Welcome to the Entrepreneurial Leap Podcast. I'm your host, Rob Dubay. For context, this podcast is inspired by the book Entrepreneurial Leap by Gino Wickman. Gino is the founder of e o S Worldwide and an author with over 2 million copies of his books sold worldwide. Now, in his next phase, he's taking his passion for helping entrepreneurs by partnering with five equally passionate, successful entrepreneurs, myself included, who have created the E LEAP Academy, where we teach the content from the book in a one year program guaranteed to increase the success of early stage businesses. Now, a quick note about me, I've been an entrepreneur since the age of 14. When I started my first business selling Blow Pop Lollipops outta my locker with my best friend, I ran a company that I sold to a public company and later bought back. I'm an author, speaker, host of an annual leadership retreat, and I'm partners in several other businesses. I'll be your host for the Entrepreneurial LEAP Podcast, where every other week you will be hearing life stories from successful entrepreneurs who took the leap into entrepreneurship. You will learn from their mistakes and successes and be inspired as you move forward on your journey. Now, before I introduce my guest, I'm going to share with you a bit about Ewe Academy. The Entrepreneurial Leap Academy provides an immersive nine month experience for new entrepreneurs with a focus on the three Cs, clarity, competence, and community. Let's start with the first C, clarity. You'll learn to be clear about who you are, what you want from your business, and how to get it. The next C confidence, you will learn to be confident you are on the right path, equipped with powerful mindset tools. The last C connected you will become connected to a community of entrepreneurs just like you. Now all participants receive four full day in-person classes led by experience entrepreneurs to equip you with the tools and strategies necessary to build a successful business. The Academy's dynamic community connects participants with a tribe of like-minded individuals for support and networking opportunities. During in between classes, students also receive a seasoned mentor offering personalized guidance and expertise to help you navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship. To start building the business of your dreams, visit our website@eleap.com. Again, that's e leap.com. There you can learn more about and sign up for the next Entrepreneurial LEAP Academy. My guest today is Roderick Walker, a self-made entrepreneur and visionary, c e o at TAVR's Care. Roderick's journey is one of grit, resilience, and a ceaseless desire for innovation. His entrepreneurial spirit ignited in the mid nineties when a significant health challenge made him rethink his professional trajectory. This experience led Roderick to realize his aspirations for greater autonomy and spurred his transition from a U P S driver to the entrepreneurial world. In the early stages of his career, Roderick experimented with network marketing. Before pivoting to his passion event planning, he successfully launched a comprehensive wedding services company that aimed to reimagine the industry norms. His groundbreaking approach of offering an assortment of in-house services akin to large retail chains, quickly caught the attention of clients and partners alike, including renowned brands like Men's Warehouse. Like any seasoned entrepreneur, Roderick's journey was not without hurdles. In 2008, the economic crisis presented significant challenges that led to a brief hiatus from his business ventures. However, he turned this setback into an opportunity using this period to recalibrate and explore fresh opportunities in the healthcare and marketing sectors. Roderick's vision of success has matured throughout his entrepreneurial journey. Once motivated primarily by financial independence, he now finds fulfillment in creating unique businesses that make a lasting impact. Presently, Roderick is branching out into public speaking, radio hosting, and standup comedy with the aim to spark meaningful conversations on admir of topics. He hopes that his raw and unfiltered style will inspire others to overcome obstacles and chase their dreams. Roderick's advice to budding entrepreneurs is simple. Embrace your unique path, remain authentic, and always strive for what you truly want. He asserts that success is a blend of appreciating accomplishments, never settling, and continuously venturing into new opportunities. His journey serves as embodiment of these values, a testament to the power of perseverance and the courage to live life on one's own terms. You are going to love this chat with Roderick Walker. So here we go. Roderick, it is the highlight of my day anytime that I get to spend time with you, you're such an amazing person. Thank you for spending time with me and our audience for the podcast. Super excited, Rob, great to see you. And I'm looking forward to the, to the, this talk that we have today. And so just so the audience knows, we were chatting a little bit beforehand. You're just back from vacation, so I'm like double grateful to you because, you know, just getting back into the swinging things and jumping into this conversation just means the world. And you know, I always like to start with a quote in each of my interviews, and so I'm gonna read it to you. I'll let you know who's said it and then just gimme any feedback or anything that kind of comes to your mind. Okay, great. Okay. So it goes like this. My concept of success shifted from financial independence to how can I create something so unique that everyone loves it and wants a piece of it. That became my definition of success in finding success again, down the years, I realized that it slightly changed. Again. I needed to be myself and become more of who I really am instead of suppressing myself. It was more than setting goals. It was, what do I really want in life? And Roderick, you said that, but it was, there's so much wisdom in that statement. I had to share that 'cause it's perfect for our audience. And kind of what comes to mind for you as you rehear that statement that you made? Oh boy. First off that I have aged 'cause it's been a while before I said that or since I said that, man, I, yeah, that's, that's a good one. Kind of left me speechless and I'm normally not speechless. You know, I think the, there are different stages that you go through in, in life and as you go through these different stages, you realize more and more about yourself, about your, your direction that you're trying to take in life. And I feel like that is something I was unaware of as a young entrepreneur, that I was gonna go through that same progression. So when I made that statement, it was more of a reflection around there or, or around that, just realizing I'm growing as an entrepreneur. What was important in the beginning isn't, is what's important now. And you know, what's important in the future is gonna be something completely different. So having the understanding and wisdom to know that and be able to distinguish between that was really what that statement was about. I love it. I love it. And so, you know, I always like to follow that up with your story, your real entrepreneurial story. So can you take us through this, because I think one of the cool things about your experience was you were actually at some point and at part of the U p s I think you were a U P Ss driver. I was. And then you segued into the entrepreneurial world. So can you share a bit about your story? Yeah, actually it started way before U P s I was, my, my first business, sixth grade I think it was. I had worked the summer to make a lot of money, or what I thought was a lot of money. Sixth, sixth grade kid, I, I think I was 11, made a couple hundred bucks, bought school clothes and Oh my God, Bought a couple of cassettes from the, the local, for those of you who don't know what cassettes are cassettes, that, that's how we, we old folks used to listen to music. But yeah, bought a couple of cassettes. And then my dad had bought one of these dubbing machines, the, the dual cassette dubbing machines. And so I would wake up at like six in the morning and I, I would go to the dollar store, get pack of, of blank tapes, and I would dub like, I don't remember what it was back then, whoever was popular back in the right eighties. And I would sell those for like 50 cents a, a cassette. And oh my gosh, that was my first, I, I had no clue that that was entrepreneurship 1 0 1, but that was actually where, where it started. And I re just remember being a kid back then and just, wow, you can literally make money from thoughts or from, from ideas. Like everyone loves music right now. This is all we do in fifth and sixth grade. We, we talk about the posters and did you see the M t V music video and things like that. And so just that idea and how can I get more of these cassette tapes out to other people? And so it started with that and I was like, wow, I'm making a little bit of money. So the principal shut it down. That was the government back then, the principal, but there you go know. But yeah, it, that's where it, I think it started, I wasn't really aware of that. I, I got bit by the bug back then, but I, I think that's where it started. And then throughout high school, that's how I would, would look at things, you know, how can I make money? Like what can I, what type of service can I provide? I've predominantly been a service business type of entrepreneur. So yeah, I would say that's where it, it started. And then right around 19, I was, it was more of a subcontracting, but I had the ability to go out, get more cells and grow it. So I was kind of doing a little bit of the entrepreneurship. There was a mobile carwash business that a mentor of mine owned, and he just kind of turned it over to me to run the routes to get sales. And to my first time hiring people. I, I think I was 18 actually, maybe not 19, but, so got, yeah, that, that's where everything started. And then u p s had always been my dream job back then. And then I got on with U P s, I think I was 21. So I, I did that and, but yeah, that's, that's actually how the story started. That's amazing. Yeah. I didn't know that about you. I didn't realize you had that back to I'm A little surprises. Yeah. So now you go to the dream job, u p s at least what you think is the dream job, right? But then you get back that entrepreneurial bug brought you back out. Yeah, so that actually, it, it, I, I would like to say that at that point in time, it, it was dormant. I went through, I, I think it was 96, 97 U p s was going through a strike. I went through that, I was working for them when they went to that strike at the end of the nineties. And after that strike, I wanna say it was like that next summer or something, and getting really sick and we, we didn't know what it was. I was sick for about two years, got misdiagnosed with a brain tumor, wasn't a brain tumor. Ended up having some type of benign growth in my inner ear, my equilibrium area. But it affected me being able to drive. I was essentially in, in and out of bed for the better part of a year and a half and thought I had a death sentence, which it wasn't, didn't turn out to be, but that's really what kind of lit the spark again, because as I'm sitting there and everything that I knew had turned upside down, I was married three kids, three, three young kids. And you get news like that thinking you're gonna die. Now granted it was only like a week and a half, but that's still a a long time when you're thinking like, Hey, I have this terminal I illness and I'm not gonna be able to come back from this. What's gonna happen to my family? So that's when that spark reemerged. I said, I have to do something else that this isn't gonna work. I mean, it was a good job and I was enjoying myself, but when you didn't have, when you don't have your health, you don't really have anything. Right. And that really, I think that was probably the spark to where I was just like, you know what? Fuck it. From here on out, I'm swinging the bat at every ball that comes, I'm swinging. I strike out, I strike out, but I'm swinging. Yeah. And that's, I wanna say the end of the nineties is when it reemerged. And so I started looking for, for opportunities and I had a friend who had suggested I join this network marketing company. And right around that time, the owner of that, that company, I ended up meeting a successful guy, had made millions and a couple other network marketing businesses, then started his own. And that was my first real opportunity to be around successful people. And while it was kind of cool to hear about these stories about money and success, what was the best part for me was the mindset to actually, for the first time talk to people who had this different outlook on life when it came to business and success and the way they want to live their lives and the, and how they're gonna basically make, you know, life been to what they want, not the other way around. And that was my first time experiencing that. And I was just like, wow, I'm fucking hooked. This is me. This, this is speaking to me at my core. And so I dove in with that, with that company, and they were really big on education, financial education, reading. I was introduced to a book by the name of Rich Dad, poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, which I'm sure a lot of the audience probably knows about. And that was my bible for probably, gosh, three, four years. Everything that Robert put out, I, I actually even went, another story you probably don't know, Rob. I went and staffed for Robert Kiyosaki a couple times as well. Just popped in my car, drove 16 hours to, to SoCal to la and back then Rich Dad would have these big events and they would need people to help staff. And I was just wanting to be around other successful people and just be around and meet Robert Kiyosaki. So, so I met him back in 2000 and that was kind of a cool experience as well. But yeah, that, that's where it started. And, and it was with that, that business and I got to have a first, first row seat to, to watch how entrepreneurs worked, how they thought, and the importance they put on the, not only financial literacy, but the, well, I guess I'd call it success literacy and, and the way you think and the way you're gonna attack lives. So, And then from the network marketing, you segued into an events business. Yes. Yep, yep. I briefly, as I started to get better, went back to u p s for a little bit and then from that point, boy, how did that work? Yeah, I was at U P S for a little bit, and then I started with a friend of mine who was actually in that network marketing business. Yeah. That, that's why. So we had started to talk about building bigger businesses and instead of being part of a, a business, 'cause in a network marketing company, while it is a a business, you do get to be an entrepreneur, it's still more like an entrepreneur because it's not fully your company, product services, things like that. So a friend and I, we had put together our little mastermind group, it, it, it was our broke mastermind group is what we called it, going from broke to, to being rich. So we promised to meet weekly, and so we were meeting weekly and one weekend he had a, a wedding that he had to go to. He, he worked part-time as a dj, music guy, things like that. And so he said, Hey, why don't you come with me so we don't miss this week. And, but all we did weekly was get around or sit around and talk about business ideas. That that was the goal. And, and you know, what businesses can we start that don't require a lot of money that we could, you know, put some sweat equity into it. As I said, most of my businesses are, all my businesses for the most part have been service businesses. But that was the, that was what, what our plan was. And I went to this wedding with him and, and out of that was born this DJ and wedding event business. So that's, I was like, Hey, we have a business here. And it was just to, to go meet, to talk about business ideas. So that's how it started. A couple follow up questions to that business. So, you know, one of the things we talk about with our entrepreneurs in our academy is are you a partner person or are you not a partner person? So in this case you had a partner. Now as you reflect, are you a partner person or a non-partner person? Absolutely not a partner person. Absolutely not. No, because We haven't gotten to your existing business that you're running right now, but that's great. So what came to life for you in that experience? I think that the, the, the, the best lesson I took away from, from that business was being able to work with a team of people. I think that was the biggest learning experience for me. Partnership. I'm not saying it can't, can't work. It just, of course it doesn't work for me, Right. Some people have it, Some people don't. Right. Partnership is a lot like marriage. It, it, it, it really is. And, and, and when I say it doesn't work for me, I, I, I think because of just my, my nature, I'm a, I'm kind of a free spirit. I'm, I can add time to be all over the place. Love to take risk and not everyone's built that way. So when you start talking partnership and I'm like, oh yeah, there's 50 million things that can go wrong. Let's do this. Let, let's, Let's straight ahead, you know, full speed. That's scares the hell out of some people. And if you're in a partnership, you have to know your partner and you have to know yourself. You both have to be able to be honest with yourself about, hey, here are my skills, here are my weaknesses, and here are the things that you get to make decisions or here are the areas where you can make the decisions. And here are the areas where I'm gonna make, I don't have the patience for that. I, I just don't, I'm like, I, I may screw it up along the way, but I'll I'll figure it out. Yeah. But I, I'm going, whether you're coming or not, and that's more my style. So I didn't know that about myself when I was younger, but I, I know that about myself now. I love that. And then, so you go from the event business now into the business I think that you're currently in, is that correct? Yes, that's correct. Yeah. And can you talk a little bit about that segue? Yeah. So currently in the, it's assisted living slash home healthcare space. That's probably the easiest way to describe it. That's the main business. I also started, I think it was 2018, started like a financial management company too. And it's really mainly managing my own portfolio. Had a couple of friends that we, we weren't really business partners, but we invested, kind of consulted together, things like that. So that, that was 2018, I believe the current business was around 2014, I believe the, the assisted living home healthcare business. So that business was the kind of the, the, the core business that when I started looking at, okay, I wanna start to expand more multiple locations, how do you do that? And, and how do you successfully do that? And that really made me focus on the franchise prototype mindset. You know, how do successful companies do what they do? You look at McDonald's, you look at a, you know, people roll their eyes about McDonald's, but it's really incredible what they do. I think it was something like seven. They, they feed six or 7% of the US population every day. Something, something amazing. Yeah. And it's amazing. And, and, and that a Big Mac will taste the same whether you are in California or New York. And so, you know, looking at that, and then of course leaning back to the days of being a U P S driver, okay, how did we pick up a package in, in, in Oregon and, and get it to Miami, Florida, the, the, the next morning and and delivered by eight at a am and in most cases, consistently over 90 something percent of the time. That always has been. And to this day, I mean, and gosh, we're talking like 20 something years now. Anytime things have gotten rough, Rob, that, that's what I fall back to. I'm like, okay, if they can fucking do it, if they can figure this out, if they can figure out how to get a letter or a box from this place here today, almost anywhere in the world by tomorrow, I can figure out this problem. Yeah. You know, it, it, it, if, if, if airplanes can, can, can fly, you know, commercial jet liners can, can, can fly and, and cra I forget what that, that rating for, for the number of flights that happen on a daily or weekly basis versus the amount of, of crack. What are the processes, what are the systems? What are what, what are the, the dashboards for the, the metrics that they, they use? Like what are those things? And, and that has always been at the, the, the back of my mind for the last 20 years. So I think that's really helped a lot as an entrepreneur because there's little things along the way that you'll hold onto that kind of pull you through. And I think that that's always been one of the things that I've held onto, yeah, I'm whatever this problem is. And so bringing it back to the home healthcare business. Okay, well, when you're talking about quality of care, how do you do that consistently? Well, typically you learn how to do things consistently by making a lot of mistakes. And believe me, we've made a lot of mistakes in every business. But learning that, okay, it really is a lack of a process, really is a lack of a system and it really is a lack of training. So figuring out how to do that, how to do that consistently, and then how do you make all locations operate that way, right? So that mindset, I think has really served me and it, it serves me in, it's, well it served me in every business I've been in, but really starting to focus in on that. I think you go through different stages of your life as an entrepreneur. And a lot of the times when you're first starting out, you're just in survival phase. It's just like, okay, what else is gonna go wrong today? Like, you're shocked when you have, like, the phone doesn't ring, no one's calling and complaining. No one called in sick, you know, nothing broke. Like you're shocked. Like it is like, what the hell? Like what's wrong? Like, oh, did I not pay my, did my cell phone get shut off? Like, because you're, you get so used to everything going wrong, but that's a mindset, that's a phase. You go through it, it's a survival phase. And the biggest part of coming out of that, and this is, you know, as I look back, it, it wasn't that that was the phase, it was that that's how I was running the business. That's where my mindset was. Yeah. So that, that's where the business was. You know, you, you've talked a lot that you, your businesses have been service businesses and have you ever thought about, and maybe if you could, you know, share any thoughts that come to mind for you around, are you more of a service business kind of person, say versus a product business kind of person? This is something we talk about with people who are emerging entrepreneurs and they're wondering, are they in even in the right business for them? You know, I would, I would've answered that question differently years ago. What I would say now is, I'm an entrepreneur. You put me in a business that's products I'm gonna sell. Okay, that's, And I'm going to sell to you. I'm going to sell to your family and I'm going to sell it. And you put me wherever you, wherever I land, I'm gonna be successful. That, that's, that's not from a place of, of, of arrogance. It's from a, it, it, the confidence with that statement is, is really centered around being an entrepreneur means that you need to learn how to wear a bunch of different hats. And, and some days it might just being be be the sales hat. And, and if you're wearing a sales hat, whether you're selling a service or whether you're selling a product, it doesn't matter. Key where to sell because nothing starts until you have a customer. You can talk strategy, you can talk finance, you can, but I'm, I'm from the belief that nothing happens until I have a customer. That's the most important thing. That's the only thing that matters. And so I think I am, I think I'm just an entrepreneur person. I love that. And it doesn't matter whether it's it's a, a product or, or service. Now, I think because of my background and the way I I I grew up, I think it was easier, the easier path for, for service. But even with that cassette story, I mean, that's an essentially a product. Now granted definitely the musician made the, the, the tape, you know, but, but I was selling a product and you're selling the product and, and I had to learn, I mean, you're, you're buying back then, we're not making a lot of money for the audiences now. Yes, slave labor was real in the US in, in the eighties. 'cause you know, I think I only got like a three or $4 a month allowance or something crazy. It wasn't a lot of money. So, you know. Yeah. So when you're like working cutting lawns and saving up to make a couple hundred dollars over a summer was a big deal. But yeah, going to the dollar store and getting a pack of tapes, cassette tapes for like five bucks, or I mean five cassette tapes for a dollar or something like that. And, and then you're going home dubbing 'em and then you're selling them to people. Okay, now I'm selling products. But then I also learned that these tapes are cheap and they're snapping. So, so it's like 50 for a tape is like, I'm making money, but then now I learned the word I I learned about guarantee. That's right. It's all covered together, My product. Yeah. So, you know, so many lessons. So I'm learning all these different, yeah, I'm learning all these different areas of being an entrepreneur. It's like, okay, I'm sold this product and now you have to guarantee your product and now you have to improve your product. So what did I do? I started buying more expensive tapes, like the, the more premium cassette tapes. Yeah. But that meant I had to not start, start charging a dollar and, but 'cause you know, I mean the tapes were breaking, so I was like, Hey, if it breaks, I'll give you a new one. You know, it's just all these things you learn, but it's so good. The lesson was the most important thing. Yeah. Those lessons as an entrepreneur are what hold you together. Yeah. So service product, I think we may have preferences, but I, I'm gonna figure out a way to win re regardless of whatever the situation is. I, I think that having that mindset is more important than whether it's a service or product business. I, I will say that I do think service businesses are, are easier to start or to, to get into, especially in today's economy. So for those entrepreneurs out there that do have service businesses, you get to leverage the sweat equity portion of things where you, you can work for free. Because typically as a young entrepreneur, and when I say young entrepreneur, I don't mean age. I mean like, if you're first starting a business and you're 60, or you're first starting a business at 18, doesn't matter as a young entrepreneur, you are able to leverage time because in most cases you have a lot of time. You just don't have money. You're broke. I was broke, okay. So I had a ton of time, but no money. So I was able to t trade time for money. I, I would just, if I had to work a 20 hour day, okay, done. If I had to work, you know, 20 hours every day for a week, a couple of weeks, okay. Done. And that was what I loved about service businesses because I could put in as much time as needed to get the business up and going to, when it started generating money. And once the money started flowing, typically you don't have the time because once the money starts, then you're investing a lot of different things. You have a lot of other responsibilities. But Can, can you talk about in that early stage, and, and this is one of the stages that we actually teach, which is the importance of generating cash. You know, and you've talked about taking financial literacy very seriously early on, which many don't do that. Can you talk about the importance of generating cash and financial literacy? Yeah, I think I've made every mistake there is to, to make when it comes to cash, just still making 'em. So that's where I learned my financial literacy. You don't realize how important cash is with a company. I kept her hearing this word, cash flow, cash flow, cash flow. Well, I knew what cash was and I knew what the word flow was, but I didn't really understand the two together and how that works in business. So one of the, a business that I had taught me the important importance of cash flow, because again, as you're talking about service businesses, when you're doing events, sometimes you may book event that's six, eight months out and we're sitting here high fiving each other, Hey, we, you know, we closed 10 events this month and we took in like 10 deposits. Okay, great. Now the event isn't until like nine months from now we're having top ramen and beans for the next eight months until that, right? So realizing the importance of like managing cash, how the cash comes into your business when you're bills are due, I think most people know about that, you know, just from having your own basic household budget. But I think with the, the business, when you're used to getting a, a paycheck and that paycheck comes whether you do your job or not, that's not the same as a, that's not the same case as entrepreneur. Entrepreneur sometimes you don't know when that next paycheck for the business is coming and the paycheck for the business is completely different than the paycheck for yourself. 'cause a lot of times in the beginning, there may not be money left over for you to have a paycheck for yourself. So those are some of the things that you don't really think about starting a business and learning that stuff early on. Like, whoa, you know it, I mentioned the cassette tape business a couple times, but that's really what it was. It's like you, you, you buy a tape for $7 and then you sell like 20 of 'em and you're thinking, oh, we're making money, we're generating money, we're generating money. Then the tapes start breaking, shoot, now I gotta work replaced. Now I gotta get a better tape. Now all of a sudden, all that profit you made is, is gone. Right? And you're still making money. You don't have any cash. It's, again, I never, I mean until right now to thinking about it, I mean, I guess I learned that lesson pretty early on, but early on, yeah. But that, that's how it is in business. And so those are the things that you have to learn about your business. And, and that's essentially cash flow. You start to learn how the business or, or how the money generates cash, how it flows in, how it flows out. Now one of the things that I can say, even up until recently, I'd say even within probably the last few years now, a lot of entrepreneurs, I always know my numbers roundabout in, in my head. And I've, for the last probably 10 years, I've kept a really basic spreadsheet and always have my expenses. You have that bookkeeper's accounting. But if you're truly, I think I lost you for a second there. I don't know what happened there on my side, but if you're truly managing the financial side of the, the business, you're looking at all the expenses across the board, it's almost like a dashboard. Even in that aspect, you're starting to learn which departments or which expense areas are, are going up each month going down. You start to see payroll, you know, is that trending this way? Is it trending up? Is it trending down or, or rents for our locations or overtime, you know, you, you start to become more sophisticated with the different areas of your business. And as you look at that, that gives you the ability to really have a pulse on how things are going and if they're on the right track or, or if they're off track. That is so freeing because it frees up a lot of space in your mind. And as an entrepreneur, you need as much space as you can, can have. So not having all this stuff in your mind, and I think that was a mistake that I made for a lot of years. Just always knew everything, which is great. You, you should know, but keeping all that stuff in your head, especially when it comes to finance, that's a tough one. Yeah. You know, you mentioned earlier that prompted something for me and I wanna ask you about mentors. Did you have mentors? Do you have mentors? Are they important for you? Can you talk about that in your life? I, I, I think since probably 18, I'd have to think back before that, but yeah, I think since 18 I've always had mentors. I, I currently have, you're one of my mentors, Rob, whether you know it or not. Okay. It's been a couple times I've reached out to you. Lifeline. Yeah. I, I swear by mentors. If, if people ask me, if I can mentor, if I'm able to do it, I try and do it as well. I, I think that a big part of my success has been having those mentors that have been willing to step in, spend time with me, impart knowledge, teach me things I didn't know. One of the things I will say about getting mentored, it's if I could give any advice to any of the entrepreneurs out there, a approach it with a humble mindset. And when I say a humble mindset, understand that a mentor is typically going to teach and tell you things that you may not necessarily be going through right now. But that's really the value that they can bring to the table for you. Because there's a lot of things that they've seen and been through, typically a lot of mistakes that they've already made that can help shorten the gap for you. I noticed with a lot of entrepreneurs, they don't necessarily wanna hear it or, or this isn't applicable or Oh yeah, but my business is different. As many times as I've heard that I said that to one mentor, my, my mentors tend to be more like me, direct to the point and, and tell me to shut my f and mouth. Listen, sit now, shut up and listen. That's great. But, but I, I would, I would strongly recommend making sure that you have that patience and understand that the lessons that your mentor may impart to you, why they may not be applicable to whatever your current crisis going on, they are gonna be applicable somewhere. And your whole goal is to glean as much knowledge and wisdom from them as possible. So that has saved my bacon so many times. And another thing that I have also learned over the last, the, I would say this has become more apparent to me the last five years, the quality of mentors that I have. Now, I'm, I'm not saying that my early mentors weren't good, good quality or, or high quality people. They, they all have been high quality people. The quality of mentors I have now I think are direct reflection on how much I've grown as a mentee. So that's something that I wanna impart to, to people as well. That's good. If you're growing, you're going to have more mentors that are going to have a wider array of networks. So a writer array of, of knowledge in different businesses or resources or areas to help. And and I think that comes from doing the work actually that the mentors help you with. You know, I, if you're getting better, the problems you have are gonna be more challenging. And that's a good thing. A lot of people look at that as a bad thing. That's actually a good thing. 'cause that means that now, you know, it might have sent you into a tailspin if, if, if you had a thousand dollars problem, what are you doing now? If you have $150,000 problem, a million dollar problem, how do you solve those? Right? And what type of mentors do you call upon? You know, you're starting the business and you know, your first year you're kind of doing this part-time, you're still working. And, and let's say you do 50, maybe a hundred thousand dollars in, in, in sales. Okay, maybe you have a mentor who has a business that you know is, does five, 600,000 a year, not taking anything away from that mentor, but you 10 x that business, now you're doing a million a year. You're gonna need a different level of expertise from a mentor in that case. And so as you're growing and as you're learning and you're able to glean the lessons from the mistakes that you make, and you're able to capitalize on these opportunities, I think that progression opens the door to other mentors as well. So that's been my experience. I'm, I'm not sure how the experience for everyone else has been, but that's been my experience. And I highly recommend mentors. I joined a few coaching groups as well, couple part of a couple mastermind groups. These mastermind groups, some of 'em are very expensive. And I just have to, sometimes I, I laugh 'cause I'm like, okay, wow, this is expensive. But the fact that I can afford this says something about where I started and where I am now. And so that's all from coaching, that's all from mentoring and that's all from, from learning and putting into practice all these different things. Yeah. You know, I, I so I, I wanna ask you one last question about this, because this is important. You know, i I it, from what I understand, you may have dipped your toe into going to college, but didn't follow through a hundred percent, but recognize the importance of learning and you have never, from what I know about you and everything you just said, you have never hesitated investing in yourself to learn in a million different ways. And can you talk about the importance, because I think I read somewhere your college education has been all this other stuff. This it's the school Of hard knocks. Yeah, yeah, Yeah. I'm, I'm, I'm, yeah, I, I, I'm, what, what do they call those super seniors? Who, who? The, the, the kids that have been in, they've been a senior for like eight, nine years. Yeah, I think that's me. I I've been a super senior, super senior because the school of hard knocks. Boy, Rob, that's such a good question. I, I can't stress enough how important it is to be willing to invest in yourself. A lot of people think of investing. Well, well, nowadays you look at people on the, on the whole social media tip, you know, investing might be the way I look or, you know, the, the trips and vacation I'm taking and, and what I'm posting online. To me, investing has always been my knowledge base. How can, how can I widen, how can I deepen, how can I improve my knowledge base? And so that, I, I can't say that that's the only thing I, I know a lot of times people say, give me the, the, the one thing, the one piece of advice or, or the 10 principles or the, you know, I, I think the truth is there's a combination of, of a lot of things that, that add to success. And sometimes one thing may be more important than the other, but it's a culmination of things. And the education piece was probably the, the foundation. But that was always important. And to this day, it continues to be important. I mean, I'm reading probably 10 books right now. I probably read at least two to three books a a month. And that's like actually trying to commit to actually reading. When it comes to audible books, I listen to probably 10 books a month. I listen on two x speed. So I could try and, you know, if it's an eight hour book, I could listen to it twice in one day. I'm reading business journals. I'm reading financial magazines. I'm just, I'm a sponge. I, I wanna know, I, i, I wanna know, I wanna understand, but I'm also, I, I've been introduced to, it is called the Kobe Index. I, I've also been introduced to other parts of myself. I'm, I'm what they call a quick start on the Kobe, it means I want just enough information so I can go set this thing on fire and figure out how to put it out. Okay. I don't need to know all the details. I just wanna understand the concept. I gotta know. Okay. Good, good, good. Great. Let's go. So, my, my approach to education is the same. I wanna learn about a lot of different things and I, I wanna know enough to be, be dangerous, but if it's something that I'm all of a sudden interested in, okay, I don't have to get started and let's go. So that's my approach. I love education. I, I love investing in myself. And I think it's probably, if I had to choose one thing that I did the rest of my life, I, it would probably be be that, that I continue to invest in the education because I, I think that that would give me enough of a base of knowledge to be able to go anywhere and have success at something. Hmm. So great. Roderick, thank you so much for chatting with me today. This was amazing. No pleasure. Amazing. And to all the amazing entrepreneurs listening today, I greatly appreciate your time with us and I wish you all, as always, much love and gratitude. Thank you, Rob. Much gratitude. I enjoyed it and I appreciate the invite The best. You are the best.
We recommend upgrading to the latest Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.
Please check your internet connection and refresh the page. You might also try disabling any ad blockers.
You can visit our support center if you're having problems.