Hala Taha: [00:00:00] [00:01:00] Yeah, fam, what if I told you that your biggest setback is actually setting you up for your greatest comeback? Tim's story? The world renowned original comeback coach is back on yap with nuggets of wisdom that will shift everything you think you know about adversity from coaching Robert Downey Jr.

Through his darkest moments to guiding Oprah, Kanye West and everyday people. Tim has totally mastered the art of transformation. Today we're diving deep into how to cultivate a [00:02:00] miracle mentality, shifting from the mundane, messiness, and madness of life into the miraculous by mastering your mindset, moving with patience and leading with service first relationships so you can turn life's interruptions into your greatest opportunities.

But before we get into it, please follow this podcast so you never missed your weekly dose of inspiration. If you're a new listener, Tim, welcome back to Young and Profiting Podcast.

What a privilege to be on this podcast. 'cause this podcast, everybody wants to be on it.

Thank you so much and this is your second time around. Last time we talked was five years ago and I can't even believe it 'cause it feels like yesterday. I remember when I interviewed you, my podcast.

On the come up. I think I was interviewing you in my mom's basement at the time.

Tim Storey: I think so, yes.

Hala Taha: Yeah. So it's just so funny how things have changed. And last time that we talked, you told me about your childhood, and since it was five years ago, I figured I really want my listeners to be introduced to [00:03:00] you, your background.

So you told me that you grew up in Compton. You lived in a two bedroom apartment with seven people. You guys used to cram into a Volkswagen or something like that, and cram into a little bug car. And something you didn't tell me about in the last conversation, but I read about recently is that you thought of yourself as a king in poverty and that you had a big imagination at the time, even though you had some unfortunate circumstances.

So talk to us about how you used your imagination at that time and you were able to see the possibilities, even though you grew up in a bit of a disadvantage.

Tim Storey: So I'm the youngest of five children. My mother worked at a donut shop called Wind Chills Donut Shop. My father worked at a place called Beth Lamp Steel Mother's sixth grade education, and she's Spanish.

And then my father is Cuban Black. And [00:04:00] it was very interesting that the fact that we lived in this two bedroom, cramped and crowded apartment with seven people. I'll never forget what my mother said to us. She said, we might be lower income, but we're not lower class. So everything about our little apartment, the standard was high.

Like you never saw dishes piled up. The trash was always thrown. The house was always clean even though it was so small. So we were really prospering where we were planted. But I started to get turned on to Walt Disney movies. They would do these Walt Disney movies on Sunday nights, and I would watch these and my imagination would just go wild.

I would just picture myself doing wonderful things, creative things. So I asked my mother about this recently. She said, Tim, you are only like five and six years of age. [00:05:00] So I was what I call thinking big in small places at a very young age.

Hala Taha: And I know that you had a bunch of life interruptions such as your father passing away when you were young, your sister passing away when you were young.

First of all, why do you call those things life interruptions.

Tim Storey: I think that what happens if you could look at your own life. Because I know your story is that many times we can have momentum and we have this momentum and we feel like, man, I have momentum, I have rhythm, I have force. And then all of a sudden an interruption comes.

The word interruption, if you were to break it down really means a disturbance. It's like a knock on the door that you did not expect. So this life interruption was my father went to get my mother food and he had called, the restaurant was on his way. A man ran a red light, [00:06:00] not on purpose, ran a red light, hid my father in his car, and my father died instantly.

So now we're really in trouble. But we had moved from a two bedroom apartment to a three bedroom little tiny house. So we were stepping up, but now the head of the family's taken out. My mother did not drive. Her first language is Spanish. She speaks very broken English even to this day. So Hala, we were in trouble.

We were really like sitting in a setback at that time.

Hala Taha: So how did you guys come out of that? How did you start first getting into speaking? Because I know since you were, like in your twenties, you were speaking on stages internationally in front of tens of thousands of people. So how did you go from living in poverty, losing your father, having an immigrant mother, and then making it to the big stages?

Tim Storey: as you know with your life, everything is a [00:07:00] process. So I was fortunate enough to have school teachers and coaches that really believed in me. So my sixth grade teacher asked me to stay after class one day, and I stayed after class and he says, Hey, he called me Timmy Timmy's story, Tim.

Because you are so brilliant, which I'd never heard anybody call me that because you are so brilliant. I wanna know if you wanna check out some books for my personal library. He says, this is not for extra credit, it's just to stir up your brilliance. What sixth grade teacher tells somebody that, so he pulled out his briefcase.

There were briefcases back then kids, he pulls out a briefcase and in there is three books. One of 'em is on the Life of Michelangelo. And I had heard of Michelangelo. I'd seen a documentary on him and I took that book and that teacher did so much for my life 'cause he branded me. Brilliant. [00:08:00] And when he branded me, brilliant.

I didn't push away the label, I just stuck it on myself. I never told my mother when I went home. I never told my sisters when I went home. Oh my God, my teacher just said I was brilliant. I never told anybody about it, but I didn't wanna let down that teacher for what he said about me. So I, I decided to keep my standard real high.

Hala Taha: Now what if somebody's tuning in right now, they don't have a mentor who's calling them brilliant. How can they instill really positive labels on themselves to help them move forward?

Tim Storey: So this is one of the things I'm loving that you're doing, because I remember you way back when you started so many years ago.

I know your whole background and what you did in radio and your aspirations to do TV and then doing TV and all the things that you've done, and. I love the fact that now you are mentoring and you're tutoring people on so many different [00:09:00] platforms. So I think that there are three ways that we learn. If they don't have the sixth grade teacher saying, you're brilliant, here's three ways you learn.

Number one, education. Number two, conversation. Number three, observation. So now through Hollis platform or through my platform, we can educate you to be smarter, more wise, more knowledgeable on a lot of subjects. So that's education. The conversation is what we're doing even on the podcast where they're hearing different conversations or coming to one of our events and conversing with us.

The observation is a key. I begin to see people's lives that I admired and I said, I wanna take a little bit of him. A little bit of her. A little bit of them, and I wanna bring that into my life. I saw classy men and how they [00:10:00] treated women. I said, I wanna be that way. I saw men that were great listeners.

One thing you'll learn about me when we get to be around each other more and more in person, I'm an amazing listener, which a lot of people are not. So through observation, I learned a lot and I grew a lot. So, education, conversation, observation.

Hala Taha: So you get on these big stages and you become successful.

You step into your brilliance, you start speaking, life seems really good on the outside. You know, you're on stages in front of 50,000 people, but in the background, you weren't perfect. You say that you were living in the mode of mess and madness in the background. So talk to us about that and how you end up evolving into having a miracle mentality.

Tim Storey: So I think that the fact I went to seminary, so my doctorate is in World Religion, master's is in psychology. So when I went to seminary, I went there to become [00:11:00] a cool mother Theresa. 'cause I was very influenced by what she did for the orphans. I go to seminary, I'm minding my own business. And as you know, some things in life you decide, some things you discover.

So when I was in seminary, I discovered that I had a gift to connect with people through language to communicate that I communicated in a way where it drew people. And this started when I was only 18 years of age. Then by the time I was 20, I was already speaking to thousands of people in America. At 20, I had 13,000 people come and see me in Nigeria, I had 20 years of age, I had 14,000 people come and see me in Seba, Indonesia.

So that was really different because I did not expect that.I expected to help people in inner cities create inner city programs, [00:12:00] get NFL players, NBA players, maybe entertainers to help sponsor me. That's how I saw my life. So I did not know that I was gonna go from A to Z so fast. And if I was to do it over again, I would say I went too fast.

Hala Taha: Why do you think that you went too fast? And also why do you think that the international communities really gravitated to you, where you got such a big fan base internationally First?

Tim Storey: One of my friends who's quite successful, very well known actor, he called me Forrest Gump.

He's like, Tim, people like you so much, they just wanna do things for you. So that's what happened. I really have a servant's heart. My motives were pure. I just wanted to help people. And people saw that big NFL players, NBA players movie stars early on, so they started opening up these doors for me. So I think that as [00:13:00] a person that came from what I came from, from a lower income family to now all of a sudden you're eating lunch with these really powerful people at the Polo Lounge and you're super young.

Pride was not the challenge, but feeling overwhelmed was the challenge. It was a lot fast. It did not. Cave me in. There was not some huge crisis that hit me. I did not step into addiction, but I definitely felt the pressure.

Hala Taha: You've categorized life into four different categories, so let's use your own life as the example. So you say there's the messy, the mad, the mundane, and the miraculous. So how would you categorize what you were feeling at this point in time in your twenties where things look great and your career is skyrocketing, but the foundation is not there?

Tim Storey: The mundane is what I consider the status quo. The [00:14:00] regular.

The common, the normal. We still have to do mundane things. I still take my clothes to the dry cleaner. I still throw out the trash. I still do a lot of mundane things. I have to go to the DMV sometimes that's the last thing I wanna do, right? So that's mundane. So messy is interesting. I don't think anybody wakes up and says, you know what?

2025. Let's make this a really messy year. So messy means, as you know, disheveled, disorganized, but people could be messy in many areas of their life, messy in their mindset, messy in their finances, messy in their habits, messy in their relationships. So you have the mundane, the messy, and then you have the madness, the chaotic.

I would say that my life has only been in the chaotic once, and I needed people to help [00:15:00] pull me out of that. But then the fourth phase is the miracle side. That is extraordinary, uncommon, not normal. That's how you live. If I was life coaching you, which I'm not, I think you've learned how to master your mundane.

You learn how to deal with the madness. I think most times you have a miracle mentality.

Hala Taha: So for those who aren't familiar with miracle mentality, which by the way is the name of your new podcast, which everybody should go check out, how would you describe a miracle mentality and how does it show up in day to day?

Tim Storey: So a miracle is something extraordinary, uncommon, not regular. In its supernatural. Little kids believe in miracles. That's why a little girl may wanna have a certain type of party that is very miraculous. So if I go speak at an [00:16:00] orphanage, I'll say to little girls, what do you wanna be a princess, a queen?

Or if they're like 5, 6, 7, Beyonce, everything is over. The top little boys, they play with things like Spider-Man, Batman. Iron Man. I never asked a little kid, what is the name of that toy? It is a loser man toy. I love him. He loses every time. No, everybody that's a little kid. They have this miracle mentality.

They have imaginary friends. So I believe that the miracle mentality is innate. I personally believe that God put it in our DNA, that we have to quote someone you probably like too. Kendrick Lamar. 'cause I know you like music like that too. I believe that we have royalty in our DNA. And so that's why my little sisters, when they were little and I was little, said that I would call myself the king and they would call me the [00:17:00] king.

'cause I was acting like the little king. Yet we were poor. So the miracle mentality is innate, but it can grow. You have to go from believing in miracles to expecting miracles. And that's what I learned to do very early in my life.

Hala Taha: When I think of miracles, I think of something like really extravagant.

That's magical. Can you help us understand what regular day-to-day miracles could look like?

Tim Storey: Yeah. A miracle is me working with you. So I've always liked you, just so you know. I remember even when you were on Clubhouse, and then I remember when you interviewed me, probably a week after you interviewed me, I had you on my mind.

I'm like, someday I'd like to work with you. So this is an interesting thing, is that in my kinda world, because a lot of what I do is in Beverly Ills on a monthly basis, somebody is telling me of what they could do for my brand. So when we decided to do a [00:18:00] podcast, when we decided to do some other things, when we began to look at what you've done for your company, there was no question, you are becoming masterful at this.

So I would say that a miracle. Is me connecting with you. So sometimes it's just a connection, but that connection evolves and evolves and evolves. It's like when I connected with Oprah Winfrey. Gail King was trying to get me with Oprah, and then the great Quincy Jones was trying to get me with Oprah. But I didn't know that me meeting Oprah 17 years ago would take my life into the craziest places that you can imagine with Oprah Winfrey herself saying, I will open up so many doors for you, just 'cause I love you.

And that's exactly what she did. So sometimes miracles are just in connections.

Hala Taha: I've got so many follow up questions. The first one I'm gonna ask is, you've gotten so [00:19:00] many really, really powerful people to like you and take you under your wing and work with you. How are you so likable? What is your secret to being such a likable person?

Tim Storey: Gimme two reasons why you like me, and then we'll go from there.

Hala Taha: You're very kindhearted. You wanna help people?

Tim Storey: Okay, so I think you probably hit the two. I think that this idea of being the guy was never how I felt. The idea of it being for me, what do I get out of this? What not for me? So I started seeing a psychologist when I was 24 years of age and not 'cause I was in trouble.

It's because I was in over my head. So much good was happening. I sought out a lady who taught at USC, who was just brilliant, who ended up working with me for like many, many years. And one of the things she said, she goes, it's as though you don't really know [00:20:00] who you are and how you affect all of us, Tim.

And she says, maybe God allowed you to have that blind spot. So I think the fact that my motives are pure, I wanna serve people. I feel like my heart is right. I want to lift up other people more than thinking about myself. That in this case, I think you reap what you sow because you're right from Steve Harvey to Oprah to David Gilad, who's one of the greatest managers of all time for these people to come into my life and now you and say, Hey, let's go there. I think I'm reaping maybe what I've sewn a little bit.

Hala Taha: So you were just talking about how you had a gut instinct when we first met. Like, oh, I'd love to work with her in the future. And I know you talk about this idea of good ideas versus God ideas, which I just love because in pop culture right now everyone's talking [00:21:00] about getting downloads, right?

There's lots of talk about getting downloads from the universe about your next project, your next company. Talk to us about how, you know, whether it's a good idea or a God idea. Describe each one.

Tim Storey: We all get ideas. Studies have shown, which you are aware of this 'cause you're a person who's very educated.

Did we get about 50,000 thoughts a day? So 50,000 thoughts a day try to come into our minds. So in those thoughts you have to be very careful because that thought could now become a choice. So let's say you go by Krispy Kreme and they have the red light flashing hot. So just 'cause you have the thought doesn't mean you should go into the Krispy Kreme parking lot and get the donut.

Or just 'cause you meet a certain man doesn't mean you should date him. Or if I meet a certain woman, doesn't mean that I should date her. So we get these thoughts that could be good ideas, but also believe that there are something that are God [00:22:00] ideas. So what is a God idea, Tim Story? A God idea is something that is God inspired.

So here's what's awesome. 'cause there's some people that are watching today that do not believe in God. So if there was a God, and if he was and is who he says he is, which is omniscient all knowing. So if this omniscient God, this God who knows everything gives you a God inspired idea that I call a revelation.

If God gives you a revelation, it's God inspired, And then it's also God endorsed. So what I personally believe is that a good idea may come to pass, but a God idea will come to pass. So lemme say that again. Slowly, a good idea may come to pass. A God idea will come to pass. So [00:23:00] I like to operate my life by God. Ideas. Because I sure do hear a lot of good ideas.

Hala Taha: I was just getting a little bit emotional because as you were saying that, I was thinking about when I first started my podcast, people would be like, well, why are you starting this? What do you want in five years? And I used to say, I wanna have the biggest podcast network.

I had no idea what that even meant. And kind of organically over the last five years, I built the biggest podcast network piece by piece until one day I just had a network. And it just happened so naturally it did feel like it was just something that I was pulled to.

Is there something in your life similarly where it was a God idea? Tell us a story about a God idea that came to fruition?

Tim Storey: Yeah. But if you don't mind, I wanna go back to you just for a minute.

Hala Taha: Sure.

Tim Storey: I think that for you, in knowing your story of other people in your family, they went down [00:24:00] traditional education.

You find yourself working at Hot 97 as an intern for a long period of time not getting paid. You are just hustling. You're like Rick Ross, every day I'm hustling. Every day. I'm hustling. You're just laying the foundation. So you already had a God idea that you were gonna make an impact. The question is, how was she gonna make the impact?

So in the how is Holly gonna make an impact, you were in what I call the discovery zone. So that was you at the one station. Then you're working with Angie Martinez, and then you almost work for the one guy sway. That doesn't work. And then you almost do that one MTV show. That doesn't quite work good. You know why?

Because God was closing a door to open up the door. So [00:25:00] if some of those doors would've worked, I would not have the hall of this sitting in front of me that is running an empire. But look at me. You're just getting started. You are like a sprinter who's just finding her stride. I'm gonna be super excited to be in this with you, to see what's gonna happen in six months from now, six months later, six months after that.

And I'm not just hyping you up. This is something that I know you're on fire right now.

Hala Taha: Aw, Tim, you're so sweet. Tell us about your own God ideas. I knew that you have a movement lead with love. I wanna learn about that and why you decided to step out on your own.

Tim Storey: Number one, I'm a team player. I do really well in the second role.

I don't have to be the star of the team. Like with Grant Cardone, 10 x conferences. I think outta the 10 he did. I spoke at seven, whether I'm doing a project with Tony Robbins or all the stuff I do with John [00:26:00] Maxwell, the Aspire Tour. I think I'm the only one besides the owners who spoke at every one of 'em for the last two and a half years.

So I'm thankful for all that. The Oprah Winfrey tour where she took us around, all the stuff I've done with Oprah from documentaries to being her books, and for all you that are watching, that's not very common. 'cause Oprah doesn't bring people in on repeat like that. So because of Oprah Winfrey in her backyard, she started challenging me about Tim, you need to let people feel your spirit.

You need to let people feel your touch. You're in with a lot of people. Let them feel your touch. So I was listening to this and then I was listening to my friend David Gilad, who I've known for a long time, and he started saying, Tim, for 11 years I've been pushing you. You need to step [00:27:00] out into your own movement.

'cause I'm 82 countries deep. I mean, I've been to 82 countries and not small little crowds. My biggest crowd's 85,000. So yeah, we started a movement called Lead With Love because I believe that compassion is a key that opens the door to a miraculous life. And when you lead with love, watch out. So this is a movement from masterminds to classes.

Having people like you teach, people like you come and speak. Some will be in amazing houses all over the world. Some will be in comfy little arenas with 500 people, and then some will be massive. And what's interesting is [00:28:00] people are jumping in. I had one of my friends who, you know, he's worth about $1.7 billion.

He called me outta nowhere. He said, I've got the money, you got the gift, let's go. So there's a lot of people that wanna back us up, like yourself, using your skillset in everything that you are about. And thank you Oprah, thank you to some of these other people. But I will say to the guy that was offering me the money right now.

I actually told him, let's put that on hold. And he was very in shock.

Hala Taha: Why did you do that?

Tim Storey: Because I didn't want it to be about that. I didn't want it to be about, yeah, I got all this money and I can go monetize and go do this stuff so fast. I needed to stay true to who I'm really about. And that's just building things block by block.

But I will bring him in 'cause he is also a very smart businessman. But I'm excited about lead with [00:29:00] love. We have a mastermind coming up very, very soon in Bel Air, California. And then we do these live events and then the mentoring and training I think are gonna be next level.

Hala Taha: I'm super excited to help you build this, to be honest. I just feel like you're somebody who's so well known in real life. Everybody knows your name. You're really big on Instagram, but I can't wait to bring your message even wider on LinkedIn and podcast. I just think you're gonna absolutely crush. So just so excited for your podcast launch.

Tim Storey: Yeah, but can I say something before you ask me the next question?

Hala Taha: Yeah.

Tim Storey: I wanna say to you, I want you to really hear me. Thank you. Because I feel like you are seeing my brand and understanding my brand. And the thing that I did not go for before, like if I got off a stage and I spoke for Ed Millet and there was 34,000 people, and [00:30:00] if I get off the stage, everybody's hitting me up, they want to know how I could get 'em to Oprah, or can I get 'em a book deal or can I get 'em an agent?

Can I get 'em a manager? Then the, one of the biggest hiccups I get is I helped build Tony Robbins this, or I helped Russell Brunson with this and I could do this for you. And that is really not a conversation I ever wanted to get in with people. So I was just on hold, like, who could I find that I could connect with that will understand my essence, that I am here to change people?

What a privilege. When Quincy Jones said, you are the young Nelson Mandela. Tim, do you understand you are today's pop prophet. You are the leader of leaders of people who need to break through some of their pain points trying to find themselves. [00:31:00] So I really appreciate the fact that you pay attention to my voice, my brand.

My calling, you're helping to build out my LinkedIn, which, what did I know about LinkedIn? I'm a humanitarian, so all that research you've done, you're really helping to change my life. So thank you.

Hala Taha: Thank you.So one thing that I know about you is that when you walk on stage, you command everybody's attention.

You're able to build these communities in real life. Like I mentioned, you've got so many diehard fans used to go on TV and people were magnetized. This is why overbought you back on over and over again. How do you connect with audiences? And this is especially relevant for everybody tuning in because nowadays everybody wants to be a creator, entrepreneur.

Everybody wants to build an audience. You've been doing this for decades, so how do you connect with an audience?

Tim Storey: I think that. Something that's very, very [00:32:00] important, and what I hear from people is they feel like they'll say, Tim, I feel like you were just talking to me even though there was 8,000 people. I feel like you were just talking to me.

So that is very much on purpose. What I do as a speaker, as a communicator is I think, Kay, somebody's sister's out there, somebody's mother's out there, somebody's brother's out there. I want this message to help change their life because I know it's gonna have a domino effect. I really work hard on my messages.

So if I'm gonna speak 45 minutes, I study 20 hours for a 45 minute speech, and I don't have three speeches. I probably have over 250 talks that I could give at any time. So I put that much energy research. Because it's somebody's mother, somebody's sister, [00:33:00] somebody's brother. And I think that that's what they are feeling because watch Revelation leads to conviction.

So one of the things that people feel when I'm taking a stage and mastering it is feeling like, my God, this guy's on fire just 'cause Lewis House is my real friend. I'll tell this story. We were at Grand Cardone's, 10 x and I went up there and it was like fire hit 'cause a message was good and the crowd was up and fire hit.

And Louis was in the backstage. He is like, what the heck just happened? And it's nice to get the response from the other speakers that I respect of what did Tim Story just do there? So it's a revelation conviction. That conviction is what brings that [00:34:00] feeling to people.

Hala Taha: It's like having the confidence when you speak.

It's not really what you're saying, it's how you're saying it. And I feel like you're so good at that. Your tonality, using pauses, even when you're talking to me right now, you're just such a good communicator. Do you have any pointers in that regards?

Tim Storey: I do. I teach a whole class that you're gonna help us push, called Master the stage.

And because I decided, since everybody was saying such nice things about my speaking, I said, okay, how did I get this good? So I created a whole course on how to master the stage. And part of it is to find your own secret sauce. What is your message like? Brene Brown is being vulnerable, or Jamie Kern Lima is being worthy.

Grant Cardone, 10 x Tim's story right now. Miracle mentality. So [00:35:00] you gotta have your own secret sauce, but then you see what I am doing with my cadence. My cadence is on purpose. The way I pause, I give people time to really take in. And that's through a lot of studying on communication and working with some of the best communication coaches.

So I work with the best voice coaches. D Seth Riggs, who's the voice coach behind Celine Dion. Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson. On and on and on. That was my voice coach. I've had the greatest acting coaches that you have in Beverly Hills. Walking me through step by step, I've had people, like one of my best friends in the world, Robert Downey, Jr.

Sitting there watching me speech after speech, after speech after speech. 'cause he watched me speak for 20 years straight and he would say, you know, Tim, you should add a little this or shift a little that. Do a little that. So I've had some help with it, [00:36:00] but it's very intentional because as you know, the way we communicate can change people's lives.

Hala Taha: So what are some actionable things that some of these people have told you to do? Let's say we've got an entrepreneur who's about to make a pitch to a bunch of VCs. What are some of the things that they should keep in mind when they're doing this pitch?

Tim Storey: I honestly don't think that I can be really beat on a pitch.

I think that a lot of the things that are talked about with sales and pitching. Is we're trying to convince somebody of something.

Hala Taha: I am like a master. And part of it I learned from some of the masters that have been around for a long time that do very well. And that is talk about somebody's mother, talk about somebody's father.

Tim Storey: Find out, do they have cats, do they have dogs? Find places of connection and build a bridge. So now it's a connection, it's a [00:37:00] conversation. And then let's see if we can have an exchange. Let's see if we can swap like the old days in the farms, let's say your family had too many horses and my family had too many cows, so we would swap cows for horses.

And that's what I do with my pitches, is that I'm not coming and trying to get A, B, C to buy me. Look at me. I'm fancy. You should buy my show. No. What do you need? Your programming seems down in this area. Up in this area. What are you looking for? And recently at one of the big networks, I was talking to one of the guys, he said, can I break character for a minute?

And he was the head of his division in one of the top three of A, B, CCBS and NBC, but I won't tell you which one it was. [00:38:00] But he said, can I break character for a minute? He goes, oh my God, you're touching me emotionally. Emotion. He goes, most people just want something from me. I go, no, not me. 'cause I don't wanna be in the wrong place.

I wanna make sure I'm in the middle of God's will for my life.

Hala Taha: That's so powerful.

Tim Storey: So with the pitch, be a good listener with your plan, what you have, your idea. Be a good listener. Just don't take me to a great restaurant and just start pitching away. Ask me about my mother.

Hala Taha: Then. That's part of being likable too, right? People like to talk about themselves, so let people talk about themselves and then listen to them and try to make a deeper connection.

Tim Storey: Yes, because look at your schedule now, right? You're moving from boom to bam, to boom, to bam, to bam, to boom, to bam. So am I. I'm running companies, I'm doing things, and so I don't want just somebody coming at me and just saying, how do I [00:39:00] sell this to this guy?

No, I wanna know you. What's your backstory? In fact, I have done business with people that were not as good as somebody else, just 'cause I like their backstory.

Hala Taha: Let's play a game, Tim. I wanna play a game called Miracle or Mess. Okay?

Tim Storey: Ooh, I like this game.

Hala Taha: Yeah. I'm gonna throw out some real life scenarios.

You're gonna tell us, is this a miracle move or a messy move? And why? You ready?

Tim Storey: I'm ready. I've never played this game.

Hala Taha: It's a custom game based on you. All right? Quitting your nine to five job with no savings or plan

Tim Storey: mess.

Hala Taha: Why?

Tim Storey: Well, that's something that you would've done in your early days, but very few people are you.

What I tell people is that if you have eight pieces of a pie, just stick with this for just a minute. Eight pieces of a pie. [00:40:00] Most people wanna just take all eight pieces of the pie, throw 'em away to try to fill in this new endeavor, those eight pieces with I'm gonna be a life coach, I'm gonna be a thought leader.

I'm gonna write books, I'm gonna have my own podcast. I'm gonna be the next Jay Shetty. I'm like, probably we should keep your job. Instead of eight pieces of the pie for that job, let me have two pieces of the pie to become Jay Shetty. But the other piece is you do your job until you start becoming better at becoming Jay Shetty.

And then maybe you go all the way. So it's an interesting thing, but I gotta go Bible on you for a minute. Even Jesus was a carpenter. Jesus was a carpenter, but he knew he was the king. So yeah, I believe in the nine to five job still,

Hala Taha: okay? Forgiving somebody who betrayed you, even [00:41:00] though they never apologized.

Tim Storey: The answer is you forgive, but that doesn't mean you bring them back into your inner circle. You forgive because it's gonna be healthier for you. So when you are offended, watch how powerful this is. Like, I love your energy. Okay. If you started thinking of all the people that offended you, even when you were coming up, the offense will put you on the defense.

So the unforgiveness will put you on the defense. I don't wanna be on the defense. I wanna be free flowing. I wanna be happy, I wanna be the funny guy that I am. So no, I'm gonna forgive you, but that does not mean you're coming back in my life.

Hala Taha: So it's, you're at peace, but doesn't mean that you need to help that person later on.

Tim Storey: Of course not. No. And I think that that's what some people, they get themselves in trouble for. Even with family [00:42:00] members. If a family member has betrayed you, that's your family member. But I might just see you at Thanksgiving. I'm gonna be kind to you and I might send you some texts too, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna tell all my inside story and put you on the inside.

Hala Taha: Okay. Investing in yourself with a course or a mentor even when money is tight,

Tim Storey: do it. Miracle move. I sold my Volkswagen at 18. There was a guy in Seoul, Korea that was doing what I wanted to do, and he was super great at running nonprofits and helping people to do this in Seoul, Korea. I sold my Volkswagen to go to Seoul, Korea to go to a seminar when I was 18 years of age.

Yes, sometimes you live from your sacrifice. Sometimes you live from your surplus. Too many of you are waiting till you get to the surplus. No, you gotta [00:43:00] sacrifice to get to where I've gotten. I have sacrificed. I've worked overtime. I've sold things just to get to the places that I needed to be.

Hala Taha: Okay, last one.

Waiting for the perfect timing before you take action on your dream.

Tim Storey: I know this about you, but I won't give your answer. I'm a plotter. I'm a practical thinker. So if I'm going to Dubai, I'm gonna check the weather so I know what clothes to bring. I'm gonna check the temperature before I just jump. So a lot of my friends just jump and jump and jump, and sometimes they're jumping in the wrong places.

So I believe in weighing out the matter, looking at the pros and cons. But I am not afraid of taking a leap of faith to be Tim's story. I took a leap of faith, yes, [00:44:00] for a humanitarian to become well-known in all the spaces I'm in and run all these businesses. Now, that was a leap of faith, but I also. Wanna look at the facts before I take that jump,

Hala Taha: something about your mindset is that you're really, really positive.

You just mentioned you took a leap of faith. You say that pessimism cancels faith. So talk to us about the need to be positive, and you also talk about weighing pros and cons just now that it's not like you're just making decisions without thinking about them. But how do we keep an air of positivity, or what do we need to think about?

Tim Storey: The mindset is yours to set. When I woke up this morning, it's not like I woke up on positive. So every day, seven days a week, I don't just wake up and go like, oh my gosh, I feel amazing. Sometimes I go like my shoulder hurts. Who punched me the shoulder while I was asleep? So what I have [00:45:00] to do is I have to renew my mind.

So two hours a day, seven days a week, I study in the morning. Two, look at me two hours a day. I am a machine in this mind. It is hard to yank me down. A fire could start right here and I won't get dramatic in the drama. I'll just kinda look and figure it out. Someone can sue me. You gotta hear this. One time I was speaking at this big convention, a lot of people, and somebody was suing me for something I did not do, and they served me in the middle of my talk.

Oh my God. So the guy as a vanilla folder, like those orange peachy looking folders, and he comes up with a tie on and a suit, and he goes like this in front of everybody while I'm speaking. He goes, you've been [00:46:00] served like he's shaming me. And I go like this, thank you for doing your job. I said. Let's give this man a clap.

I want that. I said seriously. I said that took guts. I said, I saw you standing over there. I saw you looking like if you were gonna do jump rope, when are you gonna jump in? And I was wondering when one of the bodyguards was trying to figure out, 'cause I didn't know if you were gonna come try to stab me, try to choke me.

'cause all that stuff has happened to me. So I didn't know what you were gonna try to do to me, but you were just serving me the paper. So let's give him another clap, sir. If you'd like to stay, you should stay. I got 20 more minutes in this talk. I think you'll learn something. So can you imagine the mindset you have to have to still stay positive while this guy's serving you papers in the middle of a talk that they paid you to speak?

Yeah. So no, your mindset is yours to set [00:47:00] and I choose to set my mind on. The miracle mentality on a daily basis, no matter what's going on.

Hala Taha: Well, let's try to get some actionable bits from that, because entrepreneurs, it's a roller coaster. Things are just up and down all the time. Things can be really exciting and then drop in a minute.

So talk to us about how we can keep a level-headed mindset. What are some practices that we can do?

Tim Storey: I think you know this a little bit about me that I, life coach big companies. Some of these companies I've, I've life coached 18 years. Some of the biggest companies in the world, I life coach some of the biggest AI companies.

So I'm used to dealing with people who want the process. So there's something called the law of the harvest. In order to get a harvest, you have to follow certain laws. So if you were to talk to any farmer, and let's simplify the law of the harvest, because you gotta plow the ground,

It's hard work. You're [00:48:00] plow. If you don't see the harvest, you're plowing. So that's what you were doing when you were an intern, okay? You were plowing the ground. That's what I was doing when I was a dishwasher, a busboy, a waiter, Tim story was all those things. I was plowing the ground and then you start to plant the seed.

So I would say to all you that are watching, what kind of seed are you planting? Are you planting seeds and taking Chas classes that you can take so you can learn and get smarter? Are you planting seeds in your fitness, planting seeds for your mindset? So you gotta plant the right seeds. So you plow, you plant, you gotta water.

Water is repetition. Ooh. That's why the book Atomic Habits has sold so many copies is 'cause we all know we need to work on our habits. So when you have plants in your house, it's a responsibility. You have to water them. That's repetition. So [00:49:00] you plow, you plant you water, and then you harvest. Same thing in your company.

So expect the harvest, but first you gotta plow, you gotta plant, you gotta water, then expect the harvest. So maybe in one part of your company you're harvesting the other part of your company, you're plowing. So you can do both at the same time.

Hala Taha: So you were saying that you and I read this about you earlier, that you study two hours every morning. It's part of your morning routine. So I have a couple questions about this. How do you decide what you're gonna study? Is it based on what you're doing, your new projects? Is it just for fun? And then out of all the books that you've read, what are some that you recommend for our listeners?

Tim Storey: I like to study what I don't know. So when everybody was talking about NFTs, I was like. What is that? And so I didn't wanna be like somebody that did not know. So when people were talking more and [00:50:00] more about Bitcoin and crypto, I went to my friend Crypto Megan, 'cause she knows all about that. So I said, you teach me.

And then what books should I read? So certain things that I don't know about, even like what Russell Brunson does with ClickFunnels. When I first saw him speak for Grant Cardone, I wanted to know. So then I started to study him, study his process. So a lot of the things I study guys is what I don't know.

And then the other side of things I study is what I want to master, So there's a few areas in life where I think I'm pretty hard to beat because it's very Malcolm Gladwell of me where it's like I put over 10,000 hours. Into mastering certain things that I'm good at. Just like you're putting hours into mastering what you're good at.

Hala Taha: So, last couple questions I wanna talk to you about comebacks. Okay. So you're known as a comeback [00:51:00] coach. Talk to us about what we need to look for, especially as entrepreneurs. Let's say we're an entrepreneur, we a company that failed. We're looking to start our new thing. What kind of mindset do we need to have?

What do we need to think through when we're working on our comeback?

Tim Storey: The first thing you have to understand is that a setback is always going to happen. So I call it bugs on the windshield. If you are in Florida during certain times of year, if you were to drive from Miami to Orlando, which is several hours, certain times of the year, there's gonna be bugs that hit the windshield.

So some people, they have these setbacks and they're like, I don't want setbacks. It's like bugs in the windshield. Guess what? If you're an entrepreneur. You're starting something, there will be bugs on the windshield. People might leave you. People may try to duplicate your plan. People might deceive you.

People might betray you. There's a lot of things that [00:52:00] happen bugs on the windshield. So just realize the setback is coming when you are in the midst of a setback, and I beg you to hear, 'cause this is where I'm masterful. You have to become awake and go, whoa, okay. What's happening here? That lady just stole my ideas and went over there.

Or this person just took my money and went over here, or I thought this was gonna work and I tried to scale too fast. So number one, when you're in a setback, you have to become awake. Secondly, you have to take inventory. Now that I'm in the setback, where's my mindset? Where's my thought process? Where's my energy?

What's my team like? Where's my financial situation like? So number one, you become awake. Secondly, you take inventory, and I'll just give the third one for right now. Number three, you have to partner with the right people. So you need people like the two you're seeing on the screen right now with her and [00:53:00] me.

And you need to say what are their strengths and how can I partner with them so they can educate me up and out?

Hala Taha: And I know that one of your philosophies is that a comeback is not a go back 'cause we often repeat the same mistakes over and over again. So talk to us about that.

Tim Storey: I'm just getting impressed with the fact that, you know, my sayings that made me feel good.

I said that first to Gail King from CBS Morning News. We were having lunch in New York in a very nice place. And I said, you know, Gail, a comeback is not a go back. And she goes, well do you say that all the time? And I go, no. She goes, don't forget it. Write it down right now. So that is the truth. I think a lot of times people think if I go back and fix this, then I'll be okay.

If I go back and fix that, then I'll be okay. If I go back and try to fix the [00:54:00] relationship with my sister or my mother or my cousin or my ex, comeback is not a go back. We have to just learn from our setbacks, Grow from our setbacks, and then just go forward.

Hala Taha: A lot of setbacks that young people are feeling right now are financial.

I'm not in this bucket. I've future proofed myself in a way, but a lot of people are graduating college, they can't get jobs or inflation. People feel like they can't afford a house. How do you think about financial setbacks and comebacks?

Tim Storey: I think different than a lot of my friends that are my real close buddies, that we all do these conferences together.

I'm a builder, and I think that a lot of people's expectations are too high and they're trying to get it too fast. So I think that you need to start being a little bit realistic [00:55:00] and here's how it works. First you gotta sit and learn. Then you stand in what you learned, and then you walk, you walk it out.

So that's where some of you are that are watching today, is that you wanna soar. But right now you are in the walking and you're not enjoying your walking 'cause you wanna soar. But this is part of the process. The guys that I work with to do really well, I live coached the greatest minds in the world.

They had to sit, they had to stand, and they had to walk. Then you begin to walk, you walk, you walk, you walk, and then next thing you know, you're running. Oh my God, my business has taken off. I just went from three restaurants to four restaurants, to seven restaurants, to 13 restaurants. So now you are running, you're in passion.

Now most people will never go to the next phase. The next phase is the soaring. And those are the people that we look at and gawk [00:56:00] at. Oh my God, look at them. And you're gawing at them. 'cause they're soaring. You can soar too. If you learn to sit, stand, walk, run, you are gonna soar without even realizing you're soaring.

It's not like you just are trying to take flight. It's just all of a sudden it's happening to you. Hala, you're just like this and you're like, what? The heck. It's like when I first started speaking, I was gonna say, and I look out and I go, that's Denzel Washington. And I was in my twenties and I was like, this is tripping me out.

Then I go to another city and I won't say another entertainer, but it's another big one, just as big as this one. And I look and I go, that is, it was a female actress. I was like, this is tripping me out. And then I would go to these countries and the presidents would [00:57:00] wanna meet me. The president is summoning for you 'cause you're this young leader.

So I started soaring and it was something that I knew that I could not take flight on my own, but it came through that process of sitting, standing, walking, running, sorting.

Hala Taha: Nowadays, everybody just wants to go viral, right? They just want it to happen overnight. Yeah, and I've seen it. I've been doing this now.

I started my podcast seven years ago. I started posting on LinkedIn seven years ago. I remember feeling so jealous. I would see these people that would just go viral overnight and maybe start a company, but now, seven years later, none of those people are even around. Also, when people get big too fast, I feel like they burn out or they have no real backbone or foundation. It just happened by mistake, and then they don't know how to keep it either.

Tim Storey: You're so right, and I think that that's why [00:58:00] with you, I'm loving that you're growing very, very fast. Obviously, I also believe you're learning how to be steady line upon line. Precept upon precept is how the Bible talks about it, and so I think that that's why I've been able to last this long.

I first started speaking at 18. Here I am at the stage that I'm at speaking on the biggest platforms in the world. I did the World Government Summit last year. I'm doing it again this coming year. I'm one of the few Americans that have been invited to speak on that platform in Dubai. All these unusual doors that continue to open for me, it's not by accident.

It's like an eagle, right? When they think that they hit the highest soaring spot, another gust of wind hits and goes, boom.

Hala Taha: So the future is changing. Everybody's talking about ai. I think AI is especially scary for people who don't have a lot of [00:59:00] experience because I think AI is going to really impact the younger generation.

It's gonna be 40 and 50 year olds who are gonna be managing entry level AI agents who essentially could have been entry level workers. So what advice do you have to the young people graduating or people in their twenties and thirties right now?

Tim Storey: So I would say about ai, it is essential learning. 'cause whether or not here it comes, it used to be in the old days, if we flew first class, you went up to the ticket counter, let's say at American.

And let's say in LAX, they know me 'cause that's where I'd fly out of. So they'd be like, Hey Mr. Story, oh my God, where are you gonna go next? I saw you on this TV show. That was cool. So I love the whole feeling. Okay, it's not the same feeling anymore. Nowadays you are literally tagging your own bags. In many of these airports.

You are pushing all these [01:00:00] things, doing a lot of things you don't wanna do. That just seem like a hassle. So it is essential to learn new things. So in AI it is essential learning whether or not here it comes. So it's essential. But it shouldn't be like eating spinach When you're a kid. Look at it as something that can enhance you.

It could upgrade you, it could make your life better. So it's like learning multiple languages. So AI can be your friend. I'm involved in some AI companies. As a shareholder, I'm starting my own AI company in a whole other sphere. AI is my friend, but I had to invite it in as my friend.

Hala Taha: Okay. I wanna close out this interview, Tim, with a rapid fire wisdom round. So I'm just gonna ask you a question. You're just gonna tell me your first [01:01:00] thing that comes to your mind. Uh, I just wanna pick your brain on all the things you've learned over the years. Are you ready?

Tim Storey: I'm ready.

Hala Taha: Best advice you've ever gotten from Oprah or another mentor?

Tim Storey: Let's go Oprah. 'cause I think she's one of the smartest people I've ever met in my life. She's like a walking library. Her idea was never force the process, let it unfold that the greats just let them selves unfold. But she was talking about people like Maya Angelou, who was one of her mentors. Quincy Jones. Cindy Porter. Don't force it, just let it flow.

Hala Taha: one sentence that you would tell your 20-year-old self.

Tim Storey: I would say, don't worry, you're not gonna break out for much longer. 'cause once in a while I get acne and I was going like, I'm already 20. It should be gone by now. So I tell myself, [01:02:00] don't get impatient with the process, whether it's who you're gonna marry, how you look.

How you're growing. Life is uncomfortable. Life is awkward. So I would tell my 28-year-old self, Hey, Tim's story, be patient. You're right on time.

Hala Taha: So you've mentored some of the biggest celebrities, biggest athletes, people who have everything, but they still need coaching. So what are some of the common threads that people need help with that we can look out for as we become high achievers?

Tim Storey: I would say the biggest one is to stay on the Yellow Brick Road. So watch what I do with this. Dorothy wanted to go back to Kansas, the Wizard of Odds movie. She said, how do I get there? And they said, follow the Yellow Brick Road. So all these different characters said, follow the yellow Brick road, but everything tried to take him off the yellow Brick Road.

So [01:03:00] even Toto tried to take her off The Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, the Wicked Witch. I am a master. This is where I don't think I can be beat. I keep people on the yellow brick road. I can even see when they start to veer off. And I'll go like this, get back on. I call it alignment to your assignment.

'cause everything in this world's gonna try to take you on a detour and distraction. I'm a master at going like this. Look, get back on the yellow Brick Road.

Hala Taha: So Tim, I know that you're launching a brand new podcast called The Miracle Mentality. Can you tell us about that and what you're excited about?

Tim Storey: Yes. I'm excited about the idea of stepping into the podcast world and being able to bring on some amazing guests that are even different people that I would usually even interview and find out about their [01:04:00] miracle mentality. So it's called the Miracle Mentality with Tim's story. So it's about. Finding like the secret sauce of how people get that miracle mentality in their own life, whether they're a CEO, or whether a person who started a company that failed, that had a comeback or some of the most famous people in the world.

So I'm excited about this podcast, the miracle mentality that Yap is helping us with and helping us to do it, get it out there, and with a privilege to be with the best company.

Hala Taha: Super excited. It's gonna blow up. So very excited for you, Tim. We'll put all those links in the show notes. So in my show with two questions that I ask everybody, you can answer from your heart, whatever comes to mind. What is one actionable thing our young and profits can do today to become more profitable tomorrow?

Tim Storey: Forgive yourself. You may not be what you wanna be, but thank God you're [01:05:00] not what you used to be. Forgive yourself. You might be four pounds underweight. Four pounds overweight. You may have made bad decisions in business or relationships.

Forgive yourself. You're a work in progress.

Hala Taha: And what would you say your secret to profiting in life is? And this can go beyond financial.

Tim Storey: My secret to profiting in life is definitely understanding that I am a piece of the puzzle. It's like life is one complicated, big puzzle with small pieces. It's not the ones you get when you're five that are real big with big pieces.

And to know that we are all a piece of the puzzle, but you're a vital piece of the puzzle and we need you to be that piece of the puzzle for this world to work correctly.

Hala Taha: Tim, thank you so much for joining us. I'd love this conversation.

Where can everybody learn more about [01:06:00] you and everything that you do?

Tim Storey: The best place to uh, follow us is tim story.com. My last name is S-T-O-R-E-Y, so tim story.com. Then you can find all things Tim story, all the projects that we're doing, and then on Instagram and Facebook we're Tim Story official.

Hala Taha: Amazing. Tim, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast.

Tim Storey: Thank you.

Hala Taha: Bam. Tim just offered us so much incredible wisdom about developing a miracle mentality and developing that miracle mentality isn't just about wishful thinking. It's about using practical strategies. And here are some of my favorites that he shared. First off, be intentional about the labels that you accept.

When Tim's sixth grade teacher called him brilliant, he didn't just dismiss it, he owned it and he lived up to it. That single moment changed his trajectory. Next, learn the difference between good [01:07:00] ideas and God ideas. Good ideas may come to pass, but God ideas will come to pass. Tim's success comes from waiting for those really inspiring moments and then acting with conviction.

You also need to build genuine relationships. Tim doesn't pitch. He says he connects. He asks about your mother, your father, your backstory, your dreams. Before Oprah opened doors, before Quincy Jones called him today's pop profit. Tim mastered the art of good listening and genuine curiosity. When you lead with love instead of an agenda, people don't just buy from you.

They invest in you. Another powerful principle, follow the plow plant water harvest process. Tim turned down a $1.7 billion backer because he knew real success comes from building block by block, not from shortcuts. Studied like he does. 20 hours of preparation for every 45 minutes speech. For entrepreneurs, that means respecting the order of growth and staying consistent.

Remember Tim's comeback formula. The next time you have a [01:08:00] setback, wake up to reality. Take honest inventory and partner with people who see your potential. A comeback isn't about returning to where you were. It's about stepping into who you're meant to become. Remember, a comeback is not a go back if Tim's miracle mentality sparks something inside of you.

Share this episode with somebody who's ready to expect extraordinary in their own life. And if these insights hit home, Don't forget to drop us a five star review on Apple Podcast, Spotify, castbox, or wherever you listen to this show. Catch the full video on YouTube by searching young and profiting. You can find me on Instagram at yap with Hala or LinkedIn.

Just search for my name. It's Hala Taha. And before we wrap, I gotta give a massive shout out to my Yap production team. Until next time, this is your host, Hala Taha, AKA, the podcast princess signing off. [01:09:00]