Story & Lesson Highlights with Brian Mahoney of Encinitas

We recently had the chance to connect with Brian Mahoney and have shared our conversation below.

Brian, really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our journey and worldview. Let’s jump in with a fun one: What are you chasing, and what would happen if you stopped?
I think I’m chasing the things that we all think we need in order to be happy….financial freedom, a loving family, respect from my peers, a nice car and a nice house, etc. If I stopped chasing these things, I think that I would find that I’m already content with who I am and what I have. These objects outside of myself are not what really brings me happiness, it’s the awareness that I already have everything I need inside of myself to be happy. Those other things are just experiences that I get to have in what is already an amazing world.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Brian Mahoney, and I’m the owner of Nuzzler, a new company that helps people celebrate the special people and moments in their lives with custom surprise videos. We craft one-of-a-kind personalized videos that celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and all of life’s important moments. Their sort of like digital hugs! It gives people an easy way to share their thoughts and favorite moments with the ones they love. All they have to do is pick their favorite template, upload a few photos and video clips, and we handle the rest. There are no confusing apps or editing required…we take care of all the hard work so they and their loved ones can simply enjoy the finished product. We email the video back to our customers through a downloadable link, so that they can keep the video forever. We’ve also got a gift shop right on our site, so you can choose a surprise to send along with your video. We’ll package it up with a special card featuring a QR code and deliver it to your loved one. All they have to do is scan the code and watch their heartfelt video anytime.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
As I child I believed that I needed to get the world to align with the way that I thought it should be. I thought people needed to do the things that I wanted them to do, and that events needed to unfold in a way that were suitable to me. I learned early that I could manipulate things to be the way that I wanted them to be. As a child it’s often pretty easy to talk people into getting what you want. But as I got older, that got harder to do! I realize now that if I let go of what I want, and just stay open to what is actually happening, that I’m a happier person. If I’m not resisting what’s happening, I don’t have anything to be upset about.

What did suffering teach you that success never could?
I think without suffering there is no success. It’s the suffering that proves that we can overcome challenges and achieve whatever we want. What would be the point of doing anything if it was all just easy and came to you without any effort? Although we think that’s what we want, I think we would get quite bored with that type of life really quick. Success feels good because of the obstacles that we over came along the way. It’s never really the success that make us feel good, it’s what we did to get there.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Whose ideas do you rely on most that aren’t your own?
Definitely my wife Shannon, my two sons…Paxton and Van, and my daughter Lennon. They have all contributed in massive ways to the development of Nuzzler, and to the development of who I am as a person. Nobody knows me like they do and nobody supports me like they do. So when they have an opinion about something that I’m doing, I know that it’s coming from a good place. They have been instrumental in creating the video templates, branding, and overall vibe of Nuzzler. It’s been a family effort and I am so happy with the result. And they of course keep me centered throughout daily life with their ideas and views about things happening around us. They are definitely the compass I use to guide me through life.

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
I would stop wasting time! There’s this illusion that there’s always gonna be time to do the things that we want to do. But in reality, our time could end at any moment. If I knew I only had 10 years left, I would stop treating time like it wasn’t the most precious commodity that we have.

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