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And so I was actually checking you out when I Googled you, the first thing that popped
up was your Instagram.
Is that going to be your biggest platform right now?
That's yeah, that's probably where I'm most active is Instagram, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Okay.
So what we're doing today, this is like the we call it a pre show, but we're still trying
to figure out a better name for it.
Because this in itself is going to be little segments of a podcast that we will post out.
So I'm going to ask you a couple of questions and we will post them out to our audience
on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all of it all the way across the pages.
And so do you have any questions for me?
No, no, I'm well any is cursing good or bad because sometimes they do curse accidentally.
Yeah, that's fine.
To me, I curse all the time.
All right.
I always ask that respect for the show though and anything to avoid any topics you don't
like to talk about anything like that.
I'm just prioritizing the computer real quick.
We're all good.
Question for you under my name, it says founder of magic production.
That's my company outside of this.
Do you want to have you so headline under there?
What do you want it to say?
Um, do you usually have something there?
I'm good with just the name because that's kind of how, like you said, that's kind of
how people find me.
Um, I can just leave it like that.
What I do it's so and I'll kind of answer that like being CEO of multiple companies,
it's kind of hard to pick one one kid, you know?
Yeah, I got you.
So in a minute, I'm going to ask you to tell me about your vision.
And it's kind of a broad question, but that's how it's meant to me.
I want you to take it with it.
How do you see fit?
Cool.
Yeah, absolutely.
How do you say your last name?
Ficara.
Okay, Mike Ficara.
Ficara Ficara for garden would tune doesn't matter.
I'm not picky.
Okay, let's go.
All right.
Here today with Mike Ficara.
Please Mike, tell me about your vision.
Yeah, I mean, you know, I think my vision is is very unique.
I think when a lot of people explain the vision, their vision business, it's very clear.
Mine is just to connect people, you know, and that's a big thing.
I just love doing and and I learned that I want to say I learned that kind of the easy
and the hard way.
But I've learned when you connect people, whether there's an advantage to it or not
in your business or what you're doing, and I'm sure we'll get a little bit into what
I do.
But my vision is connecting people because if you become that guy that's got a guy and
you become the guy that connects people, that's where you win.
And you win in just your character as a person and doing good in your community or for friends
and family or in business.
And then I think you also win in business as well.
So that's kind of my vision.
Absolutely, man.
So where did your where your vision come from?
Where did that originate?
You know, I'm Italian and I think obviously being Italian, that's that's something the
I got a guy and it's a big thing in Italian culture.
And I think just even for movies and different things like that, you know, obviously there's
a little bit of a mafia undertone with that, I think.
But I've always kind of been somebody that's that's just been the connector.
I mean, even in high school, the different jobs I had, whether it was working in a restaurant
or, you know, as a major deed, a restaurant like I was always able to hook people up with
stuff or connect people with the needs of whether it was a table or different things
like that.
And even in college, too, it was always kind of like I roamed between these different groups,
mostly because I know what I want to major in.
I changed my major so many times.
It just kind of became a way of life.
Like and my dad, you know, once again, a lot of things I say is a nod to my father.
My dad used to call it the kid network because he even used to say, like as I got older and
he's like, yeah, but you seem to know somebody that's always working in a restaurant or a
store or somewhere.
Do you know somebody that works here or there that can help us out?
And I always seem to know somebody who originally started as the kid network.
But I think that vision of just connecting people is something I've always done since
I was young.
And this is something I've always believed.
I never fit into like one group of friends or one group of people or one network group
or one industry.
I've always been kind of very diverse.
So that's really where that vision comes from.
I gotcha.
So let me ask you a more not personal but a little bit more in there about why like
what's your reason for jumping on this podcast?
Are you just jumping on a bunch of podcasts to be let people know about you or what do
you think?
Yeah.
Podcasting.
Yeah.
First of all, I appreciate you having me on the show and I appreciate you asking that
question because I think it's it's something I believe everybody should be doing.
You know, I have multiple podcasts that I host and run and you're always looking for
guests and looking for people beyond.
So I believe this is, you know, it's got to kind of eat your own dog food, if you will.
So one reason is being that.
And yeah, I mean, this is this is the way we communicate nowadays.
Right.
I mean, it's it's funny.
I would just pick my kids up.
They're doing summer school and I'm driving back and outside the not the school they're
going to but another school by our house.
There's a bunch of news reporters out there and they're reporting on a story.
And I saw my other I said, I wonder what it is.
I turned the news on and you go and I was like, oh, OK, they were talking about metal
detectors in the school.
Right.
Kind of irrelevant.
But the point is, is that this is how information gets out now, though.
It used to just be the news.
Right.
Like, how did you get people to hear your story or hear who you are, know who you are?
Used to have to like either do something to get on the news, good or bad.
Right.
That's how people knew who you are.
You had to take out an article or get an ad on a bus stop or something like this.
I mean, this is the way.
Number one, that we communicate and let people know who we are, I think, is by being on podcasts.
The second thing is it's a great way to connect with people.
Right.
You and I have never met.
We've never known each other.
But I can't tell you how many podcasts I've been on or I've had people that were guests
on my podcast.
And just because we have that short 20, 30 minute conversation, you almost feel like
friends when you meet each other in person or you stay in contact for a long time.
So for me, it's one of the greatest forms of networking.
Obviously, that was amplified during covid like everything else was.
But I really believe it's just a great way to meet people.
And, you know, going back to my vision of I got a guy, right.
This is the way I've met people and know what they do and know who they are.
And it's something I encourage all my clients to do, go be guests on podcasts.
So I got to kind of eat my own dog food as well.
Absolutely.
And I'm kind of of the same mindset.
I think podcasting is a great way to meet people and meet people that are kind of following
the same vision as yours.
If you could find you create a podcast that kind of narrows down on what you're into,
the people that are also into that will flock to it.
Sure.
So it's just an easy way to find people that are all matching the same identity or following
the same vision as you.
Yep.
Absolutely.
For myself on my side of this, I started my company this January where I do video production,
live streaming for events.
And a part of that is also podcasting.
So I'm trying to get into more podcast producer seats.
And so that's technically what I'm doing here with Vision Pros is I produce this pre-show
and then there's a live show that we'll do every so often that I'll see.
I'm leaning towards putting you on that one next too, because that'll be on with Jackson.
That'll be fun.
Awesome.
Our last two questions, it's kind of like an A and B part.
Sure.
And it's why do leaders hide from funding their vision?
And then it's how do leaders lean into funding their vision?
Could you say the first one again?
Just because you broke up, I apologize on that.
How do leaders hide from funding their vision?
So I love answering a question with a question.
Give me a little bit of insight on that, what you mean by funding their vision, right?
Because funding could go a lot of different ways.
Financially, motivationally, what's your kind of take on that question from that angle?
So funny enough, we've worded it so that it is open to interpretation.
I want you in your experience to tell me how do leaders hide from all types of funding?
If you see it as multiple or if you see it as one main, how do leaders hide?
Sure.
And I mean, look, vision for people I don't think is linear, right?
I think we all have different visions.
We have visions for our family, we have visions for our jobs, we have visions for us personally,
right?
Like, no matter how you look at visions, right?
There's multiple areas.
I mean, you probably some people may have 10, 20, 30, 40 different visions, right?
Look at Elon Musk, right?
He's got his vision is just one thing.
It's SpaceX, it's Tesla, it's all these different things.
I think the number one reason we hide from our, and I wouldn't say hide as much as don't
pay attention to is probably a better word is because we're spread thin, right?
We're spread thin.
Everyone's spread thin.
I don't, I never want one person to be like, yeah, I got you figured out.
Everything's balanced.
You know, I'm good.
I've never met one person who said that.
So yeah, it just doesn't exist.
So I think the idea is I don't think as much we hide from it as we, we struggle to prioritize
that, which is important, right?
And I think depending what phase of life you're in, you know, sometimes it's easier to focus
on your business, right?
You know, I even saw someone post, I think it was my sister posted, you know, I see more
people who are happy slowing down and speeding up right now, right?
But we're also in our forties, which makes sense, right?
Because we're starting to see, you know, somewhat of our mortality, not that we're going to
die at 40, but you're, you know, you know, when you're in your twenties, you could double
your age and you got a lot of life ahead of you when you're in your forties and you double
your age.
It's like eighties, man, that sounds old, you know?
So I think it's the idea of the phases of life you're in, the prioritization, the different
things going on.
I think as much as there's multiple visions, there's multiple reasons why leaders or anybody.
And I think everybody's a leader in their own capacity, right?
Like, I mean, I think no matter who you are, you're number one, you're the leader yourself,
right?
You lead your life, who you are, what you look like, how much you weigh, what you eat,
you know, who you interact with, what your financial status is.
You know, if you're, if you're a parent, you're a leader of your, your family, you know, if
you're a mother or a father, you're a leader of your family and who you are.
If you're a CEO, you're a leader of your business.
But we all lead in certain ways.
We're all called to lead in certain ways at different times.
So I think it's, it's a prioritization really.
And I, you know, like you said, you guys asked me, there's a broad question, has a broad
answer.
It could be a multitude of things.
I don't think there's any one answer.
I think internally though, when it comes down to it, you had to ask yourself why.
And it's a struggle.
I think the older I've gotten, I realized I wasn't, I always struggled with, because
I was never a good student in school.
I always struggled with, I'm not working hard enough and I'm not doing a good job.
As I've gotten older, I realized, wait a second, I'm just not prioritizing well.
And I'm taking on things maybe I shouldn't be doing, and I should be saying no more than
yes.
And that's been, been, you know, like I said, hiding wouldn't be the right word or just
not really paying attention.
You know, it's like your house, right?
You never realize how messy it is till you're having company over.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
I know exactly what you mean.
And so you kind of already answered part B, which is how do leaders lean into funding
their vision.
It's just a matter of prioritizing is what you said.
You want to go further into that?
Yeah.
I mean, I think it's just, it's a matter of sometimes it's, it's hour by hour, right?
I think it's, it's micro and macro.
It's looking at, there were a lot of great CEOs who are great examples of this, you know,
it's like, Hey, look, like, no, this is what I'm doing today.
Like, do I have a ton of work and ton of responsibilities?
Yes.
But today my kids are off from school, so I'm going to spend time with my family, you
know?
So I think you lean into it by, by prioritizing and sometimes it's prioritizing on a, on a
micro and a macro scale, right?
It's hour by hour.
And sometimes it's been a minute, like this is summer, my whole family's home, you know,
normally they're at work and school and nobody's home now everyone's home.
So I prioritize my day a little bit differently knowing that, right?
Cause like it's hard working from home, even knowing that, you know, my office is in our
garage actually.
Um, but it's, you know, still people come out their home.
If I go in to get a cup of coffee now, it's not, it's not one minute, it's five minutes,
you know, if I go in to get a glass of water, you know, like the distractions are more,
I prioritize things differently.
Do I get mad?
Do I get frustrated?
Do I get angry?
No, I just, okay, this is different.
This is a different way.
So I think as leaders, we have to learn how to prioritize sometimes minute by minute and
not feel the guilt of I should be here and I'm there, or I should be there and I'm here.
The most successful CEOs I know are not panic stricken.
The people I know making the most money are not anxious.
They're not panic stricken.
They're not worried.
They don't, they don't freak out every time there's a small problem.
They're, they're, they're balanced.
They're balanced in their emotion and they're, I wouldn't say they're balanced in that prioritization,
but they're okay knowing that, okay, today, this is a business day and I'm neglecting
my family and this is a family day and I'm neglecting my business.
They're okay with that.
Um, and the best CEOs I know are able to kind of find that balance and know where that is.
Yeah.
Bouncing between those two is massive.
Finding a work life balance when you're working at home or working from home is difficult
for a lot of people.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And you almost got to not call it work life balance, you know, because there is no such
thing, right?
Like, and, and like I said, it's those two things, I think work life balance and making
money, like, like you ask anybody, you go, I've seen people pull up in a Ferrari and
they're still not happy with how much money they're making, you know, like, oh, well I
did this, but I really should have got paid this to do this there or do this there.
You know, like there's no such thing as this.
There's no, there's no perfect.
There's no normal.
There's no balance.
It's like, we have to learn more, I think, to live in the moments than we do in the,
and I wrote about this in my book, like socks on a rooster.
We have to avoid the cliches because the cliches are really, it's just a cliche saying that
are holding us back more than the prioritization of what we should be doing.
Absolutely, man.
I know in my personal life, there are some people that I want to get you connected to.
You're trying to be a people connector.
I'm like, I know people that like networking is their thing.
And I'm like, I want Mike to know Donnie and I want Mike to know Keith.
And I'm like, these are people that I want to connect you with.
I'm like, this is going to be so cool.
I'm excited to get in touch with people, man.
I appreciate that.
Yeah.
Felix mutuals, you're talking about what you do.
I'm going to connect with a couple of people.
So yeah, here, let me share my screen with you because I'm going to push you on towards
the bigger stage, the live stage.
I was looking at your website.
Here we go.
The CRM first things first approved, vision of pros live approved.
So it should be sending you an email with a link in it that just like how you signed
up for today, we're signing up for the, uh, the live podcast, which I think right now
we're signing up for September.
Okay.
Good.
So there's a runaway on that.
Yeah, no, it's a two, two months out, maybe three months out now at this point, but we're
getting busy, which is great.
Are you interested in being on more podcasts?
Um, yeah.
I mean, you know, I'm always looking to do to speak and be under impact.
You know, I do a lot of speaking as well.
Right.
I know you said it earlier.
Yeah.
I mean, I enjoy being on the podcast.
I do.
I do a lot of speaking events and different stuff like that.
Yeah.
I love, I love taking the opportunity to be on other people's podcasts, vision pros VIP
email.
So I'll show you just a rough outline of what that one looks like that I'll send you.
We work with, uh, a bunch of other podcasts that we're close with, and I'm just sending
you a link to all of those guys that we know.
And uh, I know they'll kind of send out whenever they're looking for people to jump on.
And uh, I know sometimes that gets a little spammy.
So if you feel like you need to unsubscribe from it, go ahead.
Like, okay.
You're not going to know your face is on there too.
So you do.
Yeah.
I think, uh, yeah, the high demand coach, I think I've been on that one pretty sure
I've been on Dave Morrow too.
Oh, Dave's great.
Yeah.
I feel like he's been on minor.
I've been on his one of the two.
So okay.
And then last thing I have for you, I know you said, uh, LinkedIn and Instagram are your
main ones.
Are you trying to grow on any other platform or those just the ones you're happy with?
Not really.
Yeah.
I'm good on where I'm at with those.
I know I have a Facebook ads thing that sometimes I'll send to people if they were interested,
but if you're not interested in growing on that one, then there's no point in sending
it to you.
Yeah, no, no.
I live in that world way too much to flush money.
Yeah, man.
Um, it's like, unless you're spending a grand a day, it's not worth it.
You know, right.
I know what you mean.
Honestly, I'm more of a, for, for this company, at least I'm more of the front desk guy.
Whenever it comes to getting in the weeds of all the CRM and in the weeds of helping
grow a business somewhere else or on another platform, I take a step back and I let the
rest of the team handle it.
I just do the, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, I hear you.
I hear you.
Yeah.
I've got a couple of e-commerce businesses I work with and consult for and we do, uh,
we do a lot with Facebook ads.
Yeah.
So I just, I know it's a science and I don't, I don't, I personally don't have the energy
to dedicate towards a lot of what I do.
I do is referral based.
So I'm very, that's why I'm, I'm consistent.
I've been consistent and organic is, is for me and what I do is, is kind of my strategy,
you know, that's what's going to work for me strategy wise.
Yeah, man.
Well, I'm going to send you those links.
They should be coming to you pretty soon if you haven't gotten them already, but that's
all I got.
You have any more questions for me before we go?
No, man.
I appreciate it, Peyton.
And then, um, yeah.
So what would you guys do?
You're doing live events and stuff like that, huh?
Is that your, like you're doing media for it or?
Yeah.
My company is all live streaming.
So I set up the cameras and I live stream it out to whether it be client zoom or Facebook,
LinkedIn, YouTube, whatever it is they want to use.
And I just do multi cam.
So I set up three cameras at once and then I switched between them live.
Were you, were you based that again?
I'm based out of Fort Worth, Texas, but I live full time in an RV so I can travel.
Good stuff.
So I got good friends of mine, Natalia and Caleb.
Um, they do, they do a lot of live.
But that's basically what their company does is, uh, they do live events, but they handle
a lot, you know, the sales, the sales aspect of it.
They set it up, market it, sell it, all that stuff.
Um, they've done, you know, they do coach bird, they do Tim story.
They do a lot of those people.
So I know, and I think as they travel, they look for different people in various areas.
So I'd love to connect you with them.
Um, I'll connect you guys via email.
Um, so this way, you know, they're looking, you know, couldn't hurt to just have a chat.
You guys are definitely in the same space.
So I think that makes sense.
You know?
Yeah, that helps out a lot, man.
I appreciate it.
Yeah.
No, my pleasure.
My pleasure.
And like I said, the fact that your mobile is even, uh, even better, you know, so cool
man, good stuff.
Good stuff, brother.
And then on the same train, I'm going to introduce you to Keith.
Let me find you.
Uh, I'll do the introduction over LinkedIn.
Does that work for you?
Yeah, that's perfect.
That'd be great.
When what does Keith do?
Uh, Keith right now, he is kind of like a two part.
He does a success champions networking.
Okay.
If you heard of them, they're, uh, I think they're trying to turn into global, but right
now they're all across North America and they're just a bunch of virtual networking groups
with people in the local areas.
So here in Fort Worth, we have seven chapters and they're just a bunch of people and we'll
be like, if we have a CPA that works with lawyers, then we don't want to bring in another
CPA that works with lawyers.
We'll kind of push another one.
If they're interested to another chapter that doesn't have one, try to keep everybody local,
but we've got chapters now in, um, Canada, we've got chapters in California, Florida.
We've got everywhere now.
So almost like a BNI type situation.
Yeah.
Like BNI, but we're a lot smaller.
Yeah.
Which makes sense.
Honestly, I like it.
Cool.
Cool stuff, man.
I appreciate that.
Yeah.
And then who knows?
Maybe I'll see you in there because on the side I helped them out a little bit, but most
of them are trying to grow business.
That's awesome, man.
Well, I appreciate it, man.
Yeah.
Does anyone else I can introduce you to or, uh, you see anyone in my network?
I'm always having to make that connection.
Like I said, so just let me know.
All right.
I appreciate it.
We'll be in touch for sure, Mike.
All right.
Appreciate it, man.
Talk soon.
All right.
Bye.
Perfect.