"But Leo," you say, "I don't need to fly to the event. I can just watch the recording. I can just do the Zoom call." 💻 No, you can’t. Your brain knows the difference. A study from researchers in Montreal found a massive biological gap between video calls and actual in-person interaction. - Face-to-Face: Your brains form 9 significant cross-brain links. This is called "Neural Synchrony." You are literally "on the same wavelength." 🧬 - Video Call: You get only 1 link. One. On Zoom, you are fighting something called "Hyper-Gaze." Because you are locked into a constant stare at the screen, your brain registers it as a subtle "fight or flight" threat. 👁️ You spend 50% of your energy just decoding pixelated faces instead of actually connecting. This is why deals stall on Zoom but close at dinner. It’s why you can feel the electricity in a room like the one we are building for Funding Machine Live, but you can't feel it through a fiber optic cable. ⚡ Staying home might save you a plane ticket. But it costs you trust, empathy, and the "Brain-to-Brain Coupling" required to build an empire. ✈️ The Turkey Paradox: A Case Study in "Reframing" So, here is the problem: If your IQ is down 13 points and your neural links are severed, how do you see opportunity? You don't. You see threats. 🛡️ This brings us to the video I shared earlier this week: The Tony Robbins "Turkey Story." It is the ultimate example of how two people can see the exact same data and get two completely different results. - The Input: A stranger delivers a free Thanksgiving turkey to a poor family. 🦃 - The Dad’s Frame (Prevention Focus): He operated in "Scarcity." He interpreted the gift as "Charity" and an insult to his pride. He slammed the door. He stayed broke. 🚪 - Tony’s Frame (Promotion Focus): He operated in "Abundance." He interpreted the gift as "Love" and proof that strangers care. He founded a movement. ❤️ The Insight 💡 Most entrepreneurs in 2026 are the Dad. They are isolated in their home offices, missing 13 IQ points, and staring at a screen. They look at the economy and see "Inflation." They look at the market and see "Risk."

Let’s be real for a second. 👇 ARTICLE LINK HERE We live in a world that tries to convince you that you can build a massive empire entirely from behind a laptop screen. The gurus tell you that if you just have the right funnel, the right ads, and the right Slack channel, you never have to leave your house. You can just sit in your pajamas, drink coffee, and watch the millions roll in. ☕💸 I used to believe that too. And don’t get me wrong—tech is great. Zoom is convenient. But there is a massive difference between being busy online and being powerful in person. I didn't realize this until I read a study from the Harvard Business Review that stopped me in my tracks. They found that a face-to-face request is 34 times more successful than an email. 34X. That means for every ONE deal you close in person, you would have to send 34 emails just to get the same result. 📉 That was the moment I realized that "proximity" isn't just a buzzword. It’s a mathematical multiplier. You can learn content online. But you catch vision in person. Over the last decade, I’ve tested this theory. I’ve gone from sitting in the cheap seats at conferences to sharing the stage with legends like Patrick Bet-David. And I can tell you, the view is very different from the front of the room. Here is the truth about how I used "The Room" to scale to 8 figures—and why you need to get into ours. From The Cheap Seats to The Main Stage I wasn’t always the guy handing out the awards. For a long time, I was the guy sitting in the back row, frantically taking notes and hoping the speaker would drop a crumb of wisdom that would change my life. 📝 I remember paying my own way to attend Brendon Burchard’s events. I wasn't a "VIP." I didn't have a special lanyard. I was just a regular attendee with a dream and a notebook. But here is the secret: I didn't just watch. I studied. I looked around the room and realized that the people on stage weren't aliens. They were just people who had figured out a system and—more importantly—had built a network.

Happy Friday! Recently, I was reminiscing on my first experiences with live events… As I sat in the back row of a massive conference, squinting to see the stage, I frantically took notes while Brendon Burchard dropped knowledge. I was a spectator. Most entrepreneurs stay spectators their whole lives. They hide behind their laptops, convinced that if they just optimize their ads enough, they’ll build a legacy. They are wrong. I recorded a short video breaking down the exact timeline of how I went from "The Cheap Seats" to sharing the stage with titans like Patrick Bet-David and GaryVee. It wasn’t luck. And it wasn’t because I posted more on Instagram. There is a specific "physics" to success that the gurus ignore because it’s hard to sell. Watch the video here.

Team, If you ever doubt the power of "pushing the wheel" instead of reinventing it, watch this clip from Scott Dias. He hit rock bottom (financially) at the worst possible time. He didn't claw his way out by inventing a new gadget or starting an agency. He did it by leveraging the Funding Machine. The takeaway: The system works if you work it. Who else here is doing "1/3 the work" compared to their old job? Let me know in the comments. 👇

Today, the internet is going to explode. You’re going to see a tsunami of posts promising to "grind harder," "wake up earlier," and "never sleep" in 2026. I love the enthusiasm. But I need to warn you: That mindset is a trap. If your plan for the New Year is just to do more of what you did last year, you are walking into a buzzsaw. I just dropped a controversial breakdown on why the "Hustle" is dead and what actually creates wealth in this new economy. Click here to read it and find out: Why the "Grinder" mentality is actually keeping you broke (and tired). The specific reason why your body - and your bank account - punishes you for working overtime. The 3-part "Leverage Triad" you need to build immediately to replace manual labor. Why Gen Z might actually be right about the future of work (yes, really). Don’t start 2026 digging a hole. Start it by building a machine. [Link to Article] Let’s ride. - Leo