Nick Cavuoto’s message is inspiring, energetic and actionable. His combined passion and decades of expertise for what is possible through inner alignment creates meaningful impact for all who hear it. True alignment is the pathway to greater impact, abundance, and fulfillment. When you’re aligned, you honor, acknowledge, and flow through your emotion, which is energy in motion. Maybe you’ve tried to “make it happen” either on your own or following the advice of others. But no matter what you do, something feels “off” the ease, flow, and results just aren’t there in your business, your team, or your life.

Brett Gilliland

Welcome to the Circuit of Success. I’m your host, Brett Gilland. Today I got Nick Kabuto with me. Nick, what’s up buddy?

Nick Cavuoto

How’s it going, man? It’s great to be here. Thank you so much for having me.

Brett Gilliland

Absolutely. You’re coming in from Nash- Vegas. I’m coming in from the St. Louis area here in O’ Fallon, Illinois. You’re a NewNash- Vegas guy in Nashville, Tennessee. Right?

Nick Cavuoto

That’s right. We spent a good amount of, uh, the last, you know, half a decade or so out in Denver, uh, originally from, uh, from New York. And, um, dude, it’s been a journey, you know, I had to go west to find myself. Becoming an entrepreneur seems to have that, you know, um, seems to have that effect on people where they have to really dig deep and go like, man, what is the bigger picture here? What do I want in life and what do I need to do about it? So.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah.

Nick Cavuoto

It’s incredible.

Brett Gilliland

Well, that’s awesome, man. Before we dive into all this stuff, um, you are a four time CEO and founder, a Fortune 500consultant, a private equity investor, a keynote speaker, and global business leader. Um, man, you’re just helping tons of people and I can’t wait to chat about, uh, all that.

But before we get started, if you can just kind give us a backstory, man, what’s made Nick, the man you are today.And, uh, then we’ll, we’ll rock from there.

Nick Cavuoto

For sure, man. Well, you know, uh, to, to keep it brief and simple, uh, my dad was a drug dealer who found Jesus. Okay? So that’s my origination story, is that’s the stock that I’m coming from, which is actually pretty incredible because, you know, it talks about a story of transformation, of going in one direction, finding truth, and then going in a different direction.

And that was my dad’s story of course. But, um, you know, coming into the world, uh, you know, I grew up sleeping under pews at you know, three years old, uh, because my dad ended up becoming a pastor and leading a congregation of people.And, uh, so my life started in, you know, very, um, uh, disruptive, encouraging, thought-provoking environments.

Um, and I’ve seen public speakers since I was three years old. I’ve, you know, been a part of really epic movements since I was a young kid. And so my life has just surrounded the idea of transformation, of awakening and surrender. Of being on a journey of finding the highest and most true version of who we are and what our greatest contribution could be in the world.

And, uh, for that, I’m incredibly thankful, man. So yeah, I’ve done a lot of really cool things in the business world. Um, but, you know, life’s a labyrinth, man. We, we come out the same door that we went in and I’m just finding myself now in a different position going like, I helped a lot of people uh, a lot of companies and it’s time for me to help a lot more people.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah. And so how, how did you get into that? Like what made you go from that role? Obviously, the what you just, uh, very transparently shared from drug dealer who found to your dad, who found Jesus and, and, but you don’t just wake up and consult with the people that you’re consulting with and having conferences and do those things.

Kind of walk us through that journey as the young Nick, not that you’re not young now, but the young Nick. Uh, what, what were you doing back then on that grind on that journey?

Nick Cavuoto

Yeah, man. Well, you know, uh, let me, let me look at my, my story at 19. I fell outta college for the second time and uh, you know, I ended up going back home. I was in South Florida, you know. What I was up to. I mean, it’s a pretty easy story to kind of, you know, connect the dots, right? Fell outta college and you’re in South Florida. I mean, it’s pretty simple. So I went back home and I asked my dad, I was like, man, I need to come home. And, and, and my dad was like, you know, it’s kind of a prodigal son moment of where his arms are open. Why? Like, come on back, man. I got you. And I just said, dad, I don’t know what I need to do with my life, man. I don’t, I don’t know how to get it back on track. And he said, you need to serve, and I understood the concept growing up, you know, and basically a business that required volunteers, right? Uh, people being there, not because they’re getting paid, but because they wanted to be a part of something, they wanted to belong.

And my dad taught me, you know, really the power of servant leadership. And so I showed up and I kept showing up. And I remember this dude, you know, real tall, skinny guy walks up to me, you know, at, at the church that, uh, my dad suggested I volunteered at by that time he was finished. And, um, he just says, Hey, your dad said you know a lot about technology.

I could really use a hand if you’re open to it. And I was like, I’d love to. I still work with that guy now, 15 years later.

Brett Gilliland

Wow.

Nick Cavuoto

We still collaborate. He still films my events. I mean, it’s, it’s absolutely incredible. So, you know, I think that’s the power of service man, of showing up, doing the right thing, following, you know, the path of life and trusting the process.

Man, I, I can’t even explain how many times I’ve had to rely on an inner-knowing trusting that God saw the picture more clear than I did. And for those of you who might have a different belief system, that’s okay. This is just my dialect. It’s like my accent, if you will. It’s just the way that I talk cause of the way I was raised.

And um, at the end of the day, I just truly believe that you have to be in a place of where you can trust the greater process and uh, and lean into that. And, um, that’s where my help comes from, you know, and everything that I do, I have a deep reliance on knowing that something greater has my back.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah. And so when you’re 19 falling out of college and you’re going back home, I mean, how, how do you though. Yeah, I’m, I’m putting this visual out there, right? You’re, you’re in this hole. Maybe there’s a ladder sound like there’s a ladder, there’s at least a hand down right from dad that’s gonna pull you up. Um, but man, even on the days of dark days, right? What, what were you doing if I were back there following this guy around at whatever, 25 years old, what, what were you doing day in, day out to get where you’re at today? What was, what was that like?

Nick Cavuoto

Well, you know, at 19 I said, I’ll serve and I just helped. And then I got greater and greater responsibility, so I just show up. I was uploading podcasts. It was the first thing that I did. Once a week I’d go in and upload a podcast. Well, after you show up for six months, everyone’s like, who the heck is this guy? Right? Like he still showed up for free. And after that, then they said, Hey, you know, we have a, um, we have a location in, in our, in the downtown, in, in the downtown area in the city. And they were like, we need someone to help launch an initiative to feed the homeless. And I was like, I’m in. Like, let’s go. Let’s do it. I think that with, you know, if you truly want to be great in life and you wanna do great things, it requires a deep level of personal responsibility. And when the things come your way, I’ve learned in my life how to wait for the, invitation. How to let things come to me like a hunter in the woods.

Like, I’m like, I’m gonna let this thing walk towards me. For me, it’s about being in the right place at the right time. And that’s really the trajectory of what I learned from that season because after that I ended up going into ministry. I volunteered for two years. I went from going, you know, for two hours a week to going to 40 hours a week, volunteering for zero.

And I was working full-time at Verizon. It was the first like real job I ever had. And I got, you know, working there in the call center because I didn’t have a degree and I was kind of working it out. And ended up going to number two in the organization at that church, which we had 50 employees. I mean, I was managing an eight figure budget at 24.

Um, you know, and I took that church from a thousand to 10,000 people every weekend. And that was on the back, of course, of a, of a lot of people who were given it their all. Um, I don’t take full credit for that whatsoever, but you had to have a lot of valor. You had to be a champion. You had to be in there going like, you know, have the courage do it.

Scared, push through. I, I didn’t question my, you know, inabilities cause my dad always told us, he said, God will always make room for your gift. It’s about being accessible and available to the greater things that are, that are happening in your life. And so that’s what I did.

Craig Rochelle’s a great principle. Better is an open hand than a closed fist. I kept my hands open and that’s, I think that’s where we become that circuit. The transmission of energy is when we can receive and we can give. And we can give and we can receive, yeah. That most people have a problem receiving, which is actually what cuts off the line from them being able to do their grace work.

Brett Gilliland

Wouldn’t you also think that that’s the abundance mentality there? I mean, hearing what your dad said to you, hearing what you just said, right. Open hands, give and receive, both those, but I think, man, what my experience has been, the, the, the, the abundant mentality wins. And this is obvious, right? I’m not, I’m not curing cancer here with this statement, but the scarcity mentality does not, but I think it’s hard for people that are, that have that mindset maybe of scarcity.

What advice would you have for that person to say, you know what, man? Open your freaking heart. Open your mind. Believe big, believe in abundance. How do we go do that?

Nick Cavuoto

Yeah. You, you know, I just posted this on my Instagram today, but it’s absolutely true. I tell people all the time, they’re like, so Nick, what do you do? I’m like, here’s the bottom line. If you spend too much time with me, you’re gonna brainwash yourself into thinking that you’re capable of accomplishing anything. Okay? That’s the bottom line. And that’s cause that’s what happened with me. Right?

Brett Gilliland

Right.

Nick Cavuoto

That was my story of what my dad and others did for me. So I think at the end of the day, we have to really view this as this privilege of a lifetime to become truly who we are. Anytime that we’re in emotive contraction. You know, I look at contraction, I have four kids, now I look at it as a process of birthing something new. Now, Braxton Hicks are when you’re having contractions, but nothing’s actually happening. Right. It’s kind of like those practice ones.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah.

Nick Cavuoto

And I think that’s where a lot of people live. They’re too afraid to give birth to the thing they actually want in their life. So they just spend their lifetime of 20, 30, 40, 50, a hundred years in Braxton Hicks and getting ready to get ready. And I just think that’s an absolute tragedy.

And so when people are not operating out of abundance, it actually has a lot more to do with their reliance or their belief system on what’s possible for them, for the people around them. I mean, talking about recessions and different things happening on the planet, it’s a recession of the mind. It’s a contraction of the mind.

The markets follow where the conversation is going, and so I think at the end of the day, I just look at it very binary when it comes to abundance or, or an abundance mentality. The only way to do your greatest work, for those of you who are seeking success in your life, is to do what you love. That’s it. And to do what you love requires abundance.

How lucky are we that we can do anything in the world and get paid for and make whatever we want doing it right? To me, that is the modus operandi for entrepreneurs.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah, that’s incredible. So when you, again, I’m just, I’m thinking here about 19 and then 25, and now you know, four time, when we say four times, CEO and founder, a Fortune 500consultant, a private equity investor, like, what are you doing now?

Like, if, if somebody were able to follow you around the camera every day, what, what am I seeing are the no miss items? You know, you’re, you’re doing this regardless of what in the hell happens in your day. What is that?

Nick Cavuoto

Um, I mean, at the end of the day, it’s been a confidant for people, it’s, you know, catalyzing people. And that comes in the format of a lot of content production. So producing content, writing eBooks, writing books, um, hosting conferences, launching conferences. Um, you know, I just, I think that I want to be that cornerman for people who are up to something. You know, there’s an old saying that I have that you can’t do epic things with basic people.

So I love being around people who are up to something and doing something big, and I know that I can continue to spur and cheer that on, cheer them on and, and push ’em forward. But the way that I went from, you know, Fortune 500 was, it was really being in the right place at the right time. When I left ministry, I got a job at paychecks. I ended up going back to school and graduated with a 3.8 GPA, which is incredible.

Brett Gilliland

Nice work.

Nick Cavuoto

Got a job at a Fortune 500 company. When I did that, man, that’s where, you know, things really started to turn. I just was in the right place at the right time. I believe there’s favor on my life. I believe that I’m constantly waiting for the invitation, allowing opportunity to hit me, and then I build a bunch of companies and then moved on from some of ’em.

And you know, that’s just kind of how life has has happened. So now, I mean, my days are just spent finding people who are hungry, who want more. Um, who are in a place of trying to find abundance and alignment in their life. And so I’m leveraging really beautiful systems to help them find, you know, what it is, is that their next step is in life and..

Brett Gilliland

Yeah.

Nick Cavuoto

And how to cheer them, champion them. Yeah.

Brett Gilliland

Well I think that, that, again, you said right place at the right time. You’ve said that twice now. And, and I think that is also that abundance versus scarcity is just being there, man, being in the game, I always say go play in traffic. Right. Sometimes you’re gonna get freaking smoked right by that car and sometimes it’s gonna be, you know, beautiful.

Right? You’re gonna get, it’s like Frogger, right? You’re gonna get right across there.

Nick Cavuoto

Mm-hmm.

Brett Gilliland

But playing in traffic, things happen. And so I call it the God wink. You know, the, the God wink is when you happen to be in the right spot at the right time using air quotes. Um, cause I don’t believe anything happens by coincidence.

Man, there, there’s a reason.

Nick Cavuoto

I agree.

Brett Gilliland

Either you made that thing happen. Or you were aware, you had a lot of awareness on where you were at to see that one thing to where now you say, yeah, it’s right place, right time, but a lot of people may have just missed that opportunity, don’t you think?

Nick Cavuoto

Absolutely, man. Absolutely. And that goes back to the concept of being the hunter. It’s like, why would you stand out in the woods for 5, 6, 7 hours if you weren’t gonna pay attention to the right opportunity that came towards you?Right. And that’s where I’ve learned that is it’s that patience.It’s, it’s that patience with anticipation.

And I think that God fills in the blank, you know, because I look at nature and it’s like, well, how did these things get here, and how are they gonna find their way to me, it, it is, you know, some people would look at it as like, well, you know, if you find a good spot, you know, it’s like, well, then they just, you get lucky and they walk towards you.

I’m like, no, this is not luck. This is studying and investigating and understanding and knowing and putting in the work and practicing the principles and punting the past and saying For the future. Being unbelievably present in the moment in order to receive what it is that I’m seeking. So I set my intentions everyday.

I know exactly what I want the day to look like. Most people don’t do that. So when I’m like, I know exactly what I want personally, experientially giving and receiving, I know at the end of the day of who I want to help and who can help me. I know actually at the beginning of the day how to do it, how to prioritize it, how to get it done so that I can never ask myself the question of like, well, what, what’s my purpose?

What should I be doing today? And I learned that from my mentor, David Meltzer, of just being unbelievably present by setting intentions, living an inspired life. And, um, that’s what changed the game for me, man. But dude, I, I lost a million dollars in two days when COVID hit. I mean, you talk about taking entrepreneur, you know, backhands to the face.

Um, I, you know, built a $4 million company out of one of the four that, uh, my best friend from high school is helping me run. And he stole the whole thing out from underneath me.

Brett Gilliland

Oh.

Nick Cavuoto

Undersold all the clients. Stole the lead list, stole the IP, stole everything. You wanna talk about taking a punishing, beating of almost feeling like I’m a masochist, cause I’m like, man, I’ve just taken it over and over.

But the principle is to get back up because there’s something greater. There’s someone out there. I remember when I was in ministry, I was always focusing on the person in the back of the room who was closest to the door, cause that’s a person who needs it the most. I don’t need the Amen Corner or the people up front.

I need to try to find that one dude at the back of the room who’s gonna go commit suicide if he doesn’t make a change in his life today. That’s where I’m seeking to create change.That’s where I’m seeking to help people and some people just want to quit on their dream.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah.

Nick Cavuoto

They want to cash it in and just be like, I’m done. And I’m just like, there’s so much more for you. And if you’re in a season of transition, if you’re experiencing an exit in your life, I think thatI’m the best conversationalist to ask you. So what’s next? And that’s where I spend a lot of my time as well.

Brett Gilliland

So let’s, let’s spend some time on that. A million dollars, I think you said in 24 hours or 48 hours, uh, which is, is a kick, right in the shorts. And but what, what about for that person that’s listening, saying, yeah, man, but you, you don’t understand. You already have million and I, I’m making this up. I have no idea your financial situation. You know, you’ve already got money. Right. So it’s not, they discount it like, well, he’s different. Right. Or David Meltzer is different. And, and what do you say to that person, man? And, and how do you get to the point where, yeah, it did hurt. It freaking hurt a lot. But I’m going to get back up.

Nick Cavuoto

You know, when I was five years old, um, I nearly drowned in a pool and, uh, we were on vacation with our family and parents weren’t paying attention. Just a, I got four kids. I get it. That kind of stuff happens. Um, but at a very young age, I had to fight for my life. And, you know, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a quality that I’ve never had to train because it came, it like went embedded into my D N A. When you have to survive at that age and figure it out. I don’t necessarily know how to explain to someone how to get back up because it’s an automatic response for me.

But here’s what I will say. Not everybody wants the same thing. So some people, they don’t want the same thing as me.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah.

Nick Cavuoto

Like I’m chasing a dream of building a foundation for my wife’s father who was killed when she was three, to help moms who who want to become entrepreneurs and don’t have a partner or their partner was killed or whatever happened, or kids who were fatherless.

That’s what I want to teach entrepreneurship to. So my why is just so much bigger, and that’s me living my inspired life to go like, I need 50 million to do that. It’s just not like, just a basic thing, right? It’s like in order to create cosmic shifts, huge, huge waves in the world, like you’ve gotta be up to something.

You’ve gotta make big asks. So for me, I just look at it like, well, we don’t want the same thing. If you don’t have the courage to get back up, then you’re gonna lose. There, there’s just no other way. Just think about it in a boxing ring. If someone gets hit with a haymaker and they can’t get back up from it, you just have to accept the L.

And the L is not just a loss, it’s a life lesson for you to look at things differently and say, okay, let me reset my expectations. What do I want? You know what I realized was I was out of alignment. In the places where I’ve experienced the most amount of pain, I knew better in my knower, I knew better, and there are some experiences in life that were life lessons that I had to say thank you to later on.

You know, there were things that hurt really bad, like losing my best friend over a business thing and just the whole thing that happened. You know, I don’t think I was deserving of that, but I think it was a life lesson that gives me the integrity to talk to other people about that situation when they’re in it today.

So I had to learn how to say thank you to everything that came my way. So I think that it’s just like we, we can’t look at things so binary like that. Just, you know, good things that happen are good and bad. Things that happen are bad. I think we have to live an ultimate truth, honesty, and integrity, and know what we want, who we can help, and then how to make it happen and then just live in inspired life of being in our why.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah.

Nick Cavuoto

So, you know, I think at the end of the day, um, you’ll always know the size of the leader by the amount of arrows that he takes. I’ve just taken a lot because I know what I’m up to and I know what God has positioned and planned for my life. Um, I just hope I inspire somebody else to get back up cause I go like, well, I lost 900,000. It wasn’t as bad as that dude.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah, right. Exactly. Yeah. But how do you do that even, right. I lost, I, I asked a lot of how do you do that? But I, for me, you can see it here probably on my mic. The F greater than P.That’s, that’s me living in my, my vision and my mission is helping people achieve a future greater than their past.

So we’re, we’re talking the same language, but that didn’t just come overnight. Right. That was, you know, I’ve been doing what I’ve been doing for 21 years now, and so for the last, whatever it’s been, seven or eight years, this has been my mission. I’m living in that mission. Right. Our firm, we get to live in that mission with our clients, but how do you find that man? How do you, how do you wake up and know I need 50 million for this deal, for your wife, for this foundation? I mean, what advice would you have for our listeners that are searching man, they’re soul searching for what that journey is. What that why is.

Nick Cavuoto

To listen more than they talk. You gotta be present. The only way to avoid, you know, disruption, uh, of your future and in order to not have, you know, regret and, and, uh, lack of forgiveness of your past is to be unbelievably present. To be inthe here and the now. That’s the only thing that we have, you know, um, I’ve heard it said, you know, that, uh, trying is failing.

We’re not gonna try to raise $50 million to create a foundation for single moms and kids who are fatherless. We’re going to doit. There’s a confident assurance when you know that you can be audacious enough to name it in claimant, say what you want, and then watch the process of it happening. I think that’s just the big miss, my friend, is that most people, they don’t know what they want.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah.

Nick Cavuoto

That so they don’t have the boldness or the audacity to ask for it. The way I look at that is like sitting at a drive-through for three years. Could you like play that movie in your head of sitting at a drive-through and going like, I’ll have the um, oh man, what is it gonna be? Ah, and sitting there for three years, for a thousand days.

But that’s how most people live their life, except for it’s not three years, it’s 30 years, it’s 40 years, it’s 50 years. And they spend their whole life questioning and lacking certainty on what it is that they want because they can’t just get over that edge to just name it it and flame it, and go like, this is what I want.

Yeah, that’s so I have absolutely.. Right. I have absolutely zero problem asking God or the universe or whatever somebody believes. I don’t give a crap what you believe. The idea is that I have no problem naming, claiming, asking, requesting, aligning, you know, finding abundance, going after what I want, and not feeling any way about that except for absolutely exuberant and excited and omniscient. And I dare myself, maybe it’s 500 million instead of 50. Like how, how big can I push the vision?

Brett Gilliland

Yeah.

Nick Cavuoto

Because it’s, it’s in that space that allows us to just, I think, aim higher so that we can take responsibility and do our greatest work.

Brett Gilliland

So, so walk through that. Let’s, let’s stay there for a minute. You talked about your, you’re not afraid to ask, right? So you’re asking God, you’re asking the universe. I know, and I’m in a Bible study and, and it, it’s really helped me. But it’s sometimes, you know, you can feel somewhat selfish, right? Of saying, you know, dear God, you know, give me this thing, right? I, I need this thing to happen professionally or personally or whatever. Um, how do you feel about that when you hear me say that?

Nick Cavuoto

Oh yeah. Um, well here’s what my thing is. It’s like, well, you know, in the Bible, like it talks about it and there’s a lot of other universal principles on this, but you don’t have it cause you’re not asking for it. It says, you know, seek first the kingdom ofGod and everything else will be added to you.

You know, make your request known to me and I will fulfill them like it’s actually being told to us. Like, cause what good father would withhold from his children. Again, I have four. I, I would never withhold anything from my kids unless it’s not good for them.

Brett Gilliland

Right.

Nick Cavuoto

And sometimes when my daughter wants ice cream, before you know, dinner, I just don’t have the patience. I’m fine. I’m just like, whatever. That’s fine. Just go, just go ahead. And sometimes we have, that’s where we have to know, right? Because sometimes we can becken God for things or like keep naming it, claiming it, and declaring it. And sometimes we get something that maybe isn’t the best for us. I would, looking back in my life, it’s a great life lesson. I’m grateful I had it, but I would’ve never wanted to trade my best friend for a $4 million company, ever.

Brett Gilliland

Nope.

Nick Cavuoto

But it taught me a lot of really amazing things. But I just followed the path naturally of life and now I count it as a lesson and it’s been absolutely amazing of the people I get to bring healing to because of it.

But like I don’t ever feel go, I don’t ever feel bad for making a bold request. Never. And again, that comes back to that principle of giving and receiving. Most people have an issue receiving. It’s not giving. Most people be, there’ll be a doormat, giving everything away until they have nothing. Because again, it brings into the nature of like the victim mentality that most people live in.

But when we live in an abundance mindset, We actually can receive, not, not to give, but we receive simply because our hands are open. It’s a natural byproduct and consequence of being somebody who could be responsible to hold it. So it’s like weight too. It’s like how much can you hold? How much can you hold?

Cause money likes to move, so it’s gotta be a current, it’s gotta go through you. It’s not like Donkey Kong gets all the bananas, then he hoards them. You’ve gotta have that great mindset to be able to give unconditionally to people who can never pay you back. And then also on the other hand, the ability to receive, to be the trusted resource. And that’s what I’m learning a lot in my life right now.

Brett Gilliland

So I’m gonna go two spots there on, on a couple things you said. But number one, I think that the abundance to receive, um, when you ask for help, I think also when your intentions and your motives are are right. Right. You know, the abundance of giving and receiving is you are going to be a good steward of that.

Whether that’s money, whether that’s time, whether whatever it is, you’re, you’re gonna do the right thing. And I think that’s where for me is asking people where are their intentions and their motives, right? What, why do they want that thing? And if it’s for the wrong reason, you’re not gonna get it. Right. So you gotta get down into the nitty gritty man and figure that out.

Nick Cavuoto

Yeah, yeah. Absolutely, man. Yeah, it’s, you know, and it comes out in my message, right, because I’m like, Hey, I need to raise 50 million. Not to create the next fix and, you know, run off to The Bahamas. It’s because my wife’s father was murdered when she was three. And I, I’ve watched the struggle, I know the nightmares that she has at night. I know what her mother has had to deal with because she lost her fiance when she was 23 years old.

Brett Gilliland

Hmm.

Nick Cavuoto

I know it. I know it cause I’ve seen it and I’ve lived it. And so that’s the thing that sends, you know, shivers down my spine is the amount of conviction that comes with the request.

And I think that that’s a, a, a teetering line on that like whole idea of integrity and invitation is also the opposite side, which is conviction. You know, some pe I’ve heard many people sayin my life, they’re, they’re like, you’re the best sales guy I’ve ever seen in my life. And the worst all at the same time.

You don’t follow any process. You don’t do anything that you’re supposed to do, but you’ve done $200 million in sales online and it seems like whatever you do, just like people, they just enroll automatically. I’m like, it’s because I have conviction and most people don’t.

Brett Gilliland

Yep. Yep. So

Nick Cavuoto

… I know my gift, it’s to overcome objection with spiritual truth and with a high level of emotion,

Brett Gilliland

That’s solid man.

Nick Cavuoto

I’ve studied me. I know me. I know me. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Brett Gilliland

But again, that’s important too, right there. I, you, I know me.I’ve studied me because, you know, I, I look at me, it’s this black journal right here, right? And it’s, it’s sitting down with that, and it’s asking myself questions. It’s, it’s taking the ink pen and, and writing down notes and turning off technology and getting to know yourself.

Because the better you can be, then the better you can be at home, the better you can be at work. Uh, everywhere. I have four children as well, right? And so, uh, it, it’s freaking crazy, right? And, uh, I have four boys and you know, everything you pray for, we, we’ve got the, the energy, right? They, they don’t lack energy, but, um, but I have to slow down so I can speed up.

And I think that’s, that’s my call is always people. The one thing, what could you do? Since July of 2005, I’ve been spending time in these journals, you know, and I think it’s critically important. So let’s go back to your best friend and where, where that one hit me was, uh, my business partner, Tim Hammett and I, we talk about this all the time at Visionary Wealth Advisors, is, is about your values connection, right?

We’ve, we’ve seen where values connect and values don’t connect, and of course we wanna spend time in the values connection. Did you see as, I mean, looking back now, if you can peel that onion layer back. Were there flags maybe in the past with your best friend that didn’t seem right, that now you’re like, oh yeah, he just robbed me from a freaking 4 million business. Now I can see it?

Nick Cavuoto

Hmm. You know, that’s a really good question, man. Um, my short answer in even looking in, in retrospect is no. And I’ll tell you why. The last like lunch meeting that I had with him before this whole thing went haywire, we had to hire an operator for the company. I’m a visionary, uh, very much. Um, I need to be the tip of the spear.

Like I just don’t thrive as being the stick.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah.

Nick Cavuoto

And that’s totally fine. I know my placement, I know what I’m, you know, I need someone else in asset management and people management and all that, but I just need to be way out in front. And, uh, he was, he was, uh, by trade and analyst. So he was really good at a lot of the client delivery aspects of like just doing the work that was required, the monotonous, consistent tasks.

So, but he, the gap was that like I couldn’t reduce my percentage of visionary enough to be an operator. He couldn’t increase his percentage from being kind of like, Client delivery, you know, in that space to move into like running the actual company. Yeah. And so we had this gap in the center and we had to hire for it.

And what I saw was the shadow of unworthiness come out of his life, which was by exposing the gap, even though I was very comfortable with it, because I know me, right? I’ve been in the personal development game for, you know, 25 years andI’m 35, if that gives anybody an idea of when I started this journey. So again, I know me and, and he wasn’t in that same position, and here was the kicker.

This is what he said. He had such a hard problem with me hiring somebody in that position. They said, listen man, I want the title. And dude my eyes, I mean, they could have fallen outta my head. I said, wait, what? He’s like, I want the title, like I value the title, the position of running this company. And I said, dude, this is a serious problem because I value results only, like, of course, truth, honesty, integrity, all those things.

There’s virtues that I live by, but in the, in the process of a marketing agency, I’m like, the only thing I value for the people that we serve, we do what we say we’re gonna do and we doit. That’s it.

Brett Gilliland

Yep.

Nick Cavuoto

Like, it’s the integrity of those things. And he didn’t, he wanted the, the C level title and that literally to the point of the fracture of our relationship was the thing that he wanted most.

And to me, that’s just heartbreaking. And that’s why I, I said I never could have seen it coming because, you know, him and I had been friends since we were about, you know, eight years old. And I look back through the whole journey and I’m like, never was there any time of when he felt, or that I could point back to of where he felt so unworthy that he needed someone to give him a title in order for him to actually find significance.

And I do believe in the concept of if you wanna be significant, you can go grab a gun and put it to someone’s head and you’ll be very significant.

Brett Gilliland

Mm-hmm.

Nick Cavuoto

You’ll also go to jail, but you’ll be very significant for that moment. And I don’t think that’s what it is. I think he wanted to belong. And I truly now in retrospect go like he wanted to be apart of something and he just didn’t want to lose his placement.

It wasn’t position, it was his uniqueness and his unique value. He didn’t want that to be overlooked in the process of bringing someone else in. And that could have been a really easy conversation. But you know, things just get inflated and feelings get involved and you get to a place of where you go like, well, we gotta deal with what it’s, so then after that, the bitterness hit. And that’s what got really unfortunate, you know, stealing stuff, underselling all the clients. I was losing like 15 clients a week, you know, I mean, just, just from underselling them by half. My lawyer was like, we’ll, we’ll put this guy in jail. I mean, it’s, it’s to that point and I’m like, not gonna do that.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah.

Nick Cavuoto

Not gonna make this guy pay for a mistake for the rest of his life. Because he is also been there for me in a lot of seasons oflife of where I needed someone to be there. And I was just like,I’m not gonna kick him when he is at his weakest hour. And I took the brunt of that, but I know the payoff has already come and it’s gonna continue to come.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah.

Nick Cavuoto

So yeah, that’s integrity, man. I will.

Brett Gilliland

That is integrity, man. And uh, it’s a lot of people would not do that. Let, let’s spend some time on meditation. I had a aha moment today in my meditation this morning. I don’t, do you meditate?

Nick Cavuoto

Yeah, absolutely.

Brett Gilliland

Okay. Um, I had never heard this before, but the app, I was listening to my meditation this morning, talked about your brain being like a snow globe and, and it’s weird how things in your life happen again, those God wings.

I remember last night we were putting out Christmas decorations in our home and you know, at the end of the night, now we gotta go on the light tour, or I called around the house and get all the trees and you know, all the wreaths, I mean everything off in the house, which is great. It’s beautiful. Um, but the snow globe was on, and I remember it’s got all the stuff going crazy inside the snow globe.

And I didn’t think anything of it, but I remember it. I vividly remember it, picking it up last night. And then this morning meditating. Uh, the teacher in there talked about, um, your mind is like a snow globe, right? And meditation is that moment of calm, right? When you put the snow globe, you turn it off, it’s done spinning, whatever it.

There’s calmness, there’s no snowflakes running around in the globe. Right? And I don’t know why that hit me like a ton of bricks, but it’s like, man, that, that’s a perfect reason cause so many people tell me, I just don’t get anything from meditation. I’m like, well you haven’t done it long enough. Like, well, I can’t think about anything else other than the 55 things in my mind. I’m like, well you haven’t done it long enough. Right. So when you hear me talk about the snow globe, what comes to mind for you?

Nick Cavuoto

Well, in the context of people’s inability to be present, I think is the thing that drives me, you know, uh, drives my thought. Because being present in the, in the process of meditation, of slowing down the slow globe, uh, you know, the, the snow globe and, and allowing things to just settle in is the number one reason of why we have I think a lot of the challenges that we have today. Being present is incredibly difficult.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah.

Nick Cavuoto

Everything’s vying for our attention. You know, I met with a Dallas monk in, uh, February of this year who changed my life. And what he, what he did was he called BS on a lot of things in my life, bad systems and broken stories. And one of the things that he said was, you know, Nick, in your life, the challenges that you’re facing will never stop until you stop having events in your life immediately followed by your emotion.

Your emotion then determines your belief. It’s a three-step process. Events, then emotion, then beliefs. So now your beliefs are actually enslaved to your emotion of being a victim.Because most of the things that happened to us, we don’t go, yes, I did that we’re like.

Brett Gilliland

Right.

Nick Cavuoto

Oh yes, this is great, but I don’t deserve it and I’m probably gonna lose it. So, you know. Right. So, so here’s what he said. He said, Nick, events are gonna happen in your life. Those immediately need to follow a belief that you already hold, that you know is true. From that belief, now it can act as a filter to the emotion that you experience. That’s why gratitude is so important, because gratitude is the consistent place of being unbelievably present to say thank you.

Think about it. How many people go through the drive-through every day will go back to that analogy who just grab their food at the window and just drive off. They’re gonna say, thank you.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah.

Nick Cavuoto

My mentor has taught me. He said, if you say thank you every morning and every night before you go to bed for 30 days and everybody did it, the whole world would be a different place.

Yes, because gratitude is the most powerful thing in the world.But secondly, because people would be unbelievably present, they put their phones down for, so, you know, for all intents and purposes.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah.

Nick Cavuoto

They would lock eyes and be emotionally available. But the cycle or the carousel of despair is when we keep playing the BS stories, the broken stories, the bad systems, and we have to clear that out. And I watched this guy, I recorded the session. I watched this guy force me to be present cause I’d go back into the old story. The old story is the inability to, it’s shaking it up when you shake the snow globe. That’s the old story. I need to create chaos again cause I can’t be present.

And I think one of the greatest antidotes to, to focusing on your ability to be present, meaning in that moment of meditation, in that moment of letting the dust or the snow settle in the snow globe. I think that moment is saying, what am I committed to? What am I committed to in this next season in my life?

If I was not half-hearted and I was unbelievably committed, I could actually focus for two seconds and allow my imagination to drift into what’s possible. I didn’t come up with generating50 million for a foundation for my wife’s father on purpose. Idid it being present and allowing that information to come in.

Brett Gilliland

Hmm. Strong, strong, strong, my friend. Uh, talk to us about, um, your event. You’ve got an event coming up February 2nd and 3rd. Uh, Align Con.

Nick Cavuoto

Yes, my friend.

Brett Gilliland

Tell me.

Nick Cavuoto

Align con 2023. Man, it’s gonna be absolutely incredible, man. Um, you know, I deal with a lot of people who are experiencing some type of ending in their life and then wanting to start a new beginning. And, um, I think that true alignment, so this is whole, the whole concept is around alignment. I think true alignment is the path, the pathway for you to experience greater impact, greater abundance, and true fulfillment in your life. So it’s, it’s about being present. It’s about leaning in, it’s about figuring yourself out.

You know, COVID was one of the greatest gifts we ever received. Again, here’s the, you know, the alternate perspective. It was an amazing gift cause it forced people to call BS on their own lives without someone else having to do it for them.

Do I really like driving three hours every day to, to go to work? Do I really like going in the office when now I know I don’t need to. Do I really enjoy this bull crap job that does nothing for me?And I have been giving the last 15 years of my life into it. It forced people to, to, to focus on their external, internal, and philosophical problems, which allowed them to ask a deeper question.

Guess what that question was? What do I want? I’m helping people align to their wants and I want to get them out of this place of trying to feel, feel or figure out, like they’ve gotta do it all on their own. And just following effortless ease, flow and finding results. I think no matter if it’s in their business, their team, or their life.

By being the most powerful aligned version of themselves.And here’s the crazy thing, and I’ll give a little hint on this.When someone comes to me and says, Hey, I would love to figure out my purpose. I can sit down and figure it out with them in 10 minutes, sometimes quicker, but it never takes me more than that.

And I have people do this all the time. I have no idea what my purpose is, or I’m gonna, I’ve lost, I’ve forgotten what it is. And I go like, okay, let’s sit and have a conversation. And there’s a modality of tools that I leverage to help them figure out what is their life pur- purpose, what are their greatest gifts? What is their greatest contribution in the world? What does that look like? And how can they leverage them in order to do their greatest work faster? And dude, I had people who are, you know, athletes, um, people who are entertainers, um, people who are entrepreneurs, people who are in leadership positions. They all have the same conversation.

And so I’m here to be the seer, the guide, to be able to go unbelievably present, I don’t think time’s real, which is to my benefit because I think all we have is right now. So I don’t think about the past, I don’t think about the future. I think about right now, and I live an inspired life of going like, well, what do I want?

And by doing that, I figured out how to master this for myself.And then now the amplification of that is truly what I know is to be my greatest contribution to the world, to live an inspired life and help other people do the same. I think the gravest question that just breaks my heart is, what am I here to do?

I can cure that so fast. People will be like, dude, what kind of mojo? You gotta get in the vortex. I don’t know how to else to explain it.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah. Love it. So where do our listeners find more about AlignCon?

Nick Cavuoto

Align con, nick cavuto.com/align. You can also just look upAlign Con 2023 and, uh, likely find it there right on Google.And, um, yeah, would love to have, love to have you there.And, um, we can put a promo code in the show notes as well.Um..

Brett Gilliland

Sweet.

Nick Cavuoto

I think that’d be great to do for your listeners.

Brett Gilliland

Yeah, we’ll definitely do that. We’ll definitely do. Speaking of that, uh, you, you mentioned earlier mentors, um, how, how important is it for you to have a mentor slash coach, uh, in your life.

Nick Cavuoto

Oh dude, it’s everything. Um, you know, mentors are people who are where you want to be, uh, that you can ask directions to and say, Hey, how’d you get there? Um, mentors also, they don’t want your money. They want your, um, they basically want your mindset. They want to be able to transform the, the version of you that you are right now. They want to be able to help you transform that and basically help you prosper. One of my mentors, I said to him, I said, dude, I, I don’t even know how I would ever repay you. And he said, oh, no dude. You don’t see how this is going, man. Like it’s not about what I’ve given to you. Do you understand what you’ve given to me?

And I was like, I never thought about that. And he’s like, yeah, cuz that’s, that’s where your challenge is and your ability to receive is now you’re questioning your ability to give. He said you needed someone to show you the path, to light the path. I needed a companion. And we took walks together for 150 days during the pandemic, every single day at 5:00 AM. And this dude changed my life.