Utkarsh Narang (00:01.553) From spreadsheets to bungee cords, from FBI dreams to taking bungee jumps to Japan. This guy has done everything. And if you've listened to the podcast before, you've spoken, we've spoken about mindset a few times, but this is the first time that we have Bart who will be speaking about monetizing the mindset. Welcome Bart, how are you today? Bart Merrell (00:21.57) Good, thanks for having me on your show. Utkarsh Narang (00:23.705) Absolutely looking forward to this conversation and you know, I always feel Bart that when you have a plan A you should just be focused on plan A but I think your superpower is to figure out plan B, C, F, G, H and so on so forth. So I'm looking forward on how we can take that to a listeners today. Amazing. The first question Bart that we want to kind of throw both of us in the deep end. If that eight year old Bart, wherever that eight year old little kid was growing up, Bart Merrell (00:39.0) Sounds good. Utkarsh Narang (00:51.513) If that Bart were to come and meet you right now, what kind of a conversation do you think will emerge between the two of you? Bart Merrell (00:59.64) So first off, had my first car accident at eight years old. And I was driving the car when I wasn't supposed to be. And so I would tell myself, first, don't do that. You're gonna get in trouble. And I did get in trouble. But growing up with the name Bart in America anyway, I don't know how it is over there, but growing up with the name Bart was tough. Utkarsh Narang (01:03.717) And you were driving? Bart Merrell (01:28.558) because in grade school it was Bart the Fart. And I would assure myself that going through that is going to make you who you're going to be. I've been thinking a lot about that lately. I don't know if you know, but my left leg was amputated in 2024. And so I had to have my lower left leg chopped off and I had people come up to me and ask me, how are you going through this with such a good attitude? And I didn't have an answer. I'm just like, I don't know. It's just natural. I'm just, I'm, it's the way I am. And as I thought about it, and as I thought about it, it's because I grew up and I'm not being an advocate for bullying. don't think bullying is the right thing to do, but because I had to, so in those times, even in grade school, all throughout high school, if you're big enough to make fun of my name, you better be big enough to fight me. And so I was in fights, I defended myself, and then I had two good parents, a mom and a dad that supported me and helped me accomplish things that made me feel good about myself, even though I had a little bit of a, a little bit of a. Utkarsh Narang (02:33.734) you Bart Merrell (02:52.302) downplay because of my name. I don't know if that makes sense, but there is a Johnny Cash song in America that's called The Boy Named Sue. I don't know if you've heard this song, but it talks about how this guy grew up with the name Sue and how it just made him tougher. Well, I'm here to tell you that that is real because growing up with my name, and I'm not ashamed of my name, it's... Utkarsh Narang (02:55.313) Hmm. Utkarsh Narang (03:02.513) Hmm. Utkarsh Narang (03:10.983) Yeah. Bart Merrell (03:20.15) It's what I have, but I did ask my parents one time, I asked my mom, I said, mom, what were you guys thinking when you named me Bart? And they're, you're just named after a great man, my uncle. And so that's what I would tell my eight year old self is that you're gonna make it through this and it's gonna form who you are and it's actually gonna benefit you as you go throughout your life. Utkarsh Narang (03:52.294) I like the advice of not driving at eight years old. think every parent should give that advice to their eight year old. I'm intrigued. You've shared so many beautiful nuggets there because we spoke about this, but I did not recall the left leg being amputated. You said that when people were asking you, how are you going through so beautifully through this? It's the way I am. How do you define that? How do you define what's the way you are? Bart Merrell (03:55.672) You Bart Merrell (04:23.63) So I'm not gonna say that I didn't have some anxiety because when I... So here's kind of the story about what happened. I was dropped from a ropes course at a personal development event in 2012. And I got home, I got at X-rayed. They said it wasn't broken. I found out years later that it was actually crushed on the back and the front, my ankle bone was. And they said that... whenever it gets bad enough, you'll need to get it fused. Well, the pain got bad enough and I decided, okay, it's time. I went into the doctor and the radiologist is taking a picture. And in America, radiologists aren't supposed to tell you anything about what they see. And he took the first picture and behind the partition where they're protecting themselves from the radiation, he yells. Damn, you don't have an ankle bone. And so my ankle bone had just ground and ground away. And so I went into the doctor's office and I was confirmed that yes, my ankle bone was gone. There's nothing to fuse. My best option, my only option other than a wheelchair was amputation. And I felt like I'd been kicked in the gut. I actually had to excuse myself. and go pee. And the doctor looked at me like, you know I have other patients, right? I'll be right back, doctor. I gotta go pee. And anyway, so I describe myself as I'm even keel. So like a boat, don't correct this way, I don't correct this way. I don't get too high, I don't get too low. And I just... when things happen, I am able to maneuver in a way that is the right maneuver. you know, the, the, the samurai, they used to talk about when they're training that you, you can't overreact and you don't have time to, to count to 10 when you get mad or do go to breath work and start breathing. You have to react properly at the time. Utkarsh Narang (06:39.783) Hmm. Utkarsh Narang (06:46.439) Thanks Bart Merrell (06:49.366) And the way you prepare for that is by going through hard things before you have to make the hard decision. It's not about training when everything's perfect. It's about training in the cold, training in the hot, training in the wind, training in the rain, and training when things aren't perfect. And so like I said, growing up as a little kid like I did all through high school, I trained when things weren't perfect. And then Just a couple of quick things. In America, we have what we call the FFA. It's a Future Farmers of America. It's a club at school and they would do fundraising. And one time we were selling boxes of oranges and I grew up in Podunk, New Mexico. I mean, it is a small town in New Mexico and you had, I don't know, 15, 20 kids all trying to sell oranges to the same people. And if you sold $500 worth of oranges, You got a pair of Justin Roper boots, which was the popular cowboy boot at the time. I sold $1,100 worth. Utkarsh Narang (07:56.871) Wow. Bart Merrell (07:57.92) I asked for two pairs of boots, I got two pairs of boots, one for me, one for my girlfriend. By the time the boots came in, my girlfriend was no longer my girlfriend, so I still gave her the boots. She gave them to her sister-in-law who was married, so I won boots for a married woman. Utkarsh Narang (08:08.834) man. Utkarsh Narang (08:17.159) I like what they've made the sense Bart Merrell (08:19.714) But what happened was the reason I was able to do it is because my dad helped me. He just said, okay, you got to understand you're in a competition with everybody else. You need to get out there now. There's no sitting, there's no waiting. You need to act now. And that's what I learned. And my dad supported me and encouraged me and doing things like that. So the next year we were selling magazine subscriptions and you would get points. And with those points, could go to a catalog and buy stuff with the points. And I had picked out a 243 hunting rifle, a deer rifle, and it was not cheap. But my dad once again said, okay, if you want that rifle, you better go out and just make things happen. And I did. I got my points. I was giving points away to everybody else so that they could get what they wanted. But it was because my dad's encouragement, my dad's Utkarsh Narang (08:54.247) Hmm. Bart Merrell (09:19.328) act now. You know, you have to, but you don't have to overreact. And so I think, I think that's living the way I, growing up the way I was and then being able to, to act with certainty. And, and like the samurai trains, he's like, you need to act quick, but you need to be patient for the right opening. And so even though I had issues, Utkarsh Narang (09:44.327) you Bart Merrell (09:48.204) with my name, I was supported by good parents and I was successful with the things that I did that helped me to become who I am and be, like I said, even kill. Utkarsh Narang (10:02.853) Hmm. Such a skill, such a skill, because what you've just described, this idea of not being high, not being low, not being too left, not being too right. Just, just, just at the right, just at the sweet spot, I think the even keel that you're describing such a, such a beautiful state to be in. And I love what you're saying because this was one of my thoughts that I'd ask you, like, what allows you to think about plan, plan BCDE and, taking the bungee jump to Japan and all of that because now I'm able to connect that dot and we'll share more with the listeners. When your dad's telling you to go act now, then that's the programming, right? That's the wiring that's happening within the brain. Fascinating, fascinating. So tell me more. So growing up, selling those oranges worth $1,100, getting those points in, where did life take you next? when, what I'm really intrigued about is that, and I'm assuming, correct me if I'm wrong, is that it was not all throughout that you were optimizing life for like finding the next opportunity. There were stages where you were maybe like other 20, 30, 40 year olds. optimizing for stability because uncertainty makes us nervous. Uncertainty kicks off our amygdala into action and the primitive brain. So where did this shift happen from being someone who's seeking stability to someone who's seeking optionality and optimizing for it? Bart Merrell (11:34.69) Yeah. I don't, so at age 11, I bought my first stereo. I love music. I love listening to music and I bought that stereo. worked all summer on the pig farm to earn the money. was a, it was a Sanyo all in one system cost me 285 bucks. Little did I know I just bought a liability because every time we go to town, what I have to do, I have to buy the new music. Utkarsh Narang (12:00.2) Hmm. Bart Merrell (12:03.094) And back then there was no pick your songs. You had to buy the whole album or the whole cassette deck or the whole CD. It wasn't just picking the songs you want. You had to buy the whole thing. And so for an 11 year old kid, that was expensive. When I turned 15, got my driver's license where I could drive legally. I started my first business and it was a mobile disco business where I'd go do dances. But in my small town of New Mexico, in New Mexico, there was nobody hiring 15 year old DJs. And so I had to go create my own opportunity. I rented the community center, hired an off duty cop for security, mom and dad took money at the door, I spun records, everybody had a good time. And this would be after a football game, after a basketball game at school, so people were wanting to do something. And I made six, $700 a night as a young kid. And that's where my thing started. And once again, I had parents who supported me in this and helped me. And it was just, that's where it all started. Then when I was about 17, I saw this movie, it was called Manhunter. I believe it's the remake or Silence of the Lambs is the remake of this movie. And it was about an FBI agent and I saw this FBI agent and how he... the cat and mouse game and how he had to get into the serial killer's head to finally catch him and how it almost drove him crazy. And that just intrigued me. I'm just like, I want to be an FBI agent. I want to go chase serial killers. And that was my dream. went to college. We had a family friend who was ex-FBI and he said the easiest way in is accounting. And so between him and my dad, they convinced me that, okay, you go in with accounting. Utkarsh Narang (13:53.265) Hmm. Bart Merrell (13:58.484) Once you get in the FBI, when places open up, you apply for those jobs and if you're good enough, you get them so you don't have to stay in the accounting, the white collar, I can go do other stuff. I went to school in accounting, I figured out that I was not good at it and I didn't like it. Utkarsh Narang (14:17.223) You Bart Merrell (14:18.958) I had one quarter left, one semester left, and I decided to go home, work on the farm with dad, learn my Spanish better. And while I was down there, I'm in small town New Mexico again, earning money. And so my pockets are full of money and it's burning holes in my pocket. And I had friends getting this RK surgery done on their eyes. It's before Lasik. So they put slits in your eyeball and the scar tissue changes the shape of your eyeball. And now you see. and I went and got it done. And it was still considered experimental, which I didn't really realize. But I got back up to school, was finishing up my accounting degree, started my application process to the FBI, and I found out that that automatically disqualified me from the FBI. Now once again, I am not good at accounting. I don't like accounting. Let's add one more thing. I don't want to count other people's money. Utkarsh Narang (15:15.495) Hmm. Bart Merrell (15:17.102) I was devastated. And that's what a buddy of mine, he jokingly asked me, I'd spent a couple of years in Japan and he jokingly asked me, Hey, we just sold the bungee tower to Japan. Do you want to go back to Japan? I thought about it a second. said, yeah, I would. And long story short, three months later, I was in Japan pushing little Japanese people off the top of a eight story bungee tower. And I contracted with the I contracted with the Japanese company and then they liked me and then they would keep calling me back. So I would go to and from Japan. I would work three or four months, six months in Japan, come home. I had money. I didn't need to do anything, but I would do other stuff just for fun. I would go to a welding shop that I knew and I would weld and build stuff. And then I would go back to Japan and I just went to and from Japan for probably seven years. Utkarsh Narang (16:13.477) Wow. Bart Merrell (16:14.892) and we did the bungee jump and then there's a thing called the sky coaster that's a big swing thing in all the parks. I took that over there and then they called me one time and they said, we saw this thing on Japanese TV. It's in Germany and it's called, it's called scad diving. It's a completely unattached free fall into a net from about 150 feet in the air. And I'm just like, that's gotta hurt falling into a net. And they say, yeah, that's why we want you to go try it. I called Germany. Germany says, well, it's only for stunt people right now. We'll call you when it's ready. I thought I would never get a call back. Two months later, I got a call back. I was on a plane to Germany to try this thing. I flew to Japan. I told them I liked it. And we sold three in Japan. And then for the German company, I built two here in the United States. And as I tell these stories, I often get people ask me, so you graduated in engineering? And I said, no, accounting. Utkarsh Narang (17:22.867) Oh, wow, that's wild. But help me understand, like, and you know, someone who's listening to this, who's maybe trying to monetize their mindset, and I'll keep coming back to this phrase because I love this phrase. They're sitting here thinking, oh, Bart, you got lucky. You got lucky with the parents, you got lucky with that opportunity in Japan, with that Germany thing happening. But we're not lucky. So what do we do? Bart Merrell (17:50.926) So I'll tell you, I look back on my life sometimes and I'll say I was lucky. But dude, I'm missing a left leg, am I lucky? My dream job got blown up. Am I lucky? No. Well, let me rephrase that. Yes, I am. But what is luck? Luck from Seneca. Seneca says luck is when opportunity meets preparedness. And I had one thing taught by my dad, and you take action. Even if opportunity meets preparedness, you don't take action. Nothing good's gonna happen. And so, yes, I was lucky. But it's not the luck that they're thinking, it's the luck that when opportunity meets preparedness, and then I took action. Another quick story. Okay, so I'm unlucky, I lost my leg. After the shock and awe was over, after I come to reality that okay, I don't like this, but it has to happen and it's gonna happen. My thought after that was okay, how can I monetize it? Utkarsh Narang (19:02.439) That's such a question to ask. How can I monetize my amputation? Bart Merrell (19:03.192) Right? Bart Merrell (19:07.116) And I said, but I'm thinking about this, I'm thinking about this. So between the time I found out it was gonna happen, until it happened was about five or six months. And then six months post-op, I contracted with my prostitutes to help other people that are gonna have to go through what I went through. And here's how the conversation, well, number one, if I hadn't thought about it before, I wouldn't have been ready when the opportunity came. So you have to think, you have to monetize your mindset and you have to think about things. And so I thought about it, then I'm sitting there, we're working on my leg in the prostitutes office. And I said, Scott, your competition, they have a guy. I talked to him. He helped me through what I went through. You don't have a guy. I'm your guy. And from there we negotiated a price and I contracted with him. said, Scott, I don't want a job. I don't want a job. don't want to come into the office every day. don't want to, I want to help people go through what I'm going to have, what they're going to have to go through because I went through it pretty well. And then I do some marketing stuff with, for him because I can sell him better than he can sell himself. We do videos together and I'm like, Scott. You are changing people's lives. Get excited. You're helping give their life back. And so I can sell him better than he does. And so I do marketing for them. But the thing is, so I didn't want this to happen. I would prefer to have a leg. And I would advise your audience, don't go chopping off body parts to start a side hustle. But if it's going to happen, think about how can I monetize it? And so anything that goes past my life, good, bad, or ugly, I always ask, can I monetize it? I don't monetize everything, but I always ask it. You've heard the saying, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Bart Merrell (21:33.292) Well, if you're making lemonade, you might as well build a lemonade stand and sell the stuff. And that's just kind of the way I good, bad or ugly, I'm thinking about can I monetize it? Utkarsh Narang (21:47.504) Love it. This question, how can I monetize my amputation? This is going to like haunt me, haunt me tonight. But here's the thought. asking this question takes courage, right? Can I monetize this? So what I want us to do is you've done some wildly different things, right? From monetizing a prosthetic leg to the bungee jumping to the net jumping to everything. Is there a filter you apply before you invest your time or invest your money or invest your resources. Is there a filter you apply that after you've asked this question can I monetize this? Should I go all in or not? Bart Merrell (22:25.176) So yes, absolutely. There is a restaurant in Japan that I love. It's called Coco Ichiban Curry. It's a Japanese curry restaurant. It's the first place I go when I land and it's the last place I eat before I come home. And I said, I gotta take this to America. And I actually had a guy in Japan that was going to, that would back me financially. And this is, it's kind of crazy. He told me, says, yeah, if you make money, we'll split it. If you don't, don't worry about it. And I said, and that's what I said. And so I actually had to go check with other Japanese friends of mine and say, okay, this is what he said. What does he mean? And they said, you're right. You're, you're. That's what he said and that's what he means it sounds like. I'm like okay. So I get back to America, I start doing my research, you know, okay figuring out things. And I finally just said, you know what? I don't want to work that hard because restaurants are hard work and that's what I found out. And I just said, I don't want to work that hard and if I'm not committed, I could take this guy's money and start, but if I'm not committed, it's not going to be successful. And so I said no. Bart Merrell (23:51.394) And it was, you so you have to, you have to do your research. What are the resources? So the way I start people, so my goal is to get people to think like I do. And if you didn't grow up with my dad or someone like my dad, you don't think like I do. Dad was just a farmer, but he had his hands in many different things. He was a businessman. He had many different things in the agricultural business, which he loved. But he wasn't just one thing, he did many things. And he never set me down and taught me about the birds and the bees of business. He just showed me by example and then when I wanted to start things, he encouraged me and helped me. And so to get people to start thinking like I do, to help them, I talk about what do you like to do? What do you need to do? what are you already doing? Can you monetize one, two, or three of those things? And I have them make lists. And I say, don't even think about can you turn it into a stream of income yet. Just make a list, let's make this big list. And then we put those, and then I take it one step further. What would you like to learn? What do you need to learn? What have you already learned that you could get compensated by helping someone else learn the same thing? And so we have these six lists. And then we refine them down into what do you like to do the most and what do you think could be turned into a stream of income the most. And when you're doing that second list, you have to look at what resources do you need? Money, time, a place. What is it that you need to do to make this happen? And do you want to do it? You have a lot of people that are like, I wish I was... Jeff Bezos or I wish I was Elon Musk or I wish I was this guy or another guy. Really? Do you wanna do what they did to get where they are? Sleeping on people's sofas, sleeping in the office, not having a home? Bart Merrell (26:03.512) Do you really want that? And so you gotta ask those questions before you go in. And most of the stuff that I've done has taken really minimal, excuse me, really minimal money funds. The biggest thing I think was my dog training business. So I started a dog, so here's another thing. You think I'm lucky. Utkarsh Narang (26:20.327) you Bart Merrell (26:30.41) I adopted an eight month old Rottweiler puppy that was 90 pounds and he did not know the word no. So once again, I took this unlucky thing and I was calling a buddy of mine that was a dog trainer. I say, Hey Sean, how do you do this? Hey Sean, Rex is doing this. What do I need to do? Hey Sean. Finally, Sean said, Bart, we're doing a train the trainer program. You need to come be a part of the train the trainer program. And Utkarsh Narang (26:57.063) boy. Bart Merrell (27:00.494) So it was a two month, all day, every day, working with their dogs. That was a big facility. So they had a lot of dogs. I did it. And then I was like, if I'm going to train my own dog, I might as well get paid to train other people's dogs. And I turned it into a business that does very well. I get paid a lot of money to play with other people's dogs and I love dogs. So it works. Utkarsh Narang (27:13.319) Hmm. Utkarsh Narang (27:27.847) It's just fascinating listening to you is just, yeah, my neurons are getting bombarded, right? And I want to play like the devil's advocate because I resonate with all that you're saying. And I think it is at least in this day and age, it's become with time easier and easier to monetize your mindset. But what do you see in your experience Bart? What's a belief, a limiting belief that people get stuck where they know the playbook. It's a simple playbook. These six questions that you asked, build the list, pick one, start implementing. But how do you help them break this belief that, this is not for me? Bart Merrell (28:10.968) so I really don't. Utkarsh Narang (28:12.667) Hmm. Bart Merrell (28:14.23) If it's not for them, it's not for them. So I'm not gonna push them. Now I'm gonna ask them questions. Okay, let's dig deep. Why? What is your fear? Is it because you're fear? I mean, most people, it's fear of failure, fear of losing money if they have to put money in to get it started, fear of what is my family gonna think? I have family members that aren't so keen on what I do. Utkarsh Narang (28:20.476) Mm. Bart Merrell (28:43.544) Not that they, they just kind of make fun of me. really, you're gonna teach other people how to do that? Yeah, why not? And I'll tell you, I've been watching things and you have all these other, so I do events. I do the Identify Your Ideal Side Hustle workshop and I put big letters, workshop. This isn't a come and get in touch with your feelings event. Utkarsh Narang (28:51.079) you Bart Merrell (29:11.81) Because I see people go to these other touchy-feely events where, they get feeling all good, and then they leave the event, and they're like, that was so amazing, and they do nothing. And so at my event, no, we're not getting in touch with our feelings. We're working. We're going to do the research and see if we can find the top three or four things that you should try, and you pick one to try. And then, then we help them figure out what the pathway is, what the next step is. What is your next step? And by the time they leave the workshop, they have their ideas and they have their next few steps. That makes it easier for them to take that first step, because that's the hardest part, taking that step. And I used to be mad at all the other business workshops that... you just get touchy-feely stuff and then you go home and you do nothing. And I says, well, I'm not giving them another choice. So it's my fault. And so now I'm giving them a choice with the Identifier I Decided Household workshop I do virtually and I do live here in Utah. But if you give people the path to where they can see the steps, then they're more apt to do it. Utkarsh Narang (30:35.271) Mm-mm. Bart Merrell (30:36.27) So, cause that's first step is the hardest. Once you take that first step and you see, I can do this. Then you take that next step, hey, this is pretty easy. And right now there is not an easier time to start a business than right now. With AI and all that stuff, is, you save time, you save money and your chances of success are higher with the help of AI. Utkarsh Narang (30:48.039) Hmm. Utkarsh Narang (31:03.313) Hmm. Bart Merrell (31:06.678) And so I just, I'm not gonna sit down and try and convince someone. I'll ask questions and get them thinking about it. I want them to think about it. So when I train a dog, I don't want to pull him into the heel position. I want to pop him and have him make his own decision to come with me. It's the same when working with people, not that I have a leash on him, but. Utkarsh Narang (31:30.503) I'm Bart Merrell (31:34.668) I'll ask them questions to gently nudge them into, what is the reason? The real reason, not the surface area stuff, not the fluff stuff, the real reason you can't take that first step. a lot of it is because they don't have someone to hold their hand. Well, guess what? I'm here to hold your hand. If you want to work with me, this is what we'll do. And so, Utkarsh Narang (31:36.753) Mm. Utkarsh Narang (31:45.253) Yeah. Yeah. Utkarsh Narang (32:02.203) Love it. Bart Merrell (32:03.18) I take that away from them. What's your other excuse? I'm afraid I'm gonna lose money. Okay, let's see if we can make that a lower risk by creating the steps that they need to take. And then they just look at the path and say, okay, I can do that or no, I can't do that next. What's the other one? And so we find something that they feel comfortable starting with. Utkarsh Narang (32:07.676) Hmm. Utkarsh Narang (32:32.035) I love the simplicity of this. So here's, let's throw this challenge to both of us today. Someone who's listening to this, they feel they want to build their first side hustle in 2026, a few weeks from now. And they want to start doing this work right now. And all they're seeking is to make their first $1,000. If Bart were to start it off right now, and imagine you've not the... done the bungee jumping, you have not monetized the amputation, you've not monetized anything and you start from scratch. How would Bart be thinking about this and how would you get to that $1,000 by January? Bart Merrell (33:14.156) Right now, if you were to do a search on the internet or even just using AI, what's the biggest, what's the top 10 side hustles for 2026? Most of them are gonna be AI oriented. So I would jump in and I would learn AI right now. I started about 18 months ago and it's just, to me it's fun. Utkarsh Narang (33:25.691) Mm-hmm. Utkarsh Narang (33:29.543) Hmm. Utkarsh Narang (33:34.055) Hmm. Bart Merrell (33:41.088) If you go to my Facebook page, so I grew up on a pig farm and I grew up and I just got accepted into Sora 2, which is a video generating software. I created a video of me riding a pig in Tokyo and it's hilarious. There's some, and so you find something to where you have to force yourself to go to bed. Utkarsh Narang (33:51.89) amazing! Bart Merrell (34:11.178) I will be creating stuff and doing stuff and whether it's business stuff or fun stuff, I mean that video has nothing to do with my business. It's just something fun and to put it out and get likes and comments and stuff and it did, it did. But I had to force myself to go to bed. When I was preparing for my workshop that I did in September, it was the... two nights before the workshop. that next morning at 7 a.m. I had to be on a podcast. And I'm up at two o'clock in the morning making stuff for my, and I'm just having fun. I had to force myself to go to bed because I knew I had to get up early for the podcast. When you find that, that's when you figure out that, okay, I've got something. And I'm not trying to be an AI teacher, but if that was my thing, I'm trying to use AI to help people start side hustles and be more successful. That's what I use AI for. But I was on an AI training and the CEO from Libby was on Libby as a... Utkarsh Narang (35:19.783) Hmm. Bart Merrell (35:30.894) It is a, a virtual assistant, not a virtual assistant, but an AI assistant that can do anything anyone can do on the internet. And it was just an amazing company. And what, what struck me the most is he says, I would have never, I never, I would have never believed as a kid that I get to get up at seven o'clock in the morning and do this every day. And you could, you could see it on his face. And I was working with a guy who. one of my clients and he was telling me, you know, we're going through the things he likes to do and we're going down his list and he's talking, well, I like to do marketing and I want, you know, digital marketing. And he would tell me stuff that he wanted to do and I just couldn't figure out what he was wanting to do. And then he hit that thing and he hit that thing whenever he started talking to me and telling me about it. I knew exactly what he wanted to do and I could see it on his face. He lit up and he was excited. I was like, that's it. Utkarsh Narang (36:16.679) Hmm. Bart Merrell (36:30.892) That is what you should try first. you can, when people, and so that's what I do as I'm talking to people. I wait for them to find that one thing as we're going through the list and once they light up. Another example, it's a bus driver here locally in Utah. And she wanted to do a party bus to where you would take people to and from events, jazz games, hockey games, et cetera, et cetera. And she, We had her make her list. said, well continue to make your list. I know this is what you want to do, but continue to make your list and then we'll meet again in a couple of days. She called me the next day and she says, Bart, I woke up at three o'clock in the morning and I couldn't go back to sleep. I said, well what did you find? Well if I had my own bus, I can also be the driving test. I could do driving tests for people who are trying to get their commercial driver's license. And I don't even have to do marketing for it. I go take the test to become a tester, cost her 400 bucks, and then she can just put her name on the list, and when the people come into the test, they take the written test, the DMV gives them a list of all the people for taking the driver's test, and they pick whoever's closest to them. And so here's the thing, I didn't think of that, she did. All I do is I get the wheels turning, in their head, they do it. All I'm doing is I'm getting, I'm greasing the wheels. I'm getting them started going and then they find it themselves and I, and I watch. And when I see it, I was like, you got something there. That's what you should start with. Utkarsh Narang (37:59.784) Yeah. Utkarsh Narang (38:06.225) Mmm. Utkarsh Narang (38:16.334) Yeah. Yeah. It's, uh, it deeply resonates with me because like how I see it in my world, uh, but is that it needs to ignite your spark. needs to make every cell of your body feel like, what the hell, man, I get to do this every morning for work. And I was talking to my team yesterday, my work hours, alive hours, like when I'm not sleeping, touch about 14 hours or 15 hours every day, maybe even more 17, I think. And I don't feel tired. Because I feel like I get to talk to Bart and I get to talk to someone else and I get to... There's so much joy. And I think what you're saying is just, yeah, someone who wants to do something right now, 2026, spend some time on AI. And I keep telling this Bart to my children. They're 15 and 11. Watch as much YouTube or whatever shit you want to watch in the world. I don't care. Just go spend one hour on learning something about AI and I'm okay. As a parent, I'd be okay. Bart Merrell (39:13.614) Yeah, because I think we have probably two years before the market saturated with people who know AI. It energizes me. love it. I have to go to bed. I mean, have to force myself to go to bed when I'm messing with it. Utkarsh Narang (39:18.437) Yeah. Yeah. Utkarsh Narang (39:25.747) yes. Utkarsh Narang (39:29.319) Yeah. Yeah. Love it. Love it. I was thinking about that bungee ride in Japan, Bart. And what was coming to me was like, it's that bungee jump was not, not just you going to another opportunity. It's like, it's like you selling those oranges for $1,100. To me, it was a, it was a beautiful metaphor for like taking controlled risks. And I think that's what the world is lacking also right now. We crib about the situation, the jobs, the uncertainty, the political, the geopolitical and this and that. But we're not ready to take control risks. How do you see this play out? Bart Merrell (40:10.456) So, I ha- I am- Utkarsh Narang (40:11.143) I love the smile by the way, I love the smile there was a little bit of sarcasm there. Go ahead. Bart Merrell (40:18.35) One of the things I'm famous for is not very bright. But, well, you would think that on the surface, let's say. But taking that commercial bungee jump to Japan, I am a bungee jump master. That gives me the power and the authority to push little Japanese, I mean, assist little Japanese people off the top of a story tower. Utkarsh Narang (40:23.015) Hmm. Utkarsh Narang (40:42.823) Good, good reframe. Good reframe. Bart Merrell (40:47.97) And so whenever I was over there, the conversation would go something like this. Y desu ka? Are you good? Are you ready? And they would say, huh. And I would say, seguro. And they would go, huh. Do you know what seguro means? Utkarsh Narang (41:06.727) I don't. Bart Merrell (41:07.99) It means, are you sure? In Spanish. Utkarsh Narang (41:14.343) Hmm. Bart Merrell (41:14.606) I'm in Japan. They didn't care what language I was speaking. Their immediate response was, uh-huh. And then I would assist them off the tower. On the busiest day over there, we did 783 people in one day. But sometimes during the week it was dead. mean it was, well dead's not a good metaphor for on a bungee tower. It was quiet. And I'd be sitting alone at the top of the tower, just me and my brilliant mind. And at the bottom of my tower, and it's eight stories up, the bottom of my tower is a stunt man airbag for safety. And in theory, one could jump from the top of the tower Utkarsh Narang (41:44.325) Yeah. Bart Merrell (42:05.92) Without a bungee cord attached, hit the airbag and be okay. Now my brilliant mind as I'm sitting at the top of that tower was sitting with me and it's going, hmm, I wonder if you could do that. I walked over to the edge and I looked down and I'm like. I ain't that crazy. So my brilliant mind continued and it said, well, maybe you attach a bungee cord, you jump, when the bouncing stops, you can just unhook yourself. That way you're going to be falling from six stories instead of eight. That's doable. I'm like, okay, let's try that. I jumped, the bouncing stopped, and I couldn't get unhooked. And so let me down. Went back up to the top and my brilliant mind continues and it says, Okay, when you attach the bungee cord to the customer, you have a nylon strap. It's about a foot long, about an inch wide, and it has a carabiner on the end. You could take two of those nylon straps, hook the carabiner to the other end of it, so now you have a loop. You could put those two loops at the bottom of the bungee cord, and what do you have? Bart Merrell (43:23.384) handles. I could jump just hanging onto the bungee cord with my hands, wait for the bouncing to stop, and then all I have to do is let go and I could fall and hit the That's brilliant. I grab the handles, I walk to the edge of the tower and I look down. And I said to myself, are you good? You're ready to go? And then I said, I didn't care what language it was either. And I shook my head and I jumped. Now, obviously everything was okay because I'm here talking to you, but the bouncing stopped. And sometimes your brilliant mind doesn't go all the way. And I'm basically hanging at the end of a large rubber band. Utkarsh Narang (44:06.375) I'm glad. Bart Merrell (44:19.426) What's gonna happen when I let go? Bart Merrell (44:24.386) That rubber band or that bungee cord shot up to the top of the tower loud, bang! I hit the mat with a loud slap. It echoed throughout the park and everybody came running to see who just died. I'm crawling out of the airbag. I'm okay, I'm okay. Now, the point of this is I took an educated risk because I had jumped a million times Utkarsh Narang (44:50.695) Hmm. Bart Merrell (44:54.126) on that bungee tower. knew the force. knew I was 99 % sure I could hang on. And it was one of the most thrilling things I've ever done in my life. It was amazing. I wouldn't do it again, but it was amazing. And so as business people, know, crazy, brilliant or crazy, you decide. But as a business person, as an entrepreneur, you have to take those risks. Not stupid risks, but educated risks. And that's what you have to do. You got to take that first step. Take that first jump. Utkarsh Narang (45:20.187) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Bart Merrell (45:31.438) And then just, it's gonna roll, it's gonna roll. And if you fail, it's okay, you learned something. With every failure, you're gonna learn something. And I haven't had success after, not everything is a success. It's just not gonna happen that way. But you will learn something. Utkarsh Narang (45:44.965) Yeah. Yeah. Utkarsh Narang (45:51.068) That is so beautiful and I sometimes compare this to like I've taken a few career leaps in my life and those leaps from the outside seem like, Utkash, how are you so stupid? But on the inside, I understand that they were really calculated steps where I know I could have failed and I'm still here like you're here and both of us are here. But yeah, you need to keep learning, keep pushing you off the edge. That's what we need to do. Bart Merrell (46:19.074) Yes. And I sometimes look back on that and I go, how stupid was that? Because I was pretty sure I could hang on to the initial bounce. But as you rebound up and you're weightless, what does your body want to do? Your body wants to go like this. And so thinking back on it, I had calculated for the hit down. Utkarsh Narang (46:20.059) That's what you need to do. Utkarsh Narang (46:26.823) I'm glad you look back. Utkarsh Narang (46:40.145) just let go. Absolutely. Absolutely. Utkarsh Narang (46:49.287) Yeah. Bart Merrell (46:49.954) but I didn't know for sure if I could stay hooked. And you don't want to, when you're rebounding, if you let go, you're not going to hit the mat. Utkarsh Narang (46:53.723) Yeah. Yeah. Utkarsh Narang (46:59.813) Nah, you'll hit something else. We would not have been having this conversation then, I'm glad you decided. Otherwise, thank you. That was so beautiful. And all the stories, I just love them. Just want to push us a few decades into the future, Bart, before we end this conversation. And imagine you continue taking these calculated control risks and all stays well and you're 80 years old. And that 80-year-old Bart. comes to you right now in this moment and tells you this is my one piece of advice on how to live the rest of your years. What would that 80 year old Bart say? Bart Merrell (47:38.616) So I had a similar question as what would you tell your younger self or what is what do you regret not doing? And I regret not starting speaking sooner, not starting sharing my, my, my book, my information sooner because I've, I've never done the real job thing. I've never had a real job. I've always just done my own thing and it's been happening the way it, the way I've explained it. When I was in Japan doing the bungee jump thing, I would go to the gym. And at the gym, I'm this big white guy and nobody would talk to me except for the gym staff. And about two weeks in, this one guy comes over to me and he goes, hello. And I said, hello. And then I start speaking Japanese to him. He's like, I'm glad you speak Japanese because I was done at herro. We became friends. He was a big rig driver in Japan. I don't know, probably six, eight months after we'd been friends, he says, I want to quit driving big rig and I want to start importing camping trailers and Ford and Dodge diesel pickups from America. Will you help me? I didn't know how to do it, but I said, yes, I'll help you. I thought he knew how to do it. Well, I found out he didn't know how to do it either. So we found out together. We've been doing that since 1997. I have a toilet trailer, a bathroom trailer on its way to Japan right now. And it's because we were able to, to do things. And so this is something I always have done. opportunity meets preparedness and we take action. Opportunity meets preparedness, take action. I wish I would have started doing that more. I wrote my book. I wrote this book. This one here, just so you know, I wrote it in 2017 because I was volunteering at a drug rehab center. Are you familiar with Toastmasters? The speaking club. We were doing a similar thing like that for a rehab, helping them learn how to tell their stories without dropping the F bomb all the time. And it was Utkarsh Narang (49:38.887) Mmm. Utkarsh Narang (49:50.597) Yeah. Utkarsh Narang (50:02.193) Hmm. Bart Merrell (50:05.376) It was fun, was rewarding, was amazing. And I'm sitting there. And earlier that week, I had seen someone post this article on Facebook that said, how to live on less than $28,000 a year. And I said to myself, why would I want to read that? I want to read an article that says, how do I make more than $28,000 a year? And so I already had this thinking in my head. I was already thinking about the way people think about making money. And Jen was in front of the room telling her story. And she was talking about how she believed that everybody went home to the same abuse and neglect that she went to. went home to until she went to college. It wasn't until she went to college that she found out, it's not that way. Because when her and her family were out and about, they acted pretty normal. When they went home, there was abuse, neglect, and just not a good life. She thought everybody went home to the same thing. And I'm sitting there thinking, I says, it's the same way when you think about making money. If you didn't grow up with my dad or someone like my dad, you don't think like I do. I need to help people think like I do. And that's when I started writing the book and started doing what I did. So I would have wanted to start sooner. So what would I say to myself as an 80 year old? I would say, keep going because people need what you have. Utkarsh Narang (51:44.647) you Bart Merrell (51:56.916) Even if it's taking you time for people to hear your message, continue to put it out there because you can help a lot of people. Utkarsh Narang (52:06.821) Love it. To all those listeners who are still listening to Baat and Utkarsh, 50 odd minutes into the conversation, remember, you need to take those controlled risks, not just as an entrepreneur, but in life. You can, if you get on this AI bandwagon and bus, you can make those first $1,000. Remember, there are a lot of fears, the fear of failure, the fear of what would others think, the fear of losing money, but you've got to move past those fears and look at the model that we've spoken about to help you take action. And one question that you need to always ask yourself is, can I monetize this? Which Bart has asked himself for decades. And we will take Bart and Seneca's wisdom. Luck is when opportunity meets preparedness. If Bart can make $1,100 selling orange, I'm sure many of us can do many other things and make those $1,100. And to all the parents who are listening, tell your eight-year-old kids they should not be driving. Bart Merrell (52:59.086) You Utkarsh Narang (53:09.649) Thank you Bart for that very meaningful conversation of how one can monetize the mindset. And there's so many beautiful nuggets that we've shared to the listeners. You can get in touch with Bart. We'll put all the links in the show notes. Thank you for your presence today, Bart. Really enjoyed this conversation. Bart Merrell (53:26.392) Well, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. It was fun. Utkarsh Narang (53:28.143) Absolutely. That's a joy. Such a joy. To everyone on the podcast platforms, share this with someone who might enjoy this. That's something that will help us grow and get us more conversations, better studios, whatever that looks like for you. And then if you're on YouTube, and I are listening in. Please put a comment in the comment section so that we can know that you're here. You listen to this whole conversation. You've spent one hour of your life listening to both of us. So yeah, just just make it worth. This is Bart and Utkar signing off.