Performing With Music Icons, Being Consistent, and Strengthening Connections with Maxwell Roach

What's going on everybody, I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. My name is Brian Martin. I'm a second grade teacher and host of the teaching champions podcast. And today is an awesome conversation for you, as we get to hear from Maxwell ropes. Now, Maxwell, he's someone that's traveled a really unique path. And he's performed on stage with music icons, such as Beyonce, and the Rolling Stones. He's someone that started several businesses, and he's been the CEO of a multicenter Child Care Organization. And now he's bringing all his knowledge to the education space as the founder of the John AIDS learning club. And before we get started, be sure to subscribe to the show so that new episodes will come directly to you. And if you think someone would benefit from this conversation, please share now, in this conversation, listen, as Maxwell talks about just making the decision. Listen, as he talks about the power of consistency. Listen, as he talks about elevating conversations, the value of being authentically you, and so much more. I hope you enjoyed this conversation just as much as I did. I am super excited for this episode. This is an episode that is really special, because I think all of us have travelled a unique path. But the gentleman that I have today, he's traveled a path that is very different from mine. And I think we can learn so much when we when we step back, and we just listen. And I think all the listeners out there, you are going to learn so much from this man. I want to welcome Maxwell Roach to teaching champions podcast. Maxwell, welcome my friend, Brian, how you doing, man? Glad to be here. Yeah, I am doing great. And I can't wait for this my friend. So for the listeners that aren't familiar with who you are, can you give a little background? Yeah, of course. 100%. So, my name is Maxwell Roche, I run an organization called Johnny's learning club, and have a wide, wide, wide set of experiences coming from many different industries and interactions. And, man, when I say you know, Brian, we were speaking earlier just about life and how it how it moves you in different directions. And to be honest, listen, some things may look positive, they may look negative, but at the end of the day, it's all beautiful. And you know, I come from music. I come from Tech, I come from the food industry, I come from childcare, all of these things, right. And you know, it's been really great, I'm sure we'll get into it a little bit more as well as we get chatting and, you know, just happy to, you know, lend any advice, any conversation, hopefully, some people will maybe gain some confidence to try something new of their own right, when they kind of hear me, you know, chat about a few things. So excited to kind of get into it. Yeah, absolutely. And one thing that I think everybody's gonna hear is the positivity that you bring. So I appreciate that that great energy. Now, Maxwell, starting off, let's talk about the music and growing up, because you didn't go, at least in your later years to a traditional school. Can you give a little background about your journey with that? Yeah, for sure. So the the education shooting was interesting. You know, going through elementary school and whatnot. I was a pretty good competitive student in that respect, right, where, you know, I remember racing, my friends, I had a core friend group, and I remember racing them to finish our math problems as quickly as possible, right, we had an amazing grade one teacher going into grade 234, all the way right. Different teachers, they were all fantastic. I was fortunate in that respect. And I think part of it was, you know, I accepted the material. And not all children accept the material in school. But you know, I was one of the fortunate ones in my friend group. It was great. Like, what really enjoyed it. And, you know, I think heading into high school because it will start to get a little bit more specialized. And that's what I realized, right? And that's really where I started to really get into music. I found, in fact, in I tell this story, because I'm friend, he is he's a PhD, you know, he went got his doctorate in chemistry and whatnot. Right? And he is one person that actually told me in grade nine, he said, You need to come to this music camp that's happening in the summer for the high school. And I said Um, I didn't really want to right now I grown up playing in church and you know, playing Oregon and, you know, playing drums as well, and all these things, right? I didn't really care to go to a music camp during the summer, right? And but you know what I ended up going, I missed the first day, right? And he said, You have to come, please, because he knew me, right? So I went. And to be honest, that's kind of where that took off. And the reason why I bring that up is because we talk about how high school I feel, it's, it's that transition time where you begin to specialize into what you're interested in. So I actually spoke to the same friend just a month ago, and he said, You know what it was in grade 11, when I really knew that chemistry was where I wanted to go. I was like, interesting, I didn't know then. So those years are very important. So it really did shape me being in that music camp, and just going through the years going through music. And now I did enter university going into computer science. That's the first sort of journey that I went through, you know, my friends and I, we were coding and doing these things in high school, you know, creating website, businesses and things like that as well. Right. And that was great. So I figured why not go into computer science. So got into university. It's fantastic, right? For the first like week, and then I realized I don't want to sit in front of a computer, looking at a black screen writing code all day. All right. So, you know, that year was kind of interesting. I tried to, you know, switch to computer science and business, I enjoyed the business aspect. But I think at the end of the day, it just wasn't, it wasn't clicking. So my mom, my mom said, you got to do something. And she found a music school. And so we're in Canada, right? I live in Canada. So she found a music school pretty much across the country. And you know, I'm at 17 at that point. And she said, Yeah, you got to do something. And I said, You know what, let's go for it. So I auditioned, I got in. And, you know, we packed up in this little small Pontiac Sunfire with a keyboard in the back. So I'm, like, tucked in tight. And we drove across the country about 44 hours. And, you know, ended up there. And I, those were the best two years, one of the most important two years, I should say, of my life. And the reason being is because I mean, obviously, you know, away from home for the first time. And, wow, I'm in music school. In an in a scenario where I didn't actually know very much in comparison to a lot of other people. And this was a jazz school, as well. So I'm studying jazz. And for those who may or may not know, jazz is very, let's say, it's, it's challenging to perform and to understand, right, once you really dive into it, so I was specializing in drums. And you could imagine you have two arms and two legs, and you got to make sure they're moving all at different times. And I did not understand this concept. So I practiced, and I practiced, and I practiced. And so for those who also don't know, my name is Max Roach. And if you look up Max Roach online, you'll find a famous jazz drummer, right? So I'm sitting here, I'm like, I don't know all of this information, I better practice so I don't look, you know, terrible, right? I want to embarrass myself. So I really dug in. And that's when I realized, I didn't know it at the time, but I was on the course to working towards mastery. I didn't realize this, I was just like, I don't wanna embarrass myself, I got it. I gotta practice, right? So went through that, by the end of the year, I was performing with my teachers and all these things. And then after that, I moved to Toronto, and that is when it really started to take off touring the world, you know, sharing stages with people like Beyonce, The Rolling Stones, many others, you know, Alessia Cara is another one, many, many artists, it's it was such an incredible journey. And that was pretty quick as soon as I got in and and, you know, to the listeners as well, one thing that I always implore too many people that I speak to, when it's time to make a decision, make the decision, do not delay, think about it. Right? be systematic about your thought process. But do it quickly. Because if I would have never made that decision and said, I'm gonna move, I could still be where I was. Right? So as I go for it, there's nothing what's the worst that can happen? It doesn't work. Well, guess what something else is gonna work. Right? It's great. That's the beauty of life. So going forward from there, I mean, you know, I went through and, and, and performed for quite a while and then you know, you, you meet meet your wife, and then and all these things. And it's like, well, I'm touring the world, but then I don't have time for my kids. So what am I going to prioritize? And I think thankfully, I prioritize my children. So I ended up calling and again, this was another scenario where it's not like I had anything lined up i But I called pretty much most of those who I was working with and said, You know what, I'm done. I gotta focus on my kids, and did the next natural thing moving forward and started a bread business. Because that makes a lot of sense going from the music industry right to the bread ad business. I love it. Why not? You know what I mean? It's sure, right, the next course of action for whatever reason, and I think the reason for that was No, I've never been a very, you know, like large individual, right. I've been pretty slender for most of my life. But you know, sometimes you pack on a few pounds, you're touring and you know, eaten a few too many, you know, whatever, right? So I just wanted to kind of slim down the tummy a little bit. So I decided, You know what, this ketogenic diet thing is really the craze at this point, right? So I just started my bread business based on this. So I created a ketogenic type bread. That was just a couple of ingredients. And I was able to get it into grocery stores across Toronto, across the Greater Toronto Area, actually. And yeah, it was probably about, I think it was four chains and 12 stores in total. And it was growing, I was starting to have conversations with the larger supermarkets. And that's when you realize that, wow, there's a lot to learn here. And then it came back to the same situation, I need to be with my kids. My kids are still young. Right, right. And you know what, to be honest, I learned what I needed to learn from that. And so I kind of moved on from there. And to be honest, doing that actually launched me into working as the director of operations at a tech organization, and right multimillion dollars, we were, we were, again, I say, we were touring the world, right. But we we traveled across the world, administering scholarships to universities, we were we were building and working with different mall groups across the United States as well, as well as over in Europe. I'm running operations, we started at six people. And I was instrumental in growing it to about 50 people, right? So this was all in the course of what, a year and a half. And let me tell you talking about, like machine learning and deep learning and all these things that I didn't know anything about, and you're just thrown into it. Again, just try it, see what happens. You never know, right? When those things happen, so, you know, ended up doing that, and then you know, of course, pandemic hits, and you start everyone reevaluate their entire life, right, it's gonna what it is. And in that respect, I think what ended up happening was I, I was very happy with where I was, you know, I was making some good money and everything. And I said, I think it's time that I really kind of move forward in the direction that I'm passionate about, because my children, again, we had our children were learning, we're doing long division by the time they were three years old. And that was a lot in part for myself and my wife, we really pushed in that direction. So they were reading by who knows whatever age, right. And I said, You know what, I want to focus on working with children. And so I joined the board of directors at a local childcare organization. And then I became the CEO that shelter organization, we had four centers, we had 250 Children, right, a bunch of ECS, early childhood educators. And it was wild, to say the least, right? Yeah, so I learned a lot in there, which I'm sure we can talk about as well. But I think all of that sort of led to, you know what, let me open my own situation here. Let me really work this out, I see how education is going, I see how it's working, I see where some of the flaws are, I see where the positivity is, you know, and I think I can add something. And that was really one of the I think catalyst for me was that I think I can fit in here. And lo and behold, here we are, I've got this organization, which you know, we do personalized learning. And, I mean, at this point, we're just pushing towards a virtual, I didn't think it was gonna be a virtual conversation ever. But I'd be happy my students, but it's branching out and branching out and branching out. And it's been incredible. So that's kind of the journey, I guess that's the long side of the journey right there. But again, it's I learned a lot across it. And I've been able to kind of, you know, express it to other people. And hopefully it motivates some people as well. Ya know, there's so much there. And I absolutely love and I love that you make the point, looking at what's most important. And I think that's what comes across right away talking to you, like my children, my wife, my family, number one. And, you know, I'm willing to jump into different situations, because I know what's best for them. So I absolutely love that my friend know for sure. And I think everyone should, should do that. And I think the hard part about that is realizing that priorities. You can only have one priority. So choose wisely. Right, right. And if you think you can have more than one priority, I'm sorry, but it just doesn't work like that. And to be honest, that's the beauty of it. You can choose one thing to work on. So go for it. Why not? Right? If that's you, then go for it. That's the beauty of it. So and I don't know, maybe this is me. I've been through many industries, right. So I think that this feels like home at this point. Sounds good. Well, I think you're doing great things there. I want to circle way back though, all the way back to when you were in In a college university, start start right there real quick, because going into that specialized school going into an area that had to be ultra competitive, I'm sure. Was there any, like teaching style? Because I, you know, it's a world completely different than I'm used to. Is there any, like teaching style or any methods that were used? That helped you learn a lot? Absolutely. I stand by it. And there may be people who disagree, but also, I'm biased, because I have this. But right, the music degree is one of the best possible degrees that you could get. And it took me a long time to realize this, and I'm telling you a long time as in, like, last year, this year, because there are many degrees out there, right people have, and I'm sure there are many out there who you know, they have their doctorate in this, you know, they're their doctors or medical doctors, there's, you know, lawyers and whatnot. And kudos to you because I couldn't go down that direction. That's, that's intensity at its finest. Again, everything has its intense moments, right? Music included, there's something about having a degree in touching people's souls. That is untouchable. Right. And to be able to practice this, and to be able to hone this, think about it, if two people sit either at a piano or hold a guitar, right? And they play a song for you, right? Well, they just play two notes for you. Those two individuals, they will make you feel different, even if they play the same notes. There's no other industry that this is like, right? credible to see. Now. I equate this at times to sales. When you're selling something, you can say it one way, you can say it another way, you can say it another way, you can say it another way, right? It's right on how you emote it, that is what you'll get from the customer, right? You reach your customer, you do what you need to do. And I think that that side of it is fantastic. I really, really enjoy the sales side of processes. Because of that it deals with the human emotion. It's great, right? Having a degree in this is what I have, and being able to go and work with, with other individuals who don't necessarily have a degree, but the superstars of the world. They go up on stage and people faint. I mean, businesses don't do this. Right? Yes, yeah, musicians do. So it's really incredible to be able to understand that. And I think like you were mentioning the teaching side of things, what I've learned is that practice is paramount. Very important. Repetition. If you're not repeating the process, how are you going to learn it. And that's one of the things now that I'm realizing that I bring to the teaching world is that as an example, when I'm doing timetables with my students, all I'm saying I break it down, down, I always say, down to the molecular level, right? If I'm practicing drums, if I need to play what we call single stroke rolls, basically what that is, is doing your pan moving your hands very quickly, right hand, left hand, right hand left hand as fast as you can, right? That's all it is, right? There's the non technical version of it, right? How do you do that? Well think about it, you start with your right hand, then you use your left hand, then use your right hand. And you keep alternating until it's faster. How simple is that? Right? And then when you hear people do it, it's like, wow, this is incredible. But the the molecular level is very simple. So I apply this to teaching. When I'm teaching my students, when we're doing our timetables, it's just repetition. We skip counting till we got it done, right, head to the next skip count till we've got it. Repetition, repetition. And you know, what, add some variation in it, you know, sneak in a few other things. And that's where the magic is. But I think that's the main teaching that I grabbed from music school was that if you repeat a process, it's the same with working out the gym, lift some weights, you keep lifting the weights, guess what's gonna happen, you're gonna get stronger, right? If you don't lift the weights, you're not gonna get stronger. It's a very simple method. And I think that sometimes we get lost. And it gets kind of convoluted that it needs to be something complicated. When in the reality, whether you're an adult or a child, it's the basics that are important. Say, Yes, very simple. So that's the roots of the training. I think that I've gotten and of course, there's more in that conversation too. But I think that portion is very important 100% and mastering the basics, really focusing I'm big on that as well, really focusing what are the key essentials and then repeating them and we can throw in the variations. But you know, that repetition that perfect practice going on? So you're in this ultra competitive field? Like there's only so many I'm sure like musician jobs or when you're going on tour and you're talking about like Beyonce and Rolling Stones. Now Not many people get to be up on stage with them. Like, how do you? Because I'm just thinking about myself like that imposter syndrome? Or you know, if any self doubt or, you know, why do I deserve to be up on stage? Like, how did you handle that? Or did that creep into you? And how did you handle that? So that's interesting. To be honest, I think the imposter syndrome came more later. But we'll talk all about it, right, because we kind of we jumped into it a little bit before the podcast as well. So I'll going into understanding the how to get on stage with certain people, right. And it's no different than any other industry. Because for myself, now, the stories that I have with, you know, these amazing artists, right, so Beyonce as an example, so we actually, I was playing with a band, and we actually toured opening for Beyonce across Canada in all of the major stadiums, right? This doesn't just happen by accident, right? It happens through, firstly, the practice, right? So people can trust your skill set, and the networking, and you as an individual, right, so to be honest, those are all the skill sets for getting any job on the planet. So if you're able to do this at a high level within the music industry, I mean, you can do this anywhere. This is this is my philosophy, to the point where I tried it multiple times. And it just kept working. Right, just kept working, kept working. So I think when it comes to popping into those scenarios, for myself, at the time, it wasn't necessarily that I felt like I wasn't supposed to be there. I think it was more so that I was on a quest for mastery, to the point where I didn't know if I was doing well for myself. So even though at that time, because looking back is different, right? At that time being in those scenarios, and yes, I get to tour across with whoever, you know, tour across the world with whoever. I don't feel like I am good enough. I don't feel like I have the skill sets really, even though it's being validated by the external environment, which is really interesting. When you think about it from a retrospective, I guess, you know, lens, that right? Well, why wouldn't you feel like you've made it when all of these people around you clearly made it. But here's the thing, especially as musicians, we're always striving for the next we those who have truly, truly, quote unquote, mastered it. Never feel like they've mastered it. And I'm telling you, that's the worst feeling ever. There's nothing worse than realizing that there's no end to this, and that you'll always be striving. It's beautiful in one sense. But man, is it daunting. And to be honest, that's why a lot of tragic thing happened to musicians in general, and to actors, and to all of these two artists in general. So I think, imposter syndrome, it never really leaves you. In the artists world. You always feel as though I'm not sure. And I think for myself, I had to overcome this. Because at some point, I just said, I don't really care. None of this matters to me. I want to make a difference and a story. And I think that it took me a while to get there. But unless I'm making a difference, and that is my barometer personally, if I'm not making a difference, that's my goal. I don't care what industry, I don't care how I get there. Again, I'm not trying to hurt anybody, right, through all you know, moral means, I will get there and I will make a difference. And it will happen. And in fact, even more, so I am making a difference. And I think changing some of that the linguistic behavior that we utilize within conversation. Very important. I am actually making a difference. Yes, I will make more difference. But I am right now. We're on this podcast right now. We're having conversation. We're making a difference in people's lives. No question. Right. So I think some of that the way that we speak to ourselves, I think is really important as well. So but again, a lot of this is newfound information for me. Right especially after going through trying to master a skill set and beating yourself up because all man you know, I couldn't get this right. Or maybe you make a mistake on a gig and it's like, oh, I'm the worst person on the planet. At some point, I'm just like, I don't really care. I'm here to do a job and make a difference. And I can't wait to keep going every minute of it. You know? Yes. No, I love that so much. And I love it. You know how you talked about like, I want to make a difference became your barometer. Like, you know, I've read a lot of public speaking books. I really enjoy the public speaking aspect and a lot of in those books, a lot of times they'll talk about, you know, public speaking is something people are terrified about. Lots of people and it said one thing to look at is just Like you were saying, don't think about yourself, think about what is your purpose, as far as giving those people like that information, or what you're presenting is about them and what you're giving them. It's not about, like so much you. And, you know, I just sent this beautiful how you put that, for sure, man. And I think we were speaking as well a little bit earlier about, you know, me being in school, elementary school or high school, I, I couldn't do a presentation to save my life. Somebody asked me to do a presentation and I'm shaking in my boots, right? I can't don't can't remember any of the information, just don't know anything. Right. And you know, this is maybe something else that's maybe a little bit motivating for other people, because now I'm just, I found where I need to be, and where I feel as though there's some value. Right. And at that point, I'm just speaking from the heart, like, I know, it's a little bit cliche sounding. But unfortunately, I love cliches, I think they're all right. So you know, once you find your zone, and you can, and I challenge everybody, when you speak with somebody, or you're having a conversation, whether it's a person that you don't know, or even if it's somebody that you know very well, the minute that you strike the chord with someone as to what they really enjoy. They will never stop talking, but they can speak for every could be the shyest person on the planet. They once you find that thing, that itch, that that knowledge pool, they will, they can speak for hours, it doesn't matter. Everyone has that thing. It doesn't matter if you're shy or not. And I think I'm approaching it. And I'm excited to kind of continue and I encourage a lot of people to just keep keep searching for it. You know, if you're afraid of public speaking, to look for your topic, you know, be yourself. I know people, nice cliche, again, yourself. But these things are it's easier said than done. But you need to actually take the time and actually look for it. And I think that's a big piece of it. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, you were talking right there. And it made me think of and Dale Carnegie's, he has a book, it's a classic How to Win Friends and Influence People. And he talked about, you know, you want to be interesting person, you know, you want to be able to connect with all these people, and you want to be able to, you know, connect on the same frequency. He said, to be interesting, be interested? Yes. And like you just said right there, ask people be interested in them, find out what they like, and talk to them about it. And if you find out what someone likes, they're gonna be able to talk about that forever. And that goes, you know, with other adults, and it goes with the students as well. Yeah, yeah. And I'll tell you right now, that the minute you start doing that, you're gonna find yourself making more money. No, yes. 100%? You definitely will, because people have myself included. Right? There are problems to be solved. Always right. Whether or not they you think that those problems are legitimate problems is irrelevant. Everyone knee is struggling through something. So and there is something that you can fix. I don't know what that is. I don't know what it is for you. Right. I think I might know what it is for me. We'll see. Right? We'll continue moving in this direction. But there is something there for everybody. And I think at the end of the day, like you said, be interested, why not? It's so much more fun to bid. The okay. Because this reminded me of this amazing story. I was on tour, right. And we're on tour we're doing, we're doing a tour of Sam's clubs, right. So we're literally setting up our instruments inside of Sam's clubs. And for those who don't know what Sam's clubs are, they're like department store types of things. Right? So we're setting up in like, you know, in front of like washing machines and stuff like that, right? We're playing jazz in there. Right. Amazing, right. This is one of the funnest parts of my life. There's a piano player on there on this tour, and he, I was a pretty young and up and coming musician at the time, right? This is one of my earlier tours that I had done. And there's something about him, that was just amazing. Because he would you would have a conversation, and you would start speaking, right? And maybe you said something kind of lame or something like that in a conversation. And he would take it, and he would just agree with it. And he would just spin it into something that was just so positive. Everyone's cracking up at that time, and everyone just feels so great. And I realized that he would always do this, he would always take what people were saying and just bring it up another notch. That has always stuck with me and I said, You know what? I'm going to practice listening. And I'm gonna practice being positive within conversation. I don't want people to feel awkward when they're on me. I want people to feel like themselves. And I want to be able to take what they do and elevate it. And this has always been even As a drummer that's kind of being in that support position, right? So I've always felt like that mentality of being interested in what people are doing what they're saying. And just appreciating people were who they are, will always always create better relationships. Right? It will create, it'll open more doors. Right? And that's just what I found. I mean, I haven't had any issues lately, right, at least that I know of. That's another thing that I always encourage. Like, again, there's another point to just be interested. Very important. No, and I love what you said right there, like the ability to number one be positive in a conversation, like use our words, we only speak so many words in a day. So why not use them to lift others up? And same thing, you just talked about? elevating it, elevating other people? And how many deeper or better connections but we have when we spend our time within the conversations, elevating other people? Absolutely. And like I said before, you're gonna find yourself making more money, because there's always two sides of it. I'm picturing the listener right. I'm thinking okay, well, yeah, all this stuff is beautiful. And you know, yeah, positivity. Sure, you can find all this motivational stuff on Tik Tok and all these things. But the reality is that it's actually true. And it took me a while to Yeah, it took me a while to realize this that positivity, it actually heals people. Right? It heals people, it brings families together, right? It attracts new relationships, right? It puts you in a better headspace. It gets you better jobs, who wants to be around someone that's not like, you know, emitting positivity. So Maysville put out as much as he can. Right? We've said, you know, we make you feel more healthy and only make other people feel great. So go for it. Yes. Now, here's a quick question for you to there. Maxwell. Being up on stage and seeing the Beyonce is Rolling Stones, those other famous stars? What do they do to be at that level, the preparation, the behind the scenes, you know, I always say we only see like when the lights are on. But what happens behind the scenes that makes them so great at their craft that maybe we can steal, and try and instill that, whether it's in ourselves or in our students? For sure. So I have an example of this with an artist named Alessia Cara. And you can look her up online, if you're familiar with her. But she's, she's had some quite popular material out there. And I was in the studio with her at one point. And we were working on a Christmas song. Right. So she had a Christmas song that, that I played drums on. And you know, I knew the producer very well, we went back quite a few years. And that was the first time that I met her. And what I realized is that individuals that are on just like a different plane. And the reason why the reason why I can say that is because they can create art that touches millions of people, based on the things that they say, based on the way that they sing it. And then not only is it the actual, you know, what they're saying and how they deliver it. It's it's the technique, and the ability to be so, so committed to moving forward with the skill set, right, the practice portion of it. So I think when you when you meet people that have combined all of this before they get into the studio, before they get on stage, like years before, this is something that they've been preparing for their whole lives. Right? You go back into the vault, and you see Oh, you were doing this when you were two years old, right? I mean, it's been fostered. And that's one thing that I've realized that when we see people who are geniuses, right, quote, unquote, geniuses, or prodigies, these words that we're hearing, right? Never forget that there's a support system behind it. We'll never forget it. The amount of times that I'm in a conversation with a fantastic, you know, someone who is a doctor, right? And you know, they're doing their thing, or they're a lawyer, or they're a musician, or they're an artist. And I asked them, How did you how did you get to this? It's like, oh, I don't know, just kind of what it was. And then I started digging into the past. Right. Well, did your parents you know, paint? It's like, yeah, yeah, they painted a little bit. Yeah. Okay. So that's probably why you're painting. Did they buy you paint, you know, supplies and whatnot? Yeah, you know, I had an easel in the basement. People will downplay this, not realizing that this is the foundation of why they are so good at what they're great at. So and I would I would also take that and look at it on flipside, because there are also individuals who don't necessarily come out the way that we would hope or see as a positive way out. And guess what? It's the same idea. Environment is key is key. So, like you were mentioning, what are the things that the great sort of have? Or what have they done? I think what it is, is that they were fostered early. And then they also took it and continue to foster it. So that's why even my children, right, I mean, they're doing you know, again, they're doing long division by the time they were three years old, they are doing double digit multiplication, you know, we're doing algebra now. My kids are eight and six, right? So we're just pushing the thing forward. We've been fostering this. So now when I say, hey, guys go and do some work, I got some stuff to do. They know what books they have. They know what page to open to. They know exactly what they're working on. I don't even have to be there. And then people gonna say, Oh, wow, how did your kids get like that it must be so much work. But the reality is that we just fostered it. So whatever you're doing, personally, remember, it's gonna take some time, right? You can't just snap your fingers and things are, are exactly how you want it. Allow the process to be. And I think that's what these greats have done. Those who are truly great, they've allowed their process and just allowed it to be they didn't force it, maybe they did at some point, but it never got them anywhere. Right? It really came together with all of them, anyone who I've met anyone who I've spoken to who's truly a great they are themselves through and through the music that they're doing, it's them. Right, that is so you know, you look at people like Johnny Cash, right? Like, Bob Dylan, right? You look at all these, you know, these these large, amazing, incredible artists, you have to truly trust yourself, which is very difficult, and be yourself. Right? Otherwise, you're gonna be chasing some stuff, and then you're gonna get frustrated, and all these things, right, just stay the course, stay the course. And I think that's one of the biggest lessons that I've seen from those who are truly just on a different level. No, I think that is so phenomenal. And, you know, I'm big on mindsets. I'm big on this stuff. And I think that our students, like starting at a young age, need to hear stuff like that, you know, trust the process, be who you are, understand that 10,000 Hour Rule, you know, you need to put in the work, you know, over time, little by little a little becomes a lot. And even another note as well, as you mentioned that teachers, right, teachers have what, 2530 kids in the classroom, right? This is very different. Because how do you foster 25 children? Like not Pfizer, as in take them home? And you know, not not like foster children? Right, but, you know, gives a whole new term new, you know, headspace and understanding of that term, but how do you actually, you know, look at how children learn when you have 25 of them. And it's important, this, it's very difficult when you think about it, this is not a scalable thing. But it's been happening forever, right? I firmly believe on one on one interaction, like to the point where I will take that to my grave, one on one interaction, not one on two, right? I don't care. And like I said, I'm here to hit a goal. Right, right. One on one, every child is so different. So to the point where I have actually, this person's mother just messaged me today saying, I see the passion that you have, you know, with my son, and all these things. So the way that I think about it is the reason why you're seeing that is because I care about what your son's interested in, and then I tailor the work directly towards what he's interested in. It's actually a pretty simple process, right? Why wouldn't, why wouldn't you want to learn something that you're interested in? I mean, you want to so if you have to do a writing project, write about, you know, dirt biking, it's what you'd like to do. So let's write about it done. But it's very difficult to do this with 25 kids in the classroom, right? You kind of need a general assignment. And I understand and again, that's why I can't Teachers, please continue to do what you do. I can, I could not even imagine myself being in that position. It is such a, oh, my goodness, don't you there's no word for it. Right? So but the one on the ability to have one on one interaction with children. And really understanding why a child doesn't understand a concept that changes their life, you could spend 15 minutes with a child and change their whole perspective on the entire subject. Because you locked in one principle. And this is also coming from music training as well. It's the same thing you can fix one piece of technique, it'll change your whole scope of how you play the drums of how you play piano or how you play guitar. Right, one piece, and that can just come from a mentor. So I think that's another thing to take away from it right? Is that just make sure to really just focus on on on the child. I know it's very difficult to do, but that mentality will really change and that's something that to be honest, what we're working on right now. We're looking to collaborate It was schools in order to make this happen. So any schools out there? Let's collaborate, right? I think that there's a lot that can happen here. And I'm excited to move this forward. It's it's a new vision that we're really pushing. Yeah, that's fantastic. And, you know, I can feel your energy. So when you talk about like that mom saying that you really connected with that kid, there's no doubt that connection, and I can just envision that child lighten up as you're working with them. And that is the beauty of the one on one like, you can give them 100% of your full energy. For sure, man, it's great. That's why I love this space, you can do so much with it. And we're on the we're on the cusp of some innovation. And I'm hoping that I can sort of be they're leading the charge to some degree, right? Yes, no, I love that. And I love the fact that you're looking to push into two school districts that and different things. Why don't you tell us real quick about the John A's program that you have set up? Oh, yeah, no, definitely. So we are. So here's the thing. This is very interesting for you right here as well. When someone says the word tutoring, right, or a tutor, this is something that we've been discussing in our company for quite a while, right? I feel as though there's a lot of negativity that comes around this right. And I've noticed this within Canada itself. When you go in and you start speaking to people about tutoring, it's kind of this mentality that someone is going to almost like talk down to you. Right? So I'm gonna come and like teach you something. But the reality is that that's not how I see it, I actually see it as well. I'm learning from the child, or from the person from the adolescent. What it is that is a problem. And what it is that they're interested in, so that I can link them. Right? Because everything is the same thing. And I'm the perfect example of this. Like I said, I go from music school into bread, right? To tech. So my thought process is everything has the same base set of principles, right? And this is what we call it the three L's right at our organization, you have to love it, so that you can learn it. And then you can live it. Right. So find out what those problems are. Right. And so what that's what we do, right, so what we do, instead of tutoring, what we're calling it is personalized learning instruction. So we have personalized learning instructors who go in and they'll connect with the kids, so that we can figure out okay, well, okay, you'd like to sell stuff, right? But you're bad at math. Or not even that you're bad at math, because that's not even the term that I like to say is that you're saying that you don't like math. Or you're saying that you can't do math. And the reality is, if you can do one plus one, you can do math. So stop saying I can't do it. I'm pretty sure most of your listeners, if not all can probably do one plus one would say that they're bad at math. And this, you're invalidating your own sentence there. Right? You are doing it. So I think you know, you have a child and they love to sell things. Well, let's start talking about money. Great. Okay, go on eBay, hey, you know, you like shoes, you like Jordans or whatever it is? Well look at these shoes. Right? Okay, so we have these shoes. And then let's go look at somebody else who's selling them? Oh, they're selling it for this price? Well, what's the difference in price? Oh, the difference is, suddenly you can calculate it because it's interesting to you, you realize that you just did subtraction? Oh, then you get it. So if you can just frame it in the right way, then they'll love it. And then they can learn it. Yeah. And then they can live it. Right. So that's, that's one of the exciting things that I think we're doing right now. With with our, with our organization. So we're trying to implement this within schools as well. Right. So we'll see how this continues to go. Right. We'll I'm sure talk again, another time. And maybe we'll be able to connect that in that respect, too. But that's a huge push right now. And we've been seeing some success in the small trials that we've been doing already. So why not keep going? Right? There's a lot that can happen here. And and I think, you know, of course, you know, we have virtual tutoring we have or personalized See, I'm still saying tutoring, but virtual personalized instruction, we've got digital, as well as additional instruction tool where we partner with Khan Academy, and we have a curriculum on there as well. And, you know, students can or parents and students can access it for just like $15 a month, right? It's fine, right? And then you get kind of like a curated curriculum for your for your own learning. So there's a lot that's happening here. And again, it's fun. It's great being able to come in and say, You know what, there's a bit of a problem here. Let's fix it. Or at least let's try, we might win we might not, but we're doing something so let's go for it. Yeah, I love that mentality. Like just going ahead and not holding yourself back, seeing what you can learn along the way. And that's fantastic. Now here's a question for you. Summer Vacation is right around the corner for for many of us, and many of us would love to get that like that little side hustle, not to the to the level that you're doing your personalized learning instruction. But if someone wanted to jump in that, to make a little bit of extra money, what are some tips that you could give people, you know, to get your business off, and to some lessons you've learned? For sure. So I think one of the biggest things that I've realized kind of going through this whole growing a business is, if you're looking to grow it in your community, you have to get to know your community. That's the first thing. So get involved in firstly, you're going to be doing a lot of things for free, right? It's what it is, right? Get involved in your community, meet the people in your community, neighborhood associations, as an example, right? You have these here in Canada. So you can go and you can connect with those who are in the neighborhood, because here's the thing, word of mouth is always going to be the top marketing strategy out a question. Now, that being said, depends on what level you're at. Right? If you're just starting out? Absolutely. Because referrals are going to be amazing, who there's no better way to learn about somebody's organization, that's to hear it from your friend, or your mom or your buddy or whatever, right? It's like, oh, you're doing this, oh, then I trust you. So I'm going to trust the organization. Great, right. So learn, learn your community. And then if you're looking to do something that's like personalized instruction, I mean, go to your local library. Just go find some people who are there and say, hey, you know, I'm here, I'm a teacher, you know, if it's teachers that we're talking about, you know, I teach at this school, and, you know, we know that in the summer, develop a pitch, right? In the summertime, that kids, you know, they go outside, they do their thing, but a lot of things are happening on devices these days. And, you know, you want to be prepared for September, you know, what I see is in September, you know, children don't really have all the skill sets, why not give them a head start, you know, maybe we can start something here. So get your pitch together, right? And just always, always be ready. And if it's not personalized instruction, that you're looking at buying that thing, I would almost say take the summer, and find out what you love, because maybe it's that you love hiking, and then maybe you you've got, you know, a group of people that you hike with, right? Maybe they have kids that you can teach them right? Or maybe you can create some sort of hiking hub, right, where maybe you create a, an online thing where you compile information for everyone that's in your hiking group, right? I would almost say this expands so much further, because the last thing I want to do is tell someone to do something, and I don't know them. That's the exact thing that we're trying not to do with our organization. I don't want to tell you how to do math. And I don't know you, because it makes sense, right? Because then I don't know how to how to interact with you. So I would almost say take the summer, find your thing. But if you're looking to if you have the ability to teach, and all teachers clearly do I mean, again, kudos to you who are in the classroom, go to your local library, see what's happening, you know, connect with your city and find out, you know, what can we do here to kind of move things forward, even now, connect with the parents. Listen, I wish that I had connections with the parents start now. Right? These parents say, Hey, listen, you know, your students, your child is great. Well, have you ever thought about kind of continuing their education throughout the summer? Because why not have them ready for a great for next year? Or what a great fight whatever it is, right? So yeah, use your internal resources, always use what you have. And you'd be surprised, man, if I only had all the parents. If you don't know what to do with your parents send them over here. I'll do it. It's fine. But some tips there for sure. No, I love those tips. Those are fantastic, my friend. Now two of my favorite questions, I love to ask everybody. What are some podcasts and book recommendations that you will give to other people? Podcasts and book recommendations? Absolutely. So the only real book, I'm not a huge, so here's the thing. I've read so much information in tech. Now, I always I always think back to this because I'm sitting around postdocs, and, and PhDs and researchers and all these people that are on a completely different level when it comes to this technology. They're the ones that are creating our iPhones creating our Androids, right? And I have to read research papers with them. I'm like, I don't even know what I'm reading, let alone reading it at the speed that they're reading it at. Right. So I developed quite a skill in terms of reading and distilling information over the years, which has been great. But to be completely honest, I don't really read many books. However, there is one and maybe people have read it called The Art of War. Right? And I love it is fantastic, right? Because you can apply the principles to your life. And I would argue and I would say don't apply it in your external world. Apply it to yourself. Right Don't even worry about the you know, you're trying to start a business and you're trying to do this and like, you know, operate, work on yourself. That's the first thing apply all the principles, that war with yourself because we're all having it to some degree, right? I have wars with myself all the time. I will always win though i That's how my mind, I always went, right? Because I know that 100% success rate, right. And I think having this mentality of I will overcome whatever I need to will always, always just train your mind mental, just that mental gym, right? Always have that going in terms of podcasts. So there's one individual that is amazing. And I will check out his books as well. I haven't read his books, but his name is Alex hormones. And he's great. So you can check him out. He's got a ton on YouTube. He's a he's actually. So he he runs gyms, right. And now he runs a company called acquisition.com. So giving him free press right now, right? Maybe he'll listen and he'll be like, Hey, there we go. But he's incredible. Because what he does is he takes all this information about running businesses, about understanding how to, you know, do sales, he's a great salesperson, right, but he's not a salesy type, right, right. And he just distills it into the everyday person mentality of, Listen, why are you trying so hard to do the work? Right, and do it consistently, end of story. So he keeps this sort of mentality. That's kind of where I've developed my own personal mentality over the last kind of year, year and a half is the repetition. And I think that plays into the music side, where it really resonated with me, because I believe, just do it over and over and over and over again, because not only will you master that skill, but you will then have insight into other skill sets that are tangential, right, so just keep it going. So yeah, check out Alex Hormoz. He He's incredible. He's very strong guy. So you'll be like, Wow, this guy definitely has own some gyms, right. But he's, he's great. And his mentality is just very much focus. And that's what it is. And I think that that's, that's a big piece. I've been listening to a lot of his content lately, Dad, no, those are great suggestions are the war classic. And I definitely want to check out this new podcast and do the work, do it consistency, consistently. Excuse me? Phenomenal. Now, if people wanting to connect with you, what would be the best way? The best way is, I would say, well, Twitter's always great. So you can go to Twitter, right, you can go to so my, my Twitter handle is actually partly our company names. So at John aves. TV, so JONAYV s TV, and you know, you'll catch me on there, I'll put on, you know, mental health hacks, right, I think I'm on number like 45 or something like that right now. And it's just things that come to my head because I want to continue to train myself positively. Right. And I hope that it helps other people as well put it out there and set it in my apple notes. You know what I mean? So check me out on there, right, I post some things from tick tock every now and then as well. And also you can go to the same place. So at John aves. TV, on YouTube, and you'll see my kids, right, because we're doing YouTube shorts there. And you know, kids doing it multiplication and adding and all these things are really fun shorts. So you can check that out. And if you'd like another place as well. So it's called AJs house kids. So at a J S, H O U, S, E, K I D s, you can find it on YouTube, you can find it on Instagram, you can find all these tags you can find on all those places, right? And effectively, this is we were speaking about earlier, the skip counting videos, right? And we use a lot of music, right? Tons of music, and my kids are singing and rapping and all these things. And you know, if you want to practice your, your multiplication tables, go for it on on there, and you can check me out any of them or any of those places, for sure. Yeah, no, I was definitely, like we were saying earlier, checking out those skip counting videos, and you can tell like the music background that you have, and that they had some really cool beats that, you know, I was jamming to. So I definitely think like, the 789 year olds will be loving that. For sure. Well, I appreciate you checking it out, man. I think you know, hey, and this is the thing to once you just put stuff out there. You never know who's gonna find it right? You start connecting people, and then they find your stuff or you send them your things and listen, people always find value. Right? So me as well just have some things out there. And this is kind of one of them. And I think it's valuable. So I appreciate that man. It's great. No, no keep doing great things my friend. Now if you could have listeners walk away with one thing. What would that be? One thing. Life. Yes, life rewards consistency. Never forget this. And you can put that in any context. You can put it into For the amount of time that you spend with your spouse, you can put it into the scheduling that you put into studying, you can put it into, you can replace it with the time that you have with your kids, right? The the amount of time that you spend doing the things that you're not supposed to be doing, right? Life will reward you for the things you're not supposed to be doing. And you don't you shouldn't like those rewards. But sometimes they fake themselves into feeling positive, right? But at all times, life will reward consistency. So put your energy into positive things, and you'll be rewarded. God, I absolutely love that. I think that is fantastic. My friend now made that up right now as well, because I've been thinking about that for a while. And I'm like, You know what, I think this is the perfect thing for it. So I'm glad that it came out like that. No, it came out good. You nailed it. Nailed it. So but Nashville, thank you so much. It's just It's been such a pleasure, like just tapping into a little bit of your story. All the lessons learned all the wisdom that you shared the energy, you bring such great energy, and you can tell it's genuine, and you're doing some great things. And, you know, keep that consistency, which I know you're going to up you're going to change you know, like that. Woman said you're changing her child's life. There's a lot of kids out there, they're gonna benefit from you, my friend. appreciate him and and to you as well. I mean, I follow you on Twitter. You have got, you know, every morning, I think it is you send out something, some paragraph that's just warming everyone's hearts. Keep it going, man. There's nothing better. Appreciate the time here. Yeah, this has been awesome, brother. Likewise, thank you. This was such an awesome conversation, Maxwell brings amazing energy. And he just offers so many gems from the path that he's traveled. Now this is a teaching champion state where I share three of my favorite gems from the conversation. And the first gem that I love was one Maxwell talked about paying attention to our linguistic behavior. What are the words that we're saying to ourselves, because we say things to ourselves, that we wouldn't dare say to anyone else. And those words that we speak, they can be the harshest, and those really tough days. And I thought it was great how Maxwell talked about reframing our negative thoughts. And he gave that reminder that all of us need to heed. He said that we need to remind ourselves, I am making a difference. So make sure you tell yourself that today. The second gem that I love was when Maxwell talked about being interested in others and appreciating them for who they are. And it's such a simple concept. But it's one that can easily be forgotten. Because you want to connect with your students, you want to connect with your colleagues. So just find out what they're interested in. And be willing to engage in conversation about that and be willing to listen. And the funny thing about all that is, you will learn so much from these people in your relationships, they just blossom. And the third jab is when Maxwell talked about trusting in the process. And he talked about how these music icons that he shared the stage with, they were constantly putting in the work consistently showing up and working at their craft. And I think this is such an invaluable lesson that we have to talk to our students about the value of showing up the value of working on the days when you're motivated. But also, I'm working on those days when that energy is low. Because in the world that we live in, it's all about going viral. Isn't that belief of the overnight success. But there's no such thing. So we need to plant those seeds of trusting in the process and believing in consistency, because that's essential. Now, these are just a few of my favorite takeaways. Hit me up at B Martin real on Twitter, or teaching champions podcast on Instagram and let me know what were some of your favorites. A big thank you to Maxwell for just sharing so much. And the thank you to all of you for being here for being part of the teaching champions community. We support we encourage we lift each other up. And always remember, it doesn't matter every year from rural America to urban America, to Canada to Spain to Bahrain. We're all on that same team. We're on that same mission, and we'll always better to get there Keep being amazing, my friend. And as you round to the week, May you step into your strength, may you step into shine, and let's build our champions. Have a great weekend.