511 Israel Duran

[00:00:00]

Introduction to Israel Duran's Journey

Jeffrey Feldberg: From cybersecurity to the center stage of business strategy and influence. Israel Duran's journey is one of transformation, courage and service. What started as a promising technical career shifted dramatically over a life altering accident that forced him to confront his purpose and find his voice.

That pivot led him to found Israel Duran and Associates, a global coaching and training company that empowers purpose driven entrepreneurs to build profitable mission led businesses that change lives and industries. Israel is the author of the Service of Speaking, How to impact, Inspire and Influence the Masses With Your Message. A book born from his belief that speaking is not just communication but the highest form of service, one that unlocks connection, credibility, and exponential impact.

His frameworks have helped countless founders and leaders turn expertise into scalable success and often into massive breakthroughs. In a world where many entrepreneurs build [00:01:00] businesses without a clear voice or platform, Israel stands apart as an Architect of Impact, teaching leaders to leverage their message with clarity, purpose, and strategy.

This is a conversation about finding your voice, owning your story, and using both to shape influence that matters. 

Sponsor Message: Deep Wealth Mastery Program

Jeffrey Feldberg: And before we hop into the podcast, a quick word from our sponsor, Deep Wealth and the Deep Wealth Mastery Program. We have William, a graduate of Deep Both Mastery, and he says, I didn't have the time for Deep Both Mastery, but I made the time and I'm glad I did.

What I learned goes far beyond any other executive program or coach I've ever experienced. Or how about Bruce? Bruce says, before Deep Wealth Mastery, the challenge I had with most business programs, coaches, or blogs was that they were one dimensional. Through Deep Wealth Mastery, I'm part of a richer community of other successful business owners.

The idea shared forever changed the trajectory of the business and best of all, the experience was fun. And we'll round things out with Stacey. 

Stacey said, I wish I had access to the Deep Wealth [00:02:00] Mastery before my liquidity event, as it would have been extremely helpful. Deep Wealth Mastery exceeded my expectations in terms of content and quality.

And you know what, my Deep Wealth Nation, why they're saying this is because Deep Wealth Mastery, it's the only system based on a nine figure deal. That was my deal. And as you know, I said no to a seven figure offer, and I created a system that we now call Deep Wealth Mastery that helped myself and my business partners, welcome from a different buyer, a different offer, a nine figure exit.

So if you're interested in growing your profits, preparing for a future liquidity event, if that's two years away or 20 years away, and you want to optimize your post exit life, Deep Wealth Mastery is for you. Please email success at deepwealth. com. Again, that's success, S U C C E S S, at deepwealth. com. We'll send you all the information about Deep Wealth Mastery, otherwise known as Scale for Ultimate Sale. That's where you want to be. You want to be with other successful business owners, entrepreneurs, and founders just like you who are looking to create market disruptions.

And they want to [00:03:00] lock in their financial freedom and have success and fulfillment. 

That's the 90 day Deep Wealth Mastery Program. It has your name on it. All you need to do is take the next step. Send an email to success at deepwealth. com.

Starting the Podcast: Finding Your Purpose

Jeffrey Feldberg: Deep Wealth Nation welcome to another episode of the Deep Wealth Podcast. Well, Deep Wealth Nation let me ask you something. When you got into business, why?

Why did you get into business?

I know for me it was, yes, in part it was lifestyle and success and all the other trappings that go along with that.

But what about your impact?

What about your influence?

What about your ability to be a change maker, to inspire others? How are you doing on that?

Are you asking yourself, what's my higher purpose?

Where's this going?

And what should I be doing?

I got great news if you're asking those questions, and those are terrific questions. We've got a fabulous guest in the House of Deep Wealth. You heard the official introduction. Israel, welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast. An absolute pleasure to have you with us. There's always a story behind the story. So Israel, what's your story? What got you from where you were to where you are today?

Israel Duran's Early Life and Challenges

Israel Duran: Well, First off, Jeffrey, it's a great blessing being on here with you, and I always go back to my childhood when people [00:04:00] ask me that question because unlike most people, my childhood was. Very difficult in many different areas, but it's allowed for me to be the man I am now and do what I do today.

And, you know, it starts with my father. My father's name is Domingo Doong. And my father, back in 1993, he was having a bunch of chest pains on his left side, like on his left arm. And my mother, who was a doctor in Dominican Republic. And when they came over from the Dr.

She wasn't able to transfer the license because of her English barrier. My mom said to my dad, go get yourself checked out because that's not a good sign when you know those shooting pain consistently is coming on your left side. And my dad did, like any respectable husband would do, he listened and he went to the er he waited about, they say about three and a half hours at the er.

And for whatever reason, my dad. Wasn't attended. You know, I believe they had other more maybe pressing issues at the time. And my dad went back home and when my dad goes back home, [00:05:00] he had what we call the medical community calls a stemi. He had a massive heart attack and he died and my mom found him in that condition.

Very traumatic experience from my mom. I don't bring it up much. But Israel, David Duran, I was only about 60 days or so young. I was two months two months when my dad passed. So growing up, Jeffrey, I had four missing voids. I had four missing things in my life that I value today, and that. I really have built my whole business on, and those are the four things that I didn't have as a child.

So I tell people this all the time, the things that you don't have as a child are typically the things that make up your story. And they're the things that typically we value as an adult.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow. My goodness. Firstly, my condolences. You and your family. What a. Tragic story that you had to go through at such a young age. Let me ask you just before we get going. 

Overcoming Tragedy and Finding Faith

Jeffrey Feldberg: For a lot of people, they could have looked back to that and played the victim card. Woe was me. I lost my father at a very young age, and all this happened [00:06:00] because of that.

You didn't do that, and despite the circumstances, you didn't do that. You're playing the Victor card and you've gone out there and you've influenced and made such a positive impact on countless others. What was it for you that had you pick yourself up after that tragic loss and really make a difference out there?

Make something of yourself.

Israel Duran: First off, thank you. And thank you for your condolences. And I'm a man of faith, a man of belief because I didn't have any chance. I mean, I was the young child that they said. Wouldn't make it, They held me back in second grade. They said I wasn't developing properly.

They said I was retarded. They said all matter of things over me. And it wasn't that I wasn't smart, Jeffrey, it was that I was just upset, all I wanted was to sit down with my dad, look him in the, in his eyes, and have him share the four things with me and. The voids. I just had a lot of voids in my life and I was looking for my dad.

Like my, even my birthday was, my birthday's on December 26th. So growing up in the United States of America my bonus dad came into my life when I [00:07:00] was five, but my mom and then would try to get me one gift for my two holidays, christmas my birthday.

But I didn't want any gifts. All I wanted was to literally sit down and have a conversation with my dad. And the reason I chose to go forward and not go as a victim really was because of God's grace. And I didn't have a choice. It was either I had to push forward to, be the man that I needed to be in my life to provide and for my loved ones and push forward.

But if it wasn't for God, I wouldn't have had the four things that helped me to become the man to go for it and not play the victim card.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Deep Wealth Nation. I know for some of you, when we say the word God, it's a turnoff for you. And maybe you're saying, I don't believe in God, or it's not God. It's the universe or it's spiritual. Deep Wealth Nation have an open mind with the next set of questions for you. Maybe you'll hear something new.

Maybe you'll get some new insights and let's just listen. Let's just listen and learn and hopefully not turn you off with that.

Near-Death Experience and Spiritual Awakening

Israel Duran: Hey, Jeffrey, to your point this will give context because I [00:08:00] didn't, know anything about God, religion, the Bible, Jesus. I didn't know anything about anything. But I had an experience that happened to me at the age of seven. And I'll share it for context because it will make further sense.

At the age of seven, my mom would've yet again lost somebody dearly that she loved at a young age. And this time it would've been her son at seven years old. I was in Dominican Republic. By a pool. This is an oval pool by the beach. And my sister at the time, my older sister, Leslie, her friend, was having a birthday party.

It was like a child's birthday party, and I jumped in to try to go get her earring that she dropped inside of the oval pool. And when I jumped in to get the earring, I didn't know how to swim at the time. So I started to drown and my water started to fill my lungs. And in the middle of the pool and I was dying, and I could hear my sister screaming and crying saying, someone saved my brother.

Someone saved my brother. And that's all I remember from Earth. And then I'm outside of my body now. I'm not in my body. And I had a near death experience where my soul, I [00:09:00] wasn't in my body. I was traveling somewhere and I didn't see anything. But this is what I felt and sensed. I felt peace. I felt loved.

I felt protected. I felt safe. I felt a warmth, not like a hot warmth, but like a warmth, like a comforting warmth. And as weird as this sounds, Jeffrey, I felt that I was about to meet God. It was like something's put in my mind get ready. You're about to meet your creator. And I wasn't afraid. And in that transition. don't remember what God said to me. I don't remember what I said to him. I know there was an interaction, but I don't remember. It was like, it's taken from my memory and then all of a sudden I'm back into the water. I'm inside of this pool, and a man had jumped in and pulled me out. I'm outside of the water trying to gasp for air, coughing up all this water, and Jeffrey, I turned around to see who it was to see who saved me.

because I wanted to say thank you to him. And there was no one to be found.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow,

incredible. 

Israel Duran: No one. knows who [00:10:00] the guy was. This was my sister. Said she saw his backside. Caucasian man, black hair, blue eyes. I didn't see him because I was trying to find him. No one around there knew the, who the guy was. And we were in an area, by the way, Dominican Republic, close to the Haiti border in a place called Monte, Kristi, Dominican Republic.

And there's not a lot of Caucasian people right in that area. So Jeffrey, I'm left over here trying to find this guy because I wanted to give him a hug. I didn't know much. But at the age of seven, I know if somebody jumps in the pool and saves you, you say thank you. And I couldn't thank him. And I remember, as weird as this sounds, I remember just looking up in the sky. And just thanking God, I just said thank you, and I felt different. After I died. I felt that I would speak and God would hear me, as weird as that sounds, and I would feel that God would speak and I would hear him.

The Four Pillars of Israel's Mission

Israel Duran: So you know, the four things that I didn't have as a child from my dad, I got through my faith, right? Which are really quickly the four things that I'm sure people are wondering. What are those four things? Number one, identity, I wanted my dad to tell me who I was, my identity. Number two, I wanted [00:11:00] purpose.

And I teach people now that your identity always precedes purpose. And then number three, I wanted vision. I wanted vision. I wanted to know what I was supposed to do, but not just my vision. I didn't know this at the time, but I wanted my voice. And that's what I teach people now. I teach 'em how to find their voice through their vision and their vision through the voids that they see.

All of us are uniquely and wonderfully made. All of us have vision. That we see things that not everybody does, right? When we wear glasses, for those of you that have glasses and I wear blue lens when we wear glasses, those glasses are prescribed to us. If we try to put those glasses onto somebody else, they're not gonna see our vision, right?

And at the time, I wanted, to know what my vision was, my voice. And then number four is a custom plan. And what's ironic, Jeffrey is in my businesses now and what I do, and they call me, the other people have penned me, the impact architect. That's what we do. We facilitate those four things for the partners, the collaborators, the people we work with.

All the things I didn't have as a child.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And again, Deep Wealth Nation, you may [00:12:00] be saying, wow, Israel, you seem like a great guy, and that's a wonderful story, but all this woo woo stuff, this out of body experience and some guardian angel. My goodness, what's going on? I don't believe in that, in Deep Wealth Nation. That's okay. You don't have to believe in that.

This is Israel's story, though. This is what made him who he is, and I would just challenge your Deep Wealth Nation. Have an open heart, have an open mind, maybe go within, and you've had similar experiences that up until now, perhaps you haven't realized, but it's fascinating in terms of. How those few incidents really played.

Such a big role in terms of what you're doing is, I'm gonna ask an unfair question before we jump into things. I know you've authored a number of books and hopefully we'll get to that. And offline you're sharing, you have seven, seven laws. I know we're not gonna get to all of those. We'll see where that goes.

But my unfair question is this, generally speaking. 

Common Challenges in Business Growth

Jeffrey Feldberg: When you look at the people that you serve, the people that you're helping, the people that are inviting you into their businesses to help them lead and take the company to the next level in your workshops, is it the [00:13:00] good old Preto law or what some people call the 80 20 principle that Yes, Jeffrey.

80% of the challenges, what I call opportunities what people call challenges come from 20% of these same patterns or these same issues. Are there some common patterns that you're seeing, generally speaking, when you're working with people, anything that you can share along those lines?

Israel Duran: 100%. And I just wanna say this for the record. I work with people in all different types of. Backgrounds and beliefs. And Jeffrey, you're a hundred percent right. No one has to believe what I'm saying here. am always intrigued by people's stories and people's, experience in life. And I know of a lot of people that have different experiences as well, and I respect them all.

My mindset here, Jeffrey, with what I've seen with working with individuals, typically they fall in two different categories. You've known this, having a nine figure exit, which is a phenomenal thing to do. Not just teaching business owners how to scale, but doing it in a way that's sustainable for their purpose as they increase profits with your mastery program, which is [00:14:00] a phenomenal but one of the things I mainly see is where business owners are under typically that million dollar mark.

They're really in that place where they're leveraging lead flow. Sales and like one of my good friends, Marshall Goldsmith says, what got you here won't get you there. Typically, once you pass that million dollar mark, it's more about adjusting, leadership development, systems development.

And what I've seen all the time, Jeffrey, which is sad, is that not every CEO not every owner is open to change. It's sometimes they fight the change And I get it. I understand. It's your baby, it's your ideal, your dream, right? It's what you designed and it's flourishing and it's growing, and now when you wanna sell it or now when you wanna develop it to sell it, typically the same person that created it is not the same person that will take it to sell it typically.

It's typically bringing in, again, that leadership development and the systems development. [00:15:00] Especially now with ai, we're doing a lot with ai, ai, tech, ai, calling AI agents. To support a CEO with the right systems and the right counsel so they can grow the right way. And I would be curious with what you've come across Jeffrey, you know, it's tough to get them to say, I'm open for the change.

And sometimes the CEOs have to get out of their own way. Sometimes they have to literally say, okay, I got it to this point, I need help. And that's okay. And them being open for the help.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Israel, you're spot on in what you're sharing. And I know from my own journey and the countless entrepreneurs that we've been fortunate enough and privileged to work with, it's the same story. And most entrepreneurs, to your point, the business doesn't run without them. So as I like to ask, Hey, if you got abducted by aliens today and they dropped you back here, maybe it's three months from now, or three years from now, would you still have a business?

Or would you have a business that's even bigger and better than when you left? And for most entrepreneurs, well actually it's no, [00:16:00] I have a leadership team, but even with that leadership team, everything runs for me. And so we have to learn how to get out of our own way, have the business run without us, and really fire ourselves to bring in people that are smarter and better.

And Israel, you said something very interesting, and for me as an entrepreneur, as a business leader, this is always the most challenging part for me because to what you said earlier, Hey Jeffrey, the people that get you to where you are and then to take you to the next level, they're probably different people.

And you're right, it's a human condition. That's been the toughest part, especially as a startup founder, the people, brothers, sisters, working tireless hours, getting the business to where it was. But to get to the next level, they didn't have the skillset. And that's a tough, bitter pill to swallow, knowing that you have to bring other people in to help the company get there.

But when you're on the bigger vision, the bigger purpose, and we'll talk about that now, of helping people solve their problems, you just do it because that's part of your calling. That's part of your purpose. Let me ask you this, to circle back to something that you said, and I'm right there with you. [00:17:00] In my own words what you said, I completely concur with you.

Each one of us, and pun intended, we've been given God-given gifts that's unique to each one of us, every single person on the planet. our mission. is well, number one, what is that God-given gift? And then how do I take it to as many people as I can? So before we jump in with some of your laws and your strategies, and again, I wanna talk about your books.

If there's one thing somebody could do coming outta this episode, a low hanging fruit that could really help make a difference for them, and it's such an unfair question. There's so many things that they could do, but if you had to pick one thing that a listener in Deep Wealth Nation could do, thoughts, suggestions, what would you prescribe for them?

Israel Duran: It would all start with. Reimagine, reinvent, rediscover. I'm a big believer that revelation, the word of revelation by the way, means revealed. Knowledge is a byproduct of what typically comes before growth, because revelation will bring awareness that will bring forth gratitude. [00:18:00] That gratitude is literally the ingredient before growth.

And this is why many times what you just Jeffrey, at different levels of scale. If the people aren't in the right mindset, in the right roles, that can derail the whole thing. You may be somebody listening in right now and saying, I hear you, because I've been trying to grow, but I feel like maybe my team or this specific individual, he's so amazing.

She's so amazing. Her mindset needs to shift. You may be in a position where you need to bring in some outside support or training to help your team get ready for that growth. But again, if there's no revelation, if there's no reinventing, reimagining, rediscovering, to be able to have the awareness where we can kick in that gratitude muscle, that gratitude gift, I call it the supernatural gift, to then bring forth the growth.

There's gonna be a lot of delays and unnecessary bottlenecks in the process.

Jeffrey Feldberg: It's so interesting what you're saying, and actually it's a terrific tie in to your book in Deep Wealth Nation. Go to the show notes, click on the link. [00:19:00] And again, Israel has a number of books, but I'm focusing on the service of speaking, how to impact, inspire, and influence the masses with your message.

And deep both nation. If you're saying, Jeffrey, I don't like public speaking. I don't even like selling, I don't like being out there on the stage or speaking to people. Guess what? Deep both nation, that's exactly what we're doing. If you want to have your message, get out there, if you want your company to thrive and prosper, if you wanna take your God-given gift and take it out to the world, you better be an incredible storyteller.

Storytelling, and we talk a lot about this in Deep Wealth Mastery that's hardwired into the human condition. And so you walk us through step by step, and I love how you put the different steps into chapters and there's really 10 chapters, 10 strategies that you're talking about. And in the very beginning, chapter one, the power principles, you're talking about storytelling and narratives and the power of that.

And for someone who's hearing this for the first time, okay well, what are these power principles and what I need to know about speaking or narratives? Israel, what would you share with DePaul Nation about the power principles?

Israel Duran: [00:20:00] Well, First off, principles. The word principle means there's a couple different ways you could look at it. To simplify, it's just the law. So a law like for example, the law of gravity. So the law of gravity works here in Connecticut. There where you are, Jeffrey, and there where you listen are listening in from.

And the law of gravity works 100% of the time. So when it comes to business, there's also laws and principles that govern business success and scale. And many times when we work and we sit down with people. They're violating laws and that's typically what is limiting their growth or limiting their breakthroughs.

So, The power principles are everything. And I can share a few principles here, Jeffrey, if you like that are common denominators that really limit people from breaking through. If I were to take a graph right now, and I were to show a growth chart. Typically when someone starts something, there's always an investment that they go into the negative and then it grows, and then when you look at [00:21:00] typically the main grass that people put together, it shows almost like a curve the bell curve.

Where they're growing and. It's growing almost like in a linear way. That's typically what we see. But in reality, that's not how growth happens. When you look at a pie chart, when you look at some of the best companies out there that are out there on the marketplace now and again, I'm not necessarily in full support of all the names I'll mention, but I'll name a few.

For example, Amazon, for example, Mackenzie for example, meta. These are companies that have really broke through. When you look at their growth, you'll find gaps in places. Their income goes from let's say low seven figures to high eight figures or low eight to like mid eight figures.

And you're like what's going on with all this?

I'll tell you a quick story. 

The Principle of Partnership

Israel Duran: There's something that happens at those intersections, and this is the principle, I call it the principle of partnership.

Coca-Cola back in the day. Was having issues with their consistency, their product, because there wasn't a refrigerator at the time was inconsistent. So somebody would sell it and it would come out a certain [00:22:00] way. Somebody else would sell it at a different place. Depending on the weather, the product wouldn't be consistent. So the CEO at the time was actually one of the first people to create the refrigerator, and he wanted to go ahead and deploy it off to the gas stations. That was the main distribution system. At the time of Coca-Cola, it was just gas stations and then certain vendors and in the grocery stores. And he would go out and he would try to pitch this refrigerator, this new idea to the, current gas station owners. And he would say, Hey, look, this is going to help our consistency of our product. It's gonna help us sell more, and we would like for you to, install your gas stations. And to his surprise, the gas station owners were not having it.

Some of them took it. Some of them did it. They were like, oh, we don't really need this. It's an extra thing. We don't have really the space for it. And he was met with resistance. He went back to his board and he had an idea after studying the routes of the highways, because he would see that most of these gas stations, they would have billboards up.

And he saw the billboards and they weren't really that nice. They kind of looked like, okay. [00:23:00] So he went to his board and he said, Hey guys, I have this idea. I want to go ahead and take this amount of money and invest in buying these new billboards for some of our distribution gas stations. And the board was like, no, we're not doing that.

Why would we do that?

But he saw something that nobody else did because he understood the principle and against his board. He took a significant amount of money. Today's age, it would be a multi seven-figure investment.

And he went ahead and bought billboards, all new billboards for these gas station owners. He goes to these gas station owners and he presents the new billboards to them. And they're looking at this stuff like, oh wow, this is amazing. It looks awesome. And he was like, yeah, I got to do this as a gift.

And then they would look at the billboard and they would see a, a sign at the bottom right. Typically it would be at the bottom right that would say Cold Coca-Cola here.

And they would ask, they would like what's this sign over here to the bottom right? And he would be like, oh, don't even worry about that.

We're gonna go ahead and install these refrigerators that we have. It's gonna increase the consistency of our product. You're gonna make more money and it's nothing, [00:24:00] it's not gonna be any more work for you. And the gas station always would be like, ah, whatever. That's cool. They obviously took the billboards.

And exponential growth happened for both companies. The gas station owners got more traffic in, they made more money because their billboards and Coca-Cola's revenue skyrocketed up. That is what I call the principle partnership. I could give you many other examples, but if you are in business right now, doesn't matter if you're on the front end or on the back end.

If you leverage the principle of partnership, it can allow you to go from a linear mindset into exponential growth and collaboration.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Israel's so interesting that you mentioned that because that intersection. It's exactly that intersection of, okay, I've gotta go outside of myself. I have to depend on others. It's not just gonna be me. That's gonna be the main show. O for so many entrepreneurs, especially in the deep community, that's some of the things that we have to untrain them in to welcome, hey, it can't just be you, in fact, it shouldn't be.

You sure you've got the vision, you've got the mission. Have people around you that are smarter than you, that are better than you, that you're gonna depend [00:25:00] on to get you from here to there. So Israel, based on what you've seen and what you've done for someone in Deep Wealth Nation, who's saying, okay, Israel, sure, I hear you on that.

So many times I've relied on other people and they've just let me down, and they've taught me. They've trained me. I can only depend on myself. I can't depend on other people because if I do, there'll be a failure or I'll lose a customer, or the business will take a step back, or maybe I'll even lose my business.

It's just gotta be me. I can't trust anybody.

Israel Duran: First off, I understand. I understand exactly where you are, my friend and I get it. There was a fish one day and I actually love fishing. Fishing is like my pastime, but there was a fish one day that was traveling in an ocean and the fish in this ocean, he was very hungry.

The Hungry Fish Story

Israel Duran: He was like significantly, like he was looking for lunch. He's like hungry when we, we have an eaten for hours. That's how hungry he was. And he was swimming in this ocean and he finally sees this little shrimp. And he's like, okay, I got him now. So he's like looking and then he stops.

He looks to the left, to the right, [00:26:00] he looks up and he looks down because he wants to make sure there's no predators around him, and then he says, okay, KO is clear. And then he goes, he makes this move to try to go get this shrimp. And right before he's about to eat his lunch and be satisfied.

Another bigger fish comes outta nowhere and steals this guy's lunch. It doesn't only take the shrimp from him, but it also shoves into him to the point where this little fish is now injured, hurt, and he's still hungry.

And now this little fish is terrified. He's scared for his life. He's also upset because they took his lunch and then now he's swimming off. So now they'll make a long story short, the little fish swims to a whole nother part of the ocean, a completely different place of the ocean. And now it's really hungry.

Because it, it hasn't had lunch, it hasn't had breakfast. It skipped that too. And now it needs to eat dinner because it's already past dinner time. So the fish is now on the hunt to try to find another shrimp. So it gets to a point where he sees another shrimp just like he saw before. And he looks at it and he's okay, this is my chance.

He's looking at the shrimp. And then again, he [00:27:00] stops, he looks to the left. Looks to the right, looks up and looks down, and he sees that the coast is clear and he's about to make his move to go eat this next shrimp, and he's about to get it. And right before he's gonna swallow that fish to be satisfied, he swims away.

And some of you may say, oh, it's because there's another predator. No, there's no predators, there's nothing around. Actually, the coast is clear, and he could eat the shrimp, but he swims away. What is this called? 

The Principle of Conditions

Israel Duran: This is called the Principle of Conditions. Principle of circumstances. You see what happens is all of us have gone through pain.

All of us have gone through difficult moments, but if we only focus on the past, we end up projecting the past into the future, and we end up sabotaging ourselves from opportunities that can help us to not only break through, but to accomplish our goals and visions and. I'm not saying that you won't be in a position where somebody will eat your shrimp, but what I'm saying is some of us, because of past e experiences, we [00:28:00] have eaten our own shrimp through discontent, through not taking opportunities.

And through staying in this condition, through staying in this cycle through staying in circumstances because of a lack of trust and a lack of understanding, that calculated risk needs to be invested with all of us. If we truly want to build and grow something to our maximum potential.

Mindset and Mentorship

Jeffrey Feldberg: It's incredible Israel how mindset, which doesn't directly show up on a profit and loss statement, but actually does, when you get to the root cause of things, how mindset makes such a difference.

So Israel, I'm coming into one of your programs, or you're mentoring me, or I'm going through one of your workshops.

What does it look like? What's your secret sauce?

And I know everyone's gonna be different. And if you said, Jeffrey hey, listen, every leader, every business, they're on their own path. No two are alike. Every journey is different. Agreed. Generally speaking though, what would I expect? How long is it gonna take?

What am I gonna be doing? What's at the other side when all is said and done?

Israel Duran: I met a man, his name is Dr. Wale, an amazing entrepreneur leader in Africa. This [00:29:00] gentleman knows all the prime ministers and presidents of multiple countries in Africa.

He's like the, who's who there he's had a reach of millions of people. 

The Language of Collaboration

Israel Duran: I was on a Zoom call with him and he was sharing with me, he has a property down by Mozambique and he was sharing with me Israel. I love to swim out in my property and typically I like to go out to the deep. And one day I was out there in the deep and I was just meditating out there swimming and I got this thought, he says God spoke to him about this.

And he said that God put in his mind, Hey, what would be the conversation that you would have with another human being out here in the deep?

And he kind of pondered for a second and said, interesting. If I met somebody out here in this deep water, would be very different than the conversation on the beach because he said, and this is what I wanna say here now, he said, because the language of the people on the beach is very different than the language of the people in the deep.

He said, the language of the people on the beach is the language. Write it down is of competition. [00:30:00] But the language of the people out in the deep. Is the language of collaboration.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow. Lot to that story.

Israel Duran: yeah, when he said that to me, I said to him, you know, I'm gonna use this. And he said, use it. Because in my journey as an entrepreneur, currently we have seven business going on, others And I'm invested in many other different collaborations. I've had to learn that the language of people that want to grow a multi seven, eight plus figure business is collaboration.

But the language of people that wanna stay to a four to six figure income is competition. And when you ask me, hey, what's the process that you have when people work with you, it starts with the four things and it's seasoned with the language of collaboration. We're not in competition with anybody but ourselves.

Our goal, when we sit down with someone is truly getting ready to really understand who they are, what they're looking to do, doesn't matter what faith, what background they have, as long as they're in a business that serves people and is good for humanity, we can help them. if [00:31:00] it's a business that does not align to our values.

We respectfully say maybe it's not a good fit, but our goal is always to look at that identity in business the way that is looked like or the way that's defined as brand vision. We look at, again, what's the purpose of that brand, their mission, their vision, and then we look to create a custom plan.

That can fit them well to where they're headed. I wear custom suits all the time and I love wearing custom suits, not because I'm trying to be more fancy or anything like that, it's just that they fit better, my experience has been when you go to the store and you try to go buy a suit suits off, the rack don't fit well, A custom suit always fits better than one off the rack. So our approach is to take. That collaborative mindset and giving people a custom solution to truly help them bridge the gap of where they are to where they wanna be. And every business owner is different. There are similarities, there are consensus, there are things that, problems that repeat themselves, but we always [00:32:00] like to give that custom fit.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Incredible story, and as you're talking about the story, we're going back to collaboration versus competition. So many takeaways that are there yet. That said social programming and social media. My goodness, I can get in my soapbox and talk all about social media. We are programmed, Hey, it's scarce out there.

It's a dog eat dog world. And if it's not gonna be you, it's gonna be someone else who's coming after you, your company, your customers. So Israel, with that said, practically speaking, what would be some insights, some strategies of how as a leader, an entrepreneur, maybe even a hired gun, I'm in the C-suite and I'm leading a company.

How do I blend that in a way that's healthy and in a way that really can help take the company to the next level?

The Law of Breakthrough

Israel Duran: Really quickly here, I'm gonna teach on a law that will give a lot of clarity. It's called The law breakthrough, right? And I'll show you where, why social media is so important. And visibility is so important for any company. Regardless if you're private or if you're public. I'll show you in a moment when [00:33:00] we take a seed, Jeffrey and we plant it into the ground, that seed has to first grow in obscurity where nobody sees it in darkness.

That's the first law of breakthrough. Your company, no matter where it is, you may have some market share, you may have some visibility, but you started in darkness, you started in obscurity, you had to grow. You founder, you C-suite you investor. Potentially you had to invest in that company where nobody knew it, and it takes time to go through obscurity, into resistance.

That's the second step. Resistance. I always tell people, you're rewarded with resistance. Resistance is a gift because resistance will produce the systems, will produce the legs on the business that will help it run and scale. Most seeds that are planted, they actually die in the ground.

They die in that level of resistance. Rocks get in their way. the weight of the dirt gets in front of them, but if you're willing to endure resistance, those first three to five years, really seven to 10 years of a [00:34:00] business. And you're willing to kind of focus in and stay focused.

And it's like you take one step forward, three steps back, three steps forward, and you make that progress and you have that resilience, and you're willing to make the adjustments. You'll eventually get out of that level of resistance. By the way, 87% of businesses stay stuck in resistance, but if you become that 13% that breaks through and gets into the light, you get some acceleration, some visibility.

Now that same level of pressure that you were growing in gets lifted off, and now you get some acceleration behind you, some momentum, and then you'll eventually hit. Acceleration and even admiration. That's level number four. And then you can scale something. Why am I talking about this when it comes to social media?

Because when people get started with social media, they get discouraged because, oh, I'm in darkness. Nobody knows who I am. I'm in obscurity. And then they start to going through that resistance where I'm posting, I'm doing this, it's not working. And then they throw in the towel. Don't be the people that throw in the towel.

Be the people that are consistent [00:35:00] and be the people that collaborates with social media platforms. Maybe some influencers, maybe some other people in your market that maybe have gone before you to help you get more visibility, because that's one of the ways that you can bypass obscurity and resistance to get that visibility in your market, get that light, and get that acceleration.

That's why social media is so important and having your message out there and your vision.

Reaching Out for Help

Jeffrey Feldberg: Israel, as you're talking about that I absolutely subscribe to that. It's not even a strategy. It's a philosophy of life. And that is find people who have already been down this journey. They're more successful than you. Doesn't mean they're smarter than you. They're more successful than you. They've been there, done that as a saying, goes, reach out to them, ask them for some help.

And I know as I say that there's gonna be those in Deep Wealth Nation saying, Hey, yeah, on paper it sounds great. That said, people are busy, they're probably getting all kinds of requests. So Israel, how do I reach out to someone who exactly as you're sharing on social media, they have a wonderful community.

They've been there, they've done that. They're doing all the things that I wanna be doing. I just don't know how to [00:36:00] do that. What would be the best strategy of being approachable? It's going up to someone and hey, I would love some help or some tips or some insights in a way that doesn't come across as being a stalker or as needy, or someone who's just gonna be a waste of time.

Thoughts about that?

Israel Duran: That's a great question. We have a community on Facebook with over 360,000 members, so we get it a lot as well. People trying to reach out to us to pitch to our group and. Bunch of different things. I am qualified to answer this question. Here's what I'll say. Even as an angel investor as well, like yourself, like when people reach out they want to pitch me something, the worst thing you could do is just reach out to me and try to marry me on the first message.

Hey, I got this pitch deck. I'm raising $5 million. I need you to look. Whoa, that's way too fast. We gotta slow down. We have to build rapport, we have to build relationship. So the best message that I've seen works like the actual, like in terms of things that we've tested, is always reaching out and complimenting somebody on, something that they have, that they're about, and [00:37:00] build the relationship organically.

And then share like your intentions up front. Let me use you as an example, Jeffrey. Hi Jeffrey. It's great to connect with you here. I really wanna, congratulate you on your nine figure exit and I learned something from your podcast, I would love to have 15 minutes to talk about sharing an idea with you that could help.

Something along the lines like that, and you adjust your languaging to be specific for what you want. If you're looking for money, don't say, Hey I'm, looking for money. Say, Hey, look, sometimes I have I see that you're an angel investor and you seem like a person of high integrity.

Do you mind if we connect just so I could learn about what your investing lanes are and what your preferred terms are? And have a quick 15, 10 minute call if you reach out with that heart. I would answer you number one because we do all the time and most investors, most people that are successful will reach out to, because it's coming off not salesy, heartfelt, insincere.

And it's a 10, 15 minute call where you wanna learn about what [00:38:00] my goals are, my vision is what I potentially wanna invest in. That's something that I would be interested to learn more about.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Israel, I'm doing the nudge, nudge, wink winks. What are you saying? I can't just do a copy and paste and send a blast email or a blast message to thousands of people without differentiating. I love how actually you're saying, Hey, take some time. This is not gonna be automated. And learn about the person, see what's really going on.

Israel Duran: Yeah. especially in the AI realm, we're heavily invested in ai. We have technology that. in this next year here, things will be coming out. In this AI realm, people want authenticity. That people are not against the ai, but they wanna know that there's a human being.

They wanna know that they're not a number, if we slow down to have a conversation with people, is everybody gonna reach out? No, they're not gonna reach out. But you follow up, you're kind, you're respectful, right? You're sincere. You build relationship. I love that a lot of my mentors and people that are in my life, and even our advisors on our advisory board, they're in their sixties and seventies.

And I love working with them because two [00:39:00] reasons. Number one, they give me insight from how back in the day business used to be where, deals were made, handshaking, and a lot of those principles, a lot of those core values. Our loss in today's AR art, especially with social media. So if you're one of the few people that actually adhere to those principles, you're gonna have an advantage over others that don't. You know, It's the simple things in life that make a difference.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So true. And Israel, I suppose I could reverse some of the questions that I've asked or take the angle and flip it. So usually it's glass half full. As entrepreneurs, let's take a look at the glass half empty for just a moment. I'll call it a a mistake. For me, it's really an opportunity. 

Finding Blind Spots

Jeffrey Feldberg: Again, generally speaking, when you're looking at patterns, what would be the biggest mistake that as a leader or a founder entrepreneur I'm making that's actually holding me back, I may not even realize that I'm making this one big mistake.

Israel Duran: We are in our own way. Typically, we are in leaders are in their own ways, like I'm in my own way sometimes. That's why mentors need mentors. Leaders need leaders because we all have blind spots. [00:40:00] if I'm inside of this jar, I'm not gonna be able to see the label. If I'm inside of the forest, I'm not gonna be able to see the trees.

if I'm in the paint, I'm not gonna see the painting. We are too close to ourselves to be objective with ourselves. We all have blind spots. If you're driving a car, unless you're driving a Tesla, you have blind spots, because you're driving and you're gonna look to the left. Typically, it's on the left side. We have the blind spot, and you need those mirrors to help guide you. And again, the biggest mistake I would say that I, I see CEOs making is that we're in our own way and we don't acknowledge that we have blind spots.

We don't get the help we need.

Jeffrey Feldberg: and so it's called a Blind Spot here at Deep Wealth. We actually call it step One, big Picture. We're finding inflection points. It is a blind spot though, for a reason. I can't see it. So with that said, and I completely agree with you, that we are in the way and it's our own blind spots that unintentionally are getting in the way.

So how does a leader, how does a founder, an entrepreneur find her or his blind spot and, hey, oh my goodness, I didn't even realize I'm [00:41:00] doing this. Let me get outta the way on this one. Let me fix this.

Israel Duran: It's always with somebody else that you trust. It's always with an outside entity. An outside individual. Because we talked about ai, AI is not going to find all your blind spots. You need another human being. You need somebody else. That was created just like you, that has already done what you wanna do in the area that you need assistance with, and can be objective with you.

And your mindset should be a mindset of receiving that advice, even if it's not in your best interest. I know a lot of people will say, no, that's ridiculous. I'm not gonna receive, then you're going to remain stuck. You're gonna remain in your own way. And unfortunately, again, like my good friend Marshall Goldman says got you here.

Won't get you there. There's different levels of understanding. This is why reinventing yourself, rediscovering, reimagining is so important. You as a leader, you as a CEO being able to take a time to have a retreat. Take a time to have a team trip, [00:42:00] take a time to maybe do a strategy day with somebody that's outside of you that could be objective with you.

Those opportunities, those situations are important. Jeffrey, I'm sure you before your eighth nine figure exit you've had, your conversation and being able to sit down, reinvent, reimagine, and have those strategic conversations as well in your process of exiting.

Jeffrey Feldberg: It's interesting, Israel, because as we're talking about this, in my world, it's all about the nine seven. Roadmap and Deep Wealth Masteryy. And so I'm actually going to step two X-Factors and one of the foundational X-Factors, it's the company culture and so Deep Wealth Nation with what Israel is talking about the blind spots and being able to have some outside help.

Perhaps it's a coach like Israel or mentor like Israel who's walking you through his programs to help you find the blind spots. He's seeing it or it's your team culture. Deep both nation, are you open to hearing this feedback wherever it's coming from? Hey, Jeffrey, no offense, you really messed that up.

Or your tendency is to always do this, and when this happens, then this negative consequence happens. Are you open to doing that? Do you have a [00:43:00] thick enough skin? Can you check your ego at the door to be able to hear the blind spot, and then more importantly, be able to do something about that in Israel?

That could be a whole other episode. Just on that in terms of what we can do. But let me ask you this, Israel, we're gonna go into wrap up mode. So this is not the yet, it's just the beginning as they say. But before we do go into wrap up mode, and I ask my favorite question on the podcast, is there a question or a topic or a theme that we haven't yet covered that you wanna share with Deep Wealth Nation?

And then once you share that from there, we'll go into wrap up mode.

The Four Steps to Impact

Israel Duran: Yeah, it would be the word impact. You started this segment, you introduced me with impact and influence, and I just wanna encourage you as a CEO, as a leader, you've worked hard to be where you are and you deserve to operate at the highest potential for you. Your vision, your team, your family, for the nonprofits that you're associated with, or the purpose projects that you're associated with, you deserve to operate the highest potential and impact.

There's a price to pay and there's four specific steps. Everybody wants to make an impact, but you need more revenue, you need [00:44:00] more funds, you need more profits, and Jeffrey has a mastery program that can help you. It's phenomenal. This man has a heart of gold, and I wanna go over those four steps here in closing.

Step number one, education. We need the education that CEOs, we need the education of as people that are growing. If we don't have the education, we're not gonna know. Step number two, what is step number two, Israel? Step number two is identifying the right systems. We need. It's all about systems development, and those systems will lead us to step number three, which is indeed the word influence.

When you have the right systems in your market, they produce value and build value to build your influence. That influence is a whole different process of building influence. I'll give it to you really quickly. Build influence by being kind. You build influence by having compassion, and you build influence by showing strength.

That's how you build a culture as well. And that leads us to number four, which is monetization, which is raising the money, which is making the money, which is making the profits that then you can [00:45:00] take those profits, CEO C-suite, my friend, and then invest to continue to make an impact with your vision.

Go all in with everything.

Jeffrey Feldberg: I love those four steps and Deep Wealth Nation. If you take a step back with Israel, we started with identity, purpose, vision, to find your voice, having a custom plan, and now Israel is sharing well, you gotta do some education. You have to have some systems behind you. From there, you'll have some influence where you're kind, compassionate, you're showing some strength and you monetize that.

And Israel, that really gets to some of your core things, which is impact, inspire, and influence. Where you can do it, but you have to have that foundation. And this has just been the tip of the iceberg of what we've been speaking with. There's only so much that we can cover in a single conversation, but it's amazing how you put this all together.

And again, deep nation, where are you on that ladder, if you will, in terms of your impact, your ability to inspire people, your ability to influence, and it's not just about the money as we're talking about this. Hey, money's great. Success [00:46:00] is great in the right context. How are you helping people though? How many people are you helping first before you're helping yourself?

How many problems, painful problems are you solving? And then doing that and you're multiplying that you're 10 X-ing a hundred x-ing a thousand X-ing that to truly change the social fabric of society. And that's what I love about business and entrepreneurship. It's a chance to really change the world for the better.

Final Thoughts and Wrap Up

Jeffrey Feldberg: So that said to Israel, we're gonna go into wrap up mode. And here on the Deep podcast, it's our tradition. It's really my privilege, my honor. I ask every guest the same question. It's a fun question. Let me set this up for you. When you think of the movie Back to the Future, you have that magical DeLorean car that will take you to any point in time.

So Israel is tomorrow morning. This is the fun part. You look outside your window. Not only is the DeLorean car curbside, the door is open, is waiting for you to hop on in which you do, and you're now gonna go to any point in your past, Israel has a young child, a teenager, whatever point in time it would be.

What would you tell your younger self in terms of life lessons or life [00:47:00] wisdom or, Hey Israel, do this, but don't do that. What would it sound like?

Israel Duran: I would go back and tell myself probably at around the age of 12 or 13. Focus on this one thing and one thing only, and everything will be okay.

Discover your gift and begin serving it now.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow. Depo Nation, discover your gift and begin serving it now. And Depo Nation, are you listening to the words that Israel is sharing? So discover, get curious, your gift. We spoke about the God giving gift and then serving it, serving it for others. It's not about me, it's about how I can take this to others and make a difference.

Some incredible words, some. Wonderful insights and some wisdom there. And Israel, someone in Deep Nation, they're hearing this. They wanna work with you. They wanna go through one of your workshops. They wanna become part of your wonderful, massive community of other entrepreneurs and leaders. They wanna be mentored or coached by you.

Where would be the best place online to reach you?

Israel Duran: I have a gift actually. I want to give you Jeffrey and everyone [00:48:00] here. We have 77 different principles that we teach. I probably covered maybe four or five on today's episode. And thank you, Jeffrey, for the opportunity. For those of you that want to have more access to more of those principles, if you go to my Instagram, this is something we typically charge for, but it's free at no cost for you all.

If you go to my Instagram and send me a message that says Blueprint, just blueprint all one word or spaces. Our team will send you over this free guide no cost, that can go over what we call the online business blueprint. Goes over some other principles to help you grow your business and your journey of growing your company.

And also for those of you that are not on Instagram or you're more direct, you can always email service@israelduran.com. That's service[at]israelduran[dot]com I-S-R-A-E-L, just like the country duran, DUR n.com. And you just let me know that, let us know that you listened to listened to us on this podcast and Jeffrey's podcast [00:49:00] and that's how our team would then be able to.

To learn more about what you need assistance with and uh, fast track you.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Deep Wealth Nation. The great news here is it doesn't get any easier. Go to the show notes. It's a point and click. We'll have all that there for you. So Israel, that said, it's official. Congratulations. This is a wrap, and as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe.

Thank you so much. 

So there you have it, Deep Wealth Nation. 

What did you think? 

So with all that said and as we wrap it up, I have another question for you.

Actually, it's more of a personal favor. 

Did you find this episode helpful? 

Have you found other episodes of the Deep Wealth Podcast empowering and a game changer for your journey? 

And if you said yes, and I really hope you did, I have a small but really meaningful way that you can actually help us out and keep these episodes coming to you.

Are you ready for it? 

The dramatic pause. I'll just wait a moment. Drumroll, please. Subscribe. Please subscribe to the Deep Wealth podcast on your favorite podcast channel. When you subscribe to the Deep Wealth Podcast, you're saving yourself time. Every episode [00:50:00] automatically comes to you, and I want you to know that we meticulously craft Every one of our episodes to have impactful strategies, stories, expert insights that are designed to help you grow your profits, increase the value of your business, and yes, even optimize your post exit life and your life right now, whatever you want that to look like.

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So all that said. Thank you so much for listening. And remember your wealth isn't just about the money in the bank. It's about the depth of your journey and the impact that you're creating. So let's continue this journey together. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for listening to this episode.

And as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. 

Thank you so much. 

God bless.