A New Definition of ‘Millionaire’ with Giovanni Marsico - EP 012

 

 

In this episode, I’m sitting down with Giovanni Marsico–the CEO and founder of Archangel, a global community of entrepreneurs on a mission to impact millions of people together. Giovanni is a 2x EMMY® award-winning producer, creating a new genre he calls 'real-life superhero movies' with films like DREAMER and HERO to inspire millions of people to dream bigger, unleash their gifts, and change the world. 

In our time together, he shares his experience transitioning from an incredibly successful but ultimately unfulfilling career in real estate, to developing his ‘soulmate’ business, Archangel, and the impact he’s creating by doing so. 

Giovanni has a mission to redefine the word “millionaire” as someone who impacts a million people–and gets paid for it. In our time together he shares a powerful way to measure impact, that’s not based on the dollars in your bank account. 

 

Listen in as we discuss: 

• How he’s curated a community to fill the void he experienced as an entrepreneur
• His unique and powerful approach to goal setting
• How collecting stories can be a powerful metric for success
• How there’s no such thing as failure when you treat it all like an experiment
• How he’s crafting experiences for people to be the hero of their own journey

 

Takeaways

• Find work that is fulfilling and meaningful, even if it means transitioning from a successful career in another industry.
• Redefine success and being a millionaire to mean impacting a million people and getting paid for it.
• Set impact goals and focus on creating connections and telling stories to attract like-minded individuals.
• Stay grounded and prepared during events by trusting in your skills and experience, and focusing on serving others.
• Engage in activities that bring you joy and recharge your energy, such as watching movies and working out.

 

Episode Chapters

00:00 - Finding Fulfillment and Meaning in Your Work

08:19 - Redefining Success: Impacting a Million People

13:37 - The Power of Storytelling and Connection

36:26 - Engaging in Joyful Activities for Recharging

 

I hope you enjoy our conversation!

 

You can connect with Giovanni and learn more about his work at:

https://www.archangel.cc/ 

https://www.instagram.com/giovannimarsicoofficial/ 

 

If you’re ready to have a deeper conversation about how to maximize impact, profit and pleasure in your business and life, you can schedule a time to connect with me right here >>> 

Did this message resonate with you? If you are enjoying the show, it would mean so much to me if you would take a few minutes to leave a review. Reviews like yours help podcasters like me get my podcast into the ears of more people. Thank you in advance for taking a minute to share your kind words.

 

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Episode Transcript

Rachel (00:36.863)

Hello and welcome to Pleasure & Profits I’m your Host Rachel Anzalone and today we have a really special guest. 

I met this guest back in 2019 first on a Zoom meeting and then eventually in person and in both cases I was really astounded by what I believe are some really incredible and rare qualities that we talk about in our conversation today, as well as his unique and powerful approach to goal setting, how he brings joy into his life every day and every week, and a new definition of Millionaire that I think you will love. 

My guest today is Giovanni Marsico - the CEO and founder of Archangel - a global community of entrepreneurs on a mission to impact millions of people together.  He's also a 2x EMMY® award-winning producer, creating a new genre he calls 'real-life superhero movies' with films like DREAMER and HERO to inspire millions of people to dream bigger, unleash their gifts, and to change the world.

I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Welcome to the show Giovanni, I’m so honored and grateful that you’re here with me today and we get to spend this time together. 

I would love for you to start by sharing how Archangel came to be, what your mission is with this organization and I think a natural part of that story is your approach to goal setting because I think it reflects very much on how Archangel came to be.

 

Giovanni Marsico (01:01.086)

Well, it originally started because I needed community for myself. I started joining different groups and attending different conferences and mastermind events.

And I had so much or I gained so much value from everything I did, but I always felt like an alien and thought, I really wish there was a community of people like me. So I thought, okay, well, there isn't. So I'm going to have to create it myself. And this was while I was in the real estate space in Toronto.

So the first event I ever did was January 2014. In Toronto, we had 100 people. It was awesome and it felt like a side thing for me at the time just to satisfy this need I had to be around people like me.

And when I say people like me, I mean entrepreneurial thinkers and people with big dreams to impact a lot of people who cared deeply about the impact and making a lot more money to make a lot more impact, not choosing one or the other. I felt like I was either around a group of people who all it was was, how do we make more money? And then other groups of people who thought, we want to change the planet some way, but money's evil. And for me, it was, no, wait a minute. It's actually, what if there was a synergy of both of those things? And that's how it all started. And then did some events in California as well, some connection mastermind events for people like us, and it just kind of took off. And then by 2016, I decided to quit real estate, go all in with Archangel, and start doing bigger events. And we did our first summit in September of 2016. We got 1,500 people, 1,500. Wow. And then it just kept going. So that's how it started.

And then the second second question was around goal setting. I am. I mean, the way I've done this has evolved over time. I've always been a big dreamer and set goals beyond what I thought was possible because that's what inspires me. That's not probably useful for everybody. It might be scary for some people. But now I have a different or an evolved framework based on that, which is I set two types of goals. One I call destiny goals and another I call Odyssey goals, O -D -Y -S -E -Y. So the destiny goals are way into the future, ridiculous, almost impossible things as a North Star, as a compass in terms of direction, especially around big projects or big impact. And then the Odyssey goals are, how am I going to live my days to become the person that can make the destiny goals of reality. So it's about habits and ritual and skill acquisition and identity evolution and behaviors and personality. 

So it's about literally whatever, it's something I call identity engineering and becoming an evolved version of yourself that can make the dreams happen.

 

Rachel (00:02.319)

Was there something that you found when you started doing the work for Archangel that you found to be more fulfilling or more satisfying that you decided to go fully in that direction versus just continuing to do the real estate business and grow the real estate business with these other tools that you were developing?

 

Giovanni Marsico (0:01.086)

It's, uh, yes, the answer is yes. And, and it's easier to identify it looking backwards. It's, it's more of a challenge when you're in it. Right. But I remember speaking to my now wife, um, at the time we were friends and getting to know each other in like 2016 where the analogy I created was that real estate was like a bad marriage of convenience and Archangel was finding my soulmate. 

And it was, I needed the contrast to figure out how painful the real estate thing was and painful meaning, uh, and even more challenging because I was very successful at it. I was very good. I was winning awards. I was being featured in magazines. So it wasn't that I was struggling or that I sucked at it. It was something that I was really good at. 

Um, making really good money, um, and at the top of this specific industry in Toronto. So it was even more of a challenge because why would I leave that? You know, if, um, you're speaking to anyone and I know someone listening right now is in this situation where they have a reputation for being successful in a specific field or, or niche, uh, or industry and secretly they hate it, but how do you tell people that?

Because then you're gonna feel weird or you're worried about what people think. And I transitioned organically and slowly, right? So I started building, it took me, it was at least a two year window between starting Archangel and then leaving Real Estate. And I think that was the smart thing to do, but it was also kind of painful doing both, but it was what I had to do. And then the challenge for people will be even leaving the first thing at all. Um, because it may be a security blanket. It may also be a comfort zone. So there's that risk of what if, what if, but I, um, the real estate got so painful that I, it was just too hard not to leave. 

And then the first signal I received that I was making a good decision was at the beginning of 2015. I had just done my second Los Angeles mastermind event that I was producing. And I came back to Toronto, I was driving on the highway and I had an emotional thing happen where I called it a bliss attack. I didn't even know what to call this thing because I've had bad panic attacks in the past.

So I know what that feels like. And this was like the exact opposite. It felt like every positive emotion being shot through me, like a lightning bolt to the point where I was sobbing. I had to pull over. Um, I thought what is happening? And it felt like my body was, my body's internal compass saying you're finally in the right direction. Uh, and I listened to that and, and I think our bodies are sometimes way smarter than our brains, right? And, uh, it was that kind of guidance that led me to making an informed decision that this was the right path. 

And the work I was doing was my art. It felt meaningful. It was very fulfilling. And I was surrounded by people who respected me and who lit me up. And being lit up is such an important part of this work not just what I do, but for anybody. If you can find a work that is challenging, that is, it feels like your art or your craft where you're getting better and better and then people admire you for what you're doing, and then you build a brand or reputation around it, and you like the people.

Like I was very good at real estate. I just, I connected to the people.

 

Rachel (04:53.987)

Well, you have a habit of bringing together some pretty incredible people, and I have firsthand experience of that and truly have been impressed with one of your groups that I'm a participant in, which is synergy and really just the energy of contribution and caring and really people lifting each other up and excellence. 

So I think that is definitely something that you execute on well and you attract people around you who are really, I think, quality people. I think your point about this idea that there are people who are pursuing profit at any cost, and then there are people who really want to have impact, and there's this psychology or this belief that the money is evil and that you can't make money and have an impact and how those two really bump up against each other is something I'm really passionate about. 

It's part of the purpose of this podcast really is to talk about that, of how you can have impact and live a prosperous life and live a life that you love, that you're passionate about, that you're excited about. I think it's interesting that continues to be, like that was 10 years ago you were talking about, right? I've also been in this space for about 14 years.

And it's incredible that is just such a pervasive belief. And so you've created something that I think is really interesting as part of your mission around creating millionaires. And I would love for you to share a little bit about what your definition is of a millionaire and then how that intersects with this idea of having a profitable business and making an impact.

 

Giovanni Marsico (06:47.198)

I part of my personal, I guess, mission is to redefine that word millionaire to mean someone who impacts a million people and, and gets paid for it. Right. So, so the, I should add that as a caveat. And those are the people I want to surround myself with because that, those are the people who light me up where they are entrepreneurial. They're running a business for profit, which I always laugh at those phrases for profit, nonprofit. Like the phrase nonprofit is the only phrase I ever know that describes what you're not. But I, it's so, I believe that it's totally okay to do really, really well financially if you are doing really, really well for other people.

And it's more about them than it is about you. I think that might be the biggest distinction where the people in our world, we do it for others. Versus, and not that we're not doing it for ourselves because we want to become the best versions of ourselves. We wanna improve our lives, our families, our environments, our living conditions, all those things. And it's at the service of what we're doing to impact a lot more people. So I Um, not only want to redefine the word, I want to help a thousand people become millionaires in the next few years.

 

Rachel (08:19.723)

And millionaires by impacting lives of a million people.

Beautiful. And so that I think comes back to this, the idea of the goal setting, which I know you said it's evolved over the years. But I've heard you talk about it a lot recently, especially probably because we're going into this kind of New Year season. It's the time of year where people are reflecting on their past year and the year we're moving into and what those goals look like. And one of the things I've heard you talk about is moonshots.

And then you've just mentioned Odyssey goals, destiny goals. And I'm curious what your experience has been when you do focus on impact instead of the sort of tangible, you know, material things. If you've seen that help you get there faster, or if you've seen that has, I don't know, impeded or created any challenges for you along the way.

 

Giovanni Marsico (09:24.158)

It's probably a combination of both. I think that when you have a really big vision for change you wanna make in the world that means something to you that is in alignment with your values, that it becomes a magnet for other people who care about the same thing. And so, like imagine Rachel, I said, well, let me actually tell you this, you know, my three new moon shots that I set this year for the next few years, the first one I told you is to help a thousand people become millionaires. 

The next one is to produce a film that wins both an Academy award and, um, a Nobel peace prize at the same time. And you know, we, we've started producing films. So that's another thing we do. Um, and the third one is in the year 2028 to have a million people attend our events in the same, like, so 1 million tickets within that 12 month period.

We're, we're, we're planning on doing a big arena tour, filling arenas around the world for our big summit events. So I see this as, um, impact for all the people that attend. And that's how I'm going to become a millionaire. Like to have a million people attend my events in a year where these events are transformative. They're helping them become their best selves. Like the model is change yourself, change the world kind of thing. And, um, it's not about me. My, what I'm not saying is, Hey, my moonshot is to make a billion dollars in the next 12, 12 years or something. It's, it's not about what's going to happen for me. What happens for me is the byproduct of what's happening for them.

And I think people can rally around the vision goals versus the personal stuff.

 

Rachel (11:16.255)

Yeah. Yeah, I think especially when we're talking about people who really do have the desire to create impact, that it's easier to rally around an impact goal. I know I've struggled with this myself in goal setting is that often, so many coaches and people in the online entrepreneur space will have various approaches to goal setting. And often it's about how many sales do you want to do? What's the dollar amount you want to hit?

What kind of program do you want to launch, those types of things? And I've always found I could set those goals, but then they just feel really arbitrary. They're not actually based on something that's super meaningful to me. And so it becomes a challenge to actually work towards those goals, where when you're talking about a goal like impacting a certain number of lives, and then you start to look at, okay, what are the mechanics to get me to be able to impact those lives? Well, I'm going to have to enroll a certain number of people in trainings, or I'm going to have to reach a certain number of people with my podcast, for example. And that becomes much more, I think, much more personal. It becomes something that feels really connected versus just an arbitrary number that I think is where often we get lost.

 

Giovanni Marsico (12:38.25)

I think part of the challenge or part of the puzzle is that money is an easy metric, meaning it's a great measuring stick for progress, but not everyone cares about using it as the measuring stick. The unfortunate thing is that what's the alternative? How do you measure impact? I came up with a new one this year that I thought, this is the one that I like for me.

Um, and if you're listening or watching, feel free to use this, um, and it's collecting stories. So how many stories can we collect over the next year? And by stories, meaning people whose lives have been transformed in some way where they're literally sharing their transformation story back to us saying because of Archangel or because of this event or because of whatever here's what happened, right? And to me, those stories are everything. And we've already, we've had it happen organically, but I thought, well, what if we actually paid attention to tracking these stories and collecting them? That is the currency that I love the most.

 

Rachel (13:55.747)

Yeah, because it's real proof. Like I think that's beautiful proof. You know, you could collect the dollars from somebody, but that doesn't mean that you actually help them in a meaningful way, right?

And so that.

 

Giovanni Marsico (14:08.355)

Yeah. And I'll also share, putting back my entrepreneurial hat. Um, those stories are the best marketing.

 

Rachel (14:17.387)

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And storytelling is something that you're super passionate about and have started to do, like you said, with your movie making. And that's how we met, actually, was through a film that you were producing and an event you were producing. And one of the things that I found really, I think it was surprising and kind of I'm still astounded by is when we first met on a Zoom call, we were connected by your partner in the film, Nick Nanton, on behalf of one of my clients, Lisa Nichols. We got on a phone call together to talk about Lisa potentially being in the film and speaking at your event. First, I was shocked that I got on the phone and it was you and just you and there wasn't, you know assistants and managers and sort of all these people around doing kind of that, the dirty work that you were like right there with me having the conversation and your presence and your groundedness in that conversation. But then when I actually came to the event in 2019, where how many people were at that event?

 

Giovanni Marsico (15:31.643)

Uh, 2,500.

 

Rachel (15:33.059)

2,500 people. And it was a multi-day event and there was a lot going on. And you were the calmest person in the room. You were calm, focused, grounded, present. And I just was completely floored. And I think it speaks to your character. And it also, I think, speaks to how you stay focused on your goals and how you stay connected to what's important to you.

I would love for you to share just sort of like what's behind that? Is it the daily practices? Is it, you know, what do you do to keep yourself grounded as you're doing these really incredible

 

Giovanni Marsico (16:15.778)

Thank you first of all for noticing it. I've had a lot of people say that to me, which is so much fun, especially friends of mine who are masterful event producers. And then they'll come visit me at my event thinking, what's wrong with you? How are you so calm? Or also when I speak, I have the privilege of producing really big events with the best but I also get to see them backstage right before they're on stage. All the, and like hundreds of speakers who are very highly paid, very professional, the probably the best in the world. And every single one of them has their own process for how they prep for stage time. Many of them have massive anxiety, um, and not from a negative place, but it's because they care so much. And, and so they have, some people do pushups. Some have the most amazing med meditation techniques. Some have, um, like audio devices where they're listening to very specific soundtracks, that they all have their own things. I'm not going to reveal anyone's thing because that's their own private thing. But my thing is I just don't get nervous because of how much I think effort and work I've put into understanding how anxiety works and how much we're in control of that emotion more than we think we are or how it's more of a byproduct of thought. Right? 

So if you are worried of what's going to happen when you're on stage, using stage as an example, because that's often the biggest fear for people speaking in front of others. If you feel like there's a giant spotlight on you and the attention is inward towards you, that's what causes that anxiety. What if I mess up? What if I say the wrong thing? But if you, I have this visual in my head that you spin the spotlight 180 degrees and shine it on the audience where you're completely in the dark on state. They can't see you at all and you see them brightly and you make it all about them. You don't have time to be anxious because you're there to serve. And I think that's part of how I started reframing the, the anxiety of it all. Um, and, and knowing and part of it is also capability and confidence. 

The more you do something, the less anxiety you have around doing it. If it's your first time ever on stage, you're going to be nervous because it's novel. Like anything that's new creates anxiety. But another thing I've done lately is I've made myself uncomfortable on purpose, like proactive discomfort. I call it. And, and because if I'm in control of the discomfort, uh, it becomes less scary when it's reactive because it's just another thing to be cool with. Like we have a cold plunge in the house now as an example that, you know, dive or not diving, but taking a bath in super freezing water is not comfortable, but the first time is the worst because it's scary, it's new. Now we're just so used to it. I actually, yesterday it was minus three degrees Celsius, which I can never do the conversion, but I think it's 20, let's say 28 Fahrenheit.

 

Rachel (19:37.079)

Yeah, probably about 28.

 

Giovanni Marsico (19:39.779)

I went outside in just shorts and like no shirt, no, just shorts in that cold. And I was not even affected by it. I haven't just soaked. And we go to the gym every morning at 6 a.m. in the freezing cold. And I'm always wearing a t-shirt and everyone's bundled up in these. This is in Toronto, Canada. Everyone's bundled up in these coats and hats. And I've just, I've gotten used to the discomfort of cold.

It's not uncomfortable anymore. And that bleeds out into everything else. And it's so much easier for me to remain grounded and calm. Like the, the word is a quantum. I learned that word a couple of years ago and I just love it. Where it's like being able to stay completely peaceful internally while there's external crisis. And it really, I think manifested for me in 2020. So, um, you know, March, April of 2020, the whole world shuts down, everyone's freaking out and I wasn't scared. And I thought this is weird, but I should probably step up and help a lot more people because I can.

 

Rachel (20:48.407)

Yeah, that word equanimous or equanimity, I think is really interesting. I remember learning that in a yoga class many years ago where so often we talk about balance and a lot of yoga teachers will talk about balance, but in contrast or I guess in comparison, the term equanimity is not about being like static, right? It's that there's always a push-pull and that you trust that you have the ability to like manage the push-pull. And that's where you develop the internal strength. There's a level of trust there, which is also what I hear you saying. I think back to that event in 2019 where there's 2,500 people. I've been a participant at a lot of events. I've also been behind the scenes of a lot of events. I've been in places where there were five or six guests and the host was losing their mind. To think there's 2,500 people in the room and the team and the staff and the production and all of that and to be able to stay that grounded I can only assume that there has to be a tremendous amount of trust and the work that was done ahead of time and the preparation and And I won't say who but I did have the experience of hearing Someone right before walking on stage Literally in front of a massive room of people say Stepping out of the green room I wonder what I'm going to talk about. 

And just thinking like, wow, like the amount of trust that you have in yourself to know that you have a window of time and that the right thing to say will come. That is a brilliant skill set that, again, I think you said comes from a lot of experience. And it sort of plays with this back and forth that we have around like being a student and constantly learning and refining and then getting to a place where you just trust that you've got it and you go do the work. And I sense for you at this time that you, in my experiences around you these days, that you have a tremendous amount of trust in your skills, your experience, your ability to deliver and just allowing things to unfold. Do you think that that's accurate or is there a lot of behind the scenes sort of figuring it out that you just hide so well because you're so calm and grounded in the moment.

 

Giovanni Marsico (23:22.026)

It's, it's, it's a combination. It's trust. Um, it's experience, uh, and expertise with experience of, of doing something a lot and failing and, but failing from, because everyone has a, let me explain my, my definition of failure. I, I use the paradigm of scientists, right? So if, if you're a scientist in a lab doing research, and you're doing experiments, uh, you're trying to solve for a puzzle and every time you try, it either succeeds or it fails. But a failed experiment doesn't feel like failure that most people experience where they, they call themselves a loser or whatever, whatever negative language they have. It's, it's detached from the scientist. 

And to me, that's what that's how I see failure. It's it's fun. It's like it's experimentation. And I love being a scientist. So it's not necessarily a negative. It's um, and the more you do it, the, the more educated guesses you make where it actually never really bombs. Um, like I've had some ideas that just didn't really work, but then they, created a foundation for something else that was way better. And even at that event that you came to, because I experiment at every event, that keeps me excited and it creates novelty for me. And most people don't even know what's happening. It's just me trying to figure out new things of new ways of doing things. At that event, if you remember, first of all, the stage itself, well, we had a 200 foot screen with projection mapping, which is this crazy technology that does all kinds of crazy things. Then we had a stage that projected out like a catwalk, like a T catwalk. And then we designed all of the seating in a rat, like a, a circular thing. Like imagine 2,500 people, um, in a, in, in the round, which is an event term.

And it was the most complicated seating. And to the point where at the first break, like everyone was in the wrong seat. We actually had to tell people, hey, everyone out of the room, when you're coming back, we're gonna put you in the right seats, right? Like logistically, it was a bit of a nightmare for us. And yet we are, the team handled it perfectly. It was a bit of a frustration for people who were in the wrong seats because they were getting more than they invested in. But we made it right. 

And it was perfect for the rest of the day. And then there's other, all kinds of crazy backstage stuff that happens. But this is another point that I have, or another great lesson for anybody that isn't just about events, it's about life, which is whatever happens was supposed to happen and you don't have to reveal the backstage stuff. What's most important is the front stage experience of your clients, if you're in business, right? So, and I'll give you a specific example. We never released the agenda of our events.

We never say this person is speaking at this time, this person is speaking at that time. And that's through experience because things always change. We had in 2017, we had our speaker agenda and lineup and it was perfect. And then one of the speakers had to fly out early and had to shift things around. And if we had told people this person is speaking at this time, and then we changed it, that decreases confidence.

But when you don't share anything and then the experience unfolds for the audience in an amazing way, and that's up to us backstage to figure out how to make sure it's always amazing. Um, they don't care. It's only when you tell them there, there's a change that there's an issue. See what I'm saying? Right? So, so you can keep the backstage stuff backstage. It's kind of like seeing a duck float on water. It looks so calm and serene and then their feet underneath are going nuts. But above water, it's perfect.

 

Rachel (27:40.083)

Yeah. And, you know, having just done, spent a day with you in a, one of your VIP days of the small group. I remember before I was going, a couple of people were like, well, what are you, what are you doing at it? I was like, well, I have no idea. I'm just showing up and whatever it will be, it will be perfect. And of course it was. And that was sort of the consensus from everybody that has attended these days that I've heard is like, I didn't know what I was showing up for. I didn't know what I needed. I just got exactly what I needed. And it was an incredible experience. And that's part of what you've done, like with the filmmaking and the events is like your, and back to the storytelling is that you're crafting a story and an experience for people, not just delivering an event, not just delivering a curriculum, right? And that's such a powerful approach, I think.

And maybe like a next level, like, you know, we really have to get our feet underneath us first of, you know, what is my message? What am I teaching? You know, the bones of the work. And then we can start to create these really beautiful, incredible things like you've created, experiences that are really incomparable to anything anyone else is doing. And so I'm curious.

As you've gone, obviously, there's all these sort of behind the scenes. Has there ever been anything that you faced in the evolution of the business that really was a true growing pain where you felt like you had to kind of go back to the drawing board or scrap something altogether? Is there anything that you have found that you feel comfortable sharing about that really kind of set you to go, oh, wait, that's not the path that I want to go down?

 

Giovanni Marsico (29:36.663)

I've evolved. So the company launched in 2014. So, um, 2024 is our 10 year anniversary. And it started off as, you know, if you asked me what business I was in, I would have probably said in the past, I'm in the events space. I produce events and that led me to add coaching in 2019 and memberships, which was amazing. And, um, I can't credit how smart I, like, I didn't have telepathy or, uh, I wasn't a fortune teller to figure out that COVID was about to happen. But if you were someone in the event space in 2020, that was challenging. And we were supposed to do a big summit in September, 2020 with 4,000 people that we couldn't because of COVID. Uh, so we, did an even bigger online event with 7,000 people called Dreamer Festival. That was connected to our first film project. And that was a whole new experience because we had to build a studio. I had to learn how to be a TV host because it was all done with cameras and it was wild. Um, and managing 7,000 people on zoom was like, you know, we had a team of, of 20 people on, on computers. It was nuts and fun. Uh, and you know, this year. So in 2023, being specific for the, I guess, the interview and the podcast here, part of me said, I'm people, people say I'm really great at coaching. Um, I'm either good or great. 

And I've let go of coaching that I've done to make space for the things that are my zones of genius, which are connection and production and dreaming really big and these higher level things that I consider my art. And the group that you're in, Archangel Synergy, we've evolved it to being a gift where it used to be 20,000 a year. Now it's, I'm still curating every single member, and there's an interview process, but we're not gonna charge you for the membership.

You only have to pay for events, um, but we still deliver weekly and, and every time we do it, I'm still leading it, but it's not from a coaching place anymore. It's more of connection and mastermind and bringing other incredible speakers in and trainers, because that's what I love doing the most. Right. And, and that group has gone from 20 people to 170. So it's, it's been an amazing year. And that was from the frustration of I really want to be doing more events.

And even the VIP day that you came to, um, I'm not sure if you know the story of how that even started, but I was having dinner with a friend of mine, uh, his name is John sticks. And during the dinner, um, we're talking about our events and he said, you know, this is your thing. And I said, yeah, I, if I could do an event every day, I would. And I left that dinner thinking, why don't I, let me find a way to do more events. And, and so those VIP days became just a new way of me creating my art. And it lights me up. And to me, that's, if you find that kind of work that is challenging, that allows you to tap into your superpowers, that impacts people in an amazing way and energizes you. Like I think, I believe there are four, there's probably more, but there are four currencies that I think are super important and money is the last one. Right, so the first one is time. And if you understand time as a currency, we even use phrases like how do you spend your time? The word spend or invest your time. And the next one is energy and then relationships and then money. Because to me, it's not awesome if you're making a lot of money, if you're also, if your batteries are drained. But if you get to make a lot of money helping people that you love, which is the relationships and it charges your batteries, that's as important or probably even more important because then it's more meaningful.

 

Rachel (34:12.447)

Yeah. What I think is really interesting, what you just said about the synergy group and about cutting back on the coaching is that, A, you are a great coach, just in this kind of one-on-one environments and even in the Facebook group and on our calls and stuff. But what I think is the most powerful thing about the group is your ability and your desire to help other people to shine and to allow everyone who has some level of expertise to really share and showcase their expertise versus you positioning yourself as like the authority who's here to coach and sort of like bestow your wisdom on everyone. And I think that's actually the most incredible thing about the group. 

And because I didn't know that you were like, that you had intentionally shifted away from more of this coaching and the way that you described to more about curating community and all of that. I didn't realize that the connection between those things, but I actually think it's the most powerful thing about the group and about what you do there. I don't know if that's surprising to you or if that really was intentional, but yeah.

 

Giovanni Marsico (35:36.566)

That is, it's being on the inside of it from your paradigm and your perspective, you're proving my theory, which is, if you, first of all, if you can identify what your gifts are, and then you harness them, and you double down on them, and you treat them as a practice or a skill to master, they become superpowers. And, it's still easy, like not that easy might be the wrong word, but it, it comes naturally and it's fun and it lights me up and it still delivers an even better results than other things. Right? So I, I am very good at, I guess talent scouting if that's the word or curating community, um, bringing the right people in the room and the room could be a physical space. It could be a zoom call, uh, or a Facebook group, but when you're, when, when you do what I do and you're intentional and you can see the matrix of, of who needs to connect and all these kinds of things, it just becomes fun.

 

Rachel (36:46.987)

Yeah. And fun is the kind of third missing piece often for so many people. And so we've talked about impact and we've talked about profit. And so I would love, and I think I know the answer to this, but I would love for you to share it. What is something that you do for fun, for pleasure, for just like the pure enjoyment of it, that you make a point of keeping your life on a regular basis to keep you excited?

 

Giovanni Marsico (37:17.494)

For sure. Uh, for my own, like by myself, I have a, I don't know what word to use hobby. I don't think it's a hobby. I have a thing where every, every weekend, typically on Fridays, I'll go to a matinee movie by myself, uh, to watch whatever movie just came out. And I've been doing this for 15 years. It's like my, it's, it's deep pleasure for me. It's like so much joy to be immersed in the story and be in a theater.

I like matinees because I'm usually by myself. Like it's not a full crowd. Although I do like that too, if you want the energy of the crowd. But I just love, like if I could be alone in a giant movie theater and watching a movie, it'd be even more amazing because it's just me and the film. And then things like working out. And I do that with my wife, Stephanie, where we every single morning we're at a gym. And we, like in the past year, we haven't missed one day.

 

Rachel (38:17.079)

Which I think is incredible. And also, I also work out with Dr. Stephanie on Instagram. I'm always looking at her videos going, showing them to my trainer, like, we need to do that. Do you see what she looks like? Yeah.

 

Giovanni Marsico (38:31.042)

Well, you're that means you're working out with me because I am the cinematographer filming this.

 

Rachel (38:34.871)

You're the cinematographer. That's great. All right. Well, your videos are inspiring to a lot of us for sure.

 

Giovanni Marsico (38:42.083)

Thank you. Yeah. We, and it's fun. We were on our way home today from the gym. We were listening to a podcast called Smartless, which I love. And they were interviewing Arnold Schwarzenegger and they were like, how did you, at your age, why do you go to the gym? How? And he's like, I love it. And we feel the same way. It's like, there's a lot of people who hate working out and they do it begrudgingly or because they're like, I have to do this. Um, we find it joyful. And I'll actually quote Arnold because I love the way he described it. He said riding his bicycle or like on his way to the gym, life is in black and white. When he leaves, life is in color. And it's like, that's, it's such a mood elevator. 

And for, you know, whatever neurochemical soup comes out of, of training, the dopamine and the oxytocin and the serotonin, all that stuff. It's, it changes your life and it changes, it changes your day. So we, I wouldn't dare miss it for that reason because it's so much, it has so much bleed into the positive effects of the rest of my day. And it feels like you start the day with a win. And if I'm already winning, how else can I win today? And that's, that's the mood and the feeling we have from, and then we're doing it together. So as a couple, it's, it's a bonding thing for us. It's like having a date every morning.

 

Rachel (40:06.307)

That's awesome. I love that. Thank you so much for sharing all of this. Is there anything that you want to share that you have coming up? How people can find you and get involved or participate in anything going on in your world?

 

Giovanni Marsico (40:22.078)

I would suggest attending our next big Archangel Summit, whenever the next one is, depending on when someone listens to this, archangelsummit.com, A-R-C-H-A-N-G-E-L, because, and actually I can't wait for you to, so for anyone who's attended one of these in the past, they've already been, I believe, awesome events, probably one of the best events in the entrepreneurial space. But again, I was like, how do I take this to the next level?

So starting at our 2024 event in September, how do I tease? So you're going to feel like you're in a movie because you're actually in a movie. So I've hired a cinematographer, I've hired a Emmy nominated writer who's written for the X-Men and superhero things and film and TV, who's writing the script of the event.

That's as most as I can say right now, but I'll say this. When people leave the event, it'll be one of those things that they're going to say, what the hell just happened? Like, what was that? And they're going to want to tell people about it.

 

Rachel (41:34.915)

That's awesome. I'm excited. I will definitely be there and look forward to all the upcoming experiences with you. Thank you so much for being here, Giovanni.

 

Giovanni Marsico (41:45.09)

You're welcome. Thank you.

 

Rachel (41:46.507)

Thank you and everyone take care. I'm wishing you even more pleasure and profits and I will see you on the next episode.