Pro Mindset® Podcast

Personal Discipline Drives Success with Nat Berman

• Craig Domann

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In this episode of Pro Mindset® Podcast, host Craig Domann sits down with entrepreneur Nat Berman to explore the dynamic journey that has defined his career. From his early days as a recruiter in New York City to building a successful digital empire, Nat's story is a testament to resilience, innovation, and strategic growth. 

Nat shares key moments that led to his website portfolio and the "Be Better" movement, focusing on habit formation and consistency. He discusses scaling challenges and lessons from early missteps, highlighting the importance of focusing on one project at a time for excellence. 

Episode Takeaways:
💡 Discipline—Consistency in Action
💡 Connection—Build Genuine Relationships
💡 Mindset—Embrace Challenges and Growth
Join us for an enlightening conversation on entrepreneurship and personal development.

📲Connect with Nat:
🌐Website: https://thebebettermovement.com/ 
📸Instagram: @realnatberman
📱Facebook: @Nathaniel Berman
👋LinkedIn: @Nat Berman

🚀 Ready to Build a Mindset That Powers You Through Anything?
If Nathaniel’s insights on mindset and personal growth inspire you, the Pro Mindset® Coaching Program can help you align your potential with purpose and adaptability.
 👉 Learn more or apply at www.ProMindsetPodcast.com/coaching or reach out directly to Craig at Craig.ProMindset@gmail.com.

#ProMindset #Mindset #CraigDomann #ProMindsetPodcast #NathanielBerman #BeBetter #BeBetterMovement  #Resilience #Entrepreneur #EntrepreneurialMindset #Business #BusinessLeadership #BusinessMindset #Mentality #Discipline #Growth #Success #Development #Mental #MentalDrive #PersonalGrowth

PRO MINDSET (00:

01.73) Hey, welcome everyone to Pro Mindset Podcast. This is your host, Craig Domann. Today we have Nat Berman. Nat is a business coach. Nat, welcome to Pro Mindset.

Nathaniel Berman (00:

04.31) Yeah. 12.266) Hey, thanks for having me, Craig. Appreciate it.

PRO MINDSET (00:

14.776) Okay, we talked off the air. We had no plan. This is a total wing job. We're gonna go where it goes. Why don't you share with everyone your story? Your like what are you? I want you I want you to I want you to tell your story that is relevant to what you do now.

Nathaniel Berman (00:

25.644) Let's see my story. how far back you want me to go? 37.292) Sure. Sure. so been an entrepreneur for 18 years. you know, started off when I graduated from college. I was a recruiter for about six years in New York City. Did not love that. found out about Google's blogging platform in 2007. And a buddy of mine just kind of emailed me and I was like, Well, that's interesting, and I started writing. And I started building an audience. And then I learned how to use WordPress. And then I learned how to build a website. And I wound up starting this website called Uncoached, which was kind of like almost like a bar stool sports. That that's what I would compare it to today. And I was I grew it pretty quickly. I you know, I quit my full time job, you know, nine months into it. I, you know, kind of lucked out a little bit. I started getting linked to A lot by Sports Illustrated. That was sort of my break, I guess. And then, you know, the site started to keep growing. One site turned into two, two turned into three. And then I just developed this portfolio of websites that's about twenty-five or so. And you know, I still own that today. so that's basically been, you know, the the revenue generator for, you know, two decades now. Back in 20 and 19, I sort of, I don't even remember how I looked on LinkedIn, but I just like was on there. And I started to see that people were posting their own content on there and and I I started to see that there was a lot of engagement and likes and comments and I had a decent experience, you know, community building and audience building. Despite not being on I was I was never on any of the platforms like Instagram or or or Facebook or any of those, but I just sort of took to LinkedIn and I grew up pretty sizable audience, you know, within within a year. People started asking me if I coached because most of my content was entrepreneurial in nature, just about the grind and the reality and the hardships that you face and the loneliness and all that. And it seemed to resonate with a lot of people. So had zero experience coaching, but I started taking on some clients. I liked doing it. Eventually I didn't like doing it so much. it's, you know, very stressful.

Nathaniel Berman (03:

00.284) being a one-to-one coach when it comes to people's businesses and you know their lives always intersect. so I kind of started a community. this was in 2024. I had some good fortune in my career where I sold a couple of big websites and so I was like, well what do I do now? And I went sort of back to really pursuing LinkedIn full time. started a community with a partner of mine. Name his name's Darren Mass and we're still partners today. And we started this community all about building your brand. And then in October of 2025, so this is, you know, what, six months ago, I decided to finally expand out onto other platforms. And I grew pretty quickly. probably a little bit of luck, but yeah, whatever. I'll take it. And so now it's, you know, closing in on about half a million followers across a number of different platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. and I started this movement, which is like a another community that I began called Be Better. And that's that's a community all based around habit formation and consistency. It's like the easiest thing in the world. I I designed it that way. All we do is just put up one rep every day that someone has to do. So that could be in personal finance, it could be health related, it could be business related, and They have to report back. So it's it's its own platform. and we only charge a buck. It's a dollar a month. And I have no plans on raising that rate. And so that that started in January. We just hit 500 members recently. And that's kind of my mission these days, is just to continue growing that, continue spreading the message, and that's where I'm at today. That should that should catch us up.

PRO MINDSET (04:

56.238) Okay. What did you what i you you live in Long Island, you're a couple hours ahead of me in Colorado. What have you done today to be better?

Nathaniel Berman (05:

06.156) I just drove my wife to the car dealer. She had to get some she had to get its service, so I feel good about that. I'll tell you something I do every day. I I film three videos every day like like clockwork, every day at around 6 45. that's one thing I do. I ran, you know, went on the treadmill today. I have not eaten well, so I screwed myself there. But you know, and I try to adhere to the daily rep on be better as well. You know, and today's rep was like we asked people to talk about what their sort of headline is, their mission statement, to, you know, get some clarity on exactly what they do so that if they mentioned it to someone, you know, would that person have interest? so yeah. I'm on this podcast. How's that? That's a good thing.

PRO MINDSET (05:

55.855) Hey, that's be better today because I'm gonna make you better because I'm gonna challenge you. what are the top three challenges that entrepreneurs have that they don't and they don't think they're gonna have? Because everybody that starts their own business, starts their own thing, they know there's gonna be capitalization issues. They know there's gonna be time commitment. There's certain things you just know. But it's like sports. There's always a couple of things that happen in the middle of the game.

Nathaniel Berman (05:

58.516) All right.

PRO MINDSET (06:

23.874) That can define the game that you didn't anticipate. What are the unanticipated issues that entrepreneurs face that if they could anticipate them, maybe they would be more successful?

Nathaniel Berman (06:

38.134) Think, in my opinion, the biggest one tends to be as soon as you see a smidge of success, you try to do a hundred different things. And a very large challenge is sticking with one thing until that thing is doing extremely well and you just beat it into the ground. And that thing generally leads to more opportunities. So I think people get a little too ambitious. There's nothing wrong with ambition. But there's a lot wrong with trying to do too much at once just because you saw an inkling of success. that's one challenge I think that is very prevalent out there. I I'm happy to go in.

PRO MINDSET (07:

19.672) Personal personal story net of you going through that same space where you had us

Nathaniel Berman (07:

26.004) Ooh, great, great question. Great question. so back in 08, 09, I mentioned to you I had one site, I had two sites, I had three sites. I ended up starting like eight sites in like a week, and none of them panned out. And it it's funny because when I started a second site, I did it right. I I I was, you know, the first one was around for well over a year and it was doing really well. And the second site. Did the same thing. You know, I think I think that one was up for a good six months and did that the right way. And then that third site just got a little insane. You know, I I had a business partner and we ended up starting, I think it was like seven or eight websites, just way too fast. And we used all this technology. We tried to automate things. And this is, you know, t almost twenty years ago. you you couldn't do what you can do today back then. And we kind of tried to do it, and it was a in hindsight, a tremendous mistake. So along that exact same line. It was just trying to go too far too fast. you know, that was something that if I could take that back, obviously I wouldn't. But, you know, it's a learning experience. Luckily I didn't really, you know, I didn't really eat it too much and it wasn't crazy expenses. So that was that was one of the benefits there.

PRO MINDSET (08:

46.89) Okay, so I'm sure there's some listener out there that wants to start a community. What are the do's and don'ts in starting a community? What are the benefits of starting a community? And how much impact can a community make?

Nathaniel Berman (09:

02.122) I would say the first thing I would tell someone is Keep it as simple and manageable as possible for the user. And there's another mistake I made where it's like, go too far, too fast, too many features, too many things to do. We were at a point where we were doing meetings every day. Every day, five days a week, we were doing meetings with our community. That's overkill, right? Like, and that's just gonna get people very, very overwhelmed. And so The idea behind Be Better was like, hey, this is five minutes a day. It's really not a big deal. And the hardest part is not adding anything to that. It's that someone can really depend on that one cool thing that they've got every single day. So that's one thing. Another thing I would say when starting a community is, you know, retention's a big one, right? Really make sure that you're in touch with your biggest contributors, the ones who are there all the time. you really want to maintain those relationships. I think that's super important. And then you mentioned you know, how big of an impact can it have? I'm just getting started, right? So we we've got 500 people. and I'm starting to see how as this cascading effect of like we were initially getting, you know, maybe one member a day. Now it's like three to five, right? And you start seeing that it's kind of spreading. And I think that's because it's really, really easy. it's just that's the hardest part. Like I would rather have meetings once a month, and those meetings really impact the people in the group, and they can get, you know, information that they can literally take action on at the end of that meeting than just blah every single day just for the sake of being there every single day. Yes, there's something to be said about being committed, but if you're not interested.

Nathaniel Berman (11:

03.082) I'd much rather those meetings be, you know, once a week. So I have yet to see how big of an impact it can have. I one of the things I know that has been amazing has been the impact of the videos I put out every day. So I I you know, I get some pretty awesome responses from those and and that's that's awesome. I I've I've loved that.

PRO MINDSET (11:

27.225) How long are your videos and what are your typical topics?

Nathaniel Berman (11:

31.24) usually around two minutes, probably a minute and a half to two minutes. I stick to topics like being an entrepreneur, motivation, you know, what differentiates people who are successful who are not, why some people have millions and why some people don't. It's really it's really much around success, habit formation, consistency, but with the caveat that it's like, I'm not gonna pull any punches. I'm gonna tell you what I think is the real deal. and I've been doing that for a very, very long time. and and that's how I've always built an audience is just really never pulling any punches and taking punches myself if I have to, you know, owning up to mistakes I've made and and owning up to things that I still need to learn as well. I think that's one of the main things. I have a bit more of a general focus probably than some people where it's like I I'm not just focused on, you know, basket weaving, right? Which is which is fine. And some would argue a better way to monetize is is to be focused on a very niche topic. But for me, my niche is being better, which obviously encompasses a whole lot of things. At the same time, I try not to focus on things I don't really know about. It's like I'm not a conditioning coach. You know, I I don't yeah, I go to the gym myself, but I'm not a physical trainer, right? But I think when it comes to business Probably some life issues. I'm gonna focus on those things to to help people you know, be better.

PRO MINDSET (13:

08.623) If you only had one more video to make that maybe had a scope of 10 minutes max, it's your final one, and you wanted to say everything you needed to say that you've been thinking about saying but you haven't said, or you've said it, but you haven't really like highlighted it as much as you want, what would that topic be and what impact would that have on your listeners?

Nathaniel Berman (13:

36.692) First thing I thought of when you asked me that question was my sons. I have two sons, thirteen and four well, thirteen and ten, soon to be fourteen. And if I had one video to make, it would be likely a video to them and my wife about Things I would likely avoid as I got as I get older. Things that are important to me. Things like Yes, money is important. Work is important. All these things are important. But if you don't have the right people in your life, you're probably going to have a very unfulfilled time while you're here. to really focus on the relationships that you have in your life, but also to never be ashamed of the things that interest you that you do like. It's okay to work on a Saturday, right? If you enjoy what you do. It's okay to work on a Saturday if you're very driven and you're very goal-oriented. There's nothing wrong with that. There's something wrong with it if you're physically struggling because of it, if you're having panic attacks because of it. So just just the awareness of yourself in relation to those around you in the world. If I could just impart that wisdom on my children or anybody who is listening to really just Man, can you just focus on the things that are important? And you brought this up at a very interesting time because I don't know if this video I saw was AI or not. It was really weird. It was this video. I saw it on TikTok. And it was this guy who was 46. I'm 47. And he had stage four pancreatic cancer. And it was a four minute and thirty-second video about this guy who was a lawyer who just busted his ass right out of school.

Nathaniel Berman (15:

40.906) Right. I mean, in his twenties. And he had this friend who became a teacher. He he was making three times as much money as the friend. He was working constantly as the friend. He wanted to eventually be a partner in his firm. And it it's almost it was almost a stereotypical story, but it had more impact because you saw he had like you know, the the wires up his nose, and it it was very sad. He had like the hospital gown on. And you you just it just ha it just felt you felt it more because because of where he was. And he was talking about all the things he's never gonna do with his daughter and his wife. you know, and and at the time of the video, I think he probably had something like four weeks to live, like by his own admission. And that really hit me. I saw that about a week ago, and it was it was so much more about the things he just never did and kept. putting off and and all of that. And I I think a lot of that's hitting me right now. Call it a midlife crisis. Call it my own age, my own mortality, but I would give 10 minutes to that. And I've and I've said those things in in in the brief two minute videos as well, no question, but I'd probably hit it a little bit harder in that 10 minute segment.

PRO MINDSET (17:

00.313) Well, one of the things that you said, Nat, was your videos are about real stuff. You're real talk. You're no bullshit, no no punches, no nothing. Okay. And I think that, you know, if you were doing one last video, that's what it would be. It would be a composition of real stuff. And I think, you know I'm supposed to be interviewing you, but I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna coach you on something. My boys are twenty eight and twenty-seven and they're still they're still my sons, even though they're adults. And they still wanna know if they're good enough. They still wanna know if they've got what it takes. They still want your approval. they they they also wanna feel okay that they can be a screwball and screw up just like I did or you do.

Nathaniel Berman (17:

25.953) Go ahead.

PRO MINDSET (17:

51.575) And so I think one of the things that's really important for young men is to create this container that you can operate in and speak in, which is hey, you're a human being, you're not a human doer, so you're not going to be defined by just what you do, even though the world defines you by what you do. I'm as your dad, not gonna define you just because of what you do. And money's important, success is important, all this stuff's important, but it's really not important. That's what that dude was saying that's got four weeks to live. All the stuff that I thought was important, all the things I was chasing. Now I'm at the end of the road and I'm realizing it really wasn't what I thought it was. How many things can you help your boys realize it's not what they think it is? Because social media tells them it is. Their friends tell them it is. Society programs them that way. It's really not that. You know, it's so funny. My my both of my boys are. are rebels in the sense that they don't want to do the nine to five. They don't want to be in the box. They don't want to be in the matrix, they call it. You know, everybody else wants freedom. They got they they they create the freedom first, which is not easy to do sometimes. But it's like if you if you think about, you know, how the how the economic exchange works, you put in time, you get paid. Put in more time, you have a little success. Less you're in sales, you produce, you get paid. But what do you what does everybody want to do? They want freedom. They want free time. And it's like that I I think the hardest thing as an entrepreneur, because I've been an entrepreneur since I was thirty two. Is that balance? Just the balance. Because, like, you know, I've had weeks where I've worked more hours than I'd like to admit, and I've worked through Saturday, Sunday, and all the other days. And it's like sometimes it doesn't get you anywhere. Sometimes you take a break and you're you have more clarity.

Nathaniel Berman (19:

52.716) yeah, big time.

PRO MINDSET (19:

55.095) And so I'm a lot different today than I was 30 years ago, but it's like meditation and breath work and cold plunging and some of these things that I do sometimes are not fun, enable me to see things more clearly than working five more hours trying to figure something out. Thoughts on that?

Nathaniel Berman (20:

16.083) When you're younger you poo-poo things like meditation, you poo-poo things like mindset. You because you're you're just running around and you think that taking action constantly is is the answer or burning the midnight oil is the answer. Face time is the answer. something that hit real hard is when you said taking a break, right? Like I've been fortunate enough where I have freedom in terms of time. It's funny, sometimes that works the opposite way when you have an entrepreneurial brain and you're always in a do mode, and I gotta do this, I gotta do that. And sometimes the best thing to do is nothing. and that's very hard for people to sit with. but I I one one thing I've done many, many times in my life is is I'm a big napper. I take naps. And if you take a nap and you put in a solid hour of work after, It's probably better than doing four hours of shit work. Like there's just it's just every time. And that's just managing your time, balance, right? As you mentioned. it it's it's called efficiency. And I think as you get older and you know that time is more finite than you ever thought it was, being efficient is critical. and you know. While I don't necessarily believe that, like, you can be a millionaire working an hour a day. I don't necessarily buy into that, especially at the beginning. But what I do buy into is when you've achieved a relative level of success, if you're not eventually optimizing, it's going to catch up with you, right? At some point. And one of the biggest things I've learned to do,

Nathaniel Berman (22:

11.862) People always tease me for having the mind of a retired person. I'm like, I am retired. You know, yeah, I work, but I'm retired by my definition, right? Which means I get to do what I want, when I want, with whom I want, and have the means to do so. You know, that's kind of how I define retirement. And I feel like I'm blessed. I feel like I'm I'm at a young age to have that mentality. but I I would I would love it and wish and hope that people. Who are younger could start developing that at a very early age. It's one of the, I mean, we could talk about this for hours, but to me, one of the drawbacks of current education, I don't want to get political here, is that like they're not teaching mindset in school. They're not teaching, they're not teaching financial literacy in school, right? They're not teaching you to start putting away 10 bucks a month when you're five years old or 10 years old. But maybe they should. Maybe they should be teaching people about. you know, managing their time, managing their headspace, things like that, that that if that was ingrained at a young age, I think there'd be a lot more not successful people, but just people who were at peace. and, you know, that to me is a tremendous there's a tremendous shortage of people like that. I'm not saying I'm Mr. Buddha and I'm, you know, Mr. Peaceful, but I'm trying. I'm trying, you know, and I and I think I think that's Unfortunately a a little bit further ahead than than a lot of people out there.

PRO MINDSET (23:

44.471) I would agree with that. And I I don't think it's being political to talk about our school system. I think, you know, my experience with the school system was to memorize and forget. And I went, you know, went to school for twenty-two years or whatever it was. And it's memorizing and forgetting. And all the things that you need to know that I call the they're in the gap. They're the things that they don't teach you, you know, how to overcome adversity. Sports sports does a lot of this.

Nathaniel Berman (23:

53.609) Yeah.

PRO MINDSET (24:

14.499) But you know what? Sometimes you're on the bench and you're not in the game. So sports sometimes doesn't help you. But you know, it's like I always I always tease teachers, it's like, you know, like if you if you have a test and it's test day, how often do you go, hey guys, there's two minutes to go. Give it everything you got, review your work, finish strong. No, they don't care. Turn in your papers, time's up. Where in sports, you got a coach that's that's pushing you. I don't care what sport it is. I don't care if it has a ball or not. I don't care if it's an individual sport or team sport. There's some there's there has to be some motivation, there has to be some effort that sometimes you don't see in school. And I was a very good student. So it wasn't that I didn't p you know compete in school. I I tried to get better grades than my buddies. That's that's what motivated me. But at the end of the day, it was still just memorize and forget.

Nathaniel Berman (25:

19.978) Yeah, I I I have these conversations with my son and I try to justify what all this is for. And my my only way to since they don't teach a lot of these things in school, right? I I try to at least let him know, well, this is why you're doing it. This is why it is good. And I I try to tell him that building the discipline to study and do well on a test. That's more important than the stuff you're learning. Because he is going to forget all of that stuff. It doesn't matter who signed the Declaration of Independence. It doesn't matter what year, you know, whatever major event in the United States happened, that you're going to say A, B, C, or D. That doesn't matter. But the fact that you put in the work to get that to get the answer correct, that to me is that discipline because. And another thing I tell my son is like, if you can do that with stuff that you don't really like, just wait until you like something and wait until you see the effort. I mean, my first six, seven years out of college, that was when I didn't really like what I did. And I've never worked as hard in my life as when I quit my job. Never. I mean, that and and the the funny thing is, is you know, my regular nine to five call it was it was like eight to six. I was in Manhattan. And I was doing my websites at night, you know, seven, eight o'clock till 10, whatever it was. But I'll never forget when I left my job, that first year was like 15, 16 hours a day. And it did not feel like that at all because I was so engrossed in what I was doing. But at the same time, I also developed the discipline at the other job that I didn't like to do what I was supposed to do. So if anything, I encouraged my children, you know, like. Yeah, man, I ain't gonna lie to you, son. This has nothing to do with what you're gonna do eventually, most likely. You know, unless you have a degree, you know, you know, and you wanna be a doctor or something, a specialty, right? Or you wanna be a lawyer or whatever it might be, unless you're going down that path, you're likely gonna do something in the real world that has nothing to do with the things you're studying right now. But that doesn't mean that what you're doing doesn't mean anything. You have to make it mean something. So it's like, why not?

Nathaniel Berman (27:

49.246) shoot for an A on a test. Not because you want to learn that information. You know you're never going to use it. But because the discipline and the skill to get those good grades is only going to help you further when you eventually do something that you want to do and that you want to push for.

PRO MINDSET (28:

08.387) There's two things that I see that are benefits of the school system. One is you learn how to learn, and obviously you learn how to forget too, but you learn how to learn. And all of us learn differently, kinesthetically, you know, verbally, visually. sometimes you learn better when you listen to music, sometimes you learn better when you're studying with groups. And learn how to learn. And the second thing is that what you just described, I I'd I break, I put it all in a basket of process. You've got to learn how to build a process, systems, standards, all those things. Because no matter what you do in life after school school's over, you have to have these systems. And within those systems are your habits. So they're all connected. And you know, there's, you know, like I think the ultimate test is when you're an entrepreneur and you work from home and you're solo. Because can you, you know. Are you gonna go to the golf course? You're gonna go do certain things and goof around? You're gonna put in your time. And can you balance it? Can you prioritize it? Can you build systems? Can you become more efficient? Can you start delegating for to have people do things that you're not as good at? All those growth like steps you take when you build a business, your ability to do that, do that well defines your business.

Nathaniel Berman (29:

34.954) Yeah. I it's it it's funny there's A lot of people who are entrepreneurs want their children at some point to have a quote unquote real job, even though obviously being an entrepreneur is a real job. But what they mean by that is experience the corporate. You know, go do it. Go experiencing that experience that for yourself. I want to add one more, right? Not only should one experience corporate, one should experience building a venture on their own. Do those two things, right? You do those two things. That's going give you a really nice picture of maybe where you fit in and maybe where you want to be. you know, my son, he's gonna be 14 this summer. So I already told him, I said, you know, the summer after that, sorry, dude, you're getting a job somewhere. You know, yeah, you could you can work for your old man if you want, but you you know, I want you to I want you to develop that discipline, that responsibility sooner than later. Because guess what? The sooner you develop it, the more it becomes a habit. And it and it becomes part of who you are. And I would rather him not have to work to develop that skill. I'd rather it be ingrained because he's been doing it for seven years, you know, during college, during high school, so that when he gets out, he's not hit in the face with a Mac truck of all these expectations that he didn't realize he was going to get. I think that's there's another, I don't know if the word is political discussion, but it's like the whole, you know, when people bitch and moan about Gen Z and whatnot. It's like, well, you know, it's every generation has lazy people, right? I never, I never bought into the whole like Gen Gen Z is, you know, they're lazy or Gen or millennials are lazy or anything like that. There's lazy people in every generation. The thing that I think is is is difficult, and you see a little bit, or at least you publicly see it more today, is that people aren't necessarily just

Nathaniel Berman (31:

35.092) learning how to do the work. There's a caveat there. It's like, well, I'm only gonna do work if I'm in mentally the right space. Or I'm only gonna do work if I if I could have 15 minutes of meditation time on a on a on a big beanbag chair or you know whatever it is and I'm I'm not one of those like screaming on the lawn old man types who's like, you know It's not like it was when it was in my day. Like, don't get me wrong. I I I do think mental health things like that are extremely important. I I think that having the right mindset is extremely important. But I also think that shutting the hell up and doing the work is also important. And i if there's anything that I think has been lost or is being lost, it's just that kind of, you know, by the bootstraps. You know, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. And sometimes that means doing what you do not want to do. And by the way, if you're an entrepreneur, I don't care how much you love your job or love what you do, you're gonna end up having to do things you don't wanna do, no matter what. And so why not, you know, at least embrace that that skill. You don't have to like it, but I I do think it has to be a part of who you are. And and boy, I mean, you obviously since, you know, you're your career as an agent, you're using so many sports metaphors. Boy, does it really mean something in sports. I when I was younger, I wanted to be a professional tennis player. I used to miss middle school. I went to school till about noon every day and left to go train, you know, with a coach. I wound up loving basketball too much to to pursue tennis. And so I ended up playing hoops and, you know, in high school and I wanted to play in college, but I wound up at Tulane, and that was a little tough to make that team, even though my father played for Tulane. But so, but I mean, you're not always gonna get that push from your coach, man. You know, you got to be in the driveway and do the drills. They're not always gonna be there for you. And you know, there's there's no greater place than sports to expose the work you've done or haven't done.

Nathaniel Berman (33:

58.758) as far as I'm concerned. but if if only you could take that same mentality, put it into, you know, what whatever it is. Maybe it's academics, maybe you're playing the piano, maybe you're learning how to woodwork, right? It doesn't matter. to me it's it's that discipline and habit formate formation that is just critical.

PRO MINDSET (34:

19.833) Well, I see two things. my wife has a lot of interns for her charity that she does and she does football camps and different things. and when the interns show up, they're college kids. Some of have never had a job. Some of them have never had to work hard, some of them have, so there's a reciprocal to every one of the things I'm saying. Some of them know how to manage up and communicate, others have no idea. And they look like the same person. They come from the same place. They're about the same age, but they're not the same person. And I think it's really important to be able to adjust to the environment where it's not what you were thinking it was going to be. And that's the work. And then you also simultaneously have to regulate your internal emotions, your mental state when you're going through something you don't like. So cold plunging is that for me. G mini. That is that is the the ultimate mental test for me. So it's no fun. And so, like, think about guys that go in the military, going to boot camp. It's no fun. I mean, they tell you it's not gonna be fun. And it's worse than they tell you. It's not just the work you have to adjust to, it's mentally how do you respond to it and how do you control yourself? Because, you know, like even in in sports. Same thing. Face adversity you weren't expecting. You lose your cool, lose your composure or not. Maybe some people thrive in those situations. So one of the things that I a saying I love in business is the idea of working through the mess. So instead of having a perfect plan to start at a perfect time in a perfect way, all these things that are perfect, just diving in. And working through the mess, because if you don't, you never start.

PRO MINDSET (36:

23.701) I guarantee you everything you've ever done has been a little bit of a mess in the beginning. You've had a plan, maybe been capitalized, knew what you were gonna do, but there's a mess. Well, how fast can you make the mess? How fast can you take the mess and put it into an order? Because everybody's dealing with the mess at some point in time. Every time you make a transition, you're dealing with a mess. Every time you change jobs,

Nathaniel Berman (36:

27.276) Sure.

PRO MINDSET (36:

52.771) Every time you start a new project, you've got a mess.

Nathaniel Berman (36:

57.652) Yeah, I I love the phrase businesses are always built in the middle. You know, and that speaks to what you mentioned before. I think you said something like, not the in-between, but you mentioned the, you know, the empty spaces or something like that, right? And it's it's very easy to follow a set of instructions. What's not easy is how do you handle the things that are unexpected, right? And and you mentioned that at the very beginning. Right? What are the three biggest challenges that as an entrepreneur? and I know I know I know I only gave you one, but you know, what are what are those challenges that you wish you could tell even you either yourself or someone who's starting a business that you can't possibly anticipate? And the only thing that I do know is that you are going to experience things that you can't anticipate. That's an automatic. You know, there's there's you there's no way

PRO MINDSET (37:

50.71) Automatic.

Nathaniel Berman (37:

54.878) You will ever run a business without things that happen that you couldn't possibly imagine would happen. and that's that's another thing. You know, it's funny you mentioned what are the biggest challenges. There's one, right? What I just said is that if I could tell someone who was starting a business, be prepared for that. I don't know what those things are going to be for your particular business, but I am 100% certain that you were going to experience things. That you did not think were going to happen. And what are you going to do about it? Right? Are you going to wallow? Are you going to freak out? Are you going to panic? Are you going to calm down and say, I'll figure it out? and and the businesses that succeed, they figure it out. And if they don't figure it out, they hire someone to figure it out. You know, I I believe in simplicity. I don't like complex solutions. Even though there are things I've done in my business that require a complex solution, but if it's something that I don't want to take on myself, then you outsource. You know, and we we could talk about AI until the, you know, cows come home. But, you know, one of the advantages obviously of of things like AI is that, hey, now I can sort of f you know fill in those bottlenecks with solutions that AI can come up with that I couldn't, right? Which I think is an appropriate use of the technology, whereas I think so too many people have thought that I can make a million with AI and just not do anything, right? Like that's that's obviously very a very illogical point of view as far as I'm concerned.

PRO MINDSET (39:

34.519) I think one of the things that defines us, especially dudes, is how we respond to things. We we always have good intentions, we always have good actions, we always have good plans. Even as a dad, husband, you know, entrepreneur, got great plans, great ideas, but we are defined by our reactions, our responses. And you know, like when you're Son comes home and says something says something happened at school that you never anticipated. How do you respond? And so one of the things that I've learned that I didn't know when I was your age, but I I do it mine, you're go through three stages as a dad. You're a provider and a protector. That's stage one. You're always gonna do that, but you gotta not do too much protecting as I get older. You're always a coach, whether it's feeding themselves, dressing themselves.

Nathaniel Berman (40:

24.906) Yep.

PRO MINDSET (40:

30.147) You know, brushing their own teeth or catching a ball or learning how to drive all the way through. You're coaching. But the most important role you'll play as a dad is a consultant. And that's when you allow your kid to learn how to think on his own. And when he comes to you and says, Dad, this is what's going on. What do you think? If you were like if you're like I was, you would just tell him. Because you you know the answer. You've been through it. And if you haven't been through it, you had a buddy go through it. So you already know the answer. In fact, you know the answer before he has the problem that he doesn't know he's gonna have because you can see it coming. Because you can see around the corner because you've been there before. He can't see around the corner because he's never been there before. So, what does every dad do? Give him the answer. Yeah, new to your kid. Ask him what he thinks he should do, what he thought he should do, what his friends are telling him he should do. What what's his gut telling you should do? What has he already tried? And really step into that consultant role as a dad, where you get to see your own sons like grow up faster mentally because they're becoming problem solvers because you're not solving the problems for them.

Nathaniel Berman (41:

46.474) Yep. Yep. Love that.

PRO MINDSET (41:

51.023) So okay. 58.169) Do you already know what your kids are gonna do at thirteen and ten? Can you already see what they're gonna do? You have no idea.

Nathaniel Berman (42:

03.308) well my my youngest is Not to toot his horn or my own horn, but he's he's somewhat of a prodigy on the piano. and I would love to see him pursue something in music. but very hard to determine, you know, where all that's gonna go. I mean, he's 10, right? But he's he's playing some pretty sophisticated stuff right now for his age, and I think if he wants to, he could do it. I've had long discussions with this teacher who happens to be my piano teacher as well. But And then my older one, man, I got no clue, man. I have no idea what he's gonna be. What I do know about him, which is is extremely important, is he's just an incredibly humble and nice kid. It's just been a pleasure watching him grow up. And I I think whatever he winds up doing, what I do know about him is that he cares. And that's huge. He he he gets real pissed off if he doesn't do well on a test and like That didn't come from me. You know, he just he just that that was on his own and I love that about him. And I said, you know, well, if you're upset, it's because you care. I'm not gonna fault you for caring. But you know, even even me and my wife have to be like, It's all right that you didn't do so well on that test, but at the same time I'm glad you care. You know, I'm I'm glad you you so I'm I'm curious myself, you know, where he'll develop and and what he'll gravitate towards. I think whatever it is, at the least he'll care.

Nathaniel Berman (43:

46.772) And that that to me is enough at the moment. Maybe he'll have some more direction as he, you know, he's gonna he's gonna be in high school next year. So who knows where that'll go. But I I just I I I do want them to really, really enjoy their time a little bit more than I did. I know that I put a lot of pressure on myself at a younger age. And I hope that they can yes, I want them to do well, I want them to care. But I also want them to have a good time, have fun and and and develop really good relationships with people. So yeah, good question. I have no idea. I'm not pushing them into anything. Maybe my oldest I don't think my youngest would ever work with me, but I could see my oldest working with me at some point. My youngest is too much of an individual. He he he'll he'll have to do his own thing at some point. So I hope they become entrepreneurs. We'll see.

PRO MINDSET (44:

44.023) Well, I always say where passion and talent intersect. You got a chance. And we're known, you know, like being a jack of all trades and doesn't get you anywhere. It's the people that get that make pay, so to speak, in our in our society are the people that are really good at what they do, whatever that is. And it really doesn't matter what it is, but they're really, really good.

Nathaniel Berman (44:

47.296) Sure.

PRO MINDSET (45:

11.425) That doesn't mean they're really bad at everything else. It just means they're really good. And it's like, you know, if if your 13-year-old, what's his first name? Aiden. You know, if Aiden can, you know, discover his his passions in the next few years, just the best thing to do is just support him in whatever that might be. Cause you know what I mean? So let's go back to community again.

Nathaniel Berman (45:

14.23) Exactly. 20.532) His name is Aiden. 32.214) Totally agree. 39.18) Mm-hmm.

PRO MINDSET (45:

41.091) What is the message that you have given in the last thirty days that has gotten the most the biggest response, most feedback? better.

Nathaniel Berman (45:

55.198) Yeah.

Nathaniel Berman (46:

00.97) Well, there was one message that wasn't in the community, but it was actually in an Instagram video that I put out, and I had no idea it was going to get this amount of traction, but it got like three million views, and it was all about jealousy and social media, and it was all about how sometimes the people who appear to be your biggest supporters, they're the ones who aren't supporting you at all. And somehow they're like supporting celebrities and they're putting all their energy and time and comments and efforts into people they don't even know. and the reason I bring that up is because I think in our lives we give too much credence to people who may appear to be our supporters, but they're not really our supporters. And I think when it comes to a community, having a knowledge of those that are real supporters of what you do. is really, really big to have a place that you can rely on where you're actually going to get the kind of support that you envisioned in the first place, instead of just fake support or or conditional support, I think is a better better way to to phrase it. So you know that that's been very meaningful is just knowing that this group has been Incredibly supportive of one another. I'm amazed that we're at, you know, north of 500 members and we haven't had one spam message. Now, and it's only a buck, right? So you would think you'd get a bunch of crazy people coming in and flooding our boards with all kinds of crap. It's it's been great. so the the message has been clear. People have been been really, really good and and and doing, you know, their reps. So, I just think the idea of not doing it alone has been a very core focus, especially when it comes to being an entrepreneur. And that was actually one of the answers I was going to give you before. Is that what's one of the biggest challenges of being an entrepreneur that you won't foresee? You're gonna feel really alone. And you're gonna feel alone a lot. You can work with 50 people, it's not gonna matter, you're gonna feel alone. and I think

Nathaniel Berman (48:

25.916) One of the reasons I started this community in the first place, even more so, it's even more supported by AI being in the picture now. Is human to human connection, right? Is becoming harder and harder. Social media has really affected that. And I mean, there's a billion studies to prove that, right? But now you've got legalized gambling online. And you've got AI. That if social media wasn't the nail on the coffin as far as putting a dent in meaningful human connection, well, there's more, there's more crack out there now, right? And and and that that is in the form of AI, that is in the form of legalized gambling. that is in the form of social media continuously trying to figure out. How to get more of our of our attention. So these little pockets in the world that have meaningful human interaction, I think, are are becoming more and more critical. And for me, it's like there is no limit. You know, I want a hundred thousand members worldwide. Why not? You know, where we can all sort of, because eventually I want that human interaction online to be in real life. Why not have, you know, a a a running event or why not have a retreat somewhere and why not, you know, really, really develop these relationships so that entrepreneurs around the world, and not just entrepreneurs, people trying to better themselves in any way, can meet some people with similar ideals, and and get away from all the likes and the comments and the reactions and all that conditional feedback. Right. And I that that is very it's very scary to me that that that is just doesn't exist nearly as as much as it used to. I always ask it's very funny. Like I'm yeah, I'm an eighties kid, right? I was born in 79. So I'm I'm they always say my generation is is is at the sort of intersection of the old school drinking water from the hose generation.

Nathaniel Berman (50:

46.868) And the internet, right? So my generation has this weird, interesting dichotomy that almost no other generation has, which is that we grew up in those, hey, get off your ass and do the work time, but we also were privy to the rise of the internet and social media as well. So it's very interesting because in my mind, both things are beautiful, right? But both things can kick your ass. And how do you balance those things in the right way and I I I can only hope that I I can't I I can't focus on the world. I you know, I gotta focus on my family. You know, one of the things I always say about social media is, you have to use it. You can't let it use you. Right. And too too many people are are used by social media. There's no question. not sure where I was going with that. Maybe I started getting a little preachy, but whatever. I just think that when it comes to community and being in person, there's there's a a very big market for that. And it and it's not it's not from a a commercial standpoint and making profits. It's it's necessary. and it's being proven time and time again that without that human interaction, human connection, people are gonna struggle.

PRO MINDSET (52:

11.715) What I hear you say is that if meaningful human connection is getting in the game, social media is being in the stands. Because the one thing you left out was YouTube and TikTok and some of these other things. You just watch. You watch life. You watch other people. You watch other people do fun things. And you're not doing it. You're watching. You're observing. You're you're you're like. In the stands. And before social media, before the internet, before smartphones, before cell phones, you had meaningful human connection in the form of meaningful friend connection, family connection, partner connection that has been replaced by, I guess. non-meaningful human connection. I was at I I picked up something at the Autobody shop today and there was a mother that was working on her computer. There's only two people in the waiting room, like about a six-year-old kid, her son and her. And she's working on her computer. Nothing wrong with that. And he's working on his iPad. Nothing wrong with that. But they were at the same place and had no connection. None. And you know, go back in time. We can't we're never going to go back in time, but go back in time. There was communication. They were playing games. They were doing something together. They don't have to anymore. So technology and all the things that we have allows us to be in the same place and not have a connection. And the most prolific place I see this is at restaurants where there's a

Nathaniel Berman (54:

07.63) yeah.

PRO MINDSET (54:

08.533) A couple and they're not talking to each other because they're both on the phone. Or friends walking down the street, and a lot of times it's teenagers, and they are not communicating with each other. Every single one of them is communicating with somebody that's not there. So they have an opportunity for a meaningful connection. They don't take that and they trade the opportunity for a meaningful one for a superficial one by texting or whatever they're doing. And it's like it's almost like we're getting the technology's training us to not have connection anymore.

Nathaniel Berman (54:

45.268) That's exactly what it's doing. It's literally altering our brains. to to get used to this. It reminds me of this my kids are obsessed with the show Modern Family, even though they they they weren't even around for it. but it always reminds me of this episode when I think it was in the beginning, you see the the Dunfey family, to those listening, you know, it's a family of five, and you see Phil, the you know, the husband. sitting at the breakfast table with the three kids, all four of them are on their phones. And the wife starts talking to Phil and he he's responds with something that has nothing to do with what she's saying. And they end up doing this no no phones, no in you know, internet, you know, contest or whatever. And but y it just the second you brought up you you brought up the the mother and the son on their on their respective electronical devices. I I just thought of that episode right away. And it's not even just couples in a s in a restaurant. It could be the whole damn family, right? It could be four or five people all just sitting there on on their things. And I I remember reading something about this i and man, I wish I I knew the reference, but there was there's even something to be said about the fact that we're under this delusion, right? That when we go to like lunch with someone, And we put our phones down that we're paying the other person attention and respect. But the reality is your phone's still out. Your phone is on the table. You're still placing priority on that little phone of yours, on that device. That's exactly right. So, so are you really a hundred percent present? You're not.

PRO MINDSET (56:

25.601) And if it rings, you're gonna look to see who it is. 33.198) Nathaniel Berman (56:34.078) Be there with that person. and and I'm i i'm not and I know you're not. We're not anti-technology people. I can tell. It's not like we're sitting here saying, because then you're just naive if you don't take advantage of the technology that's out there. But at the same time, at least be aware of the consequences of getting so sucked in and engrossed that it works in the complete opposite direction and you're and then you're screwed, right? And and it's not easy to come back from either. That's another thing is is when you I've been I've been there before when I was in these, you know, just scrolling abysses, you know, of just we've all been there. Doom scrolling, right? That's what they call it. And if you do it enough like days in a row, it's not that easy to get out of it. And that's the that's the literal physiological effect on your brain. It it's just It's proven, right? The dopamine and and it it's crazy. you know, and that and that's another thing that I've I've I've tried really hard to start being a little bit more aware of as I've gotten older. It's like, hey man, my kids, they're gonna be out of my house in five seconds, right? And if if if I can't spend some quality time with them, I never will. The the the scariest statistic in the world as a parent that I've ever seen. That 90% of the time you spend with your kids is before they go to college. 90% throughout their lifetime, on average, is before they go to college. That means 10% of the time I spent with my kids is between 18 and their death, or you know, my death, or whatever it is. That is crazy.

PRO MINDSET (58:

50.411) I can tell you the reason for that stat. The reason for that stat is because most most dads especially are judgmental. And we, you know, we we manage our kids in such a way that they want to get away. They want to be emancipated. And so they don't want to come back. And so since you're a coach, my kids did this to me when I was over coaching. Dad, stop coaching me. Okay. All right, bro. What you got? And there's been times I've been I've been on phone conversations with my boys where they tell me a problem, I don't even give them, I don't even consult. I don't even say anything. And they go, Don't you have something to say? Only if you want to hear it. Do you want me to give you a potential solution? Do you want me just to listen to you complain? What do you want? And I let them define my role in the convo so that I don't exhibit any judgment. Because at the end of the day, they're gonna when they hang up, they're gonna do what they're gonna do anyway. You know? So it's like I think, you know, it's like especially like I think where dads blow it the the worst or the most is like the last two years. my God, kid, you're starting to look at c he's starting to look at colleges and you're going on college trips, and all of a sudden, now you got this avalanche of stuff. shit, I haven't told him this. I haven't told him that. I haven't told him about this, about girls, or about this and that. Overload. That's the time when he's got cars. That's when he's got his driver's license. He he doesn't want to be home. So it's like, I I think the biggest thing I, you know, in retrospect is, and I and I wasn't a judgmental dad, but I was a judgmental dad. Because I just that's what was programmed for me. That was modeled for me.

Nathaniel Berman (01:00:

26.432) Yeah.

PRO MINDSET (01:00:

44.557) So it's the end of the day, I think you have to have an environment that's inviting that that 10% down the road ends up being maybe fifty percent. It should be a it should be a lot. It should be more not fifty. Cause you're talking about 18 versus hopefully 40 or 50 years.

Nathaniel Berman (01:01:

02.218) Yeah. The only caveat I would say is that just by sheer technicality, from zero to eighteen, you're around them so many more hours, technically speaking, right? It's like when they're in the college and they're out of the house, it's not like you're literally around them all day. It's like it it th there's a reason why a lot of people always say, you know, College was the best time of my life, or high school was the best time, whatever, whatever, when there's this sort of nostalgia. It's because you're around these people 24 hours a day. So you technically will have more time spent with those people from an actual technical time basis than you will with anyone in your whole life. You know, when you really think about that. And you know, it's it's a little bit morbid to think about, but it it is the truth. In in at least I know for me, in in my four years of of going to school. I there's no way I have spent more time with the exception of my family than the than the guys I would spend time with in college add up my entire 20 years still not even close, right? Because you wind up seeing even your closest friends, you know, once a month at best, even if they live around the block, you know. And so that that's it's a harsh truth, but it's also a truth that I think that needs to be. harsh and and and given to us right in our face, you know, so we recognize it.

PRO MINDSET (01:02:

35.19) Well, the other thing that happens is as soon as you get you tie the knot, you only you only you you can't go to both Christmases at the same time. You can't go to both Thanksgivings and so on so forth. So one of the things I've learned is that you have to adopt your in-laws. And so I've got two boys and a daughter. Before it's all said and done, I'm gonna have three daughters and three sons. And I'm gonna treat all like that. And right now I've got Three sons and two daughters, and one son that's still looking for his partner. But the bottom line is when she comes along, it's gonna be complete and we're gonna have six kids. Because if you don't, you automatically alienate the the in-law. And so I already know what's gonna happen. You're gonna lose. So you could plan a family vacation and get that text or call says, Hey, something came up, can't go. No. The in-law didn't feel welcome. So you gotta like, whoo, come all, let's go, be welcome. So, all right, brother. We could talk all day. I'm looking at my time. We've already gone past time. for those that are still listening, where can people find you?

Nathaniel Berman (01:03:

52.684) I'm all over social media. So real Nat Berman is my handle on like Instagram and TikTok. but as far as the be better movement, it's literally the website is the be better movement dot com. that that's probably a good place, and everybody knows me on LinkedIn, so that's just look up the name Nathaniel Berman, you'll find me on there. So yeah.

PRO MINDSET (01:04:

20.567) All right, pro mindsetters, be better today. Be bet Grom be better. Check out Nat's website. Be join the community and everybody go out and have an awesome day.