Compounding Habits to Success with Robb Gilbear

Founder of the Growth Habit (a Community for Purpose-Driven Coaches and Consultants Who Want to Make Money While Making a Difference), Robb Gilbear shares an honest and vulnerable look at taking decisive action toward change through career and personal life and how compounding habits can lead you to the success you dream and desire. 

Connect with Robb: 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbgilbear/
Website: https://www.growthhabit.org/
Die Before They Do: https://www.growthhabit.org/diebeforetheydo

Transcript

Welcome to the LinkedIn Lounge podcast, a space where we dive deep into questions surrounding culture, community, employee engagement, employee experience, and what it looks like to help be an active voice to improve our workplaces. Linkedin is an amazing place of connection and opportunity so when you're willing to dive into that space and be a little bit vulnerable and lean into your authentic, genuine side when it comes to relationship building, you'll be surprised at what you find. So grab those earbuds, find a quiet space, and enjoy this conversation. Welcome to the LinkedIn Lounge podcast i am thrilled to have with me today Rob Gilbert he is the founder of Growth Habit. And I just want to say real quickly that I had a call with Rob maybe about two summers ago and from the moment that I met him, he's just always been really sincere, really open, friendly, and the same thing shines through  everything that he shares on LinkedIn so I feel really honored that he is on the podcast today so welcome. Welcome, Rob thank you for being here and why don't you tell us a little bit about who you are and what the growth habit is? 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  01:33

Thank you, Bretta that's a really nice introduction and I have a fun recollection of that meeting too, that we chatted and that you were just, you were kind and smiley and the energy you brought, the human energy on that call is how I see you show up on LinkedIn too so I appreciate that. I am the founder of Growth Habit as you said, it is a community of purpose, serving coaches, consultants and experts that want to do meaningful work and grow their businesses without having to do anything that feels icky. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  02:04

Ok, what do you mean feels icky? What are what are coaches having to do that They're like, I wish I could just coach and not have to do this. 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  02:14

Well, it's often things that people would label as marketing and sales and to the point where it is rare that I will use those words publicly. If you go through all my newsletters, all my podcast interviews, all my posts, it's a rarity that I use those words because of the negative associations, because people had really bad sales experiences people feel that marketing needs to be bushy or or gross or over promoting yourself and just there's all these negative associations and partly through bad lived experiences and also the way we've seen big corporate entities do those things. So people that are doing work that is important to them, that is coming from a place of meaning because they really care about what they're doing. They don't want to do anything that feels off, feels no, would say misaligned or out of alignment is how some of the coaches would say but it gives us the really great, great catch phrase for it. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  03:03

How would you respond to the question? You know, or just I would say maybe this general struggle, and I don't really know if it's a paradox, but the fact that you start a business and like you have a really good offer or service or like you're like, you're a quality coach, Like you really have something to offer your clients regardless if that's mindset, career, business, you know, nutrition, whatever. But then by default, you have to become a marketer. How do you kind of tackle that conundrum of being like, OK, I didn't sign up to be a marketer i didn't sign up for sales i didn't want to do cold pitching or launches or funnels and you know, and all of a sudden, like instead of just coaching, you have this whole other thing on your table that you don't, that you didn't think you'd have to do how, how do you kind of tackle that from your perspective? 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  03:51

If no one knows who you are, you can't help anyone and that's you have to share your message and there is no point to being the best kept secrets. So if you're going to not talk about what you do, not connect with new people, not share your message, then you're going to struggle and you might just have a hobby and if you're OK with that, that's cool. But you didn't just sign up to become a career coach or any of those other examples. You've decided to start a business. You are becoming an entrepreneur and we can weigh the upsides and downsides of having a job somewhere or running your own business. You, it's a choice you have to make. And if you're making the choice of running your own business, then it is running your own business. And I hope for you and the you, I mean, like anyone listening that you get to a point where you're bringing in revenue, where you can start to hire people to help you with some of the things that you don't enjoy doing as much and start to move more of your time back on the work you love to do the impact you, you know you're meant to have the just serving of the clients. But even still, the, the message still needs to be your message. You can't replace your words, your energy, your passion for the work you do and that's what you want to be putting out there so that you attract people that you want to work with. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  05:06

Yeah, it's so good and I really like the perspective of and I'm, you know, it's not my idea i've seen this circulating, circulating around a lot on on LinkedIn and elsewhere. But that you really, it's not about you, right it's like you showing up and talking about your offer and your services isn't like, oh, look at me, I'm amazing it's really like, no, look like this can help you, like this is for you, right? And so if you really like genuinely know that what you're offering can change someone's life and you can kind of take that perspective shift and be like, OK, it's not about me. I'm not, you know, like self glorifying myself, but I can kind of turn the tables and be like, OK, this is about you and how I can help you. Would you be willing to share a little bit about your personal entrepreneurship journey because I know you kind of have a fun background if if I'm not mistaken, you started D Jing, is that correct and then you are now, then you, I know you were doing some coaching and you've shifted now and you have the growth habit so or the habit growth i just skated backwards. So yeah, how what was that evolution how did you enter into this world and I know you've also have had a lot of personal development as well, which is just really beautiful and I know you share that on LinkedIn, which is really appreciated. 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  06:20

Thank you. I appreciate you asking and totally happy to share. I am well into my third career. I started my first business as a teenager. I did not go to college or university. I actually didn't finish high school i I dropped out of high school and I started a business instead and my first business was DJ ING producing music and running record labels. I got the tour all over played 60 some odd cities from coast to coast, formed in Europe, ultra music festival in Miami, Burning Man like it was incredible it was amazing i learned a lot, travel out, met wonderful people, but it was really unhealthy and the late nights and the drinking and the lifestyles of lack of sleep nearly killed me, Literally nearly killed me. It really brought me to the near end of my existence and my second career when I had to make a change and had young, had young children and needed more reliable income i went into office jobs, then I went into HR and I ended up the last half decade in that world. I was the head of people and culture and tech companies, which was amazing and what I enjoyed the most about it was the coaching. I coached CEOs, I coached leadership teams, I developed new leaders i did lots of training and facilitation, and that didn't feel like work. That felt like magic. And on the side, I started coaching some creative folks because that's my background in music and it was just general life coaching stuff and IA, singer-songwriter photographer, different musicians and these people were my clients. And then I started posting and sharing online about my journey with habits, about my habit tracking, about how it was making me feel more confident, more clear headed, more creative. And I was just sharing what I was doing that's it i wasn't like, hey, I'm, I'm, I'm want to help, you know, I was just like, this is what I'm up to this is what I'm learning this is how it's affecting me. And people started saying, hey, this like, whatever you're doing, give me some of this i, I want some of that so I started coaching people around habits and that's what I did when I quit the office jobs, went all in on coaching. I called myself a habit strategist i didn't like the word coach i was avoiding the word coach. And that's what I did and there's a a whole other evolution from there, like how I went from that to what I'm doing now but I feel that was maybe long winded so I'll pause there and have a sip of water. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  08:39

No, it's really good. Well, I love this you said you avoided the word coach because I also personally, for a very long time, I've had a lot of resistance embracing the title of being a coach and personally, just in the last four months, I started calling myself a coach and still like am IA coach, yes, you know, and, and I've had other people say you'd be really good at coaching and I'm like, oh, but I don't want to be a coach so I'd love to hear from your perspective why you personally also avoided using that word or that title for a while and if you are now embracing it wholeheartedly. 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  09:15

I am now embracing it. I'll call myself a business mentor and coach because it really is both. And in sessions with clients, I'll always start by asking questions, being curious and just trying to understand and magic comes when you're able to have someone hold space for you and and help you lead from within people have all sorts of answers with inside them. And it frequently happens that I'll say, cool, I'm going to take my coaching hat off now and I'll get more directive and I'll ask for permission first before I make the switch because coaching is not telling people what to do but there is a mentorship and insulting aspect of what I do i have frameworks, I have tools, I have all sorts of things I give people like here, take this, use this so that you can track clients, create content that you are proud of, do enrollment in a way that feels right, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. So I do embrace it now and I think for me, at first it was there's a couple things, a bit of not believing, you know, who was I to think I was a coach the world doesn't need another fucking self help person sorry, I pause there if you want swearing on your podcast, but that there's really the kinds of things ask myself like who was I and I done some leadership development i've done some three day trainings i've done some things, but I wasn't like a, a certified coach who'd got their ICF or whatever so between it like who am I to do it and it, and maybe I thought it was a little cheesy there's just so many coaches. And then and then that was before the pandemic and there's even more coaches now. But I've embraced it because I enjoy it, because I see the power of it, and because people tell me I'm good at it. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  10:51

Yeah, I love that i can, I resonate with the that feeling of I was totally like, I don't want to be just another coach, right, Because there's so many and now it's like everywhere you turn left and right, it's like, oh, there's a coach and there's a coach and I was like, I don't want to just add to that but in the end, you're right. Like you are offering a service that really, I mean, it falls under the title of coaching and that in itself isn't negative, right there's a lot of really positive benefits from it. So what is the very first step to creating a new habit that will stick? 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  11:24

Very first step of creating a new habit, understanding the trigger, like understanding the trigger steps and kind of follow the atomic Habits framework, which is there's a reason why that book is sold 15 or 20 million copies now you just, you just take the model and follow it. Also understanding kind of the, the why behind it. There's another thing actually, you know what the very first thing is years of your identity. There's there's steps to follow you understand the trigger i understand why you want to do it and then you can kind of set yourself up structurally to create your environment and increase the likelihood you're going to enjoy, have rewards baking accountability. When I was doing yoga most frequently, I always went with someone. I think if I've gone to 500 yoga classes in my life, 497 I went with someone else and I did two things. It created, it made it way more enjoyable and it created accountability, 'cause if you and I were saying, hey, we're going to meet there at seven, I'm not going to stand you up. But the first thing probably really it's identity and what I mean by that is we have these internal beliefs about ourself, these visions, those like, I'm a, this person i'm, I'm always late, I am well organized, I'm disorganized i've always been overweight i, for me, it was always, I was always scrawny like they're just we have these things we believe about ourselves and unless you're aware of them, unless you start to change those habits struggle to stick because you'll start a habit, you'll get the trigger in place, you'll bacon rewards, you'll bring in accountability. You will do those things but if internally the I am always I've always been ex person or I've always been this way. The moment there is resistance, the moment your kids wake you up an hour earlier than planned, the moment that you have to skip a dinner, the moment that you get a phone call from a frustrated client, it'll throw you off. And then subconscious you're like, well, I've always been insert the thing and then you you fall off it it's why the gyms are so packed in January. And then by the third week, by February 1^st, it's back to like, eh, just like it was in November no one's here. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  13:33

Yeah so what would you, what do you say of someone maybe they're even so I think there's 2-2 pools of people the the person who, Yeah, they have great intentions, but they lack self-awareness So I guess one of the first questions would be in that category, how do you start building self-awareness And then the other pool, I think are people who are aware, but maybe they're in denial or like you said, they're saying, well, that's just the way I am but they're like, OK, but I don't want to be like that and I know that's the problem, but yet they're still not able to like take that next step forward so I don't know if you want to if those are two and maybe they're the same answer for both of them or if there's like two different total roads that we need to be taking for that. 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  14:14

Well, they're connected, they're on a spectrum because the person who's not aware and needs the awareness. And we were just chatting about coaching and that's why coaching is so powerful and my favorite quote book coaching is you can't read the label from inside your own jar. So having someone externally who can see things and ask you questions and help you get that self-awareness But there's journaling prompts we could talk about something like here's some journaling prompts you could use. But I think the fastest way is working with someone who can help you see the things that you're not seeing. Once you have that self-awareness and maybe you're you're still not doing it well, then it goes back to your why, like why is this important and getting really clear and it's there that quote the anyone with an incredible why can overcome any how. And it's just and if it's a health thing, because maybe that's easiest if it is, you're not, you're not in shape, you don't take care of yourself, you're way too much it's like, OK, what happens if you don't solve this? Ok, you maybe you don't move as much, you get sick or OK, so then what well, then maybe you die earlier well, what's that mean means you don't get to see your children grow up or what's that mean maybe you never meet your grandchildren or what? Like, play it out to some extremes because I think it's hard for us to remember in the moment where like, I'm going to skip the gym and hit the drive through the fast food place that we don't played out to like, well, what does this mean in five years and 10 years and 20 years? My dad quit smoking the day my daughter was born. And he'd said, like, I'm going to quit and he had quit before but then he started smoking again the day she was born he made it packed with the other grandfather and said, hey, we're both going to be alive for when she graduates from high school. And you never look back because the why was so big. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  15:56

Right. What if someone feels like they don't have AY? 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  16:03

Well, it's the people will continue to do, you'll continue to do what you're doing until the pain of not changing becomes bigger than the pain of changing because that's it. Change sucks. New routines i got to do stuff i got to sweat i can do something I'm not good at i got to put myself in difficult situations i got to look awkward. That's no, we'll avoid the hell out of that and anyone list like that's the case, and I think it's probably that quote originally is either like a Jim, Ron or maybe even a Tony Robbins quote but it's really true. We will not do anything until the pain of not changing becomes bigger than the pain of going through the difficulty and awkwardness of the change. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  16:43

When you correlate that to business owners well who currently do you work mostly with people who are looking for like habit changes in in regards to their business or is it? 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  16:56

Really like anyone who's just looking, no, it's changed well, that's the part so I, I, I, I ended the story there because I was like, I'm just going to turn into a 10 minute rant and I don't want to do this to Britta. So when I launched my business, that's the reason why it's growth, growth habit. I was a habit coach. What I didn't expect was eleven of my first 12 clients were entrepreneurs i didn't set out to do that i didn't say like, I'm a habits coach for entrepreneurs. And then I reflected, I'm like, wait a minute, entrepreneurs are rebellious they go to the beat of their own drum they're like solving interesting problems. They're curious, they're often creative. I'm like, oh, these are my people. So then I called myself a habit strategist for entrepreneurs for a while and I think my tagline was helping you create habits that stick or like powerful habits i don't even remember what it was it's so many years ago now. And I did that for a bit but what I did not expect is other coaches and consultants started reaching out to me and say, how have you done this? How did you go from a full time job to full roster clients? How did you attract these clients overseas how are you, whatever you're doing on LinkedIn to attract clients and, and I started having calls with people where people would pick my brain i'd say, hey, you think have you tried this or I would update this on your profile or you should probably focus on this with your messaging or this is what I've done that that worked. And in one week, three people asked for those calls and two of them at the end said, Hey, how do I have another one of these conversations? And I was like, oh, the universe is giving me another nudge so I made the switch to what I'm doing now, which is my clients are coaches, consultants and experts. They're all looking to grow their businesses in a way that feels good to them, that feels aligned. Mostly use LinkedIn and the habits of how you do that like I have my rocket ship method is all about the daily and weekly habits of the things that are going to lead to you getting to grow your business and having the impact that you want. So it's still there, but the name Growth Habit is really just a relic of when I was doing habits coaching and it's not really what I'm doing now. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  18:51

Yeah, OK no, that's fantastic so that's perfect because what I wanted to ask was, and especially, you know, when it comes to social media, people are like, yeah, I've started waking up at 5 AMI started journaling i started like walking daily and like you have a super long list of all these like amazing things. And then people are like, Oh my goodness, you know, like, do I need to be doing that so essentially my question is what is like, and you obviously know don't, don't reveal your secrets, but like, and apart from, you know, we had touched on the importance of understanding your identity, right? And, and getting to the root of your why, you know, which is your fuel but other than that, like how important are those other habits that we often see being talked about and that you're like, you're going to change your life and everything, you know, drink that lemon water every single morning to like, OK, what's like the first practical habit that like you really need to be doing if you are a business owner and like you, I guess it would depend on too, obviously, what your goal is and what you feel like you need to change but like if you wanted to see an improvement in how you show up and like your productivity, you know, is it the five AM wake up with the journaling and the lemon water or is there something else going on that we need to be focusing on? 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  20:05

I'm laughing because I've tried all of those things and there's some of them, but I'm still doing religiously one of them is cold showers every day, and one of the things I've started doing last year that I swear by is I drink salt water first thing in the morning. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  20:17

Salt water i haven't heard that yet. 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  20:21

But I think that's detracting from what's the most important thing instead of getting into these little things. There's two parts one is what are the things that give you energy, that make you feel hopeful about life, that make you feel energized, that make you feel alive? And for everyone, they're going to be different. But for most people there, and it's some amount of time outside sometime some kind of movement of your body, some kind of quiet reflection time. That may be journaling, that may be meditating, that may be walking in the woods and just understanding what those things are because especially if you are an entrepreneur, solo preneur, coach or consultant, the business is centered around you. It is centered around your energy. And if you are depleted, if you are overwhelmed, if you are low energy, like everything's going to be way more difficult. Of course, enrollment calls are going to be hard of course you're going to be struggling for creative ideas. Of course you're not going to show up awesomely for your clients. So I'd say that, and without getting too prescriptive, just what gives you more interview, what makes you feel more hopeful about life and just figuring some of those things out. And then secondly, some quiet, uninterrupted focus time regularly and the people that are like 5 AM, four, AM you did it. Yes but some people, their circadian rhythm is just not wired that way for some people, it's seven to nine PM it's eight to ten PM. And what it really comes down to is sometime during the day where the distractions of life and family are quieter, where you don't feel the pressure to be responding to your inboxes, where your clients aren't expecting you to respond, where you have some blockers on so you're not scrolling in whatever scroll hole. And you're doing deep, meaningful, focused work on the big things, not the urgent things like, oh, I have to follow up with that person. No, the big pillar, the book that you work on, the new program you're developing, that whatever new thing that you're the creative, important things that are easy to fall off when the urgent stuff gets loud. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  22:20

Yeah, it's good i think sometimes we get confused on what actually is important, right we're like, oh, let me redesign that landing page for that one offer and then all of a sudden like an hour has passed and you're like, wait, that's not done. And all these other tasks are still sitting on my To Do List. Sometimes it's I think that can be a struggle, right of like, OK, what really is important and what comes top priority to move the needle forward. I do see, I see a book back there. And is that your book? 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  22:50

It is. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  22:54

Yes die before they do. You are the author die before they do. Yes. Do you want to tell us about that? 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  23:00

Yes, die before they do from selling drugs to lunch with Jim Carrey, stories of struggle, near death experiences and creating a life with meaning you implied this a little bit earlier as far as I've been through a lot of transformations and my own journey, and we've been talking a bit about my business journey, but I struggled with alcohol i almost took my own life i used to sell drugs in high school i have been to all sorts of places internally, all sorts of places externally and been through some tough stuff. And this is a collection of stories. It's a memoir of stories and it just kind of captures my journey from the trouble I got into as a teenager and starting my first businesses and some of the career changes, life changes, relationship changes, and lessons I've learned along the way. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  23:50

That's really cool. And just for our listeners real quick, is that available on Amazon is that like the easiest way to find it? Ok, yes. 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  23:58

Easiest way is on Amazon definitely. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  24:00

So if you're willing and if it's too vulnerable, that's OK, you can just say no, it's too vulnerable. Maybe you already know what the question I'm going to ask because you had touched on the point that even if you don't have a why, you're kind of nudge to make that change when the pain is too great. Are you willing to share in your own personal life when you had that kind of moment, that revelation moment where you said, OK, something needs to change from, you know, maybe the reflections from your book and what you've shared and, you know, your own personal journey of alcohol, drugs, whatever, into being like, OK, now something is that, you know, I can't keep on doing this. 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  24:40

It's funny because there's a few moments and there's one, definitely one big one so I can think with the drinking. And there's the story capture in the book about me Drank so much the night before i'm hugging the toilet and I am in terrible shape. I performed at a nightclub and I was alone with her daughter and she was two very limited vocabulary. And I'm puking my guts out and she was consoling me. She was rubbing my back. She's saying KK Papa, it's KK Papa and she didn't have any like that was she did not have, she couldn't say it's OK. She she she could only say it's KK and it's definitely one of those moments where I was in pain physically from retching, but then also crying out of shame. But that still wasn't enough to make me quit drinking like I did i said like, I'm going to stop and then I stopped for a month and then I got back on my bullshit. And the, the biggest one is when I almost took my life though, like I, and I, I mean it like I was standing on a chair belt around my neck, like we're going through with this. At the last moment i got pained with the, the overwhelming pain that I'm struggling to deal with the crying I've been doing for weeks this, this wait, this darkness that I, I was trying to run away from that I really had i was like, how the hell do I deal with this and this feels like the only answer I had this realization that all I was going to do was pass that on to my children and they sure hell with no to do with it when I was gone. And that was definitely like from that, that is like a mark in the sand and from that point forward started changing everything and really I walked away from music and started a new path and started going to yoga, started meditating and within a year, year and a half, I stopped drinking now it's been a decade like that is a real pivotal moment. Most like I anyone listening, I hope you don't need to get to that depth of despair for you to decide maybe I'm going to make a change. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  26:41

Yeah, it's really powerful thank you for sharing that i really, I really appreciate that. And I know you're you're really vulnerable on LinkedIn and it's always like, I love seeing your content and I know you've touched into some of those you know, you haven't gone into that deck before, but you're like, you really do open up and share what some of those struggles have looked like for you and how you have made that change. And so I know you've just given a word of encouragement to other people that change is possible you know, that's not the end of the road and that it doesn't have to be that way and you're a living, walking proof, you know, an example that your past doesn't define your future. But for someone who's looking to be maybe like, how do I share my story? And like, who do I share it with, especially on LinkedIn, Like maybe people are like, OK, I could share that but on Instagram or like in a private email, newsletter what kind of advice or like what encouragement would you give them from your own personal experience of showing up and sharing some of those stories in a more professional space there? 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  27:42

Are a couple things the 1^st is that you don't need to share your traumas you don't need to share your deepest, darkest moments you don't need to share anything near as vulnerable as what I've just shared, But you can share things that make you who you are as a human you can show your sense of humor. You can't talk about your dog that you love so much you can't talk about the things that you enjoy doing with your family. Someone should not need to get on two zoom calls with you to realize what your energy's like, to get a sense of how you see the world, to get a sense of what's important to you, to get a sense about what some of the things that frustrate you and then secondly, you know, you're talking about professional like, oh, I can share this on Instagram or on my newsletter, but maybe not on LinkedIn. People buy from people is something that's been said a whole heck of a lot and in my world, it's people by coaches, not coaching. And even if you were like, but I work with organizations and it's like three decision makers and the sales cycle is 6 months i'm like, cool, there's still one person at the end of the day who's deciding whether they connect with you or not, whether they trust you, whether they feel they understand you, whether they feel you understand them. And the quickest way is to make it human to human to just show a bit of who you actually are. It'll make everything easier and LinkedIn, we're over a billion people on the platform. If you search for mindset coach, it's a million if you search for fitness coach, it's 2 million leadership coach, it's over 4 million. Like the best way to stand out is to actually be you. And, and if Brent and I offered the same services, if you and I had the exact same services, there was someone who'd choose you for no other reason than they don't want to listen to another white man they're like, I'm full of advice and guidance from white men that I'm, I'm full, we've done that check that box and there's people that would choose to work with me because subconsciously they know that I understand the pain of hair loss. Like the amount of clients I have that are bald is way out of proportion than the societal norm or the amount of clients I have that have some kind of creative background. Or it's just you attract who you are. So if you are highly organized and you are someone like talk about it, talk about your love for spreadsheets. There's people who love spreadsheets i don't understand it i'm not a love spreadsheets person, but there's people who love spreadsheets. It doesn't have to be some big scary thing and just show your humanity, show your interest, show your your hobbies, show things that you enjoy. That's it. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  30:08

Yeah, it's so good. I think, you know, I, I often hear a lot of times too from, you know, the clients that I work with, it is they're always just like, it's a constant question and like that little voice inside your head that's like, can I share that? Can I share that? And it's, it's like who, you know, who told you that you can't? You know, it's like, where, where did we get this idea that you can't i just think it's so, it's so funny and it's like, it's almost this unwritten rule that we've created around what professional, how do you define even what professional means, right? So well. 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  30:41

I'm not too it's it's changed. So I was lucky enough to see the change in my rules event in people culture before I left that more progressive companies were creating environments where employees felt they could show up more as themselves at work that was that was at the cutting edge, but that was starting to happen. And then the pandemic meant that everyone was in each other's homes as Co workers. All of a sudden it wasn't just Johnny who was the pain in the ass project manager it was like, oh, Johnny and he's got a cute cat and he's got a cool painting behind him. Like it humanized everyone. So that's part of why you've seen LinkedIn change so much the last few years, what it means to be an employee the organizations that are thriving, the companies that are doing the best are the places that create an environment where people can show up as actual humans at work and not keep up so much of A facade. And that was accelerated immensely by the pandemic. So even like, I'm just challenged, like what it means to be professional is changing. And you look around, it's clear that it's changing. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  31:41

Yeah, it's exciting and I, I mean, it isn't, it's a fun, it's been a fun space to be in and see how LinkedIn has evolved so quickly and it is, it's really congruent to what we've seen within the workplace and I think it's only going to continue to move that way in the future, right i think especially I, and I'd be curious since we're just heading in this direction for a moment i don't want to spend too much time on it, but where AI is taking us, like I really truly believe that as AI, like we implement those tools more often into our business, just as much you implement AI, you have to compensate with the personal. And if it's not there, it's just that people don't want, you know, the artificial, they want the humans you're going to have to compensate so I don't, I don't know if you have a thought on that or an opinion or I mean you can also just say no comment and we'll move on. 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  32:29

Well, look, I definitely, I think as far as using it as a tool to help you ideate things to help you do more in a shorter period of time to yes and you can automate so much, but you can't use it to replace the human piece and if you look on the LinkedIn feed right now, there's tons of posts where the feed is noisier, but it feels bland it feels copy and paste it feels like a robot wrote it. And I'm even seeing it in my comments. Like with each passing week, I'm seeing more and more comments on my posts it's like, who's who the heck wrote this this is no human wrote this, not a human reply. And so if if that's the world that we're heading in, you being a human, you talking about when you get frustrated, you talk about when you're excited, you sharing when you something disappointed you, you sharing a lesson that you learned the hard way and what you learned from it and actually sharing the story of like some of the bumps and bruises you got through it is how you'll stand out it's how you'll attract clients it's how you'll win deals it's how you'll build the relationships that are required to have the impact that you want to have with your work. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  33:33

Yeah, it's so good i think it's in some sense and, and maybe maybe you don't, maybe you think differently from this i'd be curious. It is like, and we've heard it said a million times before, people don't connect with perfectionism, right so no one that's not going to stand out to anyone. So when we're told that we're like, OK, I'll share my story but then I think it can easily turn into like I'm going to share something just for the algorithm just to get noticed i'm going to kind of like ramp up, you know, the like, I don't want to say pity party that's not that's not what I want to say, but it's like let. 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  34:08

Me just kind of like. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  34:09

Manipulate this right, so I can build that emotional feel, right because like we connect with the failures, like we we connect with the mistakes, we connect with the human side, right. I was just like, I was thinking I was like, maybe one day I'll be creating like fake overcoming stories of like mistakes, like cat GPT can you please write me a story when I overcame this? Make it as emotionally wrenching as possible. But yeah, I think it is it is again, it's like that fine line of again, like what's too much to share? How much do we want to you know, how much do you really reveal and anyway, that's sorry that's I was just. 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  34:49

No, I think you're right. Yeah, I, I, I think it's an inevitability and we're going to be at a place and I just, I don't know, is it a year from now or or five years from now that the people with some of the biggest followings online are an AI avatar and it's not a real person. And they are the new influencers and they're the people that are getting all the attention and people are tuning in to them. And absolutely they'll have a back story, they'll have some overcoming obstacle stories and it's, it's definitely coming. And that other part you're talking about is like what some way to game the system for me, it's like, don't ever do anything to try and game the system. And then where the line is for you, it's it's different for everyone. And then it starts with, so I know you've heard this and a bunch of people who listen this have probably heard this before, is that your clients need to know, like and trust you. You need your clients to know, like and trust you and while I think that's true, it's ass backwards because the focus is all on getting other people to know, like and trust you doing other things so that you can get external rewards. Do you know like and trust yourself do you know who you are do you know who your values are do you know what your principles are? If push comes to shove, what's truly most important to you? If you say it's family, does that reflect in your actions are you on your phone at the dinner table like, do you really know who you are? Do you like who you are? Like if you're forgiven yourself or mistakes you've made in the past, do you like yourself now even if you don't fit into your old jeans? And then for me, like your hair isn't quite like it used to be do you actually like who you are? And do you trust yourself meaning if you say you're going to do something, you follow through. If you say you're going to get up, you actually get up instead of hitting snooze 9 times. If you say you're going to do something, you would do it because if you start actually knowing yourself, liking yourself and trusting yourself, then almost everything we've talked about for the last half hour, it doesn't matter nearly as much because then you're just like, I like myself i'm going to show up. I'm going to share what's interesting to me i'm going to share what I'm learning. And we don't care about external judgement and external, external critique or about being ostracized like what's white, what's wrong because like, I like, I like who I am. I trust who I am. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  36:57

That's so good that's so powerful and I, I think, you know, it's one of those things where, and you've definitely been on that journey where you know it like you embody that and I, I love how you play it out and, and you show it consistent like you, you're reliable, right, What you share so I'm like, oh, I'm going to get a different Rob when I come and talk to you on this podcast, right? But I think a lot of people it's, you know, you talk about authenticity and you're like, I'm showing up, but you're still showing up for them. And then when you reflect back, it's like, that's no, it's, it's not, it's not actually the same. And that's exactly, I think the point you're touching that before you realize that you're like, I'm a shell of myself that I've like created for the Internet that's not unlike my quote unquote authentic self on the Internet, but it's really not even me. Would you do you have any advice on that real quick on how do you, how do you stay true to yourself as you grow in success? So like as your business scales, as you are more successful and maybe you do, you know, you experience like a viral post or you know, whatever, like you, you're on that, you know, that high of like, OK, people love me, people are booking calls and it's like, OK, well, how do I, how do I not lose sight like how do you stay grounded as you become more visible and become more successful? 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  38:16

It's not getting too excited about the peaks and not getting too bummed out about the valleys and knowing that they're both there and because it then it is really a roller coaster of like depression and dopamine and it's like up and down and just attaching and if you have that internal like I like who I am. If coaching becomes illegal tomorrow and I like if everything goes to heck and like I lose it all, I know I'm OK. I am integrity with the people who are most important to me. I like who I am. So it comes to that and having good people that you trust around you to call you on your shit when I was doing music stuff full time and I started having a bit of traction and it was I created this whole campaign, I was trying to break into the Toronto music scene it was highly competitive and there was this big mega raves where there's thousands and thousands of people. And for these parties they would print 20, thirty, 40.000 thousand high gloss Flyers and you were either in the circle of people who got to play at those shows or not. Like it really was like, and it's like someone moving to a new country, someone moves to the US or Canada and they don't have American experience or Canadian experience like you can't get a job without local experience, but you can't get local experience without getting a job like it's, you're on this, you're stuck. So my solution to that is I made these Flyers and they said who the fuck is Rob G and it was a mini bio and I talked about things I'd done and I printed 10.000 thousand of these and I put them everywhere and I stood outside the rays and I handed them out and I put them in all the stores and it was a guerrilla marketing campaign. And it worked. And I started getting booked at the big events and I cracked the night and before I knew it, I was playing at a show with Daft Punk like crazy stuff happened. And my closest friend made a bootleg version of a flyer that said who the fuck cares? And the rest of it was just like poking fun and kind of mocking and whatever. And I love him his name's Patrick Brown, he's probably my oldest friend. And it's just that is if you can't stay centered with yourself, the long version of this, the moral is having good people around you that you trust, who will keep you grounded and. Just know that the don't make too much meaning of anything up or down and have good people around you who call you up. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  40:27

Yeah, that's so good. Do you still have that flyer? I feel like you shouldn't have that, like, up on the wall as a reminder of like, who cares, right like who really like, why does it really matter to, like, have that frame just as a good memory, right like that keeps me grounded. 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  40:42

I have it in a shoe box and what would be fun I think would be the frame of like the the original and then the bootleg version would be really great juxtaposition. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  40:50

Yeah, that's fine. Thank you for caring. That's awesome. So Rob, if someone enjoyed this conversation today and they really liked what you had to share, how can they learn more where should they follow you how can they connect with you and and what way is currently are are could they work with you? 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  41:08

So the best ways to connect with me are on LinkedIn. It's my main online hang it's where I spend the most time, the most energy RO double BGILBEAR Chris that's right, Jesus, like how do I spell my own name? And I have a newsletter that I publish every week where I give very actionable and practical tips on how to grow your impact and grow your business. You can check that in a bunch of free training and workshops and stuff at <a href="growthhabit.org">growthhabit.org</a> And the main ways that I'm working with people right now is twofold one is the growth habit crew. It is a community it's a membership community we've got weekly calls and there's an online hang and there's a we get access to a bunch of my training and stuff. And then I have a a six month container called the impact Accelerator, which is hybrid. In Hybrid meeting you get some one-on-one support from me and then there's a mastermind of other hand picked amazing people that are doing great work. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  42:05

Wonderful thank you so much i really appreciate your vulnerability and your insights and just sharing your perspective with us today so thank you. 
 
 

Robb Gilbear  42:13

I appreciate you having me it's been a wonderful conversation, but it's clear that you think about this a lot, care about this, and enjoy the work that you do. 
 
 

Britta Blanski  42:21

Thank you.