Season 2: Episode 29 - The Daily Choice That Transforms Your Life

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to the Joy-Inspired Podcast. I'm Nikki Cruz, and I'm thrilled to explore with you what it means to walk in a faith-infused business. This is your space to find powerful tools and insights, to build with resilience, and to create impact through your unique purpose, discovering a joy that only God can provide. Together, let's embrace a business journey anchored in faith and empowered by joy. Let's jump in. Well, hello, hello, hello, amazing people. Friends, welcome to another episode of the Joy Inspired Podcast. And do you know what we're here for? We're here to share about joy, to share about the energy and power of joy. And I have an amazing guest today. But before I get to tell you about my guest, for those of you who don't know me, who is this crazy lady jumping all over your screen with energy? My name is Nikki Cruz, often known as the Joy Junkie. And I am your cheerleader. I am the person who wants to explore resilience, intersection of joy and business and faith and purpose and all those beautiful things that make life happen. And today, as I said, I am genuinely excited because we're joined by someone whose entire mission revolves around a topic you guys might know is very close to my heart. Yes, it's joy. It's joy. And I could not believe when I was introduced to this man. Our guest, Barry Shaw, is known around the world as the joy ambassador, the ambassador of joy. Let's get that right. Barry Shaw is a serial entrepreneur. He's an international speaker. He's a mental wellness coach. And don't we all need a bit more of that? He's also founder of the everywhere card connect card. And we're going to talk a bit more about that. It's the everywhere card. And you can find more about it at everywherecard.com. But you know what else? He is the host of the Joy of Living podcast. And he's someone who's transformed so much in people's lives where they have lost their joy because people do get lost. They do kind of hide away because they think joy is lost, but it isn't. It's always there. It just needs to be blown up and dusted off. And he himself has overcome extraordinary adversity. He's been recognized amongst the top hundred most influential people on LinkedIn. Yeah, folks, he's someone to know. Go look him up. Not right now, though. He hosts the podcast he hosts. I will edit this. The podcast he hosts ranked in the top 2% worldwide. And he's been featured in O magazine. But what really inspires me about him more than his personality, which I fell in love with the moment I met him, is his personal journey. And we'll talk about that in a moment. But after becoming a quadriplegic and hearing words many people would see as devastating, he chose to focus on what he could do, not on what he had lost. And instead, he became a global voice teaching you and I and other people how to live with greater joy, purpose, and possibility. His leadership training and skills are second to none. They come out every time he opens his mouth. And I think I'm gonna label him the king of acronyms, because boy, he has amazing acronyms. So, Barry, welcome. It's such a pleasure and honor to have you with us today.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Good day, beautiful bundle, beloved immortal beings, and good looking people. Now, wonderful Nikki, how can I make the categorical statement that all the thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people around the world are all good looking? Because if they tuned in to your podcast about joy, it means they're always looking for and finding the good in life. That's a definition of a good-looking person. Looking for and finding the good. And I'm just so humbled and honored to be here with you today and sharing with these amazing people who are leaning in and say, okay, these two dynamos, what are they doing to the world? Well, we're shifting the energy of the planet. Let me just share with you what the word share stands for: spreading happiness and rejuvenating energy.

SPEAKER_00 5:33

Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes. And Barry has so many acronyms. I've got a whole lot of them written down, and every now and then I want to post them and just put his name underneath them, and then I think, well, wait, let me introduce people to him first so they can relate to it. But Barry, tell me something. When people hear the ambassador of joy, what do you hope they understand about what joy really is?

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Thank you, Nikki. So, first of all, I am known as the ambassador of joy. Notice I didn't say the ambassador of joy, it's joy because it is a revelation for most people. I'll explain what we think of the word joy. In I have four books we published in the past two years, and the book called The Joy of Living, you deserve it. Thank God is a bestseller on Amazon. Tens of thousands of people around the world have read it and love it and use it. That's the key. So joy is a wonderful acronym, it stands for journey of you. When you recognize that life is a journey, that life is spectacular, then everybody goes through stuff, as we'll talk about in just a moment. Matter of fact, in Proverbs, because you love the Bible, in Proverbs, I think it's chapter 24, verse 16, it reads, not in the original, but in English, the righteous person falls seven times and gets up. Do you hear that, everybody? It's not just a regular person falls, the righteous person falls seven times and gets up. Why? Because he or she understands that the beauty of life is involved with the acronym. Life stands for living inspirationally for eternity. Some people tend to think, Nikki, that they're here for a period of time. That's it. Go. The good Lord created these unique beings that have a physical exterior, but the real power is in the soul. And the soul is what animates us. Am I correct on that, Nikki?

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Oh, completely. You know, you can put something on the outside, be it clothes or look on your face, but it does nothing if it doesn't resonate with what's in the soul. And people can tell. And it it relates to your spirit coming out, but also the energy you put out there. You know, I had a coach who said the universe isn't stupid. And let me tell you God isn't stupid. That's great. Because you put that smile on your face doesn't mean you're happy. Very or you have joy.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

So let's talk about face is a wonderful acronym, by the way. I use it every morning when I get up and look in the mirror and enjoy the fact that I can look in the mirror and I can get up. Face stands for, or actually, it's not the question is what does your face say about you? You want it to say fresh, aware, creative, expressive. When your face is expressing who you are, and who you are is a high-level being touched by the creator. You were created, and there's only one of you ever, forever, then you can begin to shift your energy into what we call joy mode. Now, shift is something very interesting, it's a beautiful word. Um, I will tell you, I am 77 chronologically. I've been working with people for more than 55 years. And I can tell you, when people come to me, coaching and whatever they want me to be able to help them in certain areas, and you look on paper, they're doing great. When you speak to them, you realize unfortunately, some people have dropped the F in shift, and the other stuff happens. So you got to be careful with your F's. You want to keep your F in place. Shift, not keep that up there. It stands for something happening inside facilitating transformation. That's really what we're about. You are literally a flower. You're beautiful and you're glowing and growing all the time. And when you have that mindset, now you can do something that I call become your own spiritual chiropractor. May I tell everybody what that is?

SPEAKER_00 10:20

You may, but before you carry on, for those of you who are rushing to grab a pen, I'm gonna ask you not to. I'm gonna ask you not to. I usually say grab a pen and paper. I want you to just sit in the presence of this call. You can come back and listen to the replay and take notes, but be in the moment. Take the energy that's coming out and let your mind track with what's being said. Let the energy shift with you. If you're taking notes, it's not gonna happen. So sorry for that brief introduction. No note taking right now, folks. Just joyful listening.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Lean into the experience. Yes. Yes. So we urge people to think about becoming your own spiritual chiropractor. So everybody knows what a chiropractor is, right? Sometimes your physical body is feeling a little out of sorts. Go to the chiropractor, and he or she does something with your neck. You go, uh you feel like you're aligned. That's very good. You want to do the same thing in your own energy. What is it? You want to keep your thoughts in good. You want to make sure your words are good, you want to make sure your deeds, your actions are good. When you're aligned in goodness, then the result is you're flowing and you're creating what we call channel of goodness. You are a cog in this world. People tend to think a cog is something small, Nikki. We don't realize that. That there is no such thing as a small part, just small players, because God made you. So when you're a cog, you're a channel of goodness. You're also a child of God.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

I like that. And you know that no mechanism can work if one cog is missing. It doesn't matter, as you say, whether it's a big cog or a small cog. It doesn't matter whether it's got fine teeth or big teeth. Every cog is just as important. So just lean into that. I really believe there's someone listening right now who's just feeling, well, I don't fit in anywhere. I'm not good enough. I'm not big enough. You know what? I realized a while ago that huge packs of dynamite are only used for certain jobs. If you put a huge pack of dynamite in a delicate mine to make a little space, you will blow the whole mine down. So everything has its place. A big explosion might be right to make the hole in the ground in the first place. But God knows where everyone belongs. So have joy in who you are, have joy in your purpose. And you have, if you're not clear on your purpose, just sit down and just take a bit of an evaluation because you get to recognize where you find joy, and then you know your purpose.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

So I want to use that as our launch pad, because people can be tuning in already and saying, Well, who are these crazy people? Look at Barry Shore. He's he's rich and famous and tan and young and okay, all of that's true. However, I want to tell everybody a story. It's a story about me. Imagine if you can, I'm standing up in the morning, completely healthy and hardy, able to leave tall buildings in a single bound. And in the evening, I'm in the hospital, totally, completely paralyzed from my neck down. And it was not from an automobile accident. It wasn't a spinal injury. It was a rare disease which took over my body and rendered me incapable of moving. The only thing I could do is communicate by blinking my eyes. I was 144 days in the hospital. I was two years in a hospital bed in my own home. I couldn't move. I was four years in a wheelchair. Braces on both my legs, my hips to my ankles, and that was progress. Thank God today, 20 plus years later, I'm able to be vertical and ambulatory with the help of a seven-foot walking wand. So I'm a trip, not a biped. I can't walk up a stair by myself. I can't walk up a curve by myself. I have help 12 hours a day, seven days a week. However, you hear my voice. Positive, purple, so powerful, and pleasant, all because of one word. One word that you want to remember. Don't write it down, but just remember, internalize it. Ready? Smile. Smile. That's right. Because smile is an acronym that stands for seeing miracles in life every day. Seeing miracles in life every day. Now, again, people can say, well, that's easy for you to say, Barry Shore. As of this moment, 21 years later, I still can't get up from this chair because I'm basically paralyzed and waist down. However, in the course of all this time, I have gained back my upper body. Thank you. I can speak again. And I've learned how to swim. I use adaptive devices on my legs. I have paddles on my hands. I use a snorkel. However, I swim. And not only do I swim, I swim two miles a day, six days a week. And I've been doing that from almost 15 years now. I have over 10,350 miles under my belt. The reason I tell you all this is not to say, wow, Barry, that's pretty cool. You're wonderful. On the contrary, I swim because it keeps me healthy. I also swim for all the people in the world who say, Oh, I can't, I can't, I can't. Yes, you can. Do something. Motion is lotion. As long as you keep moving, and when I talk about moving, we're not just talking physical, Nikki, right? We're talking the physical, mental, spiritual movement, always ever striving forward in the knowledge, not just the belief, in the knowledge that the good Lord has put you here for a purpose. Because we live in the with the three fundamentals of life. Number one, life, your life has purpose. And when you lead a purpose-driven life, number two happens, a good number two. You go mad. Now, MAD is a wonderful acronym that stands for make a difference. You hear that? You live a purpose-driven life, you make a difference in the world. And the third is to uncover the power and the secrets of everyday words and terms, like SLIL, seeing miracles in life every day. Or right now, this show is carried over the internet all over the world. Ask anybody, what does WWW stand for? And very big as they have to do with the internet, right? However, in our world, Nikki, the world of the positive, purpose of powerful, and pleasant, WWW stands for what a wonderful world. And what is a word. So why are we doing this, Nikki and I and sharing with you? Because it's that channel of goodness that you can tap into and utilize, and you become the conduit. That's right. You make the decision. You see, you can shift. Remember, keep that up in place. It's a small shift in perspective. Small. And then reality will come in, and you'll be able to do the following. You can internalize, utilize, and leverage the six most important words you'll ever learn. And these are choice, not chance, determines your destiny. How you choose to respond in any given situation will determine your path in life and your trajectory. Nikki is living proof. I'm living proof. And guess what? So are you. Everybody has a story. Hello? Okay, you got a story. What are you gonna do about it? That's the key to living well. And when you have a smile, remember, seeing miracles in life every day, when you have that perspective, guess what happens? You'll see them.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Absolutely. And you know, we we had a giggle about this on when I was a guest, and I was so honored and privileged on Barry's show. I have a different acronym for SMILE. And it's a sound mindset invites laughter everywhere. You're not gonna have that sound mindset to empower and encourage other people unless you have that perspective. And if you know me, you know that I am a big believer that circumstances do not define you. It's your response to circumstances that are gonna lay out where you go in life. And people go, but I just can't. Well, why not? What is stopping you? So it really is your choice. You may not, Barry may not be able to pole vault a 10-foot wall, but maybe he doesn't need to, maybe all he needs to do is swim those few miles a year, a month, a week, whatever it is you can do that brings power to you and to the world. And you know, when you've learned that people say things, they speak over your life. And this is what happened to me. My doctor said you'll never walk again. For 11 years, I believed I was gonna walk. I turned around and got angry with God, spent three weeks yelling at God, and eventually said, right, if I can't walk, I'll be the best version of myself, just the way I am. And my life didn't improve the day I got healed out of my wheelchair. My life improved the day I chose not to be limited by my circumstances. So for people, Barry, who are sitting there going, but but I see no future, but I can't. How do they choose that positive mindset? What is going to make that switch? And then I want to talk to you about what that switch does.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

First of all, Nikki, we love you. By the way, everybody should know love stands for living on vibrant energy, living on the vibrational plane. Um two pieces I want to share with everybody. One is the what I call blab. This is gonna help everybody. Blab. What does blab stand for? Breathing like a baby. So when I do in-person events, or even on the virtual, I ask people how many people here are breathing? People laugh, everybody raises their hand. I say, right, what are we doing? We're breathing shallow, you're breathing into your lungs, maintenance breathing. When you want to create a shift in your life and your mindset and enable your whole being to resonate with joy, you want to learn how to do what we call diaphragmatic breathing. Now, Nikki, 98.2% of everybody watching. And in the world, can't spell diaphragm, they don't know where it is. So we just call it tummy breathing. The ability to do the following to breathe in through your nose, down into your tummy, and let it out slowly through your mouth. And to do that four times, and here's the key. They're called four conscious loving breaths. Hear that? Not just breaths. Four conscious loving breaths. It takes approximately 94 seconds. Put yourself in a nice position. You don't have to sit cross-legged. You don't have to chant home. You can even be standing. Just be in a place where you can breathe in through your nose, deep into your tummy, let it out slowly through your mouth, four times in a row, 94 seconds. You do this twice per day, once before noon, once after noon. Why? Because repetition creates transformation. And I will guarantee everybody watching, and everybody you know that you're going to share this with, everybody, that within 36 days, twice a day, remember, repetition creates transformation. You will never want to stop the practice because it will energize you. When you're feeling a little bit low, it brings you up. When you're feeling a little bit up, it upstands for unlimited potential. You'll feel that. Breathing is a key essence of the human condition. When you can do that consciously and conscientiously, remember four conscious loving breaths, then you're gonna blab because this is how babies breathe. Breathing like a baby. Learn to blab. Okay, that's one.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

Listen, what's our number two then?

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Okay, number two is a it's a good pun because number two is learn to love dog poop. Did Barry Sure just say dog dog poop? Yes. I want you to learn to love dog poop. We love acronyms because acronyms are great hooks. People can remember things. I mean, I've given talks, both physical and virtual, and years later, years later, people come over to me and say, I remember dog poop. That's all they'll say. They start laughing, and I laugh. Because what does dog poop stand for? Doing of good, power of one person. I'm sure most people listening or watching have heard of Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Mandela, Martin Luther King, Florence Nightingale, Elon Musk. Power of one person. You can say, wait a minute, that's not me. I mean, that's those are interesting people. The good Lord made everybody. You have the exact same energy potential as any one of those. What they did was able to focus more, and they channeled that. Remember, you're a child of God. So doing of good, once you resolve to say, I think in good, I speak in good, I'm gonna do good, the power of one person will shift everything in your life. So let me give you an example. You go out, you're walking, let's say, with a friend, and for good or ill, dog poop is ubiquitous today, right? It's all everybody, and you'll see either you see it or you'll see somebody picking it up. I want you to stop at that moment, laugh out loud, and your friend will say to you, Why are you laughing? Say, because I love dog poop. Say, what are you? What's going on? You'll be able to say back to that person, dog poop, doing of good, power of one person. Watch what happens when you use your energy in good. When you reach out to somebody on your right and on your left, you've now touched two people. Those two will touch two more, that's four, ten to eight, and sixteen to thirty-two, etc., etc., 64, 128, etc., etc. Odd infinitum, why? Because everybody knows when you put a rock into a lake and the ripples go out. So most people think that the lake is the border, and that's where the energy stops. No. Energy doesn't stop. When you put out energy into the universe and you're directing it, it cannot be stopped by any physical force. So now when you resolve, say, I love dog poop, you're gonna say this to yourself three times a day. I love dog poop. You'll start laughing. By the way, laughter is very important. Everybody needs to laugh every single day. You know that, Nikki? Do you know that 79% of people do not laugh out loud once a day? Every day.

unknown 27:30

What?

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Yeah, that's the reality. Because well, you know, life is gonna be gonna shut up. Laughing out loud, I urge you do make yourself laugh out loud. Laugh out loud. It will change your physiognomy. Okay, I want to also share one more thing right now. It's very important. I just created an acronym for Nikki's name. Can I share it with you?

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Please do.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

You don't write it down.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

No, I'm I'm grabbing my friend here to introduce you to in a moment.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Okay, good. Nikki N-I-K-K-I, nurturing integrity, kindness, connecting intensely.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

She's a connector. And each one of you listening, watching, I ask you, we plead with you, please blab, learn to love dog poop, and share with others, and you will find the energy shifting in your life. And then you become the channel of goodness, the child of God.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

Thank you so much. That melts my heart. That melts my heart because integrity is important to me, connection is important to me, as you well know. But you know what else is important to me? What you said before that about laughter. You know, the Bible tells us laughter is good medicine, and that's actually true. And I wanted to come back to that when I was talking about being positive. When you choose to be positive, and when you choose to put a smile on your face, even just a smile, you know that your brain does not know when you are faking a smile. Your body's reaction to it is, ooh, let's send off the endorphins and the serotonin goes to your brain and it has a little disco party up there, and everything goes wild, and your whole atmosphere shifts. If you're watching right now, smile. Do it, smile right now. Just smile, put a smile on your face. Do you feel your body shift? Do you feel your atmosphere shift? But let me tell you what else. Do you notice the people around you shift? And if you don't think you can smile every day, do what I do for tough times. I have a buddy. He's called Jibba. And Jibber here, you can't hear him on Zoom, but I'll give it a try. You shake him and he makes a noise and goes jibba, jibba, jibber. Because when I'm frustrated, I can pick him up. Firstly, it's a pattern interrupt. I break the frustration, then I start laughing. And then I get to stop, take a breath and say, is everything as bad as I thought? Is it actually real? And I get to shift and reframe, see what is true and where I stand in it. Especially if you have those limiting beliefs that other people have spoken over you, that you have chosen to believe yourself. Because you know, when you choose to be positive, and this is a big part of my healing story. Three months after I chose to be the best version of myself, yes, God did a miraculous healing. But there was more than that that happened because God created our bodies to heal when we steward them well. And when I chose to be positive, I began rewiring the neural pathways in my brain. It's called neuroplasticity, folks. And no, I'm not a neuroplasticist. However, I can tell you that. And what happens is we've spoken so much negativity into our lives that we've created these little pathways that that's where the thoughts decide to go. Think of it a path like in the woods. So it's time to create a new one. Choose to think positive, choose to be positive. And as leaders, as entrepreneurs, because everyone's a leader, you're all leading. Question is, how are you leading? Are you doing it with joy? Are you doing it with power? And leaders can be separated by how they think. Because some leaders think only about me. I'm leading, look at me. Well, that narrow pathway I think is going in a circle. No, that's not medical advice. Um, however, when you think differently, when you believe differently in yourself, then you have the capacity to believe differently in the people you are leading. So now, Barry, you are, I've heard you just mention little leadership things here and there, and I've been fascinated by them. You are an incredible influencer in the leadership space, and you have huge impact. What do you believe separates the leaders who create lasting impact from those who just have a bit of success?

SPEAKER_01 33:05

Thank you, wonderful Nikki. Leader is a wonderful word. Same letters spell dealer. A leader is a dealer in hope. Hope stands for helping others progress every day. The essence of a leader is recognizing that as long as you are a channel to help others progress, by definition, you will do well. That's the genius of being a leader. I'm gonna illustrate with a quick story, if I may. Go ahead. Okay. I grew up in a place called Boston, Massachusetts. Boston, Massachusetts, in New England, and in the wintertime it's cold and snowy, and the sun sets early. Well, this happened when I was nine years old. So it's many years ago. 68 plus. It was a cold, snowy day, and middle of the week. In those days, we didn't even have the internet or anything else. And if there's enough snow, in this case 11 inches, hopefully they'll call off school, right? Well, you have to listen to the radio still. Listen to John D. Runkel school closed. Yay! Okay. Every kid likes school closure, right? So you have several choices. You can go back to sleep, play games, or do what I chose to do. Remember, choice, not chance, determines your destiny. Choice. How you choose to respond to any given situation. So I bundled up long underwear, overcoat, gloves, earmuffs, you know, jacket. I had a cup of hot chocolate to just get out the door by 7:15. Because even though school was closed, doesn't mean that people couldn't have to go to work still, right? Because they were plowing the streets and such like that. But they weren't plowing people's driveways or walks and such. So I'm gonna go out, I'm gonna shovel snow. Now, put in perspective, I made 25 cents a week for my allowance and had to do chores. Great, okay. I loved it, got some money, do what I had to do. I go now out at 7:15, 720 in the morning out the door, and I start knocking on doors and offering to shovel walks or driveways, et cetera, et cetera. So I'm dealing with people, you know, I'm nine years old, these are adults, and we're dealing with money and such like okay. I worked very hard. I worked till 4:20 in the afternoon. It was dark. I didn't even come home at all. Didn't have stuff for lunch. I'm nine years old. What's the big deal? I came back in the house, and my father is sitting in the kitchen and he's making me a cup of hot cocoa, not from a mix. He liked to melt chocolate. Okay. And he looks at me and says, My dear beloved son, which he used to like say, How did you do today? So I was very happy. I told him, I made $55. Now, $55 is the equivalent exact least of $600 plus dollars right now. This is a nine-year-old who makes 25 cents for allowance. My father was very happy. And he sits and said, sit down, and he asked me, My dear beloved son, how do you spell the word business? So I'm precocious. B-U-S-I-N-E-S-S. That's right. He says, Notice that the U comes before the eye. Because when you take care of other people, the I will always be taken care of. Now, I was nine years old. I had no idea what he was talking about. Except that I did because I had to interact with people all the time. So you're right about the leader who's thinking about the eye, they have it backwards. Business is built on the you first, and then the eye gets taken care of. Now it took me a decade or more before it sunk in, really, and I've been using it all my life because it works. You hear that? It's a law of the universe. You can do two things in business. You can go out there and hustle and run after things and such like that. Okay, and you might even succeed. Great. I prefer working with the law of attraction. You want to have something good because you want to serve. That's what we're about. We're in service, right, Nikki? We're in service, whether it's in the Lord, in business, family, etc. When you're in service, then you understand that the you comes before the eye, and everything else gets taken care of perfectly. Well, no frets, no worries, no distractions. And then you will by definition always succeed. That is the greatness of a good leader, of a great leader.

SPEAKER_00 38:04

Yeah. And when you put it like that, it is so simple. And we overcomplicate it. You know why? Because we start worrying about do I look good enough? Am I qualified enough? Folks, let me tell you something I've been saying a lot lately. It's not about you, it's about the people out there. When you're doing a talk, it's not about you. If you're focusing on the people you're talking to, you won't forget your words. You won't be nervous. But if you're focusing on remembering your words, you will. If you're focusing on how much money you need to make when you're speaking to a client, it's not about you, it's about their needs. So when you shift that, it makes all the difference. So I love that because when you take care of you, the I will take care of itself. Thank you for that. That's amazing, Barina. You can talk about leadership, about business, because you've done all these things. You've written books, had businesses, made your money, coached, led people. You have this incredible podcast, but you give so much back, and you are a philanthropist. And I'm fascinated because you have done something or have something called the everywhere card. Tell us a little bit about that. I think it's about time everybody heard about that.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

Okay, we'll tell you a little bit because of time. Um while I was paralyzed, or just actually sorry for that. Paralysis happened overnight. In the four years prior, I was always an entrepreneur, I was unemployable. And I was privileged to have built two companies on the internet, had three issue patents. We sold both of those companies to public companies, so I made a lot of money. I was famous in my little world, and now I'm laying in bed immobile, never knowing if I'm going to move again, let alone walk or do anything else. I asked the good Lord, okay, now what? What am I supposed to do? No, doctors are not encouraging me. I need to, of course, think in positive, purposeful, powerful, and pleasant. Please help me. What am I supposed to do? I cried, I meditated, I prayed. I got a mission. Took about a year or so. I got a mission. My mission is to give one billion dollars to charity without costing any giver a penny. What? How do you do that, Barry Shore? I'm gonna make it very short. To the point. It took years and years of working different processes, et cetera, et cetera. How do you give money without costing anybody any money? A couple of years ago, I was privileged to work with a partner of mine. We went to Visa. Yes, Visa, that company. And I told them about my backstory, quadriplegic, swimming. Okay, got the sympathy vote. I told him I have a mission. Here's what I want to do. I want to give a billion dollars without costing anybody a penny. Say, okay, great. What do you want from us? Well, I said, here's what I want to do. Everybody knows if you walk into a grocery store and you go to these racks of gift cards and you pull off, let's say, a hundred dollar prepaid visa card, and you take it to the checkout, they're gonna charge you $105. $100 for the card, $3 for the credit card processing, a dollar for the store, a dollar for the distributor. Everybody wins. Everybody gets what they want. Fine. We're in the age of electronic delivery. Hello, physical cards? That's so 20th century. I say, here's what I want to do. I want to have Nikki be able to buy a $100 prepaid card from Visa for $100, deliver it electronically to her phone so she can put it in her wallet and use it in the store. And at the same time, Visa, I want you to contribute $3 to her choice, her cause of choice every time she does that. So you know what they said? Get out of here. Who needs you? You know, delivery. Okay, well, you want us to chip in money? Why? I finally got kicked out 11 times, kept going up higher and higher and higher. Got to a decision maker, a woman, very smart, very capable, big vision. Said, tell me the story again. Okay, paralyze this, yeah. What do you want to do? Give a billion dollars. You chip in 3% every time somebody buys a hundred dollar card. She said, Let me think. If you give a billion, that means we sold $35 billion worth of these things. And when person uses it, the merchant's gonna pay us money. Okay, we'll do that. We don't lose. Everybody win. Everybody wins. That's the essential aspect of real business, Nikki. Correct? Everybody has to win.

unknown 43:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:28

When the you gets taken care of, the I will always take care of. So now Nikki can buy hundred dollar visa prepay cards, and she needs a say six or eight or ten, let's say a thousand dollars every month for groceries and doing other just stuff. She puts against them. She pays them. She's paying, by the way, by ACH called direct debit. Because if you use a credit card, that goes to three percent. So she's paying by direct debit. That's fine. Direct debit comes in, goes to the place, goes to Visa, they send her the call. Cards, gets electronically, everybody wins. And now she goes to the store, just hits, touches her phone, taps, and now you're giving money at no cost. The cause wins, you win, visa comes on ahead, the merchants have everybody wins. The ability to give my mission a billion dollars without causing any giver a penny. It's been the work of decades. And now we're here and about to launch. So thank you, Nikki, for allowing me to showcase here. And this is great for any cause, a real cause, a church, a civic organization, some pet shelter, something you really care about. Causes are always needing money. Let's be blunt. And it's not just money. What they really want is ongoing, passive, monthly revenue. Because oftentimes people give the end of the year, or once it's what you want is people giving all the time without bothering people, without pushing them, without squeezing them. Gimme, gimme, gimme. It's about the ability to say, channel of goodness. We have a flow. When you do that, everybody wins. You get your cars delivered electronically. The organization gets 3% on every $100 purpose. It's wonderful. So we're now going out into the world to be able to enable causes to function and do what they want to do most, which is to serve, to be able to offer their supporters the ability to support them at no cost, visa to win, merchants to win, and I get to fulfill my mission in life.

SPEAKER_00 45:55

And what a genius way. And you notice that um Barry didn't stop after the first no or the second no or the third no. He kept going. He kept going, he got told no 11 times. The 12th time was the charm. Am I right, Barry?

SPEAKER_01 46:16

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 46:17

I want you guys to go and look up what the biblical meaning of 12 is.

SPEAKER_01 46:22

Ooh, wonderful. Uh let's give a gift to people, if we may. I know time is a lesson. So um I'd urge people to go to barryshore.com, B-A-R-R-Y, S-H-O-R-E, Baryshore.com. You can read about the everywhere card. You can also access something really wonderful. We I'm gonna hold up this. It's called the smile card. Everybody see S-M-I-L-E on the back, it reads Seeing Miracles in Life Every Day. So we have these in several variations. One is called Keep Smiling, etc. When you go to the website, you'll see it. We have been privileged to distribute over nine million cards worldwide. In the Keep Smiling, we have them in 27 languages. And they're free. The cards are free. You just have to pay for shipping because the post office charges me money. So I don't we don't make anything. You just but the cards are free to use to give out, and it's part of loving dog poop. You carry them with you in your pocket all the time. So if you see somebody bending over, picking up dog poop, give them a keep smiling card and tell them or her how wonderful dog poop is, or just people, when you become the giver, and the G word is involved also with the most fundamental part of all life gratitude. Gratitude when that becomes your foundation, that becomes your raisin d'etre, when that becomes the impetus for you to be living in this world, then you will start energizing all the things that you think about and want because they're yours. They the good Lord says, please open your mouth and I will fill it. Open your mouth and I will fill it.

SPEAKER_00 48:20

And I encourage you, go and and by the way, if you thought that went by too fast, look below. It's in the show notes, it's in the comments, the links are there, the details are there, and we will list the acronyms there. But isn't this man incredible? And yet he's fun to be around, but he's got a next level of wisdom and knowledge. I am so honored and privileged to have you on our show. But beyond that, you have one other acronym that I think everybody gets to not only know and hear, but to live by. So share us, share with us, please. Acronym for kind.

SPEAKER_01 49:10

Ooh, with pleasure and delight. Keep inspiring noble deeds. Because kindness is the essence of the human condition, and that's what wonderful Nikki is. Remember, Nikki, N-I-K-K-I, nurturing integrity, kindness, connecting intensely.

SPEAKER_00 49:43

Barry, what a pleasure it's been to have you on here. And I know you and I could go on for hours. You have so much wisdom to share. For sure we'll have to have you back, because there's also so much more to your story that we haven't heard. But I just love how Barry reminds us, not even with his speech, but by his presence, that your circumstances don't get the final say. He lay there paralyzed. I was stuck in a wheelchair. And you know what? We are just two ordinary people who have chosen to be extraordinary. Why don't you choose to be extraordinary? Joy isn't something we find once everything is perfect. Joy is what we choose that gives us the strength to get through the tough times. It helps us keep moving forward. And you know what? Both Barry and I have challenges that come up every day because we're normal human beings, just like the rest of you. And people sometimes say to me, You can't truly be that happy. You're too much. You know, you've got to be authentic. I am authentic, and yes, I have my troubles and I have my moments. But I've had a lot of practice at choosing joy quicker. So when you learn to choose it quicker, it becomes a habit. You know, it's but like you don't have to think about breathing anymore because it's something you do all the time. So why don't you let joy become the same? Barry, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom, your journey, and your heart and your joy with us today.

SPEAKER_01 51:26

You're welcome, wonderful Nikki. I'd like to do two things that we may before we leave. One is let's do a group hug with all these thousands of people around the world. I'll tell you what hug stands for heartfelt, unlimited giving. One, two, three, and a blessing from wonderful Nikki and Barry. Go forth, live exuberantly, spread the seeds of joy, happiness, peace, and love. Go mad, go make a difference.

SPEAKER_00 52:04

One of the ways you can do that if you got even one IOTA of value out of this, and you know somebody, you may not think they get value out of it, but don't presume that in advance. Share this episode with them. Give us a like, put your comments down. We will be watching and we will respond to them. But share it. And I learned this from Barry. Don't share with one person, share with five people. You can share with 105 if you like, but share with five people because joy is something that is contagious. And when you share it, other people can share it. And something that came out of my mouth on Barry's show, I've never said it before, is joy is magnetic, but it's like iron filings get stuck on the magnet and they become magnetized. And that saying is thanks to Barry Shaw himself. So until next time, keep building a life and business that reflect your purpose, your values, and your joy, because you were created to live in joy, to bring joy and to be filled with joy. Blessings all. See you next week. Bye for now. Thank you so much for joining me on the Joy Inspired Podcast at www.joyinspipodcast.com. Make sure you hit that subscribe button so that you can get this and every other episode that comes out. We have lots of great stuff coming, and you don't want to miss it. So make sure to hit that subscribe. I am so grateful for all the reviews and comments, and I look forward to serving you in next week's episode.