Evan Snow: Welcome back to another episode of the Choose 954 Podcast, episode 94, with my friend and our upcoming Creative Zen speaker, Robert Seula. If you aren’t familiar with Choose 954, myself, Evan Snow, and my business partner, Mr. Andrew Martino, started a social movement to cultivate culture and community in my native Broward County. The goal is to keep people in the know about all the great things happening to make this a better place to live, not just a better place to vacation. The point of the podcast is to connect you, the viewer, with amazing people doing important things in the community, and we have a real treat for you today. So without much further ado, Robert, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself at a high level?
Robert Seula: All right, good morning, everybody. Really great to be here, Evan. Thank you for inviting me. On a high level, I'm a fractional CFO and business advisor to entrepreneurs and also the founder of Weekly Men’s Circle, where we help men talk about what matters most in their lives, which I’m very proud of and look forward to getting into. But before you got to that stage of your journey, kind of give us a little bit of a backstory on how you arrived at this point in your life and on your journey on this path.
Evan Snow: Sure, after graduating from university, I went to FIU down in Miami, and I got into finance, into banking, and worked my way up into private wealth management. I worked in private wealth for a little under a decade and became a CFP, which is a Certified Financial Planner. Most of my clients at the time were late-stage entrepreneurs, so I really got to know them, their business, their family life, and their individual stories, and I helped advise them on their personal and business finances, estate planning, and business succession planning.
Robert Seula: Getting to know them, I really wanted to be on the other side of the table. I aspired to be my clients and wanted to be an entrepreneur. I ended up leaving that career path in 2012, moving to Singapore to start my entrepreneurship journey. I began working with early-stage founders of startups, trying to figure out their product-market fit, identifying the problems they were solving, who had those problems, and what solutions they were creating to fill that market gap. I spent about four years in Singapore, where startup leadership programs and The Lean Startup Machine in Malaysia and Thailand were big things. I won first place in a competition in Kuala Lumpur for my startup company, Explorer, which started as a travel app connecting people based on personality traits so they could share travel experiences. Afterward, I moved to northern Thailand for about a year, where there was a huge digital nomad community of solo entrepreneurs building businesses online. I took my knowledge and experiences and worked with other solo entrepreneurs and early-stage founders to help them build better businesses and make an impact in the world.
Evan Snow: I eventually moved back to Miami at the end of 2018 and have been back ever since, still working with entrepreneurs, building their businesses, and organizing their finances. I also realized that many of the struggles entrepreneurs face in business are more about personal traits and qualities they need to develop. I became passionate about focusing on building up the individual person so they could build a better business and be a better leader. This passion eventually transformed into Weekly Men’s Circle, where we help men come together to speak about what matters most in their lives. It’s a space for men to work through their struggles and challenges and build a life that is fulfilling in every sense of the word.
Evan Snow: Amen to that! I can truly speak from experience, as anyone who has heard me rave about it before knows. It’s one of the most important parts of my self-care and one of my favorite parts of my personal development journey. It’s ongoing support. People might think it’s like therapy, but we’re not therapists. It’s a safe space where we can continue to show up week after week for our friends who become brothers and then family. We give the floor, the time, the feedback, and the support for issues that matter most in men’s lives, between personal and professional issues. Robert, how did you arrive at creating these platforms? How did you come to the conclusion that this was needed and that you were the person to create an opportunity like this to serve our community?
Robert Seula: It really came down to scratching my own itch. I’ve been in personal development work for the past 15 years, starting with therapy to figure out individual issues and challenges that I faced, stemming from a breakup and a relationship. The entrepreneurship journey is a lot of personal development growth, pushing your edge, learning as much as you can, and continuous growth and learning. But I realized that in my personal relationship, there was a difference between just being a great human being and being a great man. That’s when I leaned more into the men’s side of things, focusing on what it takes for men to be the most stable they can be in their lives. Building relationships with other men is one of the biggest obstacles men face today. We often rely so much on others but don’t find those male relationships in our lives that we can lean on, talk about what’s really troubling us, and have a space to authentically share what’s going on. We’re always putting up that strong front, like we have a handle on everything, and we can never really just be our true selves. It was more about scratching my own itch. It’s not necessarily a therapeutic space, but it feels that way because most of the guys never had the experience to share authentically and freely. It was a personal growth journey that evolved into what it is today, realizing that many other men struggle with the same things I struggled with over the years.
Evan Snow: Amen. I’m super fortunate that I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Serendipitously, we were all somewhat connected through another group for “lightworkers,” where I met my dear friend and future roommate, Seth Gilson, aka The Mindful Doctor on Instagram and podcast. He’s a holistic dentist, Yogi, and one of the greatest men we both know. As we started getting to know each other and eventually moved in to share a place together in Hollywood, he shared with me that he had begun doing this work online virtually during the COVID era but yearned for it in person, to have that face-to-face human interaction and connection, to give the hug, the high-five, and the look in the eye that can’t be duplicated or replicated on Zoom as best as we try. Fortunately, the way the universe works out, Robert was also part of that organization but in a different group and had expressed interest in creating an in-person version in South Florida. Seth had voiced the same, and they got together, put their minds together, and created this group. We’re very proud to celebrate just over two years of weekly meetings in downtown Hollywood on Wednesday nights. But we also understand that not all men live in Hollywood, South Florida, or Broward County, or might not be sure if they want to commit to making the time weekly. We understand people have lives and families and jobs. So, Robert, if someone’s interested in doing the work and having this type of support, what are some other opportunities for them to get involved?
Robert Seula: That’s a great question. I want to touch on the concept of “the work” first. It’s a phrase that gets thrown around a lot, like, “We’ve got to do the work.” But what is the actual work? The way I define the work is creating the space and time to accomplish the things that matter most in your life. We have all these ideas and visions of the future or aspirations for the things we want to create and do. We have to create the space and time to do the work that will lead us in that direction, whether it’s self-care, going to the gym, eating well, sitting down and getting some work done, or spending time with family. All of that requires work, which means carving out the time for things that matter most to you. I think that’s really important to highlight.
In terms of how men can get involved, the biggest struggle I see with men is time and money. These are always the two biggest excuses or reasons why men don’t commit to the things they want to do in their lives. They say they don’t have the time or resources. But that’s part of the masculine side of things—choosing to do the things you want to do and creating the life you want to live. Committing to this is really committing to yourself. It’s carving out those two to three hours per week for yourself, to focus on yourself, clear your mind, and focus on what matters most. Our commitment level with our men requires them to have done some work on their own because this is a continuous growth journey, and they have to be able to commit the time. It’s not necessarily hard work; the hardest part is the commitment to do it. Once they commit, doing the work becomes easier.
For men who aren’t ready or unsure about committing time on a weekly basis, we have monthly social events on the first Friday of every month. We bring the community of men together, all the men from the different circles, to break bread, have good conversation over food, and have a social night out that shifts the mentality around how men socialize. Instead of doing things that are counterproductive, we’re doing things that are more productive and conducive to growing individually and collectively and becoming better overall.
Evan Snow: Amen. I’m glad you elaborated on the work component because it’s not like heavy lifting physically, like going to the gym. It’s an ongoing process that we all do, especially if you’re listening to this podcast. You don’t necessarily have to go to a Tony Robbins conference or a yoga class, but hopefully, you’re taking steps to improve your life, whether it’s drinking water, working out, listening to a TED Talk, or writing down affirmations. These are all examples of doing the work. I’m glad you mentioned that the only real requirement for joining the group is that the prospective men have done some level of work. We want to meet people where they are because people are on different parts of their journey. Through shared experiences and ongoing conversations, we learn, grow, and benefit from one another. This is really put on display during what has become one of our favorite events—the annual retreats. Could you give us a high-level overview of how the weekly work culminates in or is celebrated through these annual retreats?
Robert Seula: That’s a great point. Most people want a quick fix. They want that one pill, course, or person that will solve all their problems. But the reality of life is that it doesn’t work that way. Castles are built one brick at a time. You have to lay the foundation and continue building. It’s a slow, continuous, ongoing process, and there’s never going to be one workshop, retreat, or seminar that changes your life completely. It’s about continuously showing up for yourself day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year. Over time, you’ll look back and realize how much your life has changed. It’s that slow drip that creates change over time, like how a river carves through a mountain over millions of years. That’s what drives change in your life. It’s important not to think that one thing will change everything. There are sparks and seeds planted every day and week, thoughts that grow over time. It’s like going to the gym—you can’t just work out once and expect to be buff the next day. You have to go day after day, week after week, and month after month. Over the years, you’ll see the change, feel the change, and experience the change within yourself and those around you. That’s how the men’s groups work—slowly over time. The groups use reflective conversations, where we share intimate details about our lives and experiences and get reflections, feedback, and sometimes advice from other men. This feedback helps shift your thoughts, the way you speak about things, and ultimately, the way you act. It’s a slow, gradual process of shifting your perspective, your speech, and your actions. Over time, it creates a ripple effect that drives change.
Evan Snow: Beautifully put because this is just one piece of the puzzle when we talk about doing the work. It’s not just the weekly meetings, the annual retreats, the morning meditation, yoga, cold showers, and saunas. It’s the culmination of all these activities and steps that we take to become the best versions of ourselves. This translates into work, growth, and progress in our personal development journeys, spiritual development journeys, and whatever journey you’re on. We’re here to support our brothers, whether they need help or seek support and accountability personally or professionally. I liked how you mentioned that we’re not giving advice but sharing from shared experiences and speaking from what has been beneficial for us. One experience that really stands out for me is with Seth, The Mindful Doctor, who is one of the greatest sources of knowledge on health, the human body, biohacking, and optimizing health and wellness. Through him just sharing his experience, never pressuring or bestowing anything upon me, he really educated me about the things I was putting in my body as a type 1 diabetic. We continued sharing experiences, growing closer, and through observing what he was eating and putting in his body, I realized I needed to make changes. He didn’t force this on me or speak down to me. I’ve since eliminated processed foods and snacks from my diet and have seen the results in my health and wellness, thanks to his wisdom and insight as my brother on this journey, who is invested in the health and wellness of his community and clients. That’s just one example that always sticks out, and I’m glad to share it and encourage others to eliminate processed foods to optimize their health as well. One of the other things I wanted to touch on is that people I’ve shared these retreat experiences with always find fascinating are some of the exercises we go through as part of the retreat experience. There’s a lot of thought, preparation, and planning that goes into it on your part and Seth’s part. Could you maybe paint a little bit of a picture of some of the thoughtful activities and processes that we go through as part of these retreat experiences?
Robert Seula: I love that you brought that up. Before I go into the retreats, I want to talk about shared knowledge. It’s important to realize that the group setting is a space to share wisdom. Knowledge is information, and with the internet, it’s easy to share knowledge with each other. You can find a lot of knowledge on TikTok or Instagram, but wisdom is the embodiment of knowledge. When you see another man embody the lessons they’ve learned throughout their life, it’s much more impactful. It’s not just men speaking about conceptual topics—they’re speaking from experience. They’re sharing what they went through, how they overcame their challenges, and their wisdom is what’s really powerful in these circles. That’s why Seth’s wisdom resonated with you so strongly.
The annual retreats are a mega-blast of everything we do on a weekly basis. On a weekly basis, we can only carve out so much time for each other, so we have one meeting per week to get to know each other, talk about what matters in our lives, and then live our lives. The annual retreat is a whole weekend of that, where we spend three nights and four days together, doing all of this 24 hours a day. It’s much more powerful. Imagine spending the whole weekend with these men, sharing wisdom, experiences, and knowledge. The exercises we do throughout the retreat are designed to tap into all of those shared wisdom experiences. One of the most powerful ones is probably the Father Shares. We also do Mother Shares, but we focus more on the Father Shares since we focus on men. Our relationship with our fathers is really the basis of our assumption of what it means to be a man growing up. When we’re growing up in society, we’re just learning by example, so having other men embody healthier masculine traits is important. But unfortunately, not everyone has those experiences. One of the biggest exercises is the Father Shares. It’s a pretty basic exercise where we speak about our relationship with our fathers—what it was like growing up and what it is now. We don’t necessarily talk about the future in hypothetical terms, but we talk about what it actually is. This exercise does three things: it heals the individual man speaking about their father, it heals the lineage of the relationship between the man, his father, and his grandfather, and it heals the overall masculine spirit. The other men listening to the share can see their own experiences in the speaker’s story, and it’s therapeutic. You realize you’re not alone in your experiences, and other people have had similar ones. It’s a really powerful exercise.
Another powerful exercise is the King’s Chair. The King is the historical archetype of the masculine—the protector, the leader. We want to cultivate that in every single man who comes through our circles. The King’s Chair is a powerful exercise where men get to face themselves through the perspective of the rest of the men. One man sits in the center and expresses why they believe they’re a king—whether they’re building a business, providing for their family, or being the protector. They express themselves as a leader, as a king. Then the rest of the men go through two different exercises. The first one is, “You are not a king because…” This goes deep into the challenges and blind spots that the man has, where he still has room to grow, and where he wants to improve in his life. The man receives feedback from an outside perspective on things he already knows deep inside but hearing it from others makes it much more impactful. There is no feedback back—you just sit there and receive it. Once all the men finish that part, we go to the other side, “You are a king because…” We build the man up, highlighting all the positive traits, accomplishments, and reasons we admire him. It’s a humbling experience, both as the man in the center and as someone giving feedback. It builds men up in a way they don’t often experience in their daily lives.
Evan Snow: And those are many of my favorite experiences that I share when people ask about what we do on the retreat. Of course, there are other components as well—movement, breathwork, yoga, working out. One of my favorite parts is the shared meal experiences—not just eating together without our cell phones, but preparing the food together, sourcing it organically, and cleaning up together. Everyone chips in, forming an even stronger sense of family, community, and connection. This last retreat was really cool because you opened it up to men outside of our in-person circle in Hollywood who participate with you in another group. It was great to participate in the exercises with them because they had vast experiences, interesting backgrounds, and amazing stories and insights to share. I learned from them and even aspired to be more like them in some ways, which I couldn’t have imagined going into the retreat. And then there’s the travel aspect—we do travel, not to see the sights, but just to get out of our comfort zone. Travel has had a profound impact on both of our lives. There’s something to be said about changing your environment, getting outside of the monotony, and opening up your mind to new experiences and connections. I’m super grateful that you had this vision, took action on the idea, and made it a reality with the groups and the retreats. If someone would like to find out more about these circles, where can they find you on the internet?
Robert Seula: You can find all the information on our website, weeklymenscircle.com, and on Instagram at weeklymenscircle. I love that you brought up all the exercises and the retreats. Everything is really thought through and intentional, from cooking the food together to cleaning up. It’s all about team-building, and every opportunity is a chance to learn. In the weekly groups, you get really close to the men in your circle. We keep them small, never over nine to ten guys per group, so you can build a level of trust and share authentically and vulnerably. When men speak to strangers, they often put up a mask or persona that’s not really them. One of the reasons we opened up the retreats to the different circles as we’ve been expanding is to create that variety of men you know and trust, as well as men you just met. When you meet a man for the first time, you might question if you can trust him or be yourself. The idea is to learn how to be yourself all the time, no matter the environment. Who do you choose to show up as? Who is the Evan Snow that you’re building yourself up to be? Who is the Robert Seula that shows up every single day for myself and the people I love? As you change the environment, you can work on yourself and see how you show up individually as a person, showing up as your best version.
Evan Snow: Amen to that. Speaking about community, showing up, and connection—if you found any of this interesting, you can join Robert and me on Friday, August 9th, for our next installment of Creative Zen, a monthly breakfast lecture series and mini TED Talk that’s held for free inside The Cotilla Gallery at the Alvin Sherman Library on the NSU campus every second Friday morning of the month. The doors open at 8:30 AM, the talk starts at 9:00 AM, and we’re out by 10:00 AM. This event is very meaningful for me personally and professionally, as many of you might know. I attribute it as one of my “aha” moments and a big catalyst in my life for change, setting me on the course that led to the work I’m doing today. We encourage you to join us every second Friday morning of the month because you never know who’s going to be sitting in the audience, yearning for some inspiration and a spark that could change the course of their life, their community, or the world beyond. I feel we all have this hidden potential inside us, and sometimes we just have to make a few choices outside our comfort zone to unlock that potential. I’m very excited to have Robert share his story because he glossed over a lot of interesting parts along the way, like his travels, journey into Zen Buddhism, becoming a dive master, and meeting people along the way who changed his life. You can find out more about Creative Zen on Facebook, Eventbrite, NSU’s website, or Choose954.com.
If you like community events and want to tap into the community, we’re still hosting our quarterly Choose 954 Artist Potluck Series, with the next one coming up on Saturday, August 10th, inside our Zero Empty Spaces Gulfstream Park location next to Williams-Sonoma. It’s a free event where we tell artists and creatives to bring a dish for five to six people because not everyone eats everything. We also have a special treat this month with Sergio Gomez of the Art Next Level platform, a leading arts marketing and arts mindset platform. He’s going to give a free workshop before the potluck at 5:00 PM, with the potluck starting around 5:30 PM. You can find that under the Choose 954 Artist Potluck.
If you like retreats and travel and want to work on your personal development, we’ve put together our first Wellness Retreat, a Cruise for Creatives, happening around my birthday from March 2nd to the 8th on the Scarlet Lady with Virgin Voyages. It’s an adults-only cruise to the Western Caribbean, with workshops and information sessions about going from burnout to balance and overcoming stumbling blocks that prevent us from reaching our full potential and tapping into our creative genius. Sergio’s wife, Dr. Yanina Gomez, is also part of the Art Next Level program and a leading psychologist and author in this space. We’re excited to share these resources to support not just our local creative community but also other artists and creatives who want to join. You can find that online under Cruise for Creatives Wellness Retreat. We’re still doing great events like the free art walk tour every third Saturday night of the month in downtown Hollywood from 7:00 to 10:00 PM. We have our annual FemAle Brewfest coming up in September and a lot of other things you can find on Choose954.com, social media, or the interwebs. We welcome and encourage you or any friend, family member, brother, spouse, co-worker, or anyone in your life who could benefit from the things we talked about to reach out to myself, Robert, or log on to weeklymenscircle.com. We’re truly here to help. This has changed multiple lives, including my own, and I’m forever grateful to you, Robert, for taking this initiative and doing the work. Anything else you’d like to add in closing, Robert?
Robert Seula: No, I really appreciate everything and am looking forward to the Zen talk next Friday and sharing more about my story. Thank you, Evan.
Evan Snow: My pleasure. Keep up the good work. We look forward to having you guys join us for Creative Zen, where you’ll get to hear the full thing. It’s a free event, with a guided meditation, breathwork session, coffee, breakfast bites, and community. We look forward to seeing you at the Alvin Sherman Library on NSU on Friday, August 9th. Cheers!
Robert Seula: Cheers! Have a great one.
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