WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.180 if you have some of the stories that you'd like 00:00:02.180 --> 00:00:06.299 to share with the audience that inspired you 00:00:06.299 --> 00:00:10.839 to do what you do. I'd love to hear those. Yeah, 00:00:10.859 --> 00:00:14.000 sure. So I think when we talked about the why, 00:00:14.259 --> 00:00:17.460 you know, one of the things was my motivation 00:00:17.460 --> 00:00:24.079 to really help companies and entrepreneurs, you 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:29.440 know, really advance their vision and their vision 00:00:29.850 --> 00:00:33.549 whole strategy and business model, I really get 00:00:33.549 --> 00:00:36.250 a lot of satisfaction out of being able to do 00:00:36.250 --> 00:00:41.189 that and give people, you know, the kind of advice 00:00:41.189 --> 00:00:44.289 that is applicable and isn't just sort of like 00:00:44.289 --> 00:00:48.969 general or so far out into the future that it's 00:00:48.969 --> 00:00:51.070 very hard for them to like take action on it. 00:00:51.670 --> 00:00:57.009 And, you know, for me, one of the key things 00:00:57.659 --> 00:01:02.600 in my background that really taught me to kind 00:01:02.600 --> 00:01:07.140 of think that way was really my first job out 00:01:07.140 --> 00:01:09.099 of college where I was a strategic marketing 00:01:09.099 --> 00:01:14.620 consultant. And we were doing these projects 00:01:14.620 --> 00:01:17.099 for multinationals that were really thinking 00:01:17.099 --> 00:01:21.280 about either rebranding or taking their brands 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:25.120 at the corporate level or at the market level 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:28.680 and trying to figure out how to uh change them 00:01:28.680 --> 00:01:32.400 and make them either more innovative etc and 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:39.920 one of my first uh bosses um you know taught 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:43.019 me very early on that especially when it comes 00:01:43.019 --> 00:01:44.760 to these large corporations who are thinking 00:01:44.760 --> 00:01:48.219 about these big brands and like an example of 00:01:48.219 --> 00:01:51.700 a big brand would have been you know like um 00:01:51.700 --> 00:01:54.599 united airlines or something like that so like 00:01:54.599 --> 00:02:02.140 a really big well -known brand And what I was 00:02:02.140 --> 00:02:08.379 taught was, you know, the brand is a huge intangible 00:02:08.379 --> 00:02:12.240 concept in these businesses. And when you're 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:15.099 explaining to them how you're going to help them 00:02:15.099 --> 00:02:19.639 innovate it and change it, you need to be able 00:02:19.639 --> 00:02:22.379 to bridge the big ideas back to things that are 00:02:22.379 --> 00:02:25.819 practical and understandable. Because if you 00:02:25.819 --> 00:02:28.639 make too big of a leap forward, you're going 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:31.900 to really lose your audience. And you're also 00:02:31.900 --> 00:02:38.180 going to potentially not manage the message properly 00:02:38.180 --> 00:02:42.259 and push them into a line of thinking that's 00:02:42.259 --> 00:02:44.500 going to actually make them either resistant 00:02:44.500 --> 00:02:48.060 or I should say unnecessarily resistant to the 00:02:48.060 --> 00:02:51.240 process that you're trying to unfold in trying 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:55.550 to transform and elevate this brand. Now, obviously, 00:02:55.750 --> 00:02:59.330 if you compare that to an entrepreneur who is 00:02:59.330 --> 00:03:01.990 four years into a business and has a relatively 00:03:01.990 --> 00:03:06.650 small brand, the leap is not as big and it's 00:03:06.650 --> 00:03:09.610 easier to have that conversation. But in that 00:03:09.610 --> 00:03:11.909 experience working for those large brands, I 00:03:11.909 --> 00:03:17.229 really learned that you've got a process that 00:03:17.229 --> 00:03:19.710 you go through to build a story and a message 00:03:19.710 --> 00:03:25.110 to the audience that you're trying to engage 00:03:25.110 --> 00:03:27.610 with in a way to get them to change things and 00:03:27.610 --> 00:03:31.009 to be innovative and do things differently and 00:03:31.009 --> 00:03:34.990 in order to do that you need to do it respectfully 00:03:34.990 --> 00:03:41.509 in um kind of bite -sized chunks that when you 00:03:41.509 --> 00:03:44.310 add them together get the whole point across 00:03:44.310 --> 00:03:48.050 and then give them the opportunity to give you 00:03:48.050 --> 00:03:51.229 really good feedback because they really understand 00:03:51.229 --> 00:03:54.080 what they're going to be going through And then 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:56.219 you can really work together to try to solve 00:03:56.219 --> 00:04:00.259 the problem that you're embarking on overall. 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:09.460 So how has that added to your why? Like why you 00:04:09.460 --> 00:04:15.979 do what you do? Oh, yeah. I mean, it makes my 00:04:15.979 --> 00:04:20.959 problem solving and my desire to help businesses. 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:31.259 their objectives, it makes it a very sort of 00:04:31.259 --> 00:04:38.220 like a building block process. And it really 00:04:38.220 --> 00:04:46.439 helps me feel very constructive in being able 00:04:46.439 --> 00:04:53.019 to get them to move forward. Because... I recognize 00:04:53.019 --> 00:04:57.899 that we're trying to achieve a big idea, but 00:04:57.899 --> 00:05:01.759 we've got to reel it back into a really good 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:05.779 set of building blocks that they can then grab 00:05:05.779 --> 00:05:09.800 onto and understand and make the changes. It 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:17.779 really helps support my desire to make these 00:05:17.779 --> 00:05:23.379 businesses more successful. Because I think about 00:05:23.379 --> 00:05:25.019 it as like these fundamental building blocks 00:05:25.019 --> 00:05:28.199 of putting these messages and concepts together 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:33.879 that are understandable and then usable. I think 00:05:33.879 --> 00:05:37.519 I frame it as a minimum necessary change for 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:43.600 maximum optimized output. That's a good way to 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:46.879 put it. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you for sharing 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:54.740 that. My next question for you, Sal, it's a little 00:05:54.740 --> 00:05:58.519 bit tricky. It has two parts to it. Okay. The 00:05:58.519 --> 00:06:02.079 first part is, why do you think leaders hide 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:05.680 from funding their vision? And how can those 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:10.240 leaders then lean into funding that vision? When 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:12.660 you say funding the vision, do you mean like 00:06:12.660 --> 00:06:17.430 actually putting money behind their vision? Is 00:06:17.430 --> 00:06:20.889 it the overall capital of making an investment 00:06:20.889 --> 00:06:25.189 in their vision? It could mean either or. Yeah. 00:06:25.250 --> 00:06:27.769 It depends how you interpret it and how you want 00:06:27.769 --> 00:06:31.670 to answer it. Yeah. I mean, for me, I really 00:06:31.670 --> 00:06:36.449 think about it as a leader being committed and 00:06:36.449 --> 00:06:40.009 taking the necessary steps to invest in their 00:06:40.009 --> 00:06:43.990 vision, whether it's financial or taking time 00:06:43.990 --> 00:06:47.000 away from their families. to be able to go execute 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:51.459 it. You know, what I found in my experience is 00:06:51.459 --> 00:07:01.480 that it's a combination of just personal motivation 00:07:01.480 --> 00:07:07.680 versus the hectic priorities of everyday life. 00:07:07.879 --> 00:07:10.819 You know, I mean, I think if you're like a real 00:07:10.819 --> 00:07:13.829 leader, you're probably going to be generally 00:07:13.829 --> 00:07:18.990 disposed to taking action, right? But with that 00:07:18.990 --> 00:07:22.089 said, you know, you have a lot of competing demands 00:07:22.089 --> 00:07:28.110 on your time and you've got to really be thoughtful 00:07:28.110 --> 00:07:29.850 about how you're going to make those investments 00:07:29.850 --> 00:07:31.730 to go execute your vision because it's going 00:07:31.730 --> 00:07:33.769 to take away from other things that, you know, 00:07:33.769 --> 00:07:35.689 might be more demanding at that time. I mean, 00:07:35.769 --> 00:07:39.290 and it could be anything. It could be like, you 00:07:39.290 --> 00:07:42.550 know, kids need to, one of your kids needs to 00:07:42.550 --> 00:07:44.970 go to like a special school or, you know, you've 00:07:44.970 --> 00:07:48.790 got a parent that is aging and you're trying 00:07:48.790 --> 00:07:53.750 to figure out how to, you know, have them live, 00:07:53.810 --> 00:07:57.410 you know, more comfortably as they age. It could 00:07:57.410 --> 00:08:03.589 be that, you know, you're not sure whether your, 00:08:03.689 --> 00:08:06.889 you know, your current job or your long -term 00:08:06.889 --> 00:08:10.800 vision for yourself are, you know, really at 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:13.279 odds with one another or one supports the other 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:16.680 and and it can create some confusion about how 00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:20.720 directed you want to be but but ultimately you've 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:24.879 got to be self -motivated and push through and 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:27.620 make decisions about what your trade -offs are 00:08:27.620 --> 00:08:30.199 going to be so that you can go ahead and then 00:08:30.199 --> 00:08:33.539 pursue the vision yeah tell me more about that 00:08:33.539 --> 00:08:36.240 how has your journey been in this regards when 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:42.139 it comes to funding your vision You know, I think 00:08:42.139 --> 00:08:47.039 all along in my career, I've always been sort 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:50.740 of executing on the vision of being innovative, 00:08:50.980 --> 00:08:55.559 delivering new fresh ideas that are actionable. 00:08:56.080 --> 00:09:01.860 And that could be in my role as an executive 00:09:01.860 --> 00:09:05.159 in a company. It could be on a board of directors 00:09:05.159 --> 00:09:13.080 when I was doing investing. And then when I kind 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:17.059 of went off on my own, it just was a really a 00:09:17.059 --> 00:09:20.299 natural extension. And I am generally like a 00:09:20.299 --> 00:09:25.019 pretty self -motivated person. You know, I'm 00:09:25.019 --> 00:09:28.419 up at five in the morning. I'm usually out of 00:09:28.419 --> 00:09:30.460 the gym by seven in the morning. I'm getting 00:09:30.460 --> 00:09:35.340 my day going. And, you know, when the house is 00:09:35.340 --> 00:09:40.190 quiet. 9 .30 at night, I'm usually on my laptop 00:09:40.190 --> 00:09:44.870 doing a bunch of stuff that I need to get prepared 00:09:44.870 --> 00:09:47.570 for the next day or that's contributing to the 00:09:47.570 --> 00:09:52.049 administration of my own business. I do a lot 00:09:52.049 --> 00:09:58.870 of work on my blog articles and lead generation, 00:09:59.169 --> 00:10:02.750 for example, at night. The motivation part has 00:10:02.750 --> 00:10:07.320 never really been a big problem for me. I think 00:10:07.320 --> 00:10:12.700 what is the key thing though, is that I push 00:10:12.700 --> 00:10:15.720 forward because I want to try to do new things 00:10:15.720 --> 00:10:18.980 and be innovative. And I kind of have a really 00:10:18.980 --> 00:10:22.460 good balance of that because I get to be innovative 00:10:22.460 --> 00:10:25.879 for my own business, but my business itself is 00:10:25.879 --> 00:10:30.519 really about helping other entrepreneurs be successful. 00:10:31.289 --> 00:10:33.669 And so then I get to do it all over again every 00:10:33.669 --> 00:10:36.070 time I'm working with a new client or I'm working 00:10:36.070 --> 00:10:38.309 with my team and we're talking about a new client 00:10:38.309 --> 00:10:41.330 situation and how we're going to help them solve 00:10:41.330 --> 00:10:47.190 different challenges that they have. Yeah. What 00:10:47.190 --> 00:10:52.490 would you say your motivation factor? Is it internal? 00:10:52.730 --> 00:10:56.299 Is it external? Is it habit? What is it? the 00:10:56.299 --> 00:10:59.159 way you've kept going for however long you've 00:10:59.159 --> 00:11:01.820 been doing this? Yeah, I think it's internal. 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:06.940 And then some things just become habitual. You 00:11:06.940 --> 00:11:10.779 know, like, you know, making sure I hit the gym, 00:11:10.919 --> 00:11:14.580 you know, five or six days a week, right? That 00:11:14.580 --> 00:11:19.840 is part of just my self -motivated nature, but 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:22.759 it's also habitual, right? And I fall into a 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:25.019 pattern where I realize... hey, the best time 00:11:25.019 --> 00:11:28.580 to get this done so that I feel good about kicking 00:11:28.580 --> 00:11:31.179 off my day is I, you know, I want to be in the 00:11:31.179 --> 00:11:35.879 gym around six and be done by seven, you know, 00:11:35.879 --> 00:11:40.159 and I'm buzzing around the gym with like a preset 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:43.039 sort of workout, you know, that's either in my 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:46.779 head or I might be following some new, you know, 00:11:46.779 --> 00:11:48.840 person on Instagram or something like that who's 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:50.500 got like a new workout that they're doing and 00:11:50.500 --> 00:11:53.970 I'll try it out. But and that's one way to also 00:11:53.970 --> 00:11:56.409 make the habitual entertaining. You know, you 00:11:56.409 --> 00:11:58.490 get to mix it up a bit and not do the same things 00:11:58.490 --> 00:12:04.070 over and over again. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you 00:12:04.070 --> 00:12:06.809 for sharing that. You know, myself, I struggle 00:12:06.809 --> 00:12:08.889 with that a little bit with with the habits. 00:12:09.370 --> 00:12:13.129 So for you, how long did it take for you to get 00:12:13.129 --> 00:12:15.789 in that that rhythm or way? Like now you probably 00:12:15.789 --> 00:12:18.789 get out of bed every morning. Most I'm guessing 00:12:18.789 --> 00:12:22.509 without fail for most days. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. 00:12:22.549 --> 00:12:26.909 I'm I'm not in bed, you know, past 6 a .m. ever, 00:12:27.009 --> 00:12:31.190 really. So, you know, I'm usually out. I'm just 00:12:31.190 --> 00:12:34.309 usually out of my bed by about 5, 5, 15. I've 00:12:34.309 --> 00:12:39.250 gone through phases where I was I did the 430 00:12:39.250 --> 00:12:42.710 thing, you know, and I was in and out of the 00:12:42.710 --> 00:12:47.289 gym by like 6, 15 in the morning because at different 00:12:47.289 --> 00:12:49.350 phases of my career that just worked better. 00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:53.139 i have to admit like there's something about 00:12:53.139 --> 00:12:58.820 waking up between you know 5 and 5 30 that is 00:12:58.820 --> 00:13:03.279 way better than waking up between 4 and 4 30. 00:13:03.500 --> 00:13:08.460 i i i always struggled with that when i did that 00:13:08.460 --> 00:13:10.399 and i i probably did that for about a year and 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:12.700 a half with whatever was happening in my career 00:13:12.700 --> 00:13:15.559 at that time it was like the best time for me 00:13:15.559 --> 00:13:22.629 to get that done um But I think once you get 00:13:22.629 --> 00:13:28.049 that into a routine, it sort of becomes like 00:13:28.049 --> 00:13:30.870 second nature, you know, and then you can kind 00:13:30.870 --> 00:13:36.230 of build your day from there. So what are you 00:13:36.230 --> 00:13:40.090 doing before you go to bed then to make sure 00:13:40.090 --> 00:13:43.350 you wake up at 5 a .m. every morning? Oh, I think 00:13:43.350 --> 00:13:47.330 I don't require as much sleep maybe as other 00:13:47.330 --> 00:13:52.659 people, but. I'm usually like, let's say I had 00:13:52.659 --> 00:13:58.000 a full day. I'm home. I'm hanging out with my 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:02.559 wife from like 5 to 8 p .m. We're like, you know, 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:05.679 catching up on the day. We eat dinner together. 00:14:06.820 --> 00:14:08.940 Kids are out of the house. They're all pretty 00:14:08.940 --> 00:14:11.600 much grown. So we'll talk about what they're 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:14.740 doing, whatever plans we've got coming up on 00:14:14.740 --> 00:14:19.899 the weekend, you know. you know she's kind of 00:14:19.899 --> 00:14:25.299 a pretty early to bed person and so then that 00:14:25.299 --> 00:14:27.600 opens up a couple hours for me to do some work 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:29.860 usually as i mentioned earlier i'll open up my 00:14:29.860 --> 00:14:32.440 laptop i'll do some of my own marketing blog 00:14:32.440 --> 00:14:38.779 writing what what have you um and then um i usually 00:14:38.779 --> 00:14:42.539 just try to catch a little bit of news on tv 00:14:42.539 --> 00:14:46.480 and then i'll i'll wind down I've got internet 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:50.320 TVs in my house. So my YouTube feed is pretty 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:54.940 good with nerdy and interesting things that I 00:14:54.940 --> 00:14:57.919 like to watch. So it could be like some bread 00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:03.019 maker in Italy or it could be, you know, somebody 00:15:03.019 --> 00:15:08.940 talking about the curve of the universe or it 00:15:08.940 --> 00:15:11.840 could be like, Hey, here's a, here's like an 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:16.240 AI hack for. you know i don't know like de -duping 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:18.840 your contacts or some something ridiculous like 00:15:18.840 --> 00:15:21.720 that and you know i'll i'll watch a couple of 00:15:21.720 --> 00:15:23.940 those and then i'm usually like ready for lights 00:15:23.940 --> 00:15:28.220 out yeah um and i find those entertaining i you 00:15:28.220 --> 00:15:30.440 know as i you know as a person who likes to fix 00:15:30.440 --> 00:15:33.419 things and solve problems it's always cool to 00:15:33.419 --> 00:15:36.299 watch other people who have a craft and they're 00:15:36.299 --> 00:15:39.320 able to do certain things really well to see 00:15:39.320 --> 00:15:41.299 how they do it and what are the things that they 00:15:41.299 --> 00:15:46.129 think about um you know and then you know maybe 00:15:46.129 --> 00:15:49.470 i'll make bread one day i don't know you know 00:15:49.470 --> 00:15:53.730 yeah yeah probably won't but you know it's good 00:15:53.730 --> 00:15:57.450 to good to have it in my mind that you know if 00:15:57.450 --> 00:16:00.230 if i if i decided i wanted to do it one day i 00:16:00.230 --> 00:16:03.240 know where i would go to relearn it. Thank you 00:16:03.240 --> 00:16:05.120 for being here today. I'm really happy that you 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:07.379 tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward 00:16:07.379 --> 00:16:10.919 to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue 00:16:10.919 --> 00:16:12.700 to move forward. This is going to get more and 00:16:12.700 --> 00:16:14.700 more fun. We'll have more and more engagement 00:16:14.700 --> 00:16:16.820 as well. We'll invite people to participate in 00:16:16.820 --> 00:16:19.000 the show. And thank you for giving us your time 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:21.299 and attention. Have an excellent time building 00:16:21.299 --> 00:16:23.659 out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.