Do you want freedom?
I bet you’ve thought about what you want freedom from, but what about the freedom you are moving toward?
To be truly free, Brain David Crane, says you have to define what you are for, not just what you are against.
You need to define your purpose.
He’s a serial entrepreneur and currently the founder of two companies, Spread Great Ideas, a digital marketing agency and a software company, CallerSmart, an app that helps people avoid unwanted calls and phone scams.
Currently, he lives in Bali, but escapes to Europe during the summer and calls Tennessee home.
He first found success by building a regional recycling company with his mom and sold it a year after college.
There are a ton of insightful lessons packed into this conversation including:
- Why Brian felt lost at the age of 24 after experiencing the success of selling his first company.
- How being humbled by a financial failure provided him with mentorship and an apprenticeship he needed despite his previous success as an entrepreneur.
- Teaches me about the hedonic treadmill, our ability as humans to return to relative happiness after a major positive or negative event.
- Why a major downside of being a digital nomad is a lack of a routine.
Life Skills That Matter In This Episode
- Build community.
- Self-directed learning.
- Self-awareness.
- Journaling.
How Brian Works and Thinks
- Wake up time: 7:00am
- Core work activities + habits: 1) Taking notes on Apple Notes so they’re accessible everywhere. 2) Using really long subject lines for emails and keeping them on specific topics. 3) Keeping separate personal and business email accounts.
- Ideal work environment: On his treadmill desk, for 6-8 hours per day, broken into two buckets before and after lunch and a workout.
- Definition of success: Working on projects he cares about, with people he likes, that make an impact.
- 90-day goal: Sell CallerSmart and effectively allocate his time to other businesses his growing.
Inspirational Quotes
“I had this set of skills that I had learned at a corporate job and I was actually being able to apply them into something different.”
“I sold everything except for a treadmill desk and a motorcycle that I really love and started to be nomadic and started to travel.”
“At the beginning and the end of the day is your time and you gotta guard it religiously, because nobody else will.”
“I find I’m much more focused when I am working when I’m walking and that I enjoy it, I feel quite a bit healthier.”
Coaching Advice
Brian offered this basic advice for getting started on anything.
1) Read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. It deals with overcoming procrastination and taking action to get started.
2) Take tests like the Kolbe A Index. This examines how and why you take action.
Resources + Bonus Materials
Graph of hedonic treadmill . . .
