Greg Voisen
Well, welcome back to Inside Personal Growth. Another great interview with a lovely man, Alessandro Tronco. We're going to be speaking about The Buddha Who Drove a Bentley: A Life Fable. Good day to you, Alessandra. How are you?

Alessandro Tronco
Today, Greg? I'm doing great.

Greg Voisen
How are you? Good, good. It's a pleasure having a fellow author on and also a fellow financial advisor on because I used to do financial advising and actually still do a bit of it. And it's always interesting to kind of see the life path of people that enter this industry and the directions they take, and you're one of them and I want to congratulate you for writing your first book. His wife, Gina also has a book out as well. And they're very philanthropic, but I'm gonna tell you a little bit about Alessandro. He's living proof the American dream still exists. He's born in Sicily immigrated to the United States when he was six years old, with nothing but his family's hopes and dreams to guide him, after spending nearly a decade here, returned to Sicily for six months, and then returned to America by himself 15 years old with only $5 in his pocket. Lack of experience means didn't stop him from chasing his ambitions he attended, attended Siena College when he began working as financial advisor at Northwestern Mutual. Raising quickly through the ranks become one of the youngest managing partners in the company in the 166 year history of Northwestern Mutual. Believe me, for those of you out there, the life insurance business is a tough business filled with rejections. So Alessandro is definitely worked hard to get there is hard work and determination is gone. He only had from that $5 to the success story. They live in New York, he's got three daughters, beautiful daughters. And if you want to learn more about his wife, Gina, the kids and his book, go to thebuddhawhodroveabentley.com, thebuddhawhodroveabentley.com that is where you will learn more about him, and, and the book, and I'm gonna encourage everybody, we're gonna put a link to Amazon as well. So you can pick up a copy of the book. The book's title is real interesting, the Buddha who drove a Bentley, it's intriguing. You give our listeners a little bit of a glimpse Salah hydro into what the fable is about, and what inspired you to write it. And also speak about this main character Venson, I think, you know, this is a kind of a life fable, fable. And I think for our listeners, it'd be good for them to get kind of an overview.

Alessandro Tronco
Yeah, so thank you for that kind introduction. It's been a great, great life, it's been a huge blessing. And it's been a huge blessing to be in America, as an immigrant from Sicily, all these countries are really great places to visit. But a lot of them were really hard to live in. And we won't get into that today. But I'm so blessed that my, my parents had the foresight to move us to America, that they knew there was better opportunities here. And so I'm so thankful to be here. You know, the book is probably very typical to most people, that the reason I named that the Buddha who drove a Bentley, because there I think there is a misnomer in the world that you can either be a really good person, be spiritual, believe in God, or you can have money and you can have material things, but you can't have both. And so there's so many misquotes on what money is and what money represents. And I truly believe in that study this for a long time, I truly believe that we're met, we can do both we can, we can have amazing things. And we can have a beautiful car and a beautiful house. And we can be really good. And we can believe in God. And we can do a lot of work in the community. And it's not one or the other. And so you'll hear a lot of people that say, well, money is the root of all evil, you shouldn't have money. And it's just not true. Men. So this book brings you through a story of a man in his mid 40s. Vincent, and unfortunately for Vincent, he only chased money, you only Chase material things. And I think a lot of us do that. And we grow up and we and we say we want to be successful, and I want to have money and along the way. A lot of us lose our soul. And a lot of us really lose what's important to us. And so Benson wakes up one day and realizes God I feel empty. And if I buy a new car that doesn't fulfill me at all, or if I buy a new watch that doesn't fulfill me at all. And so he's gone on this long drive and he's realizing what have I done? Like I've chased success As my whole life, but I feel pretty empty. And I've let some of the important things in my life go like family. And like being really kind to others, I've let all that go to chase my dreams of being successful.

Greg Voisen
Well, they can coexist. And I think, you know, look, you deal with people and your agents deal with people, I'll bring this into it every day where you're selling a product where it's finitude, its finality. And in the end, we're all going to meet our maker, no matter what you believe, whether you believe in God, whether you believe in Allah, whether you believe, whether you're a drew or a Christian, and we have all kinds of listeners to this show. And I think, you know, you have all people, and the people that are underneath you, that are selling a product that ultimately pays something when somebody passes away, has some level of significance, because you can deal with very wealthy people, right? We're here on October, whatever today is the 17th and Suzanne Somers died yesterday. And they mentioned that she created a $300 million exercise company, she was quite a successful entrepreneur as well. What advice would you give people on that are leading this fast paced lifestyle with lots of material things, and aren't finding the time that they'd like to find? To do the things that could be of more meaning and significance?

Alessandro Tronco
Yeah, unfortunately, you're gonna have massive regrets at some point, and you're gonna be laying on your deathbed, or you're gonna be ill, and you're gonna say, oh, my God, I missed it. I missed it. I miss my family, I miss my friends. And I thought I was doing it for my family. And that was a really good reason for so many years. But I missed it, I missed life, I missed all the little moments. I wasn't there when my daughter was in a dance recital, because I was busy working. And I would say that you, if you don't find the balance, if you don't find all the other non-material things, you will regret it, you will lay somewhere on a deathbed somewhere at some point in your life, and you're going to look back, and you're going to be sad about all the things that you missed. And that will happen. It'll happen 100% of the time. And so that time is coming for all of us. Right? When that comes, you have to ask yourself, like, what did I do it for? And if you did it for your family, but you don't have a relationship with your family, then I would say it was all for nothing. And so we have to be really careful about that. Because society really wants us to spend all our time and energy in distraction. They make a lot of money, when we're distracted. And so we need to take time out. One of the chapters in my book is like, where are you going in such a hurry? Where are you going? You drive fast? You talk fast? You're always planning for the next week or the next month? And where are you going so fast? I have to tell you, when I asked myself that question, Greg, I did not have an answer.

Greg Voisen
Well, I will tell you that, you know, you have chosen an industry which loves people with high ego drives. And in for that reason, they frequently are driven by many of those things. And they're so blessed to have a general manager like you or partner to help them see other things. And that's what you weaved into this book with Vincent. He meets these teachers along the way. And can you tell us a few of the guides and then the lessons that you would like people to take from this book because one of them is loving yourself? And I think one of the reasons that people drive themselves crazy, is because they're looking for something externally, to satisfy this insatiable appetite to be happy. Happiness isn't an outside job. It's an inside job. We all know that. But at the same time, having compassion for oneself, which is one of the lessons in fits, learns, and you have others so could you talk about just these basic lessons because the chapters start off with all with a quote from the Bible, which I found kind of interesting yet you use the Buddha as the name and the title, and I would presume you're either strong Catholic or Christian. Given being born in Italy, that would be that would be it. But you know, I find that all interesting and I'd love for you to talk about the lessons.

Alessandro Tronco
Yeah. Love you in oneself is really difficult. And a lot of that comes from our childhood, that something happened to I'm going to say all of us at a moment in time. And subconsciously, we said, oh my god, if that person doesn't love me, how can I ever love myself. And so we spend our whole life trying to get validation, from external sources, whether it's, you know, I know, for me, it was like, I wasn't a really good high school student, I struggled a lot in school, people made fun of me, and my, my main driver was, I'm going to prove them wrong. I'm going to prove them that they were wrong about me, that I am smart that I can be successful. And we're always in winter, when we're looking for external affirmation that we're good enough that I can be loved, we're always going to chase that. And I gotta tell you, it's never going to be enough. And so the lesson that Vincent learns is, you have to love yourself, first and foremost. Because if you don't love yourself, it doesn't really matter who else loves you, doesn't really matter how successful you're going to be Tom, you're always going to feel empty inside and nothing is going to, nothing is going to heal, that hurt that you felt typically, as a small child. And so we need to love ourselves, first and foremost. And now all these lessons we probably all have heard before. I think what's unique about the book is that you could take a lesson every single month, and really work on that lesson. Now, how do I love myself? What are some tools that I could use to love myself, in that same vein of loving yourself is forgiving yourself. And forgiveness is such a difficult thing. I know, for me, it was so difficult to forgive all the wrongs that I had done all the things that I had regretted in my life. And for years, I would say, I'm not forgiving myself. I don't deserve it. And that's wrong. We all need forgiveness, we all need forgiveness for ourselves, which starts there. And then we need to forgive others.

Greg Voisen
And don't you don't you think that a lot of us, many of us, we live in a world of making stuff up and then we believe what we made up. And then we spend our lifetime trying to actually undo what we believed. I remember, just recently on here at Bruce Lipton, you know, from the ages of zero to seven, there's a program that gets slotted in the subconscious mind. And it's very difficult and challenging for us. And you can't override that program, what you can learn to do is coexist with the program in harmony. Right? It'd be like saying, Hey, we're gonna reboot the computer with a whole new program, right? So you know, you, you talk about in this book, every one of those chapters begins with a quote from the Bible. That's your spiritual side. And you speak with the connection between, if you could speak to your connection between spirituality and one's personal growth, we have two genres that this show covers very well. And one is spirituality, and the other is personal growth. And they're so intertwined and prevents it. They're completely intertwined. Speak with that, if you would, about that, in general,

Alessandro Tronco
I will, but you make a very good point, that program that's in us between ages zero and seven. Unfortunately, Greg, most people don't listen to us. They don't listen to your show. They don't listen to me. And they don't even know that that program exists, right? They're not reading the books that you and I read. They're just not even in tune that that's an issue. And so they're going throughout their whole life, thinking that that's reality, that that's who they are naturally destined to be. And that's really the sadness, because this stuff is free. They can go on YouTube, they can go on to podcasts and listen to it. So what can we do like to have more people realize what you said, because most people, most people have never even heard that before. So that's important and most that most people haven't even been exposed to what you and I are talking about it and maybe we can change that.

Greg Voisen
Why do you think Alessandro that when people like that get so angry, there's a disconnect in there and there's a gap between their spirituality and their knowing? Right? In other words, if they were a more spiritual person, you talked about compassion and then in a go for self and others. If we had that we wouldn't be this angry soul out there seeking what the egos driving, which is another watch or a car or whatever, the theme of the book, right. And that anger leads to disrupted release. friendships it relates to people being alcoholic, it leads to us having health problems, it leads to so many things. What would you say about releasing anger?

Alessandro Tronco
Yeah, so I would ask myself, like, why am I so angry? Like, what happened? What did I? What do I think life did to me? What do I think? Maybe the way my parents raised me, I would ask myself, why am I showing NHGRI? First thing I would do? By the way, all this comes into, we should spend so much time in solitude, we're afraid to be alone in some of these questions that can only be answered just with me in a room with a piece of paper and a pen. And just asking myself, why am I angry? How is this anger serving me? Like what's in it for me? That when I'm angry, what do I get out of it? And if I continue to be this angry, what will happen to my, my most cherished relationships? What will happen with my spouse? What will happen with my kids? What will happen with my parents or siblings? And I would just really just sit in quietness and answer those questions.

Greg Voisen
I think that's great advice. It's really great. And that leads me also to not to change the subject. But you make a point in chapter seven about Benson's connection to nature and how important it is to take time to be outside, to walk to contemplate to take time for yourself. Okay, you're giving people advice on this podcast right now to sit and write and contemplate, contemplate? And take time to answer these questions. Why do you believe it's so important that they live a life of purpose and fulfillment? versus their life, their living, no matter who's listening to the show right now, they may go, I'm happy to swear I'm even though I'm angry. Do you get where I'm going with this? Yeah,

Alessandro Tronco
I should do this, I'll put the need to think for a minute, we live in a beautiful world, we really do. And most people will never see it. Because they're going to drive from one place to another go indoors. And they'll never see it. And I gotta tell you, especially this, I don't know what happened this summer. But the moon, there was some days at the moon just didn't even seem real, it was so spectacularly beautiful. And the stars in the trees, and all life is outside. Like that's where the air is, that's where oxygen is. That's where the sun is. And so there's so much life outside. But we've again, we've been programmed to spend a lot of time indoors watching TV, binge watching on a show on Netflix. And so I would encourage everyone, like spend some time outdoors. And just look around at the beauty of the world look around at a bird flying in the sky. And if that's not like magical to you how that actually happens. It's just breathtaking. Outdoors. And so most of us do not spend any time outside anymore. We're, we're we'd become inside creatures. And we were never meant to be inside as much as we are today. So you should take that chapter and read it over and over. And then don't take my word for it, spend some time outside and see how you feel, you know, really watch a beautiful sunrise or a beautiful sunset. And you'll understand that there has to be a god, like that's that just can't exist.

Greg Voisen
There is a higher power for everybody listening, they just have to make the connection. And then they have to have a belief in it. Not that they don't have a belief. But, you know, vulnerability and authenticity are two words which, you know, come up for me Brene bow pronoun Brene Brown speaks very much about being vulnerable. And if you can't be vulnerable, you're gonna have a hard time being authentic. So the question I have for you, because much of the concepts in living an authentic life is kind of a theme to the book, you share some of the practical steps and insights of what is life? What does that mean to you living an authentic life? And how have you personally become more vulnerable so that you could figure out what authenticity was in life?

Alessandro Tronco
Yeah, so writing this book is a perfect example. I mean, it's a fable of offense and but people that know me know that it's really my life's journey and story. And some of those chapters are difficult to write about. And I have three amazing, beautiful daughters, and being vulnerable to them that Hey, Dad, your dad was never perfect. Even though maybe at some point you thought I was when you were a little girl. I just I'm just not. I'm still not perfect. And so being vulnerable with some of the mistakes that I made, and being vulnerable with some of the people that I've hurt And, and I gotta tell you when you do that, and people really know that you mean it, and really know that you're, you're being vulnerable. Because you want to be so authentic with these people that you love so much that relationship goes to a new level. I here's the hard part, right? When you're being vulnerable, and when there are things that you're not proud of, in that beginning stages of that, it can be very difficult. Some of the things that we do are not pleasant, and you disappoint people. But that's temporary. The outcome and the result of being vulnerable. And being authentic, long term is priceless. And it brings so much peace in your heart. Because you're not you're no longer hiding behind anything, you're no longer pretending a lot of us go to work every day. And then we put on a little mask. And it's not really us. It's who people are. It's who you think people want you to be. And so you're, you're covering up who you are. And when you take that off, and you are who you are, you'll find now you will lose some people, your will say some people like you know what, I don't like that version, because maybe then I have to be more authentic. And I don't want to do that. But the people that you care and love the most, that relationships goes to a new level. That's really incredible to feel. And so there is no other way. Like people, they might not know that you're not being authentic, but they feel it. There's an energy there that I feel like I'm talking to Greg but something's off. I can't pinpoint it. But it's off. When you're fully transparent. When you're fully vulnerable. And living your authentic self and life. You'll notice people will say things like you're different. Like I'm human, you're different. I see you different. And it is contagious. The right people want to be more like that. And it's so free like hiding and pretending it just isn't any fun. And it just well.

Greg Voisen
And that comes down to the vulnerability I think the board can to be authentic. It happens as a result of being vulnerable and being open. And allowing people to see the true Alessandro, to see the true Greg Voisen. And you know, the book may be suggested happiness and success are not mutually exclusive. And this story, as you said, is about you, you were striving for lots of things, but those things weren't bringing happiness. And happiness is written about like crazy today. We live in a world where loneliness is the number one challenge that we're facing across the United States, you look at the people that are living in retirement communities and people that are out here today. They think that connecting over the internet is a way to like, literally create happiness, and they found out it's not. How can individuals find balance between pursuing success and maintaining happiness in their lives? And what tips would you give them? Alessandro because you were there? Yeah.

Alessandro Tronco
I would say to you that if you're that if you follow the lessons in the book, you will be more successful than ever, without following the lessons. And so I was never really taught that I thought I didn't have time for, for going in nature and being with nature, because I had to work. And what I found was that you'll be hugely financially successful if you follow these lessons. And that's really, that's really the lesson there. It's like doesn't have to be one or the other. That's why the title is what it is that if you're more transparent, if you're more vulnerable. Well, how do you think that affects your relationships that work? Like people are going to be attracted to you more? You'll get more opportunities? Because you are? What if you are more generous in life in general? How is that gonna affect your work? When people really know? Wow, every time I turn around, you know, Greg is being super generous to another person. So every time How about when you know, your authentic self, can you be better at your career? When you know, your true, authentic self? Of course you are, it'll be more natural, it won't be as hard as maybe it would be trying to be somebody else. And so I would argue to say, if you follow these lessons, your career and your success will exponentially grow. And so it's not one or the other. And they don't teach us that in business school. They don't teach us that. In high school or college. It's all about, you know, how do I have a better business plan? How do I grow sales? How do I do that? And that's all stuff that's needed. But I would say if we do this other stuff, I believe you will be more successful than ever end up And along the way, you're going to be pretty happy. But let's talk about happiness for a minute.

Greg Voisen
You, how are you, Alessandro? Pardon me, but coexisting in this modernity, which is what it's called this modern world. I mean, if you go back in time, and you look at ancient times, we didn't have all the speed, we didn't have these kinds of things that were distracting us. We've been moved into an industrial age and now into an information age, where people everything's on demand, it's on the phone, it's on the computer, it's here, it's there. And it is distract. And to find peace in that this is what I'm talking about. You know, you have this book that's written about ancient wisdom, personal development, and modern living. How would you bridge this gap that really exists between the realms to provide actionable guidance to the listeners and the readers of your book, because I feel that many of them feel caught in the middle of a cyclone. And everything's swirling around them like crazy, which is the distraction yet and we know it the center of that is where the solitude pieces, right? But they don't feel that. So what would you say? Look, you've been there, all this stuff that's written in this book is about you. So how did you get out of that? And how did you move from desire to meaning?

Alessandro Tronco
So let's talk about a fact for a minute. We know we're doing today isn't working. If you look at depression rates, you brought up being alone. So if we look at being alone, depression rates, suicide rates, anxiety, they're at an all time high. So the facts are, whatever we're doing isn't working. That's not rocket science. It's not my opinion, it's not your opinion. It's a fact. So when we realize that, well, this is working, what am I going to do? What am I going to change, so we still have control of our lives. As far as I know, we still have control of our own lives. So first of all, we have to put down electronics, when I have a meeting with you, face to face. So that's the third thing. You don't have to work remote. You can choose if you want to, but you can still meet people face to face, you can still for the most part, gone to an office. So most of my meetings are still face to face. Most of my interactions are still like this person to person. Put your cell phone away, don't just put it here just in case it rings, put it away, put it on Do Not Disturb and really connect with that individual. Instead of going home and turning on the TV or scrolling through social media. Go for a walk, go for a 30 minute walk every day at night in the morning and see how you feel.

Greg Voisen
Well, I was Sandro, you know, we're living in this always on world fast paced world, it's fine, it's hard for many of us to find the time there is a lot of loneliness out. Well, when is our loneliness out there? As you said, there's a lot of us pressure on us and modern living, stress anxiety? If you would, how would you advise readers and listeners to actually close this gap? Between loneliness, stress, anxiety, what the world is demanding of them? And how they can live a much more spiritual and peaceful life? What advice would you give them?

Alessandro Tronco
Yeah, so before I even go there, I mean, the proof is everywhere. If we look at depression rates, suicide rates, anxiety rates, specifically in America, they've never been high. And so we know that whatever we're doing right now isn't working very well. And so once we know that, it's that right, what can we do about it? Because we're not, we're not changing technology, it's only going to get faster and faster. But we know that's part of the issue of social media and always being connected. And part of that is really amazing. But we need to reduce it somehow. So what I would do is what, figure out how much time are you spending watching TV, social media, and let's pretend it's 10 hours a week? Can you make a goal to say I'm going to cut that down to seven hours a week, I'm going to reduce that by 30%. And then I'm going to journal How do I feel by cutting it down by 30%. The thing I would do is in the morning, and at night, can you go for a 30 minute walk without any electronics, just be with yourself or somebody that you love and just go for a walk around the neighborhood go for a walk around the city and just like really pay attention to all the beautiful things that are out there. It could be a butterfly going across you it could be a bird flying across you it could be this amazing tree that you've never seen before. And in spend time with people like technology has its uses like today, you and I could it'd be very hard for us to do this. So today's use of technology where you and I are doing Greg is perfect. But most of my meetings are face to face. Most meetings I want to sit across from someone, so I can feel their body language, I can feel their energy. And we put our cell phones we take we put them on Do Not Disturb and we put them out of sight thrown out there in case somebody rains and you're like, oh, just wait a minute, Greg, let me look at my phone. Um, I want to be totally connected to you. So if you're not seeing people face to face, I would go back to that. And if you're seeing one person face to face in a week, make it three, like make a goal to increase that face to face connection with people break a meal with someone, these are very easy strategies for you to implement. And again, Greg, don't take my word for it. I'd love for listeners to do it. And then give us feedback. Like, wow, I did that for a week. And here's what I felt. Here's where my energy was. And that is the key, we are meant to be with each other. We are not meant to be virtual every day for the rest of our lives. And so connect with people put your cell phones away, go break bread with somebody go for a beautiful walk around your neighborhood around your city, and then just observe about magical. It is no today. It's kind of cloudy out here. But the clouds are really beautiful. If you really looked at the clouds, you'd be in amazement, because like, wow, they're really beautiful. How do they form that way to different colors. So there's so many like easy things that we can do that don't cost any money, easy to implement, and you will be happier if you do some of those things. And then your productivity will skyrocket. Because you're not feeling drained all the time. If I'm always on my phone, even if I'm scrolling, it's draining my energy. So phones are the only thing that loses energy battery, when you're using it, you're losing battery in yours, not as easy as plugging it into the wall. Yours is much harder to recharge. And so most of us never recharge. And that's why we need medicine and we need pills and, and, and there's so many cures that you don't need any of that stuff. Nature would be wonderful. But those are some simple strategies that you could use. And again, don't take my word for it. Try for a week and see how you feel. Well, I

Greg Voisen
think you know, look, there are so many things we can do. I did my yoga class Nice. Last night I walked the dogs in the morning without a phone. I live by the beach so I can go walking down there right. Now so when you ride your bike or whatever, any kind of exercise, which is around breathing that I think really refocuses your whole environment. It's important my listeners know this because we do lots of shows about this. But in your book you touch on this idea of having it all in the books. And so we've just talked about having it all having this piece Didn't tranquility and having the ability to be more productive at the same time, and they can coexist in harmony? What does it mean to you? And how can individuals define and pursue this version of what you would call having it all?

Alessandro Tronco
Write it down, like, what is it for you? Like, what do you want out of life? Like most people spend more time planning and vacation than they do planning your life? Like, what do you want? Like, if you ask most people that question, they have no idea. So one of the exercises that I do with my daughters is I have them write down like, what do you want out of life? Do you want a career? Do you want to be a stay at home? Mom, like what do you want? And as you get older, that might change and that's okay. But, you know, figure out and again, this is beautifully done in silence, and it's beautifully done, go find a beautiful park and sit there with a journal and just write what do I want out of life, because everybody's different. You don't want the life I want, I might not want to like you want. We're all unique, we're all different. And it's beautiful. It would be a very boring planet if we were all the same. So I love the raw,

Greg Voisen
What do you feel about, you know, knowing the business you're in, which is financial services, life insurance, and so on family meetings? You know, I think this whole concept, you know, they say, well, it's really only for the people that have family offices are wealthy? No, it's not, it's for everybody. And the reality is, is that you know, you work in a world where we should have family meetings, every quarter, we should sit down together as a family, and look at where our lives are going. Right? And are you a big advocate of this in your practice?

Alessandro Tronco
It is a family affair. You don't have to be a multimillionaire to have a family meeting. That's silly, like, families out of 100,000 deserve a family meeting to write. So it's so important to get like people don't want to talk about the finances in front of their kids. And it's like, well, what are we hiding? And like, the more the kids know, the more they embrace this concept, their family meetings are an incredible tool that most people don't utilize. And, yeah, I think it's so important to get the family together and talk about what do we want? Like, what do we want to accomplish as a family and both personally, financially, spiritually, like, what

Greg Voisen
relationship was relationship?

Alessandro Tronco
What do you want out of life? But I gotta tell you, most people cannot answer that simple question, they will stumble, and stumble. And they might tell you a couple of things, but they don't really know what they want out of life. And I look at life as a blank canvas. And you can fill in that blank canvas with whatever you want. And if you don't like where you're headed, you can get an eraser and you can erase it, you can begin a new and whenever

Greg Voisen
I speak to the listeners about the power of intention and manifestation, I mean, I think, you know, individuals can harness this power no matter where, when anywhere, and it can have such a positive impact on their life. And I know some people I like to set intentions before I come on these podcasts with my, with my guests, I always do it. It's like it's a default. Because when you do that, the energy of it, you were just talking about energy of it actually moves the conversation in the direction in which you've set the intention toward the manifestation of the outcome which you are attempting to achieve. Speak with us because you are a master at having done that coming to the United States with no money. You know, literally going to school, going to work for Northwestern Mutual climbing our way through the ranks, becoming the youngest Managing Partner, and the 166 year history of the company. What were you doing every day when you were down there in the trenches, to set intentions and manifestations?

Alessandro Tronco
Yeah, I always had a vision. I always knew what I was shooting for. I always had goals. I always visualize, I always had a vision board. If you don't know what a vision board is, it's just basically putting pictures up of things that you want and vacations you want to take. And I used to drive around the neighborhoods that I did I currently live in. And I'd be like, someday I'm going to live here. And it was always a positive outlook. And it's so important because again, most of us do the opposite. Most of us say, ah, life is never fair to me. Oh, this always happens to me bad things happen to me. And yeah, the world will get you exactly what you're looking for. You know, in my family, they'll say, oh, man, you're the luckiest person we've ever met. And they're right. It could be the busiest holiday season ever. If I'm going to a mall. If I'm going to a store. I always visualize I'm going to find a perfect parking spot. And I had a tiny back. I always find a perfect parking lot. People are like oh honey do that like my, you know, I got nieces and nephews and they just are like, how do you do that? And so I have and again, I don't know how I learned that early on. I just did. And I believe that. And that's the key, you have to believe it. Because if you just do believe it, then nothing happens. But yeah, it's like, I've always thought about what do I want? What do I my future? To be like? Where do I want to live? Me? I live in the same exact neighborhood that 25 years ago as a new advisor. I couldn't afford cutting the grass in that neighborhood. Right now I live exactly that neighborhood. It's like, that's not a coincidence, right? Now,

Greg Voisen
What happens is the circumstances events and people that enter your life, based upon the intentions and manifestations that you're putting on that, that board. And we always say, well, why that person come along in my life. And I like what you did in this book, because you have a whole section in the back of the book called going deeper. Can you talk with us about the overview of why you put this in the book? Because it's almost like, Okay, well, here's this whole book. But then when I get to the back of the book, I have the book overview. And like, you know, 20 pages, I really love that, by the way.

Alessandro Tronco
Thank you. Well, most people get a book and they never finish it. That's the sad reality. And so I knew that going in. And I said, okay, if they don't want to read the whole book, maybe I can just give them a little tidbit at the back, which can help them. And they might be like, you know what, I really liked that. Let me go read that chapter. And if you notice, these are not long chapters, these are not like 4050 Page chapters are short. Lessons are complex. They may be hard to execute, but they're not complex. And so but for people that are like, oh, my God, I read the whole book go right to the back, you can get a little bit, you get a little tidbit of what the chapter is about. And then you can might you might say to yourself, oh, maybe I will read that chapter. And so I want to make it easy for the reader to be able to take some of these lessons and implement and not going through a lot of circles. You know, I've never liked the book that's been 25 pages, tell me what they were going to tell me. And then tell me, right? Just tell me already. Right? Right. Right, right. I wanted to make the book right, get right to it, where they're easy to implement. And the feedback that I've gotten has been pretty incredible. And that's been a real blessing to get some of these people, some guy that, that I didn't know, said, I carry your book with me. And every day, I'm reading a chapter because we're not long chapters. He said, I'm making notes on it. And I can see myself doing that for the next year. Because even though I understand what you're saying they're hard to implement. And I totally relate to that. And so it's been it's been amazing. And, you know, if you saw me in high school, you'd never guess I'd be a writer someday.

Greg Voisen
But like I did it because of your determination, one and into because of that power of intention manifestation. And I'll cite something from chapter three. You know, it says, Sanctify them by the truth, Your word is truth, John 1717. And then you say, living with truth as a core value is an essential ingredient to leading a fulfilling life. And you say, you go on to say the goal should not merely be to search for the truth, but to also live by it. And I think that's what you're a shining example of it is someone who's living by the truth. And you put your words in here, that you and your wife have done something called Spirit water, Inc. and I'm going to direct my listeners to that as well. Tell us a little bit about that. And then in summing this up, what are three pieces of advice or a mantra that you'd like to give people that are listening to this podcast today? So that they have greater happiness and more authenticity in their life? And are living a life which is what I want to say close the gap between the pursuit of material and the solitude of spirituality?

Alessandro Tronco
Yes, so spirit water came about I stopped drinking about a year ago, and I and me and my daughters were talking to my wife and we said, and a lot of people really don't want to drink but that they're kind of forced to drink when they go out. And it seems to be cool. I said, Why don't we create a company that's just water? And why don't we make the cat like this beautiful looking cat so it is it's a mountain it's very peaceful. It looks like when you look at it, you're almost relaxed looking at it. And we put the water in aluminum because most water is sold in plastic and plastic is not recycled. For the most part, people think it is but it's not. So aluminum can. Looks beautiful. It's a it's a twist top so you can actually get a good water source. You can refill it. Because it's an aluminum. There is a liner inside the aluminum so the water doesn't touch Aluminum, so it doesn't give you any of the bad stuff that aluminum may give you. So it's totally safe. The water is amazing. So we created this company to say, We want to help the planet. Let's do aluminum, which is more expensive, by the way, but it's worth it. And we said, let's make the whole messaging on the company, like a really great message and really spiritual message healing message. So, and it's been incredible. It's been about six months. We didn't know anything about the water business. We're learning. That's been really fun. We've had some success. So that's been amazing.

Greg Voisen
And it's just our charitable endeavor, or is this spirit water? Is the money all going to charity that you're raising or what's happening there?

Alessandro Tronco
10% of the money is going to charities. Right now we're focusing on endangered species. There's a lot of them out in the world, that most people don't realize that that's what we're doing. But we are very troubling clients. So my wife last year, she's a breast cancer survivor. She raised $917,000 for Leukemia Lymphoma Society, in a 10 week period. So every year, LLS does this 10 week kind of competition all around the country. And why upstate New York, which is a really small market, raised the most money out of any one in a country. So she's ours. For survivor. We had a we had a little cousin that died of leukemia when he was 16. Just a beautiful soul. And so we're really passionate about giving back and one of the chapters in the book is generosity and giving back. You're not

Greg Voisen
Selena, Gina had breast cancer herself and as a survivor, too. Yeah. So you know, you guys have been touched with cancer. And that's really a great thing that not only you're doing, but is you've got this really passion for it, you can tell. And in particular gene has got a book out as to what's the title of her book?

Alessandro Tronco
Why is this happening to me? Okay,

Greg Voisen
so for all my listeners, we'll put a link to that as well. But in kind of wrapping things up, Alessandro, you know, everybody likes it take away well, at the back of your book, going deeper, they can get the takeaway, but they gotta get the book. Without getting the book, what are two or three piece of advice that you want to give people are leaving with today that can help them live a more fulfilling and meaningful life.

Alessandro Tronco
The first thing is, you have to love yourself, like just you have to love yourself, you have to find a way to love yourself, forgive yourself for all the past mistakes. It's really okay. And I think the last thing is, like, just be you. Like, I promise you, the people that really love you and care for you want you to be try to peel away all of the things that aren't you and do them one by one and doing it all at once is too scary. But Greg, I promise, I promise you if people do that, if they love themselves, or they forgive themselves, and ultimately, if you're just you, you are good enough, and people that love you will love you. And you will find this peace, knowing that oh my goodness, like this is really me. And the people that accept me for who I am, because we don't need you to be somebody else. It's, it's never good for you, or anybody asked for you to pretend to be something you're not. And I'm telling you, you're good enough, and who you are. And the people that love you will love you, regardless, and so be you.

Greg Voisen
Well, I want to thank you for giving our listeners this book. And for you who you never thought you'd write a book writing a book, I want to acknowledge you for that. The guy who drove a Bentley, a life fable, actually, as Allesandro said, it's a lot about him. And that's true, I could see that in there. But it's really about living your most authentic life. And go to the website. It's the Buddha who drove a bentley.com. There, you can learn more about the book itself. Also, when you get the book, you're going to notice there's places where you can go. And actually you could do sign up and do a consult with Alessandro as well. So definitely, he's reaching out, he's putting himself out there for you to be available for all of my listeners, please do take advantage of it. It's somebody who lives what he speaks about. And that's a quite an acknowledgment to you as well. So, thanks for being on inside personal growth. Thanks for spending the time with my listeners. Good luck to Gina and raising more money for leukemia society. We had a little talk about that or anything having to do with cancer, and blessings to you and your family. And thanks for being on the show.

Alessandro Tronco
Thanks, Greg. Thanks for having me. It's a real pleasure.

Greg Voisen
Namaste to you.

Alessandro Tronco
Namaste!