you're displaying yourself as this wild untameable sort of tiger and you get softer and softer and softer until you turn into a little like a tubby domestic house cat. And that's when you lose attraction. welcome back to the how to get a girlfriend podcast i'm your host dating coach conal barrett i am here to help you flirt with confidence get more dates and get a fantastic girlfriend and do it with authenticity
No toxic manipulation BS, none of that. And today I want to talk about maybe not just how to get a great girlfriend, but how to have a great relationship with yourself, which is going to help you attract a great girlfriend. And we're going to talk about that and other things with my guest today. His name is Johnny Cassell. Johnny is a London-based dating and lifestyle strategist. He's also a student of human behavior.
And he specializes in confidence and relationship building. He's got over a decade of experience working with high network. net worth clients of all shapes and sizes in the London area. He's a big expert in the world of dating and personal development. He's also the author of a book called Elite Seduction. And you might have seen him in the Sunday Times, Sky News, BBC Radio, if you're familiar with Life.
over on the other side of the pond and he's also on instagram and youtube and you can learn more about johnny at johnnycassell.com that's c-a-s-s-e-l-l.com johnny welcome to the how to get a girlfriend podcast i charge hourly and i'm very expensive but
I'm open to it. Yeah, thanks for being here. I'm always psyched to talk to another male expert because there's a lot of things we have in common, and there's probably going to be some fun things that we differ on or just have complimentary views on. So Johnny, I want to start by asking you something we were talking about before we started recording, which is the idea of making sure that a single guy first has a good relationship with himself.
before he finds the right girlfriend, the right woman to have for his partner in a relationship. Can you elaborate on that? Why is it important to first be good with you before you attract a girlfriend? Well, first of all, I think it's completely unreasonable to be asking for the best of someone else if we haven't got to the best place for ourselves. So what does that mean? I mean, if we're in a bit of a hiatus right now, we've come out of a long-term relationship.
we may have lost parts of ourself that gave us joy. Right. We dedicated our whole life to the relationship. If there's kids involved, you know, there's that to work, you know, took its toll on us. We forgot about the things that give us joy. So a great hack would be to think, OK, what are those things that actually lift me up, make me feel good, give me that euphoric?
moment in my life whether it be music sports hanging out with friends it could be simply just sitting down watching watching a film that used to watch for nostalgia Whatever those things are, take the time to reconnect with them. I mean, the other day, you know, I went out for a walk by myself, right? And I think there's a lot to be said on actually taking the time to take yourself out on a date.
right there's a there's a lot of peace that comes with that especially if you live a busy lifestyle so we all know the work that we need to do as well a lot of us just kind of put it off. There was a great post-fight talk that I saw from Conor McGregor when he was, you know, having a lot of his fights. And it was one of the fights that he lost. And you know what he's like. He plays the role. He plays the character. He's a cocky, arrogant guy. It sells tickets, right? And he said, his quote was,
Yeah, we all know what the work is we need to do. We just need to get on and do it. And he himself said, you know, I didn't put the work in and I let myself down, let my team down, let everyone around, let the fans down. So. Take stock of where you are and work out what those things are to be the 2.0 version of yourself. i love that idea taking yourself out for a date Finally, a date I know that won't end in the friend zone for me. Impossible, right? I know I'm going to get lucky. I know it.
Talk a little, that's a fascinating concept. Why does that help a man with the women he meets? Is it that women can sense a guy who just feels good about himself? Yeah, yeah, I mean. you know this there's a lot that comes from it i mean if i was to think about that day where i took myself out for a walk You know, I'm being more observational. I'm enjoying the small things like grabbing a coffee, walking through the market.
Having a bit of a back and forth with the shopkeepers, maybe the charity workers or the people at the foodstool. Just seeing if I can find opportunities to have humour between individuals. And I'm just having a good time by myself. If we look at our interactions, and you have this problem of seeking for approval, then this is a good exercise for you because it proves to yourself that you can go out.
And just have a good time. You're amusing yourself and inviting other people into that amusement. That's attractive. Yeah. Yeah, one of my very first coaches helped me approach women, get really good at quote-unquote old-school pickup. I remember he used to always talk about, you want to amuse yourself. You got to draw your positive state from inside of you. Because if a woman feels like you're relying on her to make you happy, that can be repellent to women, right? Yeah.
Absolutely. Absolutely. We've got to be the value adder. You know, we've got to be looking at ways to add value where it's our energy, you know, like where we are, you know, on the hierarchy and our careers in life. To me that's the essence of masculinity, or one of the essences of masculinity. And in fact, I saw a video you did right before we hopped on. I was doing a little research because I try to be prepped.
And you did a video, it ran somewhere on YouTube, where you said the masculine is about giving and the feminine is about receiving. That's nature. And what I'm hearing you say, and feel free to... elaborate and correct me if i'm wrong is the masculine is giving and that's a very generous place to come from right it is it is um and of course like if if we are doing all those things you know like going out Making the money, taking care of the home, making the money.
doing as much as we can so she doesn't have to adopt masculine traits, then you are going to experience a woman that is truly in her feminine. the more strain you have on yourself and then you you kind of have to cooperate the household then she's going to adapt more masculine traits So it's just, I mean, that obviously exists, right? And it's a polarity in all of us that we have, you know, the masculine and the feminine.
But if you truly want a woman to be completely enough feminine, then you have to adopt the masculine trait. How does a man convey those traits in a way that is authentic, genuine to who he is, at the same time, good quote-unquote strategy that women notice? I think one thing we can all do, right, is a simple little task is when you next go to a restaurant, It's taking the leadership of maybe ordering the food, right? Like asking, would you mind if I could, if I...
I have a few suggestions. Would you mind if I do the order? Cool. That's attractive. She's being led. You're leading her to the experience. When it comes to dates, we know this. We have this on day one. When we meet a woman. we get a number we want to prove to them that we're we're the man right so you're saying look okay meet me next wednesday eight o'clock at this restaurant
So straight away, she's like, okay, this guy's, you know, he's taking care of things. That's attractive. That's cool. He's got it. but then what slowly seems to happen is you know we get softer and softer and softer in the relationship displaying yourself as this wild untameable sort of tiger and you get softer and softer and softer until you turn into a little like a tubby domestic house cat.
that's when you lose attraction it happens to the best of us man like it happens the best because because things things are nice right things are nice things are good things are going well you know i don't i don't necessarily need to go out and be the planner um once you got the girl The game doesn't stop, it's just a different game. Yeah. You start off as a lion, you end up Garfield. Exactly. And you wonder why she's losing interest. It's true. I got a client and I'm...
He had a bit of a hiatus coming out of a relationship. And then I picked him back up. We literally just had one session. I gave him some suggestions and he went on to the social activity, met a girl.
and he was just getting back into his fitness right because he wanted to be you know more masculine looking he he wanted to look more attractive And I'm keeping my eye on this relationship and I'm starting to see Garfield sort of make... rear his head out a little bit again you know so it's like come on guys how does Garfield come out for him well it's obviously you know just being a bit sloppy with the diet being a bit sloppy with you know working working out
Lasagna, coffee. Yes, yes. Getting a bit too comfortable at home, right? forgetting about the things that made you attractive in the first place, right? And also as well, which I think is a big attraction killer, is not having your own life. Right. So we have we've we got back in touch with ourself whilst we're single. We got the relationship and then we ditch that part of ourselves again.
Right. So again, it goes back to the first point about reconnecting with the person that you were, you lost touch of. Keep it. Yeah. Keep it there because the only source of joy, if the only source of joy is coming from your relationship, you're doomed. You really are, because all it takes is one hiccup there, one argument, and it feels like your whole world's falling apart. But if you've got solace in community and activities, events, you know, you've got access to these things, then...
I just had a bit of a flashback to something that happened to me. Man. 20 years ago. I think you just helped me have a breakthrough. Oh, really? I realize now. So when I first started working on my dating life, it was 2005. That was when I actively said, Connell, you suck at dating. You got to get good at this. And one of the first incredible women I connected with, her name is Lorraine. Badass, amazing woman. She's a doctor now.
And when we met, I was this amazing planner. I was Mr. Lion, Mr. Tiger, because I'd kind of read that's what you need to be, but it wasn't really inside of me yet. Three or four months later, she ended it. Essentially, I'd become Garfield. Yeah. I realized, you know what, I just wasn't quite enough man for her at that time. So you're just blowing my mind here. I realized no one, I was doing an impression of that tiger, that lion, but really I was still Garfield. And she said,
I need a lion. Yeah, yeah. But we need to feel the pain, you know, in order to us to... to make the change and for it to really be embedded inside us as a solid lesson. You mean we have to understand the problem and feel it before we can make that change?
you know, it's like you're at school and it's like, you know, you've got the Bunsen burner burning, you know, you know not to put your hand on the Bunsen burner, but you know there's that daft kid that is going to put his hand on the Bunsen burner and go, ow, what did you do that for? You know, it's like, like, But he's not going to do that again. He's not going to do that again. You know, when I was younger, we had like a rescue dog.
And never got onto this dog. Hated all of my friends. You know, my friends used to have to come and, like, my mum used to have to hold the dog back and they used to run up the stairs and, like, secretly try to get in my room without the dog seeing. it was vicious and um
You know, I was young, I was naive, and I was squirting this dog with a water pistol. Right? My dad goes, don't do that. It's going to bite you. It's going to bite you. Carry on squirting, squirting, squirting. My hand's in the dog's mouth. I never did it again. Yeah. So it's... It's that, isn't it? Even like you and I, we're in a position where we can help many.
You know, sometimes we don't listen to our own lessons, you know, our own teachings. Well, success feels good. Results feel great, but they're not necessarily the best teachers. Sometimes you need to burn your hand on the Bunsen burner to say never again.
Or as Lorraine basically said to me in so many words, you're not enough man for me, Connell. Come back to me in a couple of years, maybe. It's hard, isn't it? Yeah. I also had a friend that... he was such a charmer you know he he had landed this beautiful model russian blonde girlfriend and um you know they had a few years between them and then one day
She just turned around and she goes, you know what, it's not going to work between you and I. And he's like, what, where's this all come from? He goes, you have no assets. So how are you able to look after us if there becomes a problem between us? When I heard that story, I was like, wow, I mean, that's hard, but that's a very good lesson. And I remember just on the same sort of realm of that. I remember being at a pre-BAFTA party here in London.
And this was quite, it's like going back 10 years ago. And it was the who's who of the scene. I mean, I knew a few actors there, but I didn't know all the big wigs, the directors and producers, all this stuff. And I was at the bar and I was chatting to this bit of an older lady.
And had been in that scene for a while. And we got talking about how much money a man should make, you know. And she goes, well, you know, I tried dating a guy that was earning... under 100 grand before, it didn't really work. and i was just like whoa i was a young guy at the time you know Well, I mean, 100 grand is quite a lot of money for me. That's quite a lot of money, but... It was an eye-opener back then because she had a point. I think a lot of us haven't thought about the money.
You know, we learned that this whole, all the dating stuff, like how to get, how to attract a woman, how to be more charismatic, have a right mindset. But we haven't looked at about getting our money right. And what happens is you can build yourself to be the most charismatic, charming guy, speak like James Bond and the rest of it. But if you haven't worked on the core stuff, you're just a placeholder.
for someone else when they come along. Just like my friend, right, as he was called out by his girlfriend. And just like this woman rightfully said, I mean, 100 grand a year, it's a lot of money in some districts, but depending on where you are. It's probably treble that that you need to make because you're thinking about, well, that's...
My money, you know, I need another hundred to maybe retire my partner, you know, or, you know, looking after the parents or whatever and investments and stuff like that. So I guess, you know, when I'm not working with the guys that have already got that stuff sorted out, that's also another conversation I'm having with guys just to make them aware of that kind of things, because otherwise you're just a short-term hold. On the topic of money and status,
One thing I noticed early on in my figuring out success with women in my journey was how women notice our behaviors. Big, small. nuanced, the way we talk to the bartender, the way we talk to the waiter, all the little sub-communications that come out. I noticed that women notice.
and i made a mental note early on to not not always be on i didn't want to get in my head about it but to just always be aware that hey a woman's going to always be noticing how we're behaving especially in those first few dates few interactions when she's taking you in And that can convey your sense of confidence, your sense of status or lack thereof. What's your take on that? Do you agree? Do you disagree? What have you noticed in your dating coaching and your dating past? Absolutely.
I think essentially in communication we're looking to break the expected pattern. When you go out, there is an obvious cliché pattern that exists socially, right? It's what do you do, where are you from, how old are you, you know, that kind of, like the yawn zone, I call that. Like, come on, man, we can do better than that. You know, if we've said to ourselves, I am getting better at this area, I want to improve my communication, you are not going out saying that stuff.
We can do better. If you're bored of hearing yourself say the same thing, the chances are that will then be transmitted. right that would be it'll be received in that way no matter what you say you're bored she's going to be bored right exactly so it's We've got to get back to the self amusement. Right. I mean, I found myself the other day speaking to a new set of girls and I was like, hi, are you enjoying the party? Yes. Yes. Cool. I go, oh, my God, I'm looking after a cat at the moment.
Like, what? Like, yeah, I got this, this, I just been dumped this bloody cat. I go, whoa, yeah. And I started getting the pictures out, sort of videos. I go, oh, what's his name? I go, bastard. He's like, what? I go, his name's Bastard. I go, what do you mean it's called Bastard? Well, I go, it's called Dee Dee, but it's called Bastard because he's a bastard. Like, he's running around. He's a jungle cat. You know, he's hissing, he's clawing me. I just want to hug the poor guy. You know, so...
That is an amazing experience for just meeting someone. They're going to remember that. When did that work? Why did that work? If you could break that down for our listener. It works straight away because, like I said, you're breaking an expected pattern. Right. She's going to have interactions that lack imagination that whole evening or whatever that social playground is. And if you're the sixth guy that says pretty much the same thing...
It's just not enough to carry it over the line. You know, it's not enough to make impact. So in every social scenario, you've got to think, what's the pattern here I need to break? Like this is one we can all relate to. Like maybe we go to the Starbucks or Costa or whatever it is and we order a coffee. Your goal is to get a free coffee. And you do that just by choosing to put a smile on the server's face. You can just, you know, we've all got the ability to give us a silly name on that cup.
You know, when she says, oh, what's your name? You put Spider-Man or Snoop Dogg or Silly Bollocks or whatever it is. And then she's going to shout that out, right? And then you've made her laugh, right? You've made others around you laugh. It's so easy to open up whoever's around you because you're the funny guy. I never do that. I do the opposite. I do the opposite. I need your coaching at Starbucks. So here's what I fuck up. My name's Connell and nobody gets it right. I get...
Colin and Connor. Right. Carnal. which is my porn star name a totally different identity and when i go to starbucks when i go to starbucks i do the opposite of your good advice i just i give them my middle name which is timothy because i don't i just want them to get the order right but you know what yeah that's boring I'm going to be Spider-Man from now on. Yeah, and that comes from where? It comes from deciding that today I'm going to go out and I'm going to be playful.
Or I'm going to go out and fuck with people. I saw a guy, I saw a guy the other day and, he was riding a Penny Farven. You know, like those Victorian big wheel front and like a small little frame and a small wheel on the back. Yeah. It's like 19th century. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How did he wake up and think, this is the plan today? That was his commute? You mean? I don't know. I don't think so. He's obviously just started his day and thought, you know what? I'm going to take the bike out today.
And I'm going to ride it through a busy district. That's the plan today. I mean, as ridiculous as that is, we've got to take something from that guy. You know, like we've got to go out and think, you know, what's the plan of day? How can I have a playful day?
Because I think a lot of pressure is put on ourselves when you realize that, okay, everything does come from the cold approach. Everything comes from your next interaction, your next business opportunity, your next romantic partner, your next useful friendship. you've got to break patterns and it starts by you choosing to go out there and be playful and giving people a different experience. I love that. I can't agree more. You struggle with dating, right?
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So go to datingtransformation.com, book a free call today, and let my personalized coaching help you get a great girlfriend. So the love of my life of the 2010s. I dedicated my book to her. Her name is Alex. Here's how I approached her. I'm at a club in Vegas.
and i'm thinking i see this beautiful blonde sitting with her bored friends they're all bored and i just know every guy is coming up and either just hitting on her sloppily or giving her the what'd you call it the yawn what was it the yawn zone yeah the yawn zone yeah and i said okay i'm gonna try something more fun and i've been taking improv classes and i was doing all this character work so i walk over to her i unbutton my shirt down to my belly button
And I pretend to be like a Latin lover character. And I walk up and I say, hello. So good. And she just busts out laughing. It goes great. She calls me Armando for the whole weekend, which we spent together. And she became one of the great loves of my life. I'm grateful to convey.
And I say that not to impress my listener. I'm just saying you can have fun with this. You can find fun, pattern-breaking ways to approach a woman or to talk with somebody at Starbucks. Just like you say, break that pattern.
Absolutely. And I think as well, it's something that I've done a lot with my guys is... you know it's just like if you imagine yourself back in that scenario there you know where you sort of are friends there was something you told yourself right there was some self-talk that was going on right and a lot of the time when you get back to that place it may be something like
she's mine, right? Or, oh, I got to give it a go. I'm going to take my shot, right? Or it's on. And I think what's really helpful is just to come up with that little buzz phrase. press go on that every time we see an opportunity because if we don't have that positive reinforcement We're going to listen to the other side, which is, what's the point? She probably goes for this type of guy or that guy. She's not going to like you. And you'll listen to that. Right. Rather than bring up the mondo.
Turn it over to Armando. Yeah, she called me Armando for weeks. It's so good. Take me into your coaching. Take me, take us behind the curtain. Do you have any fun stories? Any great, I love the story. I love the anecdote you shared about your clients. Talking to women or use I should say you self amusing yourself Do you have any fun stories of you and your clients out in the field doing it or your clients out doing it?
All the time. I mean, you know, we did a workshop last month and we got one coming up this week, but... This guy, you know, I was speaking to him prior. He's part of my online community, but he's... He hadn't done... We hadn't worked together in person before. And I thought that... He would need a lot of hand-holding because he was caught up in this dark inner game place where he wasn't filled with positivity. It looked like we'd be pushing for a lot of resistance.
but in actual fact like uh he smashed it he he really threw himself at it um and this this isn't like wow but this is something that can be done which i think is often overlooked We did some daytime interactions, some daytime approaching and he approached this girl and It went well. I think he was surprised how well it was received. She was receiving him. And I was sitting there watching it go down and just taking some notes on what was happening.
And he comes back and he relays back to me what was said and all this kind of stuff. And I go, great, man. And you got the number, right? He goes, no. I go, okay, all right. Well, look, I go, and I see that she's still in the distance. I go, look. You're going to run back there and you're going to get the number. I say, listen to me, nine times out of 10, she will give you the number. Think about it. It doesn't make sense.
That you just, you approached her, you had this amazing interaction and you left with nothing. It's like what? They've let the village idiot out for the day. You know, you just go around approaching people. Like, no, she can't be left thinking that was what just happened. right at least give her the reassurance of like oh no i was actually hitting on you you know so he went and did that and uh he was overjoyed he got the number I think that really sort of gave them a breakthrough.
The guy really wanted to push it that day. Out in the evening, we were doing some approaching. We got comfortable approaching the group. And you have single ladies and all this kind of stuff. And he was like, give me a bit more of a challenge. I go, all right, well, there's a guy there with two ladies.
I mean, I wouldn't imagine he's sleeping with both of them. You know, like, one's gonna be available, surely, right? But we need to find out. So... I kind of gave him something to say to go and speak to the guy and the guy turned around he was like oh no this is my girlfriend and this is my this is my cousin yeah so it was we didn't want to kind of like break up the family on that one but
I really give the guy kudos for really pushing through. Yeah. That's scary. It can be so scary to walk up when there's a dude there. Yeah, it can be. It's definitely a breakthrough for me. And it's an interesting one because... I've also been in a position where I've been that guy, right? Where I've been the guy with a girlfriend of mine at the time and a few of her friends.
And then the guy has seen an opportunity. So the guy's gone straight to one of the girls and approached her. Now, I've got no reason to have my backup about it. But I observed what I was feeling at the time. I was kind of pissed. It was like, you know, you're not. Yes. Part of it being ego. Absolutely. But it's like. When you look at those dynamics, it's like a lion and it's pride.
You can't just go and jump on one of the lionesses. You've got to go and speak to the lion first. You've got to kind of have a chat and see if there's a bit of free zebra going around or something like that. And then maybe, maybe he's going to let you know what the story is with the situation.
Let me ask you this. This is a great topic. I get this question a lot, so I'll ask you to answer it. I'd love to hear your take. A man's in a lounge, a bar, and he sees two or three attractive women, and there's at least one guy in the mix. Should he go approach? And if so, how should he do it? What are the social dynamics he needs to navigate? Any do's and don'ts there? Well, absolutely. I mean, the key thing we need to get to is what's the story?
Your rational thinking is thinking what I used to think was, you know, looking and go, ah. they're like what what like where's that come from it's just nonsense so i don't have to do it right yeah so coming up with a reason to get out of doing something i want to do yes so whatever that's uncomfortable to do yeah But whenever we find ourselves in that place of reaching for an excuse, it's to take note of that and go, OK, let's go find out.
You know, it could be like, dude, I had to come over because part of me was thinking you were sleeping with all of them. It's Johnny, by the way. You know, so your excuse is your opener. Just like, you know, the girls wearing her headphones. yeah we've all had it you know you've had you've walked around with your headphones in someone starts talking
You don't just stand there and carry on listening to your music. You know, you take them off and go, yeah, what's up? You know, but for some reason we go, oh, no, we can't because she's got her headphones in. I'm often walking around with my headphones in. I'm not even listening to anything. But anyway, but circle back around to that dynamic is, We've got to find out who the girlfriend is.
Right. So you've got to you've got to acknowledge the guy. You go, OK, what's the story? So he's going to go, oh, this is my girlfriend, you know, it's so and so's birthday. So then, you know, you've got the information. You're obviously not going to step on his toes. That's just being an idiot. And if you've got a situation, I mean, one of my favourite stories, this is...
It's actually going to feature in a book that's going to come out soon. I was working with this guy who's a bit of like a tech mogul. And he was a former Jehovah Witness, such a contrast in life that he moved himself into.
And we worked together throughout this week and he was petrified of women. Got him very comfortable. And we walked into this bar and we saw... this couple and what appeared to be this beautiful like Columbia model right I'm looking at that and I'm going okay well she's available you know she she's she's available like he's she's not part of the she might be part of the couple i don't know what dynamic they got going on but we don't know that right
So I look around what's happened. I go, okay, they're there, they're drinking white wine. And I'm thinking, how should we approach it? And she's already looked over a couple of times at him, right? So there's already been that nonverbal interest. and I come up with something I go okay cool Here's what we're going to do. Go to the bar and get them out. Like we were already drinking Malbec, like red wine, right?
so it's like go to the bar and get a malbec then slowly move over to her hold eye contact and then slowly remove her glass from her hand and replace it with the red And say something along the lines of, a girl like you, looking like that, definitely should be drinking a red. And then slowly move your eyes off and then come walk back to me.
Oh, God. I mean, she did look like a Bond girl, and that is exactly what she needed to experience in that moment. You just painted that picture, and I could see the James Bond movie happening in front of me. Yeah, well, I've just had a writer write that, and I do hope it is read in the way that I'm able to tell it, because it's a beautiful moment. So that then happened, right?
Then what we needed from her is to show some availability, right? So she had to then splinter off the interaction in order for him to make this a verbal interaction now. And I said to him, look, that's what's going to happen next. She's going to move her over here and she's going to give us an opening and interaction be able to happen.
that's what happened you know he was looking over my shoulder i was looking over his i was like yeah here she comes buddy and he slowly moved over and then i think the first words that came out of his mouth goes um i don't believe i've met you properly yet You know, I don't believe we've done names yet or something like that. It was just smooth dialogue. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, those are the moments we live for. I mean, yes, there's been amazing stories of marriage.
you know, picking people up from, you know, when they've fallen down and all this kind of stuff. But I really like those movie moments that come with this line of work. You know, it's it's you feel like. you've got enough to write you know write a good script what about your dating past uh Tell me a little bit about, I don't know that much about you, why you became a coach or how. Did you struggle with women or were you good at it and wanted to share your knowledge?
Tell us a little bit about your origin story. Absolutely. I mean, there's the conscious level and there's the unconscious level. And the unconscious level... of realizing why you're on the path that you're on, I think comes to the surface a bit later in life. And that came through certain books that I read about understanding.
a bit more about psychology on a deeper level and you know what sort of things we inherit from our parents and all this kind of stuff but You know, my early school life, you know, if we go all the way back to like.
the sexes right of boy and girl like mixing my early school life was unpleasant and i so unpleasant that i actually forgot about it i don't know if it was just pushed down because it was so bad like like it wasn't sort of on a conscious level for me but i used to go to school at like i don't know five six years old and
I was getting kicked to shit by girls. I was coming home with bruises all over my legs. My mum had to go to the school and report it to the head teacher. It was a serious thing. Definitely something that you'd be worried about as a parent. And it kind of just like that just went away. And then I went to, you know, high school was like, So I did five years there, and I did another five years. Did time. Great, great time, man. Great time. I mean, I think a lot I learned about the social sciences.
you know, on the playground more than anything, you know. And then I did five years study in motorsport engineering. Okay. So those are kind of also important elements because I learned, I did learn a lot on the playground on a social level about all the different tribe leaders. And, you know, I guess I was, I was always satelliting around the playground every lunchtime, like mixing of all the different tribe leaders.
I take responsibility for it. I feel like our year group was quite strong because I behaved that way. I was able to kind of pull people together a lot. But motorsport engineering? It taught me about being more of a solution-based thinker. Okay. Because you have to have an answer. There has to be a reason why... That thing is making that noise. You've put something back together wrong. So how do we improve something? How do we make something more efficient?
so i never went to do motorsport engineering i loved messing around on fast things but i just kind of took that way of thinking into what was a newfound passion of mine you know the social scientists sciences I think, why was I really interested and passionate about it? Wasn't really aware of it at the time as to why.
But there was a certain feeling inside when I started going to the bookshelf in the Waterstones and Barnes and Noble and stuff like this that I was getting when I was picking up these books. Like it was something inside me that was igniting. and the curtain only really put it down to now was as to well this is a solution this is a solution for me to overcome you know what i'd experienced because every time i was around girls
I was, at that age, I was experiencing resistance, and I couldn't wonder why. Why was this happening to me? And, of course, it was the early things. Mum and dad, I think it's important, you know, we must look at mum and dad. If we're having problems in this era of life, we must look at the relationship that we've had with mum and dad or what they've gone through. And what I'd experienced at an early age is...
And my mum had always struggled with being a social person. And I looked at her, I think, why? Why does she suffer from this? Never really had proper friends and all that kind of stuff. She lost her mum when she was 11 years old. Her mum was 30 and she died on her honeymoon from taking the birth control pill. It was tragic. You're just getting married to a second husband.
And then her father, my granddad, lost interest in the whole family, basically because he got interested in his new love interest. My mum grew up without any sort of support, you know, through... that parents would give you and it really meddled with her self-confidence and self-esteem so i've seen how limiting life can be when you don't have social skills and confidence and
Didn't realize that. Didn't realize that was an influence for me on my path until later on. My dad's... my dad's always been more of you know my dad's uh runs his own business um and he he's always been fanatical about fitness and run marathons, coach down the boxing gym, all the fitness classes and stuff. So again, that's something else later in life that I realized.
where I get the coaching element from. Right. So that's the origins. It's crazy how we can see these patterns that emerge inside of us based on our parents. I had relationships in the past where I realized, oh my gosh, I'm just like my mom and dad in the sense that we never talk about anything real. We only talk about, quote unquote, the weather. And I thought, I think I need to be a bit more vulnerable and open.
And it's not to say that's no judgment of my parents. It's just something that maybe I picked up from them and I needed to make a change there. Exactly. It's seeing what we experience from them and building awareness around it and go, oh, okay, that's why I'm like this. But it doesn't mean I have to be like this. It's just why I am like this. The same thing why you might be drawn into dysfunctional relationship.
Or, you know, people that are emotionally distant. Yeah. Probably because one of your parents was absent, right? Or... You've been let down from your earliest reference points of who was supposed to give you love. your parents. So you find it incredibly difficult to give your everything to someone because you feel that this might be the second time someone lets you down. through a love dynamic relationship. So there's a lot of stuff like that. But yeah, that's kind of like the roots of it all.
I found all this stuff and I started teaching my friends, you know, started teaching my friends. didn't want to to begin with to be honest because i thought i found something i was like wow i know i'm gonna get all the girls and um I realised I hit a ceiling by sort of keeping it to myself at the beginning. I was going out and I was trying different things that I wouldn't normally be doing in social situations.
A Hall of Fame moment. I'm not, I guess I'm asking you to brag. I'm giving you permission to brag if you want to. A night where you went out and approached the most beautiful woman there or you said something that was really self amusing. Or just a moment where you just like stepped up and had a hero moment. Any moments from your dating past jump out to you? There's been so many, you know, there really has because... Like the early, like in my early, early days, like 20s.
Some of the earliest breakthroughs. I remember there being like going to this club and it would be like this place we go every Tuesday. It was marked like an every Tuesday sort of uni sort of people and, you know, very sort of young place. and there was always these two girls that were like the girls that everyone sort of had a crush on you know and it might have been that they were more attracted to the guys that were maybe like a year older than you.
you know like yeah and worked out a little bit more you know wore a tighter t-shirt you know i wasn't part of the tight t-shirt crew you know so i had to work it a different way um But I remember we went out and We went to a friend's gig, first of all. It was at a different place around the corner. And, you know, I'm always supporting my friend. I've got a big passion for music, always have done. So we were supporting our friends, and they played.
What the guys wanted to do after the gig was just sort of sit around and just sort of drink and sort of bum around with the band. And I knew next door the place was heaving with girls. And I was like, I was getting anxiety. I was like, guys, what are we doing here? And I said to my friends, let's get out of here. And we went next door. A few of us came. But then we had a little place and everyone was sort of drinking.
And no one was really making any moves, approaching or interacting. I'd always use these sort of social events to get myself out there and practice. And I'd splinter off. I'd go right and go into the bathroom. But what I would do is I'd approach two women or a group or something. Something would happen. It'd have to happen. I'd need to walk away with something every night, a new experience. So I approached these two girls.
They were the most attractive girls in there. And I can't remember exactly what I said, but I just remember that night being a huge breakthrough for me because I had the courage to approach those two beautiful girls in the place.
and they were together or separately they were together okay yeah they were together that's intimidating for some men maybe not you at that time maybe it was but oh it certainly was it certainly was so that's why it took me such a long time to to have the courage to approach girls of that beauty at the time, you know?
I just remember walking away thinking, wow, it wasn't as bad as what I thought it would, as how it would go. Like, wow. And then I start thinking, what else is possible? Like, this is crazy. Well, I love that story because it reminds me of the importance of turning what you think is something scary or fearful and using it to your advantage.
What I mean is, and tell me if you agree with this, I'd love to hear your view, but I've noticed that women know how hard it is for men to approach them. Many of us.
And so when you approach a woman who's with a friend or with a guy there and you still have the courage to walk up and shoot your shot, the fact that you're doing a... higher difficulty level can really spark some attraction in her because she realizes boy this guy doesn't care he just came right up to me yeah exactly that's an opportunity so basically the scarier and opening a quote-unquote set is the bigger the group the hotter the girls
that's more of a chance to create something because you're going to, you know, high risk, high reward, right? 100%. The reality is, I mean, you're absolutely right, you know, because it's given off clues like, wow, this guy goes through life and gets what he wants. I feel I'm going to feel safe around this guy. You know, like he's just going to be handling shit.
But the reality is of the groups, they're easier. A lot of people think, well, the groups, oh, God, there's so many of them. It's not difficult. It's just different. Think of it. They can afford to lose one. You know, if you hit it off with one, they can afford to lose one. If it's just two goals, you know, you've got a bit of a situation there. They're with each other. You know, you can't splinter one off.
But I will tell you, because I've been writing a little bit recently about breakthroughs, and another one was one of my first daytime approaches. like i never done it i never really did it it was such a taboo like how mad is that like That's where we meet people in evening, right? Normally, it's not frowned upon to maybe sort of meet someone at a bar, but like to interrupt someone's day. like hey you know I just saw you over there like that was so taboo for me and
I remember fantasizing about doing it. I remember I was on a bus. I was on the top layer. And I saw these two girls. I didn't see them on the bus, but I saw these two ladies get off the bus. And I looked out the window and I thought... I've got to do it. I've got to do it. I've got to go down there. I've got to go and say something.
You know what? And I didn't do it. You didn't? I didn't do it. But when we were talking earlier about the pain that you have to be experienced to be motivated to do or not do. That was such an important emotion and experience I needed to fill because the next time I did do it, i was in a shopping mall it did help i was a bit hung over at the time right um i had that moment that we've all experienced that exchange of eye contact
And I said to myself, you know, then we've got to create that buzz phrase of do it. I said, Johnny, just do it. I went over there and I opened up the interaction and nothing amazing was really exchanged, to be honest. It was just the impact of doing. I got her number. She became my girlfriend for two years. Wow. And I was, again, I was just like, whoa, another ceiling. I've just broke through here.
That's fantastic. So you said never again about not talking to a woman you wanted to talk to and the next time you made it right in it. paid off for you in a huge way obviously yeah don't get me wrong i had a lot to learn i was very young about girls i mean that was you know i was an absolute doormat in that relationship you know there's a lot of things that i learned not to do and how to behave in that one but
Those lessons were what would have come for me later on down the line, you know. I trained. So a quick story that your story reminds me of this. I trained myself through hard knocks to punish myself in a positive way when I wimped out. And so if I saw a woman I had to talk to, but I didn't, I talked myself out of it, I would notice it and I would punish myself. I would say, all right, you now have to do the hardest approach there is.
So I'm in a park in New York City. So this is 10, gosh, 10 years ago at this point. But there's a woman I wanted to approach. I didn't. I talked myself out of it. She walked away. And I said, you know what? All right. I'm going to talk to the most beautiful girl I see. I don't care how awkward it is.
and i saw this vision walking across the street across a walkway she was wearing a fedora pencil skirt very curvy really pretty and i said oh i got the perfect line and i'm gonna walk up and i walked up to her the second i got there said something like, hey, look at those moves, girl. And I immediately switched to something not planned. And I said, hey, I'm sorry. I just wanted to come over and apologize. My dad is so rude. So good. Yeah, I love that. And she lit up.
She said, and I quote, she looked at me and said, you're way better at hitting on me than other guys. So to me, there were like two quick lessons there. A, take immediate action if you can, if you forgive yourself, but take right action. And then also, it's fine to have an opener, but if you can find something spontaneous, that's usually going to go best, I've found. Absolutely.
there's always oh and she became my girlfriend six months oh wow i mean that's that's the that's the thing i mean like if you look at it People are fatigued with the apps, okay? The online landscape, that swipe right-left mechanism. Like, we're just seeing it. And let's just say...
There's a group of girls and they're talking about how they met their partners, right? They go around the table. Oh, how did you meet your partner? Oh, he was my boss. Okay, you shagged your boss at work. What about you? Oh, we met on Tinder. Oh, okay, cool. What about you? Oh, you know, I was... I was walking down the street. This guy tried to hit on me.
I blew him off. And this other guy told me it was his dad. Anyway, long story short, we've been going out ever since. This is my bloody husband now. You know, like it's the story that they're going to be telling again and again and again. However ridiculous it is, that's the motivator. It's the story. I love that one. It's great. Kat and I were asked that many times. Hey, how'd you guys meet?
Her face lit up. Yeah. And and that was a big moment for me okay let's finish up with a few fun quick short answer short question short answer rapid fire i'll even partake in these i'll answer my own questions one question i was curious to ask you because you've been doing this a while is what is one piece of advice that you used to give men that you no longer believe in or that you've changed your mind about?
For me, I used to tell guys, oh, women want cocky. Be cocky. Because when I was coming up, quote, cocky funny really helped me. But then I realized as I evolved as a coach, that works for some men, but it's not for everybody. And I've adjusted that to be more playful or be cheeky. But if and only if that's your personality.
That's me. What about you? Anything that you used to teach that you say, ah, I don't believe that anymore? It's a good question. I think my mind goes, well, we just spoke about it a little bit now, but the apps and the online space. Like, I'm very anti-app, to be honest, at the moment. I acknowledge it is a path, right? And I definitely have immediate reference of it. working for people.
But the statistics show that, you know, it's 20% of people are getting success on there, right? So unless you are doing an extraordinary job of marketing yourself, right? which a lot of us that find ourselves here getting help in this space are not good at. it's best to save yourself the frustration Because it's not a substitute for...
going out there and living a more social life. And I think I was working with one particular person that's come to mind and the pattern that that person was experiencing was to come out of a long-term relationship, build themselves back up, become more market-friendly, so to speak. It wasn't working out with the guys. This is a lady that I was working with. It wasn't working out every time that she was.
meeting these guys like one guy was like married on the sly sort of seeing her you know uh another guy just just wanted something casual like no there was no accountability And I said you've got to get back to work on your social life. That's where you meet people. That is where it happens. And I think we get caught in that trap of just using online as a substitute for living a social life.
great advice i see it as a second funnel to bring more dating options into your life almost like a business needs multiple funnels of clients customers your dating life when you're a single guy it's good to have multiple leads coming in and online dating is a great source of leads if you can create a profile that does that but i never want a guy to feel like he has to
to stay in the online dating ghetto. You wanna have the freedom to meet people out in the real world. I believe your social circle should be wherever you are. Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, as I said, like, one of the first things we spoke about was reconnecting with yourself. Yeah. Maybe write down five of those things that you enjoy. I think go off and find communities around that.
Yeah. Well, that was going to be my next question, which is apart from dating, apart from dating advice and dating strategies, what are some non-dating related skills? or pursuits that you recommend our listener consider to just make him more holistically socially healthier happier which will indirectly help his dating life but it's just about being a more holistically social guy Yeah, it's off the back of what I just said, really. I mean, if I was to...
If I was to think about something that I lost touch with, it was music. I used to be very passionate about music, particularly dance music. supporting friends and bands and stuff, even making music. And I got so work focused over a certain period of years that that kind of fell to the wayside. And it wasn't until a friend of mine invited me to an event where... The music that was being played had certain aspects to stuff that I used to listen to. And I was so thankful for him taking me there.
Because it opened up a whole new community and group of friends for me. What that then did, it put me in landscapes where I could, you know, I was meeting women off the byproduct of doing something I was already enjoying. Yeah. You know, and. It just kept on snowballing. It just did. If you don't have that, then it's going to be hard. You know, I'm speaking a lot about that with the guys I've got my online community.
And one guy, he wants to be in a band. And I said, well, look, and he's struggling to find people, unreliable people. You know, they're waking up and they're supposed to do a band practice. One's got drunk the night before or got high or waking up in some bird's bed or something. So I'm reliable. I go, listen, what you want to do is go to the... The open mic nights. And. I did a bit of scouting for him, actually, because I found that world quite interesting also.
And so now what he does, he goes round to these open mic nights and he's making friends there. You know, he's, you know, and again, being in that world. He's got confidence. He's got wisdom. So he's got status. He's more attractive. It's just the play. I can't agree more. For you, it was music, it sounds like. For him it was open mic night. For some of my guys it's been stand-up comedy, cooking classes, music, taking up instruments. I took improv acting for over a decade.
And I essentially didn't realize I was doing it at the time, but I was buying into this wonderful community of people, like-minded nerds like me, who liked comedy, who liked improv. And I found a tribe and I met some women there and dated some of them, met a lot of friends. And it just added so much value to my life, having that, finding my tribe. Yeah. And let's just say that you actually do date someone from those communities. There's more accountability because
On the apps, you can just go, you know, you can meet someone. They can decide, you know, I'm going to be a dick. You know, I'm going to be a dick and, you know, I'm going to get away with it because there's no person, there's no mutuals between us, you know, and a lot of people encounter that. But when you're dating someone in like communities and stuff. you would have thought you're not going to be seeing too much of the worst of someone because it's going to come back. Yeah.
Last question. I typically end podcasts by saying to my listener, talk is cheap information is overrated action is underrated here's something i want you to do this week I'd like to ask you to do that if you're okay with it. I'd love to give that job to you. Is there one specific action or step that the guy listening to this episode
should do this week that will help him either in his dating life or his overall social situation to become a more attractive guy. What would you like our listener to do? Yeah. Say yes to your next invite. Right. I think we get invitations every day. I've got an invite to something today and part of me inside is like, can I be bothered? Do I really want to go? You know, like, oh, God, it'd be a bit of an effort, you know, but.
Just give yourself a 10% bit of effort to beat the shitty person that you were yesterday. And I guarantee the best nights or the best social experiences often come from those things that you push yourself to do. You are so correct. Quick story to support. I swear, I swear, listener, that Johnny and I did not plan this. Here's a story.
Many years ago, I felt exactly the same. My friend Eric said, hey, come to this art gallery thing I'm being part of. He was a curator. And I'm like, I'm so tired. I'm so, I don't know. But I said yes to it. And I met a woman named Rachel who became my long distance girlfriend for about a year. I loved her. And we had this incredible conversation that night about art. Next thing I knew, we were on a date two nights later and having a Boston, New York.
long-term but really connected relationship and that started with me saying yes to that invite. Amazing. That's damn good advice. Thank you so much, Johnny. This was a blast. Oh, I forgot to ask you. Have you ever seen the Jim Carrey movie, Yes Man? Speaking of yes. Yeah. Yes. Yes. The whole movie has to say yes to everything. Yeah. Well, there's, there's another go and do watch, watch Jim Carrey. Uh, yes, man. Yeah, that's a really good movie to...
Talk about taking the concept of saying yes to invites. He goes a little overboard, but... Hey, if you end up meeting Zoe Deschanel, that's a pretty good, or your Zoe Deschanel, that's a pretty good outcome. Johnny, for the gentleman listening to this who is like, hey, I want to know more about this Johnny Cassell. How can they find you? How can they potentially work with you or learn about your coaching or your content? Where should people go to find out more?
Yeah, it's johnnycassell.com. So you've got all our offerings on there, like programs, online community, stuff like that. at London Dating Coach. I'm mostly active on that social channel more than anything. And if you punch my name... Instagram? Yes, Instagram. And if you punch my name into YouTube... you'll find content on there. I mean, we got over like, I don't know, was it like over 200 videos now? So there's lots of stuff you can learn for free.
Nice. JohnnyCassell.com at London Dating Coach. Is that right? at London Danny coach on Instagram. Johnny, thank you so much for being here. It was a blast, man. Great stuff. Really great. Thank you, man. You've been a great host. Really, really enjoyed it. and thank you for listening you have about 19 million podcasts you can choose from you just listen to me and Johnny for an hour which is freaking awesome thank you I really appreciate that
Don't forget your dream girlfriend. She is out there and she is going to love you, but she's going to have to meet the real authentic you. So go out there, take some action. Carpe datum. Until next time.