Thinking Differently in Business

Today’s Serial Entrepreneur Secrets Revealed episode is a special feature from The Complete Entrepreneur, hosted by Michael Gilmour every Thursday at 5 p. m. Eastern on Clubhouse. This special crossover session brings together the insights and energy of both podcasts, offering a unique perspective on the entrepreneurial journey.

Get ready for an inspiring blend of stories and strategies to enhance your own path to success. You’re listening to The Complete Entrepreneur. Yes, you’re catching this on Start, Scale, Exit, Repeat, Serial Entrepreneur Secrets Revealed podcast because we do this every Friday at two o’clock Eastern. But this week, we are actually not going to be running a show. And we decided to introduce you to, uh, the complete entrepreneur.

It’s a little bit of a different take on the formula of what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. See, you actually have to be thinking about yourself. You are an individual. You are someone who has to figure out how to live through that roller coaster. And this show is dedicated to that. It’s not dedicated to the formula of what it takes to market or be the best SEO.

It’s dedicated to what do you do to figure out how to be the best SEO. What you can do, how to get over those challenges. Emotion. Emotion. Often. , startup is a roller coaster. It’s not easy. This is what we do. We start scale, exit, repeat, and today’s show, we normally have Michael Gilmour with us, but we do not have Michael today because we have.

Uh, he’s traveling, but we do have Michelle Van Tilburg who’s going to join us. And it’s a show that’s going to be very interesting because we’re going to be talking about neurodiversity and the importance of the different personality types when it comes to entrepreneurship and your secret weapon. Your neurodiversity is your secret weapon.

And you are different, but that’s good. That’s very good. Because if you’re the same old same as everybody else. Then you’re not different. And then you’re not, this is what gives you the advantage. So today we’re not going to talk about, um, the negative sides of entrepreneurship, of the mental challenges, the mental health challenges.

What we’re going to talk about today is about what makes us unique and different, our personality types and how we can use those personalities to help accelerate our business. Michelle, are you in the room now? I’m having some technical problems with the app right now. I am here and I am very anxious to hear.

I think anxious is one of those key characteristics that a lot of us neuro diverse people have, but I’m very interested to hear on what that means, how we cope with it. But more importantly, Colin, how do we harness it for the greater being? All right. So that, that was funny. So there was a little bit of a.

Anxiety building up there because when I was speaking, the only person I saw was myself. There was you were not here. The audience was not here. I was alone. And so I began to fear, um, that, oh, people don’t really care about neurodiversity. They don’t really care about the fact that. Uh, this is our superpower that 49 percent of people who are entrepreneurs have some form of of mental challenge.

Now, I want to, I want to be clear. Today’s show is not about the negative side of those mental challenges because we talk a lot about that in the book. Start, scale, exit, repeat. And we talk a lot about, you know, the challenges that entrepreneurs have to facing that roller coaster, the up and down. And I had a personal friend who committed suicide a month ago.

So this is really near and dear to me, but today that’s not what the show is about. We’re not going to go there. What we’re going to talk about today is really all about neuro diversity, about the talents that you have as an entrepreneur. Whether it’s ADHD, and I’m going everything from memory right now because I do not have, um, the right, uh, data in front of me right now.

So everything’s coming from memory, from the book, Start, Scale, Exit, Repeat. Uh, but 31 percent of people, sorry, let’s start with 49 percent of people who are entrepreneurs have mental, um, diversity. We’ll call that, we’re just going to call it diversity. I’m not going to call it mental challenges. I’m not going to call it something else.

Let’s call it mental diversity for now. 31 percent have ADHD, 11 percent have bipolar disorder, uh, and there are some other stats in there as well around, um, OCD and other challenges. And it’s interesting because a few weeks ago we read an article, Michelle, about Elon Musk in the Wall Street Journal. And in that article in the Wall Street Journal, it talked about how Elon Musk, I mean, this is, this guy was.

At one time the richest person in the world and probably is still Number two, I think I think bernard arnault may have just overtaken him as the tesla stock has slid a bit But but let’s look to be clear. He’s one of the richest people in the world And he is openly admitted to a few things. He is openly admitted to, um, to Asperger’s, he’s openly admitted to depression, and he’s openly admitted to, um, uh, another condition.

I can’t, I just can’t remember. I’m doing everything by memory right now. I’m flying blind, but that being said, he’s has a number of he’s neurodiverse. I mean, let’s be clear when you see him speak. He is neurodiverse. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, I actually read Elon’s book recently because that’s a really good example.

Right? This guy is. Come on, he’s calling himself the charts. Brilliant. Obviously successful. The neuro diverse about him is a bit on the autism spectrum. You know, that was the one I was looking for autism. That was the third one. Yeah. Like, because what he said, you know, just going from his book, I’m not inferring here is that it’s hard for him to empathize with people’s emotions.

Right. A lot of neuro diverse people. It’s like they’re taken as, you know, being rude or arrogant or stuck up or whatever the terminology is, because they don’t read like people’s emotion. They’re very, you know, they’re, They’re very analytical sometimes, not always, but very analytical. So, you know, people, it’s very hard for them to deal with them because they’re very, as you would say in your book, Colin, like they’re very staccato, right?

They’re very like factual, like they, they don’t deal, you know, well in emotions. They’re just, okay, this is not a fit and this needs to go. So people take them the very wrong way. And that could be a real challenge for entrepreneurs. Right. Because we’re trying to build teams and lead teams and gosh, everybody’s working so hard and giving so much and maybe not making a lot of money.

It becomes a real challenge. So I, you know, I’m just like, as I’m hearing myself talk, like it just reiterates the, the point that as a leader, as an entrepreneur, especially as a startup, which is your subject matter expert, is You know, connecting with people is absolutely critical because you have to be very You know, excuse me harsh sometimes to get things done.

I’m curious what you have to think about that. Colin. Are you harsh? Yeah, okay. So i’m i’m getting my standing here. Um, I just I don’t know if I I spelt it correctly in the chat, but if you’re in the audience and you think you’re neurodiverse we want to hear about you We want to hear about the fact that you are adhd.

You are bipolar or you are You do have depression or other other things You I’m going back. I finally got the, the, the, the, the last presentation I did with, um, Dan Greck, uh, on the, the, called the rollercoaster of entrepreneurship. And this was with a Miami group. And, uh, this is in the book. It was a, uh, Stark scale, exit, repeat.

Entrepreneurs, uh, have a 30 percent of entrepreneurs have a lifetime history of depression. Now I don’t think that’s going to help you. I don’t think depression helps entrepreneurs, but let’s just, this is, these are the stats. I’m just going to run with them for a second. 29 percent have ADHD, by the way, that’s six times the population, six times the population.

Okay. So there’s gotta be something to do with ADHD and successive entrepreneurs. I know Vincent’s going to talk about this in a second. 12 percent of substance. Use conditions. I don’t think that’s going to help you and 11 percent have bipolar diagnosis. And and that’s by the way, by the way, do you want to hear that?

This Michelle 12 times. Oh, my God. The, the population 12 times the rate saying, and I’m curious about this because yeah, let’s not go there. I, I know, I mean, look, look, look, I, I sometimes, uh, you know, there’s someone in our midst who’s accused me of that. And I’m like, I’m not like, I’m so sure I’m not. But sometimes you’re on the spectrum.

I don’t like, I’ve been accused of being on the spectrum by Dan Greck, uh, for, for, uh, ADHD. And I’m like, no, I’m not ADHD. Every entrepreneur. I know they’re nowhere near the level of EQ that I have when it comes to communicating with other people. So I think we, there’s a little bit of spectrum. So maybe it’s not a hundred percent diagnosis, but you’re also on the spectrum.

And I will make this case. I believe it’s the, I believe that’s your superhero. I believe that neurodiversity is what makes you different. It makes you successful. It would make so many entrepreneurs successful in our society. And I’m very, if you’re in the audience, I love it. We’re getting a lot of audience feedback right now.

On the chat. Just please join us on stage, Vincent. I’m going to, I’m going to, I’m going to lean to you right now. Do you, do you think you’re neurodiverse in any way, or do you believe that that can be an asset for entrepreneurs?

Absolutely. And it also can be a hindrance. Truly. That’s all up to your decision, your belief at the end of the day, because it all depends on, like, uh, I normally say I don’t subscribe to people’s prescribed labels for me. By the way, Elon Musk actually went on SNL saying he had Asperger’s. Asperger’s is no longer, it’s because, um, I think the guy was a Nazi or something, but it’s just been put in the spectrum of autism.

ASD. Autism Spectrum Disorder. But, um, yeah, it can be used as a superpower, but so can anything. Like, every person is super as long as they let themselves be. The only hindrance is When you don’t. So

say that again, when you don’t. Yeah, when you don’t, like, I, I, I, I like where you’re going with this, Vincent. So you’re, can I interpret for you? You know, tell me if I’m wrong, okay? Like you’re saying, lean into who you are and be who you are. Like, that’s your superpower, right? If you’re a little quirky. And I think we all are, if we’re honest.

Right? Oh, yeah. Like, uh, if only everyone was honest. But, um, absolutely. Um, Be you, everyone else is taken. That’s what Oscar Wilde said. Oh, yeah. I love Oscar. Good. Yeah, but, um, To be forward. I really don’t even like the term neurodiverse, but it does encapsulate, uh, All right. very much. Let’s just give this hybrid, hybrid.

Hold on. Hold on. Let’s just give Vincent one more second and we’ll jump right down to you. Right down to you. But Vincent, we’ll give you one more second, a couple more seconds here to finish the point. It’s all good. I’d rather Chime bit. Alright. Hybrid something. What hybrid’s coming up next? God drew. Oh, we got a lot of neurodiverse people on stage here.

Hi, come on. Hold on, hold on. We got hybrid next. Hold on, hold on. Alright. A lot of neurodiverse people on stage. All right, so, so God drew, just hold on. Alright then. Thank you very much. Peace and blessings. Be the room. I think you’ve opened. a certain level of, um, a platform, so to speak, to have an honest conversation.

And that reality is by way of focusing on the set topic. The challenge we’re having is you do not have set entity by way of the gentleman who just spoke, who cannot express himself effectively. He cannot communicate. What the fuck he’s trying to push out there. All right, so let’s not go too extreme here Uh, I think I I really believe vincent is a freaking genius And he comes on the show all the time and he delivers really really good content and he does it in his own Neurodiverse way and i’m fucking okay with that hybrid.

Let’s not go too far here So why was he unable to communicate? All right, let’s support each other Yeah, yeah, we’re, we’re trying to support each other, but I’m not going to lie to you. I realize the strengths and weaknesses when it comes to humanity and the different type of human beings. So let’s not fuck about and mess around and present a narrative like we don’t know who you are.

You understand? We understand who you are. We understand your weaknesses. But what, what, what, what we’re struggling to progress in terms of modern day society is why should I deal with an entity like you or yourself, if you could not demonstrate value to me and I’m going to be very specific. The gentleman who spoke before I came on board, he could not communicate effectively.

This is the problem. Well, thank you for that. All right I actually believe he communicates very effectively. I’m sorry hybrid I had to move you to the audience. I’m, sorry Michelle let’s give vincent a chance to respond. Let’s give vincent a chance to respond No, it’s completely fine. Everyone’s gonna have their two cents to put in that’s you know, they’re individuals that we all have opinions They’re like excuses Sometimes they’re like, uh, as I said, they’re like Assholes that, we all have them and they all stink.

But, uh, at the same time, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. But, I really don’t, um, the reason why I hold back a little bit is because this is, uh, it means a lot to me to speak on this because I’m a part of the global autism awareness group, uh, house. And, uh, well, on this subject, I’m not just speaking for me, I’m speaking for many.

Like, um, because I am of the ASD, And, uh, Hi, Vincent. God, dude, just hold on. Hold on. Let’s just, Vincent, give him a chance, okay? Yeah, like, um, no worries. Uh, the thing is, is just, um, I just want everyone to know that no matter what it is, no matter what hindrance or whatever they’ve decided they have, it doesn’t have to be a hindrance.

It’s only one as long as you let it be. And if I didn’t communicate that well enough, I apologize. But at the same time, I don’t. Because I’m me. I’m going to be me. And I believe in me. And you should believe in you. Right? Don’t ever apologize, Vincent. We, we love you. We love it when you come on stage and um, you know, it’s like my son grew up a DHD diagnosed A-D-H-D-O, uh, OCD and took medication for both.

And I’m like, you know, that’s okay. You know, he had to learn. But he eventually got off the medications and It’s a talent it’s a talent for him. Um, wow, we have a really tough, uh Stage today do it out michelle. Listen, it’s a talent for my son That he’s got ADHD. It’s a talent for you, Vincent. I’m going to ask you very particular particular God drew.

You got to hold on. Okay. Like I’m going to, we’re going to put you down in the audience again. And, and I appalled like guys, I’m not going to apologize for this. Like you’re done. You’re done. You’re done. You’re done. All right, so Vincent, I want to ask you a question. Um, Shoot, how do you find that that your Autism helps you with business in life I’m not talking we’re going to try to focus on the positive of of that right look at what what how how um, Elon musk focuses on the positive.

I want to hear from you the same. Well, uh, I’ve never truly thought of how like, um, it helps me but It’s just me. Um, so how does my perspective help me in business would probably be the best case. And I’m a forever optimist because we live in a world full of pessimists that very much so are just, well, predominantly a lot of quitters.

Entrepreneurship is hard. So you’re saying is, um, you know, let’s just say because you’re not like hypersensitive to people’s emotions, that it actually makes you persevere, right? Actually I’m on the other side of that. Yeah, yeah. That’s what I’m saying. I am hypersensitive to people’s emotions. You’re like, somebody could be making the horrible face or saying things like, it’s like lost on you.

So it makes you. No. No, he’s the opposite, Michelle. He’s the opposite. We have to be beauty to the audience for sure. I’m hyper aware, like, um, oh, you’re okay. Okay. I got, I got it. I got it. Like, uh, I was gonna go into therapy. My mother got her master’s degree in therapy and begged me not to because I care too much, and she said there’s too much take home.

So I went into consumer behavior instead, which is just basically psychology of consumer, right? Yeah. All right. Consumer behavior. Got it. Thank you for, you know, explaining that. That, that helps a lot. So you’re overly sympathetic. Empathetic. Uh, overly? I don’t know. Overtly? Maybe. Um, uh. But we have to, like, we also have to state that there is no blanket term for There’s a reason why it’s called the spectrum.

Because there’s so many differences. And like, likenesses. And it’s Like it’s called a disorder, but um, that’s just because it’s different and people are afraid of different and don’t understand different But I’ve never liked disorder though. I’ve never liked, you know disorder. It’s like a disease. It’s like a condition You’re different.

It’s negative. Like yeah, I don’t think The richest person on the planet is it’s got all those things. It is the richest person on planet by accident I think that The neurodiversity, what’s in you, Vincent, is actually an asset. It’s something you need to harness. And this is the problem. Like even you came on stage, you’re like, well, I don’t look at that way.

I look at it. It’s a negative and I think that we have to begin to look at yes There are problems that are close out. We talked about we opened the show up that way, but there’s also ADHD there’s also Um other condition not conditions There’s also other differences that can give you an advantage in business And that’s what we’re trying to tap here And if you’re in the audience and you You, you understand what we’re talking about.

You are neurodiverse in your own way. We want to hear from you. Please raise your hand and share that with us. And we’re not going to attack here. This is not a show where we allow attacking. Okay. Cause this is, this is a sensitive topic. This is something we’re not going to allow anyone to come on stage and do what they did to you.

And we’re, you know, we’re trying to help each other, right. And support each other. Because in the. You know, you might call it your strength or your weakness. There’s the other side of that That causes you to be that unique individual that makes you excel right colin

colin No, absolutely. Absolutely. And I’m gonna let Hybrid wants to come back on and look i’m gonna give Maybe once he wants to come on stage Maybe he wants to come on stage and clear his his plan. I’m letting him come back to the stage hybrid Sorry, we had to do that, my friend. Um, so now it’s your stage, you know, tell us.

All right. All right. Sorry. You had to do what? Oh, that you had to go down below the stage, but tell us your thoughts on it in a very, you know, supportive, positive way, please. All right, cool. Listen, hybrid is self established individual. Hybrid does not need your particular brat and dog. Validation. You’re honest, but I’m trying to understand your perspective by way of thinking the hybrid requires your particular brand of, uh, validation.

I’m a, I’m a, I’m a bit confused because where did hybrid ever say to you that he’s looking for your view or perspective. I can tell that you are not that individual. I can tell that you are not fully clear on perspective. To be able to impose said will so are you are you perhaps confused before you engage an entity like hybrid do you want to clarify because who’s the question who are you asking the question of the question is open the question is more than likely directed to um let me let me open up the name so I can see that I can see that because I’m not confused I’m not confused but we’re talking about All right, cool.

So the question is directed at Michelle. Having said that, hybrid doesn’t necessarily fill any need to particularly specify. Put it this way, I understand what you’re about, I understand you have no pedigree, I understand you have no power, I understand you’re just here to have a conversation. To appease said egos and that’s fine.

Well, listen, listen.

Yeah, we’re listening.

No, the answer is no. The answer is no. We’re not here to appease. What we’re here to do today in this show is talk about neurodiversity To talk about how that can actually help you Be a successful entrepreneur how being difference Isn’t necessarily a negative thing and I understand that There are a lot of Mental conditions.

We talk about this a lot in the book. Start, scale, exit, repeat, okay? And we go into detail. And we talk about how 49 percent of Alzheimer’s have some form of mental condition. Disorder and we do call it mental disorder in the book now I’m beginning to think the language I use should probably have been a little different But that being said, um that being said, uh, we have uh, 31 Uh who are have depression 29 have adhd six times the average population 12 substance abuse 11 bipolar diagnosis We have entrepreneurs like Richard Branson, who have identified themselves as ADHD, Walt Disney, Bill Gates, um, Elon musk has identified himself with a number of what do we call it?

Vincent not conditions differences We have to rename this stuff, right? I know it’s like Right. So this is that’s what this topic is all about It’s like let’s start recognizing that we are different that entrepreneurs are not normal for the most part and that yes 49 of us that’s half of us Are considered to have some form of condition and and maybe that’s okay.

Maybe that’s good Well, the most successful like marketing campaign ever was think differently so that might weigh in a little bit All right. So, um, this is like an amazing conversation and hybrid, um, I think you can appreciate like we’re, we’re trying to, you know, give Vincent and everybody else on the stage some space.

We don’t want anybody to be criticized. But on that note, we have Shirley who’s joined us and I’m very interested to hear what Shirley has to say. Shirley. Oh, thank you very much for having me on. I really appreciate this topic, because I was diagnosed actually with bipolar back in 2018, and I’m an extremely ambitious, um, I have a lot of ambition to, uh, have my own business and everything and, uh, as a story alchemist and I, I want to help men to know themselves through the power of their story, not trying to self promote, but what I’m saying is that, uh, This bipolar condition that I’ve got is really, uh, challenging, um, and also extremely, extremely potent in the sense that it gives me insight, it gives me depth, it gives me, uh, information that I would have never gotten otherwise.

Uh, it’s led me to create, uh, a program. Uh, that’s like no other and, uh, I, I know for one thing that I need, I need help. So I actually have in the works a branding and business partner to help me because he’s very, very solid and, uh, he has a whole different perspective on, you know, I’m no good at The website design and logos and stuff like that just is completely beyond me.

I can create things. I can carry them out. But, uh, excuse me. I’m walking. But, you know, as far as, uh, Kind of the bells and whistles of, of delivering a program, email lists and stuff like that. They’re just completely beyond me. So I would say that a neuro divergent person needs to have a really good team around them.

That’s my observation that I’d like to contribute to this discussion. And, um, thank you. Oh, surely. I think what you’re saying is brilliant. I think what you’re saying has is very high EQ because if you know that you’ve got these. I’m gonna call him Talents for now. I’m moving up Vincent. Okay, he’s on the call, but I’m moving up.

They’re not conditions. They’re not differences. They’re talents. If you’ve got these talents, then you also have corresponding weaknesses. And what Shirley, you’re talking about here is identifying your weaknesses and saying, okay, I need to surround people around me to address those weaknesses. And I think that’s absolutely brilliant.

I think you’re dead on. And I’m just curious, uh, how do you think that your bipolar has actually helped you as an entrepreneur? Can you talk a little bit about that? But I’m not but I also think you’re very smart to be to surround yourself with People who address your weaknesses and by the way, you don’t have to be bipolar.

You don’t have to be adhd You don’t do any and this I talk about this extensively in the book You have to identify your personality profile and surround yourself with different like minded people different personality profiles So that you can create a team so you can succeed and win in a marketplace But Shirley, I’m just very curious from your perspective of how you think that your bipolar actually helps you and I’m trying to, I’m trying to pull the good stuff out of all of our eccentrics, all of our talents.

Wow, that’s a really good question. How does my bipolar help me? Well, uh, let me see now. Um, well, one thing that I find that seems to be part of the

gift of bipolar is a heightened level of sensitivity to almost like, uh, I’ll tell you what it’s like. It’s like, uh, being the spider in the middle of the spider web, you know, where the spider can sense All of the vibrations that, that come near her spiderweb, like I can feel all that, um, and, and before I got diagnosed and put on medication, I just had, you know, a lot of emotions to deal with, and I didn’t really know how to deal with them.

Uh, Now I have a structure of support, uh, and I, um, I really, really tend to my emotions. You know, I still have lots of emotions to deal with, but I, I know how to attend to them and, uh, I can, um, tune into people in a way that I think is really rare. It’s really rare to be able to tune into people in that particular way to feel what’s going on inside their energy.

I was working with somebody today and I could feel his heart was really heavy, you know, and I, I, like, I, I do work with men and men have a very, very difficult time. Some, some of them, anyway, a lot of them have a very difficult time accessing their emotions in their body and the, and the repercussions of that are really, really drastic because in the form of a heart attack, for instance, um, I feel like I, Disarm, uh, the ticking time bomb of a heart attack in a man’s heart by the work that I do.

Uh, because I, I can go right in there and say, well, what’s, uh, what’s all this emotional backlog? Let’s get rid of it. Let’s, uh, you know, let’s, you, you start to verbalize it and, and clean it out. And, okay. Does that, does that make sense? Does that answer your question? Oh my gosh. You’re like, I just keep going.

Like, you could run this show. You can be the moderator on this show like you are amazing. I love your perspective. I love where you’re coming from I love the fact you’re sharing everything. So like Authentic and deep and real You’re amazing shirley And I know we have a couple people in the audience too who have been been doing some comments It’s very been very active the comments.

We’d love to have you on stage uh, and just talk about your comments too because you know What shirley’s talking about here is very interesting and vincent i’m curious if that’s resonated with you at all Like has that really connected with you this idea? She talks about Absolutely. I think it’s fantastic

that they dirty if

I call myself.

Yeah, you’re too distant. You’re sounding it too distant. You we’re trying to get, we’re trying to like, I think so. We’re trying to like lap up every word you’re saying, but we can’t, but I, it’s hard you, I’m gonna say it this way, but go ahead, Colin is just like, you know, the flip side of everything can be a positive or negative, whatever you decide, but surely it is like, you know.

You, you know, I’m not trying to speak for you or diagnose you or anything, so please don’t take it as such, but it’s like that. You know, maybe that gene or whatever it is where you’re not like hypersensitive, what everyone’s thinking or interpreting what everyone thinks. You’re just trying to be real.

Like that is like a superpower, right? Cause you kind of like cut through the bullshit. It’s not like, Oh my God, this person doesn’t like me or is looking at me funny or whatever it is. I’m not saying you don’t feel that. I’m not saying that at all. But just like not responding to it in a way where you’re blocking that emotion.

Like that’s a superpower, Colin. And Colin, I know that you have that too. I’m just going to say that cause you’re my friend. Okay. Of course you care about people’s feelings, but you also are, you know, very true to yourself.

All right, so I don’t know. It’s not going at me now. Like, Hybrid’s going to come at me pretty fast if I start talking about me. You know, Hybrid, he’s dangerous. Like, okay, come on. No, but, but let’s be clear here. It is our neurodiversity that which gives us our strength, which is our talent, which helps us succeed.

We’ve seen this happen over and over again in history. We’ve seen it with Richard Branson. We’ve seen it with Elon Musk. We’ve seen it with Bill Gates. We’ve seen it with, um, Walt Disney. We see the Roland, Roland just joined. I’m just joking. Roland, but we see it with so many entrepreneurs in history.

They’re not normal. Okay. Let’s just be, okay. Let’s agree on one thing. And maybe you should want to throw this in the chat. You’re all in the audience. Let’s agree on one thing that entrepreneurs are not considered normal. That we’re not the same as all the other corporate drones that exist out there.

Okay. That we really are different and if you believe in that just throw it throw that in the chat just throw in the chat just like we are different and I love that because i’m telling you i’m telling you this we Do what we do and our personality drives us to do that And we have deeper meaning within ourselves that make us move make those moves make us make those risks Make us do the crazy freaking Insanity my business partner once called me he goes I’ve never met a person in my life who takes more risks than you do true Like you are unbelievable and i’m not talking about you michelle.

I’m talking about igor. But anyway Yeah, I know that you know exactly who I was talking about, right? So yeah, it’s like yeah What why do I take so much risks? You know, I talk about in the book, um, that, uh, entrepreneurship is a drug and I am, I am, I’m, I’ve, I’ve, I’ve done the good stuff and I’ve done the bad stuff.

I’ve done, you know, I’ve done well, I’ve lost a lot of money. I lost a hundred million dollars when I was 28 years old. I’m, I’m, I’m a little bit of a fucked up personality and you know, but that’s okay. I learned a lot. As long as I learn along the way. See, that’s the key. You got to learn, right. And, uh, but anyway, let’s not go down that path right now.

Let’s just go down the path that we are all neurodiverse on some level and that is our talent Right. We are who we are. Yeah, i’m gonna add something here. Colin is just um for me I’m a very analytical person, even though I am very feeling so it’s like an interesting thing because it’s like My neurodiversity that causes me to actually do things that work Take the little risk.

Otherwise, I’m just talking myself out of it. Like, I’m in my head so much. In a way, you know, it manifests itself differently, and I’m really interested to hear, you know, Shirley and Vincent and Hybrid have to say. It’s what almost, I know this sounds really weird guys, but it’s almost what they’re saying.

Brings me out of my own headspace. Is that weird, Shirley? Like, what are your thoughts? Uh, okay. So you’re saying that you’re mostly in your head. Is that what you’re saying? Yeah, I am. I get very analytical and I’m like, no, a million people have done this. You can’t do this. It won’t ever work. It’s my neurodiversity that makes me actually do something.

Take action.

You know what I’m saying? I know I moved him. Yeah, but it’s like that, like, you know, friends of mine, they’re afraid to like, just jump out and, you know, take the risk, but it’s almost my neurodiversity that makes me like get out of my own head and just be like, I don’t care. I’m just doing it. And I throw it out there.

You know what I mean? Yeah. I take a lot of risks too. Um, yeah, it’s, it’s, uh,

I think that, uh, you’re probably more on a solid wavelength than I am, Michelle. That’s why I, I said that I have to have a team around me to bounce my ideas off of, because otherwise I’d, I’d just go kabonkers, you know? I, I really need, I really need people that I can trust around me to, uh, To steer me right, you know, that’s, but it sounds like you, you have a handle on it, you know, but I would suggest to you to also, you know, get into your body, you know, because the body has a lot of wisdom and, uh, Can give you a lot of information that you might want to take into consideration.

Who knows? You could be curious about that. I think Michelle does have a handle on it, but I think you, Shirley, are doing a better job of understanding that when you have this neurodiversity, you recognize it’s a talent. And Vincent, I’m sending this to you as well. You recognize it’s a talent, but you need people around you.

And I know you brought that up about 20 minutes ago, and I’m going to repeat it now. You need people around you to help balance you. And Vincent, uh, do you have people around you to help balance your genius? Or are you a solo partner? Uh, I’m solo, but I have many mentors. Uh, so that’s where I find a little bit of equilibrium.

But I also find, uh, so when finding a team, sure, first of all, I would like you to, like, rethink this need. Because you have everything you need, but a lot of us don’t give ourselves the credit. It’s called imposter syndrome, or whatever you want to call it. But crediting ourselves, another thing, Colin, like, Please, like, like, remove that thought of you being a fucked up individual, like, no need to say that about yourself, like, just because you made mistakes in the past doesn’t make you bad.

Hold on one second, I gotta take this, but uh, please, remove that.

Yep, and you know what, I think that we are all fucked up in some ways, you know, but that’s okay. That’s okay, like, that’s okay. It’s okay to be fucked up, I believe that’s okay. And then you know what? We do that, but we gotta let that go. We gotta focus on the positive. We gotta focus on building new things and understanding how we can create, um, companies and launch businesses and, and, uh, Thank you.

And you know what but but I but I think once in a while It’s okay to recognize that we did screw up once in a while And uh, yeah, I did lose 100 million dollars when I was 28 years old and that really is painful And it will never go away and it will never go away not because I lost 100 million But because all the employees around me lost millions as well.

And that became part of the book that became part of the book. Start, scale, exit, repeat. It became the thesis of this book, start, scale, exit, repeat. It became a number one bestseller on Amazon, start, scale, exit, repeat, because a number one bestseller in 13 categories on Amazon, because it, it really did make a difference in my life.

And I think what Shirley talked about and Vincent, what you talked about, Michelle, you talked about. Is this idea that we can learn from that that the the the failures of our past The scars are the failures or our past that guide us through our new ventures So that’s the fact that we can learn from it and we can become we can become something else That we are not our past We are our future and we can choose to be that future and we can take our neurodiversity mine Whatever it is, and I know I’m definitely on on on a few scales here But we can take our neurodiversity and we can use that to our benefit And like shirley says we can take that neurodiversity And surround ourselves with people to help us succeed Because we recognize that we are different But we need other people who are different than us to help us succeed and i’m okay with that I’m, okay with that and I think that probably is the the number one thing that I learned today on this show And uh, if you’re listening as a podcast, I think this is amazing.

Like we do this every thursday at five o’clock It’s usually i’m not the moderator. Michelle’s not the moderator. It’s usually michael Gilmour We’re just subbing in for michael today, but uh, but we do the show every uh, We do the show michelle and I every friday two o’clock eastern However, we will not be doing for the next two weeks as we are on trade shows and uh missions We’ll call it and uh, we will not be doing the shows, but we do have um podcasts that uh That will be coming out but that being said here.

We are we’ve had Unbelievable songs 48 comments in the chat otis Investing in the kids, they understand how much more that we could ever imagine. You just sort of sent that out there in chat. I love it. Do you want to just come on stage and talk to us? And by the way, Roland, you’ve been in for a few minutes.

Do you want to come on stage to talk to us? This concept that we’re all neurodiverse, that neurodiversity is a talent. And that’s the show today. We’re not going to go into the dark side of mental challenges of entrepreneurs because that’s there We open that up, but we’re talking about neurodiversity and how that can actually help us as entrepreneurs So if you’re in the audience, please raise your hands and talk to us on stage If not, we will we can we can go down the chat.

We have 49 chats right now, right? We can we can we can start reading some of those and answering the questions, but we just love having the live conversation We think it’s more interesting Hybrid, do you want to throw something out here? Like, we’re going to put you back on stage because I’m hoping that you’re going to make a comeback, Hybrid.

I’m hoping that you are going to come back and understand where we’re coming from here. Hybrid? Hybrid? I think he’s gone. No, he’s here. He’s here. That’s okay. He’s done. It’s part of our, you know, DNA here, like trying to explain things. We’re trying to give people space here, my friend. Yeah, I thought that was big of us.

Like we’re trying to give them space to explain themselves. We’re not trying to define each other. Exactly. So listen, neurodiversity is part of our superpower. Hey! You want to take your neurodiversity, Shirley? 10x AI. It’s like strapping on the Iron Man suit. Holy You can take this AI, you can strap it on, you can write contracts, you can write, I mean, you can write any article you want, you can even write a Hollywood script.

And Michelle and I have been joking around about that one. We have one we’re working on right now, but it’s unbelievable how you can take your so what now what’s going to be defined in the future with AI is. The ability to use your imagination to create something where imagination in the past may not, and by the way, that might line up well with neurodiversity, Michelle, because a lot of neurodiverse people, a lot of people who have challenges.

No, yeah, I do think it does. Yeah, because a lot of people like my son and others. There’s not the best writers like, oh, by the way, I’m a horrible writer. I wrote a number one best selling book. I don’t know how I did it. And that was before AI. A lot of editors, by the way, a lot of editors at Forbes who helped me put the book together.

But the reality is, um, you don’t need to be a perfect writer to write a, a, uh, a script for Hollywood. What you need is to simply have the imagination, to have the creativity. And I actually think that that is going to be the commodity of the future. I think that the technical aspects of programming, legal, uh, writing.

Uh, architecture do I need to keep going on are going to be go to the wayside. I think that I think that ultimately that we that they’re neurodiverse. I think the neurodiverse superheroes of this world are going to are going to take it over and I think it’s going to help us do that. What do you think, Vincent?

I want your opinion on that, Vincent. You gotta come in on that one. Sorry, uh, I’m just a little busy right now, I’ll be back in just a sec. Alright, so, so, so, Shirley, Shirley, what are you thinking about that? That, that, that, that AI will help the neurodiverse population of the planet. I agree. I agree. I think that it’s an extension of our mind.

And, um, I, I, I do like AI. I ask it questions. I, I, uh, use the material. Then I, uh, weave it into what I’ve written. And kind of massage it and, uh, make it my own. But I mean, the questions that I ask of my AI, of my chat GPT, are not questions anybody else asks. You know, they, they can’t because it comes out of my experience and my brain and my knowledge and my expertise.

Uh, yeah, I, I really, uh, believe that it’s, um, like a pair of eyeglasses or, uh, you know, like, uh, A calculator? It’s all the above. A calculator, a computer, you know, it’s, it’s a tool. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s an extension of me, really. Absolutely. Uh, and the tool is only as capable as the one who harnesses it. And, uh, AI can be, like, uh, a benefit to anyone that uses it, and I hope they use it in the right way, and also don’t use, like, uh, more so rather than using the copy paste, oh, excuse me, uh, have it write for you.

How about have it write, like, how about you write something, input it, get its perspective, and take, and take that perspective, And then take that perspective to your writing, and then submit that, like um, truly, as an AI practitioner and engineer for now three years. Uh, I’ve been working with this for quite some time, and the capabilities of AI are seemingly without fathom.

Well I can’t believe the comments, we’ve had 55 comments on this show, and in the back channel, and Um, look, we got eight minutes left, and this is the last time. We’re going to close, uh, we’re going to close the, um, speakers, uh, in, in like 30 seconds. If you want to jump on stage, if you made a comment, we’d love to hear from you.

Like, that’s what we do here. We’re all neurodiverse. We’re all different. We’re all on the spectrum. We’re all figuring out how can we actually help each other out. And by the way, let’s recognize it is a talent, you know, we started by talking about condition with Vince and I were like have this conversation Oh, it’s condition.

It’s a disorder and then we went to like, oh, it’s different and i’m like and then we went to like Oh, wait a minute. It’s a talent, right? So how do It’s a talent Shirley has a talent Yeah, it’s different. Yeah, she recognizes she has to surround herself with people. That’s important. But let’s just just jump on stage if you got I’m gonna close it in 60 seconds Okay, if you want to come on stage talk about the neurodiversity, please do in the next 60 seconds.

Otherwise, we’re gonna close it What do you think, Michelle? Okay, I think it’s been an amazing conversation and people are being really honest. I know it’s a little awkward hybrid. It’s a little disjointed, but that’s part of it. I’m sorry. It’s part of it because our mind is skipping all around in a good way.

Okay, and um, I’m not ashamed of that Colin. I don’t know about you, but I’m not ashamed of that And I’m not ashamed for being neurodiverse either I will tell you that but it but I think there is a recognition because I first again I talked about the starting out in this particular show how we we named it three times and I do believe that As we go through our life we begin to recognize Who we are as individuals You When we first start out, we’re uncertain.

And as we begin to age, we begin to realize that, you know what, maybe I am a little different, but that’s okay. Because that difference is what’s helped me be successful. That difference is what’s made me different. It’s made me successful. It’s made, it’s, it’s been a part of who I am. So, sometimes we need to embrace it and, and, and, and lean into it.

And of course, I’m gonna say this, sometimes we need to check it at the door, right? Like, look, look, look, look at Larry David. Let’s, let’s go with Larry David, if you ever watch Curb Your Enthusiasm. He is definitely neurodiverse. He is off the charts neurodiverse. But in real life, I mean, that’s not his real life, by the way.

He says he’s exactly the opposite of his character on the show. But the fact of the matter is, he’s made millions of dollars on his shows, on Seinfeld, and everything he’s done. And he is a little bit off and he knows that he knows that and that’s okay Aren’t we all a little bit that aren’t we all george costanza?

Aren’t we all in that realm? All right, we got Shadow. We got Shadow coming on. Cause Shadow, I’m talking Seinfeld and Larry David and neurodiversity. And I know Shadow, you wanted to talk a little bit about neurodiversity. We got four minutes left. What are your thoughts, Shadow, on this topic? My thought is that there is no such thing as normal.

There are just people that think they’re normal. The rest of us just let them do it. We can be as diverse as we want. It’s not a disorder. It’s a strength.

Oh, I hope I didn’t miss the party because I said, no, nicely said, Jason, go for it, go for it. I hope I didn’t miss this. Cause I was diagnosed schizoaffective. After I, with schizoaffective psychosis disorder, after I finished my work term at Microsoft Canada, 1999. Oh, slow down. And I found my role career in one document.

Say that again. Slow down. Schizoaffective, sure. Schizoaffective psychosis disorder. And all it is, Colin, I was, my IQ was off the charts. I wrote my first book in grade five about becoming Prime Minister of Canada. It’s in the Good News Toronto paper, 1988. I passed the gifted test in grade seven. I was most outstanding student in grade eight.

I got the highest marks at the Barton High School in English, math, Latin, law, French, accounting, world issues, almost every subject. Graduated with seven scholarships, valedictorian. My valedictory address, you can look at the speech. Most people say it’s better than Bill Gates speech when he was an adult.

Went back to Harvard, but I didn’t drop out. I graduated with distinction from university of Toronto in 2001. But after I worked at Microsoft Canada as a co op, I planned my career in one document. I said, you know, if Bill Gates can do that. I could do better. And really, if somebody is your mentor, you should try to be better than them.

Um, just some examples. They said that Kobe Bryant said when he met Michael Jordan, who was his, his idol, really, in a way he idolized Michael Jordan, he said, I could kick your butt. That was the TG version. He said, I could kick your ASS. And then also they said, for example, Jay Z, that. Jay Cole did his album and Jay Cole said his album is better than Jay Z’s.

And Jay Z said, and this is from listening to Founders Podcast. It’s a really good podcast, the Founders Podcast. Uh, most of the founders are like high spectrum or something, right? And, um, they said that you’re supposed to think that way. When they asked Jay Z how he felt about Jay Cole saying that his album was better than Jay Z’s, Jay Z said he’s supposed to think that way.

So when I say I planned my career better than Bill Gates, he was my mentor in a sense that he worked, I worked at Microsoft. I’m supposed to think that way. If somebody says they want to be like, uh, Oprah and dominate media, they should say they want to be better than Oprah. They’re supposed to think that way.

But this is why I say I plan it better than Bill Gates, because he’s trying to give away all his money before he dies. He said, he’s going to give away before he dies. I said, that takes too long. So I finished, I started where he’s trying to end off. I started giving away everything for free. I incorporated a corporation that does everything for free in 99.

I’m pretty sure I’m the first person in the world, 25 years. Free shares incorporated is the best to make you be glad you for free. Cause it’s the only for profit corporation in the world with operations that does everything for free. If you, if you check PHREeverything. com, that’s my website. I’ve worked for free for God for 25 years.

I had to buy a domain domains. I didn’t have to buy them, but so, so we understand I invested in all the most valuable domains. They start off with P H R E E because F R E. And if you check F R E shares. com, it still hasn’t sold 25 years. Somebody has been holding onto that, right? I, I just bought P H R E houses.

com, P H R E cars. com, P H R E trips. com, P H R E academy. com is now live and built. So I have a Bezos cannot afford to buy. Three shares incorporated. It’s the best in making people happy for free. You can’t buy what’s free. The best things in life are free. The most valuable brand in the world is protected by all of the Humphreys in the world.

Jason, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. And you’ve been, uh, you’ve come on a few times and, uh, fellow Canadian really appreciate that. And, um, can, can you just say one last time? Schizoaffective psychosis disorder. It’s the mixture of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. My dad was bipolar and he was in and out of the psych ward.

He was a genius from Antigua. And it’s a mixture of between bipolar, a mixture of bipolar and schizophrenia. But I basically envisioned everything and it was overwhelming. And I went to the psych ward and I was diagnosed. Uh, I tried to explain it to my mom and she didn’t even know what a domain was. But I invested in all the domains.

And they didn’t even know what domains were. And they locked me up. They drugged me. And then I forgot. But I’m living the dream that I, I was, uh, you know, basically committed for. And, um, I’m president of Dream Livers Club Incorporated. And I’m living my dream in Antigua. Thank you for letting me share. Oh my gosh, Antigua and you’re Canadian.

So that means you’re living well. All right. So you’ve been listening to The Complete Entrepreneur and this is a special episode because it’s being streamed through Start, Scale, Exit, Repeat, Entrepreneur Secrets Revealed podcast. Uh, we do this once in a while where we take a topic and we thought this topic would be worthwhile to take it to a podcast and oh my gosh What a crazy show, Michelle.

Like, do you want to, do you want to, do you want to finish it with like, we had like, okay, it was a crazy show, but you know what, it was really cool. The community of Clubhouse, the diversity of Clubhouse was pretty cool. Colin, I’m going to say it’s a good show because people were honest and, you know, this is what it’s all about.

I like what I think Shirley said, you know, we’re all, you know, We’re all a little bit different. Call it what you want, Colin, put whatever label you want on it, but it works. Does it work for you? That’s all that matters. Exactly. And you know what? Entrepreneurs. Yeah. Welcome to the insane asylum. You’ve been listening to the show and Vincent’s.

Shirley, Shadow, Jason, really appreciate your contributions. Hybrid, maybe not so much, but we, but we kept you on stage. We kept you engaged. We listened and, uh, we kept you here. Thank you very much. If you’re listening to this, if you haven’t done so go to startup. club. Sign up to email list. We have a multiple, multiple top tier speakers coming on Startup Club.

And, uh, the only way you know that is if you go to www. startup. club and sign up to that mailing list. We’ve got thousands of people on it. We’re going to be giving a book giveaway in three weeks from now. And it’s pretty cool. It’s actually it’s the first time we’ve ever doing this and we’re doing it three weeks from now Uh with an author who’s going to come on our show on friday at two o’clock eastern On on start scale exit repeat, which is also a podcast with almost 150 episodes.

Thank you very much I love this show We delivered on neurodiversity And that was our intention. Thank you very much. We’ll see you all next week.