Why Presence Changes Everything

The Playbook With David Meltzer

David Meltzer, Entrepreneur.com

Careers, Entrepreneurship, Business

4.9 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In today’s episode, I sit down with entrepreneur, speaker, and bestselling author Stephen Scoggins to talk about identity, leadership, and the personal growth that comes from facing hard truths. We discuss why vulnerability creates stronger connections, the difference between authenticity and living from your essence, and how the words “I am” can reshape the way you approach success. Stephen shares lessons from homelessness, business growth, and life after a major exit, while I offer practical frameworks for building trust, evaluating relationships, managing time, and creating a life rooted in purpose rather than hustle. Together, we explore service, devotion, presence, and what it means to become who you’re meant to be.

Transcript

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0:00.0	David Meltzer. For those who you don't know, he's not only a best-selling author, world-class
0:03.8	entrepreneur, world-class philanthropist, but more important, he's a man of faith and honor
0:08.7	and health and heart. And I appreciate that most about you, bro. I appreciate the fact that I've
0:13.2	evolved to be some resemblance of that introduction, because I always, I wasn't always that person.
0:21.6	And even when I intended to be that person, I wasn't doing the things that are necessary
0:27.1	to become that person.
0:28.5	Yeah.
0:28.9	I'm still becoming that person, but I'm farther along, uh, in that divine direction.
0:33.8	And I think it's important for people to know that may have the same intentions that I did at 25, 35, 35, and 45, that it takes time.
0:43.0	Yeah.
0:43.2	And it's a practice.
0:45.1	And it requires gratitude.
0:47.6	It requires forgiveness and accountability.
0:50.6	Yeah.
0:50.9	No, I'm glad you mentioned that because I feel like one of the things, so I share all the time that I feel like entrepreneurial failures or hard lessons you learn really come down to five constraints, right?
1:02.0	I've shared it with you on a couple lives, but arrogance, ignorance, fear, impatience, and insecurity.
1:06.5	Yeah.
1:06.9	Right. And so much of that is having to face yourself, right? And not many leaders talk about the
1:15.6	transformation required to become a great leader specifically. And so I'm always been a big fan of yours, specifically for that reason. You talk about your transfer. Hey, this is where I messed up. This is where I went bankrupt.
1:32.8	This is me losing my mom's house. Like all of that openly and honestly. Is there a reason why you do that? Is there a reason why you're so vulnerable with so many? It's a practice. I wasn't vulnerable
1:38.3	when I started. In fact, when I went bankrupt, I remember telling myself, don't tell anyone.
1:44.1	Yeah. Like if I could have figured out how not, at that time, how not to tell my wife or my mom, I would have done it. Yeah. At the time, my entire identity was tied to my wealth. Mm-hmm. And I wasn't ready. Mm-hmm. Just like other people, when they hear messages from you, they're not ready to hear it.
	...

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