Dream Big and Aim High: The Christian Ray Flores Story

Resilience and Reinvention: A Conversation with Christian Ray Flores

In this episode of 'The Wireless Way,' host Chris Whitaker welcomes Christian Ray Flores, a multifaceted entrepreneur, high-performance coach, philanthropist, former International Pop Star and former refugee. The discussion delves into Christian's inspiring journey from a refugee in Chile to a successful entrepreneur and coach, emphasizing the importance of imagination, resilience, and mentorship. Christian shares his unique perspective on life's seasons, the necessity of managing stress, and the power of aiming high. They also touch on his musical career, becoming a Christian, and the critical role of therapy and coaching in achieving a fulfilling life. Tune in for an insightful conversation about breaking free from mediocrity, aiming high, and living a balanced, successful life.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Overview
00:17 Christian's Early Life and Background
03:00 The Refugee Experience
05:19 Adapting to New Cultures and Languages
06:47 Pop Star Journey
08:54 Transitioning from Music to New Endeavors
14:04 The Importance of Mentorship
17:28 The Role of Therapy vs. Coaching
18:49 Life's Seasons and Transitions
22:58 Managing Stress and Anxiety
28:43 Aim High: The Power of Ambition
30:50 Final Thoughts and Farewell

Learn more about Christian
https://www.christianrayflores.com/

Transcript

Chris: 0:00

Hey, welcome to another episode of the wireless way. I'm your host, Chris Whitaker. And as always, I'm grateful that you made time to listen to this show. And again, if you hear anything during this conversation with my guests, please share it and get the word out. I really appreciate that. And I'm also grateful for Christian Ray Flores. He's my guest today and a little bit about him before we bring him on. He's a multifaceted entrepreneur, a high performance coach. I've had a few of those on and I'm a big believer in that evangelist and philanthropist with rich global background. Born a refugee in Chile Christian's experiences across continents have shaped his resilience and leadership. He holds a master's degree in economics and fluent in four languages. He excels in communication and versatility. Yeah, I would say so. Based in Austin, Texas, love me some Austin, Texas. He co founded Third Drive Media, which has created award winning media and raised substantial funds for startups and the Ascend Mission Fund, supporting children in Mozambique and Ukraine through his exponential coaching program. We'll get into that more. Christian guides, businesses, and nonprofit leaders. To sustain success. I know that's something that's the theme we've always hit on in this show is not only success in business, but success in life. He also hosts his Headspace by Christian Ray Flores podcast and authored a little book, A Big Reasons to Love America. Wow. How appropriate. We're talking after a major event in America. I don't like to mention dates because this is going to live forever, but yeah, we just went through the election in America and you know what? Looking out the window. Everything looks fine. Nothing's falling apart yet. The sky is not falling yet. We're going to be okay, folks. And after you listen to this episode, you're going to be fantastic as well. Christian, welcome to the show. How are you doing today?

Christian: 1:53

I'm doing well, Chris. I'm really happy that I'm here.

Chris: 1:56

Fantastic. You know that to be being happy. It's a choice, right? You don't have to be happy about anything, but you can make a choice. We just met recently. So I appreciate you having faith in me that this is going to be a positive experience. As is always the case. And I'd love to ask the question, because, we always have our professional bios and people can look us up on LinkedIn and we put out there what we want. I just want to ask you to be vulnerable with us just a little bit. You got a great story, just a little that I've heard and found out. What's not in the bio? How did you get to where you are today?

Christian: 2:26

I think what's not in the bio is, and it's usually doesn't make it into bios, is this passion for imagining the future as it could be. Just this active imagination. I think we live in a very rational world and we under rely on our imagination and our intuition. And I think we should rely on it more because I think what's not in the bio is this desire to imagine the new future and then going after building it basically over and over again.

Chris: 3:00

Was there a time, you mentioned being a refugee, that, that doesn't sound like a great experience, right? I just never, so it was great. Everybody should be a refugee. Was there, can you recall a time where you felt like, Hey, I think the tides are turning for me. Things are looking good. Was there a moment you went from the uncertainty of being a refugee to I think I'm gonna be okay. I got something. What when was that? And what does you know?

Christian: 3:24

I think it was gradual right and even What helped me I think in the years in the year that I was a refugee. I was five years old I remember it very distinctly was that you were a child right when you're a kid Yes, there's an imprint, obviously, of fear it's too early for you to learn about human cruelty, about tyranny, about things, those are things that you don't learn about later, until later, but I was learning it experientially in an immersive way. Where my dad was in a concentration camp and we didn't know if we're gonna see him alive, things like that. But even as a kid, you switch to a playful place because I just remember being in a refugee facility. It was a United Nations refugee facility and we're there like, we're crammed into these rooms. It was maybe like three families per room, like with kids. It was just, not fun, right? And we're, there were guards all over, like all around us. We couldn't leave and We would just play. The kids would just get together and play, imagine things and play together. And that was a really interesting thing, I was telling the story, this story to someone, and then they were like, What were you playing? I'm like I know, I remember being, playing Tarzan because somebody, I think they showed us a black and white version of an old Tarzan movie. And we're climbing trees and playing Tarzan and doing the yell and everything and upsetting the soldiers that were guarding the place, but I think the playfulness of a child really helps you deal with hard things and adults It's harder for them to deal with it because they don't have that,

Chris: 5:02

we all look at life through lenses, right? And our lenses are based off our experiences, which is why I think your story is so fascinating. Four languages, what are they?

Christian: 5:12

English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian.

Chris: 5:14

Wow. And was that through necessity as well or just curiosity?

Christian: 5:19

Yeah, basically after we left the refugee camp, we got asylum in Germany. So we went there for a while, then went to Russia. My mom was shell shocked. She wanted to go home. It was horrible. We lived in a communal apartment. It was like poverty, right? And then we ended up in Africa. My dad got a contract there. So basically I changed three continents and four countries by age seven. That was a lot, right? And not only, it's not even neighboring countries. These are like completely different cultures and languages and everything was different. For the first year I was in Mozambique, my dad tells me I went silent for a year. Like I wouldn't speak in public cause I was just confused, I think. And but then you get over it, and that's the beauty of dealing with things like that as a kid is that you adjust, you're much more flexible as a kid. So I ended up, when I landed there, I already spoke Russian and Spanish, they were my birth languages, my dad's Chilean, my mom's Russian. And They sent me to a local African school. I was the only non African guy. I think it was another, one more guy there. And that's it. You're, now you need to learn Portuguese, right? So I, I learned that in about a year. By just playing, going to school, you're immersed, right? You learn quickly. And then they go, okay, now you need to go to an international school where everything is in English. And so the next year after that, they sent me to this international school and I had to start over. So that's how I learned. It was definitely trial by fire, full immersion in necessity.

Chris: 6:47

And it just occurred to me I summarized your bio and I think I left out a pretty big part that I wanted to ask you about pop star your musical career. Yeah. Tell me about that. How did that come about? And. And how'd that end for you or do you still do it?

Christian: 7:02

It's it transitioned into my other endeavors, right? I've had five different careers. I, the way it happened was very bizarre because I basically, my parents got divorced. My mom wanted to go back to Russia. So me, my sister and I went with her and I went to college. And then literally as I was graduating from college. The Soviet Union implodes, like ceases to exist. 1991, right? And we went from an oppressive regime, like really terrible stuff, right? That I didn't enjoy at all, especially after experiencing freedom outside of it. You just don't like it. I did not like it. And it went from, to complete freedom, free market. Free speech free everything and I was like, you know All my friends are going to into finance and international trade and banking or academia and I've been musical my whole life I'm like, why don't I try this pop music thing? It's okay. I fail. I'll probably fail but What the heck? So I try, and it was just the timing, the, what I brought to the table probably was significantly in demand at the time, and I was literally on national television by the end of the year. It was instant, almost instant. It was just months before I, had the first success and it snowballed from there to, basically touring 15 different countries. That whole area was like a cultural ecosystem, right? So TV stations, radio stations were all broadcast everywhere. So once you get into that, into the hub, into the main TV stations, radio stations, you start seeing demand everywhere. So I ended up selling millions of albums, entertaining tens of thousands of people live and, the normal sort of pop star thing,

Chris: 8:44

it's normal. Yeah, the normal I got the same problem. Yeah.

Christian: 8:48

Yeah, exactly. So yeah, so that's that was my first professional success

Chris: 8:54

I guess the obvious question I don't know if you ever did it, but did you just get get tired of it or why that? You had multiple pivots.

Christian: 9:01

I did. Yeah, I have several pivots and you know I actually like telling the story and i'll tell you why You Because, one of the things that I do now is performance coaching. And I see this all the time. People reach a certain level of success, mastery, status, money, whatever, right? And because the world changes and you change, you become less and less satisfied with the thing that you're doing. just maybe five years ago made you very happy. But now you're stuck with it and make starting over or pivoting feels risky. You don't want to lose status, you don't want to lose money for sure. And people just Tau fed up way too long in places and situations that don't make them fully happy because we change, and the world changes. So the things that were important to us 5 10 years ago are not as important now and new things become important. So it's one of those things. I was on a train ride on tour. I had I traveled, I had 21 people working for me at the time. And it was banned as dancers, as managers. I had a cook who traveled with me cause I was a vegetarian at the time and the local food and places I went was horrible. Like it didn't work for me. And I was in this train and I was looking at, going from city to city. I was looking out the window and at this really specific thought. And it was, is this all there is for me? Very persistent, clear thought. And I remember going, almost being startled by the idea, because, when you're a musician, your odds of success are very low. And here I am, literally living the dream of, people would kill for this, right? And I'm dissatisfied. And I discovered that I had this, these dimensions of me that didn't fit into sort of this norm. Into the description of a musician who all they want to do is do music their whole lives. And I was just not that guy, right? So I was thinking about it more. I'm like, okay, you know what? I grew up all over the world and I'm like constrained to this 15, that territory, like post Soviet territory. And I'm bored with it. I want to travel the world. I want to do things in other places. I want to build a family. And my family was broken up. So I wanted to build a family that is not like the one I grew up in. And I knew that my lifestyle was not very conducive to it at all. I wanted to, I became a Christian when I was at the peak of my career. So I wanted to do some ministry work and help people spiritually. I wanted to philanthropy. I spoke four different languages and none of that was really mattered in that pop narrow pop niche. So there's all these different things. Parts of me that were dormant essentially and I'm like, you know what? I do you want to keep doing the thing? Yes, you're successful. Yes. Yes. You have a lot of status and fame and fortune But are you gonna do that for 20 years and leave all these wants and desires and aspirations and dreams? Just be there And I decided, no, I'm not okay with that. So I slowly transitioned out. I told my team, I wanted to transition out. They thought I was crazy. And yeah, that's how it happened.

Chris: 12:13

Wow. As you were talking, I was thinking, we all have corporate trainers, I've been working in corporate America for years, and there's a term called podium instructor. They, they should have struck from the podium reading the book. Yeah. They have no street creds. They haven't literally done the job to train, they're just, they're a podium instructor. That's right. You're not a podium instructor, man. You've no, even thus far we've hit on you, a thing or two about reinventing yourself. A thing or two about doing what's right. As a Christian myself, I guess what I love about your background you're okay with putting your faith out there, I actually have an episode where I interviewed a guy about your faith in the workplace how that can be a challenge for some folks he we started down the path exponential life. What was the point where you went from, managing partner at third drive and your investor, multiple different efforts and, doing good work in the world. When did you go, Hey, you know what? I think I could, I can help others. What led you to starting that exponential life that you're doing today, going on two years,

Christian: 13:11

yeah, it's the newest thing but it's also the oldest thing in this in a strange way and I think that's the backstory is that once I started shifting into understanding that my, just my musical talent is not enough to succeed in life, right? That I need to develop my character, my relationships, my romantic relationships, my friendships. There's just all these gaps in who I was. I had weaknesses and flat sides and blind spots essentially. And I realized that Relatively early. I think people usually, it catches up with them in their 40s, but because it's undealt with stuff. It caught up with me, and I don't know if it says just how broken up, like how messed up I am. I think yes. And not how smart I am because it just really all really messed me up at the peak of my career. So I pivoted and I started paying attention. That's why I became a Christian, right? I feel like I need to learn how moral frameworks. I need to change my worldview about certain things. So I got a lot of help in the gut. Essentially, my first coach was this Canadian missionary who I just clinked to him like he was Mr. Miyagi. And I would literally do whatever he says. And I was like, I was a big deal at the time. And for him, like he My crew was looking at this guy suspiciously because I would literally obey him and tell, tell me what to do You know, it was like who is this guy influencing our boy, right? And Because I realized he had something I didn't I had things that he didn't have like I had the ability to move You know, 20, 000 people in a show. I could dance and sing and write and entertain and choreograph. I could create a brand. I could start producing other bands. I did all these things, but there's these deeply personal character flaws, flat sides, right? Blind spots, things that I didn't even know how to begin to think about that I needed to develop so that I'm successful in a more holistic way. So that was in my mid twenties. And when I saw what a mentor can do for you. And how a mentor can accelerate, literally redirect the very trajectory of your life and accelerate your progress. That was where it clicked. Oh, if you pay attention to some people that have what you don't have, and you really earn their respect, earn their time, get, beg, steal, and whatever you have to do to be mentored by these people, they can change the very trajectory of your life. That's when it started, I think. Because it, what it did for me I started doing for other people even back then. Because I understood the mechanics of it, the, how it works and people started coming to me for advice and I coached five Olympic athletes and fashion designers and performers and business people. Even Russian mafia members, former Russian mafia members who had to, make some changes in life, so pivot just a little bit, from a life of crime. And And I, when I moved to the U. S., it's, I thought it was going to stop because I, I'm a foreigner, I'm an immigrant, who's, who will be interested in my guidance. And for some reason, it just didn't stop. Apparently, it was just something that people saw in me. I think what it was that I understood, I didn't know about high achievers. I didn't read about high achievers. I was one of them. And because of that, in my Like almost like endless appetite to learn how human beings flourish. People were attracted because I could just get them, it was almost like a gift. So it continued then in the U S and I've, coached a bunch of entrepreneurs, pretty high level entrepreneurs. So eventually, it dawned on me, I think I should probably start doing that in a more structured, organized way, and that's where exponential life came to me. Came into existence as almost like a structured program that I now lead.

Chris: 17:12

That's fantastic We need more of that in this world and i'm just grateful that Yeah, god probably is using you man. You've had some tough times. You have some great times all those pivots though that's what life's about. I feel like it's pivoting enough like i've been on a journey my entire life Yeah, doing the same thing. You said something that, that kind of made me think, so mentoring and coaching, is important, but you talked about being messed up and having some baggage. Do you see the value in even counseling, getting therapy, having a therapist even, is there a difference between a therapist and a life or a career coach?

Christian: 17:48

Yeah, I think there's a big difference and this is obviously broad strokes, right? This yeah, these are big categories, but in my mind If you're at a minus ten, minus five, you need a therapist to get you to zero, to get to baseline, right? If you're at zero and you want to go to plus five, plus ten, that's when you need a coach.

Chris: 18:08

That's a fantastic way of explaining it. Thank you.

Christian: 18:11

Yeah, if you have a, if you're unhealthy, you need to go first to the hospital, then to then to physical, therapy. Then you go to the gym, then you train for the Olympics after that. And another great

Chris: 18:24

analogy. I love analogies. That's a good one. Oh I'm a big, I think therapy and, it is a, it's so important because everyone has something they're dealing with. So I'm just maybe more than others. Some people hide it better than others, if you're listening and you're struggling with something, there is no shame in asking for help, call a friend, get a therapist, and maybe, and your insurance or something, or your local church. There's someone that will help you. If he. Have a hard time reach out to me. I'll listen to you. I'll find someone to help you. Heck, christian, He knows a thing or two about helping people, too That's true So looking back over all your coaching sessions, you've been doing this a while, 20 plus years officially, a couple of years, but again, you've been doing a long time and it's you're built for it. Is there any trends you see when it comes to people struggling with life and career?

Christian: 19:10

Oh, so many. It was, it's been so cool to, to focus on this like in depth because you start, obviously you start seeing trends, right? So I think one of them is this. Here's what I've noticed. So it's like life has these cycles or rhythms or seasons. Probably seasons is the best word. Because when you're a kid, you go to school, you go to college, you're a student. That's the student phase. And you're basically looking at the world from the outside, but you're not engaged in it. You're not messing around with it. You're just learning about it. It's different. Then from like your early 20s, you start entering adulting, what they call it, right? And you start and both professionally and in life. And now you're a practitioner of a thing, whatever that thing is, what you chose to do. And you probably are in that season of practitioner from maybe early twenties to probably mid thirties. Then you enter a new phase where you go from practitioner, your way around things to getting to a mastery phase. And that usually goes between 35 to maybe. I would say mid forties, maybe 50 is the mastery phase. You are now food, top of the food chain, senior positions, things like that. You just have this capacity this mastery. And then starting at around 50, 55 ish, you start basically transitioning into the fourth season, which is the sage season where you already have the mastery and you really enjoy teaching others and passing on wisdom. Because you have a level of essentially what you mentioned, right? Pattern recognition that cannot be acquired until they hit that stage. You just see how things work together. Around corners. It's wisdom. That's what it is. And you really start desiring to pass that wisdom on. I think it's embedded in us, these seasons in life. And the people that come, that usually come and want to work with me are usually at the breaking point of one of those seasons. They're like, they're transitioning because it needs, what took you, what took where you are now will not take you to the next place you want to go. And there's always this anxiety a little bit of a disoriented state that people are in, which is perfectly normal. And and that's the pattern I see. And it's really fascinating because just like you said, if you ask for help and you have somebody guide you, those transitional seasons are so much easier to go through and you go to almost like your next flow state, right? So much faster it accelerates all of it. And I'm a huge believer in all of what you said It's mentorship. It could be therapy. It could be mentorship, but it could be coaching whatever it takes Have someone guide you,

Chris: 22:03

you know growing up I think I remember eight years old is when I first got introduced to the church and faith and organized religion You know as i've grown i've I've learned I'm less about organized religion. I'm just more about a relationship with God. And and as a Christian, of course I believe in Jesus and I know listeners, you may have different, maybe you don't. But like you said, at some point you have to have something to believe in bigger than yourself, and that's not why I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian because I believe that is the way, the truth and the light. But You mentioned something around, you mentioned stress and anxiety, cause that's one of the most common, in the Bible anyway, he talks about, do not worry, let your heart not be troubled. But so many, even me, I know this and I still worry about stuff. I get anxiety, I get stressed out about stuff and I'm constantly coaching myself going, Chris, take a breath. The sun's coming. I love that the play Annie, the movie Annie, the sun's going to come out tomorrow. You're only a day away. That's one of my favorite lines. It's corny and cheesy. I know it's amazing what 24 hours can change things in perspective, but tell me a little bit more about, what's your approach to dealing with anxiety and stress and is even a worthy exercise.

Christian: 23:10

Oh it's not only a worthy exercise. It is a core necessity if you want to lead a successful life. And I'll tell you why. Even if you're on neutral, let's say you're going with the flow with life. Even if you're not neutral, you're not accelerating, you're not taking a lot of risks, you're not building a new company, starting a new whatever, right? Pivoting into a new career. You're just on, you're just basically coasting. Just on neutral, life will still stress you out. It's just the nature of the human experience. You will have illness, relational problems, toxic people around you, your boss your favorite boss leaves, an idiot boss arrives, all of those things. Stress is ever present. It just never goes away. It never goes away. I don't care who you are, how rich you are, how successful you are. It never goes away as a backdrop. Now, if you want to do anything of significance in life, Meaning, earn more, build something, change the world, serve people, love the poor, have spiritual influence in the world. You're asking for more stress. That's just the price of doing that. Anything worth building is stressful. Everything is stressful. You are literally asking for a much more stressed field life. If you want to do, if you're an entrepreneur, if you're an artist. So the reason I tell you this is that is just a non negotiable. So if you want to, even if you want to coast successfully, you need to figure out how to manage stress. If you want to build something, you have to be, you have to be a, a Navy SEAL in stress management. The number one reason why startups fail is not because the idea is bad, it's because people crumble. I literally had a conversation with a venture capitalist today, where even the venture capital world, Is going, you know what, we don't, we can't just invest money in people, we need to invest in the people that will make this money, give us a return on investment, it is the most stressful work job to be a startup founder. It's unbelievably hard. People lose marriages over it. Anyway, I'm just giving you a backdrop. It is a absolute cornerstone of what I do in coaching and basically the in broad strokes There's I can talk about this for hours because i'm passionate about it But the cornerstone of it for me is how do you start the day when you wake up in the morning? You're my you will have a full tank of emotional energy. You're rested right? Hopefully you slept and You immediately get hit but what you're behind the to do list And on top of that, layers and layers of other worries and concerns, right? Financial worries, health worries, relational stress, that kind of thing. And then, if you allow yourself to basically, for your brain to go into that direction, it goes into autopilot mode immediately, and that's it. Your day is filled with reactive survival mode, behavior, and thinking. That's it. And most of us, not only live like that every day, we'll live like that for decades. And it's the reason why we don't see breakthroughs and successes. If that we don't know how to break free of that. And you can totally break free of that. That's what I get excited about that, right? So sometimes it takes a while, depending on. Your baseline, how low is your baseline? If you're like on burnout level, it takes a little bit of time to normalize it to normal and then you go from minus to zero and then to plus ten, right? But I think everybody can make that transition with proper training and practice and really focus on the practices. So what I work on with people is how do you spend your first hour will define your day? And basically the outcome that I expect and that I predictably get. is I can teach you how to go from stress and anxious to excited, creative, peaceful in an hour. And I want you to be able to have that predictably happen to you every single day. Predictably, like reliably. It's a not, it's not if I can do it, but how I can do it and you will be by the end of the day at the very worst case scenario, you'll be back to normal, right? The reason why is that's important because if you know predictably that you can win the day, then you can win the week. Imagine what your week would look like if you're not reactive survival mode working, but you're creating new things all week. You know how It's

Chris: 27:54

great.

Christian: 27:55

That would be a leap for you, right? Yeah. Now multiply that by 50 something weeks in the year. It's a different life. It's not just a different day or a different week. It's a different life. That's basically, I really, I'm a huge believer in that. I think it's a necessity. It's a cornerstone. Of a successful high performance life.

Chris: 28:17

Christian, that's some deep stuff. Guys, if you're listening, check the transcripts, man, you want you want to go back and reread that and hear that again. So much of life, we do have we started off this conversation, you have a choice. You don't have to live a life of fear and anxiety and I love what you're doing there because I do. Yeah, sometimes we need that guide, someone to say, Hey, there's a better way. You don't have to do it this way. Yeah,

Christian: 28:39

yeah. Big

Chris: 28:39

believer in that, as we wrap up here is there anything we haven't covered Christian? Is there any last words you want to leave us with?

Christian: 28:47

I think for me, I would say this one, maybe a word of inspiration for you and your listeners. It's very natural for human beings because we're tribal, because we really crave approval of the tribe, and we fear rejection of the tribe. That's incredible. That's like thousands of years old. It's hardwired into it, into us. Because of that hardwiring the downside of that is that we, When we think about a future we want to build we usually aim, the vast majority of people aim for the middle, not high. And that's the worst decision you can make about planning your future and in going towards it. Because think about it. If most people aim for the middle and not high aspiration, high ambition, what is the most crowded place?

Chris: 29:39

Yeah, the middle.

Christian: 29:40

It's the middle. So you're literally aiming for the place where it's, there's not a lot of. Place under the sun. It's the most competitive. The hardest to actually win in. Because you aim for the middle. And everybody aims for the middle. But instead of that, what you need to do is aim higher. There's less competition, more freedom, more choice. And it's actually easier. It is actually easier to get there. Because most people fear going there in the first place. And all you have to figure out is, Okay, I'm gonna aim high. And what are the steps? on how to get there. What are resources that I need? What kind of guidance do I need? What kind of lifestyle changes do I need to make to be this high performance person that makes a difference, puts a dent in the universe. So the parting thing that I want to share with your listeners is aim high. Don't aim for the middle. It's much better to do that. It's easier to do that and you're going to be happier because it's much more fulfilling.

Chris: 30:42

Make the choice. You don't have to live this life of mediocrity and unfulfilling lack of ambitions or whatnot. So that's a great place to leave it. Christian, aim high seek coaches and mentors. If you need counseling, get it. Have a lot more control. We have a lot more control over our future than we think we do. Some folks, that's a whole nother conversation. I know we're running out of time, but man, what a great conversation. I really appreciate it. I'll definitely check the show notes, folks. I'll have some links. To learn more how to get in touch with Christian and his organization, learn more about him. You gotta check out some of his YouTube videos, some cool videos there. I gotta ask you that, that poster in the back, is that you from another time or is that another famous artist?

Christian: 31:22

No, that's Prince. That's Prince. Yeah. I can't

Chris: 31:26

quite make it out from here. I thought it was Prince, but

Christian: 31:29

yeah, it is Prince. Yeah. It is Prince. I have a Prince picture. And then I have a Banksy print that says dream big dreams. And that's those are my two in my office.

Chris: 31:38

Nice. A big fan, going way back.

Christian: 31:43

Yeah, Prince, Michael Jackson, there's a few others but those were the people that were very formative for me musically. I can imagine. And yeah I was just, I think without them even my music would be very different when I was doing it. And I ended up actually having Michael Jackson come to one of my events, which was pretty amazing.

Chris: 32:02

That is pretty amazing.

Christian: 32:03

Really fantastic. Yeah. I'm telling you, dream big dreams and things happen that you would never think would happen otherwise.

Chris: 32:10

Did you commission that or was that when the banks, you just did the dream Big dreams? Did that, did you ask for that? No, I just,

Christian: 32:15

I saw it somewhere and I knew that they have to sell reprints somewhere, right? Yeah. Okay. So I just found it online and I ordered it because I thought, oh, that was what a great print. Yeah. And it's a print, if you can't see it clearly, it's a boy. Looking at a wall and then the words dream big dreams are written on the wall with a graffiti type style So yeah, I just remember that boy, I was that boy

Chris: 32:37

Yeah, and that's that's even a almost a better place to leave it. Having that big dream because nothing happens if you don't at least dream at first and then yeah

Christian: 32:45

Nothing put a

Chris: 32:45

plan in place to move toward. It's one thing to dream about it But you got to do something about it too, right? That's

Christian: 32:51

exactly it Yeah, and if you're if you guys if your audience, would like To learn just to get more of that kind of stories, methods, strategies you can, I have a free newsletter that goes out every Sunday, and you can find it at ChristianRayFlores. com. It's very easy to remember, just my full name. And it's basically all the best stuff that I find that can help somebody in, on that journey, I basically put in my newsletter.

Chris: 33:16

Fantastic. Again, I'll have that link in the show notes Christian, thank you so much for your time. I know you're a busy guy. You got a lot going on. I'm glad we were to get this pulled together. I really appreciate it. Thank you.

Christian: 33:27

Thank you, Chris.

Chris: 33:29

And thank you for listening. Again, if you're a long time listener, I really appreciate it. We're coming up on a hundred episodes. I try to put out as many as we can, as we're likely to get two or three out of months. We'd appreciate you guys listening and being patient with it. And again, if you heard anything you like, please share it, pass it along and thank you and have a great remainder of your day. And we'll see you next time on the wireless way.