The Power of Resilience and Leadership With Amanda Moriuchi

E82: The Power of Resilience and Leadership: Insights from Amanda Moriuchi, CEO of AppIt Ventures – YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh10QM0D4lo

Transcript:
(00:00) when you are called to do something it’s for a reason and I have said to entrepreneurs listen if you have a desire you have what you need inside of you to accomplish that desire and in fact it’s your duty to pursue that because in the pursuit not only do you change yourself for the better but you bring along all of these people with you and that’s back to kind of maybe full circle from the beginning is your impact magnifies and I had a picture on my desk for the longest time it was a picture of this lion with
(00:39) this like gorgeous Mane looking down at a lion cub and the quote was I thought about giving up until I noticed who was watching and you know for parents I think that resonates but for adults and for leaders and for managers people are watching the generation younger than you and two generations younger than you need you to succeed and they need to see proof that it’s possible and I you know maybe it’s because I’m 40 and whatever I’m getting older and all that but I want more people my age to recognize their responsibility to
(01:21) show our younger Generations that it is possible to be generous and successful it is possible to pursue a goal and be fulfilled even when it’s hard and it is possible to do hard things and you are capable hello everyone and welcome to the flow over fear podcast where it is our mission to help you to rise above fear and realize your ultimate potential in leadership and life I’m your host Adam Hill and it is my goal to share with you the human side of high performance my guests share their experience with fear
(02:01) anxiety struggle Challenge and most importantly despite all of it how they Rose above it to achieve incredible results so if you’re ready to rise up let’s get started hey everyone welcome to flow over fear thanks for being here I have a great guest today her name is Amanda moriucci and she is the CEO of app Adventures one of the most successful female owned Tech development firms in the world in the world with nearly two decades of experience working with Premier startups Fortune 500 companies government
(02:37) agencies and non-profits she has a passion for helping her clients harness the benefits of technology to improve the impact of their organizations with hundreds of clients and nearly 1 000 custom applications to her credit her insights have been featured in numerous major media Outlets including Forbes Yahoo finance and more she has been recognized by the Denver Business Journal as as a 40 under 40 leader and as a back-to-back finalist for the annual Apex CEO of the Year Awards and for the companies my Colorado
(03:13) app designation as a product of project object of the Year by the Colorado technology Association her company is a top 1000 global company as rated by a clutch so she’s got it going on in the business World ladies and gentlemen welcome Amanda thank you for being here thanks for having me Adam it’s so good to be here well this is it’s it’s really really great to have you and I’m I’m grateful that you’re here um because you know you know when I I hear about the 40 under 40 people that
(03:42) that achieve that and that is incredible to me because there’s there’s there’s there’s there’s so much growth that happens to become you know a CEO and a leader and someone with that kind of experience expertise can you kind of walk us through how you uh where you started from and what got you on this path to leadership yes yes thought at that time I wanted to be uh working for one of the big five accounting firms now because in my role uh working with numbers thank God I have an incredible
(04:20) CFO to help me but that is not my passion it never was I just did it because I thought it was the path to take um but I’m grateful that I had that as a goal because I really exposed myself to a wide variety of uh business learning when I was younger and my first job out of college I worked for a home builder I sold new homes and I joke around now that you know in a sense it is similar to retail sales because you’re selling a physical product to people that come to your store and it’s a big purchase but
(04:54) you’re really I mean it is kind of like retail sales and I got beautifully trained by one of the most incredible Dynamic leaders I’ve ever had the privilege of working with and I think that piece is really what set me on my trajectory right I got beautifully trained I fell in love with sales and I um I really dedicated myself to that craft and so when I moved into technology sales I struggled big time because I went from b2c sales physical product in person to essentially B2B Services over the phone and I was selling to uh directors of it
(05:42) cios ctOS and knowing what I know now about you know the science of communication the psychology of communication um my enthusiasm was probably the worst thing to bring to a CIO or a CTO or a director of I.T or an Ops guy and I struggled and uh teaching myself how to better communicate to a new type of person a new type of service and doing it in a different way I think think that’s what set me up for where I am today on the leadership side um so I would say you know my early management uh getting beautifully
(06:23) trained and really falling in love with what I do that’s that was the key Tipping Point for me that’s interesting yeah and so so regarding that psychology of communication and the different approaches as you say why was it so much more challenging to approach the cios or or from the perspective of you were you coming from that home sales background what was the difference there so selling new home sales it’s fun for the buyer when they see somebody getting excited about a particular feature like I remember being
(06:57) excited about how we would seal the ductwork to make sure that uh a lot of the the warm air that the furnace was pushing through the vent actually it was more efficient so this was you know 20 years ago so at the time having a high efficiency home was something to get really excited about and I was rewarded by that right versus when you’re over the phone talking to an Ops person or a tech leader who’s like hey I just want to know if what you guys are going to do is going to help me or if it’s going to
(07:29) get me fired in six months and in that conversation enthusiasm is ill placed I think and it made me sound like I didn’t know what I was talking about when I did um it’s just I didn’t use enthusiasm properly it makes me cringe actually to think you pour people through so yeah well if you’re not cringing it at the at the person you once were in one of your first jobs then you’re probably doing it wrong that’s the right that’s the right way to look at it but but yeah I mean so I guess the lesson there was that that
(08:03) different approaches for different Industries different types of people for for especially for the sales so it sounds like more more expertise was was was the higher Point rather than than uh enthusiasm so to speak exactly yeah exactly that makes sense um so and you mentioned kind of going back to your college days when you were looking at approaching the accounting industry and you said something interesting there which was that wasn’t the path that that you necessarily wanted but you but it was the path you
(08:35) thought you needed to take um can you expand on that a little bit because I think there’s a lot of people that could relate to that and and maybe they took that path further and now they feel stuck yeah uh funny things about you and your childhood that portend who you were gonna be as an adult and so for me I held the record for Girl Scout sales uh for a long time like 10 years no one could touch me I I laugh about that now because you know I I truly believe I Was Born To Be A salesperson I just think the the
(09:18) balance of my personality and how I think about things and how I move through the world and what gets me excited I sales is the career for me and you know when I was going to school see you at the time didn’t have a degree in selling and I should look this up I don’t even know if they do even today and so for me because there wasn’t a degree in what I knew I wanted to do I needed to make it seem like I had a brain right and and I do obviously but I had invested in my education right and so the closest thing
(09:58) to sales in my mind was marketing but I also wanted to show uh to potential employers that I could uh analytically solve problems right and so accounting made sense for me and ultimately studying both really gave me that balance to pursue sales with a passion and so you know I think that I think that’s why I was willing to take the path down to accounting because it was serious right it was it was a reputable uh profession and it is but so is sales and I wish more universities would teach that because sales is an
(10:41) honorable profession you’re solving problems and you’re caring for people and I wish that more young people were taught the concepts of abundance and problem solving and communication all of the things that go into making a successful salesperson I think that those are all the things that go into making a successful person in right and um and on your question about what would it take to switch if you find yourself stuck I have a dear friend who is working with people uh in that same scenario where she’s helping people Shepherd from
(11:18) switching one industry to another it’s a very specific industry and how she does it is she encourages people to First take an assessment of where you’re at right what are the things you like what are the things you don’t like for example if you like the general skills of your job but you want to make a little bit more by switching Industries then figure out how much a little bit more is quantify it and then start to figure out back into it if I want to end up in a different industry what are the steps
(11:50) that I need to take to get there not unlike deciding hey I want to go from you know the city to the mountains you pull up Google Maps you figure out what traffic is like you pick your best route based on the experience you want to have and then you execute it’s very similar with deciding or choosing out of being stuck first you decide where you want to go and then you build a game plan and start out on your path I know that sounds I make it sound way simpler than it is because buried in there is head trash
(12:26) and self-doubt and detours and things taking way longer than you ever expected but I also think that we have the ability to overcome those things as they come up yeah that and that’s the that’s the interesting point I mean it is simple the the all of this stuff of personal development of finding our Direction finding our passions it’s all simple stuff but we’re all getting in our own ways I mean do you feel that way that we’re just getting in our way uh when when we when the stuff in our head
(12:58) the garbage and all that kind of stuff just uh makes it not easy for us I think it’s I think it’s had trash I also think it’s a gap in expectation versus reality right like we all set out on on a journey expecting a certain way of of flowing through that Journey and most often our expectations are wrong like at the at the core it was a hypothesis or a guess but for whatever reason we get emotionally attached to our expectation and then beat ourselves up that we guessed wrong I mean it just I think when you describe it like that
(13:35) you’re like man why am I beating myself up over a guess that was wrong yeah so I think that’s there’s a difference between respecting the process and demanding the outcome you can’t control the outcome we all know that it’s just guess what you think the outcome might be deliver your best effort and the chips will fall will fall where they will and I think you have to be okay with that yeah that that’s uh that’s a great great point because I know that and I love the expectations versus reality clarification because
(14:10) that’s something I know that we all struggle with I’ve struggled with that too and you know I ask a lot of these questions selfishly because I’ve been through a lot of that you know uh where I feel like I I have to go down this direction or this path and this is the way but um but then you know things happen and things shift and and they flow in a different way so I know um you know when we have kids for example how do we teach our kids uh to navigate that kind of stuff with expectations versus reality
(14:43) so I have you know this Adam I have three boys um 15 14 and four so uh any well wishes that you can send my way um oh I’m sending all of those well wishes um my four-year-old actually now now he’s going through immense growth and um it it saddens me a little bit because he inherited this for me I think so you know we don’t have to get into epigenetics but I do think on the epigenetic side I passed on to him a little bit of my um I think my burden where I have higher expectations than than what what is reality right so for me I always expect
(15:28) of myself that I am gonna be really good at something the first time I do it it’s just my burden that I carry and my son carries that now too and how I how I do this with him is I uh get down on his level and I I make eye contact with him and I ask him to do um a dragon breath basically where I ask him to take a huge deep breath and blow it out and growl and stick his tongue out at the same time which makes him laugh but it also uh really resets his breathing and it gets him to focus on me and I get to say to him listen you
(16:08) aren’t built for Perfection you’re built to try and that’s my favorite um motherhood lesson that I’m sharing with my kids right now and um you know I’ll let you know how it goes ask me in a couple months because then it’s learning how to ride a pedal bike right now and he gets super discouraged and frustrated and he doesn’t realize how fast he’s learning and I look at him as a mom and I want him to be as proud of him as I am because I can see his progress he just can’t because you can’t see the
(16:42) label from inside the bottle and so you know when I think about how I am with Bennett it makes me really demand for my own self to be around people that can hold me accountable but also remind me how far I’ve come um and so you know reflect back to you the label that you can’t see from inside that’s that’s such a great um a great visual to that that if we’re in the bottle we can’t see the label I love that Visual and uh that I want to repeat what you just said because that’s so important that you’re not Bill
(17:18) especially for the perfectionists out there which I can relate to that we aren’t built for Perfection we’re built to try and you know the triangles that’s where progress comes from so I I mean I don’t I can’t see into the future but I can imagine that’s going to go really really well for uh for your family and um um you mentioned also kind of when you were you made that you made that shift into sales and you started selling homes new homes that uh that you had beautiful training um I’d love to hear what that looked
(17:51) like it’s like like as a leader what what is what does beautiful training look like and how can we emulate that so I would say so my boss her name is Natasha she have you ever been around somebody that just exudes Excellence like it’s just like seeping out of their pores and it’s annoying isn’t it and this woman I think the biggest thing was who right she was so dedicated to Excellence that she just with every action whether it was small or large it was executed with Precision not Perfection but
(18:36) precision and she she demanded the same right and so from from her and being around her and kind of my that collection of people where we all kind of grew up together under her training right is that that’s why I say today excellence in mediocrity can’t cohabitate because mediocrity in the face of Excellence will just kind of shy away or leave it’s really uncomfortable so or they choose to level up and become that because for some people Excellence is intoxicating and so if you are a leader I believe that first of all you
(19:19) are not entitled to be a leader uh just because you know you you’ve been in the industry long enough and you have a ton of experience and you know it doesn’t mean that you get to automatically lead a group of people I believe in order to be a leader you have to be worthy of that and in order to be worthy of leadership you have to be excellent you have to demand more from yourself than everyone around you and you have to lead by example because it it’s you can say whatever right but if it doesn’t align with your behavior
(19:55) and your character then it falls flat right you have no credibility and so my you know how how Natasha beautifully trained me is first and foremost she was excellent she walked the talk and because she was excellent and because she exuded that when she spoke I listened and I think beyond all of that uh Natasha really dedicated herself to organizing the training and getting really clear on okay this is the outcome we’re striving for this is the behavior that I think you need to do in order to get to this outcome the quickest but
(20:36) listen if you have a better idea and you’re willing to try it share it with me and let’s figure it out right so there’s no attachment to my way of doing things it’s the way of doing things to get to the outcome the quickest with minimal cost right I think that’s how she viewed it and that’s that’s how she changed my life um and thinking about the Ripple out effect of that right so right she taught me how to lead and now I lead my own team and I lead my team in the ways she taught me and uh with any luck my
(21:12) teammates then go out as their careers progress and continue to magnify that goodness no that’s that’s powerful just walking the talk um and and I I I’d be curious to know where Natasha is now because it sounds like she had that passion she knew where she was going and and it’s probably you know worked her way quite a way ways up too yeah she absolutely has she’s a division president it for a national home builder now so wow he uh she stayed in that industry and is dominating I mean and her division is is one of the
(21:47) top I mean she’s she’s a force to be reckoned with yeah well when you when when you can lead lead to the extent that you are yourself training Champions that is you know that’s that’s a powerful leader right there and I mean it sounds like that you’re um you’re doing the same thing now which is which is incredible and as a leader uh who who does that who walks the talk who who you know leads by example who did who who’s constantly demonstrating that they’re worthy and that they demand much of
(22:16) themselves I could see that there there may be a a balance there that you have to strike right I mean so how do you avoid the Trap of of burning yourself out or becoming overwhelmed by just like the the constant you know overwhelm balance and I your podcast right there is no such thing as balance it’s flow right and I I honestly think that I was sold a bill of goods with the whole concept of work-life balance because my work is my life and it’s an element of my life but if there’s no separation there right because I bring
(23:03) who I am as a person to my work and my work um affects you know the energy that I bring into my family into my friendships into my home as much as I wish that I could sit here and say oh I have a barrier there or I compartmentalize I don’t and I think that’s what’s made me an effective leader is I’m a whole human and I bring my full messy self to every situation that I’m in and um candidly I struggle with burnout and the reason why I struggle with burnout is for a very specific reason like I
(23:38) spend a lot of time investing in personal growth in professional growth that’s one of the reasons why I’m such a huge fan of yours and your podcast because you know you focus so much on growing uh your listener group right so we find an area of improvement that might free up some of our time as an example and I rather than storing up my time I backfill it with more work because there’s always more work to be done especially if you’re in pursuit of a heavy goal and um I get burned out and I I struggle a
(24:16) lot of times and um when I do that it takes me longer uh to come back to Baseline I’m older now I’m not in my 20s anymore and um and I will say failure is not an option and so it’s kind of I just have to let that burnout pass um but I I don’t I don’t have a a life of balance I have a life of fulfillment um but it’s certainly not balanced well I think he summarized it so well right there with the you don’t have a life of balance but you have a life of fulfillment I mean we’re all filling
(24:52) these 24 hours a day with something I mean that’s that’s just a matter of it and for some of us it might be Netflix it might be you know uh uh laying on the couch reading a book it might be you know whatever or it might be just working working really hard um but uh but knowing that you’re fulfilled is important as I agree with you I don’t I I’ve I’ve never found that balance either and and the balance thing I heard it best actually in a recent interview that I did with uh Aaron valky
(25:22) who was a guest uh a few weeks ago at this point or probably a couple months ago but the um uh but the one thing he said is that that he doesn’t look at like uh at uh at balance he looks for harmony which I love that reframe yeah um does that kind of resonate with what you’re saying a bit like as far as as finding the things that fill you up and give you that fulfillment and trying to work them into your life absolutely absolute bills that I use as a parent it sharpens the skills that I use as a wife
(25:57) it sharpens the skills that I use as a friend and vice versa right so uh parenting my children has made me a better person but it’s also made me a better leader because the concepts that I’m instilling in my children are the very same Concepts that I want to share with my teammates and my customers and my community um and so it is Harmony and it’s one infects the other and I’m okay with that I think that that’s honorable that that’s uh and and that’s a that’s a great point because if you’re if you’re
(26:34) about or I’m sorry I’m using that word again balance I shouldn’t use that if you’re harmonizing all of those things together like if you’re practicing that Integrity or that that uh uh yeah that that Harmony that we’re all looking for I mean when we’re parents or when we’re in work you know we’re doing all of the same thing so we’re practicing those same values we’re staying authentic to ourselves so that’s if we’re trying to be two different people at home at work
(26:59) we might not have that alignment and maybe that gets back to what you’re talking about with regard to trying to do uh trying to go down a career path that maybe wasn’t you know maybe you’re doing for because it was expected of you instead of because it was something that you that was aligned with your values um that’s hugely powerful yeah well and let’s think about sports for a second right because I feel like every quarter no matter where you’re at you’ve got you’ve got some sort of sports
(27:29) championship right and the championship is a culmination of months and months and months of playing games and those games are culmination of hours upon hours upon hours of practice right and any top performer in any sport played anywhere around the world you can’t tell me that any of those athletes don’t experience burnout but they are living at the peak of what is key what is possible from from your physicality right right and these guys are facing uh mental challenges physical challenges trying to figure out how to how to
(28:10) manage school or friends or family or work and training and health and I don’t think we were ever meant to be in perfect balance I think we were always meant to be in a period of growth and I don’t see balance and growth being complementary to each other I think you have brief moments of balance but if you’re in pursuit of a specific goal like you’re busting your butt regularly and making choices that are in alignment with what you want to accomplish yeah that’s uh and I’ve heard too that
(28:47) that I mean when you’re if you think about trying to balance on one of those one of those like I don’t remember what they’re called tension lines between the two trees right yeah it takes so much energy to try and balance on that I mean think about the energy that it requires to find balance so yeah I mean I think that the idea of balance is kind of you’re right it’s a it’s a there’s no such thing we were sold a bill of goods on that as you said um so when you uh you mentioned two in
(29:16) that in that section that uh failure is not an option and I was hoping you could expand on that uh kind of share what you what you mean um by that yeah so from my perspective Let’s Pretend appet failed let’s pretend I just totally totally biffed it which you know maybe could happen it’s not likely but if app it failed and went out of business I lose 85 teammates that I have spent years building relationships with coaching up to be um fulfilled people right that are also Institute of Excellence I have six
(29:55) International Teams I mean for that to go away it’s it would feel like such an immense waste of potential and also future impact the way that we serve our clients I’m not we’re not screwing around right and I think if we left that void there would be suffering that I I just couldn’t absorb right I think I would I would take that pretty hard so feeling an app it is not an option because the stakes are high because there are a lot of people that depend on us not only on our team but for our clients and the positive impact
(30:32) we’re we’re working to leave uh in our communities right so I can’t let that go I just won’t sure and then failure for my family not an option it’s just not because then what where where does my husband go where do my kids go how do they how do they you know start moving through their life if we fall apart I mean it’s just not it’s not an option because the the flip side is terrifying and so you know I think that for me where I can Flex unfortunately I’ll own this I am not great at taking
(31:13) care of myself and I I can see the impact that that has but I also pour everything I have into the things where failure can’t happen right and so I’m sure I’ll be paying the cost of not taking care of myself down the line but I can pay that cost when I’m more comfortable that my family and my business and my community is okay yeah that’s a great answer I appreciate that because I’ve heard I hear a lot you know we we hear a lot of conflicting views on on failure and I think context matters
(31:49) because there’s a lot of people that will say well I failed my way to the top or I failed upward you know and that kind of thing and you know failure in that context is always more of like well I’ve experienced setbacks but I’ve persevered and I’ve gone through it I’ve grown from it but in this case I mean when we’re looking at something like a catastrophic failure where the stakes are High I mean that’s the that’s the thing that we don’t where you know we want to we almost want to persevere
(32:15) through the setbacks so that we don’t fail for the big thing right I mean is that kind of am I understanding that right very much so I you know I think the whole uh persevering through a setback is is no different than I made a mistake right I screwed up and I screwed up because I was trying or I screwed up because I was learning and that’s where the growth comes from that’s not that’s not failure that’s just making a mistake that’s it’s a lot different right like failure is in totality and
(32:47) in a sense removing the safety net that you provide for the people in your life and that’s why I say of failure is not an option because if if what I bring to my team and my family goes away the void there is pretty dang scary and that’s why I say it’s not an option and I think that’s what powers me through my moments of self-doubt and Powers me through burnout and gives me the motivation I need when I’m when I’m pretty tired yeah no that’s that’s really that’s really great because uh you know I think it’s
(33:22) important for people to Define where the stakes are high in their life you know where where if if that’s the case you know know where the stakes are high and highest for you then you know where failure is not an option and and you know maybe that’s the best way to prioritize um and what uh what other tools do you use to help address burnout you know because that’s an issue for me too and I know it’s an issue for a lot of people yeah yeah so lately um and we talked a little bit about this too Adam where I really seek out
(33:54) inspiration for from very specific uh people that teach me um a better way of doing things or a more modern way of doing things or a different Viewpoint and so I am very very particular about where I spend my attention right um and so there’s uh there’s a workout app that that I absolutely love um that I follow their workouts and their diet routines um it’s built for women so I I love that space um and then I listen to a very specific podcasts that are addressing the things where I absolutely have to be at my best
(34:37) and so your podcast is certainly one of them I I mean I I’m curious because you’ve had guests that talk about you know how to optimize their performance and how to how to move past fear and I remember messaging you saying I am gripped by fear right now like I am grateful for what you’re delivering because I think what happens is fear all fear is is an indicator of lack of knowledge right and so if I’m finding myself in a space of fear that’s my cue to go learn more about whatever it is that has scared me right and so
(35:15) education is the antidote to fear in my mind and so that’s how I move past burnout I also really um focus on trying to eat as healthy as possible um not to join the bandwagon of every 40 year old high performance person that I know um I um I don’t drink alcohol I every now and then I’ll have a drink on the weekend or something like that but certainly not at night I just my body can’t handle it right now with what I’m trying to accomplish and I think high level addressing my burnout is simply
(35:50) reminding my self you know you talked about high stakes what can’t be a failure I call those my glass balls so like we’re juggling everything what are the balls I can drop what are the ones that are rubber that’ll bounce back what are the ones that are glass and won’t and so getting really clear on what are my glass balls and reminding myself that this is why I need to do what I’m gonna do and this is temporary everything good and everything bad changes nothing stays the same and essentially moving past my attachment on
(36:24) that that’s uh I love that glass balls visual um because that really helps to articulate where you know where they where that where that uh high stakes is and I remember um um I I don’t remember it her name’s escaping me I apologize but the uh the former CEO of Facebook um well Cheryl Cheryl Sandberg thank you yeah um yeah she had said that uh uh that you know when she when something similar that when she was faced with those kinds of challenges it’s you know it’s never permanent it’s never pervasive and it’s
(36:58) never personal I really love I mean that’s one of the mantras I used so so much um so that’s really helpful and as far as um what people you you follow and for inspiration um um you know and and uh what you know what do you mind naming some of those sure so one of them is Dan go which I always laugh because I don’t think that um I’m his target market it seems like he really likes working with certainly high performance entrepreneurs but uh he has a lot of male followers so I have my husband follow him too just because he’s got
(37:36) some great stuff um I follow Andrea Fawcett she is the creator of the marmalade app and she’s the one that um that’s the app that I follow um and it’s m-a-m-e-l-e her app is absolutely it’s fantastic um so I really like her stuff for nutrition and fitness Dan’s the same way um I I listened to Lewis Howes the school of greatness I feel like a lot of people listen to that um I listened to uh your podcast flow over fear and then um for for my stoics out there uh Ryan holiday I just really like his uh quick
(38:17) Snippets um on a different way of thinking um so I really like listening to him and then a new one her name is Lauren zoller and she talks about um essentially somatic healing um and so healing through uh trauma uh the physiology of of your trauma um so I really learned a lot from her um and I those are kind of my people right now so I love it I love it um and um and that that you so you mentioned a couple of apps there and that’s certainly the space that that you’re in and I wanted to kind of transition into that
(38:57) um because you’ve you’ve you’ve evolved from that that sales person who uh who struggled to talk to cios and and things like that and struggle to find your early sales voice into an amazing salesperson not only that you’re not the CEO of of the one of the largest female-owned uh uh technology companies in the world can you tell how you got there and then um and then tell us a little bit about it yeah I always joke because everyone’s like oh congratulations on your title and I’m like yeah
(39:29) yeah I purchased majority ownership of Abbott uh back in 2019 and um I uh I’m really glad that I did it um because the way that I’ve grown the business has been just a true reflection of my my mind and my heart and my spirit um and I think the reason why we are so successful is because I have the ability to translate from Tech speak to business speak and vice versa and you know building custom apps and custom software it’s really challenging and the reason why is because you the people that are usually
(40:11) coming together to bring an app uh to life come from such opposite ends of the spectrum of how people’s brains work that their that Gap is just right for miscommunication and I just stand in the gap between business owners and leaders and uh technology creators right so developers and um I love it it’s my passion um I also think that Tech is a very powerful tool um and I’m ready to see our society start benefiting from the positive sides of using technology in an abundant way and in a service-minded way and in a
(40:54) positive way and I think we’re at a really interesting time where we can start to do that and I’m ready to start seeing Tech yield positive impact instead of sowing Division and isolation and frustration and I’m ready to see us come back together um as a society generally that’s that’s uh you know that I think that’s a inspirational and optimistic point of view on that and I’d be curious how how do we go in that direction how do we get there um yeah is there a path forward for that I do I
(41:31) you know I think there’s a few ways to do that the first is you know before you set out to build an application rather than getting excited about the technology itself get excited about the change that it’s going to make right um so I think that’s number one um number two is you know so many of our of our clients get so excited about disrupting an industry right and I have found our most successful clients are focused on making small minor improvements that really allow for everyone’s Humanity to come out instead
(42:11) of relying on Tech to do everything um just allowing enough uh optimization to happen where a human can still be a human and technology is still a tool instead of you know blowing up something like artificial intelligence to the point where it can do as much as what a human does but not as good um you know our our messiness as humans is still probably one of the most precious things that we can bring um it’s not all about you know optimizing or adding efficiency or disrupting an industry it can be just little minor changes and then
(42:55) the last one is my passion which you know about is using technology to build community um I am so done with big Tech leveraging the the things about us so like our data right like you would always hear big Tech talk about monetizing data and like our profile information and what we like and what we interact with and what we share and what we comment on and yeah that data is valuable but it never belonged to Big Tech it always belongs to us and you know this is my way of wrangling back a little bit of our privacy a little bit of our Intimacy in
(43:38) community and um you know taking back what was always ours um and so that’s what we’re using tech for right now is protecting private communities and taking that away from Big Tech it never belonged to them anyways um and creating this space for those leaders to do that and to protect their people oh that’s such a and that’s such a great great and and very very much overlooked uh uh philosophy because I mean and and I’m guilty of it you know going on to Facebook and going on to these social
(44:16) media platforms or or you know big Tech shouldn’t name names there but you know what I mean uh but but the but the um but you know the idea is like that when we’re putting content out there we don’t you know the the the friends we have the the the communities that we’re we’re building in those Realms are not ours and they belong to those companies our information every piece of information they’re putting out there belongs to them and so what you’re doing is you know as in building these apps for
(44:46) people these custom apps is creating a place where those businesses those individuals those organizations those non-profits can own their data can own their stuff can take control of it and and that’s such a powerful Mission uh not a lot of not a big not a mission that a lot of people are are on so kudos to you for that it’s it’s huge thank you yeah it’s um if I can find a way to make it easier for two strangers with totally opposite viewpoints to sit down over a cup of coffee and hear each other
(45:22) out and walk away with the same level of respect that they had if not more than when they first came together then I’ve done my work right and if I found a way to Shepherd enough people into safe and truthful and protected communities then I’ve done my work and um yeah ask me ask me in a couple months how I’m doing because right now what we’re seeing with our clients and how they’re serving their communities it brings me to tears uh the impact that we’ve had and I want to see that continue to Ripple out it’s pretty
(45:59) amazing yeah well one thing I I also heard you mention there too which was really really important I’m glad you brought it up was the idea that that you know because AI is coming in and I think some people would argue that that’s disrupting the technology industry and one of the things that’s you know I I know everybody’s kind of latching onto it now and yes I I use it too to to you know build some build some things in my own life uh but um but I think one of the things that secretly is is a little scary is the
(46:30) fact that we are kind of dehumanizing some of that connection I mean if we’re gonna have if if we’re going to be marketed to by by AI if we’re going to be Mark if we’re going to be talked to or or sold to by AI we’re losing that Humanity um so I’m glad you flat brought that up to the the idea that you’re still finding that middle ground um where it’s not about these massive disruptions but these small improvements that are made that keep us human yeah yeah so if I if I can build an app
(47:00) that helps some some employee that manages you know a hundred different spreadsheets and is trying to deliver data to decision makers in their business and I can build a tool that saves him an hour so he can spend more time with his daughter then I’ve done my work right if I can build a piece of technology that helps somebody learn in the way that they need to learn right so um whether that’s through video or podcasts or an article right and it’s within an app that’s delivered by a credible source that has dedicated their
(47:39) life to improving the their customers then I’ve done my work right and so I think I think on the AI side as AI progresses ai’s been around for at least a decade at least as far as I’m concerned right right and um as AI progresses I’m starting to realize more and more what matters more than anything at least in the world of tech is my attention right so attention is the new currency and the way that I really try to elevate the brands and the thought leaders and in the businesses that are making positive change is
(48:20) that’s who I pay attention to and I’m even more protective of where my mind goes because where my mind goes so does my heart and um being very careful about what I let into my into my attention into my conscious and how I’m spending my time but I will say this as an optimist AI will never replace what makes us human a machine as as I see it today does not have creativity a machine doesn’t feel feelings a machine doesn’t understand the concept of abundance even though they could explain it perfectly right
(49:00) and anybody who’s compared like their profile pictures or their just normal pictures to the AI generated shots I should actually post one that’s like real me versus AI me and it’s soothes me in a way because my imperfection is what makes me human and my humanity is what makes me valuable um right and no machine can never replace that I read I read recently this this uh description that they used to use I guess in video games where they made human likeness and they called it uncanny valley I’ve ever heard of that
(49:34) but that’s kind of how I feel when I look at those those AI generated things because it’s just not quite human the Soul’s not there it’s just not it’s not there yet yeah also very annoyed that AI wanted to put a dimple in my chin I’m like I don’t need that but I don’t have that I don’t know why this computer thinks I need to have a dimple in my chin but right okay just one more thing to make us feel kind of self-conscious about ourselves right yeah no I I mean and I I completely agree
(50:05) with you and I I hope that you know that that I I’m optimistic that that no amount of technology is going to take away the humanity of what we are but just in case I’m saying please and thank you to Alexa just uh just in case that that turn that Judgment Day thing happens you know so yeah well um no before we I I want to be respectful of your time but I I um I also wanted to kind of I just wanted to step back for a moment and you know go back to that decision point to uh to to buy Habit to buy this uh this company
(50:39) um because we did kind of gloss over that a bit and I wanted to I wanted to kind of get into what what the decision making process was there about like why why where did you come from what was the decision to buy that and uh and what kind of feelings were you feeling at that point oh my goodness so I actually have never really shared this uh with anyone outside of my my clothes uh Circle I bought app it purely at because I had to do it at the time right so I wanted to take out a line of credit to hire a once in a lifetime employee
(51:20) um to to help my team right and so any small business owner will tell you oh my gosh get the line of credit right you need that and I needed to to do that at the time to bring her on and so in the moment it wasn’t a decision like long term like oh I set out on this and this is the goal I want to accomplish it was more like well I need to hire this employee and I need a line of credit to do it and I have to be majority shareholder to do that so I guess this is what we do now and um I share that because not every
(51:55) entrepreneurial Journey starts on purpose um many entrepreneurial Journeys start on accident and that’s okay um and so that’s how how it came to be with apple another thing too I didn’t do any due diligence at all I just I just kind of knee-jerk reaction pulled the trigger and now here we are and you know I’m also I’m not advocating for that I that’s not a recommendation that I would make uh to entrepreneurs in general but I will say this uh when you’re called to do something you know
(52:32) you’re called to do something right it’s almost like a recognition of oh here’s my cast um and that’s how it felt for me so while I didn’t actively seek out companies to buy and and I ran my due diligence and this is this is how I ended up getting here and everything was smooth along the way that couldn’t be further from the truth it was simply I did what had to be done in the moment and even back then Adam I still had that sense that failure is not an option and I I genuinely believe
(53:07) when you are called to do something it’s for a reason and I have said to entrepreneurs listen if you have a desire you have what you need inside of you to accomplish that desire and in fact it’s your duty to pursue that because in the pursuit not only do you change yourself for the better but you bring along all of these people with you and that’s back to kind of maybe full circle from the beginning is your impact magnifies and I had a picture on my desk for the longest time it was a picture of this lion with this like gorgeous Mane
(53:47) looking down at a lion cub and the quote was I thought about giving up until I noticed who was watching and you know for parents I think that resonates but for adults and for leaders and for managers people are watching the generation younger than you and two generations younger than you need you to succeed and they need to see proof that it’s possible and I you know maybe it’s because I’m 40 and whatever I’m getting older and all that but I want more people my age to recognize their responsibility to
(54:28) show our younger Generations that it is possible to be generous and successful it is possible to pursue a goal and be fulfilled even when it’s hard and it is possible to do hard things and you are capable and I think that’s my entrepreneur story is no I didn’t buy up it on purpose I didn’t do the all the right stuff I followed a calling and I wouldn’t I wouldn’t have it any other way to be honest that is such such a great mic drop moment to end this episode Amanda no it was so good so so good and and I think
(55:08) people need to hear that especially when they’re you know getting back to that Perfection thing we talked about and I think people are looking for the perfect time the perfect opportunity the perfect this or the perfect that if it’s if it’s your calling if it’s in your heart if it’s in your desire pursue it and pursue it all in and I I love your attitude and perspective on that and it’s I believe it’s why you’ve been so successful on this and um and I wish you continued success on it
(55:36) um and uh if anyone want to if anyone listening wants to go to app Adventures or get a hold of you yeah where can they where can they find you um you can can well okay listen I’m trying to do the Instagram thing I’m so bad at it but you guys can find me on Instagram um Amanda moriucci um email me I’m really good at email my emails um Amanda at adventures.
(56:02) com um and then you can check us out uh some of our work on our website just at appadventures.com thank you so much please please check out Amanda she is doing amazing things in the world for for people she is practicing what she preaches um she’s proving that it’s possible to be generous and successful and she is an abundance of both and uh and she’s just an amazing person I’m really really glad I got to know you Amanda and I look forward to many conversations to come and uh thank you and to those of you and to
(56:35) everyone else listening out there thanks for joining us we’ll see you next time hey everyone Thanks for tuning in to the flow over fear podcast if you’d like to learn more about getting into flow and learn the foundations of flow I have a free video series on my website at www.adamcliffordill.
(56:55) com called the foundations of flow feel free to go there and download it and start your journey to Rising above fear and achieving greater flow in your life if you like this episode and I’m guessing you did if you stuck around for this long then please do me a favor and hit the Subscribe button and you will receive notifications when I have new interviews new Recaps and new trainings that pop up on YouTube thanks again for joining us