Rewrite Your Story, Own the Room: Lessons from Cam F. Awesome

Tim: 0:08

Welcome back to Speaking with Confidence, a podcast that helps you build the soft skills that lead to real results communication, storytelling, public speaking and showing up with confidence in every conversation that counts. I’m Tim Newman, a recovering college professor turned communication coach, and I’m thrilled to guide your journey to become a powerful communicator. Make sure you hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode. Today’s guest is Cam Olson. He’s a 12-time national boxing champion, three-time Olympic trials champion and former captain of the USA National Boxing Team. Beyond the ring, cam has built a career as a motivational speaker, sharing his journey of resilience, positive mindset and overcoming adversity with audiences around the country, from being bullied as a kid to becoming one of the most decorated amateur boxers in US history. His story is as inspiring as it is powerful. He’s also the author of Becoming Awesome how to Make Success Inevitable and is here to drop some serious wisdom on you, cam. Welcome to the show I’m excited for today.

Cam: 1:10

Oh, thanks for having me, Tim. It’s fun to be here.

Tim: 1:13

Well, you know, I love all my guests, but I really like it when I have somebody from the sport industry come on, you know, because we have some commonalities, we have some of the same types of mindset, types of things. But here’s a question I have for you how much fun is life for you right now? I mean, you’re traveling all over the place and every time I see you you seem to have a smile or you’re laughing. How much so? How much fun is life right now?

Cam: 1:38

Well, life is dope. Uh, I comparing it to where life used to be. Oh man, things, things are. Things are in the up and up, and I’ve learned to enjoy it. Instead of wondering when, when, instead of taking the the route of oh, when’s the shoe gonna drop, or when things gonna change, it’s like, no, I’m just happy, uh, but I mean, it’s not, I’m not always happy, it’s a, it’s a lot of conscious work to be this happy.

Tim: 2:07

Yeah, and I kind of laugh sometimes because you know I’ve been accused of having resting bitch face. You know I’m a very emotional person. I really am, but you can’t ever tell, cause I’m going to show you my happy face and I’m gonna show you my sad face. It’s the same, I mean it’s, it’s just, I mean it’s. But what’s going on inside is you know I’m, I’m, you know a lot like you. Uh, I’m happy I’m, you know I’m. I look at things from a positive mindset and and and always looking to, you know, to, to, to make sure that that things are, are are going well for me, to to to make sure that things are going well for for me, and to and to be able to help other people.

Cam: 2:47

Yeah, I’m, I’m, I’m, yeah, I’m big on that with because it’s like it’s it’s work. Like when you see someone with abs some of y’all are born with them and I don’t like you, but for the most part it’s like when you see someone with, like a physical like, oh, you don’t realize the work it takes, the maintenance and it just constantly, but it’s to have that thing that you want, and for me, that thing is not necessarily abs, it’s being happy yeah, and, and that’s that’s that’s so important, and it’s happy with you, not happy with what society says you should be happy with oh yeah, I don’t care anything about what most people think.

Cam: 3:23

Like I value my reputation enough because I value my reputation. I care what people think of me, but I don’t really. Most people aren’t happy. I can’t judge my level of happiness off of unhappy people, because misery loves company and when I was at my least happiest I wasn’t happy seeing happy people.

Tim: 3:44

Right, right, it made you feel bad because they were happy and you weren’t.

Cam: 3:49

Yeah, they had something you didn’t, yeah, and that’s something that I struggled with. It’s something I constantly still work on. But now, when I’m in a happy place, if something I do makes someone else unhappy, I can’t let that change my action, because then both of us are going to be happy. I’m going to be unhappy, I’m happy, and then they’re going to be kind of happy, because misery loves company.

Tim: 4:13

Right and say ha ha, I made you unhappy. Now I did it and that’s. But that’s the other thing. How long did it take you to understand or grasp the concept that you, you have no control over how other people you know I’m going to do airfingers, quote feel?

Cam: 4:28

Yeah, still grappling with that because, yeah, it’s still a process every day, but I think in 2012, I got kicked off the Olympic team and I was so worried about what other people were thinking and I was embarrassed. And turns out, before the Olympics even happened, most people had forgot I wasn’t even going wow, wow that.

Tim: 4:53

That just hit me in the stomach dude, yeah, I heard my ego.

Cam: 4:56

I was like, oh wait, they, because I had. I thought like the whole world was conspiring against me and and at that moment I realized, oh no, no one cares.

Tim: 5:09

Wow, and you know I talk about that Nobody really cares. You know and see, this is where we project ourselves, right, I talk about things that people nobody cares when. When we’re when we’re talking, when we’re public speaking, and I’m thinking I’m putting myself in your shoes, where you’re a high profile athlete, people know who you are and, wow, I would think that people would care about, about you, but the reality is they, they still don’t.

Cam: 5:34

No, I don’t care how great of a chiefs fan you are, you haven’t thought about Patrick Mahomes in the last few months. It’s just when it’s convenient for you, it’s your entertainment, but that’s his life. Wow Again thanks for bringing me back to ground level. It’s freeing, though.

Tim: 5:57

It is If you remember it and embrace it right and not look at it from. I I guess the negative aspect that, oh, nobody really cares because that’s not it either. Oh, no, but it’s like oh no, it was freeing.

Cam: 6:12

No one get one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen in my life. I don’t like going to outdoor. I don’t. I don’t like going to events. Usually if I’m an event, I’m either paid to be there or it’s a comedy show. I’m going to enjoy it. But my girl was like, hey, let’s go to this outdoor thing in the park and not really my jam. But she goes to so many things she doesn’t want to go to.

Cam: 6:33

Right, like I’ll just show up with my smile, right, and I’m there watching and there’s an mc introducing like performers or whatever, and I’m zoned in on the mc because I’m like that’s me imc events. Right, maybe they could book me next year. Because I go straight into work mode and I’m like, let me evaluate this mc. And he’s going through his lines off to the side and no one sees him. But I’m watching him. He’s going over his lines and he gets up there and he does it and people clap and no one cares, like he, I, I didn’t even listen to what he said and at that moment I realized, oh, he thinks his job is so important and we think our job is so important that we put so much pressure on ourselves, right, unnecessary pressure.

Cam: 7:16

And I saw it didn’t really matter. The next performance came up on stage and then he came up after and he said thank you and they all clapped and and to me it was the most freeing thing of my career where I realized no one cares. So beautiful, right, you care, you care, because you’re going to be like like in a week. No one’s going to remember. You remember the guy who announced everyone he flubbed a line.

Tim: 7:42

Oh, we hate that guy Right. Never bring him back again. Yeah god, but you but to. But to your point, though. You care about what you do, because it’s it’s you and and what you do, and, and you want to make sure that you’re doing a good job and you want to be the best at what you’re doing, whether other people care about it or not. It’s that’s that internal drive, that that that moves us. It’s not, it’s not that, it’s not that external thing, it’s not the money, it’s. It’s not the, the fame and the awards where there’s some of that though, but but it’s that more that internal drive yeah, it’s the internal drive and and the awards and money.

Cam: 8:20

That’s just how you keep score right, but that’s not the game I’m playing, exactly Like I. I, of course, and I’ll just say the caveat of as long, my goal in life for success for me is if I can fill my gas tank without doing math. Well, I’ve won, I’ve won.

Tim: 8:38

We did it today.

Cam: 8:39

Yeah, we, we did it, I didn’t, I didn’t carry the one, the one. The dollar amount is higher than the pump number.

Tim: 8:47

That’s a win for me. Baby, let’s do it. That’s awesome. You know you started doing something a long time ago and that’s every morning when you wake up. You know you write down in your journal 10 things that you’re grateful for. Are you still doing that? Oh yeah, Every day since july 26 2021 do you mind sharing just a couple of them with us? Yeah, that you did today, yeah uh.

Cam: 9:21

So this morning. So uh again. So these are I I write. The reason why I do this is I saw uh. So I changed my last name to awesome and since that people have been sending me pictures of their socks that say I am awesome. Okay, part of the game. People tag me and I am awesome stuff. I love it, it brings joy to my life. But people have been specifically sending me pictures of their socks and underwear. I don’t know why. And then one day I was at my buddy’s house and he says oh my God, the sock ladies in the basement and I was like that’s the weirdest sentence I’ve ever heard.

Cam: 9:56

But his wife’s best friend owned a sock company and it’s called notes to self. She puts positive affirmations on socks because your brain is most receptive to information first thing in the morning and her best seller is I am awesome because it’s like I’m courageous, I’m brave. It’s all different ones, but I am awesome is everyone’s favorite. So people have been sending me pictures of this lady socks and so happened. I happened to meet her in my friend’s house. She explains to me the concept of the business and why she did it, and the brain, how the brain works, and a light bulb went off.

Cam: 10:31

I was like, well, how do we usually start our day? Well, usually we, we hit snooze and we do math in nine minute increments, right. And then we check our phones. The news If it bleeds, it leads social media. The worst gets shown first. Yeah, so we just download a bunch of news and negative stuff first thing in our morning. So I decided I was like, since I met her, I was like, all right, I am going to write a list of 10 things I’m grateful for every morning, cause it’s your reticular activating system. Your brain takes in billions of bits of information every. Your eyes can see everything, but it only shows you what it thinks, it believes. You’re interested in one fact. If you ever look at a document, it’s like a bunch of words, but you see the word sex. You find. You just find that word. It’s like you because we’re pre this vision.

Tim: 11:18

Okay, you just called me out here.

Cam: 11:20

I mean, what’s up with that is that but yeah, and it or the curse word, something like it’s what your brain searches. So if your brain takes in billions of bits of information, it only gives you 35 bits. It shows you what you believe it’s looking for. What you seek is what you find. So let’s say you go shopping for a yellow car all weekend. You don’t buy a yellow car, but after that you start seeing yellow cars everywhere. Right, that’s your reticular activating system at work. The second you said hey, I’m looking for yellow car. It started to point it out. It’s why, whichever car you happen to drive seems to be one of the most popular cars on the road exactly it’s not.

Cam: 11:58

It’s not what your brain’s looking for. So I started to write a list of 10 things I was grateful for every morning, because if I start my day looking for a yellow car, I’ll see yellow cars. If I start my day with murder, death, destruction, rape and genocide for the news, that’s what I’m going to find. But if I start my day with 10 things going right, I’ll just continuously find more things going right in my life. Right, so I’ll tell you this list, but they’re not these great, huge things. Right, but they don’t really have to be either. No, because they’re all great. So the first thing on my list I’m grateful to find sniper elite 4.

Cam: 12:32

It’s a game on the nintendo switch. So my best friend and I we’ve lived together since we’re 16. People grow up and they get married and related. So he lives, he. He lives again today. I live in austin now, but we we’re still best friends to this day and we talk all the time. So we don’t play video games like we used to back in the day. But we play video games now, but we only allow ourselves to play a game that neither of us play, and the only time we can play is with each other oh, okay so one of us can’t get better than the other and it’s always competitive because we just talk crap.

Cam: 13:04

That’s what we like to do. So we picked NHL. So we’d play hockey, because neither of us care for it, but it’s just something to talk junk over. Well, he bought a Nintendo Switch, so I had to buy a Switch, and we play this sniper elite game and instead of it being competitive because we’re always talking down to each other and it’s like that’s why your mother doesn’t love you, and just terrible things we say this game, we’re on the same team and we’re encouraging each other and it’s like, oh, yeah, you got it. And I was like, oh, we’ve just been celebrating each other for a lot lately and so that was the first thing on my list. Like I’m grateful to find that game because it connected me with Matt Mays a little bit more. Yeah, that was the first thing on my list.

Tim: 13:49

That’s all that’s. That’s an awesome way to look at it and, again, it’s a change in mindset. Yeah, Even though do you know the the trash talk that that we do as guys with each other? It’s all good and it’s all fun and games. There’s still that hint of negativity. But to turn it around and and turn it into a positive and and kind of kind of that that male bonding that doesn’t generally happen when you get to be older, right, because, as like you said, you, you, as you get grow up, you you get married, you have kids, you move away and you there are other other things that are pulling into your time and resources. You know both, both you know physical, mental and financial. You have less time to to to bond with your friends.

Cam: 14:36

Yeah, man, life gets in the way, and then you have kids, and then they have their friends, and then you have your partner, and then your partner has her friends, and then it’s like your circle starts to change and then the the free time you have changes. And then, when you do have free time, instead of spending it with your friend, you’re just like you’re just trying to process life, right?

Cam: 14:59

so you usually probably just drink or something you drink with your friends friends, that’s the time but I became sober, so that’s not an option for me anymore because we can’t moderate things that’s well, there’s no myself I.

Tim: 15:13

I can’t moderate food. You know, you brought food a little bit and that’s you know, that’s I. I’ve worked hard on this body you know, I don’t. I don’t have the abs and I work hard at it, you know. But that is one of the things that I and I don’t even the abs, and I work hard at it.

Cam: 15:25

That is one of the things that I and I don’t even speak about this, but the reason why I did the vegan thing. I lost the vet bet and had to do it for 28 days and I have such a negative relationship with food. It’s unhealthy, right. There’s no better feeling. Best feeling in the world Eating, eating till I hate myself and everyone around me, falling asleep and then eating that same food in three hours when I wake up from my nap at room temperature. Oh that feeling.

Tim: 15:51

Well, let’s get into that a little bit, because you know, when you were a kid, the bullying you know, being a little overweight and being bullied and those types of things. Those are the things that drive that. That drive that, that, um, the relationship with food or whatever relationship it is with. It could be with looks, it could be with clothes, it could be with material things, but you know, for at least for me, it was with with food, and, and I don’t want to put words in your mouth for you, but but yeah, I mean, and how did, how did you deal with that? And obviously it’s, it’s a, it’s something that’s that’s led you to to where you are now, with with, with what you do, and and and being a boxing champion. But how did you, how did you deal with that as, as a, as a young kid?

Cam: 16:40

As a young kid I uh played video games because you didn’t have to be the fastest, because, like, when you’re the bigger kids, like yeah, for tug or war you come in clutch, but no one’s like picking you for anything else but video games. It’s like it’s easier, uh, and so I’ve. I found myself just staying inside often and then I had the motivator of being super insecure and guys are dating and I want a girlfriend one day and I didn’t like my body and I lacked confidence and I thought joining the gym would help that. And never did I consider changing my eating habits. Right, it never occurred to me. No question, just eat less. I was like, oh no, I guess I have to work out more or eat healthier. No thanks.

Tim: 17:35

No, what’s that mean? I’m not doing that.

Cam: 17:37

I, bro, I was known as the. I was the number one boxer in the country In 2011,. I had 76 percent body fat and I remember another boxer that I beat had like. It was like, yeah, that’s why you’re fat. I was like 36 percent body fat, that’s six percent for each national championship, and that was that was a good burn. I remember back in the day. But I was fat, bro, and because I figured out how to win without having to change the way I ate, it was, it was a.

Tim: 18:10

It was such a crutch yeah, and I think that’s what that, to me, that leads into some of the things, some of the mentality things and your thought process that that came up with, like if you don’t get hit, you can’t lose. Oh, that’s a bit.

Cam: 18:31

Yeah, the score. How about that, the score system? If you hit me, you get a point. If I hit you, I get a point. If I hit you once and then run from you until you’re too tired to hit me, I won. You said I have to be in the ring for three minutes in a round. You didn’t have to fight for the whole three minutes, Right?

Tim: 18:46

right. Yeah, it’s genius and that’s honestly. That’s kind of how my brain works too. I’m like the master of getting out of things that I don’t want to do. I really am.

Cam: 19:01

Or we can call you a master of efficiency. There you go.

Tim: 19:06

I like that too, you know, and so so when you, when you got hit, how did that change your thinking though? Because, because, obviously, as a boxer, I mean you’re going to, you’re going to get hit, no matter how how good you are, because someone’s going to study your, your, your style, and they’re going to find a weakness and they’re going to, they’re going to land one. And then you have to say, okay, I’ve got, I’ve got, I’ve got to learn to, to, to stop that Avenue attack as well.

Cam: 19:40

Yeah. So I think we all tell ourselves a story and in and we all live in our own little realities, in our own bubbles. But fighting is one of the rare occasions where our realities clash. So if we’re fighting, it’s like in your mind you know you’re gonna win my wind, I know I’m gonna win. In my story, I’m gonna win your story, you’re gonna win. We get in the ring to to write the story, right and when. So you asked me what I think when I get hit, I am. I don’t care about my mind. I’m in your mind completely because I want. I want to manipulate the story you’re telling yourself, because that’s how I win. I need you to tell you, I need you to tell you the story that I’m gonna win. Okay, so my favorite punch is not a punch. So and it’s a punch I work out the most.

Cam: 20:27

Most guys are right-handed. You throw a jab in the beginning of the fight. You throw a jab, I slip, I throw an uppercut under your jab. It’s my favorite punch and it snaps a guy’s head back. It’s beautiful, right. Second time you throw your jab, I slip uppercut. Third time, slip uppercut, landing it with ease. The fourth time you throw your jab, I slip. You close your eyes because you know you’re about to get hit, but the punch never comes and you wait an extra second. Then you eventually open your eyes. It’s me smiling.

Tim: 20:58

Oh man.

Cam: 20:59

I need you to know that anytime you throw that punch, I’m going to punish you. Now, in your mind, you’re telling yourself okay, I haven’t dealt with this before. Cam knows something I don’t know.

Cam: 21:13

This isn’t looking good for me right and then I just need you to throw a punch, me to slip and me just to win a cool even exchange where I could hit you twice, but I only get you once, because I need you to think I can hit you at will. Right, this isn’t true at this point, but by the second round you’re already starting to tell yourself these stories right at this point.

Cam: 21:35

Second round you’re a one-handed fighter because you’ve subconsciously stopped using your jab. If I can do that with your, your other hand. Now, if you ever seen a boxing match, you’re like the guy trained for months from the fight. He’s not throwing any punches, right, he’s getting subconsciously trained not to. Every time he throws that punch he gets punished. So you stop throwing the punch. Now you start telling yourself. Tim starts telling himself oh man, cam is in better shape than me. Cam’s got me figured out. I can’t even throw my jab. That’s my favorite punch. I don’t. I’m not sure what to do. You’re flustered and you look over at me and I’m smiling. The end of the first round happens. You sit down in frustration and exhaustion and you look over at me.

Cam: 22:17

I don’t sit down in between rounds, I’m looking at you and I’m looking down at you because I need to know you, to know, tim, that you’re less than me in that moment in that ring outside, outside the ring, you might have a better life than me, but inside that ring, tim, you’re mine, and whether that’s true or not, I need you to believe that. And by the time you come out for the second round, you’re not the same human being anymore, right.

Tim: 22:41

Right, and then I guess it multiplies by the time you go on to the third round and then it’s, it’s, it’s over. At that point it was it’s over, it’s over going to the second round. But my guess is the mental defeat of that guy going to the third round, it’s truly over.

Cam: 23:00

Let me tell you, when it happens there’s an involuntary exhale, it’s like he’s there and he’s like that’s his soul leaving his body. Oh, that’s awesome, I love it. Oh, that’s awesome, I love it, that’s awesome. Not an original quote, that’s jeremiah graziano. I’ll never steal that from him, but that feeling of that his, his soul leaving his body, that’s when I take your manhood from you.

Tim: 23:22

That to me, oh, that’s the greatest feeling so how do you transfer that into outside of the ring you know that mentality outside of the ring, into what you’re doing now, because I mean what you’re doing now, the great work that you’re doing. You’re traveling all over the place, you’re talking to people all over the place. What I really like is when you go and you talk to schools and you’re talking to kids. You talk to schools and you’re talking to kids. So how do you take that mentality and transfer it to kids and get them to understand the to, to change the, to change their outlook, to change how they that mental?

Cam: 23:59

mindset. I explained to them my story and I try to, so I do standard comedy I try to make all. I tell stories and all the stories have jokes, morals and messages attached to it. Because my idea if kids are list, all the stories have jokes, morals and messages attached to it. Because my idea if kids are list, if they’re laughing they’re listening. If they’re listening they’re learning. If they’re learning. I did my job, so I share my story and I share this story about how I talk to myself. And then I asked them how do they talk themselves? Because we all tell ourselves a story. Which character do we play in that story?

Tim: 24:31

Okay.

Cam: 24:34

Are you the victim in your story? Are you the main character? Are you the person who’s going to win in that story? What’s the story you tell yourself? And I remind them that they have the power to change the script.

Cam: 24:50

In 2012, I decided to rewrite my story by by legally changing my name and trying to become the person that I wanted to be, and I had the power to do that because of the story. I didn’t. I didn’t become different. So in high school uh, my senior year of high school I moved from new york to florida right, and this would have been devastating for most people, but I realized I could. I could become whoever I wanted.

Cam: 25:15

We could develop a jamaican accent and no, no, no, the difference. I did not develop a jamaican accent, but I did decide to be this really cool outgoing fun guy because no one knew anybody in Florida and hook line and sinker Tim. Everyone bought it. I was this really cool dude. Years later, now that I look back at it, I just changed my zip code. I didn’t change at all. The only thing that changed was the way I thought of myself. I was the same person. The only thing that changed was my zip code and the expectations that other people had on. So often we fill the role of what we expect other people to think of us. They don’t really matter.

Tim: 26:02

Think about that. I say it to my audience. You know, what other people think about us doesn’t really matter, and it’s that what we. It’s what we are telling ourselves that they think about us.

Cam: 26:19

Yeah, that hit me when I went back to high school. I went back to my senior year Last week. I got to walk. I’ve got to go back to New York to walk with Miles at my old school and, tim, I couldn’t wait because I was like I was in better shape now, I was confident, I had friends and the second I walked to that high school I reverted back into the unconfident, awkward person I used to be. Years later I saw a quote Charles Hart and Cooley. Years later I saw quote Charles Hart and Cooley I’m not who I think I am.

Cam: 26:51

I’m not who you think I am. I’m who I think you think I am. I’ll say that again for your listeners I’m not who I think I am. I’m not who you think I am Because, again, tim, I don’t know what you think. I can only assume I’m what I think you think I am. When I got to Florida, I thought everyone thought I was this cool outgoing guy and I fell into that role In New York. When I went back, I knew what they expected of me and I found myself filling that role, unconsciously and a lot of times. We just have to change the people we’re around if we want to change who we are have to change the people we’re around.

Tim: 27:31

If we want to change who we are Right and that’s so important too. You know that the people we surround ourselves with are inner circle. You know that I like to talk about is you know you get to choose who your inner circle is, and if you want your inner circle to be people surrounded by negativity, you’re going to get negative. If you want to surround it with people that are positive, you’re going to get negative. If you want to surround it with people that are positive, you’re going to get positivity. But you also need to surround yourself with with people that are going to be real with you and they’re going to give you the truth. I mean you can be. You can surround yourself with people that are positive all the time. That’s not very helpful. I mean it’s it’s. You get positive messages all the time, but they’re not giving you the the. What’s really happening, tim? You’re screwing up over here, dude. You need to fix this.

Cam: 28:21

Or you know what? You did a great job over here, but you, you know, call your mother. So, matt, the guy I play cyber league with, he’s that friend, yo, matt will fight everyone for me. He’ll defend me to the death death. And as soon as we’re in private, he’ll put me inside like yo, get your life together like he’ll. He, and there’s only a few people in my life who can really pull me aside and I’ll really reconsider the way I’m living. Uh, and I, I’m grateful to have a friend like that. Uh, and you have to keep those people around to check you. You, yes, protect your neck, but you still got to make keep those people around to check you. Yes, Protect your neck, but you still got to make sure someone’s around to check yourself or you wreck yourself.

Tim: 28:58

You know, there’s a video and I can’t. Every time I go to reference it I forget the guy’s name, but he’s a I guess he’s a jiu-jitsu instructor and he’s sitting down and he’s talking to his students and he talks about. He talks about you got as a guy. You got to have five friends and and in those five friends he lists out what they are. One is a person that’s going to keep it real. One’s a person that’s going to, you know, is truly invested in you, who’s happy for you because it’s you, does. It’s not being jealous. One’s a hit man. Um, you know it doesn’t matter what’s going on.

Tim: 29:29

Something’s going on, you know and so, but but I, you know, I think that’s so important in that, in that in in your inner circle, you do have to have those people, and that’s that’s something you know where we, where we talk about, we don’t really care about what other people think, I’m not talking about that from your inner circle people, because those are the people that we choose. We choose to have them in our lives.

Cam: 29:52

Yeah, also, we’re not eight years old anymore. Like, don’t choose friends based off proximity. Don’t be friends with someone because they live down the block from you.

Tim: 30:01

Right.

Cam: 30:11

Hop in your car, go, drive around, be around different quality people. Leave your area, if you can, if you’re trying to change who you are. So for me, I have a top five that I like to think of, and this is this is more for a professional uh, for goal setting. So, whatever your goal is, you should have a top five people around that goal, uh. So, whether it’s boxing or speaking, I’d use them both.

Cam: 30:24

So for boxing, here’s, here’s how, the format of it boxing the number one person out of your top five to hang out with, that’s the person, your idol, someone you look up to. This person, you don’t ever have to meet them, they don’t even have to be alive. Call it Muhammad Ali. That’s the pinnacle. That’s the number one. The number two person is a boxer who is better than me, physically like, who can beat me, who’s like more experience and skill than I am. That’s my number two. My goal is to get as good as that, like. That’s who I’m chasing Right. My number three person that’s the person who is just as good as me, my competitor. I will never let that person get better than me.

Tim: 31:06

Right.

Cam: 31:06

And that person should never let me get better than them. Right, that person is my friend, but we’re competitors. Right, and that person?

Cam: 31:12

should never let me get better than them, right? That person’s my friend, but we’re competitors, exactly. If we’re in the gym, he throws a five punch combination, I throw a six punch combination. He goes on a three mile run, I go on a four mile run, and if he finds out I go on a four mile run, he goes on a five mile run. That’s who I want, right? He needs to make me uncomfortable because we’re chasing number two Right. Comfortable because we’re chasing number two right. The number four person on this list. That’s a person you’re more experienced in, that you’re better than, but is just as hungry as you are.

Tim: 31:44

Oh boy, that’s a tough one. That’s a tough one, dude Cause I know there’s I don’t mean to interrupt you, but I know there’s. There’s people mean to interrupt you, but I know there’s people out there. But when I look at, and I just and I’m trying to internalize this as you’re talking about it, because I’m not the smartest, I’m not the fastest, I’m not the strongest, but I’ve always been the person nobody’s ever going to outwork. So to find somebody on that level, man, that’s.

Cam: 32:12

And the thing is it’s going to be in its raw, raw form.

Tim: 32:16

Yeah.

Cam: 32:17

And that person is the person you mentor. Yeah, okay, you see a part of you in them, that hunger, that drive, and even if they have like they’re going in the wrong direction, they haven’t figured it out but the thing inside them that makes them like you. You can’t teach that, right.

Tim: 32:31

You can guide him.

Cam: 32:34

And your goal is to guide that person to be better than you Like. Give them all the tools, all the skills, all the resources Right, and their goal is to be better than you. Again, that number two that you have you’re their number two.

Tim: 32:54

You’re their number two, You’re their number two, and you have to be okay with that too. You have to be okay. To me that’s an ego aside. Personal growth, helping people Because I think that’s our calling in life anyways is to help people. To put that ego aside, it’s okay if somebody becomes better than you.

Cam: 33:09

Oh yeah, so my number three person was a boxer named Tony Mack, because he was a business owner. I was a business owner and I left it wasn’t so much in the boxing comparison but in the business world comparison Like he was in my number three. I was like, all right, me and Tony are neck to neck. He’s growing his business, he’s doing this, I he’s doing this, I’m doing that. And then at some point tony leveled up. He surpassed me. I’m not supposed to let that happen right tony’s, now my number two.

Cam: 33:40

Like the thing is, I got no problem with it because now I know someone who’s? Doing. Like everything he’s doing I could do one day. So now Tony and I relationship change. Well, still, we’re still a personal relationship, but I call him, I asked him for advice, I asked him for insight and I’m trying to get as good as he is.

Tim: 34:02

That’s awesome yeah.

Cam: 34:04

That’s number five. Number five most important person, it’s you. None of those four people will want to spend any time with you if you don’t want to spend time with yourself.

Tim: 34:18

Wow, that’s something to think about right there. Seriously, and I, you know, I, I don’t know that the majority of people even think well, I know that I know they don’t think about who they are, who they want to be as individuals, and who they want to be for other people. I just know that. So that’s something that people really need to take some time to consider.

Cam: 34:45

Yeah, don’t see anyone as competition. See them as inspiration. I just need to know something’s possible, like that Tony Mack guy I aspire to be like because I see what he’s done and I could be like oh, this, that he’s lucky. No, he’s not lucky. He worked really hard to get it Hard and what I found in life is successful people are willing to share all of their secrets for the cost of a cup of coffee. How?

Cam: 35:13

about that you sit a Tony Mac down and like, hey, can we meet some coffee? I have some questions. They’ll tell you everything you need to know in life and you can throw 99% of it away and keep the 1% that works for you, but that 1% will be powerful.

Tim: 35:27

Yeah, and you’ve got to be willing to do that. You have to be willing to cultivate that relationship and work on it and then be able to put your ego aside and listen and put that into practice.

Cam: 35:44

Oh yeah, and what allowed this system to flourish was the objective measurement of boxing. You got punched in the face, face it was. It was pretty like hey, is this guy better than me? Yeah, you figured it out. And then when someone does get better than you, you realize it’s for a reason. Right, they learned something, they did something, they’re working on something. What are they doing? And how can I implement that into what I’m doing? So I didn’t invent anything. They just figured something out. I can figure it out too.

Tim: 36:16

Yeah, and they, they, they come, they comes back to, at least from my perspective, um research and preparation.

Cam: 36:26

Oh yeah, most people aren’t going to like no one’s out working you. That’s what I brought to the table. I’m not the smartest, I’m not the fastest, I’m not the strongest, but I will dedicate my entire existence to be better than you at something right. And while you’re sleeping with your family, I’m working. You took my christmas vacation off to spend time with your family. I’m in a gym, bro. I’m giving you that work on January 2nd. It’s like if you took two weeks off for Christmas break every year in 10 years. I’m ahead of you. Right, absolutely yeah.

Tim: 37:04

But I’m learning how to channel that in less of a competitive mode now that I’m in the industry of helping people, not hurting them less of a competitive mode now that I’m in the industry of helping people, not hurting them Well, but but I think, bringing it back to it’s still competitive, though I think there’s. There’s still that, that competition, whether it’s with yourself, because I think people discount that, that personal competitive side, but it’s also competitive in terms of reaching the goals that that you want to reach, whether you know. I terms of reaching the goals that that you want to reach, whether you know, I spoke with somebody the other day doing a Ted talk and he was he wants to have the number one most watched Ted talk of all time. He’s at number two. And and so there there are those other competitive things that life is is competition. I mean it doesn’t, it doesn’t really matter where we are.

Tim: 37:52

Um so I, I I’m not the, I’m not the person that thinks competition is bad or it’s toxic. I do think that there are times that it gets out of control, but I got to have that in my life.

Cam: 38:05

Yeah, I love that competitiveness. I’m, I’m, I’m learning to channel it to be more collaborative. But that competitiveness, if five comics go up in my head I’m like, okay, I’m doing everything in my power to be the best comic. I don’t hope any of the comics do bad.

Tim: 38:26

That’s the difference.

Cam: 38:29

I hope they all do their best. I’m going to work on making my best better than their best. Right, and sometimes I do a show. There’s four, four comics. Sometimes I was the worst out of the four and I’m like, okay, I’m gonna go back into the gym, I’m going to work on these jokes. I’m going to hit open guys. They’re going to see I’m not here to mess around, right, and really it’s nothing against them at all. It’s just how I make myself better.

Tim: 38:55

Right, and they’re doing the same thing, whether they want to admit it or not.

Cam: 38:59

And we all win Right, exactly Yo also if anyone on my team scores, we all get good points. Exactly, I’m all about collab, collaborating and celebrating other people’s wins.

Tim: 39:13

You have to. I mean, that’s part of being in a relationship, right and with whoever it is, whether it’s a personal relationship, a business relationship whatever it is Situationship yeah, whatever right.

Tim: 39:35

This relationship, uh, uh, whatever it is situation ship yeah, exactly, whatever right. The the better you are, the better you’re making our relationship. The the more things that you’re doing well, the better everything is. How can I, what is it that I can do to help you get better at whatever it is that you want to do? What is it that you can do to help me?

Cam: 39:49

and that’s that’s how, that’s how things grow and that’s how how you know, to me, everything is about relationships is that’s how relationships grow right yeah, and relationships based off energy, and yeah, yeah and, and energy can read things, man, I l or I get, I’m like, oh, things that that’s where the energy you put out, and energy is contagious yes, it is, if you put out good energy you’re gonna run into, you’re gonna find good energy and if you’re not finding the thing you’re wanting and wanting in life, maybe take a second and evaluate if you’re putting out the type of energy for the response you want that’s that.

Tim: 40:33

That’s a a really key point, because a lot of times, you know, I think we we’re the ones that are putting up the the wrong type of energy and we blame it on other people oh yeah, when we have to look at ourselves.

Cam: 40:46

Yes, tim, we gotta look at ourselves. We all have a negative person in our life. Right, think of that negative person, tim. Does that person think they’re negative? No, absolutely not. How do you know that’s not you?

Tim: 41:02

I’m not negative.

Cam: 41:05

We all think that, so it’s something we all need to work on, right and there’s no. I think that’s what enlightenment is. I think enlightenment is you just reach the top, that we can all have room for improvement, to be more of a positive person. But yeah, it’s just something. You’ll never reach the top, it’s just potential.

Tim: 41:26

And it’s continuum, based on the day and the time of day and everything that’s going on, kind of like the conversation we had just before we started recording about being awesome and being phenomenal. Right, I mean, sometimes I’m awesome and phenomenal because there’s bad stuff going on and I just want to be positive about it and get through it. Sometimes I’m truly being awesome and phenomenal because things are going really really well.

Cam: 42:03

Yeah, and sometimes you’re not. Life is shit, bro, right, sometimes things are hard and it’s like things. It just seems like it’s not working out. It’s just like a domino effect exactly, and then the wrong guy cuts me off well it’s.

Tim: 42:15

You know it’s funny. You say that I drove the motorcycle into work today and where I live it’s not very much traffic. There was a traffic today and I got cut off and I immediately got upset. If I was in the car I would have been fine, wouldn’t have cared, no big deal, but I was on the motorcycle and I got upset. Nothing happened. But I’m thinking you’re being an idiot and it could have hurt me. Bad because you were an idiot. But this guy I mean number one he didn’t do it on purpose, he just wasn’t. He wasn’t paying attention. I was paying attention so I could avoid the situation. So why am I getting upset? Just let it go and move on. I mean there’s there’s certain things that that trigger us when we sit back and think about it. Why, why are we going to let something like that bother?

Cam: 43:03

us. Well, the thing is not so much that it’s the level of your stress when it happened. You said if you, if you were in a car, you wouldn’t have been worried because you’d have your seatbelt on, you’d be safe. But your level of stress is heightened on a motorcycle and in life. Let’s say you’re dealing with a lot of like financial stuff, kids stuff, bills, and then you run into an issue with a coworker and you lose it on them.

Cam: 43:27

It’s because your level of stress is so much higher and it’s really not even the interaction or that person, but the problem lies when you explode on that person and then don’t go back and apologize after yes, we’re gonna mess up, but if you don’t apologize, then that resentment is held. And it really was never that person’s fault. They didn’t do anything right. It was you that rode your motorcycle to work and you were stressed out and you exploded on them and now you have an altered relationship with your neighbor because you lost your mind once.

Tim: 44:00

Exactly, and and again. It goes back to the ego and take an ownership and responsibility for how you feel and your and your actions and reactions of of what’s going on?

Cam: 44:12

Yeah, I, I have to have to check myself on that one and I speak on it, but I’m like, oh, kind of like I often have to like check myself all my reactions to things, but that’s because we’re human, I mean it’s.

Tim: 44:24

We’re never going to be perfect, we’re never going to be do things the right way every time, but again, taking a step back and and and uh, being open and willing to being sorry, to, to taking responsibility, to owning whatever it is, and acknowledging that.

Cam: 44:47

Yeah.

Tim: 44:48

Because we can acknowledge it to ourselves, but that’s not really acknowledging it.

Cam: 44:52

Right? No, and I think if you don’t admit it to the person, if you admit it to yourself, but once you admit it to the person, it releases that weight from your soul, as weird as that sounds it does. I felt like I was hitting some ceilings in life and I couldn’t kind of break through. And it was during the pandemic and I was really frustrated and I was just like, let me try something out. I made a list of all the people I’ve ever had any quarrels with, or any beef, any smoke, and I reached out to those people and it was, it was a text. I texted him hey, can we talk?

Cam: 45:24

And I apologized to a lot of people for things that I even think I should be apologizing for, and I just let a bunch of things go. And I just let a bunch of things go and a few of them were taken aback, like they didn’t understand why I was apologizing and I was like, hey, I’m not, I’m not suicidal or anything, I’m not, these aren’t my last goodbyes, I’m just letting things go. And I wanted to apologize and I did that with maybe a handful of people and I let go of all issues. The weight I didn’t even know I was carrying. It took a lot of pride to do it, by the way.

Tim: 46:05

But the weight that, let go of me, man. It allowed me to take off. That’s amazing. Did you talk to anybody who had no idea what it was that you were holding on to? I mean, obviously there were some people that said, okay, yeah, I remember that, but it’s no big deal. But how about, dude?

Cam: 46:22

I don’t even remember that about most of them, bad most of them. One of them I didn’t. I didn’t talk to this girl for about six or seven years, uh, and turns out, and I was just in, uh, I was an emotional time and then she decided because we’re just, we’re friends and uh, she got a boyfriend and he was trying to establish boundaries and I was like we’re just friends, of course I’m gonna just show up to your house randomly and just chill on your couch. I didn’t understand boundaries back then and I was like, well, if you’re gonna choose him me. And then we just didn’t speak for years. And I got called her and I apologize. And it turns out like she married the guy and then they got a divorce and they have, like they have a beautiful daughter, and I met up with coffee for her and we got to catch up on years and we’re we still text monthly to this day and it’s because I let go of something and she didn’t even remember why I wasn’t talking to her.

Tim: 47:20

Yeah.

Cam: 47:20

It was just a me thing.

Tim: 47:23

Stories we tell ourselves, we hold in, that they call that cause, the, the anxiety and the, and the, that, that drain, that that that mental, that mental self-talk that is debilitating, that puts us in these positions, that we’re not good enough, or you know I’m a horrible person, or whatever it is and you know, at some point we all have, we all have to figure, figure that out and be able to let it go.

Tim: 47:57

And I’m glad that you did that and shared that, because, again, it’s where you taking the steps is difficult. It’s easy to do, it’s easy to get over some of these things Once you, once you take that first step. The heart, the heart step, is the first step. Once you take that first step, it becomes easier, it becomes easier and then your life, your life, changes after that.

Cam: 48:19

Yeah, the heaviest weight in the gym is the front door.

Tim: 48:25

You know, you’ve got, you’ve got a couple of things that I, I, I really that I really like and resonate with me, like your, your formula one plus two equals three for me. Can you explain what that is for everybody? And I think once I hear it they’re gonna say wow, that is just so simple. Like how come I, how come I didn’t think about that.

Cam: 48:46

Yeah, yeah, it’s not the boxer bringing you rocket science, a very simple equation. So, uh, I I ran this as you in health class. I was like 14. We found out how calories work. You consume about 2000 calories a day. You burn about 2000 calories a day. You remain even. This was great information to me because I was struggling with weight and I wanted to lose weight and I’m like, okay, you can just burn more calories than you can consume. That’s how you lose weight. It’s by burning more calories than you consume. Every diet you can think of is just different variations of burning more calories than you can consume.

Tim: 49:22

Right.

Cam: 49:23

Now you can consume less calories, but again, that was never an option. So for me, I was like, okay, I’m just going to go rollerblading every day before school for an hour and that’s how I was going to burn the calories. And I did this morning after morning, after I did it six mornings in a row and then I woke up in the morning seven. I was like I think this is a waste of time Because I saw no physical difference in my body. I was sore, I was tired and I was frustrated and I was like there’s? I looked at it. I was like, okay, there’s no other way to lose weight.

Cam: 49:56

I’ve been burning calories. I’ve been burning more than I consume. I’ve been working out every morning. Why isn’t this working? If it’s not going to work, I might as well stop now. But then I looked at it like in an equation, one plus two equals three Me plus burning more calories than I consume equals losing weight. I guess I’ve got to do it longer. And after about three months people were like, oh, look at Cam, he’s getting skinny. And I would blush, which is difficult for black people to do, but it was like confirmation that it was working. It was working and that was my grapple with delayed gratification.

Cam: 50:37

That’s the moment I realized that’s the key you don’t deserve what you want yet, right, because if you would have got it the first time, it wouldn’t have been worth that much.

Tim: 50:46

Right.

Cam: 50:47

And that’s why you want it.

Tim: 50:52

And that goes back to, you know, for for me anyway, anything worth worth having, it takes work and you’ve got to get over, you have to get over whatever that is to get through that. You know the, the, the feelings, the feeling of tiredness, the feeling of of uh, not desperation. The feeling of tiredness, the feeling of of uh, not desperation, but of that you can’t do it, the feeling of you know I’m not good enough or whatever it is. Those are, those are all feelings, that those have to be put aside. Feelings aren’t actions, and it’s the actions that you have to take that are going to get you where you need to be.

Cam: 51:33

It’s the only thing you can’t add to this equation. One plus two plus three, you, you’re one in this equation. No one’s going to believe in you until you believe in yourself. You might as well be your number one, be your biggest fan, celebrate yourself Once. Once you believe in you, you take the actions of someone who does. Then you get the results of a recognize a pattern. They expect that pattern. That’s their belief in you. Literally it does not. They can’t have belief in you until you believe in yourself to take those steps. Yeah, one plus two equals three. Three is the goal, the objective, the outcome. What do you want?

Cam: 52:08

The only thing that’s stopping you is work. You put in the work. It’s appropriately named number two because of the shitty part of the. It’s the waking up when you’re sore. It’s to keep going. When you’re tired, it’s not seeing progress but going out of faith alone. That’s what gets you there. But you can’t add any emotions to this equation. I don’t care if you’re happy, I don’t care if you’re sad, if you’re hungry. Get the work done, done, done, and if you’re able to get the work done, you’ll get the results.

Cam: 52:36

That’s it.

Tim: 52:37

Understand that If you get the work done, you’ll get the results. If you don’t do the work, if you don’t do the work, you’re going to get a different. You’re still going to get results. This could be a different result and not the one that you’re working to get. It’s the one you deserved.

Cam: 52:53

Exactly there you go. What I often find in life is we are as successful as we expect to be. Yeah, if you think. If you think, oh, I’m the type of person who makes x amount a year and you can’t see yourself as someone who makes more. You’re not going to accidentally make more. Right, we all have. We have that negative first in our life. Right, we also all have. We all know an entitled person in life who just acts like they walk on water and they think they deserve the best of the best of everything and the thing Tim, they usually get it. That’s the annoying part. How dare they think they’re worth that? And I don’t think I’m worth that. Instead of being mad at them, be mad at yourself or start to be entitled.

Cam: 53:48

Start to treat yourself like you deserve those things Right, because you do.

Tim: 53:55

You deserve those things. Tim’s, that’s, that’s the key right we have, that’s that mindset shift and and to me, that’s what a lot of this is that we talk about it’s, you know, changing the mindset change how we, how we approach things, how we look at things, and that in itself isn’t going to be the difference, but but that’s the start of it. You still have to do the work, yeah.

Cam: 54:18

You got to do the work. And another thing is also hope, Find hope. So my speech that I do the whole idea of the speech is if you can fail without being discouraged, success becomes inevitable.

Tim: 54:35

Yes.

Cam: 54:36

We don’t quit when we fail. Failing is a part of the game. That’s how we learn. Failure is an opportunity to gain experience Part of the problem, right, we quit when we get discouraged, when we fall short, when things don’t work out our way, and sometimes we get discouraged before we even start, so we don’t. My purpose is I want to just give people hope. Whatever that hope they need to allow them to try one more time, because if you try again, you’re going to be better the second time. Like if you fail the seventh grade and you had to take seventh grade over again, it would be easier the second time. That’s with everything in life. Just because we’re older, we don’t want to do the same thing twice. That’s how you get there.

Tim: 55:23

Exactly, exactly. You know, and I’m glad you said what you said about you know if you can fail without being discouraged, success becomes inevitable. You know you’ve also said at times that the best things that have happened to you have come after terrible things To date. What’s your greatest success?

Cam: 55:46

Ooh, my greatest success is uh, I get to keep the F in my name. I’ll explain what that means, please. In 2012, I legally changed my name to KMF. Also, on my birth certificate it’s just the letter F, and I did that because one. I thought it would be funny and I’m a child and I want to keep that child-like part of my life. You have to, a 13-year-old changes his middle name to the letter F. That’s what happened and it’s because I wanted to keep that inner child and give myself joy and hope and optimism and that playful attachment in life. And I’m in a situation where I’m a speaker. I could book a lot more gigs and have a lot more success if I just took the F out of my name.

Cam: 56:35

No you can’t do it, I won’t do it.

Tim: 56:37

Can’t do it, you can’t do it.

Cam: 56:39

The fact that I can authentically leave that F there, although it taints my success. I get to be me, and to me that’s the greatest success.

Tim: 56:51

Dude, I love that. I can’t tell you how much I love that I’m 57 years old. I can’t tell you. I can’t tell you how much I love that. You know it’s. I’m 57 years old. I I still think I’m a 12 year old kid. I really do, and it comes up on the regular.

Tim: 57:06

you know, a couple of days ago my wife said something and my mind started going in places that it goes with your wife and she said how old are you? I said you know exactly how old I am. I’m 12, you know, and. But that’s, that’s part. That’s part. That’s who we are, right, and if that’s, and if that’s who you are, that’s that’s the best thing in the world, and I don’t really care if it’s, I can’t work over here because this is who I am. That’s, that’s fine. It’s not a good fit, it’s great, and that’s great. It’s great for you, it’s great for me, and that’s that’s why I love it so much for you that you’re being who you are, you’re you’re you’re, you’re being authentic, and people are either going to love you and embrace you for that or they’re not, and, and either way, that’s great, it’s perfect perfect.

Cam: 57:54

Yeah, there’s really an in-between right, right, yeah, and but I, I do enjoy that and it’s and I will say, sometimes it’s like, oh, if I, if I were just to conform and be different. But what I realized is what happened in in life was we got access to the internet, which means we got to see how all of us were living. And some of us took the safer route with a corporate job, so we had to wear the suit and carry ourselves in a certain way, and we do it for the paycheck and it’s part of the job, no big deal. But then we have to carry ourselves in a certain way on social media because now it’s connected to our job.

Cam: 58:33

But then we started to see other people hosts about the way they live and they’re not following the rules I have to follow. I don’t technically want to follow these rules they’re not my own personal authentic rules but it’s how I get a job Right. So I’m going to complain about those people online. How dare they live their authentic self when I have? And the thing is, a lot of us are forced in a position where we can’t be our authentic selves because of the paycheck we’ve attached ourselves to and no shade at all because we have to make a living. Somehow you have a window of time after your work day to work on what you want to do and chase your passion and find that thing that gives you hope.

Tim: 59:13

Right, absolutely. And you know, I think that I’m just going to put it into a different, into a perspective. You know, I was a college professor and I was always the person that was doing the things that everybody wanted to do but would never actually do. Sometimes it worked out great for me, sometimes it didn’t work out so well for me, but I was always but I always knew that going into it and it comes. That also comes down to like, like I said before, being who you are and being okay with who you are and not worrying about what everybody else is doing.

Tim: 1:00:00

Right, and now, on the other side, doing this, not having the regular job, I’m still doing what I would do, but I find myself questioning it a little bit more, because it now truly my paycheck and what I get paid truly revolves around the things that I say or do, oh yeah, and more often than not, and whether, whether it’s I don’t know if it’s helped or hurt Nobody’s really said anything to me yet Um, I’m still doing the things that I would normally do, even though I’m, even though I’m thinking about it a little bit more.

Cam: 1:00:41

Yeah, you’re, you’re conscious of it because it’s it’s connected to your paycheck. And there’s still things. Even as a speaker myself and I speak at schools there’s certain things. There’s certain posts I won’t even like on social media. There’s a certain way I have to carry myself, uh, and it’s because that is my reputation, although I don’t care what people think, I have to care how I carry myself because I am my business and, uh, what I’ve learned?

Cam: 1:01:04

Is I not a yeah, I’m not not a religious person, but I was having a conversation with a religious person and they mentioned they, they referred to life as the marketplace and like they come out to the marketplace and it’s like they almost come out with the heathens to do business and they understand that it’s a part of life, and then they go back to their safe chambers of their community. I was like, oh, I never looked at it like that. Uh, so I, I live my life in my, my safe community. I come out, I interact with others, I want everyone to feel good and be be well, but I go back to my little community after.

Tim: 1:01:48

That’s an interesting, interesting way of looking at life. I’d have to give that some thought. I don’t know. See, I don’t look at everything as a transaction, though I don’t. To me that just seems very transactional.

Cam: 1:02:03

Yeah, yeah, oh then, that’s.

Cam: 1:02:06

I get that often, that transactional thing, because when you mentioned the thing about efficiency, I’m very big on efficiency and sometimes my efficiency looks as transactional but I’m like, hey, how can I help you? Because I mean that what I want to know immediately is how can I help you? Yes, and tell me that immediately, because then then I know how, that I can see where my role is in this relationship. Right, because I just want everyone to get better. Yes, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you the way you are, but if I can make your life improve in any way that brings me joy, it’s my selfish sin.

Tim: 1:02:42

Yes, and I agree with you.

Tim: 1:02:49

Let’s just put it like that the, but I still see that as transformational, even though I I’m doing something for you, I still see that. That it’s transformational in in that we’re building relationships and that’s what people in good relationships do they help each other. That’s to be better. It’s not if you do this, I’ll do that. If you do this, I’ll be your friend. If you do this, okay, yeah, I may give you money. That’s transactional, but when you’re talking about helping somebody in their life, in their business, in their um, in their thought process and whatever it is, that that to me is is more from the transformational side, not the if I do this and you’re going to do this type of thing.

Cam: 1:03:49

You know what I mean. Yeah, I get I and I often uh um, and I often so my community I’m not transactional about, but when I go out into the market I can’t just give everything away Exactly. But what I want to do is I want to give more value than I’m charging. That way, you subscribe again?

Tim: 1:04:15

Yes, yes, that’s it, you’re exactly again.

Cam: 1:04:19

Yes, yes, that’s it, you’re exactly right. Yeah, and these are just any other thoughts I’m thinking out loud as we go, but yeah.

Tim: 1:04:25

Well, you know, at one point and I laugh saying this, I was thinking about how I want to put this At one point, you lived in a van down by the river so, and not a lot of people were going to get that reference.

Cam: 1:04:44

I didn’t get it when I first heard it. I had to Google it.

Tim: 1:04:46

Did you really?

Cam: 1:04:46

Yeah, someone was like you should live in a van down by the river, and that’s how I ended up living in a van.

Tim: 1:04:56

I was like oh, people can live in vans. I’d never considered it before. So so I’m a. I don’t live in a van, but I’m a full-time RVer. So it’s, oh, that’s dope man, I live in a bus, but I do know people that you know have traveled the country in advance. I could never do that. It’s just too small.

Cam: 1:05:15

I mean I just girlfriend’s like you don’t have pillowcases in here, yeah, so when she met me, I was living in the van.

Tim: 1:05:23

What am I going to do with a pillowcase? Yeah, that’s just one more thing.

Cam: 1:05:26

Yeah, I’m going to wash that oh boy.

Tim: 1:05:31

But where can people find you to work with you and find out what you’re doing?

Cam: 1:05:35

But where can people find you, to work with you and find out what you’re doing. You can find me at Cam F Awesome on all social media platforms, because I’m not famous enough for anyone to take my name.

Tim: 1:05:46

And also camfawesomecom. I would encourage people to go to the website and watch some of the watch. Watch Cam deliver some of the messages that he’s delivering. Uh, you know, with, with, with all of the guests that we’ve had on here, cam, and I need to tell you this uh, your message and your delivery is phenomenal, it’s, it’s powerful, it’s engaging’s, it’s powerful, it’s engaging. If it makes me think, then I’m sure it’s going to make other people think. You know, because it’s, you know, the, the way you come across and you were, uh, I’m a simple person, I mean, and, like I said, the, the, the formula one plus two equals three formula. That’s just. That’s just. It doesn’t require a lot of deep thought, it’s just right there in front of you, and so I encourage people to go and watch some of the things that you’re talking about, watch what you’re doing, and and really reach out to Cam, because he, he, he can help you. So I’ll just leave it at that. Thank you, tim. I appreciate that Sure thing.

Tim: 1:06:59

Sure thing Well, Cam, I’ve been looking forward to this conversation and it didn’t disappoint. I really do appreciate you spending some time with us today. Take care and we’ll talk to you soon. Thanks for having me, tim. Be sure to visit speakingwithconfidencepodcastcom to get your free ebook the Top 21 Challenges for Public Speakers and how to Overcome them. You can also register for the Forum for Public Speaking. Always remember your voice has the power to change the world. We’ll talk to you next time.

Tim: 1:07:27

Take care.