Blake Chapman (00:00:01) - Welcome to the G.E.M. Series powered by RocketLevel. On this podcast, we empower entrepreneurs to succeed by setting big goals, executing like a pro, and having a fearless mindset. The G.E.M. Series is all about investing in yourself. We're here to share the path to getting what you want out of life, by sharing the stories of entrepreneurs who have done this themselves, providing thorough research from our team on what careers and habits are yielding the best results, and discussing the mindset it takes to overcome the obstacles that all future entrepreneurs will face. Investing in yourself starts with putting in the work every single day, and this podcast is here to help you do exactly that. My name is Blake Chapman. I'm the vice president of the ambassador program here at RocketLevel, and I am thrilled to be your host for the G.E.M. Series. Hey, everybody, welcome to today's episode of the Chapman, and I am so pumped to have Vikram Deol on the show. Vikram, how are you doing, man?

Vikram Deol (00:00:57) - I'm great, man, I appreciate you, uh, appreciate you letting me share a couple minutes of, uh, of my life with your people.

Vikram Deol (00:01:04) - Like chatting with you. You're in a you're in a green room, but chatting in the green room earlier, you literally have. If you guys are watching this on, like, YouTube or something, like, literally got a green background, so it's hilarious. Um, yeah, man. Like I'm pumped. You're doing some cool stuff. And, um, I think it's important that we keep spreading the positivity of the world and like, just what's what entrepreneurship is really like. So I'm really excited to to be here and share some stuff and hopefully, uh, your, your listeners get 1 or 2 nuggets of knowledge.

Blake Chapman (00:01:39) - Absolutely. I already know maybe what.

Vikram Deol (00:01:41) - Not to do. Maybe maybe they get nothing more of what not to do in life.

Blake Chapman (00:01:45) - Hey, that's man, that's equally valuable. But no, I already know. Um, it's funny. I don't know if the listeners realize, but usually I'll have kind of like a 15 minute conversation or so before hopping on this. And, you know, Vikram and I are already, uh, like, so synced up and, uh, and I'm.

Blake Chapman (00:02:03) - And I'm just pumped up to get into this man. So, you know, a little way that I started off is like the typical kind of flow. Why are you doing all these podcasts? Uh, what's your mission right now, man? And, uh, if you wouldn't mind just sharing a little bit about yourself, that'll be awesome.

Vikram Deol (00:02:17) - I mean, so one is, I think we all have a story to tell. A lot of people think their story is boring. They think their life is, um, boring. They think. Their their story doesn't matter. And we all have a story, right? Oh, I didn't grow up poor, I didn't I wasn't like Tony Robbins. That was poor. And, you know, I didn't have a tough life like. None of that matters, right? Like we all have something we've done, and learning how to pull out a camera and share that with people is how connection is going to continue to happen in the digital world that we live in, because we're getting more and more digital.

Vikram Deol (00:02:55) - And 20 years ago, man, I remember when I opened up my last business, it's called Osteo Strong. Um, and I opened that in 2019 with my dad. It was a brick and mortar. Um, it's a physical modality to, like, help increase bone density. Um, so it's a really cool technology, but it's it's a blue ocean, right? There's not a lot of people that knew about it. And in the hustling metropolitan city of Bakersfield, California, where it's still very old school medicine and the wellness community, it's not like LA or Seattle or, you know, one of these bigger, you know, Miami, where wellness is like something that people actually do not talk about. Yeah, I remember the news was like, yo, can we come and do an interview of your business? And I'm like, abso absolutely right. Because you're you're reaching out and I'm like, how much is it going to cost? Like the first thing out of my mouth is like, is there a cost where.

Vikram Deol (00:03:52) - No, no, no, you just have to be willing to get up at 4:00 in the morning and open your business so we can do a live shot at 445. Right. We'll be live at five. We'll be live at six. I'm like, so you're going to give me free airtime to your audience, which is my exact audience. And all I have to do is get up early in the morning. They're like, yes. I'm like, where's the catch though? Like, you would be shocked at how many people don't take it. And I was like, are you kidding me? Like, we are on Instagram. We are on Facebook. We're promoting all of the things that we do all day long. Trying to capture a small audience that you have. But that's the thing, man. Like we are like, in order for us to have impact, I think everybody at the end of the day, when they get older, right, they're not like, oh my God, I really, really wish I didn't make that extra 10,000 calls.

Vikram Deol (00:04:48) - I really hated the fact that I made all that content. Right. I'm glad I did that because. When they die, like they're leaving a piece of their legacy with somebody, whether it's Tony Robbins or a billion people, or it's just your kids, right? Your kids will know something about you when you die, or they won't right your grandkids like they. This is our opportunity for us. So I love to promote myself, right. Like, just selfishly, like I love to promote myself. Yeah. Um, but I also, yeah, I mean, like, we all should be promoting ourselves, right, bro? And then and then second, I think it's, um, I think we, we resonate with a certain tribe, you know, somebody who's like, oh, well, I didn't grow up poor, but my parents, I wish they would have done this, this and this and this, right. I don't feel like my pain is as big as the person who grew up living in the streets.

Vikram Deol (00:05:48) - They're going to be able to resonate with me. And I'm going to be able to resonate with them in a different way than maybe somebody who grew up in a different lifestyle. And then once they realize like, oh, wow, like people like him, people like me, I should go out and do more stuff. It's, you know, I think it's an inspiration as well.

Blake Chapman (00:06:07) - I totally agree, you know, I almost think of it as, uh, when I think of people that I have the potential to reach or anybody has the potential to reach, I almost contextualize it as time traveling. I'm like, there's a version of me that's five years ago that could hear this, and it would help them save one or 2 or 3 years of time. And then there's a version of me that's ten years down the road. I might say, man, that guy reminds me of myself when I was younger. Like that. That pumps me up. You know, it's I think it's so cool to think of, uh, I don't know, to think of it that that always that mindset has helped me a lot.

Blake Chapman (00:06:43) - And man, I love I love that you took the opportunity to actually go on on TV where you like, nervous or had you already done a ton of speaking at that point or how did you feel?

Vikram Deol (00:06:54) - Um. No man. I, you know, for being on TV. I just try not to swear like I, I'm not of the I'm not of the generation where swear words are as big of a deal. I think, you know, there's. I think if you teach a kid how to utilize language and to not be so sensitive, like it's not a big deal. Now, there are certain people that I don't swear with, right? There's just certain situations you don't use colorful language with right. Or different types of language, but that's just, um, that's just different. But no, I mean, like, honestly, you're doing what, you know what to do, right? So the guy came in, he did his thing. You know. Yes. He was there was an.

Vikram Deol (00:07:41) - You know. Yes. You have a microphone on but you're in your element. You're in your zone. You're doing things that you've been trained on. Right. So it's not like there should be no reason to be nervous. Because you're doing things that you're. You should know what to do, right? Like if you're a real estate agent, right? Because that's that's the world I work in right now. I train real estate agents on on communication and sales. You shouldn't have a problem having a one on one conversation with somebody about, let's say, a buyer process, right? You shouldn't have a problem about the listing process. Well, if you have a camera that you're talking to, it's just put a picture of somebody on the back of your camera, like put a picture of your mom in, like a mom talking to you, like, cool. What's up? It's no big deal. And if you're if you're not comfortable having these conversations, right. Like, if, if one of if you weren't comfortable talking about your agency, if you weren't comfortable talking about what you do, well then, yes, getting on camera, you're going to be uncomfortable.

Vikram Deol (00:08:44) - So you need to then first become a master. But the other thing is, is when you start teaching people. Like you said, there's somebody behind you. Always right? There's always somebody behind you. And that's like, don't talk to the person that's 20 steps ahead of you. Talk to the person that's ten steps behind you that would love, like you said, like would love to be at where you're at right now. So talk to that person. And then as you grow, you're going to talk to a person who's still ten steps behind you, but they're going to be three steps forward. So it might not be a brand new person in the industry. It might be somebody who's, you know, three years in now that's having a little bit of success. Or they might not be a brand new buyer. It might be somebody that's selling their their first starter home. And now they're buying. They're kind of like long term family house, like the dream house where the kids are going to go through high school and college.

Vikram Deol (00:09:42) - And it's her 10 or 14 year health. Right. But and they're maybe they're like selling and buying and you're cool. You're comfortable with that client.

Blake Chapman (00:09:50) - Yes absolutely. And you know and I think that's such a good way to a good way to think about it because I, you know, just like you, I've, I've trained so many people on sales and, you know, how to approach these conversations. And, you know, there's some people that are just like gung ho and they're just like, they got it in them. They're not worried about it at all. But then I've seen a lot of people that have become amazing sellers. Once they sort of vanquished all that extra bull that makes this all about you. It's like, dude, you're not you're not just making this like, you're not making these calls because you're trying to say, oh, please, won't you help me? It's like, no, you're trying to help them out, dude. Like you're trying to have some conviction in what you're doing.

Blake Chapman (00:10:30) - And and I'm sure that'll that'll take you a long way, man. On our conversation earlier before this, you know, we were talking about, uh, you know, travel and and meeting different people and you, you know, every time I talked about somebody and I noticed in your, in your podcast who you're like, man, we should link up. Let's jam. Right. And I love that energy. So has that been something that you've always had in your life? You're like, I want to meet new people and learn. And where did where did you get that sense? Because I think that's a key ingredient in being an entrepreneur. I really do, you know.

Vikram Deol (00:11:03) - Yeah, that's a good question. Um, yeah. I've always I never liked school because I think school is stupid. Right? Like you're going to tell me how to be rich, but you've never had a job outside of, you know, you worked a couple of years in college, but you've never actually had a job for a lot of teachers outside of your teaching profession.

Vikram Deol (00:11:27) - So, like, I always knew, I didn't know entrepreneurial, but I always knew I wanted to be my own boss. Right. My dad was a doctor. My dad is a doctor. Um, he has his own practice. And I would run around his office firing his staff. When I was a kid. If they try to give me a shot or they didn't let me have, like a coloring book or something, right? They're like, I'm like, I want to talk to my daddy. And they're like, your daddy's with the patient. I'm like, I don't care, I'm the boss, right? So like, I always had that in my head, like, I wasn't, I was, I was bratty. I don't think I was a bad kid. I was just kind of bratty. Right? But I always had that in my mind that like, I wanted to be a boss, not an employee. My grandparents were farmers. I spent a lot of time on the farm with them growing up.

Vikram Deol (00:12:11) - I saw the flexibility and freedom that it that having entrepreneurship, that that being the owner right now that goes double edged sword if times are tough, you know, like my grandpa at 4:00 in the morning when the levee broke, we were, you know, they had a small three bedroom house and. We kids would, you know, six or 7 or 8 of us grandkids. We would all camp out like a couple of the younger ants. We'd all camp out in the living room. And so if something happened, you know, old wood floors creaking. And grandpa wasn't a small dude. He was a large man. Um, so the wood floors are creaking. It's three, 4:00 in the morning, I wake up, I'm like, okay, it's not the bathroom. He's actually coming to the kitchen. I'm like, what's up, Gramps? He's like, oh, go back to sleep. I'm like, okay, where are you going though? Like you're wearing clothes. Like you're not like in house clothes.

Vikram Deol (00:13:05) - You're in farm clothes. Where are you going? He's like, oh, the levee broke. I'm like, you mean the thing that holds the water into the trees? He's like. He's like, yeah. I was like, okay, so why don't you have the workers go, well, it's going to take the workers 45 minutes to an hour. You know, they're they're slow to get up. They're not trying to go out there. So I'm going to go and do what I can do. I was like, how do you fix it? Right? I was like, I'll go with you. He's like, all right, whatever. Like throw on some clothes, hurry up. We got to go like there's thousands of gallons of water flooding the roads, right? Like that's how they get the call. The city, you know, sheriff or somebody says, hey, your levee broke. Let's go fix this. And so I went out with him. So, like, entrepreneurs have freedom, but you also own all the problems.

Vikram Deol (00:13:48) - So I went with him at 4:00 in the morning and yeah, ten, 12 years old grabbed a shovel and I'm probably doing minimal work. But, you know, I got my first calluses on my hands that summer and, and, you know, like, I've always been a fan of learning things that will progress me further. I couldn't tell you where I'm at in the world. Like I'm in the Dominican Republic right now. I couldn't tell you where that was at on the map until I came here. Right. Like I didn't know where I was geographically. We were in Argentina last year in December, and we meet these. We meet these cool girls from San Diego, um, during the World Cup. And so, you know, we're chatting it up with them. They speak English. My buddy and I don't speak Spanish. So we're finally excited to, like, talk to people and, you know, like, other than each other. And, um, she's like, oh, what have you guys done since you've been here? I'm like, I don't even know where I'm at on the map in the world right now.

Vikram Deol (00:14:43) - And she starts laughing. She's like, yeah, you're an American. And I was like, I'm totally an American. And she says, well, we were in Patagonia. I was like, oh, cool. Like, Where's Patagonia? She's like, you are you are you really that stupid? And I'm like, I literally like, we just flew around. We don't know exactly where we're at on the map. And she told us about Patagonia. So I ended up in Patagonia. But like, I've always been a person that was curious about life and adventure, right? I don't believe that we should have borders, um, in the sense of our mind is like our limiting. Like we should have borders and safety. Don't get me wrong on that. Sure, uh, we shouldn't let people in, you know, everybody should follow a due process, in my opinion. Different topic, but we should have no borders in our mind. Like we should feel that we should see the world, travel the world, experience the things like you were in Brazil.

Vikram Deol (00:15:37) - That'll probably be a destination for us next year and in the summer time for like 3 or 4 weeks, maybe, maybe a little bit longer. Um. But I love to learn things that progress me forward as a human. Not not necessarily just, you know, learn for the sake of going to school. I don't think schools are actually very effective, completely different conversation. But I do like to learn like I was a Tony Robbins platinum partner. I went to 22 events or 20 events in one year in 3 or 4 different countries like Amsterdam, Fiji, um, maybe two countries, maybe three countries, the US, obviously Hawaii. Um, I think there was somewhere something else. So like we did a lot of traveling and learning and south of France, um, that the experience that you have when you get out of your comfort zone, it's like you, you open your eyes up and you open your experiences up to a lot more.

Blake Chapman (00:16:38) - You're 100% right. And, you know, for me, that's some of the best advice I think anybody could pick up on, which is that if you lean into your curiosity, you'll find it filters out most of the stuff you don't care about.

Blake Chapman (00:16:52) - I that's what I've run into anyways. You know, I'm like, I'm like my curiosity. It can range from anything to, uh, you know, there's the general one, like how to be better at sales and things like that. Right. And there's the other one. I'm like, I might be into bearded dragons, or I might figure out this, you know, but all of that, all of that is a formula for being able to take you to the way that your intuition is driving you. And that's like positive momentum always, you know? So I love that perspective, I really do.

Vikram Deol (00:17:22) - Curiosity is what makes. People like people. Yeah, right. Like in the world we live in right now, we've lost curiosity. I, you know, like, I go back to a lot of stories with the farm, and I'd see my grandpa and his friends talk politics, and they. And they would get lit, bro. They would get angry, they'd yell. They, you know, get passionate.

Vikram Deol (00:17:44) - Right? I love it because it matters. Because, like, it matters. Like people say, politics don't matter. No, they matter. Right? Because. We live in a world where it does matter. And if you can't talk about money, health. Politics. Religion, right? If you can't talk about important things, what do you talk about? I don't give a shit. Yeah. Taylor Swift, good for her. She's from. From a personal standpoint. Amazing. Like what? She's created and accomplished. Amazing. But I don't care about music like that. That doesn't move the needle forward in my life. Um, but like, when we. When we can't even have as humans anymore conversations about things that we disagree on without getting angry with one another. We've lost curiosity. Yeah. And curiosity is what drives growth like. It's what drives and propels human connection. Right? Like if you're curious about your neighbor, you might go over and have a conversation with them. If you're in sales and you're curious about the prospect, why they raise their hand instead of trying to pitch your product.

Vikram Deol (00:18:53) - If you're curious about, like, why they raise their hand, why would somebody want to have an agency like you offer? Why would somebody want to move into a new home? Right? Yes, they might need more space, but what is that space going to allow them to do?

Blake Chapman (00:19:06) - Absolutely right. Yeah. It just holds objections to I feel like, you know, I mean, there's so many, so many scenarios where I'm like. I don't know. It's in sales, right? I mean, you come into it all the time, you talk to somebody, they're, uh, you know, they're looking for a house. All of a sudden they're like, you know what? It's too expensive. It's not a good time on the market, blah, blah, blah. And and most people's intuition for some reason, is just to go act defensively, right? And come back at them and be like, well, no, this is actually it doesn't matter how you say it, if you say this is actually why you're wrong, nobody's going to listen to you.

Blake Chapman (00:19:42) - Yeah. Uh, you.

Vikram Deol (00:19:43) - Know, my favorite thing to say, bro, is like, when people like what I train inside of our inside of our academy, when people go. It's like we don't know if it's a good time to buy or not. Like don't argue. You're right. It is expensive. Dude, we are at the least affordable time in human history for milk and eggs. Like, everything is more expensive. Yeah, it might be the best time to buy in a long term sense, but it might not be the best time for Blake to buy. Blake's law might have just had a major accident. Yeah, and now Blake's like, oh, crap. I gotta figure out how to pay these $100,000 medical bills. I got to figure out how to get mom out of, you know, Denver to Atlanta, right? I got to figure out, like, all these things, and. Yeah, you know what? I might miss the 6% interest rate. And they might go back up to 7.5%.

Vikram Deol (00:20:39) - And, you know, damn it, it's going to be a bummer. Yeah, but it might not be. Yes. It's the best time to probably buy now. Right. Because if rates go down, prices go up. Affordability, everything changes. But it might not be the best time for Blake to buy a home. It might not be the best time for Vikram to partner with Blake's company. Yeah, right. I don't know until I ask questions and get curious and, like, you know, one of the, you know, you lived in Brazil for a couple of years. And I think one of the cool things about when you live in a foreign country and you don't speak the language. And you don't know where you're at. It forces you to have to become real curious real fast. Yeah.

Blake Chapman (00:21:21) - 100%. Yeah. What have you run into being in the Dominican Republic? What are some ways that you've had to adapt, do you think?

Vikram Deol (00:21:27) - I mean, so far, yes.

Vikram Deol (00:21:29) - I was talking to my girlfriend this morning. Um, last night we went out to dinner. We went to this, like, nice little barbecue spot. Yeah. And, um, you know, we don't we don't drink. Like, I'm here with my my buddy Cody. We don't drink a lot. And, you know, we're not big drinkers, any of us. But when we drink, sometimes we get a little wild. Yeah. So, like, we're hanging out. We're having a little pina colada in the pineapple, having some nice barbecue. We went there the day before, like cool vibe, right on the water. Gorgeous like setup. They had some music playing and. We get the bill right? And they knew we were like a couple. Like we'd started doing some shots, like we got we started getting into the vibe and, you know, Sunday, Sunday, like Quick walk turned to a quick Sunday, you know, fun day of drinking and, um, you know, like we woke up, we worked for a few hours, um, and I was sharing this with you, like, my girlfriends, like, normally like, babe, you handle this stuff, but she'll look at the bill, and she.

Vikram Deol (00:22:36) - She has this ability to remember, like, women have this ability to remember everything. Even if she wasn't around, she's like, she's like, we didn't order that. I'm like, let me see. She's like, no, we didn't order a seafood platter. No, we didn't order that. We didn't order this. We don't order that, we don't order this, we don't order that. And they tried to rack up like $1,000 bill, which should have been like a $225 bill. Right. So they try to rack up like A5X bill. And she's sitting there arguing with the people now for us who don't speak Spanish fluently, it's a lot harder to have that argument. But for her, right. Like this is a hustle culture of tourism. Yeah. So like just being alert and conscious around your surroundings. I mean, you know, we were we got into like, I mean, I was teasing her a little bit and, um, she pulled her hand away from me and there was a bunch of guys on the street, and it was a safe neighborhood, but there's a lot of, like, one block into, like, the nicest hotel.

Vikram Deol (00:23:37) - That's kind of sketchy. It's dark. It's kind of sketchy. And she pulled her hand away from me, and I saw the guy tapped the other dude, and he's like, hey, right? And I don't know if they're thinking, hey, maybe, you know, she's a good looking woman. Let's go try to pick her up, talk to her, or they're, hey, they're having a problem. Like they're not their senses aren't there. That's an easy target to pickpocket. Yeah, we got mugged in Argentina. I got I got my cell phone stolen in Argentina after the World Cup. Um, you know, five, seven, eight guys jumped me, uh, you know, popped me in the back of the head. I grabbed my my awareness, grabbed the guy. I almost got my phone back, got popped in the back of the head like something wasn't right in this situation. Like, started getting pushed around. This guy was doing this weird stuff. He didn't look like he belonged.

Vikram Deol (00:24:28) - Right? My my awareness was like, hey, that's that's some curious red flags. Like. And then by the time like, it happened, like violence happens fast. Like life happens fast. Nothing is slow, right? It's just like, oh my God, that happens so quick. My buddy, I was talking to him on the phone. Um, he was in Bogota. Same thing. He was walking. We all knew not to have our phones out, but he was comfortable walking home from the gym. Um, and we're talking. He's on FaceTime, and next thing he's like, oh, and I hear, like a little bit of a shuffle. Yeah. And I hear a little bit of a scramble. And he got hit in the back of the head.

Blake Chapman (00:25:04) - Oh dude.

Vikram Deol (00:25:05) - And we share like we share locations with each other. So I have his phone. So he's in Canada. I'm like, oh, you're at your parents house. He's like, yeah, yeah, I'm how'd you know? I was like, oh, I got your he's like, oh yeah.

Vikram Deol (00:25:14) - Like because you know, like when you're traveling overseas you need to have you need to have like these things set up. And all of a sudden I see his phone go from like a little dot to, like, speeding away. And I was like, oh, this guy just got mugged. Yeah. And I knew he got hit in the back of the head because the sounds that came through the phone and then like, the banter. So, you know, just like your awareness in life is really important. Um, and I think that goes back to sales and that goes back to business and that goes back to entrepreneurship. You have to be aware of the blind spots and of the things that could happen. Like we as entrepreneurs have to be able to look at the landscape and say, this could be a problem over here, this could be a problem, that could be a problem, because if we if we have the blinders on and we're looking so in, that's problematic. Again, like I've been in 7 or 8 different industries, I sold knives when I was young, I sold cell phones.

Vikram Deol (00:26:16) - I had a stint at car sales, I hated it, I did wellness services, I sold some gym memberships. I yeah, Brandt helped my parents with their pizza place. Right. So, like, flipped houses, um, sold houses?

Blake Chapman (00:26:29) - Totally.

Vikram Deol (00:26:31) - What I noticed inside of, like, the real estate world and what happens in like a lot of entrepreneurial world. And this is something my dad taught me a few years ago, because he actually hired a sales trainer for his company, um, to learn some new sales tactics. So he sells a lot of wellness products and vitamins and hyperbaric chambers and things like that out of his office. Um, he goes, I needed to learn. I want to learn how to sell better because I feel like what I'm doing is good. But, like, if you tell somebody they're overweight and you say, hey, you're fat and overweight and it's your fault, you're probably going to trigger them. But if you say, hey, it's not your fault that you're overweight, it is your problem now that you realize it.

Vikram Deol (00:27:12) - But it wasn't your fault that the media and the television and the commercials and the schools taught you to eat a bunch of carbs and this and that and this and this, and this is like they they created the problem. But now you're here. And if you want to be healthier, right. And this was like 3 or 4 years ago, I was like, oh that's crazy. You, you went to that. And so like the the awareness and the consciousness around the different things allow us to to see the potential potholes, you could call them that could come along. And if we prepare for the potholes, we tend to not have them because we've navigated around them. Yeah. But if we just let life happen, then we get comfortable and we're walking with our cell phone. We're not paying attention. We go into a spot where we shouldn't have gone like, we we get we get into the motion of, oh, I'm going to be fine. And the next thing you know, you're you're being confronted by five guys in, uh, in Argentina.

Vikram Deol (00:28:14) - And they're about to, you know, threatened to kill you. And there's 50,000 Argentinians, and you're the gringo that stands out, and you're literally like, all right, I'm watching my phone walk away. Like I'm watching my phone leave, and there's absolutely nothing I can do. And oh, my friends, 30ft away from me. How the hell did that happen? Yeah. Like, how did he go from being next to me to now 30ft away from me? Like, what the hell? That's crazy. Yeah.

Blake Chapman (00:28:39) - No, that's like that's honestly. So on point, though, because there's so many times where I'm talking to people and I'm realizing, you know, even myself, I've been in a, I've lived in a reactive, uh, way before realizing that the only way to mitigate some of this shit that I'm going to come across is to be proactive. And that means looking around the corner and thinking, okay, uh, things are going well now. Let's say things aren't going well one month from now.

Blake Chapman (00:29:06) - What have I done to make sure that that doesn't happen? How do I make sure that by this time in six months, things are better, right? Um, that's, uh, that's ultimately it. That's not to say that that things don't happen, though, you know, I'm sure stuff is going to happen. There's stuff that you can't prevent. And I feel like, you know, from an entrepreneur's mindset, you also have to learn like. The ability to kind of. Detach and not make things feel so, uh, so personal. Not that you shouldn't feel your feelings and process, but like, I've seen people that get too attached to a deal, right? Or to attach to something being perfect and working out. And sometimes it's hard to be like, I'm like, hey, you got to let that dove fly away sometimes, you know?

Vikram Deol (00:29:49) - Yeah, well, how do you how do you like. You know, I think if we're attached to the outcome, like, that's why a lot of people suffer in life is because they're attached to an outcome.

Vikram Deol (00:30:00) - Yeah. How do you write? Because you're you've had a lot of success. Um, you've done quite well. You've created pretty nice sized companies, pretty good revenue. How do you stay detached.

Blake Chapman (00:30:14) - So a number of you have probably seen the words RocketLevel thrown around a little bit here and there. And I wanted to take a moment just to explain what that is. So the G.E.M. Series comes from RocketLevel. Uh, who is somebody that I work with directly? And RocketLevel is a marketing technology company that specializes in meeting the unique needs of small and medium sized businesses. So over the years, through strategic collaborations with national brands, franchise groups and local partners, RocketLevel has become a trusted ally for SMBs operating in the market. And right now, RocketLevel's primary focus is to provide a comprehensive range of marketing solutions for SMBs, including website development, SEO, paid ads, email marketing, social media management, and just about anything you can think of by offering a done for you approach.

Blake Chapman (00:31:05) - RocketLevel takes care of all aspects of digital marketing, allowing SMBs to focus on their core business operations. I know that everybody talks about this all the time. It's so hard to focus on the fulfillment side of things and been an absolute honor getting to partner with RocketLevel throughout the years, and be able to see them provide a solution for people that maybe don't have the talent right now. Maybe you don't have the time and maybe don't have the playbook or the tools available. It truly is buttoned up in such a way that you can give somebody your high level objectives and get this stuff knocked out. So if you're curious, you should definitely, definitely give us a shout. You know, I try to just focus on the other person a little bit more, right. And and make it more about them. I also just have to trust, I guess, like a little I have a little bit of faith that I'm like, hey. It's numbers, man. Like I'm going to find somebody that's the next best, the next best thing.

Blake Chapman (00:32:01) - Because I've seen they always it always works out that way. Um, and any every scenario can be a theoretical net positive because you're either one. Yeah. Maybe there's a deal to be made and that's great. You close some deal. Awesome too. They say no and you have a good relationship, right? You say, hey, I'm so glad I got to learn about you and get to meet you. Let's stay in touch, grab lunch, whatever. I'm happy to. And a lot of times that stuff comes back to you, right? So it's all about like, pipeline and trusting in yourself and and being at peace with the fact that, you know, there's plenty out there because there is there's like so much out there for everybody. I know everybody talks. You've you've been to Tony Robbins, you know. You know Tony, it's that abundance mindset, man. You know you gotta you gotta roll with it like you really do. How about you?

Vikram Deol (00:32:51) - You know, it reminds me of a story a couple of years ago.

Vikram Deol (00:32:54) - I did this thing called the project. It was a 75 hours men's training, like break down, build up and bonding. And at the end of it, I actually they the first round I went was 2019 and I was the weakest link on the team, not physically, but a from a mindset standpoint. I just couldn't figure out how to shut up. Go figure. And I was saying and doing things that that just, you know, like weren't there. And part of being in the project is. Knowing when to cut the person. That's that's holding the team back. Right. So that is a lesson that's built in, is that sometimes you have to cut people out of your life, out of your business. And I was the one that needed to get cut. Yeah. And so unfortunately unfortunately, like that was really hard. I had to ring the bell when I came back a couple of years. And, you know, I looked everybody in the eyes, um, and I said, I'll be back.

Vikram Deol (00:33:54) - And my, my mentor, one of my mentors and friend, Sharon Srivatsa, is really good friends with Bedros. So I was like, at some point I'm going to run into this guy again or I'm gonna have to avoid like certain situations because I wouldn't feel authentic if I didn't come back and finish something that I said I was going to start. Um, right. It wasn't necessarily the, the financial. It was, you know, like when you get kicked out of an island, it really hits hard and you really have to make some, some changes. Yeah. And one of the major, one of the main guys the trainers are is named Steve Eckert. Really, really awesome. Dude. You would love him. Um, mindset like through the nails type of guy. He, he was one of the guys that pushed me off the hardest because he's like, dude, I'm going to kill you if you say one more word, like he's like, I kill this dude, right? Like he really, really like, you know, if you didn't sign an agreement saying that he wouldn't physically touch us and I could sue him if he did, he probably would have buried me himself in the ground.

Vikram Deol (00:35:00) - But after I came back, he was one of my biggest supporters. Um, and I remember we went on this hike, right? It's the hardest, second, hardest hike in California. It's supposed to be nine hours, 6 to 9 hours. And we're all a bunch of project junkies. So a couple of the guys bring their kids. So what was supposed to be like a five, six hour hike ended up being like a 12 14 hour hike. We left that. We got there. I drove two hours to get there. I got there at 530 in the morning and one of the guys, you know, packing up the kids forgot his water. One of the guys packing up the kids forgot his food. Thank God I was my my dad always taught me pack more. So I had a I had enough food for three days for myself. Right? Like, I like $300 worth of beef jerky in there. Yeah, I didn't know that that was going to be one of the big things that helped us.

Vikram Deol (00:35:51) - But as we were coming down the hill, right, we're all tired, we're all blistered, we're all exhausted. We were, you know, not prepped with the right food and supplements. Right. We didn't have enough water. So the, you know, somebody had actually just fallen the week before and poof, they're gone. Like so there's search and rescue people out there. They gave us Gatorade. They gave us extra water. Yeah. You know, like it's like a real hike. You know, somebody's backpack fell. And so like Steve the Marine like bombs down this hillside. I mean, it's like straight down, bombs down, and bear crawls up with the backpack because it's got the truck keys in it. Like it was like there was real danger, right? Yeah. But on the way down, and, you know, some parts are super steep on the way down, right? It's just like business. Just like life. Just like what you said. We were focused on keeping those kids safe.

Vikram Deol (00:36:47) - So Steve's wife's shoes sucked. She was slipping and falling so she couldn't hold her daughter. Steve was holding his son's hand. I was holding the daughter's hand. Every. Every adult was focusing on somebody else to keep them safe. And because our focus was on, hey, we all have to write. We're all tired. We're all hungry about, it's not gonna change anything. Yeah, but the focus on somebody else allowed us to persevere. And it goes back to what you said earlier. Like, if you want to be an entrepreneur, if you want to be a great salesperson, if you want to be a problem finder and not a salesperson pushing your on other people, focus on the other people's benefit. Like, how does my service benefit Blake? How how can I serve the people on this podcast? Not myself. How do I share openly and vulnerably? When you're doing social media and you grab your phone and you're like, I don't know what to say, think about if I say something and it helps somebody else.

Vikram Deol (00:37:48) - Isn't that why we're doing what we do?

Blake Chapman (00:37:51) - Absolutely.

Vikram Deol (00:37:51) - Most people want to be a better person, but we come across as slimy because we never learned that by talking about ourselves. We actually focus on the wrong thing. When we talk about others and we talk about, hey, I'm here to serve, right? God put me on this planet to serve a greater all of a sudden, like the stuff that people are fighting about. And it's crazy. Like when I see some of the stuff that is happening in the United States, I'm like, y'all are just thinking about yourselves. Yeah. Like if you all just totally thought about, like, somebody else for 15 seconds, like. All the stuff that these people are arguing about online, like human rights. And this I'm like, you guys don't even know what it's like to be in a country. Most of you people that are arguing and screaming, you all have never been anywhere actually dangerous. No.

Blake Chapman (00:38:43) - No, you're absolutely right.

Vikram Deol (00:38:46) - Putting up the Ukraine flag, putting up, you know, like all this stuff that's happening, like.

Vikram Deol (00:38:50) - Yeah, it's important, but if you really care. Go go there go go. Look at do. I don't talk about that because I don't want to go there because I've seen what it's like in different countries, and I don't want to go to places like that, like I, I want to protect what we have in the US and make that the, the norm where people can have open, honest communication. Yeah, we can talk and we can go back to the day when my grandpa and his friends, like, yelled at each other and then had a scotch together and laughed and ate dinner together. And, you know, like the wives would come out, the kids would come out. They're like, okay, the dads are done screaming at each other. Now they're drinking, they're messing around, they're around, they're throwing the ball with each other. I'm like, how the hell did that just happened? Like, where did that go? When we had real conversations about stuff and we didn't let our emotions dictate everything.

Vikram Deol (00:39:45) - Like if we if we could be rational and detached from the outcome, like, I don't you don't need to like everything. You don't like black shirts. Cool, bro. Don't wear one.

Blake Chapman (00:39:54) - Yeah. It's like.

Vikram Deol (00:39:55) - But I don't need it. But if you don't like my black shirt, you're a bull. You're like, no, we don't need it. And it's the same mindset when it comes to business. Like, not everybody should do business with you.

Blake Chapman (00:40:07) - Exactly.

Vikram Deol (00:40:08) - But if you keep going out there and being curious and you keep putting yourself out there. You will find the people that resonate and that will grow and grow and grow and grow and grow and and all businessmen. All business is hard. All business sucks. All business is boring. Like you could leave real estate. You could leave your gym. You could leave the agencies. Right? And you could go try something else. And you think it's going to be easy, but the valley of despair is always going to hit where you're.

Vikram Deol (00:40:44) - If I look at what you do, or if I look at what my friend Cody's doing, I'm like, oh man, I should start a call center to. He's making a ton of money now. Well, he also had six months where he didn't make any money that nobody knows about. Yeah, and he had six months where he was paying the company to stay afloat that nobody knows about. And. Oh, yeah, we work Monday through Sunday every week for our like every day we work, whether we feel like it or not. We wake up early and stay up late so that we can spend time with our family and friends and go out and have a dinner. But then we come home and we work for 3 or 4 hours. Yeah. And what people don't realize is that no matter what business you get into, if you're not willing to put in that energy up front and continue to do it. It gets harder and the more like I've been in a lot of businesses and as I get older, I have less drive to do the beginning stages of work to start the business.

Vikram Deol (00:41:45) - Yeah, because I'm like, man, I've already done that so many times. And so like when people say, oh, well, I'm going to try this for a few months and then I'm going to go try that for a few months, and I'm going to go try that. I'm like, no, no, no, it's it's always going to get boring. You're going to get tired of it and it's going to get boring. And that's where you create diamonds. Mhm. The diamonds aren't created by excitement. The diamonds are created because you're able to do the boring things and the activities over and over and over and over again. And you're, you're able to find excitement because what you're doing, you know, is helping other people. So the excitement doesn't come from picking up the phone and calling your sphere, calling your database, following up with the leads. Every business has to do that. Yeah. The excitement comes because you're like, man, I love helping people with what I do.

Vikram Deol (00:42:42) - And so even though the idea of calling or making another video isn't super exciting, I'm going to make it exciting in my mind because I know that if I don't do that, I don't get to do the cool, and if I don't get to do the cool, then I'm really not living like this super awesome life that I want to live. Yeah.

Blake Chapman (00:43:00) - You're totally right. I mean, so many people, I think maybe have a misconception that there's this lottery ticket. And I feel for people too, because I get it. Like, you want to. You want to get to this place where having a little money makes your life easier and, and and, you know, alleviates some of those pains that we all kind of kind of run into. But the hard thing and I and I love that you touched on that is that you got to learn to thrive in the mundane like you really do, man, because like, if you can't do that, then nothing is ever gonna, you know, nothing's ever going to build up to the place that you want it to, and you're going to just keep hopping and hopping and hopping looking for that silver bullet.

Blake Chapman (00:43:42) - And and then you burn. You burn yourself out. You only get so many chances to, you know, I mean, at the end of the day, I mean, motivation is really just like that's a quick that's a quick, cheap high that you leverage to develop discipline. When you get motivation, you know, thank whoever you want to thank. Take it and then be like, I'm going to write this down and I'm going to look at this so that I can know. On March 23rd of 2022, I was the most motivated I've ever been. These are the ingredients I fault. This is what I've done with that motivation since then. You know, not that you have to do every there's no right formula for this stuff. But I'm just saying like just you have to capitalize on it. You really do.

Vikram Deol (00:44:26) - Motivation is the it's the fuel, right? You don't you don't prepare for a bad day when you're at a bad spot. Mhm. Right. You know what I tell all my clients I'm like you guys don't prepare to get on the phone when it's time to get on the phone you're never going to do it.

Vikram Deol (00:44:42) - You prepare to get on the phone three hours the night, the weekend before it's time to get on the phones. You prepare by practicing your scripts. You prepare by role playing. You prepare by showing up to our role play calls. With a framework that you can practice. You show up by tracking the objections you get. You show up for things. Earlier. You don't say, I'm going to go to the gym and get in shape, but you don't, you know, in a suit and tie. That's weird. Like who? Who's working out in a suit and tie or high heels like that doesn't make sense. You prepare when you feel good and you're motivated because you know the minute it's time to take action before that. Discipline is a habit. You're going to try to talk yourself out of it, because the brain is not actually wired for growth. The brain is wired for survival. Like the two things that we're scared of as a baby is loud sounds and falling. Because both of those could kill us.

Vikram Deol (00:45:43) - Yeah. And so if we go back to, like, just survival and instincts and like our childhood, we realize, okay, wait a minute. If I'm not built to thrive, I'm built to survive everything that requires thriving, right? Everything I do that requires thriving, huh? Wait a minute. That's a different part of the brain that the brain actually is going to resist. Because all like when when somebody wants to make a change, right? That's why they reach out for your product. That's why they call me up. Right? They want to make a change there in a moment. They are like, oh my God, I don't love my life the way that it is. I need a different skill set. I need a different stream of income. I need a different x y hobby. Right? I'm not happy that my, you know, I go to the beach and I don't take off my shirt. I want to make a change. And that moment they make the change, they reach out.

Vikram Deol (00:46:36) - But then once you are there in front of the guy at the gym, once you're there in front of me or you and you're like, oh, well, that's going to cost a lot of money and that's going to take a lot of time. I'm happy where I'm at, but you're not happy where you're at, which is why you raised your hand. It's why you listen to this podcast. Like people that are listening to this podcast want something better tomorrow than they have today. It doesn't mean you're not already doing well, but you're not going to attract the person that doesn't want to make a change. But the minute we start making a change, we have to remember we're fighting against instinct and the instinct is to stay the same. So all change happens when we're ready for change. But change is scary, so we resist change. And so when we realize that we're fighting, it's human nature because we forget about this stuff, like a lot of people know it, but we forget. We realize, oh, we're fighting against human nature.

Vikram Deol (00:47:32) - Now you're like, oh, okay, that makes sense. Now you don't have to beat yourself up when you're just being a normal human doing human things. That's not loving the change that you need to make because you're like, oh yeah, that's why I don't want to go to the gym. That's why I don't want to practice my scripts. That's why I don't want to make social media. That's why I don't want to start a new business. That's why I don't want to. It's because we are resisting. We're pushing against our nature, which is to just survive. Yeah.

Blake Chapman (00:48:03) - Absolutely. And it's and it's something that we're so conditioned to do. I mean, everything in our environment is set up to really like numb out and, uh, deny progress. Uh, I mean, crazy, right? Yeah. It's crazy. I mean, I was like, I remember when I first got Netflix, I was like, I, I, I blissed out for like nine hours. Dude, I'm not using this.

Blake Chapman (00:48:28) - I was like, I was like, this just I was like, this just, you know, also, I mean, yeah, I just have that addictive personality. So I'm like, I got to set my routine right and make sure that, uh, you know, I have things in place, but I, uh. No, I love that perspective. Vikram. Man, I've just loved getting to talk to you. Thank you for, uh.

Vikram Deol (00:48:47) - That was that was fast. That was fun. Yeah.

Blake Chapman (00:48:49) - It flies by. I will have to do another one. Um, I wanted to ask. Usually whenever we close out, you got one best piece of advice you've received or you'd give to somebody, uh, that you want to share.

Vikram Deol (00:49:01) - I mean, you know, I think, uh, if you guys have ever read the book Rich dad, poor dad, I have my rich uncle, um, done incredibly well in life. And I remember, I remember when I was young, there's a couple of things that I've learned from him a lot of.

Vikram Deol (00:49:20) - But there's a couple big lessons. One, gratitude, right. He he always says, I can't believe God has given me so much. Like I was just this poor kid. Got an F in high school, worked at McDonald's. I can't believe now I'm in the position I'm at now. Like he's always elated, like he's always grateful. And the more gratitude he has. Right. And he's multi billionaire now right. Like an insane amount of wealth created in a short lifetime. And he goes I'm just always grateful. So the first thing is is like gratitude is he has his 26 rules of life. Um and I think number 3 or 2, it's very high up there. He's gratitude is latitude right. So he's always grateful. Um, two is he works in his business, right. He works on his business, but he works in his business. Where? Saturday morning. Um, I'm at his office with him shadowing him. Just like watching his routine. Very disciplined. And somebody calls and start swearing at him, and he takes the call.

Vikram Deol (00:50:25) - He does the work. And I said, unk, why didn't you just pass this on to somebody else? Yeah. He said, in my business, if I don't know what's happening and what people are saying because I'm very removed. So when I have an opportunity, it's rare. But if somebody found my number somehow, right, like they got Ahold of me, then I'm going to make sure that I track down what happened, because I need to know what happens. Because one mistake in our business could be the difference between, you know, because they're in California, it can be the difference between, like, nipping that and quickly fighting it or a multi-million dollar lawsuit. He's like, so I need to know what's happening. So I am always hands on in my business. And the third thing is, is that he always says the best is yet to come. Right. And recently, you know, his his family, uh, was able to invest into one of the, the major league teams.

Vikram Deol (00:51:22) - And they want a really big, you know, national thing. Um, and so they had the cup at the house and he said the, the best is here with more to come. Right. And if we really, truly believe that the best is here and the best is yet to come, right? Even Bhadra schooling like those are things that, like I do, try to live by, like the gratitude one is, is the hard one sometimes. Especially like, you know, in a season where business is tough. Yeah, right. Like we're not, you know, we're not having our best year ever. We're down just like other other businesses are. Yeah, right. And it's tough and it's harder to get sales and it's harder to get appointments. It's harder to keep those appointments right. Because there is less money in our industry. So if we can always remember that, you know, be grateful for what you have. Be grateful for the people around you. Be grateful for the opportunities in front of you.

Vikram Deol (00:52:17) - And the best is here with more to come. It changes how your your outlook and if your outlook changes, right? If your beliefs change, your thoughts change. If your thoughts change, your actions change. If your actions change, your life changes. Yeah.

Blake Chapman (00:52:29) - Dude. Gold. You're a gold mine, man. I, I think everybody I so align with that too. Um, thanks for thanks for sharing. Uh, all of these different insights, everybody. You know, I hope you've been taking notes. Uh, Vikram, as a, as a is an absolute pro, um, you know, has done a little bit of everything, so. Yeah. Thanks again. Man. Um, what should people be on the lookout for? Uh, for what you're working on now, where should they find you? Um.

Vikram Deol (00:53:00) - Yeah. I mean, just go follow me on Instagram. Uh, coach Vikram deol, my name, Vikram Deol. Um, you know, I, I believe that.

Vikram Deol (00:53:11) - If we can learn to become better communicators, right? Sales is all communication. If we can become better communicators, we can make more money. We can become more profitable. That allows us to do a lot of different things like go see Tony Robbins, go higher, the life Coach go higher, the gym trainer, go to the wellness studio and take care of your your, your, your kid that has maybe autism that, you know, five years ago, you're like, what are we going to do? Well, now you have support and help because you're now making $200,000 a year, $300,000 a year. Yeah. And because of that, now you can spend $100,000 to help heal your child and get the best attention. Not not medical, but wellness, right? So for me, um, you know, my life's got a couple of pillars, but, um. Fulfillments really high up there. So it's not just about making money, it's about am I doing it in an aligned way? And so that's kind of like what I'm pumping more content out is, you know, not just about like how to be a salesperson, but.

Vikram Deol (00:54:14) - How to be a person who is fulfilled with what they're doing. Because it doesn't matter if you sell real estate or you sell agency services, or you sell advertising, or you're a doctor or a lawyer, you have the ability to impact people around you. And I think if we can tap into that more, um, you know, we just live a healthier life.

Blake Chapman (00:54:34) - Yeah. Well, man, I, uh, I yeah, I know I've said this already. I just had so much fun with you, so I appreciate you. Uh, appreciate you, man. Everybody, you know, uh, we're going to be posting all the links for Vikram, so make sure to follow them. Check them out. Uh, this has been another episode of the G.E.M. Series. I hope you all have a wonderful, wonderful week. And, uh, until next time. Thank you for listening to today's episode of The G.E.M. Series, where we're always here to share the goals, execution, and mindset of thought leaders around the world.

Blake Chapman (00:55:04) - If you're listening to this, I'm sure that you have some pretty big goals for yourself and I would absolutely love to hear them. Actually, here at RocketLevel, we just launched our newest partnership program where the goal is to, uh, well, build a relationship with you guys. I want to talk with all of you coaches, consultants and entrepreneurs. This program is going to be providing free sales and marketing training, giving you access to a massive network of small businesses, and even paying you to allow us to handle the fulfillment side of things. Over the last 20 years, we've been able to learn a lot about how to handle digital marketing for a, you know, small business. And frankly, we want to pass that along. After working with business coaches and consultants all over the world, we decided, let's make it formal. Let's make this thing happen. So if you're at all curious, check out the links attached and please reach out directly. I would love to meet you all. Remember, I'm always a email, text, phone call or DM away.

Blake Chapman (00:56:01) - Everybody remember to be awesome and do awesome things a whole lot more coming soon. Take care.