Ep103 Mo Salami - The Lifestyle Design Formula: Impact, Fulfillment, and Freedom Combined

Mo Salami  0:00  
Apparent success is when someone else decides what success is for you, an actual success includes fulfillment and the flexibility to design your ideal lifestyle between online business and personal development coaching, you can design your ideal lifestyle the way that you want it and have your impact the way you want it as well.

Jason Croft  0:21  
Welcome to strategy in action, where we reveal how industry leaders build real market gravity, the force that naturally attracts opportunities, partnerships and profits. You get raw insights, proven frameworks and strategies that actually move the needle in your business. Let's get started. You mo Salami is on the show today, and we talk about this idea of creating an impact. And I love this term because it gives it gives weight to something that you're creating and doing in the world, and brings intention with it and all of that. It goes so far beyond just, you know, I help so and so do this with my business. When, when you really let in the fact that you're impacting the people who hire you, you're impacting those around you, there's a little bit of of weight to that that lets you pause for a moment and be even more intentional with it, and that does lead to this deeper fulfillment, right when you start to see those results and see how you impact those around you and and ultimately, you know the ripple effect of that as well to multiple people and the people they affect. And I love having this conversation today with Mo about this, because this is integral into how he helps his clients. You know, it's, it's a big piece, but one piece of how he helps them design a life. And that concept alone, being purposeful, with designing a life, being intentional, again, this idea that, Oh, I do have the power to, you know, design what I want and what I don't want in the world. And when we truly let that in, there's a level of responsibility, but it's also a level of, oh, wow, okay, I have a choice here, when maybe we've been head down in our lives, thinking I just have to do this and have to get to the next thing. And I think it's a wonderful, freeing experience when you can let that in. Mo has a great backstory of what led him to this path that we dig into right away. That's just fantastic. So I'm excited to share this interview with you. Let's jump in. Mo salami, welcome to the show.

Mo Salami  3:07  
Jason Croft, thank you for having me, and I'm so glad to be here, and I'll do my best to add a lot of value for your listener today.

Jason Croft  3:16  
Oh, I have no doubt at all i I've had the good fortune to to know you a bit, to be coached by you and have some just deep, amazing, wonderful conversations over these last, gosh, couple of years now, it's spanned, I think, and I really appreciate you being on and talking about this Amazing concept that you have a lot of experience with and help creating for other people, this idea of creating impact. And I think it's one of those topics and phrases that can go it could be vague for people and get thrown around, and yet it's so important to focus on and and really make decisions about, because you're going to have an impact, you're going to create an impact, you're going to be impacted in all these different ways. It's so much better to be intentional with with all of those. So I want to, I want to dig into a lot of this, because I'm excited to talk about this, this topic. Give us a background, though, because knowing you, as I do, it's a phenomenal background and experience over the last several years that you have bring us up to speed there and all the way up to how you're helping people right now.

Mo Salami  4:41  
First of all, thanks for that intro. And you know, again, really grateful to be on this platform, Jason. And the turning point for me and for my story, was seeing a sign. And before we get to the sign, I just want to give this some context. So I'm from a family where. Where having a degree, particularly in the healthcare field, is the definition of success. So I did that. I got three degrees, and I started my career in the medical and the healthcare field. I bought a nice house, I moved to a nice neighborhood, and I bought a nice car, but the challenge was my nice six figure salary came with not very nice, 16 hour work days at the end of every year. I would always feel like really successful, or apparently successful, but my days were this blur of 16 hour work days. I had no experiences, no free time, no me time, which brings me nicely to the sign. So one day I'm in a bookstore in in central London, and I see a sign, and it says, how to be successful. That how to be a successful. Sign was an ad for a book called The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. It was a book about personal development. So I read every single book in the back of the success principles. The fork in road I had was, Do I go all in to discover more about this actual success, or do I stay on my current path of apparent success that I already had? Well, the truth is, Jason, as you know that if you increase your skill set, you increase your options. So I did that. I invested 1000s of hours and 10s of 1000s of dollars learning from the best in the world. I traveled to Europe, to the USA, to Canada and to Asia and from the best in the world. I gained expertise in online business, sales and marketing, personal development and public speaking. The question that was guiding me the entire time was, what is actual success? I even went to work for Tony Robbins as a senior mentor in a role that included high ticket consultative selling. Whilst working for Tony Robbins, I did 10s of millions of dollars in sales, and one of my highlights was generating a million dollars of sales in 90 days because I'd up leveled my skills. I had the opportunity to add tons of value for tons of high achievers. As a mentor and as a coach, over the span of 10 years, I realized that apparent success is when someone else decides what success is for you, an actual success includes fulfillment and the flexibility to design your ideal lifestyle. And that's why today I teach my clients that between online business and personal development coaching, you can design your ideal lifestyle the way that you want it, and have your impact the way you want it as well.

Jason Croft  7:48  
I love that, and I think what makes it so powerful when you have a conversation with a potential client, a client is because you made that transformation. You made that complete shift out of it. What was, what was the timeframe there a little bit in terms of, you know, first seeing that book and, hey, here's a path. Was it a burn, the boats jump, I'm gonna go this direction, or was, was there a transition that? Okay, I kind of dip your toe which? Which path was that?

Mo Salami  8:28  
So the time frame was, burn the boats. Before I even knew the phrase burn the boats, because I literally saw the sign. And then I thought, What is this? You know, how to be successful. I'm already successful. What's going on? And then I saw the book, and I literally took the book and I read it right there in the bookstore, and I sat there for a couple of hours, and probably got halfway through the book, and then I thought, Oh, by the way, I probably should buy this book. Then I bought the book, and then I went to the back of the book, and there was a whole list and different sections of, you know, health and well being and finances and all different aspects of what we call of what Jack Canfield calls success, right? And I just went to the back and ordered every single book. And that's how I discovered a lot of the big, if you will, mentors and that we that we hear of the the world famous ones that we hear of was literally through that book. So it was immediate.

Jason Croft  9:21  
Anybody in this, I'll say, this space, this world, this, you know, this personal development side of things. And I say that just because being in it, I certainly forget, and I think all of us who are in this world for any number of years forget that it's not the wider conversation, unfortunately, this area of personal development and everything, and it's so fun to just to explore and share those different stories. You know, for me, I'm, I remember, you know, driving around to bookstores in Dallas. Texas to get into audio cassettes of Tony Robbins interviews and things, and having that, just that mindset shift of what's possible, and then it just becomes ingrained for so many years. And you do think more abundantly and more about what's possible, and just more expansive. And it's, it's almost a it's almost like a splash of cold water when you know you encounter folks who don't think that will be like, Ah, okay, it's a different mindset, don't you bring that in. So I love this. I want to get into this topic, and especially with you and your perspective coming at it from now somebody who has made this drastic shift, and now you're helping other people make drastic shifts like this as well. And as you mentioned, really design a lifestyle. And I love that phrase, and again, it can be loaded, right? Lifestyle design, it's thrown around an influencer and this, and, you know, because it gets, gets muddy when it's just thrown around so much. But I love the term design, because it is so intentional. And that's really step one, is letting that part in, that I can design it. We are in an amazing world of technology and everything of that abundance right now to design what we want. Let's start with that topic there of how do you help people first go through that process, to let in that they can design and and really say, that's great. You're kind of wanting these things. What's the bigger picture that you want to design? Where do you start with folks?

Mo Salami  11:58  
I guess the place I'd start is this that you can curate the lifestyle that you wish to create, and I'll say that one more time, you can curate the lifestyle that you wish to create. And I think it starts with the pen, you know, and writing your own story. And typically, life says to us, you know, here's your blue pen, here's your black pen. And by the way, here's the life that someone else designed for you, which involves living in a certain place and, well, it shows you a life of restriction, and where, on the surface you're apparently successful, but underneath that surface you're a little bit unfulfilled. And the way that I teach lifestyle design is that is for two things, one impact, and the second is fulfillment. You know, impact says if I have the necessary resources and I've added enough value for for my own my own people, if you will, my own tribe, using my online business that gives me certain options, and then the fulfillment says, Well, how do I get over the fact that I'm constrained? You know, constrained in terms of having to step out of the comfort zone and having to step into the unknown sometimes, if you will, and really getting a hold of your mindset, you know, so through the fulfillment side and your mindset, and through the impact side and having your online business, it gives you the option to design your ideal lifestyle the way that you want it, so that that's the way that I, I teach it.

Jason Croft  13:39  
You find it, it's it's often difficult to get someone to even define what they actually want to in the first place. Like really want beyond just maybe, you know, the house, the car, the numbers. But like designing a day and really getting that out is, is that tough for folks at that stage one?

Mo Salami  14:09  
So I'd say yes or no. So let's go. Let's go with the with the with the yes part first. In terms of it being tough, I'd say yes, it's tough because that's the very reason most people don't design their ideal lifestyle. There's just a lack of clarity of what is it I actually want? You know, if you ask most people you know what, what is it you want from life? What does that look like? It's not a question that most people consider it's even possible. So, and you know, so, yes. So yes, in terms of statistically, 4% of people achieve the lifestyle they want by the age of 65, 2% of people have lived the life they want by the time they're 80. So just by those statistics, it says, it says most people do not. Not. And then where I say the no part. Remember I said it's a yes and no. So I did put together a program, a short program. And again, if, if you're listening to this and inside, let's say, What do you say? Jason, six weeks, couple of months of this episode going live, if you reach out to me, I'll send you the program free of charge to fill out, and the outcome is it gives you a real clarity, it kicks out, if you will, a clarity and a clear picture of what it is that you want, just through a series of of of questions to ponder. So there you go.

Jason Croft  15:37  
Let's dig into this idea of impact, is, it's already a loaded word a little bit. And I think it's, it's, it's interesting for me, because, as you've defined it already in this conversation, it's, it almost feels like it's the impact you've created this for yourself, the things the I built this business, how much is it in your mind, external and internal? Because when I think of impact, I think the impact I will have on a person, the world, my surroundings, what? What's your definition there?

Mo Salami  16:26  
Literally, what you just said, the impact that you'd have on the world, and specifically on your world, meaning, most people tend to be artists, as in, they have a skill set or something that they know they kind of should be doing. You know, their their ladder is against this wall, and they have whichever level of success doing that, but the success they want is on that other wall, and they tend to be great at what they do, but then it's that JK Rowling thing, right, of being an amazing writer, but the business side has to be down pat as well. So it's that combination of figuring out who it is that you want to serve, figuring out who your avatar is, if you will, you know avatar being that person that you want to serve, and you know their demographics and psychographics, and also stepping into that space of learning, if you will, the online business side of it, in addition with your artistry to add as much value as you can to your audience and to your world, and not, not necessarily the world, but to who it is that you wish to impact. There's that word again, you know it could be a certain demographic of people, but certainly the premise being that once you add your own impact, and you add your own value for your tribe, it kind of comes back to you, because you're adding value, then all of a sudden you have your own online business, and then you have a choice to say, Well, I love my existing, you know, job, if you're still in a job, as it were, and I want to do this as a side hustle, or I want to switch out and go for my actual purpose, do this full time, you know, if it's a whichever level of income, the the low six figure, the mid six figure or beyond, and then you're just giving yourself those options, And you do it in the way that you love every single day, because every single day you're serving people in the way that's that really touches your your your expertise and and the and the and what you want to bring to the world for others,

Jason Croft  18:39  
I like that. I, I feel a push pull, I think, with this, with the term and the idea of impact, because part of me is I, I'm all for it. What I love about it is, again, the intentionality with it, when you can think in those terms of what is the impact I'm going to have by starting this business, providing this service. It's, it's a little heavier, right? And there's, there's, it's kind of, there's a negative to that. When it's, it seems too big. What's my purpose in life? How am I going to impact the world? And how am, you know, like we instantly go to these giant levels, and then it's, you don't start, because it's that's too big, and that's out there. And how am I going to be Oprah tomorrow? Or some giant, mega presence? That's the push pull is, is really to quickly get, get across to someone you you shouldn't think that big. What's just as important is, what is the impact I'm having on the three people I see every day, right starting there, okay, I do a pretty good job there, around or in my life, and my couple of clients. Oh, that's that's interesting. And it and then you start letting in the weight of this word. Instead of just I helped some folks today, I impacted people with the service I provided. I restructured their business that impacts them, it impacts their clients, and on and on. So I, I love, I love that. It's just a little bit stronger than, Hey, who do you help? I love this idea. And then where you're taking it further to is, again, designing that. And then what's that life style around it? What's the fulfillment piece in. And maybe, if people are worried about, I don't know defining that like I don't know fulfillment. I don't know starting down that road of impact, and how am I going to impact these other people, like you said, it tends to come back towards them in that level of fulfillment, maybe a piece at a time going, Oh, wow. I I helped this person, this person, I impacted these, these people that's that's fulfilling me, and then that's a that's a path they can go down.

Mo Salami  21:18  
That's a really great comment. And I guess what I'd say to that is, this, your your online business has no business taken over your entire world. So most people equate success with these 100 hour work days, and you know, not seeing family, missing events. And in terms of impact, it's a case of the impact that you want for your world, so under the bigger picture of lifestyle design. So for some people, lifestyle design has more of a weight on family and free time and travel and experiences and been able to learn, you know, languages, if you will, or learn new things if you will. For others, impact is weighted more towards, you know, the the seven figures, the the high six figures, each one is a is the right answer for that person. But that's why the impact is under the umbrella of lifestyle design, because, to complete the yin and the yang, if you will, you have fulfillment. Because if you have impact, but no fulfillment, you might as well you know that you just need both. So impact doesn't necessarily mean the world. It could mean your city. It could mean your town. It just means your world and the people that you want to impact with fulfillment being the other part of the umbrella, like I mentioned,

Jason Croft  22:55  
how do you, how do you help people right now with with this? What is that process? What does that look like? How are you getting in front of more people to do this, more with this great message and and as they enter your world? What does that? What does that dynamic? What does that look

Mo Salami  23:16  
like? I guess the dynamic is taking that next step forward. So, you know, most people, they stay comfortable living a lifestyle that they love, and very few people get uncomfortable to create a lifestyle that they love. So it what it looks like is having people step out of their comfort zone into uncomfort and specifically, once we want to create the impact, there's certain steps that have to be taken. For example, taking action is very important and high performance is very important. You could literally have a list of all the steps to create and design your online business, if you will. But that's 20% of the game, or less 80 or 90% of the game is your mindset and personal development. So it's a combination of those two of knowing what to do, and then you versus your mindset, you winning that daily battle between you and your mindset to do what needs to be done to get the results that you want. And the premise is that most people can achieve most things in the space of five years or less, you know, but most people spend the five years thinking about the next step, you know, and putting it off. So it's just that, like I said, that high performance necessity and stepping out of the comfort zone, necessity, and that starts with, you know, really showing up at the highest level, and also just being prepared as well at the highest level on a constant basis. And I want. The phrases I use a lot is do the best you can consistently. And that's using the premise that if you're just showing up day by day, by day by day, at some point, expertise and the results that you want will show up as well.

Jason Croft  25:16  
Yeah, I think that's so critical, and it's the hardest for whatever reason, for, for so many of us to do that same boring, maybe, you know, task, day in and day out. And then only thing I would add to that would be, then the review right, show up, do it and do it and really be purposeful with just enough looking back to review, evaluate, oh, appreciate, Oh, wow. I've done this the last two months that okay, there is some difference. Because when you do make these 1% shifts every day, it's tough to see them from one day to the next, the results rather and when you look back, oh, wow, okay, I'm on track, or look back and go, oh, I need to, I need to shift a little something here. But that's the key to it all. Are those little steps. Because, like you said, this takes, you know, you can do a lot in those five years if you're moving forward during that time. I love that. And I would say too, it starts. It starts with that decision, that real decision. I'm going to do this no matter what, whatever it takes. Like if you can embrace that, then everything else just becomes data and a process to get there.

Mo Salami  26:48  
I think the key is as well, moving in the direction of the result you want before you see the result that you want. And you mentioned, you know that day by day grind and I speak a bunch of languages, and I learned a bunch of languages as an adult, and it needn't be a day to day grind. You can literally design the pathway from where you are to where you'd like to get to. And there's different pathways. One could be a day to day grind, or one could be design it in a way that you really enjoy it, you know, design it in a way that you love it. Because one of the ways to get a get to a result, I get it. People talk about day to day grinds and hustling, by the way, hustling is like the most inefficient thing ever, by the way, but people mention all those things. And sure, it's great to show up on a daily basis, but I'm saying show up on a daily basis in a way that you love the tasks, if you will, or you love the show up. Because if you can love the show up, all of a sudden, it's you're coming from a place of passion, and the passion gets you to the result quicker, and even if not quicker, at least more elegantly, than doing doing it in a way that's a grind.

Jason Croft  28:07  
I agree with that. I think there is. I think that's the creativity too, sometimes, right? Because sometimes it is just a grind. Like, it may be something like, I I don't enjoy this, but I know I enjoy the result I get from this. And so yes, let me find a creative way to, even if, in the beginning it's it's pretend to like it, or do it, or be open, because I like what you're talking about, too, which was, you know, a shift in perspective to open up like, Okay, well, stop. Do you do you have to do it that way? Do you have to do in a way that you don't like? Is there another is another path? I i like that creative approach to it, and just letting that different perspective in, because you're right, we're, you know, we're just as humans. We're going to do something longer and more consistently if we are enjoying that process at some level, in some way. Who is out there right now, what's happening in their world, that they need mo in their life? Like if I just had Mo, this would solve all of it's or would get me on the right path. Who described that person for me?

Mo Salami  29:26  
I think it's the type of person that, it's not necessarily if they had mo it's the kind of person that, if they had themselves to, I guess, find it within themselves to take that step, you know, take that next step, because there is a place called the comfort zone, you know that many people live in, you know, and it's stepping outside of that, and it's saying, and it's listening to that voice, that voice that says, there's this thing that I should be doing, there's this dance studio that I should be having, if you will. Or there are these people. I should be impacting, if you will, or, you know, there's this skill set that I have, that I know that lots of people want, my tribe love and they want, and also they could learn from me. And it's just a case of, rather than thinking about it like really stepping into doing something about it to get to that next level. And again, the way that we help you do something about it is via helping you turn that expertise that you have into your own online business so that you can serve your tribe and open up some options for yourself in the way that you want it. So that would be the type of person I would say.

Jason Croft  30:39  
How do people reach out to you and connect and get that resource that you mentioned? What's the best way for them to connect? So like

Mo Salami  30:47  
I mentioned, if you reach out within, I don't even remember the time frame we said, If you reach out within, let's say, a couple of months of this episode going live, I'll send you through. I have a program that walks you through how to specifically know what lifestyle design means for you. So if you reach out, I'll send that to you. You know, no, there is a fear attached, usually, but I'll send it to you free of charge if you just put in the in the message that you've listened to this episode of the podcast with myself and Jason. So just reach out to most salami.com forward Slash Free call. Most salami.com forward Slash Free call. In general, if you want to reach out, and I do a strategy call, and the strategy call is for if you want to take that step to design your ideal lifestyle. You know, if it's the online business, if it's more the personal development side, if it's both, or either we can have that discussion on the call, you'll get a ton of value on the call as well. And it's a no application call at most, salami.com, forward slash, free call,

Jason Croft  31:53  
no. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for offering that resource and just being who you are. I honored to know you and been helped and coached through several things with you by you. I appreciate you being here today.

Mo Salami  32:10  
Thank you so much for inviting me to your platform, and again, it's been amazing knowing yourself for the last three years. I think it is perhaps even more and thank you for the platform, and I hope your listener has gotten some value today and also takes that next step to design the ideal lifestyle.

Jason Croft  32:29  
Fantastic. We'll see you all next time, thanks for joining us on strategy and action. Remember, true industry leaders don't chase opportunities. They attract them. Want to build your own market gravity. Visit media leads, co.com, see you next time you.