And now I think it's like, I think it's like 2.2 million.
I'm not even kidding.
I think it's insane.
So they've built this entire like massive amount of buildings out there.
It took away the frost building for my wife.
So I got her the same painter to paint the frost building.
So we've got, we've got dual paintings on either side of the office.
We're good.
Right.
For sure, man.
Oh, that's awesome.
Um, and what do you, what do you think we'll hit most today?
We're going to be talking about the 104,000, uh, followers on, on TikTok for
music, or we're going to dive more into the sales aspect.
You guys so much value to throw down, bro.
You know, I don't know, man.
Um, you know, obviously sales is where I spent, uh, that's mass time,
a massive amount of time.
Uh, but you know, I've been a musician since 13 and by the way, all of that
growth, like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, all that stuff, I only started
that like a year ago.
Um, so I, I don't know.
I would just one day, man, I was just like, I don't know.
It seems like people like when I talk, uh, so let me see if, let me see if
people watch it on the interwebs on their phones, uh, and took off, man.
Uh, it just went from there.
So whatever naturally comes, man, we'll, we'll go into it.
30,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Yeah.
What's the secret to virality, man?
Ah, there is.
All right, welcome in to vision pros live with Jackson Calame.
I'm your show host.
We'll be doing interviews for visionary entrepreneurs and guest leaders who
are building fantastic visions out there.
What is up everybody?
Welcome into another episode of vision pros live.
I'm so stoked to have Ryan with throw on, on set.
Uh, I was going to say on stage, but obviously it's just me right now.
Um, anyway, I'm your host Jackson Calame, founder and CEO of first class business.
And Ryan is a sales wizard.
I will call him that he wouldn't, he wouldn't say that himself, I'm sure.
But I think he is, and he goes about it ethically and he's also a music icon.
He's got 30,000 subscribers on YouTube, 104,000 on Tik TOK teaching people
how to, how to rock the guitar.
Um, I need some help by the way.
That's not just an, just an emblem in the background.
I do actually play that thing.
Um, but certainly not to Ryan's level.
So I will be, uh, binging his Tik TOK at some point, uh, myself to, to dive in
and learn some new cool things, cause I'm just campfire guitarists.
Um, that said, we're going to talk about these sponsors a little bit and the
water project as we get ready to bring him on stage, because these are entities
that I know, like trust love.
In fact, I use cold click for our LinkedIn automation.
Um, and, and when you have the opportunity to distribute your voice, you need to
take it as an entrepreneur because that's what's called the top of the funnel.
And I see so many entrepreneurs skipping that they're trying to force relationships,
not necessarily force, but if you're approaching people one at a time.
And you've also got a responsibility to sell for your company or do something.
Then your natural tendency is going to be to push people to want to buy from you.
Whereas if you're automating or you're advertising and you're
attracting the masses, the right people will be attracted to whatever message
you're putting out there.
And hopefully you've fine tuned your messaging as well.
This weekend, I had 39 people on Monday, uh, as of Monday, 39 people from Friday
through Monday say they wanted to be on the show.
Uh, that's a good feeling to be able to have that many people respond and, and
want to engage with what we're doing.
And we had about a hundred people, maybe more that we connected with.
In addition to that, who it's not the right time for.
It's not the right time for, and that's okay too.
It's a numbers game, my friends.
That's how you end up finding the right people to work with.
I digress.
Simply fast websites.
The second sponsor up here.
This is a solution that I wish I had access to when I was launching my first
websites, because I could not find help from any developers or designers for 179
bucks.
And so Shane Michael putting this out there, 179 bucks.
I was like, you know what?
I'm going to, I'm going to include this in the show because there are options.
You can find options on fiber and upwork.
I don't talk about those too often, but I highly recommend checking those out and
getting a feel for what the opportunities are out there.
Then there's Wix, Squarespace and WordPress themes.
You can learn how to do it all yourself, but your time has a cost to it as well.
So I highly recommend seeing what he's up to talking to him about what insights you
can get, maybe considering bringing him in.
I would have just paid him right away.
I would say, Hey, 179 bucks.
Great.
Get my first website up.
What information do you need for me?
I'll submit it all.
And I'm not moving a dime above it, but that's what I would have done for my first
investment on websites, whether he liked me or not for doing that.
I mean, that that's up to Shane, but if you have an opportunity to, to move your
needle forward and you're able to use your time and other capacities, then I'm, I'm
usually like, Hey, why would you waste your time and not do that?
We just dive in and take some bold actions.
So with that said, we've also got the water project, more bold action
opportunities near and dear to my heart is the fact that there are millions of
people who do not have access to this while I do.
And I don't allow myself to forget it.
I don't bury it.
A lot of people said it's kind of heavy Jackson.
That's, that's kind of that.
Well, I'm a nurture.
That's just my nature.
And I highly recommend if you're not going to get back to this, get back to something.
And if you're not in a position to give back, then share it with people, please.
That's my request.
There's these communities you get to learn about.
So my pay, if you're watching on watching and not listening, I'm always pointing,
I'm always pointing things in the screen and I feel bad for the listeners.
Cause they don't know what, what I'm doing or why I'm talking the way I am.
Anyway, these communities, you get to see the community as it is,
you get to see the training they go through and how they work to, to help out with this
process and sustain whether it's a borehole well or a sand dam.
And then you get to see their, their outcome and what, how this affects the community.
And you and I have then have the ability to meditate and imagine what type of effect is
this going to have on this community over the next five years, 10 years, 15 years and beyond.
What, what we'll do for their education, what we'll do for their economy, how much of an
impact did we make by simply taking the time to share that or to give the one, one dollar
or the $1 million that we have available to, to support those individuals in the world.
We can level this world up a $1 or one share at a time.
Please join me in that.
And if you have a, if you have a cause that you'd, you'd feel more comfortable giving to,
or you're like, man, Jackson, like you should be talking about this, just drop it, like drop
it for us in the comments so that we can see it. And you're right. I might share it as well.
So without further ado, Ryan with row is, as I mentioned, a sales expert, a CEO.
He's also an influencer in the music space. And we're going to be diving into his vision
on both sides of that. One of my favorite things, it was so easy to grasp from him
in an interview and keep in mind I've interviewed hundreds and possibly over a thousand cells
representatives. I shouldn't say possibly. In fact, it's, it's over probably over 1500
cells representatives. And he's all about this transparent and ethical salesmanship.
He's all about the experience that he wants people to have before, during, and after the cell.
And that matters so much to me because you don't, you don't typically sustain cells.
If you're not looking at that, and I'm, I know I'm diving into his territory a little bit,
but we're going to be, we're going to be doubling down in this episode quite a bit.
He's also got this super fun personality. I love the beard image here with this icon.
Again, if you're not, if you're not seeing this stuff, because you're listening in, then
you have an opportunity to join us over on YouTube after you hear the show. But Ryan's got,
as I mentioned, 104,000 followers, Ryan DXP at TikTok. And you can see what he's doing over
there to teach guitarists. And then of course he's got his podcast as well on YouTube. So
without further ado, since we got the man live with me, I might as well take the time to dive
in with him for the rest of this as much as I can. Ryan, welcome to vision pros live, my friend.
Thank you, man. I appreciate it. I feel like I could just leave after, after that intro,
it was thorough enough. I think that's it. I think you've covered it all. It's great to be here,
man. It was great. I really enjoyed my time. So thank you. Mitch Hedberg, you know who that is.
I'm assuming you know who that is lays underneath his curtain with his microphone and never
actually comes out on stage. Great late Mitch Hedberg, rest in peace. We love him.
Absolutely. No instant oatmeal today either. So who should be listening, Ryan, and why,
why should they listen to you? Like seriously, I know it's going to be fun to play with that. But,
but what's, what are they missing out on right now? Man, that's you. You didn't even prepare me
on this. I'm just going in. That's okay. I'm into it. I mean, honestly, it, I've been so many places
that I'm just like, I don't even, who am I at this point? But yeah, I think on the, on the business
side, those who tend to really see value in what I do are really the sales industry leaders, but
even owners, founders, CEOs, VP. So C level folks who are really kind of like below that 50 million
area, which, you know, encapsulates a lot. It's, it's a lot of us. But that's really my sweet spot.
I would say coming in and really excelling at sales revenue growth in multiple forms, initial
conversion rate, and making sure we capture the initial sales, but even further extension of
lifetime value through sales people and sales channels and really, you know, relationships and
making sure that we're building relationships with our customers. So that's really where,
where my business savvy comes into play is for those owners and CEOs and leaders that always
think to themselves, like, I know we're missing something with what's already there to extend
more revenue channels and have more profitability within the departments. As for the other side,
the, the influencing stuff, I, again, I was telling you, I've only been doing this for a year.
So I think anybody that has sat back and looked at people's channels grow, whether it's business
or not, anybody that's sat back and gone, how, like, how did they do that? I think I'll be able
to reveal really easily how there really was no how. And it was just ripping a bandaid and
going for it. So I'm looking forward to it. Oh man, that's awesome. And that is what's really
special and cool is that people who are just getting started well now know that like you just
did it this year too. You know, it's not like you did it 20 years ago. I mean, I've rode the wave
since. So nothing wrong with the principles, people who've been successful for a long time
follow, but Bill Gates does not know what it's like to build a business from scratch right now.
And normally ever because of his level of influence. So there's, there's certain things
they can learn from him, but I also need mentors closer to me that are, that are like you. Now you,
you did something interesting. You said a lot of people say I help business owners who are above
X point. You help business owners who are below the 50 million mark. And is this specifically
e-commerce business owners or do you help themselves outside of the e-commerce space as well?
That's good questions. I mostly am known in the I am internet marketing and direct response area,
including obviously e-commerce stuff. But I really tend to gravitate towards other people as well.
I had for years, I was a go-to for franchisees even in like the promotional products area. So
physical location, physical brick and mortar and making sure that they expand their customer base.
So really for me, two things I'll answer. One, I like to help anybody that needs to close a customer
with a human being and extend that relationship and lifetime value. That's really the sweet spot.
Why, why the reason for the 50 million and below, man, I just choose who I really like to hang out
with. And I really, for me, I want to sit down on meetings and I don't know, I want to really feel
like it's valuable for them, of course, but valuable for my time. And that doesn't just go
into revenue. That doesn't just go into me making money. It goes into me thinking like right now I'm
on this podcast instead of going out to lunch with my wife. It matters, right? So for me, it really
matters to be picky on who I work with. And I tend to find over the 50 million area, there's a lot of
bureaucracy, which is fine. That happens. And there's a lot of corporatism that happens as well.
And it just, you know, I kind of just get lost in the mix and I'd rather really be a part of that
family and feel really well connected. And that seems to happen under that amount.
I don't want to say it gets dry after that point. So I won't, we'll move on. What's your vision for
those, for those that you serve? You know, what you, and let's go to the result beyond the result,
because you've already talked about extending the relationships. We heard that we heard about this
lifetime value extension as well. Chris Whitehead was on today. I look forward to you guys meeting.
If you haven't, have you already met? I know I haven't met him. Okay. Awesome. Well, I look
forward to that, but result beyond the result. What's the vision for those that you serve?
Yeah, that's deep. Obviously, revenue is the initial, right? Because that's a tangible,
like, look, you're impacting the business, but it's always really about what it does outside of that
for the owners and for the people that I'm training or helping or growing. You know, there are times
in my life where I have overseen 350, 450 sales reps at the end of the day. And to know that by
them selling more, of course it helps the bottom line. It really helps us, but, you know, down to
the bottom level, it helps with their commission. It helps them serve their families better and
feel like more of a blessing and being able to use what they're learning to earn, to support a family.
I've seen people get married. I've seen people have children. I've seen all of these things that
are a direct result of me making them more money or me making them more successful or growing them.
And I think that's really it for me. At the end of the day, I love business. Business got me where
I'm at. But business needs to have a stop in our lives as human beings. And we need to have other
things to thrive in. And I would tend to say most of the time, bigger things to thrive in, to really
just focus on this one short life we have, to really make sure that we use that properly and
we're happy with it. So I'd say the big vision is to better their life outside of work through the
results that we deliver in the most wonderful ways for them individually. You always have to ask,
what do you want? What do you want in life? Where do you want to be? What do you want to do?
And getting them those goals and seeing those actualized is really the thing.
Man, that's awesome. Lily, be speechless. I'm not supposed to be speechless, brother. Not okay.
So with that, now we're going to your result beyond the results. Same exact concept ultimately,
doubling down on it. But what does that look like for you? So what is your vision for you?
Yeah, it changes always, right? I think that's the entrepreneur way. I think, you know, every time I
sit down at the end of the year, I have my goal planning sheet up there on the wall from last
session that we did last year. And every time I look at it, I'm like, well, that changed that,
that's updated. That's changed. Let's strike that out. Man, for me, I think ultimately, I'm a very
religious guy. Nobody has to be. I'm not one of those guys that's like, if you're not, then I'm
upset. No, it's my thing. And you know, I'm passionate about it. You can be passionate
about your stuff, too. But for me, you know, the things that are consistently in my daily prayers
are family support. That's really it. The whole reason I do everything is because I have a wife
that was with me when I was horribly broke, horribly broke, and actually covered all of the
bills for six months while I had no job way back in the day. And, you know, I know that she deserves
the world for being that support system. So for me, it's all about making sure at the end of the
day that when I lay my head on the pillow, I helped her and and my friends attain their goals and get
them to a better place. And I think it's a complete blessing in life to be like the conduit and be the
person that is like, I have the blessing of delivering certain things or or certain life
to somebody else. And that's the way I look at it. So I think everything I do, man, is honestly for
family, for friends, including clients, most I'd say 99.9% of my clients become really dear friends.
And same for them. But yeah, that's really it. I really get my fulfillment out of being one of the
reasons that people grow and people get what they're looking to get out of life. Wow. And those
those there's a lot of memes out there that argue with you on this concept. There's a lot of memes
that that are, you know, be fulfilled by finding yourself and you know, do your own thing and do it
your own way. And and you know, I don't know about walk to the beat of your own drum, which I guess I
kind of do. But in essence, you're we need a we need a whole new set of memes. Yeah. On these
concepts of I mean, in that same thing, and we can we can move on from here. I mean, what people
don't often realize is that there can be total fulfillment by focusing on the fulfillment of
others. And I think we forget that a lot, right? Some people are fulfilled by that fulfillment and
being like, I was the reason they are better than me. Like they did greater things than I'll ever
do. And I was a part of that. So it's it's forgotten often, but it shouldn't be for sure.
Right, definitely. Do you mind if I ask what what you said, you're very religious. Do you
mind if I ask you about that in depth? Sure, let's go. I'd love to what what religion.
So non denominational Christian, I was I was raised Catholic. And I tend to think, no, again,
nothing against Catholicism. If you find it there. Awesome. That's good. That's what we want. But,
you know, the majority of non denominational Christians that I meet were raised Catholic.
So it's just it was one of those things, I think, where I was raised in a household that I didn't
I didn't understand religion, because certain things didn't make sense. I would always read the
Bible and I just I couldn't connect the dots. I couldn't understand the religion with what I was
reading. And so I didn't go to church for many years until I met one of my girlfriends when I
was young, who played piano at a non denominational Christian church. And I remember going there the
first day and being like, Oh, like, I get this like, I feel it, like, I understand what's going on
here. I can apply all these lessons to my life. And that was it, man. I've never looked back, I
think I was like, 1516. And there hasn't been a day that's gone by without prayer, without meditation
in that. When most people are listening to heavy metal music on the treadmill, I'm listening to the
Bible. So it's a big part of my life, my entire leg is covered with religious tattoos, which you
could argue is wrong. You know, that's fine. That's all right. I've got a pant of I don't think anybody
needs to find any more reasons to argue though. Right. And we're good in that department. Yeah,
yeah. And I just you know, at the end of the day, whatever brings you again, back to that fulfillment
back to that, like completion, whatever that meaning is to you, like, that's what you pursue.
For me, it's that for other people, it's something totally different. As long as you pursue it,
and you really, really hone that in, and find something in that, that's all that matters.
I'm never going to be somebody that says this one way is the one way. It's this this way for you is
the one way. So, right, right. I like that. And it gives me it gives me a context of your base. And
again, there's nothing wrong. Like I'm, I'm, I'm totally happy with my agnostic and atheist friends.
Sure. What I don't often have, though, if I can't figure out what their core is,
is a core understanding of how to respect where they come from, because I don't know where they
come from, if they haven't defined it. Yeah. So it's like, it makes it a challenge. So knowing
where you come from, where you're at with that, and being willing to talk about that openly with
with friends, family and others, and learning to do so in a way that doesn't create World War 14.
Yeah. Yeah. It's helpful. And no, I didn't prepare you for these types of questions. We've got some
big ones coming up. So as far as worst business experience, you've been around the block, you've
probably seen some things. What, what would you say your worst business experience ever has been?
Oh, man. I always tell people I'm not old, but I'm older. So I'm like, how to think about it. So I've
been in the world of like actual business operations, probably since 1819. So just kind of
what are you now 23? You just got 3737. Now, we're getting there. We're getting there. We're
getting up the grazer there. They're just hidden in the man bun. But yeah, for me, there've been a
few, there have been definitely a few. And I think, well, I'll have a major lesson at the end of this
as well. But I'd say the top two for me was, you know, working with those who are taking on way too
much, not thinking it through, and really focusing on the revenue and the money earning initially.
And that was a lesson I had to learn a long time ago, but I learned it the hard way. I remember
taking a deal where I was to build an entire customer support team for an online launch that
was happening in two weeks. So I was contacted, I was contacted two weeks from launch, and there was
no postponing the launch. They couldn't find anybody to build a proper customer support team.
And we're talking about a multimillion dollar launch webinar series, video series, like it was,
it was massive. It required about 20 to 30 customer support reps, and all of the technology behind
it, the canned responses, the email systems, all the technology needed to manage that live chats,
all of it, supervisors, management, everything. And it was a decent amount of money. I was pretty
happy with it until I realized that, you know, I was closing the computer at roughly midnight,
and then, you know, 1230 a.m. for an entire two weeks, taking that time away from the family.
And then, you know, having the conversations once we launched successfully that I needed to
reduce pay was a fun time. So I'd say that's probably one of the worst ones, and that's like
a lesson for any business owner out there that's like a service-based business. It's, don't take it
on. If it sounds too good, it probably is. And it's not true, turns out. And it's just being really
aware, being hyper aware of what you're actually agreeing to, because I'm a man of integrity, and
I make sure that I deliver on the expectations. It's sales guy, what do you know? And I make sure
I deliver on the expectations. So for me, I had to do it. I had to do the work. I agreed to it.
And it was one of the most stressful times of my life. We parted ways about a week after.
Happily, I gave them a new manager and walked from it. But that's probably one of the most
frustrating. There have been many more. But I think the big lesson with any mistake, any big
issue that you ever experienced. Do you know Jamie Weal? Do you know Jamie at all? No, I don't think
so. He's a Flow Genome Project back in the day. So he was working with Steven Cutler on the Flow
Genome. Oh, yeah. I worked for Flow Research Collector for a little while, actually. Yeah,
that's funny. That's funny. So back in the day, I used to do tech and marketing sales. So I would
sell marketing and tech services for launches back in the day when there wasn't such a thing as
click funnels. And we would build for them. We would strategize for them. And Jamie was a potential
client. And I remember having a conversation with him here in Austin, because he was in Austin at
the time. And I closed the deal. And I remember driving home and being like, something just
feels off. Something just, I don't think it's going to work. I don't think this project's
going to work for some reason. There's a gut feeling. He's not going to be happy. And I don't
want him to be happy. So I called him up. He didn't answer. And I left a voicemail. And I remember
the voicemail being like, hey, man, listen, I really appreciate our friendship, the connection.
I don't want there to be any negativity. And for some reason, it feels off. And I'm not sure why.
So I don't think I want to go through with the project. I can send you some referrals. We could
get that moving. He called me. I answered. And he immediately said, let's lean into the friction.
And that has fueled like every business, move and conversation I've ever had for the ongoing
15 years or so that I had that, which is, you know, worst experience ever that that owner,
I'm still great friends with him. Why? Because I leaned into the friction. You lean into the
painful stuff and you have a conversation around it. You remove it, you figure out what's going on
and it's done. And it's a lot easier. And you build really, really strong relationships with
a lot easier and you build really good relationships. So leaning into the friction, there you go.
There's, there's one of them. That's awesome. Now I don't remember if it was Jamie or not,
but we have opened, we've opened a couple of awesome cans, you know, well, and then I think
we, I want to close the gap on this. So when I was at flow research collective or when I was
interviewing with them, I don't know who the ex business partner was. I don't remember the
person's name, but it was one of Steven Kotler's ex business partners. And as I'm doing all, I do
a ton of research when I take things on. And so I ended up diving into a Facebook ads library.
And then I ended up on the comments and a former business partner was livid about their ads and
like all the possible dirty laundry that could have been shared was shared in this one post.
Excellent. And I, you know, it gave me a great opportunity to ask them about the situation
and see how they reacted. You know, that was, that was one of my tests to find out,
am I going to be working with people who are balanced in their approach? You know,
are I going to be working with people who are vindictive or victims or who are angry in life,
whatever. And anyway, the conversation ended up going really well with them. And I don't know what
all I know is I've had business partnerships like that too, where they have gone Ari and everybody
feels awful and there's an implosion that occurs, doesn't make the person a bad person. It's just
the reality of life. We have difficult relationships sometimes. So too funny that those are,
I would say fairly rival entities, you know, in some respect, but, you know, it just goes to show
to me that like, again, it's the person's not bad. The environment can be difficult, but in new
environments, virtues, you know, sometimes rise out of us. And so thank you for, for using that
example. Yeah, yeah. It's funny, man. It still lives with me. It's there. It's there always every
day. It's there. Awesome. Let's dive into the best experience in business. What does that look like?
Yeah. I mean, I've done some pretty wonderful stuff for sure. And I think I've been really
well known with the supplement industry. So the natural health and wellness space specifically,
you know, natural pain remedies. My wife is a very massive advocate for things like
chiropractic as a way of life and making sure that you're using that as a proactive approach
in your health. And just, yeah, and just all of these things, we're really big nerds in the health
and wellness space, which is good, but that allows me to really, I don't know, man, there's, there's
such a difference when you sell a t-shirt versus like help somebody sell more products that save
an elderly person in pain and give them life back. Right. So I would say that's, you know, for me,
money's great. I've made plenty. It's wonderful. Great. Wonderful. But hey, it's money. It's, it's
not, you know, very impactful or fulfilling at the end of the day. You know, that first check you get,
everybody knows you're like, this is it. This is the life I wanted. And then you two years later,
sitting at your desk going, has got to be something else. I don't know what it is, but it's got to be
something else. So I would really say there have been so many positive experiences. You know, I,
I'm probably really like one of the most connected clients I've ever had in my life is Jesse Canone
from the healthy back Institute. And I just like having those connections with people that pay me,
but also like are just like superstar, all star marketers and business owners, making multiple
millions of dollars every year and reaching hundreds of thousands, millions of customers
and converting those deals. But then being able to text him like this week and be like, Hey man,
it's been a while. I want to go get a drink with you and some dinner. And then be like, yeah,
sure. Let's do it. It's just really cool, man. So I would say best experiences overall are
the relationships I've been able to make outside of business with these business people. And I
think there's, there's a certain amount of connection and relationship building that needs
to happen in sales in order to continue selling to them. But I'd go even further. I'd say, you know,
sure, you're selling to them. Great, wonderful job. But like, what's in it for them outside of the
business? Is there more there? Do you want there to be more? And that's why I pick and choose a lot,
because if I can't sit down with these, these dudes and these gals and have a drink at the bar,
have a beer with them on a Saturday night, I don't want to work with them. You know, I really want
to enjoy who I'm working with and for. So yeah, I'd say overall best experience is being able to
build those friendships and call people family in that way after they've paid me. It's wonderful.
Right, absolutely. So you're talking about the ongoing maintenance of the relationship beyond
the business transaction and sure, could more business transactions come out of it? Absolutely.
And sometimes that may even be the intent because the opportunity is there. Sure. On the flip side,
that's not the underlying reason for the engagement. And you have opportunities to
get together at masterminds, you have opportunities to get together at events, et cetera. You know,
you can include each other on things that then just naturally occur in life. And you're right,
it is fun to have to be, you know, plus there's a depth of relationship that you cannot achieve
without that mutual sacrifice. Sure. Make sense. Mutual sacrifice comes to play when you go to
elementary school together and you face that bully together. Right. Or you're in high school together
and you know, you get dumped and then she ends up dating your best friend or whatever. Who knows
what happens there. Is this a personal story? Is this a personal story? I was the guy who probably
dated her to be fair. So you learn things about relationships, but it gives, it carves depth
for you. And you know, when you, when you move into later aspects of life, it gets hard to have
that depth. If you don't, again, because you've got to be willing to take risks with people.
And that's what you're alluding. So anybody who's struggling with like isolation or relationships
out there and not having depth, you got to be vulnerable. You got to be willing to take some
chances with people and make a difference for them and with them. And you sparked that Ryan.
I wouldn't have found that without you. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. No, I agree.
I think it's good insight on that side. I, I really do. I, um, I don't know, man, there's something
about, and I had to learn it, right? I definitely had to learn the ability to be super open. Uh,
and I think there's a point that you're like, well, I was too open, too open. Uh, I don't,
I don't need to do that, but, uh, there is this, there is this thing that, that I see so many times
and that is that people will work with me because of the type of conversation I have with them.
And I'm willing to have the openness. It's not, it's not this scripted, uh, you know,
software as a service pitch deck, uh, going on. Let me show you our technology. Uh, it's not that
it's, it's more about like, Hey, if we're going to be working together, even a year, like, like,
what do you want? Like, what do you need? Like, what, what, what do you do? What do you like
outside of work? Do you have family? Do you, do you take vacations? Where do you go? I want to know
you as a person. And that way we can really connect on multiple levels, not just financially in
business, but I feel super connected to you as a human being, which then for salespeople and
businesses leads to more relationship depth. And they're more than likely not going to stop using
your service, uh, because they're going to look at anybody else and go, yeah, but I really feel a good
strong bond with that one. I, I, I'm going to go with that one again. Yes, man. Um, there is something
strangely precise. You are precisely genuine. It is like the coolest thing. Um, you know, and,
and it's, it's something, it's a very rare reality that, like you said, it's not based on the, the
presentation skills or any of that, but you've, you've spent your lifetime, I can tell working on
how you show up, what types of questions you entertain, what types of reactions you like,
it's, it's just awesome. Do you teach that as part of your sales processes? Yeah, I'd say so. Um,
you know, of course I think optimally, and if anybody's taking notes, uh, it still requires
agendas, it still requires talking points, it requires objection handling, uh, all the typical
sales stuff, but a good example, there was, uh, there was one company that, uh, I went into and
I tried to close into one of those marketing and tech deals. I will not name said company. There
was an NDA, but you know, they did, uh, a lot of speaking events. I'll say that. Uh, and I wanted
the deal. It was like a $750,000 deal that I wanted to close. And you know, I knew that they were
talking to like five other guys. They hopped on the call and they said, you're number five.
And I was like, what does that mean? Like, are you ranking me? Are you rating me? Do I look terrible?
Uh, so they were like, you're, you're one of five people that we're talking to. So like, we just want
to be transparent with you. And I instantly went, man, am I first? Am I going to be forgotten? Am I
in the middle or my last where I have like a competitive edge? So I had the conversation.
It was good. And I knew I had to be different. So I sent their entire team, uh, pizza lunch, uh,
on me. I think I sent like 25 pizzas and on the box of pizza, I literally just had them right.
Like really looking forward to working with you guys, Ryan with row and I bought the whole team
lunch and it was the only person. What do you know that did that, uh, as part of the process.
So it's just those small things. That's what makes the difference. It's just those small things that
make you different and connect you in a different way than your sales guy. Man, that's it.
Precisely genuine. Perfect. And that actually, um, kind of covers the next question, but I'm
still going to, you can dive into this if you want to, or we can say, Hey, that was it. And let's go
right into aspects of, of, I've got plenty of sales questions for you, by the way. Um, we won't
cover them all. We have no, no chance or ability to in nine minutes. Um, but if there was one final
lesson, um, and this was the last chance we had to, to learn something from you as visionaries,
what powerful lesson can other visionaries learn from your experience? Man. Uh, wow. Wow. Uh,
this is like the death bed, uh, question here. And that's the one specifically in business.
Is that where we're going? Nope. Your vision, my friend. Oh man. Um, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I think that there's a lot I've learned in obviously I've been influenced in business stuff.
And, uh, that's been my world. So his guitar, but, uh, my dad who passed away, I think at this point,
four years ago, uh, I think, you know, one of his thank you and one of his things that he never said,
but really kind of encapsulated, uh, my dad was to like laugh endlessly and love endlessly as well.
Uh, and for me, I think that goes in every aspect for me. Um, you know, it's, it's work,
but it should be enjoyable. You should be able to laugh. You should be able to celebrate wins
together and have a great time. Sure. You're going to have to lean into friction, but from that more
results, more positivity, uh, more growth. And then just for me, man, I love every one of my clients.
I dearly dearly do. And, uh, they're friends to me, their family. Once they cross over, uh, that
payment gateway to me, their family, they really are, uh, same with all of our friendships, our
relationships. Um, you know, me being here with you, I know that I'm going to be in touch with you
and connected with you, uh, for the long haul. And I think that, yeah, I just think that that's
really something that man operations brains get so dialed into like the numbers, the facts, uh, are
we growing, are we losing, are we in the red, where are we? And it just kind of becomes this like
minutia of, you know, everything that makes my happiness happiness is based on this thing. And
a lot of times I see owners who just obsess way too much, man. And it sucks to be losing money.
I get it. But you know, you're not going to fix it in that state of suck. It's not possible. Uh,
you have to figure out ways to get around that. And just like you mentioned, you have to have the
right support system around you and those that you love and that you really truly care about and
you really trust in your connections to be able to just go and be like, man, I'm really struggling
here. I'm just going to be really vulnerable and open. We've lost cash for the past six months. I
don't know what I'm doing wrong. Like, can I have a chat with you for an hour? And just those small
things will boom, start to take you to the next level. It could be anything. And that goes for,
you know, just genuine life, general life as well, not just business, but yeah, I'd say just live a
life full of love with everybody, man. That's really at the end of the day, when you're on your
deathbed, you're not going to be like, I really wish I would have made an extra 10 million. It
just, believe me, it doesn't happen, but you're going to be like, man, you know, that one friend
that I really love to hang out with that I just ditched because of the business should have hung
out with them more. I should have done that. So you never hear somebody go, I didn't make enough
money right before they go. It just doesn't happen. So remember that.
Very, very rarely. And I love that. I think I would have probably a dual thought press on that
myself, but it also depends on life experience you've had. Right? So one, I want to call that
friend on FaceTime probably. And have a closure opportunity. My mom was married and had five
girls. And when she was 28, her husband died in a plane crash. Oh, that's a good one.
And so she lost, you know, he was from, you know, from what everybody says, he was the perfect man,
you know, like they had a great relationship. It was awesome. Great. They had a farm. It saved up.
I'm so grateful that he had a savings, right? That he had made what he needed to for my mom to
be able to rebound. My dad left her in the opposite position as far as attached goes. And, you know,
we had an interesting childhood because of that. But it is actually something that does cross my
mind, you know, as a father, right? I want to make sure that if my time comes that I've done
everything that I can to try to leave my kids in the best position possible. But you're right.
That's not the only thing. That's not the top of, it's on the top of mind actually, but it's just
one small layer. Yeah. All the things, um, you know, that we're gonna be feeling and the
relationships are by far going to outweigh that. So why not, why not consider that now, right? And
realize that's the opportunity today is how I take care of my relationships. And I want to say, like,
I, I get it. Believe me, there's, there's money in the bank for if I get hit by a car, uh, and,
and my wife is here, right? There's, there's absolutely that. I think there's two sides too,
right? So there's the side of you want to make sure that I take care of. Yeah. You want to make
sure that they are taken care of. Um, but also I come from a, a background of zero money, none,
man. I mean, uh, childhood sucked and you know, my, my dad passed away, zero life insurance, zero,
uh, money to contribute, right? Uh, my mother is still living, but won't talk to me, uh, for the
past, you know, uh, you know, 20 years or something. So there's this point at which would I be, and
it's the ultimate question, we don't know, would I be where I'm at if it were the opposite? We don't
know. We have no idea. Right. Because that potentially influenced my drive and my ability
to be like, I need to make something happen. Like, how, what do I do? Um, so I always think it's like
this, this weighing, right? Which is like, man, right. And that's, that's the golden question.
If anybody could create a product that answers that question, there you go. There you go. You've got
it. All right. You're done. Well, you're using it. And, uh, for those, those who didn't hear earlier,
Ryan said he has that and he said it's prayer. Um, so I'll double down on that. Um, I have not,
uh, I thought it was cool. You said since you were 14, 15, you've, you've never missed a day of prayer.
Um, you know, I can't claim the same. I've definitely missed some, um, you know, not while
I was on my mission. Um, and that was easy, but I've, I've had times in life where that, that goes
and comes. Um, and it, I, we don't have time to dive into what unlocked you, um, you know, to that,
that degree of, of conviction with what it is that you have, but anybody who's listening in, if you
want to connect with Ryan about cells or guitar, um, you know, I'm sure, uh, prayer and, and you
know, convince him to go to dinner with you, um, and get that VIP list, uh, get on that VIP list.
And, uh, Ryan can, I'm assuming people can reach out to on LinkedIn. Sure. Yeah. LinkedIn's fine.
Uh, I also have, uh, you know, the, the direct inbox that's monitored by my team as well as me.
So you feel free, Ryan at ryanwithrow.com go for it. It's all yours. All these links will be in the
show notes by the way, when we release the landing page, so anybody can connect with Ryan there and
also, um, feel free to drop a comment. Um, you know, if that's easy for you and you're a busy
person, don't hesitate to drop the comment. We'll make sure those get forwarded to Ryan or we'll
tag him in if we have a social media channel on, on that channel, but we really do. I mean, we're
here to serve you guys, um, as visionaries and whether that's personal business, spiritual,
mental, financial, um, and you feel the desire to reach out, then follow that prompting, um, you
know, go after it. So Ryan, thanks for being on vision pros, man. And, uh, you know, as, is there
anything else I can do for you before we go? Anything else you want to, you know, you want to
share? Are we good? Let's, you know, let's do one more thing. Let's do one thing. What do you think
is the biggest sales question that we can answer today? Uh, and we'll leave them with that gold.
Let's, let's do it. What do you think it is? The biggest sales. Well, I would, I would say
it's important to pave the way forward. Um, right. So what is your, your hiring criteria, um, for a
sales rep, how do you recognize somebody who's going to represent your brand? Well, that is
capable of closing without sharking people to death. That's capable of caring about people without
giving everything away forever. Um, you know, what do you look for? Great question. Uh, so I'm a fan
of Colby index. Do you do Colby? Do you, I have done Colby. Um, was this a, the alphabet we were
talking about earlier? No, no, no, that's, that's, uh, the Myers-Briggs. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm ENFJ,
which just means like, I'm available for small talk all the time. Uh, and, but the, the Colby
index, uh, is, is a test that you could do. I think it's 50 bucks. Uh, and it, it ranks people
on, let, let me bring up my knowledge here. It's been a while since I took it. Uh, it ranks up
ranks people on eight years. Fact finder. Right. So fact finder, how, how much do you need or how
much do you look into the actual facts and details? How much do you prepare? Uh, follow through,
which a lot of people think that follow through is like, do you follow your promises? Not the
case. It's actually, how much do you follow a system or create new systems? So that's really
where, where that falls. And then there's the quick start, which is like every entrepreneur is like a
10, right? They just want to take risk instantly all the time. Uh, and then there's implementer.
How often do you want to get your hands dirty and actually do the work? So for me in the Colby index,
at least, I want people with a very high fact finder and follow through. I want them to be a
medium risk taker. I don't want them to be like so low that they are like terrified to hop on a call
randomly and try to close somebody. An implementer. I don't care. I want them low there. Why? Because
salespeople suck at anything other than being on a call and closing a deal. I don't expect your
salespeople to update spreadsheets for three hours a day properly, or your, your CRM that is not
automated or anything like give them literally their only job is to hop on that phone and close
somebody. The end, they market is closed. You do the rest, have somebody else do the rest, please,
because it won't get done. And your CRM is going to look like garbage in a data dump, uh, at the
end of the day. So I would say that I really rely on that as my first line of defense, uh, is the
Colby index test. I'll, I'll invest in that for them, uh, so that I know I'm hopping on and talking
to somebody. Uh, and then I want to make sure that obviously the typical stuff, they, they have to
make sure that they have the results that I'm looking for. So yes, here's a key actually call
the references, actually call them. Right. And no, a lot of people don't. You'd be amazed.
I didn't, I don't even know. I think 90% of people's phones can't call. I'm just, I'm just
assuming because nobody calls anymore. I know, man. Uh, so that's, that's one, uh, you have to call
and you have to ask for actual results. Like how well did they do? How much did they do in revenue?
Like, give me an estimate. Did they do well? Were they in the top three? Like where were they falling?
Uh, and here's one of the best lessons I ever had, man. I remember being on a call, trying to get a
job as a lead sales guy in, in a remote company when remote was weird. And, uh, you know, it's,
my wife was like, you sure this could be a scam. Uh, but now look at us. And I remember being on
a call with the owner at, as my final interview and he made me sell him in this fake role play
session. Uh, it was the weirdest thing that I still will never forget. He wanted me to sell him a
camel. Uh, and he was just like, all right, let's go sell me a camel. I just answered the call,
like, well, let's go. And it was this fun, like role play session, but all he was doing was seeing
like, do I think on my toes? Like, do I actually like, am I able to do a conversation just thrown
at me? Uh, am I able to do it with like grace? And also does it feel like I have a genuine connection
with people as well? Um, and also don't hesitate to do trial periods, uh, with, with people that
you hire. A lot of my hires start as contracted and I bring them in with that, knowing that it's a
90 day contract period where they're paid as a contractor. And with that I'm invested just as
much as they are. I'm listening to their calls. I'm training them every other day on their call
changes. As long as they're implementing those changes, I feel good about that relationship
because it's somebody willing to make changes and grow. And at the end of those 90 days,
just don't hang on to dead weight. I think that's the other thing. It's get rid of it. It's going
to hurt long-term. If it hurts in 90 days, it will hurt in nine years, believe me, and just keep
moving. And knowing that I truly believe that salespeople are taught that they're, they're not
born with it. They're born with certain things, you know, the ability to have conversation and
be out there talking to people. But outside of that, everything else is trainable, man. And it's
just on you as an owner or your team to do the training. So there you go. So the criteria is
do some kind of personality assessment that shows you that they love details and they actually
follow systems because that's what salespeople do. They don't create systems. They follow systems.
That means you have to create systems if you don't have them, make sure you do it. And then
my interview process is about like three interviews, by the way, it gets longer and longer as you go.
Yeah. And then I'll do a 90 day trial period with them training the entire time to see how they
learn, how they grow. And at the end of the 90 days, they're either cut or they're offered
employment from there. I rarely put yes on the spot at the end with that. Do you have anything
else? And I'm glad I did because you just poured an entire truckload of awesome on, you know,
I want to give them something. All right. This is, we just been gabbing over here. Let's give
us some good value. Well done, Ryan. All of you appreciated the gab. We appreciate you too.
Those who didn't, we still appreciate you. We're glad you're here and we're glad you got a lot of
the end of this. We'll turn that into a short for sure. But Vision Pros, you guys have an excellent
day and we will see on the next show. Take care, everybody. Thank you for being here today. I'm
really happy that you tuned into Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as
these episodes continue to move forward. This is going to get more and more fun. We'll have more
and more engagement as well. We'll invite people to participate in the show and thank you for giving
us your time and attention.