In this episode, Nikou speaks to Josh Aryeh, the founder and CEO of Lion's View Development, he also has a charitable organisation called Smiles Through Cars where he dresses up as Batman and drives beautiful, exotic cars, taking children who are battling illness, disease or cancer and takes them on rides to raise smiles on their faces.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- People see the cars, the private jets and the money, if you're a successful entrepreneur. What they don't see is the stress and the struggles you went through to get there in the first place.
- There's no point in greed. The only reason I want to make more is so I can give me. It's great for generational wealth and there are benefits to that, but in terms of my actual goals it doesn't add to anything I'm trying to do.
- When I was younger, I wanted to be Bruce Wayne rather than Batman until life changing events showed me what was truly important in life – surprising 8-year-old Jessica, who was diagnosed with cancer, with a ride in a Lamborghini.
- A lot of the success that I've had is purely because I found my ‘X-Factor', it was all about making more so I could give more which gave me the motivation to push harder and do more than I was capable of than if it was coming from a negative place of selfishness, pain and jealousy.
- I was doing acts of random kindness long before this, it starts with saying ‘good morning', holding a door open, paying for someone's cup of coffee, saying ‘hi' to a homeless person. You don't have to give tons of money, but you can donate your time. That's where you get the satisfaction.
- If money didn't matter to you what you want to do with the rest of your life? What would truly make you happy? For me it was volunteering, I want to retire and do volunteering work for the rest of my life. The reason I am an entrepreneur is that no one would hire me knowing that any hours of the day or night I'll be out volunteering.
- ‘Yet' is a huge mentality that entrepreneurs need to have to succeed. You need to look to the future. What can I take out of what occurred today to make tomorrow better? Failure is one of the best things that can happen to you as an entrepreneur. Learn from the failure, don't let it hurt you, learn from it.
- No one can control what happens to them in their lives, but you can decide how you're going to react, if you're going to be a survivor or a victim and dwell on it for the rest of your life.
- Love is endless, you can keep giving and giving and giving and it never takes away from your love for anything and anybody else. And it makes you feel better.
- My greatest success through failure was the struggle to start the non-profit, I didn't start off to set up a non-profit it just grew and grew and grew naturally through authenticity and people wanting to give back and I didn't have access to more than one car and manging all these things was tough. So, I decided to partner with people who donated money for me to buy cars or to privately rent out water parks or ice-skating rinks for hundreds of kids to use. Sometimes you need help from other people who know what they're doing, it's OK to ask for help or lean on other people, you can't do everything on your own. I now have lots of mentors that help me with everything from finances to my own mental health.
- I was brought up to look to people who didn't have what I had growing up who would wish for things that you take for granted. How many people don't have those things? Appreciate the things you have. That shaped my definition of wealth. Rich for me is someone who is happy with what they have, not how much money you have.
- It's awesome to get up and put on my Batman suit than my business suit. All day people just smile and take pictures.
- I can't cure the kinds' illnesses, but if I can make them forget about their illness for a minute it's worth everything. What can I do to the cars or my costumes to make their experiences better and special?
- No matter what you're going through in life remember that there are other people going through worse, and that through the dark times there will always be light at the end of the tunnel no matter how deep and dark that tunnel seems. It may not be easy but you will get through it. Keep pushing forward and remember it's OK to ask for help, everyone has the ability to change the world for the better. My only goal is to be better than myself yesterday, I don't measure myself against other people. Happiness starts within.
BEST MOMENTS
‘I can learn anything from anybody. Doesn't matter who they are or what they do.'
‘If I can have an impact with such a stupid thing as a car, then I need to dedicate my life to this.'
‘Greed never satisfies you.'
‘I didn't know how much I enjoyed helping people until I want out and actually did it.'
ABOUT THE GUEST
Josh is the founder and CEO of Lion's View Development, he also has a charitable organisation called Smiles Through Cars in 2008 which has a growing team of superheroes on a mission to change the world, one smile at a time.
This mission began with an introduction between Josh and Jessica, an 8-year-old girl in Queens, New York, who was battling a rare form of cancer. Jessica had lost sight of the joy in her life and Josh knew there was something that had to be done. Car enthusiast, Josh borrowed a family member's sports car, hit the road, and headed out on a mission to make her smile. A simple joy ride, an escape, and a moment where nothing else existed for both Josh and Jessica.
Since 2008 Smiles Through Cars has visited 30,000 children, raised $2m and the plan is for the charity to expand to have teams of superheroes in cities all over the world, making a difference.
https://www.smilesthroughcars.com/
Instagram: @batmanrealaccount
GUEST RESOURCES
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Email: nikoulohse@gmail.com
Instagram: @nikouela
ABOUT THE HOST
Nikou Lohse is a mom of three, wife to former MLB pitcher Kyle Lohse, Master Pilates instructor, yoga teacher, and lover of all things MOVEment, MINDFULness, and commUNITY.
Nikou is a serial entrepreneur. She started her first company at 21 doing sales & marketing for Fortune 500 companies, made her first million at 24, and decided to exit at 30 in order to pursue her passion for helping others. She became a yoga, Pilates, barre, and mindfulness instructor, but her own struggle with SIBO and postpartum depression led her to redefine the way she took care of her body. Now, as a holistic health coach, she is on a mission to empower women and help them heal their gut through nutrition, movement, mindfulness, and spirituality.
CONTACT METHOD
Email: nikoulohse@gmail.com
Podcast Description
Failing forward is about the successes we find after enduring failure. Each episode is an opportunity to hear interviews and stories from professional athletes, entrepreneurs, executives, doctors, and loved ones who have fallen down, struggled, and transformed.
They'll be sharing how they got to where they are today, and the lessons they learned along the way. We'll be covering topics in entrepreneurship, careers, relationships, holistic wellness, mindfulness, gut health, and finding your competitive edge. With raw human moments and empowering information, this podcast is here to inspire you, remind you of your greatness, and give you the knowledge to up-level in every area of your life.
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