Maximizing Business Success Through Creative Storytelling with Phil Lashley

0:01 Welcome to The Coaching Equation, brought to you by Empire Partners and hosted by Ryan Lang and Brooke Bishop. Our mission is to help you build a profitable and impactful coaching business by cutting through the noise and all the expert advice to deliver tried and true actionable insights that you can deploy in your business today. Each week, we bring on expert guests, unveil cutting-edge tactics and strategies, and share the secrets and stories that we've gathered from working with the most successful coaching companies on earth. Welcome to episode 11 of the Coaching Equation podcast.

0:42 I'm your host, Ryan Lang, CEO and co-founder of Empire Partners, alongside my co-host and co-founder, Brooke Bishop. And in today's episode, we've got Phil Lashley on the show. Now, Phil is a good friend, colleague, and truly one of the most brilliant, creative minds that I know. His story is so incredible and unique from the beaches of Barbados, where he's from, to getting into some of the biggest and most successful studios in Hollywood as a digital creator, to creating an amazing life of freedom as a digital nomad today with his wife. In this episode, one of the key pieces that we dig into is storytelling in business and why it's so important.

1:27 Phil has an incredible framework for this. In fact, it's called Frame, and he's going to share that frame method in the episode. It's really designed to help even the most uncreative minds unlock their creative potential. So if you've ever found yourself in that spot where you feel like you're not creative enough to truly play the game with those that are playing it at the highest level, Phil is going to prove you wrong in this episode. And better yet, he's going to show you exactly how to do it. And here's the deal. Phil... Phil works with some of the biggest personal brands and top thought leaders in the world, helping them develop their unique signature frameworks so you know that you are getting this from one of the best in the world who's working with and consulting with some of the best in the world.

2:17 He's truly an amazing talent. You're gonna love this episode. Buckle up, make sure that you've got something to jot down your notes and distinctions with. This is episode 11 of the Coaching Equation podcast. Welcome back to the Coaching Equation podcast. I'm your host, Ryan Lang, CEO and co-founder of Empire Partners, alongside my co-hounder and co-fost. Yeah, that's how we like to do it. My co-founder and co-host, Brooke Bishop. And oh man, we got a special guest in the house today, Bill Lashley. Dude, I'm so excited to dive in with you, bro. Welcome, first of all. It's good to see you.

2:58 Thank you. Thank you, guys. Thanks for having me. I'm honored you're like semi off the grid and a little town in Colombia and a cabin and stuff and still jumping on the podcast here. So this is dope, bro. How are you? How are you liking it down there, by the way? I know you're like a big digital nomad. Yeah, this started as an expert. Two years ago, so this is year three. It's been going well. Credit to my wife, Antoinette. She's the one who finds these ridiculously nice Airbnbs in the strangest places, but very remote, rural, not that remote, but more rural. I'm not sure if we can hear a dog smoking in the background. Chickens might interrupt us sometimes, but it's very peaceful. You know, chickens, whatever.

3:39 occasional horse up the mountain, but it's really helping us to learn Spanish, one, which we are not, should be a lot further, but also just enjoying a slower pace that you wouldn't find elsewhere, like in the bigger city, Medellin is huge, millions of people, like New York times, I don't know, 10. Yeah. So we are balancing building our business while enjoying the nature. That dude, that's so fun. That's super cool. And I know that's near and dear to Brooke's heart as Yeah, we roamed for about almost three years. So we love those that are adventurous and willing to let it all roll and just get out there. I feel like we're not supposed to be locked in a stick and brick, but that's just my opinion.

4:23 No, and it fuels creativity like crazy. Just never available here, man. How predictable, just embracing change. I came off on this subject because it really is fuel for whatever we do. I actually do want to explore that and dig in. But before we get there, first of all, I mean, you and I connected for the first time. Gosh, I mean, it's it's getting close to it's at least a year and a half ago when we met each other. Yeah. For the first time at an event. And, bro, I've just I've just loved you to death as a human. And you're so incredibly talented. Yeah. I want to kind of start to be honest. This is I'll be totally straight. This is self-serving and completely just because I'm curious.

5:04 What's kind of your I've known you for a year and a half and I don't really know. Like what's the superhero origin story for you, Bill? Yeah. So I am from Barbados. I can start there because far away from home. And what started brewing while I was in Barbados was just being, I guess, self-aware enough to know that what I was doing was not, that wasn't going to be in five or seven, ten years. So I started my background in IT, quickly switched that to post-production, production, then post-production, being at live events. helping the assistant of the assistant of the cameraman. That's where it started.

5:44 It got me to be in the studios to see how events were being filmed and stuff and edited. And that curiosity, I just went with that until it got to a point where I was really interested in how commercials were made, right? The thinking behind commercials. And growing up in Barbados, most of my life, we had one TV channel and We would get scrambled channels from other networks sometimes, and I would just be engulfed and really immersed in how do they think, how do they get this spot into 30 seconds succinctly. And from that, the interest grew to movies, behind-the-scenes movies. Back then, it was DVDs, and you would be fortunate to get a director's cut to see how the movie was made.

6:26 Lord of the Rings was big then, in that era. And I was just geek out on these things. And it was until the Art Institute for Miami, they were recruiting students from Barbados, believe it or not. And I just drank the whole Kool-Aid thing. I just was, wow. Yes, I want to see how the magic is made. Yes to everything. Long story short there, I had just on the year to persuade my parents and just close family friends to come up with the money to afford the first semester of high school. That was the entry to really this art Whirling, being a professional, creative, quote unquote. That was my entry. Dude, that's super cool.

7:07 What was it like for you? That's a big leap, obviously. You're dipping your toe in a big pond and making a shift from Barbados to Miami. What was it like when you initially made that leap? It was crazy. It was literally, I was seeing a movie, like just physically, it was a lot. It was overwhelming. Now I can say Miami is not that big. That thing was cute. The Barbados is where I was coming from. The thing that kept me focused on grounded, though, was the reality that my parents may not be able to afford the next semester. So not knowing which semester was going to be my last... It created this hunger and this hustle. I never knew what I had, guys, to be honest with you.

7:47 So before I ended the school, I made it to the end. Spoiler alert. But not knowing hindsight is everything. I was volunteering for every internship in the South Beach area, the Coconut Grove. Every studio that was happening, I was just raising my hand and saying, hey, you know what? I can be useful here. And it served me well. To the end of school, I immediately got my feet wet in a major studio in Hollywood. So it paid off. Well, yeah, no kidding. And I want to hear about that. Before we do, though, I love you talking about this. First of all, you make this huge decision, this big jump, which most people, by the way, would think about making go, holy shit, this is too much. I can't do it.

8:27 Or there's this thing or, oh my God, I'm not going to go because I don't know how anybody's going to pay for my next semester. You went anyway. So clearly there was something inside you that said, I cannot pass this up. Like it's a must for me. I have to do it. Yeah. Yeah. When you got here, what were some of the things that you did to figure out how to pay the next semester's tuition? Yeah. So little things like the church I started going to. I volunteer with the band. I'm a drummer. They just give me a little stipend. And I said, you know what? I wasn't doing it for that reason, but thank you. Every little dollar counted at that point in time. But the honest, beyond that though, the reality of going back home was very real.

9:10 And the mindset was such like, whatever trumps I can get here, whatever contact all my professors are instituted at a time. It doesn't matter. Like whatever little I can get here is going to be a lot. It's going to serve me a lot if I have to go back home. So I was just consuming, building relationships, trying to add value wherever I could, honestly. So to really answer your question, there wasn't any good plan B for making up the funds. Why wasn't it okay for you to just go back home? Why hustle? Why not just go back home? I had came to a point in my life where I studied computer studies at the local college. And I got the job with the big company wearing the tie and the laptop company, the company assets and stuff, the gear.

9:58 I looked the part, but I wasn't happy, man. And it was just miserable when I found a taste of just being backstage and being shadowing the video editors and just seeing what they were doing. There was just, it was undeniable. It was this or nothing. So I had to find a way to get into the world of storytelling, digital editing, whatever it was. I know it was an entry point into what I really want to do was to tell stories and just bring things to life on the screen visually there wasn't any option i was working with a post-production studio in barbados actually and i had reached a limit where the guy and we're still good friends up to this day we would create graphics for the videos the corporate videos and the graphics were static but i wanted them to move And he allowed me to create little animation that he was just so honest to tell me, listen, Phil, you know, if you really want to make things move, if you really want to do animation, you're not going to get paid here.

10:57 You need to go. Where the money is for this thing that you want to do. And he was just really, really, really supporting. And when I told him I was leaving, he was like, listen, you have my full support. We're always here for you. The door is always open. So it was that healthy support system I had, too, that kind of made it easy for me to say, you know what? I'm young. I have support. I don't know if the money's going to last. I got to take my shot. I got to do it. Yeah. Dude, one of the things that I love so much about this is that, and I want to highlight this for the listener right now. Number one, you start with an opportunity that tugs at your heartstrings, that feels like it's the right thing, but it's a huge risk.

11:39 And there are so many unknowns and you go and you do it anyway. Then you get there and it's not just like smooth sailing and somebody's paying your ticket. You got to figure it out all the way, all along the way. You got to stay hungry and you cultivate that, right? And then you get to the point where you literally go, and these are the powerful words, this or nothing. Like, I hate to say it, but if it isn't this, if you're thinking about doing something and it's not this or nothing, just quit. Okay. Seriously. I love that, Phil. That's awesome, bro. So you get into the big studio. And when you get into the big studio, where did things kind of roll from there? Because obviously, it's a journey from there to where we sit today.

12:21 So tell me how things kind of unfolded there. And you did some pretty cool shit at the big studio. So tell us a little bit about what that experience was like. Yeah, it was a nice experience. Just to put it in context, every student from all over the world is really fighting to get to Hollywood or studios in that area. It's a dream, right? It's a dream. And I got really fortunate and blessed to be there, not just one, but these three studios, a visual effects house, a movie trailer house, and a motion graphics design studio. These are three completely different types of skill sets. And it was a nice buffet. I had that experience. And what was common though, was when I exited the studio, I went to my apartment, I realized that I was not very happy.

13:08 The joy that I thought I would have had, it wasn't there. It was cool to tell people I was working in Hollywood and I went to a gazillion interviews and I just found that it was not what it, the grass wasn't greener for me. The work was good. The experience, the portfolio, that was good. But for the fulfillment, it wasn't there. And I couldn't put my finger on it at a time, but it was really haunting me because I left home. I left what was comfort. So it wasn't all that it seemed to be. The grass was definitely not greener. It was fun to tell people where it was working and who he was meeting, co-directors and everything. I even got to speak to the director of Lord of the Rings, the same movie I geeked out with when I was a lot younger.

13:50 But I wasn't fulfilled, to be honest with you. Everybody was just working like crazy. And I really couldn't see another two years, three years. But the sense of guilt was heavy because I then realized, okay, I made it this far. I made it to the dream. Sacrifice so much had my parents pour into financially. Now you're going to decide you're not going to do this. So it was a really, it was a moment of tension for me internally. And then the idea just came out of the blue. Like, okay, so you have this skill set and you're using it for what is known for. What if you stop thinking about what is known for, what is used for, instead of just doing motion design?

14:30 How can you use motion design? How can I use it as a tool to serve different spaces that are just not used to it? And I mean, my dad, he's a chemistry teacher, experimental by nature, and I love chemistry. So I could see looking back now, this is where his influence of just being curious and experimental kicked in. I started using motion design in different industries, basically. In the book industry, that was the first one. I started full calling publishing houses and talking to authors and trying to see how can I serve book industry with this skill set of motion design, visuals come into life and it worked. I got my feet wet with an author who was pretty much at the same publishing houses, big authors like John Maxwell and yeah, the marketing directors, they really paid attention and really it was a dream because I created the package and said, Hey, no, this is what I'm The night before I put it together and said, you know what?

15:28 Yeah, let's do this. So essentially for their high ticket authors, I was creating these drip content for their marketing directors to promote the books for book launches. And that was the start of my journey in serving the thought leadership world. I was just gonna ask one quick question on that in terms of them going into that. Cause I, in working with some different people at that point in time where everything used to be very static, right? It was just very long copy static images. What was kind of the effect that you saw when, with bringing in more of the animation and more, more movement, more, I would assume probably it created a lot more emotion, but in terms of the impact that that helped, what did you see in terms of working with people like John Maxwell, some of the others?

16:08 Yeah, well, not directly with John, but the companies that serve his books, like the HarperCollins of the world, their marketing directors were seeing an increased engagement with stopping the scroll. So instead of just posting one quote, a static quote, say, hey, this quote is from Brooks' book he's launching. that's two weeks, I would create an animated quote where at the end of it, there will be a call to action so that the authors would get a kickback of more engagement, not just on their social feed, but also to their author's website, or they would go to a page on the Amazon to leave a review or something like that. So I'm not fully aware of all the benefits, but I do know at least that what I just mentioned was the floor.

16:53 more engagement, more interest, more clicks on their author website. So that was it. It's huge in terms of just for anybody who's listening to anything that you can do to trigger way up the funnel, higher engagement. That's going to be a massive, massive benefit that just has a ripple down the, down the whole tunnel. So yeah. I love that. Nobody was doing it too. That was the other thing I forgot to mention. There was this novelty. And if you're on a team with other market directors and you find something different, oh, let's use this guy for this thing. And if it worked... You're just going to want to keep doing it. And I saw a lot of that happening as well. Cool. So I love this.

17:33 And I think it's, I love your innovation on that, bro. And the thought process of taking it from something like, okay, here's what it's known for. What if I could, what if I could use it in a different way? It's brilliant. Thank you. And I also I especially love it in the context of a book, because really, if we're using a book properly today, right, it isn't like it used to be where you wrote a book and it was just supposed to be this standalone thing. A book is now one piece of what really should be. of a much larger marketing ecosystem and a much larger opportunity for people to get to know you and get to know your works and what you stand for and what you teach and all the things. So that's unbelievably powerful.

18:16 And I can only imagine too, that how much impact that would have for an author who maybe was only focused on their book. And now all of a sudden, you know, you throw in that piece and you get to tie that together with a lot of what the marketing director wants to do. That's really cool. So, Phil, I want to, you know, you and I met through Brand Builders Group, and I love when I first saw what you did, I just was so in love with it. Because obviously what Rory and AJ teach at Brand Builders Group is very, very heavy on framework and is really instrumental in helping people create their own unique framework. And I'd love for you to share a little bit what you do with that framework and why people should even bother with something like that.

19:01 Like, why isn't it enough for me to just jump up there, you know, at a presentation with a Google Doc and say, hey, here's one, two, three, four, five. Yeah. So a couple of things. The first thing I realized was that, OK, like John Maxwell, because he was one person I was really trying to work with in the beginning. Brilliant people, they have these brilliant ideas, but they don't have a brilliant way to show it, right? And it's kind of like me telling you, okay, Phil, okay, just imagine for a second, guys, we're on an island, and we have a bunch of people, a bunch of 10 people, okay? And one guy is saying, okay, you know what? We need to get off this island. Follow me. Just trust me. Everybody's on the same level. Who makes him the leader? Nobody knows, but he has this confidence to say, you know what?

19:43 Just follow me. And I raise my hand. Okay. And I'm going to say, you know what, guys, don't listen to this guy. Follow me. Follow me instead. And I show them a map. I show them a step map, a step one to five process of how to get off the island. They don't know me as yet. There's no big trust. But what? What do you think the people on the island are going to do? Like, who are they going to follow? They're going to follow the guy from the map. I want the freaking map. Give me the GPS, baby. See it. They could visualize it. They could imagine themselves stepping off on a boat or something. because they saw a clear step one, two, three, four, five process of how to get there, even if they don't really trust me as much as yet.

20:25 So there's this huge trust building part of it. There's the confidence that, you know, I can guide people off the island with, with the use of this visual map, and the clarity it provides for the people who are following. A lot of benefits to having a clear visual map. I'm using map as an example, but you're talking about visual frameworks. It's the same thing, the visual framework. And I call them signature frameworks because this is where your most high level thought leadership, like your best, your life's work is wrapped up in your signature framework. And if anything happens, like at the very least, you leave a visual legacy, okay?

21:05 This company or that company can still follow the... when I'm gone. So there's a part of legacy that I wrapped into this as well. And did I answer your question? Because I can go on on this one. Like, it's really... Yeah, no, you did. You did. And I'll just say this, I want to be sensitive to somebody listening to this is like, what exactly is a framework? And at the very simplistic level, something that everybody could understand, because we've all seen it. Sure. Because let's just imagine somebody's got, okay, this is the five-step process to losing 20 pounds in eight weeks. That's a framework, right? So I love this, though. One of the things I'd love for you to talk about, anytime that we're doing a presentation, whether it's something or whether we're doing a live webinar, whether we're on a stage, whether we're in a room with people...

21:53 One of the biggest keys is people walking away and actually remembering something. How does having a visual framework enhance our ability to help people remember? Yeah, there's a science part of it where, you know, your brain, that part of your brain that just remembers and retains when it's visual, that's scientifically proven. What I'm doing, guys, is not just creating a system that my clients could visualize what their thoughts are. That's one part of it. But to what you just said, Ryan, it's after these visuals are on a screen or on a paper, you want people to have an emotional collection to it. And what I'm trying to do, what I've been doing for a year and a half now, actually, is helping my clients tell stories with their visual frameworks through one of my own frameworks called the Frame Method.

22:44 So there's two parts. There's a framework that I use for helping them to visualize their thinking. One. And the second part is now taking that visual and making it sticky, making it memorable, all wrapped in their own brand. Yeah. I mean, the real issue is just stay on top of mind. Anyone can give a talk. Anyone can do a presentation. But there's so much noise out there. And you need a way to stand out, to have people remember you. And that's what I'm doing with visual frameworks. I'd love to double click on this just because I know in our world, we talk so much about emotion. So it's like we talk about the word motion as being the dominant part of emotion, right? Because that's what moves us.

23:25 And I think that there's so many people, just thinking of our audience for a moment, they get so wrapped around the technical pieces or the logical pieces of what they're trying to convey or communicate that, I love the fact that you're using literal movement combined with stories. In terms of how you extract or how you combine the two, bringing the emotion into that movement piece and then hooking it together with the brand. Share with us a little bit just principle-wise or how you do that. Yeah, yeah. So there's this framework I created. Based on all my experiences, I kind of reverse engineered all the successful projects while I was in Hollywood. And not even just Hollywood. Now you're making Brooke hot right now.

24:07 You're talking about analyzing patterns and re-engineering. He's getting really hot right now. All right, go ahead. I feel like my Barbados. Yeah, there's this thing that I do. And I think I do it pretty effortlessly. Maybe it's a gift or something. Just paying attention to what you pay attention to. like just super aware of what worked, what didn't, and just remembering from those experiences. So it's called the frame method, and I'm going to make it available download for free for free. It's on my website. You can see it in the show notes. It stands for... The F is for feelings, all right? And to set this up really well, we frame the things that matters to us in life, right?

24:47 You take careful consideration what you put in a photo frame, like in your walls, in your studio right now, or your listeners in their offices, in your kids' room. You put energy and effort into framing the things well, these moments well, called photos, right? So likewise, for our best ideas, for our experiences, for our videos, you can frame it. And this is what this tool does. The F is for feelings. And this asks the question, what is the feeling you want your audience to feel after you give your talk, right? Or if it's a coaching session. After my one-on-one coaching session, how do I want my person to feel? Okay? So you write that down. The R is for a relatable concept, all right?

25:28 What is a really simple, relatable concept that they can latch on to? They already say yes to, they have buy-in to, that you can use to convey your message. Okay. That's going in deeper into like story and narrative. All right. The A is for aesthetic. And this adds the question, so what should it look like? Right. This is where we pull visual references. This is going into more design and vision boards and design boards and stuff like that. We know that colors have psychology tied to it. We'd go deeper into that. The M stands for message. What is the one message? And I think this is a big one, guys. What is the one message you want your clients, your coaching client to take away after this particular message, this session?

26:10 All right. You can say many things, but chances are they only going to remember one thing. And this goes for podcasts as well. What's the one thing you want your listeners to take away? And the E, last but not least, which I think is one of the most underlooked of them all, it stands for the expression. And this is a question you're asking. How else can your idea be expressed? How else can your message be expressed? How else can your coaching session be expressed? Like, is it just the hour of coaching? Or is it, oh, no, Brooke, you're going to follow up after and you're going to send the notes. to your client, you know, there are different ways you can do that, express it differently.

26:51 So by going through this acronym... Hey, Phil, will you go through the acronym one more time? I was scrambling to be able to capture notes on there and I missed one of them. So I'd love for everybody who's listening too, if they're driving on to get it. Yes, of course. Of course. So it's called FRAME, F-R-A-M-E. The F is for feelings. What feeling do you want your audience or your customer to feel after that time with them? The R is a relatable concept. What is the story? What is the narrative that they already know that you can like pick it back on? The A is aesthetic. What should it look like? The M is the message. What's the one message you want them to take away? And the E is the expression. How else can this, you fill in the blank.

27:33 How else can it be expressed? Yeah. Dude, what I love about this is it's so clear, Phil. It's so clear. And it's really unique too, man, because I think that all of the pieces to this framework are things that we've heard or thought about in some way, shape or form, but I've never seen them put together exactly like this. And this is a, I don't even have to ask the question, why should I want to pay attention to this? Because when you put these five things together, that's powerful. Not to go back to what I know is just a ridiculously overused quote at this point, but I'm going to do it anyway because I can't. It's my flipping podcast.

28:14 It's our podcast. We can do whatever we want. I can do what I want. You could. But, you know, it's Maya Angelou, right? People forget what you said. They'll forget what you did, but they never forget how you made them feel. And I think to me, while it's the first one, all of those five put together kind of come together to create a true feeling for somebody when they walk away from whatever engagement it is that. you know, you've been in together. That is brilliant, man. The thing that I love about this too, that this, this can pertain to doing an ad, like before you're recording any ad copy, this can relate to any of your organic social content. This can roll into, if you're going to do a keynote, this rolls in, if you're just jumping on delivering a training for your existing clients, like the thing I love about it, and I like, I scrambled as many of the notes that I could as you're walking through it.

29:02 I'm like, shoot, this is killer. This is literally the perfect, I'm adding a word to your framework, free frame, right? So just to get your head screwed on straight before you deliver any content. I think it's brilliant. It's so simple and so on the money. I'm having fun with this, guys. Two years ago, when I created it, I was just framing everything in my head. I think it was going crazy, man. And I think it was the Super Bowl, Rihanna halftime show. And I was jokingly talking about it before the show and on my social. I was saying, you know what? I bet the guys, the teams who are organizing her show, they're framing it. And literally, after the show, I went back through the acronym, and I'm yet to prove it wrong.

29:44 Aha, nice. R-A-M-E. You can use it for live experiences, for podcasts. You're absolutely right. I love that. Rihanna's from Barbados, too, isn't she? Yeah, she is. So you got a nice little closing, a little hook there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Interested. Every Uber driver is, where are you from? Oh, Barbados. Oh, you know Rihanna? Of course. Yeah, yeah. We were neighbors. We had to school together. Of course. Oh my gosh. That's too much. So bro, I love this. Your framework is so amazing. And I've got a couple of more questions before we sort of wrap today. Because there's so much in you that I'd love to extract for people. You're such a unique and wonderful human being.

30:26 But I will just say this. First of all, let's throw out now, and I'll throw it out again at the end. But what is the URL? We'll put it in the show notes as well. But what's the URL where they can go and get this framework? Sure. Go to my website, phillashley.com, and it pops up, download it for free. It's actually... a fillable workbook with those five questions. I mean, it's super easy for any brainstorm session, whether you're a team leader. And especially, guys, I nearly forgot to say this. This is especially for people who think they're not creative, okay? In the space that I'm serving, this is the number one thing that I discovered right away. There's this apprehension when people are thinking creatively or when they're asked to brainstorm.

31:11 And one of my things is like creativity is not really reserved for these Hollywood agencies and ad agencies and studios. It's for everyone. We all have this creative experience. nature in us. And some of us may be artistic, that's a whole different issue. But creativity is just thinking differently. And a tool like this, I would love to think that it would serve so many people who are just not showing up to the fullest creative potential. Wow. Dude, you just changed somebody's life right now. Because I guarantee you that there are a lot of people that hold on to the idea that I'm just not creative, so I can't or I can't play at the level that others can. Yeah, dude, I love that.

31:53 That's so well said. That's so not true. I have a question for you as well, because I've had the amazing opportunity to see what it looks like when you turn somebody's framework into something really incredible visually. It's remarkable. Can they see what that looks like if they go to your website as well? Yes. Actually, I'll provide a special link for you guys to see some samples and before and after. Killer. That's awesome. Yeah, that's super dope. We'll link that up in the show notes as well, bro. Yeah. We got a couple of minutes before we wrap up. And before we do, one of the things that I love about what you've done and created in your life, Phil, because I think it's something that a lot of other people aspire to as well. Talk a little bit about like, I want to start here.

32:33 You've created a life of freedom and impact for yourself. And it's what so many people listening to this right now, if I had a nickel, Brooke, for every time that somebody came to us and was like, oh, I just want to travel and be able to run my business and make enough money to sustain my family. And you're doing that. So I want to start by asking, what was it that got you to a point where you allowed yourself to do what it took to create that life? Mm-hmm. I love that word, allowed, because that was a great question. Coming out of 2021, just after the pandemic, I think a lot of people got a lot of calls, you know.

33:16 For me, even before 2020, I had this keen sense of timing. how short life is and really is very morbid. But for me, it's the thing that drives me to not procrastinate when I feel like procrastinating. I realized that just from leaving my friends and family from Barbados and just pursuing this life, I'm following, I've been always following my dream, right? And to this point where I'm getting to meet a lot of well-known speakers and authors and just thinkers, some known, some not known, it's like, who am I to be doing this? I think it's a combination of just realizing how short life is on one hand and realizing that I don't have to downplay the gift that I've been given.

33:59 It took me a long time to figure that out, to really accept that. There are a lot of other designers, motion designers, creative directors out there, but none of them my story, my personal story. my makeup. So these two things come together with the lovely wife that I have been blessed with. She's a traveler, she's a photographer. So some of it is from her too. Like she's like, you know what, what about Medellin? I never knew about Medellin. Let's go to Antigua, Guatemala. I never heard of Antigua, Guatemala and these beautiful regions she's discovering and the combination of being super aware of how life short, how short life is. And I'm going to be like, This gift I've been given that I really want to just get out there and serve and help a lot of other people break through their challenges with creativity and their fear around that and their frameworks.

34:50 It's like a tornado of all those things coming together and just propelling me to just keep going, man. Like, why not? Why not? I love it. I love it. And I love that you've leaned into it too, Phil. I think that's one of the powerful things is that a lot of times we get those ideas, but we stop ourselves and we tell ourselves all the reasons why it's not possible or why we shouldn't or why we can't. And you truly allowed yourself to do it. And I also think it's, I love that you bring your wife into the picture because, you know, I mean, Brooke's wife, Rain, you guys have got a similar relationship and, you know, with me and Dawn. When you want to do these crazy fucking things in life, try having a partner that doesn't want to do it.

35:33 Gosh, I can't even imagine. I can't imagine. They call that left behind. That's what they call it. Yeah. The big D, and I don't mean Dallas. Yeah. I was going to share one thing in hindsight, because I've been knocking on the door with my wife with regards to either moving full-time to Costa Rica or part-time. Ryan, I didn't share this with you, but this last weekend, I built out a PowerPoint presentation for her. Of course you did. You built a deck. It's probably on a Lucid chart somewhere too. I didn't go that far. You may need a framework. And looking at the framework now, I'm like, crap, I got to go back to the drawing board and do this again. I definitely hit some of the pieces, but I'm like, Oh, okay.

36:16 I hit some of the visual, you know, some of the feelings pieces. I did not put in a relatable concept in there. I definitely hit the aesthetic. My messaging sucks. So I got to go back to that. But no, it's very interesting. Cause I'm like, okay, I need to sell her on this whole, yeah, this, this new concept. I want to interject into our world, but I'm like, I missed three of the five. So I'm going to, I'm going to definitely go back to the drawing board. Yeah. A little homework. Yeah, I do. I love it. I love it. Well, Phil, first of all, I want to thank you for taking the time out. And dude, I just want to honor you for being, you are such a genuine heart centered human being. You're the type of person that when you spending time with you in person, it just radiates off of you.

36:59 You care so deeply for people. You, you are such a brilliant creator. And more than anything, I want to honor you for not bottling that up, for truly being vigilant about sharing it with the world, because people really do need what you have. And they also need the example of somebody who is not putting a lid on what they've got. As you said it so beautifully, I don't have to downplay the gift that I've been given. I've got it written down. I love it, man. We're grateful to have you today. If you listen to this and you, first of all, if you don't go get that framework, I can't help you here. Seriously, go grab that right now. It's just www.phillashley.com.

37:40 We will put a link in the show notes and we'll put a link to some other stuff that Phil has done if you want to check out what he's done. His work is absolutely incredible and he's worked with some of the most talented people that I know personally as well. Dude, thank you. This has been just wonderful. Again, you made it happen from like a hut with some chickens and shit outside. I mean, it's awesome. Yeah. Is there one last thing I would like to say? And this is something I recently realized. When people hear frameworks, they think, oh, well, I'm not a coach or not. I'm not a teacher. I'm not. But if you really think about it, people are kind of sharing other people's experiences as a leader, as a thought leader. They're using other people's frameworks.

38:22 They're using other people's inspirational. quotes. If you want to be a thought leader that people are using your stuff, one of the easiest ways is to create your own signature framework. For me, I'm seeing this perspective right now where the people who are really seen as original thought leaders, those are the ones who have taken the time to design and develop their own signature framework that everybody else can start using. I'm like scrambling for more notes. I'm like, nope, we did episode two and three. We got to keep this so much gold. Like, yeah, seriously. There's so much to give out here. Well, Brother, again, thank you for taking the time.

39:04 This has been awesome. I can't wait to do it again. I can't wait to see you in person, I think pretty soon. Yes. Which will be fantastic. Again, go to Phil's website, check out all his stuff, www.phillashley.com. You can also check out our show notes. And if you need help, if you're thinking about this and you're like, damn it, he's right. I am using other people's stuff. I'd really love to create my own framework. I don't really know how to create my own framework. Again, we talked earlier in the show about Rory Vaden and Brand Builders did a great episode with him at the beginning of the podcast. You can go check out if you want to know. They're amazing at helping people create frameworks and you can go check out freebrandcall.com forward slash empire and request a free call with their team if that's something that you're interested in exploring as well.

39:48 So, dudes, amazing episode. Thank you for listening so much to this episode of the Coaching Equation podcast. And we'll see you on the flip side. Thank you for listening to this episode of The Coaching Equation. Please hit subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. And if you got value out of this episode, we would be so grateful if you would share it out with a friend and leave us a review on iTunes or your favorite platform. To learn more about Empire Partners or to inquire about working with Ryan and Brooke, please visit www.empirepartners.io forward slash go.