If you’re serious about scaling your business, leading with confidence, and embracing automation to create financial freedom, this episode is a MUST-LISTEN! Jeff Ross sits down with Aaron Birely, a 23-year veteran in direct sales who has built teams of 200,000+ in 100+ countries and ranks among the top 80 global income earners in network marketing. 🚀🔥 Aaron shares his real-life journey from traditional business to seven-figure network marketing success, the power of AI & automation, and why your mindset & daily habits are the keys to building long-term wealth.
1️⃣ Success is a Long Game – Play it Right
2️⃣ AI & Automation – Your Secret Weapons (If Used Right)
3️⃣ Your Network is Your Net Worth
4️⃣ The Mindset Shift That Created a 7-Figure Business
5️⃣ Daily Habits for Success in Network Marketing
💡 “AI is like a Ferrari. Most people are toddlers trying to drive it—learn how to use it right, and you’ll go places FAST!” – Jeff Ross
💡 “The only thing stopping you is YOU. Once I gave myself permission to succeed, my business exploded.” – Aaron Birely
💡 “Success isn’t about motivation—it’s about execution. Systems win, emotions lose.” – Aaron Birely
⏳ 00:00 – Welcome & Intro – Setting the stage for today’s conversation.
⏳ 02:33 – Aaron’s Story – From AFL football to entrepreneurship & network marketing.
⏳ 10:18 – The 10-Year Struggle Before a Breakthrough – What finally clicked.
⏳ 14:53 – AI & Automation: How to Scale Without Burnout – Using technology the right way.
⏳ 18:45 – Mindset Shifts That Unlock Financial Freedom – Overcoming fear & limiting beliefs.
⏳ 24:10 – The Power of Mentorship & Mastermind Groups – How relationships accelerate growth.
⏳ 29:26 – Daily Habits for Success – What to focus on in just one hour a day.
⏳ 34:19 – The Time Factor: Why You Need to Act NOW – The biggest regrets entrepreneurs have.
⏳ 37:40 – Closing Thoughts & Dad Joke of the Day 🤣
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🔥 Want help leveraging AI, storytelling, and branding? Join our Laptop Lifestyle Dads community and let’s build something epic together.
And before we go…
Why did the network marketer go to therapy?
…Because they had too many, wait for it, unresolved leads! 😂
Legends, as always—Stay caffeinated. Stay legendary. 🦘💥
This is Jeffery Ross, signing off! 🎙️🚀
Jeff Ross (00:01) Well, welcome back to the Laptop Lifestyle Dad Show, the podcast that helps network and affiliate marketers leverage social selling, embrace AI and scale smarter without burnout. Hey, I'm your host, Jeff Ross, proud father of three amazing boys and my wife and I are raising them right here in beautiful Tasmania, Australia. Hey, I know firsthand the importance of building a business that works for you, not the other way around.
One that doesn't take you out of your life, but helps you to support your life. And today we're gonna do a deep dive into leadership, automation, and financial freedom in the network marketing space. With someone who has built from the ground up at a very young age, but our guest here today is none other than Aaron Birely. Aaron is a leader with over 23 years in the direct sales space.
who's built teams of 200,000 plus people in over 100 countries. He's ranked amongst the top 80 global income earners in network marketing space. He's proof that if you learn the right skills, embrace the right mindset and leverage the right tools, success isn't just possible, it's inevitable. And today Aaron's going to teach you how exactly to do this. So if you're to scale your business, lead with confidence and embrace automation,
Grab a notebook because this episode is packed with golden nuggets that you can go and apply right away. But before we dive in, I just want to give a quick shout out to today's sponsor, Shoply. It's the future of social selling. You may have heard Gary Vee talk about it. If you're a network marketer, you're an affiliate marketer, you know how hard it is to keep track of leads, follow up with closed sales consistently. Now, Shoply is changing the game by giving you an all-in-one platform
to help you to streamline the sales process, to connect with influencers and scale your income without the stress. Whether you're an affiliate looking for more commissions or a vendor wanting more exposure, Shoply is a decentralized marketplace that puts the power back in our hands. If you're to sell smarter, you've got to check out Shoply and I'll make sure the link is here in the show notes for you below. So let's jump in and let's have a conversation with Aaron.
So Aaron, before we dive in, mate, I'd love you to introduce yourself to our audience in two minutes or less. Can you share your story, who you are, what you do, and what drives you?
Aaron (02:33)
Hi Jeff, great to be here with you. It's always a pleasure. Yeah, thanks for having me on. I guess, know, these days I live on a farm on a 30 acres on the Sunshine Coast, father to two boys, married to a beautiful wife, Nick. But it's been a journey, you know, it's been a journey. It's a great lifestyle up here on the Sunshine Coast, but originally from South Australia, in Adelaide, went down there from the country to play Aussie rules football. But yeah, I was kind of one of those guys that just...
breeze through school wasn't really too worried about my grades. I'm more interested in sports and so forth and having a good time. And at the end, I didn't really know what I was going to do. And luckily, you know, through sport, I was able to get a traineeship through the AFL and, and play football there. And they got me a house and accommodation and a job and all those types of things. And so, you know, I just mucked around play footy as you do in your teenage years, but what are we going to do as a career?
Yeah, that was always the big question mark. And I got into network marketing. was at a high school, someone said to me, Hey, Aaron, have you thought about earning extra income on the side? I'm like, every, every waking second. And he introduced me to you know, what a lot of listeners will know as Amway. And so I joined that way, he me the book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad at that time. And that that's what just it was like, it was like I've come out of a black hole, like into this new vortex of I'm going to be an entrepreneur.
Jeff Ross (03:34)
Mmm.
Yeah, wow.
Aaron (04:01)
And I thought you probably had to go to university for four years and be smart and come from money to be an entrepreneur. so listening to all the stories from zero to hero. And so I got into traditional business in the fitness industry. I devoured every book I could on personal development mindset business, open gym, sold a gym, opened up a few more in Sydney, but always stayed in the networking space. Sydney exactly smashed my way out of the park back in the day, probably made about $42, signed up six people.
Jeff Ross (04:01)
Mm.
Mmm.
Aaron (04:31)
But it wasn't until 10 years later, I my first six figure, incoming network marketing decided to take it seriously. And we'll get onto a few of the topics of what was that chain? What was that pivot? Got to get out of your own way sometimes. And yeah, a few years after that was earning seven figures, sold up all my traditional businesses. And I've been working from home ever since in this space.
Jeff Ross (04:43)
Mmm.
Yeah, cool. I want to come back to your story. That's an amazing story. Thank you for sharing. But you said it was about 10 years before you actually made your first six figures. So what was it that was about in that 10 years that helped you to push through, like to just dig in and keep figuring it out as you go? Like, what was it that was that thing that kept you going?
Aaron (05:15)
I loved network marketing and I got it like the second that the guy was drawing lines and circles on the paper, I understood the leverage, residual income possibility. So I loved it from day one, but it wasn't really ever my focus. Like I never remember thinking like I'm to be a career network marketer. I'm going to go make millions of dollars with this. It was always around, you know, my traditional business and that was on the side. So firstly, in the beginning, I never really gave it the time or the chance to go big.
And if I'm going to be really honest, you know, back when I was 18, 19, 20, 20, yeah, in those early twenties, I still cared way too much about what people thought. And, you know, I look around, you know, my cool mates and being a network market, it wasn't on the top of the cool list. And so I guess I still hid behind what I was doing a bit, wasn't too visible, feared rejection, hadn't done enough personal development at all that stage. so
Jeff Ross (05:54)
Mmm.
Aaron (06:11)
You know, we can touch a bit on this further, but it wasn't until I really drew that line in the sand. And a lot of people say, I don't care what people think about me, but they still do. But it wasn't until I really didn't until my belief in the industry really went up until I did a few things, personal development wise, before I went, okay, all those things are behind me now. Now let's go and take this network marketing serious and away we went.
Jeff Ross (06:36)
Well, I know for me to lose my attachment to what other people think about me, I had to really go and do a deep dive internally and get rid of some of my limiting beliefs, right? Those blocks. So what was it for you? Like how did you detach yourself from that, you know, that judgment really, like that, well, that vanity and just really just like, you know, push that aside, just go sharp and shine and just go do the grind.
Like what was it for you that helped you to get past that block?
Aaron (07:08)
I think maturity and experience and age always helps right you get out of that sort of high school popularity mentality. But you know, just continuing to do personal development, personal development, read, listen, watch, you know, that is super important that listen to other people's stories. But if I really want to break it down, firstly, it's how big is your dream and how serious are you about that? And so if your dream is really getting you emotional, if it's right down there in the gut, you know, once you start having kids, you look at them, you look at your lifestyle, if that
Jeff Ross (07:14)
Yep. Yep.
Aaron (07:38)
whatever your dream is, if it's big enough, you'll get out of your own way and you'll do what you had to do. And so I've got to the point where I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. was working 100 hours a week in traditional business and something just had to give. And you know, I really did get to the point where, you know what, I'm to go and do what's best for me. I believe in this industry. I believe in myself. Let's go. And then the second real breakthrough that I had was an interesting one because I've done all the personal development in the world at this stage.
Jeff Ross (07:42)
Mmm.
Aaron (08:06)
studied network marketing, like I was going to study accounting, like I really studied the industry, personal development, everything, but you know, there was one blockage that I didn't realize I was there. And it took a lot of really like sitting down meditating, shutting the eyes prayer, going for a run. And you know, what I figured out was that I hadn't really given myself permission to succeed. You know, you come from a humble background of growing up on a farm, you're not supposed to
Jeff Ross (08:30)
There you go.
Aaron (08:35)
rise, you know, that tall poppy, you're not supposed to go out there, talk about money, make money, get on a Facebook live, but you're just not supposed to do that. And so I recognize that firstly, which was step one. And then step two was like, cool, I'm going to break through this now. And so instead of being the mosquito that's trying to jump out of the glass, keeps hitting the glad wrap, take the glad wrap off, and he just keeps jumping the same high, you know, as I would have jumped out of that. And so I included in my affirmations, you know, you are worthy.
Jeff Ross (08:38)
Mmm.
Aaron (09:03)
You are a great guy. You are an entrepreneur. You're a global thinker. And I gave myself permission to break out of that old school, you know, country mentality. And that was a big breakthrough. So I had all these affirmations up on the wall, I would read them out loud, as if that already happened. And three years later, I was making a seven figure income.
Jeff Ross (09:24)
There you go, three years, wow. I've had a few interviews lately with some top successful network marketers like yourself, and there seems to be some common themes coming about here. And one is internal, right? You gotta go deep, you gotta go internal, figure out what those blocks are. And I'm just reflecting on an interview that I had with Martin Ruoff just recently, and very similar to what you're saying. So you gotta know where you wanna be, like what's the dream, what's the goal, where you're heading.
But he also said, you got to know what you want to escape from. Like what is that, that backboard that you're sick and tired of sick and tired. What are you pushing out of to be able to help you to get the momentum? How do you get out of, know, what I call sucksville and how you get to awesome town. You don't necessarily need to know the how, the how sort of starts to work out when you just get in massive action. Would you sort of like to unpack that a bit more? Like how's that sort of worked for you?
Aaron (10:18)
Yeah, I think you know, firstly, it's important to have those dreams and goals and have that vision so crystal clear. Yeah, they say if it's hazy outside, well, it's going to be a fog up here, right? And so you got to be really crystal clear, write it down, read it out. So that's all crystal clear. The second thing I would say was, you know, to get organized and know, this is my daily routine. This is my daily habits. This is actually what's going to get me there. Thirdly, go and form some relationships and get around.
Jeff Ross (10:25)
Mmm.
Aaron (10:46)
people that are succeeding because that rubs off hugely. And so one of my big breakthroughs at that stage was, you know, before I got into seven figures, I was like, hey, I've, I've done everything now I've given myself permission, done all the personal development, but I'm still not earning the big dollars. And so what I went and got was a really great mentor that actually achieved what I wanted to achieve. That's the important thing, not theory, not talk, but was living the life knew the industry.
Jeff Ross (10:46)
Mmm.
Aaron (11:13)
had heaps of money, had the house, car, all that sort of stuff. So was relationships, mastermind, network, mentor. And then the third thing, and this is a tricky one, and this does take a bit of skill, perhaps a bit of luck, but it will usually come about for you by association. And that is choosing the right vehicle, choosing the right opportunity. Because you have all the skill set in the world now, all the personal development, everything's ready to roll, and you've just chosen the wrong company, the wrong business model, the wrong...
business to get into whatever it is. And so normally the doors will be opened up to you. Yes, you there's certain things you should be analyzing when looking at business opportunities. But usually, it'll be someone you know, and trust and respect. The doors open and away you go and they were the big breakthrough moments for me that above and beyond just you know, the basics of permission and goals and dreams and mindset, you got to have a few ducks in the row there. So you know that right mentor and association is going to be very important.
Jeff Ross (11:43)
Yeah.
Mmm.
Yeah, no, I completely relate to what you're saying there because I feel like my own journey for the last four years, you've just encapsulated it. I'm just starting at the beginning stages of getting to those six bigger years as a network marketer. But I know I had some success with the travel club just recently and you know the travel club I'm referring to. I had a taste of success. I got the ground. I thought, right, my belief went right up. I could figure out I can do this.
And that combined with the major success that I've had in the digital marketing space now, I feel like coming on board with you here with Shoply has been that answer to prayer and it's just all the ducks in a row now and we're ready to rock this in a big way. So I just want to come back to some daily habits though. If someone's listening and only has one hour a day, they've got their J-O-B, they've got their life in the background.
and they're looking to transition out of that space into a full-time network marketing space. If they've only got one hour a day to work on their business, what should they prioritize?
Aaron (13:17)
Yeah, well, you know, want to be super organized and understand what matters. so, you know, it's having that organization, having your days, weeks, months planned. And you know, getting away from the business side of things, which we can talk about in a second. But you know, my daily habits away from business, but it's super important to the business of things like exercise, you know, making sure I exercise every single day, start the day well, get some sun, get some vitamin D, go for a walk bare feet out in the farm. And so I do those things every single day.
which is super important rather than wake up straight onto your phone computer. And before you know it, it's four o'clock and you're sitting in a dark room in front of your computer, you'll be amazed at how quickly that spirals in the wrong direction. So I'm very conscious to make sure I've got those things happening. But then, know, one hour a day, you want to making sure in the background somewhere you're upskilling. But as a network and affiliate, the most important thing you can do on a daily basis, one hour a day is your prospecting. And so if you're not
Jeff Ross (13:58)
Mm.
Aaron (14:14)
talking to new people, if you're not learning how to be good at talking to new people, if you're not learning how to be visible on social media, if you're not learning what to write on DMs, your audio message, how to close the deal, convert, duplicate. I mean, that's really only what you get paid for in network marketing. So we can talk about a million different things, but what do you actually get paid for? You get paid for bringing people on, you get paid when products are sold and you get paid for duplication. So in one hour a day, that's what you've got to get good at.
Jeff Ross (14:35)
Mm.
Aaron (14:43)
and that's what you've got to be doing. And some people feel like they go put a post up on socials and they've done some work. Well, yeah, you got to go and get a bit more uncomfortable than that if you want to find the money.
Jeff Ross (14:53)
Yeah, let the main thing be the main thing, right? And go take massive action. Love it. So using, you know, we're, I'm very much on the AI space, as you know, so using AI as a way to help us to scale up without burnout. Like for me, it's AI plus our heart equals our superpower. And AI should never be used as a replacement, but yeah, it's a really great tool to be leveraged to be an amplifier, to be an enhancer.
And the network marketing space in itself, and as we know in the e-commerce space, it's changing fast. And AI is playing a huge role in this space. So I'd love to know, how are you using AI and automation to help you to scale your business without having to work 24-7?
Aaron (15:37)
However you tell me, Jeff, you're my AI mentor, right? And so I think we don't need to be fearful of AI unless you don't learn AI. So AI can be exciting. It's gonna be the future. It's here, whether you like it or not. The only reason to fear it is if you're not learning it. And so yeah, look, I use it for a lot of content writing. So, you know, I do a lot of blogs and yeah, in terms of being visible on socials, you know, let's get visible on Google, YouTube, socials, you know, be found.
Jeff Ross (15:40)
Ha ha.
Mmm.
Aaron (16:07)
Writing that content can take hours sometimes. AI can take minutes. So that really helps me to leverage my time, get visible in my language, like you say, personalize it. And then I can just go copy paste, do tags. And yeah, there's a lot of content out there that's from Aaron Biley in things that are searched for a lot. Also within my team, instead of taking a lot of the basic questions, we can use AI with bots and sort of pick up that old fashioned Q &A thing.
Jeff Ross (16:21)
Yeah.
Aaron (16:36)
where we can train AI to really understand our business and to answer a lot of those questions either through audio or through text. And so I find that saves a heck of a lot of time and leverages. So, you you're scaling your business, you're training your team and none of it's on you at that stage. So there's just a couple of little ways that I've learned to do it. And I'm really just starting out with the basics of it and really wanting to expand on that side of things for my business, because it is the future.
Jeff Ross (17:04)
Yeah, it definitely is. But let's look at the other side of the coin here for a second, because you're a career network marketer. Do you see any major red flags in this AI space that people need to watch out for?
Aaron (17:17)
in the network marketing industry and AI. Look, I think that in that industry, whether it's 1984 or 2054, the number one thing that's always gonna be most important is relationships. so AI is at this stage, it's not really gonna go and build the relationship with people. It can help in certain ways of people discovering your personality and leveraging time. And so I think if you're gonna try, it's a little bit like when...
you know, I went through the stage when I was in network marketing, where we were still sending our signups and getting our reports through a fax machine, right? And I was doing all my calls on a landline. So you start talking in those words, and you still remind yourself of how old you were. And then once we transition through to social media, yeah, that was the big thing. And you really had to leverage social media. But it got to a point where
Jeff Ross (18:03)
Mm.
Aaron (18:10)
the people that still didn't want to get out of their comfort zone, build relationships, make the calls, do the follow ups, they just thought social media was going to do all of the work for them, kind of got left behind. I feel like we're going through the same stage where a red flag would be, you're thinking AI is going to do all of the work for you, build the relationships, do your follow ups, sign people up, build them. I think you still got to be you, be authentic, do the work, build the relationship, show the leadership, but...
absolutely learn AI and leverage it to your best of your ability. yeah, don't or you know, another red flag is don't go and learn it at all. So yeah, two extremes there.
Jeff Ross (18:43)
Yeah.
Yeah, go from one extreme to the next. I love that. Well, just for example, like this interview that I've pulled together here, I got AI to do a you know, quick some research. got to search Aaron Byerly, the Jack Chair millionaire. And he went through and brought all the information through on Aaron Byerly. And then I said, okay, cool. Right now we'll personalize the questions for this interview. Make sure that we keep it in the same format as the other shows and, and you know, help Aaron, you know, step up into his genius show.
and serve our audience in that space. then, you know, just pulled this interview together and I was able to do that like in mere about 10 minutes. Now, can you imagine how I used to do that without AI? I have to go do all the research and take hours, right?
Aaron (19:32)
Yeah. And so when that came through firstly, it looks super professional. It was like, this guy's not mucking around with his podcast. It really helped me to prepare for it. And I knew, well, I kind of knew that you would have used AI and that would have taken you a fraction of the time, you know, but I've also had people that have tried to approach me about opportunities through socials. And I can tell that AI has written that and yeah, then they've copy paste and send and I just, yeah, you're not going to get anywhere like that. And so it's a fine line where we are right now with it.
Jeff Ross (19:38)
Hahaha
Mm.
Yep. Yep.
Aaron (20:01)
but yeah, certainly got to utilize it. It's, it's, it's just going to over the next three years, man, if people don't get ahead of it to some degree, it's going to be really costly for them.
Jeff Ross (20:15)
Well, as I said, we did a Gold Coast event just recently together and I was at the opportunity to do a masterclass for the team there. And essentially it was three categories. Let's do our preparation so we can do our presentation so we can master our communication. And Aaron, you were the guinea pig there as the demo there to do the preparation sort of market research part of that exercise. What was that whole experience for you? Like, what was the insights inside of that for you? yeah, what was the light bulbs in that conversation?
Aaron (20:43)
Yeah, well, I've watched a bit of your stuff before, so sort of been through it all. So, but you know, you rewind to the first time we did that. And I mean, I was just blown away by the fact I didn't even understand that you could train, you know, whichever bit of AI you're using. And I've seen some incredible apps and devices and different niches, but you can get AI, chat, GBT, whatever, to really learn your language, your personality, understand the niche that you're in.
These are the problems that my ideal customer avatar has. Let's go and write some copy that when people are reading that they're like, man, this guy's talking to me. So it's going to convert like crazy. It's talking like Aaron. It's talking like Jeff. It's talking like, so really that personalization leveraging our time, but still ask when you look at it going, man, I couldn't have written that any better. And you're sort of verbalizing that back and forth, like a conversation to me, that was my biggest like, wow, this is
This is really cool. can use that. So it's just going to really save time and help conversions, you know.
Jeff Ross (21:40)
This is pretty cool.
Yeah, I geeky out every time I show someone that, you know, that new experience and you just see their face light up. It's pretty cool. But yeah, let's, we're talking about this whole space, right? It's a new space and there is some fear that comes with it. So how do you help people overcome fear and take bold action? You know, what are some of the tips that you can give our listeners here that you can, you know, if you had your time all over again, you know, can you share some,
some of the tips that you would have done different if you were starting out now and you knew all of the limiting beliefs have gone and pushed away. How could you help others to learn how to just shortcut that a little bit? Obviously, experience, you've to go through it. But yeah, what would you do to help people personally push through their fear and get up and run faster? And how would you do that again?
Aaron (22:35)
Yeah, I think, you know, just having that right mentor is super key. I probably would have worked because mentors aren't just going to fall in your lap most of the time. So I think I would have worked really hard to go and find that perfect mentor sooner. I really hunted them down and, you know, basically begged and say, hey, I'm going to do every single thing you say. You've lived it, you've done it, you're doing it. I just want to jump in your back pocket and go with you. And then I think
Yeah, that back and forth accountability is super helpful. So doing that with somebody else, if I saw something in someone, I would say, Hey, let's catch up every single day. Let's be real accountable because that mentor and that association is what compresses time. And so I felt like, yeah, once I got to a certain point of ticking those boxes, I did compress time. did some pretty crazy stuff in three years, but no one saw the 10 years leading up to that. and I, and I think the big gap.
even between like 18 and 30, right, the big gap for me was there was really no entrepreneurial influence. I look back on my sporting career, there was no real sporting influence up until I got my like second coach who really took me under his wing and my my football really took off the belief my confidence and skill level. And so it's the same in network marketing, that compression, I was working everything out for myself. So once Google hit, was googling stuff.
Most of my mentors during that time were virtual. So they were Brad sugars. They were, you know, reading Donald Trump books. They were Tim sales. And I'd never met any of these guys, but I was learning through DVDs, CDs, YouTube. And so I guess what I would have done differently and what I would do with someone is I try and really hunt down that mentor sooner. And so I'll do exactly what you tell me to do. Let's do it. That's what I would do.
Jeff Ross (24:03)
Hmm.
Yeah, I know at the times that I've had really good mentors in my life, it's like their shared belief is transferable. that encouragement, that support and how they empower and equip you to run up. A good mentor will never try and save you or rescue you, but they will empower you, they will equip you. And that shared belief that they have for you is transferable. I love that.
Aaron (24:47)
Yeah.
And you'd be blown away. mean, I look at myself now you look at you now, you'd be blown away if you're listening to this as a new entrepreneur or a younger person or restarting, whatever it is, you'd be blown away how many people want to help. So most people will maybe be a bit standoffish in the beginning, maybe they're super busy. But if you pester them enough in a professional way, and they see something in you, you'd be amazed at how many people want to help. They really do get a kick out of seeing that person become successful.
Jeff Ross (24:59)
Mmm.
Yes.
Aaron (25:16)
And you can really hunt down the right person to be that mentor. yeah, think it's one of the real important actors.
Jeff Ross (25:27)
Yeah, well, I totally agree. Like my new mentor, Michael Silvers is the VP of the Los Angeles Tribune. And I've just gone all in recently with him. But it started off with just building connection, building relationship, just showing up, being plugged in and just asking everyone the opportunity came up as how can I help? How can I play? What can I do? And that's, you know, led to six months down the road. Now I'm, I'm connected with some pretty big names in the industry and
And as a little old Jeff Ross here from Tasmania is now, you know, starting to step up on the global stage, but that all just started through mentorship and relationship. And yeah, totally agree.
Aaron (26:04)
And
let me touch on one thing there that I mentioned before. You we want to hunt down that mentor. Mentors will coach you. You got to be persistent. But the thing that will stop a lot of people, particularly guys, is pride and ego. Pride and ego. I don't want to ask for help. I know everything. These are things that particularly males will not want to walk up to another male and say, please help me. I need help. Or you're a guru. I don't know what I don't know.
Jeff Ross (26:16)
Mm. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Aaron (26:34)
So if you are listening to this, just check yourself before you yourself, but just check in with yourself and just go, you know what, you're right. Like I don't ask for help. I'm trying to do it all myself. Let's compress time guys. Like we get one shot at this. It goes really quickly. Your next 12 months can be radically different. Swallow a bit of pride, swallow a bit of ego, ask for help, jump into someone's back pocket. And in time, as long as you're accountable and perform,
Jeff Ross (26:50)
Mmm.
Aaron (27:03)
you'll become peers, you'll become friends, then you're up to a new mentor. And so I did that a lot by going to events and the a lot of the courses and speakers are gone by their product. But then I made sure I was a star student and I built relationships with them. And yeah, now I'm mentoring some of them or I'm up on their stages as a speaker, whatever it might be. And so yeah, you've got to sometimes humble yourself a little bit to elevate yourself a little bit.
Jeff Ross (27:20)
Yeah.
Yeah, and I totally agree with that. And I reflect on our conversation that we had recently about brother ship and, and, know, doing, doing together and in tight knit communities as brothers. And I've come used to, I used to catch myself saying all the time that, you know, I can't say I love you to a bloke because that's corny. But I've also caught myself thinking, hang on, that's conditioning. You know, what is actually corny about it? Like if you, if you
If you're doing life together and you're doing that, you know, that intimacy together, there's all different types of love, right? And that masculine sort of macho, you know, viewpoint of that would, yeah, that is corny. But push that aside, man, I love doing life with other blokes who are just wanting to run and do the same race together and do that real awesome brother-ship, band of brothers type sort of stuff, yeah.
And I think, you know, that that takes pushing down the pride and pushing down the ego and and just come into that heart to heart space, right?
Aaron (28:33)
Yeah, and that's hard for a lot of guys really hard to break that open. Sometimes two or three beers helps but I tell you what like guys need to get around guys and talk and particularly if it is if you're an entrepreneur and you can do that in an entrepreneurial space, just that mastermind effect because you know, guys are trying to bring in the bacon a lot of the times they're under pressure, you know, they're trying to spend time with the kids. You know, our dads probably through that era they weren't really
Jeff Ross (28:35)
Mmm, it is.
Mmm.
Aaron (29:01)
expected to spend time with the kids and they didn't. I my dad didn't. He was really focused on bringing home the bacon. That was his job. But at the detriment to spending time with the kids. But today's guys, yeah, I've got to keep my marriage alive. So I need the time with the wife. I've got to the time with the kids. I've got to keep fit and healthy because they tell me that's an important factor. I've got to work on my business. And so the pressure can build up a lot and they keep it to themselves. And sometimes it can build up too much.
Jeff Ross (29:26)
Mmm.
Aaron (29:28)
But sometimes they just need a breakthrough and it might be an AI thing. Hey, man, you're working too hard on this, this and this. You need to leverage your time or, this is how I'm getting results with a 20 minute workout. You're doing two hours or that there's just a lot of ways that guys can get together with guys and everyone's like me too, me too, me too. There's some time, you know, a younger fellow might not recognize a female might not recognize just like moms need to get around moms and so forth. So it I think that's an important aspect for guys to recognize and to
to open up a little bit in that space. It's pretty important for, again, compressing time, but also mental health and so forth.
Jeff Ross (29:58)
Yes.
Yeah, totally, totally agree. Yeah, cool. Well, let's bring this episode to a close. So you've always said freedom is the new wealth. I totally agree with that. For me, the laptop lifestyle is freedom. The laptop lifestyle, you know, we're talking about our dad's generation had to sacrifice their quality time with their loved ones to bring home the bacon. my father was a truck driver. And every time I saw him, he was tired and didn't have time for us kids growing up.
And as a kid, all I ever wanted was time with my father, but I understood that, yeah, that's the only way he knew how to show love and, and, know, sometimes love is a sacrifice, right? And, uh, but yeah, this laptop lifestyle, you know, freedom is the new wealth. Um, I reflect back on when my, my eldest son Harrison, uh, July 3rd, 2023. Uh, I always remember the day he basically was playing soccer one day. The next day he.
lost the ability to walk the whole right side of his body just went black. And, you know, four months later, we figure out what's going on. He's being diagnosed with MS. And, so he was in a wheelchair. He's had to learn how to walk again. He's, he's up and running, you know, he was doing the Russian dance the other days. This kid has been probably one of the most resilient kids I've ever met in my life. And, but what I reflect on is that time when he was in hospital, when we're going through that crisis period in our lives.
I was still able to run our online business, look after our team from my phone whilst I was sitting there by his hospital bed and still being able to be dad, but also still keep the bacon coming in. So to have the best of both worlds. That to me is the laptop lifestyle. That's freedom, right? So what is one small, powerful action step, you know, someone that's listening today that can take to move closer to that type of true freedom.
in their business and life.
Aaron (32:00)
Yeah, you know, when I was running the gyms back before I really hit six figures in network marketing, I had a business coach and he was always talking about release control, release control, but I always felt like no one's going to do it better than me. I need to be doing sales, the books, the training. And eventually I got to a point where I just had to. And so, you know, as a business owner, you're not a business owner. You're not an entrepreneur.
if you're working in the business, you just bought yourself a job. so firstly, understanding and giving yourself permission to be an entrepreneur. So then release a bit of that control, find someone that can step up. And if you give your staff or your employees some staff and you give them that permission to lead, they'll take it by the horns. And you know, my business was leveraged so much better, because I provided incentives to my gym managers at the time. So instead of just saying here, you're a gym manager, see you later. Good luck.
Jeff Ross (32:26)
Mmm.
Aaron (32:52)
I train them, put systems in place, but I also said to them, you know, at the end of every month, we're going to look at the sales and the profit and as we're above and beyond where we were last month, you're going to get a bonus. So I put some skin in the game. I put some incentives, a great culture to work in there. And that created a lot. went traveling. I traveled for three years while I had a couple of the gyms until the GFC sort of hit. So, you know, it's not about just leading. It's about building leaders. And so if you can build up leaders and give them permission to lead.
you can create a lot of freedom. Yeah, learn the AI stuff. All of that stuff helps have the courage to want to go and do those types of things and give yourself permission because until you do it, you're going to fast forward and 10 years has gone and you've been working 100 hours a week as a business owner. You're not a business owner. You're not an entrepreneur. Understand you've got one life. I saw a recent video of a guy putting out you might have seen something similar Jeff and he has a square.
for every week of your life. And when you start coloring in those squares and you see how little of them there are and how far you already are colored in, man, if you need to kick up the ass, just watch that video. It really does put into perspective how short a time we have here. And it's not just a short time we have, we've got a little window of when we can be productive as we can, as influential as we can have some fun. And so, you know, from those ages of
Jeff Ross (33:56)
Yeah.
Aaron (34:19)
probably 20 to almost 30, we're not as influential because, you know, I used to go and approach 40 year old successful member network marketing, no one wanted to listen to a 20 year old. But you know, that were my purple years of playing football, that were my highlighted years as a 20 year old. And so it's from that 30 to probably 60 is when most millionaires make the money. It's when you're most influential. It's when you've got the wisdom has got the maturity is when you can get the most focus. So you got this 30 year window, right?
Jeff Ross (34:41)
Mmm.
Aaron (34:47)
And also too, why do you want to make your money when you're 60? Why work for somebody, get your super out, retire? You can't go skydiving at 60, most people. They're really fit and people aren't really snowboarding at 60. So we want to be doing these things in our 30s and 40s and 50s, right? So you got one shot, it's a small time, make the most of it, compress time and go and take some massive action guys. Because what I always say to people, Jeff, is when you're talking about
Jeff Ross (35:06)
Mm.
Aaron (35:16)
you know, being fearful or not making those phone calls. None of the shit matters. If you're sitting on your rocking chair and you're 95 and you're holding hands with your lovely wife, if you're lucky enough to make it to that age and you're reflecting back, none of that shit's gonna matter. The things that you're gonna regret are not taking action. The only things that do matter are love, relationships, your legacy, your family, right? Most people that you thought, oh my God, what will they think of me?
Jeff Ross (35:33)
Mmm.
Aaron (35:44)
They're not even going to turn up at your funeral. They can't even remember your name now. So guys, make the most of this chance that you have. You got one you one brand. Let's make the most of it together.
Jeff Ross (35:55)
Yeah, and I couldn't have said it better myself. And the big thing there, just listening to you now is don't be a hero, be a hero maker. And let's just get out there and let's go do it together. Nah, I love that. So let's call this a close. So if you've got any final words of wisdom before we wrap up.
Aaron (36:12)
No, I think that that last spill was pretty much all I had. No, I'm done. I am done.
Jeff Ross (36:16)
Yep.
You're done. Man of many words or few words. Awesome. Well, thanks Aaron. Appreciate you. And this has been absolutely incredible. Before we wrap up, I'd love to know where our listeners can connect with you, follow your journey and learn a bit more about working with you if they want to reach out to you.
Aaron (36:36)
Yeah, I'm mostly active on Facebook. So just look up Aaron, double A R O N, Byley, B Y E R L double E or just look up deckchairmillionaire.com and you can find me through that website at any one of those social
Jeff Ross (36:48)
Well, thanks Aaron, I really appreciate you and for our listeners, if you've got any value from today's episode, here's what to do next. Don't just sit on this, make sure you go subscribe to the show, leave us a review, go share this episode with one of your mates, someone who needs to hear this. And also leave us a comment. What was your key takeaway? But not just that, how are you going to apply that? Because that's where the messy application is where the transformation comes from, right?
So if you're ready to leverage social selling and automation, go check out Shoply, you'll find out the link in the show notes here, and we'll go and help you to start growing your business so you can work smarter, not harder. And Aaron, before we go, I've got to close with our signature dad joke. So before we go, let's do it. Why did the network marketer go to therapy?
Aaron (37:40)
Why, Jeff?
Jeff Ross (37:42)
because they had too many, wait for it, unresolved leads.
Aaron (37:46)
I think that's
possibly one of your worst. I love it. I love it.
Jeff Ross (37:52)
You
gotta get that cringe factor, right? It's not a dad joke.
Aaron (37:56)
Well, if your kid's
not saying, dad, at the end of it, you haven't done it well, right?
Jeff Ross (38:01)
That's right. Well, I have to give credit to AI for that one because AI has been coming up with some really bad dad jokes. Well, that's it for today's episode. Thanks for tuning into the LaptopLife.Dad Show. We'll see you next time. Stay caffeinated, stay legendary and you be awesome.
Aaron (38:19)
Thanks a lot.