TV Host on Knowing Where to Look | Peter Murphy Lewis

🤬Is your marketing strategy confusing the heck out of you? 😡

From TV hosting to marketing director for major corporations, Peter Murphy Lewis is here to set the record straight: if your strategy is confusing, it’s costing you.

In this episode, we discuss why most CEOs over complicate marketing and how you can simplify yours to get real results. 

The best marketers aren’t noisy—the best just understand and connect with their audience better than the competition.

If you’re ready to cut through the noise and get serious about your marketing, hit play.

Follow Peter Murphy Lewis at:
https://strategicpete.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/petermurphylewis/
https://www.instagram.com/gringopeter/
https://www.facebook.com/PeterMurphyLewisOficial
https://www.instagram.com/aquitelastraigopeteroficial 

Follow Ken Okazaki at:
https://www.instagram.com/kenokazaki/
https://www.youtube.com/c/KenOkazaki
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-content-capitalists-with-ken-okazaki/id1634328251
https://open.spotify.com/show/09IzKghscecbI7jPDVBJTw

Content Capitalists YouTube 

Transcript

My behavior is more often determined by my fears than what my desires are. And that's bad. If I'm more driven by the fact that I don't want to fail at life, then I'm always running from the wrong thing. The experience of that process of that journey is completely different. And the outcome is going to be way higher as well.

If you're not running from your fears. The Content Capitalist Podcast.

Ken Okazaki: Hey, welcome to another episode of the Content Capitalist Podcast. Today, my guest is all the way in Wichita, Kansas. And here's what's interesting is he just was in Japan in April. Japan's got over a hundred million people, so we didn't end up running into each other, but. Now that he's back home, we're here talking.

It feels like it's in person. He's got his own home studio. I've got mine. And right now I've got a bunch of notes here about what this guy's done, where he's been, and the kind of experiences that he's had that I really think that anybody listening to this who's in entrepreneurship, in marketing, who's got anything to do with AI or communication, you're going to find a lot in here that you can directly apply or learn from, or just be entertained by.

By sticking around and listening to this episode, Peter Murphy, welcome to the show. 

Peter Murphy Lewis: Excited to be here, Ken. Thanks for the, uh, amazing introduction. And I know that we have the Japan thing in common. I think we both love, video. We love helping people make money off, marketing. So I'm excited to see where the conversation goes.

Ken Okazaki: Perfect. You know, I just realized I've used your first and middle name. Do people usually just skip that and go to the last name? Like Peter Lewis? 

Peter Murphy Lewis: You know, uh, in Chile, where I've spent 15 years of my life and, have a TV show, my wife's from Chile, my son was born in Chile, almost everybody knows me as Peter Murphy.

Uh, almost everybody in the U S who's not my close friend knows me as Peter Lewis. Uh, and my close friends will call me Murphy. So I can, you couldn't have messed it up if you did it just fine. 

Ken Okazaki: Yeah. It seems like a Venn, but how you divide people by what names they use. Right. And then when you're in trouble from your mother, it's Peter Murphy Lewis, get in the house right now.

So Peter, how do you help your clients make money in a nutshell? 

Peter Murphy Lewis: Yeah. So. Most CEOs come to me when they have too much data, and they don't know what to do with that data, and I help them. figure out how to make dollars out of their marketing, simplify their data and make simple, actionable steps. I'm a fractional chief marketing officer, usually I come in the strategic level and at sometimes they'll ask me to help out with execution, but I'd try to solve problems by figuring out what the issue is first 

Ken Okazaki: I think that a lot of people can use somebody who's got the ability you to take the complexity of data and just You know, just point their finger right there.

Say, focus here and all the rest we'll sort out later. With AI getting so advanced, with search already being really, really, really fast, and with, you know, all these ads platforms and social media spitting a million, you know, numbers at you, like you will never be able to read it in a million lifetimes, knowing where to look is super important.

How do you do that? 

Peter Murphy Lewis: So I don't start with AI. I think that my capability to interpret lots of information and simplify it, especially to people who don't think like a marketer, don't think in terms of revenue, might be a CEO who's technical, might be a CEO who's great at a product or a service or great at leadership, but doesn't understand revenue and marketing.

I think my success in being able to interpret it comes from my background as an educator. So I was. I was a TA in college. I was a professor right after finishing my master's degree in South America for a number of years. And then I've had 200 plus interns come through one of my, companies over the years.

So I think that I start from a very simple psychological point of view, , which is how do I. Find one or two common themes, almost kind of like when you're writing your thesis paper and you need to come up with what your hypothesis is and what you're going to try to prove. I start off with that and then I look for data that contradicts what I'm seeing.

I don't start with too much data and I definitely don't start by running it through AI. I started as a typical scientist, you know, I taught research methods for a long time. I start off with an idea before I ask anything of data. 

Ken Okazaki: Okay, well, you started on this and I'm going to loop back to what you're talking about here with, about the data.

Let's go into your past a little bit. you already mentioned that you were in Chile. You mentioned, uh, being a professor, an educator. What else is there? Now I've got the list here, but I want to hear from you because I see this list so long. It reminds me of that meme that goes around of the Chinese astronaut, right?

And it says, something about your. Chinese mother would never be so disappointed as, like, don't let this, your mother meet this guy. Cause he's like a Navy seal and he's an astronaut and he's a heart surgeon and a cup and a lawyer or something. And this is a real guy in his late thirties or something.

Have you seen that meme going around? No, no. That's what I feel like next to you. So let's see, let's hear it. Like, CNN. Foreign affairs correspondents, right? I'll tell 

Peter Murphy Lewis: you the impressive things that I don't think matter. So, CNN, It matters when 

Ken Okazaki: someone's on a podcast and asking you to show off.

Peter Murphy Lewis: Yeah, they look good for accolades and for introductions, and you'll realize after you get to know me, you know, in 20 or 30 minutes, that's not how I judge myself. But the superficial things that impress people in the first five minutes are, you know, I was on a CNN political analyst at the age of 25, regularly talking, um, about international politics.

and then I was on morning shows on a regular time. And then I worked for ABC nightline when they covered the big earthquake in Chile in 2010 and then the Chilean miners. And so I slowly got into TV as kind of a fixer and a commentator. And I got my own TV show in 2017. And I just filmed, finished filming another TV show in the U S.

July 7th. I just finished. So I'm still in. The TV world. I'm now doing my own shows, hosting my own shows. I just, produced, directed and hosted my own documentary that comes out in October. Most of those I say don't matter because I do them because I enjoy them, not because it makes me feel important. Um, other accolades, I mean, I guess I can't think of any others that.

Might impress somebody, you probably have them better in front of me. Um, I think what matters is, that I'm a dad to a 7-year-old who's spectacular. I've been with my wife for 14 years. I just convinced my parents into retiring, about seven blocks from my house.

I try to see my parents every single day. Those are the things that matter. But from a marketing point of view, that would align with your audience, lots and lots of content, you know, YouTube, Podcaster, TV, working and private equity turnarounds and so forth, 

Ken Okazaki: the stuff that you listed after the fancy titles, I think deep down inside, that's what everybody really Wants, but it's not what's spoken about enough on tv, therefore, or social media, that's not what people post about or at least that gets that much attention.

So I think what's happening is we're being trained to talk about those other things as if every conversation we're having is a job interview versus what actually fills you up and makes you happy. And one of the things I love doing is I love Lego. I grew up, I just love building stuff and sure, you know, the, fancy kits are great, but I just like a big box of, random parts and making something really amazing out of it, especially the Technic series, you know, with the gears and all that and the hinges and then, you know, the mechanical movement is absolutely fascinating to me.

and you said that, uh, you, you've been married 14 years, congratulations. We just had our 21st anniversary, my wife and I, and I am very proud of that. Like that does fill me up thinking about all the years we've been together. So absolutely, that's what fills you up the most. But when we're like, we're here, we're both professionals, we're business owners.

It's so easy to just get onto business accomplishments and fancy titles because, that's what everybody else is asking for. So thanks for the reminder. Appreciate that a lot. 

Peter Murphy Lewis: No, I think it's good to stay grounded. I remember when I first got offered to be a TV host, I had a very, very smart friend who I would say he is depositing into his personal bank north of 10 or 20 million a year, extremely successful financially, he said.

Everybody who's rich either wants more power or they want fame. And he said, now you got fame. And I, I'll never forget that. You know, that was in 2017 and that person still brings up to me that he wishes that he was famous, that he wished people recognized him, that people knew how great he is at what he does and all he has is money.

It doesn't make any sense to me. Right. Like, the friends that I've had that I've lost in life, whether it be, you know, to suicide or car accidents or bad health. None of them care about those professional things that you and I are talking about. They, they cared that I was a good friend and now I miss him.

I just want one more day with him. I mean, who cares about another day of fame? 

Ken Okazaki: Yeah, this is true. This is true. You know, the thing that puzzles me, because we've both had some experience in marketing and you've been, you know, in the production and TV space for some time. is when someone does have a lot of money, it is not difficult to purchase fame.

It's just not. I think that somehow they feel like because they earned their money, they also should earn their fame instead of buying it. So they have this bias toward, I don't want to pay for it. I want to I want it to come to me organically, which I think is like, you know, trying to be a ballerina and an NBA, superstar at the same time that they're two different professions, you know, your body and your, your brain will be tuned for one or the other.

the people who have both are very, very rare. And if you just look at any presidential election, which right now, I think What you guys have going on over there is, a drama for the whole world to watch unfold every four years. But the ones who don't get funding don't get elected, period.

Right? So the fame is purchased, which then goes in and gives them the opportunity to have the seat of power, but it's the money buys the fame, the fame buys the power, and this progression is, to me, it just seems very logical. It's business and money drives these kind of things. When you do a TV show, of course, there's the virality.

if it's a really great one, But without the initial push for the advertising, unless you're on a network like Netflix or something, even they do it without that push, that movie doesn't have a, you know, any chance of being a blockbuster in terms of box office sales. Right? 

Peter Murphy Lewis: Yeah, it's similar to helping out a restaurant that does maybe.

Great ramen are great hamburger. is. No one ever finds out they're not also going to be famous for their hamburger their ramen. So it's true what you said. I had never thought about it that way. That, you know, kind of rich and powerful one to earn their fame the same way that they earn their, money and their power.

I think that that is true in most cases. And, you're right that it is simpler. it's definitely simpler to buy fame than it is, to become rich because of power or to become powerful because you're rich. there's a playbook for it and you can buy impressions.

They have the money. 

Ken Okazaki: Yeah, I know this cause I've had clients. I have clients who are, you know, earning eight figures a year and they come to me and they're just like, I want you to get me on social media and I want this video to go viral, that video to go viral. And I'm like, great, you know, let's, let's put this together and let's push some ads.

They're like, no, no, no, no, no, this just has to go viral. I'm just like, That's the longer road. I can guide you and help you, but you know, if you put some gas in the tank, we'll get there faster. Otherwise we're pushing this van uphill for, you know, for a long time. and it's just that psychology is, is there where they feel like Especially the ones who come from rags to riches, they have that backstory and it's wired in them.

I have to earn it. You know, I, I can't be the guy who uses an e bike to go up the hill. No, no, no, no. I'm gonna, push this rickshaw all the way up and we're going to put rice bags and sandbags in it. And I'm going to put ankle weights on. And then I'll feel like I really got it. And I think that it's, it reflects on imposter syndrome.

there's that part of every rags to riches person who at some stage has imposter syndrome and they have to keep proving that they're worth what other people think they're worth. They got to prove to themselves. And it's a psychological shift. Now we're, we're going deep into psychoanalytics here and that's not what this is mostly about.

Let's hear from you. You went and transitioned from a few different things to doing what you're doing now, which is CMO and making, TV shows. What lessons have you learned that translate from, you know, like you learned early on that you're still using today that's consistent across these different industries and, professions?

Peter Murphy Lewis: Oh, I think there's two things. One is from a marketing point of view, from a business point of view, and it has its roots in psychology. And I don't know who taught me this, but I would die by this truism, which is every human wants to be connected and be understood. And that matters with our teammates.

It matters between me and you in this simple conversation. It matters between, you know, myself and my wife. and from a marketing point of view, it's similar. So going back to why does the rich person want to be famous? I think it's, they don't feel connected in their close proximity of their acquaintances.

So they want to be connected with people that they don't know. That simple idea has helped me. So much from a business point of view, from a marketing point of view as a fractional chief marketing officer, from creating content, from building TV shows and YouTube channels and writing books. and You know, whether I'm writing copy or I'm building out a strategy, I almost always go back to like some really, really basic first principles thinking, and I try to determine how do I help a person feel more connected with the universe, with their environment, with their family? and how do they want to be understood, right?

Like, how do I speak their language? How do I not make them feel inferior? How do I make them feel that we either play on the same pickleball court or we Go bass fishing at the same lake or maybe we take both vacation at the high end Lots of you know, same casino make sure that they feel like they understand and that I understand them that's the first one and then the second one You Going even deeper.

And I think this is important to me for my own sanity as a business person to avoid envy, and it comes from a book from a gentleman named Chip. Chip Conley. Um, it's called the Emotional Equations and it saysthe level to which you will be happy in life has to do with, how you manage your expectations Your happiness in life is a direct relationship between expectations in life divided by reality. And me staying grounded in expectations makes me a better leader, makes me a better business person. It helps me not take clients that I don't want to work with. and makes me a better dad.

I know that this is a podcast. It's not necessarily visual, but there's, you know happiness is reality divided by expectations tattoo on my forearm. 

Ken Okazaki: I love that. now what you said is, it was amazing. Now, the reality and expectation. I've found a lot, a lot, lot, lot to that same thing. I learned that from somebody I went to in a personal development workshop. And I think he said something like the quality of your relationship is the quality of your expectations. fittings. but circling back to this is, do you find like, there's like a water and oil effect between entrepreneurism and human relation where as an entrepreneur, you want your expectations to almost be unrealistic or, you know, statistically entrepreneurs are, geared to do things that make them fail.

because growth gets you out of your safety zone, right? And then when you're not in your safety zone, you're doing things, you don't know what you're doing, exploring things, taking risks. If you don't have high expectations of yourself from a business perspective, do you think that's gonna hurt your growth?

And I understand that the, Mental health part and the relationship of happiness and satisfaction. And I could say that, yes, I can be extremely happy if my expectation is that nobody's going to pay me money. And that might, you know, or that my work is going to be mediocre at best, but that doesn't give me that fire in my belly to want to compete and. Do a better job of serving my customers. clients in the market than anybody else. So how do you deal with that conundrum? 

Peter Murphy Lewis: I think it's a great question. and I definitely am glad you asked it because I don't want to be misinterpreted as saying that you need to be content and you need your expectations and life needs to be as close to your reality.

I think people need to dream big and I don't think big things happen unless someone's willing to have high expectations. Where, at least, I find a difference is, I think that success is often done in the prep work, so I have high expectations of my preparation for if I don't win the contractor, if I don't win the race, or if I don't get another TV show.

It's not because I didn't prepare harder than everybody else and expect more out of myself in that process. There are variables that are outside of my performance that will impact the outcome. And that is what I'm thinking about that you need to manage your expectations. So I just did a proposal for a huge client.

It's probably one of the biggest contracts that I'll get in, in the next couple of months. And no one put in the time, no one did the audit, no one did the research. I built out an entire strategic plan for them that could easily have cost me, you know, five to 10, 000 if I would have charged just for the work.

But what I'm going to get out of it is, six figure monthly contract. There's a small chance I'm not gonna get it, but I'm not gonna be upset if I didn't get it.I know that I did an amazing job at it. And, I'll give it an example, and I learned this from when I turned 40.

Um, I decided I was gonna run a marathon before I turned 40, and I did. And I won the marathon. So then I finished the marathon and. I realized I first 

Ken Okazaki: marathon? 

Peter Murphy Lewis: First marathon. And then I You 

Ken Okazaki: won the first marathon that you ran. 

Peter Murphy Lewis: Well, it's not perfect because it was during COVID and there wasn't hundreds of thousands of people.

So it wasn't extremely competitive, but I did win, but the story goes, then I realized I needed to win more. And so I trained for an ultra marathon, which is 50 miles, is 80 some kilometers. And so I prepared for that. And that time I decided not only was I going to prepare. And was I going to win? I was going to prepare and I was going to the journey that time in case I didn't win.

So I trained without any headphones. Never listened to a podcast, never listened to any music. And I trained on a high school track of 400 meters to prepare myself psychologically, that I was going to enjoy every single step. And I did win the ultra marathon, but my expectations in life was that I was going to enjoy the preparation as much as I enjoyed the outcome.

I think I answered your question on how can you have big aspirations, big expectations, but at the same time, manage them when the outcome is not what you expect it to be. 

Ken Okazaki: Absolutely. I would picture this like you draw a circle around yourself and what's inside the circle is what you can control or effect and what's outside is what you can't.

And you got high expectations for what's inside and what's outside you know, it's up to the universe, you know, what's going to happen. I don't know if the CEO that I'm pitching, if his wife is having a bad day and she just says, I think we should pick this other person or there's nepotism or political motivation or financial motivation, you know, there's just so many externalities. And, sometimes I walk away from a deal that didn't go through and it's a head scratcher, but yeah, I've learned to just disassociate myself from, those also. Otherwise, I don't think I'd have sanity. I don't think I'd be, I think this is my seventh year since, in entrepreneurship. I don't think I would have lasted past two if I didn't get over that. 

and also I don't think I would have grown if I didn't have, keep raising the bar for what I expect of myself and what I can control. Also. I think you nailed that. Absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. I think a lot of people listening have that internally, especially if you're in your first decade.

And, uh, I don't know if imposter syndrome ever completely goes away. Could you talk a bit about that? How's that? Ever happened? Have you ever felt that? 

Peter Murphy Lewis: Yeah,kind of on my way to answering that question, when I became an entrepreneur in South America, I started to be hired as a public speaker for executive MBA programs from the us, from France, from Canada, from Cambridge and so forth that would travel to Chile with their executive, MBAs and.

I came to find out the company that was hiring me because I got good reviews from the audience. They were hiring me because I was talking about mental health inside of my success. So I was already successful at that point. I'd been in New York Times twice with my companies. Beyonce and Aerosmith was in my office and, you know, Best Tourism Company in South America and just blowing up.

Everywhere from a branding and from a financial point of view. But what they had me come into was talk about these more mental health things. And I think it's these mental health things that helped me be successful. And also when some of those were taken away because my company went out of business because of social unrest, and I had to lay off 50 people, I was also prepared because of the work that I'd done in the meantime.

So with kind of into the imposter syndrome, my imposter syndrome, the way that I define it. And I discovered this from a workshop that I did with Tim Ferriss. Tim Ferriss, I believe, did a Ted talk around fear setting, and I translated his exercise of fear setting into something that guides me, which is I think, speaking for myself, I feel like I am more driven or my behavior is more often determined by my fears than what my desires are, and that's bad, right?

Like if, if I'm more driven by the fact that I don't, want to fail at life. then I'm always running from the wrong thing. I'm not running for the right end line. If I'm running for, you know, 10 million of revenue, or if I'm running for having the most successful wife for the most successful marriage, instead of running from the fact that I don't want my wife to cheat on me, the experience of that process of that journey is completely different.

And believe me, the outcome is going to be way higher as well if you're not running from your fears. So my imposter syndrome, from a little kid was never living up to the success that my, father and my grandfather has is very successful bank entrepreneurs that grown into, you know, Very, very large banks that they built themselves.

And then it was into imposter syndrome that, my mom and my dad didn't go to college. I have to do more than that. I can't fail in front of them. I have the fear of failing. That the only thing that I'm going to do great in front of them is finish college cause they didn't. So then I finished my master's and then I did my PhD.

I didn't figure out all of those things that I was running from until I was about 12. And so now going full circle back to why I spoke. I think they were having me speak to these executives. So they don't have to wait until they're 30 to figure out how an important motivating factor fear is, and your goals should be something positive, not something negative.

Ken Okazaki: I love that. similar to you, I think I kicked off entrepreneurism from a fear and. this actually happened when I was much younger, I think I was 11 or 12 and. I was walking through a part of Tokyo where there's homeless people and, you know, usually the tourists end up in the nice, fancy, glitzy places, but there are homeless people.

And I was just wondering, like, you know, how did they end up like that? And around the same time on TV, I saw they were interviewing some of these people. And for the most part, these guys are all, you know, university graduates. a lot of them were top level executives, engineers, newspaper editors, really respected, highly educated people.

And one of two things happened. Number one, their, business went down, they went under, or they made one bad decision. Like they cheated on their wife or the gambling or something that just got them in the spiral. And ever since then, I always felt like my whole life from whatever I have now to being homeless on the street is going to be a result of either a business failure or one bad decision.

And that fear of either one of those two things. it was a formative, you know, time in my life. And I think that's stuck with me and which is why I drive so hard to do the opposite. And. I'd like to ask you, how do you shift from being fear motivated to being, outcome oriented in terms of, you know, the connections in your life and the happiness that you actually want?

I did it through lots of therapy, lots of vulnerability. I've always been an extremely vulnerable person. I've always worn. My mistakes on my sleeve.

Peter Murphy Lewis: very transparent, great background. Amazing parents, um, great wives. I think, I don't know if I was capable of figuring that out earlier than I did. kid. I'm a smart man. For me, it was just about time. And I think mine came earlier than others, right? Like I know 50 year olds and 60 year olds and 70 year olds who are still running from fear, who are still making decisions based around power or fame, or wealth.

you know, kind of to your point around, there's only one bad decision between you being successful, maybe being homeless. It can be true, but it also depends on how you live your daily life. So in 2019, I lost everything. I lost my entire company, successful brands, right? I lost my house.

I was uprooted from the city and the country that I want to live the rest of my life in and came back to the U S where I liked the U S, but it's not where I want to live. I didn't feel like I was, from the U S hadn't lived here in 15 years. And that process of having my title stripped from me as business owner, entrepreneur and founder for about three years, when I didn't know what I was going to do again, I had to deal with myself saying that I'm an employee.

I'm a contractor. And I didn't actually go back to entrepreneurship because I didn't like those tags. I went back to, Entrepreneurship, because I started to deal with my fears. I was afraid of failure again. I was afraid of having a team of, 50 people depend upon like me again, and all of that being pulled from underneath me 

So I decided to get rid of that fear and I obviously embraced entrepreneurship and came back in a way more successful today, four years later with a much smaller team, with bigger revenue, with fewer people and fewer clients and everything is easier. But on my way there, I was also more tactical, more strategic about making sure that, if I was one bad decision or one civil unrest or one protest away from losing everything again, it would never hurt us as much.

Right? So like my wife and I are so extremely frugal. we easily save 50 to 70 percent of our income monthly. and truly today I'm 44 years old. I think my wife and I could retire today, but I enjoy, working, you know, and have these conversations with you.

I, I think as I get older, you know, I just turned 44 last week. And as I get older, my thoughts are is I only want to work on problems that I enjoyed solving. And it doesn't really matter what the financial impact is behind it. 

Ken Okazaki: I didn't realize how similar we are.

We were to each other until you just said this. uh, you know, super frugal. Our kids, like they keep shaking their heads. by the way, I was born same age as, same as you in 1980. Turned 44 in, uh, April. but, this is not really about me, but just a brief brief background. we started really early with our family and, I was a filmmaker in Uganda when I met my wife, who's French, we got married there and actually started our family there in 2020.

So my oldest, they're in their twenties, my youngest is 16. And so they're at that, I had to give you this context because when they're just like, why are we like doing meal prep and buying, you know, chicken, frozen chicken in bulk? and then not going to the restaurant because they have a pretty good idea of how much we're making as a business, as business owners, but they look around at their friends.

They're just like, what, like they're driving a porch and what like your car is 10 years old. And these kind of questions and we just have different goals, like we put away like 60 70 percent every month into, savings and into investments is just a different generation. I think that is not as interested in that.

Peter Murphy Lewis: I love it. my son's birthday is coming up his 8th birthday and yeah, he's, you know, he's very used to us being frugal. And about once a year, he'll ask me a version of this question. Which is, are we poor? And it usually has to do with something comparing us to his friends or his friend's parents type of thing.

You know, we're a one car family. when my wife and I travel, we travel standby without an airplane ticket. so that we can travel all over the world. we went to Saigon together as a couple. We were in Tokyo together as a couple and we flew standby. and he's like, No one else flies this way.

And I'm like, yeah, but no one else you know is going to Brazil for six months in winter like you are, and you and I are gonna learn Portuguese. And he's, his birthday's coming up. And he said to me, he said, dad, can we start making a list for my birthday? And I said, yeah, for sure. what do you think you wanna put on there?

And I said, you know, the more you read books, the more gifts dad will get you. Right. It's the, there's a direct correlation between books, knowledge and, and gifts. He goes, yeah, yeah. He goes, but let's make this easier. Last year, I gave you a bunch of ideas and then you went and looked on Facebook marketplace because you always buy me new stuff.

Can we just go look at Facebook marketplace first? And this is like a JC Penney's catalog. He's looking what's available instead of telling me what he wants based on price. 

Ken Okazaki: Wow. Wow. I love that. I really do. Thanks for sharing that. I think that, uh, we got to have another conversation and, uh, get to know you better because there's, there's a lot that's, uh, similar.

we'll both be on standby and whoever gets you know, the opening first, we'll fly to the other guy's house. Tokyo to Kansas. What is that route? I guess probably through, uh, Seattle, right? 

Peter Murphy Lewis: It was through Dallas. I did through Dallas, this one. 

Ken Okazaki: Okay. No, but if I were to come see you, that would probably be the, It'll be San Francisco or Seattle probably, the, from Tokyo.

And then there's flights from there. I want to give something juicy to our audience. I'm going to paint a scenario here. I've got a client and I'm not going to name her, but she's an MD. And she's really cracked the code on helping women with, autoimmune issues and hormonal imbalances. And she does this through education, through figuring out what foods are triggering these flare ups or pain and stuff like that.

And I know her stuff works and I took her on as a client because my wife was her client. She was having a lot of pain. All of her body went to six different doctors. Doctors just, they just kept giving her supplements and run arounds and painkillers and all kinds of stuff that did nothing to help her.

And some took her backwards. And then we found this online doctor who does this through an education process and it's expensive. Because it's not, you know, subsidized by any kind of insurance company. By following her advice, we, like my wife, is the healthiest she's ever been. That pain is gone. And she does this in a group setting.

Now, with someone like that, wanted to have a platform where it's mainstream in situations where you, like you, where you create documentaries, where you put things on TV, if you were to brainstorm how to get someone like that, a show so that they could have that reach and help more people, you know, And there is monetary gain to be sure.

She will get more clients and she will be, you know, put on TV shows and the opportunities will arise. How would you engineer that to happen with the experience that you have? 

Peter Murphy Lewis: So I have some, questions before I brainstorm. Is her audience big enough that if she had a TV show or a successful YouTube channel or successful podcast, that she would be able to monetize that or the person who's going to back her would make money?

Or is it more of her personality that would make it like, is the knowledge that she's giving enough to a big enough audience that whoever's going to back it is going to make money? 

Ken Okazaki: I believe so. She's got close to a hundred thousand people in her, like in her private communities online. people who have paid some amount of money to learn from her.

Now there are people who have paid some amount to be in kind of like a general form, and then there are people who've paid a lot more, and that's probably in the two or three thousand range, uh, to be her, her actual patients and she, and through her education program. 

Peter Murphy Lewis: do her clients have enough money to do in person events?

Ken Okazaki: Yes. 

Peter Murphy Lewis: I think I would start there. That's the first thing I think that I would start. I would start documenting these. transformational changes that she is helping achieve with her clients. So I would probably, you know, bring in a hundred to 500 to a thousand people, once a year, once a quarter and creating an in person community there that makes those stronger.

And I would start to document all of that, document it with raw cameras, and then find a way that where's the medium that is most likely going to translate and have the biggest impact on the rest of the people. and show. Find it right after you have kind, essentially you're gonna have case studies that are authentic.

You're creating the reality yourself. We got, we got thousands 

Ken Okazaki: of these already. Yeah, yeah. Video case studies and stuff. So are you saying that what the TV studios want, that the Netflix is the Amazon Prime. What they want is to have some kind of proof that this person can captivate an audience in a live setting, therefore.

They have a higher chance of success if it goes out mainstream on TV. 

Peter Murphy Lewis: Yeah. So my experience now having recently produced and directed my own documentary and had to go through with the proposal and the pitching and then the selling. And then now I just filmed my second TV show, for a completely different TV channel.

What I've started to realize that once you get your first one, it's a domino effect because There are three unknowns that are really risky for the financial backer. Whether it be Netflix or public television or whatever. There's unknown, as if the person is organized enough to do something in a medium that's outside of their comfort zone, right?

Like I might be able to be an amazing fractional CMO. Could I be a CEO? You and I know that they don't always translate exact same thing, right? So she might be great at helping people in group therapy of 20 people or 40 people, but being organized enough to pull it off on TV, it's a different muscle, different muscle flow.

Second one is, is she charismatic? enough because it's very different to be in an intimate setting with one camera and speaking with your friends and people you've known for a while. But in order for camera to be effective, you almost have to be able to pull off kind of the Bill Clinton.

Um, they always say Bill Clinton could make everybody feel that he was the only person talking to them in the room, or he was, you were the most important person in the room and you have to be able to pull that off on camera. And why it's particularly hard on camera, what I'm starting to realize is because the people that you are interviewing, no matter how great you are on camera, they're not going to be necessarily good on camera.

And the way that you make them forget that cameras are there is making that person feel the most important person in the room. And then I think the last thing is, is those, the things that I just mentioned, is it going to translate over to a two hour documentary? Is it going to translate over to an hour TV show?

Is it better as a 90 second clip on YouTube? Right? That format. is a big guess. And if there's a lot of money to do it, right? Like the documentary that I did, you know, in terms of cost is well over 30, 000. Uh, TV shows well over 300, 000 and TV's dying, right? So YouTube and TikTok are picking up and Netflix and the rest of streaming are trying to stay on, but it is a big risk.

And so if you and Chi can find ways to prove those three big fears that you can overcome those fears, it's going to be a lot easier for you. 

Ken Okazaki: And would you put this across the board for anyone who wants to go down this path? Because I've had multiple people ask me this. And lately I don't watch too much TV, but on Netflix I've seen things like, Rajit, you know, who did, I will, I'll teach you to be wealthy or something.

Right. And then there was, there's a few other ones where they talk about health and nutrition over a series. they're setting up these mini gurus in finance, in health, in diet, in psychology. And I think that a lot of clients, business owners, especially experts are seeing this since they needed themselves.

how can I grab a piece of that pie? And how can I be in that position? Can you recap what you said again, like the main points that they should be looking at if they want to go down this route? 

Peter Murphy Lewis: Yeah. and then afterwards, I want to give a couple of examples of way to get your, feet wet, Whether it be through a podcast or through conventions or, um, through YouTube, I think that there's ways for you to test it that will actually help you overcome some of the fears.

So I think the first one is. Are you a capable CEO of the project that you say that you're gonna pull off, right? Because no one else wants to be a CEO. Like if I am at a TV company, just because you are great at talking about this health and solving people's problems doesn't mean I'm passionate about it.

I want you to do the project because I'm not your buyer persona. I don't even understand what you're doing. I know that it's great, but I can't be the CEO of it. So. There has to be a figurehead that has a proven track record of being able to carry this off because it's similar to a super bowl, right?

Like you and I could put together a pajama party for our kids. could you and I put together, you know, a concert for 500 people? Probably not. There's a chance that I would run out of hot dogs, water, and toilet paper. I just forget different ball game. The second one is the charisma, the charisma factor.

It's not just about you, it's about the people that are going to be part of your show. And those people are going to be intimidated by cameras. So you have to be uniquely good, um, at making sure those people are going to feel comfortable. Um, at least as the star of the show. Uh, and then the last one, and I don't think I expressed this one as well, so I'll try to do it better.

Which is the format of the show is very important. And I heard this on a podcast last week with Bill Simmons. And the gentleman said that he was interviewing. He says, it's absolutely stupid that we continue to do one hour TV shows when all of the streamings could do 21 minutes. They could do 107 minutes.

We could do 220 minutes. We're still sticking to this 30 minutes, 60 minute, two hour format when TikTok and YouTube has told us that that is completely broken. So, and that's just a time example, but you have to think about like in my most recent. TV show that, that I did this summer in the U S we changed the style of it.

So different from my first TV show that it doesn't look the same, except that you hear my Spanish, my gringo, American accent in it. Other than that, everything is different. The cameras are different. There's no interview with me in it. it's a hundred percent chronological, whereas the previous was cut up and clipped and formatted and so forth.

Those details as like an entry level content creator, this. Idea that that, that this client of yours has taken that format is kind of like a business model. You need to think about it as a business model. You and I could be like, Hey, I know about ads. Well, you and I don't, maybe you and I don't know the business model of how to sell ads.

Are we gonna charge people a thousand dollars for when we run ads? Are we gonna charge 'em a percentage? Are we gonna have a bonus when we make money for them? Like the business model around this creation is also important, and that means format. Moving on to the, the thing that I said beforehand, so. I would suggest that people start to play around with content and things that are a lot easier to do and freer to do and then you can make mistakes and that'll let you get through the mistakes on free, not on somebody else's bill and you don't have the pressure.

So like, you know, you and I are recording right now on Riverside. I'm pretty sure Riverside has a plugin to LinkedIn so that if you wanted, you and I wanted to live stream this in real time, it would send out notifications to every single person you and I are connected to on LinkedIn. That's a lot riskier, right?

But start off doing what you and I are doing recording. Three months from now, start doing it live. Right? Go to a convention, be a public speaker, go to a convention, take your podcast equipment with you and interview people live. You're getting closer to what we're talking about, which is a program, which is more serious, which is Netflix.

there's a huge gap between being great at what you do in a room with 20, patients. and being able to pull office series production. But there's a lot of things that you can do for free. In between there, that will make people. 

Ken Okazaki: Thank you for that. I appreciate that. how much do you think the size of someone's online audience affects the executive producer or whoever's paying for the thing to want you on the show?

Because the bigger it is, I assume that, okay. Well, Yeah, they can contract you, say you have to promote it to your audience. And then if you have four million people, then you're good. And then there's a higher chance that your short's going to be a success cause they'll bring their audience to the producers platform.

Tell me about that. 

Peter Murphy Lewis: I think that there are probably at least two types of executives. Those who believe that you need a following, to improve. And then there's a percentage of people who like to discover people. Um, I am in, that camp, right? I like, I didn't use social media before I had my TV show.

I only log into Instagram and only use my Facebook and so forth when my show is airing or they're showing it a second time. But the executives who believed in me, believed in my ability of connection with human people. Um, to overcome my lack of audience. So they would put in the audience, I would bring the talent.

I think the majority of people fall into the first example, I would say that's the majority. But the opportunity that exists is if you're in my camp, which you don't have a strong following when you first start out is one is you're a lot. You're a lot cheaper and you're less set in your ways, right?

Like. when I went in, I went in as, as a baby, as a fresh fish. And I said, I don't really know what I'm doing. I need tons of feedback. I need everybody to tell me what I'm doing wrong. And everybody told me like, Hey, Peter, you, this is how you forget about the cameras. Hey, Peter, this is how you ask the question.

The question sounded bad. Ask the question this way. Um, Hey, when the cameras are here, I need you to move your shoulders. I need you to position yourself this way. If I had a big audience and I thought I knew what I was doing, I bet you I'd be way less receptive. What executives were actually teaching me and they did teach me.

the difference between how I started off in content, you know, when I was on CNN in 2006 to when, who I was, when I started my TV show in 2017 to who I am now when I just did my fourth season is really big. So if you're in my camp, don't be afraid. You also have an opportunity with certain people who like to discover talent.

It's cheaper for them and they can form you. 

Ken Okazaki: Appreciate that. All right, I wanna close this off soon, but I've got a couple of last questions. One of them is, I know you've been, you've met with, and maybe even worked with a lot of famous people, you know, Paul McCartney, Errol Smith, Beyonce, people like that.

There's that saying, never meet your heroes because they may disappoint you. In your case, who's somebody you met who you genuinely felt like this person is so genuine and. I really, really feel like they're the kind of human that I want to be or emulate in some way. Can you give me an example of that?

Peter Murphy Lewis: It's not going to be anyone famous. Um, and not, because they might not have been that. It's just because I'm not usually starstruck and I don't seek to be around those people. So when they're around, you know, I let my team or, I give those people extra space. The people who've had that kind of lasting impact on me, are probably a certain type of leader.

So there's a gentleman who comes to my mind right now. who helped me grow my podcast when I was in the long term carry out space. And he had me flip my podcast from focusing on CEOs. to focusing on frontline caregivers. And he's also one of the reasons that I went and became a certified nurse's aid, so that I could go into nursing homes and take care of America's seniors.

And, which ended up being where I did documentary. My documentary is about the first line caregivers who take care of America's seniors. So like, his impact that he had on me professionally was probably much greater than he thinks. Um, his name's Bob Spielman and he's an example of a person who does not want to be on camera.

He is a person who's goal in life is to empower people to make a big difference, in their own lives, on other people's lives, to be fulfilled. And his approach to giving value first, to helping first has had a big impact on how I business career, my relationships, my now, you know, like my dad was very similar to Bob Spielman, but he was my dad.

So I probably didn't appreciate it in the same way Bob had an impact because I ended up becoming a CNA and the way that I took my podcast was because of him. and to see how it translates into my work as an entrepreneur, but also as a father. So I'll give you two examples. My, my son came home from.

summer camp the other day. And he said, Hey dad, I got camper of the day. And I said, I got down to his level. I tried to get that his level. I got down on a knee and spoke to him. I said, I think this is one of the most important accomplishments that you've shared with me in many, many months. And he said, why?

And I said, I said, because what I've learned in life. Being more, more important than being smart is being helpful. Cause I asked him what camper the day meant. He goes, it means I'm the most helpful. I'm the most obedient. I help the teachers pick up things. I followed the rules. I helped with little kids. I helped with difficult kids.

I got kids out of fits and so forth. I cleaned bathrooms, whatever. And I said, the majority of success that I've had in life is because I've been the most helpful person in the room. I was born dialectic. I was born cross eyed. I have a lot of things, uh, mental health struggles in my life, but I've always been the most helpful person in the room and it's made me successful.

And it's the same way that I run my consultancy. I have a call, a long call tomorrow with a potential prospect. The prospect cannot assert, afford my services. She told me on the second call, I'm tomorrow, I'm doing a long call with all of her team and I'm giving her a strategic plan for the next year.

And she's not going to be able to afford me, but being helpful. off. And I think that that's the type of people who have an impact on me. So Paul McCartney might've been that type of leader. I didn't have enough time with him. Um, but Bob Spielman, my dad was, and hopefully that's what I'll teach my son.

Ken Okazaki: Thank you for that. That was a very wholesome, very wholesome piece of advice for, for me and for everybody listening. Two more questions. Second to the last one is, what do you, What are you thinking about right now in the future? 

Peter Murphy Lewis: Do 

Ken Okazaki: you have another TV show in the pipeline? Do you have another business, another industry, another child?

What's going on in your future that you can tell us about? 

Peter Murphy Lewis: Content wise, I expect to publish a book in the next six months. How to master internships and mentor, mentoring. I've had a lot of interns come under, under my wing that I've trained, and I'm going to show how I turn that process. That process is based on the book of the five languages of love.

So I try to figure out people's love language to determine how to motivate them. And I've turned that into a systemized process that you can use to bring in interns. Um, and have an impact on a younger generation. From another point from content, I hope I have a second, round of my current TV show.

The one that I just did in the U. S. on The American Dream. Uh, I want to do a second round of that. I think that we're going to get a second season that'll start in February or March. I travel with some of my best friends from the TV crew. and then from a family point of view, my wife and I and my son were going to Brazil in December for three months.

and hopefully I'll come back semi fluent in Portuguese along with my son. 

Ken Okazaki: Amazing. My oldest son was also born in Brazil, in Rio, and, uh, Yeah, well, I don't want to talk too much about his personal life. That would be up to him. But, uh, he's getting more connected to the Brazilian community here in Japan.

And that's a plus. There's so much fun. All right. Here's my last question. I find that a lot of times, advice, you can go on Instagram and find inspirational quotes or anywhere. And these, we're inundated with so much and they're great, but there's just so much doesn't feel, doesn't connect us much.

I'd like to know, what's, a question that really helped you. What's the question you ask yourself or that you've heard? And when you ask yourself it, it helps you to get clarity, to get strategically aligned, to help you out generally in life and in business. Could you give us a question that really is impactful for you?

Peter Murphy Lewis: Yeah, I love questions. and I'm right now I'm filming a lot of interviews for a YouTube channel that's going to be launched in the next week or two, and it's in Spanish cause. Um, and the name of the channel is Peter Perunta. So Peter questions, uh, questions are probably what I think is the best part of my craft of content.

The question that first comes to mind is 

what am I afraid of? I regularly ask myself, what are you afraid of? So if I wake up at two o'clock in the morning or if I'm anxious or if I'm not doing something particularly well, when I'm not performing well, it's usually because it's something I'm afraid of.

So there's some type of unconscious anxiety that I have. Uh, second question comes to mind is, what would this look like if it were simple, what would it look like if it were easy? I try to look like, I think that as humans, we often overcomplicate things. So I try to figure out what is the easiest path and see if that's actually, um, possible.

If that's actually possible, and then I think this is more of a communication thing. I, since I am a communicator and I make money off being a communicator, I regularly ask myself if I could have used better words so that more people understood what I was trying to explain or get them to do, what do those words look like?

Peter Murphy Lewis: I don't consider myself particularly great at that. words. Um, I consider myself good at communication despite not being great at words. So if I were to improve dramatically, it would be on the word side of things. 

Ken Okazaki: Thank you for that. And if you could ask the listener something that if they were to take a moment, dig deep and answer this sincerely, what would you have them ask themselves?

Peter Murphy Lewis: I think it goes back to fear. So you, you usually know we're trained in society to say what we're going for, what our goal, flip the question. What is the fear behind that goal? What are you running from? Are you running from poverty? Are you running from being a nobody? Are you running from having no power?

think about the opposite of the goal and take into account how impactful that, might have on your behavior. 

Ken Okazaki: Thank you for that. Thank you so much, Peter. And this is very, very, uh, it was a wholesome conversation. It's the best way I would describe this. It, and I love your journey.

So I would also encourage anybody who's listening and sometimes, you know, I'm having this conversation. I feel like I totally forgot that there's going to be a, you know, people listening publicly on a podcast. I just felt like it was you and I, you had a bit of the Bill Clinton effect on me during this, but, uh, anybody who's listening, I do encourage you to check out the links inside of the show notes down below if you're on podcast, or if you're watching this on YouTube, it'll be down in the description.

And Peter, is there anything, a link that you have that you, that will be the first, the best first, contact for people to, research you about? 

Peter Murphy Lewis: Yeah, go, you go look at my website, strategicpete. com. Um, look me up on LinkedIn, Peter Murphy Lewis. Um, I accept every single connection, even those people who are sending stupid spams into my direct message.

I accept your connection. Um, and then be prepared while I block you, but I won't block anyone from this show. Send me a message, tell me your friends with Ken. and, uh, thank you so much. 

Ken Okazaki: All right. Thank you so much, Peter. It was, I think that for the right person at the right time, this is going to be the podcast that's going to, uh, Really hit them in the right spot and help them.

And for everybody else who's listening, thank you so much for listening to the show and I'll see you again next week.

No hassle, worship here, we're a different breed. Action is what we got if action is what you need. Us content capitalists, we're breaking the flow. Cuz the old ways stay, new stories to be told. So content capitalists, get to the press.