From 100 Hours to 1 Hour a Week: The Secret to True Freedom with Sebastian Cruze

Kathi: Hi, everyone. I'm back, and I am with Sebastian Cruze. Sebastian helps purpose-driven entrepreneurs free up their time so they can create a bigger impact on their lives and on their clients' lives. So welcome, Sebastian. I'm so happy to have you on the show, and we will talk about purpose and drive and all that good stuff.

Sebastian: Awesome. Thanks, Kathi, for having me here. I'm excited to chat.

Kathi: Absolutely. So before you started getting into helping entrepreneurs find their purpose and have their drive and their mojo back, what did you do before that?

Sebastian: At that time in my life, all I cared about was the money. It was looking good, making money, all these different things. I started with a web design agency when I was 20 years old, and we started scaling really quickly. We grew and grew. We 11x'ed our revenue in nine months, and our team grew to 25 full-time team members. That was when I was introduced to a certain mentor, a spiritual type of mentor, and he started talking about purpose. What are you truly here to do in this lifetime? Who's your true self? He shared something with me called the Soul Contract. It's like a personality profile. It really connected with me. I was like, wow, this is incredible resonance. Nothing that I had ever looked at before had connected with me so deeply. I remember after the call, though, I was like, wow, that's all amazing. I'll focus on that when I'm retired and rich.

Sebastian: So I went and kept doing my same old patterns. And lo and behold, as the company got bigger, the things in my Soul Contract started showing more and more: the resistance patterns, the negative beliefs, the negative habits. The company ended up imploding, for a number of different reasons. In that moment, everything that I had held dear was taken away from me. The money, the status, all these different things. I moved back in with my mom at the time, which to a boy with an ego was just like a dagger in the chest. That was my lowest moment. I had to let go of all the team members. I went into debt. That's where I actually found myself in the fetal position, just wanting to end it all. I was like, man, I'm trying to do a good thing here, and I just want to be done. In that moment, I realized that something inside of me would never let me take that final step, which was even more depressing, because I was stuck.

Sebastian: Then some moments passed by, and that's when I felt the energy of my purpose rise up within me. I didn't know what it was. I didn't know where to go. But I just knew that my life here was meant to serve people in a big way, and to leave something behind that would help people when I was gone from this planet. That's what started my journey: to follow that feeling of purpose.

Kathi: Wow. That's so funny. So you met the mentor, and then how much time lapsed before you were ready to make the shift into something else?

Sebastian: That's a good question. I think it was about six to nine months would be my guess. Six to 12 months.

Kathi: It's so funny how you get that knock. You get the knock in your soul, and you're like, nah. And then it's like, oh, okay, I guess I am supposed to be changing and doing something different. So after you decided that you were going to start a new company, what did you call your company, and what was the mission?

Sebastian: Well, the interesting thing is, after that moment I started following that feeling. I looked in my life: where do I feel this feeling? And that was in the spiritual training. So I started going through his work, working basically with the subconscious, releasing blocks from the subconscious so you can have more freedom, more prosperity, flow. That led me to starting my second company, which is an SEO company, search engine optimization. When I was in the web design agency, I was working 100-hour work weeks. That's all I knew how to do: work harder, put more time in. Through this shift of really aligning my subconscious, my freedom on the other side of that was getting my SEO company to one hour a week. So that 100 hours to one hour a week shift happened. That was the second phase.

Kathi: Wow, one hour a week. That's pretty amazing. So after that, then you shifted into…

Sebastian: So then the third chapter is starting my company, True Freedom. I've had self-made passive income now for nearly 10 years, and that's given me the space to really look at what I truly love doing and what I truly care about. All this came together to focus on helping people with freedom, freeing up their time so they can do what they love: spend time with the people you want to spend time with, give to the place you want to give, and do the work that really lights you up. That's really what I'm passionate about helping people do.

Kathi: That's fantastic. So talk to me about your first client. What type of person was your first client, and how did it feel when you landed them?

Sebastian: Let's see. Well, it started happening with close friends and close colleagues that I was just sharing my own process with, the freedom method. What happened is people started having their time freed up. I had a good friend of mine who had a 50-hour-a-week agency, and through the conversations we had, we freed him up down to 10 hours. In that process, he actually doubled his income, and then he had time to write his book. So I guess that was the first client. It just happened, without even really looking or trying.

Kathi: Right, right. And that's what happens, too. I think the right people walk into your life that are ready. Once you start resonating with your message, you start resonating with your purpose, then the people show up to say, hey, I need that, or I can support that.

Sebastian: Absolutely. And that's been a big journey for me, because I've realized the more authentic I am with who I truly am, the more those right connections come. It's been kind of a difficult journey for me, because I had a lot of layers of wanting to look a certain way or be perceived a certain way, and letting those go more and more so the realness could come through, the authenticity.

Kathi: Yeah. We all build up a lot of facades, especially as entrepreneurs. We're like, this is who I'm supposed to be, this is who I'm supposed to serve. We even had to talk about serving on another podcast. Are we serving someone? Are we really helping, or enabling? We're not really giving ourselves; we're giving them to themselves, I think. So, okay. You've been doing this for a while, and I'm sure at some point you felt a little bit overwhelmed and just ready to make a change. Like you were back when you were on the money train. What would be your best piece of advice to create more freedom for people who are in this situation?

Sebastian: First thing is, get clear on why you're here. Why are you here on this planet? What is everything moving towards? Because that's the north star. I truly believe that we all have natural talents to fulfill that purpose, that calling, that mission. If we're not focused on that, then those gifts, those special talents, don't come through us. So number one is, let's get clear on what direction you're going in. You don't need to know your purpose to a T. It'll always evolve and clarify. But at least let's get clear on the true direction. From that, I find that people start making different decisions, because we're really looking at what you're here to do. That would be the first piece.

Sebastian: The second piece: I really believe in a person's zone of genius. What is the thing that you love doing that you deliver the most value at? Really honing in on that, because that's where you can get paid the most, too, and you love doing it. So let's build the business around that zone, not your zone of excellence, which is a trap that people fall into, myself included. Because if we're good at it, we can get paid for it, and people want us to do it. But it's not really our zone of genius, where we can be best. So focusing on that would be the second step. And I'll pause it there.

Let's build the business around that zone, not your zone of excellence.

Share this quote on X

Kathi: I love it. I totally appreciate that, because I felt like for years I was on the money train. We had the ad agency and the printing agency and the PR agency. It was the money track. It was excellence, but not the soul path. I kept saying, what do I want to do when I grow up? It takes a while sometimes to figure out what your soul path is. And I totally agree, Sebastian, that you have your genius zone, and you are an expert at something, but because you're an expert doesn't mean that that's your genius zone. It could just be something else. Because you can be really good at something, but it's not really your jam.

Sebastian: Just like you with your past agencies. You're really good at it, but at the same time it's not quite right.

Kathi: So tell me about the best piece of advice that anybody's ever given you as an entrepreneur.

Sebastian: Oh, let's see. Best piece of advice. So many different angles.

Kathi: Yeah, there are. It's wide open.

Sebastian: Well, I would say on the freedom track, the biggest lever point is the subconscious. That's what I found. According to Dr. Bruce Lipton, the subconscious mind is a hundred million times more powerful than the conscious mind. When I was working with the freedom clients, we first started just using the conscious mind, using very powerful personality profile tools like the Soul Contract, Wealth Dynamics and Human Design, and we focused on the conscious mind strategies. Things went to a totally different level when a mentor recommended that I start using the subconscious tools. Everything just became easy. Because a person might know what to do, but maybe their parental imprint was their mom and dad telling them, hey, you've got to work every hour of the day, and if you don't, then you're lazy. Imprints like that will happen. I find that without clearing those subconscious blocks, people will clear their schedule, but then it will just fill back up. They'll hire the team, but then they will still be involved in running it. So that would be my biggest piece: working with the subconscious, because then it just becomes a lot easier.

Without clearing those subconscious blocks, people will clear their schedule, but then it will just fill back up.

Share this quote on X

Kathi: That's great advice. How do you recommend that people tap into the subconscious? For someone who's listening saying, that all sounds good, Sebastian, but how do I listen to my subconscious mind? How do I tap into that?

Sebastian: That's a great question, because there's a ton of stuff online. You search subconscious on YouTube, you get a ton of stuff. My favorite tool was developed by an Irish doctor. That tool is what I use. What I'm in the process of doing is putting together a free webinar where people can just experience it, and do it multiple times if they want. Because I know for myself, I can talk about the subconscious all day, but it doesn't matter until you feel it. I really believe in feeling the difference. So I can send you a link here at truefreedom.ai. For your wonderful audience here, I can put together a free video where you can experience the subconscious clearing. You'll go in with something that feels heavy, something like a burden, something you want clarity on. Do the process, and then you'll feel lighter, literally in your body. You'll feel the weight lifted, and you'll get clarity. And that'll all be for free.

Kathi: What a great gift. And the link will be below, gang, so feel free to just click on the link below the podcast. If you're listening, Sebastian said it, and you can rewind and hear that again. That's a really good gift, because it reminds me a lot of what Louise Hay did. I think that universal truth is always told multiple times by multiple people in different ways, and so it's who you're going to resonate with. Obviously you resonated with the Irish doctor. But it's great, because it's universal truth, and that's what it's all about. And our universal truth is our soul. So there you go.

Sebastian: Absolutely, absolutely. I think it was Messages from the Body. That's a tool that I use. I totally agree with what you said.

Kathi: I think that's great. So, physically, I am a professional organizer. What tool do you use to keep your business organized at this point, whether it's contacts or time or mail? Do you have anything that you really, really like that you're jamming out on right now, tech-wise?

Sebastian: I like to keep it simple. Asana is what I personally use, and Google Calendar. Just the basics. Something that I find, and this is probably going to be a little polarizing, is that a lot of people in the productivity space are really into tools and systems and apps, the technology pieces, and I think that's great. The one thing that I really draw a line with is the difference between productivity and efficiency. What I notice is a lot of productivity is optimizing, optimizing, optimizing, getting the most out of your day, which is great. But the question I ask is, are you even going in the right direction? If the productivity car is speeding down the highway, but it's going the wrong way, it's still speeding down the wrong way.

If the productivity car is speeding down the highway, but it's going the wrong way, it's still speeding down the wrong way.

Share this quote on X

Kathi: Yeah. Are you busy just being busy? Are you stuck in busyness? That's what I ask all the time. Or are you getting down to business? And I agree. It's like a shiny object: oh, here's another app, here's another thing we can do. As you said, following your north star, if it is going in the direction of your north star, that's all great and gravy. And if not, maybe you're just being busy to be busy. And I'm a culprit of that. I love being busy. I thrive on new stuff, the new shiny gadget.

Sebastian: Absolutely. And on the other side of the coin, efficiency, I really ask the question: what's the one thing? This comes from Gary Keller and his book The One Thing. What's the one thing you can do this week that will make everything else way easier, or even unnecessary? That one thing each week.

What's the one thing you can do this week that will make everything else way easier, or even unnecessary?

Kathi: Yes. And I'm going to put that in the show notes. That will be our quote from you, because that's a really good question for all of us to consider as we move into the week. That's fantastic. Yay. Okay, so is there anything that I should have asked you that I didn't ask you, or something that you wanted to cover during this conversation that I perhaps missed?

Sebastian: One thing that comes to mind is a quote from a very prolific Silicon Valley investor, very successful. His name is Naval Ravikant. Roughly, his quote says that we don't have eight hours a day of problem-solving mental focus. He says we only have two hours a day. So the question to ponder as the audience, as you're listening to this podcast, is: what's the most value you could deliver in those two hours a day? What would be your million-dollar-per-hour activity instead of a $20-per-hour activity? That really goes down the road of efficiency: how can we maximize that peak time each day? And I find that as a person does that, they need less and less of the things they thought they did, so more of their schedule opens up.

Kathi: That's great advice, too. I know that through the pandemic we've all kind of had that shift as well, but keeping that at the foremost of our mind is great. I was looking at your website, and you have a lot about the 80 and the 20. I'm a firm believer in the Pareto principle. And the fact that you only have two hours of productivity a day, I really think is probably right, because we're not all on the whole entire time. There are certain times when we're on and certain times when we're not, and I always knew that probably we're more off than we are on, which is why a lot of us just work, work, work.

Sebastian: Absolutely. On that note, too, on not always being on, there's a concept called no time that Steve Jobs did, and Albert Einstein did, where they scheduled time in the week where nothing's going on. The idea was that that was the time when the best ideas could bubble up to the surface from the subconscious mind.

Kathi: Yeah. They added space to their brain so that they could actually percolate and have stuff come up. Space in your mind, space in your life, space in your schedule, space in your environment. It all comes down to allowing something to come forth. And if you're all crowded in, no matter whether it's your mind, your body or your physical space, it doesn't come out. So I appreciate you saying that. I believe in that.

Sebastian: And that's why I thought it was so cool with your method, because I see that every day: as you clear out things in the physical, how that's a link to the emotional baggage, the subconscious baggage. So I love the work that you're doing with people, because freeing up space, freeing up time, all the good stuff.

Kathi: That's what it's about. Because guess what? If we have all that free time and that free space, we can do what we really want to do and not what we feel like we have to do. I'll tell you what, it's not about making the buck. It's about making yourself thrive, making yourself happy. If we're happy, and if we have space and time, we give the best that we have to everybody around us. Well, thank you so much, Sebastian. I really appreciate you being here and giving us your words of wisdom. I love what you do as well, so we'll just be fellow groupies to each other. Thank you so much.

Sebastian: Absolutely. Thank you for having me here. It's been an absolute blast. Take care.

Kathi: You got it. Thank you.