Alex Ikonn & Mimi Ikonn On Taking Responsibility & Designing Your Life

Alex: The Daily Talk Show.

Tommy: It's a daily talk show and we're in Los Angeles.

Josh: And we've got special guests. We've intruded your house.

Tommy: Alex Icon and Mimi Icon. Thank you for being here. Hello. Thanks for having us.

Mimi: It's our pleasure.

Tommy: So Airbnbs, is this just like part of your lifestyle?

Alex: Airbnb places? If there's one company that should sponsor us, it's Airbnb. 'Cause all the time when we travel, as you guys probably see, everyone asks us the first, Is this an Airbnb? Can you send me a link? I'm like, no.

Mimi: Can you send me the address of this place?

Alex: I'm not sending you a link, 'cause you know we stay for a long time. I'm not gonna expose myself, like where we're staying. But we do, we can get into it, but Airbnb is not the only service. We actually use a whole variety of services. However, in the future, there's definitely an Icon Travels where we're gonna probably have houses all around the world to rent out to people or something like that.

Tommy: I mean, it feels like there's so many things that you're doing, and so there's all these opportunities. So the Positano example, you created travel—

Alex: We travel there too.

Tommy: Yeah, so you do a travel guide. Is the intention that when you go there, we're going to do this, or are you just travelling around and then it just sort of comes out?

Mimi: I'd say it's just about travelling and doing it mindfully, obviously, like going to places that are better than the status quo. Like that's what we're always looking for, not to just have a touristic experience, but to go to really local cool spots. And then Once you know all of that, like, what's the point of just keeping it to yourself? Yeah, if you know you can make somebody's experience— like, once when we were in Positano, we were at this cafe, and like this couple came up to us, and they're like, literally, we just ordered what you put in your guide. They had like almond milk cappuccino and that, like, whatever, like eggs that I ordered. I can't remember anymore, but like they had the same exact experience, and they went to all these places that we went to. So it just makes me feel so happy that people can have a great experience as opposed to like those tourist traps that are in all of these very popular destinations.

Alex: And the thing is, what I want to add on to that is like even Positano, it's now the influencer central. And when Mimi says, hey, like we went to Positano like 12 years ago before it was like Instagram, before there was all— there's people there just taking pictures. So what we love to do is just be able to discover places. And we do travel currently like more pop, I guess, culture kind of places. But it's still in a way of what we love to do is really providing people that experience. What we know ourselves is that, as Mimi said, it's curated. You can go to these major cities, LA, New York, Paris, and hate it.

Tommy: Yeah.

Alex: Right? It's because it's a big, and people go like, why do you go to the same places? Do you know, like, you can be going to Paris or even living in Paris, and you still won't know all the cool spots. There's just so much to offer. And what we just like to give for ourselves, and this is like, I love to really dive in and do a lot of research for all of our trips.

Mimi: Yeah, he spends so much time.

Alex: And for all of our friends and all of our family, we really create create, you know, a curated experience. And that's because like we have very high standards. Just when you start travelling the world and seeing lots of places and staying a lot of places and having also the financial freedom to like try a lot of places, you also will end up going to a lot of bad places. And the thing is, yeah, for me to spend, you know, $150, $200 and have a bad experience, it's okay. But for somebody else who has earned their hard-earned money, has been saving their whole year for that, like I don't want them to have that experience and go to like some place that's supposed to have 5 stars and is actually crap because they're just like an Instagram hole, you know, like, so there's like, that's what part of it.

Josh: I think we've worked out in the States, the warning sign of a bad restaurant or somewhere where you're going to get pretty average food, it's the amount of things on the menu. So, you get 7 pages of food.

Mimi: Of course.

Josh: That's the warning sign. Is there any other sort of telltale signs of somewhere or location, even if it like doesn't seem to be flooded by mainstream, you know, like, yeah, just everybody's there, a warning sign.

Mimi: I think location, like, if it's usually on a main street, it's not good. Yeah, it has to be like a little hidden. It has to have no sign. Like, all the cool places are very much, um, a hole-in-the-wall kind of places. And then you walk in there and it's like a whole different world. And that's what, um, people like. I think most people, when you have high expectations and you go to a place, you judge it differently rather than when you go to a place and you're like this is really shady. And you walk in, like, there's a bakery here in Venice called Giusta. Have you guys been? No, literally, it has no sign. Like, I was Google mapping it and I got there, I'm like, where is this place? There's no sign. You walk in and it's massive. They bake their, like, all their, like, croissants and breads and everything there. Like, it's beautiful, full of people. Like, there's such an amazing buzz. So places like that are really cool that we appreciate.

Josh: I mean, you start a business, um, and you obviously, people want their business to become successful, and you could look at these places on the main street or things that become really popular as they've achieved a level of success. I mean, for you guys, you've had a bunch of different businesses. Is the aim to not have it become super mainstream or uber popular? Are you trying to create a boutique experience?

Tommy: Or how can you create— like, say with Luxie Hair, how do you create a brand that is respected but also makes a bunch of cash?

Mimi: You have to stick to your values. I think that's the most important thing, is that as you grow, if you compromise on your values and the main basic philosophy of what built you as a company. And that's what a lot of businesses do once they grow and they have to scale. They kind of cut the corners. Yeah. And they start compromising on their products, service, etc. But if you do that, that's a whole different business. And that's what happens to many of these great restaurants or even some of the fashion brands that like start out really cool. And then once they go mass, And it's just not the same, right? So we never want to be in that position.

Alex: I think it's understandable, but we also haven't been in those positions where we really scaled mass. I think the opportunity that exists for a lot of us, you know, anybody who's watching this or listening to this or even you guys, is that we live in a world right now, and this is what we realised when we first started our first business, and Tim Ferriss and The 4-Hour Workweek was really that, I think it's a bestseller to this day, it's really that gateway to changing your mindset that The idea of how we work in our careers is now different. You know, it doesn't have to be that way of like, you know, 9 to 5, you work in corporate and you move up the corporate ladder and then you have this lifestyle and you retire and you get a BMW and you get fat. That's kind of what he talks about. And in reality is that now—

Tommy: It can be a Tesla.

Josh: And you get even more fat.

Alex: I think now even like ourselves, like one of the examples I always talk about is like, I can financially pretty much buy any car I want. I can buy a Lamborghini or whatever, but I choose to ride a rideshare bicycle in London. And to me, I really enjoy that.

Tommy: Even with a wet seat, I've seen. Yeah, yeah.

Alex: Even when it's raining, I'll come with my sweater, wipe it with my hand. He really does. And I will still bike in the rain. I'll really be sad if I can't.

Mimi: Come home drenched.

Alex: If I can't, I have a change of pants in the office, just in case. But what I'm trying to say is that like that idea of like really designing, and that's what Tim really would introduce a lot of people, is like how do we as individuals now with the internet technology can now design our lives and to be able to build these businesses that can potentially support us and create a lifestyle for ourselves but also for other people. So with, you know, our first business was really the intention just to create a lifestyle business. Our goal was just to make $1,500 a month. We didn't have really big goals to make a big business or anything like that. And then we really just got into it, like into the whole business entrepreneurship. And I think today more than ever, it is so easy to create a business. And especially if you follow really these rules, not rules, but into certain, say, guidelines to how, because the benchmark is actually fairly low in the world for business. And so, like we, Amit and I, we're discovering more and more, we actually have very high standards, and a lot of people appreciate the high standards, but they actually don't have them. So if you as a business bring something that delivers more value to their customer, you will win. It will just take some time, but once enough, people discover you, you will get that audience. It will just start to build up, but you have to have that vision and also system to realise how does just basics of business work, meaning, you know, supply and demand, market, product, branding, all that stuff, and then be able to scale. So even our businesses, they're very simple. They're not complex businesses. They're not like major businesses. And the reason they're like that is just because we prioritise our own lifestyle. So we could have, you know, with our previous business Luxie Hair, or even with Intelligent Changes, like they could have been 10x the businesses that they are now. However, for ourselves, we find that we would then sacrifice our life. And it's fine, you know, but we just— and even being here in LA or America, you know, like, that's— and I quickly talked to you about it, guys. That's why I think it happens to a lot of people. They go extreme. They're like, we have to take over the world and be the richest and the biggest and all that stuff. And then in time you lose your life, you lose your— you can literally lose your life, you can lose your family, your time, where we were able to— we really believe you can balance out both. Yes, there's times where you hustle and you almost burn out, but you don't have to keep doing that.

Josh: Yeah, I mean, we hear so many stories, like that's quite self-aware, right? To be in the moment thinking that, because the amount of success storeys that end, it's a crucible moment where they've made all this money and now they need to find the opposite. But then they have the financial means to support the search for the other. It sounds like you were self-aware in the moment and had the filter on, how do we create the life? What is that filter? How did you put that lens on?

Mimi: I think in our first year that we started Luxie Hair, we were very lucky 'cause we made $1 million. Like that was never the expectations as Alex just mentioned.

Alex: Revenue, not like cash in the bank. You always have to remind us.

Mimi: Like almost never happens, right? And we had great, we have, really great margins with that business. So, um, to me it was very clear right away that I can have pretty much anything I want financially. Like, I can buy any bag I want, shoes, travel anywhere, but like, it's not what makes me happy. And I feel like a lot of people, it will take them longer, maybe because people are different, you know. So once I became aware of that, I was kind of like on a soul search of what it is that I want to do in life. That is meaningful to me every day. And it took Alex a few more years, like get a certain number in the bank account and buy a certain car.

Josh: But then— What car was it?

Alex: It was actually the same car we have in our garage right now. It's just a white BMW convertible.

Mimi: Yeah, nothing too crazy.

Alex: But nothing too crazy.

Josh: But you were on the way to being the fat guy.

Tommy: Yeah, exactly.

Alex: I want— that was my goal.

Josh: But Mimi said, get on the bike.

Alex: Yeah. And then you just kind of learn and you get off it.

Mimi: Yeah, like 2, 3 years into the business we both realized, okay, money is not what's gonna make us happy. It's great that we realise that now because both of us don't come from, you know, from the wealthy families. We had very little when we grew up, so we always had this idea that once we have the money, we're gonna make it in life, right? So we get the money, American dream, we don't feel that way. We actually— I felt really depressed and lost and anxious, and I realized, okay, this is not what life is about. So what is it about? And then it took me another year or two to figure that out through you know, going meditation retreats and just spending a lot of time self-reflecting and realising that, you know, looking back on my life and looking at my life and when I was actually happy, and it was actually in moments of struggle, in those moments where I might not have had a lot financially, but I was helping. I felt like I was useful in this world. And for Alex, it was— I mean, you can tell about your experience.

Alex: I think just really looking things from a perspective of You have to, one of your questions was like, how do you really see to that future? How do you have that awareness? And you have to go through that experience. Sometimes you have to. You have to, like as we did. We are as everybody, especially in North America, like when you come here, I don't know if you guys feel it, like we're in LA right now. It's like the epitome of American dream, meaning people are coming out here to LA all over the world to make it. And what does that make it? Whether it be become a star or become rich and famous and all is this dream. But in the reality, this dream that was created here in Hollywood is false. And you can see how many people who even here in this city achieve this dream and are super unhappy. But yet they can't admit it to themselves and they keep on this treadmill like, well, I should keep going, right? And they keep going, maybe I need a jet, maybe I need a bigger house, maybe I need a bigger car. And it's like, and just more and more and more and more. And I think it's creeping all over the world. It's very contagious, this style. But in reality, you know, I think having also that balance of now living in Europe, something we talked about, is like there is that finer balance of not just being so loud about, you know, wanting things, but actually just being simple and appreciating life. And really, if you are I guess for ourselves and honest with yourself. The question that I asked myself at that time when we were like kind of in between, you know, you kind of like made it, you're financially free, you thought this was gonna give you all this happiness, you have to really be honest and we have to ask ourselves the question of when was the last time I was genuinely happy? Right, not what society thinks like if I do this then I'll be happy. If I have this money in the bank then I'll be happy.

Mimi: 'Cause we're sold this dream.

Alex: Or if I have this— It's a fake dream.

Mimi: Is there guilt?

Tommy: Because I guess you get, you get to a position—

Mimi: I never felt guilty for having any of it. It just really felt empty. Like, for me, it's about sharing the experiences with other people. Like, what's the point of having it all? Yeah, just for yourself. Like, I don't know, for me.

Tommy: So how do you become aligned within your values?

Josh: I think so.

Mimi: Then you reevaluate your values and you really put it in as a couple.

Tommy: Did you find that that was something personally and then as a couple?

Mimi: Because that's important because like you're building a life together. But the values, your first 5 to 10 values, this the most important thing in your life, right? People do that for their businesses, but what are your values?

Alex: What are your values?

Mimi: Well, some of them that I can tell you, like one of the highest one is freedom, right? So that's why the businesses that we build are based on that, that we have flexibility or freedom to travel, be with each other, spend time with our child, family, family, friends. Like I never want to be the slave to my business because you can be a slave to your business just like you would be to a corporate job, right? So every decision we make has to be aligned with all of our primary values.

Alex: Gratitude is another one. Like in terms of like a value, like I think why it's so important to us even to be grateful, and we have created products around that, is that we really see that appreciation, like whether it be even ourselves and people around us, when we appreciate ourselves, you know, but we also appreciate other people in our lives, it just feels better. Like, you know, like I just feel You know, especially when you have friends and if you— I think we're always as people trying to do good. Whether it be in a relationship or you as a father or mother or just as a friend. Just being there supporting thing and if somebody just shows their appreciation, says, you know, like, hey Josh, or you know Tom, thank you for just being my friend and for hanging out with me and bringing this out to me. Right away you just feel better.

Mimi: And you wanna do more.

Alex: You wanna do more. You feel appreciated. For all the, you know, even the staff we had, one of the, you know, as you interview people, you always ask like, why did you leave that job? And one of the, I'll say the most answers that we get is like, I didn't feel appreciated. You know, they can be getting paid well, they can be in a great organization, but if they're not appreciative or someone's not being grateful to them, then they want to leave. So those are like some of the values. But it really just comes down to to the basics of your life and really questioning, you know, being really on— like, what I'm trying to get to with you guys and anybody really listening is that don't care what other people think, you know. Like, I think so many of us, because we're social animals and social creatures, we're very conditioned to care what, you know, what your community is gonna say, what your family is gonna say, what your friends are gonna say, and you have to be honest with yourself. Like, how does it feel to you? For example, I'll give you one example. I proposed to Mimi when we're broke, unemployed, early 20s. I was 21. All my friends thought I was— literally, they're like, what the hell are you doing? This is stupid. You have all your 20s.

Tommy: I think he's right.

Alex: Yeah, but like, you know, they were just— that was kind of what they wanted to communicate, is that like, You're making a mistake.

Tommy: Yeah.

Alex: And I'm like, am I making a mistake? A lot of times our parents can talk us out of stuff, even though like taking that leap into entrepreneurship or being in a relationship or even hanging around with certain friends. But you have to ask yourself, do I feel this is the right decision? And for me, for example, let's say even proposing to Mimi and committing so early was the best decision I ever made. Us also not going back to corporate and starting a business, making that leap, trying to create a lifestyle business. I had conversations with serious business people and entrepreneurs who laughed, literally laughed at me and said, this is not possible for you to be on the beach while you make money. Like, that's a hype dream. And you know, and it's even now, like, right? Hey, you guys saw us on GaryVee, and GaryVee will say the same thing because you have to hustle Russell, your brain off. I totally get it.

Mimi: Not black and white.

Alex: But however, we believe that there's a— once you expand your mindset, this is not like a secret, affirmations, all that stuff. Those things work, but it's constructive where you can balance out. It's important to have— expand your mindset and create a bigger vision for yourself. And the way you do that is become self-aware with yourself. Because what we believe in is that, and this is what I've learned, you know, you have a child as well. Like when, when our daughter was born, Alexa, first day, and now she's 3 years old, I can tell you she's the same person. Like you can sense that there's a certain amount of soul in that, in all of us. And that just exists. You here, like Everyone who's listening, who's watching, you have your own journey and no one's gonna like— I can't tell you what you need to do, like you can't tell what other people need to do. Everyone has to go through their own journey and have to question themselves of what feels right to them.

Josh: I try to tell my son what to do and he doesn't have a barometer.

Alex: Yeah, yeah, well, I guess what we're trying to say is like why we feel really passionate about this is that We really believe that if once you align to, like as Mimi said, your values and your kind of inner calling, 'cause like what feels good? And I think that the whole idea is like, is also exploring, even with us, for example, you know, you said with traveling. One of the reasons why we travel so much and do create bases for ourselves, like we still haven't figured out where we're gonna live, to be honest.

Tommy: Does it feel like a pro, 'cause I've got a mate who's got a couple of different citizenships or whatever.

Alex: Amazing.

Tommy: And it creates a lot of pressure for him because he's like, where do I want to live? One day he'll be like—

Mimi: It's actually harder.

Tommy: Yeah, and so have you found that? Is that like trying to work out what to live, like where to live? Like he'll go to Barcelona and we're meant to be just going there for a trip and he's like, okay, I'm checking out a few apartments because I might move here.

Alex: Does it get a bit like that?

Mimi: Yeah, we're very much like that.

Alex: And I think—

Mimi: Because we're very privileged obviously to have that kind of life now. I don't come from that, you know, like for the first 16 years of my life, I didn't even get on an airplane. So to me, this truly is a dream come true to be in a place like that. But also you realise world is quite small, you know, in a way. You won't be aligned with every place in the world, and you're not going to have a desire to go live everywhere, but there will be certain places that sort of speak to, um, who you are as an individual, where you can see yourself living.

Alex: And, and what I want to add on to that is really it's, uh, expanding your mind. I think even let's say maybe your friend, the idea that you don't have to be a billionaire or even a millionaire to even think like that. I think the world that we're now entering that is more global, that has, that where technology enables, you know, people will listen to this all over the world. And also with commerce, you can really do it all over the world. And now you don't need to be in a certain place. You don't even need to have a you know, an office in a certain place. You can operate, you know, through this distribution, distributed team. And with that, once you expand your mindset to think bigger and that you can also have these opportunities and that you can be a digital nomad living in Bali and travelling the world and only making, you know, $40,000, $50,000 a year, That's possible now. You know, you can have even— and Simon, you don't even have to be an entrepreneur. You can still be a freelancer and be able to do that. And it's just that ability to shift your mindset that, hey, you don't have to be stuck in Oklahoma somewhere in a small town, and that's where you're born, that's where you have to be the whole life. And this is the beauty of the world that we're entering. And then I guess also the challenge of this time is that to be able to expand your mindset and be free. And not everyone has that choice. I think a lot, but at the same time, a lot of people in places like Australia or US or Europe or Canada, they, especially here in the US, I think they really don't value what their US passport or any of these countries that I've listed, their passport allows you. Like, if you're in Syria, you can't leave. You know, where we come from, I'm from Russia, Mimi's from Azerbaijan, our passport, unless you get like a visa approval, you can't like, with our Canadian passport, I just show up here. Like literally, I just show up, I'm like, hey, I wanna be here.

Tommy: Same with Australia. Well, I remember Neil Strauss has a book, Emergency, and he talks all about like what the billionaires do with passports. I just got obsessed with like, I applied for a green card, like did the green card lottery and all that sort of thing.

Mimi: They have multiple.

Tommy: Yeah, but the thing is that it was like, I look back, I was like 21 at the time, and the main reason was, talking about consumerism, was Australia didn't have Amazon Prime yet. I realise that that's not really a reason to move. Australia has Amazon Prime.

Alex: It's a little bit shitty, but they still have it. It's a good country.

Tommy: Yeah, yeah. Do you guys, when you come to different countries, do you don different masks, or do you feel like you're actually different as people.

Mimi: 100%. Every place you go to has an impact on you. Like, when we go to Paris, I feel like dressing different and ordering different things. And like, I don't know, it's just like you feel different. And that's the incredible thing about traveling, is that it changes something inside of you. And once you leave that place, you're just never the same person. And I think that's the biggest gift you get from traveling. It just expands your mind. It makes you feel more connected to other human beings who are living in this other country who speak different languages, had a different upbringing, but yet you have like some sort of a connection because we're all the same humans, you know. So yeah, for me, it's truly like the best way to spend time is to go and visit new places.

Josh: I think the curse of comparison is real for a lot of people, and I think it'd be true to say that people with less might even have it even more than others.

Mimi: Absolutely. Yeah, when we went to Nepal years ago, I'll never forget, we went to this like little village in, um, like near Chitwan, their national park. And like, people were so happy there, little living in little huts with literally like no windows, no door, whole family in this tiny little house. Like, it's basically a room, but so happy and smiling, like genuine smiles. No shoes on these kids' feet, but they don't know it. Like, they don't know any better. So because they're not comparing.

Alex: This is also like, it was the first time I've actually come across— it's probably more rare now— where you say you want to take a picture of somebody and you can see they actually haven't never been faced with a camera.

Josh: Wow.

Mimi: And like they have this genuine expression. It's like mind-blowing. They're not posing.

Josh: Like when you say, "Cheese," what happens?

Alex: They're just like—

Mimi: they just have that real human—

Alex: it's It's like presence.

Mimi: Yeah.

Alex: And I think now it's probably disappearing. Even Nepal is probably hard now because a lot of people do travel in Nepal now. This was some time ago. And it was a very remote place. But that's the beauty of just the world and travel and everything that has to bring. But I think to also add on to what you were saying about, I think we come from Soviet Union, both Mimi and myself, it used to be a big in a place and, you know, people around the world think this is—

Mimi: former Soviet Union.

Alex: Yeah, former Soviet Union. But people would judge this place as well as this cold place and all that stuff. In reality, I look at my childhood where we literally, you know, there wasn't a lot of options. You don't have options for clothing or comparison. It's like you have those same shoes and the same candy and a very limited choice. And maybe you have like oranges for Christmas.

Mimi: If you're lucky.

Alex: If you're lucky, maybe you'll have a banana someday. And you— I literally remember when Western candies like Snickers came and me and my family would split one Snickers into 4 pieces.

Mimi: Yeah, we did the same.

Alex: And over like tea or something like that, and we'd be so happy. Like, "Oh my God, I'm having this Snickers, this is amazing." And what it's like now, you can buy Snickers that it won't give me the same happiness.

Tommy: How many Snickers do you have in the fridge?

Alex: None, yeah. What about the sugar anymore? What I'm trying to say is that I remember those times, and part of being content is that there is less of that comparison. And like my favourite quote that we always talk about, comparison is the thief of joy. And, and this is why it's important to have that self-awareness and to understand like it's okay that we— and be understand that we live in a consumerist system and how we've evolved. Like one of our favourite books of all time is Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, because he— I think that book is important for everyone to read because it will help you understand how we as humans got to this point now. Because a lot of us don't really comprehend and understand, like, how did we monkeys evolve to this state where we are now, you know, comparing ourselves, taking pictures of our own Instagram, talking to some devices here, filming ourselves with cameras.

Josh: Yeah, 500 episodes plus.

Mimi: How did we evolve like that?

Alex: But at the core of everything, we're still human, and we're these social animals who want to bond, who want to create.

Tommy: It's like weeding existence. Like, if you think about it, it's like space. If I think about it too much, too much, I freak out a bit.

Mimi: Yeah, it just like starts overwhelming you a bit.

Tommy: So content consumption then.

Mimi: Yeah.

Tommy: What you consume I guess can start to dictate how you feel.

Alex: Oh, major, major.

Tommy: Do you find that you go in and out of the types of content? So obviously I feel like everyone goes through it, like that Gary Vee thing of like the early days and then you sort of like, you get it and you understand it, it's like, okay, I need something else now. What are you consuming in 2019?

Mimi: Very little, to be honest. I'm very mindful about what I consume because I'm very hands-on with raising my daughter. I have very little time, and the time that I have, I'm usually creating. So when it comes to consumption, it's basically— I consume a little bit through Instagram, but I'm barely ever on YouTube, to be honest. It's just longer content. I don't have time for it right now.

Josh: I heard you say on your podcast that it could be the— it's the addiction the opposite way, the addiction to checking your feed, but then the addiction to creating and putting out.

Mimi: Yeah, that's true. I'm more addicted to the creative.

Josh: You didn't really expand on that because you were focusing on the addiction.

Mimi: Yeah, because most people cannot relate to what I have a problem with.

Josh: Not a problem.

Tommy: I don't think it's a problem.

Josh: We can react. And so do you think there is— do you think it's as detrimental if you're just hell-bent on creating?

Mimi: Yeah, because then you're not present, right? You're constantly thinking I can be honest about the fact that I do this, like, oh my God, what am I gonna create next? What do I need to share next? It's like this inner drive. I truly enjoy it, and I feel like it gives me purpose to know that I can share something with my audience that can make them smile, can teach them something. Maybe a recipe, maybe I show them a new place, maybe I share a quote. But it makes me feel good knowing that I can share something.

Josh: So is it external?

Mimi: So it is addicting.

Alex: Yeah, to do that.

Josh: But then I think, is it external pressure or people? No, saying that you're creating too much, or is it internal?

Mimi: Internal.

Josh: Okay.

Mimi: No, it's internal because I always question myself and I want to make sure that it's not from a place of an addiction where I can go. Let's say what I've implemented recently, like for the last 2 months, is I have one day where I don't post anything, 24 hours. I don't cheque anything, I don't post anything.

Tommy: How do you feel?

Mimi: I feel great. I feel amazing. I feel so much more present that day. Like I don't have that rush, like, because it's like a certain type of adrenaline probably that's constantly going through your blood where you're thinking, like, you're looking out for content whether you realise it or not. You're like, oh, this is good, or like, I want to share this, like, this can be helpful, right?

Tommy: And do you notice how different Mimi is on those days from a partner point of view?

Mimi: He's fucking serious.

Josh: You're managing Mimi's social media.

Alex: Exactly.

Mimi: I'm trying to convince him No, nobody's posting that day, like literally. It's quiet for 24 hours.

Alex: It's been quiet on my feed for 24 hours. But he doesn't have that problem. I don't have the problem of creating.

Mimi: He's more of a consumer, I would say.

Alex: I would say, so in terms of, to answer your question of what am I consuming now, is that the only sponsor that we do is Audible, and I'm really grateful that they sponsored us, is because I love audiobooks. Books, you know. And the reason even, you know, people might be thinking, how do these guys know so, like, so much, or the things they talk about— it's not like these are our ideas, you know. None of the— you— none of the things that you really know are your own. We're all— it's all passed on. It's all the things that we, we learn from. And I, I was just— I think we're living an incredible time. I just, like, hands— if you— there's— you can waste a lot of your time but you can also really grow as an individual and can really enrich your life by expanding your mind with some of the greatest minds out there. And this is why I said like a book like Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, like it's just incredible. Or even something a little different, it can be, let's say Alchemist, right, by Paulo Coelho, like a different book, or Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz, like very different books. These are, I'm naming some of the names that, you know, these are some of our favourite audiobooks and books that has allowed us to think differently. Because the power of content, even like this podcast, is that it can change somebody's life by changing their perspective. And this is why we always focus on mindset, because once your mind grows, it can't go— contract back to the same place. Like, once you gain awareness and you start thinking differently, it's hard for you to go back into a box.

Tommy: Whenever I'm watching you, Mimi, on social media, I'm always craving fruit. You always have the freshest fruit. You've got a way of describing, like, this peach, you got to taste this peach. I'm on the beach and this peach is amazing. I'm like, I need one of those peaches.

Mimi: Are you rapping? The simplest things are the best things, you know?

Josh: Well, maybe we take them for granted because we're not thinking about what the peach tastes like. I want a peach right now, actually.

Tommy: What's the fruit like in the US, do you think?

Mimi: I think European fruit are the best.

Tommy: Yes.

Mimi: Like specifically Spain, Italy, Portugal, like everything grows there, you know, it's amazing.

Josh: Alex was talking before the podcast started about our commitment to creating content, which is 7 days a week. We, we put out 7 episodes of the podcast. We at least have a couple of days off. We pre-record a few for the weekend. But you have a counter thought to what we do around—

Tommy: #pushback.

Josh: #pushback.

Alex: I just think right now what you're doing isn't per se wrong, right? I think—

Tommy: Oh, here we go. No, no, no.

Alex: That's what I was— to connect to what I was saying earlier is that we're all on our own individual journey. You gotta do what you gotta do. And most importantly, what you feel is the right thing. To do. If there's an inner drive that's calling you to make content for the next 10 years for every single day, and that's—

Tommy: and we have the domain name thedailytalkshow.com as well.

Alex: That's why there's daily talk shows, but they can be 5 days a week, you know, it's what days they're on.

Tommy: That's what my girlfriend says actually.

Alex: Yeah, exactly. I think it's just— so number 1, always don't listen to anybody else. Don't listen to me, don't listen to Mimi, don't listen to anybody, honestly. You can still listen, be open to what they're saying, but in regards to then absorbing it to yourself and saying, does this apply to me? Is this something that I can take away and learn from? And that's another thing that I really want to encourage a lot of people, you know, listening or watching this right now is that, you know, people are— especially now this whole woke movement and things like that, it's like things are not black and white, right? No one is perfect. Right, like it's very important to understand that no book you're gonna read, no person you're gonna listen to is perfect. And however, there's always things you can take away for yourself from certain individuals, the good and the bad. So this is how we learn. Like, you know, let's say Tony Robbins. People say, oh, what, he had this article come out about how he's whatever to these women. Whoever created that, mm, you know, I take from that individual, there are certain things that I've learned from him that has allowed me to become a better person. For example, practising gratitude in the morning, right? That practise by itself has allowed us to then move on to create a product like the Five Minute Journal, right? That was one of the main inspirations. So people can talk bad all they want about a certain individual, but like I said, no one is perfect and there's something good you can take away from those individuals. So for yourselves as well, as you guys, you know, explore whatever avenues, I think the most important thing is really, as you're working, is figuring out what works, what doesn't, and then really counterbalancing. Like, look at Casey Neistat, you know, he's become who he is, who he is because of his daily vlogs. You know, now that he's, you know, made it and he sold one of his companies and he's financially free, he's now actually trying to do less than doing more. And it's great that he's actually having that awareness to actually think of like, is this actually productive for me to just keep going at that same pace as I keep going?

Tommy: It's getting off the hamster wheel.

Alex: Yeah, so for you yourselves, like maybe you do have to go through this experience for a period of time. Like the same thing, it's not like, you know, when people listen listen to this, maybe, oh, it was all easy for them. No, there's periods of course where like when we worked from morning till night and till even 2 in the morning, 3 in the morning, all that stuff. I remember those days and they were glorious. Like to be honest, no, to be honest, yeah, I like, if I can tell you even those period after when we kind of made it and we asked ourselves a question, when was the last time I was genuinely happy? When I was broke on the come up, making it, like really grinding, That was the most important thing. So even now, having that opportunity, last year we sold one of our businesses, we now have an opportunity, we bought out our business partner from our Intelligent Change business, we have full control of that business. And we're excited to grow that team again, grow that business again, to create again. Just for that opportunity of that journey, of really creating something. And I'm really connected to even you guys is that, That's the most beautiful thing is follow your, you know, it's cliché to say passions, but your interests and follow whatever is calling you, whatever that feels right. If you're doing something that you have resistance towards and it's making you literally sick maybe and it's not healthy, then you should really readjust your life. However, if you're doing this daily thing and you're fired up and you're excited because you get to meet other people, you get to interact, you get to hang go with your mates and have fun, do it. Like, who says who's right? So I think the most important thing, the most important message I really wanna tell to you guys or anybody listening or watching is really you are your own navigation, your guide, your compass. Like, that's the reason we are here now as individuals but also as a couple and we've been able to create the life that we've created. It's simply because we're always trying to navigate our compass. And when we get swayed by other people, or it can be sometimes, you know, you come to a place like LA, you speak to me, oh man, yeah, I should have this massive house in Beverly Hills or something, or get a yacht when I'm in the South of France or something like that. But you're like, really? Like, is that important to me? And if that is, go and do it. But you, at the end of the day, you really have to be honest to yourself and ask what is important to you and what will make you happy.

Mimi: And I will add to that, it's like, are you doing it for yourself or are you doing it to impress others? That's one of the most important questions to ask, questions to answer whenever you're doing anything in life, period.

Tommy: Do you think that, so the advice around lifestyle or even there is that school of thought of saying no, not saying yes to everything. It feels like there's a point in your life where you have to say yes a bunch and you have to where lifestyle isn't the main factor. So I'm 29 now, Tommy's— what are you, 31? 31. 10 years, we're still going to be really young in 10 years' time. So part of it is it's like we can do this for then potentially the gain in the future. Do you think that younger people are seeing the lifestyle content and maybe underestimating those times that you guys were working really hard?

Alex: 100%. I think 100%, I think even as we, people apply to work with us and we do interviews, it's funny, they're like, why do you wanna work with us? Well, I'm so inspired by your lifestyle, I wanna have your lifestyle. Like, that's not the reason why you should be working for me. You know, you shouldn't want, like, you know, I understand you can be part of that journey to help you learn from kind of working with us how you can potentially get there. And the most important bit is to realise is that for our friend also, Carl Loco, and a poet, he once told me, you know, he comes from Brixton in London, very— now it's more gentrified, becoming more gentrified communities, but before it was like a lot of gang violence and things like that. That's where he grew up. And he would roll, you know, I met him through Virgin charity, Big Change charity. We're on the hike with like billionaires and things like that. And I remember because we come from similar backgrounds, I remember he told me, he's like, Alex, like, you know, everyone has to climb a mountain. You know, everyone, the billionaires and us, people just get different trails.

Josh: We took Runyon this morning.

Alex: Yeah, but even though Runyon's right, wherever everyone has to climb, everyone in their life will have have to climb some sort of a mountain. People who just have—

Josh: get—

Alex: they get born, they're on a different trail. You know, our daughter Alexa is on the easier path, but that easier path may have its own kind of different kind of challenges. Some people get the really hardcore trail where you might die, like, and it's really hard to get to the top. And how I'm trying to connect this to is really helping everyone understand is they have their own journey to go on. And once you understand and stop comparing your journey to other person's journey, and you can just focus on like, this is my trail, there's no point of me bitching about why am I not on this easy trail and I have this hard one. But you just get— you understand this is your path and that you still— like I said, the connection is, as he says, everyone still has to climb a mountain. Everyone's still going towards the same thing. People just have a different path. And you're on a different path, but don't bitch about your path versus the other path. So with a lot of younger people now, they're like, I want to be on the easy path, right? And I just want to be already on top, or I want— or how come I look at Alex and Mimi and they're just travelling all the time? Like, duh, I'm not sharing with you my— like, it's boring when I'm standing, you know, here on my made-up stand-up desk and just looking to the screen all day. It's not that exciting. Hey, here I am again, you know, like working working. Most of the time when I'm just in the office in London and it's raining, I'm just working. I don't share that. And I think—

Mimi: People get the wrong impression.

Alex: And then people say, well, you should share that. Bullshit. Because if I share that all the days when I'm just in my office and working, you're gonna turn off. That's not what people are signing up for. People are still, they want aspirational content. Like, you know, it's funny when people say and message like, yeah, yeah, I want the realness. No, nobody wants realness. The reason why people, it just, same thing why Sapiens is such a great book, it just really outlines human psychology. Like I remember even in our business, same things like year over year you see statistics and you see how you get let's say 10,000 visitors and this amount of visitors like buy. And I'm always like curious about that, like how come it's always this percentage? And what that really communicates is that we as humans, we're very We're still fairly—

Mimi: Predictable, yeah.

Alex: We're very predictable, we're very basic. And if you match certain criteria, this is the result you get. Tweak a certain criteria, you'll get a different result. And that's why it's so important for a lot of everybody, not even young people, it's everybody. Trust me, the young people, I think it's maybe they want it easy. The older people are just thinking they already missed the boat. Everyone has their own excuses and reasons. All I can tell you from my own personal experience is that you have to do what you have to do with the situations you have dealt. Hence my analogy before with the mountain. Just focus on your path and focus on what you gotta do. Both Mimi and I are from immigrant families. I have, you know, a single mother who— when my father like died when I was a teenager, my stepfather passed away a year later. There's a lot of messed up things that happen, you know, like we're always poor, we're all welfare in the times, all that stuff. And now we get to live this life. People can look at me just for one thing and just think, oh, he has it easy, he's probably some like trust fund kid, white privilege male, all that stuff. No, I had to go through my own struggles and I had to do what I had to do to create the life that I have. But the most important thing that I did is not not once again bitch and complain about my life. And most important thing that I've ever done in my life that I recommend for everybody to do is take responsibility for your own life. Because the moment I took responsibility for my own life, all changed because I stopped comparison, comparing myself to other kids or other people. And I started focusing on my own journey and what I got to do to get out of the situation that I'm in, right? Whether it be in a relationship, whether it be a financial job, university, whatever you got to do. And life just becomes easier. It's still hard, but at least you're not wasting your time comparing and wasting your energy on somebody else's life. And I think what a lot of us do nowadays through Instagram, whatever things, is we're living vicariously through other people. You know, you— so you, let's say you went on that Positano trip. Yeah, that we kind of maybe inspired you to go to. We inspire so many people to go to. However, you know, you're gonna have your own experience and you still have to do it. And you're gonna— and even when you go, and even if you do the same things that we, we told you to do, you will still have your own ideas. You also have your experience and your overall feeling that you will have based on your history, all that stuff. And that's the beauty of life, is we're unique individuals and we have our own unique journeys. And I really believe that once you take responsibility for your own journey, that's when life just changes and your mindset begins to expand.

Josh: What did you think of the Positano trip?

Tommy: That was amazing. Yeah, yeah, we went to a lot of the— there was one place, it's like the organic— I don't know, like it's the place where it's all white. Casa Bottega. Yeah, my girlfriend's very good with all the names and stuff. The good— I can travel to places places multiple times because I can't remember anything. And so I'm excited. I'm actually excited to go back.

Alex: That's why we go back every year.

Tommy: Uh, what's, what's like a big life question you're both asking yourselves at the moment?

Alex: Hmm, where should we live?

Mimi: Yeah, that's probably at the moment that would be the most important one, but I think we're getting closer to the answer.

Alex: Yeah, I think, yeah, definitely. And I think it's for us, as we talked about before, it's more about The amazing thing of, you know, we were big believers as ourselves is that once you create a vision for how you're gonna live your life. So, you know, we do this exercise where we plan out, you know, 3 to 5 years of how our life looks like, you know, from just every day. Where we live, who are our friends, what kind of work do we do? Like we We really get really clear, and it's a very important exercise to do because it will help you really expand your mindset of what is possible and where do you want to go. And you sound like, you know, you're living on the moon or you're now in this Beverly Hills $100 million mansion. Like, let's not go crazy. Well, like, what's within realm in the next 3 to 5 years for you? You can still stretch it, not be too realistic. However, once you start doing that, and we've done it a couple of times, and we've realised those things. And you're like, so now the big life question is like, oh snap, like this is real. Like we can actually manifest and create our reality once we actually also do the work and do the actual stuff behind the vision. But it's like, we have to be careful. Like this, we're actually gonna realise this. And so the question now is really what's next and how, and I highly recommend for people to do this exercise themselves. You know, you without just— it's better to have some sort of a vision, some sort of a direction that you're going towards than no vision at all. Now I would say most people have no vision for themselves in the future. They have no goals whatsoever. And they're just kind of like haplessly going through life. And then same thing, they will Bitch complain how the 1%ers are taking over the world and have what they don't have and things like that. It's the wrong focus. The people who are 1% or 0.1%, whatever that is, and it's not even have to be with financial, but even just living a better life. Because I also, I feel like we should put a lot of emphasis on attention about, you know, maybe some great family living out in some neighbourhood in Australia who just have great friends and barbecue on the weekend and just have fun and have loving relationships and hug their kids and just have a good time, those people are also realising and living their dream, right? And that can be your vision. Your vision can just be having a normal life and it's not travelling the world and just having good friends around you and a good community and playing basketball on the weekend, whatever that is for you. And getting clearer to that and refining it as you go will just enable you to create your life. And I think that's the most exciting part about life and that's why we're here, is that we're all figuring it out and we're just taking day by day. And it's truly amazing what we can create once we can have that awareness in our lives towards creating the future. And the future self that you have. And we can all redefine ourselves, you know, even looking back on my journey or Mimi's journey, it's like, I'm so grateful that I took those choices.

Mimi: Those risks.

Alex: And those risks, if you need to, to be able to create what we have now. And it's not like you won't know the picture right away, but just take it one day at a time. And you really realise it.

Tommy: Well, it feels like there's some universal dreams or aspirations that people have. Tommy and I always talk about, you know, home ownership. I know that for his family that's a big thing. Bri and I don't have, not planning on having kids. We're a little bit more sort of loose with those sorts of things. Home ownership for you guys, how do you think about it, Mikey?

Alex: So before we even answer that question, same thing. I think it's very important you start questioning all these cultural things. Owning a car, owning a home, going to school even, getting married, like all these things, question everything. Like I think it's very important for individuals to really question why are we doing these things, like getting an engagement ring, you know, getting a diamond ring for whatever.

Tommy: It's crazy, you read on Google, it's like, okay, it needs to be X amount of months to pay. It's so crazy.

Alex: It's all set in.

Mimi: But most people follow, that's the social norm, right? It's like we need a guide to follow, we can't just make our own decisions.

Tommy: I've been with my girlfriend for 12 years and I just can't work, every time I Google about engagement, it's just so complicated, I just can't do it, I can't work it out.

Mimi: Just get something unique and vintage.

Tommy: Then I look cheap.

Alex: No, no, I think this is where we have to redefine a lot of the culture.

Tommy: Yeah.

Alex: And a lot of the happiness.

Mimi: It's up to us, right?

Alex: And then I'm just, same thing, that's why I'm really grateful to have Mimi as my partner and that we're both open-minded to a degree. Of course, like if you have, you know, a partner who's like, I want a diamond ring, I don't know that you're questioning about this stuff.

Mimi: Yeah.

Alex: 'Cause she's bought into the culture.

Mimi: Yeah.

Alex: Right, that's what happens to a lot of people. You have to build a life there. And I think it's important to, you know, that's why Matrix was such a great movie and was so popular, is because I think it really, subconsciously, we all know the truth. You know, we all understand that this is all a game. You know, we understand that this is not forever. And it's not to get a little too existential or anything, but it's Once you're able to redefine life like that, that's when you're able to actually live life on your own terms. Because I think it's just sad that most people— that what happens with home ownership, right? Let's even answer that question. Why? And why I'm so grateful we didn't buy into that false dream. It's not like we're gonna not own a home forever. Yeah, but the whole idea of home ownership and mortgages and all that stuff, and this true American dream, is to just tie you down. What you realise once you start being a global global citizen is that each country, you're a cog in the machine. You're a resource.

Tommy: Is it fake safety? Because I guess like a lot of people, the narrative is—

Alex: it's not safe at all. No, it's like, it's— I, I think you touched on something very important. Everyone's scared. I'm scared. Every— the underlying thing is fear, right? And society will want to try to make you— how can they make you feel safe to a certain degree to sell you on something, right? A lot of marketing is fear-based, right? It's easier to sell somebody on losing something versus gaining something.

Tommy: We've got like 4 levels of travel insurance. Like when we got the car, rental car, they're like, oh, do you have the— what was the one they were getting us on?

Josh: Oh, the state.

Tommy: Yeah, there was some insurance. Like if we hit someone, like we'll cover it out.

Alex: Liability. Liability, yeah, we didn't have that one. I skip all those. I just have my Amex Platinum and they take care of that. I trust them. What I'm trying to say even with this example is that of even homeownership is that for us, because we, you know, like this is the vicious cycle that most people get into. You go to school, especially if you have to pay for school, right? If I'm not talking about you living in Scandinavia, you're getting paid to go to school, do that. I'll do that for sure. Yeah, right. But if you are here in the States, I, you have to go to school you have to take out loans and debt wherever you are, whether you go in-state, out-of-state, in-province, out-of-province, and you're gonna get $50,000, $100,000 worth of debt just because when you just step into the workforce, I don't think that's a smart move. You're already starting losing, right? And then the same thing when you do, when you get a house, there are certain fixed costs. That come in with buying a property, right? And it's— and those fixed costs is like your overhead. You're gonna have that forever. So you— to make your money, you can definitely make money on real estate, but it's gonna take you at least 5 to 10 years if everything goes well for you to do that. And a lot of people going— speaking back and connecting to that fear, a lot of people have that fear of, well, if I'm just renting I'm just throwing money away.

Josh: Rent money is dent money.

Alex: Rent money is dead money. So for us, the way we think about it is like, number one, you're— for renting, you're getting experience, you're figuring yourself out. So before, for example, I know that once we have a home or once we buy a home, we were like— real estate agents don't like us. And the reason they don't like us Because we're so certain. So if we're looking for a property even now to rent or buy, we're like, it's this street, this side of the street, these houses, right? And they're like, well, about— no, we already know, right? Because the reason we already know is because we've had so many experiences. We've moved through renting.

Tommy: Through renting.

Alex: Yeah, through renting. We moved almost every year. And not a lot of people would wanna do that, right? We moved almost every year for the last 7 years. Years. And it's not fun for a lot of people. And for us, by nature, we're very adventurous. That's why we can travel. And even now we're in LA for like 7 weeks, right? Like, but we're able to do that because we have the way we design our life and the freedom that we have. And as we said, as Mimi said in the interview earlier, which is so important, what are your top values? If safety is your top value, maybe it's then maybe home is the right thing for you, 'cause you're like, I don't care to discover myself and figure, I know this is like the neighbourhood where my parents grew up and this feels safe to me and this is where I wanna be. Like we met somebody today, a lady, she's like, I was in this neighbourhood when I was 6 years old. She's 70 now, she's like, I love it, that's where I grew up and my kids grew up. And she's great, that's cool for her. For us, another value of us, value of ours is really being able to have different choice, you know, having variety in our lives. We like to have new experiences, and because that is a bigger value to us, to us it's better to pay rent because it offers us more of an experience and flexibility. Flexibility, another value, flexibility. So it's— to really summarise everything that we're trying to say is, after this podcast, define your values. Like, really sit down and think about, like, what is important to me? Maybe it is safety, maybe it is variety, maybe it's, you know, whatever you think of what your values are. If you don't know what values are, Google it and then mark the one—

Mimi: Look at some inspiration.

Alex: Look at some inspiration, mark the one that speaks to you. And once you align to your values, you're able to make better choices. So with homeownership, or renting. I'm, I'm really glad we, we didn't buy a home and we didn't— we have Toronto.

Mimi: Yeah, yeah, we sold it because like we're like, we don't care about it, and we'll move to England. So yeah, we didn't want the hassle of renting it out, having to like worry about the tenant. But something I'll add to the home ownership and just ownership of any type of material goods, something that I've always been aware of— not sure where this wisdom comes from, maybe past last life, maybe this life, but just realising that you're not here forever on planet Earth. Anything you own here, you don't really own. You're still just renting. Even if you have that paper that says you own it, you're not here forever. If you're lucky, you're here for 100+ years, maybe with new technology a little longer, but you don't own anything. So just accept that, realise that, and then go back to the values. Like, for me, like, I don't really own anything. So like, I'd rather use, use that money to have, like Alex said, more variety and more freedom. And if one day it makes more sense to own, there's nothing wrong with owning, but don't be sold the wrong idea.

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: Where does luck fit into the equation, or it doesn't for you guys?

Mimi: I think there's serendipity. I like that word more than luck, like being at the right time at the right place, preparation and opportunity, you know, but there's there's definitely a certain level of like things coming together, and I think that definitely played a role in our lives. But without the hard work and persistence, none of it is going to work. So what's more important?

Alex: I, I think, yeah, to add on to that is, um, luck is major. And like I said, serendipity is a better word. Definitely, I agree with that. And with— however, I really believe you make your own luck.

Mimi: Exactly. And What I mean by that is you have to see that it's around you. Most people don't see it. Like, opportunities come to them. Even maybe you're single and this girl is like a friend of yours, but like you don't see that this could be a potential girlfriend. So it's up to you to see the serendipity, the luck that you already do have in your life. And that connects to gratitude, like being grateful for what you already have rather than constantly wanting some new things in your life.

Josh: What's been the most serendipitous moment for you, Mimi?

Mimi: Oh my God, so many. But like one that stands out the most was, um, years ago when— before even we moved to London, I tweeted something about my favourite author, Paulo Coelho. Like, I grew up reading his books. Have you read any of his books?

Josh: Yeah, I know, I know.

Mimi: Yeah, so Alchemist was like my Bible, you know. Like, I love that book because it talks about that adventure and like believing in something bigger than yourself and following your heart and following your dreams. So he, to me, he was like the biggest inspiration. And then he had a new book, I tweeted about it, and then he tweeted me back. And then he gave me Skype, we like chatted on Skype, and he said, when you move to Europe— because we were in the process of moving to London then— he said, just like, um, come and visit me. And we did, and we had like dinner at his house. Like, I met him in person. That was like the coolest thing that like just serendipitously happened over the internet. And like, now we're friends, you know. Yeah, never thought— I mean, that was the dream. So like, that happening to me shows that there's definitely something magical out there in the universe that we don't know about, but it's there.

Josh: Yeah, I definitely think the, the searching, having that lens on to find the things and connect the dots is important. Like, just— we bumped into— well, I just went, I was like, I want a coffee before this, and I went into Bluestone Lane and I bumped into a YouTuber who I've been following for years.

Alex: And which one?

Josh: Jesse, he rides the magic carpet through New York. And I was thinking, I actually was in my messages sending him a message yesterday and I was like, I won't send it. And then I bumped into him and I went up and we were chatting. So he's gonna come on the podcast at some point. But, you know, we've created this opportunity to come to you and be in this place. And that happens, but I'm still, I'm always looking for that kind of stuff.

Alex: Yeah, I think you still make it. Like, that's why I said you make your own luck to a certain degree, is you have to show up. Yeah, you know, it's like, I always loved that anecdote of like, you know, this guy kind of waited his whole life to— or it was like, it was either to win the lottery or something like that. And he gets to heaven, he's like, God, like, I've wished for, you know, to become rich and win the lottery. He's like, you didn't even buy the buy the ticket. You know? So it's like the same thing. It's like I can't like, God or universe, whatever magical power you believe in, it won't do anything for you. That's why with a lot of this, you know, Secrets, like a lot of people may look at us and think, oh, we're like vision, we talk about creating your vision or creating your vision boards, setting goals, all that stuff. But that's just, those are just exercises. Is to really make your mindset, like change up your mindset and create just your vision, work on that. So you're exercising, like what can I do, what can I create? And then you have to follow through with the actual work to get there and figure out, okay, this is my vision, this is where I wanna go, how do I get there? You then reverse engineer to how you're gonna get to that place. But setting the vision is just step 1, and then step 2, step 3, step 4 is the follow-through.

Josh: I was thinking this podcast that we do is, it's a serendipity machine because we show up daily.

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: And we create.

Mimi: Yeah.

Josh: And the amount of opportunities that's come from taking the action daily has been amazing. I know you've got the 5-Minute Journal, which that's an everyday practice. What's something for you guys that you've, other than that, because I'm sure each day you're spending that What's one practise that you implement daily that has made massive change for you?

Mimi: For me, I would definitely have to say it's meditation. It's just in the world that we live in now, there's just so much information, there's so much input, right? So you just have to find time to just sit still and be calm without any interruption.

Alex: That's what meditation is.

Mimi: Really, it doesn't matter what you practice. There's so many apps out there. I mean, I do vipassana meditation, but I saw Paramahansa Yogananda Yeah.

Josh: I'm reading that book right now.

Alex: Serendipity. Look, this, this house that we rented, it's cool that they have, well, and a lot, it happens to us a lot of times, you know, based off that we pick houses where they have a lot of, they're into the same stuff we're into. It's not like we bought that, brought it with us, it was here. I would have like, you know, Bhagavad Gita and stuff like that.

Josh: So it was— Well, my mom's guru is Paramahansa Yogananda. She's a yoga meditation teacher. And so I saw that as soon as I walked in here.

Mimi: Yeah.

Alex: But I think Same thing, the reason you notice that book is because you're aware of it. Oh yeah, and this is what my son would know.

Josh: He says, he calls him Yogamanda. My 2.5-year-old. Yogamanda.

Alex: But this just communicates how important it is to work, and this is what meditation will also help you to work on, that awareness of certain things. And this is why it's important of that awareness, what content you consume, how you think about your life, your thoughts, your words. Like all this shapes your life. This is why we've created the 5-Minute Journal. We created the 5-Minute Journal for ourselves because we understand that if you frame your, you know, the way the 5-Minute Journal works is that you start off, I'm grateful for, you talk about your gratitude. So you're already framing your day and you're starting out with feeling good. You're already starting with what you have, what you appreciate. I'm grateful for, right? I'm grateful to wake up. I'm grateful to wake up next to a beautiful woman by the name of Mimi next to my bed, you know, like I'm grateful to go to work today. And then next question is, what will make today great? And then that second question, once again, you're framing and you're envisioning what's gonna make, what's gonna be good about your day. And most people, they're not framing their day of like, what's great gonna happen to me? They don't even believe in that.

Josh: How bad is the traffic gonna be?

Alex: Yeah, exactly. So it's your intentions, your expectations, expectations, and then the last one is like your affirmation. I am, and that's a very powerful thing. Once you actually start reinstating the affirmation of who you are and creating that image of yourself, you will— with— you're communicating to your inner navigation system like, this is where you need to go. And same thing, like, the reason I bring this up, the reason— if you would be somebody like— there's a lot of people that come through this house, not everybody sees the Yogananda book. You know, you saw it because you're aware of it and that is something that you can now see. And that's why we always communicate to people how important it is to practise gratitude in this whole way. So to answer your question, one practise and habit I've created even without using the 5-Minute Journal, this is what I did before the 5-Minute Journal, is just simply as soon as you wake up, think of one thing that you're grateful for. Gratitude helps you. It's actually scientifically proven how it shifts your vibrations. You know, there's also a thing called HeartMath Institute, you can look into it, but it's legit. Like, your heart rate variability will change when you are feeling grateful. And if you start out your day in that way, you will start to also shift your reality. So with that, you know, I test so much of what we have in our lives is simply because we're grateful for it. And the way, if you wanna also connect spirituality and all that stuff, let's just be simple. For the people in your lives, for the friends or even your family, if you have somebody in your life that's ungrateful, do you want to do things for them?

Mimi: Or be around them.

Alex: Or be around them? No. However, when you have somebody around you who is grateful, who is appreciative, Like, isn't that a person you want to attract? You want to give, and you also want to give more, you know? Somebody like gives you something as an appreciative something, you're like, hey, right away we have this reaction to want to give, practise reciprocity and give something back to them. And same thing, whatever you want to call it, God, universe, it just likes gratitude. It likes grateful people. And also it's like, oh, why would I give these things to people who don't appreciate and keep complaining and bitching, right? Versus this person, Alex, So say who's always grateful and he has nothing, but he's so happy, he's being appreciative even for the little things that we have. Why don't we give that person more? And this is just really how the world works.

Mimi: Also known as law of attraction.

Alex: Yeah, and I really believe that.

Mimi: You attract where you focus on.

Alex: Even with relationships, same thing like I said, friendships, romantic relationships, anything else, is to bring that same energy. If we are appreciative ungrateful for the people around us, and we also appreciate it for the things that they do. Same with our employees and all that stuff.

Mimi: Our children.

Alex: It will bring out more of that. It will bring out more of the good. They want to do more good. And this is why, to me, this is one of the— you know, there's a lot of talk about gratitude, and this, however, it takes practice. It's an exercise.

Mimi: It's not about talking about it.

Alex: Yeah, it's about doing it every day, and it really takes It takes time, this is why I recommend for anybody, like I said, you don't have to buy the 5-Minute Journal. If you do, it's great, it's pretty, it makes the habit a lot easier to do. However, you can do it, like I said, if you can train your mind to do that, that'll be incredible. It's just not all of us have that willpower to be able to do that. But if there's one habit that I've trained myself to do is simply just be grateful. First thing in the morning, say your day, and then the rest will take care of itself.

Tommy: Well, we're so grateful that you've spent so much time with us.

Alex: Yeah, we went way over.

Tommy: Maybe we wasn't even supposed to be here.

Josh: That's it, because we got here and you didn't tell us, mate.

Tommy: So we were coming. But I think like—

Alex: Surprise.

Tommy: I think influencers, all that sort of stuff, get like, it has a certain sort of connotation to it or a certain vibe. And I think that you guys are an example of using platforms to be of service. And I think that the life that you can simplify it in the lifestyle stuff, but what you're doing is you're showing your experiences opening up possibilities for other people. I think that that's an amazing service and something we really appreciate.

Mimi: Oh, thank you so much for saying that. Yeah, it means a lot.

Alex: Yeah, thank you guys for coming by, for making this impromptu, serendipitous podcast. But it's been a true pleasure having you guys over as well. We just also really appreciate the time and most importantly your effort, right, to put in that seed to make it happen. Because the same thing, like, it's not like you guys have a massive following, but you keep pushing at it and you're able to have these opportunities happen more and more because you show up. So anybody listening or watching right now, because this is being recorded, so you can cheque out this video on your channel, yeah, is that it's truly about just showing up and being grateful for showing up every day. Absolutely. Thank you guys for showing up.

Tommy: Thanks, Alex. Thanks for being here. It's a daily talk show. If you've enjoyed the show, feel free to share it on Instagram. You can do the, the old screen grab thing and tag us up, or you can even take a photo of where you're listening because that's always pretty fun too. hi@thedailytalkshow.com is the email address if you want to send us an email. Otherwise, see you tomorrow, guys.

Josh: See you guys.

Mimi: Bye-bye.