Hey there, I'm Tal Zlotnitsky from Ignite IT
Consulting. You know me from the Braving Business
podcast, but when I'm not behind the mic, I'm
helping tech startups and established companies
ignite their full potential. I also help entrepreneurs
and businesses in distress reset for success.
With over three decades of entrepreneurial success,
I bring hands -on experience to drive growth,
navigate turnarounds, raise capital, and lead
to innovation. Whether it's executive coaching
or strategic transformation, I'm here to turn
your business challenges into success stories.
Visit igniteitconsulting .com and let's spark
that change together. That's igniteitconsulting
.com. Your journey to business brilliance starts
now. And one last quick thing. If you enjoyed
this episode, please stay on after the show to
learn more about the Braving Business Podcast
and other great episodes for you to discover.
And now, let's get the show started. Well, hello
there. Hey there, buddy. How are you? I'm good,
man. How are you, world traveler? I'm good. I'm
glad to be home base for a minute. It's been
hectic. Are you back in Tampa? I am temporarily
on the road again tomorrow, but I've been here
for 48 hours. It feels like a real reprieve.
I've been on the road basically 75 % of the time
the last couple of months, so it's been hectic.
Oh, my gosh. Well, you're racking up the miles,
so that's always good. So I understand. It's
not as good as it used to be. It's not as good
as it used to be. You know, the miles used to
mean a lot more, both on the airline side and
the hotel side. But I'll get off my soapbox.
No, no, no, no, no. Actually, I do have a gripe
about that. I used to have, I used to have like
almost quarter of a million miles on United.
And then I changed jobs and I didn't fly for
like 24 months. Lost them all. Didn't realize.
Yeah. Yeah. Didn't realize I had to like do something.
And I lost them all. Well, I guess, I guess United
will not be a sponsor of ours, but it's okay.
I, yeah, shoot. Yeah. I should have named, I
should not have named them, I guess. Oh, it's
all right. It's okay. I'm actually glad you named
them. I will not name the airline in which I
have 450 ,000 miles and yet I cannot get upgraded
to anything ever. Oh no, let's call them out.
Let's call them out. Yeah. American. What the
hell? American. Such a great airline when it
was US Air. Tal Zlotnitsky needs to be in first
class every time. Please put him in. Just on
occasion. All right. Anyway. Hey, and today we
have Dustin Portillo on. Dustin, whenever you
come to Chicago, are you a rock star? Do people
like just start cheering you as soon as you land?
Well, if they know what my last name is, but
if they knew the real secret, they probably wouldn't.
Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, pray tell. Pray tell. What
is the real secret? Well, Portillo on my birth
certificate is Portillo. but it's not a real
family's last name. My grandfather passed away
in 2001, and the 13 years I spent with him never
once mentioned family. And so years after he
passed away, we found out that he in fact stole
someone's identity and went to the grave. I mean,
even my grandmother, his wife didn't even know.
That he had this deep, dark secret. So it's so
crazy because as a kid, I used to say I was infatuated
on some degree with the godfather. And I used
to tell the kids in my third grade class that
my grandfather used to be in the mafia. Well,
come to find out, I mean, there is a real potential
that he might have trying to hide from someone.
So very interesting. So I'm not really quite
sure what our real last name is, although we
are Italian. So we did some blood testing and
we are from the Mediterranean and it was like
92 % Italian. Oh, wow. Wow. So, and for those
who are not familiar, Portillo's in Chicago is
probably the best fast food -ish restaurant in
town. Just amazing. Even their napkins are great.
Everything's great at Portillo's. The parking
lot's pretty fantastic, too, if you're into that
kind of stuff. They're so efficient, it's not
even funny. It puts In -N -Out to shame. Okay,
guys, this is boring. Come on, carry on. All
right, well, fine. Well, you know what's not
boring? Mr. Dustin Portillo. So at the tender
age of 19, Dustin Portillo achieved his childhood
dream, literally a dream that he had had since
he was four years old, which was joining the
world -famous Ringling Brothers Circus as a professional
clown. In time... entertaining over 35 million
people across North America and over 3 ,500 shows.
His comedic talent and showmanship caught the
attention of McDonald's, where he took on the
high -profile role of Ronald McDonald, making
appearances at major events like the Macy's Thanksgiving
Day Parade. But Dustin's story isn't just about
making people laugh. It's about resilience and
reinvention. After his corporate position at
Casper's Company, a successful McDonald's franchise,
He was eliminated during downsizing, and he faced
a pivotal moment. Take a normal job or carve
his own path, and he chose the latter. Now, Dustin
is a full -time speaker and author of It's Okay
to Be an Idiot, which probably is named after
me, a book that blends humor with profound life
lessons on overcoming setbacks. embracing authenticity,
and finding strength through adversity. His mission
is to take his message global, inspiring audiences
to laugh more, stress less, and embrace their
inner idiot as a strength. Dustin may be a professional
clown, but his message is no joke, and we are
thrilled to have him here on the Braving Business
Podcast. Dustin, welcome. Thank you. And that
was memorized, wasn't it? Yes. It looks like
it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, totally. Thanks for having
me, guys. No, it's good to have you here. Thank
you. I'm always impressed with the work we do
with the bios. A lot of times our guests listen.
We get some suggestions from the guests on things
they believe should be included. But generally,
we do our own work. And I met you a few months
ago. You were speaking to students at the University
of South Florida where I'm on the board of the
business school. And it was incredible to watch
you at work. And, you know, frankly, I didn't
I didn't know some of the stuff that was shared
just now. So it's it's interesting to to be able
to dive into those things with you. But let's
start at the beginning. Like you said, you started
at four years old and decided you wanted to be
a clown. I just saw a very funny Bill Maher comedy
special where he said, if the world if people
got to decide what they wanted to be at five
years old, we'd have a lot of princesses and
cowboys. But you actually at four years old.
decided to be a clown and you followed through
with that. So first, what sparked that dream?
And then what caused you to stick with it after
all these years? Sure. I grew up in Kansas City
and at the age of four, my parents began to take
my brother and I. And there was something about
the clowns going to specifically Ringling Brothers.
I didn't want to be a clown for any other circus
besides Ringling Brothers. And there was something
about it. I have never found clowns to be funny.
um and even comedians i've never found funny
it's always the mechanics of what they do the
explosions the lighting effects the music just
kind of everything blended together is just it's
like an incredible orchestrated classical music
there's just something about it that is just
so damn good and I was hooked the moment I went
to Ringling Brothers. And from the age of four
up until I joined Ringling at the age of 19,
that's what I wanted to do. And there was nothing
that was going to stop me. And I don't clown
anymore. It's been quite a few years. It's been,
gosh, 14 years since my Ronald McDonald days.
But I still perform. Whenever I get up in front
of an audience, I'm still performing. I still
wear a costume, whatever I am. I am dressed in,
uh, is my costume. So there is still a level
of entertainment and what I do. It's just a different
kind of performance nowadays. That's really cool.
So you were, you were the Ronald McDonald for
a while. Well, I don't want to boast, but, uh,
yeah, I mean, I was, I was Ronald. Um, I was,
I was based in, in the Tampa Bay, Florida market.
And I did events in this area. And then I did
the McDonald's Worldwide Conventions, which is
where all of the, I mean, literally every McDonald's
employee franchise supplier converges at the
Orlando, at the Orange County Convention Center,
which is a massive, massive convention. area.
And, uh, so I used to go there and do shows as
Ronald do meet and greets, do some publicity
stuff and the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade
as well, which was another, uh, gosh, phenomenal
experience, phenomenal experience. That's so
cool. So, so interesting though. So at 19, you
joined the circus, which is. Truly incredible.
What moment from your four years at the circus
still sticks with you today, whether it's hilarious
or terrifying or even emotional? Okay, so two
things stick out. The first is the very first
day that I saw the show when I knew that in a
couple of hours, my parents were driving back
to Kansas City because I joined the show in Chicago,
Rosemont. And so watching the show, knowing that
I was going into that show, there was a moment
of, I have made it. This has been a dream of
mine since four. I finally have arrived at the
entrance to how everything has just kind of crescendoed
to that. Second one is we were playing Madison
Square Gardens. This would have been in 2007,
I want to say. And the elephants were on stage.
And if you've ever been to Madison Square Garden
or know anything about it, it is several floors.
And the circus, I believe, played on the seventh
or eighth floor of the arena. And so you have
to swirl, you have to travel basically the entire
perimeter of the arena to get downstairs from
the backstage area. So we're all in the dressing
room, which was called Clown Alley, which no
one was allowed to go in because we're entering
in as this. And then it's a whole secretive kind
of society kind of a thing. So one of the clowns
comes in and he goes, guys, we need to go now.
And we're like, why? What's up? And his English
wasn't so great. And he was wearing the High
Wire Act costume. Guys, guys, we need to go.
So finally. We have the show feed backstage so
we can hear different cues for us to go on stage.
And all of a sudden, the ringmaster, after the
elephant number was over, says, ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to Earth. Thank you for coming out to
the greatest show on Earth. And may all your
days be circus days. And we're like, yeah, there's
still about 35, 40 minutes of the show left.
What's going on? So about that time, management
comes flying backstage. Everyone get out of the
arena now. Everyone go, go, go. And so we are
we don't know what's going on. There has been
no announcement. There was no announcement made
to the audience. Performers were all running.
We get downstairs and. The audience is trickling
down and they're asking for autographs. It begins
to pour down, raining on us. Some of the costumes
we were wearing were anywhere from $8 ,000 to
$15 ,000, $20 ,000. And a lot of the costumes
were not able to be washed because it would have
bled all of the coloring in them. So come to
find out there was a bomb threat at Penn Station,
which is underneath Madison Square Garden. And
the initial thought was that it was PETA protesters
that were trying to disrupt the circus. But in
fact, it was a disgruntled. Penn Station employee
who was very upset and wanted to scare everyone
at Penn Station. And unfortunately, it disrupted
the show. And so we weren't allowed back into
Madison Square Garden until around 3 or 4 a .m.
because the police with the dogs had to sweep
that massive, massive building. It was cray -cray.
It was cray -cray. Yeah. You know, I was thinking
at the very front end of that, you talked about,
you know, standing outside at the circus, but
not quite on stage. Your parents are there and
you're feeling that you've arrived. And what's
really interesting to me about that moment is
what you had to have looked like at the moment,
right? I mean, I'm sure you're wearing a full
-on clown suit. You had the nose, the face makeup.
And it's so interesting to me how arriving, you
know, it doesn't require you to be wearing a
suit, right? I mean, living your dream. uh, can
take on absolutely different shapes and sizes
depending on what your dream is. And I think
it's so cool. Yeah. Did you have that? I am,
I am a firm believer in the unconventional, you
know, so many people take that normal nine to
five job. And, and, and for my entire career
has not been someone's normal nine to five jobs.
So I'm, I'm incredibly blessed that, that those
arrival moments have happened sporadically throughout
my life. That just kind of shows me that there
is more to what your dream currently is and that
that is a foundation for what's to come. Did
you have a moment like that, Tal? I mean, obviously,
Dustin's moment's really cool. Yeah, I think
so. Yeah, what was your - I think my moment has
to be standing on the west lawn of the White
House, right outside the president's office and
speaking to the White House press on behalf of
President Obama. I mean, it's the highlight of
my life. Oh, wow. Wow. Yeah. Let's go back to
you. Thank you. Going from Ringling Brothers
to Ronald McDonald. Very cool and quite a career
shift. Tell us how that opportunity came about
and maybe what was the most unexpected part of
portraying that type of a character? So very
quickly, I left Ringling Brothers Circus in 2012
at the end of 2012. My contract was up. I didn't
want to extend. I was kind of getting burned
out. You know, you're doing a thousand shows
every two years on top of the publicity appointments.
I was like, yep. you know what? I'm kind of done
with this. I moved to Los Angeles, thought I
wanted to be an actor in Hollywood. My heart
truly wasn't in it. I worked at Chipotle. And
to this day, I'm the best damn guac maker you're
ever going to meet. I am just saying. And so
I moved here to Tampa to fulfill a six -week
contract at Busch Gardens for a physical comedy
show. And about a week into that, I get a call
in between. I pick it up and I'm like, hello,
which I never picked up calls from unidentified
numbers. Well, lo and behold, it was corporate
McDonald's. And they said, hey, Dustin, we received
your resume and we'd like to fly you to Tampa.
I just moved there six weeks prior and we would
like to have you audition for Ronald McDonald.
And I'm like, what? The hell is going on? So
weirdly enough, in what little I packed, I brought
with me a little blue suitcase. To this day,
I don't know why. And inside was my clown crap.
I had no ambitions of slapping on the clown makeup
ever again. And they said, well, the audition
is in one week and it's going to be at an inner
city school in Tampa in front of 40 kids. You
have eight minutes now. In the performing world,
eight minutes is like nothing. If you are a non
-performer, eight minutes is like the longest
24 hours of your life. So I was like, eight minutes,
really? That's like nothing. So I auditioned
a week later. The next day, I was summoned to
a local McDonald's in Tampa Bay, and they offered
me a five -year contract. And I said, listen,
I said, I don't do five -year contracts. On the
circus, we did one -year deals. And I have never
seen a Ronald. experienced the magic of Ron McDon.
So I, I don't feel comfortable doing it. I want
to do one, one year contract. And they were flabbergasted
why I wouldn't, why, why I wouldn't accept it.
Um, and I said, I'm just not comfortable because
if I don't like it, I want an out. I don't have
to be stuck in it for, you know, five years.
So there were some negotiations. I signed a one
year contract and about, uh, three, about two
and a half years. And I was like, gosh, this
is. Kind of cool. Hey, can we get that five -year
contract, please? Thanks. And they said yes.
And yeah, so that's how I landed the old Ronald
McDonald gig. Nothing fancy, just happenstance.
The universe kind of guides you to where you
need to go. And here I am. Wow. I will say to
that, the universe guides you where you need
to go if you put yourself on, you have to start
moving in a certain direction. The universe will
not take you there if you're sitting on the couch.
Because that is called inspired action. And we
can talk about this more, I guess, later on,
but there is a formula. I guarantee if your listeners
follow this formula that I have found that has
worked for me throughout my entire life with
visualization, manifestation, how I think you
were in the audience when I gave everyone. that
equation and it works you don't have to be rich
you don't have to be poor you don't have to come
from a a well -off family anyone can do it but
you but there are there are certain things that
takes and and the equation cannot be taken out
of what out of specific order you have to do
this to do this to do this equals equals this
and we'll talk about it for sure when we get
into into your book uh because i i i I thought
your presentation to the students was astonishingly
astonishing and very effective. Looking forward
to that. Thank you. All right. So you, you performed
3 ,500 shows, which is remarkable in front of
35 million people. What's all their names. And
of course, that's a lot of pressure, obviously.
how did you like handle the the mental and the
physical demands of performing at such you know
actually a high level even though people kind
of poo -poo the clown it's still you you are
performing a role how did how did you like you
perform at such a high level for so long well
from even going from ringling brothers which
is owned by feld entertainment which is like
the biggest uh entertainment company in the entire
world uh and even going into ronald Those performing
careers were the golden standard. Whenever you
hear Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus,
you don't think, ah, the okayest show on earth.
It is the greatest show on earth. So the golden
standard has to be there every single show. And
it isn't easy. You are doing 500 shows a year,
and each show is roughly three hours and 15 minutes.
So, and on top of that, you're doing all of the
publicity, television, newspaper, and radio interviews
weekly. There is no week off. I mean, you are
in the trenches 24 -7. It is a lifestyle. It
isn't a nine to five, I'm going to go to my office
in downtown Tampa and then go back home. No,
you're living on the circus train. You are traveling.
gosh, 11 months out of the year. And that one
month is either spent in rehearsals for the new
show, or you get about two weeks off where you
have to report back for the second year. So physical
and mental, you have to take care of yourself.
Because if I'm not mentally there, I can't show
up for my audience. And that's a lot about what
I talk about now in my work as a keynote speaker
is the mindset work. If your mindset is in the
shitter, it is damn near impossible to show up
for your customers, for your employees, for everyone
else. So the mental capacity in the circus is
key to longevity. Can we pause for one second
and just dig into that? Just for a second, because
personally, I am at that point right now where
my mindset has been in said shitter. uh for the
last couple of weeks right and side note um i'm
usually the clown on this show so it's kind of
refreshing to have another clown here um but
i'm more of the like base level clown you're
the professional um but like how do please give
me some give me some insight into like mindset
how to get out of the shitter off the pot please
you know um Mindset dictates every aspect of
our life, whether it's a good mindset or it's
a bad mindset. When I'm having a bad day and
I'm a human being, Ronald McDonald still gets
bad days, although I'm not Ronald McDonald anymore.
Although there might still be some white makeup
behind my ears. I'm still checking that out.
But you have to realize. The power that is inside
of you. So many people forget who they are. And
weirdly enough, my screensaver on my phone is
remember who you are. And it has helped me so
much of the time as of late with the mindset
piece. And people forget that. Quit looking externally
for validation of your value, worth and importance.
Because I can tell you. From speaking from someone
who has done this, when you think so low of yourself,
you expect everyone to fill you up and it does
not happen. You have to find it within yourself
first. Whenever you can pour into yourself and
you know the strengths and the value that you
bring to a role or to a relationship or whatever
it is. Then you begin to attract on an energetic
level other people who begin to validate your
existence. But when your vibration is so low,
I guarantee, as it happened to me, you will begin
to attract people who don't see your value, who
will ghost you. It happens because you are at
a level of vibration and a frequency. Where other,
where it's attracting like, like, like -minded
people. And it's the old stupid saying, birds
of a feather flock together. And I'm telling
you, it is so true. If you think that you are
a shitty individual, you begin to attract your
circle of influence who begins to show you that
you are a shitty individual. But whenever you
begin to, to level, to, um, to. raise your level
of vibration, then you begin to attract a different
kind of people into your life. Um, and it's happened
to me, you know, it's been a rollercoaster, but
finding your worth and value inside of you first,
and then it will reflect on the outside. Let's
talk about that because I think this is a great
segue to what led you to your speaking career
and to writing your book, which is you had a
corporate role at Casper's and it was eliminated.
Casper's was a large McDonald's franchise. And
at that point, you faced a very significant crossroad
in your life. And you talked about that to the
students. I'd love for you to share what ultimately
convinced you to take a leap into a... uh into
not playing it safe right into leaning into entrepreneurship
and doing something bold and risky after you
did for a minute wallow in feeling like as people
would and should and do when things don't go
their way yeah you know for five years with my
role at casper's i knew that the trajectory was
i would be taking over the vice president role
of community relations. So it oversaw about a
$1 .9 million budget of year of philanthropic
giving back to Tampa Bay and the morale of our
4 ,200 people. All the company events, I loved
the work I did. I truly drank the Kool -Aid of
the culture. It was just phenomenal. And then
one day I get a call from a Tampa City councilman
who says, hey, I heard a rumor that Casper's
is selling their 60 restaurants. What can you
tell me? And I'm like, you know, and so I, so
long story short about health, 10 minutes later,
I get called into the CEO's office and he says,
listen, he goes, you're, you're the fifth person
out of 4 ,200 people to know what's going on.
So I need you to keep your mouth shut until corporate
announces it. And so you want to talk about one
self worth plummeting to, you know, it's almost
like the stock market as we, as we see it now,
you want to talk about your, self -worth just
going and just crashing and burning. It was so
bad because we as human beings put all of our
ego and self -worth into the roles and the jobs
that we have. Outside of it, you don't really
have that. You are defined by the work that you
do every single day. And I was defined by the
work and having a full calendar. So when everything
was just swiped clean, And I was told that I
would no longer be with the organization after
it sells off their 60 restaurants. It was just
a very bad time in my life. I had a couple of
jobs afterwards, and they were just jobs. They
were not careers. And one failed after another,
and my self -worth just began to go. And finally,
I had some great friends who were like, listen,
gosh. You are a great speaker. You have a phenomenal
message. It's so unique and so unconventional.
You really should get out and begin speaking.
And so that kind of took off. And it wasn't even
a midlife crisis, but in my wallow in self -pity,
I wrote a book. And that took about 10 months
or so to write it. And that was a very spiritual,
very therapeutic journey for me. Sure. So before
we get to that, though, comedy and public speaking,
two totally different muscles, right? Like I
would assume that the feedback loop is different
the whole deal. So what was the hardest part
between going from clowning to going to keynoting?
Well, you know, there actually is not much difference.
You would think on the outside that there is
a huge difference. There's not. Like I had said
before, when I'm in front of an audience now,
it isn't in front of 17 ,000 at Madison Square
Garden. It's a different kind of audience. I'm
still performing. I don't wear makeup except
on Saturday nights, but that's besides the point.
No, I don't. I don't do that. But I still wear
a costume. I still perform. I still have to be
on. I have to give that energy to my audience.
It's a different kind of energetic exchange with
the audience now, as opposed to being part of
an ensemble of 100 performers, 50 animals, music,
lighting, pyro, live circus band. It's a one
-man show now. And so the energy exchange and
what I do, sure, there are different tactics,
but it's the same thing. And so that's what's
been beautiful about going from career to career
is that one has laid the foundation to the next,
from Circus Clown to Ronald McDonald to Community
Relations for a massive McDonald's franchise
to Hospitality Speaker. It's the same thing.
It's just different iterations of it. I've never
been a clown, but I do believe that I can see
why the muscles might actually be more similar
than not. But I have this question for you. You
know, one thing about being a clown is that a
clown is almost, by definition, not you or not
exactly you, right? Whereas when you're a speaker,
authenticity is quite crucial. How do you balance
that, right? Because I saw you, I saw you perform.
You were absolutely performing. It was fun and
funny. I also thought I saw when you shone through,
like it was possible to see, hey, there's Dustin.
Talk to me about balancing, you know, authenticity.
Well, if you go to my website, you are going
to see time and time again, authenticity throughout.
Everything I do that is one of my core values
is authenticity, authenticity, humor, and being
trustworthy. And so it was very eyeopening for
me that when I got into a corporate gig with
Casper's that I took a look back and I'm like,
Oh my gosh, like, you know, I. We in the circus
would say, well, you don't really hide behind
the makeup. It's an extension of you. And there
is a point and there is a truth to that. But
looking back, I'm like, oh my gosh, we certainly
did hide behind the makeup because you can get
away with more things as a clown than you can
as Tal or PJ or Dustin. And so now with what
I do, the authenticity has to be even more amplified
as a clown. With the circus, I still had to be
authentic because if I didn't believe in the
material that I was doing, my audience can't
believe it. As Ronald McDonald, you're in the
lobbies of McDonald's. You're talking to families
across North America. If I wasn't authentic and
in the moment. people would call out BS. And
so now even more so as a one -man show and going
into these organizations and instilling humor,
motivation, inspiration, and making people think
differently about their roles within their organizations
and that they can do it and that you can have
the right mindset. Authenticity is like the number
one golden key for anyone in a forward -facing
role, especially... Someone who is a keynote
or workshop facilitator. If you are not authentic
within 20 seconds, because it's been proven,
people can say, yeah, bullshit. So for me, it
is crucial to be as authentic. How I talk to
you all today and to all your viewers, this is
who I am. Tal, I think you can probably attest
to that, that there is no mask. And I always
say you need to remove the mask because that's
when people really get to see who you are. either
good or bad very cool so in your book now now
we're getting to the book it's okay to be an
idiot uh it's all about as you're saying authenticity
and embracing that as well as imperfection so
can you share a moment where being an idiot actually
led to you know a breakthrough for you absolutely
so uh the the number one The most idiotic moment
that I've ever had was I was Ronald McDonald.
And the day after my birthday in 2017, which
would have been October 10th, I get a phone call
at nine o 'clock at night. And they said, hey,
the Ronald McDonald program is being discontinued.
At the end of the year, you will no longer have
a Ronald gig. Corporate is kind of killing it
off. So I call up a friend of mine who was the
vice president of community relations for Casper's,
who I eventually got. got a role with. And I
called up and say, hey, I'm not quite sure what's
going on. He says, calm down. Everything will
then work out. A couple of weeks later, I get
called down to their office. I think I'm going
to get a severance from the organization because
they were one of my biggest clients through the
Ronald program because they had so many restaurants.
And I was summoned to the CEO's office and he
says, Dustin, he goes, I want to let you know
something that for four years now, When I would
see you at events, I always kept thinking to
myself, damn, that guy can do more than just
put on makeup. He's relatable. He can talk to
anyone from 5 to 95. And I need someone like
that to be a part of my organization. He said,
you didn't realize it, but for four years, you've
been auditioning. And that was one of the biggest
defining moments of my life. And I look back
and authenticity played a huge part in that because
as Ronald, if I was not being authentic to the
character and to myself, he could have looked
past that and said, oh, well, every time he sees
me, he knows I'm a big player within the system.
He's trying to impress me. And that's just not
how I roll. That's just not my MO. And so for
me, that was a huge defining moment of being
a real idiot, which idiot does not mean what
people typically think idiot means. It isn't
a fool. It isn't a moron. Well, I was, but you
called me out. Sorry about that. Let's get into
that because, you know, that was, in fact, my
next question for you to spell out the idiot
acronym because idiot is not, you know, a fool.
It's quite the opposite, quite frankly. Correct.
Let me share with the audience what idiot stands
for. Well, so if you look at the cover of my
book, which I just happen to have here for those
people who can see this. I have a signed copy,
PJ, just for the record. Oh, it's true. Aren't
you? He does. And PJ, if you play your cards
correctly. You can get one, too, for three easy
payments. Does that come with a Columbia House
subscription? So, idiot. If you notice, there
is a clown nose for the O in the word idiot.
So, first of all, yes, idiot, clown. People call
the clown the idiot, the fool, number one. But
most importantly, idiot. Imagine your potential.
Dream big. Ignite your inner fire. own your this
is my favorite originality and give thanks idiot
i don't care if you're the head of a fortune
500 organization i don't care if you clean the
bathrooms and toilets at your local wendy's you
can be an idiot you you again we go we go back
to so many people have have limiting beliefs
about themselves and so this book talks about
becoming the idiot and and not necessarily embracing
your your imperfections but embracing who you
are um finding that inherent talent within you
uh owning your authenticity your originality
that stuff plays a major part in people's demise
or their success And on that very point, I mean,
it's a theme that I, throughout your event with
the students, he kept their attention, PJ, like
you would not believe. I can only imagine. And
it was incredible. And he had gadgets. He was
throwing clown noses at them. It was great. It
was a phenomenal show. But they got the message,
I think. The idiot message, I think, resonated.
And it's about... Seeing setbacks as setups instead
of failures. Talk about that, Dustin. So there
is a term in the medical world. It's called failure
to thrive. And it deals with when a child of
a certain age and certain sex. has not developed
like the other kids of the age and of that sex.
But we think failure to thrive is that, oh, well,
I'm not able to go to the next level because
I have failed. And I just don't believe that.
Every failure that I have had, failed auditions,
failed jobs, failed relationships, have always
propelled me to the next level. And I can't remember
who said it, but our life should be from mountaintop
to mountaintop. There should never be any massive
valleys. Life is meant to be living from mountaintop
to mountaintop. But often we find ourselves down
in the shitter. But that, those moments down
here. Are better than the moments that are up
here, because this is where that forward momentum
propels you over the next mountain to go to your
next best self. So I do feel that whenever we
fail, um, that it can really project you even
more so than if you, than if you did succeed,
because you, cause this is where that, this is
where the learning happens. It isn't up here
from my peak to peak. It's down in the valley.
That's where we begin to figure out and learn
and study and get better. And then whenever you
succeed again, that is propelling you forward.
So I don't believe in failure. I haven't always
believed like that. But as of right now, I believe
that failure is a damn good thing. Don't do it
again, but it's a damn good thing that will propel
you to the next best version of yourself. Wow.
So cool. I like, and I love that, right? Like
when you're, when you're describing it that way,
it's, it's easy to see how there's, there's momentum
shifts all the time. And, and, you know, like
that, that plummeting towards failure is actually
your accelerator towards. towards uh prosperity
there is an incredible um visual aid and i think
it may have been the myth busters who did this
years ago but they took a ball and they put it
here and then there was a ball beneath it now
the ball beneath it was going to go through a
roller coaster and the ball up here just went
a straight line and and and the ball that went
on a uh on a mountaintop kind of a pattern got
to the end quicker than the ball that just went
straight down. So that goes to show you just
how important it is to fail forward, not to fall
backwards. So I'm a huge proponent of it. Sometimes
it sucks. Most of the time it sucks, but there's
always an incredible lesson that you learn from
it. to not repeat it again, but that whenever
you do fail, something really phenomenal happens
that wouldn't have been there if you had succeeded
the first time. Wow. So cool. So cool. So I have
a question. I didn't, I didn't realize that I
was going to be talking to an actual Ronald McDonald
today. So one of the things that I, that actually
kind of popped in my head was that I had a, or
I, i'm in my second marriage my first marriage
my brother -in -law um was battling leukemia
and spent a lot of time at the ronald mcdonald
house and uh fantastic organization like what
they do for for families and people who are battling
all kinds of just terrible maladies phenomenal
yeah did you get a chance to spend time in that
environment and what was that like often Often,
every single month, we saw families from all
over the world. So the Tampa Bay Ronald McDonald
House, there are four of them. And we got to
see families that were staying there for a couple
of nights because of kidney and minor surgery
to families that were there for four or five
years. There was a family. That was from Guatemala.
And their daughter had a heart condition that
if she went back home because of the altitude,
her heart would have literally exploded. Oh,
God. So they had the heart surgery here in Tampa
at one of the big children's hospitals. And then
the family lived at the Ronald McDonald house,
I want to say for six years. And I remember after,
this was years after I left Ronald, the family.
They did a big news story on one of the local
TV stations that the family, after six years,
was finally going home. The daughter was healthy
enough to go back home. And so the stories and
the remarkable resiliency that the Ronald McDonald
House has just permeating from every crevice,
every nook. It was remarkable. And even my time
at Casper's company, we would go there and we
would make lunch for the families because we
always wanted to kind of give back. And so spent
a lot of time with the Ronald McDonald House
Charities, specifically in Tampa Bay. And they
do such damn good work. And Lisa Supernand is
their CEO and has been for the past, gosh, seven
years or so, eight years. Remarkable lady. true
heart and passion for the work. You really have
to. This isn't just a job that is flippant. You
have to be totally physically and emotionally
invested in these families and in these strangers.
And they do such damn good work. So I appreciate
you bringing that up because as you know, PJ,
it's a phenomenal charity that not a lot of people
know about or the mission that they do. I keep
on saying, The Ronald McDonald House Charities
as the overall charity, global charity, is the
best kept secret. It is the best kept secret.
No one really knows exactly what their mission
is. And they are not fully funded by McDonald's.
Only 25 % of their intake of donations is by
McDonald's. 75 % comes from people like you and
I. I had no idea. I didn't know that. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. See, I mean, the best. There you go. So
what's not a secret to me is that, uh, you want
to take your message global. Um, and I've met
you and your husband, you're, you're an inspiring
couple. Uh, you, you, you have so much fire in
you and so much interest in reaching people and
touching lives. What's your ultimate goal? What
would you like your speaking career to accomplish?
And what impact do you hope to leave on the audience
as you reach? You know, whenever someone leaves
my presentation, whether it's a keynote or a
workshop or a one -on -one executive coaching,
I always want them to leave just a little bit
better because I can, I can help push you. I
can help steer you into the right direction,
but you need to take, as, as we had mentioned
earlier, that, that inspired action, um, you
know, words. only go so far, but you know, but
actions speak louder. And if you can be a catalyst
for change in someone's life, if you can make
them think a little bit differently about who
they are, um, that is so worthwhile to me, um,
getting messages. I still get messages from people,
emails, LinkedIn messages. Hey, I saw your, you
know, your, your presentation and, um, it. It
made me quit my job. I had a lady who was so
stuck. She was a general manager for a major
fitness company. And she read my book and chapter
nine, which is sustaining happiness, finding
fulfillment beyond salary and title, which is
a chapter, which is a lesson from my playbook.
uh, after I left Casper's, um, she read it and
she said, you know what? She goes, I have drafted
a resignation letter and I am, uh, I am quitting
in two weeks because of your chapter, um, on,
uh, that, you know, this, the money I make here,
that title doesn't mean anything. And so it's
like those things that ignites my fire. Um, and
you know, where I want to go global. I want to
speak on stages across the world. I want to empower
people and their mindset that you can do anything
you want. And the career that I've had and the
blessings that I've had just doesn't pertain
to Dustin Portillo. Anyone can have those. Anyone
can experience life's greatest joys in life.
But first you have to be empowered to take that
inspired action and to believe in yourself first
and foremost, because if you don't believe in
yourself, no one else will. Very cool. I have
a, I have a couple of quick questions. I also
want one really quick comment. I, uh, I literally
was just talking to my son the other day. Um,
you had mentioned about having the impact on
the people. Um, I told him that. One of my goals
ever since growing up is I've always said, if
I, if I meet someone, if I can make them laugh,
if I can make them smile, then I've given them
at least a moment in their lives where they were
happy or they were not, they were not worried
or thinking about something negative. And that's,
that's always been like, kind of like a little
gift that I've wanted to impart upon people.
And so I think that in that aspect or in that
respect, you and I have. somewhat of a same uh
mentality which i think is pretty cool absolutely
yeah i'm just trying to tell you what's it what's
it what's interesting about that is in his uh
pre -interview questionnaire justin now dustin
actually provided a quote by churchill yeah that
says that go ahead and this was a quote that
i had uh as you walked into my office at casper's
it was a big decal that that spanned the entire
length and it says And Winston Churchill, which
you wouldn't think, said this, if you can make
someone laugh, you give them a little vacation.
Oh, perfect. And that is how I have lived my
life since I was a kid to what I do now. Humor
and making people forget about their troubles
has been one of my guiding principles. And if
I don't have humor in my life, I'm not living
and there is no point to live. God gave you a
talent, an inherent talent. Utilize it to your
ability and to everyone else's ability, and you
will make the world a better place. Well, you
certainly went full on into it. I guess I have
to start living up to my potential. Jeez. Go
either go big or go home. You know what I mean?
That's why I'm sitting at home. That has been
kind of the theme of my life. So I understand
there was something about. the size of a microphone
at the interview, like with, with, uh, Oh God.
Yeah. Yeah. You know, um, I, I have, as opposed
to having like a little lapel mic, I have a little
small microphone that, you know, hooks into my,
into my cell phone and it's an, and it actually,
it's a pretty phenomenal microphone. Um, I. Tal
was so fantastic to give me a testimonial afterwards
with a couple of other folks. And the quality
of the microphone is so damn good that I have
not utilized it since then. And I kicked myself
if my foot could reach my rear, I'd be kicking
myself because it's so good. And I remember Tal
saying at one point, and I've got a clip. my,
my hands, I think he says, my hands aren't this,
aren't this big. I think what I said, actually,
I think I forgot about the story, but I think
what I said, I'm holding a mic. That's maybe,
I don't know, three inches, right? It looks exactly
like a full microphone. It's just very small.
And I said, it's not that the microphone is small,
it's that my hand is huge. I think that's what
I said, right? That's right, that's right, that's
right. I actually haven't seen the clip. That's
funny. I'd love to see it. I forgot that we did
that. So part of your client testimonial is on
my website. So go on there, take a look. Is that
part in it? I'd love to laugh at that if it is.
I'll go check it out. No, but I definitely should
put it there. You should. It's a great segue
to telling people where they can find you. Where's
your website and where else can people find you?
Well, I'm not going to tell them my home address
because that's where they can find me currently.
That's weird. But my website is DustinMPortillo
.com. D -U -S -T -I -N -M -P -O -R -T -I -L -L
-O .com. And it will be in our show notes for
everybody listening and watching. You'll be able
to find that. Perfect. You can find everything
on there from my keynotes to my workshops to
the life I've had and to get a copy of my book,
which whenever you buy from my website, it physically
comes from me. Actually, this is a book that
has currently signed and it's going to a McDonald's
owner operator out of, I want to say, Dallas,
Fort Worth. So he just bought it. So the books
purchased from my website come from me. I hand
sign them. to whoever buys it and put a little
message in there. This one says, to Jack, you
are the chief idiot. Wear that badge proudly,
my friend. Dustin Portillo. And so Jack will
get a little bit of happiness from that as well.
I think mine says, Tal, you're a big idiot. Something
like that. It was memorable. It was good. I actually
try to make every single inscription completely
different. I don't want to duplicate. And I've
sold quite a few. So it's been very difficult
for me to consistently have a different inscription
on every single book. Well done. Well, our guest
today, Dustin Portillo, is not an ordinary clown.
In fact, he's not a clown at all anymore. Now
he's someone that inspires people to live their
best lives, to overcome their challenges, to
not view setbacks as destiny, but quite to the
contrary, to view setbacks as a springboard to
the great life that... They have the opportunity
to live. Everyone listening to this podcast knows
that PJ and I strongly believe that life is about
overcoming those setbacks and that what has united
the successful people that have been on this
podcast over now into our fourth season is resilience.
It's literally refusing to quit when the going
gets tough. We all have tough moments. Some of
them are tougher than others. But the fact is
that as you look at your life, any one of us,
we've made it through. Yeah, every one of these
tough moments. We are on the other side of them.
And if we are in the middle of them, you know,
to paraphrase something that's on my wall, PJ
knows this. It's the rom -com speech from Ted
Lasso, where Ted said, if you're in the middle
of the forest, you know it's not the end, right?
So if you're in the dark part of the forest,
if you've ever seen a rom -com, they always have
the moment in the middle where everything seems
doomed and they're not going to fall in love.
But you know that's not the end of the story.
You know it's not the end of the story. So if
you happen to be at a point in your life where
it's dark, just remember Rom communism, as Ted
Lasso said, or Dustin's message with his book.
It's not the end. And oftentimes, it is exactly
what will spring you to where you want to go.
I'll get off my soapbox, but I just wanted to
say that, Dustin, you're inspiring. I'm glad
you're on. I look forward to... seeing you in
person and to continuing to have you at USF events,
hopefully, and continued success to you, sir.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you both very much.
And to all you listening, just to reiterate,
life can be fantastic and life should be fantastic.
We are not meant to be in constant failure. I
have been there numerous times, but there is
always a bright light at the end of the tunnel.
guarantee it stick it out and you will be a better
human being and you'll be a new version level
2 .0 so i believe in you these guys believe in
you and we love you and we support you and we
want the best for you nicely done thank you you're
welcome and that's a wrap folks like what you
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