What’s for me, me, me. Right. So, and I teach that. I coach it. It’s, he comes from heart centered. Service person, man, and it was just a blessing. I apologize in advance for any tech technical difficulties. I will own it on my end which is unacceptable, but I do apologize for them. So you definitely, if you’re in the networking world or need to learn how to correctly network, [00:01:00] break out your notebooks.

Sit back, relax, smash the subscribe button, please. My sponsors and affiliates absolutely love that. And the like button as well. If you like what Devin has to say, which I know you will. So without further ado, here’s my really good friend. The relationship creator, the relationship architect himself, author, coach extraordinaire, Devin Sizemore.

Let’s level up.

Hey, time to Shine today. Podcast Varsity S Squad. Welcome back to another powerful edition of the Time to Shine Today podcast with Coach Fergie. I’m your host, Scott Ferguson. Blessed to be your gap coach, specializing in performance mental conditioning, working with professional and amateur athletes, business leaders, entrepreneurs, entertainers.

C-suite and students to help them bridge their success gap and to live a life of options and not obligations on this platform. We are stoked to bring you high performers who are not just chasing and attaining success, but redefining it through, providing above and beyond service and squad strap in ’cause we are about to dive into the power of true connection.

Today’s guest isn’t just talking about [00:02:00] networking. He’s re redefining it. He’s the author of connection expansion. You are the connection. You are one connection away from massive. Success in your life and business. I’m gonna do a two book giveaway at the end, so make sure you listen to them and that he is living proof of that statement from launching in Mar a marketing agency straight outta college to building bold consulting businesses.

And yes, even opening a cat cafe that gives back this dude’s journey is all about value, vision, and vibing with the right people. But really what really sets him apart is he’s on a mission to spark 1 million meaningful connections that create real lasting impact. He’s not entrepreneur. Community Builder, relationship architect.

So please welcome to the show, Devin Sizemore. Devin, please introduce yourself the time to Sean Today Podcast Varsity Squad. But first, what’s your favorite color and why?

Devin Sizemore: I gotta go with blue. Although growing up as a kid it was red, but then I started going to schools where the, the color was blue. And at my high school I showed up with some Cincinnati red stuff and my coach cut it off me and said, dude, you gotta wear [00:03:00] blue.

So blue’s been beaten into me. I went to a college that’s blue, so I gotta go with blue.

L. Scott Ferguson: Where’d you go? Dev

Devin Sizemore: Devin? University of Nevada, Reno.

L. Scott Ferguson: Oh, nice. Okay. Very cool. And are you from the Midwest? ’cause you’re wearing a Cincinnati. Jersey or what was up? No. So my one of my cousins, cousins

Devin Sizemore: used to coach in Cincinnati.

Okay. Yeah. And so he would, he would always send me all the swag, which as a kid growing up in Vegas was great.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. But

Devin Sizemore: when I got to Reno, all of a sudden, like my high school was blue, my college was blue, and they’re like, no, no, we’re not wearing the red and black. That’s not a thing.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah, blue is blue is my jam too.

Love it. The ocean right here, it’s blue. It’s like, I love it, but like you, my high school, like both of our campuses, we had Plymouth, Canton and Plymouth Salem. This is in Michigan. And they were both high schools were on the same campus. And you’d actually kind of go back and forth between high schools for classes, but ours was red and white and they were blue and white.

We used to call ’em the blue flu. Right. So it was like, and you would, I was a wrestler. I grew up wrestling since I was three years old. And I’d literally have classes like you would be the same weight as me. [00:04:00] And I have classes where like you and I are gonna wrestle at 6:00 PM that night, right? But we’re like, that’s, you know, hanging out and stuff.

So, enough about me, man. Let’s get to the origins of you, brother. I mean, like you, you’ve, you did a lot and you’re, you have a heart, like a service centered heart. And that’s what we’d love here at Time to Shine today. So love to get to your origin story and see where it all. Yeah, just I always tell people I love business, man.

Devin Sizemore: I, I came out of the womb and I think I was always hustling, doing something. And so if we go way back as a kid, right? Like I like to tell the dog poop story, right? Like, I would go pick up dog poop for the neighbors and get paid. Then what I realized as a kid is like, well, wait a second. My friends could go pick up the dog poop.

I could charge the neighbor. I could pay my friend $4, keep $1, and I could sit at home. And I went, wait, that’s a business. Right? Right. And so as you scale through junior high and high school, it was painting numbers on curbs and I had a camera. So doing photography at youth sports and having a little studio and whatever I could do to be entrepreneurial, like there was this drive that’s just always been there.

Right. Outta college, I jumped straight into the marketing world. [00:05:00] So I worked for an agency through college. As soon as I graduated, I launched my own agency. I ended up buying that agency I worked for, which is kind of a cool story, right? And then we scaled and then I ended up selling the business to him.

Wow. So it’s kind of like a three step, what the heck happened moment? And then from there, man, I just explored business, right? So coworking space manufacturing company, the cat cafe. And through all of that, my consulting agency has always been there and that’s been the thing that’s been stable. It’s the thing I’m most passionate about.

And , seven years ago I kind of focused on, look, I don’t wanna be a generalist. I wanna really hone in on my superpower and then I wanna find a way. To duplicate and scale that, because what I found is everybody wants more referrals, but no one knows how to unlock that code.

L. Scott Ferguson: Hmm.

Devin Sizemore: So for seven years, that’s all we’ve done is figure out what’s the language, what’s the tempo, how do you follow up, how do you book the meetings, how do you make the connections?

And then we packed all that into a book where we hide nothing. We share everything. And that is, as you said, like I, my core first principle is always [00:06:00] add value. Right. And so. Through all these business ventures. That’s been my addiction is like, how do I add value to other people and then turn that into momentum for whatever I’m building.

Wow. So what,

L. Scott Ferguson: let’s get back, just take a step back to the, you kind of born like hustling. Like I’m, I’m the same way. You’re like my brother from another brother, probably my much younger brother, but. So like my whole thing was I delivered the Detroit Free press. Right? And or, or Eric, actually Eric Wman delivered it.

He lived two doors high. He is like, I’m giving up, he’s going into high school. He is like, I’m giving up the route. And then everyone’s like, dude, I want your route. ’cause he was making like 19, $20 a month, dude. Big cash in 1980. Five. Right. So like, I’m like, I want it, I want it. And they’re like, oh, you gotta come, you gotta come to the Bastille.

So I ended up giving him $5 a month for a year. Right. It just came to me. Right. But then what I did is I grabbed other territories and started delivering it and gotten friends to help me. So what was that one moment that, , that clicked? You’re like, dude, this is it. Like, [00:07:00] I’m a hustle, I flex my hustle muscle.

Like this is it? Like, what was that?

Devin Sizemore: Yeah. I mean, there’s a lot of those moments really. I’m not sure there’s one that stands out. I would say pending numbers on curbs was kind of the funny one. Okay. Because it’s something that friends would look at and be like, ah, you’re, , that’s like a, an outside job.

You’re getting baked, you’re covered in paint. Right. Whatever. I don’t understand why you’re doing it. I’m like, well, I, I worked my high school job, right. And then after on the way home, I would swing into a neighborhood with my bucket. I would door knock and I would paint. And what I realized is I could pull in like six.

To a hundred bucks an hour, painting numbers on curbs, right? And so all of a sudden I’d come home not only with my day job, but then all of a sudden I’d have a hundred, $200 cash. And then I’d go out on a Saturday and with my buddy, I was door knocking. I would put an X on the curb, he would paint, right? He would collect the money, and I would already be selling the next one.

He would just walk down the street and be like, oh, there’s the x boom. Here’s the next one. Shoot ’em a text. Hey, that’s the address. This is it. This is how much we sold it for. And he would go through, and at the end of that Saturday, we did [00:08:00] $1,600 in sales in one day.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Devin Sizemore: And, , I paid him a like not half, I paid him like a third I think, because he was just painting.

I was doing all the, , getting rejected. And, and that was kind of again, another one of those validating moments of like, damn, like there are ways to go out here and generate revenue, provide a service people want and need. Thank you. And it works, right? And so if you can solve problems at the right price point, welcome to business, right?

Yeah. And that’s all we do now is, okay, what’s the problem? How do we solve it? And how do we price it at a fair price? Yeah. That we all win,

L. Scott Ferguson: right? And, and squad, that’s what we talk about, attaining and achieving success through service. That’s nothing short of service. You took a problem, solved it, and then he’s then becomes kinda like how he sought after, after that.

But you mentioned a superpower. What is your superpower?

Devin Sizemore: My superpower is the innate ability to connect people where it doesn’t seem like there’s value, but there is a tremendous opportunity that both parties would miss if they [00:09:00] weren’t connected. Wow. That is strong. And

L. Scott Ferguson: that, that, that is strong. And, and so, , you see that we’re one connection away from like massive success.

Right. Can you share the moment in your life where you like said that one connection that you kind of met that really f. Turn that table for you.

Devin Sizemore: Yeah, I’ve got a bullet point list in the book and I’ll tease a couple, not just mine, because I think there’s a lot of things that will resonate with people.

So, , I talk about getting a six figure job without having to interview or compete. I talk about getting the perfect internship again without competing for it. So that was in the college phase. I talk about. The vacation, right, like dream vacation, where like literally you don’t have to pay for barely anything except getting there.

’cause you’re invited by the right person at the right time, right? Joint sponsorships at events where you’re the only sponsor, there are no other sponsors because you found yourself in the right room, in the right moment. Integrated JD Partnerships, I just made one connection. The guy texted me and said, Hey, I need you to show up on the next call.

We’re [00:10:00] launching a company now. I’m like, bro, I literally just sent an introduction email like eight days ago. What do you mean you guys are launching a company? Like it was a perfect fit. It was great timing, right? Like now we, we need to talk about it like. It only takes one. The issue is most people will never get to the one because they’re so focused on closing deals and chasing clients and all these very limited, closed-minded things,

L. Scott Ferguson: right?

Devin Sizemore: Which is great ’cause you need to generate revenue, right? But when you have that closed-minded mindset, you miss all these really interesting conversations where you can connect big dots that lead to seven figure deals, six figure commissions, new friends, new partnerships, new inner circles, whatever it is.

Is available as long as you’re curious and your other’s focused. There you go. That’s my,

L. Scott Ferguson: that’s my superpower is curiosity. Like a hundred percent. And , like I, I don’t teach in networking class, but I do mentor, , quite a few kids. ’cause I, one thing that my mentor taught me is to never get outworked or out networked period.

And the way that I have been able [00:11:00] to kind of move to South Florida and really ingrain myself here. I really practiced my way of networking as well, where, , I have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Like I shut up and I really listen. I use the Ford Principle, which I teach, , family, occupational recreation dreams is obvious to meet you at a networking event.

I would ask that my biggest compliment in a networking event for me now, this isn’t for everybody, but for me, is when I turn around. Walk away. They go, what the hell’s that guy got? What? What does the guy, that guy do? But I’ve already got their business card, I got their address, and if I can’t get their address, I’m gonna have find it.

And when I go to my car, I have a thank you, a stack of thank you cards. Hey Devin. Great to me brother. Think a one-to-one coffee would be fantastic. , Let me know when you can drop my business card in there and send it. That’s just my way of networking and I blew up. That way, that that’s the way I did and, and I’ve gotten one-to-one, , thousands of dollars a worth month coaching clients and stuff like that.

So what do you really kind of pour into people to really make sure that they are networking the correct way? [00:12:00]

Devin Sizemore: Yeah, a lot of what you just talked about. So one of the core principles we talk about is control. What you can control. Love it. So often in sales, marketing, networking, you’re focused on all these things you can’t control.

And in fact, you’re usually focused on things that limit your ability to have success. And so even from just showing up to the event, right? Pat yourself on the back for getting outta a car, walking in the door, right? Like, let’s start by giving yourself gratitude and excitement for showing up and, and performing.

And then when you go in the room, your only job is to meet everybody. Like you don’t need to screen people. You don’t need to try to figure out who’s who. Your only job is to do exactly what you did. Shake hands, ask good questions. Get their contact information. If they know nothing about you, fantastic.

What they will remember about you is you ask good questions and you made them feel heard. Yeah, that is enough. Yeah. When you follow up. You follow up with very similar language to what you used the language is. Hey Scott, it was great meeting you at x, Y, Z event yesterday. I enjoyed briefly learning about you and your business.

I’d love to schedule a time to learn more about you and your business so [00:13:00] that I can better make connections for you. Thank

L. Scott Ferguson: you. Here’s

Devin Sizemore: the link to my calendar, so it’s easy. Look forward to connecting with you. I’m not selling you anything. I’m not pitching anything. I’m not edifying myself. I’m fully focused on you, right?

What happens with that messaging? Is 95% of people are gonna book meetings with you. The 5% is just ’cause it’s the wrong time. Not ’cause they don’t care.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes.

Devin Sizemore: And you then have permission to follow up forever.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right?

Devin Sizemore: Because I’m not selling anything. Right? I am strictly reaching out to go, yo brother, how can I help you?

Right. I wanna get together talk. But matter of fact, you’ll have people reply to you when you use this messaging and they’ll go do, what’s the catch? Like what? What’s in it for you? Nothing, bro. Let’s just get together. Like I just wanna get to know you. Right. And then we can see if we can connect dots.

L. Scott Ferguson: That part too, because Florida’s such a sunny place for shady people that everyone’s like, you got an angle? I’m like, no, I don’t, dude. I just wanna see that there’s no angle. Like let’s just connect. Right? And then

Devin Sizemore: we’ll figure out where we can. Either create, collaborate. That’s awesome. Maybe. Awesome. You do need my services.

Maybe I need yours. Who knows, right? I don’t know. You don’t know. And I don’t know who you know. [00:14:00] I don’t know what your wife or spouse knows. I know nothing. So I’m just gonna show up. Curious, and then we’re gonna do a connection meeting again where I’m gonna ask you questions The majority of the time, right?

At the very end, maybe I get a chance to talk about myself briefly. Sure. I’m gonna make connections to you. I’m gonna provide resources to you. I’m gonna continue to pour and love on you as a person. Sure. Because what it does is it trains you and it creates relationship equity.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. And

Devin Sizemore: so at some point I can cash in on that.

But I don’t need to cash it in on it in the very first second on the very first day. Right. Like, like we can cash in on that at some point when it makes sense and when there’s great alignment. That’s the sneaky part of this process. But it’s so backwards to how most people are trained to go out there and, seven knows my car and all these always be closing and all this stuff, bro.

Like I don’t have to close anyone. People ask me to buy my stuff.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right, right. And people don’t understand also, is that. By doing it the way that you are structuring it and the way I live it also is that you are actually closing. It’s all the time. It’s a subtle way of doing it [00:15:00] without them even feeling it.

And squad, thank you to my good friend Devin, because you just drop knowledge nuggets that I press upon everybody out there. Like people, honestly, they don’t really care what you do if you shove it down their throat. See what you can do for them. But also Devin. Be open to the reciprocation, right? Like if they wanna do something for you.

’cause there’s a lot of givers out there and they don’t. What I do with my coaching clients is I’ll be like, see that plant over there? What do we breathe in? We breathe in oxygen, we breathe out carbon dioxide. What does the plant do? Breathe in carbon dioxide, breathe out oxygen. Does the plant have a choice?

No. Why are we giving ourselves one? If you’re gonna give, be ready to receive as well. Do you find some of the people that you’ve coached or, or , helped out in, within your squad that are having an issue with being reciprocated to.

Devin Sizemore: It’s an issue of reciprocation. It’s also ’cause they try to put numbers to it, which is gonna be a path to failure.

Right. So I can tell you with thousands and thousands of connections made, yeah, it’s a [00:16:00] 30% return. Like when you get good at it, 30% of what you give will come back. So if I make a hundred connections, I’m gonna get 30 back. Love it. And then it just becomes a game. How many connections can I make this month?

’cause I know if I make more, I get more back. Right? Yes. The issue is. People are asking for the wrong thing, which blocks the ability to be connected. And that alone makes you unable to receive because you think all you can receive is referrals, which means a connection to an ideal prospect, right? But when we go down that path, what happens is you put up 19 different walls, right?

Yes. If I tell Scott, Scott, I, this is my perfect ideal client, you now in your head are trying to profile your contact list. Find that limited amount of ideal clients. Figure out if the timing’s right, figuring out if you trust me enough to actually connect them to me so that I can. Sell to them. That is like a recipe for disaster.

Yes. And so what we help people do is understand the bigger picture. Who has access to your clients? How do we play this game? Right? When you shift your [00:17:00] ask and you start asking for the strategic partners, the vendors, the other things, there’s no

L. Scott Ferguson: sale

Devin Sizemore: happening. Yes. And when that happens, you can then.

Because then when Scott says, Hey Devin, who do you wanna know? I wanna know Mastermind hosts. ’cause we can collectively add value to each other,

L. Scott Ferguson: right?

Devin Sizemore: Great. You can instantly be like, oh, here’s seven Mastermind hosts. I’m gonna connect you with my buddy Devin. Devin, you gotta meet this person. You guys are gonna hit it off.

Right? There’s no friction, there’s no tension.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right?

Devin Sizemore: So it’s not really that they can’t receive, it’s that they’re hoping to receive the wrong things ’cause they don’t understand the big picture. Love it.

L. Scott Ferguson: That is, everything you said was spot on. Truth bombs, bro. I mean a hundred percent. And , it is funny when we, we kind of talk about, I do write down if I was, if I was talking to you and, , getting my ask in gear, like seeing how I can, find out how I can help you.

There’s problems as being a coach. There’s problems that are poured out, right? So during that first conversation, when I meet them. I can ask permission to kind of talk about ’em, to keep the conversation going. What I’m saying? Because you might’ve said, oh man, , [00:18:00] I’m having trouble like getting up in the morning or something like that.

Be like, , I have some ideas for that, Devon. That might be stupid, but if you wanna talk about it, I’d love to. It’s like I, that’s where another people, they just go right into coaching. Lot of other coaches, like the coaches I train. I’m like, dude, we don’t, we ask permission a hundred percent.

So let me ask you something. So do you work with people one-on-one or more groups, Devin?

Devin Sizemore: Yeah, all of the above. All the, the, okay. Yeah. So have a community where we can train and teach you how to do what we do. The book does it. We have videos on it. I’m done with you. Where I’ll guide you through the process.

So when you fail and slip back into sales mode, I can whip you back into shape. Yeah. Yeah. Love it. And then we have for you level where we go out there and do the networking for you and we just make edified introductions that fit your goals,

L. Scott Ferguson: that is strong, man. Like you’re, what I love about you is you’re doing it for the intention, not the attention.

I don’t see you too much. All over the place, blah, blah. Look at me, I’m Devin. I, I obviously stocked out stuff so I can vet you out with a beautiful family and , everything else. But it, it’s like you’re out there absolutely serving, you’re [00:19:00] planting trees. You’re probably gonna never sit in the shade of, with all these connections that you have, man.

So when you’re working with somebody, we kind of plugged how you’re, you’re shining a light on their blind spot a little bit, right? When you start talk somebody. But is there any good question that you wish they would ask you but never do during that discovery conversation?

Devin Sizemore: No.

So I’ll tell you how, I’ll tell you how we set it up to always win. So I got it out of them. What? What? Yeah, so, so it’s not even that. I wish they’d asked me a question, because what happens is when you take control of a networking conversation or a connection meeting and you start the process, Hey, where do you live?

What do you do? Who do you serve? How’d you get here? Where are you going? Yeah. Oops. Deeper, but that if you just go back and listen to what I just said, that’s how you have the conversation,

L. Scott Ferguson: right?

Devin Sizemore: You, once you ask your 80, 90% of questions following the framework, they’re gonna come to this moment and go, Hey Devin, we might need to schedule another meeting yet I didn’t get a chance to learn about you. No worries. I’ll tell you about [00:20:00] myself. And what happens is when they give you permission in that last little snippet of time, you get to react position.

And then I call this the sell behind moment, right? So where you said you asked for permission, I just sell to the person that looks, smells, and feels like them, but sits behind them. And I go, Scott, you know what? You know what I do? I help. People who are top level coaches, find strategic partners that have access to more of their clients.

And in doing so, we put you in rooms where none of your competition plays and you have more leverage and success, and all of a sudden you’re sitting there going. Cool. Great. That’s me. Did you not just listen to me for the last 25 minutes or 55 minutes? Like hello?

L. Scott Ferguson: Right?

Devin Sizemore: And then they’re gonna raise their hand and go, either sell to me ’cause they need your product or service.

Or they’re gonna go, you know what? I do know people that I can connect you with. And so it’s not that I wish they’d asked me a question, I just gamify the whole thing so I can’t lose. Because what happens is we train them to do exactly what we just did. ’cause it felt good. It was good. And so they’re just gonna ask you the same questions just in a [00:21:00] condensed period of time.

So now you get to right. Fire little rockets at ’em. Right. That are perfectly aligned. Yeah. And that’s exactly with what they need. And if they’re ready to buy, they’ll, they’ll indicate otherwise. We’re just mining for connections and again, we’re gonna control what we can control. So not one time in a conversation do I wish they asked me something, because the whole time we are subconsciously training them to ask the questions we want to answer.

Love that.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love it. It’s a, being a coach, it’s, it’s different ’cause I want them. Kind of asked me, , what’s expected of me. , If I was in a kind of like a discovery convo, let’s chat kinda situation as a coach. But I can see from your perspective what you do. You are giving them the arsenal, for lack of a better term, to really sit down there and how to present it and get comfortable with it so they can really excel.

So Devin, have you seen the movie Back to the Future? Yes. Okay. It’s literally just turned 40. Right? And that’s crazy. In 1985. Anyway, so let’s get in that DeLorean with Marty McFly. Let’s go back to the double dues, the 22-year-old Devin. What kinda [00:22:00] knowledge nuggets might you drop on him? Not to change anything.

’cause your journey’s pretty fricking awesome, right? But to maybe help him shorten a learning curve or blast through maybe just a little bit quicker. I mean, you blast through pretty quick, but what might what else might you tell ’em?

Devin Sizemore: Yeah, I think that partnerships are a blessing and a curse and I think that so often people, people rush into ’em blind, right?

Yeah. So they rush into ’em with this idea of like, I need to solve this problem. And a partnership’s the way to do it. I fundamentally disagree and I would tell my young self, go into joint ventures where you still own your stuff, they own their stuff, but you collaborate.

L. Scott Ferguson: Thank you. And

Devin Sizemore: then if that is amazing, then get into business together.

That would’ve saved me probably seven figures in pain. So that would be great. The other thing I would say is, , now that I know the system works and 700 clients and myself later, I would tell my young self like, bro, just do the system. Like you don’t need to do anything else. Here’s the playbook.

Right? Right. Just do that as many times as often as you can, and whatever you’re [00:23:00] chasing will blow up. Right. And then don’t, I would say the other kind of lesson is don’t out out build your revenue. And I think that that’s something that I’ve done and I know a lot of people have done. Right. We’re like, what has two, you start to get and out build

L. Scott Ferguson: the revenue right here.

Yeah. You’re absolutely, you’re

Devin Sizemore: getting constrained. You’re like working too much and so you start staffing up. You start buying resources. But you gotta really push your revenue up so that you’re anchoring margin so you can pay yourself first. Otherwise you end up with a million dollar business making 40 K.

Like that’s, that’s junk. No one wants that. So you gotta make sure you’re building strategically and really aware of that cost, especially the recurring cost of staff. Yes. Services, software, things like that. So, few different nuggets, but all things I would tell my young

L. Scott Ferguson: self. Especially to keep people as strategic alliance as squad.

I’ve talked about that before where people want to kinda lack of a better term, this metaphorically get into bed with me on stuff. I’m, I’m approached a lot here in Palm Beach.

They’re like, oh, we can do this and this. And I’m like, I’m like what you just said, I wanna own my a hundred percent. And if it makes sense after [00:24:00] a. A honeymoon period, or like a strategic alliance period that, , you, when you meet somebody, most people they might bring their toothbrush over and leave it at the house, but they don’t move in.

You have that. Thank you for saying that, brother. Coming from you validates a lot of the stuff that I say, man. So, or a lot of the stuff that I, I’ve regurgitated forward from who I’ve been taught. I did not just say that. Right? So how does Devon One is Dash. Remember that little line in between your incarnation date, your expiration date, man.

How, how does Devin let want his dash? Remember?

Devin Sizemore: I love that, man. That’s the YouTube video pin that I used to have pinned on my YouTube. Oh really? Yeah. So literally I would have, I had a dash video up. That was the first thing on my YouTube. We just replaced him with our sister. You are my

L. Scott Ferguson: brother from another mother, bro.

I swear.

Devin Sizemore: Yeah. I love that. So yeah, the dash question is my favorite question because the younger me didn’t know the answer and because I didn’t know the answer, I was chasing so many things that actually didn’t align with the impact I wanted to have. And so now the dash is [00:25:00] exactly what you talked about, the butterfly effect, the ripple effect, whatever you wanna talk about.

Right? Sure. I want to have so much impact through connections. That I have no clue what the impact is. When you fundamentally make a million connections, you’re talking about a million people connecting with a million people doing a million amazing things. You can’t fathom what that creates and what I want when I pass away.

One, let’s celebrate please, like no one needs to mourn, celebrate the life. But when you celebrate, I want people to come together and be like, I don’t know if he knew this, but. I have no clue if he knew this, but hey, did he did this? Did you know he made that intro? Matter of fact, I’m thinking back to that business that started, Devin made that intro like, I want people to be sharing those stories in such a positive way that, that, that’s when that aha moment clicks for a lot of people going, holy crap, like these little insignificant connections turned into monumental movements.

L. Scott Ferguson: It’s like you live in, like, again, I’m regurgitating for what I was taught is like the more you mentor. The more more you [00:26:00] connect, the more immortal you become. Right? It’s like they’d be like, oh, that was Devin that put us together, ? And hopefully it’s way down the road. But if you’re at, they’re at your funeral or something, be like, that dude connected millions of us that, that’s, I a hundred percent see it happen.

So is there anything that people might misunderstand the most about Devin?

Devin Sizemore: No, I, I was gonna say, you’re an open book, bro. Yeah, I am who I am all the time, and so I think that that’s something that I’ve always been proud of is like I don’t have to put armor on or be someone else. Like we live who we are.

Our business is built on our, our five values plus fun. Mm-hmm. Because we’re not having fun. What the hell are we doing? Right? And I am the same person on stage in a podcast and at home nothing changes. Everything’s fair game. And so I don’t think people misunderstand. I am super direct and very blunt.

And so when you work for me, you’re around me. Just know that like I’m not offending you or trying to be a dick. I just wanna communicate clearly so that there’s never confusion.

L. Scott Ferguson: Thank you.

Devin Sizemore: [00:27:00] And that would be a sticking point over the years. I’ve even debated coaches on it where they’re like, you need to have more empathy and do the positive sandwich and all this other stuff.

And I go, that’s great. I hear you. But like when I start going down that path, I start to become something I’m not. Yep. And I don’t wanna represent that like I want people to know, like, Hey, I can go to Devin because he’s gonna provide quick. Very direct advice. Sure. With my best interest in mind. Like I am here to advocate for you.

If you’re being an idiot, it may sound harsh,

L. Scott Ferguson: right? But

Devin Sizemore: I’m gonna let you go like, Hey, you slipped up. Here’s how, here’s what we need to do. Let’s move forward. And so, right man, I just am who I am. Don’t need to be anyone else.

L. Scott Ferguson: Thank you for saying that. ’cause I am the exact same way. It saves time, it saves confusion by being direct.

, I had a, like, I guess my company had hired a fractional. Like CFO for us. I didn’t, I did not know like that, that hired, but was bringing her in and I kind of got that way with her and she says, thank you for being direct. I’m like, you’re hired. I was like, , but other people will be like, oh, I’m gonna cry.

I’m gonna cry. I’m like, they’re [00:28:00] not, I, I’m actually, I’m, I highly empathetic. I’m be like, listen, it’s not you. It’s just, I want to get the message across so it’s not misconstrued. So if you see me this way. We love you on our team, , stuff like that. So I’m Thank you for being transparent with that brother, because that a lot of people aren’t, ’cause people were like, I’m ego, I’m this, I’m that.

And I was that douche bag. I literally was before, you know, and, and like, and you’re like, you think you’re this. And then I lost it in oh 8, 0 9 when the market crashed and it humbled me, right? So, all right. So what is your definition of a life well lived then?

Devin Sizemore: Yeah, it’s, it’s having massive impact, but not forgetting yourself and your family. Love it. And I think that. I think that, and I don’t want to go down the anti hussle culture thing, but I’m, I am anti it. Not meaning I won’t outwork you. ’cause I promise I will. But I’m gonna do it in a way where I’m protecting my own health insanity.

I’m spending ample time with my family. We’re doing the vacations. We’re living today.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah, [00:29:00] baby.

Devin Sizemore: Yeah, I just don’t want people to wake up and realize that they built something and have nothing.

And I think that that’s an important statement, right? I think you wake up and you have the fancy things and a lot of cash, and then you’ve lost your family, your kids, your friends, your everything in the process. So I think that it’s important to build and have massive impact and yes, go make a ton of money.

Like great. Yeah. But take the time for the vacations. Take the time for your family and you don’t need to apologize. I actually, I posted this, it was another podcast. I said the same thing.

L. Scott Ferguson: Time to Shine Today, podcast Varsity Squad. We are back. And Devin, I’m gonna make it a point to meet up with you at some point in our lifetime. Right? And I’ll probably drop some of these questions, we’ll talk 15 minutes on. Probably longer than that on some of ’em, but today you got five seconds with no explanations and I promise you that they can all be answered that way.

You ready to level up? Hell yeah. Let’s do it. All right, let’s do it. Devvin. What is the best leveling up advice you’ve ever received?

Devin Sizemore: Book more meetings.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. Share one of your personal habits that contributes to your [00:30:00] success.

Devin Sizemore: Task management diligently.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes. So freaking Lily. Okay, so you see me maybe walking down the street or an event like Ky looks like he’s in his doldrums.

Is there any book that you picked up that really flipped that switch in your mind to get you back on track? What book might you hand me? I.

Devin Sizemore: Hmm. I would take you to coffee first ’cause I don’t know what your problem is, so I would love, I would love on you. And then I would give you a

L. Scott Ferguson: book. Thank you brother Bob Berg will be like, give him my book.

Kidding. So, which actually, that’s one book that I do give. All right. Most commonly used emoji when you text.

Devin Sizemore: Probably the laughing because if we’re not having fun, why are we doing it?

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Nicknames growing up.

Devin Sizemore: Mom called me pumpkin. Dumbo. ’cause I got big ears. I love it.

L. Scott Ferguson: Dude, you are so transparent.

I freaking love you, bro. All right. Any hidden talent in our superpower that you have that nobody knows about until now?

Devin Sizemore: Yeah, I try to be a good golfer. I’m not, I just spend a lot of time in the sagebrush. Other than that, man, I’m a really quick reader. I’m a really good writer. Both skills that I use [00:31:00] day to day.

L. Scott Ferguson: Nice. I’m gonna break my own rule here, but I’m gonna, I’m gonna send you my ship sticks voucher next winter when it’s cold.

I’m gonna get you down here, get you on some stages, brother. And then you, we can go out and play some pretty solid coist baby. Love it. Chess checkers a monopoly.

Devin Sizemore: Monopoly.

L. Scott Ferguson: Excellent. Headline for your life. The connector. Yeah. Go to ice cream flavor. Hmm.

Devin Sizemore: I love all of it. I’m a sweet

L. Scott Ferguson: jum. Me too, bro.

So there’s a sandwich called the Dumbo Pumpkin. Build that for me. What are we eating?

Devin Sizemore: Oh man, it’s gonna be like a quadruple pastrami, probably. Oh my God. Dude. Mustard.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. Love it. Favorite charity and or organization you like to give your time and or money to?

Devin Sizemore: I split my, my kind of passion to either young entrepreneurship initiatives or organizations that support people with special needs.

L. Scott Ferguson: Beautiful.

Devin Sizemore: Last question. Best decade of music. Sixties, seventies, eighties, or nineties.

L. Scott Ferguson: I mean nineties. ’cause [00:32:00] that’s, that was my music. Gotcha. No, I love it, man. I love the garage band days of the nineties, like Blink and some, and then, , you also had the, the nirvana, the, the grunge as well. Dude, it was a great decade.

I’m, I, I graduated in 1990 from high school, so I kinda love that kind of big hair. Don’t care. Kinda revolutionary time. But I dig. I was in the Iraq for most of the nineties, so. Absolutely. So Devin, how can we find you brother?

Devin Sizemore: Yeah, Devon sizemore.com name’s on the screen. You can go to connection expansion.com to learn more about our community.

Or you can grab the book on Amazon Connection expansion.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah, let’s talk a little bit about the book. ’cause I’m gonna do something a little bit different. I’m gonna do a. Five book giveaway. To the first person. They’re the first five people that put pumpkin into the anything. I don’t care if it’s Pinterest, Instagram, text it to 5 6 1 4 4 0 3 8 3 0.

And if you’re watching on Vimeo or YouTube, I have the book up here on the screen. So we got the Kindle hardcover, paperback. Tell us a little bit about what’s in here. You said before they didn’t really leave too much out, [00:33:00] so like, tell us what we can expect when we pick

Devin Sizemore: up

L. Scott Ferguson: this book.

Devin Sizemore: Yeah, so the full connection expansion system is in the book.

So everything from how you change your ask to, how you approach networking, how you follow up, how you conduct the connection meeting, how you follow up from the meeting, how you nurture long term tips and tricks for task management. And it’s pretty much everything and everything that’s not in there is either on the website for free or inside of ACEs for free as well.

L. Scott Ferguson: Gotcha. I love it. And, and again, squad the first five people that put pumpkin or dumbo into anything. I’m going to, I’m time to shine today’s dime. I’m going to get you the book out a hundred percent and I’m probably gonna ask for actually a signed one myself. So, but squad or a Devin, do me one last favor and leave us with one last knowledge nugget we can take with us, internalize and take action on.

Devin Sizemore: I always talk about the power of one. This doesn’t need to be an overwhelming process. All you need to have is one meeting where you change the script, ask good questions, follow up and make [00:34:00] connections. If you make three connections from one meeting, one person will raise their hand. That will exponentially grow to the power of three.

And so it only takes one person to start this process, and if you do your part, the rest will work.

L. Scott Ferguson: You have the, the million dollar author as well. Correct. Which I definitely want to touch on that. Yeah. Tell us a little bit about the Million Dollar Author, author.

Devin Sizemore: Yeah, it’s a million dollar author. We help people write, publish, and promote books that make them more money. We are really specific in the lane we play. We wanna work with people who wanna use a book to book more stages, book more podcasts, or make more money. It has to be a persuasive book, has to be easy to read, has to be high value.

And so I’m a customer. I’ve worked with the company inside the company, around the company and I can’t advocate enough. It’s probably the one thing. If I could go back and do it for all my other companies, I would’ve wrote a book sooner. Because it opens up amazing opportunity. You’re

L. Scott Ferguson: talking off mic about that.

Yeah,

Devin Sizemore: yeah, yeah. And it, and it elevates you so quick. Like I book stages now. It’s not even a question. Like, it’s literally like, oh, I saw you spoke at this event. I grabbed a copy of your book. Can you talk about that on [00:35:00] stage? Yes. Right.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love that. I love it. Like, cool. It just, it comes to you like a hundred percent.

My, my agent is like, , Angela, yes. I’m giving you a shout out Angela. ’cause you’re up me every day about this. It’s like, get the book out because there’s so much that I’m missing out on. Not just income, but people need to hear a little bit about my story. I’ve been, I’ve told it on another podcast, but I incorporate the story into the hero parable.

And it’s it’s a little bit unique compared to a lot of other human beings on this earth for sure. And squad, I had a fantastic interview. I’m sorry for any of the technical glitches that you might have heard. But my guy here, Devin, , came out of the womb hustling. He found out that, hey, you, if you can add how critical it is to add value to others, you became a problem solver.

Like I talked to my coaching clients out there, , challenges are. Not just challenges, they are opportunities for you to solve problems for people. So what I do, and I know Devin does, I can just picture him. When he is networking with somebody, he listens not only with his ears, but his eyes, everything.

He’s listening with his, what I call, listening with your neck. He’s leaning in and [00:36:00] really. Finding out the Ford, the family, occupation, recreation dreams, what you need, and he’s going to be a relationship architect or what? I like to coin myself, a relationship creator and put the two together, not expecting anything, but at the same time expecting something.

It just might not come directly from that. ’cause the more that you. Or putting out the gratitude, the more that you’re giving squad it re it activates the reticular activating system to actually bring more of that to you. And his obsession with building relationships was that on full display, again, I’ve said it before, he’s planting trees.

He is never gonna sit in the shade of, he does things for the intention, not the attention. , He wants to remind you that, listen, if you’re young about getting to get into a business with your best friend or something like that. Stop, drop and roll. Let’s, let’s hold it. Bring what you have to the table.

Do your own thing. And if there’s a strategic alliance that leads to a business, find out first before that friendship goes south. Okay? The, the one meeting, meet meeting can make a difference with. Devin [00:37:00] had said one meeting can lead to three people. And then it’s the power of, I mean, my guy here is the architect of putting relationships together.

I’m blessed to know ’em and devil. You level up your health, you level up your wealth. You’re humble, yet you’re hungry. You’re a handsome devil. Thank you so much for coming on. You earned your varsity letter here at Time to Shine Today. Thank you so much for coming on, brother. Absolutely love your guts,

Devin Sizemore: Scott.

Appreciate you, man. It’s such a good conversation and I’m confident we’re gonna do a lot of amazing things and add value to each other’s worlds. Absolutely.

L. Scott Ferguson: See you buddy.