From Anxiety to Purpose: Justin Breen's Journey with Epic Fit Network

Imagine this. You're in a room full of unimaginative business owners and you're bursting with ideas that could change the world that no one seems to get in. How would you connect with those who not only understand your vision, but are equally committed to leaving a legacy beyond their lifetime?

If you've ever felt misunderstood, if you've ever yearned to be in a room where your revolutionary ideas are not just heard, but genuinely appreciated and acted upon, then this episode is tailor made for you. Today we're diving into the incredible journey of Justin Breen, the CEO and co founder of the Epic Fit Network. In this episode, Justin will unravel how he built a network exclusively for visionaries who seek to serve humanity on a grand scale.

We'll explore what separates a true visionary from everyone else, how to navigate life when business inherently means anxiety, and most importantly, uncover how you can align your life's purpose with your professional journey to achieve a state of pure fulfillment. As always, if you found value from this content, please like and subscribe. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Beyond Fulfillment podcast.

I'm your host, Dave Goulis, and this week my guest is the CEO and co founder of the Epic Fit Network, Justin Breen. Welcome, Justin, good morning, good afternoon. It's great to be here. Yeah, we appreciate you taking the time, if you could, for everyone. Justin, can you tell us what the Epic Fit Network is and how it got started? Sure, happy to do that. You know, today's been an interesting day already.

I've written a couple songs and then this amazing magazine in the Middle east published this really nice article about me. I'm very grateful for that. And all these incredible synchronous synchronicities are happening, but my life is just spent talking to the world's top visionaries or folks that'll do whatever it takes to become one of those folks.

And I invest over 100k a year to be in rooms and was just tired of being in rooms where it's not really visionaries, it's business owners or folks not. Not changing the world or not thinking past their own lifetime. So I had to create a room where it's just visionaries. So our company connects visionaries to serve humanity. So I guess technically it's a mastermind, but we meet virtually and have in person events.

But really it's about, you know, folks who are really serving a higher power and thinking well past their own lifetime and. And most of them have the capital to do it. Okay, so is that how you would define a Visionary is someone thinking beyond their own lifetime to serve humanity. Well, it's one of the, it's a great, great follow up question. So I guess to land the plan.

Every day I have between five and 10 meetings like this, whether they're one on one or in group settings where we're talking to visionaries. And then I'm able to simplify into patterns and then share those patterns through songs or books or poems or companies and business owners, consultants, employees, which is totally fine. They care about revenue, employee count, office space, they're trying to change their world there.

And then a true visionary cares about purpose serving, higher power global connectivity and they're changing the world. So it's fundamental difference. Yeah. Okay. And so you mentioned too that you, this idea was born out of being in rooms where the, you know, you're paying to be in these rooms and yet you're, it's lacking visionaries. So I mean can you tell us about your business journey and like how, how you got started in business? Yeah, and I think my main role in life is creating awareness.

So the word business comes from the word by Zignus which means anxiety. So when someone says that word, that's what they're and then the word sale means dull and dirty. That's what those words actually mean. So I was in that world, was in that world and then evolved from it. But I've been an entrepreneur for seven years before that I was an entrepreneur who happened to be a journalist. So wrote about and connected cool people changing the world.

And so now write about and connect cool people changing the world. But first company, which was a global PR firm seven and a half years ago, had job salary cut in half, couldn't find a job, incorporated with zero background. Like I still don't know what an S Corp is, I don't really care about that stuff.

But while I was working full time at half salary over six weeks, reached out to 5,000 people to find first five clients or partners and then signed fifth client, resigned the next day from full time job and then started, started that company. And what the PR firm was is essentially opportunities like this. It's simplifying someone's story and then connecting and connecting them to platforms like this. And then that evolved into what the mastermind is. It's connections for anything.

And it's not necessarily media or podcast opportunities. It's connections for anything. Investors or someone around the world who just wants to collaborate with, collaborate with. Okay. All right. So the first business too was born out of, you know, some necessity there with Right. The job and really needing to make things happen. And like you said, you reached out to. Was it 5,000 people within a matter of weeks, Is that right? Yeah. So most people, they're not wired like that.

And. And then I don't believe, you know, in randomness, things are just meant to happen. And I've found that again, all I just talk to visionaries.

So I found there are only four things, four things that separate visionaries from everyone else. So one is bankruptcy or potential bankruptcy. Two, depression. Three, highest level of anxiety that you can imagine. And then four, trauma as a child or young adult. So vast majority of the world, those are excuses for visionary. That's the fuel. Figure it out. It doesn't count the silver spoons. It's a fundamentally different conversation. But since COVID Since COVID I non silver spins.

I think I've talked to eight or nine folks less than three of those four things. Almost everyone I talked to now is all four. So when I say those things, they're like, check, check, check, check, or check, check, check or check, check, check. So it's an interesting thing. And then they just don't make excuses. Visionaries never make excuses. Ah, okay, so that's an important distinction. So you're saying, you know, bankruptcy or near bankruptcy, childhood trauma, what were the other two?

Depression and anxiety. Depression and anxiety. Right. Okay. And like you said, you know, you're saying most people use those excuses, but if you list those four things, just even in modern society. Right. You'd have to imagine many people. Right. Have. Have several, or, you know, maybe sometimes all of them. But you saying the important distinction too is visionaries don't ever make excuses, and rather they use those events as fuel to serve a higher purpose. Yep, that's exactly right.

Okay, so when you're growing the PR firm and obviously you put in a lot of action from the very beginning just to get things going right. Which certainly, yeah, is admirable. And I mean, clearly you, whether you innately knew or just, you know, were motivated by circumstances, you did what was necessary to get the business going. As you're growing and scaling that PR firm. I mean, what was that like? Were you happy in that role?

Were you enjoying, you know, being in the quote, like the business, you know, part of your life? No. And so again, thank you. That's a great question. No business means anxiety. I mean, that's literally what it means. So anytime anyone even mentions those words, I think of the anxiety. That, that. And. And I would say, I will say, because it's a Fair question. I would say the first company was a business.

Still, technically, you know, technically that company exists, but I don't really focus on it anymore. The second company is Pure Purpose. My wife runs the company with her assistant, and then our members dictate most of the content within the company. And then I just kind of float around serving my purpose, which is connecting visionaries to serve humanity. So I, I rarely say anything in the meetings and I just get to do what I'm supposed to do and serve the people I'm supposed to serve.

And then that allows me time to write books or, you know, have folks like Dr. Deepak Chopra do introduction for book or write songs and talk to world's top music producers all day and connect them to other amazing people. So none of that is business at all. It's just pure higher power purpose. And I'm very grateful for that. Very grateful. And it's a lot of fun. And then you just keep evolving your consciousness and keep creating all these amazing coincidences and serendipity.

So it's, it's really fascinating to be in that world all the time. In my world, a personal brand is invaluable. A year ago, Easy DC was brand new with just a couple of customers and no online presence. Then I found Hicks Marketing. They helped me amplify my personal brand, build a solid content strategy, publish my podcast, and 10x the number of customers we serve, all in less than one year. Do you need a marketing partner who gets you and cares about your success?

Reach out to aliciaicksmarketing.com for more info and tell her Dave Gula sent you. Yeah, and that, that's, it's fascinating to hear you talk about that too. And I mean, let me just ask you. So as you're growing and you're in business, which means anxiety, right? Keep saying that. Huh? You're gonna keep saying.

But I mean, how did you come to evolve, right, from, from that place to get to this, this higher level of consciousness where you can, you know, you were inspired to create the company that connects visionaries. And now like you're, you're spending your time doing different things and not so deep in the anxiety. Like, where was the shift where you evolved? Great question.

Well, when, when you spend your whole life and then again as a journalist for 20 years, so interviewing, you know, thousands of people and then now talking to amazing people and learning, you know, learning from them, and you just see the patterns that emerge. See the patterns that emerge. And I would say the number one pattern in terms of that Exact question is conscious conversations. Conscious conversations convert to capital, collaboration and, and community.

So I've seen that on a global level. And then you just keep learning every single day. You keep learning every single day. And then what I've also learned to trust is my heart, Pure gut intuition, pure good intuition. And most folks, which is fine, they think first, they think logically. They use their brain first. I'm fully using my heart and following my heart. Pure gut intuition.

And that's one of the chapters in the upcoming Epic Journey book is about following your gut intuition. A true visionary always leads with their heart. It's almost at like a soul level. And then the brain follows and they think about it and then they talk about it and then they take action with it. But it always starts with your heart. And there's a lot of things to say from that. But one of my favorite quotes is a paraphrase but is from the late Robert Johnson, who was a Carl Jung disciple.

Carl Jung, the great Carl Jung. And Robert Johnson was one of his disciples. And he, again I'm paraphrasing this, but he said for, for a select few, for a select few, there is a determination. There is a determination to seek liberation from social hypnosis. So select few, determination to seek liberation from social hypnosis.

So most of the world, which is fine, they're socially conditioned, socially conditioned by words like business, which means anxiety, or the word sale, which means dull and dirty, or the word average, which means damage to a ship. So you know, there's these words and most people aren't aware of what they actually mean. Then they stay in these human constructs. But a true visionary, they'll just create their own rules and create their own constructs and that helps everyone.

Okay, so you mentioned the new book that you have upcoming and with Deepak Chopra who is writing the introduction for that book. So how did that come about? Just following. I mean, so it's interesting the, it's going through the editing process right now. But one of the chapters, I did it one, I've done this one time because I'm like, well, how actually did that happen? And the chapter is a 21 step. Could have been longer, but I can connect dots very quickly with my heart.

I'm like, it's like a CRM of connectivity. Most people don't have that, by the way, but I do. So that chapter is actually a 21 step thing of how that happened. However, I'll simplify it because I'm not going to go through 21 steps. That's kind of. Okay, so one of my friends, one of my great friends, and these are the types of people I talk to are folks that want to be like that. So his name is Roosevelt Giles, a great man.

So Roosevelt Giles, he was a. And he and his parents and his family, they were cotton picking sharecroppers. Cotton picking sharecroppers. As children prayed for rain. I repeat, he prayed for rain so he could go to school. Prayed for rain so he could go to school, pick cotton. So he's older now and he's on the, you know, he's a top level executive in many places and then he's a high level at nasdaq. He's high level nasdaq.

So earlier this year, he invited me to ring the NASDAQ bell, the closing ceremony. I'm like, okay, I'll go to that. That seems like a good idea. And, and so at that ceremony, Dr. Deepak Chopra walked in and saw him and posed for a photo with him. And then I'm like, oh, it'd be a good idea if he wrote the introduction for my upcoming book and then started writing the book and then manifested that he, you know, that it happened, that he writes the introduction.

So that's kind of, that's just kind of how my life works. And by following my heart. And then when I see something, which is very rare, but if I see something that's a great idea or a great person to connect with, like, I can just immediately feel it. And then I don't overthink anything. I'm like, let's do that. Boom, let's do that. Boom, let's do that. It's called for those who have taken the working genius assessment. Working genius. It's called an intuitive activator. Intuitive activator.

So I can discern from all the bad ideas for the one out of a thousand. That's a good one. And then discern that. And then galvanize, Boom, oh, good idea. Let's do that. That's just how my heart works. Okay, so you have, it looks like a very, certainly a bias for inspired action. Once you identify what that is, where, like you said, right, you have that. You're in touch with that intuition. And once you know it's a good idea, you just act.

And, and then, like you said, a lot of these synchronicities evolve from that. Okay, so with the Epic Fit network and you're connecting visionaries, I mean, give us an example too, of what, like, what the company's like and what some of the things, you know like the connections or some of the projects that have kind of resulted from that. Yep. Yeah. So you're a detailed person, which is fun. Yeah. So what I hear more than anything.

So visionaries are the most misunderstood people on the planet. Usually aliens within their own family, communities and verticals. Only four types of visionaries add, not a disorder. Sign of genius. Mislabeled by humans. So that's probably 95% of the people I talked to. Them too, is autistic. Asperger's. My wife, who's a doctor, she's unofficially diagnosed me with that. Three is dyslexia. My wife and I were on Sir Richard Branson's Necker island, his home, earlier this year. He's dyslexic.

30% of visionaries are dyslexic. And then 4, high IQ and high EQ. You have to have both to be a visionary. So in that room, almost everyone has add, a lot of autism or whatever you want to call it. Lots of dyslexics. And it's the one place where people actually understand each other and everyone, which is really interesting because they're all like little kids. And in. In normal life, would just talk and talk and talk. It's the one place where people slow down.

It's the one place where people slow down. So we talk about raising our levels of consciousness or what it means to be brave or. Or what it means to be vulnerable in this world. And then the trauma that. That we've all experienced, and I can't be too specific about that, but. Because it's unfair to the members, but. But it's the one. It's the one place I've been again, I invest a lot of money to be in rooms. A lot of money. And then it's the one place where people actually feel.

Feel like they're seen. And to me, that's the most important thing. Because when you're actually seen, that's when you can create collaborations and create massive investment opportunities or companies together. People can start dating each other, which has happened within our group as well. So to me, that's far more important to be understood and to be seen. When you're misunderstood and not seen your entire life, that's by far the most important thing.

And then our members just introduce us to other people who want to be seen as well. So there's really nothing outbound. There's no sales because sale means dull and dirty. It's just doing the right type of connections, and then the right people connect us to other right people.

Okay, and so like the way you describe the visionaries and how you defined it and some of these traits too, right? And you said they're always misunderstood. And you know, all these, all these conditions that like you said, normal society would, you know, view, view them as whatever, an outlier. So aliens. Yeah, yeah, aliens. Okay, so how, because I'm, you know, I can think of several people in my past that kind of fit that mold and like how, how big of a difference does it make?

Because you know, like you said, it's connecting them to serve their purpose. And now also having a community with other like minded visionaries to, to, to collaborate. I mean, how big of a difference does that make for someone that maybe. Is, that's, that there's. Okay, that's a great question. This is for you. But really the audience, imagine being misunderstood your entire life and you're talking like this and people just stare at you. They go, oh, that's good. Oh that's good.

They don't understand what you're actually talking about. But a true visionary, they never quit. Just as background. My litmus test is my father. My father was 61 when I was born. 61. He was a World War II hero, shot down multiple times in combat, many times without a parachute. And he would just get back into a plane. So, you know, true visionary, they'll just keep getting shot down. They'll just keep, keep talking like this, Keep talking like this.

So, so when you finally are in a room where people actually understand what you're saying, they really understand it, then that's a, that's everything. And then most of the people I talk to the first time, for the first time, the word I hear more than anything is refreshing. Like, oh, wow, this is refreshing. Nobody talks like this. Well, yeah, because you're talking to business owners or you know, which is fine, by the way.

So I hear refreshing then the second word I hear more than anything is nourishing. So refreshing and nourishing. I think those are pretty good words. I think so. Okay, and so what does it look like in terms of. It is like a monthly, like a get together, like a meetup somewhere. Is that typically what you do? Great question, great question. Thank you. So we meet three to four times a month, virtually between one and two hours.

Those meetings, the best part that I've seen from those is what's called a member spotlight. That's where the member shares what she or he is up to. Again, I invest a lot of money to be in rooms. Was tired of being in rooms with Mostly men driven by ego. So our room's 40% women. I think eventually it'll be more than 50%. I think so. And then my wife runs the company. She's become a really good connector. So we meet three to four times virtually. We have two big in person events a year.

The one we just had was at Chicago Yacht Club. And then we have special VIP dinner with chef Rick Bayless cooking for our members. He won Top Chef Masters, you know, he's one of the top chefs in the world. And then our first event next year 2025 is in Portland. I'm not a detailed person, but I know my wife and her assistant and our members are playing a lot of amazing things for amazing things for Portland. Then we have an app that connects people.

We have our own TV channel with 30 million reach. Some of our members have shows on that. We're starting a pro, an MBA program affiliated with Oxford. One of our members started an accredited MBA program for visionaries. So we're starting that as well. So there's a lot of things going on and it's endlessly fun. It's endlessly fun because people are sharing what they're up to and they're just creating massive global collaborations.

And then because most of it's virtual, then we have members from all the world. Us, Canada, Chile, Abu Dhabi, uk, India. So it's, you know, it's all over the world. It doesn't matter really where you live. Okay. And after doing this for as long as you have, what's been the most rewarding part about putting together a company like this? Thank you for saying company and not saying the B word anymore. I appreciate it. Thank you for evolving on the.

Well, I mean, you know, I, however you want to say it, higher power or God, you know, we're all given a gift. We're given a gift and sadly or unfortunately, most people never find their gift or they never use it. So I was given this gift and, and I'm using it the way it's intended to be used. So I'm very, very grateful for that. And, and it will just keep getting more interesting, that gift. You know, there'll be a lot of.

I just posted it the other day, but when the, when the book comes out, it should become out in a couple months. You know, be speaking in London and Middle east and Hamptons and Florida with all these, you know, really interesting, fascinating people. Last week the, the executive producer for Lady Gaga's Born this Way tour, he and I were talking and we've become really good Friends and we're talking about collaborating on a global stage.

And he, you know, we're like, oh, where have you been all my life? I'm like, well, where have you been? And because, you know, just what it, you know, it's just a different type of feeling and thinking. And then you're like, oh, so these are the type of people that actually understand what I'm talking about and I understand what they're talking about. And so, you know, my life in human body terms is just starting. Like, it's just starting.

And you know, I'm writing songs now. It's just really fascinating. Like I was just posting poems on social media and then one of my friends is a music producer in Nashville. She's like, hey, come down to Nashville and we'll do a hit song together. I'm like, okay, so I'm going to be doing that as well. And just to be in that flow, in that heart centered space is very gratifying. I'm very grateful for that. Very, very grateful. Okay. And last thing, you mentioned the book.

Just tell the audience what it's about, when it's coming out and how they can find it. Yeah. So for those who have read the Little Prince or the Alchemist, it's that. But real SAP, a real. And then it's going through the editing process now, I can't announce more than, you know, who's publishing it or any of that, but it's a big deal. And then to have, you know, Dr. Deepak Chopra do an intro, I'm very grateful for that. It should be out in the coming months.

This will be third book, the second book that came out, Epic Life, that's been out for a couple years now. Dr. Peter Diamandis did the Ford for that and then, you know, made the Wall Street Journal and USA Today lists and all that stuff. And it was number one overall on Amazon Kindle for a bit, which is, that's fine. It's great. So, but this Epic Journey book, it's a, it's a different, it's a different type of book. And I wouldn't even describe it as a book.

I would say it's more of a calling from a higher power. Okay. All right. And Justin, if, if people want to learn more about Epic Fit, get in touch with you for, for any reason, what's the best way that they can do that? Well, one, thank you. I appreciate this interview. The main site is theepic fit.com theepic fit.com there's an application at the bottom of that and that goes to our. Our backstage team. Our backstage team. So theepic fit.com. All right.

And we'll link all that in the show notes for everyone. All right. Well, Justin, thank you so much for taking the time to be here. We really appreciate it. And that is all the time we have for now. We will see you next time.