US Marine to Entrepreneur
In the episode, I sit with Rich Cardona and discuss his journey from a US Marine to now a very successful entrepreneur. We talk about transition and why it is hard, Rich also shares why entrepreneurship is hard.
About Rich:
Rich Cardona is a first-generation American and retired Marine Corps attack helicopter pilot. After getting a Masters in Business Administration out of fear he wouldn’t be marketable, he ventured into the traditional workplace and landed a job with Amazon. While he admits the company is the tip of the spear, his experience in fulfillment was extremely unfulfilling. He left, moved into his in-law's basement, and dug down deep to find his true passion that would lead to a fulfilling business. After spending time with and documenting Claude Silver, Vayner Media’s Chief Heart Officer, he realized that there was a need for executives like her to become more visible. And the idea was hatched! Rich Cardona Media was born. Today, Rich’s team helps executives and entrepreneurs become more visible by using video to create long-term content and social media strategies. Rich has also created a video series and podcast called “The Leadership Locker” where influencers and industry leaders share their expertise with transitioning service members and veteran entrepreneurs.
Connecting with Rich Cardona:
Connect with Manpreet:
Transcript
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::[Manpreet]: All right,
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::[Manpreet]: episode number two, Um, I am really excited about this because, uh, the
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::[Manpreet]: person I have on my right on my screen, Uh, Mr. Rich Carardoner, Um, I
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::[Manpreet]: don't know if you know him, but I am just such honored because of his
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::[Manpreet]: background, which is U S marine. Um, has, uh, you know ethics. The the
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::[Manpreet]: thing that I like about him is that he brought that service attitude, or
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::[Manpreet]: um, I guess uh, um,
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::[Manpreet]: you know the
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::[Manpreet]: emotion of service like being at service first, um in his business and his
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::[Manpreet]: career, and
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::[Manpreet]: that is who is like. every time I have interacted, I don't know him for
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::[Manpreet]: more than a few months, and every time I have just sent a message, he has
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::[Manpreet]: just responded and he just helped me a great deal, So I am so excited to be
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::[Manpreet]: here. I know he is going to bring about so many things that will make
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::[Manpreet]: difference in your you know life if you're listening this. if you're
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::[Manpreet]: watching this, so welcome, rich and I'm glad to take this with you.
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::[Rich]: I'm happy to be here, Manpe, too.
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::[Rich]: let's do it. I plan on on bringing it for you and your audience. and I, I know
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::[Rich]: what you're about. so it means a lot to me to be on here. and and I appreciate
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::[Rich]: the opportunity.
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::[Manpreet]: All right, wellcomes. well, let's dive
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::[Manpreet]: right into a. How about you start with your journey? Um, maybe you know
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::[Manpreet]: growing up what life was like and how he went into. Uh, you know, Um, your
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::[Manpreet]: first career and then transitioning into what you are doing Now,
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::[Rich]: absolutely. so I'm the first generation American.
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::[Rich]: So my my father is from Columbia. My mother is from.
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::[Rich]: We were born here. And what I knew was what I saw.
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::[Rich]: What I didn't know was was why they came here, you know, and I. I realized
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::[Rich]: what
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::[Manpreet]: Hey,
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::[Rich]: they came here for to the States was for access. Uh, there was limited
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::[Rich]: opportunities where they came from. And and that's what their parents
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::[Rich]: believed, and that's what they thought. So they came here and um, you know
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::[Rich]: what that meant for me as a child Is just watching, Uh, a work ethic,
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::[Rich]: Uh, a work ethic, that was deliberate. That was, uh, always trying to get us
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::[Rich]: to a different level, Uh, a different, uh, income bracket, Uh, better housing,
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::[Rich]: better school system, All these things, so I just watched that growing up. Um,
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::[Rich]: but uh, when I was in school and high school, I just didn't really care. I
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::[Rich]: took a lot of things for granted. Uh,
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::[Manpreet]: I should,
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::[Rich]: I was really. I just couldn't concentrate that much. My social life was a big
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::[Rich]: priority to me, and ▁ultimately, I realized uh, that I was going nowhere, so I
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::[Rich]: decided to join the Marine Corps, Um,
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::[Rich]: anxiously, uh, and by anxiously, I mean, you know, with fear, uh, but I, I
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::[Rich]: knew was something I needed to do and I joined the Marine Corps, and I spent
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::[Rich]: seventeen years in the Marines, and when I retired early at thirty four, I was
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::[Rich]: in the marine. I had spent half my life in the Marine Corps, so that was kind
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::[Rich]: of crazy, but I was an enlisted marine first, and then I ended up um, getting
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::[Rich]: to be a commissioned officer and then I was flying attack helicopters, which
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::[Rich]: was a fantastic duty assignment. And uh, I'm very blessed for that. That whole
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::[Rich]: entire area of my career. Uh,
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::[Rich]: was pivotal for me in in so many ways about Wh, how I operate now and what my
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::[Rich]: mindset is. Now, um, and uh, you know, just just loosening up some of the
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::[Rich]: rigidity that you that you get from a structured environment like that. Uh,
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::[Rich]: then I, I went to Amazon. Um, Uh, After I retired for a couple of years, I did
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::[Rich]: not enjoy my time there at all. I thought it was going to be just this amazing
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::[Rich]: experience. And it it, it was not for me personally, and I ended up Uh, coming
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::[Rich]: across a guy who you and I both know Gary. V
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::[Rich]: and I. I ended up
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::[Manpreet]: nine.
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::[Rich]: ▁quiting my job, B and um. I, I, ▁quit. my job. I went all in myself, started
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::[Rich]: exploring my curiosity. That was first photography. then it wasraphy and then
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::[Rich]: it was storytelling, and now ▁ultimately podcast production, which is what I I
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::[Rich]: love to do. And uh, and here we are. So I'm about almost three years into the
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::[Rich]: journey. Um, you know, a very small first year second year. We hit two, fifty,
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::[Rich]: uh, two and fifty can revenue, which is great, and then uh last year or this
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::[Rich]: year, Uh, we'll see how it works out, but we have a lot of good things
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::[Rich]: happening in the business and I have a lot of lessons that I could share. Uh,
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::[Rich]: depending on what you and your audience want to know about, but um, I, I could
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::[Rich]: tell you that, Uh, there's certainly an element of emotional intelligence and
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::[Rich]: soelft skills that is very underplayed. Uh, coming from the environment I used
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::[Rich]: to be in, and um, I'm I'm really glad I've been able to kind of unearth them
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::[Rich]: because that has benefited my business tremendously.
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::[Manpreet]: Wow, wonderful. I can relate to so many things like about your childhood
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::[Manpreet]: and no paying attention. I was the same like you know, I't know are growing
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::[Manpreet]: up in India, but I also,
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::[Manpreet]: I think one thing, uh, when you were in a country like India, Um, one thing
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::[Manpreet]: I knew that I wanted to go and work in America, like that was one of the
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::[Manpreet]: dreams of the dreams that I had. Uh, obviously, Uh, first one was also uh,
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::[Manpreet]: getting into computers and doing something with the technology part.
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::[Manpreet]: I never dared. Uh, pay attention to a lot of studies. I was not a studio
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::[Manpreet]: student like I just passed on the grace. like on the grace of the teachers,
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::[Manpreet]: I passed my exams.
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::[Manpreet]: but uh, I, I think I got good at when I got into computers. Like when you
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::[Manpreet]: land into where you fed in, it just automatically happened, so I did that
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::[Manpreet]: and uh, so I can relate that. Um, uh, could you andacck You know you
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::[Manpreet]: mentioned about the emotional intelligence, or even before you mentioned
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::[Manpreet]: that your transition from your first career as a marine, and spending seven
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::[Manpreet]: years than a career, because a lot of times when get into one career
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::[Manpreet]: they stay there, but after you know fifteen, twenty years of their life, it
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::[Manpreet]: doesn't excite them anymore. it gets po. And then it becomes harder to
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::[Manpreet]: transition, so if you can unpack your transition, and
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::[Manpreet]: you know what things specifically did to get to where you are
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::[Manpreet]: and how the emotional intelligence. Some of thells how
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::[Rich]: Y.
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::[Manpreet]: you get
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::[Rich]: Yeah,
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::[Manpreet]: are
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::[Rich]: so here's
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::[Rich]: number one is, is that transition for any of us, Whether it is a transition in
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::[Rich]: career, whether it is a transition from being single to engage, to be to being
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::[Rich]: married to divorce, or from transitioning from being overweight to in shape.
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::[Rich]: whatever it is, The transitions can be very disorienting. They could also be
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::[Rich]: very discouraging. where the progress um. might be steady, but it feels like
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::[Rich]: nothing's happening. I always like to use this analogy, like the earth, the
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::[Rich]: earth spins, but you don't feel a move right, and uh it. It's the same thing
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::[Rich]: when it comes to transitions, now coming from an environment like the Marine
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::[Rich]: Corps, which is all about service. It's all about leadership and it's all
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::[Rich]: about taking care of your marines, and it's never about you. It's about the
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::[Rich]: team. You know. In a way, it set me up tremendously Um
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::[Rich]: to care for others to look out for others, to put everyone's needs in front of
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::[Rich]: my own. But what I noticed was when I got to Uh, you know, my next career, my
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::[Rich]: next environment, at least, Uh, with Amazon that there was very much a
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::[Rich]: managerial aspect versus a leadership aspect. I. I. I could tell the
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::[Rich]: leadership
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::[Rich]: that I saw demonstrated was kind of learned leadership. like state. people
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::[Rich]: were doing things that they learned in training. You know, it wasn't
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::[Rich]: necessarily from within. So how how do you do that? If you aren in a rigid
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::[Rich]: environment, if you come from somewhere where there's structure and there's
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::[Rich]: numbers and there's goals to be met. And um, which is? There's nothing wrong
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::[Rich]: with? By the way, How do you? How do you kind of uncover the emotional
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::[Rich]: intelligence that you need? The first thing you need to do always is just ask
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::[Rich]: yourself the basis of all your actions, and this is going to sound so
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::[Rich]: rudementary. But the basis of all your actions should always start with the
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::[Rich]: people that are on your team and the people that are around you. How are you
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::[Rich]: best serving them? Because the more
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::[Manpreet]: Umhu,
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::[Rich]: you are able to serve them, the more they are going to serve you. and this
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::[Rich]: isn't strategic. This is just how it should be. So if I am
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::[Manpreet]: eight
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::[Rich]: in a managerial role, how a what capacity can I take care of these individuals
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::[Rich]: their personal and professional needs. How can I enhance their business
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::[Rich]: knowledge? How can I take their education from what it is? Uh, a little bit
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::[Rich]: further. How can I reward them for good behavior? How can I also reward them
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::[Rich]: with constructive feedback when they're making mistakes. you know, H. instead
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::[Rich]: of looking the other way and haing and avoiding those tough conversations, So
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::[Rich]: this is far less about something that you can read on a document and a
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::[Rich]: checklist that you can use to execute your daily duties. This is about
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::[Rich]: personal and professional development happening simultaneously, and the only
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::[Rich]: way that's going to happen
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::[Rich]: using emotional intelligence honestly is to just have more conversations like
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::[Rich]: you and I uh, know each other kind of fairly well. at this point. Uh, but if
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::[Rich]: we kept a simple surface level and just about podcasting questions, and not
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::[Rich]: about my mission and not about your mission, then we'd be nowhere. The same
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::[Rich]: thing happens
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::[Manpreet]: one,
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::[Rich]: in the workplace, so I think it's imperative that true leaders understand that
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::[Rich]: this is something that separates companies that are playing the long game in
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::[Rich]: companies versus Um. You know, looking for the short term revenue goals, Uh,
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::[Rich]: those companies are not going to stand a chance. Uh in the long term because
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::[Rich]: they're going to have those small women. S, but they'll lose over the next
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::[Rich]: decade versus the ones that are having wins here and there who are going to
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::[Rich]: survive the next decade, and the one after that and the one after that,
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::[Rich]: because they've instilled a culture of of knowledge and emotional intelligence
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::[Rich]: where they actually care for the people.
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::[Manpreet]: just out of curiosity, Amazon is one of the biggest leaders in their space.
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::[Rich]: Yes,
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::[Manpreet]: So many spaces they are in.
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::[Rich]: yes,
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::[Manpreet]: Do they invest in people like in these emotional intelligence? and you know
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::[Manpreet]: the personal dwe side, along with the professional
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::[Rich]: look,
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::[Manpreet]: outside the check boxes, right?
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::[Rich]: yeah, yeah, so so this is. this is my opinion. Amazon is clearly something
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::[Rich]: we've never seen before and will be very very hard to replicate. Uh, You know,
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::[Rich]: everything they have done,
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::[Manpreet]: yeah,
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::[Rich]: Uh, is is is just
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::[Rich]: new. Um. And and it's it's incredible to watch an incredible to see. Now
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::[Rich]: here's the thing with that kind of growth
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::[Rich]: with that kind of upward mobility and trajectory and just the beheemth that
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::[Rich]: they are. You know, the bigger you get, the harder it is to kind of instill
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::[Rich]: those things that you're work. that you're you know, aiming for. And the
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::[Rich]: reason is there's so many moving parts. I mean, I, I, I, I mean, I know they
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::[Rich]: have over five hundred thousand total employees. I mean, that has to be as of
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::[Rich]: two years ago. So how do you mitigate that by trying to instill emotional
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::[Rich]: intelligence? Well, what you're going to get is you're normal. Hey, we're
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::[Rich]: having a class on Wednesday type thing. this all comes down to individual
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::[Rich]: leaders. Okay, this is not. you know the kind of classes the mass classes, or
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::[Rich]: you know everyone, just sitting in the cafeteria watching some shitty
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::[Rich]: presentation. Sorry, I don't know if you could swear on here, but, um, the
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::[Rich]: those. those are. The things that are are just completely repeatable, no
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::[Rich]: matter what company you come across, so it's harder because you're more
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::[Rich]: robust. You know, when you're smaller and nimble. Um, it's a little bit
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::[Rich]: easier. Now will say, they focus very, very, very heavily on their core
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::[Rich]: values, and that is is certainly a strength, but I just believe with the size
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::[Rich]: and the mass of the work force, it becomes harder to implement those things
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::[Rich]: because there's just too many things happening, number one, but too many
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::[Rich]: too many irons in the fire, I guess is the way to put it. They're always
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::[Rich]: looking at the next thing, the next thing, the next thing, the next thing, and
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::[Rich]: with that just comes a lot of projects, a lot of lack of focus. I mean, I
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::[Rich]: can't even tell you how many one on ones didn't happen for me. You know, like
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::[Rich]: that, I was supposed to have on a monthly basis to kind of determine my, my,
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::[Rich]: my trajectory, my mobility, my performance, so it it becomes harder. but um,
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::[Rich]: you know, the takeway here I would say is before you scale
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::[Rich]: or before it really takes off. These things need to be completely imp
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::[Rich]: implemented meaning on a Marine Corps hide. for example, if new members were
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::[Rich]: joining the platoon, Hopefully the culture was already set. so when those new
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::[Rich]: marines were not doing things within the standard of that platoon, people were
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::[Rich]: already correcting them. The leader, the the the top leader did not have to
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::[Rich]: correct anything, because everyone who is a few levels down was already doing
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::[Rich]: it. That is how you know you have something beautiful going on when no one's
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::[Rich]: afraid to correct each other, or like we could like to call it policing our
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::[Rich]: own. So again that was only my experience. Um. but I do think it's It's
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::[Rich]: important that these things happen. You need the individual attention number
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::[Rich]: one, and while you're still small and nimble, this is when you could really
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::[Rich]: make things happen.
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::[Manpreet]: yeah. yeah. and I think if I had to some up there was uh. you know the
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::[Manpreet]: culture, the core values and the leadership that all relies on. These are
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::[Manpreet]: the pillars on which the business any smaller, big business reales on.
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::[Manpreet]: That's what differentiates.
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::[Manpreet]: I can see that from U S Marine dial some of the things that you probably
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::[Manpreet]: are well trained and then getting into the corporate America where it's not
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::[Manpreet]: they' on the books, but not usually
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::[Manpreet]: implement.
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::[Manpreet]: so so If you were there any things that from your first,
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::[Manpreet]: I guess, first experience in the corporate America, While there, you were
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::[Manpreet]: able to then take out
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::[Manpreet]: few bets that you were able to. then, when you started own your own
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::[Manpreet]: entrepreneurship journey, you were able to use them as guiding lessons.
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::[Manpreet]: Whether it worked in that, you know it could be something that you didn't
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::[Manpreet]: want to use or something that you want to use of your own experience,
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::[Rich]: Yeah, I have to fall back on
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::[Rich]: entrepreneurship is is, let me let me rewind. Entrepreneurship has been the
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::[Rich]: most difficult leadership challenge. I've I've ever had. Um, harder than the
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::[Rich]: Marine Corps, harder than Amazon. Um. it's because you're building everything
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::[Rich]: from scratch Now. If I had to take anything away from my time at Amazon. it
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::[Rich]: was what I feel separated me the most. and this is something I think your
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::[Rich]: listeners really need to pay attention to. Um, which is? I mean, I already
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::[Rich]: mentioned it, but hourly associates, for example,
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::[Rich]: or if you want to say, and I don't mean this, Uh, in a derogatory way, lower
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::[Rich]: level employees,
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::[Rich]: you have to really study what they do on a day to day basis, and you have to
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::[Rich]: say to yourself, If you have not done those things, would I do that? How long
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::[Rich]: would I last? Could I do that day after day, week after a week, month after
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::[Rich]: month after you're like, what is the longevity or what is the lifetime value
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::[Rich]: one of these. People are. how long are they going to stay with us? And like I
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::[Rich]: mentioned, big corporations, like we were talking about. like a lot of them
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::[Rich]: don't have a recruiting problem Because there's always someone willing to take
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::[Rich]: that kind of work as long as they have a driver's liceencee. don't need a
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::[Rich]: degree or this or that. Then they're just like Okay. They just go from from
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::[Rich]: job to job like that, But what separates
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::[Rich]: what separates uh, the culture and Uh, kind of we mentioned theotionalt.
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::[Rich]: telligences. What can I actually teach them? Because if what they're doing is
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::[Rich]: something I couldn't do ten hours a day and it was incredibly monotonous and
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::[Rich]: they have no idea what kind of uh, you know, Uh, rewards or gains it can make
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::[Rich]: over the course of a few years, you can be the difference, no
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::[Manpreet]: have,
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::[Rich]: matter how technical the job is, no matter how customer facing or non customer
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::[Rich]: facing it is. It doesn't matter what are you teaching them, so they under our
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::[Rich]: understanding the core of the business and why you are doing the things that
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::[Rich]: you used to that that you're doing so when I worked on the robotic storage
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::[Rich]: platform, I mean, it was this robust, unbelievably complicated, technical and
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::[Rich]: logistical system that we used at a warehouse to get products, stow, products,
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::[Rich]: pick products out, get the products out, ship them, and all these different
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::[Rich]: things, But you know what I did. I always turned my radio off because
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::[Rich]: leadership was always trying to interrupt my day with a new task with a new
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::[Rich]: something with another meeting. and I was just like I'm not doing this. What
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::[Rich]: I'm going to do is talk to John over there and explain to him that knowing
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::[Rich]: that his numbers may be subpar. I'll explain to him. You know why we're doing
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::[Rich]: what we're doing. What productivity means. What through put per hour means why
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::[Rich]: we have the goals that we have. what this means for his performance. What this
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::[Rich]: means if he wants to transfer another department all these different things,
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::[Rich]: so enhancing someone's business acumen, or just making setting people up to be
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::[Rich]: in a position to take over what you're doing for that person that's directly
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::[Rich]: beneath you. So to speak, Um, you know, for in my example, like an area
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::[Rich]: manager, like all my area managers, By the time I was done, could do my job.
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::[Rich]: So you know what happened? They were taken from me and then they gave me some
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::[Rich]: of the low performers in the building. So it's kind of like this cycle and I
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::[Rich]: was very flattered and at the same time it pissed me awful lot. But what
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::[Rich]: happened was I just turned them into completely capable managers at the next
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::[Rich]: level. That is the most important thing I think you can do. You need instill
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::[Rich]: confidence in these people. You need to make sure that they know what they're
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::[Rich]: doing is important, but at the same time, there' so much more to go that they
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::[Rich]: are little by little day after day, week after a week, just becoming more
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::[Rich]: proficient, more efficient and just smarter like people
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::[Manpreet]: Mm.
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::[Rich]: are thirsty for those types of things Now. obviously you are going to have
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::[Rich]: people who care less, but you will find plenty who care a lot. And if you get
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::[Rich]: that going, then your culture is going to be. That is going to be something
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::[Rich]: that trickles down all the way and they will become
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::[Manpreet]: Yeah,
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::[Rich]: leaders and not managers.
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::[Manpreet]: that's amazing and it also kind of ties. By what you were saying earlier
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::[Manpreet]: Was you know, Um, being leader, giving to the people giving to the
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::[Manpreet]: organization whether it's above or below. and I. It's I remember when I saw
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::[Manpreet]: at first getting on this social platform right, I' make a post and I like I
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::[Manpreet]: hear people not liking my post. And and and you know I'll tag and I'll ask
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::[Manpreet]: people you know. in the friend circle. It took me a while to understand.
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::[Manpreet]: Okay for me to you know, Have that aion coming out of it. I have to give
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::[Manpreet]: it. I have to serve and I, you know I listen to Um, the people like gay and
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::[Manpreet]: all these people just to make sure what I was doing right. In fact, in in
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::[Manpreet]: one of your own Uh episodes you mentioned Uh, connector dos to collect
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::[Manpreet]: their doors right. that was Ama. like. Uh, how do you connect? How do you
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::[Manpreet]: serve people first? And one of the big challenge for me was like people
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::[Manpreet]: that were, Uh, you know, I was looking at the people like Atd Mylet, Okay,
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::[Manpreet]: how do I serve it like there. There could not. There wasn't something I
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::[Manpreet]: could find that I could serve other than complimenting, and he gets
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::[Manpreet]: thousands of uh, you know compliments And
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::[Rich]: Yeah,
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::[Manpreet]: then I realized okay, I have to just step grow in order for me to get
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::[Manpreet]: there. I have to go like three, four steps ahead, so I had to get and serve
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::[Manpreet]: the person who's like three or four steps ahead of me to care what they
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::[Manpreet]: know, and you know
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::[Manpreet]: and
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::[Manpreet]: I always that starting to change things for ment. this wouldn't have
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::[Manpreet]: happened if I didn't realise that
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::[Manpreet]: connecting the doors and how I could serve so I think there is
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::[Rich]: absolutely
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::[Manpreet]: okay going from. So you mentioned entrepreneurship is hard,
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::[Manpreet]: and I know, and so many novels. but for the people who are still nine to
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::[Manpreet]: five and haven't thought, but have these. maybe
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::[Manpreet]: aspirations somewhere down
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::[Manpreet]: their mind they want do where. but they are. you know, Maybe afraid. How
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::[Manpreet]: could you unact like what is hard and what can be done to take. maybe
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::[Manpreet]: one step, two steps into that
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::[Rich]: yeah.
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::[Manpreet]: side of the things,
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::[Rich]: I'll start with the latter. first. Um, what can be done is to start
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::[Rich]: understanding your role in a business capacity.
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::[Rich]: I always used to. This is one thing I. I really took a lot of pride in. I
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::[Rich]: really wanted to understand the people that were upstream of me. The
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::[Rich]: departments that are upstream in the department's our downstream of me, So
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::[Rich]: that way I could determine number one. How am I screwing over the people that
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::[Rich]: are that you know when I'm next in line for the process? Am I in any way
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::[Rich]: shapeform screwing over the people that are preceding me? You know. Is there
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::[Rich]: anything that
328
::[Manpreet]: Mhm,
329
::[Rich]: we're doing that is not helping them out? Is there anything that's
330
::[Rich]: complicating the system or the processes whatsoever for the people downstream?
331
::[Rich]: Are we? are we doing anything that is affecting them? Same thing like Are we
332
::[Rich]: are we meeting? You know, our time on targets, so to speak, are we meeting our
333
::[Rich]: numbers? Are? Are. Is there anything about our personnel or our systems or
334
::[Rich]: processes that are creating barriers? Is there any disconnects by doing that
335
::[Rich]: and having those conversations I started to understand. Uh, you know, I looked
336
::[Rich]: at my department more like a business unit, which is something we should all
337
::[Rich]: do Okay If you look at it as a business unit. Why the numbers matter what the
338
::[Rich]: money is going in, is what the money going out is. Um, you know the processes
339
::[Rich]: and the systems, like What happens when we don't meet these numbers? What
340
::[Rich]: happens when we exceed these numbers? What happens when we just hit the
341
::[Rich]: numbers and don't really have aspirational goals that are go that are likely
342
::[Rich]: to exceed them. Then you start thinking like someone who's an entrepreneur.
343
::[Rich]: And if you were in an organization then there's
344
::[Manpreet]: seven,
345
::[Rich]: a term that's called an entrepreneur. You are operating kind of in an
346
::[Rich]: entrepreneurial capacity, but inside of a business,
347
::[Rich]: so number one is talk to the people upstream and downstream of you and deter
348
::[Rich]: that. That's that's obviously collecting the dots right. Like, Kind of like
349
::[Rich]: you just mentioned. That's collaborative is' connecting the do or collecting
350
::[Rich]: the dots, and then you're connecting the dot. Okay, you're connecting the dost
351
::[Rich]: In terms of how are you going to be a ▁lynch pin? Someone who's invaluable in
352
::[Rich]: that system. Um, The second thing you could do is just literally request
353
::[Rich]: higher level conversations. I know this might sound ridiculous, but ask
354
::[Rich]: questions that you know no one else is asking, and that's going to stick out.
355
::[Rich]: Um. Now, This, this is the tricky part. If you are not performing if you are
356
::[Rich]: under performing, then you probably shouldn't be asking these. You need to be
357
::[Rich]: brilliant in the basics before you start seeking out higher level knowledge,
358
::[Rich]: especially when it comes to finances and budgets, and you know decision making
359
::[Rich]: processes, And who's in charge of what? And why are they in charge of what?
360
::[Rich]: Um. All these things are much much easier. If you happen to be already
361
::[Rich]: delivering Um and and performing at a high level, then people are going to be
362
::[Rich]: really willing to educate you. Uh, now I meant that like this whole thing, it
363
::[Rich]: seems like I'm I'm talking about, you know, enhancing your business acumen and
364
::[Rich]: I, I can't help but explain that that is the most important thing here. Um,
365
::[Manpreet]: no,
366
::[Rich]: when
367
::[Rich]: when you said earlier that you had to learn some of these things,
368
::[Rich]: One thing that sticks out to me the more I think about it in this podcast is
369
::[Rich]: people always take a greater interest in what they're doing when they know
370
::[Rich]: people are invested in them. That also happens when you are looking at the
371
::[Rich]: people that are ahead of you and you are invested in making their lives easier
372
::[Rich]: or their jobs easier. You know why everyone always feels like they're drowning
373
::[Rich]: and whatever they're doing. So if I'm able to make
374
::[Manpreet]: yes,
375
::[Rich]: my when I was working his or her life easier and they were my superior, then
376
::[Rich]: they would invest in me more.
377
::[Rich]: Okay, so that's one or that was number two. So like, obviously be highforing
378
::[Rich]: and then start having some of the conversations of the much higher level thing
379
::[Rich]: so you could have a better picture of it. Now. the last thing I would say in
380
::[Rich]: terms of preparation is Um, really adopting a leadership style that is your
381
::[Rich]: own. You can look at all the leaders around you see how they operate and I
382
::[Rich]: like to call. I used to call it a leadership tool box. I would literally write
383
::[Rich]: down things that I saw that I did not like things that I saw that I did like.
384
::[Rich]: And just make sure I was, you know, avoiding some of those pitfalls and
385
::[Rich]: enhancing some of the things that I liked, but also making it my own. Um. you
386
::[Rich]: have to develop your own leadership style outside of the parameters or guard
387
::[Rich]: rails of a traditional workforce. If you are looking in an entrepreneurship
388
::[Rich]: Because it's go to be very tough now to answer your first
389
::[Manpreet]: Mhm,
390
::[Rich]: question, Like, or, or what's what's really challenging about it is the fact
391
::[Rich]: that you are
392
::[Manpreet]: four,
393
::[Rich]: creating. You are creating the mission you are creating di vision. You are
394
::[Rich]: creating the values. you are creating the processes and the systems from
395
::[Rich]: scratch, and no matter, no matter how similar it is to another business, Um,
396
::[Rich]: nothing can prepare you for you know the hiring decisions and the firing
397
::[Manpreet]: Yes,
398
::[Rich]: decisions and the paperwork and the administrative things that you never had
399
::[Rich]: to think about before you know. Uh, formating ▁l ▁l C, and talking to a
400
::[Rich]: lawyer, getting a lawyer to do this, Um, having an accountant, Um, you know
401
::[Rich]: where are you going to find the talent that you need. Where are you going to
402
::[Rich]: find town that you could afford, Because you probably don't have a ton of
403
::[Rich]: money. Uh, how are are you going to pay yourself? Are you not going to pay
404
::[Rich]: yourself? Um, you know, what are the standards that customers are looking for?
405
::[Rich]: Are the clients that you're looking for? Um, you know what do they want? Uh,
406
::[Rich]: how do you stand in comparison to the marketplace? How saturated it is the
407
::[Rich]: marketplace with what you're serving? I mean, it's endless. it's endless. so
408
::[Rich]: it's not. I mean they don't. They don't call it a leap of faith, Uh, for
409
::[Manpreet]: where have they been it?
410
::[Rich]: nothing, but at the same time you can mitigate that by by truly truly treating
411
::[Rich]: your current state as its own business unit, and looking at it that way. Look
412
::[Rich]: to see if there is a profit and loss within that business unit. Create one. If
413
::[Rich]: not, and be here how much money my department is making on a regular basis
414
::[Rich]: that? if you get creative like that, I think it is going to put you far far
415
::[Rich]: ahead. And had I known that prior? Although I was kind of doing it, I think I'
416
::[Rich]: be like years ahead where I am today.
417
::[Manpreet]: Yeah, Th, that is so brilliant. Uh, especially looking as a job as a
418
::[Manpreet]: business unit and trying to operate if you have aspirations to go back, and
419
::[Manpreet]: I mean I'm not done consciously. I unconsciously on, uh, unknowingly. they,
420
::[Manpreet]: uh, in my last um few years, Um, so I used to be in technical background,
421
::[Manpreet]: always giving technical solutions and one day my manager is like, Uh, he
422
::[Manpreet]: just said none, prit, we need to increase our footprint into this account.
423
::[Manpreet]: Let me know if you hear any of the problems that we can solve, and he just
424
::[Manpreet]: sat there and that almost like gave me permission to start looking beyond
425
::[Manpreet]: my box. and uh, for for the first two years I was assuming this. I was just
426
::[Manpreet]: talking to people in different departments. Okay, what problems you have
427
::[Manpreet]: and I'll give them suggestions. And and then the people started coming to
428
::[Manpreet]: me. Okay, we are having this. What can you do or your company do? and that
429
::[Manpreet]: started generating revenue. So, even though you know my mindset, If you, if
430
::[Manpreet]: my manager told me okay, you know it is your job to do it,
431
::[Manpreet]: then my first question would be okay. what will I get paid? But because you
432
::[Manpreet]: framed it like it didn't seem like my responsibility was very casual. but
433
::[Manpreet]: it was attractive. I started doing their work. I, it just changed, and two
434
::[Manpreet]: years later you know, I started to
435
::[Manpreet]: uh in more on the sales side of the role and within uh next three years I
436
::[Manpreet]: generated more than ten million dollars of business just by doing solving
437
::[Manpreet]: the problem. But it happened because of me starting to look out some
438
::[Manpreet]: leadership. Thought I could
439
::[Manpreet]: just drop me an idea that I should try.
440
::[Manpreet]: I think that comes huge when somebody at the top does that.
441
::[Rich]: Yeah, let me make a point here. In the absence of guidance is where you are
442
::[Rich]: going to find the most growth. We are so used to being like. Okay, you want me
443
::[Rich]: to do what? cool? What do you want me to do? Like you are sending
444
::[Manpreet]: Yeah,
445
::[Rich]: a completely different signal when you're like,
446
::[Rich]: Okay, Um,
447
::[Rich]: I'll figure it out, and all of a sudden you tap into your creativity, Uh,
448
::[Rich]: dynamic problem solving, Um, you know, kind of uh root, causing you know,
449
::[Rich]: barriers and and solving these things. That is what I should have said, in
450
::[Rich]: addition to everything before, but that is going to give you a leg up, and
451
::[Rich]: that is entrepreneurial thinking again. Like in the absence of guidance, you
452
::[Rich]: are going to discover a lot about yourself. We. It's so easy to rely on people
453
::[Rich]: telling us what to do, And the truth is we don't want to be executors. Okay,
454
::[Rich]: there's nothing wrong with being an executer, but if you want to be an
455
::[Rich]: entrepreneur, you have to be a visionary and an executor and have that vision
456
::[Rich]: is going to take a lot of practice and a lot of repetition. doing exactly what
457
::[Rich]: you just said which clearly demonstrates that there's a capacity for you to do
458
::[Rich]: your thing right. I mean like here we are. So So that's a really solid point,
459
::[Rich]: And and you just made me think of that, so that's awesome.
460
::[Manpreet]: thank you. So, uh, moving on from Amazon, and you mentioned you Tri, You
461
::[Manpreet]: know different things before you ended up in Po. Which photograph a story?
462
::[Manpreet]: telling? What were you trying to do Like? Was it intentional that you knew
463
::[Manpreet]: that Okay photography would like you trying to find your so to speak
464
::[Manpreet]: calling or like what was happening in that direction?
465
::[Rich]: so
466
::[Rich]: I don't advise this, but I didn't have a business plan. I, I, ▁quit.
467
::[Rich]: I ▁quit. to decompress I ▁quit,
468
::[Rich]: Because
469
::[Manpreet]: Two?
470
::[Rich]: my
471
::[Rich]: responsibilities, my role were very consuming, and I allowed that because I
472
::[Rich]: really enjoy working very hard. I become very obsessive. but the thing is I
473
::[Rich]: was putting all that energy into something I didn't want to do, and climbing a
474
::[Rich]: ladder I didn't want to climb. So when it came time for me to, when I ▁quit,
475
::[Rich]: and then it came time for me to explore my curiosities, just just by
476
::[Rich]: by emotion alone, I knew that I loved to take pictures. I've been over all
477
::[Rich]: over Europe. I've taken thousands and thousands of pictures. I just started to
478
::[Rich]: really feel like there was something there and then I started to see that. Um,
479
::[Rich]: you know a couple of things, number one, Um, it's extremely, extremely,
480
::[Rich]: extremely difficult to make it as a photographer. and number two is you know,
481
::[Rich]: with the evolution of cameras it's like crazy. I, I mean, like it is not a
482
::[Rich]: camera or or phones. It's just like unbelievable. It's like Okay, Maybe
483
::[Manpreet]: Yeah,
484
::[Rich]: that's not it. Then I started looking at video, Uh, because I mean, like I
485
::[Rich]: said is Gary, Ve, I was watching a a lot of what he was doing and that was
486
::[Rich]: kind of the next step. And then uh, I did do video production and we do do
487
::[Rich]: video production with our company and we help with contentration for social
488
::[Rich]: media. But I realize very quickly that what I loved to do is just have
489
::[Rich]: conversations, have conversations with people who deserve to have a light shed
490
::[Rich]: on them, and for those same people to make sure they're having the their
491
::[Rich]: desired impact by reaching others, and again, this through social media, or
492
::[Rich]: uh, a medium like podcasting. So to answer your question fully, I explored my
493
::[Rich]: curiosities without
494
::[Rich]: feeling like I was committed to anything specific. Um, I really used that
495
::[Rich]: time,
496
::[Manpreet]: no,
497
::[Rich]: uh to just explore, and I know that sounds like such a um, fluffy anecdote,
498
::[Rich]: But that's exactly what happened and now let me explain this as well. Um, I
499
::[Rich]: did not have like a huge savings. I had plenty of debt. I didn't have a lot in
500
::[Rich]: savings. We moved in with my my wife's parents. Okay, I'm a, I'll a
501
::[Manpreet]: no
502
::[Rich]: thirty eight year old retired marine with an M. B, A who was just working at
503
::[Rich]: Amazon. So
504
::[Rich]: look looking at that from the outside, it looks like. What a disaster that guy
505
::[Rich]: might be, but to be honest that changed my life forever. I was willing to just
506
::[Rich]: put aside what anyone and everyone might think, including my friends,
507
::[Rich]: including my family. Regardless of what I wanted to pursue, I put myself
508
::[Rich]: first. Um, So when it came to that that's what I did. I explored my
509
::[Rich]: curiosities, I, I thought about what makes me really happy, And if I put more
510
::[Rich]: effort into that or go all into that, does this thing? whatever it may be,
511
::[Rich]: half the potential to actually be a business, doesn't have the potential to be
512
::[Rich]: a business, or does it have the ability to generate income? And if not okay,
513
::[Rich]: like where am I missing it? Like, what are the kind of uh, off ramps to to
514
::[Rich]: this highway that I'm on On the curiosities that I'm exploring And that's all
515
::[Rich]: that happened. It's a progressive uncovering. So, although you might have an
516
::[Rich]: idea of what you want to do while you're still in a traditional work force, if
517
::[Rich]: you ever decide to go, kind of go the entrepreneurial route, Just because
518
::[Rich]: you're very, very good at something, and proficiion at something doesn't mean
519
::[Rich]: that's something you want to do. Long term. There are certain things that just
520
::[Rich]: kind of tug on us mentally, and and maybe like on your soul, You know that
521
::[Rich]: just really make you happy, and you're like, Wow, like this is the type of
522
::[Rich]: thing I miss lunch. It, Im I forget to eat, you know, or haven't gone to the
523
::[Rich]: bathroom forever because I was editing this video and I was just trying to
524
::[Rich]: make it look so good and tell the story next thing I know, like this, is it?
525
::[Manpreet]: two, no
526
::[Rich]: So it's a progressive uncovering, I think is the most important thing. The
527
::[Rich]: process is probably going to be very different for a lot of us, But just
528
::[Rich]: because, And
529
::[Manpreet]: two.
530
::[Rich]: here's one last thing I'll say, especially for like veterans. This, this
531
::[Rich]: happens all the time. We did the same thing for a decade or two decades, or
532
::[Rich]: whatever, it may be that that, some, sometimes you get assed a role, or
533
::[Rich]: sometimes you just get educated and continue to ascend on this ladder with
534
::[Rich]: different responsibilities and different skill sets. But that doesn't mean
535
::[Rich]: going to make your clock tick, so to speak, so take that time to explore your
536
::[Rich]: curiosities and really really determine like when I get up every day like I'm
537
::[Rich]: going to be excited to do this and follow that and you might go
538
::[Manpreet]: Yeah,
539
::[Rich]: in a lot of different directions, But don't worry about what anyone else is
540
::[Rich]: in a lot of different directions, But don't worry about what anyone else is
541
::[Rich]: saying because it's going to be far more sustainable as long as you are able
542
::[Rich]: saying because it's going to be far more sustainable as long as you are able
543
::[Rich]: to be a resourceful. Like I said deermine, How can thisatecome for Mely?
544
::[Rich]: to be a resourceful. Like I said deermine, How can thisatecome for Mely?
545
::[Manpreet]: amazing, amazing. Uh, you went right into where I wanted to go that
546
::[Manpreet]: progressive curiosity because uh, a lot of us just get stuck because we
547
::[Manpreet]: just listened to everybody else who would have done well for themselves,
548
::[Manpreet]: but they didn't de did well just by listening to everybody else either. So
549
::[Manpreet]: Um, and and that was the thing? I, I think. uh, um, a lot of people,
550
::[Manpreet]: especially in the traditional careers, miss this, and when you happen in a
551
::[Manpreet]: career, whether you' have been U S Marine for twenty years, or you've been
552
::[Manpreet]: an I. T. Engineer for twenty years, you just think that this is all I can
553
::[Manpreet]: do. I mean, this wasn't something I was ever dreamt of doing, Like what I
554
::[Manpreet]: thought I would do. I was go to build an I. T company. That was my mindse
555
::[Manpreet]: and but by little exploration, few steps a day, it just came to this head.
556
::[Manpreet]: Um, I used to always, Um, think about like you know, if I ever made big
557
::[Manpreet]: money, millions and all, and I didn't have to work for money, Would I still
558
::[Manpreet]: be doing the same thing? I could never, you know, honestly say yes, because
559
::[Manpreet]: I, you know, After twenty years I, I had, I had given everything I could
560
::[Manpreet]: creatively in that space, At least what I was doing, And Now, if I look at
561
::[Manpreet]: and I have this question, like would I be making foradcast or doing this in
562
::[Manpreet]: twoviews, connected with people. Absolutely, I mean, I'm not worried about
563
::[Manpreet]: making money. Um, yes, M. I want to make money, but it's not the thing
564
::[Manpreet]: that's driving and I think that only comes when you are taking the your
565
::[Manpreet]: uh way of progressive curiosity following trying to figure out what
566
::[Manpreet]: actually takes. so I think that would be uh, very valuable for the
567
::[Manpreet]: listeners. Uh, for taking some steps and wing over and just exploring what
568
::[Manpreet]: takes their heart.
569
::[Rich]: absolutelyreciate
570
::[Manpreet]: Okay, coming to Potcas, which is now your D. maybe, or uh, you know, uh,
571
::[Manpreet]: the child you're investing most in, I don't know right thing to do that and
572
::[Manpreet]: say that, Uh, but um, you know, and you are good like I and this is not
573
::[Manpreet]: major just seeing me, because as a consumer I, I, I love what you produce
574
::[Manpreet]: and different
575
::[Manpreet]: ways you bring information. you, you know, um, challenge. You make us think
576
::[Manpreet]: uh, of the things that you know like you' post about how lengthen is not
577
::[Manpreet]: all that. If you're just broadcasting, you know you're not going to drive
578
::[Manpreet]: everything from the linctonn. You have to go outside and drive the
579
::[Manpreet]: business.
580
::[Manpreet]: So all those thought propooking questionuss you, as I, I, uh, I think those
581
::[Manpreet]: are,
582
::[Manpreet]: you know, very valuable for the times because
583
::[Manpreet]: outside there' everybody' just doing what everybody else is doing. So
584
::[Manpreet]: that's what makes you different and I'm really happy that I know you so
585
::[Manpreet]: that I can learn from you. So in the Pocds world, Um, Wh, what would you
586
::[Manpreet]: say? Uh,
587
::[Manpreet]: and I'm not gonna. I'm not time to say that one part is better than the
588
::[Manpreet]: other part. Like, what is it that excites you the most? There are hundred
589
::[Manpreet]: things and the hundred things excite you. But war is one thing that I just
590
::[Manpreet]: you know gets you
591
::[Manpreet]: if you have to pick.
592
::[Rich]: the best part of what I do
593
::[Rich]: learning from other people.
594
::[Rich]: I am being a conduit of knowledge and information to an audience that needs
595
::[Rich]: this information. But that doesn't mean that I'm not learning at the same
596
::[Rich]: time. So as a podcaster I get to ask anything I want about the person, their
597
::[Manpreet]: Yesy,
598
::[Rich]: background and then their specific.
599
::[Rich]: The specific things that I know. my audience wants to know whether it's any
600
::[Rich]: any aspect of entrepreneurship
601
::[Rich]: marketing. It could be sales. It could be negotiating. It can be law, legal
602
::[Rich]: aspects of you know, business, corporations, whatever it may be, but I get to
603
::[Rich]: learn from these experts. The second thing is I get to network with these
604
::[Rich]: experts and for anyone who is not familiar with Um, you know my podcast. I, I
605
::[Rich]: choose and try to do many of them in person. Because before I hit record is
606
::[Rich]: when it's really magical and after I stop recording, it's really magical. We
607
::[Rich]: have establishedpport. So uh, not only have I established report, but I, I
608
::[Rich]: have networked. I've established a small relationship now. I've had some very,
609
::[Rich]: very well known guess on my podcast And does that mean we're budds now and
610
::[Rich]: that I could call them whenever I want Absolutely not. but my goal is to be
611
::[Rich]: unforgettable and to demonstrate to them that I am a different type of
612
::[Rich]: podcaster That it really means a lot to me to get this knowledge and their
613
::[Rich]: experience to a certain audience. Uh, but that has to be the best part. Uh, I
614
::[Rich]: mean you said you know if I had all the money or you were making millions and
615
::[Rich]: millions of millions. Like, would you be doing this and for me, the answer is
616
::[Rich]: a thousand percent. Yes, I mean having conversations and meeting new people.
617
::[Rich]: And and I hate the phrase picking their brain, But like literally doing that
618
::[Rich]: and just asking them anything I want
619
::[Rich]: is by far the best best part of it. Um, and it's just very invigorating. It
620
::[Rich]: energizes me, and I know that they could feel. I. I know they could feel that
621
::[Rich]: energy. It's very tangible during the during an interview and that's why they
622
::[Rich]: show up as our best celves as well.
623
::[Manpreet]: Yeah, Yeah, and I can relate to the reason
624
::[Manpreet]: we get the
625
::[Manpreet]: of that energ is because you feeling you're just transferring what you
626
::[Manpreet]: feeling And that's why we feel as a consumer from that Pocast And that's
627
::[Manpreet]: why we any of the episodes like any people we watch because of thatg,
628
::[Rich]: absolutely.
629
::[Manpreet]: So you've done hundred and eighty two episodes. I just check before ours.
630
::[Manpreet]: there are live. There are more in production. But
631
::[Manpreet]: what are some key things from hundred and eighty two?
632
::[Manpreet]: If you ever had to sumise,
633
::[Manpreet]: you know, if you were to put pencil down five things on one page, that
634
::[Manpreet]: would be your learning from this journey. What would be some of those
635
::[Manpreet]: things?
636
::[Rich]: Ah, this is a great question. Um, I'll I'll try and do five here. so number
637
::[Rich]: one is batch. Your content. I just literally made an inscrim real about this
638
::[Rich]: bachelor content. Meaning Set aside a day in which you primarily record
639
::[Rich]: whether it's a narrative podcast or a solo podcast or if you have guests set
640
::[Rich]: aside a day like I have my Calen Lee, Um, and I have uh for Fridays, and it's
641
::[Rich]: uh. It's people can schedule themselves for the podcast. Uh, when I get them
642
::[Rich]: the link, or if I reach out to anyone, but I know on Fridays. That's kind of
643
::[Rich]: like my heavy podcast day where I have four to five hours set aside for that
644
::[Rich]: if I only have one potcast, and I'm making Youtube video. so that's kind of a
645
::[Rich]: content creation day. So the same thing goes for. for whatever it is, Um that
646
::[Rich]: you're trying to excel at, You have to make it very non negotiable, so I would
647
::[Rich]: say, batch recording and, and just never compromising on that, and just making
648
::[Rich]: sure that you do that. And the second thing I would uh, say that I learned is
649
::[Rich]: that you are going to want to ▁quit. Um, And that's okay. You're going to want
650
::[Rich]: to ▁quit. But that doesn't mean you should ▁quit, Uh, From every time you feel
651
::[Rich]: like you know there's about to be a breakdown, there's going to be a
652
::[Rich]: breakthrough. Um. I almost ▁quit. after fifty episodes and I'm very very
653
::[Rich]: fortunate that I didn't. but um, again, uh, I mentioned. it's a progressive
654
::[Rich]: uncovering as far as entrepreneurship, but in content creation there's a
655
::[Rich]: progressive uncovering as well, you will. Y, you're you're? You're not going
656
::[Rich]: to have enough data if you do twenty episodes and ask yourself like why is
657
::[Rich]: nothing happening? You need to do it for a while Because you are going to
658
::[Rich]: endure a lot of improvement and a lot of lessons. So Uh know that you're gonna
659
::[Rich]: ▁quit. and that pivoting is kind of going to be a very normal thing. Three is
660
::[Rich]: asked. Guess on if you have a guest podcast. Uh, that actually are going to
661
::[Rich]: provide value for your audience. I see a lot of people make this mistake of
662
::[Rich]: just like having people they know on the podcast people who they are really
663
::[Rich]: good friends with and whatever, And that's not a value ad. You don't want to
664
::[Rich]: feel um, like like, Like This is a good example of how it should be done. But
665
::[Rich]: if we were like bros and we really knew each other, no one's
666
::[Manpreet]: You him.
667
::[Rich]: going to enjoy that conversation because it's gonna feel like you're going to
668
::[Rich]: feel like a third wheel if I'm listening to that podcast. So um, I really be
669
::[Rich]: selective about the people that you bring on the potdcast as so to make sure
670
::[Rich]: that they are goingnna meet the goal you have for your listeners, Um, the
671
::[Rich]: fourth thing I would say,
672
::[Rich]: Uh, in terms of podcasting lessons learned
673
::[Rich]: is
674
::[Rich]: let's see here. You could add it this if you need to, but um,
675
::[Rich]: for thing,
676
::[Rich]: The fourth fourth thing I would say is it's not about the gear. Uh, I could
677
::[Rich]: tell you, I mean, I have a great microphone and I have a you know a good
678
::[Rich]: mixture and I have a couple of screens here and all these other things, and
679
::[Rich]: I'm literally in a new home, Uh right now, and I have not set up the ▁quote
680
::[Rich]: unquote studio, but I also don't need a studio. Content
681
::[Manpreet]: Hm. Do
682
::[Rich]: matters more than equipment by far Now. Look if it's unliistonable because
683
::[Rich]: your microphone is awful or because you have bad acoustics, or because of
684
::[Rich]: whatever, then that's another thing. You don't want it to be a distraction.
685
::[Rich]: But at the the main thing is, is's going to be um, very much related around
686
::[Rich]: the content. People are very forgiving of it not being completely sexy. Uh, in
687
::[Rich]: terms of having, I, uh, if you have great content, Um, the last thing I would
688
::[Rich]: say is you can't. podcasting is very very saturated, which is fine. There's
689
::[Rich]: still a lot of opportunity. Um, but whatever you're thinking, try and
690
::[Rich]: not be so general. Um, try and be very ▁ultras specific. and I'm goingnna tell
691
::[Rich]: you, Um, and I don't. I don't know if we've talked about this offline. But
692
::[Rich]: episode two hundred, I'm making a very. It's a perfect time to pivot, and I'm
693
::[Rich]: going to be rebranding Uh, the leadership blocker, Um, to the Midlif
694
::[Rich]: entrepreneur. I want to talk to people uh, who have had uh a lot of experience
695
::[Rich]: in one career or multiple careers, and now they're kind of at that stage in
696
::[Rich]: their life where they're They're discouraged and they're unhappy and they want
697
::[Rich]: a pivot and they want to make a transition. My podcast is going to revolve
698
::[Rich]: around that. That doesn't change anything in in terms of my Gu selection and
699
::[Rich]: the knowledge they could bring in it
700
::[Manpreet]: no
701
::[Rich]: for me. It's it's it's all I talk about anyway. I want more people to take
702
::[Rich]: advantage of this kind of second half of their their lives, their life, so to
703
::[Rich]: speak, So, no matter how far down the wrong road you go, you could always turn
704
::[Rich]: around and Um, you know whether it's the wrong road or whether it's just a
705
::[Rich]: road that's run out. Um, I want to be influential in terms of making that
706
::[Rich]: happen and encouraging people to to pursue what they want. Now the reason I
707
::[Rich]: even mentioned that was not
708
::[Manpreet]: one
709
::[Rich]: a plug, but because it's more specific than the leadership blocker, there's
710
::[Rich]: plenty of people doing shows about entrepreneurship, but I have a very
711
::[Rich]: specific audience. They're thirty five to forty five. Some of them are soccer
712
::[Rich]: moms. Some of them are people who've been in corporate American are bored out
713
::[Rich]: of their minds and just really want
714
::[Manpreet]: here, man.
715
::[Rich]: to um, kind of unleash what they have and and to attract a different audience.
716
::[Rich]: So the the, the you can start broad. But if you start niche, that will allow
717
::[Rich]: you to go broader later and capture a bigger audience. so start very very
718
::[Rich]: specifically, and I thing. that's going to bode well for you rather than
719
::[Rich]: starting broad and trying to niche down.
720
::[Manpreet]: All I think it's important for the audience or anybody you know is aspir
721
::[Manpreet]: about building pos, but there gold for me
722
::[Manpreet]: right half go just as one last question. and
723
::[Rich]: Sure
724
::[Manpreet]: for today how much of
725
::[Manpreet]: mental strength or mental fitness do you think is important in today's
726
::[Manpreet]: world
727
::[Manpreet]: doing night F. relationships, building business broadcasting anything.
728
::[Rich]: it is everything.
729
::[Rich]: I have never been more mentally tough than I am now, and I'm I'm and I used to
730
::[Rich]: be a marine like I've been in combat. Um, I am more mentally tough now because
731
::[Rich]: I want this so bad, I want to win. I want to excel. I want to serve so badly,
732
::[Rich]: and like I mentioned, it is so unbelievably difficult because I'm building
733
::[Rich]: everything from scratch that it has tested my leadership capabilities, my
734
::[Rich]: mental aptitude, my business acum, and everything, uh at at very very high
735
::[Rich]: level. So, in order for me to excel and to put myself in a position, I had to
736
::[Rich]: become very mentally strong, which means uh, relieving myself of distractions,
737
::[Rich]: I stopped drinking, Um,
738
::[Rich]: uh, in April of twenty nineteen, because I was starting to focus heavily on
739
::[Rich]: the podcast and it meant so much to me. I was like, you know what, I can't
740
::[Rich]: have days where I'm foggy, I can't just have weekends where I drink a lot or
741
::[Rich]: anything like that. I started taking my physical health, Uh, a lot more
742
::[Rich]: seriously, especially in the last year. Um, when I go to the gym, I call it
743
::[Rich]: mental health. I don't call it like fitness, or you know, physical health.
744
::[Rich]: It's mental health for me. I do that first thing in the morning. Um, that's
745
::[Rich]: just me. I, we. You could do it any time you want, but that helps me. I get
746
::[Rich]: outside forty five minutes a day. you know the deal. So forty five minutes a
747
::[Rich]: day I get outside and I just make sure that I'm you know, kind of alone, and
748
::[Rich]: and thinking I read, Um, and I don't watch a lot of T. V. I. I mean, I don't
749
::[Rich]: even have cable to be honest. And its football season is like jeeze man, like
750
::[Rich]: so so Mental strength means
751
::[Rich]: doing what everyone else is unwilling to do That to me is the mark of a a new
752
::[Rich]: level of seriousness, Uh, a new level of commitment, and just kind of really
753
::[Rich]: uncovering the discipline you need in order to make this work. Um, if you are
754
::[Rich]: able to do those things, and if you are able to make those kind of tough
755
::[Rich]: decisions the way I have, you're going to feel like I do, which is I am going
756
::[Rich]: to succeed. And no matter how many twists and turns happen here, no matter
757
::[Rich]: what the business looks like a year from now or what it looked like two years
758
::[Rich]: from now, or the people I'm talking to now, the opportunities are going to
759
::[Rich]: come because I'm working hard. I'm being diligent and I'm relieving myself of
760
::[Rich]: distraction. I'm it's addition through subtraction. I'm taking away things
761
::[Rich]: from me so I could add into my mental capacity and to my acumen. and and that.
762
::[Rich]: ▁ultimately. what's going to help me win?
763
::[Manpreet]: M amazing, amazing, and I know
764
::[Manpreet]: you know you's not because you're the show, but I know, like the people I
765
::[Manpreet]: talk online. I mean it's what people talk behind your backs like, and when
766
::[Manpreet]: I interact with somebody behind back, and whoever says about Rich Carardo,
767
::[Manpreet]: now they are just saying great things because you, nobody can ignore your
768
::[Manpreet]: worktics, and
769
::[Manpreet]: you knowwork you're puting in. and so I am. so I' honoured that you came as
770
::[Manpreet]: a guest. I'm proud to know you and I'm just
771
::[Manpreet]: looking up looking where you, Ha, and I just following your footsteps, So
772
::[Manpreet]: thank you very much for this before you go away and people find you.
773
::[Rich]: Um, thank you so much for having me on. And and I felt like I went on a little
774
::[Rich]: ditbe about myself at the end there. But what I was trying to just really,
775
::[Rich]: really, really give you all, is that the things that you don't want to do the
776
::[Rich]: most are probably the things that you need to do. Um, and and I think that's
777
::[Rich]: going to be the difference, Uh, anyway, uh, you can find me on Lincton and
778
::[Rich]: Inram and my Potcassou, I will be at Rich Cardona, Um, underscore on Inigram
779
::[Rich]: Lincolton, Um'm rich Cardona, I also have a Youtube channel Midlif
780
::[Rich]: Entrepreneur. That's Rich Cardona, and then the podcast
781
::[Manpreet]: Yeah,
782
::[Rich]: for the for. Depending on when this is published, it will be the Leadership
783
::[Rich]: blocker, or it will be the Midlif entrepreneur, But Um, you could find some
784
::[Rich]: really really fantastic entrepreneurs. Uh, on my show, I've had Andy Forceella
785
::[Rich]: on Gary Vion a couple of times. Uh, best I, a five time bestelling author Dory
786
::[Rich]: Clark, I've just fantastic, gu. Um, who are going to help you in all areas of
787
::[Rich]: entrepreneurship and just kind of
788
::[Rich]: uplifting your life and leveling up. so, Uh, that's where you could find us,
789
::[Rich]: but thank you so much. Uh for having me on is absolute pleasure.
790
::[Manpreet]: thank you, and I'll put all these links from there and people listening to
791
::[Manpreet]: this gos of sky If we don't already know which cordoner you need to know,
792
::[Manpreet]: this man, because you know it is going to be the next car, Wes, or at
793
::[Manpreet]: Mylas, Is it happening and I could already see that. So and when that
794
::[Manpreet]: happens, you can go back to this episode because this is very now. It's
795
::[Rich]: Yeah, let's do it,
796
::[Manpreet]: firstt time ever.
797
::[Manpreet]: All right, thank you very much, you.
798
::[Rich]: thank you.
