Kary Oberbrunner Ignites! Authors, Entrepreneurs, and Influencers

Host of the American Dreams show, Alan Olsen, talks with Kary Oberbrunner, Author and CEO of Igniting Souls and Blockchain Life.

Alan Olsen
Welcome to American Dreams. My guest today is Kary Oberbrunner, Kary welcome to today’s show.

Kary Oberbrunner
Thanks for having me, Alan.

Alan Olsen
So Kary, great to have you here. You’ve done quite a bit throughout your life and to get where you are today, but maybe for the listeners, can you take us to your, your time frame of where you started out and how you got here?

Kary
Sure, absolutely. So my, my burning passion in life is to ignite souls. And probably because I was not a soul on fire for many years. Although I grew up in a great home out of Wisconsin, religious family, nonprofit parents, I basically struggled with depression. And I was a high performer, but I kind of kept that anger toward life inward, and actually fell into an addiction at a young age of self injury. Even before it was a thing, you know, before the internet, any of that stuff.

But it was just kind of like my private way of coping with life. And over over the years, writing actually became an outlet for me. So even though I had aspirations to go to the Air Force as a chaplain, but got rejected because of childhood asthma, I did move into the pastorate and became a preacher. But on the side, I began to write books and writing books really became my passion. And through that, I just learned how to turn books into a movement.

And as a result, I basically turned books and 18 streams of income. And my main point wasn’t to to gain income, it was really to spread the message. But those books became ways to you know, teach, speak, coach train. And after a few years, people began to take notice and say, Wow, your your your style of publishing is different.

Teach me and Alan I didn’t know, business and I didn’t know that those were the magic words. I just kind of pushed these people away in the beginning and said I you know, it’s I don’t really have time to teach but But shortly after that, I left the pastorate. And I started a publishing company. And now today, I ignite souls through the written word, and also most recently, through the protection of that written word, through blockchain technology.

Alan Olsen
You know, it carry there’s a big movement in in, in this world today about a lot of people wanting to put out a book, but sure, they don’t know how. Yeah, and so I liked it. I like to walk through this process of First of all, you use the word, soul on fire? Yes. What does that mean? What is the soul on fire?

Kary
I think a soul on fire knows three things they know their identity, their purpose and direction. And here’s what I mean by that. I think we’re created to really ask three questions, who am I? Why am I here? And where am I going? And where are those three circles converge? Identity, purpose and direction, I believe, once we get clarity, we do become a soul on fire. And it does start first of all, with identity, we kind of start out saying, hey, what’s my what’s my purpose?

Why am I here? Who am I? And once we get clear on that, a lot of times, we find out we’re in the wrong job, Elon, and so that’s where you see a lot of people shift. Once they get clarity. They say, Wow, I’m in the wrong job, and they begin to do their passion full time. But it was Ferdinand fosh, who said that the most powerful weapon on Earth is the human soul on fire. And it was St. Iranians who said that the glory of God is a man or a woman fully alive.

So I believe that the world needs more souls on fire. And I did that with my first few books over here. Your secret name deals with identity. The deeper path deals with purpose and day job to dream job deals with direction. But once I started writing those books, then I began to look around and say, wow, you know, my job is to now as our mentor Dan Sullivan says, My job is to be a hero for people who need to get their books out in the world.

So I still write books. My most recent one comes out in three weeks but but I do love helping other people get their messages out and that’s how I think today I’m igniting Souls is through authors.

Alan Olsen
You know, Carrie, I, you’re very inspiring, you know, listening to how you’re helping tap into other people’s interests and what their passions are. And it’s a very unique gift that you have. You know, when I when I think about it just recently released a book.

Kary
And, by the way, I messaged you and I said, By the way, I gotta compliment you, you seriously like a lot of people do. wrong, the way that you laid out the book, the title, the subtitle, the marketing, I just want to encourage anyone who’s listening to this, like, check out his book, because he did it well, but keep going. And I mean it.

Alan Olsen
Well, it was a story that, that I lived. You know, the thing about having done these interviews with with American dream, they’ve done over 2000 of these 27 million downloads, and, and, and, you know, I think we’re up to 57,000 the community and growing, but, but really, purpose is what I find, and a lot of people come and they say, you know, what is my purpose, and I love the way you laid out, you know, why am I here? Where did I come from? Why am I here?

Kary
Where am I going? I think that, you know, people love images, I just got to show this one image because it just helps so much. Basically, it’s that image, where if you look here, it’s it’s really the who am I? Identity? Why am I here? The purpose? And then where am I going direction where those three circles converge? There’s a little flame. And that’s the soul on fire. And so that really was the framework that was my first three books.

Alan Olsen
Absolutely beautiful to carry. I want to move into a different topic. Okay. What is blockchain life and web 3.0? In Right, yeah. Why should we care? This is all over. Yes, the web right now. And yeah, give us a perspective.

Kary
Yeah. I’ll tell you what, a lot of people struggle defining web three, I just wanted to find it super easy. So we are in the third version of the internet, we’re about to move into it. Web one. This is the motto web one was they create they own? So let me explain that that’s like a Domino’s Pizza, that creates a website. And they own it. Okay, web two was we create they own.

So what that means is that we’re the ones who created the YouTube videos, the Facebook posts, the Twitter tweets, were the ones who did all of the content creation, but they meaning the platform owned it. Web three is a we create we own. So it’s a true shift for the Creator that’s out there. Now I can go much deeper and I can say look in web three. What’s very exciting, is that, let’s take CS Lewis for a moment, CS Lewis, he wrote this book, he sold that book in the 1950s.

If that book gets resold, he will never get secondary royalties. Okay, so think about that from an all authors, all creators struggle getting secondary royalties because there was no blockchain tied to it. The moment you can create products and services in web three, you now wrap it with a smart contract. And every time it gets resold again and again and again, the original creator will get automatic royalties sent directly to their digital wallet.

That’s just one expression of a web three. Another expression Alan, is when there was a there was a compromise in Chappelle days. Chipotle is food many years ago, and they’re like, oh my gosh, there’s a food compromise and people are getting sick. It took him like seven months to figure out that it was an Australian beef farm. And it cost millions of dollars worth of lost revenue and customers and people being laid off.

Why? Because they had not put their food sourcing on the blockchain. If there food sourcing would have been on the blockchain, there would have been accountability at each point that the vendors went down the line. And so instead of taking seven months, it literally could have taken seven seconds to find the compromise. This is the use cases for blockchain. So you know, people think of blockchain equals crypto, it really doesn’t crypto runs on the rails of blockchain.

But so does medical files. I mean, today, I have to go through all kinds of red tape and friction to get this doctor to be able to see this hospital report, because of all the friction.

We’re now moving into a web three society that basically creates a digital wallet that follows you on your browser, which is very secure like a Metamask wallet, where not only are my medical files in there someday my vehicle, VIN numbers going to be there, my mortgage, even the place that you went to school, Elon, right now when you go on LinkedIn, If you guess somebody went to Harvard, you guess somebody went to NYC, you click a button, you have no clue.

LinkedIn is now putting in their blockchain verified credentials from the school. So when you click somebody that you don’t know, on LinkedIn, it literally brings up their diploma. And it says blockchain verified. And you can see that Harvard wallet issued it. So it’s going to change so many things. You know, not just crypto.

Alan Olsen
Let’s move into the protecting IP. Why are you so passionate about that?,

Kary
Why am I passionate about it? I’ll tell you why I’m passionate about it. Because IP intellectual property represents 90% of the s&p 500. So back in 1975, I was born in 76. But in 75 17%, of all s&p 500 assets were intangible. Meaning that that those were the patents, the trademarks, the branding. 83% was the brick and mortar, it was the buildings, it was the cash. We’ve moved from a 17% to a 90%. In 2020.

The point is this most people’s businesses and brands, the value is actually manifested through IP. So now protecting that IP becomes one of the most important things. So here’s an author, Lee Benson, one of our authors, we got him on Wall Street, USA Today is a fantastic guy. This barcode right now, you scan that, that leads to his smart contract. And why does that lead to a smart contract because you cannot change blockchain.

Blockchain is an immutable meaning unchanging, decentralized, verification of proof. Someone can hack Chase Bank, someone can hack, Hilton. It’s one it’s one centralized, computer, essentially, database. But once you get into blockchain, it’s literally verified and distributed all over the world.

So when we can put on the back of Lee’s book, the fact that when any phone scans this, it goes directly to the blockchain and says Lee Benson, on June 5 2022, at 5:47pm, minted this IP, now all of a sudden, it becomes like, Whoa, he was an all IPS built on first to file.

I mean, that’s why I can’t say I came up with the McDonald arches, because I wasn’t even around. Why? Because it’s all based on time. And so blockchain is literally a time stamping of transactions. And so the fact that our company now has developed a patent pending technology that verifies people, I pee through blockchain and smart contracts. It’s so exciting. And you know, our friend, Keegan Caldwell, he’s actually the lawyer that I hired to secure that patent.

So I still believe Allen that patents have their place, if you’re going to sell your company, or if you need to borrow up to half of the valuation of your patent portfolio. But for all these people that are authors, they can’t afford $15,000 of patent and three years of time. And so our company, Blockchain life, I have two companies igniting souls and blockchain life.

There they work together. But blockchain life has now a technology that protects people’s IP in 24 hours for $100. Through that new proprietary technology,

Alan Olsen
Kary Who do you want to be a hero to?

Kary
Oh, that’s so good. I want to be a hero to influencers that are a core value match and our core values that spells the word GPS, growth minded grit, positive optimism, show up filled up in servant leadership. And so our company runs on EOS entrepreneur operating system. We met through Dan Sullivan Strategic Coach, but any company that fits those four core values and is a match because we want them to feel comfortable with us.

If they match those four core values. We want to get their message out in the biggest way possible. And so some people hire As just for writing some people just republishing some people for marketing and then some people for that IP protection. But either way, however we can, you know, we have pastors that we publish, we have a mom whose son was shot in a hunting accident.

So she wrote a book called after the flowers die, because she wants to help other parents who are grieving the loss of a child death, you know, and so, all these stories are amazing. And I just love getting them out there in a big way.

Alan Olsen
Kara, you’re very, very inspirational, and but let’s walk through the process. So Carrie, you’ve sold me, I love what you’re everything you’ve told me about. What’s my next step with you? What do we do?

Kary
Yeah, we have 18 streams of income. Okay, so I’ll just share a few of these things. One of the things for example, like, here’s one of my books show up filled up, right. And so it’s based on one of my core values, but most authors Allen, they’re like, cool, I got the book, it’s done. And they think that their book is a business card. When I hear those words, I cringe. I just cringe because I’m like, Look, business cards. Don’t change lives.

In fact, I wrote a book called your book is not a business card. looked at, okay, why? Because books change lives, business cards, change landfills. I hate it when people just say, hey, here’s my book. It’s a business card. What do people do with business cards, they throw them in the trash. I know books that have changed my life. I can literally say traction changed my life. You know, I can say entrepreneur roller coaster changed my life.

My life is made up of the books that I’ve read, even even the Holy Bible here one of my favorite books. I’m different because of books. And so what I tell people is like, Look, your book needs to go off the pages. And what does that mean? That means your book could be a mastermind, get this you ready for this? I took the people who read this book to Shawshank Prison. I’m not even kidding. So why because your day job is your jail.

Your dream job is your Zihuatanejo. So Shawshank Zihuatanejo, what did I do? I took I probably taken 200 People now over the last few years to Shawshank Prison, and we come up with their dream job plan to escape their day job. You see, I’m saying the book became an experience. And people started nonprofits there.

A guy named rusty started a nonprofit for people who’ve been incarcerated that tried to get out and then you know, re acclimate to life and they’re often not accepted, and understandably so. So again, as a, I call myself a Sherpa. Okay, everyone who writes books writes in either one of three ways. They write it as a sage. Here’s our buddy Bano. So bonobos book is a sage. You can write your book as a Sherpa. Or you can write your book as a struggler.

So again, this is good advice for your listeners, because some people might be like, I’m not Oprah. I’m not Bano. I’m not Tony Robbins. That’s okay. They’re writing their book as a sage. That’s okay. I write my book as a Sherpa, which says, Hey, I, I was stuck. And I found a solution. And I’m gonna walk with you up the mountain and help you.

And then there’s other books that come off as strugglers, which are just basically saying, Look, I don’t know the answers, but I’m willing to have the courage to say there’s a problem. Either either three can be successful.

Alan Olsen
When you look at the world today and the community that you serve, what would you say is the number one struggle that people have

Kary
self belief. There’s a great quote that says, I give you the gift of these four words, I believe in you. Back when I was suicidal, and a cutter at the age of 17, I was devoid of belief. I thought I was horrible. A lot of people walking around today think they have nothing to offer. And I had a gentleman come into my life, a stranger named Carl who heard about me from my mom, and said, Listen, God cannot afford to have you discouraged. I believe in you.

And God told me to send you this card and 500 bucks because my bike had been stolen. I got jumped in an alley at the age of 17. Anyway, Carl’s belief, I borrowed his belief. I didn’t have any my own. I borrowed his belief and I think that’s what the world needs. The world needs some One who says, you know, I believe in you? I might not know you, but I believe in you.

And some people say, Well, how can you believe in someone you know, how can you hate someone you don’t know. I saw that meme recently. People hate people all the time. They don’t know, if you can hate somebody don’t know you can believe in someone you don’t know. And Carl believed in me and I am a changed life because of that. So that’s what I think the world needs. And that’s who I present myself to. As a coach.

I look for people who are humble, and they have something special. But they don’t have the belief nor skills to get to the next level. And that’s where I come in and help them. Arrogant people are unteachable. I don’t, I don’t have time for them. So that’s kind of my style.

Alan Olsen
They’re really beautiful. Hey, I guess you need to be meek in order to progress, right?

Kary
I listen, you got to be teachable, you know, and I’m not always teachable. But you know, God and my wife have a way of helping me become teachable. And it’s, it’s helped me a ton. So

Alan Olsen
okay, how do people find you? They? Yeah, with the coaching and the sherpa

Kary
So if people are interested in in publishing, just go to igniting souls.com igniting souls.com/apply And we can have a conversation, you know, no, no, nothing more than conversation. Are we a fit? Are you fit, but I have, man I’ve been I’ve been? I’m bald for a reason. Okay. I have written books for 20 years. I have. I don’t know, I think I have 12 books out. Of course, we have the blockchain thing that’s blowing up.

It’s a podcast, Lee Richter, your friend and I, we just co wrote a book called blockchain life. So just reach out, let me know what you need. And I’d love to help I’m on all the social media and more than anything, let me end with this. Alan, it’s a great quote. It changed my life. It’s how I like to end most things, but Carl Jung, a Swiss psychologist. He did he did research. And he looked and he tried to find out what’s the most damaging thing in the life of a child.

Okay, so I thought it was alcoholism, abuse, abandonment, he looked in all of his research, and he said, It’s the unlived life of the parent. And I was like, wow, when I read that, I was like, Oh my gosh, but it makes sense. It’s the parent who comes home and kicks the proverbial dog and says, Don’t bother me kids let me veg out veg short for vegetable let me be brain dead, so that I can go back tomorrow and do the same thing over again.

That’s the most damaging thing in the life of a child. Because they look at mom or dad they say if they don’t have success if they can, if they haven’t figured this thing out, how can I so I think the opposite is true. What’s the most empowering thing for the life of a child? A parent who had it was a soul on fire. And that’s why that’s that’s what when I die, I want set of me. Besides Well done, good and faithful servant I want it to be said like Kary Igniting Souls.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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