Joseph Shalaby Faith, Success, and the Power of Servant Leadership

Ben BeeriWhat's up, everyone? Welcome to the Authentic Journey. Today, I'm excited to be joined by inspiring entrepreneur, Joe Shalaby.

Joseph ShalabyThanks for having me. Joseph Shalaby, founder and CEO of eMortgage Capital, host of Coffees for Closers. Also the number one social media mortgage influencer on social media. You can find my show on all platforms, coffees for closers on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple. Also, I am a number one bestselling author. My book is called Rising from the Sands. You can find that on Amazon.

Ben BeeriWhat more can you tell me about Rising From The Sands, Joe? It's my journey. My journey from being

Joseph Shalabya poor immigrant to total wealth and influence in Newport Beach. So I come from the poorest part of the world to the richest part of the world, Newport Beach, California, and everything in between. What did it take to come from this poor part called Helmet to Zetun of Cairo, Egypt to you know, the waterfront Newport Beach living that I'm in now. And how did that entrepreneur entrepreneurial journey start, and how did it and how is that story being told now?

Ben BeeriWhat does that mean to you?

Joseph ShalabyThat means a perpetual journey of being contrite and faithful in my journey, uh, and and being on a path of total a path of just giving my entire life up to God, you know, like, just not just being a servant, but just, you know, complete, utter giving everything up to God.

Ben BeeriThat's amazing. What do you hope to inspire in others?

Joseph ShalabyThat they live a life where they redirect themselves back to the truth because that's how they're going to find true happiness. So when you live a life of self indulgence, self righteousness, you just don't find completion. You don't find contentness. But when you live a life that you dedicate yourself to serve, to give your life to do God's work, your life will be fulfilled. And that's my mission is just to inspire others, to redirect their lives back to God, to serve God, and they will find happiness.

Ben BeeriYou seem passionate about that. Very.

Joseph ShalabyVery. Because I know it's the truth, and I've been down that path. So when you walked in a path of fire and you see the light, obviously you're going be passionate about it because you've in the fires of hell. So, you know, I want now, I'm I've just I can't say I've totally 100% committed to god's path because that's just a daily journey, but I'm slowly getting there.

Ben BeeriThat's awesome. What do you say to somebody who can't really see the light in their path?

Joseph ShalabyThere's always hope. Don't give up hope. Keep fighting. Hope never disappoints. So find a way to serve, find a way to do something for someone else, which is always there's always an opportunity. Every single day, God gives you many opportunities to do His work. So just look for the that little shimmer of light to do something for someone else and start there.

Ben BeeriIt's amazing. I'm looking to, like, multiply my money. Like, water God waters the money. You know? You know, that's the most amazing thing that actually happens. Like, when you spread energy, like, from, like, literally from a giving standpoint. Right? Yeah. Like, everything just fucking expands. You plant an Apollo waters. Yeah. That's what that's in that's biblical. That's what God that's in the Bible. What does that mean to you?

Joseph ShalabyYou do a little bit, and then God pours the water. Like, you just plant the seed, and then God does all of it. You know? Like so that's it's it's it's true. Like, I just do a little bit of God's work. He always does my work way more than I could do.

Ben BeeriSo And what's been a great example of that in your life? Everything. Me.

Joseph ShalabyMy entire being. My kids, my family, my life, my business, my children. Lift it all up in God's hands. What's your favorite piece of memorabilia?

Ben BeeriAre we recording right now? Yeah. We're we're recording. Yeah. Favorite piece of memorabilia, I would say, I like the stuff. I believe that memorabilia is based off of connection, like a personal connection. Anybody that collects a piece of memorabilia wants to connect, like, with someone or connects with a moment or with an athlete or whatever. So I would have to say that for me, my favorite pieces of memorabilia are the ones that I have obtained directly myself from athletes that have spent time around.

And, like, they've personalized it to me or written, like, personal messages on them. I'm a little biased. I'm a Golden State Warriors fan. I love Steph Curry, so I'd probably say something that's signed by Steph Curry that's personalized to me. Just that's something that I'm grateful for. Yeah. Steph's the legend. It's interesting the longevity a guy like him has. Like, he's just he's For every young man. Yeah. And it's like and but not just him in his field. Like, I mean, you talk about, I mean, looking at things.

Whether it's your field or my field. It's like to be able to do something for, like, such a long period of time really takes a certain level of consistency and a real just body of work that's just unmatched.

Joseph ShalabyHe's on another level. But his grind is on another level too. Yeah. And he's always been on another level. I watched videos of him as a young boy, like, years old, shooting from the half court shot. Like, he's just been gifted since he was born.

Ben BeeriSure. But you've gotta take whatever work ethic is there, and you've gotta multiply that. And then what are the things that actually take you to be the top 1%

Joseph Shalabyof your field? Right? He's top point o one. Yeah. Point o o one. I mean,

Ben Beerinot even Oh, o o o o o one. I mean, there's a lot of zeros to carry for sure. But it's interesting. I mean, I look at somebody like yourself and the things that you've done in the mortgage world and things that you've done building your personal brand and inspiring other entrepreneurs and inspiring families to get in their homes and stuff like that. And you're in the top 1% of your field. Carry how carry carry however many decimals as well. Right? And it's like, what what do you think goes into, like,

Joseph Shalabysomebody becoming in that top greatness level? Yeah. Yeah. It's a, it's a combination of several things. Number one would be, um, obviously work ethic. Number two is God given talent. I'm more talented than everyone that I meet in the industry in terms of sales. Right? I'm a really good sales guy. That's just my only like I would say like my my main talent that god gave me. It's like, hey, he had he's a great communicator and knows how to deliver a message and convince an audience, control a room. A lot of people and then and then like, I could charm people into like working with our organization.

And the third thing is is just being able to to really put to brand yourself like really really just market. I'm a really good marketer. A of lot people don't care about marketing as much as I do. I'm very, very passionate about marketing. So, you know, talent, communication, sales ability, and marketing have been paramount. And then one thing for me, uh, as well, I would say would be timing. My timing was impeccable. It was God's timing. So if anything, because as God get granted, timing would be number one because God allowed the timing.

Actually, all attributes are because of god, talent, timing, marketing, I mean, everything. God, I planted, god watered. So, you know, it's, um, same with, like you know, you look at Steph Curry or Kobe Bryant, like, their well, I mean, their talent was just unreal. He was born with great talent, but he just outworked everybody. And I my work ethic is unreal. Like, I would work Monday through Saturday every day. You know? I wake up in the morning and grind, and I'm I'm a really good multitasker, although people say it's not a real skill. Like, I'm really good at it. To be on a call, talking to someone, texting someone, reading an email, responding to a social media DM, all at the same time.

So, you know, so intelligence is also which is also god given is a a big attribute in my business being just intelligent. Um and I think that that also is in sports, you know, like, talk about like guys like Tom Brady and they're just geniuses with even Kobe, like, just LeBron all understood just their basketball IQs on unreal, their football IQs on real.

Ben BeeriYeah. And it's like, what are the things that you can kind of see, like, in the out like, on the, like, background or the foreground of wherever you're at in the field that you're in that kind of gives you that competitive advantage? Like, that really makes a huge difference because, yes, there's a body of work and the things that you do, but there's also, like, the different concepts that you have the capacity to understand. And the better you understand them, it's all the, like, little details and the little nuances that you can kind of implement to go and become that top one percenter.

Joseph ShalabyYeah. Yeah. And, uh, one of the things that really set me aside and probably many people who are in the top 1% and I've heard this several times. It's there's the people who are just there's and Simon Sinek said this, it's you're either a early adopter, you adopt when everyone adopts, or you're a late adopter. The people that always like are at the top 1% are early adopters. Or in in other words, you take action quickly. I hear about a pilot. I hear about something new. I hear about something that's the latest and greatest and guess what? I'm adopting immediately.

I'm implementing. I'm figuring it out like as we go. I don't wait. I don't, you know, go, oh, should I think this through? Like, I take action on the spot. Like, while they're talking about the idea, I'm like, call my team, text them.

Ben BeeriYeah. Well, it's interesting because we all sit there and think of different things that we wanna do, different actions we may wanna take, and we constantly tell ourselves. It's like, one day. I'm gonna do this one day. Yeah. One day, I'm gonna do this. One day, I'm gonna do this. But when is the time where we actually say, hey. Day one, and we start.

Joseph ShalabyYeah. I'm I'm executing day one. Same the people are saying one day are are what I call late adopters or, you know, adopters when it's, like, on time. You gotta be an early adopter if you wanna win. Adopt early, execute immediately, and, uh, and then you win. What does winning mean to you? I mean, it just means being top of the class. I got a basketball game tonight. That's a simple idea, right? You win. You beat them in the by points, you know? Um, but everything I got jujitsu training at five today, right before the game.

And, uh, same concept, like, you take down, you get a point, you get up. Everything is about, you know it's a business is a point system. We funded $650,000,000 last month, our biggest month ever. We beat all of our competitors by dollar volume. We beat them by unit volume. So everything is a point system. Whether it's basketball, whether it's jest to, whether whether it's mortgage, whether it's how much you're selling your memorabilia for. Yeah. Absolutely. I'm winning in points, you know, in everything, like dollar volume, you know, production volume,

Ben Beeriwhatever it is. And and you've you've shared with me, obviously, your your connection, obviously, with god and your connection as a father with your children. How do you help instill that winning mindset in your children?

Joseph ShalabyIt's a great question. Um, I make sure that they always know the value of, like, hard work. I make sure that they know the value of, you know, showing up, making sure they've got the value of having good teammates. And, uh, you know, like, they're gonna lose. They're gonna they're gonna get smoked in in, you know, basketball sometimes. It is what it is. Like, it just gives you an opportunity to get better. So, you know, my my small kids are all in jujitsu, um, and they play random sports, uh, they're all in different sports, football or whatever it is. And, you know, they're they're they're always like, why did I lose? Or I didn't get enough playing time or whatever. It's like an opportunity for you to practice more, an opportunity for work for you to work on your shot. So I'm always in that mindset with them to get better.

And an easy way for them to understand this stuff that's really, really, like, visible, noticeable is is sports, right? Because kids play sports and you see vast improvement every season as especially as a child. You're like, one season to the next season, they're playing a different game. So I really like the idea of sports for them. One thing I'm doing with my smallest kids that I didn't do with my older kids is jiu jitsu because, you know, it's direct direct correlation to winning because they're sparring every day. So I get to see them winning or losing. And then in that loss, like, oh, look, he he got you some he submitted you. You need to I'll give him pointers after or whatever and encourage me to start jiu jitsu because my kids are in it.

But sports and training, various training, and obviously school help with that winning mindset. But the winning mindset comes from so much. Like, I'm always trying to figure out how to make them better, how to make them winners, winners, and how to make them, you know, understand the value of being a high level performer. Because I'm a high level performer. I want them to be high level performers. I wouldn't accept anything other than that from my kids. Because they're seeing me work out every day. They're seeing me work. They're seeing me create content. So my kids, I make them create content with me. Like, we're gonna and and then they'll look like, dad, how many views did that video get?

You didn't get a million? Alright. What do I gotta do to get a million? You know, so that they understand the value of, you know, sports, content creation, education, how to get better in every vertical, implementing immediately, taking action. They're not lazy. They don't sit around like, I'm on go mode with them all the time, all day. I got them involved in all types of sports. And even on Sundays, it's like, we go to church, you know, and then then we go to the shooting range. Four years old shooting direct targets, you know?

All my kids are at the shooting range with me, we'll go to shoot three sixties, shoot work on a basketball game. Like, that's on a Sunday. Forget Saturdays when they got games and all that other stuff. So they're always, you know, in grind mode. It's not grind mode. It's fun, you know, like shooting range, basketball, but it's something to get shooting is a sport. Basketball is a sport. Everything is related to an activity.

Ben BeeriIt's amazing. And what was it for you when you were a kid that kind of got you on the path of the winning mindset? You know,

Joseph Shalabybecause I'm an immigrant. My dad didn't like, he wasn't an athlete. He didn't play sports with me. He wasn't like other than the what my dad did as an activity was like study. Bro, you gotta study. Like, dad, what am I doing for an activity? I'm gonna send you tutoring. Like, what? That's boring. Like, no. That's what you get to do. Like, I wanna play football. Nope. You're going to Kumon. So early on, like, academic academia was, like, the only thing I knew, like, what that that's all I knew to do was just academia.

Like, just be a good student, be a good steward of, you know, of school, and just try to perform at the highest level you can at school. That's all I knew about winning. Then early on, got into sales and I'm like at 14 years old, I started my first business, but I've always been entrepreneurial driven as a kid, so I didn't really have much direction with winning other than I played basketball as a youth I would say still again probably the only thing I knew about winning was basketball. And then just study, study, study, study. So be a good student and then that that was just instilled in me to just perform at a high level in education.

And, um, you know, for me, winning came because it like more out of like need. Like, when you grow up poor and you want the rich, you wanna be, like, living this richer life, you just have to perform higher and work your butt off. So I was just kinda cast into it.

Ben BeeriThat's awesome. And what do you remember about, starting your business at 14? What do you remember about that? What was it like? What was the process to making your first money? Well,

Joseph Shalabymy first business was not I didn't really do it out of a profit motive because I just wanted to do it for a good time. I started throwing events at a hookah bar. I'm Egyptian, so I started throwing parties, and I just wanted to do it for socializing. I'd get a lot of people together and get everyone in one room dancing at a hookah lounge, and that's all I knew. Making money my first true profit center was when I was 16, when I threw a big event, when I went to start going to nightclubs. And then that's when I really started like making money.

But it took a while to like figure out how to really dial that in because I was like, I was doing it for like notoriety and like just, you know, getting getting girls to like me at that young, you know, you're like, you're living with your parents, you don't really think about money. You're thinking about, you know, dating. Not a lot has changed. I'm in my forties now. Still, I'm just kidding. But you know but it really like those lessons apply today. The the the the idea of like throwing a big event, a smash event that's gonna like get everybody there, attract so many people.

What it takes to have a successful event is a lot of work, a lot of ideation, a lot of, uh, creativity, a lot of outside the box thinking, a lot of contrarian thinking. And, you know, when I started throwing events, that's when, like, I started to think like a contrarian, like outside the box, like a winner, like a true, you know, marketer and and an innovator. And that's you know, that's that started at 14 even though I didn't really make money. I was like, the idea itself was the first time it's been done. It's still being done today.

Ben BeeriSo thinking outside the box, all of the putting events together, putting people together, started kinda 14, 16, who was Joe before that in coming to build that stuff? Like, what inspired you to get there?

Joseph ShalabyUh, what inspired me was, um, just wanting a different life, you know, like wanting to have a life that was not the monotony, uh, that I had grown up in. I wanted something more. I knew that there was just more out there. There was more opportunity. There was more fun to have. And was so captive because I grew up in the Egyptian community, and all we knew were other Egyptians, and everything felt so confined. And I only knew other Egyptian people that were my friends. And I'm like, this just doesn't seem right. Like, everybody in the Egyptian community has such a closed mind.

We're immigrants here in America, and everybody we know are just a bunch of other Egyptians. And they have closed mind thinking. They're not big thinkers. Because now the Egyptian youth, or now the Egyptians now, the first generation ones, the ones that were either born here or came here when they were young like me, they're big thinkers, right? But when we were youth living in Egyptian like in these Egyptian communities where we didn't get to really expose ourselves outside of the Egyptian community, like we were small minded.

Know, like, there's just not a lot of opportunity. We didn't think about doing a lot of big things. We just thought, hey, you know, we're going to church and we're we're seeing friends on on weekends and we're doing our thing. But I knew innately there's a lot more out there. There's a lot more opportunity out there. There's a lot more that I can do with my life. And I just started to explore, started talking to people, started seeing what sort of opportunities are out there and I just started diving into nightlife. I was like, I'm this young, good looking kid. People were telling me to come to these events. Like, alright, I'm starting exploring.

So I started, you know, going to events really young. And then at 16, I explored, like, becoming an actor. I was a child actor for a couple years. I just started to, like, get out to the Hollywood era. And in the Egyptian community, all they know is church and then fellowship. And the people that we associated with, they were all doctors or whatever, but they were all just confined to the community. So there wasn't a lot of big thinkers there. Now, that's not the case because we've we have a multitude of success stories, uh, out of the Egyptian community. But you know, when you're, like, locked in and you're an immigrant and your parents don't really speak English that well, like, you only know what you know and the people you know. So

Ben BeeriIt's very true. And it's interesting. Like You're from Israel. You get it. Yeah. Yeah. It's very interesting, the whole, uh, like, generational type of thing. And when your parents come to this country, they want to give you the opportunity to thrive in a new setting. And there is more of like a mindset of, hey, how do we survive rather than how do we Yeah.

Joseph ShalabyThey're

Ben Beeriin survival mode. And

Joseph Shalabythe kids are like, screw survival mode. I'm in thriving mode. I don't want to settle for the status quo, mom. I don't wanna settle for the status quo, dad. Like, I don't wanna just be a doctor. And guess what? I'm in Newport Beach. Do know how many of my neighbors are doctors? None. No doctors. You know why? Because doctors can't afford it. You know, like, to thrive, you gotta be contrarian, thinker, or gotta be an entrepreneur. Period.

Ben BeeriWhen do you think that shifted for you?

Joseph ShalabyI mean, I became an entrepreneur young. I didn't realize the potential that an entrepreneur had until I was in my twenties. You know, I didn't know that I could be like, you know, wildly successful until I was in my twenties in the mortgage space. I had a real confused notion of what is success as a youth. I thought success was big parties, big houses, lots of beautiful ladies. That was success to me. Big cars. I didn't realize the journey to get all these things. I was just like, I got to go to events. I got to go to all these parties. I made it.

But I didn't actually accomplish those things. Because of the things I was doing, the party the throwing parties got me into these rooms. But I wasn't able to connect with these entrepreneurs at a level that would move me towards the direction that they're at. It was just it got me in the rooms.

Ben BeeriWell, I constantly think about the whole scarcity mindset shift to abundance mindset. Like, I remember for me, like, when I was younger, I'd go out and I'd go out to go eat with friends. And then it's like, oh, shit. We're ordering steaks tonight. Ordering a steak rather than a burger is like, hey. A steak could be 60 or $80 or whatever it is, and you're ordering a burger for $20. And I was always the burger guy because I wasn't to a spot where I felt like I could afford the steaks. And then I remember it's like, okay.

We're ordering steaks tonight. I got a steak that tasted pretty good. We're here in an elevated environment. It didn't bankrupt me. I'm not starving either way. Right? And then I remember it's like, okay. My mindset has now kind of shifted. I can be the steak guy. But I still remember struggling with that, me personally anyways, a few years into having my business. Yeah. And it took a little while to shift from scarcity to abundance.

Joseph ShalabyYeah. That's you know, I always talk about this with my employees. It's like, you have to have an abundance mindset, not just for money, but like, if you don't have an abundance mindset, the small things will destroy your, your production. So you'll get hyper fixated on the thing, like the smallest thing to bother you. And when you're trying to elevate yourself, like you need to stay laser focused. So an abundance mindset just drains the noise period. And it, and it helps you stay focused on growth that, so you don't even need to worry about scarcity because you're just like, you don't care.

Um, but I've always had like this mindset of just being happy and and being abundant and just knowing that, like, god's gonna provide. God's gonna deliver. Whatever it takes, like, whatever happens, like, I'm a be okay.

Ben BeeriWhere does your relationship with god come from?

Joseph ShalabyOur our our community is very like, if we do anything right, it's just making sure that everybody grows up in the church. And I heard something today. I was on in a Bible study. It's, like, really profound but so easy. It's if your prayer life is good, your life will be good. Like if your relationship with god is good, your life will be good. None of us deserve like grace from god but god gives it to us like even though we're not we don't deserve it. So, one thing I've I've been blessed with in my community is we're all very right like we we diligently attend church. We diligently attend the Eucharist. We diligently try to partake in the sacraments.

That's all we know and then from there with our relationship with god, God just provides. So what I've seen as a trend in the Egyptian community is like most people you meet that are Egyptian are gonna be successful. Like, if you guys are those who are listening to the show know Egyptians, they probably are successful. The reason for that is because they all have a good relationship with God. So God blesses his people. Same thing with Israelis. People are like, why is it why are these Jewish people so successful? It's like, why? Right? Like, you know, other than God said in the Bible, like, blessed be Israel, my people, like, they all have a relationship with God, so he just takes care of them. It's very simple.

You know? Like, those that do, there's a lot of Israelis that don't have a relationship with God. You could you could tell, you know, and those that do, they're doing great. All these, like, Orthodox Jews that I know are all killing it in life. And some of the ones that, like, that have are just, oh, I'm I'm Jewish, but I'm not practicing. I'm like, oh, I could tell. You know, you're not practicing because your life sucks. Well,

Ben Beeriit's interesting because it's like the concept of surrender and understanding that there is a higher power out there that is really meant for you and, like, giving you challenges to build your character and really giving you the fruits for accomplishing or overcoming those challenges as well and just understanding that, hey, Like, god is for me.

Joseph ShalabyNot against you. And that's what many struggle like, even I struggle. It's like, why are you imposing all these rules, god? Like, why? And, you know, even me at this age, like, I told you, I, you know, I had a girl, uh, yeah, I got divorced and then I I was in a relationship. I broke up my girlfriend. We just recently got back together And, you know, this time, like, in this relationship with her, I told her, I'm like, I'm not doing it like the way we did last time. Like, I'm gonna do it God's way.

Like, it's not gonna be as fun, and it's not gonna be like as thrilling, but it's gonna be God's way. It's gonna be, you know, the way that the Bible ordained so that the relationship will be blessed, and I want, like I have four kids. I want, I don't know. I I jokingly say four more, but I'll take as many as god will give me. I'll take two. Take one. God gave me a few more. Like, um, but, like, when you have kids, you realize, like, you want the best for your kids. And, like, you want them to be healthy, you want them to be wise, you want them to, you know, not come out come up with a bunch of blemishes, so you prep for that, you know, and I'm gonna have more kids. I'm gonna have another marriage. I'm gonna have another relationship. I'm gonna like, all that needs to be anointed and I'm you know, clearly, whatever I did before ended up in a divorce, not anointed by God, probably because I didn't do it my way.

I mean, I did it my way. I didn't do it God's way. And that's it's an epidemic in this society. Everybody wants to do it their way. So what do you see? You a bunch of you see the downfall of society. You see broken relationships. You see misgendered people. You see poverty everywhere, drug abuse, like whatever, like people are just indulging in, you know, this this self right like people want to be lasered in on, on themselves as if they're doing things right and they know what's best for them and they like totally disobey what god's protocol is for them and you see it in their lives and then it's like, alright, go be, you know, LGBTQIA, you know, go be whatever you want and what happens?

They're depressed. They're on meds. They're suicidal. They commit murders. Like, it's like, gosh. Like, the rules are pretty clear. Yeah. Like, the more we stray, the more these extreme sins are happening. People are like, oh my gosh, I can't believe what happened. Like, dude, we're living in Sodom and Gomorrah. That's what happened. You know, like, we continue to stray from god. Like, what's he doing? He's going to burn down California. Well, that wasn't God doing it. Like, okay. Fine. He's gonna you know, whatever.

Ben BeeriYeah. Well, it's interesting. It's I always find it like, I always find it fascinating when you run into somebody and you can just tell the whether or not they have the presence of God in their life. And you can usually tell pretty, very quickly. Yeah. And just see where things go. And I just I love the idea of understanding, like, the limitless potential and the limitless possibilities of people who have God in their life. Like, I mean, I admire things that you've done in business. I admire things that you've done with your family. I admire the people that you've inspired doing what you do.

And it's, like, it's really interesting to see in, like, what do most successful people have in common? Kobe Bryant, Steph Curry. It's God.

Joseph ShalabyYeah. Kobe Bryant lived it. I mean, I was told he took the Eucharist that day he died. He went to church, took communion, got on a plane, died. He was our lady, queen of angels. That day, he got to take the body of Christ and then he met god that day. He wanted nothing more than that, I'm sure. Charlie Kirk, first American martyr. Talk about having god. He's the first American martyr. So I come from the church of the martyrs. The Coptic church is known for a church of martyrdom. We spread this we spread the gospel through martyrdom.

Guess what? Charlie Kirk died. You know how many people came to God because of that death? Countless.

Ben BeeriCountless people have come to God. I I heard the local churches were, like, overflow capacity.

Joseph ShalabyYeah. Like I mean, whatever. You know, churches, synagogues, like, everyone Yeah. Was, like, woke up. Like, everyone came back to god. So, Charlie Kirk, that was great. He died for and he'll probably be canonized, um, a saint because he just spoke truth and the truth hurts people. Like, it, yeah, it just pierces them because they live a lie, and we're gonna get more of that. We're gonna see more American martyrs. Praise God. It was really interesting to see kind of the closing,

Ben Beerilike, days of Charlie Kirk's life in that if you were to sit there and be able to have a conversation with him and ask him what would his message be about having regrets in life or going for things. And it seems like he went for the things that were important to him. It seems like he spoke about God freely. He didn't censor himself. It seems like he went out. He had a family. A guy like him who was as busy as he was traveling around the country could have very easily said, hey. I'll wait a few years to have a family. Yeah. He had two young kids.

And he really kind of went on a path of what he genuinely believed in. And it seems like despite living such a short life that he's able to have kind of lived a life of no regrets. Like, he just he went out in a way that no like, you don't want to go out that way. But He might not be the best way, man. I don't think I don't think he would have wanted to shut up or what he just he he did things his way. He did things the like. He did the things the way that

Joseph Shalabya martyr would do it. Yeah. He didn't back down. He's gonna, like, I'm gonna confess the truth to all of you. I'm gonna tell you guys God's word, and you can kill me for it. Yeah. He

Ben Beerididn't care.

Joseph ShalabySo he said, you know, that he would die that way. Like, people are gonna kill me one day for this. And he knew it. Because to speak the truth in a world that's lost its mind hurts. The world's gone mad, Half of it at least. We're we're gaining the other half back. You know, but half the world's gone mad. And it's a global epidemic. It's Great Britain's, you know, it's it's wokeism is not just California or it's not just The US even. It's Canada.

Ben BeeriIt's Great Britain. It's You can't even make social media posts in Great Britain. Really? Yeah. They they they sound like if you make social media posts that the government disagrees with, you can be arrested for it.

Joseph ShalabyBut they're very woke there too.

Ben BeeriYeah.

Joseph ShalabyThey're very woke there.

Ben BeeriBut be so the you can't post any social media there? Not saying you can't post any social media. I'm saying there have been instances where people have posted something on social media that the government has disagreed with, and people have been arrested as a result of that. Wow. And it's like here, I'm very grateful. We live in The United States Of America. Freedom of speech. Freedom of speech. And but it's really interesting to see where things have gone over time because there are certain there are certain messages and certain words that people don't want to hear, and they're trying to suppress other what other people are saying. Yep. Yep.

Joseph ShalabyI mean, the suppression of society is it's happening, you know, and they don't want they don't want the truth. But that's why I like the new the the new political regime. It's like, we got we got good people in place. They're gonna change the world for good.

Ben BeeriHave leaders. That's that's a really interesting concept. It's like, I mean, even going back to business and stuff, when you have somebody who's a good leader at the top, everybody follows suit. You're you're only as good as, like, your leader. Yeah. You got Steph Curry as your point guard. You're going. You got Tom Brady as your quarterback. You're going. And when you have less than that, the bar is just set lower. Yeah.

Joseph ShalabyWe didn't have good leadership. Like, we didn't really have a leader that was taken that was really staying on a strong moral compass. It was just, uh, it was just a puppet. You know, that was just being bought.

Ben BeeriWell, it's interesting because what are the things to do to get up to a like, to hold a political, like, position, like an like an office. Right? It's like there are certain things that you have to do. There are certain, like, rules you have to follow that are set no. I'm saying unwritten rules. And it's kind of interesting. Like, you don't actually get to express your freedom of speech, express what you believe in, and they essentially have to follow whatever system they have. I mean, it's like, I mean, you essentially think I mean, you and I are entrepreneurs. We say what we believe. We do what we believe.

And it just seems really interesting that a lot of people either don't have the luxury to do that or don't believe they have the luxury to do that.

Joseph ShalabyYeah. It's crazy. So, you know, we'll see. I think I think we got some good things happening that are gonna change society for good. I think that there's gonna be a resurgence of faith that's gonna really change our new political landscape as well as, you know, even our our business landscape. You know, people are gonna be more service oriented. People are gonna be more aware of god's presence in their businesses. There was a great awakening in the seventies, a revival of Christianity in the seventies, and we're gonna experience another one now.

Whether it's Christianity I mean, not just Christianity, just overall God centered people, you know, because we have many faiths here. It's just a revival of that. People are just gonna be like, people are like, I'm Jewish by by birth or I'm Jewish by, you know, or I'm Christian by birth. Like, everyone's something, you know, but everyone's forgotten. So it's coming back.

Ben BeeriI know. It's interesting. It really is. And then what have you seen? I mean, you talk about the different landscape, whether it's politically or societally. And, obviously, you're involved. Uh, you guys are a leader in the mortgage industry space. And, I mean, that really is kind of the front lines of getting families into their homes to be able to set up a future for their kids. Like We're on the front. Like, you know, we're the ones

Joseph Shalabythe family unit is the what the last political party I was trying to break, right? Was like, you know, families could be a woman being a man and a man being a woman. You could totally have like inverted and then a nonbinary son and a transsexual daughter. Like, what kind of family? It's like a really weird family. They just have the dogs be parents. Yeah. And and you could have, like, your son be a furry and your daughter be a There's all types of weirdness, right? So if you break the family unit, you break society.

So that's what they're trying to do. It's like, Oh, families don't need to happen. So you're seeing a lot less children being born. You're seeing a lot less marriages. You're seeing a lot less people having these long term relationships, people staying single longer. I mean, this family is slowly dwindling and needs to come back. Just indulge in yourself, just go out, sleep with who you want to and go out and party every night and that's what they want you to think. Sleep with a man, sleep with a woman, become a man, become a woman. You're not a man? You wanna be a woman? Be a woman.

Then go see what man like, whatever, they're just confusing people. And people are like, sheep. You know? Man, we need we need to wake up and stop being sheep. Period.

Ben BeeriWhat's your vision over the next ten years of what do you what you think should happen? Like, what would you like to see happen over the next ten years? I did a podcast with another

Joseph Shalabyentrepreneur called of seven weeks coughing. He said it on my podcast. He's like, I asked him, I said the same thing. I said, what do you think is gonna happen? And he's like, there just needs to be more Christian entrepreneurs, godly entrepreneurs speaking their mind, echoing their voice, and really shouting from the rooftops their faith. There needs to be more people, not just in churches, but in society echoing what's wrong. More people like Charlie Kirk, more people just more vocal about faith, more people on social media echoing their faith, and you're starting to see it now.

With what happened with Charlie Kirk, we need another person like that to come soon because people are, like, already forgetting what happened. You know? Like, there needs to be a few of them, um, in the next couple of years just to keep the reminder of echoing God's voice all the time so people wake up because there just needs to be a resurgence of faith brought back into society by political leaders, by business leaders, by, you know, podcasters, by anyone who like knows that god exists needs to echo it. Say it. Say it loud. Say it from the rooftops. Voice your opinion. Don't be afraid.

You know, don't hold back. Don't worry about what, you know, the naysayers. Don't worry about cancel culture. Take action. Don't lag. You know, execute. It's important. It's our children's future and our children's children's future. It's like, what are we gonna leave our kids? This, like, broken world, you know, where people don't know what what they are. They think they're a dog, you know, like, what are we gonna do? Never a hundred years ago would they have thought that our society would come this far.

Or can you imagine, like, what, three hundred years ago? They're like, people think they're gonna be furries or transgender or that's really gonna happen. Like, never. My grandma still thinks like it like I'm bullshitting.

Ben BeeriShe's still she's like, there's no way. Like, when we were kids, like, when I was kids, like, we had tomboys. We had girls. They'd play with us. We throw the football around or whatever. Yeah. It's like Tomboys are different. And and then they get to a point, and they're just like, hey. Now they're girls. But today, there's no tomboys anymore. It's like, hey. Girl likes to play football. It's like You should get here. It becomes it becomes an issue. It becomes a values issue that kinda starts at the school level.

And all of a sudden, now you've got parents questioning what's going on. And all of a sudden, the systems are not set in place for that person to have a successful time, like, exiting school and integrating into society in a manner that kind of gets them on a successful path.

Joseph ShalabyYeah. It's yeah. Now if you got a tomboy or a tomgirl, like, you're thinking sex change. Yeah. You know? Like, oh, you should just, you know, insert a penis or cut off your wiener, like because you like, you know, football. Yeah. You're not supposed to. Like, what?

Ben BeeriYou know? No. So it's it's interesting to see how things are and, like, where things are going and, like, also who's going to kinda take the baton and speak up. Right? It's like a lot of people in an entrepreneurial space are scared of, hey, what's going to happen with my business? Do I have enough stability? Can I speak up? What will people say about me? Will people judge me? And not just people at entrepreneurial spaces, people who are in corporate jobs and people. There's a lot of I mean, the demographic of men in there who I I think should step up and be the leaders in their twenties to thirties to forties that are willing to speak up are very few and far between nowadays.

Joseph ShalabyVery true. You have like, you know, I'm a CEO of a big company, so I'm not allowed to do certain things or say certain things. I'm just like, I'm on a podcast. Like, I know ChatGPT is indexing every word I'm saying right now. Like and if you ask my opinion about this subject now, you're gonna it's gonna say it. Um, but it is what it is. I don't care. You know? Like, I need to speak up. Like, I need to, like, let people know, like, you need to get right with God. I don't care what how you define that.

You know, like, it's pretty clear. You could ask your GPT how you get right with god based on your lifestyle. It'll tell you. And and and try to to redirect your path. We all do. I do. I'm still trying to. You know, and whether you're an alcoholic, whether you're, you know, thinking about changing your sex, whether you're all these things have strayed you away from God, like redirect it. Stay on course. And you'll live a long, prosperous, healthy life. Or the adverse is you live a shorter life, much, much shorter, full of, you know, pain and suffering and agony and and ultimately your demise.

The it's pretty simple. The good book says the way to sin is death. You know, it's just you're just gonna get there faster. Or, uh, adversely, like, you know, you live according to god's law and he promises you a longer life. You want wanna wanna live long?

Ben BeeriLive according to God's will. And also live a life where you can look back on and say, hey. I don't have any regrets. Yeah. Like, we're all gonna die one day. It's like, how do we get to a spot where we look back on our lives and say, hey, I stayed true to myself. And that's different for every single person. But how do you stay true to yourself in a society that doesn't fully accept people for a that

Joseph Shalabydoesn't know truth? Yeah.

Ben BeeriBut everybody's truth is different.

Joseph ShalabyYou know, truth is pretty easy. It's black or white. There is no gray. Otherwise, it wouldn't be truth. Everyone's truth is different, because they make it different, but truth is black and white. We operate in the gray or now we're just straight operating in the white, but it's supposed to be black and we're telling ourselves that the white is black.

Ben BeeriYeah. How do you think we shift?

Joseph ShalabyWe redirect, you know, and we just live by God's will. Like, just the rules that God made are just they hold true forever. They are generation to generation. They don't change. God's truth is forever. It doesn't shift. It's truth forever. It's been indoctrinated. It's thousands of years. We've changed it. Everyone's truth is even like, I don't care what you are, know, whatever religion you are, that's the truth. We're just changing it, whether you're Islamic, whether you're Hindu, everything is the the the ancient texts are they're they're truth.

And what we're doing is just changing everything to our truth. We're just shifting to whatever we believe is true.

Ben BeeriSo you're saying find your values and whatever your values are, stick to them. Exactly.

Joseph ShalabyWhatever your values are, whatever your moral compass is, stick to it. Don't stray from it. Don't, like, twist it.

Ben BeeriIt's true. It feels like there has been a a lot of inconsistencies as of recent years as far as what the values are and contradictions. It's like, hey. I want to be Christian for these things, but not be Christian for these things. I want to be Jewish for these things, but not be Jewish for these things. I want to be Muslim for these things, but not Muslim for these things. And it's people and a lot of different things contradicting themselves and being on both sides of the fence.

Joseph ShalabyExactly. And, like, whatever is your values, whatever values you grew up with, whatever is god's the you know, your god's interpretation of the law, stick to it, period. Don't go and believe, like, what you read on social media is that's the truth. Stick to the real truth.

Ben BeeriYeah. No. And it's amazing you're out here talking to people about inspiring them to kind of stick to their truth. What is something that you have going on that you're kind of working towards? You've obviously had this grand entrepreneurial journey, this journey of fatherhood, this journey of relationships, this journey of being somebody who tells the truth and speaks the truth and speaks what you believe in, where do you see

Joseph Shalabythings going for you over the next few years, and what else are you looking to inspire in other people? Well, for starters, for me, over the next couple of years, like, I've been trying to find my truth. I you know, after I broke up with after I got a divorce, and then I I went into a relationship, and then I had a break from my girlfriend. Now, like, I went on this, like, journey of self exploration, trying to find, like, meaning in other relationships, and and it totally took me off the path of God.

It totally took me in the self indulged, you know, journey of just, you know, carnal sin. And I realized, like, this is just emptiness. People live like this, like, forever. Like, I'll like, I did this a couple times, and I'm like, this sucks. You know, this lifestyle sucks. People actually live like this. Like, the single life is rough when you're just doing it with dating girls all the time, going out all the time, drinking all the time. All that is like it hurts. It hurts your psyche so bad that it numbs you to reality.

So my truth now after I realized like, oh my god, just show me the way. Like, bring me back to you. Like, I just wanna live a righteous life, godly life, you know, so I had the opportunity to rekindle with, uh, with my girlfriend officially again yesterday, and I'm like, you know, I'm gonna do it god's way. So the next journey for me is just to live a righteous, godly life with my girlfriend, like, stray from what, you know, he he told us to until I'm married again. And however long that takes, like, I'm gonna just hold back my own human carnal urge, whatever that is, until, you know, the time comes where I'm married and I can start another family. And I have a family, so I was like, I have my kids. I'm gonna you know, with my new wife, so I'm not gonna screw up again.

And so for me, my journey is like another journey of just starting a new family, taking care of my four kids, hopefully having four more kids. And, know, hopefully, in the next time you talk to me or I'm on your show, it's like, hey, married, got a baby on the way. You know, that's that's my goal in the next year or so. Now that I went on this self exploration and I'm still on this journey of self improvement and becoming the best version of myself. And sadly, I had to go to the bottom of the pit to really discover myself and, like, what I need to do to become the best version of myself. And that's just what it takes. And I hope that the people who have been at the bottom of the pit, like, realize that, like, this inspires them. Like, man, I'm at the bottom of the pit. Like, I need a change.

I need a redirect. Like, I'm in the snares of the enemy right now. Like, time to redirect.

Ben BeeriWhat is something that kept you going during your period of darkness?

Joseph ShalabyOh, I mean, I thankfully, I I've always had such a great head on my shoulders that I didn't fall into, like, the rock bottom because I just can't because I got four kids and I got a big business. Even the small things that I do that aren't aligned with God to me feel, like, terrible. You know? Like, if I'm not like living because I still would go to my Bible studies but like at night, I'd be like out with a girl and dating and this and that and drinking and like, what am I doing? You know, like, this is not cool. This is not the life that I want.

So, what keeps me going is I have my kids. I mean, like, first and foremost, I gotta I gotta make sure that I I I'm not a hypocrite. You know, like, and I can't be living this like hypocritical life. So I I had you know, they're my my inspiration and my why to where they'll always keep me on the straight and narrow.

Ben BeeriWhat do you think your self exploration journey has in store for you next?

Joseph ShalabyYou know, that's a great question. I don't know. Um hopefully, hopefully a life full of servitude. Like I really like I I feel like with my current relationship like I can really change the world, you know, together like a power couple that can really do work for the kingdom.

Ben BeeriAnd what do you tell people that are out there struggling to find their missing piece or for their relationship?

Joseph ShalabyTry to attend a local religious organization, church. Go and serve. Go do something, like, that fills you with joy, not happiness because happiness is temporary. Joy is heavenly. Serve the poor. Go to a food bank. There's so much opportunity for you to serve so many people that need your help. Start there. Start. Go serve the unfortunate, the less fortunate. That's where you start.

Ben BeeriServe the less fortunate. Serve the less fortunate. I love that. What do you think happens to you as a person when you go out and you serve the less fortunate?

Joseph ShalabyYou feel something that you wouldn't. You know? You feel, like, filled. Your cup is filled with joy. It's not like going out and filling your yourself up with with self indulgence. It's like you're going out there and, you know, you're doing something for someone else. Your cup gets filled. You feel something that's not from this earth. It's like these butterflies that you get. You know it's not earthly.

Ben BeeriWhen you talk about joy rather than happiness, what has joy meant to you in your life?

Joseph ShalabyI used to do a meeting called Jesus Others You, and I was at Center for Joy. But joy just to me is is is is, uh, is the heavenly feeling of, like, happiness. That's basically, like, what it is. You know? It's not, like, earthly happiness. It's heavenly happiness.

Ben BeeriWhat do you think we have to do to reach that state? Serve. Period. Do you think service just gets us towards joy? Yeah. It's interesting. If you look at, uh, are you familiar with Hawkins map of consciousness for vibrational frequencies? No. So you've got this map of consciousness that measures different vibrational frequencies. And you've got shame is the lowest at 20. You've got courage is at 200, which is essentially where the positive vibrations begin. Acceptance is at three fifty. Reason is at 400.

You get to 500, you're in a state of love. Above love, there's joy, which is at 540. And joy vibrates above love. And that's essentially saying that you need to have acceptance and reason and love. And as soon as you're able to vibrate at all those levels and continue to raise your vibrational frequency, you can reach the vibrational frequency of joy.

Joseph ShalabyOr skip all that and go surf. Yeah, I know, right? And immediately get to joy. Yeah. And it's true. Whatever, like Hawkins' theory of vibrational frequencies that you just explained, joy is the highest form of vibrational frequency for sure. Yeah. It's the highest form of feeling you have on this earth.

Ben BeeriAbsolutely. Absolutely. What else is on your mind, Joe?

Joseph ShalabyHey. Now, you know, we dove deep. I like it. Absolutely. It's been a pleasure. I love it.

Ben BeeriJoe, where can our audience connect with you?

Joseph ShalabyUh, Joseph Shalaby on Instagram. Uh, you can find me there. Joseph Shalaby on YouTube. Joseph Shalaby on TikTok. Joseph Shalaby on, uh, anywhere, uh, Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn. I'm on everything. And then, uh, if you listen to my show, Coffee's for Closers on Spotify, YouTube, um, and, uh, uh, Apple. It's a top 10 business entrepreneurship show. Coffee's with AZ.

Ben BeeriAmazing. Everyone go check out Joe. He's such an inspirational entrepreneur, man of faith, and he's really looking to help carry the next generation forward. If anything resonated with you from today's episode, we'd love for you to share it with your friends. Give us a like. Give us a comment. Give us a follow. I'm your host, Ben Beeri. We enjoyed having you on today's episode, and we will see you on the next episode of the Authentic Journey.

Joseph ShalabyThank you for having me. You're welcome.