The Secret to Overcoming Adversity and Achieving Business Success with Carey Smolensky – EP 207

Justin Donald: What's up, Carey? So good to have you on the show.

Carey Smolensky: Great to be on the show, Justin. Always great seeing you.

Justin Donald: Hey. This is fun. Well, it was great catching up together off air before we hit record just to hear about how life's going on. It's always one of my favorite things to actually interview good friends on the show. So, this is just a real pleasure to get a chance to spend some time with you.

Carey Smolensky: Likewise. Looking forward to it.

Justin Donald: Well, we've been able to do a lot of life together over the years. We've known each other for, I don't know, over 20 years, right?

Carey Smolensky: A couple decades.

Justin Donald: Somewhere in the range of 20 years.

Carey Smolensky: Back since the 1900s almost.

Justin Donald: That's right. That makes us sound really old but you have just been a great friend, a great confidant. You've always been great at your craft, which we'll get into here today but you're someone that I think lives an exceptional life. And we were talking earlier before we hit record about just a special season for you getting a chance to be able to, and you've been able to do this with each of your kids. They moved on, they went off to school, got their home, got married, all the things as they're growing up but you've had a season with each of them where they've moved back in and you've gotten some extra time with them and how special that is, right?

Carey Smolensky: Yeah. Not only is it unexpected but it's something you don't know what's happening. And when it's there, it's just so amazing. When my son moved to California for a while, he came back. He stayed with us since then. He lives in the city. My daughter and her husband and their two kids 15 months ago sold their house and then found another one and then started construction on rebuilding some things. And they've been with us for 15 months until a few weeks ago. And we had a full house again like it was amazing. So, time like that with family that grew up in your house, and now they're back, and now it's an extended family, it's just precious and something we'll always cherish.

Justin Donald: And a cool thing about you and Diane is I know you guys have such a great relationship with your kids that for a lot of people, I think they'd be like, "What? You spent how many months together? Like, were you pulling each other's hair out?” But I know you guys weren't. I know you guys are close like best friends. And on each side, your kids would say how amazing it was being there. And you obviously say how amazing it was being together for that. And that's really cool. That's really special that you can have that type of relationship even in such close proximity.

Carey Smolensky: No, of course, plus our grandkids are five and three. So, for 15 months, waking up in the same house and being there, and me going off on events and Diane being here with them. And then I come back and, of course, I'm always getting them gifts from travel and stuff like that. It's just memories that I can just cherish. So, it's been pretty awesome.

Justin Donald: That's so cool. Well, one of the things I love about you is how you travel the world, how you live these cool experiences, how you're always bringing your friends along. And you also have a profession that's allowed you to travel the globe and do some cool things. So, I'm curious, how on earth did you get into the event space because you've been running your events company for 25 plus years at this point, 30 plus years, is it? Oh, my goodness.

Carey Smolensky: Let's stop talking about that. So, I started in high school, and that was over four-plus decades ago. So, I started in high school as I started DJ Entertainment Company and Mobile Music Interactive Entertainment is still one of our brands. We provide DJs, MCs, dancers for high-end events, weddings, quinceaneras, bar mitzvahs, corporate galas. And then about 37 years ago-ish, I started with my wife Carey Smolensky Productions. And that became a one-stop source for corporate or social clients. And the interesting thing is that's evolved over the years, which started as an event planning company and has really morphed into complete audiovisual production. And then we have a separate CSP Worldwide, which handles event planning on the meeting side. And about 20 some years ago, I wanted to expand what mobile music was doing so I created Storm Interactive Entertainment and put mobile music on steroids.

By that, I mean, the DJs, MCs, and dancers were there. We layered on beatboxers, rappers, live musicians, vocalists, percussionists, cirque entertainers, and all kinds of really cool stuff that really isn't being done on the norm. So, I've always looked to evolve in different ways. And on the production side, which for the last 30 years really has been 80% of our business, the majority of that is not even local. It's everywhere else around the country, maybe 20% is here in the Chicagoland area. And the rest of that is continental US and then some global things. So, it's evolved in a way and I have amazing clients for up to 35 years already. And there's longevity in that and we're always bringing on new brands and new opportunities and it's constantly growing. And with AI, it becomes even more exciting.

Justin Donald: Yeah. So, for those of you listening that are in the event space or want to throw an event or do these big events, I would say be sure to reach out to Carey and his team because they do fabulous work. They're easy to work with. They're awesome. Carey and I have known each other forever, so it's easy to see how you can get to know your clients and then be able to create what you know is best for them based on their personality. And even the vision that you see for the future that they may not yet see. You guys do some really cool things. And I'm excited to see how you're shaking it up with AI.

Carey Smolensky: Well, what Carey Smolensky Productions has evolved into is really a boutique production company. And I say that because we treat every client with VIP treatment. We understand needs. We listen. We don't just tell them what we do, and it's not about us. It's about understanding budgets. It's understanding needs. It's understanding how to best support these clients. And as a result, our clients range from companies like Cutco Cutlery for, again, like, almost 35 years to Tony Robbins Platinum Partners, where one of the last events I did. It was the last event just before the world shutdown. I was finishing up a seven-day event in LA. And then March 17th flew home on a red eye, and there were no live events for 15 months.

So, we're always hit with different challenges and I always use the word challenge as opposed to a problem because a challenge has a solution. And I've always had the attitude that there's really no plan B and you have to figure things out. And that happens in this industry as well, just as it happens at a live event when you never know what can happen or what needs may pop up or what else, I mean, we've had protesters come into some of our events based on the speakers and all kinds of interesting things happen.

Justin Donald: Wow. So, okay, we got to dive into the COVID story because to be shut down for 15 plus months for like an events business, I mean, how did you guys weather that storm and what did that look like? And how did you pivot into some sort of moneymaking opportunity in such a weird time in our economy?

Carey Smolensky: Yeah. I never expected the events business to just close and stop. I mean, 9/11, we had events that were postponed. There were new regulations in protocol. There were safety issues but this was the real deal. And as I flew back on that redeye, I had communicated with my director of operations, Brent, who ran our San Diego office. And so, I know Brent was with me for 18 years. And sadly, he passed away unexpectedly this past January.

Justin Donald: Oh, I hadn't heard that. Sorry to hear that. What a great guy.

Carey Smolensky: Yeah. So, he was amazing. He was a huge part of our team. And, basically, I had him deal with all of our clients, and I told them I'm focusing on another direction, and I needed him to deal with postponements with the rescheduling and all that. And I jumped on to another one of our brands, which is Custom Specialty Promotions. It's the branded merch division that originally was part of Carey Smolensky Productions. And then a couple of decades ago my wife, Diane, incorporated it as a woman-owned business. And we do things for the medical community but not medical equipment. So, I decided to create a new division in that company and it was PPE, personal protective equipment. So, within five or six weeks, I became a preferred emergency supplier to the government. And we were approved and we were vetted. And that emergency proclamation came with a double-edged sword, shall we say.

Number one, any orders approved would be prepaid in full by the government. Number two, 25% of that order had to be delivered within three weeks or the entire amount needed to be refunded. So, you know where those challenges could come in. And the first order that we were approved for was for a million isolation gowns. And one other thing I quickly learned I couldn't trust any of our vendors.

Justin Donald: Yep. That makes sense.

Carey Smolensky: And up until that point, I always said, “You know I have a Bachelor of Science in Biology I never use?” Well, this time it kind of came in handy because I understood the scientific needs. I understood the GSMs, the grams per square meter of the different fabrics for different surgical needs. So, we needed to provide half a million of one size and other half a million of another spec. And the only way to do it effectively and be cost-competitive was to have boots on the ground in China to personally have the money transferred to the Chinese manufacturing company, one of which was vetted and approved in the appendix of the CDC. So, it wasn't something we just randomly found. But keep in mind that first 25% had to be in hands within three weeks.

So, the boots on the ground stayed until the production was complete. They made sure 25% of it went on airfreight. The other 75 went on fast vessel to Long Beach, where we railed it to Chicago, palletized here. And of course, these are all things I had never done before. It's a whole new learning curve and the stress level of a roughly $5 million order that could go sideways was an interesting time period. So, I know my wife kind of kept her distance from me as I dealt with that. And long story short, we delivered early with four days to spare. And that was with all the different delays that came along the way. When we delivered the balance, the palletization specs were changed and we adapted to them and we are still a supplier to government. Not on a prepay basis but things right now, providing things for the penal system, whether they are gloves, nitro gloves, or whether they're commissary gloves.

When no one had COVID tests, I had pallets. And then all of a sudden, the president was giving away for free. So, I dealt with engineering companies that had to test their people on a regular basis in large quantity. So, it's constantly evolving. And the way I look at it is and I keep going back to this kind of an example when it just so happens I have this here. When I wrote my book, Living Life with PASSION and Helping Others, back in 2015, there's something I talk about, about a five-minute rule. And to me, it's something where when something tragic happens that's beyond your control, you don't spend more than five minutes on it because your reaction to whatever has to be done needs to be cognitive and not emotional. And in this situation was really a perfect example. Okay. Everything's canceling. Nothing's coming in. We have a mortgage, we have rent, we have employees, we have bills.

There was no plan B, so I needed to figure it out. I did. We had our best year ever and didn't have a need to lay anyone off and became stronger as a brand as a company after that. Oddly enough, just before COVID, I signed an agreement to redo our entire website with Patrick Dillon, as you know.

Justin Donald: Oh, yeah. We’ve had him on the show as well with Wise Digital.

Carey Smolensky: Absolutely. Wise Digital. Highly, highly recommend. And we did a major redo that was launched seven months into COVID. Now, was it the right time? Maybe not the right time to start making those payments but I can tell you that the website we have now, compared to what we had pre-COVID, delivers many, many new Fortune 500 vetted leads through our chat, through our AI, through just the whole system. My old website looked good and was a tool for current clients, but didn't bring anything in. So, we've just expanded systems and during COVID aside from me battling a personal hack that someone created a fictitious person using all of my social media images.

Justin Donald: Oh, wow.

Carey Smolensky: So, make long story short, there was someone out there who looked like me, had my pictures of lifestyle pictures and traveling and everything else. And every fifth or sixth picture, there was something about crypto.

Justin Donald: Oh, boy. I could relate all too well.

Carey Smolensky: And they created this fictitious person who is an expert in finance. And it wasn't until a woman, Jane from London, started sending me some very interesting emails that kind of made me go to the police and the FBI. Like, this person stalking what they're doing. But what really was happening is she was being victimized by the person who was using my images, and she was smart enough to go to one of those images where I was standing with another author, and she googled the book of that author, went to his personal page, saw I was tagged in his page, found out who I was, and then we brought in NBC Investigative News, and they connected. They found her and found it was being done in a third-world country. And it was a Nigerian team doing it but they were trying to lure people into relationships and then have them abscond them with their money. So, yeah, that happened during COVID too because I didn't have enough going on. I had to deal with that.

Justin Donald: Oh, my goodness. I can't believe I never heard that story. That is just crazy. I mean, I've had a lot of people impersonating me, especially in social media and a lot of people. And it almost always is some sort of crypto type of scam.

Carey Smolensky: Oh, this was the real deal, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, all interlinking, all posing fake jobs and fake references. Like, if you go down that rabbit hole, it was deep. And we got that stopped but there's always something and any of these things that happen you could be consumed with it, you could go into depression with it, or you could embrace it and realize I got to do something about it. So, it's just keeping that radar on and being aware. It's like when you buy a new car, all of a sudden you see that car all over, you see ads for it. It's always there. It just wasn't on your mind.

Justin Donald: That's right. That's right. Well, I'm curious, this business that ended up becoming the reason you had your best year ever at that point in time in COVID 2021, I'm assuming, but you said the business is still up and running today. I would imagine the volume is a lot less. So, volume on that has decreased but your volume then on the event side and on the promotion side for those two other companies is probably significantly higher.

Carey Smolensky: It is. We do a lot of things for different memorial parks in the state, a lot of things for the government in just supplies they’ll need that it goes on and on. So, we have those opportunities and, whenever possible, we'll fill them. But it's now an adjunct to what we do, and it's another aspect to our website. So, we get inquiries that way. And it's just a matter of growth but in the right direction. And it was an interesting, stressful time, but it was a growing time. And every time you go through growth pains, you come out stronger. And I can tell you, when we were back with live events, somehow we were all out of free, and couldn't offer free things anymore. You kind of have a different perspective on things because so many times in business, we all do things because of opportunity. And there's a point where that only goes so far and you've outgrown that. Not saying that's right or wrong but it's right for different people at different times. And we quickly outgrew that scenario.

Justin Donald: Yeah. Well, I remember during COVID, you were trying to figure out how am I going to pivot. And we even discussed at that point in time, me investing into your company or finding a creative way for us to do some business together. And I know we're really close to going down that path.

Carey Smolensky: We were. And then when I saw what was happening, there was no way I wanted to bring you into something that could spiral down. And that's exactly what it was because this was on another end of the business. It’s just totally a 180. And we’ve since COVID just rebuilt and got stronger with the types of clients we're dealing with. And I don't want to use the word toxic but we all have clients that could be toxic or detrimental to our business because it's a never-ending hole of need, and the budget doesn't match the desire. And it's just a different and we focus on the clients that we've had for all these years. And the new ones quickly realize that we give as much support to a brand new client as someone who's been with us for decades.

And there's still a love for what I do. And that shines through in our team as people that have been with me for decades as well and do amazing work. And we're always adding to the team. So, it's a constant progression just like any other business. But I like the diversity where it goes from one end of the spectrum to the other. And now we're getting back into the global market as well.

Justin Donald: Well, you've always been resourceful. You've always found a way no matter what it is whether you had several events at one time and had a real quick created another, a third team, a fourth team, a fifth team to be able to handle all the events to totally pivoting, getting outside your lane, getting outside your zone of genius, and starting a company that could provide during those 15 months. And it's cool that it's still up and running. So, well done. But what I think a lot of people don't know is you live life to the fullest. You have many other talents. I know you love to travel, but one of the things that I think is the coolest about you is you have won a cigar-rolling contest. Right? Talk about that.

Carey Smolensky: Well, that's going back in time.

Justin Donald: I know. This is a cool story, though.

Carey Smolensky: Yeah. Okay. So, that's really back in the 1900s. There used to be the Big Smoke, which was an event held in seven cities in the U.S, Chicago being one of them, Vegas being another one of them. And it was at I think was the Hyatt here in Chicago. But the point was it was an evening for I don't know how many people they invited. I think they sold up to a thousand tickets at a time, and it was maybe $250 a ticket, and you'd go for a three-hour experience and VIP, which was maybe another hundred or something you got in an hour earlier. And they gave you a book and you go to each of the vendors, get your cigars, there's food, there's drinks. Well, La Gloria Cubana had a booth and they had a roller there from Cuba who was rolling cigars. And there were a number of chairs on the other side of the table, and people could sit down and they would be given quick instruction, the parts and pieces, and go ahead and roll them. And then you put it in a baggie with your name on it.

And after everyone's done, they look at the six or however many people were at the table, and they maybe pick three of them to go in this giant bin, and the others didn't quite make it, and they can go back with the people. So, mine went into the giant bin, and at the end of the event, that's when they're pulling the last ones and they have their team of aficionados going through all of these cigars, evaluating the tightness of the roll, how the cap was done, the cut, every aspect of it. And mine was the last one and it was picked as a winner. So, what did that mean? It meant I was the champion of Chicago. So, I was invited to go to South Beach with my wife for the Super Roll, which was a competition of all seven of us. But it was also five days of wining and dining and amazing experiences. It was just a phenomenal, phenomenal trip.

I came close but didn't win the overall. But it was a very cool experience. And South Beach was a lot of fun and a little Havana, that area. And just the networking and it was an amazing time. So, that was a cool story back in the day. But I do enjoy cigars but that was actually the first time I had rolled one from scratch.

Justin Donald: That’s impressive first time and you won the Big Smoke rolling contest for Chicago. So, I love that.

Carey Smolensky: Crazy part about it, the following year, my wife came with and she came in like second or third. So, we weren't able to go back but it was insane.

Justin Donald: Well, nice job, Diane. I love hearing that too. That's cool. Well, you and I have smoked many cigars on your back patio while relaxing and catching up and telling stories. So, I actually haven't smoked a cigar in a long time, over a decade. I don't smoke at all but I have very fond memories of some of our time, some of our stories.

Carey Smolensky: It tends to be forced relaxation as well.

Justin Donald: Yeah, totally. And I think one of those times turned into a little Thunderdome submission fighting contest with Jon Vroman, if memory serves me correctly.

Carey Smolensky: I believe so.

Justin Donald: So, too fun. Yeah. I think he said that there is no way I could submit him in less than what it was either…

Carey Smolensky: It was a short amount of time.

Justin Donald: And he tried to play keep away to not be submitted, but I do believe I submitted him in under whatever it was. It was under 30 or 60 seconds. So, I had to chase him down. But that was fun. Good stories. Good memories.

Carey Smolensky: Always.

Justin Donald: So, you've done some pretty epic travel as well. You've done it with your family. You've gone on a bunch of really cool trips yourself. I'd love for you to share just, number one, why that is so important to you. And number two, maybe some cool experiences that other people should consider, whether it be with their family or just solo.

Carey Smolensky: Well, traveling, first of all, is understanding cultures is understanding that not everyone in the world does things the way we do and that our way isn't necessarily always the right way, and expands knowledge and expands community, and it's a huge learning opportunity. So, I'm grateful for the amount of traveling that I do. Usually, when we produce events, I arrive the day before setup because there's always delays, there's always different things that can happen, but it also gives me an opportunity for maybe a few hours in a new town or even the same town just to kind of relax and soak that in and prepare for what I'm focusing on. Because when I'm here, multitasking is not a good thing to do, but we all do it, and we do that in necessity. But when I do travel and I'm focused on a particular event, I can completely focus on that event, which is a benefit to it.

Aside from traveling around the world with our family, I've been to Israel a number of times on my own. Just before COVID, I was doing an event in Vienna, and Israel was a short round trip away. So, that's where I recorded one of my more recent songs there. And I have a producer out there and a whole bunch of friends. And it's I would say the most beautiful country I've ever been in. And I'll use the word beautiful not just for the beauty of where it is, but for the beauty of the people. And despite the attempts by Iran to fund protests and burn the American flag and say, "Death to America,” and the overall end result, wanting to kill every single Jew there is on the planet, Israel has Jewish people in all colors, all backgrounds, has Muslims and Arabs that all live in harmony. So, the catchphrases that people use don't apply because they've never been there and they haven't seen it.

And there is an unbelievable respect for another human being wherever you go. Because I know every time I come back, I know I'm back in the States because no one really cares about anyone in public when you're on the street, which is a sad state of affairs. But when October 7th happened and Hamas attacked Israel, I couldn't just sit and watch it. Every song that I've written has been out of an emotional reason, and I started writing lyrics for a song that is now out with the music video. It's NOW! A SONG FOR PEACE. And I'm very proud of it. It's a very powerful song and the visuals on music video are very powerful. When I was out there, I also had a camera crew with me. So, I filmed the documentary, which is an hour and it'll be released in the coming months. But I do have a five-minute trailer to it on ShalomPassion.com.

But really, anything I do, I have a home page website which is just my name, CareySmolensky.com and there are links to business and my passions and everything from my book to the Passion Summit that's going to come back at some point. And all the different things they do, being a recording artist. I do all these things because I really believe life is way too short and I get bored with things very quickly. I'm an adrenaline junkie, and any time I can climb down a building or do something extreme, I'm up for that challenge. And most recently almost, I think it was about a year and a half ago I did my first shark dive and it was done with bull sharks. So, we were at 80-foot depth for 35 minutes. And we were surrounded by about 13 bull sharks, all 10 to 12 feet in length. And of course, I had to hire a video cameraman to document that.

So, I got that out there too, which is just awesome because I am an experienced diver. I'm a rescue diver but I never knew how to prepare for what I would be feeling, and it was just a surreal emotionally-targeted focused state of mind of just peace. I was just in awe of these alpha predators. I mean, that was definitely one of the more extreme things. And this is no cage. This is no chainmail suit.

Justin Donald: That's like, “All right, don't move. Whatever you do, don't move.” But I don't know if they're like horses where they can sense your emotions, like you really do have to be at peace, right?

Carey Smolensky: So, interesting, the bull sharks are sneaky. They come at you and you need to make sure they see your eyes then they dart away, and then they sneak up from behind you. But we're all wearing tanks, so that doesn't help them very much. But that's what they do. So, it's being aware of your surroundings and placement of where the dive master was, where I was, where the videographer was. We had each other's backs looking there. And the coolest thing about that, and I've been scuba diving since college. And as I went up the ladder in certifications, anytime I wanted to dive somewhere, I'd find a dive master, find somewhere that's PADI certified. This time and it was off of Cancun, I wanted to find someone and just plenty of people that'll take you diving, but this one person said, "Well, I can take you, but before I take you, you need to dive with me first.”

And we went on a cenote dive, which are freshwater caverns, pitch black. And it challenges a number of your skills, and I had never done that before. So, we had an amazing cenote dive. The next day we went shark diving. But I chose that divemaster because it wasn't about, "Oh, here's another person I can take on a shark dive.” It was him being careful for his own safety, careful for my safety, and vetting that who he's taking can handle themselves because there's currents, there's all kinds of things that can happen, and it was just an awesome experience. So, there's lots of stories like that.

Justin Donald: Oh, that's amazing. Well, I've been diving since, I don't know, I was maybe 28 or 27 and I love it. I think it's great. I've not done a cenote dive. I mean, I dove in some caverns that aren't pitch black but have never really done like a formal cenote dive or a shark dive, though I've seen many sharks in my dives…

Carey Smolensky: Right. Below you or around you.

Justin Donald: I’ve never had like a group of sharks surrounding me like that. So, sounds amazing.

Carey Smolensky: Ever do a night dive?

Justin Donald: I have done a night dive. Yeah. It's one of the most beautiful things in the world.

Carey Smolensky: Yeah. It's pretty spectacular.

Justin Donald: You think you won't see anything but you see everything. You see all the stuff that you don't normally see. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Carey, this has been so much fun. You've always been incredibly passionate about life and the people that you do life with. I'm always very vocal about how important it is to be living life on purpose and to pick the people that you do life with, that you live life with, and you do a great job with that.

Carey Smolensky: I appreciate it.

Justin Donald: I know you shared where they can learn more about you and your website but tell them where they can learn more about your promotion company and your events company.

Carey Smolensky: So, all the businesses can be found at CSPWorldwide.com. That's Carey Smolensky Productions, CSPWorldwide.com. And everything else that I do is my name CareySmolensky.com. And that links to the business and links to all my music videos and I've got a YouTube page under my name that has not only the music videos, but the documentary, trailer, and some other cool stuff, that shark dive too. But it's a very cool journey we're on, and there are so many people that I think miss out on so many opportunities. But again, you have to want those opportunities. And I know it's not a judgment thing because some people are very content in not doing things that push their limits.

And to me, and I'm only speaking for myself, it's not fulfilling to me to just get by and not be in situations whether it's death-defying, whether it's life-threatening, whether it's just crazy heights, or things you just don't do on a regular basis. And I always believed you have to trust in the system. If you're prepared, that's the system. You have the training. If you're jumping out of a plane and you've never done it before and you have someone on your back, you've got to trust he or she doesn't want to die either. So, you have to trust that whatever you're doing, and you vetted that it's as safe as it possibly can be. So, it's not just randomly going out into crazy things.

Even my last trip to Israel, which was in December, where I volunteered for two weeks, we did some pretty, but we were on the border of Gaza. I was at the kibbutzes that were attacked. I was at the Nova Festival. I met families of the hostages, and we were in some places where we did some amazing work but we were also in a spot where if a missile were to come, we'd have ten seconds to take cover where there wasn't cover. So, there's interesting situations like that as well. And you realize that with democracy, whether it's here in the US or it's in Israel, there's the majority of the world that is against you. And Islamic Jihad calls Israel the little Satan and calls the United States the Great Satan. And their goal and they've said it and people need to believe it is they want Sharia law to take over. They don't want freedom. They don't want democracy. They don't want women's rights. And we're seeing it on the streets of the United States on a more regular basis, being funded by Iran.

So, we're in a very dangerous climate. And not being aware of it doesn't help. There's always crazy people out there. Just in London, someone shot up yesterday. They shot up a Taylor Swift dance party of children just because...

Justin Donald: I saw that. Yeah.

Carey Smolensky: So, how do you protect yourself against the unexpected and that's what everyone just needs to do to be aware and to be vigilant and to not have their head in their phones and know that when you're out and about, you're not safe. Anything can happen. And it's a different world we're in now. And it's like every generation says that. I remember my grandparents saying that. I remember my parents saying it and now I'm saying the same thing. And it just gets worse and worse in so many respects.

Justin Donald: Yeah. Seems like, I mean, it is a crazy world. Thank goodness we're not in election year, right?

Carey Smolensky: Yeah. Yeah. That's right. And you know that as well. Everyone's entitled to have their own beliefs and vote for who they want. But there's so much hatred and there's so much negativity that it never used to be like that. You know, it was never sides. It was never this against that. And something definitely has to change.

Justin Donald: Well, I tell people this all the time, in investing, you want to know what the worst-case situation is. You want to know what the best-case situation is. But it's almost never either of those. It's almost always somewhere in the middle. And I think the same thing is true with politics. We don't have to fearmonger. It's not going to be the worst-case scenario. It's not going to be the best-case scenario. It's going to be somewhere in the middle. And then life will go on, you know? But, yeah, I do think it's smart to be paying attention to what's going on globally, know what's happening. And so, I appreciate you bringing some of that up. And you had said earlier about kind of growth and we always teach our daughter that growth happens outside your comfort zone. And you have to be willing to get outside your comfort zone. And sometimes it's not easy. And at the beginning, the first few times, it's certainly not easy.

But different people have different personalities, different temperaments, and so it's not always easy to get outside that comfort zone, but also real excitement, real passion, real purpose also exist outside the comfort zone.

Carey Smolensky: Of course. Of course.

Justin Donald: So, you may not get to experience those in full color unless you're willing to escape safety and comfort and the norm. So, I like that you bring all that up. I'm someone that has done all the crazy stuff like skydiving and hang gliding, but I don't think you have to do that. I think you have to be that extreme.

Carey Smolensky: Whatever pushes your limits.

Justin Donald: That's right. But it's just whatever is normal and common. Can we get a little bit outside the donut, as we like to call it? You got to get outside the donut. Hey, thanks for your time. This has been totally awesome. I love ending every episode with a question to our audience and that question is this: What is one step that you can take to move towards financial freedom and living life on your terms, a life that you truly desire? Like you see Carey living, what does that look like to not live life by default, but to live life by design? So, take one thing that Carey talked about today and put it into action immediately. Thanks so much, and we'll catch you next week.

Carey Smolensky: Thank you. Appreciate you. Much love.