1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,360 travel. You like to help entrepreneurs and you've been doing this, I'm assuming in more 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:08,720 than one part of the world considering you like to travel. So what are some of the destinations 3 00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:12,080 Rell that you've been to in the last couple of years? 4 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:19,400 Okay. So I mean, one of my favorite is I went to Kathmandu. I was opening speaker at a conference 5 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:25,200 in Kathmandu. It was a Saturday morning that I opened the conference, spent the day at 6 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:31,280 the conference and then Sunday morning, 4am got a driver to drive me to the highest point 7 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:36,760 outside Kathmandu where I could see the sunrise of Everest and the eight other peaks of the 8 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:44,520 Himalayas. And so that was pretty spiritual moment. And that was pretty cool. It was nice 9 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:50,720 to do. It was just, you know, it's one of those bucket list experiences where you go, 10 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:54,360 the only thing I could have done better was flown over Everest, you know, and there were 11 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:58,920 flights that I could have done at that same time. But I just went being in the fresh air 12 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:03,960 in the middle of the forest, forests on it. And it was interesting spot because they had 13 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:13,560 a metal platform, which is quite rickety given the construction standards in Nepal. And it 14 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:19,680 would have been 20 meters high. And you climbed up onto the top of that on top of a mountain 15 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:25,400 and you got this really 360 degree view of all the peaks of the Himalayas. So that's 16 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:34,120 one of my most interesting experiences as a traveler. I was doing some work in your 17 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:42,240 part of the world in a small town called Tula Vista, right on the Mexican border. Also a 18 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:48,520 couple of years ago before COVID. And the demographic of the town really intrigued me 19 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:54,640 because I was expecting a third because it was on the border of a third world country. 20 00:01:54,640 --> 00:02:01,120 I was expecting third world and yet it was incredibly money. I was working with a group 21 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:08,120 of fitness centers there. And, you know, in the car park was just Mercedes and Jaguar 22 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:13,900 and Lexus and whatever else. It wasn't, there were no beat up 20 year old cars in that car 23 00:02:13,900 --> 00:02:20,960 park. The rental car I had was the cheapest car in the car in the parking lot. You know, 24 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:25,440 so you learn different things about different people by doing that. I've spent a lot of 25 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:32,000 time in Northern Canada. Keep going. I just wanted to validate what you're saying. This 26 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:37,040 is Thomas Friedman's book, The World is Flat. He's got a new edition. This was back from 27 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:46,640 2009. I think I read this book. Maybe it was 2010. So there's lots of experiences. The 28 00:02:46,640 --> 00:02:55,560 world is living. Being in Auckland in New Zealand and they have something called the 29 00:02:55,560 --> 00:03:01,280 Viaduct, which is their harbor and running around the Viaduct at six in the morning, 30 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:06,760 actually going through a speech. I was there for a speech engagement and actually going 31 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:13,520 through the speech in my head as I was jogging through the Viaduct, I came across a Maori 32 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:21,720 fisherman and it was just perfectly positioned against the sunrise. And I took a photo of 33 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:27,120 that. I asked his permission because there's a whole cultural thing about taking photographs 34 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:32,320 and taking someone's soul with a photograph and took this photograph. And that later in 35 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:39,720 the day was the backdrop to the stage when I spoke. And you've got to talk to him. I 36 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:46,240 got to talk to him about his 6 a.m. fishing stint in the middle of the Viaduct. And actually 37 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:51,480 later that day after I'd spoken, I went back to the Viaduct and the around the world race 38 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:57,760 yachts were busy coming in. And so it was quite a vibey, interesting experience. And 39 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:01,640 that's why I do what I do. That's why I travel the world talking to people. 40 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:06,440 That's nice. That's awesome. And that is neat to see the different perspectives that exist 41 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:13,240 out there as we get ready to transition and talk about the vision that you have and where 42 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:17,400 you're going with what you're doing. First, what are three resources that have helped 43 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:20,040 you get to where you are currently? 44 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:28,840 People. So when I transitioned from my own health scare into being a professional speaker, 45 00:04:28,840 --> 00:04:34,120 one of the things is I reached out to people. I have no fear. A great friend of mine, a 46 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:39,600 great friend of mine says the greatest resource you have is here and it's your mobile phone. 47 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:44,560 And I said, what do you mean? And he said, just go through your mobile phone and see 48 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:50,560 how many contacts you have. And I've kept this contact list going for the last 25 years 49 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:56,960 that I've been in Australia and still contacts from from prior to arriving. And there were 50 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:03,400 seven thousand people in my phone. And so I've developed probably a thick skin where 51 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:09,240 I don't care. I'm happy to reach out to people randomly that I haven't spoken to for five 52 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:15,280 years and go, hey, I'm in your town. You want to have a coffee, you know, or or so. But 53 00:05:15,280 --> 00:05:20,400 by by never slamming doors behind you, I think that's the greatest resource. If I was to 54 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:27,440 say one is is you just build relationships. Some of my greatest experiences of traveling 55 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:32,940 around the world, doing meeting people have been through chance meetings with other people 56 00:05:32,940 --> 00:05:39,600 and just following up. And so that that to me is the greatest resource that the second 57 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:44,040 one is, you know, there's as you know, there's a ton of books in this in this office. I'm 58 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:50,160 in my home office at the moment, not my work office. The there are tons of books written 59 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:56,520 and as someone who's published a few books, I've got to a point where I can, you know, 60 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:01,800 extract. I don't really necessarily have any book that I go, wow, I've read the whole thing 61 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:09,140 17 times, but I've taken bits and pieces out of everything. And that's the second thing. 62 00:06:09,140 --> 00:06:15,000 And the third thing is I watch a lot of other professional speakers. And do I learn if I 63 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:19,880 watch a speaker for an hour? Am I learning for an hour? No, not a lot of the time. And 64 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:25,080 a lot of people go, if I'm not learning for an hour, I'm not going to do it. Well, no, 65 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:29,880 if you can get two minutes of value in that hour, that's going to make you a better person. 66 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:34,920 Do that. And so that's why you you know, I had a teacher at school who said you've got 67 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:42,400 two years and one mouth, you know, listen more than you speak. And so that that is just 68 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:46,520 about listening to people. I'm an auditory learner, visual learner. I can sit in a two 69 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:51,800 day conference and take half a page of notes. But six months later, I'll quote back to other 70 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:59,120 speakers what they said. That's just the way my brain is wired. And so yeah, I that's the 71 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:05,320 resource. It's just about being open to learning. And it's taken me too close to my 60th birthday 72 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:12,200 to actually become coachable. So a lot of people are not coachable. A lot of entrepreneurs 73 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:17,360 that I work with have massive egos that get in the way. Would I be would I be at fault 74 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:24,160 if I said I can see that? So yeah, that well, in my book, in my first book that I published 75 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:30,280 in 2018, I make the comment in the opening chapter, it says sometimes in my life, I've 76 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:38,160 mixed up confidence, overconfidence and arrogance. And it's taken me till till you know, this 77 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:43,840 time in my life to actually learn how to be coachable, learn how to take advice from people. 78 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:47,840 And that that's probably the fourth of those things that I'd give people is learn to be 79 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:53,080 coachable early in your life, because I would have been much different person if I'd taken 80 00:07:53,080 --> 00:08:00,200 advice early on. Yeah, that's a beauty of the virtue of self assuredness, right? But 81 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:06,520 the bias of arrogance, and how close they can be. Yet, it's funny, even our virtues 82 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:11,080 can get in our way, right? There's times to be self assured. And there's times to be a 83 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:17,280 little bit more humble, which doesn't mean submission. It means appreciation for other 84 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:23,840 perspectives. So well said. Really, I like that a lot. So people, books, and watching 85 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:26,920 speakers, fantastic advice, we're going to come back and we're going to dive into real 86 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:32,360 brickers vision on traveling entrepreneurship, and he'll unfold a lot of the a lot of the 87 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,960 experiences that have gotten to where he is so that we can help you take your vision to 88 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:41,440 the next level. All right, welcome in to vision pros live with Jackson Callum. I'm your show 89 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:46,760 host, we'll be doing interviews for visionary entrepreneurs and guest leaders who are building 90 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:50,400 fantastic visions out there. 91 00:08:50,400 --> 00:09:01,200 Hey, what's up and welcome into another episode of vision pros live. I'm your show host, Jackson 92 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:06,400 Callum, founder and CEO of First Class Business. I'm excited to have real bricker on today. 93 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:11,080 We're going to be talking about his incredible depth of cultural wellness through his travel 94 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:16,800 experiences and entrepreneurship. And our mutual goal will be to inspire you to perhaps 95 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:21,040 consider what travel opportunities you have ahead and maybe take that leap of faith, but 96 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:27,600 also to consider what other types of pros and cons exist in relation to nomad lifestyles 97 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:33,360 and you know, being having a having a set station, there are pros and cons to being 98 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:39,560 part of a specific community and staying in, I guess the world you were born within, and 99 00:09:39,560 --> 00:09:43,720 also maybe picking up your roots and going to check in life out. I think it's very important 100 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:48,460 for us to discuss, given that most of the world gravitates towards one or the other 101 00:09:48,460 --> 00:09:52,400 and doesn't want to look at the cons of what they choose. So we'll be diving into that 102 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:57,360 hard and heavy. Before I bring rail onto the show again, we're going to talk about some 103 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:03,120 of these resources we recommend to you. The first one is Dave Morrow's Hard2Kill.org. 104 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:08,800 Dave's helping 100,000 veterans lose 2 million pounds collectively. Now, my friends, the 105 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:12,160 veterans that are out there, they come home. There's a great movie, a difficult movie to 106 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:18,060 watch called Thank You for Your Service. A bit of a slap in the face of the reality of 107 00:10:18,060 --> 00:10:22,160 what they have to go through. Some of these veterans lose their identity. They end up 108 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:28,220 gaining weight, falling into depression, and the suicide rates are just too high for veterans. 109 00:10:28,220 --> 00:10:32,720 We shouldn't be losing any of our armed forces that are protecting us. And what Dave's been 110 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:36,980 able to put together to help people lose weight is absolutely inspiring to me. And he's opened 111 00:10:36,980 --> 00:10:41,340 it to civilians like myself as well. It's helped me a lot get back on track with my 112 00:10:41,340 --> 00:10:45,320 health and wellness. So I highly recommend checking it out and seeing what the free community 113 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:50,560 looks like and seeing if it inspires you to dive in from there. The next sponsor is Opportunities. 114 00:10:50,560 --> 00:10:56,320 Opa de Ane Se Trabajo Para Latinos. How do I say that in English? Specifically. This 115 00:10:56,320 --> 00:11:00,960 program is homegrown. We actually train virtual assistants, digital ambassadors, as we call 116 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:07,000 them all over the world to learn how to find a job, how to use Fiverr, LinkedIn, Upwork, 117 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:11,160 Canva. A lot of them don't even know that exists. So my hope with this is if you know 118 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:16,320 a Latino leader that would be interested in sharing their message, send them our way because 119 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:20,760 we have a Spanish based podcast as well. And we would love to host them and inspire the 120 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:24,920 world. We've got lots of people in this world to help. And there's so many people out there 121 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:30,680 who are highly qualified to help you and I build our resources out, visionaries, but 122 00:11:30,680 --> 00:11:34,280 they don't even know that opportunities exist. We're trying to create awareness for that. 123 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:40,800 And we're hosting amazing leaders like La Teacher Alma and Kike Inglis who has 900,000 124 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:44,120 subscribers on YouTube. It's amazing what our Latino team has been able to do to get 125 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:48,960 off the races with this platform in just a few short months. So check that out and see 126 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:54,640 how you can help if you enjoy helping people in Central and South America. And lastly, 127 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:58,920 there's the water project. I wish I had my water bottle on me. I don't, but the water 128 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:04,400 project helps people who don't have access to clean drinking water at all. I've never 129 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:10,160 been thirsty in my life. I'm not truly thirsty. So when I came across this, I had to really 130 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:14,480 meditate on what this could be like. What would it be like to have my kids have to leave 131 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:18,560 school and walk a dangerous three to five miles to potentially find water for their 132 00:12:18,560 --> 00:12:22,680 community or to have to leave work and to go get water to make sure that I could do 133 00:12:22,680 --> 00:12:27,820 the laundry that night or feed my family. I know it hits heavy and it hits hard. My 134 00:12:27,820 --> 00:12:33,200 hope is that all of us can consider contributing to a project like this one. I love how transparent 135 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:36,240 they are. You get to pick a community that you support. You get to see what they're up 136 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:40,320 to. And then once they finish the project, they send you the social proof. They send 137 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:44,640 you pictures of what happened and how they were able to help the community out. When 138 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:49,920 I see these kids celebrating water, like my kids celebrate Christmas day, it just, it 139 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:53,640 hits all the fields. So if you're not in a position to financially give back to the water 140 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:58,240 project, my other hope is that maybe you'll just bring this up in conversation with a 141 00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:03,480 friend. Maybe you'll consider sharing this with somebody, tagging them on it. And not 142 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:08,040 us specifically. I'm talking about sharing the water project. We've got 8 billion people 143 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:13,000 to help in this world. So let's dive in and do that together. Without further ado, let's 144 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:18,640 help all of you guys with your visions. Rael Bricker, welcome to Vision Pros Live. 145 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:22,800 Thank you, Jackson. And still happy to, yeah, happy to be here and having this conversation 146 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:28,760 and, and, and just, can I comment on one of your sponsors? So something goes back to when 147 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:35,400 I was a 21 year old, a 20 year old at university, some 40 years ago, in our, one of our years 148 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:40,560 at university, we were given a project to do, you know, a group project, design a water 149 00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:46,360 system. We, I grew up in South Africa. It was based on rural African village. And we 150 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:52,040 were asked to design something to give them clean, potable water. And I was an electrical 151 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:57,960 engineer, not a mechanical, chemical engineer. So this was just a generic engineering project. 152 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:03,400 And I remember that some of us went a bit overboard and running, you know, $4 million 153 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:08,960 worth of electrical cables to this village to run pumps and everything else. And, and 154 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:15,400 one of the teams that actually won and had the best solution took a bicycle and put a 155 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:24,320 pump and literally the local village could, could, could take turns at bicycle, pedaling 156 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:32,320 the spike, pump water, and it had a, a filtration system that worked on pressure. I don't remember 157 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:39,800 many details 40 years later, but it was an incredibly innovative design for the problem 158 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:45,720 of fresh potable water, or at least potable water that's drinkable in rural communities 159 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:46,720 around the world. 160 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:52,360 Oh, I love it. Kinetic energy for the win, right? For those of you who are going to nerd 161 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:56,680 out on the science stuff with us. And yes, there's, there's so many things we can do. 162 00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:01,440 I mean, like to get involved and to help. And I find that that's where my greatest joys 163 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:05,320 and peace come from in life is paying attention to things like that. So thanks for doubling 164 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:06,320 down with me. 165 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:12,160 Yeah. So that's, yeah. So that was just a 40 year old experience. And I guess that's, 166 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:17,920 you know, my late father gave me one philosophy in life. He died when he was 59. He died too 167 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:23,520 young. And so reaching 60 this year was quite a milestone. But he said that one day when 168 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:31,320 he retires, he wants to have 40 years experience, not one year 40 times over. And that to me 169 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:36,800 has been a philosophical driver of the last 40 years is that every year must be different. 170 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:42,160 I mean, I've run a financial services group for 23 years and people say, Oh, aren't you 171 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:47,160 bored? And I go, no, because every single person who sits in my office or talks to me 172 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:53,320 or talks to one of my team has a different story, has a different vision on their own 173 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:57,920 life, has a different objective of what they want to buy property for, what they want to 174 00:15:57,920 --> 00:16:02,600 do, how they want to retire. And so that makes me happy because I'm excited to talk to all 175 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:03,600 these people. 176 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:10,280 Yeah, absolutely. It's, it's amazing what happens when we become a bit self aware, right 177 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:16,120 of our opportunities that exist around us and dive into those. So, Rell, what is, what's 178 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:20,560 the vision for the people that you serve? What do you want to see them be able to accomplish? 179 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:22,200 What's their life look like? 180 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:26,400 Well, take it on two different levels. The one is obviously on their business entrepreneurial 181 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:32,920 level and the other is on a personal development level. And so I shared different stories on 182 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:40,200 stage for different reasons. On a business level, it's about optimizing people and process 183 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:45,920 because that's all businesses. It's either people or process. And if you can work out 184 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:51,000 which one of those is the problem, you optimize people and process, and then you get productivity 185 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:56,600 and profitability. You know, the back of my first book, the one published in 2018 called 186 00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:02,120 Dive In says business is not complicated. Business is simple. Just dive in and adjust 187 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:04,200 your course while you're moving. 188 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:09,280 I'll challenge that. And here's why I love it. I love the simplicity because the human 189 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:15,800 body is so simple that my three year old can draw it. It's that, it's that simple and easy. 190 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:21,180 And it's also so complicated that a doctor can study it for 40 years and still not scratch 191 00:17:21,180 --> 00:17:26,120 the surface of understanding it at the nth degree. And so while I agree that business 192 00:17:26,120 --> 00:17:31,960 is simple, I think one of the greatest traps that people fall into is they overgeneralize 193 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:35,640 and oversimplify the reality. And they say, well, he just said fix the process and I feel 194 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:41,740 like I fixed it. So why isn't it working? And it's because they're looking at that without 195 00:17:41,740 --> 00:17:46,960 the context of the realities that, you know, you've got, if you've got a restaurant, right? 196 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:54,160 And I've got a recipe book, 300 recipes, maybe even five recipes, all simple, easy to cook, 197 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:58,560 right? But I've got to deliver it at the right time, at the right temperature to the right 198 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:03,000 person, have the right host team member greet them. I've got to have the spoilage. I got 199 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:08,720 to be aware of that, the costs associated with it. So no, it is simple, but it is, it 200 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:16,960 is far from easy and it's complex. Well, yes and no. And I'm going to challenge you on 201 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:22,960 that one because I'm excited for it. What I mean by business being simple is that I 202 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:27,680 get entrepreneurs coming to me for advice as a coach, as a mentor and going, I'm on 203 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:33,720 spreadsheet number 27 and I think this business works. And I go, that's 26 spreadsheets, too 204 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:41,000 many. Okay. Because at the end of the day, if you've got a vision of your business and 205 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:47,640 whatever that may be, you know, it doesn't really matter. As long as you have an intrinsic 206 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:54,480 belief that it's going to work, you go for it and you don't overthink it. And I, and 207 00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:59,560 I've done that lots of times in different businesses that I've started, I've not overthought 208 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:06,960 it. And so when I say business is not complicated, it's about that overthinking it. We overthink 209 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:12,880 it. We go, oh, we need to build a $2 million RT system, you know, and whatever, whatever 210 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:18,120 to start. No, you don't. I mean, I think in the current world, interestingly in the venture 211 00:19:18,120 --> 00:19:23,220 capital space, the concept of an MVP, and that's not the most value play, that's the 212 00:19:23,220 --> 00:19:29,520 minimum viable product, has changed the mindset because, you know, 20 years ago, in 213 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:34,960 entrepreneurs would go off and spend two years in a bunker or sitting in the hills, developing 214 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:40,200 the product. Yep. Today, they're going for minimum viable product and going, how do we 215 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:44,640 put this out there in the market to see if it works? And if it doesn't work, let's change 216 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:49,520 it. And so that's philosophically where I come from with with entrepreneurs is correct 217 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:58,520 is is do it. If it doesn't work, change it. And just your course, don't stick your head 218 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:03,040 down in the sand for two years because you're going to be dead. Well, it is a very important 219 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:09,320 difference between the startups that can abide by agile and building the hyperloop, right, 220 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:13,120 where you might kill people if you if you listen to that advice. So there's there's 221 00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:18,520 a context, right? There's a nuance about it. And our audience, we don't really control 222 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:22,760 which entrepreneur they are. But there are certain repercussions. You can take one side 223 00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:29,100 of it, the great side. And I'm with you. Elon Musk sold one hundred and eighty thousand cars from stage that wouldn't 224 00:20:29,100 --> 00:20:33,960 exist for two to three years. It was the most brilliant vision, culture, marketing play 225 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:39,280 I've ever seen. Right. And in addition to that, somebody else tried to do the same thing 226 00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:45,800 with a with an event. His name was Ja Rule. And he also got a documentary featured on 227 00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:50,560 him and he went to prison because he couldn't fulfill the vision that he laid out there. 228 00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:57,880 So we still have they have to balance the idea of, OK, agile matters. Waterfall matters. 229 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:03,600 We as entrepreneurs, you can overthink it, but you can also step in the Lamborghini, 230 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:07,320 hit the gas pedal and find yourself in a brick wall before you know it. And if you've got 231 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:12,480 a family to protect and provide for, we need to be aware of that, too. There's a there's 232 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:17,680 an end here, not an either, in my opinion. Absolutely. There is. And I and again, I see 233 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:25,200 lots of entrepreneurs coming up with brilliant ideas. But at the end of the day, when I talk 234 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:31,080 to them and they go, OK, this is, you know, this solves this narrow problem. I mean, there 235 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:37,320 was a in my very first business I started, we used to to to do something called functional 236 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:43,960 benchmarking with clients. Sounds really technical. And all functional benchmarking meant was if 237 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:51,360 you want to benchmark your business benchmark it not against your competitor, because then 238 00:21:51,360 --> 00:21:58,960 you're just doing more of the same benchmark against a narrow vision of somebody who is 239 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:05,640 doing something specific. So the classic example we used to use at the time was if you wanted 240 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:12,240 the best micro billing system in the world, right, micro billing for a whole lot of reasons 241 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:18,240 was it was an emerging technology at the time. We said go to American Express. Look at what 242 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:24,520 American Express do right as a micro billing business model for that part of your business. 243 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:29,680 And that's what functional benchmarking is. You benchmark different aspects of your business 244 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:36,000 against the best in its class, not necessarily your competitors. And there's there's a book 245 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:39,800 that made it. I didn't actually realize I was doing it. I was quoted on their website. 246 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:46,680 There's an article of mine on on on their website, and it's finding the blue ocean, 247 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:51,400 okay, and not and not competing in the red ocean. And if you go to the blue ocean website, 248 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:57,000 there was a blog I wrote that they've re quoted on the on the website. And there's a chapter 249 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:03,000 in the book called finding your blue ocean. And that is literally about finding that, 250 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:09,560 that that narrow niche outside the mass market, where you can establish yourself on one dimension 251 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:15,720 or two dimensions, not 20. You know, it's interesting the and again, I get to play the 252 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:19,520 devil's advocate on these, right? I get to play the color commentator. And it's not because 253 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:24,900 I don't one. Let me let me highlight that. I love the functional benchmarking process. 254 00:23:24,900 --> 00:23:29,360 That's a great that's a great way to put it to I will be giving you credit as I talk about 255 00:23:29,360 --> 00:23:35,560 that with clients. I didn't realize how close it was what we were doing to to what you said. 256 00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:38,800 And the challenge I face the clients on that we're going to circle back to this blue ocean 257 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:43,160 though, because this matters a lot. I believe in the red ocean, more than the blue ocean, 258 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:48,860 actually, the the process of functional benchmarking, I see a lot of clients do that. And they get 259 00:23:48,860 --> 00:23:55,560 addicted to believing that, oh, we're going to be just like that entity on day one. I'm 260 00:23:55,560 --> 00:24:00,960 I'm obviously being a little bit exaggerated. But or they say, you know what, we're going 261 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:06,540 to this is the industry benchmarks, we should be at the industry benchmarks. Hey, rookie, 262 00:24:06,540 --> 00:24:10,560 you just got to the industry, you've got no shot at hitting their standards, you need 263 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:15,400 to first have the infrastructure that all those bad boys created before you're ever 264 00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:21,820 going to compete with them or the elites. And ideally, yeah, we would actually surpass 265 00:24:21,820 --> 00:24:26,860 and build beyond but the the b hag process, right big, hairy, audacious goals and trying 266 00:24:26,860 --> 00:24:31,280 to set the standards in life, and the smart goals. I think they I think they kind of overlap 267 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:36,520 and can go hand in hand. The blue ocean challenge that I see a lot of people fall into is that 268 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:41,800 they blindly adopt that behavior and model is they forget that if you go to a blue ocean, 269 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:48,700 a truly blue one, nobody's there. And so you don't you then have to create marketing campaigns 270 00:24:48,700 --> 00:24:54,640 at the awareness level that are nothing like the processes of if you're in a red ocean, 271 00:24:54,640 --> 00:25:00,000 where every single person's at the end, you believe in it, obviously, don't go open a 272 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,960 vape shop just because somebody tells you it's a good idea. You have to have that passion. 273 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:09,480 But if you're a dentist, and you're in San Antonio, Texas, and you happen to be dedicated 274 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:14,800 to what you do, and you're passionate, and you do what what rail said, people and processes, 275 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:19,620 you get those methods, right, you're going to rise to the top very, very fast and stand 276 00:25:19,620 --> 00:25:24,080 out as the easy choice in the market. All the awareness is taken care of people are 277 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:30,200 sick of getting bad service and bad hospitality. So there's a value to both the red and the 278 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:36,040 blues. My challenge to all of you visionaries listening in is don't listen to me. Don't 279 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:42,200 listen to rail. Our experiences are unique to ourselves. Neither one of us know what 280 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:47,400 you should do. You are the visionary of your own visions. And our perspectives are meant 281 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:53,680 to help paint a picture so that based on where you're at, you can intuitively select what 282 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:58,680 rail said makes sense. Oh, what Jackson said makes sense. Both perspectives can help you. 283 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:04,840 Go ahead. Absolutely. So that, you know, and I'll so I the blue ocean only came to me as 284 00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:11,840 a as a as a real understanding when I was doing triathlons 11 years ago. Yeah. And that 285 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:16,220 was before we did it at Rock Strong Connect. It was super helpful. But it was a balance 286 00:26:16,220 --> 00:26:20,760 to both. Yeah. But it came to me when I was doing my first triathlon and I was standing 287 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:26,920 on the beach in a pink bathing cap, which is just another vision that we're gonna leave 288 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:33,560 behind. And I was in the 40 to 49 year age group. I was 49. And I was doing my first 289 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:38,720 series of triathlons as a person who just likes to have these experiences. And I stood 290 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:42,400 on the beach and I realized I'd never done a swim in the ocean. I'd all done all my swimming 291 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:47,840 in a swimming pool, the black line and people Nate neatly ahead of me and people neatly 292 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:53,880 behind me. And so when I suddenly stood on that beach and I realized there were 50 of 293 00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:59,520 us going to run into that water. And the first experience was that red ocean that that churn 294 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:06,080 people kicking me in the head me kicking people behind me, you know, all that kind of stuff. 295 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:11,040 And that was when I truly understood that all I needed to do with my choice was not 296 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:17,920 go way out into the blue ocean. Just swim on the edge of that red ocean. And I would 297 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:26,280 find clear water. And that is a is a business concept is exactly what you do. You just on 298 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:32,040 the edge, you find your niche that can still compete. I mean, I'm in a finance industry. 299 00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:39,960 I have been for 20, I mean, and to have some fun with your analogy or get a boat and stop 300 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:45,160 swimming and getting drowned by people. So there's a lot of fun context and symbolism 301 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:50,240 that can exist. And again, I appreciate the perspective of both oceans. They both matter. 302 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:54,680 And I think you've I think you've hit those points super, super well. The the challenge 303 00:27:54,680 --> 00:28:00,640 now from a let's talk about balance because you've been able to do that. I loved your 304 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:07,240 story about how you know, you got to see the Mount Everest, you know, and really take in 305 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:11,760 that vision. I mean, you had to you had to intentionally take your time to go and do 306 00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:15,880 that. And you didn't see it as a chore. You saw it as an opportunity. Anybody else could 307 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:19,600 have said, Well, let me just dive into email with the extra hour I have. Right. You you 308 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:25,040 created a balance for yourself. So how did you what point in life did you start to prioritize 309 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:30,240 balance and travel and experience? 310 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:38,120 Many years ago, I mean, I guess my first big travel experience was in in 1997, after I 311 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:43,040 listed my first business on the stock exchange. And then I had a year's contract. I left the 312 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:50,480 business in August 97. And I was a bit lost. You know, I'd been in that business 24 hours 313 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:59,200 a day for seven years and great success. And we managed we reversed listed interest into 314 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:06,240 a listed shell. We had done nine acquisitions for that shell of 18 months. And then I said, 315 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:11,960 My time is up. And I walked away. And it was quite sad. It was I was crying on stage when 316 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:19,480 I think the team that that you had 160 stuff. And the next week, I saw a special ticket 317 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:24,680 for around the world travel. And I looked at my wife and I said, We've got two small 318 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:28,120 kids have a four year old and a one year old or three and a half year old and one year 319 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:37,400 old. Let's go traveling. And we traveled for five months with two small kids, a dial up 320 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:42,440 modem laptop, because that's what you had in those days that weighed about 12 kilos 321 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:49,800 all of its own. A mobile phone that you know, there was no roaming or anything like that 322 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:54,040 in those days. And, you know, you had to get some cards for different countries. It was 323 00:29:54,040 --> 00:30:01,560 quite interesting. But but the experience of of traveling the world at that age, you 324 00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:06,240 know, a lot of people do that round the world trip when they retired and they're 65 or 70. 325 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:15,840 I got to do that when I was in my 30s. And it was an amazing eye opening experience. 326 00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:23,560 We did 22 flights over that five month period, went from South Africa through Europe, South 327 00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:29,160 Africa through Europe to the US and back through Australia, we were still living in South Africa, 328 00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:34,120 left South Africa with about 80 kilograms of luggage, we traveled too heavy in those 329 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:40,560 days and arrived back with 160 kilograms, because we acquired stuff along the way and 330 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:46,360 extra bags. And it was quite funny as we got to Europe, I rented a small Fiat, because 331 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:51,560 we are bags. By the time I was in Australia, I was renting four wheel drives just to take 332 00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:53,760 our luggage. Yeah, so 333 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:56,640 dude, you were a digital nomad pioneer. 334 00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:00,840 Yeah, very. I mean, I'd like to think so. I mean, I have a tech background. I have a 335 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:05,520 two master's degrees, one of them is in software engineering, others in MBA. And I did both 336 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:10,040 of those in the 80s. So I don't call myself a software engineer anymore. But I've always 337 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:17,640 embraced as technology. And so in 2001, as an example, or 2000, we were traveling the 338 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:21,880 world with a venture fund that I was with in Australia, we're just listed on the Australian 339 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:28,000 Stock Exchange. We did a trip through Israel looking at startups. And then we went to the 340 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:36,080 valley to San Francisco. And we were still trading actively trading shares on the Australian 341 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:43,500 stock market 20 odd years ago. And I had a laptop again, with a worldwide dialing thing 342 00:31:43,500 --> 00:31:49,240 that gave me local access to the internet on dial up modems in any country. And so I'm 343 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:54,160 gonna dive into me here because I got it. So that's the day. 344 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:58,760 Here's why you guys are listening in. I'm not cutting rail off because I don't like 345 00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:03,720 the story. But because he shares this type of stuff on all the other podcasts he's on, 346 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:08,080 he gets to talk about all the lovely and the rosies. And what I'm catching is we got a 347 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:12,920 depth of wisdom to be able to dive into and truly learn from. I also did the digital nomad 348 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:18,720 lifestyle I ran into the pros and cons. I don't see hardly anybody on the on the planet 349 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:23,880 talking about the cons. Why? Because it's easier to sell what's attractive. And it's 350 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:28,720 easy to sell what's easy. But what I think we have a responsibility to do is also help 351 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:32,800 all of you considering that to understand like, well, what are some of the things we 352 00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:36,640 should watch out for? If we're going that route? What are the some of the things that 353 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:43,040 we can prepare for that some of the some families out there may take for granted about travel 354 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:48,080 with young kids or how it affects a husband and wife to be around each other 24 seven. 355 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:51,560 Right? There's there's different I don't know what your life was like. I know mine was. 356 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:57,520 But real, what what kind of wisdom can you can you grant us about the maybe some of the 357 00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:01,440 things we overlook as we get prepared to follow your steps? 358 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:08,120 So, I mean, my kids grew up traveling from a very young age. And we were we were lucky, 359 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:12,960 I guess that, you know, you get onto an airplane and you see the kid open their mouth and scream 360 00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:20,760 for four hours. My kids would never like that. Huge plus. And so we were lucky. Okay. Me 361 00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:25,560 too. But part of it was the calmness that I guess my wife and I exuded like we were 362 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:30,400 never stressed except for one time where we landed in Chicago and didn't realize there 363 00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:35,800 was a time change and had to sprint from gate one to gate 20 to get the kids and us onto 364 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:41,880 the next plane. But that's just part of the experience of doing it. You know what? So 365 00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:49,040 so we we were fairly chilled and we we didn't we stayed in each place for five to seven 366 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:55,720 days or even longer. So we we managed to establish a base. The first thing we did in every town 367 00:33:55,720 --> 00:34:02,920 and every city we went to, whether it was in the small island in Greece, you know, or, 368 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:08,220 you know, in Beverly Hills, you know, it doesn't matter. The first thing we did is we got to 369 00:34:08,220 --> 00:34:13,640 our hotel or our apartment and I went out exploring or foraging, as my wife used to 370 00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:20,480 say. And I used to forage for things like not really forest foraging, just as a shop 371 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:26,400 foraging things, you know, the basics that we needed in any town. So our kids, you know, 372 00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:32,440 needed milk to drink because they grew up on cow's milk, not formula. OK, so we'd go 373 00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:39,440 out and buy fresh milk and cheese and crackers and snacks for the kids. And then we would 374 00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:45,400 often have I remember quite distinctly a number of hotel rooms putting going down to reception 375 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:51,280 or asking reception to send us some towels. And we would have a picnic with two small girls 376 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:56,920 on the floor of the hotel room, overlooking the patio, overlooking the view, whatever 377 00:34:56,920 --> 00:35:03,920 it was. And that's how we would kind of relax. And then, you know, we had a double stroller 378 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:09,440 pram. And so that was one of the best things we ever did for traveling with kids that both 379 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:14,160 of them could be in the stroller. And interestingly, the one we bought in London, you could take 380 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:18,480 straight into a black cab with the two kids in it. You didn't have to fold it up because 381 00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:22,280 they only said in the world where you could take the kids in the stroller straight into 382 00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:27,720 the into the taxi and you didn't have to worry about it. You know, that's just a little and 383 00:35:27,720 --> 00:35:31,880 it was because it was detailed. They make it they make a pretty big difference. Yeah. 384 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:36,520 I mean, it wasn't wired like a lot of the strollers I see people traveling with today are two 385 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:41,160 kids next to each other. They were you got the one we had back in front. And that went 386 00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:45,720 straight into a taxi in London. Didn't do it anymore else. But there was little things 387 00:35:45,720 --> 00:35:53,360 like that that were probably they're not by design, but kind of worked for us, you know, 388 00:35:53,360 --> 00:36:01,200 and that made our travels quite easy. Mixing up here to say that you you seem like you 389 00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:06,160 live in a moment like you're very present and centered. And I think that does contribute 390 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:11,480 a lot to being able to manage the the flow of events. Is that is that something you discovered 391 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:19,000 pretty early on is how to live in the moment? Yeah. It's the same philosophy as business 392 00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:23,840 is not overthinking it too much. Yeah. You know, we would be traveling. And when you're 393 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:28,520 traveling with kids, you know, you don't you don't set plans weeks in advance because they 394 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:34,680 don't work. Right. You wake up in the morning and you see how the kids today, you know, 395 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:41,120 can we can we do a museum? And so when you travel with kids, your what you do is very 396 00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:45,840 different to when you know, my wife and I've traveled as adults, we've been to Wimbledon 397 00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:52,520 to the semifinals at Wimbledon. You know, we've done stuff like that on an adult level. 398 00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:57,760 We've been to the Midnacht show at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, you know, and so you don't 399 00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:03,800 do those things when you're traveling with kids. It changes your perspective. But but 400 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:10,240 you just adjust. And a lot I see a lot of young couples today with young kids try and 401 00:37:10,240 --> 00:37:14,960 run their adult life when traveling with kids. And you can't do that. You have to separate 402 00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:21,200 that out. We rob we rob the kids, we rob the family, right. And we're focused on that. 403 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:29,000 We my my wife and I, my first marriage, we our kids are one, three and five. And we did 404 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:34,120 a 41 day road trip up to California coastline. And the balance was phenomenal. We had an 405 00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:40,560 excellent trip. It took some important planning and some important flexibility. And we fortunately 406 00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:45,720 didn't run into any major like health scares or risks as we were going through that that 407 00:37:45,720 --> 00:37:51,800 could have certainly disrupted the situation. But that the logistics, the plan, the process, 408 00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:56,480 my bigger point on that is, real, I think you you bring up something important. We can 409 00:37:56,480 --> 00:38:00,520 bring to fruition what we want to bring to fruition with our lives as visionaries, we 410 00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:05,200 have the we have the opportunity, we don't have to over complicate it. And I love that 411 00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:10,160 you stand for that and that your all these stories represent that. And again, thank you 412 00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:14,560 for thinking through to the families because it's it's easy to look at a podcast like this. 413 00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:17,880 And I might see it in passing and be like, Oh, what does that guy know? He doesn't have 414 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:22,200 kids, you know, or he's just a businessman who doesn't care about his family. And, and 415 00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:28,920 I'm hearing so much more the depth of No, there's a lot of there's a lot there's just 416 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:33,680 so much we can learn from the experiences that you've given. And I appreciate that. 417 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:37,840 One comment I would make to you is interesting. People ask me, what have I enjoyed most about 418 00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:44,320 being an entrepreneur for pretty much the last, you know, 3540 years of my life. And 419 00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:50,580 I said, Well, my oldest daughter is now 30 or 31 this year. And, and what I've enjoyed 420 00:38:50,580 --> 00:38:57,120 is the ability to be part of their lives growing up that freedom that free. Yes, they understand 421 00:38:57,120 --> 00:39:00,800 that that over the last, you know, seven, eight years, I've been traveling a lot. I've 422 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:07,000 been speaking a lot around the world. But, but often, I would make time to be at all 423 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:14,080 this school concerts. And, and at all this school events and go to the sports days at 424 00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:19,400 the at the school and be involved in them. I served on the school board where my kids 425 00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:26,600 all went to school for 22 years. Because I wanted to be a part of their life, they're 426 00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:31,880 growing up and as an entrepreneur, I could pop into the school at 11 o'clock in the morning. 427 00:39:31,880 --> 00:39:37,600 So for the last 10 years at that school, I've gone and done education programs for the year 428 00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:43,360 nine, 10 and 11 on finance. And it's interesting over the last 10 years, how their knowledge 429 00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:48,520 of finance is increased, like personal finance, we're not not reading financial statements 430 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:53,120 or accounting, but just being able to manage their own personal finances. And 10 years 431 00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:58,240 ago, when I started, you know, 15 year olds didn't understand bank accounts, debit cards, 432 00:39:58,240 --> 00:40:02,360 credit cards, all kinds of stuff. Today, I have to take it to a completely different 433 00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:07,560 level. And it gives me pleasure just giving back to that school where my way all three 434 00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:09,760 of my kids have been. 435 00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:13,400 It's amazing. And it's, it's one of those topics to there's not everybody's gonna relate 436 00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:17,800 to it. But those of you who are parents out there, I mean, those of you who have visions 437 00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:23,240 that you want to fulfill, you can have your cake and you can eat it too. And I think it's 438 00:40:23,240 --> 00:40:28,280 very important that we intentionally set the time up for both. I've also I'm a single father 439 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:33,720 of four these days, rail, I don't know if you know that. And so being able to be a dad, 440 00:40:33,720 --> 00:40:38,800 and having three kids that live in one city, one child lives in another, and trying to 441 00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:45,120 intentionally be present for all of that, it would be so easy to get overwhelming. If 442 00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:50,900 I didn't have that same philosophy of simplify, you know, we make the most of the things that 443 00:40:50,900 --> 00:40:55,680 do come, we flex and change things a little bit differently than what perhaps your typical 444 00:40:55,680 --> 00:41:03,240 expectation is. The nice thing about the entrepreneurship side is we get to we get to experience luxuries 445 00:41:03,240 --> 00:41:10,080 that others may never even be able to understand of what's possible about our lifestyles. And 446 00:41:10,080 --> 00:41:15,080 are there challenges? Yes, there are. So entrepreneurs who are listening in, if you're already on 447 00:41:15,080 --> 00:41:19,800 that path in the middle of that journey, my hope is that you reach out to people like 448 00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:25,440 well myself for mentorship and guidance. How do you do it? We need it to in certain aspects. 449 00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:29,760 Rails learning at 60, right? How to how to continue to do things too. But when you surround 450 00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:34,720 yourself with people who have the types of experiences that you want to have, and the 451 00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:38,600 types of mindsets and philosophies, you can end up maximizing your life in ways that we 452 00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:44,440 wouldn't be able to do without those people as part of our life. And my my Facebook says 453 00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:51,800 and probably always will say, DAD is greater than CEO, right? That role of being a father, 454 00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:55,840 no matter how old the kids are matters. So rail, thank you, because there's not a lot 455 00:41:55,840 --> 00:42:03,120 of people from your generation that had the mindset to take the opportunity to do what 456 00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:07,440 you and your wife did. But you paved the path for a lot of people like myself to be able 457 00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:15,320 to follow it. And that's just awesome. Fantastic. I'm glad I could, could, could do that. Because 458 00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:21,800 yeah, I go back to living life every day. 11 years ago, I had a major health scare. 459 00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:30,160 I was had two cardiac stents at age 49. And yet I'm today probably fitter and stronger 460 00:42:30,160 --> 00:42:35,560 than I was. And I was a state sports. I played state sport level. I played hockey. That's 461 00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:42,120 not the thing you do in the US with a white flat piece of thing on it on us. This is on 462 00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:48,080 grass. I played grass hockey, or out, you know, field hockey. And I still play at age 463 00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:54,600 60. I play master's level hockey at age 60. So so I stopped for 27 years. And I started 464 00:42:54,600 --> 00:43:00,640 again after my stents. And I love it. I played two or three days a week. And that amongst 465 00:43:00,640 --> 00:43:05,180 all the other exercise I do is what drives me today, you know, that that's my timeout. 466 00:43:05,180 --> 00:43:10,800 That's my complete pressure valve that I turn off. We might go overboard. But I got to ask 467 00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:15,840 my favorite question. Yeah. If this was your last opportunity to speak, well, what powerful 468 00:43:15,840 --> 00:43:23,080 lesson can other visionaries learn from your experience? I think I think just to be aware 469 00:43:23,080 --> 00:43:28,040 of everything around you. I mean, I, you know, a lot of people do walk around with blinkers, 470 00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:35,040 like the horses and you know, the horse racing. I love sunrise and sunset and why because 471 00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:40,640 I often am exercising at that time of day. And I will be in the middle of a run or a 472 00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:46,760 middle of a walk and I will stop and take photographs of the sunrise or sunset. Because 473 00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:53,000 I think they both have incredible possibilities in our lives. And it's about it just, you 474 00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:58,480 know, I'll be, I'll be cycling along. I do a lot of writing as well. And I'll stop on 475 00:43:58,480 --> 00:44:03,160 the side and I'll go, that's a pretty picture. That's a nice picture. Or I'll phone my wife 476 00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:09,400 and go, you know what I saw while I was writing today? It's just because I'm riding with this 477 00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:14,960 wide open vision or I'm running or walking with that wide open vision. And I think that's 478 00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:20,040 what you can do in life in business. You know, in Japan in the seventies, they had this idea 479 00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:27,240 of management by walking around. I go to my team every day and I take my coffee when I 480 00:44:27,240 --> 00:44:33,720 get to the office and I sit down in the open plan area and I talk to them. I ask them how 481 00:44:33,720 --> 00:44:39,280 their lives are. I've already getting messages that we're recording this at 730 in the morning 482 00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:44,080 here. There's messages from my staff. One of them said she's not feeling well. She's 483 00:44:44,080 --> 00:44:49,280 not coming in today. She'll work from home. But I'll walk in and I'll check her out for 484 00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:53,600 everyone. I haven't messaged her back because the message came through while we were recording. 485 00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:57,920 But you know, that kind of thing. I will sit there and say, what problems are you having 486 00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:03,200 today? What clients are giving you issues? This is in my finance business. What clients 487 00:45:03,200 --> 00:45:08,280 are you having a problem with? How can we solve the problem together? And then I'll 488 00:45:08,280 --> 00:45:12,960 go off to my office and do other stuff. And I might be working on, I'm doing two keynotes 489 00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:17,840 next week and I'm working on new structures for those keynotes. So I'll go to my office 490 00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:21,320 and I'll work on those keynotes and then I'll be back there in half an hour because 491 00:45:21,320 --> 00:45:26,760 I have concerts still. And I'll be talking to them again about something. And you know, 492 00:45:26,760 --> 00:45:31,640 given that yesterday was the US elections, we had the TV running in the office and there 493 00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:35,400 was a lot of commentary and a lot of banter and a lot of discussion about it. And it's 494 00:45:35,400 --> 00:45:44,000 about that openness and willingness to talk to people and get to know your team. My average 495 00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:51,400 10 years, 12 years of my team. That's a long time for people to be loyal to the business 496 00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:58,960 and loyal to me. And I appreciate that loyalty. Huge. That didn't come from nowhere. That 497 00:45:58,960 --> 00:46:04,020 came from the openness, the open door, the willingness to talk to them and the willingness 498 00:46:04,020 --> 00:46:10,180 to talk to everyone in the business about themselves and get to know them. I'm sure 499 00:46:10,180 --> 00:46:15,900 that there are a few other companies out there with a 10 year similar. I haven't looked, 500 00:46:15,900 --> 00:46:21,100 but I can say this. The only other company that I know for sure that has that type of 501 00:46:21,100 --> 00:46:27,680 track record is a company named Fonda San Miguel in Austin, Texas. And after 30 years 502 00:46:27,680 --> 00:46:32,800 of being in the restaurant industry, they're still consistently ranked in the top 100 restaurants 503 00:46:32,800 --> 00:46:38,120 in the nation. There is a lot we can learn from taking care of our people, being present 504 00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:43,640 with them. Rob, Rick, you've done an awesome job of delivering a lot of value to us today. 505 00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:47,400 Vision pros for listening. And down below this episode, you'll see the action steps. 506 00:46:47,400 --> 00:46:52,060 You can get a hold of Rell and talk to him. You can reach out on any social media platform. 507 00:46:52,060 --> 00:46:56,920 People like Rell love to mentor. We're always accessible for the people who come with the 508 00:46:56,920 --> 00:47:01,920 right types of attitude typically. Then down below that, we've got the other resources 509 00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:07,080 that he mentioned so you can follow up on those. Makes it easier to compile your notes. 510 00:47:07,080 --> 00:47:10,360 We have one more call to action. The top right corner of the screen, you're going to see 511 00:47:10,360 --> 00:47:14,760 a button that says, be our guest. If you'd like to share your vision with us, you don't 512 00:47:14,760 --> 00:47:20,480 have to be a world traveler who's helping entrepreneurs over the course of 40 years. 513 00:47:20,480 --> 00:47:23,820 You might be new to your vision. You might have a brand new family and you want to talk 514 00:47:23,820 --> 00:47:28,520 about how to be the best parent you can. We're looking for leaders that are coming in and 515 00:47:28,520 --> 00:47:32,160 helping bless our lives and lives of others. And if you feel like that's you, then definitely 516 00:47:32,160 --> 00:47:36,420 apply and come on the show. Rell, thank you so much for being on the show today. And Vision 517 00:47:36,420 --> 00:47:41,120 Pros, we will see you all on the next episode. Thank you for being here today. I'm really 518 00:47:41,120 --> 00:47:46,000 happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions 519 00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:50,080 as these episodes continue to move forward. This is going to get more and more fun. We'll 520 00:47:50,080 --> 00:47:54,160 have more and more engagement as well. We'll invite people to participate in the show. 521 00:47:54,160 --> 00:47:57,920 And thank you for giving us your time and attention. Have an excellent time building 522 00:47:57,920 --> 00:48:08,920 out your vision.