Take the Elevator
This podcast is purely about elevating people through individual life stories and experiences in the Elevator. In the Elevator, what's key is maybe changing your perspective; having self-actualization; embracing your purpose; and acting on it as we grow from one another. There is a whole different point of view when you look up to elevate.
Take the Elevator
315th Floor: Rhythmic Bonds and the Art of Altruistic Networking
Gen and Kory narrate some of their experiences at the NAMM Show. We discovered how the rhythm of the drums and unity can be transformative. The beating of the drums reverberated through our whole beings and we were able to let go of past bitterness and feel included in the present. Our episode tells a story of communal beats and the magic that happens when strangers unite in harmony.
Do you imagine a transactional exchange or a heartfelt connection when you think of networking? Our retreat took an unexpected turn with the profound wisdom of speaker Mike Dias. He shifted our perspective from career-focused networking to the art of giving. As we share our journey, you'll hear how embracing this philosophy changes how we interact with our colleagues and approach our personal lives.
As we continue to uplift each other, we celebrate the mutual growth that has become the cornerstone of our connection. It's not just about the music, but the shared journey towards inspiration and support that extends beyond the airwaves. So let's keep the beat going together.
Look up, and let's elevate!
Hey, it's Jen the Builder and Corey, and we are on the elevator for our new schedule. Corey, once a week. How's this working for you?
Speaker 2:So far, so good. You know it's different recording on a day that we don't normally record Right, so that's taking some getting used to, but it feels like this is what we need to be doing right now and I'm happy.
Speaker 1:Me too. Yeah, it was an easy adjustment and I'm excited about what we're going to talk about today because we are sharing elevation we experienced on our four day weekend.
Speaker 2:Yes, and not only was it a weekend, it was a time of learning, development, growth and just a whole new mindset, and that's what this thing called life is a really about Just having a different or a new mindset when you come back from an extremely helpful learning experience.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and because of the experience. You know I love when things exceed expectations, right? Yeah, great time to learn, like you said, to plug in to current standards and what everyone's doing and we're going to talk about where we're at in a little bit. But it exceeded my expectations because I felt like there was bonding with you and I. We were connecting with other people. Definitely it felt like almost like a retreat. I came back just feeling so refreshed, rejuvenated, re pumped you know if there's such a thing where you just excited about the thing and it wasn't ever dull, but I think because my eyes were open to so much more, yeah, and I learned so much there. I was like ready to go, I was like what's next? And then, before we knew it, the fourth day had come and gone.
Speaker 2:Come and gone.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And and listeners, I have a real time, true confession. I want to be completely and totally transparent. Jen has no idea I'm about to say this and so I'm going to say this because I feel like I want to share this with you guys and I want to have this moment to come clean and be honest about something that took place while we were on the retreat. So we were able to take part in what they call a drumming circle and that was my first experience ever being a part of a drumming circle and I was a little bitter going into that. Here's my confession.
Speaker 2:There was an opportunity to be a part of a drumming circle once before and I was excluded from that and I really wanted to be a part of that. When it was offered to us at that point in time, and when I even inquired about it, it was really kind of like said no, no, no, it's not going to be offered to you, and I felt very I think the word is slighted I felt very angry about that. When I say angry, my anger doesn't mean I want to be, it's more of a hurt feeling. You know, deep to the core, like you know, I really wanted to be a part of something that I thought I was going to get that opportunity to do.
Speaker 2:So when we were there, my joy wasn't where it should have been in the very beginning, and it took me some time to adjust to getting out of that frame of mind of the past and moving into the present mind of you're here now and it's being offered to you. So I was actually looking for anything that would set me off and so, yeah, this is a true confession. And then it turned into something so amazing and so beautiful that I could have never expected, you know before. It was just mind blowing to be a part of that. I think it had to have been at least 500 people out there. All of them had a drum, all of them had a percussion, all of them had something to make some type of sound with. That was not a voice or your hands, and although we did use our voices, I felt like this is something that I would have truly regretted missing out on if I had to allow that bitterness to take over.
Speaker 1:I get it, because when we sat, you know, I was like, ooh, something's a little off and I was trying to guess at it, and what I did then was we're here and I'm going to enjoy this moment, and I hope he finds it within himself to do the same.
Speaker 2:Well, to your credit, you made sure that I enjoyed myself. I'm just going to be really honest about that too, because Jen made sure I got a drum, jen made sure that we had fun, and when I say she made sure, she accommodated every step of the way to issue in the fun and the laughter and the smiling. She cracked jokes, she sang songs while we were drumming and hitting silly songs that she knew would make me laugh and chuckle. And then there was another guy that sat in front of us that was playing this instrument called a didgeridoo.
Speaker 1:It's an awesome instrument For my.
Speaker 2:Australian, yeah, and he joined in the conversation. And then we met a guy named Tom who was just hilarious and cracking jokes about his personality, and so I just realized like I'm really trying to be bitter and upset right now and it's not working.
Speaker 1:I'm something that happened so long yeah.
Speaker 2:Years and years ago, and so, yes, I'm smiling right now. That past, that moment passed and I kind of washed it off of me and I said you know what I'm forgiving and I'm moving on.
Speaker 1:And I appreciate that and I don't know if you all have ever been a part of a drumming circle, seen it, even know about it. But it is Amazing because what happens is, like Corey said, there are about 500 people there and Everyone's sitting. You don't really know anyone no one what brings you together is the fact that you've signed up for this and you want a drum, yeah, and so it's so cool to find the rhythm together. For 500 people who have not rehearsed this practice, it's really just listening to one another.
Speaker 1:And then there's this guy who leads it right, kind of gives direction on slowing the beat down, or Bringing the volume up and down imitating His pattern, you know, and having one side of the circle do it and one side not Minds you to breathe, and so the whole experience, corey. We drummed for over an hour and a half.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Consistently. There's definitely one of the highlights of the weekend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then just to give you guys a little bit more of an understanding, by the time it was over. I'm smiling, I'm laughing. I had traded drums multiple times, yeah, I was like, oh, I want to try this one, oh, I want to try that one. Yeah, and the host was still accommodating to Everyone there, not just to me. Just, you know, you kind of could do whatever you want, as long as you just kept drumming and having a good time.
Speaker 1:and yeah, that's what we did and and then you try to take my one away and it was the one. Nope, I'm bonded with this one. This is the one. But it was great like people just looking at each other, smiling and Talking and having a wonderful time connecting.
Speaker 2:That was quite the thing so in the last part about it and I really want to share this you couldn't mess up. Right, there's nothing you can do to mess up. You can't drum too hard, you can't drum too soft, you can't have Too little hands or too big of a hand, you can't be too tall or too short or too Than or too big. You just couldn't mess up.
Speaker 1:Awesome, yeah, totally, and I forgot what I was gonna say. Sorry, oh no, it's okay, it's okay it was. It was just a Grand experience. I wish we could do it again. We will do it again.
Speaker 2:We will. So, moving on and I'm so sorry I lingered on that, but I needed to get that out. I needed to have that confession moment and I wanted to share it with you and and the listeners, and I hope you guys don't mind me being so human at this moment, but I needed to do that, mm-hmm. What we're going to get into is the networking mindset, because, man, did they drop it on us, jen? Oh?
Speaker 1:my drop it like it was hot.
Speaker 2:It just hits you like never before.
Speaker 2:Yeah it just changes everything you think about. And when you think about networking and Building something and and trying to accomplish anything that you're trying to do in your life, you know, we know a lot of people that are in business. We also know a lot of people that have arts and crafts and things like that that they want to make, create, get involved in. And if you don't have a networking mindset at some point in time when you're doing this stuff, it's very detrimental to how far you go and how far you push, how much you're willing to push, Because we all hit walls when we're trying to do these type of things.
Speaker 2:It feels overwhelming. It feels like how am I going to get all this stuff done? And it's just me and I don't know enough people. I don't know how to reach out to people and get this process rolling. And so we were in a few seminars and we just kind of well, I'm not going to take credit for this. You know, Jen took some amazing notes and I do very granular listening and I remember very well when things are hitting home, and so we have her notes and my memory to just pull from and we just wanted to share with you guys some tips and some options when in the mindset of networking.
Speaker 1:For sure, and so we're going to give credit to the speaker, who was such an amazing person, and we're now connected on LinkedIn. His name is Mike Diaz, and Diaz is spelled D, I, a, s, and so if you all have heard of in ear, I think they're in ear monitors in ear monitors?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so, instead of the box facing you, so you can hear the music and all the sounds coming at you as a performer, it's now in your ear. So very cool that he was a part of that. And, yeah, he went into networking mindset and it blew my mind this, let me, let me paint the picture. He's on this stage, pretty introvert, and he states you know, speaking really isn't like his thing, but you could tell people are his passion. And did we tell him where we went? We didn't ever smile like what is this place? We didn't. And so it was the NAMM show 2024 at the.
Speaker 1:Anaheim Convention Center and there was a story that I'm going to do real quick. Corey, it always wanted to go to the NAMM show. Yes, since he was like high school, young 20s, junior high school, junior high, wow, yeah, wow. So imagine about over 30 years of wanting to go somewhere and not going. And I had only heard of the NAMM show because of Corey and I didn't have like this burning desire to go. I would have much rather gone to motivational speaker or some kind of ladies retreat or a spa treatment for the weekend. But Corey was really excited to go and so I was like, yeah, let's do it. So we went first time there and it's just this amazing over the top expo of every music vendor, lot of nonprofit organizations, a bunch of musicians and artists, and this is from all over the world. I mean, we met people from Czech Republic, from Brazil.
Speaker 2:France.
Speaker 1:Australia, just and everyone's Everyone coming together. And actually the slogan was I think it was like where the music starts, and so just the passion for music. And you could see, I mean they did so much teaching for educators on how to bring music into your program, how to get grants for it, because music is important and you can tell enthusiasts and people who are about music don't want it to die down, and they talked about AI and how to incorporate that, but not and not to use your lose your originality as an artist, and so it was just a lot, a lot of information, good times.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I just want to also drop in there. You know we say music a lot, but it wasn't just music, it was also podcasting, it was also business, it was also networking, as we're going to talk about in a few minutes, yeah, entrepreneurship, and so it had something for everyone and here's the best part about it If you go with an open mind to learn, you're not going to walk away feeling like you didn't get something out of this. You're going to definitely walk away with the thought and the feeling that this was valuable and it's going to help me some way somehow in life. Not to mention, you got free concerts pretty much all day, and all day, everywhere.
Speaker 1:the first night when we watched take six freaking Stevie Wonder walked up on that stage and just started singing. I'm like that is Stevie Wonder, like 10 and 12 feet away from me. Yeah, and we didn't even know.
Speaker 2:He just like showed up and when she says 10 or 12 feet away, like we were front row at every single concert we went to, yeah and just yeah, all right, okay.
Speaker 1:So here's Mike Diaz on the stage. Because of what I do for a living, I tend to go in my mind about feedback, about the use of stage presentation skills. I said Jen, knock that off. You know like, listen to him. He's here to share from his heart and so he shared about the networking mindset and I'm going to say this is one of our favorite speakers of the 40 weekend.
Speaker 1:So, corey, he said so much, so much, and he started off with doing the right thing consistently is important. When you're networking and and I don't want to take this from you and I'm going to have you elaborate but when he says, when it becomes about giving more than it does taking, that's when you're hitting the sweet spot and networking, yeah, and that's when it happens. Yeah, right.
Speaker 2:And literally tears began to flow.
Speaker 2:And I want to explain that because for so long in my career and in my life my music career, my acting career, entertainment career I've been every corner. I'm turning, I'm looking for what I can get, I'm looking how I can, you know, walk away with something, and it just seems so useless and futile to do that because you could never find anything, you can never seem to accomplish anything, and it's almost like people recognize that you're here for something You're you're trying to get, and when you change that mindset and it turns from getting to giving, you say well, how do you do that? It's so simple, so simple. You know, we as artists are constantly creating either music, books, content, and we're looking to make a profit off of it. But the moment that we look to try to give this content out, the moment we try to share it with someone on a level of I'm not trying to receive anything from this, I just want to share this with you is the moment and I mean instantaneously it goes from you trying to give to someone trying to give back to you.
Speaker 2:Before you even get an opportunity to give your, you're forming the sentence Like I just want to give. No, that's not what we're here, for we're here to help you, so we're going to do it like this, and it's mind blowing because the attempts are genuine, they're from your heart, and that's that mindset of giving without expecting to receive, and then the blessing literally comes back to you before you're even able to give it. And so, yeah, I had a very emotional. So it was an emotional weekend for me on multiple levels. We also performed there and I'll get into that in a little bit, but it was just, yeah, a really good time for me, very cleansing time for me.
Speaker 1:Totally, and for me it was moments of validation, and it was so. How it touched me was you know, you live a certain way, you do things a certain way, but you never put words behind it because it's just who you are. And so to hear him give it sentences in language, it's like that's what that is.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, and so I love your story and just the realness in it, corey, because, yeah, before you weren't so much of a giver, right, and I remember you'd ask me, like why do you keep doing this and why do you open yourself to this and you're extending yourself? And I just looked at you and said, because this is who I am, this is what I love to do, and it's been such an amazing journey with you, corey, to see you grow into it and it just kind of happened, you know, and you see the change and you sort of hear that right. Another thing that I loved about what he said and this I agree with, is he says the single most highest impact to move in your career, to move in your business, is networking. And what really touched us is about when he said and networking has to start where you work, Like that is your first line of networking, and if you can't do it there with people you were with almost every day for a lot of the time of the day, it's not going to happen anywhere else.
Speaker 2:And let me explain that, because a lot of people think immediately like, oh, you're trying to sell stuff to people at work or you're trying to get people at work to no, no, no, no, no, no, not at all. Networking consists of getting to know someone and letting them get to know you. You are now in the in the full throes of networking when you're able to sit and talk to someone for a few minutes about Random things, but even more so, meaningful things. That's where it begins to change and move the needle, because now people feel comfortable with you, they feel at ease with sharing something with you that they're either doing or going through or having at their local YMCA or some people at their local church, or they're even at their home at some point in time. But that's what the beginnings of networking looks like, and the reason why I'm so excited about these things and I know you guys can hear this in my voice is because we scroll on Instagram and Facebook and we hear all these wonderful ideas that can grow your network and can build your following and all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:But it wasn't some gimmicky type of deal. It was real information that you could just apply immediately. Like they told. They literally told you who has a podcast, raise your hand, so people raise their hands. And who's looking to have guests on their podcast, raise your hand. People raise their hand and said okay, so the people that want to be on podcast, see the people that have podcasts, go meet each other. Just simple application. And then it worked and you're now dealing with people, you're hearing stuff in real time.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that's where the excitement came from Right and we've kind of messed up by thinking that your amount of followers and likes reflects your network, because your network actually works for you.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Thus network Net I love the word in itself. It's catching things, making dreams happen, catching people's vision, and then you come together as in a net, catch it together and make it happen. So I love the way he compared networking to hospitality. Actually, hospitality being authentic and genuine to who you are in it, you should exude it. It shouldn't just be at the time of okay, I'm about to network, let me do this Now. He said networking at home, networking in your friendships, needs to happen, and when you're networking with people, it separates the good from the great. And I was like, yes, you know, and I love the way he described. You know, we always talk about active listening, showing empathy, which is all great, and he said it in two words. It just really made sense to me.
Speaker 1:You give someone undistracted time, undistracted and not looking at your phone and not busy with things in your head about what you have to do like, okay, what do you need from me, what am I going to get from me, what are you going to get from me? That's not what it's about, right? It's minding that space that you're in together, and I love that he went old school on some words like being polite, having manners, being aware of appropriate dress for the occasion, for the person for whatever that is, um.
Speaker 1:And here's another thing, and I love how he simply put these things Add value at every touch point. And when he said that, I was like man, when you think of every touch point, from the way you look at someone, the way you smile, the way you greet them, um, your follow through, the follow through after the follow through, the way you email them, right, those are touch points, yeah, and that matter. And he says and people are always going to remember the small details in which you do things, indeed, and then I threw my own little spin on it.
Speaker 2:You know, when you have hospitality and you have being kind and being nice and you're presenting yourself, um, in a very decent manner, you become attractive. So that net that you're throwing out in network, people are not trying to get away from it, they're trying to get caught up in your network.
Speaker 1:Hmm, and so I want to get caught up in your net, right, right.
Speaker 2:I want to. I want to figure out what you're doing and how you're doing it. So I don't mind if I get caught in your net and then begin to work with you. It's it's so important for me to have those kind of relationships, more so than the people that just accidentally got caught and they're like well, I really didn't, really want to be a part of this. I want the people that want to be a part of what I'm doing, absolutely, absolutely in working with you.
Speaker 1:Are you working to solve things? Are you working to create and bring ideas? Are you working to cause more problems? Are you working to bring negativity into my life?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So what kind of net are you throwing out there? And if you're not catching and you're not growing your network, think about what you're throwing out there, right? So, speaking of throwing and casting your net, I love what he said. There's no shortage of opportunity. Do you remember that?
Speaker 2:Yes, I do.
Speaker 1:And he said what was it? It's just, it's the lock in the way we respond, or don't Opportunities there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all day, all night. And it's so strange because when I got home, I started listing the things, or let's rephrase that, I started listing the opportunities that I have and that have been presented to me in the last six months, and he's so right Like I can go down a list of about 50 things that are opportunistic for me, designed and created specifically for me, people that have been reaching out to me. I mean, I had two people reach out to me today and I was just walking around and say, hey, did you know something? This was happening and that's going on and I could do this and I was like, wait a minute, what is happening? Because the net is magnetic, it's always drawing people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm so grateful, Gory, for all the times when we've met people who are entrepreneurs, people that needed encouragement or whatever it was at the time. I'm just so glad that as a couple, we were able to move on that and agree like, okay, we're here for it. You know what I mean, with no pretenses, no agenda or anything like that, and I think this is important. So, if you're in a relationship friendship, partnership and you're doing business together, I feel this is really important because, for those who know Gory and I, not only do we work at the same employer, we have Genco, soundco where we do stuff together.
Speaker 1:I'm very much a big part of the behind the scenes and the launch of the shameless ban kind of the creative director or I don't wanna say director, just creative input is a lot of what I do for Gory's projects and I love what he says, because hospitality has to start at home. If Gory and I can't be hospitable to each other, if we can't add value to the way we work with one another and we can't behave there's a word for you Like how do you behave with people? Yeah, right. And so I have to be able to hear Gory as my partner in business and in life and go above and beyond for him, because people sense that, again, authenticity, vulnerability, if it's not happening within your home, within your business, people are gonna feel that.
Speaker 2:And I'm gonna piggyback off of that. And now, this is my final thought and I'll close with this You're absolutely right as far as working together, being able to behave and act appropriately even when there's disagreements, even when there's not a true understanding of what's going on between you and I. I'm not even talking about anyone else and I want the listeners to hear this, because this is so key for not only our relationship business-wise, but even our relationship as a marriage, as two individuals who have committed for the rest of our lives. People tell me all the time I don't know if I could work with my wife. I don't know if I could work with my spouse and for me and this is only for me I don't know if I could work without my wife.
Speaker 2:And I say that because this is the partner who I've chosen to work with for the rest of my life. If I can't work with her, who in the hell can I work with? I mean, I'm just being real about me. If this is gonna be hard for me to do at any given time, that I'm with the wrong person and I probably should just start over. But this is the person that I'm choosing to work with because I've chosen to spend my life with her and there is no amount of time that I'm gonna ever feel like this is too much. She's getting on my nerves.
Speaker 2:I don't think you've ever gotten on my nerves. We have disagreed, we have had misunderstandings, we have even had arguments, bad arguments but it wasn't because we were getting on each other's nerves, it wasn't because it was too much time together. It was something specific and we were able to go back to the root cause of that at some point in time and figure that out. But I think this partnership and network is probably our best achievement as of yet. So this is where our networking starts. But I'm pumped then. I love it.
Speaker 1:And so let me add to that. Here's my final thought. I love that how we started the marriage was with a yes, I do, and it continues to be that way. Like Cory, there's something I need from you or I need help with something. The answer is yes, and here's what I need, like, here's some information I need. Or yes, and let's make sure to do this first, right? So always finding ways to say yes to one another and really mean the yes, cause I know you know, I've taught this a few times too is the power of no and there needs to be the no. I think what works in our marriage and in our partnership is we try to find the yes, like let's say yes to this and what do we need to do? Or yes, that's a great idea, but what if we went here instead? Right? So yes, I do, and I'm gonna end with this and I promise this is it.
Speaker 1:One of the workshops we went to. This was fun, a fun plan words Instead of get your you know what together. For our young listeners, we're gonna say that word, but there's a get your reap together. They said get your art together. Get your art together, absolutely. And so that is our message of elevation today Get your art together, be hospitable to one another, cast your net with the right things, and the right people are gonna come to you. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:They're gonna touch the right people.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:By the way, the band performed at the House of Blues and blew the roof top off. And I say that with pride and happiness and confidence, because everyone that came up to us told us man, you guys were amazing, and it's good to hear that when you've heard otherwise. There were times when it was like, oh yeah, you guys are. You know, it's okay, but the evolution is taking place and, true to form, we felt good about what we did.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely, and it took just a little bit of time. And there was someone who said you know, I didn't really used to like them. I just came because, you know, my girl comes, oh, and he said I love them. He stands the whole time. He's dancing with me, you know, and he's just having, he's singing the songs. So it's great when you grow with your fans and when they become fans and they didn't start off that way, yeah, and I don't want to say fans, they're our friends.
Speaker 2:They're definitely our friends, just so, so they're friends.
Speaker 1:So thank you for the support. Nam show 2024 was great Good on so many levels. Thank you for your continued support. We love you, we care about you and we want nothing but to elevate you, because you know us to take the elevator. We say look up and let's elevate. Yeah, every day, elevate, hey, every day, elevate, hey, every day Elevate.
