In this episode of The High Profit Event Show, Rudy Rodriguez is joined by Andre Paradis, the founder of Project Equinox. Andre is a serial entrepreneur who has successfully grown multiple businesses to seven-figure revenues. With a unique background in dance, having performed with some of the biggest stars like Michael Jackson, Andre brings an innovative approach to relationship coaching and event management. Over the last several years, he has been instrumental in guiding men and women to improve their relationships through his impactful live events and workshops.

Andre shares his journey from the world of professional dance to becoming a relationship coach and event leader. He explains how his experiences have shaped his philosophy on the importance of creating meaningful connections and experiences at live events. Andre emphasizes the necessity of being omnipresent in marketing efforts, leveraging all platforms from social media to face-to-face networking, to attract attendees. He highlights the importance of building personal connections through various touchpoints, noting that engagement is not just about numbers but about fostering genuine relationships.

Andre dives into his unique approach to event promotion, sharing that he hosts free live events every six weeks to keep his audience engaged and continuously growing. These events are strategically promoted both online and offline, including using social media, podcasts, email marketing, and even handing out flyers in local gyms. Andre’s strategy is to create multiple touchpoints with his audience, whether through email follow-ups or in-person conversations, to ensure a deeper level of engagement and connection.

One of the key topics discussed in this episode is the concept of creating a visceral experience at events. Andre shares his insights on the importance of moving beyond traditional lecture formats to incorporate interactive elements that foster engagement. He uses his dance background to create a dynamic experience with men and women, allowing them to understand the intricacies of leading and following in relationships through movement. This hands-on approach provides a powerful mirror for attendees, reflecting their behavior in relationships and encouraging self-awareness and growth.

Andre also shares the challenges of sustaining impact beyond the event itself. He highlights the importance of ongoing support, coaching, and reinforcement to help attendees implement what they’ve learned. Andre is a firm believer in immediate action; he shares his tactic of encouraging participants to schedule follow-up coaching calls before they even leave the event venue. This strategy, he notes, significantly increases the likelihood that attendees will continue to engage with the material and integrate it into their lives.

Toward the end of the episode, Andre offers a special gift to the audience: a free 25-minute workshop designed to help women navigate the complexities of balancing career and personal relationships. He invites listeners to email him directly to receive this valuable resource and even offers a bonus opportunity to speak with him one-on-one. This workshop is part of Andre's broader mission to help individuals make informed choices about their lives and relationships, providing them with the tools to achieve both personal and professional fulfillment.

This episode is for event leaders looking to enhance their skills in audience engagement and event promotion. Andre Paradis provides a unique perspective on how to create meaningful, impactful experiences that resonate with attendees long after the event has ended. His insights on the importance of authenticity, energy, and personal connection are invaluable for anyone looking to make a lasting impact in the world of live events.

Want to connect with Andre?

Book your free workshop- email Andre here: andrecoaching1@gmail.com

Website: https://projectequinox.net/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andre-paradis-16042249

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andreparadis31/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/projectequinox/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@andre_paradis

Welcome to the show. On today's episode, we have a special guest, Mr. Andre Paradis. Welcome, sir.

Thank you. Good to see you.

You're absolutely welcome and I know the last name made you giggle because it's a tough one for a lot of people. How do I enunciate your last name correctly?

Paradis. Imagine two E's. Imagine two E's, so I know everybody was surprised.

Ah, two E's at the end, it's French.

It's French.

That's it. It's French. Excellent. So great to have you on the show, man.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

For our guests here who are just getting to meet you for the first time, a few things about you. One, you are a serial entrepreneur. You've grown several businesses to a very significant seven-figure-plus level. You've had a really interesting background with dance as well as performance. I know you've danced with some stars like Michael Jackson, which is really freaking cool. Over the last several years, you've actually worked with some of the leading relationship trainers in the world. You've actually launched your own company, helping women and men with their relationships. You've been doing live events in the space for several years now. So really excited to hear your experience on that.

Absolutely. Happy to help and guide and, to tell my bit, my side of what I've learned because it's, you know what it is, it's a hell of an adventure. The world of teaching, networking, and live events. I mean, there's a learning curve that you can't imagine what you don't know until you don't know it. Then you realize it's not working. So I’m happy to help people take a shortcut if possible.

Awesome, man. Let's jump into the best stuff here. When it comes to event leaders, the number one problem or challenge that I oftentimes hear is they ask, hey, how do I fill my event? How do I get more people to my event? Could you share with us maybe a little bit of your experience, your journey when it comes to promoting your events and what's worked for you when it comes to getting people to your workshops and live events?

Well, I mean, it's a standard and I don't know which one actually works best. Do they all work together? Because it's being everywhere, literally. I'm on all the platforms, social media. I have a list of the people that I work with that, obviously, connected through the years. I do a lot of podcasting, so I'm reaching other people's lists through their podcast as a guest. Add value on both sides. I do Q&A with podcasters and then we collect email addresses and lists from that because as a podcaster, you don't know who's listening. So the idea of having a Q&A to add value to the listeners who are curious after the podcast, to have them show up for live Q&A, personal. But in order for them to get to that Zoom, they have to email in. So there's a way to collect emails and kind of continue. Obviously, weekly, blog and email networking. What do you call it? The weekly reach out by email. So articles, offers, events. I do every six weeks or so, I do a live event that is completely free for an hour or so where I, again, it goes on all the platforms. I even make flyers. I'm in the gym every day. Everybody knows who I am. There you go. There you go. So everywhere I go, everything I do, it's all connectivity, connectivity on every level. So on the computer, social media, live events, face to face, and I do a lot of one-on-one networking.

So I will go to somebody. So I'll go to open houses. Next thing you know, the realtor is interested in what I do because we talked about, so if you go to a $5 million real estate or open houses, you're playing with a whole different ballgame of people. So these personal connections are so easy, personal, real time, face to face. Again, this is all networking. So I'm lucky that I'm extroverted. So it's easy for me to talk to everybody. But that's all of it. Which one works best? All of it.

Nice. You covered a lot there in a very short period of time. Thanks for sharing.

Sure.

What I heard you say is one, you're doing as much as you can. You're omnipresent. You do a free event every six weeks that you promote both online and offline. You're on what sounds like a lot of social media platforms. You have flyers you can hand out at the gym and you actively network while you're out and about. You do everything that you know to do in that sense. From all of that, what would you say is the 20% of the things that you do that gives you 80% of your attendees for your workshop? What do you feel works the best?

It's the personal connection for the people that ask questions, the people that tap in a little bit, the people who go, so what do you do with this? And how about this? The live events are huge for that because those are people that are kind of like in the middle of something or in the middle of a surge of something. Do you know what I mean? So it's those who you, just to have a couple of touch points, if you manage to have three touch points, typically there's something happening. But the touch points are important. I realize that there's a broad casting of, but it's really like as it comes closer, the ones you can nurture a little bit, whether it's by email again, just thank you for showing up. It was great to see the event. If you have any questions. That kind of personal, like, oh, thank you so much. It's a little bit of work, but it's not really that much work. It's just constant. I make a point daily, that's just my setting when I do my morning, grounding meditation and setting myself up for a good day, productive day, that in my morning routine, my intentions for the day are always that one person in the world today will go from not knowing me and what I do to knowing me. So every day, and it happens from that intention really organically in the world. So it's a little bit all the time, but the contact, that's why I'm doing a lot of face-to-face and personal stuff because it's unbeatable.

Thank you for sharing what works for you.

Absolutely.

So tell us a little bit more about the events themselves that you do. What's the format of the event? You do one every six weeks. Tell us a little bit about the format. Is it how many hours, how many days, and how you run your events?

So every six weeks, it's a live event on Zoom. Again, invitation to anybody and their friends and flyers and bring your girlfriend and bring your friend, and it's free, and you get a sense of up and answer questions. So that's the one on Zoom that sort of opens the channels. Live events are different, as you know. It's a different beast altogether. My live events, my work is in the realm of relationships and a dance between men and women. When I do a live event, I think it's essential, and I learned this, that there's a lecture part of an event, but if you just do a lecture in an event, people snooze. There's so much information that you can get, and I think to go drive somewhere, to go to an event, a live event, just to get information, it's kind of not enough. That's what I noticed. So part of my work when I work with relationship men and women is I get them to have a visceral experience, which is essential to have this while we get face-to-face in a space, in a room, in a studio, because I put men and women in each other's arms, and there's magic that happens in that. Because when you have a dancer by trade, I understand that dynamic very well, and when I discover, because it happens to me with every girl that I dance with, she has to allow me to lead her. If a woman is independent by nature or strong, they think they should help the dance, but when they try to help me, I get the elbow to the nose and the knee to the groin, and I tell you that's exactly what happens.

So there's an adjusting energy for the dance to take place. So she has to support my leadership, but I have to lead with a certain sensitivity that she's comfortable with, otherwise nobody wants to dance with me. So nobody's dancing if we don't adjust. But get this, when you put two strangers, and even husband and wife, by the way, in that kind of awareness, if I put you in the arms of a lovely young lady, and I say, walk her in a box. Four steps, four steps, four steps, four steps. We teach before I put you in their arms. She knows nothing. I put the girl separate, I teach the man, you do this, this, this. Very simple, you only need three minutes. So I put a girl in your arms, and go ahead. Instantly, within like a minute, the dynamic that you bring to your relationship is right in your face. If as a man, you're uncomfortable leading, there it is. What happens is she'll stiffen up, and she'll get irritated, and she doesn't feel safe. She wants you to be more assertive, which is exactly typically a mirror of her dynamics in leadership with men. So the visceral part is essential for the learning in my business. It's like putting each other's arms, and also it's like a mirror right in his face, and then we talk about it. Like, notice this is how you do leadership with women, this is how you do leadership with men.

So we peel that back, back to lecturing. Then we actually go separately, not with a partner, because it could be hurtful, but talk about what you wanted more of from your partner, what did not work for you, what you wanted more of, and what you learned. Now we open channels again, we discuss this, and then we do it again with the same partner. Now you put in the correction. If you're afraid to lead as a man, if she got irritated because you weren't, lead. And if as a woman, you weren't able to be vulnerable because you were resisting his leadership, let it go. Then see what happens. It's magic. It's magic every time. It's crazy. It works with people that come together as a couple. They've never really seen themselves in the reality of their energy and how they lead or don't lead. Follow, don't follow. This is an opportunity to really tune it in because, again, if you can't lean, you both can't lead and you both can't just follow. There's a yin-yang to everything in nature. This is the nature that I'm teaching. It's this yin-yang, there's a polarity for everything to be, period. One cannot exist without the other. In relationships, it's exactly the same thing. In our culture, we have this idea of equalizing this, which is ridiculous because equal rights, equal pay, of course, but the idea that we bring the equal energy in, it doesn't work. That's why people are struggling. So that event is, in itself, a visual experience.

They really leave with actually knowing in their body something different. You can't not learn that. So that's the magic of that.

That's interesting, man. I was going to mention that the tough thing people have in their events is creating engagement, getting to speak to people off their phones, getting people in the room, that sort of thing. And so I can see how your unique approach of incorporating your experience with dancing and getting men and women to learn a visceral lesson by dancing with each other, how that brings the point home for them. That's really interesting.

It's super powerful. You have to see it. It's super powerful. I make men realize, I'm not going to tell you the secret here, you have to be in the workshop, but when a man is supposed to lead, and women want men to lead, women still want men to lead in the dance of relationship and the dance of life. Women want to feel safe when men lead. So I tell men, you have to know where you're going, otherwise you can't follow. Problem number one. Take a look at your life, anybody. But when we ask women to be vulnerable to us, we don't understand how scary that could be. So I do this process with the men only, and they just go, dude, that is crazy. I'm like, yeah, that's what you think, casually, you could just ask her, just trust me, babe, I got it. So it's, again, it's a visceral experience that they have, and that sort of kind of changes the game. So in-person is essential for, I think, that kind of stuff. So if anybody is in the process of creating live events, I think you want to treat the audience to have them show up, understanding it's not going to be sitting in a chair lecturing. They're not going to want to be on their phone, because they're going to go from the chair to the dance floor, or some version of using their physicality, some exercise, something to get them to move along and experience it viscerally. I think it's essential, period. I've done it without, and I'll never go there again.

Fascinating, man. Actually, I'm curious. I want to come to your workshop to experience that, learn that lesson. Is this online or in person?

This one's in-person. You have to be in a studio face-to-face, and, again, go from the chairs to moving the chairs, and dancing, and bring the chairs back, and back and forth. So it's, again, even with the learning, people can't sit in chairs for an hour plus, or two, or three, and be able to retain everything. It's not really efficient, so the mixing is essential. It all kind of goes in pieces.

Nice. Thank you. When it comes to events, you and I realize that people come to an event, they get some great ideas, they get excited, they leave wanting to make some changes in their lives, whether it's their relationship or otherwise.

Yep.

But then, life tends to get in the way. They tend to revert back to old habits.

Yep.

The only way to really be able to ensure that they make the changes last is by helping them with ongoing support, coaching, education, reinforcement.

Yep.

I know you are a world-class coach, and you work with people at a very high level, but how do you ensure that when you work with clients at an event, like, what's your process to support them beyond the event, to continue to reinforce, to enroll them, and reinforce the learning from the event?

Well, I emphasize that this two-and-a-half, three-hour event, that sort of rattles them to a different reality, and I said, what if I said to you, this is just the tip of the iceberg? It's what you don't know that's really getting in your way. It's what you don't know on both sides that really is part of your difficulties and challenges. So this stuff is actually simple to learn, but you have to learn it. It takes practice. It takes practice, paying attention, like we did today, but on an ongoing basis. If you're in a relationship, even more fantastic, you'll be able to kind of play with each other, put it in action, put it at play. But a lot of my clients come in because they can't even attain a relationship. I know exactly why, because, again, we depolarize men and women. Men are too soft. Women are too tough, if I put it in a nutshell. Men who want women, men who are more traditional, because men have always been traditional, like women's roles changed in the 70s drastically, but men's roles never changed. Men are still expected to be traditional, provide, protect, cherish, give, support, help. Everybody still wants that. A good man will do this because that's how we build ourselves, our character and our confidence. That's how you get self-respect and respect from the world. So our roles are still traditional. But women's roles have changed, and a lot of women either don't know how to be traditional, don't want to be traditional, or straight up refuse to be traditional. That disconnect is confusing both men and women.

Again, equality in that realm is good for many businesses. For relationships, it doesn't work. So that's sort of the pain point for my clients mostly. So I emphasize that very clearly. It's what you don't know, ladies, men, gentlemen, and even in a relationship. If you invest in a relationship, then in order for it to succeed, you need to also know this. So if you want to get a relationship and sustain a relationship long term, it takes some work. It takes time. Then I go, after I put pressure on them this way or kind of scare them a little bit, but it's factual. It's not hard. It's just no one teaches it. It's not hard, but nobody talks about it. It's not hard, but everybody in the culture has it backwards, just from what's out there. So I go, get on your phone right now. Put out your phone. You look at me. Get your phone out. Put out your phone. I send it to my website, to my calendar directly. I said, as a gift for you guys showing up today, if you go to my calendar right now, click on the coaching one and then find yourself. Do this right now because I'm busy. My calendar is ridiculous. There's only so much space the next couple of weeks. So book yourself an hour and a half, an hour, 60-minute exploratory call with me. We'll talk about where you're at. We'll talk about what's working for you, what's not working for you. We'll talk about what you learned today and why it's important and where it's coming. But do it right now. It's on me. It's a gift for showing up. And they do.

They do. Because I don't leave it up to chance for them to go. I can make the offer and say, maybe I'll see you on the other side. On the spot. If they get in their car, it's too late, I think. For most of them, the one that inspires to really take action are very few. It's normal. It's human nature. But without it, I'm giving you a gift. Do it now. And because, if you don't, in the next couple of weeks, it will be impossible to even give you that gift. Sure enough, then we have an exporter call. We talk about this. It becomes personal. It's contact point number two. Do you know what I mean? And often it works. Then sometimes I let them go. And you contact point, like three months later, we'll touch base. How's it going? What's happening? Is your life different? Oh, and I guess, so the touch points that continue that, but it's personal. It's personal. It takes time, but it's, I mean, it's, that's the way I work it. It's very efficient for me.

Awesome, man. Congratulations. One of the things I really appreciate about what you do is you take action in the moment and you help them take action there before they get in the car and leave.

Straight up.

Schedule that call.

Yeah.

There actually was a study that was done by Harvard back in 2011. It was more related to online business. But nonetheless, the point the study made was that waiting just 24 hours to ask somebody to take action decreased the likelihood that they would take action by 60 times. I mean, pretty significant.

Oh, wow. Yeah, I know. I mean, I remember one event. I get it. Oh, goosebumps. Seriously, it works so well because, and again, I'm here to serve them. You know what I mean? It's not about me. It's really like I want to inspire them because they change. They get what they want. On the other side, I told you, and you know this, I officiate weddings. I'm also an ordained minister. Some of my clients, I marry them myself. I just did two last summer. That's like the biggest honor for me. That's what I live for, to alleviate the pain, the confusion. In the end, people are actually able to, and I get to marry them. You take this man, you take someone. So, it's the biggest honor. But even on a live, on a Zoom event, it's the same thing. Just looping right up. But that event I'm thinking about, the first time I did this, I said, get to your phone, get to your phone. I thought it was going to be pushy a little bit. But no, I'm just, look, this is for you guys. Get on the phone right now and I started my phone going, ding, ding, ding. 12, at that moment, came in on the spot. That was instantly like, okay. I'm like, well, this is the magic right there. Just take action. Get them to take action on the spot. When they're inspired, they're warmed up, they get it, they're in the moment. They're understanding something they didn't. Okay, I want more for free. Please.

There you go. That's great, man. That's a great message to take home. People will put up making a decision as long as they can until they have enough reasons to do it right there and then.

I think it's human nature. We just sort of like being polite, you go, well, let me know. No, no. If I want to serve you, I'm going to really, like really, I want to serve you. That means that I'm going to do everything for you to take the offer for your sake. Really, because that's what I'm about.

That's an important point to hit home for our audiences. It's about service and doing things for their sake. The mindset of that I think is really critical. It's for them. You're inviting them to be in your program because it's for them.

It's to help them. I think you own it, you live it. That's truly who I am and they feel that. They feel that. You know what I mean? There's this energy to this. We talk about everything is energy. Everything is energy. Fact. We connect with people because of the energy. We don't like people because of the energy. That's all. And with that, it amazes me that I could have somebody on the phone on a different continent that would get on a call with me and they step in and spend their money on a guy on the computer. But they'll say, I know you for real. Explain that. I mean, look at the way I look. I'm in the business of selling dreams if you're that kind of person, how you see that way. I live in Los Angeles. Scam, scam, scam. Or not. So energy, authenticity, people feel you when you mean it. The same way people feel something's off when you don't. So come from the right place. Have your heart in the right place. Give yourself a standard. Be there for them. Everybody benefits.

Awesome, brother. Well spoken, my friend. This has been a really insightful interview. I love that your heart comes through here and your heart to serve and be authentic. That's who you are. That's what works for you and enrolling clients in your programs. I believe that's for our audience. That's why they tune in to the podcast is because we interview event leaders who not just want to make a profit but want to make an impact. That's exactly what you're demonstrating here with us. Andre, I know you have a really special gift for our audience.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Do you want to mind sharing that with us? What's the best way for them to learn more about you and to come into your world?

So this is where the gift comes in. So I have a gift. So if anybody is kind of connected to what I'm saying and want a little bit of information, want a little bit more. So I have a 25-minute workshop that I created for this purpose. It's 25 minutes. It's completely free. It's on me. So if you email me at andrecoaching1@gmail.com. Andre, A -N -D -R -E, Coaching, the word goes C -O -A -c -h -i -N -G, the number one at Gmail. In the subject box, you say, workshop. I will send you this workshop. It's free. It's for the ladies specifically. It talks about how I help women a lot in our conditions and our culture. You could choose to live in the money lane or the love lane. The money lane is career and business and all that stuff. Money lane would be personal relationships, marriage, children, and in a world where women are expected to do both, it's impossible. I'm going to say this. It's impossible. The ones who have both are still not happy because it's way too much. They find themselves a watered-down version of themselves on both sides. It's not satisfying. So there seems you have to make a choice, money lane or love lane. So women struggle with this one a lot. So that workshop is about this. I teach and I have some of my clients who do actually have it all, but it's not in the way that you think.

It's not in the way that you think. So that's what workshop is all about. So, again, Andre Coaching, workshop, I'll send you the workshop. After we watch the workshop, as a bonus, then you actually also have an opportunity to talk to me directly. So we'll email. We'll set up a call like this, a Zoom call. As a bonus today, kind of see what you learned, what's working, how you see it differently now, where you're at, what's not working, what is working, and ultimately what's the dream. Then we can talk about whichever way. There's different ways to get invested, small, medium, large. But that's continuing the work. That's continuing the work. You know what I mean? Essential. It's essential.

Awesome, brother. So for our audience here, your email, andrecoaching1@gmail.com, we're going to go ahead and include that in the show notes so you can view it below wherever you're listening to or watching this video. Go to andrecoaching1 or send an email to andrecoaching1. Andre will send you the 25-minute recording of the workshop for women to help you get both money and career, money and love.

Money and love.

Money and love, yes. Then once you go to the video, we'll have a bonus opportunity to speak with Andre directly about what you learned. That's awesome, man. Very generous. We appreciate you being so generous with our audience. Before we wrap up, sir, any final comments for our audience?

Yeah, actually, this is going to be for the ladies more so. This is my job. This is a full-time job. It's not a hobby. So I talk to women and ladies and men and couples every single day of my life constantly. It's really amazing. So the pulse of what's happening is in my face every day. So what I see, that is something that I just want to – I cannot send the alarm. I want to send the alarm, ladies. I want to send the alarm. I want you and everybody, men as well, to be careful of what you are being sold out there. Women are being sold masculine is the way to go. Men are being sold to soften it up, be vulnerable and sweet. Women would like you and it doesn't work. It doesn't work. So, again, by neutralizing polarity, it makes things more complicated if not impossible in the realm of relationships and love. So I say think for yourself. What I mean by that is my assistant, my lovely assistant is 28 years old, living in Los Angeles, and she wants a traditional life. She wants three kids. She's very clear. She wants three kids, in a traditional life. Well, she can't say that out loud because they attack her. That is a shame. That's what's out there. So that's why I say, think for yourself. You don't want to be a client of mine at that 40 plus or so realizing that you might have missed the boat on your whole life stream. You want both, but you don't want to get in a place where you missed out on a whole lane just because you didn't know, because you didn't pay attention, because you focused too much on the one. I hate to say, so I sound the alarm.

Watch what you believe. If you want to be a boss babe, go girl. I'm going to support you all the way through. If you want both, you're going to need some help. And for men, it's the same thing. Do not buy this thing about toxic masculinity and all that jazz that makes you dim yourself down because women love confident men. So there's an appropriate amount of that, obviously. Masculinity is not toxic, but it's what I call a—hold on, hold on, hold on. The word is escaping me right now. It's a devoted masculinity I call. Real men approach their lives with devotion with their wives and their children. The devoted masculinity is a man who's in good standing with himself so he can. Do you know what I'm saying? So it's not about watering this down. Making men weak does not make good men. Actually, it makes them dangerous. Making women too masculine leaves them stranded at one point and exhausted and open to all kinds of terrible things as far as disease and health. There's a lot of data on all this. If you go against nature, nature will bite you in the butt eventually, sooner or later. I don't want that. So think for yourselves. You want to be traditional? With no shame, announce it because men are looking for traditional women, right? Still, and it's obviously a modern way to do this. But yeah, think for yourselves. Think for yourselves, please, on both sides. But it's hard to go against the tidal wave of the culture, but I think it's essential.

Yeah, that's a great takeaway. Think for yourself. Critical. Thank you, Andre. I appreciate you being with us today, man. Thank you for those wise words and very counterintuitive, countercultural, but yet important to hear. Thank you, my friend. And again, for our audience, send Andre an email, Andrecoaching1. Get that free training and connect with Andre. Great being with you, sir. Have a wonderful day.

Thank you, Ethan. Appreciate you.