because you got to have a vision. I think that’s still very important. You can be like, okay, I love this, but I’m going to keep doing this. Well, if that’s okay with you, that’s fine. Nothing wrong with that. But if you really want to grow, you can be sweeping the floors, but having a vision of being a superstar or this author or a doctor or whatever it is that you want to be in life, and you will surely get there. However, you have to,

38:54 You have to appreciate the small things in order to get to the big things. One cannot exist without the other. So tell me what happened with this program. So after I quit the bank, Alex got fired. We found out about this program, which was super cool, funded by Canadian government. Love you, Canada.

39:14 It’s sort of a mentorship, and they also pay you, not a small amount, it was like a couple of grand, not a couple grand, but it was like maybe fifteen hundred. Enough for you to, you know, pay the rent and, you know, survive. And the best part, of course, is the mentorship. All you have to do is present that with a business plan. For me, I got certified as an immediate consultant.

39:33 I dropped out of my international business degree when I was doing college at one point. We didn’t talk about that, but I just want to mention that I dropped out because I was doing international business, and I realized if I really want to do business, I’m just gonna hire somebody to do, let’s say, counting. Because I was working two jobs, and I was going to school, and it was just a bit too overwhelming, you know, paying for everything and trying to help my parents.

39:57 And I realized, you know, if you want to do business, you really don’t need to be in business school. And I think that was one of the best decisions I’ve done in my life. I do love education, and I’m still learning and growing, and I think education is something you have to do for the rest of your life. So after I quit the bank, though, I guess I didn’t hinder your career as an international businesswoman. Exactly. Which is what you are. Yeah, that I got right on. And then I remember finding out about image consulting school, and I really love fashion. I’ve always enjoyed visual things, so I went for that.

40:24 And that was the first time in my life where I truly enjoyed school. So after I finished image, it’s just a certification degree, sort of. It’s something you can do within half a year. So once I got certified as an image consultant, we found out about this program, and I thought I’m perfect for it, because I, you know, I created my business plan, I have a certification as an image consultant, I applied, and I got denied. And I just couldn’t understand why I’m being denied, because I have all the paperwork, everything. So I apply again, and I get denied again. And at that point, the money was running out. So I remember just getting this phone call from the head of the program, who tells me you’re rejected for like the third time. And I hang up, and I’m in tears.

41:11 Alex was in the rooms, so he just kind of figured out the situation, and he said you can’t give up, you can’t give up. At that point, I realized, for me, it’s like either going back to the corporate, or fighting for this opportunity, because it will give me some time for me to figure out, and actually created this business, and try my own thing. And I remember just dying. I didn’t even remember her name, because I was so shocked about the whole news. So I called her back, and I said, I think her name was Pamela, because she introduced herself again. I said, Pamela, you have to give me another chance. I know I can do this. And she said, okay, just like that. All it took was a phone call. And she said, yeah, you got to do this other exercise. So it just sent it to me by Monday.

41:55 I did the exercise, sent it to her on Monday, 10 minutes after she received that email, she said, you’re approved. She didn’t have the time to look over the exercise. All she wanted to do is see somebody persistent. And that program really allowed for me to have some space, because before I was working too many jobs to have any time to even think, what do I want to do? So that program allowed for me to have a space to think about my passions, and actually start doing something about it.

42:25 So image consulting was my first business. So I did some fashion styling, image consulting. And did you ever use that lesson sense, as in like, be persistent, make that phone call, you know, not taking your phone answer. It’s totally changed my life and outlook on life. It’s just, no, it doesn’t mean no. No just means try again. So that’s how I look at it. Does it ever mean no? No. You keep trying until you decide it’s a no, right? Like, it’s truly up to you. And same thing with asking somebody out. Alex asked me out, like, well, he didn’t ask after that date when he was trying to put more serious moves on me. I shot him down like four times. Many people don’t know this.

43:02 But he was persistent enough to telling me, you know, about the vision and that he can see us together. And at one point I was like, whoa, I can see it too now. So it was the persistence. And I think when you really want something, you have to prove that you are worthy, that you are the one. And I think too often people nowadays just give up when they get one no. They’re like, okay, well, somebody else is going to get that person or that job or that program. You mentioned vision now twice. Can you just talk about what that word means? Do we talk about it enough? But don’t talk about it enough. I think, oh my god, it’s like, you know, when you’re a kid and you daydream.

43:44 Do you remember daydreaming as a kid? What would you daydream about? Being rich. And then I wake up and I realize I wasn’t. But that’s what I used to daydream about. I know, it’s a little twisted. But I think that’s the thing. And I think you’ve attained a certain, you know, you’ve attained a lot of financial success. But now it’s not about just having one vision. As kids, we can have a vision. And when we get there, we realize, okay, we’ve fulfilled this vision. Now we have to continue daydreaming. That’s the thing. Many people just daydream as kids. And then maybe they’ll get there by 2030.

44:16 And they’re like, well, this is not making me happy. And then they’ll just get stuck there. But it’s about keeping the daydream going. Like keeping that vision, the dreaming, and believing, and seeing that picture clear. Not stopping. Because of course you change. And as you change, your vision will change. So that’s that’s something that has to be constantly evolving, I believe.

44:36 And we’re all attracted to people with a vision, aren’t we? You’re attracted to Alex with a vision of the two of you. And there’s very few people in this world that have really passionate visions, right? So you tend to notice them. Because their eyes are sparkly. Right. Yeah. And they just have this eternal optimism. And it’s attractive and kind of addictive being around these people. And it’s the people that form the world. It’s the people with vision, good or bad vision. That’s why it can be actually dangerous.

45:04 That’s why everyone has to use it. And hopefully use it in a positive way. Because if you use it in a positive way, we can make this world so much of a better place. But it’s the lack of vision that gets people kind of stuck at some points in their life. And then they could spend the whole life like that. Just stuck in that unhappy mode or unsatisfied career or relationship or whatever it may be.

45:28 I was reading an article recently and I just realized Alex had sent it to me. So it was a plant for this interview. And it said, as an entrepreneur, you have three jobs. And I believe they were vision, don’t earn out of money, and hire. And those are your three jobs.

45:43 What was the second one? Don’t earn out of money. It could be a life too. So vision or North Star, know where you’re going. Know that. And then don’t earn out of money. That’s your job as the CEO or entrepreneur. And then hire the right people. Get the right people on the team. And just repeat, repeat, repeat. And it’s something I think about a lot.

46:01 And to be really honest, before I did my TED Talk, the job like four months ago, I think that people even within the London Real team didn’t know my vision. But when they saw me do that, they’re like, Brian’s not playing around anymore. And I haven’t asked them this, but I think everyone was like, okay, now we see where you’re going. And now they’re like, okay, let’s do this. It’s very important to communicate the vision to your team.

46:26 If you’re a leader, if you’re a manager, if you have your own business, sometimes we think like other people can read our minds and they can see it. No, they can’t. You have to really communicate that to them. So it’s something that we’re very conscious in our practice, business practices. Good. Yeah. And I want to talk later about like the details of your business and the creator’s things. All right, let’s get through the Luxie hair story because it’s one that everyone, well, I think everyone learns about you through that story and then they learn much more about you. So it’s a, it’s a piece of your story. Tell us about what happened. Luxie hair came out as a, as a very interesting fluke. I guess I can call it that way. And or, you know, people say you’re lucky, but I think it’s when opportunity meets preparation. So for a long time, me and Alex were looking for the opportunity, but we’re also preparing to be strong in a sense that, you know, learning to have a vision, learning to work hard for what we want to achieve.

47:18 And then, you know, learning about businesses and how people do things. And at one point I remember Alex was reading the four hour work week and we always had this idea that we want to have our own thing and travel the world. And this was actually exactly five years ago because today is the anniversary of our wedding. And the business is exactly when we started. I mean, when we got married is when, you know, the business started because I was looking for a clip and hair extensions to wear to my wedding date.

47:43 It was, you know, a bit of a splurge because we were broke at the time. I got this product, I came home, put it on and Alex and my sister Layla were at the room at the time that I put the hair extensions on. And I just remember looking in the mirror and it just looked horrific. It was very thin at the bottom. I don’t know if you’ll try to visualize this as a guy. I don’t know if you can connect to that.

48:05 But, you know, if something looks thick at the bottom and thin, I mean, thick at the top and thin at the bottom, it just doesn’t look natural. So I just remember clipping this product in and just saying, this is a total waste of money. I can’t wear this. I just, I’m just so disappointed. I was mainly talking to my sister when I saw Alex’s eyes spark up and he just said, tell me more about it.

48:26 I want to learn what’s hair extensions. I’ve never heard about it. So I just remember opening the laptop and showing Alex all these YouTube videos of, you know, women wearing before and after hair extensions. And it was so exciting and it was so real and it was such a great emotional product where you see a transformation that Alex just looked at me and Layla. And he said, well, why don’t we do it? This would be a great business because we were looking for the muse. We were looking for a business that we could do while we travel and do other things.

48:56 And this just, this was the spark. This was the moment the idea was born. Of course, there was more to that, but that was like the moment the conception of the idea. That story is like so simple. It sounds too perfect.

49:09 Yeah, it is, but I see it and like it was just yesterday. But like you said, it was like you were prepared for that because a lot of guys like me would have been sitting in the room and we would have been like, that’s stupid. Like we wouldn’t have thought, oh, that’s a business idea. But obviously, Alex had been thinking that way. Yeah, you all have been thinking and prepared.

49:25 He was asking, he was looking and then boom, it just came out. Or like, I didn’t, I was just like, what are you talking about? Where we don’t know anything about this product. But he said, we’ll learn, we’ll look, we’ll do it together. And that’s how it happened to be.

49:41 It was just, it’s a beautiful story because at the time, YouTube was just starting out and it was very exciting time to get on YouTube. And when we just started Luxi Hair, actually, we didn’t have the product yet. But I just remember that it would be that at the time, I just remember that when we started the business, we didn’t have any money to put into marketing. So we thought, we’ll just start making hair videos and we’ll provide women with value about hair and how they can do different hairstyles.

50:12 And if we can provide value, then people will be attracted and they can learn about the product through that. And you kind of hashed out that idea right there, pretty much. Well, slowly, it was a transition for sure. We were out in Masterminds a few weeks ago and James Altucher was there. Love James, I think he’s going to be here in July.

50:31 And he wrote an article called, I Love Mimi Icon. Is that what he said? It was something like that. It was something like Mimi Makes a Million or… Right, something like that.

50:38 But I’ll just do a quote from the article. He said, quote, because Mimi makes videos of herself, delivers real value to people and then makes over a million a year because of those videos. And he quoted Alex by saying, when you give a billion dollars of value, you get a billion dollars more back. And it was just about how you never, and you also never once used the words, buy this anywhere. And I mean, in retrospect, when you look at Luxihera as a case study of a business, it’s like something you might want to give to Harvard or something.

51:03 But at the time, did you know what you guys were doing? You must have known. Because it’s so it’s an American and Canadian thing, say, to buy here. I mean, it’s almost in the blood of Westerners. I know, but I’m not from there.

51:17 You have to keep that in mind. So I just never felt right to sell. Even at a bank, I only told people about products they needed when I felt like they actually need it. I never used the script. Only when my manager was around.

51:31 But when they were out of sight, I just did what I felt was the right thing. And it always worked better in the benefit of the bank and the customer. So when we had our own business, we just decided that we’re going to do it the way it feels right. And what feels right to us is provide value, make the product available. If people need to buy it, they will make that decision.

51:51 You don’t need to sell it to them. You don’t need to push the product down people’s throats. Just make it available, educate people. And if it’s the right thing, they will buy it. If it’s not, maybe if somebody they know will need it, they will recommend you.

52:04 But that’s the best you can do is make beautiful videos, provide value, and then we’ll sell. Somehow, it was a very subconscious process, but it worked. I mean, for the first three years of our business, we didn’t use any marketing but the YouTube videos. It’s fascinating. Again, you’re using your culture as your IP, as your adults.

52:24 You’re using something people would say would be, work against you in the West and yet use your gut instinct into the opposite of what any red blooded American would do. Yes, I never thought of it that way. But now that you say that, yes, that’s very interesting. So you started putting these videos out of you doing your hair with your sister and just informational videos helping. And how many did you start doing?

52:46 I mean, I know now you have a pretty rigorous schedule, but what did you start with? We started with just one a week and it was all shot on the laptop. On the webcam, on the laptop. Yeah, on the webcam. It was 2010, so pretty early days on YouTube.

52:58 Things were very different then. And then we quickly got DSLR because again, we wanted to differentiate ourselves. And that did bring a lot of views, I believe, because people weren’t used to that level of quality on YouTube. And yeah, it was just a lot of fun to learn new things and do something different with what we were doing. And the business started off, I know you kind of borrowed the money to get the first $20,000 to get the inventory.

53:22 But then you remember that. Yeah, of course. It sounds like you remember that. I mean, you know what? I never thought about it until later.

53:30 We just kind of went into it and we were desperate. I think to start a great business to a point, you have to be a bit desperate. That’s why I was crazy desperate, but I think desperation pushes people to a point where they actually go and do things where a lot of people who are very comfortable, they have great ideas, but they’re not desperate enough to go and do them. So at that point, it was a great combination of hungry and desperate. So we just went for it.

53:55 And then, yeah, we put everything we had, we didn’t have a lot of savings. So we put mainly my line of credit, Alex’s mom’s line of credit. And then we had this check, which was like, you have to pay this back in six months or you’ll be paying crazy like 21% interest. So Alex looked at me and said, we have six months. And in six months, we were able to pay it off and much more.

54:19 Wow. And then the business started growing organically from there. I mean, it was first, you know, zero views, then 100 views, then 200. And then we’ll look back a few months later, and it was 20,000, 30,000 subscribers. And I feel like it was just the consistency that really helped us to grow.

54:41 It was never something that went viral, although we did have a few videos that hit 11 millions or 10 million views. But it was mainly our consistency with the content that we created. So you asked me how often it was first, once a week. Then at one point, we realized twice a week was more powerful. So we started doing twice a week.

54:59 It was easier because it was me and my sister, you know, one video I would do. And then she would do the other video. And then I think we went back to once a week. Okay. And now you’re on two a week.

55:08 Well, I’m once a week on Luxie here. And then I have another channel, which is Mimi icon, which is my fashion channel. And I do about two videos, not every week, but I, yes, it’s a bit crazy. So it’s three a week, maybe. So it’s three a week for me.

55:21 Okay. And I know it’s both you and Alex to talk about kind of four things, quality, value, consistency, authenticity. You just talked about consistency. So you do that every week, basically, for the past five years. I would like to just emphasize this to everyone listening.

55:37 That’s every week. So that’s 250 weeks. And it’s funny because it’s very similar to my story. We’re coming up on four years and we do a show. Oh, thanks.

55:49 So we do a show every week too. And for our tech show, we were doing one every week too. And it’s just like, once you commit to it, I would almost feel like a burning pit in my stomach unless I delivered the video in a weird way. So almost the fan base almost kept me accountable. Mm hmm.

56:04 They do like, where’s the video? And it’s fascinating to hear you say that wasn’t like it wasn’t like a viral because the common kind of myth sold to the public is yeah, you go viral. And I think there was like a YouTube or Google commercial like a year ago and it had like this guy and he did like a song and it went viral and got all these millions of views and then he signed a record label. But you know, that doesn’t usually happen. It’s very rare.

56:26 So it’s just about plugging away and that consistency. Talk to me about the other three things. Quality, value, authenticity. Yes. I think with quality, I mean, we call the formula QVCA.

56:37 I can quickly go through it. But quality is very big and it’s not having the most amazing quality. It’s quality of the content, quality of the light, quality of, you know, just the video itself, the overall feel and the message. But it’s also not overdoing the quality. So you never want with YouTube videos.

56:58 It’s if we’re just going to focus on that, it’s about having that personal connection to your audience. So looking in the camera and delivering that personal message without all the extra angles and, you know, we never use a second angle. For example, it’s just me looking in the camera and talking to a person as if I’m talking to them. Right. So don’t overproduce.

57:20 Yeah. Don’t overproduce the don’t over don’t over qualify. Don’t overdo the quality of the video. Because you could have a moving camera and a tracking camera. Yeah. All these things.

57:30 All kinds of filters, but you want to make it real, but you want to make it a good quality product. Then the second one is the V, so QV. The second one is the value. So like we’ve discussed already, it’s the focal point of everything we do is to provide value. If I don’t feel like I’m providing value, I just won’t shoot the video.

57:49 So I’m always going and learning new things so I can provide that value back to my audience. Whether it is the fashion video, whether it’s our traveling blogs, whether it’s me doing hairstyles. So it’s about learning and sharing that content with the audience. And I think that’s one of the most important things in this formula is focusing on the value, not the numbers, not the growth. I’ve started to compare more because I think as you grow, you’re in a different space and you start becoming more of a perfectionist, which I’m consciously trying to be aware of so I don’t do that because I think that can be very detrimental.

58:30 I think it’s important never to compare yourself to anyone. Just focus on the value and the numbers will grow because most people focus on the numbers, not the value. And then they ask, why am I not growing? Well, because you’re focusing on their own thing and you’re manifesting the wrong thing. So focus on the value, focus on giving and you will grow naturally.

58:51 It will happen. So value is a very important one. Then QVC, so consistency as we discussed, creating videos every single week. You can’t just disappear for a month and then be surprised that you don’t have that many subscribers or that your audience is decreasing, you’re getting less views. You have to create consistency because people like to know that something is consistent in their world because everything is constantly changing.

59:18 There’s so many things happening in our world. It’s great to know that there’s something you can go to that will be there from week to week. So being consistent. Is it like a relationship in that way? Absolutely, yeah.

59:28 It’s like if I told my boyfriend and he’s not picking me up for three days or for a month, it’s like I guess we’re not in a relationship anymore. So people want, they want Mimi there. It creates trust. And I think trust is the main, the most important thing we have with our audience online. And then the last one, which I think is definitely the most important one.

59:48 If you do everything else, if you do quality, value, consistency, but you don’t have authenticity in your content, then you have nothing because you’re not really. You’re not doing what you’re passionate about. So bringing authentic voice, and it’s definitely probably one of the hardest one for people to tackle, including myself. People always ask me like, oh, it must be so easy for you to do videos. You just sit down and you’re like, hi, my beautiful friends.

1:00:13 Every single time I sit in front of the camera, I’m faced with the resistant voice. I’m faced with this perfection, trying to say the right thing. And then I have to break through it to just be real. Because only when you’re real, you can connect to other people who are real. Nobody’s perfect.

1:00:28 Everyone’s just real. So when you’re real, you’re more relatable, you’re more authentic, and you can just get your message across a lot better. So you have to kind of get out of your head for that second. Absolutely. And it’s always there.

1:00:40 You know that. We all know that. Resistance. Everyone’s got that voice. Yeah.

1:00:43 Any performer will tell you. Any performer before they go on stage, they feel that piece. You keep quoting Resistance. You read The War of Arts, Stephen Pressfield, or that term of resistance. Or Do the Work.

1:00:54 Yeah, I love that book. Yeah, so you’re thinking of that. So you’re aware of that. Oh, I’m always aware of the Resistance. And it’s there.

1:01:02 You know, the authenticity is fascinating. Because these days, I find with YouTube, it’s like people can smell it from a mile away. It’s the body language. It’s not even what you say. Right.

1:01:11 I’ve learned that in image consulting, like when people look at you, they make a judgment within the 10 seconds. And of course, it’s what you wear, sure, but it’s also your body language, your posture. It’s like millimeters of your face, the way it moves. They can say if you’re honest it’s all subconscious. It’s not like they’re thinking about it, but they make the judgment, oh, I don’t trust this guy, or I trust this guy, or this girl.

1:01:35 So it’s fascinating. But video is the closest thing you can get to real life. Yeah, it might be the same. Yeah, I will. But it’s really close.

1:01:45 Because you make all of these judgments and you feel like you can have a relationship with people. It’s closer than people, I think, let on. I agree. Right? Yeah.

1:01:54 Which I guess is good and bad. But like you said, if someone has to do a free-form talk for three minutes, yours are long, you go 12, 15 minutes, which I really like that, by the way. But if someone has to listen to you piece this thought together, I mean, it’s impossible to fake that. If you’re an actress in a movie set with a cut and all that, you can fake things. Oh my God, there’s so many edits there.

1:02:14 But if you have to talk to camera, with a single camera, I mean, it’s going to be you. And people always ask me, like, do you script your stuff? Like, no, you can’t script. If you’re going to script, people are going to know. Right.

1:02:25 I think it’s important to know what you’re going to talk about. So if I’m doing a talking video, not a casual vlog, where everything is spontaneous, I’ll write down things I want to talk about. So I kind of know the structure, but then I just free flow. It’s important to have the structure still. I think if you just go into the free flow, you might forget a lot of important points or stories you want to share.

1:02:46 At the end of the day, it’s all about the balance. Yeah, I’m constantly, I struggle with it as well. I always have an idea in my mind, sometimes I think about it. Sometimes I think about it subconsciously, I think. Yeah, there’s all sorts of tricks.

1:02:58 So how long did it take for the kind of the sales to trickle in? Was there a lag? Did it follow the views? Did it track them really closely? Was it, you know, those are my questions.

1:03:08 I mean, at first, all we wanted to make was $1,500 each. And we thought we’ll be like, we’ll be able to travel frugally because we’re still living with Alex’s mom. We didn’t have to pay rent. $3,000 was a lot of money for just two young people. And yeah, we were able to attain that goal very fast.

1:03:25 The sales came in, I mean, before we even went online, my friend who wore hair extensions for many years found out that we’re creating this brand. And she said, I’m going to come in and if I like it, I’ll get it. And I just remember her coming in. This was the day before we launched the website. I knew she’s experienced hair extension wear.

1:03:43 So I was very nervous about her opinion and what she’s going to think. And I remember her opening the packaging and she looked at it. She ran her fingers through the hair and she said, I love it. I’m going to get it. And that was the first sale.

1:03:56 I was like, cash. And then the next day we went online and we already had a few views, not a lot, maybe like a hundred or something like that on YouTube. So there was another sale and then, you know, every day sale two, three and then it just grew from there. I mean, within the first year, we were able to make this seven figure business. Okay.

1:04:16 And then what happens next? You turn into Tim Ferriss. You guys start flying around the world running your business from afar. Like what was that transition? Because that’s got to be strange.

1:04:25 I mean, you’re in your what? Mid 20s, early 20s. I was 24 and Alex was 23. Okay. And you’re running around with the business with, you know, making seven figures in revenue and very profitable.

1:04:38 Yeah. So what happens? The first month that we started the business, we already planned our trip to France, South of France. And we’re thinking, God, I hope we make money because otherwise we don’t know how we’re going to pay for this. So we made the money.

1:04:52 Everything was great. But I just remember being in South of France and feeling completely lost and depressed and thinking, Whoa, this was the dream. I’m here. I can afford anything. Well, not anything, but I don’t want a lot anyways.

1:05:06 So like I could afford the little thing things I would want to have and none of it. And I’m traveling and I’m in this beautiful place. And there’s the sun and I have all this free time. And yet I’m very miserable and depressed and completely lost. And I mean, we talk about it all the time with Alex.

1:05:23 There’s this chapter and four hour work week, which is I don’t remember what chapter. I believe it’s chapter nine or 11, but it’s a chapter on feeling the void. Have you read the book? Yeah, a long time. I read a long time ago, like 10 years ago, 11 years ago.

1:05:36 I’ve listened to the audio book. I actually never read the actual physical copy, but feeling the void is very important because once you get to that point where you’ve attained it and with us, it was truly miraculous because it happened so fast. We did not even expect it to happen. So if any hit me faster than it hit Alex, because I think he was thinking, well, is this sustainable? Like maybe everything’s just going to crash and burn.

1:06:01 Whereas with me, once I saw that this is working, I just knew it’s going to work. We have it like we got it. I just feel it. I feel the confidence. And yet I don’t know what do I want to do though?

1:06:13 Like, is this what I’m here to do? All these questions start rushing to my mind. I mainly think it was it was just a progression of our story in a way that we didn’t know any other people who had their own businesses at the time. So all of our friends had jobs and nobody could relate to what we were doing. We had all this free time, no mentors, no one to talk to or relate to our experience and our life.

1:06:40 And I mean, I fell in a big depression. Just I’m sure people are just fascinated to hear that because you have this picture in your mind. Profitable business. Traveling around the world. Yeah, and Alex told me this in his interview.

1:06:52 He’s like, I got to the point where like, well, is this what life is all about? Being here, because I guess you don’t really have a peer group or a tribe or you don’t have a business per se, as in you’re not leading people in a physical office. It’s just you and the computer. And before I always worked with people. I love it.

1:07:11 I’m such an extrovert. I’m like, I think I did the test with Tai Lopez, which you had him on the show. And I came out like 98% extrovert. He’s like, whoa, Mimi, you really need to be like around people all the time. And I was not around people at all.

1:07:24 I was just in front of the computer or with Alex, which is great. We love each other. But still, it’s like he becomes part of you. So it’s almost like being alone in a way. Right.

1:07:33 Because it’s so odd. You need lots of people, new people. Yeah, I think true extroverts learn about themselves from other people. So if you don’t have that, you feel kind of lost, unenergized, if you may. Right.

1:07:46 And so what do you go from there? I mean, did you recognize that something was wrong? Yes, absolutely. I just started reading a lot of psychology books. I started reading about psychology and I just wanted to learn how to make it better.

1:07:59 And I think it took us time to realize what was wrong. And there was a few things that were wrong. First of all, there was no structure in our day and what we were doing for our work week sounds amazing. In practice, it will not work for most people. I think humans are creatures of habits.

1:08:15 We need to have habits. So people who came out of the work like banks and hating structure and hating the nine to five, we realized eventually that we need to have an office. We need to go somewhere where we interact with other humans. We need to create culture. We need to work more than four hours a week, which we were.

1:08:33 However, it never felt like work because we really like what we’re doing. So it never felt like work. And we never stopped working because it was never a space where we were doing it. So we were doing it everywhere. So we decided to get an office, create a culture, get all of the…

1:08:50 I mean, at first, we were doing everything ourselves within the first two years. But then we got customer service people, dedicated videographer. And slowly we started building a culture in the space where we can go and create and then we can go out and unplug. That was one of the things. To unplug helped as well.

1:09:10 You needed to unplug. Yeah, which I’m still learning. I can’t say I got that down. You work a lot. Yes.

1:09:16 Are you obsessed about your work? If you asked me this question a few months ago, I would say no. I’m becoming aware of the fact that I actually never stopped working. Even in my meditation, I always think about work and I’m like, just, okay, become aware of that and focus on the breathing or… What is your thought process?

1:09:35 Because I’ve heard you say this before, even in your videos now, it’s always jokes. She’s always talking about thinking about work. But what are you thinking about? Creating ideas. What am I going to do?

1:09:44 How am I going to do it? Researching, thinking. How I can do this better? What can I say? What can I share?

1:09:50 The pictures. There’s so much stuff. Do you feel like I got to get all this out or I have to make this a success because I owe it to people or owe it to myself? Or what is that? Because there’s a more complicated dialogue.

1:10:04 It’s a very interesting question, Brian. I just have this need to share. I don’t know why. I just, it fulfills me and I truly enjoy that and I love helping people. It gives me a purpose, I guess.

1:10:22 And it’s become a bit like too much. It’s a bit too much because I can easily burn out them too. And people don’t see what’s… They only see what you show them. So they see the beautiful Instagram pictures and they see the beautiful videos.

1:10:39 Most people don’t realize, you do because you’re in the same space, how much work, thought, research goes into creating this content. And hence, the mind is always on because it’s your own business. It’s not like you finish work and you say, well, bye. So it’s always working. It’s always thinking of how I can improve.

1:10:59 What else I can share? What can I do? Where can we go? How can I shoot this? Angles, everything.

1:11:05 The little things. I mean, it’s mine. That’s why I’ve learned meditation because it’s helped me tremendously. Yeah. I want to talk about meditation.

1:11:14 Absolutely. Is it your need to share or are you also feel like you owe it to people or the products that you make or the fashion items that you’re like, I have to deliver something of quality. I never feel the owing feeling. Okay. I’ve discussed this with several people who I know who are YouTubers and a lot of people feel like they owe.

1:11:33 To me, that feeling is a bit alien. That’s good. I can relate to that because I maybe in a way it’s selfish, but I think it’s important to be selfish because that connects with the authenticity. If I am not creating content, I want to create. Then why do that?

1:11:50 Then it’s to me, it’s not real content. It’s like I’m trying to satisfy the masses. I’m not interested in that. I want to create something that’s meaningful to me because only then you will see the sparkle and the passion. And you have so many ideas that you want to share.

1:12:04 Yeah. Do you feel like you’re not going to get them out before you die? I don’t, maybe. Or before you forget them. Because you’ve done this for five years, you’ve done this very successfully, you’ll probably continue to do it.

1:12:15 There’s plenty of time, Mimi. I’m wondering why that urgency or why is it on your mind all the time? That is such a great thing that you’ve asked me this because I’m just becoming aware of something new. I think I’m learning to deal with just general anxiety in my life and I think this could have come from being raised in a place with a war. I don’t know.

1:12:38 Maybe it’s just family dramas. I’m not really sure where it comes from. I’m still like an investigator trying to investigate that with them myself. For example, I’ve noticed recently that I eat really fast. Me too.

1:12:52 Right. And I go for acupuncture and the lady that does my acupuncture, she said, I bet you eat really fast. And I’m like, I do. How did you know that? And she’s like, do you feel like the food won’t be there if you don’t eat it fast?

1:13:05 So it’s almost like the same thing you just asked me right now. If you don’t create these videos, what’s going to happen? Why can’t you just take a break for two days and not think about work? Yeah, it’s like you feel like there’s not enough time. Can you relate to me?

1:13:17 I do. Well, there’s an old… I’m not the only one. Well, because anyone on YouTube who tells you that they don’t have any kind of performance or expression issues, obviously they’re wrong because that’s why they’re on YouTube in some ways. I can even say I don’t, but of course I do.

1:13:31 So, you know, they say, it’s an old expression, but they say what depression is worrying about the past and anxiety is worrying about the future. And so like, that’s simple. But to think about that anxiety, that makes sense. And yeah, I eat fast and do other little things like that. But yeah, there’s something going on obviously where you’re feeling like I just need to get this out sooner than later.

1:13:54 And yeah, I know what that’s coming from. I’m really grateful you asked that question because I’m really going to go deep on that. So, but the thing is, if someone is prolific as you and as perfectionist as you, that there has to be something. There has to be something wired a little different than normal people because like you said, the vision is same with me is that, you know, I just hang out here every week with people and they drop by. Hey, Brian, let’s sit down.

1:14:16 It’s having a nice conversation. Hey, just sit down and the cameras are on. So, but obviously there’s more to it. But you know that there’s obviously something a little obsessive or anxious in anyone that creates that much. So I think accepting that’s okay.

1:14:31 And I want to ask you about the meditation because you know, back when you had this kind of four hour phenomenon, I’ll call it where you, there’s the void and you’re like, well, let’s try to fix this. But I know you started meditating to kind of deal with like these kind of anxiety, depression things which can come through whenever you kind of get into a new situation. But I watch your morning routine with Alex. I want to get to that video, which that probably is going viral, that video.

1:14:52 Yeah, surprisingly, never expected that. It’s a great video. It starts off there waking up in the morning. They do all this amazing routine in the morning. I want to get to that, but talk to me about meditation because it’s one of the things that you wrote to me before we had the show.

1:15:05 And you said something I never heard anyone say. You said it’s like the hardest thing in the world. It was to me. And it’s not to everyone. That’s the interesting thing.

1:15:17 I think one of the hardest thing for me as being an extrovert is spending time by myself. And the first time I went there, I thought, Oh, piece of cake. I can do this. It’s actually a very well-known course. It’s called Vipassana, Thailand Meditation.

1:15:32 Right. Is this where you go days at a time? No, that’s a different time. The first time you go, you have to go for a 10-day course. Okay, did you do that?

1:15:38 It’s really an 11. Yeah, I did it. Oh, wow. More than once. Respect.

1:15:41 Thank you. I’ve heard about it and I’m not ready for the challenge. It’s extremely tough. It’s the hardest thing I’ve done in my life. Well, for an extrovert too.

1:15:48 For an extrovert, it’s like… It’s like suicide. It’s like suicide, right? I honestly thought, Brian, that I’m going to die. I honestly…

1:15:56 Did you think about stopping? What do you mean? Like, did you think about cutting the 10-day short? When I was there? Yeah.

1:16:02 Yeah, like the first time I went, I ran away on day three. Okay. A little background about Vipassana Meditation. It’s not like a call to anything. It’s open to everyone.

1:16:12 It’s just the Buddhist meditation that comes from Buddha himself. And it’s free for all. And I’m very skeptical when I hear about these things. But the fact that it was free made me more believable because it’s spread all over the world and it only grows because people donate money. So they will only take your money if you finish the course.

1:16:32 Right. I love the sound of that. So I said, I’m in. It’s like a… That’s a lugsy hair.

1:16:37 Sell a proposition. Exactly. Value first. And then if you benefited from this, you can give something back. And you can give back $10, $10 millions if you can, whatever you can afford to give.

1:16:48 So the first time I went, I went for three days. It was extremely tough on day three. I called my… Alex was camping. So his phone was off.

1:16:57 I called my dad and I’m like, pick me up. I need to get out of this place. It was too hard to see my emotions, which I guess I’m learning to express better. When was this? And where was this?

1:17:08 Oh, this was before I started the business. So this was the first time I went for others. But yet you felt drawn to this. Yeah, I felt drawn to learning to manage and to manage your emotions, to not allow your monkey mind take over to be in control as the observer of your emotions and your feelings. It’s not that you’re ignoring them, but just not to go with them all the time.

1:17:34 And the second time I went was after the business started and I was extremely depressed and anxious and the whole bouquet of great feelings and emotions. And I just knew I had to do it again. And the second time I knew what I was going to. So it was a bit easier. And I had a few acquaintances who did it at the same time.

1:17:53 We couldn’t talk, of course, but just knowing that somebody that I know was there was a bit easier. And you see them. You see them, but you can’t talk. No eye contact. No eye contact.

1:18:02 Okay, but at least there’s a little energy there. Yeah, you feel the energy. You’re like, Oh my God. Like you can’t touch them. No hugs.

1:18:07 No, no, no, no, no, no. You can only talk to the teachers if you have any questions. They feed you. You have a room. You might have a roommate, which I didn’t funny enough.

1:18:17 I was praying for a roommate and I was like alone in a room. What do you do? You meditate the whole day. You read or… You cannot read.

1:18:25 You cannot write. You cannot use technology. You meditate. But they teach you one of the most important tools you can take for the rest of your life. They can sustainably improve your health, physical and mental.

1:18:38 And, you know, the second time I went, I was a lot more serious because I was in a darker, deeper place. I just knew it was this or nothing. I mean, I really considered everything. I saw a shrink and that didn’t help. I considered medication, but that’s like, okay, but how long can you take this for?

1:18:57 That’s not gonna… What’s the root of this problem? And then I discovered Vipassana and it was definitely the hardest thing. Every second of being there, I wanted to leave. You asked me, did you want to leave?

1:19:09 Every second. The mind is such a trigger. I can’t tell you. It doesn’t rely. Like it’s…

1:19:15 I need to be here. I need to be there. Why am I here? It’s always coming up with excuses, but you realize how destructible that is. That’s why people can’t focus.

1:19:24 That’s why people can’t get things done. You know, they’re jumping from task to task. You feel like you’re accomplishing things, but you’re not. It’s the monkey mind who is in control or they go on emotions and commit things that are not of their character because they let the monkey mind control them. Right.

1:19:40 And the monkey mind almost doesn’t want the rest of your mind to deal with some of the issues it needs to. So it just keeps you busy. And anxious and check this and check that. Yeah, it’s like instant gratification as opposed to long-term healing. And in a business like yours where you’re creating videos and creating content and checking the views and even if you don’t want to and checking the sales and it’s like that’s almost the worst for the monkey mind.

1:20:04 It’s not like you’re building a house. You know, you have like really short-term things to do. With technology nowadays. So you made it through the 10 days. I did.

1:20:11 That’s amazing, by the way, especially knowing your story. Like I would have wanted the room without the roommate. I don’t want roommates. See how we’re all different. My sister went recently and she didn’t want a roommate and she got a roommate.

1:20:24 I knew it. I just knew it. You don’t get what you want. You get what you need. So I got what I needed and I survived, yes.

1:20:32 What was it like when you came out after 10 days? What were you like? It wasn’t like it was an instant change. But gradually, as you integrate back into real world, you realize, wow, I have changed. I have grown.

1:20:46 I mean, the anxiety, everything was gone. I remember that’s the time where we were living in the Costa Rica, the four-hour work-week lifestyle and Alex was in Costa Rica when I did the course. So the next day after I left Vipassana, which was minus 25 Celsius in Canada, I get on a plane and go to Costa Rica and tell Alex all about my experience and it was the best place to be after completing such a deep and meaningful course. I always think about this, Brian. So many people take trips to other countries.

1:21:19 I just remember thinking about it on maybe day eight of my meditation. You take five days, seven days, 10 days to go to Asia, America, Europe and you discover all these buildings and all these things, material things that we see in the world. But how often do we take a trip to go down inside? And you live with this all your life or maybe lifetimes, who knows? And I just thought, wow, I’m so grateful I did it.

1:21:45 And when you go inside, it’s like traveling in a country, you will see some beautiful things and you’ll see some ugly things. But at the end of the day, you will have an experience and you will know yourself so much better. It’s truly a life-changing experience for me, especially thinking that I will die. After that, I was like, I can do anything. I think we used to have like proper vacations, like maybe 50 years ago, 100 years ago, where you would get on a boat and you’d spend seven days and you’d go down to South America and like you couldn’t speak the language.

1:22:15 You had to change the money. Nowadays, it’s like we’re easy jet. We stayed at a branded hotel, the W. The room looks just like the room in Morocco, except it has a few incense. And like you go to the Asian fusion restaurant.

1:22:29 And like sometimes I find that we come back and you haven’t spoken to a local, you never had a traumatic experience. You went to the beaches and like nothing really happened. Exactly. And so like when you talk about a trip, I mean, you know, this London Real was founded on psychedelic experiences. So, you know, it comes to ayahuasca and things like that.

1:22:45 You know, it sounds like your experience. Well, you really go deep inside yourself and get uncomfortable. That’s where a lot of the growth happens. Yeah. And you have to learn a bit about yourself.

1:22:54 I want to mention that I, because I know people who have done ayahuasca. I haven’t personally. That it sounds a lot like a Vipassana, whereas with ayahuasca is like you’re strapped to a rocket ship and you’re going to space and you have no control of what’s happening. Whereas with Vipassana, you’re on a little boat and you get to control, you know, you’re sailing. So if you see a big wave, you can try to maneuver around it or you’re still in control.

1:23:19 Where with ayahuasca, it’s like it’s from what I’ve heard. That’s crazy. Yeah, I want to be on that boat. I want to go on the big boat. But no, that’s a good expression.

1:23:30 I mean, the one thing about ayahuasca is that I mean, look, the Vipassana, I think both can have very similar experiences. And the people that I know that are intelligent psychonauts, because we were talking about the Tony Robbins experiences or any kind of experience, you can OD on that. You can kind of become addicted just to the experience. I think you can do the same as psychedelics where you want to, you know, do DMT every weekend. But one thing about the psychedelic is once you take it, you know, you’re going to go on this experience and there’s nothing you can do about it.

1:23:59 So now it’s a lot of like situations in life, say, you know, someone in your life dies or you’re going down on a plane, you know, you’re going to have to deal with some emotions and you’re going to have to breathe. And there’s not much you can do about it right now. So and everything’s going to be okay, but you’re going to have to breathe and go to some dark places. And then you kind of realize that dark places aren’t as dark as you wanted. And so but they’re very different.

1:24:20 But what I was going to say is that a lot of those people that go on those psych psychonautic adventures, they come back to meditation. I know I have that’s what I’ve been doing for about 12 months and a lot of them find. Yeah, it’s kind of like that’s the slower ride to a similar result. Although I do think sometimes people really need a good shaking up probably when it comes to that. A lot of people won’t have you’re a very determined woman.

1:24:46 And so you were going to finish that Vipassana course no matter what before she died, which might not, which might be soon. So Mimi’s got to get it done sooner. So you waited through but a lot of people wouldn’t do that. And so for some people, sometimes there’s other options. Yeah.

1:25:00 But and now you do this every morning. Yeah, I mean, I’ve done it twice. So I’ve done the 10 day course twice. The second time you can go for whatever days you want. I went for 10 days, but I was serving so I could talk a little bit in the kitchen and then I wasn’t meditating as much.

1:25:14 And then I’m planning to go for a few days actually in the fall. But after you come out, you feel so great that naturally you become a bit lazy. I think most people do. I did anyways. And you’re like, I’m great.

1:25:28 I don’t need to meditate. I don’t need to keep up this practice. But then time passes and you go back in your habits, which some of them are not positive. And you experience the same things and you realize sustainability using something sustainably consistently from day to day is what really going to help me change my outlook or create better conditioning and better habits. Yeah, it’s like hygiene.

1:25:52 It’s like brushing your teeth. Absolutely. If you don’t do it, well, I guess brushing your teeth, you’d know. But like if you don’t do it, like if I don’t meditate for two weeks, like I won’t notice for a few days, but after two weeks, I’ll find it. You know what my test is?

1:26:04 If I’m in a queue and I’m angry at the queue, that means I either need to meditate or I need to go see the mushroom gods. One of the two. But it’s like if I’m not appreciating the world that I’m in and I’m not appreciating the beautiful city I’m in or these people or the fact that I can even wait in a line for food or for whatever else, then I know that I’m just, I’m too anxious and I need to just take a break and kill my ego off for a bit and just come back to this world and just say thank you and then get back to it.

1:26:31 So I guess that’s my metric. So and so this is one of the practices you promote in the video of you and Alex. So let’s talk about that. Is that one you guys wanted to make for a long time? This is kind of the day in the life of you too.

1:26:45 I’ve just realized that these videos are very popular at the moment. I didn’t realize the hype. I don’t understand sometimes the things that are popular. I just look at them and I don’t like to do what’s popular. Like we were talking before about this.

1:27:02 I just like to do things that I want to do. But then sometimes you have to see what’s popular and you have to see the meaning behind it. I think people are craving better habits. That’s why they want people to share their habits. Their morning routines or night routines.

1:27:16 And when it finally clicked in my head why people want to see this because I’m like why would people want to see somebody’s morning routine or night routine? Like why would somebody care enough to see me wake up and brush my teeth? And then I realized well there’s actually a lot more that I do in my morning. Perhaps people can find that useful and valuable. Perhaps they can change something for better.

1:27:36 Once I saw the value of it, I said oh Alex we definitely got to do this video because I think we actually have something interesting going on because I watch some and a lot of times people wake up and they go on their phone. That’s like the first thing most people if you watch morning routines they go on their phone. And it’s not like I didn’t do before. I used to do this all the time. But consciously a few months ago I said first of all a couple years ago I started putting my phone in airplane mode when I sleep.

1:28:02 But I would still wake up and check my phone in the morning. But you know maybe half a year ago or a bit longer ago I decided that I will not touch my phone until I’m finished with what I need to finish in the morning which is my morning workout, meditation, brushing the teeth, dressing up. Dancing in the bathroom. A little bit of a dance. Because otherwise you could get swallowed in that thing.

1:28:24 Right. That’s back to four hours. We were waiting for our information dive. So leave the phone on airplane. Do your thing.

1:28:31 Let your brain get accustomed to the day. Not be following an information drive. So you guys showed the morning. It’s funny like you said like you’re not doing anything groundbreaking but there’s something cool about it because I think it’s the way you’re doing it. You know a lot of people I mean I was watching you guys get up and I was just like I think most people just plod into the bathroom and this kind of thing but like just watching the different ways that they could do it like you’d be like let’s not turn the phone on right away.

1:28:58 Let’s go ahead and do a meditation. Let’s like do all these things for us first before we worry about you know. It’s a bit of like get selfish in there which I like that term. Like I’m gonna do this for me. Yeah.

1:29:08 And then we’re gonna go out in the world. Because if you’re not fulfilled you can give. That’s most people say oh that’s selfish. It’s not. If you want to give to the world you first have to give to yourself because if you’re empty what will you give to the world?

1:29:22 And it’s something that I’m personally learning actually. It’s not like I’m this perfect person. Like hello hello hello. You haven’t always been selfish? A little bit.

1:29:30 You’ve always been known enough to let get you sorted first. I love myself and I take care of myself. However I’m realizing more and more that because I love to give sometimes I give myself less. And it’s important to switch that around. Health is first.

1:29:45 Your well-being is first. And then you know your relationships and then your business and everything else. Okay so the video has been a big hit. The video has been a big hit and we’re gonna do a night routine. But I think just people like to see something different.

1:29:59 And maybe that’s why it went viral if you want to say yeah. I mean it’s been a month with like over 800,000 views. That’s pretty crazy. Yeah and it’s nice because like you talk about the products you use and they’re just the products you use. I don’t know.

1:30:12 You’ve always done that in your videos I guess. But it’s just something nice about it. I think even as a American I realize. So I just gotta tell you a quick story. I used to make videos when I was a little kid like eight and ten.

1:30:23 We had a VCR and we would make videos and these crazy things. You were vlogging already. Yeah Jesus. We would like script these little dramas and these stupid little like things. But one thing I noticed is that I put ads in every single one of my shows.

1:30:36 And like so me. Fake ads. Yeah fake ads. Isn’t that weird? They trained you well.

1:30:41 So in America I grew up that this was part of television. So like it’s somewhere deep inside of me. And so I put a fake ad in between our shows. This is video tape and it made it in the late 70s or 1982. And so that’s something deeply disturbing about American.

1:30:59 It’s the conditioning. Yeah it’s consumer culture. So when you don’t do that it’s really noticeable that you’re like this is actually what I use. And it is just. It is actually what I use.

1:31:07 I mean the only thing that I can say wasn’t completely real is because we actually have more hugging and more kissing. And we didn’t want to make people uncomfortable because people are like yeah sure you cuddle. But yeah we actually cuddle way more. And we actually kiss way more in between workouts and we didn’t want to make people feel uncomfortable. So we put the least amount of hugging and kissing and cuddling.

1:31:29 You should have like blurted out like they do with you know like porn just like the hug of cuddling censored. So you cut cuddly now. Okay. We left some of it but not a lot. Because people get uncomfortable.

1:31:40 Well we just felt like people it will just be like yeah too much. Which leads me to my next question. Yes. How do you deal with the haters? Good question.

1:31:51 How do you do with people that would see that video and say oh man it’s me me and Alex. The perfect couple like they do all these wonderful things together. I mean you’ve been doing this for five years. You must get different levels of criticism whether it’s you or this or you and Alex. You guys have a beautiful relationship.

1:32:07 I’ve actually hung out with you guys. I actually have a small crush on Alex. So I get it you know and just like as I decided and I will ask you this question. You know Alex has been like super really supportive of everything I’ve done. And we went out one night and he was just like really he went out of his way to like help me.

1:32:23 You know he didn’t have to. And he was just like he was like all right man let’s think about this. And like he could have given lip service of I think you should do this. But he was like super helpful. So I’m just saying.

1:32:32 He’s very unconditional. Yeah and like it was someone I really noticed. So back to the question. How do you deal with the haters? I think one thing that meditation taught me.

1:32:42 One of the things is to have empathy for other people. First have empathy for yourself and then have empathy for everyone. And of course there are times again if I don’t meditate for a few days I can be more reactive when I hear a negative comment. If I meditate and I’m conscious then I don’t react because it’s not personal. I just realize what other people think of me has nothing to do with me.

1:33:11 It has to do with their reality and their pain and their struggles. It’s not easy right. Okay easy easily said. I still react. It’s not like I don’t react.

1:33:20 Like I’m saying like when I came out of that 10 day Vipassana meditation just freshly came out of it. Oh my god like nothing could faze me. I loved everyone. I understood everyone completely. It’s like no explanation needed no judgments for anyone because you go through so much dark places that you can relate to everyone’s dark places and there’s no judgment like clear.

1:33:43 Over time you start collecting it again if you don’t practice meditation and awareness conscious leaving so when I leave consciously which I do I put a lot of effort into meditating and doing five minute journal and just observing myself and not reacting right away. I see that it has nothing to do with me and I think that’s the best way to deal with negativity in life not just negative comments but negativity that can come to you through your family members sometimes your friends or you know people saying things that sarcastic or whatever it could be any kind of comment that is not a positive uplifting comment. Right so just realize that’s an issue they’re dealing with.

1:34:27 Have an empathy for them. You might have triggered that issue but it’s something there and you have an empathy. It sounds like something that Dalai Lama does when he was like talking about his meditation practice he like tries to take on the pain of others and tries to empathize with them and get his own routine but I’ve found no I’m curious what you say about this is that sometimes it’s that percentage of the haters that gives you the best critical feedback possible because it’s like those people that they have no vested interest in you they don’t love you and sometimes I find that some of those comments are sometimes the most accurate and so like on one hand I don’t want to listen to them because I definitely don’t want to go to the negativity because I got to make another video just like you do tomorrow and then at the same time if I listen to like a few percent of what they’re saying I’m like you know what they’re actually right sometimes it’s up a little yeah but how do you listen to it without it going in your head I don’t read all of the comments anymore I skim through them if I read and respond to positive because I believe whatever you give your attention is where you will grow more so if you give your attention to negative you will grow more or negative in your life and you if you give attention to positive naturally you’ll have more positive however I do read most of them still and if it’s if it’s something that’s totally

1:35:40 Unrelated to the content and just pure negativity like you’re ugly or you know you’re stupid or this is bullshit she married a rich guy and you know she lives in this house and I’m like excuse me like I’m an equal business owner this is me and my business partner I did not marry a rich guy where we’re both broke this is but again why why should I experience these emotions this person clearly doesn’t know anything about me in my life it’s their worldview so it’s having the ability to see clearly that other people’s opinion and and feedback sometimes most times actually has nothing to do with you um having an open mind to still listen to it because if there’s any constructive criticism you can take from it to better yourself sure I’ll take it however usually constructive criticism doesn’t come in a way of a super negative feedback right it will be like you know Brian I like you or Mimi I like you but I think the lighting in your videos could be better oh it hurts okay but I can swallow that right right usually if it’s super negative it’s not coming from a great place so no need to give attention to that I try to have a buffer so I just I don’t read them I try not to read them directly every once in a while I will but I just have someone that will read them and then tell me a few bullet points and so like right now then I’ll make a stupid video and they’ll be like you know and then Julie be like no Brian they weren’t feeling that or they really were feeling that

1:37:07 We should do more of that and I’m like great that actually insulates me from too much of the positive that might get in my monkey brain getting all excited and insulates me from some of the negative that like I might be thinking about walking on the street later like ah maybe I do need to cut my hair or something so that way I just have a vibe and he’s like do more of this do less of this yeah yeah to have an idea that’s how if it’s if it’s working people are enjoying it which is important and of course you’re creating the content partly for yourself but partly for the audience as well yeah what’s it like being a celebrity I don’t feel like a celebrity I know you don’t feel like it but people recognize you they know you you know you’re a big part of people’s lives you’re there every week more so than their boyfriends and girlfriends maybe I mean you know that’s that’s who you are yeah I think it’s it’s a new idea of celebrity whereas with YouTube it’s different than let’s say traditional celebrity a movie star when you are looking at someone in YouTube you know exactly who they are you are getting a sense of their personality and who they are and what they do and how they talk whereas when you’re watching a movie or if you’re watching somebody’s performance like an artist a singer it’s this image that they’re creating whereas with YouTube it’s real it’s me so when people approach me approach me on the street it’s usually very personal they they’ll like jump at me and hug me

1:38:28 Or they’ll come up to me and be like oh my god how’s this and that because they know me and they know what’s going on in my life so I never feel like I’m a celebrity I just feel like I have all these friends everywhere I go which is amazing for an extrovert yeah right I was about to say that so you love it I love it I love people so much you have no idea I just love people I just never too much it’s not like the third person drop what stops you on the street when you’re walking to naughty hill and you’re like okay you know I gotta do a video usually not because at 250 million views that’s the entire population of America or most of America has seen you so it’s a lot of people right you have to think of it this way too Brian I think also when when you grow a bit bigger most people don’t come up to me anymore they feel I don’t know again it’s people’s worldview many still do but a lot of people feel like intimidated or they feel oh they’re she’s too big she’ll ignore it’s like the fear of rejection so a lot of people will message me after and be like I saw you in Hyde Park or I just saw you here or there and I will always respond and say why didn’t you come up to me you should have come up to me I would have loved to give you a hug and you know chat because I love meeting people in real life because it’s the only time I can ever meet them and get their feedback because again comments is different it’s just commenting on a video for example so it’s a

1:39:50 Really great case study where I can really get in their mind and be like so which videos do you enjoy what do you think I should do it’s really awesome to meet people in real life and yeah I personally really enjoy that part it just gives me energy and it gives me more motivation to create more content like when I do meetups I’m so present and I’m so happy and I’m just like I’m like on a natural high do you do a lot of meetups not a lot but I make sure to do a few a year we travel a lot so you know recently we did one in Mimi and that was amazing so many people came some people drove for hours like the whole family came the grandma the mother the daughters it was incredible just giving hugs to everyone and connecting with your audience real time and again I never use the word fans because my audience is my friends I don’t believe in fancy I was never a fan of anyone I look at everyone equal nobody’s better than anyone we’re all maybe better at different things stronger at different things but I see everyone on the same level I’m not better than you in any way and you’re not better than me in any way which is much it’s greater you’d never you never feel starstruck like when I see somebody like who is maybe big youtuber or what I just feel it’s just another person they have the same struggles it’s again it’s that empathy thing where you feel through the person and their success you feel it’s just a human being they have suffering just like me yeah do you ever think

1:41:18 Do you ever want to just just stop doing videos disappear for a year um um I haven’t had that feeling ever although I feel like I need to sometimes unplug more often like for a day I post pictures every single day and again with Instagram people don’t realize it’s still work to create beautiful imagery it’s not just like snap your fingers it’s here and sometimes I talk to myself in my head and I’m like Nimi what would happen if you just don’t post a picture for a day but it’s that ambitious very ambitious inner voice that wants to keep growing and keep creating and keep doing things and I got to get more of you know my feminine energy to be like chillax and just relax a little bit yeah just relax a little take time off it’s it’s a it’s an alien concept for me I do better at working hard than taking time off yeah and so how much is odd do you work on on looksie hair and how much is on dreamers and creators and what is that and you know fashion for you and you know do you have new things happening there oh there’s lots of exciting things happening I’m working on a book I’m working on a very what’s the book about it’s gonna be a relationships very exciting interesting why’d you choose that topic because you could talk I didn’t choose that the topic chose me to be honest I the reason I say the content chose me is because it’s something I’ve become aware of a few years ago that has to do with energies and how to be balanced human being and how to have balanced relationship first with

1:42:50 Yourself and then with other people whether it’s your partner or your family your friends and it’s a really cool theory that I just can’t wait to share with the world but that’s all I’m gonna say from now how dare you type that out sorry that’s right I want to read it I know you’ll be one of the first you always talk about having the right people in your life I mean it’s something that’s been said many times and Tim Ferriss said it and you know the five the average of the five people but absolutely you talk about it in your videos a lot and you know and you and Alex I think are very careful about having the right people in your life which isn’t always the easiest thing to do um I’m not trying to get this if that’s part of your book but can you just talk a little bit about that and how do you keep the right people in your life I mean you guys picked up and moved to London two years ago year and a half ago almost two years we’re gonna be two years in July so I mean that by definition gives you a new peer group or you don’t get your old peer group I mean like how do you decide you have to get some get rid of some people how do you let the new people in I consciously try to not create too much attachment with people I have in my life so when we moved to from Canada I mean I love my family and I love my friends who are there but in order for me to grow and evolve I need to experience and see and and be surrounded by new things sometimes if the heart is calling you

1:44:04 Can’t ignore the heart I don’t mean that everyone has to travel the world and move to a different country I think everyone has different destiny and journey to me or an Alex that is our journey is to to be here at the moment that’s all I can say so in terms of making new friends I found that London was a really great place to meet people I don’t know that’s because we’re putting this kind of energy these are the people we attract I’m not really sure everywhere I go I seem to meet amazing people maybe it’s you no there are amazing people in London everyone’s here for different reasons yeah there’s a lot of like immigrants coming through very international there’s lots of stuff happening yeah cosmopolitan as people like to say it so I I think the reason it’s important to have positive people in your life is because if you if you’re working through anything you want that support team to pull you up not drag you down because you’re always working from through your inner resistance so you don’t need other people to be like resisting your change because if you’re growing and other people are not growing they have a different mindset they will try to drag you down yeah yeah absolutely it’s not a conscious thing that people do because subconsciously they know that if you’re gonna grow and they don’t you will drop them yeah so they want to keep you in the comfort zone and that’s why we are very conscious of the friends we have

1:45:25 And the people we surround ourselves with are the people who are the same not the same in every way but people who want to grow and be better I think that’s the only criteria I can people who want to make the world better and first make themselves better because that’s how you make the world better good I like that it said that that quote-unquote get selfish team is just something that’s hitting me a lot lately um we had a really fascinating woman here named Anita Moore Johnny who I kind of had a real battle with cancer and came back and she has a whole way about her but she just she asked me the question she was like Brian do you love yourself and so I asked everybody I came into contact with for like a week and I asked like my buddies and my trainer and I asked Gabby and and I got a lot of bad answers you know a lot of people were like oh I don’t know and I’m like I wouldn’t you love yourself like that’s that’s important and Anita was like she’s like loving yourself is a lot like taking a shower in the morning before you go outside the house like you owe it to everybody to brush your teeth and to like just be the best you are you gonna bring all this negative energy to the world so she’s like love yourself first and do it as a favor even to everyone else around you and like I don’t know some great concepts with that so beautiful yeah that’s coming on all right the book more on that later leaving to me with the cliffhanger what else is your day like how much is luxe how much is

1:46:37 You know the Mimi icon how much is the you know the I mean it varies from week to week but I would say of course luxe is um important to me because it’s our business and it’s our baby we love we love it and I’m very much involved in the creative part which is making the videos that’s what I do so that’s the moment with luxe and then we have a creative agency that here in London which is Dreamers and Creators you smile when you say that I love that name I thought of it I just because we are dreamers and we like to create things that we first dreamt of so it’s pretty cool how you can dream of something and then make it a physical physical thing yeah just like your gratitude gratitude exactly so we have a few projects that we work on and you know one of them is five minute journal there’s a few other projects like Berlini there’s this beautiful umbrella made in Italy haven’t really talked much about it yet because it’s just starting out um yeah there’s a few projects that we’re working on one of the projects is a fashion project that we’re working on again I you know me Brian it’s like I am the kind of person who first likes to do things and then talk it’s like let’s talk more action so I’m acting right now I’m in the process of creating this thing when it’s real I’m going to be screaming about it but at this time I’m still in the works and I’m super excited to share with the world but it’s you know it’s something that is very dear and near to my heart I would expect

1:48:03 Nothing less of you to bring it a hundred percent when it’s ready so okay that’s fair let’s talk about the five minute journal quickly um so after I do my walk to the tube and I say out all my things and I do it I force myself to say it out loud when I’m alone so if there’s some old lady walking by I just say it if there’s some builders they think I’m funny and then I do my five minute journal every morning I do it in on like the elevator down at the tube station so you use the app I use the app you don’t use the physical I don’t use the physical although I got a copy of the physical when I was at masterminds and I met one of your co-creators on that piece yeah you Jay he was very cool awesome um and uh I’m so glad you met him yeah it was really good we just like we had the warrior workout in the morning where were you for the warrior workout in the morning it was it was filled up um yeah I met him there and I got a copy of the journal and I actually gave it to Kathy and so uh but yeah I know you guys do fill yours out in the morning right it’s probably better to write I know it’s a great thing to do as a couple I think to write those out tell me about the five minute journal what’s it all about it’s also in your video whichever one should go watch which is about your morning routine um just tell me about it it’s just something that Alex would do even before he met me he’s been doing this for years I think

1:49:10 Parts of it he got from Tony Robbins parts of it he got from other books that he read it’s just a combination of things that he would naturally do or he trained himself to do because he saw that these things work so one of the things he would do is as soon as he would wake up he would go in the shower and he would say all the things he’s grateful for in the shower I’m grateful for you know my body I’m grateful for this home whatever whatever you feel grateful for at the moment and he would do all these things and then he would talk to UJ about you know UJ’s practices that UJ uses in his day UJ is the co-creator of five minute journal that you met at the event and they realized that they both have really amazing morning routines I guess you could say like positivity morning routines we’ll look at it it’s almost like the toothbrush for your mind like if you don’t brush your teeth they’re going to decay and if you don’t brush your mind what’s going to happen most people don’t think about clearing the mind not just through meditation which is great but also the affirmations and and you know the gratefulness so the two of them we’re talking about creating something that can be simple that we can use in our daily life because once you have something physical or if you have an app you are more likely to use it because it’s there it’s simple it’s easy to use it’s not something you have to write out for hours

1:50:29 It’s just it makes it easier for for us to use it so essentially it was a product that we wanted to have for ourselves really again a bit selfish but that’s the thing when you create products that you genuinely want to use and you’re passionate about there’s going to be many many people thousands millions of people who will want the same product the same service that’s value because first you have to fulfill yourself again the same thing we keep going back and forth right right and so i fill out what i’m grateful for what the what i want to get done today and some affirmations and the get done is really important because it’s just three things yeah it’s just like get these things what are some great things though i think that’s it’s just putting it putting it out there it’s it’s not as because the affirmation comes later but it’s like setting your mind to think of the positive things you will do and it’s the things that are in your control you can’t say like the weather will be great unless you have control of the weather so it’s like i’m gonna have great lunch and great conversation with Mimi today because i’m meeting her or things that are in your control and again you you bring awareness to the fact that you have a lot of control over your day the day doesn’t own you you own the day so that changes your whole attitude right yeah so it’s it’s been great i mean i love when sometimes when we travel and i forget to take it we just do it verbally it’s like i have this need to do it now

1:51:47 Because i just feel like it helps me so much in my everyday life and so in the morning you and Alex grab your journals in bed and you fill them out as soon as like i wake up i’m just like half asleep i roll it like literally how it is in my in my morning routine so it’s just like that it’s even worse because like sometimes i fall asleep and i’m holding the pen and it’s like my ink is like all over yeah it happens and then you guys tell each other and then we share and then you out loud you yell out your affirmations yes okay can you tell me what your affirmations were this morning actually they’re very similar i i don’t work at changing them i work at making them stronger and more believable to myself so for me it’s i’m trusting brave adventurous and healthy and i put the healthy now first i’m healthy trusting brave adventurous okay why the healthy first because i think health is number one okay sometimes you push it back but if you don’t have health you don’t have anything right i’m changing my priorities now and learning to take care of myself my body my mind okay and trusting trusting because maybe you weren’t always trusting and not in people i i trust people so much like too much i think more like in the universe okay trusting that it will be there for you brave brave you always you seem pretty brave yeah but that’s the thing i want to cultivate more of that okay and with age you can lose that because true you become more fearful and you become more

1:53:16 You realize more that you know the idea of death and you get more conservative yeah you’ve definitely become more conservative so healthy trusting brave adventurous adventurous okay all right and so and you yell them out yeah okay that’s great your neighbors wonder about you guys i don’t care okay and that’s pretty every morning every morning okay this is like an amazing practice i don’t do the yeah i don’t do it in bed um but maybe i will soon and uh but it’s just great to do it when you’re still in that subconscious like you’re still not fully awake it goes in a deeper subconscious and you can kind of get your brain into thinking that way without okay gotcha but i do my meditation right after that’s great like you do i sit up on the headboard i know you guys sit on the floor with your backup so it’s a bit different because we’ll move but okay let’s change now stop figuring out our spot meditation spot okay so um and just on that same line like i saw one other thing that you said where you just can decide if you want to be in a happy mood or a bad mood and you said i think you noticed this years ago when you were having a tough time or and you just said i can make a conscious choice i mean that’s a pretty big realization to make um is that one that’s hard to explain to people i think people i don’t know i feel like people get that i i i really believe that if you say something with passion people

1:54:33 Maybe don’t get it verbally but they they almost like feel feel that what you’re saying means something so i feel like the the only power we have is the power over our attitude and that makes all the difference because i’ve become aware of that you know we all have struggles we all have suffering at some point in our lives but are you going to take the role of a victim or are you going to take the role of a student and be look at this obstacle and challenge as a stepping stone to something greater to you being better more more humble more strong more conscious so the attitude i believe makes all the difference and it’s something that i remind myself all the time it’s not like if i thought of it that’s it yeah i had the aha moment it doesn’t mean that you will feel it feel that way all the time so i remind myself in difficult situations i have a choice to change my attitude and look at this as an opportunity not a problem can i ask you a couple questions about how you view success yeah how do you judge your own success you know it could be this year or yeah this month or i mean like we all have metrics whether they’re right or wrong but i mean how do you how do you evaluate your own success these success secrets are only available on the London Real academy become a member and get access to live shows exclusive courses my webinars bonus content meetups live events an amazing community and much much more now back to

1:56:14 The rest of the show did you when you film your trips would you if you didn’t get to film would you be like this isn’t as fun would you rather film it because it makes the trip more fun or do you ever feel like okay let’s do a trip without filming because you do videos for your trips and they’re always amazing it’s so tough not to film okay because it’s fun because it’s fun because i want to share the experience because i don’t know who’s watching i don’t know where they are in life i don’t know if they’ll ever be able to experience this i i truly hope they do i truly hope everyone gets a chance to travel and i realize how blessed and lucky i am to do so and i just want to share it because i feel like it amplifies my experience and there are times like recently were in barcelona and i thought okay i want vlog i just want to relax i want to have a couple of days without work and i was snapchatting i cheated i totally cheated myself i didn’t log but i snapchat and in the end alex said we should have just logged because you were on your phone anyways filming and you just wanted to share it with someone i just like to share i really enjoy the process of sharing you should go with your gut i think yeah on that um mimi i always ask everyone that comes here a few questions at the end you might know these are coming but i’ll ask you anyways um if you could make a phone call to the 20 year old mimi and give her a little bit

1:57:39 Of advice knowing all that you know now it’s not that much but it’s more um what would you tell her if you could give her one thing i would tell them to start meditating earlier okay i could have been in a much better place i think if i started i could have not gone through a lot but i i think at the end of the day whatever happens happens i wouldn’t want to change too much of what has happened because i feel like it’s been a great journey and i’m grateful for everything that’s happened on this journey because it’s made me who i am today the meditation part would have been the biggest advice is to learn to be in control and learn to observe and not be in reactive mode what was she like the 20 are you are you just on all the time i was working at a bank at a restaurant and going to school it was crazy my friends would always go out and do all these fun things and i was just like one day one day i believe one day i’ll have some time off it was crazy for a few years and i was like i said i was burnt out by 23 right i felt like i had a midlife crisis yeah um you know that’s exactly what uh tim ferris said it yeah me and him have a lot in common i met him recently and i said buddy you have to go to meditation and he said yeah it’s very hardcore but i think he would really enjoy it yeah that’s the one thing he said he would have given advice to his younger self and he’s like i wouldn’t have changed a lot of things yeah yeah exactly do you and alex

1:59:14 Know him or friendly with him just a little bit i mean he’s a big promoter of five minute journal because he actually uses it and he enjoys it he drops it on his podcast sometimes i’m like yeah it’s amazing a lot of people give it lots of love it’s like it’s been a circle where we’re at his book and it really helped us to believe in our dreams and now he’s using a product that we created so it’s a great feeling that feels good right yeah uh second part of the advice question uh best advice you ever received business personal there must have been something a lot of advices i’d say i think lately the one that i can learn from and i’m learning to do it is to let go sometimes to just let go be an entrepreneur and be an ambitious person you try to control everything and i’m just realizing now that apparently i am a perfectionist it’s something that i refuse to admit for many years and now i’m like fine i admit it i can see it now so learning to just let go sometimes and allow for things to happen allow for things to come to you and just relax more so it’s an advice i got recently that i’m learning to implement in my life it’s great advice control is uh they say it’s an illusion anyways exactly and with the team and everything i mean i probably guilty of that too no hands will be raised here right away but like a lot of times that’s the worst thing you can do is try to control everyone i mean your job is really to have the vision isn’t it absolutely and just let them see the vision

2:00:51 Let them see the people let them be inspired and then they do it their own way but when they try to get them to do it the way you want it to yeah it doesn’t work for the best employees last part um and you must get this a lot you must think about this a lot in your videos i mean you know to the 20 year old you know uh man or woman that’s out there listening to us you know that wants to grow up and be like me in the icon you know what advice to give to them you must have tons of people that are always looking up to you asking you questions and and and what do you tell them i’m guessing that this is going to be quite nuanced advice but what do you tell them i tell them to start and started anything i’ve started at the fast food restaurant and then moved on to restaurants and then moved on to the bank still was working at the restaurant i’m up floors i i swept floors i i socket cleaning i still had to do it do what needs to be done to get you moving to the next level like i was saying earlier not feeling like any work is beneath you i did free internship where i would buy coffee bring their lunch at a fashion styling agency because i wanted to learn i would do anything to just get in once you get in you get contact you you people see that you’re hard working that you’re passionate that you have a great personality then you can work in that industry but you can’t just expect to be hired at the top start at zero and work work your way up that’s the only way to get anywhere

2:02:22 You can look at it in a career relationship in any any way you look at it you have to start somewhere so start start if it’s a workout just start doing 10 push-ups a day make them the girly push-ups if you can’t do the real you do real push-ups i do real push-ups jeez watch her video with alex she’s doing real push-ups i was like jesus that’s right you’re skipping up with alex with the real push-ups um you get a little scary right there when you were talking to me you’re a very intense person when you’re giving that advice it was good really yeah really i was thinking about like you like you as a mother there and i was just thinking like if i was a kid i’d be like okay sorry uh what’s that what’s happening in the next five years for you what’s your life look differently are you know are you gonna have a bunch of munchkins running around is that in the cards you know what what’s your future we’re starting to think of starting a family we’re starting today we’re definitely know that we want to have a family so that’s in the picture okay it’s just a matter of managing our lives so we can be fulfilled and still we can be completely present when we have children which is very important for us it’s we take we take it very seriously like bringing a life into this world is a huge responsibility and unless you can be there fully we wouldn’t want to do that and that’s why it’s taken us so long to start a family because we realize that this is for life

2:03:46 And we want to be there fully and obviously you know it’s not about being perfectionist so we’re we’re just starting to realize how we can manage our our careers so that we can also bring a life into this world as well right you need a private jet to take them all places you guys go how many cities do you visit a year i mean how many trips do you make oh man we haven’t always traveled that much i think it’s when we moved to london we started to travel a lot more because there’s so many options because i i keep a diary because if you apply for uk citizenship you have to like present everything so i’m keeping it not yet but i think we’ll consider it but i think it was like 33 different 33 33 that was last year but this year is already more intense is it yeah so that’s got to be considered there’s a family but no it’s true with the family i mean you really have to think about well first of all being present for them being you know present for yourself i think that’s like the first thing and then the business and then you guys love to travel and so that kind of has a funny way of stopping all that there’s no rush there isn’t that’s the thing i think it’s important to do things at the right time people say well there’s never a right time i think there is i think you feel it in your heart and your gut i’m ready and i think when you do it with when you do it consciously it’s just a much better experience for you and and the the child that you bring into this world

2:05:13 And what’s business look like in five years um you had to really think about it once it looked like in 2020 for god’s sakes i mean you know what is it what are you know what are you doing through your day what does dream vision creators look like are you here are you here in london i’m here definitely we’re traveling a lot i the next business that i’m creating that has to do with fashion that’s all i’m gonna say but i’m seeing to be being a lot of what i’m seeing myself to be completely involved in that and doing a lot more of the fashion and um also connecting that to a lot of causes that are very dear to my heart and um it’s going to be to do with children and the next generation which i think is very important it’s what empowering the youth and educating the youth okay this is a voice we haven’t heard from you as much yeah and i feel like we want to because you know with with luxi hair you know you you only have so much control over that product right i mean and you can only put so much of your stamp on it and you can only like this is that why you’re kind of going to the fashion because it’s going to be something you’re excited about that something can really be you that you create your imprint on it it’s a combination of things okay so no i just you know when you talk about the fashion label it just seems like a place where you can go and get more into i’m going to put my my own stamp on this or i’m going

2:06:36 To make these fashion choices or you’re going to make it associated with a lifestyle or like you said the children pieces so oh it’s not going to be for children okay yeah i mean but that yeah it’s going to be can it’s going to be connected the giving back part okay it’s going to be connecting to um to the youth and i believe that that’s that’s very important to to connect where you’re passionate about with your business right and we’re we’re going to be doing that with luxi hair as well it’s in the works and i just think there’s so much room for growth and improvement even with what we’re doing already and that is truly the vision for the next five years is to to get better at what we do it’s not necessarily to create more and more and more that’s you know again that’s very ambitious but it’s also about reflecting and seeing what can we do better with what we’re really doing and i think that’s just improving and getting better at what we’re doing and of course launching the new project that i’m working on right all right good we’ll probably more on that um last thing what’s the one thing people will be very surprised to know about mimi icon they would say no that can’t be true i mean there’s a lot of things that you saw in the morning routine it’s all in the morning routine people would be surprised i don’t know people are surprised of the fact that i i share openly that you know i i can be anxious you

2:08:01 Know yeah so just looking at my life a lot of people a lot of people think my life is perfect it’s so not like we were discussing earlier guys i go through a lot of resistance and i go through a lot of a lot of inner work i’m constantly working on myself to the point where i need to learn to let go sometimes it’s just like chillax so what people might not know is the fact that there’s constant work inner work going on i’m reading and i’m i’m learning and i’m observing and i’m working on being better all the time good that’s good for everyone to hear me too and what i like about what both you and alex do is that you’re open about that and you both have videos where you talk about this stuff and you know it’s you know you don’t have to do that you know there’s you could easily not put those videos in so it’s nice i think it’s important to share because see what happens brian is people start idolizing and i never want to be idolized because i don’t want to put myself in that category i am not perfect i’m a real human being i have my own struggles and sufferings and i’m that’s why i say like i’m working on myself every day and you should be too if you think i’m great at something then it’s because i’m working i’m letting you know so you can work at it too and you can be great at it too so that’s kind of where i’m going with it because people will give me compliments oh but you look so beautiful every day yeah because i’m working at it because i put makeup on because i do my hair

2:09:26 Because i take care of my body i work out it doesn’t just happen you don’t just snap your fingers and you you look this way you you you have to put some kind of effort so it’s the effort part there’s a lot of effort that goes internally and externally to present the image you want to present to the world what a great message all right this has been a special episode for me you know i’m lucky that i know you both and you guys had us over for dinner then i really and it’s just um it was funny because you’re like what is this interview all about and i’m just like i just want them to get to know you the way i know you you know you’re um this warm energy about you is it’s i don’t even think we’re doing a good catch a good way of capturing it because there’s a lot more and you’re thinking about a lot of these really big picture things and it was like little comments you made at dinner about like just way that you want to see the world and you believe that everyone needs to have like this vision and i think you think that everyone out there can they can be better versions of themselves if they just kind of step up their own game i know that’s something we discussed i think with you even now being in a position where we hire people i go through so many applications like hundreds and maybe i like one or two people and to me that is so sad brian because it’s not like people are not good i think people are brilliant but most

2:10:43 People play the role of mediocre and there’s nothing that pisses me off more than that people dim their own light it’s not that people are not talented but they just choose to be regular and it just doesn’t cut it and that’s why it upsets me when people complain there’s no jobs there’s no opportunities you know we’re hiring and we’ve been hiring for like the last year we’re looking let’s say for a general manager for luxe here and we’re still looking because we’re looking for that special person and there’s lots of people applying but it’s so cookie cutter and it takes a special person to do something special and it’s just a message for people watching this or listening to this there’s tons of opportunities but you have to be a hustler you have to be a lynchpin if you haven’t read the book lynchpin by sev gordon you have to read it you have to be into what you’re doing you have to do a you know go beyond what other people are doing everyone just sends the resume and the standard to whom it may concern go beyond research the company tell them what you can do for them and and then you’ll get the great opportunities you’ll move up and yeah i mean that’s that’s something i’m very passionate about because now being on the other side where i’m lucky enough to employ people i realize how little people believe in themselves and that really saddens me why is that i think it’s it’s got to do with the way we’re

2:12:13 Conditioned through media and yeah it’s it’s a conditioning and staying within the pack or doing this is yeah don’t stand out don’t stand out okay yes be like everyone else but in the world that we’re living in now you have to stand out if you want to get anywhere and it’s the same thing how we’re saying when i move to canada yeah i would dress up yeah you have i think maybe that’s why i have that need where i always feel like i need to stand out because it’s like a survival instinct if i don’t stand out i’m gonna blend in and i want to live my life to the fullest so i ain’t blending in and i think it’s important for people to realize that they have the power to live an extraordinary life and to bring that out of themselves nobody else can do it for you you have to do it so yeah i’m getting all emotional here because it’s truly deeply something that i see now like it’s it’s wrong that i’m going through 100 applications and i only like two people i should have a hard time choosing who to employ or who to have to have as an intern yeah i’ve been something i’ve been thinking about for the last six months i mean we’ve been changing our game right here and so a lot of people are like brian used to talk about ayahuasca and used to be more about peace and love and i’m just like look right now i think it’s important you know to to be the best you and like i want everyone around me to be the best you i want i want gabby at 11 i want her to be the best her and marion to be the best here

2:13:35 I want you because if you bring your best person to the table then like you want to be around that person blah blah but you can also choose just not to be and when you do that like you lose and everyone around you loses and so i’m just like a little tired of people taking this you know you’re pushing too hard kind of thing because i think people have a lot of potential and you kind of owe it if you really love the people around you or you love yourself absolutely it’s like you owe it to step up a little bit yeah and you owe it to be transparent with them if you see your friend or your family member is not being the best they can be if you’re a good friend you have to tell it to them it’s going to be a hard pill to swallow but if you’re not being honest you’re not a good friend so maybe you’ll be honest and they’ll get pissed but in the long run they’ll come back and say thank you there you go accountability i love it i love it there we go um thanks for bringing that up at the end i really appreciate it um you know i’ve been on this crazy journey uh mine continues um we always say i’m London Real it’s about the journey um i don’t know where i’m going i don’t know where you’re going but um thanks so much for for the time here it was a pleasure seriously i really appreciate it like i said i mean um they’re really great at getting people to open up and connect and share their deepest inner thoughts i hope so thanks for being you thanks for going