Surviving the Side Hustle

Crafting a No Quit Philosophy for Lifelong Achievement

• Season 1 • Episode 40

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Unlock the secrets to elevating your mental game as I sit down with Chris, a trailblazing mental performance coach with a heartfelt narrative that resonates with anyone on the path to self-betterment. As we stroll down memory lane, Chris unpacks his journey from absorbing his father's self-help wisdom to transforming lives across sports, business, and beyond. Together, we dissect the magic of inquiry and the profound influence mentors imprint on our lives, all while showing you how to fuel your own growth engine to surge towards success.

Ever pondered how your innate curiosity can be the compass leading to groundbreaking innovation? This episode unravels that very thread, urging you to move past mere fascination and into the realm of action-driven knowledge acquisition. We share personal tales that illustrate the symbiotic relationship between mentorship, education, and community, while illuminating the notion that our ascent is intertwined with the success of those we uplift. It's a powerful testament to the boundless potential that collaboration and genuine connections can unleash.

The digital age brings a twist to the art of networking, and Chris and I scrutinize the intriguing dance between technology and authentic human connections. We navigate through the nuances of the 'No Quit Mindset' and the essential balance between fierce resolve and strategic flexibility. By the end of our talk, you'll be armed with an inspiring arsenal to embark on your quest for greatness, harnessing your unique abilities with the tenacity and hard work that turns dreams into reality. Join us for an episode that's not just a conversation but a catalyst for unleashing the champion within.

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Speaker 1:

What's going on, guys? Today we've got Chris on man. He's a great person. We just recently connected.

Speaker 2:

We're connected while ago, but recently reconnected.

Speaker 1:

And I just love everything you've got going on, man, so it's fun.

Speaker 2:

I call these the home and home when you get a chance to interview someone and then be interviewed by them. It's kind of a fun dynamic and it's very different because obviously you know, we spoke recently on mine and now it's fun.

Speaker 1:

So I appreciate the opportunity to return the favor of course, of course, um, and it's great too, because we we connected and and our conversation was just kind of going and we said afterwards we're like we could have easily continued going on for like another two hours or so, um, so hopefully we can kind of carry back on and we share a lot of similarities and everything, and I think that's why I'm so naturally drawn to you and everything you've got going on. But, that being said, I'm a mental performance coach.

Speaker 2:

I work with a lot of college sports teams, work with a lot of companies, but I also do a lot in the individual world as well. I know some people don't enjoy that because it's hard to scale it up, but for me, I really enjoy the perspective where I get to work with a lot of different people. So I don't have a niche per se in regards to a specific person, so it's not just male or just female, but I really like to work with those people that realize that there is something more than what they're doing right now and they have a little bit more in their tank. So those are the type of people that I try to work with.

Speaker 1:

Some of them are, you know, I think you being an athlete sounds like we gravitate to those other people, but I've also worked with a bunch of people and individuals and companies that are not sports athletes.

Speaker 2:

So it's both an opportunity but also a challenge, because you kind of have to relate certain stories where some of them, for me, were more geared towards sports. Now it's, you know, geared towards life and and business, but uh it's. I think it's fun when you get outside of your niche and you have a wide range of of clientele. Hell Kind of by default.

Speaker 2:

I played two sports in college and then I coached college basketball for a bunch of years I also coached an AAU basketball team at a pretty high level and I also was a high school basketball coach and I have a background in financial services and I've always been involved in personal development. My dad started with me just by giving me different books and articles and I really loved people that were trying to become better versions of themselves. So I think for me it was kind of that default of trying to better myself. And then I began reading a lot more in the self-development world. I began really trying to better myself, went to a bunch of different seminars and ultimately I got a couple of certifications and started doing some speaking and coaching and I just realized that it was something that I've always been doing in some way, shape or form.

Speaker 2:

And in my financial services background I had run a team of junior producers. So the training, the coaching, the mentoring was there. But also from my college coaching and when I first got into the financial world I had so many incredible mentors and coaches that I didn't really know were quote unquote mentors or coaches. They were just people that were pouring into me with ideas, one on one meetings, and I realized that the best of the best are always investing in themselves, with coaches, mentors, trainers. And again it started back with sports. I had always different coaches along the way, both on and off the court or field in the weight room, but I think the best of the best are always those people that are trying to continually get better and become a better version of themselves, and it's something that I'm really passionate about as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that. That's so cool how you just naturally fell into it and I think I have a very similar path to with the sports and kind of just naturally falling into kind of a coaching leadership type of role. And it's cool to connect with other individuals who are like that so much emphasis on the continuously improving yourself and not being afraid to invest in yourself with a coach or with a team or with other individuals. And you mentioned the mentors that didn't necessarily seem straight off the bat as mentors. Could you share a little bit about who those guys were and what was it like when you were having those like one-on-ones or connecting with them when you might not necessarily think that it could have been?

Speaker 2:

I mean, I could also be speaking incorrectly. That's a really, really interesting question, it sounds like you were kind of learning when you weren't intentionally learning.

Speaker 2:

I've always been really curious. You're kind of absorbing the information. I didn't look at it from the curiosity perspective as much as when I was younger, as asking questions and trying to improve, but as I've gotten older I just realized that I'm incredibly curious. So it's not from a I want to be better than somebody or I want to do more than them. It's more from the perspective of okay, well, why is Rob doing this? You know, why does Rob use this microphone? Why does he work with this coach? Why does he love this book as his favorite book? And for me it goes back to John Maxwell, who has a fantastic book which is somewhere on my shelf. But it's.

Speaker 2:

Good Leaders Ask Great Questions and I think some of the most successful people are the ones that are always curious. And it doesn't have to be from a competitive side of like I need to always be better than my competition but more along the lines of how do I make improvements? And I think there's that adage of if you're standing still, you're really going backwards. I don't really believe in that per se, because I think there's also times to reset and recharge, but I realized growing up that I was just really curious and when there was somebody that was doing something better than me or doing something that I hadn't done yet, I was always curious as how did he or she get to that level? What are they doing differently? Are they doing something differently? Is there something that I can do differently? And I think it just sparked my interest in what else is out there.

Speaker 2:

And I think when we grow up, we live in certain circles our parents, our friends, our family and not that you want to just leave your house when you're 10 years old and say goodbye to your family and friends, but it's when you're in those certain circles you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. It's a question I asked, obviously you on my podcast. I ask almost every guest. But sometimes you have to get outside of that comfort zone and get outside of that small circle to try different things. And I think some of the most successful people are the ones that are always curious, always learning, but always willing to get outside of their comfort zone. And I know that sounds easy and you and I hear it and see it all over. Social media is everything great happens outside of your comfort zone, but it's really hard, it's really painful and most of the time you feel terrible the entire time.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, it sucks because it is uncomfortable and, um, I know how, I know how important that word challenge and adversity and curiosity is to you and your brand and your coaching. And no, it doesn't, because to me.

Speaker 2:

I look back at my cartoons where, like the curious cat is the one putting his nose into the socket or touching the hot stove. But I think, I think, interestingly enough, if you're always only being curious but not actually taking action, I think, then then it would scare me a little bit, because then you're not really doing anything other than kind of being mischievous and trying to do the things that your parents taught you when you're little, like don't do this, don't do that, and you're like well, what?

Speaker 2:

if I do it a little bit, but that's funny. Of all the podcasts I've been on and I talk a lot about curiosity and growth and learning. That's awesome.

Speaker 1:

I've never been asked that, so kudos to you so that that brings me to another question that, uh might also be a little weird, but how do you differentiate curiosity and learning? Is it the same thing, or is it like is it two sides of a coin, or what?

Speaker 2:

is that kind of seven questions you could be?

Speaker 1:

curious and then you could not. Well, I feel like. And then there are situations where you need to be curious, and then you could not be curious. Well, I'll rephrase it for a second and maybe throw a curveball at you, so when people are learning things. I think they're one of two ways.

Speaker 2:

It's learning a specific topic or learning to become something. So, for example, let's say, if you wanted to be a doctor or a dentist, right, there's very specific learning that you have to do. It's how do I do this, how do I get to the next level? I have to go to these courses, get these certifications. But then, when you take it a step further, about curiosity is let's say, a doctor, and there's been so many advances in the heart world, a doctor says, well, I'm really curious because I think this type of treatment really could save lives and improve. Let's just say something within the field. But because of that, without that curiosity, excuse me, that doctor might never have tried to do something a little bit different.

Speaker 2:

So I think there's both the learning point of view, where you have things you need to learn and you should learn to get to that next level, whether it's personally or professionally. But then on the other side of the coin, the curiosity is you can be curious, I think, without really learning. What I mean by that is just doing a lot of things and reading up on a lot of different things because you're curious but never really taking a deep dive into. Well, from the surface level, what does this really mean? So I think it didn't fully probably answer it, because it was a really good question, but I think it goes to the point of view, especially in school and I found myself being an avid reader after college, but I hated reading in school because I was told what I had to read.

Speaker 2:

You know you have to read these chapters tonight and you have to read this book, regardless whether you wanted to or not, and to me that takes all the curiosity or at least for me personally, that took a lot of the curiosity away. It was OK, I have to do this, regardless whether I want to or not, regardless if I love this book or hate this book. I have to read it, as opposed to when you can look at some subjects and be like, wow, I really love this author or I really love this topic. I'm now going to read a couple more books, or I'm going to go to a seminar or workshop and find out more yeah, yeah, no, actually, I think that was an excellent answer.

Speaker 1:

I think my, I think I was trying to form it as asking you to kind of define curiosity and, uh, I think you did a great job there explaining those two and that's. That's pretty awesome. Um, now I kind of want to bring it back to a little bit on where you're kind of going. So you're with a lot of athletes, you're doing a lot of different things, you're in the event space I love that question and it goes back to kind of what I said before about standing still. You've got a lot going on. A lot of my friends and people that I socialize with they always mention.

Speaker 2:

Oh, you're doing a lot and you have your hands in a lot of things and I think, from the outside, I definitely do To your point.

Speaker 2:

I've written some books, I have a podcast, I also created a planner, do some events, as you mentioned. But where I'm going is I want to have a larger impact on more people, and I don't mean that from a make more money per se. I think obviously I don't know a lot of people that wouldn't want to make more money and be able to do certain things but what I realized a while back is that there was so much negativity, especially during the pandemic, and just people were really focused on the idea of you know, people were really focused on the idea of always there could be more, I could do more, but I don't have the opportunity or I don't have the chance or that person's lucky. And I realized that we're all given the same 24 hours every day. And what I'm really passionate about moving forward and where I'm going is how do I have a larger impact on a wider audience? And I think it's the concept that we talk about in my books and my companies is we rise by lifting others up.

Speaker 2:

Everybody knows the concept.

Speaker 2:

Everybody, conceptually can say, ok, I fundamentally understand what it means, but I've seen it so many times in my own personal and professional life is people have leaned into me, have poured into me, and it's just allowed me to go to a different level and learn new things.

Speaker 2:

And then the flip side is, when I pour into others whether that's coaching, mentoring or just, you know, with the mastermind I run, it's we're able to take things to a bigger, wider level when you do it together as opposed to when you do it yourself, and I think there's so many like-minded people. You know why you and I connected on my podcast and obviously, as you said, we could have spoken for probably a couple more hours. It's when like-minded people get together. I think the potential is absolutely unlimited and I'm really looking forward to connecting with more people. I've been doing a lot more networking this past year, and not from a business and send referrals perspective, but from a opportunity to meet new people that I didn't know before, or possibly get a chance to really develop a relationship with someone that maybe I'd met once or twice at an event a year or two ago and never had the opportunity to connect with outside of that event.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I love. I love where you brought that? Because I was just speaking with somebody, uh, last night at this at this networking and personal development dinner, and one of their issues was that they were connecting with so many people on social media and they were reaching out and essentially just asking these strangers to be a point of reference. So and then I was like, dude, you're so, you're asking these guys to do your job for you. Obviously, they're not going to jump at the first like a referral option to just send it right to you.

Speaker 1:

You need to develop a relationship, you need to invite these guys to coffee or lunch or something you got to. You got to understand them a little bit better so that you can, you can be top of mind, you can provide some kind of value previous to them providing you some sort of value. And at first he was just like what do you mean? I have to do that and I was like what do you mean? What do you mean? Bob Berg is a dear friend of mine. He's written the Go-Giver series books and his whole thing is all about giving.

Speaker 2:

My all-time favorite person development person is Zig Ziglar, and he has a famous quote is you can have anything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want. I think, going back to your point about social media and technology, there's never been an easier time to meet people than there is today and obviously a month from now, two months from now, it's going to be even easier to meet people. Now I want to be very clear, and when I say meet people, I mean, okay, I met this guy, rob. We follow each other on Instagram or LinkedIn. I met this guy. You know Steve, you know we know two or three people. That's meeting somebody. And, yes, you can say I know who Rob is, rob knows who Chris is. But past, that is the actual development of the relationship, where it's to your point, having coffee, and I think the one thing that the pandemic did really disservice to was making it so easy to do things over technology as opposed to using technology. When, at the time, in March, april, may and June of 2020, we had no choice, it was either you jump on a phone Zoom, you know you jump on some type of technology FaceTime or you know you just don't connect with someone. But fast forward now. People are still by default going back to that. I'll share a quick story. I think you'll appreciate.

Speaker 2:

So maybe three or four months ago I got set up a group email. We all connected back and forth that person and I went on our own individual email chain and she had said hey, what about next Tuesday or Thursday? I responded and she said let's jump on a Zoom, I'll send you the link. And I looked at her email address and on the or, excuse me, at her signature, and she was literally one street over. And on the or, excuse me, at her signature, and she was literally one street over. So I just said to her. I said, you know I don't want to jump the gun. I said, but if you're open to meeting, I said I could literally walk to your office in under a. I'm so used to doing everything over technology now that I don't even look at someone's signature on their email. Or sometimes people have signatures on their, on their text message and things like that.

Speaker 2:

But it really got me to thinking that it's so important to either have that in person. Now, obviously, if you were in Texas and I was here. You know, no offense to either of us, but I don't think we're buying a plane ticket to do a podcast interview in person. But you know the value in sitting down with somebody and getting to know them, asking some of those questions is so important.

Speaker 2:

And for me I get asked a lot of times to be a reference and could I be, you know, a referral source for people, and I'm always willing to do that. But I always tell people I said I'm not going to be a reference just because I met you for six seconds at an event. And I've actually had in the past people actually use me as a reference without letting me know. It happened actually twice last year where I got a phone call from somebody that was hiring somebody and they said, oh, you were mentioned as a reference. I assume you had the heads up and I just said, you know, to be completely honest, I said I didn't, I vouched for the person you know, wasn't anything crazy. But I then saw him about six months later and I just said to him. I said, you know, just if I can offer a piece of advice is when you use somebody you know, just let them know. I said because I was completely caught off guard. So I think that's incredibly.

Speaker 2:

You know two long stories, but the value is is when you connect with somebody, you ask those questions, you develop a relationship and you understand who they are and what they do, and that, to me, is irreplaceable when it comes to developing a strong network and, again, not knocking anything with social media and technology, because that's how you meet people. But then there's the next step. You and I are a perfect example, a good friend of ours that we have in common. Sean degnan introduced us and we had not met each other. I didn't know you prior to that. I don't think you knew me. Prior to that, I started following you, you started following me. We have a lot in common, but without that introduction from Sean, I'm pretty sure we would have met at some point. But without that initial introduction of Sean, we definitely wouldn't be having this conversation today.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah, 100%, and yeah, totally, totally agree with you with the technology and it's a tool and if you abuse it and you rely on it for too much, then that's where I feel like issues kind of arise. I wanted to get your quick take on. I want to ask you how do you think technology affects confidence for different individuals?

Speaker 2:

Because I feel like you can see it rise confidence in having these virtual conversations, because you feel much safer, but at the same time I feel like so many people are afraid to just pick up the phone call and actually interact with somebody.

Speaker 2:

I also look also on the other side of the coin that some people are very uncomfortable initially when you jump on a screen and you're like, okay, like wow, like all right, that's what Rob looks like. Okay, like he's older, younger, you know, whatever it is. But I think sometimes we are afraid to pick up the phone and I think, when it comes to confidence, I think the one thing technology can do from a negative perspective is it makes it so easy in some ways not to actually have to pick up the phone or jump on a video or meet in person. You know, I look back 15, 20 years ago, when I got into the business world, there was no other option other than in-person meetings. You know, especially in my financial business, it wasn't like, hey, you want to jump on a call or Zoom or whatever. Yeah, you had to call the person or email or something, but there was that interaction where you had to jump on a call or Zoom whatever. Yeah, you had to call the person or email or something, but there was that interaction where you had to have that in-person.

Speaker 2:

Now technology some ways takes it away completely. I know some people that have never met certain business partners in person and they always operate via email. There's team chats. There's different apps that different companies have where it's like an instant messenger type thing. So not only are we not jumping on the phone, we're not jumping on the video, we're emailing and then basically texting in this channel and it takes away a lot of that individual conversation.

Speaker 2:

I've been coaching a company for the last year or so that's virtual and they have a lot of challenges with their employees because it's very difficult to have something that's only virtual, because you can't have that same interaction.

Speaker 2:

So I think it does have its pros and cons. But on the flip side of that also is, even with virtual companies and things like that, you're allowed to have some diverse employees from throughout the country. I mean you and I know people in companies that do work in different countries. You know that would never happen 20 years ago you'd have to get on a plane, fly somewhere. Now you literally jump on with technology and you could literally be across the world working with somebody. But I think the back to the confidence pieces, I think there's the benefits but also the disadvantages, because I know sometimes when I've jumped on with teams, you're like, ok, like there's 25 people on this, on this screen and it's just me, and sometimes it's hard for me to deliver the same way. I think I've gotten way better at it now, but it's definitely hard in some ways to have that same interaction on a screen as opposed to in person.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you definitely miss out on that, that physical energy aspect, whether, however, you feel about energy and whether it be in woohoo or whatnot, but there really is something different about being in person and being around other individuals. Um, but we kind of touched on technology as a tool. Uh, you're a very well connected person. Um, people are using you as a reference, it seems, left and right, whether you know or you don't know. Um, but before, before all the connections and before technology made things a lot easier. What were some of the challenges or great struggles you might have came while you're just being known in this business?

Speaker 2:

always been a and I still am a big believer in relationships, and something that you and I definitely have in common is getting to know somebody. So I always took a lot of amount of pride and really wanted to make sure that I was that person that delivered, as opposed to the type of person that's always asking for things, was that person that delivered, as opposed to the type of person that's always asking for things. But the challenge was the biggest challenge was being known in a new space. A lot of people were like, oh, like you know what happened to XYZ, and I'm like, well, I'm still doing it and it's like, okay, so it wasn't like you know, I was embraced and people like, all right, cool, whatever you want to do. But there was that learning curve. But then also, understanding a new industry is you have to figure out how do certain things work.

Speaker 2:

So, spending so much time as I did in the financial world, you know I got my teeth kicked in a few times. I had some successes, had some losses, but I learned kind of how the system worked when I got into this business. I had to relearn that again. I was like, all right, I was like I got into this business. I had to relearn that again. I was like, all right, I was like I got to figure out how we connect with people. Do you go to workshops, Do you ask for referrals, Do you do cold emails, cold calls, all those things.

Speaker 2:

But the one thing that I'll say I'm a huge believer in and it's going to shock you probably, and some of the viewers or listeners is I write multiple handwritten notes every single week. They could be something simple as thanking a client, could be something simple as a birthday anniversary, thanking somebody for something that they did for me or for my kids, and a lot of them also are just checking in and the reason I do it and people like handwritten notes, like why would you do that? And I said because, first of all, nobody's doing it and, second of all, 99% of what everybody gets in the mail is either bills or packages that they've ordered. So they know what bill's coming and they also know when their Amazon or FedEx is coming, and that 1% probably are like mailers and like totally random things. So I say I could surprise somebody and do something that almost nobody's doing. But going back to the relationship is it's adding value. So a lot of times it's just thank you note or something as hey, I saw this article. Or or hey, have you read this book.

Speaker 2:

I gift a lot of books to people because I'm an avid reader myself, but it goes back to something that I realized early on is what is my competitive advantage? So when I'm new to this business, I can't be just as good from day one as somebody that's been doing this for 10 years. So my competitive advantages how do I differentiate myself from my competition, or how do I differentiate myself so people will know who I am is adding value, and that value add comes in many different ways. But one of the things that I really enjoy is that handwritten note or that little package with the book.

Speaker 2:

And, having written a couple of books myself, I've gifted probably 150 to 200 copies of my book a lot of times to friends and people, but also a lot of times to coaches and programs that I'm trying to work with. As I think the adage is the best business card is a book. I don't know if I fully believe that, but it has definitely helped in some ways. But then there's also been times when I've sent a book with a handwritten note and gotten no response to.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I love that because I do something pretty similar. I try my best to shoot a gratitude text to somebody that I haven't connected with in a while and because I started doing this gratitude practice a while ago and, like most people who kind of dabble to get into it, you start with the three things that you're most grateful for for that day, or however it evolves into your own thing. But then I was just kind of like reflecting on all this great stuff that's keep happening to me, happening to me, and it was making me feel better. And then I'm always referring to somebody in that journal and somebody for something that they did and I'm like why am I giving this to myself?

Speaker 2:

I should share this with you Because it's making me feel good. It'll probably help them feel good just knowing that I'm thinking and caring about it.

Speaker 1:

I definitely have heard it somewhere along the lines because I feel like people. I feel like gratitude is getting pretty popular right now. I feel like a lot of people are talking about it, but for me, I think it stemmed from my goal setting. So I would get into the habit of writing my goals down. I was doing my annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly. I'd have daily goals and I'd write those things out.

Speaker 1:

And then I started reflecting on the things that I did check off and things that I didn't. And then I started to create a success list of like, wow, I did this this day, I did that that't. And then I'd started to kind of like create like a success list of like, wow, I did this this day, I did that that day. And I'm like, oh, I did do a great job on that. And I started like stemming into all these great things and like, oh, that was really fun when I went to dinner with so and so and they had such a unique approach to bringing light to the party. It was like really cool how they were like doing this and then just kind of not even guess what it is.

Speaker 2:

But he has a. He has a name for similar practice every day I think it's three.

Speaker 2:

Don't don't quote me with a gun to my head, but I think it's three. Don't quote me with a gun to my head, but I think it's three people. Every day, he opens up his phone and he sends them a text message just to thank them or let them know that he's thinking about them, and there's zero expectations in return. So it's not like, oh, I'm going to just thank Rob or text Rob because he just invited me on his podcast now, not that that wouldn't be still a good thing, but it's to your point. It's that deeper thought of something that you're grateful for, or somebody you appreciate, or something you appreciate.

Speaker 2:

And I think to your comment before, gratitude's really becoming more popular. I think it's because of social media. You know, everything kind of gets blown up, usually in a good way or bad way. But I think what I love about the whole idea of gratitude being more focused on is every single one of us, I don't care who you are, you have at least one thing or one person to be grateful for every single day. Now, yes, there are people that are going through brutally challenging things that you and I would never want to go through, but even those people. They have something that they could be grateful for. It's waking up that morning, maybe it's a hot cup of coffee. It doesn't change the fact that they're dealing with something brutally difficult or challenging, but every single one of us has something or someone to be grateful for.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that because it's so true and it kind of goes into the whole like mindset and how, your approach for what, how you look at life and how you're looking at everything, because the negative people who are always complaining that so much stuff is happening to them and they're the victim I'm reading a book now reinforces that negative power of ownership.

Speaker 2:

I just I just started it but and something simple is just a lot of different thinking, but one of the topics that I was going down and just thinking about and just doing some of my writing and planning for some some work I'm doing is if you look for the good or the bad in anybody, you're going to be able to find it, and I know that sounds super black and white, but the reality is if you sit down and only focus on the bad in somebody, you're going to find some things that are not great. But the other side of that coin is, if you sit down and maybe you don't really love that person or they're not your favorite person, but if you look for something good in them, you're going to be able to find it. And we're able to do that if we want to. But I think to your point, a lot of people we always sometimes by default we focus on.

Speaker 2:

Well, what are Rob's negatives Like? What don't I not like about Rob as opposed to hey, what are the two or three things that I really do like about Rob? Maybe we might still not be best friends or business partners down the road, but you can find something you like and something you don't like about somebody. The question is, which one are you focusing on first?

Speaker 1:

yeah, yeah, and that quote reminds me of that. Um, uh, henry ford quote. It's like, whether you think you can or you can't, you're right. So it's very, very true, very similar um why I came about. In general, or your whole brand is no. Can you dive into that a little bit for me?

Speaker 2:

It's a really simple, easy, fun story. So I'm a huge quote guy. You've shared a couple of quotes today.

Speaker 1:

I've shared a couple of quotes.

Speaker 2:

I think mine are not remotely perfectly said, but I think maybe five or six daily quotes of the day, different emails, and I would print some out and some I'd like and some whatever. It just would kind of just gloss over. But I don't know what it was, but one particular day, the quote by Dr Norman Vincent Peale it's always too early to quit just hit me. I don't know what it was, maybe I was going through something. I loved it, I printed it out, I wrote it in a bunch of places, I typed it up big letters, I put on my wall in my office. Fast forward a few months, I got the license plate no quit on my car. I think I've had seven different cars from that point to now and always transfer the plates over, seven different cars from that point to now and always transfer the plates over.

Speaker 2:

And with my financial company I was initially going to do something with the name no Quit Capital and a lot of times some people are like, well, you know, that's a little bit aggressive and I was like, oh, maybe. And then one day I was just messing around and I created no Quit Living and didn't realize it at the time. But it's a lifestyle in the perspective of not quitting and in life we all get knocked down. There's no doubt, there's no question. The most successful people all walks of life, sports, business, authors, speakers, you name it Every single one of them has been knocked down. Most of them have been knocked down multiple times. Every single one of them has been knocked down. Most of them have been knocked down multiple times.

Speaker 2:

And for me, it's turned into that brand of that mindset of I'm just going to always get back up and I'm not going to win all the time. I'm not going to go undefeated, but I'm always going to give my best effort, and regardless of the outcome. If I can put my head down on the pillow at night and know that I gave my best effort, then I think that you know that, to me, is a definition of success. John Wooden has a definition of success. Again, I'm going to butcher the quote, but the gist of it is knowing that you gave the best effort, regardless of the outcome.

Speaker 2:

And I don't think a lot of people really focus on that as much as they focus on the outcome. So, whether that's winning or losing that game, that sale, that election, fill in the blank. Yes, it's painful, it's difficult, but I think the most successful people are the ones that have failed just as much, if not more, than they've won. But because they continue to learn and grow and they have that no quit mentality, they look at that loss as a learning experience. They look at that failure even though it's still painful and they don't love it and they're still disappointed. They take that two seconds, it's okay. What can I learn from this and how can I be better? So if and when I do encounter this challenge or option, I'm going to be better equipped to handle it.

Speaker 1:

Awesome, this kind of jogged my memory. Just the other day I was having a conversation with a client because they were telling me how their family motto was something very similar I think hers might have been. It was like never quit or something, um, and had me thinking, as I mentioned yesterday or the other day, when your show that, uh, I like to play devil's advocate a lot. So I said, okay, well, no quit or never quit. How do you know when something's not?

Speaker 1:

right If you live that never quit mindset when do you pivot or how do you-.

Speaker 2:

Probably a popular question I get asked is do you never quit and do you just keep going? And the best example I give is people in special social media now the idea of grind. Right, everyone wants to grind, but if you actually look at the definition, it's grinding a stone into something and that's never good. People replace their hips because the socket and basically grinds out and the pain is excruciating and it's not a good thing. But we like to put out that message of like oh like, always grind it out, always go like. I'm going to work out 24 hours a day, you know, every day of every week.

Speaker 2:

But quitting to me is when something gets hard or difficult, you just give up and say I'm not going to do it. That, to me, is quitting. What quitting is not is when you go down the road and you continually fight. Can you continually get back up, but you come to the point maybe you lose that game or maybe you lose that sale and the quitting perspective would be is okay, you know, I busted my tail for this month and I didn't win that sale. I'm not, I'm just going to stop. I'm not going to be in sales Like I'm not doing. It's being able to get back up again and go after that next sale. It's being able to say, okay, I lost that election or we lost that game. That doesn't mean I'm never going to play that sport again, um, but it means I'm going to come back and be a better version of myself.

Speaker 2:

But then take it one step further. Is people say, oh so if you're running a business and you're going bankrupt and you're doing all this stuff, you know your wife left your husband left you, your kids don't know you. I'm like, ok, that's not to me. That's. That's not quitting. That's when it gets to the point where you've tried everything you could but now you have no more money, your family's in disarray, your relationship is struggling. And to me that's not quitting because at the end of that day or end of that week or month or year, you're able to at least look back and say I physically did everything I could but I was not successful.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that and I don't have the correct answer for my, for my own definition or self, but I I do believe that there's got to be some sort of a temporal or parameter around, whatever it is that you're attempting or trying to not quit with. Because if you just endlessly go, go, go, go, like, then it's difficult because you're just gonna burn out and and crash and burn. But if you just endlessly go, go, go, go, then it's difficult because you're just going to burn out and crash and burn. But I feel like if you set the goal and you put the parameters, like I'm going to try this for this period of time or I'm going to try this until this amount of money runs out, Either that or you get to the point where, literally, if I lose this, then I'm done.

Speaker 2:

If you don't have that forever, you just keep going, you quit until you're a banker. So yeah, at that point. It gets to that point where at that point, there's no choice in the matter, there's no quit. It's just like look, you can't play blackjack with no money. Sorry, that's not the way it works. I think probably a lot of people, whether it's drunk or just going down that rabbit hole of spending everything I'm sure a lot of people in that situation have tried to continue to play. But look, Rob, we love your business, but you can't play at this table with no money. That's not the way the casino works yeah, yeah, oh my gosh.

Speaker 2:

Uh well, chris, dude, I know, we're kind of getting a little further into the episode here and I want to be curious.

Speaker 1:

You've got a lot of things going. Best way is just my website.

Speaker 2:

No quit livingcom that's kind of where all my stuff is. I'm also most active on Instagram, but I always give my personal email to every single podcast I go on just because from that I've met some really, really cool people, but my email address is chris at noquitlivingcom. But I really try to stay active on, as I said, on social media, instagram and LinkedIn are probably the two that we play the most with, and then I also obviously, as you mentioned, have the no Quit Living podcast, where I've had the opportunity to have some really fun guests like yourself on and be able to just take a deep dive into. I guess, back to what I said before, is my curiosity is you know what was your no quit story? How did you handle it? You know what are you reading, what are you doing. You know what inspires you, who inspires you?

Speaker 2:

And not to ruin anything for listeners or guests, but one of the questions I ask, which is really fun, is if I could grant you dinner with any five people, dead or alive, who would you pick for your list? And that, to me, goes down my rabbit hole of curiosity, because I may know you. For example, let's say you and I were friends or we know each other for two years. And in my mind, as I asked that question, I'm like, all right, you know Rob loves Kobe Bryant and he loves, you know, dave Matthews band.

Speaker 2:

I'm like, all right, cool. And I asked you the question and it's like, no, no, none of those. And I'm like, oh cool, and you list, like these, you know five other people that I totally didn't think. I'm like, oh awesome, depending on the on the guests in the show, I might ask you right then and there, or if not on the show, definitely you know, when we're done recording, tell me like I thought you were going to pick these five people and you picked these five people. And the curiosity in me is like, why? And then it's also the competitive curiosity in me is like, well, why do you want to have dinner with this person?

Speaker 1:

And in my mind I'm like, should I have that person at my dinner too? Yeah, I love that. Uh, yeah, it was great, great episode. So make sure you guys check it out when, uh, whenever you get the chance. Uh, the no quit living podcast no, I appreciate that. Yes, dude, I know you got a lot of action going on. Yeah, always taking on new clients looking to what about after that, I do a lot more speaking events. I really love getting out and meeting new people, so that's a big focus.

Speaker 2:

and then we're we're going to continue to do a couple more events. Um, we're doing the one you referenced to was in fairfield, county connecticut. We're going to do one in westchester, county connecticut, and then right over the bridge in new jersey, and I'm really loving what we're doing and loving connecting with new people. And I'll put this challenge out to any of your listeners or viewers when you're following somebody on social media, don't be afraid to reach out. I am very, very fortunate to say that some of my very close friends now are people that I've looked up to personally, professionally, people that I've looked up to in the sense of that. They're very successful in their field and I've established not only a relationship with them. I've had them bunch of them on my podcast, but now I'm fortunate to be able to call them my friends because I tried to add value.

Speaker 2:

But my challenge to everybody listening or watching is none of those relationships ever would have happened if I didn't first make that first attempt, whether that was a cold email, phone call, direct message. But I think so many people are hesitant and afraid to do that and I would say only one of two things is going to happen that person's either going to respond in some way, shape or form, or they're not going to. But the likelihood of that person's either going to respond in some way, shape or form, or they're not going to. But the likelihood of that person just randomly connecting with you out of the blue is probably 1%. So somebody out here listening or watching has been thinking about connecting with somebody, but they haven't. So I'm going to challenge them to go ahead and reach out to that person.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I love that. I think that reminds me of one. I'm not 100% sure on the quote, but it's something along the lines of like fear kills more dreams than failure, and that goes right up there with that like taking that action, getting out there doing that thing. So I love that. And, dude, thank you again so much for coming on. But before I let you go, I got to ask you I don't know if you're going to-. Yeah, that's a great question. I definitely Go off of what you just said or maybe take it in a different direction. I'd listen to a couple episodes before, especially the one you did with Sean.

Speaker 2:

My thing very simple, is I 100% and I say this to every live audience, whether it's a middle school, high school, college or company every single person has at least one or two things that they could be great in. There's zero doubt in my mind. Everybody can't be great at everything. There's zero doubt in my mind. Everybody can't be graded Everything. You can't be Serena Williams, elon Musk, albert Einstein, warren, but you can't be all those things. But every single person has one or two things that they could be graded.

Speaker 2:

The first question is are you going to identify that one or two things? Because that takes time, that takes you being curious, that takes you figuring some things out. And then the second question is once you identify that one thing or those two things, are you willing to put in the hard work to earn it? Because you know this and we probably touched on it on my show or your show every single person that has achieved greatness. It's never been given to them, it's never been gifted to them and there's zero entitlement when it comes to greatness. You have to go out and work for it and earn it.

Speaker 2:

But the side hustle is an amazing thing, because so many people have been able to turn their side hustles into their main and only thing now. But without working and grinding and, first and foremost, identifying that side hustle, it never would have achieved any level of success or greatness. So, somebody listening to this, you have that greatness within you. There's no doubt in my mind. But the question is are you going to identify it? And then, secondly is are you going to go out and put in the work to earn it?

Speaker 1:

Wow, dude fire, thank you so much for that. I just dude. I'm so glad that we finally connected and really got to chop up these episodes.