People trust him with their most challenging questions, choices, and concerns about business, careers, life, love, family, faith, relationships, etc. because of commitment to promoting and providing clarity, motivation, and focus for building healthier communities, happier lives, stronger relationships, better people, and more impactful businesses.
After reading this interview, you’ll why this brotha is an excellent mentor and friend …..
Charles Clark: Thanks for taking out the time for our conversation Mr. Beaudoin….
Bo Beaudoin: Thanks for asking Charles ….
CC: One of my favorite questions to ask is …Who is Bo Boudain?
BB: I am first a Christian, a married man of 19 years, father of four, and grandfather of three. I am passionate about empowering people. The tools that I use are technology and the Word of God; And through both of those, I’ve found different avenues to create opportunities, content, and forums to educate people. Years ago, I began recording and saving the information that I was using to help people, and I started to put it into book form.
CC: Wow… Now how did you begin the path that you’re on right now?
BB: I started actually very early on. The roots of what I am today, I can recall as a very young child. My mother and father had several problems. They divorced and for years I would encourage my mother and make her laugh.
CC: That’s interesting. With so many people being encouragers, what sets you apart from everybody else?
BB: I think if people are truly encouragers, then what truly sets them apart is not their content but their audience. God has a specific audience for each person. God has already put specific people in my circle of influence. Typically, when we’re talking to friends and family and we say “how ya doing?” and “I’m cool” and we let that ride. I don’t let that ride with friends, family, or even acquaintances. I dig and I push and I prod because most of the people we encounter on a daily basis are suffering on some level and they really don’t feel free to discuss things. my particular gift is to connect with people on that level and to help them find places of peace and joy. I do believe that I am unique in my gift because many motivators and encouragers are very out-going people. I’m an introvert, by nature. And I think God’s a comedian because of the way he’s wired me. I prefer to stay in the house and watch T.V. with my wife but He forces me to get out within my own circle and to get beyond the façade that most of us wear.
CC: When you are doing your workshops, seminars and discussions – even on Facebook and Twitter – with which part of our lives do you find that we are having the most problems?
BB: I believe that people are having financial, relationship and health problems, but I think those problems are the “what” and not the “why”. I think the “what” is all of those things but we’re not looking at the “why”. I think fundamentally the “why” kinda breaks down into this amorphous kernel, if you will, and tossed into that kernel is voracity. I think people struggle with voracity. And what I mean by that is [there] is incongruency with what they believe and what they do. Or at least what they say they believe. I believe that incongruent nature – the ability for us to profess one thing and do something else – speaks to our own integrity. If we don’t have integrity at our very core then we are incomplete; if we are incomplete, then we are incapable of living the life we wish to live and it’s manifested in many different areas in our lives. Depending on our situation or our stage in life and what’s going on, it may be manifested in relationships; it may be manifested in our finances; it may be manifested on our jobs and that’s on a very spiritual level. But I am also very pragmatic. And on a pragmatic level, I think the core – the kernel – for all of our problems is communication. We don’t know how to communicate. We don’t know how to articulate what our desires, wishes and pains and issues happen to be; so, therefore, we can never come to true resolution. We always kinda sweep things under the rug.
CC: About communication… Since we have become such a social media world, do you think that in the advent of this wonderful technology that we all use, do you think we’ve lost the art of communication?
BB: The art of communication was lost long before that…
CC: Got you. I totally agree with you. But has it extended itself further since? What I feel right now is that people can only talk in 140 characters and that’s it. Once it goes beyond 140 characters, they can’t have a regular conversation.
BB: Well, honestly, I think that is truly of little consequence because, again, it’s easy to point a finger at that; but I would submit to you that people weren’t communicating prior to that. And so what you hear now is chatter. Before, people didn’t know how to communicate: my parents didn’t know how; my grandparents didn’t know how… And there was no Internet to distract them; there was no 140 character limit that they were subjected to… They simply did not know how to communicate. They simply did not possess the skills because communication is a learned skill. I teach a communications seminar and I come out with a tool belt. And in my tool belt, I have two tools: I have a hammer and a feather. I say that’s how everyone is born. In your tool belt for communication, you get two tools when you’re born: you get a hammer and a feather. So what does that mean? Whenever you need to communicate, you only have two things to resort to… You either need to make someone laugh or you need to bash someone’s skull in until you get them to agree with your point of view. And there’s nothing in-between. And that’s an age-old problem. I think this whole thing with the Internet raises up a whole new set of problems because at least in the past, you were forced to communicate at some point, even if you didn’t know how. But in the advent of the Internet – and the advent of this fractured mentality – there [are] so many options. There [are] so many people that you can continue to run from relationship to relationship and never be held accountable to communicate. So it just makes it easy to never have to learn how because you still don’t know how.
CC: Wow! In your book, If You Have Ears, the first two chapters discuss “the end of you”. The first chapter talks about what to do when your best isn’t good enough. What is the synopsis of “the end of you”? What are you trying to get at in those first two chapters?
BB: “The end of you” has two purposes. The first purpose is to introduce the audience to me. And I don’t mean that in an autobiographical way. I mean to introduce me in a psychoanalytical way so they can have some view into my psyche and my particular perspective and what even prompted me to ever even write a book. “The end of you” is how I came to that place where I took that leap of faith. I had spent my entire life – as humbly as I can say it – a very gifted young man. Intellectually… Athletically… There were a number of things that I could do if I had ever decided to do it. In fact, I was so distracted by the plethora of opportunities, that I never really did anything substantial because everything came easy to me. And because it came easy, I never really focused or settled in on anything. With all of the gifts God had given me, I had basically done nothing and when I came to that realization at that point in my life, I realized that I had done the best that I knew how to do on my own and had accomplished nothing. I had done everything I could think to do. I had messed up my businesses. I had messed up my finances. I was messing up in my family and my life was in shambles. But all of that time, I had figured, I’m smart enough; I’m talented enough, I can figure it out. I can make this work. And it wasn’t until I came to the end of me, where I no longer depended upon my own abilities, that I decided I had to do things God’s way if they were going to work. I couldn’t do them my way anymore. And to me, that’s the “end of you”. That’s what that chapter is designed to bring a person to. Those people that are [already] there will recognize the landscape. When you’ve done everything you know to do in your life and you’ve done it your way and you’ve tried to figure it out and you’ve always known God but you didn’t really feel like His way was going to work… So you were an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; I’m a man, I’m a woman and I’ve gotta do it my way and it just didn’t work out for you… You get to that place where you’ve got to throw in the towel, that’s the end of you. It’s only when you get there do you find the beginning of God. That’s why I started the book that way because until you get to that point, there’s really not a whole lot that anyone can do to help you because you’re still relying on your own understanding.
CC: Wow. So what is the rest of the journey for the readers past chapters one and two?
BB: The title of the book is If You Have Ears, Be Motivated and Be Inspired. anybody who’s grown up in the church can recognize the play on words, the “if you have ears”… All throughout the Scripture, Jesus will say, “Let he who have ears to hear, let them hear”. I remember as a young man that used to befuddle me. I didn’t know what that meant. Finally, I got my grandmother to explain it to me. And she said, basically, “Baby, everybody has ears, but everybody can’t hear.”
CC: That’s right…
BB: it means everyone can hear, but not everyone will understand. further, many will understand, but fewer still will receive. And so the play is, there’s stuff in this boon that if you have ears, if you come to the end of you, if you find yourself in that place where you are looking for a greater relationship and a greater understanding and a greater power in your own presence and purpose, the book will help you get that. Because I walk the reader through, initially, the revelation of where you are and why you need God; and ultimately, through realizations about the things that have been happening. So, you’re at the end of you and because I’ve been there, I know this path intimately. I can describe for you the landscape; I can describe for you the last three of four turns the journey you’ve taken over the last couple of years, arriving at this place. And by doing so, I can go back and identify those landmarks and say, “Look, sister. Look, brother… Remember this? Remember that? Remember how you felt then? This is what God was doing. This is why that worked out that way… This is why it happened this way…” And I take them on that kind of journey and as they move through that place, if they really have arrived at the end of themselves, they’ll recognize the landmarks. And by recognizing the landmarks, they develop a trust in [me] and where I’m coming from such that by the end of the book, I start pointing them in the direction to go. Let me give you an example… The first chapter is called “The End of You”. The second chapter, really the third in the book, is called “Woman Gives Birth to a 22-year Old”. In that chapter, I talk about why the gestation periods for our dreams are so long… Why we keep those things bottled up inside for so many years… Why we’re afraid to give birth to those things that God has planted inside of us…
CC: Do you think that is because we have no hope and/or we have no faith?
BB: I think those are still the “whats” and not the “whys”. See, the reason we don’t have faith is because we don’t truly have a relationship with God. The by-product of a relationship with God is faith in God. So, if we don’t have faith, we need to back up and figure out why we don’t have faith. Well, what is it we don’t have faith in? The only thing we could possibly have faith in is God and if we don’t have faith in God, that means we don’t know Him. Now the other part about hope… Hope is a by-product of faith.
CC: Most definitely…
BB: So, without faith, what hope is there? We’re talking about a chain reaction. Hope is not a precursor to faith but a by-product such that I need faith first before I can truly have hope.
CC: Yes, sir.
BB: So then, that brings me back to how do I get hope? I need faith. Well, how do I get faith? I need to know God. I need to know who He is and what He said about me. I need to know what His promises are. I need to know what word I’m standing on when I’m standing in the face of adversity and I’m standing in the face of challenges. I need to know what I’m rooted in. And if I don’t know what I’m rooted in, then I’m like the man who built is house on the sand. In the chapter, I actually explain that the reason the gestation period is so long is because we don’t understand God’s formula. We don’t understand God’s true intent. Because we miss God’s true intent, we are silly enough to think we could fail. Because we don’t know God well enough to know what He’s truly after, we think God wants to make us a famous singer. We think He wants to make us an eloquent speaker. We think He wants to make us the pastor of 10,000 people. We think He wants to make us a doctor. We think He wants to make us something that He really could care less about. Because God’s not concerned with your destination, He’s concerned with your journey. And it’s the journey in which He builds character in you; it’s the journey in which He empowers you and strengthens you; it’s the journey that makes you the person that you want to become. So those challenges that we’re afraid of – all of those excuses we use to keep those things bottled up – are the very things God wants to use to shape us and mold us. But because we missed it, we run from the sandpaper… We run from the chisel… We run from the sculptor because we want to be a vase, we don’t want to be, you know, a lump of clay.
CC: The brotha is preaching… I’m just being honest… I should send you an offering, I feel like. Oh, my God! A token of love or something… There are other chapters like “A Dangerous Place” and the subtitle is “Why You Need to Get Over Yourself”. What is in that chapter?
BB: [Laughing] Yeah, so fundamentally, I identify our minds as a dangerous place.
CC: Okay.
BB: Our minds are the most dangerous place we will go on a daily basis. Nowhere else can your dreams be slaughtered so completely. Nowhere else can your vision be crucified without a trial. Nowhere else will your opportunities commit suicide. If you can just get them out of your head... If you can just get them out into reality… If you can just get them out beyond your own thoughts and your own hang-ups and your own shortcomings… If you can survive that gauntlet and put something into action, then God can move. If everything is DOA… If everything he plants in your mind dies in your mind…
CC: Wow… Yes, sir. I’m almost speechless… Chapter 17 says “Focus, People: Seven Ways to Get Re-focused”. If everything in your mind is DOA, how do you focus your life?
BB: Well, you know, up to that point, the book is very spiritual. There [are] a lot of stories, a lot of allegories, a lot of vehicles and methodologies I use to teach these principals. But what happens in most environments is that people get all of that stuff but then they don’t have any tools to actually do anything. And so, in this chapter, “Focus People”, I try to provide some very pragmatic tools in which people can start to regain their focus after they’ve kinda come through this journey and gotten these new realizations. The seven things are really very simple. Number one is break long-term goals into reasonable bite-size goals. number two is make some short-term goals in order to achieve some short-term successes. Then you need to associate some rewards with accomplishing those short-term successes. Number three is find and engage accountability partners. You need to be held accountable and you need someone that you can talk to about what your goals. Number four: stop trying to be Superman; stop trying to be Superwoman. It doesn’t work. You can’t do everything for everyone and still have the energy to handle your own business. Number five is don’t believe the balance hype. Balance is a distraction. And I know it’s very common… You’ll hear motivational speakers talk about it and personal and professional development people always talk about balance. They have all these charts and all these diagrams to help you get balance in your life as if it’s a good thing. I think it’s a distraction straight from the pits of Hell. Because balance would imply that everything will require equal time and equal effort [but] I totally disagree. I think what we need are priorities, not balance. I think once we prioritize our lives and once we give the appropriate time to those things that require priority, things will begin to fall in order. Number six is to live a life of integrity. This means to line up what you do with what you believe and if you can’t do what you believe, then you need to check what you truly believe. Number seven is to meditate and commit to memory the Scriptures that actually promise what it is you hope to gain out of life. Get the Bible; find out what God said… Find out who God says you are. Find out what God says you can have; find out what God says you can do.
CC: Wow. Okay. Now, I’ve never seen this before in my life… On the webpage, you give a money-back guarantee on the book. Why’d you put that there?
BB: Why? Because I’m an unknown quantity… I’m an unknown quantity and folks don’t know me and the last thing I want to do is take something from somebody.
CC: Yes, sir.
BB: That’s it. And look, not only will I give you a money-back guarantee, I don’t want the book back; I want you to give it to somebody else because if it’s not for you, it’s not for you.
CC: So, with the books, the CDs and the speaking, whatever medium people make contact with you, when they are done reading your book or hearing you speak, what do you want that listener, that reader or that participant to come away with?
BB: I want them to come away with, “Wait a minute… I really don’t understand my own faith. I really did not have a grasp on it. This thing is real. And there’s a way to engage. .. There’s a way to get out there and live life in a very tangible and practical way.” I want them to walk away with a greater understanding of the voracity in their own lives. I love that word because it means the truthfulness; it means the integrity. So I want to be the barometer by which… I want to present information in such a way that people can measure what they believe against what they do and then figure out what the delta is because we need to close that gap.
CC: Wow… So what’s next for Bo Boudain?
BB: Well, I have to back up a little bit here, Charles. Really, I do. As honored as I am that you would call me to do an interview, I have to reiterate something I said very early on
CC: Sure…
BB: I’m still that guy standing in line at the bank. This is the crazy part of this… You know how people run head-long into writing books and CDs and speaking and all of that stuff?
CC: Mm-hmm…
BB: That’s not me. I am being dragged ever so slowly, ever so deliberately and against my will into wherever it is I’m going. I have no designs and no desire on… This is why I say that God’s a comedian because this is the dichotomy of my life: I can’t half-do anything. God has wired me such that I cannot half-do anything. If I’m going to do it, I have to do it with excellence and I have to do it in a way that God will be pleased because I know that I am doing it unto Him and not unto man. I’ve had opportunities to go on book tours and to sell my book to these mid-tier publishers but they start talking about moving around the country and doing all this stuff and I say, “If you consider me a worthy acquisition now, how much more so will I be in three years? Then let’s just wait ‘til then, because right now, I’m raising my daughters.” And so, what’s next? I’m going back to Facebook. People are gonna hit my Form Spring page, they’re gonna hit my Facebook page… They’re gonna send me requests… I’m gonna answer them to the best of the ability out of the love that God has placed in my heart for these individuals to help them, to empower them. I’ll continue to collect that collateral. Now on my computer, I’ve got about 2,300 pages of material. I don’t know how many books that is and I won’t even begin to sort it out until I know my daughter’s graduated high school and she’s successfully transitioned into being a young woman and off on to college like my other daughter. I’m just trying to be honest. I’m not trying to misrepresent myself as something I’m not. That’s it, Brother. That’s it.
CC: Very rarely has anyone left me speechless. I don’t know how to end my own conversation.
BB: Well, I can say, “Thank you.” Would that help? [Laughing]
CC: there’s actually so much more that I want to ask about but I don’t have the time. And I could actually listen to you talk for days! I’m speechless and I’m not used to being speechless. Usually, I’m a good talker.
BB: I’m gonna take that as the compliment that it is . . .
CC: Oh, yes, it is a compliment! As a matter of fact, I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.
BB: Well the honor is mine, doc, it really is.
CC: I really do and I hope I get to talk to you on the regular, I really do. I’m serious…
BB: That’s what tends to happen. My druthers are that my phone never rings, I never get any email and my wife and I can just sit out on our patio and watch T.V. But God is a comedian! Every time I talk to somebody now I have to add somebody to the cycle… I have to add them into the rotation, if you will. There are a few very affluent people in that rotation. I don’t know if I’m the muse or the sounding board.
CC: I don’t like the word muse and I don’t like the word sounding board, either. I think I’m going to go back to the original word that you used when we started the conversation. I would almost beg of you to say encourager. Everyone who does the kind of work that you do is does not leave [others] encouraged or – I would most like to say – inspired, as well. Everyone can’t do that. People try, but everyone can’t. And when you find someone who can, and does it with a purity of heart, then you are talking. [Then] you’ve found something.
BB: Amen. I can’t disagree with any of that. I believe you have proven yourself a wordsmith and I’d have to acquiesce and say that I believe that is much more accurate.
CC: I say God bless you and I appreciate you taking the time out today.
BB: The pleasure is mine, my friend. Take it easy, Charles.
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