Paul is a serial entrepreneur, investor, humanitarian and global adventurer. He’s the founder and CEO of EPX (www.epx.global ) a next-generation business and social network to help everyone achieve their greatest Return on Life – Achieve More, Live More, Be More and Connect more. Current members include some world’s greatest super-achievers like space shuttle captains, members swimming oceans, skiing down from the summit of Everest, winning world cups, gold medals, top DJs and artists and many talented business professionals around the world. Adventures have included crossing the Sahara, riding horseback with Mongolia’s great Eagle Hunters, trekking Everest and climbing the inside of the Great Pyramids.
He is also the founder and CEO of Domino.One an impact innovation company with software that can crowdsource ideas from humanity, turn those ideas into businesses and then gather in growth capital and revenue that can accelerate innovative companies helping the world.
Tell us about your upbringing and background?
Honestly, it’s the source of my strength.
On one hand, my parents were poor, I grew up middle class and now I’ve worked hard to have a little more than them. I also grew up in Flagstaff Arizona amongst Navajos, Hopis, and the Grand Canyon. And I’m bi-racial – my mother is of Mexican decent and my father German. Hard not to have respect for everything with that background.
Another monumental element of my youth was being 88-92% on everything which at the time sucked because you knew you were good but never the best – athletics, brains, girls, etc. That’s tough when you want to be the best. We’ll come back to this later.
And yet the biggest impact came from the most supportive parents ever. Their entire lives were to ensure my brother and I had all the chances they didn’t. My father passed at age 56 when I was 26 but I was grateful I had the time I did because it taught me how to be who I have become this very day.
So I am a piece of every economic class, every race and feel responsibility to protect nature and those without the strength to protect themselves.
Most importantly, I transformed from that 88-92% kid with ambition, always wondering why he wasn’t the best, into someone who recognizes greatness comes from living a life full of love, ambition, adventure and without the fear of loss. And because of that… everything is possible. And I mean EVERYTHING.
What is your personal motto?
Disrupt Everything.
Those two words push you to change and change is evolution – for yourself physically, mentally, emotionally but also in business, art and beyond.
I’ve forged a career in tech where rapid evolution is the name of the game but I’ve also learned that the best of the best never stop evolving. Learn, adjust, learn.
When you disrupt the way you work, the way you live, what you wear, how you feel, how you relate to others… it’s not mean to come from a place of dissatisfaction or even wanting more. It is a statement of knowing there may just be another gear in life – to happiness, to friendship, to adventure, to achievement and to your own personal performance.
(Dirty little life secret… there ALWAYS is another gear for you in life. Imagine.)
What makes you different from most entrepreneurs?
Humbly, I have had an incredible career starting tech companies at the top of recessions. That means starting companies that need capital to grow at a time where no capital can be found. haha
But it’s given me skills not everyone has. The ability to create innovative companies through relationships, international economics and more where other entreprenuers need to raise millions.
I’m like a weathered gladiator with scars from battle vs. a prince who may have raised millions off a napkin. When we sit at a table, we both know the difference.
That said, it’s time to raise millions. Haha
Why do you think you find your way into friendships with people like Founders of Earth Day, MLK III, Richard Branson or the Pope?
Honestly, I have asked myself that on a few occasions along the way. I am no different than anyone reading this. I am a normal middle class dude from 7,500ft in elevation. Truly.
But I think I have the answer.
There is nothing I want from them – approval, endorsement, fame. I show up so happy and satisfied in my own life that there are no consequences of what they think because there are no expectations or what if’s. I can be myself which is a capable person with a heart full of good. And they feel that.
And I treat them as anyone should be treated – with respect and kindness and enthusiasm for what’s possible. In the end, everyone – celebrities, athletes, explorers – are human and to approach someone with a positive heart and no expectations is something many are not used to and yet everyone recognizes and loves.
Who inspires you?
Honestly no one and everyone. I am inspired by a simple blank sheet of paper because it says anything is possible. There are no dark days when you have a blank sheet of paper. And everyone has one. 24/7. Easy to lose sight of that sometimes.
But I am inspired more by a single mother working 3 jobs to raise 5 good kids over 22 years than I am someone who drives a Lambo. In the end what someone has – fame, money, homes, planes, yachts – really doesn’t register with me anymore. Respect comes from a) a life of happiness, integrity and living in service to others.
Everyone else can pound sand.
What is the best way of connecting with someone?
Talk less. Listen more.
Approach everyone for the miracle they are and the miracle of how generations of your families’ micro decisions have led you in front of each other.
Help More.
Which is a perfect lead in to your newest venture – available for everyone to join – EPX.
First of all thank you for being a member – we are in awe of your amazing talents and huge heart!
EPX is a next gen social and business network. More than that, though, it is the recognition that we are only here for a little while and so how to we create the greatest return on our lives? And what makes for an amazing life?
I’ve learned, we all want to achieve more, live an exciting life, performing at our highest possible level in health, happiness and mindset and we want to connect with others who inspire us and become our best friends.
When anyone joins EPX, all of this goes faster. All of It. Because the entire network around the world embodies these core values:
- Help First. Help Often.
- Never Stop Evolving.
- Do Good. Leave Better.
- Experiences over Things.
What was your inspiration for the fashion of our shoot today?
You are so talented at capturing the personality behind a person in a single look. I think all business people and artists are not one dimensional. And yet most of us have no photograph assets to show these different elements of our own brand – who we are when we lead, when we dream or when we rage. So together we were putting together a set of images to capture the diversity of personality for a personal and business brand.
What was the shoot like? How was your experience?
It was awesome. When you’re used to controlling the creative experience as a leader, it was great to just surrender to the pros – your direction, make up, hair, fashion.
Hell, I went in there like slicked back Wolf of Wall Street and came out with wavy hair and aggressive suits. Ok the suits were already mine. Haha.
What does beauty mean to you?
Well without judgment, beauty to me is less how someone looks and more how someone lives. To live a beautiful life is to live with freedom from your past and without care of the future. And to live with love for everyone you meet and the world around you.
But, in our world, to have your help with diverse photos and storytelling is a major shot in the arm in business, confidence and more.
How would you describe success?
Simple. Happiness. When that is achieved, nothing else matters. Not possessions, not troubled relationships, not even the future or the past. You’ll be grateful without ever thinking of the word. To live life without judgement and without the ability to be judged.
How great is that?
Tell us some fun facts about yourself.
I live in a bus with my gorgeous wife. Having already lived many lives full of adventure, we felt there was another gear possible in live – a new efficient fronteir – one where work, connection, nature and adventure are intertwined.
And so we sold our house, cars, boat, furniture and made the move. And now I’m sitting here launching next gen social and business networks at the edge of the nature with grizzlies and mountain lions walking by from the back of a bus.
Everything is possible.
And so from the back of a bus you’re launching a competitor to some of the biggest brands in social networking and ecommerce?
*smiles*
You’re goddamn right. Disrupt Everything.
Where can we find you?
I am proud to say – www.epx.global. 🙂
The future version of you and I will be there waiting to help you crank things up. Just show up, be yourself and we’ll welcome you home.
